Tuesday 19 December: Labour’s ill-conceived plan to get the NHS working seven days a week

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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428 thoughts on “Tuesday 19 December: Labour’s ill-conceived plan to get the NHS working seven days a week”

  2. Good morning, chums. Now to read Sir Jasper’s funnies and then have a go at today’s Wordle. Enjoy your day.

    1. Good morning, Elsie.

      I received your message this morning and found the items, thank you. Sorry to have missed you.

      I didn’t hear the recording alarm last night when I arrived home around 10pm and I didn’t receive anything on my mobile yesterday afternoon as I was in an area of ‘no service’, would you believe. I met my old school chum (we met on the first day at grammar school in September ’60) for lunch in a very good pub situated in Wickham St Paul, a small village situated halfway between Halstead and Sudbury, and there is no service for my mobile out there in rural Essex!

      Anyway, I have Harry’s (Mr Lime’s?) orange marmalade – as I rarely eat bread/toast I think I will make a cake with the marmalade – thank you again.

      1. Good morning, Korky. Glad you got the goodies. Mr Lime says to taste a small teaspoon of his marmalade before you use it all in a cake – you may change your mind about keeping some back for an occasional slice of toast, butter and marmalade.

  3. Wordle 913 4/6

    A splendid result – and I did it in four.

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

    2. Me too.

      Wordle 913 4/6

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

      1. Welcome to the par club

        Wordle 913 4/6

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

  4. Morning, all Y’all from a Cardiff Airport hotel. Visit to Mother today, then away to In-laws for Christmas.

    2. And it’s freezing cold and the battery is running out of life. And the batteries in the cars in front and behind you already have dead batteries and can’t move or be moved. And you can’t escape.

      And suddenly regicide doesn’t seem such a bad idea after all!

    1. Underwear entrepreneur? Looks like she’s been drawn wearing £Tenner Pants…..

      Good Morning Michael and all.

  8. Labour’s ill-conceived plan to get the NHS working seven days a week

    One day a week would be an improvement

  9. Been hearing on the news that the EU has hundreds of millions of booster jabs to dispose of that nobody wanted.

    I was thinking,

    Why don’t they just donate them to Dignitas

  10. ‘Morning All

    Yay! Medley

    https://i0.wp.com/uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b7edfa85eac9d1b845e9d54f97269fb45e4b86d23b4cdeec519729eb9d3bcd67.jpg

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  11. SIR – Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary, predicts that Israel’s war in Gaza “will fuel the conflict for another 50 years” (Comment, December 18).

    Sadly, this is an understatement. Many Muslims worldwide still resent Christians for Muslim blood shed by Crusaders almost 1,000 years ago. Similarly today, we Western democracies will never be forgiven for our support of Israel, unless we stop the bloodshed in Gaza now.

    To achieve this, it’s essential that Israel be deprived of its reasons for continuing the war. Western democracies must combine to pressure Qatar, Hamas’s sponsor, with everything legal at our disposal. For Qatar can force Hamas’s international leadership, based in Qatar, to order and bring about the release of all Israeli hostages and unconditional surrender.

    This will save thousands of Palestinians, hostages and combatants.

    Andrew M Rosemarine
    Manchester

    BTL:

    Vat Smith
    27 MIN AGO
    Mr Rosemarine’s claim that many Muslims worldwide still resent Christians for Muslim blood shed by Crusaders almost 1,000 years ago should be balanced with the reminder that if the Muslims hadn’t first taken the Holy Land from the Christians by force in the seventh Century the Crusaders wouldn’t have felt the need to liberate it a few hundred years later.

      1. At the weekend they were out in force again everywhere, from Hackney, Tottenham and Bethnal Green to Oxford, Cardiff, Derby and Plymouth.

        I must have missed the BBC news reports…

    3. Wallace proving how ignorant of deep history he is. Why does he think Vlad the Impaler did what he did?

  14. Iceland volcano lava ‘flowing faster than rate of other eruptions’. 19 December 2023.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/415e33befa78ae9ac8a23f907ff01f4335c4b8f3530e8ef3471b292c532451b2.jpg

    A volcano in south-west Iceland erupted on Monday night following weeks of earthquake activity that caused a 10-mile long fissure in a road and put the country in a state of emergency.

    Lava is spewing from the volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula at a rate of up to 200 cubic metres per second, according to the country’s Meteorological Office which noted that was faster than any eruption in the region in recent years.

    Oddly no mention of Co2!

    BELOW THE LINE.

    Mike Brettle . 7 HRS AGO.

    The carbon footprint of volcanic eruptions is tiny compared to human emissions.

    Check your facts, lot of denier propaganda out.

    I’m not qualified to argue this technically but will try (hopefully) common sense. If Mr Brettle is correct then how does he explain the well observed effects of historic volcanic eruptions on temperature and climate. The years (1783) (1816) the year without a Summer? The effects of Mount Pinatubo etc. Why has this not been duplicated many times by the human emissions that have already taken place? Why are we not destroyed?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/12/18/iceland-volcano-erupts-earthquakes-reykjanes/

      1. In the past some folk have suggested human sacrifice to appease the gods of volcanoes and Co2….

          2. Don’t be daft, if you were the God of Volcanos would you accept politico’s as a sacrifice, when there is so much better available, rats and cockroaches, for example?

          4. Thunderbug. Khant.
            Ooops …. that’s only two ‘genders’ represented, so approximately 397 sacrificial victims would be required.

    3. BTL@DT

      Simon Olley
      56 MIN AGO
      Horrified to see that man-made global warming has triggered an Icelandic volcano. Please, everyone, order a heat-pump and an electric car today to save us from certain doom.

      High Time
      39 MIN AGO
      Reply to Simon Olley
      I’m sure the DM will be telling us that the CO2 released is the equivalent of 12345 Ford Cortinas.

    5. Look at all that lovely CO2 greening the planet. There will be farming on Greenland again before long.

    7. https://www.science.org/content/article/scienceshot-volcano-co2-emissions-no-match-human-activity

      A popular myth among climate change skeptics is that volcanic emissions of carbon dioxide dwarf those generated by humans. But a new report in today’s issue of Eos reveals precisely the opposite: In a mere 2 to 5 days, smokestacks, tailpipes, and other human sources of CO2 spew a year’s worth of volcanic emissions of that greenhouse gas. According to the paper, five recent studies suggest that volcanoes worldwide (such as Alaska’s Shishaldin, shown) emit, on average, between 130 million and 440 million metric tons of CO2 each year. But in 2010, anthropogenic emissions of the planet-warming gas were estimated to be a whopping 35 billion metric tons. Individual events—such as Mount Pinatubo, whose major eruption in 1991 lasted about 9 hours—can produce CO 2 at the same rate that humans do, but they do so only for short periods of time. It would take more than 700 Mount Pinatubo-sized eruptions over the course of a year to emit as much carbon dioxide as people do, the study notes.

      The thing about the massive eruptions is all the other things they pump out and the effect they have on weather patterns, which are often ignored when debunkers such as this one are used against sceptics.
      Another (better balanced in my view) commentary.
      https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earthtalks-volcanoes-or-humans/

        1. Quite!

          But I defy anyone to get an accurate measurement, or for that matter even an approximately good rough outright guess.

        2. No one seems to mention the effects of the molten rock on atmospheric and marine temperatures either. Ash and dust spewed to great heights also causes a loss of sunlight which is detrimental to plant growth.

  15. Good morning, all. Dark still. Been awake since 2.30. Isn’t the night long when you can’t sleep?

    1. It certainly is, Bill, I’m om my 4th such night and it plays pop with your sleeping habits.

    3. Morning Bill, I was woken up at 01.05 by SSE calling me with a recorded message warning me, as I am registered on their vulnerable list, about the forthcoming bad weather on Thursday – they have 2 days to warn me so why in the middle of the night? B*stards

  16. 379565+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Tuesday 19 December: Labour’s ill-conceived plan to get the NHS working seven days a week

    They will, as will the tory (ino) party take the usual pledges vows & promises route that seems to satisfy the majority voter.

    No further action needed.

  17. Good day all,

    Still darkish here in Pembrokeshire, dawn being 15-20 minutes later than in the East of the country. At least it has nearly stopped raining, wind Nor’, Nor’, West and a tad cooler at 8-9C.

    Michelle Mone (Moan?), the Peer with the porn-star name, has got her PR people – with her Mone-y she must have them – on the job.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c0a1b5a6197dfd1c2330b83f02116a07bbf3ca0b8c56dc2d07becfe0ebc4671e.png

    Someone has done that black-dressed, doe-eyed, butter wouldn’t melt direct-at-the-camera look before though. And someone at the DT is having a bit of fun: The line under the photo identifies her as Baroness Medpro.

    What Starmer has to say takes the biscuit.

    “I don’t think she should be in the Lords. This is a shocking disgrace from top to bottom. And, as every day goes past, there are more questions that need to be answered.”

    This from the man who is getting ready to put the lying war-criminal Blair in the House of Lords so he can take part in the forth-coming Red Arm of the Uniparty government he assumes he will lead.

    1. I cannot take anyone even remotely seriously who uses the phrase ‘incredibly seriously’. ‘Incredibly’ is a vastly over-used word that should be put out to retirement. Anyone who uses it sounds like Harry and Meghan.

      Good morning everyone.

    2. I’m still confused as to what preciely she’s done wrong. The Treasury was spewing out cash, gave her some and she spent on it on PPE that is now being burned.

      Who’s really at fault here?

  18. Good morning all.
    Not raining, overcast and unseasonably mild with a tad over 5°C.

    A run to Stoke planned to see stepson so will be out most of the day.

    1. Took you your Christmas card round yesterday afternoon, Annie, but then couldn’t find the new address you emailed me, only the old one. Would you mind terribly emailing it to me again? Pretty please?

      1. I won’t go along that road. The new owners have let the garden deteriorate to a distressing degree. When I think of all the thought and hard work that MB put into it over the years.
        And don’t get me onto the subject of permanently closed curtains!

  20. Good morning, all. Raining!

    Spent some time on ‘X’ reading about the Sunak/Mone spat: from what I’ve learnt they deserve each other (ferrets in a sack?).

    Off to put the finishing touches to a bread pudding that’s been soaking since yesterday. Eggs and melted butter to stir in then into the oven for about an hour and a half.

    Ciao!

    1. This is just spiteful. You’re not sorry.
      Are you?

      There was a time when these people would save their delusion for Friday night jinks, camp it up and everyone could have a laugh.
      Now they expect us all to take them seriously.
      Society has gone bonkers.

        1. My BTL Comment:-

          R. Spowart
          6 HRS AGO
          Message Actions
          This is beyond ridiculous! A “Hate Incident” for calling out the delusions of a bloke in a wig fantasist? The police should be ashamed of themselves.

          1. I think I will identify as a black man, so I can go up to other black men and say; “How’s it goin’, n*g**r!”
            I’m sure I will be accepted!

    5. It’s a pity that Saint Suella didn’t put the kibosh on recording non-crime hate incidents.

    6. That’s just a mentally ill man. They all are. They need intensive psychotherapy, not indulgence.

  22. Yo all

    As a start to the settlement process for ‘refugees’, all incomers without proper documentation should spend the first month,
    after their arrival in UK, at the home of members of the Refugee Council.

    1. No papers – no entry.

      Any non-Muslim who tries to enter a foreign country without a passport will not be allowed to do so – why not apply the same rules for everyone?

      1. Because KLM didn’t want tofly at the last moment & changed the booking via Dublin, and we’re now going to Bideford for Xmas. Way home via BRS easier than CWL, too.

  24. Britain ramps up naval support for Ukraine to ‘keep Kyiv in the fight’. 19 December 2023.

    Britain will use its naval expertise to help Ukraine control the Black Sea as part of a 10-year security pact to be signed in the coming weeks.

    The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will pledge to “keep Kyiv in the fight” against Russia by providing military support focused on naval assets, as well as financial aid and intelligence sharing.

    It will also contain promises of a post-war security guarantee to ward off Moscow should it consider attacking again, including stepping up weapons deliveries and reimposing sanctions.

    The implication of the last paragraph is surely that the war is lost! The premise itself is silly. The Ukies have no capital ships and if they wished the Russians could torpedo the Grain Carriers. They do not do so because it would be bad politics. This looks more like soothing hurt feelings than any realistic attempt to keep the war going.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/12/18/britain-plans-naval-support-for-ukraine/

    1. They could have negotiated a deal before Putin invaded.

      Johnson and Biden – warmongers who don’t give a toss about human life.

      1. Morning Richard. This war is the responsibility of the EU and US. They have provoked it!

        1. Putin was goaded but he was not wise to have allowed this to happen.

          When he invaded Ukraine it gave Johnson, the EU and Biden the excuse to do what they had wanted to do in the first place and try to claim the moral high-ground at the same time.

          1. Indeed Richard but it is difficult to see what else he could do. They were already shelling the Donbass and were poised for an all out attck. He simply pre-empted them.

    2. Yo Minty

      Britain ramps up naval support for Ukraine to ‘keep Kyiv in the fight’

      HMS Victory and HMS Warrior are being made ready for Sea Trials as we speak!

      Airfix are busy making fullsize plastic replicas of our Fleet Air Arm aircraft and RN ships.

      The Chelsea Pensioners are being provided with Naval Uniform and put on high alert to go to sea.

      I despair

    3. Following their globalist masters’ orders:

      Britain will use its naval expertise to help Ukraine control the Black Sea as part of a 10-year security pact to be signed in the coming weeks.

      Using the word “expertise” as opposed to “ships” or “fleet” is a poor cover for the paucity of the former and hence the probable non-existence of the latter.

      From Google:

      The RN has:

      3 Admirals
      9 Vice-Admirals
      28 Rear-Admirals or if counting in the Surgeon Rear-Admiral 29.

      I couldn’t be arsed to the count the number of Commodores. From the pictures available, the majority, there’s a distinct lack of diversity in those ranks.

      Clearly, plenty of “expertise” to spread around. Pity about the lack of ships.

      1. As of April 2023, there are 70 operational commissioned ships (including submarines as well as one historic ship, HMS Victory) in the Royal Navy, plus 13 ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA).

        The Royal Navy maintains a fleet of technologically sophisticated ships, submarines, and aircraft, including 2 aircraft carriers, 2 amphibious transport docks, 4 ballistic missile submarines (which maintain the nuclear deterrent), 6 nuclear fleet submarines, 6 guided missile destroyers, 11 frigates, 9 mine-countermeasure vessels and 26 patrol vessels.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy#:~:text=As%20of%20April%202023%2C%20there,Royal%20Fleet%20Auxiliary%20(RFA).
        My my view of a proper ship that means we have more flavours of Admiral than we do “proper ships and submarines”
        It’s a poor joke in very bad taste.

          5. Until a few years ago Sea Cadet Commanders had their Mess Dinners on her. I was invited once. They now have them on a Lightship in Portsmouth harbour.

            The Mary Rose Museum is right next to Victory. Well worth a visit if you are ever in the area. I’m normally bored with museums but not this one. https://maryrose.org/
            The dog was a sad exhibit.

          6. Yes, I felt sad at seeing Hatch (as they named him). He was about the size and shape of Charlie (who had to be left in the motorhome when I toured the museum).

      1. …and provide the seasoned crew members who have demonstrated their effectiveness in mounting a well prepared invasion force

  25. Audi hits brakes on EV rollout as enthusiasm wanes
    Higher prices of electric cars compared to petrol models dents demand

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/12/18/audi-hits-brakes-ev-electric-cars-rollout/

    “While electric cars are cheaper to run, their initial price remains stubbornly higher than petrol and diesel models.”

    BTL

    Cheaper to run?

    I live in Brittany and regularly drive with my wife to Bury St Edmunds where we have family. We fill up with diesel fuel before starting our trip and then fill up again at Calais. We can then travel up to 800miles visiting friends in the UK before returning to France and filling up again.

    With an EV this trip would be impossible and we would have to spend at least one – possibly two nights in a hotel. This would not only more than double the cost it would also be very stressful.

      1. Never being sure of when or where one will be able to get charged up. Long queues and a broken charging machine can completely throw out the schedule. Imagine freezing cold night, wind-screen wipers, headlights and heater turned on to maximum. Several cars run out of power. Gridlock. Cranes needed to move cars out of the way. Hypothermia beckons.

        1. EVs have no starting problems in cold weather unlike ICE cars which don’t like the ice. A slightly modified Nissan made it from the North Pole to the South Pole with only a small reduction in its stated range.

          There are things to remember however like being able to refuel an EV from the midnight sun using portable solar panels and keeping the traction battery warm at night by building a snow wall igloo around it.

          What would. be useful though for starting an EV below minus 30 degrees centigrade is a starting handle with attached alernator to top up the 12 volt battery with enough current to engage the traction battery contactor.

          https://electrek.co/2023/12/17/the-first-ever-drive-from-north-to-south-pole-is-complete-and-it-was-all-electric/

          😉

    2. Yet again though, the fellow is missing the point. That’s the idea. If you can’t go where you want, when you want the state has achieved it’s objective.

    3. Exactly as I have often said. My BMW diesels which I had between 2009 and 2019 would both have taken me from Land’s End to John O’Groats on one tank-full.

  27. STUPIDITY

    Humans are the only species intelligent enough to invent their own food …

    … and stupid enough to eat it.

    1. One must feel sorry for her on several counts.

      Rape is always distressing for the woman and the perpetrator should be imprisoned.

        1. Indeed, but would you make it up in her situation?
          Unless all of it is a rather sick advertisement.

          3. There is Münchausen syndrome.
            I remember nursing a girl who did some pretty appalling things to convince us she had a urine infection.

          4. A horrible thing to have.
            Münchausen by proxy is even more unfortunate.
            Life can be very cruel.

  29. REES-MOGG CALLS FOR EQUALITY ACT TO BE SCRAPPED TO SAVE TAXPAYER CASH

    Jacob Rees-Mogg has said the Equality Act should be scrapped to tackle “wokery” and restore common sense to the workplace. Speaking on GB News last night he said workers should be allowed to “get on with their jobs, not spend all their time and energy in moralistic progressivism”. He called on ‘common sense’ minister Esther McVey to repeal the bill and the corresponding public sector equality duty (PSED) which adds massive costs to menial bureaucracy. Rees-Mogg claims only “that way taxpayer value can be restored.” That would be one way to stop the gravy train…

    ***********************************

    MrVeryAngry
    20m
    2010 Under McRuin and put through by PIE Harman.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7ac29329729d53e971e501a4db23d9b62f20863ac9a7b13f5a1676892b0a00d6.jpg

  32. Is the sun shining anywhere today in the UK? We live in a dry part of one of the driest parts of England, and it is constant rain at the moment. The puddles outside are enormous and coalescing.

      3. It was the right way up when I transferred it from photos. It was disqus wot did it. It surprised me too. There must be a glitch in the photo. I’ll try and put it right sometime, I’ll go into edit and rotate it backwards 90 degrees.

    2. It’s been piddling down for days in Buenos Aires, too. Not that that helps you at all! 🤣

      1. 🙂Sharing the misery… a problem shared is a problem halved, atd. It still feels as wet, though. Funny, that.🤣

    2. I think they are trying to weaken and destroy what is left of white culture and civilisation, they know the Muslim will not be part of this

    3. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/18/schools-told-presume-children-cannot-change-gender-trans/

      There seems to be some pushback here now.

      Schools will be told to presume that a child cannot change gender in the Government’s first guidance for teachers on trans issues.

      Under the new “parent first” approach, headteachers must tell parents if their child wants to change gender.

      Teachers
      and other pupils will be told they do not have to use the preferred
      pronouns of children, and staff will not face sanctions if they choose not to do so.

      The guidance, set to be published on Tuesday, has been promised
      since 2018 but delayed amid a disagreement within the Government over
      how to respond to the rise in the number of children who say they are
      trans.

        1. It’s a modern delusion that seems to be part of an agenda. It’s normal for kids to be confused as they go into puberty, but this fixation is very unhealthy.

    5. For that to be permitted, let alone condonedindicates something very serious is broken in our society.

      He should have been laughed and told to FO. He should have been reminded of the sanctity of the role, and whom he serves. Instead it was made about him, for him.

      Frankly, in any rational society he’d be locked away and kept so far from children you couldn’t find him on a map.

  34. Had a ‘Two Ronnies’ moment today when taking car in for annual service. Local dealership has been incorporated into a much larger group which entailed taking car for first time to different service department location.

    Was greeted by a person outside reception who asked for registration number. He then said (I thought) “Four door Suzuki?” to which I replied “Yes”. He seemed bemused by this and repeated – this time rather more slowly – “Ford or Suzuki?” Of course this mis-hearing has nothing to with my advancing years and everything to do with people not speaking clearly – or so I tell myself!

    2. I’m carless today as mine’s gone in for service and MOT. Expensive but worth it for another year of life for my old car.

  35. I don’t normally post obits, but I found this interesting. One of those odd twiddles that can make the difference between victory and defeat.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2023/12/18/maureen-sweeney-irish-post-d-day-overlord-eisenhower/

    Maureen Sweeney, Irish postmistress who reported the 1944 storm that delayed D-Day – obituary

    She did not know the data she sent from Europe’s most westerly weather station went straight to the Allies – even though Ireland was neutral

    18 December 2023 • 5:38pm

    Maureen Sweeney was on duty on her 21st birthday at 1am on June 3 1944 in Co Mayo when she noticed a sharp drop in the barometer, and force-six winds

    Maureen Sweeney, who has died aged 100, was a postmistress on the west coast of Ireland who supplied the weather reports of a storm in the Atlantic that persuaded Eisenhower to delay D-Day by 24 hours.

    The Blacksod lighthouse-cum-post office, on the wind-battered Mullet peninsula in County Mayo, was Europe’s most westerly weather observation station. Every hour, day and night, reports had to be collected on barometric pressure, wind speed, temperature, precipitation, water vapour and other variables, using rudimentary instruments, by the assistant postmistress Maureen Flavin (as she then was); her future husband, Ted Sweeney, the lighthousekeeper; his mother, the postmistress; and his sister. Their reports were then transmitted over crackling telephone line to Ballina, Co Mayo, then to the Irish Meteorological Service in Dublin.

    What they did not know was that, although Ireland was ostensibly neutral, the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, was sharing weather intelligence with the Allies, but not the Nazis. (With a similar sleight of hand, the Irish government had ordered huge stone signs saying “Éire” to be erected on the Irish coastline to ward off belligerent aircraft; each sign had a special number, which in fact made them invaluable for navigation, but these numbers were only supplied to the Allies.)

    From Dublin, the Blacksod reports were passed to the UK Met Office in Dunstable and the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force, under the command of General Dwight Eisenhower. By the start of June 1944, around 5,000 ships, 11,000 aircraft and 156,000 Allied troops were assembled for the invasion of Normandy. D-Day was set for June 5, when the full moon and tides were favourable for seaborne and airborne landings.

    By June 2, D-Day minus three, the American meteorologists were optimistic about a ridge of high pressure, but the Brits were “unmitigatedly pessimistic”, according to Group Captain James Stagg, Operation Overlord’s Chief Meteorological Officer. Although the RAF, the Royal Navy and United States Army Air Force had meteorologists reporting from various stations, and from weather ships in the Atlantic, the Blacksod reports – where the storms would first hit land – were keenly awaited as a significant piece in the puzzle.

    At 1am on June 3 1944, her 21st birthday, Maureen Flavin was on duty when she noticed a sharp drop in the barometer, and force-six winds. She woke the more experienced Sweeney, who confirmed her readings, then transmitted her report. At 11am, a woman with an English accent rang, and asked: “Please check. Please repeat.” Two hours later, she rang back and asked them to double check again.

    They checked and rechecked, but the figures remained the same. Stagg drew the conclusion that gale-force winds, low cloud and rain would still be affecting the English Channel at dawn on June 5, when 130,000 amphibious troops would be on the move, and advised Eisenhower to postpone the invasion.

    If the June window of moon and tide were missed, the invasion would have to wait another month – a scenario “too bitter to contemplate,” as Eisenhower put it, since Rommel was urging for more Panzer divisions to be diverted from Calais to Normandy, to fortify that coast. But Eisenhower did postpone the invasion, thereby averting disaster. The prophesied storm struck, and a jubilant Rommel, confident that no landing could be made, returned to Germany for his wife’s birthday.

    On June 4, oblivious to the havoc her reports were causing, Maureen Flavin began to see the pressure-drop easing. At noon, Ted Sweeney reported that the rain had stopped.

    The next day, at Eisenhower’s morning briefing, a cheer was raised by the latest Blacksod report, confirming a window of fair weather – of which the Germans, who had no weather boats west of Ireland, were unaware. The next day, the Allied invasion of Europe went ahead.

    It was not until 1956 that Maureen Flavin learnt how momentous her work had been.

    She was born on June 3 1923 in Knockanure, north Kerry. Aged 20, she applied to be assistant postmistress at Blacksod, two and a half days’ journey away. It was only when she arrived that she realised she would have to do meteorological work, but “you fell into it automatically,” she said.

    She didn’t enjoy the night duty, in case the Germans invaded. Once, she and Ted Sweeney saw a submarine surface, but they never knew if it had been German or British.

    Maureen Sweeney was the subject of the 2019 RTE documentary Storm Front in Mayo, later broadcast in America as Three Days in June. In 2021, she was given a special honour from the US House of Representatives.

    In 1946, she married Ted Sweeney, and eventually took over from her mother-in-law as postmistress, only retiring in the 2000s. Ted was succeeded as lighthousekeeper by their son, Vincent.

    Maureen Sweeney, born June 3 1923, died December 17 2023.”

    1. Blacksod Lighthouse. Only in Ireland. It would certainly have been renamed if were within the UK.

      1. In the harbour there was once a sign reading
        ‘An Irish welcome to Blacksod’. It had to be removed because someone used to add an ‘s’.

    1. I had a friendly chat with my local lamp posts as it’s the season I asked them what they wanted for a christmas decoration??
      “A WEF politcian dangling from piano wire”
      Was the reply…………

      1. I think it is utter desperation to keep the narrative alive in people’s heads. They know that even the most gullible amongst us are starting to see through it, now that personal sacrifice has entered the climate change equation.

    5. I’m talking to a lamp-post at the corner of the street

      In case a crazy little lady passes by

      Oh me, oh my, I hope the crazy lady goes do do do dah dah dee dee dee

  37. This transgender schools guidance leaves a lot to be desired. 19 December 2023.

    The government has finally published its transgender guidance for schools. Teachers have been waiting a long time. We were promised we would have this document ‘for the summer term’. Well, it has arrived just in time for Christmas. But was it worth waiting for?

    This is probably the best argument for the privatisation of all State schooling you could possibly get. That government is issuing instructions for children about sexual deviation shows you just how far we have declined into decadence and perversion.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/this-transgender-schools-guidance-leaves-a-lot-to-be-desired/

  38. Muhammad is speeding along the motorway in a mini bus when he is pulled over by the police.

    The policeman says, “don’t you know the limit on this road is 70?”

    Muhammad turns to the back and says, “did you hear that?, 4 of you will have to get out”.

          1. And after i am afraid. People whose reputations have been ruined can be vengeful. Just look at the woman who released Obama’s birth certificate. Her headstone anyway.

    3. I expect those with the highest profiles and the most money and influence will, miraculously, escape being named!

      (And we shall continue to speculate as to whom those missing names belong!)

      1. Bill Gates name is already out there.. It’s why his wife divorced him. One name that will definitely not appear is a man whose name begins with T and ends with P. He had more sense.
        I expect to see Biden in there somewhere. The dirty old paedo.

      1. I was still in Infant School and the words meant nothing to me but I liked the sound, which I mistook for “Venus in Blue Cheese”!

        1. A Mondegreen.

          A mondegreen (/ˈmɒndɪˌɡriːn/) is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning.[1] Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to hear a lyric clearly, substitutes words that sound similar and make some kind of sense.[2][3] The American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term in 1954, recalling a childhood memory of her mother reading the Scottish ballad “The Bonny Earl of Murray” (from Thomas Percy’s 1765 book Reliques of Ancient English Poetry), and mishearing the words “layd him on the green” as “Lady Mondegreen”.[4]

          “Mondegreen” was included in the 2000 edition of the Random House Webster’s College Dictionary, and in the Oxford English Dictionary in 2002. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary added the word in 2008.[5][6]

          1. I’m surprised it is as recent as 1954.
            I recall the word being explained, along with Spoonerisms and the like, when I was at school, so it must have gained traction very quickly.

      1. The author of the worst rated comment can’t even spell his own name correctly

        Derrick A Tasser
        Grantham, United Kingdom
        4 hours ago
        B00mers have a lot to answer for. they were the ones who burnt coal, sprayed CFCs and live in big houses. they also caused brexit which is another disaster to the globe. B00mers are trouble.

  41. Afternoon, all. Just popping in briefly before I go out again to a shareholders’ meeting (I have shares in community pubs).

    1. Looking good for 55, Miss Messing. When did she start to work for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs?

  43. ‘You’ll take the high tax
    And I’ll take the low tax
    And you’ll be broke in Scotland before me”

    A new tax band is to be created for higher earners in Scotland, the Scottish government has announced.
    The new 45% band will be introduced for people earning between £75,000 and £125,140 – meaning they will pay more tax than they currently do.
    Finance Secretary Shona Robison confirmed the move as she unveiled the government’s budget for next year.
    The announcement means Scotland will have six income tax bands while the rest of the UK has three.
    The top rate of tax, paid by those earning more than £125,000, will also rise from 47% to 48%.
    The changes are designed to help plug a £1.5bn funding shortfall alongside a series of spending cuts, with Ms Robison saying they would raise an additional £80m.
    The finance secretary also confirmed the current thresholds for the higher and top bands – £43,663 and £125,140 respectively – would be frozen instead of rising with inflation.
    She said this would generate an extra £307m through more people finding themselves in higher tax bands after being given pay rises.

    Commiserations to our Scottish Contingents (and Continladies)

    1. Have Scots gov not realised that you don’t get more just because you take more and that the way to higher tax revenue is lower taxes?

    2. In which salary band are the government people making these decisions and will they also pay more?

    3. I see MPs are to get a 7% increase in salary, so any living in Scotland will hopefully also get clobbered!

        1. I would have thought it is where your main residence is. Otherwise, those employed by a national company registered in London, but living and working in Scotland, would not be liable to the extra tax. No specialist knowledge here though!

          1. I think you’re correct.
            The Scots could try to take a leaf out of the American’s system.
            I believe that if you are an American citizen you are liable for US tax, subject to double taxation treaties, no matter where you live. The Scots might find it difficult to enforce as being Scottish means you are British rather than Scottish from a being a citizen perspective.

          2. Traditionally a Member of the House of Commons should represent his or her constituents in Westminster. Their place of work is in London, as legislators. They are allowed to define their place of residence (‘flipping’) and may use the services of a dedicated department within HMRC which provides taxation advice.

          3. I know that any interest from a British building society based in England is taxed at the Scottish rate if you are resident in Scotland so I would presume the same goes for salary earned from a British company based in England if a Scottish resident

        2. I would have thought it is where your main residence is. Otherwise, those employed by a national company registered in London, but living and working in Scotland, would not be liable to the extra tax. No specialist knowledge here though!

    4. Additional £80m revenue is optimistic to say the least. She’s have generated more income if the tax had been lowered but nobody in government since Maggie has understood this. Thankfully it doesn’t affect me although living up here I pay more tax than I would in England – but it’s worth it

    5. I know just a few wealthy people who live and work in Scotland.

      My mistake, they, or at least their earnings, have headed south.
      Edit: reasons given include: new opportunities, wet weather, need to see family & friends, retirement plans etc, etc.

      1. Good old Sam.
        None of that pandering to hurtie feelings.
        “The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to England.”

  44. Farmers and tractors amass in thousands in Berlin to protest Germany’s ‘war’ on industry. 19 December 2023.

    German farmers have accused Olaf Scholz of declaring “war” on their industry as they amassed in Berlin to protest against cuts to fuel subsidies and tax breaks.

    Some 10,000 agricultural workers descended on the capital’s Brandenburg Gate on Monday with 3,000 tractors, bringing traffic to a standstill as they demanded an about-turn on plans by the German chancellor’s coalition administration.

    Time for revolution. Break out the tumbrils and grease the slides on the guillotines!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/12/19/farmers-protest-fuel-subsidies-tax-breaks-cuts-in-berlin/

    1. Good for them! A fightback by the farmers, along with a marked turning towards the AfD can only be good for Germany.

    3. And they’re trying to ban the AfD from elections. It’s all going to go pop at some point.

          1. The problem they have is that the instant it does, all the 1930’s film will be centre stage 24/7

    4. I expect they will take a page from Trudeau’s playbook. Freeze their bank accounts. Find a way to imprison their friends. Take their children away from them.

    1. You know that programme Grand Designs? Well, you know how the builders run inito all sorts of problems and over come them to build beautiful homes at the end?

      Well, if government were the builder it’d turn up every day, make the foundations out of sand, the support structure out of steel, but try to use pva to stick it together. They’d smash all the glass, set fire to the wood, rip out the electronics and plumbing, flooding the place and keep blaming the tax payer for the damage and making us pay.

      When the massive house is finally finished the wonks would live in it letting it deteriorate and then force the tax payer to pay for the repairs.

  46. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/just-stop-oil-what-happens-six-billion-might-die/

    Bit of a doomsday prognosis – even if it is likely accurate. However what he misses is that MPs, the fools responsible for all the chaos will have been dragged from their homes, flayed alive, flogged, hanged and left to swing, screaming as they’re eaten alive by insects and birds.

    Hopefully though, an adult will step in, repeal the idiocy of net zero, announce and emergency of planning and build 30+ nuclear, coal and gas power stations – feeding greeniacs in to the reactors first – or, ideally, just cutting them off from everything man-made.

    1. Very good article. Well worth reading.

      However he didn’t mention that the Government has already closed down all nitrogenous fertiliser

      production in this country.

      That will make it even more difficult to feed ourselves.

      Nihilistic is the name of the game !!

      1. Yep, it is astonishing the number of stupid decisions those fools have made to th detriment of this country.

  48. Back from Stepson’s.
    He now, at his own request, has full control of his money as I’ve handed over the card for the “side” account his benefits are being paid in to with a warning that, when he overspends, he does not come to me for a bail-out.
    I think his benefits, paid in every 4 weeks, will be spent within 2 weeks or even earlier.

    My retaining control of the side account was pointless anyway as he’s found out that he can go into the local branch of Nationwide and draw money out over the counter.

    I’ve realised that going via Hartington and Warslow is surprisingly quicker than going via Ashbourne and also, is bright weather, is a lovely drive.

    2. Bob, you really have done your best; well over and above any duty you may have felt towards the lad.
      But I realise that doesn’t stop you worrying.

      1. My father-in-Law had a very true saying:

        “You can’t make people happy against their will!”

  49. That’s me for today. Under the weather rather. Must have picked up a bug at the dire Carol Service on Sunday. Half the people there were coughing and sneezing. It’ll last 100 days, I suppose – until Easter…

    Have a jolly evening.

    I may look in tomorrow.

  50. From the DT. “Labour Muslims urge Starmer to boycott ‘extremist’ Israeli ambassador”. So, day by day our politics is becoming infested with slammer lobbying. I think we all knew where this was headed and where it will end up when they get a majority.

  51. SNP CREATES NEW INCOME TAX BAND, WON’T EVEN RAISE ENOUGH MONEY

    Shona Robison is delivering the SNP’s budget this afternoon and has kicked off with the introduction of a new “advanced” 45p tax band for earnings between £75,000 and £125,140. Meanwhile the tax rate for those earning above that will be hiked from 47p to 48p. It’s already the case that in Scotland everyone earning more than £27,850 pays more in income tax than in England, and this hike will only make the disparity worse. When Survation polled Scots, over a third of them said they would consider relocating if income tax was raised any higher. Does Humza want Scotland without the Scots?

    Research from the Fraser of Allender Institute has already shown that the hike will raise £20 million less than the SNP are claiming – only £60 million in the face of a £1.5 billion budget shortfall. Scottish Tory shadow finance secretary Liz Smith says Humza’s “naïve in the extreme” to try to “tax his way out of an ever-growing financial black hole“. We are witnessing an economic death spiral……Darien project MkII?

    1. Less about revenue, more about punishment. Socialists hate wealthy people. Unless they’re socialists.

    2. If it gets to Darienicide, next time England should abolish Scotland as an entity altogether. No Scottish separate laws whatsoever.

    4. England can’t keep paying for the SNP’s economic illiteracy

      Higher taxes, if announced in the budget, will lead to a shrinking Scottish economy

      MATTHEW LYNN
      19 December 2023 • 11:00am

      It will be fairer. It will make sure the burden falls on the broadest shoulders. And it will help pay for improvements in public services.

      We can expect to hear plenty of familiar arguments when the Scottish Budget is unveiled on Tuesday, if, as widely speculated, it introduces a new 45pc tax rate for middle-earners.

      But even if that particular tax increase does not materialise, Scotland is more broadly pushing ahead with its wildly risky experiment in levying ever-higher taxes compared to its closest neighbour.

      And we’re at the point where that will simply lead to lower revenues and a shrinking economy. England can’t be expected to pay for the economic illiteracy of the Scottish National Party (SNP) any longer.

      With an economy that has stopped growing, with endless examples of government waste, and with a huge hole in its budget, you might expect a Scottish finance minister to use her Budget to launch a series of measures to turbo-charge growth.

      The introduction of low-tax, light regulation investment zones, perhaps, or a lower rate of business rates for new enterprises, or even a lower top-rate of tax to reboot Edinburgh as a finance centre and tempt some of the City’s traders and fund managers north of the border.

      Even with its limited fiscal powers, there is plenty that the devolved administration could be doing to boost growth and encourage new businesses.

      When Shona Robison delivers her statement, however, there is one thing we can guarantee. She will say absolutely nothing that will genuinely help the economy to expand.

      Instead, there is plenty of speculation that she will introduce a new tax band. Scotland already has higher income taxes for many people than the rest of the UK, but it turns out that is not enough for the SNP.

      Its latest wheeze could be for a 45pc band that would be levied on anyone earning between £75,000 and £125,000, an increase from the current 42pc on Scottish incomes at that level.

      It remains to be seen whether it actually happens, of course. Even so, the leaks are a painful reminder of the SNP’s fundamental position.

      What Scotland needs is higher and higher taxes, it says, especially on the “rich”. If the new band doesn’t appear this week, it will do so soon enough. That is what the nationalists believe in.

      But even by the standards of the SNP, the 45pc rate is a ridiculous idea. To start with, it would hardly raise any money. An analysis by the Fraser of Allander Institute concluded that it would only raise £60m a year, once behavioural changes are taken into account.

      That is a drop in the ocean given that total annual state spending for Scotland runs into the tens of billions. Indeed, its only real function would be to demonstrate that Scotland is somehow “fairer” than the rest of the UK.

      Worse still, it would create a far more complex Scottish tax system, even though it is clear that the more complex a system becomes the less efficiently it works.

      The UK doesn’t just need lower taxes, it needs simpler taxes as well, but Scotland would be imposing a bewildering set of different rates that would make it virtually impossible for people to work out whether it is worth accepting a promotion to a higher paid job, or taking on some more overtime.

      And most significantly of all, it will drive a significant tax wedge between Scotland and England, with higher tax rates almost all the way up the income scale north of the border.

      And yet, all the evidence from nations with different internal rates of income tax – mainly Switzerland and the US – is that people move from high to low tax regions (surprise, surprise).

      We all know how this will play out in the medium term. It will drive middle earners across the border, especially once enterprising mayors in towns such as Newcastle and Lancaster start promoting how much lower your tax bill will be for only moving a short distance.

      Over time, that will leave only a public sector plutocracy paying the higher rate. It will also send a clear message to the rest of the world. This is a place where success is punished, and where anything extra you earn will be confiscated to fund an ever more dysfunctional state.

      Meanwhile, the incompetence of the Scottish administration is growing all the time. The bill for the scandalous mismanagement of new ferries to connect the islands could reach an estimated £400m, more than the new 45pc rate may raise in seven years.

      Scotland has a £1.5bn hole in its finances, which is what the new higher tax rate would be meant to fill. The SNP has already put up taxes ahead of England, and yet it still isn’t enough to cover its spending commitments.

      Higher taxes, more spending, and bigger deficits are a toxic mix, and one that will only get worse. The SNP is running an economically illiterate regime that is pushing the Scottish economy to the abyss. There is surely a limit as to what England can be expected to carry on paying for that.

      There is only one real solution. The devolved administration should be made completely self-financing. It should keep all the taxes that it raises, set them at any level it believes is appropriate, and then be allowed to spend whatever it wants as well.

      A 45pc tax band should be the trigger for the financial cord between England and Scotland to be severed once and for all. The country can then tax and spend its way to bankruptcy if that is what Scottish voters want – but no one else should be expected to pay for their decisions.

      **********************************************

      Iy Mcfarlane
      5 HRS AGO
      Youseless gave £750.000 to Gaza.
      The roads here are full of holes.
      You can’t get an NHS dentist.
      Semi dead drug addicts litter the streets.
      Aggression and anger everywhere.
      The level of poverty is mindboggling.
      The NHS has collapsed.
      And Westminster thinks devolution works

      Michael Fallas
      4 HRS AGO
      Reply to Iy Mcfarlane
      Starmer wants more Devolution so much worse to come to the UK soon

      Peter KE
      5 HRS AGO
      Good article. England should stop subsidising the SNP nonsense. Scrap the Barnett formula and treat Scotland as the rest of England. The SNP are not Scotland but until they are properly dealt with they will do all possible to impoverish the Scottish and the rest of the U.K. Deal with the SNP they are anti democratic terrorist supporters, Yousaf et al are scum.

      Toby Jug
      5 HRS AGO
      Scotland really is a basket case, this is just another example of how devolution has failed here and in Wales. The levers of power should not be handed to third rate town councillor level tinpot dictators, it’s like giving the keys to the chocolate cupboard to children, it’s ridiculous.

      DM Barker
      4 HRS AGO
      Off-topic but equally true after yet another bailout, England can’t be expected to pay for the economic illiteracy of Khan and TFL any longer.

      ian sellers
      4 HRS AGO
      Westminster cannot keep baling the Scottish and Welsh out particularly when they are so anti England . Let’s just see how far they can fall before the Scottish / Welsh electorate wake up and stop voting for the parties.

      chris weller
      4 HRS AGO
      That’s devolution for you, exactly the same here in Wales, more and more cuts for the plebs, whilst they plan another 36 unwanted and unneeded assembly members, Drakeford’s gone, I wish he would take the rest of them with him.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/12/19/england-cant-pay-scotland-snp-economic-illiteracy/

    5. Everyone pays more tax in Scotland – there’s an ‘S’ in our tax codes – I pay 1p more and I’m nowhere near the £27k

  52. Daily Mail story:
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12880681/jobseeker-lose-race-sex-discrimination-white-men.html

    Chris Palmer was turned down from the £80,000 post at a financial services company, who instead opted to hire a woman. At an employment tribunal in London, the candidate said his failure to get the job was based on his ethnicity and gender following the remark from managing director, Michael Jones. But, the panel dismissed his ‘absurd’ claims – ruling it was not ‘indicative of an intention to discriminate’ when an employer mentioned its aim to improve diversity in an underrepresented workforce. An employment judge said that although an organisation may aspire to be ‘less dominated by white men’, it does not mean that there is an ‘intention to achieve that objective by discriminating in recruitment against white men and in favour of women or minority ethnic candidates’.

    Pull the other one! These words have this sort of odour about them!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/997c9e50879411ff45ff70c05eb6c21afb7a8c49c46722266a79847c30b8a9b0.png

        1. I have used them to teach English; for me, they represent the apogee of the short story.

          “The Reticence of Lady Anne ” is pure perfection.

          Thanks for the reminder – I shall treat myself to a fresh reading of them over Christmas! 🙂

          1. To lose an argument with a corpse it quite an achievement!

            Tobermory and The Unrest Cure are amongst my favourites.

            Funnily enough I gave Caroline a collection of Saki stories on her 25th birthday – the first birthday she had after we started ‘going out‘ together. Added to the fact that she immediately loved them as well as loving P.G. Wodehouse and Richmal Crompton was a sure sign that we would be soul mates.

          2. Do you both plan to go to “Wodehouse in the Springtime” in Bath this March, Richard? If so, it would be good to meet up.

          1. Cats? Meh. I’m much more interested in the output of Tobermory Distillery (which I visited a few years ago). I’m very impressed with 18 yo LedaIg. Not cheap, but I can make a bottle last for months. Maybe the price will come down when the ferries are completed?

  53. A lot of options today left me with a 5.

    Wordle 913 5/6

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

    1. Well done! Four for me.

      Wordle 913 4/6

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

    2. Should have made a two but misread the putt

      Wordle 913 3/6

      🟨🟩🟨🟨⬜
      ⬜🟨🟨🟨🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Two eagles

      Wordle 913 4/6

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

        1. Fair Game? Nah, they will be chewy and lacking flavour.

          Unless you’re suggesting they should be well hung?

          3. On a different topic, you were hinting that you were going cold turkey on your medications, how’s it going?

          4. Didn’t happen. The night i said i was going to stop i had the nose blood bath. Too scared to make the change. A bit like a drug addict afraid the next fix isn’t available.
            I don’t know what to do. Heard so many negatives. But don’t know what to believe.

    2. They are far too well fed and attired for it to be two generations after a hydrocarbon moratorium.

      1. Shame on you !. They come from hot countries that don’t even have air conditioning! How can you be so cruel?

        1. I worry about their being cold; they should immediately be sent back to the warm place they came from (and stay there).

    2. They are just children. They have the odd tantrum. We should welcome them into our homes and teach them love.

      1. After you old chap, I have yet to see any nubile young women from the Bibby or any other encampment on the news.

        Oops silly me, I’m replying to Phizzee, different tastes, I wasn’t looking for sheep.
        Where did you spot the sheep, old boy? Asking for a fiend… };-O…

        1. I was having trouble sleeping then someone suggested i counted sheep…after 10 i was exhausted and fell asleep on a fleece.

          1. I was having trouble sleeping then someone suggested i counted sheep

            Because it was a reply from you, I instinctively read that 10th word as starting with an “m”.

            When I read on, I realised that that was what you meant to write…

            You caught me out!

    3. “One person’s injuries were ‘so bad’ they had to be taken to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford to have stitches, according to ITV News.”

      Oh my gawd, stitches, the poor hard done by wretches.

    1. When the wood and coal burning fires/stoves are made illegal there’ll be no chimneys for the fat bugger to come down anyway. Beware the fire wardens.

    1. “But thanks to a decades long propaganda campaign which cannot be denied, the vast majority of White people alive today are ashamed. For being born the way they were. They have a collective guilt which the world has never seen before, for wrongs real, exaggerated, and imagined, committed by some Whites from previous generations.

      I disagree, the MSM and certain elite groups just wish us to believe that.

        1. Two children in their 30s now but no grandchildren, Maggie. We moved to east Cornwall almost 20 years ago. It’s odd but I love it here, some lovely friends, an amazing pub. I feel , and I think I can speak for my own, new ha ha, wife, we’re less isolated than when we lived on Richmond Hill TW10. Jan has all the conspiracy lady friends she wants and I have my fishing (not as good as it was when we first moved here), and excellent drinking friends. I have heart etc health issues but a good evening at the pub solves a lot of problems. A glass of wine, or Guinness, cheers me up. I might not live as long as some old Nottlers, but I’ll go with a smile.

          1. I have loads of acquaintances, I am well known , but if one or the other isn’t keen on pubs , I love the warmth and chatter , but Moh is rather rigid and quiet , he would rather play golf etc.

            This is why he enjoyed flying , no need to interact with anyone except the crew.

            He avoids social occasions .. and can scare people .

            I am brave enough to say these things now, and Christmas will be flat as hell .

          2. I am fortunate in having good friends and neighbours (and the dogs). I’m involved in community life and lots of people know me (I’m usually greeted by my honorific and surname when I’m walking the dog or shopping). I’ve got friends in church and a good social life.

          3. As I’ve said before, he’s probably flown me out to seismic vessels offshore Nigeria or in the North Sea. I’d love to meet him. The old bugger wouldn’t scare me.

          4. A Cumbrian, I find myself finally in Guildford Borough. I like it here, and have the great good fortune to occupy a local charitable housing association’s retirement bungalow.

            Suits me…

      2. I’m certainly not ashamed of being white. I am, however, ashamed of what my country has become.

        1. What our politicians have deliberately steered our country to become, regardless of their poxed lying manifestoes,

        2. The ironic thing is that – on a global scale – whites are by far the minority. but “diversitee” demands that evey non-white organism is purged.

      3. I’m not at all ashamed of my white ancestry

        How many of yer dark-skinned ones can trace their ancestry back to 530 and Sweden?

        I can

      4. I look forward to the day when poor black folk look at me in a patronising way because of my presumed shame.

    2. For me, that’s a very interesting and observant article.
      Unfortunately it misses the real elephant.
      Islam.
      Muslims make Hispanics look sterile by comparison.
      He’s also wrong about the sports side. The black athletes really are fitter stronger and better.
      Law of the jungle, genes matter.

    3. “White females are now being replaced, too. The “fat acceptance” movement has made physical attractiveness just another part of “White privilege.” So now we have obese lingerie and swimsuit models. And a disproportionate number of them are nonwhite. Which is consistent with the increasing number of fit actresses, singers, and spokespersons who are now nonwhite.”

      To me, certainly if I was younger, my thoughts would be “More fit white totty for us white normies (if there is such a word).

      1. My very white and Scottish female friend wants me to move in with her. Even though ’tis Glasgow it’ll be better than here and at 25 years younger, much more interesting. I think I’m in love.

        Daft old bugger – it’ll be the death of him

        But what a way to go!

          3. Until she has used you then kicks you out , where will you go then ?

            Oh yes , what is a squeeze worth, you are an old hand at that game .

            She is after your pension .

  60. I watched this video from Dr. John Campbell who methodicslly goes through the evidence prereleased in this Swiss paper trying to establish a causative link between a COVID booster jab and heart failure.

    It all rests on troponin leaks from heart cells that could in fact arise from a number of health conditions the early presence of which are likely not to be visible on on an ecg.

    https://youtu.be/cd_RTf_ForA?si=H24E6D_J3HySdg2D

  61. Well, chums, it’s another really early night for me. Sleep well, and I hope to see you all tomorrow.

    1. He was taught from a young age to lie (taqiyya and kitman) and to treat the kuffar as lower than cattle.

    2. Useless is, of course, advancing the narrative that the attacks of 7/10 did not happen. Muslims are very clever at playing the victim.

    1. I was hoping the woman attacked was the daughter of one of those waving the welcome banners. Too much to hope for i suppose.

  68. Evening, all. I’ve been rather quiet of late. As is always the case, it gets busy around Christmas. I do the printing for the Parish. For the last sixteen years or so, we’ve used end-of-lease machines from eBay. They last a few years, then you throw them away. Rector didn’t agree. Finances are hard, admittedly. Ultimately, I bought a replacement from eBay, at my expense. I said it would be helpful if the Parish helped me get it to Surrey from Kent. The response was that this purchase would have to be agreed by the Parochial Church Council and the Churchwardens. Someone with a driving licence could have hired a van locally for £40. Wasn’t to be. In the end, I paid another £150 to get it here. I advised that, since I’d bought it, it would remain my property, beyond my current contract. And I was no more required to seek approval for buying “my” printer, than my next Grocery delivery from Ocado. “This is unacceptable to the Wardens”, was the reply. “Bridget (former High Sheriff) thinks she may have a redundant machine on her estate”.

    Fvck them. The ‘new’ machine is a delight to use, compared to its predecessor, the ‘mileage’ of which was approximately 10x that of the new one. I’m de-stressed. Meanwhile, the entire Ministry Team is out of action due to Covid. As am I. In my case, mild cough/cold symptoms lasted five days,. Heard the Rector, his wife and alay pastoral visitor had succumbed. Then a churchwarden emailed on Sunday to say she’d tested positive. Since we were supposed to be singing carols in a care home this Thursday, I thought I’d better order some lateral flow tests, which I did on Sunday. Too late. By Monday morning, taste and smell had left the building. Test confirmed.

    There are supposedly seven services next weekend. One parishioner is willing to cover the organ for one service. The other volunteer isn’t here. The Ministry Team is depleted. Which leaves the Rector. He has a combination of Bronchitis and Covid. His wife has Covid (she’s one of two Pastoral Visitors). Kathleen (the other Pastoral Visitor) also has Covid. Anne the Churchwarden – being my regular lift to the 9 am services, has tested positive for Covid. As have I. Have to say it’s a bit of a nothingburger, but there you go.

    I started with cold symptoms last Tuesday. They wore off by Sunday. Guess what? I feel mostly fine, if somewhat lethargic, with a bit of brian fog (deliberate typo). If my Covid is typical, I have to wonder why the entire economy was trashed.

    Our Rector has secured the services of the Bishop of Dorking for one Midnight and one Christmas Morning Communion. I’ve urged him to leave it there. Apparently, Puttenham Midnight Mass had four attendees last year…

    2. The delights of being the Church organist and general factotum. Hope you’re feeling better now.

    3. I did say if the church burned down and the organ exploded you could come to me. Mixed euphemisms and metaphors as you like.

    4. Glad to hear you are recovering from whatever it is now designated as.

      Too true – ‘Render vnto Graham that which is Graham’s….’

      Coviditus Interruptus (i.e Lockdown) was a complete fvck up!

    5. Are there any Christians on the church council?
      We only used LFTs twice at the behest of our d-I-l 2 years ago when our son came out of hospital after 5 weeks in intensive care with double pneumonia.
      In the 3 years we’ve been taking our 5,000iu of Vitamin D3 we’ve both had 1 common cold.

      1. I used one once only, plus I had an expensive scam PCR cursory swipe of the throat in order to get a “Fit to Fly”certificate before going to Kenya early in 2022. Since I’ve been taking VitD3 and this winter K2 I’ve had nothing apart from a sore throat in August ’22 which didn’t develop into anything.

      2. I used one once only, plus I had an expensive scam PCR cursory swipe of the throat in order to get a “Fit to Fly”certificate before going to Kenya early in 2022. Since I’ve been taking VitD3 and this winter K2 I’ve had nothing apart from a sore throat in August ’22 which didn’t develop into anything.

    2. Happy Christmas Ellie.
      I’m taking a break.
      Too many problems.
      Happy New year to you and yours.

  71. I see the BBC is gleefully reporting the recent Colorado Supreme Court decision to strike President Trump from the 2024 Ballot.

    Of course Trump will appeal to the US Supreme Court. Nonetheless this decision serves as a reminder of the power of Soros funded and appointed judges in Colorado.

    We should all be worried. Much the same is transpiring over here.

    2. Please note these bodies are buried in the ‘Health’ Section rather than the Front Page where they should figure prominently.

    3. Daily Mail attempting to catch up with Dr David Martin who has had the receipts (including patents) on the decades long gestation of this sorry story. One of the comments mentions the 1960s as the starting point but is ridiculed by a reply, however, Dr Martin has revealed information that does show the 1960s as the time period for the conception of the idea.
      Dr Martin’s “joke” about a bat and a pangolin meeting up in a Chinese wet market and ending up having sex being the root cause of this pandemic is a great put-down of the ‘natural’ origin story of SARS-CoV-2.

  75. Good morning fellow insomniacs.
    An early look at the letters produces this gem with a couple of responses:-

    SIR – Last week I was served a beautiful Christmas lunch with all the trimmings – but perched on top was a large Yorkshire pudding.

    Is this a new trend? It looked (and was) completely out of place.

    Alison Wakes-Miller
    Thornham, Norfolk

    R. Spowart
    16 MIN AGO
    Message Actions
    What the FOXTROT is Alison Wakes-Miller on about?
    Yorkshire puddings are an integral part of a Christmas Dinner.
    And I stress, CHRISTMAS DINNER, not “lunch”

    Trevor Anderson
    1 HR AGO
    How earth shattering for Alison Wakes-Miller to find a yorkshire pudding on a Christmas Lunch. An outrage indeed, whatever next eh? An avocado or a boilled egg?
    Make a list of your highly sensitive emotions over this ruination of your festive season.
    A labrador at home could have soothed your hurt.

    1. Dear Bob. Christmas dinner is served at lunch time. Actually…a little later. Just before the King’s word salad.

      Yorkshire or properly named BATTER pudding has no place at Christmas…dinner or lunch.

      1. Agreed, Philip, the old adage is we lunch at one and dine at nine..

        Any complaints bluff Yorkshiremen who know no better?

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