Thursday 7 December: An immigration impasse leaves the Tories open to familiar charges

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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556 thoughts on “Thursday 7 December: An immigration impasse leaves the Tories open to familiar charges”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. today’s story

    Don’t Be Kidding Me
    There was this eagle flying above a field one day, when he sees a mouse down below. So he swoops down picks up the mouse and swallows him whole. The mouse is alive inside the eagle, and he says to himself, “I gotta get out of here!”
    So the mouse starts working his way through the eagle’s intestinal tract until he sees a light up ahead. He pushes his way through and pokes out his head. To his terror, he sees that he is flying far above the field.
    “Holy shit! he yells up to the eagle, “how far up are we?!”
    “Oh, about 2,000 feet” says the eagle.
    “Wow!” the mouse replies. “You wouldn’t shit me would ya?”

  3. An immigration impasse leaves the Tories open to familiar charges

    Yep they’ve run out of distractions and diversions

  5. Robert Jenrick quits over Sunak’s ‘fatally flawed’ Rwanda Bill. 7 December 2023.

    The immigration minister quit over the prime minister’s Rwanda Bill on Wednesday as Suella Braverman warned that the Tories were heading for “electoral oblivion”.

    In his resignation letter, Robert Jenrick said he was not prepared to be “another politician who makes promises on immigration to the British public but does not keep them”.

    In normal times I would take this resignation to be the end of the Tory Party. It would signal that it was no longer viable as a political force in the House of Commons. General Election. Job done! Unfortunately there is nothing normal about the times.

    Probably about one half of MP’s are Wokeys in various forms. That is about half the Conservatives and most of the Labour Party. It is not inconceivable that they form an unofficial coalition to ensure their policies remain for the rest of the term and usher in a Labour administration.

    I shall still be voting Remain for that reason.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/12/06/robert-jenrick-quits-over-rishi-sunaks-rwanda-bill/

    2. This is what happens when central office picks most of the candidates.They are mostly in the Cameron/May mould.

      1. Morning Johnny. Yes. A cabal took over at Head Office and that was the end of the traditional Tory Party!

    3. Not a problem, Minty. Rishi can make her a member of the House of Lords and get her to take over from Robert Jenrick. If any others decided to resign, he can always enoble Liz Truss and then (at a pinch) Boris Johnson. Aargh!!!

      EDIT Of course, when I wrote “Rishi can make her a member of the House of Lords” I should have mentioned that I was referring to Theresa May.

  7. 379245+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    David M Wiseman
    Synechion, Inc.
    L Maria Gutschi
    David J Speicher
    Jessica Rose
    Show all 5 authors
    Preprints and early-stage research may not have been peer reviewed yet.
    Download file PDF

    Abstract
    We comment on the study by Mulroney et al.(1) entitled: “N1-methylpseudouridylation of mRNA causes +1 ribosomal frameshifting.” The study found evidence in mice and humans for the misreading of the modRNA contained within the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to inadvertently produce “off-target” proteins capable of eliciting “off-target” immune responses. The authors propose that these novel proteins are the result of ribosomal frameshifting occasioned by the substitution of N1-methyl pseudouridine. The authors state that the “error prone” code is a safety concern with a “huge potential to be harmful” and that “it is essential that these therapeutics are designed to be free from unintended side-effects.” The findings reveal a developmental and regulatory failure to ask fundamental questions that could affect the safety and effectiveness of these products. According to WHO guidelines for mRNA vaccines, (2) manufacturers should provide details of “unexpected ORFs”(Open Reading Frames). The formation of these off-target proteins is not disclosed in the package insert for COMIRNATY. The finding that unintended proteins may be produced as a result of vaccination is sufficient cause for regulators to conduct full risk assessments of past or future harms that may have ensued. Given that this study was conducted under the auspices of the United Kingdom Government, we must assume UK regulators, manufacturers, and international regulatory agencies, including FDA, were apprised of the data many months ago. We await their account of what steps they have taken to investigate why the formation of off-target proteins was not discovered sooner, what toxic effects they may have caused and what steps they are taken to prevent harm in the future and to inform the public of these findings.

    https://x.com/AdhesionsOrg/status/1732519996062900298?s=20

    1. A weasel (sorry Bleau) article in the Telegraph saying it was all harmless but the commenters below are not taken in.

    4. Good morning m’Dear.
      It’s the EU and USA that encouraged the attacks on the Russian speaking enclaves in Eastern Ukraine that led to the invasion and their continued support for Zelenskyy has only added to the death toll.

    7. Ye gods – the Telegaffe are still letting “Lunchtime O’ Booze” write articles! He’s even worse than Hamish the Cretin!

    8. Welcome back, Araminta.

      Notionally, we have a government elected by the people but how free and fair are the selection processes of the candidates foisted on the electorate? Reviewing the performance of recent parliaments it’s clear that selection processes are not working for the people and therefore pose a threat to us, the people.
      Likewise the EU, where appointees are placed into powerful positions whether or not they merit those positions. The ‘elected’ group is kept at arm’s length.
      Both systems are easily corrupted and must be swept away. The penetration of both the government of the UK and the EU by outside influences e.g. the WEF and other globalist interests is evidence that the people have little input and the consequences of that state of affairs are all around us.

    9. Welcome back.
      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12836251/US-Republicans-Putin-greatest-gift-hope-BLOCK-50billion-Ukraine-aid-package-devastating-blow-Zelensky.html

      US Republicans ‘give Putin the greatest gift he could hope for’ and BLOCK £50billion Ukraine aid package in devastating blow to Zelensky
      Biden had pleaded with Republicans for fresh infusion of military aid for Ukraine

      Interestingly aid to Israel was hooked into the same proposal.
      I wonder what the outcomes would be if the two were separated.

  9. Good morning, chums. I have a strange tale to tell you this morning. I worked on today’s Wordle using my iMac, but when I tried to copy and paste it on to the NoTTLe site, i.e. Wednesday’s page I could copy but was unable to paste it. Drat and double drat! Then I went to my iPhone and clicked on “Today’s Wordle” where, instead of showing me how I had done today there was a totally blank screen. So I entered the answer I had already found on the iMac and – Bingo! – I was told I was a Genius because I had got it in one. Wow! Not only am I a NoTTLer, but I am a GENIUS!!! Lol.

    PS – A reply to Herr Oberst’s recent post of “Feast of St Nicholas/Sinterklaas. Anybody celebrating?” which Disqus tells me I can’t reply to because “The post you are trying to reply to has been removed”. Here is the reply Disqus would not allow me to post:
    I used to follow tradition and put up my Christmas decorations on Christmas Eve and take them down on Twelfth Night (January the 6th) but some years ago I gave up being a traditionalist and started to put them up in mid-December and taking them down the day after Boxing Day. Otherwise I was looked at as if I were somehow weird. It’s the same with the kind of music I like, one just has to accept that Rock & Roll is here to stay. Things change and railing against “progress” only creates stress. Having said that, there are some things that I will NOT be accepting in my life, such as a belief in Global Warming, trust in (most) politicians, etc. And I enjoy “my” kind of music on Angel Radio, Serenade Radio and Radio Swiss Classical and Radio Swiss Jazz.

    1. Why follow the herd Elsie? Just be yourself, do what you want, when you want, and listen to the music you like.

      1. I generally do, but to see others celebrating Christmas whilst I hold back until December 24 and then see them abandoning the Christmas spirit whilst I soldier on until January the 6th is a bit dispiriting.

  10. ‘Morning All

    No,that was the full fat 1200mg Welsh 1970’s special

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/99fd377019cd256b60c6566aa21ea6f57b372a9d0c30c81f8511e2ea7af1eae0.jpg

    Rest

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ab6bea2cbb5aae5218a8cc707e895dc3e49e914ec282d3be4cc9106a6323dd80.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/74b0367b376ec9bf6fe9976ec48cfd4a0f2d1a8c70dde6975b7842584fe37e0b.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/553e2dd2690ca248a2095827f0f2aed2a36a2eaa1230e10f3435cfda31910e62.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b4728a9e77b52ddf7345886f4c98bff7ccae3b68e04d8445b6fd60b3938382ee.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d1b6dcda6c77d72dcce88a3d477d8c3fed942b54fb1d9251fb6012bf0cbfc685.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c5324bcdbcc078c9b055626d3045661f5379e58bc12a6ee7cc91fb0dc17f286e.jpg

  11. It’s a CATastrophe

    https://t.me/putingers_cat/7799

    Round 2

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/da8cb2f929106ba056e477343cbb37832ace5ce3df5ea2dc317e36594d44ecd4.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3b9a5f34110536bdccf41cea335931a6cebfda007894db2ba8e210ed62112bf8.png

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/937c3e6b6bb9f18d0c5deef8db9a6b5bbb80c27a99c56ea4e843cb73e829c438.jpg

    https://twitter.com/QueenAnticommie/status/1732259270610055194?s=20

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2d0f1b109d8b9f53db6709bdbbcf1e806b3e8f578d328529104b3c5528c029ef.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cd1054285a155e36bb5085bab1f1610fd380c8157a544262813c64ad640b6976.jpg
    Welcome back Minty!!

  12. I’ve never watched a Sleb show in my life but it appears the campaign to humiliate Farage may have gone pear shaped it seems that you can sign up to the ITV app and get 5 free votes

    Many posters at GP have taken to this with alacrity comparing it to the £5 labour offer so they could vote for Corbyn

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6ac2556fe5c4ddb2594459119d3c810e3aed64da91ac8174ee4997bc1b55fb7a.jpg
    Wot Larks!!
    Edit
    5 free votes a day!! Go Nigel
    https://www.itv.com/vote

      1. None at all from his first wife (Pip’s sister), Richard. But things changed when she died, and Joe took a second wife.

  16. Good day all.

    Wet all day at McPhee Towers, wind South-South-East, 6℃-7℃.

    UK Column News opened yesterday by reporting on the event on vaccines harns and deaths in Parliament (Portcullis House) on Monday 4th December which was organised by Andrew Briden MP. There seems to have been a break through in that the event was much better attended than any of Andrew Bridgen’s recent speeches in the house.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/97a1a3a3758bc1208ea0b3d6f54e408d0779ca0a4e0efc8a15af9258022cb200.png

    https://www.ukcolumn.org/video/uk-column-news-6th-december-2023

    Apart from Mr Bridgen himself, 22 other MPs attended, prominent among them Ian Paisley, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, Sammy Wilson, Sir John Redwood, Sir Desmond Swayne and Sir George Howarth. There were a good number of attendees from the House of Lords too. Several of the attendees afterwards admitted that ‘they had been given something to think about’.

    The event was recorded so it is to be hoped that we should be able to see and hear something before long and send the link to the other 628 MPs who couldn’t be bothered. I’ll certainly be doing that, cc to the Constituency Chairman.

  17. Good day all.

    Wet all day at McPhee Towers, wind South-South-East, 6℃-7℃.

    UK Column News opened yesterday by reporting on the event on vaccines harns and deaths in Parliament (Portcullis House) on Monday 4th December which was organised by Andrew Briden MP. There seems to have been a break through in that the event was much better attended than any of Andrew Bridgen’s recent speeches in the house.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/97a1a3a3758bc1208ea0b3d6f54e408d0779ca0a4e0efc8a15af9258022cb200.png

    https://www.ukcolumn.org/video/uk-column-news-6th-december-2023

    Apart from Mr Bridgen himself, 22 other MPs attended, prominent among them Ian Paisley, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, Sammy Wilson, Sir John Redwood, Sir Desmond Swayne and Sir George Howarth. There were a good number of attendees from the House of Lords too. Several of the attendees afterwards admitted that ‘they had been given something to think about’.

    The event was recorded so it is to be hoped that we should be able to something before long and send the link to the other 628 MPs who couldn’t be bothered. I’ll certainly be doing that, cc to the Constituency Chairman.

  18. Good day all.

    Wet all day at McPhee Towers, wind South-South-East, 6℃-7℃.

    UK Column News opened yesterday by reporting on the event on vaccines harns and deaths in Parliament (Portcullis House) on Monday 4th December which was organised by Andrew Briden MP. There seems to have been a break through in that the event was much better attended than any of Andrew Bridgen’s recent speeches in the house.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/97a1a3a3758bc1208ea0b3d6f54e408d0779ca0a4e0efc8a15af9258022cb200.png

    https://www.ukcolumn.org/video/uk-column-news-6th-december-2023

    Apart from Mr Bridgen himself, 22 other MPs attended, prominent among them Ian Paisley, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, Sammy Wilson, Sir John Redwood, Sir Desmond Swayne and Sir George Howarth. There were a good number of attendees from the House of Lords too. Several of the attendees afterwards admitted that ‘they had been given something to think about’.

    The event was recorded so it is to be hoped that we should be able to something before long and send the link to the other 628 MPs who couldn’t be bothered. I’ll certainly be doing that, cc to the Constituency Chairman.

  19. I was wondering with all the arguments going on over the lockdowns, especially the second one, that was our government under pressure from other Western countries and the globalist powers that be to inflict them on our economy so that we didn’t gain any economic advantage over them.
    A bit like the deal done with the EU over Brexit

  20. Good morning all.
    Rather a nasty morning with ½°C and steady rain outside. Forecast to become heavy and last the whole day.

    Feeling a bit fragile this morning after a bout of diarrhoea overnight and a belly ache this morning so I don’t think I’ll be doing a lot today.

      2. No bloody idea.
        Diarrhoea appears to have cleared, dumped ballast earlier with a healthy Bristol scale 4, but gut ache is persisting.

    2. Morning BoB,
      Time to have a lie in then when you get up, put your feet up all day and rest.
      I hope the feeling passes soon.

      1. My IBS was cured by cutting out gluten and eating porridge for breakfast – try it Maggie, it might work for you

          2. Coeliac disease and IBS, although they have different causes, have similar symptoms – you may know that I have coeliac disease. I have recently found that gelatine is a great comfort: it lines the gut and helps it recover. Easy peasy – just make yourself a cup of something hot and dissolve a teaspoon of powdered gelatine into it. You won’t taste it, the texture is slightly different but rather pleasant – sort of velvety – and as long as you drink it hot, it won’t set. I try to have one jellified hot drink a day. With my thumb operation I haven’t been having it as I didn’t want to bother Richard with this kind of fuss, and a fortnight later I’m becoming a tad uncomfortable. Time to take it up again!

  21. Hello everyone , wet day, bit like my MP, mentioned below .

    SIR – R G Drax MP is naive if he believes that replacing immigrant workers is possible by simply training “more of our own to do essential work” (Letters, December 6). It is not a lack of domestic skills that has caused a huge immigrant workforce; it is a lack of will on behalf of our population, driven by an overindulgent welfare state.

    Stuart Harrington
    Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset

    1. By the same token why can’t those who commit crimes here be sent back to the country of their origin (or France)

      2. ‘Dean’ Jonathan Swift, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and Samuel Langhorne Clemens all observed the incrementally-increasing stupidity of the their fellow countrymen and wrote, wittily, about their findings.

    2. The Argentines have a nice line in creative swearing, too. I am enjoying learning about how to craft insults (I insist on this aspect in my language lessons) but haven’t yet had the opportunity to try it out for myself…

  30. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eb63237970843af190c4e3e98cd8b08536e50c8fd043c50461b985806a741bb3.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2023/12/07/rufus-sewell-fiancee-vivian-benitez-age-gap-dicaprio/

    BTL

    When I was 25 my wife was 9 years old.

    Fortunately we did not meet until she was 24 and I was 40! We have been very happily married for 35 years and we have never been short of things to talk about – especially my wife.

    Jake Thackray clearly agreed with King Lear’s words:

    ‘Her voice was ever soft
    Gentle and low – an excellent thing in a woman’

    This song is not only brilliant – it true.

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

        1. And fix the hinges on the kitchen cupboards as OH is doing today. He’s just got a couple of replacements from Screwfix. It meant I had to empty the cupboard and wash the glasses.

          2. And always remember, that quick & easy 10 minute job is only one snapped bolt or stripped thread away from becoming a 2 day marathon.

  31. The government’s inability or unwillingness to resolve the illegal immigrant problem will cost them the next election. It will cost the British taxpayers even more. Each ‘Illimig’ costs more than £150,000 each year they are housed in luxury accommodation. The Rwanda farce is just that. Hundreds of millions have already been wasted on the fake tussle between the Tories and the (EU controlled) legal system and will cost £billions more before the loonery ends. Over the past 20 years there has been an innumerable number of potential crooks, thieves, rapist and murderers dumped on British soil. More than a million perhaps. The great majority of them come via France . . . They should be returned to France by any and every means possible. If the Frog politicians object they should be arrested, their savings and belongings taken and sold to help pay for the service.

    They come from France, they should be returned to France – ASP!

  32. Igor’s take on the random proteins generated by the risky jabs.

    https://www.igor-chudov.com/p/covid-vaccines-produce-random-junk?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&action=restack-comment&utm_campaign=email-restack-comment&r=z2izz

    Would you like to get a mystery shot, which would make your body

    produce random, garbage proteins for an indeterminate amount of time?

    Well, it turned out that mRNA Covid vaccines have precisely that effect!

    Scientists discovered

    that in addition to the toxic “spike protein,” mRNA vaccines have a

    weakness that introduces “read errors,” making vaccinated individuals

    produce nearly random proteins with unknown and unpredictable effects.

    1. Having done considerable research into the way my heart works and its response to various forms of medical intervention, I have now come to the conclusion that little is known about explaining how it works and its behaviour is quite unpredictable – and that was before COVID vaccines came on the scene whilst now I’ve even lost count of how many jabs I’ve had.

      Nonetheless my cardiologist said that whilst my recent ecg trace was faultless he did refer me to my GP to find something else wrong with me.

    2. It was always the plan,empty Gaza of violent Moslems (only to the West of course) their arab “Brothers” wanting nothing to do with them
      The irony being Western Jews will be cheering this on

    3. The Jordanians, Egyptians and Lebanese learnt the hard way not to accept any more Palestinian refugees.

    4. Technically it is not a war. It is a policing action. The Israeli’s are just having to use very big police units. With tanks.

      What I find hilarious – in an exhausted, hysterical sort of way – is how at no point do the people get a say in these events. Did ordinary civilians get a say in Hamas terrorism? Were Israeli’s consulted over the peace keeping? Were we asked if we wanted to the government to send Ukraine war materiel? Were Canadians asked if they wanted Muslim terrorists in their country? About the truckers having their accounts frozen?

      At every point, it’s government ‘deciding’ how to act and as most government is full of gormless onanists scamming tax payers money and more interested in boffing the help than doing anything for the country, surely every decision should go to the people and government be castrated?

    5. We have flooded our country with Pakistani muslim terrorists. Your turn for the Palestinian ones.

    6. They’ll no doubt pretend it’s the same as when Canada took in Ugandan Asians expelled by Idi Amin but those people were genuinely homeless and they settled, worked and integrated, no? Are they taking Yemeni refugees too or just Gazan?

      1. I don’t remember her using the bus, though I suppose she must have. She wouldn’t have given up her seat.

    5. My father was born on this day in 1911. He always regarded the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour as the best Birthday Present he had ever had because it meant that the industrial (and military) might of the USA would join us and so guarantee victory.

      1. She’d lost that by the time she was the age I am now.
        She lived with us for a couple of years before she died in 1955.

      2. Corsetry, probably. My mother had an 18″ waist when she got married – no corsets were involved, I am reliably informed.

  36. Rwanda was never intended to work. If sending migrants to a ‘third country’ is too legally difficult, find some remote island like the Shetlands, set up basic military-style accommodation and leave them to it. They stay on some windswept Isle until their asylum requests are processed, and we make it clear that we won’t be in any hurry, so they could be there for years.

    Rwanda was always an over-complicated and expensive option, hugely vulnerable to legal challenge. But I guess that was the point, to be seen to be taking action without really meaning to do so.

    It was also a national humiliation, when some anonymous judge in Strasbourg grounded the Rwanda flight. It rubbed our noses in the fact that we don’t have the power to control who comes here. But again, I suspect that showing us who is really in charge was the point.

        2. “I do check in from time to time to see how the lovely Nottlers are doing” – what about us others?

    2. Also introduce regulation to the Legal Aid legislation so that any taxpayer funding of failed asylum claims is clawed back from their legal representation.

  37. NHS gender glitch

    Surely, the parents of the newborn child should/must have an input into the “gender” issue.

    The small, but loud and abusive, tribe of non-binaries, must not be allowed to rule the world

    1. If i were having children today and they were “assigning gender” at birth, I would make them assign my girl as say “demi-gender” and my boy as say “omni-gender”. How can they argue with that?

  40. Putin greeted with fanfare in UAE despite international arrest warrant. 7 december 2023.

    Vladimir Putin said relations with the UAE had reached unprecedented highs as he was welcomed to the country with a flypast and Russian flags, despite an international warrant for his arrest.

    This is of course an indication of the true situation about Ukraine. Only the West; meaning the US and it’s lackeys, are interested. As far as the Arrest Warrant is concerned no one actually believes its accusations which are faked anway.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/12/06/vladimir-putin-uae-abu-dhabi-meeting-saudi-middle-east/

      2. Of course it was a joke, but still she has one of the most privileged jobs in the country, and if she wants to play fast and loose with it, there are plenty who would happily take her place and her salary.
        It’s disrespectful to poor pensioners who have to scrimp and save to pay her salary.
        There is a time and a place for jokes, and that wasn’t it.

  43. A rare bit of good news….a victim of rape gangs sued one of the rapists, and has a court judgement that his house must be sold for compensation. Hope it goes through, and that more of them are encouraged to similar legal action.

    Hearts of Oak
    @HeartsofOakUK
    ·
    19h
    The courts have done it!
    They have given “Liz” a High Court Charging
    Order on her rapists home to sell.
    The judges award of £425K against Asghar
    Bostan back in March meant nothing until
    today.
    The legal system have now allowed “Liz” to sell
    his biggest asset, his house.…
    Show more

  44. The BBC has gone into overdrive worshipping someone called Benjamin Definitliar who has just snuffed it. He must have had some special talent – Extreme Leftism, Anglophobia, LGBT activist, Professional aRsole? – anyone know what.

    2. Famous “poet”, beloved of John Peel, grew up in Birmingham, was OK and then discovered race-baiting.

    3. An example of his best work…

      Talking Turkeys

      Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmas

      Cos’ turkeys just wanna hav fun

      Turkeys are cool, turkeys are wicked

      An every turkey has a Mum.

      Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmas,

      Don’t eat it, keep it alive,

      It could be yu mate, an not on your plate

      Say, Yo! Turkey I’m on your side.

      I got lots of friends who are turkeys

      An all of dem fear christmas time,

      Dey wanna enjoy it, dey say humans destroyed it

      An humans are out of dere mind,

      Yeah, I got lots of friends who are turkeys

      Dey all hav a right to a life,

      Not to be caged up an genetically made up

      By any farmer an his wife.

      Turkeys just wanna play reggae

      Turkeys just wanna hip-hop

      Can yu imagine a nice young turkey saying,

      ‘I cannot wait for de chop’,

      Turkeys like getting presents, dey wanna watch christmas TV,

      Turkeys hav brains an turkeys feel pain

      In many ways like yu an me.

      I once knew a turkey called…Turkey

      He said “Benji explain to me please,

      Who put de turkey in christmas

      An what happens to christmas trees?”,

      I said “I am not too sure turkey

      But itÕs nothing to do wid Christ Mass

      Humans get greedy an waste more dan need be

      An business men mek loadsa cash’.

      Be nice to yu turkey dis christmas

      Invite dem indoors fe sum greens

      Let dem eat cake an let dem partake

      In a plate of organic grown beans,

      Be nice to yu turkey dis christmas

      An spare dem de cut of de knife,

      Join Turkeys United an dey’ll be delighted

      An yu will mek new friends ‘FOR LIFE’.

      You decide.

        1. With his deep patois, you would have thought so, but be was born here. Jail bird and woman beater, obviously a hero of the left and oft heard on the Beeb.

          1. Of course; it would go against their religion to promote a black man who wasn’t either of those things…

      3. That is a pretty low pedestal to place a great poet on.

        Maybe he should have stuck to writing jokes for Christmas Rackers.

        1. Have you heard that Christmas Crackers are to have their snaps removed ? Environmental issues I believe!!

    1. Christmas at Matlock?

      Oh, such fun sliding your car all the way down Lime Tree Road on sheet ice; hoping you can stop it before it smashes into the side of a bus on the A615 at the bottom of that steep hill!😲

      1. Not as bad as sliding down Clatterway and arguing with a fully loaded 32 ton quarry tipper on the A5012 Via Gellia.

  46. Today is children’s Christmas party day in Television Centre. One of the sad aspects of convid being taken so seriously around here was the cancellation of the annual under 5s riot. One could feel sorry for whoever is waking around dressed as Bluey the Ozzy cartoon doggy – it must be hot in there – but the little ones love it.

    From Tim Davie.
    Today the government has confirmed that the licence fee will increase by 6.7% from April 2024. After two years with no increase, this restores the link between the licence fee and inflation. However, as the Board set out in its statement which is copied below, this outcome will require further changes – on top of the savings we are already delivering. We need now to work through our budgets to determine what this means in practice.

    And…
    Board Statement on the Licence Fee Increase
    We note that the government has restored a link to inflation on the licence fee after two years of no increases during a time of high inflation.
    The BBC is focussed on providing great value, as well as programmes and services that audiences love. However, this outcome will still require further changes on top of the major savings that we are already delivering. Our content budgets are now impacted, which in turn will have a significant impact on the wider creative sector across the UK. We will confirm the consequences of this as we work through our budgets in the coming months.

    There’s a sub-text here of course. Rather like the NHS claiming to be underfunded and local councils going bust. There won’t be any savings on Diversity Inclusion Equity.

      1. Well, I could be wrong but there’ve been redundancies on the public service side and that’s usually what they mean. Savings usually target useful people on lower pay bands. Twas ever thus.

        1. They could do a lot worse than dispense with a lot of the senior people who think they are indispensable.
          Particularly “front of camera” folk.

  48. Apologies if this has been commented on before.

    Plans are afoot to make homes valueless, control our eating/drinking habits (included in this scheme too) along with an assortment of other control schemes.
    Now this draconian control of car ownership and usage is well on the way to becoming reality. The globalists and their political satraps are without doubt enemies of the people.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwEg7BvQXsg

  49. With regard to my post, of a couple of days ago, regarding the indecipherable arcane language used by online retail units, I have received another reply from a customer services adviser, who clearly wished to inform me of her “pronouns”. As a result, I added mine.

    Dear Mr Grizzly,

    Thank you for your recent order.

    We are currently processing your request and the lead times are:

    2MR Schwegler Open-Fronted Avianex – in stock with supplier

    If you would like advice on alternative items which are currently available, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to help.

    If we don’t hear from you then your order will be billed and dispatched to you in full as soon as all the stock is available, so if you would like us to part-dispatch any of the in-stock items earlier than this please let us know.

    Kind Regards,

    Sarah Platt (She/Her)
    Customer Services Adviser

    I could not resist replying:

    Dear Sarah,

    Thank you for contacting me on this matter. If the item that I have ordered is in stock with your supplier then I shall have no hesitation in saying that I am more than happy to wait for it to be despatched. The recipient is aware the situation and is more than willing receive the item whenever it arrives.

    Many thanks and God Jul from Sweden.

    Best wishes,

    Grizzly (It/That)

  50. Todays quote from a Trudeau minister: Seamus O’Regan says economy is doing great, but COVID angst is stopping people from noticing

    Never mind that everything has gone apeshit, this idiot is telling us how wonderful things are. No doubt the people queued up at the food bank believe every word passing through his lying lips.

  51. Wishfullthinking
    @Wishfullthinki9
    I had the need due to severe pain (existing problem) to see/speak to my GP to get medication. After waiting in queue for 92 minutes was told not possible. Was told to call 111 who said it was unexceptable and would get someone to call me. Guess who it was? My GP.

    1. Sorry to hear of woes. I have experienced similar problems caused by my medications. I called the practice and the recorded message said due to high levels of sickness there was no one to take the call and cut me off.

  53. I just wonder if any Labour politicians and media representatives will be cross examined in the covid enquiry for not scrutinising the government properly and holding them to account, dereliction of duty, that sort of thing.

  54. Good afternoon, all. A chilly, grey day; bluss, it was cold at t’market.

    I didn’t see any of it, but I gather Johnson was his usual completely out-of-it self at the Great Whitewash Enquiry.

    Any other news?

          2. Every time i look back on that i burst out laughing.
            Probably best not…don’t want to scare the horses.

          3. You meany! I got Mousetrap out for the twins yesterday! They’re far too young but they loved the bits! It was a lot like the Krypton Factor trying to set it up and the destructions might as well have been in Swahili! Oh how we larfed!

          4. Keeping them happy and occupied is the main thing.

            I would make a terrible parent/grandparent…i would be teaching them Poker, 3 card Brag and Pontoon.

          5. That’s next week! We used to play with my grandmother. She had a velvet bag full of small cowrie shells which we used for stakes! We must have been under 8 years old! A wonderful misspent youth!

          15. That was my favourite board game, back in the 1960s. My cousin had one and we would spend Christmas night at their place playing the game.

          17. Yes, jill! And the board was a racecourse with betting booths! And trainers and costs! It was a great game! Oddly enough I married a man whose brother had been a jockey and a bookmaker!!

    2. Only that Rishi’s immigration policy is not shared by his, er, Immigration Minister. Tory implosion continued. So good news at last.

  55. I have developed conditions i haven’t experienced before.

    It seems that Statins have contributed to gallstones and sludge.
    The Ramipril has given me Tinnitus.
    The Clopidogrel have given me my first nose bleed.

    I’m going back to safer drugs. LSD, Speed, Ecstasy and Coke.

    1. I haven’t enjoyed such good health until I commenced on my medication of meat, meat, and more meat. Today’s medication: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5bebe31fb87b7922e248c531d5758e4f5b97e12fe4a6d01d8c2042419e28ff80.jpg
      Four slices of corned beef, four sausages, two chicken thighs, three slices of roast pork. The only additions were some caramelised onions, and a teaspoonful each of Colman’s English mustard and Branston piccalilli.

      Yum, yum, and more yum! Who needs to eat health-threatening weeds when there are scrummy dead animals to chew on?

      1. I couldn’t possibly eat that amount but my appetite has been declining. I have also lost a lot of weight. My arms are like pipe cleaners.

        1. “That amount” is only a medium plateful and it will keep me sated (no hunger pangs, whatsoever) until Saturday.

          1. Each to their own and all that – I simply could not eat all that meat at one sitting.

            And how you can omit some vegetables and salad is beyond me…!!

          2. That’s because you are not me and have not done research that proves humans did not evolve to eat vegetables and salad.

            All ‘modern’ human diseases are caused, directly, by eating vegetation and cereal crops. Those who produce them and sell them don’t want you to know that. They just want you to get ill so that their cohorts, in the medical profession, can ‘cure’ you with their drugs.

            The increasing stupidity among the species is another direct result of eating weeds and grasses.

          5. I get the point. Natural herbivores have multiple stomachs and as one of our doctors at church pointed out to a couple there who are veggies, we have the teeth and digestive system of carnivores. But I do like a bit of rice, potato, pasta or bread with my meat, plus a bit of vegetation doesn’t go amiss. Very fond of dairy produce too.

          7. Oh I love a bit of rice, bread, spuds and pastry (pasta is OK but it’s not top of my list). I have learnt to simply cut down (or temporarily cut out) on amounts. [I shall, though, never give up on mushy peas with mint sauce!😋]

            For example, I lost weight every week for nearly six months until a fortnight ago when I baked a loaf for the first time in that period. Result: I gained a pound and a half!

          8. We have just had the steaks from our organic beef package, and they are very easy to eat, I must say!

      2. That is a huge plateful – but I suppose it lasts you two days. It’s a strange regime that wouldn’t suit me.

        1. It is actually a natural régime, not a strange one. After all it is what humans have consumed for 99·6% of their existence as a species. The increase in obesity and widespread occurrence of disease only commenced after the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians introduced agriculture, a mere 10,000 years (i.e. 0·4% of human existence) ago.

          1. I think the increase in obesity is a lot more recent than that – and far more likely to be the result of eating junk food and too many drugs.

          3. Lack of exercise plays a part; we were far more physically active years ago. We walked more, cycled (couldn’t afford a car), were just coming out of rationing, didn’t have labour-saving devices for housework, farm work, industrial jobs, etc.

          4. I think we used to eat quite a bit of seasonal fruit, berries, roots and certainly any fat non-poisonous bugs, especially when the hunt went wrong.

          5. Early humans did, indeed, supplement their natural diet of meat, fish and eggs with nuts and berries, mainly. There was little nutrition in those gathered foods and little sugar.

            Every modern version of fruit and vegetable that is available today was developed by horticultural techniques to give them bigger size and improved sweetness. Such foods simply did not exist prior to the advent of agriculture.

    2. Statins have a lot of bad effects I think. I am well – probably because I take no pharmceuticals.

      I took Tamoxifen for five years – it had unfortunate and permanent side effects. Letrazole probably the same. I’ve taken nothing else except vitamins in the last few years. I would be very reluctant to take any meds now.

    3. From N.I.C.E.
      effects For ramipril

      Common or very common
      Gastrointestinal disorders; increased risk of infection; muscle spasms

      Uncommon
      Anxiety; appetite decreased; asthma exacerbated; flushing; libido decreased; myocardial ischaemia; nasal congestion; proteinuria aggravated; vision disorders

      Rare or very rare
      Conjunctivitis; hearing impairment; hepatic disorders; hypoperfusion; movement disorders; onycholysis; oral disorders; tremor; vascular stenosis; vasculitis
      Frequency not known
      Altered smell sensation; bone marrow failure; cerebrovascular insufficiency; concentration impaired; enanthema; gynaecomastia; hypersensitivity; Raynaud’s phenomenon; SIADH; toxic epidermal necrolysis

      Edit to add text..

    4. And Statins

      Adverse effects
      Gastrointestinal — constipation, flatulence, dyspepsia, nausea, and diarrhoea.
      Infections — nasopharyngitis (common).
      Metabolism and nutrition — hyperglycaemia (common). Hypoglycaemia, weight gain, anorexia (uncommon).
      Musculoskeletal and connective tissue — myalgia, arthralgia, pain in extremity, muscle spasms, joint swelling, and back pain (common). Neck pain, muscle fatigue (uncommon).
      Rarely: myopathy and rhabdomyolysis (incidences of 1.6 cases per 100,000 person years and 5 cases per 100,000 person years, respectively), muscle rupture, immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy (IMNM) during or after treatment with some statins. IMNM is clinically characterized by persistent proximal muscle weakness and elevated serum creatine kinase, which persist even when statin treatment is discontinued.
      Statins have also been reported to induce de novo or aggravate pre-existing myasthenia gravis or ocular myasthenia. They should be discontinued in case of aggravation or onset of these symptoms.
      Nervous system — headache (common), dizziness, paraesthesia, hypoesthesia, dysgeusia, amnesia (uncommon).
      Rarely: peripheral neuropathy.
      Psychiatric — insomnia, nightmares (uncommon).
      Respiratory — pharyngolaryngeal pain, epistaxis (common).
      Rarely: interstitial lung disease — advise people to seek medical attention if they develop symptoms such as dyspnoea, cough, and weight loss.
      Skin and subcutaneous tissue — urticaria, skin rash, pruritus, alopecia (uncommon).
      Rarely: angioneurotic oedema, dermatitis bullous including erythema multiforme, lichenoid drug eruptions, Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis.
      Other rare or very rare adverse effects include:
      Anaphylaxis.
      Cholestasis, hepatic failure.
      Depression.
      Gynaecomastia.
      Hearing loss.
      Sexual dysfunction.
      Visual disturbances (including blurred vision).
      Lupus-like syndrome has been reported as a rare adverse effect with rosuvastatin.

      1. As they are meant to be taken just before bed I often forget to take my 80mg horse pill sized statin. I can see 6 months worth of them on the meds shelf that have built up over the last 13 years.

        1. They nearly killed my kidneys about 10 years ago. Wouldn’t touch them with a barge poll. My last cholesterol test showed my reading of 3.6.

          1. Unfortunately I have something in my genes which gives me high (bad) cholesterol no matter how healthy my diet is.

          3. No, it cuts it down artificially I guess. If I don’t take them, some at least. it pops up to 7 or 8. I’ve got 8 stents and don’t want any more, or worse.

          8. It’s not that bad. The stents were all put in at the same time 13 years ago after a heart attack. I think things have turned out fairly well (probably wake up dead tomorrow after saying that, touch wood) and I’m pretty fit and am enjoying life. As you say, Carpe diem!

      2. Interesting they can give you constipation and
        diarrhoea which i have experienced in the same week.
        Recent gastro infection

        I have also had gynaecomastia hence the testosterone supplement.
        Nightmares yes.
        Rash yes.
        Short term memory loss yes.
        Weight loss yes.

        Let’s do lunch…i promise to wash my hands.

  56. Interesting post from the bad cat – looking at possible causes of a drop in testosterone in American males.Could be pertinent for other places too.

    https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/testosterone/comments?reaction=%E2%9D%A4

    testosterone is a critical hormone for men and women. reducing it
    reduces muscle mass and increases fat (a spiral as high fat, low muscle
    also reduces T). it also reduces confidence, sex drive, sex function,
    and general sense of well being. low T causes irritability, anxiety,
    depression, poor emotional regulation, fatigue, mental fog, and a
    veritable laundry list of other bad outcomes. testosterone is good
    stuff. you do not want to lose it.

    1. I have always argued that baldness in men is caused by having a high level of testosterone. This is why women in search of a virile and fertile husband should choose a man who is follicly challenged!

      2. My husband’s prostate cancer medication has caused hair to grow on his bald pate when none has grown for years!

      3. I was once informed that men who go bald from the front are thinkers. Those that go bald from the crown are sexy. But those who go bald both at the front and at the crown just think they are sexy!

    2. A GP believed my testosterone levels were low. I had an accident in the production area in one of my falls. I needed a blood test and a prostate test to see if i was suitable for replacement therapy. The tests were carried out in June and it was only after an official complaint to the Practice that i was given an appointment. This was October.
      The same GP who had asked for the tests asked me why i wanted to see him.
      I am seriously thinking about giving up (meds). Which i am also sure that suits them just fine if i were to disappear off their lists.

  57. While I am thriving on my fasting régime and strict high-fat, medium-protein, low-carb, no-sugar diet (just four meals a week), I shall let my hair down a tad at Christmas, since I am English and I will crave a mince pie or two. No mincemeat here in Sweden: good job I have my own superb recipe for it.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5bcc3a7dd9b0bcb755a356090aa1d700459341359ce7ee35ee0fd3dc80947114.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1ce14c3a93ed0e35e0745015905bc233c23be1e046b0de76a5d5e230230a0b07.jpg More yum!

    2. Mmmmm. Mine marinating in the fridge – made it a few weeks ago. Will knock up some nice mince pies for after the match on Saturday. Am still struggling to match my grandma’s fabulous pastry.

      1. Pastry is, and always has been, my Achilles’ heel. I will persevere and one day I shall master it … I hope!

      1. No, Caroline, Swedes don’t do suet. I can order it from a butcher, as I do many other ‘unusual’ items, but I always get a strange look from them whenever I ask.

        Luckily I have online outlets such as BritSuperstore, British Corner Shop and British Online Supermarket to obtain my suet (and a few other unobtainable items) from.

          1. My butcher (a female) is coming around to my ‘strange’ requests. Whenever I order fresh beef tallow (for deep frying the best fish and chips using the method that is de rigueur in both Yorkshire and Belgium) she now offers to mince it for me so that the rendering-down process in my oven is less troublesome.

    1. I think William would be perfect for a future monarch if he dropped the greeniac stuff. Both him and Catherine are very hands on with people who appreciate the personal/common touch. Subjects will be happy to be ruled by someone who understands their problems.

      Unlike Khan and other politicos that need armed escorts everywhere.

        1. Yes. I’m sure of that. An event not publicised but it does allow him to connect with people. Khan can’t even go for a walk in his local park.

      2. William is capable of dropping it in order to stay in power, I think. My trust in him is gone and won’t come back.
        I can see a scenario happening in 2030 where Charles steps aside and we get a “fresh start” with a relatively young monarch who is supposed to unite what is left of the British people – and we’d all be supposed to forget that he was in the depopulation/slavery stuff up to his ears.

        2. What would the reaction of the Idiot King be if his son and heir, William, saw the light and announced that global warming is nonsense, carbon dioxide is benevolent and necessary and Net Zero is a scam designed to hurt poor people?

          1. William knows which side his bread is buttered. But I think he might say that one day – to stay in power.

        3. Surely there will be a demand for a diverse monarch by then. Perhaps they were summing up Archie for the role when they were talking about family traits!

          1. There is a Chinese American commenter on Twitt called Xi Van Fleet, and she is trying to warn people how the whole woke movement mirrors how people were encouraged to behave before the Communist revolution in China. Once the Communists were in power, they simply lined those people up and shot them.

      1. yes and no. I would have mixed feelings about that publicity stunt if I were her. Cannot believe she didn’t know in advance either.

        1. If she knew in advance she should take up a career in theatre.
          If that double take was faked she deserves a best supporting actress award.

          1. Just don’t believe that the royal family would take a chance on turning up where they might not be welcome! She may not have known exactly when or where he was going to turn up. And a photographer just happened to be there too! What luck!

          3. I agree re not taking a chance.
            However, even if she was expecting a celebrity I very much doubt she knew it was Prince William.

  61. The early evening light light here is amazing. The sun is long set but its rosy purple light is being reflected off the scudding clouds. The ducks appear to be glowing.

      1. Muslim women won’t shake hands with a man they’re not married to. I don’t know if there’s a rule for men.

        1. Some islamic man very rudely refused to shake Kate’s hand recently. Rubbing in who’s boss, and of course, Kate the diplomatic clothes horse said nothing.
          Also, there was a famous case in Germany where some muslim guy applied for the citizenship. He went through all the conditions, citizenship test, language test, proof of income, capital, pension etc….came to the last interview where the civil servant was about to hand him the certificate, which they always do with a hand-shake.
          I’m sorry, says Mr Smart-Arse Muslim, but my religion forbids me from shaking a woman’s hand.
          She refused to hand the certificate over (German officials are the world’s snottiest people!)
          It went to court, and iirc, they sided with the official, because shaking the hand of the person giving you the certificate was deemed to be a condition of getting citizenship.

        2. She was probably awarded “honorary man” status for the duration of the visit, as HMQEII was when she visited Saudi.

  66. That’s me for this cold, dreary, grey day. Put CH back on.

    Now you all know I am not one for complaining – BUT – on 27 November I had a phone chat to a GP about my BP and the refusal of the eye-clinic to do the cataract operation because it was too high. GP said he’d write to the clinic. I contacted the surgery just now to check that the letter was sent. They rang back to say that, yes, the GP had written a letter BUT “they were just waiting for the secretaries to “process it” (presumably type the bloody thing…) but that it was all in hand”. So sod all will happen before the New Year. I had hoped to have had both eyes done by now….(sighs…)

    Anyway have a spiffing evening. By the way – the cut on my forehead (in case you were wondering)…the morning started with a bang when I walked into the closed door of the office. I had shut it last night having turned on the nigh storage heater…).

    A demain.

    2. If you were to receive an appointment this side of Christmas I’d postpone it until next year. You won’t want to be faffing with eye drops and an eye shield during the festivities, I would have thought.

        1. You could come to mine if you like. Not that i have any decorations up or anything but you won’t see them anyway. Also i won’t be here so double good !
          Go private you silly old fool !

  67. Just had a phone call from my old schoolfriend and it was a bit of a shock – her brother (73) died suddenly this morning.

    1. Oh, man. That’s news nobody wants to hear. And hard on your friend. Did you know him, N?

      1. Yes – when we were all young. Last met him at her birthday party – not this year (we didn’t go this year) as it was on Saturday afternoon and we were at a Christmas market, or I would have seen him there. It’s a big shock for the family. He only retired recently – a solicitor – he kept on working.

        1. An Occupational Health doctor I once knew was fond of saying: “No one ever had inscribed on their tombstone ‘I wish i spent more time in the office’…”

      1. She said he’d had some heart trouble recently. He’d gone to the pharmacy when he collapsed and the Air Ambulance was called. Was taken to hospital but too late.

    4. So sorry to hear that you have had a shock, re the loss of your friend’s brother .

      I had a spell of very bad phone calls last year..

      Here in our village , there was a monthly parish magazine , sadly no longer available , used to be full off news good and bad ..

      The obit columns in the local paper and DT are so expensive to post in , none of us are aware of who is missing until it is too late .

      Several very popular village stalwarts , not too elderly, have now been incarcerated in nursing homes with the dreaded dementia , some quick onset ..

      So it is , and that’s it , I’m afraid.

      1. More of a shock for my friend and the family – but at least I was someone she could talk to about it, as I knew him, even if only slightly these days.

        We still have a parish newsletter – it’s quarterly I think. It was our old, former neighbour who used to deliver it, that prompted us to have a handrail made for our steps a few years ago – he was very doddery and I was afraid he’d fall. He died a couple of years ago, but we’re quite glad of the handrail now, for ourselves. There are two flights of steps up to our front door – four, then a flat bit, then seven more steps. The hand rail is on the upper part.

  68. Evening, all. I inadvertently lied to you last night; I didn’t have a day off today! That’s tomorrow. Fortunately, I checked the diary before I missed out on Christmas lunch and, later on, a meeting re the PCC.

    1. You inadvertently misled us, Conway. You’re being too hard on yourself. You couldn’t have lied because a lie must be wilful and knowing.

          4. Easter bunny? Since these “fibs” give great pleasure to children and adults alike, and children realise the truth later I see no harm in them. It’s like telling children that ‘the policeman and the police lady are your friends” when we all know that every barrel contains a bad apple or two. It gives the children reassurance rather than fear.

          2. I thought he was always described, or portrayed, as old, white, male and sporting a beard, just no chimneys involved.

          3. Yes, but that is just a portrayal, largely popularised in the West by Michaelangelo’s wonderful depictions on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

          2. Make more time for yourself. Get yourself together. Then sort out whats what and tell the rest to take a hike.

          3. That’s the conclusion I came to this afternoon when I was trying to sort out three things at once!

        2. If you did it on purpose and planed to do it is a lie. otherwise it is a mistake. We all make mistakes but I never lie.

  69. I didn’t intend to write much more about the kangaroo court but one needs one’s daily dose of outrage.

    At this point the inquiry chair, Heather Hallett, intervened to say Partygate had worsened the grief of bereaved families. She said: “I’ve received a number of messages from bereaved people. So many of them who suffered horrific grief during lockdown and I’m afraid Partygate has exacerbated their grief.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/07/boris-johnson-second-day-at-the-covid-inquiry-key-points

    More exaggeration (the BBC liked this one). Did no one elderly ever croak because of a cold before Covid? And there’s no surprise in the good old Guardian ‘democratising’ the legal proceedings.

    It also occurred to me that someone might like to investigate any relationship between ‘Heather’ and Brenda Hale…

    2. I keep hoping that some brave soul will tell her that they have been following the proceedings closely and it is obvious that she’s clearly prejudiced and shouldn’t be in the chair.

    3. The ‘Chair’ is influencing the proceedings and should be told to get her emotions in check and not make statements which will prejudice any findings.

  70. If only…

    RICHARD EDEN: Harry and Meghan are doing huge damage to the Monarchy. STRIP them of their titles now – or risk yet more havoc

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12836305/EDEN-Harry-Meghan-damage-Strip-titles.html
    Meghan Markle could be dropped by her Hollywood talent agency over Omid Scobie’s bombshell book Endgame because she is now ‘too hot to handle’ and is ‘guilty by association’, PR experts say
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12837793/meghan-markle-omid-scobie-endgame-book.html

      1. Keeping curly hair looking that good is a full time job, and she would still be photographed with it blowing around looking a mess. People with similar hair say that they aren’t surprised she went for sleek fake hair instead. I think the curls look nicer though.
        She was very pretty in those photos, pity she felt the need to have surgery

        2. A man question… I take it the her hair is straightened rather than fake, although I notice many older black ladies wearing obvious wigs of straight hair.

          2. I think her natural hair has relaxing chemicals put on it to permanently straighten it, and she also has hair extensions put in.

    2. More mud-slinging, this time by the Windsor side and their followers. Really, who cares? She doesn’t represent our country any more.

        1. She did though, when she was doing royal engagements at home and abroad. She managed to upset our head of state and make our country look even more unstable than it is.

          3. I liked her more when she was with the African orphans and pouted to the camera that no one had asked how she was. The real McMeghan !

  71. Mario Nawfal
    @MarioNawfal
    🚨 BREAKING – PUTIN: THERE MUST BE A PALESTINIAN STATE
    “We stand for the establishment of a full-fledged Palestinian state.
    “In our approaches to the Middle East, unlike the Western stance, we have never wished to gain anything from that.”
    —

    China has already said that there must be a Palestinian State with its capital in East Jerusalem and accepted in the UN.
    Now Russia is taking that line too. Israel is going to have to accept the new reality soon.

    Putin was meeting with the Iranian leader today.
    It’s all happening under the noses of the senile, corrupt and incompetent leadership in the West – their task is merely to deliver us into poverty via the climate hoax.

      1. Everybody will be madly affronted by the borders, of course. But if China and Russia are both for it, it will probably happen. Hopefully it will usher in an era of peace.

          3. There are times when I believe that you really are naïve.

            The Palestinians, as represented by every flavour of Islam Islamic terrorist organisation you care to mention will NEVER accept an Israeli state in the middle east.
            If you believe that “world powers” have any influence over Islam you are horribly mistaken.
            Which of your world powers speaks for Islam?

          4. Instead of thinking that I am naive, perhaps you should ponder whether you have just not thought it through.

            Economic cycles. There tends to be more peace and prosperity in the middle of them. We could have peace for a generation if borders were established and the ME countries told in no uncertain terms what the rules are by the new bosses. Unlike the US, the new order shows no signs of wanting an endless series of proxy wars to fund its military industrial complex.

          6. To believe that, is to believe that the experience of the last 80 years is normal in terms of history. It isn’t. The US was in the business of endless wars, the latest of which is the current manufactured Gaza/Israel conflict.
            Sure, there will be conflicts in the future in that region. But the signs are strongly pointing towards a period of peace once the next long cycle gets underway a few years from now.

          8. Militant islam has had far more help from the US military industrial complex than the Americans have ever admitted.

          1. I was quite surprised over lunch when conversation turned to local churches (several of us have problems in our parishes!) and the woman on my right remarked, after criticism of the ABC had been voiced, “the mosques are full. They should never allow them to be built here.” Needless to say, we all agreed.

    2. Jordan is the “Palestinian” state. Why should they have two states. What they want of course is the total destruction of the Jews. They fought over Jerusalem and lost, which is and always has been a perfectly legitimate way to decide the issue and Russia agrees with that where its own territory is concerned.

      1. What the Palestinians desire is probably secondary to what the predator class wants at this point. The other middle Eastern countries have demonstrated that they are perfectly well capable of working with Israel when they want.

        Israel is a handy tax haven for those with dual citizenship, I doubt it will disappear any time soon.

  72. Par 4 at the Wordle.

    Wordle 901 4/6

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

    1. Par Four – me too!

      Wordle 901 4/6
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      1. And here

        Wordle 901 4/6

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    2. #metoo.

      Wordle 901 4/6
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      1. And me.

        Wordle 901 4/6

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    1. There was an article a while back aboutwanting a photo to view porn sites. The comments were interesting as they all discussed how easily children got around this. What few discussed was that this is absolutely nothing to do with the state and a matter solely for parents.

      1. Yonks and yonks ago the ice cream vans in Liverpool were delivering drugs to children. Parents unaware or uncaring?
        I’ll get me Lob.

    2. The meme i saw had a black kid !
      You would enjoy the new TV series of Brave New World….The kids are conditioned with cattle prods.

      How are your levels? Bzzztt.

    1. In her 1st shared student digs, Dr. Daughter had one of her friends ask how long to time something for. 10 minutes she said and you can use the clock on the microwave.
      The idiot (actually a BBC producer now) only set the microwave for 10 minutes and started it off without putting anything in it.
      Luckily Dr. Daughter realised what he was doing and intervened, turning it off and explaining in better detail!

      2. I generally will take a mug of water, pour it into a saucepan and take a similar mug and half fill it with rice, This also is tipped into the saucepan of water with a little salt and pepper. Bring it to the boil and let it simmer for about 10 minutes, meanwhile I’ve filled and put the kettle on to boil. When it’s boiled, I pour the rice, now soggy into a colander and pour boiled water over and through it, stirring with a fork,

        Voila, fluffy rice, enough for one.

          1. I put some olive oil into a saucepan to heat. Then I pour half a cupful of rice topped with some salt into the pan of olive oil and shake the pan around whilst boiling a kettle. I fill the cup with boiling water and add it to the saucepan. When the water has almost evaporated I switch off the hob and place a plate over the pan. This results in the steam created falling back into the pan so that the rice doesn’t burn. After a short while I simply tip the rice onto the plate. Simples!

          5. I follow Ken Hom’s unbeatable failsafe method. I rinse the rice in about six changes of water then drain. I then place the drained rice into a saucepan and add water to cover it by around half and inch. Nothing else is added to the pan. I bring the water to the boil and allow it to boil rapidly without a lid until the water starts to subside. When the last bubble has popped in one of the many small craters that form, I remove the pan from the heat and put on the lid. The lid remains there for a minimum of 15 minutes while the rice steams. After that the rice fluffs up wonderfully on a fork and is ready for serving or for frying if fried rice is required.

          7. Bollocks! It’s the tried-and-tested (over millennia) method that every Chinese individual on the planet uses (and there are quite a few of them). I think they know a bit more about rice than you do, sunshine.

      3. Dr Daughter should have told her a dozen eggs for 10 minutes in the micro then gone out for drinks with someone who had a sofa she could surf.

    3. This is what I do with rice, which is my take on the method my mother learnt when we lived in India. The thing is not to serve rice immediately after cooking it; it is better if it rests and is then re-heated. The added advantage is that cooling rice increases resistant starch, which lowers the glycaemic index and therefore causes less of an insulin spike – so better for diabetics, too.

      Rinse the rice thoroughly and soak it in cold, unsalted water for several hours if possible. The longer you soak it, the shorter the cooking time. When you’re ready to cook the rice, drain the cold water off and add a very generous amount of unsalted hot water. Bring to a gentle simmer and keep tasting it until such time as it is just undercooked. Take it off the heat and strain it immediately in a sieve or colander. Quickly put the sieve/colander back on top of the pan, letting the rice finish draining into the still hot pan. Pop a lid on the rice and leave it, preferably until it is completely cold. The steam within the pan + lidded sieve will be enough to cook the rice until it is just perfectly done. Then gently take it out of the sieve – it will inevitably have clumped together, so you need to use your fingers to break up the clumps and separate out all the grains, taking care not to crush them or break them up. It sounds a faff, but it’s somehow very therapeutic doing this and it actually doesn’t take long. Add salt at this stage. Re-heat either by steaming gently over some boiling water, or in the oven (with a lid on) or in the microwave (again, lid on).

      While it takes a bit of forward planning, it’s much less stressful than trying to produce perfectly cooked rice straight off the hob when you’re juggling with other vegetables and meat as well.

      2. Indeed, and that is the method advocated by Madhur Jaffrey in her excellent books on Indian Cookery.

        Ken Hom’s method (shown in my other post) also states that leaving the rice to completely cool after steaming renders the rice in better condition for further cooking, whether re-steaming or frying in a smidgeon of unrefined peanut oil. These methods are equally appropriate for Patna rice (preferred by the Indians) and Jasmine rice, the grain of favour of the Chinese.

      2. It’s such a shame. I’m sorry i have no tears left for crying. Because i pissed myself laughing.

  77. Flicked on the idiot box,oh good Macbeth on Sky arts a play that I thoroughly enjoyed as a teenager at the Young Vic 4 minutes and OFF
    Rumpole of the Baily it is………….
    Jeez modern TV is rubbish

  78. Plea to Nottlers – Given the MSM is rife with her /them , could we please make NoTTL a Meagain Markle free zone? Thank you.

      1. You shouldn’t have written that, Grizzly. I am very tempted now to have a slice of toast with my homemade marmalade. (Bad for the waistline, doncha know.)

  79. Well, chums, I’m off to bed now. So I’ll bid you all a peaceful good night, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

      1. 379277,+ up ticks,

        Morning Bob,
        Not as yet, I like this reply,
        Adam G (ADHDrunsme)
        @ADHDrunsme858
        ·
        Dec 6
        Thank you. If only more Arabs would visit Israel and see for themselves…that even if you disagree with the government the people are insanely humane and peaceful. They just want to live in peace..as most people do. Everybody should pass this video on ASAP. ❤️❤️❤️

  82. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7b8823b70c41754136ad19744fa4e6a970de5cad2c3ea6854386da4ec9566a1b.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/12/07/king-charles-at-the-top-of-father-christmas-good-list/

    Completely cringeworthy.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/61466fd77e6eb805e08c29c999edcf534204cc19751e5b574d4a1996da891fc7.png

    BTL

    It is quite possible to be in favour of the monarchy without being a sycophantic lickspittle.

    I think a constitutional monarchy is better than many other systems but the Idiot King is not up to the job.

    2. I cannot summon up the bile to despise King Charles III. I admired his mother but, were public opinion to turn against the monarchy, I would nor be much moved were it to be replaced. I just don’t think it’s worth the bother of replacing it as we’d be equally badly governed were it not here. There’s no point in changing things unless what follows is likely to be appreciably better.

    3. What i want to know is…what did he get? I got a pair of slippers and a gonk…I stopped going back after that.

    1. ‘Morning, Geoff, and thank you.

      You’re catching us out with these early (very early) starts

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