Thursday 6 February: Britain’s travel network has been stymied by a lack of joined-up thinking

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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539 thoughts on “Thursday 6 February: Britain’s travel network has been stymied by a lack of joined-up thinking”

  3. 'Morning All
    As BadEnoch promises another set of lies remember no matter how much we despise Labour we endured 14 years of utter betrayal from the CONservatives
    A pox on both their houses
    Meanwhile Medley Time
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/791ac561e294476ab69b706e9b12415d4a7a60d9a05aeb25b525d126d6117de5.png
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  4. The persecution of Jamie Michael. Spiked. 6 February 2025.

    Jamie is a massage therapist. The police arrived at his workplace and arrested him while he was in the middle of seeing a client. Unbelievably, he was then put in jail for 17 days, before being granted bail by a judge.

    This is an inside look at a prosecution (Mr Michael was acquitted after 17 Minutes of Jury Time) for defying the state. As always of course it is determined to get its pound of flesh. Hence the arrest procedure and its aftermath. If there is a lesson to be learned here, it is to plead not guilty. The system may be against you but the people are not.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/02/05/the-persecution-of-jamie-michael/

    2. All those people now in prison were bounced into pleading guilty by what would seem to be strong-arm tactics by the police and the CPS. There should be a blanket release, if not pardon, of at least the non-violent demonstrators.

  5. Good morning all.
    A misty start this morning, a low of -1°C on the thermometer with a maximum of 8.3°C.

  6. The "You couldn't make it up files" gets an outing
    Where to even begin with this…….
    "The Ministry of Defence's top brass have been told not to talk in electric cars over fears Chinese 'spy' manufacturers could be eavesdropping on top-secret information.

    The government department has leased hundreds of Chinese EVs to meet net zero targets, but it is feared inbuilt microphones might be recording and transmitting conversations."

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14366019/MoD-told-not-talk-electric-cars-Chinese-spy.html

  7. The "You couldn't make it up files" gets an outing
    Where to even begin with this…….
    "The Ministry of Defence's top brass have been told not to talk in electric cars over fears Chinese 'spy' manufacturers could be eavesdropping on top-secret information.

    The government department has leased hundreds of Chinese EVs to meet net zero targets, but it is feared inbuilt microphones might be recording and transmitting conversations."

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14366019/MoD-told-not-talk-electric-cars-Chinese-spy.html

  8. Good Moaning.
    Another lovely "stage set" start to the day.
    I need oxygen … or a goodly slug of something strong. Angela Rayner has actually made a sensible decision. Mawkishness has blighted that area for long enough.

    "Angela Rayner has been accused of ignoring bereaved families of the Grenfell Tower fire after she told them on Wednesday that the block of flats would be demolished.

    The Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary’s decision was branded “disgraceful and unforgivable” by a survivors’ group who claimed that families of the 72 people killed in the fire had not been consulted."

    1. So what would they have done with the block? Left as a decaying memorial??
      It ought to have been demolished years ago.

    2. I suppose the difference between the victims of Grenfell Tower and the victims of a number of tower blocks and other buildings in Gaza is that there is one of one, and countless numbers of the other. The casualty count is similar, except in scale (72 against the 42,000 of those where they have found the bodies) but whereas one was caused by an exploding fridge and cynical building regs placing a higher priority on the bonus pot, the other was an endeavour to clear a province of residents prior to comprehensive redevelopment by foreign business interests.

      Everybody loves the latter. God help us!

    3. I suppose the difference between the victims of Grenfell Tower and the victims of a number of tower blocks and other buildings in Gaza is that there is one of one, and countless numbers of the other. The casualty count is similar, except in scale (72 against the 42,000 of those where they have found the bodies) but whereas one was caused by an exploding fridge and cynical building regs placing a higher priority on the bonus pot, the other was an endeavour to clear a province of residents prior to comprehensive redevelopment by foreign business interests.

      Everybody loves the latter. God help us!

    4. Apparently, the top floors have become unstable and unsafe. For that reason alone, it should be demolished, otherwise it may partially collapse and injure or kill people or damage other buildings below it.

  10. Morning, all Y'all.
    About to be sunny, once the sun has risen a bit more.
    Bizarrely, the automatic sunblinds have lowered themselves, so when the sun does rise, we can't see it! WTF? There's been precious little sun this last few months, being winter, so why shut it out now?

      1. Basically, he is running through why Elon Musk has been appointed to look at Government spending and highlighting examples of not only misspending, but outright fraud being inflicted upon the US Taxpayer.
        However, the last 6 minutes or so are on a different subject VERY applicable to the UK.
        Go to 28min and listen.

  21. You have to admire Trump with his ideas for rebuilding Gaza and changing the culture there for good.
    I get the feeling that those that are against it just want the wars and suffering to continue because they hate Israel.

    1. You could not be further from the truth with this bit of chutzpah.

      The US-backed zealot coalition in the Knesset want nothing more than to prolong the war. As soon as they grudgingly agree to a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, they start bombarding the West Bank, Lebanon or Syria. For as long as the war persists, Bibi is safe from prosecution, and Bibi is one of Trump's closest chums.

      On these terms, can you blame anyone not part of the Israeli Right and their US business friends hating Israel?

      1. Why don't you tell your beloved Palestinian Muslims to stop killing Jews?
        If they, and all their like-minded Muslims across the Middle East didn't persist in attacking, shooting, bombing, firing rockets into Israel, almost daily, the Israelis wouldn't attack them.
        Hamas and their ilk are the problem and a separate state for them is not the solution.

        1. This scapegoating of an entire population for the sins of their renegades, some of whom may well be agents provocateurs working for Netanyahu, is relentless.

          You say nothing of the Palestinian Christians, I note, nor of the Israeli Jews who actually want to live in peace with their neighbours, and better still trade with them rather than exterminate them like vermin.

          2. I suspect that 95% of Muslim Palestinians would happily see Israel and the Jews wiped off the map.

            If Israel really was committing the type of attacks you claim why would they warn the population to leave the area.
            One only has to watch the population’s treatment of the hostages as they are being released and their cheering of the Hamas “fighters” to see how they feel.

          3. Considering what’s been done to them, can you blame them for feeling this way?

            I doubt many Jews had warm feelings towards Germany or the Nazis when they were being persecuted, and quite a few might well have wished them wiped off the map. Most of them though were forced to live with their destiny as well as they could, and not get too wound up – worrying harms the victim far more than it does the gloating culprit.

            One major principle of the religion I subscribe to is that these feelings are an abomination, but not best dealt with through revenge and mutual hatred. The cycle must be broken, even if means banging heads together until they see reason. The alternative is warfare and vendettas cascading down the generations and spilling over into other places that have nothing to do with the conflict, such as Western Europe.

            As for answering your question, the Israelis are playing with their prey, like a cat with a mouse. Warn them and move them into safe spaces, then bomb these safe spaces on a pretext and gloat with satisfaction. There will always be one Hamas fighter, real or imaginary, in every home, school, UN camp or hospital listed for demolition.

            Quite a few of those hostages were killed by IDF raids on their bunkers. From what I saw of the news, for all the cheering, the ones they did let out seem to be in reasonably good health, and not really what I would have expected. From what I could see, there was no point in Hamas not looking after a valuable commodity and the only bargaining chip they have with the Israelis and the Americans.

          4. I believe that, apart from children, they do bring it on themselves.
            And I also strongly believe that Hamas deliberately place women, children and the weak and vulnerable in harms way, because their deaths make excellent propaganda.
            They are evil.

          5. Not as evil as those who are actually doing the killing. Besides where do they put their women, children and the weak if the borders are closed and there is nowhere at all out of harm’s way? Neither Egypt nor Jordan will have them, nor agree to their forced relocation by a hostile occupier. America is quite happy to support this, but I note that Trump is not making homes in his country available to fleeing Palestinian refugees, nor prepared to pay their passage to a new life in America. He only wants their land.

            The best propaganda value perhaps is gained by not killing people in vast numbers, demolishing their homes and then proposing to sell the land wholesale to an American property developer. I doubt they’d tolerate that sort of behaviour in Israel, and they shouldn’t. Why is it ok outside Israel?

          6. I take it from all your posts that Israel is almost invariably in the wrong and that the Palestinians are generally beyond reproach.

            Israel only has to lose once.
            If it happens, I get the distinct impression that you will be amongst those leading the celebrations.

          7. You can take it as you will.

            The Palestinians have their fair share of villains, as we all witnessed on 7th October 2023, and dating back at least to the 1972 massacre of Israeli athletes. Nor can I deny that much of Israel is an oasis of enlightenment, intelligence and resourcefulness in an Islamic morass of forced submission.

            However, in this case, it is the Palestinian citizens that overwhelmingly the persecuted victims, and the Israeli zealots the unspeakable war criminals.

            Anyone with an inkling of Jewish history knows that Israel has fallen quite a few times, and picked themselves up each time.

          8. I clearly know a lot more about the history of that area than you do.
            It isn’t Israel that is the main reason for Palestinian deaths it’s the Palestinians themselves, I count Hamas as Palestinian, even if you won’t.
            Hamas use civilians as human shields. They prevent evacuations, as do the bordering Arab countries.
            The non Hamas supporting Palestinians, and if truth be known I doubt there are really all that many, will have known where almost every terrorist tunnel, arms depot, command centre, bunker etc etc were placed; and even if loyalty prevented the physical exposure they could have told the world these were under schools, hospitals, mosques, residential apartment blocks.

            Aid has poured in over the years and the majority has been syphoned off by Hamas, for use in attacking Israel.
            Israel has bent over backwards to protect Palestinian civilians, the vast majority of belligerents in the world would have done far far less.

          9. It is not clear to me that you know anything about the history of the area. Do you know, for example, where the Philistines came from?

            I would have thought the main cause of Palestinian deaths was those doing the killing, not those seemingly self-destructing by hiding in safe places. And why should anyone tell their enemies where they are hiding?

            As for the misuse of aid, surely it is within the grasp of aid agencies to direct where it should be going? Furthermore, why do you never mention how Gazans are supposed to arrange civil defence – something so obviously needed there, and something the Israelis take as a right for their people.? While we are on this, Israel is not beyond redirecting aid towards its military. Former British Overseas Development Secretary Priti Patel was once caught out using British aid to finance Israeli attacks on the Golan Heights, after spending a “holiday” with Netanyahu. The Leader of the Opposition at the time, Jeremy Corbyn, had his own career broken, accused of “antisemtism” and replaced by the backstabbing Starmer.

            Your last paragraph is such a brazen lie it warrants no respect. Anyone reporting on the state of Gaza can have no doubt that Israeli bombardment of the province was systematic, indiscriminatory and comprehensive. If that is setting the standard for protecting civilians that others, then God help us all. It is no better than Hitler pledging to protect the Jews by relocating them to places more appropriate to their status. Many actually believed him, or hoped at least the rumours were not true, when they got on those trains. I’ve been to Auschwitz and witnessed for myself man’s inhumanity to man, and hoped it would never happen in my lifetime.

            The demolition of Gaza was a site clearance job, ready for an American property developer to move in and create a high end resort, evicting some 2 million people, or what’s left of them. Netanyahu has made no secret of his intention of handing the whole province over to Trump as a condition of stopping the massacre. Lebensraum for wealthy settlers from America.

            Evil is a fair way to describe it.

        2. I have never liked the two-state solution, and would have preferred a state whereby Jews and Gentiles were given equal status under Israeli law. Considering the premise upon which Israel was created, that multiculturalism ain’t going to happen.

          Two million people can claim Gaza as their home. Many of these were displaced by Israeli settlers over the decades since 1949, and had to establish their new homeland in provincial exile, but over many decades and generations since had made a go of it, and are prepared to do so again after the catastrophe of Israeli Bombardment that is on a far bigger scale than the pathetic rocket-slinging that the Israelis can deal with well enough.

          As for that raid on 7th October, that was quite dreadful and the perpetrators of that should have been shot on the spot. However, it begs the question as to why the IDF, which is one of the most effective militaries in the world and well supported by America, failed to patrol a 28-mile border with a place everyone knew was out to bring trouble if they could.

          I accept that the Palestinian Muslims have a huge and troublesome chip on their shoulder about Israel, and considering what they have had to put up with, is anyone surprised? Is extermination or exile the only way to bring lasting peace? Jews may care to look at their own history to consider the answer to that.

          1. You really are blind.
            Israel itself offers equality under its laws.

            Just look at the rate of population increase of Muslims claiming to be “Palestinians” since Israel was created.
            The number of “Palestinians” has multiplied 10 times.

            No Arab country really wants them, for two reasons
            They cause internal strife wherever they go.
            They will persist in using where they are as a base for attacking Israel, and Israel will respond.

    2. Seeing what DOGE is unearthing at USAID it wouldn't be a surprise if this 'conflict' has more bad actors behind the scenes on both sides making a financial killing from the literal killing. While there is profit to be made the fire of hate will continue to be stoked.

    3. The Palees dont want to lose their victim status and prefer to live in rubble close to their sworn enemy rather than move somewhere where they can live in peace. They will of course expect western resources to rebuild whist the arabs sit around and watch. The Don may just tell them to get stuffed if they dont like his plan.

      1. Their fellow Muslims don't seem keen on the idea.
        You'd think the brotherhood would want co-religionists to be happier and wealthier…….
        wouldn't you?

      1. If people insist of voting in the Uniparty again and again that issues the instructions to the BBC to spread such lies, people had better expect more of the same hysteria.

      1. The only radio I listen to is R3 and that's just the music, not the chatter. Can't be bothered with their rubbish.

    3. Does anyone actually believe these professors that Auntie has let loose on their headline news. I dont. I can only deduce they are measuring the temperature in the Sahara, It has been a pretty cold January down here and last year was fairy cool overall. Apparently, the evidence is in floods, fires and droughts that have hit the planet last year. With an extra 5 billion souls on the Earth in the last century and 24hr Sky news, I suspect these phenomena are noticed just a bit more than in previous times.

      2. I saw a rant about the high temperatures in Australia saying some places the temperatures had reach the 40s. When we lived there late 70s, it reach 43c for about a week. Probably hotter further in land.
        It's usually over 40c in the middle east. But luckily they have a massive amount of oil to run the 24/7 air con. Does millipede know ?

        1. We came here 16 years ago for a wedding where the ladies stilettos were sinking in the tarmac of the pavements because it was well into the 40’s.
          At the time the locals told me that was normal and to be expected at this time of year.
          I get the impression nobody believe half the amount of lies we in the UK are told.
          I have just spent a couple of days in Adelaide where the temperatures were in excess of 40 degrees c and everybody was nonplussed about it all.
          They did issue a heat alert, probably to tell visitors and the like to wear a hat and use sunscreen.

          1. As i have mentioned previously we lived south of Adelaide Christies Beach, late 70s and the day time temps were 43c night time 30s. We stayed o in side all day with the aircon on and ventured as many others did, to the beach after dark.

    4. I see the glowball Wokies are now claiminģ that the temperatures in the artic circle are 20 degrees above what 'they' claim is normal.

    5. Hottest January since volcanos were invented. The BBC climate morons should be told that the proper place for the thermometer is not up their pet goat (or boyfriend's) Rsole.

  24. Morning All!

    Today FSB breaks from fretting and fulminating, because Frederica has a an article on her favourite decade, the 1980s, a Sometime Golden Age . Please read and tell us what you liked – or disliked – about that decade.

    Yesterday FSB looked further into unusual patterns which some claim are sinister. The article, Our Toxic Skies , suggests there is. Tomorrow we run the case from a different angle. Again, let us know what you think, conspiracy or conspiracy theory.

    Energy watch 07.30. UK generation: 41.059 GW: Hydrocarbons 57.4%; Wind 14.4%; Imports 0.61%; Biomass 7.3% and Nuclear10.4%. Solar: 0%. UK demand: 38.22GW, UK generation 37.77GW. Imports 0.61GW, exports 2.99GW

    Gas is producing almost 60% of our electricity, thus demonstrating the lunacy of the plan to cut gas production entirely.

  25. 491182+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    all News
    Tories would kick out low-paid migrants
    First major Conservative policy announced by Badenoch would bar those who are unemployed from settling indefinitely in UK

    No they bloody well wouldn't, as long as they, the murderous segment have a hole in their collective arses they will find ,as with lab, a warm welcome.

    They are, first and foremost an "in waiting" political
    protection unit, AND a MAJOR threat to the indigenous herd well able to take up the culling tool and follow ANY of the political treacherous trios semi covert agenda.

    all News
    Tories would kick out low-paid migrants
    First major Conservative policy announced by Badenoch would bar those who are unemployed from settling indefinitely in UK

    2. 401182+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      These invaders are the sword of DAMOCLES hanging over every decent folks canister, currently in the shape of a cane knife and
      carried / used on a seemingly daily basis with murderous intent.

    3. For as long as there remains linkages, no matter how vigorous the denials from the Uni-party, to 'international' groups e.g. WEF, Club of Rome and the Trilateral Commission, nothing will change. Promises/pledges/commitments/policies, all will be worthless as we have seen for decades past. Perfidious Albion is indeed alive and is clearly attacking its own people whilst supporting the self-proclaimed and unelected globalist elite..

      1. 401182+ up ticks,

        Evening M,
        In the main prior to the RESET plague we managed very well and trained our own medic staff.
        Currently we are overrun by illegal foreign invading forces
        Shortage of doctors will continue ALL the while the likes of the dover invaders beachhead is active.

  26. Good morning all.

    Chagos blueprint

    SIR – If this Government insists on needlessly giving the Chagos Islands away, there is a blueprint it could follow that would be better than the current plan (“Britain’s £9bn Chagos payment to rise under new inflation clause”, report, February 5).

    When Britain handed over Cyprus in 1960, we retained in perpetuity two Sovereign Base Areas – enclaves wholly owned and controlled by the UK, to be used, among other things, for the projection of military power in the Mediterranean. A similar solution could be applied to Diego Garcia.

    The notion of paying another power to take something we own off our hands would be laughable to any other administration, even before the security implications were considered.

    Col Mark Rayner (retd)
    Eastbourne, East Sussex

    Can anyone give me a reason why we are paying to give away the islands?

    The only thing i can think of as they tried to rush it through before Trump became President was to weaken the USA military.

      1. I wonder if Starmer's little friend who is the legal advisor to Mauritius stands to get a substantial fee for his work?

    2. I could have understood it a little better if they had been given back to the peoples who had been displaced, given them independence as a sovereign state in their own right and been offered military protection and fees by the US and GB for the base.

  27. Fightback against London's £50million mobile phone theft crimewave

    Regretfully Zakaria Senadjki, Ahmed Abdelhakim Belhanafi, Nazih Cheraitia and Riyadh Mamouni were jailed taking up valuable cell space and generally wasting police time.

    Bestseller "WASTING POLICE TIME" explains why there's never a policeman around when you need one, why the 'war on crime' is a sham and how senior officers and the government conspire to fake the crime stats and fool the public. PC David Copperfield is an ordinary bobby with an extraordinary talent for writing – he's hilariously scarcastic and biting about his bosses, the criminals he deals with and the judges and politicians who allow our streets to collapse into chaos as they themselves live in fortified houses and are driven around by armed police.

  28. Good morning, all. Bright start with a light frost but now a mist has appeared and everything is covered in a heavier coating of frost.

    Why the troubled look if you really believe in what you're doing to your Country is the right thing? Shouldn't you have that happy look of confidence that appears when everything you're doing is beneficial to your Country's prospects and therefore improving people's lives? Instead…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1aef28485b2587ba5de40d1025657b8e5198d15b6be42540502306ad3de03fa5.png

          2. Not too bad when I was hanging the washing out. Had a potter round the garden – lots of crocuses in the lawn and shoots in the pots.

    2. They are not coping with the pressure of being held to account .. absolute idiots jumped in straight away and destroyed their chances of moderately easing themselves in .. Their early excitement for change was too premature .

      Most of them were 14 years of opposition , whereby they had no responsibilities .. serves them right .. and I hope Starmer is suffering hugely now that Trump has been in power for 2 weeks ..

      1. If Starmer pays an enormous sum to give away the Chagos Islands to Mauritius then expect Trump to impose double the amount of sanctions he plans to impose on the EU on the UK.

        The trouble is that Starmer will be very happy if Trump does do this as his government's main aim is to destroy the UK financially and make if ripe for communism.

    3. I wonder how long Ed Balls will stay with Yvette? She is becoming more and more gorgon-like by the second.

      1. Well he’s no painting. They really do deserve each other, Mr No Balls and Mrs Leftard face.

      1. Yep, you could spout off crap all day, criticise everybody and never have to take responsibility for anything.

    6. Holy Smoke.
      Balls-Cooper has aged 30 years since July.
      In fairness, Thieves has only added about 20 years but she does appear to have changed sex.

  29. Good morning all.

    Sunny frosty morning , still air .. -3c..

    The garden mole has been busy, we are still using the solar buzzers that Moh bought from Amazon , but clearly old Moley enjoys the buzzy sensations, so the early deterrent value has worn off .

    Yesterday afternoon late, whilst out and about in the countryside walking Pip , I noticed some huge molehill mounds erupting on the grassy area where we walked / galloped .

    There are also grazing pigs , and the mess the pigs have made is incredible as they turf up the grass, absolute mayhem , so the moles have competition .

    https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/dorset/spyway/please-dont-pet-the-pigs

    2. Yo T_B

      Buy a badger: you will never be able to garden again: disturb "it" and it is prison

    3. Grazing pigs are essential to allow the diversity of wildlife survive. Which buch of uneducated morons allowed and set that up to happen ? The pigs will eat anything except citrus. If one died or was killed the fellow pigs would leave nothing but a few bones and the trotters.
      They will even eat new born lambs.

  30. Good Moaning to you all from a Cold but Sunny C d S.

    The holiday bugs re still hanging onto us.

    Solar Panels charging, whilst all rooves in sight are frost laden, which proves the insulation works

  31. I wonder whether the betting fraternity stake bets on where the next atrocity will occur in the UK.

    What percentage of illegals/legals arrive here with mental issues ?

      1. It's part of the intended invasion of the Northern part of Europe.
        Our idiots have let it happen. With deliberate intention and the knowledge that it took more than 300 years to drive them out of Spain.

      2. It's part of the intended invasion of the Northern part of Europe.
        Our idiots have let it happen. With deliberate intention and the knowledge that it took more than 300 years to drive them out of Spain.

  32. Morning all 🙂😊
    Another lovely sunny start but very frosty.
    It's not just our transport system that's in trouble because of none have joined up thinking.
    We need better trained chiefs. And a minimum amount of hatefill Wokeyness. It's wrecking every thing and substantially.

  34. Not too difficult today:
    Wordle 1,328 3/6
    ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
    🟩🟨⬜🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. 'Twas for me!
      Wordle 1,328 5/6

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

  35. If the lunatic Rory Stewart is searching for a soulmate then perhaps Layla Moran is the one he is looking for?

    She looks as weird as he does and is just as peculiar. She was once in trouble for having beaten up her boyfriend – before she became pan-sexual – and we know that Rory is fond of martial arts so they could have fun attacking each other physically.

    1. Btw, when King Charles visited Paris he kissed all the women's hands with the exception of First Lady Brigitte Macron. He gave her a firm hand shake. Nuff said.

    3. Mirror image? What was the old riddle?

      Brothers and sisters have I none but that man's father in my father's son.

      1. When was the last time Starmer or his minions – told the truth?

        The last time he or they did so it was by accident.

        1. Yup, I think most of the thinking population have got that message. Sadly a growing part of our population are either not-thinking or foreign.

  38. 401182+ up ticks,

    If you work with what we know and have witnessed then the final end game will not be such a disappointment.

    ONE,We are at war with these political governing odious entities.

    TWO, we have no friends in parliament.

    Dt,

    Rayner postpones local elections for millions in blow to surging Reform
    Nigel Farage criticises ‘cowardice of the political class’
    as elections in nine areas are delayed until next year

    Answer surely is, delay council tax as being council tax is linked to elections.

    This political lady of ill repute is upping council tax 10% isn't that like someone saying to you, " hold still iI wan't to gouge your eye out".

    1. An electorate that votes for local government as if it were a referendum on central government shouldn’t be allowed to vote. Local government is about local issues, planning, care in the community (what’s that these days) bin collections etc.

      1. 401182+ up ticks,

        M,
        Doesn’t follow,
        politico’s who are complete rear exits in the GE cannot be taken for angels in byelections.

    1. And Miliband says not a word.

      Instead of imprisoning Just Stop Oil demonstrators perhaps we should fly them to China in solar powered aircraft and leave them there

      1. He has never mentioned the problem with the whole of the middle east and their use of oil to run everything even the desalination plants.
        It shows his true character.

    2. and it make China oooodles of our money, out of Net Zero Bowlooks and our stupidity of not having the ability to manufacture anything, apart from the Pillocks in Parliament

    3. They never quite get it right with these clips although the taller chimneys are emitting smoke the lower ones are emitting steam they are cooling towers. But obviously if they were not importing millions of tonnes of Australian coal to supply their electricity none of that would be happening.
      And our idiots wouldn't have to try and force us to our knees in fake submission to their Dopey Wokey attitudes.

  40. Here we go again – the Bolleaux Broadcasting Company reporting some “expert” from the IPCC (who pay his salary) who claims that January was the hottest January since records began!! Perhaps he could explain why we couldn’t get out of the house for a week as the road was sheet ice? Where did his data come from, I wonder – an airport, or maybe one of the non existent sites used by our Met Office?

    3. Thank you, SB. I've been waiting for this report. It had to happen as this nonsense appears to be the latest manner for spreading the CC propaganda to the unthinking masses.

    4. Thank you, SB. I've been waiting for this report. It had to happen as this nonsense appears to be the latest manner for spreading the CC propaganda to the unthinking masses.

  42. I went for a blood test this morning and as the nurse put in the needle to suck out my blood I addressed him as Dracula. He was rather amused by this so as I left I wished him bon voyage for his return trip to Transylvania.

    1. I knew a Romanian, from Transylvania and called Vlad, with a widow's peak that came down to almost meet his eyebrows. He used to come to open mic nights where his Irish girlfriend entertained us all with her fiddling. We used to discuss fishing.

  45. Another communique from our resident correspondent in No 10. Using the Word Salad cipher, vastly more complicated than Enigma, he is as vague as usual. Clearly nigh on impossible to make any real sense without the correct cipher key. Try deflection or bullshit, either should do.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9732dcf5651256c5fd05e302857927951c9ad6f83acfb85df0654f5107781d97.png

    "…hostage to Putin". Bit of a stretch at these falling percentages. The real question is: why aren't we exploiting our own resources? Miliband might know but he's already using Word Salad beta.

    How much does the UK rely on energy from Russia? In 2021 imports from Russia made up 4% of gas used in the UK, 9% of oil and 27% of coal. In 2021, imports of gas, oil and coal from Russian to the UK were worth a combined £4.5 billion. This fell to £2.2 billion in 2022 and £1.3 billion in the year to January 2023.13 Mar 2023

    "We are changing the rules on nuclear…"

    To what? From what? Easing the rules or tightening the rules? Are SMRs on the table or not? If on the table, will we be buying British, you know, an act that will create growth and put more money in people's pockets?

    Why did Starmer bother? It's vague, uninformative clap-trap.

    2. Moaning all. I’m pretty sure I heard some while ago that, instead of using our own RR to produce SMR, it’s being put out to tender. Can’t think where I heard it but it wouldn’t surprise me at all. Probably to keep in with theEU?

      1. I’ve read that and you’re likely correct re the EU. Do France or Germany have a plan? If so, EU lover Starmer will feed their coffers rather than RR’s.

    3. Nuclear will never fly (if you see what I mean). Everyone is terrified of it, there will be so many planning disputes and legal challenges that the 3rd runway will be properly in use before a single watt is generated by a new nuclear power station.

    4. It isn't the nimbys who have made energy expensive – it's Milioaf and his nut zero obsession.

      1. Tony Curtis in drag in this picture looks rather like Shirley Maclean, Warren Beatty's older sister.

  49. Will the Tories really kick out low-paid migrants? 6 February 2025.

    Despite having led us all not to expect firm policy announcements for a couple of years, Kemi Badenoch’s party has just nailed its colours to the mast of a migration policy idea that has recently been doing the rounds in right-wing think tank circles: toughening-up the eligibility criteria for granting foreign nationals indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in the UK.

    Is this a joke? What are they going to do? Cancel their benefits? Despite fourteen years in power and numerous promises and false starts nothing has yet been done. Nothing is going to be done. Only the ousting of these traitors from Government can have an effect.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/can-we-trust-the-tory-plan-to-kick-out-low-paid-migrants/

    1. Easy:
      1 Apply for permission to enter the UK from outside of the UK only
      2 Conditions: Have you a job that pays enough to properly live on?
      3 If not complying with the above,, fcuk right off and, ideally, die.

  53. This popped up in a "feed"

    Firstly I don’t give a Rats ass who this offends, but I stand by it. War is coming, sooner or later! You the Government📝!! You are all a bunch of cowards! You raised the cost of living so high that both parents are always at work, rather than spending time with their children (single parents stand no chance)😥. You took God out of schools. Parents were told 'No you can't discipline your kids'. Well, now most of those kids are rude and out of control. You shall reap what you sow! We have taken a whole generation and turned them into selfish, entitled brats who have no respect for people, property or authority! You deem people with terminal illnesses and some with only a few months to live…fit for work!!! You allow our veterans of war to go homeless and hungry but give out millions to foreign aid!!! You save drug addicts over and over again but refuse to give free diabetic supplies to those who need them to stay alive. You bend over backwards to be politically correct, too scared to say enough is enough, in case you offend someone. You put the retirement age up so people must work until they drop. You take care of prisoners and give them everything under the sun (food, medical, education, representation, money, rehabilitation) yet you cause the elderly, those that have paid their debt to society and their families, to go broke caring for them either at home or in a nursing home… THINGS NEED TO CHANGE!🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
    Copy & paste if you have the guts!

    2. 1000plus up ticks

      You take care of prisoners and give them everything under the sun (food, medical, education, representation, money, rehabilitation)

      Not just prisoners but any useless human lump that arrives on our shores.

  54. My nephew has asked me to see a show his girlfriend is working with in Birmingham on Saturday. Normally I travel up from Great Malvern, where I can park for free not too far from the station, but I am on a tour to an organ factory that morning and pushed for time. It's an hour from Great Malvern, but only 30 minutes from Worcestershire Parkway, about a 20 minute drive away, and the trains from there arrive 15 minutes before curtain-up.

    I've been two hours now fighting smart technology trying to find a way to travel through Worcestershire Parkway station – a brand new, state-of-the-art facility that is supposed to be an improvement on what the Victorians built.

    Buying the train ticket is useless through the upgraded site, which freezes and gets nowhere. I found an older version and got as far as putting in my card details before it froze up. After a reboot, and carefully avoiding the smart wizard this time, I got there in the end.

    Parking there is horrible, There is this nasty corporation called APCOA which has bagged the rights to parking at the station from the developers. They warn of queues and malfunctioning payment machines at the station and recommend booking online in advance, but provide no ready way to do this. When I looked last week, their tariff was £3.50, but it's gone up to £4.50 because they make more money that way, and nobody notices inflation now any more than they did in the 1970s. There seems no alternative, and no doubt APCOA have put yellow lines everywhere in case people seek a competitive alternative.

    I'm driving to Stratford-upon-Avon tomorrow to look at a replacement 2CV to the one I had for thirty years, which is beyond economic repair, so I might drop by the station to work out the quickest way to fight my way onto the platform.

    2. I can't use the railway carpark as I do not have a smart phone. So I don't travel by train.

    3. A car like a 2CV shouldn't be evaluated on cost-effectiveness, but on eccentricity, style, and how much it is loved (despite being a collection of metal parts).

      1. I agree, and have been agonising over it. All along I wanted to restore my old car and have it running for at least another ten years, and prepared to pay more than it was worth within reason. The Guernsey car is practically identical, same age, same colour which I could import for 11.5k (which includes re-registration, shipping and VAT), and was fully restored five years ago.

        The restorer reckons that pretty well every part of it needs renewing, and I can see the rebuild costing 20k. I am keeping that option open as long as possible. Even if a buy another 2CV tomorrow, a 40-year-old classic is not going to depreciate much in the short term, which buys enough time to make a final decision.

        I have offered the restorer the option of buying the VIN off me. It is a lot cheaper for him to work on his own project than to charge me full market rates plus VAT for the work.

    4. I think that asking NoTTLers if anyone lives nearby, whether you can park your car with them. That's how we first met Ashes, who wanted to come to London for a demo, and asked if she could park for the day.

      I said she could park on our little carport – we are 20 minutes by train from central London. As it turned out, it was far better for us all that she stayed the night with us too, and that was the start of a lovely friendship and several stays.

    5. Did you look at Droitwich. APCOA as well although it still says 3.50 all day on the web sire

          1. As we never got over Blair and Brown, and that was over a decade and a half ago (not saying why we didn't – TORIES – just that we didn't) it will take a revolution to get over piggy-eyed Starmer finishing off what those two traitors started.

          2. It's not just the current mess that they have created, it the total loss of confidence in any British government.
            Who on earth would make long term investment plans in a country that is that stupid enough to periodically vote in such vindictive and ignorant gargoyles?

          3. I remarked that we'd lived through the seventies so we knew what to expect. Trouble is, a lot of people either have very short memories or weren't born then.

  56. The Spectator is guessing that Mrs Balls will replace the Dinner Lady as Chancellor come the Spring.

    Out of the frying pan into the fire, I'd say….

      1. I must add the Rider that by all accounts Mrs Joicey is looking even more Haggard.

        1. Wot again? She was sprogging before she left secondary school – maybe that is the excuse for her getting no decent exams (it can’t be because she is just thick and lazy, surely????) She comes across like the archetypal behind the bicycle shed chav.

          1. I couldn’t possibly comment…cat got the cream, whichever. Perhaps she’s just chuffed at someone else writing her papers for her.

    4. When the sideways promotion of the current Dinner Lady was mooted at lunch, we all said, "we could be out of the frying pan into the fire".

  57. I have a birthday coming up. This morning i received a huge box. It contains almost every smoked fish imaginable. It must have cost a fortune. No note. No card.

    It can only have come from Garlands. I do wish she would speak to me. Or anyone for that matter.

        1. Well, she's doing things the way she feels comfortable with. It's a shame, but at least you can thank her, as you know her email/address. Sometimes the preferred ways of others are unfathonable to us…

          2. C'mon, you are married with offspring. You have learnt to adapt! Not all folk behave in a way that seems completely off-kilter, otherwise we couldn't function at all!

            I had a bit the same with Plum, who was very private indeed, but I think it's OK to say now that we saw her a few times, and she invited us for lunch in her house, and we saw the sweet Maud.

            Then things happened, included her beloved Maud dying, covid and generally disappearing. When I first located her in hospital she didn't know who I was, but later we had a nice chat. She has obviously chosen to withdraw, which is why I now wouldn't contact her, as I genuinely think she doesn't want that.

          3. After Maud died, Plum seemed to lose her spirit.

            "The Power of the Dog

            There is sorrow enough in the natural way
            From men and women to fill our day;
            And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
            Why do we always arrange for more?
            Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
            Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

            Buy a pup and your money will buy
            Love unflinching that cannot lie –
            Perfect passion and worship fed
            By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
            Nevertheless it is hardly fair
            To risk your heart for a dog to tear.

            When the fourteen years which Nature permits
            Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
            And the vet’s unspoken prescription runs
            To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
            Then you will find – it’s your own affair –
            But … you’ve given your heart to a dog to tear.

            When the body that lived at your single will,
            With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!);
            When the spirit that answered your every mood
            Is gone – wherever it goes – for good,
            You will discover how much you care,
            And will give you heart to a dog to tear."

          4. Indeed. Although Plum was so private that she didn’t want even potentially to be contacted, and was at the time very private about us meeting the times we did.

            So much time has passed now. I hope she is OK, she was a lovely host and great fun.

          5. She loves the Beatles – and especially George Harrison.

            She also loves Cornwall and the novels f Howard Spring.

            I am sure many Nottlers miss her and would like to send her our love.

          7. Plum may have been on some strong meds when you visited her in hospital. That was kind of you.

          8. It's her birthday March 2nd so i did Moonpig with chocs and fizz and a card with all the wishes and thankyous.

        2. Well, she's doing things the way she feels comfortable with. It's a shame, but at least you can thank her, as you know her email/address. Sometimes the preferred ways of others are unfathonable to us…

        3. It’s odd that she doesn’t communicate or send a brief note with the present. Does she never reply if you send anything to her?

          1. I always send gifts for her birthday and Christmas. Never gets a response. Though she did respond to the email i sent her about Nagsman. She just said thank you for letting me know. That's it.

          2. Very odd. You can let her know Tom has died – see if there’s any response – and thank her for the fish.

          4. Is she in touch with anyone else? Maybe Geoff. Or maybe she just doesn’t want to know us any more.

          5. If Geoff is in contact with Jill he’s keeping mum about it.

            I don’t ask because i respect their privacy.

            Like Ruth i expect Jill wants to concentrate on better things than the appalling news. I don’t blame them. It got to me the other day. Solved that with CBD oil.

    3. Happy birthday for the big day, Pip. I had an apple tree delivered today – but I had to buy it myself 🙂

  60. For those that follow footie.. you'll know the activists are doing their best to destroy the game.
    High-pitched women commentators talkin bollx. All chanting to be banned. Rainbow laces. BLM genuflection.

    Alan Brazil is the latest to be branded a 'dinosaur' by his own talkSPORT co-host after his extraordinary rant on women's football live on air.

    For the aficionados this is how a commentary should sound.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuv1XjXmBtY

    2. My husband follows this, so I see the videos – I'm no footie fan, but these videos are very very funny…

  61. So she knows that you appreciate what she does – that's the important thing. The fact that she has otherwise withdrawn is sad for us, but obviously suits her. It is apparent that she also cares a great deal for you, which is lovely.

    1. Business opportunity there, Korky – for a small charge, grind a point onto a round ended blade. Add a few teeth, as well…

      1. And the likes of Cooper fail to realise that that is exactly what the stabbers and slashers would do.

        1. She probably never does any cooking but eats out in restaurants and charges it to expenses.

      2. And the likes of Cooper fail to realise that that is exactly what the stabbers and slashers would do.

      1. We know that.. everybody knows that.. but she's a Libtard.

        It's like banning rucksacks.. to prevent mostly peaceful Ropers becoming Hissin Sploding Ropers.

      2. We know that.. everybody knows that.. but she's a Libtard.

        It's like banning rucksacks.. to prevent mostly peaceful Ropers becoming Hissin Sploding Ropers.

    1. Not on your nelly.

      I don't trust any of that muck. Dolly and Harry get the meat off the roast chicken carcass and any meat trimmings. Including steak i couldn't manage to finish in the restaurant.

      They quite liked the sirloin i brought back from Rules Covent Garden but weren't so impressed with the Cafe de Paris butter. I wasn't either.

      They also get Iams diet biscuits.

    2. Not on your nelly.

      I don't trust any of that muck. Dolly and Harry get the meat off the roast chicken carcass and any meat trimmings. Including steak i couldn't manage to finish in the restaurant.

      They quite liked the sirloin i brought back from Rules Covent Garden but weren't so impressed with the Cafe de Paris butter. I wasn't either.

      They also get Iams diet biscuits.

    3. Saw that on Al-Beeb news about an hour ago. Ugh!

      NB – I'm at the home of my friend who underwent surgery yesterday and SHE has MSM news on the television. I am not backsliding!

    6. No, mine doesn't get meat treats other than pig's and rabbit's ears, lambskin chews and bones. He mainly gets biscuits as treats. I don't buy from Pets At Home. Anything "plant based" or "slaughter free" for carnivores is a definite no-no.

  66. Swedish school shooter shouted ‘you should go away from Europe’ between fire. 6 February 2025,

    Police said they have no evidence yet that the attack – the largest mass shooting in the country’s history – was “ideological”.

    The new video was obtained and analysed by Swedish channel TV4 and appears to capture the voice of an unknown person shouting in Swedish, “You should go away from Europe,” in between the shots being fired.

    Andersson, who died at the scene from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, had distanced himself from family and friends in recent years, relatives said, as more details about him began to emerge.

    The Swedes being coy.

    Comments shut down.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/02/05/swedish-school-gunman-named-recluse-rickard-andersson/

      1. He should have consulted with me first. I am so far-Right, I am way past JADES-GS-z13-0, and you can't get further far- Right than that!

  67. From the Daily Telegraph

    This is how Lucy Letby can walk free

    As her conviction is cast into yet more doubt, legal experts rate the chances of a successful appeal – and how long the process could tak
    In a wood-panelled room in Westminster this week, there came an extraordinary development in the Lucy Letby murder case. “Ladies and gentlemen,” Dr Shoo Lee told the assembled media. “We did not find any murders.”

    Letby, a 35-year-old former neonatal nurse from Hereford, is serving 15 whole life sentences for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others between 2015 and 2016. Last year she failed twice in her attempts to challenge her convictions at the Court of Appeal.

    Despite this, the chorus of voices expressing disquiet over the safety of the convictions has been growing louder. On Tuesday, it reached a crescendo when a 14-strong panel of international medical experts, chaired by Dr Lee, outlined their findings at a lengthy press conference in central London. All of the infant deaths and injuries at the Countess of Chester Hospital for which Letby was found responsible were “due to natural causes or just bad medical care,” said Lee, president of the Canadian Neonatal Foundation.

    The case has been referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which confirmed it will look into it. This, then, raises the question: could convicted serial killer Lucy Letby walk free, following what her lawyer believes could be the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history?

    The answer will depend on what happens next in a legal process that may not move as quickly as he hopes. But Mark McDonald, the barrister who took on Letby’s case in September (after she had been found guilty), is optimistic. “It could be overturned this year,” he says.

    That, say other barristers, is highly unlikely, at least as far as the time frame is concerned.

    First, the CCRC – an independent body that investigates potential miscarriages of justice – must thoroughly review and analyse the evidence, including all the new evidence presented since the trial.

    This will include claims made at the press conference that many of the babies died from sub-optimal care at the hospital, with doctors allegedly failing to spot dangerous bacterial infections, not giving life-saving antibiotics and making errors in inserting breathing tubes and IV lines.

    “They will take years,” says one criminal KC, speaking on condition of anonymity about the next steps in the legal process.

    Others have more faith the review will be carried out in a timely manner, given the circumstances.

    “My view is when someone’s incarcerated and there’s a question about their guilt or innocence, matters should be expedited,” says Julian Hayes, a senior partner at Berris Law. “It could be years, but I suspect they will expedite this.”

    Having followed the case closely, he has had concerns from the outset about the convictions. A criminal and childcare lawyer, he describes the medical evidence as “a matter of opinion,” and notes that there are quite often “differing medical views on a particular set of circumstances”.

    Countess of Chester Hospital, where nurse Lucy Letby used to work
    An international panel of medical experts has claimed that many of the babies died from inadequate care at Countess of Chester Hospital Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty
    Ultimately, the CCRC must decide whether there is a realistic prospect of the Court of Appeal quashing the conviction, at least on some of the counts. If they decide there is, then the case would be referred back to the Court of Appeal.

    This would be a “massive step”, says the KC. “The CCRC is very conscious of getting told off by the Court of Appeal for referring cases that don’t merit referral.”

    Yet some, of course, do. From its inception in April 1997 to December 2024, the CCRC received 32,758 cases, more than 1,100 of which are still awaiting consideration or under review.

    Of the 31,590 cases it has completed, 855 were referred to the appeal courts. Of these, 592 appeals were successful. In other words, an average of almost 22 cases a year are successfully appealed following a referral to the CCRC.

    Some suggest that Letby’s case has parallels with one of them: the 1999 conviction at Chester Crown Court of solicitor Sally Clark for murdering her two baby boys. The CCRC received an application for review of the verdict in 2001.

    Both babies had died suddenly, and Clark’s trial had heard expert evidence regarding the statistical improbability of multiple cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in one family.

    The CCRC concluded the medical and statistical evidence at the trial had been misleading, and the Court of Appeal quashed Clark’s conviction in 2003.

    Four years later, she died accidentally, aged 42, from acute alcohol intoxication. She had “never recovered” from her wrongful conviction, said the coroner.

    “In that case there was a lot of disquiet, in the same way as with Letby, around the misuse of statistics,” says the KC.

    He nonetheless believes that if the CCRC refer Letby’s case to the Court of Appeal, the most likely outcome will be that the latter upholds the original verdict.

    There are two other possibilities, however: that the verdict is quashed and prosecutors order a retrial, or that no retrial is brought and Letby walks free.

    “That’s not going to happen,” says the KC of the second option. “Even leaving aside the evidence, [there’s] the institutional embarrassment of saying these trials and two appeals were messed up so badly that this innocent person was convicted of seven counts of murder. They might end up doing it in 15 years’ time when some completely new medical [light is shed] and the Court of Appeal [judges have] changed. But it seems incredibly unlikely.”

    Others aren’t so sure, McDonald being one of them. The case that the medical evidence put before the jury was wrong is now “overwhelming”, he argues. He describes the panel who reviewed it as “the best in the world in neonatology medicine”.

    He cannot see how their findings can be rebutted, he says. “My view is they have to send it back to the Court of Appeal. I don’t see how they’ve got any other choice.”

    He expects a retrial. And in this event, he intends to call everyone on the 14-strong expert panel to give evidence. “If the jury had heard what was said in that press conference [on Tuesday], they would not have convicted Lucy Letby,” he says.

    The huge amount of publicity Letby’s case has attracted would not stand in the way of the case being put before a jury again. “There’s no rule that stops a retrial, whatever the publicity is,” says the KC.

    Nor will the Court of Appeal be unduly influenced by public opinion, suggests Adam King, a criminal barrister at QEB Hollis Whiteman, who has written about the case. He offers a cautiously optimistic assessment of Letby’s chances of eventually walking free.

    “You can’t be guaranteed to overturn a conviction by getting some new experts to say the experts in the trial were wrong,” he points out. “Experts can be found to say just about anything. What matters is the credibility of those experts and the reports they provide to the court.”

    However, he believes there is a “significant” chance that Letby will be freed.

    “I wouldn’t want to give a percentage,” he says. “If I had to answer ‘in 30 years’ time will Lucy Letby be a free woman?’ I would say she would be.”

    Bodycam footage released by Cheshire Constabulary police force in Manchester on August 17, 2023, shows the nurse Lucy Letby being arrested at home in Chester
    Despite the enormous amount of publicity that surrounded Letby’s trial, it is possible that her case could be put before a jury once again Credit: Cheshire Constabulary/AFP
    The legal implications of this would be enormous: it would represent the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history, says McDonald. Bigger, he says, than the case of the “Birmingham Six”, who were wrongly convicted of the 1974 pub bombings.

    It would also be the fastest a conviction has ever been overturned, he believes, as the process usually takes many years. Admittedly, in Letby’s case, it still could, even if McDonald is bullish.

    “It’s not going to take [the CCRC] more than four months to recognise the conviction is unsafe and needs to go to the Court of Appeal,” he says.

    No reconsideration of the case should forget the bereaved families at the centre of this ordeal. The mother of a baby boy Letby was convicted of attempting to murder was scathing about the attempts to exonerate her. The families “already have the truth”, she has said. “We believe in the British justice system, we believe the jury made the right decision.” It’s worth noting, too, that police are continuing to investigate two baby deaths linked to the hospital where Letby worked – and even if a retrial happens, they could bring fresh charges.

    But if it is found after all that Letby was wrongly convicted and jailed, there will doubtless be calls for a serious look at the process that led to this.

    “I think it will require a public inquiry,” says McDonald.

    Either way, the ripples from the findings announced in that packed, thickly carpeted room in the heart of London this week will continue to spread. The families hoping for closure on an agonising saga will continue to wait. The controversial case of Lucy Letby is by no means over.

    1. Though I specialised in civil law and only appeared in a criminal court about six times – to apply for bail – I was very concerned that the trial took so many months. I don't believe any reasonable juror could retain the evidence for all that time to be able to return verdicts on so many separate (but similar) charges.

      2. I recall that some of the evidence against her was taken from a diary/notes? that she wrote herself, blaming herself, and essentially admitting it was her fault.

        I don't think it is reasonable to convict on that alone because a caring individual might well question their contribution and seek reasons in their own mind for what happened.

    2. I have never felt comfortable about this case.
      I suspect there was scapegoating by inadequate staff working in an unsuitable unit.

    2. The "idea" that heterosexuality is the norm? The vast majority of humans are heterosexual. Therefore it IS the norm. They're the ones trying to supplant reality with ideas, not the rest of us.

      1. I don't think they understand concepts like standard deviation – only deviation which they think is standard 🙂

    4. I think its reinforcing gender stereotypes – the man is doing all the work while the woman sits around watching (dives for cover)….

  72. Wordle No. 1,328 3/6

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    Wordle 6 Feb 2025

    An academic Birdie Three?

    1. In Corner, dunces hat and a glass of pinot.
      Wordle 1,328 4/6

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    2. Well done, looks like I had the same start as you (I know we use similar starter words) – but missed the right option!!

      Wordle 1,328 4/6

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    3. Four for me.

      Wordle 1,328 4/6

      ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
      ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
      🟨🟨🟨🟩⬜
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    5. Well done, took me a while.

      Wordle 1,328 5/6

      ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
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      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. I thought the Tories were all in favour of privatisation. The current system produces loads of extra paperwork, and the passengers pay for it.

        1. 401182 + up ticks,
          M,
          The tory (INO) party will continue where the lab party leaves off and vice versa, they are a coalition

    3. if she’s seen as one of the brightest MPs by TTKS then it shows what a dire standard of MPs has reached. She is behind Reeves in her race to the bottom but only by a whisker.
      Heaven help us and our children and grandchildren.

      1. I heard Katharine Birbalsingh on Talk Radio earlier. She was simmering with rage at the patronising attitude of the stupid bitch Phillipson! Great interview!

      2. I heard Katharine Birbalsingh on Talk Radio earlier. She was simmering with rage at the patronising attitude of the stupid bitch Phillipson! Great interview!

    4. It seems that Katherine Birbalsingh expects actual competence from the Minister – how very unreasonable of her!
      The left have been attacking Michaela and KB personally recently. It must be so frustrating to spend one's entire career trying to improve children's lives, just to have politicians and civil serpents doing their best to bring you down.

  76. 401182+ up ticks,

    Another landing barge hits the beach setting the foreign invaders feet apounding the pavements to the nearest welfare office, en toute to the
    5* hotel / barracks.

    Not long now until we enter the dehumanizing era as in, sharing domestic / amenities space best be prepared in some foreign useful patter such as,
    " put your spear / cane knife in the coat stand" before you sit down to dinner.

    https://x.com/SimonJonesNews/status/1887443885737013317

  77. 401182+ up ticks,

    Another landing barge hits the beach setting the foreign invaders feet apounding the pavements to the nearest welfare office, en toute to the
    5* hotel / barracks.

    Not long now until we enter the dehumanizing era as in, sharing domestic / amenities space best be prepared in some foreign useful patter such as,
    " put your spear / cane knife in the coat stand" before you sit down to dinner.

    https://x.com/SimonJonesNews/status/1887443885737013317

  78. Bridget Phillipson accused of having 'Marxist ideological dislike of academies' by leading headteacher
    Katharine Birbalsingh, who is credited with being one of the best headteachers in the country because of her success with Michaela school in London, has launched a ferocious attack on the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson.

    In an open letter published on social media, Birbalsingh described Phillipson as having “a Marxist ideological dislike of academies” and claimed she was unable to answer questions about her schools bill when they met on Monday this week.

    Birbalsingh also claimed Phillipson showed no interest in learning how Michaela, a non-selective inner city school, has been able to achieve outstanding results.

    Two weeks ago Kemi Badenoch quoted Birbalsingh at PMQs when criticising the children’s wellbeing and schools bill, which will limit the freedoms enjoyed by academy schools. Birbalsingh, who is widely admired by Tories but who describes herself as a floating voter, published a lengthy criticism of the bill last month. But her latest critique is much stronger.

    In the letter she says:

    Politicians who truly want to raise standards for our deprived communities would ordinarily be interested in hearing from the people who know best how to do it: the teachers.

    Take our own school of Michaela. Last year, pupils at Eton College (fees £60,000 per year) received 53% grade 9s across all their GCSEs. Michaela (a non-selective state school in a converted office block in Wembley) achieved 52%. Anyone who thinks that black and brown kids from the inner are destined to be underachievers are wrong. They should meet our children. And with the right values, the right leadership, the right school freedoms, we prove them wrong every time. One would have thought a secretary of state keen to spread aspiration across the country would want to ask: how is this done? How can we raise the standards everywhere? Yet when we spoke of our successes, you did not probe to find out how we achieve what we do. You are not interested …

    We asked you to explain why it is that academies were able to drive up standards. You are removing their freedoms so you clearly don’t believe their freedoms lead to success. So what does? You could not answer that either. We asked you to name any single school that you believed is driving up standards. You talked around the houses as politicians do but, again – no real answers.

    Academies tailor their curricula to the communities they serve and are only able to do this because of curriculum freedoms – freedoms that you are now removing. You insisted that some schools were not meeting your ‘floor’ curriculum requirements. We asked you to name one school that does not offer a core curriculum to its pupils. You could not name a single one …

    You are passing a law that we must all follow a brand-new curriculum, before you have even told us what it is. Every teacher knows what this means: more money and thousands of hours spent changing resources, on content you haven’t even decided or announced. Time away from children means time away from raising standards. We tried to explain this, but again, no answers.

    The full letter is here.

    Following my meeting on Monday with the Education Secretary @bphillipsonMP my open letter to her is below and here: https://t.co/O9T19eJaXr

    My first open letter to her on 17 Jan is here: https://t.co/phAiybzQFx http://pic.twitter.com/EYMJ79opq0

    — Katharine Birbalsingh (@Miss_Snuffy) February 6, 2025
    Asked to respond to the letter, a spokesperson for the Department of Education said:

    We would not comment on what was a private meeting, held in good faith.

    As the education secretary said in her speech at the CSJ, debate around education policy is welcome, and ministers will always meet with a wide range of stakeholders, with a range of different views.

    UPDATE: See 5.06pm for a stronger response from a government source familiar with what happened at the meeting.

    Share
    Updated at
    17.07 GMT

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/feb/06/kemi-badenoch-tory-staff-immigration-keir-starmer-uk-politics-live-news

  79. That's me for today. Apart from moving the mole traps, I found it too cold to do anything useful. It was bitter at the market.

    Tomorrow I'll not be around in the morning as the MR has a long work zoom and will be using the office.

    Have a spiffing evening sorting your Lego into the appropriate colours…..

    A demain – eventually.

    1. It has been bitter weather here , Dorset fashion, sunshine but a nitheringly cold breeze .

      Our mole might have moved on , but observing other gardens there are so many huge mole hills , food for the foxes/ owls / and whatever else eats moles !

      Stay warm and safe Bill.

  80. Farmers told to avoid phrase ‘farmer’s wife’
    NFU Scotland report warns against using language that reinforces gender stereotypes as it is ‘outdated and doesn’t reflect much of society’

    Farmers should stop using the phrase “farmer’s wife” as it reinforces gender stereotypes, the National Farmers Union (NFU) in Scotland has said.

    A new “diversity and inclusion” strategy highlighted examples of language that had been heard at NFU meetings that it deemed “inappropriate”, including identifying a farmer as “he”.

    Arguing that “the ‘farmer’ is not a man”, the report said that they could be a woman and warned: “People in leadership positions need to use correct terminology. Don’t use farmer’s wife.”

    Among the other language that “reinforces stereotypes and alienates particular segments” was encouraging male farmers to attend the NFU’s annual conference by saying: “Bring your wife, the shopping is great in Glasgow.”

    Similarly, discussing in a meeting “what the housewife wants” was criticised as “outdated and doesn’t reflect much of society”.

    Farmers were also warned against asking each other how many acres of land they own as an “opener” in conversation as this “makes people starting out with a small farm or no farm at all not feel welcome”.

    Sexist, homophobic and racist language also deemed inappropriate
    NFU Scotland confirmed that it was accepting all 14 of the report’s recommendations, which followed a review conducted last year. This involved “extensive engagement with members and non-members” across the country.

    The blueprint argued that there were “discriminatory practices” that were “perhaps not widespread but still taking place” that could leave the union open to legal action or exposure in the press.

    The recommendations included developing a “policy for strategy and language”, and specifically “ending certain words/phrases”.

    Among the other types of language deemed inappropriate were were sexist, homophobic or racist jokes, and comments and the kind of “pub chat inappropriate for a board meeting but OK for a night out at 10pm on a Friday”.

    One example criticised in the report was a farmer’s comment at one meeting that “Nicola Sturgeon, only good thing about her is her legs”. It said this was “very offensive, and it wasn’t called out by the chair”.

    The report also recommended a review of the union’s code of conduct to include WhatsApp communication, arguing the messaging service was “being used for gossip, derogatory comments about staff or politicians and this should not be permitted”.

    The 30-page document by Caroline Millar, a former NFU Scotland board member, noted that farming was “still quite a traditional sector” and “an industry where change is viewed with caution”.

    It said that diversity and inclusion can be viewed as “trendy” or “woke” but said: “This view is generally from people who feel threatened by change.”

    Arguing that the union should appeal to as wide a range of people as possible, it proposed that it join a Pride march “to give a clear message to gay people who may assume NFU Scotland is not for them”.

    ‘NFU Scotland serious about diversity’
    The report also noted there were no women on the union’s main board “and this is one of the most stark measures of lack of diversity in leadership in the organisation”.

    Speaking at the union’s national conference in Glasgow, John Davidson, the chief executive, said: “Publishing this report in full and committing to its recommendations sends a strong and positive signal that NFU Scotland is serious about diversity and inclusion across the organisation.

    “We believe that by demonstrating leadership, reforming our operational structures, enhancing training and improving our operational practices, we can create an even more inclusive environment for all our members to get involved and flourish.”

    He added that implementing the recommendations would “take a big effort from everyone across the organisation” but he was determined this would be done.

    Ms Millar said: “Following the many hundreds of conversations I had with people across the country I am pleased that the NFU Scotland Board of Directors have endorsed all of my recommendations and have agreed a timeline for delivery.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/06/farmers-told-to-avoid-phrase-farmers-wife-nfu/
    susan williams
    just now
    Scotland, DearScorland. Once the land of the brave,Once the land of blunt speaking..The real people..What happened to you, dear ,dear Scotland.. Rid yourselves of these pesky woke warriors!!

    TG

    Tom Gosling
    3 min ago
    OMG. What hope is there if this is the nonsense coming out of NFU. Save your energies for fighting the anti-farming Govt and look to what is developing in US, Oz, NZ and Canada. Uk always 10 years behind the zeitgeist!

    Elizabeth Kirkby
    10 min ago
    Dear Heavens above!! How utterly ridiculous. What else are you to call the wife of a farmer? Please, please, stop this utter idiocy right now. A hefty injection of common sense required immediately. As for these fools at NFU Scotland – sack them pronto. edited

    M Thomson
    14 min ago
    You need a mummy cow and bull to make baby cows …..idiot

    1. Our daughter is seriously not amused! As is her MiL!
      Her MiL was a teacher and Emma is a vet!

    2. Jeeeez driven by these morons the culture and social structure of this country is slowly but very surely self destructing.

    3. I suppose that means you can no longer say things like "She's got legs like a Barnsley miner's daughter"?

    4. Oh dear Lord. These people are so up themselves. It’s for Mr and Mrs Farmer to decide and it’s no one else’s business. There’s nowt wrong with being a farmer’s wife.

  81. Polly Toynbee has an article on the Grauniad website about Margaret Thatcher. I haven’t read the article, but have looked at the first page of btl comments and, believe it or not there are a few actually in praise of Mrs T. I’m surprised they haven’t been removed.

  82. vw and I went to our local Italian cafe this afternoon for a bite to eat.
    I Pasta Bolognese, 1 Pasta Gorgonzola with mushrooms and pancetta for less than £20. Large meals and the owners are both Italian. If you’re ever in the Woking area it’s a must visit.
    https://www.deliclass.co.uk

  83. I see BBC Vilify says that the rumours that USAID paid "celebs" to go to Ukraine is untrue! Must be more to it than I thought!!

    2. I would actually contribute a large amount to send even more 'celebs' to Ukraine – as long as they were put on the front line.

      1. Evening…I'm off now…just to let you know, no sign of Essee/Moscow Flyer, as yet. I'm in contact with Tom most days, will keep checking.

    3. The cynic in me wonders whether it's true the slebs didn't get paid for doing the visits, but the cost of getting them there and the cost of the protection details, accommodation, etc etc cost the amounts being hinted at.

      False news against the slebs, but truth regarding the wasted money.

          3. My bog-standard is Yorkshire Gold. Having said that, Maggie, I love a good loose-leafed single estate Assam.😘

        2. Ah! Well remembered!
          I was expecting an hour's break at Weymouth, but because of problems with a following passenger service, the signalmen wanted us out of the way of the single line section North of Dorchester so I never got to show you the interior of the train where I worked!

        3. I almost met him when his train was coming to Gunnislake. I might have heard him blow the whistle at the level crossing about a mile away, but it was about 0520 in the morning.

  85. I don't want to worry you but.. when Leftie nutjobs get hold of the country's gold plated credit card they spaff the do$h like no tomorrow.

    Here's the tip of a very corrupt iceberg. But this was in the USA. Meanwhile, Starmer is just getting started.

    The list of grift goes on:
    $15 MILLION for condoms to the Taliban through USAID.
    $14 MILLION in cash vouchers for migrants at the southern border through the State Department.
    $3,315,446 for “being LGBTQ in the Caribbean” through USAID.
    $446,700 to promote the expansion of atheism in Nepal through the State Department.
    $1.5 MILLION to promote job opportunities for LGBTQ individuals in Serbia through USAID.
    $1 MILLION to boost French-speaking LGBTQ groups in West and Central Africa through the State Department.
    $2.5 MILLION to build electric vehicle charging stations in Vietnam’s largest cities through USAID.
    $20,600 for a drag show in Ecuador through the State Department.
    $425,622 to help Indonesian coffee companies become more climate and gender friendly through USAID.
    $47,020 for a transgender opera in Colombia through the State Department.
    $32,000 for an LGBTQ-centered comic book in Peru through the State Department.
    Then there's the payoff to the Leftie rags.

    the list goes on & on..

    1. Indeed £18Bn to give away what we own! If TT/FG/NH /Tier4 Kier was a car salesman, he'd pay you to take away a new car AND give you a really good trade in on your old car!

        1. Don't give him ideas, he'll want to give away the IoW and pay someone to take it! Just think of all those RIBs landing there prior to invasion.

  86. Just last night I was watching an old recording of Jaws on the old Betamax, ( still working well after all these years ).
    But I digress, somewhat, the main characters, the good guys, Police Chief Brody, Quint a tough old lag fisherman and Matt a marine biologist do battle with an evil Great White Shark with dead eyes, that is terrorising women and children, innocently bathing in the sea.
    Well it occurred to me that it was all reminiscent of the battle going on for supremacy in politics today, in the UK.
    With Farage, Lee Anderson and Rupert Lowe, trying to take on Starmer in Parliament in a small boat and with wicked Mayor Khan, worried about any bad press getting out in the mainstream media.
    The Great White survives all manner of setbacks and keeps coming back, even manages to submerge to great depths, even with four barrels dragging him back up, ( breaking lockdown rules, dodgy deals with China and Chagos, cancelled elections, deceptions over Southport).
    But good Trumps the evil in the end.
    As it always does and the world returns to normality

    1. I had a Betamax C6, back in the 1980s (when they first came out). As John Cleese said on the advert, "Even the cat can use it."

      A far superior technology to VHS but market (i.e. gangster) forces killed it off. [Toshiba, JVS and Philips (I think) ganged up on Sony].

        1. Yes. I had a Phillips (cassettes about the size of a brick!) and then a Betamax. I ended up with VHS before I switched to a digital pvr.

    1. 401182+ up ticks,

      Evening TB,

      Bet he didn't shout at his ex boss old no balls goeballs, in that manner.

      1. Following in the footsteps of a long line of arrogant smug prats! We haven't had a decent Speaker since Betty Boothroyd and Bernard Wetherill.

    1. Don't let them in in the first place. Then get rid of the criminals (and that means, by definition, anyone who's arrived illegally).

      1. Takes after his dad too – would shag a rolling doughnut (and I'm not talking about Charles)

      2. Thick as mince, Bob3. Tbh I'm just an old softie, he's looking unhappy lately, think he may be due a fall.

    3. My only care for those two is that he be stripped of his title so she can't trough from it. I also want not a penny of public money wasted on them whatsoever.

    1. Labour offered nothing I wanted. Neither did the Tories. Reform were nearly there but some elements I disagreed with vehemently – their tax policies for a start (cutting them should start with those that hit the poorest the hardest).

  93. Now it turns out that USAID was pouring American taxpayer dollars into the media, including the BBC, and foundations, including Open Society, to promote the Democrat Party, it’s politicians and officials, and left wing progressive policies in general. Soros in turn poured USAID into the election campaigns of the Clintons, Gore, Obama and Biden. Also USAID into Open Society London which received about half a billion since the 1990s to get what Soros wanted in the UK. That’s how Soros became effective Permanent Prime Minister of Britain and effective Permanent President of the European Commission.

    So it appears Soros never spent a dime of his own to ruin the West, all of it was American taxpayer dollars!

        1. The boy is quite unusual, Sue, in my experience younger people are fully onboard with Climate Change, DEI and the rest. Dismal.

          1. Give me the child for the first seven years and I will give you the man.

            May as well be the socailist maxim.

          2. Hear you. I think junior school teachers know that. One grandchild was worried about 'Climate Change' (clue: always has, is still, always will), we had a chat about it…they all know I might let them down gently but I'll never lie.

      1. Yup, and every UK PM since at least 1997, and probably 1990, except Truss, is deep in it along with a wide range of Ministers, other politicians and officials.

        That’s why they’ll do everything possible to cover it up.

    3. I believe it, but why the heck would Soros be entitled to USAID, did no-one know/check his vast wealth – or did he lie when he applied.

        1. Corruption. Obviously no checks and balances. Always easy to spend someone else’s money – it’s free.

      2. Because Soros is the Democrats’ #1 partner and puppet master, they’re all working together. The Dems give USAID to Soros, among others, and then he gives it back to them as election funding and using it to promote his favourite causes.

        I expect Soros is the brains behind all this. I think the Clintons, Gore, Obama and Biden are merely puppets working for him.

        1. I think you’ll be correct, snouts in the trough. And of course he now has his son to continue the family business.

    4. "So it appears Soros never spent a dime of his own to ruin the West, all of it was American taxpayer dollars!"

      If nothing else, the bastard ain't stupid.

    1. In the meantime, Starmer, the country harmer, is protecting islam and making it an offence to tell the truth about it.

    3. Judge a man by his enemies – the hard Left political class hate him. The hysterical waffling that 'if he's allowed to get away with this, he'll go for Education next' is farcical. Trump SHOULD go for the department for education because big fat state has no reason whatsoever to be involved in children's education but Lefties love to control how people think.

    4. They are going absolutely apeshit over here about these radical ideas that Trump is coming up with.

      I have heard a few snippets of NPR news these past few days and they really are claiming that the world is coming to an end with only two sees, no men in women's sports, USAID funds being frozen, no more WHO and so on. It really is wonderful to hear.

  95. Evening, all. News from the grassroots – went to a Fellowship lunch today. Those on our table didn't have a good word to say about the lot in Whitehall. They thought Trump was doing the right thing.

    Another thing we complained about was that the transport system wasn't integrated. They wanted us out of our cars, but didn't provide a reliable service that would get us where we wanted to go, when we wanted to go and, more importantly, get us back home again.

    1. Some are reduced to hiring their own mini-bus. Fairly common rural areas. Hope you all had a good time, and yummy lunch 🙂

      1. It was lovely, thank you. Steak and Ale Pie with lots of thick gravy, spuds and veg. Kadi benefitted because my neighbour at table couldn't manage all of hers 🙂 Strawberry pavlova for pudding.

    2. The transport network will never be integrated. The point of making car ownership and running so expensive is not to have people use trains and buses but to simply stop them travelling entirely.

    3. That's why they are pushing the fifteen minute lifestyle. The powers that be might be able to get you within a ten minute walk from your destination if you are only allowed to walk for fifteen minutes.

      1. I have a bicycle (and a trike) but they are only for short journeys. I wouldn't like to try cycling down the A55.

  97. That's it for me today, chores around the home and garden. Particularly stopping the bloody renegade grey squirrel stealing all the bird food. Chicken wire has done the trick.
    Good night all 😴
    Perhaps the Chicken wire might be useful in Wastemonster and W(s)hitehall. Or Barbed wire and electric fences.

    1. I'd prefer goalkeeper missile defence turrets. Anyone coming in or going out is fired upon.

    1. Oh but they will. The Left won't let their demented control go easily. They know once they lose power they can't control the narrative any more and all their pathetic corruption, fraud and theft comes out.

    2. At least that is clean bribery, now some of those Sesame Street grants for Iraq might be for less money, but they are up there with waste and corruption.

  99. The lunacy continues…

    "A French doctor in the city of Pau serving as a gynecologist has now been sanctioned for declaring himself “incompetent” to treat a man who had transitioned to a woman, which triggered the rage of LGBT associations.

    The case dates back to August 2023, but the doctor, Victor Acharian, has only been sanctioned now by the Order of Physicians with a one-month ban on practicing medicine. In total, Dr. Acharian was given a six-month ban on practicing medicine, but five of the six months are a suspended sentence. If he were to violate the sentence, the gynaecologist would be suspended for the full six months.

    The trans patient had scheduled an appointment though Doctolib and went to the doctor’s office with a partner.

    “The lady explained to me that she was in transition,” the secretary of the doctor’s office told Le Figaro newspaper. “I immediately notified the doctor by internal messaging. He replied: ‘I don’t deal with that; there are specialists in Bordeaux or Toulouse,’ a message that I forwarded to them. But they became very aggressive and called me ‘transphobic.'”

    The trans person was dismissed from the office, with the doctor reportedly saying he only treated “real women.”

    The couple with the trans woman then left a bad Google review for the doctor, and they claimed he responded “offensively” to their review.

    “I have no skills in treating men, even if they have shaved their beards and come to tell my secretary that they have become women,” he wrote in response.

    1. Seems perfectly reasonable. No different to being told to treat a disease you don't know anything about.

    3. Ask him back, cut off his balls and his penis and carve him a vagina, sans anaesthetic.
      Then give him a prostahysterectomy.

    4. If asked, will the gynecologist do heart surgery whilst he is furtling around in the patients nether regions..

  100. Hold your breath , now BLOW 😉🙄😊

    Burning a birthday candle can impair brain function, study suggests
    Scientists advise opening a window before blowing out a candle in warning over air pollution risks

    Burning birthday candles can impair brain function, a study suggests.

    People are worse at focusing and spotting changes to someone’s emotions after sitting in an unventilated room with a candle burning.

    The findings led the researchers to advise those celebrating a loved one’s birthday to keep windows open when blowing out a candle.

    Scientists from the universities of Birmingham and Manchester put 26 people in a candlelit room for an hour and then gave them mental tasks to complete four hours later.

    Performance declined on selective attention and emotion recognition tasks, data show.

    Scientists say a probable explanation is inflammation in the brain caused by air pollution from the burning candle.

    However, there was no impact on memory or reaction times.

    Tiny bits of soot
    “Our study provides compelling evidence that even short-term exposure to particulate matter can have immediate negative effects on brain functions essential for daily activities, such as doing the weekly supermarket shop,” said study author Dr Thomas Faherty of the University of Birmingham.

    Air pollution, particularly PM2.5 which are tiny bits of soot smaller than 2.5 micrometres, has been linked to dementia, cardiovascular disease and asthma.

    The scientists are now trying to raise awareness of the other harms that may also be posed by air pollution.

    “What I want people to take from it is to be wary of what you’re doing in the home that could be affecting your wellbeing,” Dr Faherty told The Times.

    “Blowing candles out on a birthday cake is something we do quite often, but just make sure you’re ventilating the space.

    “And do the same when you’re cooking. Reducing your personal exposure to air pollution is easier than you think.”

    The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/06/burning-a-birthday-candle-can-impair-brain-function-study/

    Reform Now
    1 hr ago
    I bet the cake is even worse for you.

    1. As I mention below – the lunacy continues. Perhaps it would be safer to practice infanticide to avoid all these potential hazards?

    2. I think the people who make up these things have been brain damaged – probably by being indoctrinated with lefty ideas from an early age.

    3. Who paid for that title gem of earth shattering research? Oh let me guess, it was a government grant.

    4. Who paid for that title gem of earth shattering research? Oh let me guess, it was a government grant.

        1. Idiocy? That's pure scientific fact there. I imagine that the government will follow up and ban birthday candles.

  101. The lunacy continues….
    from the DT:

    The Royal Navy has allowed officers to wear saris in order to make its formal dress code more “inclusive”.

    Officers are now permitted to wear cultural dress beneath their mess jackets on formal occasions after lobbying by the service’s race diversity network.

    But the change has been criticised by former senior officers, who said cultural identity should not be “mixed with uniform”.

    1. All the 'nice boys' will love a sailor in a Sari

      What will the wimmen ones have to wear.

      Meanwhile, the lowerdeck will get on with life as we knew it

    2. Just like the "Education" Minister who doesn't want schoolchildren to wear uniform (it creates a sense of identity).

    3. Do they have Muslims in the navy? An officer (but not a gentleman) in a sari could be in line for a bit of tossing from the yard arm.

    4. One wonders how many male officers have requested the right to wear saris on formal occasions. Apart from the usual dei groups, it may well be zero.

    5. I would be interested to know exactly how many officers there are for whom a Sari is normal dress. I do not believe that generally many men ever wear a Sari.
      AI generated answer.
      According to publicly available data, the exact number of Indian women serving as officers in the Royal Navy is not readily available, but based on recent UK Armed Forces diversity statistics, the number is likely to be very small as the overall percentage of female officers from ethnic minorities in the Royal Navy is relatively low.

      1. If you ask Chinese AI:
        "There aren't any Indian women serving as officers in the Royal Navy because China is a very peaceful country"

        1. Google seems to put up an AI “answer” to searches now. It’s only started very recently.

  103. Poking the bear, Canadian style.

    A group of Canadian MPs have published a letter condemning Trumps Gaza reboot as ethnic cleansing. The foreign affairs minister has also written a twittery thing about how we (not me) support Palestinian rights. Somehow I don't think that in thirty days, yer Donald will take these comments kindly when it comes to reviewing progress at the border. Any increase on 25% ?

    Just to spice things up an Israeli minister is now suggesting that the heathens could be relocated to Canada while Trump Inc builds his newest casino / golf resort. absolute madness.

    Despite these political shenanigans, we are finding that Americans remain as friendly as ever when you meet them one on one.

    1. I hope that Trump's Gaza plan is merely a way of getting the Israelis, Arabs and other interested parties to look for an alternative for Gaza, I certainly don't think an American take over is a good idea.

      The big problems everyone has are that the Palestinians and their supporters won't ever stop trying to destroy Israel and the Jews, and no intelligent country on the planet wants them because they cause trouble wherever they go.

      1. That is probably where canada comes in and gets the Gazans, there is no intelligence in the current Canadian government.
        They have already committed to 5,000 refugees, what's a million more.

        2. You will be competing with Keir Starmer and Sadiq Khan to offer them a new Gaza in London!
          Because more middle east problems are just what we need in the UK….

          A real peace solution in the middle east, now that would be something worth having.

      2. It is obvious that the uninspired two state solution that we repeatedly hear from other politicians is not working so I don't really care how serious he is, at least he is suggesting something new and as you say, they need to find an alternative solution..

      3. Trump is quite simply warning Hamas that should they fail to cooperate in peace talks and cease attacks on Israel then there are other solutions.

  109. Morning folks. Why you wait for the Master to refresh the page, I thought you might be interested to see what some of our excitable American cousins get up to over the pond specifically in Chicago….

    https://heyjackass.com (don't be put off by the name)…

    Chicago, YTD: (January plus 1 week)

    165 shot

    123 shot and wounded

    42 shot and killed

    *2023 full year totals:

    3077 shot

    2500 shot and wounded

    577 shot and killed

    Remember, this is JUST Chicago!

    1. I would guess that is Chicago South. Where the white man fears to tread. It's all feral black gangs. Like London.

    1. Premium content – the same material repeated every day, for most of the week, 'cos we can't be arsed to find new news. Plus airhead blather in spades, of course.

  114. I try not to let the news and politics worry me too much. I can do nothing to change the situation so it’s pointless worrying. I’m naturally nosy so I do keep up with what’s going on. I have lots of other stuff to do though and I’m very good at putting things off.

Comments are closed.