Thursday 5 January: How changes in primary care turned the health service upside down

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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607 thoughts on “Thursday 5 January: How changes in primary care turned the health service upside down”

  2. Good Morrow, Gentlefolk. Here is today’s story:

    The Dot;

    Finally, someone has cleared this up. For centuries, Hindu women have worn a dot on their foreheads.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bed5a7566f044e0b8176784303b6848b38643f94ab31c90cc411b5869e3fe1de.jpg

    Most of us have naively thought this was connected with tradition or religion, but the Indian embassy in London has recently revealed the true story.

    When a Hindu woman gets married, she brings a dowry into the union. On her wedding night, the husband scratches off the dot to see whether he has won a corner shop, a petrol station, a curry house, a taxi cab, or an old people’s home in the UK.

    If nothing is there, he must remain in India to answer telephones and provide us with BT technical advice. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/79363f5ad5a3499a2f6842911d51fad1b16958ffceeb8f82d68a4a958dd13bc6.jpg

    1. 369294+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      ALL fact Ogga1 but for the ” vote labour” that is well out of order.

      1. Ogga, have you just replied to yourself?

        We already have laws preventing invasion. We simply need to enforce them. That means, when the coast guard go out, they actively force the criminals to return to their country of origin. If they refuse, fire upon them – and not a piddly rifle, using a fecking mortar.

        Never, ever, let them land. If ones do, shoot them on sight. They’re criminals, enemy combatants. Solve the problem using force. Stop the scum ever thinking they wil get here alive.

        2. Wibbling, it took me some time to realise that O2O means that Oggie is “replying” to his first post instead of amending the original post with a postscript. I suspect that is because he thinks we have read the first one and will not both to read his PS because we think that we have already read it.

    2. The first duty of any government is, and has always been, ‘Defence of the Realm’.

      1. 369294+ up ticks,

        Evening C,
        It matters not in a coalition it will be a continuation as to whatever agenda was being adhered to.

  8. Police have lost interest in catching scammers and fraudsters, the UK’s top fraud lawyer has warned.

    Clare Montgomery, a leading barrister, recorder and High Court judge, who has been involved in some of the UK’s biggest fraud cases, said she did not believe police “have any interest in prosecuting fraud anywhere.”

    She said that not only were there no longer the big state trials such as Guinness or Maxwell, where she acted as a lawyer, but the “low-level” frauds where people might lose life savings worth £10,000 were being “largely ignored.”

    They’ve just lost interest. Period. They; like the NHS have collapsed. You might be lucky and get some local help provided it’s not too difficult, but as national organisations dedicated to the service of the British People they have ceased to exist.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/04/police-have-lost-interest-catching-fraudsters/

    1. Morning, all. Clear-ish, dry and calm this morning.

      Police have lost interest in catching scammers and fraudsters…

      Manifestoes, political promises that increasingly result in either U-turns or turning out to be outright lies; money and resources being squandered on a war in a far-off country of which we know little and care less about; failing to deter the invasion and therefore enabling the subsequent destruction of the security of our borders; destroying our energy infrastructure on the false promise of a ‘green’ and successful future, the list goes on.

    2. The police are a weird bunch. They simultaneously do an utterly beeeep job and do it well, and then they don’t seem interested in actually investigating crime to resolve it at all.

      I wonder if that’s because after arresting the same criminal drug using violent scum for the 10th time, and see a Lefty judge who doesn’t live near the vermin nor ever suffer their attitude let them off they’ve given up.

      Frankly, after the second offence if a criminal is not beaten half to death then there is no justice.

      1. Morning Wibbles. One imagines that the police are divided; on the one hand there are those chosen for political purposes, the Gays, Ethnic Minorities etc. and who are promoted ahead of their colleagues and know nothing about police work and have no interest in it beyond the enforcement of Hate Crime legislation. The rest, mostly the traditional members of the police force, White Native and Heterosexual try to do their best but are swimming against the tide. It is no surprise that they are the ones leaving in droves! The ones that remain probably confine themselves to doing the least possible and only responding in really serious cases or under the pressure of Public Scrutiny.

    1. Dreaming when Dawn’s Left Hand was in the Sky
      I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry,
      “Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup
      “Before Life’s Liquor in its Cup be dry.”

      The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

      Morning Bill.

      1. And here, BoB, but I’ve been up, again, since 03:30 so the ‘crack of dawn’ was a long way away then but it’s now 07:59 in Moffat and no sign yet.

  10. Good morning all.
    A dry start, i.e. not raining, yet, but 4°C outside.

    If it stays dry I’ve got that wood cutting detritus to clean up and shift and a couple of other jobs to do.

    1. I’m going to watch House fo the Dragon and then go attend the first of a dozen meetings. I think we should swap, Bob.

    2. How did the auction go, BoB? Did you manage to get the cherry picker which would have much simplified moving bits and bobs up your garden. (Joke.)

  11. ‘No tricks, no ambiguity’: Rishi Sunak vows to deliver on ‘people’s priorities’. 5 January 2023.

    He vowed there would be “no tricks” and “no ambiguity” but set out little detail on policy and refused to give a timescale for any of the promises apart from halving inflation, in his first major speech since entering No 10.

    His other pledges as he seeks to regain the Conservatives’ authority with the public after a chaotic year are growing the economy, making sure national debt is falling, cutting NHS waiting lists and passing new laws to stop small boats crossing the Channel.

    Describing the five promises as the “people’s priorities”, he said: “No tricks. No ambiguity. We’re either delivering for you or we’re not. We will rebuild trust in politics though action or not at all. So I ask you to judge us on the effort we put in and the results we achieve.”

    Does anyone really believe that this pathetic man and his even more pathetic party can change the course of events? Even if he believed what he says (he doesn’t) the Political and Civil Service Elites of which he is a member will prevent it. What is needed are not New Laws, which are simply to delay and to assuage public anger but the Will to Act. This does not exist in any form.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jan/04/rishi-sunak-vows-to-deliver-on-peoples-priorities-conservatives

      1. No mention of Northern Ireland or UK fishing rights. Completion of Brexit is no concern of Sunak.

        1. He’s no interest in those and is actively uninterested. Remember his goal is to force us back in to the EU. Given the opportunity he’d extend the Northern Ireland border to Lowestoft.

          Brexit stands against the goals of his masters.

        2. He’s no interest in those and is actively uninterested. Remember his goal is to force us back in to the EU. Given the opportunity he’d extend the Northern Ireland border to Lowestoft.

          Brexit stands against the goals of his masters.

    2. Sunak has no interest in doing what people want because what they want is not what the blob want. He’s there to enforce the blob’s power, nothing else.

      We want cheap energy. He wants to make it expensive.
      We want low taxes. He wants high ones.
      We want a small, efficient state, he wants a bloated, lazy inefficient one.
      We want no more illegals – or any form of immigration – the blob wants to flood the country with foreigners.

      He does not work for us. His every ideological particle is dedicated ot fighting our will.

    3. Biden’s ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ is equally vacuous. As seen commented a few times recently; if governments can just print money, why do they continue to collect taxes?

      1. Even a ‘Stupidity Reduction Act’ would be bound to fail.

        Who is not stupid enough to teach other how not to be stupid?

    1. Inflation is caused by taxation and government borrowing. Neither of those are reducing, both are increasing. A lie.

      The state cannot create jobs, wealth or growth. It can spend money, but that fuels inflation, debt and taxes. A lie
      The state is intent on increasing waste on things the country does not need or want. A lie.

      There is nothing the state can or will do about the NHS that does not entail radical reform. A lie.

      There are already sufficient laws in place to prevent criminal crossings. These need to be enforced. He is lying.

      He’s a liar. He will do nothing. He doens’t want to do anything. His brief from his masters is to force the nation into decline to force us back in to the EU by stealth to refuel the trough his masters sit at, and he’s been promised a reward for doing that.

    1. 95% efficacy is NOT good enough. Nothing less than 100% and notification of long-term side-effects, are the minimum.

      Have they forgotten Thalidomide and the long-term effects?

  15. A headline in today’s DT, brought about by the Commons environmental audit committee. It looks like yet another attempt to strangulate this country:

    “Cut motorway speed limit to 64mph to drive net zero goals, No 10 told

    Plus, Philip Dunne calls on the Government for a ‘war effort’ on energy efficiency and reducing Britain’s dependence on oil”

    This lengthy article is not short of bonkers ideas – car use restricted to three days per week, no use on Sundays, number plate monitoring to enforce…the list of restrictions is endless.

    The BTL posters, quite rightly, are
    having none of it. Here’s a selection:

    Tom The Tory 4 MIN AGO

    Outrageous. Why don’t we reduce the motorway speed limit to 30mph like on the Marylebone Flyover and then give everyone (who has a pulse) a speeding ticket – net zero and raise revenue at the same time!

    Toss out these useless idiots immediately. Speed limit should be going up to 90mph not the other way around.

    Scandalous

    Brian Little1 HR AGO

    God save us from this Brave New World. They want to lower the speed limit, ban cars in cities on Sundays, make people work from home 3 days a week whatever their circumstances and limit road usage by number plate? Who would stay in this country with these restrictions in place? How would businesses function? How would families function?

    Of course a small political elite would have special licence plates which would allow them to do whatever they wanted.

    A Tory MP came up with these ideas? And here was I thinking that the Tories had turned into socialists. This sounds more like communism.

    Irrele Vent33 MIN AGO

    It is a cult, and the basic premise of that cult has been debunked.

    https://clintel.org/new-presentation-by-john-christy-models-for-ar6-still-fail-to-reproduce-trends-in-tropical-troposphere/

    These CO2 tuned models also fail to hindcast similar rates of warming that occurred in the 1930s and 1940s, when CO2 levels were much lower and which are unexplained. So the null hypothesis is that the current warming is due to the same, unknown, causes.

    CO2 will have contributed to this warming, but to an uncertain degree, and its effect as a greenhouse gas is effectively logarithmic, most of the effect on greenhouse gas warming has already been felt.

    Ironic that Sunak yesterday bemoaned that lack of numeracy in the population, whilst MPs and committees of MPs that are illiterate in the fields of maths, science and engineering produce this hogwash.

    Andrew Paxman1 HR AGO

    We are governed by imbeciles.

    1. Who would stay in this country with these restrictions in place? How would businesses function? How would families function?

      The state wants the country flooded with welfare addict gimmigrants. They’re already infesting the state to force their agenda, eventually the people paying for it all will be wiped out. The only solution is to burn them out.

      Business function? It’s never intended to. Statists have never worked, never run a business, they just see something they can take from with impunity. They care not that this destroys the business because they’ve no understanding of what it takes to build one, the effort required, the work involved. They’re wasteful, arrogant and pompous.

      The familiy has been under relentless assault by the state for over 50 years! The state HATES the family unit. It is their great enemy, their fundamental opponent and the source of their end. Of course statists want to destroy the family. That is why crime is rampant, why welfare endemic, why education is breaking down. The state’s beseiging of the nuclear (and it’s called that for a bloody reason – it is the nucleus) family is the root cause of every single problem this country has.

      Folk rightly say I’m harsh and my language intemperate. Yet we are at war. We are in a war for our very survival of our culture, our society, our physical safety and the enemy is the damned state itself. An edifice of Lefty corruption, waste, inefficiency, arrogance, petulance, spite and malice we’ve never come across before.

      1. Not harsh at all, just telling it as it is. If I were to express my thoughts to my sons, they would be horrified. Well and truly indoctrinated.

        1. Yes, Mum2, it seems that the young are the most indoctrinated.

          One can only hope that they mature quickly

        2. My elder son is an unjabbed and the younger one jabbed. The topic did not arise over Christmas.

          1. I’m waiting for my sons to ask if I have had the current booster. MH dutifully rolled up his sleeve.
            I only had the first 2 + booster 1 because we wanted to see our grandchildren in Canada in late summer without the hassle of compulsory multiple testing and 2 weeks quarantine on arrival.
            If refusing further jabs prevents me going in 2023, then so be it.

          2. I had the two AZ jabs in early 2021 as I had a trip to Kenya booked (it was twice postponed) but no boosters. The topic didn’t arise over this Christmas.

    2. Its 50 on some parts of motorways and main roads in Wales already. Once its established, we know what happens next, and ‘consultation’ on imposing it on all mways is already underway. We have the delights of 20 in built up areas to look forward to in September.

      1. If Drakeford claims that this is all part of going green, please remind him about his all expenses paid trip to the World Cup. He’s been bought and paid for by Qatar – and they are welcome to him!

    1. All aimed to sound so folksy and pleasant.

      Now imagine if the appeal process had a form of table where you could view the status of that appeal and who specifically is dealing with it, and they had to provide a real, genuine reason, one that proved a law had been broken – not a canned response.

      I imagine the thought police would swiftly vanish and the Lefty fascists desperate to censor the web would find themselves stultified. Oh, they’d set about trying to force new more oppressive laws through, but those are slow and by the time they passed, the web would have moved on, and the Left would constantly be left behind.

    5. I was suspended for five months in 2020. Appeals got nowhere – then suddenly I was back.

  17. Walking the dogs in the near dark is quite interesting. I like this time of year as the world seems almost mystical.

    Yet… the litter. At one point the dog walkers took bin liners and set about removing all the rubbish along our route. The next day it was back, dropped by some other bunch of verminous chav scum – and before someone says that’s unfair, look at what it is. It’s cheap tacky soda bottles, pizza boxes, fast food. You never see a bottle of Merlot dumped by the side of the road. Same demographic, same type of litter.

    We have a real, fundamental problem in this coountry and I believe it’s all down to welfare. When folk are given everything, they don’t respect it, so they spew their excrement everywhere.

    2. We have 3 secondary schools on the area where I often walk Spartie.
      Let’s just say that judging by the litter, any sense of community or personal responsibility is taught be neither the schools nor the brats’ parents.

    3. Isolation, too. They don’t know any of their neighbours.
      Near where I grew up, it’s delivery drivers I think – the litter problem seems to have got exponentially worse since folks started sitting at home and ordering Chinese tat off Amazon to be delivered by some guy on min wage with a target of 200 parcels in the day.

  18. Russian warship armed with hypersonic missiles to pass through English Channel. 5 January 2023.

    Russian president announces departure of Admiral Gorshkov frigate in attempt to distract from latest military failure in Ukraine’

    Vladimir Putin is sending a warship armed with hypersonic missiles which will pass through the English Channel on its way to the Atlantic Ocean.

    The Admiral Gorshkov frigate departed on a weeks-long sail with Zircon hypersonic missiles onboard, the Russian president revealed on Wednesday during a video conference with Sergei Shoigu, his defence minister, and Igor Krokhmal, the ship’s commander.

    In an effort to draw attention away from Russia’s latest military failure in Ukraine, Putin on Wednesday announced the frigate’s departure, saying it will be on “combat duty” without a specific mission but its presence will help to protect Russia “from potential external threats and would advance national interests”, Putin added.

    The English Channel no less! Do you think that they will get through? Lol.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/01/04/putin-sends-warship-armed-hypersonic-missiles-past-britain/

      1. Morning Nan. They are dredging the swamp to find anything that might be twisted to give a negative view of the Russians!

    3. They can get to the Atlantic round the north of Scotland – still they might just run into dinghies

    4. I wonder if the frigate can be persuaded to drop a few anti-dinghy mines as it sails through?

      1. You never know…during the Somali piracy they used the invaders for target practice, after which they gave Russian ships a rather wide berth.

  19. SIR – I cannot agree with John Dickinson’s assertion (Letters, January 2) that cricketers and other highly paid sportspeople should not qualify for honours.

    Having played cricket for many years, I can assure him that sport can be of immense value throughout a person’s life. It provides the basis for a healthy lifestyle – and, if you are good at a sport, doors will open wherever you go.

    We need people who can stimulate an interest.

    Michael Sanders
    Knebworth, Hertfordshire

    Well, I’ve seen some weak arguments when it comes to sporting honours, but this one sets a new low.  Obesity crisis, anyone??

    1. Would many fight and risk death, dismemberment and psychological trauma for King and Country?

      This is a question I avoid when I’m posting comments as it is in some sense a redundant inquiry, partly because I’m seventy six and barely able to make it to the Supermarket and on the other hand hypocritical. Why should I who am thus disbarred from participating encourage or for that matter dissuade anyone else from doing so?

      1. I too, at 78, am beyond military age but I have done my ten years, for King and Country – that was in the halcyon days of the 1960s, notwithstanding the Cuba Crisis of October 1962.

        I feel that I have a right to encourage others to wake up, Minty.

      2. Our next war could be a Civil war with our opponents more eager and prepared to join the other side.

    2. I’ve just got a feeling that it might be more worrying for King and Country volunteers when they realise who will be left behind when and if they should depart.

    4. Best summary I have read recently. Iain Murray Hunter is a former RAF officer/fighter pilot and retired airline pilot. A name to remember.

      1. 369294+ up ticks,

        Morning A,
        The former far superior, and does in my book, make for a more decent, better world than tranny patter at dawn assembly.

  22. SIR – Rishi Sunak wants to put maths at the heart of his new strategy for Britain.

    Is this so we can better assess the white elephant that is HS2, or the billions wasted in defence procurement? Or is it so that we can better count the hours or days we sit in A&E, the days or weeks we wait for GP appointments, or the weeks, months or years spent awaiting treatment?

    Mike Tugby
    Warminster, Wiltshire

    Mr Tugby, I can tell that you are not fully on-board with this ‘maths to 18’ lark.  It is, we are told, all part of the ‘people’s priorities’.  Like all the other Blairite priorities we have endured, it will be a roaring success…won’t it?

    1. Having been tortured at the age of 16 by the forced application of Differential Calculus (which for me was akin to waterboarding!) I couldn’t wait to drop maths as a subject.
      That being said my eldest daughter went on to study the subject for a further 4 years after A levels and was awarded a MMath degree.

      1. Maths was my favourite subject probably because the maths teacher was an ex WW2 bomber pilot and spent a lot of the lesson talking about his exploits (which resulted in him losing both legs)

          1. He used to stand on your foot ‘accidentally’ if he thought you weren’t paying attention and no, he lost his legs in a crash landing having been shot down

        3. That reminds me: the hero who got me through O-level maths had been a Japanese PoW. Detested violence, even verbal violence.

      2. I scraped through my O-level in the fourth form, and breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that would be the end of it – I’m not a natural at maths. Unfortunately, my school decided that I should do Additional Maths O-level in the fifth form. There was only ever going to be one outcome.

        Calculus, algebra, trigonometry etc. – I have never needed (although I accept that the study of Maths is good brain-training). I fail to see how an extra two years of Maths study from 16-18 will benefit unwilling pupils.

      3. Once I could do the basics – is that what’s called arithmetic and has some relevance to life? – I could not see the point of pursuing the matter any further.

        I finally switched off when I was about 14 when our maths teacher drew two totally different shapes on the board and told us to find that they were either the same or different.

        No explanation as to why we should be doing the exercise. The shapes looked different and I could see no reason – other than to fill in a half hour of maths – why there was any need to use up that time on a useless exercise.

        p.s. what the heck is a dropped perpendicular and is it something I need?

    2. The 3 Rs – Reading, wRiting and aRithmatic. Basic education that should be learned before age 7.

      Bluddy useless teachers are to blame.

    3. Most of us here knew how to do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division by the age of 8 and fractions and percentages by the age of 11.

      I remember learning how to use log tables and the trigonometric functions in the book of tables at the age of `13.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8565b3b4ab4c74bb1f87f4a1f1ba77053657a9c2f84fedca137fbdd060780f64.jpg

      Pocket calculators have made this book redundant but they have also destroyed people’s ability to do mental arithmetic.

    4. I should imagine that the maths to age 18 will be rigorous drumming into kids’ heads that 2 +2 = 5.

  23. SIR – Rishi Sunak wants to put maths at the heart of his new strategy for Britain.

    Is this so we can better assess the white elephant that is HS2, or the billions wasted in defence procurement? Or is it so that we can better count the hours or days we sit in A&E, the days or weeks we wait for GP appointments, or the weeks, months or years spent awaiting treatment?

    Mike Tugby
    Warminster, Wiltshire

    Mr Tugby, I can tell that you are not fully on-board with this ‘maths to 18’ lark.  It is, we are told, all part of the ‘people’s priorities’.  Like all the other Blairite priorities we have endured, it will be a roaring success…won’t it?

    1. This is what happens when Lefties get in to positions of power. They censor. They always have. They always will. They cannot help themselves.

      If they have to deal with dissent, they become frightened and cower. Like salt for slugs or sunlight for vampires, the Left fear differing opinions.

      This is why when Musk bought it, you could ‘feel’ the palapable terror of the Left. The BBC does the same – it lies by omission. When they introduce someone as ‘an academic’ when really that person is a communist Labour-supporting Tory-hating onanist sitting on a nice six figure salary on a quango devoted to spending more government money on his pet cause for trans rights and ask ‘the government isn’t doing enough to promote trans ideology, is it?’ they disguise the truth and abrogate their duty to the viewer.

      They’re all the same. The Left lie. It’s what they do.

      1. “ The Left lie. It’s what they do.”

        It’s all they do – and they do it well.

    1. There is only one way to describe these vile globalist creatures, thieving, lying b*st*rds.

        1. As I have been saying for a long time and as the narrator pointed out. No wonder bliar and his old flatmate fiddled with the treason laws.

  26. Morning all 😉 😊
    Not worth mentioning the out side conditions.
    But it’s not windy.
    After my experience walking from the car park to the area of examination at yesterday’s hospital appointment, I think I will be applying for a blue badge. I just have to face the unfortunate facts that while I’m suffering from Afib it has become very difficult to walk anywhere.

    1. It was a fairly easy process with my application to my local authority. I got a 5 year blue badge after my hip replacement. I can use it when in someone else’s car but not all car parks are free to blue badges.

    1. During my hospital visit yesterday I relutantly pulled a mask from my jacket pocket and put it on. But I sometimes felt I was suffocating and had to remove it. How do all these medics manage breathing back in so much carbon dioxide.

      1. Morning RE
        During the mask wearing era , my ears suffered and are still suffering . I am allergic to the ear string of the masks , and behind my ears is so painful , red and inflamed . I still have to use Sudo cream to calm down the inflammation .

        1. I won’t be wearing one. I need to breathe. We have an appointment at the cardio clinic in a week or two – if they try and make me wear one I shall have to refuse or walk out. They were not enforced in either of the recent hospitals but most of the staff wore them.

          1. It seems to be part of the NHS credo to be masked at all times, keep your distance and put sticky yeckkkk on your hands at all times.

            I just ponce about with my ‘exempt’ badge’ and mutter COPD if challenged. Normally shuts ’em up.

          3. Did you have a better sleep last night , Tom ?

            My car is due for an MOT tomorrow cross fingers all will be well.

            I should have vaccumed the car when the weather was fine , what a nuisance it is wet day today.

            How are you doing with your car , do you manage to get out and about , and do you like your new flat?

          4. To expect you to wear one is contrary to your inalienable human rights. They can only ask you, and accept your reply with as good a grace as they can muster. Hold your ground!

          5. They tried to enforce mask wearing at Stroud hospital when we were there last time. I refused. At Gloucester and Oxford, most of the staff wore them but not the visitors or patients. I need to be able to see a person’s face to understand what they are saying.

        2. Sudo might work for nappy rash but you might want to try O’Keefe’s skin repair lotion. It’s the best stuff i have found.

          1. I still have the exemption card I printed off when I decided not to wear one any more. I reluctantly complied but decided I’d had enough.

  28. That’s a pretty good age, bearing in mind his occupation and the introduction of the Sycamore.  His guardian angel must have been on overtime…

    Squadron Leader Bill Stevens, helicopter pilot decorated during the Malayan Emergency – obituary

    He displayed great skill and determination in recovering the body of a Malay policeman from a perilous jungle clearing

    ByTelegraph Obituaries4 January 2023 • 4:16pm

    Squadron Leader Bill Stevens, who has died aged 104, completed two tours of duty as a helicopter pilot during Operation Firedog, the British involvement in the Malayan Emergency, for which he was twice decorated.

    Stevens had begun flying helicopters in November 1953, and in the following August he headed for the Far East where he joined 194 Squadron at Kuala Lumpur to fly the Sycamore. Over the next two-and-a-half-years, he flew over 900 hours in support of ground forces engaged in the guerrilla war against the communist terrorists.

    The introduction of helicopters into Malaya came at a crucial point in the campaign and marked a turning point in the fortunes of the security forces. They allowed rapid reinforcement into remote and inaccessible locations, enabled the forces to mount surprise attacks.

    In addition, a speedy response to evacuate casualties saved lives, and boosted the morale of ground forces. During his time operating over the jungle, Stevens flew no less than 104 casualty evacuation flights. At the end of his tour in May 1957, his squadron commander assessed him as “an exceptional helicopter pilot”. A month later, it was announced that he had been awarded the DFC, “in recognition of gallant and valuable service in Malaya.”

    Two years later, at short notice following the loss of a number of experienced helicopter pilots in a crash, he volunteered to return to Malaya where he re-joined 194 Squadron, which was soon re-numbered 110 Squadron. He became the squadron’s training officer as the Westland Whirlwind began to replace the aged Sycamores.

    Operating from Butterworth near Penang, the squadron continued to support the ground forces as the campaign against the terrorists began to draw down. Stevens’s primary job was to train new pilots in the special environment of jungle operations, but he continued to fly troop lifts and casualty evacuation flights.

    On one occasion, he displayed great skill and determination in recovering the body of a Malay policeman from an extremely difficult jungle clearing. He was awarded the AFC, the citation concluding: “He has rendered conspicuous service and shown courage of the highest order. He has displayed loyal and outstanding devotion to duty”.

    William (Bill) Frederick James Stevens was born in Hendon on November 1 1918. His parents both worked in the local factory building aircraft during the First World War. He was educated at Kingsbury Senior School, leaving at the age of 14 to work for J Sainsbury.

    He joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in February 1940, serving initially as a physical training instructor. He began training as a pilot in late 1941 before being transferred to Southern Rhodesia to complete his training with the Rhodesian Air Training Group, where he gained his flying badge and was commissioned.

    Assessed with above average ability, to his disappointment Stevens remained in Rhodesia to be a flying instructor on twin-engine Oxford training aircraft. He returned to England in May 1945 and spent the next 12 months as an equipment officer before he was released in June 1946.

    With the onset of the Korean War, Stevens completed 15 days reserve pilot training in March 1950 and was recalled to full-time service in April 1951. After a brief refresher course, he began instructing trainee pilots at a flying school at RAF Dalcross near Inverness. After two years, he began flying helicopters.

    After returning from his first spell in Malaya, Stevens qualified as a helicopter instructor and spent the next 12 months on loan to the Royal Navy, training Fleet Air Arm pilots at Lee-on-Solent with 705 Squadron.

    When he returned from his second period in Malaya, he went to the Empire Test Pilot’s School at Farnborough where he remained for three years as an instructor.

    In August 1965 Stevens returned to the Far East, this time to the Air Headquarters Borneo based at Labuan. The Indonesian Confrontation campaign was at its height and Stevens served in the air operations centre co-ordinating air support for the ground forces operating in the Borneo jungle and close to the Indonesian border. For his services, he was mentioned-in-despatches.

    When Stevens took up an appointment at the HQ Flying Training Command in August 1966, he was responsible for helicopter training policy. Due to organisational changes he also assumed responsibility for the Command’s participation in air displays – an appointment that would eventually justify full-time employment.

    He carried out this dual responsibility for two years during which time he was under unrelenting pressure which, according to his commanding officer; “would have sapped the energy of a less determined person.”

    On a further re-organisation, he became responsible for all aspects of the training at the Central Flying School (CFS), the RAF’s premier flying training establishment. There was an urgent need to review the policy issues, resulting in a fundamental re-organisation of CFS, which accepted its first course based on the new pattern in January 1970.

    When Stevens was appointed MBE his Commander-in-Chief commented: “Squadron Leader Stevens has made an immense personal contribution to flying training over four strenuous and testing years.”

    For his final two years of service, Stevens served in the MoD before retiring in October 1973. He joined Marshall’s of Cambridge, assisting with writing pilots’ manuals for the aircraft undergoing modification by the company.

    Stevens enjoyed caravanning, walking, golf and his garden. He kept bees and rang the bells at his local church in Gravely. Teaching others gave him particular pleasure.

    To mark his 100th birthday, his family arranged a flight in a Tiger Moth. He took the controls with ease and said “the flight wasn’t long enough.” On his 104th birthday, he enjoyed a glass of sherry with his family and was delighted to meet his first great grandchild.

    In 1945 Bill Stevens married Betty, a WAAF teleprinter operator. She died in 2013 and he is survived by their son.

    Bill Stevens, born November 1 1918, died November 16 2022

    * * *

    A fitting BTL:

    JOHN MCLAREN13 HRS AGO

    Left school at 14.

    Retired from the RAF at 55 as a highly decorated Squadron Leader.

    Lived to the remarkable age of 104.

    Leaving Sainsburys was obviously a poor career choice.

    An ordinary man who lived an extraordinary life.

    Remarkable obituary. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/82093e0014a3577e89ee73c6be4daa20435615d114bc586dc6ce6f815e180bfe.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/638b772e26142d89f01ef54bfef4fe5fad74b6a0c81fc475cf8938335cd98fc7.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dbaf3d106b10d8cc58a4e22a0131e56414d38269c17901c23628039a8bcc3a5f.jpg

    1. Yo Huge J

      He was far more useful to the country as an Operational Pilot, however, I wonder why he was never promoted above Sqn Ldr….

      1. Do RAF officers have to pass staff exams? Perhaps he didn’t want to be promoted away to a desk.

      3. I think you have answered the point, Tryers. It seems he was happier as an operational pilot and, I suspect, found flying a desk a lot less satisfying.

        Incidentally, I failed to note that the DT omitted to incude his decorations at the very end of the Obit – it should have read: Squadron Leader Bill Stevens DFC AFC MBE’, born November 1 1918 etc. One day they might get it right…

  30. Good morning everyone!

    Prince Harry accuses Prince William of physical attack in leaked extract from book Spare
    The Duke of Sussex in an extract says he was visibly injured from the row at his London home in 2019, amid tension around Meghan
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/01/05/prince-harry-recounts-fiery-physical-altercation-brother-prince/

    Whether or not this story is true is muddied by the fact that both Harry and Migraine are liars. The best solution would be for the RF to say nothing but for all the couples’ money from the RF and their titles to be removed as well as Harry’s place in the order of succession and title as a prince.

    The other more interesting solution would be for Prince William to challenge his brother to a boxing match over 10 rounds and stage it at Wembley Stadium.

    1. His Army mates referred to him as ‘Bunker Harry’ – among other less complimentary names! They saw him as a toy soldier who spent most of his time wearing combat uniform, but playing video games in his tent.

      1. The army was probably under instructions not to let him get killed as it would be a major propaganda coup for the opposition. I suspect the RF may now be thinking that was the wrong decision!!

      1. Good morning Ndovu

        Of course he should be silent. But it would certainly be interesting to see the brothers slog it out in the ring!

      2. Problem is, then Harry doesn’t get pushed back, and everyone will believe him.
        Maybe it’s true? How old were they when this happened? 12?

        1. Harry never progressed beyond 12 – still the little boy walking behind his mother’s coffin.

    3. On the BBC radio news it was said that William broke Harry’s necklace. Let’s hope that his ring wasn’t touched.

  31. Good morning everyone!

    Prince Harry accuses Prince William of physical attack in leaked extract from book Spare
    The Duke of Sussex in an extract says he was visibly injured from the row at his London home in 2019, amid tension around Meghan
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/01/05/prince-harry-recounts-fiery-physical-altercation-brother-prince/

    Whether or not this story is true is muddied by the fact that both Harry and Migraine are liars. The best solution would be for the RF to say nothing but for all the couples’ money from the RF and their titles to be removed as well as Harry’s place in the order of succession and title as a prince.

    The other more interesting solution would be for Prince William to challenge his brother to a boxing match over 10 rounds and stage to be staged at Wembley Stadium.

  32. 369294+ up ticks,

    Dt,

    Keir Starmer: Labour is no longer the party of big spending
    Leader will use speech designed as break from Jeremy Corbyn era to argue that party is ready to govern again

    The reason being LYING has taken pole position, and in the political race to the bottom the tory (ino) party rule supreme in that department.

    My belief is this risky rishi sunak chap will take us to greater depths than ever achieved before as a nation and will prove to be a shining example of a rising WEF star in action.

    1. Labour no longer the party of big spending!

      What a comedian. Has anyone told him that it doesn’t count if you merely re-define “big”?

  34. 1st job completed. Over a quarter ton of VERY wet, muddy soil carried up from the yard and dumped as backfill for the wall.

    The S@H had been clearing out the gap between the shed wall and yard wall, a long narrow space tapering down from little more than 18″, before he fell with the dreaded lurgy. That’s another big favour he owes me!

    1. More war-mongering!
      It’s pure coincidence of course that Iran is one of very few countries in the world not to have a Rothschild-linked central bank. Syria is another, if I remember rightly.

    1. If the fundamental intelligence level is not there to start with,all the training in the world will make only a marginal difference.

    2. The Credit card company ‘Access’ used the slogan: “Taking the waiting out of wanting’. Seems the dear old NHS is putting it back…..

    3. They’re hoping to find a deadly new variant so they can lock us all down again.

      1. Squirrelpox is on the rise in Wales. I’m sure it could be made transmissable from red squirrels to people 🙂

    4. With all the hotel beds full of Channelees… the government has nowhere to put thousands of potentially infectious Chinese who arrive in the UK…..

    5. With all the hotel beds full of Channelees… the government has nowhere to put thousands of potentially infectious Chinese who arrive in the UK…..

  39. Good Moaning.
    Hands up all parents of sons who didn’t witness a nuclear event between siblings.
    A broken dog bowl would be the least of their worries.

    1. Henry worshipped his older brother, Christo, until the scales fell from his eyes at puberty.

      As a little boy beset by two older sisters who resented my existence I longed for a brother who was about the same age as I but I have been very lucky in having so very many good and close male and female friends throughout my life. Parents always hope that their progeny will be loving and supportive of each other but this in not always the case.

      1. I remember elder son being chuffed at the baby’s arrival.
        After that ….. a bit more variable.

        2. I remember daughter number 1 visiting new born daughter number 2 in hospital. Absolutely enchanted with her. However when mother brought number 2 home, number one remarked “I didn’t know you were bringing her home with you”

          2. Oh yes, “she done it” was heard quite often as they were growing up but now they are as close as could be.

    3. My two moved in the same social circle as young teenager and pre-teenager…….. one night the elder one came home early saying “I’m not staying at any party E’s at! “

      1. Yes; there are only 16 months between our two.
        They attended the same primary school but went to different secondary schools; with addition of a few extra teenagers, their social circle remained much the same.

  40. Sunak’s so-called pledges are no more than a plea to the electorate to give him 2 more years in office. In effect he is saying:

    “Give me the time we were not prepared to give my elected predecessor to turn things round.”

    I am not at all sure that he deserves the time because his policies and those of his chancellor seem specifically designed to destroy the British economy. His scheming to get into No 10 and his complicity in the plot to get rid of the hapless Truss convince me that he does not merit the sort of chance he was determined that she should not have.

    I think he is trying to persuade the Conservative MPs who are now thinking of resigning their seats and defecting to Reform to put their own personal self-interest at the top of their priorities and reflect that if they resign now they will lose their salaries and perks now rather than lose them in two years time.

    Even the MP Lee Anderson on GB News said that he is prepared to give Sunak a chance.

    1. The Tories have had years and done nothing with them. Enough is enough. Fire their sorry asses (other beasts of burden may be available) so they can spend time in the wilderness getting their act together.

    2. The Tories have had years and done nothing with them. Enough is enough. Fire their sorry asses (other beasts of burden may be available) so they can spend time in the wilderness getting their act together.

    3. Two further years of the CINO wrecking ball being applied to the UK? Sunak wants this time to bring into being the Central Bank Digital Currency as the control measure, if you’re a control freak, par excellence. The damage would be as near as irreparable as possibly could be.
      You will own nothing, be extremely disgruntled and unable to do anything about it.

  41. Just back from very small market – only two stalls. Dreary day – despite the Wet Office’s claim that it would be dry – it started to drizzle.

    More masks spotted – Project Fear is alive and well…..

    Coffee calls. Pickles is crawling across the sitting room “stalking” a pheasant he can see through the window!

    1. Apropos of Pickles. I remember our cat stalking a pheasant across the back paddock. When the pheasant took of with its usual rattle, I’ve never seen a cat move so fast – away from the awful noise.

  42. Morning All
    Maffs to 18 you say………..
    Perhaps if primary schools focused on times tables and mental arithmatic tests rather than the gender bender agenda that is spreading like a toxic rash we might be better off
    First bar job at 18,rounds of 8/9 drinks added in my head and gawd help you if the price wasn’t the same when the round was reordered!!
    Was I some sort of maff idiot savant?? Nope that sort of ability was the norm what the hell happened!!

    1. Calculators.

      Went to Post Office to buy 10 75p stamps (a year or so ago) – had the £7.50 in my hand. Clerk first used calculator -twice – came up with the answer – then looked at me in amazement and said, “How did you DO that?”

      1. Did he use the calculator to subtract the £7:50 you gave him from the answer on the calculator to determine your change?

    2. Same here.

      I was at a farm buying meat and when the young lady had priced it all up on a calculator she became unstuck when trying to apply the 10% discount. Doh !

          3. A 4d bit, popular in Victorian times.
            Then of course:

            Since Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be, a reminder of the days (most of us) remember:

            Back in the days of tanners and bobs,
            When Mothers had patience and Fathers had jobs.
            When football team families wore hand me down shoes,
            And T.V gave only two channels to choose.

            Back in the days of three penny bits,
            When schools employed nurses to search for your nits.
            When snowballs were harmless; ice slides were permitted
            And all of your jumpers were warm and hand knitted
            .
            Back in the days of hot ginger beers,
            When children remained so for more than six years.
            When children respected what older folks said,
            And pot was a thing you kept under your bed

            Back in the days of Listen with Mother,
            When neighbours were friendly and talked to each other.
            When cars were so rare you could play in the street.
            When Doctors made house calls; Police walked the beat.

            Back in the days of Milligan’s Goons,
            When butter was butter and songs all had tunes.
            It was dumplings for dinner and trifle for tea,
            And your annual break was a day by the sea.

            Back in the days of Dixon’s Dock Green,
            Crackerjack pens and Lyons’s ice cream.
            When children could freely wear National Health glasses,
            And teachers all stood at the FRONT of their classes.

            Back in the days of rocking and reeling,
            When mobiles were things that you hung from the ceiling.
            When woodwork and pottery got taught in schools,
            And everyone dreamed of a win on the pools.

            Back in the days when I was a lad,
            I can’t help but smile for the fun that I had.
            Hopscotch and roller skates; snowballs to lob.
            Back in the days of tanners and bobs. 👫

    3. Several years ago I bought a coffee for something like $1.86. I handed over a two dollar coin to pay for it. Unfortunately the cash machine was not working so the server had to calculate my change without mechanical assistance.

      Despite prompting from me, she could not complete the task and called the manager for help.

      1. Noooo… I can’t believe that?

        Grief, you could count to the nearest ten and go from there!

      2. It confuses young people if an item costs £8.25 and you hand over £10.25 expecting £2 change.

    4. It’s worse than that. Several people that I golf with depend on range finder machines to show them the distance to the pin.

      There are occasions when you will be on the fairway, well inside the one hundred yard marker when a player will check their range finder and announce that we are 120 yards from the pin. Absolutely no sense of what the measure is showing.

      OK sweetie, fire away!

      1. Surely it depends on the size of the greens? If the marker is from there to the edge of the green it could easily be the case that the pin is quite a lot further away or if the marker is to the centre of the green it could be closer.

        What I find baffling is that ,unless they are quite good players, knowing the exact distance isn’t really going to make an awful lot of different to their club choice or hitting power with the club chosen.

    5. Get them young and get them playing darts. Addition, multiplication (by 2 or 3) and of course subtraction from 501, if that’s your game. There’s also the competitive edge, both in playing the game and getting the sums correct.

    1. I am left wondering whether all those vaccinations themselves are the cause of a positive Covid test and that those tested didn’t actually have Covid.

  44. OT

    Coming back from t’market, I spotted a sign in a garage saying: “Used cars at cost price”.

    Anyone any ideas what THAT means?

    1. ‘They’ clearly mean they will sell the used cars at the price they paid for them – ie when new? Or when they bought them used?

    2. In these parts used car prices are pretty close to the cost of the car when new, maybe that is what they mean by cost price.

      We recently traded in my wifes 2017 Subaru, the dealer is trying to flog it for the original list price.

    3. If they are being cunning, it could be the amount they discounted against a new car on trade-in where the extra profit on the trade still leaves them in profit, rather than taking a loss if it was sent to auction, which is often the case.

    4. At school (many, many decades ago) I was told that an item’s cost was what the seller (or wholesaler) paid for it,
      and that the item’s price was what the seller expected to get for it.
      Or (in a nutshell) cost is wholesale; price is retail.

  45. Morning Medley

    https://scontent-man2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/321859277_627383946055270_7318927355969500613_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_s600x600&_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=U2H0JvdYpKQAX95JrRX&_nc_ht=scontent-man2-1.xx&oh=00_AfAlW0m0PLSf0MHEnhfR5DcPGIwwalbgF93VI-K9Quax9w&oe=63B75883

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0d58354d796a168fc09ac16069384acf2d0f7af136d2575daa5baf2c69f7d7ae.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c468598aa346cf42f7dd8202c9aff430a2dcf31392193306d0eec0f9c701a82d.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2046a5f1bc4029e70e6ce905664a23910f2b140e4146a253d2b2d9ee816b2a78.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c9dbd10084f99c236cd2fd41f5e50404cdcfb0f759d0c1e13c019dc68b32ed05.jpg

    1. Thanks, Rik (and K1).

      I have an ever-growing database of the best of these that I screenshot each day.👍🏻

    3. All those poor lads deprived of a source of income and a medal or two. Never mind, when they reach forty they will be eligible for full time education in British secondary schools, free accommodation and a regular supply of drugs from their parents and elder brothers who have cornered the market in most cities and towns.

  49. I have seen several postings here referencing Jordan Peterson, the Canadian psychologist who makes sense!

    He has recently been warned by the Psychologist College that his public rantings(?) have resulted in a number of complaints against him. He has to submit to Social Media Awareness training or risk losing his license.

    His crimes include retweeting tweets by the conservative party leader, making tweets critical of Trudeau and for questioning the need for vaccine mandates (just the mandates, not the actual vaccine effectiveness).

    They are out to get him and suppress dissent.

  50. Brash claims: “William attacked me in the kitchen….”

    Was that before or after the dog ate his homework?

    2. Notice how the only response is denial, as the allegation requires no witnesses, no explanation of ‘attack’. It’s unsusbstantiated accusation.

    3. Hmm. I know someone with a well-developed sense of victimhood who is always making similar accusations. They are about 90% lies as far as I can see, but nobody ever calls them out on social media.
      The person gets 10 “oh you poor thing” comments, and never anyone saying “that sounds a bit unlikely.”

      1. Nottingham Cottage was “very small” and the kitchen is where he and Meghan ‘cooked a chicken’.

        2. “Very small” in this instance is 1,324 sq ft and Nottingham Cottage was designed by Christopher Wren. Such hardship!

  51. Yesterday, our Susan made an intelligent and informed comment (who knows, might even catch on) on something I had forwarded. Here’s the response:

    As I am sure that you know, viruses cannot grow independently. They hijack the parasitised cell’s nucleic replication and protein synthesis mechanism in order to turn out more virus. Therefore they must be cultured in the lab in cell cultures – or, sometimes, when all else fails, live animals or plants.

    Godders Bloom tried to claim that the virus had never been isolated on GBNews last year. Madness, all it takes is a consultation with Dr Google!

    There are a number of publications from around the world reporting the successful culture in the lab of a virus, in various cell types, from the sputum, or other samples from sick people. Their isolates have been confirmed as SARS Cov-2 by the usual means – electron microscopy, do the virus particles have the classic coronavirus morphology? Then there is PCR – do you get a positive from your isolated and passaged virus?

    So yes, it has been grown, the ‘donors’ sick with classic symptoms. In the research labs some studies are made with so called pseudoviruses. No, don’t ask, not my field, presumably they are safer to work with. Other studies are carried out with the actual live virus.

    So no, genomic sequences don’t prove anything but the virus HAS been grown in many labs worldwide. Anyone saying otherwise is pig ignorant or deceiving you.

    Incidentally, for the first 18 months that I worked for Wellcome, I worked in the electron microscope unit. At the time, June Almeida worked for the company and often brought samples down. She was the first scientist to visualise coronaviruses (UK common cold strains) under the electron microscope.

    1. Very interesting and it sort of ironsout some of the mysterious behaviour of politicians and their long queues of experts.
      Give them enough rope.

    2. Interesting. When I questioned the producer of one of the BBC Horizon programmes about coronavirus I was told that viral pathogens are not living organisms as such, hence “viruses cannot grow independently” presumably?

      1. How long was it before you stopped laughing? Dormancy is not a lack of growth. By their very nature, if they could not survive outside of a host, then there wouldn’t be any.

        1. How is an entity that cannot grow independently transmitted from one host to another? This is surely why contagion theory is hotly disputed and terrain theory maintains that inner weakness on the part of the host is the underlying cause?

  52. There’s a revelation, for once Labour don’t have all the answers to all the problems. Perhaps they need to look into the crystal ball to predict the answers and try to gain more support.
    Holding one’s breath is not advised.

      1. Plus ten internet points for using appropos.

        Minus 9.5 internet points for using 3 question marks.

      1. It seems to suggest that they have rigged the hooks with bait and waiting to see what they can pull in.

    1. “Incredible” being the operational word………. perhaps half price is all he’s worth.

      1. One day William will just get fed up and say ‘My Daddy ain’t your Daddy.’ and utterly disinherit him.

        But, I suspect, he’s too good for that.

          1. No, it won’t.

            Not sure about lifetime, I hoenstly think Billy is above that but he’s getting pushed horribly. Frankly, I’d have had the bastard shot.

      2. …….or a good ball playing sportsman like, Borg, McEnroe, Navratilova, Murray and a good many golfers have close set eyes. The downside is that there is a lack of peripheral awareness.

  54. From Alistair Heath’s column:

    “… We have adopted an ersatz European social democracy with none of the upsides and all of the downsides. Brexit was an attempt at forcing the establishment to tackle our decline, but so far political parties and the Blob have acted as a cartel to maintain the status quo.
    Our most obvious, urgent crisis is the implosion of the NHS. Even though its resources have increased – both in cash and frontline staffing hours – its output has fallen. Thousands are dying, and hundreds of thousands are suffering: its performance is a catastrophe that disgraces Britain. If you are skilled and educated, why live in a country that cannot even provide its citizens with a decent level of healthcare?”

    1. Over the last two months we have been on the receiving end of quite a lot of healthcare……. we have few complaints about the care or the treatment.

      1. I suspect there may be strong regional differences; today, in the cafe, two other customers and I exchanged a long litany of failings of our local NHS.

  55. The President of the RMT Union, Alex Gordon, is also the national membership secretary for the Communist Party of Britain.
    A longstanding Marxist, Mr Gordon presides over the RMT’s ruling national executive committee and is also a major figure in the Communist Party of Britain, sitting on both its executive and political committees. The 55-year-old is also chairman of the Marx Memorial Library in North London.

    Quelle surprise!

  56. Par four here

    Wordle 565 4/6

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

    1. Bother: Bogey Five here.

      Wordle 565 5/6
      ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟨
      🟩⬜⬜🟩⬜
      🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. A close run thing for me.
      Wordle 565 6/6

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

  57. Rishi Sunak wants kids to learn maths until they are 18.

    We currently
    learn everything by 16, so I’m not sure what those extra 3 years will
    achieve.

    3. There would have been no point in my continuing to “learn maths” after O Levels. I haven’t used what I learned then and I am, due to problems with numbers, virtually innumerate anyway and have been since my primary school days when I kept getting consistently low marks for mental arithmetic (but consistently high marks for spelling).

  58. I was asked if I was willing to sail into foreign waters, to pick up drug dealers and rapists? I said get lost.
    Apparently i’m not cut out to be a member of the RNLI.

    1. It would be good to hear the views from RNLI volunteers around the country. Surely it’s just a tiny percentage of them involved with the RIBs in that SE corner of England?

      1. Yes, and they will have been carefully chosen and the others told to push off. Just like Hotel staff when Serco take over and install their own people. Who also happen to be from the same places as the illegals.

        1. I mean yer bloke and woman who go out in dodgy weather to help people in trouble (and not self inflicted) at sea, and not cherry picked for their views by the BBC et al.

    2. You jest, but 30+ years ago a skipper in Brixham was arrested for allegedly having been involved in some low level scheme to help import cannabis via lobster pots. He didn’t regard the offence as serious, and was most put out when the local CID insisted on locking him up; he was about to participate in the Brixham Trawler Race which to him was much more important.

  59. I’ve a run to the old RAF Whittam at Colsterworth tomorrow. Just bought a Tirfor Jack on their military surplus auction that I will find some use for, so I’ve been checking the van over.
    As well as a couple of household jobs, I’ve also made a start on shifting the sawing and splitting detritus and, after giving it another couple of hours to reduce down, jarred up the “Delete Mango – Insert Pineapple” Chutney getting 5 jars of a rather nice condiment!
    Now getting tea ready for the DT & S@H when they get home from work!

    3. I’m waiting for you to tell us about your pond – which will really be a new reservoir to stockpile water for your citadel’s inhabitants.

  60. June Almeida – born June Dalziel Hart – was a Scottish virologist, a pioneer in virus imaging, identification, and diagnosis. Her skills in electron microscopy earned her an international reputation. She was the first to identify coronavirus.

    This remarkable Glaswegian deserves to be much better known – especially with regard to the current worldwide epidemic.

    Wikipedia entry – well worth reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Almeida

  61. Ah me.

    We have just taken down the decorations (mainly because our dear cleaner is coming tomorrow and will be able to hoover all the floors.
    The decs were very nice – but it is good to see the house back to normal.

    Interestingly, neither of the cats showed the slighted interest – EXCEPT for the boxes into which the MR was putting the baubles!!

    I have now reached the age where I wonder whether I’ll see next Christmas….. (NOT being maudlin – just realistic).

    1. I had the feeling just after lunch, when I joined the queue at the main Post Office and discovered only one assistant behind the counter. Talk about losing the will to live. After an hour and a bit it felt like I’d finally died and gone to heaven when another assistant appeared and was able to deal with my passport renewal…..

      1. Good luck with that.

        I did mine online (thanks to the MR’s IT skills and patience) and the new passport arrived nine days later.

        1. The Post Office said the Passport Office reckon it might take up to 10 weeks (despite all the information being entered electronically and my old passport being FedEx’d to them)….

          1. To my amazement – I was very impressed with the online service. E-mail acknowledgement of application and fee; e-mail ack of receipt of old passport; e-mail to tell me application approved; e-mail (which arrived after the delivery) to say new passport on way!

          2. Splendid. So far so good I had the email acknowledgement before I had even left the Post Office.

          11. Mine goes to 2028 and may outlive me.

            I’m pi55ed about that ‘cos its a red EU one and I want a blue UK one, even if it’s produced by frogs.

          12. Apply for a second passport.
            I have two, one expires soon, looking forward to a blue and a maroon one.

          16. I have three years left on mine, too. I’ll reconsider in the light of events whether to renew it or not.

          20. No! “We designated the G20 the premier forum for global economic cooperation, and today we reaffirm our commitment to cooperate as we, once again, address serious global economic challenges. 2. We met in Bali on 15-16 November 2022, at a time of unparalleled multidimensional crises”…..***

            ***Note mostly of their making!

          21. And of course, they lied when they said they wouldn’t. This was inevitable. It’s all to control who can go where.

          23. I have already given up the idea of travelling abroad as I have no one to look after the dogs and I’m not going to put them in kennels.

          24. For real speed of service you should try the Probate Service. Specifically the bit called “Find a Will”.
            Yesterday ( having not heard from him for some time and presumed he had died) I checked to see if my second cousin had in fact died and found him listed on the gov.uk GRO (birth & death records). So then I looked on Find a Will and not only found his will but paid £1.50 and got an immediate full pdf copy of it. You used to have to wait a few days before the pdf arrived but now for a fairly recent (ie digital) document it’s instantaneous.

          26. Well OH only had to wait a month (while they did diagnostic tests etc) before his open heart surgery was done.

          28. It’s the first one I’ve ordered for some time – I was amazed how quick it was. Years ago you had to pay £10 for a paper copy, then they reduced the price to £1.50 about three years ago but had major teething problems and they took weeks and weeks. They sorted that out and it took just a few days. I don’t know if they’ve digitised all the old paper ones – I suspect not, but as this one was recent, they must scan them all on receipt.

          29. Ditto. Excellent service, although really it’s self-service.
            New passports are delivered by some blackleg courier company, thus avoiding any ‘issues’ with suicidal Royal Mail strikes.

          30. To my amazement – I was very impressed with the online service. E-mail acknowledgement of application and fee; e-mail ack of receipt of old passport; e-mail to tell me application approved; e-mail (which arrived after the delivery) to say new passport on way!

      2. There’s always one nutter trying to bank less than £30 all in 50ps, 20ps, 10 and coppers, having done no sorting, bagging or anything.

    2. I’ll be honest – I don’t enjoy Christmas. It’s hard work, with lots of ferrying people around. Everyone is strung up trying to enjoy it. There’s too much food about the place. The dogs get over excited – Mongo start barking when the door goes and dashing to meet people – our postie is very tolerant but even after the 5th time of a giant Newfoundland bounding at him got a bit fed up.

      The Mother in Law is tiring, my mother is a pain – and didn’t get Junior anything, or call, write and her shadow of the screaming tantrums arcs over the whole season.

      KBO, Bill. Time isn’t an enemy, but a companion to remind us to make the most of the moments we do have.

      Perhaps I should rant a bit less….

      1. I should forget everybody else next time and just make it for the 3 of you plus dogs. If anyone complains tell them why.

        Not getting Junior anything is a message.

        1. He gets acres of stuff from us lot – Lego this year, about a shelf of books. Mother never bothers to ask what he might like.

      2. Mothers (in Law)… Sigh.
        My Mam is daft and pays a fortune for a care home, but isn’t really there. MiL wasn’t up to cooking, but despite offers from SWMBO & Firstborn (who are both excellent) refuled to allow them into the kitchen. Food wasn’t good.
        Christmas was a real disappointment. We were late starting, never felt christmassy, bugger-all pressies, eff all cards (did everybody die in 2022?), no mince pies or Xmas pud, no wine with the set-piece meals, even the poor old tree looks as wilted and droopy as an old daffodil – never seen that before. Too much travel to UK, huge travel costs… so all our family traditions got lost, as did some of the better food, but at least we we had a nice pub to go to.
        Oh, well, 2023 can only be better.

          1. I only got just over 40 this year (down on previous years), but unfortunately, many of those who used to send me cards are no longer with us.

        1. Here, every time the phone rings, SWMBO reckons it’s for her.
          And. she’s right, too.

    3. That thought has crossed my mind, particularly after MB’s experience a while back.
      Christmas this year was a bleak experience; many thanks to lovely family and friends who made sure it wasn’t a total washout.
      No thanks to solicitors/conveyancing clerks who are patently not up to the job.
      Last development; madam who bu88ered off on holiday leaving a cluttered desk also had a poor grasp of detail.
      The documents proved to contain serious inaccuracies.
      Our buyers are getting quite desperate.

      3. The blasted woman should have cleared her desk first or passed it on to another before pissing off on holiday. When it’s all done and the dust has settled give her a piece of your mind !

      4. All firms of solicitors have to have a complaints procedure – easily accessible to any dissatisfied client.

        Worth looking into? Since you have nothing else to do…{:¬))

      1. ‘Smartly dressed’ – Very well paid for guest appearances and ten minutes promoting their bongo bongo songs.

    1. He lies. They don’t want to stop the flow of illegals. UN Cmpact on Migration, anybody?

      1. “ UN Cmpact on Migration.”

        Signed by Treason May with no debate, let alone a referendum.

    2. ‘Afternoon, Lass.

      Are you using a Skandi keybrod? I ask because on the English one ‘e’ as in case, is a long way from ‘h’ as in cash.

      1. Thanks – still tired, but then my brother, who normally stays for about three days over Christmas has decided to stay for two weeks…lovely that he is here though!

  66. Prince Harry reveals he killed 25 Taliban fighters during second tour of duty in Afghanistan and thought of them as ‘chess pieces taken off the board’
    Prince Harry details 2012 tour of duty in Afghanistan in his tell-all memoir Spare
    Reveals he killed 25 Taliban fighters and thought of them as ‘chess pieces’
    Bombshell revelation detailed in his leaked autobiography due out on January 10

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11602975/Prince-Harry-reveals-killed-25-Taliban-fighters-second-tour-duty-Afghanistan.html

    What a gob he has got!

    2. I cannot decide if he is on drugs or whether MeGain has tipped him over the edge.
      Possibly both.

      1. Prince Harry reveals he took cocaine a ‘few times’ aged 17 after first being ‘offered a line’ during a hunting weekend but claims it ‘wasn’t very fun’
        Prince Harry has sensationally admitted to taking cocaine a ‘few’ times
        Duke makes bombshell revelation in his explosive memoir, Spare
        He describes being asked about drug habits at 2002 Golden Jubilee

        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11602447/Prince-Harrys-book-Duke-reveals-took-cocaine-times.html

        I reckon he is still indulging , hence all his mental problems .

        1. Americanised if he uses ‘fun’ as a verb, preceded by an adjectival clause, ‘very’.

          2. My brother moved to US in 70s but maintained his English accent throughout, except for his pronunciation of ‘weird’ which was always weird.

          4. Exacto, © Peddy The Viking.

            Me, I just love languages, especially for their differences.

          6. We have been over here about 40 years, we still, have accented.

            Word usage has changed, we talk about gas not petrol (it’s cheaper) and when someone tells me to get off the pavement, I am confused.

          7. You’re obviously not yet ‘acclimated’.

            You’ll be OK, after you’ve been burglarized.

      3. I think your conclusion had been reached by most of us even before this latest outbreak of idiocy.

    4. I never met a fighting man who said anything at all about anybody he killed.
      This is bullshit applied by spade.

      1. I recall seeing TV footage of ‘The Black Prince’ sat behind a heavy machine gun blasting away numerous rounds of ammunition (paid for by taxpayers) towards the distance. I don’t recall hearing any screams of the wounded and dying…..

      2. Yes. A job that needs to be done but not something to boast about. The people that matter know. Your oppo’s.

      4. Friends knew an old army veteran who used a well hidden machine gun to kill a bunch of Germans in North Africa, in a wadi at night. Even in old age he had no regrets, quite the opposite. But here’s the rub: he wasn’t a ‘fighting man’ and had been standing in for someone.

      2. Maybe he has a death wish? Cheaper than divorce? Or he wants his bodyguard to earn his corn.

    6. That may well ensure all the royal family’s problems are sorted on their behalf.
      Silly sod, he might just as well have a target tattooed on his forehead.

        1. I wonder if he knows that the U.S. government welcomed over 76,000 Afghans to come with them when the US forces fled Afghanistan?

  67. Petty tyrants are still trying to throw their weight around. Handball isn’t the most riveting of sports, except perhaps to its adherents, but the person/people running the game clearly haven’t received the memo stating that the “vaccine” does not prevent infection, does not prevent transmission and does not prevent death. In the light of all the evidence and the odd admission or two the demand for stringent rules around “vaccine” status, testing and isolation are nothing short of farcical.
    Players, keep your balls to hand and walk away from the fools of the IHF.

    Daily Sceptics – Handball World Cup CV-19 Restrictions

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a164d043583f5afb053ac0645962cf3e7c73bdea344b19974cbb21537a417c13.png

        1. It is actually. It’s the way you hold your fingers together to lob it over the net. I used to enjoy it. Bring your little finger and index finger together and shield with the thumb.

          5. No. It’s a bit like volley ball but the ball is half the size. Plus you don’t have to play it in skimpy bikinis on an Aussie beach.

      2. Or take up pocket billiards – that seems to be the answer to those who enjoy handball – especially in the solitaire version of the game.

    4. Not sure i believe that. That pad is quite firm. Unless they stamped on it to get more ‘likes’.

  70. It was predicted on here:

    Whitehaven coal mine: Friends of the Earth to launch legal fight

    The environmental campaign group argues Communities Secretary Michael Gove “acted unlawfully” when he approved the project in Cumbria last month.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-64165419

    The worst forms of legislation and policy are based on arbitrary targets and ‘ideals’. If the judges hear in favour of the complainants then the Climate Change Act effectively gives the courts a veto over government policy.

    Mind you, it’s not as bad as the Human Rights Act, which appears to have the power to overrule all other legislation, whether passed before or after it (the HRA) was enacted. And that’s not unlike the 1972 ECA, as the Metric Martyrs case showed.

    What’s the point of Parliament?

    3. As to the question in the comments about what camera they had.
      No.
      I was wondering what pants they were wearing.

      1. Not if it’s a dog like Oscar you don’t! Not if you want to keep all your fingers, anyway.

        1. I replied to Belle on Twitter – we once tried to get small, car-flattened bird out of Poppie’s mouth. She quite determinedly told us to go and find our own, she wasn’t sharing. We did manage to get her to part company with it eventually, but it was a struggle.

          1. Even bribery (offering a biscuit) doesn’t work. I don’t know what happened to him before I got him, but anything that he considers edible (whether it is or not) is not going to be taken away from him.

          2. By contrast our boxer, Rumpole, was so gentle that he even allowed our little children to take a bone he was chewing at out of his mouth. All he did was look at us with a sad look as if to say: “Why should I have to put up with this?”

          3. I don’t know what happened to Oscar before I got him. I suspect he didn’t have the easiest life. He does seem to be responding to kindness. Going to the vet and groomer are very traumatic for him.

  73. That’s me gone. Last part of “Stonehouse” this evening! Can’t imagine how it ends…!!

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain – DV.

      1. Even though you are terribly young, Jules – you must have some memory of it all???

      2. SPOILER: I think he goes on board an ocean liner which hits an iceberg and sinks – they didn’t have enough lifeboats.

  74. Can’t stand that idiot Justin Rowlatt wittering on about the ‘hottest year ever’ on the Noos.

    I didn’t put the telly on at all while OH was away.

    2. Snap. Well almost.
      For the week MB was in hospital, I only put on the telly to watch an hour or so of GBNews in the evening.

  75. I have scanned the papers today and MH has the local news on. I cannot say I believe one word of what I have read or heard. And as for Harry….
    He should read up on what happened to George, Duke of Clarence on the orders of his older brother.

        1. I’ll be kicking a few butts round here if you’re not careful!
          Edit for missing NOT.

  76. Over lunch in a cafeteria in the city centre, the bodyguard – who had a ‘sombre look’ on his face – told the Prince that he had been sent to ‘find out the truth’.

    The father-of-two wrote: ‘I suspected he was referring to my recent loss of virginity, a humiliating episode with an older woman who liked macho horses and who treated me like a young stallion.

    ‘I mounted her quickly, after which she spanked my ass and sent me away. One of my many mistakes was letting it happen in a field, just behind a very busy pub. No doubt someone had seen us.’

    However, the real reason Marko had been sent to check up on Harry was because King Charles’ press office had been informed a newspaper had evidence of him taking drugs -which Harry said was ‘all lies’.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11602849/Prince-Harry-recounts-losing-virginity-older-woman-FIELD-biography-leaked.html

    That type are rumoured to be Wham Bang thankyou Ma’am twerps .

      1. It reeks of a committee in the publishing house
        “Put some more sex in! Sex sells!”
        “I know, let’s give him a horse fetish. Everyone knows the British Upper Classes do it like horses or are gay!”
        “Yeah, that’ll work”

    2. The elderly woman has responded to say that whilst Harry is a big dick he’s well behind any line of sucksession in the nether regions…

    3. If he is really that disconnected from reality i wish him well on his journey to oblivion.

      1. Not fast enough if they can chop the top off a mountain for an Airport and use the spoil to create more land where they build skyscrapers…..in less time than we can fill one or two pot holes.

      2. I agree- everytime I get the urge to exercise, I lie down until the feeling passes.

    3. I understand the need for exercise and fitness – it’s just not for me – loonies the lot of ’em.

  78. Evening, all. The dogs have had their jabs and their dew claws trimmed. We both needed danger money to deal with Oscar, even though he was muzzled! The vet got it done, though. I don’t think she believed me when I said he was much improved from when I got him! I think he suspected something was up long before we got to the vets – I took him to his favourite cafe where he normally lies under the table and sleeps, but today he was restless and wouldn’t settle. They’ve got to go back in three weeks to have the second one.

      1. Which is why I took my dog with me when viewing properties I was thinking of buying – if there had been any disturbance in the atmosphere, he would surely have picked up on it.

    1. That is exactly the type of old and disabled animal that would have been hunted down and put out of its misery, other than for Blair’s anti-hunting bill, supported by the mass of townies which overwhelmed the country folk who are, and were, brought up to understand this. Blair was for just removing what he saw as class-difference, without realising the depth of feeling among the hoi-polloi who actively followed the hunt.

      The well-meaning folk in Derbyshire, who feed this animal don’t understand that they’re only prolonging its agony rather than helping it.

  86. The next Bond movie will be made to satisfy the woke brigade. Bond will start off as a man and trans to a woman.
    The movie will be called “Cocktopussy”.

    1. Can we have your missus’s email? I think we could ask her to get rid of your Xmas crackers… 😉

      2. If his Christmas crackers are as un-pc as that (not hilarious I agree), I’m all for them, Ann.

    3. Virginia Woolf got there first. In 1928 she wrote Orlando, a character who lives three hundred years and changes sex half way through. A fantasy device for telling the history of the Sackville family.

        1. Swinton I think. Didn’t like the movie but it’s the old problem of read the book first and the film just wasn’t what I saw in my head.

          2. So happy to hear, Sue, that you too, get so immersed in a book inasmuch that you are there, as it’s happening.

            #MeToo.

  89. A little late night chortle for you. We went to bed last night and it took me a while to get comfortable because my face is hurting a lot again. I told MH this and he said he was sorry about it.
    Then, when we said goodnight, he said, “Goodnight Face Ache.” We laughed so hard it was about 20 mins before we settled down.

  93. The identity of the older woman whom Harry mounted in the field behind the pub has been revealed by a Torygraph BTLiner who observes that it is clearly Victoria Wood who asked her lover in her Let’s Do It song to spank her on her bottom with the Woman’s Weekly.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFI5Jl_IqsE

    Absolutely brilliant!

    1. Good morning, Tom

      This is a brilliant example of how the ordinary people have been treated and held in contempt. “Nobody asked us” is the issue which all politicians who even pretend to believe in democracy should ask themselves.

      The situation now is considerably worse than it was when this was written and not just in the area of mass immigration.

  95. Good morning all! Howling a gale here and horizontal rain at 5.44! Couldn’t sleep and I’m supposed to be going for a ramble with a friend later on! Maybe not….!

    1. Good morning Sue M.
      Why not go for a tramp in the woods instead. But make sure you give the tramp a head start! 🙂

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