542 thoughts on “Tuesday 17 September: The Lib Dems rely on MPs who join them without standing for election”

    1. Despite Downing Street’s assertion this morning that it was merely a cock-up, it was an obvious ambush. Think back to Martin Selmayer’s leaking after dinner in No10.

      Boris Johnson was humiliated in Luxembourg. Was that what the EU wanted all along?
      MICHAEL DEACON – 16 SEPTEMBER 2019 • 6:19PM

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/politics/2019/09/16/TELEMMGLPICT000209713965_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq8CYWv7bmnYZ51d2hDBu7lXDCpTwQ6nZ61gIVqF1ln0s.jpeg?imwidth=1240

      Did they do it on purpose? Was it a crafty plot, designed to embarrass Boris Johnson? It was hard to help wondering. Because when the Prime Minister visited Luxembourg today, there was something very, very odd about the itinerary.

      First, Mr Johnson was invited for talks in a public place, a popular restaurant, with the inevitable result that protesters were waiting outside to heckle him. And then, bizarrely, he was expected to face a press conference not indoors, but outdoors, in a courtyard – mere feet from a large gate, where crowds of protesters could easily gather. And gather they duly did.

      The protesters were anti-Brexit British expats. All knew about Mr Johnson’s upcoming press conference, and all were looking hungrily forward to letting him know precisely what they thought of him. While they waited, they warmed up by chanting “Stop the coup!”, hollering “Save us, Monsieur Barnier!”, and performing the EU anthem Ode to Joy on an impressive variety of musical instruments.

      Finally, Mr Johnson emerged from his talks with Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg’s prime minister – and was practically blown off his feet by the most colossal onslaught of booing. The press conference lecterns beckoned. Mr Johnson, however, stalked straight on past them – and left.

      Remarkable. Had the press conference been called off? Apparently not. Even though his guest had vanished, Mr Bettel strode up to the nearest lectern – and, with a gesture of weary bewilderment at the empty lectern beside him, began to speak.

      It was extraordinary to watch. Mr Bettel was beside himself with frustration, at times boiling over into pure disgust. At moments of particular passion, his voice would rise into a yelp, a yap of indignation, like a small dog whose paw kept getting trodden on.

      He accused Brexiteers of winning the referendum by lying. He deplored the suggestion that Mr Johnson might break the law to avoid asking the EU to delay Brexit (“This wouldn’t happen in Luxembourg!”). And, again and again, he laid the blame for this “nightmare” at the feet of the Tory party.

      “Don’t put the blame on [the EU],” he yelped, “because [the Tories] don’t know how to get themselves out of a situation they put themselves in… I won’t accept responsibility, nor the [European] Commission, or the 27 other [EU] countries, for the mess we are in!”

      And with that, he turned tail and stomped off – to cheers and applause from the British Remainers.

      Deliberately or not, Mr Johnson had been trapped. Had he taken part in the press conference, his every word would have drowned out by boos. But by not taking part, he looked as if he was running away, scuttling for cover at the first hint of trouble. Not ideal, for a man who at the weekend likened himself to the Incredible Hulk – and who has repeatedly called Jeremy Corbyn a chicken.

      So much for all that can-do spirit and optimism. The closer the deadline draws, the more distant a deal appears.

      2. Postage stamp politics from little tinpot Europhiles.

        Absolute arrogant bad manners .. what else can we expect from these heel clicking inferior puffed up little Euro troglodytes.

      3. We don’t need a deal, nor was “a deal” on the referendum paper for people to vote for. The blame lies squarely on the EU; they have not dealt fairly despite the fact that the onus, under the terms of Article 50, is on them to reach a mutually acceptable arrangement with the leaving country and to maintain good relations with their neighbours. It’s the Remain campaign that’s been fined for irregularities in its expenses – Leave has been exonerated. If anybody lied, it wasn’t the Leavers with the figure on the bus, it was Cameron in his propaganda leaflet (which taxpayers had to stump up for) when he wrote, in black and white, “this is your decision, the government will implement what you decide”.

  2. Hackney fire: dozens of firefighters tackle blaze in east London. Tue 17 Sep 2019.

    Images posted on social media appeared to show a blaze in a multi-storey apartment block and the brigade confirmed that the part of the external balcony that serves the lower floors had caught fire.

    Morning everyone. Whence this sudden outbreak of fires in the Capitals multi-floor buildings? It could of course be simple coincidence but such is the nature of the modern UK that any oddity strikes one as suspicious and made all the worse by knowing that if it were political or ethnically criminal in nature it would not be reported!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/sep/16/dozens-of-firefighters-tackle-blaze-in-east-london

  3. SIR – Ten per cent of voters are no longer represented by the party they elected. Democracy has been trashed by the behaviour of MPs who have come to view their constituencies as their own personal fiefdoms.

    Listening to Sam Gyimah (formerly a Conservative) and Chuka Umunna (formerly Labour), both now Lib Dem MPs, talk to Sophy Ridge on Sunday would have been laughable were the issue at stake not so serious.

    Mr Gyimah assured a constituent, who had asked if it was right for him to be represented by a party that had only secured 10 per cent of the vote in South East Surrey, that it was fine because people who came to his surgery were looked after regardless of their political affiliation.

    Mr Umunna, who has a penchant for starting every sentence with “look”, was asked if it was only Brexit that binds defectors to the Lib Dems. He responded: “No, look … I think that people misunderstand what’s going on here.” No, his subjects in Streatham know precisely what’s going on: 
 68.5 per cent of them voted for Labour and, after his whirlwind tour of alternatives, have finished up with an MP representing a party that secured 6.5 per cent of their vote.

    At least another 50 MPs have resigned the whip or had it removed but have decided they know best and there is no need to subject themselves to the rigours of the democratic process.

    When 10 per cent of MPs lack democratic legitimacy, any party must put reforming this high on its agenda, or we are on the road to hell. Even the not so democratic Lib Dems must realise this.

    D R Craggs
    Dockenfield, Surrey

    Sam Giymah was on the candidate list for leader of the Conservative Party from 2nd June until 10th June 2019. Which is the bigger bogus fool? Sam Giymah or the Parliamentary Conservative Party?

    1. The defectors to the LibDems have stolen votes from the people who elected them. The LibDem party is guilty of receiving stolen goods.

    2. SIR – The natural dividing-line in democratic politics worldwide is between Left and Right, represented in Britain by the Labour and Conservatives parties.

      Brexit has cut across party lines and led to the rise of the Brexit Party and the Liberal Democrats because they are clear in their support for Leave and Remain. When Brexit is resolved, the Brexit Party will wither, as did Ukip after the referendum, and the 
Lib Dems will sink back to their more normal single-figure support.

      Talk of a permanent realignment of politics is nonsense, and those Conservative and Labour MPs who have jumped ship will find themselves out of office.

      Paul Usher
      Chaul End Village, Bedfordshire

      1. “Brexit has cut across party lines and led to the rise of the Brexit Party,,,” – so, where is the Brexit party? Seems to be awfully quiet…

        2. The Brexit Party is alive and well and attending packed audiences, but there is a “media blackout” on even mentioning their name. They must keep alive the fantasy that only Labour (who are shot to hell now) or the Conservatives can win. That way it will make leaving the EU harder.

          You have more chance of hearing about the ongoing Yellow-Vest protests in France, which is another topic the media are deliberately not reporting. There is one good thing about that mad bat in the Liberal Democrats saying that they will revoke Article 50. They have no chance of winning either, but it will nicely split away some of those Remainer Labour voters, making them even more unelectable as well.

          1. Sadly I fear there are enough arrogant remainers who will vote Lib Dem just to obliterate the democratic right of others.

    3. I’d advocate that until a by-election was held to allow the voter to choose who is their MP that the previously elected party holds that MPs vote.

      They can cross the floor and cheat their constituents but in reality all they’re doing is giving their party their vote to use as it wishes and leaving themselves powerless. This nonsense of continuing to draw salary and having a say after such deceit is just disgusting.

  4. The 37 year old Colorado woman under treatment for Breast Cancer is now within striking distance of Dover in her record attempt to swim the channel 4 times in succession. She is expected to finish at Dover this morning.She has been swimming since Sunday.

    1. An extraordinary feat.
      Long distance swimming is a physically demanding sport where women are often better than men.

        1. As well as better insulated.

          I have not seen a picture of the redoubtable woman, but my bet would be that she’s on the endomorphic side of the human physique.

          2. This was a general comment on long distance swimming.

            I was in no way belittling her achievement; it is an extraordinary feat of endurance, both physical and mental.

          1. People are different. Men and women are designed differently, for different roles. Despite 10,000 years of evolution, we’re still spear throwing mammoth hunters and women berry picking cave guarders.

            Although it really would be nice if the wife were not telepathic when I turn my head.

      1. Morning Eddy – I’m surprised the RNLI didn’t “rescue” her and spoil the record attempt.

        1. No mean feat on its own but with an illegal tied to her leg on the last stretch, a superb achievement.

    3. John Humphrys has just announced on Today that she has completed Four crossings of the Atlantic, as he noted, a truly remarkable achievement!!

      2. Poor JH is getting like me as he approaches his departure from the programme. Growing old has its problems.[Edited removed h from hold. My second misplaced H in a week. I put an H on Amish in an earlier comment.]

        1. But I’ll wager that you never that again, clydesider. If you, I’ll heat my ‘at!

          EDIT: I could have sworn that I wrote “do” twice, once after “you never” and again after “If you”. Is this some crazy trick by Disqus or am I going senile?!?!?

  5. The Luxembourg PM of the country which is by far the one which benefits most financially from EU membership tried to humiliate Boris Johnson yesterday as he refused to take their press conference inside so that they could be heard. This attempt has backfired and Boris’s action is being supported by many in the UK including “fatty” Soames, one of his party deserters.

  7. Morning all

    SIR – What part of “Liberal Democrat” does Jo Swinson not understand? She denies the result of the 2016 referendum and demands the right to revoke Article 50.

    Further, in the event of another vote – referendum or election – producing another majority to leave the EU, she states that she will not accept such a result and will continue to campaign to remain in the EU. There is nothing liberal or democratic in this mindset.

    John Paterson
    Saltash, Cornwall

      1. As a Scottish MP, her cosntituents likely voted to remain.

        She, personally can vote to remain in the EU as her role in parliament is to support her constituents.

        However, the reality should be that the country voted to leave and parliament as a collective should be working on legislation to first negotiate (done and now at WTO) and then to arrange the country’s laws so as ot ensure smooth transition.

        What individual MPs want is irrelevant. Their masters have spoken.

    2. Even another Leave vote in a second reverendum would be of little use while the membership of Parliament remains unchanged and opposed to Brexit.

      We need a general election which produces a parliament which is capable of doing its job as many of the current MPs are useless, dishonourable and treacherous .

    3. If the Lib Dems stood for election on a manifesto to revoke Article 50 and enough people voted for them to be able to form a government, then I think it’s fair enough if they did that. Same as if the Brexit Party was elected on a clean-break/WTO Rules ticket. The chances of that happening are slim to zero, but at least they have been honest that they are the ‘Bollox to Brexit’ party, unlike Labour and Tories who are neither one thing nor t’other.

      1. Why is it? Why is it ok for the elected government to be fought, constantly to take us out when that instruction was given and for another party to decide to revoke that instruction because they want to and government, chock full fo troughing remainers decide to back it?

        Why is one acceptable and the other not?

        1. I don’t think that the current situation is acceptable in any way, but I am talking about the Lib-Dems stated position at any future General Election.

          The Lib-Dems are the one party which has been consistent that they want to stop Brexit. Whilst I don’t personally agree with them, at least they are honest about their intentions.

          If enough people wanted to cancel article 50 that they voted the Lib-Dems into power then I think they would have every right to do so. They would at least be upholding their own manifesto, which is more than Labour and the Conservatives have done.

  8. SIR – We had better get used to the building of flats without parking spaces (Letters, September 16).

    The powers-that-be do not believe in private car ownership, particularly in cities (ask the Mayor of London). There is further evidence of this in the trend of allowing new apartment buildings in London where the residents will not even qualify for street parking permits. I suspect it is the unelected planning officers, rather than the council members, who believe in this policy and effectively enforce it.

    B E Kerrison
    London SW4

    1. With the Tube and frequent buses, why would anyone in London need a car? Roads are gridlocked, and Khant has brought most traffic to a crawl with his extensive 20mph zones. I’ve just come back from London and I was glad to leave.

  9. Morning again

    SIR – As a former director of what was then the Immigration Service (ports), I question the use in the Channel of Border Force cutters that, having intercepted migrants in small boats, provide a “taxi service” to Britain.

    It is a sure bet that many of these boats are now trying to be intercepted. In January, Sajid Javid, who was home secretary at the time, announced that he had agreed with France that migrants would be returned there, but there is no sign that this is happening.

    There are now record numbers attempting illegal entry by these means. The only way to curtail this is to return those who are intercepted. It would then become clear that the risk was not worth taking.

    Under the Dublin Regulation, asylum seekers are required to make their claim in the first “safe country” they reach. While this is not being invoked by Britain, France has been in the habit of returning migrants to Italy – and Italy, until recently, has refused vessels permission to land at all.

    When the cutters are patrolling for migrants, they are not being used for their intended purpose of intercepting vessels with prohibited and restricted goods (such as drugs and guns).

    Peter Higgins
    West Wickham, Kent

    2. Yesterday, I spotted in Alfrick Community Shop a pile of police leaflets with a graphic and threatening picture of a combat knife advising villagers not to indulge in knife crime.

      I suggested that the way it was being held was a silly way to chop onions.

      Is this public information being given to the country folk of Alfrick because the proper recipients of such advice – violent settler “chiidren” being smuggled in from Africa via the continent simply will not listen?

        1. It is amazing what that 10 year-old Nokia camera phone can produce. They must be far higher resolution by now. I just need to download some program that makes the files smaller. I have some cracking photos of the Moon from a few years ago, just by holding a camera to the eyepiece of a telescope.

          1. I use the free XnView. Obviously, there’s a loss of quality as the image size is reduced but it’s handy for doing that.

            As for smartphones, I was looking at some pictures on one the other week and the quality was superb – stunning in fact.

          2. Thank you for that link. I will look at it when I have more time. There is a beautiful shot that I have, looking down on a line of mountains on the Moon. You can see the shadows of them on the Lunar surface cast by the Sun which is below our horizon. 🙂

          3. You can get this nifty little item – works well – https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/Celestron-Nexyz-Phone-Scope-Adapter/21020762678?iid=372667707529&chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=372667707529&targetid=519689869667&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9045739&poi=&campaignid=2068027898&mkgroupid=78029382442&rlsatarget=pla-519689869667&abcId=1139106&merchantid=6995734&gclid=Cj0KCQjwiILsBRCGARIsAHKQWLPoTNYokQMDerYbvIUdqcMgysAP1hs2kEVphoK_fOaKbKaaIjWBq-QaAjlIEALw_wcB

      3. Beautiful photo, MM. Like you I also tried to get to the Moon this morning and even enlisted the help of Tony Bennett who sang on my behalf; unfortunately, the spaceship pilot was incapable of helping after a heavy night on the town.

        :-))

  11. The Guardian rather than the DT nowadays.

    SIR – Your report reminded me how valuable The Daily Telegraph was during and after the war.

    My father was a loyal reader, and every finished copy was meticulously cut up the following day into appropriately sized squares, which were then pierced through one corner and hung up for use in both of our “small rooms”.

    David Hill
    Lindford, Hampshire

    1. SIR – Panic not – if there are lavatory paper shortages in the event of a no-deal Brexit, there will still be plenty of party election manifestos to go around.

      Gordon Brown
      Grassington, North Yorkshire

    2. Given that newsprint used to come off rather easily in those days, people must have had black bottoms. Culural appropriation if ever there was.

      }:-O

        1. ‘Morning, Clyde, the format of today’s ink on their webpages, indicate a continuing form of internal rot.

    4. Decades ago , I can remember visiting the loo in a friends house when we lived overseas, who supplemented the scarcity of loo paper with flimsy airmail Basildon Bond writing paper!

      1. Until quite recently, the Forces and Civil Service used toilet paper that was hard and painful to use (I think that the brand was Izal). I gave thanks from the heart of my bottom when it was replaced with something more puppy-like.

        1. It used to have “Government Property” and a little square, circle or triangle printed on each sheet.
          I assumed the shape was so you could tick it on use, and return to Stores.

        2. Many years ago at work in one of the toilets there was a dual toilet paper holder. One side I loaded with Izal and on the other a softer brand. Above each roll I placed a sticker, one labelled “Managers” and the other “All Others”.
          Needless to say Managers walked out none too amused.

    1. Afterward, Johnson was supposed to appear at an outdoor press conference with Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel — but a loud group of anti-Brexit protesters apparently scared Johnson off from attending.

      He wasn’t scared. He could see that any answer he gave would be shouted down by the “demonstrators” and sensibly declined the experience.

  13. Will Donald Trump unleash hell on Iran? Oil prices soaring, threats of ‘full-on war’ from the Ayatollahs, and the US saying it’s ‘locked and loaded’ – are we on the brink of war in the Gulf? Mail. 16 September 2019.

    Iran is not without allies, as was clear at yesterday’s summit in Ankara of President Rouhani, Turkey’s President Erdogan and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

    We can bet that it was not just peace in Syria that was on the agenda. Russia and Iran may have their mutual suspicions, but both powers are in lockstep in resisting what they regard as American attempts to dictate the rules of any world order.

    Russia will not be a passive spectator should Trump attack Iran – a thought that may stay his hand. If it doesn’t, Armageddon could be unleashed on the Middle East.

    Any attack on Iran will not follow the path laid out by Iraq or Libya. It is incomparably stronger than both. The stakes here are quite ginormous. Should War break out it not unlikely that oil and gas supplies from the Gulf will stop, with all that implies to the world economy. Worse still, as the quote indicates, Russia and probably China will not stand idly by while it is reduced to a ruin. The end game here cannot be visualised since it quite possibly may be the end for a whole series of actors on the world stage who have outlived their usefulness. The UK being the primary example!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7470709/Will-Donald-Trump-unleash-hell-Iran-Oil-prices-soaring-threats-war.html

    2. As one comedian put it: “The situation in the Middle-East is so complicated that even just trying to explain it could make it worse.”

      101 factions fighting over tribal lands and those nice borders that we drew for them, creating countries that have not existed before. If we were not so dependant on oil, then it would save a lot of lives to blockade the region and let them fight it out among themselves. Even if we stopped selling them modern weapons they would just go back to using swords and knives. As they are doing in our own fair country.

      1. Wasn’t it Moses who turned left and won the ‘Land of Milk and Honey’. If he had turned right he would have won all the oil…..

    3. Some powerful Americans have had it in for Iran ever since Ahmadinejad once said he wanted “to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth”. They were lobbied that this bit of traditional bloodthirsty Persian cursing really meant they wanted to nuke the place like Americans, when in truth I read it to mean the restoration of Palestine as a nation state in place of Israel. Jewish opposition to this policy is entirely understandable, but best summed up with “No”.

      Consider the antics of the Saudis exploiting the West’s reliance on their oil, the love of pushing extreme religion in second generation settlers in Europe, and the willingness of the British to sell them state-of-the-art weaponry to let loose a tirade of destruction onto a neighbour state, including a city which was, like Hong Kong, once a British Empire outpost. Blowing up an industrial facility using money and support from a friendly foreign power is no worse than the French Resistance doing likewise during the Nazi occupation, with support from Churchill.

      The Iranian leaders certainly have strange habits – beating up women because their head covering has slipped, or because they wandered in to watch a football match – is very odd behaviour, the sort you’d expect foreigners to get up to and certainly not worthy of somewhere civilised like the British Empire. Are they worth setting off WW3 for though? Bolsonaro is a far more dangerous villain – he is threatening the stability of the entire planet.

    4. Anything that happens anywhere results in an increase in the price of oil. We should buy oil from Russia. A much more stable place and we could maybe do a long term price deal.

        1. If I remember, they got a special deal via Ukraine. Ukraine got cheap oil from Russia in return for the use of Sevastopol as a Russian naval base, and then sold on the cheap oil to the Germans at a profit.

          This all fell apart when the Russians took back Sevastopol, saying it was only gifted to Ukraine in the 1950s by Khreshchev, and was Russian ever since they took it off the Turks in the Crimean War.

  14. Good morning all – off to water the garden and plant out veg.

    Then some people are coming to look at the house, My co-potagiste sells vegetable- boxes. One of his clients in the village is Swiss. The Swiss have an English couple staying who are keen to look round. On verra….

    TTFN

  15. The BBC asks:

    “More than 640 million barrels of oil are currently sitting in caves under Texas and Louisiana. Why?”

    The roof of the cave is too low for them to stand?

    1. They don’t care. The past is done & we need to look forward.
      Some revenge for their sheer nastiness would be most satisfying – like actually leaving the EU and watch their budget implode.

      2. Of course they don’t care or want to remember as it shows just how weak and useless they were. They owe a huge debt to the British and our Anglo-sphere cousins the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand as well as India, Rhodesia etc. If it wasn’t for these nations the Europeans would be under Germ… Errr Ummm.

        1. The EU should focus their minds on Serbia /Croatian problems and those wild parts .. I hear that feelings simmer silently , as Russia eyes up more possible land grabs !

          1. Morning, Maggie!

            Hmmm, not so sure about that. I seem to remember that the last time the EU focused their minds on the Balkans, all hell broke loose.
            :¬(

          2. And then there was the fragrant Lady Ashton who, in the Ukraine, single-handedly almost caused Word War Three.

      1. I see those red berets frequently as I live about a mile or so from the Para’s home base in Colchester. Those berets have an important history attached to them, unlike the blue and gold interlopers.

    4. The freedom bought so dearly, the right to choose was given away by the political class and utterly demolished by the Lib Dems who care nothing for the future of this country except as a vassal state of the fascist, communist empire defeated so long ago.

  17. Good morning, all.

    Pondering the unfolding Brexit debacle – as you do – at a time when the UK faces its biggest constitutional crisis in more than eighty years, I’ve been doing some reading about the last big one, that which forced the abdication of King Edward VIII, and it seems to me there are some striking parallels. No need to bore you with details – I’m sure we’re all familiar with the events that took place in 1936. Suffice to say that as opinions became polarised, opposing positions hardened and the Nation was divided as never before. To get to the point, I found this entry from Edward’s personal diary, written at Fort Belvedere just a few days before he signed the Instrument of Abdication.

    “A civil war is the worst of all wars, its passions soar highest, its hatreds last longest and a civil war is not a lesser war when it is fought in words and not blood.”

    That Edward was a foolish, impetuous man who was temperamentally unsuited to the rôle of King, I have no doubt, yet in his words, “hic sapienta est”, as they say round the buildings. Every one of our cynical, dishonest, vainglorious politicians should read them, inwardly digest them and tremble at the consequences, should they continue to pursue their policies of ‘divide and rule’ that threaten the very fabric of our society with disorder and – God forbid – internecine strife.

    1. It is a serious subject and the consequences of our MP’s actions are going to make life very unpleasant for a while. But when it comes to civil strife against those who are blindly in favour of the EU, I remember one picture that our American friends put up when they consider their possible future against their own brainwashed population:

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/30e7f990a5279e21a34b172e1f68de898bce6875f37826845acb3500601cc692.jpg

      2. The otherside has warmachines that make those bullets look like paintballs. Amuhricahns forget that the state has the military, who have tanks and ballistic missiles. They could wipe out their petty little militia without needing to repaint.

        1. Hmm. Half of the American people are a “petty little milita” are they? It is a good thing that people who believe the way that they do decided to come over and help us liberate Europe the last time that they got themselves into trouble.

          What on Earth makes you think the mighty American war machine will open fire on its own citizens before they open fire on the politicians? You do know which areas of American society provide most of the soldiers don’t you? They do not often come from the elite ruling class. In fact, those at the top try to avoid their children going into the Armed Forces.

          I would rather have the Americans watching my back than an EU army any day of the week.

  18. Is the prime minister of Luxembourg completely unaware that in trying to humiliate Boris Johnson he has made a fool of himself by revealing that he is an uncivilised yob not fit to hold political office?

    The good consequence of his uncouth behaviour is that more and more people will see that Britain has no option other than to free herself from the EU entirely.

    2. The Europeans really don’t understand the character of the British do they? They think that the more they bully and threaten us, the more likely we are to cower and give in. We Brits are reasonable people, show us a fair argument and we will give you a fair hearing. But try to humiliate and intimidate us and our hackles rise. Especially when the ‘bully’ is the leader of a country roughly the size of Birmingham!

      http://www.europeanamericansunited.org/school1/Fiction/kipling/awakened.htm

      1. A lot could be simple mistranslation of common words.

        One problem in having as a mother tongue a language as widely spoken as English is that we presume that the same meanings and subtleties apply equally in all other languages, and come to grief when they don’t.

        Take, for example, the German word ‘müssen’. It is so closely related to the English word “to must” (as in “you must do this”) when actually it is a softer word in German closer to meaning “you may do this”. When spoken by a German in English though, it comes out hard and dictatorial.

        The same thing happens in French. ‘Demander’ literally means ‘to ask’, but when mistranslated by a French speaker, it comes out with the harsh word ‘demand’, as in “I demand that you do this”.

        When I voted Leave in 2016, I considered on how well the British Civil Service adapted EU directives into English Common Law, and it was not pretty. We British seemed to take the harsh brutal translations, when perhaps we should all along have been a great deal more pragmatic about them. After all, how many of these directives are actually observed to the letter by the French and the Italians?

        1. The French and Germans make the rules for others to follow, not themselves. Britain is the only country foolish enough to abide by every pettifogging regulation, even ‘gold-plating’ them in some cases, even when they go against our national interest.

          Yesterday’s event was clearly an ‘ambush’ as they refused to have the meeting indoors or remove the protesters. What kind of organisation humiliates the Prime Minister of the 5th largest economy in the world, one who is trying in good faith to get a deal? Not one I want to be a part of, that’s for sure.

          1. Do you remember that wonderful scene from ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ when the French castle owner laid in a special reception for the visiting King Arthur?

            If I recall, beef was served.

          2. The UK pi55ed all over Donald Trump when he visited.
            What kind of organisation tries to humiliate the President of the largest economy in the world?
            These people get everywhere.

          3. There seems to be a single class of politicians at the head of governments across the Western world. They don’t represent the majority of their people, but they nonetheless seem to have a Common Purpose.

            Oh no! I sound like Pretty Polly 🙂

        2. The laws are an interesting one, Jeremy.
          Norwegian law is very similar to English law, but for one thing: The application of the law is to follow its intent, not necessarily the precise wording. That can cause some confusion, particularly in translation!

        3. There is no such English verb as “to must”! EU directives were not “adapted … into English Common Law”, they remained part of corpus juris, the Napoleonic Code. EU law over-rode Common Law.

          1. You point out the clumsiness of pushing a square peg into a round hole.

            English Common Law is all about prohibition – we are free to do what we like until someone stops us, often the authorities, but it could be anyone. Until this happens, it’s legal. It enables the flexibility that has made our fortune and saved our nation, but creates a nasty feeling when having to restrain others – hence “sorry” being one of the most used words in England, and we often apologise simply for asserting our rights. Not to do so is brash and unpleasant, and something we Brits often level at Americans, who are themselves exasperated at how we are constantly apologising for being alive.

            On the continent, they direct you what is approved. Any deviation from directive is illegal, and the authorities can turn a blind eye or take action, according to what they feel is appropriate. Individuals have little say over the process, and if you do as directed, then everyone will leave you alone. Mostly, it’s a box-ticking exercise that all is in order and adequately complied with, and it’s based on principles more than micromanaged rules (which would simply not work there).

            What happened when imposing Napoleonic Code here was that our Civil Service set about prohibiting one-by-one pretty well everything that was not on the Directive, and then spending vast amounts enforcing a vast number of prohibitions, making industry in this country quite uncompetitive compared to the continent.

      2. I remarked to friends this evening over a drink that the EU way of “democracy” was to ignore referendums; it worked in France, the Netherlands, Denmark and the Irish had to vote twice to get the “right” result, but they have made a mistake with us. For one thing, we have a long history of democracy and universal suffrage was hard fought for. We don’t like elites riding rough shod over us and ignoring our wishes.

    3. The EU politicos’ attitude towards our PM and the tactics they use to try and humiliate both the PM and the UK are childish beyond belief. I still harbour grave doubts about Johnson and his motives; however, his action yesterday to not allow the very small man who is PM of a very small nation to heap more humiliation on him was the right thing to do.

    4. They don’t care, Rastus. That it was obviously staged will, like Cameron’s ‘pig bonking’ be praised to high trousers by his enemies and understood by his allies.

      It was obviously partisan and gave Boris no way out but to ignore it and further polarise the issue. It was petty, pathetic and spiteful. Just like the EU.

    5. Mr Dung Beetel is presumably thinking of the €6 he gets back from the EU for every €1 Luxembourg puts in!!

    1. Same here in the Derbyshire Dales.
      I’ll be carrying on with the large shed up the garden today, should get the rear wall panel done today and a good start on the roof.

    2. Good morning DB.

      The smell from the enormous slurry lakes that mega dairy farms of 700 + dairy cattle use comes across this area in drifts..

      In some beautiful villages the acrid smell of ammonia is now causing questions to be asked .. A sunny warm day presents its own hell!

      2. Small farms with just a few cattle would mean that milk is more expensive, as production costs would be higher. So, it’s either a pong or expensive milk.

          1. Most of the price of milk does not reach the farmer – if I recall, it’s about 10% or less. So, cost-effectiveness is essential for them – hence the giant megafarms, all run by one or two people.

  20. Good morning from a Saxon Queen with clean axe and longbow .

    Why don’t the Lib Dems wander into a darkened wood midway
    through their lives ( apologies to Danté) and just remain there
    hugging trees and knitting yoghurt.

  21. HS2 clearances of ancient woodland must be stopped while rail project is reviewed says Transport Secretary Grant Shapps in biggest hint yet that £56bn scheme will be scrapped
    Mr Shapps has ordered HS2 Ltd to assess what tree removals can be halted
    He said: ‘There is no sense in hiding the challenges HS2 faces, or masking the difficult decisions that need to be taken’
    HS2 could cost up to £78bn – more than double the £33n budget set in 2009

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7468893/HS2-clearances-ancient-woodland-stopped-future-rail-project-reviewed.html

      1. I can remember reading comments from YEARS ago from people who were watching the EU even back then. They said that there would be an attempt to put a new faster railway across the United Kingdom because the EU Overlords wanted to be able to travel from one side of their Empire to the other in style.

        What the people on the ground felt about it did not come into the matter of course. Which we now know is how the EU feels about every citizen in Europe. Apart from themselves and their other train made of gravy.

        1. Ten-R was designated for the same reason as interstate highways in the States,to facilitate troop movements
          See “Interstate defense highway act 1956” for details

  22. My dog sleeps about 20 hours a day. He has his food prepared for him. He can eat whenever he wants.

    His meals are provided at no cost to him.

    He visits the Doctor once a year for his check-up, and again during the year if any medical needs arise.

    For this he pays nothing, and nothing is required of him.

    He lives in a nice neighbourhood in a house that is much larger than he needs, but he is not required to do any upkeep.

    He makes no contribution to the running or maintenance of the house.

    If he makes a mess, someone else cleans it up.

    He has his choice of luxurious places to sleep. He receives these accommodations absolutely free.

    He is living like a King, and has absolutely no expenses whatsoever.

    All of his costs are picked up by others who go out, work hard, and earn a living every day.

    I was just thinking about all this, and suddenly it hit me like a brick in the head.

    I think my dog is an illegal IMMIGRANT

    1. We choose to have our dogs though.

      Sir Loaf a lot is currently sat on my bed looking out the window – so the camera tells me.

    2. Dolly the Chihuahua is an illegal immigrant. Not sure where she came from though. I think her sombrero might be a clue.

    3. That only seems unusual in this day and age. My siblings and I were cooking at age eight. Just as many millions more around the world were doing in days gone by.

  26. My thanks to DH who saves me much typing

    “I see
    the lefty newspapers are cock-a-hoop about some floppy haired deviant or
    other from the “Grand Duchy” of Luxembourg “laughing in Boris’ face”
    yesterday, casting Boris as “the incredible sulk”, with all the lefties
    on twitter piling in to side against their own country with the usual
    tin pot foreigners.

    This would usually make me frown and make
    disapproving harrumphing noises over my cup of tea. However, the
    bedwetters are making their usual mistake of assuming the
    twitter/facebook echo chamber equates to wider public opinion, so I’m
    minded just to give them a free pass to make yet another horrendous
    blunder.

    If you’re so oblivious to the British character that you
    cannot see that the sight of some puffed up little minor Habsburg duke
    type from a ridiculous little landlocked fiefdom publicly cocking a
    snook at the Prime Minister of Great Britain touches rather a raw nerve,
    then please keep digging that hole for yourself and your wretched ilk. I
    shall not interrupt you.”

      1. You could also point out that he kept using the word “Empire” which can translate into German as “Reich”

  31. There is something really evil happening in politics , we should all feel very afraid.

    The next few hours will either kick off the national mood .. or we will all cavill to to the jackbooted EU!

      1. One will see when they arrive at their decision. They should be basing the decision on the law and not on hat they might think Boris is doing

        On any sensible bases this challenge should be thrown out

        1. Indeed. The only legal question should be ‘Does the PM have the right to prorogue Parliament?’ If the answer is yes, then that should be the end of the matter.

          Johnson has said that his reason was that he wanted to introduce a new domestic agenda. Their Lordships are being asked to speculate if that was actually his real reason, and if they believe it was not to give their opinion on whether his real reason was ‘proper.’ This is taking the judiciary far into the field of politics and could establish a very dangerous precedent. Do we want to get into a position where any decision by a Prime Minister can be challenged in the courts? This country will become ungovernable (if it is not already).

  32. “Courageous as ever”

    I missed the fawning over Gareth Thomas (thank the lord) it seems “Courage” has a new meaning

    Apparently it now means deceiving the woman you married,having unprotected anal sex with multiple partners and acquiring an entirely preventable disease

    Some “Courage”
    I wonder how many others he infected??

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-49675303

    1. And exposed many of his other lovers to the same fate..

      The man has no backbone .. and of course Prince Harry , who made such a thing out of the HIV thing has lauded loudly the man’s bravery !

      People should visit Africa , where Africans shag everything and anything and view the utter misery , the tragedy that simple minded people have been subjected to , and their bundles of pitiful yawling babies .. The Anus and Mouth have spread this most miserable of contagious diseases .. God help womankind and mankind.

      1. At the moment the condition can be managed but not cured but a variant of it could emerge that could not be managed

        1. Not being pious , but I have seen too many Africans genuinely suffering with Aids, and poor little children who have HIV, it is enough to make one wonder what on earth is going on .. it is endemic now ..

          Just wondering how many illegal migrants who land here have diseases which will cost an absolute ransome to treat and who are spreading them quicker than a blink of the eye!

          1. HIV clinics have a huge percentage of non white patients in comparison to yer standard GUM clinic.

      2. I do not like the way that dangerous abnormality is presented as an acceptable thing.
        Poor Princess Diana, she had a good heart, but ….
        President Putin is not all bad.

    3. He apparently according to reports only admitted to having HIV when the media found out. Who know how many people he could have potentially infected

        1. Was it Luxembourg or Lichtenstein that actively cooperated with the Germans during WW2?
          I’m pretty certain it was one or the other.

          3. Did you spot the “Empire translates into Reich in German” on the Verhoofteeth speech comment I replied to you..

  35. Clapton fire: Woman rescued from block of flats

    Yet another block of flats on fire. Quite what is going on in London who knows. Why are the fires spreading so fast

    A woman has been rescued after a fire ripped through a block of flats in east London.
    The blaze broke out at the building on Harry Zeital Way in Clapton at 22:40 BST on Monday.
    Resident Soyeb Isralia said it started on a downstairs balcony but spread to the upper floors “within two minutes”.
    It destroyed balconies from the ground to the fifth floor, along with part of a flat on the fifth floor and a section of the roof.
    London Fire Brigade said nobody was injured and the cause of the fire was under

  36. Interesting

    Rumours are suggesting a court case may be taken out as to whether MP’s who defect should have to resign and face a bye election.

    Like so much of politics it appear to be a grey area. On the one hand it could be said you are electing an individual but o the other hand it could be said you are electing a party member to represent you. The ballot paper clearly indicate they are a party member as does their election literature and they are required to be a member of the party and abide by its rules and regulations

    1. If they are representing us at a national level then surely they should be following the manifesto pledges of the party they stood for? Imagine if I had elected a true-Blue Thatcherite Conservative, who the crossed the floor to Marxist Labour? Surely I could say he no longer reprensents me?

      It is a farce that the likes of Chukka Ummuna can play musical chairs in parliament and never have to submit to an election. These hardcore Remainers seem so fond of democracy, but not when it applies to them personally!

      1. Another farce is people who have never won an election being parachuting into the Lords, where they can rule over us. I’m thinking of Adonis and Chakrabati.

  37. Well, well. The “English couple” turned out to be Swiss. Loved the house … BUT will have to look at others before they can decide.

    So that’s that.

    1. Yes. English friends in SW France looked at about 12 houses on a flying visit approx 15 years ago, before retiring. The one that the agent thought was a hopeless waste of time they bought immediately, contents included. And very happy they are.

    1. This dewy-eyed Swinson fantasist should be allowed to ramble on as much as she likes. She is clearly trying to steal votes from the Labour party, and even more splits among the Remain voters is to be welcomed. The fewer seats that those 2 parties get then the brighter the future of the United Kingdom will be.

    2. Even on the BBC there isn’t much love for Jo BTL! “Not going to happen then is it.She has got about as much chance of
      winning a General Election as the BBC has of becoming unbiased in its reporting of Brexit”

      Incidentally, is anyone else having trouble with the formatting lately – if I try to use bold or italics Disqus formats the bit I haven’t highlighted!?

  39. Apols if this has already been posted:

    The message is we can look after our Selves

    Martin Selves 17 Sep 2019 6:58AM

    “Good news for the Hulk on Wake up to Money this morning. They often play the PF Card, but today they couldn’t find any. The CEO of Bolougne said the Port is ready, and has been for a long time. He does not predict queues, everything will be the same. As long as the paperwork is correct, passage will be smooth. The procedure for paper errors is in place. Casual traffic will not be affected, you and me, because a Visa system is not required.

    The UK’s richest man is starting up a Car SUV plant in Bridgend, modelled on the Rover type. It will not be on the Ford Plant site.. He has confidence in the UK and we should applaud him.

    The Worlds largest FX machine, the LSE, just got bigger. Its proportion of World Trade went from 37% to 40%. New York is in second place, they they lost 3%.

    Come On everyone. Germany is on a cliff edge of recession, and our forecast is 1.2% growth. The UK is in RUDE health. Boris was trashed in Luxembourg yesterday. He does not need to take this. A EU spokesperson said if the UK does not produce a workable backstop alternative, they will not offer an Extension. I say GOOD, don’t give them one.

    Lets get outtahere. The Supreme Court will favour Boris today. The Courts signed off on the Bus weeks ago. Swinson signed off being a Democrat. Corbyn signed on as a Racist. 24 Conservative MP’s disgraced their life’s work and themselves. TM, Major, Clarke, Hammond and. Heseltine are failed Politucians who will not stand again. What not to like.

    Just one problem. Parliament is stuffed with Federalists, and many are Republican as well. How did that happen, why did they not tell us, why don’t they resign now we know who they really are.

    But Brexit is strong in the fibre of the UK. Boris is trying to get a Deal, but he is wasting his time. Don’t give them a backstop to be ashamed of for life. The Country does not want a Battle of Britian Fudge. We want to Win … again.”

    1. Boris could well be wasting his time trying to get a deal but both he and the EU negotiators know that any EU concessions at this stage would have hardly any chance of passing UK Parliament.

      But by sticking rigidly to his UK leaving date of 31st October 2019 whilst still suggesting a deal is possible he is able to deflect the onus for negotiating failure back to the EU.

      Boris is sticking to his red lines even though every quarter has done its best to rub them out.
      This is his last ditch plan for which both sides are prepared.

    2. Read that as “Just one problem. Parliament is stuffed with Federalists, Fascists…”, and my version seems more correcter, I fear.

    3. Correction to the above: TM will stand again, she has just been re-adopted as the Maidenhead GE Conservative candidate.

      1. The uptick is for the correction I would downvote the stupidity of the Maidenhead “Conservatives”…

  40. Not reported in the media.
    The pound had ” collapsed ” a short while ago, when it temporarily fell to $1.20. Panic everywhere.

    Today it is down to $1.24 after being $1,25 yesterday. Not a mention.
    Running the country down is now a ” good thing “.

    1. I noticed a mention on one of the financial pro EU websites where the headline was along the lines of pound falls after Luxembourg summit.

    1. I don’t now how it’s calculated, but I would have thought Belgium would do better, given the local expenditure by MEPS civil servants etc.

    2. Just proves Sir Humphrey was right – it’s all about the money.

      Maybe Boris should have asked the Luxembourg PM who he expects to subsidize his country after Brexit?

  43. Final pages of a very interesting (and depressing article):

    The monopoly on communications is near total. The official state broadcasters in the EU’s member states set the official news narrative (e.g. “Orange Man Baaaad”) which is repeated and amplified by their private fake competition who have by now completely forgotten just what independent journalism is supposed to be about. It is doubtlessly possible to switch off all “alternative” channels of information whenever needs must, e.g. to avert a Tahir Square style “European Spring” before things do get a bit out of hand.

    Particularly, the UK is seeing travel restrictions against dissidents and critics of the status quo, prosecution on legally dubious but politically convenient grounds and political prisoners. Another hallmark of totalitarianism.

    To sum up, according to the generally accepted indicators of totalitarianism, the EU scores:

    Elaborate guiding ideology: 9 out of 10.
    The mantra of “More EU” and “ever closer union” as the answer to all problems (which, rather ironically, are mainly caused by strict adherence to these principles) is nearly total and even criticism of the EU can still be turned into a suggestion for further improvement of the status quo.

    Single mass party: 8 out of 10
    There isn’t one single EU party, in fact there are several stretching from the moderate left across the centrist parties to the faux conservatives. True refusal of the EU doctrine is isolated, stigmatised and rendered politically quite impotent.

    System of terror: 8 out of 10
    The EU’s rule of terror so far doesn’t affect the average citizen physically, but psychologically. It works on the public’s mind by making examples of prominent figureheads pour encourager les autres. And there’s an army of self-appointed little busy bodies and guardians of public opinion, a petty Gestapo entrenched in academia, education and the media – the “open society” with a “common purpose”. It still appears wise to assume that the people running this show would gladly repeat Auschwitz – in the name of avoiding another Auschwitz. And without realising their cruel irony.

    Monopoly on weapons: 9 out of 10
    On nation state level, the state monopoly on violence has been total for many decades now in all EU member states. As they are bound to follow EU directives (= diktats), EU member states would have to remove physical opposition to EU policies and/or the EU by force. Should national governments fail to comply, an EU army intervention seems likely in future.

    Monopoly on means of communication: 8 out of 10
    The state broadcasters are setting the official news narrative and it’s only by virtue of the fact that by now, most people simply don’t care for the news anymore that organisations like the BBC cannot reign supreme. Most alternative media are little more than controlled opposition, a number might even be false flag operations.

    Centrally planned economy: 7 out of 10
    Apart from state run enterprises and state service providers (health, care, education, safety, state management, etc.) the EU doesn’t plan most of the economy, but it is setting most (if not all) of the regulatory framework in which private business operates.

    This is the one point where the new totalitarianism seems to have learned the lessons from its past: in that it appears unwise to micromanage the economy to within an inch of its life.

    All in all, the result looks dire. Yet, the EU isn’t a totalitarian state along the lines of Hitler’s Germany or Stalin’s Russia. If only for want of its own EU death camps. It is much more akin to China though, where political unruliness will land people in jail and where it just doesn’t matter at all what people vote for: the party will decide what’s best for you, comrade, because it knows what’s best for everybody (or indeed for anybody).

    The most likely thing to happen to dissidents in the EU is a gradual erosion of civil liberties, aimed at landing people who don’t toe the party line in an extremely awkward place, depending on the public profile of their case with public “naming and shaming” (= smearing people with dirt manufactured from faux outrage) gratuitously added on top. A still tongue shall make a happy life.

    The EU, we must remind ourselves, is nascent totalitarianism and it will grow into its developed form it if isn’t stopped in time. And time is running short. Interestingly, most of Das Projekt Europa can be pursued in the name of an “European values” – so for the very best or reasons. And none of it is being publicly questioned – least of all by those who claim critical thinking as their true calling in life.

    https://going-postal.com/2019/09/das-projekt-europa-the-good-totalitarianism/

    © Guardian Council 2019

    1. Afternoon Rik,
      Will the “keep him / her” / out of ten, will the best of the worst, still apply, will the nose holding brigade still be active ?Will the same type voting pattern still be adhered to ?

    2. Brexit has shone the light on the fact that parliamentary democracy was only ever an illusion of democracy that relied entirely on the electorate entrusting their sovereignty to elected representatives. The very notion that less than 650 MP’s can overturn a democratic referendum that clearly expressed the preference of 17.4 million is quite blatantly anti democratic. The trust has now been revealed as fully broken, we no longer have even an illusion of democracy.

  46. Warning – American joke:

    −
    Avatar
    Utterances (gammon-as-f***) • an hour ago
    From across the pond:

    PARKING TICKET: My wife and I went into town and visited a shop. When we came out, there was a cop writing out a parking ticket. We went up to him and I said, “Come on man, how about giving a senior citizen a break?” He just ignored us and continued writing the ticket.

    I called him an “a**hole.” He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn-out tires.

    So my wife called him a “s*ithead.” He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first. Then he started writing more tickets.

    This went on for about 20 minutes. The more we abused him, the more tickets he wrote. He finally finished, sneered at us and walked away. Just then our bus arrived, and we got on it and went home.

    We always look for cars with Bernie Sanders stickers. We try to have a little fun each day now that we’re retired. It’s so important at our age!!

    38
    •Reply•Share ›

    1. Morning Hugh,

      Lovely pic. I went there in 1983, when there were numerous events and exhibitions celebrating 1683.

      Are you on a river cruise?

      1. ‘Morning, Sue. Yes, we started at Budapest and will finish on Friday at Passau, before returning home by train.

          1. Yes. The music was good and the fat lady sang very well but presented herself very badly.
            Round the tiers of boxes, there were EU banners hanging down in front, rather than the usual flags draped over the railings. Reminded me of swastika banners.
            I took a Yorkshire Rose flag and wrapped it around a pillar in Bay 16 of the gallery. Our bay also had a West Sussex flag and one of Hesse, as we shared the space with some friends who come over from Frankfurt every year to do the second half of the Proms.
            Of the regular Prommers in the Gallery, I think myself, Zena and Roger are the only Leavers – however Roger only told me this for the first time on Sat and even then in confidence so there may be others who’d rather not speak out. Roger told me that after the referendum his sister told him not to mention that he’d voted leave when he visited because it might upset her children.

          3. It’s sad that because we believe in our country and want it to be free that we have to keep quiet unless we know we are amongst leavers. The Remainers make the most noise and fuss but we will win through in the end.

            We didn’t watch the Last Night – the sight of all those flags and rainbows would have made me mad.

          5. I think there are lots of people who are LEAVERS but decline to expose themselves to the vile vituperation.

        2. That is exactly what I thought about the White Nile and the Blue Nile , Sue .

          So disappointed to find they were both brown and muddy at their confluence!

          1. When I was there some years ago, they were both different shades of brown, so you could see how the water swirled and mixed.

          2. Amazing sight really .

            My younger sister and I used to cycle down to watch the watermelon men wash the watermelons , they would allow their camels to drink from the river , and they also washed their old wagons.. We were always fearful of crocodiles appearing .. except in the shallows one could see Nile perch swirling around.. we always thought shark, but no , of course they weren’t !

            We were treated well, as Engleeessies.. and we were given chunks of water melon to quench our thirst. They also TAUGHT us how to spit water melon seeds.. like a game .. to see who could aim the furthest .. One has to place the pip in the mouth, roll your tongue back, and project with a puff of air.. . The Sudanese in those days were good , well mannered and quite honourable ..

          3. I was in Khartoum several times in the 2000s. Sudanese were polite, friendly folk, and the Sudanese coffee brewed on a fire by the fat lady under the tree across the road from the office was fantastic! Think of espresso, with a LOT of ginger and a dab of sugar, and you have the idea. Great place.
            Was in Unity state a few times too, both dry & wet season. The green-ness and wild flowers in the wet season were amazing, as were the clouds of vicious mosquitoes…

          4. OB

            I lived there as a little girl in the early 1950’s and then again for a short while with my parents etc in the early 1960s.. Parents got around abit .

  48. Just to confirm everyone’s belief that government cannot run the proverbial brewery visit.

    The Ontario government has just released figures for the sale of marijuana since it was legalised (and only sold through a government online site or a very limited number of licensed stores). Somehow even with exclusive rights, they racked up a loss of $4r million in the first year.

    Meanwhile down the road on the reserve, two or three new retail outlets open up each month and they are all apparently making a profit.

    1. Making a loss while legally selling marijuana… That takes a special set of skills.

      Or “affirmative action” in the management hiring.

  49. Progress is unstoppable, but that doesn’t mean it is always for the better.

    © Grizzly 2019

    The current geological time period, the Quaternary (the age of mammals), is split into two epochs: the Pleistocene and the Holocene. The Pleistocene was further split into four ages: the Gelasian, the Calabrian, the Chibanian, and the Tarantian; whilst the current Holocene epoch is split into four ages: the Greenlandian, the Northgrippian and, currently, the Meghalayan.

    Within that time period, the rise of humanity ensued. The earliest hominids (human species) were the Ardipithecus (the first to walk upright), which morphed over time into Australopithecus (first users of stone tools), which transmogrified into, sequentially, Homo habilis, H. erectus (earliest users of fire), H. heidelbergensis (earliest users of clothing) and then H. sapiens (the current state of the species).

    The name Quaternary was only adopted in 2009 as a more fitting description for the period following the Neogene as it better suits the environmental changes that have occurred snce then.

    Following on from that, I propose that the hominid Homo sapiens has again morphed into a new species, quite separate from its forebears. H. sapiens was instrumental in the exponential rise of intelligence in the species. The only life form to have ever developed an appreciation and deep understanding of the arts and the sciences. Sadly, though, the time of that species is now at an end and the time is ripe for another taxonomic definition for the new species that it has clearly morphed into.

    I propose that Homo idioticus is the name that should be adopted for modern mankind, probably with a starting date of the late 19th/early 20th century.

    This progressively facile species is the only life form to have ever evolved which routinely trashes its environment and living space. It is the only organism that continues to destroy the crucial biodiversity of the only planet known to support life forms. It believes itself to be the most important and intelligent species to have ever evolved, yet it buries its head in the sand when irrebuttable facts to the contrary are presented to it.

    It continues to breed, completely out-of-control, at a rate that means there will soon not be enough food to support its population explosion, and not enough clean, potable, unpolluted drinking water to sustain its life (not to mention the life of all other species).

    It continues to despoil the planet with the poisoning effects of pollution, much of which is not biodegradable. It clamours to produce more and more powerful nuclear weapons, the inevitable use of which will destroy all forms of life, forever.

    It produces cretinous politicians to rule itself on an industrial scale, none of whom would be given two seconds’ worth of audience in previous centuries. This deplorable standard of politician is perfectly proportional to the declining standards of behaviour in the species as a whole. A half-witted, undisciplined species will only, ever, produce recalcitrant and brainless politicians.

    Since the human species is on a self-imposed pathway to annihilation, I shall propose, to the Royal Society, that the very apposite name, Homo idioticus, be adopted without delay as the official scientific name of 20th century man and beyond. That way, in æons to come, any future intelligent life form evolving might see the record and become acutely aware of what happens when one jumped-up species considers itself to be above nature.

      1. Morning, M.

        It is too late to do anything except prepare the future generations for the inevitable. An unthinkable inevitable guaranteed for them by their brainless ancestors.

        1. Did you latch on to my earlier comment about slurry lakes .. and giant dairy factory units. 700+ cows

          Did you read what I said about ammonia levels and nitrogen in the air and the SMELL.. and the lack of insects and birds we have experienced over the past 3 or 4 years?

          No one listens , and the planners allow the development of places like that yet the very same planners scream and shout at a building extension or a window placed in the wrong direction .. yet they ignore dung / slurry / gypsy fouling/ illegal caravans blah blah blah

          1. I’ve not read the rest of the thread yet this morning.

            Those planners you mention (Servile Serpents, Snivel Serpents) are a form of politician and, as we know, we get the politicians we deserve. If it directly affects them, they do something about it. If it doesn’t directly affect them, tough shit!

          3. Morning, Phil.

            No need to. I was knocked up early yesterday morning by our local friendly postman, who handed me a well-wrapped package. 👍🏼

            Thanks ever so much for your kindness. The bonus book will come in very handy when I next host some Royals! :•)😊

    2. Classical example of Homo idioticus:

      “Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, which experienced three massive meltdowns in 2011, is running out of room to store radioactive water. No surprise! But now, what to do about phosphorescent water?

      Addressing the issue, Japan’s environmental minister Yoshiaki Harada held a news conference (September 2019). Unfortunately, he proffered the following advice: “The only option will be to drain it into the sea and dilute it.” (Source: Justin McCurry in Tokyo, Fukushima: Japan Will Have to Dump Radioactive Water Into Pacific, Minister Says, The Guardian, Sept. 10, 2019)

      “The only option”… Really?”

      1. I rest my case.

        If humans had not been as fecund as they are, retaining a world population not exceeding one million, then there would have been no need for nuclear power. The earth’s resources could have been sensibly managed and a balance of life kept intact.

        Unfortunately …

  50. Apparently the Supreme Court case will rumble on till Thursday, with no clear deadline as to when they will rule. After October 15th perhaps? I do wonder how much all this legal bullshine is costing us taxpayers.

    Saying that, I can’t wait till Thursday’s ‘intervention’ by one John Major. I hope someone asks him about his personal experience of proroging Parliament!

    https://order-order.com/2019/07/10/john-major-prorogued-parliament-1997-avoid-cash-questions-scrutiny/

    1. Of course Major prorogued Parliament for the noblest of causes – avoiding an enquiry into sleaze!

  51. Prester John 17 Sep 2019 12:31PM

    All Mr Johnson has to do is use an Order-in-Council before the Benn Act deadline to move the Prime Minister’s prerogative powers to the First Lord of the Treasury (his other hat), and then resign as Prime Minister, having advised Her Majesty that she need not seek a replacement until after breakfast on 1st November, and to take advice from the First Lord of the Treasury in the meantime. He would have to give up Chequers as that is for the Prime Minister, but not 10 Downing Street, which is for the First Lord. The Prime Minister’s statutory powers would be unexercisable for a while, and if any major (or Major !) issue arises, use the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to plug any gaps.

    Come the day under the Benn Act, there is no Prime Minister to send the letter, and no application for an extension, and no one to sue. The First Lord may not assume that office unless appointed by the Queen. Let matters run to 31st October 2019, 23.00 hours, and then pop round to the Palace to advise HM that she might wish to make an Order-in-Council and to have a Prime Minister again.

      1. I can’t take credit for it and I’ve no idea if it could work but someone has to neutralise the actions of the Bar stewards desperate to keep us in the EU against the expressed democratic wishes of the British People.

    2. AS I understand it all the Act required was to ask for an extension. It did not state that the extension had to be accepted

      1. Didn’t the wording say that if the extension offered was until January 31st then the PM had to accept, no matter what conditions were added?

        1. I doubt it. It would probably be legally invalid as well you would in effect be signing a blank check. The EU could say we will extend it but you have to pay us a £100B

          1. I have suggested the if Boris asks for an extension, he sets out conditions, for example, the EU pays us, they take back all their citizens with it the 3 months. Things like that.

    3. Hello sr,

      The things that depresses me is that there are a myriad of solutions to the Benn Act, that I have read about. But why is/has none of these been tried?

  53. Personally I’m beginning to worry that leaving (or not rejoining) the EU may require violence.

    Dexy 2 hours ago

    We turned off Strictly, Bake Off,
    Enders and old Corrie,
    Rounded up the traitors
    And shoved them in a lorry,
    Drove ’em up the Pennines
    And left ’em in a quarry
    And let the fuckers starve to death,
    And didn’t once feel sorry.

    8 ReplyView in discussion

    1. Independence movements usually get resolved, one way or the other, by conflict. The USSR’s approach was to use tanks against protesters. Best to get out now before the EU army is functional.

  54. Some of you may be following the (mis)fortunes of WE Work over in the US. In case you don’t know: It is “The opposite of Starbucks. Starbucks charges for coffee and gives you a seat and connectivity. WeWork charges for a seat and connectivity but gives you coffee.”

  55. Mum blames NHS after teenage son goes blind from only eating crisps, chips and chocolate for 16 years

    No it is your fault and later on your sons as well. All they both have come out with is endless excuses

    A boy left BLIND after eating a diet consisting of crisps and chocolate – and nothing else – has appeared on This Morning.

    The teenager, from the South West of England, appeared on the ITV1 daytime favourite on Tuesday’s show.

    Taking to the show on Tuesday, September 17, Harvey Dyer revealed how much damage has been done to his eyes.

    The teenager’s diet consisted of chips, Quavers, Wotsits and chocolate for every meal for 16 years.

    Mum of five Kerry, from Gloucester, explained that Harvey is autistic.
    The 18-year-old has been eating his limited range of food since he was two, she said, revealing doctors originally took blood tests and found all Harvey’s vitamin levels were low
    and thought his loss of vision might be down to the rare condition Leber’s disease.

    Once that was ruled out it was found to be Harvey’s diet to blame and Kerry said: “I’ve done everything. I know people say it’s probably because I’m a bad mum and neglected him. I don’t listen to any of that.

    “I’ve fought for Harvey from the age of two and I’ll continue fighting until he has that healthy balance of life.

    “At the end of the day he’s our priority and I couldn’t have done anymore.”

    She said Harvey eats chips, Quavers, Wotsits and Dairy Milk for every meal., adding: “He can’t physically eat anything else – he won’t even take things like medicine.
    “We’ve tried anything and everything – it’s been so hard.”
    It is believed Harvey’s autism makes him sensitive to certain textures.
    Kerry said: “It’s not that he doesn’t want to eat other foods

    Harvey added: “The comment that was made was if I was a teenage girl it would be completely different.”

  57. How I learnt to love life without kids

    Whether by choice or circumstance, a fifth of us will never have children. In World Childless Week, Christina Patterson shares how she came to embrace just how rich and full her life could still be.

    Comment, Daily Telegraph.

    “World Childless Week”? On a planet already overfull of humans, we need this idiocy like we need a nuclear holocaust! Those proposing such an abomination should be thrashed.

    The very word “childless” appals me on so many levels. Its use should be banned and replaced by the more apt and sensible CHILDFREE.

    1. Well I’m “childfree” because my sons are grown up and in their 40s. They are “childless” as they have no children. The two words are not synonymous.

      1. I have never bred through choice but I detest being labelled as ‘childless’. I am NOT. I am child-free.

        1. I did not become a father until I was 47 and was not remotely hung up about not having children before then.

          We now have two grown-up sons and we have never regretted the fact although there were difficult moments.

          It may sound corny, but loving your wife and children makes life worth living.

          1. If only my son had been as mature an sensible when he was growing up as he is now, those difficult moments would have been much fewer.

            Far from needing care and attention, he is now mulling over how to look after us in our old age.

          2. The clear and unambiguous implication in your final paragraph is that without having a wife and family life is not worth living.

            That is utter tosh.

    2. Having or not having children is a personal choice. The problem with increasing population is not a European one.

      1. Sometimes people don’t choose to be childless, A. It is forced upon them by circumstances and medical conditions.

        1. Yes, I understand that. My point was about people who are able to have children and choose not to. I chose to have children, but would not criticise those who make a different choice. Equally, I sympathise with people who would wish to, but are unable to have children.

          2. If you can’t have children, you can always adopt, like my sister-in-law. Then there is IVF, although that can be expensive and unreliable. I am deliberately without children because of family genetic problems. My brother’s children are registered blind. It was a warning that I heeded.

        2. That describes me.

          I come from a large family and have numerous nieces and nephews who have their own children. I chose early on that i didn’t want children before i knew i couldn’t.

          I remember my brother being absolutely ecstatic with his first boy child. Telling me in detail how i was missing out. Fastforward 10 years and he is having to restrain himself from committing murder.

          All his own fault of course. Because our childhoods were short of most things he went overboard and spoiled his children rotten.

          1. A former pupil of the MR’s has never told her (now teenage) daughters off because she, “Did not want to humiliate them”.

            Needless to say, the children are insufferable.

          3. Having come from a background with little to no material wealth, I’d have endeavoured to bring up my children the same, i.e. not given them everything, and not spoiling them. A little deprivation goes along way. If you’re given everything, then you appreciate nothing.

    3. And some of us do live to regret it, when we see our civilisation and people being deliberately undermined and replaced.
      At an individual level, and if we weren’t faced with the on going mass immigration, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Now I see our personal choices and circumstances stacking up against the future of this country and its native people. Ditto Ireland. Ditto Western nations. We should be taking a leaf out of Hungary’s book, instead of importing our nemesis.

  58. Typical of the BBC News Channel to switch from proceedings in the Supreme Court to the illiberal anti-Democrat’s ‘captain’s’ rant. The government’s advocate was winning hands down when they made the switch.

  59. Ah the wonders of religions

    There was a long debate in a local paper a few years back over whether it was OK for a Jewish man to switch his light on, His neighbor being not Jewish, The results were mixed some said it was fine other said it was not

    Me I was baffled surely these religious books etc made no mention of electric light switches

    It could of course get even more interesting g now would turning on a voice controlled light switch be ok?

      1. I wonder if they are allowed to flush the toilet

        It is not all Jews though just a subset of them I call them strict orthodox but there is a proper name for them

        2. In the US, there are Orthodox Jews, and then the ultra Orthodox, the Hasidic Jews – beards, dressed in black, curly whiskers, the whole bit. They are the ones whose offspring recently got measles because they do not vaccinate. Caused quite the outbreak.

          1. The ultra-orthodox of all faiths do go over the top with their beliefs.
            (Pass me a cliff-edge, please).

      2. …the highly intelligent talking bomb in Dark Star said exactly the same thing (minus the Alexa reference) before it blew, thus ending the film.

  60. Bigger than New York and getting even bigger – don’t expect a fuss about it on the BBC:

    Britain has extended its lead as the biggest centre in the world for trading foreign currencies and interest rate derivatives, defying fears that the country could lose its status due to Brexit.

    The country has even seized a bigger share of the euro-denominated derivatives business, now taking 86pc of all those trades, despite EU authorities arguing these must be traded within the eurozone in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

    The financial services industry still needs to do more work to get ready for a no-deal departure, according to Andrew Bailey, the head of the Financial Conduct Authority and a front-runner to become the next Governor of the Bank of England.

    More than $3.5 trillion of foreign currency is traded every day in the UK, with the market centred on the City of London.

    This gives Britain a 43pc share of the global market, up from 37pc three years ago, according to the Bank for International Settlements – the “central bank for central banks”.

    This really is one in the ghoulies for Project Fear, 2016.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2019/09/16/london-dominant-ever-currency-derivatives-market-uk-defies-brexit/

    1. WE do more trade with the rest of the world than with the EU and that trade is growing at best the EU trade is static and we have a huge trade imbalance with the EU

      What is the market any sensible business would focus on ?

  61. A Jewish man was leaving a convenience store with his espresso when he noticed a most unusual Italian funeral procession approaching the nearby cemetery. A black hearse was followed by a second black hearse about 50 feet behind the first one. Behind the second hearse was a solitary Italian man walking a dog on a leash. Behind him, a short distance back, were about 200 men walking in single file.

    The Jewish man couldn’t stand the curiosity. He respectfully approached the Italian man walking the dog and said… “I am so sorry for your loss, and this may be a bad time to disturb you, but I’ve never seen an Italian funeral like this. Whose funeral, is it?”

    “My wife’s.”

    ”What happened to her?”

    “She yelled at me and my dog attacked and killed her.”

    He inquired further, “But who is in the second hearse?”

    “My mother-in-law. She came to help my wife and the dog turned on her and killed her also.”

    It was a very poignant and touching moment of Jewish and Italian brotherhood. Silence passed between the two men.

    The Jewish man then asked, “Can I borrow the dog?”

    The Italian man replied, “Join the queue back there”

    1. 12 [or 13] judges seems too many. They will argue for ages and the cost will be high and whatever decision they come to will just stir up more hysteria. The witnesses should be asked on oath what their motives are for this court case. Is it to extend Article 50 or is it a step towards destroying Brexit against the referendum decision of the UK people.

  64. Woman claims Boots is racist for putting security tags on ‘black hair products’

    Another made up story. All Boots do is tag items that suffer from a lot of theft

    A woman has slammed Boots and claimed it is racist after spotting security tags on black hair products.
    Make-up artist Natasha Wright saw the white tags on the lids of numerous hair care products, predominately used by black people while shopping in her local branch.

    “To prevent theft our colleagues in the communities they serve add security tags to the products they believe are being stolen, and do this regardless of what the product is, the cost of it, or which aisle they are on.”

    1. Maybe said woman should contemplate why it that “black hair products” get stolen more than others.

  66. I came across this today. It’s from a 1940’s era US Supreme Court ruling, and has parallels today – I especially like the concluding paragraph.

    As governmental pressure toward unity becomes greater, so strife becomes more bitter as to whose unity it shall be. . .

    Ultimate futility of such attempts to compel coherence is the lesson of every such effort from the Roman drive to stamp out Christianity as a disturber of its pagan unity, the Inquisition, as a means to religious and dynastic unity, the Siberian exiles as a means to Russian unity, down to the fast failing efforts of our present totalitarian enemies.

    Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.

  67. French riot police armed with tear gas and batons dismantle Dunkirk camp holding 1,200 migrants who want to cross the Channel to UK before Brexit

    WE need to take a very hard line with these illegal entering the UK. Just turn them back

    Squadrons of French riot police descended on a sprawling migrant centre near Dunkirk this morning to dismantle the camp that has become a launch-pad for illegal boat crossings to Britain.
    The clearing, ordered by local mayor Martial Beyaert, comes the day after another 38 migrants tried to make it to Britain.
    Armed with tear gas and heavy batons, the heavily-armed officers began clearing the 1,200-capacity encampment at Grande-Synthe near Dunkirk before dawn today.
    Bulldozers began tearing down the dozens of tents that migrants had erected in the sports field of the gym at Grande-Synthe.

    The vast majority refuse to give up their dreams of starting a new life in Britain and will return to the north coast to make fresh attempts to cross the Channel – in the back of a lorry, underneath a Eurostar train or braving the winter weather in a rubber boat.
    ‘Today we go with the police but we will be back in three days,’ said Mohammed from Erbil, Iraq.

    ‘I am here with my wife and daughter so we will not resist. But we will not stop trying to get to England.’

  69. ” Brexit: Supreme court hears claim Boris Johnson abused prorogation more than any PM for 50 years – live news ”
    (Guardian report.)

  70. Climate Change ( Project Fear) ( Guardian report. )

    “Air pollution particles have been found on the foetal side of placentas, indicating
    that unborn babies are directly exposed to the black carbon produced by
    motor traffic and fuel burning. “

  71. Labour candidate Emily Owen: ‘I was raped and had drink spiked in politically motivated attack’. Tuesday 17 September 2019.

    The 25-year-old said she did not report the rape to police for “numerous reasons” and that she has “turned my anger into forgiveness of my rapist but I have something else to say”.

    She added: “There are some sets of people I can’t forgive.

    “As Owen Jones used his platform when he was attacked I will use my (somewhat smaller) platform to stand up and be counted, speaking up for those who feel their voices can’t be heard.

    “There are thousands of people who are being attacked every day by the far right for simply being themselves.

    “I will not sit by and allow that to happen.”

    Taking aim at Boris Johnson, she said: “For the first time in our history, we have a prime minister whom the far right regard as their leader.

    “People are being attacked in the street, threats on social media are increasing, hate speech is now common and there is a real feeling of unease throughout the country. Make no mistake, this movement is real and it’s happening now.

    Is this woman a complete nutter? I’ve heard of the Chinese Peace through Impregnation program used in Tibet but Brexit by Bonking seems something of a stretch! Where are these gangs of far right terrorists that are intimidating the ranks of the LGBTQ Community? I have yet to see them. As for Boris Johnson being their icon what can one say to such an absurdity? There is strain of hysteria running through the ranks of the neoliberals that is approaching paranoia levels!

    https://news.sky.com/story/labour-candidate-emily-owen-i-was-raped-and-had-drink-spiked-in-politically-motivated-attack-11811739

    1. Sound like another made up story. A journalist a few years back was caught out lying over an alleged incident on a train

    1. I do hope he goes to Jail for refusing to implement the perverse instructions of the MPs who lied in their commitments to their manifestos on which they were elected. Bastille Mark II …..

    2. Surely it was the Queen who prorogued Parliament.

      If the Supreme Court rules at all, it will be for or against the Queen.
      What next, a challenge to the Queen’s assent to any Bills that Leftwaffe Lawfare Inc. disapproves of?

      Yet another slippery slope I fear.

  74. Rachel Riley: Anti-semitic trolls stressed me so much my baby stopped moving in the womb

    Is she after publicity. Is she really going to get that upset by a few posts she disagrees with?

  76. I am off. See you tomorrow, possibly.

    Have a nice evening writing your judgments in the Supreme (ha ha ha) Court case.

    1. I hope Amanda has asked Niamh ( pronounced Neave I believe) to ask during the debate it it is live, why she was asked to do that and whether the BBC would accept that the audience was “rigged”

  78. Charities & Mission Creep

    Why do charities continually want to empire build. The RNLI is one of the latest

    Why cannot they stick to their core mission and do that well>

    The RNLI used to be first rate at what it did but political correctness and mission creep has set in and its core function of Saving Lives at sea in the UK is now suffering because of iit

    1. We didn’t mislead donors’: RNLI responds to criticism over funding for ‘burkini’ project as jobs are lost at Poole

      THE RNLI has responded to national criticism that it is ‘diverting donations to give burkinis to Muslim women in Africa’ while making UK staff redundant.

      As reported in the Daily Echo, the charity is axing 135 jobs – with the majority coming from its Poole HQ.

      The lifeboat charity says it faces “major challenges”, with a shortfall in funds and a rise in demand for its services.

      Staff at its West Quay Road base were told about the proposed job losses last week.

      https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/17908160.39-didn-39-t-mislead-donors-39-rnli-responds-criticism-funding-39-burkini-39-project-jobs-lost-poole/

      1. The trouble now is charities cannot stick to what they were set up to do they have to start dabbling in anything and everything. So we get them dabbling overseas and getting involved in giving swimming lessons etc

  79. Late chuckle …

    A man returns home a day early from a business trip.

    It’s after midnight. While enroute home, he asks the cabby if he would be a witness.

    The man suspects his wife is having an affair, and he wants to catch her in the act. For $100, the cabby agrees.

    Quietly
    arriving home, the husband and cabby tip-toe into the bedroom. The
    husband switches on the lights, yanks the blanket back, and there is his
    wife in bed with another man!

    The husband puts a gun to the naked man’s head. The wife shouts,”Don’t do it! I lied when I told you I inherited money:

    HE paid for the Corvette I gave you.
    HE paid for our new cabin cruiser.
    HE paid for your season Pittsburgh Steelers tickets.
    HE paid for our house at the lake.
    HE paid for our country club membership, and
    HE even pays the monthly dues!”

    Shaking his head from side-to-side, the husband lowers the gun. He looks over at the cabby and says “What would you do?”

    The cabby replies, “I’d cover his ass with that blanket
    before he catches cold.”

  81. Afood festival has been condemned for parading an endangered blue shark through the street before cooking and eating it.

    A video of the event at Plymouth Seafood Festival was posted on the Visit Plymouth Instagram page, before being removed after public outcry.

    Blue sharks are listed as threatened globally, and although there are no restrictions on catching them in UK waters, marine conservationists think they should be offered better protection.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/17/food-festival-condemned-parading-endangered-blue-shark-street/

    1. Umm.

      If it has been caught and killed why waste the food?

      I suppose the objectors would rather it went into a bin.

        1. If you catch it as a “by-catch” are you going to throw it away?
          Dogfish, a member of the shark family has long been eaten as “rock-salmon”
          As long as the catch is sustainable why not?

  82. What would the MP’s do if they were sitting?

    Other than try to cause mischief they have nothing to discuss really

    Boris is string to negotiate a seal and with negotiations you cannot show you hand. If he achieves a deal they will be able to vote on it

  83. I wonder if Clare really exists or if she is AP’s equivalent of the taxi-driver…

    The ultimate judge of Boris Johnson must be the court of public opinion

    ALLISON PEARSON

    I met Clare at a Telegraph event and liked her immediately. She introduced herself as a solicitor who had voted Leave and was married to a judge. “Not many like me in my circle,” she laughed.

    Clare said she had kept quiet at many dinners where the judges present had expressed contempt for Brexit and for the “morons” who voted for it. It’s fair to say their Honours were aggrieved by the referendum result. “You see, they’ve always got what they wanted, their whole lives,” Clare explained, “and suddenly they didn’t get what they wanted.” She calls them The Three Quads.

    “They all went to public school. That’s Quad Number 1. Then they went to Oxbridge. Quad 2. Finally, the Inns of Court. Quad 3. Many of thems have never lived in the real world at all.”

    In private, it’s clear that the judiciary are not in the slightest bit impartial. “I’ve yet to meet a single Brexit supporter among them,” Clare says cheerfully. Thankfully, in public, in their crucial work, they have shown an essential and admirable ability to put their own views to one side and deliver an impartial judgment.

    I thought about the Three Quads as I watched the baffling proceedings in the Supreme Court where 11 justices will decide later this week if the Prime Minister acted illegally by proroguing Parliament. On balance, and after a QC referred to the Prorogation Act of 1867 (oh, that one…), I thought my decision to give up Law in my third week at university was probably for the best – for justice, if not for me.

    “If they don’t reach an impartial verdict,” Clare said when I asked her about the Supreme Court, “it will be the most shocking of all the shocking events that have happened.”

    Indeed, it will. We have a very delicate separation of powers in this country. I reckon it’s totally wrong, not to mention dangerous, that our judiciary should be asked to decide what is and isn’t politically acceptable. That’s what we have elections for. It’s not the Supreme Court that needs to hold the Government to account. The ultimate judge of how Boris Johnson has conducted himself is the court of public opinion.

    Unfortunately, the court of public opinion isn’t allowed to convene because MPs fear (quite correctly) that they won’t like the verdict.

    Infuriatingly for the shroud-wavers in the media, and despite 24/7 coverage of the PM’s pratfalls, including his “humiliation” at the hands of the hilariously naff leader of Luxembourg, the opinion polls reveal support for Boris is actually growing.

    Funnily enough, the MPs who complain that Parliament being prorogued for four extra days denies them vital time to debate Brexit are the same MPs who buggered off on a long summer recess. If they were as concerned about debating Brexit as they claim to be, why didn’t they cancel the recess and just take two weeks’ holiday? You know, like everyone else has to?

    This tone-deafness among the ruling class and their shameless determination to thwart the referendum result by fair means or foul has never been more visible, or more shocking. I’m afraid that David Cameron, who is publicising his memoirs this week, is a prime example. I happen to like the former PM and believe he is a good man. Watching that relaxed footage of him joshing with Nick Clegg in the No 10 garden made me powerfully nostalgic for a time before the country was disembowelling itself at half-hourly intervals.

    Nevertheless, in his book, Cameron reveals himself to be a typical complacent member of the Three Quads (Westminster certainly counts as a quad). “Nearly every voice that should have mattered backed our case,” he recalls. “The voice of our main industries: cars, aircraft, trains, food, pharmaceuticals, farming, fashion, film. The voice of business: the CBI… Our allies around the world. The International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organisation… Thirteen Nobel Prize winners. The head of the NHS. The former heads of MI5 and MI6. The head of the Church of England. Nine out of ten economists…”

    Hmm. Can you see anyone he’s missed out there? An old Etonian friend of David Cameron once explained to me that, for their tribe, “England basically stops at Marble Arch and then we fly or take the train to Scotland, so we don’t really do the bit in between.” I’m afraid that “bit” is where many of the 17.4 million people who defeated Remain live.

    A Times columnist reports that last month David Cameron was on the Isle of Jura (on the estate of Viscount Astor, Samantha’s stepfather, presumably) when he shot a stag whom he named Boris. The previous year’s stag was called Gove. It’s an amusing story, but the joke is on the former PM. Unlike him, his rivals’ political careers are still very much alive because they didn’t presume to tell the people what they wanted. They knew what the people wanted.

    I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who was appalled to read that, the day after the referendum, Cameron actually called world leaders including Angela Merkel to apologise for the result. It only confirms the suspicion that people in power, members of the Three Quads, owe greater allegiance to each other than they do to their fellow countrymen.

    I would have hoped for more respect for ordinary people from the comprehensive school-educated Jo Swinson. But here is the new leader of the Liberal Democrats attacking “Johnson the dictator” in the same breath as she promises to revoke Article 50 and ignore the result of the referendum. Because she doesn’t like it.

    Anyone spot the dictator here? “Swindol” counts herself virtuous, but her policy places her in the same ethical company as Robert Mugabe.

    Is everyone who backed Remain really willing to support the unconscionable cancellation of a democratic verdict? I sincerely hope not. Just as I hope that the Supreme Court justices will overcome any private Three Quad prejudices and decide that it’s for the court of public opinion to find the Government guilty – or innocent. Our future as a democracy may depend on it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/ultimate-judge-boris-johnson-must-court-public-opinion/

  84. Perhaps Cherrie Blair’s Supreme Court would be better employed drafting Britain’s first Written Constitution rather than dabbling in politics – and wrecking our only and unwritten one ?

    1. On the basis of current behaviour, guess what a new constitution would look like… No thanks!

      1. ‘Evening, Paul, quite apart from which, a written constitution states ONLY what you are allowed to do, whereas no constitution allows you to do what you wish, provided that there is no law against it.

        1. Which, of course, is the basis of Common Law, unlike corpus juris which means you can’t do anything unless there’s a law to allow you to do it.

        2. Morning, Tom.
          A written constitution need not be as you describe, but it would take a special grade of person to write it such that it is written as an enabling, rather than a disabling, document.
          “Everything is allowed except that which is expressly forbidden”.

          1. Nevertheless, I’m still very wary of written constitutions in much the same way as I’m leary about any country or party that has ‘Democrat’ as part of its name because 99.99 times out of 100 they are anything but.

  85. If Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have felt slightly under attack from David Cameron in recent days, they might do well to think they got off lightly.

    It has been claimed that the former Prime Minister tried a rather more extreme method of releasing his anger against the pair who led the Brexit campaign than just writing pithy insults in his memoirs.

    According to a friend of Mr Cameron, the 52-year-old has been hunting stags on the Scottish island of Jura – and naming the ones he kills after his political enemies.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/17/david-cameron-names-stags-shoots-boris-gove/

    See the comments..

  87. Ms Swinson was attracting some adverse comments on Scottish news in respect of her connection to the David Steel whitewash in respect of the Cyril Smith kiddie-fiddling case.
    Oh dear…

    2. swinson has never had a job outside of politics. She’s lived with a fat expenses account and salary for a decade. She has absolutely no experience of life whatsoever.

      For her, keeping us chained to the EU is merely a retirement plan.

  89. ” Corbyn vows to put ‘sensible’ Brexit deal to voters in referendum”
    I can’t stand the sight of his face any more. He’s the Guardian’s pet.

  91. Night All

    https://gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/008/818/487/original/4f7a3ec237da2c57.jpg?1568660691

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bb7321e4d00b0fd44187c3dd0892fff623f7ae4b34ee0f64154510b15066e1b2.jpg

    http://forgifs.com/gallery/d/323958-2/Excited-golden-retriever-spins-before-eating.gif

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8555886c1625f3eed1a08e02a81f0d27edf7f5714b49b171e5ca06de2745e754.gif

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b1418ab2b3e1fe6f5cbdf3963bbcc2362b49ed7f435d873369a86066183a515e.jpg

    1. Oh, delightful. Now what outfit to wear on 31 October to most annoy my snowflake/remoaner neighbour?

  94. Slightly off topic,
    Shades of yesteryear in the offing, the germans currently buying up wheel
    barrows for dosh transportation to the bakers for a loaf, unemployment, a army being formed, look familiar ? only this time done with guile, & treachery, lies & deceit.
    A potential fifth column numbering at the last count at 48% of the electorate within England / GB, all coming together.
    For the want of a nail the United Kingdom was lost.
    Johnson, done talking, start walking.

      1. Evening EE,
        I have just finished agreeing with his proposals
        on his post on Kipper central, well worth a look.

          1. Emily, I thought it was more of a comment on the humans in the Parliament, if one can find any humans in that formerly august body.

          3. Thanks
            Seen that.
            I understand Newsweek even gave it a plug.
            How much lower can the neo liberal sickness fall.

  95. ALL THE LATEST: SNOTTY TEEN KID ADDRESSES UNITED STATES SENATE ON CLIMATE CHANGE !!

    “At a meeting of the Senate climate crisis task force on Tuesday,

    lawmakers praised a group of young activists for their leadership, their

    gumption and their display of wisdom far beyond their years. They then

    asked the teens for advice on how Congress might combat one of the most

    urgent and politically contentious threats confronting world leaders:

    climate change.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/17/greta-thunberg-to-congress-youre-not-trying-hard-enough-sorry

  96. Good night all. Up at the crack of dawn tomorrow (Wednesday) to visit St Paul’s Cathedral with a coach load of Wrinklies. Might be able to pop in late to report on how my day went. Sleep well, all NoTTLers.

    1. Sleep well, Elsie. Hope you enjoy your day. I have just returned from the Great Wen – I was glad to get away.

  100. I have just tried to upload a photo but get an error message to the effect that I must be logged in… but I am logged in. I seem to recall others having the same problem. Does anyone know what the solution is?

    1. Remainers’ overwhelming allegiance to the EU cause has created our political crisis
      IAIN DUNCAN SMITH

      16 SEPTEMBER 2019 • 8:00PM

      It has long been apparent that the EU has eaten into the very soul of the British establishment – yet only now is it becoming clear just how bad things have got.

      For more than 40 years, this one-way process has gone on relentlessly as our political elite and professional bodies succumbed to political and financial inducements from Brussels, undermining our sense of nationhood and blurring the lines of accountability and loyalty.

      Up until now this has happened away from the public gaze, in the back rooms of power. For years the public could not see the extent of the conspiracy because, as the Tory MP and former chancellor Lord Thorneycroft put it of the European project: “The people must be led slowly and unconsciously into the abandonment of their traditional economic defences.”

      Now, finally, the subterfuge of our ruling class has been exposed – first at the referendum, and then during the interminable parliamentary turmoil that has followed, as too many MPs showed they simply could not bear the idea of the UK leaving the EU.

      For them, the EU is a better place than an independent UK. Endlessly I have heard these same people attack the idea of national identity as some form of xenophobia. How the bien-pensants shake their heads when the cross of St George is hauled aloft, waved at football matches or even attached to the outside of houses.

      Yet the same people look on with approval as the EU flag is flown in protest around Parliament. I even heard one very forceful Remainer admit to how uncomfortable they felt at the sight of the “English” flag.

      This is not surprising. Too many Remainers see supporters of Brexit as xenophobes and petty nationalists. They see the EU as representing a higher set of values that must be defended against what they see as the hateful small-mindedness of Brexit supporters.

      You can see that in Parliament during our debates. The ill-disguised and patronising contempt directed by opposition parties at those of us who argue that we must deliver on the referendum has become a permanent feature.

      Aided and abetted by the Speaker, this contempt was in evidence last week during the most ridiculous and staged defiance of the prorogation process. They were, they said, standing up for parliamentary sovereignty. But what about the sovereignty of the British people who voted to leave?

      At the heart of this political breakdown is the confusion over where our allegiance should lie. The normal and natural allegiance to the UK has been gnawed away by the steady transfer of power to the EU over the years. Small wonder that there are those who believe their highest priority is to reverse Brexit.

      It is this which explains the disregard so many of our politicians have for the views of the majority of the British people on Brexit. It’s why they find it so easy to believe that the people were confused or misled; too stupid, old or poor to understand.

      How else can one explain the incredible decision of the Liberal Democrats to dismiss the referendum result completely? It appears they know better than the British people. They have decided they want to revoke Article 50 and stay in the EU, a deeply ironic decision. A party that calls itself liberal and democrat has now decided to act as illiberal autocrats by dismissing the vote of 17.4 million people.

      The outrage is further compounded when one sees on the same platform, Guy Verhofstadt (the European Parliament’s Brexit representative), approvingly likening the EU to an Empire. And they say it’s the Brexiteers who are obsessed with the days of empire!

      It is this displaced allegiance that has precipitated the breakdown in British politics, not the referendum. The erosion of our independence, denied by endless politicians since the Fifties, has left too many in the establishment with confused loyalties. It is this which leads democrats to be undemocratic and liberals to seek to crush dissent. In the UK the people are sovereign, not politicians.

      It would serve us all well to remember that, when the people vote to direct us in a democratic process, we are bound to deliver on that instruction, not bend the knee elsewhere.

      Iain Duncan Smith is Conservative MP for Chingford and Wood Green

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/16/remainers-overwhelming-allegiance-eu-cause-has-created-political/

  102. Evening, all. The Illiberal Undemocrats have alienated 17.4m voters – who do they think will be flocking to their rallying call?

    1. Lib dums have always been the most opportunistic of all parties. Jo Swinson has grabbed a brief attention slot but the present publicity will not endure. It never does with charlatans and opportunists. The rest of us see through them every time with but a few exceptions.

      I watched five minutes of Newsnight and that was five minutes too much. I honestly believe the News media have lost the plot completely. That silly old Strictly Come Dancing twit with two left feet, whose name escapes me, (former BBC political correspondent twenty years ago), rubbishing Boris and Trump in the same sentence was particularly stupid, spiteful and out of order.

      2. It seems, according to Wiki, that in fact her name is Jo Hames as she is married to Duncan Hames.

        She must be ashamed of him not to have taken his name. That’s a shame.

        In fact, due to your take on the honours bestowed on you, to try and influence others to ignore, and go against, the wishes of 17.4 Million voters, I have to cry SHAME on you Mrs Hames.

  103. Brexit latest news: Boris accused of ‘improper’ prorogation on first day of Supreme Court hearing

    As I said, rather pointlessly last week

    This ‘interference’ by the Judges, Shirley it must be the Judiciary (not just Judges), who must make the objections, which makes them ‘Third House of Parliament, after the ‘Commons and Lords’

    If this is to happen, it must apply to every bit of Legislation that passes from the Commons, to the Lords, not the bitz that politically they do not like and it must include the views of all legal clerks/trainees/solicitors/barristers/magistrates (stipendary or otherwise) QCs/Judges (Low/Middle or HighCourt) but must exclude the views ECHR

    Do they, ‘The judges’ get a shout before or after Brenda, who universally is probably the most respected Lady in the world, signs her name to it.

    Their right to interfere must be made clear and of course a Law passed to make it so I cannot see any MP allowing this to happen

    If it does UK get what it deserves

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/17/brexit-latest-news-boris-johnson-supreme-court-luxembourg-gina/

  105. Good morning all

    SIR – The treatment of Boris Johnson in Luxembourg (report, September 17), just like the treatment of Theresa May in Salzburg last year, confirms that the EU is a club of which no self-respecting nation should be a member.

    David Gardiner
    Newbury, Berkshire

    SIR – Britain’s last three prime ministers have now all been publicly humiliated by the EU.

    What does this say about the potential for a good long-term relationship with Brussels?

    Graham Shipley
    Leicester

    SIR – As a result of the Luxembourg prime minister’s actions, the number of Leavers in Britain has increased by at least one.

    Tim Bailey
    East Coker, Somerset

    1. SIR – Xavier Bettel might have considered his own country’s shortcomings before insulting Mr Johnson and, by extension, Britain. For example, Nato demands that its member states spend 2 per cent or more of their GDP on defence. Luxembourg is among the most parsimonious of the 28 countries in this respect, spending 0.6 per cent – whereas Britain, which puts 2.1 per cent towards defence, is second only to the United States.

      Not only has Britain ensured the freedom of Luxembourg in previous conflagrations, but it is continuing to do so. Mr Johnson’s dignified response to this puerile insult from a supposedly friendly country is to be applauded.

      Clive Kent
      Heathfield, East Sussex

  106. Morning again

    SIR – The best way of getting exercise in old age (Letters, September 9) is to walk for the morning newspaper – and, if necessary, add a loop of two or three miles.

    Paul French
    Andover, Hampshire

    SIR – Gill Maden (Letters, September 14) recommends using a bus pass instead of a car in order to get more exercise. We have got the bus passes; all we need now are some buses.

    Linda Davis
    Shebbear, Devon

    1. Why don’t they stay in bed and make love? I’m sure there was an article recently that said the making love was the best vascular exercise you could have.

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