Thursday 8 May: A time to reflect on the bravery and resolve that brought victory in 1945

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

518 thoughts on “Thursday 8 May: A time to reflect on the bravery and resolve that brought victory in 1945”

    2. We know! We're already on it!
      That aside, thank you and a good morning to you!

      1. Most people don't know about this, don't see the implications, and so don't care.

        1. It's because they simply can't work them out. The average Joe is just not capable of understanding the basics. Thus when they're pay falls and prices rise they're told 'It's the energy companies' or 'your evil employer'.

          Folks are dumb beyond measure.

      2. They're all dangerous fools.

        https://order-order.com/2025/05/08/budget-tax-rises-blamed-as-reeves-set-to-miss-fiscal-targets-by-62-billion/

        Reeves undone and can't keep weaseling out of it. She's responsible for wrecking the economy.

        I wouldn't mind if they said: we're going to destroy jobs, wreck the economy, make you all poor, ration energy, destroy society, jail the innocent, release the criminal, reward the muslim and flood the country with dindu gimmigrants and there's nothing you can do about it.

        At least it would be honest, but they can't even manage that.

        1. (CBA to read article) but, looking at the figures quoted, £22b black hole says Rachel from accounts, she raises £40bn, what has she done with the £40bn raised so why is there a likely £62bn hole ? It’s a mystery, these stats!

    3. And Labour are still fighting to have the court discussion over access to data in private, rather than in public.

      It's as if they've something to hide, such as intentional mass surveillance.

  10. Good morning all.
    A dull and overcast start to the day, but a tad less cold at 9.6°C and no rain.

  11. 405149+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Thursday 8 May: A time to reflect on the bravery and resolve that brought victory in 1945

    For once face facts,

    We have had eighty years reflection and LEARNT NOUT.
    A time more like for mass recriminations and a great deal of self-flagellation.

    They GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR US TO BUILD A FUTURE WE SHIT ON THE GESTURE, BIG TIME.

  12. Morning, all Y'all.
    Overcast. Weather appropriately sombre for VE-day.
    Was just reading about a local lad who was shot just outside the local cinema just a day or so before it was all over. Barely out of short trousers, he'd been a resistance man all through the war, but never got to see the end of it. Terribly sad.

  13. Good morning, chums, and thanks to Geoff for today's new NoTTLe site. I don't know what happened, but thanks also to BoB for finding today's page.

    Wordle 1,419 4/6

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    🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  14. The secretive quango planning to dim the sun. 8 May 2025.

    When sun-dimming experiments were first mooted last month, one Telegraph reader liked it to “what Hanna-Barbera might have dreamed up to foil Dick Dastardly in Wacky Races”.

    We are going to dim the sun over that well known tropical hothouse, the UK? The world's Climate Engine? Is my perception failing? Do I no longer understand the basic rules of Meteorology?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/08/secretive-quango-dim-sun-fight-global-warming/

      1. Very good, Annie. (Good morning, btw.) Incidentally, when would be a good time to phone you at home? I just need five minutes of your time at most.

        1. Ralph Miliband. A 1930's Jewish refugee who Britain accepted, protected, educated and made sure he had a fruitful career.
          Talk about no good deed goes unpunished.

    2. Good morning, will these sun dimming antics take place before or after Milliband Minor, the Secretary of State for Nett Zero, has covered all the viable farmland in his solar subsidy harvesting plantations?
      We should rename 'Westminster/Whitehall' as 'Bedlam' and be done with it.

  16. Good morning, all. I wish you a peaceful and reflective VE-Day. Eighty years ago was the first time I saw a large fire outdoors (a celebratory bonfire on waste ground on Stanmore Broadway) that had not been started by the Germans.

    To the market. Back later.

      1. Really? It was next to the United Dairies. A parade of shops ended there – and there was waste land until one reached Dennis Lane (the space is now a Lidl)…

    1. I think myself that we are moving slowly but inevitably toward some form of Armageddon.

      Yes, the signs of the times (Matt 16:3). What the likes of us think and feel is surely the sense of impending doom that many writers and commentators (Thos. Mann, H. Hesse f'rinstance) perceived to be hanging over Europe in the first dozen years of the 20th century. Thanatos seems to have a life and momentum of its own these days. The train has left the station. It's being so cheerful as keeps me goin'.

    2. Am about to post on Neil Oliver’s latest. Watch the space above (or below, depending on how you read the comments).

      1. Morning, Phil. Oven cleaner is here and shortly to arrive is the gardener. My dear wife is back in AF and permanently breathless. Appointments with Cardiology in June and July. Until then (and possibly thereafter) her life is miserable.

        5. Oh, lord, Delboy.
          That's bad. Sending sympathies and concern to both of you. What a lot of stress you can do without – hope sh'es over it soonest, and fit to enjoy some spring sunshine.

        6. Symptoms of AF can also lead to anxiety, which only exacerbates the problem. You and your wife have my sympathies. It's an uncomfortable condition. I presented myself to A&E on one occasion of prolonged AF and was much relieved when the team there brought it under control. Have you considered taking similar action?

  19. "Disney is to open its first Middle Eastern theme park in a country where homosexuality is illegal after the US media giant watered down its diversity policies.

    The company has unveiled plans to open a new resort in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, which it said will be “authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati”.

    Disney’s decision to build a resort in the Arab country suggests a significant change in outlook at the entertainment giant, which has long prided itself on its LGBTQ+ friendly stance. Homosexuality is outlawed in the Emirati capital and punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment."

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

    1. I see what they mean, but it could have been phrased better:
      "...homosexuality is illegal after the US media giant watered down its diversity policies." So, being happy was made illegal when Disney decided diversity wasn't the thing after all?

    2. I've worked with Disney. A very professional outfit. However,..

      As authentic as a piece of Disney driftwood. Was the 'in joke'. Because the theme park's specifications manual would define how to make the stuff in a factory out of resin.. rather than go to any beach and gather up the stuff.

  21. Bye bye Germany.. bye bye EU.

    In this eye‑opening episode, Matt Goodwin breaks down the landmark decision to officially classify Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) as a far‑right party. He explores what this designation really means, how it could reshape the German political landscape, and whether AfD can bounce back or is facing a terminal decline.

    Summary: CDU/CSU alliance (Equivalent of Labour & LibDims) declare organised opposition 'extermists'.. subjecting them to security surveillance and banning them from govt jobs.

    Yvette Cooper requests The Manual.

    1. German blogger eugyppius seems to have a slightly different take. I like Matt Goodwin too, see him on GBN often taking someone down with logic and facts:-)

          3. I've followed Eugyppius' substack for several years and he's always very prescient and apposite. I like to hear what's happening in Germany and what he thinks of it.

    1. Thing is, foreigners working in the UK already don't pay NI here. They pay it there.

      However, optically it is bad because it looks as if UK citizens are bieng cheated – which we are, because if foreigners are cheaper then companies will hire them.

      This is especially bad for local technical people, especially developers. Why hire a local for £50K, really costing £80K when an Indian, through not fault of his own will cost about £40K all told?

    1. So true.
      Well said Kriss, starmer is an absolute catastrophic nightmare.

  24. Good morning. So Disqus have carried out their threat and taken the “classic” text and layout style off the menu. Ah well. It’s consistent with everything else about life in the lunatic asylum. Bold, brash, in yer face and subtle as a flying mallet.

      1. Er………different typeface, rounded corners on the avatar…….. maybe you changed when they first made it an option. I stuck with the old one.

  26. Morning All 🙂😊
    Bright very windy slightly warmer 11c
    but that cold wind knocks a few degrees off.
    Our most recent ancestors queued up to join the armed forces to protect our country.
    Wonderful people and kept our future safe.
    But the occasions where people queue now, is for what they can get for free.
    Our political idiots have effed up everything they come into contact with. No body in the thirties and early forties would have accepted what they have done and are still doing.
    That's the difference that is not recognised or even accepted by today's mob in Wastemonster.

    1. She won't notice if they cut her off as she never had electricity in the first place!

      1. Now I think back, my parents didn't realise how lucky they were when we lived in an old farmhouse with no gas, water or electricity.
        I don't remember them being terribly grateful.

    1. Do they define what they mean by "Far Right"? So far, I see it as meaningless dog-whistle phrase used so everyone knows who to hate.

        1. I bought a dog whistle once. Bloody useless, I couldn't hear a thing … only the dog could hear it!😉

    2. We keep hearing that the government has learnt nothing from the Southport riots, but I disagree, the government has learnt an awful lot about controlling and suppressing the news and information, releasing gaslighting fake news and creating a hostile environment for anyone that complains or tries to expose the truth.
      They find it far easier to police the good and the victims rather than take on and face the problems that they have imported.
      That would mean that they and their agenda are at fault, wouldn't it.

      1. That's all it ever learns: suppressive, oppression, spite and silencing it's enemies.

    3. Of course Starmer lied. The man lies habitually to blame rather than accept responsibility. He let that awful brat into this country. The pointless groups that were supposed to monitor it failed. The muslim menace is everywhere because of sewage like Starmer.

      Now we have ot pay the price and the children are dead. They're not coming back, ever again because that spiteful bastard forced the muslim on us. It's HIS fault. He didn't want to accept the anger though, or the responsibility so jailed those he hated as fascists always do.

      I hate him. I absolutely, completely do. He is evil beyond measure. They all are. A barrel of radioactive waste, slithering and crawling into this country grubbing for votes when they should be kicked in the head until it stops moving. All 650 of them, nasty, brattish evil poisonous serpents. 30 years of these characters has infested the country with evil beyond measure. So many people would be alive, so many better off if the pollution of 'diversity' were simply erased but no. The Left wanted a guaranteed voting block and who cares who pays the price for their evil.

      The countless dead bodies killed by bombs, knives, guns don't matter. The raped, abused – Heap the mountain up, the Left couldn't care less.

      1. That, Wibbs, is an epic piece.
        And yes, for the first time in my life (and this is the fourth Labour administration of my adult lifetime) I actively HATE a British government.

    4. Blimey, whichever plods produced that report can say goodbye to any career advancement.

  30. Good Morning. I see Disqus couldn't resist the temptation to change. It seems to be the way of things these days, if it is familiar and works then change it.

    Government Afterpost: If it doesn't work create a Quango, pretend to study it for months/years, pay consultants a fortune of taxpayers money, change the name and logo, then do nothing but claim it is sorted.

    1. All continuous improvement and we should be grateful.

      Blasted idiots can't leave something alone. Software quality these days is absolutely appalling. This morning I couldn't get to any of my systems. All returned 'can't see if mate' which is intolerable. Had to restart my networking to get it to work.

      Folk bang on about Ai and fancy new tools but the basics just are not good enough. It's all one hack on another on another and it's just not right.

    1. The Milimaniacs will tell us it's because of actions being taken to get to net zero. So keep on towards national bankruptcy.

    3. The couple in Hooded Claw's posting are representative of many people in this country. Those who have a clear understanding of politics in the UK are very much in the minority.

  33. Hottie Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin gives her her first interview on GBNews. Britain's migrant hotels exposed as we reveal shock footage
    Reveals migrant hotels are a den of "Drug dealing, knives & terror plots!"

    A no fail business model.. no costs whatsoever. Can't get arrested. Immune from taxation. Protected by the Progressives.
    And you are paying for it.
    "I'm voting Labour. Always have done, always will. Farage wants to close down the NHS and have us pay for our sick notes by creditcard."

    1. Who knew……all of them should be returned to where they came from. And our political idiots should be put on trial for allowing it to take place.
      This was not accidental they all knew what they were doing. Which means that they have no place in charge of anything whatsoever.

      1. Lowe wanted to send them back.

        Farage and Muhammad Ziauddin Yusuf did not and so they set about trying to destroy him.

    2. The Left's hatred of Farage is comical. You also can't challenge the Left wing mind with facts because they simply can't cope with it.

  34. Good Morning!

    Today is VE Day, and we have two articles on it. The first, VE Day – Some Personal Thoughts by Xandra H , is a thought-provoking piece on what it’s all about now and what it should be about. The second is Poor Jack – A VE Day Tribute to the British Merchant Seaman , often forgotten, but whose contribution to winning the war was second to none.

    Please do read both and leave a comment. I'll take it as a personal favour. Neither is long and in my opinion both contain facts we should all be aware of.

    Energy watch 08.30: Demand: 32.86W. Total UK Production: 25.55 GW from: Hydrocarbons 36%; Wind 10.4%; Imports 23.4%; Biomass 8.9%; Nuclear 10.9%. Solar: 8.6%.

    1. I had a lovely friend who was my parents' age.
      I wonder how she felt 80 years ago. For her, the war was not over.
      Her husband was fighting with the Chindits and for five years she had no idea if he was alive or dead.

    1. Fun fact: The wooden base of the Garrard SP25 MkIV was made by Mr Simons owner of old furniture cum coffin maker in the East End of London.
      The mold for the smoked acrylic cover cost about the same as a house in 1969.
      Mr Simons was the father in law of Alan Sugar.

      1. Wonderful turntable. Do you happen to know who is looking after the mould, as I cracked the acrylic some time ago?

      3. Fun fact: Brian May's iconic solid body electric guitar (with three Burns tri-sonic single-coil pickups) was made for him by his father out of an old fireplace surround.

    2. Fun fact: The wooden base of the Garrard SP25 MkIV was made by Mr Simons owner of old furniture cum coffin maker in the East End of London.
      The mold for the smoked acrylic cover cost about the same as a house in 1969.
      Mr Simons was the father in law of Alan Sugar.

    3. Fun fact: The wooden base of the Garrard SP25 MkIV was made by Mr Simons owner of old furniture cum coffin maker in the East End of London.
      The mold for the smoked acrylic cover cost about the same as a house in 1969.
      Mr Simons was the father in law of Alan Sugar.

    4. I can't remember what i had for lunch yesterday but i still remember all the words to that.

          2. As served by the dinner ladies. There is another class of women who describe themselves as "ladies who lunch". I would describe myself as one of the latter, except that I don't have lunch, just a single evening meal.

    5. Many years ago, when such things were new, in the technology lab ar work I was playing with (assessing in tech speak) speech boards for PC's. The synthetic voice did well on most words, so I typed in the words actually shown on the label above and then the opening verse of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

      The board I was using passed the test, doing a commendable job with both. Only trouble was no intonation, as all speech came out in a very "flat" monotone. Having that stuff coming out of the speakers did attract some interest, but as it was "the boss" playing around, no criticism!

    6. My uncle used to sing that for me when I were nobbut a sprog. The Pub With No Beer (Slim Dusty) was his other favourite.

  36. The problem I am having is that when I look at all the celebrations for VE day, all the loss of life, all the deaths on both sides and then I look at the dreadful betrayals, corruption, fraud, incompetence and sheer malice perpetrated on us by the political class of the last 30 years I wonder if it was worth it only to have the same vicious, spiteful, appalling surveillance, monitoring, imprisonment, curtailing of freedoms pushed upon us for problems big fat state has not only caused, but continues to enforce – all for it's own arrogant ideology.

    1. 405149+ up ticks,

      Morning W,

      Surely we have witnessed things going BIG TIME crook over the last three + decades why did we continue, via the polling stations, to return their ilk to power again,again,& again there were other choices that could be supported.

      1. 405149 + up ticks,

        O2O,

        Fact,

        Via the polling stations we bloody well asked for it.

          1. 405149 + up ticks,

            Afternoon EB,

            In the nicest possible way EB if the cap fits……

          2. Not sure which post of mine you are referring to, Oggie? The one starting "When you say we…"?

          4. I've voted for the Conservative party several times in the past 30+ years, at the 2019 General Election most recently, so I "bloody well asked for it".

          5. I used to vote Conservtive, never Labour – but after the last Con government sold us all down the river, in many different ways – probably 'never again'.

          6. I think we can safely say that the last 4, possibly 5, Conservative governments were happy to sell us down the river. The old 'slave trade' ain't in it.

    2. I agree totally.
      It's almost as if we hadn't bothered.
      Do The French celebrate VE day today as well ? After the sacrifices by thousands of allied soldiers were made to free them from German dictatorship.

      1. 22,022 British and Commonwealth personnel died just in the Battle of Brittany in 1944……

      2. No, Eddy, they set up visa tables during the last VE day celebrations to stamp the passports of soldiers parachuting in for the celebrations. Shameful!

    4. Think it was Hong Kong? the spy in the sky could charge you for jaywalking

    1. "Kill the kafir.. drink the blood of their babies.. slit the throats."
      It's a cultural thing, and has many different meanings.. and context is required.

  38. I've excused myself from voting. I make little effort to read or watch mainstream news and mistrust much of what I encounter on social media, populated as it is by so many liars and charlatans. Better to not participate than be led astray and swayed by bullshit. Life's too short to spend much of it sorting wheat from chaff.

    1. Intelligent people like you should still vote – you are able to understand what you do. A vote for Labour is always a vote wasted.

      1. IMHO voting Labour just encourages more on going abuse of our culture and social structure.

      2. That is the sad thing.
        Intelligent people like Stig have given up in understandable despair.

        1. Not so much despair as resigned to the pointlessness of it all. I'm also less intelligent than I once was. I understand less about the world about me.

  39. Panic this morning……..
    Oh wanted to go and do a bit of shopping. We now have only one car……..he couldn't find the keys and I couldn't remember where I'd put them.
    Eventually………by a process of elimination I remembered I'd opened the car to extract the two bags of compost and a heavy flower pot. I then had to think what I was wearing…….. it was cold so I'd put on an old jacket that I only use in the garden – sure enough, the keys were in the pocket!

    1. Aaarrgghhhh ……. that is chilling.
      And reminded me that I still haven't found the set of back door keys I lost a good 6 weeks ago.

      1. Think back to what you were wearing at the time………and where you went.

        1. Done all that.
          The beastly things are still hiding from me.
          I think we're down to Act of God – or Dog. Move some unregarded object and …. hey presto.

      2. Reminds me – on holiday, going home day…two year old hiked off with car keys, wouldn't say where, eventually found down back of radiator.

        1. About 50 years ago……….my then three year old took his father's keys to make his pedal car go………and dropped them down a drain grating.

          1. Sorry to say, I laughed out loud Ndovu…that’s quite a picture…betting dad didn’t have the heart to scold him 🥰

          3. In the best possible humour..good tip, must remember now I have grandchildren…

    2. Welcome to my world, Ndovu…I write things down on a scrap of paper, which I find alright, and can read alright, but just don't know what the devil it means.

      1. It isn't a real horse. It's two lawyers in a horse suit.

        You're the one at the back.

    1. She'd better get her toothbrush if the stickers said.. "Mass immigration.. a good idea?"

      Samuel Melia, 34, was found guilty earlier this year of inciting racial hatred after a series of stickering incidents between 2019 and 2021. two-year sentence.

      1. Samuel Melia, 34, was found guilty earlier this year of inciting racial hatred after a series of stickering incidents between 2019 and 2021. two-year sentence.

        And the judge told him that his sentence would have been even longer if he had actually done something illegal.

    2. What was her crime? Was she read her rights? Was she asked to stop? What did she say then? What did plod do after that?

    3. This is Part 2, we can't see Part 1 and what happened there. The female police officer tells her to 'stand up, Jenny' …perhaps known to the police? And we don't know what was on the stickers.

  42. We saw a dozen or more starlings fledge from the nest in the roof of the house opposite us. A lot of flapping of wings and a couple of minutes later all tha quiet again.

    1. Sparrow hawks will likely have seen the nest, possibly practising flapping wings, they also take pigeons having learned to survive city life. So the quicker you go the safer you are.

        1. Thanks, Grizz…very handsome bird, guessing a juvenile. I have one here, a while back I was just stepping over the stile into the wood, so it was flying past just a few feet below me…that beautiful slate grey back…and look at that eye…how clever to weave through the saplings. Have a lot of pipistrelle here, I was sitting outside warm summer evening to watch them stream out a few years ago..sparrow hawk (I think a female, perhaps with young to feed) caught one mid-flight. What feed are you putting out, please? K x

          1. We've stopped feeding the birds now until October, Kate. We use mainly dried mealworms, mixed seeds, hemp seeds sunflower seeds, fat balls, peanuts and nigella seeds.

            We had lots of siskisn in the late winter but they moved on and were replaced by goldfinches in the early spring. We do ger a mixed bag of birds here. We currently have a list of 84 species seen in, from and flying over the garden.

          2. Thanks Grizzly 🙂 I don’t have anything like that number of species, couple of dozen at most including corvids, hawks. Smaller birds (including a siskin today!) in the feeder daily (sunflower seed hearts). So not much competition from me 😘

  44. "No, the EU did not directly prevent the UK from building reservoirs. The UK's lack of new reservoir construction since 1992 is primarily attributed to the 1989 privatization of the water industry, rather than EU regulations. While the EU has water directives that influence environmental regulations, they haven't specifically restricted reservoir construction. The UK's reliance on existing infrastructure and the perceived cost and time associated with building new reservoirs have also played a role, as noted by the New Civil Engineer and The Telegraph." (Discuss.)

    1. We have a well over 25 metres deep which provides us with all the water we need. It has never failed in the 36 years we have been here.

      2. Same here. Have not paid a water/sewage bill since 1990. Here this means you have to have a decent sized plot – zoning regulation for homes with well and septic is typically RE2 – residential, 2 acres per home. Our current place has the well at one end of the plot and the septic at the other – in round terms, a 1/4 mile between them.

  45. Neil Oliver's latest podcast, today of all days, is worth a listen. This is just an extract, but he concludes that he now no longer feels ownership, or a sense of belonging, to this country, and it's not something he could have ever imagined feeling growing up. It's only 14 minutes, and you can probably find it on youtube if you prefer watching.

    “We don't have borders. Unless of course you're a native coming back home from a holiday abroad, in which case the border suddenly appears, if only as an inconvenience and an opportunity to have you examined by all that biometric surveillance malarkey with which the locals are put and kept in their place. What passes for government actively prioritises new arrivals over British natives.

    That's a fact. If you were born here, like generations of your family before you, then you're automatically at the back of the queue for everything. Second class citizens in what used to be our country.

    Our government hates us, the people. Treats the people with undisguised contempt, because it can. Saw in the papers this week with the end of the oil refinery at Grangemouth.

    We can no longer refine our own oil. We've got a government out there where Keir Starmer talks about going to war with Russia. We don't refine our own oil.

    And similarly, we just got rid of the last steel mill. So we don't make our own steel. This joker stands behind a podium and talks about taking on Russia with what?

    But you know, the closure of Grangemouth effectively[…]”

    From Neil Oliver Podcast: Neil Oliver – I can’t believe it – they’re turning the lights off!!!, 6 May 2025
    https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/neil-oliver-podcast/id1513737418?i=1000706534857
    This material may be protected by copyright.

    1. 405149+ up ticks,

      Morning LIR,
      Sheer weight of indigenous numbers tells me
      we needen't ,over the past decades, constructed our political infrastructure the way we did, even using tactical voting to squeeze out any decent attempts at change, we the peoples have a great deal to answer for.

  46. That is a chilling story – and what a waste of that young man's life. The man who caused his death should now be prosecuted.

  48. OH has returned from Waitrose………with tales of woe – couldn't find what he wanted but the staff were very helpful. At the filling station, he realised the pump was out of order, needed to reverse and there were two cars queuing up behind him……….

      1. It's Hedgehog Awareness Week this week – and strimmers can cause horrendous injuries if people aren't careful with them. Ditto garden forks in compost heaps, and bonfires left unchecked before lighting.

        1. At my secondary school, we joked that National Hedgehog Day was on November the 31st. (Think about it.)

          1. What in th early days of computing, we called an "off by one" error.

  49. Cold out. Busy market.

    I don't know whether any of you watched the series of programmes about Richard Dimbleby's reporting of Belsen – and the searingly awful film made by two soldier photographers.

    It brings it all back in graphic detail. Be a good idea to tie Cur Ikea Slammer to a chair and make him watch it several times.

    1. And, of course, such programmes could not be made today unless "balance" was ensured by describing the inhuman treatment of civilians by Allied troops.

          1. How are you today, Conners? Feeling a bit more "normal" in terms of health?

          2. I am much improved in some ways (I am able to do more and stay up longer), thanks, but now I’m suffering from a stomach upset. It never rains but it pours!

    2. 405149+ up ticks,

      Morning JN,
      All the while we argue the toss with his many anti Brit comments it triggers the daily boat intake.

      Chaff comment = daily boat intake.

    3. People don't know, though. They believe what they're told by a complicit media. Every indicator has us worse off now than we ever were after Truss' budget yet the entire media are silent on it.

      1. The Truss dethroning was a stitch up in which the Bank of England was involved.

        1. Yes – but he loved being called Fats and he made a point of discovering about Fats Waller and his music.

          I got out of teaching in schools before it became forbidden in schools to have any fun.

    2. Has a fine future with a second hand glazing company once he's released. Danger to the community. You're quite right about him.

  55. Slovak PM Fico searching for route to Moscow after Baltics close airspace. 8 May 2025.

    Slovakia’s prime minister is searching for a route to Moscow to attend Victory Day celebrations after the Baltic countries reportedly shut their airspaces to flights carrying him to the event.

    That “West” that I was born into would never have conceived of such an idea. In some ways this small inconvenience to Mr Fico sums up what it has become.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/05/08/russia-ukraine-zelensky-putin-xi-jinping-moscow/

  56. Today's loud larf:

    All migrants will have to be fluent in English to stay in UK

    1. Half the younger generation aren't fluent in English – grunting yes

          1. They're so grumpy and dissatisfied, would think their easy youth never happened, compared to today's younger ones x

    2. Some years ago a Ugandan Asian lady at work, who I generally got on with very well, complained that here mother's bank expected her to speak English and wouldn't allow a family member to speak on her behalf. "She's an old lady, what do they expect"…etc etc. I thought, "She wasn't an old lady when she came here 40+ years ago dearie" but held my tongue.

      1. Do you think you'd react the same way today, Sue…you're very well-mannered, doubt I would have been x

    1. Gosh – I wonder if this will lead to a wave of Indian rape scandals…..

      1. What happened was that Merkel said "Come one, come all" and then, when she realised her mistake, told the EU that all EU members must take their fair share.

        1. Communist mindset, Elsie, from East Germany. Biggest mistake was other politicians, population listening to her.

      2. ECHR embedded NI Agreement, Conor MacGregor on warpath, more power to him.

      3. Good heavens! You don't think… no. They wouldn't? Surely not? The political class told a pack of bare faced lies? Well, I don't know what to say.

    2. Germany should have done it years ago and even now is probably only using empty promises to placate AfD supporters. It would be nice to think Reform would do this but it's unlikely.

      1. Yes, support really grown since Weidel became leader, she has some opposition though. A number of people seem to be starting to wonder if Reform leaders have clay feet.

      3. What little faith I had in Farage evaporated with his treatment of Lowe and Habib.

        1. I am on that page, Rastus. But we have no other choice. And you don't live here – France is much roomier.

    3. Yes, Rastus. C J Strachan outlines his views today on the reason for the large influx of single young men – the reality and otherwise of online porn.

      1. Eh? Pornography is available anywhere there's an internet connection. The filth of diversity shouldn't have been allowed to get here to see it.

        1. His take is that they see the online version, and set off for the West to find the real thing – seem to think majority of Western women are game.

    4. Which border is that? If it's the Franco/German border he will just shoo them towards Calais and the land of free honey & free houses.

  59. Re-watching Versailles. I am rather taken by the intro by a band called M83. I did visit Versailles and though the fountains were running (they don't always in Summer) i wasn't overwhelmed. Just empty rooms. Though the Hall of Mirrors was impressive. What the whole place was lacking was furniture. But then i expect the peasants stole it all and used it as their Winter Fuel Allowance (hint hint).

    I should have gone to Fontainbleu instead but i knew i would have always wished the reverse if i had done so.

    https://youtu.be/_G_7a8P8hNA

    1. It’s like all the chateaux of the Loire. We asked about the lack of furniture and was told the King and his entourage carried all the necessary furniture etc. with them when they visited. Perhaps Versailles was the same.

    2. Phiz – many aeons ago I went to the most magnificent ball at Fontainebleau (or was it one of the surrounding chateaux?) It was reminiscent (to the young, romantic me) of the party stumbled upon in the lost domain described in "Le Grand Mealnes"

    1. Wadda loada stupid bolero, there's no justification for that, except that it was Totally designed and carried out to make some sort of stupid rather unessesary point.

  62. MP Layla Moran announces birth of first child
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj686kdr4xeo

    Poor kid. No mention of the father but the 'partner' is named.

    And then there's this:
    "Ms Moran…is the daughter of a former EU ambassador and a Christian Arab from Jerusalem. She was the first ethnic minority female Lib Dem MP and the first MP of Palestiniandescent."

    But born in Hammersmith – and baptised and raised in the Greek Orthodox Church. No wonder she's as mad as a bat with a background like that.

  63. Lions squad announced – pleased that Maro Itoje gets the captaincy – not many surprises in there – though it must have been hard for Andy Farrell not to pick his son Owen (I would have!).
    Biggest talking point will probably be Henry Pollock getting the nod at such a young age (just turned 20).
    Marcus Smith gets in for his ability to cover a number of positions in the backs – some people might not be too pleased with that one…….

      1. I think he was lucky but the Lions always like a few versatile players to cover for injuries etc

    2. Of course the DT gets it wrong when it says
      “Maro Itoge to be named first “Englishman” to captain Lions in 24 years”
      Of course he may be British but he is not an Englishman.

      1. Well he was born in London to Nigerian parents so he would qualify to play for both England and Nigeria (if they had a team!).

        In fact it might have been a better headline to say 'Maro Itoje to be named first Nigerian ever to captain Lions'….

        1. As with Mrs Badenough – who prides herself on her Biafran "heritage".

          I was born in Totnes, but don't bang on about my "Devonshire heritage".

          Why can't all these incomers FORGET about their sodding "heritage" if they want to try to be British?

          1. I thought you might have had something to say about Marcus' inclusion? ;-))

          2. Predictable, me! Always have been. As one of my mates put it – "Like feeding pennies into a slot machine…"

          5. You might be if Sudan paid benefits like France and Britain but France and Britain became like the modern Sudan.

            But then again, they already are going that way, so you might yet.

          6. Interesting point – for many years, if one was born in a country (no matter where your parents came from – or if the mother had come off a plane en route) one had the nationality OF THAT country.

            So (I am guessing) you probably would have been entitled to Sudanese nationality.

            Itoje was born in England but – because of the law changes in the 1960s – that does not make him British de facto.

    3. "…some people might not be too pleased with that one…."

      Too bleeding right!!

      1. I was typing below at the same time – FWIW I think you're right – he's very lucky to be going but I thought his versatility would count in his favour….

          1. He's certainly a Marmite figure, although I do think he will be at his best on the hard grounds in Australia.

          2. I also differ from your view of Farrell. A good player but a vicious thug at times. Far too great a risk of being "carded" (ugh – sorrry!)

          3. Yes, he can be a ‘card’ liability but that’s his game – he’s an absolute warrior (like his Dad) who plays right on the edge, and a great on-field leader. He’s suffered more than most from the recent emphasis on high and dangerous tackles – bless him, I honestly dont think he knows how to tackle properly!

  64. Peter Hitchens, people say you're always right.
    Ah, but unfortunately always too late..

    "What did we fight for? It seems we didn't manage to succeed in remaining British either in the big things or the detail. I urge people after the VE celebrations to think about what we need to restore before it all goes & vanishes altogether.

    New Labour project has never been patriotic and has never cared about this country, its history or nature. All's goes back to that day in Rochdale when Gillian Duffy had that encounter with Gordon Brown. And he said what Labour really thought of its own supporters.
    I am now surrounded by people saying Oh, The Conservative Party is dead in the water.. they're useless. Too Late! Why does it take people so long to catch up with reality? In 2010 I said for goodness sake do not validate David Cameron's Blairite takeover of the Tory party. They turned on me as though I was a traitor."

    1. This'll end in tears Alert.

      "David Cameron was a great man, the best prime minister we ever had."
      Charlie Mullins, Reform donor.

      1. “… and staunch Remainer.” (As anyone passing his premises on the way into London on the train will remember, with his huge “Bollocks to Brexit” sign.)

      2. Cameron once left his very young daughter in a pub and was making his way elsewhere before he discovered it.
        He also arranged for hundreds if not thousands of 'migrants' from the middle east to be flown in by the RAF and land at airbase. So it could all be done without the media seeing what was happening.
        Didn't his father in law own or part own a company making wind turbines ?

    2. I said from the very start that Cameron would be a disaster – David Davis would have been a far better leader but even he was not far enough to the right.

  65. Afternoon all. Had a delivery of oil today so I can have heat without having to light the Rayburn. Still quite chilly out.
    We overcame dark times to triumph in 1945. I am not sure this fractured nation could do it again.

  66. Wordle No. 1,419 4/6

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

    Wordle 8 May 2025

    A tranquil Par Four?

    1. After a dark and stormy night

      Wordle 1,419 4/6

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

    2. I nearly entered a different word that sounds the same.

      Wordle 1,419 4/6

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

    3. A potentially tricky one, managed a par…..

      Wordle 1,419 4/6

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

    4. Looks like everyone made par.

      Wordle 1,419 4/6

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

  67. Future migrants to the UK will need to demonstrate 'A-Level standard' English to work in Britain, according to a new plan laid out by Keir Starmer. A white paper due to be published next week will lay out stricter rules, following local election wins for Reform UK, a party with a vocal anti-immigration stance.

    Those who can't will live on benefits at our expense.

    2. To be frank some "A" level English Literature students have trouble with expressing themselves clearly in English.

  69. "Bill Gates: Elon Musk’s cuts will kill a million children
    The Microsoft founder has accused the world’s richest man of dooming young lives in the developing world by helping to slash America’s overseas aid budget" (The Times)

    Unlike Mr Gates's poisonous "vaccines" that have killed a lot more than a mere million.

  70. Just spent a couple of hours in the garden. Though there IS some sunshine, it is really cold and unwelcomiing. Good news was that the bonfire was still red hot and we have added another dozen barrow loads of combustible garden rubbish.

    1. Could be my bonfire.

      Bet it's Pangolin – the really bent, crooked, corrupt one.

    2. Have they decided not to have a new Archbishop of Canterbury and to close down the C of E altogether?

  74. I was watching the IPL cricket when the floodlights failed. NOW TV have moved me to a game of ladies tennis. Is it normal now for the girls to tuck their skirts into their knickers?

      1. Yes, as if they weren't wearing any they'd no be able to slip the skirt into it.

        But… if they did want to try not wearing any…

    2. I seem to recall there was a tennis player who was famous for her frilly knickers.

        1. It used to annoy me when Grandstand, in the 1960s, switched from an Ashes test to Wimpledon [sic].

  76. 405149+ up ticks,

    They, the invaders have proved without a shadow of doubt that in Galway alone as in " the strangers came and tried to teach us their ways was found to be a success

    For the strangers came and tried to teach us their way
    They scorned us just for being what we are
    But they might as well go chasing after moonbeams
    Or light a penny candle from a star

    ALL proved & acheivable apply via the welfare office Galway Bay.
    https://x.com/Mick_O_Keeffe/status/1920466063260635615

      1. 405+ up ticks.

        Evening BT,
        I do believe you may find it difficult to understand “my English”

      2. Calm down, Uncle Bill, it's Oggie. What he writes is often (to me at least) slightly unintelligible. A much more clear error is called a Spoonerism (He wound up the cat and put out the clock) but I often think of Oggie's posts as "Oggyisms". Lol. (No offence, Oggie.)

    2. Diversity strength. You should see Richmond Park. It fills your heart with…. Something

      1. 405204+ up ticks,

        Morning LIR,

        I take it it would not compare with my school days when living in Kew, school Kew / Richmond.

  77. Leaving the new Pup aside, could someone explain to me why half the "British" Lions are saffers, aussies and kiwis etc?

    1. Fecund parents and grandparents who scattered their seed around the globe?

      1. I was being serious., I simply do NOT understand why all these south sea islanders and saffers – can play for England (other countries are available). It seems to defeat the whole point of "representing ones country"

        1. They want to be internationals but aren't good enough to represent the country of their birth?

        2. Do keep up, Bill. Everyone’s English now, don’t you remember???

        3. On a similar theme, Britain's Got Talent – the Simon Cowell tv talent show which I've never set out to watch but which is often featured on Gogglebox, which I do choose to watch – seems to be populated by acts which are not British. Britain has only "got" them in the sense of having their presence in Britain for the purpose of performing on British television.

      2. I was being serious., I simply do NOT understand why all these south sea islanders and saffers – can play for England (other countries are available). It seems to defeat the whole point of "representing ones country"

    1. Yawns! We've been doing this since eight minutes past five, Jules!!

          3. Always cracks me up when they use an American (thrush-sized) 'robin' Turdus migratorius instead of the common European one Erithacus rubecula.

            The idiots who made Mary Poppins (supposedly set in London) used the same abomination of an American bird in that film too.

          6. Last week I finally caught up with a reading by Mark Steyn of J K J's "Three Men In A Boat" which I had never found particularly amusing. It got a little better when they got lost in the Hampton Court maze. However, this week Mark Steyn has started reading J K J's sequel "Three Men in the Bummel" and I'm finding it much funnier.

          7. Give 'em a break, Grizz, when they, some of them at least, arrived in the New World they were eager to pretend a bird with a red breast was a robin from their homeland. Their kids certainly wouldn't have known any better.

          8. They actually took house sparrows with them "to remind them of home". My friend was astounded the find they were the commonest bird in the Niagara Falls area of New York State.

          9. I thought it was a Disney animatronics toy attached to a fake finger held by Julie Andrews, with the cables hidden behind a fold in Julie's dress.

          11. I've always been puzzled by your disdain for all things American – were you once spurned by an American love interest 😉

          12. No, John. I do not have a disdain for ALL things American. It’s just their insistence that their form of ‘English’ is correct, and (as shown above) a lack of research and intelligence when presenting an American robin as being a natural resident bird in England.
            I like a lot of American things and innovations. I’ll just not have a nation with a severely limited vocabulary telling me how to speak English.

    2. Uncle Bill has been elected and is adopting the title of Pope Wayne Ist

  79. I am signing off now. As soon as the new Pup is back from Ede and Ravenscroft, I'll have a glass of communion wine.

    Have a jolly evening of reflection

    A demain.

  81. And you thought US elections were rigged:
    Pope Francis appointed 80% of the cardinals choosing his successor.

      1. He's been criticised over his attitude to victims of priestly manualfestations

        1. He was great in it, the episode where Ted has to kick Bishop Brennan up the arse is a classic – another Norton (Graham) was also excellent as Father Noel Furlong!

          1. Norton gone Woke.

            In yesterday’s Terriblegraph, the despicable Jimmy Mulhill (who failed to support Graham Lineham) was credited with Father Ted.

          2. Father Ted was Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews (who actually appeared in a few episodes).

            Do you mean Jimmy Mulville? If so, I dont have a lot of time for him either!

  82. Cardinal Robert Prevost has become the first North American pope, breaking a long-held taboo in a move likely to please Donald Trump.

  83. Sixty nine years old.. multi decade progressive push within Vatican.

        1. Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland.

      2. German Version of the MOT Test.
        Technischer Überwachungsverein, English: Technical Inspection Association)

        1. Indeed, but it lost the umlaut – and made no sense, anyhow.
          😉

  85. Last post – I notice the new Pup comes from Chicago – home of the Mafia. (An Italian word! – say no more).

    Pangolin will twist him round his little finger.

    3. Peruvian connection. Only very recently made a Cardinal by Bergoglio (aka Francis). A set-up.

        2. Pope Leo XIV born Robert Francis Prevost; 14 September 1955) is the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 8 May 2025, where he became the first United States citizen, Peruvian citizen, or North American to be elected pope. He is also the first Augustinian since Pope Eugene IV to lead the Catholic Church.

          Born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, Prevost spent the early part of his career there working for the Augustinians. He served in Peru from 1985 to 1986 and from 1988 to 1998 as a parish pastor, diocesan official, seminary teacher and administrator. He was made a cardinal in 2023.

      2. He adopted Peruvian citizenship because he spent quite a lot of time there. But he's from the US, born in Chicago.
        First time the Pope is younger than me.

        1. Really?
          Benedict IX was about twenty when made pontiff in October 1032. Other sources state that he was 11 or 12, based upon the unsubstantiated testimony of Rodulfus Glaber, a monk of St. Germanus at Auxerre.

          2. I meant in my lifetime. So used to old popes and suddenly one is a year younger than me

        2. His backers will want him around long enough to comprehensively wreck the church.

    4. "The new Pup"? Are you saying there is a new Pope, Bill? PS – I'm reading from the end downwards. I presume that they have elected one.

  86. Oh well moving on. Pot pourri. At smokey Joe's.
    I can't believe Mandleson was seen standing next to Trump and even shaking hands with him earlier. A bad sign for all in the UK.

  87. Ukraine sent a very small and pathetic complement of eleven men to the recent celebrations in London. Had the Ukrainians sent, say, a hundred men then most will have sought asylum and refused to return to Ukraine.

    Does anyone suppose that the idiot Starmer noticed?

    1. Husband got his under control by following Carnivore Diet. Been off all meds 12 months+ (see above post).

  90. In this powerful and unfiltered presentation, Sandy Adams lays it all out: the UK is being sold off piece by piece, and the British people are being left behind—lied to, taxed into submission, and stripped of their #sovereignty under the false banner of “sustainable development.”

    Britain is up for sale, and we—the people—are the ones being sold short. Our land, our infrastructure, our farms, our freedoms—gobbled up by faceless global entities, waved through by complicit politicians, and dressed up in greenwashed #propaganda

    The Brutal Breakdown:

    • £443 million/year on so-called devolution—and it’s only going up.

    • £96 billion/year swallowed by environmental restrictions—or as Sandy puts it, “eco-fascism”.

    • £3–6 billion/year in agricultural collapse—since just 2023. Our farmers are being regulated out of existence.

    https://youtu.be/57aVVH_SHYk?si=HOaiMpCGa51etCwQ

    1. Farmers' existence a distinct possibility following Starmer's American Dream Deal to import American beef…some may well sell up, freeing land to what..build, perhaps? Quicker and cleaner than IHT deal.

    2. Not the easiest presentation to get into, (start at around 5 minutes in) but as Sandy gets into the subject, more and more figures come up painting a very worrying picture.

    3. Chimes with Neil Oliver’s latest monologue, a link to which I posted earlier. Worth a listen.

      1. Sorry, I hadn’t got to that yet – I like Neil Oliver and the way he put his points across.

  93. I was 65 before I first read Three Men In A Boat (and Swallows and Amazons).

        1. A bit like me, then. So far, I reckon that the sequel of “Three Men on the Bummel” is much funnier.

  94. Another shot of insulin. Not sure yesterday's worked, as the blood sugars in the morning were higher than usual… so, tonight, had a test shot onto a piece of kitchen towel, and it delivered a load, so spiked myself and repeated. Lets see what happens in the morning measurement.
    Now, the injection site itches like a barsteward… 🙁

    2. Hello Paul, this isn't advice, just to tell you husband's experience (stop reading here if you already know)…A Type 2 diabetic for decades (perhaps you're Type 1 or not even diabetic at all)…many different meds, ended up on insulin injections, self-administered. Very depressed, no energy. Then he read up on Carnivore Diet and pretty much stuck to it as soon as he started it. No meds for a long time, BP normal, lot more energy. Could this be an option for you, research it if you think a possibility? All the best, Kate x

      1. Same worked for Firstborn, except he didn't take insulin.
        Thanks for your input! All I have to do is hit a blood sugar under 7 mmol/l on 2 June, so I can have a PET scan for brain defects (always assuming there is one, of course). So, what size shot the night before will achieve that? Plan is to take a shot every evening, increasing until the desired result is achieved.
        Yesterday's had the opposite effect, so checked that the pen was delivering and set another the same size tonight.
        We'll see what tomorrow brings…

        1. He had one of those Epipens, found it a bit erratic. Good luck with your plan, hope you get a PET scan soon, and most of all hope you are AOK+

  96. In keeping with our newly elected councilors, will the new pope have to go on net zero, equality, diversity and inclusion training courses before he is sworn in?

  97. My good lady has been relating certain other aspects to today's celebration. Her father spent at least four years in a POW camp in Poland.
    She has been looking at the letters between her mother and father. Obviously a lot of emotion involved as they'd only been married a few months before, aged 29 he was captured and taken prisoner. Sadly these people are never mentioned in the 'celebrations' they didn't make it home for at least six months after the war had ended.

    1. I have always had a respect for those imprisoned.

      No medals, no promotions, no celebrations; yet they suffered more than many of those who "did the business" and received all the accolades

      1. One of my best friends father's was captured and kept under Japanese control. He never really recovered.
        My poor old F i L, Durham Light Infantry ended up with terrible dementia.

          1. My F-i-L was lucky part of his group were captured when landing in Belgium by the gestapo lined up and immediately shot.

        1. She can still apply for them AND your good lady can wear them on memorial days.

          1. We had a lot of information on his life in pow Poland. We lent it to someone who was researching that sort of thing and that person then died suddenly and we were unable to get any of it back !

      3. Yes, I had a relative who was captured at Dunkirk. When I knew him in the '50's, he was a dark and morose individual. Family verdict was that "he was never the same" after the war. PTSD I assume with the benefit of hindsight. In that era people understood "shell shock" but in general the returning servicemen were just expected to get on with their lives. And most did, they just "buried" what they had been through.

        1. HG’s grandfather was a Brit who fought at Gallipoli, won a French Légion d’honneur there, and returned utterly broken.

          The family treated him poorly, partly because of alcoholism and violence but understandable, with the benefit of hindsight.

          PTSD would not start to describe what he must have been through.

  98. Well at least I feel a bit warmer now we've had some food, and half a bottle of red……..and the heating's on. The cats have got a small radiator each, in the conservatory. I was perished earlier on – too cold to move about and do something…… anyway the plants survived, I gave them a drop of water and got on with the meal.

    The swifts are cuddled up together keeping warm in box 9.

  99. I'm obviously not looking for any sort of praise. I'm just an old chap who's worn himself out working on tidying up the garden. This afternoon I've taken apart and cut up by hand about 35 metres of low level timber fencing.
    To be loaded into the back of the car tmz and taken to the dump. I was going to burn it all but our most recent neighbours are rather sensitive.

    1. In preparation for our Great Departure (two years and counting), in addition to the Big Cleaning, I am having to do an Enormous Decluttering. My latest venture is paperwork. We have boxes and boxes, from 2002 at least. Somme we need to keep for tax purposes; some, in case we need may need it (e.g. constituent documents for pension funds); and then there’s all the memorabilia. It’s 40 years since we left school and i discovered all my O-level notebooks, and som A-level and even degree-level stuff.

      The question is, do I just chunk it, or keep it in the hope I have time to look through it between now and April 2027? Head says (a), heart however wants (b). But am fearful of being either reminded how brilliant I was at 18, with all the world ahead of me; or, more likely, becoming aware of my utter mediocrity (whilst currently I can still believe I was brilliant).

      Edit, this is relevant because hubby will want to burn all the stuff I am throwing out, especially your bank statements etc.

      1. Chuck it. I am a hoarder par excellence. Hoarding stuff holds you back. Free yourself. I wish I could.

        1. I know people shove boxes of paperwork in roof space, bit of a fire hazard I reckon.

        2. The bathroom / kitchen ceiling / playroom floor rebuild project has forced us to unpack 3 rooms, and, frankly, bin or recycle via fleamarkets, a whole load of stuff. It's quite scary how much old, useless stuff there was.

      2. In 1975 we moved to the US.
        In 1976 we moved back
        in 1979 we moved to the US
        in 1988 we moved to the Netherlands
        In 1989 we moved back to the US.

        All those were company moves.

        In 1992 we moved to a new house
        In 2008 we moved to another new house

        There are boxes in the basement that went with us on all those moves. Our movers told us if we had boxes unopened for 5 years, we should just get rid of them. We did, but not all of them. Having a large amount of basement storage in our American houses removed the urgency to do anything about all that stuff.

        To your point, I tripped over my GCE O and A level results recently. I thought I had kept my old NUJMB exam papers, but apparently not.

          2. Understandable.
            I enjoyed her posts here, and I was very pleased to see you return.

          4. That's understandable – it's still early days…….. I'm glad you've come back to us.

          6. Northern Universities Joint Matriculation Board – it's the exam board I did. O&C I take it is Oxford and Cambridge.

          7. Examination boards
            Northern Universities’ Joint Matriculation Board and Oxford & Cambridge

        2. Quite. We come into this world naked, with nothing, .and we leave it the same way

        3. Now everything (or most things) online, keep a list of your passwords or at least a clue to them on paper, or in your head if your memory good. And bin paperwork unless its vital (will) or sentimental (eg I have the letters and cards from when my mum died.)

          1. It's difficult to bin anything if you're a hoarder.

            For passwords I wouldn't be without my password manager on the laptop. I don't need to remember or write down any of them.

          2. It's difficult to bin anything if you're a hoarder.

            For passwords I wouldn't be without my password manager on the laptop. I don't need to remember or write down any of them.

          3. Also, list of bank accounts – for the day when you don't wake up in the morning and your other half has to go through the dismal exercise of collecting all the money together. Shares and brokers, pensions, as well. That's the problem of stuff being online, finding this information. I've been hunting it down for Mother, and very relieved when they send a letter… Mother is of the pre-email generation.

    2. In preparation for our Great Departure (two years and counting), in addition to the Big Cleaning, I am having to do an Enormous Decluttering. My latest venture is paperwork. We have boxes and boxes, from 2002 at least. Somme we need to keep for tax purposes; some, in case we need may need it (e.g. constituent documents for pension funds); and then there’s all the memorabilia. It’s 40 years since we left school and i discovered all my O-level notebooks, and som A-level and even degree-level stuff.

      The question is, do I just chunk it, or keep it in the hope I have time to look through it between now and April 2027? Head says (a), heart however wants (b). But am fearful of being either reminded how brilliant I was at 18, with all the world ahead of me; or, more likely, becoming aware of my utter mediocrity (whilst currently I can still believe I was brilliant).

      Edit, this is relevant because hubby will want to burn all the stuff I am throwing out, especially your bank statements etc.

    3. Pains in the youknowwhere then, Eddy. Well done, have a hot bath before bed, might not ache as much in the a.m.

    4. You could put a sign outside offering free timber for woodburner stoves, someone should be grateful. Or try facebook .

      1. We have some recently new people in our road. The previous owners had a large woodburner and the newies have complained on our cul de sac FB page when other original locals use their wood burners.
        Plonkers.
        But I will post it just to see what happens.

  104. He also has some form in covering up sexual abuse cases when he was in Peru.

    Plus ca change plus c'est la meme chose…….

  105. I liked this article in the Daily sceptic – oozing sarcasm. The comments are good, too: the problem is, you cannot have a “free at the point of delivery” health service and NOT mandate how we live our lives. Of course, there’s also the Common Law v Napoleonic law argument, and, unfortunately, during our time in the EEC/EU, Napoleon won.

    https://dailysceptic.org/2025/05/08/the-sugar-tax-sums-up-our-descent-into-technocratic-dystopia/

  108. I’m definitely in that category. Make sure you keep backup incl passwords if laptop packs in…🙂

  110. We just watched a film Benediction about the life of Siegfried Sassoon. I recommend to any who have not yet viewed it.

    In the film Sassoon recites the poem Disability by Wilfred Owen. The music of Vaughan Williams and the poetry of Housman contrast with that of Ivor Novello which features loudly and signals our subsequent decline.

    I would that in the recent celebrations the lifeless and soulless recitals by the likes of the idiot Starmer and what passes for the clergy could have been substituted by that of our Great War poets and composers.

    1. There was much emphasis in the readings and speeches about peace and never letting it happen again. I couldn't help but think of TTK and his posturing and eagerness for war.

  111. Not long back from a VE80 service. I couldn't make the D Day 80 until the lighting of the beacon last year because some damn fool put a meeting I couldn't miss on D Day! Seating was a bit chaotic and the band forgot to play in the right places, but generally it was enjoyable and we had a fine evening for the lighting of the beacon. Not too cold, thankfully.

    1. I watched some of the proceedings taking place in Horse Guards Parade earlier. Quite why The Darkness – a rock band at their peak about 25 years ago – were performing one of their hits escapes me. However, a man singing a recent pop hit in the most whiny voice imaginable was the final straw. I was with my sister and brother-in-law. We all thought the sound has horrible and agreed to switch channel.

  112. Well, chums, I'm off to bed now. So I wish you all Good Night, sleep well, and see you all tomorrow.

  113. At the risk of being needlessly petty, I recoiled a little when a Sky News reporter remarked that the new pope is the first to be an "American-born individual." The "born" and "individual" are superfluous. He is simply the first American to occupy the office of pope. It's always a singular position, not given to be shared by pairs, teams, groups, gangs, or any other collective. As for "born", has there ever been an American pope who acquired his nationality by other means?

    You'll hear "individual" quite often in certain formal settings, such as the news or public statements by officials, in preference to "person", "man", "woman" or other word for humans in the singular. Person has the suffix -son. Might that presuppose a male with parents? As for "man" or "woman", do they show a presumption of the sex of the "individual" which that "individual" has yet to formally assert in public? Quibbles, I know, but the needless use of "individual" irks me. It has its place but not in preference to the other ways most of us refer to people in the singular.

      1. I have since read that this new pope has acquired Peruvian nationality. That would explain the "American-born" description.

  115. Just re-read The Forever War after a gap of perhaps close on 50 years. A stunning novel. On the penultimate page this sentence made me sit up.

    "The fact was, Earth's economy needed a war, and this one was ideal. It gave a nice hole to throw buckets of money into, but would unify humanity rather than dividing it."

    Joe Halderman, "The Forever War", 1974.

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