Thursday 27 January: Voters deserve better than a Prime Minister whose strongest defence is sheer incompetence

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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884 thoughts on “Thursday 27 January: Voters deserve better than a Prime Minister whose strongest defence is sheer incompetence”

  4. Voters deserve better than a Prime Minister whose strongest defence is sheer incompetence

    Well voters certainly deserve better than this endless and tiresome biased campaign by the MSM day in and day out on a ridiculous issue that nobody cares about.

    1. True. What this man is really guilty of is initiating a climate and energy policy that will see our country in ruins. Who will be able to reverse the environmental juggernaut’s momentum?

  6. Prince Andrew denies being co-conspirator of Epstein and insists on jury trial. 27 January 2022.

    Prince Andrew has denied that he was a co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein, and insisted on a jury trial in Virginia Giuffre’s sexual abuse lawsuit against him, his lawyers said in court papers filed on Wednesday.

    “Prince Andrew hereby demands a trial by jury on all causes of action asserted in the complaint,” his lawyers wrote. The Duke of York also denies that Epstein “trafficked girls to him”, the attorneys said in their legal filings.

    I’ve always suspected that he was stupid but this confirms it! His choice I presume is based on a perception that Americans are mesmerised by Royal Glamour and will thus be sympathetic? They are not. A strong feeling of hostility to Monarchy still runs through American Society and they are of course all opposed to any trace of assumed social superiority. That he’s certainly guilty won’t help much either. The American legal system is one of the worst in the world. It is the envy of every tyrant and despot on the planet. That it has a 99.8% conviction rate tells every thoughtful person the reality of it. By comparison; as can be seen by Navalny’s rest cure at Penal Colony No 2. Russia is a progressive penal utopia. American prisons, when they are not corporate slave labour camps, are riddled with violence and corruption on a massive scale. He should really call for trial by his Russian peers. I’m sure that there are still few Grand Dukes out there who would be happy to sit in judgement for a consideration!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jan/26/prince-andrew-jeffrey-epstein-lawyers-court

    2. Innocent until proven guilty.

      Andrew would certainly be found guilty of stupidity – but he has yet to be found guilty of anything else.

      I find the abandonment of him by his brother and his nephew is disgusting and is turning me into a republican.

    2. Good grief, Citroen, for a moment I thought British Airways had crashed all of its old-liveried planes (ridiculed by Margaret Thatcher) into Sydney harbour.

    1. Good morning Citroen1 and a very Happy Birthday to you! Hope it’s a good one and that you have a wonderful day! 🎉🎂🍾

      1. Thank you Sue.. I prefer celebrating other people’s birthdays because those make me feel younger.

      1. Thanks Philip. A bit achy this morning but I will find someone to snarl at. Any news of Jill?

  9. Hardly anyting in the MSM about todays end of most covid regs. Just who are these people and who do they represent. I am going to Sainsburys today they had better watch out if they say anything to ma about not wearing a mask.

        2. I’m a glutton for punishment. I remember when the BBC was fair, impartial and capable of producing top-class entertainment. I live in hope that those days will return.

    3. “They had better watch out if they say anything to ma about not wearing a mask”. Are you taking your mother to Sainsbury’s with you, Johnny? (Just joking.)

  12. UK troops set to join defence of Europe ahead of potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. 27 January 2022.

    Britain is considering a deployment of hundreds of military personnel to eastern Europe in advance of Russia potentially invading Ukraine, The Telegraph has learned.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    Graham Leighton8 HRS AGO.

    We are sending troops to protect the borders of Ukraine but can’t stop rubber boats full of potential Muslim terrorists / rapists crossing the English Channel protecting our borders.

    Channel migrant ‘drugged, raped and strangled’ 13-year-old girl before fleeing to UK, court hears.
    Raculi Zubaidullah, 23, evaded pan-European manhunt before boarding trafficker’s boat from France to Britain.

    An Afghan immigrant escaped to Britain on a small boat across the Channel after allegedly gang-raping and killing a 13-year-old girl in Austria, an extradition court heard on Thursday.

    Yes that’s the reality. The Government cannot, or more truthfully, will not, defend our own borders because they like these particular invaders. Putin by comparison is anti-globalist and fair game. He provides a useful distraction from the War against the People.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/01/26/uk-considers-deploying-hundreds-troops-ahead-potential-russian/

    2. There is no interest in stopping the tide of illegal gimmigrants. The state is intentionally letting them in to spite those who hoped Brexit would halt the tide of gimmigration.

      Yet it isn’t just the illegals from Eritrea and Sudan. In the chemists yesterday there was a Thai woman who spoke no English, a Polish bloke and his son, another woman giving an eastern European name, a Middle easterner, me and a sturdy woman.

      No doubt all these folk are gainfully employed and productive members of society but why are they here? No doubt in almost everyway they’re claiming a form of welfare or occupying a school place. We simply cannot afford this size of population.

  13. UK troops set to join defence of Europe ahead of potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. 27 January 2022.

    Britain is considering a deployment of hundreds of military personnel to eastern Europe in advance of Russia potentially invading Ukraine, The Telegraph has learned.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    Graham Leighton8 HRS AGO.

    We are sending troops to protect the borders of Ukraine but can’t stop rubber boats full of potential Muslim terrorists / rapists crossing the English Channel protecting our borders.

    Channel migrant ‘drugged, raped and strangled’ 13-year-old girl before fleeing to UK, court hears.
    Raculi Zubaidullah, 23, evaded pan-European manhunt before boarding trafficker’s boat from France to Britain.

    An Afghan immigrant escaped to Britain on a small boat across the Channel after allegedly gang-raping and killing a 13-year-old girl in Austria, an extradition court heard on Thursday.

    Yes that’s the reality. The Government cannot, or more truthfully, will not, defend our own borders because they like these particular invaders. Putin by comparison is anti-globalist and fair game. He provides a useful distraction from the War against the People.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/01/26/uk-considers-deploying-hundreds-troops-ahead-potential-russian/

  14. First letter – I’m not sure about the final paragraph…

    SIR – I am not concerned about the forensic details of what went on in Downing Street.

    It really doesn’t matter anymore, for we can all see, without the need for an eyesight test, that the draconian rules governing the rest of us were ignored in No 10. And the responsibility for that must lie with the man at the top. It was at best grossly bad management and, at worst, sheer arrogance.

    What is surprising is that someone as politically savvy as Boris Johnson allowed all this to happen on his watch. He should have realised, especially after the public anger over Dominic Cummings’s trip to Barnard Castle, that he and his Government and staff needed to be squeaky clean in complying with their own rules.

    Being a bad manager does not per se make him a bad Prime Minister. But, sadly, it almost certainly means he has now lost the chance to prove himself as a great one.

    Wesley Hallam
    Bath, Somerset

    2. I think the American (presumably) creator of that ‘meme’ is just playing with words with his ‘Etymology’.

        1. Thanks Jules. What do all those emoji things hanging on the washing line mean? I’ve never understood them.

          1. What washing line? 😳 It’s just my phone always comes up with them when It’s triggered by the word 🎂 birthday 😊

          3. Second from right is two champagne flutes clinking; 4 th from right I think is a couple of party streamers.

      5. Happy birthday C1

        Hope it is a good one .

        We had a blue Citroen Dyanne in the 1970s , it was indeed a fun family car when the boys were young .

          1. I still have my blue 2CV. it went round the clock for the second time a couple of months ago. May yours do too!

        2. Our sons had one. Something very important in it broke half-way up St. Michael’s Hill in Bristol.

          1. I remember walking from the ground to Twickenham Railway station after an England v France game and a Frenchman in a 2 CV was trying to drive along the same route as the horde. He inadvertently gave me a nudge which resulted in me sitting on the bonnet. When I stood up there was a great dent but the French man was full of Gallic insouciant charm – he gave me a broad smile, lifted up the bonnet, popped out the dent with his fist from inside, got back into the 2 CV and on the procession went.

          2. I remember queuing up at Calais to catch the ferry back home from a two week holiday. And a french truck driver had blocked the queue of boarding cars. He looked down from his cab along the line of us brits opened his window and gave the clench fist hand clamp on the inside of the elbow salute to us brits. We had just beaten them at Football, Rugby and Hockey all within a few days.

  17. SIR – Crispin Blunt’s defence of the PM, on the grounds that lockdown rules were probably broken by “most homes”, takes the debate to a new low.

    At the time it was proposed, those with a knowledge of the theory and practice of regulation pointed out that, whatever its theoretical merits, lockdown would be impossible to implement. This was dismissed as not following “the science”.

    Is it now to be a defence for the PM to say, “I imposed extreme hardship in the pursuit of a policy it was impossible to implement”?

    One such hardship was that thousands died in care homes and hospitals without the attendance of their loved ones. It would have been possible to arrange biosecure attendance, were it not that the fanatical pursuit of an impossible lockdown precluded the consideration of such measures.

    Professor David Campbell
    Lancaster University Law School

  18. SIR – It is suggested that, with the threat of war in Europe, now is the wrong time to remove Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.

    However, his continuing inability to deal with the domestic energy crisis and the cost-of-living crisis (arguably far more important than unlawful parties) has created a long-term electoral threat to the Conservative Party that should not be underestimated.

    As John Major’s premiership proved, voters have long memories.

    David Miller
    Chigwell, Essex

    SIR – Philip Johnston (“If Boris survives this mess, he needs to start governing as a Conservative”, Comment, January 26) articulates the Prime Minister’s worst flaw. The case against getting rid of him would only apply if Boris were still Boris. He is not: he appears weak, neither willing nor able to govern as a Conservative.

    The sky-high taxes, the eco-lunacy, the war on cars, the inability to stem the flow of traffickers’ dinghies and the refusal to invoke Article 16 to bring the EU to heel offer a depressing glimpse of what lies ahead if he stays.

    George Mullock
    Tadley, Hampshire

    3. Inability to deal with the energy crisis? Are these people dim? He engineered this blasted crisis specifically to force through an idiotic, destructive and stupid green agenda.

  19. Our banks bend over backwards……to be awkward:

    SIR – I cannot speak for other banks, but my local Barclays branch has refused to give cash over the counter in quantities of less than £300 (report, January 25) on several occasions.

    Even more unhelpfully, I have been told that if I want denominations other than those supplied by the ATM, I must first get notes from the machine and then queue to change them at the counter into the denominations I need.

    David Alderman
    Milland, West Sussex

    1. It is quite simple Mr Alderman. Withdraw £300 at the counter and when they give it to you say i wish to deposit £200.

      Then tell them you would also like to open a savings account and an ISA.

      When they have arranged all that tell them you have changed your mind.

    2. Don’t get me started on Barclays – my late mother had her accounts with them and they were spectacularly unhelpful and incompetent when I was trying to sort out her affairs!

      1. Same here, SB. My father had been with Barclays for around 60 years, yet they seemed to place every conceivable obstacle in the way.

  20. Good morning all.A dull, damp, drizzly start to the morning and, noting how chilly it felt, a surprising 4½°C on the thermometer!

    I don’t plan going anywhere today and, if it stays damp, will not be doing a lot outside!

    1. I’ve just had to drop off my old van for its MOT, remember it Bob. I’ve only managed about 100 miles since last year’s test. It’s been on the drive for three months I had to triple charge the battery. But I bet it fails.
      I had to walk back home up the hill after dropping it off at the garage. Jacket hat and gloves on, I think I had thought it colder, the temperature is above 8 here. I was absolutely sweating buckets when I arrived home half an hour ago.

      1. Yes, it’s a bugger when you overestimate how cold it is and dress accordingly!

        What van have you got?

        1. Don’t you remember Bob, at Carpenters Nursery café.
          The SWB transit and its just passed its MOT again. Some work needed on the wipers. Lack of use. 🤭

  22. SIR – Although not a bomb-disposal operator, I have for many years been involved in the manufacture of bomb-disposal robots.

    I did not recognise the one that failed as soon as it started off in the opening episode of Trigger Point (Arts, January 24), but it looked as though it was designed to fail. Having been involved in countless hours of robot development and demonstration, I have seen them tip over or be stopped by insurmountable objects, but I have never known one just to give up.

    I also groaned at the many procedural and safety errors that were made, such as approaching someone wearing a suicide vest without first putting on a bomb suit.

    John Calnan
    Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire

    I can think of at least two more very basic howlers – allowing people to return to their flats via the car park where one vehicle had already been identified as ‘live’ without checking the remainder, and some of the un-evacuated flat occupants hanging out of their windows to watch the event, and where any detonation would certainly dislodge much or all of the glass in the windows of their building.

    At least Line of Duty seemed pretty close to police procedures and was thus believable in the main, whereas the same makers of this drama need to change their consultant(s).

  23. SIR – M J James’s letter (January 25) about the things that her mother deemed “common” reminded me of my mother’s single test: which way round a loo roll was positioned.

    If the hanging sheets were adjacent to the wall, they were “reet posh”; if they hung away from the wall, they were “reet common”.

    She grew up in a Yorkshire mining village, in a small house with an outside lavatory. If the roll was placed with sheets adjacent to the wall, they would get damp due to condensation and sometimes freeze to the wall.

    Alan Belk
    Leatherhead, Surrey

    There we are, folks: if you want to be posh just ensure that your bog roll has been fitted the ‘right’ way round!

      1. As I’ve been told as it can damage ‘a girls’ nails if they hit the wall whilst fumbling fo the end.
        And unlike many other people I always put the seat and the lid down.

          4. When MB were a sprog, my late mother-in-law got caught out like that in an outside dunny.
            Apparently she’d had a tipple or three; I was more impressed by the idea of her drinking and enjoying herself, because I never saw any sign of it.

      2. Although my paternal grandfather came from Scarborough, I was once playing a round of golf with a through and through dyed in the wool Yorkshire man, he’s extremely rich but he does rabbit a lot. So as we walked I said to him “Tell me Is it true that Yorkshire is surrounded by countless wide open spaces”?
        He smiled and nodded in agreement. Until I added “Surrounded by Teeth” ! FORE………..

          1. So was I joking, the guy i mentioned is someone I know very well.
            But I say that to him.

  24. 334700+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Thursday 27 January: Voters deserve better than a Prime Minister whose strongest defence is sheer incompetence

    I for one believe they deserve just what they got, then some, they knew
    the johnson pedigree from way back as they did with treacherous treasa
    and her prior run as home sec.

    Regardless who the party leader is, it could very well be a horse they would have got more sense, it is the party NAME, a hijacked moniker if ever, the vote mantra was / is “MUST vote tory (ino) keep out labour”.

    They, the toxic trio are an interchangeable COALITION, the voting electorate are guaranteed on winning, shite , shite or shite proven without doubt by the odious state of this nation today.

    They, the electorate refuse to have a fall back party, they have in the past
    even voted tactically to keep such a party out.

    Sum up, their party alternately will win the election battle, but as sure as God made little green apples they WILL lose a Country.

    1. If Boris Johnson is toppled then that is the end of Brexit.

      The question is: “Is the price of getting rid of Johnson too high?”

      1. 334700+ up ticks

        Afternoon R,
        That sounds very much like the plaintive cry old tory ( ino) party members
        would / will make.

        Many of us knuckle dragging, fruit cakes ( UKIPPERS)
        put heart & sole ( footwear ) into constructing the referendum only to have it abused by the “party first brigade” the dangerous cretins went right back to supporting / voting for the ex eu rubber stamper party’s, which in turn has led to endangering kids, the politico’s need for mandatory jabbing & a collection of ex Gestapo tactics.

        They are importing a crime wave daily at DOVER, openly, Peoples cannot get into schools, to see doctors, into nick & lets not to mention housing.

        The question is: “Is the price of getting rid of Johnson too high?”
        The tory (ino) party torso is corrupt you can stick a new nut on it but the @rseholes are still in position, still with reset,replacement on the agenda.

        I did post johnson was the eu semi-reentry missile pilot attaching the umbilical cord deal WAS a must, when TOTAL SEVERENCE was the way to go.

  25. SIR – In the early 1950s our black-and-white cow, Molly, was milked daily (Letters, January 21).

    My father’s cap was shiny where he rubbed against her side. The cats got saucers of the fresh creamy milk left on the floor.

    After I learnt to crawl I would copy them and lap it up, too. It wasn’t entirely clean, but I’m still here 72 years later.

    Margaret Kenworthy
    Thongsbridge, West Yorkshire

    I think this letter should have had a trigger warning for today’s snowflakes! Truth is, I’m willing to bet that her immune system is top-notch.

    2. I remember a TV sketch from Peter Cooke and Dudley Moore in which obsessive housewives were scrubbing their homes to within an inch of their lives. “This is unhealthy,” – said Pete and Dud disguised as char ladies as they produced an aerosol which emitted a shower of dust:

      “You need a squirt of dirt, Gert!”

    3. I remember a TV sketch from Peter Cooke and Dudley Moore in which obsessive housewives were scrubbing their homes to within an inch of their lives. “This is unhealthy,” – said Pete and Dud disguised as char ladies as they produced a aerosol which emitted a shower of dust:

      “You need a squirt of dirt, Gert!”

  26. SIR – I recently made the difficult decision to leave the Conservative Party after 40 years of active membership. This was due to the inherent unfairness of the higher National Insurance rate – labelled, correctly, as a jobs tax – that from April the Government is imposing on working people and businesses in order to throw yet more money at the NHS and social care.

    It is of little comfort that most Cabinet ministers now support scrapping this unnecessary increase (report, January 26). It is incumbent upon them to reduce their inflated departmental budgets in order to facilitate a swift and requisite U-turn, if the party is to retain power.

    Despite being vehemently anti-lockdown, I can just about forgive the Government for its handling of the pandemic, and will willingly rejoin the Tories if the NI levy is scrapped.

    Philip Duly
    Haslemere, Surrey

    I think Mr Duly may find himself rejoining the party very soon (stupid boy)!

    2. They might reverse the tax hike, but they’ll slap it on something else people can’t avoid – like heating.

  28. What a man, and what a career:

    Lieutenant General Sir Sandy Boswell, brigade commander who helped to clear ‘no-go’ areas during the Troubles – obituary

    He served in Korea, Malaya and Borneo, while in Ulster Operation Motorman deprived the Provisional IRA of their safe havens

    By
    Telegraph Obituaries
    27 January 2022 • 6:00am

    Lieutenant General Sir Sandy Boswell, who has died aged 93, commanded a brigade in Operation Motorman at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

    In 1972, Sandy Boswell assumed command of 39 Airportable Brigade in Belfast. In July a spiral of violence in the Province had resulted in more than 90 terrorist-related deaths, and in the preceding months Republican and Protestant no-go areas had been established.

    The catalyst for action was the planting of bombs in Belfast and Londonderry on July 21. Troop levels were brought up to more than 28,000 soldiers, including 5,300 from the Ulster Defence Regiment, supported by armoured bulldozers to help clear the barricades.

    Operation Motorman was launched at first light on July 31. All areas were secured within three hours. It deprived the Provisional IRA of its safe havens, broke the cycle of violence and proved a turning point in the campaign.

    Alexander Crawford Simpson Boswell was born of Scottish parents at Sungei Patani, Malaya, on August 3 1928. His father was in the Malayan Forestry Service. Always known as Sandy, he was educated at Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh, where he was school captain and a CCF cadet officer.

    In April 1947 he enlisted in the Army and was commissioned from RMA Sandhurst into the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (A & SH). For the next 10 years he undertook regimental service in Hong Kong, Korea, the Canal Zone and British Guiana.

    In Korea he was the Intelligence Officer, a role he disliked because he wanted to be a platoon commander instead of tasking his fellow subalterns with patrols that inevitably involved substantial risks at a time when the Argylls were taking considerable casualties.

    Attendance at Staff College, Camberley, was followed by an appointment in the Berlin Brigade as Military Assistant to the GOC Berlin. The posting covered the period when the Berlin Wall was erected.

    Intelligence had indicated that a minimum of 48 hours warning would be given, but in the event the East German Army appeared and, without notice, started building concrete walls topped with barbed wire and guarded by watchtowers.

    Boswell served in Malaya and Borneo from 1963 to 1965, first in command of a company of 1 A & SH and then as second-in-command during the “Confrontation” with Indonesia. He was Mentioned in Despatches.

    In 1968, he took over command of the battalion from Lt Col Colin Mitchell. This was immediately after its outstandingly successful operations in Aden.

    But the Defence Policy Command Paper of the same year stipulated that the 1st Battalion would disband within three years. “The Jocks were magnificent,” Boswell wrote afterwards. “They were determined to show what the Army was losing. I was worried that numbers would fall but, almost to a man, they stayed on to the bitter end.”

    A “Save the Argylls” campaign was launched, Parliament was petitioned and a single, regular company was permitted to retain the title and colours of the parent unit. In 1972, the Argylls were restored to full battalion strength.

    After a stint on the directing staff of Staff College, Boswell was promoted to full colonel on moving to HQ Strategic Command. From this point it became clear that he was destined for high rank; first command of 39 Airportable Brigade in Belfast, then the Chief of Staff of 1st British Corps; next, a year at the Canadian National Defence College, followed by command of 2nd Armoured Division in BAOR.

    In 1980, he became Director Territorial Army and Cadets. It was a post that he came to love and during which he contributed greatly to enhancing the TA in the eyes of the Army. After this came the posting which he had really set his heart on: GOC Scotland and Governor of Edinburgh Castle.

    Boswell was a first-rate soldier. He possessed the qualities to bring the very best out of his men but his talents were lightly worn. Calm, courteous and reasoned, he was liked by many and respected by all. A smoker, he liked to consider carefully before coming to a decision and made adroit use of his pipe to secure vital extra seconds of reflection when faced with difficult questions.

    His last appointment was that of Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey for five years. His wife, Jocelyn, a stalwart support throughout his career, loved Guernsey and the island’s people loved her. They both looked back on their time there with great affection.

    After retiring from the Army in 1990, he settled in Gifford, near Edinburgh. He had served as an Elder of the Church of Scotland in the Regimental Kirk of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and continued this service in Yester parish church in Gifford.

    He was Colonel, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, from 1972 to 1982; Honorary Colonel, Tayforth Universities OTC; and Colonel Commandant, The Scottish Division, from 1982 to 1986.

    He was appointed MBE in 1962, OBE in 1971 and CBE in 1974. He was knighted in 1982 and became a Deputy Lieutenant for East Lothian in 1993.

    He married, in 1956, Jocelyn (Joc) Pomfret, the daughter of Surgeon Rear Admiral A A Pomfret. She predeceased him and he is survived by their five sons.

    Lieutenant General Sir Sandy Boswell, born August 3 1928, died November 13 2021

  29. Morning all, not only do voters deserve as the headline rightly states. They also deserve a government and civil service that takes a lot more care with the taxpayers money that splashing it around at any direction in order to attempt to ease certain situations. As in what we have now. Spending billions on foreign aid and at the same time inviting the rest of the world’s population to move in for free.
    Then of course having the absolute audacity to blame everybody else, yet again when the money has run out.
    Sheer incompetence is not just a single factor, in thus current situation they don’t even seem to have any forward vision at all or indeed a functioning brain cell between the (hundreds) lot of them.
    The future of our nation it’s once green and pleasant land its culture and social structure is very bleak indeed.

    1. 334700+ up ticks,

      Morning RE,
      But this daily deterioration of the country has been in place since major was in power and the electorate have a large input via the polling booth.

      1. Major that complete prat he was totally useless but did what anti Thatcher Heseltine and his nasty friends wanted, to destroy the faith in the Conservatives. And it obviously worked, as Blair came in and did more damage to the nation than Hitler.

        1. 334700+ up ticks,

          Afternoon RE,

          The point I am making is that the close shop lab/lib/con coalition had / has a majority following regardless of what “their party” does.

          A bit longer following the same voting pattern with NO opposition and we will find the imams & mullahs calling the shots, the days of “my MP
          my party” & freedom of choice will be well over.

          Currently they are an interchangeable Coalition whos aim is returning to the bosom of the eu.

    3. The civil service has far too much of our money. If it had, say, a third as much it would still waste it on pet projects and empire building.

      The solution is starvation. Cull the wasters, start at the top and cut, cut and keep cutting.

    5. You ask them and when they can’t answer, you ignore them. The warqueen learned that a tantrum didn’t really help unless she told me what was bothering her. Sometimes that’s ‘I don’t know!’

    1. Wonderfully evocative, takes me back to when I was eight , the old valve radio smelling of warm bakelite and hot dusty valves ( yes that’s a real thing ) tuned to Light Program gently dispensing Listen with Mother and musical relaxation.

        1. It was the 50s not the 60s.

          Even as a five year old I found this programme too cloyingly sentimental. I remember poor old Uncle Mac got sacked because, not realising that his mike was still live, he announced on air: “Thank God that’s finished with the little buggers for today.”

    3. My slumber was pretty restless last night, Belle. I was prowling around the house at 3.00 am, I couldn’t sleep and I had jaw ache from tension, a result of All That Is Going On. I think the squabbling will get worse to make us so disgusted with our government that we will accept a One World Government without a murmur. Even the slight questioning about the vaccine I see now in the media is to herd us in that direction. We will be neatly coralled without even realising it.

      Good morning! A grey, rainy one here after yesterday’s wind-swept sunshine.

      1. Good morning . is it , I don’t know .

        Last week , PMQs really unsettled me , so I gave it a miss yesterday , except I heard bits and pieces on the radio!

        I made a comment on F/B which recieved a good reaction .

        “Blackford is a vituperative little squirt, he can give a mouthful, but he cannot take it.”

      2. It will not last. These statists keep trying, but when the tax base collapses and the state starts compulsory destroying our property and poverty ensues then people will reject it. Some will love it, but they’re not many, and when they’re robbed for their tea they will find that communism doesn’t work.

        After all, that’s the intent: absolute social control. This ‘build back better’, levelling down nonsense is just communism. They change the marketing, but the activity is the same.

  32. Good morning all, off for a tour of Thatchers Cider production facility this AM, there will be samples. On a less frivolous note I’m part way through watching the original World at War series (1973) and amongst other things have just watched the episodes covering Operation Barbarossa and the Sieges of Stalingrad and Leningrad. I was astonished at the unimaginable brutality of the German forces in advance and retreat . Such was the death and destruction meted out to the Russians I can only imagine that the hatred that the Russian people must have felt for Germany will not have dissipated over one generation, which may explain a lot. Don’t poke the Bear.

    1. If you haven’t read it, I recommend Anthony Beevor’s “Berlin”.
      The Russians certainly ensured the Germans suffered. Probably not as much as the Russians had under the Germans but certainly horrific.

    2. World at War is, in my view, by far the finest series of its kind. In particular, Olivier’s narration is superb.

    3. Ironically Germany seems to be Putin’s biggest friend in Europe. But then Stalin/USSR and Hitler/Germany were best buddies, even invading Poland together, until Hitler launched Barbarossa.

  33. Good morning, all. To market.

    I see Sue Ellen’s report has been “delayed”. I smell a stitch up.

  34. As Putin mulls a Ukraine attack, experts paint scary psychological picture of what makes Russia’s tyrant tick. 27 February 2022.

    Worryingly, there is a raft of evidence that huge amounts of power for long periods can have an addictive, dopamine-boosting effect on the brain. “It’s like cocaine,” says Prof Robertson. “It’s addictive. And it brings behaviour changes: loss of empathy, grandiosity, paranoia.” Most worryingly of all, as Putin considers the pros and cons of unleashing the Red Army, Prof Robertson says that such changes in the frontal lobe of the brain diminish the affected person’s ability to weigh up risk. “They tend to exaggerate their past successes and downplay their failures,” he says.

    If the reader hadn’t already worked out that this is a piece of cod psychology propaganda this Freudian Slip should have alerted them. Putin is of course the most well balanced of World Leaders, though any list that includes Biden and Johnson is by no means a measure of normalcy!

    https://inews.co.uk/news/world/russia-ukraine-vladimir-putin-attack-psychological-picture-what-make-tick-1424732

  35. 334700+ up ticks,

    I do have difficulty in understanding the mindset of peoples who keep returning to power the very politico’s / party’s that are, as we type importing MORE undesirables potential terrorist / troops / paedophiles etc,etc.

    https://gettr.com/post/pqgbom4c8b

      1. Thanks Alf. Your recipe for ginger cookies continues to be a favourite of the grandchildren, children, mine, and some (greedy) nameless people who are even older than I am and come foraging hereabouts looking for freebies.

        1. We continue to enjoy them. Made the first vetch since before Christmas on Sunday. They never fail to please.
          Doing anything special today?

          1. Not really. 6:00pm Zoom call with grandchildren in Prague so must remember to brush my hair. Being taken out to supper at The Plough, Shalbourne. If not too addled, might telephone son in Cleveland, OH afterwards.

      1. Happy birthday again! I have never owned a Citroën but a friend of mine had an ID which still seemed incredibly futuristic even in the 1960s though it first appeared in 1955. I once had a Volvo P1800 but I never loved her as I loved my MGA.

    1. During the French presidency of the EU Macron is determined to make abortion a right written into the EU constitution.

      The sterile triumvirate of Macron, May and Merkin wanted no human heirs of their own – now only Macron is left in power to further their cause.

      In the long ago days when I was still attempting to teach Eng Lit we were studying Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf – the play by Edward Albee which was made into a film with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. A very interesting question came up in the “A” level exam.

      “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” celebrates sterility.” Discuss.

    2. I suppose now that the actual and genuine Holocaust survivor’s has dwindled to a very small number. Others are looking for a shockinly similar bandwagon to leap onto. But it’s not quite the same as the terrible original nazi regime. No matter how hard they try to push it.
      And abortion usually happens by personal choice.

    3. The modern Left deliberately forget the vast majority of the horror they have caused. That’s why the gays get a month and their last horror only a day.

      1. That ‘small minority’ appears to be about 50,000 truckers and all the supporters by the side of the road and the cars all with hazard warnings blinking.

        As usual, Trudeau, vous parlez merde.

        1. I read somewhere that, in addition to the truckers, there are an estimated 1.4 million souls making the trip to protest in Ottawonga. Dunno if it’s true

        2. And still he got re-elected, the Canadians or at least enough of them must be as daft as us to elect such characters.

          1. If Johnson is deposed then there is no potential candidate for the Conservative Party leadership who will carry on with Brexit which will crumble to such a point that Britain will join the EU once more.

            The only way to save Brexit may be for all the dissatisfied Conservatives to resign their party whip and join Richard Tice and fight a general election on a Brexit ticket.

          2. The thing is, there are plenty of genuine conservatives in the Conservative party. The problem is they don’t get into office because they aren’t willing to twist, cheat, lie and steal to get what they want.

      3. Western democracies have defined themselves by the freedom of the citizen to express their views publicly. We point the finger at China and North Korea for their one party state and no dissenting allowed. But I think most of us continue to be amazed by how thin the veneer of freedom in the West actually is.

      4. Has he thought to asks what their views are? Perhaps, as a PM he could look at his actions and try to understand them to reach a negotiation.

        You know, as a grown up.

    5. Putin may be very surprised to hear that he has invaded the Ukraine. Almost as though he has conspired with Johnson to time it so neatly.

      Good morning, everyone.

      Happy Birthday, Citroën!

    6. Putin may be very surprised to hear that he has invaded The Ukraine. Almost as though he has conspired with Johnson to time it so neatly.

      Good morning, everyone.

      Happy Birthday, Citroën!

    1. Shouldn’t Thompson and Thomson be there in native dress along with Professor Calculus with his dowsing pendulum?

    2. Excellent, excellent. I don’t think I ever read that one. Thank you very much (but please can we keep Pretty Polly out of this)

  41. Good Moaning.
    Allan Towers once again has a landline. Since the road doesn’t look like a newly ploughed field, I assume sellotape or chewing gum did the trick.
    There are some strange buzzing noises, so, just in case he’s listening: I always said that Mr. Putin looks like a nice young man.

    A DM read to while away the grey morning.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10446033/From-M-Ms-Nike-firms-turning-brands-social-justice-warriors-warns-DOMINIC-SANDBROOK.html

    1. More likely the line’s been re-connected funny. If it’s a POTS wire then could be some sort of interference.

        1. Plain Old Telephone Service, although your definition can be equally correct, especially if there are aluminium wires involved.

      2. It was the fact that someone round here has one of those emergency call button gizmos that altered BT/Openreach.
        I suspect they’ve cobbled up something quickly to meet a deadline and the C21 version of the Somme is a few days down the line. (ho, ho)

      1. While I appreciate that we cannot (and should not) live in the past, one certainly fears for the future, particularly for our children, grandchildren and descendants.

        1. They’ll have to make their own institutions, because the ones bequeathed to us by our parents are rotten to the core.

    2. In 1990, the small software firm that I worked for had a new product launch. It was a simple affair, a demo followed by a buffet lunch to which the dealers were invited. Barry Cryer provided the entertainment, telling a few jokes old and new and sending up the directors. Humble or what?

      1. I suspect that in those days entertainers were paid a tiny fraction of what they are now and a gig was a gig.

        I saw a number of stand-up comedians in smallish pubs where I doubt that their modern equivalents would even deign to visit. Interestingly, some of them were far funnier live than ever they were on TV.
        Little and Large being a good example, hilarious at the pub, dire on TV.

          1. He probably enjoyed the job.
            When I worked for a money broker most the dealers, particularly the FX boys, were quick tongued and could be very witty.
            The company hired Bob Monkhouse for a function and he was an utter flop. The heckling was rude and funny and he just couldn’t cope. Normally stand-ups were very good at dealing with the audience but I think he had never come across such a rowdy mob. He didn’t return for his second set.

  43. Back from market. Only the usual suspects masked in the street.

    But – depressingly – EVERYONE in Morrisons was bagged up. Even lots of staff who have spent 18 months UNmasked.

    Still, the Thomas family acted normally. For once.

  44. Good morning. I think it worth making more widely available this damning study which demonstrates how the ONS has been corrupted into massaging public data to lie monstrously. If ever there was evidence of massive criminal collusion look no further. British citizens are being grievously attacked by the very people who they should be able to trust.

    https://www.tarableu.com/uk-ons-statistics-suggest-systematic-mis-categorisation-of-vaccine-status-damned-lies/

  46. Just returned from Sainsburys. No problems, we saw about 6 other people not wearing masks. The rest were.
    Its hard to believe just how many people do not think for themselves. No wonder politicians treat us so badly.

    1. Popped into Tescos after walking the dog, just wanting a tin of ghee. 95% were still masked. Hard to credit it how people can be indoctrinated. Got the weekly shop in Morrisons later, where I’m hoping people will show a bit more sense.

      2. Are we still required to wear masks in shops? Tesco has a notice up saying they’re mandatory.

        I wear it when I go in, take it off the second I leave. I do so only out of courtesy – that I suffocate behind it is irrelevant, so I get into an aisle and lift it off.

    2. I think the problem is that they do not see the harm of masks. They think wearing a mask is neutral so they might as well do it.

      1. I agree bb2. Brainwashed loons, all of them. There are even comments saying that it’s ‘too soon’! For what?

    3. Johnny, you have got to read the BTL comments on the beeb website! (OK you don’t have to!) There are an awful lot of unthinking, uncaring and unkind people around! Can’t imagine why they’re attracted to the Marxist doctrine!

      1. The same for Twatter – there are some right little Fascists there who would happily see us locked down for eternity!

      2. You have to be thick and ignorant without any understanding of humanity and human nature to be a marxist

  48. So Spotify have sided with Joe Rogan and removed Neil Young’s music. I recall Neil Young once declaring on The Old Grey Whistle Test that he was a supporter of Ronald Reagan. The interviewer asked if he didn’t find Reagan somewhat jingoistic. Young replied, “Man, I don’t know what that means”.

    2. And the BBC managed an article about it and couldn’t bring itself to mention the words ‘blackmail’, ‘extortion’ or ‘censorship’ .

      I thought that quite an achievement even for them.

      1. Rogan gets around 11 million viewers per episode by allowing the likes of Robert Malone to talk for 3 hours.

    1. I heard from a Devon ambulance driver last night that 800 Devon ambulance staff (not all drivers I imagine), are due to be terminated in 2 months time. There has to be a U-turn coming soon or there will be chaos on a grand scale. Let’s hope the legal side of things cuts the bastards off at the knees.

    2. Sue for unlawful dismissal.

      Get together with a competent lawyer and use a class action to take all their money away.

    1. “Police are investigating the incident and have confirmed they are treating it as a hate crime.”

      It used to be called ‘assault’.

    1. Looking at that cartoon had me wondering:

      Did Whitty, Vallance or any of the other high profile people attend any of these parties?

          2. I doubt they would add a festive air to the atmosphere.
            However, they are so bloodless and controlled, that their presence could make things quite interesting.
            When we were working at the local asylum there was a frightfully buttoned-up psychiatrist. At a party, the male nurses deliberately got him as rat-@rsed as possible. The results were spectacular. Talk about physician heal thyself.
            Nowadays, they would say he’d got mental health ishoos.

  53. I didn’t watch much of it, but there was a BBC Programme last night about Jay Blades he’s a tv ‘presenter’ of The repair Shop. And it was about the fact that he can’t read and he’s 51. If he can’t read then he obviously can’t write either. I wonder if he has a driving licence. And To me i wonder how he managed to get the job in the first place. Oh wait a moment ………. he was an upholsterer.
    You have to wonder about these things sometimes and rightly so.

    1. From what little I’ve seen of him, mainly “The Repair Shop”, I’ve enjoyed his presentational skills.
      It’s surprising how many people can hide their lack of ability with reading and writing, or even arithmetic, that most of us would regard as incredibly easy.
      He would probably look at my woodworking skills and be amazed by how incompetent I am.

    2. He’s chronically dyslexic, a condition diagnosed when at university. It makes you wonder why his school teachers didn’t spot it.

    4. He is a very good presenter of probably BBC’s only enjoyable program, at least for me. The fact that he cannot read or write very well does not diminish him as a person, Lineker probably has perfectly acceptable reading and writing skills but I know which one I would watch and which one would be switched off.
      We are blessed these days because dyslexia is more readily recognised and fewer kids slip through, unlike when Blades was at school.

      1. Still find it odd that the chap went to a university….to study criminology. That does entail a lot of “READING”…..

        1. As his professor, on the show, remarked.

          Apparently Blades’ choices were Criminology or Fabrics – he had no interest in fabrics.

          Although I don’t particularly like him on the Repair Shop, I have to admire his doggedness and determination to get reading and, by and large, he seems to have succeeded. Good luck to him.

        1. What puzzles me is all the people explaining how much the item means to them, why it’s so precious … etc. etc. but if it means so much why did they leave it in the garage/attic/shed for 40 years so that it rusted/fell apart?

    1. They will all be thinking “I’ll have one vaccination just to get the visa, then I’ll move to another job.” And the smartest ones won’t touch it.
      It’s long been known that a medical training is a ticket to a visa in the west, this is just taking that a little further.

      1. I am sure you’re right. It may be long known – but it does not follow that politicians know it as the wouldn’t see or smell it even right in front of their eyes and noses.

  55. I have posted this before so apologies but it’s topical. I have just read that the so-called University of Chester wants a trigger warning on the first HP book The Philosopher’s Stone.
    Some years ago now, in my library in an ES in GA, a woman came in and demanded that I remove all the HP books from the shelves- when I asked why, she said they promoted satanism and witchcraft. Which isn’t correct. I asked her which pieces in the books she was referring to and she just kept repeating that they promoted satanism and witchcraft. After some time of this nonsense I finally got her to admit that she hadn’t read any of the books.
    By then, I had run out of patience and time as a class was coming in. I told her to go away, buy a notebook and read the books and to make a note of any book and quote that supported her claim.
    I then went to the Principal and told him what had transpired and he said I had handled it correctly. There’s a new Principal there now and I suspect if I was still there and this occurred now, I would be disciplined.
    By the way, I never saw this woman again. The world has gone completely mad!

    2. Well done, I remember all the fuss about HP promoting satanism and witchcraft back then. But you were obviously in the “Bible Belt” country and they are not exactly known for their impartiality!!

      1. I don’t even think this woman was a parent. Another silly female in a neighbouring town had been on TV when she wanted Mark Twain books banned and I suspect all this twit wanted was her 15 mins of fame on the telly.

        1. PS- the Southern Baptists were the worst…would not take no for an answer. I threatened to set my dog on a pair in NC- they didn’t know he was a goofy Golden who would have slobbered all over them!

      1. I’ve read some of his years ago but, had I thought of it, that would have been a good idea. Trouble is, in the US, there is so much religious bigotry it can be very hard to cope with.
        When we moved to GA the lady next door came round and introduced herself; her third question was had we found a church yet. I told her we didn’t go to church. She turned on her heel and left and never came round again- good as far as I was concerned.

  56. This could be the moment the establishment finally takes down Boris Johnson
    With Sue Gray’s ‘partygate’ report imminent, some leading lights might well take their chance to bring down the country’s most powerful man
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/01/26/could-moment-establishment-finally-takes-boris-johnson/

    Hold your nose and hope Johnson stays as prime minister for the time being and that he divorces his most recent wife!

    A BTL Comment:

    If Boris is ousted Brexit will be dead as a dodo unless all the pro-Brexit Tory MPs stand down from their parliamentary seats and join a genuinely pro-Brexit party such as that run by Richard Tice.

    Brexit will not survive the election of any of the current contenders for the Tory leadership and it will definitely not survive a Labour government.

    So if Brexit is to survive then either Boris Johnson must remain the Conservative Party leader or a new electable political party must emerge to finish off what Johnson only just started to do and has left largely undone.

    1. There is a stitch-up going on. Johnson will be cleared. Sue Ellen will suddenly be in the House of Lords.

      1. Good afternoon Bill.

        I don’t toss a giver for Boris Johnson – but if he falls then Brexit is over and most people still believe in Brexit if we can get a proper one.

        1. 334700+ up ticks,

          Afternoon R,
          The fight for the real Brexit began on the 25/6/2016 when the cry rent the air “we”
          won leave it to the tory (ino) party.

          The peoples had a “proper one” only they abused it by returning to the lab/lib/con coalition eu rubber stamping
          assets, straight after winning.

          Anyone denying it ?
          .

          2. 334700+ up ticks,

            Evening R,
            The electorate minus the real designer activators UKIP, NOT to be confused with the current uKiP, do not seem to think so 48% 52% ALL in the main supporting / voting for pro eu party’s.

          3. 334700+ up ticks,

            Evening R,
            The electorate minus the real designer activators UKIP, NOT to be confused with the current uKiP, do not seem to think so 48% 52% ALL in the main supporting / voting for pro eu party’s.

  58. Afternoon all.

    So. Freedom Day 1. Sainsbury’s shopping expedition. Everyone still wearing face nappies. Except for Alf and me. Can you believe it? Do these morons want to wear face nappies for ever?

    1. I have just returned from a ‘ village shopping exped’.

      I was the only shopper not masked

      I feel sorry for the ‘remainers’

      2. Plenty of masks on view in the village this morning – they won’t be giving up their comfort blankets any time soon.

  59. One to ponder; from a DT article.

    “Almond milk, for example, is massively water intensive in drought-hit areas, while poorly-managed soy plantations contribute to deforestation. A 2020 study by Nottingham University and the Sustainable Food Trust determined that a kilogram of soya beans produces 13 pints of soy milk – but up to 150 pints of dairy milk if fed to a cow. ”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/features/truth-great-oat-milk-con/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

      1. With great difficulty?
        In the mediaeval period, cows milk wasn’t greatly used, so milk puddings were made with …. almond milk.

      1. I think “pence per litre” is missing from your post. It would be great if I could fill up my car for £1.53!

  63. Barry Cryer was famous for jokes about parrots, here’s probably his best

    It describes a woman who purchases a parrot for only £5.

    “Well,

    I must confess, it was brought up in a brothel,” says the shopkeeper.

    “And, to put it politely, it has quite an extensive vocabulary.”

    “Never mind,” says the woman. “At that price, I’ll take it.”

    So she takes the parrot home, puts its cage in the living room and takes the cover off.

    “New place – very nice,” says the parrot.

    Then the woman’s two daughters walk in. “New place, new girls – very nice,” says the parrot.

    Then the woman’s husband walks in, and the parrot says, “Oh hello, Keith!”

    Another,but probably not BC’s

    A black fella walks into a pub with a parrot on his shoulder.
    The landlord says “Wow! Where did you get that?”
    Parrot says “Africa, there’s millions of them.”

    1. Another Barry- My Stannah stair lift is so fast, I can still remember why I went upstairs.

      1. A man on the London Underground is teaching his dog to play the trumpet. In half an hour he’d gone from Barking to Tooting.

        1. Not on this coming Saturday. The one day in six months that we are going to Lunnon – the effing Tube lines we needed are closed for “improvements”.

          4. I appreciate walking isn’t great for you at the moment.

            The last time we went to London the traffic was horrendous. The cabbie could only get us to within a quarter of a mile of our destination and we hit a jam. The meter was ticking over rapidly. He suggested it would be quicker and better to walk the rest of the way.
            We walked back far faster than the taxi had managed to drive us on the way there.

          5. Most of the times I’ve had a cab from Heathrow, the drivers all seem to be homicidal maniacs. A couple of occasions, I ended up closing my eyes!
            Our cab service round here is super.

          6. Ooh you must be rich!

            I normally pick up a rental car and drive, that would definitely have you closing your eyes in horror.

          10. Ooh you must be rich!

            I normally pick up a rental car and drive, that would definitely have you closing your eyes in horror.

          11. Last time I had to go into London for business, the underground was closed because of overcrowding. Thanks but no thanks.

            I almost always walked in London when I worked there, Tottenham court road to Liverpool Street was a few minutes quicker by tube but really crowded.

          12. I seldom used the tube. For shorter distances generally, walking was faster by the time one had walked to the platform and waited for the train. It wasn’t too crowded except rush hour. Now it seems to be packed all the time.

          14. It’s a lot larger but probably not double, although I could easily believe the commuting population has doubled.

          19. Certainly – I invariably walk – say from Regents Park to Trafalgar Square. And when I worked in London (The Strand) I walked everywhere. It was far quicker than tube of bus. The tube has greatly improved. And the trip I am making on Sat – Kings X to Somerset House – is just too far for an old buffer these days.

          22. I walked from St James Park to Regents Park on one of the freedom marches. My hips were hurting by the time I collapsed onto a train at Baker Street.

          24. It is for me, Alf.

            I’ll take Victoria Line to Oxford Circ – then Bakerloo (or whatever it is called now) to Trafalgar Square (though they now call that Embankment Charing Cross!!)

          26. It is for me, Alf.

            I’ll take Victoria Line to Oxford Circ – then Bakerloo (or whatever it is called now) to Trafalgar Square (though they now call that Embankment Charing Cross!!)

          27. But a bus down through Tavistock and Russell Squares into Kingsway shouldn’t be too bad on a Saturday and if the bus goes to Waterloo you can get off outside Somerset House.
            Just a thought from a cockney boy.

          28. I walk, too. I once turned the wrong way and ended up in Notting Hill. When I asked the way to my destination, the bloke said, “I’d get a cab if I were you; it’s a long way!” I didn’t like to tell him I’d walked it in about ten minutes!

          29. Last time i was there all the protests were on causing traffic chaos. I didn’t care. Don’t bother worrying about the small stuff.

          31. Quite. On a day trip we always have the anxiety of the train home hanging over us. Hence the tube.

          32. No, it wouldn’t be. I always arrange it so i have time for a drink or two and a spot of lunch.

          33. When I first went to work in an advertising agency in Grosvenor Street in Mayfair at the age of 18 the first job I was given was in the Dispatch Department – i.e. I was a messenger boy as ‘trainees’ were supposed to start at the bottom and needed to know their way around London.

            I greatly enjoyed the job because on urgent trips one could take a taxi and claim expenses and on less urgent trips one could take the tube or the bus. When I was young and fit I could generally get about central London far more quickly by foot than by taxi or public transport and so I ran from place to place and pocketed the travel money. In this way I was able to make more out of expenses than my actual wages and I kept fit.

          34. Rich bastard!

            Fine if you have time on your hands.

            Tube = 30 mins max. Normally 10 mins.
            Taxi = 30-45.

    2. An old spinster has a couple of parrots but does not know which one is the male and which is the female so she gets quick-fit white collar and waits until the birds begin performing their sly biological urge and she deftly put the collar on the male.

      The next day the vicar comes to tea. The male parrot looks at him and says: “You must have been caught at it last night too?”

      (Very old, very weak, probably from prep school days!)

  65. Too little…[from The Grimes]

    Johnson must clear out green fanatics and pro-woke crowd, says Frost

    new

    Boris Johnson needs to immediately clear out “all the neo-socialists, green fanatics and pro-woke crowd” in Downing Street if he wants to save his premiership, a former cabinet minister has said.
    *
    *
    *

    1. I am afraid Frost is far too late with his disapproval.

      So long as the utterly disastrous Carrion has Johnson’s ear – he’ll never change.

      The quote in the Sunday Grimes two weeks ago was spot on.

      “The PM should resign and take her husband with her”.

    2. He must also clear out the remainers or Brexit will soon be irrecoverably lost.

      I know I have said it time and time again but each time I say it it is clearly more evident than it was before:

      FARAGE SHOULD NEVER HAVE STOOD DOWN BREXIT PARTY CANDIDATES IN SEATS HELD BY TORY REMAINERS

      We still have a House of Commons and a civil service itching to put the EU shackles back on the UK.

    1. Can you imagine that now? Everyone would be so hung up with health and safety concerns.
      They would probably wash the biscuits when they got home.

  67. Just wondering if anyone here is gullible enough to believe this: Trudeau (yuk, spit) has just announced that he has been exposed to covid and will be isolating at the Rideau Hall cottage instead of meeting with representatives of the freedom convoy. REALLY?

    That is the same unworthy liberal who has dismissed the truckers as “a fringe minority holding unacceptable views”.

    If nothing else, the protest is opening a lot of eyes to how things are being manipulated and facts rewritten to suit trudeau.
    The gofundme collection(over $5 milion) has been frozen
    Several Facebook groups supporting the protest have been deleted
    Police, politicians and the media are downplaying the size of the convoy as well as attempting to classify all of the truckers as antivax bigots.

    2. If he trucks off the drivers sufficiently it could turn very nasty.
      Those guys won’t take kindly to being attacked by any lefty pro-lockdown merchants and they certainly won’t be intimidated short of firearms.
      I hope it doesn’t happen.

      1. That is what people are worried about. The truckers are very loudly claiming that they will expel anyone threatening violence from the convoy but there is a fear that there will be some agitators planted who will be stirring it up.

    3. It is rather shocking to see that as soon as the state is defied, the Left wing go into absolute fascist mode – closing facebook site, blocking communications, funding. It’s disgusting. People are entirely rationally opposed to a view. Just because the state wants the opposite doesn’t give it the right to ignore and dismiss their views.

      It really is utterly, fanatically authoritarian.

      1. The funding has been frozen until gofundme know how the money is going to be spent. I suppose that would be standard procedure.

      2. I received this via my parish council:

        “The COVID-19 proof of vaccination has been created in a bid to restore the freedom of travel, which has been put at a halt for over a year now, since the pandemic erupted all over the block.
        The certificate will prove that its holder has been vaccinated while also containing additional information on the vaccine, as when the doses were administered, who is the manufacturer, etc. The UK COVID-19 proof of vaccination is now available in all provinces and territories. You should get the UK COVID-19 proof of vaccination if you plan to travel within or outside of UK. [my emphasis]

        Please confirm or reject your invitation by selecting an option below.”

        There is no way I am producing my Ausweis to travel within the UK (and I’m not going abroad).

    4. How jolly convenient.
      Not only can the virus tell whether you are sitting down at a pub table or walking about, but it also knows when a political poltroon is facing a tricky meeting.

  68. From Barry Cryer’s Christmas special,

    “Welcome to A Christmas Carol – or, for our Jewish viewers – a Christmas Rachel.”

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

    His suggested advert for Bernard Matthew’s Turkeys:

    “Norfolk-n-good”

  71. “A solicitor who was shot through the heart at point blank range outside Sheffield United’s Bramhall Lane football stadium was ‘lured’ to his death by his killers, a court has heard.

    Khuram Javed, 30, died after being shot three times and stabbed in the back in an alleyway on April 10 last year.

    Tinashe Kampira, 20, Atif Mohammed, 20, and a third man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, deny murder and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life at Sheffield Crown Court.

    Mr Hassall told jurors that while the reason for the shooting may never be revealed, that would not be something they have to consider.”

    Guess the reason……

    1. Is that right Bill……. deny murder and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life at Sheffield Crown Court.
      Whose life were they endangering at Sheffield Crown Court. Is there a comma missing? :-))

      1. Good evening, Peddy. I don’t write the stuff- just copy and paste from a newspaper of record!!!

        1. I did put the smiley face on.
          There was talk a couple of weeks ago about doing away with the comma and if they do who’ll know what they meant.

    3. Well, well, well. Good old British names involved again. We should get rid (or preferably shot).

    5. We privileged colonialist whites mustn’t criticise our enrichers’ cultural practices?

  72. HAPPY HOUR – Eight pints for men!
    The end of binge-drinking?

    Over to you Nottlers….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/37512fa7694fbf62a96285bcf01fb8032bca1f2e4818fb7ed3a563a62e42f7e0.jpg

    Mice given brain injections of synthetic chemical and access to alcohol drink less, study finds.
    The chemical can inhibit the part of the brain associated with addiction
    NHS defines binge drinking as consuming more than eight units for men
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10156039/Chemical-stop-brains-craving-binge-drinking-study-finds.html

          3. Here, centre at the bottom of the stairs so you step in them on the way to the kitchen to make breakfast coffee… Urgh!

          5. My Maine Coon left a headless rabbit on the doormat into the garage once- narrowly avoided stepping on it. Urk.

          6. Big bruiser of a cat, a Maine Coon. Our Norwegian Forest cats are similar sized, but quite lightly built in comparison.
            Both types are lovely moggies!

      1. I was invited for an old fellas health check, pre Covid of course. One of the questions was do you drink followed by how much.
        I explained I normally had beer only after watching rugby, playing occasional skittles and the odd Sunday down the local before lunch. It totalled about 12-15 pints a month during the winter months and about 6-8 pints during the summer months.
        I was immediately classified as a binge drinker. I immediately thought sod you you rather plumpish nurse you and left. I have not been invited again!

          1. Her logic I suppose was I drank them over just a few sessions.
            It made me so upset I had to call in the pub on the way home to contain my feelings. 🍺🍺

    6. I’ve just looked at the drivel. More than 2½ pints in a session or 3 large glasses of wine for men apparently constitutes binge drinking.

      “Around 15 per cent of Brits binge drink once a week, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data.”

      It’s enough to drive you to drink.

    8. I think the problem with their data is that they believe the responses to the questions they ask the patients.

  74. A German asks a Mexican if they have any Jews in Mexico.

    The Mexican says,

    “Sí, we have orange jews, apple jews, and grape jews!”

  76. Q: Why wasn’t Jesus born in Australia?

    A: God couldn’t find three wise men and a virgin.

    1. I sent this joke to an old school friend who is a farmer in North Devon. His reply was:

      That’s the same reason he wasn’t born in South Molton either!

  77. I posted recently that i was worried about Garlands. Apparently the electricity is buggered but the lady is fine.

    3. We heard from Garlands that black smoke was coming from a socket and the fuse box cut in to isolate it. Being investigated. But she says she is fine and has friends and good neighbours.

          5. I may be wrong. I just did a back of an envelope calculation.
            When dealing with large numbers it’s easy to lose track of where the decimal point ought to be.

      3. “At the same time the last stretch of the convoy has entered Manitoba”

        From where?

        The Northern Territories?
        Saskatchewan?
        or The USA.

        Without that info, the notice is meaningless …

  79. ‘Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…….’

    Covid alert:

    New Omicron variant ‘surging’ and could ‘evade immunity even more’
    THE new Omicron sub-variant BA.2 is “surging” in Europe, possibly explained by “much faster transmission or it evades immunity even more”, one health expert has speculated.

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1554691/covid-news-omicron-subvariant-ba2-surging-could-evade-immunity-epidemiologist

    2. So, what they are saying, is that there is no point in a booster as this new strain evades immunity??

        1. Yes, I do…why do you think the Three Wise Men didn’t get to Jesus until Jan 6th ?

          2. Haha! If it had been Three Wise Women, they would have got there on time and taken useful gifts and probably a casserole too;-)

          4. If it had been the three wise women they might not have believed the blurb…

            But then again, finding three wise women who weren’t witches might have been the Devil’s own job. };-O

          5. One of their wives forgot to refuel the camels…

            (Hides until tomorrow at the earliest).

  83. That’s me gone for today. Another nice day – relatively mild – though a strong s-w wind all day. Grey forecast tomorrow….

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

  84. Barry Cryer – Sandy Toksvig on Radio 4:
    “He was kind and thoughtful…[his humour] was never mean…”

    Just reflect on that…

    1. I found this BTL comment under the DT obituary article rather moving:

      This is the first time Barry Cryer has made me sad.

      1. He made me cry many times….laughing!!
        We are going to have a Hamish and Dougal fest tonight as a memorial.

  86. JEEEZUZ H CHRIST.
    I’ve just watched the BBC news headlines.
    Covid covid covid.
    Too soon, too many cases, too many unvaccinated NHS staff, etc etc et BLOOODY CETERA.
    I’m starting to hope that all triple vaccinated talking heads get Covid from triple vaccinated family members and DIE.

      1. Given how everyone who catches it is GONNA DIE, they’re probably assuming there are no unvaccinated still alive.

          2. You have ben listening to Trudeau, the truckers are like everyone else with about 80% vaccinated.

    2. Mother’s solicitors firm (in Barry) are all off with Covid, bar one: Here, every bugger has it. It’s a COLD! Not plague. Get a grip, FFS!

  87. A Muslim man who bought a double cheeseburger from Burger King was left “vomiting for days” after claiming his food was accidentally “loaded” with bacon.

    Gundogdu Yuzudik claimed he was served a double cheeseburger stuffed with pork on January 11.

    In a TikTok video, Gundogdu Yuzudik said he has avoided bacon his entire life for “religious reasons” and repeatedly asked Burger King staff not to include it in his food.

    The 22-year-old hit back a the fast-food chain, asking Burger King to “sort their staff out” since “simple” his dietary requirement were not followed.

    The video, which has got more than 64,000 views, has also attracted criticism from commenters who said that the meat at Burger King is not halal, whether bacon is included or not.

    Gundogdu said he had suffered from “vomiting” and headaches since the incident.

    The the airport employee claimed the incident had negatively impacted his mental and physical health.

    Burger King has responded to Gundogdu Yuzudik’s complaints with an apology and said they are retraining their team to “minimise” mistakes.

    Burger King has also offered the 22-year-old from Enfield, Greater London, “two free Whopper meals” but he has vowed to never return to the chain again.

    Gundogdu said: “I was on my lunch break and I headed to Burger King to get a double cheeseburger.

    “I specifically say with all my meals ‘no bacon’, and it’s always been correct. I told this to the till lady a couple of times, and when I got my food, I didn’t expect otherwise.

    “It was a simple instruction. It’s a mistake and we’re all human, but it wasn’t busy so they weren’t working under pressure so there wasn’t a reason for them to have made a mistake.

    “It’s just down to basic instructions. We’re all human, we all make mistakes, I appreciate that.”

    https://www.gbnews.uk/news/muslim-man-left-vomiting-for-days-after-burger-king-accidentally-gave-him-bacon/214435

    1. If the twat doesn’t like the food served in England, then he should be bundled off to some Muslim shithole and told to enjoy the “food” there!

      1. Don’t hold back, Grizzly, pluck up some courage to really insult him and call him a Very Silly Sausage!

        1. Na then, lad. It it were a choice between that stuff and halal, I know which I’d plump for, me, tha’ knows.

          1. I confess that my favourite burger joint is McDonalds. The food is carp, but the pickles are good.

    3. He doesn’t sound as if he is looking for a big pay out. Why is he eating in non-halal takeaways?

      1. I can’t agree, Phizee, I reckon he is hoping for a massive payout. And I am thinking of going myself to Burger King and eating one of their cheeseburgers and then kicking up a rumpus. Unlike our friend, Mr Gundogdu, however, I would return to claim my two free Whopper meals. A good way of eating out cheaply. Lol.

        1. I don’t like the smoke flavour. I have a Big Mac about once every three months. I see they are doing a chicken burger version of the Mac. Might give that a go sometime.

      2. I can’t agree, Phizee, I reckon he is hoping for a massive payout. And I am thinking of going myself to Burger King and eating one of their cheeseburgers and then kicking up a rumpus. Unlike our friend, Mr Gundogdu, however, I would return to claim my two free Whopper meals. A good way of eating out cheaply. Lol.

    4. Presumably he noticed the bacon as he chewed his first bite. Why didn’t he spit it out? it is virtually impossible that a single bite would make anyone ill. (unless they are allergic, and that is not his claim) If he only wants to eat cruelly killed halal meat, then he should shuffle off to whatever unhygienic country suits. As a civilised country, with high animal welfare standards, we should have an outright ban on cruel halal slaughter of animals.

  88. Moh are I feeling rather confused by a new word game called Wordle .

    Please could one of you explain / give some guidance on how to play it / figure it out.

    1. It uses American spelling, Belle. Evening, everyone (Belle and OH included, of course). My Singaporean Doctor friend recommended it to me.

    3. Totally confused. I put in every letter supplied and none are in the answer. It reminds of the Mastermind board game, for which I devised a cunning strategy that took all the fun out of it.

    4. Think of a five letter word and type it in the first row. Press enter. Any green letters are part of the answer and if they’re green they’re in the right place. The grey letters aren’t in the answer. Try and use the green and orange letters together with any non shaded ones to make a word. Rinse and repeat. Don’t tell anyone, but today’s word is mount…

    5. Good evening, Maggie. The words each contain six letters, and ALL of the available letters are shown in a box below. Think of a 6-letter word , e.g, COMPOST and click on each letter in turn in order to fill the six spaces. It is unlikely to be correct at the first attempt, but when you press ENTER you will see each letter change colour. The letters in GREEN are the correct letter in the correct place (say the M in compost). Any in ORANGE are the correct letters (say the letter T) but in the wrong place. Those letters which appear in black (say C, O, O, P and S) do not occur in the correct 6 letter word.

      So now you know that the correct word is – – M – – -, and that the letter T will be in the word, but is NOT the final (6th) letter. So try and think of a six-letter word which the solution might be, for example TOMBOY. Well, that won’t do, because you have been told that the letter O is not in the solution so do NOT try that word. However, looking at the box of letters below, you will see which ones you have used (they are crossed out) and you can use those left to see if you can find a possible solution.

      This is where it is difficult to explain (I should not have used COMPOST as my original example). Let’s suppose there is a valid word such as TAMIFF, you could try that one. If the T is now in the correct place (at the beginning) you will see it in GREEN, along with the M in GREEN in the third position and perhaps the letter I is shown in ORANGE (correct letter but in the wrong place) but the rest (A, F and F) are in BLACK which means they are not in the solution. You know know that the word is in the form T-M—. You might guess that the correct word is TIMEGG (not a real word, but you get the picture, I hope). If you now try that then you may have guessed correctly that the first three letters are T, I and M, and perhaps that E is correct but in the wrong place and that G is NOT in the correct answer.

      So you now know that the word is TIM— and that there is an E in the final TWO letters (but not in the fourth). The idea of the game is to keep changing letters and their positions until you get the correct solution. You have to do it in no more than six attempts. I hope you understand my complicate explanation and “Good luck”.

        1. Sorry, Geoff, you may well be right. I only did it a day or so ago and got the correct word at the third attempt. It may have been my thinking of “by the sixth attempt” which made me think it was a six-letter word solution.

  89. Evening, everyone. I really find it hard to find any sympathy for voters who, when they had good alternative candidates to choose from, voted for the same old, same old and expected a different result.

      1. Perhaps, but I know of two local constituencies that did and the (good) candidate lost her deposit in both cases.

  90. I think some of you use Pesky Fish – what we have ordered in the past is very good quality but sadly they use DPD as their delivery option. The last 2 deliveries were poor [no attempt to ring the doorbell or even knock on the door, just drop and run] and1 other was patently not for us but too difficult to sort out. Today there was no “1 hour slot” just a message around midday that the parcel would be delivered “before 2200”. At 17:22 I checked the tracker again – the parcel was claimed to be delivered “at 21:59” two and a half hours in the future! I suspect that the driver just claimed all the stuff had been delivered and went home early? Web chat with DPD a complete waste of time – “contact Pesky Fish tomorrow for process”. This isn’t encouraging me to order any more from them!

    1. Not Pesky’s fault. Tell them what happened. They might even give you a discount on the next order.

      My DPD driver is fine. You just have a bad ‘un. Complain by email to DPD .

      1. Already done – for all the good it will do! DPD used to be good here too but have gone right down recently – judging from their FB page it’s not just a few isolated cases either! I do have some sympathy with the drivers though – they often seem to have a totally impossible delivery schedule!

        I wonder if you’ve inherited our old DPD man??

        1. The two that deliver to me are both eastern europeans and very polite. All smiles too. I have no problem with migrants that work.

          1. Nor me but I do have a problem with people who not only lie to me, but lie so badly – claiming to have delivered something over 2 hours in the future! I also have a problem with customer service that doesn’t have any interest in the customer!

          2. I have a cctv over my front door. Just sending that which is time stamped sorts the liars out.

            If you find the customer service so bad then go elsewhere. But if you do that with Pesky then do tell them why.

          3. In the last couple days Pesky have revealed themselves to be far more on the ball than DPD, who have been giving them major problems for 48 hours it seems. The problem seems to be a software/systems issue although DPD have not admitted that to me. The fish has eventually arrived and was so well packed that it’s hopefully OK – full marks to Pesky, nul points to DPD!

  91. Off out at 7 for a drink with one of my former bosses. He parted company with BT around 25+ years ago and later moved out to the Peterborough area and we lost touch. A few months ago one of my neighbours told me that a new couple had moved into one of the newish bungalows adjacent to his and that the man asked if I still lived in the area. Lo and behold a week or so later my door bell rang and standing there was my old boss. After losing touch here he was living 50 yards away. We had a good chat that evening and we spoke about my late wife whom he and his wife knew quite well. One of the good guys, an excellent boss who let his people get on with the job. He also likes a pint. Layer Fox is the place and I hope they still have Mauldons on tap.

    4. A genuinely good boss can be a friend for life.
      I’ve kept in touch with one of mine for over 30 years.

    5. My female inspector in the late 70s–early 80s (who finished her career as a superintendent) is a life-long friend with whom I’m still in contact. She also shares my passion for ornithology.

  92. From a local rag. There’s a shiny new ‘uni’ being built in Peterborough. “Peterborough university asks 50 employers to sign up to apprenticeships pledge
    ARU Peterborough has unveiled an ambitious scheme to transform the city into a higher skills powerhouse by asking 50 local employers to sign up to a degree apprenticeships pledge.”
    I have no beef with apprenticeships; they play a very important role in educating school leavers in vocational skills. Why are apprenticeships even being offered at a ‘uni’? Surely such courses, belong in vocational Further Education colleges not Higher Education institutions.
    https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/business/peterborough-university-asks-50-employers-to-sign-up-to-apprenticeships-pledge-3544454

    1. There are loads of those in Germany, but they give you a Bachelors from a technical college. You work and study throughout the course – they are hard work, but debt free of course.

    2. Must be an echo of the ‘Peterborough Effect’ advertising campiagn of a few decades ago.

    3. They’ll be sandwich courses.
      The students can make sandwiches wherever there’s a “Subway”

    5. It’s semantics. They’re not apprentices as we know them. They’re doing a degree whilst working full time, typically taking 5 years to graduate. My eldest is doing one, combining his engineering degree studies with his management/office job over 5 years. It really suits him and he gets paid rather than building up student debt.

    3. No. My history teacher Mr Perry was a ranting communist. I didn’t learn a single thing in his lessons.

          1. I had to learn the violin when I was 8. Not an easy instrument, so the three of us in the lesson used to twiddle with the tuning pegs and poor old Miss Coop had to spend at least 5 mins of the 20 retuning the blasted things! I can see that as if it was yesterday!

      2. When a teacher cannot keep their views out of the classroom they stop being a teacher.

        Folk learn differently. I like to discuss my ideas through dissent and debate. Others like to read. If you’re not getting the teaching method matched to your needs then you’re not going to learn as effectively.

    6. My mother had a German friend and she was round one day and I walked into a conversation about the war. I said to Anna that the German people must have known something was going on. No, no she said, no-one knew anything. I loudly disputed what she said and was told to leave the room by my mother. I was at grammar school then and yes, it had been discussed.
      A former sister in law visited Auschwitz a few years ago. She told me she was kind of glad she’d been but also wished she hadn’t. She said it was all the discarded shoes that finished her off.

      1. I agree with the SiL: Glad I went, but won’t go again.
        Also, those poor shoes… the suitcases with people’s names and addresses on them, and the small personal stuff – combs, small bowls, scissors… much more powerful than the case of hair, that was just disgusting.

        1. Makes you want to cry out loud. I don’t think I could go there. Now, on the other hand, Ellis Island in the harbour of NYC is so full of hope. I absolutely loved it there.

      2. For me, it’s a little tarnished crumb brush in another display cabinet.
        Only a woman who expected to continue serving proper meals would bother to pack such an item.

      3. And to think our King before he abdicated supported Hitler.

        The tow rag Harry was out of order for wearing that Nazi arm band on his arm at a party .

        1. One assumes he didn’t understand. It takes a certain maturity (that I suspect he still hasn’t reached) to understand – and not find it OK with symbols of the mentality that did that.
          Germans I like and admire for many reasons, Nazis I won’t piss on if thet are on fire.

          1. Look OB..

            We all admire Germans and their brilliant technology , but how would you have known who was a Nazi / or who supported Hitler?

            Not everyone wore a uniform!

          2. Indeed.
            Who’d a thunk taht pretty well the whole population would go along with the covid loss of freedom, and the blaming of selected sections of society? Hints were given during Brexit, but now we know.

        2. Not just Edward VIII, Belle, many of the aristocracy also supported the Nazi regime because, also they did not like the Jews.
          The Merchant of Venice shows why people despised the Jews…the only thing, basically they were allowed to do was usery- money lending. So rich young men borrow money and then can’t pay up. Shylock, understandably is pissed off and is taken to court when he demands his pound of flesh.
          The German ambassador to London before and during WW II – Ribbentrop- sent Wallis Simpson flowers every day!

          1. Norway was very anti-Semitic – many didn’t see the problem with deporting Jews to Germany in the 1940s. Many did, and tried to help them escape and hide, but many Jews couldn’t conceive of their nice neighbours doing them in.
            Shades of Yugoslavia early 1990s… one learns, I hope, just how nasty people can be.

          2. Sadly, Obers, it’s become a thing in UK also….spy on your neighbours, anyone partying or getting together “against the rules”- turn them in.
            One rule for us, another for the other bastards.

          3. Yes and frighteningly so .. COVID marshalls appeared in the village , and the playground for the children was out of bounds , so was the skate park .. now we have a dog warden to spy on pooping dogs ,little dogs that old ladies have , who sadly find it difficult to bend down to scoop the poop .

          6. Don’t know. I have worked for Jews and also with gay people. I have had no problem with either.

        3. I think that Harry was unschooled despite his expensive private education. I saw more photos of that obviously ‘fancy dress’ event he attended, some were dressed as the Klu Klux Klan. I suspect he was as ignorant as many of his generation, now I think about it I wonder how much our sons know of the atrocities that occurred during WWll. Probably Harry was guilty simply of not knowing very much, if anything at all significant, perhaps the invitation to the party said ‘come as a political agitator of the 20th century.’ Perhaps there were others there dressed similarly as well as the Klu Klux Klan. We wouldn’t know because the press want to stir. The blame for Harry’s attire should be laid at the feet of his educators, and his family. Next tine I see our sons I will ask them how much they know of the Holocaust.

    7. Sorry, our history course covered the period from the end of the napoleon wars until just before WW1. That was the 3xam material, that is what they taught.

    8. We knew something about it, but not in great detail. I had Jewish friends, so possibly that made me more aware of what happened.

    9. The last couple of years has shown pretty clearly how it happened.
      I find this very powerful, and a guide as to what I should do.

      When the Nazis came for the communists,
      I remained silent;
      I was not a communist.

      When they locked up the social democrats,
      I remained silent;
      I was not a social democrat.

      When they came for the trade unionists,
      I did not speak out;
      I was not a trade unionist.

      When they came for the Jews,
      I remained silent;
      I was not a Jew.

      When they came for me,
      there was no one left to speak out.

      Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller
       (14 January 1892 – 6 March 1984) was a Protestant pastor and social activist.

        1. Pastor Niemöller nailed it.
          Whoever is being picked on now, it will eventually be you. So, support them now, later will be too late.

      2. A real activist – who did nothing.

        Thing is, the modern social activists – the fascist Left – will be the ones who came for people.

    10. I was at school with a lot of Jewish girls and Gateshead has the largest Talmudical college outside Israel. I was very aware of the Holocaust and the dreadful things that happened in Europe because of the anti-Jewish dogma. I heard on a phone in today that that college has had to employ security guards. What the hell is wrong with people?

        1. That may be it, I seemed to have absorbed this through the process of osmosis. I recall being given the ‘Diary of Anne Frank’ to read at school, that would be 1958-59 when I was getting on for 12 yrs, and I already knew what had happened in the concentration camps. I remember my mum talking about things to me connected to WWll and how her brother was amongst those in the army (he was a major) who were involved in the early liberation of the concentration camps.

          1. Yup, I can’t say it wasn’t shocking or terribly moving, but I think kids can absorb an awful lot of bad stuff without getting totally screwed up.
            I think our younger generations have been over-shielded from life’s realities.

    12. I have known about what happened to the Jews seemingly from a very young age. The ‘Holocaust’ word wasn’t used when i was growing up though. ‘All Our Yesterdays’ on the box gave some good grounding, especially the early post-war revelations and footage that wasn’t released during the war.
      I’ve no Jewish blood, as far as I know, Oi vey, but have always had time for their tribulations over the years.
      Footage from the camps and transportations were not hidden from us by our parents. I don’t remember anything about it from my schooling though.

    13. I remember when very young meeting an old man, a family friend.
      I was puzzled why he had a number on his arm and not knowing any better, asked him. His answer was “A very sad time, just remember the name Auschwitz and when you grow up, read about it and remember me” I did & do.

      Ps. I wished I had known him better, such a kind man as I recall, makes me very sad thinking about him even now.

    14. I remember a documentary some years ago about it that was about 10 hours long or so. Very enlightening but a long long watch. Can’t remember the name.

    15. Just thought, Belle, your early years were in Nigeria and West Africa weren’t they, so you wouldn’t, I imagine, have seen the British TV documentaries.

      1. My father only ever spoke about the horrors of the Japanese POW camps, where pals of his were interned / died or suffered horribly . Dad was serving on aircraft carriers in the Indian ocean , and also on and off based in Ceylon and Southern India (WW2)

        1. Yes, the Far East had its own set of atrocities. I remember talking to an old Japanese guy in a Nagasaki bar, bloody expensive too, who had burn scars down one side of his face. He was still bitter and angry but to be honest I didn’t have much sympathy for him.

    16. I just had a quick browse of that Wiki site you gave, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust
      I noticed beneath the ‘Madagascar Plan.’ the words, “Several Polish, French and British leaders had discussed the idea in the 1930s, as did German leaders from 1938.. This is rubbish because if you click on the ‘Madagascar Plan’ , you will see that these British ‘Leaders’ are in fact just “British antisemites Henry Hamilton Beamish, Arnold Leese, and others.”
      Wikipedia being used to defame our country.

  96. This story was featured on R4’s ‘PM’ today. Loony Lucas, the Mad Green Pixie of Brighton, was invited to comment at length about the folly of nuclear power and the great expense of it all but got very upset when the presenter pointed out that ‘renewables’ [sic] were cheap because of subsidies. “Ah, but, but, but…”. She then offered this corker: “Baseload is nonsense. What we need is renewables and a smart grid.” Sadly the presenter didn’t remind her that wind turbines currently provide us with barely 5% of our annual energy requirements.

    Government pledges £100m for Sizewell nuclear site
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60140854

    At least there was some semblance of balance in the programme when later it had an interview with a Rolls-Royce spokesman who is involved with the SMR programme. Some way off production maybe, but a sounder idea than ‘renewables’.

    1. “Renewables and a smart grid” means a grid that we can selectively shut off parts of when the renewables aren’t delivering.

        1. We’ve a smart meter. The energy companies don’t know anything about them either. The whole roll out was rushed.

          Regarding the shutting down the grid – they’ll do that anyway. Smart meters just allow them to vary the charges on demand.

          1. I will have a brace of smart meters* installed on 10 March.

            I have read (on here?) that the present generation of smart meters is obsolete; where do we go from here?

            *Perhaps they should be called ‘Grid Rationing Devices’.

        1. They have no technical understanding whatever. Berks (other counties are available).

      3. As long as they switch Brighton off first. People calling for it should experience the reality.

        1. Yes, but Lefties don’t want to pay for their own arrogance. They want everyone else to pay.

    2. To save electricity the Grid could start by only supplying Solar generated or wind generated power to the home of green idealism – Brighton…..

    1. I’ve got a black sense of humour, and when his mother, asked if her son might change his mind about having the vaccine, and said, “I don’t know, he might have a change of heart.”…

  100. 334700+ up ticks,

    DT,

    Top Tory Liz Truss blew £500,000 of public money on a private jet flight to … “Ms Truss has a history of frittering away public funds

    At the same time I believe there were tory (ino) supporter voters punching out lino rings to feed the energy meters,

  101. Well, I am now off to cook a late evening meal – and perhaps have my second go at WORDLE. Then upstairs for an early night. So I wish a Good Night, to everyone.

    1. Underground, overground, wordling free, the Wordles of Wordledon Common are we. (Sorry)

          2. … and send them to you?
            It’s a long way to UK from here, I’ll have lost my erection by then… :-((

      2. I’m worried about you, Herr Oberst. Have you always had a fetish about my nighties? Lol.

        1. I have just seen your explanation Elsie , I will study it carefully.

          Thank you for taking the trouble to do so .

          Goodnight , and thankyou

          By the way , on our village F/B some one was advertising freshly made scones ..£15 for 6 scones .. she didn’t bat an eyelid when some one queried the price !

          1. Maybe, when the increase in gas and electricity charges takes effect in April, I should start up a Rhubarb Crumble business. Ten portions for £50?!?!?

      1. 334700+ + up ticks,

        Evening TB,
        I would not argue with you, but with that light I could not call it with certainty, it needs putting down though.

        1. 33470-0+ up ticks,

          O2O,
          They have a bloke in custody Og
          probably listening to how he was set upon.

  103. Ironic, but the first BBC programme I’ve watched in many months – ‘The Man Who Saw Too Much’ – broadcast on BBC4 yesterday evening, was rendered almost unwatchable because subtitles were plain white. They were particularly important as the ‘man’ in this case (Boris Pahor) is Slovenian and spoke in that language. Plain white subtitles all but disappear when shown over film with light background. An elementary mistake which could have been avoided by using a black outline on text, or putting it on a dark, but translucent, background.

    Have complained to the BBC. Will be interesting to hear their excuses.

    1. We have the problem here that we get Norwegian subtitles superimposed on English subtitles… like trying to read Chinese.

    2. Dear VOM – Yours is the ONLY complaint we have received. Please go and stuff yourself.

    3. Interesting. I’ve recorded it for watching later so will check the iPlayer version to see if it’s better.

  104. ‘Night All {:^))

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f0d6f07515b73366d1bf8a7b6560bc62f81655c8ad70ad0c067f186abd231cfe.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5686939a29c206d18585a98834faeb6dbb23303b689d84bb5ebca0d95afc6e0f.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/44e2a1b27477a061dbba8353ed407d9b8f7ca887229d9e96002935516505d44c.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5d166260f335f30f2a1eaa0a2e8067efbb4d01a5c9cd57aa15b6d4f9b6eb2953.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e96dc86b27be6d642bc138b64b1532d7a4fdcdac57893d5842ca7b0afa989426.jpg

    3. Night night Rik. Thanks for all the memes, jokey cartoons, cats etc… I thought I’d take this opportunity to say they are much appreciated, no more so than in these difficult times. Don’t forget to set the alarm for tomorrow’s meme hunt.

    4. Rik

      I will also echo everyword that pm has said to you.

      A million thanks for so many amusing memes , loads of funnies to raise some cheer .
      Bless you x

      1. The kid has manipulated several different apps to be able to track Mr Musk’s Airplane……

    2. Private jets are immune to the airborn tax legislation. You know, so the rich, statists, communists and scum can fly about at far less cost while we pay and pay and pay.

      They’re hypocrites.

      1. We are going to do that next. RIP dear Barry Cryer.
        Just watched the wonderful Martin Clunes Pacific Island show, so good.

  109. Boris needs to sack ALL the ‘neo-socialists, green fanatics and pro-woke crowd’ in No 10 now, says Lord Frost in attack on advisers and apparent jab at Carrie’s influence as PM fights to save his job

    Boris Johnson faces Partygate limbo amid behind-the-scenes wrangling over what can go in Sue Gray report
    The mandarin’s long-awaited verdict was expected to be handed to the PM yesterday but has still not arrived
    Fate of Mr Johnson and some of his most senior staff hanging in the balance with police also probing
    Furious Tories have compared the report to an ‘overdue baby’ and warned No10 distracted from other issues

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10449179/Lord-Frost-urges-Boris-Johnson-conduct-No10-clear-Partygate.html

    2. “‘Furious Tories have compared the report to an ‘overdue baby'”
      Perhaps he will be induced.

      1. 334700 + up ticks,
        Evening M,
        Get a politico size set of forceps and drag the whole lot out of number 10.

      2. I really am a bad man aren’t I, my thought was he will be aborted.
        Bad, bad me, I know how strongly people feel over that subject but it just seemed so right for him.

      3. I really am a bad man aren’t I, my thought was he will be aborted.
        Bad, bad me, I know how strongly people feel over that subject but it just seemed so right for him.

  110. Very, very last post.

    An AMAZING starlit sky tonight. Looks like one of those star charts dear old Tony Angel used to post. Stunning. And FREE…!!

    1. Just looked out the back. Nary a star, a planet nor moon visible, it’s as black as Newgate’s knocker.

  113. Discus seems to have gone arse up again…if you try and upvote someone the screen goes blank.

      1. You can call me Ann- I suspect it’s just my computer/internet. Grrr.
        Edit- your post did the trick!

      2. You can call me Ann- I suspect it’s just my computer/internet. Grrr.
        Edit- your post did the trick!

      1. You’re right, they have. That is just awful. I’ll delete it. I don’t want to encourage or support that in any way at all, however indirectly.

  116. If there are any of you who have not listened to Percy Grainger’s music… do so, it it is well worth it.

    1. Grainger was close to both Grieg and Delius. If you can find it the Ken Russell black and white film is worth a view.

      Russell did a similar documentary style film on Edward Elgar.

      Both were brilliant.

      1. Wondered if I was talking to mself… wouldn’t be the first time 🙁
        Lots of wet due to arrive at the weekend, and warm, too. Yukk. It’s winter, it’s suposed to be cold & white.

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