Tuesday 18 February: The danger of a peace deal in Ukraine that Putin regards as a victory

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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493 thoughts on “Tuesday 18 February: The danger of a peace deal in Ukraine that Putin regards as a victory”

    1. And our useless government and the EU mafia are obviously frightened that they might get on and sort out the problem.

    2. I wondered what DOGE meant , /i assumed it was a Papal acronym ..

      I might have guessed , oh well , Department of Government Efficiency .

      More balderdash .

  7. Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Starmer? Spiked. 18 February 2025.

    Just to put things into a bit of perspective, Russia’s military currently comprises about 1.3million active-duty personnel, a number that Putin insists is set to increase by nearly 200,000 over the next few years. By contrast, Britain’s military consists of just under 150,000 staff. The British Army itself, which presumably would form the bedrock of any Ukraine mission, now numbers little over 75,000 soldiers, a third less than it had even just two decades ago. Last autumn, defence secretary John Healey confirmed that soldier numbers will soon fall below 70,000 for the first time since before the Napoleonic Wars. The Royal Air Force and the British Navy are faring little better. Indeed, such is the shortage of sailors in particular that the navy has had to mothball two warships.

    Reality strikes. The reason for Starmer’s and the rest of the EU’s panic, is that they can all see their Social Programs going down the tube with more military spending. In the UK that will probably mean the eventual end of all the Sacred Cows. The NHS and the BBC. Just for starters.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/02/17/who-do-you-think-you-are-kidding-mr-starmer/

  8. Good morning all ,

    What on earth is Starmer plotting ?

    Can't the King tell Starmer to wind his neck in ?

    Britain is now broke , and the country has gone woke , why aren't we guarding against the wolf at the door , ISLAM?

  10. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939 Britain did not put boots on the ground in Poland to regain the peace.
    Whilst AH wanted to destroy the Empire State building as part of his world domination programme, America tried to keep out of it by letting Britain surrender to Germany as it Blitzed it's way across Europe.. It wasn't until Japan destroyed almost all of the Pacific Fleet before it declared war on America that the latter found itself in WWII. It was fortunate that WC stood firm and allowed America to use Britain as an unsinkable aicraft carrier for the allied invasion of Eurooe.

    I managed to survive the conflict and grew up in a war torn Britain living most of my life with my growing family on a repurposed forner USAF military controlled airfield. My home is built on a former WWI RAF grass runway.

    1. Twice (Two World Wars) the American politicians deliberately kept the USA out of the conflict until they were forced to by dint of circumstance, firstly to defend their very profitable arms shipments and secondly to react to a massive blow to their ego when the Japs sank half their major warships – they weren't expecting that. They were happy to watch as the French and British Empires took a serious mauling. It wasn't the last time either. They sabotaged the French, British and Israeli attempt to recover the Suez Canal. The turd, Eisenhower, threatened to bankrupt Britain if it did not withdraw. And the rest is history.

      1. TBF, Ike said that what he did in 1956 was the worst foreign policy mistake of his presidency.

    3. Time for the public to step up and stamp on Starmer and Co's ugly faces before they drag the UK into a pointless war.

  12. Morning chums. Thanks, Geoff. And watch this space for my report on Jo Cox, Colchester's MP. PS – My mistake, I meant Pam Cox.

    Wordle 1,340 2/6

    ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. In brief, this is what happened, with (in my view) poor chairmanship:

      EXPECTED TIMETABLE:
      11 am – Chairman's welcome and introduction of Speaker.
      11.10 am – Speaker talks for around 50 minutes, leaving around 1 hour for Q & A.

      ACTUAL TIMETABLE:
      11 am – Chairman welcomes all.
      11.05 – 25 minutes of audio clips of interviews with previous MPs.
      11.30 am – Chairman suggests extra time for a loo break.
      11.40 am – Speaker talks for a full hour.
      12.40 pm – A chance for a quick Q & A.

      QUESTIONS:
      I took the roving microphone first and asked if she was happy with having voted for the removal of the Winter Fuel Allowance (WFA)?
      Then, without giving way, I asked if she thought that because of the cancellation of the May local elections I was within my rights to withhold my Council Tax payments because of the maxim "No taxation without representation"?
      The microphone was then handed to a local lady who did not like the proposed increase in local housing in the area.

      HER REPLIES (which she chose to do after hearing the two questioners):
      To the lady – She thought much more local housing was needed.
      To me – Because I already had local councillors I was not prevented from contacting them with any grievance I might have.
      With regards to the WFA she made the analogy with the Child Allowance which she had not claimed because she didn't need it. Similarly many OAPs did not really need the WFA and the money could therefore be spent on Education, etc. or where the need was greatest.

      And so the meeting ended. Given more time I would have countered that (a) if I was not happy with my current councillors and wanted them changed there was no opportunity so to do. And (b) how could she argue that the WFA savings could be saved on "good causes" when vast sums were being sent overseas to support, for example, fighting in Ukraine which risked starting a nuclear war?

      But there was not time for any of this so it was very frustrating for me. One bright note was that in her comments she did admit that "Perhaps the ending of the WFA could have been handled better".

      I'd be interested to know what NoTTLers think of the above. Undoubtedly she was impressive as an MP and a speaker. I intend to write her a letter c/o The Houses of Parliament and thank her for attending as well as for what she said, but also to add the extensions to my questions which I was unable to fit into the timetable. It was interesting to me that she spoke of two former politicians chatting in the "Women's Room" with Margaret Thatcher using the ironing board to iron Dennis Thatcher's shirts whilst chatting amicably to Shirley Williams of the SDP. She mentioned Mrs T by her full name, whereas in part of her talk she said that she was on a committee with "Farage" rather than Nigel Farage. At this point the entire audience showed their displeasure at the simple F(arage) word, which shows how much he is still reviled by the general public; rather like the "Trump" word in some (Democratic) parts of the USA.

  13. We had our water bill yesterday.

    We have poor water pressure in our village , a shower session is a dribble virtually.

    So our water bill, is now over £1800.. nope , no water meter thank goodness, but now wondering how are we going to get by?

    Down right thievery ..

    1. My water costs £200pa – metered, and it's only me, and no garden to water, but £1800 strikes me as a bit steep.

    3. You might be better off having a metre fitted TB. We did a few years ago and our water bill was then about half. But they are creeping in up again. But there's along way to go yet.

    4. That is outrageous, get a meter. You will then be billed on what you use not the value of your home.

    5. I had no choice – Southern Water told us that everyone had to have a meter installed, like it or not. In the event, I found that my water bill was cut by at least 25%. It depends on the size of the property (rates) and how many people are living there as to whether or not a meter saves money.

  15. Does Trump really believe that meeting Putin will stop the war.

    Be reminded how useless Chamberlain was before the out break of WW2, when he met Hitler ..

    At least the UK had a year or so to prepare for war.

    The trouble with Russia is they have nasty mean techniques .. poisonings, accidents and much more ..

    Ukraine are just as bad .

    There are lots of yellow and blue flags scattered around various villages here .

      1. There's one house still showing the occupant is intellectually challenged, but the Ukraine flag that was flown by the burger stall on the lay-by disappeared months ago.

  17. Good Morning!

    FSB has an important update today on the Climate Crisis – it’s going to get much colder soon and stay cold for around a decade!  In The Grand Solar Minimum is Here , Iain Hunter says that independent research shows that we should start preparing for the world’s climate to get very much colder – so wrap up warm and lay in a food supply.

    Xandra H’s well-considered piece on the real motives behind the Labour regime’s plan to reorganise local government is a good read if you missed her ‘Democracy Died Long Ago ’ .

    Energy watch 07.30 Total generation: 40.789GW from: Hydrocarbons 39.8%; Wind 32.1%; Imports 3.7%; Biomass 7.0 and Nuclear 10.9. Solar: 0. Total demand: 39.24GW, UK generation 37.87GW.

    We are still importing electricity. It almost seems to be compulsory to import electric power from France, though today we are also exporting a small amount to France! And it seems that the percentage of our electricity supply generated from burning ‘biomass’ – shredded trees – is creeping up, devastating forests in the US and elsewhere. And the people in charge of all this want to ban wood burning stoves!

    freespeechbacklash.com

  19. 'Morning All
    Why do you never see Native American restaurants??
    They can't get the Sioux chefs
    Medley
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0e712d4b0482b85373d170e570ccd8bcb840dbb55d5f6aef08de6c1ae1abbebe.jpg
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    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1c1d557352eba955183154709ae6c5921e07328fd718afcc3a6268ffc4378d0f.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/34e0ff0e411095823704e221ad0143be69323eaba21abcdc25eae3ddf6e427e5.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6638dbe1f2fa7c5f0b87656bc9707b47e9d59246db6a2e90fb21164de2bf3117.jpg
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  20. Good morning. GBN still keeping up the BS on Ukraine but I noted last night that Patrick Christys did at least get away with asking why we’re talking about defending Ukraine’s borders when we refuse to defend our own.

    1. There is constant rabbiting on about Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons.
      Since it was a Soviet colony until 1991 (?) and then, like the rest of the Soviet empire was a bit short of the readies when the bloc imploded, at what stage could it afford independent nukes?

      1. Not only was the Ukraine a bit short of the readies, but, like much of the rest of the former USSR, the former State Apparatchiks and Nomenclature had transformed themselves into Oligarchs and, with money laundering assistance from Western bankers, were robbing their former fiefdoms blind.

      2. Those nukes in Ukraine were Soviet weapons, which were there for Soviet use and the Black Sea Fleet. A the former USSR was in turmoil, great efforts were made to secure all nuclear weapons and put them in Russian hands. Most were handed over but some nuclear material may have fallen into the wrong hands, particularly as many with access may have traded them for hard cash – especially to terror groups or states like Iran.
        There is no definitive answer as the full history of those weapons is unknown.

  21. On the radio this morning a spokesperthing said that, to achieve the new defence spending, education, health care, legal support and many other things would have to be reduced and the price of electricity, heating and fuel will have to increase. We can't let Trump and Putin threaten our democratic way of life.
    Your sons and daughters will die on the battlefields of Eastern Europe. Starmer, Reeves, Miliband and their idiotic leftie comrades will see the end of life as we know it.

    2. They will simply continue on their road to nowhere because they can. And finance their stupid mistakes with British taxpayers money.
      They should all be locked up.

  22. Good morning all.
    A bright, dry start, but chilly. 0.1°C when I checked at 07:30, lightly overcast with blue patches to begin with but now cleared.
    Temperature max & min were 5.6°C and -1°C.

  23. Chancellor, how do you answer the fresh allegations that you claimed to be a contributor to the Journal of Political Economy, a prestigious and highly selective journal featuring only the best quality academic articles?
    When in fact you wrote for the European Journal of Political Economy, a difference described as akin to that between Oxford University and Oxford & County Secretarial College.

    DEFAULT ANSWER: "I am extremely proud of time I worked at Oxford & County Secretarial College and the contributions I made to European Journal of Political Economy.."
    "I will repeat this answer like a hair-by-Lego bot."

  24. Good Moaning.
    I will probably go to Hull. I sat in the crematorium chapel yesterday and wondered why it needed smoke detectors.

      1. Technically there is no place called 'Hull', it is a nickname.

        Hull is the river upon which sits the city of Kingston-upon-Hull.

        3. Of course Philip Larkin was the librarian at Hull University.

          Have you read Jonathan Raban's book Coasting in which he describes his circumnavigation of Britain by small sailing boat. He deliberately called in on Hull to meet his old Librarian friend as he had studied English at Hull.

          To keep himself in funds during his voyage Raban took various jobs along the way. In Hull he was employed as a taxi driver and on one of his assignments he had to collect a man and his young son from a Butlin's Holiday Camp.

          His passengers had had a marvellous holiday and the father was bursting with pride and waiting for his chance to say why. Finally he could hold it in no longer and he produced a certificate saying that he had been awarded the first prize in the competition to find The Best Dad and His Lad!

    3. The Ice-Hotel in Arctic Sweden (which I visited just over six years ago) has fire alarms on every wall. The tour guide giggled as she explained, "Just before anyone asks me why there are fire alarms on the ice walls of an ice hotel, I will remind you — this is Sweden!"

          3. EVERYTHING is made of ice. The rooms, the beds, the bar, even the drinking glasses are ice. There is nothing in the entire place that is not made of ice. No combustible material anywhere, you have to go there to see it. If there is no combustible material, how the hell do you start a fire?

          1. I have an Ink Spots disc and they are definitely singing 'Smoke Gets In Your Eyes".
            I have been known (when alone) to sing along with them in the Noddy car.
            I suspect they have been wiped from the interwebby because of their name.

          2. Well, that is a strange phenomenon. I have trawled the internet and there is no record, anywhere, of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes being recorded by the Ink Spots. I have The Greatest Hits album by the same group and the song does not feature there either.

            I'm not saying that you are wrong but I simply cannot find any reference to it.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ink_Spots

  25. SIR — My air fryer’s instruction manual assures me that it can cook frozen fish fingers, as long as they weigh 500-800g. My packet of 10 fish fingers weighs only 280g, but assures me that they can be cooked in an air fryer – as long as no more than eight are cooked at a time.

    Does this mean I have to give up fish fingers?

    Bill Welland
    Somerton, Somerset.

    I often wonder if Orlando Bird — Christopher Howse's replacement as DT Letters' Editor — purposely chooses to publish letters sent in by the clearly gormless.

    If Billy Welland does not possess the nous to cut up a fillet of white fish, the dredge those 'fingers' in flour, beaten eggs and breadcrumbs, prior to frying it, then I doubt he would survive on a desert island. I have not bought ready-made fish fingers (full of all manner of crap) for decades.

    And before all the keyboard warriors 'inform' me that he would not find flour, eggs nor breadcrumbs on a desert island, I think you take my gist.

    2. An elderly chum, but not that elderly chum.
      I now know where I put my posh, but restrained clothes after we moved house.

  28. As the sun rose on 24th February 1834, Dorset farm labourer George Loveless set off to work, saying goodbye to his wife Betsy and their three children. They were not to meet alone again for three years, for as he left his cottage in the rural village of Tolpuddle, the 37-year-old was served with a warrant for his arrest.

    Loveless and five fellow workers – his brother James, James Hammett, James Brine, Thomas Standfield and Thomas’s son John – were charged with having taken an illegal oath. But their real crime in the eyes of the establishment was to have formed a trade union to protest about their meagre pay of six shillings a week – the equivalent of 30p (or roughly £50 when adjusted for inflation to today’s money) and the third wage cut in as many years.

    With the bloody French Revolution and the wrecking of the Swing Rebellion fresh in the minds of the British establishment, landowners were determined to stamp out any form of organised protests. So when the local squire and landowner, James Frampton, caught wind of a group of his workers forming a union, he sought to stamp it out. Workers met either under the sycamore tree in the village or in the upper room of Thomas Standfield’s cottage. Members swore of an oath of secrecy – and it was this act that led to the men’s arrest and subsequent sentence of seven years’ transportation.

    In prison, George Loveless scribbled some words: “We raise the watchword, liberty. We will, we will, we will be free!” This rallying call underlined the Martyrs’ determination and has since served to inspire generations of people to fight against injustice and oppression. Transportation to Australia was brutal. Few ever returned from such a sentence as the harsh voyage and rigours of slavery took their toll. After the sentence was pronounced, the working class rose up in support of the Martyrs. A massive demonstration marched through London and an 800,000-strong petition was delivered to Parliament protesting about their sentence.

    The story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs and the campaign that freed them inspires us to fight on. The annual festival reflects the spirit of those prepared to stand up and be counted and for those just learning about the history it is a joyful celebration of our solidarity.

    The people who worked hard in the coal mines , steel industry , wool mills , on the land , created this wonderful wealthy country with no rewards , just punishment and hard labour .

    People new to Great Britain have no idea how hard life was over the past centuries for the English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish hard working people who lived in appalling living conditions .. when the reward was sometimes a crust of bread , a cruel beating or a perilous journey to Australia.

    2. 200 years later and we still, routinely and serially, vote into power freebooters and charlatan milksops who only care for themselves and their megalomania.

      Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

  29. Morning all 🙂😊
    Frosty start but sunny, that is a bit of a treat.
    Local farmer was spreading smelly muck yesterday.
    I wonder if he collected it all on his recent trip to London.

  33. Good morning, all. Light frost early-on, bright and sunny now.

    When a political commentator describes Ed Davey as the "strongman" for supporting Starmer's wretched plan to put our troops into the Ukrainian charnel house, we know we have a serious propaganda problem. And as for Davey believing that our contingent would deter Putin, words fail me.

    What do these clowns not understand about the sage advice, "do not march on Moscow". A repeat of "Lions led by donkeys" is on the cards if these wannabe warlords get their way.

    https://x.com/DPJHodges/status/1891434546270192122

      1. People who try too hard to be funny usually fail – they just make themselves ridiculously embarrassing.

        1. Eid Davey's only goal during his outward bound antics in the run up to GE24 was to deflect attention away from his central role in the Post Office Horizon scandal. For the main part he was successful. Ironically, he's now fit enough to attend the Eastern Front and lead by example in the carnage he's so desperate to prolong.

    2. Why is the Telegraph employing a one-eyed leftie w*nker like Hodge? Oh, I forgot. It isn't a Tory paper any more.

    3. I was amazed to find that sometimes Dan Hodges talks sense – today obviously wasn't one of those days!!

        1. Sink … hot water … washing-up liquid … brush … dishcloth … elbow greease … more hot water … draining board … tea towel.

          How difficult is that?

      2. In any fledgling society there has to be order, and with that a rank structure. To keep it simple the motto will be:

        I say: you do.

        Est-ce que tu comprends?

        1. I was thinking that we should play to our strengths. You could be a policemen, and I could stand for election (and lose, of course).

  35. SIR – If Sir Keir Starmer wants British servicemen and women to put their lives on the line in Ukraine, he ought to do his bit by exempting them from having to pay VAT on private school fees, so their children can be guaranteed a stable education.

    Keith Punshon
    Thirsk, North Yorkshire

    1. The trouble is that Starmer is sub-human and is not interested in normal, indigenous British human beings, their hopes, their fears, their values and their emotions.

      He is evil but seems to be unaware of the fact – unlike Mrs May who could deceive the gullible that she was not evil but could not deceive the profound depth of her evil even from herself.

      1. You know what , I am just wondering how stupid the Saudi talks are re Ukraine and Russia , with the European leaders and all.. WHY aren’t they discussing Palestine , and all the problems associated with the Arab world , Syria Afghan, Iran etc..

        We are suffering financially because of the millions landing illegally , yet what a stitch up from Starmer and his henchmen, burying his bad mistakes , and doing a Blair / Gordon Brown/ Cameron distraction technique

        1. 401851+ up ticks,

          Morning TB,
          There is a recurring fault somewhere, could it possible be
          in the polling stations ?

  36. Dontcha just love how the supposedly anti-war.. BeKind.. no nukes.. hate the military.. hate the notion of nationhood.. Lefties are now demanding a full blown invasion of Russia to save democracy.. save the sovereignty of a nation.. protect our borders.. protect our way of life.

  37. Global warming, the fallacy built on a 120-year-old blunder

    Philip Foster : https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/global-warming-the-fallacy-built-on-a-120-year-old-blunder/

    "……. So we conclude that the whole Global Warming edifice is based on an error made more than 120 years ago. Once that is realised, the edifice will collapse."

    I agree that it should collapse and it must collapse , but with the most powerfully rich – such as Bill Gates, corrupt politicians and the WEF – determined to keep the myth of man-made global warming going to protect their financial interests I cannot believe that this will happen any time soon.

  39. George Galloway sneers at the leaders of the EU (and the UK) with regard to the J D Vance speech. Of course, when he referred to the way freedom has been eroded he was clearly talking about how the EU removed the election frontrunner in Romania. Clearly, Galloway often holds views contrary to my own but I felt he was hitting the nail firmly on its head with this diatribe.

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

    1. He's a funny one.
      Time and again he hits the nail on the head.
      And yet sides with the peaceful ones at the drop of his hat.

  40. Oh Gawd; shades of MB's washing up total failing.
    Slosh mugs under the cold tap and leave to drain.
    Totally oblivious to streaks, stains, dribble marks ……
    Aarrghhhhh …………………..

  43. Predictable. Starmer likes the drama, and wants to engineer a meaningless Commons vote about troop deployment to unite everyone against Reform & Trump. Then pitch Farage as a Putin stooge.
    Isabel Oakeshott.

    1. Thinking he has all the right answers and already knows everything, starmer is the very essence of an extremely awkward smug dick head.

  44. Much as I decry the cancelation of the elections (in which I was hoping to participate), I am still represented in the County Council.

  45. It is all getting a bit weird, with those in authority now saying nothing happened at the Birmingham hospital, an obvious fake picture came out yesterday, now being removed, but why would the original reports be made up, was there a lockdown at the hospital due to a violent gang or not, the mainstream media are not saying anything.
    Another mystery.

  46. Sight for very sore eyes.
    The Ginger Gobble Growler flies to Ethiopia for no particular reason. +30C.

    1. She'll have a planeload of British taxpayers'' money to give away.

      Dollars Euros Sterling and other hard currencies depending where the politicians send their money to be laundered.

    3. They can't even get anything right in our own country, why they go abroad or are even allowed in. Is a bit of a mystery.

  48. Thoughts on the Europe conference over Ukraine, in Paris, what would Churchill say?

    I cannot forecast to you the action of Europe.
    It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key.
    That key is world government national interest.

    1. It was Churchill's thoughts on the consequences of Hitler's intention of invading and incorporating The Ukraine into the German Empire. A threat to the Soviet Union . . . just like the recent American led attempt to incorporate The Ukraine into the EU and NATO. History repeating itself – They never learn.

      1. The Germans invaded in 1242 and were defeated by Alexander Nevsky, Prince of Kiev, in the famous massacre on the ice. As you say, they never learn. In Russia, Nevsky is revered as a saint and of course the movie about him by Eisenstein and Prokofiev that was released in 1938 should have given Hitler a large hint…but there are none so blind…

  49. Yo and Good Moaning to you all.

    We are off to our Costa Capital City today, Skegness!

    There is a by-law there that between 01 November and 31 March, no visitors under the age of 60 are allowed.

    For the rest of the year, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire divest their 'youngsters' on us

  50. I have just got two of my favourite Books of Reference out

    Mrs Beeton's Cookery Book and Haynes Manual for piston engined cars.

    I will now be fully prepared to join in the "Comments" section of the Daily Torylaff

    1. Mrs Beeton's Household Management
      https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.Q2BiN0Z3QvzHXvwnlVPmPQAAAA?w=180&h=346&c=7&r=0&o=5&dpr=1.1&pid=1.7
      When I was an apprentice Hotel Manager, aged 16/17, I was given a copy by the boss and told "The chef has b*ggered off back to Italy and she isn't coming back. You are the chef now, get on with it". There was only me and an elderly female pan washer in the kitchen of a large two star hotel. I learnt to cook spaghetti (it was on the following day's menu) and ended up speaking with a Scottish accent. I got on with it.

      1. That’s the way to do it! I worked on a farm with rooms and a restaurant when I was 17. On most days during the summer I would be out lifting the tatties, then washing, peeling and preparing them, cooking them and then serving them! (Other food was available before you lot start!) I also cleaned rooms and the loos etc! It was wonderful!

        1. So what you are saying Sue is that: You were a young loos woman?

          Good morning one and all…

  51. Older son as you know lives with us ..

    A workable arrangement , he has space to store his motorbike , concentrate on work and his other hobby, fitness , gym and running long distances , races and , well we have shrugged our shoulders , he has missed the housing thing.

    He has travelled the world , had some great adventures , went through a few difficult years re relationships, has rented and lived in flats and has been with us for a very long time .

    Yesterday was his 56th b/day , I bought him some running tops .. one of which he loves and the other , a different quality of fabric .. both were fairly expensive .. but the one with slightly different fabric caused concern .. have any of you heard of nipple burn?
    ( Even using fabric conditioner in a wash makes no difference)

    Runners /Athletes require special types of light fabric tops, because otherwise friction when one is running creates a nipple burn .. Moh had that when he was running long distances .

    Have any of you experienced chafing from the shirts / tops/ sweaters you wear ?

    2. Sticking plasters over the nips protects them. Comes off relatively easily in the shower.

      I have sensitive skin and am prone to rashes. It's the detergent.

      I find the seams in pants and T-shirts irritating. They used to be sewn with cotton but they all seem to be stitched with plastic thread like fishing line.

      I now do the second and final clothes rinse in white vinegar.

      1. I use M&S sensitive skin sachets, with no pre-wash, which are perfectly efficient (not that my clothes are heavily soiled anyway). As for nipple protection, of course a good bra helps. Are there no men's vests to provide the protective layer?

  52. Russia-US talks on Ukraine begin in Saudi Arabia. 18 February 2025.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/80ec7d9460af095576bb10d9b1d8604036a82fa0292906bd3a1df35d2a146305.png
    US-Russia talks over the war in Ukraine started in Saudi Arabia this morning.

    Washington insisted the talks did not represent the start of negotiations but said they had been organised to see whether Russia was “serious” about ending the war.

    The talks include Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, and Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign ministers. There will be no Ukrainian or European presence.

    Actually I don’t think that they are about Ukraine at all except as a peripheral matter. There are too many heavyweights sat round this table for that. I think that Trump is seeking a Grand Bargain with Russia that will allow him to withdraw the US from Europe and concentrate on China; a far more formidable opponent. He has already gone some way to reassure Putin with his so called appeasement moves and Vance’s statement at the recent Munich Conference. My guess is that Vlad will go for it. He needs a settlement himself and knows that the Europeans are gutless wonders. We will know whether I am right about this if there is a meeting between the two top men after the talking. A formal shaking of hands on a new World Order.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/02/18/ukraine-russia-war-trump-zelensky-putin-latest-news/

    1. That makes sense. The machiavellian schemers/swindlers on the Brussels/Strasbourg gravy train have been outflanked. Some in the EU are finally coming to realise that the US military umbrella is being removed, exposing their cries for war as empty threats from military pygmies.

      Trump explained this to the Germans in 2019 and they laughed at him. Like Bob Monkhouse's audience, they're not laughing now.

    2. They have already started the talks with the phone call the other day. Vlad will be looking for a way out as well.

  53. Russia-US talks on Ukraine begin in Saudi Arabia. 18 February 2025.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/80ec7d9460af095576bb10d9b1d8604036a82fa0292906bd3a1df35d2a146305.png
    US-Russia talks over the war in Ukraine started in Saudi Arabia this morning.

    Washington insisted the talks did not represent the start of negotiations but said they had been organised to see whether Russia was “serious” about ending the war.

    The talks include Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, and Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign ministers. There will be no Ukrainian or European presence.

    Actually I don’t think that they are about Ukraine at all except as a peripheral matter. There are too many heavyweights sat round this table for that. I think that Trump is seeking a Grand Bargain with Russia that will allow him to withdraw the US from Europe and concentrate on China; a far more formidable opponent. He has already gone some way to reassure Putin with his so called appeasement moves and Vance’s statement at the recent Munich Conference. My guess is that Vlad will go for it. He needs a settlement himself and knows that the Europeans are gutless wonders. We will know whether I am right about this if there is a meeting between the two top men after the talking. A formal shaking of hands on a new World Order.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/02/18/ukraine-russia-war-trump-zelensky-putin-latest-news/

    1. 'Ukraine's front line is Britain's front line!' says Wes Streeting as he gives Starmer his full support for British troops on the ground.

      Empty suits mouthing irrelevancies.

      2. Britain's front line is the English Channel. Streeting and his fellow Labour ministers should focus their attention there rather than on Ukraine.

      1. He does look a bit of a prat but we all have photos that make us look daft. Well, i don't but you and Sos do.

    3. Perhaps gay-boy Streeting would like to set an example and volunteer for front line duty? He could hold hands with his husband and look for a Cossack with a loaded dildo and a stamina to match. What a way to go!

  56. Working lives:

    From just before my 17th Birthday, until just past my 62nd one, I was unemployed for 3 Days.( I miscalculated holiday dates)

    Just think how many " incomers" I have supported, with the money the goverments have stolen off me in their many ways

    1. When R retired from flying aged 58yrs , we existed for 3 years , doing what I have no idea , then he thought he was going mad so he got a driving job , a small bus , one of several operating out of a day centre , ferrying elderlies from their homes to the day center twice a day . He drove for 9 years , he was over 70 years old when he retired from driving .. He had a wonderful time , met some amazing elderly characters .. and really the storis he related to me were amazing .

      His route was semirural and rural and a total relief from his previous job, flying helicopters since he was 23 years old!

      The small bus that he drove had bumps and scratches , and a rear lift for wheelchair users .

      I was the one racing backwards and forwards to Southampton keeping an eye on his mum before things went badly wrong with her health . Frontal lobe dementia and other things , I decided she should have a nice long holiday in a Swanage care home .. she had over three years before she succumbed .. she was 91years old .

      1. My beloved father died in Southampton General Hospital 41 years ago.

        A Necessary End

        The screen records a heartbeat
        Plastic tubes feed drugs and salt and water
        And a hose connected to a pump feeds oxygen
        And so a few more hours of life are meted out.

        I hold his hand and he returns the pressure
        Yet he cannot speak.
        His consciousness informs him he's alive
        And he is not alone

        I fight exhaustion, rest my head
        Upon the bed ensuring I don't crush
        A plastic artery
        I try to read with one hand on my book
        I try to guide my thoughts out to him
        But I'm too tired for thought

        A hushed but kindly voice
        Asks me to step aside
        "You father's dying"
        These dull words pound me but I feel no pain
        My mind's anaesthetised as if
        It too was being numbed through tubes.

        I go back to his bed
        Await the necessary end
        To come when it will come.
        He dies.
        And I am left with just a void
        A sense of loss I've never felt before.

        1. My mother went into hospital for tests and came out dead a week later. She was unable to eat the hospital food. They did a pm and said she had cancer of the pancreas.
          I still miss her. She died in 1989.

          1. When I pottered round garden centres, it was a good decade before I stopped automatically thinking "Mim would like for her birthday/Christmas."

          2. I kept seeing my mother in the street after she died. It was quite upsetting but i later realised it is part of the grieving process.

          4. She had been poorly for a few months – but she was existing on soup and complan. I took her for various tests in hospital – barium meal, endoscope etc, but they could find nothing wrong. Her GP prescribed Zantac and Gaviscon. Eventually, due to my ex making a scene at the surgery, they arranged for a carer to visit each day and make her some soup.

            The crisis came one Sunday when she could hardly get out of bed to answer my phone call. I rang the doctor and arranged to meet her and a locum – he was the one who got her admitted to hospital. Sadly it was too late. They left food out of reach but she couldn’t eat it anyway.

            Oddly – I’d had a premonition months earlier ( we were in the habit of chatting on the phone quite late at night) when she didn’t answer the phone. I got my ex to take me over and we banged on the door – she had been asleep and said she was fine!

        2. My mother went into hospital for tests and came out dead a week later. She was unable to eat the hospital food. They did a pm and said she had cancer of the pancreas.
          I still miss her. She died in 1989.

    2. I had a gap in my working life when I was a full time mother, but I later made up the gap in NI contributions before I retired. I worked from 18 to 63 with an 11 year gap. Not always full time though.

  57. "Senior officer admits Army ‘should have done more’ before teenage soldier was found hanged. ‘We let her down in so many ways,’ brigadier tells inquest into death of Jaysley Beck."

    A very sad article, and one which describes individuals and parts of an army which makes me shudder. "……people did not understand what was expected of them and didn’t have the confidence to act….."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/17/senior-officer-army-let-down-teenage-soldier-hanged/

      1. Ultimately, the poor lass was a victim of militant feminism (yes, I know) and DEI.
        Bur you do wonder what her seniors were doing; young people are easily hurt and need discreet supervision.

        1. She’s not the first young person to be let down when she needed help. The army has form on that score.

    3. I grew up in the army so sorry, I do not find this sad at all. It illustrates why women are unfit to be in the army. If she can't handle that, how is she competent to face the real enemy? She wasn't and suffered the consequences of feminism which had deceived her into false beliefs about her competence and thus suffered the consequences in what should be an all male institution.

          1. If you haven’t had it happen, I hope you never experience the death by suicide of someone close to you, who didn’t feel there was an alternative way out of the kitchen.

          3. I have had that happen. I miss him to this day because he was funny and full of life a great friend. It was an utter waste and a stupid thing to do. He did it because divorce made him lose his children. My conclusion was that others should have died, not him. But then, I have learnt that there is no justice in this world because the legal system is utterly corrupt. Remember Tommy Robinson, in solitary for a civil offence. His crime telling the truth. And, by the way, he was not the only person I know who killed himself.

      2. She was unfit to be in the Army – but DEI will ensure that many of the men are just as fragile and unsuited.

      3. It is sad because she was fed unrealistic expectations.
        And she needed, by virtue of her age regardless of her sex, more supervision.

  58. Hypoperfusion, isolation and metabolic syndrome – the real causes of dementia.

    As I followed medical advice after early retirement, I became aware that I had been overtreated for blood pressure, needed a forum to keep in touch with a community but luckiy had a spouse who became proficient in cooking on an AGA.

    In this respect I found thar monitoring my own vital statistics with a pulse oximeter and keeping in touch with the changing world though the Nottler forum did actually address the first of these two vital ingredients for avoiding dementia. I think Goeff Graham needs special commendation for keeping this forum going.

    Here are Dr Suneel Dand's views on a subject which increasingly becomes important to address as we grow older:

    https://youtu.be/BqvEXdF-GCA?si=Npd_UBxjKiMAfMZO r

      1. I like Dr Suneel Dand because he is opposed to unecessary medication. He always says you need to see a good doctor if you think you need some drugs.

        Both drugs and foodstuffs are dangerous when ingested in the wrong proportions but I am not sure what medical professional could tell you what is in your best interests to stay ‘healthy’ – it all depends on your genes.

        1. When i was in severe pain with a collapsed disc in my neck the private doctor at the Spire suggested i take Tramadol.

          Which would in the long term make me an addict.
          I went on Google and found the relevant exercises and bought a Tens machine.

          Doctors push drugs because they are paid to.

          I was most annoyed with the Spire for not suggesting alternative and told them so !

          1. When I went into A&E with a racing heart the cardiologist said I had heart failure and could die very soon. For a day or two on the ward I was used by all sorts of medics as a testing ground for injecting needles but after I woke up one night by one of the vital sign alarms going off I thought perhaps I wasn’t going to die after all.

        2. He does usually give a commonsense view of things – and as he works in the USA his audience is probably seriously over-medicated – a lot of the comments below on his videos indicate that people trust him more than their own doctors.

    2. Love this forum. Am conscious that at 57 (just! Snd Rastus doesn’t know my birthday!) i am on the younger spectrum (hat-tip to Wibbling); but you lot make my day, every day.

      Edit. I was out at a business lunch . I had to drink for 10, does it show?

      1. Clive Norling told the story when the awareness of concussion was beginning in the 70s. He was reffing a game where Mervyn Davis was playing and Mervyn was suffering from a hit on his head. Clive, as required by the new regulations, had to check on Mervyn for concussion. He held his hand up in front of Mervyn and asked "Merv, how many fingers have I got up?" to which Mervyn replied "Fingers ref? I can't even see the bloody woman!"

  61. Apologies if this is old news – busy yesterday so I may have missed it! In Monday's Telegaffe is a report about yet another scumbag that "Lord" Hermer defended – in this case one Abid Naseer, suspected [and later convicted in the US of being involved in bomb plots in several countries] of planning to detonate a bomb in a busy shopping area of Manchester. Hermer described the MI5 case as "pitiful" and "far fetched" – a view presumably shared by the CPS as Naseer was not charged in the UK – the CPS was, at the time, led by Hermer's fellow lawyer, Keir Starmer! That decision was condemned by police and politicians as having put lives at risk.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/16/attorney-general-defended-terrorist-plotted-bomb-manchester/

  62. Part 2 of my review of ITV's 'Unforgotten':

    It didn't end well. The university lecturer apologised to the student for being so angry. "We just want to be heard," said the student. The soldier was indeed gay and proposed to his Afghan refugee/asylum fixer. The latter had helped an Afghan family find accommodation run by the dead victim. The mother was very forgiving of the 'wonderful country' that she had come to despite that fact that her 3-year-old son had died of a chest infection caused by the mould in the flat they were living in at the time.

    The character who came out badly was the tv presenter who, despite being a Catholic, had had an abortion after an affair with the victim. She was portrayed as a religious bigot and hypocrite and her association with GB News Britannia News Corporation demonstrated, in the minds of the producers, just what sort of values patriotic people apparently have.

    The death of the victim, a violent man, was effectively an act of self-defence so no charges were brought. We were obviously meant to associate his behaviour with anti-immigration sentiment. Indeed, the series wasn't really about his death but, by using cardboard cut-out characters, was a crude piece of propaganda for the multi-cultural, multi-racial society that appears to be on the point of implosion but which is, for the producers, a triumph of modern civilisation.

    The first three series of 'Unforgotten' were very good. It's deteriorated rapidly. This one was garbage.

    2. A blatant piece of propaganda from start to finish! Pity, as Mrs B, who did watch the earlier series, liked them.

  63. Phew!
    1½h up the "garden" then a rapid change to get ready for the 11:10 bus to Matlock.

  64. Just askin' and not a fan but Jeremy Vine seems to have vanished from both his TV and radio programs. Not that I'm particularly bothered but there is no information at all regarding what has actually happened to him.
    Anybody know ?

      1. You haven't missed anything.
        But It's strange that there is no information regarding his absence.

        2. There has never been any explanation for that Mark Dolan chappie who suddenly disappeared from GB News, either. I am curious

  66. Please read to the end, interesting or rather mind blowing, what next?
    The Arctic Ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places, the seals are finding the water too hot according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from the Consulate at Bergen, Norway.
    Reports from fishermen, seal hunters, and explorers all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto unheard of temperatures in the Arctic zone.
    Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes.
    Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the gulf stream still very warm. Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared.
    Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and smelts which have never before ventured so far north are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds.
    Within a few years, it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coast cities uninhabitable.
    I must apologize. I neglected to mention that this report was from November 2, 1922, as reported by the AP and published in The Washington Post about 102 years ago.
    This must have been caused by the Model T Ford's emissions or possibly from horse and cattle farts.

    1. When the Scandinavians moved to Greenland, it was warm enough for them to wear wool and linen – unlike those silly Eskimoes.
      In the C14 the temperatures dropped (presaging the Little Ice Age) and many either returned to Denmark or died of cold and starvation.
      Maybe mediaeval man had found a way of stopping horse and oxen farts.

      2. There is evidence they were reduced to eating their dogs. It wasn’t covered in ice when it was named Greenland.

    2. All to do with the sun and the various cycles – eg the Milankovich cycle.
      The climate has changed over millions of years with no help from humans.

      1. Indeed so. I am a member of a local geology group,
        when not searching for fossils, rocks, speaking of volcanoes and other planets we do have lectures on various things in regards to the history of this planet. The very intelligent, geeky down to earth geologists Indeed say so too. We are responsible for the plastic etc that ends up in the sea etc but not the climate.

  67. Downton Abbey wasn't up itself in the way that this series of Unforgotten most certainly was.

    Anyway, now that my 5-week internet breakdown is over, I've a lot of catching up to do. I have several editions of Countryfile to review!

      1. I watched all of it. And the films. There was a massive continuity cockup in the last one where they go to the Med. Lord Grantham appears in a scene with his sun tan make up before they go !

        Julien Fellowes also did the Gilded Age which is based on the oil and rail barons in the USA in the 1800's. I really enjoyed that as well.

  69. What strikes me is there is absolutely nothing new in what the Russians are asking for. It's the same conditions that they had prior to the war. Zelenskyy is whining about not trusting Putin because he wants war when, in fact, it's the very opposite. It's only war that makes Zelenskyy relevant. As for the Europeans. I think that Vance made it quite clear, enemies of democracy so why have them prancing around like puffed up roosters at peace talks when they are more soviet in their attitudes than anyone else. Let them squabble on the sidelines for the irrelevances that they are. As for Starmer, wise up. Our bread is buttered by the USA not the EU.

    Russian officials make ultimatums on NATO, Ukraine as Saudi Arabia peace talks begin
    US and Russian officials are hashing out a potential Trump-Putin meeting

    U.S. and Russian officials held peace talks in Saudi Arabia without any Ukrainian officials present on Tuesday.

    Russia's foreign ministry issued several ultimatums as the talks began early Tuesday morning. Russian officials noted that Ukrainian membership in NATO is unacceptable, and they said a simple refusal by NATO to allow Ukraine to join is not a sufficient protection. Instead, Russian officials said NATO must disavow promises of Ukrainian membership in NATO made during a 2008 summit in Bucharest.

    The groups, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, are seeking terms for a peace agreement in Ukraine as well as negotiating a potential meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    The two groups broke for a working lunch at roughly 2 p.m. local time.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said his country would never accept peace terms negotiated by the U.S. and Russia without Ukrainian involvement. Trump has vowed that Ukraine will be involved in the larger process.

    Trump envoy Steve Witkoff emphasized on Sunday that the ongoing meeting in Riyadh is more about "trust building" than getting into the details of an actual peace agreement.

    Zelenskyy urged Trump not to trust Putin in a phone call last week.

    "I said that [Putin] is a liar," Zelenskyy said of the call. "And he said, 'I think my feeling is that he's ready for these negotiations.' And I said to him, 'No, he's a liar. He doesn't want any peace.'"

    The Ukrainian leader nevertheless said he believes Putin is a "little bit scared" of Trump.

    Also excluded from Tuesday's talks are any European representatives, a notable absence given the stern rebuke of European allies delivered by Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference last week.

    Some European allies are taking the cue, with U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer announcing that he is willing to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine to ensure its security as part of a peace deal.

    "I do not say that lightly," he wrote in the Daily Telegraph. "I feel very deeply the responsibility that comes with potentially putting British servicemen and women in harm's way."

    "But any role in helping to guarantee Ukraine's security is helping to guarantee the security of our continent, and the security of this country," he added.

    1. U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer announcing that he is willing to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine to ensure its security as part of a peace deal.

      Isn't that the job of the UN?

      2. I do believe so Pip and further more we don't have enough soldiers to secure a paper bag. What, seriously, would we do against an army of a million? Apparently that's how many the Russians have mobilized.

  70. Going out now – a lecture on the Dutch East India Company, so am expecting heavy emphasis on slaver!

    Back later.

      3. I enjoyed reading Nathaniel's Nutmeg. The beginning of the Spice Trade. Though i think it would appeal more to Boaty McYachty types.

  72. A United Nations judge tricked an African woman into coming to Britain to work as her unpaid slave while she studied a law PhD at Oxford University, a court heard.

    Ugandan High Court judge Lydia Mugambe conspired with deputy High Commissioner John Leonard Mugerwa to bring the woman to the UK to look after her children for free, prosecutors said.

    She then withheld her passport and if the woman ever needed her identity documents she would have to ‘beg for them,’ Caroline Haughey KC said.

    https://x.com/True_Belle/status/1891836880150315314

    1. Who are we to criticise other cultures?
      It is well known that the white English are the most evil people on the planet.

  73. Women are training for London Marathon in fear – I am one of them
    Preparing for my first 26.2-mile race is tough enough without having to worry about personal safety when training in the dark
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/athletics/2025/02/18/safety-fears-london-marathon-training/

    The majority of the 'most liked' BTL comments said that there was a link between mass immigration and women being afraid to go out at night.

    I wonder if this is why the Comments were closed fairly quickly?

    When my mother stayed with her aunt in London when she was in her teens she thought nothing of walking home from visiting friends who lived 3 miles away after supper when it was dark..

    2. In wartime Britain it was dangerous when I went out in London whether day or night – but then I was in a pram.
      I could hear the V1s coming but I wouldn't have known if I had been hit by a V2.

    3. I've lived in London since 1975 and yes, in the early years I did go home alone in the dark in suburban areas but I was always frightened and did once experience someone curb-crawling.

  74. MPs will get vote before troops deployed to Ukraine. 18 February 2025.

    Parliament will get a vote before any British troops are deployed to Ukraine, a Cabinet minister has indicated, following pressure from MPs.

    Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, said it would be “normal, if circumstances allow, for parliament to be consulted” on military action after Sir Keir Starmer said he was “ready and willing” to commit to a peacekeeping mission.

    Stung to the quick by Trump's total indifference to their views this is Starmer and Westminster throwing a childish tantrum. It is meaningless. No one; as yet, has any idea what a final settlement will look like though it’s a fair bet that it won’t include any UK presence in Ukraine since such would be anathema to Russia.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/02/18/parliament-get-vote-before-troops-deployed-ukraine-minister/

    1. Russia have already made it plain that any “peacekeeping” force must be a UN sponsored activity – any troops not part of a UN sanctioned operation will be regarded as hostile!

    2. Will there be votes when body bags return by RAF transport?
      Vote of thanks, maybe?
      Dear God, this is going badly.

  75. MPs will get vote before troops deployed to Ukraine. 18 February 2025.

    Parliament will get a vote before any British troops are deployed to Ukraine, a Cabinet minister has indicated, following pressure from MPs.

    Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, said it would be “normal, if circumstances allow, for parliament to be consulted” on military action after Sir Keir Starmer said he was “ready and willing” to commit to a peacekeeping mission.

    Stung to the quick by Trump's total indifference to their views this is Starmer and Westminster throwing a childish tantrum. It is meaningless. No one; as yet, has any idea what a final settlement will look like though it’s a fair bet that it won’t include any UK presence in Ukraine since such would be anathema to Russia.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/02/18/parliament-get-vote-before-troops-deployed-ukraine-minister/

  76. 401851+ up ticks,

    This could very well prove to be the ultimate in horrors.

    DT,
    MPs will get vote before troops are deployed to Ukraine
    Sir Keir Starmer told to follow precedent and allow Commons to debate sending peacekeeping forces

    One would have thought with a voluntary force going into a still hot life / death zone, the actual soldier would be asked

      1. 401851+up ticks,

        Afternoon FA,
        This I am aware of, different with a
        Conscription army than one
        volunteer force, headed up by a political lunatic cartel in government.
        I would personally give thought to ” doing an Italian* as in 1943.

    2. I been through worse bombing during WWII than that being experienced in most of what the Russians are targeting in Ukraine. Ukraine has not yet reached the level of destruction left in Gaza and should be declared a safe country to live in for stateless people arriving in Britain.

      I'm sure there would be no opposition in the UK to the provision of free flights for stateless deportees to Ukraine and this could hardly been seen as an imposition of the West's incursion into areas formerly occupied by the Soviet Union.

      It could even be better than a proposal by Trump to turn Ukraine into a marvellous demilitarized golf zone.

    3. Look on my bright side, Canada has no troops to offer for this useless mission,. Trudeau has already promised 10,000 non existent troops to guard the US border so there are none left.

      Of course Mark Carney might see differently when he is anointed as new PM in a months time (God help us). Seriously, some liberals have floated the idea of delaying the next election so that they can fight trumpian tariffs – can I apply for refugee status somewhere sane?

      1. It strikes me that there are rather too many places suggesting that elections should be cancelled for it to be mere coincidence, particularly when it is left of centre parties fearful of right of centre parties taking over.
        Dry runs for a NWO?

        1. Yes. Surrey CC is run by left of centre Conservative Party but has voted to cancel elections.

          2. I no longer regard the Conservatives as right of centre.

            They are to proper conservatism what Labour is to proper democracy, something setting out to destroy the party/country for their own ends.

        2. If we get too vocal and obstreperous about it, they just have to declare Martial Law, and Bob's your uncle. Works in the Ukraine at least.

    4. Don't you have thousands of young, fit refugees that could be conscripted and sent over there to fight / keep the peace.

      1. We do, against our will, but they are here for another purpose, Richard, and will no doubt be spared conscription so that they can fulfil the primary purpose of their importation. God save us.

      1. They certainly did. Remained calm and followed their training. Let's hope they get recognition.

        I know the meme is off and a bit rude but then……………… BOEING goes Boing a lot. (Don't know if Delta have Boeing craft)

    1. I have watched the Day of the Jackal several times and each time I watch it I still hope that the assassin will succeed.

    1. I wondered if the debt they've built up is due in part to the New London Sewer under the Thames which has cost billions to construct?

      1. Possibly, but there is little doubt that they're paying a fortune in interest payments and have paid substantial dividends over the years.
        They should not have been paying dividends if they were not genuinely profitable.
        One wonders if they were using accounting jiggery pokery to do so..

  83. Wordle No. 1,340 4/6

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

    Wordle 18 Feb 2025

    A Pop Par Four?

    1. Me too.

      Wordle 1,340 4/6

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

    2. Starter words failed badly (again) – didnt care much for the actual word itself, either….. Another bleedin' bogey!

      Wordle 1,340 5/6

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

    4. Didn't even know this was a real word. Had to look it up.

      Wordle 1,340 5/6

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

  84. DOGE Finds $4.7 Trillion In Virtually Untraceable Treasury Payments

    TUESDAY, FEB 18, 2025 – 02:45 PM
    The Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on Monday revealed its finding that $4.7 trillion in disbursements by the US Treasury are "almost impossible" to trace, thanks to a rampant disregard for the basic accounting practice of using of tracking codes when dishing out money.

    Mind you, it's not as if such a federal tracking system wasn't already in place — it simply went casually unused for all sorts of payouts adding up to an almost unfathomable $4.7 trillion. Without Treasury Access Symbol (TAS) identification codes associated with those payouts, there's little hope in figuring out where all that money went.

    On Sunday night, Musk said DOGE might be on the trail of "the biggest fraud in history," as SSA data appears to show that 20.789 million Americans over the age of 100 are collecting Social Security retirement benefits. That includes 12 million who are purportedly over 120 years old.

    3. Apparently one theory is it hit the runway too hard, possibly because the snow caused the pilot to lose spacial awareness, right undercarriage collapsed causing that wing to come off and the aircraft still had sufficient speed for the lift on the left wing to flip the fuselage over!

      Thank God everyone got out.

    4. No. Looks to me like it landed on the stbd undercarriage which collapsed , swinging the aircraft, stbd wingtip dug in the grass and flipped the aircraft. At least everyone survived

  86. And R E S T….. late this morning just following instructions, I opened our main loft hatch pulled the string attached to the chain on the top rung and the chain broke the ladder followed the law of gravity and crashed to the floor. On impact the three heavy duty aluminium sections became disjointed. And bits fell off.
    It has taken me 6 hours to repair it and make it safe to use. And I'm worn out looking for suitable and small nuts and bolts to be able to make the required repairs.
    Just because number three son stored something up there that he wants us to pack amongst other items into a massive trunk to send to Dubai. Contractor collecting Friday midday ish.
    A stich in time.
    Worn out.

      1. I felt nervous climbing up after the repairs. And more nervous coming back down. There’s not a lot to grab hold of.

      1. Thanks TB.
        Sadly I’m not as fit as I use to be.
        I had to keep running up and down stairs looking for screws, small nuts and bolts to make the repairs. And up and down the garden to my shed/workshop. I’ll be turning in soon. Early start, number one dropping his two children off as its half term. He’s helping me to pack the trunk.

  87. It seems Meghan is still blaming the Royals for her woes
    Duchess relaunches her new brand complete with dubious and emotive backstory … as ever
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2025/02/18/meghan-reinvents-history-with-brand-relaunch/

    Not worth reading the article but some of the BTL comments are relevant. Here is one of them:

    A pity Harry did not listen to his grandfather, Prince Philip, who told him: Actresses are fine for a bit of fun but NOT for marrying.
    Poor Harry is not too bright and he got landed with a sub-standard wife and had no fun whatsoever. Indeed he looks as cheerful as a line of seven hearses.

    1. Indeed he looks as cheerful as a line of seven hearses.
      What a wonderful expression; I've never heard that before.

  88. Jonathan Reynolds has been accused of fabricating his CV after it emerged he repeatedly described himself as a solicitor despite never qualifying.

    The Business Secretary previously claimed on his website that he worked as a solicitor in the Manchester branch of the law firm Addleshaw Goddard before becoming an MP.
    He also told the Commons in 2014 that he “worked as a solicitor in Manchester city centre” before switching careers.

    In fact, he didn’t qualify for the title because he never finished his training contract, having quit the course in 2010 to run for Parliament.
    This means he never registered with the Solicitors Regulation Authority, which is required to legally practice as a solicitor in England and Wales.
    He also previously stated on his LinkedIn profile that he was simultaneously a “solicitor” and a “trainee solicitor” between 2009 and 2010, according to screenshots obtained by the political blog Guido Fawkes, which first reported the discrepancies.

    1. Highway robbery indeed. This is going to go down as one of the worst ever periods of British history.

  91. Evening all. Just killing time before I go to the deanery synod meeting. Winston has been a good boy. We are making progress.
    Vlad might consider it a victory? A victory for common sense is what it would be.

      1. Winston had ripped up the old tweed jacket I put in the bottom of his crate. That didn’t matter as it was his to rip up if he wanted to. He was sick and had the runs this morning – possibly the change of food or he could have eaten something he shouldn’t in the garden. He perked up when I showed him the lead.

        1. It may well have been little pieces of your tweed jacket that he swallowed if he ripped it up, irritating his stomach and digestive system. We live with an ultimate destroyer par excellence.

          1. No this was before I left him in his crate. There weren't any bits of tweed in his vomit, just his breakfast.

  92. The Charge of the Light Brigade
    Alfred, Lord Tennyson

    Half a league, half a league,
    Half a league onward,
    All in the valley of Death
    Rode the six hundred.
    “Forward, the Light Brigade!
    Charge for the guns!” he said.
    Into the valley of Death
    Rode the six hundred.

    II
    “Forward, the Light Brigade!”
    Was there a man dismayed?
    Not though the soldier knew
    Someone had blundered.
    Theirs not to make reply,
    Theirs not to reason why,
    Theirs but to do and die.
    Into the valley of Death
    Rode the six hundred    .

    III
    Cannon to right of them,
    Cannon to left of them,
    Cannon in front of them
    Volleyed and thundered;
    Stormed at with shot and shell,
    Boldly they rode and well,
    Into the jaws of Death,
    Into the mouth of hell
    Rode the six hundred.

    IV
    Flashed all their sabres bare,
    Flashed as they turned in air
    Sabring the gunners there,
    Charging an army, while
    All the world wondered.
    Plunged in the battery-smoke
    Right through the line they broke;
    Cossack and Russian
    Reeled from the sabre stroke
    Shattered and sundered.
    Then they rode back, but not
    Not the six hundred.

    V
    Cannon to right of them,
    Cannon to left of them,
    Cannon behind them
    Volleyed and thundered;
    Stormed at with shot and shell,
    While horse and hero fell.
    They that had fought so well
    Came through the jaws of Death,
    Back from the mouth of hell,
    All that was left of them,
    Left of six hundred.

    VI
    When can their glory fade?
    O the wild charge they made!
    All the world wondered.
    Honour the charge they made!
    Honour the Light Brigade,
    Noble six hundred!

  93. That's me for today. A brilliant lecture. The speaker was completely on top of her subject. Spoke without any notes for 75 minutes.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

  94. Eeeh, what an afternoon!
    Got back from Matlock, had to use the van as the bloody bus was running early, had a bite to eat when I got home and, nearly falling asleep, went back to bed for an hour!
    But what a beautiful, if somewhat cold, day! Temperature got up to 8°C but has now dropped to about 3° since the sun dipped below the valley sides.

    Now, I presume most will be aware that Elon Musk's DOGE has blocked funds to the "foreign aid" projects supported by USAID.
    Some will even be aware that an NGO headed by the wife of Rory Stewart was the recipient of some of those funds.
    How many knew what that money was actually being used for?
    https://x.com/LangmanVince/status/1891689715369181578

    1. Rory Stewart's wife appropriating money for her NGO (millions) to run such projects as teaching Afghan peasants about modern art (in the video's case a urinal presented as a modern art piece). If my interpretation is right of this video, I don't know whether to laugh or weep. A decade ago, or so, this would have been suitable for a comedy show. It's real though.

      1. Be fair, many trannies are fleeing from the UK to the enlightened state of Afghanistan, so the local wimmins need to know why the people in the toilet next door are standing and pissing through strange fleshy tubes attached to their bodies.
        You know it makes sense…

      2. Gawd.. that gweeb was practically crying into his microphone on the Rory/Campbell leftie love-in.. as he revealed that Musk had cancelled a US$1 million contract with his missus.
        Whimper.. whimper.. with.. whimper .. immediate effect.

    1. Viewing Candace Owens' latest of six part series.. I think we can confirm that the 5th Republic has all bases covered.

    2. Why do they all look like that? The evil bastards who should be buried in the Marianas Trench?

  97. Read this on F/B

    GB News now has confirmed that the Muslim Brotherhood is controlling Councillors in Birmingham, where they only allocated social housing to Muslim families, and non-Muslims are excluded.
    The current situation in the UK raises concerns about the treatment of its citizens, with many feeling that they have been relegated to second-class status.
    This sentiment is rooted in the growing challenges of accessing affordable housing, such as council houses, which seem increasingly out of reach for many UK residents.
    The political landscape is particularly striking, as a significant number of local councils are led by Labour Party officials and mayors with ties to Islamist groups.
    A notable example is London, where reports indicate that a substantial proportion—up to 70%—of available properties have been allocated to individuals arriving from Islamic countries.
    Critics argue that this practice is motivated by a desire to secure votes from these communities, raising questions about prioritising voters over the needs of local citizens.
    If these trends continue unchecked, some fear that the UK could face significant societal challenges, drawing comparisons to the turmoil seen in places like Lebanon within the next decade.
    The UK is facing significant challenges, and it's not surprising that the USA is choosing to distance itself from what many perceive as a socialist global agenda.
    This change has left many feeling frustrated and powerless, as we never had a say in these policies; they were imposed on us without our consent.
    These are unsettling times, and the uncertainty about the future makes it all the more concerning for citizens who are looking for stability and direction.

    3. This change has left many feeling upset.. LOL.

      The bottomline is.. the UKs main threat is civil war not external war.
      UK is fundamentally explosively configured for civil war.
      Multiculturalism has distinct communities detatched from our history competing for resources.

      David Betz is Professor of War in the Modern World in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London

  100. DO NOT READ THIS IF FEELING VULNERABLE!
    I am seriously disturbed todayFacebook, around lunchtime, fed me a picture and a description (one assumed reasonably accurate) of a young Jewish lass who was taken to prison camp, dressed in prisoner stripes, punched in the face, photograpehed, and then killed by an injection directly into the heart.
    Sorry for the detail, but I have to unload somewhere.
    How do people actually do stuff like that? Look into the eyes of a teenaged girl, and kill her?
    The poor wee lass.. the picture actually made me cry, to be honest, and I'm out of sorts for at least the rest of the day. Sometimes, one wonders where God is in all of this. I'm struggling to get past it, as potential Grand-dad material…
    Apologies.

    2. Interesting that religious people say God made man in his own image. I suggest they read the Old Testament, because that God is a complete bit.

    3. I won't post a link, but Hamas, may they all be tormented in Hell, are kindly releasing two dead children and their dead mother, as part of the hostage exchange.

      There comes a point where I start to think:

      Send all the Palestinians of the world to Gaza and then Nuke it.

      1. Terrible as it sounds. I couldn't agree more.
        Bearing in mind that it took more than 300 years for the Spanish to get rid of the islamics. They have never given up being a terrible stain on the surface of the planet.

  101. 'Night All
    "Europe, once proud of its unity and influence, today resembles a shabby circus. Against the backdrop of the upcoming talks between Trump and Putin in Saudi Arabia, which promise to be a turning point in the Ukrainian conflict, Brussels has decided to put on a grand show. Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, is taking her entire team of 27 commissioners to Kyiv to mark the third anniversary of the "Russian invasion".
    You all thinking what i'm thinking?? C'mon Vlad do the world a favour…………

    2. Apparently that armour can stop a 7.62 round. Let's try it.

      If that doesn't work, use a bigger gun.

  104. Don't read stuff that isn't good for you, and then you won't need an excuse to drink !

    Why on earth is stuff like that on F/B , which is usually monitored for that type of content .. stop being self indulgent or you will end up the same as our much missed Tom Hunn.

    Just stop being soppy and emotional, drinking like that will make you really bleak and unbearable .

    1. I worked with two Professors who came to the UK with the Kindertransport from Germany – both fine, upstanding, intelligent and really useful men. To think that their alternative would have been murder in a prison camp is rather tough.
      Soppy yourself. Murder of any part of the population for whatever the reason isn't acceptable, and when the victim touches a chord.

      1. You have NO idea how far my humanity has been stretched, I am older than you and have been around .

        I clicked on your black out , and felt physically sick .

        None of us are under any illusion what goes on .. we know .

        1. Apologies, Belle.
          It just affected me so much.
          I'd love a grand-daughter, and for others to treat folk in such a way really affects me.
          I also know Jews who escaped. By the grace of the British state, mostly. Harry, and George.
          I'll moderate my language. Apols again.

  106. The Pope is very ill, he has pneumonia.

    Pope Francis has been diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia as his respiratory infection 'continues to present a complex picture', The Vatican have said.

    The 88-year-old pontiff has suffered with a respiratory infection for over a week and was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on February 14.

    The Vatican said Francis' respiratory infection also involves asthmatic bronchitis, which required the use of cortisone antibiotic treatment.

  109. Okay I know it's early, but I'm all in and have an early start in the morning.
    I might have a medium Jura and ice.
    Good night all 🥃

    2. Ice? ICE??
      That's hardened water.
      Never take water with your booze.
      It dilutes your spirits at a time when you need to keep your spirits up.
      Sleep well.

  110. I went into IT thinking it'd get me away from people. As folk may not know, I am a complete and utter git. Well, actually, I'm not. I just have difficulty with people generally.

    For the last month we've had nothing but full on carnage with mess and chaos. Backups have failed, second back ups have failed, disks seem to be failing all over the place and around the country (and they're not cheap due to a problem with parts.

    Long, long days (we've just finished) around 'Ampshere. Endless local kit problems, countless support tickets, one genuinely irate, angry customer (who was dealt with by someone else as I wanted to avoid confrontation or I'd have lost my temper)

    It's time to take my sleeping tablet (as it was 2am for most of the months). Not had energy to do gym properly nor really got home early enough so eating crap.

    On top of all this, our call fielder who politely but firmly dealt with the time wasters has retired so our first line of defence is nowa grumpy, tired very fat man.

    1. Just a thought.
      Would the rudest bastard you've ever not yet met be allowed to answer your phone remotely?

      What do you pay?

      Do you mind losing clients?

  111. The legend at the Glenfiddich Distillery is: "Never take Whisky without water, nor water without Whisky!"

  112. The first single malt I ever tried.
    It encouraged me to try many others, but to be honest I'm still not all that keen on Whisky, with or without an "e".

  114. I can just hear you now: '"Have you tried unplugging it and plugging it in again?"

    "Yes – well do it again!"….

    1. Hardly.

      "What is the problem, sir?
      Really?
      Well, dick head, if you can't work your own equipment why do you think I can help?"

      1. That's up there with the Sex Telephone line which some chap complained to Trading Standards about because he expected the woman on the other end of the "Hear me moan' line to offer something rather more than a running commentary on the washing ironing and other household chores!

  115. and of course sos, there are probably 20,000 different tasting waters available from taps in UK to pollute your drinks

    The same applies if you use ice

    1. Or the United States.

      There are others that spell it whisky, but I'm of the view it should be like cheeses and so many other controlled appellations, and only Scottish should be whisky.

  118. Good questions…
    Reuters reports the US has sent the following questions for Europe to answer:

    What do you view as a Europe-backed security guarantee or assurance that would serve as a sufficient deterrent to Russia while also ensuring this conflict ends with an enduring peace settlement?

    Which European and/or third countries do you believe could or would participate in such an arrangement? Are there any countries you believe would be indispensable? Would your country be willing to deploy its troops to Ukraine as part of a peace settlement?

    If third country military forces were to be deployed to Ukraine as part of a peace arrangement, what would you consider to be the necessary size of such a European-led force? How and where would these forces be deployed and for how long?

    What actions do US allies and partners need to be prepared to take if Russia attacks these forces?

    What, if any, US support requirements would your government consider necessary for its participation in these security arrangements Specifically, which short-term and long-term resources do you think will be required from the US?

    What additional capabilities, equipment and maintenance sustainment options is your government prepared to provide to Ukraine to improve its negotiating hand and increase pressure on Russia? What more is your government prepared to do to increase its sanctions on Russia, including more strictly enforcing sanctions and better targeting third countries enabling Russia globally?

    1. Sad to say I wouldn't trust the Cabinet to run a burger bar let alone attempt to answer these questions…

      1. The US had no forces available. At the time, the US never got involved in UN peace keeping operations. They had no involvement at the time. It's unfair to lay any blame at the Americans' feet. UN management was weak and ineffectual. It was only after the mortaring of a Sarajevo market that the US turned in into a US-led NATO operation.
        Ultimately, the US did put its "boots on the ground" by forming the IFOR (Implementation Force) in which I served.

        1. Thanks for pointing out that the US did ultimately put its “boots on the ground” and that you were part of the force that did it.

          We have to thanK both the US and Russia for ultimately eliminating a movement that during WWII threatened the way of life in Europe.

  119. Europe:
    "Good questions, and after some thought we have come to the conclusion that perhaps you should deal with Ukraine as you see fit.

    BUT on one condition: Ukraine must take every single asylum seeker and gimmegrant from Europe.

  121. When Zelensky is suddenly cosying up to Erdogan, you know Trump and Putin might be heading in the right direction.

        1. Erdogan could reclaim Crimea but does Zelensky even understand that it was the Crimean Khanate?

  123. Chums, I have decided to have an early night this evening – at 9.40 pm instead of 11 pm. Good Night all, sleep well and see you all tomorrow.

  124. On holiday on Skye we visited the Talisker distillery – it was in the most stunning location on the banks of a loch.

    After our guided tour of the distillery we were presented with the biggest complimentary vase (there's no other word to decribe it) of Talisker single malt – it's very peaty and a real hefty malt, needless to say I had both mine and the wife's – my sons managed to avoid it, being about 10 and 7 at the time. It was 10.30am………

    1. Having endured The Speyside Whisky Festival for my 60th a decade or so ago I can attest to the resilience of Scots. Starting with the Dramble on Friday evening – 40 punters accompanied by a Story teller (VG) local Kilt wearing fire brigade the ramble around the town, sponsored by Glenfarcas (who were decent enough to produce 10 bottles of their finest including some 60% proof Cask strength bottles). Various events in between including helping to decide which nips of whisky go best with a bacon buttie at 9:30 am on a Sunday Morning!
      Fabulous weekend based at The boat of Garten Hotel… Highly recommended!

  127. You should always have a dash of water with a malt – it smooths the path down the gullet, so I was told by a malt conneseuer expert

    2. They have disguised it as a public health issue. It is an Islamic issue. Just as we saw in Wales.

      What do we do when they come for our dogs?

  129. A 39-year-old man has been jailed for sending an “utterly deplorable” email to safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, one day after she was criticised by X owner Elon Musk.

    Jack Bennett, from Seaton, Devon, pleaded guilty to sending malicious communications to three people between February 2024 and January 2025, including the Birmingham Yardley MP, at Exeter magistrates court on Tuesday.

    The Crown Prosecution Service said the email to Phillips was sent on 2 January, one day after Musk said the MP “deserves to be in prison” for denying requests to the Home Office for a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham. The X owner also later called her a “rape genocide apologist”.

    The prime minister suggested that a line has been crossed and that Musk’s comments had led to threats against the minister.

    Sentencing Bennett to 28 weeks in prison, District Judge Smith said the email had caused Phillips “great distress”.

    He said: “[She] was concerned for your potential to escalate or to encourage others for violence against her, having in her mind the murder of her colleague Jo Cox.”

    Bennett also sent racist and offensive emails to Sir Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, in February 2024 and Matt Twist, an assistant commissioner at the Met police, in April 2024.

    The court heard that Bennett’s messages had started after he became “caught up” in online rightwing propaganda during the pandemic.

    The judge said the email to Khan “purposely sought to disparage, insult and offend him based on his ethnicity and Asian heritage”.

    He added: “The contents of your communications to all three was utterly deplorable, foul and abusive. Saturated in hate and intolerance and shamelessly racist and offensive.

    “Your angry, poisonous and hateful rhetoric discloses the real disdain you held for ethnic minorities, targeting especially Muslims and immigrants in your abusive tirades.”

    For Bennett, Caroline Salvatore said her client had no previous convictions and he presented as being neurodivergent and “largely socially isolated”.

    She said: “During Covid, he became exposed to rightwing propaganda and became caught up in it. He was encouraged to become incensed at various issues and he found their phrases became part of his vocabulary.”

    She said he had not acted until after his father died in 2023, which was a “triggering event”, with his mother, who he lives with, coming to rely on him. “He became even more withdrawn and started to live his life online, one website led to another, and things got worse and worse for him.”

    She added that he had been “genuinely motivated by the perceived incompetence of the people he sent emails [to]” but he accepted he was trying to be offensive and did “realise how he was wrong”.

    Bennett pleaded guilty to four counts of sending malicious communications and one of using a public communication network to send offensive emails.

    Appearing for Phillips, Hannah Cotton said the emails featured “serious racist abuse towards politicians” while the language used in the emails to Twist was “highly offensive”, with Bennett calling him a “rat willing to engage in strong-arm tactics against white English patriots”.

    She asked for restraining orders to be put in place for five years, which was granted by the judge.

    1. “A Communist system can be recognized by the fact
      that it spares the criminals
      and criminalises the political opponent.”
      Alexander Solzhenitsyn

  130. BTL Comments on the article in the DT by Allison Pearson on the JD Vance speech to Europe…

    Brock OLeigh
    1 HR AGO
    Born in abject poverty in Appalachia with an alcoholic mother. Raised by his grandmother, Vance went on to serve in the Marines before before graduating from Ohio State University and then Yale Law School. He then made a fortune in the Venture Capitalist industry, marrying an Indian wife and raising a family along the way. He wrote a best selling book that became a successful movie directed by Ron Howard. After that he went into politics and is now Vice President of the USA and odds on to be next president.
    He is 40 years old.

    Matthew Phillips
    18 MIN AGO
    Reply to Brock OLeigh
    Yes, but he has got an (NVQ) Level 2 in Social Care like our No2 ?

    1. Gawd 'elp us when the number of AMs increase from 60 to 96 at the next Welsh election. They will be banning everything. Apparently, the move will save money because of the 'increased scrutiny' of legislation. Of course it will Blodwen…

        1. There are rescues but obviously they can’t save them all. One of my work friends I’m meeting today used to breed racing greyhounds. They kept all of them until the last one died.

          1. I know there are rescues; one of my friends has a rescue greyhound from a local centre. They are full, though.

  134. Back now from the Deanery Synod. I wish they wouldn't organise groups in a circular formation. Rows facing the speaker at the front would be much easier to cope with for someone with a hearing problem (and whose appointment for getting hearing aids repaired has been put off for weeks).

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