Thursday 6 August: Too many people are still awaiting tests for illnesses other than Covid

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its comments facility (now reinstated, but not as good as ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/08/05/letterstoo-many-people-still-awaiting-tests-illnesses-covid/

729 thoughts on “Thursday 6 August: Too many people are still awaiting tests for illnesses other than Covid”

    1. Remember that this buffoon told us that he had secured a ‘brilliant’ WA but he failed to give us any details, sidestepped the Andrew Neil interview and we can now see that his WA was almost identical to the surrender WA of Teraita May.

    3. 322146+ up ticks,
      Morning C,
      It will not happen because the peoples don’t want it to happen, as with the main political sickness rife throughout
      the country the peoples are more comfortable being in a
      vote & whinge, party first mode.

    4. While having every sympathy for her, I can’t help feeling that she would do more good for her campaign if she wore longer skirts & did something about her hair.

      1. You mean wearing widow’s weeds and her hair tied in a tight bun under a suitable black veil?

        1. No, not at all. From what I’ve seen of her, & her followers, she may be a respectable widow, but she looks like a tramp.

          1. I’ve probably seen fewer pictures than you, but those I have seen suggest she is a very pretty young woman who is having to relive an appalling experience daily.

            In the circumstances, I’ll cut her a lot of slack.

        2. She’s a good looking girl but I agree that her skirts are too short. They make her look like a silly teenager, when she is clearly anything but.

          1. If it helps her to get media attention, why not use every weapon in her armoury.

            Being coerced into changing her lifesyle and appearance to suit other people’s perceptions of what is or isn’t acceptable, on top of everything else she has had to put up with, seems a bit unnecessary to me.

          2. Sure – but she’s not likely to see our comments so we’re hardly coercing her to do anything.

    5. Good luck and best wishes to her.

      The current legal system in Britain has become a sick joke.

    6. How about …those who kill emergency services workers to get life sentences…?

    1. Boris Johnson has given up as a prime minister and as a politician. He no longer cares what he does or what people think of him.

      He is now determined to leave politics and go and live in a red-light district where he can slake his lust on as many women of easy virtue that he can find. At least he can then claim that he is living up to his sobriquet: Boris the Bonker as he has completely failed with his current job.

    2. Boris Johnson has given up as a prime minister and as a politician. He no longer cares what he does or what people think of him.

      He is now determined to leave politics and go and live in a red-light district where he can slake his lust on as many women of easy virtue that he can find. At least he can then claim that he is living up to his sobriquet: Boris the Bonker as he has completely failed with his current job.

    3. Probably because we don’t expect anything else.
      Our Establishment is corrupt beyond measure.

    4. Boris Johnson has given up as a prime minister and as a politician. He no longer cares what he does or what people think of him.

      He is now determined to leave politics and go and live in a red-light district where he can slake his lust on as many women of easy virtue that he can find. At least he can then claim that he is living up to his sobriquet: Boris the Bonker as he has completely failed with his current job.

    1. They have thrown away the spade and are now getting stuck in with a JCB. Grave-digging has just moved up a notch.

      ‘Morning, C1.

  8. ‘Morning All

    What hubris……………

    Twitter briefly banned Donald Trump’s campaign account from tweeting

    on Wednesday until it agreed to remove a video in which he made false

    claims about Covid-19.

    In the most radical action against the President by any major social

    network so far, the company said on Wednesday that it had temporarily

    frozen @TeamTrump due to a breach of its coronavirus misinformation

    rules.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2020/08/06/twitter-gags-donald-trumps-campaign-account-deletes-false-covid/
    I hope the inevitable nemesis involves Zuckerberg and a Federal supermax

    1. Interesting stuff!

      It’s long been known that Lancasters were sent to the US for evaluation for the atomic attacks but I didn’t know this story.

      1. Mark Felton does the best short history videos on YouTube. Every one is fascinating.

        The B-29 had lots of growing pains but it was the best heavy bomber of WWII. It should have been. The B-29 program cost more than the Manhattan Project. True story!

        Thanks, Copy. 👍

        1. Yes Joe, I’ve dipped into his channel a few times.

          I’m sure I’ve got a book somewhere with B-29s and Lancasters shown on the same airfield, trials for the A-bomb.

          The B-29 program cost more than the Manhattan Project.

          And just as Stalin got his own A-bomb project largely for free via those pesky dual-loyalty Americans he also got the B-29 for free too due to B-29s impounded in the Far East. Measured, stripped down and copied to the last detail. Allegedly including patches over bullet holes too! Thus the Tu-4 bomber came to be.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-4

        2. Yes Joe, I’ve dipped into his channel a few times.

          I’m sure I’ve got a book somewhere with B-29s and Lancasters shown on the same airfield, trials for the A-bomb.

          The B-29 program cost more than the Manhattan Project.

          And just as Stalin got his own A-bomb project largely for free via those pesky dual-loyalty Americans he also got the B-29 for free too due to B-29s impounded in the Far East. Measured, stripped down and copied to the last detail. Allegedly including patches over bullet holes too! Thus the Tu-4 bomber came to be.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-4

    1. The Judge ruled that the jury should not be told about the thug’s violent past, as it was too long ago, despite similarities.

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7927199/Lawyer-says-heroic-police-officer-disciplined-saving-life-Taser.html

      Another case where the Attorney General might review, with a view to lowering his sentence, no doubt.

      As to the lawyer calling for the policeman to be disciplined, I’m not surprised, it’s what you get when career criminals are lauded by politicians and others who should know better.

  12. Have you noticed how many more retired Doctors will say these things than those in woke?
    if a Dr is woking they are in serious risk of losing their job if they speak out. They will be cancelled.
    If a climate change sceptic, or a Green energy naysayer does similarly they too will soon be out of a job and cancelled.
    What do they have in common?

    The science is settled

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8597815/Britains-gone-lockdown-la-la-land-says-DR-JOHN-LEE.html

    2. “Woking doctors…” – missing a letter, or a new description, Sos?
      Good morning, BTW.

      2. Yeah. Why should Woking doctors get all the credit? What about the doctors of Wokingham? Don’t they deserve similar recognition? 😉

    3. They wouldn’t even get through University and get qualified if they had those thoughts.

  13. Morning all

    SIR – I am of an age where I receive a bowel cancer home-testing kit every two years.

    My last test was in June 2018, so I inquired as to whether my next one was due. Unsurprisingly, I was advised that, as a result of Covid-19, there was a delay in the issue of these kits, and told to call back at the end of October if I had still not received one.

    I do understand that we have 
been through – and continue to go through – unprecedented times, but a balance must now be struck between tackling coronavirus and dealing with other medical problems (or potential ones). The consequences of failing to do so could outweigh those of the virus itself.

    John Dunmall

    Huntingdon

    SIR – Like Diana Green (Letters, August 5), I was promised six-monthly check-ups following my bowel-cancer operation two years ago.

    These were due to continue for five years but have now been cancelled, and I have been passed back to my GP. I feel so let down.

    John P Stansfield

    Romiley, Cheshire

    SIR – Diana Green’s case is an example of how the running of hospitals varies in different parts of the country.

    My own bladder cancer check-up at Bournemouth hospital took place on time after six months, and I’m about to have my third treatment since then.

    I have received exemplary care, and my appointments always occur punctually.

    Robin Nonhebel

    Swanage, Dorset

    SIR – My wife is in need of a hip-replacement operation, but nobody at her private hospital can tell her when this will be possible, as no theatres are available, other than for cancer surgery.

    This has obviously been the case since lockdown began – but, as the expected overwhelming of NHS resources did not occur, it is not clear what or who is responsible for the present situation. Moreover, what is the point of paying private healthcare premiums to avoid NHS queues when the private hospitals are not providing a service?

    D  W Harding

    Gullane, East Lothian

    SIR – I recently had a positive test for Covid-19 antibodies,, provided by a private company, in conjunction with a health- plan provider.

    As a regular blood donor I sought out the NHS site and arranged to donate plasma for use in clinical trials. However, it became apparent that, while people who are tested positive by the NHS are requested to consider donating plasma, no such requests are made of those who are tested privately.

    These donations are vital in fighting this disease. The NHS should get together with the private health companies and make sure that everyone who tests positive is asked to consider plasma donation.

    Norman Inniss

    London SE9

    1. Don’t worry. I have an abdominal aortic aneurysm and require ultrasound scans every 3 months to check if it’s getting bigger.
      The last one, in July, was rescheduled as a telephone appointment.

    2. There are times when I wonder if the whole point of this closure of non-covid NHS treatments/investigations is to ensure there are huge numbers of people with underlying illnesses that will make them even more vulnerable to Covid-19 next time aound so C19 can be blamed for the deaths, thus showing that the doom-mongers like Ferguson, Hancock and Whitty et al were right.

  14. SIR – Canon Simon Butler’s attack on Giles Fraser (Letters, August 5) provides a good example of why so many lifelong Anglicans have given up on the Church of England. The complacency, willingness to indulge in vicious rows over the smallest of issues, and careerist placemanship of so many clergy are why priests such as Canon Fraser are a breath of fresh air

    The laity still await a coherent response from the Church regarding the biggest issue of our age: Covid-19. While the upper ranks indulge in endless meetings, and the middle management of the clergy grows larger, the strange death of the parish church is unlikely to be reversed.

    Mark Robbins

    Bruton, Somerset

  15. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    There are some odd errors in some of today’s letters, as though there has been an incomplete attempt to edit them. Here is just one example:

    Creating new homes

    SIR – Turning empty commercial properties into domestic dwellings (Letters, August 4) is an excellent idea.

    The problem lies with leasehold law. Domestic leaseholders have the ultimate right to buypurchase their lease. This does not apply to commercial leases. Landlords would not willingly give upconcede the freehold on their property.

    David Hughes
    Llandudno, Conwy

    “…buypurchase…”? “…upconcede…”?

      1. I have suffered from advanced ementia for years.

        How else can I account for my serial compulsion to type words such as becuase (because) or greta (great) — among many — no matter how careful I attempt to hit those keys, sequentially, with my two typing fingers?

        1. I get both of those too, my most regular typo is poeple for people and it’s very easy to miss in the pre-send proof read.

          1. I get moaned at for editing my posts, and wish there was a way of distinguishing between a major revision and correcting a typo or a grammatical error.

            I don’t like to interrupt the train of thought when typing and keep going, completely blind to any gibberish when the connection between the left and right sides of the brain show my age. I read what I think I have typed, and it’s only when I come back to it later with fresh eyes, that I can see the mistakes and feel they must be corrected.

            What does not help with concentration is the constant stress brought on by interface inconsistencies. When you press ‘Return’ here, there is a new paragraph. On Facebook though, it posts the comment, forcing an edit to resume. There, to make a new paragraph (which makes it readable online), you need ‘Ctrl-Enter’. If you do that here though, it posts the comment, forcing an edit to resume. It is a distraction I could do without.

          2. My problem is that when I write a long uninterrupted spiel, in order to keep my train of thought intact, I go back and find that the ‘spellchecker’ (an oxymoron if ever there was one) has completely transformed certain words into gibberish. Moreover, gibberish that makes it impossible for me to work out what i’d originally meant!

            [I have just corrected eight typos in that comment alone!]

          3. Can you not turn off spell checker or is it too difficult for your spinning out of control brain? 🙂

          5. I don’t use a spell checker on here – I wouldn’t know where to find it. They only seem to know American anyway. There’s one on Gmail, and that’s annoying too, but at least it gives you the option not to change what you typed.

          6. I use Mozilla Firefox and as I type, any mis-spelled words (or words it doesn’t know) are underlined in red. It’s a function I can turn on or off in settings (options).

          9. I don’t spend a lot of time there but I haven’t abandoned it completely. The most annoying thing is the amount of bandwidth it uses.

          11. I don’t use Windows 10 or any of the earlier ones. Facebook is far more packed with ads than iit used to be.

        2. Good morning, Grizzly

          The problem is that I nearly always spot my typos after I have posted. The challenge then is to edit and correct before Peddy spots it!

          1. Morning Richard . Like me you are suffering from the early symptoms of ementia…..

          2. The edit doesn’t show on Peddy’s page until he’s refreshed the page! So he still sees your typos.

          1. No. My northern brain swivels in its mountings in order to gain a 360º view of the world. With southerners it’s only the eyes that swivel.

          2. Ah, Jack Elam. The paradigm of “swivel-eye”.
            https://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrJ4NaH.CtfOCsAP2eJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTIyY3VwNGgyBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1nBG9pZANmY2Y5OWE5YmM1YjYzMzAwZWQzNmZhNDQ1OWJhZjU2YQRncG9zAzcEaXQDYmluZw–?back=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3DJack%2BElam%26fr%3Daaplw%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D7&w=1280&h=720&imgurl=larryleecaplin.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F01%2F23.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Flarryleecaplin.com%2Fwestern-profiles-a-steely-eyed-gent-jack-elam%2F&size=45.2KB&p=Jack+Elam&oid=fcf99a9bc5b63300ed36fa4459baf56a&fr2=&fr=aaplw&tt=Jack+Elam+.+.+.+a+Steely-eyed+Gent+%7C+Apropos+of+Nothing&b=0&ni=220&no=7&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=.gKfuHdv2AxM&sigb=KjWHFHTgyw7Q&sigi=dogdHPbhRjfY&sigt=DZ0fer11Z0GO&.crumb=1Wxb59eCwL5&fr=aaplw

      1. I don’t think so, Peddy. The words are similar in meaning, so why bother? Anyway, surely such a practice is tautologous? There are other letters today with similar errors, suggesting that someone has tried some editing prior to publication, but was too lazy to check their work.

  16. 322`46+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,
    How about we totally isolate the Covid regarding the ovid issue, as in a sanatorium type hospital independent of the main NHS body.
    That leaving the health service free to carry out it’s everyday agenda.
    What I cannot get my head round is the fact that the political gloom dispensers are saying we could have a regular return year on year until a
    RELIABLE jab is found, OK maybe……

    What is fact is we are living daily with thousands of potential terrorist on a return basis roaming the streets, many receiving state welfare and their numbers being topped up daily via Dover on leaving a SAFE country to enter one that the political hierarchy are hell bent on bringing to it’s knees,
    ( half way there already aided & abetted by consenting fools).

    In my inbox yesterday priti trying to convince me she is
    well worth her wage, NOT a bloody chance.

    2. Unfortunately, Operation Seelöwe has established a secure bridgehead on the beaches and moved inland.

      1. 322146+up ticks,
        Evening C,
        As I said in a prior post bridgehead formed network
        nationwide near in place parliament riddled even down to their canteen menu, join the dots countrywide.
        The establishment is topping up the potential
        criminal / terrorist fraternity via Dover etc,etc, daily, unhindered.
        Unfortunately ? wrong word C, treacherously more apt.

  19. At the moment, The Spectator are keeping very quiet on this issue, and of course those on the Left do not allow public debate on the issues any longer. I hope to publish this there, when I can find an opportunity, in the hope that it will be read by someone who still has the power to consider it officially.

    I often dislike Nick Robinson, and share the disquiet here about the BBC’s woke agenda, but I felt that he did a good job attempting to dissect the Communities Secretary Robert Jendrick, who is known to be corrupt and has got away with corruption, who has this scheme to destroy any public protection from bad development, in order to provide nice little earners for cronies of Government officers. They will use the whips, their 80-seat majority and the likelihood that that Opposition are in on the deal, to push this through.

    I am aware of how it is spun, and there is much in the 1947 Act and how it has evolved that is unsatisfactory. I am also aware how a housing shortage has built up, much down to privatising at a loss to the councils our rented social housing stock under Thatcher, divorce laws favouring women eager to discard unwanted husbands whose family housing needs are then doubled, and the influx of migrants foisted on us by international treaty and the endless need for hardworking cheap labour, who then have the right to bring in their extended families.

    My immediate reaction to Jendrick’s White Paper was that he took away all that was good about Planning laws, and boosted all that was bad about them. The worst of all worlds. No wonder they are trying to keep it quiet!

    Let us consider reducing all planning application to three broad-brush categories, with no room for discretion or local knowledge or needs. Once bound into one of the three, there is no escape, and all three provisions are utterly and wretchedly useless except as a moneyspinner for the developers and speculators.

    The “Protection” category makes it impossible even to build a grannyflat or a cottage for a young family needed to work within an estate, or the butcher, baker or candlestick maker within a pretty village. It is a straitjacket and will guarantee that the nicest places will be full of retirement homes, or commuter homes with big cars, with nobody to service them.

    The “Renewal” category is closest to the system we already have evolved, since George Osborne foisted his planning reforms onto the councils a few years ago. A “Local Development Plan” is drawn up, with a set of rules that cannot then be interpreted locally, however inappropriate they are and however inconsistently they have been maladministered.

    I have my own experience with Malvern Hills District Council over how they applied rules concerning “the local vernacular” and “the street scene” (a horrible hip phrase that got into the Development Plan, thanks to those drawing it up being well qualified in media studies). When I suggested on appeal over my own house extension application that the nearest street (better described as a lane) is 200 yards away, and challenged them to define “the local vernacular” in my village, which has one of everything of every style from the last 1000 years, I was ignored. Clarification of “The Rules” was the only think they would consider. It is clearly not good enough. Another absurdity was over the conversion of a Dutch barn across the field to house the farmer’s son and his young family. The council insisted on cladding it in wooden weatherboard, when the true local vernacular far more in keeping with what it was and where it was, would be to clad it in corrugated bitumin sheeting.

    Meanwhile, in Great Malvern, which is a Conservation Area full of official protections for its famed Victorian architecture, they passed the demolition of the Victorian façade of the theatre complex in the town centre in order to replace it with a glass box. Clearly, they were advised that this was in keeping with the “street scene”, and unlike the turning area outside my cottage, Grange Road is a street.

    If this is indicative of the quality of decision-making we should expect, perhaps I should be forgiven for thinking Jendrick’s assurances to be utterly false.

    Finally, we come to the “Growth” category. This allows no recourse to anyone already living in such a blighted zone, nor to anyone moving in there, to mould the community architecture to their needs and desires, rather than the bottom line of the developers and their executive bonuses and backhanders to the corrupt authorities. It stinks.

    1. The whole thing stinks to me Jeremy. It looks like a licence to build whatever and wherever the Elites please!

      1. Morning Minty.

        Robert Jendrick is giving permission to planners to leapfrog local consultations , and allowing the continuation of acres of poor quality homes .

  20. Police dog finds missing mother and baby on first shift. 5 August 2020.

    Every new employee hopes to impress on their first day at work. This fella did it in style.

    Newly licensed police dog Max found a missing mother and toddler on his first ever operational shift.

    The canine sleuth tracked down the pair to a ravine edge in a remote part of Powys, central Wales, on Saturday.

    Cochrane making a success of his new career I’m pleased to see!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-dog-rescue-powys-search-missing-mother-child-powys-wales-a9655676.html

  21. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f6589ab81d700fbf68b23abf3a0811cae898beb56d167ff8f97d4bbd053313c4.png
    In a report in today’s DT, 1,000 Britons were asked which accents were the “most attractive”. One thousand arbitrary opinions is nowhere near sufficient to provide an objective response. Opinions, on matters such as this, will always be subjective.

    My own list of most attractive (from those 20 provided) would go something like this:

    1. Southern Irish.
    2. French.
    3. Italian.
    4. Yorkshire (natch!).
    5. Cornish.
    6. Australian.
    7. Edinburgh.
    8. Welsh.
    9. Kiwi.
    10. RP.
    11. Geordie.
    12. Scouse.
    13. Glasgow.
    14. London.
    15. American.
    16. Manchester.
    17. German.
    18. Spanish.
    19. Brummie.
    20. Essex.

    Whilst many people find Brummie ghastly, I find having to listen to the likes of Ray Winstone’s excruciating noise on TV adverts enough to make me want to chuck a brick through the screen!

      1. I loved the RP tones of Richard Baker and Kenneth Kendall. But not the cartoonishly strangulated versions of Malcolm Muggeridge and Brian Sewell.

          1. Religious or not, listen to his readings from the Bible. Gives you goosebumps!

          2. Now you’re talking, P-T. Probably the finest speaking voice there ever was in luvviedom!

        3. Another vote for Richard Baker, but my all time favourite was Robert Dougall – calm, authoritative, modest. It’s a pity that today’s crop of autocue readers seem to think that they are the main act.

          1. The BBC cornered the market in wonderfully clear voices in the 1950s and 1960s.

            As well as the newsreaders we have mentioned, they had all the best sports’ commentators voices in: Alan Weeks, Barry Davies, Peter O’Sullevan, Bill McLaren, Ritchie Benaud, John Arlott, Kenneth Wolstenholme, Eamonn Andrews, David Vine, David Coleman, Harry Carpenter, Hamilton Bland, Ron Pickering, Stuart Storey, Peter Alliss, Julian Wilson, Dan Maskell, John Snagge, Ted Lowe, Raymond Baxter, Jim Laker, Brian Johnston, Henry Longhurst and many many more who had distinction as well as clarity in their voices.

            Compare those to the anodyne, bland, anonymous and indistinct voices that we have foisted upon us these days by the same corporation.

          2. That list of commentators also had enorrmous knowledge of what they commentated on.

          4. Peter Alliss is still commentating golf. There might be one or two others on your list who are still active.

          5. “And it’s over to the ringside where your carpenter is Harry Commentator.” [Alleged Colemanballs]

            Most of them, alas, are no longer with us.

          6. You are quite right. These commentators were clear and informative, often with a sprinkling of gentle humour. More than that they dragged you into their sport until you not only felt that you understood it, but also that you could play it. Oh, how you would have liked to have met them in person, have a chat, and a drink, maybe.

          7. And they didn’t need to announce who they were. You knew each of them, individually, by the sound and timbre of their unique voices.

      1. Oi loves Glawstershire (and Zummerzet) but they didn’t appear on the list. If they had done they would have zoomed up to No 5.

        [PS Don’t tell “Legs” Dimond, my old police buddy. She’s from Wootton-under-Edge and has retained her dialect even after having left there over 40 years ago.]

    1. For a while he and I were at the same secondary school but not in the same clique!

    2. That wonderfully talented bass-player, George Ford (right of stage), was the brother of 1950s singer Emile Ford. He died in 2007.

      Ford also played bass with The Shadows in the 1980s and 1990s.

    4. 322146+ up ticks,
      Morning TB,
      Give credit where due johnson, priti & their cohorts speak
      superior bollocks.

  26. Beirut counts the human cost. 6 August 2020

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/812073c7c0a88d918b7f7b6b448569016d7fe415977cdae2443969eb0e39f5dc.jpg

    One Israeli bomb expert suggested fireworks could have been stored in one of the warehouses close to the ammonium nitrate.

    Explosives certification expert Boaz Hayoun said: ‘Before the big explosion … in the center of the fire, you can see sparks, you can hear sounds like popcorn and you can hear whistles. This is very specific behavior of fireworks.’

    Morning everyone. Well a look at the aerial photograph above puts paid to this idea, the only other warehouse in the vicinity is fifty yards away and there has so far been no evidence to suggest any fireworks were present either there or anywhere else. It smells more of distraction than a serious explanation.

    Looking at the footage there appears to have been the initial fire, which judging by the angle was at the end of the warehouse containing the ammonium nitrate, it was quite large and we are told being attended to by the port fire service which would seem to confirm it. There is then an explosion with the “sparks” you can see igniting inside it and then almost too quickly to be perceived a larger secondary explosion that engulfs the entire warehouse. Now to my mind this sequence is suspicious because it closely resembles the profile of a fuel/air device where a primary detonation takes place to spread the fuel (this can be pretty much anything; cocoa being suggested to me at one point) which is then ignited by a secondary detonator to devastating effect. Could this be an advanced version where multiple charges (the sparks) spreads the mixture uniformly for greater effect and then ignited to explode the rest? This is of course speculation on my part and would need an investigation on the ground to prove whether it is viable. Still the explosion itself which struck at the very core of Lebanon’s survival as a viable State is more than suspicious in itself .

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8598337/Beirut-counts-human-cost-300-000-people-left-homeless-50-buildings-damaged.html

    2. They can just say anything nowadays with a controlled MSM and no proper journalism there is nobody to question and scrutinise except for the little people on places like here and we get called tin foil hatters uneducated and ignorant.

    3. One of the videos I have seen shows minor explosions amongst black smoke that is characteristic of fireworks.
      I have read reports that a door on a warehouse in the port was being ‘fixed’ possibly by a welder.

      This report describes how the Russian shipped fertlizer destined for Mozambique ended up in the port.

      https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/08/05/europe/lebanon-russian-ship-blast-intl/index.html

      Now who makes fireworks and is seeking to expand their global presence?

      1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuN4xirvhHY

        One of the videos I have seen shows minor explosions amongst black smoke that is characteristic of fireworks.

        Morning Angie. Well the attached video would suggest differently and where did these “fireworks” come from? They are simply a suggestion, no one has furnished any proof that they actually exist! The thing about the “sparks” is how uniformly they are spread through the cloud, there is none of the bunching or smoke trails that one might expect from rockets etc. and gunpowder burns subsonically unlike high explosive.

        2. In Beirut, wouldn’t the second massive explosion have immediately consumed any other explosives?

          1. Morning Sos. Yes of course. The Ammonium Nitrate did not explode of itself but was consumed by the Fuel/Air mixture. If you read the article a CIA man points out that it was a military grade explosive. I thinks the “sparks” are submunitions spreading the Fuel, part of which may indeed have been Ammonium Nitrate. The chemistry is probably quite complicated!

          3. Morning Sos. Yes of course. The Ammonium Nitrate did not explode of itself but was consumed by the Fuel/Air mixture. If you read the article a CIA man points out that it was a military grade explosive. I thinks the “sparks” are submunitions spreading the Fuel, part of which may indeed have been Ammonium Nitrate. The chemistry is probably quite complicated!

  27. Send in your smelly socks to help sniffer dogs detect Covid-19
    People with mild coronavirus symptoms in the North West are being encouraged to participate in a trial which aims to see whether dogs can sniff out Covid-19.

    Testing has begun to see whether medical detection dogs can also be trained to smell the disease.

    Scientists are seeking “odour samples” from people in the region to see whether dogs can accurately pick up the scent of Covid-19, even in people who are asymptomatic.

    There could be huge implications if the dogs can successfully smell out Covid-19, not just in medical settings but in other sectors of society too, with researchers estimating the animals could potentially screen up to 250 people an hour.

    As part of the trial, led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in collaboration with the charity Medical Detection Dogs and Durham University, people in the North West – where there has been a recent rise in cases – are being asked to contribute.

    Patients who have mild Covid-19 symptoms and are due to have a swab test, or have had a swab test conducted in the previous 24 hours, are being recruited by researchers.

    The volunteers will provide samples of breath and body odour by wearing a mask for three hours, and nylon socks and a T-shirt for 12 hours.

    Researchers hope to collect 325 positive and 675 negative samples in order to be fully test the dogs for accuracy.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/coronavirus-news-covid-deaths-uk-school-pubs-aberdeen-lockdown/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1Zl1VxoIs9U-DiCzxtfA0mZ28W9s52Q_dUPAxK7YXsEvDnxnGYAjyRFow#Echobox=1596708355

  28. Another good article from Sherelle Jacobs

    Voters will turn on Boris Johnson if there is a second lockdown
    Sherelle Jacobs Daily Telegraph Columnist 6 August 2020 • 6:00am
    As second wave fears slowly reach a crescendo, the Summer 2020 soundtrack crackles of deja vu. But strain your ears, for the national mood music is changing. Yes, the mainstream remains nervous about coming out of hibernation. Still, have Britons just twigged something explosive? No 10 may have “done its best in a difficult situation” when the pandemic first hit, as Workington Man has tutted for months at hyper-critical London hacks. But received wisdom is starting to toy with the idea that avoiding both a second wave and a second lockdown is perfectly possible. If the idea sticks, opinion could rapidly turn against the Tories.
    This week something extraordinary happened. Amid the usual cacophany of hysteria there was a brief, beautiful moment when lockdown sceptics and second wave doomsters sang from the same hymn sheet. In particular, No 10’s political critics, the media and scientists proved themselves capable, albeit fleetingly, of communicating in unison two important things with which few lockdown sceptics would quibble. First, a sensible timetable for a possible second wave, which assumes that while the virus has, for now, subsided it may come back in winter. Second, that the Government can and should be held to account over its preparations for such a resurgence.
    Well, sort of. “Current testing and contact tracing is inadequate to prevent a second wave of coronavirus after schools in the UK reopen,” rattled the BBC’s lead story on Tuesday. So far so scare-mongering, particularly given the lack of evidence that children transmit the disease. But an interesting logic ran through the report: it referenced modelling from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) suggesting that if Covid returns this winter, track and trace could prevent both a surge and the need for “intermittent lockdown measures” when schools reopen.
    Recognition is growing then that the race is on to avoid a second lockdown as well as a second wave (or as some of us prefer to describe it, the seasonal return of an endemic coronavirus), and that both are possible if only ministers get their act together. In recent days, one of the WHO’s top “disease detectives”, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, urged countries not to reimpose this “blunt, sheer force instrument”. And on Tuesday, none other than Tony Blair called for mass testing to avoid another lockdown, claiming that, in the absence of a vaccine, it is the only thing that “gets you to a place where you can more or less get your economy moving whilst containing the disease”.
    Still, if people suspect that the second wave is already here, how can ministers be blamed for failing to prepare? So it’s probably a coincidence that Downing Street continues to circulate potentially misleading data suggesting that Covid is surging in the community; in fact, as Oxford University pointed out this week, when case figures are adjusted for changes in testing over time, community infection looks to be flatlining, as hospital cases fall.
    Heaven forbid that the state’s “experts” might call out such distortions. Instead, Sage scientists have proved No 10’s useful idiots, whipping up second wave frenzy as they lobby for “realistic” policies in the media. Take Sage stalwart and LSHTM Professor Graham Medley’s claim that pubs may have to shut as a “trade off” so schools can reopen; a curious message to peddle given that his own university’s latest schools modelling suggests a proper track and trace system could prevent the need for such a choice. But here we have perhaps hit on an interesting split between scientists close to No 10 and those more purely embedded in academia. The former, who are captive to the system, have a habit of dishing out advice that seemingly adapts to rather than confronts the Government’s failings.
    The broadcast media is, naturally, more than willing to point out No 10’s deficiencies. Trouble is it is constantly distracted by the temptations of second wave scaremongering. And so it goes that this week, one German doctor’s heavily caveated remarks about a “shallow second upswing” that is not comparable to the force of the first triggered a viral story that Germany could already be in the jaws a second wave. It was somehow lost in translation that this country of 83 million people had 12 recorded Covid-related deaths yesterday.
    Nor has the Sir Keir Starmer quite got the memo that a second lockdown spells disaster for the Tories in the Red Wall. His warning yesterday that “if the Government doesn’t use this summer wisely… Britain faces a long and bleak winter” groped at rather than grasped the crucial point. As Northern councils threatened by local lockdowns launch their own bottom-up track and trace operations in despair at No 10’s overcentralised approach, that noble centralising socialist institution, the Labour Party, has a strange opportunity: hammer home how it would decentralise track and trace to avert nationwide shutdown.
    And so in the fog of panic, there is a glimmer of light. Or, if you are the PM, a glint of menace. For if a summer narrative sets in that No 10 has the power to prevent a second lockdown and then it fails to do so, the price is simple: Boris Johnson will not win another election.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/08/06/voters-will-turn-boris-johnson-second-lockdown/

    1. “…. For if a summer narrative sets in that No 10 has the power to prevent a second lockdown and then it fails to do so, the price is simple: Boris Johnson will not win another election.”

      He has already lost it and neither Labour nor the Lib/Dems offer a viable alternative.

      Now is surely the time to ‘break the mould’ but in a way that Woy Jenkins, Surely Williams, Lodger Rodger and Dr Owen failed to do when they set up the SDP?

      A completely new, genuinely right of centre party is desperately needed without further delay.

      1. Rastus, you are as they say preaching to the converted but unfortunately the electorate blindly follow tribal voting patterns.
        There has never been more of a need for a political party which puts the UK back on track.

        1. So where is it? Who will lead? What experienced politicians are members? What are the policies? What’s the plan to get elected?
          Sigh…

          1. I don’t know the answers to your questions, I just know that when a GE happens and an alternative party e.g. UKIP or TBP are on the ballot paper, voters choose to vote for the parties that have brought this country to the state we find ourselves in.
            Sigh indeed….

          2. Problem was (one problem, anyway), neither UKIP not BP showed even the tiniest level of ability to run themselves, let alone a country, and the voters saw that.
            I know that looks like I’m tarring all those Nottlers who worked hard for the party, but overall, that’s how I saw it from a distance.
            I started to help with UKIP, but very quickly saw it to be uncontrolled and unco-ordinated, so dropped out. It’s a failure of leadership; the workers weer doing their best, but if the leadership is at war with itself, then the result will be bad – as we saw. It seemed more important to fight for a leadership position than become the new government, and I can’t be doing with that.

          3. Yes UKIP seems to have a self destruct button that the NEC and others keep pressing. TBP was really a one man show with some able candidates and he conceded too much to Johnson before the last GE, but even where they stood they could not make a dent. Depressing situation because the way things are going, Starmer could be next in No10!

          4. I think experienced politicians are the last people we need – they have been in charge so far and look where that’s got us! Time to go for people who have business and military experience in my view.

          5. But they need to demonstrate organisational competence and some leadership ability. Those clowns, Farage, Batten and the others, demonstrated total lack of these, their parties fell apart, and there’s no proper opposition.

          6. I didn’t mention anything about UKIP – there are other businessmen and women and military people, you know.

      2. Hmm. I’d argue that no, it isn’t. However what there should be is a removal of universal franchise. Why should some people be allowed to vote? They simply vote for other people to give them more of other people’s money.

        If people could only vote once they have passed simple but specific tests and are net tax payers the vast majority of ignorant, tax hiking, Left wingers would be refused the franchise and the rest of us wouldn’t have to deal with them holding us back.

        Really what we need is the Swiss system. As soon as the politicians starts to disobey we can remove them. That keeps the state small – most MPs have a real job as politics is fleeting and servile rather than a cushy sinecure and there’s no feather bedding in the public sector because if Mps cannot enforce their own pathetic corruption the state is made to efficient. We could try it. It’s a small thing called democracy.

  30. SIR — Dr Julian Lewis MP (Letters, August 3) writes that the people responsible for dropping the atom bomb on Hiroshima were not those who ended the Second World War but those who chose to begin it. Not so.

    While Japan was wrong to start a war against the United States, America was wrong to seek to end it by intentionally killing thousands of innocent civilians. A laudable end does not justify immoral means.

    Professor John Keown
    Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, Washington DC, United States.

    Where to begin with this one? If Prof Keown is not a wet, hand-wringing, bleeding-heart liberal pacifist, then I’ve never seen one.

    It seems that he would rather have prolonged the unimaginable suffering of thousands of prisoners of war, and have many more hundreds of thousands of civilians and military wiped out than effect a quick end to those ongoing atrocities.

    However, to name an institute of ethics after a compulsive — and very public — serial philanderer is dark humour at its very worst.

    2. ‘Morning, Grizz. What a pious little letter from Prof Keown. How would he have ended the war and saved thousands of lives at the same time? Answer came there none.

      3. ‘Morning, Hugh.

        Yes, and he is not alone. There are millions more intellectually-challenged Lefties out there just like him.

    3. The whole damned war was an immoral means. The sooner it was over, the better. Preferably by Christmas. The point you were making, I believe.

      1. I think the “It’ll be over by Christmas” saying came about in the Great War of 1914–1918.

  31. 322146+ up ticks,
    May one ask did the peoples not know what these parties where like after having a four decade trailer leading to the main feature
    “Full blown decadence ” showing NOW.

    That is not moles in the cemetery disturbing the soil that is dead forces
    personnel spinning in utter belief as to, and asking WHY, did we die for
    protecting the future & democracy.

    A current ( last three decades say ) vote for lab/lib/con can reveal your true nature even if it is only to yourself.

  32. Good Morning, Everyone.

    I’m afraid that this morning, our communiqué has had no input from the Secretary for Health and Social Services. Sadly, Mattie’s knowledge of food hygiene proved to be rather vestigial, and his sausage sandwich had been left out for too long in a warm muggy kitchen.

    However, the good news is that Dilyn has nobly stepped into the breach and, in recognition of our commitment to open and inclusive government, has contributed policies that reflect his valuable perspective in our fight against this terrible virus that kills 000.03% of fat 87 year olds.

    1. All cats will be put under house arrest until we develop a vaccine. Except on Saturdays, when tabbies will allowed out to provide exercise for hyper-active Jack Russells. This relaxation of the rules only applies to wire coated Jack Russells; any smooth coated versions will be arrested by dog wardens. Those smooth b’stards sunning themselves will be castrated or spayed; treatment will depend on how the lawbreakers identify themselves on the day of their arrest.

    2. As from September, all schools will be relocated to a local public house within their catchment area. This will both help Rishi’s drive to regenerate the economy and ensure that teachers are in the same building as their pupils. Teachers who agree to supervise dinner times will be given a £10 voucher to offset the cost of their meal.

    3. Several members of the public have raised the subject of grapefruit marmalade. The Chief Medical Officer has enjoyed reminding those on statins that they should not get pleasure from their food.

    4. From 12th. August, all pensioners in gaol for not paying their telly tax will be given something to grouse about … um … there will be grouse on the menu. Vegan pensioners will be fed to those prisoners who object to blood sports.

    5. We must not forget our friends within the 40 – 55 age group. As from Monday, 10th. August, they must adhere to the following rules; those with teenage children can only visit their local beach if they live within 5 miles of Great Yarmouth. On alternate Fridays and Sundays, the parents will be allowed unsupervised visits to the following beaches; Saundersfoot, Southwold, and Skegness. During the week commencing 17th. August, resorts beginning with the letter ‘T’ may also be visited, but on Wednesdays only. All parents within the above age group with a BMI above 24.9 with be barred from the fish and chip shops and ice cream stalls. I have already agreed with the Police Constables in these areas that their first priority will be to enforce these very necessary regulations in the UK’s fight against this dreadful pandemic.

    Keep Safe. Keep Scared. Keep Snitching.

    1. Watch out for millionaires’ widows wanting to share their late husbands’ millions with you in exchange for your bank details, Maggie.

      1. I had one yesterday with the same name as my ex-brother-in-law who died of cancer, aged 42. This fellow claims to be a lawyer (and you can always trust a lawyer!) who says that a close relative with the same surname died intestate.

        Well, the last two I know of, one of whom was an uncle, whose funeral was well attended by all his children, grandchildren and two nephews, and the other, a cousin, died of cancer aged 42

        What is it about 42 and death? Isn’t the number supposed to be the meaning of everything?

  34. 322146+ up ticks,
    I am really beginning to believe that this indigenous race replacement program is being run by a highly secret ultra ersatz conservatives extremist group namely priti, bojo & the political coffin fillers, their main aim is to bury the indigenous peoples troubles, along with the torso.
    How true is it that priti has a bullhorn down at Dover shouting bullsh!te like
    “Dover calling”

  35. Voters will turn on Boris Johnson if there is a second lockdown

    Britons have overwhelmingly backed No 10’s strategy. But finally the national mood music is shifting

    SHERELLE JACOBS – DAILY TELEGRAPH COLUMNIST – 6 August 2020 • 6:00am

    Blah, blah, blah.

    BTL:

    Carpe Jugulum
    6 Aug 2020 6:56AM
    I voted for Boris and supported his initial epidemic response. Unfortunately he was blown off course by a hysterical and scientifically illiterate media, desperate for sensation and addicted to doom mongering headlines.

    SARS-cov-2 is not Disease X, not even close. Despite that we have been pushed into a Disease X dystopia simply because China went down the lockdown route, which was entirely correct.

    China knew little about the disease and acted according to the precautionary principle. Stringent lockdowns should have ended once we realised the case fatality rate was <1% and the disease was readily identifiable.

    But no, those towering medical intellects Piers Morgan and Rory Stewart decided lockdown was the way forward and a hysterical media followed. At this point the rational people quietly removed SARS2 from the government list of 'High Consequence Infectious Diseases' having enough evidence to realise it was an entirely mediocre virus.

    Yet still the media was telling people it was viral armageddon. Boris caved in and the rest is a debacle.

    20,000 cancer patients doomed to pointless deaths courtesy of lockdown delayed diagnoses and treatments. Possibly up to 200,000 resultant from lockdown.

    The educations of millions of children and students irreparably damaged.

    4billion days of liberty stolen from the UK public.

    The national debt at record levels and the economy trashed.

    Millions of livelihoods destroyed and civil liberties torn up.

    And for what? A few thousand life years of the sick and elderly 'saved'. A population that alone should have been isolated.

    Well done Boris. Well done Piers and Rory.

    Stuart Morgan
    6 Aug 2020 6:59AM
    @Carpe Jugulum

    You cannot lead if you are pushed around by MSM, woke pressure groups, opinion polls, focus group and don't have the intellectual rigour to ask awkward questions of your advisors.

    Cynthia Taylor
    6 Aug 2020 6:39AM
    If Boris loses the next election it won't just be because of Covid. It will be because the conservative people who voted for him have realised that he's liberal, as are the majority of Conservative politicians.

    He will not tackle illegal immigration, make the police do their jobs or force teachers back to work. He may not even deliver the clean break Brexit most expect. It took him far too long to abandon Huawei and he's still proceeding with the unpopular HS2.

    He is not fulfilling the hopes and expectations of those who out him in office.

    1. Yo Rik

      Shirley, it is courts who send in the Bailiffs not the Bent Bvggers Corporation

    1. I find these state responses rather depressing. There was a link this week about the police responding to adverse tweets about our incomers staying in luxury hotels. Meanwhile, my complaint about the racist pronouncements of Dr Gopal of Cambridge University has remained unanswered save an acknowledgement of its receipt.

        1. South Africa.. near Nelspruit.. edge of the Kruger park.

          My younger sister and her husband have sold their house near Sandton , Joburg, and moved further away . Other sister lives nr Cape Town .

          Each to their own , but those bungalows look lovely , retirement village .

        1. Her bungalow is one of the larger ones and has a spacious wrap around garden . The house she and her husband left behind had tennis court , swimming pool sitting in nearly an acre , but they are getting older now , and a residential village suits their needs.

    2. I can certainly vouch for Mansfield (and nearby Sutton-in-Ashfield) as being shitholes. Mansfield appears in The Book of Crap Towns, a fact which I would gleefully repeat to a few chums who come from there. It is an irredeemably depressing place.

      Farther afield I once visited Avonmouth and Weston-Super-Nightmare and couldn’t get away quickly enough. Awful places.

      1. Yo Mr Grizzle

        Fact 1 The RN had the Rothesay Class of Frigates. all named after Coastal Town, see link 1 below

        Fact 2. A philanthropist, Agnes Weston opened ‘Sailor’s Rests’ to give comfort (No: not that sort) to matelots

        The rests becam eknown as “Aggie” Westons

        If the RN named a ship after the Somerset town you mention, it would have been known as

        HMS Aggie on Horseback

        Link 1

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothesay-class_frigate

        Link 2

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Weston

        1. Yo, Mr Effort.

          As a naval-type chappie, I was wondering if you could help me, a mere landlubber, to identify the various types of warship by sight.

          What I mean is, if I saw a large Royal Navy ship steaming (or fissioning) past me; how would I be able to tell, on sight, whether it was a battleship, a cruiser, a destroyer or a frigate, since they all look the same to me?

          1. Yo Grizz

            Here is a starter

            if you can see the ‘pennant number’ the one painted on its Hull.

            From you will be able to identify from list in the link below,.or just Google its’ side number

            (F69 was HMS Bacchante, always called the Bag Shanty}

            Even if you are nearly out of ink and paper, do not worry, the list is very short

            You willnotice HMS Victory is still on the ‘active list’

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_Royal_Navy_ships

          3. You don’t need to worry about battleships, long gone. There hasn’t been one commissioned since 1946. That being HMS vanguard – decommissioned in 1960. Then there were the USN’s Iowa class, four ships. Commissioned just before Vanguard, they were finally retired in the 1990s.

            As for the cruiser, destroyer or frigate categories its partly a matter of size. Cruiser > destroyer > frigate. But without context/comparison that doesnt mean much since they don’t actually look that different.

            A lot of the time it seems to be naval types trying to work out if this 2020 ship is somehow fulfilling the role of some archaic class and thus is, somehow, the same thing. So we have frigates which were sailing ships. Sloops in WW2 which looked like small destroyers. Cruisers today don’t seem to be anything like cruisers of WW1/WW2. Corvettes which looked like big gunboats etc.

            Its all a big mess and other than looking at size and that only helps when they’re close together I don’t think there is any easy answer to your question.

          5. Then there’s people carriers which look like aircraft carriers.

            Clue.. commissioned by Gordon Brown, close friend of migration specialist George Soros.

    3. When you arrive in Rugby, you know you’ve arrived in Middle England simply by the fact there are 6 Polish supermarkets.

      1. In the days when one could travel freely without the risk of contracting the Plague, I was returning from racing on the train, having changed at Crewe Junction. There were a load of Crewe (or ex-Crewe) lads in the crowded compartment. One of them claimed, “I got out of Crewe before I became Polish” 🙂

  40. Almost no-one would design the current House of Lords, so how best to reform it?

    Tumbrills!!

    1. 322146+ up ticks,
      Afternoon OLT,
      First drill holes in the outer wall, insert black powder,then the blue touch paper length depends on the nearest
      bus stop, bus in sight, light.

    2. Restore it to how it was before George Soros’ best friend, Tony Blair, destroyed it to make it easier for George Soros legislation to pass into law.

      Restore the former hereditary peerage… and abolish all the life peers, and abolish all George Soros legislation.

      2. Restore it to pre-Lloyd-George.

        The chap whom my father didn’t know was one of the first first to manipulate the HoL’s composition.

    1. Can someone explain to me please – without resorting to piss-take – specifically what the connection is between schools and pubs in the context of spreading a virus?

        1. Repeating the expression “trade off”, like a demented parrot on steroids, doesn’t answer Sue’s question.

          2. Fair enough, but the article doesn’t explain the connection between schools & pubs.

          3. I think the idiot was of the opinion that relaxing some restrictions must mean tightening others in what he appears to regard as a ‘zero-sum’ game (if you’ll excuse the expression). This is from reports in the Daily Mail and the Guardian.

            When asked about the chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty’s prediction that the country was ‘near the limits’ of opening up society, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine academic told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

            ‘I think that’s quite possible. I think we’re in a situation whereby most people think that opening schools is a priority for the health and wellbeing of children and that when we do that we are going to reconnect lots of households. And so actually, closing some of the other networks, some of the other activities may well be required to enable us to open schools. It might come down to a question of which do you trade off against each other and then that’s a matter of prioritising, do we think pubs are more important than schools?’

            See also the references to ‘extreme rightwing groups’:
            https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/01/pubs-england-close-control-coronavirus-adviser-graham-medley
            https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8582925/SAGE-expert-warns-interventions-needed-schools-open-month.html

      2. How about the powers believe that both school and pub are likely contagion points and they can only handle one.

        The piss take is why they picked the two activities most likely to upset an Englishman or woman or inbetweenie.

      3. I too am puzzled, Sue but suspect that both venues are seen as necessarily involving close contact with increased chance of transmission. Should that cause ‘R’ in a given area to increase to over 1.0 it would be Panic Stations and everyone is going to die.

        HMG is more worried about their own crappy statistics and how yer meeejah are going to fuel panic by tortured misinterpretation than reality.

      4. I think that both the chappie above, and Matt in today’s DT cartoon, are alluding to the fact that many teachers are spending their time off (from teaching duties) in pubs instead of being in class teaching.

        1. That I accept, Grizz! However, the government seem to be making purely random choices.

          1. I have never been able to second-guess governments, Sue, but this one seems to have mislaid the handbook on common sense.

  42. DT Story https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/05/trusted-friend-murdered-raped-childhood-companion-birthday-night/

    Trusted friend raped and murdered childhood companion after her birthday night out
    Wesley Streete repeatedly returned to murder scene to cover Keeley Bunker’s body with branches to try and hide his crime

    The article does not give a physical description of Mr Streete but at least, for those who have any doubts about his ethnicity, a photo of him appears.

    2. I wonder how many more victims there will have to be for people to wake up and vote beyond Lib/Lab/Con coalition. We need a strong right wing party.

  43. 322146+ up ticks,
    Professor Gabriel Scally from the Royal Society of Medicine had remarked in mid-April how the United Kingdom represented an “outlier” in a world where every other country was imposing border restrictions. He said it was “very hard to understand why it persists in having this open borders policy. It is most peculiar.”
    Not when you have a multitude supporting mass uncontrolled immigration
    parties it is like smoking Gabby, you know it is killing you but it is hard to quit.

    The key to much of it politically is to be found in a well padded brown envelope.

      1. It is not a matter of law. It is a matter of official approval. Illegal immigrants, economic migrants, invaders and so on are officially approved. No Government has yet had the courage to say so straight out. Publicising the activities of the State in importing illegal immigrants is not approved. It could be that the actions of the State are illegal, as the illegal immigrants are not in danger, so the maritime rules may not apply. The filming and recordings of these activities may well demonstrate the illegality of the actions of Border Force and the RLNI.

      2. Probably illegal to film the police .

        I had a real old bollocking when Weymouth and Portland hosted the 2012 Sailing Olympics .. This part of Dorset was teaming with Robocops .. we had never seen anything like that before , guns and body armour the lot, so I tried to take some photos of them and my arm was brushed to one side and I was yelled at ,” Put that camera away”… it was horrible , probably similar to being in the middle of London, I don’t know, but the police then were very hard and militia like ! (not like dancing Dorset police)

          1. There have many incidents of police bullying since Covid started, e.g. the police bitch who told a family off because the kids were playing football in their own front garden. She was reprimanded, I believe. They just try it on.

    2. I tried to post this link under the Clare Foges’ article in The Times about a proper debate on immigration – deleted by the moderators within seconds.

    3. The state has decided that immigrants that make it here will be welcomed. They are put above the law and reporting the happenings will get you arrested, there is little the rest of us can do about it. Remember TR, they have the template. Write to my MP, I would be better off slapping myself with a wet Haddock.

      1. 322146+up ticks,
        Afternoon Kp
        The big mistake continuing to be made is still peoples writing to their MPs it only encourages them and in reality they should be in no position
        to be receiving mail while incarcerated awaiting trial for treason.

      2. I wonder if Captain Haddock and his first mate the MSM reporter, Tintin, are in charge of the naval vessels helping the illegals into Britain?

        What is sure is that the incompetent detectives, Thompson and Thomson, have been seconded to the British Border Farce and put in charge of the enquiry.

    1. Good afternoon, Horace.

      Okay, I won’t think about it…..

      It will be helpful if you [and the rest of TPTB, MSM
      and SM …as they do!!] desist from bringing it to
      my attention!! :-))

      1. So I won’t post “Eve of Destruction”, then?
        If you look at the maps and thing, it looks like we will only get a good night’s sleep in the Southern Hemisphere…

  48. Good morning chaps! As Mrs T once said”one has become a grandmother!” Our younger daughter gave birth to twins by section at about 3.15 this morning! Two glorious little boys, at exactly 33 weeks and they are both doing really well, breathing by themselves and eating like little horses! They are in the neo-natal ward so getting excellent care and our daughter is very tired but fine! Daddy is ecstatic! When I left her at about 6.30 last evening they thought it might be a couple of days! Anyway just thought I’d share the amazing news with fellow-Nottlers!

          2. It depends on which side the red light is on to determine your next course of action…

    3. Congratulations Sue

      So pleased for you, especially after such an arduous time for your daughter , So glad that all is well , lovely that you will have a pair of grandsons to cluck over and enjoy .

    4. Well done to all concerned.

      Being a grandparent is brilliant fun. All the pleasure, none of the pain!

    11. Make the most of every opportunity.

      Congratulations to the parents, they won’t know what’s hit them!

      1. Thank you Plum! Our elder daughter is due her second in October so it’s a fantastic time!

    19. That’s wonderful, Grandma Sue. Our favourite secret upvoter has now got little uns to dandle on her knees. Cheers. 🥂🐻

    22. Two rays of sunshine. Congratulations all round.

      Tell her to call one Phizzee. 🙂

    23. Congrats to you and your daughter, Sue. If you don’t live far away your next task will be baby-sitting!

    26. Lovely news to hear! Congratulations and to the proud mum and dad. You will be walking on clouds for the rest of the month!

    29. Huh – two more birthdays on the calendar!

      Just joking, Sue – congrats and enjoy!

  49. The folly of Iraq. Spiked. 6 August 2020.

    There are no easy answers in war. The premise of the war – Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction – was wrong. The attempt to link Iraq with 9/11 was a desperate lie. An elite US marine, Rudy Reyes, recounts the many civilian deaths that occurred. When US soldiers put up a sign in Arabic telling all cars to turn back, they didn’t reckon with the fact that not many people could read. They killed everyone who went past the sign.

    ‘Grandpas, mothers, kids.’ He is asked if it was worth it. ‘Yes’, he says, his words contradicting his body language. And then, ‘It has to be worth it… What’s the alternative?’ Later we see him drinking alone in a bar. His eyes are glazed. Sometimes a man has to do what it takes to forget.

    The Muzzies are probably going to take their revenge for this bloody and unnecessary war when they take over the UK and one has to say why not? The irony is that it will almost be a repeat of what happened in Iraq where the ordinary people suffer for something that was not their fault. This was a war created and waged by the Elites. The worst of it is that those most responsible, Blair, Straw and Campbell along with their lackeys in Parliament will almost certainly get away with it.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/08/06/the-folly-of-iraq/

    1. This implies a muddled purpose to war. The intent is to defeat the enemy.

      Do we believe we ‘defeated’ Iraq or Afghanistan? Of couurse we didn’t. This is because the West obeys rules, rules that don’t really apply in war.

      The only rational choice was the irrational: obliteration, absolute destruction without cause or effect. Show the enemy we are willing to kill them without mercy or remorse. Crush the enemy’s will to fight.

      1. “This implies a muddled purpose to war. The intent is to defeat the enemy.” – I would disagree, sometimes.
        Other intents are available:
        To distract the population from governmental cock-ups or corruption, to get them on-side
        To allow funnelling of colossal sums of money from the State to the military-industrial complex, allowing your friends (and thus yourself) to become unbelievably rich

    3. I do agree that it was a bloody and unnecessary war based on false intelligence. But I have never understood why, if there were no WMDs in Iraq, Saddam Hussein refused to allow inspectors.

      As for “The attempt to link Iraq with 9/11 was a desperate lie.”, I met the US Ambassador in Baghdad (April Glaspie). I asked her what her impression was of Saddam. She said that she had never met him but had presented her credentials to a deputy. This is what happens when the naive Americans put a single woman, accompanied by her mother, into a place like Iraq to deal with someone like Saddam! Only the toughest b**tard would gain his immediate respect! However, she was a brilliant Arabist and did subsequently have fateful meetings with the President.

      A transcript of one such meeting includes this remark by Saddam: “If you use pressure, we will deploy pressure and force. We know that you can harm us although we do not threaten you. But we too can harm you. Everyone can cause harm according to their ability and their size. We cannot come all the way to you in the United States, but individual Arabs may reach you.”. I have often wondered if Saddam knew something about plans for 9/11.

      1. The ‘existence’ of WMDs was a bluff on Sadam’s part. He wanted the West to believe that he had them. Letting the inspectors in to discover they didn’t exist would have spilt his game.

        2. Or maybe just pride. Maybe Saddam Hussein did not like being pushed around by foreigners, the self-entitled “big boys”. How would we react to a Russian demand to inspect our military bases?

  50. Slightly off topic.

    NHS, envy of the world you say?

    We knew our current GP was leaving the town and that the practice was finding it difficult to get a replacement and that the other doctors were already very over-subscribed.

    This was confirmed as definite on Monday afternoon. The receptionist gave us a couple of possibilities where there might be space on a GP’s list. We phoned the potential new medical centre on Monday when we got home, on the off-chance we could get wheels moving. We thought it was going to take quite a while. We were offered a choice of appointments on Wednesday or Thursday!

    We were seen in turn, full medical history taken and discussed any problems. This was followed by a swift medical examination and a couple of prescriptions were issued, one being for an injection that I needed.

    Our medical records were then transferred to the new surgery while we were finishing.
    As to the needed jab:

    “Just get the vaccine, come back to the surgery when you have it and I’ll fit you in between patients”.

    This I did, was in and out without any probems within minutes of arriving in the waiting area.

    When I think how much trouble we had in the UK when similar happened and how long it took to sort out, and that was 30 years ago, I gather it’s worse now.

    A real bonus is that the Doctor also speaks fluent English.

    1. Not quite such a good state over here.

      My wife tried phoning our doctor yesterday to be told that he is on holiday, a locum could call her today.
      So we traipsed off to the local A&E to get her seen.
      No visitors, patients only and nowhere for the driver/partner to wait.
      It took close to four hours until she saw a doctor during that time she was in the les than crowded waiting room with only cleaners to watch as they incessantly scrubbed the building.

      It’s free at point of service and no issues with the quality of service received but I just cannot stand the sheer inhumanity of expecting people to sit in isolation when what they really need is a partner to talk to and take their mind off possible problems.

      1. I’m not an expert on the system by any means, I can only speak as a user.
        Everyone appears to pay here, but gets reimbursed via a carte vitale which shows healthcare “rights”.

        Some treatments can cost a bit more than the standard amount allowed by the Government and people buy top-up insurance to cover it or pay themselves. I don’t know if it’s means tested.

        We get our CV as part of an agreement where the NHS is recharged; we hope it will remain post-Brexit.
        Emergencies seem to be “free” for non French system people, but non-emergency gets charged, before treatment.

    2. It is worse here. My practice expanded from 12,000 patients to 23,000 patients. You couldn’t get an appointment within a month at the earliest.

      I had had an operation and was supposed to make an appointment with my GP in late November. I was told by Eva Braun on reception that the appointments book was closed until the New Year.

      When i had my next check up with the consultant i told him that i was unable to see my GP. This was over a three month period. He looked a little shocked but didn’t say anything.

      I have completely given up with NHS GP’s and go private now. This was all pre-covid.

      I heard that you could get an appointment with NHS GP if you paid the whores.

      1. Wow 23,000 patients to one GP.there are around 25,)

        People in our area and 25 GPs plus several nurse practitioners and many auxiliary services

        We are also free at point of service (if you can prove that you are an Ontario resident).

        1. I didn’t make myself clear, sorry.

          It is a practice that had 5 GP’s. One left and the others reduced their face to face. Possibly because of the mountains of paperwork.

      2. We have found that a week is about the most we’ve waited for a non-urgent visit, eg my wife’s regular check-ups; usually it’s a couple of days and sometimes they can see you the same day.

        I doubt that they would just increase the lists like that. It was why we had to find a new Doctor. It was our receptionist, who has a reputation of being very fierce, but we’ve found excellent, who recommended the new one as a possible.

        She did it while we waited after we asked what was happening about our then man.

        1. We have had ‘consolidation’ after closures. Of course the Practice’s would all work perfectly if there were no patients.

    3. Good afternoon, Sos.

      ‘NHS, envy of the world you say?’

      No, I don’t!
      In the late eighties I was in yer France,
      holidaying in a rural area, with friends.
      One day we visited Poitier market and Cathedral;
      two of us wandered off to further explore when he
      suffered what appeared to be a heart attack……….
      the pedestrians and shopkeepers went into ‘overdrive’
      an ambulance arrived, he [and I] were rushed to Hospital
      where he received first class treatment and diagnosis…….
      before anyone asked us for proof of our ability to pay for
      any required treatment. Everything worked out satisfactorily;
      it was at this time I started to question the capabilities of
      ‘The Envy Of The World’! and I continue, to this day, to
      doubt it……A ‘cash cow’ if ever there was one!

      1. Good afternoon, Garlands.

        I noticed a vast improvement when I moved here from the UK. I can get an immediate consultation with my GP and I can see specialists in very short time — even as a foreigner. When I was referred to an eye clinic after cataracts were suspected by my optician, I got an appointment within three weeks and I was operated on THE SAME DAY that the cataracts were diagnosed.

        I pay around £20, per visit, to any medical appointment subject to a maximum of £110 in any annual period (five and a half visits on average); all other appointments are then free of charge for the rest of the year.

        As for prescription drugs, I get three month’s worth each visit instead of the risible one month’s supply I used to get in the UK.

        1. Good afternoon, Grizzly.

          Things have not been the same here since our
          [husband and wife] doctors retired, both Indians.
          To my shame I asked her ” Are you going home for retirement?”
          ” Going home?” she replied, ” We are home!”
          They continue to live/participate in the village.

          2. Don’t feel too bad. Whenever older expats meet, “Are you going home or staying for the duration?” is one of the commonest questions to come up. They’ve probably been asked the same question loads of times by other Indians.

        2. When care is free at the point of delivery usage occurs until marginal utility reaches zero. Put in a modest price mechanism and watch demand for health care reduce radically.

        3. The sister who lives in CAPE TOWN was telling me that she had a thorough health check and all the tests and examinations , skin etc and mammogram the other day , no fuss, all results etc the same day .. I know she pays insurance , but she isn’t regarded as a number in a particular age group . There seem to be so many more doctors and surgeons and experts on on all sorts of things in South Africa.

      2. From Google:
        Cash cow
        nounINFORMAL
        a business, investment, or product that provides a steady income or profit.

        I don’t think that describes the NHS, which swallows money in huge gulps, rather than generating a profit..

      3. I so agree with you Garlands , 200%.

        Even more so now .

        Early last week I had to speak to the GP ..pain in my right loin, thought it was kidney stuff.. Doctor asked for sample , which I provided . Heard nothing re result , so rang up the surgery , (still have a pain in my kidney )and they said my specimen was normal, no further action needed. I was rather perplexed , and said I still have a pain , was told if you want to speak to a doctor , you need to make an appointment next week .

        How stoic do we all have to be , do we just grit our teeth and get on with things?

        1. It is not good enough. What’s the point of modern medicine existing in the country if nobody can get access to it, because they are paying through the nose for a World Health Service?

      4. Still the case here for such an emergency, as far as I’m aware.
        The healthcare reciprocal arrangements will cover treatments, whether it will continue after Brexit is still not totally decided as far as I know.

        1. I seem to recall that the EC11 health card was to continue to be recognised in France after Brexit, but there has been so much back-&-forth, I’ve probably lost the plot. There again, it would take only one little tantrum, e.g. over fishing, from Toyboy…

          1. If it is, it will have to be reciprocal.
            Macron blows hot and cold over various rights, but so far the general flow has been to wish to keep the resident Brits on board, and they are aware of how badly the tourist industry will be hit if they lash out at visitors. The new resident status card has been put back and put back, so we’re still a little in limbo.
            Rastus Harry or Hardcastle might have a better idea.

            “Definitifs” like us get different treatment from second home owners who choose UK tax residence. We’re asset rich income poor (relatively) so being tax resident has some advantages for us, we can have a much much higher standard of living here than ever we could in the UK.

            This region would be devastated economically if they caused all the British to leave and killed the golden goose of tourism with it.

          2. I thought I’d read on a government site that the EHIC card was no longer valid post Brexit (but as we haven’t actually left yet that is at least until NYE this year) and we should get travel insurance. Nobody in their right mind, in my view, travels without travel insurance.

      5. We have lived in France for over thirty years. We very soon learnt that the French health system is infinitely better than the NHS.

        This may have something to do with the fact that the French system was set up by a Conservative government led by Charles de Gaulle while the NHS was set up by a Labour government under Clement Attlee.

        1. The main function of the NHS appears to be a mechanism to funnel 3rd world people into the UK. Something we have been constantly reminded of over the last few months.

          It’s a shame Max isn’t here as he would be able to explain how that was both untrue and also a very desirable thing all at the same time!

      1. It was, but the later jab was covered.
        Apart from emergencies everyone pays up front.

        The fee is eventually refunded to my bank account.

    5. Sunday – make appointment with GP for Monday morning. Appt. made online via practice website
      Monday – Consultation with GP. Collect prescription for blood test.
      Monday – visit blood lab on way home to make appointment. They can fit me in there and then.
      Tuesday – results of blood test arrive by email, 4 A4 sides of test results for this, that and the other with an indication of high/low tolerance figures for each test. Also with a column of comparison results from the previous blood test 12 months before.

      A copy of the blood test is sent to the GP for his records. A terrific service.

      1. I’ve had the same experience on the blood test side. My test was Saturday morning, results available Saturday afternoon.

        I’m not sure what if any arrangements will be available via any practice website.

        I think part of the French system is that they appear to try to stop long backlogs building up; in the UK there always appears to be a log-jam in the way.

  51. Government to relax planning laws in rural areas to allow for more affordable housing.

    Note – affordable in this context means not for poor white people.

    We all know what this is really about don’t we? Having cleansed many of our major cities of white British people the attention moves to the areas they fled to.

    1. Already our towns and villages are full of housing – white flight mainly but who cares about quality? Cram them in to join the villages up and to hell with the “green belt”.

      1. When I went to work in London we moved to Milton Keynes. Forget all the rubbish that was said about it. It was new, clean, safe (roads and redways) and hideously white. Most of the people came from London. Lots of small businessmen, i.e. plumbers and tilers, joiners and electricians. It was white flight and it was OK.

    2. All housing is ‘affordable’ depending on how much money you have. If we kicked out all the freeloaders, asylum seekers and illegal immigrants there would be a surplus of housing

    3. When the Romans occupied a state they would billet units of legionaries in hostile territory to terrorise the local population and teach them who was boss!

  52. Good morning, all. Peddy and I must both be having a touch of the vapours after reading the following three letters in today’s Telegraph:

    (a) “In 2014, Walter Tull featured appeared on a set.”

    (b) Domestic leaseholders have the ultimate right to buypurchase their lease.”

    (c) “We really don’t need yet more estates… from by high volume builders.”

    Is the nation becoming more and more illiterate, or is it The Telegraph’s proof-readers, or a combination of both?

      1. Morning, Maggie.

        The DT’s letters’ editor, the nepotistic Christopher Howse, is only interested in publishing the letters sent in by his coterie of favourite correspondents.

          1. It was on Wednesday, November 6, 2019.

            I was in London meeting Toots and Elsie Bloodaxe. They told me since I didn’t have the paper that day, so I went out and bought a copy.

          5. I’ve tried to several times, John, but he is resolute. DIY is his overriding passion these days, as well as writing to the letters’ page of the DT under his real name, many of which are published.

        3. You say that, but I contacted him once about a historical matter, and received a friendly reply.

    2. Ayup, Else.

      It gets worse. With countless examples of abominations such as “for free” and similar idiocy being unedited, it appears that banal and gormless Americanese is surreptitiously replacing English as the language of this newspaper and the world in general.

      1. And yet, Grizzly, you have just sent me a copy of today’s Telegraph Letters and the errors appear to have been corrected. (But not on the electronic version of The Telegraph.)

        Go figure! (As the Americans say.) :-))

        1. Evidently the paper version is edited by some more experienced newspapermen who have a basic knowledge in English grammar. The electronic version is no doubt manned by a crew of young go-getters who value cutting-edge verbalisms over standard English.

          Know wha’ I mean?

      2. I remember “for free” when I was a kid, so it’s not new… IIRC, originally is was written on the advertisement as “… for £free”

        1. It certainly takes up less space than, “without requiring a concomitant compensatory payment”.

          1. Maybe it does but the sensible English, “I got it free” (or “it was free of charge”) is far less cacophonous on the ear (and eye) than the vacuous and retarded Americanism, “I got it for free”.

  53. After sleeping in, I’ll be a brief presence on here today.
    I’m off to do some cleaning on stepson’s flat and take some clothes round to the Hospital for him.

    When I get back I’m hoping to get the van loaded with my camping gear for the weekend.

  56. November Election anyone?

    More good news from the BBC:

    “Fifty million face masks bought by the government in April will not be used in the NHS because of safety concerns.
    The government says the masks, which use ear-loop fastenings rather than head loops, may not fit tightly enough.
    They were bought for healthcare workers from supplier Ayanda Capital as part of a £252m contract”.

    If the crap fits….

    1. So that’s why they want everyone to wear face coverings! To use up crap like that. They’ve probably sold them on to the
      people with full-page ads in the DT.

      1. My thoughts too. Not quite good enough for highly infectious areas but will do to stop the general public from “spreading aerosol droplets” Two free for every household…..

        1. No – you must buy them in bulk as they’re “single use” – who cares about the increase in plastic rubbish?

          1. I have bought several packs of disposables .. five masks to a pack for £3.

            All masks are unbearable .. I cannot believe we have to do this thing , but we have to .

          2. I bought a box of 50 from Amazon for £20. Perfectly acceptable (speaking as a dentist.)

          3. No, the Equality Act is barmy but it effectively overrules the Covid regulations and renders their rules unenforceable in law. If you self-identify as unable to wear a mask then there isn’t any legal requirement to provide proof, just as you can self-identify as a man…or a spaniel. Hoist by their own petard.

          4. I wasn’t aware I could self identify as a spaniel – I’d rather be a red setter, though 🙂

      1. I think you can get half a dozen for about that in the supermarkets (not that I intend to buy any).

  58. The is essential reading for anyone who remembers proper Mars bars

    Rod Liddle
    We are living in a post-truth society
    From magazine issue: 8 August 2020

    Activists wish to change the name of a school in north London because it is named after a road which was named after a dairy farmer who had the same name as someone the activists dislike. This is the Rhodes Avenue primary school in Wood Green, named after Thomas Rhodes, a great-uncle of Cecil Rhodes who died when Cecil was three. According to the activists, Thomas cannot be ‘disentangled’ from Cecil despite the fact that they are totally different people separated by two generations.

    These genii would like the school to be renamed Oliver Tambo school, after the popular South African murderer and politician. It would not hugely surprise me if they got their way, seeing as the Labour leader of the council, a halfwit called Joseph Ejiofor, has said that schools shouldn’t be named after the relatives of ‘white supremacists’. Perhaps we should also cease calling roads roads because of the phonetic distress occasioned to too many activists.

    The confected outrage possessing these truly stupid people devolves from the equally stupid Black Lives Matter protests, before which, once again, our spineless and woke institutions collectively cringed. It does not matter that virtually every complaint made by BLM activists is demonstrably fallacious. It does not matter that white American police officers are no more likely to kill black suspects than officers of non-white heritage (as shown last year in a study by the University of Michigan and the University of Maryland); or that the people most likely to murder black people are, by a huge margin, other black people. None of these realities — truths — which tend to disprove the BLM thesis prevent the activists from wallowing in specious victimhood or succeed in convincing virtue-signalling institutions that they are paying obeisance to an easily refutable series of lies. Down on one knee they go.

    The truth has no purchase, because we are living in a post-truth society. For example, in the transgenderism debate, science and therefore reality doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter to the activists, of course, but that’s to be expected. But it also doesn’t matter to the government, or to our institutions. The reality doesn’t matter; it’s all about how people feel, and in our desire not to give offence we succumb to idiocy or doublethink.

    When a history professor suggests that not absolutely everything that came out of colonialism was bad, his colleagues denounce him and start writing letters and signing petitions, despite the patent fact that what the professor suggested was true — even if it was just the building of a bridge or a railway line. Our Prime Minister is denounced as a white supremacist for suggesting that Africa’s problems are not the consequence of colonialism but instead the result of appalling post-colonial leadership. Again, this is something that is very easy to argue, simply by looking at a few case studies for comparison, such as Ethiopia and Liberia (never colonised) vs, say, Singapore and Malaysia (colonised for 200 years and not doing too badly). The facts don’t matter, only the attitude matters — and in stating the facts, one is displaying a white supremacist attitude. The greater the truth, the more offence it is likely to cause and so the more vigorously it will be resisted.

    One conclusion to be drawn is that the nation is gripped by a kind of derangement, and that this may have been occasioned by our suffering under a government that is behaving with all the coherence of a rigorously trepanned village idiot. Increasingly, nothing the government does makes any sense, which is why they change tack within 24 hours and immediately do the complete reverse of what they were doing before.

    There is a certain beautiful madness in an administration which, at one and the same time, announces its important nanny strategy to tackle our terrible obesity epidemic while the Chancellor subsidises everybody to half-price meals at Burger King, KFC and McDonald’s. Does this seem to you an example of nicely joined-up thinking? As it happens, I disagree with both prongs of this delightfully self-contradictory approach. I find the doling out of taxpayers’ money to extraordinarily wealthy multinational companies, simply so other taxpayers can stuff their fat faces more cheaply, an absurdity and something close to an outrage. But luckily this has been balanced by preventing those same companies from providing a better deal to customers from their own reserves, by banning buy-one-get-one-free offers. Does this not strike you as bizarre?

    In fairness, almost all previous attempts to get us to lose weight have been at the very least supremely irritating, such as telling very rich multinational companies to reduce the sizes of their products, which they cheerfully do while selling them at the same price as before. Or instructing them to put less sugar and salt in their food, so that the stuff tastes awful. I still have a folk memory of what Mars Bars used to taste like before they meddled around with them at the behest of the health campaigners. The dense and sometimes pleasingly gritty nougat, the weight of the bar in one’s hand. All gone. And we’re a lot fatter now we’re eating these bowdlerised confections, so the policy has been singularly unsuccessful.

    The government is, in general, at a loss. It does not know if we should be in lockdown or out of lockdown and it changes its stance almost every day. It is losing the goodwill of the public. And we, the public, seem to be losing our minds.

    spectator.co.uk/rodliddle – The argument continues online

        1. Exactly … I don’t suppose any of the Woke generation have felt the sting of corporal punishment….

          2. I’m relieved that Capital Punishment wasn’t practiced in my school. The sixth form would have been very slim in numbers!

          3. “I’m relieved that Capital Punishment wasn’t practiced practised in my school.” American school was it, Stephen? 🙂

    2. The government are a bunch of blooming globalists , they have not a care for any of us .

      (Except we are the slaves to the taxman , and they will screw us all dry )

    3. A while back I bought a bottle of ribena – I like(d) Ribena.

      Filled the glass up to rehydrate and spat the whole thing out. It tasted like nothing but flash floor cleaner (not that that is my favourite tipple).

      The endless marketing puff spouted how great it was and how we would all love it, the testing they had done to ensure it tasted the same. All utter lies. It’s disgusting. They know it, we know it. They did it not because they wanted to reduce sugar intake: there’s already a sugar free version for that. No. It was because disgusting aspartame is cheaper than sugar, so they dump that excrement in rather than sugar.

      They lied, they ruined their product. It’s disgusting now. Chocolate has also been reduced dramatically not for health reasons but to cost cut. It’s just a fraud, a con and a scam.

    4. The ever-increasing stupidity of the humans species, Rod, is a matter of simple mathematics. Stupidity is inversely proportional to the population.

      7·8 billion people are 7·8 times more stupid (stupider) than 1 billion.

      When the earth just had 1 billion people each nation looked out for itself and repelled boarders with vigour. People were industrious and worked for each other. Yes, times were hard in a lot of ways but mankind strived, using its intelligence in an attempt to overcome difficulties. There was no nanny state and if your didn’t work you didn’t eat. The natural way of survival of the fittest was still the norm.

      When humanity started to quell diseases (they will never conquer them, nature is too clever) matters started to take a turn for the worse. More people were given more ‘rights’ and stupidity started to increase out of all proportion. It is now out-of-control and uncontrollable.

      Ye shall reap what ye shall sow.

      1. ‘7.8 billion people are 7.8 times more stupid [stupider] than 1 billion.’

        Please show your calculations!! :-))

  59. 322146+ up ticks,
    Seemingly a Tommy suit is being made, tailored to fit a pro English patriot
    active war correspondent at Dover filming the troop movements of incoming
    indigenous replacement units.

    2. So what you are saying (© Cathy Newman) is that instead of sewing mailbags, Tommy is sewing suits.

  60. Lionel Shriver
    Never has a virus been so oversold
    From magazine issue: 8 August 2020

    There’s nothing unprecedented about Covid-19 itself. The equally novel, equally infectious Asian flu of 1957 had commensurate fatalities in Britain: scaled up for today’s population, the equivalent of 42,000, while the UK’s (statistically flawed) Covid death total now stands at 46,000. Globally, the Asian flu was vastly more lethal, causing between two and four million deaths. The Hong Kong flu of 1968-69 also slew up to four million people worldwide, including 80,000 Britons. Yet in both instances, life went on.

    What is unprecedented: never has a virus been so oversold. Why, I’d like to sign on with Covid’s agent. What a publicity budget.

    In a recent Kekst CNC poll, British respondents estimated that nearly 7 per cent of the UK population has died from the coronavirus. That would be 4.5 million people. Scots supposed that more than 10 per cent of the UK population has died. That would be seven million people. Astonishingly, Americans believed that Covid has killed 9 per cent of their compatriots, or almost 30 million people! The real US total has indeed crossed the milestone of 150,000, but for pity’s sake, ‘only’ 20 million people died in the first world war.

    True, your average everyman and woman are not dab hands at statistics. Nevertheless, broadcast news has bludgeoned audiences daily with Covid death totals. And a citizenry ought to have some vague notion of their country’s population. So folks convinced that in five meagre months they’ve lost a tenth of their fellows — the literal meaning of the word ‘decimate’ — need only drop a digit to realise how absurdly their bloated estimate compares with familiar figures on the news. But then, the public is never good with zeroes — a failing which treasuries in deficit count on.

    Our very own Matthew Parris (many of whose columns I admire) is not immune to Covid Hyperbole Syndrome. His last column alludes to this virus ‘killing millions worldwide’, a phrase that sailed unmolested past pernickety editors and fact-checkers at this magazine. But the true worldwide death toll at the time was about 650,000.

    I’d argue for improved British education in maths, except it seems Britain doesn’t do education any more. So let’s instead take those exaggerated impressions of lethality as proof of a stupendously successful propaganda campaign. The government has destroyed the country, and needs to keep ramping up the hysteria the better to keep destroying it. Boris Johnson gets a lot of stick, so it’s time to give the boy credit for once. At destroying the country he’s doing a damned fine job.

    During events that in the present loom distortingly large, I’m always dubious of assertions that ‘nothing will ever be the same again’. Yet I worry that Covid-19 may have issued in a new intolerance for the nature of biology that could prove long-lasting.

    When I was a kid, there was no MMR vaccine, and children were expected to get measles, mumps, chickenpox and rubella as a matter of course. I obligingly contracted these diseases, which were unpleasant and — I now realise — far more dangerous than my parents’ blitheness would suggest.

    Naturally, I’ve also contracted flu and colds throughout my life, and I’ve been resigned to the fact that these disagreeable ailments were due to contact with other people. Abstractly, I’ve known that other people could also infect me with more deadly pathogens: whooping cough, meningitis and TB to name but a few. Yet hitherto it’s never occurred to me that I should therefore wrap myself in cling film, tie a sanitary towel across my face and lock myself in a cupboard.

    The more relentless these micro-managing policies of ‘social distancing’ (an expression I’ve come to loathe), mandatory masks, continued closures and capriciously restored regional lockdowns apparently on the basis of a miserable uptick of 14 extra cases, the more we relocate what had lurked far at the back of our minds to the front: other people are sources of contagion. We used to live with that fact. But this on-going risk of mixing with other human beings we’re now, apparently, to find intolerable.

    I’m currently in New York, where the medical paranoia is sustained, and social life is nearly nonexistent. This week, a rarity, a couple came inside our house. They didn’t sit down, didn’t stay long, and were careful not to touch anything. When they left they were clearly relieved, and immediately doused themselves in hand sanitiser. I don’t think it’s going to be any different next summer. Google, for example, has already advised its employees to work from home for the next 12 months.

    The graph of new cases in the UK roughly levelled off throughout July — but it has not plateaued at zero. The PM gives every indication that only zero will do. Thus as long as the coronavirus persists, the fearful prophylactic measures will continue. In trade for this valiant vigilance on our behalf, we merely have to sacrifice: our friends. Any new friends. All live performance — music, plays. Restaurants. All occasions, like proper weddings, funerals, birthdays and extended–family celebrations. Travel. Colleagues. Any search for love. Any moving communal experience, like festivals. Dentistry. A functional National Health Service. Oh, and the economy — and in case you need translation, that means the country, full stop.

    Boris’s ‘nuclear option’ of another total national lockdown remains on the table. Why on earth? The one constructive conclusion to draw from this debacle is that long, indiscriminate national lockdowns to suppress infectious disease are a catastrophe. Yet the most horrifying consequence of Covid-19 could be that lockdown — which once applied only to prisons — becomes officialdom’s established kneejerk response to any new contagion.

    There will be a new contagion, too, and a new one after that. How many times can you send the national debt soaring, devastate small business, paralyse government services — including health care — and cancel for months on end the civil liberties of an erstwhile ‘free people’? In preference to this repeated carpet-bombing, a literal nuclear option might at least get the agony over with fast.

    ***************************************************************
    BTL:

    Rob Sword_of_Truth • 8 hours ago
    The worst types are the ones who cover their noses with a scarf as they walk past as if you’ve just let out a horrible fart.

    1. So what is the math? 650,000 divided by 1% of 7.8 billion produces 0.00833% but surely a negative percentage is zero and there have been 650,000 deaths so that can’t be right?

      1. Sue, the maths for calculating the % is:

        (650,000/7,800,000,000)x100 = 0.008333%. This is a positive percentage, not a negative percentage. It is merely less 1%.

    2. Also BTL is the extreme bedwetter, Peter Gardner:

      Lionel Shriver is normally sensible. Now she seems to be suffering from Covid Derangement Syndrome. Her opening paragraph is stuffed with more nonsense than SARS-CoV-2 viruses in a sneeze from a person dying of Covid19. The main reasons UK has not experienced a worse number of deaths than it did from Asian flu are a) the lockdown, b) a great deal of assistance (sorting out) given to the NHS by the Army, and c) it is not over yet. She rightly notes flawed statistics in UK but what of her own? Is she really so sure that the deaths attributed to Asian flu were only cases where that was the primary cause? I doubt she has even checked.
      It is true that Covid 19 has not killed millions worldwide but 685,000. But has she noticed the shape of the curve? Deaths have doubled in the last 10 weeks and there is no sign of it slowing. When does she think it will be over?
      While the pandemic is not yet over she should bear in mind that the case fatality rate of COVID19 in UK is 15%, in Sweden 7.1%, in Germany 4.3%, 3.8% worldwide average, in Australia 1.2%. These figures will converge towards the true mortality once the pandemic is over. Meanwhile, it doesn’t look like mere flu to me. In any case, two flus are twice as bad as one and the measures taken against SARS-CoV-2 and Covid19 are also highly effective against flu and all infectious diseases. So UK is getting twice the bang from this buck. Be happy.

      Case fatality rate of 15%? He must be one of those who apparently believe that up to 7% of Brits have died from the WuFlu. I don’t think he has enough downvotes. Can anyone help? :-))

      1. A suggested reply:

        I’m so terribly, terribly sorry that you’ve suffered from Covid-19. Was brain death painful?”

      2. The 15% comes from the figures reported on the UK government website – https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk
        However as we know the positive tests do not reflect those that have actually had the virus and the deaths are at best dubious the calculated 15% number is meaningless.

      3. Oh dear. He proves her point of course. 15% would be 9 million+ and even Professor Pantsdown didn’t exaggerate that much.

  61. Wisdom from SAGE (a report that prompted the pubs v. schools business included some dangerous scare-mongering).

    …the authors said extreme rightwing groups are mobilising at a scale not seen for a decade, and exploiting fatal stabbing incidents in Reading, London and Glasgow. Any serious public disorder that developed would be likely to require military involvement, they said.

    The authors cited the Black Lives Matter movement and an increasing sense of “racial injustice, inequality and discrimination” felt among black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities, which have been disproportionately affected by the virus.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/01/pubs-england-close-control-coronavirus-adviser-graham-medley

    The report also discussed the Black Lives Matter movement that gained traction in May and early June after the death of George Floyd in the United States.

    There is an increasing sense of ‘racial injustice, inequality and discrimination’ felt among black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, which have been disproportionately affected by the virus.

    At the same time, the authors say extreme right-wing groups are mobilising at a scale not seen for a decade, and exploiting fatal stabbing incidents in Reading, London and Glasgow.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8582925/SAGE-expert-warns-interventions-needed-schools-open-month.html

    1. When the BAMEs are stirred up every day being told, by the MSM and the likes of race baiters such as Khan and Lammy, how very harshly they are treated, eventually they believe what they are told despite the opposte being true for the vast majority of them.

      If it does kick off into civil violence it won’t be the derisory number of “extreme” right-wingers who cause it all, it will be the likes of Antifa, Hope not Hate and BLM.

    2. “extreme rightwing groups are mobilising at a scale not seen for a decade”……Hurrah.

  63. Yet another link to George Soros…………….

    According to the Washington Examiner, Kamala Harris received the maximum permissible donation from George Soros for her 2015 Senate race…………

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/red-alert-politics/sen-kamala-harris-unofficial-2020-presidential-campaign-already-begun

    ”After @TeamTrump was suspended today by Twitter, a Trump Campaign spokesman said, “The Twitter employee who announced why the account was briefly suspended is also Kamala Harris’s former press secretary. Silicon Valley is hopelessly biased against the President…”

    https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1291187575420588034

    2. Everyone knows that most of the media are lefties but with the background of this censor suggests that she should have been allowed nowhere near anything vaguely political.

      Trump should have known better, they are scanning his twittering for anything inaccurate or contentious.

      1. In other news a CBC journalist has been exposed as receiving payments from the Canadian government. Apparently she works through a personal company contract that receives money from the CBC and the government.

        Needles to say, this journalist is a bit light on criticism of the government

  64. HAPPY HOUR – Achilles tendonitis update.
    Since no-one has asked after my welfare recently I will fill you in with the details.

    I achieved my goal this morning!
    I walked to the C0-0P unaided, apart from my stick and bought comestibles for lunch. I was soo pleased with my efforts on returning home I celebrated with a large glass of sherry and promptly fell over…..

    Now if you will excuse me I have to adjust my Norah Batty Stockings…..
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bfbf7c7b6e0095711f8231fd7d80112d33be29c63661443ff1c078805153483b.jpg

    2. Oh no! Are you OK?

      I bought a bottle of sherry but it’s in my fridge at home and when the kitchen installers moved in this week they filled my studio living/bedroom with my fridge, the new kitchen and all their building tackle so I moved out. It was all I could manage to open draws and cupboards far enough to drag out some clothes and decamp to a hotel on the other side of Shepherds Bush Green.

      I can’t get to the sherry and the hotel bar is closed. Mind, there aren’t any migrants there and I’m comfortable, plus the installers say everything is going well, so I’m thankful for that. I pop in to take a look every now and again and will hopefully be home with a new kitchen (and doubtless a lot of cleaning to do) at the end of next week.

      The decorating is being done as well. When I moved in 26 years ago, I did the decorating myself but then I was broke and 26 years younger!

  66. I’ve been concerned about Plum with her Achilles Tendonitus. Has anyone heard anything? :-0

      1. Ph and sos – Is this a reference to the exhibit of dear Plum’s bandaged legs below with her comment?

  67. Disqus has been playing up again but at least I now know why:

    Error 503 No healthy backends

    Nasty…

    3. Huh. Just be thankful that your job title isn’t “Back-end Developer”.
      There is also “Front-end Developer”.

  68. 322146+ up ticks,

    breitbart,
    Border Force Union: Royal Navy Needed to Return Channel Migrants to France ?
    Are we now advertising for one ?

  70. Cheer up everyone.
    You’re all nearer to being a millionaire than either Elon Musk or Bill Gates. 🙁

      1. Always look on the bright side of life………….. then kick them in the balls and run away. Slowly in your case but they won’t be running very fast either.

    1. Sigh. I avoid the BBC most of the time, but listen to the Shipping Forecast, News Briefing, and Farming Today most mornings. The imminent commencement of the Toady prog is enough to get me out of bed. I note that they don’t quite preface the word Trump with “The Liar”, but it’s implicit in their reporting.

      1. I’m surprised they don’t manage to introduce wokeness into the Shipping Forecast (the clouds will be hideously white today and there will be fog in the Channel to hinder the poor asylum seekers who are fleeing persecution in France) and Farming Today (there isn’t enough diversity in the countryside; farmers are hideously white and the fields are racist).

  72. “What’s the time?”

    “It’s a philosophical construct which Humankind has applied to the
    universe in order to explain the relationship between cause and effect.”

    “Fuck’s sake, Brian. If I had know it was going to be like this I’d
    never have agreed to become Mrs Cox.”

      2. That just about sums up my life, now. I’ve stopped giving special names to each day; they’re all the same. I just call them “Day”…

        1. I at least have distinctions – golf day and not golf day.

          Coming up on six months of not golf days, that will be tough.

        2. Mine are all Days except Riding Day 🙂 Tomorrow, however, will be Shopping Day (rather like Friday 13th).

          4. I’m going to have to borrow it for tomorrow and the visit to the shops. I’ll give it back afterwards, honest 🙂

        4. Try renaming them:

          Moanday
          Chewsday
          When’sday?
          Furzeday
          Frightday
          Sataroundallday
          Sundaybloodysunday (Plum’s favourite!)

        5. This may well be by design, I was thinking the other day that before long they will be demanding that we give up our named days as they will be deemed offensive to other cultures, racist, whatever. Just as they want us to be neither male, nor female, just a unit of production, no individuality in dress ….. no possessions….no property…… no religion ……(where have I heard this before?). It is on its way. Complete personal effacement.

  73. Latest letter to my MP Andrew Rosindell:

    I appreciate you have responded to previous letter of mine regarding illegal immigrants
    crossing the Channel and being ‘collected’ by Border Force. However, situation seems to have reached ludicrous levels with no attempt made to try to prevent these people arriving or to return them to France. There is every indication that they are actively being assisted in getting to this country and then given accommodation in hotels that most of the indigenous population would find unaffordable. I dread to think of the benefits bill each one is costing us. How these people must be amused by the stupidity of our actions, especially if they mean us harm.

    As I understand it, identification of these individuals is usually impossible and most seem to be young men in the ‘conscription’ age range. Given that the Manchester bomber was one of these ‘rescued’ people and went on to repay our kindness in the most despicable manner, how many others are going to be of the same mindset?

    As you might suppose, there is considerable, and increasing, anger over this intolerable
    matter.

    Can you please put the greatest pressure possible on the Home Secretary to turn these people away before they enter our waters and stop the French Navy assisting them? At the same time, those whose asylum claims are rejected must leave this country immediately and not drag out the process with endless appeals.

    In addition, please advise the average cost to the taxpayer per asylum seeker, given that we
    have to house, clothe, educate and feed these people as well as offering them free healthcare (often extensive), weekly monetary payments and legal aid.

    1. Good luck with that, VOM. Don’t expect a sensible reply, just platitudes and comfort words. If/when you do get a response please share it with us!

        1. 322146+ up ticks,
          Evening VOM,
          In the nicest possible may I ask did you
          wash your hands thoroughly whilst singing happy birthday six times after corresponding with one of these Mp things.

    2. Why don’t you write:

      Dear Corrupt MP,

      Calling you corrupt is not a personal slight it is just a standard greeting since ALL* politicians, of all levels, in every country are, by definition, corrupt. It is your raison d’etre and why you all entered politics in the first place. It is a given thing and taken as read.

      Now that we have dispensed with the preliminaries the reason for me writing to you today is that I demand to know why …

      Yours ever,

      *By ALL, I mean every fucking last one of you!

      1. 322146+ up ticks,
        G,
        VOM maybe of a gentler nature and feel that the truth does hurt.

      1. Interesting, though, that he didn’t receive a response to his previous letter – perhaps the ‘Nelson’ technique was applied by Patel.

        Think by parliamentary standards this is a fairly hard-hitting missive. Whether it will make the slightest difference remains to be seen.

  74. Did the pro ERM individuals, who removed Lady Thatcher as Prime Minister in 1990, previously meet George Soros at Davos ?

    It looks as though they must have done as all, or most, were ministers…. and George Soros goes every year !

    1. A bit like the old “year and day” to die before a murder ceased to be a murder.

    2. I doubt that the BBC will make much of this. It reports the government figures routinely but often slips in a sentence along the lines of ‘…other sources show a higher total…”. By that I assume it means the ONS, as indicated in the DM report:

      The Office for National Statistics, another Government agency, also records Covid-19 deaths, and is considered the most reliable source.

      The ONS – which is not affected by the counting method – has confirmed at least 51,596 people have died in England and Wales up to July 24.

      Its calculations are based on death certificates with Covid-19 as a suspected contributor.

      And therein lies the real scandal – not the time-limit error in England but in all of the UK the attribution of so many deaths to the the virus (see reference to Dr John Lee elsewhere).

  76. Met Office issues amber health warning as UK braces for heatwave. 6 August 2020.^

    The Met Office issued the amber heat health warning, the second-highest available, on Thursday as it warned people to look out for each other and drink plenty of fluids, while avoiding excessive quantities of alcohol, to deal with temperatures that could rise as high as 38C (100F) in some places.

    “Although much of the UK can expect a spell of warm and sunny weather lasting into early next week, it’s going to turn very hot for parts of England and Wales with temperatures widely reaching above 30C on Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” said the Met office’s chief meteorologist, Dan Suri.

    “Friday is likely to be the hottest day with temperatures of 36C to 37C in parts of east and south-east England. It’s possible temperatures could reach similar levels on Saturday, before falling slightly on Sunday.

    It is a cliche to say it of course but it is the humidity that is the killer. I’ve worked in 50C in Queensland during the Dry with only minor discomfiture. The Wet was purgatory all the time!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/06/beachgoers-warned-to-stay-safe-as-uk-braces-for-potential-heatwave

          1. I walked the SWCP from Falmouth to Portwrinkle, a few years ago. You’re not far from Mevagissey, where the Mandalay Hotel was prolly the worst I’ve ever stayed in. The bedroom was only marginally larger than a double bed. Heligan and the Eden Project were worth visiting.

          2. That’s a long way with lots of ups and downs. If you do the whole thing from Poole to Minehead, it’s the same as climbing Everest ! We’ve only done parts of it at different times and have camped sometimes along the way. Heavy carrying tents and equipment though… that’s what Dad and brothers are for 🙂

          10. My parish as a boy. I was brought up in St Mawes and my parents and one of my sisters were married in St Just in Roseland Church in the churchyard of which my maternal grandparents, my parents and many other of my family members’ remains are buried.

            One day – not too soon I hope – Caroline will put a little wooden casket containing my ashes in the grave – marked by a Cornish Cross – just to the right of the church overlooking the water!

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b7c2d09d54e6d754caf49b7be4a23f2f79a6ff8d745f60582dc8e4a4fab2fe8e.jpg

      1. Hot in summer, gosh. Next, I’m expecting a warning for it to be cold in winter. Of course, if its not cold we are still heading towards the apocalypse. Pity that AN was not close to BBC HQ, that load would have done for Manch and London (but we would have given a warning to our Sue!).

        1. Do you remember the IRA blowing up a taxi in Wood Lane back in 2001? The explosion happened around midnight and the window next to my desk shattered, with glass everywhere. At the time I was based in Centre House which sits alongside the Central Line, behind White City station. No working from home then – we were just moved to another part of the building while the mess was cleared up.

  77. So having been through this microscopically, it’s looks very very very likely that the pro ERM europhiles who deposed Lady Thatcher in 1990 probably already knew Lord Soros of Davos who made $2,000,0000 from the ERM !

    1. George Soros who made $2,000,0000 from the ERM !

      Is that supposed to be 2 million, or 20 million?

      1. $2,000,000,000

        Two billion dollars… I got the comma in the wrong place and left off two 0s !

          2. It’s Sainsbury’s, so, no. Can’t remember when I last entered a Sainsbury, but it was well over 2 years ago.

          3. The only good thing about Sainsbury’s is that it keeps the riff-raff out of Waitrose. ©Alan Coren

          4. While I was working I saw plenty of patients who were on benefits shopping in W/rose which is right opposite the practice. Not that benefit-receivers are automatically riff-raff.

          5. Waitrose do a ‘Value’ range and their mark downs are stupendous. I wait for their 50% larder range. Then stock up for six months.

          7. By all accounts, Sainsburys here are making life unpleasant for shoppers. I mostly buy online, but, on the odd occasion I’ve done a few Waitrose shops, with no problem. I refuse to be muzzled, but delivery slots are easier to secure now. I had one from Tesco today, and Ocado are coming on Sunday.

          8. I don’t wear one P-P but I can report that my local Sainsbury’s and the staff have been very helpful and cheerful to me throughout the Lockdown.

  79. Apropos nothing, I mentioned the other day that I’d tried out the new Amazon Prime Fresh service. Apart from having to produce documentary evidence that this wrinkly 63-year old was sufficiently mature to purchase wine, and the absence of most of the latter, they are in partnership with Booths supermarket, among others. On forays up North, I’ve been impressed by Booths. The nearest branch appears to be in Knutsford, which is quite a long way from the Surrey Hills. I’m happy to report that all their products were excellent; prolly better than Waitrose. Just had the last ready meal, Macaroni Cheese, and it was superb. For a ready meal, that is. Might be tempted to repeat the experience…

    2. I used to use Booths in Knutsford, a great store beating Waitrose at their own game.

      1. Exactly. Should I end up moving back to God’s Own County, ’tis a shame that the nearest branch to Carlisle is in Penrith. And no Waitrose within miles.

          1. Indeed. When I left, in the late eighties, it was Tesco, Tesco Metro, ASDA or Morrison’s. Fine Fare had been demolished, otherwise there was the odd Co-op. These days, there are two or possibly three Aldis (one occupying the space where Laing’s Regional Office once stood, where I worked for the first ten years or so of my pathetic career)…

          4. I had a Britannia current account until I discovered it was run by the Co-op (I think the bloke in charge turned out to be a bit suspect). I closed it and cited that the Co-op’s ethics weren’t the same as mine.

          5. I used to be assistant manager at the Cumbrian Hotel in Court Square. Jonjo O’Neill used to drink in the bar!

          6. I held training courses for Waverley sales staff in the Cumbrian Hotel. It was reachable from all over the UK, so staff from London and Inverness, Caerphilly and Edinburgh could reach it easily by train. We may have met…

          9. Completely mistaken. A lesson in deportment and sobriety. Genteel ladies all. Some brought their needlework with them for the quiet evenings.

          10. I think you may be fibbing a bit there Horace! Diamond Lil’s was awash with the knitting and crochet!

          12. I was there ’77 to ’79. and the hotel had Diamond Lil’s club/disco across the lane at the side! The County bar (I think!) ran from the front to the restaurant! I loved my time there!

          16. We were Northern Lights Roadshow. It evolved from the youth club and the venture scouts at the local church. With all due modesty, we were one of the better ones in the region…

          17. Definitely ringing bells Geoff! I also lectured part time at Carlisle Tech! It was a TOps course (remember them?) and I think most of the students were older than me! 2 of them had been inside for GBH!

          18. I attended Eden School, Rickerby, which only went to 5th year. I took the 11 plus, but it was cancelled before the official results came out. Unofficially, I’d blown their socks off. I was quite clever in those days. As I lived just outside the City boundary, I ended up at Eden School, Rickerby. This was quite small; and only progressed to what used to be known as “Fifth Year”. Joe Rawlings, the Head, was also a District Commissioner for the Scouts. A thoroughly decent chap. Also (though we didn’t know it at the time), a survivor of the Arctic Convoys. He finally shuffled off two years ago, a the age of 105.

            I was then persuaded to attend Carlisle Technical College, on an OND Construction course. This included a couple of technical A levels. as well as the OND. I then joined Laing as an Articled Pupil, and despite the technical A levels, was accepted and passed the IQS exams, and when that institution was taken over by the RICS, became an Associate of the RICS. Till I couldn’t afford the subscription, but that’s a different story.

          21. I once took my odd bunch of catering students to the Cavray factory. The tour included the slaughter house! That was quite an afternoon!

          22. CTC Construction Department was run by Barry Higginson, basically a plumber made good. He had an easily replicated Nottingham accent, and was prone to saying “If my daughter brought home someone looking like one of you lot, I’d drown her, there and then, on the spot”. One of our class had actually gone out with his daughter, which made it much worse.

          23. Used to have many butcher’s stalls. My late uncle had one. His sausage was renowned across the land. At least, snotty Southerners from Laing’s Mill Hill office used to fill their boots…

          24. Small world. I went to school just along from Laing’s Mill Hill offices on Bunns Lane, NW7 between 57-61. Probably long gone now…..

          26. Are they the same building? Windows are different sizes, chimney gone, frontage different, bus stop etc etc. The top picture looks to fairly contemporary, (wheelie bin, style of bin at bus stop, double yellow lines) yet the lower picture shows boarded window and door suggesting a deserted building. Confusing!

          27. Used to have many butcher’s stalls. My late uncle had one. His sausage was renowned across the land

            Ooer missus

          29. Spent the first thirty years of my life living within 400 metres of the same. I agree, but I wasn’t a regular visitor. The same is true of Upperby Park, which was within 200 m…

          31. Lord knows when we’ll be able to go and watch racing as a spectator again. I’ve a horse entered at the weekend. If it’s declared, I’m not sure I’ll bother to apply for a badge. The hassle of getting to Haydock Park for one hour maximum on the course (and no opportunity to go in the parade ring – or winners enclosure if he wins) is off-putting.

        3. During normal years we often drive down from the Borders to Penrith Booth’s . It is very nice store and the staff are not just pleasant, but seem really happy to be there. there is a coffee shop and the coffee and cakes are good.
          Now, of course, no stores, no shops, offer a pleasant experience.

    3. I tried Elsie’s Delia Smith recipe for, in my case, using up excess courgettes. I found the bake recipe in two of my Delilah books and followed it closely. Absolutely delicious.

      Edit: I skinned and sliced large tomato’s rather than tinned. I used Cheddar cheese and Parmesan.

      1. Ah, I have been of use to at least one NoTTLer. Two, if you count Peddy using Delia’s recipe for baked potatoes. Incidentally, corimobile, did you buy your large tomato’s from your local greengrocer? :-))

        1. Nope or not? Waitrose are selling mostly small tomatoes. We buy our fresh vegetables mostly from Willow Tree Farm-shop in Glemsford. We order online and collect.

          1. I think you missed the point of my joke, corimobile. The apostrophe which you used to replace the “e” in “tomatoes” is known as a grocer’s apostrophe.

          2. Shit. As a teenager I worked for a greengrocer in Bath and apart from polishing apples for display and struggling to wrap flowers for Mothering Sunday, must have absorbed their special language.

  80. Evening, all. Life continues to have obstacles put in the way; this arvo I needed to get more batteries for MOH’s hearing aid. Normally I would have sauntered down to the surgery and picked up a couple on presentation of the book (to prevent us getting more than the meagre ration). Could I do that? Of course not (surgeries are like Fort Knox). I had to drive up to the hospital and get some from the receptionist (who didn’t sign the book so in a fortnight I shall be tempted to go and pick up some more as a backstock).

    2. Assuming they don’t have a sell by date.

      The system is so inefficient that you should call and collect every time you go anywhere near the place.

      Selfish? Yes! But if the system you pay to serve you won’t, then serve yourself.

    3. MB gets his from Specsavers. I don’t know what hearing aids YOH has, but often private enterprise is more – well, enterprising.

      1. I have no idea; when the receptionist asked what sort I just handed over the book. The packs I was given look the same as the usual ones, so I presume they are correct. They are at least free.

  81. Hello again Nottlers all! I’m just back from visiting my new grandsons and their Mum and Dad, at the neo- natal ward! Although not allowed to touch them I was able to feast my eyes and saw them being fed! They are absolutely amazing and I couldn’t quite believe that this time yesterday they were inside my daughter! I don’t think she could either!
    My thanks to you for all the congratulations and good wishes you have showered on us, and we are truly blessed. Many thanks again.

          4. Surely they have to learn to crawl, toddle and then walk before they start to run?

            :-))

          3. Mother Nature knows no better Gender awareness training than 3 years of nappy changing

      1. Thank you Phizee! I’m afraid I couldn’t persuade them to have Phizzee as a name! Perhaps my other daughter in October may be more amenable!

        1. Any chance very very young fellow as a name. 😂
          Congratulations on your news.

          1. Thank you vvof!They’ve been known as twin 1 and twin 2 for quite some time now so I expect they’re used to that!

        1. 322146+ up ticks,
          TB,
          Having been a real ( NOT current) UKIP member for many a year, I DO.

    2. Why wasn’t the Secretary of State for Asylum Seekers, Priti Pattel, there to greet them?

      Or was she continuing to masquerade as Home Secretary?

    3. 322146+ up ticks.
      Evening TB,
      They are so bloody handy with the border control boats
      that when she is due she should be put aboard a luxury
      ship with a full team of medic staff and independent observers and taken out to international waters it will prove a lot cheaper health & monetary wise in the long run.

        2. 322146+ up ticks,
          Hire a Liberian hospital ship under a flag of convenience whatever it takes or are boris & priti
          importing potential terrorist for the future ?

      1. Merely impregnated by the usual young men (sic) of fighting age…

        Who will be allowed to follow the money sprog

        }:-((

  83. Good night all.

    Chilled gazpacho for supper was much better than I expected.

    1. Nothing quite fits the bill for a hot summer’s day! Hope you have some left for tomorrow’s lunch!

  84. Sainsbury’s currently have 25% off 6 bottles of wine. This evening I’ve been sampling their delicious NZ “Waterfall” Sauvignon Blanc at less than £5 a bottle.

      1. Ditto – One almost needs to sample the stuff outside the store and pop straight back in to buy a case or two!

    1. I do feel slightly sorry for her – she should have been given far more support from Boris Johnson and other members of the cabinet.

      1. Have just arrived here and see you have become a Grandmother to twin boys! Congratulations to you all and enjoy, they do have a habit of growing up so very quickly!

        1. Thank you so much Jill! Everyone here has been so kind and generous and the good wishes are much appreciated. What a site!

          1. And to think I had to put the squeeze on to get you to join us! I’m very glad you did! Still trying to get Cheshire Lad to speak up!

          2. Good morning, J.

            I note CL has made a couple of posts but he gone
            ‘private’; I had hoped to reply and ask him to join us.

          4. If they are recent enough you might be able to see them as a mod a reply if comments are still open on that day.

          5. I have blossomed in Nottler land! I love it! CL upvotes on occasion!
            Didn’t you do well!😄

  87. The weather says 33’c tomorrow, so I will likely be sat with the AC on all day. I cannot cope with the heat. I get nasty red welts, rashes and I itch all over.

    So I will be grumpier than usual.

  88. Had lunch today with Composer Paul Carr. I’m please to report that although he has had a number of Operas postponed that he was due to direct here and abroad he has completed a number of new commissions over the past few months including a Requiem. Here’s a recording of his Stabat Mater, recorded by The English Arts Chorale. If you haven’t got time to listen to it all, the 3rd Movement starting at 9mins 30 sec until 15 mins I think is particularly good and I’d like to dedicate this choice to Plum to make up for the beastliness exhibited below!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L9o0HWbH_g

    3. There was never any beastliness meant i my part. Just answering in kind to prev posts. Hope she tells you to piss off ..as she does.

      I made overtures but apparently she lives too far away…………..

      Tomorrow i will pleasure you all with my latest condition.

    4. It’s such a lovely bit of music, isn’t it? And Paul is a sweetheart. I am jealous of your being near enough to have lunch.

      1. I agree. His other compositions are very good too. I can’t point you in the direction of his Ubi Caritas because a Choir has yet to record it. It is very special.
        I’ve joined Gavin’s Choir which is thriving. Next years’s programme includes, The Dream of Gerontius , Paul’s Four Seasons as well as Hadyn’s Four seasons which is due to be performed in Bath Abbey (Covid permitting1)

          2. Away from home so can’t check. A lovely version of “Now sleeps the crimson petal” and a couple of others. Beautiful love songs.

  89. I think it is high time to stop the furlough scheme. Many people will have already lost their jobs in the private sector as a result of this reckless government action.

    I rather hope that the fat slobs receiving full wages for doing sod-all in the public sector will also be made redundant. They clearly could not work from home, unlike the benighted self employed. This applies to all of those supposed ‘teachers’ who have refused to return to work. Life after all carries on without the bastards.

    2. The people that are guaranteed a wage and their jobs are the worst and should be pilloried. Teachers just like Civil Servants can loll around forever in the sure knowledge that they are safe.

      This has to change. We need people at the coalface doing actual work rather than these layabouts taking advantage of the situation with the backing of their Unions.

    3. This was one of several topics that had a good airing this afternoon at lunch in the Suffolk boondocks.
      As we all worked in the private sector, there was not any sympathy for those slobbing around on 100% pay – presumably into eternity, at our expense.

      1. I am semi-retired but would like to supplement my pensions, especially over the next two years before my wife becomes eligible for her own state pension. I received a state pension at age 65 but my wife does not qualify until May 2022 when she will be age 66. This is yet another innovation designed to keep us poorer.

        I have to pay £261.00 every month to Braintree District Council. This is a large chunk of my state pension. I get nothing for it apart from erratic rubbish collections. The local roads are potholed and a disgrace for a supposedly modern country. The district councillors are both incompetent and evidently corrupt.

        Even the normally tolerant and sheepish locals have finally complained about Braintree District Council Leader Graham Butland, whom I know from personal experience to be as bent as a five bob note. There is a Freemasonic mob operating at Braintree District Council, all serving themselves and failing their constituents.

        1. I was semi-retired, until the Church of England decided it had no further use for organists. In fairness, I elected to waive my meagre salary as Director of Music, Verger and Parish Clerk, but the buggers would have imposed it had I not done so.

          I have no expectation that the ‘old normal’ will return anytime soon. I’m not planning any Carol Services. My time might be better used in learning the Adhan. Perhaps you would like to join me in a Minaret/Dome consultancy?

          1. The planners won’t let me put a minaret on my cottage, so I suppose I’ll have to do my pious wailing from a stepladder. An upturned bucket (empty it first) makes a pretty good dome, and I still have my stock of panic-bought loo paper, which is pretty good as a prayer mat.

          2. No idea but I doubt it. The chap is a fat slob who in addition to his council income and expenses, takes a six figure sum from the children’s charity East Anglia Children’s Hospice (EACH) where as CEO he is angling for an honour.

            The Duchess of Cambridge is a patron of EACH.

  91. Michelle O’Barmy on depression:

    “I’ve gone through those emotional highs and lows that I think everybody feels, where you just don’t feel yourself, and sometimes… there has been a week or so where I had to surrender to that and not be so hard on myself.”

    This is an insult to genuine sufferers of depression. Feeling a bit off colour for a week is not depression, it is, it is self-indulgent self-pity.

    1. I agree with you that depression is something that builds up over months or years, and takes as long, if not longer, to bring down again. I am 64 years old and if I live as long as my father, I have twenty years left. 20 years ago was the year 2000. Depression is thinking – why use up the Earth’s valuable resources by waiting to die, when I could save a lot of bother dying now, as my ex-wife felt I should have done thirty years ago. Those down with terminal cancer though (as opposed to terminal living) want to savour every second of whatever life they have left.

      I don’t agree with feeling off colour for a week is self-indulgent self-pity. It’s going down with a lurg, and most people with a bout of ‘flu are entitled to feel sorry for themselves for a while. Those that are not depressed soon get pretty bored with being miserable, and the usual remedy is a cup of tea, a walk and a good moan at a willing shoulder, even if it’s the dog or the mice in the larder, or even lower forms of life, such as nottlers.

      I’m feeling very sick that I kept my savings in the bank, rather than putting it in gold, and the idea that I’ve missed the boat by my stupid financial prudence, rather than taking a punt and making a fortune. I am a rotten gambler and hate the whole business of wildly changing values of things. The Parable of the Talents condemns me, and I feel wretched about it. Now that is self-indulgent self-pity!

    2. Those who haven’t experienced it simply don’t understand, Stormy. I do!

  92. “…Scotland wasn’t a colony. It was a partner in the shared enterprise of colonising others…”

    Thus spake the BBC’s Alan Little in this evening’s edition of Radio 4’s ‘The Briefing Room’ which discussed Scottish independence. The line quoted is typical of Little’s understated but smug manner. Rarely before has there ever been a presenter who was so deserving of having his head shoved into a barrel of rotten herring.

    He spoke of the great ties that bound the nations of the UK through the 19th and 20th centuries: empire, coal, steel, shipbuilding, the welfare state and so on. And you know who began to undo it? Yes, the Grantham chemistry graduate. He then extolled the virtues of the EU and how the young of Scotland who wish for independence do so not for flag and nation but fairness and social justice, openness and internationalism as they look across the North Sea to the “constellation of small, neighbouring but independent nation states in north-western Europe bound together in a European Union” that they did not want to leave.

    Unsurprisingly, he didn’t say whether the Scots who benefitted from the union before Thatcher were any less hostile to England at the time…

    Make your best china safe before listening: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000lfbf

        1. What I do have is a collection of Johnson Bros Heritage White, used daily, for the last 32 years. It’s obsolete, but still available on Ebay, and I’ve topped up my collection from time to time. Plates with eight corners seem less than practical, but I like it, and it’s not going anywhere soon.

          1. I bought a load of Ruska Swedish stoneware from Liberty’s in the seventies. Still going strong.

            I bought a tea set and some glass items from Rosenthal on Knightsbridge. Now priceless.

            I then bought a load of stuff made in Limoges, mostly ‘white ivy’.

            We have inherited loads of stuff in recent years and will at some point have to flog it off.

            Edit: We envisaged a large family but left
            it too late.

    2. Just think, how much better off England would be, if it did not have to subsidise Jimmy Krankie and her cohorts.

      If she does shout for Indpendence, we should all vote on it

      The Islands would of course have the choice of whether they remained in UK, or were Jimmy’s playthings

      1. I said during the last round that if the Scots Nats had really wanted to be independent (rather than getting Devo Max and keeping the subsidies) they would have opened it up to the English. They would have been gone in the blink of an eye.

    4. Independent nation states? He should visit the visitor centre in Brussels and read what’s carved into the walls (the nation state is evil and must be destroyed).

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