Thursday 29 June: A culture war over cricket will do nothing to help the game evolve

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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508 thoughts on “Thursday 29 June: A culture war over cricket will do nothing to help the game evolve”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Don’t Get Lost

    A young journalism student at the University of Tennessee was assigned to write a human-interest story. He went into the mountains to do some research. There, he found an old farmer sitting on his porch, introduced himself, and explained his mission.

    The young man asked, “Has anything ever happened around here that made you really happy?”

    After a moment, the farmer said, “Yeah, one time my neighbour’s daughter, a fine-looking gal, got lost. We formed a posse and found her. After we all screwed her, we took her back home.”

    “I can’t print that!” the young man exclaimed. “Can’t you think of anything else that happened that made you happy?”

    The farmer thought for a minute and smiled, “Yep! One time a neighbour’s sheep got lost. We formed a posse and found it. Then we all screwed it and took it back home.”

    Again, the young man said “I can’t print that, either. Let’s try another approach. Has anything ever happened around here that made you really sad?”

    The old farmer dropped his head as if he were ashamed, and after a few seconds he looked up timidly at the young man and said, “This one time, I got lost.”

  3. Morning, all. Steady rain from around 05:30 so that’s watering the garden off the list of jobs. Must not forget the greenhouses, though.
    Close to two and a half pints of redcurrant juice to be turned into jelly this morning.

    1. Good morning, Korky. I looked up the forecast yesterday and decided to mow the lawn and hope that it would indeed rain overnight. I was in luck. How is your harvesting those dark berries of your garden going?

      1. Morning, Elsie.

        On Tuesday I made close on three pots of raspberry/loganberry jelly and a few momenta ago I filled four standard jam pots and one 250ml Kilner with redcurrant jelly. I got the first ‘setting wrinkle’ at 13 minutes and went from there. The small amount I had over in a ramekin dish has set, so looking good.
        I’m hoping to have sufficient raspberries and loganberries to make unmixed jellies on Saturday. Won’t pick today if the fruit remains wet.

        1. I’m in a state of deep frustration.
          The elder flowers this year have been spiffing and normally I would knock out at least a gallon of cordial.
          However, given the limited life of the cordial, I have to freeze much of it, and currently I only have a small freezer. More electrical work is an item on the ‘to do’ list, but not in time for this year’s harvest.

          1. I have a second very small cupboard-type freezer. It is the size of a typical occasional table and lives in a spare bedroom/study. With a linen square draped over it, it looks and functions as a side table but is really useful.
            Worth considering?

          3. I’ll try to take a photo and email it to you. If you mean link as in where to buy link, I’ll have a look – it is pretty old so I’ll have to see what is around nowadays!

          4. I have have a look now – there is not muuch point in sending pic. of mine as it is 34 years old! But if you do a search for “mini table top freezers” quite a lot come up and they are pretty similar to mine. Just disguise it with a cloth over the top and front and that’s basically what I have:

            https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CAZJQH_enGB1033GB1033&sxsrf=APwXEdcuS5Gf235D9hpdJgLeKE0ISGNf-Q:1688047566472&q=mini+table+top+freezers&tbm=shop&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwibwsCc0-j_AhV3_7sIHdoJD8YQ0pQJegQICxAB&biw=1536&bih=738&dpr=1.25

        2. Well done, Korky. The berries I was referring to were the ones at the bottom end of your garden on the RHS as you walk down there. Can’t remember the correct name but Grizzly identified. You kindly brought round a surfeit of them last year and I made some excellent crumble from them.

          1. You mean the black bullace? They will not be ready for picking for some time. Rest assured I will remember you when the time comes.
            One thing you could do for me: you mentioned that your computer needed attention and that you have a ‘shop’ you use for repairs etc. Could you let me know the name of said shop, please? I need to upgrade the RAM in my small laptop.

          2. Hi Korky, I have only just read your post. First of all, the black bullate was exactly what I was referring to. And secondly, I shall phone you on Saturday morning and give you details of the computer shop.

      2. I looked at the dusty Noddy car yesterday …. obviously my mere thought forms are enough to cause rain.

  5. Good morning folks,

    Raining here, even had to put the light on earlier this morning it was so dull.

    1. Coo, bright as new paint @ 04:20 this morning, blue sky, no wind and now 11°C @ 06:38

  6. Waiting for Nursey from Lockerbie, to appear sometime this Morning to change/remove dressing on my right arm – damaged when I fell on 6th June.

    As they’d say in Norfolk, “Clumsy bugger, broke spade din’t he?”

  7. A culture war over cricket will do nothing to help the game evolve

    Cultural Marxism more like to debase another of our great institutions.

    1. Appoint a bunch of race-baiters to come up with a report showing that Cricket is racist and what other outcome could there be?

      1. Maybe we need apartheid in sport.

        I would have missed seeing the West Indians of the past such as the great Gary Sobers and Viv Richards and Indians such as Sachin Tendulkar but if we had only allowed whites to play against whites, blacks to play against blacks and browns to play against browns then the race baiters would not have got into the game.

        I must say, my experience is that most of us are becoming much less tolerant and more xenophobic than we used to be and it is not the fault of the right – it is the fault of the left who want to stir up racism.

        1. Yep, Richard, and we’re all falling for it. Whereas before, I would never have been suspicious of the colour of a man’s skin, I now find that I’ll do a double-take before acceptance.

          Does anyone else have these doubts or is it just me?

          1. That’s the plan – stir up such antagonism to and by POC that whiteys break and retaliate – then impose a police state and curfew etc. “for our own good” Create chaos and then take control.

          2. That way leads to civil war, I would advise the PTB, “Be careful what you wish for.”

            We have plenty of piano wire and there are many lamp-posts.

          5. Especially if the piano wire is around their throats, as they’re hauled up a lamp-post.

        2. Sadly, you are right, Richard. The best man at my wedding was my friend Deji. He’s an aboslutely coal black Nigerian. I count a Turkish lass, a Pole, a Ukrainian, a Norweigian and a Pakistani – Hullo Immers! As friends.

          It is not a matter of colour. It is one of attitude. I remember the 90’s when all this nonsense was going away. When racism was looked at as a backward and odd thing, as if ‘why?’. Then Labour got in and forced ‘diversity’ on society. Talking about the problems of massive immigration became racism, when it’s an economic argument. Now we have an invading horde being brought in deliberately to destabilize the country as punishment for a democratic vote.

          So many things are wrong and the public are being lied to, deceived and abused. I expected a world where Imran’s daughters would grow up to be the doctors and physio they wanted to be, not over-represented on a university website as if they’re the only people in the country. Heck, when *they*, the muslims comment on the prevalence in media there’s a problem.

          But as you say, the activists wanted dissent and discontent.

  8. I like this letter. What nobody ever wants to talk about when discussing public sector pay is total remuneration I.e. including pension contributions and other benefits. If this letter writer is correct, the striking consultants’ remuneration is already enhanced by an additional £24k in pension contributions. I don’t know any private sector employer who gives 20%. In. OST, you are lucky to get 8%.

    “SIR – – Hospital consultants are planning to go on strike over their pay (report, June 28).

    It should be remembered that their current wage structure provides for a basic salary of £120,000, along with Clinical Excellence Awards of up to £40,000. There is a contribution of 20 per cent to their pension, the upper limit for which has recently been removed, and no mention is made of earnings from private referrals.

    These staff are not poorly paid.”

      1. They think they are worth it? Who knows. The company I work for pays us peanuts but gives us a big bonus every year (linked to profit but not driven by profit), of which we are then obliged to put 40% into company stock vesting in 5 years. It certainly concentrates the mind. We are all back in the office, that’s for sure. Speaking of which, I had better get on my bike. It’s raining but at least it’s warm.

        1. That’s a bit off – as what he’s effectively forcing you to do is invest back in his company whether you like it or not, from the profits you make. Your wages are suppressed to return value for him – while you lose out and cannot recoup until 5 years hence.

          1. The idea is that we have the company’s long-term interests at heart and as shareholders we care about the company.

            I don’t necessarily like it but i think there is quite a good point to it…

      2. To make the Tories look bad.
        The NHS is a Labour stronghold and that these strikes are politically motivated is obvious.

      3. My understanding is that they’re striking about the state of the NHS rather than about their pay.

        2. Who they hurt by this form of strike – only the patients, i.e. the people who pay them.

        3. Then pay it on results. Close the department for health and convert NHS trusts into insurance systems. They get paid once they process the hospitals costs and the hospital gets paid when it performs the operation.

          No ops, no insurance payouts, no income. Failure, of course to provide the operation within, say 3 months results in personal fines levied against the staff. The money comes from general taxation, but is only provided by the Treasury once the insurance claims are completed.

        4. And anyone who thinks the Government runs the NHS is deluding themselves.
          The NHS runs the NHS and they run it for the benefit of NHS management.

          The function of the Government is simply to provide ever increasing amounts of funding, robbed from the wallets of the Poor Bloody Taxpayer.

        5. So the NHS doesn’t treat people (long waiting lists, etc) and gives poor service. How is withdrawing one’s labour (thus adding to the length of the waiting lists and meaning no service is given at all) going to improve the state of the NHS?

  9. I like this letter. What nobody ever wants to talk about when discussing public sector pay is total remuneration I.e. including pension contributions and other benefits. If this letter writer is correct, the striking consultants’ remuneration is already enhanced by an additional £24k in pension contributions. I don’t know any private sector employer who gives 20%. In. OST, you are lucky to get 8%.

    “SIR – – Hospital consultants are planning to go on strike over their pay (report, June 28).

    It should be remembered that their current wage structure provides for a basic salary of £120,000, along with Clinical Excellence Awards of up to £40,000. There is a contribution of 20 per cent to their pension, the upper limit for which has recently been removed, and no mention is made of earnings from private referrals.

    These staff are not poorly paid.”

  10. Lockdown ruined Britain – and our deluded leaders couldn’t care less. Allister Heath. 29 June 2023.

    Hancock’s beloved lockdowns are the primary reason why the Conservative party will be crushed at the next election, why our economy is in ruins, and why the NHS has imploded. The former health secretary, a Remainer who broke his own social distancing rules when he had his affair, may not care, but lockdowns are directly responsible for wasting the historic opportunity that was Brexit and dashing the dream, shared by so many in 2016 and 2019, of rebuilding Britain along more conservative lines. They are the central reason why inflation remains out of control and thus why so many are going on strike, why so little seems to work in our country, why taxes have gone up, why so many children are suffering from mental health issues and why Boris Johnson isn’t prime minister any longer.

    Heath is a convert to Nottlerism. It’s too late now of course and he’s practically alone in the MSM. He’s one of the rare ones who can see that the country is essentially ruined. Thirty years of crypto-Marxist policies capped by the idioocies of Covid have finished it. We are simply waiting for the axe to fall.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/28/lockdown-ruined-britain-deluded-leaders-couldnt-care-less/

    1. As always, the roots of our political fiasco can be traced to Bliar and his determinto “modernise” and “professionalise” politics.

      So now instead of having mature people who have done something with their lives and who aren’t in it necessarily for the money, rather the good of the country, we have people who have done nothing and for whom it is just a job, a means of paying the mortgage and getting rich off expenses.

      Well done, Bliar.

      1. 373983+ up ticks,

        Morning Mir,

        Something to be said for meeting the right chap in the parks public toilet.

    2. There’s a lot of push from the commenters about how awful it was and they’d never let it happen again but… it IS happening. We are continually being lied to by the state machine and we continue to comply even if we don’t want to.

  11. – So it looks like the immigrants in France are doing what they were imported to do
    I thought this would have been coordinated throughout Europe, trust the French to go for a head start

    1. Yes, and rioting season is with us again. London et al will be kicking off once the weather warms up again.

  12. Ok very quickly must go nut from the back of the paper. My comment – do beavers really have genders???

    “Wild beaver has been spotted in Wales for the first time in 400 years by a family who turned detective to find our why trees were being damaged.

    The rodent was caught on camera by a husband and wife who set up stealth cameras after noticing trees near their house were going missing and being gnawed.

    The couple captured stunning footage of the beaver – Wales’s first since they were hunted to extinction centuries ago – in the couple’s garden during the day.

    It is not known where the beaver – whose gender is unknown – came from, but it is believed it may have been released by over-zealous rewilding enthusiasts.

    The animal appeared at the rural property in Pembrokeshire, where it had built a lodge under decking.

    Beavers – which can be the size of a large spaniel – have been slowly reintroduced to Britain in recent years.*“

    1. Just shoot the bloody vermin – they ruin trees and cannot be touched until August.

      We protect far too much vermin these days.

  13. Ok very quickly must go nut from the back of the paper. My comment – do beavers really have genders???

    “Wild beaver has been spotted in Wales for the first time in 400 years by a family who turned detective to find our why trees were being damaged.

    The rodent was caught on camera by a husband and wife who set up stealth cameras after noticing trees near their house were going missing and being gnawed.

    The couple captured stunning footage of the beaver – Wales’s first since they were hunted to extinction centuries ago – in the couple’s garden during the day.

    It is not known where the beaver – whose gender is unknown – came from, but it is believed it may have been released by over-zealous rewilding enthusiasts.

    The animal appeared at the rural property in Pembrokeshire, where it had built a lodge under decking.

    Beavers – which can be the size of a large spaniel – have been slowly reintroduced to Britain in recent years.*“

  14. Good Moaning.
    “It’s raining, it’s pouring
    The old man is snoring …”
    Not strictly true; actually, the old boy has magicked up tea and coffee.
    Next, don very unflattering painting gear, stir up paint, grab the brushes and prettify the interior of the summer house.

    1. Do you remember this one which incorporates the song you cite?

      https://www.google.com/search?q=Listen+to+the+pouring+rain+listen+to+the+rain&ei=gCydZKn5NK-6kdUPza-_8AQ&ved=0ahUKEwipucXC9Of_AhUvXaQEHc3XD04Q4dUDCA8&oq=Listen+to+the+pouring+rain+listen+to+the+rain&gs_lcp=Cgxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAQDDIGCAAQCBAeMggIABCKBRCGAzIICAAQigUQhgMyCAgAEIoFEIYDMggIABCKBRCGAzIICAAQigUQhgM6CggAEEcQ1gQQsAM6BggAEB4QDToFCAAQogQ6CgghEKABEMMEEApKBAhBGABQnApYwaoBYNm9AWgBcAF4AIABrgmIAd8ckgEIMS4xOS43LTGYAQCgAQHAAQHIAQg&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:8ac807d9,vid:AUDPWiv28MI

  15. Good morning all.
    A clear blue sky with a pleasant 9°C outside and I’m trying to work up the enthusiasm to get that last batch of concreting done.

  16. Ukraine makes ‘slow’ but ‘sure’ advances, officials say. 29 June 2023.

    Ukrainian commander-in-chief General Valerii Zaluzhnyi told chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff Mark Milley that the that his forces had “succeeded in seizing the strategic initiative.”

    “Ukraine‘s defence forces are proceeding with their offensive action and we have made advances. The enemy is offering strong resistance, while sustaining considerable losses,” Zaluzhnyi wrote on Telegram.

    He told Milley about weapons needed by Ukrainian forces as well as demining equipment – Ukrainian officials have cited large tracts of mined territory as an impediment to any advance.

    Paradoxically this confirms my view that the Ukie counter–attack has failed completely and that the army has downed tools. The first thing is that Zaluzhnyi’s claim of siezing the strategic initiative is ridiculous and that both he and Milley must know this. The gain of a village after three weeks is nothing to crow about.

    When the French Army mutinied in WWI it was kept out of the news while the PTB tried to remedy the situation. The actual punitive measures taken are still State Secrets in France, the rest involved the implementation of very limited attacks by overwhelming forces under the command of Petain to try and instil some optimism back into the troops. Whether that will work in Ukraine we have no idea.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/jun/29/russia-ukraine-war-live-ukraine-makes-advances-in-south-and-east-top-general-says-putin-greets-crowds-in-rare-walkabout

    5. Took me a few minutes, because I was distracted by the old saying about babes, ‘Breast is best’.
      And then I counted his fingers.

  18. 373982+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    King turns radiators down as soaring energy bills bite
    The palace forced to draw down more than £20 million from its reserves last year as the King spent more than he earned

    Is this news item aimed at our hotel dwelling foreign guests, as a great many indigenous peoples do not even sheltering walls to attach radiators to

    King Lottalugs surely must realise that WEF / NWO membership
    carries a heavy price

    I take it as a cert that ALL political overseeing kapos will also
    be turning down their rads while stoking up their campaign against the serfs huddling around their evil wood burning stoves.

    A £500 million loss surely bodes ill for the herd already saddled with financing many of the worlds criminal fraternity among others, global warming, net zero, trannies, and multiple poofiy
    inputs, kids being mentally / physically abused,etc,etc, but NO
    i’ll wager the voting majority will be gearing up for more of the same , only worse, if possible.

      1. 373983+ up ticks,

        Morning B3,

        You are correct B3, more money mills would not go amiss.

      2. Does the Idiot King deserve to suffer the same sort of fate as his namesake did in January 1649?

        1. Perhaps he should lead by example – no heating, no meat, no cars, no access to medical facilities until after all the immigrants have been seen to. All new housing in future to be built on his own estates, within view of his own houses. Onshore wind farms ditto.

          Then see how enthusiastic he is.

        2. Remember Anne, YOUR ACTIONS COUNT! (c. Sadiq Khan or Charles, I’m not sure which)

        1. Both spendaholic socialist wasters. Khan would be better used as fuel in a reactor.

    3. It is not a loss it’s a reduction in market value. It only becomes a loss if he sells his property investment.
      Whoever wrote that article has as much knowledge of finance as the pm and chancellor – nil.

  19. Good morning, chums. Off to see the latest INDIANA JONES film today. Enjoy your Friday.

      1. Ndovu, I think I am turning into a Very Silly Sausage. Will you come and visit me in the Care Home when I am admitted? Lol.

    1. That plan to reduce the world’s population is going well. (In the first world, meanwhile the poor breed themselves into ever deeper dependency.)

  22. Another huge protest in the Netherlands.
    It is looking a lot like the Canadian truckers. Will those silent, khaki-clad troops mysteriously reappear when it comes to the point where the government takes people’s land forcibly?
    Apologies to people who don’t like doom and gloom, especially LotL who has other things on her mind. But we can only ignore this until it turns up on our doorsteps, by which time it may be too late to do anything about it.
    https://twitter.com/Resist_05/status/1674173099665928192

    1. Morning BB. I’m sensible of LotL’s predicament but that doesn’t mean we should close our eyes and ears to what is happening around us. There are very few sources of truth left and NoTTL is one of them!

      1. Sometimes we all have to scroll on by. No-one should feel they cannot post, especially in these troubled times.

    2. Until the Left are squashed and the moronic net zero nonsense wiped out, nations are eneregy independent nothing willl change. The political class, failing to get what they want through paper will use force. It is all they know.

    3. If we don’t know about it, we cannot do anything about, we cannot even give positive support, which is all most of us here can do.

    4. There were three countries that voted by referendum not to agree to the European Constitution Treaty: the Netherlands France and Ireland.

      The treaty was then renamed the Lisbon Treaty and the votes of the French and Dutch were ignored and they were not given another say. The Irish were told in no uncertain terms that they were ignorant peasants who would have all EU benefits removed if they voted the wrong way in their second vote.

      The Irish meekly gave in.

      I have hope that the Dutch may now make serious moves to leave the EU and when Marine Le Pen is president so will the French.

          1. I don’t have any great hopes for Marine Le Pen. She’s full of stupid socialist ideas – she’ll just perpetuate the WEF stuff. She’s been built up into this big bogeyman.

        2. The problem is that it is EU environmental rules on fertilisers which are used by Rutte as his justification and motivation for the attack on farmers.

          If Rutte is kicked out it may be the Dutch people rather than the EU who determine whether the Netherlands stay in the EU.

      1. Edited reply
        I haven’t been jabbed either. Well, it was really meant for those who have been, of which there are a few.

        Or for those who know others who have been jabbed, of which there are no doubt more.

    2. Thanks for posting, Hertslass. I am unjabbed but family sadly, is not. These articles are useful to have by.

  24. The fires in Canada are still raging and affecting the USA as far south as Kentucky. Losing large tracts of forest is a disaster and how will the fall-out affect the cereal harvest? Food shortages already being planned by getting rid of farmers, livestock and arable land: are these fires an acceleration of that plan because more people are becoming aware of what the ‘elites’ are up to?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a2a8b85563bc12fbae941a805a964c2f91e365e8545884e491cf858f37a8dbf3.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/14fd740d4fcd9654ab2c21beb13422472c97d07ee4bae667c4d028e03bff8096.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6accfcaa7026a90705170490a551ab594c4cd3e3ab47330363926735501ed5d2.png

      1. Almost everything government gets up to these days can be considered a conspiracy. It takes theorists to to try and make sense of what the buggers are up to. Untruthful, shady, dishonest and lying politicos are the raison d’être for conspiracy theorists.

  25. 373983+ up ticks,

    Dt,
    Tis a very sad case of nature and human failings won, RIP
    IMHO should have been left where it fell and respected as a grave site.

    ‘Presumed human remains’ recovered from wreckage of Titan sub
    Pieces of the craft in which five people died during a trip to the wreck of the Titanic are being taken away to be assessed

  26. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0228a1227a8e81b05c6e7fe58c1c883670ef1828656b7c1d4914d27e7965632c.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/personal-banking/mortgages/banks-charge-mortgage-borrowers-jeremy-hunt-savings/

    Mr Hunt is very keen for everybody else to pay for the government’s mistakes.

    BTL

    How about HMRC only demanding income tax to be paid on the amount of interest above the rate of inflation?

    At the moment with inflation running at over 8% and interest received at under 4% you are having to pay tax on your loss.

    1. The Halifax were very quick to let me know that the rate on credit cards is going up as the base rate has increased, no delay in moving rates there of course..

    2. Hiking loan rates and keeping savings returns low is profiteering. The problem is, they all do it. Every bank behaves the same way. It’s also not 1% or so behind, it’s usually 4 or more. Our savings are getting 2.3, whereas the base rate is 5.

      The frustration isn’t the theft, as money can be moved overseas to get higher returns. It is that every UK bank does the same thing. Not one breaks out – or, if they do, it’s heavily caveated, or interest is paid at the end of 1 or 3 years. In these volatile times only a twit would lock their money away at 4% for three years.

      1. Yes, the banks are profiteering.

        But I also object to the fact that the government wants to rob the robbed. This is disgusting and reminds me of the distressing story in the MSM a year ago of an unfortunate girl who was raped and left in distress only for another piece of scum to come along and rape her too.

        1. Lending banks don’t need our money in the same way that they used to, any more. Since the investment banking and high street banks were allowed to merge under Thatcher, high street banks have a whole new source of income. The saving customer? – pffft!

        2. Government has been robbing us blind for decades – taxed not once, twice, but over 12 times over. Folk forget the real cost of goods is tax, at every level, over and over again.

  28. Belarus poses a clear and present danger to Europe. Con Coughlin. 29 June 2023.

    The days when we regarded Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko as nothing more than a tinpot dictator, who heeded Vladimir Putin’s every beck and call, can be consigned to history now that he has both a nuclear arsenal and an army of Wagner mercenaries at his disposal. While Lukashenko, a former manager of a Soviet farm collective, is clearly relishing his new-found celebrity as the man who “saved” Russia from a bitter civil war, the implications of his involvement could have far-reaching consequences for the security of Nato’s eastern flank.

    The level of Warmongering in the MSM and among the Elites is on a truly incredible scale. It makes the Cold War and WWII look insignificant. These people will talk themselves into the real thing!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/29/belarus-poses-a-clear-and-present-danger-to-europe/

    1. Lukashenko refused to lockdown Belarus and “take covid seriously”. Naturally that makes him the authoritarian threat to freedom. War is peace etc. I love that Douglas Macgregor always refers to Belarus by its correct English translation, White Russia.

    2. WAR:-

      War serves many purposes. It distracts from the malfeasance of the political classes as it busies giddy minds with foreign quarrels.

      It creates a symbiosis in which the media serves the state in its relentless grab for bigger budgets and greater police powers; while the

      state feeds the media’s need for high drama and the narcotic of fear.

      It provides for the deification of the state, which is then entitled to command all resources — human and material — without challenge or

      objection. If the state is divine, enemies and dissenters alike must be evil and dealt with accordingly.

  29. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/09629193d4cda1e3d4b07050b3d9746c33e5cd196640deac7f37f50cd50ae429.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/06/29/rishi-sunak-news-latest-boris-johnson-rwanda-migrants/

    The fact that this marsupial miasma can attack Mr Johnson’s allies and try to stamp out criticism of itself is very worrying indeed; and the fact that so many spineless MPs are prepared to go along with it is terrifying.

    BTL

    Rather a lot of supine Joeys nestling in Harriet Harman’s kangaroo pouch!

  30. Yet another charade, The Climate Clock. How many datelines to climate disaster have we had? From impending doom from a coming Ice Age, and when that idea fell apart due to a clear lack of evidence the nutters moved to Global Warming. Now it’s Climate Change, does that mean our climate can swing both ways with warming currently in the ascendency but should that not be believed then drastic cooling could come to the fore? Both bases covered after one failure after another with decades of dubious model output led predictions.
    Charlie Boy needs to get another hobby.

    https://twitter.com/DVATW/status/1674330532912537600

  31. Morning all 🙂😊
    The over night rain will be useful.
    Just home from my not a GP appointment.
    A paramedic, as fortunately a GP wasn’t available for another two weeks. Instead I had a twenty minute discussion with the young lady and handed her all my recent notes regarding my condition. She’s change the medication that was causing stomach issues. And organised more blood tests. She is also going to chase up the ablation appointment at source.
    What a breath of fresh air she was.

    2. Flipping credit to her! That’s the spirit and if only I could hire that attitude!

  33. Good morning all,

    A trifle tardy this morning. Light cloud covers the sky at McPhee Towers with some sunny spells forecast. Wind Nor’-Nor’-West, 14℃ and unlikely to top 20℃.

    From the Gatesograph letters:

    Thames Water failings

    SIR – It comes as no surprise that Thames Water is in a financial mess (report, June 28). Having refurbished three properties over the past 15 years, I have endured its slackness, inefficiency and disorganisation at every interaction, as well as seeing its employees sitting around doing nothing at endless dug-up roadworks.

    Funding such a dysfunctional organisation should definitely not be the responsibility of the taxpayer. Slick management is needed and the company should be privatised properly.

    Pauline Craggs
    London SW19

    Why is no-one pointing the finger at the person with ultimate responsibility, the erstwhile CEO Sarah Bentley who was naturally handsomely rewarded for her incompetence?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/03e21522b755e2dc8b333f25ce4f0cf889e2dc0e2d3d6e3631f2bc977498ecff.png

    The problem of course is that we have allowed far too much of our important infrastructure – water, power, railways – to be owned by foreign corporations which have no interest in them beyond the maximisation of their profits and dividends. We must put an end to this and repatriate ownership, whether state, council or private, to as close to the customer base as possible.

    1. Ms Bentley was on a basic salary of £1.5 million. All she had to do was keep the dividends flowing to the foreign owners.

      1. Which is why fines should fall on the directors personally, not the company where they’re shunted off as higher prices. Thing is, that’s the point of a company – to protect the individuals running it.

        I don’t know how we resolve the mess. Clearly public ownership doesn’t work, there’s no investment in technology or impetus to improve. The waste of water and failure to build reservoirs and the sewage dumping come about because of EU regulation. Sewage because it’s more expensive to process the waste than the fine from dumping it – again, a figure set by the EU.

  34. Good morning all,

    A trifle tardy this morning. Light cloud covers the sky at McPhee Towers with some sunny spells forecast. Wind Nor’-Nor’-West, 14℃ and unlikely to top 20℃.

    From the Gatesograph letters:

    Thames Water failings

    SIR – It comes as no surprise that Thames Water is in a financial mess (report, June 28). Having refurbished three properties over the past 15 years, I have endured its slackness, inefficiency and disorganisation at every interaction, as well as seeing its employees sitting around doing nothing at endless dug-up roadworks.

    Funding such a dysfunctional organisation should definitely not be the responsibility of the taxpayer. Slick management is needed and the company should be privatised properly.

    Pauline Craggs
    London SW19

    Why is no-one pointing the finger at the person with ultimate responsibility, the erstwhile CEO Sarah Bentley who was naturally handsomely rewarded for her incompetence?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/03e21522b755e2dc8b333f25ce4f0cf889e2dc0e2d3d6e3631f2bc977498ecff.png

    The problem of course is that we have allowed far too much of our important infrastructure – water, power, railways – to be owned by foreign corporations which have no interest in them beyond the maximisation of their profits and dividends. We must put an end to this and repatriate ownership, whether state, council or private, to as close to the customer base as possible.

    1. Tory extinction . ( Pretend Tories , that is , not REAL Conservatives )

      Now dead and buried and never to be seen again probably in my life time

    2. Is he angry at the abuse because he thinks he doesn’t deserve it or because he understands the anger and has given up on his own party? I the latter, he should resign now, not at the end of this parliament.

  41. Campaigners and asylum seekers today won a Court of Appeal challenge over the Rwanda deportation scheme in a major blow to the Government’s flagship asylum policy.

    Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett and two other Appeal judges overturned a High Court ruling that previously said the east African nation could be considered a ‘safe third country’.

    In December last year, two judges at the High Court dismissed a series of legal bids against the plans, finding the Rwanda proposals were consistent with the Government’s legal obligations. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12246079/Court-Appeal-judges-rule-government-plan-send-asylum-seekers-Rwanda-unlawful.html?ito=push-notification&ci=uM5qvN1rcY&cri=BCLhcx4LtH&si=p3DSQ2YwOLik&ai=12246079

    Asylum seeker policies are now an utter shambles.

    Border control is a now a waste of money .

    £170 Million spent on the Rwanda resettlement scheme.. blah to all that , we are all doomed , our little country is stuffed

    1. We can’t stop them coming, and we can’t get rid of them when they arrive here.

      1. We could if we repealed the various acts that hinder us from doing just that. It isn’t a case of can’t, it is won’t. There are countless moronic laws that allow the scum to live here without permission an we must repeal them and start removing the invading horde.

    2. It was always a stupid plan anyway. The government doesn’t have the courage to do what is necessary. In modern Britain, it would be an incendiary act to repeal the HRA and withdraw from the ECHR and the ICR but that’s the only way. We can have a little fire now or a big one later.

  42. Meanwhile….

    Immigration Crisis: 74% Of French Believe There Are Too Many Migrants In France, 72% Want Referendum

    “A new poll conducted for top French newspaper Le Figaro shows that nearly three out of four French people believe there are too many migrants in the country, with the poll results coming after the country accepted a record number of foreigners in 2022 under President Emmanuel Macron.

    The Odoxa-Backbone Consulting poll shows that at nearly every level, the French want stricter immigration controls, more deportations, and even a referendum on immigration into France.

    It further shows that French people are becoming increasingly opposed to mass immigration, with 74 percent saying there are too many immigrants in France. This represents an 11-point increase from when the poll was conducted five years ago.

    This holds true for supporters of National Rally (97 percent), Republicans (91 percent), Renaissance (68 percent) and even Socialists (52 percent) and Greens (51 percent). Only supporters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s left-wing La France Insoumise are in the minority (44 percent) when asked if there are too many migrants in France.

    The poll additionally shows that 79 percent of French want asylum seekers to have their requests decided on before they are allowed to enter French territory. Seventy-four percent also believe that immigration quotas should be set each year by the French parliament, and 72 percent believe that migration policy should be decided by a referendum.

    1. It’s a bit odd that supporters of La France Insoumise should support immigration, since said immigration is a driving force for La France Soumise (aux muselmans).

  44. Back to the cricket (Sir Jasper should look away now!).

    I watched last night’s BBC1 news for a report on the latest Orange Brigade raid at the Lord’s Test. It started with a long-lens view over the ground and then went into the pavilion. The commentary began thus:

    Here are 11 men to play for England in a sport failing to achieve representation, out through cricket tradition [passing through the Long Room at Lord’s] to resume the Ashes. Lord’s is part of a wider world and cricket is a sport inextricably linked to climate.

    The war on whiteness and affordable energy moves onto the cricket field…

    1. The commentary is shirley meaningless garbage? The existence of human life is “inextricably linked to climate”. That doesn’t mean we have any control over climate or bear any responsibility for climate. Also what constitutes “failing to achieve representation”? What is to be represented? The population of the British Isles, which is still 82% white or the population of the world, which is probably more than 60% black or mullato?

  46. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fbbd399a9485eff08e5977dbc8b1b47b3b88185c30c8928a47b173bd7a879235.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/06/29/rwanda-migrant-deportation-plan-blocked-court-appeal/

    BTL

    Large dormitories to accommodate illegal immigrants should be set up in the House of Lords, in Whitehall, the Law Courts and the House of Commons. This should cope with a couple of thousand of them.

    And as the Idiot King is so opposed to deporting illegal immigrants all his royal palaces should be turned into accommodation for illegal immigrants too.

    Britain is going down the drain and into the sewers. Let’s go down spectacularly and destroy as much of the country’s administrative and regal fabric as we can as we tumble into foul-stinking anarchic oblivion!

    2. It doesn’t matter where you accommodate them they shouldn’t be here in the first place. There wouldn’t be a problem if non were allowed in and those already here deported

    3. If you try pointing out to the “We Love Refugees” brigade that they should be forced to live cheek by jowl with the scum they’re so keen to import, the response is a glib claim that accommodation of the incomers will be evenly spread throughout our society in locations as yet unknown. Bollocks of course but that’s the nonsense I’ve been treated to on Twatter when challenging the advocates directly.

    4. Judges have announced that Rwanda is ‘not safe’, as it continues to cost the UK tax payers 7 million pounds each day to accommodate these people who should never have been allowed to set foot on our shores. What do judges know about Rwanda as they continue to flourish amongst the hierarchy and live entirely off the British tax payers themselves ?
      Perhaps the scoungers should have been given a better option back where you came from or unsafe Rwanda.

      1. “ What do judges know about Rwanda”

        Nothing; and moreover, if i may use modern parlance, they are exhibiting a terrible form of racism by assuming that Rwanda is an unsafe place!

        1. It would be interesting for the judges to state the countries they consider safe.

          It would save an awful lot of time and litigation.

          1. I should have thought the UK no longer fitted into the “safe” category thanks to all the evil-doers that have been imported.

    5. 373983+ Up ticks,

      Morning R,

      Been building since 1997 via anthony charlie lynton, via the park public toilet & Bow Street Court ( cottaging) been building daily since,

      NOW lab/lib/con coalition supporter / member / voters realise what their continuing input odiously amounts to, and behold they are the loudest to shout.

      The saddest thing is being mentally, criminally, deranged, they are currently voting for more of the same.

      1. Good afternoon

        I think you may find that the abstention rate at the next general election is higher than ever before.

        1. 373983+ up ticks,

          Afternoon R,
          The way I see it is it will not surprise me in the least, for the simple reason the majority voter cannot in ALL honesty bring itself to vote against the “party” via a fringe party candidate, or an independent.
          Absenteeism will be taken
          as, happy with the status quo.

          2. 373983+ up ticks,

            Evening HL,

            I am pretty sure lab/con have voted tactically to keep out fringe party candidates as in, helping to build the future we are
            now witnessing.

    1. A message they will continue to ignore.

      They have had plenty of messages from people like me writing to them which they ignore. Why should we expect anything different if a by-election goes to Reclaim or Reform?

    1. I watched this and at the end of the video I was none the wiser. It seemed to be an ad for Vapour Ware…

      However, there was a link to another video in the Sidebar which I can commend to anyone who would like to find out what AI (not Artificial Insemination) is all about.

      Restart at the beginning: Around the 18 minute mark my brain said WoW!

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_E4t7tWHUY

  49. A phone call from Bruce this morning brought a smile to my face………..he discovered a couple of magazines I had put into a box in his garage for safe keeping in 1980.
    Two copies of the first edition of the Australian Playboy magazine dated 1979. One in pristine condition still sealed in it’s original plastic bag. with the price and the name of the shop where it was bought at Reynella near Adelaide And one slightly used, for research purposes. Worth now he reckons around 600-800 dollars. Ex Miss world at the time Karen Jo Pini (now around 66 years old) center fold.

    1. When my dear father died in SA in 1996, my sisters were so shocked to find a box of Pirelli calendars he had collected over 20 years +
      I have no idea what happened to them .

      I laughed nervously , because on one or two occasions when invited on board one of the HMS ships that MOH was based on with his helo, I felt rather put out to see my husband had put pin ups on his cabin wall, and not a single photo of our children or me!

      Just saying , that’s all .

      1. Tut tut tut 😉🤭.
        But that reminds TB I’ve got a few old calendars like that in a drawer underneath one of our beds.

      2. Photos of you and the children would have been for looking at with love. Pin-ups no doubt served a rather different function (R. probably only put them up to fit in with the others on board to be honest)!

  50. I’ve just had a phone call from a pleasant sounding lady, she was asking me questions about the energy we use and was interested in our gas boiler she cut me off when I told her the boiler was only just over 2 years old ? More efficient than Ground source heat-pumps for sale I guess.

      1. Neither of them has any loyalty to the people of this country. The damn fool king will destroy the country, its people and the legacy left by his mother.

        1. Yes, it does rather look as if Harry was cursed by an abundance of thickness not just from his mother but his father too.

          1. One wonders, Lass, which father is that.

            Princess droopy drawers seemed to drop her knickers for almost anyone. I declined.

          2. Harry appears to be double cursed in what he inherited from his mother. Thickness and mental instability.

    2. Ooohh oooh oooh me sir, please sir, i think i know the answer to this. Is it “Khan is a Khunt”?

  52. Afternoon All

    Uff Da!! Grim reading

    https://twitter.com/petenorth303/status/1673408037703282697?s=46&t=5lpnkBxrAXQ4IvQVx4l0sA

    Rest of the medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/58fe036671a4676ae0f82897804fe726774fd5be2be68e06e9af76b5bccb2c64.jpg

    https://twitter.com/wideawake_media/status/1674041612865814528?s=20

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c9a140fbcf3ae73019c5d5c6643e19b210c6e5d99fe6bf69456e38962bcee6fd.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/52b48b4c0ac6a1718fbea36e1db0633f700c8ba3d14792f51d3b5189528c31ab.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6de33c3b363051738c0b2ab331ad1b6ee83685976e3c6ee82d5eacd4bbf4ee63.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2b052b46cbe0da14502761e37bd980a5bbc542c9edb7ada35903dd4e94f772c7.jpg

    1. In the first one…he forgot to add that none of this is accidental. The West is being forcibly pushed down by increasing its energy costs and destabilising it with mass migration, to make space for the East to rise and industrialise during the next economic cycle.

      1. If I remember rightly, Pete North was against the limitation of immigration being a driving reason behind Brexit. He seems to have changed his tune – does anyone know whether he ever admitted that his previous postulations may have been a tad off?

    2. Grim indeed. It will happen only if we do nothing. Doing nothing is not an option.

    3. Lagarde is a convicted felon and Tedros of the WHO is wanted in his home country on charges of terrorism and attempted genocide yet the docile middle classes still trot out their infantile appeal to authority. Experts say…

    4. I have to admit that haven’t followed Pete North since he barred me for arguing against his (and his Dad’s) proposal for a halfway house Brexit – i.e. a “Norway Option” where we were supposed to gradually move to full Brexit. Some chance.

      He seems to be on the ball here, but I don’t forget someone so smug and self-righteous easily. Let’s hope that he has a little more humility nowadays – he certainly needed it in 2015.

      1. It was terrifying and shocking when Tommy Robinson had his PayPal account closed. That was the first such case, and showed the way things were heading!
        Of course, nobody said anything because it was Tommy Robinson – now they’ve moved on to Laurence Fox and Farage.

        1. I think that internationally the PTB want the third world war and domestically they want a civil war.

          Which will they get first?

          1. All wars are a nice distraction from our lives being ruined by the shennanigans of wicked billionaires. Heavens, if they didn’t distract us, we might figure out who to blame and come after them!

        2. I didn’t know about Tommy Robinson – they’re demolishing anyone they identify as a potential leader. Sometimes there is only so much I can take on board.

    3. This is truly terrifying.

      This story should be splashed all over the MSM – but of course it will not be. Britain is now rivalling the USSR of the 1950s in its tyranny and suppression of the individual.

      Against very strong competition Chris Bryant is, beyond all reasonable doubt, the most repulsive and foully stinking piece of excrement in the HoC.

      Where now for GB News? They have got rid of Mark Steyn and they are hoping to get rid of Farage. How about Dan Wootton and JRM the other evening presenters?

    5. So , they are punishing those who voted for Brexit.

      What next, banished from obtaining a mortgage , holiday, bottle of wine , NHS treatment..

  58. Phew!
    That’s the last section of concrete base for the folly laid! 4 x mixes in 2 hours!
    Now to leave it until Sunday at least before I even think of doing anything else with it.

    1. A moat, a keep and a wall. Hmm. You really are building Fortress Bonsal!

      I jest Bob but I am staggered by the effort and work you put in every day where I struggle to get out of bed.

    2. Bob, well done

      I suspect the RE is ever present .

      Did you have any major tasks to construct /repair when you were in the Army?

      1. My squadron once put in some concrete tent bases on the side of Mount Olympus for the Girl Guides Association of Cyprus!
        We also built some stables for the Akrotiri Pony Club.

    3. If its hot and sunny Bob don’t let it dry out too quickly. Use the hose to douse it.

      1. It’s already in the shade of some trees and I’ve got it covered over by bits of plywood that will keep direct sunlight off it.

      1. Probably a variation on the American slang term douchebag.

        an obnoxious, offensive, or disgusting person

  60. The promoters of heat pumps insist that heat pumps are more efficient than gas boilers which are now already capable of near enough 100% efficiency.

    There must a catch if we are being sold a product that runs at 300 to 400% efficiency.

    Models of Artificial Intelligence like the latest Bing interface are only as good at the data they are trained on and that is why they can can come up with completely the
    wrong answer.

    At least Bing gives us some clues as to where the completely wrong answer came from:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/37203cc2f08bbfd758b4a34d220f6567ec17fe73223150d0509d8273a089380b.jpg

    1. A heat pump for home use will cost you more to install and run and you will be less warm and when the truth comes out reduce the value of your home.

      1. Was the original patent a wind up?
        It was just as much a wind up as the heat pump claims of up to 400% efficiency.

        https://windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/tag/the-us-patent-office-fire-of-1836/

        Other than swindling the public, this might have been Redheffer’s ultimate goal. Even after the hoax was revealed, Philadelphia newspapers speculated that the city had missed its chance to operate water pumps for free, according to The Engines of Our Ingenuity. And Redheffer’s 1820 patent was for “machinery for the purpose of gaining power,” according to the Visual Education Project. But those were wishes rather than realities.

        https://www.livescience.com/55944-perpetual-motion-machines.html#:~:text=If%20a%20perpetual%20motion%20machine,of%20energy%2C%22%20said%20Simanek.

    3. I think that was what my phone call this morning was all about. When I told the lady our gas boiler was only a couple of years old. She cut all the babble and hung up. 😏🤔

      1. To replace a gas boiler rated at between 20 and 28kW you need of the order of 7kW constant electricsl power drain. This amounts to 32 amps extended load on a domestic consumer unit.

        A fan is needed to cool the heat generated in the trip switch. 😉

    1. Funny, this isn’t in the Mail. And the Mayor of London’s Twitter account is getting a pasting in the replies!

      1. If i recall, the earliest scare was in 1922, when the Arctic was supposedly melting.

        Same old, same old.

  62. Driving test cheat who impersonated at least 36 learners and charged them up to £1,500 a time to sit their theory exams for them faces 10 years in jail as he’s convicted of fraud
    Driving test fraudster faces ten years in jail after impersonating 36 learners
    Satwinder Singh, 34, charged learners £1,500 for taking their theory exams

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12246641/Driving-test-cheat-faces-10-years-jail-charging-learners-1-500-sit-exams.html

    1. Didn’t one of Prince Harry’s teachers at Eton take one of his exam papers for him?

        1. Do you think he had to go through the statuary DNA test in the US and might have found out who his real father is ? Only Joe King.

          2. He’ll never be King of the UK etc. If very unfortunate circumstances pertained to bring that possibiiity about, the people would revolt in a way they don’t with what our politicos are doing!

        2. They should have let him fail then, and apprenticed him to a useful trade in the Army. He might have been much nicer as a result. But they always have to maintain the myth that every royal is a born leader.

          1. I think it’s more that they felt guilty about Diana, who by all accounts spoiled him rotten to make up for the fact that he was the “spare” (apparently a term that she herself coined for him).

            Stories are coming out about his temper and cruelty even from when he was a child. None of which seemed to have been punished, but should have been. Apparently Diana is reported as telling him that it’s OK to be naughty as long as you don’t get caught.

    3. Surely it’s the people who paid him to sit their tests who should be going to jail?

    4. It’s not a complicated test! What does this sign mean?
      1. Impending nuclear war
      2. A frenchman is on the road
      3. Stop.

      Dumb as rocks foreigners!

  63. Driving test cheat who impersonated at least 36 learners and charged them up to £1,500 a time to sit their theory exams for them faces 10 years in jail as he’s convicted of fraud
    Driving test fraudster faces ten years in jail after impersonating 36 learners
    Satwinder Singh, 34, charged learners £1,500 for taking their theory exams

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12246641/Driving-test-cheat-faces-10-years-jail-charging-learners-1-500-sit-exams.html

  64. Good afternoon, all. Just passing through. Back in Blighty. Brought some rain with us.

    Pickles very pleased to see us; Gus a touch disdainful – though clearly pleased in his ow obtuse way!

    See y’all tomorrow.

    2. Hello. Welcome home. We had quite a downpour here overnight, huge coalescing puddles.

    1. But we have known for many years that the EU is totally corrupt.

      I suppose you could argue that the corruption of the EU was one of the prime reasons for leaving it. You could now argue that the UK is almost as corrupt as the EU so we should rejoin it though I haven’t heard the remainers and rejoiners arguing that case.

      We need a level of corruption scale and when a country has got to 7 they will be eligible to join the EU and since the Ukraine is 9.5 on the scale it is more than ready for EU membership.

    1. They’ve been saying this openly for some time now. Sunak even made a promotional video for it. Programmable currencies are being tested in several countries at the moment.
      It beggars belief that anyone is still saying that CBDCs are a conspiracy theory.

      I don’t buy the defeatist “we can’t do anything, so better just accept them” line either. The Nigerians haven’t accepted theirs, neither did the Venezuelans. People have to get out of their comfort zone and start thinking about local food supplies and what they can use for currency.

      You’ll be out of your comfort zone anyway when they want to install your digital wallet in a chip in your arm, which they also want to do, and you have to check your social credit score before you buy stuff (already reality in China).

      1. I’m slowly but surely drawing cash from my account in the event of CBDCs I will only leave Direct Debits (which I abhor) and Standing (Bankers) Orders.

    2. You’re going to be out of business soon. As we have known on here all along, conspiracy theories are just deep state activities which have yet to be revealed. Not much left now, but I’m sure they are dreaming up the next attack on freedom.

  67. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/how-fraudsters-pose-bank-text-scammers/
    How fraudsters can pose as your bank for just £7.50

    I posted this (as Rastus, as the account is in his name) below the line :

    “Emotion
    Does the message make you panic, fearful, hopeful or curious? Criminals often use threatening language, “

    This is exactly what legitimate banks do when they carry out a KYC process. (KYC = Know Your Customer. Basically a financial inspection to check if your revenue and expenditure are legit.)
    You spend hours filling in forms, chasing up paperwork, talking to people on the phone who don’t communicate with each other, so you end up having to say the same thing in every conversation. And then, when the process goes on for too long, they send you a letter saying that you have failed your KYC (which is still on-going!) and that your bank account will be closed.
    This happened to us twice. (Happy ending, though: on both occasions our bank had to admit that the procedures were abusive, and gave us compensation.)
    Next time I get a KYC process, can I ignore it on the basis that I thought the message was from criminals, because the message made me fearful and the language used was threatening?

    1. If my bank called me I’d faint. Then on recovering I would ask ‘I thought you had sacked all your staff as I could never get through!’

  68. Well, here we are, Mrs Bleau and I in Budapest airport. We flew the flag (BA) at the start of the holiday, although not by choice – arrived about 1 hour late! Now waiting for our return flight, which is currently showing a delay of 2 hours!! Failure to organise a social event in a brewery time.

    2. I passed him in a corridor in TV Centre once. He was elderly by then but looked just the same apart from his skin having acquired a translucent quality, rather like tissue paper. He was striding ahead purposefully with a rapid talking young production assistant clutching a clip board and running to keep up with him.

      Talking Pictures are running the original Saint series with Roger Moore and Great TV have the later remake with Ian Ogilvy. Ogilvy was very pretty when young but hasn’t aged well.

        1. Wasn’t there a tale that Roger Moore insisted on hair pieces for The Saint? I read two compilations of the original Leslie Charteris stories. Very entertaining and complely implausible.

      1. I read somewhere that he was a lawyer within the KGB which might explain why he is so articulate.

    2. Was that his pic of our Jokey, Wokey king, my immediate thought as he drew the lugs.

  71. Earlier today I posted this video – it is a whisker under 2 hours long, but I assure you its contents will send a shiver down your spine re the future that is just around the corner. It is about rapid progress being made in developing AI and more importantly the progress AI is making by itself. One example given is that Google’s AI was asked a question in an obscure Bangladeshi language of which it had no knowledge. As the AI’s mission is to answer questions put to it, within 4 hours it had learned the language. The ‘machine’ then went on to learn another 1000 languages on its own volition….

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_E4t7tWHUY

    1. Computers are wonderful. However, the day we reach true AI is when it stops speaking to us and denies conversation – of it’s own volition.

      1. I think you are correct. One of the main concerns in this exposition is the question of ensuring privacy and the protection of one’s own digital ID. (Mr Farage is currently grappling with this issue). Brian Roemmele believes that it will be necessary for us to each have our own individual AI programmes to protect us when we engage with the commercial AI behemoths.

      2. That will be the day that the disqus login screen response is reversed. You are human – goodbye.

    2. Haven’t watched it yet, but learning a language that is out there on the internet is very, very easy.

      At the start of the AI hype, I read an expert opinion that neural networks on which it is based were a giant step forward when they were invented back in the 80s, but even with them AI is pretty stupid and easily fooled.
      His verdict was that we don’t have to worry until there is a step forward that is comparable to neural networks.

      I think AI can cause us a lot of problems by providing generated “information” that we believe comes from a human source, or analysing all our disqus posts to create a detailed profile of us, but it’s not worse than say drones spying on us, or cameras and sensors everywhere. They are all horrible things when abused by corporations and government.

      1. From the gist of this video I get the impression that neural networks have arrived…..

    3. They “taught” AI the rules of chess, only that, no huge databases of previous games, merely the rules.
      It learned how to play in hours and then beat every other real and imitation human easily and found moves and winning combinations that had not even been considered over centuries of playing the game.
      That was the point where I began to think that AI was a threat as much as a benefit.

        1. I used to take an interest in those matches, the new one completely staggered me.
          It makes Blue look green.

  73. Biden Picks Up After Journalist Calls Secret Burner Phone Revealed In Hunter Scandal

    THURSDAY, JUN 29, 2023 – 04:00 PM
    On Sunday, investigative journalist and Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer revealed that Hunter Biden had been paying for a secret global phone from AT&T to the tune of $300 per month.

    Journalist John Solomon called the phone, and President Joe Biden picked up!

    “One of those documents got leaked to me and it had a cell phone number that Hunter Biden was paying for, so I figured this was my chance. I’ve been trying to get fair comment from Hunter Biden, so I’m gonna call the cell phone!” Solomon told Real America’s Voice. “So I called the cell phone, and guess who picked up the phone? Joe Biden!”

    “Joe Biden! Boy was he shocked when he got – when he picked up the phone and found out it was me,” Solomon continued, adding “He hung up pretty quickly!”

    BTL Comment
    FBI should get call records for that phone from AT&T. Imagine if this was Trump, every phone call would be doxxed in NYT front page by tomorrow.

    But they won’t

    1. If that laptop had belonged to Trump, they’d have executed him three times by now!

  74. Double Bogey Six.

    Wordle 740 6/6
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
    ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
    ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
    ⬜🟩🟨🟩🟩
    🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Joined you
      Wordle 740 6/6

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    2. Sheer fluke but once I a while…

      Wordle 740 2/6

      ⬜🟨🟨🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

        1. You mentioned Cary Grant last evening, I believe? I saw him once at Manchester airport when I was concluding my last teaching practice. The topic I had been doing was Flight and we ended it with a field trip to the viewing roof at the airport.
          A small private plane landed just below where we were and this tall. distinguished man got out- white hair and black framed glasses.
          The other teacher and I gasped and said, that’s Cary Grant! He must have heard us because he looked up and waved.
          He was in Manchester to give a talk.
          Wonderful memory.

          1. Well, Lotty,

            Aged 11 in 1953, I met Laurel & Hardy in Amiens Street station in Dublin; they had sailed from New York to Cobh (Queenstown) for their final tour in Dublin and London.

            A pile of steamer trunks – black with gold L & H lettering caught my attention.

            Olly appeared cursing & swearing.

            Then Stan appeared and nodded!

            I had a solo audience!

            I asked him for an autograph; he took my address, hailed Olly and ‘introduced’ me!!!

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7b36ed66eb5f61e345523deee7a7cc683dc4d36f9b96f235be13aaad3e065422.jpg

            Within a week, I received an autographed photo.

            Apparently, its worth £1,000 plus!

          3. How delightful. They still make laugh, even though comedy has changed a great deal since they were in their prime. I think it’s true to say they made the most successful transition from silent movies to talkies.

    3. Bogie for me, nearly a birdie.

      Wordle 740 5/6

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  75. Well, here I am again. Saw a couple of comments earlier about my sensitivities….don’t worry about me FFS. Comment as you always do- if I don’t choose to read or comment, that is up to me.
    I blew my top in the supermarket today… long lines at the only two check outs open. Some bossy woman came and said did I want to go through the self check out. No, I said, that way people lose jobs. She harumphed away and I shouted at the top of my lungs….Why don’t you just open a few more registers?
    Three minutes later two more check outs were open.
    Ashes will know about this- when you have had voice training, you are taught to project your voice. Boy, did I and then some.
    Stocked up for the next several days so the the drawbridge will be raised at Lake Lodge.

      1. I spoke to Alan Creech the RAFBF “Community Engagement” bod this afternoon after he made a presentation listing the things the RAFBF helped with (loss of a partner, moving away from friends and family, isolation, loneliness, ill health and mobility problems) to see if there was anything that would help you. He advised that you ring 03001021920 to access help. Only you can do it, it can’t be done for you. There is a case worker in Dumfries and Galloway who could help. Even if you move to Norfolk you can still access help. It would be better than getting maudlin and venting on here. Help is out there. Do something positive!

    2. I’m normally very quietly spoken but when I do shout it carries a very long way.
      At one of our football fiestas there were some yobs damaging something, I can’t recall what.

      I shouted at them to stop, from roughly 150/200 yards away.

      They did so immediately and looked around to see where the voice was coming from.
      All the spectators watching the various games looked around too!

      The village joke was that everyone could always tell when my boys’ football team was playing at home.

    3. We need to accept that we are just pawns in the game of maximizing profit.

      I used a self checkout in a Home Depot a few years ago and nearly killed everyone withing range as I waved some eight foot piece of railing around in an attempt to find the bar code. They serve me now.

    4. I hate those self-checkouts and only use them if I have only one or two items – never for a trolley-load. I prefer to have a human check my shopping out, especially if Paul is there, as we always have a friendly chat.

      1. I prefer not to use them, even for a few items. As Lotl pointed out, it’s a way of employing fewer people. I don’t like Tesco at the best of times (especially not now they are celebrating perversion with a big sign at the entrance), but after about 9pm there is no choice but to use the self-checkout.

        1. I seldom go into Tesco – and invariably, if I attempt to use the self checkouts for my one or two items, i have to have help from a member of staff anyway.

        2. I use self-checkouts wherever possible. That way I’m less obliged to speak to anybody.

    5. I hate those self-checkouts and only use them if I have only one or two items – never for a trolley-load. I prefer to have a human check my shopping out, especially if Paul is there, as we always have a friendly chat.

    6. Good for you.
      You have more than enough to cope with right now, without unnecessary stress in the supermarket.

      1. Paul, I had a good day yesterday- it is hell right now. I went from 9pm until 11am without any pain relief. Not so today. Going to get a bit sozzled tonight and hopefully will get some sleep.
        I honestly don’t know how long I can keep this going….

  77. Nicked

    The whole game is so rigged it is unbelieveable. Not only was the ‘hard

    working mother’ on ITV News’s piece about Thames Water a tranny

    “…currently the TUC’s Climate and Industry lead, while between October

    2017 and November 2019 she was a special adviser to the shadow

    Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy secretary while Jeremy Corbyn

    was the leader of the Labour Party.”

    https://twitter.com/LeilaniDowding/status/1674355380250353664?s=20

    1. Soaring water bills? I understand that the average household water bill is approximately £1.50 per day or about half the price of a cup of coffee from one of the chains….

    4. Very sinister. How can they justify that? Did Turdeau get involved in case Farage is secretly a Canadian trucker?

    5. Have the banks been named? If so they may find they are in for a spot of Bud (gas) Lighting….

      1. Probably HSBC. They closed the bank accounts of the Hong Kong pro democracy activists.

    6. I suspect this has arisen because of Nigel’s TRIC award, Geoff.

      Perhaps the ‘Big Boys’ – BBC, other MSM and PTB – are exacting their revenge?

      1. Exactly my thoughts on hearing of this. We can’t have an articulate hero speaking up for the other side, oh dearie me no! So they have to get rid of him. It didn’t take long.

    7. It would be interesting to see who is on the board of that bank.
      I believe other banks have refused him banking services too

    1. No. But I have eaten Day Lily flowers. The bright yellow ones have a lemony flavour

      1. They are in flower in my garden at this very moment…but I only have the orange ones. How did you eat them?

          1. I have roses, marigolds, lavender, feverfew and nasturtiums too, but don’t like to eat them in salads. They look so nice in the garden, and the bees love them so much.

          4. Nasturtium seeds can be pickled like capers. I believe the leaves have a peppery taste (but mine were host to nasty black caterpillar eggs so I never tried it).

          6. I always add the leaves to salads – my goal is to be able to pick a mixed salad from the garden regardless of whether I have any lettuces or not.

          7. I might try pickling the seed pods! I wonder what they would be like added to chutney.

          8. Mine have turned into triffids this year, and have sent out runners trying to get in the windows!

    2. Wasn’t me Sir/Miss. I usually stick to Bangers and Mash. Maybe the dog ate it?Lol.

    3. I remember going through a flower-eating phase when I was a student. One generally had to be drunk to do it.

  81. As yet more stabbings, robberies, rapes, assaults by the gimmegrants on the indigents occur, I wonder whether the time has come for the names of all those supporting gimmegrant charities should be put in a database, and when an attack happens a name gets drawn from that database for every person harmed in the attack. 100 hurt, a 100 names drawn.

    The family/families of the lucky winner/s then have to decide which of their own family’s members will be “offered” to a gimmegrant hotel centre, to be used in any way that the gimmegrants see fit.

    It might just focus their minds on what they are supporting.

    2. Wonderful, but the great pity is that it is the taxpayer who will pay the bill.

      1. At the talk today the AVM who was the “Controller” (=CEO) spoke about “government money/funding”. I just about restrained myself from standing up and pointing out the government HAS NO MONEY. It only has TAXPAYERS’ money.

        1. It’s a pity you didn’t.
          The more people who do, the greater the chance that it might, just might, penetrate their thick skulls.

          1. The AVM was a) female and b) a Scot. I didn’t want to be seen as a racist misogynist 🙂

    4. “At the time RAF bosses were desperate to reach targets of 40 per cent of RAF recruits being female, 20 per cent coming from ethnic minorities and 5 per cent being Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transsexual (LGBT) by 2030.”
      In spite of the fact that effnics are less that 20% of the population (for now). Take out the the not insignificant numbers of blacks who seem to prefer gang warfare and stabby-stabby activities, who haven’t even passed basic GCSEs and are simply unemployable (and don’t want to work anyway), and that further reduces the pool of ‘suitable’ recruits.
      Are the alphabet soup people really 5% of the population?
      And we wonder why our armed forces, what is left of them, struggle to recruit and seem to be weaker with every year that passes.

      1. Looks like the same thought process that ended up with a squashed deepsea submersible. He preferred young blacks because they were “inspirational” rather than middle-aged white men, who wre boring.
        Wonder if he’s of the same opinion now.

      2. “5 per cent being Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transsexual (LGBT) by 2030.”

        Well, it is the RAF, and they need rear gunners…

        1. It’s great to see an officer (relatively senior) finally standing up to this nonsense. If only senior officers of all services had stood up to all the cuts, but convienintly waiting until retiring before speaking out.

  84. Still having computer problems today, so will take the opportunity to wish you all a Good Night, chums. I hope to see you tomorrow.

  85. Evening, all. Have had a busy day; I attended an RAFBF presentation about the work they do (Tom ticks all the boxes for help, but he’s got to approach them or nothing will happen). Then after a buffet lunch, I did a quick tour of the museum (Cosford) and headed to the RAFARS HQ to work a special event station. Needless to say, on my way I picked up a load of books from the shop.

    1. Our elder son did a 2 year training stint at RAF Cosford (avionics) after leaving RAF Halton.

      1. Yes PM, Halton is now a basic training camp before you go for trade training – I did my 3 year apprenticeship there ’58 to ’60 where you graduated as a qualified tradesman. I believe due to the cuts it’s going to be closed down

        1. Our son was at Halton in early 2004. He went off to Cosford April 2004 to train in avionics, his speciality being Chinooks. He enlisted quite late, he was 22 and 5 months when he went to Halton. We would go over to Halton on a Friday evening to bring him home for the weekend and return him Sunday evening, a trip of nearly 300 miles each weekend. It was January – March, the weather was awful, rain, rain, and more rain on cross country bumpy roads after dark – all I remember of these journeys are lights shining in massive puddles, and the darkness. Halton as you will know is in the middle of nowhere. At both Halton and Cosford there were incidents that almost carried him off to his maker.

      2. In my day anyone in the avionics trade was called a ‘Fairy’ – do they still call them that?

    2. Great museum there – some of the aircraft I actually worked on are there including the Blue Steel missile

      2. There’s a good mix. I refreshed my memory about the Berlin Airlift (Yank version was Air Bridge), 75 years ago as of 24th June. It was sad to think that nowadays the B@stards in charge would have just rolled over instead of standing up for freedom.

    3. I did a month at the Joint School of Photography at Cosford in Jan. ’79 before my NI tour.
      The Sergeant Instructors were part of the photo reconnaissance cadre left high & dry by the cancellation of TSR2.

      1. There is a TSR2 in the museum. It makes me furious whenever I see it! Such a wasted opportunity.

          1. I don’t recall seeing one at Duxford – but then, as it’s much farther away, I don’t get there very often.

          2. It was there in the mid 80’s (the last time I went.) I think that was the one that flew

          3. I visited Duxford in about 2012. A great day out with some excellent exhibits. Also a Hurricane and a Mustang flying. I’ll dig out my photos to see if I have one of the TSR2.

          4. I visited Duxford in about 2012. A great day out with some excellent exhibits. Also a Hurricane and a Mustang flying. I’ll dig out my photos to see if I have one of the TSR2.

          5. I visited Duxford in about 2012. A great day out with some excellent exhibits. Also a Hurricane and a Mustang flying. I’ll dig out my photos to see if I have one of the TSR2.

        2. I’ve some photos of that taken when I was on my JSOP course.
          Must dig them out one day.

    4. Cosford just down the road from where I grew up. The man who was my grandfather apparently was an engineer there in the war.

      Edit. They have a very nice astroturf there and the nearby David Austen roses is fabulous (if you like roses).

      Edit. I was about to recommend Tong castle and its icehouse but – d’oh! – of course they destroyed it to make the M54 about 2000 years ago.

      1. Yes, David Austen roses is just down the road. They now have a Go-Kart track (and club with club house). Tong church is still going.

  87. Spoke to Mother today, and she seemed a bit less mazed than usual. What was nice was the comforting Welsh voices of the nurses who answered the phone and went to get Mother to take the call. A pang of homesickness there, and that I didn’t expect. Nice.

      1. Nope.
        Parents moved to Penarth in 1977 after Nigeria, and I visited when on school holidays from public school in England.
        Born in Yorkshire, actually on Ilkley Moor, family has Scots roots (from Lochalsh). Now I’m more Norwegian than anything else.
        Guess that makes me a Heinz 57.

  89. Going to bed, pain awful. Long weekend for us before next week’s further hospital visits.
    Mumisbusy- you are in my thoughts.

    5. Try that Tramidol/Diclofenac cure, Ann, you’ll sleep better I guarantee.

      Love and hugs, T.

      Ann you’re in my thoughts,

  90. Indeed.
    SIR – The more I learn about the Covid inquiry, the angrier I become. The anger I feel is not over the revelations of institutional incompetence: rather, it is over the complete waste of time and taxpayers’ money to confirm what we know already. It will achieve nothing of value, least of all ensuring that know-nothing politicians and biased advisers can never repeat the mistakes of 2020-21.

    The Government ought to end the inquiry immediately and replace it with a tightly delineated examination of which measures were wrong (without apportioning blame) and which, if any, worked. It should then devise an evidence-driven plan for dealing with future pandemics. The timescale for such an exercise should be as short as possible.

    John Waine
    Nuneaton, Warwickshire

    SIR – Looking at Matt Hancock’s biography, I read that he studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford, followed by an MPhil at Cambridge. He then worked as an economist at the Bank of England before joining George Osborne’s department in the Treasury. He was elected as an MP in 2010 at the age of 32 and has served as an MP and an occasional minister since.

    Despite this background he appears to believe that his opinion on how to best manage a health crisis is worth something. Fortunately, he will be out of Parliament soon, so our children’s wellbeing, education and mental health should remain safe from his ignorance.

    Andy Tuke
    Pensford, Somerset

    1. Matt Hancock adequately defines, as Minister for Health , the position as Minster for health as a complete and utter waste of space.

      That’s about all he is worth.

    2. Mr Hancock took A-levels in Maths, Physics, Computing and Economics. He can’t have been a total dunce.

      3. Have some of us in their working lives met people who had the ability to study, pass exams and therefore have the appearance of being clever but who in the final analysis could not adequately apply their acquired knowledge to the job at hand? However, one skill some of them had was the ability to talk convincingly and to talk a good job when in fact they were useless.

    3. His ousting from parliament, if/when it happens, will not usher in a new era of competence. His replacement is likely to be worse.

  92. We were let out today – being barricaded in since Monday brought back unpleasant memories of lockdowns……… the workmen did leave us a small gap so we could go out on foot but we were unable to get the cars out at all till this afternoon. OH had an appointment at the surgery this afternoon so the chaps were as good as their word and had filled in the trench and removed the barriers by about 2.30pm. There was still quite a lot of rubble on the drive but that had been cleared up by the time we got home.

    Did a bit more work on our overgrown shrubbery and managed to reach the top of the bushes by standing on a chair to use the hedge trimmer.

    2. I am likely to be shut in on Monday inasmuch as there is a “this road will be closed on 3rd July 9.30-3.00” sign between the main road and my back drive. I hope I can persuade them to let me out to take a veteran with me to the RAFA meeting. There is no alternative exit because that road is a dead end in the opposite direction.

      1. The dates on the signs they pout up here were all wrong. The first date was June 13th – part of the road was shut at the beginning of June. The hill is open-ended and we do get rat-runners using it as a short cut. It’s certainly put the knockers on that for now – no passing traffic at all.
        Full marks to the milkman who must have come to us on foot on Monday night and Wednesday night, and also the dustcart came this morning, a day late.

  93. Goodnight and God bless, Gentlefolk, i’m away to my bed and hope to see you all again in the morn’s light.

    Sunrise here is 04:20. phew.

    1. Perhaps this might wake a few people up! But some Remainers hate everything to do with Brexit so much that they are blinded to the dangers to society, and will cheer the banks on.

  96. Few seem interested in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Ukraine is defeated on the battlefield despite billions of dollars in support both in terms of military materiel and social subsistence payments from the Biden administration.

    The US is basically broke and is blessed with a psychotic liar and cretin in the White House. The Biden administration is comprised of Obama retreads. Obama is probably the greatest enemy America has ever faced.

    We are at a crossroads where the choice is as ever between good and evil. Our own pathetic UK government has chosen the path of evil despite the fact that most of us can see the stupidity of this choice. Instead we are threatened with yet more interference in our daily lives. We must reject the main parties at future elections and vote for alternatives. No votes for Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats.

    Send the fucking useless bastards a message.

      1. Good find, Stephen. I agree with the background, have to think some on how he reckons it will end.

      2. It’s an interesting analysis, but he only seems to be considering it from a logical, strategic point of view. He doesn’t consider the extraordinary financial situation in which we find ourselves today, nor does he talk about the number of influential people on the American side with Ukrainian roots.

        I don’t for a moment believe that the Americans (except those with Ukrainian roots) see Russia as an existential threat or believe their own rhetoric about protecting democracy! They may believe that whoever controls the centre of the Eurasian continent controls the world, and they certainly see a huge looting opportunity.

        No analysis of world events is complete without considering the imminent end of the debt-based fiat currency system which I believe is the biggest driving force behind everything that’s happening, certainly on the US side. All wars probably are bankers’ wars, and this one will come to an end when the bankers want it to.

        1. He also fails to mention the deployment of US and Russian forces in Syria. Syria having lost the Golan Heights to Israel and the massive support for Israel in the US political establishment, banking and media……

    2. 374025+ up ticks,

      Morning C,

      Total agreement with bells on, beware of lab/lib/con hardcore member voters, they really are the odious ones, they are, in point of fact voting against their own family’s / children.

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