Tuesday 16 January: Tory MPs have done nothing to merit loyalty from their core voters

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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643 thoughts on “Tuesday 16 January: Tory MPs have done nothing to merit loyalty from their core voters”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. today’s story (We’ve found another)

    GERMAN SEX JOKE
    A German guy abroad approaches a local lady of the night.
    “I vish to buy sex viz you.” he says.
    “OK,” says the girl, “It will be £50 an hour.”
    “..ist goot, but I must varn you, I am a little kinky.”
    “No problem,” she replies cautiously, “I can do kinky, but it will be double the price.”
    He agrees and off they go to the girl’s flat, where the German produces four large springs and a duck caller from his briefcase.
    “I vant zat you strap ze springs to your hans und kneeses.”
    The girl finds this most odd, but complies, fastening the springs as he had said, to her hands and knees.
    “Now you vill get down on your hans und kneeses.”
    She duly does this, balancing precariously on the springs.
    “You vill now please to blow zis kwacker as I make love to you.”
    She finds it very odd, but figures it’s harmless (and the guy is paying.)
    The sex is fantastic, she is bounced all over the room by the energetic German, all the time honking on the duck caller. The climax is the most sensational that she has ever experienced and it is several minutes before she has enough breath to say,
    “That was totally amazing, so what do you call that position?”
    “Ah,” says the German …..
    “zat is ze….
    famous German four-sprung Duck technique”

    2. How the Hell did he get 4 large springs in his brief case???
      Good morning by the way!

  2. Good Morning Folks

    Cold and frosty here.
    Off to play early doors golf.
    Don’t worry I have pre-warmed my balls in a bucket of hot water as was advised

  3. I just realised another Brexit benefit, the post office scandals and the grooming gang scandals all occurred and were kept out of the mainstream media by the establishment while we were EU members.
    Since leaving the EU all these issues have been fully exposed.
    Which just goes to show that Remainers and EU supporters are untrustworthy and basically anti British and should never be allowed anywhere near power again, I’m thinking the Starmers of this world and many Conservatives that are all in the same bubble

    2. 381941+ up ticks

      Morning B3,

      Well penned Bob, 48% have been anti British enemas since the 24/6/2016.

      1. That percentage will have changed in the ensuing 7½ years. I’m firmly of the belief that re-joiners will now be in the majority. That said, we’ll not have a referendum on the matter for decades, if ever. We’ll eventually re-join without one.

    1. One of the rare Matt cartoons which seems to show that there isn’t anything topical for him to amuse us with today.

        1. Sadly no, I arrived in the ‘great silver bird in the sky!

          Having sold my sturdy ship in 2018 and having regretted it ever since. Tempus fugit and all that?

  9. Good morning, all. Sunrise about 20 minutes away but light enough to see that there is a light frost out there. Forecast is sunshine all day but remaining cold.

    Cost of failure or a deliberate move by WEF/globalist politicians to annoy and impoverish the citizens?

    Toronto to hike property taxes by 10.5% with the threat of a further 6% if the government does not cough up the shortfall. The stupidity of this threat is that the government doesn’t have, nor does it have the ability to make, the money, so the additional 6% will come from taxpayers in any event.

    https://twitter.com/TheRedactedInc/status/1747065631802106306

    And then there’s this, California, a failing state with a $68 Billion deficit and record numbers selling up and moving to other states…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/11edb8d827d1a50330454c49f35447563d82440a3fb179d8ba73f3ec4233b242.png

    Madness, deliberate madness.

      1. Morning, Elsie, could be worse. I hope you’re well, I’m over the worst of my cold but the cough is still hanging about.

        I’m risking washing my bed linen today, not much breeze but I’m hoping the Sun, forecast to be available all day, will take some of the moisture out before tumble drying.

        Yesterday I stepped into your territory, I made some marmalade. I shopped around to find Seville oranges and found a greengrocer, Burgess & Sons, on Old Heath Rd who had them in stock at £2.20 a kilo. More time consuming than making jam/jelly – all that slicing and pulping – and I made nine jars of varying sizes, very nice it is too. Perhaps some of the shreds are a little long and that’s a point to take forward to next time.

        1. Well done, Korky. I still have enough Seville oranges in the freezer for one last 6 lb jars session. But you are right, it is a very time-consuming job.

  10. I will do whatever is necessary to vanquish terrorism. That’s why we are proscribing Hizb ut-Tahrir. 16 January 2024.

    Not everybody responded to the attack of October 7 with sorrow and horror. The Hizb ut-Tahrir group’s revolting response was lavishly to praise it. Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international Sunni Islamist political organisation with a footprint in at least 32 countries. It has had a presence in the UK since the 1980s. Its stated long-term goal is to establish a Caliphate ruled under Islamic law. They have consistently called for Muslim armies to rise up and carry out similar acts to Hamas’ attack on October 7.

    Then why has it taken till now to proscribe it? There is a background to this of course. H u-t was an ally in the West’s attempt to overthrow the Syrian government. Their permission was certainly necessary for the operation of the White Helmets in Jihadist territory and they were probably complicit in the False Flag chemical attacks that were attributed to the Russians.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/15/izb-ut-tahrir-proscribed-united-kingdom-james-cleverly/

    2. It’s an old story. The West trains, arms a funds a dissident group to undermine a legitimate government who won’t play ball. Then when chaos ensues the West suddenly has no plan on how to deal with the monsters it has created. And inevitably it is always about oil. Many innocents die in the conflagration we have unleashed. I am ashamed to be British.

      1. You shouldn’t feel ashamed to be British. The shame ought to fall on the British who help bring about this state of affairs.

    3. They might solve the entire problem by proscribing islam. If Tommy Robinson started preaching from the Quran in the street, he would be bundled off before you could shout Allah Akbar..

    1. Never mind your problems, Bill, what about the cats?!? (Good morning, btw. Good to see you survived the night.)

    6. Happy birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 🥂Bill! Cold and frosty here with a pink sky in the east. Cats are cuddled up.

  12. Wordle 941 4/6

    Did it in four today, once I realised that some words are spelt / spelled differently in the USA.

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

  13. Houthis vow to target British ships in Red Sea. 16 January 2024.

    Houthi rebels said they would expand their targets to include US and British ships as they vowed to keep up attacks after coalition air strikes on their positions in Yemen.

    British and American ships had become “legitimate targets”, Nasruldeen Amer, a spokesman for the Houthis, told Al Jazeera on Monday evening.

    They are clearly terrified by the British Government’s threats!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/01/15/houthi-missile-strike-us-owned-cargo-ship-red-sea/

    1. Houthi rebels said they would expand their targets to include US and British ships

      Er.. didn’t they do that before the air strikes?

    2. Houthi rebels said they would expand their targets to include US and British ships

      Er.. didn’t they do that before the air strikes?

    3. So good of our PM to turn UK interests into targets for mad rag heads. I suppose its called leading on the world stage (whilst the Europeans look the other way).

    4. Who could have predicted that, eh? What are we going to do next, drop a nuclear bomb on them?
      With such luminaries as Biden, Obama, Sunak, Cameron and Shapps in charge, anything’s possible.

      1. Wishing you a very Happy Birthday, Uncle Bill! Hope you’re feeling better and can enjoy a wonderful day! 🎂🥂🎉😘

        1. Somewhere over t’orizon
          vote slips die…
          Biden dreams of a landslide
          But neither do you, nor I….

    3. A ray of hope in a dark world. I believe that if the Donald makes it to the ballot, rather than jail, the JFK solution will be applied by the blob.

    4. Yo Mr Fizz

      The big question

      Will Biden know whom to vote for, when he sees the voting form?

  16. Good morning all,

    Partly cloudy at McPhee Towers, wind South-West, -3℃ rising to +3℃ by early afternoon.

    As an example of how the state/MSM propaganda machine takes advantage of the uninformed and the gullible you can’t get much better than this. We are invited to believe that the New Miss America is a fighter pilot.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bd9d0b2d566631546817d711d525f63cc723b834f045a83e97d347681a725917.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2024/01/15/serving-us-soldier-miss-america-pageant-pilot-first-crowned/

    A photograph of a tearful Madison as she is crowned, finger pointing towards heaven ISIS-style, is juxta-posed to one of her standing in front of an F-16 somewhere in the United States. I can’t see what model of F-16 it is so it’s impossible to gauge whether or not it’s a current front-line fighter. These aircraft are so old (they first entered service in the 1970s) that it could be one of the Air National Guard jets or it could be in an aviation museum.

    She’s reported to have a physics degree from the Air Force Academy and to be currently studying ‘public policy’ at Harvard Kennedy School. She’s 22 years old according to the report. She hasn’t had the time to become a fighter pilot. She hasn’t even had the time to do basic pilot training to the standard required to step into the cockpit of a fast-jet trainer such as the Bae Hawk.

    I hate to be a grinch, but this is bullshit. Is it even the same young woman in both photographs?

        1. She entered and she won.
          Please step away from the MSM bovine ordure and remember the female pilots of the USSR and the ATA pilots in the UK (yes, some ATA pilots were male and one might even still be alive, but very shy).

          1. I don’t need to ‘step away’. I have flown with, and trained, many female pilots, some of them very fine pilots too.

    4. I have several pictures of me standing by (or even sitting in) Spitfires. It doesn’t mean I’m a Battle of Britain pilot.

  17. A beautiful, clear and still morning, here in Skåne. Wall-to-wall sunshine, cloudless blue skies, still crisp air.

    And a temperature of –16ºC.

    2. Yo Mr G

      In Costa del Skeg yesterday, there two problems when driving:

      1 Icy Roads
      2 Being blinded by brilliant, low sunshine

      The second was more dangerous

      1. Yo, Mr Effort.

        Icy roads don’t pose a problem here since winter tyres are a legal necessity. I’ve driven hundreds of kilometres on them in the past few weeks without even a hint of a skid.

        Low sun though, especially when the road is wet, is very frightening. Even decent polarising sunglasses don’t help much.

  18. Thank you, Sue. A tad less bad.

    The excitement is at noon when I give some blood for yet another sample. And then, after lunch, a lecture on the history and architectural destruction of Basingstoke.

    2. Happy Birthday, Bill; I do hope the architectural destruction of Basingstoke goes with a bang!

      1. I am told the speaker is very good. It’s an Arts Society lecture. A great organisation.

  19. Reposted from late last night.

    Tuesday 16th January, 2024

    The Legal Beagle

    (He’s just our Bill)

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e281877e66f9640965428cfaf7612b736a56b10f037dc7830d6ff3f7e0f8aba9.png

    Only 83 and very many more to come!

    With love and best wishes,

    Caroline and Richard

    “Along Came Bill” Lyrics by P.G. Wodehouse’, Music composed by Jerome Kern, and sheer magic from Ava Gardner

    (Skip the first 56 seconds to get to the song)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCsYSS6ddT4

          3. Don’t think so, Philip. Could be a n*gg*r word for thief but since I put my greeting up first…

          4. fief
            /fiːf/

            noun
            noun: fief; plural noun: fiefs
            1.
            historical•Law
            an estate of land, especially one held on condition of feudal service; a fee.

            2.
            a person’s sphere of operation or control.

          2. Do you wear protective trousers when sawing? Uncomfortable and costly but they are stuffed with chain-jamming fibres. Chatting the other day with a 60-ish chap who does gardening work; his hand was heavily bandaged after he put his thumb in a petrol hedge trimmer that was not in neutral. Last year he dropped a chainsaw on his knee, lots of stitches but saved by his padded trousers.

    5. Happy Birthday, Mr T.

      By my count, you are just 33 years old, (the first 50 being practise and you have done a lot of that)

      And of course may you and MR have 365 Happy Unbirthdays, till you are 34.

      Also, that you do not need the above songster, “Avva” Gardner, just yet.

    6. Happy Birthday, Mr T.

      By my count, you are just 33 years old, (the first 50 being practise and you have done a lot of that)

      And of course may you and MR have 365 Happy Unbirthdays, till you are 34.

      Also, that you do not need the above songster, “Avva” Gardner, just yet.

    7. Ah, Ava Gardner. Possibly the most beautiful and sexiest actress of all time, She became even more beautiful and sexy as she aged.

    9. Best wishes on your 83rd Birthday, BT. Enjoy the sunny weather – well, that’s what the forecast predicts.

  20. Good morning all.
    Another cold one in Derbyshire with -4°C on the yard thermometer, a light spattering of snow which is still falling and a broken overcast that appears to be moving in from the North so am expecting more snow.

    So the consequences of the Common Purpose clique are becoming exposed with the PO scandal and people acknowledging that Vennells was over promoted and “a bit dim”?
    I will admit that, whilst she is of pleasant appearance, but not particularly attractive, she also does not look particularly intelligent.

    1. Can’t imagine /sarc

      Scabies affects the world’s most disadvantaged populations, especially people living in crowded and impoverished conditions, from island communities in the Pacific to favelas of Latin America, remote and rural communities across Africa and Australia, and displaced populations living in camps. In resource-poor settings, scabies and its complications impose a major cost on health care systems. In high-income countries, cases are sporadic, yet outbreaks in health institutions and vulnerable communities contribute to significant economic costs for national health services.

      https://www.who.int/health-topics/scabies#tab=tab_1

    2. Scabies is spread easily to sensual partners and household members.
      Apart from cramped living quarters for poorer crowded households, the current high cost of electricity reduces funds available to heat water for frequent baths and showers. Not everyone has modern gas combi boilers.

    3. We had an outbreak of scabies on a psychogeriatric ward of 36 very demented ladies.
      Great fun.
      Bathing them every day and painting them with bezel benzoate. Clothes and bedding changed every day – that was a challenge. Even more so was trying to stop them coming into contact with each other or climbing into the wrong beds.
      After the bathing sessions and at the end of each shift we slathered our arms with BB.
      Then MB caught it from an admission to the male locked ward and the same regime had to be instituted chez Allan.

  23. 381941+ up ticks,

    Get that political bum outta here and do not let his partners in crime anywhere near number 10.

    He, currently chief governing rear exit, could guarantee, put on the table TRILLIONS, but all the time Dover is the gateway to
    five star welfare for the world his hollow gestures are, for ever in vain.

    Why Sunak’s billions more for the NHS are failing to deliver
    Productivity rolls back as extra spending only results in more inefficiency

    In short, supporting the lab/lib/con coalition can,will, and has
    been a life span shortener.

    1. He could announce we are laving the ECHR< repealing the modern slavery and migration pacts. He could repeal the HRA. There is much he could do, citing many nations that have no adopted such law. He chooses not to. Sunak has no interest in stopping the invading horde. Someone the other day was complaining about students not being able to bring family with them, especially elderly parents as this was a turn off. Well... why should they? It's not their country, they're not contributing to it. No one has an automatic right to trough wherever they want.

    2. I think Bob meant she had a homely appearance; sadly, for her, it was a dogs’ home.

    1. Elbows you say? Bursitis is an inflammation of fluid-filled sacs in joints such as the elbows.

      Whereas burka-itis is an infestation of entire cities with black sacks.

      Bursitis is comparatively easy to cure.

      As for ar$es that need sorting out, there the problem resides in Westminster.

      1. 381941+ up ticks,

        Morning T5,

        “The problem lies in westminster”

        The answer lies within the polling stations.

    2. Expecting a politician to think through the logic of their verbiage is impossible. They’re fools given things to say.

  28. Finally the Conservative Party MPs are waking up to the fact that they are are going to be completely wiped out at the coming election
    and this has put them into a blue funk trying to blame the Reform Party for their disintegration.

    It is fairly simple: the Conservative Party and the Reform Party cannot co-exist in the current political arrangements in the UK so one must step down.

    The Reform Party may be flawed but it is conservative in its philosophy while The Conservative Party’s philosophy is no longer remotely conservative so it is not the Reform Party which must stand down. All the Conservative Party MPs who still do believe in conservatism must give way and all voters who believe in conservatism should vote for Reform.

    BTL from last night:

    Tories have lost more than half of their 2019 support, poll suggests
    Only 38 per cent of the 13.9 million people who backed the Conservatives when Boris Johnson was leader will definitely vote for them again
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/01/15/tories-lose-more-than-half-2019-support-poll/

    It is very wrong of the Conservatives in their desperate funk to blame the Reform Party for the fact that their support has disintegrated.

    Before the 2019 general election Nigel Farage stood down all his Brexit Party candidates from contesting seats held by sitting Conservative MPs in the hope that it would help “get Brexit done” – and indeed the Conservative Party won a very substantial much helped by the Brexit Party’s magnanimity.

    Boris Johnson betrayed the Brexit Party, he betrayed Brexit, he betrayed British fishermen and he betrayed Northern Ireland by delivering a pathetic Brexit and then, to add insult to injury, Sunak made things even worse with the Great Windsor Surrender to the EU.

    It was a grave mistake for the Brexit Party to give The Conservative Party a free run in 2019 but it is a mistake that the Reform Party must not make in 2024. In the interests of conservatism it is the Conservative Party’s turn to stand down its candidates at the coming election and not stand in the way of the Reform Party.

    1. It might help if some of the remaining true conservative MPs had the guts to abandon the red/green anti-British eco-loony Tory party, and defect to Reform.

      1. Gutless buggers using the ‘loyalty to our party’ card as the excuse to do nothing. Their loyalty should be to their electorate and the public at large but it’s clear that they don’t believe in that thesis.

    2. Good morning Monsieur T, and everyone.
      Could the Reform Party trust more than half a dozen current ConLib MPs? A mass defection to Reform would damage its public image. From a financial point of view, 8 months of salary plus a guaranteed redundancy payment plus the remote possibility of re-election plus eight months of using the Palace of Westminster facilities to busk for directorships & quango appointments adds up to plenty of lucre for Tory Members.

      1. I fear you are right. Self-serving scumbags first; servants of the voters a very long way behind.

    3. Good morning Monsieur T, and everyone.
      Could the Reform Party trust more than half a dozen current ConLib MPs? A mass defection to Reform would damage its public image. From a financial point of view, 8 months of salary plus a guaranteed redundancy payment plus the remote possibility of re-election plus eight months of using the Palace of Westminster facilities to busk for directorships & quango appointments adds up to plenty of lucre for Tory Members.

    4. Reform remains stuck on 10% – 11% in the polls. If the Tory vote has collapsed so dramatically to whom is that ex-Tory base intending to vote for? Perhaps some are shy to admit that Reform is their preferred choice but if many are going to sit on their hands and not vote at all that action will not change anything.

      Labour, even without a greatly increased vote will take power and continue where the TINOs have left off. The LibDems are a busted flush and offer nothing different and so need to be flushed away along with the TINOs.

      Sadly, with ‘Vanilla’ Tice at the helm I do not see Reform making the inroads necessary to crush the TINOs. Reform need a decent figurehead capable of rousing people to vote for the polar opposite of the globalists infesting the HoC. Is anyone available?

      1. It’s a combination of apathy, disgust at current politics, the truth that they won’t win any MPs – this time around – and revulsion at the political class.

        More telling is the number of people who won’t vote at all, rather than who will vote. Labour won’t win because they’re better and people will vote for them, it’s because Conservative voters simply won’t bother voting. They’ve been proved it makes no difference to them whatsoever.

  29. Finally the Conservative Party MPs are waking up to the fact that they are are going to be completely wiped out at the coming election
    and this has put them into a blue funk trying to blame the Reform Party for their disintegration.

    It is fairly simple: the Conservative Party and the Reform Party cannot co-exist in the current political arrangements in the UK so one must step down.

    The Reform Party may be flawed but it is conservative in its philosophy while The Conservative Party’s philosophy is no longer remotely conservative so it is not the Reform Party which must stand down. All the Conservative Party MPs who still do believe in conservatism must give way and all voters who believe in conservatism should vote for Reform.

    BTL from last night:

    Tories have lost more than half of their 2019 support, poll suggests
    Only 38 per cent of the 13.9 million people who backed the Conservatives when Boris Johnson was leader will definitely vote for them again
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/01/15/tories-lose-more-than-half-2019-support-poll/

    It is very wrong of the Conservatives in their desperate funk to blame the Reform Party for the fact that their support has disintegrated.

    Before the 2019 general election Nigel Farage stood down all his Brexit Party candidates from contesting seats held by sitting Conservative MPs in the hope that it would help “get Brexit done” – and indeed the Conservative Party won a very substantial much helped by the Brexit Party’s magnanimity.

    Boris Johnson betrayed the Brexit Party, he betrayed Brexit, he betrayed British fishermen and he betrayed Northern Ireland by delivering a pathetic Brexit and then, to add insult to injury, Sunak made things even worse with the Great Windsor Surrender to the EU.

    It was a grave mistake for the Brexit Party to give The Conservative Party a free run in 2019 but it is a mistake that the Reform Party must not make in 2024. In the interests of conservatism it is the Conservative Party’s turn to stand down its candidates at the coming election and not stand in the way of the Reform Party.

  30. Finally the Conservative Party MPs are waking up to the fact that they are are going to be completely wiped out at the coming election
    and this has put them into a blue funk trying to blame the Reform Party for their disintegration.

    It is fairly simple: the Conservative Party and the Reform Party cannot co-exist in the current political arrangements in the UK so one must step down.

    The Reform Party may be flawed but it is conservative in its philosophy while The Conservative Party’s philosophy is no longer remotely conservative so it is not the Reform Party which must stand down. All the Conservative Party MPs who still do believe in conservatism must give way and all voters who believe in conservatism should vote for Reform.

    BTL from last night:

    Tories have lost more than half of their 2019 support, poll suggests
    Only 38 per cent of the 13.9 million people who backed the Conservatives when Boris Johnson was leader will definitely vote for them again
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/01/15/tories-lose-more-than-half-2019-support-poll/

    It is very wrong of the Conservatives in their desperate funk to blame the Reform Party for the fact that their support has disintegrated.

    Before the 2019 general election Nigel Farage stood down all his Brexit Party candidates from contesting seats held by sitting Conservative MPs in the hope that it would help “get Brexit done” – and indeed the Conservative Party won a very substantial much helped by the Brexit Party’s magnanimity.

    Boris Johnson betrayed the Brexit Party, he betrayed Brexit, he betrayed British fishermen and he betrayed Northern Ireland by delivering a pathetic Brexit and then, to add insult to injury, Sunak made things even worse with the Great Windsor Surrender to the EU.

    It was a grave mistake for the Brexit Party to give The Conservative Party a free run in 2019 but it is a mistake that the Reform Party must not make in 2024. In the interests of conservatism it is the Conservative Party’s turn to stand down its candidates at the coming election and not stand in the way of the Reform Party.

  31. Morning all 🙂😊
    Bright outside.
    Off to along awaited eye appointment.
    ‘See you’ later.
    How on earth do these self opinionated pompous morons expect anyone to vote for them, when they have quite openly and deliberately wrecked our country, it’s culture and social structure.

    2. Good luck. I had my appointment yesterday and am now on the list for a cataract operation, soon I hope.

      1. I just received my appointment for a colonoscopy. Three days of eating all the things you are not supposed to like white bread and sugary cereals, custard creams and no fruit or veg. Then a day of fasting before the op. 2 litres of some laxative muck the night before.

        1. Yep. I had to go out and do a shop to stick to the “diet” because all the things I normally ate (red meat, wholemeal bread, fruit, veg) were verboten.

        2. Good to know, Annie. I went for my two-year optical test this morning and was told (amongst other things) that there was the slightest smidgen of a cataract beginning, but not to worry because this would be years away. So if (or when) the op does appear I shall contact you for some advice and reassurance.

  32. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/01/15/labour-is-now-the-party-of-wealth-creation/

    This article is Rachael Reeves spouting on about how she’s a safe pair of hands on the economy and won’t spend more than is raised in tax. This is hogwash, of course.

    Then she goes on to waffle about a public private enterprise scheme, using law and quangos to promote business and get £3 of private investment for every pound of public for grand new projects.

    They don’t bloody well get it. She simply does not understand. She’s another useless, statist, Left wing moron devoted to being stupid. The ONLY way to grow the economy is by shrinnking the state. All these fools think about is the state as the centre of the economy. It is the parasite eating the host. She’s wrong, she’s just another gormless socialist.

    3. Perhaps they should pass on the budgeting idea to councils. They are apparently £100Bn, yes Bn, in debt. Do the individuals who run these councils not have some sort of legal obligation to run a budget within reasonable limits. Once again, another British scandal where no one in authority seems to be held to account. Who lets the problem get so out of hand, are there not strict rules for accounting? Perhaps all the DIE staff could be replaced by someone who has that terribly old concept of making sure an institution does not spend more than it receives. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67707156

      2. Nope. None whatsoever. It’s other people’s money. They can always take more. It’s when you find out what they’re spending it on that the whole circus falls apart.

      3. We might do well to scrap these overblown councils with their executive CEO and “cabinet members” and return to the Town Clerk and annual scrutiny by the National Audit Office.

        I suppose the utterly useless council worker seat polishers are still working from home.

        1. In our youth, Colchester had a Town Clerk with the splendid name of Norman Catchpole.
          I never met him; he may have been the stuff of myth and legend, but his moniker adorned all the CBC notices.
          I imagined some tall, ascetic bewigged being who treated the councillors like irritating children and even terrorised the Mayor.
          From my memory, Colchester was certainly better run.

  33. What is going on?

    The evil Ofcom got rid of Mark Steyn from GB News for bringing our attention to Pakistani Rape gangs but now Rotherham is back on the MSM front pages again.

    And awareness of the damage caused by the Covid jabs can no longer be dismissed by the MSM.

    What we need now is for the MSM to fully expose Net Zero for the great scam it is and that man-made climate change is a myth orchestrated by very nasty tyrannical elites.

    1. They will do neither, Rastus. Then when it is exposed as the hoax it is, they’ll all leap on board the ‘I told you so’ wagon.

      But by then there will be no energy for the computers to write the articles, no power for the interconnects, no server farms and certainly no ability to print anything as risible as a newspaper. Energy will be rationed severely and only permitted by the elites.

  34. “New portrait of King in naval uniform will hang in schools ‘to strengthen civic pride’. Official photograph chosen by monarch for government-funded distribution across UK.”

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c9580c86ade6eab843dc82424614aee7818f1d619c8a6916358c1b66af44d040.jpg

    BTL comments are not particularly enthusiastic. I think this reflects on the mentality of the man, Idi Amin eat your heart out.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2024/01/15/king-charles-portrait-boost-civic-pride-hugo-burnand/

  35. General election: Labour would need record swing to win

    The Labour Party would need a record swing in votes at the next general election to win a majority in the House of Commons, according to analysis of the new electoral map. The next election will be fought on new constituency boundaries, redrawn to reflect population changes and to try to even out voter numbers in each area.

    An analysis of these changes for BBC News, ITV News, Sky News and the Press Association suggests Labour needs a national swing of 12.7% to win with just a small majority. That’s considerably higher than the 10.2% achieved by Tony Blair in 1997 and higher even than the 12% achieved by Clement Attlee in 1945.

      1. Good morning Bill and we wish you a very happy birthday. Hope you have a spiffingly good day.

    2. Oh so that’s why toe knee b liar an 8 ft high brick wall around his Buckinghamshire Estate.

  37. She’s a class A berk. She starts off about her grand career in the private sector but doesn’t seem to understand the very basics – that government is the problem, not the solution.

    1. Any follower of that death cult should be excluded from public office, and their whole ‘religion’ needs to be proscribed in this country – and all other civilised countries. Their only loyalty is to their backward ‘religion’/’culture’, and its takeover of the world. The only public sector jobs they should be allowed to hold are public toilet cleaners.

    2. It’s been the plan, aided and abetted by our elected representatives, for quite a while now.

    1. The audience may come from a wider spectrum, but there will far fewer Effnick Brits doing it:

      The verb “to Linekerise” ie avoid at at all costs, needs to be invented

    2. Clive Myrie actually speaks the Queens King’s English.
      He could teach a good few other presenters and news readers a thing or two.

    3. Clive Myrie actually speaks the Queens King’s English.
      He could teach a good few other presenters and news readers a thing or two.

  42. 381941+ up ticks,

    Tuesday 16 January: Tory MPs have done nothing to merit loyalty from their core voters,

    Tuesday 16 January: Tory MPs have done nothing to merit loyalty from their core voters yet the tory in name only party still received supporting votes, after year upon year of treachery & deceit, lies, manipulation, peoples serious injury,& deaths,childrens rape & abuse at the hands of foreign, via party, imports.

    And still the party name ( not content) are the magnet in the party before Country contest.

    1. Core voters have done nothing to merit loyalty from their Tory MPs is the way they see it.

    2. What business is it of a clergyman to ‘support’ any particular candidate for a high position in a large organisation in the first place? Oh, sorry, I forgot. The opinions of these interfering, arrogant God botherers, who have no particular knowledge of most things or real life, are vital to the running of everything.

      1. He supported her role in the church, not the Post Office. Amazingly, she has been ordained.

    3. This is also reported in the Daily Telegraph. Here is a BTL comment:

      The fact that Welby fawns on the Idiot King and the Idiot King fawns on the anti-Christ Welby tells us all we need to know about these two charlatans.

  44. What on earth will it take for this creep to be sacked?

    Hamas’s mouthpiece news agency hails Gary Lineker after his anti-Israel post as the BBC star backs down amid claims it was a misunderstanding

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12967175/Hamas-news-hails-Gary-Lineker-anti-Israel-post-BBC.html

    The Daily Telegraph said the former England footballer was not fully aware of what he was sharing. According to a source, he believed it was a news item about Israel being banned, rather than a call for this to happen.

    3. Hit him in his pocket. Designate his home as a refugee processing centre, apply a special ‘Lineker’ tax to him at 99% of earnings.

      Let’s see the socialist Lefty sand by his principles – if he has any.

      Problem is, Lineker is just a bandwagoner. He doesn’t actually believe in anything, he just hates the other side. He doesn’t understand the wider history or any of the facts. He just hates, blindly, someone else.

  46. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxvBPH4sArQ

    A DT letter:

    I was told to use Barwick Green, the theme tune for The Archers, for performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation. This is perhaps less embarrassing than Nellie the Elephant (Letters, January 15), but I’m sure the patient wouldn’t mind either way.

    I think “Staying Alive” much more appropriate!

      1. Once I met a man who looked slightly like Martin Sheen, the actor. IIRC I must have made the inevitable comment. ‘Yes’ he replied, when I was a student they used me for the long shots in one of his movies.’

      2. Once I met a man who looked slightly like Martin Sheen, the actor. IIRC I must have made the inevitable comment. ‘Yes’ he replied, when I was a student they used me for the long shots in one of his movies.’

  48. Off to hospital to determine whether I will be put on oxygen or not. But wanted to post this. From the Telegraph
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/01/16/iowa-caucus-results-donald-trump-republican-primary/

    Trump wins Iowa caucus landslide – and DeSantis pips Haley to second place
    Ron DeSantis pips Nikki Haley to second as former president snatches more than half of the votes in the state

    Donald Trump won a landslide victory in the Iowa caucuses, the first race of the 2024 Republican primary, as Ron DeSantis beat Nikki Haley to a distant second place.

    The former president won more than half of votes in the state, confirming predictions that he would begin his third presidential campaign with a crushing victory in Iowa.😁😁😁😁😁

    1. 381941+ up ticks,

      Morning LD,

      She is the only woman that can sing chinese
      laundry blues backwards.

    2. They don’t pay for the speech. They pay for her to promote the legislation they want to fill their boots. It’s simple corruption.

    3. People overlook the fact that she is evil.

      John Betjeman knew that sad (such as bald despondent clerks) as well as bad, and nasty things things come from the region of Slough.

      But spare the bald young clerks who add
      The profits of the stinking cad;
      It’s not their fault that they are mad,
      They’ve tasted Hell.

      It’s not their fault they do not know
      The birdsong from the radio,
      It’s not their fault they often go
      To Maidenhead<      /i>

      1. I find it impossible to look at the name of the town, Slough, and not feel compelled to pronounce it “Sluff”.

        1. Not something i ever got into either, though I did hear a few episodes of Mrs Dale’s Diary.

          1. The hag, who was my maternal grandmother, invariably listened to the execrable Mrs Dale’s Diary when I was a sprog. Sitting in her dismal lounge listening to that utter misery made me yearn for a life of fun, laughter and happiness.

        3. It’s nice listening to the radio while you do housework. Nowadays I listen to podcasts though, R4 is too left wing.

      2. It used to be a programme for farmers to inform them of agricultural matters as entertainment. It hasn’t been that for a long time.

    2. Go back 20 or so years and no one would have cared. It’d be such a non-event as to produce no interest.

      Nowadays, folk with be polarised with a this is awful, how dare they force this or ‘we need more of this to force diversity!’

      That’s the carnage the Left have pushed on us. That’s how far back the Left have pushed us.

  53. Belated Morning All

    Hippo Birday Willun from another pair

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/15b2c7b386f1f36c2dff2f7cf0ebd952814f75e1c75b59d944f894cdeb1200b7.gif

    Rest

    It’s that time of year

    https://twitter.com/JohnFromAlba/status/1746180086405935301

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9ba83e15a22a5f5d88ceffe773d3077feb290842d2e1878776c124f79efd2b90.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dd98e1c32b5a967d7310bcb39420e5439cbcf515e002913c801e725735f17316.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/44a7daa6a0057f4f1f6d0c3ac9268aa9f63a79f59b56cdb9361f4bd423d64ba5.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e198e62821f0247efc2b2a25ca6841d70d40d4bc71131500e074e96f33c4239c.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5a5caddbfac6ad14c7ea6d10abf355ecb81c0628587de0082f8a35612076ffbc.jpg

          4. The centre spread of a 1950s girls’ comic GIRL (sister comic to the EAGLE) had a character drawn by John Ryan called “Lettice Leaf, the greenest girl in school”. One day she met a young pupil from the neighbouring boys’ school called “Charles Arthur Richard Roger Oliver Truncheon-Smith”. Lettuce remarked that they would make a good pair because his initials spelled CARROTS”. (Amazing what one remembers from one’s childhood.)

          6. Ted, Ken and Dennis ( a dog) were three others.

            I always gave my pets English human names. Oh, I forgot, Muriel and Dorothy were two others.

          8. In the 1930s an aunt (while a teenager) kept a scrapbook of photographs and press cuttings of the American gangster, John “Killer” Dillinger. Apparently she had the hots for him.

          10. Whenever i meet a Brian, i think of two things: one is the horse who was going to join the police. He was called Brian and they wanted to change his name (the quote was: “Brian is a good name for a horse”).

            The other is the sketch (from John Finnemore’s excellent Cabin Pressure) where they played “Brians of Britain”.

          11. I had 2 cats many years ago I was 8 or10. One was called Tommy and the other being totaly black was called n***r. How times have changed.

          3. House point to that boy!

            The calm and imperturbable Eliot Ness would say it (every week) to calm down his excitable Italian colleague, Enrico Rossi.

    3. Trying to google wef monopoly board just returns endless drivel about how great the wef is, the economics of socialism and all sorts of tripe.

    1. I wonder how much is cherry picked, just as our media cherry pick for us? I hope the majority of Palestinians wake up, think ‘uurrggh, Monday’, wash, shave, go to work, drop the kids off at school, do their jobs, come home, help children with homework and do the washing up, then fall asleep snoring on the sofa during the news.

      I bet many of them dislike their government, complain about taxation and want the war to stop because they want their children to grow up in peace.

      Problem is, we’re fed a carefully curated diet to suit of prejudices. Same as we don’t want half the crap our government forces on us, I doubt [insert any other country’s citizens] want it either.

      1. Unfortunately the examples give are not cherry picked. There is even a child’s programme, a rip off of Barney the purple dinosaur who spews anti Jewish and Christian propaganda with his puppet buddies that also encourages children to grow up to kill Jews and/or be suicide bombers. If you go on to MEMRI’s site you will see loads of examples of Islamic TV which would appal you as it would any decent person.

        But yes most Arabs just want to get on with it but that does not go for the Palestinians who have always happily voted for Hamas https://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-shows-soaring-support-for-hamas-in-west-bank-as-90-say-abbas-should-resign/

  55. After 12 years of frustration, Mark Steyn’s brave battle for freedom of speech reaches court today
    By Kathy Gyngell: https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/after-12-years-of-frustration-mark-steyns-brave-battle-for-freedom-of-speech-reaches-court-today/

    BTL

    Ofcom is an evil disgrace which is incapable of being impartial.

    Mark Steyn was effectively sacked from GB News for three things: his position on Pakistani rape gangs, his exposure of the damage done to some of those those who had had the Covid jabs, and his cynicisn about climate zealotry.

    The Rotherham rape gangs are now back in the MSM and scepticism is steadily growing about the Covid jabs.

    If Mark can now blow apart the Net Zero scam let us hope he will win three out of three!

    1. It’s a mistake to think that the OFs work for the consumer. They don’t. They are there to serve the state machine.

      1. Unfortunately he’s absolutely correct, again, again and again.
        Next time you go out for a coffee watch your back Neil. Remember what happened to Tommy Robinson..
        The ‘They’ will be sending old bill after you.

        1. Eddy – my OH has received an appointment for a cardioversion – on a Sunday! Any hints or tips?

          1. Sorry had to restart… I’ve got problems with my mobile it seems to have developed a mind of its own.
            That’s excellent news Ellie.
            You’ll take him in early morning and and he could be home early afternoon. They place two metal plates attached to wires on the chest.
            As I happened very quickly i went lights out from the anesthetic. They then stop the heart for a few seconds and restart. Back into normal rhythm.
            I wish you both well and hopefully the difference will be long lasting.
            Is it next Sunday?

          2. No – the 28th. Bit of a surprise though as he’d been told the earliest appointment would be next July. Good job it’s not in February as I’m away from the 13th for nearly two weeks.

            I hope it will do the trick for him as he gets so breathless and he misses his old life.

            I seem to remember your heart went back to its bad old ways after a while, so that’s a bit of a worry. Your most recent op seems to have been a success though.

          3. Yes your right but I’d had afib more than 8 years ago. I then had the ablation at Hammersmith and I was doing well until the covid jabs.
            I think I should have had a full re-ablatiion sooner and maybe not the cardioversion.
            I also think it was a mistake, a sort of appeasement. The cardiologist was a bit of a nightmare. I only saw him once during the whole time. I had to really push after I’d put up with the problem for nearly three years.
            You’ll both be very happy with the outcome. Keep us in touch. 🥰🤩

      2. If Gaza really had been “carpet bombed” as he claims, the Israelis would probably have killed 50,000+.
        It’s population density is over 42,000 per sq mile. London’s is roughly 14,000
        They have bent over backwards to try to keep casualties down.

  56. Mongo is a clever boy.

    There we were, in the Waitrose with the floof outside and a little old lady is struggling with a trolley. No one about to help her and as she tries to push it forward, it slides down the path. Enter the great brute who bounds up and stands beside the trolley, bracing it so she can push it forward. As she does so, he walks beside it in case it edges again. Eventually a staff saw this and went to help, but my little bear was there first!

    He’s earned a biscuit for that.

  58. As the doctor is ensuring the anonymity of the two ex-ministers, none of us is in a position to test his claim.

    1. That’s true, likewise, none of us is in a position to test the claim of efficacy and safety of the “vaccines”. I have anecdotal evidence of harms and lack of efficacy from a number of people I know. I doubt it would stand up in a court of law, though.
      The government’s continual “safe and effective” mantra and its ignoring/denying of the damning statistics that arose in 2021 and continue to this day are pitiful. The first duty of a government is the protection of its people from wherever it may arise.

  61. Do people in the public eye not understand English or do they say things deliberately to mislead? A representative of Fujitsu is reported to have said, “Fujitsu would like to apologise…”. Well, why don’t they? An apology should have been, “Fujitsu apologises for…”. His statement is suggesting they may or may not apologise at some point.

    1. For those of us watching the inquiry on TV, it was very interesting that when asked where the money paid to

      the Post Office by various sub postmasters had gone nobody knew.

      Evidently it wasn’t put in a special account, it just vanished.

      Curiouser and curiouser !!

    1. There will be no justice for the child raped and abused by pakistani muslim paedophiles. The punishment was not brutal enough to warrant stopping the next lot.

      Only when the vicious criminals are flogged, castrated and beaten half to death before being flown back to pakistan – and dropped from the aircraft without landing – will this horror end. They’ve got to be cowed.

  63. The first sign on the list of myocarditis symptoms that may have been triggered by a COVID vaccination is sinus tachycardia:

    https://litfl.com/myocarditis-ecg-library/

    This however this is not usually recognised by cardiologists ad being a health issue because they don’t particulaly care about heart rate in ecgs – they are more intent at looking as heart rhythym.

    However this video by a cardiologist delves into the recognition of a hard to identify evidence of the elusive p wave that is the start of establishing the taxonomy of an aberrant sinus tachycardia.

    https://youtu.be/fqT-AoznhwY?si=5pxGMun6ZfSBqtwH

    My interest in this subject arose after treatment for heart failure after being triaged for supraventricular tachycardia which appears on the diagnostic taxonomy. However, I was not convinced about being diagnosed by doctors under the cardiologist as having atrial fibrillation.

    I didn’t have myocarditis caused by COVID or its vaccination because the latter wasn’t around at the time.

    I do however know now what to look for in an ecg should I wish to challenge the interpretation of traces taken by a cardiologist.

      1. There is currently a puzzle as to why fit people playing sports are dropping with heart failure. My own experience having been diagnosed and treated for heart failure has revealed that interpretation and diagnosis of heart abnormalities is not an exact science even with the assistance of advanced diagnostic tools.

        The added complication of the advent of COVID and development of various vaccines has compounded the already complex field of diagnostics even for cardiologists.

        My comment with references is to some extent my own record of where I have got in trying to understand the inconsistencies in dialogues I have had with the many medical professionals during my own treatment for heart failure with added reference to recognising any form of ecg artifact that might lead to being a cause of COVID or a vaccine that I have received.

  67. Russian city declares state of emergency after Ukraine drone attack. 16 January 2024.

    A state of emergency has been declared in the Russian city of Voronezh after Ukraine reportedly launched an overnight drone attack that damaged several buildings and wounded two children.

    Mayor Vadim Kstenin said that some residents had been evacuated from their homes to a nearby school after debris sparked small fires and windows were shattered, adding: “The introduced state of emergency in the city will… allow for a prompt implementation of measures to replace them.”

    This is an indicator of how much Ukraine has dropped down the propaganda list in favour of the Middle East. Vlad no longer commands the attention of the journalistic Big Beasts. The last article in the Spectator by Mark Galleotti was about the egg shortage in Moscow.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/01/16/voronezh-russia-state-emergency-ukraine-drone-attack/

          3. Let us just say i wouldn’t enter into an arm wrestling contest with you. Unless you had both arms tied behind your back…

  68. Happy birthday to Bill Thomas, hope it’s a good day and that MR plus G&P look after you!

    It’s cold with 4 inches of snow here in W.Virginia, so will not be venturing out today…need to find something to read…or cook!

  69. I’ve been tied up and eye dropped most of the day and just noticed it’s BT’s Birthday, happy birthday dear elderly chap. I hope you’re having a lovely day somewhere very nice. 🤩🙂

  70. I’ve noticed the weather people have been overjoyed and been issuing yellow snow warnings.
    It’s probably a bit warmer than most of the usual white stuff.
    I expect they are a bit annoyed because its not in keeping with all the droning on about glowball warming.

      1. Could throwing snowballs be a way of exercising a bit of light relief after a yellow snow warning?

      2. When are you off to sunnier climes, Richard? Not very pleasant driving conditions in this neck of the woods at the moment. Hope it clears before you head on down south.

        1. Passing through your way at the end of the month. If south carolina is bad we will keep going until we get down to DeSantis land.

          I looked at google maps last night and I81 as well as I95 were shown as having problems. It could be a slow trip.

      2. I’ve never watched the Holly woman, but, as with Cilla Black, I’m highly suspicious of women who constantly parade their “niceness”.

        1. She was prepared to go into no go areas in (Sweden?) and talk to the Muslims hanging around on street corners. I think that was brave. Areas that even their Police won’t go in unless in full riot gear.

      3. I’ve never watched the Holly woman, but, as with Cilla Black, I’m highly suspicious of women who constantly parade their “niceness”.

  72. Good afternoon.
    Well, a much better day than I expected.
    Apart from slipping in a muddy patch and mucking up a clean pair of jeans.
    I blame Spartie; he chose the wrong route.

  75. A wonderfully outrageous story that has been given some wings by the massive effort to expunge tens of other articles on the subject by someone – who knows? – on the same subject. At least four website urls were transferred to online gaming sites or to a ww1 url. This Rumble site is so unattractive that many would ignore it otherwise. But what d’you think?

    https://www.bitchute.com/video/q6CRtINShboU/

  77. …. Michael Deacon on good form:

    The collapse of our universities is the best thing that could happen to Britain
    We need to rethink the purpose of higher education. Sadly, we aren’t going to do that until the current system falls apart

    MICHAEL DEACON
    COLUMNIST
    16 January 2024 • 7:00am
    Michael Deacon
    PRO TRANSGENDER PROTESTORS OUTSIDE OXFORD UNION PROTESTING AGAINST A DEBATE WHTH PROF KATHLEEN STOCK
    CREDIT: PAUL GROVER
    Asharp fall in the number of foreign students, reports the FT, is likely to leave many British universities in grave financial peril. The report makes it sound as if this is bad news. Frankly, though, I’ve no idea why.

    In reality, the collapse of our universities is one of the best things that could happen to Britain.

    Every autumn, far too many of our young people set off to rack up vast personal debt (on average, £45,000 each), in return for which they will receive three years’ indoctrination in fashionable Left-wing dogma, plus a sheet of paper confirming that they now hold an absolutely useless degree. And when I say useless, I’m not just thinking of the usual obvious examples, such as gender studies. I’m thinking of degrees that are more traditional, but ultimately just as worthless, such as philosophy, history of art and English literature.

    All fascinating subjects. But there’s no point in getting a degree in them. I should know. I have a degree in English literature myself. For me, the one useful aspect of the course was that it involved so little work, thus leaving me with lots of free time to do things that I hoped might actually help me find a job one day, such as writing for the student newspaper. It is of course wonderfully life-enhancing to read the greatest works in our literary canon. But you don’t have to go to university to do that. You can borrow them all from a library, and enjoy them as their authors intended: that is, without the slightest need to know what semiotics are, or who Jacques Derrida was.

    I appreciate that this is hardly a new point. Bill Bryson, for example, made it 30 years ago in Notes from a Small Island, when he politely wondered what the point of Oxford University was, “now that Britain no longer needs colonial administrators who can quip in Latin. I mean to say, you see all these dons and scholars striding past, absorbed in deep discussions about the Leibniz-Clarke controversy or post-Kantian aesthetics and you think: Most impressive, but perhaps a tad indulgent in a country with three million unemployed and the last great invention was Cat’s-eyes?” And Bryson wrote this, don’t forget, when tuition fees were nothing more than a glint in Tony Blair’s eye.

    Before yet another generation plunges itself into unnecessary debt, therefore, we urgently need to rethink what university is for, beyond keeping otherwise unemployable academics in paid work. Even though we now send almost half our children to university, Britain today has alarming shortages of doctors and engineers – and a colossal surfeit of experts in sociology, and the films of Quentin Tarantino. Wouldn’t our country – and indeed our children – be better off if all degree courses were vocational, or at least somehow practical? Shouldn’t a degree qualify you to do something, other than to teach the same futile subject to the next generation of suckers?

    The trouble is, though, that we aren’t going to have this urgent rethink. We’re just going to carry blithely on, encouraging ever more legions of innocently trusting teenagers to waste tens of thousands of pounds on lectures about queer theory or Gerard Manley Hopkins.

    In truth, there’s only one thing that might conceivably force us to build a better system. And that’s the collapse of the current one. Fingers crossed.

    At last, a simple solution to the Tories’ immigration woes
    According to a major new poll, the people of almost every parliamentary constituency in Britain want immigration to be reduced. A fascinating exception, however, is Bristol Central. This is a new constituency, created in the recent boundary changes to replace Bristol West, one of the most Left-wing and most pro-EU seats in the country. And in Bristol Central, a clear majority of those polled said that immigration actually isn’t high enough. They want it to be even higher.

    Such a result may seem somewhat disconcerting. For Tory ministers, though, it’s wonderful news. This week they were planning another doomed attempt to send immigrants to Rwanda. But now they needn’t bother – because there’s an alternative that’s simpler, cheaper, and perfectly legal.

    They can send the immigrants to Bristol Central, instead.

    Problem solved. Then again, perhaps this approach doesn’t go far enough. After all, the poll makes clear that people in most constituencies want all forms of immigration to fall, not just the one that involves small boats. The progressives of Bristol Central, meanwhile, evidently want all forms of immigration to increase.

    Thankfully, the answer is obvious. Each year, all 750,000 or so new arrivals to this country should be given a warm welcome, and presented with free train tickets to Bristol Temple Meads.

    It’s the perfect solution. The Corbynites of Bristol Central get more immigration, just as they wanted. The people of the rest of Britain get less immigration, just as they wanted. The immigrants themselves get to live somewhere in Britain, just as they wanted. And at the same time, the total volume of immigration to Britain doesn’t actually fall. So our political class will be happy, too.

    Way of the World is a twice-weekly satirical look at the headlines aiming to mock the absurdities of the modern world. It is published at 7am every Tuesday and Saturday

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/16/collapse-of-universities-would-be-great-news-for-britain/?li_source=LI&li_medium=for_you

    1. The point of Oxbridge? To meet and befirend other ruling-class people, to mutual advantage later in life.

    2. “immigration actually isn’t high enough. They want it to be even higher.” I spose they think the bigger the woodpile the less chance of any of their nefarious activities being discovered.

    3. Even supposedly practical degrees are full of wokery and “learning by doing” rather than actually being taught the necessary techniques.

  78. BTW, one unbelievable, but true, feature of the Rwanda Bill is that the agreement with Rwanda includes the provision that each asylum seeker landing in Rwanda from the UK will be matched by the sending of a “vulnerable Rwandan” from Rwanda to the UK.

    No doubt, vulnerable Rwandans are already saving up to buy a place on the Rwandan list.

      1. Does that mean however that they will need to have the priority vaccination for.WHO’s ‘priority’ Disease X?
        (No trial volunteers needed)

    2. More likely to be a medical basket case that will cost the UK taxpayer even more than the one shipped to Rwanda would have done.

      1. Of course it has been ! You see, the solution is far too difficult for the ptb’s to think about!!

  79. The Basingstoke talk was brilliant. The speaker combined very funny lines with some extremely serious points about the complete destruction of a very old market town and its replacement with soulless, concrete horrors. His slides were just right. AND he spoke up.

  80. Sigh……..

    DT:
    “Civil servants could be ordered to obey ministers over Rwanda flights.
    Downing Street is actively considering reminding officials of their
    obligations under the Civil Service code as it attempts to see off a
    rebellion over the Rwanda Bill.”

    “actively considering”. ‘Yes, Minister’ was uncannily accurate.
    I’d laff more if the whole Rwanda plan wasn’t already a farce……..

    2. ‘Could’, ‘may’, ‘considering’, ‘possible’. The words associated with this useless government are endless. They’ll never do anything!

    4. I think Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister are seen as the handbook for snivel serpents and Mr Bean as the handbook for Prime Minsters and Ministers.

    1. A 4 today.

      Wordle 941 4/6

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

      1. Five
        Wordle 941 5/6

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

        1. Late but here I am

          Wordle 941 4/6

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

    2. Me too. Amazed when that happens.

      Wordle 941 3/6

      ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
      🟨⬜🟩⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Channel 5 news are going for it on the snow scene. None of them are old enough to remember 1962-3.

      1. I remember that winter, I was in Germany at the time and in the Feb did a winter survival course at Oberammergau which was more about surviving the beer than the conditions

          2. I can remember being in Austria and the barman hovering when we got close to the end. With his obviously strong accent, “You like anozzer vun”.

  83. Just had an email from Boots Chemist. Totally screwed up my medicines and the email contained whinging things about medicines are not recyclable. I gave them a very sharp response. I can see now why all those posters went up everywhere saying abuse of staff would not be tolerated. If their fuckwit staff did their jobs properly people wouldn’t lose their rag so often.

      1. I know. I noticed the wording when for the first time i put in a complaint to the practice management about there being no continuity of care.

        I also had a similar response from Waitrose apportioning blame rather than the good customer service they were known for.

        1. It’s become a terrible trend recently.
          Too many personal victims of their own exaggerated mental health issues.
          Same thing happened to me when I complained to the hospital over the lack of interest and lack of productive treatment I had from the cardiology department.
          It took a very astute paramedic from our gp practice to get something positive carried out.

    2. All very well to lose your rag with incompetents, just don’t take it out on the poor receptionist as so many people do.

      1. No, i wouldn’t do that. I found the receptionists at the GP’s to be helpful in sorting out other people’s messes.

  86. Exciting, this evening at work.
    The Norwegian Army are going to assault the office building I work in, by abseiling from helicopters onto the roof, then rushing down the stairs.
    Problem is, there’s a fcuk load of snow, with strong winds, about to be dropped – lets see how well that works!

    3. Is this part of the NATO shindig pretending to be big and scary to Russia? Lay out a lot of cameras and roller skates in the stair wells.

    4. A word to the wise: don’t take your pistol to work tomorrow, they might be “holding” the building…

  87. ‘Night All

    “To understand what it means to be equal under the law, you

    need to apply one simple question: Can I do that?

    If the answer is no, then the action to which you are

    applying the question is unlawful”

    From the Light

    https://thelightpaper.co.uk/assets/pdf/Light-29-Jan-23-Web-Final_2023-01-21-053514.pdf

    Hmm interesting point can I hire burly men with concealed weapons to escort me around London??

    No of course is the answer so how come politicians like Khan are granted this privilege??

    Leave you with a late laff

    https://twitter.com/Rogue_Gunner12/status/1747232638476140668?s=20

    3. For those of us watching the inquiry on TV yesterday, it was quite obvious that Fujitsu were going to

      offer effusive and heat felt apologies, BUT NO MONEY.

  89. Just watching the film ‘Trading Places’.

    All the people in jail or being arrested are for drugs and prostitution.

    Seems that is all legal at DAVOS now.

    1. “What a scumbag!”

      Not you, Philip. Muttered by the wonderful butler played by the marvellous Denholm Elliott.

    2. Do you ever wonder why, with all those prime targets available, that none of the world’s terrorist organisations or rogue states seize the opportunity for some wonderful publicity?

        1. Quite.
          And why do you think that should be?

          My view: They’re all on the same side.
          Against the “little people”.

    3. I did wonder what the legal status of prostitution in Switzerland is, so looked it up:-

      Prostitution in Switzerland
      Prostitution in Switzerland is legal and regulated; it has been legal since 1942. Trafficking, forcing people into prostitution and most forms of pimping are illegal. Wikipedia

    1. Acrylic paint would be better still. Plastic. Chances of him joining the dots are minimal.

  92. That’s me gone. Jolly day. Cards, e-mails, greetings. Gave an armful of blood. Birthday bonus – the child at the surgery told me they needed a stool sample…. I nearly said, “What now, right here?” but didn’t! Just took the bag and kit.

    Steak for supper. Lazy day tomorrow – keeping warm. Have a jolly evening. Thank you all for your kind comments on this memorable day (for me, that is).

    A demain.

  93. Evening all. As a Conservative, it’s hard to be loyal to a party that is as left-leaning as the Labour Party, greener than the Greens, and loopier than the Limp Dims. There doesn’t appear to be a conservative bone in its collective body.

    Had a friend round for coffee so I lit the fire in the sitting room and am now sitting by a blazing open fire with my feet up, typing this with my laptop balanced on a wine table. I’ve had to put the sherry glass on the piano!

    1. Maybe this is where people are going wrong. Being loyal to a party, rather than to ideas they believe to be correct.

      1. I’m sure that’s true. I heard one voter say to a non-mainstream candidate, “I agree with everything you say [in your leaflet] but I’m not going to vote for you”.

          1. I think because it was a heavily Conservative area and it wasn’t a Conservative candidate. A lot of people were still going to vote Conservative, despite the previous candidate’s poor behaviour.

      2. 381941+ up ticks,

        Evening BF,
        If that was being loyal to a party name regardless of consequence, I would have agreed totally.

      3. But I have admit to voting for Tony effing bliar once. Only because the tories had made a mess and didn’t care. But my word he mislead a lot of other people as well.

        1. I didn’t even vote for him once. I could foresee a disaster. I spoiled my ballot because there was no alternative candidate.

        2. I’ve never been able to bring myself to vote Labour, even though our local MP was a good man. I held my nose and voted for the Tory. Next time it’ll be Reform or an independent.

          1. Our previous MP was Peter Lilley.
            But since he retired I’ve either voted for an independent or not at all.
            I will never vote for our current MP he’s got a strange idea about illegal immigrants. Thinks they are entitled.

        1. It should. But when it no longer does, it should be abandoned. Otherwise we’re loyal to people who will not do our bidding, which is why we’re in this unholy mess.

    2. “As a Conservative” I’m sure if you notified the WWF they would put you on their ‘Red Endangered Species ‘ list…..

      1. More likely to put a target on my back – I’m a hunting and shooting sort of person (I don’t fish and haven’t since I was a child). I haven’t been a Conservative since the Party left me in about 2010, although I am still a conservative.

        1. I look at so called ‘conservative’ policies and they’re utterly malicious, self serving, indulgent and wasteful that there is nothing worth voting for.

          High taxes, utterly fake green con which is just a trough for corrupt MPs, anti business policies, pro EU ideology, globalist obsession, endless lies, fiddled statistics and sheer, unadulterated statism.

          2. I agree completely. The leadership of the party simply doesn’t believe in what the ideals of the wider part are (or were).

            It’s a corrupt, mangerialist, statist, Left wing bunch of big state socialists.

    3. You know the saddest part is you’d no doubt be described as a far Right privileged boomer.

      That’s the depths the Left have fallen.

      1. Compared with what passes for middle of the road these days, I am far right! I am definitely a boomer (born not long after the War), but I’ve had to work for everything I’ve got (although I was mightily aided by a good state education and the will to make the most of it).

  94. As with the “covid and vaccine” information mounting up against both the “virus” and its supposed cure, so with the climate change scam. Those responsible for both, and there very likely is some crossover of personalities with responsibility for promoting the scare-mongering, will not listen to reputable scientists who present factual evidence as opposed to model data. I read earlier somewhere that “settled science isn’t science it’s religion” and that seems about right i.e. immutable, and anyone saying otherwise is a heretic and will be severely punished.

    Daily Sceptics has another report that is akin to throwing a spanner in the works: Arctic ice isn’t going away anytime soon.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/71333e649e73321f89194af10b37565fd867f630ddf237dcff2b03008a2c1a5f.png

    A few from BTL.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e0037326885eb0996f20cc77b148fa4cb53eb26b3ac0e587dd81e7ac4be14fa8.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2421d17f96348d0a1673aedfca0357aa8f16adb980a767949d53f104a8c55912.png

    1. 381941+ up ticks,

      Evening KtK,
      I believe Hollywood is making an english
      updated version of ” Hang em high” only as a a political thriller

    2. Fighting the ideological tax scam of climate change cannot be done with science. If science – real science, not’ The Science’ were the driver for climate change policy there would be many significant changes and not just more expensive energy through tax. Windmills wouldn’t be considered as they’re unreliable and the focus would be on energy generation, not troughing.

      Discussing science with a Lefty is like bringing a pen to fight the Africa Korps.

      1. Good analogy, but British forces did beat the Afrika Corps with the help of a ‘pen’, or rather typewriters. ‘Ultra’ intelligence enabled the Allies to intercept Rommel’s supply lines to North Africa.

    3. Everyone knows that there are no polar bears in the antarctic … because the penguins ate them all.

      1. Penguin – as far as I know, the o ly Welsh word in the international lexicon.
        Oh, and ‘cwm’ perhaps. And cwtch.

      2. Penguin – as far as I know, the o ly Welsh word in the international lexicon.
        Oh, and ‘cwm’ perhaps. And cwtch.

      3. What would you expect when krill is in short supply? Penguins gorging themselves on asylum seekers? Would you eat an asylum seeker?

  95. 381941+up ticks,

    Tories should prioritise economy over migrant bill to win votes, says George Osborne
    Former chancellor says Rishi Sunak must ‘double down’ on his economic message

    I suppose the 48 percentres would go for it,.maintain the economy to finance the five star hotel treatment for the potential foreign troops, potential child rapist / abusers, in fact anyone worldwide who wants to be british under an WEF banner.

    1. The more brain-dead cows, like this vacuum-head, this world provides, the quicker the species will become extinct.

      1. Why does this debate only ever focus on ‘What is a woman?’ Why no discussion about trans men.
        They’re all as bad as each other but at least give equal status to both sets of loonies.

        1. Pantomime often trades on gender confusion because it makes life more entertaining and for no other reason. I am currently involved in a production of ‘Die Fledermaus’, which is the cautionary tale of when a lawyer got drunk and was transformed into a bat. One of the characters, Prince Orlovsky, is traditionally played by a woman, bored with life and desperate for anything to make life less boring.

          Wouldn’t you prefer to vote for a true loony, rather than someone merely pretending to be sane?

        2. Indeed but women pretending to be men are not as threatening to men as men pretending to be women are to women.

  97. Another Tory rebellion in the HoC tonight as Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith resign as Conservative deputy chairmen over the Rwanda bill. They were in favour of an amendment tabled by Bill Cash to insert clauses into the Bill which would explicitly say the government is not bound by international human rights laws with regards to the plan.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-67998491

    1. Sounds good, but even better if immigrants had to live here for 15 years, without committing a crime, paying taxes and receiving no benefits before they were enfranchised.

      1. To get residency, you should have to have employment paying a certain minimum amount, or be dependent (spouse, child) on someone who does.
        Like when we moved to Norway.

        1. Lots of countries where my seismic survey vessel worked demanded educational certificates showing that local inhabitants weren’t able to do my job and that tax would be paid when I was there, a health check for things like TB and a police check from the UK.

          1. We needed to have health checks, they were performed by a Harley Street doctor.
            Have you ever had fainting fits he asked while I was watching him take a blood sample. No I replied just before I fell over.
            Just lay up on the bed and I will check your reflexes he said. One little hammer blow the the knee and he doubled over in agent- wife reflexes good and he shouldn’t have been standing at the end of the bed.

            Despite that we were approved for export.

          2. I looked into the possibility of moving, permanently, to Canada in 1976. I had a contact in Guelph, Ontario, who offered me a job in engineering (in my time-served trade as a plater/welder), as well as accommodation.

            I had been a police officer in the UK for over three years and really wanted to do the same job in Canada; however I need to have been resident in the country for a number of years before I would be allowed to apply. Since I had no desire to return to the factory floor I gave up the opportunity.

        2. Same rules applied when we moved to Canada, wd basically needed an employer to confirm that I would be employed and that the position could not be filled by anyone in Canada.

          Nowadays they are looking at importing thousands of gangsters from Gaza, Somalia and every other hell hole. No job, no skills required.

      2. I assume you mean, paying taxes, without committing a crime and receiving no benefits…

    2. What a stupid idea. Our son gets the right to vote even though we left England when he was ten. He does not follow UK politics, has no interest in UK politics and hasn’t set foot in the UK for about thirty years.

      Now if a party would promise to index my UK pension, I would vote for them.

        1. At least we don’t have that problem here. It is communist (NDP), almost communist (Liberal) and middle of the road conservative.

          When we first arrived in Canada there was a protest party called the Rhinos. Amongst other things they proposed tearing down the Rockies and equalizing the country by moving one to each province. They would probably win now if they were still around.

          1. There is money to be made converting the Rockies into rocks and exporting to Mecca for throwing at the Devil.

    4. Does this mean I get to vote in the local elections in Middlesex where I was born, but never eligible to vote all the time I lived there?

  99. We that’s me for today I’ve been out of bed for a longtime.
    Night all.
    Programme on BBC 4 About 9 day Lady Jane Grey.
    Recording.

  100. Just watching a Bake-off winner on a trip “back home” to Bangladesh. Made me think, what do I miss most from no longer living in England – and the conclusion is a peal of bells on Sunday, and bell practice earlier in the week. Here, a single bell is rung, no peal, and I miss that. When we lived in Newport Pagnell, the Church was just a few yards away, at the top of the High Street.
    Sigh…

  101. That’s me for today.
    Heavy snow forecast for early morning, and cold winds.
    Proper winter – don’cha just lerve it?

  102. Well, that’s it for today. Good night all, sleep warmly and safely, and I hope to see you all well and refreshed in the morning.

  103. William wants to dodge being Defender of the Faith , according to the Mail. They are just floating the idea to see what people’s reaction is. These people think generationally.
    He can do one. Bring back the King over the Water.

      1. The country was built on the faith. Our laws are based on Christian principles. They are not universal.

      1. All the films of the 39 Steps seem to have very little to do with John Buchan’s novel!

        The Memory Man, for example was not in the book!.

  105. From the Naked Emperor – Satire or Psychotic?

    https://nakedemperor.substack.com/p/the-unwelcome-unvaxxed?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-restack-comment&r=z2izz

    The unvaccinated citizen is a pesky creature, found in public
    landscapes, especially discount grocery outlets and anti-government
    rallies. If you hear the noxious spreaders’ distinctive lower
    respiratory rasping in the frozen foods section, head straight to the
    safety of the produce section or quit the store for the closest Liberal
    Party fundraiser.

    If you asked me in March 2020 if I’d still be
    COVID-vigilant in January 2024, I’d have scoffed. By 2024, I imagined
    optimistically, the scientists would have an effective vaccine and we
    would have beat this thing — together — as a community of caring,
    concerned citizens.

    Yet, in my age group, 59 to 69, only 27 per cent of Canadians have their booster shots up to date.

    1. The CBC were every bit as bad as the BBC when it came to the hysterical sniffles brainwashing.

    3. Vaccines take 10-15 years to develop having gone through all the trials and testing. Another 12 years to go.

    5. Psychotic. Vindictive, too. Obviously hasn’t asked herself if ever, in the past, she’s had to have umpteen “boosters” to, what, keep the so-called vaccine effectiveness up to date? And how on earth did Moderna produce a “vaccine” when it had never produced anything before? Why does she not question the fact that, to protect her, others had to have this experimental gene therapy?

      1. People like her do not question their own sanity – they take their own rightness as read. The precurser was the annual flu jab – which I have never bothered with, although i did succumb to one in 2020.

  106. If you want your way, you must resort to terrorism. You’ll never achieve it by relying on the ballot box. There are too many millions in opposition to you. You have to be prepared to resort to murdering thousands of innocents before you can force your way on those who don’t want it.

    4. Is that a reply to my comment about William below? A little extreme, surely – UKIP started from a similarly unthinkable position and ended up carrying the country with them, without any violence.

Comments are closed.