Thursday 27 June: No major party has succeeded in selling Britain to this first-time voter

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

753 thoughts on “Thursday 27 June: No major party has succeeded in selling Britain to this first-time voter”

    1. My reaction on Twatter:
      "I can just see all the slammers directed to the Highlands and Islands, enthusing over that!"

    2. Dear anti english labour party. You only have a few days left to make this imporant announcement to the electorate. Please hurry up.

    1. Utterly correct.
      Starmer and his sidekick Drakeford plus BraveTart never stopped demanding more restrictions and more government handouts.
      By the way, what has happened to St Marcus Rashford, the BBC’s favourite footballer?

      1. he got sick from eating all the school dinners. Did he ever part with any of his own fortune to fund any of the freebies he demanded?

  5. Britain’s future is just a game for its rotten political class. 27 June 2024.

    “It’s like elections are just a bit of fun rather than determining the future of our country.”

    Yes that is pretty much true for its journalists and media as well. It’s telling that the comments section to this article was removed after the posts turned really ugly.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

  6. 388937+ up ticks,

    Morning Each.

    Thursday 27 June: No major party has succeeded in selling Britain to this first-time voter

    Thursday 27 June: No major party has succeeded in selling Britain down the river It was a joint effort, aided & abetted
    ALL THE WAY by the coalition supporter / voters these past thirty plus years.

    The voting pattern, acceptable at first but as time progressed and things were SEEN to get worse there was NO CHANGE in the voting pattern right up until 2019, party before country led the field.

    Good people and a credible party construct were put down to make way for the coming "saviour".

    What we are about to receive in the near future has been fashioned, in the main,at the hands of the peoples themselves.

  7. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, today’s (recycled) story

    Whatever Turns You On

    Twelve monks were about to be ordained. The final test was for them to line up, nude, in a garden while a nude model danced before them. Each monk had a small bell attached to his privates, and they were told that anyone whose bell rang would not be ordained because he had not reached a state of purity.

    The model danced before the first monk candidate, with no reaction. She proceeded down the line with the same response, until she got to the final monk. As she danced, his bell rang so loudly it fell off and clattered to the ground. Embarrassed, he bent over to pick up the bell…

    …and all the other bells went off!

    3. Good morning Tom.

      An old chestnut – but a horse chestnut: a real conker!

  8. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, today’s (recycled) story

    Whatever Turns You On

    Twelve monks were about to be ordained. The final test was for them to line up, nude, in a garden while a nude model danced before them. Each monk had a small bell attached to his privates, and they were told that anyone whose bell rang would not be ordained because he had not reached a state of purity.

    The model danced before the first monk candidate, with no reaction. She proceeded down the line with the same response, until she got to the final monk. As she danced, his bell rang so loudly it fell off and clattered to the ground. Embarrassed, he bent over to pick up the bell…

    …and all the other bells went off!

    1. Hilarious, given the “outrage” at the “betting scandal”. Now we have deliberate and dangerous car fraud, and the “honeytrap” allegations….which to my mind are far more serious than a £100 flutter at the bookies. (Yes I know it shows lack of morality, which is worrying – but fake numberplates and bribery are way more scandalous in my book).

  12. Russia is accused of hacking Ukrainian TV to flash violent images of war on children’s channels. 27 June 2024.

    Russia has been accused of hacking Ukrainian television to cause violent images from the war to flash on screen, including on children’s channels.

    No trans then? No same sex kissing? How disappointing.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

        1. Brought tears to my eyes. The bloke in the striped jumper is Billy Bigelow, who died falling on his own knife in a failed robbery. He was allowed to return from purgatory for a day . The young girl is his daughter and the other his wife.

    3. For my sins I think I used to have the original Gerry and The Pacemakers LP!

      How will they do what they'll do to us?

      I like it (not)

  14. Good morning, chums, and a big Thank You to Geoff for today's site. Another hot day for me in this neck of the woods but, looking on the bright side, it will save my gas and electricity usage.

    Wordle 1,104 3/6

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  15. Good Morning all, another dull, overcast and windy day here in Co Antrim.

  16. Morning, all Y'all.
    Beautifully sunny start to the day – but rain forecast for after working hours 🙁

  17. Good morning all and 77th squaddies,

    Partly cloudy overhead Castle McPhee, wind in the West, 16℃ with 21℃ forecast. The chem-trailers have been out early this morning, as they often are. Chem-trailer organisations like to do it aroound dawn and dusk, when the upper winds are light.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/00f74487d71d9dc0879ce3914d944e04e8ec7d77e0fa7d2f73ba3d39ccc71aaf.png

    The trail going from top left to bottom right can clearly be seen to be well below the upper cirrus. Contrails do not occur at medium level in our latitudes in summer. This is something else.

  18. Farage is telling uncomfortable truths on Ukraine. 27 June 2024.

    Ukraine is placing its hopes on more weapons from the West. Russia is relying on its increasingly mobilised, and vastly larger, population and economy. Things seem at the moment to be moving in Russia’s direction, but slowly and uncertainly. Meanwhile, the carnage, killing, and threat of potentially devastating escalation remain horribly real. The time has come for the West to overcome its much advertised repugnance and negotiate.

    The first crack in the dyke? Farage has done it again.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/27/nigel-farage-vladimir-putin-ukraine-war-nato-eu/

    1. There is no easy answer, so we need some imagination here.

      The problem with appeasing Russia is that it sets a precedent that was reset with WW2 that rewards those with might and aggression to get what they want, under the guise of 'Realpolitik'. China and Israel are itching to use their might to annex a neighbour, and I am sure they are not alone. This is what led to the invasions and the brutalities of the 1930s that led on to great devastation. The world survived then, but there were only 2 1/2 billion people then, and no nuclear weapons until the very close of that war, when America used them to ensure victory against Japan.

      Munich haunts every part of the current Ukraine situation, and while Putin was not born until the 1950s, he might be wise to ponder what Chamberlain did before making demands on British diplomats. It is not lost to the British that the USSR was actually allied with the Third Reich during this period, so Putin cannot be too cocky about tackling Nazis.

      Ukraine claims to be a sovereign nation. This is an aspiration of very many people, and not easy to achieve. Kurdistan, Palestine, Scotland, Catalonia… there are very many on the waiting list. From being an autonomous province in the USSR, they finally got their sovereignty in the 1990s. Like Belgium though, it remains divided by history, historical allegiance and language. This did not matter until Lithuania and Poland joined the EU and NATO, spooking the Russian-leaning parts of Ukraine and the Kremlin.

      Nevertheless, any sovereign nation needs the industry to produce effective arms to defend it, as much as it needs the manpower. When Ukraine lost the Donbas, it lost its primary industrial region, rendering it incapable of producing the weapons needed to defend the nation from a determined foe. In the absence of industrial capacity, it must rely on friendly allies, dangling something worthwhile in trade if moral purpose alone does not deliver the goods. Ukraine is the breadbasket for much of the world, and feeds a number of allies crucial to Russia, such as Iran. However, it has been a tactic by the Kremlin to wreck Ukraine's cornfields and not care too much if others go hungry.

      It is unacceptable to the Kremlin for Ukraine to appeal to NATO for protection, but really it has left Ukraine no choice. They have hardly shown themselves to be a reliable ally. The same calculations have been made by neutrals such as Finland and Sweden, even though Turkey is still sitting on the fence, playing one off with the other to advantage, but then by controlling the Bosphorus, Turkey can afford to play this game.

      There was some merit in adjusting the borders of Ukraine to bring strong Russian parts into Russia, and roughly equivalent to the frontier that has been fairly stable for the last year or so. However, mere appeasement is not enough. Ukraine must have the independent industrial capacity to defend itself effectively against Russian heavy artillery and drones. If this cannot be done locally, then Ukraine needs to be granted alliance with those whom Russia may consider a foe.

      In addition, the destruction of infrastructure and agriculture by Russia in Ukraine must stop if there is ever to be a reduction in Ukraine's required defensive capability.

      The alternative Putin seems to be pushing for is annihilation of Ukraine as an independent sovereign nation, violating everything the UN was set up to achieve, and setting an extremely dangerous precedent elsewhere. He may get his pyrrhic victory, and the trepidation that emerges is the very same trepidation the world had to confront in the late 1930s. This is unacceptable to the civilised world.

      1. Put the boot on the other foot.

        From Russia's perspective ,wouldn't ignoring the EU's and NATO's (and by extension America's) overtures to Ukraine be appeasement? Particularly in the light of all the other former Soviet block countries' new positions.

        1. This would be true if ever NATO threatened to set foot on Russian sovereign territory. It must be said that sovereign negotiations following the breakup of the USSR were done without NATO intervention. All the Kremlin propagandists can claim is undue influence, forgetting that influencing foreign regimes is part of normal diplomacy that Russia itself is happy to engage in.

          In 1956, the USSR invaded Hungary, and in 1968 it invaded Czechoslovakia. At the time, this seemed a pretty effective way to maintain the position of a Soviet block country, but in the long run, citizens of these countries may ponder how desirable this position is, and may well turn to the alternative thrown up by the EU and NATO.

          Ironically, until 24th February 2022, Putin was making substantial progress winning over the EU to alignment commercially with Russia, and under Trump, America was cooling off over continuing its protection of Europe. Given a few more years, Russia could have achieved what it desired without firing a shot. Like fly fishing, and Ukraine was the bait.

          1. May I remind you that Lord Cameron of Greenswill, when a lowly PM, made a speech in which he looked forward to the time when the EU stretched "from the Atlantic to the Urals". In case your geography is as bad as Call-me-Dave's (or maybe he was inadvertently telling the truth) the Urals are in Western RUSSIA.

          2. Making my point entirely. At the time, there was a serious possibility of Russia applying for EU membership.

            I appreciate you have sketchy knowledge of geography yourself, but Russia is considerably more in Europe than Israel or Australia, both of which participate in Eurovision.

          3. What makes you think I have a sketchy knowledge of geography? Have you been talking to my O Level geography teacher? (He was quite surprised I passed with a reasonable grade). I don’t agree with Australia or Israel taking part in Eurovision (not that I watch it). I don’t recall the likelihood of Russia applying for EU membership, despite my actively campaigning against the EU. I do know that the EU was looking to take over as many countries as it could, which is a different matter entirely.

          4. I do remember Putin making tentative approaches, and Nordstream would have made Russia an important contributor to the energy resources of the EU. Most sympathetic to Russia were Austria and Hungary. I remember well the commissioning of work by English Composer Alma Deutscher for a State visit by Putin to Vienna in 2018. Russian oligarchs have also been investing in Western Europe. The EU rebuffed Putin though, suggesting there was a way to go before Russia was fit to join the EU. I think Putin had a bit of a hissy fit over this, and told Brussels – fine, if you won’t have me, then I’ll go to China or Iran.

            As you know, I voted Leave in 2016. This was not over EU expansionism, nor cultural affinity between the UK and the continent, which I feel closer than that between the UK and the United States. It was over the incompatibility of the respective legal systems that had created a monster of bureaucracy in the UK that was wrecking the competitiveness of British industry.

  19. "Boris Johnson is a criminal buffoon". For this and other bon mots from Tucker Carlson, listen to this great speech and interchange with journalists in Australia recently. After the Putin interview Johnson attacked him so Carlson contacted Johnson and asked for an interview. Johnson demanded $1m to do it.

    https://www.youtube.com/wat…

    1. Carlson was the one who should have been paid for the interview. DH Johnson.

  20. Morning all 🙂😊
    Still sunshine in abundance.
    I'm not sure any major party would possibly be appealing to a first time voter. I'd expect them to have already spent most of their lives in the UK, and witnessed the turmoil already.
    Perhaps they'd be more attracted by Reform. And this is why our msm, especially bbc is keeping Reform politics and its refreshing differences under the carpet.

    1. Some broken sunshine here, but strong winds and decidedly cooler and fresher. At least sleeping should be easier tonight.

      1. Some broken sunshine here – Then you'd better get some glue and mend it! Or summer will be cancelled again!

  23. Good morning all.
    Dull and a bit breezy with 13°C.
    I've an auction purchase to pick up from Altrincham and then drop down to Step-son's to drop off his laundry and visit him in the hospital.

    1. If they had ever even tried to respect the country and its long established culture and long established traditions when they had arrived in England there might not have been the problems we are met with today.
      But it's been pretty obvious that they don't really have any respect what so ever and in full view are causing as many problems as they possibly can.
      And blaming everyone else for that.

        2. I’ve been saying the same thing for years Sos. Every where they turn up on our planet they cause as much trouble as they possibly can. And more.

      2. …and, Eddy, they expect us to change our ways, just to accommodate their heathen ideology.

        1. Heathen to western people and medieval to the rest of human existence.
          Nearly a thousand years after they were kicked out of Spain they come herd and rape children. Which is what they were doing at Alhambra.
          ‘Barbary pirates’ Stealing children from Northern Europe keeping them in caves and feeding them to their pet lions when they’d finished with their victims.

      3. Over the years, we have known a number of Asians who came to this country penniless after being kicked out of Africa in the 1970s. Without exception, all have worked hard, lived good law-abiding lives and have become proper British citizens. None are moslum …….

        3. Too true, I worked with some of them including Africans and one of the people an Asian from Harrow, was probably the nicest person I have ever met.
          And our youngest son is engaged to a lovely young lady whose parents are Sikh and run a post office.

          1. One parent of our potential future DiL's was born in E Africa, and the family is also Sikh. We haven't yet met them, but if they are half as lovely as their daughter, that's great.

      4. Islam means submission; the muslim is Uebermensch and the kuffar is lower than cattle. With that ideology they are never going to respect any culture but their own barbarism.

    2. The Radio France article is not happy, calling it 'Racism in music' and attacking the right-wing xenophobes:

      "The video has been viewed millions of times in the fascist sphere and – the cruel magic of algorithms – it is gradually rising to the surface of the news feeds of many users who find themselves exposed to this singing synchronized to a video".

      "Similar cases have recently emerged in Germany, with the cover of the title by the Italian Gigi d'Agostino, "Love Always", transformed into a song of hatred: "Auslander Raus", or "Foreigners out". Still a common obsession: immigration, perceived as a danger. A bad buzz which forced several German politicians to condemn this cover, and the Austrian football federation to abandon the original song, which was to be its anthem for the Euro".

    3. The French one posted above is v catchy. Edit. As referenced here – tu partiras

  26. They have no interest in selling Britain to the voters. They have all been too busy selling Britain to China, Qatar, Saudi, the WHO and the WEF.

    1. Don't forget selling us to the invaders, legal and otherwise, many of them a danger to our safety and national security.

      1. That implies they got something in exchange for the country – they didn't. Selling us out, or down the river, maybe.

  27. everything that is wrong with “modern” “inclusive” broken Britain:

    “SENDING a card to a colleague who has said they do not want their birthday celebrated could count as harassment, an employment tribunal has ruled.
    The conclusion came in the case of a tax worker who sued HMRC after bosses sent her a birthday card after she expressly said she did not celebrate it.
    Kani Toure was off sick with work-related stress when she asked for correspondence to be kept to a minimum and via email, the tribunal heard.
    In the next month she was contacted “more than once every other day”, before being sent a birthday card despite informing her boss the previous year she did not want one. Ms Toure, a Muslim who has a pituitary gland tumour that is exacerbated by stress, is in line for compensation after winning her case over claims of race and disability harassment and discrimination.
    The French national of African origin started working as a customer service consultant at HMRC’S Croydon office in October 2019, the tribunal in south London heard. In March 2020, at the start of lockdowns, she started working from home. After difficulties claiming utility expenses, she told Hugh Henderson, her boss, she had been discriminated against “mostly because of my foreign accent and origin”.
    On Aug 2 2020, Mr Henderson mentioned in a meeting that it was her birthday. “He had a practice of keeping a list with the birthdays of each member of his team on it,” the tribunal heard.
    The next day, Ms Toure emailed him saying although it had been “very kind”, she was not celebrating her birthday for “personal reasons” and asked for her details be taken off any list. By September 2020, Ms Toure felt she was being “left out” of training opportunities and in November 2020 she submitted a formal grievance containing “allegations against a range of colleagues”.
    As a result, she was transferred to HMRC’S Canary Wharf office for six months. She took sick leave in June 2021. In the next month, she was sent 11 emails to check she was “alright” as well as a birthday card. The panel heard this “repeated contact” had “exacerbated” her symptoms.
    Ms Toure was sent a letter in November 2021 warning she faced “formal steps” regarding her absence. Adam Leith, the employment judge, said: “HMRC’S conduct, in repeatedly contacting [Ms Toure] during the early part of her sickness absence, was unwanted. The birthday card was also unwanted.”
    The judge said the “repeated contact” created a “hostile and intimidating environment”. The damages will be set at a later date.”

    1. Contact = harassment, no contact = rejection. So, what does the poor manager do?

          1. I wouldn't denigrate that; it can be very real and debilitating. Work related stress saw me grind to a halt and have to take early retirement.

          2. I’m sure it was for you, Conway but that woman seems to have an overweening sense of entitlement and is playing the race/disability cards.

          3. I don’t disagree with your assessment of her, just it isn’t fair to apply a sweeping generalisation to everyone.

    2. So she’s an idiot and everyone else is to blame. There must have been a probationary period when she was first given the job and it appears to have been evident very early on that she was going to be useless but I guess she ticked boxes.

    3. Female, French national, Muslim, African origin, disabled – ye gods, how many boxes does she tick??

        1. it would be better if she was a trans fake female – that would be a jackpot list.

    4. Why is she even in this country sponging off tax payers? And why is a foreign national allowed to work in a government office/snivel serpent post?
      It sounds like she is just a sponging shirker, looking for something to get a compo pay-out. After this, I bet most employers wouldn't touch her with a very long bargepole.

    6. “He had a practice of keeping a list with the birthdays of each member of his team on it,”
      I do that when I'm leading a department or discipline – then we have a ready-made excuse to have some cake, flowers for the ladies, and a few minutes teambuilding moment.
      If one of my people didn't want it, then I wouldn't do it, but that would be sad.
      I would also regularly contact anyone who is sick, to show that we miss them (even if we don't) and to be sure that they don't need anything that we can supply. Emails are fine, since the matter isn't urgent.
      The judge is an idiot.

    9. If she was employed and being paid, she should have put up with the contact her employer was attempting. What were her symptoms – grifteritis?

  28. everything that is wrong with “modern” “inclusive” broken Britain:

    “SENDING a card to a colleague who has said they do not want their birthday celebrated could count as harassment, an employment tribunal has ruled.
    The conclusion came in the case of a tax worker who sued HMRC after bosses sent her a birthday card after she expressly said she did not celebrate it.
    Kani Toure was off sick with work-related stress when she asked for correspondence to be kept to a minimum and via email, the tribunal heard.
    In the next month she was contacted “more than once every other day”, before being sent a birthday card despite informing her boss the previous year she did not want one. Ms Toure, a Muslim who has a pituitary gland tumour that is exacerbated by stress, is in line for compensation after winning her case over claims of race and disability harassment and discrimination.
    The French national of African origin started working as a customer service consultant at HMRC’S Croydon office in October 2019, the tribunal in south London heard. In March 2020, at the start of lockdowns, she started working from home. After difficulties claiming utility expenses, she told Hugh Henderson, her boss, she had been discriminated against “mostly because of my foreign accent and origin”.
    On Aug 2 2020, Mr Henderson mentioned in a meeting that it was her birthday. “He had a practice of keeping a list with the birthdays of each member of his team on it,” the tribunal heard.
    The next day, Ms Toure emailed him saying although it had been “very kind”, she was not celebrating her birthday for “personal reasons” and asked for her details be taken off any list. By September 2020, Ms Toure felt she was being “left out” of training opportunities and in November 2020 she submitted a formal grievance containing “allegations against a range of colleagues”.
    As a result, she was transferred to HMRC’S Canary Wharf office for six months. She took sick leave in June 2021. In the next month, she was sent 11 emails to check she was “alright” as well as a birthday card. The panel heard this “repeated contact” had “exacerbated” her symptoms.
    Ms Toure was sent a letter in November 2021 warning she faced “formal steps” regarding her absence. Adam Leith, the employment judge, said: “HMRC’S conduct, in repeatedly contacting [Ms Toure] during the early part of her sickness absence, was unwanted. The birthday card was also unwanted.”
    The judge said the “repeated contact” created a “hostile and intimidating environment”. The damages will be set at a later date.”

  31. Eventually:
    Wordle 1,104 4/6

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  32. Underneath the Allister Heath 'Armageddon' article there's a comment by Mark Boney which lists one man's reasons for not voting conservative.

    OK for the benefit of Micheal Ward and anyone else posting comments that we must all vote Conservative, or else…

    My list of reasons as to why I despise this Government and in fact those we've had since 2010.

    1) Open Door Legal Immigration.
    2) Open Door Illegal Immigration.
    3) The Creature Johnson's Great Lie Fuelled and Filled Covid Oppression.
    4) The Covid Vaccine(sic) Coercion.
    5) The Green Lunacy.
    6) Two-tier policing.
    7) A Judiciary with its own agenda and blatant bias.
    8) Failing to get rid of the BBC.
    9) Failing to Reform the NHS.
    10) The Horizon Scandal and "Square up".
    11) HS2.
    12) The loss of our countryside due to immigration.
    13) The loss of our countryside to solar panels and wind turbines.
    14) BRINO with the betrayal of Northern Ireland and our Fishermen.
    15) Failing to leave the ECHR.
    16) Wrecking our Armed Forces.
    17) The failure to protect our servicemen from blood sucking lawyers.
    18) Not dealing with the hate Marchers.
    19) Not dealing with the XR and JSO cretins.
    20) Failure to bring back Grammar Schools.
    21) Allowing the Transgender creatures to prey on children in schools.
    22) Allowing the mutilation of children and confused young people with puberty blockers, mastectomies and genital mutilation.
    23) Out of control public spending.
    24) Failing to deal with the Workshy.
    25) We need more nuclear power stations.
    26) Pot Holes!
    27) Failure to sort out woke universities and taxpayer backed loans.
    28) Record high taxes
    29) Not getting rid of nonsensical tax measures such as 60% 100-125k tax bracket anomaly, close to 100% tax anomaly for parents with children in similar incomes.
    30) Gaslighting throughout Covid.
    31) War on landlords and small business.
    32) WEF and Davos owned globalists.
    33) Failure to take back control of Bank of England
    34) Failing to abolish the Equality Act.
    35) Refusing to use our natural resources to keep the Greta’s of this world happy
    36) Failure to repeal EU regs.
    37) Persecution of our self-employed.
    38) Levelling up – binned.
    39) Allowing a blatant anti-straight white male agenda throughout the armed forces, police, the rest of the public services and the BBC.
    40) Allowing a blatant anti-straight white male, couples and families agenda in the advertising industry.
    41) Overseas Aid.
    42) Not dealing with the Utilities who bill us to pollute our rivers and beaches with raw sewage.
    43) Not Reestablishing industries, apprenticeships and technical colleges
    44) Not encouraging farming so we can become more self-sufficient.
    45) Failure to resolve strikes
    46) Rishi blaming the Doctors on high waiting lists. The gall of the man.
    47) Massive Government Debt now 104% of GDP!
    48) Lunatic QE monetary policy,
    49) Failure to take back control of Bank of England
    50) Creation of the OBR,
    51) The “nudge” unit.
    52) 77 Brigade deployed against the British people
    53) Failure to eradicate the ultra lefties in the public sector who are completely out of control and forcing their agenda on the country without no attempt at push back by the faux Conservatives.
    54). Failure to curb gross profiteering by retail energy suppliers to the extent we now have standing charges on gas and electricity exceeding £300pa which obviously affects the poorest in society. Pure super profits for the most part on assets already fully depreciated.
    55) Basically 14 years of failure.
    56) Telling blatant and infantile lies about Farage.
    57) Failing to deal with Postal Voting.

    So Micky and Connie Ball it's not just Covid!

    To which I have nothing to add. Vote Reform.

    2. All that will seem like a picnic if/when Liebour get the keys to no. 10 next week.

      1. It will be like the faux cons on steroids. I would say "with added fiscal incompetence", but the cons haven't exactly shown that they can successfully manage the economy of late, either.

    4. Thing is all those things will continue under Labour. The uniparty simply won't do anything to confront the status quo.

      Hells, the fools in Soton CC have put a level crossing and a speed bump at the top of a steep hill. It's is so damned stupid, so dangerous – the frenzied anti car arrogance is staggering.

    5. 33 and 49 are the same, you know. I would add "failure to repeal ALL of Blair's "reforms" and all New Labour's legislation".

  33. Gareth Southgate: ‘I am the problem’
    England manager has urged supporters to back the players even if they are unhappy with him
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    I know very little about Kevball – the last time I played it was at prep school in 1958 after which I have just played rugby until adiposity, alcohol and tobacco began to cramp my on field style reducing it to total incompetence. I must admit that the game I saw on TV last night was pretty dire.

    However this BTL makes the point that England's worst enemy are those who say they support the team.

    Everyone rubbished the England Rugby XV in the last World Cup – BUT

    i) England reached the semi-finals unbeaten – the only side to do so – and having won every one of their matches;

    ii) In the semi-final England was only beaten in the final two minutes of the match by the eventual tournament winners and by just one point.

    True they had an easier initial draw than the favourites and did not have to meet either France, Ireland or New Zealand. But the match statistics cannot be denied.

    Give Southgate a chance – who know he may yet surprise us.

    1. In terms of matches against top ranked sides in the world rankings, and looking at current form, England have a comparatively easy route to the final.
      Of the "big boys" we potentially face Italy in the quarter and Netherlands in the semi-finals, like England neither of those sides have been playing particularly well.

      Edit to correct. I was going on the likely draw I saw before last night's results.

      1. They haven’t needed to. They also have another couple of gears. England – not so much – being managed by a complete buffoon!

        1. If the players decided to play their own first class game rather than the coach class they are now, that could change.

          1. The England team players are proud of what they have achieved for their countries – Nigeria, Botswana, Algeria. Spain, Swaziland, France, Jamaica . . . the two Englishmen aren't too fussed with loosing either.

          2. Be grateful they don’t have any Scots, they might be tempted to score own goals

          3. There may be Skotch players in the team (black ones?) but I found it almost impossible to find a list of players and relevant details.

          1. Is it? Tesla are struggling with quality issues, the cybertruck is a comical oddity, he's pushing new battery tech but it's not going to be realised for another decade at least.

          2. He has several irons in the fire. At least he came by his wealth honestly. Unlike the Bidens/Clintons and Obamas.

    4. A proper manager would drop Billy big time Bellingham who appears to be strolling around contributing nothing. Unfortunately, Southgate is nothing more than a primary school PE teacher so Saint Jude will be guaranteed a start and a full 90 in the next game.

      Btw, ESPN analysed Bellingham's game; 0 Shots, 0 Chances created, 0 Successful tackles, 0 passes completed into final third, 12% of his passes went forward, 22% duels won (worst in team), 16 times possession lost (most on team).

    5. Morning Rastus, it's just worth adding that English football fans have ever since I can remember been an impatient lot. I think horseface takes them far too seriously by using the word "criticism" to describe their point of view. He's probably addressing more Shearer's or Lineker's comments.

      I dislike the man in many ways; however, he has actually built a genuinely powerful side, got the right mix and the right tactics overall. The fault with him is that he's put the brakes on the team far too often. Maybe missing that penalty all those years ago has made him into too much of a risk averse manager. He needs to just say 'hang it all' and then let them off the leash a bit, really.

    6. It is the media and our friends in the devolved nations and commonwealth who always rubbish the England XV. From the treatment of the coach Brian Ashton and general behaviour of the media, nobody would ever have guessed that England was beaten quite narrowly in the final of the 2007 World Cup and that it all might have been very different had Mark Cueto’s try not been disallowed in a highly diputed decision.
      Contrast this with the ecstatic media treatment for plucky little Scotland if they eke out a 9-6 win in pouring rain.

    7. It is the media and our friends in the devolved nations and commonwealth who always rubbish the England XV. From the treatment of the coach Brian Ashton and general behaviour of the media, nobody would ever have guessed that England was beaten quite narrowly in the final of the 2007 World Cup and that it all might have been very different had Mark Cueto’s try not been disallowed in a highly diputed decision.
      Contrast this with the ecstatic media treatment for plucky little Scotland if they eke out a 9-6 win in pouring rain.

    8. I am quite sure that Southgate has the intelligence to take heed of experienced manager pundits, play Palmer and Gordon, rest Saka, rest Foden and stick with Bellingham for the next game.

      Our best players are accustomed to a high paced high press at club level and should be enabled by these changes to play their usual games.

  34. And that's me off to Altrincham and Stoke. Should be a pleasant run, especially over the Cat & Fiddle.
    Play nicely! TTFN

    1. There are wokies on XTwitter complaining that Assange doesn't appear to be on his last legs. As with Mark Steyn, clearly a tough many to destroy.

    2. He’s quite right about London

      Edit: and what he is saying about Johnson/Biden and Ukraine’s future

    3. Just finished the whole thing. Damn adverts were a bit much. Good talk from Tucker, as per usual. Wonderful demolishment of the dim female reporter at the end. Well worth an hour of my time. So thanks for posting it Nickr.

      1. Adverts? Get yourself ublock origin – then ping for the filters. If on a tablet shout the version and I'll list what I use on my ipad.

  36. Don't think she did much work, except for planning her compensation, perhaps estimating how much she could scrounge was stressful.

  37. The EU and NATO, driven by the USA, have expanded their empire in a way that is little different from Empire building throughout the centuries. Less fighting, but regime change nonetheless. From Russia's perspective, I'm sure regular war games on their doorstep is regarded as a threat.

    1. Indeed.
      All the military buildup on/close to the border, armies rushing around and they could suddenly turn left and cross the border in hours, when Russia would take weeks to reach the same level of mobilisation.
      Also, NATO is always "led" by someone from a small country – Norway just now, Denmark before, so they can be easily leant on by the USA to do what the USA wants. Yes, it's you I'm looking at, Jens Stoltenberg.

      1. Quite.
        I don’t think Russia should have invaded Ukraine, but looking at the recent history I can totally understand why they did.
        Look at the geography, a noose was being slowly crafted around Russia so that access to major shipping routes from all year ports could be cut off relatively easily.

        1. Unlike our lot of trough-swillers, Putin actually acts in the interest of his country.

  38. Good Morning all! It was 27c here yesterday and the day before. Rendered me incapacitated, forced to stay in or rather on the bed gasping for air. For those suffering fro COPD and allied diseases it was a nightmare and so I'm immensely grateful that I didn't have to put up with it for a third day. It's so ironic considering that I spent almost all of my life in very hot climates and thrived on the heat. Thus it goes..

    Here's an interesting video to kick of the day with. It's Russel Brand but some very good stuff showing what a hypocrite Piers Morgan is and some interesting historical stuff from Nigel Farage. There is a rather annoying advert in the middle but please put up with it because after that is Nigel. I am actually beginning to like Brand after years of regarding him as a rather loathsome individual.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSco1SHnbE0

    1. Good morning, JR.
      Though i don't have COPD i too was suffering. The humidity didn't help. I shut all the doors and windows. Drew all the blinds and curtains. Sealed myself away in my bedroom cum office and switched the dehumidifier to full.
      I was then able to breathe. The pollen didn't help either.

      1. Portable air conditioner, air purifier and fan. A bit like being under siege. Strongly recommend air conditioner with hepa filter in it. A godsend for allergies. Oh! And good morning to you too Pip.

      2. Portable air conditioner, air purifier and fan. A bit like being under siege. Strongly recommend air conditioner with hepa filter in it. A godsend for allergies. Oh! And good morning to you too Pip.

      3. Slow movements, plan what and where you're going to go. Sounds stupid but when I broke my back that was the advice I was given. The pain/confusion muddles you up and if you take a moment to think about what you're trying to achieve, where things are you are a bit more methodical which reduces stress.

        Just take it easy, keep cool, drink lots of water. Cold water literally cools your body as it passes over the various bits and pieces. Don't move about too much, keep your legs elevated on a stool if you can (it means your heart has less work to do, which also keeps you cool).

        Do put an ice pack/cool pack on your head (if not got a lot of hair use a towel) as your brain gets very hot and like a computer when it gets hot, it segfaults. The cooler the liquid the easier it operates, the more room there is. Of course if it gets too cold you have the opposite, but you're sensible.

        1. Cooler today so feeling better. I have been planning a lunch for ages for 6 guests but i have canceled it now. Still doing the August party though. I shall spread the load and work slowly.

    2. I like Brand's attacks on the left/woke , and I suspect he might be carrying his message to an audience other than true blues.

      1. I had always dismissed Brand as a lefty fool, but I was obviously wrong. Pity he's got such a whiny voice though.

        1. I also thought he was an ardent lefty lovie. Regardless of his politics, I find him rather creepy.

        2. Agree Tom. I have said that before on NOTTLERS. His voice is hard to listen to.

      2. He draws a broad church, which is a good thing. Surprisingly he also does his research. It's not just pontificating (this surprised me).

    3. https://lowstatus.substack.com/p/reform-clubbed

      I like Low Status' approach. Like me he has reservations about Reform but his links to those Left wing blogs and articles about NATO provocation and EU expansion are happily ignored by the media. All we get is the smear of Farage because actual research by the press isn't done any more. The headline for copy to sell ads is all that matters.

      Look at the dog whistle article – I can't find the blinkin' link now, but it was basically a Telegraph 'Reform voters are over sensitive idiots, Farage is a berk'. They are. he is. Doesn't mean we don't need the policies.

      1. The Tucker Carlson in Oz video posted below. He says Biden told Johnson to scupper the peace talks when the war first started, and by the tome it finishes, Ukraine will be owned by Blackrock and inhabited by foreigners.

  40. The pathetic establishment catchfart Fraser Nelson, editor of the once great Spectator magazine, does a half-baked hatched job on Nigel Farage and Reform today, blaming them for the rise of the left and all the ills of this country. really, it is dull, turgid stuff and rightfully getting eviscerated below the line. Even if I had not intended to vote Reform, the mendacity from Nelson would have persuaded me to do so.
    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-nigel-farage-became-the-lefts-greatest-weapon/#comments-container

    2. People were offered an alternative to the FPTP system some years ago in a referendum. Typically this was rejected.
      How many must now be lamenting their decision.

      2. Yes and no. I like the idea we send representatives from our area to represent our localities. This is a good thing. But the way our constituencies are organised is appalling. Someone in Scotland’s vote (oe Wales) (where constituency sizes can be only 20,000) has a vote woth five times that of someone on tje Isle of Wight (constituency size 100k).

        1. These are very rare cases.

          The three smallest Scottish constituencies in 2019 were:
          Outer Hebrides – 21,106
          Orkney and Shetland – 34,211
          Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross – 46,930

          The rest in thousands:
          Scotland: 54-87
          England – 55-89 plus IoW at 113
          Wales – 43-78 (six were below 50)
          NI – 64-82

          The boundary reforms have changed some of these. Every constituency must now have an electorate within 5% of the 'electoral quota' of 73,393. The exceptions are five island areas: Orkney and Shetland, Outer Hebrides, Anglesey, and two constituencies on the Isle of Wight.

          This year, Scotland loses 2 seats, Wales 8, England gains 10, NI no change.

        2. These are vary rare cases.

          The three smallest Scottish constituencies in 2019 were:
          Outer Hebrides – 21,106
          Orkney and Shetland – 34,211
          Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross – 46,930

          The rest in thousands:
          Scotland: 54-87
          England – 55-89 plus IoW at 113, a simple geographical outlier
          Wales – 43-78 (six were below 50)
          NI – 64-82

          The boundary reforms have changed some of these. As of 2023, every constituency must have an electorate between 69,724 and 77,062. The exceptions are five island areas: Orkney and Shetland, Outer Hebrides, Anglesey, and two constituencies on the Isle of Wight.

          This year, Scotland loses 2 seats, Wales 8, England gains 10, NI no change.

      3. An alternative yes, but there are many forms of PR and the Alternative Vote of the Referendum 2011 was;

        "Under the alternative vote system proposed in the referendum, voters would still be electing just one candidate associated with one geographic constituency. Instead of simply voting for one candidate on the ballot paper (with an 'X'), the voter would instead be asked to rank one or more of the candidates in order of preference. If after first preferences have been counted, no one candidate has a majority of the votes cast, then the bottom candidate will be eliminated and votes for that candidate are transferred to each voter's next available preference. The process continues repeatedly until one candidate reaches a majority and wins. The system proposed was a form of "optional preferential voting", in that voters would not be obliged to rank every candidate in order of preference in order to cast a valid vote."

        1. If Clegg was promoting this it must have been to the advantage of minority parties with sizable support.
          No system is perfect but I think it is clear that the toleration of unfair practices will eventually affect everyone.
          The old adage ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ is wrong. Things should be fixed before damage sets in.

          1. I think it might have been a step forward but can't quite get my head around that system nor how it would have turned out.

          3. I think it was a deliberately confusing alternative, which many people couldn't get their heads around. There were some fairly simple ways of being able to work that system, by tactical voting for second, third choice etc. but to some it was just too complicated.

    3. Cancelled my sub to the Spectator last week. I realized that I wasn't bothering to read it anymore. Perhaps visited it 3 or 4 times this year. It has gone down hill which is a pity, it used to be a good magazine. I do think much of the deterioration is due to Nelson.

      1. I hope you'll join me on Free Speech Backlash, due to go live later today ( freespeechbacklash.com ), set up because of disenchantment with the Speccie. The change in the comments format was the last straw for me. FSB uses the old disqus format, used on here.
        Yes, Nelson has a lot to answer for, but the rot set in under Boris Johnson.

          1. Sometime today, No.2 son informs me. He’s just finishing off the styling so it will also look god on mobiles.

      2. I hope you'll join me on Free Speech Backlash, due to go live later today ( freespeechbacklash.com ), set up because of disenchantment with the Speccie. The change in the comments format was the last straw for me. FSB uses the old disqus format, used on here.
        Yes, Nelson has a lot to answer for, but the rot set in under Boris Johnson.

      3. I don’t subscribe to the Spectator but I do read it all the time. Pity they changed comments thread which I always thought was the best part.
        I first found the Spectator in the school library when I was 16. As part of preparation for Alevel English we were told to read the New Statesman and the Spectator. I’ve read the Spectator ever since then subscribing for many years.
        Still think it’s a great magazine. Yes I disagree with many of the writers but that’s what puts the zest in life.
        Surely only Guardian readers seek the approval of their writers

    4. Fraser Nelson has about as much judgement as a legless flea entering a hopping competition.

  41. North Korea to send ‘engineering troops’ to eastern Ukraine. 27 June 2024.

    South Korean media reports that Pyongyang is preparing to send a “large number” of engineering and construction troops to Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine as early as July.

    TV Chosun, citing a South Korean official, said the soldiers would take part in “reconstruction” works largely in the heavily bombed Donetsk region.

    The report stated that the North Korean army has 10 engineering brigades, three out of four of which could be sent to Ukraine in exchange for an annual payment of $115 million (£92 million) from Russia.

    There is currently no indication the soldiers would have combat roles.

    There is no need for them to do so. Their presence would free up Russian troops to carry out combat roles. The West can hardly bleat since they have started this direct meddling.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/06/27/ukraine-russia-war-latest-news9/

          1. Yep. Bigger and better things to be getting on with. As Matt Goodwin asked in the Triggernometry podcast I posted earlier, do you think your politicians want Britain to succeed?

    3. How did such a dull dimwit have a successful career in the Law? It is truly shocking.

      And his wife is not unattractive – how on earth did he manage to convince her to have anything to do with him?

      1. I don't think you need to be good company or be particularly intelligent to do reasonably well in law – especially political-type law. You just need a good memory (for the exams) and the ability to lie, toady, and grovel. An outstanding career in law is something else, which few lawyers who have entered politics have ever had. Both the Blairs were also pretty mediocre as lawyers – a colleague saw Cherie at a Court of Appeal hearing and said that she was very poor indeed.

      2. I don't think you need to be good company or be particularly intelligent to do reasonably well in law – especially political-type law. You just need a good memory (for the exams) and the ability to lie, toady, and grovel. An outstanding career in law is something else, which few lawyers who have entered politics have ever had. Both the Blairs were also pretty mediocre as lawyers – a colleague saw Cherie at a Court of Appeal hearing and said that she was very poor indeed.

      3. Maybe she was attracted by his money and potential links to power …. or she needed a visit to Specsavers.

    1. I was confused for a moment as passing the ball backwards is a central feature of the game.
      Then I realised this was a reference to Association Football.

  46. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/27/labour-bridget-phillipson-refuses-price-on-net-zero/

    Private industry invests when there's a return. That's the whole point. The public sector spends our money without bothering about the cost because it doesn't pay it. This is why people invest in unreliables – a massive guaranteed payback from big, wasteful government via the tax payer.

    If there's no pay back then private industry won't bother, so they're either lying, and will dump the cost on the tax payer or there won't be any investment and thus the permanent end to useless unreliables OR Labour, in their insane big state dementia will continue the farce of moronic net zero (jobs, growth, income, economy) with crushing taxes and costs of energy (which will lead to deaths of the vulnerable – so huge medical and welfare demands and mass unemployment meaning zero growth in the economy and well, mass welfare demand as people literally starve.

    Net zero is a stupid, maniac policy pursued by psychotic sadists obsessed with ideology rather than reality. Any fool pushing this stupid fantasy has got to be arrested, sectioned, made bankrupt and kept permanently away from any office of state.

    1. Public sector will often invest for reasons other than profit, such as prestige, been seen to lead the pack, and so on. That means the investment happens regardless of the business case, so what a surprise when it turns out badly, usually not delivering the non-business "benefits" as well.

  47. Good morning NoTTLers! A question for any of you who is conversant with building surveys on buying a property: where we are going, most surveyors seem to be offering the RPSA Home (Buyers ?) report. Alternatively a couple have offered the RICS Level 3, although the RPSA report seems to be equivalent to RICS Level 2. I have looked up both and really can't tell all that much difference.

    If anyone who is knowledgeable about these things would be kind enough tell me which is the better option, I would be very grateful!

    1. It depends what the purpose of having the survey is. If it’s because the mortgage company needs it for a valuation so it will lend you money, that’s one thing: if it’s for you, to understand if there are any structural faults that should cause you to walk away, that’s something completely different. So, question 1: why do you want/ need a survey?

      1. For us, basically. We are buying a small property outright, as a temporary measure while we look for a forever home and sell our current home.

        We really need to know what we might have to do to it (ergo what we might have to spend on it), and whether it is worth buying for what we are paying for it. Most of the surveyors are not accredited valuers as well so I understand we will not get a valuation.As far as I’m concerned, spending a bit more on a survey is better than spending a lot more potentially on repairs/renewals etc.

        1. If it is a 'temporary' home, you need to know of any problems that could cause issues when you sell it before the move to your forever home. They aren't cheap, but it could save a lot of problems down the line. I wouldn't worry about the surveyor not being a valuer; you are looking for any potential structural or other costly issues.

          1. I agree. You will want a full structural survey. And that will be useful when you want to resell

          2. Yes, I was really wondering between the two surveys that I am being offered, which are both structural surveys. I wouldn't ever have anything less.

          3. Thanks Mum, yes that's what we think. We will need to do a certain amount of improving, but the property we are looking at has potential, and has enough space for us to be able to store what we need to without putting things into storage. The b*gger is the stamp duty land tax, but a long as we sell our current home within 3 years of buying the temp. home, we will get the 3% penalty refunded. If we manage to sell without a loss, it should work out equal to or less expensive than renting (not that one can get rental property nowadays) + storage.

          4. Good luck! It can be so hard to get timings right. When we were selling late MiL’s house in 2021, we found buyers very quickly, but were held up by the inefficiency of the solicitors. The will stipulated that their solicitors handle everything, but we couldn’t believe how inefficient they were, from being taken over to being assigned a clearly incompetent junior. Fortunately, the buyers (who were being pushed to exchange & complete by their buyers) really wanted the house, so they rented somewhere for 6 months. From what we gathered, they seemed to have a contact and managed to secure a short rental above a pub.

          5. I think one needs a contact nowadays. Renting is so difficult and very expensive – many owners will only do a year’s tenancy minimum now. Plus we have an old pussy cat and she really needs to be able to get out into a garden (the things one does for one’s animals!)

          6. Unscrupulous landlords can make a guaranteed tidy sum, including having all maintenance covered, by contracting their properties to the government to house the fakeugees. So much easier than finding proper tenants.

          7. My friend rented for the best part of a year between houses. Their daughter knew the man whose mother owned the house, the mother having moved into a care home. The house was empty while the son decided what to do with it, so he got some rent, and it solved the chain issue for my friend. They used the furniture in the house and stored their own.

          9. Not an option for most of us.
            Rentals in this area are usually snapped up very quickly, especially by east Europeans here who, contrary to what the msm would have us believe, are still present in significant numbers. By and large, they are just normal, well-settled families who live by the laws of the land, and certainly aren’t trying to do us harm or take over. I’d prefer tens of thousands of them over a single incompatible alien.

          11. Eventually – we have to have a halfway place at the moment that is commutable from here – Devon is around 4 hours, north Dorset is 2 – 2.30 hours.

    2. IMHO you need a survey that would satisfy a potential lender, ie a bank or building society; it might be worth applying for a modest mortgage because then the next buyer would be reasonably certain that the property is mortgageable.

      1. I think a survey that would satisfy a lender would only look for the property to be able to fetch the amount loaned by the lender, which will not be the same as the purchase price. A full structural survey should give more than that. It's really only the two options that I am being given, that I am thinking about.

    3. IMHO you need a survey that would satisfy a potential lender, ie a bank or building society; it might be worth applying for a modest mortgage because then the next buyer would be reasonably certain that the property is mortgageable.

  48. Good morning NoTTLers! A question for any of you who is conversant with building surveys on buying a property: where we are going, most surveyors seem to be offering the RPSA Home (Buyers ?) report. Alternatively a couple have offered the RICS Level 3, although the RPSA report seems to be equivalent to RICS Level 2. I have looked up both and really can't tell all that much difference.

    If anyone who is knowledgeable about these things would be kind enough tell me which is the better option, I would be very grateful!

  49. National treasure luvvie David Tennant propels trans rights t-shirt sales, raising thousands of dollars to fund scholarships for young gender non-conforming people, after his spat with Kemi Badenoch.

    Question is.. will Tennant, like Susie Green, CEO of trans charity Mermaids, be taking his 10 year old trans son Wilfred to Thailand to be castrated.. ? as a "birthday present."

    Mermaids' Susie Green took her son to Thailand to undergo SRS, which was carried out on the child's sixteenth birthday. She joked about his genitals being underdeveloped so 'not much to work with'.

    Monsters, the lot of them.

      3. Bad tenants make a mess and don't pay the rent but this tennant needs to be rent into pieces.

    3. Truly evil. I hope someone, somewhere, somehow can find a good lawyer/legal team and bring charges of mutilation or similar against her.

    1. Ghastly pair – a blot on the landscape. Especially MM: Harry has the very dubious (and not very compelling) excuse of being thick as pig excrement, the wife is just, as QEII is alleged to have opined, "evil".

    2. Has no-one explained the line of succession to Megain or is she hoping the Waleses will all be in the one plane? After Charles, Willian and after William comes George, shurely? Harry is fifth in line, after Louis.

  51. Gawd almighty! John Swinney on his hind legs in the wee pretendy Scottish parliament, blaming Margaret Thatcher (yes, folks he really did!) for the complete incompetence of the Still Not Prosecuted party!

          6. Good try…I think he knows me too well and I respect him too much to try to sneak past..🤞😅😅😅

          7. Hi Kate. You appear to have blocked me at the "absolutely nothing to do with Disqus, honest" site which is now the Speccie. One of the problems with Fraser Nelson's version of "not Disqus" is that there is no access to profiles. One can block posters (thanks), but there's no means of unblocking. It's not all bad – I'll never see Carter's shitposting again. All I see is "comment unavailable."

            And – since visiting the Speccie's "entirely independent from Disqus" comment platform, I find that I'm logged out from Disqus every time.

            Not to worry. In eight days' time, I shall disengage entirely from UK politics. Starmer will win. The Lib Dems will take Surrey. I'll explore new interests…

          8. I hope you won't disengage from this site, Geoff. Whatever will we do without it?

          10. ‘Evening Geoff. I can assure you most categorically the blocking of your good self is nothing to do with me. I’m currently on a special deal of £1 per month due to expire next month when they expect I’ll revert to full whack. They can expect. Nelson did something with Disqus, I know not what. Since then, a number of new names I don’t recognise, presumably new subscribers. Why he did it we’ll never know, a number of theories. So I expect to gravitate between nottlers and Unherd, and free up time to paint, I’m way behind with a head full of ideas. We’re all going to disengage, pinning a few hopes on Badenoch, but we’ll see. I hope very much that you will still blog, would very much like to read your thoughts. Good luck with new interests, Illegitimi non carborundum! All the best, Kate x

          11. Evening Geoff..can see my earlier reply to you not made the cut yet. I checked my Spectator Disqus a/c and I had apparently blocked someone called Burt – was this you, I don’t recall making that block, it’s not really something I use. I remember Peta saying I’d blocked her one time (as if!). Hope my earlier reply to you makes the cut. See you anon, Kate x

          13. Sorry late reply, Sue..got called away. He's a canny old so and so, be sure to have his beady on us…:-DDD One of the genuine people :-)))

          14. I know! We met up with 2 other Nottlers in the frozen North, in a very hospitable inn!! 🤣

          15. Brilliant…gotta love a hospitable inn….have just returned from even further North (English go home…guess ..) I still love it there 🙂

          17. I think about it with a sense of horror! The mask, the gurning and moaning…what a little ray of sunshine she was!

  52. SIR – I question Madeline Grant's predictions about Labour MPs ("Meet your new Labour MP. You won't be impressed", Comment, June 26).

    Our Labour candidate, Gen Kitchen, who was elected as our MP in a by-election in February, is young and energetic, with her feet firmly on the ground. Now 29, she has already had a successful career spanning the public, private and charity sectors, and served as a borough councillor. Thanks to her parents' time in the Royal Navy, she is also knowledgeable about defence.

    She has engaged with charities and farmers in the constituency, mentioning several of the former in her maiden speech and earning approval from a number of the latter. What's not to like?

    Jimmy James
    Wellingborough, Northamptonshire

    I think Mr James has a thing about bright red lipstick. There's not much else to say about her. At least she was born in the county, though where Wiki says to two Royal Navy 'veterans', The Guardian says 'personnel'. I think we can translate that. And she's married to a man, which is bit conventional for the modern Labour Party. She was for a while a councillor in the London Borough of Newham's Boleyn ward. Don't lose your head, Mrs K!

    2. Sorry, but we need MPs with a lifetime’s experience (50+), not children

      1. ’successful career’ apparently equals 8 years as a fundraiser for at least 4 different charities.

    1. It’s just something I’ve picked up on over the years Tom.
      The bbc once showed a stunningly important two part programme about the history of Spain.
      It was called Blood and Gold. The making of Spain.
      By Simon Sebag Montifeori.

  54. 'Afternoon All late on parade…….
    Cupid Stunt meets Tucker……..
    https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1806087719174492269
    Cathy Newman scale destruction
    Rest
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/02d1f25ccc592f3bae017d4af9472c113992837c83aa275aaf402fddd81dc0af.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7b7e218be9b774abbc77dc2ca1ec84ca87cc30e0df5043266d48cf1a97dee92e.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/419718d65c542bc320c8cff79ce79fe6a658507aea62dd87750002897f0b3f79.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/70239d51b7e7707457564ddc799d713a3fc5809db7c64ffdccab2173a2e36231.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/059949ac470b89bdcdfc482aa650989ddf7e18da90442bbbad5dc497ea628d28.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eb3a7969570356ef9faa1074761a536fdaaa7b955ab57fac68a7dc00515846eb.jpg

      1. Also brilliant. He was our MP, when I was born so i’ve always had a soft spot for him

      2. Bum-boy Heath sacked Enoch from the Shadow Cabinet. Heath also started Britain's enslavement into the EU by leading the negotiations that culminated in the UK's entry into the EC in1973. According to biographer John Campbell, Heath regarded this as his personal "finest hour".

        1. 1970 CP manifesto:
          These policies will strengthen Britain so that we can negotiate with the European Community confident in the knowledge that we can stand on our own if the price is too high.

          Our sole commitment is to negotiate; no more, no less. As the negotiations proceed we will report regularly through Parliament to the country.

          'No more, no less' was truthful – up to a point. Heath came back from Brussels with a proposed deal and for six days in October 1971, the HoC debated it. By all accounts it was nasty at times but we only have the print media and Hansard to describe it.

          The vote was won, the accession treaty was signed in January 1972, membership was ratified in the autumn with the passing of the ECA and on New Year's Day 1973 came the beginning of the end of the United Kingdom.

          3. We were asked whether we should stay in the COMMON MARKET. Nobody asked us if we wanted to be subsumed into a European superstate.

          6. And that was just the “Common Market”, before it morphed into an overarching super-state.

          7. Indeed. It was deliberately underhand. But the “ever closer union” super-state intention was always there in the Treaty of Rome itself and Heath was warned (by a government department, I forget what the document was called – it was hidden for 30 years subsequently) what the possible/likely direction of the Common market would be.

            It is frustrating that so many of these crooks have got away, and still get away, with what they are doing, having been paid handsomely for selling the country down the pan.

        2. It was certainly his most lucrative hour. Those yachts (Morning Cloud was apparently not the only one) were not bought on a PM's salary.

        3. He lied through his not insubstantial teeth when he claimed on TV that there would be no loss of sovereignty.

  56. I have now read five of the six election addresses in my local constituency of West Worcestershire, and can now make a decision.

    First off, I have no confidence in either the Conservative Party or the Labour Party under Starmer to form a credible Government, and therefore my vote should go towards preventing this happening.

    Realistically, the Tory Harriett Baldwin will win, and the battle here therefore is who deserves to be runner-up and in pole position to take her on next tme.

    Having read what the candidates have to say about themselves, and considering how their parties have conducted the campaign, allowing for each of their expected idiosyncracies, I have decided that the best candidate is Dan Boatright-Greene standing for the Liberal Democrats.

    First off, I discount the maverick feminist who has not campaigned seriously and would be lucky to get a hundred votes.

    Next off, Labour has put up a paper candidate, and seems to have little relevance or support in Worcestershire.

    Reform said nothing about their candidate and instead spouted slogans about immigration, and very little else.

    Dame Harriett's main boast as MP has been subsidised childcare, which does not interest me, flood defences, broadband provision, expanding A&E in the woefully centralised and undersized county hospital, training up doctors , improving schools and a new railway station in Worcester. These projects will probably get her elected despite the incompetence of her party's leadership. She does not need my vote, and giving her it would send the wrong message nationally.

    The battle here therefore is between two local councillors, the Green in West Malvern and the Lib Dem from Pershore, and comparing their leaflets was crucial in my decision.

    Natalie McVey's leaflet was mostly slogans and platitudes, concentrating on housing and poverty alleviation, road works and public transport with barely a nod to protecting the environment. Natalie says "The Conservatives are going to lose" and "Labour's plan for a few small tweaks won't get the job done". I'm sorry, but anyone including me can say that. I want to know what she will do.

    So we come to the Lib Dems. Of course, as with all Lib Dem leaflets there is the usual bar chart pushing them to within striking distance of the incumbent and all rivals nowhere. Well, someone needs to compete with Andrex, so we mustn't deny the Lib Dems that little service to the community. However, unlike any of the others, Boatright-Greene gives over two pages to explain his record as a councillor in Pershore, and that he is from a military family with a strong public service ethic. He also mentions his national party's campaign to clean up our waterways. He also mentions the cost-of-living crisis, but to be fair to the others, I don't anyone has the answer I am looking for, and that is to bring on small local enterprise in order to reduce the fiscal burden on the state. Still, can't win 'em all.

    1. I would never vote for a left wing party so I would only have one choice and that would be Reform the only party on the right.

      1. Davey is trying to outboris Johnson in the buffoonery stakes.

        But he has no wit, no charm, no charisma, no genuine humour – he is just an embarrassment.

      2. I wouldn’t expect you to, and perhaps you might be rather pleased that the Left vote is split between several parties, whereas Reform has a near-monopoly of the Right for as long as the Tories are out of contention.

    2. I suppose the LD didn't mention taking us back into the EU, being signed up to net zero (the LDs were responsible for the climate change act) and the fact they are neither liberal nor democratic?

      1. Starmer is more likely to take us back into the EU, especially if a number of LDs emerge in Leaver constituencies.

        The Climate Change Act had a consensus in Parliament with special mention of Tory Alok Sharma and Labour’s Ed Miliband.

        As for the authoritarian streak that was largely a product of the Blairite ‘Orange Book’ wing of the party, we’ll see if the new generation follow on from that, or whether they rediscover their founding roots as liberal and democratic. They must compare well to Starmer.

    1. My recently published research into the U.K. Government’s deployment of behavioural science strategies – ‘nudges’ – leads to a startling conclusion: in every sphere of daily life, our thoughts and actions are being psychologically manipulated so as to align them with what the state’s technocrats have deemed to be in our best interests. It seems that open, transparent debate is no longer considered necessary.

      This is pretty obvious to the thoughtful, Nottlers and the informed. Just knowing what is going on is an enormous leg up and it is worth remembering that though one of the worst regimes in human history, the Soviet Union, controlled the public narrative absolutely, it was still unable to save itself.

      1. This is why they all hate Nigel. He tells it like it is. I pray there is a landslide and that it is his party that benefits.
        I'm not entirely fooled though. I know Reform had policy that aligned with the government over covid etc but they are our last best hope.
        Vote Reform.

      1. Hello 🙂 I have been a bit quiet I’m afraid, still not right but improving. Don’t like commenting unless I’m feeling sparky and not been feeling terribly sparkling 🥴! Also, the news is all pretty depressing isn’t it – not much there to cheer a girl up!

        1. Take your time and make sure you get better! I've missed you.

          I'm looking forward to a minimum 10 years of Socialist Government – red in tooth and claw! – that should cheer anybody up, even if you do live in la belle France!

        2. Hope you fell better very soon Peta. Missed you! But mostly don#t like to think you are unwell x

    1. Imagine being able to buy an annuity for £5,000 which will give you and your dependents board, lodging and spending money for the rest of their lives. The only risk being that you might drown, if you were very, very unlucky.

      I'll bet most people would sign up.

        1. There will be more of them of fighting age, than us. And they will be more fanatical. God help us, we need Him.

          2. We are also somewhat younger, and a great deal more civilised. They would have no compunction in doing things that we probably wouldn’t do. and so we would get killed much more easily.

          3. I don’t think we would have any compunction in slaughtering them – and their families – until they ALL flee.

          4. I have just replied from my email and said that we are somewhat younger – I meant OLDER! Much of our youth is too indolent. A lot will depend on how cruel and bloodthirsty the parties are – I know who is the most of both of those out of us v them.

        2. There will be more of them of fighting age, than us. And they will be more fanatical. God help us, we need Him.

    1. P.S. Not forgetting that once Ireland has accepted them, they can just run over the border to the UK. If they have been granted citizenship they even have a RIGHT to be here…

  61. I've seen bits and pieces of party political broadcasts and TV head to heads but whilst net zero has been mentioned as an issue of concern to Andrew Brdgen are electrically powered vehicles as a sustainable solution to protecting the environment of our planet which I don't think has been appreciated.

    Having bought an EV myself, MOH, who might at one time have considered buying an EV, has today decided to trade in her ageing Subaru Forester for one of the latest fossil engined cars available on the market from Citroen. The company started reofferimg the fossilised 2024 model she has chosen owing to popular customer demand but the only test drive offered today is on the electric version.

    The salesman today waa hampered by difficulties in configuring a petrol vehicle to MOH's requirements mainly through inadequate updating of current printed and digital model offerings but we got there in the end.

    I blame our cuurent Government's policy for legistating to achieve emission standards that a scientific body has deemed to be unattainabla at any cost resulting in mayhem in the public's freedem of choice for economic transportation methods.

    What would be worrying for Andrew Bridgen is the full electrification of public transport as spearheaded by a local authorty and Fifst Bus supported by Government funding:

    https://www.firstbus.co.uk/… .

    This trend looks to be repeated by the Mayor of London by scrapping relatively new Boris Routemasters for fully electric buses,

    1. The Boris Bus is a superior product. Superior both to the Electric Bus and to Khan and Boris.

        1. All London buses are too hot in summer weather. It’s best if you sit upstairs near an open window.

      1. The Police are now the enemy. Trouble is the cops i know think the same but what can they do other than resign or get fired.

      2. I don't know if any of you have seen BBC's recent interpretation of Ian Rankin's Rebus. It's not based on any of the books but it does include DC Siobhan Clarke and DI Gill Templar. In one scene, Clarke (correctly portrayed as a 'fast-track' university graduate and a bit 'posh') is talking to a witness, who asks her about her background and her unlikely career choice: "Both my parents were Lefties. They think the police are a tool of oppression."

        Yes, DC Clarke, they are – but in a way that they would have dreamt of, not feared.

        1. I don't watch television any more, but thank you for the pointer – I'll see if it appears somewhere else..

        2. I don't watch television any more, but thank you for the pointer – I'll see if it appears somewhere else..

    1. Those lyrics could apply equally to a certain demographic which has come uninvited to this country.

    2. Those lyrics could apply equally to a certain demographic which has come uninvited to this country.

    1. Funny !

      I know people are protective of trees in their streets but those should have been pollarded.

      1. Snapped, by the look of it.
        Maybe that tree had been dying for some time.
        Some 20 (?) years ago when NTL were slicing through pavements to lay cables, thousand of trees were killed.

  67. Just watching an episode of Saturday Kitchen with Matt Tebutt. A Spanish style sauce for white fish.

    Toasted almonds
    Toasted breadcrumbs.
    Bunch of parsley
    Some garlic.
    Fish stock.
    Saffron or a little Turmeric.

    Process it down to a creamy sauce.

    Matt said it was one of the most delicious sauces he has tasted.

    I have all those ingredients so i will give it a go the next time i cook a tranche of cod.

    Edit. When the sauce is processed drizzle in olive oil as if making a mayonaise.

      1. Not sure those ingredients would work in a fish pie but i would certainly serve it as a sauce to accompany. Let me know how things turn out.

        1. Yes! I wrote that very badly and the punctuation could have done with being better. My fish pie will be made with the milk from poaching the fish! I’ll try the green sauce with some cod another time!

      2. I should think so. Almonds in a sauce is very Spanish. No reason why it wouldn’t work with chicken.

  68. Didn't he also have a house in the cloisters of Salisbury Cathedral? They wouldn't be cheap either.

      1. Heath left more than £5m in his will, it has emerged. Sir Edward, who died 2005 July aged 89, bequeathed most of the £5,410,364 to a charitable foundation in his own name. The will, drawn up in 2002, leaves only two legacies: £20,000 to his brother's widow and £2,500 to his housekeeper.
        The will is more than 10 times the amount left by Sir Edward's successor in Number 10, Harold Wilson, who died in 1995, and is thought to be the most ever left by a British prime minister.

        Sir Edward amassed much of his fortune from interests in merchant banking and writing books.

  70. Power does attract. Not to be nasty to his wife. He may have other attributes. Like a really big battery powered lunch box that feeds her 24/7.

    1. I often wondered if it was ££££ and his potential for powerful roles and the chance for her to influence policy that attracted Carrie Johnson to Boris. He's hardly in the best physical shape.

      1. You wondered? Sadly, Boris' carnal urges took priority over our poor bloody country.

        A plague on all their houses. A week tomorrow, I've resolved to 'get a life' which doesn't involve following politics. At all. It will be too depressing by far.

        I'll keep the site going, but don't expect to hear from me very often…

        1. Doris certainly seems to like to satisfy his ‘carnal urges’ (as you so politely put it) with a series of women, but why would a relatively young, attractive woman like Carrie marry him if not for the power and money? I’m surprised she is still with him, and now has 3 children with him.

          As for the election, I think we will all be feeling very down-hearted and somewhat afraid after next Thursday, but please keep Nottling going – we all appreciate your work and, I think it is safe to say, we will need the site more than ever, if only to either console each other on the coming disaster or to distract ourselves with the exchange of views and banter each day.
          Thank you, Geoff, and goodnight all.

        2. Doris certainly seems to like to satisfy his ‘carnal urges’ (as you so politely put it) with a series of women, but why would a relatively young, attractive woman like Carrie marry him if not for the power and money? I’m surprised she is still with him, and now has 3 children with him.

          As for the election, I think we will all be feeling very down-hearted and somewhat afraid after next Thursday, but please keep Nottling going – we all appreciate your work and, I think it is safe to say, we will need the site more than ever, if only to either console each other on the coming disaster or to distract ourselves with the exchange of views and banter each day.
          Thank you, Geoff, and goodnight all.

  71. Our advantage is it is our home ground. Don't bother with the Mosques. Hit the water supply.

  72. Angela Rayner: Every part of Britain will take fair share of migrants. 27 June 2024.

    Every borough in the UK will be required to take their “fair share” of asylum seekers under a Labour government, Angela Rayner has pledged.

    The party’s deputy leader and shadow levelling up secretary said successful asylum seekers would be eligible for places in the 1.5 million new social housing and homes that Labour planned to build “right across the country”.

    Labour has pledged to clear the 35,000 migrants currently being housed in hotels in a year.

    We need Revolution and the complete destruction of the Political Elites,

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/26/labour-every-uk-borough-must-take-fair-share-migrants/

    2. The White City estate is already overrun with them and "White City Living" is a new development under construction comprising 2500 "homes", aka very small flats. Given that the 400-700 sq ft apartments are being advertised on ludicrous shared ownership terms, I've been speculating for some time as to whether they'll actually be bought up en-masse and occupied by in-comers.

      1. Half of all housing these days is bought by the state. Who goes into it? Foreigners, those who've had kids they couldn't afford and want someone else to pay the bill.

        This is why house prices are so high.

        1. Supply and demand – it isn't rocket science. We'll never be able to build enough housing while the government keeps importing so many breeders who'll never contribute.

      1. We should start with hers. Fill it to the brim with violent criminals. Put them up in her house.

        That said, given her desperate election grubbing it already is.

        1. Which house though? She has so many she could probably solve the housing crisis on her own – you Tory thcum!

    4. A cycnical person might think that Rayner is trying to do two things.

      1. If you live in a nice, traditional part of the country it may soon become a lot less nice when a few thousand dinghy jockeys turn up. Typical leftie envy and hate in operation here.
      2. Importing Labour voters into non-Labour areas.

    5. We've already been "enriched". Some days our local town looks like Mogadishu – and we're in a rural area. It isn't going down well, I can tell you.

      1. I can imagine.
        There are still parts of this country that have avoided the joys of forced enrichment, but not for much longer.

    6. Right.
      So Labour will provide housing for Asylum seekers (aka illegal immigrants) whilst our young people struggle to pay rent or buy a house.

      Hopefully the young will realise how badly they are being done over, and move to the political right. They are fools if they don't.

      1. The fair share would be those that want them taking them in rather than foisting them upon those that don't

    1. Colin says: “Pain during Labour is something we are all going to suffer shortly!”

    2. After the birth of their first child, many women go on to have more. However, I have never heard a man, who having been kicked in the nuts, say “I’ll have another one of those”.

      1. Nature makes you forget the pain of childbirth – which is just as well!

  74. One from the boy today.

    Schools saturate every lesson in the hoax of climate change. The teacher was going on about all the things we had to do to stop 'climate change'.

    Junior, being my son piped up with : If we do all those things will the climate then stop changing forever? Will it always be Summer? How will the Earth know what to do?

    Apparently he also asked 'won't the wind mills cause problems for air behind them?' and 'How do the wind mills stay upright in the middle of the sea?'

    Today we were spoken to by the teacher who reminded us that climate change was real and must not be mocked. The Warqueen tore the teacher a verbal new one. I tried – and failed – not to laugh. The teacher was reminded it was her job to answer children's questions, not to simply dismiss them because they're awkward and expose her ignorance.

    The last time this happened we were told off by the Headteacher who complained to someone who sent us an officious note which had both of us and Junior sitting in an office as the besuited and oh so high and mighty secure in his position was ripped apart by her Maj. I honestly think he was going to cry at the end.

    It does show how appalling UK education is. There's a set line and it must not be deviated from. The state does not like challenge. Ultimately they'll throw Junior under the bus to ensure the indoctrination cannot be questioned. This isn't a behavioural thing. Junior's always polite, always raises his hand, never interrupts, is rewarded in class for helping others, never causes trouble. this isn't a discipline issue, it's just control freakery.

    This is why schools should be paid by the parents, not by the state.

    1. Have you considered educating him yourself? at home?
      I think if this carries on he will be expelled and have a black mark on his record.

      1. That's my basic worry.

        The Warqueen's response when the Head suggested this was that we would sue until the school was dust and the Head was homeless. It helps I suppose to have a damned good solicitor (who's a friend of ours and I assume has been sounded out on this already by her Highness) on speed dial.

        The lad is just asking sensible questions the state doesn't like. That's what education is about. It is wrong to punish children for challenging arrogant, flawed, deceitful orthodoxy.

        We can't educate him – we both work full time paying for every freeloading trougher and gormless policy big fat state dumps on this country.

        1. Good news that the WarQueen is full metal jackets but he will still need to survive in the New World Order.

          1. I worry what sort of a world he'll grow up in. I see the kind and decent kid becoming as jaded, miserable and gittish as his Dad is. Every damned Lefty advert saying 'white hetero need not apply' has me furious.

            We do some charity work for a women's refuge. As most of the cable guys are men we go outside – usually to the pub – when we're asked to. No one thinks weirdly of this as despite the actual installers all looking like Millwall supporters they're good chaps. We don't make any money on it and it costs a lot, but then here comes [expletive] government and jams a man right in those women only spaces and lo! The woman trying to escape her violent ex husband is raped and beaten by that same man who put a dress on because 'he has rights'. What about hers to be sodding safe!

        2. I feel for you. I’m glad my kids got through before most of this stuff came in. I am impatient which is why my husband raised the children and i went out to work. Although, note, they went to weekly boarding school about 30 miles away.

          1. That's how het Warqueen and I sort of wangled it. She went career, I went part time. It suited us both. She spent 12 hours away from scrawling brats (mostly me), I got the better side, I think.

        1. With the best will in the world Richard, you're likely a natural teacher. Yourself and Caroline are both incredibly bright and have the right mentality.

          The Warqueen… err… isn't. She has little patience. I could, but having spent 20 years fiddling about with cables I'd probably struggle. Yes, during holidays we build models and do experiments like making bombs and thermite, railguns and hovering cars (our Lego batmobile has Iron man repulsor jets (if it's over a metal surface and plugged in to the wall) but as real teaching instead of playing I'd be hopeless. heck, the reason I sold my company to my employees was because I couldn't wrangle the profiting bit from the working bit.

    2. Excellent to know that there are people like yourselves who are standing up to all this Dopey Wokey nonsense.
      Tell junior that sea based wind turbines are held in place by thousands of tonnes of concrete.
      The displacement Probably causes the sea level to rise. But but as far as I know, there is no more water on our planet since the dinosaurs were present. It can't penetrant our atmosphere or escape.

    3. "The state does not like challenge".

      Very true.
      The state is become rather Sovietised.

    4. It's been like that for some time. Teaching that the EU is wonderful was very prevalent at one time (I'm now out of the loop and don't have children, so I'm not sure if that's still the case), but certainly the climate scam is still going strong in the indoctrination stakes.

    5. I have thought for a long time that the state should be kicked out of education altogether. People’s taxes should be reduced accordingly to allow them to buy education wherever and whenever they want it.

  75. That's my basic worry.

    The Warqueen's response when the Head suggested this was that we would sue until the school was dust and the Head was homeless. It helps I suppose to have a damned good solicitor (who's a friend of ours and I assume has been sounded out on this already by her Highness) on speed dial.

    The lad is just asking sensible questions the state doesn't like. That's what education is about. It is wrong to punish children for challenging arrogant, flawed, deceitful orthodoxy.

    We can't educate him – we both work full time paying for every freeloading trougher and gormless policy big fat state dumps on this country.

  76. Reform's defence pledges at a glance from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/26/reform-labour-who-should-i-vote-for-quiz-results/

    Invest in housing for Armed Forces
    Upgrade Office for Veterans’ Affairs
    Free education for troops and veterans
    Basic pay increase
    New Armed Forces Justice Bill
    Increase defence spending
    Recruit 30,000 new soldiers

    While we might new new soldiers what we really need is a significant reform (if you'll pardon the pun) of the military. The idea of a air, land and sea force is outdated. We need mobille combat units of about 1000 personnel, 200 of whom are specialists in engineering, mechanics, medical, logistics, electronics, infiltration. The rest are organised into 4 battalions of 200 with ten squads of 20.

    For each 20 you have armour enough to support ground assault, transport, air movement, gunship support, drones, the whole caboodle. The days of throwing hundreds of men into an infantry battle are gone. 20 men with separate heavy armour, weapons, surveillance and communications are better served than vast numbers.

    One thing break, ok, take the spare. Need more RPGs? Take one each. The future of combat is technology. We have it, the muslim savage doesn't. Cheap drones can set off road side bombs to protect soldiers – they can be bought for fifty quid a go. Get soldiers better armour – there's stuff that'll automatically compress in the event of shock, for example, more advanced weapons.

    1. Anyone replacing Sunak is going to be temporary at best. The Tories need a long time in the wilderness to find out what they stand for.

      Although we know what'll happen. They'll lie, pretend they're suddenly heroes of the rebellion and then once folk vote for them volte face like a spinning top back to ever more Left wing tax and waste idiocy. Honestly, the entire edifice of state is against them. There's no chance of significant, useful change to a better future.

      1. Keep your eye on Lord Greensill of the Cotswolds; I reckon he fancies being leader again.

        1. And give up all his sinecures and money-grubbing ventures?
          Hardly.
          He always was a lazy so-and-so and I doubt he'll change, he'll just try to play puppet master.

          1. The Evil Emperor Blair doth control him. The Uberstarmerfuhrer awaits post electoral instruction from his overlords.

        2. Leader of what? They're toast. he will be appointed by Starmer to some disgusting grift, I betcha

  78. Those that are interested on here and i know there aren't that many the new series of 'The Bear' has been released. Kitchen Porn to the uninitiated.

  79. A ghastly Bogey Five!

    Wordle 1,104 5/6
    🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜
    🟩⬜⬜🟩⬜
    🟩⬜⬜🟩🟩
    🟩⬜⬜🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. A bit luckier here.

      Wordle 1,104 3/6

      ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟩🟨🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      2. Average…
        Wordle 1,104 4/6

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

      3. Average…
        Wordle 1,104 4/6

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

    3. Ghastly, how could anyone own up to a bogey.. ooh !

      Wordle 1,104 5/6

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

    4. Not as ghastly as a double bogey Six! Aaaaargh……

      Wordle 1,104 6/6

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

    5. I got lucky but it takes all the fun out of it. Probably heading for a seven tomorrow.
      Wordle 1,104 2/6

      ⬜🟨⬜🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  82. Prevening, all. I'm here earlier because I've been gardening and am worn out! The headline implies that some of the non-major parties might have succeeded in selling itself. As long as it isn't the greens, there's hope!

    I had a letter (perhaps they think I'm not reading their emails) from my electricity supplier today, extolling the virtues of a smart meter and implying I have a choice. Well, I choose not to have one. They have moved on, it seems, from the tactic that my old meter is out of date and needs to be replaced and are trying to convince me that the "smart" meter will have advantages, notably in helping me control my consumption (by which I assume they mean it will enable them to cut off my supply if they think I'm using too much). I am making efforts to control my consumption; I am trying to free my house from electricity consumption as far as I can! I don't think this is quite what they had in mind, though.

  85. They are not fools and they already are. We are the useful idiots for allowing it to get this far. Time to be intolerant of the intolerable.

  86. We have lived in our home for 40 years plus. We are 'rural England' but not remote. Ever since we have been here we have had a carpet of moss growing on the tiled garage roof, the outhouse roof and to a lesser extent on the house roof. Sitting in the garden today I noticed that all the moss has died, all of it, with a horrid grey shroud-like dust sitting on top of it like something out of a sci-fi film. It is now dropping off the roofs, slithering down over the gutters in small pieces as it breaks off. I have been under the impression that moss does not grow in polluted atmospheres and I have come to look upon this lush growth as a canary in the mine. Also – our apple tree which has been standing as long as we have been here seems to think that autumn has arrived, its leaves are turning yellow and they are been whisked smartly off the tree in the breeze. The leaves on the our buddlea bushes are also thinning and the tips are turning yellow. There are no bees buzzing around the lavender, which is in enthusiastic flower. No starlings around this year. What is happening?

    3. "Seyton! — I am sick at heart
      When I behold — Seyton, I say! — This push
      Will cheer me ever, or dis-seat me now.
      I have lived long enough. My way of life
      Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf;
      And that which should accompany old age,
      As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends,
      I must not look to have — but, in their stead:
      Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honor, breath
      Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not.
      … Seyton"!

      [Macbeth Act 5, Scene 8]

    4. Certainly insect life appears to be having a bad year. Could be a knock on effect from a crappy Spring?

      1. Or the conspiracy theorists (me being one) being correct about those chemical trails in the sky!

    6. We have a good population of starlings here and 12 chicks were raised in our nest boxes. Our neighbours also had two broods in theirs. I counted 16 starlings on the phone wires the other day. But the sparrow population has crashed. We used to have lots of them, chirping all the time. But now there are hardly any.
      Insects do seem to be fewer too.

      1. Our bluetit box saw a happy pair start their life together in April. As far as we know they produced three babies (it is possible there were more) – one we found dead under the birdbox, and when we cleared out the box after it was deserted we found two dead fledglings, complete with sweet little coloured feathers of yellow and blue. We began to feel that something was wrong quite early on, there wasn’t the frantic arrival of both parents arriving together at the box “c’mon, c’mon’, hurry up!” as one waited on the other to get those insects into hungry mouths. There were long pauses between deliveries, and towards the end we felt that just one parent bird was involved in feeding. A dearth of insects? Certainly there has been nothing like the number of insects flying around and our buddleas which have just come into bloom have no butterflies – no sign of the peacock, red admiral and tortoiseshell butterflies it usually attracts. It is all very worrying.

        1. Two years ago, a pair used our bluetit box, laid eight eggs (all seen on camera) and were very attentive parents, then one by one they all died and there were no survivors. We don’t know the cause of that.

          Last year the box was not used.

          This year once again, a pair moved in, laid eight eggs, and were very good parents. Gradually some disappeared, and they were down to four healthy- looking chicks. Shortly before they fledged, one of the four died. Three, however, did fledge and the final one was still fed in the box after the other two had flown. It left later that day. We saw them in the garden, being fed by the parents for a day or two.

          OH has now taken the box down for some repair work – the camera wiring had come adrift and we were worried it would crash down on them. Fortunately that didn’t happen.

    7. PM,
      We are all despairing , our garden is full of bee loving butterfly attracting flowers that used to host myriads of insects .. no swallows , no house martins , and as you say dust , which comes from the tank ranges and the fields around , so we believe .

      We can leave our patio window at night whilst we are watching TV, nothing , no midges , moths or anything else .

      We met up with a group of bird watchers last night , we were walking Pip on heathland on the Purbecks , and everyone says the same .

      If you examine the Osprey link https://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/osprey/osprey-webcams/ you will notice there are no flies on the fishy nest..

      Sorry to sound alarmist but we are all on extinction alert .. and that shows also in European men having low sperm counts , and white women finding it difficult to conceive .

      If you see Facebook small video clips , the amount of babies shown from birth with the most frightening deformities is mind shattering , and bearing in mind as well the amount of British youngsters who have the strangest growth disorders and mental syndromes must be taken seriously.

      Years ago when I was a child in Africa , DDT insecticide was used for everything , including the spraying inside of aircraft ..

      I used to joke that I had DDT in my bones because I am never bitten by midges !

      1. The defective births are probably as a result of cultural inbreeding – first cousin marriages. They are far more prevalent now than when we were growing up.

          1. Thank goodness for the "free" NHS, eh? Well, free for them, jolly costly for us.

          2. As said elsewhere, all those who agitate to have these people here should pay for them, put them up and enjoy all the consequences = including taking personal responsibility for the crimes they commit. For those of us that oppose their imposition upon us – net zero cost or responsibility, legally enforceable.

        2. Don't you believe it!!
          My wife worked on the special care baby unit in Bradford 40 years ago and it was very prevalent then.
          The incomers are inbreeders and always have been.

          2. True, but my point was that it's not new, and that per head of population it was probably more common then.

          3. I am very sorry to say this, but from observation, for some families (not just imported ones) a disabled child is a meal ticket. I will now take cover.

        3. Truthfully shocking videos taken of newly born babies with four legs , or mermaid legs joined together, two heads , no limbs , freakish genuine images that I think come from Middle East Far East and I am sure the same applies to maternity hospitals here .

          2. When you see things like that on social media, click 'not interested' and the algorithm stops putting them in front of you.

          3. When you see things like that on social media, click 'not interested' and the algorithm stops putting them in front of you.

          4. Don’t worry, TB – they can all come here for “free” surgery.

          5. No doubt they do. Like Kemi Badenoch's mother – came here to drop her sprog and then went off yo Africa again.

      2. The insect army will accelerate from nowish onwards, as it does every year, Belle. Only just now seeing horseflies and other such delights. Midges will come a bit later and butterflies and moths galore toward the middle/end of summer (along with wasps). At least that is what happens here, year on year

        1. Hello O,

          Dear heavens , I do hope you are correct , we have lots of ants , too few bees and we are fifty yards away from agri based fields ,hay making is underway at the moment .Sheep were grazing in the Spring ..

          1. We'll see. But a lot of the poison based problems are very local indeed and need addressing locally

          2. Again, it sounds normal to me – although there do seem to be fewer bumblebees (except the huge early ones) so far this year. Will make a judgment come September. We have lavender bushes that buzz like chainsaws around the house towards the end of summer, usually

    8. Early leaf dropping and dried up moss sounds like lack of water, but that can't be the case this year, surely?

      1. Maybe too much water? Counter-intuitively, the symptoms are often very similar

          1. Moss likes wet, it is the death of the moss, and the lack of bees, which concerns me most.

      2. Definitely not. Our paths through the local woodlands are only just drying out.

      3. Definitely not. Our paths through the local woodlands are only just drying out.

    9. We've got fewer bees than usual but zillions of mosquitos and small flies. Also seen swifts flying over the house for the first time ever!

          1. We now have another new chick hatched this morning. We can spend hours watching them – cameras in every box, fortunately the system was all up and running before my OH was taken poorly in ’22.

    10. We've got fewer bees than usual but zillions of mosquitos and small flies. Also seen swifts flying over the house for the first time ever!

      3. I auditioned for the show but was told they didnt want to scare the children…….

  89. Labour to shut loophole in VAT raid on private school fees
    Parents who pay in advance for education will not be spared tax as sources confirm plan for anti-forestalling legislation
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/27/labour-to-shut-loophole-in-vat-raid-on-private-school-fees/

    BTL

    OLD LABOUR     : SPITE – ENVY – ANTI-ACHIEVEMENT – INVERTED SNOBBERY – TAX ON LEARNING

    (Will the Schools Vandal close down Reigate Grammar School – Starmer's old private school first? RGS awarded ‘Excellent in All Areas' for Education Quality which includes achievement in and beyond the classroom – ISI REPORT. I wonder if they are proud or deeply ashamed of their old boy?)

    https://www.reigategrammar.org/

    1. What did they say the tax would raise? 1.7bn? That's 16 hours state spending.

      It's less than 1% of the NHS budget. Countless children's futures now ruined by spite, hatred and envy.

      However, the pupils who now cannot afford private schooling will go to state schools, adding cost there.

      This is simply a tax on attainment, effort and education. All things the Left hate. It's sad, as now any opposition will not repeal and reverse this legislation to give parents their own money back.

  90. Good morning all , nice breeze here , sunny and not as stinking hot as yesterday which topped 29c

    Probably 22c now.

    Moh has just completed cutting the second half of our wraparound hedge , it is becoming a struggle , requires a ladder and lots of exertion , needs doing about twice a year , privet hedge and the fir name which I can never remember .

    When we first moved here 24 years ago , some one in the village offered to cut it for us , and charged us £400 for the first cut .. never ever again !

    Moh wasn't retired then , so quite clearly we were taken for idiot newcomers .

    1. It's the wrong time of year to be cutting hedges, Maggie; cut before the end of March or after the end of August (nesting birds).

      1. Yep, I hadn’t clicked the comment button.

        I was so busy this morning , doing what, I cannot remember .. ah yes Moh was cutting the hedge which is now over 7foot high thanks to the weather , so I was steadying the ladder and helping him clear up .

    1. That clip does make me wonder whether Andrew has taken leave of his senses. Tice best buddies with Hancock? Can anyone elucidate?because i am presently inclined to trust no-one and believe nothing anyone says.

        1. Oh God, we are heading for the "apparent rescuer is actually the serial killer" scenario. I despair

          6. We have to focus on the least worst. To my mind, that’s Reform by a country mile.

          7. We have to focus on the least worst. To my mind, that’s Reform by a country mile.

        2. Oh God, we are heading for the "apparent rescuer is actually the serial killer" scenario. I despair

      2. There is a photo around showing Tice and Hancock laughing together at the launch of Hancock's post lockdowns book. It's one of those photos that says more than a thousand words. They are all in it together.

      4. 388937+ up ticks,

        Evening O,

        Mr Bridgen only confirms for me my own feelings regarding farage,
        those being he is an extension to the tory (ino) party.

  92. Karl and Milly were lying in bed one night. Carl was falling asleep but Milly was in a romantic mood and wanted to talk. She said, "You used to hold my hand when we were courting."
    Wearily Karl reached across, held her hand for a second, and rolled over to try to fall asleep.
    A few moments later she said, "Then you used to kiss me."
    Mildly irritated, he leaned across, gave her a peck on the cheek and settled back down to sleep.
    Thirty seconds later she said, "Then you used to bite my neck."
    Angrily, he threw back the bed clothes and got out of bed.
    "Where are you going?" she asked.
    "To the bathroom to get my teeth," he replied

    1. You must be on a similar Facebook spider's web to my wife.
      She has just been chortling over that one.

  93. Tonight could be a turning point in the USA.
    It's Trump vs Biden and CNN.
    The "moderator" will almost certainly be a Joe supporter and do everything in his power to force Trump into a corner.

    If Trump is winning and Biden freezes, I wonder what the instructions are in the background?

    If it's clear Biden really is as senile as we suspect, has CNN been told to place JB in the worst possible light so that the Democrats can replace him soon, well before the November election?

    I would not be surprised

    2. I believe you are right.
      Pete Buttegeig to step forward? Michelle Obama maybe?

      1. As a candidate out of left field, ho ho, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan might be a surprise choice, either as a potential candidate or a potential V-P.
        If she could persuade either Cory Booker or Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota to stand on her ticket she might cause a surprise.

      1. I don’t think so, kill two buzzards with one stone.
        A completely new ticket, they’ve 4 months to play.

      2. You go and wash your mouth out, young lady…just kidding…:-DD she's something isn't she, if Biden fails and she takes over things could get even worse….

      3. You go and wash your mouth out, young lady…just kidding…:-DD she's something isn't she, if Biden fails and she takes over things could get even worse….

    4. Biden is clearly ill. Forcing him to keep working is cruel. Let him retire for his years of graft, corruption, fraud and theft. After all, a senator's salary and a doctor's buy you a 200 million property empire.

    5. Biden is clearly ill. Forcing him to keep working is cruel. Let him retire for his years of graft, corruption, fraud and theft. After all, a senator's salary and a doctor's buy you a 200 million property empire.

  94. Good morning all , nice breeze here , sunny and not as stinking hot as yesterday which topped 29c

    Probably 22c now.

    Moh has just completed cutting the second half of our wraparound hedge , it is becoming a struggle , requires a ladder and lots of exertion , needs doing about twice a year , privet hedge and the fir name which I can never remember .

    When we first moved here 24 years ago , some one in the village offered to cut it for us , and charged us £400 for the first cut .. never ever again !

    Moh wasn't retired then , so quite clearly we were taken for idiot newcomers .

    2. Depends how long it took. If it's 4 or 5 hours that's 80 an hour. Put a different way, our lowest tier support contract has 5 incidents (whic we usually double for the first year) of remote support only and we charge £500 for that.

      That's basically someone remoting in and checking a box.

      For one of our biggest clients with 100+ calls and on site if requested it's tens of thousands.

    3. Depends how long it took. If it's 4 or 5 hours that's 80 an hour. Put a different way, our lowest tier support contract has 5 incidents (whic we usually double for the first year) of remote support only and we charge £500 for that.

      That's basically someone remoting in and checking a box.

      For one of our biggest clients with 100+ calls and on site if requested it's tens of thousands.

  95. The Conservatives are the wrong “class” to run Britain and have a “public-school smallness” about them, the shadow foreign secretary has said.

    David Lammy compared Boris Johnson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton to aristocratic British colonial administrators who oversaw the bloody partition of India in 1947.

    Lammy, who has not featured prominently during the election campaign, said Johnson and Cameron were “not the class of people Britain needs to run it” and said that, by contrast, it was Angela Rayner, the Labour deputy leader, who “gets it”.

    In an interview with the New Statesman, Lammy described attending Trooping the Colour recently with Johnson, Cameron and James Cleverly, the home secretary.

    “There was a sort of demob happiness about them, a sort of casual frippery, a certain kind of public-school smallness,” he said, as he described watching the event.

    “They are not the class of people that Britain needs to run it now, and that’s what my own life story tells me. The Labour Party is full of people — Angela Rayner, for instance; I was with her yesterday, campaigning in Mansfield — she gets this.”

    Johnson and Cameron were privately educated at Eton College while Cleverly attended the fee-paying Colfe’s School. Labour’s shadow cabinet contains just four members who attended independent schools, meaning it would have the lowest proportion of privately educated ministers of any government since 1945 should the party win the election.

    Expanding on his theory, Lammy compared Cameron, Johnson and Cleverly to colonial administrators at the end of British rule in India.

    “There’s something about a certain class of individuals at the end of the Raj not really having an account of the future,” Lammy said.

    “These people have squandered something. It just spoke of a class of people who have no real sense of the world as it is, whether it is in our own country or the world as we find it today.”

    In the interview, Lammy also praised France for outperforming Britain on the world stage and he accused the “European elite” of showing a “sniffiness to places like Dubai” as he declared the “the end of the post-colonial era”.

    James Cleverly, Rishi Sunak and David Cameron all attended fee-paying schools

    “Let’s go back to the Nineties, if you like,” he said. “Britain’s economy was bigger than China’s; today, China’s is six times bigger than Britain’s. Countries like Turkey were barely on the map; Turkey had 12 embassies in the continent of Africa, today it has 44. India was just emerging; today India is a global superpower; it’s not a middle power, it’s a superpower with huge amounts of growth.

    “India, China — they are huge manufacturing powers now. And our foreign policy has to meet the world as it is and, in that sense, post-colonialism is over.

    “And I might say also there is no room for cancel culture in foreign policy. Forget it: no one cares! Slightly facile arguments about what paintings are on the wall in the Foreign Office!”

    “I mean [laughing], let’s meet the world as it is, let’s talk about mature relationships today, and let’s recognise that actually there are other economies — neighbours I think over this last period — that have actually been doing better than us in this new environment; France is an example.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    “If you want to get a sense of the modern world, I would encourage anyone to sit in the airport in Dubai and watch the world meeting one another… There can be a sniffiness to places like Dubai by the European elite, but that’s where it’s at and, in that sense, post-colonialism is past.”

    G Jones
    2 HOURS AGO

    Lammy is the class of person who thinks a man can grow a cervix if he takes hormones.

    Why on earth should I take seriously anything this man says?

    Dave Jeavons
    1 HOUR AGO

    That’s future government minister Lammy to you and I. Courtesy of Times readers who have fallen for labours ‘changed party’ shtick.

    Andy Hughes
    2 HOURS AGO

    I've been to Dubai airport – I got shouted at for joining the wrong queue at a fast food restaurant. I'd joined the queue of Indian/Pakistani workers, as that was the only queue I could see. Apparently as a white westerner I should have bypassed that and gone straight to the counter – the guys serving caused such a scene I walked away in disgust. Underlined to me the baked in racism of the place that i'd noticed during my stay. It's not a nice place, it's not filled with very nice people and it shouldn't be held up as a shine example by anyone of the modern world. I'd like to think I'm a realist, and we have to deal with countries like that, but don't put them on a pedestal.

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/tories-are-the-wrong-class-to-run-britain-says-lammy-7n76vs5sj

    1. Lammy nation
      A country where only the shortest of planks get glued together to make thicker ones.

      1. Ill Lammy nation.
        Kahnt has done more damage to London than hitler, and now this brit hating DH wants a top job.

      2. Ill Lammy nation.
        Kahnt has done more damage to London than hitler, and now this brit hating DH wants a top job.

    2. I suppose the only people Lammy thinks are suitable to run the country are thick bleks.

      2. Quite. The Blicks we have in bovernment at the moment are at least there on merit

      3. Quite. The Blicks we have in bovernment at the moment are at least there on merit

    3. Idi-the-Bonehead isn't far wrong in his criticism of Bonjo and Call-me-Dave but the idea that the Stockport Slapper knows better how to run the country will have the nation spluttering into its probably soon to be banned pint glasses. Here's a woman whose ideological stance on the world didn't prevent her from taking advantage of an evil Tory policy, implemented by none other than the she-devil incarnate Mrs T. What a hypocrite.

    4. Good grief Lammy is a nasty little race baiting spoiled litte [expletive], isn't he?

      The idea that a thick, stupid, spoiled Left wing hypocritical racist is going to represent Britain internationally is like having a spike rammed up your backside.

      2. If it ever happens, Trump v. Lammy should be broadcast live around the globe.

      3. If it ever happens, Trump v. Lammy should be broadcast live around the globe.

    5. Didn't Lammy go to some elite private school or other on a choral scholarship? Love to hear him sing.

      3. From wiki
        "Lammy grew up in Tottenham, and went to Downhills Primary School.[10] At the age of 10, Lammy was awarded an Inner London Education Authority choral scholarship to sing at Peterborough Cathedral and attend The King's School, Peterborough.[11]"

        1. State-funded former grammar school, rated as outstanding, might just as well be a top private school. Not the kind of place for plebs, whatever their melanin rating.

        2. State-funded former grammar school, rated as outstanding, might just as well be a top private school. Not the kind of place for plebs, whatever their melanin rating.

      4. From wiki
        "Lammy grew up in Tottenham, and went to Downhills Primary School.[10] At the age of 10, Lammy was awarded an Inner London Education Authority choral scholarship to sing at Peterborough Cathedral and attend The King's School, Peterborough.[11]"

      5. He certainly went somewhere to get where he is today, opopanax. There are references online testifying how much he loves singing, but no actual footage. He seems to be religious, especially likes singing hymns, but no reference to specific ones. Possibly just a very nice man who shouldn't be anywhere near politics, let alone government.

        1. I enjoy singing hymns, too. Thankfully there is no footage anywhere of me doing that 🙂 There is a recording somewhere of when I sang Haydn's Te Deum, but I was only in the "chorus" so to speak.

          One hymn that has become a bit of an earworm lately is "God is working His purpose out". I suppose it's the looming election which makes me wish He'd get on with it!

          1. I know it well. He seems a bit quiet lately, so maybe He's working on it right now. Things won't change much UK because the CS runs the show, and will continue to do so for Labour thanks to Sue Grey. I like to repeat Sir Humphrey 'permanence is power'. We'll be able to work off our frustration and anger here on this board, with luck and Geoff's continued permission (he said to me earlier he thought I'd blocked him on Disqus, didn't think I'd blocked anyone let alone him, turned out to be someone called Burt – never heard of (presumably) him. This was over at the Spectator, they do things differently there. As they do in USA, and that will definitely affect us.

        2. The school he went to seems very coy about fees – but it does say that these were abolished last century. Which implies that it is a highly selective (it has entrance exams/criteria) publicly funded school of the ilk that his party has been assiduous in attempting to abolish.

          I also don't know how "nice" he really is. Following the publication of his autobio, I heard him interviewed on the wireless where he was waxing lyrical on the joys of visiting his ancestral home in Africa (was it Benin? can't remember). He said how wonderful it was to be amongst people that looked like him, that were his own kind, how liberating it felt. The interviewer hazarded a question as to whether he therefore understood how other ethnicities, particularly white people, might feel similarly. His reply was "No! That's racist"

          1. He’s said he’s ‘of African descent’…well I guess we all are, according to various scientists. Is his reply racist….trying to work that one out….

        3. The school he went to seems very coy about fees – but it does say that these were abolished last century. Which implies that it is a highly selective (it has entrance exams/criteria) publicly funded school of the ilk that his party has been assiduous in attempting to abolish.

          I also don't know how "nice" he really is. Following the publication of his autobio, I heard him interviewed on the wireless where he was waxing lyrical on the joys of visiting his ancestral home in Africa (was it Benin? can't remember). He said how wonderful it was to be amongst people that looked like him, that were his own kind, how liberating it felt. The interviewer hazarded a question as to whether he therefore understood how other ethnicities, particularly white people, might feel similarly. His reply was "No! That's racist"

      6. He certainly went somewhere to get where he is today, opopanax. There are references online testifying how much he loves singing, but no actual footage. He seems to be religious, especially likes singing hymns, but no reference to specific ones. Possibly just a very nice man who shouldn't be anywhere near politics, let alone government.

      7. Here is one I've posted before about the Tottenham Turnip: All slave descendants from the West Indies have what I call slave privilege. If their enslaved ancestors had been dragged across the Sahara, they wouldn't be here, as the men were all castrated. If their ancestors had never been enslaved, they would have been born in some third-world dump in Africa.
        As their ancestors were taken across the Atlantic, their immediate forbears were able to settle in the UK, thus offering them the opportunity to prosper as they would never have done in the West Indies.
        That is their Slave Privilege! Bear that in mind, Mr Lammy.

    6. "…bloody partition of India in 1947." And all the communal violence was carried out by…Indians, not t he British.

    1. The Making of Spain with Simon Sebag Montefiore – BBC

      BBC
      https://www.bbc.co.uk › programmes
      blood and gold the making of spain from http://www.bbc.co.uk
      Blood and Gold: The Making of Spain with Simon Sebag Montefiore. Simon Sebag Montefiore embarks on a fascinating journey to unlock 2,000 years of Spain's .

        1. Pleasure enjoy if I remember correctly he doesn’t mention the barbary pirates and the kidnapped white children until the later stages.
          It seems that their vile medieval mindset is still part of their overbrearing original repulsive culture.

  99. Got home safely about 5:45 with some more washing I've found in step-son's wardrobe, mainly bedding but with several rather rank items of clothing I'd missed earlier. Probably 3 machine loads in all.
    A beautiful day and I will admit I enjoyed the drive!

  101. The chief executive of a troubled London council has been arrested and charged with drug and driving offences.

    Bayo Dosunmu, who runs Lambeth council in south London, was arrested on Sunday in the Westminster area after allegedly failing to stop at the scene of an accident.

    The Metropolitan Police confirmed that he has been charged with possession of a class A controlled drug, failing to stop after a road accident, driving above the prescribed alcohol limit and using a motor vehicle in a public place without third-party insurance.

    The exact circumstances of the accident and arrest have yet to become clear.

    Dosunmu, 46, who is paid £187,775 a year — £20,000 more than the prime minister — will appear at Westminster magistrates’ court on Thursday August 1.

    As chief executive of the council, the Cardiff University graduate is Lambeth’s highest-paid official. He has been in post since April 2022, having joined in 2019 as deputy chief executive.

    Dosunmu was previously executive director at Homes England, the public body that funds new affordable housing. He has a master’s degree in transport and planning.

    Last month, an investigation by The Times revealed that Labour-controlled Lambeth council has spent more than £25 million on climate and “active travel” initiatives since 2019, despite repeatedly failing vulnerable children and leaving social housing tenants to live in squalor.

    Analysis of performance indicators published by the Office for Local Government (Oflog) showed that on adult social care, Lambeth ranked worse than 90 per cent of councils. It also had more complaints upheld by the local government ombudsman than any other authority except Croydon.

    A recent Ofsted inspection found that its children’s services “require improvement” on every measure. The communities secretary has written to Lambeth four times in two years demanding improvement in its housing operation.

    Dosunmu’s arrest, which was first reported by theMJ.co.uk, a trade journal for council leaders, is just the latest embarrassment to hit the council.

    Earlier this year it was forced to suspend a controversial low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) scheme that was causing congestion on one of the main routes out of London.

    For five months the council ignored complaints about the scheme, which was causing buses to be delayed by up to two hours on the A23, before being leant on by Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, to withdraw it.

    In a statement, the council said: “Lambeth chief executive Bayo Dosunmu is currently away from work and the council has put in place interim leadership arrangements. We are unable to make any further comment due to an ongoing police investigation.”

    Dosunmu did not respond to a request to comment.

    Comments for this article have been turned off

    Comments are subject to our community guidelines, which can be viewed here.

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/bayo-dosunmu-lambeth-council-boss-charged-with-drink-driving-and-drug-possession-rndmhr3f2

    3. I've long said that politicians, civil servants and high ranking officialdom should be subject to the same drug & alcohol regime I was under when I worked on the railway.

    4. I've long said that politicians, civil servants and high ranking officialdom should be subject to the same drug & alcohol regime I was under when I worked on the railway.

        1. And their American offshoots – the Barack Obama lama ding-dongs (That's enough. Ed.)

      2. It's not so much that they think they're worth that as that the PTB choose to splash our cash upon these grifters. Why?

      3. It's not so much that they think they're worth that as that the PTB choose to splash our cash upon these grifters. Why?

    9. Lambeth, say no more. Run by lefties. I lived in Clapham Common when the arch hypocrite Ted Hollamby occupied a penthouse above the planning office and whose home was Philip Webb’s Red House.

      Crime was rife then early seventies culminating in the riots of 1981 which year my wife was mugged on Crescent Lane by five black boys wielding knives. We left London in 1982 and commuted for our London jobs for years.

      Edit: On his salary plus expenses that idiot could have taken a taxi or else used the council chauffeur service, I am sure they have such arrangements in that socialist haven of Brixton.

  102. The chief executive of a troubled London council has been arrested and charged with drug and driving offences.

    Bayo Dosunmu, who runs Lambeth council in south London, was arrested on Sunday in the Westminster area after allegedly failing to stop at the scene of an accident.

    The Metropolitan Police confirmed that he has been charged with possession of a class A controlled drug, failing to stop after a road accident, driving above the prescribed alcohol limit and using a motor vehicle in a public place without third-party insurance.

    The exact circumstances of the accident and arrest have yet to become clear.

    Dosunmu, 46, who is paid £187,775 a year — £20,000 more than the prime minister — will appear at Westminster magistrates’ court on Thursday August 1.

    As chief executive of the council, the Cardiff University graduate is Lambeth’s highest-paid official. He has been in post since April 2022, having joined in 2019 as deputy chief executive.

    Dosunmu was previously executive director at Homes England, the public body that funds new affordable housing. He has a master’s degree in transport and planning.

    Last month, an investigation by The Times revealed that Labour-controlled Lambeth council has spent more than £25 million on climate and “active travel” initiatives since 2019, despite repeatedly failing vulnerable children and leaving social housing tenants to live in squalor.

    Analysis of performance indicators published by the Office for Local Government (Oflog) showed that on adult social care, Lambeth ranked worse than 90 per cent of councils. It also had more complaints upheld by the local government ombudsman than any other authority except Croydon.

    A recent Ofsted inspection found that its children’s services “require improvement” on every measure. The communities secretary has written to Lambeth four times in two years demanding improvement in its housing operation.

    Dosunmu’s arrest, which was first reported by theMJ.co.uk, a trade journal for council leaders, is just the latest embarrassment to hit the council.

    Earlier this year it was forced to suspend a controversial low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) scheme that was causing congestion on one of the main routes out of London.

    For five months the council ignored complaints about the scheme, which was causing buses to be delayed by up to two hours on the A23, before being leant on by Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, to withdraw it.

    In a statement, the council said: “Lambeth chief executive Bayo Dosunmu is currently away from work and the council has put in place interim leadership arrangements. We are unable to make any further comment due to an ongoing police investigation.”

    Dosunmu did not respond to a request to comment.

    Comments for this article have been turned off

    Comments are subject to our community guidelines, which can be viewed here.

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/bayo-dosunmu-lambeth-council-boss-charged-with-drink-driving-and-drug-possession-rndmhr3f2

    2. 20 years ago. my nephew married a girl in Tunbridge Wells. The reception was held in a hotel which had a preserved railway line running past. As we lined up for the photos, Thomas The Tank Engine went past, belching steam and smoke.
      All of us oldies took a deep breath and inhaled those luverly sulphurous fumes which brought back ,memories of a bygone age,

  107. off up north tomorrow (well, Wolverhampton for my first attendance ever at a school reunion. 39 years). Up early on Saturday to drive to Knighton where my friend and I will do the next three stages of theOffa’s Dyke path. These are the sections I’ve been most looking forward to, as they are the ones nrpearest to where I grew up. There’s a story about my mum when she was little and “the farm” she was sent to in the holidays. My walk takes me straight past it. Will relate the story in due course, it’s not that exciting but I am busy packing and cooking etc. right now. will take Jasper’s things up with me and see if the local dogs’ home will take them. Leads, bowls, his “best” basket etc.

      1. It is, I have an old dog, now failing. Been with me since age 6 weeks. Dread the inevitable.

        1. Would it be possible to get another or is your old boy an “only dog” sort of animal? Having Kadi helped when I lost Oscar. Sometimes, having a younger dog gives the old one a new lease of life.

          1. We have always done this, too, Conway. Overlapped. It does stop that awful resentment one has at any new puppy for not being the irreplaceable old dog. Haven't done it yet with our present ageing terrier, who we still call the pup.
            I hate getting old but what is the alternative?

          2. I haven't always done it. Charlie arrived when Jazz was ageing, but Charlie was definitely an "only dog" person. His manners improved considerably once he didn't have a rival. Kadi arrived after Oscar, but it wasn't by design.

          3. With us it was because our very challenged son adored his dog and that relationship, along with his pony, was seemingly the only thing that could alleviate his angst, So we got into the habit.

            We have had two rescue dogs, one a success although incontinent, the other a bit of a disaster though also a dear dog. Because of his extreme ill treatment in the past he fixated on me and attacked anyone who came near me. It's all very well having a "one person dog" if you're that one person but very intimidating for friends (he bit my husband many times, hated people in uniform, so you can imagine where that led – I'm just surprised that we were never commanded to destroy him in view of the trail of visiting officials bitten by him). When I had my first baby, he became even more over protective, both of me and of the baby. He did lead a happy life, and most of his over-protectiveness was overcome, in the end.

            He is buried on the farm, in his basket with all his toys. I sometimes wonder what future archaeologists will make of this,

          4. All my dogs have been cremated and I haven’t kept their ashes. I didn’t want them buried in the garden in case I had to move house. The best place to bury a dog, I’ve always felt, is in your heart.

          5. We have always done this, too, Conway. Overlapped. It does stop that awful resentment one has at any new puppy for not being the irreplaceable old dog. Haven't done it yet with our present ageing terrier, who we still call the pup.
            I hate getting old but what is the alternative?

          6. Thanks for your kind response, Conway. Somehow this dog is hefted to me, like a shadow. Had him since around 6 weeks old. Now 14 plus and mostly sleeps and eats. I’ve had several rescues but he’s the only pup. I’m 75 recently and hope I have sufficient energy to get another dog once he’s gone, I’ll be lost. Would go for another rescue but they’re not the places they once were. Any pet is expensive to keep today, unfortunately 🤔

          7. I'll be 76 next birthday. Some days it's only my dog who keeps me going! You're right about rescue centres. They make you jump through hoops even if you've had dogs for years. They charge huge amounts, too.

          8. Me too😊 and full agreement on rescue centres. One time happy to take donations and fund raise. Now around £90 per dog bit less for cat. Vet once told me a number euthanized each week, and that was in donation days so likely more now fewer moved on due to pricing. Pup prices are grotesque, seems too many people breeding dogs 😒

          9. £90? And the rest! Oscar cost me £120 and that was reduced because of his age (he was nearly 12) and that he was a dog. A young bitch would have been a lot more.

          10. That was last time I looked, a few months ago. I think it’s disgraceful. Hoping for a farm dog that won’t work….😄🤞

          13. I had Oscar just over two and a half years ago. Perhaps, with people giving up their dogs after lockdown, prices have gone down. You might consider a 6 yr old bitch that's been used for breeding. After the dam reaches 6 they can't register the litters.

          14. Thanks Conway, definitely a consideration. At present, he’s sleeping at minimum 20 hours out of 24, still has a good appetite and only a couple of wet patches in house. I know the drill, had quite a few euthanised, two in one day in the past:-( I hate how some dogs are used as breeding machines. Re: bullies, some are OK, but until outlawed should always be muzzled and on a lead outdoors – some incidents happen at home, with owners. Special kind of madness.

          15. As long as he has a good quality of life. Jess was used for breeding, but by a reputable breeder.

          16. Quite. They like to humiliate people and they do not have a clue. Like most other ostensibly kind enterprises that began as genuine charities they have become a nice little earner and a job creation scheme for the woke. I'm sorry for the poor dogs. Look at any website pushing these pooches and they are nearly all neither house trained nor rehabilitated however long they've been held there. The racehorse rehoming charities still do what they say on the tin. I wonder how long this will last. Sorry to be so cynical.

          17. What I violently object to is importing dogs from places like Turkey or Cyprus and then charging £145 for them. We've got enough homeless dogs of our own without bringing them in from abroad. I was desperate for another dog when I lost Charlie, but as soon as I saw a foreign origin I turned away.

          19. Thanks for your kind response, Conway. Somehow this dog is hefted to me, like a shadow. Had him since around 6 weeks old. Now 14 plus and mostly sleeps and eats. I’ve had several rescues but he’s the only pup. I’m 75 recently and hope I have sufficient energy to get another dog once he’s gone, I’ll be lost. Would go for another rescue but they’re not the places they once were. Any pet is expensive to keep today, unfortunately 🤔

      2. It is, I have an old dog, now failing. Been with me since age 6 weeks. Dread the inevitable.

      3. I've kept everything of Poppie's, a jar of hair from her brush, her ball, harness, lead, favourite toys, jackets and including the scrunch in her basket which was the last she scratched up. All in a box (except the basket) under a spare bed. No doubt one day our boys and their wives will throw it all out.

        1. I've kept all the collars, leads, coats and serviceable beds from my dogs. Subsequent dogs have made use of them. I have packed Oscar's coats and harness in the bottom drawer; Kadi is too small to make use of them, but I may get another dog later on that they will fit.

        1. That’s something…if collar anything like my dog’s..leather, old, creased and tag long gone,but definitely his. You have your memories too, bitter sweet 🥰

  112. Please may I ask Nottlers advice? Anyone with any experience of Amazon Kindle and/or Fire for taking nature photos, any and all advice welcome. Before I shell out around £200. Thanks for any responses, Kate.

    1. Wish I could help, but all I do on my Kindle is read!

      Looking forward to.your photos, however you take them, if you fancy posting some.

      1. Thanks so much, ashes…I currently have several folders each with around 80 odd paintings sketches etc. Have used every medium. Sad to say an addiction! Have never done landscape hence kindle hoping it will help me – i need all the help I can get 😅

        1. You’re in good comoany here with that particular addiction! 🤣🤣

          Are you planning to try digital art, à la Hockney, or just use the Kindle for reference photos? Because if the latter, I’ve found a tiny digital camera is far easier to stuff in a pocket when out for a walk, and doesn’t automatically distort like a phone camera does. I admit to using the latter, too, from time to time, when I’m after the inspiration of a fleeting moment rather than accuracy.

          1. Not digital, I spend too much time online as it is…yes reference photos. Digitals are good, I especially liked the Blackberry I had, but then it means the faff of downloading which I nearly always manage to faff which means calling him in the garage to sort, goes down well I find. Kindle great as an aide-memoir, had one before colours were good. I’ve used every medium (not too keen on acrylics, I like to change things)…what do you use, want to say? (hoping for tips..:-)

          2. Ah, I see. I have never had much trouble downloading from a camera or a phone to my laptop using the relevant bits of string, so I’m not in your position. I think i’d stick with the Kindle if it reproduces the colours you see. (I have to saturate a bit on just about everything. Evidently I have built-in rose-coloured glasses… 🤣)

            I then either work from the laptop screen, or (if it’s a portrait and needs precision), a printout of the same.

            Now I feel like painting! Canvases are ridiculously expensive here, and I haven’t worked out where to buy sheets of hardboard to chop up and cover in gesso (my usual procedure in the UK).

          3. I’m such a non-tech, generally rely on relatives. Kindle now ordered. Rose-tinted glasses badly needed for everyone, current affairs. Now then, hardboard – looked into these many years ago, remember something about being produced in a certain way – possibly not with certain chemicals – so as to be suitable for painting. I try to find the least expensive supplies possible – have been through all the handmade papers etc, currently using Seawhite NOT and Gansai w/c with an old Chinese brush, from Buddlyart, also Art Discount, Curtis Ward reasonable prices. Good luck. Are you by any chance an egg tempera painter…I love that, have tried it, but was a bit too slow progress. Just watched Robert Vickrey, a CD I bought from his son Scotty many years ago. He breaks many rules, often the best way. Just recalled re hardboard think him indoors bought some from a wood supplies merchant, have you tried those? Good luck, ashes…

          4. Thanks for the recommendations! Unfortunately for my painting (although not for me), I have run away to Buenos Aires to dance tango. They, um, do things differently here 🤣🤣 – am still finding my way around oddities.

            As to hardboard erc, well the way I look at it is no-one is going to be keeping my paintings for centuries anyway! Decades if I’m lucky, and I know they’re OK for a decade at least from experience.

            No; I haven’t the patience for egg tempera, although it’s beautiful. (And always makes me laugh, remembering a friend who kept referring to it as tempura until the giggles got the better of me…). I generally work in oils on a basis of acrylics, although sometimes the acrylics get there on their own. What about you?

          5. Whoah….I’ve seen the tango, never danced it, lucky old you. Asked him indoors about the hardboard, he couldn’t remember it. ET is very beautiful especially Vickery, but I like Wyeth too. I hope my family burn mine when I’m gone. Acrylic is the only thing I don’t get along with, suspect because I like to change things, and it can’t be blended least not in my experience. Did some oils years ago, with paint knife, great fun. Budget became the thing when I stopped working. So currently Gansai, chinese brush (sheds hair) and Seawhite NOT. Started out in portraits, few landscapes – now returning to that and back to Kindle photos as aid-memoir. Have a fab time in BA, get your moves together :-D!

      2. Thanks so much, ashes…I currently have several folders each with around 80 odd paintings sketches etc. Have used every medium. Sad to say an addiction! Have never done landscape hence kindle hoping it will help me – i need all the help I can get 😅

    2. I wouldn't have a clue I'm afraid KJ.
      I hope you find what you need though.

      1. Thanks for reply:-) Starting to look like the one to buy is a Kindle Fire, the Paper version is apparently better for reading purposes. Birthday & Christmas combined:-)

    3. No experience (don't know what I'm talking about) but a smart phone takes lovely photos and if I could find one that didn;t do all the other stuff that's what i would get

      1. Thanks opopanax (apologies late reply)…yes I always have my smart phone with me and it’s quite good but I need a larger screen due to eyesight. Best phone I ever had was a Blackberry, really small screen but great photos, and qwerty keyboard…sigh…:-D see you later…

      2. Think I’m going for a Lenovo, opopanax, half the price and good reviews. Just need the nod from Him in the Workshop….

  113. Within the space of a few hours whilst we were away from the house , the mole reappeared and piled a huge clod of earth at the top of the garden , the earth it dislodged was high enough for it to spill into the large flattish water container for the birds .. the strength of that little creature has to be admired , and the speed !

    I found this cute you tube video , not very long but interesting ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM9MN5Wgnx4

    1. I once found a dead one, no noticeable injuries, so no cause of death established. Have never see such fine fur, thick, dense, beautiful colour, and very clean – no sign of mud, earth etc.

          1. The cats brought a live one in once (when we had cats) and I picked it up to transport it back outside. Goodness me, it was strong. And feisty.

          2. They are surprisingly fast, too. Charlie was investigating a mole hill and the mole exited via the side (Charlie didn't notice, he was too busy digging). The mole made off at a fair rate of knots.

  114. I found cayenne pepper, surprisingly cheap if bought in bulk on eg Amazon, spread into their 'runs' was extremely effective, and obviously better than moletraps – it's not their fault, poor little buggers!

    1. I don't object to them , I see them as part and parcel of the garden . Moh hates them , but my comment is what happens on the golf course should not happen here in the garden .

      2. I agree – Diggory Diggory Delvet, a little old man in black velvet……who hasnt read that to their kids?!?

        But they can be terribly destructive to lawns etc I just try to move them on (to some other poor bugger's garden!)

        1. I think they might, though, sos. They have shown a lot of bottle over the woke crap despite their leftiness.

      4. In their case, and knowing the country, yes. Sometimes you need to fight fire with fire – until it has been extinguished. The Danes are doing what we should have done years ago.

    1. I know. We're very misunderstood. Although to be fair it is the greys that get the old man going

  124. Yes, packed muscle machines, all that digging I guess. Am told they taste foul and that no other animal eats them? Have a resident tawny now raised in owl box and stayed after his mum left. Killing something most days, a shrew today but left it intact 🙄

    1. Yes = apparently shrews taste very bitter. “A bitter shrew”. Another annoying result of having cats was that they released (mostly pigmy) shrews into the house, which meant I would see black furry creatures scurrying around which looked like those sinister bigbodied spiders that are so very terrifying to an arachnophobe like me. Of course, once one knew they were cute little shrews it was easier to cope. But they were impossible to catch and release, even with the wellington boot trick that works so well with actual mice

      1. I can make the picture in my head, smiling at it, but can see wasn’t especially funny at the time. Haha bat in recently, better half freaked out I’d never have thought it of him 🤣 🦇🦇🦇

        1. I love bats and regularly have them hanging in my bedroom and studio (another source of marital discord). My one beef with them is the amount that they shit.

          1. You’re kidding, right?! 😀 Yes they do crap a lot, but it’s quite dry and small, unlike bird poo. Ah yes, marital discord who doesn’t identify 😀 Studio? you’re a painter?x

  125. The path of Islam is always the same.

    1. building mosques. 2. creation of parallel societies. 3. rapid multiplication. 4. playing the role of victim (persecuted minority). 5. resistance to the rule of law in the host country. 6. exploitation of legal loopholes. 7. introduction of Sharia law. 8. secession. 9. seizure of power.

    Afghanistan used to be Buddhist, Pakistan Hindu and Lebanon Christian. Today they are all Muslim! If we continue down this path, Europe will fall next….. and then Canada?

    1. I am trying to enlighten people, Maggie, but the propaganda machine is working hard to stifle the truth.

        1. They want chaos so that they can impose martial law "for our own protection", and then completely dominate us. WHy? Because they are evil megalomaniacs. Mega-rich evil megalomaniacs.

        2. They want chaos so that they can impose martial law "for our own protection", and then completely dominate us. WHy? Because they are evil megalomaniacs. Mega-rich evil megalomaniacs.

    1. Yes, that's why I deleted my post (changed it to …) when I realised you were all talking about moles. Apologies.

  130. Well, chums, I'll now wish you all a Good Night. Sleep well, and I hope to see you all tomorrow.

  131. You have a very interesting imagination , Elsie – which is not to discount how astonishing I find some of the stuff that goes on in my own mind unbidden and unregulated (when I spot it happening). The idea of rescuing a badger from a cat and releasing it into the wild is fairly left field, though, by anyone's standards

  132. Romania is the current trend, and I agree. i suspect there will be a whole criminal breeding and abuse sector springing up in these criminal and abusive countries to feed the trade,

  134. Nigel Farage is a Putin appeaser, says Sunak
    Interviewed by The Telegraph, the Prime Minister tells voters only the Tories can prevent potentially ‘decades’ of Labour rule
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/27/rishi-sunak-interview-election-conservatives-nigel-farage/

    "Nigel Farage is a Putin appeaser, says Sunak"

    This is a barefaced lie.

    Why is Sunak not prepared actually to listen to what Farage has said on the matter not only in the last few days but also what he said when war broke out and what he said in 2014 when he warned the West that it might not be a good idea to poke the Russian bear. It is all on record and there is no evidence at all to support Sunak's lies.

    I find it completely repulsive that this grubby little politician is so ready and eager to perjure himself.

    1. Well, Rastus, all those people who keep saying that Sunak is decent and honest need to have another think, don't they? He knows full well what Farage did and didn't say. And he didn't get where he is by accident, after all, he got there by lying ad backstabbing.

        1. Which is why he has no choice but to debase himself. This is what happens when you sell your soul to the devil.

    1. I assume you are confused about the ex-breeding bitch. One of my friends came by a replacement dog that way. Jess had been used for breeding, but she turned 6. The KC won't register litters from a bitch older than 6 so Jess was re-homed as a pet.

      1. I had no idea! Thank you for the elucidation. That explains all the "from breeder" unsocialised six-year-olds pushed by the "rescue" centres.

        1. Often they haven’t been socialised or house trained. Jess is a quick learner and was very happy to meet Kadi. Mind you, he wasn’t as pleased; when she came sniffing he plonked his bum down and refused to get up until she’d gone away!

    1. Gosh Geoff! Earlier than the earliest bird! Huge thanks for your service to us all, as aye x

    2. Good morning 🙂
      Your up early Geoff lovely sunny start.
      Thanks for all your dedication.

    3. Thank you Geoff.
      And a Good Morning to yourself.

      I presume you watched the American debate, being awake in the small hours?

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