Tuesday 17 December: Customers deserve guarantees from irresponsible water companies

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

721 thoughts on “Tuesday 17 December: Customers deserve guarantees from irresponsible water companies”

    1. Theresa May pulled the same trick with the EU..
      I'm gonna ask you right now.. I can bend-over twice as much if it pleases..

      1. I am surprised that Starmer has not yet got Traita May into his government. She is just as evil as he is.

  4. Good Morning Geoff and all Nottlers
    Today's Tale
    Bill was seventy-five years old when he decided to take up walking. He began by walking five kilometres every day and soon he was in such great health that he had the body of a fifty-year-old. He met an old friend who said, “Bill, I didn’t even recognise you – you look fantastic.”

    This encouraged Bill to join a health club, so he started walking five kilometres a day and working out at the gym 4 days a week. Soon he had the body of a 40-year-old. One day at the gym he met an old girlfriend who said, “Bill, you look fantastic! I didn’t even recognise you!”

    He was so inspired by this he joined a singles club and began disco dancing 3 nights a week plus working out at the gym plus walking five kilometres a day. Six months later he had the body of a thirty-year-old. He fell in love with a twenty-one- year-old woman and proposed marriage. She accepted.

    In their honeymoon suite on the eleventh floor of the Hilton Hotel he said, “Darling this is the happiest day of my life. I’m going to jog across to the bottle shop and buy us a bottle of Moet champagne." He jogged eleven floors down to the hotel staircase, straight across the road and was hit by a truck. He was killed instantly and went straight to Heaven.

    On arrival at the Pearly Gates he approached God and said, “Why did you do it, God? Why did you take me now? It was the happiest day of my life!” God looked at him and said, “Bill, is that you? I didn’t even recognise you! You look fantastic!”

        1. Funerals, Funerals
          Ndovu,
          My late wife's cousin, 18 months my junior, died on 6th December, just as I was driving past his village on the way to Epsom. His funeral is to be on 8th January, which happens to be my 84th birthday, as well as the late great Elvis Presley's 90th (imagine!) and Shirley Bassey's 88th. Like Bill in my Tale this morning, she still looks amazing.

          1. Happy 84th to you for January. All my first cousins died years ago- 61, 60 and 57. I have several 2nd & 3rd cousins whom I’ve found through family history research- they’re now in their 80s. My father’s cousin is 98.

  8. Ballet Shoes
    Dear All, had a very enjoyable session at Stone Carving last evening which raised my spirits no end. Most of the Class members carve abstract shapes, but I prefer figure work.

    In case you think I carve only nudes, here's a little figure I carved out of a chunk of Soapstone in 2010, It's a little girl, trying on her first pair of ballet slippers. Her base is only 4.5 inches (11cm) long so she fits in your hand.

    Always reminds me of the late 1940s (or early 50s?), when Noel Streatfeilds's book Ballet Shoes was first serialised on BBC Children's Hour, with the Serenata from The Jewels of the Madonna by Wolf-Ferrari as introductory music. Does any other 'really old' Nottler remember it?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9f9de1dbb243f5bd6436a198927c1017ffe4883c280930ca30062816a8f29870.png

    1. Does any other 'really old' Nottler remember it?

      I remember it RC but then I am really old. Those were the days of innocence.

      1. I remember the Beeb doing "The Eagle of the Ninth" on Children's Hour.
        Again, I was so impressed that I then read all Rosemary Sutcliffe's books

    2. My favourite Fossil girl was Petrova.
      I loved the book as it is set in Kensington where I lived as child, and which, thanks to WWII was not that different from the Kensington of the 1930s. (Bar a few big holes in the ground and a general greyness.)

      1. Thanks BoB, I knew that, but I spent quite a long time searching the Archives to discover when it was FIRST broadcast on Children's Hour 'on the wireless'. Still haven't found the first broadcast. I must have been old enough to remember the music, so it WAS probably the late 1940's.

        My very first memory as a child (actually, the second, but that's another story) was on the 'Prom' (the Promenade) in Cheltenham on VE Day, 8th May 1945. I was 4 years old, swinging along between my parents when we came across the Gloster Whittle aircraft on static display – the first British jet plane – that had flown for the first time on 15th May 1941. It had a big opening at the front instead of a propellor and I insisted on being lifted up to look through to see if I could see right through to the rear end. Of course, there was a jet engine in the way. Perhaps that experience started me on the road to getting my Pilots Licence in 1958.

        Here's a photo of it in the air (courtesy Wikipedia – public domain image). Two examples were built.
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/181e62b35697702e903441e83a6dabf06c8a0e76ad1cb44d50e51d0a38d29996.jpg

      2. Dear BoB, a Pedant writes (yet again!).
        No criticism of you at all, but I've just looked carefully at the caption on the DVD cover to Ballet Shoes. The author of the original 1936 book was Noel Streatfeild, NOT Streatfield. Does nobody proof-read or check spellings any more?

    5. I remember reading the book and several of her others. Not sure about hearing it on Children's hour.
      That little statue is beautiful.

    7. There seems to be a connection between carvers and doctors and surgeons!

      My grandfather was a doctor and he did the most beautiful woodcarving much of which adorned his local parish church in Devon.

  9. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's page.

    Wordle 1,277 6/6

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    1. No, not a single one. Nor are they likely to as I think theyd just rather forget all about the whole thing.

      Not sure they’ve bothered to read anything about it at all.

      1. 398944+ up ticks,

        Morning VW,

        The sad thing is, many a mind must be in turmoil just thinking what have I introduced my body too.

  11. Good morning, all. Overcast and dry as forecast.

    Hot towel wash on just after 06:00, two hours to go, time enough to put my steak and kidney pudding together and get it steaming. Serving it this evening with creamy mash, carrots, calabrese and thick red wine/onion gravy.

    Heartfelt from James Melville.

    https://x.com/JamesMelville/status/1868774459135737980
    Why does this awful person feel the need to reaffirm his allegiance to the "big club that we, the little people, aren't in". They know he's in it and we know he's in it: he said as much. Is this a form of rubbing our noses in the excrement?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4fda6f7c7821eeb323926c77b347511bdff2ab3647e50208974a07f20e726fd1.png

      1. Hi Maggie. I am walking normally again after months of Chiropractic and massage.My darling wife, not so good. She has rheumatoid arthritis in both knees and a problem with her shoulder. The mobility chariot which we bought for me now allows her to take the dog for walks in the forest. NHS not helpful.

        1. Good heavens , so sorry to hear that , Derek .

          I remember you both so well , when we accidentally met years ago at Compton Abbas, you recognised me .. amazed at that.

          The pair of you gave me first impressions of an attractive tall couple , and your wife , a charming smiley pretty fair haired lady .

          I cannot believe that everything has taken a tumble .

          NHS is stuttering along .. there is so much wrong with it .

          Take care , both of you x

          1. Bet they’re being spoiled rotten! And also that they’ll be delighted to see you again.

            The restaurant looks amazing – have a wonderful time. I look forward to a description of your dinner! 🙂

          2. They are trying for fine dining. Small portions suits me. I think they have overthought the dishes. Remains to be seen.

          3. They sulk for a while when i pick them up. Doggy heaven at Rachel’s. 10 or more chihuahuas. All family. Dolly is nervous at first but Harry dives straight in !

  14. Morning, all Y'all.
    Clear & warm today. Not wintry at all. Dark as all fuck, though. 😵‍💫

  17. Watch the hands..

    Fun fact: that hand signal is similar to that of the Sun Yee On triad gang.

  18. Watch the hands..

    Fun fact: that hand signal is similar to that of the Sun Yee On triad gang.

  19. Morning all,

    Most will be aware of Labour’s plans to create monster councils remote from the public, under the guise of saving money. Jeremy Morfey discusses poposal to abolish District Councils a nd thinks no good will come of it. Also, as everything this government is doing has a sinister underlying agenda, FSB thinks it likely that this is another attack on democracy and part of the agenda to move to ever Bigger Government. Let us know what you think by joining the debate.

    There's a poll under the article and at the top of the Today page. Please vote.

    And as part of our Christmas festivities we have a short story of St. Christopher, the Christ Bearer .

    Energy watch: Demand: 38.213GW. Supply: Hydrocarbons 37.31%; Wind 29.7%; Imports 5.8%, Biomass 5.7% and Nuclear 11.9%.

  20. Hands-up who thinks that the appropriate response to having a milkshake thrown on you is prosecution and jail?
    The laundry bill, yes, but prosecution?
    As a result, I now believe Farage to be a total prick.

    1. How about an egg?? An egg is worth 28 days chokey it seems (see Jeremy Corbyn for details)
      As always it's the double standards that grate

    2. In a sane world – but it’s relative. If a naughty tweet gets two years then an actual assault should warrant five. Good morning.

    3. This sentence has given the green light to future physical assaults on MPs and candidates.
      You get a hands down from me because of your point of view.

    5. "At least make it acid next time.." quipped alleged comedian Jo Brand on Leftie gameshow produced by Leftie BBC.
      And didn't the Leftie audience scream with canned laughter.

      The skin graft bill, yes, but prosecution?

      3. Milk is not acid. It’s harmless, after all, calves drink it and Farage will have only received a blow to his pride, not life-changing injuries.

      1. Exactly! That's why not prosecuting shoplifters and the like has led to a great increase in petty crime and even more serious crimes too. If they think they can get away with it they will take advantage. Deal with the lesser crimes and the more serious ones will be discouraged. That does not mean harassment of public expressions of disapproval, providing they do not promote violence and criminal activity.

    7. In fairness to Farage he was making the comparison between the suspended sentence in his case and imprisonment of others for putting hurty words on twitter.

      1. I completely disagree. The sentence should be proportionate to the actual crime, not a theoretical much worse one. Just imagine a criminal justice system in which, for example, on offence of driving at 35 mph in a 30 mph zone were treated as if the vehicle could have been driven at 135 mph.

      2. But she didn’t. She could have thrown Uranium, but she didn’t. She threw milk, a smelly but otherwise harmless fluid.

    9. I don't agree. Any physical assault is worthy of prosecution, it could be stones next. Is Farage a prick because he was assaulted or because he allowed the prosecution to go ahead?

    10. Prosecution, yes; jail, no – in this particular case. I think the sentence was reasonably proportionate.

    12. Someone who threw an egg ar Corbin was sent to jail.

      You shouldn’t be allowed to throw stiff over people. What if it were acid, as Jo Brand had recommended? Are you OK with that?

    13. I'm holding up my hand. It's assault. It's also the principle of the thing; milk shake today, something more dangerous in future.

  21. 'Morning All
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f3e63aa19f509aed242acf1acff019048d5163e01b1d078de3512a7e4e40f85f.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c227d886caed018e6100436ade870dd035ad0181b22073b19f83c9d525809bd6.jpg
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    https://scontent.fbrs4-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/470226508_985610020273673_6456528577259010095_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_s640x640_tt6&_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=EMc8OJ8STAYQ7kNvgFlG6eD&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.fbrs4-2.fna&_nc_gid=Aelau8mXdMsqN4grkzjgHdn&oh=00_AYCW1awT0mrDb68VgQpbgHcbBlObF0NqZK4pvdr44fMgrw&oe=6766392E
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b2057c728f2dbf03b84129b8c111951ffd47bfc07e44ea6894c2bd028ee7e04d.jpg
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    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/da9911aa37e896ea33e67637b2e201c5b6739e08f5107dbf5419f28ebdbaadbd.jpg
    https://x.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1868456581714641144

      1. I do that too – usually once a day when the theme tune to the Archers is played. I have to get across the room and switch off the radio before the tune finishes. The Archers is the most deadly programme in the world, thousands of old men and women have broken bones or died of a heart attack attempting to get to the off switch in time. I like Barwick Green but I'd rather the cast was buried in it not introduced by it. You probably don't know but I am not a fan of the BBC – have I mentioned it before?

  22. Good morning all.
    Another overcast but mild and dry start to the day with 7.3°C on the New Yard Thermometer.
    It got as warm as 11.3° yesterday and down to 5.3°C overnight.

  23. A much needed silly story; humour briefly surfaces in Stoma's joyless Blighty.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/16/dunchurch-warwickshire-lord-john-scott-bluey-prank/

    "Statue turned into cartoon dog Bluey by village pranksters

    Warwickshire statue receives annual makeover as part of 50-year-old tradition that sees Lord John Scott transformed into TV characters

    Telegraph Reporters16 December 2024 3:01pm GMT

    Pranksters targeted a village’s statue once again by turning the memorial into Bluey, the cartoon dog.

    The statue of Lord John Scott in Dunchurch, Warwickshire, has been a regular target for jokers since the 1970s after what is thought to have been a drunken prank turned into a tradition.

    This year, the statue of the Scottish MP, which dates back to 1867, was transformed overnight into Bluey, the popular children’s television dog.

    It has previously been dressed as characters including Pikachu, Olaf from Frozen, Pinocchio, Bob the Builder, Peppa Pig and The Grinch. Last year, it was turned into Queen Poppy, the pink-haired troll from the film Trolls Band Together.

    Amber Cummins, 30, has lived in the village all her life and said she was particularly happy with this year’s effort.

    “I am 30-years-old with a two-year-old who loves Bluey – so we are very happy with the statue this year,” she said.

    “It’s a tradition that goes back many years and the statue is dressed up as a popular character or something from a movie. We look forward to the anticipation of what the statue will be as Christmas gets closer.

    “I do not know who does the statue – it is the best kept secret in Dunchurch.”

    The tradition is believed to date as far back as the 1970s, though Ms Cummins said that some claim it started even earlier.

    She added: “There is talk that the statue may have been dressed to welcome the soldiers back from the war. Rumours as to who does it are abound. Talk is that it was started by student nurses from the local hospital of St Cross or apprentices from the old GEC college that was nearby and some think it is done by the Dunchurch Elves.”

    Other residents reacted to the transformation on social media, with someone writing: “Been waiting to see who would be up there… we love it.”

    Another said: “We drove past it last night and it wasn’t dressed. So glad the elves made it again this year.”

    The statue commemorates Lord Scott, who was a Grenadier Guards officer, a Scottish MP and a landlord, who died aged 51 in 1860.

    The Buccleuchs, his family, are still one of the largest private landowners in Europe with extensive holdings in Scotland."

    1. Lord John Scott or Lord Scott. The writer won’t understand that he can’t be both. Ignorance abounds. Bluey? Are BBC Studios Distribution paying for the publicity?

          2. They don’t want you to feel at home.

            The bed I was allocated in the heart unit was comfortable, but only because it was easily adjustable.

            The constant beeping from various instruments was somewhat trying, and I had a room to myself: in a ward it would have been a nightmare.

            Good luck, I hope you get sorted out, and can return home soon.

          3. When I was admitted as an emergency, I felt too ill to worry about whether the bed was comfortable, but the constant moaning (me and the others) and the persistent beeping from the machines made sleep impossible.

          6. The plastic coating makes it sweaty and you are constantly bracing yourself against sliding off.

          7. Very pleased that you are OK Sue because we all know that you were terribly anxious. So hope that your fears have abated and you are far happier? Hospital beds are designed to make you bloody miserable. When I was in for a couple of months, I had a duvet and pillows brought in for me. And the food, god the food, I'm sure you eat better in prison. Thank god that there was an M & S in the hospital because the hospital, slop was inedible.

          8. Very pleased that you are OK Sue because we all know that you were terribly anxious. So hope that your fears have abated and you are far happier? Hospital beds are designed to make you bloody miserable. When I was in for a couple of months, I had a duvet and pillows brought in for me. And the food, god the food, I'm sure you eat better in prison. Thank god that there was an M & S in the hospital because the hospital, slop was inedible.

        1. Yes, still attached and it’s still bleeping. Pulse is now varying between high 80s and low 100s and goes down to 70s with no activity. No physical damage to the heart and arteries. No leaky valves. No evidence of an aortal aneurysm to explain the pulsating stomach. Just the erratic electrical impulse. Apparently pacemakers treat slow erratic heartbeat, not fast. I’m to have three daily pills. 5mg of beta blocker, a blood thinner (the consultant said, “we’ve moved on from warfarin”) and another drug to help regulate the heart. The fluid retention on my feet has gone down considerably. That too is down to low heart function of course and has nothing to do with fluid intake. Hopefully I can go home today.

          1. Presumably atrial fibrillation has been ruled out.
            Hope it all settles down quickly and you’ll be visiting Wigmore Hall again soon.

          2. No, IT IS Afib. Nothing treatable with surgery that would provide a lasting solution. Just pill popping.

          5. Re the swelling in your feet – are you taking magnesium? I suffered from it and nothing apparently could be done, but I realised the pills I take were depleting magnesium from my body (probably why I broke my ribs when I fell off) and since I've been taking a supplement, I've had no problems with oedema in my lower legs.

      1. Sadly, can't claim the credit.
        It is one of many names for The Grey Apparatchik.
        But a good one, methinks.

    3. I've got a book entitled "Dunchurch and its surrounding area at war". Based on oral history (and probably Mass Observation, of which I have quite a few books). Looking forward to reading it.

  24. A much needed silly story; humour briefly surfaces in Stoma's joyless Blighty.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/16/dunchurch-warwickshire-lord-john-scott-bluey-prank/

    "Statue turned into cartoon dog Bluey by village pranksters

    Warwickshire statue receives annual makeover as part of 50-year-old tradition that sees Lord John Scott transformed into TV characters

    Telegraph Reporters16 December 2024 3:01pm GMT

    Pranksters targeted a village’s statue once again by turning the memorial into Bluey, the cartoon dog.

    The statue of Lord John Scott in Dunchurch, Warwickshire, has been a regular target for jokers since the 1970s after what is thought to have been a drunken prank turned into a tradition.

    This year, the statue of the Scottish MP, which dates back to 1867, was transformed overnight into Bluey, the popular children’s television dog.

    It has previously been dressed as characters including Pikachu, Olaf from Frozen, Pinocchio, Bob the Builder, Peppa Pig and The Grinch. Last year, it was turned into Queen Poppy, the pink-haired troll from the film Trolls Band Together.

    Amber Cummins, 30, has lived in the village all her life and said she was particularly happy with this year’s effort.

    “I am 30-years-old with a two-year-old who loves Bluey – so we are very happy with the statue this year,” she said.

    “It’s a tradition that goes back many years and the statue is dressed up as a popular character or something from a movie. We look forward to the anticipation of what the statue will be as Christmas gets closer.

    “I do not know who does the statue – it is the best kept secret in Dunchurch.”

    The tradition is believed to date as far back as the 1970s, though Ms Cummins said that some claim it started even earlier.

    She added: “There is talk that the statue may have been dressed to welcome the soldiers back from the war. Rumours as to who does it are abound. Talk is that it was started by student nurses from the local hospital of St Cross or apprentices from the old GEC college that was nearby and some think it is done by the Dunchurch Elves.”

    Other residents reacted to the transformation on social media, with someone writing: “Been waiting to see who would be up there… we love it.”

    Another said: “We drove past it last night and it wasn’t dressed. So glad the elves made it again this year.”

    The statue commemorates Lord Scott, who was a Grenadier Guards officer, a Scottish MP and a landlord, who died aged 51 in 1860.

    The Buccleuchs, his family, are still one of the largest private landowners in Europe with extensive holdings in Scotland."

    1. Yes, but surely that's not really the point? The fact is that someone who assaulted an MP has walked free while others who posted [probably stupidly] or re-posted stuff on FB have been sent to prison. If the situation had been reversed and some "right wing thug" [©TTK] had milk-shaked a Labour MP [especially a Muslim one] then I would bet that he or she would definitely have gone to prison??

      2. I agree, shouting hurty words or waving disagreeable posters or banners is 'freedom of speech'. Threatening to behead other religions followers or rape their children and posting instructions and incitement to do so is another thing altogether.

    2. But bears are usually omnivores. Our carnivorous Grizzly is clearly something special!

      2. Black and grizzly bears are omnivores, even though they belong to the Carnivora order. They eat both meat and plants, although plants and berries are the main components of their diet. However, panda bears are strictly herbivores and polar bears are almost entirely carnivores.

  28. Hello and good morning to you all

    Damp , dark , no breeze .. gloomy day , 10c, feels warmer .

    Clouds are shifting quickly , to the north but no breeze here below , and where I am sitting with the laptop on my knee, in the living room , I can see patches of blue sky out of one the windows .

    Moh's car due for MOT later .. 58 plate Laguna , so comfy , but a bit of a rattle .. heated seats etc 2 litre engine ..

    Yes ok, I am going on too much about it , but there are not many equivalent cars out there to replace it , in case the car fails it's MOT.

  29. James Melville 🚜
    @JamesMelville
    A message to
    @Keir_Starmer
    …

    Lecturing to the entire population like we are naughty schoolchildren in that po-faced sanctimonious manner of yours; indulging in freebies; postponing local elections; shafting farmers, pensioners, students and small businesses and then spaffing away £billions of taxpayers money on wars, carbon capture machines & overseas net zero corporations is quite possibly the reason that you are now hated by the vast majority of people in the UK. Stop gaslighting everyone with policies that destroy the country but are manipulatively wrapped around your bullshit virtue signalling. Sorry mate. We’ve all had enough. Even after just 5 months.
    9:45 PM · Dec 16, 2024
    ·
    143.6K
    Views


    1. Jean Moore
      @J34JEAN
      ·
      8h
      We need a way of getting them out before they completely trash the UK, Starmer is running the country as he would a court room, where nobody is allowed to disagree with his superior judgement
      We can't afford another 4.5 years of them!!

      1. Yes we can, TB.

        The last poll on politics in this country stated that 37% of voters would still vote Labour.

        The largest group of voters.

        THE LARGEST GROUP INTENDS VOTING LABOUR.

        I'm amazed, you're amazed, we're amazed, they're amazed……..declining Britain.

    2. What a sorry state our govt and leadership is in. Sack the lot of 'em and let's have a GE for new Govt.

    3. We are probably nearing the time when the only way to get rid of Starmer and his criminal government will be by a coup.

    1. I wonder as if as many have expected for a long time now, when something will be done about these vile self opinionated psychopathic monsters who rule over us. Starting at the top end.

    3. And the Idiot King has fallen for the WEF with as much asinine idiocy as he has fallen for the global warming net zero scam.

      The future is bleak because his heir is no different.

      The Princess Royal seems to have more common sense than the rest of the family. Perhaps she can stage a coup, become queen and get rid of all the nonsense that her naïf brother has espoused.

    4. It is truly chilling, terrifying. Yet most people are completely unaware of what has been planned and what is being pushed through any way they can. As long as these ignorant idiots get their regular dose of 'reality' television, junk food, and all the other trash, and even if somebody tries to warn them, they just don't care and accuse the enlightened ones of peddling nonsense. At what point will these fools 'wake up?'

  33. Morning all 🙂😊
    After yesterday's sunny start back to the fashionable grey and chilly. Rain later. Probably organised government punishment.
    And fiddling with our water supplies.
    Give these greedy creepy people an inch and they'll take a mile. It happens in nearly every aspect of our lives. This is one of the reasons we need more prison space.

  34. Mine passed OK earlier this month. 57 plate Peugeot 208. Diesel. Low mileage – a few dents and bumps. One not careful enough lady owner.

    1. My 307 SW Diesel failed in January , mine for 12 years.. emissions were a big fail .. engine still strong 200,000 , brilliant workhorse .. so replaced it with a Ulez compliant 2008 Diesel .. 66plate .

  35. 398944+ up ticks,

    Dt,

    Britain ‘risks squandering world leadership in nuclear fusion’
    Lobby group calls for action after rivals gain ground in race to develop breakthrough technology

    By the same token and under the same political governing types we have via the polling stations suffered these last 30 plus years, we could be the very first to include en masse pavement artist within their pavement creations, for eternity.

  36. Keir Starmer has dropped the ball on Ukraine. 17 December 2024.

    Is Kuleba’s charge fair? The government insists that they have been ‘taking a leading role in supporting Ukraine, which is why the Prime Minister committed £3 billion a year of military support for Ukraine ‘for as long as it takes’. Downing Street’s counter-argument consists of the £3 billion of military assistance mentioned above, a pledge that the United Kingdom will spend more in aid to Ukraine in 2025 than ever before and a reminder that Starmer has met President Volodymyr Zelensky six times since taking office in July, including hosting the Ukrainian leader twice in London.

    We can’t keep our own pensioners warm and we are going to make them pay income tax on their savings next year, but we can afford £3 billion a year for a war in which we have no stake?

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/keir-starmer-has-dropped-the-ball-on-ukraine/

    2. On top of which it is a lost war for Ukraine. So it's literally the equivalent of throwing money into the burning fire. Rather like the Ukrainians claiming credit for blowing up the Russian general. What for? It achieved absolutely nothing but one more death before they get cut off be Trump. Futile and nihilistic.

    3. "Starmer has met President Volodymyr Zelensky six times since taking office in July, including hosting the Ukrainian leader twice in London".

      I wonder who is sucking whose cock.

    4. "When you ain't got nothing, you've got nothing to lose."
      [Bob Dylan: Like a Rolling Stone]

      The bankrupting of the UK is a deliberate policy of this Labour government because the installation of total communism will be facilitated in a bankrupt country where nobody owns anything.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwOfCgkyEj0

    1. Jack Buntis
      7h
      Looks like Andrew, will be spending Xmas day all alone with no one to enjoy ming spies with.

      (Kelvin MacKenzie)

  39. 398944+ up ticks,

    Morning RE,
    The first trial of a politico preceding a 1000 more is the first step on the journey of justifiable retribution.

  44. SIR – When water companies were privatised, we were promised significant efficiencies and cost savings. They are now saddled with massive debts, having paid out vast sums in dividends for many years.

    The Government is poised to let consumers fund all this through a rise in bills (report, December 16). Isn’t it time stringent controls were put in place to ensure these companies fulfil their responsibilities and finally provide the services that we have already paid for?

    Kieran Irwin
    Shepperton, Surrey

    Lol Kieran. Wakey wakey.

  46. Good Morning to all. Dark as Hades here, lights on but not raining, Temp 9c in West Sussex

    My water bill keeps going up and it's literally undrinkable, buy bottled water for anything I'm going to consume. Strong taste of chemicals, so strong you can actually smell it. Water company maintains there is nothing wrong with it. So privatization has been doing nothing for me, paying for something I cannot use. If I had an alternative way to shower I would do it, but that and flushing the loo with it is all I use the mains water for.

    1. We have our own well which produces very good water. The water has iron in it but we have a filtration system which deals with that,

  47. G' day all,

    Cloudy and damp at McPhee Towers, wind South 9-10℃ all day.

    What's the point in writing about this when there is an actual communist regime in Downing Street. They won't change anything except to make matters worse because you need total collapse and destruction of the bourgoisie before they can build their authoritarian utopia.

    It's a way of over-burdening the single income family where the income earner starts to do well while the other stays at home to raise the children. The only way to avoid the effects is to put as much as possible into a pension scheme so that the £100k threshold is not crossed. That can only be sustained for so long; fiscal drag will do its job.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7c3ae6ad294ffb72024e12b7ce280025faf2647578e7ba6ba7e05c798b8c0f19.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/income/labour-60pc-tax-trap-fast-becoming-new-normal/

    So-called "conservative" Chancellors had fourteen years to get rid of this obvious injustice but not one of them even talked about it. This is yet another reason never to vote for that party again at any level of government.

    The press will never call this what it is: Marxism in action.

  48. G' day all,

    Cloudy and damp at McPhee Towers, wind South 9-10℃ all day.

    What's the point in writing about this when there is an actual communist regime in Downing Street. They won't change anything except to make matters worse because you need total collapse and destruction of the bourgoisie before they can build their authoritarian utopia.

    It's a way of over-burdening the single income family where the income earner starts to do well while the other stays at home to raise the children. The only way to avoid the effects is to put as much as possible into a pension scheme so that the £100k threshold is not crossed. That can only be sustained for so long; fiscal drag will do its job.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7c3ae6ad294ffb72024e12b7ce280025faf2647578e7ba6ba7e05c798b8c0f19.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/income/labour-60pc-tax-trap-fast-becoming-new-normal/

    So-called "conservative" Chancellors had fourteen years to get rid of this obvious injustice but not one of them even talked about it. This is yet another reason never to vote for that party again at any level of government.

    The press will never call this what it is: Marxism in action.

      1. Certainly is. Either quieter these days (seen the error of her ways) or not reported (because she's changed tack).

  53. Keir Starmer’s plan to bring down UK net migration by improving domestic training and skills is not guaranteed to work, the government’s independent advisers have concluded.

    The migration advisory committee also said that the average migrant who comes to the UK on a skilled worker visa contributes 20 times more than the average UK-born adult.

    An annual report from the body, released on Tuesday, challenges one of the main tenets of Labour’s plans to reduce net migration, which increased to 906,000 in the year ending June 2023.

    Starmer said in July he wanted to cut demand for overseas workers by more strongly linking training with migration policies. “We won’t be content just to pull the easy lever of importing skills. We’re turning the page on that,” the prime minister said.

    “Skilled workers also tend to be younger than the UK population as a whole, resulting in lower health costs compared to the UK average,” the report said.

    Starmer’s government has pledged to bring down net migration – the number of people moving to the UK minus the number leaving the country – which has been at the forefront of immigration debates in the UK.

    The government has asked the committee to monitor key sectors where skills shortages have led to surges in overseas recruitment and provide a yearly assessment to ministers to inform policy decision-making.

    Rules around visa sponsorship of migrant workers will also be strengthened so that action can be taken against employers who flout employment laws.

    Prof Brian Bell, the chair of the committee, said: “We know that recent figures have shown net migration falling. This has been driven both by government policy changes and by other factors, such as the impact of enhanced enforcement of the genuine vacancy test in the care sector.”

    “Whilst we are expecting net migration to fall further, we would caution the government against seeing linking immigration and skills policy as a one-size-fits all approach to bringing down net migration and encourage them to continue to consider individual circumstances within sectors.”

    “This report develops a methodology for understanding the fiscal impact of migrants on the skilled worker visa, an important metric for understanding whether a route enhances the welfare of the resident population.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/dec/17/training-up-uk-workers-may-not-bring-down-net-migration-starmer-warned

    Skilled in WHAT SKILLS, exactly .. rumptetumping perhaps?

    My son is an electrician .. he has to update his certificates , pay huge sums of money and keep up to date with regulations ..

    What on earth do migrants offer .. what sort of skills apart from bomb making , nuclear scientists , washing machine repairers.. farriers, vets, teachers, flat pack experts, gas boiler bods , joiners , lawn mower fixers … yes and more .. these are the skills etc we have in our area.. (Army and Nuclear )

      2. Laying 20,000 bricks a day instead of 1,000 will help Rayner's building programme no end. Problem is, where are the bricks to be found?

    3. The question not asked is what percentage of those coming here are 'average migrants on skilled worker visas'?

      The implication of the article is that hundreds of thousands of skilled workers are coming in every year to prop up the economy. I doubt that the actual number of useful net-worth immigrants is more than the very low tens of thousands.

      1. We repeat our last comment:

        The ONS stated that there have been 1.1 million migrants who have written on their paperwork

        that once they receive residency rights they have no intention of working.

    4. The question not asked is what percentage of those coming here are 'average migrants on skilled worker visas'?

      The implication of the article is that hundreds of thousands of skilled workers are coming in every year to prop up the economy. I doubt that the actual number of useful net-worth immigrants is more than the very low tens of thousands.

  54. This post office scandal has a similar ring of the same way our political idiots have spent years working.
    But who will buy the whole of Wastemonster and Whitehall ?

    1. The idea of good chaps in govt no longer exists with their resignations & humiliations. This is the modern shameless world. So we must have rules instead. Rules. Starmer is a passionate believer in rules. Principles? nah. The law doesn't have wit nor imagination. No political sense. No spirit.
      Just following the rules.
      Like Paula Vennells. No matter how malevolent.. or useless you get promoted until the bubbles burst.
      The careful division between law & govt.. Blair broke it down.
      David Starkey.

      Cheers Tone.

    2. The idea of good chaps in govt no longer exists with their resignations & humiliations. This is the modern shameless world. So we must have rules instead. Rules. Starmer is a passionate believer in rules. Principles? nah. The law doesn't have wit nor imagination. No political sense. No spirit.
      Just following the rules.
      Like Paula Vennells. No matter how malevolent.. or useless you get promoted until the bubbles burst.
      The careful division between law & govt.. Blair broke it down.
      David Starkey.

      Cheers Tone.

  55. It’s a shame they can’t do an ablation. I suffered dreadfully in 2014 with 11 episodes in 9 months and had an ablation in the October and have not been troubled since.
    Wishing you well from both of us.

    1. I’m not exaggerating about the Food at the Royal Surrey. It was really appalling. One example. Broccoli and cauliflower in cheese sauce. Sauce lukewarm and the vegetables uncooked!

  58. Courtesy of @LibertyCappy et al.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3cb83cbaf7c0f47d95bf2badc624ab0eb8629aae6850621a3c5b9512a2c4abe0.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ca3bf11b265277ec1afb8863cee1ba2dc01683316f25ef39d13915416adf0582.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2246ec284d584117089833033a84d11f5338a47facac25436e995b82d7e79ae6.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9479de32894aa118e96543ab5c05084b44d023f3361ec7abba8f7ced3f159d1c.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d7a8d492ce78e979d85fcb08453f79c75e0040e6a8a411ffe39bcfb4bd75d42c.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f9f232beb93e681cf9e55fd4d72a446d9c31ef0b6d9194ceaaea937cbf9ce156.png

  59. Phillipson says government has ‘no plans’ to ban smacking in England despite hints Sara Sharif case prompting rethink
    Good morning. The children’s wellbeing and schools bill is being published today and, as Sally Weale reports, it will set out plans to tighten checks on children being educated at home in England.

    Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has been giving interviews this morning. She told the Today programme:

    Too many children have been failed by the state in recent years, it is clear that action is required. So no more lessons learned, no more words. Today we set out our plans to make sure that those agencies are working together and that we have much greater visibility of where children are and what they’re experiencing in their lives.

    But in interviews Phillipson has also said the government does not plan to legislate to ban smacking children in England – even though it is banned in Scotland and Wales, and even though the government indicated in the autumn a rethink was on the cards.

    In 2022, as opposition leader, Keir Starmer said he would like to see the ban extended to England. In October, after the Sara Sharif muder trial opened, Dame Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner, said that “a ban on smacking is a necessary step to keep children safe and to stop lower level violence from escalating” and at the time the Department for Education said: “We are looking closely at the legal changes made in Wales and Scotland as we consider whether there is any more we could do in this area.” Last week, after the verdicts were delivered in the Sharif trial, de Souza said:

    What haunts me the most about Sara’s death is that her father used the words ‘I legally punished my child’, believing this to be a defence to murder. It is unthinkable that any parent or carer could hide behind our legal system to justify such cruelty – and yet, children living in England today have less protection from assault than adults.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/dec/17/uk-politics-latest-news-labour-conservatives-keir-starmer?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-6761304b8f0809492d274451#block-6761304b8f0809492d274451

    2. Most of us here were smacked by our parents when we were naughty and many of us here smacked our children when they were especially naughty.

      But there is a very great difference between being smacked by a loving parent and being smacked by a sadistic monster.

      1. Talking of sadistic monsters, as a child I got six of the best, with a riding switch, on the bare backside from my father if naughty. Similar for my elder brother.

    3. People like Sharif will beat their children to a pulp regardless of an legislation.
      There is a helluva difference between a quick 'ting' on the thigh to stop a child rushing out into the road or pulling on a saucepan handle and months of sustained violence that includes putting a plastic bag over the head and smashing to a child to pieces with a metal pole.

  61. 'Morning' My start word had three vowels – none of them were used.
    Wordle 1,277 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
    🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  62. An article on Conservative Women about the Christians of Syria.

    Syria’s Islamist coup could destroy one of the world’s oldest Christian communities
    By
    Dr Campbell Campbell-Jack
    –

    December 11, 2024

    ISLAMIST rebels have taken Damascus and the regime of Bashar al-Assad has fallen. The world rejoices and there are street celebrations by exiled Syrians in the major cities of the West. Politicians including Sir Keir Starmer welcome the fall of Assad’s ‘barbaric regime’ as a ‘very good thing for the Syrian people’.

    And the Christians of Syria flee.

    Since the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, 90 per cent of Christians have abandoned Aleppo, the country’s second largest city. Will the remaining 10 per cent remain to welcome their jihadi ‘liberators’? What centuries of Islamic oppression was unable to do, the civil war managed and the overthrow of the Assad regime will probably complete: the destruction of one of the oldest Christian communities in the world.

    It was on the road to Damascus that Saul, the persecutor of Christians, met the risen Christ and became Paul, the greatest of missionaries and theologians who wrote much of the New Testament. It was in the then Syrian city of Antioch (present day Antakya, in Turkey) that followers of The Way were first called Christians. Syria produced many of the saints and fathers of the early church such as Ephrem the Syrian and Eusebius of Caesarea. Two thousand years of Christianity in Syria may soon be coming to an end.

    The Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo has described this as the end of Christianity’s presence in the city. ‘We are really tired,’ he said. ‘We are really exhausted, and we are also finished, in every sense.’ Speaking of the armed groups who have taken over he said, ‘The Christians of Aleppo will be convinced that they cannot stay. That it is over for them. In Aleppo they are trying to bring about the end of the rich, magnificent and unique history of the Christians of Aleppo.’

    Christians suffered just as much under Assad’s rule as the other citizens of Syria and had no affection for the president. They aligned themselves with the regime not through choice but out of necessity, to save themselves from being slaughtered by the radical Muslim jihadis. Now that the jihadis are in control of the country the Christians of Syria are in a perilous situation.

    Speaking of the ‘rebels’ who have overthrown Assad, the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem II said, ‘So, let there be no doubt: they are anti-Christian. They call us infidels. Many believe that it’s their duty to slaughter us in order to offer a sacrifice to their god.’

    As the jihadis advanced through the country, many Christians fled the villages and cities in their path. They sought refuge in the formerly government-controlled ‘Valley of Christians’ or Wadi al-Nasara. The community in the Valley responded by opening their homes, churches and community halls to offer shelter and support to the displaced. Now that the Valley has fallen under jihadi control following the collapse of the Assad government, the lives of the Christians there are in jeopardy.

    The mainstream media refers to the jihadis as ‘moderate rebels’ when they are neither moderate nor rebels. These militants want a theocratic country ruled by sharia law. When the terrorist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (Organisation for the Liberation of the Levant; HTS) launched their attack on the Aleppo Governorate in north-western Syria, they captured and killed dozens of Syrian Army soldiers, and promised mass executions and beheadings in front of TV cameras. Videos of jihadists abducting Kurdish women have surfaced on social media.

    While we can be glad that Assad has fallen, we should not forget HTS is a jihadist group with origins in Al Qaeda and ISIS, including the remnants of the group led by the late Abu Musab al Zarqawi, a Palestinian Jordanian known as the ‘sheikh of the slaughterers’. These are no democracy-loving liberals: wherever they have had authority, they have inflicted abuse. We should be under no illusion that everything in Syria is going to be transformed for the good, that freedom of speech and action will be established. HTS aim to establish a theocracy. The situation if anything is going to be worse for all of Syria’s citizens and especially for the minorities: Alawites, Kurds and Christians.

    Since the violent Muslim conquest of Syria in AD 634-638, generation after generation of Syria’s Christians have been oppressed and despised by the Muslim majority. When Muslims treat Jews and Christians as equals they are being unfaithful to the teachings of their holy book. The Koran clearly teaches that Jews and Christians should have second-class status. A look across to Islamic North Africa and the Middle East would bear this out. It is difficult to find any instances in the Arab Islamic world of Christians living in harmony and peace under Islamic rule. Egypt has a large Christian population which existed long before the creation of Islam, yet the Coptic Christians live as second-class citizens in their own country.

    Still those who govern us continue to welcome into our countries the kind of people who have destroyed the Christian minorities in their own lands. Islamists can persecute, murder and drive out ancient Christian communities, and you won’t hear a word from our tolerant Western governments. We should try to be respectful and compassionate, but not at the cost of naively closing our eyes to the realities faced by Christians in Muslim-dominated countries.

    It is possible for governments to show concern about the situation facing Christians in Muslim-dominated lands. Hungary has its own state secretary to assist persecuted Christians. The much-maligned Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán recently met Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem II and pledged continued support for Christians in need.

    How will the UK government react to the plight of Syria’s Christians? Will there be speeches from the front bench in their defence, will they be welcomed here and given accommodation and support as they try to rebuild their lives: or will they be ignored and left to the mercies of the jihadis? Given the Labour Party’s reliance on the Muslim vote there is little doubt which stance the Starmer government will take.

    This article appeared in A Grain of Sand and is republished by kind permission.

    1. Dear heavens above..

      Where on earth is God when you need him.

      Nigerian Christians are still being slaughtered by Muslims , Sudanese Christians and Ethiopian Christians are also being slaughtered ..

      What is happening in China, India , anywhere where the Holy gospel reaches..

      I said to my son , you know what , we don't need the middle man , the rituals ..

      God is in our head , and in our understanding !

      2. Simply put. God expects us to do it. We have free will. But, regrettably our governments are no longer Christian and nor is the majority of the population in so called Christian countries. We are ruled by extreme selfishness. I don't like to be Biblical, it's not my style, but we are ruled by Satan and it seems we prefer it, and because we are ruled by him we will be conquered just as the Syrian Christians will be conquered and destroyed.

        1. I'm not sure I agree that "we" prefer it. Much of the "we" have been relegated to the status and intelligence of sheep. Lord forgive them, they know not what they do…

          IMO there is a time and a place for forgiveness – the time and place are not here or now.

          1. We need to Fight the Good Fight with All Our Might. Muscular Christian hymns, however, have been replaced by namby pamby, wishy-washy, touchy feely rubbish.

        2. I'm not sure I agree that "we" prefer it. Much of the "we" have been relegated to the status and intelligence of sheep. Lord forgive them, they know not what they do…

          IMO there is a time and a place for forgiveness – the time and place are not here or now.

    3. Why should we all rejoice that Assad has fallen? He was needed to keep the warring factions under control and maintain order. Now there is bloody chaos. Why on earth do Western commentators insist on treating the Middle East like a European area? It needs different remedies. Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.

      1. Agree Conway. As you know I grew up in Libya. It has been a shambles since Qaddafi was overthrown. Tyrants aren’t good. But they are better than the ongoing misery that ensues in those countries when the tyrant is overthrown.

    1. I saw him speak as it happened, Grizz. My guy. Has an uphill task, watch out for Trudeau absconding.

    2. As far as I'm aware, my son in Canada and his controller are still massive supporters of Turdeau, so I bet they are not happy. When we last saw them, there were numerous comments about 'climate', how wonderful their president is, how important it is to still get regular convid boosters (we haven't, they have) and similar agenda, and it was clear from what the children said that they have been fully brainwashed. There were also some snide comments about the Canadian truckers having deserved what they got. Shame on them. When Trump got elected, there was smoke coming out of their ears, bless.

      2. Fear not, Mum, you’re not alone. My own — previously intelligent — family have been brain-rinsed by two Socialist nephews whose warped opinions they never challenge.

        1. I’m glad we’re not the only ones. MH only caught on to their warped ideologies a couple of years ago.

    3. He spoke well but still managed to ignore the elephant in the room. Muslim migrants. They are what makes the streets unsafe. Particularly for women.

      1. Well, he is a politician. They can all rant all day on any given topic yet they fail, serially and miserably, when positive and decisive action is required.

  64. Could anybody with a spare copy of Office 2016, Please forward it to Tom Hunn, Flat 11, Dowding House, Old Well Road, Moffat DG 10 9AW. 'Twill be much appreciated. I've tried all recommended avenues and nothing materialised.

          1. Yes, Connors, looking for a copy of Office 2016. Tried all the recommended outlets but no bites.

          1. This may be the case now. Mine was removed four years ago, it's in my profile with the added label 'removed'. It's definitely not abusive. Maybe the link to Libre Office is considered abusive.

  65. Could anybody with a spare copy of Office 2016, Please forward it to Tom Hunn, Flat 11, Dowding House, Old Well Road, Moffat DG 10 9AW. 'Twill be much appreciated. I've tried all recommended avenues and nothing materialised.

  66. Angela Rayner to propose the abolition of county and district councils as well as unitary authorities.. as Labour government plans to create more directly elected mayors.

    They have found a system that really works.. and they're sticking to it. Though they need to change the rules to allow Mayor-for-Life..

      1. I think it ended before that ("hate speech", anyone?), but it's only recently become so blatant as to be obvious.

      1. The Muslim Brotherhood state openly that they consider democracy to be a one-stop shop. They get voted in and stay in.

        1. Of course they do; that is the muslim way. They do not do democracy except as a stepping stone to the caliphate.

      1. With political Will.. and a swift heavy hand.. and all precautions in place.. and a plan Stan.. and heavy artillery backup.. Everything Harmer-Farmer-Landing-Gear-Starmer does..
        can be undone.

        Which is exactly why David Starkey is soooooo misguided in believing Kemi Badenoch is the answer.

        1. Worth noting. When Thatcher finally went into battle she had Sir Ian MacGregor stock pile millions of tons of coal.

          2. Indeed.
            They've already hinted at making parliament incapable of undoing this & that.. all via Treaties, committees & supreme court. However, with a swift heavy hand.. just like Dominic Cummings has warned.. it will mean a Sunday night coup invading, breaking in & taking over every single executive office within Whitehall and local govt in 8 hours flat.

          3. They've wrecked our constitution already. It could only be wrecked and stay wrecked with political connivance by whoever was/is in power, (Labour or Tories/LibDems) and it can be reinstated – no parliament can bind its successors, whatever they say.

          4. They've wrecked our constitution already. It could only be wrecked and stay wrecked with political connivance by whoever was/is in power, (Labour or Tories/LibDems) and it can be reinstated – no parliament can bind its successors, whatever they say.

        2. Anyone who believes that the Tories have any will to undo the damage that Labour do needs a brain reset.

          Including David Starkey, who I otherwise rate highly.

  67. There you go, Tom…when their mouths are moving, and now – even when they’re not they’re still thinking of more. Btw…best of Christmases to you, onward n hopefully upward ’25..Kate x

      1. Ah Tom, you’ll be able to eat, drink, be merry…many will be going through a lunch they don’t like with people they don’t like in the knowledge the others have received better presents from us than they’ve given to us….chin up mate, soon be over…likely b&w film repeats on the box, too. Hope you’re doing a bit better than you were ..Kate x

          3. Yes…hope you feel a bit more cheery soon, Tom. I often think ‘not again’…but then somehow drag a better mood out of the day.

  68. There you go, Tom…when their mouths are moving, and now – even when they’re not they’re still thinking of more. Btw…best of Christmases to you, onward n hopefully upward ’25..Kate x

    1. There are still plenty of that sort around. Until a couple of years ago, the elderly woman 3 doors away from us was forever quizzing people about anything and everything. When a new family moved into the house next door to us, she assumed I had met them (I had, but only to say hello), and wanted chapter and verse on their life history ….. I think she was particularly wanting to know because the man was black and the woman white, and the 4 children looked like mini versions of the dad.

      1. One lives opposite me. She was also nieghbourhood watch which obviously suited her nosiness.
        she really pissed off her next door neighbour. Always looking through his windows and into his garden.
        Not that i approve but some time later someone slashed the tyres on her car. Then when she had them replaced it happened again.

        She asked me if my cameras had picked up anything. I said no. And you should know, Margaret, that it was you who told me only to point them to my property not the public highway.

        Things have settled back down now thankfully.

      2. No doubt those children will grow up ignoring/railing against their 50% white genes, like Obama and others of his ilk.

      3. No doubt those children will grow up ignoring/railing against their 50% white genes, like Obama and others of his ilk.

  70. Starmer Refuses to Rule Out Return to EU Laws

    The latest update on Starmer’s Brexit betrayal comes as Downing Street refuses to rule out a humiliating return to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) — the price of Labour’s desperate “reset” with Brussels. This will come as welcome news to EU ministers, who are expected to demand Britain bend the knee to both new and existing European laws on food and agricultural standards as part of an “updated” trade deal. What was a Tory red line is evidently a welcome mat for Starmer…

    Starmer is planning for new negotiations, due to start in the spring, designed to make a “tangible difference” to the ability of businesses in the UK to trade with the EU. Despite his pandering to the Bloc, Brussels has launched two infringement cases against the UK at the ECJ predating the 2020 agreement, and is using Starmer’s “reset” narrative to whip up its members into blocking UK access to energy markets. Starmer’s EU surrender unit already kicking into action then…

    17 December 2024 @ 10:03

      1. What I kept pointing out while they were wittering on about needing a deal. The only reason they insisted on a deal was to keep us tied.

    3. Miliband's net zero lunacy makes more sense if one sees it as yet another a lever to force us back into the EU to get access to energy we can no longer produce independently.

  71. Yes, how odd of her parents to encourage her…must have been a reason, perhaps that’s it. She always reminded me of those young females in the past, saying they could see statues, paintings of Christ, bleeding actual blood – and believed by gullible population. Very similar with Covid and especially vaccines.

        1. It's not quite mindless when the ones spearheading the implementation of WEF orders are likely to be very well compensated for their obedience.

          1. I know what you mean T but it’s rather like the ignorance of Lemmings leading the way to nowhere.

      2. They never take a blind bit of notice of public opinion. That’s why the recent poll results should be implemented. They don’t serve even the public that put them in power.
        The whole system needs a massive overhaul.

    2. I'd have thought the field of the ones destroyed recent storms would give pause for thought. All that crap spread about.

  73. Paedophile linked to the indecent images investigation into Huw Edwards is spared jail after defence team argued magistrates should consider 'parity' with the shamed presenter's suspended sentence

    Presumably this will be used as a precedent to keep all sorts of utter criminals out of prison.
    Disgraceful.

        1. They should be publicly named and shamed. Not that they have any shame, but at least people who know them can shun them (if they have any decency themselves).

    2. Don't have it to hand but there was a great X thread showing numerous judges giving draconian sentences over the riots and social media posts while they had all allowed convicted nonces to walk free
      Judge hard drive checks needed

      1. I sometimes wonder whether the great increase in childless couples has resulted in adults seeing children, not as creatures to be protected and nurtured, but as commodities to be exploited.

        1. I've heard my husband say when returning from a trip to blacksmith's etc…that he saw a small child wandering around, apparently alone, but daren't approach for fear of what he could be accused of, asked the shopkeeper's wife/assistant to go and check instead.

          2. It is indeed. Mind, if I was shopping with my young children they would know not to wander off but I kept my eye on them in any case. Abuse of young children is nothing new, inside and outside family. It’s reported publicly now, one time would be hidden away.

          3. My three year old ran off sometimes in shops – you couldn't see him as he was too small to see between counters…… he was a bit of a terror! We had to have a tannoy call for him more than once.
            He refused the convid vax.

          4. Have to say, Ndovu…sounds like my kind of guy! 😆😆😆 My children, grandchildren…all conformists…are they really related to me, I think I should be told 😆😆….your boy sounds great 😍

          5. We were on the same wavelength throughout the convid scam.
            eg…….
            On 27/09/2020 6:48 pm, Julien Crowther wrote:
            > Are you under house arrest again?

            Not going to make a huge amount of difference, I stopped going to the shops when they started enforcing the wearing of training burkas.

            >
            > What a shambles.
            >

            Well, people are dropping like flies round here. You can't walk down the street without having to step over the bodies. No, wait! That was the zombie film I watched last night.

          6. House arrest indeed…my family all bought it, I was on my own with arguments against covid/vaccine/house arrest. A dismal time. I took my dog for a walk, country lane, saw someone who immediately jumped to other side of the lane. I mean..what the actual Ndovu. What I do suspect is that someone made a shed load of moolah…

          7. He lives in Wales….. run at that time by the idiot Mark Drakeford. We spent that Christmas here on our own as neither of the boys were able to travel.

            The younger one had the jabs – I haven't asked him if he had the boosters as well.

          8. Ha..I remember reading about Drakeford, he even looked a bit dopey. Yes, our Christmas v.quiet too – quite liked it. Even before I had my jabs I was begging children for grandchildren not to have it..luckily listened for once. It is my convinced view that no-one should have had it the vaccine – those sufficiently fragile and at risk kept at a distance for others may just have worked. Lots of profit for Pfizer/AZ tho. As for face coverings..well, still wearing in Asia, got cobbed off Instagram recently for commenting on that….oh dear, what a pity never mind…. 🤔😎😂

          9. It’s a different culture in South East Asia and they’ve long worn masks there due to poor air quality. It wasn’t until everyone was wearing them here that I realised how much I depend on lip reading and facial expression. Though I always knew I could hear better with my specs on!

          10. I made a comment about masks on Ig..got cobbed off for a short while, although a number of people agreed 😲 I wear varifocals, have for years, don’t think I could manage without them now. But – not been for a test for some time, the prices are higher post-lockdown, frames and lenses.

          11. Specsavers have been badgering me for months so I eventually made an appointment for January. My problem is diplopia, and it’s worse as the day goes on. I’ve always been short sighted and don’t need them for reading. The ones I’m wearing are comfortable and the frames were reglazed from an earlier pair. I’ll do the same again and looked out a pair to have reglazed this time. It’s slightly cheaper and saves having too many pairs lying around.

          12. Double vision? is it bad, Ndovu, do you manage to drive OK? I’ve used the same frames a couple of times – prices are horrendous. And do you have the blue glaze to minimise sunlight? And yes, I have numerous previous pairs too. I had a bit of a falling out with optician a few years ago, got (tree) pollen in my eye – he wouldn’t help me, said it was just a hygiene issue, sold me various (expensive) things to ‘help’ me, all of which made problem worse. I haven’t been back since, ignored the various msgs on my mble.

          13. I married my optician! But he retired 20 years ago…….. I like to take him with me so I can avoid being browbeaten and he can ask intelligent questions. I avoid driving in the dark now as much as possible, as it’s very difficult to focus especially with the very bright headlights coming towards you. The diplopia gets worse as the day goes on and it becomes more of an effort to get the two images to fuse. I often have to shut one eye. I don’t drive far these days and don’t like going to unfamiliar places with lots of traffic. My current specs are reactolite lenses – they do help.

          14. Good news! He can keep an eye on you (or two)…a very good idea he accompanies you, I recognise the browbeating scenario. I don’t like to drive in the dark a) ev lights aren’t as strong, I think and b) halo dazzle from other vehicles. I’m sorry to read you have trouble focussing, must be a daily task. Guessing you’ve seen a specialist? been there, done that, with husband. Reactolite…are they the ones darken when light increases? I had some of those with previous opticians, they seemed ok but they weren’t very strong. Good luck, Ndovu x

          17. Correct procedure, keep an eye on the lone child whilst searching urgently for a woman to assist!
            Unless of course there is immediate peril, such as a charging rhinoceros or a vehicle out of control.

      2. Parity simply doesn't apply when politics is involved. This is a court of law, not a place for justice to get free rein!

  74. Nigel Farage and Reform UK aren’t a ‘threat to democracy’– but Labour is

    Harriet Harman is wrong. If any party is ‘increasing people’s distrust’ in politics, it’s the one that’s currently in power

    Michael Deacon
    17 December 2024 7:00am GMT

    Was it a cynical, calculated smear? Or is she so delusional that she actually believes it? Either way, here’s what Harriet Harman – or, as she’s now known, Baroness Harman of Peckham in the London Borough of Southwark – said on Sunday about Nigel Farage’s party, Reform UK.

    “I actually think they’re a threat to democracy,” she sniffed, on Sky News. Why? Because Mr Farage and co merely offer “easy answers” – and, in the long run, this will “just increase people’s distrust” in politicians.

    I’m sure voters will be grateful for her ladyship’s concern. All the same, if she’s worried about a “threat to democracy”, she might care to cast a brief glance at the party she belongs to.

    Because, if anyone is increasing “distrust”, it’s the party that, less than six months ago, won a general election – and then immediately set about doing numerous things that it had mysteriously neglected to mention in its manifesto. Such as stripping 10million pensioners of their winter fuel payments, launching a vicious tax raid on the nation’s farmers, forcing employers to spend far more on NI, and legalising assisted suicide.

    Admittedly, trust in politicians was already low – mainly because the previous Tory government effectively did the opposite. Rather than doing things they hadn’t promised, they didn’t do things they had promised. Most notably about immigration.

    When Mr Farage pledges to cut immigration, I tend to suspect that he actually means it. No doubt Baroness Harman considers such a pledge to be an “easy answer”. But if so, she’s missing something. The reason that, over the past 25 years, both Labour and the Tories chose to let immigration soar was that, in the short term, it was the simplest way to boost GDP.

    In reality, therefore, there are two parties that favour “easy answers”. And neither of them is led by Mr Farage.

    Is this the most bonkers article about sex ever written?
    Picking an all-time favourite Guardian headline is tough. There are just so many wonderful contenders to choose from. Obviously there’s “Russell Brand Has Endorsed Labour – and the Tories Should Be Worried.” But then there’s “Upward-Thrusting Buildings Ejaculating into the Sky – Do Cities Have to Be So Sexist?” And: “I Teach Yoga – Its Appropriation by the White Wellness Industry is a Form of Colonialism.” Plus, unforgettably: “I’m Never More Aware of My Working-Class Origins Than When I Hide From My Cleaner.”

    Happily, there’s no sign of this well of delight running dry. Because, on Saturday, The Guardian published what may be its most glorious headline yet. It appeared at the top of “This is How We Do It”, a regular feature in which readers share their thoughts about sex. On this occasion, the reader was “Ali”, a 32-year-old person of unspecified gender (but repeatedly referred to in the article as “they”). Anyway, the headline ran as follows.

    “Now That We’re Having Sex, Can I Still Call Myself Asexual?”

    Magnificent. Like a food column headlined, “Now That I Eat Foie Gras, Can I Still Call Myself Vegan?”

    Still, a fascinating predicament. Here’s how it came about. “Phoebe and I met on a dating app just over a year ago,” revealed Ali. “In my profile I described myself as asexual and explained that I didn’t want to have sex or any physical contact” – a stipulation which “filtered a lot of people out”.

    Yes, I suppose it would. Luckily, Phoebe “was also thinking about asexuality”, so the two started dating. Yet soon, astonishingly, the couple found themselves having sex with each other. This unexpected development has left poor Ali “in a weird place” – because “I am having sex, so wonder if I can still call myself asexual”.

    Of course, you may be puzzled as to why anyone would be so anxious to keep calling themselves “asexual”, especially when they manifestly are not asexual. But you need to look at it from a Guardian reader’s point of view. Guardian readers love being able to boast of having some form of unusual-sounding identity – be it “asexual”, “demisexual”, “pansexual”, “polyamorous”, or whatever the latest exciting buzzword may be. This is because it makes them feel special, different, and thus superior to the pitifully conventional masses. So if, up until the age of 32, you’ve always prided yourself on being “asexual”, it must be crushing to realise that, having had sex with your girlfriend, you’re about as conventional as it’s possible to be.

    At any rate, as much as I enjoy The Guardian, I do think that, in the unlikely event I became its editor, I would make one small change. Which is that I’d hire a blisteringly Right-wing agony aunt, aged at least 65 and preferably from Yorkshire, whose job would be to give each of the readers a verbal clip round the ear and tell them to pull themselves together.

    “Dear Milksop of Crouch End,

    “No, you cannot keep calling yourself ‘asexual’, for the very simple reason that you’re currently rutting like a stag on Viagra. And before you try replying that you can’t be a stag because stags are male whereas you’re ‘non-binary’, please remember: identity is just a substitute for personality. Merry Christmas!”

    ******************************
    Winston Huth-Wallis
    5 hrs ago
    There is none so blind as those who will not see!
    Yet again Harman is on the wrong side of the argument.
    She should open her eyes and look at what is going on in her own Party.

    Margaret Robinson
    5 hrs ago
    Reply to Winston Huth-Wallis
    That wouldn’t help since she obviously agrees with it all and so is blind to the facts.
    On the subject of the Graun, I don’t find it funny at all, I find it obnoxious and infuriating. I occasionally dip in but have to dip out again fairly rapidly to preserve a healthy blood pressure.

    frank roby
    3 hrs ago
    Reply to Winston Huth-Wallis – view message
    And we all remember her support for P.I.E.
    How she has got so far when her principles are so low, is amazing

    1. "The reason that, over the past 25 years, both Labour and the Tories chose to let immigration soar was that, in the short term, it was the simplest way to boost GDP."

      I have jut checked the figures:

      India 5th in the table of countries' GDP
      India 120th in the table of countries' income per capita.

      Yes, the more immigrants and the larger the population the higher the GDP according to the Keynsian equation.

      Income per capita in the UK is on a downward spiral. Immigration is making most of us individually considerably poorer.

      4. Keynes and Marx (and others) have a lot to answer for. If KM's tomb had been in some other countries it would no doubt have been blown up by now.

    2. The Guardian is a neverending well from which you can derive the grimmest humour. Grim because I think these people actually believe their tosh.

    3. The Guardian is a neverending well from which you can derive the grimmest humour. Grim because I think these people actually believe their tosh.

    4. As for Frank Roby's comment – it's not at all surprising that she has got so far with such low principles. Look what she is – a politician.

    5. As for Frank Roby's comment – it's not at all surprising that she has got so far with such low principles. Look what she is – a politician.

    6. Didn't Harperson have something to do with a Paedophile Group a few years ago? Think we should be told………

          1. Yes, very, very important people now.

            I hope everyone will take this advice on how to get on in modern Westminster.

    8. “Dear Milksop of Crouch End,

      “No, you cannot keep calling yourself ‘asexual’, for the very simple reason that you’re currently rutting like a stag on Viagra. And before you try replying that you can’t be a stag because stags are male whereas you’re ‘non-binary’, please remember: identity is just a substitute for personality. Merry Christmas!”

      Bu88er. Michael Deacon's just done me out of my next job.

  75. Postponing local elections might just guarantee a Reform victory
    Trust in the political establishment is already at a dangerous low: Labour are playing a game they can only lose
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/17/postponing-elections-only-guarantees-a-reform-victory/

    BTL

    The best time to hit your opponent is when he is running scared and has nothing with which to defend himself.

    Starmer is now scared to the extent that he evacuates all excrement from his body and he has to wear nappies permanently!

    1. There would be nothing left but a pile of shit and a foul smell.

      Not really much different from the status quo.

    2. If he wanted to defeat Reform I could not think of a dummer move. It'll only work against opposition willing to play the game, which Reform won't. Even I didn't believe how dull that man is.

      1. He's a Wooden Top, like one of those old dolls the dog would chew up if I left it lying around. Who's he dog today…possibly Farage, keeping his powder quite dry for now, I guess if your enemy's making a lot of mistakes let him get on with it………not seen much of Mrs S lately, have we, Christmas shopping perhaps…..

        2. She was dragged out the other day for the "switching on" of the No 10 "Christmas winter holiday tree"

          1. Oh yes…still wearing the trademark red jacket? that one. Loved the enthusiasm from the half dozen people in attendance. He’s an absolute wimp.

          1. He’s certainly not that. All dolls were made of wood at one time, before plastics, looked like a large peg…dog would give it a good chewing if left on floor…except the more expensive ones, with china faces.

          2. He’s certainly not that. All dolls were made of wood at one time, before plastics, looked like a large peg…dog would give it a good chewing if left on floor…except the more expensive ones, with china faces.

          1. I know someone raised in no religion although christened, who married a secular Jew, before you knew it she went the whole nine yards, two separate fridges etc…not sure Mrs S in that mould :-D…oh wait…if two different homes…

        5. She’s off out for a new frock I expect. Starmer will probably finally land after the air miles he’s been doing with a Callaghan-esque, “Crisis? What crisis” after the business and CBI pile on following the budget.

          Farage need say nothing at present, just snipe. Reform still building.

          1. New frock 😆😆😆 Starmer is a vacuous non-entity. Yes, Farage watching from the sidelines, eyes glinting.

    1. They don't want Reform to get a toe hold, so they're doing what socialist fascists always do: they're suspending democracy. Romania is doing the same.

      Why is anyone surprised? This is what Lefties do!

  77. Britain’s extortionate airport drop-off charges are a national embarrassment
    A Telegraph study found that 21 of Britain’s 25 biggest airports charge for the privilege of dropping off a loved one
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comment/uk-airport-extortionate-dropoff-fees/

    One way to avoid the charges is to wait in your car near the car hire centre and then the passenger you are meeting or dropping off can take the free bus to or from from the airport. Most of the car hire places are usually a couple of miles way from the airport. These buses run every five minutes.

    For example when our cousin is collecting us from, or delivering us to, Stansted Airport we meet her at the car hire centre.

    1. There are often free drop off/pick up spots. Cant speak for all airports but Cardiff, Bristol, Gatwick and Heathrow have them. In London they are in the long term car parks, take the free bus in and you get about 2hrs free. Details on their web sites.

  78. Saint Nicholas, Moreton Dorset.
    Beautiful engraved windows that unfortunately haven't shown up as well as I would have liked:

    St Nicholas' Church is a Grade II* listed building. The church's dedication was changed in 1490, to St Nicholas having previously been dedicated to St Magnus Martyr.
    The church was rebuilt in 1776, reusing medieval foundations and is considered a good example of the early Gothic revival. The rebuilding was financed by the Frampton family, who lived in the nearby manor house. The north aisle was added in 1841 and most internal fittings were renewed c1847.
    Colonel T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"), who died in 1935, is buried in the separate churchyard. He was a cousin of the Frampton family and had been a frequent visitor to their home, Okers Wood House. Lawrence's mother arranged with the Framptons to have him buried in their family plot in the separate burial ground of St Nicholas' Church. Mourners included Winston and Clementine Churchill, E. M. Forster, and Lawrence's youngest brother Arnold.
    In 1940, the church suffered a direct hit from a German bomb, and was largely destroyed. It was rebuilt over the following decade, but the stained glass windows were replaced with plain green glass, which was not liked by the congregation.

    Windows
    Laurence Whistler was commissioned to provide engraved glass replacements, and after making twelve, he offered to make and donate the thirteenth with a design on the theme of Forgiveness featuring Judas. The offer was declined, but he made the window anyway. After being displayed in a local museum, it was eventually installed – on the outside of the church (as the artist intended) – in 2014.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c42a188118fe52edd1f1c8c3c687ab42fff315fb8256bd1c9b91301fccb40bac.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fae8ffefdc15c564fb7e2a619f524d2882cb5e8572819e9ff5985913e1696d20.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ec89647c894f3e8b4390cba11ef9c2f5f891772efe520fd87d1e4f984fac4175.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/135de87cfa02af49ff71d87dbbe46205915c0ca101ae48c78450aecb7c6b7757.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5d8a25fe178d3cd4bbc090f022e6df4488cdb6204d1aed807f98bb06d2e4dcde.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/19f120537d966e4b88f190a2f355e5c7a24065b474c03e9d75d771d669e9bd81.jpg

    2. Thank you for your posts showing pictures of various churches; it is nice to be shown things I otherwise might not have gone out of my way to see.

      1. I enjoy the peace and serenity of these places. It must come from a thousand years of faith.

    3. I am gradually working my way around churches in North Shropshire I haven't previously visited. Went to Burleydam (Georgian) last night for the carol service. Okay it's in the Diocese of Chester, but it isn't far from the border (and that's where the service happened to be).

        1. I’ve always subscribed to the “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” theory. Having services in a warehouse with a celebrant dressed like a lab technician has never appealed to me.

      1. Don’t know about you, James…I’m ready to stock (!) piling rotten veg…I’m here all week…🥰 😆

        1. I’m in danger of becoming a fatty with Al the popcorn I’m stuffing down. Probably still have enough strength left to chuck the odd turnip or two though, I bet!

          1. We all need a good supply of popcorn today, James. I always think actual popcorn bit of a nothing burger, preferring a Lindt or better still a v&t.. Turnips, eh…good supply of those and no mistake. Have a lovely evening Mr G 😊

        1. Perhaps they can't work out a percentage of whole life, after which those monsters will be let out to spend the rest of their lives on benefits.

    2. Even after the first one dies, the survivor can have the pleasure of watching the other one rot.

  82. It would not surprise me that, as soon as the Islamic Republic of Britanistan is established that the caliphate declares an amnesty for all slammers in gaol and all the terrorists, knife wielders, rapists of children, wife beaters are let out.

    2. Not sure about that, not with kree's 'hoomun riaghts' record.
      I'm sure if it were true the bbc would have been busy boasting about it.

    3. How many of those deportations were decided upon during the last Government?

      Given the time it takes from decision to execution, I would guess all of them.

  87. Ahem,nicked
    I would like to make some observations concerning the extraordinary levels of legal and illegal immigration into the UK.

    I have listened to the great and the good for many years on this subject. Nobody and I mean nobody seems to have a complete understanding as to what is going on.

    1) What is the extent of influence of Globalists such as Soros financing organisations that facilitate the importation of people into the West

    2) Why do western governments obdurately refuse to enforc the numerous laws on their statute books to deal with illegal immigration.

    3) In the UK arrival without going through the proper " reporting procedures" is an offence against the 1971 Immigration Act, the 1979 Customs & Excise Act and the 1939 Defence of the Realm Act.

    Why do commentators rarely refere to the 1971 Immigration Act and never ever refer to the other Acts of Parliament which create an offence?

    4) If the illegal immigrants coming across the channel are refugees and vulnrable people then how do they raise the 5 – 10K to pay people smugglers? Is the whole narrative that they are paying people smugglers a lie?

    5) How can the UK government claim that it treats peopl who organise illegal channel crossings as " People Smugglers" while at the same time refusing to prosecute those who smuggled.

    In law one can only be guilty of smuggling if the goods being smuggled are of themselves prohibited or subject to duty or license. Given that the government stance is that people coming across on dinghies are innocent then there can be no offence of smuggling higher up the chain. In short absolutely none of it makes any sense whatsoever!

    6) Another method of entry is that of foreigners arriving at UK airports and at Immigration claiming to have lost all their documents. These people are against all previous protocols being admitted.

    Obviously these people had their documents in order to board their flights from whence they came. Thus it is an obvious deception. This could be cracked down on in an instant but western governments refuse to do anything about it.

    7) How is it possible for the UK government to continue to prosecute members of the public who inadvertantly become a party to people smuggling…eg such as when Lorry drivers find immigrants hidden on their lorries, while at the same time using the Border Force and RNLI to bring such people into the UK by the thousands every week

    8) How is it possible that the NHS pays a capita fee of £1800 per annum to each GP for every illegal immigrant on his books yet only pays £165 for each indigenous citizen. Why has no single MP even queried this discrepancy.

    I could go on and on but suffice to say that none of the official stories we are told adds up in any shape or form. The onbly conclusion that is possible to draw is that it is a coordinated policy throughout the West to flood our countries with legal and illegal immigrants and that numerous governments at the very most senior level are completely and totally involved and are in fact the people smugglers?

    1. "He said it was clear that Sara was “singled out” among her siblings for the treatment.

      The judge added that Batool and Sharif “cared much less for Sara” because she wasn’t Batool’s biological daughter and that Sara’s brother was treated differently because he was a boy.

      Sara was treated as “a skivvy” from a very young age, Mr Justice Cavanagh said. She was made to do chores constantly and Batool and Sharif treated her as if she was “worthless”."

      Of course she was.
      Now … which belief system subscribes to women being worthless?
      And we are importing thousands upon thousands of these vermin every year.

  88. Senior NHS doctor who shared 'scaremongering' Covid vaccine conspiracy theories and told people not to take them is struck off and branded a risk to patients
     https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14200755/nhs-doctor-scaremongering-covid-vaccine-conspiracy-struck-off.html

    Françoise, our doctor in France, convinced us that taking the vaccine gene therapy was a greater risk than not taking it. She was suspended but she has now been reinstated up to a point.

    1. From the article:
      'The tribunal recognised that Dr Armstrong has a right to express himself freely, to hold his opinions and share them with others,' said the panel.

      'However...

      It's that word 'However' which negates all the words preceding it.

  89. Sara Sharif’s father and stepmother sentenced to life for 10-year-old’s murder. 17 December 2024.

    The father and stepmother of Sara Sharif have been handed life sentences for the murder of their 10-year-old daughter.

    Urfan Sharif, 43, was jailed for a minimum term of 40 years and Beinash Batool, 30, will serve at least 33 years for the her part in the death of the schoolgirl, whom the couple subjected to “what can only be described as torture”.

    This came up on the BBC News as I was deleting a recorded program. I turned it off. Not just because I didn’t wish to hear any more of this appalling crime but also because I cannot stand the pompous self-congratulary mouthings of the judiciary and the lip smacking moralising of the MSM. Despite their lust for punishment it will not prevent any more of these events. My own view is of course they should be hanged. Though this would not guarantee that there would be no repeat. It would at least partake of Natural Justice.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/17/sara-sharif-sentencing-urfan-sharif-murder/

    1. I think they should serve that sentence in a very nasty gaol in Pakistan. Why should we be paying for their keep all those years?

      2. Send them to Pakistan and they’d be out in two weeks if not sooner. But at least we wouldn’t be paying for their upkeep.
        ETA: And of course ban them from ever coming back to the U.K.

    3. Each one of these 3 vermin will cost us – the taxpayers – around £50,000 per annum.
      The cost of a short length of hemp is …….?
      Let us pray that their fellow prisoners will show a higher sense of justice than our spavined legal whores.
      And that all nearby warders are struck with convenient defects in their vision and hearing.

      1. I can't help but think it'd be vastly easier just to flog them 20 times a day for a month and then deport them.

        Do that with every foreign criminal. It won't stop the big organised crime but it's real punishment, cheap and quick. No keeping them for years in luxury, just get rid of them.

    1. I think he's right – why are they giving 72 jabs to every child? No wonder the health of Americans is so poor. Steve Kirsch has done numerous surveys showing the incidence of autism coincides with the jabs.

      1. I don't know how many assorted jabs today's babies and children get, but I do know they get considerably more than my 1980s & 1990s babies did.

    2. Oh my God. He and the health authorities should be prosecuted to the nth degree and the jabs stopped immediately. We could do with RFK jr. over here.

  91. After yesterday's shitshow where Trudeaus finance minister resigned just a few hours before a fiscal update to parliament, there were many calls for Trudeaus resignation but it didn't happen. He was last seen giving an upbeat election style speech a fundraising dinner.

    Apparently at a caucus meeting last night, he agreed to consider his options.but made no promises. That is as far as it goes, he has not made any public statement about what is happening.

    The fiscal update was finally released – it showed a $60 billion deficit for last year which is fifty percent higher than the government's own estimate back in April.

      1. It is hard to tell when one ends and the next one begins.

        Trudeau did offer to move the now ex finance minister to be responsible for Canada US relations despite it being known that Trump hates her even more than he despises Trudeau. Your Donald has commented appropriately:
        The Great State of Canada is stunned as the Finance Minister resigns, or was fired, from her position by Governor Justin Trudeau,
        Her behavior was totally toxic, and not at all conducive to making deals which are good for the very unhappy citizens of Canada, She will not be missed!!        !

  92. Nigel Farage Milkshake Attacker Spared Jail – By the Same Judge Who Imprisoned a Police Officer for a WhatsApp Message
    by Laurie Wastell 16 December 2024 6:00 PM

    Today, OnlyFans ‘model’ Victoria Thomas Bowen was sentenced at Westminster Magistrates’ Court for throwing a milkshake at Reform U.K. leader Nigel Farage as he left a pub in Clacton earlier this year, days into the General Election campaign. She had pleaded guilty to assault by beating and criminal damage at an earlier hearing.

    Farage told the court he “felt humiliated” by the incident and was left fearing for his safety in public. He added he had worried “for some time afterwards that next time it may not be a milkshake”.

    Thomas Bowen has been spared jail. Deputy Senior District Judge Tan Ikram handed down a 13-week jail sentence, suspended for 12 months. She must pay Farage £150 in compensation, and complete 120 hours of unpaid work, as well as paying £450 in court costs.

    Deputy Senior District Judge Tan Ikram, who handed down the sentence, has a long history of eyebrow-raising rulings and comments, which, like today’s ruling, have often sparked claims of two-tier justice. Here are some of them.

    PC James Watts
    In 2022, in an unprecedented ruling, he jailed police constable James Watts for 20 weeks for WhatsApp memes mocking George Floyd, the black 46 year-old whose death in May 2020 sparked the Black Lives Matter riots.

    “The hostility that [Watts] demonstrated on the basis of race,” Ikram explained, “makes this offending so serious that I cannot deal with it by a community penalty or a fine.” He added: “A message must go out.”

    Later, he boasted about this publicly to a group of U.S. students, airing woke talking points about alleged institutional police racism and how he apparently sees it as his role to change this, saying, “We’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

    “This was a [former] police officer bringing the police service into disrepute,” he told the College of DuPage in Illinois, in a lecture titled, ‘Diversity in the Judiciary‘. “So I gave him a long prison sentence. The police were horrified by that.”

    Lord Wolfson KC, a former Justice Minister, is among those to have suggested that these comments may violate the judiciary impartiality rules which state that “judicial office holders cannot talk about the cases they or colleagues hear”.

    Six police officers
    Last year, Ikram sentenced six former Met officers for improper use of a public electronic communications network under the Communications Act 2003. The officers each received a suspended sentence of between eight and 14 weeks’ imprisonment and were ordered to undertake community service lasting between 40 and 140 hours.

    They had exchanged “racist, sexist and homophobic” messages, and though the WhatsApp groupchat “Old Boys Beer Meet”, was private, Ikram ruled the messages were “offensive to many good people in this country and not only people who might be directly offended”.

    While this is an extraordinary way for the law to work, one must note that this ruling is consistent with a recent High Court ruling on how the Communications Act is to be interpreted. The Law Society Gazette explains: “Whether an electronic message is ‘grossly offensive’ within section 127(1)(a) ‘is a question of fact to be answered objectively by reference to its contents and context, and not its actual effect’.” Which is to say, no one needs to have been offended for something to be “grossly offensive”.

    Some people send themselves texts as reminders. If a comedian did this over WhatsApp with some of his or her edgier material, and Tan Ikram considered it to be “offensive to many good people”, this could be a crime.

    Michael Chadwell’s Boomer meme
    One of those officers had pleaded not guilty. Michael Chadwell shared an image showing parrots of different colours and children of different ethnicities, with the words, “Why do we cherish the variety of colour in every species except our own?” Below this was a Facebook comment: “Because I’ve never had a bike stolen out of my front yard by a parrot.”

    The image contained no racial slur, nor did it mention any specific ethnicity. But Ikram rejected Chadwell’s argument that it was a joke, (“Dadaist, surreal and a little bit Monty Python”), and convicted Chadwell for the meme’s content alleged racist “implication”. “It’s a clearly racist generalisation and characterisation,” he said, “and caricature of ethnic people.”

    “Sarah Jane Baker”
    Ikram doesn’t always rule harshly on speech, however. Last August, he heard the case of “Sarah Jane Baker”, a transwoman (i.e., a biological male) who had been out on licence while serving a life sentence for attempted murder, kidnapping and torture. That July, Baker told an audience of trans activists in London, “If you see a TERF, punch them in the fucking face.” Ikram nevertheless ruled that this was not criminal speech, and even appeared to endorse the Trans+ Pride march that day, saying, “you wanted publicity for your cause”.

    The ‘paraglider girls’ trio
    At a central London pro-Palestine march the week after the October 7th attack in Israel last year, Heba Alhayek, 29, and Pauline Ankunda, 26, had attached images of paragliders to their backs, while Noimutu Olayinka Taiwo, 27, had attached one to a sign. Paragliders, as had been reported widely in the media, were how Hamas terrorists crossed the Gaza-Israel border to carry out their barbaric pogrom against Israeli civilians.

    The trio were found guilty of appearing to show support for a terrorist group after a two-day trial.

    Convicted under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act, they faced a possible six months in prison. But Tan Ikram said he had “decided not to punish” the defendants, instead handing the trio a 12-month conditional discharge each.

    “You crossed the line,” he said, “but it would have been fair to say that emotions ran very high on this issue.” This reasoning that will strike many as bizarre: the defendants’ apparent glee at the massacre of hundreds of Israelis apparently being mitigated by the fact that, er, they felt it strongly.

    It then transpired that, weeks previously, Ikram had liked an anti-Israel post on LinkedIn, adding further question marks to the lenient ruling. He was subsequently disciplined for allowing a “perception of bias” in the judiciary.

    PC Perry Lathwood
    In May, Ikram found PC Perry Lathwood guilty of assault for handcuffing a black woman who was refusing to show her bus ticket at a ticket inspection. While conceding that “it was not through bad faith”, he said Lathwood had “crossed the line and got it wrong” in this widely publicised incident and fined him £1,500. This would also have cost Lathwood his career as an officer.

    In September, however, the judgment was overturned at appeal, and Lathwood’s reputation restored. Rick Prior, Chair of the Metropolitan Police Federation, called the overturned judgment “erroneous and perverse”. He said of the case: “It is my view that this is yet another Independent Office for Police Conduct-led, politically motivated witch-hunt against a decent, honest and diligent police officer who was simply doing his job.”

    Many people, looking at these apparent disparities in sentencing, see it as two-tier justice. However, this does not necessarily mean any of Ikram’s rulings are indefensible from a strictly legal point of view. The fact is that a considerable amount of discretion is baked into our legal system. It is in Ikram’s gift to sentence James Watts to prison time for private messages because “a message must go out”. Similarly, a potential judicial review of Ikram’s paraglider girls ruling was dropped after being deemed unlikely to be successful. A scan of the sentencing guidelines doesn’t suggest he necessarily got anything wrong with Thomas Bowen by the letter of the law.

    Ikram could, however, have used that discretion to make an example of Ms. Thomas Bowen. Think of all those currently languishing in our prisons for social media offences, less because they had materially contributed to disorder than in order to ‘punish and deter’. In visiting violence on a politician, her ‘milkshaking’ was an attack, not just on an individual political candidate but on democracy itself – but this doesn’t seem to have merited extra seriousness in this case. Instead, as Farage notes, “We now live in a country where you can assault a Member of Parliament and not go to prison.” What message does that send?

    Finally, one must note that Ikram is well embedded in the British judicial establishment. He is among contributors to the Equal Treatment Bench Book, which advises judges on how best to uphold the “fundamental principle” of the judicial oath, “fair treatment”. The diversity guidance, which every judge in the country receives on taking office, has employed Critical Race Theory concepts like “systemic” or “structural” racism, “unconscious bias,” and “micro-aggressions”, as well as transgender ideology. When trans-identified males in the dock for sexual offences are referred to by the court as “she”, for instance, courts are following the ETBB’s injunction to show “respect for a person’s gender identity”. Ikram is also currently a year into a three-year appointment to the Judicial Appointments Commission, the body that decides who becomes Britain’s judges. And at the 2022 New Year Honours – i.e., under Boris Johnson – he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for “services to judicial diversity”.

    Stop Press: Paul Embery has told GB News that due to cases like these, “We are in danger of the public losing faith completely in the criminal justice system”. Comments can be seen via the link below:

    https://dailysceptic.org/2024/12/16/nigel-farage-milkshake-attacker-spared-jail-by-the-same-judge-who-imprisoned-a-police-officer-for-a-whatsapp-message/#comments

    [It's not just the judges: a friend told me about her jury service once. The case was harrowing – a Roper was taken and beaten around the body and head for hours with radiators for some perceived misdemeanour or slight, to do with talking to a woman that someone else was dating. The perpetrators even filmed it being done, and the jury were shown the evidence. My friend said it make her feel sick.

    When the jury retired to consider their verdict one of them was a woman of the same religion who apparently said "They are not guilty – that is our custom". There were others of that belief system on the jury. The accused were not found guilty, due to the jury not being able to agree a verdict…]

    2. Ah, so the judge is a hard Left activist who interprets the laww depending on the political leanings of the bloke in the dock.

  93. I served on a jury once a long time ago. The perp was clearly guilty but I was the only dissenting voice and he got off.

    1. I did jury service about 20 years ago. I thought the perp was guilty but the evidence was at best flimsy and mostly circumstantial. It was also a case that I did not think should have been brought to court with a fair spatterings of 'he says' and 'she says'. It was sordid and I was surprised how disorganised the legal teams were. It got under my skin and it's not something i would like to do ever again. Thankfully I am too old now.

      1. There were two cases in the week I did. The child abuse one and another that should never have come to court – a train manager accused of stealing a wallet he found as lost property. He was innocent.

      1. Yes. A child abuse case. The very sexually aware six and eight year old girls were interviewed on camera. The mother’s evidence against the stepfather was discounted.

  95. We need to clear the out the vile female hating violent medieval sub continent swamp dwellers. We have enough problems with our own social class grades and their appalling attitude to child rearing ..whether they ae A or E.. .. we all know how barbaric people can be .

    The poor dear child .. subjected from birth to such violence is beyond the imagination.

    Those people are the spores of the devil .. yet here in the UK so much of that happens behind closed doors .. in many languages .

  96. Mauritius rejects Chagos deal in blow to Starmer

    New prime minister says UK’s proposed handover of the islands ‘would not produce the benefits that the nation could expect’

    *****************************************
    Alex Balcombe
    20 min ago
    So, in conclusion.
    The British people don’t want the deal.
    National security experts say it’s disastrous.
    The Americans don’t want the deal.
    The chagossians despise the deal.
    The government of Mauritius don’t want the deal.
    The only people in favour are starmer, lammy, the Labour Party and the Chinese communist party.
    Let’s stop messing around, if this deal goes through it is nothing short of treason and the government must fall.

        1. Typical politician – Promise anything for the votes.

          Don't tell me that people believed election pledges.

        2. Every single one of these dangerous traitors deliberately lied, purely to sway voters. They never had any intention of following through, but I bet many were gullible enough to believe them.

    3. Labour's proposals "would not produce the benefits that the nation could expect". Well, I never! Now they tell us! As if we didn't know.

        1. They didn’t eliminate it, although they tried. It went to the House of Lords (the Law Lords)who ruled that it was not possible to eliminate treason – in effect it would be treasonous to do so! They simply made the penalty less.

          Irrespective of that, governments (and some others) have been committing treason for years, and have got away with it.

    1. Did a bit better today.

      Wordle 1,277 3/6

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          1. It's taking them a long time to balance your medication.

            My wife had some stents shoved up her arteries many years ago. The deed was done on a Friday night but she wasn't allowed to leave until Monday afternoon because they wanted to do some fancy scan and the machine was only operated during regular office hours.

          2. On bad luck! Well I think I can speak on behalf of all the folk who post here to say we wish you well Sue and hope you can return home asap. xx

          4. Oh dear. Well, at least it is a good way to lose a bit of weight before the "Christmas (hush my mouth) holiday" season.

            KBO. When you are released – is there a chum/pal/friend/relative handy to KEEP AN EYE on you ad make sure you take your meds and EAT properly????

    3. Sorry, not many divots to share today

      Wordle 1,277 2/6

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      Lucky

  100. Thanks.
    We've all but given up. Too much poison, and bearing of grudges about perceived actions/words from years back.

    2. Scaremongering? What the heck was the government's Project Fear, then? I had a card from one of my art student friends whose brother suddenly dropped dead aged 66. I don't know if he was vaxxed, but I strongly suspect it.

    3. What an insult to all those who have suffered side effects, some of which are serious or even fatal. The establishment wins again, placing profit over safety.

  102. Finally got a choice of two right and scraped a four!

    Wordle 1,277 4/6

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  103. People of our age just got a few – smallpox, diptheria…. polio. I didn't have the TB one because I reacted to the heaf test. I had measles, whooping cough, chicken pox as a child and survived them. Mumps I had as an adult and it was nasty.
    My children had dtp, measles jabs and TB. My four month old son reacted to the dtp jab and I wish I'd stopped him having the rest but he was ok.
    They have far too many jabs these days. I have had plenty over the years for travel reasons, which I why I accepted the two AZ covid jabs before I realised the harms that were being reported. It's put me off having any more.

    1. The only side-effect I ever had was a punctured ear drum, and reduced hearing still, after catching measles.
      I wonder if convid jabs are now routinely included in the baby/childhood jabs.

        1. When their 2nd child was born, we weren’t allowed to fly over for a visit until about 9 weeks after, and even then, only if we had a flu jab, because the baby was ‘too young to get a flu jab.’ The child would have been fully protected by antibodies in the mother’s milk anyway.

          1. When I had mumps at 25, both the boys got it too so we were all ill – me, the three year old and the three month old. I watched my face swelling both sides until it met in the middle – there was a mirror in the bedroom. It was very painful and left me depressed for a long time.

          2. I've never had mumps. Way back in the 1970s an adult male colleague contracted mumps. He was admitted to hospital with these symptoms: "swollen, sore glands in the front of the neck or in front of the ears, fever, headache, and testicle pain and tenderness".

            Ouch!

          3. I seem to recall two quips re. adult males with mumps, possibly attributed to my late, laented father:

            "Please, Doctor, take away the pain.
            But leave the swelling…"

            "Swollen? I had to carry them around in a wheelbarrow…"

          4. In one edition of the magazine World Medicine a male doctor described his vasectomy that went wrong at the hands of the lady vasectomy surgeon…
            Apparently for a couple of weeks the only way he could move around was with a tennis racket between his legs, gripped from behind, to support the swelling!

          8. What a nightmare. Many illnesses normally contracted in childhood are known to cause more suffering if caught as an adult.

          9. That is why parents had measles and chicken pox parties for the kids – catch it now when the disease is not so bad.

            Well at least my parents tried to get us infected with everything going.

          10. When my older son caught chicken pox from playgroup (I think he was about 3), I asked if any of my other friends wanted their children to visit. Most accepted the offer.

          11. At least they shouldn't be able to get it again! But the younger one was 25 when he had chicken pox. He was probably more poorly then than if he'd had it as a child, but he survived it.

          12. I seem to recall a colleague caught chicken pox from her children, and she was off work for a couple of weeks, feeling like death warmed up. She also suffered painful bouts of tonsilitis, and eventually had a tonsillectomy.

    2. The only side-effect I ever had was a punctured ear drum, and reduced hearing still, after catching measles.
      I wonder if convid jabs are now routinely included in the baby/childhood jabs.

  104. Me too.

    Wordle 1,277 4/6

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  105. I took a while …
    Wordle 1,277 6/6

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  109. That's me gone for today. The MR well ahead with the decorations – which, as always, look smashing. More to complete tomorrow.

    Have a super evening.

    A demain.

  110. Former Archbishop of Canterbury quits amid claims he mishandled abuse cases
    Lord Carey contacts Diocese of Oxford to surrender license to minister after BBC contacted him about child abuser who returned to priesthood
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/17/lord-carey-archbishop-surrender-license-to-minister-tudor/

    Of course all the professions which deal with vulnerable people seem to attract sexual perverts and it is not just the church. Teaching has more than its fair share of paedophiles and abusers, as do the social service, the law, the police, medicine – both doctors and nurses – and politics.

    But of course the ministers of the church are seen as hypocrites and are picked on with zealous glee by the MSM who revel in their opprobrium.

    However this BTL comment by Richard Packer, makes a valid point:

    If senior clerics are being held to account for their failure to act against child abusers in the church, can we expect to see those who failed to act against the likes of Saville, Fayed, the Rochdale gangs etc similarly treated.

    Thought not.

    2. Many years ago, one of sons' teachers (state grammar school) was found guilty of some sort of sexual abuse against pupils, though he wasn't found out until he had gained a promotion (to deputy headteacher, if memory serves me correctly) at a school out of the area.
      Most parents, pupils and other staff were genuinely shocked, as he seemed so genuine and was a very good teacher.

      1. There was a teacher at my old grammar school who regularly abused pupils – no good complaining now – he's dead

      2. Years ago a tutor at Oxford university who molested female undergraduates was protected by the university – he was simply moved to another college when the complaints became impossible to ignore. Where are the newspaper campaigns to force apologies from the university authorities?

      1. But you can make almost anything sound like criminal behaviour if you report it in a certain way.
        It's no coincidence that this series of hit pieces is being released in the run up to Christmas.

        You will never find them holding the police, social services, the BBC, schools, the Scouts or any other organisation to the same standards, or persecuting them in the same way.

        They want people to hate Christians.

      2. But you can make almost anything sound like criminal behaviour if you report it in a certain way.
        It's no coincidence that this series of hit pieces is being released in the run up to Christmas.

        You will never find them holding the police, social services, the BBC, schools, the Scouts or any other organisation to the same standards, or persecuting them in the same way.

        They want people to hate Christians.

  113. The Wordle you have is not what you want.
    The Wordle you want is not what you need.
    The wordle you need cannot be obtained….

  116. Far-right racists are everywhere. I've been watching the latest BBC production of 'Strike' and they feature in this as well. It's not a good story overall (even the Guardian's review is damning) but it's worth watching just to see how the minds of Luvvy Land work. 'Strike' is, of course, a creation of JK Rowling under another name and this adaptation is reflective of the Islington/Hampstead/Camden view of the world. It's full of oddballs and social and sexual stereotypes, in which the men are generally portrayed as worse than the women, who, if they are not strong and wonderful in every way, are inevitably the victims of the men. We are encouraged to like one man, a cocky Scouser who gets his kit off for life-drawing classes in a big house full of ARTISTS portrayed as the modern version of the hippy commune, not far-right but far-out.

    It's a tale of the murder of a young woman who created a potentially lucrative online video game and may have been killed over the rights to a possible film production. There are several suspects, the most unlikely of them being a FAR-RIGHT group called the Halvening (no kidding) who have claimed responsibility for the murder and have also sent pipe-bombs to three female MPs.

    The Halvening! Come on, this is Harry Potter territory. The group is Norwegian, claims the inheritance of the Vikings and uses runic symbols as identifiers (hints of the SS and the Azov Brigade there). So far (I've seen 3 of the 4 episodes) our encounters with the group are one middle-aged skinhead in combat trousers and boots, a heavy who gives Strike a bit of going over outside a pub. Yes, these are the people who are going to take over the country when Farage becomes prime minister.

    However, there was one moment that really raised the hackles. If I'd had a milkshake at hand I might have thrown it at the screen. One young man, an unpleasant character, is portrayed as a possible associate of the New Viking Army. He produces a short online video in which, in a mocking tone, he points out the truth of the West African slave trade and the Royal Navy's part in putting it down. Some of his data is wrong – I don't know if this has been done deliberately to discredit the message – but he finishes thus: "Instead of calling for reparations, why not send the Royal Navy a thank you note instead?"

    Clearly, we are meant to dislike him for this. This is our world. Truth is racism.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0025ydg/strike-the-ink-black-heart-episode-1

    1. The Terriblegraph review wasn’t good either. Along the lines of, it’s too political

  117. Far-right racists are everywhere. I've been watching the latest BBC production of 'Strike' and they feature in this as well. It's not a good story overall (even the Guardian's review is damning) but it's worth watching just to see how the minds of Luvvy Land work. 'Strike' is, of course, a creation of JK Rowling under another name and this adaptation is reflective of the Islington/Hampstead/Camden view of the world. It's full of oddballs and social and sexual stereotypes, in which the men are generally portrayed as worse than the women, who, if they are not strong and wonderful in every way, are inevitably the victims of the men. We are encouraged to like one man, a cocky Scouser who gets his kit off for life-drawing classes in a big house full of ARTISTS portrayed as the modern version of the hippy commune, not far-right but far-out.

    It's a tale of the murder of a young woman who created a potentially lucrative online video game and may have been killed over the rights to a possible film production. There are several suspects, the most unlikely of them being a FAR-RIGHT group called the Halvening (no kidding) who have claimed responsibility for the murder and have also sent pipe-bombs to three female MPs.

    The Halvening! Come on, this is Harry Potter territory. This group is Norwegian, claims the inheritance of the Vikings and uses runic symbols as identifiers (hints of the SS and the Azov Brigade there). So far (I've seen 3 of the 4 episodes) our encounters with the group are one middle-aged skinhead in combat trousers and boots, a heavy who gives Strike a bit of going over outside a pub. Yes, these are the people who are going to take over the country when Farage becomes prime minister.

    However, there was one moment that really raised the hackles. If I'd had a milkshake at hand I might have thrown it at the screen. One young man, an unpleasant character, is portrayed as a possible associate of the New Viking Army. He produces a short online video in which, in a mocking tone, he points out the truth of the West African slave trade and the Royal Navy's part in putting it down. Some of his data is wrong – I don't know if this has been done deliberately to discredit the message – but he finishes thus: "Instead of calling for reparations, why not send the Royal Navy a thank you note instead?"

    Clearly, we are meant to dislike him for this. This is our world. Truth is racism.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0025ydg/strike-the-ink-black-heart-episode-1

    3. My lights are solar (outside) and battery (inside). The outside lights were barely glimmering (it's been a foul, wet, miserable, dull day) and the ones inside will shortly need new batteries because they are not emitting much light either.

  120. From a farcebook post:
    Farage accuses justice system of being 'two tier', he said: "The man who threw an egg at Jeremy Corbyn in 2019 was found guilty of assault by beating. He went to prison.
    Victoria Thomas-Bowen was convicted of the very same crime against me today but was spared jail time.
    This is an undeniable example of two-tier justice in our country."
    He's not wrong.

  121. Thank you to all those who responded to my plea for help regarding HG's Church of England turmoil.
    She was very touched to read the responses and is grateful for your support advice and particularly your prayers.
    I am grateful that I could show her a community that can sympathise and empathise.

    1. I didn't see your post Sos.
      Just in reference, I was chatting to an ex Bishop on Sunday, whom I have known for several years. He agreed regarding the Welby speech and since I had first met him suggested that Christianity had lost its way.
      But a really nice down to earth chap.
      Although he is long retired he's still on the ball.

    3. It's the least we could do. Unfortunately, it's all we could do as well. HG has our love and support. Remember; in te Domini speravi, non confundar in aeternum.

    4. The benefit of life experience, that. We all know how shit things can get, through personal experience. So, sympathy follows…

    5. A title is but a gewgaw.
      Lady Sosraboc's faith will survive and flourish.
      There were some profound words in a Telegraph obituary the other day. The late E Stobart Senior (1929 – 2024) commented on his son the haulage entrepreneur: “Edward’s got everything money can buy,” Eddie observed, “but he lacks what money can’t buy.”
      Let's count our blessings.

  122. A few years ago, after our Mum had died, my brother told me how his pervert P.E. teacher used to make the boys swim with nothing on. he never told our parents, and presumably no other boys did either. My brother would have been at least 9 as that's when he moved to that school. It carried on through the senior school as well. And our dad paid for the privilege. (1960s into 1970s)

  123. A few years ago, after our Mum had died, my brother told me how his pervert P.E. teacher used to make the boys swim with nothing on. he never told our parents, and presumably no other boys did either. My brother would have been at least 9 as that's when he moved to that school. It carried on through the senior school as well. And our dad paid for the privilege. (1960s into 1970s)

    1. How many frail elderly folk will be thus affected this winter without their WFA? That WFA was enough to make a real difference to many who are now just above the pitiful 'permitted' income threshold.
      I like the tweet (are they still called 'tweets' these days of X?) below:
      Strange how no young people had strokes in the 60’s/70’s when many used to wake up to ice on the inside of the windows and zero central heating, less public transport meant more waking in the cold weather too…

    2. 398944+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      Mask wearing is a must, and 6' feet apart only applies to those with six feet…. I think.
      By the by does the leading political S tool realise the danger of these brutal festive storms ? if so will he reinstate the winter fuel payments

    3. It's okay; I'm white so it won't affect me. I might get run over by a snow plough if we get a blizzard. Starmer's Kill a Pensioner policy is a bigger danger.

  125. A master (Mr Ashenhurst) at my prep school was "very friendly" with some of the older boys, especially one called Bates. He never bothered me (I was too unappealing). I loathed the school and the staff and the whole effing shooting-match.

    So the best day of all was when, during an English class taught by Ashenhurst, (in a classroom that looked onto the drive) we saw a Military Police Jeep arrive and, shortly afterwards, two redcaps arrested Ashenhurst – for DESERTION.

    Seventy years on – still makes me smile…..

      1. Nah – just the fact that he was gone- and there was (briefly) something to larf about in chokey (as boarding school was for me for 8 years)

        1. Only 8? For me, 10 years, then Uni. Never lived at home after 8th birthday.
          Makes a person weird, so it does.

          2. I'm sorry for that, Conners. My understanding of home is a place where you're always welcome and prefer to stay.
            I grew up independent – having not too many roots. decisive, focused on what's good for me & my small family. Chastised some years ago by Mother for being exactly like my late dad…been 26+ years in Norway and 21 years in the same house. Never been so long in the same place.

  127. Evening, all. All set for Christmas now. Went to a funeral this afternoon and caught up with old friends. Said to one of them, "haven't seen you for ages" only to be told, "last time was at a funeral"!

    Someone must be letting off fireworks somewhere; I can't hear them, but Kadi can. He's pothering around, can't settle, wouldn't go out although he clearly wanted to, and is constantly pawing me. I've dosed him with Pet Remedy and put his huggie on, but he's still dithering and panting.

    1. Haven't been to one since dad's, gave the eulogy, was quite an upbeat occasion – he in his box, but his spirit alive. A lot of laughter and good nature. I have two terriers, one with the digestion problems, ligs around quite a lot. The other is a border, she starts a similar behaviour when it grows dark…pacing round, wants to go outdoors, disappears, reappears but yapping and won't come indoors. She's 14 years old, perhaps sight and hearing starting to falter. I've had a dozen or so other dogs, rescues, but all died younger so I have no real experience with older dogs – perhaps that's it, Conway…old(er) age?

      2. So very true! I remember seeing documentaries of Soviet Russia with empty shops and Russians carrying string bags incase, just in case on a visit to a shop they had some stock.
        An Australian posted a youtube video recently of a hypermarket in the suburbs of Moscow, far far larger than any supermarket in the UK, that was filled to the gunnels with fresh and canned produce.

        2. Moscow Shops
          My first trip to Moscow and Leningrad was in August 1989, just as Glasnost and Perestroika were breaking out. The massive GUM store along the edge of Red Square was amost devoid of large areas, though there were lots of welllington boots and other low-demand items.

          In May 1996 I visited one of my sons, a Russian speaker who was working in Moscow and the (re-named) St Petersburg for 2 years and had a nice flat, paid for by his employer: US Aid. What a difference: Red Square now had Ralph Lauren, Gucci and other luxury stores. And there were indeed some Supermarkets with full shelves and laser checkouts, but they were only for people with US Dollars to spend.

          The Russian-registered Mercedes saloons parked outside, with their minders, gave evidence of this. We too were able to shop there as my son was paid in US Dollars. But outside there were still pitiful older folk in shabby clothes, trying to sell a few tomatoes, or old pairs of shoes. I wonder if that has really changed? Probably has, from these latest pictures from you, Stephenroi. Have you been there recently?

          But the older folk who we know still hanker for "the old days", when nobody had very much, but everybody had something.

    4. How appropriate that the electricity advert features Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, amongst the thickest of the thick.

  129. SWMBO remembers queueing for bread in the UK mid 1970s, when every fcukker was on strike.

  130. I was there a little later, 1997 when Yeltsin was in power – my company (US IT multinational) was looking to set up a presence in Russia and muggins here drew the short straw.
    Everything was going well, we had some nice offices near Red Square and some great people (I like Russians and I can speak pretty bloody awful Russian) – but we were visited by the local Mafia who did the 'things can get broken round here' delivered by a couple of huge goons packing guns (we had armed guards so it got a bit tense). I was instructed by my US paymasters to close the operation down and bugger off – which I did. Shame really….

    1. I was studying there. I spoke (although I've forgotten most of it now on the grounds of 'use it or lose it') good Russian. Good enough to be mistaken for Russian on a couple of occasions!

    2. Was in Azerbaijan early 1990s, for BP. Similar, but the financial stakes were noticeable. Really enjoyed it.

  131. My mother wanted me to live my life according to what she wanted, which in no way matched my aspirations or inclinations. I was glad to get away to university (the reason I went where I did was that it was the farthest away from home!). I stayed in Colchester for seven years altogether, only four of which were at the university. I visited home for a few days on occasion, but then moved miles away when I got a full time job.

  133. He's only 9. Charlie didn't do it and he made it to 17.5! He's asleep now so I suspect the fireworks have finished.

    1. That’s a good age for a dog, what breed was he again, please Conway? Strange noises during the day don’t seem to bother her, but night-time, dark skies do…

  136. Farage's milkshake thrower should have been jailed, not let off

    What sort of country are we becoming when attacking a politician results in nothing more than a slap on the wrist?

    Simone Hanna – 16 December 2024 7:39pm GMT

    Britain is a land of projectile-based politics. From Agincourt, to Bomber Command, to gunboat diplomacy, we have always prided ourselves on our ability to create change via range.

    The latest protagonist in this happy tradition is Victoria Thomas Bowen, a 25-year-old OnlyFans 'model' from Clacton-on-Sea. In early June of this year, Thomas Bowen decided to stand outside a local Wetherspoons where Nigel Farage, no stranger to lobbing the odd verbal projectile himself, was soon to be on the receiving end of a frothy surprise.

    Thomas Bowen's 'milkshaking' of the Reform leader may have brought some more of, if not all, the boys to her yard, but she didn't claim to be doing it to self promote. Her reasoning for throwing a beverage over Farage, the 25-year-old told the police, was that she did 'not agree with his political views' and when she saw him leaving the pub, decided to act because she 'had the opportunity'.

    It was a scene that wouldn't look out of place in a slapstick comedy, if it weren't also a sobering reminder of the precarious line between political discourse and outright assault.

    Jail time? Not a day. Thomas Bowen was given a suspended sentence for her assault on the now MP for Clacton. Compare this to the 28-day prison sentence handed down in 2019 to a man who lobbed an egg at then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. A precedent set, but as ever, not upheld. Another lout let off.

    The justice system seems to be operating on a sliding scale of penal consequences based more on vibes than precedent. This year especially, we've seen the state come down like a ton of bricks on individuals for much less. Threatening posts? Expect a knock on the door and time in the clink.

    The UK boasts an increasingly draconian stance on online speech, yet milkshakes hurled in real life appear to earn you little more than community service – depending on who they're hurled at. You could get a sterner punishment for inciting assault than actual assault.

    For years, after the murders of two MPs, we were warned that the safety of our elected officials was paramount. What changed with Farage? What sort of country are we becoming when some politicians are fair game provided the weapon of choice can be purchased at McDonald's?

    Political figures are supposed to endure criticism; that's the nature of democracy. But there's a chasm between heckling from the sidelines and physically attacking someone. Farage's politics may divide opinion, but the principle is what matters: allowing violence, even of the lactose variety, to go unpunished sends a troubling message.

    Britain's justice inconsistency isn't just unjust – it's dangerous. If the milkshake escapades of recent years have taught us anything, it's that political violence often starts small. A custard pie here, an egg there, and suddenly it's normalised, and can be brushed off. When one attack is excused as "just a milkshake," the next person is emboldened to escalate – say, to throwing masonry, which Farage also suffered.

    At what point do we stop laughing at dairy-based projectiles as being some sort of legitimate protest, and start worrying about a society where politicians must fear physical harm as part of the job?

    Regardless of your personal grievances towards our MPs, their safety should be non-negotiable.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/16/farage-milkshake-thrower-should-be-jailed-not-let-off

    1. Of all the many in this event, if anyone should have been incarcerated it is Jo Brand, who suggested that acid would have been better.
      Two tier? three four and five tier, more like.

    2. Mps should be as free and safe to walk about as any other citizen. However, they should also be required to defend their opinions on demand to any other citizen and, when instructed to vote as their electorate demands they do.

    3. 398944+ up ticks,

      Evening WS,
      By the same token " Regardless of your personal grievances towards our MPs, their safety should be non-negotiable"

      Surely the same must be said in regards to the MPs constituents but these past three plus decades that is most definitely NOT the case, in point of fact the complete criminal opposite.

    1. Did folk See Raynor's grin? She doens't believe that. She thinks her job is far broader, more far reaching, more grandiose.

    4. The look on her face when he tells her to do her job or clear off.
      "How dare he talk to me like that! ME!!"

  138. Presenter George Clarke robbed of his watch at knifepoint
    The Restoration Man host and architect says he feared being stabbed or prosecuted for fighting back during the incident near Oxford Street

    Presenter George Clarke’s watch was stolen at knifepoint near Oxford Street on Monday.

    The architect and host of The Restoration Man, 50, said he feared being “stabbed” during the incident and let the watch go over concerns that he would be prosecuted for fighting back.

    The theft took place near the busy central London shopping destination that has been plagued by crime.

    Clarke wrote on Instagram: “To the little —- who stole my watch tonight… I pity you,” adding: “It’s only a watch at the end of the day. Although I loved it and grafted for it. But I could have been stabbed so let it go.

    “I’m OK. I’m just angry with myself. I wanted to hit him but I’d be the one done for assault!”

    Clarke, who has homes in Notting Hill, west London, and Gloucestershire, is best known as the presenter of shows Amazing Spaces and The Restoration Man.

    He added: “Thank you for all your kind words. I really appreciate it. At the end of the day it’s only a watch. I loved it but thankfully it had no sentimental value.”

    Clarke is not the first celebrity to fall victim to criminals near Oxford Street. In November, Nicky Campbell, the BBC broadcaster, had his phone taken out of his hands by a thief before he “snatched it back”.

    “His hand was on it,” he said at the time. “I snatched it back [and] shouted ‘f— you’ and he ran off. Take care out there.”

    Last year, Sacha Berendji, operations director at Marks & Spencer, said that crime had surged on Oxford Street as the shopping destination falls into disrepair.

    He said in a letter to The Telegraph that the district had once been “the jewel in London’s shopping crown” but now consisted of “empty shops, littered streets and fewer visitors”.

    In August, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire owner of Manchester United, said he no longer wears a watch when he visits London because the capital is “not safe”.

    Under Sadiq Khan’s mayoralty, violent crime has surged in London by 30 per cent. The total number of incidents of violence against the person recorded by Scotland Yard was 190,000 in 2016, but in the last year it was 250,000.

    The Metropolitan Police was approached for comment.

    Join the conversation https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/17/restoration-presenter-george-clarke-robbed-watch-knifepoint/

    1. Yet Khan keeps lying that crime hasn't changed. He should be pinned to a wall with a nail gun and forced to admit his utter and complete failure, then jailed for lying in public office.

      1. I like the bit about being pinned to the wall with a nail gun but then i would like his mouth taped shut while i'm lighting my blow torch. The eyes have it. Like most of the victims on the street that he is supposedly mayor of.

    1. It's having to fake sincerity all the time. Pretending they give a shit. It addles their minds.
      If i don't like or agree with something i say so. As politely as i can. They feel they can't do that and so are rendered ineffectual.

  140. Well I'm all done for another day.
    I managed to get through to the doctors surgery late this afternoon. I was only number 3 in the queue. Better than when it was number six this morning.
    Good night all. 😴

  141. Well i had dinner (at dinner time Grizz !) at the Heron on the Isle of Wight. https://www.heroniow.co.uk/ryde

    It was very fine dining. The chicken liver parfait was a smooth as silk. Made me groan a bit.

    The saddle of lamb was beyond belief. Exceptional.

    £155 for two with a bottle of wine. Plus two cocktails.

    Not bad considering.

    Open kitchen was nice as i like to see the chefs at work. Very relaxed. No screaming like you got with Marco Pierre White.

    Dessert was another parfait…though i would call it chocolate chip ice cream with bits and bobs but still very nice and served with panache. (panache is not a custard !).

    As it was early doors i went to the Veteran. A pub just opposite the hovercraft station. Bought a drink a put a quid in the slot machine. Three jokers. 12 win spins. £100 thank you very much ! Ha !

    The icing on the cake was the hovercraft last run was 7.30. They could see me hobbling over the bridge and kept the door open for me. Bless them. Their mothers and their children.

    I am golden.

    1. £155! For 2 ruddy people!

      Dear life man! Are you one of them secret mullionaire types? Great Scott Phizzee! The most expensive food this month was for 3 large dogs (well, one large one, one sort of normal size for a giant breed and one little one).

      I need to lie down at the expense!

      1. I don't do Michelin prices although this place could get a star. I thought the prices reasonable. I don't eat much so small exquisite plates suit me.
        I also don't normally eat in the evening.
        I'm not going out to feed. I'm going out to taste.
        My brothers are big eaters and they wouldn't be happy with places like that.
        Suits me as there is zero chance of me bumping into the troughers.
        They also chew with their mouths open. Bleugh.

        Not a secret millionaire but i do spend most of my spare on food and drink.

        Dolly and Harry have small tummies so some left over fillet steak goes a long way.

        1. Reasonable! Reasonable!

          Oh my. I'm glad I'm abed…!

          More sensibly – hang the cost. Your money, your choice. Enjoy it!

          1. I am in the process of putting plans together for afternoon tea at https://www.oetkercollection.com/hotels/the-lanesborough/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=local&utm_campaign=lanesborough_local_listing

            For a couple of sarnies and cake and tea you would probably have a fit at the price !

            Four Nottlers have voiced an interest. Possibly around May 2025.

            Our own Nottler Anne said there is a voucher available at the moment for a three course lunch for £49.99 per person.

            In such luxurious surroundings with the most professional service in the company of good friends….How much is too much? :@)

            edited stoopid spollings.

          2. Very nice. It reminds me I'm going to a black tie party at the weekend; I'll have to see if I can squeeze into my DJ.

          3. As long as the jacket fits. You can always slit the pants waistline. Just keep your belt buckled and your jacket buttoned !

          4. Don't forget to invite me when you know the exact date, Phizzee. (Anne could also let me know if she reads this. I would be happy to share petrol costs with any others planning to attend.)

          5. You would be most welcome.
            In fact all the little shindigs i arrange are open to all on this site.
            Obviously when the Bill needs to be paid people account for themselves…or do a runner !!!
            My house parties are a different matter…I expect the sober ones to run off to the supermarket for more grog.

            No one is excluded. Even people who are really boring……. Bill Thomas

            The likelyhood is it will be sometime in May. If the numbers for the Lanesborough exceed 10 i will need to speak to the events manager. Which could add to the costs.

            All will be sorted to everyone's budget and concerns. Which knowing this lot it will be 2026 !!!

          7. I am in the process of putting plans together for afternoon tea at https://www.oetkercollection.com/hotels/the-lanesborough/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=local&utm_campaign=lanesborough_local_listing

            For a couple of sarnies and cake and tea you would probably have a fit at the price !

            Four Nottlers have voiced an interest. Possibly around May 2025.

            Our own Nottler Anne said there is a voucher available at the moment for a three course lunch for £49.99 per person.

            In such luxurious surroundings with the most professional service in the company of good friends….How much is too much? :@)

            edited stoopid spollings.

        2. I brought Kadi a couple of small sausage rolls and a ham sandwich from the wake. He appreciates the gesture.

          1. At the Wake of one of my cousins i said to my Uncle how nice it was to see him. He said to me that of course we were at a funeral celebrating the life of a loved one.
            I felt very uncomfortable.

            I think i would prefer the Irish way. Have a lot to drink toasting the dear departed then have a punch up.

            I hope yours went as well as it could.

          2. It was fine, thanks. We reminisced about the deceased and family members thanked us for coming. What more could one want?

      1. There were only three other people in the pub (Tuesday, raining, Isle of Wight) so of course their drinks were on me. The Guinness was good. Not like the stuff i had in Malta that they had extracted from a donkey's bottom.

        1. Many years ago I would take a drink or two in a single storey pub on Tottenham Court Road very close to St Giles Circus.

          I forget the name but every evening a heavily built black man wearing an expensive coat would plant his pint on the one-armed bandit and proceed to empty the machine.

          The pub was The Three .. something or other.

          Nah. I just remembered the shack was The Blue Post.

          1. Sunday lunch at the George opposite the entrance to Portsmouth dockyard was my haunt in the 80's. A long history but now sadly closed. Piano. Gin and tonics boundless. Laughter and singing. I was banned once for winning three jackpots on the fruit machine.
            The Navy boys smuggled me back in.

            I expect given your background you would have knowledge of that Inn being one of the oldest Pubs. At that time i also lived at Portland Court which again i suspect you would know of.

    3. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/82852c2c34c9a9046f88ff5babe5c530e596d543845b5c9e5710675b23570333.png No sugar for me, Little Chef.

      I had a Little Chef type meal today: full carnivore. Bacon; sausages; frankfurter; black pudding; hamburger; eggs; mushrooms; 3 tiny tomatoes.

      Bacon, sausages and hamburger (veal mince with extra pork back fat) were home-made. Frankfurter was given little poncy cuts to make it curl à la Little Chef. I poked holes in the black pudding (with the nozzle of a piping bag) and inserted little chunks of pork back fat (sadly missing from local blodpudding). Mushrooms cooked in lots of butter. Eggs fried in lard (sadly, one yolk broke!). Little 'plugs' of black pudding crisped up with extra little bits of pork back fat. One tablesponnful of Branston pickle.

      I shall eat my next meal on Thursday.

        1. Health food, sunshine. Something you know nowt about.

          You'll need a bucket for the shit you eat (and drink … and smoke).

    4. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/82852c2c34c9a9046f88ff5babe5c530e596d543845b5c9e5710675b23570333.png No sugar for me, Little Chef.

      I had a Little Chef type meal today: full carnivore. Bacon; sausages; frankfurter; black pudding; hamburger; eggs; mushrooms; 3 tiny tomatoes.

      Bacon, sausages and hamburger (veal mince with extra pork back fat) were home-made. Frankfurter was given little poncy cuts to make it curl à la Little Chef. I poked holes in the black pudding (with the nozzle of a piping bag) and inserted little chunks of pork back fat (sadly missing from local blodpudding). Mushrooms cooked in lots of butter. Eggs fried in lard (sadly, one yolk broke!). Little 'plugs' of black pudding crisped up with extra little bits of pork back fat. One tablesponnful of Branston pickle.

      I shall eat my next meal on Thursday.

      1. £12 on postcode lottery. £50 on premium bonds. £750 on Jackpotjoy online bingo.
        I'm not leaving the house in January !!!

    1. Some parts of the text are almost hallucinogenic in their hyperbole. The bigger problem isn't trans people (for example), nor a vaccine. The problem is the state's promotion of those individual's choices. To enforce the abnormal rather than leaving it to the individual as a private matter.

    1. The music my parents loved … I hate to say this , but they used to to have parties when they lived in Africa (The Sudan ) .. this music and the sound of cicadas has brought tears to my eyes .

      Dad loved jazz as well, Artie Shaw etc, and Mum well, I can remember the Blue Tango , and lots of Glenn Miller.

      Strange how a piece of music sets me off!

      2. Me too, Maggie (see my post to Sam Small above). I also share the music your parents loved, especially the limpid clarinet tones of Artie Shaw.

    2. A wonderful singer with a tragic ending. He had been performing in person at Ipswich (or perhaps it was Norwich) and was offered accommodation for the night, which he refused because he wanted to drive back to his flat in central London. Once in bed, the Germans dropped a bomb which exploded and sent the door to his flat flying through the air. The door hit him in the head – and he was dead! But a lovely & poignant memory for you, Maggie. And thanks to Sam Small for the clip.

  147. Well, chums, it's bedtime for me now. Good Night, sleep well, and I'll see you all tomorrow.

  149. Labour’s socialist attack on private schools is born out of pure spite
    Unlike Ebenezer, Scrooge Starmer has no conscience and his moronic policy will force 35,000 students to leave their schools this Christmas.
    Allison Pearson : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/17/labours-socialist-attack-on-private-schools-is-spiteful/


    BTL

    Bringing in the VAT raid on private schools in the middle of the school year is an act of SHEER EVIL

    The lives of both the children in private schools who have to leave school in mid-year and the lives of those in some state schools which have suddenly become even more overcrowded will be very upset.

    I think that Bridget Phillipson is a sadist and she is very much enjoying the misery she is causing.

  150. Article about SPOTY describes the presenters.

    "…the magnificent Clare Balding, the superb Gabby Logan, plus Alex Scot"

    Heh heh. Quite agree. Alex Scot is cr*p.

  151. Article about SPOTY describes the presenters.

    "…the magnificent Clare Balding, the superb Gabby Logan, plus Alex Scot"

    Heh heh. Quite agree. Alex Scot is cr*p.

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