Thursday 27 March: The Spring Statement confirmed that the Government has turned its back on wealth creators

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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470 thoughts on “Thursday 27 March: The Spring Statement confirmed that the Government has turned its back on wealth creators”

      1. And a government who gets out of the way. Government is the problem, not the solution.

  6. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,377 5/6

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    1. 403886+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      Are we taking up this obvious challenge, or is the nations love of animals taking the same route as
      "love of country" because if so, halal will be found in the winners enclosure.

      1. This reminds me somewhat of the Chinese version of Crufts, where the Best in Show is expertly cooked and served up in a celebratory banquet.

    2. Toodle pip. Door. Bang. RRs etc…..
      Have the peaceful ones left Denmark since it banned the disgusting practice?

      1. I was pondering the same point, yesterday. I haven't found anything recent enough. Danish law doesn't, however, ban the import of meat derived from ritual slaughter. No doubt there are plentiful supplies from elsewhere to satisfy the appetites of Denmark's muslims.

      2. The Guardian published a Pew projection of Muslim population changes over the 20 year span of 2010 to 2030. Listed by country, it predicts an increase for Denmark, both in number and percentage of the population. However, it doesn't say when the figures were calculated. If compiled before Denmark's ritual slaughter law was changed, it might not take account of its effect.

        https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/jan/28/muslim-population-country-projection-2030

        For those thinking of emigrating to a country where Islam's influence is in decline, the following were expected to experience a smaller percentage of Muslims by 2030: Japan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland and Guyana.

  9. Good morning, all. Grey start to the day. So much for the Wet Office's promise of sunshine.

  10. Ukraine is quietly invading Russia again. 27 March 2025.

    The sound came from a column of tanks and fighting vehicles storming across muddy fields, carving a path through minefields and lines of dragon’s teeth barricades.

    It was the start of a new incursion into Russian territory.

    That was last week and, despite the Kremlin’s claims that the attack was thwarted, Ukraine’s forces are moving forward and steadily capturing ground.

    The battle plan has been closely guarded, and it is still unclear whether the Belgorod incursion was intended as a brief raid or a longer-term operation.

    This is truly pathetic stuff and it’s not alone. I think that they are just trying to keep the idea of a European response alive.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/03/27/ukraine-is-quietly-invading-russia-again/

    2. Unfortunately the DT is also telling us that the naughty Russians are targeting civilians!

    1. 403886+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      Well meant advice, always have a clean vest at hand for use if the occasion arises.

    5. This is appearing on several X timelines. BTL isn't very supportive of his words.

      If fit for nothing else the monarchy should be the focus of unity within the UK. Sadly, public announcements lauding the religion of around 7% of the population during the majority's most holy period, Easter, cannot be seen as a unifying move.

      "Cringe" sums up the speech perfectly.

    9. And where are the Muslim speakers proclaiming how great and valued Christianity is.

  12. Good morning, all. Light ground frost at 06:00 but the forecast is for another pleasant day.

    One of my drinking friends, and former boss, has given me his Bosch shredder as he no longer has any use for it. My Lidl cheapy is no longer shredding as I would like and so I'm ready to get going on the heap at the top of the garden. Mulch for the borders is the order of the day.

    Here is a polite and legal response from USA company Gab telling Ofcom and Starmer's government to FO.

    https://x.com/BasedTorba/status/1904947417637634176

    2. If Gab is being threatened because of the UK online safety Bill why is the fine quoted in Euros?

  13. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the American far-Right politician and conspiracy theorist, told a British reporter to “go back to your own country” in a confrontation in front of cameras.

    “You should care about your own borders. Let me tell you something, do you care about people from your country?
    “What about all the women that are raped by migrants… do you care?”

    Unpolished. Would probably bash the vicar over the head with the teapot. But is she wrong?

    2. The press were there to "report" on..

      Leaders from PBS and NPR appearing before the House DOGE subcommittee o facing questions about federal support for public broadcasting.
      Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., the committee chair, has accused NPR and PBS of bias.thanks to $535 million appropriation provided by Biden.

      But oh no.. in goes Sky ginger gobby Martha Kelner with the usual loaded questions about something else..
      What about leaked Signal chat..
      Don't you care about American lives??

    3. The press were there to "report" on..

      Leaders from PBS and NPR appearing before the House DOGE subcommittee o facing questions about federal support for public broadcasting.
      Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., the committee chair, has accused NPR and PBS of bias.thanks to $535 million appropriation provided by Biden.

      But oh no.. in goes Sky ginger gobby Martha Kelner with the usual loaded questions about something else..
      What about leaked Signal chat..
      Don't you care about American lives??

    5. MTG was recently 'ambushed' in a corridor by Emily No-Mates, who was in her usual belligerent mood (the one specially reserved for politicians she doesn't like, that had served her so well at the bBC). Having attempted her churnalistic 'Gotcha!', she was left gawping like a fish as MTG gave her both barrels and actually told her to 'F*** Off!' It was glorious!

  14. SIR – DK Nichols (Letters, March 26) refers to the lack of potholes in France. Anybody travelling on the major French roads has to pay for the pleasure; at times the sum is quite considerable. The funds generated are used for maintenance. Drivers passing into Austria and Switzerland also have to pay a fee.

    In this country, by contrast, we allow all travellers to use our roads free of charge. Their vehicles are responsible for causing considerable damage.
    At the very least, visitors using Britain’s highways should be expected to pay.

    Dr RA Brass
    Oxford

    "Drivers passing into Austria and Switzerland also have to pay a fee."?

    When did France acquire a border with Austria.

      1. As he is talking about fee payment in France, the word passing (into Austria) implies from France.

  15. More is Less…you couldn’t make this up either. Matthew Lynn sees the light. But still thinks “carbon” needs to be eliminated.

    “IT WOULD drive a new industrial revolution. It would create lots of “well-paid, green jobs”. And the wealth it would generate would lower prices, raise living standards and spark innovations that would transform whole industries.
    For most of the past decade, corporate leaders have insisted that the transition to a carbon-neutral economy was win-win.

    We would save the planet and get richer at the same time. But hold on. The Australian airline Qantas has just broken ranks, admitting that flying may soon be the preserve of only the privileged, while a wealth of research is making it clear that environmental goals have hammered the economy.

    In reality, bosses are starting to admit what has been obvious for some time. Net zero is making us poorer – and that means we have to rethink the way we go about reducing carbon emissions.

    If you thought that summer flight to Malaga or Crete with the family was already looking eye-wateringly expensive, you have not seen anything yet. According to the data company Mabrian, budget – and the word “budget” is looking increasingly out of place for the no-frills aviation industry – flights to Spain will cost 26pc more this year than last and those kinds of price rises are becoming the norm for many destinations.

    But it will get a lot worse very soon. Vanessa Hudson, the chief executive of Qantas, admitted this week that flying may well become “so expensive that it’s something only for the privileged”. It doesn’t stop there.

    Chris Wright, Donald Trump’s energy secretary, delivered some blunt truths on UK policy last month when he argued that our roll-out of wind farms and solar panels “had not delivered any benefits”.

    In fact, he said that British politicians were impoverishing citizens “in the delusion that this was somehow going to make the world a better place”.

    Likewise, earlier this month, an analysis by Peel Hunt showed that the steep decline in electricity supply since the early 2000s had coincided with a sharp fall in the growth of living standards and that the two were inextricably linked.
    There is no point in kidding ourselves any more.

    The net zero drive is making us poorer. Let’s take aviation, for example. Hudson’s point was that sustainable aviation fuel, which will soon be mandatory for at least 10pc of an airline’s consumption, is far more expensive than the traditional fossil variety. It can cost up to five times as much as kerosene and that increase means fares will have to rise prohibitively if airlines are to stay in business. We have only seen the start of the rise in ticket prices and there will be a lot more to come over the next few years.

    Very soon, only the wealthy will be able to fly and the rest of us will have to stay at home.

    The trouble is, this is completely crazy. To start with, affordable aviation is now built into the fabric of the economy. It is integral to tourism, with much of the Mediterranean completely reliant on it for its economic survival. It is crucial for exports, with sales trips dependent on getting around the continent efficiently.

    The conference industry relies on it for its survival, and so does distribution and logistics.

    If costs rise four or fivefold, then it is not just a few budget flights that will be lost. Whole swathes of the economy will be wiped out.

    The same is true of manufacturing. Perhaps renewables will deliver cheap, reliable energy one day, but there is not much sign of it yet. Instead, factories and chemical plants are closing down at an accelerating rate as energy prices, already 50pc higher than in France, and double that of the United States, mean it is impossible to make stuff in the UK.
    We were told that transitioning to net zero would make us all richer. It was, apparently, “the economic opportunity of the century”. But sector by sector, those lazy assumptions are being taken apart.

    At least Qantas is being honest. So are a handful of other corporate leaders, even if the majority are still living in the la-la-land where there is no trade-off between hitting our environmental goals and maintaining our standards of living.
    We can all argue about how serious a threat climate change represents and whether the UK really needs to be a world leader in fighting it (or whether it doesn’t really make much difference given that we only account for 1pc of global emissions). But one point is surely abundantly clear. We need to rethink our approach to achieving net zero because the costs are becoming more than the economy can realistically bear.

    In aviation, for example, we need to modify the targets for sustainable fuels until we have worked out a way of making them a lot more cheaply or come up with a completely different technology.

    On wind and solar, we need to look again at whether they can function without subsidies, and if not, we need to switch to alternatives such as nuclear power.

    As for electric vehicles, we need to look again at whether they can really match petrol cars in the mass market or whether we should be focusing on hydrogen instead.

    The list goes on and on. In reality, the entire net zero strategy needs a radical rethink.

    The corporate sector should take the lead in that. It should drop the wishful thinking, along with the fantasy economics, and start spelling out the price we will all soon be paying, whether it is higher ticket prices, fewer goods in the shops or lost jobs.

    A few bosses are telling it straight, but we need many, many more to join them for the message to start getting through.”

    2. If aviation for the masses is in retreat why is there talk, with government support, for a third runway at Heathrow?

    3. One line in there that made me laugh; "The conference industry relies on it for its survival"

    4. Will this spark a revival of bucket & spade holidays in the UK? Clacton might benefit from those no longer spending 2 weeks in Benidorm every year.

    5. I can't be bothered to read it all but I didn't notice any mention of the middle east. Where they are totally reliant on oil to even exist.
      Perhaps Mathew Lynn should pop across, walking or cycling of course and put his point in their direction. And then on to China and elsewhere.
      Stop trying to wreck our economy, we are not global martyrs, the government are already wrecking everything they come into contact with.

      1. Those few wealthy UK citizens still able to afford to travel internationally will do so with a halo above their heads. If nothing else, it'll be a net-zero reading light.

      2. Lol “brown” people are allowed to oil… because that’s different…

  16. Good morning Nottlers, 11°C, wet, and windy on the Costa Clyde. Walking football will be damp.

  17. 403886+up ticks,

    Tell me,
    WHY, did we give it away for starters ? and the "politicians wot did" it won't wash, not after decades upon decade of the same close shop lab/lib/con voting pattern.

    Truth be told we won't be taking it back any time soon
    that could clearly be seen as being offensive to some foreign entity, and someone has mislaid the starting pistol also, that "nige" chap had it last.
    https://x.com/GSGB01/status/1904859528920797203

    1. Problem is, Nige was aiming it at his feet. Firearms safety, doncha no, never point a gun at anything you are not prepared to destroy.

  20. Morning All 🙂😊
    Misty and murky today but not cold.
    Everything this government has done or says makes me feel uncomfortable.

  22. Speccie

    'Rachel Reeves has delivered her emergency Budget – and it was basically the Sabrina Carpenter Statement. The content wasn’t very original, it barely covered the essentials and the Chancellor couldn’t be straight about the cost no matter how many questions were asked.'

  23. O/t: the community centre being closed, 'er oop north had to use the Scouts' loo. Just the one, its door was marked with the familiar signs for disabled, male and female, and also with a cross between the male and female sign, which she thought was redundant, not to say gratuitous.

    1. What is the cross supposed to symbolise? Transgender welcome or no fraternisation between males and females?

    1. Farage has always made sure his bread is buttered both sides.
      But er he's never really done anything positive he only talks and spreads the word.

  25. Tradition?
    For her first Budget in October 2024 the Chancellor stayed with tradition by using the 'old' EIIR gold-embossed Budget Box, like Jeremy Hunt did for the previous March budget.
    But she's been chucking out loads of 'traditional' paintings and decorative stuff from No. 11 and replacing them with feminist stuff.
    Now each time I see that photo of Ms Thieves carrying a red folder yesterday, I note that it still says EIIR on the cover.
    King Charles II has been King since his mother died on 8th September 2022. He was crowned. on 6th May 2023.
    Does it take THAT long for the Chancellor to get an updated folder, or is the still photo being shown just an archive photo?
    We should be told (perhaps we already have).

    3. I believe that KC3 has said that standards, banners, and other items bearing EIIR devices should be replaced only when they have bedome unusable through wear and tear. Military charities, many of which have very expensive standards, benefit from the King’s advice.

    4. He's King Charles III – not two. Apart from that I think he's just trying to appear as thrifty as his mother was said to be.

  27. I wish I could remember where I saw it but a poster in a food outlet just a few days ago enjoined me to upgrade to waffle fries. I always knew something was missing in my life.

    1. Now all is made clear.

      "A waffle cut fry has more surface area than a regular french fry, which gives you more surface area to capture seasoning dipping sauces. The ridges and valleys also hold on to seasonings and sauces better than a flat surface, enhancing the overall flavor."

      1. "How to pimp up fries?"

        I shall leave the question hanging. There should always be a little mystery in our daily lives.

        1. Fries are tasteless rubbish.

          Poach chipped potatoes using a chicken oxo cube in the water. Drain and dry after 8 minutes.
          Deep fry in lard or beef dripping at 130c for 10 minutes.
          Turn up the heat to 180c and fry until golden.

          1. The chips I had with my cheese Bruchetta and salad lunch at the Elephant and Castle Amwell yesterday were a classic example of what you describe. Very tasty.

          2. I blanch mine first, in beef tallow, at 140ºC for seven minutes (it's the lowest my fryer will go). Finally two-three minutes at 180ºC.

            I've not tried the beef stock initial poach first, I'll have to try it. Normally I use salted water for five minutes.

          3. Not forgetting the stock water is still usable for sauces and gravy.

            Don't let them go too far in the stock or they break up too much in the fryer.

          4. I blanch mine first, in beef tallow, at 140ºC for seven minutes (it's the lowest my fryer will go). Finally two-three minutes at 180ºC.

            I've not tried the beef stock initial poach first, I'll have to try it. Normally I use salted water for five minutes.

        2. Fries are tasteless rubbish.

          Poach chipped potatoes using a chicken oxo cube in the water. Drain and dry after 8 minutes.
          Deep fry in lard or beef dripping at 130c for 10 minutes.
          Turn up the heat to 180c and fry until golden.

      2. Some nice salted, even sized Macdonalds fries are the way to go – or so I am told.

    2. "Upgrade" to "waffle" fries – we had those as kids sixty odd years ago – they were known as crinkly chips. My mother had a special crinkly chip cutter to make them.

        2. They look good. Never tried them. I think they are going on the shopping list. M & S has them.

          2. Hi Pip! Never had that. Isn't it something the primitives eat in French Canada?

    3. "Upgrade" to "waffle" fries – we had those as kids sixty odd years ago – they were known as crinkly chips. My mother had a special crinkly chip cutter to make them.

  29. Good Morning!

    Today FSB presents another in Paul Sutton’s The Drenching Arms series, involving a long-brewing fully justified Rebellion . Well worth a read folk.

    Yesterday’s article, A Farewell To Masculinity , by Frederick Edward, relates a transition from the masculine work of manual labour to the metro-sexual environment of office work, subtly lamenting the waning of old fashioned masculine values. A good read and worthy of a comment.

    Energy watch 08.00: Demand: 33.98 GW. Total UK Production: 25.98 GW from: Hydrocarbons 23.7%; Wind 29.2%; Imports 24.5%; Biomass 1.3%; Nuclear 11.1. Solar: 5.4%.

    freespeechbacklash.com

  30. Good morning all, dull day , bit foggy and today is my 78th birthday .. How on earth did that happen .

    Nothing special planned . We will see what the day brings , a bit of sunshine I hope .

    Bye for now x

    11. Many happy returns, Mags! Hope you have a nice day. It's dull and cloudy here so hope you do better :-))

    12. Happy birthday Belle I hope you have a lovely day with your family and friends 🤩🤗🍾🥂Have a lovely day ……are you being treated to a round of golf ??? Just askin' 😏

    14. Happy Birthday, Belle!
      Hope it's the best yet!
      Birthday in spring was good planning, BTW!

    15. Happy Birthday dear Belle! Hope you have a wonderful day and enjoy yourself! 🍾🎉🥂🎂💕

  31. House of Commons written question 40686 from some guy on Twitter that no one has heard of.. and that should get a life.. and defo shouldn't upset the Controlled Opposition.. called Rupert Lowe.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to encourage (a) public institutions and (b) restaurants to label halal meat to consumers.

    After new parliamentary data is raising eyebrows:
    🐄 214 million animals were X for X meat in 2023
    🇬🇧 That’s 1 in 5 animals across the UK

    🔹 How meat makes up 20% despite being a smaller share of the population
    🔹 What this says about demographic shifts in Britain

    1. Remember.. if you dare ban halal meat in UK.. then the whole of the Muslim population will leave GB, and that's a promise.

  32. Grattis på födelsedagen, to our good friend and colleague, Spikey.

    Hope it's a brilliant day, mate! 😊🎹🥃🎂🍾👍🏻

    1. Disqus tells me you've downvoted yourself, Grizz!

      (When I asked Google Translate about Grattis på födelsedagen, it turned all classical and gave me Felix dies natalis.)

      1. Looks like smiling cobra to me. I think these downvotes happen more often when someone is commenting via their phone.

        1. I can see both names. I've done it accidentally when I've just been scrolling up or down on my phone.

      3. I ‘downvote’ myself each time I look in the mirror, Sue!🤣

        Grattis means ‘congratulations’.
        På [pron: “po”] is a catch-all preposition that means, variously: ‘on’, ‘in’, ‘at’, ‘for’, ‘onto’, ‘into’, ‘by’, ‘during’, ‘after’, ‘of’, ‘in earnest’ (depending on the context and what words accompany it), in this case it means ‘on’.
        Födelsedagen [pron: “fer-dels-ee-dahg-en”] is, simply, ‘birthday’.

        Grattis på födelsedagen = ‘congratulations on (your) birthday’. In English: ‘happy birthday’.

    2. Thanks Grizz, also Maggiebells birthday today. I guess Rastus is still hibernating after Carolines birthday bash yesterday

        1. Thanks Phil, Was going out to lunch but due to illness the cafe has been closed

          2. Happy birthday! Hope the cafe reopens soon and you can celebrate retrospectively.

      2. 'Smiling Cobra' evidently does not approve of my birthday greeting to you, Spikey. He's downvoted me!

      3. Happy birthday, Spikey.
        Will the caff be open for the weekend, so you can prolong the celebrations?

      5. Happy Birthday Alec/Spikey! Looks as though Rastus forgot the birthday reminders today.

    1. There is no genocide in Gaza. When the Nazis attempted genocide, the Jewish population was decimated. The Arab population of Gaza is steadily growing. The Jews have no ambition to wipe out the Arab race, or even the Egyptian, Jordanian, Lebanese, Syrian and Saudi people living in the Gaza strip. Israel merely wants to neutralise the very real threat on her doorstep. As does Russia with regards to Ukraine, though the Russian press likewise spout this Gaza genocide twaddle.

      I'm also sick to the back teeth of Trump derangement syndrome. A corrupt, lying, thieving, warmongering administration is replaced with one that exposes corruption, uses common sense and tries to bring about peace and the TDS people are weeping and wailing. Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

      1. Like many I reserve my judgement on Trump and his administration. Time will tell if he really is the lynx he purports to be or is full of sound and fury signifying nothing.

      2. Looking at some statistics. In Dec 2017 the Arab population of Gaza was1,899,291 In 2021 it is 2,226,544. That's some incredible incompetence for a genocide by Israel in Gaza. So, of course, you're right Sue. Gaza genocide is indeed twaddle.

        As for TDS. Agree with you on that too. And thanks for the quote from Isaiah. Very apropos

        1. It's not like the Jews to be inefficient. Presumably there's nothing on TVGaza and the natives are going at it like knives.

        2. John MIlton wrote of Samson, blinded by The Philistines, who was Eyeless in Gaza.

          (I have advised a sailing friend of mine who likes the booze and now keeps his boat on a Mediterranean Island just to the North of Malta not to get legless in Gozo)

      3. Sue, think a bit more carefully about Isaiah before you get on your high horse. having just spent a good deal of my life fighting for the result last November and matching outcomes here in Europe I don’t take kindly to such stuff. TDS as the media jargon calls it with some reason also has its opposite. Much of what has been done by Trump already has rolled back the darkness. Unfortunately I do not believe we are seeing the same virtue in his adminsitrations policy with Israel. If you, instead of spouting hot words, feel able to say the IDF have not killed large numbers of non-combattant civiilians curremtly estimated at 75,000 in Gaza then it will give relief to anyone who is convinced by your words.

    2. There is no genocide in Gaza. When the Nazis attempted genocide, the Jewish population was decimated. The Arab population of Gaza is steadily growing. The Jews have no ambition to wipe out the Arab race, or even the Egyptian, Jordanian, Lebanese, Syrian and Saudi people living in the Gaza strip. Israel merely wants to neutralise the very real threat on her doorstep. As does Russia with regards to Ukraine, though the Russian press likewise spout this Gaza genocide twaddle.

      I'm also sick to the back teeth of Trump derangement syndrome. A corrupt, lying, thieving, warmongering administration is replaced with one that exposes corruption, uses common sense and tries to bring about peace and the TDS people are weeping and wailing. Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

  34. Every KC Hired by Labour to Defend Its VAT Policy Went to Private School

    Dates have been set for a High Court challenge to Labour’s VAT on independent schools. A judicial review is being brought by seven families supported by the Independent Schools Council and represented by Kinglsey Napley. Filed before Christmas, multiple claims come on behalf of different groups and schools themselves…

    High Court dates are from the 1st to 3rd of April. The claimants are arguing that the government is breaching the right to education as set out in the ECHR, and specifically that access is restricted to children with SEND, religious or philosophical education needs, and foreign nationals. Three judges are expected to hear this one – that’s rare…

    Labour has hired not one, not two, but four KCs to defend its policy. Funnily enough, they all went to fee-paying schools:

    Sarah Hannett KC went to Millfield public school in Somerset. Millfield is campaigning against the VAT change by arguing that bursaries and scholarships will be cut to the detriment of GB global sporting potential. It is increasing its fees by 15% this year.

    Matrix Chambers’ Eleni Mitrophanous KC went to Channing School which has opposed the tax for years and raised fees by 13.9%
    Jason Pobjoy KC attended Eltham College, which has raised its fees by 21.3% on last year.

    James Eadie KC went to Radley school which has made representations to Labour against the tax and since hiked fees by 12.6%.

    Seeing as the government continues to insist that fees will only rise by 10% as a result of its policy these lawyers will have a tough time if they attempt to cite their alma maters as anecdotal evidence. The battle is of the classroom and into the courtroom…

    26 March 2025 @ 17:48

          1. And don't forget the Labour minister, Antony Crosland:

            "If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to destroy every f***ing grammar school in England. And Wales and Northern Ireland."

          2. Less frequently quoted but much more revealing of the attitudes of Labour then (and now):
            "It's not that they [grammar schools] fail our children, it's that they turn them into bloody Tories."

          3. One of my schoolfriends is very definitely not Tory! She's still a good friend but we don't discuss politics.

          4. I remember before the 1974 election I had a then uncharacteristic rush of confidence and asked for a show of hands in my sixth form Grammar School class and yes, most were Conservative voters. We were just 18 and voting for the first time. It permanently killed my faith in the first-past-the-post system. I knew hardly anyone who voted Labour, not even my dad who'd once been a Labour party member, yet the bastards won. Voting seemed a waste of time yet I was taught, also at the Grammar School, that I must do it for Emily Davison because she gave her life for my vote! Not quite true of course. WWI bought me the vote, not the woman who threw herself under the King's horse at the Epsom Derby.

          5. Less frequently quoted but much more revealing of the attitudes of Labour then (and now):
            "It's not that they [grammar schools] fail our children, it's that they turn them into bloody Tories."

        1. Does anyone remember the Irish novelist, J.P. Donleavy who wrote several popular books in the 1960s such as The Ginger Man and The Onion Eaters. He also wrote The Beastly, Beatitudes of Balthasar B, The Destinies of Darcy Dancer and The Saddest Summer of Samuel S.

          The Poppycock of Popjoy P could be a new title.

          (On the subject of words or names with Joy attached can anyone tell me from where Donaldson's Dog Joy and Mr Joyboy come?

          4. Much against normal typecasting Rod Steiger was an amusingly effete Mr Lovejoy in the film made of Evelyn Waugh's novel.

            And Donaldson's Dog Joy?

            The chief sales operative of the Donaldson brand in the UK had this to say about a woman who did not want to bugge from the dog food she was currently using:

            "She insists on sticking to Peterson's Pup-Food, a wholly inferior product—lacking, I happen to know, in many of the essential vitamins."

        2. Does anyone remember the Irish novelist, J.P. Donleavy who wrote several popular books in the 1960s such as The Ginger Man and The Onion Eaters. He also wrote The Beastly, Beatitudes of Balthasar B, The Destinies of Darcy Dancer and The Saddest Summer of Samuel S.

          The Poppycock of Popjoy P could be a title for a new title.

          (On the subject of words or names with Joy attached can anyone tell me from where Donaldson's Dog Joy and Mr Joyboy come?

    4. Education is, under the comical 'human rights' act, just that. It is not, therefore, a luxury. This is what VAT is supposed to be for, surely?

      Therefore, all education should pay VAT, including state education and charities.

      Of course, this has nothing to do with adding value to a product or service. It's a tax of pure, absolute, simply Left wing spite. Of course, the saddest part is, should the Tories be elected they won't repeal this, or the countless other appalling laws Labour have invented.

      They had 14 years to undo Labour's malice. They did nothing and made many of them worse, introducing the appalling net zero nonsense and the online harm bill.

      It was 14 years of continued socialism.

  35. GOSH! What a difference a day makes. It was but 7ºC when we went to the market – and has only just reached a heady 9ºC. Bloody freezing – to put it in a nutshell. Yesterday was a gorgeous day. Today isn't. I suppose it is God reacting to the Dinner Lady's "budget".

    Stove full on – CH about to be turned on. Cats blaming us …

    1. Yes, this is a day when I'd like gas. Simply to tap it on, get some heat in then be able to turn it off.

  36. Good morning all.
    Another threesome:
    Wordle 1,377 3/6

    🟨⬜⬜🟨🟨
    ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  39. "A convicted pedophile has escaped deportation from the UK to his native country of Pakistan after a judge ruled that he would face “inhuman or degrading treatment” there for being an alcoholic."

    One BTL Comment advocates a fairly radical solution….

    "It would be reasonable for alcoholic, repeat-offender pedos to spend a couple of weeks hanging from a gallows in the town square. It is a win-win:

    One less pedo on the streets savaging innocents
    Other pedos know what’s coming for them
    No money wasted on incarceration and court theatre
    Victims feel a sense of justice, even if it’s only small

      1. If he's hanging by the neck he can't buy alcohol with public money – as this creature isn't going to be working, are they?

    2. But … but … I thought Muslims didn't drink alcohol.
      If the paedo (we need more children's doctors!) does indulge, is he claiming asylum because he's a Christian? (Good luck with that in C21 Blighty.)

    3. I often wonder if the judges are having a bizarre game of "Let's come up with the most perverse reason not to deport".

  40. Farage continues to reveal his true character as a snake in the grass.

    Reform ‘jumped the gun’ with my Rupert Lowe report, says KC

    Reform UK “jumped the gun” by publishing a report into ousted MP Rupert Lowe before an agreed deadline, the lawyer who led the investigation has said.

    In an email to Mr Lowe’s legal team, Jacqueline Perry KC said she was “surprised and disconcerted” to discover that her findings had been released sooner than expected on Tuesday.
    It comes as The Telegraph can reveal that Mr Lowe has reported Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, to Parliament’s standards watchdog over the naming of several of his staff in the report.

    The former Reform MP claimed parliamentary security was “concerned” about the disclosures and that “action is being taken” to protect the employees in question.

    It is understood that all four staff members who were identified in the document have also referred both Mr Farage and Lee Anderson, Reform’s chief whip, to Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme.

    Ms Perry was appointed by Reform to investigate Mr Lowe’s conduct after the party claimed to have received complaints about “serious bullying” in his offices.

    Her report, published by Reform on Tuesday, found there was “credible evidence” that the MP and his team harassed two members of staff.

    ‘Reneging on what I made clear to you’
    It prompted a furious backlash from Mr Lowe, who has repeatedly denied the allegations against him, reigniting an extraordinary public spat with Mr Farage.

    In an email to Mr Lowe’s lawyers, seen by The Telegraph, Ms Perry said she was “surprised” to see the findings published on Tuesday as she had “made quite clear” to Reform that she had given the MP until Wednesday to respond.

    A Reform source pushed back firmly against this characterisation of events, insisting that Ms Perry had left the timing of the publication up to the party.

    In another email shared with The Telegraph, a member of Mr Lowe’s legal team told Ms Perry they would not be able to report back to her by the Wednesday deadline.

    In the email to Mr Lowe’s lawyers, Ms Perry wrote: “I must say at once that I was absolutely not responsible for the release of the report.

    “Indeed, I had made quite clear to the party that I had indicated a deadline to you of Wednesday the 26th, and the report has been released entirely without my input in this at all.

    “In fact, I was informed of this and surprised and disconcerted to find that the ‘gun had been jumped’.”

    She added: “I cannot but agree with you that it does seem to be a reneging on what I had made clear to you and I had emphasised to the party (who by the way had seen the email that I had sent to you) that the report could not be released before the 26th in case Mr Lowe, through yourself, was going to come back to me.”

    In another email seen by The Telegraph, sent on Sunday, the KC told Reform’s lawyers she had assured Mr Lowe’s legal team that she would “wait until Wednesday” to release the report.

    But in light of Mr Lowe’s “public pronouncements on Thursday”, presumably referring to his refusal to engage with the investigation, she said she would “leave this decision to the party”.

    ‘Unfounded and shameful allegations’
    Mr Lowe told The Telegraph he had reported Mr Farage to Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary standards commissioner, on Wednesday for allegedly bringing Parliament into disrepute. He is particularly concerned over the naming of his staff, whom he claims have been targeted by “unfounded and shameful allegations”.

    If he decides to investigate, Mr Greenberg will rule on whether Mr Farage has breached the MPs’ code of conduct.

    If he finds there has been a breach, he may refer the matter to the Commons’ standards committee, which has the power to recommend sanctions including suspension from the House.

    Mr Greenberg also considers allegations against MPs under the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme, which deals with claims of bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct.

    A Reform spokesman said: “Rupert Lowe has had lawyers be his vehicle to communicate with the KC, and they emailed her that they would not be responding by the deadline.”

    He added: “The report points out many instances where the KC has seen demonstrable proof that Rupert has lied on social media. The KC has also had to issue a public statement rebuking him for claiming there was ‘no credible evidence’ against him.”

  41. from the Telegraph
    European freeloading is a genuine concern
    Only the US and the UK seem to take Houthi attacks seriously enough to try to stop them with direct military action

    Telegraph View25 March 2025 5:20pm GMT
    We have learnt several things from the bizarre leak of US war plans to a journalist accidentally included in a private messaging group. One is that senior members of the administration appear to have had no clue as to why American jets were involved in bombing targets in Yemen last week.

    Another is that the antipathy towards Europe over the way many continental countries have spent too little on their own defence is real and deep-seated, bordering on loathing.

    Leaving aside the cavalier manner of using a commercial messaging app to disseminate top secret information, this has proved to be a fascinating insight into thinking among Donald Trump’s top team of advisers.

    It centres on a decision to bomb targets in Yemen, which many of the participants to the conversation struggled to rationalise. The obvious reason is to keep open the shipping lanes which Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have effectively closed, forcing traffic to go around the Cape.

    But as J D Vance, the vice-president, pointed out this was of limited benefit to America since just three per cent of its trade went through the Suez Canal, compared with 40 per cent of Europe’s. In other words, the US was being asked yet again to do the heavy lifting for the Europeans, just as with Ukraine.

    “There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary. The strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to send a message…. I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now.”

    Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, adds: “I fully share your loathing of European freeloading. It’s PATHETIC. We are the only ones on the planet … who can do this. Nobody else even close.” That is not entirely true. The RAF bombed Houthi military facilities last year using planes based in Cyprus in a joint action with the US.

    President Trump appears to have been convinced that this threat to global sea lanes should be dealt with even if America does not benefit, though he believes there should be payback. But why do other European countries not participate? Only the US and the UK seem to take it seriously enough to try to stop it with direct military action.

    The recklessness, and probable illegality, behind the sharing of secret information does not disguise the fact that the frustration in Washington about European “freeloading” is well-founded.

  42. I see that Trump is at it again with his my tariffs are bigger than yours bafflegab.

    Twenty five percent tariffs on canadian steel, twenty five percent on cars and now a threat of bigger badder tariffs if we dare say boo.

    He has all but guaranteed that Carney wins the canadian election, that is enough to bring the country to its knees, he doesn't need the aggrevation as well.

    We get back to Canada this morning, I am going to be glad to not have to keep looking over my shoulder in case the megalomaniac has upped his game on foreigners with some new restrictions.

    1. I lived in Kamloops for a year. I found that when it came to Americans almost all Canadians did was gripe and complain. But they were perfectly happy to take the American dollar as if it were their own currency. I think, like Europe, they deserve the tariff, they have taken advantage of the USA for far to long.

      1. Maybe we should just charge market rates for oil, gas and electricity rather than selling at a discount.

        1. Why not" The US has no compunction about making a big profit out of LNG sales to other countries.

      2. Sounds a bit like modern Britain to me. Constant moaning about "the yanks", but reliant on America at the same time.

      3. Any Canadian gripes are nothing compared to the aggressive insulting behaviour or orange top and his sycophants.

        1. Well, honestly having lived in the USA I can tell you that they take no notice of Canada at all other than as a joke perpetuated mostly by 'The Kids in the Hall', when I was there, and other Canadians.

          That "orange top' is taking notice is because he has decided, like Europe, that he is fed up of being ripped off by all and sundry. The hypocrisy was, to my mind, demonstrated in coming across the border having a Canadian young woman cashier bad mouth the Americans whilst happily taking my U.S. dollars and then give me my change in Canadian. That and the appalling way they treated the native Indians which would never be countenanced in the USA. whilst boasting about how their army was a peacekeeper of the UN. Letting, as did all the rest, the Americans do all the dirty work.

          1. By the way, having lived in the US since the '70's, that's not my experience re Canadians. Most professional Americans I know find a lot to like about Canada.

          2. Yes but they aren’t living there. Nice to visit but frankly I was glad to leave and I would never go back even if you paid me. And I must say it is the only country I have been to that I would say that about.

  43. Everything they come into contact with………

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/bbc-breakfast-host-leaves-rachel-reeves-stuttering-as-viewers-blast-ruthless-labour/ar-AA1BKPYE?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=45af3ff2fe90483ca896c56d3625765b&ei=36

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/london-housing-completely-broken-council-put-family-in-temporary-home-252-miles-away-for-8-years/ar-AA1BK6B9?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=45af3ff2fe90483ca896c56d3625765b&ei=90

  44. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    Those of us who signed up for DNA testing kits from 23andMe did so thinking we’d unlock deep ancestral secrets. Maybe we’d discover we had royal blood, or finally settle the family debate over whether great-grandpa Dmitri was really Kenyan after all. Often, the results were far less conclusive: the tests revealed that we were 12 per cent Neanderthal, distantly related to Genghis Khan’s less-heralded cousin, Mungo, and possibly allergic to liquorice. Not uninteresting, but not that exciting, either.

    The tests revealed we were 12 per cent Neanderthal and distantly related to Genghis Khan’s less-heralded cousin, Mungo

    Now, though, our DNA is the source of high drama, and no small amount of peril, thanks to the demise of 23andMe. The firm, once worth $6 billion (£4.6 billion), is on the verge of collapse and has filed for bankruptcy protection. Co-founder and CEO, Anne Wojcicki, has resigned. And while 23andMe says it is determine to carry on, its future looks uncertain.

    The company has tried to reassure those like me who have has their DNA tested, insisting that there ‘are no changes to the way the company stores, manages, or protects customer data.’ But if the firm collapses, it’s anyone’s guess what might happen to the genetic blueprints of those who signed up. As professor Carissa Veliz, author of Privacy is Power, says: ‘If you gave your data to 23andMe, you also gave the genetic data of your parents, your siblings, your children, and even distant kin who did not consent to that.’

    That’s right: millions of people’s genetic blueprints are now floating in uncertain waters, and no one really knows what happens next. What do you do with millions of data points detailing people’s ancestry, health predispositions, and genetic quirks when the company that collected them starts circling the drain? Sell them? Securely delete them? Accidentally leak them? The possibilities are endless — and few of them comforting.

    If we’ve learned anything from the digital age, it’s that data is currency. Your online habits, search history, and social media activity are already being bought and sold. But unlike browser history, which I – sorry, I mean, other people – can at least hastily delete, your DNA is forever. As Jurassic Park taught us: once it’s out in the wild, good luck getting it back.

    The fears go well beyond the idea you may suddenly be targeted with adverts for lactose-free cheese because your DNA says you’re slightly intolerant and Dairylea bought access to your file. There are real concerns here: insurance companies, for instance, would probably love to get their hands on genetic data to adjust premiums based on predispositions to certain diseases. Employers could hypothetically factor health risks into hiring decisions. Then there’s the whole issue of bioweapons being targeted against a person based on their genes.

    Of course, it’s unlikely that we’re on the brink of some Gattaca-style future where genetic data determines your entire life. You’d like to think, given we shut down society for a couple of years over Covid, that there may now be a plan in place for engineered viruses. But it does make you wonder: what happens if 23andMe’s database gets sold off to the highest bidder? Will a pharmaceutical company use it for groundbreaking medical research? Will they effectively use it to profit off you, or will the sum of it be that we wake up one day to an email saying, ‘Congratulations! Your DNA has been selected for our exclusive premium ancestry NFT collection’?

    The 23andMe situation is a weird mixture of comedy and catastrophe. The idea of our DNA being shuffled around in corporate bankruptcy proceedings is rather funny, or would be if it didn’t involve my own genetic blueprint. But this debacle raises concerns about data security, privacy, and the commodification of genetic information.

    We signed up for 23andMe hoping to find answers. Instead, we got more questions: once which I, with an above-average percentage of Neanderthal DNA, am unlikely to figure out alone – even with the help of a genetic clone.

    WRITTEN BY
    Simone Hanna
    Simone Hanna is a politics student. She lives in London

    1. Basic view here in the US is to retrieve your info asap, then delete what they have about you, as it's generally assumed that it will end up in some class of bankruptcy and about the only asset that could be sold is all the data on people that it has collected. And any promises the company has made in the past will be ignored.

      1. Seriously, can anyone actually delete all those records? Do any of us know where they have gone?
        They will have been stored and/or distributed to guard against such events as these companies going bust.
        They are probably stored on every computer owned by a disgruntled employee. And that's before they are seriously monetised. Companies would be bailed out by the taxpayer provided they passed all their data to the state.
        Governments would love those records as it makes their entire population suspects. One bat squeak of criticism (there are 2 sexes? moan about potholes?) and you and God knows how many distant relatives will be rendered unemployable; even unpersoned so they cannot get medical care or even buy groceries.

        1. In theory, the owner can delete the records, but what that says about backups, errant employees, etc., I do not know. We were given a kit years ago, but decided not to use it as we could foresee it being used in the future for unknown purposes – even if that only consisted of us being bombarded with "focused marketing" spam.

          Pity really, as I know people who have used it to help track down relatives.

          1. I don't think the 23&Me site was ever any good for tracking relatives – Ancestry is the one for that. But I've resisted parting with mine.

        2. Don't start a conflict between potholephobes and potholephiles. Potholephiles insist on allowing tarmacadam surfaces to be what they either choose to be or evolve to be. Even potholephiles are not entirely of one mind when it comes to the sentience of tarmacadam.

    2. But, but, but…if your DNA states that you're male and you claim to be female, all you have to do is sue the user of your data for mis-gendering you. Your DNA will also show that you're heterosexual even though you claim to be homosexual, as the Human Genome Project proved that the gay gene doesn't exist. You could even sue the company mapping your DNA for racism, if you don't like the results. We have a world obsessed with data but at the same time in denial about biological reality.

      1. Perhaps one could sue one's parents for providing conflicting DNA; the mismatch between anatomy and self-perception.

    3. For anyone getting DNA tests for family history reasons, Ancestry was always the best one for getting matches with possible relatives, because they have a huge database. But although I've been doing family history for about 25 years, I've always resisted getting my DNA tested. You never know where it's going to end up.

  45. I usually pass on by the talking head videos but this made me chortle. USA comedienne (sic) Rosie O'Donnell (never heard of her) suggests Trump didn't win last year's election. Murray gently mocks her and then moves on to the public order threat of skinheads reading sonnets in Stratford-upon-Avon.

    PS It's only six minutes.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RunxLI0YkU

    1. Rosie O'Donnell has moved to Ireland because of Trump.

      I do hope she bumps into a few migrants on a dark night.

  46. I usually pass on by the talking head videos but this made me chortle. USA comedienne (sic) Rosie O'Donnell (never heard of her) suggests Trump didn't win last year's election. Murray gently mocks her and then moves on to the public order threat of skinheads reading sonnets in Stratford-upon-Avon.

    PS It's only six minutes.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RunxLI0YkU

    2. Complete gobbledegook for this old codger. I congratulate the engineer – but I couldn't even begin to attempt that. Much as I might like to.

  48. Furious Turkish student in hijab filmed being detained by ICE as she went to break Ramadan fast.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14540283/turkish-student-hijab-filmed-detained-ice-ramadan-tufts-university.html

    The DHS said in a statement: 'Rumesya Ozturk is a Turkish national and Tufts University graduate student, granted the privilege to be in this country on a visa.

    'DHS and ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.

    'A visa is a privilege not a right. Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated. This is commonsense security.'

    I hope they start doing that here rather than giving them free houses.

      1. Homeland Security rounding up the troublemakers in the US. Interesting how this Lefty Pro-Hamas supporter on a visa was so shocked. Wake up time !

        And i would have thought the reason for the ICE people wearing masks was obvious given who they are dealing with.

        1. I'm always reminded what Basil Fawlty said when the little old lady guests heard he was going away for the weekend with Sybil;
          Miss Tibbs; 'Oh Mr. Fawlty, dont do anything we wouldnt do!'
          Basil; 'Oh, surely a little breathing!'
          Happy Birthday, Al!

        1. Happy Birthday Alec I hope you're having a lovely day on your birthday 🍻🥂🍾cheers, all the best.

  51. Golly – the Sun has come out. It is not warm (like yesterday) but is marginally less cold. After lunch, we'll attack another apple tree.

    1. Grattis på födelsedagen, Maggie. Hope you have a truly luscious birthday, me duck. 😘🥂👍🏻🎂🍾😊

  54. I must apologise to True Belle and Fallick Alec for my tardiness with Birthday wishes – I have been having trouble posting images.

    1. If we were to go down that route and i believe we should, the muslims will rampage.

      1. Then deploy the military and shoot to kill. No one cares any more. The dindu has brought nothing but misery to this country. Burn them out.

        Heck, seeing a few human candles screaming on the news as Al Beeb desperately sobs would be a good start.

        1. Every where they are, or have moved to on this planet they have cause trouble and deliberately set out to destroy anything and everything they can get-away with. Their mindset is based in the 5th century.
          And our stupid politicians have let it happen. Even have even been encouraging it.

        2. It's not true that no one cares any more. Any political party willing to campaign on a platform of "deploy the military and shoot to kill" would fail miserably at an election. It requires a party, thought to advocate containment and appeasement at an election, to do a complete about turn after the election and follow your preferred policy, even in the face of a public outcry.

          Although ogga's tiresome repetitions of complaining about the electorate continually voting for lib/lab/con, even in the face of all the evidence against it, are tedious and irritating, he does at least recognise the character of most of the British population.

  57. Just spent most of the morning trying to access my online building society accounts. Succeeded with one but not the other. Lost the will to live there.

      1. No – I actually spoke to real people! But still couldn't get past the security systems. Eventually I had to reset everything about three times, assisted by a chat bot (who may or may not have been real). Still couldn't do what I wanted to do, but could see my account and get a statement.

        The other BS – suggested I went into the branch in Cheltenham, or send them a letter. Not very helpful.

    2. I know that feeling. Had a letter from the Barclays asking if I recognised payments on my card. I said yes, don't worry, they were me.

      Well, more they were 'her'. We went from months of very little to a lot all of a sudden. Only notice we had was when her shoes didn't arrive.

          1. A Rubik's Cube in pieces is a strong indication that it was once in the possession of a baffled person.

          2. It is yet another of those things completely beyond me. My late father completed whatever it is you have to d in about an hour – and had a memory that meant he thereafter knew exactly what to do – and lost interest. He directed his energy to building a 7″ gauge working steam locomotive from scratch – making every part (except the wheels) using raw materials and a lathe. His completely self-taught skill with his hands was a miracle to observe. On the other hand, he couldn’t cook anything. Not even a boiled egg.

    1. It shouldn't take a common enemy to unite people, but when the division is so immature and silly as over religion I suppose it will.

      1. 403885+ up ticks,

        Afternoon W,
        Be thankful for small mercies, can only benefit ALL of a decent nature.

      2. It wasn't really about religion – that is just an expression of unionism or nationalism in Northern Ireland.

        1. Although one might ask why the unionism/nationalism divide closely matches the protestant/catholic one.

          As it's difficult to foresee an end to mass immigration, perhaps we'll never see a resurrection of older hostilities. The common enemy is now firmly entrenched, will grow larger and the means to reverse the trend can only be a violent one as voting will do little to bring it about.

          1. The root of the divide was the Plantation of Ulster by Scottish and English Protestants – a deliberate policy by the British government to supplant the native Irish, who had not submitted to the Reformation. Their religion therefore became part of their Irish identity. A parallel can be found in the retention of Catholicism as an expression of Polish identity after the occupation then domination by the Soviet Union after the end of WWII.

        2. Although one might ask why the unionism/nationalism divide closely matches the protestant/catholic one.

          As it's difficult to foresee an end to mass immigration, perhaps we'll never see a resurrection of older hostilities. The common enemy is now firmly entrenched, will grow larger and the means to reverse the trend can only be a violent one as voting will do little to bring it about.

  63. Yet another invitation to get the covid vaccine – "spring booster" this time! They don't give up do they!

    1. I haven't been pestered about vaccines this year but then I'm already on Digoxin, Bisoprolol, Furosemide, Apixaban, Ramipril, Dapagliflozin and Eplerenone so I'm doing my bit. (Spellcheck recognises all those names!)

      2. EEK1 My OH is on some of those but not all of them. Have you had the results of your scan yet?

      3. Even more than me!
        I guess with that lot you end up so full that you don't need breakfast!

      4. I feel for you Sue. I’m on 8 different ones but one is twice a day a total of 9. Most of them since I had two stents last June. I use a 7 day pill box and refill it every 5 or 6 days.

  64. I just attended another appointment for the opticians as my recently prescribed glasses are just not up to the job. I have had another test and the optician said that my cataracts were getting worse. When I am on line I use my phone rather than the pc and that is becoming increasingly difficult to read. I find the glare is very bad and I have to close one eye to avoid seeing double. Anyway, he has put in a referral for an operation to remove the cataracts but says there is a very long waiting list. As we don't have a hospital in Powys it is going to be an even longer wait as patients are being put on hold for referral out of Wales due to budget constraints.
    He said to wear sunglasses to protect the eyes so I bought some clip-on ones. However when my phone is held in landscape position so I can enlarge the print, it appears completely black because of the polarisation!

    My wife is going to hate me. She said she will buy me a Costa coffee everytime I get Wordle in two.

    Wordle 1,377 2/6

    ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Edited (several times!)

    1. I've got diplopia and find driving difficult now. At my last eye test the optometrist said my lenses were ok. But I often have to shut one eye to avoid the double image.

    2. I had both cataracts removed, within a 3 week time scale.

      The first was 'on' the NHS. 4 days after i was told I needed them doing, at Specsaver
      The second I paid for.
      It is just 20 minutes on a bed, looking at old fashioned disco lights
      You cannot drivehome!

    3. I have had both cataracts removed recently, nhs but in a private hospital.
      Since then I have been able to stop using my old vari-focals and taken up a pair of reading glasses for close up work.

      1. Like you, I had cataracts removed from both eyes and only wish that the procedure had been available 70 years ago. I bought ten pairs of reading glasses from Poundland and have one in just about every room.

      2. My cataracts were done by a private firm but FOR the NHS. Didn't have to pay a penny.

    4. Mother had her cataracts shifted quite a while ago, and was delighted with the result. Over and done in a jiffy (short time, not a padded bag).
      Do you have the opportunity to go private and get it done ASAP?

    5. I've lived in Sweden since 2011. In 2017 my eyesight started to deteriorate so I went to a local branch of Specsavers for an eye examination. The optometrist was rubbish; he failed to diagnose cataracts and prescribed me inappropraate spectacles, which were worse than useless.

      Upon advice I visited a local independent opticians and their optometrist send me directly to an eye clinic. Not only were cataracts diagnosed, they operated on my right eye that very day for a fee of £30! Six weeks later I had my left eye operated on and my eyesight (notwithstanding my presbyopia and astigmatism) improved exponentially. With the aid of spectacles I can now see small detail from distance; something I could last do when I were a youngster.

      I then wrote a long letter to Specsavers' head office,detailing all the above, and I got a full refund for my useless specs and an apology.

  65. I just attended another appointment for the opticians as my recently prescribed glasses are just not up to the job. I have had another test and the optician said that my cataracts were getting worse. When I am on line I use my phone rather than the pc and that is becoming increasingly difficult to read. I find the glare is very bad and I have to close one eye to avoid seeing double. Anyway, he has put in a referral for an operation to remove the cataracts but says there is a very long waiting list. As we don't have a hospital in Powys it is going to be an even longer wait as patients are being put on hold for referral out of Wales due to budget constraints.
    He said to wear sunglasses to protect the eyes so I bought some clip-on ones. However when my phone is held in landscape position so I can enlarge the print, it appears completely black because of the polarisation!

    My wife is going to hate me. She said she will buy me a Costa coffee everytime I get Wordle in two.

    Wordle 1,377 2/6

    ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Edited (several times!)

  66. Every forecast the OBR or any thinktank makes is wrong – except those realistic ones pushing to cut taxes. The Treasury is consistently wrong as it deliberately does not account for dynamic response to taxation.

    Therefore, both groups are always wrong. Why are those in these groups not simply sacked for gross incompetence?

    1. Simple. Those responsible for employing the incompetent are, themselves, incompetent.

  68. Michael Deacon
    Why should parents have to explain ‘gender identity’ to five-year-olds?

    Surely I can’t be alone in hoping that the BBC won’t be filling its children’s cartoons with ‘non-binary’ characters?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/briefs/2025/03/26/TELEMMGLPICT000417555898_17430022246130_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq7U6quo0FusjSszcGmlCCON5yr2JtyAOsmePupI6A2x0.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Parents have voiced their suspicion over popular series ‘Hey Duggee’ subtly promoting gender ideology to its young audience Credit: YouTube
    27 March 2025 7:00am GMT

    A very peculiar row has erupted over a BBC programme for small children. Apparently, some parents believe that Hey Duggee – a popular cartoon series about cute little animals – has been subtly promoting gender ideology to its audience of five-year-olds. They base this suspicion on the fact that, in one episode, a raccoon is referred to using gender-neutral pronouns. Other animal characters are given the pronouns “his” or “her”. Yet the raccoon, mysteriously, is given the pronoun “their”. This, the parents infer, suggests that the raccoon identifies as “non-binary”.

    For its part, the BBC has dismissed these claims. “Wren the raccoon,” insists a spokesman, “is not a non-binary character.”

    Hmm. All I can say is: I should hope not. Introducing a “non-binary” character would be totally inappropriate for a programme with such young viewers. And it wouldn’t be much fun for those viewers’ parents, either. After all, little children are by nature extremely inquisitive. So it could lead to some terribly awkward conversations at home.

    Just imagine…

    “Daddy, what’s ‘non-binary’?”

    “Well. Er. Let’s see. How shall I put this… Basically, darling, ‘non-binary’ is a type of gender identity.”

    “What’s ‘gender identity’?”

    “Good question. Very, very good question. Er… Think of it like a special sort of game, played by grown-ups, and which has extremely strict rules. What happens is, a man says he’s now a lady – and then everyone else has to agree, or they get in lots of trouble and lose their jobs. Especially ladies. Men can sometimes get away with saying they think the man who’s now a lady is still a man. But if ladies say they don’t want the man who’s now a lady to take his, or rather her, clothes off in the ladies’ changing room, everybody gets very cross and shouts at them.”

    “I see. But what’s ‘non-binary’?”

    “Well. ‘Non-binary’ is someone who says, ‘I’m not a man or a lady.’ Or, in this case, ‘I’m not a man raccoon or a lady raccoon.’ So, instead of calling the raccoon ‘he’ or ‘she’, you have to call it ‘they’, as if it – or rather, they – were several raccoons, instead of just one. And if you don’t call it – or rather, them – ‘they’, you’ll get in lots of trouble, too.”

    Wouldn’t be easy, would it? Especially if your five-year-old goes on to repeat your explanation to other children at school. Because the teachers might deem your phrasing to be insufficiently inclusive. In which case, both you and your five-year-old will probably be spending the rest of the year in detention.

    On the whole, therefore, I doubt I’m alone in hoping that the BBC will not be filling its children’s cartoons with characters who are non-binary, or, for that matter, genderqueer, pangender, demigender or gender-fluid. Adults who describe themselves using such terminology would no doubt be delighted if the BBC were to “affirm” them in this fashion. But why should parents have to explain “gender-identity” to five-year-olds? Some of us find it difficult enough to understand ourselves.

    Anyway, it’s funny how things turn out. Back in the late 1990s, when Teletubbies – another BBC hit – was first shown, some parents thought that it set a bad example to little children, because the characters in it all talked total gibberish.

    Those parents didn’t know they were born.

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

    John Avons
    8 hrs ago
    People that introduce "Gender Identity" to children's minds belong in jail !

    Kelly Lovell
    8 hrs ago
    Considering the BBC can’t stop slipping trans people into cosy daytime shows like Doctors, Bargain Hunt and The Repair Shop, I find it hard to believe that a raccoon with they/them pronouns isn’t deliberate.

    1. Considering the BBC can’t stop slipping trans people into cosy daytime shows

      There seems to have been a depressingly large number of BBC types who liked slipping their c*cks int children's ars*s. So why not continue the perversion on other levels?

    2. I’ll be really cross if they mess with Duggee! It’s already an ‘inclusive’ cartoon with an OCD character, a clever clogs, an adopted one and a ’normie’, but it’s very well written and funny!

    3. Given that when I used to visit a friend who had children’s TV on for the grandchildren, the Bbc has been pushing its agenda since before covid. Black disabled and probably queer characters were standard.

    4. It always strikes me that the reason minorities and the LGBTQ community are over represented on TV, both in the adverts and in the actual programming, is that they are reflecting the "people mix" of those who work in "media" and not the public at large, i.e. they reflect what they see around them, not what the rest of us see around us.

  69. Sue Gray Literally Defends “The Blob” in Lords Debut

    https://youtu.be/j1HaPftat-A
    Sacked Sue – now Baroness Gray of Tottenham – made her maiden speech in the Lords today, offering up a self-congratulatory career recap while insisting she never aimed for the top. The speech also included a paean of praise for civil service union leaders, including FDA boss Dave Penman. She then went on to whinge about offensive words used to describe the civil service, warning:

    “I would caution all of us to be careful about our language…the phrases blob, pen-pushers, axes, and chainsaws.”

    All the Conservatives targeted by her political campaigning inside Whitehall over the years will have no sympathy at all…

    Pookie
    43m
    So, she'll continue "to support a progressive civil service".
    Progressive is a political term.

    So she supports a politicised civil service that pursues an explicitly left wing agenda.

    Great.

  70. Toby Young Rips Apart Labour’s ‘Pub Banter Ban’ in Lords Maiden Speech

    https://youtu.be/qPBFQwWU2-A
    Free speech champion Lord Toby Young delivered his maiden speech today with a fiery warning about the ‘banter ban’ buried in Labour’s Employment Rights Bill. Clause 18 of the Bill expands employer liability for third-party (non-sexual) harassment of employees, meaning pub landlords may have to hire “banter bouncers” to eavesdrop on punters and remove them if someone takes offence at what is said. Quoting a briefing from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Lord Young stated:

    “The interaction of the third party’s protection from discrimination and the employees’ protection from harassment is complex and likely to be challenging for employers to navigate.”

    “Challenging” means expensive, as landlords will need legal advice to determine their liability. As Lord Young points out, pubs are already closing at a record pace, saying this ‘banter clause’ “will accelerate the erasure of such a vital part of our history and heritage.” A punchy takedown of Labour’s latest attempt to police speech…

    27 March 2025 @ 16:27


  71. Wordle No. 1377 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 27 Mar 2027

    Bedspread for Birdie Three?

    1. Good one. Par for me

      Wordle 1,377 4/6

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

    2. Well done! My starter word came good again and led to a fairly straightforward birdie – Back in the ballgame!!

      Wordle 1,377 3/6

      🟨⬜🟨🟩⬜
      🟩🟨🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Well done, par here today.

        Wordle 1,377 4/6

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

  72. Hello all , Moh and I went out for a short while Studland , fine weather , ate a sandwich bought at Corfe Castle , had 2 Latte coffees .. on the beach from cafe.. cost £5 per coffee.

    We walked the dog , and just enjoyed the sparkling sea and the sight of little boats bobbing , including 2 life boats exercising off Old Harry Rocks .

    Arrived home , Moh vacuumed my car , and then the phone rang .. and a we had a terrible shock , one of my dear friends who is now partially disabled , she had a stroke several years ago , which has left her with a useless leg .. Her dear husband , a solid rock of a man , sat down in his arm chair to rest after a myriad of chores , at 10am and died .

    She was helpless , but had a phone near her .. did the usual thing , air ambulance apparently landed on the heath road .. team tried to save him .. . Her family are with her now .

    Ex RN air mechanic in his early eighties .. poor Trevor ..

    Mohs father also died on my birthday several decades ago .. I wish I could change the date of my birthday .. I was born just after midnight on the 27th March .. Moh's father was recovering from a hip operation .. and that was that .

    Today began with past memories and has now been plunged into utter sadness .

    Sorry to relate this sorry story to you.

    Thank you all for your kind birthday greetings.

    2. Oh Mags, I'm so sorry. An awful end to an otherwise happy day. RIP Trevor. My mother died on my eldest brother's birthday but her passing wasn't unexpected.

    3. Now you understand why men are wary about doing too many chores.
      Although very sad, when you know of old people existing for years with dementia, a quick exit is sometimes not so bad.
      RIP Trevor!

    4. Now you understand why men are wary about doing too many chores.
      Although very sad, when you know of old people existing for years with dementia, a quick exit is sometimes not so bad.
      RIP Trevor!

    5. Oh, Belle, I'm sorry – both for the loss to your friend, and that it happened on your birthday. It's supposed to be a celebration of you, not a trail of sadness.
      Sending a hug.

    6. So sorry to hear that. I suppose it seems worse because it happened on your birthday. I am sending you hugs and best wishes.

    7. Very sorry to hear this. My brother in law died on his younger daughter’s 39 th birthday, so first anniversary of it was her 40th which had a subdued celebration.

    8. Ah Belle, what a rotten thing to happen. Keep smiling and enjoy the rest of your day.

    10. Oh Belle, so sorry, what a day which started off so happily. What a downer for you and so awful for Trevor's wife. A virtual hug for you. xx

  73. Afternoon, all. Lovely warm sunny day here today. Replaced the old rotten arch with a new one I had to assemble. Winston is a sun worshipper; he chose the warmest south facing spot in full sun. I got the sun lounger out and soaked up some rays.
    The spring statement just emphasises how useless this lot are.

  74. Well, well. It turned out nice in the end – sunny and warm. So we pruned the second (of 12) apple trees – a Newton Wonder. Took over two hours – but looks gradely. We intend to do the others one a day – so long as it is decent weather.

    Tools and ladders all helped – cats stayed indoors!

    That Gray woman has an infernal cheek, doesn't she? Yet another high and mighty person who simply cannot understand why the civil service is loathed by taxpayers.

    2. Not a terrorist incident. Mustn’t speculate. Mental issues. We can write the script.

      1. Here's the script:
        A* Leerling
        Oma's in bits
        Always said "Goedemorgen'
        Known to the instanties.

    3. I saw a Muslim!
      (Where?)
      There in the square!
      (Where in the square?)
      Right there!
      A little Muslim with a machete
      Well I declare!
      Going chpp-choppety-chop in the square
      Oh yeah!

  76. Memes.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f00040da4f6db7b40c1fa67f0405a14033d72edd7564314ed59af75ad4bd71ab.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fd78aea25e3b8157802a097b7fbbcbe2ffc7620929763c97309f78d1f3174138.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dfff615567a5b91f07650e46c4b6d99ead253d2774dba1fdae420e5250f44de8.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/21d6ae3d8561a775a552bf5377b98bf6171995db1b59c8ea4e6a76797f6f989e.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ac59ca801f1b1784b62a0e37d3bdb6b9b37e1bd2527846f2db0a6093456dee30.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1aff49e36d4a145dab15b625e6d94907c9d3dc7d4bd8a2c5443e2edd171d9cb7.png

    1. What is Winston doing in that vegetable garden? He was trying mine out for size this afternoon.

  77. I believe we all knew that Starmer was a dud but even I could not have foreseen what a total incompetent cretin the man is.

    Nobody but a fool would continue in supporting the corrupt Ukrainian regime with promises of further monies and armaments. It is not as though the UK is already a busted flush and laughing stock around the civilised world. Where is the money coming from?

    Add to this the deliberate obstruction of President Trump’s desire to normalise relations with Russia as represented by Starmer and Macron with their unworkable mad notions about providing security to Ukraine one has to ask whether our Prime Minister is altogether compos mentis. I conclude that Starmer is a dimwit, lacking all rational thought and sensibilities.

    We need rid of Starmer and his cabal of lefty maniacs immediately. They are putting the UK on a collision course with America and with their hapless support of mass immigration are ruining our country and threatening our traditions and way of life.

    1. Be careful what you wish for. Were he to have a tragic "accident" the Ginger Growler might replace him – or, worse still, the Oik Streeting…..

      1. Starmer is seeking to push the UK back into the orbit of the EU by stealth and this at a time when Ursula von der Leyen is found to be discredited and corrupt and where the EU is increasingly irrelevant.

        The settlement of the Ukrainian conflict will be between Russia and America, Putin and Trump. The EU can have no involvement nor can the Ukrainians. Starmer and Macron need to keep out of this affair as opposed to inflaming matters and encouraging the crook Zelensky with promises of fictional aid and military assistance.

        1. Starmer is talking about harsher sanctions against Russia while Trump is talking about readmitting Russia to the Swift banking network. If Trump does that, Starmer can go whistle.

  78. "Just Stop Oil to stop direct action after ‘getting what it wanted’" (The Grimes)

    Hmmm – I wonder if the five year jail sentences recently imposed had any bearing on their tiny minds?

  79. That's me for what turned out – eventually, after a freezing start – to be a very nice day. Hope it is better tomorrow.

    Have a jolly evening thinking of all the things you could tell "Lady" Gray of Tottenham about her beloved snivel serpents.

    A demain.

  80. Nick Tenconi.. the go to politico for extreme action.. reckons there's a couple of Govt psyops in action..

    1/ Netflix documentary LOL 'Adolescence' deliberately switched black rapper for white incel.. &
    2/ Overdrive to promote Bonny Blue & Lily Phillips..

    in concerted effort to denigrate Christianity.. the family.. & masculinity.
    Pls ignore migrant rapes & black stabbys.

      1. Who is this person and what is his function vis-a-vis the Church of England?

        The Canon will certainly have a legal claim against his "dismissal"

  82. Just been reading about the BBC reporter deported from Turkey, that got me thinking.

    Can't we use the same Turkish deportation methods against foreigners here that are a nuisance.

    4. Unfortunately i now have to attest you …for keeping a slave

      “Unfortunately”??!!

    5. Unfortunately i now have to attest you …for keeping a slave

      “Unfortunately”??!!

  85. I'll be orff now, up very early to give Erin a lift to her friends where they will be getting in the taxi at 5.00 to LHR. Then flying to Dubai to stay with our number three son for a week. Only the lonely, that's me.

    Just to underline the ongoing problem i have, as mentioned here in the telegraph letter, with the NHS and FOAD. Twice this week I've telephoned the number given to me by the consultant last week. It's the person who organises the waiting lists. Twice I have left a message with my details and of course contact number. Not even an acknowledgement.
    Terrible isn't it.
    I'll keep it up until they get back to me.
    I've tried to get my gp practice involved but they no longer have contact the hospital in order to help patients.

    2. The lack of communication between the GPs and the hospitals is appalling. When I see the consultant, it’s left to me to update the GP. Keep at them!

      1. Time was when GPs and hospital consultants knew each other very well and could act accordingly. As their numbers have grown and Regional Hospitals have developed I suspect those personal relationships no longer exist….. 🙁

          1. Indeed and I’ve been told by the medics themselves that they don’t use the same systems.

    3. You need to make an utter nuisance of yourself Eddy in the nicest possible way of course. Phone every other day and be polite but keep phoning. They will get sick of you but that will move things on.

      If no joy after a week or so contact the ceo of the hospital. Ceoemail.com

      1. Thanks for that I will.
        I’ll send a letter by post not email, they seem to be and there’s a tendency for denying receiving emails.

    1. What’s now considered ideal blood pressure was once thought unusually low, if not actually problematic.

  87. You have to hand it to the Conservatives, I suppose.
    Leaving Labour holding the baby and defending wef agenda, just as it all collapses under Trump's administration and the whole world changes

    1. With their enormous $36+ trillion debt pile it seems to me the US ain't out of the (Bretton?) Woods yet!

      1. but look at what is coming in from outside investment, its massive. The press always make it look far worse.

        1. Don’t disagree Johnny but unless they get a grip on borrowing the value of the $ will collapse.

          1. He cannot carry out all the changes needed without some problems but he will do it in the end I believe. I do not think we can make any real judgements till the end of summer.

    2. It is not collapsing Bob. They are distracting us while the WHO passes its pandemic treaty (due soon) and they cement internet censorship, both visible and invisible (AI posters that we think are human).
      Trump has pulled out of the WHO negotiations, not the treaty apparently.

      Europe is going to drown in its own net zero lunacy and CRT virtue-signaling while the USA pinches our industry to replace the manufacturing that China stole from them.

  91. 403886+ upticks,

    Pillow Ponder,

    Enlighten me as to what has been puzzling me, just when did we discover we were a Christian Country, with such intensity? when did we discover that Christianity was in jeopardy ? was it when, walking into a church on a Sunday and hearing the echo of your lonely feet ?

    Or when, in a long queue, you being the only white faced English talker?

    We neglect anything long enough, Countries, churches, cultures, common sense, self respect, we'll find as with the fish, it rots from the head down, coffee smells good.

  92. Millipede and the Stockport Slapper in Lincolnshire today explaining why they are bribing the locals as they spoil their view.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ecb600ff8c26d5086b539f5dd424bd65dfd17d51cf2e5eb18e013836e4e6c414.png

    Unpack this if you can:
    "What we're saying is everyone benefits from clean, home-grown power but if you are living near a pylon, you're doing a service to the whole country by having that pylon in your area. We need to recognise that. That's why we get up to £250 a year off your bills for a decade, and that's a sign that we recognise, if you like, the service that people are doing for the whole country."

    Residents will also get some of these:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6283329d756d6f4c5f52c797652638a575c92f9c57d2b6d82e9c1568beda106e.png
    What a bargain!

    Report here: Pylon bill discount an 'insult' to residents

  93. Hello!

    Thank you for the wide spectrum of advice given to me over the last 24 hours from those replying to 'the arrival of Mrs. DC's urban-dwelling friend'. Never one to MIN/MAX advice, I've decided to cherry-pick the best. Ergo:

    1. I will turn off taps so I don't stress over her turning them off for me.
    2. I will throw some chemicals onto the ground to make her feel better about the whole hot tub thing.
    3. She doesn't get to eat until she can strip-down, clean, and load a round into a .303 while wearing a blindfold in under 45 seconds.
    4. I then feck off to Costa Rica for a week (thanks for the clarity, Phizz).

  95. Well, chums, it's now my bedtime. So Good Night all, sleep well, and I'll see you all tomorrow morning.

  98. Advanced notice. I will be murdering my husband on Sunday evening, when i next see him. Tomorrow’s instalment on the saga will be provided to you tomorrow.

    4. Just make sure that his Life Insurance Policy is up to date with payments.

      and get an alibi

    2. There are no cattle in Dubai nor Cocoa plantations. No sugar is grown there.
      All imported products and content.

    3. My student daughter is jobbing at a major supermarket at the moment. She said the day the Dubai chocolate arrived on special offer was insane…they had to take it behind the tills and ration customers to two bars each…

      She is full of stories about customers demanding to speak to the management because the Kerrygold butter is sold out and similar.

    5. I don't know if it is any good or not but i can spot a marketing technique easily enough.

  100. Even for those who never thought Ken Dodd was funny, what must be acknowledged, even if it was unwitting, and I dont think it was, was his targeting of women. A laughing man might guffaw, but a tickled woman will shriek with laughter. That will be both clearly audible and most infectious. Even if, like our Bill, you're immune to his humour, it's very hard to stay sullen when women are filling the auditorium with their delight.

    1. Ken Dodd and Bob Monkhouse (notably) were often reviled by those who only saw them on television. A different picture emerges from those lucky enough to watch their private performances in theatres and nightclubs, where their shows — unhindered by the mores of television — were deemed exceptionally clever and utterly hilarious.

Comments are closed.