Thursday 28 December: Improving Britain’s palliative care services should be the priority

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

439 thoughts on “Thursday 28 December: Improving Britain’s palliative care services should be the priority”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. today’s story
    Jumping To Conclusions
    A 60-year-old man went to the doctor for a check-up. The doctor told him, “You’re in terrific shape. There’s nothing wrong with you. Why, you might live forever. You have the body of a 35- year-old. By the way, how old was your father when he died?”
    The 60-year-old responded, “Did I say he was dead?”
    The doctor was surprised and asked, “How old is he and is he very active?”
    The 60-year-old responded, “Well, he is 82 years old and he still goes skiing three times a season and surfing three times a week during the summer.”
    The doctor couldn’t believe it. “Well, how old was your grandfather when he died?”
    The 60-year-old responded again, “Did I say he was dead?”
    The doctor was astonished. He said, “You mean to tell me you are 60 years old and both your father and your grandfather are alive? Is your grandfather very active?”
    The 60-year-old said, “He goes skiing at least once a season and surfing once a week during the summer. Not only that,” said the patient, “my grandfather is 106 years old, and next week he is getting married again.”
    The doctor said, “At 106 years, why on earth would your grandfather want to get married?”
    His patient looked up at the doctor and said, “Did I say he wanted to?”

    1. Good morning, Sue Mac. Glad that you are home today and you don’t need to go out until the wind abates.

        1. Am I getting you confused with Sue Ed? Didn’t you drive down from Edinburgh yesterday? Or was it you who caught the train home from Edinburgh?

  4. Good morning, chums. Enjoy your day. And a Good result on Wordle. I did it in 5.

    Wordle 922 5/6

    🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
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    🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
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    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

        1. Good morning! Three for me.

          Wordle 922 3/6

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

      2. Impressive, I was happy with

        Wordle 922 3/6

        ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟨
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    1. To me, a perfect example.of why I spend hours lurking around waiting for people to clear off before I take a photo! 🤣🤣

    2. You should see all the rubbish here, strewn down the road and across the street, after the wind and foxes have had a go at people’s rubbish and recycling (when they put it out the night before).

      You will hopefully not be surprised to learn at MIR Towers we put our rubbish out on the morning of collection.

      Anyway, good morning! I am wfh today as we have dispensation to this year between Christmas and New Year. Whilst I would ordinarily happily go in, I am in charge of my beautiful hound today so need to be around to keep him company, and take him on his afternoon walk.

      1. I remember the foxes in Richmond were very abundant, you’d even see them during daylight hours. Here in Cornwall you’re lucky to see one but you still need to put the rubbish out the day of collection. The London foxes I recall always looked rather tatty.

  8. Improving Britain’s palliative care services should be the priority

    Does that mean even more boosters?

    1. Hospices are not government funded. Some contribution to costs from NHS, but vast amounts are raised via charity and philanthropy.

  13. BBC feeds viewers a ‘diet of woke bias’ in breach of its own impartiality rules, campaigners say. 28 December 2023.

    The BBC has been accused of feeding viewers “a steady diet of woke bias” as research suggests the broadcaster has failed to uphold standards in its own impartiality plan.

    A survey of the corporation’s news and drama output has exposed bias in coverage of debates over race and gender, campaigners say, while the BBC News website has averaged more than one article per week on the slave trade.

    Wow! Who would have thought it? Of course about 80% of the news is read by ethnic minorities but who would notice? This is probably exceeded by the content of the internal ads where mixed race marriages predominate.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/27/bbc-feeds-viewers-diet-of-woke-bias-breach-of-rules/

    3. The most obvious adjustment the bbc have been forced to make for obvious reasons is Clive Myrie as QM on Mastermind.
      Now there’s new Doctor Who.
      Exactly, Who da thought it ?
      007 next.

      1. They will try to get Ginge and Cringe to be King and Queen.

        The successor would be the perfect colour

      2. The Agatha Christie story on the telly yesterday (which I did not watch) had a black principal character at a time when there were virtually no black people in the English countryside.

        When are going to make a drama about Nelson Mandela with Eddie Izard playing the main part?

        1. And far from being filmed in a sleepy English village, it was done in Tyninghame, Scotland!

        2. I watched part of it. It was so boring I went to bed.
          I guess in a few years from now you might be arrested for not watching.

          2. They probably put people off buying products because of all the advertising they are now featuring in.
            Last night was another programme of non diversity.
            A film called Respect. The life of Aretha Franklin. What might be next I wonder?

        4. Not possible, Rastus. Eddie Izard self-identifies as a woman. He’s have to play Mr Mandela’s wife.

        5. The latest series of Midsomer Murders went the same route (queers and blacks abounding in the countryside). I stopped watching.

    4. BTL:

      Juliet Quarmby
      12 HRS AGO
      “the BBC always needs to remain vigilant against being captured by fringe interests.”
      That ship sailed some time ago.

      Alan Norris
      12 HRS AGO
      Reply to Juliet Quarmby
      Anyone interested in what fringe interests have captured the BBC should look at their own statistics on the sexual preferences of its senior management team
      The proportion of LBGTQ + at the BBC is 6x that in the general population

    6. Newsreaders start out as journalists who get promoted. It does not matter who reads the news, certainly not their ethnicity. If the person were unsuitable for the role, sooner or later his/her production team would intervene. Clive Myrie is British, but born to Jamaican parents; Matt Frei (C4) is German. Who cares?

  14. Good morning, all. Dry and breezy at the moment with a forecast of gusty winds mid-morning to mid-afternoon. Today, I’m being optimistic as I’ve got the washing on, I hope the pegs hold!🙄

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/89b296acc95be2a47cae202614e61653cc4f1928b36996fc0d92acb1307cc2b9.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c0bc4b984f622486c26f217768acbe2c590fb307cd4c8179bcde282a5c3007c4.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1438b75c91e765cbbb808cf11fabfa388c6c0fe81e3b220d278ae45c6e73d847.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9f8c1a4480704b6db17b994177486a1eae6925cc7217609d6ded9ccd5e06eef2.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bdcec1085278b60225f183f5a3550327d9d17b1adabe1ad0d082b027507ffe44.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b04ab38eb7fe513b7ea1944ffece351505c63559641b916372ecb580d0a635b1.png

  15. Good morning Fellow Nottlers,

    Scrapping inheritance tax is an easy win for the Tories
    Ditching the nation’s most immoral tax could offer the party a lifeline. They’d be foolish not to grab it
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/27/scrapping-iht-is-an-easy-win-for-the-tories/

    BTL
    But they won’t scrap it, will they?

    They’ll move the threshold to £500,000 and keep the rates the same.

    Remember Cameron and Osborne said they would raise the threshold to £1m before coming to power in 2010. The threshold is still only £335,000!

    1. They won’t scrap it because that would put many thousands of Civil Servants out of work, and as

      the Tories are terrified of the Civil Service unions some “amendments” will merely be made to the present legislation.

    2. 379988+ up ticks,

      Morning KtK,

      Seemingly Gas will play a major active part in
      the RESET culling process far suppler than zyklon B, more acceptable to the ” party before Country” voting brigade.

      Death via the usual shower heading for the polling stations.

      1. Ooh lovely can we have a re-run of the tines/prongs debate from earlier in the year🙂😂

  18. 379988+ up ticks

    Morning Each,

    Dt,
    Winter virus jab for babies is hailed as ‘game changer’ for NHS
    Antibody could be included in immunisation programme next year after successful trial.

    This could be the basis for a New Years resolution regarding parents with a young family, or alternatively the basis for a NON COMPLIANCE revolution,

    A game changer is most definitely called for, starting with a series of arrests, taking down the political / pharmaceutical
    hierarchy via crimes against humanity warrants.

    A “successful trial” WILL without doubt herald a domino effect
    among those pushing the pill / jab.

    A “successful trial” of these alledged miscreants
    political / phamaceutical if found guilty, would prove to be a long lasting beneficial tonic the sane patriotic peoples of these Isles have been seeking for decades.

  19. Morning all 🙂😊
    All though it’s not particularly chilly it’s horrible outside.
    A message from QLD telling me it’s been 37.9 degs north of Brisbane today.
    I’m not jealous at all.
    Most of the evidence of our merry Christmas has just been taken by the binmen. A Rather noisy tip into the truck.
    But we weren’t the only ones.
    There was far too much cardboard and wrapping paper for the small bin. That’ll go another day.
    Good that it’s all recyclable.

  20. Good morning all.
    A bright start, not raining, not a lot of wind and a tad over 3°C outside.

    1. Morning! Brighter here today but still windy and pouring down. It should ease off in an hour or so and I’ll venture out to Westfield shopping centre. Not back at work till Monday.

  21. RSPCA Young Photographer awards 2023 – in pictures

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/54b399a29ef7def3195bae9b752e94bb603e3ae0/0_0_7640_5504/master/7640.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=917a600c9a4c0daa1effd4213829f51e

    Overall winner:
    A turkey called Frederick won top prize, shot by Jamie Smart, 8, from Wales, who also won the portfolio category

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/767ccc587d7a9640f72bc298e03947b15ecca471/0_0_4308_3240/master/4308.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=8677bb4f41cea2e8496fae2486163a7b

    Pet portraits:
    This portrait of rescue cat Murray taken by Conor Smith, 17, from Norfolk was runner-up in this category

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/da61b076745c5e8a0b4999dbd64e24e4feb96628/0_0_1632_1306/master/1632.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=172bb13bb56b10cdea2fa469af7a56e1

    16-18 winner:
    James Pearson, 17, from East Sussex took first place with this picture of a whitethroat

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5e189924dd9d983203f5ac2d2692ba94276c8d5a/0_0_4793_3468/master/4793.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=4a33d84f6a840ad94908206942b99321

    Small world:
    The winner was Beau Healy, 14, from north London with a shot of a curly haired tarantula

  22. G’day all,

    A showery start at McPhee Towers and likely to stay that way. Wind SW, 9℃ rising to 11℃.

    What a dull load of letters on trivia apart from the few calling for state-sanctioned, assisted suicide.

    This is a concern, though.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/424c39a5d3f4c622359fccb5b425ed03488487431e2337057561032c1486333a.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/27/winter-virus-jab-for-babies-hailed-as-game-changer-for-nhs/

    BBC was pushing it scamdemic-style on the Ten o’clock News last night with several mums promoting it as a Good Thing. You might ask what I was doing watching the BBC news. Well, I had to because I was outvoted and anyway I do it now and again to remind myself of what a nest of propagandists and liars that organisation is.

  24. Alison Rose’s name axed from government report after Farage debanking scandal

    Former NatWest boss had overseen the report on how to boost women in business since 2019

    Daniel Woolfson and Ben Riley-Smith, POLITICAL EDITOR
    26 December 2023 • 7:54pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/business/2023/12/26/TELEMMGLPICT000343369578_17036096399090_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqA7N2CxnJWnYI3tCbVBgu9T0aesusvN1TE7a0ddd_esI.jpeg?imwidth=680
    *
    *
    ********************

    Richard Baker
    1 DAY AGO
    Having lost a shedload of money on Superdry shares I landed on a strategy of avoiding woke companies resulting in a very pleasing return in 2023. One of the first things to look for is an over-promoted female CEO.

    Alan Brown
    1 DAY AGO
    Reply to Richard Baker
    Congratulations on your successful investments. I personally shy away from woke concerns because they put ideology before their core mission, which is to keep people employed, provide excellent products, and reward their investors for their support.
    I am heartily sick of companies, particularly banks, that think virtue-signalling will keep people fed.

    1. Also avoid any funds with “ESG” in the title if you want to partake in the profits from petrol, booze, guns & fags.

    2. Good morning Cit and the whole Nottler caboodle. Reposting BTL comments is good, but there is a ‘no selfies’ policy, which I propose should extend to the above Dame.

  27. Furious’ Putin sends revenge teams into Crimea. 28 December 2023.

    Vladimir Putin has sent revenge squads into occupied Crimea to hunt down locals who gave Ukraine the location of the Novocherkassk war ship, partisans have said.

    The Atesh resistance group said civilians’ houses had been raided and mobile phones seized as the “completely furious” Russian president unleashed “the flywheel of repression”.

    The PTB are getting a bit desperate with this propaganda! This is like something out of The Wizard! Modern satellites can detect an orange from space. They would even know if this ship had its engines running. The missiles used would need this digitised information for targeting purposes.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/12/28/ukraine-russia-war-live-kuleba-europe-not-know-fight-latest/

        1. Ah yes, the word ‘sustainably’ – to a certain extent, they are replanted but there’s a gap in their ability to absorb CO2 until they are big enough to make a difference

  32. ‘Morning All
    As requested my saag aloo recipe
    start with the holy trinity of curry
    1 medium onion finely chopped fried off in lard
    add 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds at this point
    3 cloves of garlic
    thumb of ginger grated I cheat and use frozen garlic and ginger
    Have 200ml of chicken stock ready so you can splash a little in to stop the dry spices burning as you fry them off
    all spices half teaspoon
    Turmeric
    Cumin
    Coriander
    Chili flakes
    When aromatic add rest of stock and simmer a bit
    dump bag of fresh spinach on top cover and let wilt down
    add 3 fresh tomatoes quartered and let sweat down
    Potatoes are cooked sep and MUST be a waxy spud like Charlotte or the whole thing turns to mush (bitter experience)
    Stir in your bite size spuds and finish with a heaped teaspoon of Garam Masala
    let simmer gently for another ten minutes and you’re there
    That said I always make my curry the night before and leave it in the fridge to let the flavours combine even more
    Good Luck!!

    1. That sounds delicious! Makes me yearn for a dry potato curry (I once had a great recipe for such). May have to go and hunt down a few ingredients.

  33. Morning, all! Thought I’d share yesterday’s sliver of astonished joy:

    I was tootling along to a lesson when a lady stopped me in the street and asked if she could take my photo. Mid-forties, I’d say; apparently waiting for her mum.

    Once she’d taken a few photos, she asked my name, and then startled me into laughter by belting out a word-perfect version of “K K K Katy”! (This in a city where *no-one* can pronounce my name.)

    I do like life’s little oddities!

      1. 🤣🤣 After all the protest marches I went on, I’m pretty certain they already have all the incriminating evidence they need.

  35. THATLLDO

    Those NoTTLers who were previously frequent and habitual contributors to the old Daily/Sunday Telegraph Letters’ Comments Forum, before it was discontinued (and NoTTLe took over), may recall a regular contributor who went by the username of Thatlldo. That was the main avatar of Stephen Roy Cook, whose acquaintance I first made well over a decade ago. This came about due to me being subjected to a great deal of very nasty troll activity from a few people whose vitriolic presence appeared, now and again, on that forum. Frequent requests to the DT’s editorial team failed to deter these creatures-of-the-night. Around the same time a few other well-respected members also received nasty troll activity. Prominent among them were Toots and Thatlldo.

    I contacted those two chaps by temporarily posting a (now long defunct) email address for a short while on that forum. Both contacted me, privately, and we commenced an online friendship. Not long after, three other regulars (two of who are still valued and much-loved NoTTLers) joined our merry little throng who we nicknamed “Musketeers”. This went well for quite some time until Thatlldo started to become more and more irascible and eventually he fell out with all of us, upsetting a few with his nasty and highly personal comments, so we asked him to leave. This was a shame because in his lighter moments, he was intelligent, thought-provoking and erudite on a number of topics, especially his love of jazz and devotion to the words and music of Frank Zappa. He also contributed to that old DT Letters’ forum under a number of other humorous aliases, the main ones being watermelonineasterhay, onourwayome, and honkinginawardrobe.

    At that time, Steve was living in Kiel, Germany and ran a successful business as a freelance technical author and translator with a worldwide client base, and he was fluent in English, Dutch, German, French and Spanish. He lived with his Turkish/German muslim wife, Farita.

    Coincidentally, during the short time my old email address was online, I was also contacted, briefly, by another regular and much-loved contributor: Ladyofthelake. ‘Lottie’ — Ann Morris — was still living in Georgia, USA with her husband of over 30 years. She contacted me to ask a few questions that she hoped I could answer; some I could, others I couldn’t. It was during one of our brief exchanges that she accidentally let the cat out of the bag that she was in a long-distance relationship with another man. She made me promise, while she was still alive, that I would keep that secret to myself, which I did.

    To cut a long story short, ‘Lottie’ left her husband in the USA and moved back home to England where she moved in with, and eventually married, her new man in England. It is sad to relate that her husband passed away after suffering from ill-health last summer and, as we are all aware, the much-loved and respected ‘Lottie’ herself died a couple of months ago.

    Ladyofthelake had become, after her new marriage, Mrs Ann Cook. Her new husband, Steve, was the former Thatlldo from the old DT forum, who had moved back to the UK from Germany after divorcing his wife. Ann and Steve remained together for over five, very happily married years, looking after each other during periods of acute and chronic illness.

    RIP Thatlldo and Ladyofthelake, both of whom I was honoured — for a while — to call my friends.

    1. Thanks for that Grizzly – did Ann meet Steve online via that forum? I’m glad they had those few happy years together. She’s much missed here. I remember Thatlldo and some of his other aliases.

      1. No, Jules. Ann had already met Steve independently. She was never a participant in our “Musketeers” private group and I only conversed with her for a very short period.

        1. But she must have known his alias and that he was a commenter on the old letters forum, as she was.

    2. Interesting that Steve fell out with your group and yet to Ann he was the best thing since sliced bread. The joy of humanity. May they both rest in peace.

    3. In his watermelon guise I remember a very angry exchange with Elsie. I tried to intervene and he went for me as well.

    4. Fascinating tale, Grizz.
      Always wondered what happened to Thatlldo, used to enjoy his commentary.
      Sad to read the epitaph.
      Thanks for posting.

    6. Very interesting, Grizz. It is indeed, a small world. Thank you for telling us about the experience. 😘

    7. Blimey, Grizz. You have brought back memories that had long departed my consciousness. Thank you.

    8. Hi Grizzly,
      At Christmas time youngsters look forward to the presents; now I remember the past, and especially all those absent friends. Recently I went to the funeral of a gentleman whose age and diagnosis was similar to that of much-missed Lottie. A week later I happened to ask an acquaintance about that type of skin cancer, and he explained that by the time it is visible, it will have metastasized, via capillary vessels. (IIRC)
      All that the Doctors can do is to scan the patient, provide treatment and estimate the time remaining, be it months or years.

  36. BBC feeds viewers a ‘diet of woke bias’ in breach of its own impartiality rules, campaigners say

    Review of drama and news output has exposed prejudice and a preoccupation with slave trade, it is claimed

    Gordon Rayner, ASSOCIATE EDITOR • 27 December 2023 • 8:11pm

    The BBC has been accused of feeding viewers “a steady diet of woke bias” as research suggests the broadcaster has failed to uphold standards in its own impartiality plan.

    A survey of the corporation’s news and drama output has exposed bias in coverage of debates over race and gender, campaigners say, while the BBC News website has averaged more than one article per week on the slave trade. A former culture secretary reacted to the findings by saying that the BBC must be vigilant against the danger of being “captured by fringe interests”.

    In recent days, the BBC has come under fire for adding scenes to the Agatha Christie thriller ‘Murder Is Easy’ to make it an allegory for colonialism. Meanwhile, new episodes of Doctor Who, which featured a transgender character, implied that the Doctor is gay and discussed whether an alien should have gendered pronouns, have also been a turn-off for some fans.

    It comes two years after BBC director general Tim Davie launched a 10-point plan to ensure impartiality. Mr Davie said viewers expected the “highest standards” of “impartiality, accuracy and trust”. But a review of BBC output by the Campaign for Common Sense suggests the corporation is failing to uphold those standards when it comes to its drama and news output.

    The research exposed a preoccupation by BBC News about Britain’s links to the transatlantic slave trade, with articles about the subject appearing online at a rate of more than one a week in 2023. As of September, the BBC News website had featured 55 separate stories about slavery – ranging from “How a flood led family to discover slavery link” to “Jamaicans call for Gladstone slavery reparations”.

    In January, long-running soap opera Waterloo Road featured a plot involving students [sic] in open revolt over their school’s links to the transatlantic slave trade. The episode opens with a girl scrawling the word “racist” across a plaque of her school’s 19th-century founder. Students are later depicted holding banners saying “students against slavery”, and throwing red paint to symbolise the blood of slaves.

    The BBC came under criticism the same month for referring to the explorer Sir Francis Drake as a “16th-century slave trader”. BBC London News was forced to amend its online article and delete a tweet with the description after a backlash.

    The research also revealed how contested gender issues also featured in BBC news and drama with what the Campaign described as a “woke world view” driving the output throughout the year. In June, Casualty came under fire for promoting “top surgery” pre-watershed. The episode featured a character discussing top surgery – a mastectomy to remove breast tissue. In February, BBC Radio 4’s PM programme was forced to apologise for having two transgender activist guests who branded JK Rowling transphobic without any opposing view. [Just as it rarely allows any climate change ‘sceptic’ on and never unopposed.]

    Baroness Morgan, the former culture secretary, told The Telegraph: “Given its important role in covering issues affecting all of us, the BBC always needs to remain vigilant against being captured by fringe interests.”

    A spokesman for the Campaign for Common Sense said: “This research reveals that, rather than upholding those high standards of impartiality, parts of the BBC continue to peddle a steady diet of woke bias both through the plotlines of popular dramas but also in some of its news coverage. The Impartiality Plan, unveiled in the wake of a BBC scandal over trust, was supposed to mark a turning point for the corporation. Instead this research reveals the same old woke world view is still very much in operation. Two years ago, the BBC set itself very high standards to help restore viewers’ trust. It has singularly failed to meet those standards.”

    The Campaign for Common Sense, which champions free speech and tolerance, was founded by Mark Lehain, who went on to become an adviser to Nadhim Zahawi when he was education secretary. Its report goes on to record that in January, BBC News was accused of portraying illegal immigration in a sympathetic light, while in May it interviewed a woman who called for the Government to “pay and support disabled people” to access prostitutes.

    The same month, it posted an article exploring Satanism, featuring advocates who claimed it had helped them with “logic and empathy”. And in June, flagship current affairs programme Newsnight came under fire for interviewing Mizzy, the notorious TikTok prankster, who harassed women at night on train platforms and barged into people’s homes.

    Meanwhile children are being exposed to contested subjects such as critical race theory. In September, BBC Newsround featured the views of Kehinde Andrews, the author of ‘The Psychosis of Whiteness’, who presents the idea of white privilege as a fact.

    The BBC also gave prominence to research by the Museum of London last month which suggested black women were “most likely to die” of the plague in 14th- century London because of “structural racism”. Kemi Badenoch, the Business Secretary and equalities minister, condemned the “inaccurate and alarmist” coverage at the time.

    Commissioned by the BBC Board in May 2021, the impartiality plan included thematic reviews covering output to ensure a wide range of views and voices were being reflected. It also laid out monitoring of what it called impartiality metrics around editorial complaints, staff training and audience perception. It came in the wake of a crisis of confidence prompted in part by the exposure of Martin Bashir’s deceitful methods of securing an interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.

    A BBC spokesman said: “Cherry-picking a handful of examples or highlighting genuine mistakes in thousands of hours of output does not constitute analysis and is not a true representation of BBC content. [Oh, yes it does and and it is!]

    “We are proud that our output seeks to represent all audiences and a range of stories and perspectives. Across the entirety of our services there will, of course, be occasions when people disagree with or want to challenge what they have watched or heard and we have well-publicised routes for them to do that.” [All audiences? Fringe audiences, surely?]

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/27/bbc-feeds-viewers-diet-of-woke-bias-breach-of-rules

    Oh for someone publicly to rip the likes of Kehinde Andrews and Mizzi and make them disappear from the news.

    1. I note the BBC hasn’t mentioned [as far as I am aware] the massive cost in both lives and money resulting from the Royal Navy’s campaign against slavery!

    2. Well you see, for far too long objective reality and the pursuit of truth has had it all its own way and balance requires that the fantasists be heard not just in equal measure now but to make up for not being taken seriously in the past, must be allowed to dominate.

      1. It’s no wonder people have given up on most of the BBC’s output. The only things we ever watch are wildlife films or music programmes.

    3. “A former culture secretary reacted to the findings by saying that the BBC must be vigilant against the danger of being “captured by fringe interests”.” It’s a bit late to notice that! It’s been captured long since!

    4. “A former culture secretary reacted to the findings by saying that the BBC must be vigilant against the danger of being “captured by fringe interests”.” It’s a bit late to notice that! It’s been captured long since!

  37. BBC feeds viewers a ‘diet of woke bias’ in breach of its own impartiality rules, campaigners say

    Review of drama and news output has exposed prejudice and a preoccupation with slave trade, it is claimed

    Gordon Rayner, ASSOCIATE EDITOR • 27 December 2023 • 8:11pm

    The BBC has been accused of feeding viewers “a steady diet of woke bias” as research suggests the broadcaster has failed to uphold standards in its own impartiality plan.

    A survey of the corporation’s news and drama output has exposed bias in coverage of debates over race and gender, campaigners say, while the BBC News website has averaged more than one article per week on the slave trade. A former culture secretary reacted to the findings by saying that the BBC must be vigilant against the danger of being “captured by fringe interests”.

    In recent days, the BBC has come under fire for adding scenes to the Agatha Christie thriller ‘Murder Is Easy’ to make it an allegory for colonialism. Meanwhile, new episodes of Doctor Who, which featured a transgender character, implied that the Doctor is gay and discussed whether an alien should have gendered pronouns, have also been a turn-off for some fans.

    It comes two years after BBC director general Tim Davie launched a 10-point plan to ensure impartiality. Mr Davie said viewers expected the “highest standards” of “impartiality, accuracy and trust”. But a review of BBC output by the Campaign for Common Sense suggests the corporation is failing to uphold those standards when it comes to its drama and news output.

    The research exposed a preoccupation by BBC News about Britain’s links to the transatlantic slave trade, with articles about the subject appearing online at a rate of more than one a week in 2023. As of September, the BBC News website had featured 55 separate stories about slavery – ranging from “How a flood led family to discover slavery link” to “Jamaicans call for Gladstone slavery reparations”.

    In January, long-running soap opera Waterloo Road featured a plot involving students [sic] in open revolt over their school’s links to the transatlantic slave trade. The episode opens with a girl scrawling the word “racist” across a plaque of her school’s 19th-century founder. Students are later depicted holding banners saying “students against slavery”, and throwing red paint to symbolise the blood of slaves.

    The BBC came under criticism the same month for referring to the explorer Sir Francis Drake as a “16th-century slave trader”. BBC London News was forced to amend its online article and delete a tweet with the description after a backlash.

    The research also revealed how contested gender issues also featured in BBC news and drama with what the Campaign described as a “woke world view” driving the output throughout the year. In June, Casualty came under fire for promoting “top surgery” pre-watershed. The episode featured a character discussing top surgery – a mastectomy to remove breast tissue. In February, BBC Radio 4’s PM programme was forced to apologise for having two transgender activist guests who branded JK Rowling transphobic without any opposing view. [Just as it rarely allows any climate change ‘sceptic’ on and never unopposed.]

    Baroness Morgan, the former culture secretary, told The Telegraph: “Given its important role in covering issues affecting all of us, the BBC always needs to remain vigilant against being captured by fringe interests.”

    A spokesman for the Campaign for Common Sense said: “This research reveals that, rather than upholding those high standards of impartiality, parts of the BBC continue to peddle a steady diet of woke bias both through the plotlines of popular dramas but also in some of its news coverage. The Impartiality Plan, unveiled in the wake of a BBC scandal over trust, was supposed to mark a turning point for the corporation. Instead this research reveals the same old woke world view is still very much in operation. Two years ago, the BBC set itself very high standards to help restore viewers’ trust. It has singularly failed to meet those standards.”

    The Campaign for Common Sense, which champions free speech and tolerance, was founded by Mark Lehain, who went on to become an adviser to Nadhim Zahawi when he was education secretary. Its report goes on to record that in January, BBC News was accused of portraying illegal immigration in a sympathetic light, while in May it interviewed a woman who called for the Government to “pay and support disabled people” to access prostitutes.

    The same month, it posted an article exploring Satanism, featuring advocates who claimed it had helped them with “logic and empathy”. And in June, flagship current affairs programme Newsnight came under fire for interviewing Mizzy, the notorious TikTok prankster, who harassed women at night on train platforms and barged into people’s homes.

    Meanwhile children are being exposed to contested subjects such as critical race theory. In September, BBC Newsround featured the views of Kehinde Andrews, the author of ‘The Psychosis of Whiteness’, who presents the idea of white privilege as a fact.

    The BBC also gave prominence to research by the Museum of London last month which suggested black women were “most likely to die” of the plague in 14th- century London because of “structural racism”. Kemi Badenoch, the Business Secretary and equalities minister, condemned the “inaccurate and alarmist” coverage at the time.

    Commissioned by the BBC Board in May 2021, the impartiality plan included thematic reviews covering output to ensure a wide range of views and voices were being reflected. It also laid out monitoring of what it called impartiality metrics around editorial complaints, staff training and audience perception. It came in the wake of a crisis of confidence prompted in part by the exposure of Martin Bashir’s deceitful methods of securing an interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.

    A BBC spokesman said: “Cherry-picking a handful of examples or highlighting genuine mistakes in thousands of hours of output does not constitute analysis and is not a true representation of BBC content. [Oh, yes it does and and it is!]

    “We are proud that our output seeks to represent all audiences and a range of stories and perspectives. Across the entirety of our services there will, of course, be occasions when people disagree with or want to challenge what they have watched or heard and we have well-publicised routes for them to do that.” [All audiences? Fringe audiences, surely?]

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/27/bbc-feeds-viewers-diet-of-woke-bias-breach-of-rules

    Oh for someone publicly to rip the likes of Kehinde Andrews and Mizzi and make them disappear from the news.

  38. Received the long awaited letter (11 weeks) for an appointment for a scan. It instructed me to go online to the NHS portal and type in the reference number provided to make the appointment. This of course was rejected so i dragged myself from my sick bed and went to (infect everyone at) the surgery.

    The receptionist asked if i had tried calling the number provided.

    I said yes but no one was answering.
    So she tried…………………………………………………………………15 minutes later.
    Apparently the reason why the reference number was rejected is that the appointment has already been made and i should receive it in the post.
    This appointment is not the one the Doctor ordered but by then i had had enough.

    2. That reference number they give you takes you to a list of hospitals within 50 miles or so for you to choose from – none of them have any appointments for months.

      1. I get several notifications a day by email about undeliverable parcels, and I just need to click on the convenient link provided ..

  40. As a supportive spouse, I sat next to the MR as sh was glued to watching the JWK’s “first year” prog on t’telly.

    I shall resist the chance to say what I thought – but just mention two things that struck me. First, why on earth was the JWK writing to the King of Sweden in Swedish? Carl XVI Gustaf speaks fluent English. Secondly, I was rather touched by Princess Anne saying, Hello, Old Bean,” to the JWK when she entered the room after the Abbey do.

    For the rest – my lips are sealed!

  41. Ukraine is losing, but the UK must stand by it. 28 December 2023.

    Kyiv’s long-fought counteroffensive has failed. At tremendous cost and despite heroic fighting, it has taken little ground and there is no immediate prospect of further advances. The opposite, in fact. While defending against Ukrainian efforts to break through their lines, Moscow has also been on the offensive and on Christmas Day its forces appear to have captured the town of Marinka in eastern Donbas. This would be the greatest battlefield success on either side since Russia captured Bakhmut in May. It provides a pivot point to allow Moscow’s forces to attack Ukrainian defences further south.

    But it has even greater strategic significance; it is yet another body blow to Ukraine’s international support, which has been flagging for months, with worse to come. The US has hit a political wall, with the delicate bipartisan support breaking down. It will be difficult for presidential candidates, in an election year, to justify spending more billions on Ukraine while Americans suffer from the legacy of a year of high inflation.

    Wow. This is worth a read for all the recantations of former positions. As always of course Nottl was right and the PTB are not only liars but incompetent ones as well!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/28/ukraine-is-losing-but-the-uk-must-stand-by-it/

      1. Much past the time to talk.
        If the West had any nous, that would have been the starting point, not the end point, but hubris clouded judjement and got the rest of us with anti-war sentiment insulted at best.

    2. I get a feeling that any Uke men are escaping whenever they can rather than be thrown into the meat grinder at the behest of the Americans.

      1. Afternoon KP. Most of the intelligent ones bugged out at the beginning and have spent the last two years swanning around the Mediterranean.

  42. Morning Afternoon, all Y’all.
    Avoiding the packing. SWMBO & Firstborn have bought a whole branch of Morrisons to fit into 4 trolleybags, plus Xmas gifts…
    Silly buggers.

    1. We used to do flights in winter from the Canary Isles to Scandinavia. The Scandi crew took huge cases in which to carry their shopping home after an overnight stop. I gallantly helped one onto the bus with her baggage, it nearly pulled my arm off… “What u got in ‘ere” I exclaimed. Potatoes came the reply. If I had known I would have left you to it (I muttered).

      1. I once helped an elderly Indian lady with her case in an airport. I seriously think she had the kitchen sink in there, filled with lead implements!! I hauled it along thinking wryly “No good deed goes unpunished”. 🤣

        1. Helped a stewardess struggling with passenger baggage that I could swear had been bolted to the cabin floor (GBAirways flying as BA from Jerez to LGW). She gave me a whole carrier bag of miniatures in return! Lovely lady!

        2. I travel with one small bag + my small rucksack as a cabin bag – it always amazes me the amount of luggage people take. Not that I’ve ever gone away for a long time, but even so.

    2. Make sure you buy a bottle of COLDZYME today and, before you get to the airport – both of you spray your throats – and again as you board the plane.

      It really does help – and as planes are full of germs and filthy air…..

  43. Phew! That got a bit damp.
    Just been out ignoring the light rain and getting a start made on cutting the logs for next winter’s firewood supply and worsening rain has stopped play! Still got an hour done, though the logs still need to be chopped, dragged to the wood-shelter and stacked.

  44. Apparently Brent Cross shopping center has bee evacuated due to a bomb scare, I wonder who might be responsible for that and being so close to Golders Green and Hendon.
    Or maybe a lifter who didn’t get their own way.

  45. This attack on Churchill is appalling – and nonsensical

    Walter Reid’s vicious book says Churchill was ‘malign, cruel, obstructive and selfish’ toward India – but its argument doesn’t hold water

    Andrew Roberts • 27 December 2023 • 11:00am

    Walter Reid, the author of an admiring biography of Neville Chamberlain, has written a book claiming that Winston Churchill’s attitude towards India was “malign, cruel, obstructive and selfish”. Pleasingly, however, Fighting Retreat: Churchill and India utterly fails to prove any of those accusations, except that Churchill tried to obstruct self-government for India from 1930 to 1935, which is hardly a state secret.

    Reid revels in hyperbole, stating that Churchill displayed a “disingenuous and unprincipled opposition to any initiative which might edge India, however slightly, out of the clutches of Great Britain”. (Those were the “clutches”, by the way, that gave India her railways, mass education system, irrigation projects, law and order, English language as her first national lingua franca, universities, newspapers, standardised units of exchange, telegraphic communications, an uncorrupt legal system, medical advances, and the abolition of the widespread practice of burning widows alive on their husbands’ funeral pyres.)

    Was Churchill really “disingenuous and unprincipled” in his five years of opposition to the Government of India Act 1935? Even as hostile a critic as Reid accepts that he pursued his campaign even to the detriment of his own career, and it kept him out of government until the Second World War. If anyone was unprincipled at that time, it was in fact the National Government, which Reid admits tampered with the vital evidence given to Parliament by Lancastrian manufacturers about the likely commercial implications of Indian self-government. Churchill never did anything like that.

    There was also nothing disingenuous about Churchill’s central message about the dangers of over-hasty Indian self-government, which was that the Hindus would use their numerical advantage to strip the Indian Princes, with whom Britain had treaty obligations, of their powers, as well as dominate the Muslim minority and keep the Untouchables at the bottom of an unaltered caste system. Those were the essential bases of Churchill’s critique, and Indian history from 1947 to the present day has proven him correct in all three. Not a word from Reid about Churchill’s prescience; instead he is accused of “a malign continuum of deceitful and hypocritical attempts to thwart India’s entirely reasonable political aspirations”.

    Churchill believed the British Empire was worth defending, and feared national decline if India left it, and so he fought to keep the status quo, but he did it from decent motives which Reid either ignores or denies. It was a losing battle, but only because Britain nearly bankrupted herself helping to save the world from fascism. If Britain had had no need to come to India’s aid in 1941, which she did because it was part of the Empire, it’s likely that it would have been invaded by Imperial Japan, with tens of millions of Indians dying, if other Japanese occupations such as the Philippines are anything to go by.

    Reid is on similarly weak ground where he considers other aspects of Churchill’s career. It was not Churchill’s “force of character” that prevented the War Cabinet from pursuing peace negotiations with Hitler in May 1940, for example: he was in a four-to-one majority there, as the biographer of Neville Chamberlain ought to have known. Reid’s criticism of successive prime ministers and secretaries of state for India for not visiting India during their time in office has a straightforward explanation: the Viceroy of India had constitutional precedence there.

    We shall be marking the 150th anniversary of Churchill’s birth in 2024, and along with a panoply of celebrations, there will inevitably be a chorus of the usual baleful criticisms, many focused on his supposedly inadequate response to the appalling Bengal Famine of 1943, which killed over three million people. The facts are straightforward, and confirmed by the meticulous report of the official inquiry, which did not hesitate to allocate blame. A typhoon in late 1942 destroyed both Bengal’s rice and the road and rail networks that were needed to get emergency aid to the region. The Japanese controlled the areas such as Malaya, Burma and Thailand from where rice could normally be shipped, and Churchill wrote to ask the leaders of America, Canada and Australia to send food supplies, although Japanese submarines in the Bay of Bengal made such operations difficult. The Bengal authorities, both British and Indian – the province had been self-governing since 1935 – failed to requisition rice from local merchants, as food prices soared. The Viceroy in Delhi ought to have acted sooner imposing central authority. But none of this was the fault of the government in London, let alone Churchill.

    Fortunately Reid is enough of an objective historian to recognize that Churchill did not deliberately want to use the opportunity to kill Bengalis, as alleged by his detractors – who ignore the separation of powers in wartime India – but Reid does quote those detractors ad nauseam. And in swallowing whole the Left-wing economic view that Britain was simply an exploitative leech on India from 1600 to 1947, Reid parrots the profoundly flawed analyses of authors such as Shashi Tharoor, Richard Toye and Sathnam Sanghera. He quotes Tharoor’s belief that “Britain’s Industrial Revolution was built on the destruction of India’s thriving manufacturing industries” and that “slave-related businesses contributed the same proportion of British GDP as the professional and support services sector does in modern Britain”, despite both claims having been comprehensively exploded in review after review of Tharoor’s deeply bigoted book. By contrast, there is no indication that Reid has read the works of scholars such as Tirthankar Roy, Zareer Masani and Kartar Lalvani who prove that Anglo-Indian trade was extraordinarily beneficial to both countries.

    “His consistent policy towards India from 1930 onwards cannot be excused or justified,” Reid claims of Churchill. “It was dishonest, mendacious and immoral.” Yet Churchill gave literally hundreds of speeches on the topic up and down the country for half a decade, often to huge audiences. If it was genuinely any of those three adjectives, why was it not denounced as such at the time? Contemporaries criticised his stance as wrong or short-sighted or dangerous, but they recognised that he was pursuing his campaign out of honorable motives, and so should we.

    Others of Reid’s accusations, such as that Churchill “never matured” from being a subaltern, or that he was responsible for Hindus and Muslims being “divided among themselves” – when the divide had begun centuries before Churchill’s birth – are frankly risible. One is left with the strong sense that Churchill was neither “malign” nor “cruel”, but that this book is both.
    __________________________________________________________________________________________

    Andrew Roberts is the author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny, published by C Hurst at £25.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/fighting-retreat-churchill-india-walter-reid-review

    1. British rule in India was pretty hands-off. State princes had a great deal of autonomy so when Bengal is raised, I ask why the other Indian states did not offer help to Bengal.

  46. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1595727ab40cc3bc18e73d93d745e3cc7c9df95de80eb1d57e404a63c96b6fd8.jpg

    Peter Butterworth had a very surprising history before his Carry on career…

    Carry On Escaping! Extraordinary story of how comic actor Peter
    Butterworth helped organise the famous Great Escape from Stalag Luft III
    and sent coded messages to British intelligence via his letters home is
    revealed for the first time

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12904963/carry-peter-butterworth-involved-great-escape-stalag-luft.html

    1. If you’re interested in the Stalag Luft 111 story, I recommend “The Great Escaper” by Simon Pearson, about Roger Bushell aka Big X

      1. Just looked at M&S on line and 90% of their male clothes are modelled by blacks or browns – anyone want to buy a £30 gift card for £(offers)

        2. So you’re now trading gift vouchers on the black market? We expected better of you, Spikey {:^))

    5. Donald Pleasance was also a kriegie. He said he made some suggestions to the director of The Great Escape and the implication was he had no idea what he was talking about!

  47. 379988+ up ticks,

    DT,

    Ukraine is losing, but the UK must stand by it,
    Facing wars in Europe and the Middle East, does the West have the will to back the right side?

    In the United Kingdom the lab/lib/con/current ukip coalition party, current supporter / voters, have proved to be incapable of such an action these past four decades doing so on their own turf.

  48. Bloody useless BBC: this once august body is now beyond parody. My moan and groan is parochial and concerns my washing and my plans for the day but it is part of the malaise that has infested the BBC.

    Weather forecast yesterday for this morning, blustery with sunny intervals and no rain. This morning’s forecast was the same as yesterday’s. Ditto now…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/544591bf9f0f315c76b1fadce4f3f7063abe8b59c3d88355a864b917cc69697d.png

    However, it’s rained on and off since before 10 a.m. Light to start but now quite heavily. Some sunny intervals I’ll agree but the forecast was dry. Washing now on a long drying cycle in the tumble-dryer. Not very green.🙃

    My personal moan is as nothing when the following is being planned at the BBC: this nonsense is going to impact everybody, especially those that dispute the Climate Change agenda the BBC is pushing and with this latest plan, will be propagandising big-time.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7d03929e0b875eea185962294ced74638685b2508ecf9934909156fe816503fb.png

    If the BBC cannot provide an accurate weather forecast over a few hours how can this body believe that predicting the climate next year, a decade hence or worse, until 2050 is remotely possible? The answer is, they can’t, but they have been sucked in to believing the narrative built by a cohort of money-grabbing, already rich beyond that of the fabled Croesus, who want ever more wealth and power.

    Daily Sceptics – BBC to allow Disinformation Reporter a Six Month Sabbatical re Climate Change

    1. Their time would be far better spent with climate scam sceptics, so that instead of having opinions confirmed they can have them challenged.
      Real scientists never accept “the science is settled” and continue to try to disprove their theories. The harder it is to disprove shows how sound/accurate the theory is.
      “I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned” Richard Feynman

    2. The snapshot forecast that you posted is next to useless on a day of ‘showers or longer periods of rain’. They are also based on the useless ‘regions’ of the country, as though crossing a boundary makes a difference. The use of stock phrases (e.g. ‘light rain and and a moderate breeze’) can be equally misleading. Forecasters are on a hiding to nothing in weather like this. They really should be advising the public to check the rainfall radar for their area as it can change in half an hour.

      Having said all that, the Met Office and the BBC are generally very good on the day-to-day forecasts, although some of the TV faces should remember that they are presenters, not performers.

      1. My point was that there was NO rain, either showery or persistent forecast, even as late as when the drizzle started. When it turned to heavy rain the forecast was still showing dry with sunny intervals. One has to plan ahead and could expect some accuracy but today has been completely wrong as far as the weather goes.
        The radar can also be deceptive, approaching rainfall dissipating on its long trek from the west, although I do find it more useful for planning gardening work.

        1. I don’t think forecasts are changed during the day, ‘in the instant’ as it were, but, again, my advice is to avoid the simplistic pictorials.

          It’s very rare that that a forecast is 100% wrong in the way you describe. The Met Office RR gives you 15-20 minutes warning and NetWeather ten.

          1. I have Netweather on my laptop but I do not hover about waiting for alarms. This morning I had an appointment with the phlebotomist and a shopping visit to the butcher and was caught out on the first heavy shower. Yes, I am annoyed at the forecast being off but I was using my washing as an introduction to the Daily Sceptics’ article, which, in my opinion, is much more important than Korky’s wet washing.

    3. It has been sunny in a hazy kind of way this morning in very south-west Cambridgeshire, not much blue sky but the light is silvery and the haze is high. It is now clouding over to a dull all over grey and blustery with it. It feels as if rain is not very far away now.

      2. Raining here now for the last hour or so and I’ve just had a wasted trip out and found the post office was closed. At least I’ve got working lights and wipers and key fob since my car went in for service and MOT last week. Not nice out.

    4. Spartie and I were caught in the ‘dry, sunny’ weather as we tootled round the block.
      We stuck to the more sheltered paths but I still had to tell myself that rainwater is good for the hair.

    5. CBC radio announcers in Ottawa would not too subtly question an erroneous weather forecast by asking Have you looked out of the window?.

      1. As my practical speaking maternal grandfather use to say. I hang a piece of seaweed on the shed door and if it’s wet it’s raining.
        Weather forecasts probably didn’t even exist in the late 18 and early 1900s.
        People just used common sense or got wet.

        1. Or they had learned from experience – remembering what happened the last time the weather was like it was “today”….

          Trees flowering early; animals behaving differently; migration patterns. There’s tons they knew that we “modern” people don’t.

        2. I look out of the window before I go out – does that sky look as though it’s got rain/snow clouds in it? Then I dress accordingly.

    6. CBC radio announcers in Ottawa would not too subtly question an erroneous weather forecast by asking Have you looked out of the window?.

  51. Reposted from last night or early morning.

    The Russian commentator lives in the US and has access to Russian military and political leaders. His remarks seem to me to be closer to the facts than western journalists and politicians who pretend that Ukraine backed by the US and UK could ever win a war in the real world.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmJRfBr0RVE

  52. Reposted from last night or early morning.

    The Russian commentator lives in the US and has access to Russian military and political leaders. His remarks seem to me to be closer to the facts than western journalists and politicians who pretend that Ukraine backed by the US and UK could ever win a war in the real world.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmJRfBr0RVE

      1. It’s a Sphinx kittens rear end and tail, wearing a pair of Dumbo ears and hat! The owner is moving the tail so it looks like a trunk! The kitten is very pink and looks a bit miffed! As I say, mine would have shredded me!

      1. Had to go back to earlier posts to see what Grizz had written, so will be opening the bottle of “Kanga” juice in memory of Lottie, later.

    2. Just had a cuppa and only one Ferrero Rocher.
      I’ve been making Naan breads for tonight’s curry.

  57. Rain paused so the logs I’ve sawn have now been split and stacked, assisted by Graduate Son.

    Rain still paused so will be going up to saw another load after I finish this mug of tea!

  58. Blow me down. We went out for a walk for a couple of miles – then I had 40 winks; then to gar age to cut up some dead wood – and I heard the rainwater tank filling up. Odd, I thought – there is no rain. Oh yes there is…!!! So much for the Wet Office.

  59. S.S. Treworlas.

    Complement:
    47 (38 dead and 9 survivors).
    3,000 tons of manganese ore.

    At 09.46 hours on 28th December 1942 the unescorted Treworlas (Master Thomas Harold Stanbury) was hit by a stern torpedo from U-124 (Johann Mohr) and sank within one minute about 50 miles east of Port of Spain, Trinidad. The Germans then tried to question a survivor on a raft, but he jumped into the water when he saw the U-boat approaching, so they left the area. The master, 32 crew members and five gunners were lost. Seven crew members and two gunners were picked up by USS PC-609 and landed at Trinidad on 1st January 1943.

    Type IXB U-Boat U-124 was sunk on 2nd April 1943 in the North Atlantic west of Oporto, Portugal by depth charges from the British corvette HMS Stonecrop and the British sloop HMS Black Swan. 53 dead (all hands lost).

    https://uboat.net/media/allies/merchants/br/treworlas.jpg

  60. Why GB News has its Left-leaning rivals rattled and running scared

    The upstart station has a loyal and growing audience. But a cabal of politicians, broadcasters and campaigners are determined to see it fail

    Robin Aitken
    28 December 2023 • 1:03pm

    The media establishment rather gave the game away back in September when BBC’s Newsnight staged a typically smug one-sided debate about GB News. Caroline Nokes (the strangely leftish Tory MP for Romsey and Southampton North) and Adam Boulton (formerly the political oracle of Sky News) were of one mind: GB News should be closed down by Ofcom as soon as possible. The upstart station, Boulton claimed, was upsetting “the delicate ecology” of the British broadcasting scene. And we couldn’t have that.

    Mrs Nokes, speaking as the Chair of the Commons Women’s and Equalities select committee, said that GB News hardly mattered because of its “tiny audience” but notwithstanding its supposed insignificance it “should be taken off-air”. GB News’ offence was a decidedly off-colour remark made by one of its presenters – the actor-turned-politician Laurence Fox – about a female journalist. Fox remarked to his smirking co-presenter: “Show me a single self-respecting man who would like to climb into bed with that woman ever.….Who’d want to shag that?” It was the kind thing callow schoolboys say: crass and boorish, an insult better left unspoken let alone broadcast to the nation.

    But was it an offence so serious it warranted stripping GB News of its licence to broadcast? The only previous victim of Ofcom’s ultimate sanction in recent years was RT – Russia Today – which lost its licence in March 2022 for blatant, propagandistic bias in its coverage of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

    Did Fox’s quip come anywhere near that level of offence? Most fair-minded people would say not; and if it deserved the maximum punishment what about the transgressions of other stations? Should the BBC have been “shut down” because of Jimmy Savile’s crimes? In truth, if Ofcom set the bar that low would we have any broadcasters left at all? In any event, GB News took pre-emptive action, and Fox was sacked to placate its critics – of whom there are many. Because GB News does not lack for enemies, and while the pressure they are heaping on the station is uncomfortable it’s also a backhanded compliment; GBN has its rivals rattled.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/tv/2023/12/28/TELEMMGLPICT000359564623_17037663144870_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=960

    Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, Chair of the Commons Women’s and Equalities select committee, has called for GB News to be taken off air

    The anguished pleas of Nokes and Boulton to close down GB News betrays the deep nervousness in liberal circles about the success of a station they passionately hoped would fail. After a much-mocked, error-strewn launch in 2021 the channel is making solid gains in all the traditional categories of viewing and listening (GBN output is available as a radio service) whilst growth in its online news website has been explosive. In the past year traffic on the site has grown by nearly 600 per cent. Company insiders boast that its website has now registered more than one billion views – a figure that ITN’s website took 11 years to reach. Not bad for a station that is only two and a half years old.

    The online offering is punchy and tabloid. One look at it will tell you about GB News’ political outlook – there’s very little overlap between its content and that, say, of the BBC website. The station believes the website has great potential; staffing is being beefed up and the channel is also specifically expanding its coverage of US news. It thinks there is an appetite among Americans for news from Britain from a right-of-centre viewpoint – something they won’t be getting from the hugely successful BBC operation in the USA.

    But though GB News has a loyal and growing audience (it regularly beats its rivals, like Sky and TalkTV particularly in the evening) it still faces many problems – the most serious being the ongoing boycott by big-name advertisers. The first full year accounts – to May 2022 the figures showed a loss of £30.7 million and the company is still not close to being profitable.

    It will have to make a profit to survive but to do so it will have to overcome the sustained hostility of vested interests plus the campaign by the activist group Stop Funding Hate (SFH) which is determined to starve the station of advertising revenue. SFH has been quite successful up to this point thanks to its ability to muster Twitter mobs which scare off potential advertisers who fear being associated with supposedly “hateful” output.

    SFH is everything you would expect of a Left-wing pressure group; its hallmark is its absolute opposition to free speech. It is dedicated to censoring views of which it does not approve and one has some sympathy; it must be painful to dedicate yourselves to political objectives which are always rejected by the voters. But while it’s easy to understand SFH’s motivation it’s more difficult to sympathise with the growing queue of journalists who also want to shut GBN down. Adam Boulton is not alone; Michael Crick, in many ways an estimable reporter, is of like mind. And the Today presenter Nick Robinson also wants GB News brought to book.

    There’s something shocking about senior journalists calling for other journalists, mostly younger and less well-paid people, to lose their jobs. What exactly is going on here? Essentially it is a fightback by vested interests who have no interest whatsoever in the “delicate ecology” being disturbed. Why so? Because for decades mainstream broadcasting has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of the liberal left; which it turns out is only “liberal” as long as it gets its own way.

    https://twitter.com/StopFundingHate/status/1729243831563088100?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1729243831563088100%7Ctwgr%5E74780ec3ba5dbf8c3e61295bacf529df21810568%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Ftv%2F2023%2F12%2F28%2Fwhy-gb-news-has-its-left-leaning-rivals-rattled%2F

    If you imagine a Left-Right scale going from one to 10 with one being extreme Right and 10 being extreme Left where do our broadcasters sit? I would put the BBC at six and a half along with Sky and ITN, with Channel 4 at between seven and eight; this comfortable Left-wing hegemony is challenged by GBN which I would put around three and a half.

    Inevitably the media regulator Ofcom has been drawn into the fight. In the past year, there have been a record number of GBN referrals to Ofcom alleging breaches of the broadcasting code – currently there are about a dozen investigations underway. One was settled recently when the regulator found that GBN’s campaign to preserve cash broke the rules. Ofcom found that in its coverage the station hadn’t given sufficient weight to other viewpoints; it did point out, though, that it wasn’t taking issue with the campaign objectives.

    Senior people in GB News worry that Ofcom is being weaponised against them; this welter of referrals is, they believe, an attempt to put pressure on the regulator to bear down heavily. There have been complaints that Ofcom has given GBN too much latitude by, for instance, giving its approval for active politicians like Jacob Rees-Mogg to present programmes. Ofcom itself says that this is allowed because Rees-Mogg’s programme (which should be on every thinking Conservatives’ media diet) is “current affairs” not “news”. Ofcom says that Ress-Mogg wouldn’t be allowed to present a news bulletin but there’s nothing to stop him hosting a discussion programme.

    tmg.video.placeholder.alt TYmzyz7FmSk

    Fair enough, you might think. Not so, according to another journalistic luminary – Stewart Purvis, the former boss of ITN – who warned in Broadcast magazine that “…the freedom of expression camp has taken over at Ofcom. They’ve taken over at Ofcom from people who thought they had a role to use regulation to protect the public interest”. This is a most illuminating quote. You would rather hope (wouldn’t you?) that every journalist was in the “freedom of expression camp”.

    And as for using regulation to “protect the public interest” – protect from what, exactly? To protect the public from hearing views that might not reflect the group-think that dominates all the other outlets perhaps? If so, good riddance to the end of that system.

    Purvis thinks there’s been a clandestine change of rules at Ofcom which allows GBN to get away with things; Ofcom responded saying the rules haven’t changed since 2005. But the pressure on Ofcom did lead to one of its senior figures, Adam Baxter, head of enforcement, to tell Broadcast: “We’re not taking our foot off the gas with GB News because we know there are important decisions and there’s a lot of interest in them.” Which seems an open invitation to GBN’s enemies to keep the complaints rolling in.

    The media establishment is clearly not about to give up the fight to strangle the life out of GB News, but the company can take heart from the words of Ofcom’s boss Lord Grade. In a speech last month he said: “At the heart of Ofcom is the promotion of free speech and freedom of expression…we are not in the business of stifling innovation.”

    If Ofcom holds true to that bold declaration there is little danger of GB News actually losing its licence to broadcast. But the journey to establishing it as a major player in the British media scene is likely to be long and bruising.

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

    Diana Durham
    2 HRS AGO
    GB News is doing a good job overall. It is patriotic, it likes Britain, it does not think Britain’s history and culture is something to denigrate. And a lot of British people feel the same way. Their presenters are lively and engaging, not
    high priests of fashion thought, like a Maitlis, and they also tackle stories that the so-called mainstream have mostly ignored, such as the hate preachers in UK mosques, the grooming gang scandal, and they are willing to at least question the validity of net zero and climate change alarmism.

    Sean Sims
    2 HRS AGO
    GB News is simply the best 24 Hour news channel, and the lefties don’t like it when their self righteous monopoly is bought into question as they all think they are enlightened.

    1. I say it’s better than nothing. A sort of right-ish news channel, but it was never going to be anything too controversial or different from the norm. It’s worth having as a rival to the other ‘news’ channels, but the Interweb is where it’s at now, if you want real conversation and opinions, as well as facts.

      1. When the regulator would be champing at the bit to close any really right of centre outlet, are you really surprised?

        1. Not in the slightest. It was always going to wear a straight-jacket. I’m disappointed by its self-inflicted injuries (Laurence Fox, Calvin Robinson et al.), but people get too caught up in whether GB News is perfect or not, as though people can only use one source of information and it has to be exact in every way or else it’s worthless.

          1. The more sources one reads, the more likely it is that one might, just might, get something near the truth

    2. I was disappointed when GB News gave in to the PTB and got rid of their very best journalist, Mark Stein.

      Since then they have refused to discuss either Covid jab damage or Pakistani rape gangs at all.

      Also their treatment of Dan Wootton was pretty foul and their loss of Calvin Robinson shows how little the channel really cares for traditional British Christian values.

      Having said that I find Patrick Christys -Dan Wootton’s replacement – to be an entertainingly coherent presenter with an amiable personality.

    3. Have I imagined it, or has Michael Crick – who is reported as wanting GB News closed down – not appeared on the channel several times?

    4. Their “Headliners” edition on Christmas Day was very exciting, with a bust-up just at the end of the second quarter between Andrew Doyle and Lewis Schaefer and an even bigger bust-up right at the end. The next day I think I heard it said that Schaefer had been sacked (but I could be wrong; I listen to the replay before I get up, when I’m drifting in and out of sleep between 5 am and 6 am).

  63. Phew!
    Another hour with the chainsaw and I’ve now got three or so barrowloads of jogs that need splitting, carting to the wood shelter and stacking.
    If the weather is ok, then Graduate Son will be busy tomorrow!

    I’ve enough logs still to saw to get the stack up to a third, then it’s move the sawhorse to the front of the car port and get started there.

        1. Have you seen a book called “Hel ved” – about stacking & drying firewood.
          I have a copy – fascinating!

        2. Don’t pay any attention to BT. He has always been the epitome of a foolish virgin…. and will try to con you out of free firewood…

          Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. [2] And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. [3] They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: [4] But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

          {:^))

          1. My dear fellow, your slurs are typical.

            I have enough logs for two winters 2024/5 and 2025/6 and a couple of hundred trees from which – in February – the following two years 2026/7 and 2027/8 – three will be felled and logged. I haven’t paid for logs since 1986!

            One of the least foolish decision I have made was to set 70 beech trees in November 1984. And to allow a dozen self-sown oaks to reach full height.

  65. Just paid £24.80 for 2 double G&T + a can of warm Guinness…. Weegie prices! Am overnighting at Ramada hotel in Gordano services by Bristol.
    Cor!

    3. In November I bought a litre bottle of vodka and a litre of gin for 34 pounds from Tesco.
      For an extra tenner you could blean clood cludz zlidsh have been leglesshs floor a week ☺️🤗 😉😵‍💫

    1. Perhaps a slammer thought it was the minaret….climbed to the top, realised and vented his anger….

  67. An acceptable Birdie Three.

    Wordle 922 3/6
    ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨
    ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

        1. Yes but we find different routes to the answer. My first two guesses were different but I still found today’s word.

          3. But surely there must be some letters in the first line of a virgin woodle? And so the same letters for every contestant.

          11. What would happen if you made up a vowely-word that didn’t exist in real life? Or is that pointless? Do you always start with the same word, or do you approach each day afresh?

            So many questions!

          12. Wordle is programmed to recognise acceptable words. Yes, I always start with the same word. There are some popular starter words and I choose one of those.

        2. The first line is your personal best guess; statistically, there is a 1/3,700* chance of you choosing the correct word.

          *Approx.

          2. When I was taught how to play Wordle, it was suggested that I started with AUDIO, which contains all the vowels, excluding E (the most common and therefore worth trying on the second stage) and of course Y is another option since it is effectively another version of I. I therefore always start with AUDIO.

        3. The first line is your personal best guess; statistically, there is a 1/3,700* chance of you choosing the correct word.

          *Approx.

    2. In the rough, good recovery – then a three-putt.

      Wordle 922 6/6

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

  68. Evening, all. Been a very dark day here, although no rain except for overnight. There is so much that needs improving as a matter of urgency; defence of the realm and our borders would be a good start to take the pressure off. Here is some good news for beer drinkers, but probably only if you live in the Marches: https://www.shropshirestar.com/entertainment/food-and-drink/2023/12/28/wetherspoon-is-holding-a-199-a-pint-january-sale-and-here-is-where-you-can-get-get-yours/

  69. Here’s one for you: forecast at home for 5th Jan is that it might chill off to -23C! Brr!

    2. That really is cold, we had -20 here once, according to the car thermometer.

      We couldn’t be sure it was correct as the car wouldn’t start!

      1. That must have been the winter it went down to -10 C on the coast, there was even thick snow (by recent British standards) in Collioure by the coast, near the border with Spain.

        1. This was in Dordogneshire!
          A cold snap, a very cold day followed by a clear night. Even the hot water pipes were freezing.
          I had to get up every few hours to turn on hot water taps to stop a total freeze up.
          We had been told snow was rare and really cold winters even rarer.
          Ha ha to that!

          1. We could see on the journey down the snow damage that had occurred weeks earlier especially to the woodland areas we passed through. Probably 2012-2013.

    3. I survived and enjoyed five winters in Winnipeg , Manitoba: -24C = -24F was a normal temperature in January!

      Winter weather is usually calm and sunny!

          3. And gloves/mittens that allow air circulation and don’t crush flat when you grip something (I use army knitted wool mittens with a canvas layer), and a good hat with earflaps. Boots with insulating soles.

  71. I guess it depends on the angles, which produce a confusing series from my perspective, but what speed was the cyclist doing here?

    Is there no responsibility on the part of a cyclist to assess the potential dangers and slow down themselves? And why didn’t she take evasive action and move to her right?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12907113/Horrifying-moment-reckless-driver-ploughs-elderly-cyclist-sending-71-year-old-woman-flying-air-crash-left-victim-bleed-brain.html

    1. I would say she was travelling faster than the next car that passes in the same direction as her after the collision.

        1. I’ve tried to use an online stopwatch with estimated distances but I’ve had too much to drink for it to be valid.

      2. Looking at it from the cyclist’s perspective, he hardly slowed at all before pulling out.

        But, I still think she was slow to realise the potential danger and didn’t react at all.
        Going too fast and assuming other drivers will see her and give her precedence.

        The driver was able to stop almost immediately to give assistance, which suggests to me that they were not actually going particularly quickly.

      1. Hard to tell, but I would hope that I could react in the distances shown, at the very least to have tried to stop as a cyclist.

        There is no indication that I can see, that she even touched her brakes.

      2. It looked to me as though she had her head down and not looking ahead as cyclists do when they are accelerating

    6. Even though it would appear she had right of way, when I saw it the second time and several times thereafter I felt she did bear some responsibility for her own safety. Having cycled in Cambridge for more years than I care to think about I would never have approached a crossroads in that manner.

      1. As a cyclist, you should proceed as if everyone else on the road is an idiot and ride defensively. You may well have right of way but in any conflict you are going to come out of it second best, without doubt.

      2. I agree. It’s many years since I cycled in Cambridge, but I never approached it as a cycle race. Back in the day, Carlisle City Council had a poster saying “Don’t claim your rites.” They had a point…

      3. I was a resident of Cambridge, my first house was in Victoria Street between Christ’s Pieces and Parker’s Piece, for ten years leaving thirty years ago.

        It was a common sight to see Spanish language students in convoy of hired bicycles riding the wrong way around the roundabout at the junction of East Road with Mill Road. The roundabout has since been replaced with traffic lights.

        1. The only time I fell off my bike was outside Emmanuel College on Regent Street – a foreign student stepped out into the road looking leftwards, and straight into my bike and me. I had just been shopping further down at Sainsbury; grapefruit rolling around the road, a squished carton of cream and yoghurts is what I remember 50 or so years later. It was so embarrassing, it is very busy just there at the junction with Downing Street and I was thoroughly winded by the student’s weight crashing into me.

          The roundabout at the East Road-Mill Road junction has long since gone and has been replaced by traffic lights. I am sure the traffic flowed more easily when the roundabout was in situ

    7. Until I moved in 2020, I was on a ‘cycle route’ which appaently gave carte blanche to two-wheeled lycra-clad louts to ride furiously on the wrong side of the road if felt necessary, and allowed torrents of abuse to be propelled towards anyone who had the temerity to drive along said road. Usually me.

      But I’ve also been a cyclist. Years ago, I was cycling sedately along Goldsworth Road, Woking, early one morning. As I approached the unfortunately-named ‘Graham’s News’, a driver from what was once Dairy Crest stepped off the kerb, directly in front of me, without looking. I braked, violently, somersaulted over the handlebars and ended in a heap on the tarmac. Mr Unigate stepped over me, not without kicking me in the head in the process, and continued on his obviously important business without a word. There was no interaction, no apology. Other passers-by came to my rescue, and helped me disentangle myself from the remains of my now broken bike.

      His employers basically denied any responsibility, and basically told me to fuck off. Such is life.

  72. I have finished Christina Lamb’s “The Africa House” (absorbing and super-interesting about the life and times of Stewart Gore-Browne, and his role in the creation of modern-day Zambia; Gore-Browne died in1967 and the book was written c. 1996) and I’ve now moved onto Philip Marsden’s “The Spirit Wrestlers”, published in 1998 but whose genesis was in 1993 amid the break-up of the old Soviet Union. It is also super-interesting and is about old sects/religions, mostly set in the Caucasus area (Georgia, Armenia) with references to the wars going on there at the time. There is a whole section at the end on the Yazidis, whom we know get destroyed bigly in the Syrian/Isis wars later. It is sad to read, knowing what has happened since 1998.

    Both highly recommended, anyway.

    1. In yesterday’s The Archers, Denise (vet nurse – will she, or will she, get it on with Alistair the Vet and ex-gambling addict?) has a “Halloween bucket” that is under the sink and contains old batteries that need recycling.

      I had a very long WhatsApp exchange today with my ex-Plymouth Brethren and former alcoholic Dutch friend who lives in the Middle East and who has been instructed by his English Personal trainer to buy some tupperware. My friend did not realise we call all plastic tubs “tupperware”. But he does know now that the actual Tupperware company went bust last year and that he definitely can’t buy actual Tupperware anywhere (but he can, of course, buy tupperware).

      2. I worked for John Laing Construction, as did my father before me. Sir John of that llk was staunch Plymouth Brethren. His estate, upon death, was around £300. There are several Charitable Trusts in existence. They used to visit my Mum every other year, to see what she needed. As a pensioner, they don’t seem to have noticed me, but frankly I don’t need anything. Sir John was an exceptionally fair employer in his day. The company has long been taken over by private equity and pikey groundworkers, but it was A Good Thing in it’s day.

  76. Wetherspoons goes from strength to strength, Pimlico Plumbers is dying on it’s arse.

  77. Keep up, Nigel! We were there a long time ago!

    You are clearly a moron, Farage tells Cleverly

    Home Secretary hails lack of Channel migrant crossings, but ex-Ukip leader says reason is stormy weather

    Charles Hymas, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR • 28 December 2023 • 8:22pm

    James Cleverly was called a “moron” by Nigel Farage on Thursday after praising Border Force for the first Christmas in five years when no migrants made a Channel crossing.

    The Home Secretary highlighted the figure in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday night – but critics said the bad weather driven by Storm Gerrit had put a halt to crossings.

    The south coast has been battered by high winds in recent days, and Mr Farage, the former Ukip and Brexit Party leader, wrote on X: “You may be called Cleverly but you are clearly a moron. I am close to Dover now, the wind has been gusting 50mph. That is why there are no migrant crossings.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/12/28/you-are-clearly-a-moron-farage-tells-cleverly

  80. Right chums, that’s me for today. I’m off to bed and I wish you all a good night’s sleep. See you all tomorrow.

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