Thursday 23 September: The taxpayer is charged to reduce carbon dioxide and now to produce it

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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761 thoughts on “Thursday 23 September: The taxpayer is charged to reduce carbon dioxide and now to produce it”

  1. Putin’s iron grip on energy leaves Europe increasingly vulnerable. 23 September 2021.

    Kremlin critics, and now even the International Energy Agency, have accused Russia and state producer Gazprom of restricting supply to Europe, helping to fuel the surge in gas prices across the region.

    The Kremlin has added to these suspicions by offering a simple solution to the feared winter shortage: approve the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that will tighten Putin’s grip on European energy supply. The pipeline, which bypasses Ukraine and is vehemently opposed by the US, is finally ready to pump gas into Europe but is awaiting approval from German regulators.

    Morning everyone. Putin threatens supplies by wanting to open a new pipeline! You couldn’t make this up! What is happening here is plainly apparent. First there is no actual shortage of gas; no one’s Stove or Central Heating has been turned off let alone a Power Station. Even better Russia profits by not one Rouble from this crisis since the price of Russian gas at source is set by long term contracts. The increase in price comes after it leaves the Russian pipelines and is being manipulated to extort cash from the population. This can be seen in that the crisis affects both those who use Russian gas and those like ourselves who do not. That Putin is creating this mayhem for political purposes is also unlikely, since it acts against his own long term interests. Who would want to do business with someone who might shut you down? There are other sources available. What we see here are the Globalists flexing their muscles on behalf of their members! A demonstration of their power. European Governments, particularly the UK, are essentially helpless in this situation (witness Johnson’s pathetic call for more green policies) since they are mostly owned by the same. This is the future. A consumer/slave population that exists only to serve and be exploited. Thank God we Nottlers were born when we were!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/09/22/putins-iron-grip-energy-leaves-europe-increasingly-vulnerable/

    1. Morning folks.

      “Excrementum vincit cerebellum.” or “Bullshit baffles brains” is a technique used with great effect by modern politicians and the mainstream media”

      Edited to add: A good example is cited by Minty below:

  4. Morning all.

    I was amazed to learn that there were 70 energy suppliers at the beginning of the year.
    I could never understand how competition in the gas and electricity supply markets could benefit the consumer by lowering energy prices when, in the end, it was exactly the same product that was delivered down the gas pipe/electric cable.

    In total almost 2m households have lost their supplier this year, and this number is expected to spiral in the months ahead. The number of suppliers in the market is predicted by industry insiders to shrink from 70 at the beginning of the year to about 10 by the end of winter.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/sep/22/gas-giants-may-face-windfall-tax-as-energy-crisis-hits-households

    Perhaps this competition idea doesn’t actually work and the Government has to rely on supporting the energy sector by underwriting the losses of those who have previously made savings by switching by using the taxed revenue of those who didn’t.

    1. I have never switched energy companies, apart from being far too lazy to bother with all that palaver I always suspected that it would be a con especially as they insist on having smart meters, so in the end doing nothing has worked out well for me, so far.

      2. We did move to Bristol Energy – they immediately put their price up. This summer we went back to Scottish Power.

        1. We have been with Scottish Power, the Spanish company, for over 45 years. Earlier this year I checked on U-switch and any possible saving would have been negligible and require monthly Direct Debit.

          2. Yes, including its predecessor operation which was a state-owned utility. The privatisation transfer was invisible to us.

          3. MANWEB, presumably. I’m also with Scottish Power and have been in its various incarnations since I moved here in 1982.

      3. I am with Bulb with no requirement for a smart meter, have been for a number of years. I visit price comparison sites once a year and it is always the cheapest or very close to it. Last checked last month and Compare The Market came back with nothing to beat the deal I am on. I have over time referred family and friends to them and had £50 for each so about £300 credited to my account so overall no complaints from me.
        However I am sure this is all going to end and I will be with Ofgen’s choice of supplier when they fold. When the energy market settles down it will be time to look again for deals.

        1. Bulb’s administration and customer service is always excellent, as compared to some of the nightmares such as EDF.

          1. Yes I agree. I hope they somehow survive but sadly doubt it with today’s energy situation.

        2. I am/was with Avro who also were not the cheapest but close to it. No smart meter either. However, I am probably going to find myself on something greatly more expensive. Amazingly, the gas and lecee are still flowing, I assume they are free at the moment!

          1. I suspect they will be in touch requesting meter readings soon. For your peace of mind I would take photos of readings today, hopefully with the date and time embedded in them. If your new supplier tries to milk the bill in anyway, you have proof as to how things ended.

          3. We are/were with Avro. We found them to be fair and organised.
            And none of the smart meter baloney.

  5. Why is every UK ‘news’ outlet blathering on about what Boris said to the UN General Assembly yesterday? The rest of the world obviously couldn’t give a damn about what he might say because the chamber was substantially empty.

    3. The media are being well rewarded with government largesse and are performing to cue, rather like well trained clapping seals. Secondly, why would any of the ‘characters’ in the UN turn up to listen to a third rate orator spouting bullshit that they probably agree with? It’s not as if Johnson can inspire people and hold their attention with his oratory in the manner of a Churchill or a Tony Benn.

        1. How about Peter Shore? Very animated at times but brilliant. This theme could become like the pun fests.😎

  7. The Grimes (long term sufferers of TDS)

    Trump tops poll as voters ‘regret’ supporting Biden
    Donald Trump has overtaken President Biden in favourability ratings among American voters only eight months after the transfer of power — a remarkable turnaround that is attributed to crises at home and abroad. He has a positive rating of 48 per cent compared with Biden’s 46 per cent…

      1. Does anybody here still seriously believe that Biden won the election ‘fair and square’?

        BTW How is the recount going? Very little about it in the MSM.

        1. Of course it was a fix. It was stop Trump at any price. We did note vote for The Green Party but we have one in government now .

    4. Whether or not you like Donald Trump is not relevant – it is becoming more and more clear that Britain would have been far better off if he had been given a second presidential term.

      Britain’s decline is very much due to the fact that British politicians – and especially the bumbling clown Johnson – seem to be completely blind to what is in the country’s best interests.

      1. I have not had any trouble sourcing meat from smaller suppliers. They of course don’t rely on massive lorries to do their business. New Forest meat is raised and slaughtered locally. Packed locally and delivered by DPD courier.

  10. Good morning all.
    A more sensible time now and it’s a dry but dull & grey Derbyshire at a milder 10°C.

    A letter that speaks a bit of sense:-

    SIR – The Government is being too optimistic in expecting the economy to revert to pre-Covid levels. Many closed businesses will be hard to replace.

    However, the greatest change has been in the attitudes of those who think the commute is no longer worth it. Lockdown was a serious mistake.

    John Kirby
    Yealmpton, Devon

  11. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    Not the leading letter today, but perhaps it should have been. Message to the world: when our blathering leader says anything about his idiotic ‘net zero’ – just ignore him. Better still, do the opposite…

    SIR – We seem near to a crisis on energy security and pricing. This largely self-inflicted wound was entirely foreseeable.

    Successive governments have inflated energy prices with “green taxes” to subsidise intermittent energy from windmills and solar farms. Energy storage has been sold to off-shore buyers. Without reliable replacements, fossil fuel and nuclear plants have been decommissioned.

    Opportunities for more self-sufficiency, such as fracking for gas, have been passed up as sops to the green lobby. We have become more and more reliant on European (and by extension, Russian) energy sources.

    All this is for the unattainable goal of “zero carbon”. Even if we could achieve this, it might reduce the global carbon dioxide emitted by about 1 per cent.

    Continuing blindly down this road can only lead to a shipwreck of the UK economy. It plays into the hands of totalitarian regimes pursuing policies contrary to our culture and ethic.

    If the Government does not wake up, it will get a jolt from the ballot box when the lights go out and voters are huddled round lukewarm radiators that they cannot afford to turn up, while being prosecuted for buying fuel for their wood burners. Remember Edward Heath.

    Peter Baker
    Crediton, Devon

    1. It is thoroughly depressing to see that Boris has swallowed Greta’s rantings in full after his words at the UN. I can only imagine what he is going to promise in Glasgow to win the prize for virtual signalling.

      1. Let’s hope that, like Copenhagen (?), Glasgow is blanketed in snow and the airport has to be closed.

  12. Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert , the woman who created the
    Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, has said Covid is unlikely to mutate into a
    much deadlier variant and will eventually just cause the common cold.
    Speaking at a Royal Society of Medicine seminar, the scientist said
    viruses tend to ‘become less virulent as they circulate’ through the
    population and there was ‘no reason’ to think we will have a more
    virulent version of Sars-CoV-2. The 59-year-old also revealed she was
    struggling to get funding to help prevent future pandemics and said
    urgent investment was needed to prevent other infectious diseases
    spreading around the world. Her comments come as Professor Chris Whitty yesterday warned that almost all unvaccinated children will
    become infected with Covid at some point in the future and around half
    of youngsters have already caught the virus.

        2. 339171+ up ticks,
          Morning N,
          Political overseers subsidised overcoats for children would be more beneficial health & safety wise.

    3. I think I have had quite a few colds in the course of my life but I have not had flu more than half a dozen times. I have always found that going to bed with several blankets on the bed, drinking gallons of orange juice and sweating like a herd of Gaberdine swine gets me clear in a couple of days. Opinions may differ – but it has always worked for me.

      1. Two friends of ours, both unvaccinated, caught Covid. They told their doctor who demanded that they keep away from his surgery.

        After a couple of days of what they described as mild ‘flu they felt better, but then strictly self isolated for two weeks.

        Their next test showed negative for both, so now they are getting on with life.

        Despite the hysteria from the MSM, Covid isn’t always a killer.

      2. I love the picture of the Gaderine Swine all dressed up to look like Harold Wilson followers in their ‘Gaberdines’.

  13. 339171+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,
    The monetary dairy herd in action,

    The factual boat has came in NOT only at DOVER ( ongoing ) but Countrywide,

    This creeping, insidious, treacherous political plague has been building for at least three plus decades, openly, yet still has indigenous party
    member / followers currently, to what ends may one ask ? it can only be they agree with the present program of repress, reset, replace.

    Thursday 23 September: The taxpayer is charged to reduce carbon dioxide and now to produce it

    2. As was pointed out elsewhere; if this ‘new’ injunction is M25 specific, what is to stop these trustifarian halfwits attempting to block any other motorway?

  15. 339171+ up ticks,
    ·
    LIVE
    UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson calls on world leaders to tackle climate change at the UN General Assembly

    President Biden holds summit on ending COVID-19 pandemic with several world leaders

    I really cannot see with these political type leaders & the lab/lib/con/green
    coalition fighting the United Kingdoms corner we can possible go wrong .

    Entrance to the Blue river can be found via continuing to support the lab/lib/con/green coalition.

  16. Morning all

    SIR – The abuse of the British taxpayer continues in increasingly comic fashion. We pay huge green taxes to subsidise the renewable energy sector and, through a series of interlinked policy disasters, there is a shortage of carbon dioxide. The taxpayer now has to bail out a private American company to maintain vital supplies.

    Andrew Holgate

    Etwall, Derbyshire

    SIR – Since 2004 Britain has been a net importer of natural gas. In 2013 there was significant pressure on gas supplies, and industry members raised concern about reserves and future planning for increasing storage capacity. The Government declined to make any investment in new facilities, stating that there was “no requirement”.

    The Energy Secretary at the time was one Ed Davey, now Sir Ed and the leader of the Liberal Democrats.

    Ian Robertson

    Hook, Hampshire

    SIR – Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, assures consumers that their energy bills will not rise as a result of the gas crisis, since the price cap remains in place.

    This is only true for those already paying over the odds on variable tariffs. For anyone like me who took advantage of a cheaper fixed-term tariff, prices will rise considerably.

    My current tariff, which ends in November, costs me £705 a year. The cheapest renewal rate I can find is £1,178 a year on a variable tariff (or £1,286 a year for a three-year fixed deal with a penalty fee should I exit early).

    Peter Harper

    Lover, Wiltshire

    1. Ed Davey replaced Chris Huhne as minister for the Environment. Huhne (the chap with the trans-sexual girlfriend) had to go to prison because of his lies about driving his car but to my way of thinking the level of Davey’s mendacity puts Huhne in the shade.

    1. The UK and the US have fought bravely together to defend our people and our values.

      Neither of these two imposters is remotely interested in the people or the people’s values – they are only interested in themselves.

    2. The Kohima Epitaph puts Johnson’s weasel words and empty sentiments into context. He is a hypocrite of the first magnitude. Instead of enabling policies that will destroy this Country he should read some history and aspire to being a great leader and a human being as epitomised by, “Uncle Bill,” – Field Marshal Viscount Slim. A brave and modest man who achieved great things.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b41c1126c6345dbc0106ac7c4cadef82f83d88481d3b558f68e6dd5d3e185e6a.png

  18. In today’s DT…

    Anti-Christian zealots have a new tactic
    Militant ‘progressive’ secularists don’t just hate my religion. They hate its followers, too

    CATHERINE PEPINSTER
    23 September 2021 • 6:00am

    You don’t have to dig that deep into the history of Oxford’s colleges to find they owe their existence to Christianity’s historic role in this country. For some it’s obvious: Christ Church, Corpus Christi, Jesus – the names give away the connection. But it’s also true for others. Take Worcester College. Its roots go back to Gloucester College, a foundation of Benedictine monks. That fell victim to Henry VIII and his henchman, Thomas Cromwell, as part of their dissolution of the monasteries. So rows about religion are not new at Worcester College, except today, it’s not a question of tearing down buildings, stone by stone, or confiscating the altar plate for the King’s coffers. It’s about banning what you don’t agree with, and what Worcester’s woke students don’t like are Christian beliefs.

    This month, a group of them are said to have complained to the college authorities about the organisation Christian Concern holding its week-long Wilberforce Academy residential school at the college. David Isaac, the Provost of Worcester, has apologised to the students’ union, saying he regretted the “distress” the event caused to its members.

    This latest episode is more disturbing than a group of unliberal “liberals” making a fuss about beliefs they don’t like. It hints at something far worse: that what the secularist enemies of religion really object to is not just a creed, but also the people who hold it. Most worryingly of all, they have learnt to wrap up their bigotry as support for diversity.

    There are plenty of churchgoers who aren’t very keen on Christian Concern. It’s an evangelical organisation whose supporters are very clear about where they stand on abortion (against), euthanasia (against) and homosexuality (sinful). They base their trenchant beliefs on their reading of Scripture. Other Christians don’t interpret the Bible the same way, and I’m not too keen on some of their ideas myself. Yet their fellow Christians should be concerned about what has happened to Christian Concern at Worcester College. It’s part of a bigger trend: to traduce not only a religion but also its followers.

    A few weeks ago I spoke on Radio 4 in the Thought for the Day slot, celebrating the achievements of our Paralympians in Tokyo but also noting conflicted attitudes to disabled people. When I pointed out that disabled people have taken their objection to the current abortion law, which allows termination right up until birth on the grounds of physical or mental abnormality, to the High Court on the grounds that the law is discriminatory and does not respect them, I was the subject of a complaint by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, which described my Thought as “low”. The Twitter trolls also waded in, calling me deluded, while one said that given I was a person of faith, I was mentally damaged. Unless you sign up wholesale to abortion as a human right and expression of feminism, it’s not just your views that are opposed: it’s you.

    What are Christians to do about these attacks? Stay silent? Turn the other cheek? That saying comes, of course, from Matthew 5:39 but skip on a few chapters and you find Christ is realistic about what it is to have unpopular beliefs: you’re sheep in the midst of wolves, he says, and he suggests a certain guile. Be not only innocent as doves, he advises, but wise as serpents.

    In 21st century Britain, that could be interpreted as Christians using what is available to them to fight back: the law. One woman who did so, Kristie Higgs, was fired from her job as a school pastoral assistant after sharing a petition against extending relationship education on her Facebook page. She went to court and her case is to be heard by an appeal tribunal after a judge ruled it was an important case regarding the free expression of belief.

    Mr Isaac, previously chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, pointed out in a blog post recently that freedom of speech in education was a foundation of an effective society. Yet it’s in danger of being lost at his college, where as part of his apology for the college hosting Christian Concern, profits from it will now be used for “diversity initiatives”. Yet surely a truly diverse society should have space for Christian ideas, for debating them, and for Christians too.

    One of the (mostly supportive) BTL comments:

    simon packer
    23 Sep 2021 7:37AM
    There is a level of distress which is utterly trivial and self-induced, and does not require any apology. An apology is completely ridiculous in this situation.

    The early followers of Christ were anything but weak, passive, endlessly accommodating. They had an unshakable conviction that Christ had risen from the dead and was Lord of All. They were martyred because of their impertinent affronts to societal norms. The contrast with Mr Isaac and the C of E in general is comical as well as pitiful.

    1. Good morning, my friends

      Anyone care to answer this question?

      Is the Conservative Party more or less conservative than the Church of England is Christian?

      2. ‘Morning, Richard, since the Church of England was referred to as the Conservative Party at prayer, given the recent actions and activity of both, I can only assume that they’re both en route to Hell in a handcart.

    2. “An evangelical organisation whose supporters are very clear about where they stand on abortion (against), euthanasia (against) and homosexuality (sinful).”
      A definition of the traditional Catholic Church.

    3. I would bet my bottom dollar that the students of Worcester College would not raise a murmur in protest at the beliefs of Islam, which in the cases stated above, are very similar to that of Christian Concern.

    4. I’m hardly evangelical, but I’m against abortion (except where the mother is at risk), against euthanasia (due to the risk of mission creep) and think homosexuality is sinful (and a perverted lifestyle).

  19. Europe is wrapped around Putin’s little finger. 23 September 2021.

    The judgment coincided with British counter-terrorism police charging a third Russian intelligence officer, Maj Gen Denis Sergeev, with involvement in the attempted murder of the former Russian spy Col Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in March 2018. The existence of a third Russian intelligence officer – first revealed by The Daily Telegraph – who oversaw the plot to murder Mr Skripal with the nerve agent Novichok highlighted the sophistication of the assassination attempt by Russia’s GRU intelligence operation to silence one of Mr Putin’s fiercest critics.

    After a long period of silence about him Vlad is getting quite a bit of exposure at the moment! This is mostly to provide a distraction from the Energy Crisis by blaming him for it; though I note that strangely, the BBC has not indulged in this. There’s also the Elections for the Duma, which he won by a landslide, supposedly by a loss in support; yet another remarkable achievement. This article by Coughlin is a superficial attempt to maintain much the same narrative though throwing in a little about the Skripals. Another fantasy.

    I was berated the other day for my support for Mr Putin. It was ad hominem of course since facts are as they are. This said I don’t deny that I am an admirer of the President of Russia; although I hope that this does not distort my perception of him. As European Civilisation disintegrates before our very eyes he alone among World Leaders has taken steps to protect his country and his people from the Globalist Menace. Long may he continue to do so since with them goes the remnants of what were once the crowning glories of Europe. The Renaissance and the Enlightenment!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/09/23/europe-wrapped-around-putins-little-finger/

    1. One thing you probably won’t read about today was an all-day meeting in Helsinki yesterday between Gen. Milley and Gen. Gerasimov the top Generals of US and Russia !

  20. Car Crash

    A rabbi and a priest get into a car accident and it’s a bad one. Both cars are totally demolished, but, amazingly, neither of the clerics is hurt. After they crawl out of their cars, the rabbi sees the priest’s collar and says, “So you’re a priest. I’m a rabbi. Just look at our cars. There’s nothing left, but we are unhurt. This must be a sign from God. God must have meant that we should meet and be friends and live together in peace the rest of our days.”

    The priest replies, “I agree with you completely. This must be a sign from God.”

    The rabbi continues, “And look at this. Here’s another miracle. My car is completely demolished but this bottle of Mogan David wine didn’t break. Surely God wants us to drink this wine and celebrate our good fortune.”

    Then he hands the bottle to the priest. The priest agrees, takes a few big swigs, and hands the bottle back to the rabbi. The rabbi takes the bottle, immediately puts the cap on, and hands it back to the priest. The priest asks, “Aren’t you having any?”

    The rabbi replies, “No… I think I’ll wait for the police.”

  21. ‘Morning again.

    Michael Deacon’s column is uncomfortably close to the truth:

    Don’t panic, folks! Here’s the Boris Johnson guide to surviving the new Winter of Discontent

    We might not have any heat or light in our homes – or any turkey at Christmas – but the PM has some comforting words for us…

    MICHAEL DEACON
    PARLIAMENTARY SKETCHWRITER
    22 September 2021 • 7:50pm

    While Boris Johnson has been away in America, problems have been piling up back home. Anxieties are growing about a possible winter of discontent, with energy bills rocketing, inflation soaring and a shortage of carbon dioxide threatening food supplies – and perhaps even scuppering Christmas.

    The Prime Minister urgently needs to allay the public’s fears before panic sets in. And so, when he arrives back in Britain, he intends to deliver the following address to the nation.

    “Folks, let me take this opportunity to reassure you all. Throughout my trip to the US, I was kept fully abreast of developments back here in Britain. And let me tell you, I was delighted.

    “I mean, what a triumph. There I was in New York, at the UN summit on climate change, telling the world that we all need to produce less carbon dioxide. And later that very same day, I hear that in Britain, we’ve stopped producing any at all. Talk about getting instant results. Where Global Britain leads, the world will surely follow.

    “Of course, no doubt the usual doomsters and gloomsters will carp and moan, as they always do. They’ll tell us that because the price of gas has shot to terrifying heights, we’re in for a miserable winter. But, to borrow a phrase from our dear old chums in Frogland, fermez votre pie-hole – because, quite frankly, folks, nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, there may be one or two hiccups ahead. But think of all the exciting opportunities we can now look forward to.

    “For example, this so-called energy crisis will give a much-needed shot in the arm to the great British jumper industry. To have any hope of surviving the long, cold months ahead, every man, woman and child in the country will be rushing eagerly out to the shops to snap up oodles of extra sweaters. To be on the safe side, I recommend wearing five at a time: four on the top, plus another one over your trousers. Slip your legs through the arms, and bingo – nice and toasty. No danger of hypothermia now. Especially thanks to the warm glow you’ll get from knowing you’ve boosted the British economy. Or at least the bit of it that deals in patterned knitwear.

    “This winter will also be wonderful for work-life balance. For yonks now, Labour and the Scots Nats have been clamouring for a four-day week. Well, folks, we can do better than that. Because under my Government, this winter you’ll only have to work a three-day week! Or potentially a two-day, one-day, or even a no-day week, depending on energy supplies.

    “As a result, millions of parents across our great country will be able to spend more time with their children. And it’ll be quality time, too. After all, with energy bills going through the roof, it’ll be far too expensive to just park your brats in front of the TV.

    “At the same time, an energy crisis will be a tremendous boon to national security. If any hostile foreign power tries to succeed where the Luftwaffe failed, by launching an overnight bombing raid on this country, they won’t stand a chance – because there won’t be a single light on anywhere. You won’t even have to bother putting up any fiddly blackout curtains, which was always such a tiresome chore for our grandparents during the Blitz. Instead, we can all sleep soundly in our beds, safe in the knowledge that the poor baffled enemy won’t have the faintest idea where to drop his bombs.

    “I appreciate that the food industry has voiced a few minor quibbles about the shortage of carbon dioxide. So we’ve stumped up some cash to cover production – at least for the next three weeks. But if, after that, the stuff does run out, would it really be such a bad thing?

    “No CO2 would mean no fizzy drinks: excellent news for our children’s health and teeth. Instead, they can all drink delicious, refreshing water. Assuming of course that we still have water. Is water made from carbon dioxide? Not sure. Let me check with the science bods and get back to you.

    “At any rate, no CO2 would certainly mean no meat. Which would force everyone to go vegan. Again, terrific for the nation’s health. But there would also be an additional, and arguably even more welcome, benefit. Once everyone in the country is vegan, being vegan won’t make you special and different any more. Which means we’ll no longer have to listen to the original vegans endlessly boasting that they’re vegans, and scolding everyone else for not being vegans. Everyone will be happy. Except for the original vegans. But then, they never are, so no change there.

    “All in all, folks, I reckon this whole energy crisis thing is probably nothing to worry about, and we’ll all breeze through it, no problem. But remember, this is a fast-moving situation. So to keep up with the latest developments, make sure you buy a newspaper.

    “Then after you’ve read it, you can set fire to it, and huddle round the sports section for warmth.”

    The leading BTL comments are pretty hostile to Johnson, this one is typical:

    Gary Halstead
    22 Sep 2021 10:11PM
    Every single one of the catastrophes that are about to begin the destruction of the UK can be laid directly at the feet of Johnson and the implementation of his and NutNuts woke, ecoloon and Pro-EU (repeatedly failing to stand up for UK interests & continually kicking the can down the road instead of invoking A16 & WTO is the same thing) Londocentric policies.

    Unless and until Johnson and his lunatic ecoloon cabal are removed taking all their wokery and green nonsense with them, this country is destined for bankruptcy and 14th Century living conditions.

    2. A very good lampooning of someone so out of his depth that the amusing edge is blunted by the dire reality of the situation. Johnson has been, remains and will continue to be a disaster for this Country of ours; not his or his globalist chums’ Country, but OURS. What is the binding agent that keeps his Cabinet subdued? They must see the catastrophe that Johnson is bringing to this Country. What are they afraid of?

      Too many people have been sleepwalking through the CV-19 nightmare promulgated by Johnson & Co via fear. However, place those same people in queues for food; deny them meat; deny them heat for comfort and cooking and fuel for travel and they will awaken and not be too pleased with the lying buffoon.

    3. While comical, pseudoJohnson forgets that factories use energy. Lots of energy. No energy, no jumpers.

  22. I’ve had to put the Gas Central Heating on this morning! First time since July. We are doomed!

    1. 339171+ up ticks,

      Morning AS,

      No surrender, get a log burner & a pair of boy scouts
      for log cutting & friction purposes.

      1. Log burners are too polluting for those in urban environments, which is most people, and even then they raise the level of pollution inside the home. They may be trendy and look nice, but they are no solution.

          1. They are J, I light the woodburner in the lounge, leave all the doors open and it heats the whole house

        2. Nothing like it on a drab winter’s evening. Fires go back quite a long way in human history oddly enough and a dual fuel stove is rather efficient.

        3. 339171+ up ticks,
          Morning D,
          Log burner / multi smokeless fuels freedom of choice
          do you not agree ?

          The look alone of a smokeless fuel / with cooking facilities or an open fire, to many peoples is very beneficial to their mental wellbeing, I’d wager.

        5. Really? My folks have one, all the smoke goes up the chimney and it’s a lovely all consuming warmth, far more so than radiators.

      1. Nor here.Outside Helsinki,Turku and maybe one other city,Finland has no piped gas supply.
        The ground-covering of soil in a lot of places is so shallow it would be nigh impossible to run underground pipelines.
        We have several large rocky outcrops on our property and if you use the train or any of the main roads you will see where the route had to be blasted out of solid rock.

    5. Even I’ve felt the slight flicker of a chill. Not cold, just that ‘hmm, it’s not ‘warm’.

      However, I tend to have all the windows open all the time.

    6. It was warmer out (20.5 degrees C) than in (18.5 degrees C) again here this morning! I took my coffee outdoors to drink again.

  23. 339171+ up ticks,

    Nowhere left for Covid to go to mutate into a deadly variant, says Oxford vaccine creator
    Viruses tend to become less virulent over time as they spread through a population becoming more immune, according to Dame Sarah Gilbert

    Current coalition members must NOT worry it will ALWAYS have a place in the future use department within the lab/lib/con/green coalition.

    I personally do find it far to pat for easy swallowed political fodder.

    From the Chinese bat cave / triggering repress,reset ,replace / manufactured turmoil / fear was in my book a well thought out campaign
    of manipulation & herd control.

    1. I heard some expert say that right at the start of the outbreak and this is what has happened, no worse than a bad cold now for most people if they feel anything at all, it’s all over, well medically it is all bar the shouting.

      1. Morning Bob. It is sobering to realise that all this has been done in the cause of a virus that has done very little more damage than the Common Cold!

        1. Well it was a means to an end, the pandemic is inextricably linked with the same politicians, globalists, scientists, big tech corporations and plutocrats as the climate change venture, if you remember back to the January before the pandemic in 2020 all kicked off, Prince Charles was speaking at the WEF conference calling for revolutionary change and just by coincidence two months later the world was sent down a path of revolutionary change all on the back of something no worse than the common cold

        3. Didn’t globalist Herr Squab state that the virus situation should be exploited? After his plea all the globalist vermin in governments around the World slithered into action. Any mention from the creator re side effects?

      2. Morning Bob. It is sobering to realise that all this has been done in the cause of a virus that does very little more damage than the Common Cold!

    2. So, a scientist directly involved in the CV-19 scandal now agrees with what many independent scientists, doctors etc have been saying for over a year i.e. the virus will mutate into something much less virulent, and yet a politician, and a seriously ill one at that, makes this type of statement. It should be clear that even if the first appearance of CV-19 was a health problem worthy of note, it has been moved from the health arena into the political arena and will continue to be milked for all it is worth. Also this Biden decision puts Jackass Johnson in his place.

      https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1440703139531792402

  24. 339171+up ticks,

    Only ‘small proportion’ of Channel migrant boats will be turned back
    Priti Patel’s ‘push back’ tactics will only be used ‘if it can be done in a safe and legal way’, says Home Office permanent secretary

    An mass influx of decimated current party cards to number ten would turn the tide.

    You will never, as long as you have a rear exit find success for this political treacherous malady whilst supporting a mass uncontrolled immigration party, still, you party members know that doncha.

          1. I went to a fringe meeting at the Conservative conference in Oct 2011 and was so disgusted by the wishy washy attitude to getting out of the EU evinced by the supposed great EU sceptic Carswell that I came to the conclusion that the Cons were never serious about freeing us so I needed to put my money where my mouth was and as soon as I got home I joined UKIP.

    3. Afghans or not. Those people crossing the channel in dinghies are entering the country illegally and should all be put on a ferry and taken back straight away.

      If they truly were asylum seekers they should have registered in the first European country they landed in. That fact alone makes them economic migrants.

        1. The state machine is taking every possible advantage Brexit offers and intentionally forcing the opposite scenario – debt, taxes, waste, a flood of human sewage into the throat of the country.

          I am convinced this is deliberate as a punishment for denying the state it’s way.

  25. Just read a report in Gloucestershire Live about six ‘covidiots’ who had the temerity to go out or have more than one person in their homes during the January lockdown- fined a total of £6,500. I thought the courts had found these penalties for doing normal things had been cancelled?

  26. There needs to be with immediate effect a 300% emergency tax on the unit prices of gas and electricity, imposed on all consumers, along with a compulsory freezing of standing charges.

    This then provides the funding to return this money back to the energy companies to enable them to continue buying wholesale energy at grossly inflated market prices, whilst providing an incentive to use a lot less.

    If this doesn’t happen, then the small competitors will be driven out of business, and the big companies, working as a cartel with price regulation lifted, will charge what they like to sustain their executives’ bonus remunerations and do very well out of it at our expense.

    This is reviewed constantly, and can be lifted as soon as wholesale market prices return to the previously normal market fluctuations.

    Special subsidies can be made to industries vital to the national interest, such as food production, so that essentials do not contribute to a liftoff of 1970s-style hyperinflation, forcing interest rates to rise substantially, putting the cost of the national debt to a level that could bankrupt the nation and force very many people into negative equity. Non-essentials would have to follow the market, providing another incentive to use a lot less in hard times.

    Do we have the Government with the courage and public spirit to implement it? We’ll see.

      1. “Why should consumers pay this tax?”

        Because they consume. If they didn’t consume, there would not be the shortage of supply that’s driving the suppliers out of business, and pushing the price up even more.

        1. If consumers (and that includes industry) didn’t consume who would the suppliers supply, how would they make profits and how would they pay for their supplies and pay their staff?

          1. Overheads should be covered by the standing charge. That is fair. Consumption, according to the price of energy, should be put on the unit price. If consumers didn’t consume, they pay the standing charge for the privilege of being connected, or make the decision to go completely off-grid.

        2. The suppliers supply and consumers consume. They are already paying the price and we don’t need any extra taxes.

          1. Without heating we would die. A 300% increase in heating bills would take us well into 5 figures for our old cottage…

        3. But customers *already* pay this tax. If supply of a product is deliberately limited, prices rise. If government then meddles to fix the price, companies fail. You cannot operate when government controls supply and demand. It’s doing the same with housing and [beeeeep]ing that up as well – control supply, control demand, fix the price… boom, perfect storm of screw ups.

          Folk forget that energy company investments fund a lot of pension investments. If those collapse, so do our pensions, savings and so on.

          Government is moronic. Truly it’s a stupid child with a bat in a pottery.

          1. What’s causing these companies to fail is fixed price tariffs. Under reasonably expected market conditions, they can be set to take into account the ebb and fall of the market – pay more in summer and less in winter by staying on the same tariff throughout.

            These are not reasonable market conditions though. A company must honour its fixed tariff even if the cost to them has tripled. Any failure to do so is a breach of contract, which leads to all sorts of legal problems where the lawyers do very well.

            Governments though do not have to honour such legal contracts and can set taxes as they see fit. If it is in the national interest to put on an emergency levy, they should do so, and face the consequences electorally, rather than in court.

    2. ‘Morning JM. ‘Government’ and ‘courage’ in the same sentence? These days it seems to be the path of least resistance and to hell with the outcome.

    4. Woah there Jeremy.

      The government capped gas prices. It then said ‘here, buy this expensive but higher profit margin – green energy’.
      As a result, energy companies did and the cost was born by the tax payer.
      Now Russia has limited supply and our own government has refused to stockpile we’re now low on supply, and prices are going to rise because during the winter green is pointless and becomes even more expensive so the profit margin is eroded.

      That drives energy companies to the wall.

      The fault, solely, is that of government deliberately rationing energy because of an agenda. It didn’t understand that high prices would drive companies out of business – because it doesn’t think further than Friday afternoon. It refuses to accept that it’s moronic decisions have consequences. As a result, we have genuine fuel poverty – all because the useless state wanted to meet an irrelevant, invented and meaningless target for a thing we need more of.

      The ego, hubris and plain stupidity of government is monumental. The whole lot of them need a drubbing until they get the message that they’re gormless fools doing more damage than they can understand.

  27. Tony Young is wrong in his statement that the markings on a tyre of 175/15 will give a width of 175mm and a wheel size of 15″ – as he states it it will have a width of 175mm and a width to depth ratio of 15% which is an extremely low profile tyre.
    Just to clarify matters xxx/yy R** equals
    xxx = width of tyre (mm)
    yy = ratio of width to depth
    R** = dia of wheel (inches)
    followed by the speed rating

    4. The Sultana’s car has different sizes front and back, only a couple of companies make matching tyres in the required sizes… What fun!

      1. “…….. we must show that we are capable of finally taking responsibility for the destruction we are inflicting on our planet, and ourselves.”

        That such an irresponsible idiot can spout such flatulent and fatuous verbiage is, I suppose, just would you would expect.

        1. Rather want to say to the oaf – ‘Why’? What damage are we doing? Could you explain how cobalt and lithium mining in the Congo by child labour helps this? How, precisely is pouring four hundred tons of concrete into the seabed to support a windmill that never returns the energy used to make it helps the environment?’

          The stupid man is just a fanatic. He’s just using green as a way to soak tax.

      1. 339171+ up ticks,
        Morning P,
        If the voting pattern in vogue continues the chain of command can be past down as one knifes the other, the last two will most certainly be political imams.

    5. But we are not responsible, are we? The only damage we’re doing is by pouring hundreds of tons of concrete into the ground.

      I’ll inflict some damage on you, you greedy, spoiled fool.

  32. 339171+ up ticks,
    Now this I would believe because it is from the lips of a master, well recorded mass back stabber of some standing, 30000 plus at last count.

    @Nigel_Farage
    Joe Biden stabs Boris in the back before he even leaves the USA!

  34. Good Moaning.
    Woweeee ……. tomorrow we are going to our first posh do in two years.
    Better still, while trawling through my party gear, I found a pair of heeled shoes that were comfortable enough for me to wear with a modicum of dignity; so I won’t be hobbling around tomorrow night like a rookie drag queen.

    1. Party gear, sigh .
      Good morning Anne ,

      Lockdown weight gain has scuppered any dressing up for me .

      All the nice clothes places are closed in Dorchester , and on line shopping has been an absolute disaster !

      I might trawl around the charity shops for events that might never happen .

      I expect you have some lovely clothes , I don’t think I have even worn makeup for nearly 2 years .

          1. “Kind, kind, sometimes too kind”.

            That’s a quote from a comedy show about the time I was in the 6th form, late ’60s, but I can’t remember the name. Might have been Peter Cook & Dudley Moore.

      2. ‘Morning, Belle! I bought a very beautiful outfit for younger daughters wedding which was supposed to take place 18 months ago! It has now been rearranged twice and is to ‘happen’ at the end of November! (the wee Scottish fishwife willing!) I’m wondering how much of the ‘spare tyre’ I can shift by then!😱

        2. Oh my goodness Sue , your poor daughter has had a bundle of worries , I am sure things will work out happily soon.

          I think Slimming World will be useful for me , I need some incentives !

        1. We were taught all about congenital syphilis, but congenital gonorrhoea is a new one on me. I’ve just Googled it.

        2. Good morning Annie Baby

          Bravo! However pushy you may be at least you have no regrets about anything!

    2. Yeah but, look out Buxton taking government orders your local council will be building new homes for many of them soon. 🤔

    5. I visit Buxton regularly. I cannot remember ever seeing a black person there. But I suppose it’s a nice place for a day out for these idiots.

    6. Man – der is so many of de black brethen partaking evry day of de fabled Buxton waters dat its hard to keep dem away.

  37. Market very active. Practically mask free. Morrisons – most people masked – not the staff; not the Thomases.

  38. Noticed this from Twitter contributor:

    Just submitted my @CSASCambridge MPhil dissertation “Ecology and Labour in Bengal’s Salt Industry, 1780-1862”

    Is this an exception, or do dissertations normally involve such obscure subjects?

    2. These things are expected to be new and original research.

      Given how many people world wide are studying for masters and doctorates they have to scratch around to find something nobody has “researched” in depth before.

      If somebody else publishes something very similar, the first to publish gets the kudos and the second can even find that all their work is wasted.

      In subjects such as hard sciences and mathematics it is surprisingly easy to fall foul of that.

    3. They do indeed. The idea is to make the subject matter so obscure that no one will read it, realize you are an idiot and thus unemployable. If you use such words as hermeneutics, Heideggerian, and quote a phenomenologist such as Merleau-Ponty, you are guaranteed a degree because no one will read your dissertation but pass it to get the thing out of their way ASAP.

      1. Yes, I had wondered how much enthusiasm the person, or people, who had to read such things would have!

        1. Having worked at UC Berkeley, I can guarantee you that enthusiasm is rather low. I can also tell you that people have group sessions trying to figure out what to write about and what to call their dissertation. The more ludicrous or unintelligible the title, whilst appearing to be meaningful, the better.

          This is how absurd it gets.
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVk9a5Jcd1k

      2. At our graduation ceremony, one of the PHDs was awarded to a student who has written his thesis on something to do with (I think) semi-conductors.
        As the VC read out the interminable title of this work, the stifled giggles became less and less controllable.

    7. Nope. Dissertations are often obscure because no one else has bothered to research them. Mine was on teaching MFL vocab via games.

    2. My 15 y.o. Cmax sailed through its annual service & MOT last week, for less money than I expected.

      1. My 2007 Peugeot is due the MOT in December – hopefully will get through. I had a new exhaust box fitted last week – there are so many potholes here that I have to go into first gear just to get round the corner at the bottom of the hill. Undoubtedly the reason the exhaust was hanging off.

      2. It’s a VW AND it passed the Mot without so much as an advisory! I use a small local garage, who do a change of fluids and filters whilst prepping for the MoT. Happy day.

    1. Boris isn’t worried about the consequences. After he retires he gets £115,000 in expenses as a retired parasite, and a pension based on half his salary, £161,401 as PM. He couldn’t care less about the “little people”.

      1. The utterly depressing thing is that he is not alone. All the MPs are self-serving, uncaring wanqueurs, for whom the voters are just riff-raff to be courted, for a couple of weeks and then firmly forgotten for the next five years.

        1. And that piece of excrement, Gideon Osborne, decided to eff up private pensions which resulted in thousands of doctors deciding to retire in their 50’s as they would be worse off if they continued working.

        2. Indeed, there are 363 Tory MPs. There is an overall majority of over 80. A group of Tory MPs could get together and vote out the PM and the entire Cabinet. Evidently, they are all in support of the destruction of the country.

    2. Let’s get Economic Mayhem and Fuel Poverty Done!

      Boris Johnson is about to announce with great pride and bluster that he has a brilliiant, oven-ready shambles which he has already started delivering.

      .

      1. Johnson bragging about an oven ready energy shambles would be about right for that creature. He’s either too thick or too far up his own arse to see the irony in those four words.

  41. Oh dear, the truth will out eventually.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obdI7tgKLtA
    Perhaps this is why after all my heart prob’s due to the ‘vaccine’ the cardiologist isn’t going to phone me until just few days before Christmas.
    The reactions to the ‘vaccines’ were mainly covered up with invented stories about variants.

        1. I had two AZ & husband had two Pfizer. No obvious reactions but we won’t be bothering with the boosters.

    2. Saw this yesterday on Red Voice Media. More and more whistleblowers in the health business, especially nurses and administrators, are reaching out to sites like the Stew Peters Show and The Highwire. Doctors expressing genuine concerns appear, in the main, to be independents e.g Dr Zelenko and Dr Ryan Cole. This week’s The Highwire will be online later this evening: the resident investigative journalist, Jefferey Jaxen puts our lack-lustre people to shame.

    3. Saw this yesterday on Red Voice Media. More and more whistleblowers in the health business, especially nurses and administrators, are reaching out to sites like the Stew Peters Show and The Highwire. Doctors expressing genuine concerns appear, in the main, to be independents e.g Dr Zelenko and Dr Ryan Cole. This week’s The Highwire will be online later this evening: the resident investigative journalist, Jefferey Jaxen puts our lack-lustre people to shame.

    3. After the franglais – it just gets worse and worse.

      Who will rid us of this turbulent turniphead?

      1. It appears that most people have it in for the dwarf. No sympathies for that French fool. Really throwing a paddy because the Australians, sensibly, have decided that nuclear submarines are a better and, I would say, an obvious choice, over clunky antique French diesels. But then, what would you expect from people that invent something as ludicrous as the Maginot Line.

    1. THE analyst Dr Will Jones has observed that the world is in the grip of something akin to religious mania in its response to the arrival of Covid-19. I feel sure he is right. We have suffered greatly from this mania and are in real danger of an even greater crisis ahead.

      Morning Jonathan. It’s not just Covid though is it? There’s the same sort of atmosphere that was around during the Witch Trials in both England and Salem. An unreasoning panic, a denial of truth itself; facts have become irrelevant. I have wondered myself if it’s a mass psychosis though how it spreads is problematical. We know that these occur on a smaller scale in cults and the like.

      1. We are caught in a pincer movement between the covid fanatics and the greenies – in many cases they are one and the same people.

        1. I suspect that it is all of one piece. Covid, Climate Change, BLM, destruction of history and education. It is a slow moving revolution.

      2. Hi Araminta! I’m absolutely convinced that it is identical to religious mania. Simply because it isn’t labelled as a religion makes no difference, it is an undeniable fact that there is a ‘Church of Covid’ with a set of irrational beliefs, persecution and excommunication of those who will not comply. It is what happens when people abandon real religion but have not abandoned the religious instinct, they end up believing any old nonsense because it makes them feel safe against the imagined terror that is stalking their mortality.

        But I also think that there is something far more sinister going on. The fact that people are deliberately being manipulated to take contradictory orders and comply with them. This is totalitarian manipulation designed to break the will of the people and make them comply to the dictates of government. What we have to do is refuse. I note that today the workmen in Melbourne, Australia, are now getting support from workers in Sydney and that propagandists from the MSM are being retaliated against. I simply hope that this fight for freedom spreads over here and to the USA, Canada etc.

        1. Australia and NZ have been spared most infections and deaths yet the fanatical clampdowns on freedom have been worse there than here. I wish the protesters all the best in their fght for freedom.

  44. My wife is caught in a web of fear. 23 September 2021.

    On a scale of one to ten, I’d give her about an eight on the irrationality scale. She doesn’t insist that I search every nook and cranny of our bedroom to make sure it’s spider-free before she can go to sleep. But she has surrounded the bed with conkers. She’s a great believer in the spider-repelling properties of horse chestnuts, even though there’s no scientific evidence for it.

    When we first got together and I discovered this phobia I made the mistake of asking her what she was scared off. ‘Being bitten of course,’ she said. I assured her that the chances of being bitten by an English house spider are vanishing to zero, but she looked at me as if I was a paid agent of the Spider King. ‘What d’you think that is, then?’ she said, jabbing her finger at an almost invisible red spot on her leg. And that’s not the only reason to fear arachnids. As any fool knows, they can also crawl into your ear or mouth when you’re asleep and lay eggs which then hatch a few days later, producing an eruption of baby spiders

    Well on a scale of not giving a rat’s arse about spiders I have just moved to Force 10 on the Beaufort Scale!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/my-wife-is-caught-in-a-web-of-fear

    1. Good morning, Minty.

      I tried the conker trick in my conservatory. The spiders loved them.

      Surrounding the bed with conkers is not a good idea if you have to get up in the night.

    2. When I was a teenager I saw my father get nipped on the knee by a large house spider. He couldn’t ‘live & let live’ but went after one on his hands & knees, with a rolled-up newspaper, which used to cross the floor of the sitting room every evening at 9 pm. The beast feinted his lunge & made a bee-line for his knee & bit. My father yelped.

      1. Spiders are actually pretty smart! You can sometimes see them watching you as they sneak around!

          2. Spiders do it too, especially those large enough to have eyes that stand out on stalks… More than a few years ago, when camping in France, a large, juicy spider was making its way across the groundsheet. Poppiesdad was ready, armed with a glass and square of cardboard. Closer, closer he got…. the spider, sensing he was there, shook itself and hundreds of baby spiders disembarked from its back. Leapt off with speed, in fact. It was as if mother spider had yelled “abandon ship now!” It was an arachnophobe’s nightmare.

        2. They are welcome in my house. I only remove them when the cobwebs get out of hand. Saw a huge one a couple of evening ago scuttling along the floor. The cat watched it but did nothing. Spiders that are in the way, I pick up and plonk on the houseplants. There are no dangerous spiders in the UK.

          2. Try the real thing, California abounds with them and in 40 years I was never bitten despite moving wood piles etc in the Garden. Now there is the Brow Recluse, a really nasty thing that is so unobtrusive that you don’t know you have been bitten until it is to late. Here is the result of a Brow Recluses nastiness. Prepare to have the vapours!
            https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n9yDQKCfjJQ/UFTOqPs90rI/AAAAAAAAA08/oZQ_dIB_v14/s1600/brown-recluse-spider-bite-3.jpg

          4. I’ve met recluse spiders in Chile, where they are known as araña de rincón (corner spider)
            Their toxicity varies from region to region, but the ones in Santiago are the worst.

            https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ara%C3%B1a+rincon&sxsrf=AOaemvJo4ct9hZIvNMtTMMiyEEEWuFYgnw%3A1632345371787&source=hp&ei=G51LYdu0LYWAacSjo_gH&iflsig=ALs-wAMAAAAAYUurK0bVMsN4sh6dtNjoKGo95aawNAgf&gs_ssp=eJzj4tTP1TdIS08yKzdg9OJNLEo8vDFRoSgzLzk_DwBw6gkl&oq=arana+rincon&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAEYADIICC4QgAQQkwIyBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB4yBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB4yBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB46CQgjECcQRhD5AToECC4QJzoECCMQJzoFCC4QkQI6CwguEMcBEK8BEJECOgsIABCABBCxAxCDAToRCC4QgAQQsQMQgwEQxwEQ0QM6DgguEIAEELEDEMcBEKMCOgsILhCABBCxAxCDAToICAAQsQMQgwE6BQgAEJECOggIABCABBCxAzoICC4QgAQQsQM6CAguELEDEIMBOgsILhCABBCxAxCTAjoOCC4QgAQQsQMQxwEQrwE6BQgAEIAEOgcILhCxAxAKOgcILhCABBAKOgoILhCxAxAKEJMCOgUILhCABDoHCAAQsQMQCjoECAAQCjoECC4QClCLq4cBWM_RhwFgyfqHAWgAcAB4AIABwQGIAdAKkgEDNi42mAEAoAEB&sclient=gws-wiz

        4. I try to put a glass over a spider and then slip a piece of paper under the glass. I then tip the spider out of the window and he or she then scurries away into the undergrowth.

    3. Arachniphobia is irrational – I know they do no harm and I wouldn’t deliberately kill one – I get OH to remove them and put them outside. But I’m an arrachniphobe – always have been and always will be. The bigger they are, the more terrifying they are. I can live with the thin ones that live in the ccorners of the ceiling or in the downstairs loo – so long as they stay put. The big, black hairy ones reduce me to a quivering jelly.

      1. You’ve no doubt seen the big blue metallic-looking bui-bui in Kenya, which spin their webs in telegraph wires. Have you encountered the jumping spiders?

          1. I like the little black & white jumping spiders which appear on old teak furniture in the garden. They seem almost friendly.

      2. I got bitten in the groin by one that must have been in the bath and survived in the foam until it found some skin – I saw it in the bath after the suds had subsided. It was painful for a few days but thankfully it missed vital parts!

        2. I haven’t had a bath for years – but I do check around the shower carefully before stepping in. One time I felt something tickle – and it was one of the thin spider that infest this house – harmless but it gave me a fright!

          2. No, Ndovu is describing the cellar spider – absoluto harmless.

            https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cellar+spider&sxsrf=AOaemvJo4ct9hZIvNMtTMMiyEEEWuFYgnw%3A1632345371787&source=hp&ei=G51LYdu0LYWAacSjo_gH&iflsig=ALs-wAMAAAAAYUurK0bVMsN4sh6dtNjoKGo95aawNAgf&gs_ssp=eJzj4tTP1TcwMjCuMDBg9OJNTs3JSSxSKC7ITEktAgBefAfu&oq=cellar+spidr&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAEYADINCC4QsQMQgwEQChCTAjIECAAQCjIECC4QCjIECAAQCjIECAAQCjIECAAQCjIECAAQCjIECAAQCjIECAAQCjIECAAQCjoKCC4Q6gIQJxCTAjoHCCMQ6gIQJzoHCC4Q6gIQJzoNCC4QxwEQrwEQJxCTAjoECC4QJzoECCMQJzoFCC4QkQI6BQgAEJECOgsILhCABBCxAxCDAToICC4QsQMQgwE6DgguEIAEELEDEMcBEKMCOggIABCxAxCDAToICAAQgAQQsQM6BQguEIAEOgUIABCABDoLCAAQgAQQsQMQgwE6BQgAELEDOggILhCABBCxAzoOCC4QgAQQsQMQgwEQkwI6CwguEIAEEMcBEK8BUPE1WPxoYMmTAWgCcAB4AIABiAGIAb0KkgEDNi43mAEAoAEBsAEK&sclient=gws-wiz

      4. Good job, J, that you don’t live in Australia – baton and rubber bullet firing Police zombies aside – most spiders there will bite you, some with deadly effect (many are small, redbacks and funnel web) but for sheer horror on size, try a huntsman. I had to catch them (plastic box and post card) and put them outside to calm the Swedish one’s collywobbles.

      5. Lidl were selling mint spray that claimed to be spider repellent a few years ago. I sprayed it around, but still not sure if it worked or not.

  45. My wife is caught in a web of fear. 23 September 2021.

    On a scale of one to ten, I’d give her about an eight on the irrationality scale. She doesn’t insist that I search every nook and cranny of our bedroom to make sure it’s spider-free before she can go to sleep. But she has surrounded the bed with conkers. She’s a great believer in the spider-repelling properties of horse chestnuts, even though there’s no scientific evidence for it.

    When we first got together and I discovered this phobia I made the mistake of asking her what she was scared off. ‘Being bitten of course,’ she said. I assured her that the chances of being bitten by an English house spider are vanishing to zero, but she looked at me as if I was a paid agent of the Spider King. ‘What d’you think that is, then?’ she said, jabbing her finger at an almost invisible red spot on her leg. And that’s not the only reason to fear arachnids. As any fool knows, they can also crawl into your ear or mouth when you’re asleep and lay eggs which then hatch a few days later, producing an eruption of baby spiders

    Well on a scale of not giving a rat’s arse about spiders I have just moved to Force 10 on the Beaufort Scale!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/my-wife-is-caught-in-a-web-of-fear

    1. As I said yesterday, I think the protesters (for whom I have much sympathy) are stupid to use the War Memorial for political ends. It is likely to antagonise former military folk (and relatives) who might otherwise be 100% on their side.

  48. Rod Liddle
    The war against intelligence
    From magazine issue: 25 September 2021

    Two weeks have passed and somehow James Conway is still in a job. He is the director of the English Touring Opera, despite having fired 14 of its musicians because they were born with the wrong colour of skin. These middle- to late-career musicians were presented with a letter from James informing them that henceforth the ETO was no place for goddam honkys. Well, OK, it didn’t quite say that — it thanked them for their excellent work and told them they were out on their ears because Conway wanted to make the orchestra more ethnically diverse.

    The ETO claimed they had carried out this cracker pogrom at the behest of the Arts Council — which wouldn’t have surprised me terribly. But the Arts Council reacted with commendably apoplectic fury and said it had made no such demands and announced it would be investigating the issue. Since then there has been radio silence from Conway and the ETO. What he did was the very quintessence of racism, of course, but then across the country there are managers — especially in the public sector — desperately trying to outwoke each other with ever more obnoxious policy statements. What we need to do, as a country, is sack them all and send them to that Scottish island I mentioned last week to commune with the cormorants and great northern divers.

    The culture war is sweeping through classical music at the moment, as each institution engages in escalating bouts of virtue-signalling. So, the Royal Academy of Music is debating whether it should set fire to its priceless collection of pianos and violins because they are tainted by the colonial trade in ebony and ivory.

    ‘He looks stunned.’
    Meanwhile, a black American academic, Philip Ewell, is leading another vanguard in pursuit of the destruction of western classical music which, the chippy idiot avers, is rooted in racism. Phil has his sights set on Ludwig van Beethoven, who he thinks was kinda useless. Our reverence for classical music is an expression of white supremacy and its most gilded exponents were really nothing to write home about. Beethoven, for example, has had his reputation ‘propped up by whiteness and maleness for 200 years’. Poor old Beethoven.

    It is not so long ago that black academics were insisting that Beethoven was himself black. Their evidence for this is based on a comment made by an acquaintance of the composer who described his appearance as being ‘brown/black’: the likelihood being that he had chanced upon him in an ill-lit room. Beethoven had Flemish origins and there is not the slightest evidence to suggest that his mum had been adulterously rogered by a ‘Moorish’ servant, as some of the maniacs promulgating this absurd theory suggest. Even more ludicrously, some academics claimed that Beethoven’s music proved that he was black because the cadences reflected African rhythms.

    Really? I think there is a largeish distance between the Moonlight Sonata and Wimoweh, cadence wise, but hell what do I know? The suggestion, though, is that the black Beethoven somehow had a genetic memory of African music. The deranged left will happily crawl into wholly spurious genetic arguments when it suits them, no matter how stupid the proposition, but deny real science when it insists men are born men and women born women. Another useful idiot in this war is the German academic Kira Thurman who has said that attempts to claim Beethoven was black result from white people ‘denying black people any association with genius’. Anyway, the race warriors have now given up on the Beethoven is black rubbish, shifted 180 degrees and now want him cancelled because, er, he was not black.

    The most important battle of this latest war is over musical notation. As you might have guessed, the de-colonisers loathe musical notation because it requires intelligence and acquired knowledge to understand it, and they hate both those things, much as they hate mathematics and physics for similarly underpinning ‘white supremacy’. (Musical notation is of course a beautiful marriage of physics and maths.) Oxford University professors recently called for the teaching of musical notation to be rethought on account of its complicity in white supremacy. But there is no such complicity. We have had musical notation in the West for more than 1,000 years; the modern form of notation can itself be traced back to the Italian musicologist Guido d’Arezzo in the 10th century. The Chinese, Japanese and Russians all had some form of notation before then and the Indians — through the Samaveda texts — had a primitive form of notation dating back to 1200 BC.

    The one place which has no history whatsoever of musical notation is of course Africa, where music is largely improvised or remembered. I remember from my own time at university the system of musical notation being attacked not on race grounds, but on Marxian class grounds. The argument then was that the likes of Lizst, Bartok and Dvorak purloined gypsy music and, in writing it down, removed it bodily from the people who had the proper claim on it. Even then, when I was quite a long way to the left, this struck me as a silly assertion: the music was written down so that people could remember it and hence play it correctly.

    This is a war, then, against intelligence, complexity and the acquisition of knowledge. The insistence that maths and physics, for example, underpin ‘white supremacy’ — very au courant, especially in the United States — is based simply on the fact that too few black students get the requisite grades in those subjects to study them at university. And so the demand is: make them easier, make them more intuitive. It is the same with musical notation. This culture war is a battle between the enlightened and the barbarians. Right now, the barbarians are winning.

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

    Woking Pizza • 6 hours ago • edited
    In a very large UK infrastructure engineering company just yesterday, a manager (Oxford, History) was annoyed by a Chartered Engineer’s “dogmatic certainty” of a predicted volt drop for a given resistance and current. How could the engineer be so sure?

    Ohm’s Law for Ohmic materials, taught to 12 year olds.

    And that manager, and 10,000 other clones, is shaping energy provision in the UK. Britain, you are f**ked.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-war-against-intelligence?utm_medium=email&utm_source=CampaignMonitor_Editorial&utm_campaign=WEEK%20%20

    1. The one place which has no history whatsoever of musical notation is of course Africa.

      I’m sure that will go down well with David Olusoga and his pals! Lol!

      The truth is that there is no history of anything in Black Africa except Slavery and Cannibalism. This of course is the foundation for their hatred of whites. They seek to destroy what they cannot understand or emulate.

      1. There’s a charity ad on tv featuring a cute little African girl saying, “Eye one too bee a docteur.” and pushing the notion that the fulfilment of her desire is purely a matter of funding and opportunity, with natural ability playing no part. The nature/nurture dilemma can never be definitively solved of course but evidence does suggest that IQ is at least 80% hereditary.

          1. 20%. Apparently nutrition in the first 3 years makes a significant difference to brain development and educational stimulus does play a part.

          2. Ahem. (When I put 50%, that was not one of my generously and profusely scattered typographical errors. It was what I was hoping might pass for a joke. I am sorry.)

    2. “The most important battle of this latest war is over musical notation.”

      ‘cos dem vital black notes is on de swamping white page, dey should ha de black notes on de black paper, fair – innit?

    3. The comment is shocking, but has a ring of truth.

      Unfortunately the Oxford, History graduates are shaping most of the decisions in the energy industry as far as I can see. How does this work?
      Via Consulting.
      A company has to make a decision.
      A manager realises that he is responsible.
      Bingo! He employs a firm of Consultants to tell him what to decide.
      The Consultants are all 25 year old Oxford History graduates who are “expert” in the energy industry.
      They present their report and their ginormous bill.
      If the decision is a good one, the manager takes the credit.
      If it goes wrong, it was the Consultants’ fault.
      Winners all round!

      I’m sure many NOTTLers have seen the same thing.

    1. My local W/rose has had a bin, where donations for food banks can be deposited, for quite some time. Probably not the only branch.

      1. Most Supermarkets have food banks for donations.

        The ‘out of date’ food waste is shocking especially when the shopper is confronted with rows of empty shelves.

    2. When we all believed that having the vaccine would:

      a) Stop you getting Covid 19;
      b) Stop you passing on Covid 19;
      c) Have no immediate or long-term side-effects

      We were all more comfortable with the idea that we should be encouraged very firmly to have the vaccination.

      Now that it seems that not a), b), nor c) is true it is hardly surprising that people are becoming just a little bit more cynical.

      Caroline has never had to play at so many funeral for old people who have been double vaccinated this summer than she did in any previous summer.
      Now that the boosters are coming up she is wondering how she can encourage the PTB not to give third jabs to the people in our local nursing homes as she is too busy with other things to have to play at an even higher rate of funerals per week than that at which she is having to do now.

    3. When we all believed that having the vaccine would:

      a) Stop you getting Covid 19;
      b) Stop you passing on Covid 19;
      c) Have no immediate or long-term side-effects

      We were all more comfortable with the idea that we should be encouraged very firmly to have the vaccination.

      Now that it seems that not a), b), nor c) is true it is hardly surprising that people are becoming just a little bit more cynical.

      Caroline has never had to play at so many funeral for old people who have been double vaccinated this summer than she did in any previous summer.
      Now that the boosters are coming up she is wondering how she can encourage the PTB not to give third jabs to the people in our local nursing homes as she is too busy with other things to have to play at an even higher rate of funerals per week than that at which she is having to do now.

  51. Where’s Grizzly ?

    My beef bones from Pipers farm arrived this morning. Stock now gently simmering away.

    Of course my beef stock will be far superior to Grizzly’s because i didn’t roast the garlic head with the bones.

    A school boy error on his part as we all know, garlic becomes acrid in taste if cooked at too high a temperature.

    But then…that’s Northerners for you. :@)

    1. Dont cook with anything you granny did not use. ie Garlic. He has gone native now he lives in Europe. I bet he eats his mushy peas in garlic.

  52. We are looking after a mad Labrador about 18 months old for two weeks while the owners are away, house trained but that is about all, any tips?
    Likes eating shoes we have just found out.

    1. Lots of attention and long walks. Hide your shoes. Don’t give it too many treats. They are notorious for over eating.

    2. Tire it out
      Loads of exercise , l mean loads of exercise , retrieving balls , dummies etc , hide and seek ( hiding a bonio or tasty morsel )

      Hide shoes , don’t leave butter on a kitchen work top, keep waste food containers out of the way, labs and spaniels need occupying , but the sleep when they are tired out .

      Enjoy the dog, take a golf iron with you on a walk so that you can whack a tennis ball quite a way for the dog to retrieve , does it come back to a whistle call ?

      When you become acclimatised , you will love it . Don’t forget the poo bags , okay and what you feed the dog it depends on the firmness of the poo for picking it up!!

    3. One of my brothers has a golden lab who takes shoes from the utility room and always presents them undamaged to the right person but only ever one shoe, never the pair.

    5. If you have the key to the owners’ house, you can go there and collect some shoes for their pet to enjoy…

    6. Be consistent. Give it toys and bones it can chew and praise it when it does. Tell it off when it chews things it shouldn’t. Play with it and take it for long walks. What else do you need help with?

        1. Turn your back on it when it jumps up (and hang on to something solid!). Only persistence works; if you ignore it, it will give up eventually. You just have to persevere. I’m having a bit of a struggle with Oscar at the moment – Lord knows what he got away with when people were eating before I got him. He tries to jump up and barks constantly. I turn away from him and ignore the barking. He is starting to have moments of calm now before he loses patience and thinks he’ll hurry me up. He does know that he doesn’t get anything unless he sits quietly, but I have to go into the kitchen to get that to sink in!

  53. You’ve probably heard a lot more sniffles around if you’ve gone out recently or got on public transport.

    Perhaps there’s that one person on the work call who’s not muted and starts a coughing fit before a meek: “It’s not Covid, I’ve been tested!”

    Or, maybe you’ve been ill and agree with people saying that what’s going around right now is “the worst cold ever.”

    Well get used to it. Because cold season has begun.

    And some people are already suffering.

    ‘Nothing like this’

    What do I do about it?
    Firstly, remember the three main symptoms of coronavirus. If you have one of these, get a PCR test.

    New and continuous cough – coughing a lot for more than an hour, or having three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours
    Fever – a temperature above 37.8C
    Change in smell or taste – either you cannot taste or smell anything, or these senses are different to normal.
    If you don’t have these symptoms but still want to check, you can do a free lateral flow test in England and Scotland. In Wales and Northern Ireland, certain people are eligible.

    How do I get my free Covid tests?
    How can I tell if I’ve got Covid?
    “Let’s say that you’ve got a cough or cold and it is not coronavirus. Then most of the time these can be managed at home,” says Dr Philippa.

    Her recommendation is to have “loads of fluids and rest, over-the-counter simple painkillers for headaches and aches and pains.

    “Even simple things like honey in a hot drink can help ease a sore throat.”

    She adds: “You can get lots of advice from your local pharmacist for minor coughs and colds.

    “But if you become more unwell, if you cough up blood, have chest pain, if you have shortness of breath or chest tightness, then you need to seek medical advice.”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-58624295?at_custom1=%5Bpost+type%5D&at_custom4=5A0034A2-1C51-11EC-BA68-37EC15F31EAE&at_campaign=64&at_custom2=facebook_page&at_custom3=BBC+News&at_medium=custom7&fbclid=IwAR2nZ1-Jo_gy9iVcs120HF9oamzetUCgYyAQBM0TRf9dPBS_WDp7YBLDNB8

    2. I have a dry cough but it ain’t covid. It’s a side effect of the Ramipril i’m taking. Also i don’t travel on buses in Autumn/Winter.

      Can’t remember the last time i had a cold. Must be the lemon in my Gin.

  55. I feel sorry for those people who have switched to a smaller energy provider and have been persuaded through Government incentives to have a smart meter intalled.

    Instead of the benefits they have been promised of seeing their lower energy costs together with automated remote wireless meter reading they are now faced with having to sit tight and wait for a transfer to an appointed supplier of last resort should their energy provider pull out of the market. They also have to work out how to read the meter.

    1. I’m afraid I don’t feel sorry for any(gullible)one who had a smartmeter installed – they don’t save you money – only smart people save money by judicious use of electricity and FFS how hard is it to read your meter and send the reading in either by freephone or on line

      2. In my case, reading the meter requires me to climb on a chair and then stand on the electric cooker (I make sure it’s off!) so I can press the buttons on the meter (it’s sited just below the ceiling) to read the night and day amounts. I still won’t have a smart meter, though.

  56. Nigel Biggar
    Kemi Badenoch is right about colonialism
    22 September 2021, 6:35pm

    Kemi Badenoch, the equalities minister (and, now, for Levelling Up) has come under attack for an off-hand remark she made on colonialism some years ago. In a leaked WhatsApp exchange, according to VICE World News, Badenoch wrote, ‘I don’t care about colonialism because [I] know what we were doing before colonialism got there. They came in and just made a different bunch of winners.’

    What did she mean? The reporter from VICE offers an interpretation:, ‘The British Empire and its European counterparts believed in the superiority of white people, and indigenous groups experienced extreme exclusion, displacement and violence in order for the British to take control.’ And the source of the leak, Funmi Adebayo, founding CEO of the Black Monologues, justified sharing the messages by arguing that someone ‘with this level of ignorance, who doesn’t understand the history’ shouldn’t be given responsibility for managing international relations, given Badenoch’s additional Foreign Office portfolio.

    In fact, Badenoch – who grew up in Nigeria – has a far better grasp of Africa and its history than her critics. She is clearly referring to the fact that centuries before European colonisers arrived, Africans were enslaving other Africans, mostly by capturing them in wars and raids, and sometimes taking them instead of debt. Often slaves were destined for profitable export, first to Roman markets and then to Arab ones. But they also had their local uses, which included supplying victims for human sacrifices. Such sacrifices served a variety of purposes: sometimes to appease the gods, but more often to supply a deceased master with servants in the afterlife, to make a conspicuous display of extravagant wealth, and to intimidate onlookers. Although wives, favourites, women, and foreigners were liable to serve as victims, slaves were the main source. Commonly, their fate was to be buried alive.

    What’s more, while the British did follow Arabs and Africans into the slave trade, they were the first to repent of it — and of the ugly racism behind it. The British Empire was the first major power in the history of the world to abolish the slave trade and slavery in the name of a Christian conviction of the fundamental equality of all human races under God. In the last quarter of the 18th century, anti-slavery sentiment flourished widely among English Dissenters or Non-Conformists — especially the Quakers — and the Methodist or Evangelical wing of the Church of England. John Wesley prefaced his Thoughts upon Slavery (1774) with a quotation of the Book of Genesis: ‘And the Lord said — What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.’ The context is Cain’s murder of his brother Abel and the implication is clear: African and Englishman, slave and master, are brothers, common children of the same God. This was the racially egalitarian view that triumphed in 1807 when the British parliament voted to abolish the slave trade throughout the Empire, and again in 1833, when it voted to abolish the institution of slavery altogether.

    Then, from 1807 and throughout the second half of its existence until the 1960s, the Empire committed to suppressing the trade and its institution across the world — from Brazil, across Africa, to India and Malaysia. At one point, the Royal Navy was using more than 13 per cent of total manpower to suppressing slave trading between west Africa and the Americas. According to the American scholars of international relations Chaim Kaufmann and Robert Pape, Britain’s effort to suppress the Atlantic trade (alone) in 1807-67 was ‘the most expensive example [of costly international moral action] recorded in modern history.’

    Badenoch is quite correct: the British did not invent slavery and Africans were deeply involved in it long before Europeans landed on their coasts. And sometimes when the British inflicted imperial violence on indigenous people, they did so in order to liberate indigenous slaves from indigenous slavers.

    WRITTEN BY
    Nigel Biggar is Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford. A member of History Reclaimed, his book, Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning will appear next year.

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

    The Watcher • 17 hours ago
    Kemi Badendoch is a highly intelligent, accomplished, well educated, extremely articulate and very capable woman who has got where she has entirely on merit. She also grew up in Nigeria, so knows exactly what she is talking about when she speaks about Africa. She is therefore living, breathing proof that everything about the woke left’s identity politics & critical race theory narrative is false.

    She is a successful black woman from a former British colony, who doesn’t agree with or bend the knee to the Left’s CRT narrative or it’s revisionist history, and makes mincemeat of her opponents on the opposition bench to boot. She must really have the Left running scared if they’re dredging up something like this in a desperate attempt to get at her.

    Keep up the good work Kemi!

    An0nymousBosch • 17 hours ago • edited
    Black racism is – increasingly – the defining feature of left-centre discourse in Britain and America.

    I’m quite tempted to publish a book called Black Racists and their Creepy White Allies.

    I’d devote one chapter to the racist Black Lives Matter movement, which doesn’t give two hoots about black people being murdered by other black people, but gets incredibly angry and racist about the vastly rarer occasions when a black person is murdered by a white or Hispanic person.

    I’d devote another chapter to the England football team taking the knee, a gesture that erases the major problem with race in the British game – its complete exclusion of our Asian minority.

    I’d point out that when black people reply that Asians are excluded because “they’re not good enough” or “not interested”, these are the same reasons people used to give for not many black people getting into Oxford and Cambridge – explanations that many black people found racist.

    I’d have a chapter on the arts, in which black racist actors are allowed to claim that there are “not enough” parts for them, when statistics show that they are already massively over-represented on screen.

    I’d have another chapter on music, citing extensively from racist rap songs such as Ice Cube’s charming “No Vaseline”. Ice Cube being viewed as a loveable cultural figure by the Creepy White Allies in Hollywood, as are many other rappers with a record of brutally demeaning women in their songs and threatening violence. A culture that has reached our shores with drill music.

    And of course, it would talk about the racist way that black nationalists and their creepy white allies attempt to disguise the brutality of the regimes replaced by European empires in Sub-Saharan Africa.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/kemi-badenoch-is-right-about-colonialism

    1. ‘She is clearly referring to the fact that centuries before European colonisers arrived, Africans were enslaving other Africans‘
      Shouldn’t that read ‘She is clearly referring to the fact that for centuries before European colonisers arrived, Africans were enslaving other Africans’.?

  58. Foreign secretary silent on poisoning of Sergei Skripal at meeting with Russian counterpart. Indy 23 September 2021.

    The government has remained silent on whether the new foreign secretary challenged her Russian counterpart over the Salisbury attack during a meeting held after a third suspect was charged.

    Liz Truss met the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday – a day after police announced the prosecution of GRU agent Denis Sergeev.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    BettyBatty. 28 min ago

    ”Salisbury attack: Foreign secretary silent on poisoning of Sergei Skripal at meeting with Russian counterpart.”

    Well of course she was, she knows just as he knows that its a crock cooked up by MI5, we all know that! And that is why the story carries on being written, now this latest nonsense about a Third Man, utter tosh.

    It’s Betty! My long lost sister! Lol!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/salisbury-attack-russia-truss-lavrov-b1925549.html

      1. Afternoon Bill. You mean those two gentlemen, one of them a doctor, who came to help Sergei escape Mi6 and return to Russia and see his Mother?

        1. Well, thanks for clearing that up. So what you are saying (© Cathy Newman) is that MI6 reached the Skripals before they did.

      1. Still a good film. I saw it on stage with Jerry Hall as Mrs Robinson about 20 years ago. Not as good as the film.

          1. 339171 + Up ticks,

            HM,
            Don’t bother me either, was up the medical centre yesterday for a shot NOT anything to do with the covid scam when the nurse realised I had no mask on, she took a step back,aghast, “you’ve no mask on” me, got a nasal polyps, she had to suffer.
            I like the fools who step into the road to go round you
            with traffic coming up behind, the front wing of a limo
            entering the rear passage can prove far more deadly than covid.

          2. The last time i used the medical profession was to get my ears syringed in Kirton Lindsey about 20 years ago.Before that was Peterborough Hospital when i broke three toes.That would be 45 years ago.
            I have no medical records anywhere.

          6. Up to now just over 1000 have Covid on their death certificate.
            That’s from a population of 5.5 million.

          11. In the UK, the “Covid on the death certificate” is a bigger number than the “28 days”. So, the 28 days number is under-reporting.
            Just saying.

      2. No booster available yet up here and they will give it in the same order of priority as they did with the 1st and 2nd jabs

    4. Don’t they usually base the flu vaccine on what happened in the southern hemisphere’s winter flu data? Not sure there’s much data to go on this year.

    2. It would appear that the system is very badly broken. Is there not a single politician determined to fix it?

      2. 339171+ up ticks,
        Afternoon R,
        There are good decent peoples about but the
        lab/lib/con/green coalition cartel,
        supporter / member / voters say NO.

        “It would appear” should read “It was very apparent the fabric of society was being systematically demolished decades ago in preparation for repress,reset,replace.

        1. I don’t go far, though it’s a five mile round trip to the post office or for shopping. I meet my friends for lunch about once a month and that’s just under 30 miles there and back.

          1. Not completely. I’m still very stiff & very wary. The worst thing is coughing or sneezing.

    7. No, I topped up my (petrol) car yesterday. Not even the usual queues (because the fuel is, as one customer remarked to me, “10p cheaper a litre than where I live”).

  64. Good afternoon all.
    I see that Jim, the washing machine salesman, is in the news.
    The true nature of the scumbag exposed ,,, but the poor fellow is too ill to attend …. yeah, more porkies.

    1. I wonder what the response will be when one of them is snatched. Will we be told it was the girl’s lifestyle choice? There has already been a case where the father turned up at a house where his teenaged daughter was being ‘entertained’ and the Police threatened to arrest him.

      1. I am amazed that there have not been more cases of police officers who behave like scum being killed by outraged members of the public.

          1. I doubt it, Phil. Just look at teh supine public blocked on motorways; attacked by the fuzz at peaceful demos….

          2. That’s what i mean. People are going to get so angry that the fuzz will get kicked in their backsides. What is more likely to happen IMO is a bit of subterfuge and sneak attacks. On anyone wearing that uniform.

    2. Afternoon Belle. Sooner, rather than later, there will be an outbreak of mass violence, either rapes or knife attacks. It is inevitable!

    3. They shouldn’t worry. If they rape, rob and stab they will be dealt with severely by the Manchester magistrates and judges. They may even be told off and made to promise not to do it again… or not so often.

    4. Is the daughter intimidating by their engineering, teaching and surgical skills, or because the effluent are exposing themselves in hotel windows?

    2. Isn’t this an insult to real sailors?

      I remember the disgust we felt when John Wayne was honoured in the US not because of anything he actually did but for the clean-cut American characters he played.

      I wonder who will be the the first ‘woman’ who was born male and then ‘transed’ to be honoured by being made a Dame in the New Yer’s Honours? And will it be a close race to beat the first ‘man’ who was born female and then ‘transed’ to be honoured and made a Knight.

      1. The new Bond film is about to be released.

        MOD….how can we make ourselves look better than we are? I know…>>>>theirs a cheap publicity stunt we can do and it might take peoples minds off the fact that we just endangered the lives 254 Afghani’s who worked for us.

        Civil servants wearing uniforms and medals. I’m beginning to like what Kim Jong-Un does with those types when they ‘eff up.

        1. And as a result we decided to import thousands of Afghans who are going to endanger people’s lives here.

          1. Yes. Though i don’t believe the MOD data breech was done on purpose. Just the usual incompetence.

    5. Please Sirs,

      SWMBO wants you raise me from an ex CPO (with 28 years service) to a Commander RN, with an increase of pension of course,
      so I can pay my gas and electric bills and buy a loaf and tin of Fartleberries (Baked Beans)_

    1. Hi Rik.

      I like the way the lady and gent rotate their shoulders so as not to impede each other. Mutual respect.

      Rarer now.

  69. Two teenage thugs lead police on 110mph chase before car is rammed by armed officers: But judge lets duo walk FREE for violent robbery when she heard they felt under ‘pressure’ from others. Samuel Mozimbi and Derek Dapaah, both now 18, were spared prison sentences. D Fail

    Two teenagers who led police on a 110mph car chase after robbing two men with a knife and a fake gun have been spared prison. Pictured: Samuel Mozimbi.
    Judge Sarah Johnston admitted her sentence may seem ‘lenient’ but said they may have been acting under ‘pressure’ from others.

    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/09/23/14/48290677-10020909-image-a-1_1632402197034.jpg

    Must have some very special qualities, these two. I wonder what that could be.

    1. The judge should judge the crime and sentence accordingly. This scum could have killed an innocent person in their recklessness.

      Besides the horror of being mugged at gun/knifepoint.

    3. It used to be the case that acting with others, under pressure or not, was considered as “joint enterprise”.
      What happened to the others, by the way, are they real, do they exist, were they not arrested?

        1. Yes. I cannot remember the names. The key phrase that hanged the boy was, “give it to him”. The prosecution said it meant “shoot” whereas the defence said it meant “surrender the weapon”.
          The case was instrumental in the abolition of the death penalty.

          Setting fallible memory aside, here is a link to the wikipedia version: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Bentley_case

          1. See updated comment (likely you need to refresh). Bentley was the name, somewhat mentally deficient.

        2. Yes, I’ve just posted the same link, after wrestling with my memory – so you get 2 versions, what I remember and Wiki.

        3. His fatal words to his 16 year old partner in crime, Christopher Craig, were, “Let him have it, Chris”. So Craig shot PC Miles dead.

          At the trial, Bentley claimed that his words meant: “Please give the gun to the nice policeman, Chris”.

          The jury did not agree.

          1. The boy who shot the policeman was 16, so got away with it.

            The argument was that DB encouraged the boy to shoot him.

          7. The comments appear, what it doesn’t show is which are the new ones, so I need to read all the way down,
            (if I can be bothered).

        6. 1950s, Paul, Bentley was the shooter of a policeman and it was his pal (Craig I think) who was over 18 and hanged. At the time Bentley was under 18 so escaped the Death Penalty.

          I’m sure Google can tell you more.

    7. Ah, right. From now on, I’ll commit whatever crime I want and say someone made me do it – like a Muslim as they seem to be legally untouchable.

      2. Looks disgusting. Where’s the lettuce?

        I had a baguette filled with salads and charcuterie in Juan-les-Pins and they doused it with vinaigrette. Sublime.

  74. That’s me for this very nice day. Chilly and gusty breeze – but still had lunch outside and did useful chores in the garden.

    Made a loaf, too.

    A demain.

    1. Been a nice two days here, too, and again for Saturday, apparently. Planning an outside Italian lunch in Oslo – so, three hours with family and plenty wine, good food, and absolutely bugger-all else to do!

        2. Just had a train journey to Farnham Sainsburys, since there’s 25% off six bottles. It was quicker / shorter to take a bus to Aldershot Station on the return journey. Which I did. The (female) guard asked me whether I needed any help to leave the train at Wanborough. She thought I had struggled to get on at Aldershot.

          “No need, thanks” was my reply. “I have two heavy bags, ‘cos I’ve taken advantage of Sainsbury’s wine offer.”

          Main problem is that Aldershot station is approached from the South on a curve. So the “Mind the Gap” announcements relate to a gap which could easily accommodate a baby elephant. Or a small car…

      1. Indeed.
        I have been amused by the anti-vaxxers using the 28 day rule over date of death to attack the jabs.

      2. Precisely. They cannot afford a large, a few millions strong, control group to exist alongside the many more millions that have accepted the jab. However, the placebo group will keep numbers to tolerable levels for this coming flu season. Then along come the ‘boosters’, watch this space!

  77. Another wishy-washy DT editorial. Criticism of the motorway morons is justified but it gives credibility to the idea of man-made climate change.

    Protests on the M25 will have no impact on global carbon emissions

    It is bizarre that activists should imagine that cavorting on the motorway will influence polluters like China

    TELEGRAPH VIEW • 23 September 2021 • 6:00am

    The court injunction against the activities of the Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists causing mayhem on the M25 is welcome. It gives the police the power to lock up the protesters for breaching the order, whereas they could not hold them in custody for highway obstruction.

    Dozens have been arrested but no sooner were they released than they headed back to the motorway to continue with their fatuous activities. However, the injunction is only an interim measure, with a full hearing next month. The final order needs to cover a wide area to stop the demonstrators simply transferring to another motorway.

    Someone will be killed if this does not end soon. Protesters have taken to running across the carriageways trying to avoid the speeding cars. As an example of the breathtaking self-regard they possess, one organiser said if a campaigner was hit by a car it would be like Emily Davison, the suffragette, being killed by the King’s horse at the Derby in 1913.

    Not only is the comparison grotesque but Davison was campaigning for a vote that women had been denied. The XR splinter group Insulate Britain is seeking to convince the Government to take action to which it is already committed. Arguably, the UK’s pursuit of zero net carbon is too fast and might have serious consequences for the economy; but it is bizarre that activists should imagine that cavorting on the M25 will make any difference to the countries responsible for most emissions, like China. Many people worry about climate change and seek to make a contribution to mitigation efforts. The activities of groups like these help no-one.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/09/23/protests-m25-will-have-no-impact-global-carbon-emissions/

    1. “…. too fast and might have serious consequences for the economy….!

      MIGHT? What planet is the leader writer on?

    2. “…. too fast and might have serious consequences for the economy….!

      MIGHT? What planet is the leader writer on?

    4. If it was an EDL protester the police would be crawling all over their computer/phone/home trying to find suitable opportunities to prosecute for hate crimes.
      I’m very confident that if the rancid rozzers really wanted to do something they could do so.

    5. The DT gets it wrong straight away in the headline which should read “Protests on the M25 will have no impact on global carbon dioxide emissions

    1. I disagree totally, since I retired I’ve been on permanent vacation, why should the little people have the same?
      };-O

  79. If the CF factory produuces more CO2 than they can sell, do they release it into the atmosphere?

    4. There’s an easy way to cut down on Carbon Dioxide emissions – everyone should stop breathing. Boris Johnson should lead the way.

    1. Seagulls won’t fly into trees. They aren’t perching birds and lack the short wings and manoevrability to fly round tree-like obstacles.

  81. Emma Thompson article in the Spectator…I was astonished that she has written something worth reading, but there you are, when there is a fascist takeover underway, one can find oneself agreeing with the strangest people.

    The Church Closers’ Charter must be torn up

    Over the past few months, the Archbishops of York and Canterbury have repeatedly assured us that they love parishes and parish churches. ‘I am passionate that the parish is essential,’ the Archbishop of Canterbury told the Church Times recently. The Archbishop of York went so far as to describe the parish as ‘the beating heart of community life in England’. So why are they supporting a change to church law to make it easier to close parish churches?

    The paper which proposes the change is at stage one of a three-stage approval process. It has the unsexy name GS 2222, so I call it the ‘Church Closers’ Charter’. Its introduction is written by someone whose job title is Head of Pastoral and Closed Churches, and she writes that the purpose of the legal change is to simplify existing legislation so as ‘to manage the disposal of churches no longer needed for regular public worship’, for which there needs to be ‘faster processes which would allow for an increase in closures over time’. The need for simplification, she says, was identified ‘after discussion with dioceses’.

    The Church of England’s comms teams have mastered the art of shrouding significant changes in bureaucratic language so dull that few bother to read on to discover what is actually happening — hence GS 2222. The proposal made its first General Synod appearance in July. It is now at the stage of public consultation (which ends on 30 September) before it goes back to General Synod in February. A close reading of the document shows that it very much does not just propose to simplify existing legislation. It is an un-transparent, anti-democratic piece of proposed legislation which will, if implemented, shift power from the local (parishes) to the centre (dioceses). It is a stealthy power grab.

    The C of E is missing a chance for real reform. What it should do is to reduce bishops and central bureaucracy
    The document reveals that the Church’s dioceses are, collectively, considering tripling the rate at which churches are closing. It confidently earmarks up to 356 (unspecified) churches for closure, and implies that dioceses may have their eyes on many more. It also envisages more clergy dispossessions (dismissals) and considers ‘possible limitations of rights of representation or appeal’. The dioceses, in other words, would be made less accountable, just at the moment when many wanted to hold them to account.

    Parishes own vicarages, but the dioceses take the proceeds if vicarages are sold. Currently, parishes have the power to push back, but if the proposals of the Church Closers’ Charter are enacted, it will be much easier for dioceses to sack vicars and sell their vicarages, as well as to close churches and sell parish-owned buildings. Parishioners would have little right to object.

    I can see why bureaucrats want GS 2222 to pass. If you were in charge of closing churches in a diocese, you too might want to speed up and simplify the system. The idea of endless devoted locals holding up what you see as an inevitable process would be exhausting. Perhaps you’d convince yourself that elderly, church-going congregants are anyway dying out, being replaced by net natives who don’t care about buildings.

    The tragedy is that the pandemic proved this assumption is false. A University of York survey found that, during Covid, even 75 per cent of the non-churchgoing public wanted churches open as places of solace and reflection. The reality is that millions of non-churchgoers value their local church even if they don’t visit much, and they count on its continuing availability for the joyful and solemn human milestones of births, marriages and deaths. And if there must be church closures, there needs to be a proper national plan and a proper discussion, rather than this self-serving attempt to license dioceses to flog our heritage piecemeal.

    The C of E is missing a chance for real reform. What it should do, instead of eliminating parishes, is reduce bishops and central bureaucracy. It should give power and agency to the parishes from the dioceses, not vice versa. It should enforce accountability and listen to the voices of parishioners, who know what their parishes need.

    Are there any churchgoers who want to see their donations fund more communications officers? How much more logical it would be, spiritually and financially, if the Church leaders embraced people’s love for what’s local: the vicars who live among us, the buildings which are part of our heritage.

    The demise of the parish system is not inevitable. If the Archbishops are truly ‘passionate’ about the parish, they should tear up the Church Closers’ Charter. As it is, it’s as if they are denying that the revolution is coming, even as they build the guillotine.

    (Emma Thompson, The Spectator, 23 September 2021)

    1. Anyway, the point is that the Church leadership is trying to sneak through a dastardly document that will make it easier for the bloated leadership to close parish churches, sell them off and lay their hands on all that lovely money.

      “How to object” document
      https://mcusercontent.com/f96720488dbaa6d766a4a5146/files/ff68200f-d696-2d24-8b7d-58f884aa67c4/How_to_Object.pdf
      (me – the document is a bit wordy)

      If you feel strongly that this is a mistake, please act. All you need do is to send an email to mpm2011review@churchofengland.org by 31st October, stating that, with regard to diocesan church closure plans, you object to any reduction in the rights of PCC and local people to be consulted and to appeal.

      Or fill in the consultation document here: https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/parish-reorganisation-and-church-property/review-mission-and-pastoral-measure-2011 by 31. October – extended from 30. September.

      1. I’m one year into a new five year contract as Director of Music. I’ve been thrown out of my rather nice Verger’s Cottage, we’re told “no choirs yet”, but I now have the service plan for December, showing two simultaneous Carol Services. It won’t work. Frankly, I’m hoping Boris will lock us down again. Not that I’ve ever complied, of course…

    2. Get serious.
      All those buildings with religious use; surely they can will be seamlessly converted to mosques.

          1. Save the Parish has organised a group of candidates for current Synod elections. There is one standing in the diocese of Gibraltar, if you are a member or know anyone who is.

            Village residents tend to feel strongly about their churches. If they knew that their church was threatened, I think they would get pretty upset.

            The Bishops are relying on people not realising until it’s too late.

          3. Save the Parish has organised a group of candidates for current Synod elections. There is one standing in the diocese of Gibraltar, if you are a member or know anyone who is.

            Village residents tend to feel strongly about their churches. If they knew that their church was threatened, I think they would get pretty upset.

            The Bishops are relying on people not realising until it’s too late.

          4. I was saying to neighbours this morning that we needed a revolution. They asked if I was going to start it – I replied, “when I get time!”

      2. I did a rather good mock up of one of our churches, complete with golden dome and minarets…

        The most frequent response was “Whoosh”. Alternatively, tumbleweed…

      1. Ah, thank you. The world has not completely turned upside down then! I guess there are some things that one can still rely on!

    4. The diocese (Chester) sold off our parish hall against our wishes. The parish hall remains shuttered and unused to this day.

  83. More mass medication!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10021229/All-Britons-given-water-containing-fluoride-fight-tooth-decay-health-chiefs-rule.html

    Everyone in Britain should get fluoride added to their
    drinking water to save NHS millions in the fight against tooth decay,
    health chiefs rule as they dismiss ‘exaggerated’ cancer fears

    The UK’s chief medical officers have advised adding fluoride to water supplies

    It would slash cavities by up to 28% and hospitalisations for decay by up 68%

    Health Secretary Sajid Javid is reportedly keen to implement the policy

      2. It has been added to some areas in the UK. In a few it occurs naturally. There are online maps showing its distribution.

    2. But it won’t really be for our benefit. Does it not have the effect of subduing a population? Also an ingredient of some anti-depressants?

      Edit: typo. Onscreen keyboards are the very devil.

      1. People should reduce their children’s intake of fizzy drinks and sugar, not rely on mass medication of the whole population. It won’t benefit older people.

        1. I don’t think there is a demand for it, N. This is politicians’ speak for “it’s in your own interest, for your benefit” when actually it’s for something else they don’t want us to know about. Fluoride is highly toxic, as well as subduing the population is this (another) attempt to reduce our life span?

          1. I do wonder why they’ve chosen to revive this proposal now, when it was rjected all those years ago except in a few places. They’e also removed responsibilty for this to the Health department instead of the water suppliers. They seem to have slipped this out very quietly in July when we weren’t looking.

    3. We’ve had fluoride in the water here in Birmingham since the 60s. I moved back here in 1997 after leaving the Army and I have had fluoride discolourisation for 15 years now (according to my dentist). It should be unnecessary now as many toothpastes contain fluoride.

      “More mass medication!” It was tried in the Netherlands but was ruled out by the courts on the correct grounds that it was mass compulsory medication.

      1. I’m all for people looking after their teeth – especially children’s teeth – establishing good habits and using fluoride toothpaste. However, I’m totally against any form of mass medication and don’t want fluoride in my tea.

        1. Black tea already contains fluoride…

          https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=tea+contains+fluoride%3F&sxsrf=AOaemvJo4ct9hZIvNMtTMMiyEEEWuFYgnw%3A1632345371787&source=hp&ei=G51LYdu0LYWAacSjo_gH&iflsig=ALs-wAMAAAAAYUurK0bVMsN4sh6dtNjoKGo95aawNAgf&oq=tea+contains+fluoride%3F&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB4yBggAEBYQHjoRCC4QgAQQsQMQxwEQowIQkwI6CwgAEIAEELEDEIMBOg4ILhCABBCxAxDHARDRAzoRCC4QgAQQsQMQgwEQxwEQ0QM6DgguEIAEELEDEMcBEKMCOggILhCxAxCDAToECCMQJzoICAAQgAQQsQM6BQgAEIAEOg0ILhCxAxDHARCjAhAKOgsILhCABBDHARDRAzoLCC4QgAQQsQMQgwE6CAgAEIAEEMkDOgUIABCSAzoICC4QgAQQsQNQ7pnlGVjy–UZYJOC5hloAHAAeACAAZwBiAGqDpIBBDE4LjSYAQCgAQE&sclient=gws-wiz&ved=0ahUKEwibrqKwwJPzAhUFQBoKHcTRCH8Q4dUDCAo&uact=5

  84. Comment on the ginge and whinge New York visit:

    Many of us admire them and the path they’ve chosen! What you hate about them we find brave and inspiring.

    And a reply:

    It’s inspiring to be dripping in blood diamonds and at war with your
    family? It’s inspiring to whinge for a living? It’s inspiring to sit in
    your multi million dollar mansion lecturing about climate control before
    you hop on another private jet for another self promoting stunt? Is it
    brave to trash the institution that made you what you are but trade on
    the title? Go educate yourself. There are many brave people who have
    overcome true adversity; people who have changed the world with their
    talent and acumen. This pair are repugnant.

    Spot on

      1. It’s an odd one for me, I know what they mean, I agree with the sentiment. Finding a better shorthand to give the same view isn’t easy.

  85. Evening, all. Been a lovely day, so I spent most of my time in the garden. Elderly chum came along to help, so we’ve almost cleared the shrubbery which is to become a new seating area. I just have to dig up some stumps (easier said than done!). I took time out to go to a local stately home to look round their gardens and reassure myself that the fact I have buttercups and clover in my lawns and ground elder in my borders doesn’t actually matter (they have won awards for the garden and they have such things). When I came back, after Oscar and I had chilled in the peace and quiet and sunshine, I finished weeding the large veg plot. I cooked myself a chow mein again with egg fried rice and indulged in a sherry before, two glasses of red wine with and a port afterwards. To say I’m mellow is an understatement! 🙂

    3. Yo Conners

      My ‘Landscaper’ (he is getting rid of rampant bushes for me) says that to kill roots, just pour diesel oil ove them

      Then like UK, they will withet and die

      1. I had heard of that, OLT. I don’t have any diesel oil except in the camper, though, and I don’t fancy having to syphon it out. My neighbour has informed me this morning that neat Jeyes Fluid will kill off ground elder. I’ll give that a go and see if it’s true. I shall have to resort to digging around, exposing the roots and sawing through them to remove the stumps. We’ve spent three days on preparing the new seating area, but when I look out the kitchen window, you can’t see that I’ve done anything! It is getting closer to completion, though, when observed close up.

          4. So you’re saying, Conway, (© Cathy Newman), that your real name is Bluto?Let her return to Popeye,man!

            :-))

        2. I have used neat SBK. Keep looking everyday and if you see a green shoot treat again. You will win in the end.

          https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=sbk+weed+killer+concentrate&adgrpid=55205814232&gclid=CjwKCAjwy7CKBhBMEiwA0Eb7aiGh6uiGKN_jYDmxaNbE07CQF0OJFDMO-nYo5MTxBInMZ3tqBY97nRoCYJQQAvD_BwE&hvadid=267187304788&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1007056&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=9602220184395898212&hvtargid=kwd-473067884868&hydadcr=5939_1827700&tag=googhydr-21&ref=pd_sl_8vabcmgnlu_b

          1. The ground elder seemed to lap up the last lot of weedkiller I put down (between losing Charlie and getting Oscar). I don’t normally use weedkillers for fear of poisoning my dog.

          2. Strong vinegar works for many weds. The garden smells like a chip shop but the acetic acid does kill many weds.

          3. By “strong” do you mean neat (ie undiluted)? Or is there a version of vinegar that’s labelled strong?

          4. It is something not available in supermarkets, we can get it at a local farm supply place.

            Strength is at least twenty percent, not the normal four or five percent.

  86. The following is taken from a DT article about the fuel shortage.
    If it is due to a shortage of HGV drivers why are they rationing fuel?

    Motorists have been warned of shortages at fuel forecourts as BP said it was closing pumps and rationing petrol and diesel because of a shortage of lorry drivers.

    BP said that it was cutting deliveries at 90pc of its petrol stations in an attempt to ration the fuel it has in reserve.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/09/23/bp-rations-fuel-deliveries-petrol-stations/

    1. I remember the seventies and the fuel shortages; garages limited the amount of fuel you could buy and some restricted purchases to their usual customers only. Plus ça change …

    2. Fuel delivery drivers have to be specially certified so it may be a shortage of them maybe due to Covid, I don’t see any other reason

  87. The public has gone along with the Government, because they’re told going green won’t cost them. But that just isn’t true

    Britain loves bunnies and hedgehogs, but it’s not going to be impressed if left shivering

    ROSS CLARK

    Boris Johnson has always been a man of flexible views, able to transform his political philosophy at the flick of a switch according to whom he is trying to impress. His speech to the UN – from a man who once scorned wind farms and told us sun spots would cool the Earth – is merely an especially breath-taking example. Behind his conversion to a mop-haired Greta Thurnberg, of course, lies a cold calculation. He has reckoned that the British public is concerned about climate change, wants something done about it, and that his chief political weapon – his ability to find popularity with people well beyond the limits of traditional Tory voters – is best-served by leaping on the climate bandwagon. [This paragraph sums up Johnson’s idea of principle-free, PR politics.]

    But there is a danger to this, and one which – thanks to the current energy crisis – looks like becoming apparent sooner rather than later. On climate, the British public demonstrates the same fickleness as the Prime Minister himself. Save the planet? Save polar bears? Slash carbon emissions to zero? People will back you all the way. But accept a diminution in living standards in order to achieve that latter aim? That’s a very different matter. A YouGov poll from March sounds the warning: while two thirds agreed that climate change was an urgent problem, only 11 per cent were prepared to pay more for their domestic heating, and the same percentage wanted to see gas boilers banned.

    It appears to be Johnson’s belief that reaching zero carbon emissions won’t cost us a jot. He sees miracle technologies which are somehow going to slash our emissions and enrich us at the same time. Well maybe, but then again maybe not. To achieve net zero will require not just one technology to be invented and proven at scale but a multitude of them. To believe that energy bills won’t rise is foolish. To take but one example, the government is proposing that our gas boilers be replaced with hydrogen boilers. Yet hydrogen has to be manufactured, and the way the government intends to do it, at least initially, is via ‘blue’ hydrogen – made from natural gas, with the carbon dioxide extracted during the process and buried underground.

    However much faith you might have in the inventiveness of humans it stands to reason that it cannot possibly be cheaper to manufacture a fuel from natural gas than it is simply to burn the gas itself. The government’s current hydrogen strategy must, by definition, raise prices. [This short paragraph defines the madness of it all.]

    Johnson’s green policies have had an easy ride so far, but with the spike in global wholesale gas prices threatening to land homeowners with huge rises in bills they are about to face a very stern popularity test – and just as the world’s great and good arrives in Glasgow for COP26. Much as business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng might try to argue that the current crisis reinforces the need to become less reliant on fossil fuels, it isn’t going to cut much ice with the shivering masses this winter. Fact is that a decade ago, when coal still accounted for a third of power generation, we would have suffered less from a spike in gas prices than we have done this year. Now, coal is all but gone and we are trying to rely on increasing quantities of wind power instead. But, until the last couple of days, the wind wasn’t blowing and we still have no means of storing large quantities of wind-generated electricity from one week to the next. Mass power storage is yet one more technology we are going to have master if we are to reach net zero without imposing massive costs on consumers. [Master? There is no such technology yet invented, therefore it cannot be ‘mastered’.]

    This week has given us a taste of the price shocks which lie in store as the government ploughs on with trying to reach the legally-binding target of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 which it has unilaterally imposed upon itself. Much as the British public loves bunnies and hedgehogs, it is not going to be impressed if it is left shivering while other countries which have not tied their arms behind their backs in such a way are able to continue to enjoy affordable energy.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/09/23/public-has-gone-along-government-told-going-green-wont-cost/

    “…two thirds agreed that climate change was an urgent problem…”

    Probably the same people who were convinced that Covid was The Plague Returned.

    Unfortunately, Clark is not arguing against the policy.

        1. Apparently some gearheads have revised some of the old Alfas, modern Alfa engines and brakes but looking just like the originals.

          Double ahhhh. Especially if the engines last longer than on my old GT Junior.

  90. 339171+ up ticks,

    The chill winds that signal a second Winter of Discontent is coming
    Life about to get ugly as Britain faces perfect storm of rising fuel bills, food shortages and tax rises

    I’m sure it will be acceptable & suffered for the benefit of the “party” roll on the next General Election so we can really show the political fraternity our appreciation.

      3. Well it’s working over here, the eighty percent of the electorate that did not vote for Trudeau are living in fear of what the idiot will do now.

        Honestly, the lowest turnout ever, fewer votes for him than the conservatives but he is blathering about the mandate he received in this disastrous election.

    1. When I was a child the milkman had a horse & cart and the milk was straight from the farm – unpasteurised.

  92. Good night, all. Off to bed after a challenging full day getting my internet provider (ntlworld) to unlock my locked emails (which it appears they themselves locked on Tuesday).

  93. Just a thought before I toddle off to slumber land.
    When there was an ambulance strike I think it was in the mid 80s, I seem to remember the army pitching in to help out. I’m sure there are hundreds of qualified military HGV drivers that can fill the alleged gaps and driver shortages. Either that or the government is doing what they do best LYING again.
    Good night all.

      1. I remember a guy having an accident and being taken away in a green army ambulance from a job I was working on in Luton.

    2. Didn’t they use the army to distribute Vaccines as well?

      It certainly happened in Canada and there was no apology for the Civil service being incapable of managing the deliveries.

  94. Good night all’.
    “The Graduate” was superb. After I saw the film for the first time, I asked my Daddy if I could have a Spyder.
    He said, “No!”

  95. Migrant Channel crossings reach a record high: Number detained by Border Force trying to get to the UK soars to 16,299 – nearly double 2020’s total
    459 migrants arrived across the Channel in 14 separate incidents on Wednesday
    Latest arrivals made September the busiest recorded month with 3,872 landings
    16,299 people have so far crossed the Channel this year, up from 8,410 in 2020 .

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10022259/Migrant-Channel-crossings-reach-record-high-Number-detained-trying-UK-hits-16-299.html

  97. 339171+ up ticks,
    Of course the majority of the herd could stop funding / supporting the lab/lib/con/green, mass uncontrolled immigration (ongoing,) paedophile umbrella cartel, I know, unthinkable, what would granddad think, I think granddad would think the peoples had regained their sanity at long last.

  99. Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation
    This is atrial fibrillation that isn’t caused by a problem with a heart valve. It’s caused by other things, such as high blood pressure or an overactive thyroid gland. Doctors don’t always know what the cause is.27 Oct 2020

    https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/atrial-fibrillation/types-atrial-fibrillation

    Just seen one of those adverts that catches your eye because it mentions something you have never heard of just to promote something completely different.

    I looked it up on WebMD.

    I have heard of AF because I was told I had it after being treated in hospital for SVT (SupraVentricular Tachycardia) at a persistent heart rate of over 160 BPM.

    I was put on the Cardioversion Pathway but, weeks after discharge when it came to the procedure, I asked the cardioversion nurse how he could identify from the ecg that I had just taken that I was in AF.

    After disappearing for a few minutes to confer with the cardiologist he came back to the cardioversion cubicle and said that my ecg showed I was in sinus rhythym and didn’t need the procedure after all. I was discharged.

    I am about to read the above article to throw some light on how I was deemed to be in AF.

    2. It’s a little over 5 years since i had catheter ablation at London Hammersmith. It’s a fairly simple procedure, but only about a month later i had a TIA, fortunately i was taken into hospital A&E and treated very rapidly, with minor repercussions.
      But three times this year it has returned, twice almost certainly due to the covid jabs and one a latter case of gastro enteritis. It seems the cardiology department has given up and only want to contact me by phone in December !!! As seems to have happened to many people in the UK since this virus spread. The article you attached was very if not over complicated and typically American, too many words. I know have been taking beta blockers bisoprolol, apixaban and other heart rate correction drugs for most of the mentioned period. It is not know as heart disease as often wrongly as described, it is over functioning electrical impulses that alter the flow of blood into the heart from the veins attached to the chambers. I also have moments when my BP dives very low with dizzy spells.

      1. Ready Eddy,

        During the five years since your ablation I presume you would have had several ecgs in cardiology.

        Were you ever shown your ecg trace and if so did it include:
        a) a rhythym strip of 10 seconds or over
        b) machine interpreted cardiac intervals includind Qt/Qtc?

        1. I have never been told or shown the results of the ECGs nor the echo cardiograms. At approx 6 month intervals I use to have 24 heart rate monitoring as well but that is not included any more.
          I have my own Omron blood pressure monitor, including pulse rate and keep records of when i’m not feeling good. But there is no one to show them to or discuss it with. Apart from the repeat prescriptions I feel totally let down and basically apart from my close family I am on my own. Some times I have water or liquid retention it seems to be a fairly frequent issue which I take Furosemide for, but its a life changing experience, you spend half the day in the Loo. This only seems to become apparent after a few days of being breathless. It can effect breathing when you are lying in bed, being propped up is the answer unto the Furosemide has done its trick.

          1. I can empathise with your predicament.
            I am fortunate to have had an ongoing annual consulation with my original hospital consultant who I saw only a few days ago at my sixth review.

            At the start of this thread I did however allude to concerns I had about the interpretation of ecgs by medical professionals particularly in the cardiology speciality.

            In that respect I have invested over the years an arsenal of medical and sports monitoring devices to try and get a handle on the appropriate medical treatment and exercise regimes that I should receive to stay alive.

            Unfortunately whilst I can thank the NHS for confirming my self diagnosis of SVT in A&E triage and my treatment in Emergency Rescuscitation, I found that the experience of a week on the cardiac ward and subsequent follow up
            gave me some concerns about the coordination and quality of decision making.

            At the moment I am reviewing daily my pulse rate and blood oxygen levels along with computer diagnostic interpretation of ecg data using ECG Viewer Manager for the Prince 180D heart monitor.

            Interestingly I have found that, whilst being caucasian, I share many clinical features of responses to ACE Inhibitors, Qt elongating drugs and COVID as Afro-Americans.

  100. I see they are looking for a white man in the Sabina Nessa murder case. That would explain why it’s top headline day after day.

    1. Morning BB. They are getting quite sneaky about these announcements! If its White on White they get all coy and secretive and then release it later to prove what racists we all are when we have succumbed to natural suspicion!

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