Thursday 27 August: Further disruption to the lives of young people would be inexcusable

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/08/26/letters-disruption-lives-young-people-would-inexcusable/

745 thoughts on “Thursday 27 August: Further disruption to the lives of young people would be inexcusable”

  4. Europe will see more Covid outbreaks this winter – but will avoid the ‘horror’ of a second wave. 27 August 2020.

    The lead expert at the body co-ordinating Europe’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic says he expects to see a “continued resurgence” of cases across the continent this winter but is “optimistic” that deaths will not spike again dramatically.

    In an interview with The Telegraph, Sergio Brusin, principle expert at European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), said the “horrible scenes” witnessed as the virus overwhelmed hospitals in March and April were unlikely to be repeated because of improved health care capacity and planning across Europe.

    Morning everyone. More panic mongering. The peak of the pandemic has now passed and you couldn’t start a “second wave” even if you wanted too! Herd immunity now rules. Any residual infections are the virus catching up in areas where it was suppressed by lock downs and social distancing. It was denied its prey!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/europe-will-continue-see-covid-outbreaks-winter-should-avoid/

      1. 323047+ up ticks,
        Morning B3,
        The re-set campaign issues are being loaded aboard HS2 as we type.

    4. 323047+ up ticks
      Morning AS,
      Old sergie cannot bring the fear campaign to an abrupt end got to tail off, put aside for future use.

      Very much on par with the lab/lib/con coalition stop operating abruptly as an eu rubber stamping asset on the
      24/6/2016.

      Both viruses tagged “For future USE”

    5. Hang about. Did our politicians listen to this expert, Sergio Brusin, or to our own scientific boffins in SAGE? Was the esteemed Prof Fergusons’s magic algorithm not the principal guiding light for our poor benighted politicians?
      If, in principle, this expert principal’s principles don’t work, does he like Groucho Marx, have others?
      Or, to put it another way, does the DT have journalists properly trained in English?

  5. Good morning all. A damp start – ideal when the builder is coming to do the roof….

      1. Roof work is bad enough anyhow, without it being wet and/or slippery.
        Morning, Bob.

        1. I did suggest they put it off – but these are good old Narfurk boys for who a drop a rain is nothing,

    2. Managed to escape just before the cement truck arrives to cast our new garden steps. It’ll block the road – for hours. Neighhbours warned, but undoubtedly some clown will want to drive by anyway.
      Morning, Bill.

      2. Doing nicely, thank you. Judging by my (albeit limited) experience of goats, all the woman needed to do was to show the goats a bucket. They would have been at her side in a trice.

    4. My father was a rather eccentric sporting country parson. There was always a row between my parents on Tuesdays. This is because my father always visited the market in Melton Mowbray (we lived in Rutland) and he always had to bring something home, which used to infuriate my mother. Among the many items he bought were 100 walking sticks, a stuffed rhinoceros head, a mantrap and numerous animals including a donkey, guinea fowl, which used to sit in a tree and screech all night, via special breeds of chicken and a goat.

      The goat finally stopped him going to the market. It got loose from its tether at the top of the garden, fled down to the house and crashed through a window into our drawing room, almost onto my mother’s lap. Fortunately neither she nor the goat were injured but the goat found itself back in the market forthwith!

  8. SIR – Years ago, while on a holiday in The Gambia, we stood before a memorial to slavery. It took the form of a pit, in which stood four figures of slaves in positions of abject misery and degradation. It was very powerful.

    As we stood silently before it, taking in the shameful horror, an African man came up to us and said: “The British put an end to slavery. You are British and you should be proud.”

    Pam Littlewood
    Newark, Nottinghamshire

    1. SIR – Many generations ago my family were slaves in Egypt, but I do not claim that this requires me to smash all statues of the slave-owning pharaohs in Egypt – or even in the British Museum.

      My great-grandparents came to this country as refugees in the 18th century, and found everything here very strange. That did not mean they thought it necessary to demonstrate, vandalise, riot and demand that the history and traditions of England be changed to suit them.

      Conversely, they believed that, having chosen to live here, they needed to adapt to English customs, whether they approved of all of them or not. They brought up their children to do likewise.

      As foreigners, they were sometimes insulted and even assaulted, but they also knew that one cannot demand respect: one has to earn it.

      Mervyn S Kersh
      Cockfosters, Hertfordshire

      1. SIR – At the age of 12, my grandmother was taken out of school to work in the Lancashire cotton mills. She caught tuberculosis and nearly died. Many thousands of other children did die.

        It was only the wealthy mill owners who gained from this – but then many, like Titus Salt, built hospitals, libraries, schools, universities and homes.

        Britain did something similar in Commonwealth countries, where we built railways and other infrastructure; and the Romans did something similar here. They killed many in the process – but we do not now blame the Italians.

        You do not teach future generations about rights and wrongs by burying history. No one likes slavery, but organisations such as the BBC and Black Lives Matter need to reconsider their approach.

        Hilary Roper-Newman
        Keighley, West Yorkshire

    2. SIR – Many generations ago my family were slaves in Egypt, but I do not claim that this requires me to smash all statues of the slave-owning pharaohs in Egypt – or even in the British Museum.

      My great-grandparents came to this country as refugees in the 18th century, and found everything here very strange. That did not mean they thought it necessary to demonstrate, vandalise, riot and demand that the history and traditions of England be changed to suit them.

      Conversely, they believed that, having chosen to live here, they needed to adapt to English customs, whether they approved of all of them or not. They brought up their children to do likewise.

      As foreigners, they were sometimes insulted and even assaulted, but they also knew that one cannot demand respect: one has to earn it.

      Mervyn S Kersh
      Cockfosters, Hertfordshire

    3. I have visited the Gambia many times including the slavery Museum opposite James Island,perhaps the current crop of ignorant arseholes could explain the written contracts of sale between BLACK tribal leaders and the White traders……
      No,thought not

      1. That was what was so farcical when Nancy Pelosi and co took the knee like a geriatric Pan’s People, each draped in a scarf with African tribal markings on them. Pelosi and co were so eager to kowtow to the fascists of BLM/Antifa that no one checked which tribal markings they were wearing; transpired it was of the Ashanti, who were the Thomas Cook of tribal travel agents.

  9. Got a feeling that children’s lives on returning to school are going to be more miserable than normal.
    Most schools are now run by professional class of women these days, the people I have met all appear to have gone over the top and neurotic to the extreme over protecting themselves and the children from the virus, I can’t see this ending well.
    Anyone with any practical experience will know that this approach just isn’t going to work for more than a few days without a complete meltdown.

  10. SIR – The loss of several of the poorest-performing universities as a result of improved A-level results and fewer foreign students should be welcomed, not avoided at all costs (Business, August 21).

    Most of these students would be better off finding work, rather than finishing up £50,000 in debt and with a degree that has next to no value.

    John Stewart
    Terrick, Buckinghamshire

    Aye, aye

  11. Tucker Carlson defends actions of teen charged in killings of Kenosha protesters. 27 August 2020.

    The rightwing Fox News host Tucker Carlson has defended the actions of a 17-year-old who was arrested and charged with murder after two people were killed in Kenosha, Wisconsin, as white vigilante agitators shot at Black Lives Matter protesters.

    Kyle Rittenhouse, from Antioch, Illinois, 20 miles south-west of Kenosha, had taken to the streets of Kenosha with a rifle after protesters marched demanding justice for Jacob Blake, a young Black father who was shot and gravely wounded by police on Sunday.

    You have to laugh at the twisting of the truth here! The “white vigilante agitator” versus the “young Black father.” I don’t know why they don’t save themselves the effort and just write: White Bad. Black Good!

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/aug/26/tucker-carlson-kenosha-shooting-teen-kyle-rittenhouse

      1. The reason why Britons were disarmed.
        We can be easily cowed as we have no ability to withstand any future tyranny.

  12. Edinburgh International Television Festival

    BBC comedy boss says diversity discussed in every conversation

    Shane Allen says push for more diversity will soon produce noticeable changes in output

    BBC bosses are discussing diversity in “every conversation” about new programmes, according to the corporation’s head of comedy, who said it would soon produce noticeable changes in output.

    Shane Allen said the BBC’s director of content, Charlotte Moore, was constantly asking staff to make sure they include diverse voices.

    “I’ve been part of regimes where you have to be seen to do something. With Charlotte it’s non-negotiable, it’s a thing that underpins every conversation: what’s the diverse element to this? And can it not be set in London?”

    He told the Edinburgh television festival that the decision to hire June Sarpong and Miranda Wayland to advise the BBC on improving diversity meant there were now “really powerful voices in the room” speaking up on the issue.
    *
    *
    *
    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/aug/26/bbc-comedy-boss-says-diversity-discussed-in-every-conversation

    Yet more goodies to look forward to from the Beeb.

    1. Bill Gates will be pleased, Dolls, his huge investment in the BBC is obviously paying off.

    3. The BLM-BBC’s lemming-like journey towards the cliff is gathering pace…just get on with it and spare us the constant whiney preaching. Their madness shows all the signs of yet another pandemic.

      ‘Morning, C1

    4. Diversity – except in political viewpoint and hatred of white western civilisation.

  13. Today’s worthwhile read in the DT.

    Europe is at last waking up to its lockdown folly

    As battening down the hatches fast loses favour, we can at least take this as a glimmer of hope

    Sherelle Jacobs27 August 2020 • 7:00am

    Did you hear it? Beyond the second wave sirens and the schools debate, the sound of the penny dropping on the global stage. In recent days, world leaders have hinted at an extraordinary admission: lockdowns are a disaster, and we can’t afford to repeat the mistake.
    Still, when that spiritless reverend of the global order Angela Merkel delivered this confession a few days ago, she was so officiously ambiguous that the world paid no attention. “Politically, we want to avoid closing borders again at any cost, but that assumes that we act in coordination,” she droned at a summit in the Mediterranean. And with that, an earthquake: saving lives “at any cost” has been excised from the lexicon of liberal internationalism. Instead the aim is to save the economy. This means “acting in coordination” to kill off second lockdowns.
    Emmanuel Macron was the first leader to drop this little bombshell. Last week he said that France can’t cope with the “collateral damage” of a second lockdown, explaining that “zero risk never exists in any society”. Italy joined in three days later, with the health minister hinting that the country will not return to national hibernation. Meanwhile, after lauding China’s draconian lockdown, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is imploring countries to avoid battening down the hatches again.
    About time. Lockdowns are officially indefensible. Sweden has won the international experiment, as its firms outperform even the German Großunternehmen while Covid deaths plummet in line with the rest of Europe. Scientists caution that it may take years to develop a vaccine. Economists warn that even the richest economies in the world cannot afford national lockdowns costing up to 3 per cent of GDP per month.
    Perhaps even doom-mongering politicians have twigged that civilisation threatens to evaporate into a mushroom cloud of psychoneurotic delirium. Polling reveals that Westerners on average believe 6 per cent of their national populations have died from Covid-19. The real figure is around 100 times lower.
    Or maybe global leaders have been terrified by their instinct to protect the status quo. After all, seasonal travel shutdowns are an existential threat to a borderless Europe. Italy’s collapse following another lockdown would bankrupt the Eurozone. The banal rituals of cosmopolitanism are under threat – from the professional class’s daily pilgrimage into the cities to Starbucks lattes in reusable cups.
    The trouble is, if Britain is any guide, leaders will struggle to persuade the masses to keep calm and carry on. Risk-averse statesmen aren’t ideal poster children for the message that we must all learn to live with more risk.
    More importantly, no leader dare tackle the toxic relationship between mass panic and “the science”. Take the problem of dodgy Covid statistics. The bizarre failure of politicians to explain to people the basic fact that “rising” cases could partly reflect an increase in testing is a scandal. So is their inability to point out that, far from being cause for alarm, mild upticks may be an encouraging sign that testing and tracing is working, as the system becomes more effective at picking up localised spikes.
    Nor do governments have a handle on the spurious second wave modelling that could yet drive us into another lockdown. It is, however, a myth that politicians are helpless against the judgment of career scientists. In Britain and beyond, politicians have never followed the modelling; modelling has always followed the politicians.
    As the pandemic hit, officials across the world requested forecasts for long-term worst-case scenarios, even though it is widely held in expert circles that statistical models are only accurate for roughly two-week stretches. Worse, part of the reason the science has come up with ridiculous solutions is that politicians have asked ridiculous questions.
    As government adviser Prof Mark Woolhouse recently told a parliamentary committee:“We are not aiming the models at the right target; we are aiming them at everyone when in fact the burden of this disease is very concentrated.” Perhaps the number crunchers would do better to model social distancing measures directed at the vulnerable rather than population-wide lockdowns.
    Sadly, world leaders are less interested in taking the science debate forward than in covering their backs. Their expediency will only fuel paranoia. After an intriguing U-turn from the WHO, face masks are being rolled out as a mass market placebo from Britain to Spain. The notion that they reassure more people than they alarm – let alone the evidence that they work – is risible. Still, they usefully distract from the incompetence of Western states when it comes to the routine mass testing that could genuinely quiet hysteria and avert new lockdowns.
    And so the Covid saga rumbles on. A grim tale of Machiavellian idiocy, statistical illiteracy, and robotic leaders who have no idea how to level with voters. Still, at least they have realised their lockdown error. It’s a glimmer of hope to which we must cling.

    1. Who loves gloom, panic and lockdowns ?

      Bill Gates, so great for the global vaccine business.

  14. Morning all

    SIR – It is a great shame that the Government has backtracked on its initial, straightforward message that masks should not be worn in schools. But in doing so it has indicated that schools will remain open even in the event of a local lockdown.

    The disruption to young people’s lives has to stop. The daily incidence of deaths due to Covid-19 in this country is very nearly zero. Hospital admissions due to the virus continue to decline everywhere.

    Siobhan Jones

    London SW14

    SIR – Sally Collier, Ofqual’s chief regulator, has resigned following the exam results fiasco – but you report that she is “expected to take up a new role in the Cabinet Office”.

    That sounds less like resigning – more like moving incompetence to another department.

    Alistair Leitch

    Morpeth, Northumberland

    2. Not at all.
      She may well have resigned to get a pay-off or enhanced pension knowing full well she will walk staright into another highly remunerated position.

  15. Exclusive: anti-submarine warships could be cut down to single figures. 27 August 2020.

    Anti-submarine warships could be cut down to single figures following the Integrated Defence and Security Review, naval sources have warned, in an act that has been deemed a “national embarrassment” for a maritime nation.

    The Telegraph understands that the UK’s existing fleet of frigates could be reduced from 13 to just eight ahead of the highly anticipated review, as replacing them with newer models has proven costly.

    More cuts to our defence capabilities. On the one hand we are told that Russia is a threat with endless propaganda and on the other that we can dispense with naval elements and tanks that would actually be vital in the event of a conflict. These positions are not mutually compatible. One of them has to be false. The UK’s lies about Russia may actually prove to be self- fulfilling in that we goad the Bear into action without possessing the means to restrain him.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/08/26/exclusive-anti-submarine-warships-could-cut-single-figures/

    1. Good God. Why not just disband the Navy whilst your at it?
      After all, we need to find the funds for our new citizens that are floating up on our shores from somewhere.

    2. Why would a globalist open borders government like Boros’ want something so nationalistic as a navy ?

      International cooperation means come on in..

  16. SIR – It is time to reimagine medical education in this country.

    A national course in medical sciences, delivered online, with entrants for further study selected thereafter, could widen access, reduce the financial burden of training, and provide a more sustainable workforce for the NHS.

    Dr Richard Motley

    Cardiff

    SIR – I would advise caution when contemplating lifting the cap on students admitted to study medicine.

    Medical students require exposure to as many patients as possible in order to acquire essential clinical skills. However, there is a maximum number of students who can be taught at the bedside at any one time. When this number is exceeded, students receive inadequate tuition – and, more importantly, patients who have kindly consented to be part of lessons can be inconvenienced and overwhelmed.

    Irving Taylor

    Edgware, Middlesex

    2. I woke up from a doze to find 12 students at the end of my hospital bed. All staring at me. No permission had been sought.

      2. I had a similar experience in Addenbrookes. The consultant asked me point blank if I had passed anything that day. Still groggy from sleep & not a little disgruntled I asked him, “Are we talking pissing or crapping?” The reaction among the group was almost palpable.

    3. I’m afraid there simply are not enough students of the required intelligence levels to make this idea usable. We already had to dumb down the syllabus in the 90s to handle the poorer calibre intake.

  17. Morning again

    SIR – There can be no blanket or predetermined “do not resuscitate” order (Letters, August 26). Any such order negates the overriding principle that each patient is entitled to be treated as an individual under the circumstances prevailing at the time.

    The proper course of action is to consult the patient (if possible), the next of kin and nursing staff. The nurses should always be present.

    The decision not to resuscitate allows a natural event to take place. Careful consideration will act as a powerful tool in alleviating grief.

    Dr Andrew Harding

    Haywards Heath, West Sussex

    2. Dear Doctor,

      My father had a severe stroke whilst in hospital for treatment for a broken collar bone.

      When I first visited him after his stroke I discovered that NTBR had already been printed on his notes.

      Whilst I agreed with that diagnosis, it would have been nice for his family to have been informed.

  19. Four American troops are wounded when Russian forces deliberately RAM their armored vehicle in eastern Syria during high-speed confrontation. 26 August 2020.

    Four U.S. troops were injured after a Russian military vehicle deliberately rammed the vehicle they were driving following a tense high-speed confrontation in the east of Syria.

    The U.S. service members have been diagnosed with mild concussion-like symptoms, Politico reported, citing a draft statement by U.S. Central Command.

    National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot said in a statement that a Russian vehicle struck the American vehicle near Dayrick, in northeast Syria.

    This was just the lads having some fun!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8667009/Four-American-troops-wounded-Russian-forces-RAMMED-vehicle-Northern-Syria.html

    1. What the flying fluck are American troops doing in Syria????
      Who invited them??
      What mandate do they have??

      1. Blow me, it is coming up with video unavailable. Google search will find it though.

    5. It is posed at the intellectual level of its target audience – BBC viewers. Anything more sophisticated would be a waste of time and effort (money being no object).

    6. Not wishing to stereotype any race but yer average blick probably rarely watches the Beeb and certainly will not watch the proms. Why dies they think the airwaves should be filled with Bames. Last nights insomnia special was a report from the US (from a health and diversity expert). Apparently, blick babies are more likely to die in their first year than white ones. Oh, unless treated by a black Dr. Colour me surprised.

      1. Some bame was whinging about Rule Britannia etc and how evil the Proms were – then said that he never watched or listened to them and didn’t know the songs.

        Such diversity brings its own reward.

  23. The Proms were not set up by the BBC. Nor were they run by the BBC. They have slid into the control of the BBC, probably because of their involvement in broadcasting them.
    Perhaps the Proms would be better off being run by an independent body?

    1. A couple of years back, we took the younger grandchildren to a Classical Spectacular at the RAH, put on, I think, by Raymond Gubbay.
      It was a stonking good show; the ‘Wow’ when the children stepped into the box was worth the price before the concert even started.
      In the next box was an elderly American couple. They sang and waved the Union flag with gusto.

    2. Morning Horace. Perhaps the BBC would be better off being run by an independent body?

      1. Yes. The mind boggles at the possibilities for such an independent body: the Civil Service, a new Quango, the Murdoch empire, Roman Abramovich, … further suggestions welcome.

        PS not George Soros, please, he already controls it.

    2. Good morning, Anne

      I have been making this point about the DM for years – much of its content is complete dross but its best articles are far better than virtually anything that appears in the DT.

      “O matter and impertinency mixed! Reason in madness!

      [King Lear]

  25. At last some good news – on the roof. The chaps have discovered the source of the leak. When the solar panels were installed in 2011 the fitters broke two pantiles (the infuriating sort of roofing tile used in yer Narfurk) and, instead of asking me for a couple of replacements, put gaffer tape round them and “glued” them in place….

    Maddening and costly now – but at least the problem was identified. The worst thing, in my view, is when a roof lets water in but the builder sucks his teeth and says he can’t find anything…..

    It’s only money………………

          2. Sadly not. The outfit at the end of the garden is a unit holding 40,000 “chickens” until they are seven weeks old, when they are taken away in the middle of the night. To be replaced by another batch……

            Only one useless, unqualified, inexperienced man works there – he was fired from his previous employment for being, er, useless, inexperienced……

  26. 323047+ up ticks,
    Seemingly we have 278 trillion, & counting / mountain issues, daily being the worldwide figure, to rectify as a coming soon feature.

    Forward thinking tells me that the real danger areas are going to be pavements owing to wheelbarrows on a shopping run.

    What is the truth in that the re-set button will have to be on par size with the dome of ST Pauls.

    We as an semi independent, individual Country could never really have reached such depths of despair & odious dealings without the continuing imput of the lab/lib/con coalition party.

  27. Simon Rattle, millionaire conductor, darling of the BBC, three times married, second wife with matching Afro hairstyle, third wife mistaken for his grand-daughter.

    Being interviewed on Radio 4 by ‘Woofter’ Webb this morning, declared that Rule Britannia and all other Imperialistic British songs should be re-written or, better still, scrubbed from history and that he was physically sick when he heard that Britain was winning the Falklands war.

    Defund the BBC and put these turds back on skid row where they belong.

    2. Doesn’t like it in the UK, he can fuck right off, get in his executive jet, and fuck off some more.

        2. The Berlin Philharmonic preferred Rattle to Daniel Barenboim as I recall. No guesses as to why. It could have been a preference for the mad scientist hairdo I suppose.

    4. I can well imagine that the world of classical music is filled well-meaning left-leaning do-gooding cultural marxists. It’s a great pity they don’t just stick to what they are good at – making great music – and keep their mouths shut unless they are singing.

    5. Well he’s another one I shan’t be bothering with any more. My Mum used to like him when he was conductor of the CBSO – she used to go to the concerts in Cheltenham.

    1. Unfortunately, the bus is being driven very cautiously by Boris Johnson and is desperately trying to avoid crushing the BBC.

    2. Pretty Please. Like, this afternoon, before the latest Covid-19 rule change is announced.

  30. In Aug 1960 Ray Peterson released ‘Tell Laura I Love Her’, a song that told the story of a doomed teenage romance. Decca destroyed all the pressed copies.

    Later that year, in the UK, Ricky Valance covered the song but the BBC also banned it. The difference was that Decca thought it tasteless, the BBC thought otherwise – even 60 years ago they couldn’t stand the thought of a straight guy falling in love with a straight girl. Rien ne change.

    1. A chap at school was known to have been smitten by a young lady called Laura. Wherever he went the corridors and classrooms resounded gently with the melody and lyrics…

        1. There used to be a parrot in Walpole Park, Ealing called Laura. For all I know it’s still there, but I doubt it.

          2. We had high winds last night; when I walked my dog this morning there was a huge branch of an old oak tree lying on the ground. Fortunately, it wasn’t causing an obstruction.

  31. Someone mentioned here that the Salvation Army were assisting illegal immigrants. I have contributed to the SA in the past on my understanding that they helped distressed indigenes, people like me, but who have fallen on really hard times. When I received their latest email I wrote to them on this subject.
    The correspondence is as below:

    1) My letter in response to their email,
    “Thank you for your email.
    I have been given to understand that you have been helping and providing for illegal immigrants and illegal economic migrants who have entered the United Kingdom illegally.
    These people are criminals who have no right to be here. Your condoning of crime is to your detriment. I cannot be associated with criminal activity.
    I will not be contributing anything to you in future. If you prefer to look after foreigners who will destroy our country, in preference to the natives, then you do not deserve support.
    Regards”

    2) Their response,
    “Dear Mr Pendleton
    In response to your email, please can we respond as follows:
    Asylum seekers are those who have a legal right to claim protection in a safe country due to a fear of persecution or harm in their home country. We believe it is right to treat everyone living in the UK with dignity and to ensure they can flourish in our communities.
    These people are not criminals as they are refugees arriving into the UK through resettlement programmes and have been identified and screened by the UK Home Office before arrival.
    The UK government has made a commitment to support the world’s most vulnerable refugees. We believe it is right that we play our part in helping those fleeing war and persecution.
    We are sorry to hear that you feel no longer able to support us.
    Thank you for your previous support.
    With kind regards
    Ross McMichael
    Donor Care Assistant”

    3) My reply to this,
    Hello Ross,
    Thank you for your response.
    There are two clear cases:
    1. Refugees, and asylum seekers, brought directly to this country, and who have not passed through any safe country.
    and
    2. Immigrants who arrive by rubber boat or any other means from France or any safe country. All such arrivals are illegal.
    Can honestly assure me that any donations you receive will only be used for those in “Case 1”?
    Can you also assure me that the Salvation Army will do nothing whatsoever, and will pay no money and provide no assistance, accommodation, or any other help financial, material or in kind, to anyone who has arrived illegally as in “Case 2”?
    I you can do this I will reconsider donating.
    Furthermore I will share this assurance with a number of erstwhile donors who have told me that you are assisting those who have entered our country illegally.
    Regards,

    4) Their reply to these questions,
    Dear Mr Pendleton
    We regret that we are unable to make any further comment on this matter as we have already explained The Salvation Army’s position. We have removed you from our mailing list and would like to thank you for your past support.
    With kind regards
    Barbara Ashley
    Donor Care Supervisor

    Well that seems to answer the questions. I would surmise from this reply that the SA are happy to assist law-breakers and also act as accessories.

    1. Damask Rose has had problems with the Salvation Army .

      Please look through some of her threads .

      I will no longer donate a single penny to their cause . Their attitude is arrogant and very WOKE

    2. Surely the “world’s most vulnerable refugees” don’t have smart clothes and mobile phones!

    3. Yep also MSF, who did a great job and I was a supporter, until they entered the ferry business.

      1. I rather like Joanna Lumley’s TV travels and she visited a refuge for kids in Hati that depends upon donations. Now there is an awful place in the world to have been born out of political and geological upheavals of the last 100 years or so. I am very fond of the Dominican Republic next door and find that the people do not have the edge that the darker members of the Caribbean foster. I looked up the charity and have sent something instead of giving to our over paid execs here. http://www.sakala-haiti.org/cite-soleil

  32. Just got back from dropping MB off at the local hospital for his blood test.
    He doesn’t drive there because parking is impossible and it was uncertain whether he would get a parking space in time for his appointment.
    Except that now, from our observations, the car park was only 1/3 occupied. Remind me about the angels rushed off their feet.

  33. BBC1 tonight 10.45pm – ‘Fighting the Power: Britain after George Floyd’. ‘Documentary follows the Black Lives Matter campaign in the UK as the country looks again at its record on race in the wake of the death of George Floyd in the US’.

    Am expecting the BBC’s usual even-handed approach, including much mention of Cannon Hinnant.

  34. And today’s SCARE story

    Shoppers face paying more for a loaf of bread and a kilogram of flour amid predictions of the worst wheat harvest for 40 years.

    Farmers say that the wet autumn and dry spring have reduced the yield from their land by up to 40 per cent. Some millers have increased the price of flour by 10 per cent and warn that further rises are possible because the wholesale cost of wheat has risen by 12.5 per cent since the end of June.

    Higher flour prices can feed through to higher bread prices, although intense competition between supermarkets over the cost of staples could help to limit any increases. An 800g loaf of Hovis sliced white bread costs 99p at Tesco. The supermarket’s own brand alternative sells for 59p.

    The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) said that unusually heavy rain in the autumn meant that many farmers could not plant as much wheat as usual. Flooding in February from the storms Ciara and Dennis left soil waterlogged, making it harder for plants to thrive. The very hot and dry spring made it difficult for the crop to take up nutrients from the soil.

    Matt Culley, an arable farmer from Hampshire and chairman of the NFU’s crop board, said: “We’re looking at a 30 per cent reduction in our good fields. In some of our poor fields it’s even more.”

    Best rush out and panic buy flour…..

      1. We’re not eating much bread at the moment – I didn’t buy any last week as the freezer was getting a bit crammed.

    6. In a few years this won’t be a problem here. The fields of wheat will be long gone, to be full of houses for the 3rd World new “English”.

  35. Rule, Britannia! BBC Boss Compares Britons’ Patriotism to Nazi Gas Chambers. 27 August 2020.

    “Do those Brits who believe it’s ok to sing an 18th Century song about never being enslaved, written when the UK was enslaving and killing millions of innocents, also believe it’s appropriate for neo-Nazis to shout, ‘We will never be forced into a gas chamber.’ #RuleBritannia,”

    Lewis explained that she believes “slavery was Britain’s holocaust. We should apologise for it properly and yet at the moment, we have NO memorial to enslaved people in the UK. We should not celebrate slave owners.”

    This is a pretty good example at what passes for logic in the Wokosphere. No reasoned argument or pointing out of facts could possibly make progress against this anymore than it could against Flat Earth theory.

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/08/27/rule-britannia-bbc-boss-compares-britons-patriotism-to-nazi-gas-chambers/

    4. In 1838, Robert Peart, a slave of Spanishtown, Jamaica, wrote: “Thanks to Almighty God and next to the English nation, whose laws relieved us from the bondage in which we have been held.”

    5. Someone should point out to her that it was Black Africans who who enslaving other Blacks.

  38. 12 migrants were deported to France and Germany yesterday as illegal migration to Britain continues.

    Immigration Minister Chris Philp said yesterday that: “Today we removed people who came by small boat but had previously claimed asylum in other EU countries back to those EU countries.

    “These crossings are dangerous, unnecessary and futile – we will seek to return people who make them. Yesterday and today, no-one made the crossing.”

    https://westmonster.com/dozen-migrants-who-arrived-via-boats-deported-to-france-and-germany?fbclid=IwAR1EONbvjsUpT0orTX1L4T5YsDDUvdRCEow8Xmn4wQPBcnyEuSEyQ9D-3XI

    1. So, is it ‘double-bubble’ (or better) for those who successfully claim asylum in more than one country?

    2. “Yesterday and today, no-one made the crossing.” – – What does Chris Philp want for that ??? A party??? – -I suppose the lack of crossings wasn’t anything to do with the weather?

    3. So, is it ‘double-bubble’ (or better) for those who successfully claim asylum in more than one country?

      1. I remember reading years ago of some who came to Europe, registered for benefits in several countries here and spend their time driving from one country to another to attend “interviews” to prove they are there. I doubt it has changed.

        1. Sounds like our children’s nanny 40 years ago, who registered herself as unemployed at all the dole offices in the area & did the rounds to collect from each one. Why weren’t they linked? It only came to light when my wife phoned to ask why she (the nanny) had to attend so many interviews.

      1. One third of a million in the past year quoted on the radio today. Must be a gross underestimate if the BBC allowed it to be broadcast.

  40. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    Sinister? They forgot the fingerprinting…

    SIR – Yesterday I tried to reserve a slot at a local recycling centre.

    To do this, I was required to provide information on the type of rubbish I was taking, my gender, my name, my address, my telephone number, my email address and the registration of the vehicle I was taking to the centre.

    I was also informed that if any of this information was incorrect, I could go to prison for up to 12 months. I’m glad to see that someone is taking rubbish collection seriously at last.

    J T Fillingham
    Stroud, Gloucestershire

    2. OH has been twice now since they brought in this system – there used to be long queues but not any more.

  41. Heart sinkingly so.

    Swiss people need to take classes on integrating with foreigners in order to get used to “becoming a minority” in their own country, a sociologist has said.

    Ganga Jey Aratnam, who migrated to Switzerland 25 years ago, told an interview with Tages-Anzeiger that mass migration to the Swiss nation “is a one-way street, there is no going back”.

    Switzerland’s native people should let go of the country’s historic customs and traditions as its population is replaced and come to recognise “hyper-diversity” as the national culture, the Sri Lankan academic said, arguing that “Swiss culture is not lost, it is developing”.

    Asked whether he recognised that such a transition might be “overwhelming” for naive Swiss people, Aratnam responded: “That’s why I think there should be integration courses for locals.”

    “We already have integration courses for immigrants. That is a good thing. Such courses are also necessary for locals because they are slowly becoming a minority.”

    It is “in [Swiss people’s] interest” to get more familiarised with migrants, according to the sociologist, who asserted that “if the locals do not adapt, they will become losers in their own country”.

    Illustrating such ‘losers’, he pointed to the example of elderly people who might “struggle” with foreigners then become “frustrated” when they are housed in a retirement home where 90 per cent of the staff comes from abroad.

    Questioned by the Swiss-German language daily on whether mass migration could at least be “slowed”, the University of Basel scholar was insistent that once the door is opened to population transfers from the third world, it cannot be closed.

    “Once diversity is achieved, there is no stopping it,” he said, noting that family reunification and other ‘human rights’-related policy means migration from the Global South will continue to rise no matter what national laws a government tries to put in place.

    In addition, Aratnam noted that migrant women have “on average more [children] than Swiss women”.

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/08/25/swiss-classes-integrate-mass-migration/

    1. Good morning Maggiebelle

      Who asked the indigenous populations if they wanted to be overrun? Have we in Britain already passed the point of no return?

      2. Good morning Richard

        The share of foreign-born people in the UK’s total population increased from 9% from 2004 to 14% in 2018 (Figure 2). During the same period, the share of foreign citizens rose from 5% to 9%.4 Oct 2019

        1. That’s 23% of the population of the UK, not including all the foreigners born here?

    2. The Swiss have a referendum coming up on 27th September on Freedom of Movement. They are likely to vote to put a stop to it.

  42. More good stuff from Sherelle.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/27/europe-last-waking-lockdown-folly/

    Europe is at last waking up to its lockdown folly

    Good morning, my Friends

    It boils down to this:

    Those who have made a success of their lives are prepared to take risks and feel that the sooner lockdown is done away with the better.

    Failures are the ones who are scared and want lockdown and restrictions to continue – it is this pusillanimity that has always held them back.

    So what is it for you: temerity or timidity?

  43. David Starkey……

    https://thecritic.co.uk/the-day-i-was-cancelled/

    ‘The point can be made simply with two sets of figures. The number of
    black slaves shipped to the Thirteen Colonies before Revolution was
    about 310,000; the black population of the Thirteen Colonies at the time
    of the Revolution was about half a million, an increase of 60 per cent.
    That is not a genocide, though it may be a diaspora. In contrast, the
    number of Jews in Germany in 1933 was also about half a million; in
    1945, after Hitler and the Holocaust, it was 20,000, a decrease of 96
    per cent. That is a genocide and nothing else.

    On the other hand,
    one branch of the African slave trade was a genocide and one of the most
    terrible in history. Some 20 million black slaves, it is estimated,
    were exported to the Ottoman or Turkish Empire, of whom barely a genetic
    trace remains. This is because the men were castrated; while the
    mixed-race offspring of the women, with whom their Ottoman masters slept
    freely, had their brains dashed out at birth. How this holocaust — and
    the term is all too appropriate — squares with the fascination of much
    of Black America with Islam is difficult to see’.
    Those bloody #HateFacts again

    1. Good to see that he hasn’t been completely silenced. His “Henry VIII: Mind of a Tyrant” is also currently showing on PBS America (Freeview Channel 91).

    2. Nothing new about that. When I was training 50 years ago we were warned that if a patient presented with repeated ‘inexplicable’ oral thrush infections, we should consider whether his wife/partner had vaginal thrush.

  47. BBC Radio 4 – World at One.

    45 Minutes of continuous anti-British, anti-white venom conducted by Sahara(sic) Montague. Are they being paid by the second for the passionate dissemination of their hatred of the British? It would appear so.

    1. They managed to slag off Tony Abbott, even before he has been appointed.
      They are a disgrace.

    2. “BBC Radio 4 – World at One”

      Probably around 90% of we British voters wouldn’t have known Radio 4 existed if you hadn’t told us.

    1. Thought For The Day:
      Only UKIP members can vote in UKIP Leader/NEC elections. UKIP today is the UKIP Kippers voted for.

      1. 323047+ up ticks,
        That thought for the day is the thought that real UKIPPERS thought and put into practise BUT the latter part of your post is totally incorrect as has been revealed.
        But you know that j, what surprises me is that some have agreed, obviously condemning without checking the facts, you see for many the facts do not fit their needs.

        UKIP currently is as bent and odious as the lab/lib/con coalition party courtesy of it’s Nec
        and fallen from being a credible party under G.Batten financially sound and with a 30000 plus membership rising daily to now under 5000 & sinking fast.

        1. “…real UKIPPERS…”

          There is no such party, only the UKIP you Kippers voted for and elected.

          1. 323047+ up ticks,
            j,
            Wrong again, as the real UKIPPER are no longer
            part of the what is left of the ukip group.
            So j. you must return to your position of ambush
            and seek other interesting people to try & annoy
            because to be honest I am very busy and dependent on the weather, which is breaking rough.

        2. I seem to recall that the choice to vote for was about as dire as the general election. My membership has since expired.

    1. He is supposed to be a Conservative:

      Deputy Chairman of Hammersmith and Fulham Conservative party. 1994–1996

      Something fishy going on here.

      1. Of course, Missus – but, as she is a woke leftie she is able to forget the things she said; “cancel” them, in fact….

  51. Funny Old World……………

    Turns out he also has a felony conviction meaning it’s illegal to own a firearm…………..

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d837b6316a27732de667d3f8421b92d3d7a42c74ac4c7bc9c475d28d6fd437f9.jpg
    Talking of felonies,the dindu shot 7 times had a warrant out for domestic abuse and child sex crimes,it now appears the knife he was said to be waving around earlier has been found in the car he was diving into…………..
    Boy the leftards can really pick the poster children for their campaigns

    1. But there is something mighty sick in their society.

      This alleged pervert may not be poster boy quality but surely a quick zap with a taser would be preferable to the cost of bullets used.
      Compare this to the kid who shot people in the latest riots, he was able to walk around with his big gun and was not hassled by the police.

      You would have thought that with the election so close, police would be slow to shoot people (especially the riot developing kind) while demecrat city and state leaders would be anything but slow in putting down riots.

      Common sense seems to be missing.

      1. The Left want to create chaos to make Trump look bad.

        The police, having been held back from resolving the problem (by those same Democrats) are reacting to a criminal underclass that knows it can get away with murder.

        As usual, the Left are playing with people’s lives for political point scoring.

        1. And the police shooting people is not part of the problem?

          But I agree the lack of control is just playing into Trumps re election. He is now strongly into being the law and order candidate, the wish washy non response by local authorities is helping his campaign.

          1. And the police shooting people is not part of the problem?

            You’re correct. It’s not.

            If police in the US were conducting a really race-blind policy of lethal law enforcement against violent criminals there would be way more blacks shot by the police. Because we would expect criminals to be shot roughly in proportion to their share of violent and deadly criminals.

            The problem is the media and their fake narrative of police violence. The media and so much else is in the hands of people who are hell bent on destroying the US as a viable white nation.

            Which leads us to . . .

            the wish washy non response by local authorities is helping his campaign.

            I think the normal purpose of black rioting is to energise the black vote. Their turnout was low in 2016 – they didn’t seem to warm to Hillary. Its crucial for the Democrats to get blacks riled up and voting. The problem being they are less likely to register and less likely vote even if they are. So a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth about black men being shot is a great narrative to push. The fact that every black martyr turns out to be a criminal scumbag never seems to matter.

            This is why we hear a lot about getting people to register to vote in US elections. These are really leftist calls to energise blacks (and other non-white groups) to vote. Because its well understood the majority of them will vote Democrat. Problem is for the Dems is most of them seem uninterested in politics, don’t know the issues, are basically ambivalent and can only be stirred up by the most simplistic fake nonsense. Its almost as if they shouldn’t be voting at all.

            [I’ve noticed this voter registration nonsense creeping in here too recently. Yet just about everyone is automatically registered as soon as they turn 18. So I think its just a leftist idea thats crossed the Atlantic, quite unconnected to any sort of reality but gives celebs another chance to pretend to be doing something woke]

            Another problem for the Dems is all the looting and rioting and shrieking about the police shooting criminals is a big turn off for the tax paying, law abiding demographic (white people). So there’s the risk of alienating whites and losing vs the certainty of losing if the black vote doesnt show up.

            Its insane of course that US elections should hinge upon the most useless group in the country, but there it is. We’re not quite at that stage yet. But if Lib/Lab/Con immigration policy continues as planned . . .

          2. And the police shooting people is not part of the problem?

            You’re correct. It’s not.

            If police in the US were conducting a really race-blind policy of lethal law enforcement against violent criminals there would be way more blacks shot by the police. Because we would expect criminals to be shot roughly in proportion to their share of violent and deadly criminals.

            The problem is the media and their fake narrative of police violence. The media and so much else is in the hands of people who are hell bent on destroying the US as a viable white nation.

            Which leads us to . . .

            the wish washy non response by local authorities is helping his campaign.

            I think the normal purpose of black rioting is to energise the black vote. Their turnout was low in 2016 – they didn’t seem to warm to Hillary. Its crucial for the Democrats to get blacks riled up and voting. The problem being they are less likely to register (than whites) and less likely vote even if they are. So a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth about black men being shot is a great narrative to push. The fact that every black martyr turns out to be a criminal scumbag never seems to matter.

            This is why we hear a lot about getting people to register to vote in US elections. These are really leftist calls to energise blacks (and other non-white groups) to vote. Because its well understood the majority of them will vote Democrat. Problem is for the Dems is most of them seem uninterested in politics, don’t know the issues, are basically ambivalent and can only be stirred up by the most simplistic fake nonsense. Its almost as if they shouldn’t be voting at all.

            [I’ve noticed this voter registration nonsense creeping in here too recently. Yet just about everyone is automatically registered as soon as they turn 18. So I think its just a leftist idea thats crossed the Atlantic, quite unconnected to any sort of reality but gives celebs another chance to pretend to be doing something woke]

            Another problem for the Dems is all the looting and rioting and shrieking about the police shooting criminals is a big turn off for the tax paying, law abiding demographic (white people). So there’s the risk of alienating whites and losing vs the certainty of losing if the black vote doesnt show up.

            Its insane of course that US elections should hinge upon the most useless group in the country, but there it is. We’re not quite at that stage yet. But if Lib/Lab/Con immigration policy continues as planned . . .

  52. The BBC’s future is hanging by a thread. Toby Young. Spectator. 27 August 2020.

    Reading the speech Tony Hall gave to the Edinburgh Television Festival, I was struck by his upbeat, confident tone. The outgoing director-general of the BBC talked about how its reporting of the coronavirus crisis had brought its core mission as a public service broadcaster into sharper focus and boosted its popularity, particularly among 16- to 34-year-olds. He said his goal when he arrived at the BBC was to reach a global audience of 500 million by 2022, its centenary year, and this target has now been revised upwards to a billion by the end of the decade. ‘But it needs extra investment from government and that bid is with them right now,’ he said.

    Doesn’t Tony Hall realise that the BBC’s future is hanging by a thread? The corporation struck a deal with the government five years ago whereby it promised to cover the cost of providing free TV licences to the over-75s in return for hiking up the licence fee, and it has now reneged on that deal. As of this month, three million pensioners will have to fork out £157.50 a year if they want to watch television — not just the BBC, but any live TV at all. In response, Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, said the government would look seriously at decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee. If that happens, the BBC is toast. Who in their right mind is going to pay a voluntary fee to the BBC just for the privilege of owning a television set, particularly when they’re already subscribing to Sky, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Disney+ and God knows what else?

    Seemingly oblivious to this iceberg hoving into view, the cheerful captain boasted about the £100 million he has ring-fenced in the commissioning budget to pay for ‘diverse and inclusive programming’ and the 20 per cent ‘diverse-talent target’ he’s put in place — as if that’s going to save the ship. When Hall talks about ‘diversity’ you can bet your bottom dollar he doesn’t mean commissioning more programmes from Brexit–supporting, Tory-voting global-warming sceptics. Nor does he mean over-65s, with the exception of Sir David Attenborough. Nor, I suspect, will the BBC be including people who live in rural areas in its ‘diverse-talent target’, particularly if they hunt or shoot. No, he means more BAME people, even though they only make up 13 per cent of the population.

    But perhaps the most tone-deaf part of Hall’s speech was the section on the vital work the BBC has been doing to combat all the ‘fake news’ and ‘misinformation’ about Sars-CoV-2 that’s been disseminated by bad actors like Donald Trump. The BBC, he said, has provided people with a trusted source of news that has helped them ‘navigate a path through the Covid crisis’.

    In fact, the BBC has done colossal harm to its reputation since the beginning of the pandemic by faithfully regurgitating all the information it’s been fed by the public authorities, becoming little more than a propaganda arm of 10 Downing Street. A responsible public service broadcaster would have stepped into the breach after parliament was suspended, scrutinising the big government decisions such as clearing out hospital wards, cancelling all non-emergency surgery, suspending cancer screenings, shutting down GP practices and turning the NHS into a Covid-only service.

    But instead of challenging this daft strategy, the BBC did everything it could to make it seem sensible, broadcasting story after story about patients battling with the virus, kept alive by selfless and exhausted NHS staff. We’ll be living with the consequences of that failure for years, with one eminent oncologist predicting we’ll see 30,000 preventable deaths from cancer alone in the next decade.
    The BBC solemnly broadcast the daily death tolls handed over by Public Health England, even though we now know that PHE included anyone who’d tested positive for Covid-19 and subsequently died, regardless of how much time had passed between those two events. Why wasn’t that error, which led to PHE inflating the death toll by more than 5,000, exposed by the BBC, given the vast journalistic resources at its disposal? Was it too much to hope that its army of ‘data scientists’ would scrutinise the numbers the BBC was broadcasting to the nation every day?

    When the British public realises it’s been sold a pup about this ‘crisis’, as it surely will, it won’t be long before they start looking for someone to blame. Perhaps it’s just as well Tony Hall is about to retire.

    I suppose that eventually the truth about the Pandemic and what a colossal balls up it has been will filter down to the masses but my guess is it will not be until the economic consequences begin to bite!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-bbcs-future-is-hanging-by-a-thread

        1. And fuel tax can be doubled – to make a litre cost what it did before the Plague.

    2. A friend of ine lost her father to ‘covid’.

      That he had throat cancer that spread to his heart and lungs was apparently not interesting. Why is the NHS not being honest? Any death is horrific, but the BBC has deliberately set about to create hysteria and panic rather than facts.

      As for investing in diversity, that’s a waste of money. When it goes to the government for more cash it really means it wants to hike the fee again. Make it subscription only. Scrap it. If it can’t survive, oh dear, how sad. Never mind.

    3. To be pedantic you don’t need a TV licence to own a TV, the licence enables you to watch or record LIVE TV on any channel or device

  54. Goats on strike today. Lying in two groups – just watching life go by. Refused to talk; to come and have a look at the goodies I might have been offering. Sod you, I told them. I’ll see you on my plate.

    Rain held off – builders finished. Relief all round. Builder also happy as the MR wants something constructed in the garden…..(about twice the size of what she described to me..!! Sound familiar, chaps??)

      1. I have no idea what you mean, young Phil.

        It is to be a sort of cart shed where we can eat out of doors on two days a year…..

          7. Just one of those days Jack! Sometimes we’re very philosophical and ranty. Other days it’s a bit more laid-back and chatty! Must be the weather!

  55. Excellent news – looks like the Bank Holiday weekend (here, anyway) is going to be shyte weather.

      1. Won’t stop the lootin’ and shootin’ ‘n drurgs..

        I wonder how many people will be killed between now and Tuesday morning…..

    3. Soros is paying these BLM activists all over the world through his opaque Open Society Foundation. Democrat politicians are bought in the States as we have seen with the Clintons and Obama’s. Soros is an anti Semite bent on the destruction of Israel and the destruction of the capitalist free market economy.

      Thank God for Donald Trump.

  58. FINNS AIN’T WHAT THEY USED TO BE (allegedly)

    In the wake of the row over the singing of “Rule Britannia” and “Land of Hope and Glory” – or lack thereof – at this year’s “Last Night at the Proms”, I did a wee bit of research on the ‘Finnish’ conductrix and SJW, Dalia Stasevska, who is scheduled to wave her woke wand at this year’s performance, and is a “huge fan” of Black Lives Matter. You may think it rather odd that Stasevska, instead of wasting her time virtue signalling about traditional British patriotic songs at the Albert Hall, is not protesting at the Finnish Airforce Academy at Tikkatoski, where the FiAF still proudly flies the swastika on its flag.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d8b036f9d5b2fe20dffb90cf78a6b966c166890bce042ff127eb0198a3948f62.jpg

    Anyway, her name didn’t sound Finnish to me, so rather than rush to judgment, I did a wee bit of background checking on her. Turns out she’s Ukrainian by birth and came to Finland as a child. I find her “wokeness” and concern for BLM somewhat ironic since Ukrainians, on the whole, were Nazi collaborators during the Second World War and continue to be Nazi sympathisers, anti-semites and racists to this day, or so it would seem.

    Perhaps Stasevska could get her sorry arse down to the land of her birth and demonstrate her concerns about racism in Maidan Nezalezhnosti, in Kyiv. Here’s a list of anniversaries celebrated in the Ukrainian capital this year.

    130 years—Ivan Poltavets-Ostryanitsa—Nazi, assistant of Alfred Rosenberg and Erich Koch, head of the Ukrainian Nazi Cossacks.

    100 years—Vasyl Levkovych—Nazi collaborator, commandant of the Ukrainian auxiliary police in Dubno, organizer of Jewish pogroms, executioner and murderer of 5,000 Jews and thousands of Poles, a war criminal.

    115 years—Ulas Samchuk—anti-Semite, Nazi collaborator, publisher of the Volyn newspaper, OUN activist, participant in the extermination of Jews. Samchuk incited and called for the extermination of Jews during the massacre of 25,000 Jews in Rivne—including 6,000 children. Samchuk noted that the murder of the Jews of Kyiv in Babi Yar was “a great day.”

    110 years—Vasil Sidor—Nazi collaborator and war criminal, fighter of the Nakhtigal battalion, Oberzugfuhrer of the 201st Schutzmannschaft battalion, participant in the mass killings of Jews and Poles, punitive operations against civilians in Belarus.

    120 years—Yuri Lipe—OUN activist, a Nazi collaborator, major proponent of the notion of Ukrainian racial purity.

    120 years—Vladimir Kubiyovich—Nazi collaborator, organizer of the SS Galicia division.

    100 years—Vasil Galasa—OUN activist, organizer of Jewish pogroms in western Ukraine in the summer of 1941, a participant in the destruction of the Polish population in 1943-44.

    130 years—Andriy Melnik, head of the OUN, Nazi collaborator, agent of the Nazi intelligence services. Melnik organized an auxiliary police force from OUN members in occupied Kiev. Melnik’s militia took part in the executions of Jews in Babi Yar, Chernivtsi, Vinnitsa, Zhytomyr, and other cities.

    Finally, to cap it all, Stasevska’s husband, Lauri Porra – who is a Finn, turns out to be a bass player in the heavy-metal band, “Stratovarius”, that has been condemned in Germany, for releasing Nazi themed music, notably an album commemorating Hitler’s rise to power. Ah well, maybe its just their quirky Finnish sense of humour.

      1. “The Flying Finn” is a nickname given to several Finnish athletes who were noted for their speed. Originally, it was given to several Finnish middle and long-distance runners. The term was later extended to notable Finnish racing sportsmen. Wikipedia

    2. Vasyl Lekovych and Vasil Galasa seem to have started early – straight after school, by the look of it.
      Imagine knowing exactly what you want to do with your life when you’re only 20.

      1. At 20 I was committed to becoming a dentist & a dentist I remained until I retired, but Life has taken a very different pathway from what I had imagined.

          2. Exacto.
            The opportunity & decision to move to Sweden came right out of the blue, but just at the right time.

          5. “Dies annorum nostrorum in ipsis septuaginta anni si autem multum octoginta anni et quod amplius est labor e dolor quoniam transivimus cito et avolavimus”
            — Psalms 89:10

            …… I’ll get me shroud …….

          6. Fear no more the heat o’ the sun,

            Nor the furious winter’s rages;

            Thou thy worldly task hast done,

            Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages:

            Golden lads and girls all must,

            As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

            Fear no more the frown o’ the great;

            Thou art past the tyrant’s stroke;

            Care no more to clothe and eat;

            To thee the reed is as the oak:

            The scepter, learning, physic, must

            All follow this, and come to dust.

            Fear no more the lightning flash,

            Nor the all-dreaded thunder stone;

            Fear not slander, censure rash;

            Thou hast finished joy and moan:

            All lovers young, all lovers must

            Consign to thee, and come to dust.

            No exorciser harm thee!

            Nor no witchcraft charm thee!

            Ghost unlaid forbear thee!

            Nothing ill come near thee!

            Quiet consummation have;
            And renownèd be thy grave!

    1. Just add it to the Council Tax bill then! We already pay nearly £2,000 per annum to have the rubbish collected.

      1. 323047+ up ticks,
        Morning N,
        Peoples en masse could always try repaying the politico’s via the polling booth.
        It would only take trying it once on any given issue.
        Pay & whinge gets more expensive as the days go by.

          1. 323047+ up ticks,
            N,
            That was surely neutralised by many of the same peoples returning to supporting / voting for the
            lab/lib/con coalition party.

            As if they had changed overnight from being a rubber stamping eu asset on the 24/6/2016.

          3. 323047+ up ticks,
            Afternoon N,
            The choice being to play the political game or NOT to play the political game, to continue to play it only makes the endgame when it arrives ( not long now) all the worse, as we are witnessing on the run up.
            Seems to me very sad to say we had a unified nation with many a daily smile & song between the years 39 / 45 compared to now.

            To vote for sh!te,sh!te or sh!te party’s and expect roses is just never going to happen.

  61. 323047+ up ticks,
    That statement should be the silver stake entering the heart of the
    brussels broadcasting co.

    breitbart,Rule, Britannia! BBC Boss Compares Briton’s Patriotism to Nazi Gas Chambers.

    1. She should have been a Jew in Nazi Germany – would she have been on the Kindertransport? Would she have denounced her parents?

        1. Gracias, Peddy. Lo disfrute. Creo que hubieras debido escribir “Hola!” porque “Ola” is a wave.

          1. Tebs & I used to enjoy watching the olas grandes along the coast at Viña del Mar en Chile.

  63. As the noose tightens around our necks in Scotland, I’m sure the rest of the UK looks on with incredulity, but don’t think you will be immune in England, Wales and N. Ireland. If this “Hate Crime” Bill, pushed by the Paki Muslim extremist Secretary for “Justice”, Humza Yousaf – and described as Fan-Dabi-Dozi by the First Minister – is passed into legislation by the Scottish Nazi Party Government at Holyrood, you may well find yourselves extradited to face trial up here, for “crimethink” or opinions expressed outwith our borders.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIHA5A6fl7s

    1. Nothing but protection for islam introduced by a slammer, who would have thought it. Not sure how it sits with the HR legislation which guarantees freedom of expression, but as usual, I expect it will come down to who is using that freedom to express.

    2. Scotland shuts down Free Speech? – -well, we all know the Scot reputation for being tight.

      1. I just thought that was a stereotype until i found myself sharing a table with two Scots. I put a load of coins on the Bill as a tip and one of them started picking out the higher denominations and pocketing them.

        Apologies to Duncan.

        1. No need, Phil, that’s theft, pure and simple. If I’d witnessed such a disgraceful exhibition of greed, I would have insisted they return your tip and persuaded each of them to match it, out of their own pockets. I’m sure they would have been happy to oblige, because I can be very persuasive.

    1. Of all the empires the world has seen it is beyond doubt that the British Empire was the greatest, the justest, the most benevolent and the most beneficial to indigenous peoples.

      We should have pride in it – not shame as those wishing to suppress freedom of thought and speech would prefer.

      Surely we need politicians to promote this truth and show some justified satisfaction in the glories of our past instead of giving in to the sort of wokery promulgated by BLM and the BBC?

        1. That doesn’t go down well over on Breitbart 🙂
          It’s a cross we Reluctant Conservative Voters have to bear.

          1. Too many idiots who think that UKIP or even NF’s party could possibly have been elected as part of a coalition government.

            The very, very best UKIP/NF could ever have hoped for was a balance of power, where the balance was one.

            What would really have happened is Corbyn.

          2. It’s not the handful of loons on the Further-/Far Right who worry me, it’s the 10 million+ who voted for Corbyn back in December.

      2. If Nigel Farage hadn’t withdrawn his candidates from the seats held by Remain supporting Conservatives’ thereby leaving the fray too soon we could have voted for the Brexit Party. This was a very grave mistake on his part from which we must dearly hope he has learnt.

        But let us now hope that Farage’s new party can burst into life and that some genuine Conservatives – such as Richard Drax, John Redwood, Owen Paterson and Desmond Swayne – will nail their colours to the mast.

        The Bumbling Bonker has been given his chance but he seems to have blown it.

        1. No offence RTC, but I gave up after “Nigel Farage”
          You do have a bit of a record when it comes to backing losers, Nigel, Jacob etc.
          Your denunciation of your former heroes is a feature of Nottl.
          While we agree on most things your choices of White Knights are suspect to say the least.

          1. I take your point – some of the politicians whom I get behind let me down and show they have feet of clay – Jacob Rees Mogg and Steve Baker are good examples and they now excite my contempt and derision as much as they once excited my optimism and hope. I have always had grave doubts about Boris Johnson and my views about him have not changed much over the years.

            However I have never wavered in my support for Owen Paterson, John Redwood, Norman Tebbit, and Kate Hoey and although Farage messed up his chance last winter I still think he has Britain’s best interests at heart and I would rather support him than virtually any members of Johnson’s government..

          2. Bill Cash and Kate Hoey in charge of negotiations we would have left the EU years ago. Probably.

            OTT: The parrot didn’t reply to my reply asking her if Redwood still replied to her emails.

          3. Where’s Patterson?
            Tebbit (my hero here) and Redwood are hasbeens, and irrelevant.
            Who is Hoey? What has she achieved?
            Farage is a waste of oxygen.
            Who else is there?

          6. I seldom agreed with what he said, but similar to Dennis Skinner, I respected the fact that he would say things that were unacceptible to the mainstream, and more often than not, needed to be put up for debate.

          8. Often the people who would make the best prime ministers don’t push themselves forward enough which is why we get lumbered with bombastic idiots like Johnson.

          9. How many of those you admire were born after 1980?

            Paterson (1956), Redwood (1951), Tebbit (1931), Hoey (1946), Farage (1964)

          10. I do quite admire my sons Christopher and Henry who were born respectively in 1993 and 1995.

            In fact my father was also born in the 90’s – he was born in 1898.

        2. Farage is a waste of oxygen… he crumbles when the pressure comes on. I’d not waste an Andrex on him, that wouldn’t go anywhere useful. Look at his performence – feet of clay, he has.

          1. He’s a good campaigner, nothing more than that.
            He prefers the media attention to rolling up his sleeves and making his latest smoke & mirrors party electable.

        3. None of the BP candidates who did stand were elected, but the candidates who didn’t stand would have been. Another imaginary straw a handful of Nigel/UKIP/BP fans still clutch at.

          1. Of course it is sheer hypothesis – but if Farage’s party had contested all the seats held by the remainers I suspect that he would have won some seats.

            Also I suspect that many of his former supporters lost heart and felt the wind had been knocked out of their sails when he made his tragic error.

          2. Way I see it RCT, if there is a credible centre-right party out there it can only be the conservatives in the Conservative Party. They seem to be keeping their heads down.

    1. Chucking it down here, too – and there is a huge black spider on the ceiling. OH normally deals with them – throws them outside but the ceiling is higher than he can reach, even standing on a chair……..
      I was in sombre mood already but now I keep looking at that thing. I know they’re harmless but I’m an arachnophobe.

      1. Just be glad it’s not an araña de rincón, the Chilean recluse spider.

        Loxosceles laeta (Nicolet, 1849), “corner spider”: only this species is found in houses, wineries and other human constructions; present in Chile from the far north to the city of Osorno,being found from the coast and up to about 3,400 meters of altitude in the Andes mountain range. Currently distributed in different parts of South America, it has been introduced in Australia, the United States of America and Finland; given the large movement of passengers and goods between different geographical areas of the world, it is a matter of time that it settles in other countries.

        https://www.mnhn.gob.cl/613/w3-article-83147.html?_noredirect=1

      4. Worse case scenario; Find a book on arachnids, or anything about natural history, and fling it up flat to the ceiling. Keep an eye on the spider though, in case you miss and it falls down unflattened. You’ve tried to do the right thing but if you’re really scared just kill the blighter.

          2. Sooner or later you have to empty the thing & the beast will be waiting for you.

        2. We don’t kill them – but it’s right above the antique china cabinet with some bits on the top.

        1. That’s a female common house spider. Those aren’t its eyeballs; they are the paps.

          1. I bow to your superior knowledge, but don’t you mean palps, Peddy – or pedipalps, to give them their full name…

            and it was a big b*gger – probably Eratigena atrica.

    2. It’s coming our way by mid-afternoon. Just done an hour’s pruning of the front Buddleias, 3rd wheelie bin full. About 2 more to go, I reckon.

  67. All aboard for the ultimate bus journey – hop on,hop off…
    Count me in …

    Tour from London to Delhi across 18 countries in 70 days, stopping off at Moscow, Prague and even the Great Wall of China on incredible new £15,000 excursion
    First ever ‘hop on, hop off’ service between India and England, the bus accommodates 20 passengers
    Passengers can pay the full price for the entire journey or select from four legs (South East Asia, China, Central Asia, Europe), and they can choose to start in Delhi or London
    The cost includes all hotels, all visas, an English-speaking guide throughout, local cuisine, as well as a fully stocked snack and drinks bar on-board the coach which is fitted with Business Class seats, including TVs https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/054dcb71261ce696d8d43e6a6b99ec485ff23c2aa38e3b3759db96dc13166f59.jpg

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8669515/The-ultimate-bus-journey-Tour-London-Delhi-18-countries-70-days-15-000.html

    4. You’ll probably wait for half-an-hour then three of them will turn up at the same time.

    5. Why bother when you can see 100 different tribes speaking more than two hundred different languages in London alone.

  68. DT Story

    Sir Ed Davey elected new Liberal Democrats leader

    ILLIB/UNDEMS
    COFFIN
    NAIL
    FINAL
    IN

          1. Some of those for me too, I was just trying to colour in the white bits. Another bit I can colour in is the Republic of the Congo, I remember Pointe-Noire quite well.

    1. Good stuff, but thoroughly sickening as far as I’m concerned.

      ALL the bastards at the “top” will carry on as before, private jets, gated communities, security, etc et bloody cet.

      The middle will be crucified and the bottom will carry on breeding out of control.

    2. Holy Church has its trojan horse now.The rightful Pope, Benedict XVI, was deliberately forced out to make way for that servant of the Antichrist, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, whose aim is to destroy Holy Church from within. Having usurped the Seat of Peter, Bergoglio turns a blind eye to sexual abuse and perversions by priests and refuses to be forthright in condemning abortion. He forms alliances with Muslim heathens and those who would build the “New World Order”.

      The rot goes back a long way. Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council with the best intentions – “Throwing open the windows of the Church to let in the light” as he put it – and indeed some good things emerged from it, particularly relating to marriage and the family. But he later wondered if he’d done the right thing. “We opened the windows to let in the light and I fear that Satan crept in” he said – I reckon he was right.

      A later Pope, St. John-Paul II, became convinced we are living in End Times – I reckon he was right too.

      “Nam eiusmodi pseudoapostoli operarii subdoli transfigurantes se in apostolos Christi”
      — 2 Cor. 11:13

      “Filius quidem hominis vadit sicut scriptum est de illo vae autem homini illi per quem Filius hominis traditur bonum erat ei si natus non fuisset homo ille”
      — Mat. 26:24

      ….. I’ll get me Rosary ….

    1. There is an NI fund, but you’re right – today’s pensioners paid for the previous lot’s pensions and today’s workers pay for us.

    2. This isn’t true.

      They have not spent your pension payments.

      Gordon Brown has spent our great grand children’s pensions twice over. That was in 97. Cameron’s refusal to undo the malignant spendaholic idiocy – for political reasons – was the real crime. We knew Labour would lumber us trillions in debt. What we didn’t expect was the tories to keep us there.

  76. Today’s spot of culture from elder son:

    Ring-a-ring-a-rosies

    A pocket full of posies

    A tissue, a tissue

    0.011282 % of us fall down.

  77. Under the DT article about the new (or rather slightly shop-soiled) leader of the Lib Dems I saw a very apt comment from a chap called Simon Allen:

    “The most delicious irony of all is that the two left of centre, self-proclaimed anti-establishment parties are led by knights of the realm.”

    2. And dear Lady Starmer is Jewish, she is employed by some part of the NHS as an occupational therapist and her two children are brought up within the Jewish faith.
      ( a perfectly nice family, just that Jewish people are protected by racial discrimination legislation, ergo she may be regarded as marginally BAME).

      Black Ladies Matter.

      (Not ad hominem, but irony is sweet)

  78. And from one of the “Feeds” More migrants reach UK as Home Office accused of ‘assault on rule of law’
    By Michael Drummond, South East Correspondent, and Flora Thompson, Home Affairs Correspondent, PA 4 hrs ago

    Still they come – got to replace the few they sent away.

  79. Yesterday was the anniversary of the Battle of Crecy.

    The Frog king wanted to take possession of the English king’s lands.

    The English were outnumbered two or three to one.

    A disproportionate amount of magnates featured among the slain on the French side, including one king (Bohemia), nine princes, ten counts, a duke, an archbishop and a bishop. No reliable figures exist for losses among the common French soldiery, although they were also considered to have been heavy. Jean Le Bel estimated 15,000–16,000. Froissart writes that the French army suffered a total of 30,000 killed or captured. (At least 4,000 killed, including 1,542 nobles).

    English 40–300 killed.

    Someone tell the Kraut that is conducting the Brexit talks. We have ways and means of dealing with uppity foreigners.

    1. They hooted a third time, advancing with their crossbows presented, and began to shoot. The English archers then advanced one step forward, and shot their arrows with such force and quickness that it seemed as if it snowed. When the Genoese felt these arrows, which pierced their arms, heads and through their armour, some of them cut the strings of their crossbows, others flung them on the ground, and all turned about and retreated quite discomfited.

      Froissart.

      1. http://www.history-magazine.com/longbow.html

        Around 1300, during a skirmish with the Welsh, an English knight
        received a wound from an arrow that had penetrated his chain mail,
        passed through his thigh, the chain mail on the other side of his leg, a
        wooden saddle and wounded the horse. The English decided this was a
        weapon with real potential as lowly infantry could handle a weapon that
        could defeat the finest armor.

    2. I think that you’ll find that the English of the 21st century are a far lesser (watered-down) breed of “warrior” than those that proudly inhabited and defended these sceptred isles back in the middle ages.

      Those real men would give their all to defend the realm. Today’s feeble apology for Britons simply open the doors and let all their enemies in without challenge. No “uppity foreigners” are quaking in their boots these days. The tables have been turned.

      2. The bowmen were fast; a tradition continued by the Rifle Brigade who could fire rapidly and accurately.

        1. An interesting thought for debate:

          Taking a quote from my earlier link.

          After the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, a senior British officer seriously
          suggested the readoption of the longbow by the infantry.

          The average bowman could “load and fire” far faster than even the RB’s, let alone musketry. The lethal range of arrows would have completely decimated unprotected infantry and cavalry.

          Used as a surprise weapon, en masse, Waterloo might have been the greatest one-sided massacre in History.

          1. Reminds me of the general in 1911(?) who told people to get that aeroplane away from Salisbury Plain – as it would never catch on as a weapon of war…..

          2. Lateral thinking and imagination wins battles.
            I suspect that the fellow who invented the submarine was ridiculed too.

          6. I’ve seen several of his. Superb skill.

            Actually superb kill in a battle environment!

      3. Indeed

        From “The White Company”
        WHAT of the bow?
        The bow was made in England:
        Of true wood, of yew wood,
        The wood of English bows;
        So men who are free 5
        Love the old yew-tree
        And the land where the yew-tree grows.

        What of the cord?
        The cord was made in England:
        A rough cord, a tough cord, 10
        A cord that bowmen love;
        So we ’ll drain our jacks
        To the English flax
        And the land where the hemp was wove.

        What of the shaft? 15
        The shaft was cut in England:
        A long shaft, a strong shaft,
        Barbed and trim and true;
        So we ’ll drink all together
        To the gray goose feather, 20
        And the land where the gray goose flew.

        What of the men?
        The men were bred in England:
        The bowman—the yeoman—
        The lads of dale and fell. 25
        Here ’s to you—and to you!
        To the hearts that are true
        And the land where the true hearts dwell.
        Edit
        To be belted out while drinking “Nut-Brown Ale”

      1. I had to make do with rubbing in some crème de crescimento para cabelo.

        https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=%2fRbfOPd4&id=1C456BE9F2AE1F8C6CB4036E9BDD123EF80BBD0A&thid=OIP._RbfOPd4wPSpA6FvI6ygNQHaFW&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fhttp2.mlstatic.com%2fcreme-hidrataco-crescimento-capilar-crina-cavalo-barato-D_NQ_NP_908354-MLB25723967375_072017-F.jpg&exph=740&expw=1024&q=cr%c3%a8me+de+crescimento+para+cabelo&simid=608005831143918073&ck=5B2199EC12797B71FDA423C8E468672E&selectedIndex=0&FORM=IRPRST&ajaxhist=0

          6. Tip: always make the dough the day before you bake it. The biggest influence on a bread’s flavour is not the flour, the water, the yeast or the salt. It is time.

            Permitting the flour and yeast to naturally autolyse for 24 hours (in the fridge) results in masses more flavour in the baked product.

          7. Absolutely right, Grizzly. Slowing down the fermentation process gives a deeper, more sour flavour. Hence the delight of sourdough. Even gluten-free bread is edible when it gets 24 hours to ferment.

          8. Thanks Grizz! I use my grandmother’s recipe and all her accumulated knowledge! She was a dreadful cook but a fabulous baker! She put her dough in the meat safe (pre-fridge!) which I think, is quite a neat joke!

          10. Oh dear. My flatmate in Manchester had a very nasty experience with Apfel snaps involving an economics lecture the next day, and a fish supper we found in her handbag….!

          12. We are, however, waiting for those from the DAILY Mail to which you referred the other day.

          13. Yes.. Well, I found them….but since you may have been expecting something from the sidebar of shame, I think I won’t bother!

  80. Evening all. Been a very wet day here; I made a foray to the shops (a quick, marauding raid because I hate wearing a mask) and got drenched. Even the dog took a look outside, stopped on the threshold and decided to cross his legs until it had eased off!

      1. Mine is definitely a fair-weather wee-er. He doesn’t mind the rain if he’s going for a walk, but just a quick zizz on the lawn and he thinks it’s definitely not worth it!

  81. Mad Ed is certainly consistent. He hasn’t lost his fondness for greenery.

    Sir Ed Davey: Lib Dems have ‘lost touch’ with voters

    The new leader has promised to tour the country and listen to ‘uncomfortable truths’, and bring the party back to ‘national relevance’

    Sir Ed Davey has admitted that the Liberal Democrats have “lost touch” with voters, as he emerged victorious in the party’s leadership contest. He promised to tour the country to hear the “uncomfortable truths” and vowed to bring the party back to “national relevance”.

    His leadership triumph means that two major opposition parties are now led by knights of the realm for the first time ever. Sir Ed beat his rival Layla Moran by a margin of 63.5 to 36.5 per cent to become the fifth Lib Dem leader in five years. However, 42 per cent of those eligible did not vote in the election, suggesting the contest failed to fire up the membership.

    In a live streamed acceptance speech, Sir Ed said: “Voters don’t believe the Lib Dems want to help ordinary people get on in life. Voters don’t believe we share their values. And voters don’t believe we are on the side of people like them. Voters have been sending us a message, but we have not been listening. It is time for us to start listening.”

    Since the coalition government, which saw Nick Clegg join forces with David Cameron’s Conservatives in 2010, the party has suffered from a string of disappointing election results. The Lib Dems had 57 seats on entering government in 2010, but despite former leader Jo Swinson’s claims that she was a “genuine contender” to become prime minister, the party won just 11 seats in last year’s general election.

    Sir Ed, a former Cabinet minister in the coalition, said it was now time to “wake up and smell the coffee”.

    He said: “Nationally, our party has lost touch with too many voters. Yes, we are powerful advocates locally. Our campaigners listen to local people, work hard for communities and deliver results. But at the national level, we have to face the facts of three disappointing general election results.”

    Dr Mike Finn, a political historian at the University of Exeter, suggested that the party had missed an opportunity to “draw a line under the toxic legacy of the coalition” by failing to elect a fresh face.

    Dr Finn, who worked as a speechwriter for former Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy, said: “I think the Lib Dems are still being punished for the coalition. It took them a long time to build up a broad coalition of support among young students and public sector professionals in the period prior to their time in government; neither of which responded well to their role in the coalition. The hard-Remain position is also a huge issue in places that have been traditional heartlands for Lib Dems in the South West.”

    Dr Finn suggested that progress would be “incremental” and suggested the party should target individual seats as part of a long-term strategy.

    “I don’t think Ed can make them relevant in the life of a parliament,” he admitted. In order to garner broad support the party needs to “find an issue that connects with a broad range of people. It’s a big ask and I’m not sure the policies Ed campaigned on did that, there wasn’t much in there that felt new.”

    Sir Ed made a series of pledges during his election campaign, such as introducing universal free childcare, with 35 hours of childcare a week from nine months. He also vowed to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and invest £150 billion into a green recovery package.

    Ms Moran congratulated the new leader, saying: “I look forward to working with him to campaign for a better future for Britain.”

    Sir Ed thanked Ms Moran for her “passionate campaign” and promised the education spokeswoman a “big role” in his team. Green Party leader Caroline Lucas said she would work with Sir Ed “to hold this appalling Government to account”.

    However, Conservative Party co-chairman Amanda Milling said: “At the election last year, the British people decided to move on from years of division and deadlock. But the Liberal Democrats want to keep on playing the same old politics. They have a new leader in place, but he has shown time and again he does not share the values of the British people.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/08/27/sir-ed-davey-lib-dems-have-lost-touch-voters/

    Here is Ed. His nose has the right shape for the trough.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fbfdd09a03137aa093f0af457db568c0dcbfc16e1b94e6436bf2d17531f664ef.jpg

    Here is the equally mad woman whom he beat and who will presumably become his deputy. She thinks 11-year-olds should be given the vote.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f554d0b82c56e1a8ba3ebeedb2dbae661c4a85c45b71f358d2d3eb14d04e8a3a.jpg

      1. I took a walk around Bath this morning, a city run by Limp Dums. If they ever got into power I dread to think how bad things would become.

        1. Every time the Bath City Council has been dominated by LimpDims, the city has lost its way, & lost its solvency.
          On the way down again now.
          That is Treason May’s fault. We had managed to get an effective Conservative council before, – which had just restored a balance from the last Illiberal catastrophe.
          The trouble is the huge number of both students (who now live in town, due to copious dwellings for them), and teachers, as there is an abundance of schools.

    2. Sir Ed to tour the country polishing his party’s turd at every venue.

      The picture above shows Sir Ed demonstrating just how big his party’s turd is.

    4. Sir Ed said: “Voters don’t believe the Lib Dems want to help ordinary people get on in life. Voters don’t believe we share their values. And voters don’t believe we are on the side of people like them. Voters have been sending us a message, but we have not been listening. It is time for us to start listening.” and then tell them how wrong their beliefs are.

    5. Someone commented yesterday on the irony that both the left wing parties are led by titled men. But this is not surprising at all. The left have been in power continuously since 1997, and have been rewarding each other since then.

    1. Batten was UKIP leader back in 2019 when Kippers decided Neil Hamilton was all Newport voters were worth.
      Needless to say 66% of Newport voters disagreed. Yet another UKIP own goal.
      You eejits learnt nothing from Clacton.

  85. BBC boss David Pickard was behind the “creative” decision to censor Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory at Last Night of the Proms

    The BBC boss behind the “creative” decision to censor Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory on Last Night of the Proms had previously said he did not want the concert to be a “political platform.”

    The conductor, Ms Stasevska,, who has voiced her support for Black Lives Matter, was swept up in controversy following reports that she had concerns about the words to Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory.

    But Ms Stasevska has now spoken out in a statement insisting she had no part in the BBC’s decision to not have the patriotic anthems sung.

    It piles pressure onto BBC Proms director David Pickard after director general Lord Hall backed his creative decision and confirmed that he and his team had taken Rule Britannia’s links to colonialism into account.

    You’ll never walk alone is going to be sung. Perhaps his boyfriend is a Liverpool supporter.

    1. ‘BBC Proms Director’? That’s a rather grandiose title for a job which can’t occupy more than 4-6 weeks a year. No doubt an inflated salary comes with the ‘director’ title.

      1. My dear chap – it takes years and years of planning, trips round the world, top hotels, lengthy meetings over expensive meals….you simply have no idea……

        1. Apparently not! Still, any organisation which exists on other people’s money is going to be profligate and wasteful, the BBC being no exception.

      2. As soon as one Prom season has finished they start planning the next, or maybe the year after next’s to be able to book the performers before their diaries are full.

    2. Pickard handed out EU flags at the Proms in 2018, so he is fundamentally guilty of politicising one of the dwindling opportunities for British people to show their pride in their country (except for those who have no pride in being British, such as the Labour Party, the Guardian, the BBC, BLM and assorted wokes, of course).

        1. Our Susan would know. She’s from Yorksheer – and a long term Prommer. She knows, tha’ know.

        2. My memory might be at fault as to whether he personally handed out the flags but Pickard is a Remainer and, although he said that he didn’t want the Proms to become political, he nevertheless allowed thousands of EU flags to be handed out and waved by the anti-Brexiteers. Given his ‘creative’ decisions, his idea of politics and my idea of politics are obviously very different!

          https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/last-night-of-the-proms-director-on-eu-flags-1-5999863

          1. The Proms EU flags campaign started in 2016 and was crowd-funded. One Kate Hobbs appears prominent as an organiser in last year’s news reports but I haven’t been able to find a photo of her.

    3. LNOTP never has been ‘political’ – until fooking Beeboids decided to make it so.
      Is La Stasevska walking backwards to Helsinki? Being woke isn’t all hearts and flowers.
      Like many others, she now knows what it’s like to be crapped on by the BBC.

  87. Good night all.

    Missy likes Roquefort! The salty taste made her do a double take, but then she tucked in with gusto. She loves cheese, her favourite is freshly grated Parmesan, but she is allowed only a small amount each time.

    1. “#LittleBoats Flag of United KingdomNIFlag of WalesFlag of ScotlandEn
      @LittleBoats2020
      A Human Flotilla of Hope – Britain’s shores are under siege by uncontrolled immigration, leftist MSM & Woke elites – #LittleBoats & the Silent Majority must act”

  89. Only two days since there wax a discussion on unwanted software updates.

    So naturally Firefox has automatically installed a new improved version. Hello bookmarks and recently visited sites where are you?

    Not impressed.

      1. I shall try to polish my typing skills but although words are normally valid, context fails me

        2. Nothing to apologise for, your brain merely performs at a more productive rate than your fingers.

          At least that’s what I say to explain my typos.

    2. My other laptop came up with telling me my windows 10 version needed updating – I hit the button – now no skype at all. and loads of other problems. And as the feedback has to have some sort of file/attachment etc to show the problem – -or else it won’t allow you to submit it – -going round in circles.

      2. That is what they say.

        The obvious change that I see is that the toolbar can now be at the bottom of the screen. Whoop de doo…

        1. Windows 7 Pro here, updated this morning everything seem ok just a little bit faster. Waiting to see if it still gobbles up memory.

          1. I stick to Snow Leopard on my macbook pro, with XP guest OS on a decent old version of Parallels that still works on my system. XP supports a slightly later version of Firefox (52) that doesn’t keep blankscreening updated websites stuffed with javascripts. Snow Leopard only lets me get up to v.48. Linux Mint, another guest OS was totally trashed by its latest upgrade, so I had to revert to a backup, while I figure out which was the culprit (possibly that Firefox upgrade). I also have Win7, but it seems the later the OS or the app, the more flaky and slow and unfriendly it becomes. I have a HP printer (but cannot get the ink for it now) that is better than the later ones, but works best on Windows 98.

          3. Here we go:
            Snow Leopard – Apple Macintosh operating system from around 2010, also known as OSX 10.6.8
            Macbook Pro – top of the range Apple Macintosh laptop, still made in a reduced form with less function.
            XP – a version of Microsoft Windows operating system from 2001 that was the most popular one for many years.
            guest OS – additional operating system that can be used on top of the normal one, which is translated by a special program.
            Parallels – such a program that allows Windows and Linux to be run on an Apple Macintosh.
            Firefox – a browser enabling internet websites to be read and searched.
            blankscreening – when all the appears when trying to read a website is a blank page – the content will not load.
            javascripts – irritating little programs that load up automatically and many websites will not function without them. often used to load up advertising and to spy on users.
            Linux Mint – a pretty version of an operating system where users are free to see and modify the program for themselves.
            Upgrade – making a program worse for the user, but better commercially. Same as “New Improved”, which means flashier packaging, smaller portions, cheaper ingredients and upping the price. Without upgrades, they would not sell any more.
            Backup – copy of important data copied to a safe place on a computer. Without one, all is lost when the gremlins strike.
            Win7 – Windows 7, a later Microsoft operating system from around 2009, the last one that was user-friendly on a normal computer.
            HP printer – printer made by Hewlett-Packard.
            Windows 98, an earlier Microsoft operating system from 1998, the last one to use the ancient DOS code.
            Hope this is useful.

          4. I stick to my ourdated version of Debian Linux, with Firefox that no longer plays videos unless they are on Youtube. But It’s preferable to all the latest versions as I know my way round it.

        1. The NHS has changed dramatically since March and thousands have died through neglect by the NHS

          Change equals progress? Discuss……

    4. That’s what you get for installing software made by an intolerant, dictatorial company!
      Change your browser.

  91. Just had a 1 litre can of Faxe beer at 10%… Not very good beer, but plenty gas!

    2. Serves you right. How many time have I told you: the wet substance that is put into cans is not beer! Beer only ever comes in casks and bottles.

      Get yourself over to Yorkshire and buy a pint of Timothy Taylor’s Landlord … in a pub!

  93. That’s me gone. Mustapha drink to celebrate getting through another day. Rain forecast overnight and tomorrow – so it WAS just as well the builders came today and sorted the roof.

    Have a jolly evening – and keep an eye out for trolls….

    A demain – I hope.

    1. You just can’t keep away from those goats….

      Who’s that tripping over my bridge?” roared the troll .
      “Oh, it is only I, the tiniest Billy Goat Gruff , and I’m going up to the hillside to make myself fat.”

          6. Hi ogga! Sometimes your posts need reading several times before I’m sure I’ve got the meaning. I’m not being rude – it might just be me.

          7. 323047+ up ticks,
            SM,
            Many take a great many things at face value and act on them for instance, lab/lib/con manifesto’s.
            So they become addicted to the repeated fodder
            of lies & deceit, they nose grip & swallow, the party first,regardless, always.

            Always look for the hidden meaning, there are others on here who think likewise.

            Plus there are those that will not seek the truth knowing it will prove painful.

          9. It isn’t just you.

            He’s a rude soab who can’t be bothered to write intelligible English.

            He thinks it’s clever.

            It isn’t.

          10. I am, I hope,on relatively good terms with ogga but I think his obsession with UKIP is a tad misguided and his hatred of Farage is rather sad.

          11. I would have a little more time for them if he/she/it didn’t play the utter arsehole when posting their “thoughts”.

          14. I think that this is a truth which ogga finds very hard to accept. It seems that the party, UKIP, means far more to ogga than Brexit and he would have preferred Britain staying trapped forever in the EU rather than Farage getting any credit for our leaving it.

          17. 323047+ up ticks,
            Evening R,
            “His obsession with” who ? and I really have told you in prior post, I have no hatred of anyone, they are your words.
            I detest farage and do believe on reflection he has always been a coxswain for the tories and as such not to be trusted.
            To many fools clutching at straws has been a major problem for a long time.

          18. “He’s a rude soab who can’t be bothered to write intelligible English.”

            Why are my ears burning…

          23. Oddly enough, most of the trolls who appear here make the mistake of shouting that accusation of Nottle.

            In my view, the reality is that there are numerous different viewpoints on here, some of which get defended/attacked with different intensity, depending upon whose back gets rubbed up the wrong way.

          24. I agree totally, and that really is why I watched from afar before I dived in! You do get to know people and I may be a bit cynical, but I think I can see a fraud when it appears.

          25. I agree totally, and that really is why I watched from afar before I dived in! You do get to know people and I may be a bit cynical, but I think I can see a fraud when it appears.

          26. I was very pleased when you “arrived” and I always hope that others who are wary would join in.

            Iceannie posted a few days ago I think for the first time, I hope s/he will do so again.

            We need more posters; it adds to debate, it gives a different view and sometimes it can change minds.

            Not mine, of course, because I’m the ultimate closed-minded bigotted bastard!

      1. She’s bloody brilliant. And to be fair, Freedom of Movement was really good for working musicians and its loss will be a big blow. Some bits of EU membership really worked for some groups.

      1. I heard Renée Fleming singing some blues songs, very different to the Opera style but equally wonderful.

    1. “Cry — God for Harry! England and Saint George!”

      REPOST:
      Another great tune some (English?) haven’t mentioned.

      “There’ll Always Be an England”

      May this fair dear land we love so well
      In dignity and freedom dwell
      Though worlds may change and go awry
      While there is still one voice to cry
      There’ll always be an England
      While there’s a country lane
      Wherever there’s a cottage small
      Beside a field of grain
      There’ll always be an England
      While there’s a busy street
      Wherever there’s a turning wheel
      A million marching feet
      Red, white and blue
      What does it mean to you?
      Surely you’re proud, shout it aloud
      “Britons, awake!”
      The empire too, we can depend on you
      Freedom remains
      These are the chains
      Nothing can break
      There’ll always be an England
      And England shall be free
      If England means as much to you
      As…

      “…Red, white and blue
      What does it mean to you?…”
      Bluddy English stealing our flag again is what it means 🙂

        1. I think the disappointment comes from the original being so good.

          I enjoyed the film but as you say, not a patch on the original.

      1. Indeed.
        It’s the film rather than the original series, but it’s still a good one in my view.

        1. I read all Evelyn Waugh’s novels when I was at university but Decline and Fall has always been my favourite – though Put Out More Flags, the Men at Arms trilogy, Vile Bodies and Scoop were not far behind. A Handful of Dust I found too sad to be funny and Brideshead was weightier than most of the author’s output. Bill Thomas is a great Waugh enthusiast and he regularly re-reads all the books.

          Some of the filmed versions of Waugh’s novels can be disappointing

          1. Agreed.

            I particulary enjoyed Scoop.

            I am a Philistine and I enjoyed the Tom Sharpe series. A similar vein I think.

          2. Both Tom Sharpe and Evelyn Waugh were at Lancing College – though not at the same time! I think I have read all Tom Sharpe’s novels – he freely admits that he was greatly influenced by both Waugh and Wodehouse.

          4. Some of the funniest books I have ever read were the Tom Sharpe ones set in South Africa! Konstabel Els is a fantastic character!

          7. High on my “To Read Again List”. An ever-growing list.
            Downside of e-books is that it’s too easy to buy and download books.

          9. No I don’t think I have! However, I have been known to pick up a book I think I haven’t read and ..Bingo! I have!

          10. ‘Alexander Campbell Gardner – The Tartan Turban’ by John Keay is worth a read.
            Fraser featured Gardner in one of his books.

          13. Men at Arms remains imprinted on my brain. Bridesmaid I experienced first via the TV series and that influenced my later reading of the book too much.

  97. Did protecting the NHS actually cost lives?

    To avoid the health service becoming overwhelmed, cancers went undetected and heart attacks untreated

    ROSS CLARK

    The British public protected the NHS alright. Any fears that the institution might be overwhelmed were put aside when, a couple of weeks into lockdown, the hurriedly-constructed Nightingale hospitals were still empty, along with many other hospital wards, clinics and surgeries. By mid-April, routine clinical activity by GPs was down 25 per cent and A&E visits down 52 per cent. Some of that was thanks to fewer drunks falling over and fewer children coming to grief in playgrounds, yet there is plenty to suggest that some very unwell people were scared into taking the instruction not to trouble the NHS too much to heart.

    Whether, by avoiding the NHS, the public helped achieve the other objective of the Government’s original Covid slogan – “save lives” – is still difficult to discern. But a month ago, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) quietly published an analysis which came to the stark conclusion that lockdown could end up costing more lives than the virus.

    The study, which estimated loss of life in terms of Quality-Adjusted Life-Years (QALYs), calculated that Covid-19 will cost 530,000 QALYs in the year to March 2021. On the other side of the ledger, however, reduced access to A&E in that time could cost 41,000 QALYs and the early discharge of some patients from hospital in order to make way for the expected wave of Covid patients a further 73,000 QALYs. In the longer term, the cancelling and postponement of surgery and other treatments will cost 45,000 QALYs, the recession 157,000 QALYs and the long-term effects of poverty due to a smaller economy 294,000 QALYs.

    The department still said that it thought lockdown had been worth it, on the grounds that it helped save many more lives from Covid-19. Nevertheless, the report concluded, “when morbidity is taken into account, the estimates for the health impacts from a lockdown and lockdown-induced recession are greater in terms of QALYs than the direct Covid-19 deaths.”

    We should be wary of any such modelling, but there is little doubt that cancers have gone undetected and heart attacks untreated. Even by June, when the number of Covid patients had dropped sharply and the country was opening up again, the NHS was still running at half-cock. In that month, GPs made 153,134 urgent cancer referrals, 21 per cent down on June 2019. Routine hospital treatments were down 67 per cent. The legacy of lockdown, according to a study by healthcare technology company Medefer, is that there are 15.3 million people waiting for an NHS appointment. There are 50,536 who have been waiting for more than a year – up from 1,643 in January.

    We all know the modelling which led to the country being locked-down: Professor Neil Ferguson’s paper claiming that 500,000 people could die in Britain of Covid-19 unless the Government took drastic action. But how much consideration was put into the negative effects of lockdown on our health? Ministers seem to have been terrified by a big scary number spewed out by a mathematical model, without it ever occurring to them that there was another other scary number crying out to be estimated: the number of people who would lose their lives as a direct or indirect result of trying to “protect the NHS”.

    The Government had no idea of the costs of lockdown on the nation’s health because it never countenanced that course of action. Its pre-Covid pandemic plans sought to prepare for an infectious disease which would be caught by 50 per cent of the UK population and kill up to 2.5 per cent of those it infected, with a possible death toll of 750,000 – worse even than Ferguson’s worst-case scenario. Yet lockdown was never part of the plan: people were to be encouraged to go about their daily business in as normal a way as possible.

    But come Covid and all that went out of the window. We were ordered indoors and told not to bother the NHS unless we were seriously ill – all without any consideration of what that would mean for heart patients, cancer patients and anyone else who fell ill of anything other than Covid-19. The NHS was reconfigured as a National Covid Service which needed “protecting” from anyone suffering from anything else. I had always thought that the NHS was supposed to be there to protect us.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/27/did-protecting-nhs-actually-cost-lives/

    BTL:

    Carpe Jugulum 27 Aug 2020 8:23PM

    One simple cost/benefit analysis would have highlighted the monumental stupidity of lockdown. Unfortunately we had a government composed entirely of scientific illiterates (the Science Minister’s Science qualification for the role is a GCSE).

    And lockdown was just the beginning of the idiocy. Patel’s job destroying quarantine that Patrick Vallance refused to endorse is more about Patel’s ego than any benefit derived from it. Why else is she refusing to publish the supposed evidence it was based on?

    Then Hancock’s maskerade. More jobs lost and a weasel faced liar who, oddly, has still not produced the ‘evolving’ evidence it was supposedly based on. Even more oddly, he ignored the results of the unwitting experiment run from March to June. The period that saw all supermarkets open without masks and without Perspex barriers. If shoppers were spreading SARS2 then retail workers should have been dropping like flies or at least showing far higher levels of infection. They weren’t and they didn’t. So much for the ‘need’ for masks.

    Well done Boris.

    Well done Patel.

    Well done Hancock.

    No other politicians have caused do much suffering, destroyed so many livelihoods, killed so many people or caused such economic catastrophe for no valid outcome whatsoever.

    2. There’s an underlying tune that I can’t quite match, Battle hymn of the Republic???

  99. Should Priti Patel requisition some redundant cruise liners to inter all newly arrived ‘refugees’, that measure could well diminish the current appetite for crossing the English Channel in illegally financed RIBs …

    1. I do hope there is a properly equipped sick bay near the airconditioning ducts for those terminally sick, coughing, sneezing and generally lurging with virus. The 14 day quarantine can be extended in the same manner as our EU membership. Casualties can be carried off in spare dinghies and sent back to Calais pour encourager les autres.

      1. Gosh, two upvotes from the two Sues (Macfarlane and Edison). I wonder if that means that they are glad I am getting a good night’s sleep and rest, or if they are pleased that I am now shoving off from the NoTTL site?

        :-))

  101. Thank you BBC for inspiring the silent majority to stand up to this cultural revolution

    The corporation’s cack-handed Proms plan has unwittingly paved the way for a more rational conversation about British history and values

    NIGEL FARAGE

    It has been a torrid few months for Britain’s silent majority.

    For those of us who believe in the rule of law, in our great tradition of free speech, and in the very existence of our nation, the events following the terrible death in Minneapolis of George Floyd in May have left us without voice.

    We have either been silenced or, in some cases, “cancelled”, the term now used to describe a person who has been thrust out of a social or professional circle for expressing an opinion. It is the modern version of sending someone to Coventry.

    This week’s row over the Last Night of the Proms, in which the BBC has – absurdly – insisted that the words of Rule, Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory cannot be sung on 12 September is just the latest chapter in this summer of discontent.

    Perhaps by making this ghastly mistake, however, the BBC has unwittingly opened up the possibility of everybody having a more rational conversation about British history, culture and values. Indeed, I wonder whether this crazy decision marks the moment at which the majority say: “Enough is enough.”

    Why, after all, should a small minority of the population who hold an extremist view dominate our national debate? Since when did a properly functioning society prosper by implementing topsy-turvy policies? And why should the rest of us be dictated to just because some people don’t like something?

    Millions of us watched in horror a few months ago as Churchill’s statue was defaced in Parliament Square and the Cenotaph was desecrated. We were also subjected to those dreadful pictures of a mob tearing down a public statue of Edward Colston in Bristol and depositing it into a dock. Yet some of those who have stood up to criticise these reckless, anti-democratic factions have lost their jobs and in some cases been labelled ‘racist’.

    My own comments on some of these outrages may well be a reason that I am no longer an LBC presenter, though I choose not to denigrate a former employer.

    https://twitter.com/SholaMos1/status/1270268351353442304
    When I appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain in June to explain that the Black Lives Matter movement is not about racial equality but instead has a Marxist agenda to overthrow the established order and to defund the police, I was called a liar. The programme’s increasingly ‘woke’ presenter, Piers Morgan, seemed very happy with this situation. I find it surprising that a man of his intelligence cannot or will not acknowledge these facts.

    I know that the forces of conservatism have been in retreat for years, without anybody giving a voice to their opinion. Yet in the country at large – that place known as Middle England – people are increasingly perplexed. Why will nobody stand up and say that Britain abolished slavery more than 200 years ago, and that the Royal Navy spent 50 years driving out this appalling trade? Why will no one say that far from being a racist country, Britain is an fair-minded nation that has managed its relationship with its former colonies in a manner that is unrivalled in history and has led to the Commonwealth of Nations? These questions have troubled many people since the spring.

    It does feel as though a lot has changed in recent days. Perhaps a tipping point has been reached.

    Thanks to the increasingly unloved BBC choosing to take its lead from a politically correct Proms conductor from Finland, Dalia Stasevska, it has essentially told the licence payers who fund it to be ashamed of who we are, to hate our culture, and to rewrite our history.

    Yet to this public opinion has overwhelmingly said: “No.” Thousands have signed petitions calling for the Last Night of the Proms to be reinstated. A proper debate has been stirred. And, at last, the Prime Minister seems to have sided with the people, speaking some common sense words about the episode and lambasting the BBC for its handling of the affair. He was quite right to do so. Why should we apologise for who we are?

    I was very surprised when ITV’s This Morning programme invited me on yesterday to have a debate with an activist from the Black Lives Matter movement – somebody who, incidentally, is also a prominent Remainer (isn’t it funny how Remainers always seem to support every negative view of British history?)

    https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson_MP/status/1298603800790433792
    For once, I found myself in this mainstream media setting being treated not as the villain, but as the voice of the majority. The presenter, Eamonn Holmes, who compered the debate, even pointed out that 90 per cent of his viewers thought that Rule, Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory should not be axed.

    For his efforts, Mr Holmes is now also being condemned as “racist” in some quarters. This doesn’t really matter, though, because it is obvious that most people are with him on this issue. The worm has turned. When even our left-of-centre broadcasters are waking up to the opinions of their own viewers, it does feel as though some lost ground is being made up.

    Let’s be honest about it. Britain is the most tolerant country in the world. We believe in democracy, law, and decency. No longer should any of us be silent in the face of this attempted Marxist-sponsored cultural revolution. The stand has now been taken, albeit thanks to the BBC’s cack-handedness.

    To quote an old favourite comedy programme, ‘Allo ‘Allo!: “Listen very carefully, I will say this only once…thank you BBC.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/08/27/thank-bbc-inspiring-silent-majority-stand-cultural-revolution/

    1. 323047+ up ticks,
      Evening WS,
      This farage chap was not to shabby at denigrating 30000
      UKIP members via LBC, that gave him a platform & helped build his image.

    2. “Thank you BBC for inspiring the silent majority…”

      Suspect we silent majority neither know nor care what the BBC is putting out.
      Beeb’s audience figures seem to confirm that fact. But keep up the good work.

      ETA: A downvote after 4 minutes, getting more like Breitbart every day 🙂

      1. It was myself that downvoted you first, as you probably know. More like Breitbart every day? You are the first person I have downvoted on this site. And I have been here, on and off, for four years. I found your comment obnoxious. In the extreme. Bonne nuit.

        1. A while back on Breitbart you upvoted my “Conservatives are the least bad option” comment.

          c’est la vie.

          1. But one does not automatically agree with everyone else about everything. I am sure there are some things upon which you and I agree and some things upon which we do not agree. Isn’t that the whole point of discussing things?

  102. The heavens opened at about 4pm . Almost a monsoon.

    Half the village was flooded. The drains couldn’t cope..

    A sloping field near us that has just recently been ploughed bacame a river , which ran across the main road and flooded many houses , mud everywhere .

      1. Thanks M

        We were soaking wet in Weymouth, it was hell on earth there as well .. Monsoon weather, drains weren’t coping . It all happened so quickly, yet we didn’t expect to hear about the damage in the village.

        1. It was nasty here but obviously not as bad you guys. When the wind dies and the deluge just comes down vertically, nonstop, it’s a recipe for local flooding.

      1. We are fine thanks Sue , we were shopping in Weymouth, and the heavens opened, and it was horrendous , Sainsbury store was flooded at the entrance and another supermarket had a hole in it’s roof!

        Evil blinking weather, what a dreadful year this is.

        We drove home and as we came into the village , mud and water flowing from a newly ploughed field across the main road into a new estate , and into their homes .

        The field mentioned is one of several superb fields which are destined to be built on, hundreds of houses.

        1. Just the kind of weather where you want to queue outside a shop waiting for your chance to go in. If the field floods now, just wait until the land is covered by housing.

          The weather cannot be the result of global warming, the world has been shut down for months now. So it must be because the UK is leaving the EU.

          1. I was thinking exactly the same about the flooding as I read Belle’s comment, but once it’s built over at least the water won’t be so muddy (of course might be worse if the if the sewers overflow).

    4. ‘Villages’ are growing by leaps and bounds with less strictness regarding planning regs. The infrastructure is being overwhelmed.

  103. I wish to lodge a formal complaint in the strongest possible terms regarding the posting large arachnid pictures on Nottl without appropriate warning. I was forced to make a rapid escape using the red arrow button to shoot me up to safety!

    1. The huge black spider that was on our high ceiling yesterday has gone………….but where?

        1. Yes – but fortunately this one was in the sitting room most of the day yesterday – too high for OH to reach, even standing on a chair. Also it was just above the antique china cabinet, with things on the top, so he couldn’t risk knocking it down. Maybe it’s gone back out again, the way it came in. In an old cottage, there are lots of gaps.

  104. A familiar name pops up in here, almost as big a trouble-maker as ‘Tally-ho’ Maugham.

    Priti Patel abandons deportation flight after multiple last-minute legal challenges

    The Home Office remains embroiled in a row with legal professionals over a video citing ‘activist lawyers’

    By Charles Hymas, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR, 27 August 2020 • 9:47pm

    Priti Patel was forced to abandon a deportation flight returning illegal Channel migrants to Spain on Thursday after human rights lawyers mounted last-minute legal actions.

    Sources said the Home Office had been hit by so many last-minute legal claims that it had no option but to pull the flight, which would have returned 23 illegal migrants who had reached the UK on small boats from France.

    It came as the Home Office was embroiled in a row with lawyers over a video it posted on attempts to remove migrants from the UK, in which it said current regulations are “allowing activist lawyers to delay and disrupt returns”.

    Ms Patel, the Home Secretary, is planning to overhaul asylum laws which she has reportedly claimed are being “exploited by leftie Labour-supporting lawyers” who were doing everything to stop the Government removing people.

    She is working on a “fair borders bill,” to be introduced this year, which would stop people drawing out the asylum applications process by making them declare all their grounds for refugee status when they apply, rather than being able to submit new reasons later.

    She is understood to be “furious” at the recent legal attempts to stop Britain clamping down on dangerous migrant crossings in the English Channel by ensuring those who attempt it are returned to the first country in which they arrived and where they should have applied for asylum.

    A Whitehall source said: “There was 100 per cent legal attrition rate on the flight due to unprecedented and organised casework barriers sprung on the government by law firms. We have lots more planned over coming weeks and months. It is not going to deter us.”

    The Madrid authorities had agreed to take back the migrants who had passed through Spain on their attempted journey to Britain. Under the Dublin Agreement, EU countries accept back migrants if it can be shown it was their first port of entry to the EU where they should have applied for asylum.

    The illegal migrants lawyers were, however, able to “bog the process down in legal quagmire”, according to the Whitehall insider.

    It is thought they would have claimed breaches under the European Convention on Human Rights including their rights to a family life (on the basis that they may have claimed relatives in the UK) or that they risked persecution if they were denied asylum in the UK.

    Lawyers are also increasingly using modern slavery legislation to claim that they are victims of traffickers rather than illegal migrants in order to claim a right to live in the UK.

    A Home Office spokesman said: “The Government’s efforts to facilitate entirely legitimate and legal returns of people who have entered the UK through illegal routes are too often frustrated by last minute challenges submitted hours before a scheduled flight.

    “These claims are very often baseless and entirely without merit, but are given full legal consideration, leading to removal being rescheduled. This can effectively result in the timing out of a return due to stringent Dublin Regulations.”

    The legal battle came less than 24 hours after the Home Office published a video online on Wednesday evening, which showed a graphic of planes leaving the UK with the caption: “We are working to remove migrants with no right to remain in the UK.

    “But currently return regulations are rigid and open to abuse [which allow] activist lawyers to delay and disrupt returns.”

    Lawyers branded it an “assault on the rule of law” using “divisive and deceptive language”.

    Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics at King’s College London, complained to Matthew Rycroft, permanent secretary at the Home Office, about the video.

    In a post on Twitter, Professor Portes quoted Mr Rycroft’s response as: “I agree the phrase you quote should not have been used on an official government channel.

    “I have made clear to the team this post should not be used again from Home Office accounts or anywhere else by civil servants.”

    The Home Office press office confirmed the response was accurate and that it would no longer be using the video or the phrases included in the footage. However, it would not be removing the original post.

    Mr Portes later added that it was a “very clear breach” of Government communications standards and urged department press offices to “take note” and that the “unacceptable behaviour is not repeated”.

    The clip, viewed more than a million times in less than 24 hours, prompted fierce criticism of Home Secretary Priti Patel’s department, with a string of legal and political figures wading into the debate.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/27/priti-patel-abandons-deportation-flight-multiple-last-minute/

    1. Who pays these lawyers’ fees? If they are being paid via Legal Aid, does that mean the Govt is paying them to fight a case against it’s own ruling?

      1. We do.

        Priti is just another Politician that wants to remain in the job as long as possible and then go and do not very much for Elon or Jeff or Mark or soros.

    2. It is very simple. Like all other ministers, Priti Patel’s job is to rubber stamp the globalist policies of those who are permanently in power. This deep state thwarts any attempt to disobey them.
      Therefore, she never had a chance from the start to implement the kind of policies that she wants to. Instead, the Home office has made her look foolish at every turn.
      Our only hope lies in Cummings, and Boris’s desire to damage the deep state. If he is strong enough to do that.

    3. I was denied the right to family life by the Matrimonial Causes Act and have not seen my son and my daughter once only over the last twenty years.

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