Thursday 23 May: A return to first principles is the Tories’ best chance of avoiding an election wipeout

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

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

641 thoughts on “Thursday 23 May: A return to first principles is the Tories’ best chance of avoiding an election wipeout”

      1. Britain punishes the law-abiding middle classes while rewarding the lawless and violent
        The state’s power is turned against the honest citizen, while violent criminals are allowed to run amok

        SAM ASHWORTH-HAYES
        21 May 2024 • 6:03pm

        The American venture capitalist Marc Andreessen once observed that living in California was like living in late Rome: a civilisation flourishing on the surface, but one where “the roads are becoming unsafe and nobody is quite sure why”.

        It’s uncomfortably familiar. Britain is not exactly descending into lawlessness; on the contrary, laws continue to be passed and sometimes even enforced. But there is a sense that something is slipping out of control.

        A set of stories from the past week draws this out. In the first, a young father confronted a man using drugs and loitering near a children’s play park. His reward for this act of public service was to be brutally murdered. His killer has been convicted and is now awaiting sentencing.

        No length of time in prison will bring a dead father back, but a long sentence for a murderer might stop other children losing theirs. Studies around the world have shown that a small minority of repeat offenders are responsible for a staggering share of violent crime. Here, however, even criminals who are known to be “high risk” are being released early to fight overcrowding.

        Others may never be arrested at all. The idea of police patrols as a deterrent – providing the sort of public service the murdered man needed – now appears to be an historical oddity, and it is dispiritingly common for crimes to be reported, filed, and then ignored by forces far too overstretched to deal with lower-level offending.

        Even when they do intervene, they all too often find that the law, or at least the judges interpreting it, will take a different view. An officer who arrested a woman during a row over fare evasion has been found guilty of assault. For obvious reasons, the police, in turn, are losing confidence in their ability to actually carry out their jobs.

        For those living in London, we have an almost weekly demonstration of a world in which the police have practically given up. Nearly every weekend, the streets of the capital are taken over by protests that proclaim their support for Hamas and Islamism while officers watch on.

        The new report by Lord Walney on policing protests, and its suggestions for protecting democracy, is all well and good, but the High Court has just unpicked some of the few tools the police already had.

        Taken in isolation, these stories are dispiriting. In combination, they offer a bleak pattern. Britain’s authorities are abandoning the honest, the law-abiding and the decent to the consequences of decay. But as power slips from the state, it often turns what little it has left against that same law-abiding group.

        The pattern repeats across the board. Enter the country illegally, with nothing to offer it, or even pose an active threat to it, and you can expect to watch as the legal system bends over backwards to find a way to maintain your presence here, while the taxpayer funds your accommodation.

        Marry a foreign spouse, or work in a highly paid role for a company that then goes bankrupt, however, and watch as the Home Office puts you through hell.

        Work hard to provide a roof and prosperous lifestyle for your children, and the state will confiscate an ever larger share of your income to fund those who choose to raise their families reliant upon government largesse.

        The British state is increasingly incapable of fulfilling its most basic functions of preserving public order, maintaining the roads, and enforcing the law. Its survival seems to be based less on competence or moral legitimacy than on its ability to keep the naturally law-abiding in line, even as others run free.

        This, ultimately, is the core of the issue. The state can manage some disorder so long as everyone else plays along. It finds ways to route around it, avoiding major clashes and the sudden shift of narrative that would result from seeing just how deep the rot has set in. And it relies upon the compliance of the decent majority, without which it would topple overnight.

        The result is an absurd twisting of virtue, where criminals are fearless and the law binds only the lawful. The meek may well inherit the earth, but here and now Britain is being handed to the despicable.

        Peter Hicks
        1 DAY AGO
        100% true. Britain is officially a dystopian hellscape for the vast majority of honest hardworking people. What a miserable place. If you’re young, unless you have family money or are wildly successful, the odds of buying a house diminish by the day. Taxed to the hilt. Police too afraid to enforce the law. Ruined by mass immigration. Culture and heritage going down the drain. Want to raise a family? Good luck protecting your children from radical leftist nonsense. Britain really sucks. I want mass deportations yesterday, a reassertion of our government running the country in our interests, and the end of wokism. Tolerance be damned. I’m fed up.

        REPLY
        10 REPLIES
        378
        0

      2. You have to be quick Bill. Refresh (circular arrow) then press Stop/Esc (X) within a couple of seconds.

        1. Thank you. I am familiar with the system. Sometimes it works. Most times it doesn’t.

  3. Good morrow, gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled)List
    REPEAT OF YESTERDAY’S FAUX PAS
    SOMETHING TO OFFEND EVERYONE

    What is the difference between a Harley and a Hoover?
    The position of the dirt bag.

    Why is divorce so expensive?
    Because it’s worth it.

    What do you call a smart blonde?
    A golden retriever.

    What do lawyers use for birth control?
    Their personalities.

    What’s the difference between a girlfriend and wife?
    20 kgs.

    What’s the difference between a boyfriend and husband?
    45 minutes.

    What’s the fastest way to a man’s heart?
    Through his chest with a sharp knife.

    Why do men want to marry virgins?
    They can’t stand criticism.

    Why is it so hard for women to find men that are sensitive, caring, and good-looking?
    Because those men already have boyfriends.

    What’s the difference between a new husband and a new dog?
    After a year, the dog is still excited to see you.

    What makes men chase women they have no intention of marrying?
    The same urge that makes dogs chase cars they have no intention of driving.

    A brunette, a blonde, and a redhead are all in Grade 9. Who has the biggest boobs?
    The blonde, because she’s 18.

    What’s the difference between a porcupine and a BMW?
    A porcupine has the pricks on the outside.

    What did the blonde say when she found out she was pregnant?
    ‘Are you sure it’s mine?’

    Why do men find it difficult to make eye contact?
    Breasts don’t have eyes.

    What would you call it when an Italian has one arm shorter than the other?
    A speech impediment.

    What’s the difference between a Chinese zoo and an English zoo?
    A Chinese zoo has a description of the animal on the front of the cage along with a recipe.

    How do you get a sweet little 80-year-old lady to say the F….. Word?
    Get another sweet little 80-year-old lady to yell “BINGO”!

    What’s the difference between a northern USA fairy-tale and a southern USA fairy-tale?
    A Northern fairy-tale begins ‘Once upon a time.’
    A Southern fairy-tale begins ‘Y’all ain’t gonna believe this shiiit’.

    Why is there no Disneyland in China?
    No one’s tall enough to go on the good rides.

    2. “What’s the difference between a boyfriend and husband? … 45 minutes.”

      Two women having coffee together:

      Woman 1: “What is the most important difference between your husband and your boyfriend?”

      Woman 2: “I want a husband who knows how to use his wallet, I want a boyfriend who knows how to use his tongue.”

      1. Definition of the perfect man – a millionaire with a 9″ tongue who can breathe through his ears

  7. A return to first principles is the Tories’ best chance of avoiding an election wipeout

    I can see only one good reason for voting Conservative under Rishi.
    That would be to upset Steve Bray

  9. Good morning, chums. And thanks for today’s NoTTLe page, Geoff.

    Wordle 1,069 6/6

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

    1. Good Morning, Elsie.

      Wordle 1,069 4/6

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

  11. Good Morning!

    Well, bloody awful really. Still raining here in wonderful Weardale and very dark clouds on the southern horizon, coming from woeful Westminster way.

    And if anyone really believes that a Tory return to conservative first principles would last a minute longer than election day, you really do need a mental health check.

  12. How drenched PM fired the starting pistol on a summer vote. 22 May 2024.

    Rishi Sunak declared on Wednesday that “now is the moment for Britain to choose its future” as he announced the general election would be held on July 4.

    Speaking in Downing Street in the pouring rain, a soaked Mr Sunak vowed to “fight for every vote” as he pitched the election as a direct battle between him and Sir Keir Starmer.

    As the Prime Minister made the announcement outside No10, his speech was disrupted by loud music – the New Labour anthem, Things Can Only Get Better – being played.

    I don’t think that I can stand five weeks of this! I might have to switch off for a while. Maybe not comment on it at all? The vote itself? I might force myself to go if it is a sunny day and there is a Reform candidate. I hold no great hopes. The country is destroyed.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/22/rishi-sunak-latest-news-pmqs-inflation-keir-starmer-tories/

    2. He has had 18 months to earn votes. Instead he has hiked every tax going, made us poorer, taxed businesses, taxed energy, heavily taxed fuel. He has done absolutely nothing to unravel the mess that was his own making.

      He could have undone the stupid agreements chaining us to the hated EU and simply said ‘RNLI, don’t respond to dinghys, border force will now be shooting them.’ He could have cut welfare, but he’s expanded it. He could have really changed things around but has done everything a good little statist could ever want.

      There is no point blithering about the country. Stay at home, Sunak. Tell your entire party not to bother.

    3. Did he though, Minty? I watched him emerge from 10 Downing Street and tell us all why voting Conservative was a good thing, and why voting Labour was a bad one. At no point did I hear him announce to the nation that he had called a General Election for the 4th of July. He then went back into No. 10 by the front door. I assume the announcement was made earlier in Parliament after getting His Majesty’s agreement. Please correct me if I am wrong.

  13. Nigel coming back will be like Churchill coming back in 1939. Your country needs you.

    2. 387533+ up ticks,

      Morning JN,
      I do beg to differ, him being the dead opposite to Winnie, condemned by his own words & actions.

      1. Different times and different men but the sentiment is very simmilar. Both outsiders but knew the truth.

        1. 387533+ up ticks,
          JN,

          Recent times, treachery was used in a very serious anti English manner.

      2. Many happy returns for tomorrow, Tom. Hope you have as good a day as you can.

  15. ‘Morning All

    Topical….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d96dd212059cd121ccdd74abf2f635d04578fffb6d1e2916efe2c387e074419d.jpg

    Rest

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e615c74301dcb6bee918b384ae01d8a4e5e34c95d3587e949659429f599cc75b.jpg

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0bcf6b753e2cd50d2d950fd7d24b80c801fe4d7dc8eda631f6177a4213ad5aa3.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/aa7c569965f7ede18e2ccb3099b6855ca2d39a885dcfaabd2ad776ea47ad178c.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/60916561a628e8fc75e5b7d7158f44c4e0d84fd36db568a7678c58c7e7d9a587.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e44eaf996f7e77b6bb4d1fc46fc6c7613a75130c66c947f8c752f0f136b9b606.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/85e88a3cff3b5bd977845d47986bff45e5f66483f660016801361827f7ea5bd8.gif

      1. It did cloud over this morning but sun is shining now and we have been saying goodbye to our neighbours at the holiday park.

      1. The grandchildren have grown up and there are too many of them to accommodate with additional partners when they all try and get together. Our own children have found the lodge peaceful without them but MOH is selling back to site owners as the latter can’t guarantee a price at end of season.

        BTW the lodge is near the coast and sooner or later will be getting closer to the crumbling cliff edge – famous for TV reports of buildings falling into the sea.

  17. This may be the last election before the next world war. 23 May 2024.

    In the forthcoming election, therefore, it is vital that the defence policies of all the main parties are subjected to the same level of scrutiny as other key issues, such as health and education. If the defence of the realm is the primary duty of any government, then it must be a top priority in the next election.

    Don’t make me laugh. What would we be fighting for? The UK is finished. If Coughlin and his Globalist pals want a war they should get started. I won’t be joining them!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/23/uk-election-rishi-sunak-conservative-party-world-war-putin/

  18. Good morning all.
    A slightly cooler and overcast 7°C but at least the rain has stopped for now.

    Whatever the Tories (In Name Only) do, a wipe out is inevitable. The question now is, “Can the UK survive five years of Labour?”

  20. 38753 up ticks,

    Labour will make UK ‘magnet for every illegal immigrant in Europe’, says Sunak in campaign launch

    What he is saying is fact, kneel starmer will accept the now well established
    WEF / NWO baton from sunak and a continuation of the invasion will take on a new phrase.

    Since Mrs Thatcher (RIP) was taken out the road to RESET has been a well illuminated flare-path to destruction, given consent to continue these past forty years
    via the polling stations

    Good men and their honest intentions to benifit the nation trashed, by those lit up like beacons of treachery and deceit, those that the eyes tight shut, party before Country brigade refuse to recognise in their true traitorous colours.

    1. I can’t tell if he’s taking the wee or not. This country is already that magnet. He has made it so by refusing to repeal the laws that stop us not getting rid of, but refusing the vermin entry in the first place.

      Why? Why do they dump law on law on law and then complain they can’t unravel it? That’s their job.

    1. Sadly, he makes that lectern look hilariously oversized, like a lego man beside Barbie furniture.

      The optics are wrong – ‘a washout’ springs to mind. An apt metaphor for his entire tenure.

      Mr Coburn is right though. Replacing the parties is irrelevant. We need a genuine change of government to one where the public are in control, not the bureaucracy.

  23. I’m just about to get up having been kept awake for the past two hours.
    My lovely neighbour I the flat above moved out a couple of months ago because she thought her landlord was spying on her (he is a weird and unpleasant man). A family with young children moved in and the noise it makes is unbearable. It doesn’t help that they replaced the carpets with laminate flooring so there is absolutely nothing to dampen the sound.

    3. Morning Stormy. You should first try the conciliatory approach. It will probably prove futile but you will at least have tried. You should also keep a record of any incidents and recordings of the noise will help. This will also help with any legal action.

    4. I had laminate flooring in my flat and was always aware that my downstairs neighbour could hear me. I would often ask if that was ok and if I caused any problems for her. She said while she could hear me, it wasn’t a bother.

      I was still aware of it and tried to mitigate. There is a limit to what you can do though.

    5. I think you will need to move. I wouldn’t even bother speaking with them.

    6. I think you will need to move. I wouldn’t even bother speaking with them.

  25. US contradicts Shapps claim that China and Russia are ‘working together’ on war in Ukraine. 23 May 2024.

    He told a defence conference in London: “An axis of authoritarian states led by Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea have escalated and fuelled conflicts and tensions.

    “They have increasingly been working together,” he said. “And today I can reveal that we have evidence that Russia and China are collaborating on combat equipment for use in Ukraine.”

    However, the claim was quickly disputed by Jake Sullivan, Joe Biden’s national security adviser.

    Asked about Mr Shapps’ speech at the daily White House press briefing, Mr Sullivan replied: “We have not seen that to date. I look forward to speaking with the UK to make sure that we have a common operating picture.”

    That is what you call a Diplomatic Thick Ear. Shapps has strayed into matters beyond his purview. He should stick to his instructions from Washington and that is it. I can’t really think of an equivalent. A Minister of Defence told to shut his gob!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/05/22/china-russia-help-putin-war-ukraine-grant-shapps/

  26. Good morning, all. Overcast but dry, thank goodness.

    This picture from Belle, late yesterday, has to be one of the most disturbing political statements of recent times. The two politicos posing in obeisance to both an extremely dubious figure and likewise dubious cult are slated to take control of the UK within weeks. Real leaders do not capitulate to the latest fad and demean themselves in an attempt to curry favour with the mob manipulating the fad. How much serious thought was put into the decision to perform and then publish this disgusting scene?

    Tough times ahead, methinks.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4692c8bfdc55c2b47b6311edc080cd658d34fea727d6a62aa73e682f4e33e89f.png

  27. For some obscure reason, each successive PM has a new podium built.

    Why? They all live in the same townhouse.

    1. They should just have one. Adjustable for midgets. I expect each new one costs £50,000.

  28. 387533+ up ticks,

    A health & safety alert from Ogga1,

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021

    9h

    I’m hearing that he is thinking of Clacton & is talking to donors.

    The voters of Clacton, or anywhere else he might run, should remember a few things:

    * He called decent people with legitimate concerns about immigration: “Drunken, bald headed, tattooed, thugs”.

    * After helping to destroy UKIP he stopped Brexit Party candidates running in Tory seats & then abandoned the Brexit Party after the Tory party win.

    * He is a Tory, & if he runs it will be because a bona fide Tory can’t win, but the voters will still end up with a Tory anyway in the form of Farage….more
    Nigel Farage to think ‘overnight’ about Reform candidacy in General Election — The Independent
    Nigel Farage to think ‘overnight’ about Reform candidacy in General Election — The Independent

    There has been speculation that Mr Farage, the party’s honorary president, could return to frontline politics for the election.

      1. 387533+ up ticks,

        Morning N,
        On preferability I would find it hard to judge between him & kim philby.

  29. Good Moaning.
    A hearty thank you to teachers who taught me to read and brain cells that lapped up the skill.
    This means I do not have to fill in the hours either being hectored about well being and climate change (thank you Chelsea show coverage) or listen to 6 weeks of bare faced lying.
    Be a Bookworm; Save your Sanity.

    1. Morning Anne ,

      I searched for peat based compost , no such thing anymore , small family run nurseries are furious because potting up seedlings and encouraging healthy plants , and the need to water more frequently has produced nothing but wasted energy , water , and more expense.

      Did you know that the Irish and the Scots can still use peat sods as a heat source , burning them in their home fires , yet we are dictated to by idiot celebrity gardeners wittering on about climate change !

      1. Morning Belle.

        Yes, the Nanny State gets ever more bossy and idiotic. You can help water retention by adding vermiculite, but it more expense of course. And as it is mined, it would be no surprise if the loony climate cultists banned that as well. I have a couple of compost worm bins and add a bit of that. It seems to help and seedling love the nutrients and microscopic life it contains.

      2. What passes for compost these days seems to be mainly shredded wood and other assorted debris.

      3. Because I am terminally sad and boring, yes, I did know that.
        Chelsea is now one long exercise in virtue signalling.

      4. I use peat on my woodburner – I have a peat field as part of my share of common grazing which comes with my croft

  30. Blinken backs plan to allow US missiles to be fired into Russia. 23 May 2024.

    The US Secretary of State is reportedly backing a plan to allow US missiles donated to Ukraine to be fired into Russia
    Anthony Blinken is pushing for strict White House rules to be relaxed following a visit to Kyiv last week in the wake of a new invasion from the northern border, the New York Times reported.

    Yes the Warmongers are in control now.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/05/23/russia-ukraine-latest-blinken-missiles/

    1. Russia’s restraint is impressive, AS, demonstrating that despite the lies we are told, it does not want war with the West. Just imagine if Russian or Chinese missiles were being fired into Texas from Mexico by Russian and Chinese soldiers pretending to be Mexicans. The US would undoubtedly regard that as an act of war and act accordingly.

      We are entering very dangerous territory now, as the Ukrainian Army implodes and Russia advances on all fronts. The corrupt dictator Zelenski (his term of office expired a few days ago) is doing all he can to involve the US and its Nato puppets. Frighteningly, all those things that the US said it would not allow, such as supplying long range missiles, as being too provocative, are now being allowed, despite the fact that Ukraine has lost the war. This shows beyond reasonable doubt that US policy is not to protect Ukraine, but instead to damage Russia.

      1. It is an economic competitor for gas. With the massive damage Biden has done to the US economy they need all the money they can get. Selling arms to nations by exacerbating the threat is handy too.

      2. It is an economic competitor for gas. With the massive damage Biden has done to the US economy they need all the money they can get. Selling arms to nations by exacerbating the threat is handy too.

    2. Are the hawks pushing for escalation in response to the revelations appearing about the concerted effort of the ‘Deep State” to stop Trump at any cost, even war?

      Put nothing beyond these thoroughly evil people. It’s looking like a life or death situation for them.

    1. Getting rid of him only to replace him with exactly the same policies is pointless. The state must be controlled and restrained, not merely moving the chairs around.

  34. Good morning all ,

    It was a bright sunny early morning at 6am , now dark clouds and a brisk breeze mean rain soon.

    Back to original Conservative manifesto promises , fat chance in hell !

    SIR – The Conservative Party’s only chance of avoiding annihilation in the general election is to adopt conservative policies, namely smaller government and lower taxes.

    I live in hope, but fear the manifesto will be a continuance of current Left-of-centre policies. If this is the case, the party will lose votes to Labour on the Left and Reform UK on the Right, with many Conservatives staying at home.

    Richard North
    Reading, Berkshire

    1. If they wanted conservative policies they wouldn’t have done in Truss. Clearly, they don’t. It’ll be more Left wing tripe no one wants to vote for. I’d wager there’s not going to be much difference in their manifestos – not that those are worth anything.

      1. Where does this notion come from that no one wants to vote for left wing tripe? It’s evident to me that this country has a substantial population of those who want such things as a more generously funded NHS; a kinder and more welcoming attitude to refugees and asylum seekers; more help for and less doubting of the sincerity of those who claim to be unwell; the renationalisation of railways and utilities; a faster and more assertive drive towards net zero; rejoining the European Union, including adopting its currency and joining Schengen; more punitive taxation and more generous welfare policies in the name of fairness; less tolerance of and more assertive action against those who express opinions which suggest that minorities of any kind are in any way inferior to the general population, including the tougher policing of language used; mandatory minimum percentages of women and ethnic minorities in a wide range of occupations and public positions; agricultural and food policies which drive down meat consumption. I reckon those policies alone would have the support of several hundred thousand, if not low millions, of people. Not a majority, for sure, but a considerable and assertive minority.

        1. Folk will vote for what gets them the most. That is, usually, Left wing ideology. Someone earning the money wants to keep it. Someone getting given money wants more of it – regardless of where it comes from.

          That’s unfair on those earning it. You could also argue its unfair on those being given it as it reduces the need for effort and attainment.

          Folk don’t want a nice health care system, they want one that works. That, sadly, means something that isn’t the NHS inn it’s current form. However suggest to people that they pay for it to get better services is anathema, yet… they already do, through the nose. The problem is money spent by the state on the NHS almost never goes in to front line services. It’s too big, too centralised, too monolithic. Thus you could pour our entire GDP into it and it would still remain inefficient, expensive and poor quality.

          Thus people want better, but refuse to accept that means it has to invert how it currently operates.

          Those who want more immigrants benefit from them. Most obviously universities like the fees. Companies like the cheaper labour and, being blunt, the higher skill levels. However, those destroy jobs locally (same as happens in the third world when foreigners (us) turn up to dig their trenches for water. University funding is again back to front as we need a small, highly skilled local workforce. Public policy demands ever more people increasingly solely out of statist spite for not getting what it wants.

          Net zero is a tax scam. A hoax perpetrated on the public to allow a minority to get rich at the expense of the public. It is another drive toward socialism and statism by irrelevant supranational bodies that we, and every other nation should ignore and let die as the failures they are.

          Those who wan to rechain this country to the EU are wrong. At every level for countless myriad reasons. Their lack of understanding is terrifying. Trade with, yes. Be ruled by an unaccountable, anti democratic bunch of failed communists? No. The ecological damage the EU continues to do is reason enough to nuke the damned thing and all who infest it.

          Welfare is inherently unfair and starvation is a good motivator. The poorest also go on to commit most crime, have the highest incidence of illness, social problems and cost the most throughout their lives. This is a direct result in many cases of massive uncontrolled immigration – the Left want more people and then want the poor to be cared for – by other people. This makes us all poorer, punishes effort, merit and achievement. and traps people in poverty. The Left know this and yet enforce that cycle because it suits their ideology.

          If folk want what they say policed they almost always mean they want to control what others can say to and about them. That’s fascism and is disgusting. The first person demanding an end to absolute freedom of speech should be the first one silenced. But.. but.. what about insults and racism – then deal with the individual, not the tool.

          If folk want to be vegetablists that’s their choice. Forcing others to be is abusive. Forcing anyone to do as you do without their consent is wrong. The Left always want others to obey them because they are convinced of the righteousness of their cause – they never ever stop and think ‘what about what other people want?’

          Thus the Left wing mind is an authoritarian, imposing, abusive, bigoted, suppressing force. It never works and then they aalways resort to violence – freedom of speech being the first to go. They’re trying it again with energy and fuel. If folk vote for this they are stupid. Some do because they don’t understand the consequences but by then the Left are hell for leather abusing their (as the UN, EU, Democratic party, greeniacs, net zero fanatics love to do). You can convince people to accept any view (see Bernard and national service) but the simple reality is that the premise of being human is the ability to choose. That’s the crux of all freedom. The Left want to remove choice. They always have. Their policies sound nice because they demand someone else suffer for your (plural) gain. The truth is the end result is the same: control and power for the unelected, unaccountable evil dictates of the unhinged.

          Being ‘right wing’ is mostly a request to be left alone and work hard for yourself and others, creating a better society that way. It’s damned hard. There’s no easy answer. No good solution. What it is is responsible, dutiful and based on merit and effort. The Left wing attitude is to kick someone else until you get what you want, then blame them when it’s not enough.

          The problem is, eventually (evidentially) the person getting kicked stops bothering and we all get pulled backward. If everyone wants someone else to go out hunting eventually there is no food and the tribe dies. If the tribe leader *stop* people going hunting through demanding women go along on the hunt and those woman can’t throw a spear or keep up with the men then the tribe dies.

          I know and work with lots of Indian and Europeans. They’re all lovely people who work very hard and i have the greatest respect for most of them but they are taking a job from a local (welfare also encourages this but that’s a side issue).

        2. Well those who want to rob Peter to pay Paul can always count on Paul’s vote. Eventually Peter gives up though and then Paul is stuffed.

        3. There is a highly vocal number of people who may want all the things you suggest. Talking to the average worker on the street, however, I don’t come across these attitudes at all.

  35. From today onwards, once unloaded the
    small boats bringing the Doveristas across the Channel will be sold to
    Brits to escape this Septic Isle

    1. I do wonder what big fat state will do when those working simply can’t any more. When it’s just not worth bothering. OK, we’ve had a semblance of that recently but let’s say they cannot devalue the currency any further, that borrowing simply isn’t an option. When we’re further back than Argentina.

      What will big fat state do then?

  36. How is a bolt for Blair “Change” rather than a resumption of more of the same?

  39. Rwanda flights won’t take off before general election, says Sunak . 23 May 2024.

    Rishi Sunak has conceded Rwanda migrant deportation flights will not take off before the general election on July 4.

    He guaranteed the flights will get off the ground if he wins the contest, telling LBC: “If I’m elected, we will get the flights off.”

    Well colour me surprised. Lol!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/23/politics-latest-news-general-election-polls-sunak-starmer/

  40. Good day all and the 77th troops,

    Cloudy at Castle McPhee, wind in the West, 13℃ going up to 16℃. At least it’s not raining.

    So they’re off. With most of the runners and riders still in their horse boxes.

    Dear politicians and would be politicians, my shopping list is simple:

    End migration and start repatriations.
    Leave the EHRC.
    Finish Brexit in the first year in office (Northern Ireland and fisheries)
    Purge the Marxists and Common Purpose ‘alumni’ from the civil service, police forces and armed forces.
    Purge the Marxists and Common Purpose ‘alumni’ from education.
    Purge the Marxists and Common Purpose ‘alumni’ from local and city government.
    Ban all new mosque building.
    Ban Sharia law.
    Ban the burqa and face coverings in public.
    Re-state the primacy of Christianity in national life.
    Cancel Net Zero.
    Repeal the Climate Change Act.
    Declare that no-one who has attended WEF programmes at DAVOS may sit in any public appointment.
    End all LGBTQXYZ influence ain all public institutions.
    End all other manifestations of wokery.
    Cut NHS and social spending to return defence spending to 5% of GDP returning the numerical strength of the armed forces to cold war levels.
    Start the prosecutions of the culprits of the Covid debacle.
    Compensate adequately the vaccine injured.
    Tell the UN/WEF/IMF/BiS and Gates/Soros/Rockefeller foundations to piss off.
    Rebalance the tax system to favour marriage and the traditional family.

    That’s all for now but I’ll be back.

    I hold no hope that there will be a candidate on the ballot in my constituency whom I can support.

    1. Do what they do in France about private schools and private health:

      1.) Give each private school the same amount of money for each pupil it educates as they spend on the education of a child in the state sector. Parents have paid for their children’s education with their taxes – why should they be robbed of this entitlement?

      2.) In France your compulsory insurance scheme entitles you to medical care. If you want to use private medical care you just pay the difference in cost. Private clinics work hand in hand with state hospitals so they complement each other and so the private clinics often cost no more.

      In the UK if you use either private education or private medical care British politicians of all parties have always been vindictive and nasty in their desire to punish those who want to be independent by robbing them of things for which they have paid with their taxes.

    2. They’ll argue they cannot – even if they waned to – do any of those things because of X, Y or Z law. Laws they’ve enacted, mind. Laws they could *repeal*.

      1. Bang on the nail comment. Modern British governments constantly pretend that they cannot do something because of some law they created or supported on its introduction. Also, they outsource decisions/policies to quangos/charities/NGOs and blame these entities if things go wrong. The only solutions are to introduce rigorous training and exams for MPs to root out the ideologues and/or unintelligent incompetents and have more referenda so the electorate, themselves, can make the decisions that matter. Not the self-serving, self-regarding, status-hound idiots which the profession attracts at present.

    3. Totally agree.
      We need a complete clear out in Wastemonster it’s beyond repair.
      Including the septic tank next door.
      The lords. Filled with greedy arrogant self opinionated parasites.

    4. The problem is that no matter who (or which party) you choose to vote for you are still going to end up with the Left and, consequently, the WEF.

    2. Mostly yes.. Safer than London.

      Crime levels are relatively low in Rwanda, but there are cases of burglary, theft, bag-snatching and mugging (violent theft) in Kigali. To reduce your personal risk: take care when walking at night. arrange transport in advance.

      https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/rwanda/safety-and-security&ved=2ahUKEwia8or4qaOGAxXyVkEAHXAGDDcQFnoECA4QAw&usg=AOvVaw27IKKnNspZVzlE6jChkpH-

  43. All the political parties in the UK are beyond repair, and have been for a while. Therefore voting for any of them is betraying the nation, yet as a voter over the last fifty years, it is one of my few civic duties to elect someone to satisfy the King that he, she or it is fit to govern.

    In 2015, I decided that all I can do is to hope that my vote can go towards the best candidate, the one with the best character, the most resources at hand, the best attitude to the public and the nation, and has the imagination to steer round the many hindrances placed in the way by select interests. I do not care what label is used.

    Like a butterfly in creation, there needs a time in the chrysalis when the hungry caterpillar turns to mush and needs to be shielded and left to transform in peace. Politically, the best we have is a benign King. Rather than the constant sniping and griping at the man, who is human and not divine and can only do his best, and does indeed perform way beyond what could be reasonably expected of anyone, I hope that the King can be allowed to assemble the armour to safeguard the nation as it rebuilds its broken institutions.

    As for the politicos, the best we can hope for now is a goodly collection of Independents of sound conscience and not whipped into doing the wrong thing by their “betters”. Out of this can emerge a new set of parties fit to govern that possess rather more integrity than the current shower.

  44. Morning all 🙂😊
    Grey again rain later.
    I think most voters have forgotten what Tory principles are they don’t seem to have been following or taking anything in that the British public would have been happy with for a long time. I’m hoping that Reform can get their act together for the election. And out all three of the main parties. None of them have any particular interest what the British taxpayers and general public would like to happen.
    Between them all in Westminster they have completly ruined and deliberately wrecked our country, its culture and social structure. It will never be the same fairly easy going safe country ever again.

  45. The best part of living in Sweden right now, for me — a Briton who retains the UK vote —, is that I don’t have to endure another 43 days of political bollocks being driven at me by the various ‘news’ media.

    On a parallel issue, yesterday I received my Swedish voting card for the upcoming EU elections in June. Sweden has a weird voting system that doesn’t use a single voting slip with all the candidates’ names on it (if it did it would be so easy to write “NOTA” or “SWEXIT” all over it). Instead you walk behind a curtain onto the voting booth and select one of a number of coloured cards, each with one candidates name on it. You then place your selected card into a sealed envelope and then drop that envelope into the ballot box. No pencils involved.

    I though, being different, will take my own pencil. I shall choose one of every card in the rack and then write “SWEXIT” across them all before placing them all into the envelope. Protest voting, Grizzly-style, is going hit Sweden in a big way. 😂

    1. Hello Grizzly ,

      So if you are a Briton who retains the UK vote , by living in Sweden , would the same apply to the multitudes of
      Brit passport holding foreigners who return to Pakistan/ India/ Nigeria /Iraq/Somalia /Bungledesh etc

  46. Your wishes are noble and kinder to the bunch of fools than I would be, but increasingly our government is not able to change anything. They’ve given away/adopted so much international legislation that they cannot do what needs to be done. For every UN charter or decree there’s an WHO demand, or an EU demand, or A N other stricture. The state gives so much away one wonders what half a million administrators actually have to do (the answer’s very little. Many are bored https://www.reddit.com/r/TheCivilService/comments/vud5b2/recent_joiner_and_bored/ – I do not believe the person complaining of one person doing the work of 3. The CS is inefficient, not understaffed.

    Only radical reform, removing the ability of government to act will change anything. When the public can demand that laws hindering their lives are removed then, and only then do we have progress. This newfangled idea could be called… oh, I don’t know… democracy?

  47. I agree with your thoughts on the parties but the King and his son have been sucked in by the WEF and the climate zealots. Ecology is another matter and can be supported without any damage to the economy, indeed, its a money spinner for many countries.

    1. It is perhaps asking too much for the royals not to be somewhat intellectually challenged, and a degree in Fine Arts is perhaps the highest reaches they can aspire to. It’s perhaps why they are patrons of a number of organisations that can call on the brightest minds, who in return for their patronage swear loyalty to the King.

      I have an open mind about current theories about artificial climate change. After considering the evidence I have, such as melting glaciers, warming seas, blokes swimming to the North Pole [edit – corrected for writer’s mental infirmity], wildfires and floods which seem to be getting less manageable, I recognise the peril and suspect that the powers-that-be have underplayed the issue, lest it create a sense of panic in the young and a breakdown of morale. One aspect of even very modest climate disturbance often overlooked is that if this forces large migrations of people, host civilisations become destabilised, and the resulting wars would have a devastating effect on human infrastructure regardless of the climate figures.

      As the seriously retarded King Edward VIII once remarked “something must be done”. With him, turning to Hitler for redemption may not have been the most sensible thing that must be done though. Like you, I have grave doubts whether measures put in to tackle climate change are effective, and some may even be seriously counterproductive.

      I am entirely supportive of a better understanding and application of the science of ecology.

      1. Climate change is not man-made but is driven by the sun and natural forces. The underwater volcano eruption pushed huge amounts of water vapour into the atmosphere and that has been one of the reasons for floods.

        1. The weather was bad for four years following the Mt St Helen’s eruption (1980) in the US.

      2. Climate change is not man-made but is driven by the sun and natural forces. The underwater volcano eruption pushed huge amounts of water vapour into the atmosphere and that has been one of the reasons for floods.

  48. 398533+ up ticks,

    Pulling out the stops now nige’s cover must surely be blown, in retrospect a tory
    come founder member, along with Gerard Batten of UKIP, only difference betwixt the two was farage was a coxswain of dubious nature, whereas Batten was a free thinking
    patriot & United Kingdom asset.

    Farage expected to attend Reform campaign launch today amid rumours of return
    Richard Tice, the Reform leader, due to hold press conference at 11am to set out election plans

  49. Ah, so getting rid of the criminal invaders can only happen when you’re in office? What other laws only apply while you’re in office?

    Get out in the channel and shoot the invaders. Get rid of the ones here – big catapult, cannon, shot putting contest, shipping container dumped over the Sahara – no one cares. Get rid of them, and the infestation of parliament and Whitehall.

  50. When Starmer takes over the first thing he will do will be to scrap the Rwanda plan.

    What has this total fiasco cost the UK?
    How much money is being spent on housing and feeding illegal immigrants and the cost of their legal aid?
    How does this benefit the ordinary indigenous UK tax payer in any way?

  51. He’s had months if not years to stop the invasion and has totally ignored all public opinion. Which is really against the policy of a successful government.
    And most of what they tell us or we have told have been absolute lies.

  53. JUNE MENDOZA
    Perceptive and skilful portrait painter whose subjects ranged from royalty to Chelsea Pensioners
    The Daily Telegraph 23 May 2024. June Mendoza, born June 12 1924, died May 16 2024

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3e72ed81a84e7b492815ae02031edeb96689207b6a7e98f376f723c7df0e19a2.png June Mendoza in her studio: her sitters included Queen Elizabeth II and Mrs Thatcher

    JUNE MENDOZA, who has died aged 99, was an artist who came to specialise in oil portraits of the great and the good; her subjects included the then Prince Charles, Judi Dench, Tom Stoppard, Queen Elizabeth II – five times – and 440 inhabitants of the House of Commons.

    Working initially in quick brushstrokes to capture a likeness – the face, the hands and the body – with the sitter in front of her, June Mendoza would then fill in the clothes on her own. Pearls, ties and other pieces of costuming would be modelled on a bear that sat on a high chair in her studio.

    She always worked from life, never from photographs (“I want nothing in between me and the person,” she explained), earning praise both for her sensitive way of handling paint and for her versatility. Various sitters also remarked on the sharpness of her observational skills – her way of “seeing right into your character”, as one put it.

    With many of her subjects hailing from the upper echelons of society, the context in which they chose to be portrayed was often essential to the overall impression. Clothes could be elaborately ceremonial, and settings included some of the oldest and most imposing buildings in various different countries. Thus, Margaret Thatcher marked her 10th anniversary as prime minister with six sittings for June Mendoza at Downing Street and Chequers.

    A portrait of Maria Corazon “Cory” Aquino, the former president of the Philippines, was painted in and for the sumptuous Malacañang Palace in Manila – even though the president had elected not to live there during her time in office, as part of an effort to distance herself from the decadence of her predecessor Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda.

    An even more formidable challenge, from the point of view of the artist, was a 1987 panorama of the British House of Commons in session, completed over a period of 15 months. The scene took in the vaulted ceiling and high windows through which light fell onto the MPS below. At the Despatch Box was Margaret Thatcher, while every figure in the debating chamber – who had won a ballot in order to feature alongside the key players – was painstakingly and individually realised.

    Though June Mendoza was too discreet – and, during any one sitting, too busy – to probe those she painted for intimate details about themselves, there were a number who stuck in the memory.

    In 1984 a young Princess Diana elected to pose for her in front of a tapestry at Kensington Palace for a commission from the Worshipful Company of Grocers. Later June Mendoza recalled the “great fun” of browsing through the royal wardrobe for the right gown, and the touching concern of the “informal and easy” young woman herself, who would leave the previous night’s flowers out for her while she worked.

    The Prince of Wales was so impressed by the finished work that he personally requested a painting of the late Earl Mountbatten of Burma – one of the few occasions on which she agreed to break her own rule by working from a photograph.

    June Mendoza’s first time painting Queen Elizabeth II was in 1981, in a commission for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Due to an exceptionally busy schedule, time with the monarch was short, with sessions limited to one hour rather than the artist’s usual two. There were, however, certain advantages to working with someone who had been so frequently portrayed.

    “She’s so used to it, it’s really two professional people working together,” she told The Daily Telegraph in 2012. “It was great fun – and cliffhanging because her face is not a sharp face, it’s not easy drawing.”

    Subsequent occasions allowed her to perfect the art of depicting pearls through repeated renditions of the monarch’s favourite three-stringed necklace, and to acquaint herself with other parts of the palace.

    “I was allowed to wander around”, she recalled, “and choose gorgeous chairs, bits and pieces on the wall, carvings – wonderful ideas for four different backgrounds.”

    She was born in Melbourne on June 12 1924 to John Morton and his wife Doris (Dot). Both were theatre musicians, John playing the violin and Dot the piano. They would separate when June was six, eventually divorcing in 1942. Dot subsequently reverted to her maiden name of Mendoza, and her children would accompany her backstage when she toured with various Russian ballet companies. The experience gave June her first taste of performing, as she was called upon to make up the crowd scenes in productions.

    Having left school early, she spent some time in professional theatre; but while her brother Peter eventually made acting the backbone of his career, for June it was her early talent for drawing that won out. Having moved to post-war London, she studied at St Martin’s School of Art and secured a job with the weekly comic magazine Girl, where her knowledge of dance was put to good use drawing the “Belle of the Ballet” strip.

    She set up house in Earl’s Court – known in those days as “Kangaroo Valley” owing to the large quotient of Australians and New Zealanders – and paid her way with art, occasionally falling back on the barter system in order to make ends meet. She also sang with various bands and appeared in the West End, performing in Me and My Girl for the musical’s original star, Lupino Lane.

    An early first marriage did not last, and her second husband died of a brain tumour. She married, thirdly, Keith Mackrell, an oil executive who went on to become a governor of the London School of Economics. In 1960 he was posted to the Philippines for five years, where an abundance of household servants gave June time to paint every day alongside the demands of raising a young family.

    She and Keith had two daughters and a son together; another daughter was adopted at 13 days old. However, June never quite took to the expat life, and was glad to return to England – albeit briefly – before a four-year posting to Australia in 1969.

    While back in the country of her birth, she was officially commissioned to paint Sir John Gorton, Australia’s unconventional prime minister from 1968-71, whom she depicted informally dressed in an open-necked white shirt, red cravat and tan jacket. It remains the only official portrait of an Australian premier by a female artist.

    By the mid-1970s she was settled in Wimbledon, and gaining notice for her renderings of actors and musicians. As her reputation became more established she was able to move away from “bread-and-butter” commissions from business and industry figures and devote a portion of her time to any subject who caught her eye.

    On occasion these chosen ones might turn out to be famous in their own right – one such was Madeline Bell, the jazz singer, who had impressed June with her elegance at a lunch gathering – but more often they were picked from a crowd of unknowns.

    At the turn of the century she embarked on a long-running project with the Chelsea Pensioners – painting some in the famous red uniform with a full complement of medals, while at other times confining herself to the face in isolation. “Some artists choose St Paul’s at sunset,” she explained. “I choose people.”

    For a time June Mendoza was the only female member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, as well as a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and an honorary member of the Society of Women Artists. She was appointed OBE in the 2004 New Year Honours.

    June Mendoza has been an inspiration to me; I have learnt so much from her DVDs on portrait-painting.

    Perhaps if that young paint-dauber — who has produced a ghastly cartoon of the Princess of Wales — had watched and listened to the sage advice from a proper artist, like June, then that ‘portrait’ she produced might just have resembled the sitter.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6c959c643e8d19daceec9b0a03d3c251c5246ba8a68d6628c7a5192eaa2a30d3.png

    1. A lovely portrait of Margaret Thatcher.

      They may have scorned her for being only a grocer’s daughter but she was certainly in a much higher class than any of the politicians of today!

    2. Thanks for that. Been looking at some of her portraits, and I feel inspired to fish out my brushes again! (Not had time, what with the dancing and the language.)

      One thing I notice is that she doesn’t automatically assume that eyes point in the same direction. (Something of which I am guilty.) And I suspect her accuracy in portraying character was much strengthened by her refusal to use photos; very inspiring.

  54. Hello, Maggie.

    No doubt that is the case..

    Do you object to me — a Briton who continues to be a UK tax-payer — retaining my right to vote in the country I pay my taxes to?

    1. Nope ,

      Your antecedents have pedigree , and no doubt there are many Grizzly generations mentioned in Derbyshire/ Yorkshire Parish records .

      My feeling is that recent incomers should not have the right to vote , and the majority of them will not be tax payers either , nor will they speak English or have contributed to harmony in the UK.

      No Muslim voters for starters , okay?

      1. Many Muslims will have acquired citizenship so they will be entitled to vote. Also adults who were born here. It’s too late to stop them.

  56. Hope it’s a warmer day today. Only 21c indoors and I’m on leave so home much of the day but going to the lunchtime concert at the Wigmore. Had a rough throat for the past couple of days but no sign of a cold, just heartburn that kept me awake last night so maybe the throat problem is acid reflux. It’s a little better this morning. The concert is soprano Ermonela Jaho, accompanied by Carlo & Marco Rizzi (piano and violin) in a programme of Donizetti and Bellini songs. It’s sold out, which is pretty good for a Thursday lunchtime?

    The Tories could save themselves by coming clean and both openly acknowledging and rejecting the WEF/UN Agendas but that isn’t going to happen? They’re either too scared or too dumb and it would have to be a collective decision. They couldn’t all meet mysterious and untimely deaths but if only one or too come out, they might, or a mountain of dirt on them would be manufactured (Trump style) and deluge The Media.

    1. Take ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda and 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar in half a pint of lukewarm water first thing every morning.

      Also do not eat after 6:00 p.m. in the evening. Try it, it works to curtail acid-reflux.

    2. Take ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda and 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar in half a pint of lukewarm water first thing every morning.

      Also do not eat after 6:00 p.m. in the evening. Try it, it works to curtail acid-reflux.

    3. “One or two” of course. On the iPhone, Disqus isn’t letting me scroll down far enough to edit that!

    4. Hello Sue ,

      There are loads of strange viruses finding their way into our noses etc.

      You are so lucky to have access to concerts and wonderful events .

      All that seems on offer down here are tribute bands etc.

      Having said that we are lucky to have this every year https://www.dorsetartweeks.co.uk/

      Sadly can be a bit samey though !

  58. It seems to contain many slug eggs as well.
    Best compost is from your own garden waste and uncooked kitchen waste. The problem is getting it out of the upright bins. 😉

  59. It seems to contain many slug eggs as well.
    Best compost is from your own garden waste and uncooked kitchen waste. The problem is getting it out of the upright bins. 😉

  61. We see the banker sitting waiting for a trim
    And then, the fireman rushes in from the pouring rain
    Very strange

    [The Beatles Penny Lane]

    This rather wet banker should have followed the fireman.

    BTL Comment on Sunak’s July 4th gamble:

    He’ll soon be Gambolling in the US banking business!

    (But will he be Proctoring as well after suffering a whitewash?)

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e2c9972c6f28644ddad09e81f9f535450d631296df90fb8abcc71e03bc1270b8.png

    1. I wonder what Maggie’s opinion would have been of this particular ‘wet’?

    2. I’m not sure I would have had the patience to deliver that speech.

      Sometimes a bit of improvisation does not come amiss. Sod the convention that big speeches must always be delivered from a lectern outside No.10 for the cameras. I’d have made a remark that the music is horrible and nobody can be expected to be taken seriously over a background mush of muzak any more than it turns a serious TV show into a soundbite that is quickly forgotten.

      I’d have stopped speaking, picked the lectern up and taken it under cover and out of earshot of that horrible tuneless wailing that passes for “talent” and invited in anyone with a mobile phone or a portable camera to cover the event. Those lacking the flexibility to cover anything other than the conventional could stay out in the rain listening to the “music”. Let others turn Downing Street into Glastonbury if they must.

      Oh, and any party claiming to be any more than a one man band would have held an umbrella over him. Penny Mordaunt is rather good at such ceremonials.

      1. Penny Mordaunt is Gates’ friend and puppet.

        Charles is in deep with the Davos billionaires so that privilege was likely given to Mordaunt as a reward from Gates.

          1. Difficult not to, Sweets.

            Whereas Mordaunt is all over Bill and doesn’t have to be.

            Does she like his money?

  62. We see the banker sitting waiting for a trim
    And then, the fireman rushes in from the pouring rain
    Very strange

    [The Beatles Penny Lane]

    This rather wet banker should have followed the fireman.

    BTL Comment on Sunak’s July 4th gamble:

    He’ll soon be Gambolling in the US banking business!

    (But will he be Proctoring as well after suffering a whitewash?)

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e2c9972c6f28644ddad09e81f9f535450d631296df90fb8abcc71e03bc1270b8.png

    2. That tongue work reminds me of the incredibly erotic dream I had last night. I dreamt I was lying in bed between a naked Paula Vennels and a naked Jacinda Ardern, who were both doing their very ‘best’ to arouse me.

      I confess that, in my unconsciousness, I succumbed to their ministrations. I experienced a wet nightmare!🤢

    1. Disappointing. The only help Trump needs is in ensuring the ballot count is legitimate.

    2. Who cares. The charlatan is of as much interest to me as is Richie Rishi.

  66. Anyone use Duck Duck Search? It doesn’t seem to be functioning this morning!!!

    1. Google.
      Microsoft Bing.
      Yahoo.
      Baidu.
      Yandex.
      DuckDuckGo.
      Ask.com.
      Ecosia.

      I got those using Google search. :@)

      1. Thanks Pip and Got anymore recommendations with regard to M&S desserts or cakes?

        1. They have a nice range but i have gone over to Sainsbury’s now. The price difference on some items is considerable.
          It was the Sicilian Lemon tart that stood out for me and i thought worth recommending.

          1. Yes, they were good. Sue, my carer, liked them too. We have a ritual, tea and some sort of desert after she has done all the housework.

            I shop at Sainsburys also. Discovered anything outstanding there?

          2. Their loose New Potatoes. They still had the dirt on them. They tasted exactly as i remembered them. The bagged ones don’t taste of anything much.

          4. I really enjoyed them Having them again today with noisettes of lamb. I should think they would also make a very good potato salad.

        2. They have a nice range but i have gone over to Sainsbury’s now. The price difference on some items is considerable.
          It was the Sicilian Lemon tart that stood out for me and i thought worth recommending.

  71. How bright and brave they look, shouldering five-foot rifles
    On the parade ground lit up by the first gleams of day
    China’s daughters have high-aspiring minds

    Mao’s poem to celebrate his millie-tant defeminised wimmin warriors.

    Fun fact to brighten up your day..
    95% of the extreme radical progressive activist Lefties.. the ones that want to string up climate deniers & anyone who is lidderally committing gennycider.. are.. drumroll.. female.

  74. Why so soon on July 4?

    Why not wait until October when interest rates will be lower?

    Is it because Sunak cannot ratify the WHO Pandemic Treaty due to the opposition of Conservative MPs?

    So Davos wants their puppet Sunak out and replaced with their puppet Starmer who would be able to ratify it!

    1. I think it’s a cunning plan. A surprise election which may have caught everyone off guard.
      Pedro Sanchez did the same and managed to scrape through. Perhaps Sunak hopes he’ll manage too.
      He can hope.

    2. I thought that the ratification of that was imminent this month? It is also worth bearing in mind that Sunak has already started to row back a bit on the net zero agenda which isn’t in the script.

  75. For those of you who missed the rare atmospheric spectacle last week, experts say don’t worry as there is a good chance you will once again be able to see sunlight in parts of the UK this coming weekend.

  76. I have a serious question and would be grateful for help or any suggestions that people could make.

    My South African friend is here on a Health Care Visa but the Agency that she works for has been closed down by the government. Apparently the government has decided to wage war on people who come into the country legally. Here is an article about it.

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/other/uk-visa-applications-from-foreign-health-and-care-workers-drop-76-as-new-home-office-changes-take-hold/ar-BB1mQslu?ocid=BingNewsSerp

    She has received a letter from the government telling her that she must find another job within 60 days by a firm willing to sponsor her. But this has been made impossible by the government because it is closing down all the agency’s that were sponsoring workers from abroad, using all sorts of spurious reasons to shut them down.

    Sue is terrified, she is a white South African and what is worse, a Boer from one of the original settler families, they have been in South Africa for 300 years. She says that if she goes back she will be a target, she will not be able to get a job or housing and will be murdered because she was a vocal opponent of the ANC (she was a lawyer in South Africa). But, as a White South African, our lily livered government refuses to see her as a political refugee. She tells me that she would rather go underground in order to stay here and would kill herself if she is forced to go back to South Africa.

    I have the feeling her plight judging from the other South Africans I know, is not unique and, although I haven’t seen the other two in a while I know they must be worried too. One of them, Rob, was trying to bring his family over because of the circumstances his wife and two children have been forced to live in since he left.

      1. Push comes to shove she provably would but she wants to stay in the UK and I want her to as well. She is the person that looks after me. But she is not just my carer she has also become my closest friend, the only person I have really connected with since I returned from the USA. We have the same interests and the same sense of humour, even like the same foods.

        1. Can’t you sponsor her privately, if she works for you as a carer. You would need to pay her a wage.

      1. No, she is a Boer and has no connection to Holland at all. There is Dutch in her background as well as Huguenot and lots of other influences, but we would be talking at least a couple of hundred years ago. People don’t realize that there are actually White South Africans, that is people who are actually native to South Africa with no European ties. They are the original natives of the place, especially if they are from the Cape. The Black South Africans arrived 200 years after the white settlers. So apart from being white and way back when, European, they are as much European as a white American who’s family has lived in the USA for 300 years. The connection is so tenuous that they aren’t really Europeans and, of course, they have their own language that no one else speaks in the world, Afrikaans.

        1. The only reason I asked is that we know some white Saffers – Boers – whose family has been in SA for over 150 years who have relatives in The Netherlands.

          1. I understood that Bill but her family goes so far back in S.A. they have no connections in Europe.

    4. The simple truth is that Africa was vastly improved by the white British and other white Europeans who went there. The disintegration of much of Africa is down to the blacks who replaced the whites.

      But there is not a single person in public life in UK politics who has the courage to express this simple truth.

    5. Health Care Visa? must find another job within 60 days by a firm willing to sponsor her.
      I understand that Bluebird Care UK are super desperate for staff.
      With over 200 offices nationwide, Bluebird Care is one of the UK’s largest home care franchises.

      1. If I were her I would ask Johnathan to help fund & set up shop in UK and start her very own HomeCare business.. it’s a huge business sector, and the trick is finding staff that are willing to work Friday & Saturdays.
        kerrrrching.. from adversity comes an opportunity glasshopper.

        1. That would take more than 60 days because of licenses etc. I had already suggested that to her.

        1. “Apparently” there’s a vein of business on the north side of the Thames from Maidenhead through Henley.. Caversham.. Pangbourne.. Wantage that require her services right now..
          start tomorrow 6:30am. a Mrs May of Maidenhead.

          1. You’d have to catch her first; she’ll be hurtling through a wheatfield.

    6. Health Care Visa? must find another job within 60 days by a firm willing to sponsor her.
      I understand that Bluebird Care UK are super desperate for staff.
      With over 200 offices nationwide, Bluebird Care is one of the UK’s largest home care franchises.

    7. Of course it would be difficult to uproot with your health being delicate but as an Orthodox Christian, you would both be welcome in Russia?

    8. Suggest she looks towards Sweden, Denmark & Norway for employment. Maybe Finland?

    9. One’s we want are deterred whilst if you play fast and loose with the war, don’t consider the law to be a thing to take notice of and are utterly shameless, you will get in. She needs a pro-white immigration lawyer and to keep contacting all sponsor agencies. There are a few recruitment ones online. And drop a cv into local homes to see if they will sponsor direct. If she’s got money can’t she buy dual citizenship in another safer country?

  77. Genuine news fact….Somebody started a joke online saying that Mossad,the Israeli secret service, killed the Iranian president, and the perpetrator was named Eli Kopter.
    This has been reported as fact by the Pakistani Government……Who said Muslims were thick?

    1. This Eli Copter joke has been taken from Benny Hill’s song Gipsy Rock

      Indeed, some of Benny Hill’s songs are surprisingly good! (if you like that sort of thing)

      The day they wed, Jack said, “I am the happiest man on earth,”
      The preacher said, “Well, pay me then and give me what she’s worth.”
      Oh, Jackie gave him half a crown.
      The preacher looked at Jack,
      And then he saw his bride-to-be and gave him nine pence back.
      Oh, Jack went off a-roaming soon after they were wed,
      But his wife, she got so lonesome and she went around with Fred.
      Oh, Jackie got to hear of this and said, “It’s time I stopped her,”
      So he flew home by airplane and by helicopter.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I5uwbfTVRw

    2. I found an up to date table of worldwide average IQ scores from studies done between 2000 and 2019. The UK has dropped from 100 to 99. Pakistan is 81. Below 85, you don’t expect empathy or the ability to earn a living. Of course the average isn’t the IQ of the whole population. The bell curve and all that.

  78. Back from t’market. Bluss, it was cold. A bitter north wind just made everything twice as difficult to do. The MR went to the GPs to pick up some medicine. I waited for her in the car. After ten minutes she returned empty-handed. The woman in front of her was collecting 40 items for herself and almost the same quantity for her “partner”. She insisted on going through the list one by one….

    Of course, the Envy of the World did not think to put another person at the counter to help with the backlog (the queue was out of the door along the pavement….)

    Stove lit.

    1. Same happened to me. Mornings are the busiest. I went back in the afternoon. No queue.

    2. Winter woollies are back on here. Will we be discarding our clouts at all this year?

      1. Global boiling makes it improbable. Though, to be fair, the sun briefly shone for a quarter of an hour just now.

        1. No sun here whatsoever. A high level of all over gloom, me included. Strongish cold wind.

      3. I have an urge to cast a clout or three in Downing Street.
        (My late ma-in-law used the expression ‘dish clout’. I had never heard it used as a living word before.)

    3. I collect my meds from the Kamsons Pharmacy next to the surgery – there’s even a connecting door. They do a good job.

    4. I collect my meds from the Kamsons Pharmacy next to the surgery – there’s even a connecting door. They do a good job.

    5. I’m contemplating lighting the woodburner too – such a change from the last few days

    6. You’d benefit from being behind me at a shopping checkout. Whether staffed or self-service, I invariably place the scanned items back in the trolley or basket then promptly step away after paying to a space where I can pack all the goods in my own bags at leisure, allowing the next customer to be served or to self-serve all the sooner. I’d never do what the woman at your MR’s GP did.

      1. I do the same. The MR shushes me when I say (almost under my breath) “Oh, she’s just realised that she has to pay…”!!

  79. Bloody Hell! It’s got a bit nippy this morning!
    Just been up chopping logs and had to come in to put a tee shirt under the polo shirt I was already wearing. A nasty cold breeze blowing.

    1. From a seaside village in Valencia

      22°C
      Thursday Sunny High: 23°C Low: 17°C

    2. I got to the top of hill on my pushbike before deciding i’d rather motorbike in today. It isn’t supposed to rain – but the dense grey clouds indicated otherwise!

    1. The other murders occurred 2005/6.
      I wonder if they are looking at other cases around Ipswich in the 5 intervening years.

    2. No, I suggested it that. Apparently the government stopped that trick long ago. Besides, she is 40 I’m 75. Suspicious not!!!!

  84. I would but I don’t have the income. I would have to pay her at least the minimum wage plus insurance etc.

  85. I doubt that because her books have to be open to scrutiny and I’m pretty sure I have to have a pretty decent income to assure the government. I can afford indulgences such as M & S goodies but not my own private carer.

    1. Read that. Chalked it up to more scaremongering by a bunch of loud mothed mediocrities that we have to pretend is our government.

  87. 387533+ up ticks,

    No Rwanda flights before election, says Sunak

    And a bloody sight less whoever dictates the future, after.

    Prime Minister says deportation flights will leave in July – only if he is reelected

    1. On that point, ogga, you have to agree with Farage. He said on GBN last night that there never will be and were never going to be any migrants flown to Rwanda.

      A colleague who went filming in Rwanda not long after the war there told me that it’s a beautiful country.

      1. 387533 + up ticks,

        Afternoon SE,

        The farage chap uses rhetoric and has the gift of the gab a major asset for any con man.

        I was in Uganda when a farage role model had the shout, BIG DADA
        during the war with Tanzania, another beautiful Country, WELFARE, not looks, is the magnet.

      2. This is Trailfinders’ take on holidaying in Rwanda.

        Rwanda holidays offer lush forests, incredible birdlife and the chance to see majestic mountain gorillas in their natural habitat.

        This small landlocked country (the fourth smallest in Africa) boasts one of the world’s biggest wildlife experiences – the chance to see endangered mountain gorillas. Part of the great Virunga Mountain Range, the dense forests of the beautiful Volcanoes National Park are renowned as one of the last remaining habitats of these great apes.

        Although most visitors come to see the gorillas, Rwanda has so much more to offer besides with spectacular mountain scenery, a thriving capital and friendly people. The vast rainforest of Nyungwe Forest National Park has incredible biodiversity and is home to a large population of chimpanzees, while the shores of serene Lake Kivu feature sandy beaches and fishing villages.

        The genocide of 1994 looms large in Rwanda’s modern history, but the country has since united to become the peaceful optimistic place that it is today. A visit to Kigali’s Genocide Memorial is worthwhile to learn about the events of this horrific period.

        https://www.trailfinders.com/holidays/africa/rwanda

        Kuoni offers a similar perspective.

        When it comes to exuberant, mood-enhancing greenery, Rwanda is in a league of its own. Crammed within the borders of mainland Africa’s fourth-smallest country, there are ancient jungle-smothered volcanoes where mountain gorillas roam, lush montane forests that vibrate with the cries of rare primates and expansive wetlands where the birdlife is so abundant it hardly seems plausible. Even the boundless blue lake on its western border is studded with tiny emerald isles. And there’s another type of ‘greenness’ worthy of note: the ban on plastic bags since 2008 and mandatory once-a-month community clean-ups that have turned this into one of the continent’s cleanest states, and the National Parks’ revenue-sharing schemes that give back to the locals.

        There will be inspiring discoveries, moments and encounters wherever you go in this verdant country, and the hour you spend in the company of a mighty silverback and his family will certainly be one of them. But the longer you stay here, the more it will be Rwanda’s resilient people who impress you with their warmth and dignity – all the more remarkable in the light of their tragic and relatively recent history. Wherever you go and whoever you meet, from the enthusiastic foodie who shows you Kigali’s growing food scene to the artisans keeping the country’s rich craft traditions alive in the villages or the patient workers on a tea plantation, their shared quiet pride in their homeland and in what they have achieved together since the dark days of 1994 will be the thing that most touches your heart.

        https://www.kuoni.co.uk/alfredand/destinations/rwanda/

        Perhaps it’s a little surprising that both touch on the horrors of 1994, but I suppose they want to reassure those uncertain about Rwanda as a destination that much has since changed.

        For a more comprehensive guide to Rwanda’s attractions, AfricanMecca Safaris lists its top 10 – too long to reproduce here but worth a click for those interested in its wildlife, landscapes, culture and – again – tragic modern history.

        https://www.africanmeccasafaris.com/travel-guide/rwanda/why-visit-for-vacations-holidays

        It almost goes without saying that these three – and there are numerous others – have holidays to sell and will, therefore, paint the country is a more favourable light than a neutral observer would do.

  89. Not a good start for Richard Tice. His morning news conference announcing his intention to stand in Boston & Skegness and setting out his party’s hopes and plans for the forthcoming election was ruined – at least on the Sky News coverage – by a frozen picture and distorted sound.

  90. Farage may be a good journalist and nobody can deny that he has bucket loads of arrogance!

    But when the chips are down he falls flat. He says that the Conservatives are beyond redemption and need to be wiped out completely. He had the necessary public support to wreck the Conservative Party but he has chickened out.

    Just as he chickened out by allowing Johnson, who was not committed to Brexit, an easy run by withdrawing Brexit Party candidates from seats held by remainer Conservative MPs in 2019.

    No parsnips will be buttered and he has become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal and has no faith hope nor charity!

    1. In addition, Farage is NOT a leader nor a team player. He’d wreck any organisation that he led.

      1. Farage, in case you have forgotten, singlehandedly removed the awful Theresa May from office in May 2019.
        Something the wet Tories flatly refused to do.

    2. hang on there Captain Hindsight.. I recall GE19, the so-called 2nd referendum, was seriously in doubt from July thru November 2019. A split vote would have had Corby in power. der.

    3. hang on there Captain Hindsight.. I recall GE19, the so-called 2nd referendum, was seriously in doubt from July thru November 2019. A split vote would have had Corby in power. der.

    4. Agree Rastus. He also assassinated UKIP. He is out for his own glory, nothing else.

  92. Tumbleweed.. perfect for every awkward moment.

    Gina Miller As leader of the Tooth Fairy Party, and Parliamentary Candidate for #EpsomAndEwell
    #generalelection

    morning news conference announcing her intention to stand in Epsom & Ewell and setting out her party’s hopes and plans for the forthcoming election..

  94. He leads majority public opinion. Our political system is anachronistic and just shores up interests of the established parties. V hard to break through. The powers that be won’t let anyone in.

  95. He leads majority public opinion. Our political system is anachronistic and just shores up interests of the established parties. V hard to break through. The powers that be won’t let anyone in.

    1. Ex-Post
      Office boss Paula Vennells has denied trying to close down a review
      into the Horizon software that led to wrongful convictions of
      sub-postmasters
      She
      tells the Post Office inquiry executives instead felt the review by
      Second Sight was becoming too expensive and not meeting its objectives
      She
      also denies being given legal advice that an independent review into
      convictions of sub-postmasters could open up the Post Office to lawsuits

    2. She has also pointed the finger at Mike Young her director of IT. She said she was too trusting.

      I have a friend who worked for Mike Young for several years. He tells me Mike was a Royal Marine, then a Police officer, then private security. Then into IT.
      He tells me that Mike Young was a loud mouthed gobshite bully. A bluffer. He is able to be convincing and his style would change depending on what he thought he could get away with.

      To me it clearly shows Vennels shouldn’t have been in the job in the first place.
      It will be very interesting to see him called to testify.

  97. And he got 4 million votes int he 2015 election but only 1 seat. The SNP got 1.5 million votes and got 56 seats. The system actively works against parties which the electorate wants.

    1. As will happen on 4 July. Millions of Reform votes – zero MPs.

      But what system would YOU suggest? Look at the pretendy parliaments in Cardiff and Edinburgh. The PR system just makes for – in effect – a one party state.

    2. And this is the danger of Islam – they will get ‘cluster votes’ in areas where the density of Muslims is high.

      Look at how many Muslim elected mayors there are!

      1. There are currently 3 directly elected – by voters, not fellow councillors – Muslim mayors in England (Sadiq Khan of the Greater London Authority, Rokhsana Fiaz of Newham London Borough Council and Lutfur Rahman of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council). In total there are 25 directly elected mayors in England.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directly_elected_mayors_in_England

        Wales has yet to create any directly elected mayoralties. Scotland and Northern Ireland are not covered by the Local Government Act 2000 which only allows for such positions to be created in England and Wales.

  99. No doubt. But he is NOT a team player nor a leader. Brilliant orator. That’s it.

    1. If only his charisma and his considerable oratorical talents could have been properly harnessed.

      But the problem we are left with is the fact that we are not going to get the breakthrough the country so desperately needs by the eradication of the Conservative Party which has betrayed virtually everybody who used to support it.

    2. If only his charisma and his considerable oratorical talents could have been properly harnessed.

      But the problem we are left with is the fact that we are not going to get the breakthrough the country so desperately needs by the eradication of the Conservative Party which has betrayed virtually everybody who used to support it.

    1. I saw this yesterday. I keep Fox News as my home page because Fox is an excellent source for USA news. It is supposed to be ‘conservative’ but the truth is that it is a pretty honest news channel in a sea of other American news channels that are blatant left wing agents of truly dishonest propaganda.

  101. The Reform UK news conference wasn’t exactly inspiring. No Farage either. Quite short though which ain’t a bad thing. Sound problems here and there. You have to start somewhere though.

    1. I hear a lot of bible thumping rhetoric and not a lot of calm, rational state of the nation.

      I understand why there’s the dogwaffle and perhaps I’m alone in this but I’d really prefer a lot more focus on specific areas: health, education, immigration, welfare and tax and how they interlink AND what he will do about them.

      But again, how do you present that to a press event?

  103. what’s Farage ever done for us? And what has he ever given us in return?!
    The Referendum. What?
    Oh. Yeah, yeah. He did give us that. Uh, that’s true. Yeah.
    Got rid of Theresa May.
    Oh, yeah, the Maybot, Reg. Remember what the city used to be like?
    Yeah. All right. I’ll grant you the aqueduct and the sanitation are two things that the Farage has done.
    And the debanking scandal.
    Well, yeah. Obviously the debanking scandal. I mean, the debanking, brexit, the Referendum, the Maybot goes without saying, don’t they?
    The dinghy invasion.

  104. Surely it’s obvious now that Davos is switching puppets to get their policies through the puppet theater? Sunak has been opposed by his MPs on the WHO treaty and Net Zero. So Davos wants Starmer instead who has already confirmed to Emily Maitliss he’ll work with them. I think Tice might be controlled opposition and part of the plan. After all a split center right vote favors a Davos puppet switch. Tice wanted covid vaccine passports and non vaxed excluded from society. Tice actually agreed with the ultimate crook Tony Blair in 2021!

    https://x.com/WestatRisk/status/1617352699015745536

  105. I hope it hurt !

    Road rage! Fed-up motorists run over eco-protesters, drag them off the street and leave them crying on the floor as they attempt to block traffic in Austria

    The protest was on May 18 in Hohenems , near the border with Switzerland

    Members of Extinction Rebellion and the Last Generation were involved.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13450719/Road-rage-Fed-motorists-run-eco-protesters-drag-street-leave-crying-floor-attempt-block-traffic-Austria.html

      3. Unlike MetPol who waded right in and arrested drivers for the same. It is quite clear what is happening. Hopefully people like Mark Rowley will end up having to justify their behaviour like Paula Venal…..soon.

      1. Don’t forget the suspenders, oh Best beloved.
        [Rudyard Kipling: Just So Stories. (How the Whale got his throat]

        Are there any politicians who have infinite resource and sagacity?

  110. Nigel Farage has blown his chance to destroy the Conservatives
    His decision not to stand may have averted an extinction-level loss
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/23/nigel-farage-reform-election-rishi-sunak/

    Having been betrayed by the Conservative Party many traditional Conservatives hoped that the Reform Party with Farage at its head would provide an escape. Now, rightly or wrongly, many will feel that Farage has betrayed them too.

    BTL

    After Brexit the destruction of the Conservative Party was the most important thing for Farage to do.

    By leaving Brexit to Boris Johnson – who was not committed to it – our fishermen and Northern Ireland have been sold down the river. And because our Civil Service and both Houses of Parliament have done their best to thwart Brexit we have not taken many of the advantages that Brexit should have brought us.

    And now the wounded Conservative Party is still there rather than completely dead. So Farage’s legacy is a bodged Brexit and a Conservative Party that has not been properly exterminated.

    1. Do you believe that an adamant insistence by the British government that Brexit had to fully embrace Northern Ireland would not have resulted in a hard border between the Republic and Northern Ireland or that it would have been a likely outcome but a price worth paying not to leave Northern Ireland semi-detached from the rest of the UK? Few in Northern Ireland wanted a hard border with the Republic and a small majority of those who voted there in 2016 wanted to remain in the EU.

      1. It was entirely possible to have had a ‘soft’ border in Ireland; initial talks were well underway between the RoI and the UK. Unfortunately, Irish politics won and it was the Bombay Bogshite who finally ensured there wouldn’t be one.

      2. There are always those who will make excuses for those who betray.

        Johnson and Gove bullied Lord Frost into abandoning his insistence that Northern Ireland remained a full member of the UK and that British fishermen would have their full fishing territories restored.

        Whichever way you look at it and however pragmatic you want to seem to be there can be no denial of the fact that Johnson betrayed Northern Ireland and he betrayed British fishermen.

      3. The so-called Border Problem was an EU existential problem spun as a brexit problem.. the hapless Theresa May fell for it hook line & sinker.
        Their biggest fear was a free trade UK with a leaky border upsetting their precious protectionist market. Their only option would have been to erect a fence, or shift it to safety onto the continent.. thankfully Theresa May came to their rescue.

        1. Perhaps the EU would have caved in but I believe it would have built border posts at crossing points and erected tariff barriers if the UK had refused to create an invisible border in the Irish Sea. Of course, we’ll never know if it would have come to pass unless the UK renounces the agreements it has signed up to.

      1. Good grief. It’s a testament to good song writing when you can chuck any genre at it and it still sounds good. Still, after 10 pints I bet this is a right old laugh.

  112. Last evening we watched (on record) “D-Day – the Unseen Footage” on Channel 5.

    First, there should have been a trigger warning: “Contrary to the impression given in this programme, British forces WERE involved in D-Day.”

    Secondly, most of the “unseen” footage will be familiar to any student of the Battle of Normandy.

    Thirdly, it opened the MR’s eyes to the terrible destruction and death toll of French people – who paid the price for liberty. Tony Beevor was his usual impeccable self.

    1. My Grandfather lead the fleet in a minesweeper. I bet they didn’t mention him.

    2. I’m reading his book on the post 1917 Russian Civil War.
      Apart from the expected mind boggling cruelty, I was surprised at how many nations waded into the war.

      1. I doubt the people on the ground were for it. Vegetable patches to attend and such like.

    3. I’m reading his book on the post 1917 Russian Civil War.
      Apart from the expected mind boggling cruelty, I was surprised at how many nations waded into the war.

  113. I am going to pretend that it is nice and warm and go into the greenhouse to sort out the tomatoes. Back son.

  115. Across the forums: “The Tories are so bad they must be removed. Starmer in No 10 is a price worth paying.”

    Like **** it is. I’m as angry as anyone about them but I’m not mad. Under his blank visage, Starmer is as much a Marxist as Blair was behind his “Here’s Johnny” stare.

    Our best hope is a hung parliament and a summer of chaos that causes the British public finally to wake up. What happens after that is anyone’s guess…

    1. I don’t think Tice will wipe out the Conservative Party. With Farage at the head of the Reform Party the Conservative Party could have been obliterated.

      I resent Farage for raising people’s hopes and then dashing them.

      1. Farage probably was once bitten twice shy – he’s stood for parliament several times and always been beaten, apart from the EU parliament. He’ll be more use for Reform as a campaigner around the country and also banging the drum on GB N.

        1. He sets a blazing pace and then, with the winning post in sight, he limply retires.

          Ambition should be made of sterner stuff!

        2. He has said in the past that his strengths lie in campaigning, and that he is not a politician.

      2. Even with Farage at the helm, the Reform Party would not obliterate the Conservatives. More Conservative seats would be lost with Labour and the LibDems the main beneficiaries, but the Conservatives would remain the largest opposition party.

        As for raising people’s hopes, I’d partially concur on past evidence, but at no point in the run-up to the start of this election campaign has he ever seriously suggested he would play a very active role. Actually, I think it rather vain of him to believe he can play a more useful part in this autumn’s US presidential election.

        2. The main difficulty re. the US election is to stop the Democrats doing another monster fraud.

        3. I think he’ll be playing a journalistic/publicity role for Trump.

          If he had been standing in a particular seat he’d have had to focus his attentions there. He’s free to campaign for Reform without committing himself to a particular area.

      3. I knew that he’d let us down again. He’s a serial betrayer. There was zero chance that he’d actually do something worthwhile for us. He’s been itching to cross the Atlantic for ages. Now he’s selling it as some sort of advantage to us, as though he’s going to do anything at all to help Trump to win. If Trump wins (please, God!) it’ll be his own work and that of the people already there and working for years to campaign and register voters.

          1. Does anybody remember why Cameron held the EU Referendum in the first place?

          2. He thought he’d shoot UKIP’s fox and was confident he’d win it by a large remain majority.

          5. It’s complicated. But you did say you were on that border. I’m curious about someone else who lives there, actually, and don’t know how to broach the subject without giving the game aay

          7. I know. And it’s cheeky to pry. I’m just in a bit of a bind. I live way down on the other side, by the way.

      4. Farage couldn’t do what he does as an MP. Arguably it’s entirely pointless as well. MPs don’t really do anything useful.

    2. I don’t think Tice will wipe out the Conservative Party. With Farage at the head of the Reform Party the Conservative Party could have been obliterated.

      I resent Farage for raising people’s hopes and then dashing them.

    3. A hung Parliament where Muslims and the Greens hold the balance of power? No thank you.

        1. But not impossible.

          If we get a hung parliament who do you think will be the power brokers then?

          I fear Starmer is likely to get a sizeable majority but if he doesn’t who will he have to turn to? Looking at the local elections, not a reliable guide, I know, but Muslim/pro Palestinians did rather well and there are already numerous Muslims in parliament and likely to be more. As a block they could easily demand blasphemy laws and other special treatment for Muslims in exchange for their votes.. Greens and Lib Dems too.

          1. You are writing as though Muslims will win seats for Islamic parties and therefore have numerical influence.

            My hung parliament is one in which no working coalition can be formed.

          2. It might give the chaos you seek, but I think that scenario is unlikely.

            Muslims are Muslims first and foremost, whichever party they represent, and they will vote for things that benefit Islam. They don’t need to be representing a specific Islamic party.

          3. You wrote: “I fear Starmer is likely to get a sizeable majority but if he doesn’t who will he have to turn to?”

            If he doesn’t, he won’t be making up the numbers with Muslims because they’ll already be in his party.

          4. You completely miss my point.

            If Starmer has to get into bed with another party, the Muslims in his party will be in a stronger position to demand special treatment.

            It will be interesting to see whether Islamic parties appear in any number in places where there are significant Muslim populations.

          5. You wrote in your first reply of ‘power brokers’. For me, that would be MPs from minority parties who might make up the numbers for a coalition. Starmer isn’t going to allow Muslims in his own party to prevent that happening. If those Muslims do demand special favours and threaten not to support him in the house, the coalition won’t last long.

          6. I know what I wrote.

            And it would include MPs from minority parties.

            Look back over the recent Tory debacles, essentially the party was controlled by Tory party MPs who eventually got rid of Johnson and Truss and got Sunak. Look back over how the party was stymied over Brexit by their own MPs. Look back at how Rwanda was effectively hamstrung. In a hung parliament such behind the scenes negotiation will be even worse.

            Do you think Starmer will be willing to call a snap election if he’s given the choice between blasphemy laws/greater support for Palestine/more net zero or rebellion? I don’t, I think he’ll go for blasphemy laws and I don’t think the other side will stop it.

          8. You wrote in your first reply of ‘power brokers’. For me, that would be MPs from minority parties who might make up the numbers for a coalition. Starmer isn’t going to allow Muslims in his own party to prevent that happening. If those Muslims do demand special favours and threaten not to support him in the house, the coalition won’t last long.

  116. I’m traumatised: me mental ‘elf is shot to bits.
    As I needed preserving sugar, and I was that end of town, I went to Asda.
    My dear; the noise; the people.
    AND they didn’t have any preserving sugar, which was the only reason I went there (they used to be good for that sort of stuff).
    On the plus side (ho ho) beside their clientele, I looked like Twiggy.

    1. What’s the difference between preserving sugar and ordinary sugar? asking for a friend

  117. I’m traumatised: me mental ‘elf is shot to bits.
    As I needed preserving sugar, and I was that end of town, I went to Asda.
    My dear; the noise; the people.
    AND they didn’t have any preserving sugar, which was the only reason I went there (they used to be good for that sort of stuff).
    On the plus side (ho ho) beside their clientele, I looked like Twiggy.

  118. Even if she’s forced to return money that wouldn’t prove her honesty. She just got caught, that’s all.

  119. Even if she’s forced to return money that wouldn’t prove her honesty. She just got caught, that’s all.

  120. Bloody cold out. Just looked at the outdoor tomatoes – they seem very poorly It is the cold nights, I suppose. Luckily I have a dozen spares which I’ll retain in the greenhouse in pots until the nights get warmer… It IS disappointing when ones plans go awry.

    1. Our tomato plants are in big pots. We put them out on the patio every morning then bring them back into the conservatory at night. When the weather remains warmer during the night, between July and August, they stay out on the patio.

      1. It is just this year. Normally, all is well. It is the cold nights – even when the days are reasonably warm. I couldn’t move 20 pots twice a day, anyway!!

        1. Last year, we had a lousy harvest at Firstborn’s place. Froze the fruit buds, and barely warmed up after that. Cost a fortune in bee food.

    2. Our tomato plants are in big pots. We put them out on the patio every morning then bring them back into the conservatory at night. When the weather remains warmer during the night, between July and August, they stay out on the patio.

    3. Ah I see Bill. If your toms don’t grow proper you sub in Supermarket ones! That’s cheating (and a good idea!)

      1. Hem – I grow all my tomatoes from seed, I’ll have you know. None of your disgraceful nasturtiums…{:¬))

  121. Bloody cold out. Just looked at the outdoor tomatoes – they seem very poorly It is the cold nights, I suppose. Luckily I have a dozen spares which I’ll retain in the greenhouse in pots until the nights get warmer… It IS disappointing when ones plans go awry.

  122. These scandals such as the sub postmasters’ tragedy are only the tip of the iceberg. It’s all like that, coverups, approved by an administration which only seeks to protect itself.
    If what I say doesn’t ring true, read the comment of Lord Denning, the darling of the legal establishment.
    He had expressed a similar controversial opinion regarding the Birmingham Six in 1988, saying: “Hanging ought to be retained for murder most foul. We shouldn’t have all these campaigns to get the Birmingham Six released if they’d been hanged. They’d have been forgotten, and the whole community would be satisfied … It is better that some innocent men remain in jail than that the integrity of the English judicial system be impugned.”

  123. Preserving
    sugar is a kind of sugar used in making high-pectin fruits such as
    oranges and plums into marmalades, jams and other preserves. It differs
    from regular table sugar by having larger crystals. This helps keep the sugar suspended in preserves while cooking, preventing burning at the bottom of the pot.
    You should try Google.

    1. There is an excellent French brand which is unobtainable (and has no replica equivalent) in the UK.
      Sucre spécial confitures BEGHIN SAY

      We shall be stocking up on our next trip.

        1. English people think we are mad – but you know and we know that it works every time.

    4. Thanks Johnny – why Google when there’s such a wealth of knowledge on here

      1. It is much better for poaching fruit.
        It also looks pretty when sprinkled on cakes when they come out of the oven.

  124. Still bloody cold out. To conclude the tomato saga (see, NoTTL passim!), the MR has covered them with fleece and we are crossing our fingers. Fortunately, I have a dozen spares which I was going to give to neighbours. Have potted them on and will retain as replacements.

    1. Mine are outside against the house wall (south-facing) and seem to be ok – I just tied them up again as they’ve grown well since they went out two weeks ago.

      It’s none to warm out there though. Just potted up a couple of fuschias.

  125. BTL in the DT

    Oof

    “No.

    Your party already changed Britain into something many of us don’t recognise and don’t like much.

    The Britain we might have cared about Labour ruining is gone. All they can do is defile a corpse”

    1. The Sunaks, Starmers and Khans know this. They don’t care. They know their politics are in the ascendant.

    2. Low IQ brainwashed. Time for some eugenics to be passed in to law about who can walk the streets without tags. I believe the Chinese are ahead of us on this.

    3. I suspect that gentleman who was nearly stabbed knows a little martial arts.

  128. An inelegant double Bogey Six!

    Wordle 1,069 6/6
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Par today.

      Wordle 1,069 4/6

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

      1. Wordle 1,069 4/6

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

    2. Another odd one today.

      Wordle 1,069 4/6

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

    3. Ot much better

      Wordle 1,069 5/6

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

    4. Nicked a par today.

      Wordle 1,069 4/6

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

        3. I’m always surprised at how red folks’ blood is. When mine comes out it’s practically black, falling to a deep crimson.

          1. Tends to go black when it leaves the body. Best time to cook with it……………..

      2. Looks worse than it is. You should see the blood pics from me falling over drunk !

    4. Eek! Can we see another pic when you’ve cleaned it up?
      You have a monitor and proper keyboard? I only have that set up at work. No space at home.

    5. How on earth did you do that?

      And… what keyboard is that? It’s not the Mac Magic one…

      1. Two keyboards. Two diff systems. The upper screen is enough for movies…for me.

        1. Junior has a big ol’ monitor in his room which double duties. Cos we’re well posh we use Jellyfin.

          Although it completely ignores my naming convention.

    6. Looks nasty, I hope it heals well.
      Next time you try to trim your pubic hair don’t use a cutthroat razor

    9. Winces!
      Jesus, man! That looks horrific. Thank God I’ve eaten, really appetite-killing, that.

  132. Evening folks. Moored and bored waiting for river conditions to improve and for lock repairs to be completed before I can get going! Fortunately the drinks locker is reasonably well stocked. Correction was ……!

    1. Shave! I use veet. I already bollocked one of them falling over a puddle of dog wee and crushed my right one. It hurt !

      A nurse was monitoring me and continued to give me these little pipettes of morphine.

  135. Dolly is innocent and now self identifies as Meghan Markle’s long lost relative.

  136. Fishi shows just how on the ball he always is…..

    “One of the first gaffes of the election campaign happened during Rishi Sunak’s visit to see workers at a brewery in South Wales.

    The prime minister asked if they were looking forward to “all the football”, before being quickly reminded that Wales haven’t qualified for the European Championship this summer.”

  137. The Tories always “return to first principles” just before an election; then resume their LibDemmery immediately after the election.

    Unfortunately they have done it once over often, and it is coming back to bite them.

      1. As the due day draws near I think the full horror of a Starmerite govenment will dawn on a lot of people. But not enough to save Sunak.

        1. The so-called Tories (aka greeniac limp dumbs) have not the faintest idea of Conservative first principles.

          1. If they have they hide it very well, it’s true. They are mostly Blairites I suppose.

          3. That’s what the Tories thought about North Shropshire, Bill. Stranger things have happened. Not that the limp dim has been any better, but I should not be surprised if she gets in again, if only due to the amount of publicity she manages to generate (without actually achieving anything positive).

          4. Cameron, heir to Blair, May, maybe not, Johnson, couldn’t keep it in his trousers, Truss what a rupture, Suknackered what a tosspot
            Talk about a piss-dissipated line of ineptitude.

        2. As I debated earlier with William Stanier, my view is that a hung parliament could well be worse than a clear Sir Cursed Harmer majority, as power brokers, particularly Muslims, try to get advantages such as blasphemy laws, that a clear majority might prevent.

          2. Indeed.
            But I still think the Muslim MPs will seize their chance, should there be a hung parliament.
            Would you bet against them doing so?

          3. No – they are power hungry bastards – the lot of them. And they can see a chink of light…

          5. Closet cultural Marxist that he is, I don’t think that even Starmer would offer Muslims blasphemy laws if he had a majority.

          6. It won’t be admitted to be a blasphemy law. More likely it will be a clause tucked away in the crime of “islamophobia”.

          7. If it were to happen, we must hope that enough decent Labour backbenchers (there will be some) will see the danger and warn Max to back down, else they’ll resign. Those in marginal seats will be especially nervous.

  138. Interesting – Tory Party HQ are going to have to find in six weeks TWO HUNDRED brand new untried, untested candidates. It would be a larf, would it not, if they were unable to field a candidate in every constituency…

  139. That’s me gone for this miserable day – made worse by the sight of the outdoor tomato plants – all 18 of them.

    Have a spiffing evening at your firesides. Thank God for the stove…

    A demain.

    1. Night bill – it’s 21 inside here. Even the Warqueen isn’t wearing a Jumper. I suppose that’s the reverse cause of the problem we have in Winter.

    1. Ben Wallace
      Mr Wallace, who has served as Defence Secretary since July 2019, has announced he will not fight the next election but ruled out leaving Parliament “prematurely”. He will also step down from his Cabinet role at the next reshuffle.
      [Translation: “Sunak’s useless. I’ll come back when he’s gone.”]

      Not the worst in the current bunch.

      Sajid Javid, Kwasi Kwarteng
      Let me open the door for you both.

      Sir Bill Cash
      Sir Bill, the MP for Stone in Staffordshire and an arch-Eurosceptic, has said it will be a “big wrench” to leave Parliament. Aged 83, he is the oldest member of the Commons.

      Will be missed by proper conservatives.

      Alok Sharma
      The Tory former cabinet minister and Cop26 president, who led the United Nations climate change conference in Glasgow two years ago, said he will continue to champion “climate action” in Parliament for the remainder of his time as an MP.

      Dunce.

      Dehenna Davison
      Ms Davison, 29, was elected as the first ever Tory MP for the ‘Red Wall’ seat of Bishop Aukland in its 134-year history at the 2019 general election. A minister at the Department for Levelling Up, she said on announcing her resignation she hadn’t had “anything like a normal life for a twenty-something”.
      [Translation: “I had to get up before 9am.”]

      Sir Graham Brady
      The 1922 Committee needs a tougher man.

      Theresa May
      Words are not enough for this one…

    2. Ben Wallace
      Mr Wallace, who has served as Defence Secretary since July 2019, has announced he will not fight the next election but ruled out leaving Parliament “prematurely”. He will also step down from his Cabinet role at the next reshuffle.
      [Translation: “Sunak’s useless. I’ll come back when he’s gone.”]

      Not the worst in the current bunch.

      Sajid Javid, Kwasi Kwarteng
      Let me open the door for you both.

      Sir Bill Cash
      Sir Bill, the MP for Stone in Staffordshire and an arch-Eurosceptic, has said it will be a “big wrench” to leave Parliament. Aged 83, he is the oldest member of the Commons.

      Will be missed by proper conservatives.

      Alok Sharma
      The Tory former cabinet minister and Cop26 president, who led the United Nations climate change conference in Glasgow two years ago, said he will continue to champion “climate action” in Parliament for the remainder of his time as an MP.

      Dunce.

      Dehenna Davison
      Ms Davison, 29, was elected as the first ever Tory MP for the ‘Red Wall’ seat of Bishop Aukland in its 134-year history at the 2019 general election. A minister at the Department for Levelling Up, she said on announcing her resignation she hadn’t had “anything like a normal life for a twenty-something”.
      [Translation: “I had to get up before 9am.”]

      Sir Graham Brady
      The 1922 Committee needs a tougher man.

      Theresa May
      Words are not enough for this one…

    3. In far too many cases it’s good riddance to bad rubbish.
      What a shower they were.
      No wonder hi Risk anuS announced the GE in a rainstorm.

    1. If there was any evidence needed that Blair is pushing Starmer, this is it. Twenty odd years after Blair and Obama droned on about “Change”, Starmer is coming out with the same meaningless, vacuous garbage.

      Chang from what into what?
      ULEZ zones and LTNs for every town and city? 20mph limits everywhere? Women really can have a willy? Children should be encouraged to transition?

      No wonder Starmer refuses to give any detail on what “change” might entail!

    2. If you gave him a 50 pound note the only change you would get is to pee.

    2. He’s right about society eroding. The state seems determined to kill it off.

  148. I’m afraid, I’ve had a sense of humour by-pass. No more funnies, sorry.

      1. The very last throw of the dice, Sue.

        Good morrow, gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) List

        WONDERFUL ENGLISH FROM AROUND THE WORLD

        In a Bangkok Temple:
        IT IS FORBIDDEN TO ENTER A WOMAN, EVEN A FOREIGNER, IF DRESSED AS A MAN.

        Cocktail lounge Norway:
        LADIES ARE REQUESTED NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN IN THE BAR.

        Doctor’s Surgery, Rome:
        SPECIALIST IN WOMEN AND OTHER DISEASES.

        Dry cleaners, Bangkok:
        DROP YOUR TROUSERS HERE FOR THE BEST RESULTS.

        In a Nairobi restaurant:
        CUSTOMERS WHO FIND OUR WAITRESSES RUDE, OUGHT TO SEE THE MANAGER.

        On the main road to Mombasa, leaving Nairobi:
        TAKE NOTICE: WHEN THIS SIGN IS UNDER WATER, THIS ROAD IS IMPASSABLE.

        On a poster at Kenco:
        ARE YOU AN ADULT THAT CANNOT READ? IF SO WE CAN HELP.

        In a City restaurant:
        OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK AND WEEKENDS.

        In a Cemetery:
        PERSONS ARE PROHIBITED FROM PICKING FLOWERS, FROM ANY BUT THEIR OWN GRAVES.

        Tokyo hotel’s rules and regulations:
        GUESTS ARE REQUESTED NOT TO SMOKE, OR DO OTHER DISGUSTING BEHAVIOURS IN BED.

        On the menu of a Swiss Restaurant:
        OUR WINES LEAVE YOU NOTHING TO HOPE FOR.

        In a Tokyo Bar:
        SPECIAL COCKTAILS FOR THE LADIES WITH NUTS.

        Hotel, Yugoslavia:
        THE FLATTENING OF UNDERWEAR WITH PLEASURE, IS THE JOB OF THE CHAMBERMAID.

        Hotel, Japan:
        YOU ARE INVITED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CHAMBERMAID.

        In the lobby of a Moscow Hotel, across from a Russian Orthodox Monastery:
        YOU ARE WELCOME TO VISIT THE CEMETERY, WHERE FAMOUS RUSSIAN AND SOVIET COMPOSERS, ARTISTS AND WRITERS ARE BURIED DAILY, EXCEPT THURSDAY.

        A sign posted in Germany ‘s Black Forest:
        IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN ON OUR BLACK FOREST CAMPING SITE, THAT PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT SEX, FOR INSTANCE, MEN AND WOMEN, LIVE TOGETHER IN ONE TENT, UNLESS THEY ARE MARRIED WITH EACH OTHER FOR THIS PURPOSE.

        Hotel, Zurich:
        BECAUSE OF THE IMPROPRIETY OF ENTERTAINING GUESTS OF THE OPPOSITE SEX IN THE BEDROOM, IT IS SUGGESTED THAT THE LOBBY BE USED FOR THIS PURPOSE.

        Advertisement for donkey rides, Thailand:
        WOULD YOU LIKE TO RIDE ON YOUR OWN ASS?

        Airline ticket office, Copenhagen:
        WE TAKE YOUR BAGS AND SEND THEM IN ALL DIRECTIONS. (Just Like British Airways!!!)

        A Laundry in Rome:
        LADIES, LEAVE YOUR CLOTHES HERE AND THEN SPEND THE AFTERNOON HAVING A GOOD TIME.

        And finally, the all-time classic, seen in an Abu Dhabi Souk shop window:
        IF THE FRONT IS CLOSED PLEASE ENTER THROUGH MY BACKSIDE.

        1. And another that really did appear at a hospital in England:
          FOR FAMILY PLANNING PLEASE USE REAR ENTRANCE.

    2. I totally understand, Tom. It’s hard, but humour may be our one remaining defence against the powers of darkness. Hang on in there…

    3. I went into a posh restaurant earlier today and the waiter asked me if I wanted asparagus

      No thanks, I said, one will do

    4. Sir Jasper, please have a good night’s sleep and hopefully tomorrow you will reconsider. Morning’s without your (re-cycled) funnies will be unbearable.

  149. Evening, all. Still dull and overcast here. Not conducive to outside activity (at least as far as I’m concerned; my get up and go got up and went).

    A return to proper conservatism might give them a chance, but frankly, who would believe they would do it?

    1. If labour get in there will be a huge opportunity (and taken) for slammers to put even more pressure on our culture and social structure. And of course as a reward for voting for Labour and all the underlying and hidden favours done.
      Politicians are only taking part because of what can get out of it.
      They care not a jot for our country.

    1. Yes, you do. Otherwise you wouldn’t have mentioned it! 🙂 Go ahead, we’re listening (and ready to console if needed).

        1. The rectorette got caught out in blatant lying but the archdeacon defended her. We were read the riot Acts (or Letters to various Christians, I forget which) about loving one another (totally lost on the rectorette as she loves only herself). I am, thankfully, no longer on the PCC, having served my time and not put myself forward for re-election. Most of the congregation left half way through the meeting. Nothing was resolved, the hierarchy are deaf to warnings, so it will go to Hell in a handbasket. I did have several members come up to me and say how nice it was to see me (although they knew why I didn’t come to services) and thank me for speaking out.

          1. It all sounds depressingly familiar, even the self love of the clergy, only here neither the vicar nor archdeacon had the guts to turn up and the PCC were re-elected unanimously and the attendees voted to suspend the six year rule indefinitely.
            One of the ladies in the congregation said the vicar had told her that it all needs to change to which she replied, “Why? It’s lovely here.” He could never explain why he wanted to change things and get rid of all the PCC.

          2. The archdeacon only turned up to support the rectorette against the congregation. The rectorette is a control freak and so wanted to be there to ensure everything went her way. I am well out of it.

          3. The trouble is that we do not expect Christians to lie. I find it particularly disappointing when a person who makes much of his or her Christianity and is ‘holier than thou’ turns out to be an unscrupulous liar. I expect that many of us here have had our lives messed up by lies at one time or another.

            I find the fact that Paula Vennels is an ordained minister makes her far more repulsive than had she not declared herself to be a Christian.

          4. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Some of those in office in the CofE do not appear to be practising Christians. The rectorette has only been a Christian for ten years, she boasted proudly. But hers was the most amazing Road to Damascus moment and there had never been a vocation like hers! Retro me Satanas came to mind.

          5. Women priests were always going to lead to conflict. Priests should be men. This fact was understood by the leaders of the Catholic Church.

            I keep reminding the idiots in my village that our Village Church was Catholic long before Henry VIII.

          6. Funnily enough, I met one of the congregation who is actually RC (but they don’t have regular services locally so she comes to the Anglican service) and we were discussing the problems. I suggested that perhaps it would be better if the Catholics took the church back over since it was originally RC.

      2. lol! Long and involved, revolving round my motorbike, my phone, me being a dipstick, a rush from south west London to south east London to retrieve my phone (from the Brazilian bloke who found my phone, before his church service started)(some Angolan Brazilian Portuguese one in SE22) and then my son, who had volunteered to drive me there (in the absence of my phone) made a disastrous driving error and I think he will end up with 3 points. No good deed goes unpunished, as they say (so: thank you to Joao who picked up my phone and let’s hope he isn’t punished for his good deed).

        1. At least you got your phone back. It depends on whether your son was spotted making his driving error as to whether he’ll be penalised for it.

          1. We can only hope he wasn’t caught and won’t be punished. It was a silly error and nobody else was around or anywhere near. But that counts for nothing these days; if the camera catches you, it’s irrelevant as to whether there was any danger to third parties. We will see, I suppose, but it’s now 2 weeks of living on tenterhooks.

          2. I do hope not. He’s a good lad and a good driver; he doesn’t speed, even in 20 mph London. We all make errors of judgement (and learn from them); knowing you have done something stupid in itself is enough of a punishment in these cases. Well we will see!

    1. There won’t be any women there mixing with the men. Muslims practise segregation.

    2. The worst bit is they’re breeding only because we’re forced to pay for them through welfare.

      If we want to stop massive uncontrolled criminal invasion then we just end welfare. Stop paying child benefit. Stop paying housing benefit. Stop paying carers allowances. One chap I know is taking home more than I am despite being on min wage. It’s utterly wrong.

      1. No, they’re breeding because that’s how they get enough warriors to impose islam. The added bonus is that we are paying them jizja to do it!

        1. Yes, but if we simply stopped funding them then they’d have to work. Over 70% of muslims do nothing and are totally welfare dependent. If they were turfed out of their homes and not paid a penny for their brats they’d simply not be able to live.

          Thus they’d either work – impossible as they’ve no skills or use – or they would leave.

          1. I agree that we should stop paying benefits to them. Preferably deport them as they are not an asset to the country, but on the contrary are harming it.

          2. Yes, but can you see any of our politicians actually doing what is necessary?

          4. We need to fire our politicians.

            The General Election in July gives us all an opportunity to sack the beggars, or at the very least throw a spanner in the works and give them pause for thought.

            Never give up or roll over. We are confronting pure Evil. These globalist puppet swine must be stopped in their tracks. Only we, the people, can do this.

          5. We need to fire our politicians.

            The General Election in July gives us all an opportunity to sack the beggars, or at the very least throw a spanner in the works and give them pause for thought.

            Never give up or roll over. We are confronting pure Evil. These globalist puppet swine must be stopped in their tracks. Only we, the people, can do this.

          6. We need to fire our politicians.

            The General Election in July gives us all an opportunity to sack the beggars, or at the very least throw a spanner in the works and give them pause for thought.

            Never give up or roll over. We are confronting pure Evil. These globalist puppet swine must be stopped in their tracks. Only we, the people, can do this.

        2. British Army : 75,166 regular forces personnel (January 2024)

          That number could be achieved in 3 years of male illegal immigrants of fighting age arriving on the south coast either in rubber dinghies or by the RNLI and Border Control’s free ferry services.

      2. It is suicidal to tolerate those who do not tolerate back and interpret your kindness and compassion as weakness.

        The truth of the matter is that unless our politicians are prepared to do something similar to what you suggest we shall be overwhelmed and defeated and the UK will cease to exist in the next 20 – 30 years and Islam will be in cruel, barbaric charge as it now is in many places which used to be civilised..

        For example Lebanon used to be a Christian country and their Christian acceptance of Muslims led to the murder of Christians by the very Muslims who had been befriended and then took advantage of the hospitality and kindness they received.

        I very much fear that unless we are prepared for a civil war we shall go the way of Lebanon.

        https://www.facebook.com/biafraisours/videos/what-started-the-lebanese-war-was-when-four-muslims-islamist-walked-into-a-churc/617039759594515/?locale=ms_MY

        1. I’ve just watched Panorama episode a out migration. One person said that Britain is what it is today because of migration and that it has benefited from these marvellous people.
          I wonder though, if they are so wonderful why the countries they come from are such a mess.

      3. As others have recalled it was Keir Starmer who as a human rights lawyer ensured that illegal immigrants should receive all state benefits.

        Anyone thinking that Starmer might be the vehicle for improving our lives are woefully mistaken. The man is stupid and after self aggrandisement. A man Keir Hardie and a few other dolts (Pollitt?) founded the Labour Party. Hopefully another Keir will ensure its demise.

    3. But as fast as the Muslims breed more are turning away from their creed. Most modern educated people do not wish to follow a radicalised death cult. They want much the same as the rest of us: to live peacefully in a harmonised society, to work hard and improve their lives and those of their families.

      I would cite the celebrations by ordinary Iranians on the death in a helicopter crash of several of their monsters. People wish to be free to live their lives without being pressured by religious fanatics and political interferences. People wish to enjoy life, they do not wish to live in misery and to be subject to nonsense regulations and associated abuses.

      All of these desires of course apply equally to persons of any faith or no faith. Our own useless political class need a wake up call and the General Election in July beckons.

  153. I have one more big card to play in politics, says Nigel Farage

    Former UKIP leader effectively announces candidacy for 2029 election – while revealing he will not stand this time

    Gordon Rayner, ASSOCIATE EDITOR • 23 May 2024 • 8:02pm

    “I’ve got one more big card to play in politics in my life. It’s not now,” Nigel Farage said on Thursday, as he effectively announced his candidacy for the 2029 general election five years early.

    He would not, he said, be standing for Parliament on July 4, telling his supporters that a six-week campaign was not long enough for him to ensure victory. Mr Farage had been set to announce his candidacy next week for an expected autumn election and had got as far as making arrangements for a launch event.

    He had not made a final decision, but Rishi Sunak effectively made the decision for him by calling a surprise summer poll. Having decided to sit this one out, Mr Farage was at pains to tell the public – and his opponents – that “I haven’t gone away at all” and even promised that “at some point I will be back as a candidate”.

    So there can be little doubt that Mr Farage intends to make an eighth and final attempt to be elected to Parliament at the next election but one. What is certain is that he will spend the next six weeks making life as uncomfortable as possible for Mr Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.
    ……

    In the same way that he forced Brexit to happen through sheer force of will, Mr Farage would be in a far more powerful position to influence British politics than he could be as a backbench MP.
    ……

    Mr Farage is convinced that Sir Keir will win the election in July and go on to make such a hash of running the country that voters will kick him out at the first opportunity, which is likely to be in 2029, though it could come sooner. He also believes that voters will be so unconvinced by the alternative being offered by the Conservatives that a revolution in British politics will be on the cards and that Reform UK will overtake the Tories as the chosen party of the Right.
    ……

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/23/why-farage-not-standing-could-be-bad-news-for-sunak/

    Not the whole article…..

      1. Well, yes. Five years is a long time. All the settled conventions are being ripped up.

  154. I have HAD to visit an elderly 99year 10 month old lady who has been poorly recently, and still quite weak and achy .

    A friend and I saw the look of her, and decided that I should beg the doctor to give her a home visit .

    I had to travel over 12 miles to see her , she looked awful . So at 4pm I visited her GP practise and spoke firmly to reception . No need for ambulance , just a visit from a doctor please ..

    Just after 7pm , a doctor arrived , examined her , and decided all her sats were normal , yes I witnessed the result , but her breathing was rather laboured , although she could talk and laugh , and whilst I was at the surgery , another friend of hers brought in a small portion of fish and chips !!!

    She ate them all up … and then her care worker , another lad this time from Ghana , his fuzzy hair fashioned like a palm tree.

    He had been in the UK for 3 years, had been a nurse in Ghana , but was required here to get experience in the community , and take more British examinations . his English was excellent , pleasant demeanour .

    Still a shock to the system though .

    As the lady was post Covid , the doctor explained that Covid weakens the body and the virus leaves most people exhausted and debilitated , I can testify to that regarding myself. something must linger longer in the body .

    I arrived home at 8pm , there is chaos in the community , and care in the community for elderly people is quite fragile , because some areas consist of nothing but fragile elderly people .

    I have known of retired compromised elderlies going on a cruise for 6 months or more , they will at least be catered for .. far cheaper than a nursing home or limited care at home ..

    Sadly , kind loving care is an absolute mess .Carers are time limited , but like DPD or Amazon lorry deliveries .. a schedule to meet ..

    Amen.

    2. It is good to see you looking after your neighbour but sadly, it’s the way Western society has developed in relation to family bonds that aggravates to the problem. The 3rd world still realises that the old depend upon their children and that families must take care of their elders. But many here have rejected this responsibility. There are many good reasons why people end up without family support but we have come to expect social services to provide to an increasing number of needy people. However, with limited resources and increasing need, it is only going to get worse. My sister and I have been lucky to have the resources to look after our Mum and Dad in their declining days until the end. In the absence of family assistance, perhaps the local community is going to have to pick up the slack that social services cannot cope with. Maybe, those of us who are able have a role to play. Evening!

    2. Rosie Duffield snubbed from Labour’s election launch in her own county

      The Canterbury MP – the party’s only elected MP in Kent – found out about the event in Gillingham via social media

      Daniel Martin, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR • 23 May 2024 • 4:36pm

      Rosie Duffield was snubbed from Sir Keir Starmer’s election launch event in Kent on Thursday – even though she is the only elected Labour MP in the county. The MP for Canterbury – who has angered many in her party for her stance on women’s rights – only found out about the event on social media.

      The Canterbury MP has angered many in her party for supporting the right of women to same-sex spaces such as toilets, changing rooms and rape crisis centres. She was also vilified by some for saying that only women have a cervix and that transwomen are not women.

      Ms Duffield was subject to an internal investigation after she was accused of anti-Semitism and transphobia, after which she was exonerated. However, Sir Keir never apologised to her about the ordeal. For years he refused to meet her, but then did so for the first time in Westminster earlier this month.

      Labour said that no MPs from Kent or further afield were invited to the launch event, as the focus had been on new candidates.
      ……

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/23/rosie-duffield-snubbed-labour-election-launch-mp-starmer/

    3. Rosie Duffield snubbed from Labour’s election launch in her own county

      The Canterbury MP – the party’s only elected MP in Kent – found out about the event in Gillingham via social media

      Daniel Martin, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR • 23 May 2024 • 4:36pm

      Rosie Duffield was snubbed from Sir Keir Starmer’s election launch event in Kent on Thursday – even though she is the only elected Labour MP in the county. The MP for Canterbury – who has angered many in her party for her stance on women’s rights – only found out about the event on social media.

      The Canterbury MP has angered many in her party for supporting the right of women to same-sex spaces such as toilets, changing rooms and rape crisis centres. She was also vilified by some for saying that only women have a cervix and that transwomen are not women.

      Ms Duffield was subject to an internal investigation after she was accused of anti-Semitism and transphobia, after which she was exonerated. However, Sir Keir never apologised to her about the ordeal. For years he refused to meet her, but then did so for the first time in Westminster earlier this month.

      Labour said that no MPs from Kent or further afield were invited to the launch event, as the focus had been on new candidates.
      ……

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/23/rosie-duffield-snubbed-labour-election-launch-mp-starmer/

    4. Rosie Duffield snubbed from Labour’s election launch in her own county

      The Canterbury MP – the party’s only elected MP in Kent – found out about the event in Gillingham via social media

      Daniel Martin, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR • 23 May 2024 • 4:36pm

      Rosie Duffield was snubbed from Sir Keir Starmer’s election launch event in Kent on Thursday – even though she is the only elected Labour MP in the county. The MP for Canterbury – who has angered many in her party for her stance on women’s rights – only found out about the event on social media.

      The Canterbury MP has angered many in her party for supporting the right of women to same-sex spaces such as toilets, changing rooms and rape crisis centres. She was also vilified by some for saying that only women have a cervix and that transwomen are not women.

      Ms Duffield was subject to an internal investigation after she was accused of anti-Semitism and transphobia, after which she was exonerated. However, Sir Keir never apologised to her about the ordeal. For years he refused to meet her, but then did so for the first time in Westminster earlier this month.

      Labour said that no MPs from Kent or further afield were invited to the launch event, as the focus had been on new candidates.
      ……

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/23/rosie-duffield-snubbed-labour-election-launch-mp-starmer/

    1. Solzhenitsyn documented all this type of behaviour in The Gulag Archipelago.

  158. Mail to John Redwood’s Diary……..

    https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2024/05/23/the-government-takes-action-to-curb-legal-migration/

    Got to laugh…….

    July 4. Most voters, mainly Con, will be glued to Wimbledon and stuffing with strawberries, cream and chardonnay!

    Hardly anyone will want to turn out for a contrived Davos puppet change operation designed to suit the billionaires….

    Will they, Mr Redwood?

    Will even you bother to vote?

    There’s nobody worth voting for anyway!

  159. Well I’m off to bed now, chums, so I’ll wish you all a Good Night, a restful sleep and I hope we’ll all meet up on Friday’s NoTTLe site tomorrow.

  160. It was announced last year that Olympic rowing champion James Cracknell had been chosen as the Conservative candidate for Colchester for the next general election.

      1. My father rowed for his college at Cambridge and narrowly missed a blue so he was very proud when two of his granddaughters got their rowing blues at Oxford.

        The school I went to did not offer rowing so happily I was spared the gruelling training that the sport would have entailed.

        1. One of the partners at a Norwich based architectural practice, for whom I worked for about ten years, was the late Simon Crosse.

          We were working surveying parts of Hampton Court Palace and Simon took our party for lunch at a nearby pub next the Thames. We all noticed oars suspended from the ceiling and on one was the name Simon Crosse.

          When I lived in Victoria Street in Cambridge one of my locals was The Free Press and this was frequented by rowers. There in conversation I spoke with several older rowers. When I mentioned Simon Crosse they all said that Simon was their hero. He had apparently rowed in the Olympics for New Zealand.

          1. I’ve been there – the Free Press, that is. Cambridge has some fine pubs.

        2. One of the partners at a Norwich based architectural practice, for whom I worked for about ten years, was the late Simon Crosse.

          We were working surveying parts of Hampton Court Palace and Simon took our party for lunch at a nearby pub next the Thames. We all noticed oars suspended from the ceiling and on one was the name Simon Crosse.

          When I lived in Victoria Street in Cambridge one of my locals was The Free Press and this was frequented by rowers. There in conversation I spoke with several older rowers. When I mentioned Simon Crosse they all said that Simon was their hero. He had apparently rowed in the Olympics for New Zealand.

    3. Given the problems the current Labour MP, Rosie Duffield, is having with her party, he might actually succeed.

      2. Very many happy returns.
        Quatre vingt is a good innings, stay not out.

        Or better yet, stay out late to celebrate.

      3. Very many happy returns.
        Quatre vingt is a good innings, stay not out.

        Or better yet, stay out late to celebrate.

      4. Happy Birthday

        ….and of course, hav e 364 Happy Unbirthdays, til next year

      5. Happy Birthday

        ….and of course, hav e 364 Happy Unbirthdays, til next year

  163. This is not a darts forum but, what the hell, well done Luke Littler. He’s just 17 years old and, at the O2 arena tonight, he became the darts premier league champion. This is not a mere flash in the plan as it’s a contest spread over numerous weeks. I just hope he keeps a level head, what with all the prize money coming his way – he seems to have done so thus far – and that he has a long and successful career ahead of him. Anyway, he seems like a nice guy.

  165. Life is good… just saying.

    Keep in mind that it’s better than the alternative.

    Sorry (not sorry) if the pollyanna cheerfulness pisses off the gloomy and grouchy, but being miserable is hard work and takes dedication. I’m not up to the task.

  167. Morning, all Y’all.
    Waiting for thunderstorms. Slept like I died last night, not even waking for a wee.

Comments are closed.