Thursday 31 October: Amid broken promises and sleight-of-hand, the state has taken back control of Britain’s economy

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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549 thoughts on “Thursday 31 October: Amid broken promises and sleight-of-hand, the state has taken back control of Britain’s economy”

    1. You have to hand it to him. He makes people laugh.
      It may be an underrated skill, but we are still quoting Reagan.

  4. Good morning Geoff and his merry band of Nottlers.
    Today's Tale isn't a tale, but it's especially for the Ladies.
    When I worked in Food Safety it was stated that women consume about 4 or 5 times more chocolate than men do, and it is also cyclical, if you get my meaning. So here goes:

    17 Reasons Why Women Prefer Chocolate to Sex:
    (there were originally 20 but I had to censor several)
    1 You can get plenty of chocolate.
    2 Chocolate satisfies you even when it goes soft.
    3 You can safely have chocolate while you’re driving.
    4 You can make chocolate last as long as you want it to.
    5 You can have chocolate anywhere (even in front of your mother).
    6 If you bite the nuts too hard, chocolate won’t mind.
    7 Two women can have chocolate together and not be called dykes.
    8 You can ask a stranger for chocolate and not get a bad reputation.
    9 With chocolate there’s no need to fake enjoyment.
    10 Chocolate doesn’t make you pregnant.
    11 You can have chocolate at any time of the month.
    12 You’re never too old for chocolate.
    13 When you’re having chocolate, it doesn’t keep anyone awake in the next room.
    14 Even small chocolates are good.
    15 You can have chocolate with kids and not go to jail.
    16 Chocolate doesn’t keep you awake snoring after you’ve had it.
    17 You can have chocolate all weekend and still walk OK on Monday.

    1. Good morning, roughcommon. I posted my own chocolate post this morning, before I read your funnies!

    1. What, another Budget on Halloween, Blower? I thought the one on the 30th of October was bad enough.

  7. 395525+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    RESET going well the political agents could not have asked for more in regards to the tactical voters actions
    done via malice and spite, aided & abetted by the best of the worst cretins.

    We have, these last four years been going through a softening up, making more malleable campaign this is the preview, the trailer of what is to come.

    The best of the worst was called for and
    brothers / sisters we are going to receive it in spades.

    https://x.com/Salwan_Momika1/status/1851672136798134433

    1. 395625+ up ticks.

      O2O,

      I believe the main object of this budget is deflection, covering up.
      ( ALL governing parties are masters of that)

      The incoming troop movements and the resident politico's are playing on the fact that the electorate is riddled with mental health issues that are given succour via, you got it, the coalition politico's / pharmaceutical
      RESET actervist.

      1. Of course, she's helping to cover up the 'THEY' NWO replacement of indigenous people's with costly illegal invaders. They are dishonest and still can't admit that it is the 'THEY' who are causing the problem with our economy, the well known black hole.

      2. I think there are enough Communists in the Labour government to make them determined to turn Britain a Communist State.

        The first step, of course, is to rob those who own anything of everything they own and this is already well under way.

      3. I think there are enough Communists in the Labour government to make them determined to turn Britain a Communist State.

        The first step, of course, is to rob those who own anything of everything they own and this is already well under way.

  8. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's NoTTLe page. Don't forget some kiddies' treats for tonight's Trick or Treat. I bought a few very small chocolate bars yesterday, then spoiled my diet by eating them all. Now I'll have to hide if the front door bell rings tonight.

    Wordle 1,230 5/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie
      Wordle 1,230 3/6

      ⬜🟨🟩🟨⬜
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    1. My X/Tw@ter Comment:-

      Jesus wept.
      Is that man totally ignorant of economics?
      How are workers going to spend that money if they are made redundant when the company they are currently working for goes into receivership because of the extra costs his party has piled onto them?

  10. Britain is heading for oblivion, ruined by Labour’s greed, malice and stupidity. 31 October 2024.

    This was the worst Budget I have ever heard a British Chancellor deliver, by an enormous margin. It is a catastrophe with no redeeming features, a milestone in our decline and fall, an attempt to gaslight the public by a Government that has broken all of its promises.

    Socialism, class warfare, a contempt for private property, the belief that quangocrats, not entrepreneurs, are the fount of prosperity: the old Left-wing mind virus has reinfected the Labour party, and the consequences will be lethal.

    In all fairness this is probably just speeding up the process of collapse and the imposition of Globalist Serfdom. The previous government were little different in principle.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/30/allister-heath-budget-reeves-end-of-britain/

    1. Allister Heath
      Britain is heading for oblivion, ruined by Labour’s greed, malice and stupidity
      Reeves has condemned us to penury, thanks to her obsession with punitive taxes and higher spending

  11. Good Moaning all.
    A dull, grey daylight, of sorts, has dawned. Thankfully dry as yet and a tad over 6°C on the Yard Thermometer.

    A BTL Comment from Celia Butterfield:-

    8 hrs ago

    There is more to England than the NHS. Why is it so revered and on such a high pedestal? It’s not world class, it’s not fit for purpose and it’s definitely only there for the employees not the patients. There is no other country that would allow this state of affairs to reach and continue where the revenue from ever increasing taxation was thrown into the pension pots of every employee and then topped up again by tax revenue paid at a percentage not heard of outside of the public sector instead of being used wisely where it is needed most. No wonder the medical staff are bogged down and leaving in droves; they are being usurped by inexperienced and pig headed so called managers. World class NHS? Who on earth would invest in UK PLC after today’s useless budget by a useless chancellor. A new model is needed and very very soon.

    1. 395625+ up ticks,

      Morning Bob,

      Try seeing it as a money laundering
      conduit for treachery rendered.

    2. The govt gets 1226 billion of our money. Two-thirds is spent on NHS, education and prisons. 260 is spent on benefits. All of these four sectors need root reform. And all Labour can do is pilfer off anyone above sustenance level and try to stifle growth of the economy.

  14. Birds can Learn

    For many years I have maintained a string of bird feeders hanging from a metal arch at the bottom of my garden. I would fill them about twice a week with peanuts and fat snacks, but one day a trio of jackdaws arrived and perched nearby, watching the antics of the acrobatic Blue Tits and Great Tits while the small birds dangled upside down, feeding.

    After several weeks, one of the jackdaws dared to try hanging upside down too and was successful. Its mates soon learned to copy this move and within a week they could clean out the whole set of feeders in less than a morning, to the exclusion of the smaller birds.

    Last weekend I visited Wisley Gardens and saw what I was looking for – a regular wire mesh feeder surrounded by a cage to keep out squirrels and larger birds. So as soon as all of the feeders had been emptied by the jackdaws (and a smart Magpie as well) I filled just the 'protected' feeder to see what would happen.

    Within days there was a brave (and hungry) Blue Tit who slipped inside the 'cage', grabbed a peanut and scarpered. Soon he/she returned, and before long there were two or three regulars enjoying their protected feeder. Here's a photo, taken yesterday morning from 35 feet away – one Blue Tit and one Great Tit:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1ab07dff68c14121a41293fd88fae0426616f8923b8f8e72c986cc70055d7b1e.jpg

    P.S. I was going to caption this post with: For those who love Tits, but I thought it might not pass the censors.

    2. At least your idea didn't go tits up.

      Squirrels like moles will always defeat humans.

      Most likely outcome is the cage will be on the ground with the contents scattered.

      1. Phizzee, just returned and seen your comment. Been there, done that.

        We used to have squirrels regularly until I adopted a scheme with a high-power hose spray to dowse the little perishers as they hung upside down on the feeders with their backs turned.

        The feeders are now hung on lengths of steel wire from a half-inch steel tube. I haven't seen a squirrel for some time, though I do get visits from beautiful (and acrobatic) Jays from the large woods nearby.

        Here's a typical one, from 35 feet away:
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/992e7fc6b073cd906baa8b01e171693e021d59990f613bc306c33cc358476a5b.jpg

          1. Just back from town. Yep, the camera is a Panasonic DMC-TZ70, pocket-sized but with a 30x Leica zoom lens.
            EDIT: I've just realised that it's NINE years old now!
            This one:
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e46e7d4a91691675a9c8a3cf7a9fa3f0384a7bb04dc06ddc864b7d8d3ebed88c.png
            As long as you use a tripod you can get shots like those from a big enough distance not to bother the birds. I used to use big, heavy SLR cameras, but unless you want door-sized enlargements, the iPhone in your pocket can now manage some superb high-resolution shots.

      2. Phizzee, just returned and seen your comment. Been there, done that.

        We used to have squirrels regularly until I adopted a scheme with a high-power hose spray to dowse the little perishers as they hung upside down on the feeders with their backs turned.

        The feeders are now hung on lengths of steel wire from a half-inch steel tube. I haven't seen a squirrel for some time, though I do get visits from beautiful (and acrobatic) Jays from the large woods nearby.

        Here's a typical one, from 35 feet away:
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/992e7fc6b073cd906baa8b01e171693e021d59990f613bc306c33cc358476a5b.jpg

    3. Our problem is with greedy starlings who poke their long, sharp beaks through the outer cage, similarly devouring the contents within a short time.

    4. I put food out every day for the birds. Some on the drive opposite the window and some on the windowsill two feet in front of the computer. There are regular 'flocks' of sparrows, various tits, robins and thieving magpies. I even put cat food granules on the windowsill, the birds love it. I used to feed stray cats, which called every day, but they have all disappeared.

    5. We have used these (and a larger RHS one that looks more like a conventional bird cage with an inner feeder) but , unfortunately, the squirrels learned how to prise off the top. I wired the top down but they bit through the wires. Once, a squirrel managed to get trapped in between the outer cage and the inner mesh. Luckily he worked out how to free himself as I had not looked forward to trying to liberate a panic stricken rodent.
      But the death knell to bird feeding came when ring necked parakeets arrived mob handed and rocked the feeder cage to and fro so that the seeds littered the earth beneath. That led to a plague of rats and we decided with great regret to revert to relying on growing plants with berries and fruits. Unfortunately though my hawthorn tree has died this year for no very obvious reason.

      edit: we did actually conquer the squirrels by building a free standing feeder that was sufficiently far from trees or hedges to preclude the little darlings jumping on it and with a large perspex baffle to stop them climbing up the pillar. They did try gnawing the pillar but hadn't succeeded enough by the time the rat problem made us abandon anyway.

  15. Morning all. Have they managed to bury the Southport outrage? Yep, the media have complied.

    1. More carpets are being delivered today. But remember this sort of thing has only been happening for 30 – 40 years in the UK. There's a long way to go yet. (Sarc) The cause was only founded in the year 610.

  19. Morning all 🙂😊
    A very foggy day here. It must be all my coughing.
    After yesterday and more of it today, how many more people now absolutely hate every single thing about politics and politicians ?
    How can we change the way 'our' not their country is managed and efficiently run.
    Who the hell do they think they are ?

    1. My comment? As always.. it's not them you need to worry about. It's the progressive putting them in your country.. day in day out.. year by year.

      1. 395625+ up ticks,

        Morning KB,

        By gad sir you have it, what I have been posting since “miranda” put out the WELCOME mat

    3. If this sort of thing were said in the UK would it be considered to be a hate crime or would it be considered a perfectly reasonable expression of the valid point of view that it is unacceptable to be an infidel and infidels deserve to be killed?

      1. 395625+ up ticks,

        Morning R,
        Our governing cartel AND SUPPORTING MEMBERS, would like to debate the rights & wrongs with her as a chaff exercise,
        and then after discussion
        give the OK to commence culling non believers.

    3. The reports coming out of Pennsylvania re vote rigging and interfering with voters rights are beyond the 'alleging' stage.

  23. Good morning all,

    A little bit misty at McPhee Towers but it should clear up. Wind light and variable, 8℃ risng to 14℃ later.

    Labour's vindictive war on pension funds has picked up where Gordon Brown left off. They really hate the idea of people working, being provident and leaving something which will make life better for their children and grandchildren. It all fits in with the commie's aim to destroy the family. Niot just the nuclear family, the inter-generational family too.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/959b60672867ff153af61fdfc1f6574ac8da03023426242fa9126a86d71a5231.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/30/reeves-budget-family-wealth/

    Ros Altman gets the sentiment right but her language is far too mild. Her arithmetic is wrong too.

    But, after the IHT exemption ends in 2027, they have strong reasons to take the money sooner. If money taken out keeps their yearly income below £50,271, they only pay 20 per cent tax. But, if they die unexpectedly and pass it to their children, they pay 40 per cent in inheritance tax. (Leaving it to a partner is still IHT-free). Indeed, as long as pension withdrawals keep your income under £125,140, tax paid is only 40 per cent anyway. Clearly, this means more people will spend their pensions when younger.

    Well-off pensioners who draw incomes of over £100,000 will pay tax on it at a marginal rate of over 60% because of the withdrawal of the Personal Allowance then, at £125,140, the marginal rate drops back to 45%, the Additional Rate of Income Tax. What gets overlooked is this: In pensioner households there is usually only one spouse with such a well-funded private pension who shares the income with the other but there is NO tax allowance whatsoever for doing so let alone a transferable Personal Allowance and Basic Rate band. There should be; it is only right.

    The extension of IHT to family farms is a serious escalation in the war on farmers and, by extension therefore, our food supply. Guess who will be lurking in the wings to swoop in and buy up the land?

    It is now imperative that any future government of the Right abolishes IHT.

    1. Vindictive minded people who have been planing this for decades.
      They are not politicians running a country and its population. They are revengeful and nasty people who can't handle the truth.
      The much mentioned BLACK HOLE has been caused by spending on illegal invaders.
      And if they cannot see that or accept that, then they shouldn't be in government.

      2. The PTB use the Foreign Aid budget to pay for the tens of thousands of uninvited unskilled unwanted Bames. In that way they can subtly cut aid to children genuinely in need who live in the developing world.
        Incidentally, one piece of irony is that some of the migrant hotels are owned by a company with Israeli owners.

    2. We'd like to congratulate the Chancellor.

      With her clever rehash of pensions law she has managed to avoid penalising the Civil Service and

      their very leftie union, whilst sticking it to the middle class who are unable to use the IHT avoidance

      schemes used by the rich.

  24. Rest assured that our national broadcaster won't bother with "alleged"; they will all be "untrue".

      1. The expanding client underclass paid for by the dwindling productive class. What socialists do, innit.

      1. No, now that Socialistic policies demand that both parents work, many mothers and fathers have to drop off their children as early as possible at (typically) primary school in order to reach their place of employment on time. After school Club is another example

        1. My widowed mother had to work full time. I had breakfast at home before walking to school.
          Life was certainly different then.

      2. Some years ago, I supervised a brother and sister (8 & 7 year olds) during morning playtime. Neither had a 'snack' and neither had eaten any breakfast. Both children had arrived at school very late, as usual. I suggested they could eat something from their lunch boxes, which each turned out to contain nothing but a jam sandwich and a biscuit. That was all they could find in the house. These children normally had to get themselves up and off to school (after watching tv until late the evening before), while the mother stayed in bed ahead of her day of pampering, lunching and shopping. The baby and 2 toddlers were all in nursery full-time from being young babies. The family was not poor by any stretch of the imagination. A head teacher with any balls would have involved the authorities. When he was eventually forced out, the new head teacher had her work cut out but managed to turn the school around and vastly improve attendance.

          1. I somehow doubt the parents will have changed. The two children I knew were nice enough, but struggled with schoolwork because they had both missed so much core teaching. Recently, I saw a photo of the girl, now aged 18 – in the words of a secondary school teacher I knew – ‘A teenage pregnancy waiting to happen.’ If the then head teacher had had more guts, he would have called in social services.
            Not only were the children late to school most days, (how can anyone expect 6 and 7 year olds to get up and ready by themselves?) the family also disappeared for two fortnight-long holidays every year, including in September when new class routines etc are being established. This was when ‘fines’ were at the discretion of the Head. I often wonder if the parents were brought to heel once those children started at secondary school.

    3. Breakfast clubs in most schools for many years. Slice of toast and water, mainly. Reports of some infants first years still wearing nappies, a while ago.

    6. It's the responsibility of parents to provide for their children. It doesn't take much to ensure they have something to eat before they go to school.

  26. Re the Ben Stokes story about the frightening robbery in his house whilst his wife and children were at home , when he was out of the country touring .

    The pricey naffness of the items that were stolen reflects the appalling values of young sportsmen , compared to the average /negative income that sportsmen acquired when playing for their county/England decades ago .

    Excuse me for being judgemental .

    2. It's a disgrace, I doubt very much it's Reeeves work, she's just the mouthpiece. Never seen or heard Sunak so angry – if he'd shown that side of him during election then Conservatives may even have been re-elected. Not a good morning….

  28. Douglas Murray.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-strange-silence-around-the-southport-attacks/

    "The strange silence around the Southport attacks

    There are certain rules in British public life that are worth noting. Such as this one: if someone is killed by a jihadist or someone who could plausibly be connected to immigration in any way, the British public will not be informed of the possible motive – or at least not until it becomes impossible to conceal it any longer.

    Certain rules follow on from this. One is that ‘wise’ heads will inform anyone who does mention a likely motive that they must be exceptionally careful not to prejudice any forthcoming trial. There then comes an insistence that there will be a time and a place to debate these things. Quite often, that time and place never arrives.

    We have seen this enough times now, from the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby to the murder of Sir David Amess; from the Ariana Grande concert attack to the Taylor Swift dance class massacre. This last has come back to the fore with a suggestive revelation this week. Readers may recall that back in July a maniac went into a children’s dance workshop in Southport and started knifing the participants. Three young girls – Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar (aged six, seven and nine) – died of their injuries. Many others had life-changing wounds.

    For the time being, it is safe to say that such horrors are relatively uncommon in the UK. We do not have such attacks on a daily basis, so it is inevitable that as well as being angry, the British public might be curious about how such a grotesque and unusual attack could occur. But the police seemed strangely unwilling to release any information. And this is when people can surmise something with considerable accuracy: if the attacker had been a far-right extremist of the kind we are told is so common in our country, and had shouted ‘I’m doing this for Oswald Mosley’, then we would have heard about it. If the attacker had said ‘All Taylor Swift fans must be killed’ we might also have heard of it. But there was silence.

    Eventually there was a coy statement that Sky News and other media eunuchs were all too pleased to report – which was that the suspect was from Cardiff. ‘Ah,’ we might all say, ‘a typical Welshman.’ Except that nobody does think that. People knew that there must be more. Soon it was revealed that the attacker was of Rwandan heritage, at which point all the anti-speculation people said: ‘You see, nothing to see here.’ After some furious googling, these same people pointed out that Rwanda is a majority-Christian country and that in any case the suspect was the child of immigrants, and not a recent arrival on an illegal boat. Meaning that the identity of the attacker didn’t matter, because one dogma of the multicultural state is that once you are in Britain you become as British as roast beef, whether you originated here or not.

    When the name of 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana was released, the eunuch media had another trick, which was to publish a picture of the suspect many years earlier as a young schoolboy. Not as young as his victims, but still young.

    By this point, angry protestors were on the streets of numerous cities. Some people violently attacked a police car, a police station, a mosque and a hotel that was housing illegal immigrants. It was disgraceful and a number of people were promptly sent to prison for this. But others were arrested because they had ‘speculated’ on social media about the attacker or spread ‘false news’ implying the attacker may be Muslim.

    Then this week, after a conveniently long period of time, some more information finally came out, including the fact that the suspect was in possession of al Qaeda training manuals and had tried to make the deadly toxin ricin. These are telling details and are important for Rudakubana’s trial. But the authorities must have known this months ago – indeed, within hours of getting into Rudakubana’s house – meaning that people who were heavily criticised for spreading ‘fake news’ about the potential motive of the attacker now turn out to have said something that seems likely to have been true.

    If one was to be cynical for a moment, one might say that the police and government knew that the slaughter of three girls under the age of ten at a dance school in Southport is an emotive matter for the general public. It is the sort of thing we do not like. And so because the public cannot be trusted with facts the authorities seem to have once again decided that the public must not be given the facts. The only problem with which is that the public is not as stupid as the authorities seem to think.

    Like many other people I look forward very much to the day when we get to find out where the truth really lies. Meanwhile, the question of what to do with the deeper underlying problem will doubtless once again be postponed until someone else is in charge of the country and the situation is worse.

    Which brings me to the Conservative leadership race. By the time many readers get to this column, you will know who has won. But here is a thought. Both Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch have allowed much of the conversation about the historic and unsustainable levels of immigration (legal and illegal) in our country to be limited to whether or not we should leave the ECHR. It is strange, because many of our European counterparts, including France and Italy, who are also signatories, regularly ignore the ECHR and deport people whenever they like. They also know that in any case the current laws and conventions are unfit for societies that are fraying badly under the strain.

    It will need more than legal tinkering to address this problem. The Starmer government hopes it can get through it by locking up anyone who notices the problem. Anyone hoping to form the next Conservative government should realise that it is too late in the day for that. And that ‘cannot’ is a word that sovereign governments should ignore."

    1. Good morning Anne and everyone.
      I happen to have a soft spot for the Reader's Digest. It was the first news source available to me that frequently published articles which clearly exposed such evils as communism and totalitarianism.
      As for uncontrolled mass immigration, just ask indigenous populations around the world.
      Here is a possibly apocryphal quote from Chief Red Cloud in North America:
      "They made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they never kept but one; they promised to take our land, and they took it."

      2. Jeremy Taylor's Liberal Man thinks that a Tory, is 'an exploiter, a nouveau fascist pig' and the liberal man has contempt for those who read the Daily Telegraph and The Reader's Digest.

        This is a marvellous satirical demolition of the virtuous, putrid, hypocritical left!

        LIBERAL MAN (Jeremy Taylor)


        I am a Liberal man and I do the best I can
        To set the world to rights so I can sleep at night
        I always remonstrate against the things I hate
        But there's nothing I hate more than that bloke who lives next door
        'Cos he's a Tory, an exploiter and a nouveau Fascist pig
        And he struts around his swimming pool like Mr. Bloody Big
        And I hate him and I loathe him – I can't stand his silly head
        If I have to see him any more I'd rather see him dead

        I am a tolerant man and I do the best I can
        To set the world to rights so I can dream at night
        A chance I never miss to stamp out prejudice
        But that bloke next door from me – he's got them all from A to Z (American Z)
        He's a racist, an imperialist, a white man to the core
        A lousy Empire Loyalist and a monumental bore
        He talks about the Pakis and the Fuzzies and the Wogs
        The Eyeties and the Gyppos and the Chinkies and the Frogs
        And I hate him and I loathe him and I don't know what to do
        But he isn't even English – he's just another bloody Jew!
        Not that I care – not that I mind (Six eight time)
        I believe in the brotherhood of mankind
        I sift information and study the news
        I've formulated my personal views

        I am a studious man and I do the best I can
        To set the world to rights so I can read at night
        My philosophic tracts and Penguin paperbacks
        But next door there'd be a riot if he changed his literary diet
        He takes the Telegraph and Punch and Sunday Express
        The Illustrated London News and Reader's Digest
        Country Life and Field are his intellectual limit
        And he always takes The Tatler – just in case he's in it
        And I hate him and I loathe him
        The fathead Lah di Dahdian
        I've a mind to go and thrash him with my copy of The Guardian

        I am a peaceful man and I do the best I can
        To set the world to rights so I can dream at nights
        My benevolence extends to all our feathered friends
        Which is more than I can say for that bloke across the way (needs checking)
        He's always hunting and shooting and chasing all the time
        He likes to murder foxes with all those other swine
        And I hate him and I loathe him and I can't stand his bloody dog
        If it ever comes round here again I'll flush it down the bog!
        And I hate him and I loathe him but I am I know I am
        I'm a Liberal, tolerant, studious and REASONABLE sort of man!

    2. It's not just the ECHR that the continentals ignore while we stick to the letter of the 'rules.' The continentals have always managed to ignore & sidestep as many other rules as it suits, while our pathetic gubmints slavishly obeyed.

      1. It is – as I was rather proud to have theorised in Spanish to my teacher yesterday – a hangover from common law. We generally obey(ed) the law because it was consensus-based. Anyone under the Code Napoleón gaily goes about trying to stick it to the man; laws, being imposed from above, are there to be ignored or circumvented when needs be.

      1. 8:2 could easily be interpreted by an activist judge as justifying the locking-up of TR in order to protect the public from his dangerously disruptive opinions and activities.

  29. Good morning. Woke up this morning (as the old blues singer bemoaned), stretched and bang! Calf muscles rigid. Vigorous massage softens them again but it would be nice if that didn’t happen.

        1. I remember searching online for how much water to drink, found an app where if you enter details will tell you..drinks other than water don't count, apparently majority of us drink too much dehydrating drinks like coffee, tea, wine…

    3. I suffer from the same thing. Walking about – if one can – seems to be the only solution.

      At least we both woke up or we wouldn't be here! Don't forget the inscription on the blues singer's gravestone : " I didn't wake up this morning."

    4. Good morning Sue,

      That must have been a very painful experience , Moh suffers from that, and I have to leap out of bed half asleep to bend his foot back to relieve his pain.

      Are you drinking enough water, son says magnesium helps re avoiding cramp.

    6. Good morning Sue..hope yours improves. Few things I've found…standing a lot during the day, not drinking enough water, not taking magnesium supplement..good luck K

    8. Try magnesium tablets. I take one and the cramps I used to get have nigh vanished. Filing that, stretching before bedtime is also good.

        2. Too much sitting down is not good for the circulation.
          And have you tried using a hot water bottle, even though your flat may be warm? I suspect that the heat might help, but also that the sleeping body then feels uncomfortable and adjusts its position, just enough to avoid cramp etc. And definitely try magnesium and other trace minerals in an occasional vitamin pill.

  31. 395625+ upticks,

    She said yesterday in her speech "when I was an economist for the bank of England" the question is was she ever an economist for the bank?

    Dt,
    The charts that show why Reeves has condemned Britain to a low-growth future

      1. And did admin in the complaints department at Halifax/Bank of Scotland. A team of three apparently and the other two weren't impressed.

        1. She’s continued in a similar vein with us, Sue – we’re not impressed either (btw I can’t believe the numbers of women cheering because she’s a she…dumb as soup…)

        2. My neighbour (who is Scottish) claimed she was at BoS when the scandal was taking place. Don't know how true that is.

  32. Make no mistake people, this vicious budget is a deliberate and carefully contrived attempt to make us all poorer, stop economic growth and increase the size and power of the bloated State and its apparatchicks. Check out Free Speech's short Budget report and tell us what you think. Also new today is a highly interesting essay on the madness and origin of modern society and also a funny list of the consequent irritations i t produces by our very own Grumpy Old Man.

    Please do read and comment – we need to know what you think.

    https://www.freespeechbacklash.com/

  35. I’m out for the rest of the day Kate. Look after the shop for me when you get back please.

    3. Why are they out there bringing them here? Get out there, shoot at them and make them turn back.

    1. "…when it is in fully exposed mode
      and on display the kneeling tool can get 25 budgies on his hooter…."

      Is this some kind of code?

      1. 395625+ up ticks,

        Morning W,
        Meaning he will be barred from hell on account old nick can only manage twenty.

    2. Commie-woo-woo Trots will say anything that helps them seize power.
      Kamala Harris doing the same.
      Anything.

      It used to be "We need a conversation about this.." then it just morphed into fantasy.. "We will protect our borders at any cost."

    3. It used to take at least a year or so for our government's to eff up everything they come into contact with. But this has been something of a record. Only a couple of months.

      1. A few days……they've only been in since July. Before the end of the month we had the Southport killer and the riots.

  39. Just dropped the twins off at Nursery! Oh boy! 28 very excited, dressed up 4 year olds! Policemen, witches, skeletons, ghosts, and even a fireman! Face paint and glitter abounding! Glad I didn’t have to deal with it!

        1. No holding them back.
          It seems that has been the adgenda for the 'mourning' ITV program today. They've all gone barmy.

      3. They brought me some freeze-dried raspberries in white chocolate from their holiday! They’re not getting any!

    3. I'm pleased to hear there were at least a few children in 'normal' fancy dress. In Canada (same in the US), Halloween costumes can be anything, without the emphasis being on scary themes.

        3. Me neither! My Dad hollowed out a turnip (it’s jolly difficult, but worth it for the evocative smell!) and put a candle in it! No dressing up or demanding sweets with menaces! A toffee apple sometimes! It’s all a bit commercial now!

          6. The jack o'lanterns were just thrown away. Pumpkin pie was for Thanksgiving and if I remember correctly the pumpkin came out of a tin.
            i eat pumpkin pie whenever I go to America but it never tastes like it did when I was small.

        5. It is odd too. Because it is the oldest traditional festival in the British Isles being Pre-Christian. All our other celebrations are Christian, unless you count Guy Fawkes night as non-Christian. But since it was a Catholic plot I would argue otherwise. But I do remember bobbing for apples at Halloween.

        6. I spent my early childhood in the US where 'trick or treat' and Halloween parties formed a huge part of autumn festivities.
          When i moved to London in the 1960s my parents gave us to understand that this would be replaced by Guy Fawkes.
          True, 'trick or treat' had disappeared but In Catholic schools we attended, Halloween was celebrated and Jack o'lanterns were made although not with pumpkins but turnips.
          Ironically the Polish nuns who had taught me in the US had been very snooty about Halloween, whereas the teachers in London (perhaps with Irish roots) seemed to revel in it.

        2. Am I correct in thinking the Canadian election is quite soon? Maybe Turdeau will lose a lot of seats as he did a few months ago somewhere in Toronto.

  40. Nah, that's nonsense. Wine is mostly water, as is coffee. Well, unless you're necking 10 espressos a day or something bonkers.

    Recommendation is 2 litres, , 2.5 is pretty good. Although, Quack said to not just drink water, but squash as well as that adds some salt and sugars.

    1. Most online stuff is nonsense. Drinking too much water as bad as drinking too little. I sometimes take a little water with my whisky..surely that counts too 🥴

  41. It seems one of the post assessments of the budget is, in general the government has already effed up everything they have come into contact with.
    Farmers are now under so much pressure it seems many of them will have to give up. Leading to raising imports, leading to higher prices. And probably lower quality. And 'Not Green' as in transportation.
    Of course more inexpensive land will become available for housing more 'black hole' invaders.

    1. Or solar panel farms with smart pylons!

      Moaning all (thereks not a lot good about it). What a car crash of a budget. Nothing else to say really.

  42. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/30/spain-flash-floods-live-dozens-feared-dead-in-valencia/

    M Turner
    7 min ago
    Paul Homewood writes:'The BBC say more fell up in the hills at Chiva, but that does not have a long term record, and inevitably rainfall will be much higher as the moist air rises rapidly over the hills. In other words, chalk and cheese.'

    This was in rebuttal of the BBC's claims of more incidence of extreme weather.

    Cannot Canute Miliband see that all his efforts are wasted pounds. Carbon capture and storage is not a new forest, for him it's the faith of a non-technical bureaucrat's faith in the power of the state (Canute suffered from this too). Not that taking away an airborne element from here won't induce it coming from there. How will Miliband react to Trump? The claim that Britain leads the world in this art/delusion will become ever more irrefutable the fewer contestants there are. As I wrote yesterday nature is absorbing its essential consumption of CO2 by a greater figure than presumed and 'Nature' reports in a new paper, showing a 31% increase in estimates of consumption. So, covering fields withy solar panels is a nonsense, is contrary; all those climate models, maths with a dash of physics, are wrong. W are not planning for what history tells us might happen but have become so disgustingly omnipotent that we believe we can order nature, bend it to our will. Plan for using sound pounds to counter our worst imaging not wreck society on some fortune teller's conception and impoverish us all in the doing.

    Not for the first time, the BBC are using human tragedy to push their increasingly hysterical climate agenda.

    1. IMVHO
      It seems to me that all this recent and terribly destructive rain and since the floods in Dubai earlier this year, it's all been caused by cloud seeding..

    1. After living in the USA for 40 years I returned and wanted to see the place where I used to live outside Maidstone, in Kent, The Garden of England. The cherry tree orchards had gone, so had the hops, and the apple trees. I was trapped in the town because, in order to get out, you had to have a vehicle. The walk I would take to go into the Downs was gone. So I decided to walk along path next to the Medway, it goes from Maidstone to Allington locks. I knew that it was all farmland on the path. Well the path was still there but the farms had gone, buildings all the way and the never ending growl of cars in the distance. At least the willows were still there and the swans but it was all ruined. It's insane too, to build on the richest farmland in England. In the end it serves no one as our country and its beauty are destroyed.

      1. The trouble is Johnathan , there will be many who will have no recollection how life used to be , and how beautiful our orchards, small field networks and old buildings and traditional stone work/ mud/ brick etc defined our old counties .

        My father used to relate historical facts and interesting stories as we motored up the A1 in the old Morris Oxford Traveller when we were children , visiting relatives in Yorkshire and Co Durham from the family home in Surrey .. We used to come back from Africa for 3 month leave in 18 month periods.

        My bleat is that Town planners and young architects who are attached to huge construction companies are way out of their depth .. there is nothing but red brick everywhere , or pink and blue murky coloured homes .. and pinched in soulless housing estates .. Wimborne and Blandford are classic examples of yuk building .. and the fields that have vanished terrible and solar farms glint like huge reservoirs.

        1. In my generation virtually everybody had some connection with rural life not too far removed – my father was born on a farm, for instance. Now, hardly anyone has a connection with the land.

      2. Isn't that the whole point, though? Destroy the countryside and those inconvenient country people who are independent, in touch with nature, understand biology and weather and don't share the values of urban Labour.

        1. Probably a bigger ‘audience’ than late evening when the more wrecked of us have shuffled off to bed.

  45. So many are ignorant of a simple country life. Nature teaches you many things about the reality of life and death. I remember the day I shot a rabbit without feeling upset for example.

  47. BBC radio news: "The Chancellor has acknowledged that the tax rises for business announced in the budget are likely to lead to reduced pay growth for workers but she defended the measures by saying she'd made the right decisions for the country and is investing in long-term growth."

    No further comment necessary.

    2. Some people refer to Reeves as "the dinner lady" – frankly that's an insult to dinner ladies; I doubt that she has the experience or intellect to make a success of that job!

      1. T'was I who chose that soubriquet. While I agree with you, she just reminds me of the sort of bossy, smirking person who dresses badly and has no skills.

        I look forward to YOUR suggestion for a descriptive title for the bint.

  49. We have seen all this before, only this time it will be quick. Tax & spend will kill the economy off in quick time.
    Labour never learn as they think money grows on trees. Another Mrr T type will ride in to sort it out.

    1. It's the other way around. All govts spend tax spend tax spend tax.. in that order.
      Taxation & Spending can be neutral, negative/positive in outcome or vindictive.. depending on your ideology.
      Neither the Left or Right get it totally right.
      The Right get it wrong by 'serving' instead of 'supporting' big business and mask savings with debt. Now that hasn’t worked they now use negative interest rates.
      The Left do what they do best.. sink into their unionised cesspit of corruption, fraud, mismanagement and self interest then hold the country to ransom. Whilst swiftly ditching their solemn oath not to confiscate the private sector's nett savings. And of course beat to a pulp with a tax stick everyone they hate.. the list is long. They also wrongly believe that we're at the beginning of the downfall of capitalism.. then watch helplessly as the world digitises, automates, innovates and decentralises without them.

      1. Oh and btw.. The Magic Money Trees are the reality of a monetary system. That's how credit works. It pops into being, wanders around the economy creating greater output (because my spending is your income) until it generates sufficient turn to pay itself off again (either via taxation, or interest/capital repayments).
        The only limit is.. a govt can only spend as much as its unemployment & energy resources.
        Unfortunately, the UKs energy policy will remain in a complete & utter mess for decades. WARNING.

    2. It's the other way around. All govts spend tax spend tax spend tax.. in that order.
      Taxation & Spending can be neutral, negative/positive in outcome or vindictive.. depending on your ideology.
      Neither the Left or Right get it totally right.
      The Right get it wrong by 'serving' instead of 'supporting' big business and mask savings with debt. Now that hasn’t worked they now use negative interest rates.
      The Left do what they do best.. sink into their unionised cesspit of corruption, fraud, mismanagement and self interest then hold the country to ransom. Whilst swiftly ditching their solemn oath not to confiscate the private sector's nett savings. And of course beat to a pulp with a tax stick everyone they hate.. the list is long. They also wrongly believe that we're at the beginning of the downfall of capitalism.. then watch helplessly as the world digitises, automates, innovates and decentralises without them.

    3. It's the other way around. All govts spend tax spend tax spend tax.. in that order.
      Taxation & Spending can be neutral, negative/positive in outcome or vindictive.. depending on your ideology.
      Neither the Left or Right get it totally right.
      The Right get it wrong by 'serving' instead of 'supporting' big business and mask savings with debt. Now that hasn’t worked they now use negative interest rates.
      The Left do what they do best.. sink into their unionised cesspit of corruption, fraud, mismanagement and self interest then hold the country to ransom. Whilst swiftly ditching their solemn oath not to confiscate the private sector's nett savings. And of course beat to a pulp with a tax stick everyone they hate.. the list is long. They also wrongly believe that we're at the beginning of the downfall of capitalism.. then watch helplessly as the world digitises, automates, innovates and decentralises without them.

      1. I grow old … I grow old …
        I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

        Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
        I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
        I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

        I do not think that they will sing to me.

        S'cuse me snatching a bit of TS Eliot .. your comment reminded me of his lament !

        1. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a701aa939a1a6e15e58fe880f27f2421ec25e35c3ca24280f05cfff75b07d43e.jpg

          When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
          With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
          And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
          And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
          I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
          And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
          And run my stick along the public railings
          And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
          I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
          And pick the flowers in other people’s gardens
          And learn to spit.

          You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
          And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
          Or only bread and pickle for a week
          And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

          But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
          And pay our rent and not swear in the street
          And set a good example for the children.
          We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

          But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
          So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
          When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

          1. I used to do all that stuff in my teens and 20s!

            I was an apprentice old fart for decades before I received my indentures.

      1. Squander? My dear, keep up. It's "investment". It fits no known definition of investment in the same way that the channel migrants fit no known definition of refugee and a man in a frock fits no known definition of a woman. But we've come through the looking glass.

    6. I am convinced that the government wants to destroy the economy and get rid of all private businesses and people who work in the private sector.

      Many member of the government were brought up as Communists and are determined that Britain should become a Communist state.

  50. Bluss – it was chilly at t'market this morning. Unexpected, too. There is a raw wind despite the watery sunshine. Good to be indoors. When we got home, I laid in the stove to light later. As we sat with our coffee, the MR said, "The stove's burning nicely…." There was still enough heat in the ashes for self-ignition. See – I'm saving on matches!

    We called in to the Library – the MR had reserved a book and I thought I'd renew my card. While waiting for a lending services operative to turn up, my eye was caught by this:

    "Customers with an adult's library card can borrow up to a maximum of 50 items, made up from up to 20 books, 4 junior non-fiction books, 10 music CDs, 6 DVDs, 20 audiobook CDs, 4 jigsaws, 3 assistive technology devices, 2 reminiscence kits, 2 story sacks, 1 laptop for loan"

    One would need a supermarket trolley to take that lot out….no wonder there is a ramp at the entrance!!

  51. My Chambers dictionary tells me a dolt is 'a dull or stupid fellow'. That's discriminatory. Labour has two female dolts up front. Listening to the Reiver and the Stockport Slapper is aural torture. There have been some third-rate ministers over the decades but never two at the same time of such a shockingly low standard yet so high in ministerial ranking.

    No UK government has fallen before time because of events, whether of its own making or not. We can only hope and pray that this is the first one to do so. Unfortunately, there's nothing out there to replace it.

    1. Diversity and equity work wonders at bringing the level of competence down to the lowest level. Just look at the Canadian government cabinet that Trudeau bragged about being inclusive and diverse.

  52. Morning all — just! Another cold and gloomy and I have an abscessed tooth to add to the cheer. Thus it goes.

    Some videos Two of them about Tommy Robinson and one about the outright lies the government threw out to the public about the murder of the three little girls, that is a Ben Habib video, who seems to be universally respected.
    The video of Tommy seems to have been done in Spain, the subject which is about the shattered lives of the children in the school incident in which he is now in jail for because he publicised the truth, obviously distresses him greatly, as you will see. And the other is Andre Walker who has come out in defence of Tommy Robinson.

    Who are they protecting?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnTJ36qgTd0&list=TLPQMzExMDIwMjRwTS1lv8CeYg&index=3

    Hope Not Hate are basically MI5
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO-mHTs0xHk&list=TLPQMzExMDIwMjRwTS1lv8CeYg&index=2
    MSM Presenter Comes Out In Defence Of Tommy Robinson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2IebTLjRhI&list=TLPQMzExMDIwMjRwTS1lv8CeYg&index=1

    1. Time was MI5 used to keep communists under surveillance. Now they keep tabs on conservatives.

  53. Sat with a mug of tea after getting another load of brash burnt.
    The last lot was burnt on the 5 or possibly 6 decades old and somewhat rotten stump of a horse chestnut and, for the past couple of days since, I've picked up an occasional whiff of smouldering wood coming from up the garden, but for diverse reasons I didn't bother investigating as the weather is too damp for it to cause a problem.
    When I went up this morning, where the stump had been was a 2½' diameter by 1½' deep hole where the stump had almost totally smouldered away!
    And, it was STILL smouldering!!

    1. I tried that trick with a few rotten tree stumps, sometimes it worked as advertised but sometimes I was just left with a hardened blackened stump that was impervious to blows from an axe or chainsaw.

  54. There was a budget in Ontario yesterday, revenues were higher than expected so in January, they will be sending every resident a cheque for $200. I guess that our supposedly conservative government never thought about paying down the debt or reducing taxes. We assume that a provincial election will be coming soon.

    If a UK budget is anything like a Canadian budget, the harm is in the small print that accompanies the main financial talking points. Give it a couple of days!

  55. Bibby Stockholm barge moored off Portland port , here in Dorset is decommissioning .. it accommodates about 500 illegals , and now the new government say it is not necessary and unfair , even though the cabins and recreation space are luxurious .. most of the inmates have been moved to to the big cities , and the last hundred are waiting to be moved on .

    Look at this .. and shake your head and wonder !

    https://x.com/richo160875778/status/1851943841185648904 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats-last-7-days

    📍PROMISE MADE, PROMISE KEPT: We're closing down the Bibby Stockholm barge. Full details below👇
    Following constructive conversations with the Minister for Immigration, I can confirm that the Bibby Stockholm barge will be closed down when the contract expires this coming January.
    In my meeting with the Minister, it was made clear that the Home Office now agrees that the barge is an unworkable, expensive and ineffective gimmick. I would like to thank the new Minister for Immigration for being constructive and fair with this decision.
    It was also outlined that the men currently housed on the barge will have their asylum cases dealt with as a matter of extreme urgency following months, if not years, of delay.
    From the start, our community knew that the barge was a gimmick that simply would not work. This is why I have campaigned relentlessly to shut down the Bibby Stockholm barge.
    As your local MP, I will now spend every day making sure that the closure of the barge happens in a smooth and orderly fashion. I will work constructively with the Home Office to reduce the backlog of unprocessed asylum cases. I will also investigate whether we can claw-back taxpayers' money that has been wasted on the barge.
    We must not forget that the previous Conservative Government landed our community with the barge. The previous Conservative Government and former Conservative MP failed to properly listen to our concerns from the get-go.
    This is the difference a Labour MP working hand-in-hand with a Labour Government can make. I'm proud to represent South Dorset, and I will make sure we always have a voice at the top table.

    1. If you are lucky they might allow the barge to be used as somewhere for the homeless to stay during the worst of the winter weather.

      Nah, too optimistic.

    2. I've said previously that I stayed on the Bibby Stockholm while working on the Shetland Gas Project. It is perfectly suitable -modern, clean with all necessary facilities.

  58. Tart Tatin I ordered figs. They sent me plums. Could have been worse. Could have been lemons…

    Disqust won't allow me to post the pic. Blast and damnation !

      1. I wanted figs to go with my cheeseboard but as they sent plums i made a tart. I still have apples and grapes so that will have to do.

      1. The Dopey Wokies can rant all night long for all I care; I shall continue to speak and write English as I always have done.

        I shall certainly neither buy nor read any literature that has been bastardised by this lot. The only words I shall read are those that were written by the original authors.

        Ten Little Niggers anyone?

        2. Amazon will sell Zehn kleine Negerlein but Google Translate insists that is Ten Little Indians, even though indian is indisch in German.

          1. It’s since been emasculated further to And Then There Were None.

            I wonder what Agatha Christie would have said, were she still to be around in these benighted days?

        4. The name of Gibson's dog was expunged (at least it wasn't changed) from a biography I'm reading at the moment. I've written it in the margin for future readers.

    2. It obscures the original complaint of the singer about exorbitant taxation – the 'three bags full' were allocated as follows:
      'one for the master' – to the King
      'one for the dame' – to the Church
      'one for the little boy who lives down the lane' – to the farmer himself.
      The 'little boy' is the farmer's self-deprecatory and ironic way of referring to himself as being third-in-line for the benefit of his labours. There weren't many babies in farming.

  60. Never Too late to react.

    The Canadian government have just rescinded restrictions on direct flights from China. The restrictions were introduced several months into the covid panic.

    1. I trust all those rude people are now gaoled for ten years. The cheek of it – shouting at Cur Ikea….

    2. As wind-up goes.. i'll give it 3/10.
      You need to really press Starmer's touchy buttons for him to lash out.. in public.
      Test the nasty little man on his pedo connections with Islam. See what happens.
      Failing that.. try the marital breakdown angle.

      Remember how Sir Mark Rowley famously snapped. And of course Gordon Brown.

      1. It's the hypocrisy of it that annoys most. Here's the person responsible for the children being murdered and he has the temerity to be laying a wreath as if he cares. Oh, he's sad, but he refuses to see that he is responsible. He and all his ilk.

        1. No doubt he'll be smarming at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday. Never mind that he hates Britain and the sacrifices people made to keep it free. It's noticeable that he could have removed VAT from heating oil, but we have to be kept as closely aligned as possible to slide us back into the EU with minimum effort.

    1. NOTICE TO USERS IN FRANCE
      Because of French government demands to remove creators from our platform, Rumble is currently unavailable in France. We are challenging these government demands and hope to restore access soon.

    2. When it got out Labour activists were over there pushing for Harris it was just a bit stupid. They whinge and whine about Russia but that was an invented fiction – it was just an effort to silence popular posts. The hypocrisy – that they don't see what they're doing as wrong is laughable if it were not so insulting to our intelligence.

      To then say 'Oh, they're on holiday. What they do is up to them'… with them all being Labour activists and staff. All on the Labour payroll.

      Utterly repugnant and of course, buried.

      1. Didn't they actually advertise for people to go and the ad stated that it would be expenses paid? I expect the evidence has been deleted by now but that was the original story.

  63. Why the hell did a dish universally known as macaroni cheese suddenly become known by the risible and banal name, 'mac and cheese'? Or is it only retarded Yanks calling it that?

    I don't eat the rubbish because, like penne, chomping on hosepipes is not my thing.

      1. A proper cheese burger is made by grating an extra mature cheddar into two mince patties – each about 2cm thick, frying and putting in a brioche bun with tomato, cucumber, lettuce and red onion spacers.

    2. I have never liked it no matter what it is called. All stodge.

      Some linguini. Stir through some salted butter. Grated Parmesan.

      The grown up version.

      1. Yep. Made the original with a crumbled topping and it was 'ok'. The lighter one with lots and lots and lots of parmesan and pepper goes down very well.

        1. Caroline's Macaroni Cheese with ham is delicious. She sometime serves it when we have students with us and it is very much appreciated.

          1. I am certain it is delicious in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing. Most people/places haven't got a clue.

        2. Try adding some chopped anchovies and black olives. Some decent bread and a glass of wine to go with it.

        1. Vongole. I had it in Malta years ago. The juice from the clams had such natural sweetness i fell in love with the dish.

          I have had it here as well but not as good. Restaurants take shortcuts (for obvious reasons) but you don't get the same dish.

    4. "It's worse than that" [copyright Bones] – I think it is often referred to as "Mac 'n Cheese" ??

  64. Why the hell did a dish universally known as macaroni cheese suddenly become known by the risible and banal name, 'mac and cheese'? Or is it only retarded Yanks calling it that?

    I don't eat the rubbish because, like penne, chomping on hosepipes is not my thing.

  65. The BBC on about the 'Tory' Black Hole again.

    The biggest, deepest. blackest hole affecting the British is the English Channel between Calais and Dover, which spews out a thousand potential rapists, paedophiles and murders per week, and only matched by the bottomless pit of lies, deception and disinformation issuing from Broadcasting House. Disband the Bolshevik Bullsh*ting Comrads now!

    1. It's why I have stopped funding them and got rid of my TV. That's gone some £169 towards filling the "black hole" Starmer left in my finances by removing my WFA.

  66. GB News has been fined £100,000 by Ofcom after it was found to have broken impartiality rules in an interview with Rishi Sunak earlier this year.

    The media watchdog concluded that the channel had given the then prime minister a “mostly uncontested platform” to promote the policies and performance of his government as he answered questions put to him by a studio audience and a presenter.

    In a statement, Ofcom said: “We concluded that the then prime minister, Rishi Sunak, had a mostly uncontested platform to promote the policies and performance of his Government in a period preceding a UK general election, in breach of Rules 5.11 and 5.12 of the Broadcasting Code.

    Expand article logo Continue reading

    “Given the seriousness and repeated nature of this breach, Ofcom has imposed a financial penalty of £100,000 on GBNews Limited. We have also directed GB News to broadcast a statement of our findings against it, on a date and in a form determined by us.”

    1. OFCOM ignoring, of course that it gave every leader the same unfettered time.

      This morning al Beeb on the toady waffled on about windmills and conflated 'climate change' unchallenged. It was a complete lack of detail and false reporting. Where's ofcom there?

    2. OFCOM and VERIFY are there to supress anything that is remorety right of centre. They are a complete disgrace.

      I have never see a BBC programme that makes the effort GB News makes to show both sides of any argument.

    3. I was under the impression that the studio audience asked him much tougher questions than any presenter would, especially the vaccine-injured Scottish guy.

      Who was Sunak supposed to be contested by? And if the other party leaders were all invited for the same treatment, where's the bias?

  67. Ref the dinner lady's "budget"

    If this was France, ten thousand farmers on tractors would be about to cut off central London and would stay put until the inheritance tax proposals were removed.

    But – sadly – it isn't France.

    1. Yep. As the Momus Namji commentator below on X says..

      People on the right will not get together in a meaningful way. Because all the subgroups want to be "the one" to do it.

      This is why and how, the left will keep strengthening their hold. We are headed for at least 10/15 years of hell with socialism being embedded in every part of the our governance.

      Things that will change the way we operate things forever, things that will not be rolled back even when someone on the political right wins in the end.

      This has now become literally a wasted project. And no, I am not being doom and gloom, I am saying it as a warning. To wake those up who can do something but refuse to do it, because of egos and their own pet theories and their selfish attitudes. You have this chance, if it's gone, then it's gone. If you don't act now then everyone will suffer.

      Right now. There is no fight. Because no one is organised or serious about it.

      1. I don't think it's 'someone else should do it' it's the basic Right mind set that says 'don't band together to get your own way. Work through it as an individual.

        The Left, individually are pathetic and everyone laughs at their stupid ideas, but when 1000 of them start waving knives and axes folk are cowed. There are vastly more normal people than there are Lefties. The Left know this. That's why they protect the public sector, invent fake charities and massively expand welfare. That's their army – paid for from the work of the Right.

      2. All the small conservative parties apart from Reform were ready to work together before the election. Guess which party was given all the free publicity in the media?

    2. I can't find Clarkson's tweet but it went something like this:

      "Don't worry chaps, this lot'll be gone in 4 years."

      1. Only if an effective, Conservative – proper Conservative not pale limp dumb imitation – alternative is in place.

  68. Whatever happened to the good old fashioned, honourable course of action in "Resignation on a matter of Principle"?

    EG; Instructions to Police to 'cover up' terrorist links in Southport crime?; or…………………………………………………

    There are almost daily instances where senior managers are given orders to take action, where to comply is wrong/illegal/or blatantly lying rather than to 'do the 'right thing' for an easy life, whatever the consequences are?

    2. I heard the Speaker of the HoC tell MPs that they were not to mention the crime that cannot be mentioned lest it upsets the narrative prejudices the case. Just for the record, slashing young girls is just a run of the mill crime and definitely not terrorism.

  69. Because of Parliamentary arithmetic, this government will probably last 60 months. But we could also well see that 1. There will be a record number of cabinet reshuffles, and 2. there will be 60 months of bunker mentality, and 3. There will be many photo-opps at Public Sector venues, and 4. There will be no photo-opps at unsubsidised, profit-growing, Private Sector venues.

    Here is Sky News helping to drive Labour into its Bunker (for Liars):

    https://youtu.be/fyDzFxpvGY8?si=AlcoXrLsgN0GsSDo

      1. President Trump would call that performance a Shit Show. At best there was something excruciatingly comical about Reeves’ performance. The rat-a-a-tat grating voice, the helmet hair style with the curtains drawn open to reveal the chiseled features of an automaton and the pointed chin of a witch.

    2. And yet no one has been able to check if the mythical "£22Bn black hole" existed? Is that yet another lie??

      1. I believe that the OBR do not agree with the figures. Given that the hole was found just after Lab taking office, and has been their mantra ever since, it looks very much like a planned ruse. If they were so concerned then the 3Bn given to Ukraine could be cancelled for a start.

      3. Largely created by Labour with its bungs to the train drivers, largesse to Wabenzis in Africa "to fight climate change" and the money spaffed on illegals.

  70. Salisbury paramedic thought poisoned Skripals ‘had suffered fentanyl overdose’. 31 October 2024.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bd272760b57a9940b0befbeef74ffb095fa27b1994a89bedbe3e64504991436a.png
    Paramedics who first responded to the collapse of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury thought they suffered a fentanyl overdose, an inquiry has heard.

    Ian Parsons, a lead paramedic at the South Western Ambulance Service, heard over an open broadcast that a female was “having a seizure” near the Superdrug store in The Maltings shopping centre on March 4 2018.

    I have to confess here to being fooled. The first week of this inquiry was held at the Salisbury Guildhall with all the bells and whistles. After that it was moved to the International Dispute Resolution Centre in London. I have to admit that this did strike me at the time as odd but who am I to question the decisions of our betters? I now find that this venue consists mostly of the presentation of written statements from seven years ago. Most (actually all that I could see) of the live viewing has been cancelled. Whether there is anyone there apart form a few Apparatchiks I have no idea. This article, and the others this week are actually a massive exercise in deception. You would think from reading it that the “Journalists” were present at a live event listening to first hand evidence. Nothing of the kind. They are participating in a gigantic fraud on the public. The Skripak/Novichok story is a fake and this inquiry is designed to make sure that it is not uncovered. This "evidence" is simply being read into the record with no opposition to it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/30/salisbury-inquiry-paramedic-skripals-fentanyl-russia-putin/

    https://www.dawnsturgess.independent-inquiry.uk/hearings/

  72. Budget tax raid will mean lower private sector pay rises, admits Reeves
    Asked about increasing NICs for employers, Chancellor tells BBC: ‘I said that it will have consequences’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/31/budget-tax-raid-lower-private-sector-pay-rises-reeves/

    Can there be any doubt that The Labour government is determined to destroy the private sector and all private wealth.

    Britain will be a nastier Communist country than Russia ever was.

  73. Yo All

    Just back from the Hossypita,; having had silencer box & exhaust pipe check internally.

    All OK for another 5 Years

      1. The alternative is far worserer!

        Why I shout, “The job is not finished, ’til the paperwork is done.

        Back in 2004, I found a blood, went to doctor, 3 weeks later, I had a Stoma Bag, kept using them for a year
        pipework rconnected. pressure checks all OK, now 5 yearly check ups

    2. "Finally, we discovered a feature that significantly reduces bias across nine social dimensions within the sweet spot". Can someone translate for me, please?

    1. I like Dominic Cummings.. he's clever..

      Dominic Cummings
      @Dominic2306
      Has ONE BBC hack asked No10 press office: when was the PM informed about the Al Qaeda/ricin information?

      Has ONE BBC hack made public No10's answer?

      In August the BBC spread No10's disinformation.

      We're paying over a BILLION quid p/a for BBC News to run disinformation operations *against ourselves* which gets echoed by the NPC pundit swarm

      Hodges, August
      No10 knew *almost immediately* about the Al Qaeda materials and ricin but spent all August shovelling their shit to 'mainstream media' & trusty NPCs attacking 'disinformation' & 'Far Right/fascism'.
      The way the system works: anti-terrorism cops inform Home Office unit, unit calls the PM's Private Secretary responsible for coordination across HO/MI5/GCHQ etc, that PS briefs PM within minutes / couple hours max (e.g if the PM is already in something urgent).

      *The 'mainstream' IS the disinformation*

        1. He talks big, but I have yet to be convinced that he's really clever. The PPE graduates are easily impressed, remember.

          1. Being clever and 'on the spectrum' aren't mutually exclusive. My dalliance with UKIP pre-referendum, added a surprising number of 'aspies' to my contacts list. Perhaps neurodiversity is a requirement for politicians? 2TFGQPKS is definitely included.

          2. Being clever and 'on the spectrum' aren't mutually exclusive. My dalliance with UKIP pre-referendum, added a surprising number of 'aspies' to my contacts list. Perhaps neurodiversity is a requirement for politicians? 2TFGQPKS is definitely included.

    2. I hope for everyone's sake that the Rwandan radical wasn't on the police radar before July 29th.

  77. Everything is dull & flat in the markets waiting for Election 24 to be stolen (again).

    Oh except the GBP£ nosediving across the board because everybody thinks that the Trots are economically illiterate.

      1. ounce?

        The trouble with bullion are the storage charges. The total cost since the last spurt in 2011 is almost equal to its value.
        Whereas my btc purchases have been to the moon.. almost making up for the -99% loses on alt coins.

        1. I bought some btc in 2022, and it duly doubled, but in comparison to gold (real money) it's only risen about 40%.
          Around that time they launched btc ETFs, and you could see the moment when the price fluctuation got reined in. I think the big profit making from btc is over now, but it is very useful as decentralised finance for buying things. Though better cc's are available.

        1. And the Arch Chancellor is attacking savings and pensions.
          I would be curious as to who would invite her to dinner. Who those guests may be and and much they cackled.

          1. She wants everyone, including government, to ‘spend spend spend’…heard that one before, although a long time ago. Seems like she’ll borrow a lot, tax a lot, spend a lot. Let’s hope it’s invested wisely, for a good return.

    3. You mean everybody KNOWS the Trots are economically illiterate. They have the example of all previous Labour governments to prove it.

  78. Everything is dull & flat in the markets waiting for Election 24 to be stolen (again).

    Oh except the GBP£ nosediving across the board because everybody thinks that the Trots are economically illiterate.

  79. Erm….Just searching in the fridge for some cream cheese and i knocked a tub of mango and pineapple pieces all over the floor.

    Staring at the mess i got the dustpan. Went to the sink and gave it a wash. Put it back in the tub. Back to the fridge.

    Am i a bad person?

    Still can't find the cream cheese.

      1. It is only for me. I wouldn't dare serve it to anyone else.

        At my little party one of the many canapes i served was a small gluten free choux bun filled with a chicken jalfrezi. One of my guests found a small piece of gristle that i had missed from the chicken thighs.

        I was annoyed.

        So I banned her for life. :@)

    6. Erm … Just searching in the fridge, for some jelly and custard, I knocked them over and got the contents of both containers all over my head. I ended up with jelly in one ear and custard in the other!

      You'll have to speak up, I'm now a trifle deaf!

  80. Robert Malone (medical researcher, was cancelled for opposing the covid narrative) has an excellent substack where he writes about the horse farm that he and his wife run as well as medical or philosophical musings.
    Here's an extract from a piece he wrote about the US elections. The hyperbolic language being used by politicians is out in the stratosphere!

    "A few days ago, Michelle Obama said this:

    “Please, please, do not hand our fates over to the likes of Trump, who knows nothing about us, who has shown deep contempt for us, because a vote for him is a vote against us, against ourselves, against our worth,”
    “To think that the men that we love can be either unaware or indifferent to our plight (WHAT PLIGHT, YOU OVERPRIVILEGED NUMPTY???) is simply heartbreaking. It is a sad statement about our value as women in this world.”
    “To the women listening, we have every right to demand that the men in our lives do better by us to make these choices clear to the men that we love our lives are worth more than their anger and disappointment. We are more than baby-making vessels.”

    I don’t know any conservative man (or woman) who view women as “baby-making vessels.” Is it any wonder that men have turned away from the Kamala campaign? And what in heaven’s name is M. Obama speaking of with the comment: “either unaware or indifferent to our plight?” What plight? We all know what a Trump presidency might look like – we lived it from 2016-2020. How is a vote for Trump a vote against women? Yet this is the lie being promoted. It is yet another sign of desperation.

    And it is yet another attempt to divide us against ourselves. Quite literally to divide married couples against each other. All in the service of “winning”, of “beating” the other. No thought given or awareness of the peripheral damage done to communities and families by promoting false narratives which demonize opponents as “fascists”, Nazis, or worse. All in the name of winning. All based on the logic that the ends justify the means. I am reminded of the aphorism that, before seeking revenge, one should first dig two graves. In the grip of hypnotized irrational desperation, the Obamas, their surrogates and those who follow their political movement promote scorched earth narratives."

  81. We now know what the economic mindset of the Labour government will be for the next five years.
    They think they are righting the wrongs of austerity by taking revenge on the private sector while soaking the public sector in cash without any reform of them, so the money will all be wasted for very little benefit for the customer, that's us.

    1. Quite different. What possible conflict of interest could there be?

      Anyway, your suggestion is a hate crime and has been reported.

    2. But the BBC isn't biased, apparently. In other news – pope not a catholic, bears use public toilets etc. {Although it may be that the Pope isn't a catholic??]

      1. Meanwhile Ofcom has fined GB News 100k for "breaching impartiality rules". You couldn't make it up.

  84. Actually, for their midday treat, they prefer strong Cheddar – though they tolerated a very nice Brie, today, that was making a bid for freedom!

    2. Ha! I’d settle for either, too…Cheddar Vintage, and also Stilton Blue very nice. Have a couple of old terriers who like cats…a bit too much…when they go I may just get a couple of mogs 🙂 Now be honest, Bill…do they sleep on your bed, too…:-D

      1. Nope. They quite like a range of our armchairs and sofas, frequently the one I have briefly left. Pickles has a place he likes on the spare room bed. Oddly, they both often choose to stay out in the porch (where there are three baskets available) to coming indoors. They leave the house about 10 pm and come in at 7.30 next morning.

        2. We have a catflap that unlocks by detecting the identity chips in the cats. Works well, in excluding unwanted moggies – not the mice contained in their mouths, though.

  85. An eerie Birdie Three!

    Wordle 1,230 3/6
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
    ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Good one, Rene, similar start but petered out to a disappointing bogey!

      Wordle 1,230 5/6

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

    3. Amazingly…

      Wordle 1,230 3/6

      ⬜🟨🟩🟨⬜
      ⬜🟨🟩🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Well done Sue.
        Wordle 1,230 4/6

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

      2. Well done Sue.
        Wordle 1,230 4/6

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

    4. All right for some

      Wordle 1,230 5/6

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

    5. Well done, just par here.

      Wordle 1,230 4/6

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

  87. Will carbon capture help the UK tackle climate change?

    Mark Poynting and Justin Rowlatt
    BBC Climate & Science Published 4 October 2024

    There is a lot of rousing rhetoric today about carbon capture, following the government’s pledge of £21.7bn of public funds over the next 25 years to help kick-start the industry in the UK.

    It says it will reignite the country’s industrial heartland and help to create a new era for clean energy.

    But how much will this help the UK’s efforts to tackle climate change – and is it worth the huge price tag?

    Carbon capture and storage is where carbon dioxide (CO2) produced from power stations and industrial processes is captured at source, rather than escaping into the atmosphere and adding to global warming.

    The captured CO2 is then transported and stored, often deep underground.

    This is slightly different to carbon removal, which involves using the natural world – such as tree planting – or machines, in order to suck out CO2 that is already in the air, and store it.

    Carbon capture and storage technology has been around for decades, but the industry has struggled to really take off – both globally and in the UK.

    Nearly £22bn pledged for carbon capture projects Published 4 October

    Rachel Reeves signals plan to spend more on big projects Published 4 October
    What is carbon capture and can it fight climate change?
    Published 11 December 2023

    Around 45 commercial carbon capture and storage facilities are in operation worldwide, together capturing more than 50 million tonnes of CO2 each year, according to the International Energy Agency.

    That may sound a lot – but global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and industry currently sit at more than 35 billion tonnes per year.

    So carbon capture currently makes very little difference to global CO2 emissions.

    But both the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the UK’s Climate Change Committee see the technology as part of efforts to reach net zero.

    Why?

    Put simply, the UK will continue to rely on polluting industries in the decades to come, albeit to a much lesser extent.

    As electricity generation from renewable sources such as wind and solar continues to grow, the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels should fall sharply for things like powering cars and heating homes.

    But a small amount of gas generation will likely still be needed by 2035, the Climate Change Committee says, in order to help keep the lights on when intermittent renewable sources dip.

    Carbon capture would help to prevent this CO2 from escaping into the atmosphere.

    The technology could be particularly important for decarbonising some heavy industry such as cement production, for which there are currently few obvious alternatives.

    Many environmental groups support carbon capture for this purpose, but have expressed fears that it could give oil and gas companies an excuse to keep burning fossil fuels if not properly controlled.

    Steel plant with lots of towers
    Image source,Getty Images
    Image caption,
    Steel is one industry that carbon capture could help to decarbonise

    Will the money help the UK become a carbon capture leader?
    The International Energy Agency expects carbon capture to grow substantially over the next few years – potentially to around 435 million tonnes per year globally by 2030, based on announced projects.

    The UK has favourable geology to store CO2 in the North Sea, as well as a workforce with many of the necessary skills from oil and gas industry.

    So the government – much like the previous Conservative administration – wants the UK to be a leader in the carbon capture race.

    It hopes that its £21.7bn of funding – plus £8bn from private investment – will help to kick-start the industry in the UK.

    The money covers three carbon capture projects and two transport and storage projects, across sites in Merseyside and Teesside.

    The government hopes these funds will help overcome the fundamental economic – rather than technological – challenge of carbon capture to date: that it has been cheaper for companies to emit the CO2 into the atmosphere.

    It says it will incentivise companies to capture the CO2, with penalties for not doing so.

    “Over time the carbon price will inevitably rise,” Ed Miliband, energy security and net zero secretary, told BBC News, referring to the charges to polluters.

    “But for now, what the right thing to do is, is to say ‘we are going to help these companies to capture the carbon, give them a way through’, and it is so important for the competitiveness of our industry.”

    In March 2023, the Conservatives pledged £20bn in funding over the next 20 years.

    But Labour argue they did not make this funding available, nor identify where it was going to come from.

    The aim is for these initial projects to start capturing and storing CO2 from 2028, with a capacity to take up 8.5 million tonnes per year.

    This would still be a small fraction of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, which in 2023 were 384 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent, according to provisional figures.

    This underlines how carbon capture will be only one element of decarbonisation.

    But the government hopes this initial investment will help carbon capture to become cheaper in time – in a similar way to wind and solar power generation – and help the UK to reach net zero, while also securing jobs and investment.

    1. UN’s Intergovernmental Panel.. 👿👿👿
      UK’s reliance on fossil fuels should fall sharply for things like powering cars.. 🤡🤡🤡
      help carbon capture to become cheaper in time.. 🤡🤡🤡
      Ed Miliband.. 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

      1. Ed Moribund is a lunatic, sadly for us. And all MPs are sheep following dutifully behind. What can be done to get rid of them?

    2. "Will carbon capture help the UK tackle climate change?"

      Phew, I'm glad you've warned me, Lacoste. I've just bought a new padlock for my pencil case!

    3. A plan to capture ~2% of the UK's emissions which are ~1% of the global total.

      An act of genius.

      1. A plan which ignores the biology that CO2 is plant food and less of it means plants struggle.

  88. We have been to Winchester Cathedral today – some interesting history including King Canute’s bones; and Romsey Abbey (also interesting in its own way). Mum and dad tired. Meeting up with my daughter in Southampton in a minute. My brother is with us, over from Australia. He doesn’t realise how tired mum and dad get.

  89. That 's me gone for today. Diverse as yer hat outside. Roll on Spring….

    Have a jolly evening being glad you are not a farmer.

    A demain.

  90. Cyclists could be banned from city centre to protect pedestrians
    Birmingham City council becomes latest local authority to discuss barring cyclists from pedestrian-only areas
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/31/cycling-cyclists-birmingham-council-lincolnshire-bikes/

    I was looking to see the reactions to this news about cyclists in Birmingham in the Comments Sectionn and I came across a comment about something else:

    Discussion of Southport massacre banned in Parliament.

    Discussion of Southport massacre banned from the Daily Telegraph Comments sections.

    That's why I'm posting here.

    Weren't the riots caused by the suppression of information and the government's confected lies? Easier to blame The Mythical Far Right. Easier to blame Farage when the truth was that Starmer and Cooper were to blame for suppressing the truth and misdirecting the public.

    1. Imho Sir Keir is playing a blinder.. for the Lefties, unlike the Wet Tories who spent 14 years trying to appease the Guardian Readers.
      Sir Keir has hit the ground running. He makes it clear he hates you, and prefers you dead. If you dare show dissent he will jail you without hesitation. He knows the Right will just huff & puff and go home.

      1. Of course things could change if, say, the IRA & Sinn Féin changed sides. But they won't.. they are drunk on power.

  91. Well after a day of feeding brash into a fire up the hill, it was quite pleasant to sit beside it until it had died down to glowing embers.
    However, I stink of smoke yet again and am now need a bath.

  92. Yipee, cries Sir Keir.
    Mada Pasa from Afghanistan via Sweden is on his way. ETA tomorrow at Dover.. in about 6 hours.
    (He's the one that brags about filling Nigel Farage with bullets from his AK47).

    Perhaps, he could help Ed Milipede engineer some innovative technology to help carbon capture to become cheaper in time?

    1. All documented and broadcast LIVE! on Tik Tok.. not that any of your Agencies really cares.

    3. It's not just your illegals that are the problem with their hatred.

      A UN special Rapporteur for Palestine is scheduled to arrive in Canasa soon, her anti Semitic rants are enough to have people calling for her to be denied entry to Canada.

  93. Yipee, cries Sir Keir.
    Mada Pasa from Afghanistan via Sweden is on his way. ETA tomorrow at Dover.. in about 6 hours.
    (He's the one that brags about filling Nigel Farage with bullets from his AK47).

    Perhaps, he could help Ed Milipede engineer some innovative technology to help carbon capture to become cheaper in time?

  95. Deadliest weather made worse by climate change – scientists

    Human-caused climate change made the ten deadliest extreme weather events of the last 20 years more intense and more likely, according to new analysis. The killer storms, heatwaves and floods affected Europe, Africa and Asia killing more than 570,000 people. The new analysis highlights how scientists can now discern the fingerprint of climate change in complex weather events.

    The study involved reanalysing data for some of the extreme weather events and was carried out by scientists from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group at Imperial College London.

    "This study should be an eye-opener for political leaders hanging on to fossil fuels that heat the planet and destroy lives", said Dr Friederike Otto, co-founder and lead of WWA. "If we keep burning oil, gas and coal, the suffering will continue," she said.

    And so on and so on…

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdxvnk10xz2o

    How can you discuss the subject with these people? When fossil fuels run out, many millions will die in ordinary weather.

    1. I know I have signed off – but while I am waiting for Cook to deal with the salmon…(nothing cheap chez nous)…

      it did not escape me that one of the places very badly affected by the rainfall in Valencia was called TORRENT

      Clue in the name, perhaps?

      I hope the Spick police shot dead the appalling looters.

      1. If they were desperately searching for food then maybe give them a break but really, what better time to go out and acquire a nice new TV set?

        1. A break? You jest…

          The security forces said robbers were taking items such as computers, mobile phones and branded perfumes.

    3. The tragic experiences we are experiencing in Spain in Valencia is now being blamed on climate change by the usual suspects.
      Valencia has of course been the scene of much flooding over the years and old newsreels have now appeared citing the terrible devastation wreaked in 1957.
      However as is invariably the case, the past is glossed over and the current gospel is preached. We are all to blame for the floods, the destruction and the loss of life.

    1. The Pixie knew all along that the murdering shite was a terrorist. It is a good idea to always tell the Truth because by doing so you never have to remember to whom you have lied.

      With our open forum podcasts and internet communications servers we can trace their every lie and expose them.

  98. These 'scientists' are spouting absolute bull***t. Maybe some of them don't agree, but wouldn't dare to so much as hint at any concerns because they would lose their funding.

  99. Long but interesting talk by Frank Giustra. NB ITM Trading (doing the interview) is a bullion dealer, so they promote people who believe in gold. If you feel gloomy about the state of the world, just tune in to about 6 minutes before the end for his final thoughts on how to get through difficult times.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHsARFecvQ0

  100. Assisted Suicide is taking a further step into the abyss with the latest pronouncement by the Quebec government. They are telling doctors to ignore the rule about patients needing to give informed consent just before they are killed.

    Quebec already allows killing of unresponsive and mentally ill patients so it seems that it could be open season for deaths.

    1. Harsh word, "killing" – but appropriate. How mentally ill?
      Whatever happened to yer cosy Canuk, going around offing folk like that? Casually, by-the-way… I didn't belive, years ago, when euthanasia was promoted as the start of the slippery slope, but that seems to be the case.

      1. We have already seen from the progress of abortion how mission creep accelerates the descent down the slippery slope. "Mercy killing" will be the same.

          3. And pensions. And social housing. Blasted poor, just get rid of them when they pass their sell by date.

  101. Evening, all. Don't know where the day has gone, really; I don't have anything to show for it but I've been busy! Sorted through lots of papers because I needed a receipt (and eventually found it in an email!), prepared lots of lists and did some shopping.

    As far as the state being in charge of the economy, it's a case of the lunatics have taken charge of the asylum.

    1. My state pension is a joke apparently my fault because I was mainly self employed..I can't claim a penny also apparently because I have savings.
      When as i did recently draw down to pay bills and just live. Those vile political bastards tax me on it.

        1. Tell him to get it sorted out ASAP, TB. My annual state pension after 47 years of working in the UK is just over 9 thousand PA. I've had a few lengthy explanations from DWP but I can't understand what they are telling me.

          1. Entitlement – Basic State Pension or New State Pension
            If you were self-employed all the time you were working you wouldn't have been accruing entitlement to any State Additional Pension ( in its various guises, SERPS, S2P etc.). On that basis, and very broadly ,the position is: if you were born before 6 April 1951 you would only be entitled to the Basic State Pension. In 2024 – 2025, the full (old) Basic State Pension is £169.50 a week, or £8,814 a year, but if you started taking your State Pension after your State Pension Age, it would have got an uplift for later (deferred) payment. (There may be other factors which could increase the payment you get too including if you were employed for some of the time you were working).

            If you were born on or after 6 April 1951 and you retired at State Pension age you would get the New State Pension. The NSP is currently £221.20 per week, which is just over £11,500 a year, which is more than the rate of Basic State Pension. (There are other factors that may increase or decrease that amount if you were employed during that time).

            The above is very basic, and there are other variables that may apply, but that is the broad outline.

            Taxation of pension
            Pension (including State Pension) is potentially taxable, if your total income is above the Single Person's Allowance of 12,570 a year. Usually the State Pension is not taxed at source, so if you have any income from other sources (including private pension provision) that will be taxed and you will be paid net.

            If HMRC have already given a forecast of your income to your pension provider, and that shows that your income will not reach the Single Person's Allowance limit, the amount of leeway you have before you reach your Single Person's Allowance will be paid to you gross and you will only have tax deducted on any excess above the Allowance. If HMRC have not given your provider a forecast, you will have tax deducted by the provider and you will have to reclaim any tax that you might have overpaid.

            The position is also more complicated if you have income from another source.

            I hope this is of some (limited) use. (I have edited this, I hope to make it a bit clearer).

          2. Brilliant thanks HL I seem to remember that you help me out with all this a few years ago.
            The letter from pensions is really confusing. It seems i wont get anywhere with them they’ve dug their heels in. It says that I stopped paying in by direct debit, early 90s, but I have no recollection of doing this. And if i did nobody warned me that this would happen. But I guess in the end, because we were able to pay off our mortgage early and the value of our property has increased significantly in 30 odd years it could be better than a pension.
            But after working in the UK for 47 years I feel cheated.
            But I suppose we would have to downsize or house swap with our middle son and his family. They need more room than we do now.
            I just need to remind HMRC again they have to give me back the tax they stole from my private pension fund.
            How’s your Somerset venture going?
            We had a few days in the Cotswolds ether side of last weekend.
            Never been there before but loved it.

          3. Hi Eddy,

            I am happy offline to try to explain what the HMRC stuff means if you would like me to, you have my email.

            Also remember that, depending on circumstances, the payment you got from your private pension fund may well be taxable. If you have overpaid tax on it, HMRC should account for that after the end of the tax year in which the payment was made. Alternatively there is a form you can send to get an immediate return of tax, see https://www.gov.uk/claim-tax-refund

          4. I’m not too well at the moment Tine I’ll email you the details asap.
            Thanks very much for your help in this.
            🙂

          5. I’m sorry to hear that, perhaps we can have a chat – I’ll email you now, assuming that the one I have is still your used mail?

    2. And x million illegal immigrants each costing £150 a day, or £55k each a year. Bargain!

  104. This is/has been on display on GM News screen for some twenty minutes;

    The Home Office spent £19 Million on eight tents to house migrants

    2. Don’t worry, the Govt has just undergone a massive round of tax hikes to pay for it all.

  105. Scurrying off to the Emirates for higher salaries always ends up in tears .

    My father did that in 1951.. well he went to the Sudan , then later Egypt , then Nigeria, then back to the Sudan .. then England for 18months .. Harold Wilson made him so angry he took my siblings and mother to South Africa , for good , hoping I would follow .. I didn't .

    When in South Africa from 1967 onwards he then worked in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia .. because there were sanctions in SA due to Apartheid , before the collapse due to Mandela and the mess that SA is in now .

    Then he worked for various American companies , and then Mozambique .. UN.

    People should think twice about selling their souls and working skills to Arab countries .. Life style excellent , that is the lie .

    Dad was considered to be part of the post war brain drain , as were many who were engineers, teachers, architects, planners surveyors , journos, accountants.etc.

    1. My parents moved to Nigeria, to teach at university, first Ibadan in the south, then to start a new uni in the north, in Zaria.
      Father's personnel number was 4. During the civil war, when the students were rioting, he forbad the local Army commander to come on campus and shoot the rioters, then told the rioters that they should GO HOME! and grow up some.
      Both sides complied. Masacre averted. My Monkey-Hanger of a Dad, Professor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor – the rest of the management had run away. I'm still gobsmacked. Quite a legacy to try to live up to.

      1. My paternal grandfather, Doctor Henry Eugene Tracey, in Willand, Devon, had eleven children : six of whom worked in Africa:

        Evelyn, headmistress in Nigeria; Leonard, farmer in Rhodesia; Christopher (my father) governor of Northern Province of the Sudan; Vera, farmer in Kenya, Dr Hugh, musicologist in South Africa; Dr Decima, missionary doctor in Rwanda.

        Others:

        Geoffrey killed in France aged 19 in WW1; Marjorie horticulturalist in Willand, Devon; Dr Lilian, doctor in with her own maternity nursing home in Salisbury; Dr Basil, surgeon doctor in Norwich; Dr John doctor in Exeter.

        None of them lived into the 21st century. Basil was the last to die – in1991 aged 92.

    2. Since our number 3 and his fiancee recetly went to Dubai to live. I have not felt comfortable with their decision.

    3. When was your father born? My father was born in 1898 and was in the Sudan (where I was born in 1946) which was before your father's time.

        1. And I am just one year older than you are having been born in 1946.

          We started late on my side of the family. My father was 48 when I was born and I was 47 when Christo was born and 49 when Henry was born.

          As a result I can claim that my father and both my sons were born in the 90s!

  108. Reference the Southport cover-up. I posted the following post on the DT letters page:

    So the Southport cover-up is complete. All articles in the DT removed except for a small editorial piece. The Speaker of the House of Commons has banned it from being discussed in Parliament. Another scandal, another full-frontal assault on our democracy hidden away by the compliant media and politicians.

    It was removed in less than a minute. So I tried it without 'Southport'

    So the ——– cover-up is complete. All articles in the DT removed except for a small editorial piece. The Speaker of the House of Commons has banned it from being discussed in Parliament. Another scandal, another full-frontal assault on our democracy hidden away by the compliant media and politicians.

    This version has been up for 4 hours untouched. So the word 'Southport' is the trigger for automatic deletion.

    1. What is the ultimate destination? My expectation is violence, eventually, and unfortunately, lots of it.

      1. It depends on how many people are both actually paying attention to what's happening and are prepared to do something.
        The blatant 'story burial' choreographed with the budget and TR's imprisonment is still unnoticed by so many.

    2. People ae now posting their comments under other stories and these remain up for a little while until the Telegraph Censoring Squad get onto it.

      Here was a post I put up under and article about bicycles in Birmingham:

      BTL

      Discussion of Southport massacre banned in Parliament.

      Discussion of Southport massacre banned from the Daily Telegraph Comments sections.

      That's why I'm posting here.

      Weren't the riots caused by the suppression of information and the government's confected lies? Easier to blame The Mythical Far Right. Easier to blame Farage when the truth was that Starmer and Cooper were to blame for suppressing the truth and misdirecting the public.

  109. Amazon's last quarter's earnings were, apparently, US$ 158,9 billion… that's money.
    Why don't they get Bezos to be Chancellor in the UK? There'd be none of the shite about VAT on school fees…

  112. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    arbage In, Garbage Out’ is a computer programming principle which states that the quality of a system’s output is determined by the quality of its input. It’s also a phrase that speaks to US politics this week.

    After a string of good news cycles for the Republican campaign, the Democrats finally believed they had caught a break on Sunday night after the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made a joke about Puerto Rico on stage at Trump’s mega-rally in Madison Square Garden in New York. ‘I don’t know if you know this but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now,’ said Hinchcliffe. ‘It’s called Puerto Rico.’ Other speakers made other ill-judged remarks, but the garbage line seemed to stick.

    Trump’s hyperbole is half the fun

    Hinchcliffe is famous for the sheer offensiveness of his comedy but the Democrats, knowing that nearly a million Puerto Ricans live in swing states, seized on his quip as yet more evidence that Trumpworld is racist. Armies of Harris campaign surrogates duly marched to the airwaves to express their horror at such ‘dehumanising’ rhetoric. The Trump campaign, on the back foot for the first time in weeks, felt compelled to officially distance itself from the remark.

    But then Joe Biden went and spoiled it all by saying something stupid, as he often does. On a zoom call with Latino voters, he said: ‘The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters – his – his – his demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.’

    Oops. Team Biden-Harris quickly sought to clarify that Joe meant ‘supporter’s’ – with an apostrophe. He was talking about Hinchcliffe, not the millions of Americans who support Trump.

    Most popular
    Douglas Murray
    The strange silence around the Southport attacks

    Jamie Blackett
    How I plan to dodge Labour’s farm tax
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    What’s upset Kim Jong Un?
    But everybody remembers Hillary Clinton calling Trump fans a ‘basket of deplorables’ in 2016 – and look how well that worked out. Suddenly, Team Trump was on the offended offensive. ‘Moments ago,’ declared a Donald-signed campaign email. ‘Kamala’s boss crooked Joe Biden just called ALL my supporters GARBAGE – HE WAS TALKING TO YOU!’

    Biden backtracked. Harris distanced herself from his remark. But it was too late. Trump knew he was on to a winner, and yesterday he performed his second brilliant and hilarious campaign stunt of the past ten days. Sporting a high-vis trucker vest, he walked off Trump Force One, his luxury jet, in the swing state of Wisconsin. He then climbed into the front of the magnificent white garbage truck marked Trump-Vance and drove off the tarmac. After that, still wearing the vest, he went on stage in the city of Green Bay and said: ‘I have to begin by saying 250 million Americans are not garbage,’ he said. His hyperbole is half the fun: 250 million is not the number of Trump fans in America; it’s roughly the amount of Americans who didn’t vote for Joe Biden in 2020.

    Trump also made some amusing, instantly viral remarks about how his staff told him he looked slim in his common-man attire. It was as electrifyingly ridiculous and internet-savvy a campaign moment as his shift in McDonald’s in Pennsylvania. ‘Genius-level trolling,’ said Elon Musk, on Twitter/X, and many people agree. When it comes to trash talk, you can’t beat the Donald.

    That said, Trumpworld might be getting carried away with the power of these comedy routines. Yes, it’s publicity gold. But Trump’s recovery in the polls in recent weeks has mostly come from Harris’s poor performances, not his sublime attention-grabbing.

    Last night, at Harris’s rally at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, the stench of manure was overwhelming. A perfect metaphor for her candidacy, some might say, if we weren’t all too busy talking about the Republican nominee and his garbage truck.

    This article was first published in Freddy Gray’s subscriber-only Americano newsletter. Sign up here.

    Freddy Gray
    WRITTEN BY
    Freddy Gray
    Freddy Gray is deputy editor of The Spectator

  113. Well, chums,. I've managed to do quite quite a few important jobs today, so I shall treat myself to an early trip up the stairs to Bedfordshire. Good Night all, sleep well and see you all tomorrow morning.

  114. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    Budget day has been and gone and this morning Rachel Reeves was expected on the media morning round to discuss the fallout from her fiscal statement. Only it appears that the Chancellor seems to think she has better things to do than speak to the usual selection of broadcasters about her tax-raising Budget the morning after. It transpires that, at the very last moment, Reeves pulled out of a scheduled interview with Times Radio this morning – before pulling the same stunt an hour later with GB News. So much for transparency…

    While the Chancellor isn’t keen to reiterate her own Budget – a rather flimsy excuse, Mr S thinks – the GB News presenters were rather unimpressed, not least given Reeves chose to appear on other broadcasters like Sky News. ‘[Rachel Reeves] has now decided she doesn’t have time to talk to us,’ fumed GB News’s Stephen Dixon, ‘which means she doesn’t have time to talk to you.’ The presenter was pulling no punches in his take down of the Chancellor, raging:

    This is very disappointing, professionally, in a sense, but it’s actually, frankly – can I say? – I think it’s disgraceful. It’s disgraceful to think they don’t want to take questions from us.

    Don’t hold back! Going on, Dixon added:

    We don’t know what our viewing figures are today, by the way, because you don’t find out for 24 hours. A week ago, our viewing figures were three times Sky News’s figures.

    Oo er. It’s a rather large miscalculation by the former Bank of England economist, eh?

    1. Next time I see our nice postie in the mailroom at work, I must tell him he’s now qualified as an economist.

      1. I've just started to re-watch Breaking Bad, Sue…that kind of started in a mail room, but can't see our Chancellor being as successful before being hauled off to jail….

  115. There’s either a gunfight at the OK Shepherds Bush or the fireworks have come early. Do the demons do big bangs for All Hallows Eve now?

      1. When I was in Bombay the other week, the locals were getting all geared up for it. Plenty of fireworks down here tonight (Southampton)

        1. We even had an office Diwali celebration – full of temporary Indians from our Mumbai office, we're getting behind on the detail design.

  120. Remind me to mention tomorrow. Dad says Jenrick is from Wolverhampton, which causes me to have to reassess him. He was at the Grammar School, independent since 1979. Interestingly, famous alumni are: Melvyn King (full grammar school); Satnam Sangera (bursary); and now Jenrick (full private).

    I was at the Girls’ High School (still a grammar school). Famous alumni: Rachel Heyhoe Flint; Black Rod (Sally Clarke); and me (admittedly only on this blog).

        1. Maybe some winks during the day? Bloody awful wind here, even the cats are scared.
          Take care, Tom.

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