597 thoughts on “Thursday 5 December: Britain cannot afford to elect a Labour leader ambivalent about Nato”

  1. SIR – Having listened to interviews with some of the Turner Prize “winners” (report, December 4), I’m wondering how much time some schools of art allocate to teaching the use of pretentious, meaningless, politically correct phraseology and how much to teaching art.

    Sandra Jones
    Old Cleeve, Somerset

    Pretentiousness is part of the admissions requirement. It is followed by 24/7 full immersion until ‘graduation’. Is anyone surprised by the output?

    2. Among those of us who went to art school*, the consensus is we had the best of it. I would advise anyone who wanted to study to save money by following online tutorials and going on short specific courses that are fully explained before hand; not cheap but not bankrupting. There are plenty to chose from and these will be far more rewarding than sitting learning art bollocks in a soulless building designed to house P.R. executives. S.W.M.B.O. obeyed has done a few and I was initially snotty, but soon changed my tune on seeing the results and hearing how sincere and dedicated the tutors were. I once sat through a short conference this century where the full panoply of ignorance was on display. People talking about ideas they did not understand challenged the best minds in the field leave alone art poseurs. In my day you were shot down very fast if you could not support your ideas with more than hot air. It helps that the latest intellectual passions in the humanities are exploitations of little else.

      *We were supposed to call it ‘College of Art’; later the slide into polytechnics and then ‘universities’ accelerated appearance over substance, as everywhere else now.

  2. I recently purchased a copy of H.G. Well’s War of the Worlds for my Kindle. About a half way through it turns to gibberish. Though this is the first book by Wells that I have actually read this seemed an unlikely sample of his writing. Curious I bought the paperback edition to make a comparison. I append the same passage from both to illustrate the problem.

    It become on the 6th day of our imprisonment that I peeped for the ultimate time, and currently found myself on my own. Instead of retaining close to me and seeking to oust me from the slit, the curate had long gone returned into the scullery. I became struck through a sudden idea. I went again speedy and quietly into the scullery. In the darkness I heard the curate ingesting. I snatched inside the darkness, and my arms stuck a bottle of burgundy.

    Wells, H. G. . The War of the Worlds . Kindle Edition.

    It was on the 6th day of our imprisonment that I peeped for the last time, and presently found myself alone. Instead of keeping close to me and seeking to oust me from the slit, the curate had gone back into the scullery. I was struck by a sudden thought. I went back quickly and quietly into the scullery. In the darkness I heard the curate drinking. I snatched in the darkness, and my fingers caught a bottle of burgundy.

    Penguin Paperback. H. G. Wells. War of the Worlds.

    Now I could speculate as to how the Kindle Edition went astray; the guy who transferred it to an ebook was given four weeks notice. The AI program that read the original text was rubbish though this would not explain why the first half is impeccable. etc. etc. But this would not help. Even advice to watch what you buy is not of much use since you have to buy to find out. Still I thought it might serve as a warning that when you read something strange in an ebook it is not necessarily you or the author that is at fault.

    1. It looks like a back-translation made by a machine. Why they would take it from a foreign language (maybe German?) back to English, I don’t know, but Kindle books are often made by scanning with OCR (or modern equivalent) from a paper book. The example above isn’t OCR errors, it’s definitely untranslation.

      1. ‘Morning, Paul, the OCR errors are all the way through the Morland Dynasty books but those are the only books to date where I have found those errors and with three variants of Kindle 479 books on a Kindle, a further 341books on a PC Kindle and another 117 on an Amazon ‘Fire’ I don’t understand how such errors can occur. I can only put it down to a lack of proof-reading on the Morland Dynasty series.

      2. Morning Oberst. That did occur to me though it wouldn’t explain why the first half is correct! Perhaps the proof reader couldn’t be bothered to go any further! And why bother anyway? Simply copy an English extant edition?

        1. Sometime kindles books get scrambled in the download. I just download them again to clean them up.

  3. SIR – William Molesworth (Letters, December 2) thinks museums should charge entry to tourists. A compelling counterargument was made by a Bolivian tour guide, who told me: “The Spaniards took our treasures and now, when I go to Madrid, they make me pay to see them.”

    Andrew Mitchell
    Calverton, Buckinghamshire

    I wonder if we could offer Magic Grandpa to the Bolivians for display in La Paz?

    1. Two of life’s mysteries: I’ve travelled around a bit and I’ve never seen a signpost for Suburbia, on the other hand I’ve seen many signposts indicating ‘By Road’ but I’ve never come upon that place. Would GPS help?😎

        1. In Germany, all autobahn exits lead to Ausfahrt. Either all towns are called Ausfahrt, or the autobahns are circular and Ausfahrt is very crowded.

          1. My brother, James with his Norwegian wife, decided to drive to Norway from the UK but became lost in Germany while looking for the village of Umleitung, only to discover after many circuits that it means Diversion.

        1. Did a lot of driving in Suffolk back in the day. Less now and only for pleasure, there are some good pubs with good food across the border. The nearest ‘By Road’ sign I know is in Leavenheath, on the left between the now closed Lion pub and the Hare and Hounds.

          2. Been to a few and there are three good ones on the Essex side of the border; the Victory at Wickham St Paul, The Half Moon at Belchamp St Paul and between those two the Pheasant at Gestingthorpe. All serve good pub grub and good beers.

          3. ‘Morning, Korky, it amuses me to see those Good Pub Grub signs – I’ve yet to see one advertising Bad Pub Grub!

        1. I’m not sure that Colchester is quite large enough to have suburbs but if it did I am on the southern boundary of the Kingsford suburb with plenty of large gardens and countryside to the South, East and West. Sadly the PTB are planning to take much of that away to house all and sundry.

      5. When I was little and travelled by bus, I noted that many buses went to “Contract”which I assumed was a mining town near Newtongrange.

        1. When I was little I envied the Bros family.they seemed to own everything
          David Bros
          Richard Bros

          etc etc

      6. There is a road sign in Surrey which reads like a military command:
        “Well Crondell Send Ripley

  6. QT tonight…

    Summary
    Fiona Bruce presents the topical debate from Hull, where the panellists are Conservative Party chairman James Cleverly, Labour’s Shadow Secretary for Employment Rights Laura Pidcock, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey, leader of the SNP at Westminster Ian Blackford and Chairman of the Brexit Party Richard Tice.

      2. From what I have seen of him I must admit that I like Richard Tice. He would be a great asset to parliament.

        (My approval is probably the kiss of death for him! I approved of JRM, Mark Francois and Steve Baker only to discover that they capitulated under any sort of pressure. I now despise them vehemently.)

        1. You can almost sense the standard format repeating itself already. Everyone else is allowed to ramble on but Richard Tice will be lucky to speak for 10 seconds before being interrupted.

    2. Ed Davey replaced Chris Hulme as minister for the environment in Cameron’s disgraceful government.

      Ed Davey is not only incompetent – he is almost completely incoherent and spouts nothing but nonsense.

  7. Morning all

    SIR – Since the Second World War, Nato has proved an effective guarantor of peace for Britain. Jeremy Corbyn’s ambivalent attitude towards Nato risks squandering this valuable alliance in the pursuit of hard-Left ideology.

    In 2012 he called for the organisation to be ended, and in 2014 he attributed Russian aggression to Nato’s expansion – an expansion due to vulnerable nations wanting Nato’s protection. If Mr Corbyn got into power, his reckless anti-war activism would have devastating consequences.

    Ian Jenkin

    Coventry, Warwickshire

    SIR – I celebrate my joint birthday with Nato. As the alliance’s members gathered near London for the anniversary summit, I reflected on the security we have enjoyed over the past 70 years.

    By contrast, I listened, aghast, to the suggestion from Barry Gardiner, the shadow trade secretary, being interviewed on the BBC’s Today programme, that we should respond to the aggressive actions of Vladimir Putin’s Russia by seeking to “de-escalate” the situation. Yes, we should de-escalate, not Russia.

    If this Labour regime gains power then I fear for the future freedoms of my children and grandchildren while Mr Corbyn, Mr Gardiner and allies respond to threats with placards.

    Christopher Timbrell

    Kington Langley, Wiltshire

    1. In reply to Ian Jenkin I would say that Corbyn even got that wrong. In the eyes of Moscow which went to proxy war over Ukraine, NATO was not the cause. It was the Berlin-driven imperial expansion to gain raw materials. The Kremlin was well informed on the panicked phone calls to Washington for NATO boots on the ground from none other than one of the authors of EU expansion, Frau Merkel. Obama for once listened wisely to the Pentagon and turned her down. Merkel proceeded to try to shift the blame for the ensuing bloodshed in the Donbas on Washington, remember? The Kremlin took it all in.
      For the Kremlin it is the EU, not NATO, that is higher on their “watch list”.

    2. Would you get into bed with a macho, raving, muslim warlord? If the answer is “no”, then please explain why we continue to accept Turkey as a member of NATO?

        1. I am not really worried about the Russians. A Russian invasion of the UK is not only unlikely, it would be insanity. Anyone who invades the UK would have to take charge, and actually rule the place. Who would want to do that?

        2. Historically, Turkey was acquired by the USA as a place for airbases from which to bomb Russia, and send spy planes across the Soviet Zone. That may be what you are saying?
          However, none of that now applies. The ring of steel around Russia, from Germany to Japan via Diego Garcia is pretty pointless. Russia may have ambitions but not territorial.
          We do have a loonie in charge of Turkey (President for Life or whatever) who has not hesitated to shoot down Russian planes and bomb foreign countries. A loonie who has threatened Europe with 50,000 jihadis despite accepting big bribes not to.
          While no one is trustworthy, I’d sooner bank on Putin rather than Erdogan for sense and logic.

    3. A few BTL responses:-

      A Allan 5 Dec 2019 8:25AM
      The sandpit squabble – aka the NATO birthday bash – is the result of 70 years of peace and plenty. Such conditions do not seem to bring out the best in human beings.

      Sadly, the west has become fat and complaisant. The all encompassing welfare state that European countries enjoy is only possible because America has footed the bill.

      The behaviour of most of the ‘statesmen’ over the last couple of days has been that of spoilt teenagers; quick to carp, criticise and make snide comments but unwilling to take responsibility for their existence.

      Unlike Great Britain, Germany was let off the debt it owed the US after WWII. It can’t even be bothered to meet the relatively small contribution towards its continuing protection. And, like a flighty coquette, France has dipped in and out of NATO as the spirit moved her.

      Flag23UnlikeReply
      J Wilson 5 Dec 2019 8:45AM
      @A Allan Lots of people think that the EU has kept the peace!

      Flag3UnlikeReply
      Clare Roullier 5 Dec 2019 9:02AM
      @J Wilson @A Allan It is a lie they have been fed and they have been too lazy to research the truth.

      Flag10UnlikeReply
      Robert Spowart 5 Dec 2019 10:06AM
      @J Wilson @A Allan And deliberately ignore how tensions in the former Yugoslavia rapidly deteriorated into open civil war with Germany’s premature recognition of Croatia’s independence.

      A move tacitly supported by Brussels.

      DeleteLikeReply
      Christopher Stiff 5 Dec 2019 10:09AM
      @J Wilson @A Allan

      More fool them. They will learn one day, but probably too late.

      FlagLikeReply
      Arfur Mo 5 Dec 2019 9:15AM
      @A Allan

      I wonder whether the choice of Watford for the NATO summit precisely reflects the organisation’s limited ambition.

      Flag1UnlikeReply
      david ofkent 5 Dec 2019 9:58AM
      @A Allan I like your use of the French word for complacent.

  8. GP salaries

    SIR – Apparently GPs are able to afford to work part- time (report, December 2).

    Given that salaries for GPs abroad range from £200,000 to £500,000 a year, it is lucky that this country has any left at all. Recruiting thousands more GPs is about as likely as the Government paying doctors a competitive salary – it will never happen. So we keep training and exporting our doctors for the rest of the world to enjoy, and keep importing doctors who couldn’t make the cut for those very countries where our doctors choose to work.

    Time off has value, and £60,000 to £70,000 a year for a three-day week is fair. If we keep pretending this situation can continue, it’ll be three weeks until the GP can see you.

    Dr Alexander Barber

    Camberley, Surrey

    2. Three weeks Dr Barber? Try six weeks. My local surgery is not offering appointments before the New Year. One also cannot book an appointment for the New Year as the appointments book is now closed. A&E are going to be very very busy.

  9. The hypocrisy of ‘liberal’ Remainer fanatics flocking to Corbyn is jaw-dropping
    ALLISTER HEATH – 4 DECEMBER 2019 • 9:30PM

    Until a few weeks ago, I generally took the uber-Remainers at their word. I believed them when they told me that they objected to Brexit because they feared economic damage. I assumed they were telling the truth when they insisted with great passion that they thought the EU was a force for peace, tolerance and harmonious co-existence, and that this was a central reason for their Europhilia. Such arguments are, in my view, entirely wrong-headed, but they are certainly eminently respectable.

    With the general election just seven days away, some of these Remainers, to their great credit, have stayed true to these liberal principles. A fair few have decided to vote Lib Dem, despite Jo Swinson’s uselessness; others are even supporting the Tories because Labour is so obviously inimical to the free-market and so tolerant of prejudice. The New Statesman, the Left-wing weekly, is refusing to back the Labour Party, probably for the first time ever (it still wishes to deprive the Tories of a majority, however).

    But for many others, especially the most vocal, holier-than-thou variety of unreconstructed Remain activist that dominates social media, the election has exposed a fundamental, jaw-dropping hypocrisy. Everything they had been arguing was a lie, and they should never be taken seriously again.

    The main reason to oppose Brexit, these people kept saying, is to ensure that UK GDP growth isn’t cut by a couple of tenths of a percentage point a year, or some other such minor economic loss. We should stay in the EU, these “left-liberals” would claim until they were blue in the face, to make sure that Britain doesn’t lose out on investment projects, and so the City doesn’t relinquish bankers (and tax receipts) to Frankfurt, Dublin or Luxembourg.

    So what is their proposed solution? To vote for an economic programme that will shut down the banks, collapse the City and tax wealth-creators into oblivion. The inconsistency beggars belief. Having spent the past few years accusing Brexiteers of being anti-business, they are supporting Jeremy Corbyn, the most anti-business leader since Michael Foot. Why? Because they believe him to be the last chance of stopping Brexit, and they don’t care how this is achieved. Their pro-enterprise rhetoric, all the worrying about the extra red tape that leaving the single market and customs union might burden firms with, the entire Project Fear agenda, it turns out, were just for show, a way of trying to fool moderate voters into rejecting Brexit.

    Having claimed that they believe in attracting the best and brightest from the continent, they are now supporting a party whose catastrophic policies would lead to massive brain drain from the UK. Forget about free movement: nobody would want to relocate here anymore anyway.

    And for all their nonsense about believing in the liberal international economic order, the reality is that a Corbyn PM would be deeply protectionist: confiscating 10 per cent of the shares of listed companies, combined with the nationalisation of swathes of industry, would be an extraordinary act of economic nationalism. Foreign shareholders would flee. The capital controls that would be bound to accompany the full imposition of Corbyn’s agenda would be the greatest setback to free trade since the Smoot-Hawley tariffs.

    For anybody genuinely worried about the supposed economic cost of Brexit, backing Corbyn in the hope of staying in the EU is the equivalent of chopping off both one’s legs to “cure” indigestion.

    But most of these people aren’t stupid. They are merely demonstrating that they didn’t really believe in any of the liberal principles they cited when opposing Brexit, and that in fact they hate Tories and Brexiteers far more than they love the Remain status quo. They don’t really care about the EU per se; they just have a demented loathing for Eurosceptics and Right-leaning or patriotic people in general. They have little real interest in peace and cooperation, or else they wouldn’t be voting for people who have associated and defended terrorists.

    It’s all incredibly depressing, and the final proof that identity politics is the new tribalism. Arguments are merely a tool with which to attack the enemy: in true-post modernist fashion, words are weapons and one shouldn’t assume that those who utter them believe in them. It’s no longer about the policies, the people or the ideas; it’s only about belonging to a gang that sees itself as morally superior, and thus entitled to annihilate the other side. The ends always justify the means. It is also snobbery of the most extreme kind dressed up as progressivism.

    A recent ICM poll shows that Labour leads 67-17 per cent among 18-24 year olds and 50-23 per cent among 25-34 year olds. Double-standards, much? If university students are so committed to fighting hate, why are they supporting the first party since the BNP to be investigated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission? How can one be anti-racist but not care about Jews? How can millennials who identify so closely with the “rights” culture support a movement that wants to confiscate wealth without compensation and deprive parents of the freedom to educate their children as they see fit, both clear violations of mainstream human rights rules? Don’t they also see that the hard-Left is riddled with sexism and misogyny?

    And what about Londoners? If they are so liberal, so open-minded, why are 47 per cent of them going to back Labour, according to the latest YouGov poll? There are still plenty of genuine Left-liberals among the super-woke metropolitan elite, but a worrying number have now mutated into authoritarians, cultural warriors rather than believers in freedom.

    As to those who defend their support for Labour by claiming they are gaming the election to engineer a hung parliament, or who argue that Corbyn will never implement his mad agenda, or will be removed in time, I have a simple message: grow up. Politics always catches out those who are too clever by half. If you vote for Corbyn, you are endorsing his policies and his message. You are being soft on anti-Semitism, and supporting neo-Marxist economic, social and international policies. That is your right, but don’t lie to yourself: you can no longer claim to be a true liberal.

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

    bill hughes 4 Dec 2019 9:50PM
    Question 1: Whats so good about being in the EU? Answers in less than 100 words please. Question 2: Whats so good about being in the EU that we need to overturn democracy to stay in it?

    1. Question 1: Whats so good about being in the EU? Answers in less than 100 words please.

      2 is more than enough…..

    2. …it’s only about belonging to a gang that sees itself as morally superior, and thus entitled to annihilate the other side. The ends always justify the means. It is also snobbery of the most extreme kind dressed up as progressivism. – exacto!

    3. My jaw remains resolutely undropped.
      Since my teens I have known that leftie ‘thinking’ = fookwittery.

  11. I went down this morning to the Social Security to sign on my dog.

    The woman said: – “Dogs are not eligible to draw benefit”…. so I explained to her that my dog is black, unemployed, idle, can’t speak English and has no clue who his dad is.

    She looked in her policy book to see what it takes to qualify.

    He gets his first cheque on Friday.

    Damn this is a great country.!

  12. To stop a chaotic hung Parliament, the Tories must play a blistering end game
    SHERELLE JACOBS – DAILY TELEGRAPH COLUMNIST – 5 DECEMBER 2019 • 6:00AM

    The Conservatives need to wake up – A Labour Remain bounce changes everything

    The Westminster bubble still has not twigged that we teeter on the edge of the most thrilling realignment in modern history. It is too distracted by a red herring – the polls that wildly flap between a chaotic hung Parliament and a Tory majority. In this high-stakes election, the rush to dissect each fresh, contradicting opinion tracker – and, yes, foam at the drip of support back to Labour – is understandable. But in our quasi-religious fixation on the polls, we are in danger of missing something crucial: the Conservatives’ enslavement to the cult of yesterday’s logic. Specifically, the Tory strategy is disastrously stuck in the past, even though the Lib Dem implosion has blown up its playbook.

    With a week still to go, the polls shouldn’t be taken as a prediction so much as a warning that, in cautiously “sticking to the script”, the Tories are, counter-intuitively, taking a whopping gamble. Their “safety first” game plan is as follows: creep ahead by taking enough seats across the rust-belt to make up for a smattering of losses across Remainia.

    Meanwhile, let the Lib Dems split Labour’s vote. But Remainers are now ditching the Rainbow Despot, Jo Swinson. Her vibrantly narcissistic presidential campaign has failed to distract from the lurid immorality of her policy to revoke Article 50. Which renders the original Tory strategy obsolete.

    And yet, in the Tory camp, there is a chilling reluctance to believe anything has changed. One detects a hint of wishful thinking in their jaw-clamped insistence that the Lib Dems might yet fare better against Labour than indicated in recent polls. Still, a sliver of panic has started to set in. The trouble is that it is stirring the Tories into a last-ditch effort, not so much to change their strategy as to turn up the volume.

    The plan as we enter these final days seems to be to shock and awe the South with glass-shatteringly shrill premonitions of economic chaos under Labour – and hammer home that a vote for Jeremy Corbyn would be an operatic act of self-harm by the bourgeois intelligentsia.

    The latter strand of the Tories’ approach is inspired by their delight at the depth of Corbyn’s unpopularity in the Midlands and the North. As one senior Tory put it to me, he is no longer the heartlands’ “blue-eyed grandpa”, so much as the “Christmas Grinch” – with every day that passes, from Derby to Doncaster, he is more loathed. So too are his hardcore supporters, whose deranged tactics – from distributing knitted Corbynista dolls to graffitiing Tory constituency offices – have disgusted locals.

    The problem with pumping out vague anti-Labour slogans that worked elsewhere with ever-greater intensity is that the South is a different country. There, the Tories can beat the drum of Corbageddon all they like – Remainers have heard it all before. Such voters are not yet unreachable, but the Tories’ inability to change course betrays a jarring lack of emotional intelligence. It’s not so much that aggressive anti-Left campaigning can’t be effective as that they urgently need to refine their message.

    That means taking on specific wack-job policies more aggressively. As Corbyn courts the national press to make dramatic attacks on the Americanisation of the NHS, the Conservatives should be holding press conferences on the idiocy of nationalising everything. And then there’s the “vision thing”. Pushing Boris Johnson as a cherubic beacon of positivity is not enough, particularly in constituencies where people regard him as a lying devil.

    Instead, the Tories need to push more ambitious policies. One undecided millennial voter who is agnostic on Brexit and not particularly tribal told me this week that she is leaning towards Labour because it is the “change party”. Where are Dominic Cummings’ blueprints for a tech-driven Narnia to counter Labour’s retro-analogue version of the future?

    A more sophisticated line of attack in the South would give the Tories more confidence to blast through the Red Wall in the North. Final-week panic about their weakness in London and surrounding seats risks holding the Conservatives back in the Labour heartlands. This is a disaster, because if the Lib Dems fail to split the Labour vote, the Tories need to win even more seats to make up for this.

    Candidates in the North East in particular are starting to crackle with excitement that Sedgefield (Tony Blair’s old seat), North Durham and even the gruffly socialist Redcar may be up for grabs.

    That the PPCs for these were chosen early in the campaign is a sign that, on the ground, the Tories mean business. But the anaemic national campaign could yet botch things. Mr Johnson’s panicked refusal to welcome the US President with open arms for this week’s Nato summit – for fear it would put irk Remainers – was a missed opportunity to play the real trump card of this election: the unpatriotic Corbyn’s destructiveness to Britain’s standing.

    The natural party of government is probably still on course for a majority of sorts. It is a tragedy, however, that they are allowing this historic opportunity for a landslide be bogged down by sloppy Tory mediocrity.

    2. …be bogged down by sloppy Tory mediocrity.

      Why is Ms Jacobs surprised that the Tories appear mediocre? Where are the personalities, the change of direction policies, the political heavyweights and the truth to change that perception? This election, like all elections in recent times is governed by the choice of voting for what in one’s opinion is the least worst party. The Tories being the least mediocre should just about see them home. Not really a ringing endorsement for the future, though.

          2. Probably not supposed to say it about a ‘legend’ but I never got it with screeching Janis Joplin. Bloody hell, she couldn’t even spell ‘Janice’.

          4. This is one of the most perceptive lines in pop music which I used to quote often along with the Dylan quotation above.

      2. Morning Z,
        Speaking hypothetically, if a real political type with a proven track record as in
        allegiance to country / party,
        would the peoples still go for the politico’s set up of nose gripping, best of the worst, keep in / keep out mode of voting ?
        Take for instance “the best of the worst” why would one want to vote for a watered down version of guaranteed sh!te ?

    3. We voted to Leave the EU and become a Sovereign Nation State again. None of the three main parties will allow us to do that. The media have imposed a news blackout on the Brexit Party once again, after that brief moment where Boris had a chance to work with them and actually take us out of the EU by Christmas, before rejecting that chance. YouGov now pretend that Brexit Party voters don’t exist and have all converted to Boris.

      So we have “interpreted polling figures” and politicians who are ignoring the people and overturning the referendum result. This is why people are so sick and tired of it all and we have no idea what will happen at the election. A hung Parliament that blocks this Withdrawal Agreement, and allows new MP’s to force through a No-deal Brexit instead, is now the best that we can hope for.

      The next few years are going to be very rough for the EU, so we really don’t want to hand over control of our country to them at this point.

  15. Germany suspects killing of Vladimir Putin opponent in Berlin was ‘Skripal-style Russian assassination’. 3 DECEMBER 2019.

    There are also parallels with the 2018 Novichok poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

    Really! So Sergei Skripal is really a Chechen and was novichocked in Salisbury while riding a tandem with his daughter on the back.

    Who would ever have guessed?

    Minty’s Law. Anyone citing the Skripals is talking bollocks!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/03/germany-suspects-killing-vladimir-putin-opponent-berlin-skripal/

  19. Radio 1’s first blind presenter ‘excited to represent disabled community’

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-50663698

    With all this hype, I bet the BBC have forgotten about Peter White.

    Born in Winchester in 1947, Peter has been blind since birth. He doorstepped BBC Radio Solent even before they’d opened and began broadcasting for them in 1971.

    Has been on various Radio stations since

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/5pdj8blHKnmMdvwF9s4pbfz/peter-white

      1. Terry Wogan hinted that MasterChef would lead to the demise of the hearing aid, but it didn’t happen.

    4. The son of a carpenter. When he and his Dad played hide and seek. Peter quickly found his dad hiding in the empty bath. When asked how he had managed to find him so quickly? Peter replied: “The smell of sawdust on your clothes….”

    1. These migrants are entering, or attempting to enter Britain, illegally. Therefore they have broken the law and so are criminals. Why should people whose first act on entering the UK is a criminal one be allowed to stay in this country?

      2. Morning A,
        Because the parties the peoples have kept in power
        decade on decade then some
        dictate so.
        They the politico’s, adhere to the three monkey, PC, Appeasement mode of governance.
        Those landing currently have not yet proved themselves
        as bad as the hundreds who
        went to a war front to fight alongside enemas of these Isles.
        Via the governance parties of this Country these enemas of the state returned to the welfare state and are now in a state of waiting……..
        They will not have to travel so far for the next conflict,maybe not even have a break in the
        welfare check delivery.

      3. If our politicians knew the answer to this question and acted upon it then Britain would not be the place it now is.

        1. Morning R.
          Who put the same in many cases politico’s
          parties, not once, twice, thrice, but again & again ?
          The politician is only the product of the vote.

    2. With boats, lifeboats and an aircraft used, plus the police and ambulances which will inevitably have been waiting for their new taxpayer funded patients, they cost us a fortune before even setting foot on UK soil. Their Xmas has come early. I hope they don’t sue the govt because their four-bed detacheds aren’t ready and fully furnished for them. The EU would rule in their favour.

      1. Morning W,
        Peoples up to the present time
        have, via the polling booth adhered to voting for mass uncontrolled immigration parties and showing much success on that issue.
        If the peoples disagreed surely their vote would signify that.

    3. Alternatively, install a cat flap, which will take proper bottle and even wine boxes…

  22. Belated ‘Morning All

    All the smart ad execs paid millions to produce the carp Christmas ads??

    They’re all getting a glass of whisky and a revolver for Christmas

    Cop this £100 to produce

    https://twitter.com/HafodHardware/status/1201386765291941888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1201386765291941888&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.shropshirestar.com%2Fnews%2Flatest-videos%2F2019%2F12%2F04%2Fwatch-local-hardware-shop-hailed-for-christmas-ad-of-the-year-which-cost-just-100%2F

  25. Good morning Nottlers!

    Germany: All EU members must do as we say take in illegal immigrants migrants. Beware when Germany takes over the presidency in 2020: we’d better be out by then because sure as heck we won’t get any opt out.

    “The continuing debate over migration is, at its core, about European federalism and the degree to which the European Union will be allowed to usurp decision-making powers from its 28 member states.

    If everything goes according to plan, the draft legislation would be adopted by the European Parliament in the second half of 2020 when Germany holds the presidency of the EU. It would then be ratified by the European Council, made up of the leaders of the EU member states.

    “We fundamentally reject illegal migration. We also reject allowing smuggling gangs to decide who will live in Europe.” — Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.

    “The V4’s [Visegrád group: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia] position is clear. We are not willing to admit any illegal migrants into central Europe. The success and security of central Europe is thanks to our pursuit of a firm anti-migration policy, and this will endure…. Hungarians insist on our right to decide whom to allow into our country and with whom we wish to live.” — Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.”

    For full article: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15245/eu-migrants-relocation-quota

      1. English, Scottish etc. – as opposed to “British”, yes I should think so. West Indian wonderful mothers, not so sure.

  26. Arrests made in Border Force operation after 15 seen leaving boat on Suffolk coast

    There is no way that they got across in a small dinghy they will have been transferred from a large ship the nearest port in Europe is Rotterdam

    Police were called to the scene in north-east Suffolk around 6pm Wednesday, December 4, following reports a group of people were seen leaving a boat in Southwold.

    A Suffolk Constabulary spokesman said: “Police have been supporting a Border Force led operation this evening after police received a call at about 6pm this evening.
    “It was reported that approximately 15 people were seen leaving a boat in the Southwold Harbour area and getting into vehicles.
    “Following enquiries a number of people were subsequently arrested later in the evening and have been taken into custody.”

    1. They’re not laughing now – but was anyone actually laughing in the first place?

      I have not seen much of him because as soon as he appears on the TV I switch to another channel but from the little I have seen I would say that the man is completely odious.

      1. ‘I would say that the man is completely odious’.

        It goes without saying if he both appears on the BBC and they class him as a comedian, then he’s going to be odious.

  28. British Neo-Nazis suggest Prince Harry should be shot

    By Daniel Sandford and Daniel De Simone
    BBC News

    5 December 2018
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46460442
    This is Dymock,note the date
    No,no his arrest today couldn’t possibly be as a counterpoint to the latest moslem atrocity
    No Sireee

    1. It is difficult at the best of times to infect your soul by reading a BBC article, but the language used in that year old report stood out even for them. Not that they were trying to make a mountain out of a molehill at all. I counted these words / lines that appeared:

      Suggests x 4
      Allegedly x 3
      Linked x 2
      It is understood x 2
      It is thought x 1
      Is said to be x 1
      Appears x 1

      Add to that, one of the claimed British White Supremacists is said to be in a picture burning the British flag. That sounds like an unusual act for a “British Nationalist” to carry out.

      At the bottom of the page there is the laughably familiar link that is deployed almost in desperation that says: “Why you can trust the BBC.”

  29. Russian billionaire tycoon, 49, living in Britain is killed in crash involving three cars while walking his dog in Surrey as friend says he could have been ‘specially knocked down’
    A man who was walking his dog in Surrey was hit in three-car crash and died
    Russian media last night named the man who died as Dmitry Obretetsky

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7758987/Russian-billionaire-tycoon-49-living-Britain-mysteriously-killed-crash.html

    Please look at the map in the article .. something really nasty seems to be unfolding !

  30. Universal Credit: Cold Weather Payment TRIGGERED – full list of affected postcodes so far

    The postcodes affected so far this winter are:

    FK20-21
    PA33-36-40
    PH8-9
    PH15-17
    PH30-35
    PH37
    PH49-50
    AB35-36
    PH10-11
    PH18
    AB37
    IV13
    PH19-26
    IV4
    IV6
    IV7
    IV14-16
    IV23-24
    IV63

  31. BBC are pushing for Corbyn like hell..

    The BBC luvvies are influencers .. The BBC are going over the top .. Black bruvvers are also influencers .. and Stewdants, and muvvers of lots of kids , and people wiv scarves on their faces ..

    I got a hammering after I commented about Abbott’s son biting a copper .. Me referencing a shortage of fried chicken .. Funny how sensitive bods can be . That was on F/B . One has to be so careful .

    1. I keep politics off my facebook page and very rarely comment on other people’s unless it is about animal cruelty. Twitter is the place for politics, but even there I keep pretty stumm. You don’t know who’s watching…….. I had a knock at the door just now, but it was the postman. He brought me a heavy parcel which I hadn’t ordered……is it safe to open it?

      1. Hello J,

        I agree with you, and have taken heed .. It was the DT site on F/B as well.

        Gosh a parcel , Hmm , an unexpected rattle .. heavy shoes perhaps .. books .. Can you remember when they used to deliver the old Telephone directory ..

        What does the postmark say .. difficult really .. maybe a hedgehog house?

        1. Lots of tape round the box and a tiny label with Amazon on it. We’ll see. It could possibly be something from my son in Switzerland which might indicate he’ll turn up here at Christmas. We haven’t been in touch very much since our disagreement last year.

          I was hoping it might be my package of envelopes which I did order!

          1. Put it in the back garden and set fire to it. If it burns nice and steadily it’s probably your envelopes.

          4. Ah, the the psychological approach is required. Put it in the front garden. Obtain a stout stick such as a broom handle. Stop a passing schoolboy. Offer him money to watch your parcel. Give him the stick. Tell him that on no account whatsoever must he give the parcel a hard poke with the stick. Go into house and watch from behind curtains. If nothing untoward happens when the boy pokes the parcel it may be safe to open it.

          6. My relationship with my younger son in Switzerland has improved since we agreed to disagree on Brexit. That said, he’s asked me to cast his proxy vote for him next week so things must be better. he still hasn’t told me for whom to vote.

            Moral dilemma #1: what if he asks me to vote Labour for him?

          7. Perhaps he’s left it to you to make the choice. On the other hand, perhaps you should vote according to what you think he might do. My son doesn’t have a vote as he’s been living there for over 20 years now.

          8. He contacted me last night – LibDem it is 🙁 He must be worried about his inheritance under Labour 🙂

      2. I don’t do Facebook but Caroline does and she steers well clear of politics.

        In effect you have all been censored haven’t you?

        2. Absolutely! But only lefties can say what they like in our society now. Very occasionally one or other of my contacts there pipe up so I’ll give them a like or agree with them.

        3. I never thought I’d say this but I’m reminded of when I lived in SA in the 70s and 80s. There were certain things that were unsayable upon pain of imprisonment or worse so one self-censored. Towards the end, before the whole pack of Nationalist Party and the Bureau of State Security cards came tumbling down, one had almost shut out such thoughts altogether – life was easier that way.

    2. I keep politics off my facebook page and very rarely comment on other people’s unless it is about animal cruelty. Twitter is the place for politics, but even there I keep pretty stumm. You don’t know who’s watching…….. I had a knock at the door just now, but it was the postman. He brought me a heavy parcel which I hadn’t ordered……is it safe to open it?

  33. Who are we kidding – of course terror is a political issue. Rod Liddle. 7 December 2019.

    But in demanding the issue should not be politicised, the liberals are really begging not to be held responsible when, in truth, they are responsible. And so they wish to close down the debate — because, I suspect, they know what the general public feels about this matter. We all like a nice poem or two, but are not wholly convinced that the price worth paying is murder.

    The left are very adept at closing down the debate, though. Murders of this kind may be an act of God, they say, but they are certainly not the act of any one specific God and to suggest that they are would be Islamophobic and thus a hate crime. I have written an awful lot about the challenges posed to us by radical Islam: its intractability, its hostility to other creeds and to apostasy and freedom of speech, and to Jews and to women and homosexuals.

    Rod cooking on gas this week. The whole article should be read really. If there’s a part I disagree with it is his use of the word left in this context. It is the Elites of both Right and Left who conspire to suppress the truth!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/12/who-are-we-kidding-of-course-terror-is-a-political-issue/

    1. Liddle starts well but ends badly:

      There are things about Islam which I see as wholly positive and it is true that I have not written about those perhaps as much as I should – its communitarian aspect, its respect for the family and the elderly, its resistance to the asocial western individualistic ethos, its seriousness, its commitment to charity and the redistribution of wealth, the humility it demands of its adherents. These are all socially admirable qualities which we, as a consequence of our own creed of selfish secularism, have lost.

      We might well have lost these values but by observing that we have demonstrates that they are not exclusively Islamic.

      But those aforementioned challenges still exist and to try to divorce them from Islam is dishonest. It does not matter one bit whether or not I accept that Usman Khan was following a perverted version of Islam. It matters only that he did not accept that he was – and nor do perhaps millions like him, any more than the governments of Islamic states accept that they are perverting the religion when they threaten to execute apostates and homosexuals and try to wipe Israel off the map.

      As Liddle equivocates he explains exactly what Islam really is – the Islam that set out on its worldwide tour of destruction 1,387 years ago.

      1. Balance and truth are not equivocation! What you are seeking is condemnation without either!

        1. As Liddle makes the point about Islamic violence so he denies it. The example was set in 632 AD. No amount of ‘balance’ can hide that.

      2. Genghis Khan was a good friend to have. He loved his family and his people. He was famously kind to his grannie and went the messages for her every week.
        But, I’m sure I’d be less than impressed by that information if the Mongol Horde was galloping towards my wee village.

    2. I still cannot get over father Merritt scoring political points when his son’s body was barely cold.
      That puts the Merritt household into the dysfunctional category.

        1. What product was not allowed to use Cash and ‘Ring of Fire’? in its’ adverts

          Preperation H

      2. I wonder if Merrit will finally come to the same conclusion as Gordon Wilson did in Northern Ireland? Wilson’s daughter was murdered by the IRA but Wilson forgave her killers and campaigned for peace between the factions.

        In the end he had to admit that trying to talk reasonably with terrorists is a complete waste of time.

        1. The NI terrorists were political. They could be defused by a political solution. The terrorists we dare not name can only cured in the same way as the one on London Bridge.

        2. You might as well try to persuade a white pointer, in a face to face discussion, of the benefits of soy bean protein.

      3. There is something inherently inhuman about forgiving the murderers of your children. It speaks of a mind enslaved to ideology, a being without a heart, a soul seeking redemption by the sacrifice of someone else’s life!

      4. Had one of my boys been murdered, I would not be able to stand or talk, let alone play politics. Man’s an arsehole.

    3. It is impossible for an averagely intelligent person with no more than common sense to sympathise with people who won’t stand up for themselves.

  34. Boris’s deal is the only game in town. It is vital my fellow Brexiteers vote Conservative

    JOHN LONGWORTH

    Today I was about to resign from the Brexit Party whip, along with three of my MEP colleagues, in order that I should be entirely free to speak out in favour of delivering Brexit, as I see fit. However, the Brexit Party chose to withdraw the whip yesterday, it appears because I had the effrontery not to reveal the result of a secret ballot in the EU Parliament.

    When I put myself forward as a candidate to be elected as MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire (The Humber), I had one declared objective and one objective in mind and that was to deliver the democratic mandate of the British people, as expressed in the referendum, to leave the European Union. This means regaining national sovereignty and thus control of our borders, our money and our laws.

    Nearly four years ago I gave up my livelihood by stepping down as Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce in order to speak freely and, as a Chairman of the Vote Leave Business Council, fight in the referendum campaign to leave the EU. I sat on the Vote Leave Campaign Committee alongside Boris Johnson and I know the level of his commitment to the Brexit cause.

    At some personal cost I have spent the last four years of my life trying to see through that campaign, for the most part as Chairman of Leave means Leave, through other groups, independently and latterly as an MEP.

    Following the referendum, most other Leave supporting individuals and groups deserted the field having decided that the battle was won. Far from it.

    During this period there has been relentless and trenchant attempts by the vested interests of the British and EU establishment, often acting in concert, to frustrate the outcome of the referendum and to prevent Britain’s exit from the EU. A campaign which continues to this day and no doubt will go on in the future.

    Had the Hammond/May government, a handmaiden of the establishment plot, succeeded in getting parliamentary approval for the original Withdrawal Agreement, then the UK would have been cast into the permanent orbit of the EU, a client state subject to its rules and restrictions, such that it would be relatively easy to slip back in. So awful would have been our national position that I expect the British people would have wanted to rejoin at a future stage, and no doubt this was the objective of those promoting the deal.

    Of course, that rejoining would been comprehensive: full membership of the defence structures, the Eurozone and more, never to leave. A total victory for the corporatist europhiles, a Remainer victory cleverly snatched from the jaws of defeat. Blair (who no doubt has always had ambitions to be the first “real” President of Europe), and others such as Heseltine, Major and Rudd, have all now seen this victory slipping away. As a consequence, we will likely see ever more desperate attempts to scupper our leaving.

    So near to defeat were we who believe in Brexit and the millions who, even though they may have favoured Remain, believe in democracy and therefore the delivery of the referendum result, that I began to fear we would lose Brexit forever and that belief in democracy would be irreparably damaged.

    Thank goodness for the EU elections which, via the Brexit Party, were instrumental in seeing a change of leadership of the country and a new Withdrawal Agreement, one which is in fact Brexit. Given the right outcome of the negotiations on future arrangements, as set out in the Political Declaration, we can have, as the PM says, a “great deal”.

    Hurrah!

    However, this new Withdrawal Agreement is not the end of the story and leaving the EU will still have a way to go.

    If the Withdrawal Agreement is executed, we will have technically left the EU in that we will have withdrawn from the political structures. During the implementation period the UK will be subject to EU rule. Should the political declaration talks not go our way, it is entirely possible we may be left with a poor deal. On the face of it, a deal which is better than Norway, but only just.

    With a malign intent on the part of Whitehall, a Remainer fifth column and a weak government, we could end up with Brino or perpetual limbo.

    With a determination on the part of government and a will to make Brexit a success, the future negotiations can result in a great deal (or alternatively an exit on WTO terms which would also be perfectly satisfactory). In other words, there is all to play for, but the base position is that the UK will have more leverage and a therefore a much better start point than we have enjoyed hitherto. And we will be out.

    The most important thing for Brexiteers to recognise is that the government’s proposal is the only game in town. There is no other practical route to Brexit, nor is there any other deal on offer. All other alternatives lead ultimately to revocation, because by hook or by crook that is what the europhile establishment want.

    Recently in a newspaper interview, Nigel Farage described me as an “ultra”. He is right to the extent that I firmly believe in Brexit and have bent every sinew to see it delivered. But I am also a businessman who knows how to negotiate and a pragmatist who recognises when to take the cake out of the oven and how to get things done. We don’t want the half-baked cake put forward by Hammond and May, but equally an overcooked and ruined cake that disintegrates is of no use either.

    Given these facts and with my newfound freedom to speak, I am recommending to anyone who wants to leave the EU, or anyone who believes that losers’ consent is the basis of democracy, or for that matter does not wish to see a Corbyn-led government, that they vote for Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party. That in every constituency in the land people vote Conservative at the general election.

    Voting Conservative and thus voting for the government is vital for Brexit, as only by guaranteeing a significant Conservative majority can we be sure that there are enough votes in Parliament to overcome the forces of Remain, including those in the Conservative Party itself. Only then can we be assured that we have stable government that can deliver Brexit and create an atmosphere of confidence which will enable the economy to prosper as never before.

    I realise for some it will require holding of noses, but this election is a defining moment for the future of our country and in my view, it is so important as to put country above party.

    Once Brexit is delivered, given the right policies, we will see the economic benefits that flow, Britain will become the dynamic global player that we have the potential to be. The nature of the debate will change and the arguments to re join the EU will look increasingly weak.

    If the government achieve a substantial majority and implements the agreement, it will not be the end of the fight for Brexit, but to coin a phrase, it will be the end of the beginning and for that at the very least, we should all be grateful.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/12/05/boris-deal-game-town-vital-fellow-brexiteers-vote-conservative/

    1. The Conservative Party has done more to integrate the UK into the EU than any other Party. They along with all the major parties have lost my trust in anything they say they will do.

    3. Blah, blah..
      Hang in there, son. You will be drawing your salary and expenses as an MEP for decades to come.

    4. WS,
      You mean condone this “stable government” full of unstable politico’s
      that have cost us nearly four years exit freedom with their ongoing treachery ?
      No thanks.

    5. “Thank goodness for the EU elections which, via the Brexit Party, were instrumental in seeing a change of leadership of the country and a new Withdrawal Agreement, one which is in fact Brexit.”

      LOL. Well that one sentence shows that John Longworth either knows nothing about what he is talking about, or he is a liar and is yet another of those “long term sleepers” who has been activated in the final days before the election to try to stop Brexit ever happening.

      The Withdrawal Agreement delays any Brexit actually taking place until they they have the numbers to win a 2nd referendum and keep us permanently in the EU. It’s purpose is to stop us leaving, not help us to.

  35. Is it just me and my dodgy internet connection and elderly laptop, or have you all got rid of your avatars today? Mine is here and one or others but most people today are just blobs. Everything takes ages to load so it’s probably just me.

    3. I’ve just refreshed, J and all your avatars seem present and correct.

      Try downloading and running Ccleaner (used to be Crap Cleaner) and it will get rid of all sorts of Internet related guff that is clogging up your PC’s memory and DRAM. It is perfectly safe and free for home use.

        3. Saw that. Not sure what it does. EDIT: It takes you to the top of the page.
          Also, my avatar has become a blob, too.

  36. Millions of families will get a £200 tax cut within weeks of Tories being elected, Boris Johnson pledges. 4 DECEMBER 2019.

    Boris Johnson today pledges a £200 tax cut for millions of families within days of Brexit.

    Morning everyone. That’s OK but I would also like a fresh Hovis Toasty every day and a Barnum and Bailey season ticket.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/12/04/millions-people-will-get-200-tax-cut-within-weeks-tories-elected/?li_source=LI&li_medium=li-recommendation-widget

    2. Ask and ye shall be given. As our politicians try to butter us up, all is free in our new world.

      Morning Araminta.

    3. Bit picky for your bribe this morning aren’t you, Araminta?😎

      Good morning, by the way.

    4. Morning, Minty!

      Bread and circuses ain’t what it used to be. Will you accept a vegan burger and Strictly?

  37. Good Morning, all

    Caroline Lucas has just informed listeners to the Today programme that it’s World Soil Day. Who better?

  40. SIR – I once saw a notice outside our local butcher. It read “Sausage’s”.

    When I went in to point out the error, the butcher said: “Yes, I did it deliberately. It brings people like you into the shop. How many sausages would you like?”

    Steve Cowling
    Knockin, Shropshire

    And now you realise that butchers are much smarter than pain-in-the-arse pedants.

  43. A private conversation between Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson en route to Davos, at the end of which Nigel Farage answers all your questions about why the Western world is turning upside down………………

    ”I have never seen so many clues in one case as I have in this, Watson, In fact, dare I say, it is so simple I believe even our friend Inspector Lestrade could solve it without difficulty.”

    ”Let us start with the published mission statement. It admits working to influence the European Union, it’s institutions and member states into accepting and actioning the aims and values of one individual. There is no mention of voters being kept informed of where all these aims and values are coming from which their governments are apparently expected to effect. Perhaps voters don’t matter and should be kept in the dark. Certainly I don’t remember any politician in Britain saying a word about all this influencing, and one would think, in the interests of honesty and openness, that all relevant legislation would be tagged with an explanation relating to it’s origin. Perhaps British politicians think it wouldn’t look good to be seen apparently accepting so many ideas from one man, and they’d probably be right. People might start asking some very embarrassing questions ! ”

    ”I have to ask, Watson, why do European and British politicians need to be influenced at all anyway ? Are they so bereft of ideas and innovative thinking that they cannot create their own policies without falling into line with the wishes of one person ?”

    ”I have studied the aims and values, Holmes, and I have to say they look remarkably similar to virtually all the important legislation emanating from Westminster for at least 20 yesrs, and quite possibly 30. Almost everything the British have done looks virtually identical, and my research indicates only one important issue is perhaps at variance, namely the Iraq War.”

    ”Exactly, Watson, in my opinion that is not remotely surprising when one factors in to the equation those 72 meetings with the European Commission in 2018 alone, and also the substantial lobbying office just down the road from parliament and Downing Street. Funded I may add, with no less than a cool £52 million last year, and goodness knows how much this year. If this was a commercial organization I would say businees looks brisk because it’s perfectly obvious £millions would not be repeatedly funded year after year if they didn’t achieve value for money.

    ”So where does this leave us, Holmes ? I’m goggle eyed at the effrontery of politicians in Europe for letting this happen in secret and all evidently covered up without explaining the full story to their voters”.

    ”Yes indeed, so am I, and I would add that this looks to have been going on right across the Western world and not just Europe for years, yet hardly anyone seems to know about it. What would voters say if they knew ?”

    I think, Watson, we are looking at one of the biggest and certainly the most secret international power grabs in history !

    Whoops, trouble with the link.Nigel must be having a pint 🍺.

        1. Yes. You can see the purpose behind this. To squeeze the savers into injecting their cash into the economy. This system is undoubtedly the greatest Ponzi scheme in history. When it cashes it will bring down everything!

          1. However, at the end of the day when vast sums of money have been spent, there will be a totting up of the real Balance of Payment figures and a large number of countries will find themselves in hock to a much smaller number of successful ones. They could like Argentina repudiate their debts or hand over the family silver of vital infrastructure (think the current Chinese burn in Africa & other places around the globe) or they could turn to the IMF for punitive loans.Ms Lagard (sic) must be very pleased with her ‘continue with the Negative Interest Rates’ policy at the ECB. Her former employer the IMF are also probably chuffed to bits.

  45. SIR – I hope that the public will see through the French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent depiction of Nato as “brain-dead” (report, December 4).

    Economically, France is floundering, and the country is struggling to hit the target expenditure of 2 per cent of GDP on defence, as agreed by Nato members. Mr Macron’s outburst is designed to deflect attention from his own problems.

    Smaller countries such as Greece, Latvia and Estonia have hit the 2 per cent target; so should the French.

    Jim Sokol
    Minehead, Somerset

    Greece met their target by maintaining defence spending whilst their economy was forcibly shrunk by the triad. Macron sees a chance to be Le grand fromage in the European Defence Pact because the optics would be all wrong if it was the krauts again.

        1. Time to demolish the Chunnel, it’s unnatural.

          If God had intended Britain to be joined to Europe, He wouldn’t have flooded Doggerland.

          2. I read that that was due to the global warming of the time causing sea levels to rise, aggravated by a fall in the number of sponges in the seas around Britain.

        2. E,
          Close the door they are coming in the windows.
          STOP using / abusing
          the polling booth as has been happening for decades in a party before country manner.
          The electorate voted us into the sh!te they can vote us out.

    2. Afternoon E,
      Same as the cameron LOOKS like a PM, may will take us out, she told us so, mogg is the boy to make sure of our exit, honest as the day is long,excepting on investments, johnson will do the trick & he makes us laugh, then the “nige”………..
      Straw clutching extraordinaire.

      1. Bonjour ogga.

        Just brushing up on my French before tootling off to their version of EUtopia to get an Eiffel.

  47. “The man’s dog was also killed in the road crash. Obretetsky’s dog is said to be called Oscar.”
    That’s sad.

    1. With all this PC nonsense these days and with politicians and people in the public eye getting kicked out for minor things they have written, said or posted in the distant past, how could a terrorist sympathiser ever become leader of the opposition and a potential prime minister is beyond me

    1. Who would have thought that the beefy, hairy, aggressive, muscular self-declared women of the West would line up against svelte feminine competitors from Russia at the next Olympics but one?
      Whaur’s yer Press sisters noo?

        2. I rarely get around to listening to this. Rach Sym.2 and Piano Con. 3, cello sonnata and vocalise favourite.

          Thanks for posting.

          1. You are most welcome. This is a fine recording which drove me to source the CD from Czechoslovakia.

    1. Oops. Being suspicious of new icons, I now find that obeying disqus’ command to view reveals all.

      1. …and now, having refreshed, all pictures display and the ‘hide’ icon has disappeared.

    2. Morning Nan. I thought that Disqus had given up on modernising this platform. I always assume that it is GCHQ harrassing the peasants!

      1. It is very likely that the drones employed there are much, much younger than us and therefore have a very different view of the World to the point that although we may regard ourselves as benign we may be viewed as radicals and therefore dangerous. Orwell would I’m sure be amazed at how far this nation has lost its way.

  53. After the EU referendum, it became clear that democracy itself was at stake.

    “For universal suffrage to have any real meaning, the will of the majority must be enacted. Brexit has forced us to ask where power lies – and who rules. The genie that carries those questions is well and truly out of the bottle, despite the many attempts by the establishment to put it back in.
    Earlier this year, I decided to become an active, paid-up member of the Brexit Party. The need for a vehicle to defend democracy in the absence of any other organised form became more urgent as the anti-democratic activities of the establishment increased. I even applied to become a parliamentary candidate (and was successful but had to decline the opportunity for private family reasons). My activities continued – writing, speaking, canvassing and manning street stalls in various constituencies. I was one among many thousands. We were part of a democratic surge. Halls up and down the nation were packed.

    The surge continued to grow. Undoubtedly, the establishment was rattled. First by the Brexit vote itself, but later by what followed in the EU elections. The old mainstream parties were electorally obliterated by a party hardly out of its infancy and with no other policy beyond the demand to uphold the referendum result.

    For the first time in generations, the demos had been stamping its authority on society. There seemed to be a party that would defend democracy and shake up the status quo. Many were excited at the prospect of ridding our parliament of the anti-democrats and replacing them with representatives who would not only enact the decision to leave the EU, but also instigate major democratic reform.

    This was more than just blind hope. The Brexit Party continually told us ‘we are ready’ and that it was willing to change politics for good by breaking the Labour-Conservative duopoly. The party’s literature also made clear that Labour and the Conservatives were Remain parties – Labour openly so with its second referendum policy and the Conservatives with Boris Johnson’s Brexit-in-name-only deal.

    But then, during the General Election, everything was turned upside down and promises were betrayed. The Brexit Party stood down and refused to contest 317 Conservative-held seats. Most of us have got used to betrayal from mainstream parties, but this time we thought it would be different. This was too important. This was not about honouring manifesto commitments – they have been a joke for generations. This was about democracy itself.

    The only way to defend democracy within our parliamentary system is to clear out the Remainers in parliament. And let’s be clear: all those who will not enact the referendum result in full are Remainers. You are either in the EU or out of it. There is no hokey-cokey option that could satisfy the demand to leave. All of the Westminster parties are Remain parties of one degree or another. Those of us who got involved with the Brexit Party did not do so to promote other parties that are a bit ‘Brexity’ or a bit ‘democratic’. We didn’t sign up so that we could just accept the lesser evil.

    Democracy and universal suffrage cannot be defended by effectively disenfranchising millions of democrats in 317 constituencies. Now those constituencies have more or less been handed to candidates who have signed up to Johnson’s anti-democratic treaty.

    This was a unilateral decision by the leadership of the Brexit Party. No supporters were consulted. The people who energise the party, who do all the street work, including candidates, were ignored and betrayed. The Brexit Party decided that all potential democrats in Tory constituencies were to be disregarded and not counted – they were treated as a stage army in the Tory machine. People have been disempowered, just as we were beginning to show our power.

    The Brexit Party’s move is not a tactical retreat. It is appeasement and betrayal. It more or less guarantees – as current polling suggests – a majority for the Conservatives, a Remainer party.

    Some claim that the goal of this election has shifted and that it is more important to prevent a victory for the Remainer alliance. The Brexit Party’s strategy has been to chase red blood in the Labour heartlands, where Jeremy Corbyn’s Remain party is most vulnerable. But at what point will the Brexit Party take on the other Remainers – the Conservatives? At some mysterious, yet-to-be-determined point in the future? If the Tories win a majority – potentially gifted to them by the Brexit Party’s withdrawal – then their feet will not be held to the fire. They will easily pass their BRINO deal. The Brexit Party is effectively telling democrats that the Conservatives are a safe haven for Leavers.

    Just as mysterious is the decision to stand against Labour Leavers like Dennis Skinner. It is claimed that lifelong Labour voters will never vote for the Tories. And while that would be tough for many to countenance, it is no more unlikely than them voting for the Brexit Party following this betrayal. Nigel Farage’s party is stacked full of light-blue Tories. People might have been more willing to take that leap had democracy remained central to the Brexit Party’s offer. The ‘red rosette on a donkey’ phenomenon is at an end, but these ex-Labour voters could swing in many directions.

    One inescapable question is why the Brexit Party has retreated at the most opportune moment to shake up politics by doing serious damage to both parties. If it was for a lack of resources or candidates, then Farage should not have repeatedly told supporters ‘We are ready’.

    But I suspect the reasoning may be worse. Some in the Brexit Party seem to have a genuine fear of a Corbyn government – and not just because he is leading a Remain party. Farage is a loyal Eurosceptic but also a free marketeer. For many like-minded people, the more pressing desire is to defeat Corbyn. Most of us didn’t support Brexit for such narrow party-political reasons. Democracy must come first.

    Whatever happens in the election, the lesson we must learn is clear: any new vehicle for change must come from the bottom up; it must be in our control and accountable at all levels. While a broad church has its advantages, it cannot come at the expense of clarity of purpose, particularly on the democratic question. The genie is still out of the bottle. Even after the Brexit Party’s betrayal, the struggle for democracy continues.”

    Steve Roberts is a writer and former miner, based in West Yorkshire.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/12/03/the-brexit-party-has-betrayed-us/?sfns=mo

    2. HL,
      “The battle for democracy continues”
      we in UKIP are fighting remnants of internal treachery ie the NEc before the party can once again take up the battle.
      By the by I thought there was only one member of the Brexit group after the
      founder leader Catherine Blaiklock
      left ?
      “Clarity of purpose ” has always been appertaining to UKIP policies over the years the latest being Total severance
      in regards to the eu.

    3. I agree with almost all of this article, but there is still a sigh that is trying hard not to come out. After the corruption and pro-EU betrayal of 600+ MP’s, the media and so many in the Establishment, it is Nigel Farage who is getting the blame for us not Leaving the EU. Out of all of them he is the one who would take this country out of the EU tomorrow, but it is somehow all his fault that we are not Leaving.

      I would have liked him to have targeted 100 Conservative Remain MP’s, such as my own, as well as the Labour seats but here we are. I still trust him more than any other party standing to actually try to get us out. At the end of the day it is us who are casting the votes, and if we re-elect hard-core Remainers such as Theresa May then we cannot shrug our shoulders and say “It’s Nigels fault.”

      1. I’ve been turning it all around in my head for days and still can’t decide what’s happened and why nor what will follow. I simply don’t think that the BP could have overturned Tory candidates in safe seats but I do think the withdrawals have affected their vote overall (though of course there may well be be constituencies where they have a good chance of winning).

        Was Farage ‘got at’? Or did he really think that the BP could give Corbyn victory, considering that to be a greater danger than BJ’s not-quite-but-almost-May-deal? I still hold out the hope that Johnson has something up his sleeve but will he have too many Remainers on the back benches to get it through?

        The CP here has sent out only a small leaflet with ‘Get Brexit done’ but our MP is Peter Bone and he did at least vote against the WA on all three occasions. The only other leaflet came from the Green Party…

          3. It is, but perhaps those sceptics who voted for it did so knowing that the Remain camp would prevent an Oct 31 exit, which they did.

        2. What has happened is murky at best. There were certainly people who knew that talks between the Conservatives and The Brexit Party were going on and who knows what was agreed / promised? After Nigel said he would not stand in Conservative seats, Boris did not reciprocate by standing down those Conservatives in seats where they had no chance at all and The Brexit Party did, which will achieve nothing but reduce the chances of a Leaver being elected.

          As for Boris, I have been watching him for years. I was not the only one whose jaw hit the floor before saying “pull the other one!” When he announced he was on the Vote Leave side. He has had a lifetime of being pro-EU and was the most obvious Remainer plant that had ever been seen. Here we are with him doing his best to stop Brexit happening at all, and tie us under the control of the EU courts for at least 9 – 11 years. So the only thing up his sleeves are handcuffs for our country.

          I will be voting Liberal (whom I despise) to try to reduce the Conservative majority by 1 MP in this marginal seat. It is the only thing that I can see to do to try to protect my country from EU control. Election night will tell us how much damage our country will suffer and if we have any hope of being free of the EU in the next 10 years.

          1. “He has had a lifetime of being pro-EU…”

            Really? He was always critical of it (although I accept that that could be like the BBC criticising the Labour Party). If he really thought leaving was supported by a minority in the parliamentary CP, why would he consider that coming out in favour of it would help his chances of becoming leader?

            310-315 seats for the Tories and 25-30 for the Brexit Party would keep him keen.

          2. Well, that is a genuinely new experience. That is the first time that I have heard someone say that Boris was not in favour of the EU. 🙂

            You have heard Boris’s stance on speeding up the entry of Turkey into the EU, back in the day? His ongoing very warm relationships with EU leaders goes back decades, far longer than he has been saying “Leaving the EU would be a good idea.”

            As for his insistence that this Withdrawal Agreement is a great new deal that delivers Brexit and “gets it done” – that is a sheer bare-faced lie to the British people in order to deceive them into voting for him. This deal was written by EU lawyers to bind the United Kingdom under their control for an undefined period of transition, + 8 years after that. If Boris signs that agreement then two elections from now we will still be under the legal jurisdiction of the EU courts.

            Boris knows that this is not leaving the EU at all and that it is just a delaying tactic until we can be taken into the as full EU members. Boris had the chance of being completely free of the EU and trading on WTO terms by the end of this year, by following President Trumps advice and working with the Brexit Party. Boris rejected this chance to be free in exchange for a decade under EU control. No real Leaver would ever have done such a thing.

            Freedom was there for the taking…

            So no, I don’t think Boris has any interest whatsoever in ever allowing us to leave the EU. But it would be boring if we all thought the same way, and you are certainly free to think differently. 🙂

          3. For years he wrote critical articles in The Spectator and the DT pointing out the absurdities of it but, as I said, that could be construed as him hoping that it were better. At worst I always considered him to be undecided on it.

            He couldn’t get a WTO exit previously because of the opposition in the HoC but, yes, he could have offered one at this election. Maybe we’ll see why he hasn’t in the last week before Christmas. If he does turn around and spit in the faces of Leavers I hope it’ll be the end of him.

          4. Sorry for the delay – I am here and back again with the computer this evening. I am also off for the night now as I wish to be on a chilly beach tomorrow morning at 06:00am, so I’ll try not to be too long with this comment.

            I would take what Boris writes with a pinch of salt, as he has been creating an image for himself and self-publicising for decades. He says anything to anybody depending on what his audience wants to hear, as was highlighted by some of the meetings he has had recently. People met him with opposed viewpoints and everybody thought that he agreed with them. This is not being “a politician” it is having no moral stance and lying to whomever you are speaking with.

            The one thing that I will point out is that I was watching him on TV that day when he surprised many by saying that he would campaign to Leave the EU. The emails from those I knew lit up with the words “He is the insurance policy in case we actually vote to Leave. He is there to stop it happening.” This was the instant conclusion from those who knew his pro-EU past. But then the press conference was over and as Boris was walking away the reporters surrounded him and asked: “If we vote to Leave the EU then what will that mean?”

            I watched him with my own eyes as he replied: “If we vote to Leave the EU then that strengthens our hand with our EU friends and allows us to go back and negotiate a really good deal for this country WITHIN the EU.”

            Boris was not hazy on what staying in the Customs Union would mean for us. His first response to what would happen if we voted to leave was that we would be staying in the EU anyway. This is Boris’s role. Look at what he does not the propaganda that he writes about himself or says will happen. With that – goodnight chap. 🙂

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fb42350362d5a360634ffd78ed29fa492e2da052451d753b1ad97b0143cc62bd.jpg

  55. Need cheering up – and like Bill Thomas – you like pretty girls? If so do listen to this song and enjoy the pretty pictures.

    I wonder if True Belle goes to the Poole Arts Centre – I saw Randy Edelman there and I also saw Buddy Rich on his last tour of Britain.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd7UHCmeKEs

    1. Who will replace him?

      A tailor’s dummy? Stuffed parrot. Lesbian. Transgender eskimo? Who cares!

    2. I’m proud to admit I’ve never seen him before this.

      PS. Where do they go to get all those annoying faces? Is there a factory churning them out?

    4. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

      Unfortunately he’s staying on Countryfile & some other programme.

    1. ‘Afternoon, Tony, Not a word about the effect electric cars may (or may not) have an effect on the price of oil.

  58. Crimes up 30 per cent on London’s buses and Tube

    London’s crime wave continues to get dramatically worse in lawless London

    Crime on London’s public transport network has jumped nearly 30 per cent in a year, fuelled by criminal pickpocket gangs and passengers suspected of making fake theft claims.

    A total of 16,699 incidents were reported between July and September, compared with 12,911 in the same period a year earlier. That equates to an average of 183 crimes a day.

    Almost half of the incidents were on the Tube, where there was a 41.5 per cent increase in crime, according to Transport for London. This included a near doubling of thefts to 4,109 incidents. There was also an 18 per cent increase in violence to 1,467 attacks.

    Crime on buses increased by 20 per cent, with theft up by a third and robbery up 73 per cent.

  60. DM Story

    Jacob Rees-Mogg’s sister will QUIT the Brexit Party today with three other MEPs and urge voters to back Boris Johnson as Nigel Farage faces huge revolt.

    You have to wonder if Grease Slime’s sister planned to do as much damage to Nigel Farage as possible from the very start and has carefully chosen the timing of her treachery.

    Why are these blackguards so determined not to see that Boris’s WA is a total surrender to the EU which will damage Britain for ever?

    1. Perhaps because the WA probably owes it’s existence to the individual who I think looks likely to have dominated British and European politics to as far back as 1990.

      If so, obviously nothing can be done to upset someone who knows so much.

    2. Presumably because they can see that Boris’ “deal”, imperfect as it is, is the only one on offer. The alternative is a hard left Corbyn government and Brexit lost for ever.

    3. Jacob Rees-Mogg’s sister Annunziata, as well as John Longworth, Lance Forman and Lucy Harris issued a joint resignation letter to Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage. All four MEPs have therefore resigned the whip to back the Tories in the upcoming general election, backing Mr Johnson’s campaign pledge to “Get Brexit Done”. In the resignation letter, the four departing MEPs launched a savage attack against Mr Farage, accusing the party of “putting Brexit in jeopardy”.

      1. It is the Conservatives who are putting Brexit in jeopardy by pretending that their surrender is Brexit when it is very clearly BRINO.

    5. R,
      They are ALL in it together, as for “nige” swings & roundabouts, what goes round comes round.
      The brexit group = good.
      The “nige ” = highly suss.

  62. Not that I’m very interested but you’ve got to laugh….

    “The curious case of Newcastle striker Joelinton, the £40m signing who cannot score goals ….”

    I don’t suppose there’s a money back guarantee?

    1. He hasn’t lit up St Jame’s Park, then?

      Local Colchester player Vic Keeble cost £15,000 in 1952 and was better than 1 goal in 2 games for Newcastle.

      Keeble scored five goals en route to Wembley in 55 and overall his impressive record showed 69 goals from 121 matches in black-and-white.

      1. So, what you are saying is that there were no sports photographs in colour in 1955?

        1. I’ve always considered Rooney to be very under-rated as a striker when they compare him with AS.

          AS was a classic flat-track bully, very effective but next to no finesse

          Kane may well break his records and set the bar very, very high by the time he is replaced, assuming he avoids injury.

  63. I don’t normally pay much attention to Stephen Daisley in the Spekkie, but this is a thumbnail sketch to treasure:
    “Voters are not averse to the idea of Swinson but when they actually see her on TV, she comes across like a Benenden head girl arranging the annual dance and having to do everything herself because the rest of you squits would just get it wrong anyway.”

    1. Swinson’s support is ebbing away but word on the street is that Berlei are stitching a rescue plan together.😎

  66. Well, I am not too sure about this .. what do you think?

    Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and folk singer Cat Stevens attend the opening of ‘Europe’s first eco-friendly mosque’ in Cambridge
    Cat Stevens, now Yusuf Islam, invited President Erdogan to the mosque opening
    ‘Europe’s first eco-friendly mosque’ cost £23 million to build and is in Cambridge
    Protesters planned demonstrations against Mr Erdogan’s visit to the mosque

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7759979/Turkish-president-Erdo-attends-opening-Europes-eco-friendly-mosque-Cambridge.html

      1. The size of it is astounding , the money that could have bettered other lives such as refugees in the countries of their birth , it could have explored water sources in hotter places .. It is an icon primarily for religious men and the subjugation of women , the slaughter of animals , segregated communities .. It is a slap in our protestant faces .. it is a hiding place for terrorists .. people who rape and abuse young women , it is a cave for those who gob and spit at Jews , and scoff at our own cultural heritage ..

        Yes it is a gigantic religious man cave!

        1. TB,
          It is purely & simply a
          POWER show, knit together all the foreign mayors / peoples we have in positions of power, the pattern will emerge of a take over in progress.

    2. It is completely out of scale with its environment and is an eyesore.

      Probably what yer peasants wrote when King’s College railway station was opened.

    4. A world-wide surrender to islam would take civilisation back to the invention of the brick, which would cut down on power requirements and please those misguided people on the left. Compulsory beards would also be a thing, but many of them are there already.

      They would be less impressed with the direction of women’s rights, freedom of expression, restrictions on alcohol and the outlook for gay people. But as anyone who disagrees with islam will be swiftly silenced without any questions being asked, then that disappointment with how things have turned out would be short-lived. In every sense.

      2. Just let them try the restriction of alcohol, then they’ll feel the full force of my wrath. I’d fight to the bitter end, Guinness as well.

          5. No, make an entrenched position or viewpoint that is defended against opponents, sort of definition, at New Bridge, Gunnislake. We’ve got our own breweries and lots of shotguns.

          1. London is party city for them, on any given night at the Vic on Edgeware Rd the Prnices will be there drinking and gambling

  67. Pound surges to two-year high against the euro

    Sterling has jumped after opinion polls suggested the UK would avoid a hung parliament after next week’s election.
    The pound reached a seven month high against the dollar and its highest level against the euro since May 2017.

    The pound has risen sharply since October, gaining 6% in two months, after the EU granted Britain an extension to its departure from the bloc.
    This week sterling climbed further as investors saw the prospect of a hung parliament receding.

  68. Supper tonight was………….Tournedos Rossini.

    Fillet steak on top of toasted brioche. Sitting underneath the steak was a little spinach and burnt baby onions. A slab of pate across the top finished with a Bearnaise and peppercorn sauce. A bottle of Calvet Cahors Malbec. Burp!

    2. Is every bread product brioche nowadays? Even our local Hungry Horse uses them exclusively for burgers.

      2. I baked a thick slice in the oven til it was hard. I’m not keen on them being used for burgers because they fall apart half way through eating them.

    3. I was just reading about that Russian billionaire who has been found buried with a steak through his insides.

  69. Turnpike Lane shooting (North London)

    A teenage boy was fighting for his life in hospital today after being shot outside a north London Tube station.
    Friends of the victim, 17, carried him into a chicken shop and used clothing to stem the bleeding as they pleaded, “Just wake up”, a witness said.

    Police and medics arrived at the scene by Turnpike Lane station at about 11.15pm last night. The youth was taken to hospital and remains in a critical condition.

  70. Hackney stabbing

    A young man has been stabbed to death in broad daylight in a north-east London street.
    Emergency services including London’s air ambulance rushed to the scene at just after 2pm on Thursday.
    London’s air ambulance was also called to Clarence Mews in Lower Clapton, about half a mile from both Hackney Downs and Hackney Central stations.

    The victim, believed to be aged in his 20s, was found with serious injuries. Paramedics battled to save him but he was pronounced dead at the scene at 2.33pm.

  71. Extreme Left Wing Labour Supporters disrupting Hustings

    Hancock calls in police after West Suffolk Tories in second 2019 General Election hustings row

    Last weekend video emerged of rowdy scenes at a hustings meeting in Haverhill. This persuaded Mr Hancock to pull out of a similar hustings session in Newmarket this week.

    However his campaign manager Bobby Bennett did go – and Mr Hancock said she was subjected to abuse.

    He has now written to Labour candidate Claire Unwin demanding an apology – and has reported the events at the Newmarket meeting to the police.

    Mr Hancock wrote: “After the debate, a number of Labour activists rounded on my Campaign Manager, Bobby Bennett, and hurled abuse to her at very close quarters, recording this on a phone, and making Bobby feel physically threatened.

  72. He wont do it will he?

    I told you yesterday: Boris Johnson is a lily-livered coward who has no testicular strength:

    DM

    I could ‘eat the funny stuff’ like kangaroo testicles on I’m a Celebrity, boasts Boris Johnson on This Morning with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby – but he still hasn’t committed to Andrew Neil grilling

    The burning question is: How many kangaroo testicles are needed in order to get a proper Brexit?

          1. AoE,
            The only dealings I had with the Chinese in construction was when a job paid off with a china man = a wee kin lou.

    2. I think you could probably castrate every male Kangaroo in Australia and we still wouldn’t get a clean and proper Brexit (Oh and that’s throwing in the Wallabies’ parts for good measure)

    3. I wonder if my down-voters have the testicular strength to identify themselves and say why they think Boris Johnson is not afraid of telling the truth about his BRINO deal.

      2. Evening R,
        The resident self confessed down voter down votes comments that are anti nasty issues, ie paedophilia, mass rape / abuse etc,etc.
        He/she/ it is a very strange being.

    4. You told us yesterday, & the day before, & the day before, & the day before, zzzzz…

      1. In my defence this is in today’s papers – not yesterday’s or the day before’s etc. – and I cannot recall ever mentioning kangaroo testicles before.

          1. PtV,
            Hold up, your ilk have
            been airing your views
            via the hate / smear
            campaign for years,
            assuming you are a tory, against peoples of my ilk, the real UKIP.

      2. PTV,
        Are you out to suppress freedom of speech ? next thing you know you will be down voting people, sad really.

    1. Jailing him, the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, said:
      “This has been a multi-racial and multi-faith island for thousands of years and will continue to be so. We have to live together in harmony because otherwise mayhem follows.”

      A pupil of the Michael Wood school of history.

      1. Where’s all the legal aid, where are the pro bono lawyers, why isn’t this being taken to the ECHR etc etc.

        Let me guess…

        1. Will Cambrige academics be on the case?
          Calling for early release and sorting him a college place??
          No,thought not

      2. WS,
        A one sided mayhem has been operating for years under the
        lab/lib/con PC / Appeasement
        umbrella.

    3. Jailing him, the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, warned him his video could contribute to a future attack on Muslims.

      ‘It has been a multi-racial and multi-faith island for thousands of years and will continue to be so,’ he said.

      Multi-faith for thousands of years?

      Well, I suppose that’s true if you go back far enough.There were the Celts who worshipped Cernunnos the horned god and Lugh the Lightbringer There was the Roman Pantheon, the cult of Mithras, the Norse/Saxon Gods and so forth but then these islands became exclusively Christian. It’s only in the last few decades that we’ve been invaded by aliens – i.e. non-Europeans – and had Islam imposed on us, against the wishes of our people and to the detriment of our society’s well-being.

      ‘Judge’ Sean Morris is a twat.

      2. Some while ago we were warned that mad-cow disease had got into the system and would take some time to mature. Well, it strikes me that the judiciary, academics and the young must have been feasting on burgers, cos its certainly beginning to show.

    4. The sentence is disproportionate. He should just have been given community service, say six months cleaning out a mosque,

    6. That doesn’t chime. Some bell-end from the Government will cock it up, you’ll see ….

      1. There is so much history in that building I think it could be turned into a tourist attraction. Not sure how big the building is though. It would need say a souvenir shop, Cafe, and a presentation/cinema area where a brief film could be shown of the history of the foundry. They could also give demonstrations of casting a bell

      1. The changes will be rung when we see loud speakers appearing on lamp posts calling faithful to terrorist training. Sorry, I meant prayer.

    9. The Whitechapel church bell foundry is also about 70 yds from the Sunni East London Mosque. So probably it’ll be turned into a Halal abbatoir. Ding effing dong.

        2. This is certainly the story that the mainstream media are pushing. They keep pretending that The Brexit Party does not exist unless something like this happens. So the media proclaim that it is curtains as 3 life-long Conservatives leave the party after 3 months, and then they say that Boris’s deal is a real Brexit. You would need to ask if these recent converts hearts were ever really in wanting to Leave at all.

          We will see how many Labour voters fall for this narrative, or will still vote for us to the Leave the EU anyway. The future of our country is pretty much in their hands now.

  77. A quiet evening indoors tonight, unlike last night when I did my 4 pub circular.
    Lovely clear sky going over Middleton Moor with a good view of Orion, Cassiopeia and The Plough, but by the time I left the 2nd pub, The Rising Sun at Rise End, Middleton, it had clouded over.
    Left home half five and got home just the back of 10 and straight into a lovely warm bath!!
    The Boat in Cromford, the last pub, had a cracking Oatmeal Stout on!

  78. Emma Thompson ranting outside the Beeb, suggesting floods and famine. Plenty of food in a pet she suggests. As she appears to be barking, I suggest we look no further and try a spit roast. Do I have any volunteers.

    4. Some ER gay trying to claim a shortage of cauliflowers on climate change. Not even heard of a cauliflower shortage but farming is variable some years you get a good crop some years you do not

  79. Question Time BBC1 10.45

    Fiona Bruce presents topical debate from Hull. On the panel are: James Cleverly, chairman of the Conservative Party; Anneliese Dodds, shadow treasury minister, Labour; Ed Davey, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, and former energy secretary in the coalition government; Ian Blackford, leader of the SNP at Westminster; and Richard Tice MEP, chairman of the Brexit Party.

      1. It is very bad to repeat what we have said in previous posts but even worse to have the temerity repeat what you have said in yours!

  80. NHS Reform in London

    Enfield CCG is merging with Islington, Barnet, Enfield, Camden and Haringey to form the North Central London CCG. It seems a sensible move to me and should reduce costs and improve efficiency but Local you are getting it will lead to privatisation which is just nonsense

          1. Their new model is a dream machine from the 60s but more reliable, also inexpensive.
            Interceptor 650 – I cannot upload images…

  81. Nationwide Strikes continue in France over pension reforms

    Like everything in France the current scheme is complex and inconsistent and there is currently no standard retirement age

  82. Blimey, the DT is going into overdrive with multiple anti-Labour, specifically anti-Corbyn, articles. Couple that with the totally unexpected (😉) ship-jumping by four BP MEPs and you would think the Tories are afraid of a hung Parliament.

      2. Johnson should have accepted the challenge earlier, it’s too near Armageddon just a week away.

        1. I don’t care, Plum, if he can’t handle a tough interview that’s his problem. There are questions that need to be asked. ie. “What’s the difference between your deal, Mr Johnson, and Theresa May’s deal.”

          1. The danger is he passes the ball to Corbyn in his own penalty area and Corbyn gets a tap-in.

            May had the dementia tax, why invite another disaster?

          2. But if he avoids an interview with Andrew Neil won’t people think he is afraid? And if he is, do we want a lily-livered prime minister?

          8. “Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us be economical with it.”
            — Mark Twain

          9. Better they think he’s afraid than he takes the bait and ends up gasping on the bank while he gets gutted.

            I detest these media circuses. It should be the politicians (spit) that decide the agenda, not the media, be it BBC, ITV, Channel 4, 5 or any other bunch of shysters hungry for a scoop, whatever the cost to the country and democracy. The bastards are just after a place on the stage at the next media awards party. ‘The Award for the best Current Affairs Producer is…’

          10. I take your point. But why is Johnson so determined not to tell us the plain, full truth? Has he got something to hide?

          11. We know the truth….Brexit it ain’t.
            If Johnson wanted Brexit he would have thrown in his lot with Farage.

          14. If she’d gotten her majority, that she didn’t really seem to want, she’d then have succeeded in passing her vile WA. Worse than staying in the EU.

          15. “What’s the difference between your deal, Mr Johnson, and Theresa May’s deal.”

            Zilch.

            …and if you don’y like Johnson’s answers are you gping to vote Corbyn?

          16. I won’t be voting for the Labour candidate or the so called Conservative one. Spoilt ballot for me.

          24. That’s what some say, but I’m voting (or carefully spoiling my vote) with my conscience this time.

      3. All I want to hear is an explanation and an account of what Boris Johnson’s ‘brilliant deal’ actually contains. He has been quite determined to keep us in the dark and surely we have the right to know?

  85. Lib-Dems as made as frogs

    Lib-Dems want all schools to have gender neutral uniforms. Why who knows ?and you will just be able to self declare you are transgender.

      1. Evening GG,
        How are you fixed for checking out the mentally unstable ?
        I ask on behalf of one I have pity for.

      2. Get a young gurl to kiss the frog. If it turns into a prince you can sell the story to the Daily Mail and sue Jeffrey Epstein.

  87. So Nigel Farage’s opponents are claiming that he is trying to sabotage Brexit and the likes of Rees Mogg’s sister are abandoning ship..

    But the question is simple – but is is a question that the BP’s deserters and Boris Johnson are not prepared to answer.:

    What is Brexit?

    Is it a proper Brexit or is it the BRINO that Boris Johnson is pretending is Brexit?

    The Brexit Party does not want to prevent Brexit happening – the Brexit Party just wants Brexit and not continued enslavement to the EU for the foreseeable future.

      1. But if the Conservative Party don’t want to give us a proper Brexit and if neither The Brexit Party not UKIP can do it then Brexit is dead.

        I don’t give a toss as to which political party gives us Brexit – the important thing is Brexit nit the political party. But we are not going to get it, are we?

          1. We are screwed with slammers, the EU and the terminally stupid. It may be time to exit these lands for a more pleasant climate and where people live in reality rather than fantasy.

        3. Evening R,
          The way I see it is that the tories have been in love with the eu since the mid 70s & especially so since Thatcher was knifed by fellow tories.
          I do believe there are many that put the party first even willing to overlook treachery in keeping their party in power, regardless of consequence.
          The party I have been a supporter /member of for many a year has only ever shown allegiance & loyalty to England / GB alone and gave these Isles the referendum.
          In my book those not giving a toss were the very same ones that were shouting on the 24/6/2016 victory is ours “leave it to the tories”adding “no need of UKIP now.”
          Many of the peoples preferred to put their trust in what has in the past proved to be complete untrustworthy political elements.
          I met and trust the peoples in Birmingham
          when a genuine politico took the UKIP leadership, one Gerard Batten, I align with such people and will never submit to giving up on Brexitexit / democracy, meaning I do give a toss.
          No surrender on this issue otherwise democracy is dead, and a very dark age WILL commence.

  88. Too political now, and too confusing, going to read my book and have one more glass of wine before bed, night.

  90. Really, Jack Merritt’s father has inspired a lot of virtuesignalling tweets, but he needs tackling for his utterly foolish and childish snowflakery and his insistence that we don’t rock his (our) Suicide Boat. Gosh what proof do we need about the insanity of our hearts and minds programmes? This guy could have killed another dozen innocents on the day …. They didn’t know that the “authorities” were bussing terrorists into Central London:

    https://twitter.com/sean_esq55/status/1201592348423151619

      1. David Merrit’s wrongheadedness clearly played no small part in forming Jack’s views and he cannot accept the weight of the guilt that is rightfully his in the sad and totally avoidable death of his son.

        Perhaps if he’d been less irresponsible and less ‘woke’, Jack might still be alive.

  92. Night All

    https://media.giphy.com/media/oUmBwN6mihDY4/giphy.gif

    https://media.giphy.com/media/pEjlJa1phFCes/giphy.gif

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2b2d0c5ad3063a9d7583403467bda5fabac09d52e2497f1dba0b42c80431bdf6.jpg

    https://media3.giphy.com/media/cduMfbGEY8Y2k/giphy.webp?cid=790b7611752dd80e07c1dc636440c60fa634e723954e21b4&rid=giphy.webp
    Edit Forgot one
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/836e2bea5394122d72aa139473ba9339810aff625119d3b47a0375ff6102476b.gif

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