Tuesday 1 March: The courage of Ukraine derives from the defence of freedom valued for centuries in Britain

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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748 thoughts on “Tuesday 1 March: The courage of Ukraine derives from the defence of freedom valued for centuries in Britain”

  3. ‘Morning All

    Pinch,punch and all that let’s start with some fun before the rants(mine) begin

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7415078d19fd780221cad5bd6484c7b48a498d67599f1c8ad14f19d6292014c5.gif

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7322b30911520e458344d340a0c9a123af4f394b7fe1e3cefcecd9d9d6561bf8.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a243c833d008a56c4e86a2ccff508ad199363e28a445d15a71c8a6432e199808.jpg

    https://twitter.com/JGnuman197/status/1498344632538869764?s=20&t=3cvFGIIlPnvPR7T3tN1_sQ

  4. Good morning, everyone. “A pinch and a punch” and “White Rabbits!” to you all.

  5. As the howls of the MSM scream for MOAR WAR and the hypocrisy and propaganda ramps up to levels not seen since “45 minutes” no attempt at reason is permitted

    It seems Neil Oliver should be arrested FFS

    https://twitter.com/ukipstera/status/1498376296631615489?s=20&t=ZoRVJzcZpcgGXxDv5zrb1w

    I really fear this ends badly,where are the calls for reason and deescalation??

    How conveniently this detracts from the Convid lies/energy crisis/Partygate etc etc

    Almost as if it’s a NWO dream………

    https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet/status/1498377139632189442?s=20&t=qK-H6Om7GwNyev6XC-ESJw

    Will no-one think of the childreeeen!!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1ee904ccebe4371d5042cf84362e9360105297ca987a1f040d8ecde3645acd0f.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/586cf9aae1af29d76c06e08c7c373583b24be5f1bc77b79322356eadc9183ec2.jpg

    https://twitter.com/CharlotteEmmaUK/status/1498429439998402562?s=20&t=3cvFGIIlPnvPR7T3tN1_sQ

    #HateFacts

    https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1498377456918609923?s=20&t=qK-H6Om7GwNyev6XC-ESJw

    1. I don’t know what that post about Neil Oliver is about – he is often quoted as a hero on Tommy Robinson’s Telegram channel.

      1. The reply at the bottom is aimed at the attack on Neil Oliver at the top.

        All this warmongering and attacks on anyone who’s pulling on the brake is VERY worrying indeed. I’m far more scared of our governments than I am of the Russians.
        Is this whole exercise a WEF effort to push us into a crisis from which the only “solution” will be digital ids, no freedom of speech and digital currency?

  6. Morning all – just looking at that title from the Telegraph I remember how it is just part of the cynical estabLishment – now the EU is no longer the scapegoat for the incompetent monkeys running this country we need someone else to blame.
    We should remember that all Ukraine had to do was agree not to join NATO/EU. That’s all it needed to avoid this mess. And like our lot its leaders preferred ruin to defence of its own people.
    What a state of affairs.

  9. Vladimir Putin must be brought to justice for committing war crimes against Ukraine. 1 March 2022.

    We must brace ourselves for a bloody escalation in the war. It’s about to get ugly as Putin goes low. Remember, he cannot afford to fail. There is every likelihood he will resort to more extreme measures, which breach the Geneva Conventions, in order to make progress.

    We’ve already seen the crushing defenceless drivers, shelling people’s homes, killing young children. We must expect the stakes to rise sharply. War crimes have already been committed, and many more are destined to follow.

    TOP COMMENTS BELOW THE LINE..

    david james. .

    Yes, I’ll expect to see that the day a certain Mr T Blair is in the dock.

    John Freeman

    So when are you going to bring Blair to justice?

    179 British soldiers dead in Iraq. 457 in Afghanistan. Tens of thousands of Iraqis killed and estimated over 1000 children. Killed to stop weapons of mass destruction being used – which didn’t exist.

    Any justice for them?

    There is an overwhelming stench of hypocrisy about this entire affair and it’s not drifting from East to West. One of its most noticeable aspects is that of Blair and Cameron’s absence from the scene; almost certainly because it would raise in people’s minds the sort of unwanted comparisons made here. It is not just confined to the battlefield either. Ellwood, the author of this piece, is a part of 77 Brigade, an organisation created specifically to abort free speech and oppose blogs like this. We occasionally see his operatives on here.

    The broader picture is of a Political Class distinguished only by its cowardice and utter lack of scruple. Has a single one of them raised a voice against Trudeau or Morrison let alone the violations of Covid?

    A victory for the West will not usher in an age of Freedom and Democracy but a Globalist Tyranny whose doctrine of Cultural Marxism wiill encompass the whole world.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/02/28/vladimir-putin-must-brought-justice-committing-war-crimes-against/

    1. Morning Rik. Batley Man has company eh? Cue deafening silence from Westminster but lots of jibber-jabber about “Freedom” in Ukraine!

      1. In a few years time when some of our cities are allowed to become completely Islamified , what then ?

        Our words of warning are ignored .

        The expelled Batley teacher , where is the poor chap now?

  11. Morning all

    Share

    The courage of Ukraine derives from the defence of freedom valued for centuries in Britain

    Kharkiv, Sunday: a Ukrainian soldier examining a destroyed Russian armoured vehicle

    Kharkiv, Sunday: a Ukrainian soldier examining a destroyed Russian armoured vehicle

    SIR – The extreme courage and determination displayed by President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the people of Ukraine, in the face of an assault by the fifth largest army in the world, are truly admirable.

    It is a living demonstration of the belief expressed so eloquently in the words of the Declaration of Arbroath, written in 1320: “It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom, for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with his life.”

    Angus Campbell

    Iwerne Minster, Dorset

    SIR – The courage, decorum and patriotism of the people of Ukraine in such brutally trying circumstances have earned the admiration of the civilised world and won them the right to sit at the top table.

    Whatever Vladimir Putin does in coming weeks, or months, and whatever the outcome, it matters not; he will have lost. There is no way back for him.

    Lance Warrington

    Cirencester, Gloucestershire

    SIR – We have always known that a policy of a balance of nuclear weapons between the West and Russia, which has maintained the peace so far, has only worked because no madman has been ready to press the nuclear button.

    Now there is a madman in Moscow who seems ready to do it.

    Peter Dawson

    Borrowash, Derbyshire

    SIR – During the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, President Kennedy, while never yielding an inch on the requirement that the missiles be removed, was always careful to leave the Soviet Union an acceptable way out.

    He foresaw that, without such an option, the Russians might opt for total war. The same consideration applies today. That, with an even more unstable mind in charge on the other side, such an option is possible is frighteningly difficult to believe.

    Michael Hely

    Banham, Norfolk

    SIR – As MP for Ludlow in the 1990s I was a delegate to the Council of Europe when it was mooted that Russia be invited to join the 46 other nations then members.

    My objections to this proposal, on the grounds that Russia’s membership was incompatible with its appalling record on human rights, were swept aside by the do-gooders who argued that by bringing Russia into the fold we would persuade them to mend their ways. Some hope!

    In the intervening period Russia has, inter alia, blithely poisoned dissidents on British soil, murdered political opponents on its own soil and condemned its most prominent opposition leader to lengthy imprisonment.

    It has taken the invasion of Ukraine to cause the Council of Europe to suspend Russia’s membership, and once again a policy of appeasement has demonstrably failed.

    Christopher Gill

    Bridgnorth, Shropshire

    SIR – I was concerned on hearing Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, giving tacit approval for British citizens to travel to Ukraine to fight. The seriousness of the situation in Ukraine is impossible to overstate and Mr Putin has openly threatened the use of the ultimate deterrent.

    Surely at times such as these, ministers should not be on television making up policy in response to media questioning. All government responses during times of conflict should be delivered in an official manner, to avoid the ramifications of ill-considered statements.

    Thomas Le Cocq

    Batcombe, Somerset

    SIR – Oil shipments are essential to the survival of Mr Putin’s regime, and insurance is essential to the shipment of oil. Most protection and indemnity, hull and cargo insurance is underwritten by UK insurers. Britain’s P&I clubs, hull and machinery and cargo insurers are therefore well-placed to put pressure on the Russian government by withdrawing cover for oil cargoes shipped from Russian ports, and by withdrawing cover for tankers carrying them.

    David Semark

    London SW8

    SIR – Nick Timothy (Comment, February 28) is quite right that we must stop our own legal system being misused to protect and defend UK-based Russian oligarchs’ ill-gotten financial interests.

    If Justin Trudeau’s supposedly liberal Canadian administration can think of a legally unchallengeable way to freeze the bank accounts of a few hundred protesting truckers and their citizen supporters, surely it’s not beyond the wit of our Government to find a way to sequestrate named oligarchs’ invalid fortunes without the risk of venal British lawyers using our laws to block the move.

    Nigel Henson

    Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

    SIR – Vladimir Putin should be categorised as a war criminal. He has authorised the invasion of an independent sovereign country and is responsible for the death of innocent civilians. In the recent past Serbian leaders were brought to the Hague to face international justice and were duly punished.

    A warrant for the arrest of Mr Putin should be issued immediately. It would, at the very least, restrict his international travel and send a strong message to the puppet parliament in the Kremlin that its members are not beyond the reach of the charge of war crimes and its consequences.

    Tony Harland

    Sheffield, South Yorkshire

    SIR – It was moving to see the support for two Ukrainian players involved in Saturday’s match between Everton and Manchester City. It would be a great gesture if their clubs allowed them to go home to fight (if they wanted to) while continuing to pay their wages to support their families.

    John Tilsiter

    Radlett, Hertfordshire

    SIR – It would be poetic justice if all the huge empty houses of the Russian oligarchs across the country were commandeered and given to Ukrainian refugees who arrive in Britain. This would provide good accommodation at little cost to the taxpayer.

    Mark Land

    Wells, Somerset

    SIR – Jennifer Hammond (Letters, February 28) suggests planting sunflowers, Ukraine’s national flower.

    An immediate response, as a gesture of solidarity with these brave people, would be to make a copy of their simple blue and yellow flag and place it in a window – as we did with rainbow pictures for the doctors and nurses while they battled with Covid.

    Charlotte Sanderson

    Swanage, Dorset

    SIR – Vladimir Putin’s the latest Hitler;

    They pop up from time to time.

    Anyone who fails to agree with them

    Is committing a punishable crime.

    Borders are redrawn to their bulls-eyes,

    Neighbours are targets for subjugation.

    Casualties are of no importance

    When they choose to expand their nation.

    Fleeing families don’t really matter,

    Opposition is there to be slaughtered

    In any of a variety of ways,

    Bombed with hideous air power or mortared.

    The Putins and Hitlers of this world,

    Once they’ve had their little bit of fun,

    Generally end up alone, deserted

    In a silent room with a loaded gun.

    Peter Wyton

    Gloucester

      2. Depressing, isn’t it? I’m particularly disappointed in Christopher Gill; I bet there were far dodgier human rights abuses in some of the 46 who were already members.

  12. Good morning, all. Happy month – pinch and a punch etc. Damp start to March.

  13. Good morning all. A brighter, if, at -½°C, a little colder start to the day. The trees behind the ex-pub over the road are bathed in an orange glow from the rising sun.

  14. Ben Wallace has gone on record as saying Putin has gone ‘full tonto’.
    Trump has admitted that Putin is ‘smart’ just like him and all the other clever idiotic leaders that he has personally befriended.
    Trump has however criticised the EU and NATO for signing up for Russian gas – that was ‘full tonto’ as Ben would put it!

    https://youtu.be/W2noo6NywrU

  15. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    Time for something uplifting:

    Tony Chapman, served in motor gunboats taking on German S-Boats in the Second World War – obituary

    His MGB 607 rammed and sank an enemy torpedo-boat in a savage close-range action in which half the MGB crew were killed or wounded

    By
    Telegraph Obituaries
    28 February 2022 • 3:01pm

    Tony Chapman, who has died aged 97, joined Royal Navy motor gunboat MGB 607 after completing his training in October 1943, a few days after his 19th birthday. On the same day it sailed with its flotilla to defend a convoy off the east coast of the UK against German S-Boats.

    These fast enemy torpedo-boats were often detected by wireless intercept stations on the British coast, mainly by German-speaking Women’s Royal Naval Service personnel, who became skilled in recognising not only which enemy boats were at sea but also what tactics they were employing.

    Chapman’s MGB 607 rammed and sank S-63 in a short but savage close-range action at Smiths Knoll off Great Yarmouth in which half Chapman’s crew were either killed or wounded. The crippled MGB 607 was saved from sinking by MGB 603 from the same flotilla, commanded by Lieutenant Roger Lightoller, the son of Herbert Lightoller, of Titanic fame. Its First Lieutenant was Patrick Troughton, a future Doctor Who.

    Anthony John Chapman was born on October 9 1924 in Southampton to Ernest Chapman, a Merchant Navy baker who had also served in the Army during the First World War, and Asenath (née Thorpe).

    He was educated at Itchen Grammar School but left without qualifications to work for the Gas Board. Aged 17 he joined Southampton’s Air Raid Precautions Department as a messenger and earned a commendation in July 1941 for faithfully delivering messages amid falling explosives after the telephone system was destroyed.

    He was also very active in dealing with incendiary bombs. He was one of the last surviving people to have seen Southampton’s historic High Street destroyed in a fire raid in November 1940.

    He joined the Royal Navy on his 18th birthday. He trained as a telegraphist and volunteered for submarines – but he needed his father’s permission since he was under 21, and this was withheld because he thought it would be too dangerous for his son.

    Chapman went, instead, into Coastal Forces, and had a very active war. After further service in the North Sea he joined motor launch ML 838 in the Aegean as a leading telegraphist and was present in her when the German garrison on Kos island surrendered in 1945. He was awarded the Greek Liberation Medal in addition to his British campaign medals.

    After the war Chapman joined the Ordnance Survey and helped to assess bomb-damaged cities including Plymouth, Bristol, Portsmouth and the East End of London as part of the reconstruction process. He subsequently became interested in the treatment of water and sewage and became a member of the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management. He ended his working career as manager of the South West Water Authority, where he brought drainage and sewage systems in North Devon up to date.

    He retired early at 56 and spent the rest of his life in South Molton, where he followed his passions for golf, gardening, writing and especially walking. He had never done anything half-heartedly, and walked up hill and down dale with careful planning and a fast pace. Apart from Offa’s Dyke and other long walks in the UK he walked in other countries including Switzerland.

    Chapman wrote several books about walks in North Devon, each starting with the title Walking to Good Purpose. In the 1960s he served as a skipper in the RN Auxiliary Service and had always kept in touch with old friends through the Coastal Forces Veterans’ Association.

    He wrote a book, War of the Motor Gunboats, which was published on his 89th birthday at the Appledore Book Festival in 2013. It gave a sense of a life lived joyfully and was well-reviewed.

    He married Margaret, but they were divorced without issue. He later married Lucy Kingdon, a widow with two children. She died in 2020 and he is survived by his stepdaughter and stepson.

    Tony Chapman, born October 9 1924, died December 19 2021

    * * *

    A fitting BTL comment, which is particularly relevant in the light of Putin’s current thuggery:

    Mr Chapman was one of a generation whose own description of their war service usually was confined to four words …. “We did our duty.” At this remove, we can view that as an over-simplification. But they meant it. Once, I asked my father to elaborate a bit and that quiet, patient man just said: “Hitler was a bully. He had to be stopped, so we stopped him.” To him and his comrades there was no need to say more. RIP Mr Chapman. You earned it.

  16. Three NATO countries will deliver more than 70 warplanes for Kiev, Ukrainian Army representatives announced on Tuesday morning.

    According to a statement published on Facebook, Poland, Bulgaria, and Slovakia will provide over 70 MiG-29 and SU-25 aircraft that can be based at Polish airfields.
    Sixteen MiG-29 planes and 14 SU-25s will be provided by Bulgaria. Poland will send 28 MiG-29 warplanes, and Slovakia can deliver 12 MiG-29 planes, the officials stated.

    “Our partners gave us MiG-29 and SU-25! If needed, they can be based on Polish airfields from which Ukrainian pilots can carry out combat missions,” the statement read, also suggesting that there will be more “Ghosts of Kiev” soon.

    this is where it gets serious.NATO aircraft armed by NATO..operating out of NATO airfields carrying out combat missions against Russian troops.

    1. Yes. Morning Harry. We are inexorably moving toward total war powered by the Hubris of the “West” in its pursuit of victory.

      1. I hope “Hubris” is not Gas, Petrol or Diesel powered

        I note the Johnson is quiet on Net Zero ans Greta the Bleating Cheata has not criticised the

        EU, NATO, Ukraine or Russia for wastefully using fuel

      2. Indeed, if planes given by the West start flying out of NATO counties, where else they going to fly from since the Russians have rendered Ukrainian airports inoperative? That act makes NATO responsible for expanding the war. At that point the missiles will start flying.

      1. A lot of NATO countries seek out the best VFM.Turkey for instance bought the S-400 system.

        1. I assume from your reply that it must have been the Russians.

          The military industrial juggernauts must be fed.
          A few lovely wars burns up equipment, so new equipment must be bought and so it goes on.
          Who gets the most benefit from all this? I suspect it’s the globalists. Who pays? The taxpayers of the world.

          1. I could become a grammar nazi and point out the full stop…………………………………………………….but i won’t.

          2. I find it hard to believe that we would have been supplying engines for the opposition during the Korean war, I suspect that it will have been at the time the plane was designed and predates it.

          3. What engine did the MiG-15 use?SpecificationsSpan33 ft. 1 1/2 in.Weight11,270 lbs. max.ArmamentTwo 23mm cannons and one 37mm cannon, plus rockets or 2,000 lbs. of bombsEngineVK-1 of 6,000 lbs. thrust (copy of British Rolls-Royce “Nene” engine)

          4. There’s a big difference between someone copying something, which the then grateful to Stalin Labour government were stupid enough to sell initially, and supplying them when we are at war.

          5. Even Stalin said words to the effect of “They must be totally mad to de this”

    3. We are lucky, in UK

      The Fleet Air Arm and the RAF have insufficient modern warplanes to guard Skomer Island, let alonethe UK, even if Airfix offer to re-arm us

    4. Insane. Clearly insane. It cannot stop there. Russia will quite correctly, attack the Polish airfields. Why, oh why, are we still in NATO?
      Why, oh why, do we have a loose-mouthed, bombastic dunce as Foreign Secretary? Truss has already raised the danger level to include the use of tactical nuclear weapons.

  17. The EU, NATO and other countries sending weapons into Ukraine has underlined what it was that concerned Russia about Ukraine becoming a member in the first place.

    1. ‘Moaning, Annie. If my memory is correct Rasputin was assassinated.

      We live in hope.

      1. I seem to remember it took some effort. He enjoyed the poisoned cakes, so the assassins resorted to less subtle methods; they shot him and chucked him – probably still breathing – into the river.

        1. It took some time. There is a detailed account in “Lost Splendour” by Prince Youssoupoff who was involved in the killing.

      2. Yes Hugh, the assassin, Prince …….lived in West London for the rest of his life.

  20. 351172+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    courage of Ukraine derives from the defence of freedom valued for centuries in Britain,

    That was “once upon a time ” but truth be told for the last four decades
    peoples have been via the polling booth consenting,supporting & voting for lab/lib/con, proven anti freedom party’s.

    2. A decent crêpes suzette; or a stodgy Yankee house-brick drop-scone “pancake”?

  23. Meanwhile, as Eastern Europe explodes, in the real world:

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/01/eastenders-set-rebuild-cost-hits-87m-bricks-shipped-india/

    “EastEnders set rebuild cost hits £87m as bricks are shipped in from India

    The BBC ordered the bricks then paid a team of ‘scenic agers’ to make them look convincingly late 19th-century

    1 March 2022 • 6:00am

    The BBC shipped bricks from India to create the new EastEnders set, producers have revealed, as they gave details of how the project spiralled to £87 million.

    The astonishing cost of rebuilding Albert Square, home to the BBC One soap, has been criticised by MPs and the National Audit Office.

    It is four years overdue and £27 million over budget, yet viewers may struggle to notice the difference.

    “The skill and care has been in making it look exactly as it did before. We don’t want our audience to think, ‘Oh, my goodness, what’s happened to Albert Square?’” said Rona McKendrick, EastEnders production manager.

    Speaking to Radio Times, ahead of the set’s on-screen unveiling next Monday, producers said their attention to detail had included the bricks used to build real Victorian housing stock.

    Steve Groves, the set’s chief designer, said that the fictional Walford “is built of London-stock bricks, which in the 19th century were produced by lots of clay pits around the country.

    £44,000 on sample bricks

    “They aren’t made in this country anymore. There’s a belt of London-stock brick making that runs across the Channel into Belgium and then right the way down to the Far East.”

    After spending £44,000 on sample bricks, the BBC concluded that those made in Brussels used inferior materials. Instead, they ordered the bricks from India, then paid a team of “scenic agers” to make them look convincingly late 19th-century. The ageing process took more than a year.

    Groves explained: “My aim was that, if you blindfolded someone and took the mask off in Albert Square, they would think it was another part of real London. And I do think we’ve achieved that.”

    Trees were cultivated for up to four years before being planted in the Square, to ensure that the greenery did not look new.

    The original set, built in 1985, was no longer fit for purpose. It had been battered by the elements and producers feared that high-definition filming would show up the fact that the facades were made of plywood.

    The rebuild has given the houses more depth. Richard Lynn, one of the show’s directors, said: “For the last 37 years, when anyone had a conversation on the doorstep, the owner of the house was always standing in front of a closed door. If they’d opened it, you’d have seen there was nothing behind.”

    The rooms behind the doors are heated, Lynn said, “so obviously an actor answering the door in pyjamas is going to feel much happier”.

    A National Audit Office report in 2018 criticised BBC management for underestimating the scale of the job. Unforeseen costs included inflation in the construction sector and asbestos found on site.”

    3. I am given to wonder whether the average follower of Eastenders would have the perspicacity to tell the difference between expensive artificially aged Indian bricks and a plate of jellied eels.

      1. It takes energy to make bricks our energy for industry is simply too expensive so more and more basic manufacturing is offshored to India/Pakistan/China
        See Steel/Aluminium etc etc for more details

        2. The Doveristas will now only be allowed into UK, if they are each carrying TEN house bricks

          A ponder: If the RIB sinks and the Border Farce slow to arrive…glug…..glug …glug

    5. Sorry anne did not see your post

      The answer of course is that the BBC is run by the NHS

    6. RIP the British Brick Industry.
      Killed off by Government energy tariffs destroying any chance of making a profit.

      1. The 2008 Climate Change Act has got a lot to answer for. This is just another example. As the ‘renewables tax’ on domestic utility bills ratchets up until 2030, when it will comprise half of all bills, there will be major ramifications for any industry that is a high energy user.

  24. TCW I commend the whole article

    “They got away with it.

    Still no apology for the Freddie Krueger-style nudge tactics that so

    overtly damaged the nation’s psyche, and which are now being shamelessly utilised to

    promote the Net Zero agenda; still no explanation as to why

    triple-jabbed residents of care homes must remain in their prison of

    Lockdown One-esque protocols, and despite Johnson now promoting Covid-19

    as endemic, his Government still daren’t drop the term pandemic when

    addressing either the House of Commons or the press – they’re still

    getting away with the great rebranding of what was once known simply as

    feeling unwell.

    A mere 60 hours after the Prime Minister announced his bonfire of restrictions, WEF Young Global Leader graduate Vladimir Putin began his invasion of Ukraine.

    Overshadowed now by war in Europe, the collateral socio-physical

    damage of the last two years of public health despotism will be swept

    under the carpet for good, where it was always destined to end up

    regardless.

    The timing is immaculate.”

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/theyve-got-away-with-it/

    They got away with it all.

  25. Cambridge yesterday. About a third of people STILL bagged up. Colleges closed to the public. Even at Trinity (where the MR was all day) it was not possible for me to visit the chapel. “Serious Covid risks, still”….in a centre of edjacashun, innit.

    IMPORTANT for anyone driving to Cambridge. The Park Street multi-storey parking (off Jesus Lane) is being demolished. I was going to park there as usual, but Trinity offered a free parking place. Phew…..

    The town centre was very quiet. Lots of places closed. Very few shoppers.

    1. A young girl – a perfect divinity, Till 16 preserved her virginity, the young men at Magdalen must have been dagdalen – It couldn’t have happened at Trinity.

    1. Good day! So they let you back…!! Pix, please – and blow by blow account of PLF and other buggerment..

      1. PLF was asked for in Nairobi along with vax certs QR codes and all + 3 lots of passport checks. At Heathrow just the normal e-passport gate. I presume no check here as they have it all on gov.uk. Then nearly an hour watching the bags going round the carousel. Taxi driver wondered where we were but he got us through the rush hour traffic and home at 7.
        Pix later when I ‘ve had a look at them. Won’t be going far today.

        1. They haven’t mentioned Covid for nearly a week here .

          Covid news has been forgotten about .. absolutely nothing on the news ..

          We are all facing the prospect of another dystopian few years thanks to Putin .

          On the edge!

          1. I saw the hand wringing on the Beeb news last night – Lyse Doucet and Orla Guerin in full flow along with Fergal Keene. Nothing else matters now.

          2. Oh goodness did you really dive right in to catch up with the “news”? Or does your other half watch it anyway. We’re not watch8ng any news or listening to it if we can help it. We’re listening to Mellow Magic all the popular stuff from way back.

          3. It is not “thanks to Putin” and you would know that if you read the genesis of all this. The Americans have been out to get Putin from the get go and so you are being subjected to unrelenting propaganda that he is the bad guy. You are not being told about the promises that the West made to Russia after the end of the USSR, every one of which was broken. You are not being told of the machinations of Zelenskyy or his deals with the USA or his use of the EU to threaten Russia. You are not being told of the constant bombardment of Luhansk & Donetsk indiscriminately for 8 years by the Azov Battalion, who are quite literally Nazis. You are not being told of those victims at all. You are not being told that Zelenskyy is a puppet for the Americans used to provoke Putin and Russia. In fact you are not being told the other side of the story at all because the propaganda is entirely the false story of the “plucky little Ukrainians” fighting the nasty monster. What you are actually witnessing is a co-ordinated and deliberate attack on Russia that has been developing over decades and that most people are naïve to fall for because the propaganda plays on their subconscious idea that Russia is the USSR and a danger to us. When, in fact it is us who are the danger and Russia the victim. This is the result when you have only one superpower and this superpower need an enemy in order to justify its interference in the rest of the world.

          4. I like “plucky little Ukraine”. Reminds me that the WWI generation were told they were fighting for “gallant little Serbia”, then in 1993 the same western powers bombed the shit out of gallant little Serbia.

          5. How is it that you know this ?

            How is it that Britain has alwas been wary of Russia , how come the lefties . commies , Marxists have arrempted to derail the UK…

            How come people like Corbyn and his brother and John McDonald and all the others are such trouble some b######s.

            How come we have Russian submarines and spy ships laden with antennae around our coastline .

            How do you explain the Cuban Missile crisis, how do you explain the total control of Russian people and the corruption and cruelty that exists ..

            How do you explain the Salisbury poisonings ..

            Nah , a leopard never changes its spots .

            To me , the Eastern block have alwas been trouble ..

            But to start a war by murdering helpless people in the 21st century Europe is lunacy .

          6. I know this because half my family is Russian. My stepfather was Russian and my late wife was also Russian, well to be precise both of them were. First was Russian/American Jew. Second was a Russian from Venezuela a White Russian, as was my stepfather. Many White Russian families fled to Venezuela after they left from Shanghai, where many went after the Communists took power in Russia. But then, obviously, they were in jeopardy when the Communist Chinese took over. The result of all these Russian ties is that I know the history and I know the people pretty well. Plus I am a Russian Orthodox Christian. So I know well the story of Russia from tsarist times up to now. But not just from my family and friends but from reading and studying the history of Russia.

            And, again you mix up the USSR with Russia. The Cuban missile crisis had nothing to do with post-Communist Russia, that was the USSR. So why pin it on modern Russia?

            “How come we have Russian submarines and spy ships laden with antennae around our coastline.” Do you actually believe that we don’t do the same thing to Russia?

            “How is it that Britain has always been wary of Russia ,” It has not, before the Communists took over Russia and the UK enjoyed a close relationship. You forget the the Russian Royal Family and the British Royal Family were closely related. And the Russians, after the fall of the USSR, wanted that close relationship again.

            “How come people like Corbyn and his brother and John McDonald and all the others are such trouble some b######s.” What has that to do with Russia? You don’t seem to realize that modern Russia is less sympathetic to Communism than our left wing is. Having lived through the terror of Communism they are more pro-Capitalist than we are in the West. We are the people drifting to totalitarian Socialism, not the Russians. They hate it with a passion.

            “How do you explain the Salisbury poisonings ..” I do not but there are an awful lot of people who really do not believe the Western account of that. Odd thing. Putin has repeatedly aske for the evidence to be shown to him. Guess what, it has always been refused. Now don’t you think that is suspicious?

            But you really need to learn what happened after the fall of the USSR. The Wests behaviour and why Putin turned against the West. It makes for very unpleasant reading or hearing because it is perfectly evident that the villains are the West, not Russia.

            Are you aware that we promised the Russians that NATO would not encroach on Russia’s borders?

            Are you aware that every treaty we made with Russia after the fall of the USSR, concerning weapons and concerning nuclear issues we violated and refused to keep.

            Are you aware that Russia opened itself to friendship with the West and was rebuffed at every turn? Not just rebuffed but forced to play the bad guy, especially by the Americans.

            Now then. You don’t have to believe me. All you have to do is some serious research and you will find that everything I’m saying here is 100% true.

            And if it is true. Instead of being so convinced about your version of events, after you have objectively found out that the culprits are the West. You then should ask yourself why and what is going on. Why this war that we could have easily prevented. All we had to say to Putin. Is. “Alright we will keep our promise not to put missiles at your border and acknowledge that Ukraine be a neutral country. ” That is all because that is all Russia was asking for.
            Instead the West has demonized Russia and demonized Putin. Not exactly the behaviour of an organization, NATO, that is supposed to keep the peace, is it?

            And, but not least. Are you aware that, in the beginning, after the collapse of the USSR, Russia wanted to join NATO and join Europe. And are you aware that the West rebuffed them?

            AS for the why. My personal belief is that we live in a post democratic world for which the model is China, I am not saying we will copy
            China, I’m saying it is the prototype from which our various governments are taking their example and modify to suit our societies. And , at the same time, the powers that be use Russia to divert out attention from the real enemy and the systematic destruction of democracy on the part of those who are supposed to guide it. And recently the naked demonstration of what they are trying to do is Trudeau’s performance in Canada. Turning a democracy into a fascist state overnight by pretending the people are dangerous revolutionaries in order to deflect from the fact that he is the guilty one.

  27. Just catching up with things after a very long day yesterday. Arrived home about 7pm and OH had prepared a meal. Lily sat on my lap. The scaffolding is still here though I think the roofer has finished his work. The storms delayed him a bit but but we got off lightly here.

    1. Welcome back .. and glad all went well for you both .. travelling is so exhausting. .

      I expect you will quickly wish you were back in Africa ..

      Putin is proving as mad as any African despot .

      2. He’s not mad – just responding to West weakness.
        It’s good to be home though the trip was great and went by much too quickly.
        A bit weary today so won’t be doing much apart from sorting out my washing.

    3. Welcome back. Long day’s travelling probably tired you out. Bet you had a wonderful time. Look forward to some pics eventually.

      1. Very much so thanks! Haven’t started looking at the photos yet – just debating whether to bother hanging out the washing……..

  32. In praise of Ukraine’s international brigades. Spiked 1 March 2022.

    On Sunday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky urged foreign citizens to join Ukraine’s armed resistance against the invading Russian forces. He asked those who were willing to head to Ukrainian embassies in their own countries and sign up for an ‘international brigade’. It is reported that dozens of British citizens – some with military backgrounds, others without – have already joined this struggle for Ukraine’s future.

    These men – this ‘Lads Army’, as some reports have dubbed them – should be applauded. They are putting their lives on the line to fight against Russian military aggression and for the right of the Ukrainian people to determine their own future.

    This is almost certainly a sop to the PTB. In the present climate; where even Ballet Companies get cancelled, you need to have some Anti-Russian street cred. This is a part of Spike’s insurance. Nottl is not exempt from this threat of course; it could well be that we will not only be shut down but all eventually find ourselves in the Hebridean Gulag.

    Just in passing it’s worth remarking that the current avalanche of Anti-Putin propaganda will not be sufficient to generate the enthusiasm for all-out War. That will need some old-fashioned Nationalism. We must therefore expect, very shortly, Government Ministers to start talking about (Alert!!! Trigger Warning) Patriotism and Honour and what a wonderful place the UK is and how proud we should be of our History and Institutions of Freedom and Democracy. This will be stomach turning enough but we will all be able to console ourselves with the thought that they don’t really mean it!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/02/28/in-praise-of-ukraines-international-brigades/

    1. The longer the West keeps the war going the bigger it is going to become.
      The pity is, that should it happen, you can guarantee that none of the children of the elites will be compulsorily conscripted except possibly to be REMFs.

      1. There will not be any conscription. Truss has suggested nuclear weapons. Putin has warned us of nuclear weapons. This war will go nuclear pretty soon, possibly by the end of this week. Once planes are moved to Polish airports, Putin will strike. All NATO will be required to act. The USA will launch strikes on Russia.

        1. I hope you are wrong about that and that talks will ensue and an acceptable way out agreed.

        2. Better start drinking the more expensive bottles in the cellar. Let’s look on the bright side, roll on wine o’clock!

          1. Lent starts tomorrow so wine today and then none for six weeks. We may be evaporated but our wine is in underground bunkers.

        3. I’d better do some serious stretching exercises then.

          Otherwise I won’t be able to kiss my arse goodbye.

    2. Why would any sensible peson now ‘join-up’ to fight for UK

      1. The enemy is shooting at you, or about to, you kill them and spend 40 years fighting prosecution

      2. Having watched the TV programme about HMS Northumberland, only wimmen and coloured people matter
      3. LGBT and Veggie/Vegans will rule the services by 2030
      4. We have Two ‘aircraft (hehehe)’ carriers, but no FAA Front Line Fixed Wing Squadron (RAF & USN were on HMS QE2)
      5. There are more RAF aircraft in museums, than operational
      6. We have 200 Tanks (some of those will just hold water)
      7. There are probably more retired Top Brass Officers than people in the RN
      I despair
      PS, I have been involved with ‘our National Defence for 40 years) We do not have enough people even to guard De-gate
      PPS 24,000 invaders were landed in UK by the Terrorist Taxi service

      1. So true OLT.

        Just remembering the NAVY NEWS when it was a proper newspaper , a very interesting read in the year dot , now it looks like a requiem for a bosuns whistle and nothing else .. oh yes and a handful of obits!

    3. ‘Spiked’ has a strange history, as I’m sure you know, Minty.
      “Spiked (also written as sp! ked) is a British Internet magazine focusing on politics, culture and society. The magazine was founded in 2000 with the same editor and many of the same contributors as Living Marxism, which had closed in 2000 after losing a case for libel brought by ITN.“

      1. We all change. I used to think the Conservatives were worth supporting until Carrie appeared.

      2. We all change. I used to think the Conservatives were worth supporting until Carrie appeared.

    4. The sheeple will just have the Union Jack printed on their muzzles. They have no sense of irony.

      The same people putting the Ukrainian flag on their Facebook profiles are bleating about freedom and integrity of borders for Ukraine when they gave up the freedoms their own ancestors fought hard for without any resistance. They don’t even notice Dover and gross abuses in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. When Big Brother tells them it’s Putin for The Two Minute Hate and they must wear a digital ball and chain, they don’t rationalise and resist.

  33. Good morning, my friends

    Something trivial to take our minds off the horrors in the Ukraine for a moment:

    Cleavage has returned to the red carpet (and this time it’s classy)
    Sandra Oh, Cate Blanchett and Jessica Chastain all showed glimpses of boob on the red carpet this weekend
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/style/cleavage-has-returned-red-carpet-time-classy/

    Two BTL comments:

    When will the flushed bust become a busted flush?

    and

    Why is it acceptable to show virtually the whole of a woman’s breasts but not her nipples? Is there something intrinsically offensive about nipples?

    1. Yo Rastus

      That is so sexist, shirley, the likes of Tom Cruise, Bendydick Cucumberpatch, and David Suchet should all be doing the same

    3. I have to say that some women seem eager to bare all everywhere! It’s such a shame, and I hate to say 8t about my own sex, but I think a lot of them look so slutty. Elegance has gone out of the window.

      1. Much as I like the naked female form, seeing it all over the place removes mystery and enticement, and just makes it humdrum and dull.
        It was pleasant some years ago visiting Kuala Lumpur to find no underwear/bikini ads on the bus shelters.

      2. It’s far more enticing to be covered than revealing everything; it adds an air of mystery and stimulates the imagination.

      1. Helen Mirren made a comment about that when she accepted a lifetime achievement award.

  34. Residents of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol who want to leave the area due to ongoing hostilities in the region can use one of the humanitarian corridors established for them, Eduard Basurin, the spokesman for the militia force of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) announced during a press briefing on Tuesday.

    Two separate evacuation routes, one leading west and one leading east, have been established, the official said. The routes will be available until Wednesday, Basurin said. The corridors were organized by the militias together with Russian forces deployed in the western part of the region, he added.

    Basurin claimed earlier on Tuesday that Mariupol was about to be fully encircled by the militia. He stated that the DPR forces have no intention to lay full-scale siege on the city, to avoid unnecessary casualties, and that the republic wanted to gain control over it as part of a negotiated peace settlement.

    1. On the plus side, I’m sure the Ukranian media doesn’t have weepy items about a BLM paramilitary for whom life became a bit too ‘military’.

      1. I try to avoid the BBC but when I am unlucky enough to be in the same room they seem to specialise in non-stop sob-stories. We all know that war is brutal and evil, but how about even a few minutes each day of something other than Vlad’s latest outrage? And just imagine how much bad UK news is being buried while this is on…

        A sense of proportion invariably deserts the media at times like these. As Mrs H J would say “God’s gift to newsrooms”.

        1. It was full-on hand-wringing sob stories last night – then they started on climate change so I went to bed.

          1. And then into the local news where they’ve managed to find someone who lives locally and has a friend who has a cousin twice-removed who lives in Ukraine…

    3. A British-Zimbabwean national ………..err what might one of these be and why would they be in Ukraine ? Work commitments ?

      1. It might have been edited in since my post.:

        Korrine Sky, 26, a British-Zimbabwean national who has been studying medicine in Ukraine since September,

        1. She looked more like a hooker than a medical student – I wonder what she was studying?

  36. The BTL reaction to Richard Littlejohn suggests that the British have lost the art of trench humour.
    Here is the excerpt that made me laff.

    “As I said, we do what we can. Which, presumably, is why Russia has been booted out of the Eurovision Song Contest. That should make all the difference.

    To be honest, I wasn’t aware that Russia even entered the Eurovision Song Contest. Then again, I haven’t watched the Eurovision Song Contest since Bucks Fizz won in 1981, when my daughter was six and knew all the words and dance moves to Making Your Mind Up.

    You gotta speed it up, And then you gotta slow it down.

    Sounds like Vlad’s orders to his tank commanders in Ukraine. Still, given the stockpiling of Molotov cocktails by the resistance, he’d have been better off telling them:

    Don’t let your indecision, Take you from behind . . .

    Stop giggling at the back.

    As sanctions go, being kicked out of this ludicrous festival of kitsch is pretty feeble.

    Mind you, for all we know, Mad Vlad is a dedicated follower of the fashionable Eurovision pageant. Maybe once a year he pulls on a sparkly sequinned Abba outfit and hosts a gala Eurovision party at the Kremlin, complete with caviar vol-au-vents served by topless Conchita Wurst lookalikes and ice sculptures of Agnetha flowing with rose petal-flavoured Stolichnaya.

    Could Ukraine prove to be his Waterloo?”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10562211/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-Eurovision-bans-Russia-Ukraine-Vladimir-Putins-Waterloo.html

    1. “I haven’t watched the Eurovision Song Contest since Bucks Fizz won in 1981 ever!”

  37. Here is one for Geoffrey. (Has this already been posted on this forum, if so I apologise):

    “Arguing with a leftist is like playing chess with a pigeon. You move, it knocks over the pieces, defecates all over the board, then struts around like it won.”

      1. The rest of the population as we are being made to do now. Prices of everything are still going up and up and up.
        Our next door neighbour who spends most of her time in France tells me the weather is lovely there today, and she’s off to Cape Town in the morning.

          1. Hi Ellie, he’s home now, but back at the hospital today for treatment and checks, back home later, he has to go twice a week. There is a chance they may be able to take him to a closer hospital, Addenbrookes is at least an hours drive away. But it could be a long job, his medication program is very intensive. At least his surroundings are familiar and he has all of his toys to play with. It could take 12 months before he’s completely in the clear. It’s such an intense ordeal for his mum and dad. They both have full time jobs but still work mainly from home which is beneficial. We are always ready to stand in at short notice.
            You back in the UK now ?

          2. That’s good that he’s home now and getting treatment – even though it means a lot of journeys. Hopefully they will be able to continue the treatment locally. Did they say what exactly was the problem? Good job they have you for support too.
            Yes – I’m home – arrived about 7pm last night after a long day but straightforward journey with no problems except a lot of hanging around in airports at each end.

            Will eventually get to start sorting out my photos – got the washing doing but it doesn’t look like a drying day out there.

      1. Good morning Geoffrey

        Still trying to tease us all here? Sad that all you really succeed in doing is exposing the fact that you are a nincompoop!

    3. Arguing with a Leftard is like: plaiting sand; herding cats; or proposing common sense and getting Common Purpose in reply.

    4. Funny you should say that….we have a bird circular bath/drinking container in our garden, i’m always having to clean it out because after drinking, they turn around to fly off and the pigeons always crap in it. What is it about pigeons ?

  38. Do you believe China has turned its back on Russia?
    CHINA has so far chosen to remain neutral and not get involved with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But, should the international community – including the UK – be doing more to pressure China into distancing itself from Russia and do you believe China has really turned it’s back on Russia?
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1573515/china-turn-back-on-russia-have-your-say-evg

    No.
    I believe China is in cahoots with Russia…. biding it’s time.
    Watch this space.

    1. May I fiddle

      I believe China is in cahoots with Russia…. biding Biden it’s time.

      1. Fiddle while Ukraine burns…..

        China releases Covid to weaken countries and Russia steps up the pressure….China waiting in the wings….

    1. Wasn’t it Rose? Or was it the Hatter? Any other suggestions for today’s March Hare?

          1. Ta pet! They both worked on digging the Union canal when they arrived from Ireland as navvies. Then Hare decided on a change of career!

  41. Good morning all
    A thought for today and an opportunity to forget about war and coronavirus.

    It is only when a mosquito lands on your testicles that you realise there is always a way to solve problems without using violence.

  42. Just in from three enjoyable hours having a bonfire. The first time for many months that there is a north wind (and only for today).

    Six months garden rubbish on its way to destroy the planet.

  43. I do hope that Mr Shitts and Priti Awful INSIST that all the millions of Ukrainians heading this way have (a) valid, up-to-date covid passport; (b) completed Passenger Locator Form.

    And if not, WHY NOT?

    Or, put it another way, if thousands of God know who can arrive and be welcomed without formality – WHY do law-abiding British residents have to go through the pass/PLF bollox?

    2. No covid tests required for those arriving from Ukraine, France (by rubber boat). Just legit folk wanting to visit their mother.

  45. The Telegraph prosing about the defence of freedom really does make one choke! Irony perhaps? I don’t think so, it’s pure hypocrisy.
    Many will have seen Bob’s cartoon I think, but I post it here as it neatly sums up the position. Some people who now understand that on the Virus and much else the government and media are wholesale liars seem to be swallowing the Putin Ogre narrative whole. Such is the terror of war.

    The only thing to rely on is experience. If Putin achieves the war aim he stated at the outset and then ceases the action we shall know. If he does not it will be a different story – if not the one sold to us. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b1cb09ccc2c80a1f4e1365c4ae9290845b45a6de543a54d503572ee11e23649b.jpg

    1. Hypocrisy?

      From the mouth of the little dictator –
      “In Russia, President Putin continues to block independent media and uses media controlled by the state to propagate falsities and propaganda about his unjustified war. We will not allow such disinformation to spread in Canada,” Really?

      Trudeau just announced that we are banning the import of Russian crude oil. Boy wonder was smiling smugly until some nasty right wing bigot revealed that we have not imported crude since 2019, we now import about a million dollars of refined petroleum products.

        1. Trudeau declared martial law and beat them into submission. Protesters face having their bank accounts frozen and the media have conveniently switched to Ukraine.

          1. Thanks Richard – I missed all that while I was away. I suppose they made their point and people could see the heavy-handed response, but did that achieve their aims?

    2. My fear is that the West will push us into war, so we will never know what Putin’s policy would have been.

  46. Early visit to the vet .. Thought Jack had pneumonia , not very well, green gunk coming out of nose , rattly chest and a rasping cough .

    Vet took Jack’s temp, a bit high , rather high in fact .

    Back home now with a bag of antibiotics , he has also had an anti-inflamatory jab , and I have some special powder to sprinkle in his food to ease the congestion in his lungs . He is 14 years old , and a very stoic old chap .
    I love my dogs so much, it hurts.

    My constant companions .

    1. Fingers crossed he will recover and keep you company for a bit longer. The sad thing is our beloved pets don’t live a bit longer.

      1. Not too much longer tho’. Pets get very attached to us too so when they out live their owners it isn’t something that can be explained to them.

        1. That’s why our last cat is an oldie as I thought we were too old to take on new kittens. Lily is in her twilight years like us. She’s been with us two and a half years now. She seemed pleased to see me last night.

          1. If we’re away for the weekend, our two cats come running out to greet us when they hear the car! Very warming, so it is.

          2. Lily is cuddled up here now- she has her feet on the the laptop keyboard.

            Will you be able to go and visit your mother and sort out her house, etc?

          3. The plan is to go over fairly soon, to start clearing the house – searching useful documents and setting up the clearance, then another visit to shift stuff out. The sale should go sometime failrly soon, I hope. Some repairs ongoing – a new oil tank, for example, next week.

        2. That’s why I took on Oscar as a 12 year old grumpy sod (him, not me!). I didn’t want a young dog who might outlive me.

  48. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJae3Q2l-BY

    [Intro]

    Call out the instigators
    Because there’s something in the air
    We’ve got to get together sooner or later
    Because the revolution’s here
    And you know it’s right
    And you know that it’s right
    We have got to get it together
    We have got to get it together now

    [Bridge]

    Block off the streets and houses
    Because there’s something in the air
    We’ve got to get together sooner or later
    Because the revolution’s here,
    And you know it’s right
    And you know that it’s right
    We have got to get it together
    We have got to get it together now

    [Piano bridge]
    Hand out the arms and ammo
    We’re going to blast our way through here
    We’ve got to get together sooner or later
    Because the revolution’s here and you know it’s right
    And you know that it’s right
    We have got to get it together
    We have got to get it together now

    1. Thunderclap Newman was an English rock band that Pete Townshend of The Who and Kit Lambert, their manager, formed in 1969 in a bid to showcase the talents of John “Speedy” Keen, Jimmy McCulloch, and Andy “Thunderclap” Newman.

      Newman was the piano-player.
      McCulloch was the guitarist who later joined Wings before killing himself, aged 26, with a mixture of morphine and alcohol.
      Keen was the singer.

    2. Thunderclap Newman was an English rock band that Pete Townshend of The Who and Kit Lambert, their manager, formed in 1969 in a bid to showcase the talents of John “Speedy” Keen, Jimmy McCulloch, and Andy “Thunderclap” Newman.

      Newman was the piano-player.
      McCulloch was the guitarist who later joined Wings before killing himself, aged 26, with a mixture of morphine and alcohol.
      Keen was the singer.

  49. Well, that’s all the sawn logs that were waiting to be chopped and stacked, chopped and stacked!
    About 1 cubic metre done since Saturday and it’s more or less half filled the stack I emptied on Saturday.
    I now need to get the electric chainsaw down from the garden and begin sawing.

    It’s stayed nice here, but when the sun went behind the mill water tower, it very quickly cooled down.

    3. P.S. We wanted to keep them in the shithole at the other end of Stanley Park, but we couldn’t trust the gormless morons there to look after them.

  53. I see that the incompetent warmonger Ursula von der Leyen is pushing the Smash the Russians rhetoric.

    1. Well when I recently took it upon my self to blame the Brussels mafia for the problem in Ukraine, I have many times been hauled over the coals. Once again it seems another ‘conspiracy theory’ is coming true.

      1. The EU acts like the Devil incarnate, and when one looks at those EUrophiles who are incapable of seeing that the EU can do harm as well as good, it’s understandable why it has turned into such an out of control ravenous maw.

        1. When I voted in the 1975 referendum I voted to stay in the Common Market, which, we were led to believe was an economic club which had no political aspirations. I was wrong – it always did have political aspirations but Heath and others deliberately misled me with their lies.

          I wonder what percentage of those who voted to stay in the Common Market in 1975 voted to stay in the European Union in 2016?

          I am sure that there would still be support for a European Economic Club throughout Europe. Few remainers seem capable of grasping that it is EU usurpation of political power that has turned people away from it. Even 6 years after the conclusive Brexit vote the EU still holds political sway over a part of the UK – Northern Ireland.

          2. #metoo Rastus. Heath lied to us all, turns out he knew full well what was the intention. I was 28 then and it was the first time I realised that governments lied to the people who elected them. I was very naive!

          5. Like you Rastus, I was taken in by the Common Mmarket lies and voted to stay in. I was a young mother and not interested in politics. Like you I became a Leaver as I could see that the EU was an over-arching empire that subsumed individual sovereign nations.

          6. I voted out when I had the chance to rectify my mistake (I voted to stay in in 1975).

        2. It’s all coming out now as to why those vile bastards on Brussels wanted an army under their belts as well.

  54. Headline in the DT:

    ‘Puffy-faced’ Putin Five reasons Russian leader could be seriously ill’

    Nothing trivial I hope?

    1. Tell you what, Wales – we’ll send all the dinghy people straight to Cardiff.

      1. They might have a squabble on their hands! The harridan in Holyrood wants to have them all here! Desperately seeking relevance!

        1. We’ll send them to the Isle of Man, then. Scotland and Wales can argue over who takes them there.

  56. Late arrival today – day off 🙂

    Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus i pob
    😃🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

          2. Have I mentioned, in the past, that that expression makes me want to throw up?

  57. Is everything the media presents absolutely true, or is it faked for an ulterior motive ?

    ”Paul Weston 5 hours ago

    The MSM doesn’t seem to understand the difference between fireworks and high explosive ordnance.

    The strange explosions shown yesterday (Kharkiv) were most definitely not shells or bombs, but the main story today in the Daily Mail is even more peculiar.

    The claim is a missile strike, but if you look at the cars driving through the blast, there is no blast at all.

    Cars which should have been picked up and thrown a goodly distance don’t even seem to sway on their suspension. This isn’t right. Not by a long chalk.”

    1. I expect it was a thermobaric bomb. Which is why the cars were not blasted away.

      1. Somehow though they just kept driving along undamaged despite the drivers being dead.

          1. Well, thermobaric bombs are supposed to be one step down from nukes and kill all living things instantly within a wide radius.

            But it seems there is a way to survive. Just sit in your car right by the explosion and you’ll be untouched, and your car too.

            Not just you and your car, but two other cars as well which just carried on as if nothing had happened.

            I think Paul Weston’s correct. ”This isn’t right. Not by a long chalk.”

          2. I think by targeting military installations rather than civilian centres is the right thing to do, don’t you? You do know what that building was?

          3. I think it would be better if they didn’t target anything.

            I don’t think the video in the Daily Mail is genuine. I think it was made using special effects and computer generated imagery.

          4. Thermobaric bombs suck the oxygen out of the atmosphere and thus suck all the air out of any living thing in the blast radius. Really nasty things. The drivers are thus 100% dead. There are no partial injuries from these things, just death. The American used them in Viet Nam. But that is alright, they were the good guys.

  58. Oops…

    Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Monday Poland and NATO were not part of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and therefore can’t send jets to join the combat. “We are not sending any jets to Ukraine because that would open a military interference in the Ukrainian conflict. We are not joining that conflict. NATO is not a party to that conflict,” he said at a press conference after his meeting with NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg, adding that they were supporting Ukrainians with humanitarian aid.

    NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has also confirmed that NATO was not to be part of the conflict, and therefore was not to send any troops and planes to Ukraine. However, he confirmed that NATO will continue to provide Ukraine with financial and military support, such as anti-tank weapons, air defense systems, and other types of military equipment.

    Earlier on Tuesday, the Ukrainian Air Force officially announced on their Facebook page that three NATO countries – Poland, Slovakia, and Bulgaria – would deliver more than 70 warplanes for the Ukrainian army. The jets were supposed to be able to operate from Polish airfields.

    2. “Ukrainian Air Force officially announced on their Facebook page”.
      Does anyone else find this peculiar?

  59. Did you know that Ukraine is virtually the same size as the UK.

    Ukraine is 784.93 miles wide and 346.4 miles long. Population 44.13 million people

    We are 874 miles and 300 miles wide . The current population of the United Kingdom is 68,476,267 as of Monday, February 28, 2022,

    Ukraine, Europe’s second-largest country, is a place of wide, fertile agricultural plains in the east, with big concentrations of heavy industry.

    Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of grains – wheat, corn, and barley.

    What are we doing?

    2. Well, sorting out our pronouns for one thing.
      Yours faithfully
      Tommy Atkins (they, them, their)

        2. Perhaps you should learn some history. It really is better to be a human being with a conscience than a sheep bleating the party line. That way you might actually see solutions. Fantasies do not help but reality does. Thus, I have already suggested a solution and all you do is produce hatred.

    3. Whoever’s fault it is, just what do you suggest we do?

      You would declare war on Russia, I suppose.

      You do realise that without the USA the EU is helpless, they couldn’t fight Russia without horrendous casualties and almost certain military defeat followed by chaos all across Europe. I doubt Biden will put American soldiers in harms way coming up to the mid-term elections and even if he does that will only cause further escalation.
      Then it might go nuclear.
      The politicians who control NATO and the EU, and particularly those of the EU hierarchy have a lot to answer for.
      Damn Putin, damn them, and damn you and your EUrophile kind.

        1. So many of our politicians are in it for themselves and believe they will be prosperous and have less to do.
          The way the EU has treated us since we voted to leave shows just what kind of treatment we could expect if we asked to re-join.

    4. When I was at school, I looked small and soft and so the bullies picked on me. I fought back. So there was I in front of the rector, along with Big Al.
      A month later, I was in front of the rector again, myself and Big Dennis. A week or so after that it was myself and Big Joe on the carpet in the rector’s office. And so it went. I have never started a fight in my life. Who do you think the rector held responsible for these fracases in the playground?
      Sometimes you just have to belt the bully in the kisser.
      We have spent many years (we being NATO, the USA et al) baiting, insulting, squeezing, and snubbing Russia. We had reached the point where it looked as if the Ukraine would become a launch site for American hardware. We took our bullying a step too far.
      Sometimes you just have to take away the bully’s weapons.

      1. I wonder whether, if Geoffrey actually thought things through, he would come to more sensible conclusions or whether he would remain just as muddled-headed as he always is.

    6. You really do have an absolute contempt for history, don’t you Geoffrey?

    7. The picture is of Hrushevskogo Street. Kiev during the riots of 21 – 25 January 2014. The streetlamps are quite distinctive and the pillars in the background are the entrance to the Kiev Dynamo Arena. Ironically the riots were a part of the CIA- EU sponsored coup that leads almost directly to the present situation.

    8. The picture is of Hrushevskogo Street. Kiev during the riots of 21 – 25 January 2014. The streetlamps are quite distinctive and the pillars in the background are the entrance to the Kiev Dynamo Arena. Ironically the riots were a part of the CIA- EU sponsored coup that leads almost directly to the present situation.

    9. You seem to believe anything put in front of you if it coincides with your ideology. That is another way of saying you are a fool.

      1. Don’t hear much from this cohort about insisting on using males’ changing rooms or being…er… banged up in males’ prisons.

      2. A Trans man can still have all the plumbing a woman would have. For them to Trans and then have a baby seems to me to be craving fame. If they want to Trans they should go all the way and just get on with their life. They could always adopt.

    5. What else can they waste our money on? What utter nonsense. It really shouldn’t be allowed. Who authorises these ridiculous adverts? And the NHS bleats that it’s short of funds!

      1. I’m sure these people are fully aware they still have all their woman ‘bits’ so shouldn’t need separate publicity to attend for the appointments. No doubt they’d also demand separate clinics so they aren’t ’embarrassed’ sitting with normal women while waiting for the nurse.

      1. Yep, if ever there was an organisation that was sosraboc the NHS fits the bill.

    8. I’ve pondered on the logistics – and the surgical procedure …. rather wish I hadn’t.

      1. Supposedly, and very likely true, a significant proportion of the ‘victims’ are on the autistic spectrum and do not fully understand what they are getting into, and that’s just at the puberty blocker stage.

  62. “British Army warns its soldiers not to go rogue and travel to Ukraine”
    “Veterans looking to take up arms in Ukraine flock to Folkestone kit store to pick up last-minute equipment”

    I can think of one ex-soldier they could send call up papers to . Address – Trashy celeb mansion, Montecito.

    1. Which one(s) could you possibly mean?

      What celebrities have homes in Montecito?

      Among those who maintain, or have maintained, homes here are

      Oprah Winfrey,Kirk Douglas, George Lucas, Carol Burnett, John Cleese, Drew Barrymore,
      Ginge,
      Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Charlize Theron, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie,
      Cringe
      Kenny Loggins, Kevin Costner, Rob Lowe, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi,
      to name just a few.

      1. He’s married to an American who is determined to destroy a once important part of the British way of life.

    2. He’s far too busy virtue signalling. Besides….wifey won’t let him go. She might lose control of him.

        1. For someone who has been in an angry sulk since before he was married? He’s not going to let that go in a hurry.

    3. I have been suggesting this for the last week!

      As they sing:

      Why was he born so beautiful? Why was he born at all? He’s no bloody use for anything – he’s no bloody use at all.

      1. My Dad sang that! I suspect it might have had worserer words when he was playing rugby!

    4. Thank goodness I’ve still got my “medically unfit” certificate from Biggin Hill!

  63. Some of us Nottlers here have been told to go and get a history lesson before commenting on the events in Ukraine.
    Well here is a condensed history lesson in ten minutes from Gravitas Plus about how it all came about:

    https://youtu.be/nK-yJD_fAtk

    BTW here are some clips of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his voiceover as Paddington Bear in the Ukrainian version:
    https://youtu.be/-vlb4z9ge5E

    1. Could this end by splitting Ukraine into two separate countries, one aligned to the west and one to the east?

      1. No..it will end up non-alligned with Donbass an autonomous region.Putin will not accept anything else.

    2. Gravitas explanation is not bad but I can’t agree that this is “Russian Imperialism” Within my extended family there are older Ukrainians, people who’s lives preceded the current problems and they simply don’t see themselves as separate from Russians and vis a versa the Russian members of the family don’t see the Ukrainians as a foreigners They don’t even see them as non-Russian. There has been no place called Ukraine since the first Tsar, Rurik who died in 879 and who’s capital was Novgorod. This is prior to Kievian Russ which came into being the same year in which Rurik died. The people simply saw themselves as Russ. Perhaps the difference is something like Northern and Southern England, different regions with a different set of attitudes but not separate countries. So on the part of many Russians, especially older Russians, is a sense of bewilderment. A, sort of, ‘but we are brothers and sisters, how did we get here’? I can understand how India would interpret this situation as one of Imperialism, given their recent history, but the fact is that what is happening in Ukraine/Russia is much more subtle than that. More like Stalin poisoned the well and as time has gone on everyone has become sickened with grievance, real and imagined.

      The root of the problem is Stalin, in my opinion, who created Ukraine and then that has been played upon until the Ukrainians see themselves as something other than the Russians. It strikes me as much the same process as the SNP in Scotland, making life impossible until all that is left is animosity breed mostly by politicians and opportunists. It is a sad situation and one that is fruitless, as the present violence shows. Poison the trunk of the tree and the fruit becomes poison too.

    1. In 25 years time, how, in UK, will you be able to identfy/recognise a fellow ethnic Brit

      The will be the only people who do not speak the langauge of the area in which they are made to live

        1. To quote the late great Barry Cryer- I don’t even buy green bananas these days.

    2. 5 million Hong Kong Chinese. 1/2 million Ukrainian +. As many muslim/Jihadi’s as you can stuff in as fast as you can.

      1. This island will sink under the weight of its population long before Climate Change causes sea levels to rise and swamp the land.

      2. I thought absolute control of the UK border was what the UK voted for.

        What gives?

        2. Refugees are a special case. Even when they quite clearly are not refugees. Our Governments have signed treaties which we never agreed with or wanted. Note how they sneak off and do it quietly behind the backs of the electorate.

          1. Is a lot of legislation in the UK done behind the backs of the electorate?

            How does that work?

          2. They did it in plain sight when they laughed and nodded the corona Act extension through. No debate.

    3. After paying National Insurance for 40+ years, all I can get out of the NHS is monotonous & discordant music as I wait in
      a telephone queue to talk to a person

    1. Who should be on the must be assassinated list? Gates? Biden, Putin …… ?

    3. Cilla Black, oops White, oops hupersonbeing, WHO time forgot says:
      “Surprise surprise”

  67. While I deplore the death of any civilian in the conflict in the Ukraine, I am anxious about the use of photographs to show “wounded children”.

    I recall the thugs in white helmets in Syria using pictures of the same child lots of times over many months.

    Propaganda has always been used, of course, when nations are at war. Remember the “nuns parachuting into Kent”? “Huns bayoneting babies…” Add your own example.

    I just wish they’d stop. And that this pointless fighting would, too.

    1. There has been so much manipulating of information the last two years, for example, that I take everything with buckets of salt. Old photos are used, figures are exaggerated to make them scarier and panic and fear tactics are the norm.
      I really don’t like life at all these days.

      1. Take a leaf from the Book of Me and the MR.

        We have decided that we may be nuked at any moment. So we also decided just to forget about it and carry on. Works a treat.
        In addition to not listening (since June 2016) to any radio/TV news, politics and current affairs output, I just skip the seven pages in my newspaper about the business in The Ukraine.

        This advice is free – though a donation to the Gus and Pickles Trust Fund is appreciated!!

        1. Very sensible! I have a quick scan of the headlines in the Daily Fail and that’s depressing enough.

        2. I’ve changed the newspaper links on my browser to point to the ‘money ‘ pages so I don’t have to look at the news.

        3. I’ve changed the newspaper links on my browser to point to the ‘money ‘ pages so I don’t have to look at the news.

        4. I’m the same, Bill. I consider that if I’m going to get nuked, that’ll be the end of it and I’m determined to enjoy life until it happens (if it does).

      3. I’m afraid I believe very little in the press these days.
        Maybe the results of the “funny tomato” competition at the garden produce show, but little else.

    2. If the Russians really are as ruthless as they are being painted would those civilians really have confronted the tanks?

  68. Pakistan’s helping hand to warmonger Putin: Imran Khan shamelessly offers to import two million tons of wheat AND buy gas from Russia… just as Western sanctions are dealing devastating blow to its economy
    Imran Khan signs a trade deal with Putin after Kremlin talks on the day that he ordered Ukraine invasion
    The Bank of Russia raised key interest rate from 9.5 per cent to 20 per cent as the rouble’s value tumbled
    Kremlin is expected to turn to China and sell assets to raise cash to keep the war and the economy running
    Putin claims the unprecedented sanctions imposed by the West to cripple him are based on an ’empire of lies’
    Many Russians are panicking. They’re pulling cash from ATMs and fear state will become North Korea or Iran

    Generous Mail and MailOnline readers have donated £710,000 in 48 hours to our Ukraine appeal. Total is £1.2m including £500,000 pledged by the owner of DMGT, Lord Rothermere
    Click here for MailOnline’s liveblog with the latest updates on the Ukraine crisis
    By MARTIN ROBINSON, CHIEF REPORTER FOR MAILONLINE

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10563533/US-Europe-paying-Kremlin-1BILLION-DAY-oil-gas.html

    1. Pakistan has always been our enemy.

      I doubt very much if anyone on here has donated. Not even Geoffrey Woollard.

        1. Thing is, DG, we do have some fun here. It’s not all aggressive argument.

          1. Geoffrey has told us he only comes onto this forum because he likes to tease and annoy Nottlers with absurd opinions which even he cannot be stupid enough to really hold.

            This is why he needs to be teased and annoyed back – it’s what he wants.

    2. What does Russia NEED to import?
      What does it matter what the Ruble is worth outside Russia.
      How will a weaker Ruble affect ordinary Russians?

      1. Our view of need is probably quite different to many who NEED the latest mobile phone, Mediterranean holidays and cheap Chinese tat.

        A massively devalued rouble will really hit youngsters who live on such stuff.

      2. The only thing likely to halt Putin is if he loses the market for Russian oil and gas.

        With the idiot Biden halting fracking exploration and otherwise compromising otherwise American self sufficiency, Merkel closing down German nuclear plants and our own idiot Johnson following mad green policies the West has no real leverage over Putin.

        In terms of political influence the EU has proven itself to be a loose cannon, as loose as the immature Liz Truss and as naive. We have no hard intellectual negotiators, merely a collection of party going misfits on the make. A motley crew of liars and fraudsters. No wonder Putin is encouraged to make his move on Ukraine.

        Edit: I am no apologist for Putin. He is evil but has likely gone too far in advancing militarily against a Ukraine, parts of which would settle for the embrace of certain European members specially Poland with whom it has deep historical ties.

        A friend who studied Russia opines that Putin is likely on the way out. There is much opposition to war in Russia and some now believe Putin has a screw loose. Such things happen when the masters inhabit protective bubbles and lose any contact with their populace.

    2. And I stand with the plucky little Republic of San Marino. Long may they bleat.

    3. And still the devoid-of-rationing-power electorate sequentially vote for the useless turd!

    4. Wow, no wonder she was prepared to be used as a whore by Corbyn and shown off post coitally to his friends, allegedly.

      1. I wonder what they will do to Jacinda Adern when the whole Covid fraud ahs been completely exposed?

    7. Quite understandable there are so many countries, so many seas – Black, Baltic … easy to get confused!? [/sarc]

    8. She might one day be the Foreign Secretary, after a stint as Chancellor of course.

  70. An article about Putin’s taste in literature. Apparently, like Hitler, he liked stories of derring-do.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/putins-taste-literature-tells-us-man/

    This picture of the Three Dictators and the Stool Pigeon could appear on the cover of a paperback novel – the kind that drug stores sell – about the Missing Moustache.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bd44b23073d534fee385d7be1ffde99246447df057e385c742dea26abf8d2a64.jpg

  73. A Groaner

    One night a lady came home from her weekly prayer meeting, found she was being robbed, and she shouted out,

    “Acts 2:38: ‘Repent & be baptized & your sins will be forgiven.'”

    The robber quickly gave up & the lady rang the police.
    While handcuffing the criminal, a policeman said,
    “Gee mate, you gave up pretty easily. How come you gave up so quickly?”

    The robber said, “She said she had an axe and two 38’s!”

  74. Now this is right up my alley and something completely different from the usual Covid or Ukraine stuff. Hope people find this as interesting as I do.

    The woman who uncovered the secrets of the ‘Wood-Wide Web’

    Suzanne Simard blew apart centuries of conventional wisdom about forests. Her memoir Finding the Mother Tree sheds light on her life’s work

    n August 1997, a smart sub-editor on the journal Nature coined the phrase “the wood-wide web” to describe the astounding subterranean fungal networks uncovered by a young researcher in Canada’s conifer forests. It was a catchy headline, and the image it conjured up has turned out to be transformative in the popular understanding of ecology.

    Under the staid title of “Net transfer of carbon between tree species with shared ectomycorrhizal fungi”, Suzanne Simard’s paper blew apart two centuries of conventional wisdom about how trees lived together. Against the bleak zero-sum model of commercial forestry, in which every tree is forever trying to shade out, starve, or otherwise discommode its neighbours, she proved that woodland trees are linked by underground fungal threads, through which nutrients, water and information are equitably shared. The forest is a co-operative.
    Simard grew up in a logging family in the wilds of Canada, eventually becoming a Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia. Mother Tree is a memoir of this improbable journey, as well as an account of the science behind her revelations. The two modes aren’t an obvious fit, but it’s invigorating, the way they feed off each other.

    An early job as a researcher for a logging company had her checking the fortunes of spruce seedlings in a huge area of clear-cut. She found that, in line with the stare-approved policy of “Free to grow”, all supposedly competing vegetation had been razed to the ground or sprayed out. She was heartbroken by the result: biodiversity decimated, all big shelter trees felled, the planted seedlings wretched and diseased. Her early experiments showed that blacklisted “weed” trees like alder actually draw up water and fix nitrogen for use by other trees. Soon she began to suspect that these, and other vital resources – sugars and mineral nutrients – are not just drifting about in the soil, but actively being shared through a network of underground fungi called mycorrhizas.

    Mycorrhizas are well-known symbiotic arrangements. Most orchids, for instance, have intricate entanglements between their root-tips and various fungal “roots” (hyphae). The orchid’s green leaves produce the sugars which the fungus cannot manufacture, and in return the fungus donates nutrients by breaking down organic matter in the soil. Mycorrhizas were known to involve tree roots too, but no scientist had dared suggest that they were involved in a forest-wide communication network. Over the next decades, via a series of increasingly elegant and arduous field experiments, that is what Simard set out to prove.

    I can’t think I’ve read a more vivid account of the realities of fieldwork, of how the forensic business of research is embedded in the messy contingencies of real life. Simard’s science is as rich with social connectivity as the forest she is investigating. She enlists her backwoods family as research assistants. She has one eye always open for grizzly bears, and for the more approachable beings whose flavoursome local names (tow-headed babies, hoary marmot) leavens the hard data.

    Her prose is sometimes breathless, and her frequent use of human analogies and metaphors won’t go down well in some quarters. But I found it a glorious assertion that science is a human business, framed by the researchers’ world views and emotions. Simard agonises over the necessity to kill saplings to provide a control in one of her experiments – and then finds she has inhaled the herbicide through a faulty mask. And all the while she has to cope with the humiliation of a largely male forestry establishment, trashing her findings.

    In the 1990s, her argument shifted to a different level. From what she had seen of mycorrhizas in the soil and the ways trees grow together in the wild, Simard had an audacious hunch. Groups of firs, say, aren’t just sharing sugars and nutrients amongst themselves. The fungal networks are distributing them to other species, too.

    In the 1980s, the British biologist Sir David Read had used radioactive carbon to show that there was a flow of nutrients between pine seedlings inside a closed tanks. The flow could be tracked with a geiger counter. Simard now set up a dangerous series of experiments using a similar process in the wild. She put domes filled with radioactive carbon isotopes over fir and birch saplings (and got irradiated herself), and isolated the root systems of others with cylindrical shields. After a few days she took samples from the saplings and analysed them. The results were unequivocal: carbon is being shunted by mycorrhizas from birch to fir, and from fir to birch. It looks as if there is a seasonal cycle, with the birch being the donor in summer, when its leaves are manufacturing sugars, and the evergreen fir the donor in winter. Simard seems to have demonstrated that anathema of hard-line biologists: altruism between species.

    Simard’s personal life was evolving too. She left the dogmas of the forest service and took up an academic post, married a colleague and had two daughters. Her account of a long struggle with breast cancer is filled with the same wistful regret as her stories of felled trees. And it is at this point, painfully aware that her daughters may lose her, that she began to organise her findings around the concept of ‘The Mother Trees’. She’d found evidence that the oldest trees in the forest are nodes in the underground network. They have the greatest density of mycorrhiza and seem to preferentially “send” nutrients to their own seedlings. But is this what is really happening? When she was new to the underland and in thrall to toadstools, Simard might have talked of ‘The Mother Fungus’ instead. Mycorrhizas have agency too, and they may be the ones controlling the flows of energy, maintaining the health of all their food sources for their own good.

    But what she has really shown in this warm, and profoundly important, book is that forest vegetation is non-hierarchical. It is a self-organising network, full of feedback loops and homeostasis, with no one individual in control, like a swarm or a starling murmuration.

    This is hard for us to grasp. Our very grammar is founded on the idea of subject and object. But in her final chapter Simard has a stunning vision of connectivity – grizzly bears bringing salmon to eat under the mother trees, leaving “fine corsets of bone folded like butterfly wings… the essence of the fish slowly absorbed by the roots, transmitted into the wood of the trees, passed to the next life.” “Tree bones” she exclaims, and who can blame her here for a metaphor from which, as a species, we could well learn.

    Finding the Mother Tree is published in paperback at £10.99. To order your copy call or visit the Telegraph Bookshop

    1. I can vouch for the orchid aspect. I’ve spent the last decade + encouraging wild orchids in my garden. There is no doubt at all that they and the funghi have such a relationship. What surprises me is that so many new orchids have arrived over the years. Whether it is due to the seed being so small and light and blowing in or because dormant ones have reappeared because I have “wilded” so much of the land I don’t know, but from a few species I now have over 20 and from low numbers I am now into the 100’s if not 1,000’s

      1. Yes indeed, many orchids if not the majority have a symbiotic relationship with Fungi. In fact their seeds will not germinate without mycorrhiza present or if they do germinate will die off quickly if no mycorrhiza are present. I would imagine that, over the years your garden has become a network of mycorrhiza especially suited to the growth of orchis in your garden. Got a list of what has come up so far?

        1. I have posted photos in the past.
          Lizard, Man, Monkey, Early marsh, Several types of bee, spider, three types of white, three types of tongue, autumn lady’s tresses, several different hybrids, various spotted, ghost and others. I’m not an expert and my “bible” is in French so I may even have more than I think.

      2. It is one of the many things I miss about Laure. There were thousands of orchids in the garigue.

      1. Never read it molamola. Since you are reading it again I take it you recommend it?

          2. I have a very dog eared copy, bought in 1974, and have also been re-reading it recently! It’s definitely worth a read!

          3. I probably read it in ’76 but that copy is long gone, or perhaps not, as the 2nd hand one I just bought online is a 1974 edition. Maybe it’s my old one, I’ll have to check for fag burns and wine stains.

          4. Oooh! Sounds just like my copy! Wasn’t it wonderful being a student? My copy of ELP’s Pictures at an Exhibition, recorded at Newcastle City Hall (I was there!) jumps a bit because it got sloshed with Canadian club and coke!

    3. I bet there are a bunch of LGBTrees in amongst the forests – bit you can’t see the ‘wood’ for the trees….

    4. Someone told me recently that the roots of Araucaria araucana can penetrate steel pipes. I guessed that would be with the help of some fungus.

  75. According to the BBC,who quoted US intelligence,the huge convoy heading to Kiev has stopped.Apparently they have run out of fuel.
    And what does Russia have in abundance?
    I think i’ll give that one a miss!

    1. This was mentioned yesterday. Getting adequate supplies promptly to the front line is the basis of a successful war; there have been failings here. Putin has forgotten why Germany lost at Stalingrad…

          2. One takes some reporting with a large pinch of salt. Nevertheless, if true it would be a elementary error.

      2. It isn’t like Rommel in North Africa in the mid-forties when his supply lines were stretched and he was relying on convoys of ships to get past Malta.

    2. That strikes me as highly unlikely since RT mentioned the convoy yesterday and what was in it. Amongst those vehicles were vehicles carrying fuel.

        1. I somehow doubt, Bill, that the Russians are that disorganized. These are the people, after all, that fought the Nazis to a standstill and destroyed 4 million German soldiers.

  76. My best wishes to all Nottlers, past, present, here, there, and not all there. You are wise beyond your years, you are sweet and uncomplaining. You are graceful, intelligent and forbearing. You have taste, and dress sense, elegance sartorial and tonsorial. You are kind and generous, supportive, and compassionate.

    Yes, today, March 1, is World Compliment Day, as I have been reminded by a perfume company wishing to sell me scent.

    4. Aaw shucks Horace! I’m blushing! 😘 Thank you kind sir, and let me return the compliment on this auspicious day!

    5. And tomorrow is World Book Day – who will you be dressing up as, folks? I think I’ll don my flying jacket and masquerade as Biggles 🙂

  77. The credit card is maxed out!!

    Ukraine has called on international financial organizations to cancel the country’s foreign debts claiming massive destruction in the country caused by the Russian military offensive that began last Thursday.

    “The scale of destruction in Ukraine … is colossal! In view of this, our external creditors must be required to write off Ukraine’s debts. To date, the external debt is 1.6 trillion hryvnia, or more than $57 billion.

    International financial organizations should revise the debt policy and zero out the debts of Ukraine!” the head of the Accounts Chamber of Ukraine, Valeriy Patskan, wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday.

    1. Hmmm. Could they not get personal loans from the Bidens, Kerry and their other special friends?

      1. Circulation: 920,881 (as of September 2021)

        Down from 1.134m last year, so call it 750,000 this year.

        That’s about £2 each? Which is about right, as the poorest lower earner is often the most generous. remember that the Guardian, paragon of Lefties everywhere; is still begging for money despite being a tax dodging waste of paper. It appears Lefties aren’t very generous with their own money – only other people’s.

    2. They won’t be getting any of mine; I’m paying more tax on less income, my electricity bill is going through the roof, the petrol for my car is becoming ever more expensive and inflation is eroding the value of my savings.

  80. Sky News reporting that MPs are to get a pay rise of £2200 for the hard work they have done over the last year. I don’t think they deserve it. They got £10000 tax free sum of money to help them work from home and had a pay rise before the pandemic. They also get taxfree expenses which they can fiddle.

    1. Apologies clydesider, minor correction: They also get taxfree expenses which they can fiddle.

      And they’re not worth a rise. As for monies to work from home – did the rest of the country get 10,000 tax free to do the same, or did we have to pay for it all ourselves?

      Oh, it’s the latter. These people are scum, and not worth a penny.

  81. False meerkat report. MH is watching the Chase and a meerkat ad has just been on.

    1. I heard a Meerkat advert on Scala Radio earlier today, so the ‘banning’ of these ads must be fake news.

      2. I mentioned it to the person who drove me to hospital this morning. He said he saw one last night. So it does seem to be fake news.

  82. That’s me for today. Very good bonfire. Got rid of 90% of the garden debris. It didn’t rain. Soon be time for a well-earned glass of special medicine.

    Have a jolly evening faking your wartime photographs. It is all the rage just now.

    A demain.

    1. We have had rain all day here Bill.

      I made a pancake mixture about an hour ago .. I removed the whisk too early by tilting the bowl , and spattered myself with batter .. including the floor and everywhere .. I had a lapse in concentration .. what on earth was I thinking ..

      Glad you had a good bonfire day, I expect it smelt lovely .

      1. I was born on Pancake (Shrove) Tuesday, and my sister has never let me forget it! She had to go to Grans house while I was born at home, and she never got pancakes!

        3. If it is your Birthday Sue – Happy Birthday – If it isn’t well Happy Birthday anyway…

          2. Very kind of you, King Stephen! Shrove Tuesday has a habit of moving! I’ll be 65 a bit later this week!

          4. It’s a very scary thought! When I’m putting make-up on or drying my hair or something in front of the mirror, I don’t think I look so old! Then I see a hellish photo and I do!

          5. I’m struggling to come to terms with 60. The brain is about 14 and regressing, the body a bit older… and not regressing 🙁
            Face surrounded by grey beard, not blond as it was…

          7. I was going to post the same about you, Sue, but was afraid of being called out for harassment… {:-((

    2. Reminds me of when I was in Moscow; ball-point pens were extremely sought after (along with chewing gum).

  84. I see that RT has been censored by the UK. So much for free speech. Surely they are not afraid of propaganda they do quite enough of their own. But this is a lesson in why you need a VPN. I can still watch it because the computer ‘thinks’ I’m in Hong Kong.

          1. Proton mail has a free VPN package, you get a choice of three different ones. It’s a bit annoying, as you get blocked due to spammers using the VPN addresses, but up til now I’ve managed by switching to another one.

          2. Or, much simpler and free, use tor browser.

            https://www.torproject.org/download/

            I’m disappointed, actually. I get the covid hysteria. They hyped the numbers for an agenda. The state wanted a specific message conveyed and used every tool to achieve that. This is simply a different message. If it’s propaganda, so what? They allow Al Jazeria. It’s deeply Orwellian. Ours is the only voice you will hear. Party is all.

    2. I’m still watching it via a VPN in the US.
      This article is interesting to understand the Russian viewpoint: Fyodor Lukyanov: The end of an era

      In general, I enjoy Russia Today, which is well written, but one always has to bear in mind that nothing appears on there that the Russian government doesn’t want!

      1. Is Freeview located in the UK? Since I don’t use TV I don’t have a clue. Perhaps it is only the internet that has censored it?

        1. Yes, Freeview is the bog-standard U.K. free digital TV service. I have a TV Licence. I’d get the sack if I didn’t.

        2. It was reported on the news that the EU have banned RT, as has YouTube. Freeview is the main terrestial network in the UK, and RT is still airing on Channel 234.

          RT may well be propaganda, but I would be surprised if it didn’t take a pro-Russian stand. What is more telling is what they are not saying.

          There is probably a glut of hype and misinformation on both sides. I am a bit sceptical for now about the vacuum bombs. I also don’t think there are Nazis anywhere near the Ukrainian government – just the usual number of fringe nutters you get anywhere.

          A still frame taken from the bomb dropping on Kharkiv’s Independence Square has been identified as a 3M-54EM cruise missile. It is quite likely that the Russians are using cluster bombs in residential areas, although I accept that their main targets so far have been military. This is why they can openly operate a 40 mile convoy of tanks and missile launchers bearing down on Kyiv. If Ukraine still had an air force, they would have gone up and down and taken them all out.

          When the Chenobyl reactor went up in 1986, it smeared its fallout all over Europe. Poland is nervous about a cruise misslle landing on a nuclear reactor, and so by rights should Belarus, which is a lot nearer to Chernobyl and ought to know better. All the neighbouring countries to the west are being deluged by refugees. Surely, this wouldn’t be happening if the invasion was just a bit of propaganda cooked up by the West?

          1. I doubt very much that the Russian are using cluster bombs in civilian areas. As I said before, they have specific instructions not to target civilians deliberately. When they knocked out the Communication tower in Kiev, they gave prior warning to the population to steer clear. They have also given routes out of the city for civilians with the promise of safe passage. So, given all that, cluster bombs, not likely.

  85. TV towers have been hit by precision weapons. The Russians, bloodthirsty as they are, gave a warning for people close by to leave before they attacked. Russia claims no one was killed but Ukrainian TV is now out.

  86. Bit of infighting…

    Ukraine’s decision to recall its ambassador from Georgia is unjustified and unacceptable, the head of the ruling party Irakli Kobakhidze said on Tuesday. Kiev made the move after Georgia would not allow a plane to pick up volunteers for Ukraine’s war against Russia.

    “This decision is unacceptable and unjustified, given all that Georgia has done for Ukraine in recent days,” said Kobakhidze, who leads the ruling party Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia. However, he said he won’t continue to criticize the government in Kiev, given the very difficult situation in Ukraine due to the hostilities.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced earlier on Tuesday he was pulling the ambassador back to Kiev for consultations, accusing Georgia of obstructing volunteers who wanted to fight for Ukraine and an “immoral” position about sanctions.

    On Monday, Zelensky lifted the visa requirement for foreign volunteers wishing to join Ukraine’s International Legion. However, Georgia denied a Ukrainian plane permission to land at the Tbilisi airport and pick up a group of volunteers that said they wanted to enlist.

    Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said last week that the republic would not join the sanctions imposed by Western countries against Russia.

    1. It seems to me that Zelensky is quite happy to see Ukraine turned to rubble and if he starts WW3, so what.

  87. Re the pictures of the vacuum/thermobaric bomb that blew out the municipal buildings in Kiev.
    If it is as powerful as described, why are the buildings still standing.
    The IRA Bishopsgate bomb would appear to have done relatively more damage.

    1. I just heard, literally seconds ago, on RT that the claim the Russians have use these bombs is completely untrue.

      1. The pictorial evidence suggests so but I no longer trust anything or anyone over this.

        1. Why? It might surprise you that RT is also reporting almost exactly the same news as we are watching on our TV. Even talking to hostile Ukrainians. I have seen some of the video that has been showed here on RT too.. The old man asking the Russians why they are in Ukraine, for example. The difference is that they are showing the damage and deaths that our TV is not showing on the Russian side. But at least they aren’t using children to make cheap propaganda and they have said they wont. Demonization is fine while you ignore what the other side is saying.
          And, to add on. You might ask if we are as pure as the driven snow. Why have we banned RT in the UK and in the EU. What are we afraid of?

        2. Why? It might surprise you that RT is also reporting almost exactly the same news as we are watching on our TV. Even talking to hostile Ukrainians. I have seen some of the video that has been showed here on RT too.. The old man asking the Russians why they are in Ukraine, for example. The difference is that they are showing the damage and deaths that our TV is not showing on the Russian side. But at least they aren’t using children to make cheap propaganda and they have said they wont. Demonization is fine while you ignore what the other side is saying.
          And, to add on. You might ask if we are as pure as the driven snow. Why have we banned RT in the UK and in the EU. What are we afraid of?

    2. It was a bog standard rocket landed in Independence Square in Kharkiv. It seems the damage was consistent.

      I don’t think it was a vacuum bomb there. I don’t know where these have been reported being used, and until some reliable reports come in, best to be sceptical for now.

      A lot of hot air over Corbyn and “antisemitism” and a pantomime Goebbels-style mural, but I wonder what these people have to say about the Russian forces taking out a Jewish president by invading his country, or bombing out the main Holocaust graveyard with a huge firebomb, cremating the graves.

      1. I didn’t see you here on your birthday. I hope you had a very good day clickety clicking.

        As to the bombing of the holocaust memorial, that’s too convenient by half.

  88. Completely OT but is anyone else unable to access DT comments? I can open the article, but when I go to load the btl it just freezes on ‘loading’. Any ideas or is it just me?

    1. Just tried Sue. I think there must be something wrong with their comment mechanism because I got nowhere either.

      1. Thanks johnathan. I’ll go and try again! Perhaps they’ve cancelled me!

        1. Well it took as long as for me to go there, write a message to you and then go back. So about 3 minutes.

          2. Sue, you might try restarting your computer. Don’t turn it off just go to restart. If the problem is your computer that will clear it if it is some bug or other. Turning off and turning on does not clear things but restart does.

    4. Disqus has been playing up for me as well. My page loads up briefly and then quickly goes blank, as if some extra feature javascript is passing judgement about my non-compliant operating system or browser.

      A number of sites, including Facebook and Google have been going the same way. I remember this fad in new look website design going bad about ten years ago when Yahoo! went purple and unusable, and James Purnell took over the BBC home page.

    2. I don’t blame the boy, but Oliver, quite impolitely in my opinion, said “Please, sir, I want some more.”

      1. Erm, in the original writings by Boz…Oliver Twist does say “Please Sir, may I have some more, please? ”
        If I am remembering correctly, this was when it was published weekly and was known as The Parish Boy’s Progress.
        I suspect the more blunt version came in later published versions and then, of course, the movie.

          1. Can’t get it to work -will try again in a min. Actually, Great Expectations is probably my fave Dickens. Joe Gargery is the most unsung hero in Eng. Lit.
            Tell you what as well, I had to do EM Forster at college and didn’t really enjoy. I reread Howard’s End a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Still didn’t like A Passage to India though.

          2. It’s just so wittily written and touches one with the casual cruelty. Gawd, more books to go onto the ‘To Read’ pile.

          3. In Copperfield I loved Aunt Betsy Trotwood and Mr. Dick. Bet his name would be changed in a modern version;-)

    1. There are 450 seats in the Duma, the Communists hold 42 seats and they get less every year as the old fart Russians who hanker after the USSR die off. They are a remnant of antiquity and an irrelevance.
      According to the article more than 6000 demonstrators have been arrested. The population of Russia is 142.8 million. Now would someone like to work out what percentage of that number 6000 is?
      Anyone heard of clutching at strews for propaganda?

      1. I won’t argue with your figures. My point was that politicians of all persuasions never look beyond what they are told.

        1. I’m 100% sure they knew what they were told. None of the others have expressed confusion.

      2. Seems to work, though. Not enough critical thinking going on out there – as was shown by Project Fear.

        1. I am an advocate of the old adage: “Question everything”. But I readily admit that it is quite tiring because much of the time you have to do research and research again then check too. I keep a notebook by the computer and I constantly scribble things in it for reference.

    3. “What changed Putin”?

      Deception, corruption and skulduggery by the Clintons, Obama, the Bidens, NATO and the EU – fronted by Baroness Ashton …

      Ukraine – having willingly forsaken its USSR nuclear armoury – is in an existential war with nuclear Russia – without ANY committed allies – least of all The USA, NATO and the EU.

      [Edit: the Clintons]

  93. Here’s one for you.
    Firstborn’s German friend says that the world has gone crazy.
    They want Germany to raise a big army and march through Poland to fight Russia on the Eastern side…
    Not sure they thought it through too well…

    1. There are quite a lot of people who dont seem to appreciate what war in Europe would actually look like. Its not a game and the devastation to everyday life would be felt on all sides. I’m rather surprised at the comments on the Actual DT letters, some calling for any with pro Russian sentiment to be deleted.

    2. I have heard from my contacts that the German media is as insane as ours.
      People are insulting Russians and calling for Russian students to be expelled from the universities. It was even said that the carnival parades had been banned because nobody felt like celebrating, when the real reason was covid!
      They all seem to think that Putin eats babies.
      What is the matter with the world? Why are people so stupid?

    1. I actually had to read that twice before I realised what it meant. I thought it was some reference to pancakes or muggings.

    2. If half the team were slaughtered the BBC would say there had been a small misunderstanding.

  95. Give us this day….

    “Breadbasket Of World” Choked Off By Russian Invasion As Wheat Prices Soar

    TUESDAY, MAR 01, 2022 – 01:26 PM
    Ukraine has earned the nickname “breadbasket of Europe” for its rich dark soil, vast wheat fields, and other farm goods. The Russian invasion has cut off the world from cheap and abundant wheat supplies.

    Ukraine and Russia are vital to the global food supply, accounting for more than a quarter of global wheat trade, about a fifth of corn, and 12% of all calories traded globally, according to Bloomberg.

    2. I have a bread maker and when the covid BS got going I stocked up on bread flour, yeast etc. I have gone off bread altogether but MH loves his sarnies. Have a sliced loaf in the freezer but if necessary, I can crank up the machine and make a loaf.

      1. Fresh-made bread is lovely. Sourdough is even better.
        We can get sourdough crispbread here. Excellent!

        1. I’m not good with regular bread, even homemade, these days. But for the last 14 months I’ve been making my own sourdough, and lately, a mix of very strong white and wholemeal (sometimes white) rye flour sourdough. It’s much easier on my tummy and I’m hooked on it totally. Two slices toasted for breakfast after walking the dog is my treat for the day.

      2. Me too – I have 39 Kg of GF bread flour and a Kilo of yeast . I use 675 gm per week so I should be ok for a while. There again my flour doesn’t contain wheat

        1. Caroline is an excellent baker but as she has coeliac disease she has to use GF flour. Her cakes made with GF flour are very bit as good as cakes made with wheat flour.

          1. Does Caroline have a trick to making GF pasta. I really am asking for a friend.

      1. I cannot read what the photos are about, but am 100 Million % sure that those 10 aircraft are not RAF ones

        We have nowhere near that many

    1. It is time for women to show real courage and to refuse outright to compete.
      Line up, gun goes, tranny is on their own.
      It would collapse faster than it appeared.
      REAL women, follow your hearts.

      1. I was a successful swimmer in my youth and even in later years could swim fast and well. I would suggest that even in my early 40s I could have given some trans twit a run for its money. Not now sadly.
        Really wanted to find a local pool when we moved here …oh yipeee – lockdown and all closed. Don’t think it will be possible ever again.

  98. Why has this become so personally vindictive? People are being fired from their jobs because they are Russian. It is illogical, it is nasty, and it is unworthy of us.
    A renowned Russian conductor has been forced to resign his position as honorary president of the Edinburgh International Festival.
    Valery Gergiev, a close friend and supporter of President Putin, has been under pressure to speak out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but has so far not condemned the move.
    In a statement, the festival said his resignation was effective immediately. It added that the decision had been made in support of the people of Kyiv

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-60565520

    3. I find this kind of thing rather unpleasant, too. Ordinary Russian nationals bear no responsibility for what the government in Moscow does. With hindsight, we take a dim view of the incarceration of Japanese-Americans in camps during the Second World War. This is a milder version of that.

    4. Probably revenge for some indiscreet things he said in the past about women and the endocrinologically conflicted. He has expressed some ‘traditional’ views on human society.

      FWIW, I saw him with his World Orchestra for Peace at the Proms in 2000 conducting the Leningrad Symphony and very good they all were.

    5. That is pure spite. Why aren’t people ashamed of themselves? What is wrong with them?

        1. :-(( This will affect not just the innocent lady concerned, but all the Russians and Belarussians in Munich, of which there are many.

        3. How long before the music of the following is banned: Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky and Prokofiev?

    6. The Wigmore Hall was originally the Bechstein Hall. The Bechstein family had their piano showroom next door. They were forced out and treated shamefully during WWI. Nothing changes does it? So much for our kinder more inclusive society.

    7. The cancel culture on steroids. Once the NWO has decided who they are backing anyone with any links or sympathy with the opposition is toast. Equality and ‘uman rights anyone, only when it suits the agenda.

    1. I’m still having no luck on my iPad but can get them on the laptop! Are you having trouble as well?

  100. Evening, all. A pinch and a punch (and a nuclear bombardment, of course) for the first of the month. I don’t think Britain has valued freedom since 1945, to be honest.

  101. SNP president condemned for ‘crass’ comparison of Ukraine’s plight and Scotland’s independence bid

    The SNP’s president has been accused of drawing “utterly crass” parallels between Ukraine’s struggle to repel
    Vladimir Putin’s invasion and Scottish nationalists’ attempts to break away from the UK.

    He has had too much Malt, I think

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/03/01/snp-president-condemned-crass-comparison-ukraine-scottish-independence/

  104. Blanket coverage of covid- gone! Blanket coverage of Ukraine…
    Anyone else smell several rats?

      1. Hope you had a good trip and nice to see you back on Loony Tunes….aka Nottle.

        1. Thanks – it’s good to be home – the trip was great but a very long day on the homeward journey.

  106. Greetings insomniacs!
    Woke to pump bilges, still awake after an hour, so came down to check what ERNIE had sent me and I’ve picked up 2 consolation prizes, so that’s another 50 chances in next months draw.

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