Thursday 28 January: Vaccines and hope beat death-tolls and fear in the war against Covid

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/01/28/lettersvaccines-hope-beat-death-tolls-fear-war-against-covid/

781 thoughts on “Thursday 28 January: Vaccines and hope beat death-tolls and fear in the war against Covid”

  1. Homeland security warns of heightened domestic terror threat after US Capitol attack. 28 January 2021.

    The US Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday issued a national terrorism bulletin warning of the lingering potential for violence from people motivated by anti-government sentiment after Joe Biden’s election.

    The bulletin suggests the riot by a mob of Donald Trump supporters at the US Capitol on 6 January may embolden extremists and set the stage for additional attacks.

    “The domestic terrorism attack on our Capitol earlier this month shined a light on a threat that has been right in front of our faces for years,” said the congressman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who is the chair of the House homeland security committee. “I am glad to see that DHS fully recognizes the threat posed by violent, rightwing extremists and is taking efforts to communicate that threat to the American people.”

    Morning everyone. This is just another move in the War against the Whites. In his inauguration address Biden said, And now a rise of political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat. So if you think that you have been vilified over the last ten years you ain’t seen nothing yet! Prepare for an MSM explosion of White Supremacy and Far-Right Domestic Terrorism” propaganda. The new Domestic (US) Terrorism Bill 2021 which specifically mentions “White Supremacy” will help. There is of course no mention in it of Antifa or Black Lives Matter who have committed crimes over the last year that makes the business at the Capitol look like a Girl Scouts day out!

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/27/us-terrorism-bulletin-homeland-security-joe-biden

    3. BTL Comment
      Steven Donald
      4 hours ago:

      So filming crappy TV shows & films is allowed but feeding the homeless in winter is unlawful.
      Sickening.

    4. Not like arresting a MP that has perverted the course of justice is it? They did not ask this man to pop into his local police station for a chat, did they? Were they itching to bash him? If we are innocent until proven guilty, why the handcuffs when he was possibly the most passive arrestee they will ever encounter?

      Edited: predicated typos, and manual typos. It’s not easy.

    6. Why on earth do they handcuff people who are not aggressive, obstructive or resisting arrest?

  4. “BBC BOSSES have been

    forced into a humiliating climbdown after labelling a dead IRA

    terrorist a “veteran” and grovelled for the “upset” it caused.

    In coverage of the funeral of Eamon “Peggy” McCourt, BBC News described the republican gunman as a “veteran.””

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/politics/13865822/bbc-call-ira-terrorist-a-veteran/
    They don’t mean the apology of course,if they did someone would be being disciplined or sacked
    Aye Right

  5. Morning, all.
    Dark and -12C. Beautiful moon woke me up by shining like a searchlight into my eyes… but it’s a tad parky all the same. Washed away yesterday’s cold with red medicine, so “frisk som en fisk” this morning!

  6. Anti-vaxxers suspected of sending hoax bomb to Covid vaccine bottling plant. 28 January 2021.

    Anti-vaxxers are suspected of sending a hoax bomb to the UK’s only Covid-19 vaccine bottling plant, halting production for a large part of the day.

    A source said: “Unfortunately there are anti-vaxxers out there, which is why security is being taken so seriously at this plant.”

    Really? Would this be the Freedom from Vaccination Front or the Antivax National Liberation Army?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/27/anti-vaxxers-suspected-sending-hoax-bomb-covid-vaccine-bottling/

  7. Boris Johnson’s visit to an unknown destination in Scotland today should do more good for the SNP than for the PM who is widely loathed in Scotland.
    I expect his visit will be to some remote spot in Scotland where demonstrators will be scarce.

    1. I don’t have a very high opinion of Boris, but anything is better than Sturgeon’s nationalist socialism.

      1. Michael Gove dropped a hint, on BBC Radio 4 Today programme, that the PM’s visit may be to a military base to thank the military for their assistance in distributing the vaccine throughout Scotland. A clever move on the PM’s part if true.

  9. This row over the vaccine with the EU, is it fake news?
    Rule Number 1 – If the mainstream media are reporting it then it must be fake news.
    I was just wondering that our government and the EU knows there are millions out there that don’t want or will refuse the vaccine, what better a way of persuading people to have it if they think they have gotten one up on the Germans and the French.

    1. Morning Bob. I think it’s genuine since it bears all the hall marks of the EU. Arrogance and the failure to admit that the situation they find themselves in is of their own making!

    2. I have to admit to punching the air as the boss of Astra thingybob strongly defended our position and, very effectively, told the EU to wind its neck in. Not even our own politicians can manage that on a good day with a following wind…

      ‘Morning, B3.

  10. I wonder when one of the TV Breakfast shows is going to invite Tony Blair, who was very vocal about vaccinating more people once rather than a smaller number twice, to explain his views on whether vaccine procured by the UK for UK use should be diverted to the EU instead?

    I’d pay good money to watch that one.

    1. I wouldn’t trust Blair not to have been aware of the EU’s problems and thus to have made his suggestion for that very reason.

  11. Doomsday clock panel welcomes Biden win but keeps hands at ‘100 seconds to midnight’. 28 January 2021.

    The election of Joe Biden could be a step towards a “safer and saner world” but the planet remains dangerously close to nuclear and climate change catastrophe, at “100 seconds to midnight” according to a panel of top scientists.

    Well obviously I am not a “Top Scientist”; whatever that is, but by my reckoning it’s about five past twelve.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/27/doomsday-clock-joe-biden-nuclear-climate-change

    1. Morning Minty et al.

      At “five past twelve” the Rocket Scientists would know whether their calculations had been correct,,,,,(as indeed would most of the World…..)

    2. Doomsday Clock is clearly owned by Mr Soros – wasn’t it he who described Donald Trump as the most dangerous man on earth?
      Starting no wars clearly counts for nothing compared to thwarting the globalist agenda.

  12. Morning all

    SIR – A pleasure in having one of our children at home is that breakfast radio is LBC which, between ads, focuses on the vaccine rollout and hope, rather than the death toll and fear that we are obliged to endure from the BBC – just in case, after 10 months, we didn’t know there is a pandemic.

    Charles Houston

    Ludlow, Shropshire

    SIR – My husband and I had our jabs in a marquee at our doctors’ surgery in Ayr. Yesterday, I was told that they had vaccinated all over-80s in two days.

    Jacqueline McCrindle

    Prestwick, Ayrshire

    SIR – Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England, has said that we should stay at home after receiving the vaccine and behave as though we have the virus. Surely we can sit at home depressed without the need to be vaccinated?

    Alan Sabatini

    Bournemouth, Dorset

    SIR – How will we learn anything about post-vaccination virus transmission if no one is allowed out?

    Louise Pugh

    London, SW10

    SIR – Like many of your readers, and Janet Daley, I find the negativity of BBC news appalling.

    Thank God we are not in a shooting war. The woke BBC would have surrendered to the enemy last year.

    Paul Warrener

    Forres, Moray

    SIR – Every year, 170,000 people die of heart and circulatory problems. More than 165,000 people die of cancer each year. The BBC dedicated the whole of the News at Ten on Tuesday to the 100,000 who have died of Covid.

    The stories are tragic but every death, whatever the cause, is a tragedy for some family. Will the BBC be spending as many news hours on those lost from other causes?

    Norma Frier

    Buckley, Flintshire

    SIR – Covid-19 killed 100,000 Britons, not the Prime Minister.

    Robert Birch

    Thornton-le-Beans, North Yorkshire

    SIR – People complain about intrusive, upsetting television news reports. We stopped watching the news last April. We take our walk to the village to buy our Daily Telegraph and read other papers online. We are well-informed, but not subjected to sensationalism.

    Valerie Keeling

    Winterslow, Wiltshire

    SIR – Is the EU putting the cart before the horse in querying delays in the supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine before it has even approved it for use?

    Roger Gentry

    Weavering, Kent

    SIR – Would it not be better for those returning from abroad to quarantine at home, and for money for hotels and guards to be spent on strict check-ups?

    Angela Hayes

    Carlisle, Cumbria

  13. Fined for locking down

    SIR – My brother runs a one-man building and maintenance business. I am his bookkeeper and every so often travel 50 miles from my home to enter his paperwork on to his computer, which is linked to mine, so I can do the accounts from home.

    Since the autumn lockdown I have been unable to travel. He has now received a letter from HM Revenue & Customs threatening a fine for not completing his VAT return in time.

    He cannot be alone in this problem.

    Pamela Sweet

    Clipston, Northamptonshire

    1. Pamela, if your computers are linked, why can’t you enter the paperwork on to his PC from home? Or send it as email attachments?

      2. She hasn’t got the paperwork and he probably has neither time, nor inclination (or even ability) to use a scanner.

        I’ve given David a more detailed reply.

  14. Morning again

    The Royal British Legion’s tone-deaf rebrand

    SIR – I was disgusted that the Royal British Legion could spend £100,000 on rebranding.

    Those who allowed this cannot appreciate the sacrifices people make to raise funds. I cycled to Paris twice and to Brussels once.

    I have played the Last Post and Reveille at our cenotaph for 50 years, and at veterans’ funerals. I will continue to do so, but will cancel my RBL standing order membership fee.

    Eric Vaughan

    Alford, Lincolnshire

    SIR – As a Royal Navy veteran and a volunteer for a military charity that receives grants from the RBL, I often defend it against criticism of its “excessive” cash reserves, which are essential for an organisation’s survival.

    I cannot, however, defend the rebranding exercise. Those responsible clearly have no awareness of, or regard for, public opinion.

    It is not the RBL’s first PR debacle. In 2019, two weeks after Remembrance Sunday, it announced a plan to close its four respite hotels. This did not go down well with veterans who relied on them. The decision might have been correct, but the timing was atrocious.

    All charities are strapped for cash, and donations are in decline. Vanity projects are certain to result in donors giving their money to worthier causes.

    Dr Alf Crossman

    Rudgwick, West Sussex

    1. Those who allowed this cannot appreciate the sacrifices people make to raise funds.

      Modern charities are not unlike the old Elizabethan England monopolies which were conferred on her supporters. The mugs supply the money and someone else spends it!

    2. Donations are in decline because so many people, including me, have realised that the charidees are just socialist run arms of government. If they are getting taxpayer cash from the British government and up til recently from the EU, they don’t need my donation.
      They alienated a lot of people with their chugging and aggressive hounding of anyone who did give them a donation as well.
      They openly pursue a globalist, often marxist agenda.
      I only give now to my local church, or small organisations run by volunteers, or directly to people who I know need it.

        1. Socialism, providing a very favourable environment for corruption ever since it first came to power.

          1. I believe a major but unspoken driving force behind the selling off of Council Houses was the elimination of Council Housing Departments which had long been hotbeds of corruption in both the allocation of houses and in the repair & maintenance gangs.

  16. Tony Blair calls on Boris Johnson to lead drive for global vaccine passport. 28 january 2021.

    Tony Blair has called on the Government to establish a single global vaccine passport scheme through the G7, or risk others dictating the rules.

    In a detailed report published by the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), he said current border restrictions were “disjointed” and urged the UK to “place the creation of a global Covid-19 travel pass as a key item on the G7 agenda” – a body which Britain currently leads.

    Mr Blair said the passport should be digital and capable of tracking and verifying an individual’s coronavirus “status” wherever they travel in the world. Included would be details of any vaccination they had, together with the results of Covid-19 test results.

    That’s our Tony. No control measure he wouldn’t support.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/exclusive-tony-blair-calls-boris-johnson-lead-drive-global-vaccine/

      2. Those who have TB, or any other deadly disease, may come here without let or hindrance whenever they wish, spreading it as they go.
        That’s how Covid-19 got here.

        1. I believe that that is why, after nearly being eradicated, it is now endemic in London with a multi-drug-resistant strain.

          1. Back in 1980 I had to go for chest Xray because a denizen had imported TB to Halls of Residence in Woodford.

          3. My children were both inoculated against TB in South Africa when they were babies. Why is it not done here?

      3. Jim Davidson mentioned that in Africa the women either had TB or Syphilis and if you ever went there only go with a woman who coughed

    3. We all know that if he recommends a course of action, it will be bad for Britain and the British people.

  18. Top private school accused of ‘tarnishing’ its own history with move to honour Cambridge Five spy with blue plaque

    An alumnus of Gresham’s School in Norfolk is Donald Mclean, a member of the infamous Soviet spy ring during the Cold War

    AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGG
    GGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAA
    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

    Nuff Said

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/27/top-private-school-accused-tarnishing-history-move-honour-cambridge/

    2. Is this true?

      Bill’s MR taught at Gresham’s and our older son, Christo, was there for his two Sixth Form years.

      Other notable OGs are : James Dyson, Benjamin Britten, W.H. Auden, Olivia Colman etc. etc.

  19. Top private school accused of ‘tarnishing’ its own history with move to honour Cambridge Five spy with blue plaque

    An alumnus of Gresham’s School in Norfolk is Donald Mclean, a member of the infamous Soviet spy ring during the Cold War

    AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGG
    GGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAA
    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

    Nuff Said

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/27/top-private-school-accused-tarnishing-history-move-honour-cambridge/

  20. New Secretary of State Antony Blinken warns Russia against harming detained opposition leader Alexei Navalny and says Putin’s regime seems ‘scared’ of him. 28 January 2021.

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a sharp warning to Russia to ensure the safety of opposition leader Alexei Navalny – and called on the Kremlin not to ‘muzzle’ opposing voices.

    ‘We have a deep concern for Mr. Navalny’s safety and security and the larger point is that his voice is the voice of many, many, many Russians and it should be heard, not muzzled,‘ Blinken said at the State Department just hours after being sworn into his post.

    If only he felt the same way about the former President of the United States and White Americans!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9194671/Antony-Blinken-warns-Russia-against-harming-detained-opposition-leader-Alexei-Navalny.html

          1. Actually it’s not that good, considering it’s a Mel Brookes film – the “cancel Christmas” is Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves, which is better [and funnier IMHO].

  21. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    The West Lothian question rumbles on, and frankly I don’t expect it to be resolved in my lifetime:

    An English parliament

    SIR – Gordon Brown’s article on constitutional reform is to be welcomed. I hope, however, that the Prime Minister goes further.

    A senate should replace the House of Lords but a fundamental part of any long-lasting reform was missing from Mr Brown’s piece. An English parliament needs to be established so that all four nations achieve primary representation through their own parliament.

    The stumbling block then is English representation in that senate. As I’ve argued previously, this requires a generosity by English voters. Otherwise, they will dominate the new senate so that the three other countries see the reform as another English stitch-up.

    Lord Field of Birkenhead
    London SW1

    1. Surely going back to how it was before Soros paid off Blair to wreck everything would be better ?

  22. Yet more silliness from wokedom:

    SIR – I belong to a Facebook sewing group. When you have a metre of fabric and cut it into four quarters, these are known in sewing language as “fat quarters”.

    Facebook has censored a post using this term for hate speech (Letters, January 27). Should we call them “body-positive quarters”?

    Penny Cole
    Watlington, Oxfordshire

        1. Another person got deleted for suggesting a named cure, yet you can get away with effin and blinding

    2. This isn’t going to end well! The United States is fragmenting. There are two ways out of this! Civil War or Foreign War!

    3. They’ll presumably keep all the Indian place names? Mind, that could get complicated if they’re really going to be authentic.
      For instance…at a place known as The Point in Pittsburgh, the Allegheny river becomes the Ohio but not because it’s a different river or because that’s where it’s joined by the Monongahela. Rather it’s because it crosses a tribal boundary. Allegheny and Ohio have exactly the same meaning in the Unami and Seneca languages respectively.
      So, Pitt being a nasty white bloke, let’s rename Pittsburgh on the same principle that the natives named the river shall we?

  24. How to Give a Cat a Pill

    1. Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby.

    Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat’s mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As the cat opens its mouth, pop pill in.

    Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.

    2. Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa.

    Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.

    3. Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.

    4. Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm, holding rear paws tightly with left hand.

    Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.

    5. Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe.

    Call spouse in from the garden.

    6. Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear paws.

    Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth. Drop pill down ruler and rub cat’s throat vigorously.

    7. Retrieve cat from curtain rail.

    Get another pill from foil wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for gluing later.

    8. Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit.

    Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw

    9. Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans and drink one beer to take taste away. Apply Elastoplast to spouse’s forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.

    10. Retrieve cat from neighbour’s shed.

    Get another pill. Open another beer. Place cat in cupboard, and close door onto neck, to leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill down throat with elastic band.

    11. Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard door back on hinges. Drink beer. Fetch bottle of scotch. Pour shot, drink.

    Apply cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus shot. Apply whisky compress to cheek to disinfect. Toss back another shot. Throw tee-shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom.

    12. Call fire service to retrieve the damn cat from the top of the tree across the road. Apologise to neighbour who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat. Take the last pill from its foil wrap.

    13. Using heavy-duty pruning gloves from shed, tie the little *&#%^’s front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table. Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of fillet steak. Be rough about it. Hold head vertically and pour two pints of water down throat to wash pill down.

    14. Consume remainder of scotch. Get spouse to drive you to A & E. Sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and removes pill remnants from right eye. Call furniture shop on way home to order new table.

    15. Arrange for RSPCA to collect mutant cat from hell and call local pet shop to see if they have any hamsters.

    How To Give A Dog A Pill

    1. Wrap it in bacon.

    2. Toss it in the air.

    3. All done!

    1. Noooooo!……. Bacon’s bad for dogs. Too much salt.

      The cat one though – oh yes. Only one of ours ever became any good at taking tablets and would ‘bite’ it off your hand.

  25. A soldier with perhaps a surplus of the ‘right stuff’ who did surprisingly well to survive to 79:

    Brigadier Charles Ritchie, who revelled in lucky escapes and fought a duel with a comrade – obituary

    He survived a huge explosion and an attack by tribesmen – and lived to tell the tale of swimming among crocodiles and venomous sea-snakes

    By
    Telegraph Obituaries
    26 January 2021 • 2:49pm

    Brigadier Charles Ritchie, who has died aged 79, was a larger-than-life character who was drawn to danger; it was as if he was never quite reconciled to having decided against becoming an actor playing dramatic roles, where death was only make-believe.

    In the mid-1960s, serving with the Royal Scots in the Radfan campaign in South Yemen, he was in command of a mortar section. One afternoon, the sand was damp after a recent shower of rain and, instead of squatting on the ground to eat his lunch out of a mess tin, he was sitting on a radio battery.

    Without warning, several shots were fired by hostile tribesmen hidden behind some rocks. The bullets demolished the battery and deposited him on the ground unscathed.

    On another occasion, during a heavy storm, he decided to shelter his men in an empty house. A common practice to make the premises habitable was to dribble petrol from an empty Coke can along the inside walls, set light to it, and the momentary burst of flame would get rid of most of the bugs and mosquitoes.

    Unfortunately, a young soldier misunderstood the order and poured the contents of a 20-litre jerrycan over the floor. As Ritchie went to the door to inspect the work, his corporal dropped a lighted match through a side window.

    The explosion blew Ritchie backwards about 30 yards. Suffering from severe burns, he was evacuated by helicopter to a field hospital. There he was given the last rites and a letter of condolence was sent to his parents. A fortnight later, he dwas discharged, little the worse for his ordeal.

    Ritchie, who had attended the same prep school as Tony Hancock, dreamt of going on the stage, but the budding comedian advised him to join the Army instead

    Born into a military family at Inverness on December 12 1941, Charles Ritchie was the elder son of Lieutenant-Colonel Bill Ritchie of the Royal Scots. Some 18 months after Charles was born, his father was posted “missing, presumed killed” in the ill-fated Dodecanese Campaign of autumn 1943. His mother drew a widow’s pension before learning that her husband had, in fact, been wounded and was a PoW.

    Ritchie was educated at Durlston Court Preparatory School and Wellington College. On leaving, he wanted to go on the stage but the comic actor and fellow Durlston old boy, Tony Hancock, who was struggling with his own misgivings about his choice of career, persuaded him to drop the idea and join the Army.

    He went to Sandhurst and, one weekend, when he was senior officer cadet for the day, he and a fellow cadet invited two pretty girls to a “black tie” party that evening. His friend agreed to collect them and, at eight o’clock, when his duties finished, Ritchie was dressed, ready and waiting.

    Unknown to Ritchie, this young man had learned earlier in the day that his date could not come. Reluctant to miss a jolly evening, he told Ritchie’s date that Ritchie had been unavoidably detained in barracks by an emergency and escorted her to the party instead.

    Ritchie hung about until late in the evening when, irritated and with a splitting headache from several hours’ solitary drinking, he took himself off to bed. At two o’clock in the morning, he was awakened by his friend stumbling into his room, full of drink and joie de vivre while muttering a few feeble apologies.

    Angry at missing out on a good party, Ritchie demanded an explanation of exactly what had happened. Having listened to a full confession, and enraged at such treachery from a trusted colleague, he challenged his friend to a duel.

    This took place in the training area the following afternoon. The duellists were armed with shotguns and accompanied by their seconds. They started 75 yards apart and, taking alternate shots, advanced towards each other, one yard at a time.

    Their arms were bare but their heads and eyes were protected with tweed caps. At 50 yards, Ritchie’s opponent, down to his last cartridge, broke ranks and charged, bellowing a war cry and firing from the hip. Ritchie took a few pellets in an arm which tore the skin and drew blood.

    His adversary claimed victory but was disqualified for ungentlemanly behaviour.

    After 24 hours spent worrying that their Army careers were over, the two young men were fortunate to escape with a reprimand from their company commander.

    In 1962 Ritchie was posted to the 1st Battalion in Libya. Two years in Australia as ADC to the Governor of Victoria was followed by a posting back to Sandhurst as an instructor. A fellow instructor was Captain Mark Phillips; Ritchie met Princess Anne and remained closely in touch with them both for the rest of his life.

    He was appointed Operations Officer with the British Commanders-in-Chief Mission to the Soviet Forces in Germany (BRIXMIS) in 1978. The compact whereby the British and Soviet forces exchanged military liaison missions remained in force from 1946 until the reunification of Germany in 1990.

    Ritchie proved to be a natural in this clandestine world and employed his language skills and personal charm to defuse difficult and often dangerous situations. It did not always work, and he was with a tour team when it was rammed by a Soviet Scud missile launcher. Fortunately, his vehicle was reinforced with half a ton of armour plating and he survived.

    After many run-ins with the East German Stasi, his luck deserted him when, having spent all night in a ditch in order to photograph newly commissioned Russian military equipment, he was captured. On his return to England, he was awarded a well-deserved MBE for his service.

    He commanded 3rd Bn The Ulster Defence Regiment (3 UDR) at Ballykinler, County Down, from 1981 to 1982 and was advanced to OBE at the end of his tour. A spell as instructor at the Joint Services Staff College, Greenwich, was followed by a posting to the MoD as Assistant Director Military Assistance Overseas.

    His responsibility included overseeing the British Army Training Teams and, in his three years in post, he travelled to over 30 countries annually.

    Ritchie’s relationship with the natural world was not always harmonious. In the Arctic, he was forced to shoot a hungry timber wolf which invaded his tent at 3 am in search of a full Canadian breakfast.

    Swimming off the coast of East Timor, he reported seeing striped eels and tree trunks bobbing in the sea. His hosts, appalled, told him that they were venomous sea-snakes and saltwater crocodiles. “Oops! Lucky escape,” was Ritchie’s laconic response.

    In 1988, he returned to Ulster to command the UDR. This was a difficult time for the Regiment. Soldiers were subject to increasing terrorist attacks off duty and the unit’s whole position was called into question as a result of the Anglo-Irish talks. At the end of an exacting tour in which he proved himself a match for every challenge, he was advanced to CBE.

    Fluent in French and with a fair command of German and Italian, in 1991 Ritchie was posted to SHAPE, Belgium, as the UK’s National Military Representative. Two years later he became Chief of Staff to the UN Protection Force in former Yugoslavia, during one of the most bitter periods of internecine conflict in the break-up of that country.

    His final posting was that of Military Attaché at the British Embassy in Paris. His last week before retirement coincided with the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car crash. He was closely involved in the repatriation arrangements.

    Ritchie retired from the Army in 1997 and lived in the family home near Edinburgh. After working as a director of a Canadian soya company, he became Secretary of the New Club, Edinburgh. His charm, exuberance, lack of pomposity and ability to get on with everyone, whatever their background, made him an ideal choice and he oversaw a considerable growth in membership.

    A keen shot, he was a member of the Countryside Alliance and the Scottish Game Conservancy. He was Colonel of his Regiment from 1990 to 1995, ADC to the Queen from 1994 to 1997, an Officer in the Queen’s Bodyguard for Scotland (Royal Company of Archers) from 1995 to 2016, and Director of the Edinburgh (now Royal) Military Tattoo from 1998 to 2008.

    Laughter is the Best Weapon, a collection of anecdotes from the lighter side of his Army life, will be published later this year.

    Brigadier Charles Ritchie married, in 1984, Araminta Luard, who was a stalwart support to him throughout their marriage and who survives him with their son, Paul.

    Brigadier Charles Ritchie, born December 12 1941, died December 16 2020.

    1. A cavalier sort of chap who probably would have been a nightmare to have been married to , but actually a perfect example of the very best of the British .

      1. The incident with petrol and a coke can was very similar to a wartime incident involving a CO of mine (long since departed) who requisisioned a house when stationed in the Middle East with the RAF. The house had been built over a small, mosquito-infested stream, and the only way of dealing them involved a weekly application of a small quantity of petrol and a match. Unfortunately the job was delegated to a new airman who decided to use the entire contents of a 5-gallon Jerry can, resulting in the total demolition of the house, along with two others alongside it. Miraculously no one was killed.

    2. “Brigadier Charles Ritchie married, in 1984, Araminta Luard,”
      He married a ‘Minty’.

  27. Putin warns of ‘the end of civilization’ and a global ‘all-out fight’ with Covid, growing inequality and a rise in populism potential triggers for conflict. 28 January 2021.

    ‘The pandemic has exacerbated the problems and disbalances that have been accumulating,’ the Russian leader said. ‘International institutions are weakening, regional conflicts are multiplying and the global security is degrading.’

    ‘I strongly hope that such ‘hot’ global conflict is impossible now. It would mean the end of civilization,’ he said. ‘But the situation may become unpredictable and spin out of control.

    ‘There is a real danger that we will face a downturn in global development fraught with an all-out fight, attempts to solve contradictions by searching for internal and foreign enemies, and the destruction of basic traditional values.’

    Here’s Vlad speaking sense as always! Russia is probably now the last exemplar of White Christian Civilisation. The rest have all succumbed to the New Barbarism!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9193429/Putin-warns-end-civilization-global-fight.html

    1. And the Green deal will make matters even worse, when people realise that their standard of living plummets to pay for it, while the elites carry on regardless.

      1. and the broken bones, etc from tripping over the electrical leads going to the car batteries to charge them

        And of course the Mosques, will the Caliphatants? still go ahead with the stupidity

          4. Probably quite decent places for their time, but who in their right minds thought those windows were a good idea?

          5. I am reminded of Osbert Lancaster who reckoned a Martian arriving on planet Earth would adjudge the box frame sash window to be the pinnacle of window design whereas the Crittall window would be adjudged the most primitive.

          8. I notice that some people have draped polythene (?) as a make shift double glazing.
            I did have friends who lived there and I have thought that they would be ideal for when Allan Towers becomes too much for us.
            But …. they are maisonettes and I gather there are legal problems if you buy them. A solicitor chum has warned against buying one.
            It has become very tired which suggests a lot of the flats are now rentals.

          9. When I was a student, for 18 months I occupied an attic bedsit. The landlady, who lived on the premises, went ape-shit when she discovered that I had lined the small window with polythene. Fortunately winter was nearly over.

          10. Only for Irish muslims …..

            ♫ “I close my eyes and picture
            The emirate of the sea
            From the fishing dhows at Dingle
            To the soukhs of Dunardee.

            I miss my halal irish stew
            And the mosques in Dublin town
            Where the colleens wear green burqas
            And they’re forty shades of brown.” ♫

            …. I’ll get me clarsach.

          1. I think the Finsbury mosque was raided some years ago, where the perlice found a stash of forged passports, weapon parts and other faith-based paraphernalia…

          3. Of courseJanet; silly me. In fact I haven’t seen any other similar reports so you may well be right.

    2. When the Soviet system collapsed, the west, instead of recognising a fellow western Christianity based country, decided to crow like spoilt brats in a playground and kick Russia when it was down.
      Gorbachev must despair.
      The Soviet system was evil – on a par with fascism – but just be practical and welcome back a prodigal son.

  28. Good morning, all. A wet start to the day. Brighter later – and that goes for the weather, to.

    I recall that in the four months that the Battle of the Somme lasted in 1916, British personnel killed amounted to 125,000.

    Just saying…

      1. Heyup Alf!
        An interesting group of BTL comments on Letters:-

        Angus Long
        28 Jan 2021 12:34AM
        As a former soldier who now runs a small marketing consultancy I read with utter disbelief that the Royal British Legion (RBL) has spent a colossal £100k on a rebranding exercise.

        I do a lot of work with several excellent brand design agencies and consider a price of £100k for a re-brand is nothing short of scandalous exploitation. This is over 10 times the typical cost of a re-brand, even for an organisation as revered as the RBL.

        Furthermore, on the whole, we have always done such work for charities free of charge and considered it a gift in lieu of donations.

        The company that charged the RBL this outrageous and unjustified sum should be exposed and, in my view, made to explain its prices and also asked to offer a full refund by a way of an apology and a gesture of good will.

        Flag35LikeReply

        S Davies
        28 Jan 2021 7:31AM
        Good points Angus. You would expect a company to be proud of the rebranding work it has done. Will anyone step forward and claim it? Or be shamed by it?
        Flag6LikeReply

        Robert Spowart
        28 Jan 2021 8:41AM
        @Angus Long I’d be interested to see who owns the company.

        Delete5Like
        Reply

        1. Not just the consultant costs, but the costs of removing old logos and attaching new, on
          letterheads
          Office doors
          Van doors
          Uniforms
          Websites
          etc etc

    2. 328863+ up ticks,
      Morning TB,
      A facade, bodge city, fodder for the ovis, more doctors / nurses landing at Dover as we type & now with a £ 2000 incentive.

      1. Some African countries build elaborate hospitals which are empty of staff as all the doctors and nurses leave to work in Europe.

        I have always thought that it is scandalous for us to poach African medical staff when they are needed in their home countries. Those who argue that we need more trained medical practitioners should be campaigning for more doctors and nurses to be trained in Britain and if they receive student loans these should be paid off in full after, say, 8-10 years working for the NHS

        2. 328863+ up ticks,
          Morning R,
          The polling booth decides what is good for the Nation and the lab/lib/con coalition party has the electoral backing.

          I do agree a clause should be in ALL governance training doctors / nurses schemes, of an anchor
          clause say of 5/10 years post training.

    3. Not enough staff for them. Heaven forfend that in the 6 fallow months nursing auxiliaries could be trained up to do the donkey work.

      1. Good morning Anne.
        They could even give them the title of State Enrolled Nurse and provide an “on the job” training pathway to becoming a fully qualified Nurse.
        I’m surprised no one has thought of that before!

    4. Not needed in the main (the one closest to me, Headley Court has been busy having been set-up as a Covid rehab unit rather than a critical care unit). The critical care beds weren’t needed in the end because all NHS hospitals managed to increase their on-site critical care bed numbers sufficiently to cope with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd waves. A huge success.

  30. 328863+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,
    Vaccines and hope beat death-tolls and fear in the war against Covid,

    Granted, in an emergency.

    Our problems today started at least three decades ago when the “party” took precedence over the welfare of the peoples & Country.

    We are left with an untested by time vaccine, & HOPE, not very credible building blocks for the future as in you do not erect a high rise & HOPE it stays up, you make bloody sure of the footings.

    The footings in this instance are formed in the polling booth
    the political sickness is due to many of the electorate kissing X a “party ” candidate HOPING this time the “party” makes good.

    1. Good morning, my friends

      I rather liked this BTL comment I found under a DT article this morning:

      ” Hello, is that the Police? I’ve just been robbed.”

      “Can you describe the assailant”?

      ” Erm, I don’t think I’m allowed to”.

      3. Morning, Richard. Did you see that Greshams want to put up a blue plaque to honour one of the Cambridge spys?

        2. Good morning, my friend

          Yes I have commented below. I am awaiting Bill’s reaction and that of his MR.

          I must say it is strange that Gresham’s produced so many homosexuals – many of the spies were queer as were W.H. Auden and Benjamin Britten.

          1. Until recently (and arguably currently), homosexuals lived a secret life and being revealed could lead to a criminal record. That makes/made them ideal as spies.

    2. They really are a toddler stamping their feet, aren’t they?

      That’s how markets work. The EU doesn’t understand them, but tough.

      1. I was jolly p!ssed that others had beaten me to it for the sunflower seed pumpernickel in Lidl.
        So I lay down in the aisle and threw a tantrum until a guilt stricken customer gave me hers.

    2. The man went visiting his family. No-one forced him to go – it was his decision. Yet the woman blames Boris Johnson.

      It’s always someone else’s fault, isn’t it?

    3. Comments were disabled under that article for fear people would point this out, presumably. However, the second or third most popular comment on another article did just that when I looked this morning!

    4. And the only one with underlying health issues was Pat, the diabetic……….. don’t these people realise what “morbidly obese” means?

    1. Ah, but what the tomatoes taste like? Like those terrible Spanish ones that are grown under plastic?

  35. Theodore Dalrymple on form:

    https://www.takimag.com/article/how-dare-you-volunteer/

    How Dare You Volunteer!

    January 22, 2021

    In the days of my childhood, there was a peculiar annual cricket match called Gentlemen vs. Players. The Gentlemen were cricketers who played at the highest level but who were unpaid for doing so, they being well-born and having an income from elsewhere; the Players were professionals of the highest caliber, of more proletarian origin, who depended for their living on their not very large salaries from playing the game.

    I do not know this for certain, but I suspect that there was more than mere sporting rivalry between the two teams, selected from the best of both categories of players. People who are forced by circumstances to earn their living—the great majority of people in the world—generally harbor resentment toward those who don’t, even when they try to control or hide it, which they rarely succeed in doing entirely. Resentment, after all, springs eternal.

    The annual match ceased to be played. Its very name was offensive to the new egalitarian sensibility, besides which there were ever fewer gentlemen with private incomes who could afford to spend half their lives on unremunerated activity. Even the very rich now feel a psychological or social pressure to do something for money, even without any economic imperative. I leave it to others to decide whether the disappearance of a leisure class is a good or a bad thing, though viscerally I feel that, overall, it is bad, inasmuch as a leisure class is able in theory to devote itself to the higher activities of a civilization. When the rich (of whom there are more than ever) involve themselves nowadays in conspicuous consumption, it is usually in bad taste. Good taste requires discipline and knowledge, which few are either able or prepared to exercise or acquire.

    “If much can be achieved for nothing, why is so little so often achieved for so much?”

    Amateurism is often confused with amateurishness, partly because people are now impatient of fine linguistic discriminations. But there is a reason other than the sheer oversimplification of our vocabulary of the kind that has resulted in the loss of the distinction between the words uninterested and disinterested, the former’s meaning having swallowed the latter’s as a larger company takes over a smaller.

    The reason is this: that the more that activities, particularly managerial, are professionalized, the more amateurs—that is to say, people who do things for their own sake, for the sheer enjoyment of them, or for the public good—are decried and, even more, feared. People whose career depends on doing nothing useful for high pay have much to fear from those who do something useful for nothing.

    This, surely, explains why, in Britain, bureaucratic obstacles have been placed in the way of retired doctors and nurses who are willing, able, and eager to help immunize tens of millions of people against Covid, now that vaccines have become available. On the supposition that they work as advertised, it is obviously of the highest national importance that as many people as possible should be immunized as quickly as possible, the development of herd immunity requiring that about 70 percent of people should be immune. In one respect, the conditions are propitious: The British, for whatever reason, are less mistrustful of immunization than some other peoples—the French, for example, who are the most mistrustful of it of all Western nations, and the most given to conspiracy theories.

    So you might think that the willingness of tens of thousands of retired doctors and nurses to volunteer for a return to duty for no pay would be universally welcome—but you would be mistaken. Far from welcoming them, the bureaucracy is placing so many obstacles in their path that many of them have reportedly given up on their own good intentions. In order to help with the rather simple task of immunizing people, which is well within their capacity, they have been presented with a form of intimidating length to fill in, requiring of them absurd quantities of irrelevant documentation, some of it difficult for them to furnish. It is as if immunization were as complex a practical procedure as advanced brain surgery.

    Is this obstructionism a manifestation of stupidity or malice (of course, the two are not strictly incompatible, malice often lending a certain cunning to stupidity)? I have every respect for the stupidity of British—as of other—bureaucrats, but I think stupidity alone does not quite cover the case. The fact is that, at some level of consciousness, the bureaucracy realizes that a vast national campaign using volunteers is an existential threat to their careers. If much can be achieved for nothing, why is so little so often achieved for so much? Who knows where things might end if voluntarism were allowed to achieve something? Social solidarity might increase without the intermediary of the state to inhibit it, and that would be a terrible disaster that has at all costs to be headed off.

    What is almost equally striking is that, in a vast bureaucratic apparatus, there is nobody with either the authority or the intelligence to halt the absurdity. One often thinks in this connection of a giant tanker whose course cannot be altered as it approaches the rocks, but in a way the situation is worse than that: For at least there is a denouement, even a very bad one, when a tanker founders. The foundering when a bureaucracy is at the helm can last for decades.

    Be that as it may, the fact is that even if an intelligent person in authority were to try to do something to put an end to the idiocy, he would soon be defeated by the unintelligent, for in any large bureaucracy it is unintelligence, at least in the absence of an end other than the very institutional survival that protects careers and guarantees pensions, that emerges triumphant. Stupidity multiplies unnecessary procedure, intelligence decreases it; therefore stupidity is the more functional from the bureaucratic point of view. One way of defeating intelligence and benevolent intention was long ago discovered and summarized by the Spanish colonial administrator who received his orders from Madrid: Obedezco, pero no cumplo. I obey, but I do not fulfill.

    I realize, of course, that no bureaucrat would ever admit to any such phenomena: His obstructionism comes so naturally to him that it is as riding a bicycle to a bicyclist. He is a true professional.”

    1. Excellent stuff and so very true.

      My wife asked an employee – or functionary as they are called in France – in our local town hall why she had to do something in a silly, convoluted way when there was a far simpler, more efficient way of doing it.

      The woman replied: “I am not paid to think. I am paid just to function.”

      1. I received a phone call yesterday, following up on a text invite last week. Politely declined and wasn’t questioned.

  38. British holidaymakers will be stopped at border and sent home, Priti Patel warns
    Home Secretary cracks down on travel and says police will issue £200 fines for those breaking Covid rules

    BTL Comment:

    A flotilla of small dinghies was intercepted crossing the channel last night.

    The occupants said they were fleeing tyranny poverty and persecution and were hoping for asylum.

    The authorities escorted them back to their homes in Kent after fining them all.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/27/british-holidaymakers-will-stopped-border-sent-home-priti-patel/#comment

  40. The row about the Vaccine and the EU’s behaviour reminds me of the story in St Matthew’s gospel:

    Ten virgins await a bridegroom; five have brought enough oil for their lamps for the wait, while the oil of the other five runs out. The five virgins who are prepared for the bridegroom’s arrival are rewarded, while the five who went to buy further oil missed the bridegrooms’ arrival and are disowned.

    To link chastity in any way to Boris Johnson would be ‘verging on the ridiculous’ but in this case he seems to have taken the necessary precautions in advance!

    2. Of course Chaucer wrote The Shipman’s Tale (a bawdy tale about a merchant, his faithless and promiscuous wife, and a randy young monk) in his Canterbury Tales.

      There is so much fun to be had from reading Chaucer – no wonder that students are no longer given the opportunity to study his works. Modern education should not be about fun!

      1. It is like literature classes at school. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is the stuff of playground humour. A character called “Bottom” with an arse ass’s head. Not funny. One of the characters plays a wall, with a hole in it. Not funny. No one dared laugh. This was classic literature for the intelligentsia – well, it is now – not a farce for the drunks in the auditorium.

        1. Good afternoon, Horace

          The greatest humour in Shakespeare’s plays is to be found in the tragedies – this humour tends to go over the heads of the groundlings.

          Incidentally did you see – and enjoy – my a feeble joke (which I quite liked) in the Nottlers’ posts a few days ago about the chink in the wall as a means of communication between Pyramus and Thisbe being updated by the Chinese into being the new Huawei systems.

          I do like trying to invent and crack original jokes and, as a schoolmaster, one is used to the groans of appreciation one receives from the blocks, stones and worse than senseless things ranged before one in the classroom.

          1. There were times when I was the only one either bold enough, or awake enough to get it.
            “Stand not upon the order of your going…” Um, it’s a banquet and they are all sitting down.

          2. I wouldn’t put it past a peculiar theatrical director to put castor wheels and electric motors on all the dining chairs at the banquet so that the guests could go at once without having to stand up.

      2. Good afternoon, Rastus. Let’s not beat about the hedgerow. ‘Modern education’ is not really education at all; it is nothing more than mind-conditioning.

    1. Talk about jumping on the Biden Environment wagon!

      Boris fancies the role of a wheelwright putting the wheel on Old Joe’s handcart going to Hell.

    3. Biden’s ‘Green Agenda’ has already lost tens of thousands of jobs, and he has only been president for one week!

      SHAME on Boris for supporting this travesty!

      1. 328863+ up ticks,
        Morning S,
        Start as you mean to go on, mimicking the pretendee torys post
        24/6/2016.

      2. Boris has praised Biden’s leadership!

        If Boris Johnson thinks that Biden has great leadership qualities then that would explain why his own approach to leadership seems to be based on the elevated testicles method.

      1. Wait for the eco-freaks to hinge that biscuits are very unsuitable for rats…..and that the sale of biscuits should be banned.

      2. ‘Umans are extremely good for rats. They prosper because of all the good environment, food wastage and warmth that we provide for them.

        When the world had far fewer ‘umans, it also had far fewer rats. Very intelligent is yer average rat.

    5. 328863+ up ticks,
      Morning Rik,
      The pillow whispering squeeze must be lacking sleep what with mounting a green blitzkrieg.

      Sounds like the turkish delight & the miden
      are still expected to be in power in April.

  44. Why is it that dogs, certainly our older dog in Poland, so much prefer to drink from puddles in the field rather than from a bowl of tap-water. I presume it’s got something to do with the mineral and vitamin content. It is one of the things which makes me so enjoy taking Bombel (for that is his name) for a walk.

          1. I had a cat that was partial to G&T. If you didn’t stop her, she’d have a good go and then find a spot pf sun to lie in to sleep it off.

  45. Just back from the ghost town that is Fakenham. The market had five stalls – an improvement.

    Tesco horrible – only went there for, er, kitten food. Morrisons great, though McVities ginger nuts were back to £1 (they were 70p last time…).

    I reflected on my Somme post earlier. None of the 125,000 dead suffered from any “pre-existing condition” – except FEAR, of course.
    Whereas most of the famous covid 100,000 had all sorts of fatal conditions………

    1. In 1916 the population of the UK was 40,536,300 (Source ONS Estimate)

      In 2020 the population of the UK is 60+million ( or even 80 million according to supermarket estimates….)

        2. Mrs VVOF agrees and she is an expert on ginger nuts, the biscuits.
          I refer you to “trash” for opinions on the other sort of ginger nuts.

      2. 25p here Alec. My dog loves them. Have you tried their chocolate gingers? A truly good find at under a £1

        1. Yeh they vary a bit but I shouldn’t eat chocolate. I eat a lot of the Oaties and Cheese Thins which are very moreish

    3. Trying to argue your point about the 100,000 on Twitter is fun. When the covid cultists run out of straw man arguments, they resort to abuse – but never concede.

  46. Seeing – very briefly, thank God – Priti Awful’s bombastic threats of fines and incarceration, it occurred to me that she was diverting attention from her complete ineptitude in dealing with the endless flood of illegal economic migrants.

    1. While out walking Spartie, I got talking to a chap whose job is dealing with wheelchair and disabled people at Stansted.
      He has, to put it mildly, had a variable year.
      3 months, no work. 3 months work that was gradually building up again. Two months no work. 3 days work but now back to get out from four walls by going for a walk.
      My dog walks are fast becoming psychotherapy sessions.

  47. Putin warns: “The end of civilisation and an all-out fight.”

    He must have been reading my posts.

  50. 328863+ up ticks,
    Independence for Kent, make Chatham the Capitol.
    Ogga1.

    @GerardBatten via Gab,
    3h
    A politician in Texas is trying to introduce a law to hold a Referendum in November on ceding from the the Union. This is being called ‘Texit’, following the Brexit precedent. These exit movements happen for similar reasons:

    1) When govnts are out of touch with their people.
    2) When govnts flood their countries with millions of migrants, supplanting resident populations & cultures.
    3) When socialism, or more accurately Corporate Fascism, is in control of politics.
    4) When people want a return to accountable & responsible govnt.

    If Texas cedes then the USA will break apart. Hear the full story from Joshua Philipp on Crossroads (Epoch Times) on YouTube.

    1. 1. Texas won’t vote for secession.
      2. If it does the Texas Congress will refuse to pass it into law.
      3. If they do pass it into law it will overturned as un-constitutional by the Texas Supreme Court, because their Constitution says in the first clause of the preamble that it is part of the United States.
      4. The Federal govt. will not allow it, see Civil War 1861-65

      How much ‘Ain’t gonna happen’ do you want?

      1. 328863+ up ticks,
        Afternoon RTD,
        By the same token if it is done with enough force
        and perseverance it will be food for thought.

        If it works for issues of evil it can surely work for issues of good.

        1. Stranger things have happened, and are happening, at this time in our history, Ogga. Nothing is impossible.

          1. 328863+up ticks,
            RTD,
            Maybe so, but a dangerous game that could result in getting innocents killed

          2. No, it won’t go very far. It’s just a bit of Texas politics with a Representative using the marginal Texit movement to get a bit of public visibility and fork his opponents. At the same time he may be able to put a useful warning shot across the Feds. This is nothing more than talk, and water-cooler talk at that. He’s only been there since 2017, re-election soon, he needs to make waves.

            If you don’t believe that, his family is heavily military, heavily committed to the United States. He will not compromise that.

          4. In the American system, process is very predictable, and anything that come under process it is easy to see what will happen. I know that is news to many on this site, but it is so. People are misled by the UK system where one vote in the HoC and anything can happen. Not so in the US, in fact it is extremely hard to make anything happen, apart from spending money.

    3. He’s not wrong.
      Of course, the positions of Justice Minister, Lord Advocate, Chief of Police, and Head of the Civil Service are all in the gift of the First Minister.

  52. A couple of random thoughts.
    My son-in-law is working through various exams in his career as a sailor. A couple of weeks ago he had to obtain a certificate saying his eyesight is OK.
    A doctor had been designated and SiL drove 30 miles to the doctor’s house, quite a large one with a driveway and lawns. He rang the doorbell without response.
    He contacted the doctor by phone to announce his arrival. The doctor appeared in the bay window and, using his phone, asked SiL to stand on the lawn facing the window. The window was not opened at any time. The doctor gave SiL instructions on how far away from the window he should stand. The doctor then held the eyechart to the window and asked SiL to read the chart in the usual way. The test was concluded and SiL left.

    I bought a second-hand item on eBay from a seller in France. Of course we now have to pay VAT on the selling price and on the postage charge. VAT did not apply previously. It is now applied at a flat 20% regardless of the UK VAT category. (This is the conclusion of the comment I made about postage a couple of weeks ago.) The seller had advised that only DHL would agree to take something from France to the UK. In the event, they refused. Even La Poste, ie the French government, is refusing to deliver to the UK. The seller lives in Lorraine. He sent the item across the border into Germany to his uncle and his uncle posted it for him from Germany. It arrived by Royal Mail and Deutsche Post.
    Keep in mind that this arrangement was almost certainly set up by the UK and not the EU, as the UK wants to get its hands on the VAT, I suppose.

    Along the same lines, while it is now commonplace for private travellers to use electronic transfers of information to pass through airport controls, tickets and boarding passes etc, the documentation for hugely valuable and fragile exports are paper based.
    This horrendous system was set up by the UK. Instead of electronic documents and templates easily adjusted to the specific exporter and product, the paper forms have a multiplicity of check boxes and spaces for entries to cover every eventuality although all are not required. This has resulted in bafflement and mistakes. I am entirely convinced that the use of complex paper forms was decided by an obstructive Remainer civil service out of vicious dog in the manger vindictiveness. I can think of no other reason.

    1. ‘Afternoon, Horace, as part of my personal drive not to buy from either the EU or China because of their attitudes, I recently had a shirt, bought from Amazon, notified to me as ‘Delayed by Customs’. I got in touch with Amazon and suggested that they identified the country of origin on ALL their products advertised on their website. A veiled threat was that if they didn’t, I would cease trading with them.

      It is because of the palaver you went through with eBay, France, that I will not entertain buying from the EU until they get their act together and stop being vindictive – that is always assuming that the EU might not collapse. When it does, this nonsense will stop.

      1. Charles Tyrwhitt’s shirts used to be British-made but are now produced in Vietnam, India and Eastern Europe.

        It is increasingly difficult to buy anything U.K made.

        I have stopped buying French wine and cheese because there are home grown alternatives. If everyone in the U.K were to do that then the French would be rioting in the streets. (again) Hopefully bringing down the arch socialist Macron.

          2. I haven’t been quite so diligent but it’s not top of my list to buy. NZ Sauvignon is good, also Chilean reds of various sorts.

    2. The problems with incoming parcels are caused by HMRC being officious, which they do very well. They could easily have waived VAT on domestic mail until things were sorted out but I suspect they are all Reaminers in charge and wanted to make trouble.

      The main problem with incoming stuff is not the VAT at 20%, but the handling charge on top which is another 20%. Ebay already have in place a pre-payment system (although it is expensive). Why can’t HMRC do this at minimal cost to the purchaser?

  53. I don’t know if this has already been mentioned. Peter Hitchens writing for the Mail on Sunday said that he had been unfollowed on Twitter by over 400 people in the early hours of the morning. He knew some of these people personally and contacted them. The response was that they had not unfollowed him.

    A comment below this exchange said that all center right sites on social media are being attacked in this way.

    Sound familiar?

    1. And still people believe that it is impossible for the US voting machines to have been rigged.

    2. I don’t have that many followers to lose, but I have noticed a reduction – and checking them I have seen that some of those have been suspended – as I was last year – for “unusual activity”.

      1. Having a view which differs from the official narrative is now considered to be subversive.

        1. the secret is to have so few followers but several accounts. then you go under their radar. 🙂

          3. I’ve forgotten how to set up a new account – I was going to do so while I was suspended but didn’t get round to doing so.

    3. People should stop taking Twitter seriously. It’s just a vile cess-pit of extremist left wing politics.

      1. I have an account but i don’t use it much. Just like Facebook, Twitter has become part of the fabric of society.

        1. It really annoys me that a few hundred loudmouths on Twitter can change government policy, while the valid concerns of millions are ignored!

    4. Even my pathetic little following dropped from 300 to 285 and each day a couple more are added then taken away again overnight. Presumably because I say and retweet the wrong things.

      They removed hundreds from Eduard Habsburg too, though that still leaves him with 29.7k followers. Down with the Holy Roman Empire! Though that said, the Twitter bods are probably not bright enough to know anything about the Habsburg dynasty.

      1. “Presumably because I say and retweet the wrong things.”

        Yup! Always had you marked down as a bad ‘un, Ms E. 😘

      2. I feel that as time goes by these attacks will increase and even sites like this one will be in danger.

    5. I lost several upvotes on a BTL comment I made in the DT a few days ago. But I was not not alone – several other posters had their post tallies trimmed as well.

      1. The vote tallies in the DT go up and down like the Assyrian empire.
        I suspect it’s the program they use.

        1. It’s their own system, so written to a tight budget with probably minimal maintenance. My guess would be written in India and all the original authors have moved on. The Indian IT emp[loyment market is very fluid. Pay is not good and people move around a lot. Managers giving sales presentations on how they support it, when on the ground no one in the support team has the faintest idea how the code works, their work is all ‘suck it and see’.

          A bit like a lot of software used in public service.

          1. This afternoon, when I went for my bat clap jab, the staff were having problems with the computer system slowing up.
            Apparently it happens every afternoon; presumably surgeries use the hours between morning and evening sessions to vaccinate as many as possible.

    6. The most important department on Twitter (and most other Silicon Valley Big Tech firms) is the Department of Dirty Tricks … athough it’s usually got Community in its actual title)

  54. Re the cats preferring to drink from puddles – a serious answer. Prefer they can smell the chemicals in tap water and don’t care for them.

    1. Dolly won’t drink water from the kitchen tap. She will drink water from the tap in the bathroom. The kitchen is at the back of the bungalow and water comes from a long lead pipe.

      I don’t allow her to drink from puddles because she might swallow some parasite.

    2. Our Labrador preferred to drink the water that collected in the drain cover lifting holes whilst our Newfoundland found that drinking water from a plant pot that a toad was sitting in was particulary palateable.

      Unfortunately whilst the Labrador might have benefitted from the extra iron the Newfoundland came close to toad poisoning that would have killed a smaller dog.

      It takes about three grams of toad skin excretion to kill the average sized dog.

      1. Claudius would always have you turn the tap on so she could drink that.

        The ginger beast drinks from the loo. That I do want to stop as I’m rather worried about the chemicals used to clean it.

        1. I have one up my flag pole. My Navy neighbours do too though she put up a Scottish rag for Burns night.

          1. I thing the correct term is Saltire. The Salt is I believe reference to the English rubbing salt into Scottish wounds and the Ire is the result…. 😉

          3. Just ordered Firstborn a tee shirt with “I support the right to bare arms” on it :-))

        1. Indeed – more folk summit Everest on a single day than take a Narrowboat up the Severn in a year! I employed a Gloucester Pilot to navigate us through the treacherous shoals. As he said if we hit a sandbank broadside on the force of the incoming tide will roll us over….

          1. When was this? And, my lunchtime soup looked like that water, likely tasted better, and had feweer waves…

          6. Nor did I . The three hour trip up the Severn was exciting but a solo trip down the Thames was more so I thought at one stage the boat was going to go under. Here’s what I wrote:

            “As I left Teddington, I had the ebb tide with me and it was a glorious late summer’s day. However, the high-pressure system covering the British Isles meant that there was an easterly headwind. Nothing to worry about – until you reach Vauxhall.
            One of the benefits of a booming economy is a vibrant construction industry. For those who don’t know, from Vauxhall to Tower Bridge is now a man-made canyon of high-rise buildings. Add in a strong wind and an ebbing tide and you have very choppy conditions. Add in HMS Belfast, narrowing the Pool of London by a third and a plethora of high-speed catamarans at 4:30 pm on a Friday afternoon and it becomes brown breeches time!
            Normally from the tiller I can see right the way through my boat to the cabin doors at the bow. However, on this occasion one of the bathroom doors had swung shut. Ordinarily this would not be of concern. However, when water began to appear under the bathroom door I really did wonder if a bow door had swung open. By now Quidlibet was bucking like a very large seesaw. It was all I could do to hang on to the tiller and hatch rail. There was absolutely no chance that I could go below and find out what was going on.
            More and more water started coming over the bow. The boat seemed to be getting heavier in the water. I began calculating the swimming distance to the adjacent pier in the event that in the very heavy swell the boat might go under. Five more very tense minutes passed and then I was out from under Tower Bridge and the relative calm of the broader river. Once safely inside Limehouse basin, I was able to go below. Fortunately, the bow doors were locked shut. The force of water hitting them had penetrated the normal gaps in the doors. The small amount of water inside the boat was quickly mopped up. For the uneventful return journey early the next morning I taped up the bow doors with Duck Tape to prevent any water ingress.”

            When I put the anchor away I discovered I had collected half a ton of water in the bow locker.

          8. When was this? And, my lunchtime soup looked like that water, likely tasted better, and had feweer waves…

    3. Lock up will end, the r number will rise – this is inevitable.

      The question is, will the pointlessness of lock up then become obvious to even the slowest of minds or will we be forced back into it?

  56. A specialist in pulmonary critical care sets out the issues facing the world as COVID variants develop depending on their host country. His discussion, whilst giving some hope that the original COVID-19 vaccines will go some way in creating antibodies to many variants, reveals the importance of keeping out the particulaly nasty ones like the South African and Brazilian:

    https://youtu.be/Rxg01L6Hh2E

  57. 328863+ up ticks,
    Seems like the elites have underestimated Tom,Dick & Harry
    and the tunneling game,

    What’s this ere then ? a protesters tunnel undermining the
    pretendee tory / brussels pride & joy Hs2, starting point
    a tent, might be on Quest tonight ” how do they do that”

    Never underestimate Tom ,Dick & Harry when it comes to a bit of under mining.

    1. News for you ogga. We centre-right, the Tom, Dick & Harrys, don’t believe Batten is the answer to the country’s problems.

        1. And contrary to what you probably believe Delboy, you are not the voice of the ‘silent majority.’
          Though no amount of election results will persuade you otherwise.

    2. 328863+up ticks,
      O2O,
      Og did you see that post,

      News for you ogga. We centre-right, the Tom, Dick & Harrys, don’t believe Batten is the answer to the country’s problems.

      That is a proven fact, we have witnessed the brexitexit via the pretendee tory group
      in action post 24/6/2016.

      The poster could be on a guilt trip.

    2. As long as Scotland is aware of the costs of leaving, that’s fine. Is Snats still want to leave when they’re told they will lose all public employees and jobs, all funding for such and cannot use Sterling (they don’t come close to being able to join the Euro, so will need their own currency) so be it.

      1. Agreed.
        I was once very anti Scottish Independence from the perspective of the UK, as it would weaken both sides; now I’m starting to think to Hell with Sturgeon and her supporters, they can go and fend for themselves.

        1. I would be very sad if Scotland voted to leave the Union, but if they do, then that’s the way to go. It’s called democracy. But the conditions must be made very clear – no currency, no fiscal transfers, own civil service, passports, etc. A hand-over period of, say 1 year, and there you go, all independent.

          1. Scotland pretty much has its own civil service anyway (and has had for many years though it used to be called the Scottish Office). Glasgow already produces passports for more than Scotland so it would just need new blanks, but driving licences might be a bit more difficult. On the other hand Cumbernauld handles tax for a lot of the UK. I can’t see England or Scotland managing with a turnover of less than 2 years. I believe the original agreement in 2014 was for a 30 month handover.

            I don’t think Scotland can be made to give up Sterling, but they would be subject to decisions taken elsewhere if they don’t.

        2. They won’t though. Either they will join the EU and try to make our lives miserable, or if Spain blocks them, Sturgeon will sell them to the Chinese, which would be even worse.
          Today’s SNP politics demonstrate clearly that the past three hundred years have not taught them anything about rulling a country.

        1. They’ll have to re-locate the toilets so that, in true Spoon’s fashion, you’ll have to negotiate at least two floor levels and several flights of stairs.

    1. Ah, yes! But only white people are racist, so they’ve got it coming to them. (I’ve been listening to Barry Gardiner.)

    2. It’s probably because we’re a rich, advanced society. We became a rich, advanced society by having a homogenous culture that everyone shared, an intelligent workforce and plentiful resources.

      We will become a poor society when we’re divided, made thick by an appalling education system and throttled in both energy and material use.

      Politicians will see us beggared. Of course, they’re all in the trough and don’t care. In fact, they’re getting rich off our impoverishment.

  63. White House on alert as Reddit fever hits London market

    Reddit users’ war on hedge funds gains Washington’s attention with buying frenzy reaching UK stocks
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/01/27/reddit-fever-hits-london-market-short-sellers-feel-squeeze/

    I have just placed this comment BTL the above article:

    J G Gibson
    28 Jan 2021 2:37PM
    I presume when you state “White House on alert” this is NOT meant to include “President” Biden [“President” = let’s pretend he actually won the 2020 election].

      2. I hope Boris is asked how many British live will be saved by giving the vaccine to the EU instead of British people.

        1. Don’t hold your breath if you are waiting for the MSM to ask questions like that. They may not like the buffoon but questions like that show the EU for what they are, and that does not fit their agenda.

  65. 3rd time of trying…

    “Failed to configure Windows updates.
    Undoing changes.
    Do not switch off your computer.”

    Maybe paying extra for the Apple label isn’t such a waste of money.

      1. I downloaded Linux onto a USB stick a while ago. Linux Mint 19?
        I run this old laptop from Linux now and again just to get used to it.
        So far I prefer it to Windows right enough.

        1. This laptop I’m using is old now and so is the version of Debian – and Firefox keeps telling me to update the browser. But I’m used to it and it suits me for what I do. It’s much like Windows XP that I used to use at work. A proper menu and you can see what you’re doing.

          The PC in the room downstairs has a much more up to date system with coloured icons instead of a menu and I really don’t get on with it so well. Though it’s a nice big screen and much better for working with photos.

          1. If you are using Win10 and prefer the Win7 style menu go on ninite.com and download Classic Start. It makes the look of the PC more familiar and comfortable at least for me.

          3. My Win 10 was configured to look fairly like Win 7 when I upgraded.

            This Dell Latitude dates to 2015, cost a fraction of the price of a Mac (it was a Black Friday bargain because I had a problem with the old one and I bought it for £200 inc VAT) and is going strong.

          4. I run both Win10 on my PC and Mac OS on my MacBook. If I had to choose I would pick the MacBook (no I am not going to say I would pick the Apple) although I have managed to learn to live with Win10 but yearns for Win7 to be a viable option. I’m afraid I know that will never happen though.
            When the PC dies, and I have upgraded RAM and SSD’s to keep it going for as long as possible, I will have a difficult decision to make.

          5. I had my son’s cast off Mac laptop for a few years but it died. He set this Lenovo one up for me in 2013 and I’m happy with it, though it is getting slower.

          6. I have Classic Start on this old 8.1 laptop vvo.
            I didn’t know it ran on Windows 10. I’ll have a look.

          7. No Win or MS anything allowed in this house. Last time I used MS was 10 years ago when I was still working.

    3. I’ve had my MacBookAir (the one I’m typing on now) since December 2013. It’s still as fast as ever. Yes, it cost more than a PC, but it’s still here, over 7 years later.

    4. Happened to me the other day. I didn’t even give permission for the bloody configuring in the first place.

      1. Windows 10? Windows 8.1 we still have the option not to update.
        Fool that I am, I downloaded it 🙁

    5. The problem is the OS. Windows is, bluntly, horrific. A scattergun mass of vomited, inconsistent, unnecessarily messy icons and trying to make things simple by adding acres of interstitial pages that do nothing but get in the way.

      Enforce updates, the OS – a paid for product – just used as a dumping ground for ad tracking? It’s as if MS really don’t understand the business they’re in.

      Try deleteing all the files that are stored and – if you can – installing one patch at a time. Windows 10 makes this obnoxiously difficult for no good reason.

          1. You can if you wish replace his careful ‘horrific’ with an entirely appropriate stream of Anglo-Saxon, but some will consider it offensive. I would consider it bad manners.

          3. You are good to go then. Do it in Welsh then anybody who chooses to run it through a translator, that’s their problem.

          4. Following the EU referendum & December’s GE we Ulster Scots have enough problems.
            Sod the Welsh, English, and if it comes to it, the Scots and their SNP.

          6. Basically we’re fecked. Demographics meant we would one day be a minority.
            That day may have arrived. Hence Sinn Féin calling for a referendum on NI’s future.
            An example, Enoch Powell’s old South Down seat is now Sinn Féin territory.

          7. In the two previous referenda in the ’70s when NI was entirely split along religious lines, nearly half the Catholics voted to stay in the UK. I think NI will be compelled to a decision in 4 years time,
            1. Stay in the UK with a hard border.
            2. Become part of the RoI.
            Can kicking might delay it, but that would depend on the politics at the time.
            If the population think about it properly, there are a number of reasons why (2) is not that attractive. I am mindful of the change that 50% of the NI population now do not consider themselves as belonging to either the Unionist or Republican communities (from memory).

          8. An added problem is that not all Catholics are Nationalists and not all Protestants are Unionists.
            2019 GE SDLP party won seats, DUP lost them.

          9. Plus 4 years is long enough for the new found situation of RoI to sink in. Will the EU cash their promise from the previous RoI administration to accept uniformity on tax before the 4 years is up? That was the price for being ‘lead’ on Brexit. Depends if they have it all in place to force it through. When it does go through, and it will sooner or later, I am uncertain where that leaves the RoI.

            An approaching decision might concentrate Unionist minds to heal their splits, although I am not too confident on that, some of them can be astonishingly pig headed

          10. “An approaching decision might concentrate Unionist minds to heal their splits..

            Have a look at how North Down voted in the 2019 General Election.
            The return of the SDLP/Alliance Party at the expense of the hard-line DUP
            .

          13. IMHO, Arlene doesn’t really belong anywhere. The Tories had a schmaltz for her at one time. I couldn’t see it.

            Anyway, thank you for the discussion, very interesting. The point of view of someone well informed. It’s what I do blog sites for.

          14. I used to talk to mainlandulsterman on Slugger before I got a life ban for pointing out the obvious facts that many of them are completely bonkers, obsessed with irrelevant minutiae and lost in a past that never existed. I can’t see why they were offended.

          15. We have our share of loons right enough. Some of them with access to guns.
            On the other hand, we have Catholic in-laws. That would never have happened back in the’70s.

          16. It did happen back in the 70s Jack, but usually both parties headed for mainland GB (or ROI) before getting hitched and didn’t go home for holidays. I was acquainted with several “mixed” couples in my student days; all of them regarded themselves as permanent exiles at that time.

          17. Indeed Jennifer. Back in the day when a mixed marriage was Protestant marrying Catholic.
            Unthinkable unless they left NI.

          18. I knew two Catholic guys from Belfast back in my Oxford days. They said it took them a month to get
            used to the fact that nobody cared, not even slightly. A mildly interesting fact about a man was all it was.

          21. Even I’m not that daft Jennifer 🙂
            As youngsters, a day trip over to Girvan was as near as we got to Glasgow.
            Too many eejits up there 🙂

            ETA: Again, screen 5 minutes behind keyboard.

          22. Quite so. One of my Irish friends once described Glasgow as “Greater Belfast on the Clyde”.

          23. Rangers band marching through Holywood 12th July was always a bonny sight but at the same time the realisation that it belonged in the past. The Glasgow Scots are more hard-line than us.

          24. I remember the ‘Gers crowd as being terrifying back in the 70s – only once did I fail to check the home game correctly and get caught up in one. (The university was quite close to Pittodrie and overspill used to get as far as some of our buildings).

            I think that the Glasgow contingent are more akin to the dreadful Arlene (and take their cue from her), but there are a great many in greater Glasgow who really don’t involve themselves in these matters – far more than in the 70s.

          25. Even I’m not that daft Jennifer 🙂
            As youngsters, a day trip over to Girvan was as near as we got to Glasgow.
            Too many eejits up there 🙂

            ETA: Again, screen 5 minutes behind keyboard.

          26. I was in Rathdrum in 70s, tacking a couple of days holiday onto a conference in Dublin. I spent my teens in a rough part of London, I am careful, in a pub I always have a route to the door. I’m in the bar, very pleasant but suddenly this drunk next to me starts getting arsey. I didn’t take it seriously, I was placatory, when suddenly I see from the corner of my eye this huge bloke stand up and start walking towards us. At the same time two pairs of blokes talking have moved across my route to the door and I’m hemmed. F**k, f**k and double f**k.

            The big bloke walks up to the drunk and says “The man’s our guest, Now drink your drink and shut the f**k up”. OK.

    6. Having the same problem with updates and then undoing changes I did a complete reinstall to the latest vesrsion using the Windows Update Assistant:

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f0b832f6460374f834f8f5394f0947509c10c3dfec1c37bd3b5517be913633ee.jpg

      Once you’ve loaded it you get an icon like this:

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fade9dd98430d27127ba6b98ca2f7cbb74725c408aa969ea4004d7315cacbe5e.jpg

      Had no problems since.

      P.S. Took a bit of time but it was worth it. Not more than a couple of hours on a slow computer.

      1. This 10-year-old Samsung 8.1 is on it’s last legs Angie. Reinstalling Windows might kill it off.
        Otherwise I’d take your advice.

  66. Just a thought. It would not be very difficult for Customs to deal with the current parcels fiasco. Make a simple website “Pay your import fees in advance” that asks a few questions: Price paid, Shipment cost, What is it, From which country. It then gives you the amount to pay. You pay it and it gives you a small barcoded PDF label for the supplier to stick on package.

    If the govt. is serious about ‘Global Britain” then this is part of being ‘Global’, instead of the expensive, sclerotic system for small imports that we have at the moment.

    1. Civil Service, among others, seem to be trying to get us back in the EU.
      We’re in for a rough ride.

    2. They knew all that, and more, when they set up this complex, back-to-front, unworkable shambles of a paperwork-based system. Even back in those days before computers there was nothing as difficult as this.
      With modern technology, electronic computers and the like, this stuff should be relatively straightforward and quick. It isn’t.
      The Frogs and others are revelling in black-hearted buggery that is delaying and thereby destroying millions of pounds worth of perishable foodstuffs.
      Most of which is destined for the posh restaurants patronised by the great and good of France and Spain.

  67. Greater Manchester Police have charged a 32-year-old man after an ambulance pulled into an Asda with the emergency lights flashing.

    Officers in Harpurhey said they saw the occupants of the emergency vehicle – a family – go into the supermarket to do their shopping at around 10pm on Wednesday.

    A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “Blessing Mukaukirwa, 32, of no fixed abode, has been charged with single counts of driving while disqualified, driving without a licence, driving without insurance, using a vehicle with unauthorised blue lights and failing to appear at court.

    “He has been remanded in custody and is to appear at Manchester Magistrates’ Court today.”

    Traffic officers had earlier tweeted that the vehicle arrived at the supermarket with its blue lights flashing, and that the occupants went inside to do their shopping.

    After being tracked down, the ambulance – believed to have been bought second hand – was then seized.

    https://news.sky.com/story/manchester-man-charged-after-police-stop-ambulance-with-blue-flashing-lights-taking-family-to-asda-12201468

    1. Serious question T_B, have you ever tried searching the media for positive news?

      ETA: There’s plenty of it out there.

        1. I can only envy BJ’s grammar, typing skills 🙂
          I’ll have a look, see if he’s posted recently on EADT.

        2. Has your cold got the better of you OB.

          That was meant to be an amusing article .. it conjured up all sorts of images..

          Jill Backson indeed , what a bleeding cheek.

          2. Cold gone – red medicine washed it away – that, and Vit D, lemon and colostrum 🙂
            Thanks for asking!

          4. Little cold remedy pills called “Cura-med”. Lemon flavour, colostrum, D3 and sugar.
            When I first heard of them, I thought it was bollox, but they work. At the first sign of a cold, I take a packet (12 pills to suck) and I’m usually quit the cold overnight.
            White man’s Ju-Ju.

          5. Curamed® was established in 1989 by a Norwegian pharmaceutical family company that developed, produced and marketed innovative products based on raw milk (colostrum) using an advanced and patented technology.

            Seems likely that they are just using un-pasteurised milk since a) “raw milk” and “colostrum” are not synonyms and b) colostrum is only produced in the first 24 hours and usually goes to the calf/kid/lamb even in modern intensive dairy systems.

    2. Serious question T_B, have you ever tried searching the media for positive news?

      ETA: There’s plenty of it out there.

  68. Logging off early. Must prepare for V-Day tomorrow. Just had the call. 9.24 am – very precise…. The Oxford one. If I live to tell the tale, I’ll look in.

    If you never hear again, all they said about the vaccine was true!

    A demain – prolly.

    1. Make the most of it Bill they completely have run out In Harpingyar…………. Aka Harpenden.

    2. Johnny Rotten? advertising butter on TV seemed a bit of a sell-out. The money must have been good.

      1. A Punk lad & his girlfriend were having a horizontal PT session with a selection of music playing whilst they exercised.
        The girl suddenly asks, “Ooh! Is that Johnny Rotten?”
        To which the lad replies, “Nah, shouldn’t be! I’ve only used it twice before!”

      2. There was a misunderstanding re what the butter was for when he signed the contract.

    4. Fraid i was too busy visiting the London Jaaayyzzz (Niasch) clubs in the 70s to take any notice all that malarky.
      My favourite band from the 70s was a great set of pro jazz musicians that called themselves IF.

        1. One of the sax players Dick Morrissey formed a duo with Jim Mullen, great music.
          Sadly Dick passed away a few years ago.

    1. As it happens Ms Sturgeon has the jobs of the Justice Secretary, the Lord Advocate, the Chief Constable and the Head of the Civil Service in her gift, I think.

    1. Is that the same as paying a non-refundable deposit up front? (Asking for someone else.)

  72. Evelyn ‘all.
    My word I’ve been busy today and i’m worn out. Thankful for a sit down.

    Is it true that the Brussels (there is no other word for it) MAFIOSI have invented and set in place in a day, a new law where by they will be allowed to help themselves by form of sequestration to as many vaccines as they think fit from the AstraZeneca factory in Belgium, just to help themselves to willy nilly ?

      1. How’s he going stop it, they’ll do what they like. The french never paid the fine when the continued the ban on British beef after the BSE.

        France’s ban became illegal in August 1999 when it refused to accept a ruling by EU scientists that, based on safeguards, British beef was safe. It was accused of using bogus science and legal ploys to maintain the ban in order to protect its farmers from competition from British beef.

          1. No one, I’ve seen through out my life that it doesn’t seem to matter who you have voted for, they never keep their election promises. Overall our political classes are not worth a bag of rotten carrots.

      1. Like all the other poor bastards who aren’t allowed to express their anger at the utter futility of their zero hours lives.

        1. Yes, the morality of employing people in this way, and their lack of any semblance of job security was why Trade Unions came about.
          The agency and Herefordshire council are both despicable. (As are all similar arrangements.)

        2. What was so significant about a thawing snow statue ?
          The garbo was at least on active public service.

    3. The man may be a moron, but to lose his job is a bit harsh.

      And if a three year old built a 6 foot high snowman I’m assuming the child is a gorilla.

      1. A few hours later the snowman would have become a puddle ..

        He was a bit of a twerp and some anger management might have been useful instead of sacking him.

      2. He wasn’t sacked. The DM has simply produced another grossly inaccurate headline. He is employed by an agency which has not changed, but Herefordshire Council will not use his services again as he doesn’t meet the standards they expect.

        Had he been an employee this would not have been grounds for summary dismissal in UK law – though it might have been grounds for a warning.

        1. “but Herefordshire Council will not use his services again as he doesn’t meet the standards they expect.”

          I think you are splitting hairs, he’s been sacked from that employment.

          1. On the contrary. He has not been sacked at all. He still has exactly the same job he had before the incident. A zero hours contract with an employment agency.

          2. He’s lost his job with HCC.
            That’s sacked.
            If one of your clients suggests that you go forth and multiply, you’re still in work but that client has sacked you.

          3. He never had a job with HCC. They call up agency workers on a week by week (or even day by day) basis. He therefore has no right to any further call up. Employment law, it’s quite important. He has not been sacked under any meaning of the term.

            The hair-splitting is all yours – as I expected.

            As a self-employed professional I have none of the protections which employment law gives and accept that fully.

          4. His firm had a job, they were fired because of his actions, allegedly.

            To get rid of him, HCC got rid of them.

            If your clients decide that because of the actions of one of your employees that they will terminate your services, they have removed that employee.

          5. Keep ignoring the facts and writing the fallacy. It seems to be as far as your capabilities go.

          6. Was his firm’s contract terminated?
            Was it terminated because of his actions?

            Your capabilities would appear to somewhat, sorry, totally, limited to an inability to see any other perspective.

          8. True.
            I wonder if every time a reader gave her a down vote in the same way that she hands them out, that she might eventually approach my tally.

          9. Could have a lot to do with the amount grossly inaccurate shite posted here and the tendency of others to abuse those who write facts – as in this case. No one has been sacked under UK law.

            There is so much abuse, including from your keyboard, that factual responses are a health hazard here. But then that is the plan, isn’t it?

          10. Not so long ago, in your usual contemptuous manner, you responded to a perfectly reasonable question of mine with “You overrate your importance.”

            I never have the but forum members will certainly have a view of how you regard yourself.

          13. Or maybe it has something to do with years of keeping up with employment law instead of forgetting it. There is no “other perspective” to the legal ruling. He could not have been sacked for this misdemeanour had he been an employee, it wouldn’t qualify for summary dismissal.

            The agency’s contract with the council has not been terminated. The worker’s contract with the agency has not been terminated. No one has been sacked.

          14. Really?
            You know all this how?

            I quote:
            A Herefordshire Council spokesman said:
            ‘We are aware of this incident and are disappointed that an individual
            representing the council would behave in such a manner.

            ‘The employee was a member of agency staff working on behalf of one of the council’s contractors, and he has been informed that he will not be used again.

            ‘Information has also been circulated to all agency employees outlining the professional standards they are expected to uphold when representing a Herefordshire Council contractor.’

            If that isn’t being sacked what is?

            Perhaps you should approach him and act as his representative to get loads-a-money

          17. For the final time. He hasn’t been sacked. Unless he demonstrates, repeatedly, that he lacks the interpersonal skills even to deal with a snowman, the agency (which has not removed him from its books) will find him something even less skilled than emptying wheelie bins.

          18. Sacked here, means he lost the job he was employed to do.

            I know that that is a very complex problem for you to come to terms with, but he was fired.

          20. I’m quite sure that he believes every idiotic word he types is 100% accurate, just as you do. Hence my reversion to the far more useful downvote. it brings a lot less aggro.

          22. Only shite and abuse. There’s a lot of it.

            But you are, of course, at liberty to downvote any comment you choose.

          24. I’m quite sure that he believes every idiotic word he types is 100% accurate, just as you do.

            Ooh! A twist! I said nothing of the sort.

          25. “Hence my reversion to the far more useful downvote: it brings a lot less aggro.”

            No. It means you don’t have to justify your false assumptions, delivered, as usual, as cheap insults.

          26. As anyone might have predicted: four hours on and still no answer, still no justification.

            You don’t understand what ‘being played’ means, do you?

          27. As I pointed out some time ago. Your comments are entirely unimportant to me. Your attitude is tiresome and your intelligence extremely limited. So I don’t bother to reply – it isn’t worth it.

          29. I could say the same about yours.

            Actually there is no hypocrisy in my position. I maintain the same principles throughout – whilst you seek to twist and turn to gain an advantage you will never have. Because I don’t care what you think.

          30. Pardon?! The only twisting here tonight was by you when I asked if you thought were being played.

          31. No it isn’t. JSP is correct. If he was an agency worker he was not employed by HCC at all and his employment with the agency, was for a shift only.

          32. Another bloody hair splitter.

            It would appear that HCC fired his employer because of his actions.

            If an NHS trust fires you, you might still work for other trusts, but you would still have been fired.

          33. Your answer demonstrates why you had a career as an auditor and not in HR or as an employment lawyer.

          35. If you work for an agency, its ul to the agency to sack you. By the sounds of it though, he hasn’t been sacked but that particular placement has been terminated.

          37. That would be between him and the agency… and probably depends on how many other clients he has given cause to express dissatisfaction. If you behave like a downright twerp you can expect also to be treated like one.

          39. Not. They’ve existed in small numbers for quite a long time before that. They became much more numerous thereafter.

        2. What standards did he ‘not meet’? Other than physiocal strength and not breaking the law/rules of the council on the job, what standards are needed to be a refuse collector? To me, this is him being sacked in all but name, and IMHO you’re splitting hairs, perhaps for the sake of having an argument.

          My local refuse collectors have done far worse and gotten away with it – including stealing wheelie bins, driven over garden areas, destroying road signs, etc/

  74. Ave, NOTTLers, moriturus te saluto.”
    (Waits for the Dominie to correct her rusty Latin)

    I have been jabbed and I now expect my granddaughter to be released from house arrest and return to being a student.

    1. It will need a rather larger proportion of the population to be vaccinated for that to happen. All the refusers (though it is their absolute right to refuse) make it less likely that this will happen soon.

      1. I was going to donate my Vaxx to my needy friends in Europe when my turn comes around, I’m sure there are far more vulnerable people that need it elsewhere,

    4. Been away most of the day, so I’ve only just noticed your comment, Anne.

      The original phrase was “Morituri te salutant” (Those about to die salute you) but if, as I suspect, you’re referring to yourself, you’d need to use the feminine singular “Moritura te salutat” (She who’s about to die salutes you).

      Now, write it out one hundred times…
      ;¬)

      1. And start in Europe.

        The infrastructure is in place to welcome millions of economic migrants from Africa and the ME and the various pigshitistans…

    2. Linked it seems, to Germany breaking EU ‘solidarity’ and buying for Germany alone, a German vaccine for the over 65s.

      1. Quite a few countries, in and out of the EU, have invested in various vaccine producers to make it possible to speed things up. These are not (despite erroneous comments here) non-refundable deposits or upfront payments. They are investments and like all other investors governments can lose out if the project fails. On the other hand there is a considerable “refund” in the price that the UK is paying for the OAZ vaccine compared to what it would have cost had government funds not been invested. Germany has invested in Pfizer, but whether that gives them individual buying rights I haven’t bother to check out.

        2. As I understand it each EU country can buy its own supplies (Hungary has just done this), but Germany was at the forefront of insisting the EU27 ‘show solidarity’ by pooling resources and not going it alone, which they now have!

          1. To be honest I haven’t been paying too much attention, it isn’t really terribly relevant to my day to day life.

  76. 328863+ up ticks,
    He has it down to the hour on the day of partial release has johnson the ratchet hatchet man, he the leader of the pretendee tory group & has mastered the art of the pretendees new tool, the ovis ratchet controller device.

    Boris Planning Slow Release of Restrictions Starting in March: Report

    1. Is he feeling confident the economy won’t recover, the jab fest will have done its job and everyone else will be suicidal?

  77. For those experiencing trouble typing their fascinating messages, Dis**s have changed the javascript that is run every time you type a character. It now mops up one full processor and it all gets stuck. It’s not big brother, it’s just some oik on a superfast desktop seeing no problems on his machine and not bothering to check further before putting it live.

    Don’t they have quality control? Don’t they check these things? (Hollow laughter) So you’ve never worked in the software industry?

    It doesn’t seem to be happening on Breitbart, so it may be a local nttl problem.

      1. Every site will be have its settings, and Guido used to boast about their wonderful auto censor before they went elsewhere, so that suggests local input to how user text is monitored.

          1. If an oik has cocked up the code, and only tested it with auto censor ‘on’, that could be the problem. These things are not very rational.

        2. Funnily enough, I cleared the banned words list earlier today. They weren’t there when I set up the ‘new’ site, and I’ve no idea why the list had become populated – unless a mod was experimenting.

          1. Or Dis**s knowing what’s good for you. They have my sympathies, they get tacked up to the wall when sites contain offensive material.

          2. The list was much shorter than the “default” list, and mainly full of Americanisms – few of which ever darken our doors. I only became aware because certain posts had gone into moderation for ‘restricted words’. Including at least one by a Mod. In any event, “Trusted Users” shouldn’t be placed on the naughty step for restricted words, so something isn’t right here.

          5. I thought you had already admitted to having bin at the zider and done enough damage for one day?

          7. They offer a good service, making money on what they offer will be hard (nobody pays), there is one hell of a lot of traffic. There won’t be much money for programming and support.

          9. Yes, cookie harvesting is what they all do. Delete all cookies on close deals with that. I doubt they get that much money for it when they sell it on.

          13. Amusingly, some ripe old English insults are not on their list. Including one used to describe Boris’ attachment to his lady friend.

    3. That may explain why screen is minutes behind keyboard.
      As you say, Breitbart seems to be okay.

        1. This old laptop is almost unusable for posting on NTTL.
          Comments don’t appear on screen until minutes after I’ve typed them.
          Disqus has been playing up recently.

          1. There is very often a delay between typing and it appearing on the screen – but it does vary. It gets worse as the laptop gets hot.

          2. I dug out a photo of my mum today – with me and an ex-friend. It’s the last one taken of her with me. So I’ve scanned it and nearly finished removing the friend – who turned out to be anything but. It was years before i could bear to look at the photo.

          5. 1926 for my Mum and 1929 for Dad. Both my grandfathers were born in 1890, and as I said to the girls, not just last century, but the one before!

      2. Mine was born in 1908, my father 1905. All my grandparents were born in 1870, 1871 and two in 1872.

  79. Breaking News – The Germans have given up an the AstraZeneca vaxx, its vorsprung durch sputnik from now on

    1. Maybe they could use the Ruskies’ Novichock instead – guaranteed to kill all viruses, and quite a bit else. Also can be done via door handles and no need to store in fridges, just coats or rucksacks.

    2. A few years ago, I was doing some rare practice in church, while the ladies of the parish were preparing for Harvest Festival. I wandered away from the organ for some reason, leaving the blower running and several stops drawn. Suddenly, It started playing itself. Closer examination revealed that Myrtle the Pug had discovered the pedals. Henceforth, she was known as my Assistant Organist…

    3. Felines, nothing more than felines,
      Trying to forget my felines of love.
      Teardrops rolling down on my face,
      Trying to forget my felines of love.

  81. 328863+ up ticks,
    You want to shift a product then put the word out there is a shortfall in said product as with bog rolls it would only work once, but with something like a vaccine a double bluff can be used by the pip ( powers in place) ” we have an abundance of vaccine ” the peoples reply being “best get it done they are lying & probably only have a limited supply left.
    My personal view.

  82. Just imagine how the Germans must be feeling, with the pandemic
    No holidays,
    No getting up before you go to bed to put your towel on the sunbed by the pool.
    No getting the best seats near the stage for the hotel show
    No dancing the night away to ABBA at the hotel disco
    And now the English are first to the Vaxx.
    We might not be enjoying the lockdowns,
    But remember, there is always someone worse off than you

    1. “And now the English are first to the Vaxx.”

      We Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish aren’t complaining .

    2. Did we do the equivalent of putting our towels on all the sun loungers by paying sooner for the vaccines? I have visions of a 1980s Carling Black Label advert…

        1. Indeed – and from myself who likely won’t be getting this jab (not more generally – I recently had a tetanus booster) unless and until longer term testing (side effects) is undertaken. Just the EU establishment throwing the toys out of the pram, as evidenced by them ‘raiding’ the AZ plant on the continent. I hope AZ takes them to court, wins and they lose Bns.

          1. It was just spin to justify sequestering the Pfizer vaccine made in Belgium that has been manufactured to a delivery schedule agreed with the UK. If they do it, I’m not sure how Pfizer will react, they have a variety of options.

          2. It was just spin to justify sequestering the Pfizer vaccine made in Belgium that has been manufactured to a delivery schedule agreed with the UK. If they do it, I’m not sure how Pfizer will react, they have a variety of options.

      2. Some hotels employ guys to remove the towels from un-occupied sun loungers on a frequent basis. The Germans don’t complain, it’s the rules.

    3. Did we do the equivalent of putting our towels on all the sun loungers by paying sooner for the vaccines? I have visions of a 1980s Carling Black Label advert…

    5. No worries. They will have instituted vaccination passports, identity tattoos and all of the other paraphernalia needed to assert central control over the populace.

      It is, put simply, what they do.

  83. Well there you have it one Mask is effing useless:

    “Dr. Fauci advised Americans to begin wearing two masks, saying that it “makes common sense” for more than one layer to be more effective.

    However, Fauci was outdone by researchers at Virginia Tech, who said that two face masks only provide 50-75% efficacy and that three masks should be worn to achieve 90% effectiveness.

    But why stop at 90 per cent?

    According to Dr. Scott Segal, chair of anesthesiology at Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, even that may not be enough.

    “If you put three or four masks on, it’s going to filter better because it’s more layers of cloth,” Segal told NBC News.

      1. A plastic bag over the head might work too.
        And they could record the inevitable death as caused by Covid…

        1. Today’s radio news headlines, “100,000+ deaths where Covid was mentioned on the death certificate.”
          Even less meaningful than “Died with Covid.”

          1. If they really want to terrify the populace each night they could report the number of people deceased from dying.

          2. “If they really want to terrify the populace…”

            They’ll have to try harder with most of us.

    3. Maybe best to ignore the ‘experts’ and continue getting on with life as close to normal as possible.
      Seems to have gotten many of us through this so far.

      1. It’s not very “normal” to have one’s social activities stopped, holiday plans trashed, and not to be allowed to meet friends and family – not to mention the businesses which will never reopen.

      1. A BTL comment:

        Doom Porn Star
        1 hour ago

        Wrapping the head in several layers of gaff tape is how to get an airtight seal.

        Use two rolls of the 2″ or four rolls of the 1″.

        Black gaff is very fashionable. -Used a lot at fashion week and for musical theatre..

      5. Plastic bag over your head is cheaper! Honestly, we are getting into the realms of farce now.

          1. Thank you. I suspect the promoting of mask wearing is more about encouraging people who are very scared, to actually get out of their homes.

    6. 328863+ up ticks,
      Evening S,
      The more masks you don the deeper puce,
      perpually, deep blue colour you take on.

  84. A friend in the US writes his daughter doctor has had both vaccines. The second vaccine gave her a bad reaction which has her presently on sick leave. Her lymph nodes became very swollen after the injection and this pinched the nerve bundle in her left arm, essentially paralyzing it. After high doses of steroids the lymph nodes shrank but she still has a lot of nerve pain in her arm. It is expected to recover in another week or so.

    But the stories she tells of the suffering of the poor covid victims are terrible. Enough to scare me into my hobbit hole……

  86. Evening all.

    We have just “confessed” to our daughter that we will decline the vaccination. She has asked us twice now if we’ve heard about having it and we felt we ought to ‘fess up. We’re wondering about her reaction.

    2. We will be doing the same very soon with our offspring. It hasn’t been a topic of conversation (being boys or rather middle-aged men, now! 37 and 40) – I think they have rather made assumptions that we will be partaking of this frankensteinan ‘vaccine’. As we walk around the village taking our little hound for her walk I am amazed at the number of people who have had or cannot wait to get, their so-called vaccines. Actually all of them without fail except one we came across today who has an open mind about it all. And my hairdresser! I have given up trying to explain to people, from university graduates with ph.ds down the scale of education – they come over all glazed-eyed, they cannot cope with their world view being challenged, the brainwashing has been too powerful.

      1. The most bizarre exchange I’ve had was online with an old friend who suffers from a rare blood cancer and has had the Pfizer jab.

        I get that she feels very vulnerable but when I pointed out that strictly speaking it’s a gene therapy treatment and not a vaccine. Her response was, “But Sue, sex is gene therapy”. Can someone explain to me, please, in what way coitus modifies deoxyribonucleic acid? Or is she in “100 genders” territory?

          2. mRNA, is modified viral RNA (a virus only has RNA, it isn’t sufficiently “advanced” to have DNA, hence the arguments about whether it is, or is not, a living organism). The important point is that it does not alter, change or modify human DNA when the vaccination is given.

            The “m” is for “messenger” because it simply delivers a message.

            The OAZ vaccine is also somewhat different to conventional vaccines, but using different techniques.

          6. Looks as if the drink’s in again Richard. The abuse and ignorance is certainly flowing fast and furious.

          7. Look you and your pet troll supposed ‘moderator’ you cannot take any criticism. I have barely commented today and merely watched your disgraceful abuse of this forum.

            I remain perfectly sober and take your assertions otherwise as a slander. I do not know who you are and care less. All I know is that you are a despicable small person who is intolerant of opposing views to your own, who is possibly addicted to the bottle for the ungracious fortitude you demonstrate on this forum and a deep self hatred which only a psychologist can help you with.

          8. Compared to abusive comments you have made to me, that reply was extremely mild.

            I will leave your post there, it shows what an arrogant conceited fool you are.

          9. And off we go again. Totally unable to accept any disagreement, incapable even of scrolling over an intelligent comment which disagrees with his gross and gratuitous ignorance.

            Having spent the evening drinking he is “perfectly sober” whilst those who have not drunk a drop are “possibly addicted to the bottle” because he simply can’t admit that they know more than he does about anything at all. Even where he clearly demonstrates a total absence of knowledge; as he does in the thread above.

          10. If he had been drinking it would be different tomorrow so I don’t agree that he is drunk tonight.

          11. You may be right. But a few weeks ago he claimed to have consumed a couple of bottles of wine and several brandies but that he was “completely sober” which is a biological impossibility since even small amounts of alcohol impair judgement over quite a long period (the body rids itself of alcohol at the rate of about 1 unit per hour, or less if the liver is already compromised) and there is a very good reason why we don’t let such “completely sober” persons get behind the wheel of their cars. I strongly suspect that the drink is in far more frequently than otherwise, but the drinker really doesn’t appreciate the effect it has. After all, nights when he isn’t abusive (or displaying his wilful ignorance) are few – probably reflecting the only occasions when he is sober (by his own description of his drinking habits).

            As I explained here yesterday I’m currently unable to drink for medical reasons. Haven’t had a drop since October 2019, but despite his claim to have studied my “abuse of this forum” he didn’t notice that bit. After several recent incidents I regard myself as being entirely free to act as I wish here; since sanctions clearly apply to no one else (indeed any moderator who applies sanctions now finds himself the subject of appalling abuse and entirely missing any support from his fellows). I’m sorry if it makes your life harder. I don’t cut loose every day/evening but tonight I simply let fly in response to gratuitous abuse and ignorance from a very regular source.

          12. Her post is however seriously incorrect. Viruses are not RNA, some are and some are DNA, e.g. the Herpes virus. Something is not a virus because it is RNA as she suggests, but because it can only replicate within the cells of a host, and outside those cells it is inert. That is the determining characteristic of a virus. That is also the basis of the discussion of whether it is a life form, or not.

            And in her earlier post she says that the vaccine “simply stimulates” the recipients DNA – what that is supposed to mean is anyone’s guess.

          13. And, once again, corimmobile demonstrates how dangerous is the prevailing ignorance regarding science. His comment is abusive, I expect that, but it is also pig-ignorant. Indeed most pigs would demonstrate more intelligence and a lot less ill-manner.

          15. No, no record. We now have a fourth example of gratuitous abuse and truly deplorable ignorance. It becomes quite tiring and impossible to keep up with it.

          17. Repetitive abuse now from corimmobile. Not content with displaying his ignorance and lack of manners once, he has managed to do so no fewer than three times in as many minutes. Could be this be a record? Sadly this is unlikely.

          19. And once again we have pointless and ignorant abuse from corimmobile. Gratuitous ill-manners, and a demonstration of truly disgraceful ignorance.

        2. damask_rose posted this link late yesterday. https://www.bitchute.com/video/ybnzP2q2AA97/ It is excellent. I got the impression that the virus was deliberately let loose so that the pharmaceuticals got to play with their new toys and, along with others, make a financial killing in the process. And that the vaccine was most likely up and ready to go shortly afterwards because it had already been prepared, along with the virus. I must stress that this was not stated, nor even hinted at, in the presentation, just an impression that I got because of the time scales involved. It was also mentioned that the vaccine is not a vaccine as such as we understand the word (as we are now realising) but simply a medical device which can lessen the severity of the symptoms. What we have not been told, but this presentation does inform, that it can also make the symptoms of covid worse.

          Regarding your friend’s comment about sex and gene therapy, I would reply that sex is completely natural and has been since the dawn of time; these new vaccines are anything but natural.

          1. I think it came along naturally or by accident, and was deliberately seized upon to launch the great reset.
            After MERS and SARS, the Chinese were naturally going to err on the side of caution, but the hysteria in the West was entirely preventable.
            It could be that the unusually high death rate in northern Italy gave the WEF the opportunity to launch their campaign.
            To date, the most convincing theory about why that happened, is the one put forward by Professor Cahill, that it was due to many people having previously been vaccinated with a flu jab contaminated by coronavirus particles. And of course, that’s never going to see the light of day!

      2. I have an open mind about the vaccine and its efficacy or otherwise. I can’t say I’m exactily keen to have it – but as I am not yet ready to give up travel, and I think it very likely that it will be a requirement, either officially or unofficially, then I will not refuse it. I have to say I’d prefer the conventional vaccine as AZ is said to be. I’m not an anti-vaxxer and have had many over my life, with no adverse reactions.

    2. “Then we rose up and piano wire and lampposts were the order of the day…”

      They post much the same every day over on Breitbart, Going Postal etc.

      We centre-right still not holding our breath waiting Rik.

      2. Thing is, Jack, the piano wire is produced in Europe and the boss of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Lederhosen, is threatening to ban exports to the UK until the needs of its member states have been met.

        1. “…Ursula von der Lederhosen…”

          As Germany’s Defence Minister, she reduced their army to war games with broom sticks instead of rifles.
          She was always a natural for the EU 🙂

          1. I recall when she left the Defence job to attain higher authority in the EU she staged a torchlight procession reminiscent of the best the Nazis could do. Positively Roman it was, eagles mounted on staffs and the rest.

          2. By the time she stepped down, they had two serviceable fighters. The Russians sent a stiff note, demanding that in the event of conflict they should not put them both in the air at the same time.

        2. Curiously the funders of the Cripps building at St John’s College Cambridge made their money from the production of piano hinges and assorted metal fabrications.

          Needless to say they insisted that all the doors in the new buildings, designed by Powell & Moya, were hung on piano hinges. I believe they also insisted that the handrails on staircases were manufactured in bronze by their company.

          This must have been a pain for the Architects.

          Not a lot of people know this.

          1. But I am one of those who does, Corim.

            The bulk of their money came from the
            manufacture of car and lorry parts.

            The family were philanthropic and employed
            many local people.

          1. Still worth following the story though. This time might be different.
            The media seem to think so.

          2. Time will tell. Overall I think the big guys will continue to come out on top, regardless of an occasional blip.

          3. True, though the media seem to be all over the story. Let’s hope the good guys win this one.

          4. though the media seem to be all over the story

            Simply, I’m afraid, because it is so unusual.

          6. Share options for the directors as part of the bonus package should outvote the little investors at the AGM.

  92. Once again, I wish all my fellow NoTTLers, a good night, God bless and may I avoid a downvote.

  93. Though not a Left Footer, being scarcely CofE in fact nowadays, I do occasionally dip into a strongly Catholic site for interest.
    I picked up this rather beautiful poem at the end of one of their articles this morning:-

    As a concluding remark, thanks to B.A. MacKalski who sent in a beautiful poem she was inspired to write after witnessing a Catholic kneeling outside the doors of a Catholic Church this Christmas. He was kneeling in the freezing cold on the steps of the Church outside the closed doors.

    The poem is entitled, “Christmas Visit 2020.”

    Are you still there My Jesus?
    We are so alone.
    There’s a lockdown Jesus
    We have no parish home.

    Your Church is bolted Jesus
    We cannot enter in
    Are you still there dear Jesus
    Our Infant God and King?

    We kneel upon the church step
    We shed a silent tear
    Lord save us lest we perish
    For truly do we fear

    You calmed the storm dear Jesus
    You cured the sick and lame
    End corona virus
    Heal us once again.

    You are ESSENTIAL Jesus
    O Eucharistic Lord
    Give wisdom to Your Shepherds
    And open wide the door.

    https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/2020-voter-fraud-cases-are-still-making-their-way

    3. Very poignant. Thanls, for posting.
      Maybe all this virus shit and the ever-increasingly authoritarian response is Gods way of reminding us that Godlessness (as currently) is not a good philosophy? A bit of a punishment beating, as it were?

    4. Closing the churches was one of the worst things they have done. Not that I’m a churchgoer these days.

  94. And if anyone is wondering why I’m up at this ungodly hour, I woke up to pump bilges and could not get back to sleep.

    1. I am awake because I cannot get to sleep, it is one of those nights when the sleep switch stubbornly stays at on (or off, depending upon one’s perspective).

      1. I was awake for ages with terrible itching- I have a skin problem which gets more irritating when it gets warm.

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