Tuesday 15 March: Putin uses the flight of refugees as a weapon in his war against civilians

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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691 thoughts on “Tuesday 15 March: Putin uses the flight of refugees as a weapon in his war against civilians”

    1. Who is this dragon with teeth? I thought we were the dragon with no teeth. Is it the Eurovision Song Contest organisers?

          2. Thanks, Tom. (Yerba) Mate is a herbal drink which the gauchos of Argentina drink, made with not quite boiling water poured over leaves of the yerba/herb plant placed in a hollowed out gourd and sucked through a metal tube with small holes. The gauchos (and/or Argentines) then pass it around to the next person (rather like the USA Red Indians and their peace pipe), topping up from time to time with hot water and perhaps sugar. I had it as a child with milk and sugar added after the leaves had been passed through a strainer. To my mind it is delicious and it brings back happy childhood memories. But it is not like the drink which Bolivians drink which is a kind of drug. Yerba Mate is drug-free.

          4. I didn’t know that, JR. I’m off to bed now, but will read it tomorrow. However, since the word “Mate” is pronounced as if the accent is on the first and not the second syllable, one wonders just how accurate the article might be. (Grammatical rule: All Spanish words are automatically pronounced with the accent on the final syllable [no acute accent is needed] except for those ending in a vowel or the letter “n” or “s” where the accent is on the penultimate syllable. Thus when people write “Ellos cantan” (“They sing”) the phrase is spoken with the accent on the capital “E” and the first “a” and no accents are written. But the word “Cancion de Tomas” (Thomas’s song) needs an acute accent written on the letter “o” in “Cancion” and the “a” in “Tomas” to ensure that on reading it out loud the accent is not on the penultimate syllable of the first and third words (i.e. “i” and “o”).

            Alas I know not how to write an acute accent when typing on my iMac so I hope that the above explanation is clear to you.

          5. On a sanitary note (in these Covid stricken times) while the mate was passed around in a gourd, everyone had their own straw, known as a bombilla*. So they would not pass on their germs to each other.

            *I’m mugging up on this stuff as I may emigrate, if I live.

          6. You’re correct about the bombillas, HP, although often just one bombilla was used but (almost) boiling water would be poured over the tip of the bombilla as it passed from one drinker to the next in order to sterilise it. I used to think that I’d like to return to the country of my childhood (argentina) on retirement, but am content now to stay in the UK and travel to various countries for fairly lengthy holidays instead.

  4. We cannot go on like this. The West must end its dependence on Vladimir Putin. Boris Johnson. 15 March 2022.

    The United States has already announced a ban on imports of Russian oil. The UK will be doing the same. The EU has agreed to rid itself of Russian hydrocarbons as soon as possible. And we will do all we can to work with them, and indeed all friends of freedom looking at making similar moves, to help ease that transition for us all.

    Because this strategy will not truly work unless everyone does it. The only way to force Putin to cease his aggression, and to respect international law, is for the world to stop mainlining Russian hydrocarbons – and we have to accept that such a move will be painful.

    The Government is doing all we can to help – spending billions of pounds to ease the cost of living and cut hundreds off your household bills. But none of us can afford to carry on like this for long.

    We need permanently to reduce the cost of energy at source – and that will only happen if our supply is more secure, more sustainable and less vulnerable to manipulation by others.

    We need to take back control. Later this month, I will set out a British Energy Security Strategy – how the UK will become more self-sufficient and no longer at the mercy of bullies like Putin.

    At the heart of the strategy is green energy of all kinds.

    This is utter madness! Net-zero here we come! More commonly known as cutting your nose off to spite your face. We are Truly Screwed!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/03/14/cannot-go-like-west-must-end-dependence-vladimir-putin/

    1. Stupid boy, cannot bear to be deprived of his Net-zero toys as advocated by his nanny.

      He is certainly one to beware the Ides of March – I won’t be surprised if it isn’t, “Et Tu, Gove.” all over again.

    2. And just how does he propose to prevent China India and other developing nations from filling their boots with cheaper Russian oil and other hydrocarbons? They of course will power ahead while we regress.
      Gove has announced unlimited numbers may enter the UK.

      Website to host Ukrainian refugees crashes as more than 44,000 sign up to new scheme paying £350 a month after Michael Gove confirms ‘unlimited numbers’ of people fleeing war-torn country will be allowed to live here for three years.

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10611939/Michael-Gove-reveals-unlimited-numbers-Ukrainians-allowed-live-UK.html

      1. And just how does he propose to prevent China India and other developing nations from filling their boots with cheaper Russian oil and other hydrocarbons?

        Morning Sos. Precisely!

      2. And just how does he propose to prevent China India and other developing nations from filling their boots with cheaper Russian oil and other hydrocarbons?

        Morning Sos. Precisely!

      3. And just how does he propose to prevent China India and other developing nations from filling their boots with cheaper Russian oil and other hydrocarbons?

        Morning Sos. Precisely!

      4. Plenty of work for the clip board jockeys – if they can be @rsed to leave their homes.
        1. Pets: put down.
        2. Garden; all plants to be checked and any that are possibly toxic to be destroyed.
        3. Rugs: trip hazard.
        4. Grandparents and assorted relatives; banned – not been CBD’d.
        5. Gardener: see above.
        6. Cleaner: see above.
        7. Kitchen; dispose of and kit out to catering standard.
        8. All electrical appliances; to be certified by qualified and CBD’d electrician.
        9. Mother; to take Food Hygiene certificate before she’s allowed near a saucepan.
        10. Father; to be moved out to nearest Travel Lodge as all white men are filthy beasts.
        11. Furniture; to be checked for safety. Antiques containing ivory or turtle shell to be burnt.
        12. Bedding and towels; to be washed in government approved detergents only.

        13/14/15 etc …… I’m sure NOTTLERs can think up fatuous and wallet busting rules for themselves.

    7. …The EU has agreed to rid itself of Russian hydrocarbons as soon as possible…

      As meaningless a phrase as any that the Brussels/Strasbourg gravy train have spouted.

      1. Locked him out for being back later than she decreed. He slept on the doorstep.

    1. Morning Elsie. I know you have been up for 3 hours but I stagger out at 9.

  9. Morning all. Here’s the Putin news……..

    Putin uses the flight of refugees as a weapon in his war against civilians

    SIR – Readers are right to say that more should be done for refugees from Ukraine (Letters, March 14). But the flight of that country’s people is, I fear, also what Vladimir Putin wants to see.

    Sergei Orlov, the deputy mayor of Mariupol, has said more than once recently that Mr Putin’s aim is Ukraine without the Ukrainians. We must be prepared to face a conflict which may well worsen in ways that have as yet been scarcely envisaged by most commentators.

    We have already seen attacks on civilians and the near annihilation of at least one town, Volnovakha. It is likely that this form of warfare will continue and escalate.

    Many have predicted that Mr Putin will be able to hold and occupy Ukraine only by committing most of his army to the task. But a conquered land can be held in subjection by the most extreme methods. Mr Putin may yet resort to the means of his predecessor dictators of the last century: population deportations, mass imprisonment, reprisal raids, or even murder on a huge scale.

    C D C Armstrong,

    Belfast

    A lone Ukrainian soldier stands guard by a ruined building and damaged church in Irpin

    A lone Ukrainian soldier stands guard by a ruined building and damaged church in Irpin

    SIR – Russia has committed atrocities in Ukraine and deliberately bombed maternity and children’s hospitals, schools, residential areas and people seeking safety. The Oxford Dictionary defines genocide as “deliberate extermination of a people or nation”. However Vladimir Putin described his original evil and immoral intentions, surely his actions can now be described as genocide.

    Christine Brenton,

    Salisbury, Wiltshire

    SIR – This has been called a second Cold War. It is not. This is a Third World War even though we presently stand back from it.

    The assault on Yavoriv, so close to Poland’s border, is clearly put up as a test for Nato and its resolve. It is a taunt.

    We have to consider whether Nato should take on Mr Putin now or wait until there is no avoiding the issue and the stakes, in terms of human lives, are so much higher.

    Kenneth Preston,

    Royal Hillsborough, Co Down

    SIR – The allowance of £350 a month for home-owners taking in people who have fled from Ukraine is welcome, but will single people offering accommodation have to give up the reduction of 25 per cent on their council tax?

    Perhaps many home-owners living on their own would have less incentive to help, given the rising cost of living.

    Kate Graeme-Cook,

    Brixham, Devon

    SIR – During the Second World War a German prisoner of war named Heinz Willkowski was placed to work on a farm in North Wales alongside my father.

    They became friends and he became part of the whole family. It was not unusual for him to come to Sunday lunch with a dead but warm chicken under his coat.

    He returned to Germany in 1948. They remained in touch, and he and his family would visit from Hamburg from the mid-1950s. One Christmas they sent my parents a pair of towels, which were treasured and never used. My sister inherited and kept them for sentimental reasons.

    Last week the towels were donated to a Ukraine charity and will hopefully be put to good use. Heinz would certainly approve.

    I find it poignant that these towels are bookended by two wars and that the world is still tolerating tyrants.

    David Williams,

    Lytham, Lancashire

    Trouble with sanctions

    SIR – The sanctions against Roman Abramovich and other oligarchs are a mistake. Britain is a trading, rather than manufacturing, nation. Our prosperity rests on foreigners doing business and investing here. We are attractive because we allow freedom of contract, have a relatively good justice system, and respect property rights.

    Now that we are freezing the assets of Russian oligarchs – private citizens of a country with which we are not actually at war – these things are no longer true. It is doubtful that even these men have much influence over Vladimir Putin – so this measure is simply an exercise in virtue-signalling.

    Otto Inglis,

    Crossgates, Fife

    SIR – Chelsea FC fans must be relieved that the Government has issued their club with a general licence to allow essential payments to continue while the owner is being sanctioned.

    Similar assurances must now be made to humanitarian aid agencies, which face huge challenges when providing assistance to families living in areas under sanctioned regimes.

    A continuing lack of humanitarian exceptions or general licences under Britain’s Russia sanctions could be catastrophic for our work in Ukraine and beyond. Now that the Government has shown that licences can be deployed quickly, there can be no delay in issuing them to aid agencies working in Ukraine – or in any crisis.

    Stephanie Draper,

    CEO, Bond, the UK network for NGOs

    Martin Hartberg,

    UK Director, Norwegian Refugee Council

    Tufail Hussain,

    Director, Islamic Relief UK

    Neil Thorns,

    Director of Advocacy, Cafod

    Kirsty McNeill,

    Executive Director of Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns, Save the Children UK

    SIR – As I relax on the beach enjoying my holiday in Seychelles, I become aware of a background racket.

    It is from Russians shouting and laughing into their phones. Sanctions appear to have had little effect: they are everywhere here. Even their radio broadcasts echo around the poolside.

    Peter Jordan,

    Tetbury, Gloucestershire

    1. 351388+ up ticks,

      Morning E,

      I am in no doubt that Putin if needs be could always
      “rent” a number of political ” manipulators” from
      the United Kingdom, they will surely come on down if the price is right.

    2. What a collection of woke, pinko letters – these people still believe the MSM it seems and don’t do any research of their own. On the final letter – sanctions are working alright, but mostly here rather than in Russia it seems – petrol at a 10 year high, heating oil at twice the Nov 21 price and yet Boris’s idea for energy sufficiency is more green! The man is an utter feckwit.

    4. “A lone Ukrainian soldier stands guard by a ruined building and damaged church in Irpin”. Yes, very smart. Guarding wreckage and ruins? What from, it’s already been destroyed?

    5. Christine Brenton should wake up and look around to see what’s been happening to the indigenous in this country and then compare it with the definition of genocide.

  10. Civil Service failure

    SIR – The impossibility of registering power of attorney (Letters, March 12) echoes problems reported for months in the Passport Office and DVLA. Now we have the Home Office’s abject failure in helping those fleeing Ukraine. There was a time when the Civil Service was the envy of the world, but it is now a national embarrassment.

    Alex Taylor,

    Thame, Oxfordshire

    2. Perhaps, some of the descendents of the original Westernised Oriental Gentleman, who worked in the Indian Civil Service,
      could come across here and teach us how a good sytem was instituted in the days of the Raj

  11. 351388+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Tuesday 15 March: Putin uses the flight of refugees as a weapon in his war against civilians

    May one say, are the leaders of many a nation using one segment of their indigenous peoples against the other ? prime example being johnson & co in the pursuit of reset & NWO.

  12. The Ghost of Norman Angell Walks Again By Walrus. 15 March 2022.

    So what are the lessons the world at large – the two billion people who aren’t in Russia or Europe, are learning about the American love of sanctions on anyone they don’t currently like? There are a few and they will give American policy makers headaches for generations to come.

    The first is simple; never, ever, trust the West and especially not its banking systems. There is now no need for me to elucidate the risks involved. While American businesses can trumpet their “wokeness” today, they are creating problems of perceived risk for any nation thinking of dealing with them in future. Global trade will now become slower and more difficult. Businesses will now consider dealing with the Chinese because, outside of the issue of Taiwan, the Chinese are dependably amoral.

    The second lesson: diversify your infrastructure and especially your IT. Beware of western supplied turnkey single vendor solutions because that means one key can turn it all off or destroy it as evidenced by what Visa and Mastercard have just done to Russia. Be self-sufficient if you can, if not buy Chinese. In any case assume that none of your electronic communications are ever secure.

    We are sanctioning Russia and yet will shortly be rationing our own fuel and facing food shortages! Great plan! There is in fencing the manoeuvre described as, le coup des deux veuves. The attack that makes two widows. The real irony here is that the Western Widow is going around from door to door begging, while the Russian Widow has a wealthy Chinese Aunt, a Pension Plan in the form of Oceans of Oil and Mountains of Natural Resources and will in all probability fare better long term than we Nottlers and our Ilk.

    https://turcopolier.com/the-ghost-of-norman-angell-walks-again-by-walrus/

    1. I think you mean we Westerners and our Ilk, don’t you M’Lady? NoTTLers have a little more common sense than our “leaders”, don’t we?

      1. I like to think of we Nottlers as something separate Elsie. We don’t fit into the general zeitgeist!

        2. That’s what my tailor said. “We’re never going to get you into that”. He suggested I buy a cardigan.

    3. I think it is clear that crashing Western economies is the goal of this ludicrous Ukraine sanctions policy. I can’t see any other reason for the US to voluntarily pull the rug out from under the dollar, unless they know it’s nearing the end of its life anyway.
      This will hide the crash of the dollar, which was inevitable anyway, and enable them to launch the CBDCs for the peasantry.
      The elites don’t care, because they consider themselves to be above mere countries.

      I wonder what their plan is when the rest of us are on UBIs paid in a CBDC? What currency will they use – a new, gold-backed dollar, or will they just have CBDC without the same restrictions as the rest of us?

      All of their plans appear to be predicated on a vast world population – what if world population starts falling quickly in the next 50-100 years? Will our children get their freedoms back when there is a shortage of peasants, just as slaves got their freedom after the Black Death?

        3. None. You will be controlled by a card with credit on it and they will decide what you can buy with it. They will have the power to decline any purchase you want to make that they don’t think is necessary. So you can forget such things as nice garden plants if they deem them non-essential to your happiness. They will control you and you WILL be happy.
          No doubt, at some point, they will introduce, ‘ethical suicide parlours’ a la Kurt Vonnegut, for those who wish to opt out.

          1. In many countries it is now legal for the terminally ill to receive professionally assisted suicide. Germany just allowed it after a five year ban.

            Though i do believe it the right of the individual, especially if they are in such pain at the end of their lives, we will see the same thing as happened with abortion…on demand.

            Good morning, JR.

          2. I agree. That is with the right to terminate your life if you wish and especially if you are in pain either physically or mentally and there is no other way out. As you know I had to quite posting for a couple of months due to treatment for cancer. I could do nothing and my quality of life was near zero. Of course, I understood that it was temporary but, if it had not been. I really would not have wished to continue, it would have been pointless. My plants, which I love, were dying around me and that, it seemed that was a metaphor for what was happening. A loss of control that not only harmed me but harmed other things around me. And I really hasted asking people for anything, it is just not in my nature. In that sort of condition, really, what is the virtue in continuing? The knowledge that it was a temporary phase in my life is what kept me going. If it hadn’t been for that I would have complained about the inability to sleep. Ended up, hopefully with sleeping pills, and taken the lot all at once.
            Welcome to the Monkey House. A synopsis.

            https://www.gradesaver.com/kurt-vonnegut-short-stories/study-guide/summary-welcome-to-the-monkey-house

            I guess you know that Kurt Vonnegut was a POW in Dresden when it was firebombed. Hence his rather black comedy style.

  14. Morning, All. Pleasant start to the day in N Essex.

    Watch this piece from Steve Bannon’s War Room featuring Miranda Divine of the New York Post opining on EU values and then ask yourself, in the light of his actions since Brexit: why did Johnson take control of the Brexit campaign? Our worst fears…

    Miranda Divine – Steve Bannon’s War Room

  15. Good Moaning.
    There are times when a few words trigger thought.
    This from a LONG DT article:
    “The Dutch did away with their tanks in 2011, although leased some back after Russia’s invasion of Crimea.”
    How do you lease a tank? Do you pop into a defence equivalent of Brighthouse or does the deal cover three years with the option to buy at the end of it?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/14/end-tank/

    1. The contract’s clause re damage on return must make for an interesting read.

      Morning, Anne.

    2. I think our very own Uberstleutnant, of Castlemartin (ish) could help us with that

      1. That’s not a bloody tank! Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked), CVR(T) aka the Alvis Scorpion.

    3. All very brave and all that. But not a word of the Ukrainians who were busy slagging off their own troops for fighting the Russians. No status you see, just ordinary people.

  19. A belated good morning to all. A bright and frosty start this morning with -2°C in the yard and it will, no doubt, warm up as the morning progresses.

  21. This is an excellent breakdown.
    Batteries, they do not make electricity – they store electricity produced elsewhere, primarily by coal, uranium, natural gas-powered plants, or diesel-fueled generators. So, to say an EV is a zero-emission vehicle is not at all valid.
    Also, since forty percent of the electricity generated in the U.S. is from coal-fired plants, it follows that forty percent of the EVs on the road are coal-powered, do you see?”
    But that is not half of it. For those of you excited about electric cars and a green revolution, I want you to take a closer look at batteries and also windmills and solar panels.
    A typical EV battery weighs one thousand pounds, about the size of a travel trunk. It contains twenty-five pounds of lithium, sixty pounds of nickel, 44 pounds of manganese, 30 pounds cobalt, 200 pounds of copper, and 400 pounds of aluminum, steel, and plastic. Inside are over 6,000 individual lithium-ion cells.
    To manufacture each EV auto battery, you must process 25,000 pounds of brine for the lithium, 30,000 pounds of ore for the cobalt, 5,000 pounds of ore for the nickel, and 25,000 pounds of ore for copper. All told, you dig up 500,000 pounds of the earth’s crust for one battery.”
    The main problem with solar arrays is the chemicals needed to process silicate into the silicon used in the panels. To make pure enough silicon requires processing it with hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrogen fluoride, trichloroethane, and acetone. In addition, they also need gallium, arsenide, copper-indium-gallium- diselenide, and cadmium-telluride, which also are highly toxic. Silicon dust is a hazard to the workers, and the panels cannot be recycled.
    Windmills are the ultimate in embedded costs and environmental destruction. Each weighs 1688 tons (the equivalent of 23 houses) and contains 1300 tons of concrete, 295 tons of steel, 48 tons of iron, 24 tons of fiberglass, and the hard to extract rare earths neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium. Each blade weighs 81,000 pounds and will last 15 to 20 years, at which time it must be replaced. We cannot recycle used blades.
    There may be a place for these technologies, but you must look beyond the myth of zero emissions.
    “Going Green” may sound like the Utopian ideal but when you look at the hidden and embedded costs realistically with an open mind, you can see that Going Green is more destructive to the Earth’s environment than meets the eye, for sure.

    1. …and 400 pounds of aluminum(sic), steel, and plastic.

      At this point the “green” politicians’ and green activists’ eyes glazed over and they all went into denial mode.

        1. I didn’t know that but I do know that across the pond ‘aluminum’ is the preferred way of referring to aluminium.

    2. “…one thousand pounds, about the size of a travel trunk…” That’s why I let the Sultana carry our luggage.

    3. And they made fun of the old Morris Minor because its bodywork included a wooden frame.

      Please tell me the environmental load of an ash tree.

        1. Since that now comes up as Page Not Found, I’ll risk boring with the full version:

          Going Green isn’t really so Green!

          This is an excellent breakdown.

          Batteries, they do not make electricity – they store electricity produced elsewhere, primarily by coal, uranium, natural gas-powered plants, or diesel-fuelled generators. So, to say an EV is a zero-emission vehicle is not at all valid.

          Also, since forty percent of the electricity generated in the U.S. is from coal-fired plants, it follows that forty percent of the EVs on the road are coal-powered, do you see?”

          Einstein’s formula, E=MC2, tells us it takes the same amount of energy to move a five-thousand-pound gasoline-driven automobile a mile as it does an electric one. The only question again is what produces the power? To reiterate, it does not come from the battery; the battery is only the storage device, like a gas tank in a car.

          There are two orders of batteries, rechargeable, and single-use. The most common single-use batteries are A, AA, AAA, C, D. 9V, and lantern types. Those dry-cell species use zinc, manganese, lithium, silver oxide, or zinc and carbon to store electricity chemically. Please note they all contain toxic, heavy metals.

          Rechargeable batteries only differ in their internal materials, usually lithium-ion, nickel-metal oxide, and nickel-cadmium. The United States uses three billion of these two battery types a year, and most are not recycled; they end up in landfills. California is the only state which requires all batteries be recycled. If you throw your small, used batteries in the trash, here is what happens to them.

          All batteries are self-discharging. That means even when not in use, they leak tiny amounts of energy. You have likely ruined a flashlight or two from an old, ruptured battery. When a battery runs down and can no longer power a toy or light, you think of it as dead; well, it is not. It continues to leak small amounts of electricity. As the chemicals inside it run out, pressure builds inside the battery’s metal casing, and eventually, it cracks. The metals left inside then ooze out. The ooze in your ruined flashlight is toxic, and so is the ooze that will inevitably leak from every battery in a landfill. All batteries eventually rupture; it just takes rechargeable batteries longer to end up in the landfill.

          In addition to dry cell batteries, there are also wet cell ones used in automobiles, boats, and motorcycles. The good thing about those is, ninety percent of them are recycled. Unfortunately, we do not yet know how to recycle single-use ones properly.

          But that is not half of it. For those of you excited about electric cars and a green revolution, I want you to take a closer look at batteries and also windmills and solar panels. These three technologies share what we call environmentally destructive production costs.

          A typical EV battery weighs one thousand pounds, about the size of a travel trunk. It contains twenty-five pounds of lithium, sixty pounds of nickel, 44 pounds of manganese, 30 pounds cobalt, 200 pounds of copper, and 400 pounds of aluminium, steel, and plastic. Inside are over 6,000 individual lithium-ion cells.

          It should concern you that all those toxic components come from mining. For instance, to manufacture each EV auto battery, you must process 25,000 pounds of brine for the lithium, 30,000 pounds of ore for the cobalt, 5,000 pounds of ore for the nickel, and 25,000 pounds of ore for copper. All told, you dig up 500,000 pounds of the earth’s crust for just – one – battery.

          “Sixty-eight percent of the world’s cobalt, a significant part of a battery, comes from the Congo. Their mines have no pollution controls, and they employ children who die from handling this toxic material. Should we factor in these diseased kids as part of the cost of driving an electric car?”

          I’d like to leave you with these thoughts. California is building the largest battery in the world near San Francisco, and they intend to power it from solar panels and windmills. They claim this is the ultimate in being ‘green,’ but it is not. This construction project is creating an environmental disaster. Let me tell you why.

          The main problem with solar arrays is the chemicals needed to process silicate into the silicon used in the panels. To make pure enough silicon requires processing it with hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrogen fluoride, trichloroethane, and acetone. In addition, they also need gallium, arsenide, copper-indium-gallium- diselenide, and cadmium-telluride, which also are highly toxic. Silicon dust is a hazard to the workers, and the panels cannot be recycled.

          Windmills are the ultimate in embedded costs and environmental destruction. Each weighs 1688 tons (the equivalent of 23 houses) and contains 1300 tons of concrete, 295 tons of steel, 48 tons of iron, 24 tons of fiberglass, and the hard to extract rare earths neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium. Each blade weighs 81,000 pounds and will last 15 to 20 years, at which time it must be replaced. We cannot recycle used blades.

          There may be a place for these technologies, but you must look beyond the myth of zero emissions.

          “Going Green” may sound like the Utopian ideal but when you look at the hidden and embedded costs realistically with an open mind, you can see that Going Green is more destructive to the Earth’s environment than meets the eye, for sure.

          Obviously copied/pasted from:

          https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=stop%20solar%20and%20wind%20farms%20john%20pew

    7. Alec,

      The writer failed his arithmetic exam. That 1000 pound battery has 759lbs of components, where is the rest of the beef?

    1. The poor fellow may only have one arm, or worse, arms of different lengths. Then again, he may have bought his clothes at Burtons?

        2. My sister and I used to buy those for our Dad! I would have been about 6, and my sister 10! Where did those years go?

  23. Good Morning! Did the West give a green light to Putin to raid the Ukraine in the same way as Madeleine Albright gave the green light to Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait?
    It has certainly knocked the world’s worst horror pandemic off the news.

    2. It is possible that they provoked the conflict by sharply increasing the number of attacks on the Donbass region. Or maybe they reached an agreement with Putin, who knows.

    1. Micron trying to be butch. Doesn’t quite pull it off. What’s that on his shirt CPA 10. Chartered Public Accountant division 10?

      1. “Commando Parachutiste de l’Air nᵒ10,” A unit similar to the SAS. You can see how well it suits him….

        1. You and David may be right in fact but I’m 100% certain I’m right in spirit.

  27. As the UK has gone sanction crazy, will we now sanction India for striking a deal with Russia to buy oil at a knockdown price?

      1. No country – NO country – that makes nuclear weapons and has a space programme should receive ONE PENNY of UK taxpayers’ money.

          5. Smelly stuff. Woad making was confined to families who had to live outside the village.
            If you were too smelly for the average mediaeval peasant, you must have seriously honked.

        2. They call it projecting soft power. Anyone who has ever had dealings with Arabs and Wogs know they will smile, nod and take the money then ask where the rest of it is.

    2. I think they have been threatened with sanctions already, by the USA, for not toeing the party line.
      How you feeling today? Fine I hope.

      1. Much better now i’m home. Thanks. That is the second time in 12 months i have had a face to face with my GP. And the second time i have ended up in the Acute Medical Unit.

          1. Friday E-consult.
            Monday called to GP for ECG. She thought i had had a heart attack. It took her 20 minutes to contact the hospital as they weren’t answering. Then the phone went dead. Finally got through to 999

            Off to hospital. Sirens were fun. Then tests and 7 hours of waiting in misery.
            I hadn’t eaten since 9 am. Hospital Doctor said i hadn’t had a heart attack. And i wouldn’t be admitted but to wait to see the consultant.

            Walked out at 6pm with the canula still attached.
            Abandoned the wheelchair too.

            I’m supposed to be doing more walking anyway.

          1. So are hospitals. There was lots of coughing in the waiting room to the acute wards.

            When i saw people i had been sitting with for hours on end getting their overnight bags and settling sown in the waiting room i gave up. No beds you see.

    4. Yes, serious confiscation of assets from those who hold a family interest in Indian companies. We can start with Sunak or whatever he’s called.

  28. Unconscionably nice day here 50f. and sunny. Good morning to all and I trust that everyone is having a good day.

    Nothing much to say about todays letter. It is the usual handkerchief wringing hypocrisy: “We have already seen attacks on civilians and the near annihilation of at least one town”. But we are going to ignore the 14,000 killed by Ukraine in Donetsk. Ho Hum. I wonder how many of these people are aware that apart from the West. No one is following the party line with much enthusiasm, if any at all. People like the Laotian’s, Cambodians and Vietnamese must wonder what all the fuss is about. After all they were carpet bombed with napalm and poisoned with Agent Orange. I’m sure that would have regarded the thoughtfulness of the Russians in Ukraine as bliss.

      1. Bill, you are an old dinosaur. “O” Levels went out with the car starting handle! Lol. It’s all GCSEs now.

        3. I can only speak about the English Language and Lit CSEs but, when they did away with the CSEs they lost two very good exams in that subject. Did away with CSEs and Os, thereby ruining two good sets of exam.

      2. I would have said CSEs before they merged “O” levels with C.S.E.s to make G.C.S.E.s.

        I got out of schoolmastering in England and moved to France because of Conflict of Interest when they introduced GCSE.

        As a teacher I was pretty competitive and wanted my sets to get the best results in their exams. But when I was expected to mark coursework, which formed a large part of the GCSE grade, I had a conflict of interest. I had not been employed to be an examiner or judge I had been employed to do my best to get the best possible results for my pupils and that was my priority.

      3. At 19 yrs old. Tut tut, a degree at least. Her apologists accuse her detractors of abusing a child and don’t respond when her actual age is pointed out. She has “learning difficulties” of course.

    1. I see that Halfcock has said he’s taking in a refugee – hasn’t the poor Ukrainian suffered enough?

    2. There are various questions that need answering:

      Do you get £350 per person per month or £350 per family per month?

      Is the deal open-ended – can you terminate it at any time?

      What happens if you cannot get on with the family you get and if they cannot get on with you?

      If your ‘guests’ damage your property who pays for the damage?

      Are you expected to provide full board and meals?

      I have spent some time living in very close contact with good friends in a small boat and of course there were tensions from time to time even though we got on pretty well with each other and – after 37 years we are still friends!. Caroline and I also spent some time confined on Mianda with our sons who became – as they do – adolescent. The point I am making is that having strangers living with you indefinitely is likely to cause enormous strain. To be honest I would not want to live with some of my best friends who would not want to live with me! I also spent ten years from the age of 8 – 18 at boarding schools so I do have some experience of the practical problems of living in close proximity with others.

      1. And why just £350 per month when they must be spending in excess of £160 per day housing illegals who are fleeing from the war in France??

      2. If you are lucky you might be asked to house one of what used to be termed the Ukranian Mafia.

        Just settle for a five percent kickback on their business dealings, you will soon be able to add another garden shed and bring in several more refugees.

      3. They’ll have to do better than the current offer, when they’re paying £127 per night for the illegals in 4 star hotels (soon to be hovels).

      5. A BTL comment under a DT article on this house a refugee scheme.

        Bettina Thwaite

        8 HRS AGO

        This plan was surely scribbled on the back of an envelope. People are volunteering which is wonderful. But has anyone explained the nitty gritty. £ 350 is actually £ 280 if you’re a standard taxpayer, £200 higher tax payer. You will also lose your council tax rebate if a single occupant. I say nothing of the increase in your mortgage interest rate & increase in insurance premiums. Plus Mum & a couple of kiddies, which appears to be the average, will surely need their own bathroom- one can improvise for a week or so maybe but not long term. What happens if the owners want to move? What happens about schooling- my local one is full, ditto GPs. I’m sorry to seem negative but I do wonder how much thought has been put into this & how many problems will emerge. I suspect this idea is based on saving money at the expense of the volunteers.

    3. There are various questions that need answering:

      Do you get £350 per person per month or £350 per family per month?

      Is the deal open-ended – can you terminate it at any time?

      What happens if you cannot get on with the family you get and if they cannot get on with you?

      If your ‘guests’ damage your property who pays for the damage?

      Are you expected to provide full board and meals?

      I have spent some time living in very close contact with good friends in a small boat and of course there were tensions from time to time even though we got on pretty well with each other and – after 37 years we are still friends!. Caroline and I also spent some time confined on Mianda with our sons who became – as they do – adolescent. The point I am making is that having strangers living with you indefinitely is likely to cause enormous strain. To be honest I would not want to live with some of my best friends who would not want to live with me! I also spent ten years from the age of 8 – 18 at boarding schools so I do have some experience of the practical problems of living in close proximity with others.

    2. First time they’ve seen straight hair ?
      He’s the image of our middle son when he was about 7 years old.
      I once asked them when footage of the Frank Bruno the boxer was on TV, what do you notice about him and the reply was he’s got curly hair

    1. Of course it had nothing to do with health – they just didn’t want you to stand out from the crowd – despite how it may injure (or kill) you.

    2. 351388+ up ticks,,

      Morning LD
      There are more ways of running a cull to make it look justified than there are at skinning a cat.

      Take TB for instance near eradicated re- introduced via the lab/lib/con / ballot booth.

  39. I see some pratt of a limp dem has been moaning about the size of the royal family and how much do they cost us.
    Get yer priorities right you idiot, think about it laterally, how much does the RF (usually) bring in in tourist pounds. And on the same level how much does the
    H o L cost us and your dopey mob of useless inefficient shysters in west-monster cost the treasury. And what reward do the public get from your lot, except continual cock ups, set backs, vain attempts at excuses and price increase.

    2. The whole point is to undermine that institution. Once they have done that they know that they have killed England. That is their intent. It is why on this forum, as people know, I get very miffed at attacks on the royal family and, in particular, the heir to the throne. It is not the person that counts, it is the institution and all it stands for and any loyal Englishman, in my opinion, should support it and not tolerate any attempt by the left to undermine it.

      1. The problem with the current heir to the throne is that he is no match for his mother. She has been such a stalwart for the entire lifetime of most of the population of this country. Charlie is a limp greenie.

        2. Not the point. Besides which, I don’t agree with that estimation of Charles. And it is rather unfair to equate him with his mother given that she has been monarch for longer than most people have been alive. Charles has had no chance to demonstrate what he would be like as a monarch. And if you want criticism, then I think Elizabeth has plenty to answer for. She is a flawed icon but people choose to ignore that.
          But I do not spell out my criticisms because of the principles I hold concerning our monarchy. But to put it broadly, as a monarchist, I disapprove of many of her actions.

          1. Any puppet would do the job as a powerless figurehead.

            I do believe the monarchy is important as an institution, but the holder of the office does have some responsibility to uphold its values.

          4. She has not defended the powers of an English monarch but has been happy to let them be usurped by government. Thus weakening the monarchies power to be a break on the system if it goes rogue.

          5. Blair removed the House of Lords as a brake on the Commons too.
            We had the most stable, benevolent dictatorship with aspects of democracy in the world until it was dismantled by Blair. I would have him in court in a shot, to face the death penalty for what he did to my country.

          6. Agree. If it was up to me I would restore the hereditary peers. But at this point, even that would be fruitless because those who are peers now have not been brought up with the expectation that they do their duty as were their ancestors.

          7. A flawed monarch is one thing, and the monarchy can survive that.
            A monarch whose allegiance is outside the British Isles is quite another matter. I don’t think we’ve ever had that before.
            Loyalty is a two way street, the monarchy only works as long as it is loyal to us as well.

          8. A monarch whose allegiance is outside the British Isles is quite another matter.
            We have had plenty of them. More or Less all of the Plantagenets to start with, William the Conqueror, The Catholics too, Queen Mary, James II. etc. The early Hanoverians.

          9. The early Plantagenets knew perfectly well which side their bread was buttered, which is why they remained resident in England. William the Conqueror’s greatest achievement was the conquest of England – it was by far his most important possession.
            The only monarch whose loyalty was arguably outside the British isles was Mary Tudor, loyal to the Pope and married to a Spaniard – with predictable consequences. No British monarch can hope to swear allegiance to a foreign group or individual and keep the loyalty of the British people – even when they do it sneakily like Charles and William.
            James II also got kicked out for similar reasons.
            The early Hanoverians recognised a good thing when they saw it, which is why they abandoned Hanover to come to Britain.

            Note, I did not say a British monarch, I said one whose allegiance is to the British isles. Charles’s allegiance is to his WEF buddies and their globalist ideals.
            Only two years ago, I thought like you – it’s Charles’s and William’s behaviour that has changed my mind.

          10. I don’t think there is any question that Charles first loyalty is to the British Isles. For William, I cannot say. Charles thinking, in fact, differs little from his fathers. A fact that people tend to forget.

          11. There is every question about Charles’s loyalty. He supports vocally every pillar of the WEF agenda, all of which are detrimental to the interests of the British people.
            Perhaps Charles does feel he is loyal to “the British Isles” but he certainly sees us, the British people as expendable and replaceable. That is absolutely clear from his behaviour.

            The Duke of Edinburgh is an interesting case – his loyalty, as far as I can see, was to himself and his family – however, he was clever enough to realise that these interests would be jeopardised if the British people cottoned onto that, so he effectively played the role of being a loyal Englishman whilst unimpeachably serving the Crown (so effectively, being one). I do admire a man who is intelligent enough to put greater interests above his own ego!
            I think he influenced Elizabeth enormously, to the point where he was the real monarch until shortly before his death. Since then, we’ve seen the most appalling turn of policy, which appears to be a clumsy attempt to “smooth the transition” by deferring decision-making to Charles, who promptly used his power to push the monarchy into active support for the great reset.
            We are in a war, and the monarchy is on the other side.

            I will certainly owe or pay no allegiance to a monarch who is happy to see me masked, locked up, with only a CBDC to spend on restricted goods, forcibly jabbed and carrying a digital id while he carries on travelling round the world on private jets in perfect freedom.

          12. I simply do not see that your assertion is factual at all that Charles sees the British people as “expendable” and I don’t see anything in his behaviour that indicates that.

          13. He supports mass migration and the great replacement, and generally shows himself to be in favour of islam at all opportunities (on record). He would crawl a mile over broken glass for a photo opportunity with someone dark skinned. He was an enthusiastic pusher of masks and vaccines (on record), and has a eugenicist as his environment adviser (on record). His environmental agenda of organic food for all is clearly impossible unless the population reduces considerably (on record). He advocated for housing to be built in rows “because it takes less space.” (on record) He virtue-signals by running a car on alcohol that an ordinary citizen couldn’t afford, while lecturing against using petrol cars, which ordinary citizens can afford (on record). He was photographed at the G7 last year mask free and mixing with international delegates at a time when ordinary citizens were forced to wear masks and not mingle (on record).
            This is all WEF-compliant stuff. If it were just his own preferences, he would simply be a bad monarch, and could be lived through. But he is quoted all over the WEF website and has been active with them (on record). The WEF agenda is against nation states, and Charles’s support for immigration and immigrants suggests that he is on board with that part of the agenda as well.
            A monarch whose main loyalty is to the British people wouldn’t be mixed up with globalist politics, full stop.
            As I said before we are in a fight with the WEF agenda, and Charles has made it clear which side he is on, and it’s not ours.
            You can choose to ignore the above if you like, but it has converted me away from being a monarchist.

          14. Sorry but you very obviously don’t like him and it seems to me that colours your judgement rather strongly of him. I would say to the point of caricature. But you also forget that he is at liberty to do these things as he so pleases but, when he becomes monarch, all that must end and he must cease to pursue politics and policies that are at variance with the government. In fact he is expected to be above all politics period. So until then and since it will be soon, unfortunately, we will see. I think he will surprise everyone.

          15. Not at all. He is a very professional diplomat, and good at representing Britain abroad. He is interested in the arts, and promotes many good things, and he has done a very good job managing the Duchy of Cornwall. I don’t even see his political meddling as a problem either, as it’s in the tradition of eighteenth and nineteenth century kings. The only thing I see as a problem is his globalist allegiance – and the first decisions he has made as monarch have been a disaster, if he was the one responsible for pushing the monarchy into open support of the covid scam. With access to the best experts, it’s inconceivable that he is unaware.

            We will clearly never agree on this subject 🙂
            Good night, and sweet dreams!

          16. Good morning and I hope you had sweet dreams, I rarely remember mine. As for Charles. Perhaps we will agree, one way or the other, when he becomes king.

      2. I would describe myself as loyal, but I am an anti-monarchist. My loyalty is to the country in which I was born and in which I still live, not to the institution of monarchy.

        1. Then you are, I strongly believe, inviting the destruction of this country. Because the two, country and the monarchy are indivisible, as our history so clearly shows.

          1. Thank you, Johnathan for putting that so succinctly – I was struggling to get there.

          2. The idea of having a head of state whose sole qualification for the position is through the accident of birth is absurd.

          3. You’d prefer to elect a dictatorial president every 5 years at enormous cost and enormous vote-rigging.

            I know which I prefer – it’s worked reasonably well for 1,000 years at least.

          4. There is more than one model of a Republic. It’s always ‘President Blair’. The Irish model seems to work ok.

          5. A lick-spittle to the EU?
            Who are you kidding.

            Tell me. How do you think a President Blair can be prevented.?

          6. Depends on what you mean. If you mean a President Blair with the same powers as the US President, choose a different type of constitution. Otherwise, the electorate has the choice. It didn’t choose too badly in the 2016 referendum…

          7. Our present constitution provides a Head of State, the Monarch, who has similar powers to the Irish equivalent.

            An essentially powerless, elected, HoS adds nothing to what we already have and apart from narcissists/showmen is unlikely to attract anyone of any great calibre. Changing to a US/Russian/French or Chinese style one could easily get us a Blair or a Biden or a Trump or similar.

          8. I agree that the substitution of my type of state would mean very little difference. It is the sheer absurdity of the hereditary system to which I object. It is demonstrating that certain people have, by the accident of birth, rights and privileges which most people are not entitled to. That is unfair.

          9. Life’s not fair.

            If you feel that strongly about it, surely everyone should have the same rights and privileges that you and I have, purely and simply because of a fortunate birth.
            the reality is that it can’t be achieved, even if you believe it is possible for everyone to own nothing and be happy under a new world order.

            The strong will always take from the weak and will almost always favour their “own”.

          10. That is how kings became kings – by grabbing power, and passing it on to their descendants. There must be a better way of governing a country. If a new nation were to be instituted, the very last system of government one would choose would be a monarchical one.

          11. Agreed, but that still wouldn’t stop the robber barons preying on those weaker than themselves. For robber barons read oligarchs, powerful politicians, powerful business people etc.

            Look at any system of Government in any country in the world. They all have their elites, the haves and the have nots, and I don’t see human nature ever changing that.

          12. True. What I object to is the fact that in a monarchical system, elitism is enshrined in law.

          14. You do know that Constitutional Monarchies are generally regarded as the best form of government around due to their stability by people who study forms of government. So why would you want to mess with that when all you can offer is something inferior?

          15. Difference of opinion. I believe the monarchical system is unfair, therefore inferior. I have given my reason for believing so. We must agree to disagree. I do not intend to debate further.

          16. Difference of opinion maybe. But you haven’t come up with a rational alternative.

          17. No more than any other. In fact it is a great deal more rational than having a voted in mediocrity as head of the country.

          18. For all but the youngest ones they go through decades of training for what is to all intents and purposes an honorary role.

            I look around the world at the elected ones, and quite honestly I wouldn’t pay them in peanuts.
            The thought of President Blair or Khan fills me with horror and both could be contenders.

          21. Then pick a random child from the population and train him/her. The result should be the same, but with the selection procedure fairer than the current system.

          22. Which child, Hindi, Muslim or no faith?

            I think you are clutching at straws, old chap.

          23. Why does faith matter? Just choose a child randomly as soon as it is born. Does the Head of State have to be head of the CofE? Why? Most people in the UK are non-religious, so perhaps the child should be raised as an atheist.

          24. “Does the Head of State have to be head of the CofE?”

            Under our constitution, yes.

          26. Which, I think, would require either an Act of Parliament and/or a Referendum and the Monarch’s signature.

          28. But without the continuity and without the background. I seriously doubt that they would do as well by a long shot.

          32. Wasn’t a random child though. Wasn’t even a child to their way of thinking. Tulku’s are not children and, by the way, to cut it off at the pass, they aren’t reincarnations either.

          45. Because even if you could raise an army, the globalist might is ranged against you. The Prince of Wales licks ass with the WEF because they and not you have the means to remove him.

            Yet still, if the masses rose up and declared a true hero their king…well, that’s why the masses are being rendered comatose.

          46. When you look round – at this country and many others – I would argue that accident of birth produces the better result. Even the Commonwealth countries – with the Queen nominally at its head – seem to be throwing up some dire characters actually r)u)inning them.
            Mugabe, Banda, Turdeau, Ardern etc….
            Overseas we have Biden, Putin, Xi, Merkel …….

          48. True but as you know, Turdeau and Ardent are both politicos, elected to ru(i)n their countries and The Queen, being a Constitutional Monarch, may not meddle in politics.

        2. What would you rather have then, Aeneas, a President? I think that would be a big mistake involving politics, which the Queen avoids like the plague (and so should future monarchs), and hugely increased expenditure. Without the monarchy’s tourist attraction. As with Police and Crime Commissioners, they then have an entourage of their own, another office to run, proliferating office staff, etc. etc. plus probably an “Air Force One” à la USA. That’s not what I want anyway.

          5. Other countries with a figurehead President are available. Ireland is the closest. Many other countries seem to be getting by after ridding themselves of their monarchs.

          7. If you take tourist attraction as a justification for the Royal Family, France attracts more tourists than the UK without a monarchy.

          8. I didn’t make that claim but France gets its popularity because, underSchengen, the tourists may leave tout suite.

          16. Didn’t we try that once? Old Noll Cromwell, followed by his son Richard? They wanted a king back.

          17. The Lord Protector was not an elected President of a modern-day Republic. He was more of a dictator.

          18. With the current penchant for mission creep, such could be the end game of any elected president of a modern-day republic, no? After all Herr H was elected and look where he ended up.

      3. I certainly take your point – and agree with it – that the institution of our monarchy is more important than the holder of the office. However I do not agree that we should suspend our critical faculties altogether.

        The current Queen is excellent and an example to us all but there have certainly been some duds in the past just as there may be some duds in the future!

      4. There aren’t many people in the UK who have worked as tirelessly and as long as the senior royals. And Especially not, all those loud mouthed useless politician’s.

    3. When I was doing A Level at school, the term “Invisible Exports” was applied to tourism (aided by the attraction of the Royal Family and Pomp and Circumstance).

      1. I once knew an American family who have never been to their next state, but came across to see Buck House and museum’s in Lundon Engerland.

    1. We must be hypnotised to have the acceptable views on : a) BLM b) Corona Virus c) Gene therapy Injections d) The Ukraine

      Shouldn’t climate change be in there somewhere?

    1. I’m sure that he will see his way clear to enlighten you after he’s rested his one good eye.

  43. The Norman Tebbit article referred to elsewhere:

    I’m proud of my time in Parliament, but now it’s time to retire

    Looking back, I’m sure that many of the Thatcher government’s accomplishments were possible only because of my reforms to trade union law

    NORMAN TEBBIT • Monday 14th March 2022 • 12:20pm

    My health has been getting a good deal worse since the beginning of this year. I have been getting a lot of pain, particularly from the damage done to my left hip in the IRA terrorist bombing of the Brighton Grand Hotel in Oct 1984. Those injuries, together with my old age (I will be 91 at the end of this month) have slowed me down and left me increasingly dependent on painkillers.

    Then the anti-motorist policies of the London authorities have made the chore of driving in from my home in Suffolk to Westminster far worse. I also have to take a carer with me on such a trip and I decided a little while ago that I would resign my membership of the House of Lords at the end of March.

    My route to frontline politics

    Back in the early years of the first post-war Labour government, it became clear that the Soviet Union had territorial ambitions. The government began a programme both to create a nuclear deterrent and to rebuild our reserve Armed Forces, particularly the Royal Air Force. When I registered for my national service in 1949, I expressed my preference for pilot training in the RAF.

    Two years later, I had completed my training, was discharged and joined Number 604, County of Middlesex Squadron, flying first Vampires and then the Meteor jet fighters. We flew mostly at weekends with an annual fortnight’s “summer camp” usually in Malta. Most of my fellow pilots had seen action during the Second World War. They were also upper-middle class professionals from whom I learned a great deal about the wider world.

    In 1956, I got married and stood down from the Royal Air Force, but continued to fly in British Overseas Airways. At that time, the Conservative government of Edward Heath [Anthony Eden, surely?] was in difficulties and I wrote to Iain Macleod, the party chairman, telling him what I thought that the government needed to do to put matters right.

    He replied saying simply: “If you are so sure you know what should be done, why do you not come and help us to do it?” From that moment, I determined that I would.

    My career plan was to fight the safe Labour seat of Epping, do well but fall short of winning, and then seek a solid Conservative seat to fight at the following election. However, to my surprise and the even greater surprise of the incumbent Labour MP Stan Newens, I took the seat from him, winning with a majority of 2,575 votes. Clearly, it would have been impossible to continue both my flying and political careers, so my life on the flight deck came to an abrupt end.

    Years later, as the minister responsible for civil aviation policy, I was able to draw on my experience of those years when it fell to me to identify the right man to promote to be chairman of the airline. In those years at Westminster, I made some enemies, the Labour leader Michael Foot amongst them. He was stung to call me “a semi-house trained polecat” when I described his defence of the closed shop in industrial relations as “undiluted fascism”.

    However, I made far more friends than enemies. Sadly, I lost all too many of those friends to the IRA terrorists – Airey Neave and Ian Gow amongst them – and the Brighton attack also left my wife wheelchair-bound for the last 36 years of her life.

    So it came about that last week Baroness Evans of Bowes Park, the Leader of The House of Lords, very kindly laid on a party to celebrate my half-century of service in the Commons and the Lords and invited my three children and half-a-dozen of my political friends to a lunch time glass or two of bubbly in her office.

    Later, I took my place in the chamber of the Lords for prayers for the last time and then sat through the beginning of question time in the sight of my daughter and two sons in the public gallery.

    Thinking back over those years, I am sure that many of the Thatcher government’s accomplishments were possible only because of my programme of reform of the law governing trade unions. Until those reforms, the unions were exempt from civil law; their members had no right to elect their leaders and in many industries the closed shop allowed them to secure the dismissal of workers who did not pay union dues or obey union instructions.

    Following those reforms, Nissan came to the United Kingdom and then other manufacturers followed.

    BTL is almost entirely complimentary. Here are two that develop the theme of the last century:

    David Jory
    Thank you for all you have done. I hope you keep busy with these columns.
    Funny to think of what Michael Foot said of you when he seemed to believe in ‘everything within the state, nothing outside the state and nothing against the state,’ as Il Duce described Fascism.

    Canute Turner
    Indeed, the success of the whole Left/Right dichotomy foisted on the political debate by socialists has done immense harm.

    From NT’s Wiki entry:

    In 1975, six men (the ‘Ferrybridge Six’) were dismissed from their jobs because of the introduction of a closed shop and were denied unemployment benefit. The Secretary of State for Employment, Michael Foot, commented: “A person who declines to fall in with new conditions of employment which result from a collective agreement may well be considered to have brought about his own dismissal”. Tebbit accused Foot of “pure undiluted fascism” and affirmed that this “left Mr Foot exposed as a bitter opponent of freedom and liberty”. The next day (2nd December) The Times first leader – titled “IS MR FOOT A FASCIST?” – quoted Tebbit and went on:

    Mr Foot’s doctrine is intolerable because it is a violation of the liberty of the ordinary man in his job. Mr Tebbit is therefore using fascism in a legitimate descriptive sense when he accuses Mr. Foot of it. We perhaps need to revive the phrase “social fascism” to describe the modern British development of the corporate state and its bureaucratic attack on personal liberty. The question is not therefore: “is Mr. Foot a fascist?” but “does Mr. Foot know he is a fascist?”

    Left and right indeed. It is the manner in which the ‘Left’ has developed – stolen, even – the language of politics over the last 60-70 years that makes debate so difficult. For the ‘Left’, the now all but defunct BNP was ‘far-right’ even though most of its manifestos were 1980s Labour because it was comprised of disgruntled ex-Labour voters. Tax cuts are ‘right-wing’, racism is ‘right-wing’, Tories like tax cuts, ergo…

    For them, a fascist is so obviously of the ‘Right’ that there’s no point even in discussing the matter. Ask no questions. Smash their faces. Set the world free with violence.

      2. Oleg Gordievsky’s allegations have never been proven, but there was a story that, when Foot was editor of the Tribune, Gordievsky would surreptitiously leave quantities of money, three or four fivers for example, in Foot’s jacket pocket whenever he visited the Tribune office in order to support the struggling paper.

          1. Michael Foot was, allegedly, so far out of the real world that he never thought to query where the money came from.

          5. That would be his donkey jacket, I presume – the one he wore to the Cenotaph remembrance ceremony.

      3. Well, without looking at the intimate detail of tradecraft and “letter drops” we can look at what passed for policy. We forced our defence industries into collapse. Our aircraft industry was ahead of everyone else, but vacillation and penny-pinching resulted in our giving up production, and then buying from the USA. A policy that has cost us lots of money, dissolved our infrastructure, and greatly reduced our independence.
        (If anyone doubts this, look at Sweden, a country that builds its own planes

    3. There is nobody of Lord Tebbitt’s calibre in the House of Commons. That is why it is such a shambles.

  44. That’s a mug of tea had, now back up the “garden”.
    So far I’ve logged the couple of elm I dropped on Sunday and dropped & logged a half dead ash.
    Counting the rings, one of the elms had about 35y of growth and had died off at the most two or three years ago.

    A useful amount of wood to be cut & split for the fire and, generally, ready seasoned too!

    1. Up until recently, this type of statement would have been greeted with puzzlement, as it is so obviously true that no-one would have felt the need to make it.

        1. I am not a fan of quiz shows but when she was on the Chase, I don’t think I have ever laughed so hard. She was hilarious and Bradley didn’t know what had hit him.

      1. Who can forget she said that Rastus. He is stuck with that observation for life!

    1. So it has! I blocked them but they still took up blank space. Unfortunately I still get them when using my phone.

  47. Time to pause to clap the world-beating NHS.

    The postman brought the MR two letters today. Both written by the same person and sent on the same day. One told her that there were no appointments available for her treatment. The other contained an appointment.

    I wonder what the spamhead slammer thinks of that..

    1. Written by a minion. The appointment arose due to a cancellation and the minion forgot to cancel the first letter.

    2. MH has just received a letter from NHS, I assume a follow up from his visit last week. The envelope looks as though it’s been used about 5 times. Still, at least he’s got it.

    4. In Denmark they have a system a bit like online banking. You log in to look at your correspondence from officialdom, Health Service, State pension etc. Of course in England the last thing any NHS Consultant wants is for a patient to be able to contact him or her.

      1. Bit like The Netherlands. The MR has a small Dutch pension – and she can simply ring up a named bloke who will answer questions, sort out problems there and then.

  48. Thomas Tuchel hits out at Boris Johnson’s spokesperson for telling fans to stop ‘inappropriate’ chants of Roman Abramovich’s name. 15 march 2022

    Thomas Tuchel has questioned the government’s ‘priorities’ after Boris Johnson’s spokesperson told Chelsea fans to stop the ‘completely inappropriate’ chanting of Russian owner Roman Abramovich’s name.

    Blues fans again expressed their backing for Abramovich during Sunday’s win over Newcastle, after he was sanctioned by the government last week over his ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

    I find this rather heartening. Obviously not everyone is being brainwashed by government propaganda!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-10614775/Thomas-Tuchel-hits-Boris-Johnsons-spokesperson-chants.html

  50. Leaving a some time – another lecture starts at 2 pm. I hope the sound is better!!

  51. Why has Boris just said that we must not rely on Russia for hydrocarbons?

    Is is because he has set too ambitious a target for decreasing UK’s reliance on fossil fuels which, as it happens, are hydrocarbons which he has told us not to dig up ourselves?

    Wind, solar and nuclear are capable of making up the shortfall in UK’s energy requirements but you cannot produce all the requirements of modern day life from just an electrical socket on the wall.

    1. Don’t forget that Boris read Classics at Oxford. He probably avoided doing Chemistry at O levels as well.
      I would put money on it that he has no idea what a hydrocarbon is, some civil servant or party apparatchik just thought the term sounded good.

  52. Rude !

    I knocked on my neighbour’s door this morning and said, “Can you have my
    children? I’ll be no longer than a few minutes, I promise.”

    “Sure,” she replied.

    I said, “Great! Get your knickers off then.”

      1. I agree, very funny. Especially if the kids came up with that themselves. Probably did, taking the mick out of schoolgirls in the pool.

        1. When I was at school (all boys in those days) an Australian swimming coach joined the staff and insisted that we participate in that ridiculous “sport” to the detriment of real training.
          Fortunately an American Olympic silver medallist arrived next season and got rid of the idiocy.

          1. He actually expected you to take part in synchronised swimming? What an idiot, it isn’t for boys. It is entirely for the mentality of girls. That’s why the above skit is so funny.

          2. In those days, 50+ years ago, it was relatively new and it was thought boys and girls could participate.
            I think he thought it would be good for breath control and stamina. We only had limited heated pool access so it ate into nearly half each session. I got no benefit whatsoever as far as I could tell.

    1. I gave up on this article. A bit incoherent. History is history. It may or may not repeat itself. However, the US was a threat to Canada and they had to be stopped from taking over. So, if you use that argument, you lose. Try looking at the last 30 years, keeping in mind that before that there was no country called Ukraine. There were some fields called the Ukraine just as the UK has an area called “the Midlands” and the US has “the Plains”.

  55. We have 3 blonde Ukrainian gals wanting to move in with us. My wife said
    “ it will be an extra 900.00 per month.” I replied, “ok, I’ll pay it!”

  56. https://www.takimag.com/article/28309/
    Pat Buchanan

    In an interview with Reuters, Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman for decades, made a startling offer. Moscow could end the Ukraine war immediately, said Peskov, if four conditions were met.
    Ukraine should cease all military action, recognize Crimea as part of Russia, accept the independence of the Luhansk and Donetsk separatist enclaves, and enact a constitutional commitment to “neutrality,” which would prevent Ukraine from ever joining NATO.
    Were this to be done, said Peskov, the war “will stop in a moment.”
    As this would restore the situation in Ukraine to the “status quo ante” that existed before Putin ordered the invasion, Peskov’s offer seemed not to be believable.
    Yet, according to The New York Times, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky “seemed surprisingly open to the idea.    ”

    There follows an interesting analysis which suggests “words and figures differ”

    1. Only that isn’t a “startling offer” it is basically what Putin said in the first place. The difference is the that Donetsk and Luhansk be independent. And considering the conduct of the Ukrainians to those places, who is surprised? The people in those two areas now hate the Ukrainians with a passion so there is no point in Ukraine insisting they keep them. All they would be doing is storing up trouble for themselves. Trouble they would richly deserve for their conduct there. As for Crimea, it is Russian anyway and, again, it doesn’t want to be part of Ukraine.

      1. I think that what Buchanan is saying, is that having invaded, Russia might just as well push for the greater prizes rather than go back to square one. Hence my “words and figures differ” comment

  57. More work done up the hill so another well deserved mug of tea!
    Today I have cut the two elm trees felled on Sunday to stacking lengths, dropped five sickly ash of between 3 & 4″ diameter, logged one and dragged the other 4 down the hill ready for logging & stacking which, having almost finished my mug of tea, I am about to go up & start.

    And no, I do NOT use the American tea making method!
    https://twitter.com/BeardedBob7282/status/1503704930690998275

    1. They do it to get noticed. Also there are many people out there who will take her seriously. Because they live in small rooms where the kitchen consists of a shelf with a sandwich maker and a microwave.

      Do you expect a new ice age or are you looking for El Dorado?

      1. I’ve several fairly hefty ash and elms that are still growing but which will need dropping sometime in the future and to stop them falling onto the sheds means they will need to be pulled uphill as I’m cutting them.
        Clearing the smaller stuff will give me the space needed to rig the ropes and straps I need to pull them.

          3. Firewood and something to do to stop myself from getting bored.

            Also, it helps to keep me fit!

        2. It is almost pointless to offer suggestions, but have you ever tried using an extrending pole saw of the Silky type? That way you could reduce some of the weight on the lower side of the trees, making it slightly easier to force the falling trunk uphill.

  58. We have had a busy morning , my goodness the traffic into Bournemouth was so heavy and as I was driving I had to negotiate lane closures , traffic lights, cars buses heavy lorries , vans , all clattering along at a breakneck speed.. no one seems to slow down .

    Haven’t been that way for a couple of years, we didn’t top up with fuel because diesel prices were horrendous .

    Back home now , exhausted and have just fed the dogs .. Moh is asleep and here am I drinking a mug of tea browsing through the DT .

    I felt so sad when I read the obits , in particular the death of Robbie Brightwell Olympic runner..

    Robbie Brightwell, sprinter who won Olympic silver in Tokyo and cheered on his fiancée Ann Packer to gold – obituary
    He overcame conflict with British officialdom to run an heroic anchor leg and secure an Olympic medal https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/03/10/robbie-brightwell-sprinter-won-olympic-silver-tokyo-cheered/

    1. If Ukraine is doing so well why aren’t we seeing thousands of P o W’s and hundreds and hundreds of destroyed tanks and other vehicles, rather than the same pictures again and again?

      If the Russians are being so indiscriminate in their bombing and shelling why do we not see far more devastation instead of the same hospitals and apartment blocks and people being “rescued”.

      It may well be that Russia is getting what it deserves for invading, but the narrative doesn’t fit the pictures.

      1. Apparently there is one video of the destruction in the Ukraine that is actually from the Beirut ammonium nitrate blast.

    1. It was nice of our gov to throw open our benefits system, health and education services to an uncapped number of people. Don’t spose they will be going home anytime soon.

      1. 100,000 Ukrainians at £360 a month (and that’s assuming that that is all they get) for three years and presumably a lot more for many of them is only 1.3 Billion of tax payers money.

          1. Given that we are allegedly offering open doors to unlimited numbers and that numerous will be individuals rather than families 100,000 cases is not impossible.

    2. Offering special terms to Ukrainian refugees is discrimination. In order to be fair, those people offering places in their homes should be liable to house any asylum seeker, regardless of nationality.

      I bet that would cause quite a few to withdraw their offers.

    3. The Union Flag on the side of the Border Farce boat should have been upside down

      To deliberately fly the flag upside down is a signal indicating a situation of ‘DISTRESS’.

      1. Only pointy-heads can tell if it’s upside down or not.
        Who thought that a good way of signalling distress?

        1. Yo
          Herr Uber slieutnant
          Have you fixed the Klunkie Junk rentatank problem
          (That is how we read the name on they cap ribbons

  61. Russia has just sanctioned a list of named US officials, with more to follow.
    It seems that the lid has been slammed firmly back onto the Ukrainian cookie jar for the likes of Biden, Kerry, Graham and Pelosi.

  62. From a comment in the DT. We are run by complete and utter lunatics.

    “Truncated Cuadrilla comment on ecoloon false fracking assertions:

    Both Lancashire gas exploration wells flowed very high-quality natural gas
    to surface from just a handful of fractures completed in the underlying
    shale rock. The limited number of fractures completed was due to the
    regulatory requirement to halt operations any time micro-seismicity
    induced by fracturing exceeded just 0.5 on the Richter scale. Liverpool
    University equated the impact of 0.5 micro-seismic event to sitting down
    on an office chair.
    Claims that less than 1100th of the huge in
    place gas resource of 37.6 trillion m3 could be extracted – report
    referenced has no actual UK data on gas recovery & uses pre-2010 US
    data, before hydraulic fracturing techniques were advanced to improve
    gas recoveries to as high as 30% of in-place volumes. Just 10% gas
    recovery from Bowland shale could supply 50 years’ worth of current UK
    gas demand.
    To produce the same amount of energy as one 4 hectare
    shale site of 40 wells would require a wind farm some 1500 times that
    size or a solar park nearly 1000 times the size. At current UK gas
    prices, the value of just 10% of the in-place UK gas would be approx
    £3.3 trillion. Potential tax take from this could be close to £200
    billion. Imported gas produces no tax, no jobs & higher CO2
    emissions. Gas prices can of course go down but we don’t share doubts
    that UK could ever be commercially viable. Gas from the existing
    Cuadrilla wells could & should be flowing to local domestic
    consumers within a year of equipment re-mobilising to site. 6 other such
    sites located across Northern England could be producing gas &
    making a material contribution to energy security & tax revenue
    within 45years. The case for shale gas is strong & logical. HMG
    needs to lift the moratorium urgently.”
    Won’t happen of course,far too sensible

  63. I spent an hour today trying to get a friends over 70 driving licence. I tried 6 times and failed to get the online application accepted. He put in a paper application in January and his licence expires on Sunday. Covid and a public service union were the excuses. The phone contact and the Chat service were unavailable.
    My friend worries about driving without a licence and the reaction if he had no licence and had an accident. He went to the local police and the lady at reception only advice was to tell him to keep trying. The government and insurance companies must get to grips with this problem and give drivers with expired licences
    an amnesty and allowed to drive without an up to date licence until the DVLA gets its act together

      2. I played golf with my friend for a few years and I was astonished when he was seated in my front room today how much he resembled my late brother. It was uncanny.

    2. There is an online complaints procedure – Johnny Norfolk told me about it. His problem was solved very quickly, as was ours, we had been waiting months and it was solved in a matter of days. Do look into it, JN may be able to supply more details – DVLA complaints procedure.

      1. ceoemail.com might also be of some assistance regarding contacts directly to the boss.

    3. Section 66 allows you to drive if you haven’t had your new licence returned provided you have not been told you should not drive. Inform your insurance company and explain the reason your licence hasn’t yet arrived (and the attempts you’ve made to renew it), then contact your MP. Been there, done that!

  64. Johnson faces uphill task to convince Saudis and UAE to boost oil production. 15 March 2022.

    Boris Johnson is facing criticism both domestically and in the Gulf as he tries to persuade Gulf states to boost oil production.

    He is expected to visit Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states such as the United Arab Emirates as western powers seek extra oil supplies to loosen the west’s dependence on Russian energy and slow the massive price rises caused by sanctions due to the war in Ukraine.

    The US president, Joe Biden, has poor relations with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, making Britain one of the most plausible western powers to persuade Saudi and the UAE to boost production.

    But Johnson is facing domestic opposition to going to Saudi Arabia days after the Kingdom beheaded 81 “criminals and terrorists” at the weekend, the largest mass execution in Saudi history. Seven of those executed were from Yemen.

    Obviously one of our more refined partners! The Saudi’s and all the other Arab oil states have to be looking at their property and holdings in the UK and wondering just how safe they are from being appropriated. It is going to occur to them soon that they would be lot better off with their own Central Bank! Where will the UK be then?

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/14/johnson-criticised-saudis-gulf-oil-production

    1. The UK will have to supply more arms and support so the Saudis can continue to intervene in Yemen…

      Oh, isn’t that what the Russians are doing in the Ukraine?

      Why would the Saudis increase production when they can just watch the higher prices flow into their coffers?

        1. I caught one decent sized rainbow but gave it to an angler who hadn’t caught. One of the guys I was fishing with caught a ridiculous 25 trout. His homemade fly just couldn’t fail.We all had catch and release tickets (meaning we were allowed to keep one fish apiece). I confess to not being a good fly fisherman.

          3. Actually the other side of Dartmoor close to Yelverton. You might be thinking of the Avon Dam Reservoir as the Avon runs through South Brent. Also a lovely spot but probably less visited.

      1. Yup. Tasmanian I believe although Hollywood always said he was from the Abbey Players in Dublin!

        1. There was a well known rape case involving Errol Flynn. A young vampish woman seduced him and then claimed he had raped her because she was under the age of consent. She turned up in court wearing pigtails and looking about 14 when she was actually 19.

          Flynn then posted a notice outside his house saying: “No woman will be admitted into these premises without first producing her birth certificate.”

          Flynn wrote his autobiography My Wicked Wick Ways which somehow found its way into the School House Library at Blundell’s. For its time it was very excitingly scurrilous – it was at about the time of the Lady Chatterley ban (noted by Philip Larkin) and the Beatles’ First LP before they had invented sexual intercourse so we grubby, pubescent and prurient little boys all read it with great interest.

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ec2f65202d0914b66c40520d114d70b3bb831e4c958b0e71e288664dc81c225c.jpg

          1. My mother used to get the Hollywood biographies out the library and I used to pinch them and read them. I read one about In like Flynn and recall the episode you mention.

          2. He was a great friend of David Niven whose autobiography was The Moon’s A Balloon.

            They had better slebs in those days.

          5. Followed up with “Bring on the Empty Horses’

            Apparently that quote was spoken by a foreign film director referring to riderless horse. When the cast fell about laughing he shouted:
            “You think I know fuck nothing….I know Fuck All…”

          6. Just so you know……it wasn’t me. I’m just in for the short back and sides !
            I never raped as many people as him, anyway !

          7. “Flynn wrote his autobiography My Wicked Wick Ways …” About how often he dipped his wick, presumably?

      2. Just a haircut !!!

        You will have to wait and see. Lots of work going on behind the scenes….. :@)
        Of course you will need more than one eye to see how wonderful i look !

    2. I would absolutely love it if every one of these was placed with a Ukraine volunteer.
      After all, aren’t they all fleeing war, in Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia etc. etc.

  70. Nicked Comment

    Didn’t take them long, did it?

    “Ukrainian 18-year-old refugee ‘is gang-raped by two men’ on board German hotel ship used to house people fleeing war.

    She was allegedly attacked by two Ukraine citizens, 37 and 26, from Iraq and Nigeria.
    Police have launched probe into the alleged assault, Dusseldorf prosecutors said.
    She was with 25 Ukrainians staying on hotel ship Oscar Wilde with paying guests.”

    Ukranian citizens, eh? Call them what you want, they will always be rabid, verminous, savages.”
    Oops,I think some of the virtue signallers are going to get a big surprise when their Uke lodger shows up………Iraq and Nigeria you say…………….

    2. He thought he could manipulate the EU and NATO and have them come to his defence. The fool actually thought that would happen as if they were oblivious to that causing WWIII. He was also oblivious to the fact that they talk the talk but never walk the walk unless their enemy is smaller than them. Hence their attitude to Hungary and Poland. These are bullies and thugs but they aren’t fools, like any bully, when a real fight breaks out, they run away and leave their puppet to fight.
      I have no sympathy for Zelenskyy he is a little man who thought he could be big and take on Russia by manipulating the West with his lies and false propaganda. I hope he is caught and brought to trial so that people see what he really is. Not a hero but a corrupt politician in the pay of the USA who used his own people and took them to destruction.

    3. Zelensky?

      Unshaven, scruffy, uninspiring hoodie; his mother should have told him how to appear and inspire.

      He is yesterday’s ‘President’ with a legacy of blood and corrupt relations with the Clinton, Obama and Biden regimes …

    1. A bit old to have babies – though, with surrogacy, I suppose anything is possible.

      Those ARE prams, aren’t they?

    2. How can you sodding save when prices are going up everywhere? We don’t own a car, thank gawd, but all the food prices have gone up. We live in a sheltered community and even that rent has gone up!
      I can barely think about all this because it makes my blood boil.

    3. No, no, no – when you have no savings you get pension credit and housing/council tax benefit and for your last years you pay nowt for your carers or care home.

    4. Why would you save? You’d be penalised. If I’d known then what I know now, I would have blown every penny.

    1. The monster fined her £215.00 for that. But I assume she lost her job too. The injustice of it all. But her fine will demonstrate something about modern Russia that the Russophobic will not like. Just doesn’t fit the image of tyranny, does it?

  78. Good evening all.
    Good news test my cataract surgery appears to be successful. It’s still a bit fuzzy and may take up to 5 weeks to clear completely.
    Also a bit achy and now a background headache.
    All in all very good news and thank you all for your support.

    1. Thanks for the update. We were beginning to wonder if there was a problem. Presumably they’ll do the other eye another day.

      KBO.

      1. Thank you Bill. The consultant is reluctant to do the other one as it really isn’t bad. I have all the details should it deteriorate.
        Very bright from the new lens but will take a while for the other one to adjust.

          1. Erk! I hate hospitals. Nurses, though, are a different matter! 😀
            At least you are getting attention, Ann. That’s a great start to being sorted out.
            I’m sure it’ll be fine, if dull… keep us posted as to how you get on!

          5. You may have a good looking Dr Simon Sparrow type / Doctor Kildare or heaven forbid , Doc Martin …

            Cute young doctors , wishful thinking .

          6. I’d like a Harrison Ford look alike in his slightly younger days; actually I’d settle for the real Harrison, don’t care if he’s a doctor;-))

          9. Yes, he could have built a deck for me anytime. I like him because he’s not too pretty. Rugged but handsome.

          10. When I had my accident I did have a male nurse who was an absolute hoot.
            Very gay … possibly happy as well.

          15. Well sincere good luck. That is simply not nice. Let us know what they say, wont you? I think you know that you will get plenty of support from all of us.

          16. Best wishes for tomorrow, Ann – I hope all goes well, and if it is cancerous that it’s quickly dealt with.

          19. Oh, so sorry to hear this, LotL. I had a cancerous lesion removed from below my right eye, just above the margin of the eye socket. I thought its removal would make a mess of my face but I was surprised, I am pleased with the result. That was seven years and it has not returned. Nobody would know that it had been done. I hope all goes well and let us know how you get on with it.

          20. Thanks Poppy, am going to shut up about it now. Very encouraging what you say though.

          21. No need to be scared my lady. You will end up bored to death. Take deep breaths and a compendium of games. You will find many others prepared to join in.

          25. They will be more scared of you.
            Take the dominant position and you’ll be fine.
            May you have astonishing good luck.

          26. Thanks Sos. I shall go in breathing fire;-) And then turn and run probably…

          27. I’d like to suggest writing down all the ?s you thInk of tonight and take the list with you. It’s easy to forget what was in your mind when in front of the clinician. I’m sure they will be very kind to you whatever the prognosis/diagnosis. Best of luck for tomorrow Lottie.

          28. I don’t think the clinician will be interested in her glass (es) du jour.
            But hey ho, who knows?

    4. You took the bandage off already? I* was told not to touch for 5 days. But that was in the USA and done by an entirely different method.

        1. I actually thought it was fascinating. But then I have that sort of mentality, curiosity even if it is being done to me.

      2. An eye pad covered with a plastic shield held in place with masking tape. Remove the following morning but put the plastic shield on each night for 5 days to prevent harming they eye. Seems to work.

    5. Great news AtG.

      I am having a pre-surgical assessment for cataract surgery on Monday 21 Mar at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank.

      If I am lucky, I may get the op later this (eighty-first) year …

      5. Don’t know if it’s the same in Scotland but I let them know I’d accept short notice cancellations. It worked a treat. 6 weeks from first consultation to operation.

        1. That’s the best way to do it, if you can. Being retired, we both can adapt to earlier, cancelled appointments where possible. Good luck and get some good books to listen to!!

          2. Jack & Jill went up the Hill
            To fetch a pail of water,
            Jill came down
            With half-a-crown
            You know what Jack was after..!

      6. Good for you, lacoste! I had a minor procedure done there! It was a real eye-opener after the local infirmary!

    6. Take it slow and easy. Listen to music rather than reading all Nottle comments every day. ***Note to self…cancel the parrot !

    7. Great to see you online.
      I hope all is progressing as you would wish it for yourself.

      Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear.
      Fuzzy wuzzy had no hair (do you?)
      Fuzzy wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy, was he?

      1. It is brilliant and so quick. Probably no longer than an hour from going in to having a cuppa and discharge. I think it’s like shelling peas when it’s as straight forward as mine was.

    10. Hello, Alf. It is now 5 years since I had mine done, here in Sweden (they charged me £30 an eye). I had the right done in June and the left in September. I had no post-op problems and my eyesight improved straight away. I still use varifocal lens spectacles (for age-related presbyopia) but my eyesight now, both close-up and distant, is like it was when I was a lad.

      Before my ops, for years my distant vision was fuzzy and soft-focus. Being able to count the individual bricks on a distant building (or leaves on a tree) after the ops was an emotional experience. In a few weeks’ time I reckon you will be as delighted as I was. Best of luck. 👍🏻😊

      1. Thanks Grizz.
        I’m delighted already as the sight in the right eye was deteriorating very rapidly and putting a strain on the good eye.
        Your good wishes are, like everybody else’s, very welcome.

      2. How’s your memory these days though, Mr Grizzly, Sir? Can you remember how many bricks were on the building and leaves on the tree? Lol.

  79. That’s me gone. Two cultural lectures today. The first, on J S Sargent and his notorious painting of Madame X, A brilliant lady lecturer. Quite outstanding.

    Then, just now, one from the Fitzwilliam Museum about the new Hockney expo. A bit too erudite for our poor branes.

    Anyway time for a glass. A loaf to prepare for baking tomorrow. Have a jolly evening.

    A demain

  80. I made the mistake of watching BBC1’s ‘Panorama’ from a fortnight ago. Here’s the programme blurb:

    Four days after Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, Panorama reports on the conflict. With Paul Kenyon in Kyiv and Jane Corbin in London, the programme asks what lies behind Putin’s invasion, and how Ukraine and the rest of the world have responded.

    It didn’t ask that question at all, except to assert that Putin wants Ukraine for his new Russian empire. The 2014 revolution got the briefest of mentions: “Demonstrations overthrew the pro-Russian government. Putin feared Ukraine was moving closer to Europe.” There followed a few street scenes then: “Mystery snipers appeared on the street. People here blamed Russia.” That was it.

    This was a hastily made production that did little more than wheel on a few talking heads to tell us that Putin is a dangerous man. One of those was Tugendhat, who simply justified the mocking mispronunciation of his name by his critics.

    There’s a proper programme to be made on Russia and Ukraine from the fall of the Czars to today. It doesn’t have to be long, just honest. Don’t expect it to be made by the current BBC.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0015ddh/panorama-putins-war-in-ukraine

  81. ‘Night All

    These have built up as I keep forgetting to post them

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/26bd389860841536c2092f73d330c8c153f50ca16de4d27a0851da31cf84a1c7.gif

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bb1031020e5fa702edad001da5ae59c75351c916446273d1a9ca0964d6170fa1.gif

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ee7614d73ecda4627b3b9824dfed97f648c10f2717c4db1f2c7db2ec9eb112fc.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/37546260bd229191b8ecc71cf2bb46d33e15a262318c4707c57a52763487da8f.jpg

  82. I hope no-one will be offended by this but thinking back to the last several days… it’s more like Emergency Ward 10 than Nottle ;-))
    At least we call all have a chuckle about it- which, believe me, helps. Sorry to have added to it:-(

    1. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! Is Dr. Gillespie still about!
      Edit: Oops! That was Dr. Kildare!

        1. Och aye! “We’re havin’ the vicar fer tea tonight, Dr Cameron” “Hmph, make a change from kippers!”

    2. We’re all getting older.
      No offense meant, then no offense taken.
      Good luck
      Old Girl

    3. I’ve spent a lot of time in the hospital over the last few months but all good now and hey, I never got Covid.

      Hope all goes well tomorrow. I know two people who’ve recently had cancerous growths removed, one from her face. Both ops successful so God willing, all will be well.

      1. Honestly don’t know what I’d have done all my life without a sense of humour. Got to laugh!!

        1. Reader’s Digest was a great read in doctors’ surgeries. No magazine’s anymore in case you catch the plague. Arrrrrggggggghhhhhh.

    5. Hope all goes well for you, tomorrow Ann. Many of us have had to go through something similar on here. mine was breast cancer a few years ago, and I survived to pester all and sundry!!

      2. I had cancer of the rectum in 1998. Diagnosed on my 52nd birthday. We dined out that night.

    6. Dr Paddy O’Mara, Nurse Carol Brown, et al. A great show I watched in my youth.

      1. Dr Alan Dawson played by Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell, an Aussie actor who returned to his homeland after the programme had finished and made numerous films and TV series in Australia.

        BTW: Jill Browne played nurse Carole Young.

        1. Gosh, Grizzly, you’ve got a much better memory than me. I hesitated over whether to add an “e” to “Brown” thus making it “Browne”, and in doing so I missed that I’d got the first names and surnames mixed up.

          1. I remember with crystal clarity, Auntie Elsie, many things from my early life. problem is, ask me about most things in the past 20 years and I’m utterly stumped! [or timed out, bowled, caught, hit wicket, handled the ball, hit the ball twice, run out, obstructing the field … or leg before wicket!]

      2. Dr Alan Dawson played by Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell, an Aussie actor who returned to his homeland after the programme had finished and made numerous films and TV series in Australia.

        BTW: Jill Browne played nurse Carole Young.

    7. The International Classification of Diseases,Eleventh Revision (ICD-11) lists around 5,000 classifications of the cause of death. One of my favourites is “crushed by lifeboat….’ – What a bummer!

        2. Isn’t that one of the things that was suggested that Henry VIII died with/ from/ of. Choose your own option.

          1. Meant to have been Henry I, I think. We get a large yearly run of lampreys coming up the first weir on the Tamar here.

          2. You learn something every day. When you think about how history has been manipulated, why are we so surprised by what is going on now?
            The so-called definitive account of the “arch villain” Richard III was written by Thomas More who was five when Richard was killed. He got all his info from Cardinal Morton, of Morton’s Fork infamy, who was a Tudor propaganda shill.

  83. Good evening.

    On February 21, the CEO of one of the largest (BKK ProVita) wrote to the president of the German vaccine regulator (PEI), noting that, based
    on their insurance data, 4% to 5% of all German covid vaccine recipients had sought medical care due to vaccine side effects (i.e. 2.5
    to 3 million people! ), which would indicate an under-reporting factor of at least 10. The health insurance CEO called this a “strong warning
    signal” that required immediate action.

    Fat chance!

    https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/news/impffolgen-krankenkasse-bkk-schreibt-brief-an-paul-ehrlich-institut-li.213676

    1. Yet in a population where the majority are vaccinated, isn’t it inevitable that some would seek medical care?

      As an unvaccinated person when I went to the docs recently for a review. That doesn’t mean I went because I have covid.

    5. Was on a forum earlier today with people arguing the electricity used to charge electric cars was entirely green. I don’t think those people really understand how energy works.

      That part of the world desperately needs jobs. Finding gas there has the potential to create a huge number of jobs, create incredible wealth for the local towns, shops, more workers, the whole caboodle.

      Now, faced with the certainty of reducing energy bills, cutting our massive cost of living – 70% of which is tax – creating a huge number of jobs, no longer having to fund the Russian war machine… what do we think the utter morons in government will do?

    7. Just discovered?

      Blythe was discovered in 1966 actually.

      This is the Saturn Banks project. The latest discovery in that group was 2006. It’s long been planned to open in 2022.

  85. Interesting BTL observation from The Slog:

    ‘One of the well-known doctors who has been campaigning against the Covid clot shots has been pointing out one very peculiar thing: there are tens of millions of cell phones in use in Ukraine – and yet, she says, we scarcely see any video of the war filmed by ordinary people with their cell phones… which if correct is indeed weird.’

  86. Sod it!
    Went to upvote one of Alf’s posts and got bloody white screened!

    Can’t be bothered to hunt up the posts I’ve missed, so good night one and all.

      2. Not this time in the evening!
        I get up to pump bilges too many times as it is!

  88. Evening, all. I’m surprised they aren’t claiming Putin eats babies. There appears to be nothing too bad for him to have done (allegedly).

  90. The Covid Inquiry must remember that the victims are not only the ones who died from it

    It is imperative that Lady Hallett ask hard questions of the people who did this to us – so here are six questions for her to start with

    ALLISON PEARSON • Tuesday 15th March 2022 • 7:00pm

    Hang on, what happened to the fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse? We’ve done Plague, Floods and War. Famine must be drumming its hooves against the stable door. Amid all the dark madness, quite understandably, we have lost sight of problems closer to home.

    A reminder came last week when terms of reference were published for the UK Covid inquiry, which is to be chaired this spring by Lady Hallett, the former Court of Appeal judge. At first glance, the remit seems reasonably broad, but I spy some worrying omissions – such as the effect of lockdown on children and young people. As Robert Halfon, chairman of the education select committee, told the Commons, for the Covid inquiry to only investigate restrictions on school attendance was “like calling a mortuary a ‘negative patients output'”.

    Already, it seems clear that the Government would prefer to focus on Covid deaths and the Covid “bereaved”, and avoid painful contemplation of the lockdown victims – that is, those whose mental and physical health, livelihoods and education were damaged by actions taken by ministers, scientists, civil servants and the NHS.

    It is far too easy for “the pandemic” to become a catch-all scapegoat for human error. Like those infuriating recorded messages you still get whenever you try to see a GP: “Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, we are planning on stringing out working from home for as long as possible, because, well, it really suits us, actually, so please try to avoid illness or death where possible. If you must see a doctor, make yourself available in a 4.5-hour window (yes, even if you’ve got a job!), when a GP will eventually call you and tell you there are no appointments until April. But do call 111 instead! Alternatively, you may try the surgery again at 8am tomorrow when you can dial our number 73 times and finally be told all appointments for the day are taken. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, we are experiencing high call volumes. To lose the will to live, please press 1…”

    Let’s be clear: the virus is not to blame for GPs failing to see their patients. (Doctors in most other countries never stopped face-to-face appointments.) The virus is not responsible for this week’s devastating news that mental health services received a record 4.3 million referrals last year. The Royal College of Psychiatrists calls it “the biggest hit to mental health in generations”.

    The virus is not to blame for the fact that a frantic mum I know, whose 10-year-old says he wants to die, has been told the first appointment that CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) can offer her son is in three years’ time. That’s three years, not months.

    Lockdown caused, and continues to cause, all of the above. We are now living with the tragic consequences and any inquiry worth its salt must ask some hard questions of the people who did this to us. How dare they?

    Writing in these pages on Monday, Matt Hancock, the former health secretary, said with his infallible cheery complacency: “I wouldn’t want to portray the pandemic response as faultless, but we did all we could and constantly tried to learn lessons as we went on.” It’s big of Matt to admit his pandemic response was not faultless. Some might say that allowing thousands of elderly patients to be turfed out of hospital, without testing them first, and putting them back into care homes where Covid spread like a forest fire among the vulnerable elderly was a teeny bit worse than not quite perfect. Let’s see what Lady Hallett thinks.

    Hancock is certainly correct to say that the Left’s rejoicing that Boris bungled the Covid response, doing far worse than comparable countries, is unfounded. As the latest data reveal, the UK had lower excess death rates than most other European countries, and England’s death rate was very marginally lower than in Wales and Scotland, who kept draconian restrictions for longer.

    Oddly, what Matt doesn’t mention is that our country has ended up with the longest hospital waiting list in the world and 740,000 missed cancer referrals. So what you might call our collateral-damage death rate may soon be beyond horrifying.

    I was talking to another former minister, who rolled her eyes when she recalled being tasked with trying to make sense of the crazy, Covid-compliant wedding restrictions. Apparently, these had been devised for the human population by Bleep, Booster and other on-the-spectrum nerds.

    “So, why can’t the bride throw the bouquet?” demanded the minister.

    Er, baffled look from junior nerd.

    “Why must the father of the bride wear a mask to walk her down the aisle when he hasn’t worn a mask in the car that brought them both to the church?”

    Er, because computer says no?

    OK, those are trivial examples (although they sure ruined a lot of wedding photos), but they remind us of the unprecedented – at times farcical, at others tragic – level of intrusion into our private life. I’m sure all of you will have areas, be they ethical, medical or practical, that you think Lady Hallett and the Covid inquiry should look into. Well, the inquiry is running a Terms of Reference Consultation which is open for the public’s suggestions until 7 April.

    To get the ball rolling, here are a few of mine:

    1. At a No 10 briefing in March 2020, Michael Gove said that the virus did not discriminate: “Everyone is at risk.” And yet it was clear Covid was a highly discriminatory virus; people over 75 were 10,000 times more likely to die from it than those under 15. Who authorised the decision to press ahead with a misinformation campaign telling the public that “all age groups are at risk”, and why?

    2. On March 22, 2020, a paper by SPI-B (the committee giving behavioural science advice to the Government) said: “The perceived level of personal threat needs to be increased among those who are complacent, using hard-hitting, emotional messaging.” Why was it agreed to use fear as a weapon to increase compliance with the coronavirus rules when the public were already showing signs of using their common sense and staying home? What are the likely long-term mental health effects, on children in particular, of telling all age groups they should be scared of Covid?

    3. Next slide, please! Some of the graphs shown at the No 10 briefings by Professor Sir Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance picked the lowest historic data point to contrast with the highest projected data point. Expressing data in percentage terms also heightened the sense of alarm. We need a thorough analysis of the veracity of every slide shown to the British people, please, Lady Hallett.

    4. In the Netherlands, at the peak of the pandemic, the Dutch health system lost only 4 per cent capacity. What percentage capacity did the NHS lose?

    5. What role did militant teaching unions play in keeping schools shut for so long? Oh, and why was Gavin Williamson, then education secretary, knighted – for services to buggering up British kids’ education?

    6. And finally, how exactly did throwing a wedding bouquet spread Covid?

    I have a lot of faith in Lady Hallett. She did an extremely good and sensitive job with the inquests into the 7/7 London bombings. Many reputations will stand or fall according to what she discovers in the coming months, and it will take strength of character to resist that official narrative. It’s not enough to conclude that “lessons have been learnt”, when the mistakes made cost so very much. All we can hope is that the inquiry doesn’t miss the smaller picture.

    The victims of Covid are not only those who died from it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2022/03/15/covid-inquiry-must-remember-victims-not-ones-died/

    1. The biggest vcitims of Convid
      Our Freedom
      Our Justice
      Our Way of Life
      Our Care of others
      The NHS Rules OK
      Do as I say, Not as I do, from the PTB
      etc

  91. Good night all 😴-
    just read the Allison Pearson piece and it seems to me that even though life is now more or less back to normal – yet it doesn’t seem quite as it used to be. Anyone else get that feeling?

    1. The presenter has an eminently slappable face and the bullshit bingo score is off the scale!

      Interesting technologies, but I wouldn’t want to live there. It reeks of social control.

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