Tuesday 11 October: Nicola Sturgeon’s vitriol demonstrates that she is unfit for high office

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

567 thoughts on “Tuesday 11 October: Nicola Sturgeon’s vitriol demonstrates that she is unfit for high office”

    1. Some trans mentalist was selling children hormone inhibitors over youtube. Youtube lawyer Nick Rekieta (https://www.youtube.com/c/RekietaLaw/videos) while using the wrong language called this out and not only did the trans nutter try to destroy his channel, but his career.

      He – the trans nutter – then got uppity about how Nick was ‘doxing’ (I believe means publishing the addresses and names) of those trying to destroy his career. It is, of course, public information when you complain about a lawyer to their local Bar.

      The Left hate publicity, they hate being identified and they hate being exposed. They’re evil. Drag them into the light, force them to face the truth and watch their stupid, ignorant ideology burn.

  5. Nicola Sturgeon’s vitriol demonstrates that she is unfit for high office

    She seems perfect to me as a National Socialist leader

    1. I can only wonder why it has taken the DT such a very long time to recognise that. Mismanagement of the business of the country, failing services, health, transport, infrastructure, a self-perpetuating ruling clique, and a question mark over £600k donations.

      1. I can only conclude that the powers that be have wanted to break up the UK for some time now, they have let Nationalism flourish in Scotland and Wales, while coming down hard on anyone that supports English Nationalism.
        I think this is because that want to divide England into regions.

        1. Some of the geographic nomenclature that the EU used suggested a division of England, if memory serves. The EU would happy with an “independent” Scotland in the EU. Scotland has little importance in itself, but it would serve to isolate England (and Wales). Of course, there would have to be a “hard” border between Scotland and England, as if the present NI arrangement was not sufficiently insane and insupportable.
          The UK has been the biggest most successful nation state on the planet for 200 years. This is why those with similar aspirations – aspirations we never actually had – dislike us, hate us, are jealous of us, and seek to damage us.

          2. The EU’s plans for Government of the Regions were drawn up in the 1990s.There were 12 in the UK: London, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and eight English regions. In giving the first four their assemblies, Blair was implementing EU policy, not ‘devolving’.

            Major’s government began the preparations in 1994 with his Offices for the Regions. Under Blair these were revised and the Regional Development Agencies were created. The only good thing Cameron did in office before the referendum was to abolish the whole lot.

    2. She is, sadly, typical of a nasty bunch of Lefties who think they have a default right to rule, to dictate, unfettered by democracy where they get whatever they want, at any cost.

        1. Elsie McSelfie and her clowns gathered just over a million votes at GE19 but the other votes are split between the Con/Lab/LibDim voters.

          To add to the imbalance, Elsie is on record prior to the election stating that votes for her nationalist party were not votes for yet another referendum on ‘independence’ – the neverendum.

          However, you will be stunned to hear that she has since used the votes from GE19 as ‘proof’ that there is interest north of the border for separation from Wesminstur.

          A look at the voting map for the 2014 neverendum – a once in a generation event – shows that other than the geographically confused in Glasgow/North Lanarkshire and Dundee the rest of the country are happy to stay united.

          Perhaps Glasgow should declare UDI and leave the rest of us in peace.

          P.S. Good morning.

        2. Elsie McSelfie and her clowns gathered just over a million votes at GE19 but the other votes are split between the Con/Lab/LibDim voters.

          To add to the imbalance, Elsie is on record prior to the election stating that votes for her nationalist party were not votes for yet another referendum on ‘independence’ – the neverendum.

          However, you will be stunned to hear that she has since used the votes from GE19 as ‘proof’ that there is interest north of the border for separation from Wesminstur.

          A look at the voting map for the 2014 neverendum – a once in a generation event – shows that other than the geographically confused in Glasgow/North Lanarkshire and Dundee the rest of the country are happy to stay united.

          Perhaps Glasgow should declare UDI and leave the rest of us in peace.

          P.S. Good morning.

    1. The audible sigh of delight when the Warqueen got in the washer and steam billowed about was nice to hear.

  7. ‘Morning, Peeps.  Chilly here so far but a forecast of full sun and 16°C will soon put that right.

    Today’s leading letter:

    SIR – Nicola Sturgeon should be utterly ashamed of herself and the intemperate and dangerous language she used in claiming to “detest the Tories” (report, October 10).

    It is just a few months since a baying and hate-filled mob of Scottish nationalists hurled abuse at Tory party members who were simply attending their Scottish conference. Imagine what would have happened if Douglas Ross MSP had spoken in similar terms about the SNP.

    Ms Sturgeon’s lack of contrition speaks volumes about her and her values. Scratch the surface of the SNP and it does not take long to see the unpleasantness of the party’s ambitions. Ms Sturgeon’s words and actions ill befit the high office she holds. Her mask has slipped.

    Richard Allison
    Edinburgh

    I am still waiting for the ferry scandal to sink this bitter and twisted woman.  Apparently there have been attempts to bury the report, so it is high time the Westminster government demanded its release.  And please may the Supreme Court decide that she has no authority to pursue her ‘consultative referendum’ on devolution – that should end her constant whining once and for all!

    And this:

    SIR – At the Scottish elections in 2021, 600,000 Scots voted Tory. It would appear that Nicola Sturgeon detests a large number of her fellow Scots.

    Jennifer Shearer
    Edinburgh

    Good point, Ms Shearer!  I think you are onto something…

    1. That Sturgeon even said something so utterly stupid and bitter shows her character. To think how spiteful, bitter and full of hatred she must be is rather sad. That she heads a government is just disgusting.

    2. I suspect that Sturgeon actually uses “Tory” not in political terms, but as a euphemism for the English, hence the hatred.

      1. Whilst we’re still in the shade, and will be for a couple of hours yet, the ex-Pub over the road is basking in sunlight as I type.

  9. SIR – Hilary McGrady, director-general of the National Trust, has told Liz Truss that the organisation’s 5.7 million members are “outraged and worried” about the threats posed by the Government’s policies on fracking.

    She has apparently, on our behalf, laid out seven “red lines” that the Government must not cross in its pursuit of growth. As a member of the National Trust for many years, I can safely say that she doesn’t speak for me and has no right to suggest she does.

    Garry Curran
    Crowthorne, Berkshire

    Well said, Sir. The Charity Commision gives the aim of the NT as:

    “To look after places of historic interest or natural beauty permanently for the benefit of the nation across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.”

    It states that trustees must run their charity in a way that complies with their charity’s governing document and the law.

    It doesn’t say anything about getting involved in politics!  Thankfully Restore Trust is doing its best to sort out this organisation, starting with its constitution which has been rigged in favour of the organisation and not its members.

    1. Which is good news – however, I fear until contracts for difference are permanently binned that just means the next most expensive energy generating method will pick up.

  11. SIR – During the Second World War my father, Laurence Viney, was in the Glider Pilot Regiment.

    In June 1942, just six weeks after he had married my mother, he was instructing a trainee pilot when their glider crashed into an Oxfordshire wheat field. Both men were declared dead at the scene and taken to a nearby mortuary.

    A short while later the commanding officer of the regiment came to inspect the corpses. He examined my father and said: “I think Major Viney may still be alive” (“Declared dead? Perhaps not…”, Features, October 10).

    My father was rushed to the nearest hospital, where he lay unconscious for two weeks before coming round. He eventually made a complete recovery and went on to lead a full and very active life for the next 59 years.

    Paul Viney
    Farley, Wiltshire

    How fortunate that Maj Viney’s Regimental CO cared enough to check!

  12. Democratic senator threatens to freeze weapons sales to Saudi Arabia over support of Russia. 11 October 2022.

    The congressional backlash against Saudi Arabia escalated sharply on Monday as a powerful Democratic senator threatened to freeze weapons sales and security cooperation with the kingdom after its decision to support Russia over the interests of the US.

    Washington’s anger with its Saudi allies has intensified since last week’s Opec+ decision to cut oil production by 2m barrels, which was seen as a slight to the Biden administration weeks ahead of critical midterm elections, and an important boost to Russia.

    But the remarks by Senator Robert Menendez, who serves as chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, indicated a serious possible sea change in US policy.

    Menendez is acting as a Presidential proxy here! The Americans are clearly feeling the heat on the Sanctions Front to threaten something so stupid. Aside from the oil the Saudi’s buy vast quantities of very expensive weapons from the US that they are largely incapable of using and that require UK or American personnel to maintain. Very shortly the Military Industrial complex will tell him (and Biden) to shut up!

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/11/democratic-senator-robert-menendez-threatens-to-freeze-weapons-sales-to-saudi-arabia-over-support-of-russia

  13. Good Moaning.
    As a connoisseur of hypocrisy, I enjoyed Richard Littlejohn’s article, even though it’s about Wendyball.
    I have also picked up a useful expression “performative moralising”.

    A snippet:
    “So you won’t be surprised to learn that Football’s Toughest Opponent isn’t any of the above. It is, wait for it, climate change.
    The fashionably attired presenter — in skinny strides, untucked shirt and a Peaky Blinders haircut — helpfully explained that global warming was now right up there with homophobia and racism as one of the greatest threats to the Beautiful Game.””

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-11300721/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-Footballs-climate-change-hypocrisy-league-own.htmI

    2. Good morning Anne

      Ha ha , thanks for that link, I read the article and grabbed Moh’s attention by reading out aloud this (He is a lifelong Southampton supporter )

      “Funniest of the bunch was Southampton’s manager, Ralph Hasenhuttl, who stressed that education was the key. He peppers his training sessons with non- football questions, designed to encourage his players to think about the climate challenges.

      On one occasion recently, he asked them to guess how many rotations of a windmill it would take to fully charge an electric car. I burst out laughing.

      You couldn’t make it up.

      Herr Hasenhuttl would be better off teaching his players how to defend, since they shipped four against both Spurs and Man City and currently sit one point above the relegation zone. The bookies make Ralphie Baby the favourite for the next manager to be sacked.”

      1. Good morning,

        Someone commented yesterday on Going Postal that the makers of the pc game ‘FIFA 2022’ have recently dropped Russian teams from all competitions to ‘reflect reality’.

        His response – paraphrased – was that as ‘manager’ he had lead his team to; 1 World Club Championship, 1 Champions League, 4 Premier League titles and a handful of FA Cups.

        He commented that as the team he ‘managed’ to all of these trophies was Southampton, ‘FIFA 2022’ had no bearing on reality.

    3. Morning Anne,
      A good last line too – sums up my attitude as well.

      “I hate everything about football except the football”

    4. I see Dale Vince got a mention. Forest Green Rovers used to be our local village side but he got them into League 1 by spending lots of money. They are struggling to win a match this season.

      1. I went to the old Lawn before FGR moved up the road. I’ve also been to the ground on the other side of the valley, Meadow Bank, one of the more improbably located in senior football. Truly the long and winding road – well, narrow lane, anyway.

        Sadly, Dale’s mad M5 eco-stadium project looks to be going ahead.

  14. Good morning all.
    A bright morning with clear sky, calm air, the sun lighting up the trees opposite and a chilly 1°C on the yard thermometer.

  15. Good morning , cloudy but blue patches , and sky looked wonderful at 06.30..

    Older dog peed on the upstairs landing , so I had to go downstairs for the kitchen roll and a plastic bag to soak pee up , then let him out into the garden for more pees etc .

    His heart is failing , he drinks lots of water . He is still quite stoic and active and enjoys his food , now deaf as a post , sleeps more , but what else can one expect from an old boy.

    1. We’re all getting old Belle – it just happens faster with animals. Another lovely day here- yesterday was cloudless and the same this morning.
      OH gave us a scare at our match last night and we had to come home early but he’s OK this morning.

      1. Good morning J,

        Thank goodness your OH is feeling better , you must have had a very anxious evening .

        Blue sky here now , and very still.

        I have a busy late morning today.. Veterans are meeting up. No doubt we will have a few laughs.

        1. More garden tidying on the agenda for me today. He’s got a car load for the tip and then the dentist.

        2. It was when he collapsed in a heap on the floor I knew I’d have to take him home. Thank goodness we took my car as his was full of garden rubbish for the tip. I’ve never driven his and I’m not good driving in the dark but at least I know where everything is in mine and we weren’t far from home.

          1. The whole of the 1970s was dire – a backlash against the fun and freedom of the 60s.

            That’s how I remember it.

      1. Oooh thanks for that , Anne , I have a nearly empty bottle of that , excellent stuff. In July I invested in Vax carpet washing vaccuum thingy, best buy ever

    4. ‘Morning, Belle. It’s distressing, isn’t it? Have you thought of using puppy pads? We found them highly effective when our Lab was losing control.

    5. Our dear old Rumpole was a downstairs dog. He remained pretty continent but in the room where his basket was and where he passed the night the floor was tiled and easy to clean. Poor old chap always looked a bit wistful when Chaucer the Cat went upstairs.

  16. Western leaders must share the blame for the energy crisis. 11 October 2022

    But are the high prices really Putin’s fault? He didn’t sanction himself, after all. It’s the West that chose to cut itself off from the Russian fossil fuels upon which it had come to rely. Moreover, the sanctions haven’t been an unqualified success — Russia’s corporate profits leapt 25 per cent between the imposition of the sanctions and the end of August.

    I don’t know how this article snuck past the Spectators editor! It might have been written by a Nottler. The energy mess we find ourselves in is solely the fault of the globalist morons that rule us!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/western-leaders-must-share-the-blame-for-the-energy-crisis

    1. Putin saw a West dependent on his fuels, hurtling headlong as immolation through demented green agenda and Left wingery. He saw a decadent, lazy, ignorant west run by fools, liars and thieves and took the right moment to invade.

      Now, floundering, muddle, confused and leaderless we cannot present a coherent response to his war mongering.

      The energy mess we are in is solely because of our forced dependence on gas, the state has fought new nuclear, destroyed coal and built unreliables that don’t work.

      1. Just remember that President Trump warned Europe not to rely on Russian gas, and was

        hysterically howled down by various European and British politicians.

    2. And you read your Emily Dickinson
      And I my Robert Frost      .

      [‘The Dangling Conversation’: Paul Simon]

    2. This should be picked up by GB News. Mark Steyn ought to be shouting it from the rooftops.

  19. I am now getting ready to go out for our Arts Society Study Day on Dutch Masters. Play nicely while I am away.

    TTFN

    2. A child, by default cannot make an informed choice.

      Also remember that Smith was a part of the paedophile information exchange.

      1. Don’t forget that Jacqui Smith’s husband bought his collection of porn videos on his wife’s parliamentary expenses account – in other words the taxpayer had to pay for them.

    3. Castration followed by deportation. The fact that we do not take such drastic measures shows the rapists that we are not prepared to take the necessary action to stop these monstrous crimes and this encourages them to go on committing them.

    4. Ok, it is statutory rape and it is horrific and the consequences can last a lifetime.
      But have you ever met any of these girls?
      Whilst I have no wish to be accused of ‘victim shaming’, many thousands of children in the UK are er, active in their early teens.

      1. We get plenty of thirteen year olds in the clap clinic, girls and males a d the school health nurses dole out pills, condoms and STI tests to many more.

        It’s sad.

      2. Fair comment. How many of us could honestly say we had no sexual experiences under the age of 16?

    5. That’s absolutely disgusting, filthy vile slammer POS, concrete boots and a one way helicopter trip to the middle of the Irish sea.

    2. Where does double down come from? In its original context of the card game blackjack, double down describes a strategy wherein a player who is confident in their hand chooses to double their bid. The phrase is found in a book on card-playing by noted magician John Scarne in 1949.

    3. No one who speaks standard English can possibly tell you. You’ll need to ask a Yank, who is schooled in vapid Americanese.

    4. I asked that several months ago. Stig came up with an explanation relating to poker – very clear to all – except me!

      I still don’t get it. I assumed it meant a reduction.

    5. 1. strengthen one’s commitment to a particular strategy or course of action, typically one that is potentially risky.
      “he decided to double down and escalate the war”
      2.
      (in blackjack) double a bet after seeing one’s initial cards, with the requirement that one additional card be drawn. (the double)

  23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VhnMFuPdZE Australians — the spawn of convicts — are hard-hired to win at all cost, never mind the dubious methods they use. Just ask the cheat, Australian captain Greg Chappell, who ordered his brother to roll the last ball of a match along the ground to prevent New Zealand winning. Ask crybaby Australian captain Steve Smith, who was complicit (along wth his vice-captain David Warner) when the ball was being ‘altered’ by his bowler.

    Spineless England captain, Jos Buttler, wimped out. I can think of dozens of English captains over the past century who would have ‘manned up’ and appealed without question. Their attitude would have been: “Do you want some, you cheating mongrels? Well, you can have some!

      1. Cheats never prosper – the old lie!

        But in this case England did win the game and showed themselves to be better people than the Australians!

        1. There is an attitude in sport, that appears to me to be getting worse, that it’s only cheating if you’re caught and penalised.

    2. It’s a bit like the old joke when body line bowling was being tested in Sydney. The Aussies were up in arms over it.
      The English bowler was having problems with the persistent Bush flies around his face. Waving them off.
      And a dinkum Loudmouth in the stands shouted out, And hey Jardine leave our bloody flies alone willya !

      1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yabba
        Look, mate. You’re talking here about a famous Aussie legend, Stephen Harold Gascoigne, known to all his Sydney mates as “Yabba”. Yabba would sit on The Hill at the SCG and dish out all manner of advice, especially to visiting captains.

        1. I used to play in the squash
          leagues Grizz they didn’t like losing to a pom even if they were dying for a couple of coldies.

      2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yabba
        Look, mate. You’re talking here about a famous Aussie legend, Stephen Harold Gascoigne, known to all his Sydney mates as “Yabba”. Yabba would sit on The Hill at the SCG and dish out all manner of advice, especially to visiting captains.

  24. Record numbers of medically fit patients are stuck in hospital amid growing shortages of care workers to provide help at home, an investigation has revealed.

    A Telegraph analysis of NHS data has shown that six in 10 patients assessed as well enough to leave are not being discharged – a record high.

    Experts said thousands of workers are leaving the sector, with many finding better-paid jobs in supermarkets – resulting in a 50 per cent rise in vacancies in the last year.

    As a result, wards are full of patients – the vast majority elderly – who have no medical needs, but require help with basic needs like washing and cooking.

    Hospitals cannot discharge such patients without a care plan, with many short of staff to carry out such checks.

    On Monday night, charities warned that hospitals are “grinding to a halt” because they are unable to discharge medically healthy patients, in a situation that is rapidly deteriorating as winter approaches.

    Charities said the care sector was “on its knees”, with one in 10 posts now vacant.
    …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
    Meals on wheels .. and the WRVS

    Decades ago , I was part of a team who delivered meals on wheels to the vulnerable elderly.. before Day Care centres evolved .

    We used to collect the meals from schools , during the days when children were fed proper nourishing school meals .

    When we delivered the meals , we noted whether the elderly person was okay or not.

    A client I was delivering a meal to .. Door not locked , sadly found dead .. The driver and I were in shock .. those were the days before mobile phones .

    We need more day care centres and convalescent homes to free up hospital beds .

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/10/record-numbers-healthy-patients-stuck-hospital-amid-care-shortage/

    1. Many care workers left or were sacked due to vaccine mandates. Chickens and roosting come to mind.

    2. “As a result, wards are full of patients – the vast majority elderly – who have no medical needs, but require help with basic needs like washing and cooking.”

      Why aren’t these people’s families doing this?

      1. The left has succeeded beyond its wildest dreams in breaking down familial ties, and family sizes have also shrunk in the recent generations.

        In addition, people in that situation tend to be much older. Even 25 years ago many more would have died in hospital from things that are now survivable.

        Those family who would in the past have looked after relatives are also themselves much older.

        In the UK in my lifetime average life expectancy has moved up more than 10 years. The number of very elderly people, 90+ has risen dramatically.

        1. This is what they wanted. Comically it hasn’t worked amongst welfare dependent muslims, who are breeding like rabbits and now occupying whole streets. I suppose the state likes it – it’s a whole slew of problems and demands on it.

          The problem comes when the people who pay for it all aren’t there.

        2. I remember a particularly sad case on the wards.
          An intelligent woman who had been a sister tutor in one of the large London teaching hospitals.
          By the time she was on the wards, she was a shell of her former self. Every winter, she developed a chest infection; every winter she was prescribed anti-biotics: for what?
          A constant topic of conversation amongst the staff was about how we would be prosecuted for allowing a pet to suffer in the same way.

          1. There was a film, possibly “How Green was my valley”, I can’t recall, where an old lady decides to head up the hill to die of exposure rather than become a burden.

            Very poignant.

      3. Could be, Stormy, that like my daughter, 56, they are thousands of miles away. In my case, Tasmania.

        1. Of course not all families stay local but many do and should care for their parents and grandparents instead of expecting the state to.

      4. I live 250 miles away from my mother. I – selfishly – have a life and family of my own. My mother has alienated, insulted and dismissed two carers we arranged for her. She doesn’t even tell us if she is in hospital – which she uses as a source of narcissistic supply.

        We suggested she move closer – this seemed to shock her as if she could. Both my sister and I said she could but she chooses not to. My brother lives nearby in his accommodation and our moving to Hampshire was to be closer to him, but his needs are minimal.

      5. Sadly, Stormy, as we well know, some elderly patients are too violent or dirty to be kept in a family home.
        I received more injuries on the psycho-geriatric wards than I ever did on the locked ward.
        Much of it because you had no choice but to get close to the patients to look after them, but also because your guard was down.
        We always reckoned the spiteful old girl – slapping, pinching, kicking etc … had been a vicious child.

    3. Good morning TB and everyone.
      Day care? The primary need is to adjust the rates of state bribery to the working-age poor and economically useless, I mean ‘inactive’. The LibLabCon pact on the minimum wage and compliance with EU directives about state aid has resulted in millions of manhours being lost every month.

      Whilst it is difficult to approve of the Chinese Communist Govt, it is worth noting that their economy has developed and grown over the last 40 years and that in general the Chinese people seem to have accepted a version of the philosophy ‘no workee, no eatee’.
      (No disrespect intended, just the way the phrase is instilled in my memory)

      1. I feel sorry for the Chinese people – maybe three years ago they were reasonably happy with their lot – but after the last two years of state abuse – I wonder.

      2. Sky News today claimed that 21.7% of workers are “economically inactive”

        Does that number include the many “asylum seekers” who are paid and accommodated by the Government?

    4. Some else also cropped up when I was in for my cardioversion in August.
      The nurses are struggling to move patients from departments due to shortages of porters. In and out of lifts with a hospital bed is not an easy task.
      It looks like the governments plan to abolish the NHS is coming along quite nicely.

      1. I’m not sure it’s that difficult. Hospital corridors are wide and the beds are on wheels.

        1. Both Physical strength and effort were how I noticed their particular struggle. And probably an involved time factor.

    5. Do they still do Meals on Wheels? It was a good early warning system to look out for frail, elderly people. Much like the milkman leaving milk on the doorstep.

  25. Reposted from late last night.

    Tuesday 11th October 2022

    Hardcastle Craggs

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8b2128823adda6763e47ab1a51f8a68256dfc7379e2f9f9d957ce1679fd9fc9c.jpg

    And very many joyous returns,

    With best wishes,

    Caroline and Rastus

    Hardcastle Crags is a wooded Pennine valley in West Yorkshire, England, owned by the National Trust. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies approximately 2 miles north of the town of Hebden Bridge and 10 miles west of the town of Halifax.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0b95d294bdf76a746158b158889f8665a91e1179bd99244912d27d122fa0e558.jpg

    5. So you’re saying (© Cathy Whatsername), Richard and Caroline, that HC is really a building. Anyhow, a very Happy Birthday to the Ancient Monument. Lol.

  26. Morning all 🙂
    Lovely clear sunny day not a hint of breeze, how long will this last I wonder.

  27. Strange that a journalist has at last noticed that Olga Krankie is not fit for office. Keep up…..How long has that taken?

    1. 365904+ up ticks,

      Morning RE,
      The thing that is so worrisome is the fact that we leave them far behind in the “not fit for office” department

      Our NFFO department has been well nurtured over the last 40 years by the electorate,

      We are now witnessing the outfall.

  28. Joe Biden is playing with nuclear fire by posing as JFK. 11 October 2022.

    When President Biden speaks, his officials often find themselves taking his remarks and, in the American phrase, “walking them back”, as if the poor old words had just wandered out of a care home.

    The latest such walk-back occurred on Friday. The day before, Mr Biden had injudiciously chosen a political fundraising dinner speech to ruminate on the nuclear intentions of Vladimir Putin (“a guy I know fairly well”).

    “We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis,” he said. As happened 60 years ago, “We have the threat of a nuclear weapon if in fact things continue down the path they are going,” said the President. “We are trying to figure out what is Putin’s off-ramp? … Where does he find himself where he does not only lose face but significant power?”

    The President had not meant, said his anxious word-walkers, that there was any new intelligence about Putin’s threat: “We have not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture, nor do we have indications that Russia is preparing to imminently use nuclear weapons.”

    The “word-walkers” do not control the nuclear triad! Who could confidently state that Biden; who is clearly three sheets to the wind, would not order a strike given the opportunity? He gave the order to blow up the Nord Stream pipeline; a potentially strategically destabilising act that had Putin chosen could have precipitated a direct confrontation. He is clearly intent on prosecuting this war with the intention of destroying Russia. Such a policy can only lead to a point where choice vanishes and all-out war becomes inevitable.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/11/joe-biden-playing-nuclear-fire-posing-jfk/

    1. The Press recently pointed out that the USA is selling their LNG at double the price of natural gas bought from Russia.

      Considering how much the pork barrel influences politics and policies in the USA, should we be surprised at the long lasting damage

      done to Nordsteam 1 by persons unknownm?

      1. “...the long lasting damage done to Nordsteam 1 by persons unknownm?”

        Except we all know it was the Americans, operating in the NATO pond, sanctioned by NATO and the EU.

  29. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, bad night so only just up.

    Today’s funny:

    To Those of You Educated with Some Math Ability

    This is a concept that I have been working on for most of my life. I am delighted to say that I believe I have refined it sufficiently to share it with a select cadre of intellectually mature colleagues and friends that might appreciate its elegance and simplicity.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/09bdd5e001b542a14485f96406c99b16588e939e15fa9da55efc21351ab4f12b.jpg

  31. In these tough times, please spare a thought for poor Meghan and Harry
    A Royal biographer says that, by Hollywood standards, the Sussexes are poor. Here’s what you can do to help

    Michael Deacon: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2022/10/11/tough-times-please-spare-thought-poor-meghan-harry/

    BTL

    The best thing for Harry would be if Migraine decided to ditch him for a richer man. Somebody suggested that Elon Musk, like Mrs Slocombe, is now free.

    1. They could always live in a normal mid terrace house, you know, like most folk? I can’t see the harpy allowing that, though.

  32. Bloody hell! It’s a bit nippy on the fingers out there!
    Just been out to the containers to sort some jars for the next batch of chutney I plan doing and had to come in for a warm up!

  33. I’ve just seen a BTL comment about King Charles 111.

    He’s Charles the Third (III) not Charles the One Hundred and Eleventh (111) FFS

      1. That was Great Horkesley Parish council c. 1987.
        “With respect, Mr. Chairman …….”

  35. Dear Kwasi Kwarteng,

    In your search for savings, may I suggest that you:

    -Cancel HS2
    -Slash foreign aid and make it only be for natural disasters
    – Make the BBC, NHS, civil service, local government, quangos, government-funded charities all re-apply for their budgets. Every penny not directly affecting service-delivery should be reduced or cut.
    – Get the illegal immigrants out of 4-star hotels and on to a remote island in the Outer Hebrides.

    £60bn? Hah! Do that lot and it’ll save hundreds of billions.

    You’re welcome

    Sincerely

    JK

    1. If the illegal immigrants can afford to pay thousands of pounds to people smugglers, I’m sure they can afford to pay their hotel bills and bus fares instead of the taxpayer picking up the tab.

    2. Spot on, but you might like to include the 132 million pounds our politicians help themselves to in ‘expenses’ last year. That’s a lot of money each.
      No wonder they got rid of Elizabeth Filkin.

      1. oh yes, sorry I forgot about slashing the HoC and House of Lords. Do we really need 650MPs and 800+ Lords?

        1. Funny how when we last had a labour government, they wanted to abolish the lords. And strangely we have quite a lot of labour lords who were amongst those who wanted the abolition. £350 a day plus taxpayers subsidised meals and drinks. And probably claimed expenses.

      2. …and the £billions of our (taxpayer’s) money, that are being squandered on Ukraine virtue-signalling.

    3. Also empty the UK accounts of Common Purpose, Gates Foundation, Open Society, One Foundation, Mermaids, BLM, Momentum, Stop OIl, Extinction Rebellion and any others of that ilk and put the proceeds toward paying off the national debt.

  36. A very belated good morning to everyone. Upset stomach today so lots of trips to the loo.

    1. I feel for you Elsie – something you ate, do you think?
      I’m very glad I didn’t feel like that during last week’s water cut.

      1. You’re right, Stormy, I spent some time on Sunday picking dozens of figs from the tree in my garden, most of which were green. Last night I was feeling peckish so snaffled several (too many). PS – What water cut? No problem in my neck of the woods.

  37. I wonder if he actually means the homeless legally here British people with no fixed abode who are actually living on the streets, certainly not the new arrivals the British taxpayers are being forced to support in their comfy H&C running water hotel rooms and of course free food. He certainly doesn’t mean those who are able to visit the free food banks.

    discussing poverty with Guardian columnist and left-wing activist Owen Jones………..he was on a loser even before the discussion started.

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/calls-for-tory-councillor-who-claimed-people-aren-t-starving-in-the-streets-to-resign/ar-AA12P7Y9?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=ba2456f8abdf41399e97f569b651e6db

    1. He does try to chew everything. He’s playing tug o war with Dolly at the moment. He’s also developing new tactics on getting one over on her.

      1. I’ve tried tug of war with Mongo. He has the advantage of four wheel drive. I lost. However, I got my own back when he got bored and walked off, at which point I nipped in and snagged the bone (to replace it! I’m not a monster) and poor fellow just looked confused at what had happened.

  40. Larry the Cat chases off a fox outside Number 10. 11 October 2022.

    In the dark of night, cameras picked up Larry the Cat acting as No 10’s enforcer by sending a fox packing.

    Both animals were in Downing Street, but it appeared Larry wasn’t interested in guests and slowly marched the fox backwards, over a railing and into a bush.

    When the fox wouldn’t leave, Larry then leapt into the bushes, forcing the fox to flee down the street.

    The only useful inhabitant of Westminster!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/11/watch-larry-cat-chases-fox-outside-number-10/

      1. 365904+ up ticks,

        Afternoon A,
        A,
        Nip this in the bud,
        Lawrence Fox is innocent, I repeat Lawrence Fox is completely innocent.

      2. They leave that to the RSPCA – remember that when they are begging for money. They have a magnificent HQ in an expensive part of London and pay their CEO a six figure salary.

          1. Because it’s okay to bash foxes with a baseball bat, in their eyes, as long as he didn’t chase it with a hound first.

  41. I’ve been sitting around most of the morning, I must go to Sainsbury’s WGC and buy some bread flour, on return take doggo for a walk.

    1. Closing my PayPal account via my ‘phone wasn’t easy. Lots of “security” questions and several pages to go through before finally getting to do you really want to close your account. This apparently means that any payments set up with PayPal by the vendor will now have to be made via a laptop as it isn’t possible to process them as a guest using an iPhone.

      1. I’m not sure what you mean by “PayPal Account”. A few years ago I attempted, on a few occasions, to pay for goods via PayPal, but without success, so I gave up trying after contacting them. Yes, they have my personal details on their file but I have never paid them anything and I am never contacted by them so, by that rational, I do not feel that I have an “account” to close; especially as they have never taken any monies from me.

        1. Perhaps close it if they have any details that would allow them to get a handle on your bank a/c?

        2. I closed mine last week having not used it for a couple of years and I opted to remove all data that they did not have to keep for legal requirements.

      2. I tried closing my unused PayPal account. When I logged in they wanted me to add a phone number to my profile to enable them to send me promotional information.

        No! Account remains inactive.

      3. I never keep any money in my PayPal account and never have – but I do sometimes use it for making charitable donations in dollars. An example of that is to the Amboseli Trust for Elephants. It’s much easier to make a dollar payment that way. I use it occasionaly for other charities. Also our hedgehog hospital uses PayPal, although they do make a deduction from every payment we receive. Again, our treasurer doesn’t leave much money in the account. People do find it a convenient method of making online payments without giving their own bank details each time.

    2. Regarding Julian Assange – he is still being incarcerated by the British government I think – has he been sent for trial in America yet? This man has never been tried or found guilty of any offence. The UK government is as bad as the US one in this regard.
      As for the South African government threatening to sieze farms from white farmers with no compensation, they are now no better than Mugabe’s”government” in Zimbabwe, and we all know what happened to their economy. The Dutch government is also on the same lines, announcing they are going to take 600 farms from farmers to use as building land to house immigrants.

  44. Just received Letter No.2 about C19 jab.
    1 A4 double sided letter.
    1 shiny double sided leaflet
    2 A4 double sided sheets consisting of 3.5 pages of every language under the sun covering – presumably – the same subject.
    Remind me again about the NHS being short of money.

      1. That must be an old photo.
        No diversity manager (which explains the horribly white crew) and no H&S managers.

        1. I thought that too! Things have gone sharply downhill since about 2017.
          James Delingpole posted a link to the Wayback Machine with Merriam Webster’s definition of racism, which apparently keeps evolving to be more and more overtly against white people.
          People keep talking about the asset bubble bursting; we’re long overdue for the carp bubble bursting too.

          1. Why am I not surprised that the idiotic Webster’s dictionary is a bible for the woke quarterwits of the Left?

            Noah Webster was a retard who only brought out his absurd dictionary of Americanisms because he thought that Samuel Johnson (who had forgotten more English than Webster ever knew) enjoyed a lifestyle of which he did not approve. He sought to improve on Johnson and, naturally, he failed miserably.

          2. All the dictionaries are as bad as each other nowadays. Oxford Dictionaries rushed to re-define the word “marriage” after Cameron’s nasty illogical little law was passed.

          3. I wonder how Samantha Cameron can bear to have this slimy piece of nastiness, Call me Dave, anywhere near her. Most women with whom I have discussed the matter think he is entirely lacking in sexual attractiveness – he scores even lower than Gove and Grieve.

        1. We are nowhere near as fit as we were before all this bollcocks. Guess we just have to KBO.

    1. Its one of the most scandalous stories I have heard. Didnt the bod in charge of the PO get an honour, whereas they should have been in front of his Honour. Its just astounding that so many convictions were successful in court, suppose the line was that the puter can’t be wrong.

      1. She was also an Anglican priest!

        Their management and specialists lied to the Courts on more than one occasion.

        1. It may have been part of the reason our local shop-keeper gave up the Post Office bit. I know he had a couple of investigators round and he told me at the time that it didn’t pay him to keep it going. Which is why we have a mobile one for two hours twice a week, or a five mile round trip. We do have a letter box for small post.

        2. She ought to have been locked up – horrible, mean-spirited, arrogant, smug, self-satisfied and nasty woman.

      2. A thinking person might be excused for asking why so many postmasters were on the fiddle.

        What is it with government IT systems that make so many fail? The Canadian government bought an off the shelf payroll system back in 2010, it is still not paying employees properly.

  46. 365904+ up ticks,

    Could a current lab/lib.con supporter / voter please tell me why are they supporting morally illegal immigrants and housing them in hotel suites with four poster beds whilst British vets are seeking semi comfortable pavements, if the party supporter / voter knowsnot could they ask ” their MP ”

    After the news,

    https://youtu.be/vjcDhHOXnDQ

    1. 365904+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      A doctor twice a week, why would an indigenous person
      pay a party membership fee
      to support these issues ? or is it a repeated act of complete madness.

  48. A lorry loaded with thousands of copies of Roget’s Thesaurus crashed on the M1 yesterday, shedding its entire load across all three carriageways, in a report from today’s Times.

    Witnesses were stunned, startled, aghast, taken aback, stupefied, confused, shocked, rattled, paralysed, dazed, bewildered, mixed up, surprised, awed, dumbfounded, nonplussed, flabbergasted, astounded, amazed, confounded, astonished, overwhelmed, horrified, numbed, speechless and perplexed.

    1. There were also reports of 2 lorries crashing head on. One was carrying bulk red paint, the other bulk blue paint. Apparently the drivers are marooned

      1. That reminds me. On Wogan in the morning he and the newsreader had a running joke about a shed load, involving a lorry shedding its load…of sheds

  50. A financial analyst on YouTube showed copies a Bank of England’s memo indicating that it still retains a mechanism called buy-in (as distinct from buy-out) which raises money from peoples’ savings in the banks by giving them a haircut. This has already been done in one country.

    I’ve already given my retirement pension lump sum a haircut by trading in my ‘still working’ out of favour diesel car for the latest 2022 EV model. I reckon I shall be able to drive it better than a mobility scooter and it dooesn’t take up that much more space in the garage. The main thing is to cancel the auto folding mirrors that go in out as you approach the EV with the remote wireless key in your pocket. What I’m looking forward to is the heated seats and automatic climate control so both cold winters and global warming will present no problem for me.

    I do have to watch out that I don’t overload the 13 amp garage socket with the domestic ‘granny charger’ but fortunately the provided Hyundai version has a specialised heavy duty mains plug and the charger itself will prevent charging should it overheat (E1 displayed) or detect a current leakage (E2 displayed).

    For plugged in grannies it’s worth noting that the standard British mains plug is the best in the World and moreover the EV domestic charger plug has been specially designed in a moulded fused version to deal with the extra demands of elongated usage.

    Here’s a reminder of just how good the standard British mains is:

    https://youtu.be/139Q61ty4C0

    Here’s a reminder how

    2. The Ashkenazi Jews also average 105 but are a scattered group so don’t register on a territorial map. Israel has Arabs and Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews, who collectively lower the average.

  52. Lesley Manville (Mrs Harris goes to Paris) was on Graham Norton show recently. She recalled a time when she was in the stage production of The Cherry Orchard alongside the national treasure Dame Judie Dench. She said that on one of the rare occasions she was on stage on her own Dame Judie would be in the wings simulating being penetrated from behind (anal sex) trying to make her corpse on stage.

    Tracy Ullman gets revenge on the trickster…

    https://youtu.be/QXlbZQyGLBc

  53. Good afternoon from a Saxon Queen with longbow and axe ?

    It seems the husband and my bad cold Is in fact Covid .
    I got an email from someone we are doing a course with to say she had Covid ( and a few other people too ). We did the test and have it too. I hope it’s gone by next week as we’re away.

    2. Good luck – hope it’s as mild as ours was.

      We had it in February – I had it mildy and Caroline had it very mildly indeed. However the tests for Caroline read pretty high while my result only just got into the positive so the tests don’t say much.

  54. 365904+ up ticks,

    That’s rich,
    He helped put down the only party that called forever for controlled immigration.

    Farage Asks ‘When is Enough, Enough?’: Another 1,600 Illegal Migrants Land in Britain in Two Days

  55. From The Lesser Drivelling Sentinel and Pig Breeder’s
    Gazette:

    Letters to the editor.

    Dear sir.

    It is with considerable chagrin that I must take issue with the
    increasing difficulty of your crosswords. Far from being “quick”
    they have become positively cryptic with many clues being obtuse,
    abstruse or no-use at all. May I humbly suggest that henceforth a
    maximum of twenty words per puzzle be permitted, each using no
    more than seven letters (or two syllables, whichever is shorter).
    Furthermore an embargo on geographical, technical, sporting (apart
    from cricket of course) or furren terminology would be more than
    welcome. Restricting the answers to the sort of words commonly
    used by decent, upstanding (salt of the earth) English chaps might
    save the thing from being taken-over by lefty, tree-hugging,
    remainer subversives and would doubtlessly be immensely popular
    with the majority of your subscribers.

    Yours. Colonel Algernon Blatherskite (Rtd.)

    PS. The Gloucester Old Spot on page 3 is a bit of a corker.

    Dear GQT.

    I was very disappointed by the panellists’ response in a recent
    programme. My entirely reasonable query regarding pixies eating my
    begonias was treated with an unbecoming degree of levity and the
    comments about being “off her trolly” and “completely loopy” were
    both unnecessary and possibly libellous.

    Yrs. Mrs.Trellis (of north Wales).

    Dear livink entity.

    Vy oh vy is ze crossvord becomink zo easy?

    Ven I vas a young person they vas intricate unt compliquated; an
    understandink of Carpathian realpolitik unt volklore vas de
    rigeur, von could easily spend several decades solving zem. But
    now? pffft, unt she iss done. A return to earlier times vould no
    doubt be popular mit der majority of your decent, upstanding (zalt
    of der earth) victims (oops, triping erra, “zubscribers”, obv.).

    Yrs. (incisively) Vladimir.

    PS. Clues about cricket schtink.

  56. Migrants from Nigeria are bringing the highest number of relatives to the UK – and now face clampdown under Home Secretary Suella Braverman

    Migrants from Nigeria are bringing the highest number of relatives to the UK
    Nigerians accounted for 40% of dependants who accompanied foreign students
    By comparison, 114,837 Chinese students brought with them 401 dependants
    Home Secretary Suella Braverman is planning to cut net migration

    Migrants from Nigeria may face a clampdown under Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s plans to cut net migration as it emerged that citizens from the west African country are bringing the highest number of relatives to the UK.

    Nigerians accounted for 40% of all dependants who accompanied foreign students in the 12 months to June – despite Nigerian students making up just 7% of all foreign students in that period, according to Home Office figures.

    Some 34,000 Nigerians were given study visas in the UK, bringing with them a total of 31,898 dependants. A similar ratio was recorded for work visas, with 8,972 Nigerians issued with one in the 12 months to June bringing with them 8,576 dependants.

    By comparison, 114,837 Chinese students who came to the UK last year brought with them a total of 401 dependants – while 93,049 Indian students came to Britain with 24,916 dependants, the figures show.

    Home Office figures reveal 65,929 Nigerian nationals were granted a sponsored study visa in the year ending June 2022 – a rise of 57,545 (686% ) compared to 2019, when 8,384 were given.

    Read more

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11302375/Migrants-Nigeria-bringing-highest-number-relatives-UK.html

      1. To do their washing – but mainly to bear their dozens of children – do keep up, Robert….

  57. Active Patriot
    @ActivePatriotUK
    This proves the GOVERNMENT have NO intention stopping illegal immigration into the UK

    500 PERMANENT jobs starting at £22-26,000 A year 👀⬇️

    ASYLUM PROTECTION OFFICERS

    https://civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi?jcode=1817055&csource=csalerts

    https://twitter.com/ActivePatriotUK/status/1579783301833035776

    My group of veterans .. all in their late eighties including one who is 90 years old and a 98 year old are HORRIFIED by the direction the government has taken , and those who are in charge of the finances and migration .

    We had our lunch event this morning / afternoon . They had alot to say.

    1. What is an asylum protection officer? It’s not essential, not a public service and doesn’t serve the tax payer. it is a non-job. Don’t feed and clothe these crmiinals, deport them.

      If a bleeding heart Lefty complains, then move 50 immediately into their home. No space for them? Well, who cares. You want them. You feed them.

      1. Good heavens Geoff.

        They were the eldest out of a group of 12 .. the remainder were nearing ninety next year.

        Speaking of Peddy, have you an idea how he is ?

    1. Now imagine a democracy where the public can refuse the spending of such hideous amounts of money on something they neither want nor use.

      The state would have to deal with the problem properly – by removing the criminal freeloaders immediately.

    2. Wonder how the reported figure of £1,000,000 reportedly offered to the hotel was arrived at? Was it sensibly calculated, with the best interests of us tax-payers at heart, or simply plucked out of the air in the hope that it would have the desired effect with no concern about the mugs footing the bill?

    3. Dear Mark Steyn irritated me with this story because there were repeated references to Tintagel being the mythological birthplace of King Arthur. Geoffrey of Monmouth believed that he took his account of the life of Arthur from verifiable sources. The fact that neither those sources nor any hard evidence has come down to us doesn’t in itself prove Geoffrey to have been a fantasist. Very little evidence of any kind from that period has come down to us. We don’t know. What Geoffrey claims is far less fantastical than much of what I’m asked to believe today. Besides, without him we woudln’t have King Lear or Cymbeline either. Shakespeare took much inspiration from Geoffrey.

      1. There are many places which claim to be Arthur’s birthplace.
        A good book about the Arthurian legends is The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It is told from the women’s perspective and is very good.

    4. The manager also said that the they would return the Hotel in the condition it was in before the immigrants took up residence. This is a hidden cost in these residential immigration hotels if it has been promised to all other such hotels. More costs for the taxpayers to worry about.

    5. Stayed there in 2007, probably the wackiest, weirdest , most eccentric and bonkers place I’ve ever had the delight and privilege to lay my head, from the crass “Excali-bar” complete with a lump of granite with a broken sword to the lady at reception with a very eastern european accent asking if we were with the Pagans that weekend . In residence was the world famous artist (or so the literature informed us ) Ted Stourton whose massive whimsical canvases ( a flight of unicorns with a garlic press and an old boot glued to the canvas as an example) adorned most of the walls. He wafted amongst the guests wearing a plum coloured velvet smoking jacket and matching trousers. The building itself is magnificent and the overall effect is a cross between Brighton Pavillion and the Hotel from “The Shining”
      On the Saturday evening we were the only guests ( I guess the pagans were out doing unspeakable things to sheep or goats ) and so we had the whole dining room to ourselves, a large dark pseudo gothic hall with floor to ceiling windows looking out to the Atlantic , a single light on above our table and a sound system in the corner playing the same 20s jazz CD over and over all the while we we aware of a pair of eyes peering through the kitchen door porthole monitoring our gustatorial progress . Would I go back ? damn sure I would .

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c5ac0ef30b65b1c3f8a2015787d91f38ead935fd13e6a1ea43b2236686696e0e.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/966057a7b2fc0d48cc9ad78c79dc12de1333f05646c58f7fbe4b35f042e371b6.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fb081a6054a3ef44fcab98c3ee572940f2bedf82a247fb0befe4e90b0f91d130.jpg

  59. No 1 son has left BT after working for them since his graduation 10 years ago. He was fed up with working from home. The first job he has been given in his new employment is to redesign the DVLA licence application website and he says it sure needs redesigning.

      1. Im rather sceptical of software designers. I have used a number of useful computer apps/progs over the years and they work just fine, until… they start ‘updating’ them. More functionality is not always better.

      2. …and to change the address on your Driving Licence. I sent a simple letter together with the licence and the vehicle registration, as both needed the address to be changed. I got the Registration document, the letter, a horrendous form and my unchanged licence back because some box ticker could follow the request without this horrendous form being completed. Probably WFH and couldn’t be bothered to travel into the office.

          1. No, I have to fill out this horrendous form AND send in a photograph, which will be the same one they used 3 years ago. The address on the Registration Document WAS changed.

  62. Good afternoon.

    Well. What a day. A brilliant three lecture study day on 17th C Dutch painting. The lady – who works at the Rijksmuseum in The Hague – an American lady, married to a Dutchman – holds the Dutch equivalent of the KBE “for services to Art”.

    We were spellbound. Her knowledge, presentation – and the many paintings she had chosen to illustrate her talks – were immaculate.

    It was a rare privilege to be lectured by such an expert.

    2. Pedant alert. The Rijksmuseum is in Amsterdam. Did you mean the Mauritshuis in the Hague? I Have visited both many times.

  63. Tens of thousands of Syrians, brought together by social media, are said to be planning to walk into Europe. A fortnight ago, the Greek Minister of Protection, Takis Theodorikakos, said both that Greek security forces had turned back 1,500 migrants at the border, and that this meant that “we are effectively dealing with the Turks’ ongoing attempt to instrumentalize migrants.” If the displaced can be weaponized, Erdoğan has been stockpiling.

    The caravan is likely to have three possible destinations: Sweden, Germany, and the U.K. This is not for the love of ABBA, Goethe, or cricket, but rather because these countries have the easiest and most generous welfare systems. But the U.K. is looking increasingly like the favored spot for the caravan, and for very recent reasons. Germany is teetering on the brink of a recession due to its energy predicament and the attendant threat to its powerful manufacturing base, while a significant number of Swedish voters have finally registered their disenchantment with “new Swedes” (and their vibrant culture of rape and hand grenades) by voting for Jimmie Åkesson’s Sweden Democrats, who campaigned partly on an anti-immigration ticket. Also, the caravan of light would be advised not to bother with the short and bracing excursion across the Mediterranean from Croatia to Italy, a country with a new lady in charge and a burly enforcer called Salvini. They may not be welcome.

    Mass immigration is an overarching aim of the E.U., and those countries who oppose it risk having their allowance stopped. Ursula von der Leyen, lightly mustachioed and resembling a 1970s librarian, holds the unelected position of President of the European Commission. She and her cronies warned Italy before their general election that the E.U. had “the tools” to deal with an unappetizing swing to the right. The E.U. tells its member states it can have democracy in any color it wants, as long as von der Leyen’s enforcers approve, and anyone who goes against the new order will be punished. But it may be that the caravan of light arrives just when the lights are going out.

    https://www.takimag.com/article/lost-caravan/

      1. We’re looking at emigrating; two sons and all the grandchildren are there. They love the lifestyle.
        It’s a shame they changed the grandparent rules, because we could have entered “as of right” as my grandfather was born there.

        1. A bit like the UK the Aussies have made it easy for the wrong sort of ‘unculturedd’ people to settle. What could be better than self supporting elder family members joining their offspring.

          They have encouraged people like the 24 men featured in the Mail.
          And hundreds from China.

  64. The virus that threatens the world today in almost every nation is runaway government spending and debt. It is the match that has lit the forest fire of runaway inflation. It doesn’t matter how much Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell raises interest rates (which he must do to tame inflation). The stagflation of high inflation and slow growth won’t end until politicians start taking a chainsaw to their out-of-control budgets.

    Government spending has not stimulated anything except more government and less private enterprise. The public sector has to go on a SlimFast diet — and for a long, long time to drain the excess spending out of the global economy.

    What is all sadly ironic is that many of the nations of the world are now practicing Modern Monetary Theory. This is the radical idea that governments like the U.S. can spend and borrow increasing amounts of money at almost no cost because of low interest rates. Whoops. Interest rates in the U.S. have risen on the 10-year bond from less than 1% to more than 3% in just the last 24 months. The 30-year mortgage rate has risen from 2.85% at the end of 2020 to nearly 7% today. Let’s just say Modern Monetary Theory can be thrown in the trash bin.

    Political leaders across the globe seem to be suffering from a severe case of economic amnesia. Reagan said it best, and it is more appropriate today than ever before: “Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.” Truer today than ever.

    https://www.takimag.com/article/the-new-global-virus-is-runaway-government-spending-and-debt/

      1. Is it actually that low?
        If everything collapses, as it might, you can’t eat it.
        Guns and ammo might become more useful AND valuable.

    2. Mr Wilkins Micawber also deserved a Nobel Prize for Economic Wisdom, although he would most likely have authorised his amanuensis to discreetly collect the medal and the concomitant spondulix on his behalf.

    1. I’m in Amsterdam now and visited the Rijksmuseum a few days ago. About my tenth visit. Always a great experience.

      1. Beware of Schiphol on your return. Prepare to allow FOUR hours to get through security….

        2. I’m on the Eurostar, thankfully. Last visit in June, I was flying but took the precaution of booking a £35 return bus trip as an insurance. Not too pleasant but I can’t stand four hours in a queue. Eurostar would heve been too pricey at that time.

          1. I should be very interested to hear how Eurostar was working. I have read about huge delays at St Pancras, and the need to be there hours ahead of departure. The last time I returned from Brussels, pre leaving the EUSSR – one had to get off the train at Lille and spend an age going through UK Border Farce. Now, of course, there will be yer French to deal with, as well. Any info/tips gratefully received.

            Went the day well? (That may take you back – or not!!)

          3. Home now. Passport checks were made at both points of embarkation – no more checks en route. I queued with EU passport holders, but UK passports were stamped seperately. My outward train left St. Pancras at 11.04 and I was there just after eight. I was told not to try to queue until 9.30. As it happens, they started the queue for Amsterdam at 9.15 so I was one of the first through ticket scans.
            Security checks were similar to as in airports, but it was not required to take out liquids – all went through in my bag and the body scan was pretty standard.
            Passports was a bit crowded – it took about another 20 mins for that. When the 10.20 Paris train was called, about only 20 mins before departure, there was a mad rush once the relevant platform was announced, so some had to stand in queues for nearly 20 mins.
            Determined to avoid this, I started watching the stafff loading wheelchair passengers into the lifts and deduced the correct platform. At about 25 mins before departure, I stood by the travelators facing the lift and, lo and behold, the doors opened and I was first up to the platforms. A lady I spoke to on the travelator said she always did the same! Cunning, eh?

            Yes, the day went well (does take me back)

            Hope this helps. A demain, comme on dit!

          4. Most helpful, thank you. Just for clarification – your train was to A’dam – and the return trip from A’dam was not interrupted at Lille?

  68. 2 elderly pals who didn’t attend our lunch meeting today have both got Covid badly.
    I rang them this afternoon when I came home .

    The lady could barely speak .. and was coughing like billyoh.. she and her husband live in a rural spot ..yet how on earth have they got it ?

    I kept the conversation as brief as possible ,, they are both taking antibiotics and feel terrible .. yet they have both had all their jabs

    What the hell is this terrible virus all about?

          1. Mine was Covid .. fair and square

            The couple whom I spoke to this afternoon on the phone are in their late eighties , live in a rural village and they both have Covid , it has knocked them out .

      1. 365904+ticks,

        Evening N,

        Hit fairly & squarely on the head.
        Seemingly the jab runs parallel with the
        lab/lib/con member / voter& has the same affect on the Country

    4. Perhaps it’s a genetically modified disease that was intended to be even worse, and to be used as a bioweapon by the Chinese or the Americans?

      1. One potential threat to China is the existence of India. The USA chose India as a long term strategic partner some years ago.

        Back in the balmy summer of 2019, the Telegraph published an article about bioweapons which began:

        “Biological weapons could be built which target individuals in a specific ethnic group based on their DNA, a report by the University of Cambridge has warned. Researchers from Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) said the government was failing to prepare for ‘human-driven
        catastrophic risks’ that could lead to mass harm and societal collapse….”

        https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2019/08/12/world-must-prepare-biological-weapons-target-ethnic-groups-based/

        Curiously, there were very few comments, which leads me to suspect that the article was not obviously visible on the main Telegraph website.

        1. Agreed.
          I must admit that I sometimes wonder about “BRIC” nations, I suspect they will be at each other’s throats when things aren’t going their way.

          Which will be soon.

    6. True-Belle – My son and daughter in law came over from Texas last month to see their parents. They both had the tests and Covid vaccinations required in the USA. They came over via Manchester and stayed over night before going up to see my son’s mother and step father in Cumbria. My son developed Covid and was very ill for a couple of days leaving him with a bad cough. I never saw them as they ignored a North Yorkshire visit, to protect their parents, flew home early where my daughter in law had a severe bout of Covid which put her in bed for several days.. A fair number of recent cases amongst my friends have all had the number of Covid vaccinations offered to them. None of my friends accept or have never heard the problems of the Covid vaccines and I get a lot of sticck from them if I raise the subject.

          1. Indeed. I’ve not had the latest booster – none of the others, either, nor any of the original vaccinations.
            No covid symptoms, or infections. Unlike colleagues who seem to be vaccinated every time they go to the toilet, and are continuously infected. Bloody glad the cholera vaccine didn’t work that way!

    7. I’ve been ‘grotty’ all week with a head cold. Do you remember when they were common. It’s probably a coronavirus that causes the common cold.
      Why on earth are they testing? They do know the tests are useless and Covid is a scam don’t they (and you Belle) or is having ‘Covid’ the new comfort blanket.

    8. I wouldn’t have thought antibiotics would be much good for a virus. They’d be better off with Vit D and C and zinc plus quercetin. Being jabbed is probably why they are so ill.

    10. It’s because the ‘vaccine’ attacks the immune system, leaving one open to worse infection. It also seems to provoke the body into producing, by itself, the worst aspects of this particular coronavirus, the spike proteins. Because it is produced by the body, it evades the body’s immune system, which has just been clobbered anyway. It is evil genius. All one can do is assist to the maximum the individual immune system: Vitamins D+K2 (the K2 is important) 4,000 – 5,000 IU, Vit C, Zinc, Quercetin, NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine). A coronavirus is simply a genus of the common cold. The others are adenovirus and rhinovirus.

      Antibiotics are no good for a virus. Only if a secondary chest infection develops.

  69. That’s me for this brilliant day. To go to bed with so much more knowledge than one had when one woke – is just wonderful.

    Phew!

    Have a mashing evening.

    A demain

      2. Sorry. I’m not herring you properly. Perhaps we should skate over that orcaward situation and just not be crabby about it.

  71. Chipped into a bunker and ended up with a bogey five

    Wordle 479 5/6

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

    3. #MeToo; took me 3 shots to get out of the bunker 🙁

      Wordle 479 5/6
      ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜
      ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. Par 4 today.
      Wordle 479 4/6

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

  73. Off topic and a bit pseuds corner.

    We are drinking a bottle of a local rosé. It is far better (and more expensive by a factor of four) than we usually drink.
    The flavours are excellent, they remain on the palate, and the scents are superb.
    Normally I can’t be bothered with it all, but this particular bottle is heavenly.

    1. When we use to spend our many summer holidays in France. On the first day we went food shopping at the local supermarket, I would follow the locals in the wine department and grab what they were taking home. Never had a bad experience.

      1. It applies here, but to a lesser extent.

        “That was delicious”
        “Good, we’re pleased you liked it, go to chateau xyz and say that the committee recommended your wine”

        Wonderful stuff in the 3 to 4 euro range, before “committee discount”!

        1. We never buy French wine in the UK. The more elegant and sophisticated the labels the less you can expect from the content of the bottle. Which is a bit of a shame.

  74. Evening, all. I think being vitriolic, particularly towards the English, has become a prerequisite for office, high or low, these days 🙁 On a personal note, I’ve had a very frustrating day. I saw a bookcase at a reasonable price in a local charity shop and discovered it was a perfect fit for where I wanted to put it. Unfortunately, when I took my minuscule car to collect it, there was no way we could get it in (and I don’t have a roof rack). Plan B – ask my obliging neighbour who has a large van – he was just going out as I drove back home! Fortunately he returned and obliged. We managed to get it in place and all was well. I renewed my motorhome insurance after checking around and thought I’d got a good deal – until an email arrived after I’d paid for it, with an offer that was £5 cheaper! Aagghh! Still, at least it’s done and dusted now and I can re-tax it. By now, time was getting on and I still hadn’t mowed the meadow that passes for lawns at my place (the forecast for tomorrow is rain, followed by rain), so I got the big mower out. It refused to start. Plan B – get the miniscule mower out, whose only positive attribute is that it does actually start. It has a tendency to fall apart (every time you lift the lid to empty the grass box – which you need to do every few minutes because it’s so small – the lid comes off in your hand. Not content with this, the spigot or spindle that holds the handle in place pops out with monotonous regularity every few minutes. This time it excelled itself; it flew under the blade and got chopped up, leaving only the shaft of it. To be honest, it wasn’t any worse for that! It took me ages and I thought I would be finishing it by the light of a headlamp, but fortunately, I did just get it done in time. What a day! Oscar was brilliant with my neighbour when he brought the bookcase in – Oscar just sniffed his hand and never even tried to take a chunk out of him! I think he may be mellowing. 🙂 I shall be popping in and out because I’ve got a meeting to go to, later.

    2. Perhaps your neighbour knows one of the better approaches to dogs.
      Slowly offer a hand to be sniffed.
      For some reason it tends to settle them. I find it works 99/100.

      1. Not a hand, a loose fist. Any bite will slide off the knuckles. With a bite, that could be 3 or 4 very damaged fingers. Think about it.

        1. I’ve been approaching dogs that way for roughly 60 years, so far so good.
          I am also blessed with fast reactions.

      2. That’s what he did, but that is no guarantee with Oscar that he won’t sniff it and then go for a nip. That Oscar didn’t is, to me, a clear sign that he’s mellowed.

    3. Nicola Sturgeon’s vitriolic hatred of the English is having an adverse effect on her looks and her voice – it is not a winning trend, Thank God!

      1. They seldom, if ever, suffer the consequences of their judgements.

        He may actually have done the UK a service, by making people realise just what poison is in our midst.

      2. It has happened. I think it was a German Politician…not sure. But his daughter was raped by one of these animals and he forgave him.

    2. So, ignorance of the law is now a valid excuse. But being a kuffir, I’d better not bank on it.

        1. So, spelling and grammar correctness are more important than the underlying message here.
          I think you might have your priorities arse about face.

          1. They are both important for a clear understanding of the message. You don’t think that important in the English language?

          2. It is important, but in the case of the article linked to I would put the issues under discussion as a higher priority.

          3. They are both important for a clear understanding of the message. You don’t think that important in the English language?

          4. Poor presentation gets in the way of the message. Anyone writing articles should know that.

          5. That is true.
            BUT, on a blog such as this, the issue is the substance of the article that was linked to, which is usually why articles are put up for comment/discussion.

            Do you correct the writing on every article you quote from or link to?

          2. I would guess that it has set a precedent for sentencing – anyone can now claim that their ‘religion’ (and you know what I mean by that) didn’t teach them that having sex with a 13-year-old girl was against the law.

          3. I would hope that whatever is now the Lord Chancellor’s office will have told the judges that that isn’t the case.

            I won’t be holding my breath.

  76. Sod it! I’ve got that muzzy, pre-headache feeling at the moment, so I’m going for an early night.
    Goodnight all.

      1. There are times when my tin-foil hat tells me that there is an almighty conspiracy to destroy any initiative

        2. They are making us so broke that even if there was a revolution we could never escape the dystopia

        3. I emailed Moggy after I received a no reply email from his department. I told him that it’s pretty obvious that the government are making the public fork out to cover up and subsidise more of their habitual errors (eff ups) as in fuel costs. By trying this on as they are. It sort of shares the ‘liability’ when of course its all the government’s fault for allowing the continuing invasion of illegal migrants.
          The conspiracy is spread even further, totally destruction in every way of our country.

  78. OT

    Why are the present bunch of Conservative MPs so determined to annihilate the Tory Party?

    2. It was killed when Thatcher was deposed.
      Since then there have only been placemen (and women).

  79. Eco-zealots block a fire engine AND ambulance on emergency calls as FURIOUS white van man ploughs through mob and taxi drivers drag them away as they shut down road near Harrods
    Just Stop Oil activists in London’s Knightsbridge cause fire engine responding to an emergency to be blocked
    Ambulance has to reverse and find another route as environmental group take to the capital’s streets again
    Demonstration at junction of Knightsbridge and Brompton Road began at 10am and involved 32 activists
    Today marked the 11th consecutive day of demonstrations that have resulted in more than 300 arrests so far
    By MARK DUELL and GREG HEFFER FOR MAILONLINE

    I HAVE BEEN BANNED FROM TWITTER FOR 12 HOURS FOR SUGGESTING THE CLIMATE ZEALOTS SHOULD BE WATER CANNONED AND TASERED

    2. “I HAVE BEEN BANNED FROM TWITTER FOR 12 HOURS FOR SUGGESTING THE CLIMATE ZEALOTS SHOULD BE WATER CANNONED AND TASERED”
      A medal would be more appropriate, Belle.

    3. I’ve had a 12 hour ban for quoting Pfizer’s own website info in the past. I’ve also had a seven day ban for some misdemeanour, probably for informing the public of some truth. Also for saying ‘monkey see, monkey do’. It is all very arbitrary. Probably by a kid fresh from university with a degree in media studies tucked under its arm.

      I quite agree, these climate thugs should be water cannoned and tasered. At the very least.

          1. I still get the occasional snippet of information on there, but for content I’ve moved over to Substack. Better minds, fewer jokes.

      2. You rebel you.

        By the way………I may look askance at any afternoon tea invite you may send me. :@)

    4. I wonder how long the ban would have been if you had suggested that they be shot?

      Why not tar and feather them and stick them onto those useless police officers that just sat down with them.

      1. I got a 12 hour ban for suggesting that the WEF bods should hang for their crimes. It was enforced from 10 pm to 10 am. Really tough not being able to post on Twitter all night…not!

    5. “Let the punishment fit the Crime”!

      Banishment – to St Kilda, perhaps.

      No oil products, whatsoever.

      No fabrics, no medicines, no fish nor food.

      Let them eat peat – if they can find it.

    6. I had a 12 hour ban last year for suggesting that some of the G7 participants at their get-together in Cornwall might accidentally fall off the cliffs.

      In 2020 my account was suspended for nearly six months because my phone had died so they couldn’t send me a text. even after I replaced my phone it was months before I was reinstated.

    7. I wonder how long they would ban you for suggesting they be hung, drawn and quartered. Not forgetting the fact that if they did that to everyone who violated their policy they would have no income !

  80. Had a decent day made four large loaves, walked doggo. A bit of gardening and a nice chat with one of our neighbours who with her family spent 4 days in Venice. They loved it. As I said, It’s not the sort of place that you are likely to forget.
    I’m not going to bed yet, it’s twirly, but goodnight all.

    1. I booked a 3-day trip to Venice in April 2020. Covid. I rebooked it for April 2021. Lockdown. Do I chance it for 2023?

    2. How do you store your loaves or do you get through them quickly?

      With the new pup i don’t need to walk Dolly so much. They stampede through the bungalow for hours !

      1. I just let them cool down cut them in half, put them in freezer bags and freeze them. We have a bread defrost setting on our microwave and when it’s defrosted it’s a fresh as when it came out of the oven.

  81. The ‘Tyre Extinguisher’ mob working its way down the UK: Latest eco-warrior branch slashing wheels on thousands of 4x4s from Scotland to Bristol and London in bid to ‘make it impossible to own an SUV in urban areas’
    Zealots from Tyre Extinguishers sneak out into the dead of night and slash the tyres of expensive 4x4s
    They have targeted SUVs in affluent parts of cities including London, Edinburgh, Brighton and Bristol
    Activist group has also slashed tyres in cities such as Sheffield, Manchester and remote Dundee
    Precisely who is behind the new shadowy group, which claims to be leaderless, remains unclear

    The scale of the ‘tyre deflation’ craze sweeping Britain is laid bare today as MailOnline shows how thousands of people have been targeted by eco-zealots slashing the tyres of their SUVs in multiple cities – from London, Birmingham and Edinburgh to Sheffield and even Dundee.

    Activists from Tyre Extinguishers, a vigilante group of climate change protesters with an unknown number of subscribers, sneak out into the dead of night in affluent areas of the country and deflate the tyres of ‘gas-guzzling’ 4x4s including Range Rovers, Mazdas and Volkswagens.

    In pursuit of their wild goal of ‘making it impossible to own an SUV in the world’s urban areas’, the activist cell has slashed the wheels of thousands of vehicles.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11303373/The-Tyre-Extinguisher-mob-working-way-UK.html

          1. They seem to turn a blind eye to that now. Especially when it is considered to be a protest.

            I can see Police stations being overwhelmed and blood everywhere because of their idiotic management.

      1. I’m looking forward to when they start on Audi and BMW owners, They will find themselves suddenly deflated from stab wounds.

    1. A comment from Twitter:
      “Remember that their main reason for jabbing the kids—after saying at the start that they wouldn’t—was so that it would ‘protect others.’ They did this to children knowing full well it *did not* reduce transmission. The gallows—at the v least—for these people.”

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