Tuesday 20 June: The gaping hole at the heart of Labour’s plan for achieving net zero

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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613 thoughts on “Tuesday 20 June: The gaping hole at the heart of Labour’s plan for achieving net zero”

  2. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Interplanetary Advice

    Two Martians crash-land at a gas station. One of them looks at the petrol pump and says “Take me to your leader.”

    Of course, the petrol pump says nothing. Angrily, the Martian pulls his ray gun and repeats “Take me to your leader.”

    The second Martian says “Hey man, don’t fuck with this guy!” and starts running away.

    Pissed at the petrol pump ignoring him, the first Martian pulls the trigger of his ray gun, blowing up the pump! He flies through the air and lands in a smouldering heap at his buddy’s feet.

    “Holy Glak!” he says, picking himself up. “How did you know that guy was such a bad-ass?”

    “Listen,” says the other Martian, “anybody who’s dick goes down to his ankles, wraps around twice, and comes back up and plugs into his ear… that’s one bad mother fucker!”

    1. Up bright and early, I suppose you’ll be on your way to the horse piddle. Good luck girl, we’re thinking of you.

  4. Morning everyone. I am wondering if I have misread this letter (unless the opening sentence is supposed to be sarcastic?). Or maybe the Terriblegraph has mis-edited it? Either way, it makes no sense to me. Maybe others can help me out?

    “ SIR – I was delighted to learn of Sir Keir’s proposals to scrap the ban on new onshore wind farms in England.

    I suspect this feeling is shared by many other people in Wales, where such farms (some generating power for England) have become a blot on the landscape, spoiling its peace and beauty.

    The latest turbines are very tall and intrude on the views from distant beauty spots. To add insult to injury, miles of high-voltage cables carry the power overland between unsightly pylons.

    Local protests – including the refusal of planning permission by county councils – are routinely overruled by the Welsh Government, while requests for underground cables instead of pylons are dismissed as too expensive.

    Denbigh”

    2. My interpretation is that the writer is Welsh, and that he thinks that fewer wind farms (which he considers an eyesore) will be built in Wales to supply electricity to England, as Starmer will build wind farms all over England instead.

      1. It’s certainly confusing, bb2, even if it’s meant to be sarcasm (as mir suggests) or as Aeneas’ interpretation suggested.

    4. ‘Welsh government’? A rag-bag of yappy lefties, heavily subsidised by English taxpayers. more like…

  5. Morning everyone. I am wondering if I have misread this letter (unless the opening sentence is supposed to be sarcastic?). Or maybe the Terriblegraph has mis-edited it? Either way, it makes no sense to me. Maybe others can help me out?

    “ SIR – I was delighted to learn of Sir Keir’s proposals to scrap the ban on new onshore wind farms in England.

    I suspect this feeling is shared by many other people in Wales, where such farms (some generating power for England) have become a blot on the landscape, spoiling its peace and beauty.

    The latest turbines are very tall and intrude on the views from distant beauty spots. To add insult to injury, miles of high-voltage cables carry the power overland between unsightly pylons.

    Local protests – including the refusal of planning permission by county councils – are routinely overruled by the Welsh Government, while requests for underground cables instead of pylons are dismissed as too expensive.

    Denbigh”

  6. Is the Ukrainian offensive another Kursk? 20 June 2023.

    The Ukrainian offensive is still continuing. But there appear to be some changes, which may hint at the future.

    Perhaps the most interesting change is that Ukraine is no longer using its armor as the spearhead of its attack on Russian defenses, but has turned instead to infantry. This has jacked up the casualties on the Ukrainian side, and it also is taking a toll on morale, as some Ukrainian units are refusing to fight, or are trashing their own equipment, and in some cases surrendering to the Russians. It would be wrong to think the breakdown of morale is widespread. But evidence definitely has appeared, particularly in the week of June 12th, that Ukraine’s fighting spirit is foundering.

    The view from outside the Propaganda Bubble. Well worth a read if you are interested.

    https://asiatimes.com/2023/06/is-the-ukrainian-offensive-another-kursk/

  9. The gaping hole at the heart of Labour’s plan for achieving net zero

    Nope there is no big hole in their plan, net zero is a big hole and we are all falling into it.

    2. The ‘gaping hole’ is between the ears of Sir Kneel and that lunatic Milliprat…

      SIR – It appears that Labour has replaced the magic money tree with a magic energy tree that generates constant power out of nowhere.

      R Fleming
      Leicester

    3. The ‘gaping hole’ is between the ears of Sir Kneel and that lunatic Milliprat…

      SIR – It appears that Labour has replaced the magic money tree with a magic energy tree that generates constant power out of nowhere.

      R Fleming
      Leicester

      1. As the population increases, No new reservoirs or other forms of storage are planned. Although we were told that we had brexited, the mafia still won’t allow it.

    2. There was some rumbling round here last night….thought it was either mine or my husband’s tummy. Distant thunder but we did have rain.

    1. I like the line about ‘Proud to love animals’, very West Virginia.
      Must be a reference to the ‘B’ in LGBTQuackery.

  13. Was yesterdays vote just the forces of globalism and their servile bought and paid for British establishment reasserting their control over our Parliament.
    A double standard stamp on the faces of all the voters that dared to vote for a change away from EU hegemony and the self destruction of the nation state.
    This is what will happen to any leader that dares to bow to what they call populism, or freedom and nation state self determination.
    It’s happened in the USA, just the same and will elsewhere to all these European countries that have just moved to the Right.

    2. Morning Bob. I thought it was never going to end. The BBC obviously thought it was up there with Churchill and the Gettysburg Address!

          1. Sue, I would rather face down 60 fifth graders and other stuff than deal with sodding doctors and hospitals. Especially nowadays!

    3. Heyup Lass.
      I won’t ask how you’re feeling, you’re probably not too sure yourself, but I hope things go well today.

      1. Thanks Bob, very nervous but showered and scrubbed clean- just in case;-)

        1. Take some things for an overnighter, if you do you won’t need them, if you don’t you will.

  16. Good Moaning.
    Sitting in a state of shock waiting for summer house to arrive.
    Any time between 07.00 – 12.00.
    The chap who phoned me yesterday sounded reassuringly local (Norfolk) and had loaded the order himself.
    Fingers firmly crossed!

      1. Cheeky, Bill. Anne, don’t worry if it does. Bob of Bonsall would no doubt make a round trip to pick it up for you. Lol.

  17. Good morning, all, Cloudy.

    That missing submersible; am I alone in not giving a toss?

      1. Google The Hunley if you don’t already know about it. A Confederate sub that sank in the Civil War. From what I recall, it was made out of wood.

  18. Moment Ukraine’s special forces kill Russians in close-quarters trench fighting. 19 June 2023.

    The two-minute clip purports to show members of the 72nd Marine Centre for Special Operations, the Ukrainian equivalent of Britain’s Special Boat Service, storming a Russian trench system somewhere in the south of the country.

    It shows the man wearing the camera shooting four Russian soldiers in quick succession and at very close range as they charge around corners of the trenches.
    At one point the Ukrainians shout: “Surrender. Come here with your hands up and you will live.”

    The operative word here is “purports”. I’ve seen enough Ukie invention in this war that disbelief is my default position. That this rather juvenile scene has emerged when they are failing in the counter-attack adds no confidence

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/06/19/ukraine-special-forces-trench-killing-russian-soldiers/

      2. The clip wasn’t for domestic use. Much like so many ‘protests’ in foreign fields, where all the signs are in English.

  19. 373596+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Is the concept of “Net Zero” (impossible to achieve) cast up daily, the ultimate in distraction, the overall “look and whinge, diversion material ?

    All the while the WEF / NWO are continuing to succeed with their
    replacing peoples in positions of power, foreign peoples that is
    along with their foreign cults.

    With the Countries leaders, royal & religious, seemingly giving the
    WEF the royal seal of approval and the electorates majority giving their kiss of consent X at every opportunity the fight back to sanity & near normality will, IMHO be long and hard.

    One thing in the decent indigenous peoples favour will be that the sides will be easy to observe, ALL pretendee trannies, main party politico’s, foreign cultist, ALL illegals will form the aggressors under the WEF / NWO banner.

    Tuesday 20 June: The gaping hole at the heart of Labour’s plan for achieving net zero

    1. I try to spread the word when i meet people. I do it one-on-one and to date have been met with amazement at what i am saying – that you need to get your travel in now, because by 2030 at the latest we won’t be allowed to.

      I have an Irish CEO who is an intelligent woman who is on-board with climate change yet loves her holidays. She could not believe what i was suggesting. Why has she not thought about the consequences/end-game of this net-zero carp?

      My next was our grad. He is also an intelligent chap, barely 21but again hasn’t put two and two together with regard to the end game i.e. he won’t be holidaying abroad post-2030.

      Finally i am on my practical day skipper course and one of the instructors is a 60-ish ex marine scuba diver, skier and yacht enthusiast. He said to me that he thought the climate crisis was the biggest issue that has ever faced the planet. I couldn’t be bothered to argue. If people can’t see what is staring them in the face, what can i do?

      1. 373596+ up ticks,

        Morning Mir,
        Keep rhetorically hammering away, many of the elders know by now but do not want to acknowledge what they have helped to construct over these last three plus decades especially.

        A hell on earth, AKA, global warming.

  20. Good morning, all. Overcast with evidence of light rain overnight.

    From yesterday’s UK Column presentation:

    It appears that the Ukraine is going to be the model for the globalists’ “utopia”. Massive inwards investment to rebuild the country and especially the cities in the manner that the globalists have in mind. Sounds wonderful but the Ukrainian people should beware the globalist bearing good tidings and gifts. The heavy involvement of the EU should be a warning to the Ukrainian people: no good will come of that “partnership” should it happen.
    Ukraine has a reputation for corruption and the estimated investment figures for reconstruction are eye-watering: opportunities for grifting and grafting will abound.
    The date in slide 4, 2017, for the Ukrainian Recovery Conference is interesting.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/efa292fc54876a8799467ca03fd8dcface3653fdcff40af61ecef55e195db27b.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1e1a593773cb281f5cf1c6fe6b8f300b99c4528b6c9734887f4e9dea8e795257.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f26db70ac9877c6457d647f44ef473c390660b8173e05b6f78f01dfe2a723bcd.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fe427695660dd7eb3c45d5fb53db1dd7b1a9993179690fcf0150491dbd052e73.png

    2. I’m not sure I’d use the word interesting, unless it ties the Chinese curse to present times. What is also puzzling is why would an EU (taxpayer) funded recovery conference be held in London post-Brexit? Surely the political metropolis in Brussels and/or Strasbourg would have been a more fitting venue?

    1. MOH claims that there is no record of any economy reducing its energy usage and becoming successful.

      Can anybody refute that claim?

      1. Your MOH is right. Without a plentiful supply of inexpensive energy there is no prospect of a thriving economy.

  22. The Spectator appears to have cut us off from accessing the threads via Disqus. Too many negative posts?

      1. Morning Bob. Yes. The Telegraph is censoring anything that fails the Ukraine is Wonderful paradigm.

        1. The more they lose, the more they censor.
          You don’t need censorship if you’re winning.

          1. Morning Oberst. One of the paradoxes of power is that the more you have the less you can bear even the slightest criticism!

          2. Morning Oberst. One of the paradoxes of power is that the more you have the less you can bear even the slightest criticism!

        2. But the Telegraph payroll seems to have gone. I can’t open the comments but that could be my laptop.

    2. Even this site is not listing the most recent threads on the Disqus summary page. I had to get here via Sunday’s page and Geoff’s helpful ‘New page is here’ comment.

  23. Good morning all.
    A dull and damp start, a tad over 11°C with light rain that looks as if it’s set in for a while.

  24. Was slightly alarmed yesterday to find the central heating on in the hotel, but of course Iceland gets plenty of geothermal heat free of charge, so don’t need to worry. Wonder if all those advocating groundwater heat pumps think everywhere is Iceland?

    2. Good morning OB

      Iceland … ah , got it not Iceland the supermarket .

      I quite fancy a short holiday there … Moh hates the cold , so that is sadly out of the question .

      Is it expensive , and is it friendly ..

      No Mosques I hope , 🤔

    2. 373506+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      Are these appeal peoples for real we have other issues of importance more so than a few kids, we have to meet the costs of hotel bills for our foreign guest’s plus missiles for Ukraine are not cheap.

      https://youtu.be/X0ZWm8U0Icw

  27. SIR – Robin Aitken challenges me to a debate on the rules that govern broadcast news in this country.

    I’m sorry to disappoint him but when I called for a public debate that’s exactly what I meant – a debate in which the public get their say as well as regulators, policy-makers and those who have an axe to grind.

    For decades no one would have dreamed of saying that impartial broadcast news could involve – to give just one example – serving Members of Parliament interviewing their own leaders or being given a soapbox to broadcast their own partisan propaganda unchallenged.

    Having called for a debate, I’m now going to allow Ofcom, MPs, peers and, yes, the public to get on and have one.

    Nick Robinson
    Presenter, ‘Today’, BBC Radio 4
    London W1

    Sgt Bilko just can’t let it go, can he? Conveniently he ignores the fundamental requirement in the BBC’s Charter to remain impartial. No other broadcasters are are subject to the Charter.

    1. Yes, he clearly likes to choose his own versions of which particular opinions matter.

  28. SIR – Robin Aitken challenges me to a debate on the rules that govern broadcast news in this country.

    I’m sorry to disappoint him but when I called for a public debate that’s exactly what I meant – a debate in which the public get their say as well as regulators, policy-makers and those who have an axe to grind.

    For decades no one would have dreamed of saying that impartial broadcast news could involve – to give just one example – serving Members of Parliament interviewing their own leaders or being given a soapbox to broadcast their own partisan propaganda unchallenged.

    Having called for a debate, I’m now going to allow Ofcom, MPs, peers and, yes, the public to get on and have one.

    Nick Robinson
    Presenter, ‘Today’, BBC Radio 4
    London W1

    Sgt Bilko just can’t let it go, can he? Conveniently he ignores the fundamental requirement in the BBC’s Charter to remain impartial. No other broadcasters are are subject to the Charter.

  29. Morning all 🙂😊
    We have just had a thunderstorm. Much needed rain.
    There’s a gaping hole in everything labour seems to plan. But in reality we really do need a new system of government. What we have now is absolutely depressing and appalling. What do they do all day ? What have been their recognizable achievements
    for the last 4 years ? Except ramping up their extra curricular income and the huge amount of expenses they have all taken away.
    None of them would hold down a decent job in the private sector.

    1. Put them all in a primary school for a couple of weeks! Try dealing with a lot of kindergartners and others…. they’d be dust.

    2. “None of them would hold down a decent job in the private sector.”

      Which is why they are politicians.

      ‘Morning, Eddy.

  30. SIR – Michael Gove’s apology for the “party video” falls way short of the mark. It appears that he is merely apologising for the fact that we’ve seen the video rather than that the party happened in the first place.

    I was denied the right to hold a funeral for my husband despite the fact that I was working as a pharmacist and interacting with colleagues and the general public on a daily basis.

    An apology for the release of the video really misses the point.

    Kirsty Brookes
    Brighton, East Sussex

    I can’t begin to imagine the depth of Ms Brookes’ resentment, and she was by no means alone in such an appalling restriction. Gove’s mealy-mouthed apology shows just how out of touch he is – and that goes for most of his colleagues in almost everything they say and do.

    1. Parties are normal. It was the restrictions imposed on everyone else that were so wrong.

    1. How are you doing today Popsey? I cried for two days after my beloved Fred left me. It always hurts but at least we can do what we know is best for our furry friends.

      1. Hello LotL – yes, I know her time had come, we knew the only thing that was worse than losing her would be seeing her suffer – she hadn’t quite got to that stage but she was starting to lose weight and she was sleeping a lot. My arms are empty now and I just yearn to give her a cuddle. I recall Plum’s comments after Maude died, ‘nothing to cuddle, now’. It is not surprising that the elderly succumb and go downhill after the death of a much-loved pet. I am still teary. I find Bach’s Rescue Remedy gives me some peace – I don’t feel drugged but I do find my mood has lifted for an hour or two or three.

        Good luck for today, take heart, I have often found in life that things are never as bad as the anticipation of the event. I had a bcc removed below my left eye a few years ago. The process took about 40-50 minutes, I thought I was going for a biopsy but the surgeon decided to remove the whole thing there and then. I have a 3 cm scar scarcely discernible. We will all be thinking about you and sending good vibes into the universe and towards you. xx

  32. Is this missing submersible another bit of diversionary fake news?
    In an isolated place where nobody can contradict the narrative.

    1. I have been thinking that in the last few hours. Enormous headlines splashed across the pages to focus the reader and grab the immediate attention, numerous articles to ensure thorough brainwashing, and why was his friend/girl friend smiling and laughing all the while that she was recounting his predicament and how he would be coping? So strange… and will the Rooshans be blamed in some way?

      1. High tech Reggie Perrin?

        I didn’t get to where I am today by believing the lame stream meeja.

  33. ‘Morning All

    Net Zero you say……….

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fc8dd1aa6bda1ac8c013f4764e7eef77796b9176b16b7276fc28e881eaf7a21d.png

    Rest of the medley

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3587d12b8a5c3db3b7680d08f070dc9eb0f34decf705cc5073edd3675b12603e.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/61b529708c1895b20f6441dcbd43a592b505f84630bf054ec8a0b2c530317cd2.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fa8ad1e47922db9f8fbe0a3512f16157ddb61ff4e1a9a105797f375d8dc50f15.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/78ed9dbe076a4b3dd1b2fbd2fd01fd6d8be239c56b0bf229bdaf762a09527a5b.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/143c378a2dbe4898a7760345609ef0543220c01c9e53d23152c437e6ae728e72.jpg

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/60bacc706e6d731956ec9950374e5d7b0a49cc85d3f04eaf44096d2df4559a2b.jpg

    2. The mosque one is interesting.
      In Luton years ago the mecca bingo was forced to either change its name or close down.
      As we know Tolerance is not their accepted belief.

    6. The ‘Imported Distinction’ is interesting. Because I learnt that the quote from the Bible: “The meek shall inherit the earth.” Does not refer to our modern usage of meek but refers to the attitude of the warrior who has patience and is thus is slow to draw his sword. So yes. “You can’t call yourself “peaceful” unless you are capable of great violence.”

  34. G’morning peeps,

    McPhee Towers was woken by an almighty crash-bang-rumble and roof-battering downpour at 6 o’clock this morning. Better late than never, eh, Met Office? Present temperature 17℃ with 22℃ forecast, wind SSW going to W then back to SW. Should be some sunny spells later.

    I really don’t fancy the chances of those poor blokes in the submersible even if they haven’t already been reduced from a volume to a surface area. It’s the sort of silly thing only the stupidly wealthy would do.

    1. Good morning FM

      We had a deluge of rain in the early hours of the morning , must have lasted an hour or so , and the air was so tropical , we really perspired and felt very restless.

      I dreamed about those poor bods trapped in that semi sub .

      Decades ago in the late 1960s, a group of us Naval nurses were given a guided tour of one of the older RN submarines , our RNH Haslar hospital was virtually next door to HMS Dolphin submarine base . Talk about claustrophobia .. and the smell of oil / diesel? and feet .

      1. Never get me in one of those things. So tiny and cramped – even the skipper didn’t have a full-length bunk.

        1. The professor in the building where I worked, Wadham(s) I think his name was, was terrified of going in submarines but his research required him to take a trip from time to time up into the arctic. A few weeks after I had learned of his fear he had to take another trip. The engine (or something in the engine room) blew up and the submarine and the people had to be rescued. I think they all survived. It was on the bbc news, not a major item, and I remember thinking “No! Not Peter Wadham’s submarine!” – but it was. It must have been terrifying for him. And the others.

  36. The bad news, clap of thunder and lost wi-fi for a few minutes, the good news is wi-fi is back and it’s raining. Gardening now off the agenda so it looks as if ironing is top of the pecking order. Oh, joy!

    Who the hell is it that expects normal people to “celebrate” this trashy behaviour? The people pushing this agenda are more sick and depraved than those living living it.

    https://twitter.com/DVATW/status/1670820115724509185

    1. No doubt all on benefits and all have ‘Social Workers’ who are as loony as them.

      1. Looks like a normal day walking through the gay district, Polk Street, in San Francisco.

    2. These backstabbing fools are so desperate to do one another in they happily ignore that the country is suffering because of their malice.

    3. Perhaps it is now the time that MPs lost the legal right to be untouchable through the courts for things said in the House under Parliamentary privilege.

    5. Every single one of this shower of shit were voluntarily voted for by the British public.

  39. Off to the Chamber of Horrors soon- I may be some time;-)
    Hope Y’all have a good day and see you later.

    3. Astonishing good luck with it all.

      Meant kindly, to try to raise a smile in a difficult situation:

      Don’t tell them to cut off your face just to spite your nose

    6. I hope you are treated with kindness and patience , Lotl.

      There are many good people who care about their patients , however the public must not feel intimidated by the NHS’s perceived authority.

      Best of luck and KBO

    9. All the best LotL. Things are often not as bad as we think they are going to be.

    1. All down to the diversity. They keep demanding special treatment but really are no better than savages.

  41. Good morning all. Rain was astonishing this morning. I was listening to a program using ear phones. Heard this roaring sound that drowned out what I was listening to ands assumed there was something wrong with the recording. Pause it and realized it was the rain. The noise reminded me of those cowboy movies where you hear the thundering of buffaloes as they come charging across the plain. Think its the loudest rain I have ever heard. Dark outside this morning, but mild, and, I assume, there’s lots more rain to come.
    So hope that you are all well and look forward to an interesting day on NOTTLERS.
    This, I thought, was far more interesting in the Daily Telegraph than todays letter.
    Article prompted by the lunacy at Rye school

    Schools let children identify as horses, dinosaurs… and a moon
    An extraordinary report from a Sussex school has shed light on the growing trend of pupils insisting on being addressed as animals

    By
    Gordon Rayner,
    ASSOCIATE EDITOR ;
    Eleanor Steafel
    and
    Louisa Clarence-Smith,
    EDUCATION EDITOR
    19 June 2023 • 8:32pm
    Difficult as it may be to believe, children at a school in East Sussex were reprimanded last week for refusing to accept a classmate’s decision to self-identify as a cat.

    The Year 8 pupils were told they would be reported to a senior leader after their teacher said they had “really upset” the fellow pupil by telling them: “You’re a girl.”

    The incident at Rye College, first reported by The Daily Telegraph yesterday, was not a one-off. Inquiries by this newspaper have established that other children at other schools are also identifying as animals, and the responses of parents suggest that the schools in question are hopelessly out of their depth on the question of how to handle the pupils’ behaviour.

    The Telegraph has discovered that a pupil at a secondary school in the South West is insisting on being addressed as a dinosaur. At another secondary school in England, a pupil insists on identifying as a horse. Another wears a cape and wants to be acknowledged as a moon.

    Stories about children self-identifying as animals – sometimes referred to as “furries” – have been circulating for some time. Some of them, such as tales of schools providing litter trays to cater for children identifying as cats, have turned out to be hoaxes, which has made it all too easy to assume that the problem is either a myth or is wildly exaggerated.

    But it is not difficult to find genuine examples of children in UK schools insisting on being addressed as animals, raising two important questions: why is it happening, and how should teachers respond?

    Perhaps tellingly, the incident at Rye College – a Church of England school – happened at the end of a class on “life education” in which children were told by their teacher that there were lots of genders, including “agender – people who don’t believe that they have a gender at all”.

    An argument ensued in which two pupils disagreed with the teacher, saying there was no such thing as agender, because “if you have a vagina, you’re a girl and if you have a penis, you’re a boy – that’s it”.

    When the pupils told their classmate: “How can you identify as a cat when you’re a girl?” the teacher reprimanded them for “questioning [the child’s] identity”.

    In this instance, the teacher in charge of the class appears to have bracketed a child’s desire to be treated as a cat with other children’s desire to be treated as another gender, or genderless.

    The school, which does not dispute that the incident happened, said it was committed to inclusive education, but would be “reviewing our processes to ensure such events do not take place in the future”.

    The school, then, seems to have accepted that the teacher in question was wrong, but it is hardly surprising if teachers find themselves struggling to make sense of the fast-paced societal changes in which pupils can not only decide to change their preferred pronouns overnight but also their preferred species.

    Schools have established protocols when it comes to transgender pupils, but the issue of “furries” is more complex.

    Is it simply a spillover from early childhood imaginative play, or the growing phenomenon of cosplay – in which participants dress up as superheroes, aliens, animals or whatever else they choose – being brought into the classroom, where children should be politely told to leave their fantasies at the gates?

    Is it a mental health issue, used as a coping mechanism by children who have autism or other difficulties, and who should be treated sympathetically in the same way as other pupils with special needs?

    Or does it conceal something much darker going on in the child’s life?

    Tracy Shaw, of the grassroots Safe Schools Alliance, said children coming to school and insisting on being addressed as an animal should sound loud alarm bells, and teachers already have all the tools they need to deal with the issue, if they would stop conflating it with gender diversity.

    “Teachers should be dealing with this under existing safeguarding frameworks,” she says. “If a child is coming to school identifying as a cat or a horse, that should immediately raise red flags.

    “The teacher should be asking themselves, what are these children looking at online? What forums are they on? What is going on in the home? What is happening in that child’s life and who else is involved?

    “The problem is that teachers have a blind spot where anything involving identity comes in, because they are frightened of doing the wrong thing. They think they are being kind by affirming these behaviours, but they are not being kind, because they are likely to be missing all sorts of things that are going on in that child’s life.”

    The teachers are also letting down other pupils whose education is being disrupted by the affirming of children with abnormal behaviour.

    One pupil at a state secondary school in Wales told The Telegraph of a fellow pupil who “feels very discriminated against if you do not refer to them as ‘catself’”. She added: “When they answer questions, they meow rather than answer a question in English. And the teachers are not allowed to get annoyed about this because it’s seen as discriminating.”

    The student in question is in Year 11, but began using the pronoun “catself” in Year 9 “when the whole thing with neo pronouns started”, the pupil said.

    She described how lessons could be completely derailed if a teacher attempted to get the child to reply to a question in English rather than meowing.

    “It’s affecting other people and their education and everybody in their lessons. It’s distracting to sit in a lesson and have someone meow to a teacher rather than answer in English, especially at secondary school age.

    “That’s going to take a lot out of a lesson because people are going to spend the entire lesson talking about whoever it is over there meowing to the teacher.

    “It’s a big ask to sit there and listen to someone answer like that and not have that be the main talk of the classroom rather than the lesson going on.”

    The pupil blamed social media, saying students were being influenced by accounts run by people who identify as trees and animals. It started “around Covid”, she says.

    “When it first started, it didn’t really go out into real life that much. It stayed confined to social media, but then as it got more popular and more people were finding out about it, people then started bringing it into real life situations.”

    The Telegraph also spoke to a pupil at a school where one student, who identifies as “moonself”, wears a cloak to school, described by a fellow pupil as “like a Harry Potter wizard cape”.

    The child in question did not identify as the Moon, but as a moon, and said they could put curses on people.

    But while other pupils would be pulled up for wearing non-uniform items, such as facial piercings or dyed hair, children who identified as cats or moons would be allowed to wear cat ears or cloaks to express their “true self”, breeding resentment among other pupils.

    Teachers are not helped by the fact that respected organisations to which they might turn for guidance can themselves be caught up in the confusion between cosplay and self-identity.

    The Safer Schools organisation (not to be confused with the Safer Schools Alliance), which claims to be a “multi-award-winning safeguarding ecosystem” has issued guidance to parents and teachers in which it says: “The furry community itself is a complex one, made up of many different identities and definitions of what it means to be a ‘furry’.”

    It also advises parents and teachers to “engage in conversation about what it means to be a furry and the benefits of the furry community”.

    It hardly constitutes clear instructions on how to react to a child who insists on being recognised as a cat or a dog, and does not mention the fact that children identifying as an animal may be highly vulnerable and in need of help.

    If teachers – or parents – hope that the Government will clear up the whole mess when it issues its new guidance on self-identity this week, then they will be sorely disappointed.

    The Department for Education said the issue of children identifying as animals will not be addressed in the guidance, with a spokesman saying that the department trusted teachers to apply “common sense” in each individual case.

    Unfortunately, as parents up and down the country are finding, the problem with common sense is that it is not so common.

    1. Soon you won’t be allowed to say anyone is barking mad in case it offends those who ‘identify’ as pooches.

    2. I think that many schoolteachers have been groomed and infiltrated are probably part of Agenda 21 and that other strange Labour group.

      There is something very evil going on .. and very soon there will be witch doctors and strange diverse chantings instead of a traditional school assembly.

      I wonder what school teachers self identify as?

      In fact , when one considers the strangest of bods like the Arch Bish of Cantab , who probably self identifies as bolt of lightening from the hand of God , or the King who is more muddled than ever .. and his sons who are similar to King Midas .

      Who do any of our Nottlers self identify as ?

          5. Yes, there are no Reds there. But I suspect there are dubious things in the closet 😊

      3. Common Purpose advocates have been beavering away for many many years to reach this point of effective indoctrination.

      5. Another wee correction, Maggie, Cantab is the abbreviation for a degree holder from Cambridge University. It has NOTHING to do with Canterbury and/or its archpillock.

        1. abreviated to ‘tab’ when used disparagingly by those at the other place.

        2. abreviated to ‘tab’ when used disparagingly by those at the other place.

    3. Partly I think, is the fear the teachers have of not complying with the latest nonsense they are paid to teach, for fear of losing their jobs. They know as well as we do that it’s all nonsense and brainwashing the children, who undoubtedly have mental health issues.

      1. Don’t be to sure about the teachers. You are probably right that the majority fear losing their jobs but there is a cadre of neo-Marxists, running this thing and its aim is to bring the country down. It is a manifestation of Gramsci’s idea of a long march through the institutions. He realized that in places, like the Anglo-Saxon world, violent revolution was not possible. So work within the system and bring it down like the worm destroying the apple from the inside out.

        Did you see the video I posted yesterday of University students, thoroughly indoctrinated threatening a lecturer who was carrying out a perfectly reasonable experiment outside the Student Union? Now thoroughly brainwashed they will go on to infect any workplace they land in. This is not going to arrive on our shores soon, it is already here and aided and abetted by a supine government that, if it were truly Conservative, would be fighting this blight vigorously.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxvyeZa1YSI&t=95s

        1. I seldom watch the videos – my attention span must be too short. I can’t stand the shouting and my husband is here trying to watch the tennis. Text wins every time.

    4. “…why is it happening?…”

      Perhaps they’re just taking the p!ss…

    5. “Another wears a cape and wants to be acknowledged as a moon.”

      Just another lunartic

    7. This idiocy could easily be stamped out … at a stroke … by implementing six of the best to each ‘affected’ pupil, 12 of the best to their parents, and 24 of the best to their idiotic teachers.

    9. This article does not consider the possibiliy that these kids are just taking the proverbial.

    1. Sport at that level is one of the very few areas where diversity really is our strength.

      1. Hmm. They still haven’t won anything since the all-white team of ’66, have they? (In case they may have I should say I don’t take any interest in ‘kickball’)

        2. True, but an all white team would not even get into the group stages of finals, let alone into the KO stages.

          1. An all-white team wouldn’t be permitted even if the players were all the best. Selection on merit is dead.

  45. If I park my car on a double yellow line I have done something illegal – but have I done something immoral? If I am cruel and inconsiderate towards my mother-in-law I have done something immoral but surely I have not done something illegal?

    Nicola Sturgeon claims she has done nothing wrong. And indeed this distinction between illegality and immorality still muddles our thinking. Few people would argue that Boris Johnson is not thoroughly immoral and indeed the chief kangaroo and the hordes of Joeys in her pouch have determined to say that Mr Johnson has done illegal things as well as immoral ones though the actual evidence for this is shaky and seems to be based on the view that the more often you say something the more true it is.

    Some years ago I was surprised that Tony Blair, a lawyer, did not understand the difference between morality and legality. When Mr Blunkett got his mistress pregnant his mistress’s husband forgave her and they determined to bring up the child in their marital home as the child of them both. The fact that Blunkett was pettishly set on interfering with the family’s life more than he had already done and demanding paternity rights was, in my view completely repulsive and totally immoral. But Tony Blair, a self-proclaimed Christian, claimed that Blunkett should not lose his job because he had ‘done nothing wrong.’ You could indeed argue that morality is irrelevant in politics – if all the immoral people in the House of Commons were kicked out the chamber would be empty.

      1. Rees-Mogg as his analytical best.
        Even allowing for assistance from his staff, to be able to wade through such a document and formulate such a response is impressive.

        1. I spent a great deal of time at Berkeley UC in the law library at Bolt Hall, one of the preeminent schools for lawyers in the USA. I really enjoyed the analytical way of thinking that was present in reading case law. However, a good friend there, a lecturer, was a former lawyer. I asked her why she quit being a lawyer. Her reply was that yes, it was fascinating but the law long ago ceased to be about justice. She was the third ex lawyer I knew who had given up for the same reason. I did come out of it with a great appreciation for Lord Coke and William Blackstone. And no I’m not a lawyer, I was doing research for legal cases to do with fathers deprived of their children.

          here a link to some quotes by these two great men.

          https://libquotes.com/william-blackstone
          and
          https://www.azquotes.com/author/3070-Edward_Coke

        2. I think the siring of so many children has weakened JRM a bit but I do wish that he had the testicular strength to tell Sunak, Hunt, Gove and the rest of the supine Conservative Party to go and indulge in inappropriate orifice intercourse elsewhere.

          There is no place for JRM in today’s unconservative Conservative Party and I find it truly shocking that any MPs who claim to be conservative Conservatives have not already resigned.

      2. 1. The £50 fixed penalty notice carries the weight of a parking fine, and does not bear with it a criminal record. Those who drafted the legislation should know how far any breach of Lockdown should be taken, and I have to say that it was open to various interpretations by police forces throughout the country. The correct response to attending what appears to the beat bobby to be a party in Downing Street would be a request to disburse and observe the rules, and if ignored, then everyone present issued with a £50 fine. Subsequent offences would be treated more strictly, I believe. I do not think there was only one breach there.

        2. No minister is obliged to accept advice from civil servants or special advisers, since they may be ignorant, misguided or malicious. A minister must consider the political implications that it may not be a good look to be jingling and mingling when very serious warnings have been issued to the nation against this sort of thing. Any political miscalculation is judged though by the local electorate, who should take a dim view of this and unseat the hypocrites at the earliest opportunity. Jacob Rees-Mogg may rely on advisers to make statements to the House, but in the end it is the minister not the adviser that must carry the can. Rees-Mogg cannot pass the buck in this manner, even less imply that this is normal Government behaviour. If advice is bad, then perhaps the adviser needs replacing or at the very least instructed to go back and do it better, but numerous ministers have been had up for “bullying” when attempting this.

        3. Rees-Mogg is quite correct that there can be no sanction against Boris Johnson because the fellow has shot his own fox. It is like the murderer denied due retribution by falling on his sword.

        4. Rees-Mogg is also quite correct by saying that there is nothing wrong with criticising the judge or the court, since that is a natural response of anyone where judgement has gone against them. Sometimes the criticism is valid, and it is an important safeguard for such criticisms to be treated with respect. The alternative is tyranny. I think Harriet Harman has been called worse things than a kangaroo. There are some noble politicians who have put what they have been called by disgruntled opponents within their coat of arms when pensioned off in the Lords.

        5. I commented on partiality above.

    2. I think the question here was over legality though, on two counts.

      One is the minor infringement of flouting Lockdown regulations, for which the standard fine was £50. “Fair cop, guv” should have been the response from Downing Street when caught jingling and mingling when such things were illegal in London at the time, and the met. ended up a few hundred quid richer.

      What bothered the parliamentarians though was the convention that one never calls an honourable member a liar in the House, based on the presumption that Parliament acts as a court of law, and it is presumed that only the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is spoken there and recorded in Hansard.

      Any cases where an MP is caught lying in the House, beyond reasonable doubt, and that lie is palpable and recorded for posterity, is an illegal act within the bylaws of Parliament, and needs to be addressed and seen to be dealt with justly. It is a pity that Tony Blair was not similarly indicted over Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction. I do think that lying in the House needs to be treated far more severely, even if this may force by-elections in a hundred or more constituencies. It is worth the money to sort this out and put an end to the general public cynicism about Parliament that has broken down public confidence in the democratic processes here.

      It is not just lying that needs to be addressed, but also mission-creep, slipping in things that can claim no democratic mandate, such as “Equal Marriage”, or bad laws on the back of a budget statement for which no debating time is allowed. Conflicts of interest, thanks to deregulation, have taken over most of our institutions where all too often those commissioning work at public expense are also the primary beneficiaries, especially when it goes over budget and the public has no option but to pay up.

      It is also a pity that Harriet Harman, a veteran but no political friend of the defendant, was appointed to chair the Inquiry, and not the Deputy Speaker or at a pinch the Father of the House Peter Bottomley.

      1. When we all know that Members of Parliament lie to the public all the time – it’s time to suspend the whole lot of them. The public was treated as fools for the whole of 2020 and 2021. Two years of being gaslighted and lied to while those supposedly in charge did whatever they wanted. They haven’t stopped lying even now – we all know the “safe and effective” substance injected into millions of bodies was anything but.

    1. I predict this will happen here very soon, with the Channel invaders playing a leading role.

  48. Blowing a hooley today – so no swimming. Sea covered with white horses. Virtually no pleasure craft!!

    Lunch, instead.

  51. Good reason be poor and cowardly No: 342:

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/06/19/titanic-oceangate-submersible-missing-in-atlantic-recon/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-onward-journey

    How OceanGate built ‘improvised’ submersible from camping kit and a video game controller

    Journalist invited on to Titanic journey last year noted the vessel’s construction seemed curiously ‘off-the-shelf’

    By Rozina Sabur, Washington Editor20 June 2023 • 6:37am

    It was the opportunity of a lifetime. A chance to plumb the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, and view the haunting wreck of the Titanic.

    But David Pogue, a journalist for US broadcaster CBS, had some misgivings about his prize assignment as he climbed aboard last summer.

    If the mission was grand, “Titan” the submersible ferrying passengers almost two-and-a-half miles below the ocean, was anything but.

    No roomier than a minivan, it was, incredibly, piloted by a video game controller; its lighting purchased from a camping shop, construction pipes making do as ballast.

    “I couldn’t help noticing how many pieces of this sub seemed improvised, with off-the-shelf components,” Pogue reported. A far cry from the famed majesty of the ship it was off to see.

    In the end, Pogue’s journey with the tour group OceanGate down into the dark abyss was a rousing success – although it did entail getting lost for a few hours.

    This time, the situation on the Titan is far more serious. OceanGate’s submersible is missing and a frantic, multi-national search is under way to find its crew.

    There is no indication of what might have befallen the expedition, which began its descent on Sunday morning.

    Pogue, the CBS reporter, notes that there are reasons for optimism.

    “First, they have 96 hours of oxygen on board. Second, they have seven different ways to rise to the surface,” he said.

    As many as five people may be on board the vessel, the US Coast Guard said.

    ‘Legendary explorers’

    They include the British businessman and explorer Hamish Harding, who proudly announced over the weekend he was joining the tour “as a mission specialist”.

    Alongside Mr Harding, the crew included “a couple of legendary explorers”, he said.

    Paul Henri Nargeole, the French diver known as “Mr Titanic”, is feared to be aboard, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro.

    Le Figaro said that while it had “no confirmation” Mr Nargeole was in the submersible, the 73-year-old had confided some concerns about the expedition to his relatives before his departure.

    Mr Nargeole reportedly said he “did not trust this new composite material submarine with a 60cm porthole, but I’ll go anyway for the beauty of the expedition”.

    OceanGate founder Stockton Rush is also feared to be on board, according to several reports.

    Mr Harding wrote on social media on Saturday that “a weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow.” He promised more updates if the weather held.

    The group planned to start their descent at 4am on Sunday. Mr Harding’s company, Action Aviation, later confirmed the launch had been successful.

    The descent, exploration of the Titanic and return to the ocean surface can take up to 12 hours.

    But by 9.13pm on Sunday evening, concerns were rising and the Titan submersible was reported missing.

    By that point, the vessel was overdue “by a couple of hours”, Chief Mi’sel Joe, the head of the Mi’kmaq people in Newfoundland, told Canadian broadcaster CBC.

    The First Nation chief owns the ship from which OceanGate’s submersible had launched into the ocean. Unlike submarines that leave and return to port under their own power, submersibles require a ship to launch and recover them.

    The US Coast Guard is leading the search, with assistance from the Canadian Coast Guard and a number of others.

    Another submersible was being flown in from the US to join the search.

    Comprehensive sonar survey

    The latest expedition to the Atlantic was announced on social media by OceanGate four days prior, on June 15.

    The company shared photographs on Twitter of two groups of around two-dozen people, young and old, smiling in matching navy jackets.

    “It’s been an incredibly busy two weeks! Thank you to all of our dive teams who’ve joined us – here’s a look at our Mission 3 and Mission 4 crew,” the accompanying post said.

    As the fate of the crew remained uncertain, OceanGate said it was receiving “extensive assistance” from several government agencies and deep sea companies in its efforts to re-establish contact with the passengers.

    “Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families,” it said.

    Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard told Fox News the agency did not have the right equipment in the search area to do a “comprehensive sonar survey of the bottom”.

    He said: “Right now, we’re really just focused on trying to locate the vessel again by saturating the air with aerial assets, by tasking surface assets in the area, and then using the underwater sonar.”

    $250,000 per passenger

    The US military has dispatched a C-130 iceberg patrol aircraft to search the sea surface, Rear Admiral Mauger said. Canadian search and rescue has dispatched a C-130 and an Orion P-8 that can drop sonar buoys to detect underwater noises.

    Rear Admiral Mauger added that rescue services were notified on Sunday. The vessel was designed to surface automatically if it ran into problems and, as of Monday afternoon, should have 72 hours of oxygen left.

    OceanGate’s expeditions set off from Newfoundland, Canada – the most eastern tip of North America – and take around two days to reach the dive site in the North Atlantic.

    The company has previously said it was able to make its Titanic “dive operations a success” with internet connection provided by Elon Musk’s company Starlink.

    It offers its 10-day “Titanic expedition” package for around $250,000 per passenger.

    The fate of the Titanic has captivated the imagination of many since it hit an iceberg and sank during its maiden voyage of 1912.

    The ship was sailing from England to New York with 2,224 passengers and crew on board. More than 1,500 people died in the tragedy.

    The wreckage is in two main pieces 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, at a depth of 12,500ft.

    It was found in 1985 and remains a source of fascination and a lure for nautical experts and underwater tourists.

    Mr Rush said he spotted an opportunity to provide tours deep below the sea while watching Virgin Galactic’s space launch with Richard Branson.

    “Titan is the only five-person sub capable of going to the Titanic depth, which is half the depth of the ocean,” he previously told CBC.

    “There’s no switches and things to bump into, we have one button to turn it on.

    “Everything else is done with touch screens and computers, and so you really become part of the vehicle and everybody gets to know everyone pretty well.”

    Mr Rush rejected Pogue’s suggestion that some elements of the vessel were improvised during their interview last year. “I don’t know if I’d use that description of it,” he told CBS. “There are certain things that you want to be buttoned down. The pressure vessel is … where we worked with Boeing and Nasa and the University of Washington. Everything else can fail, your thrusters can go, your lights can go. You’re still going to be safe.”

    Who does Mr Rush cater to? Titanic enthusiasts – or “Titaniacs”, as he calls them – are willing to pay the huge price tag for the chance to set eyes on the wreckage.

    Prospective passengers must also make peace with the risks that come with the thrill-seeking.

    Pogue noted that OceanGate’s paperwork stated that the “experimental vessel” has not been approved “by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, emotional trauma, or death”.

    “Where do I sign?” the journalist said.”

  53. Is anyone else getting the impression that the Americans might be getting more than a little fed up with the Sussex Saga?

    ‘You dress up like a Nazi and now you’re trying to come back as The Pope?’ Kelly Osbourne brands Prince Harry ‘a whining, complaining t**t’ in an extraordinary rant
    The star slammed the Royal after his recent confessions about his struggles, saying: ‘Everybody’s life is f*****g hard’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12213549/Kelly-Osbourne-brands-Prince-Harry-whining-whinging-complaining-t-t-furious-tirade.html

    And there are numerous other pieces bad-mouthing them .
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12211809/Meghan-Markle-accused-FAKING-interviews-axed-Spotify-podcast.html
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12213503/Spotify-exec-Bill-Simmons-seen-time-branding-Harry-Meghan-f-ing-grifters.html
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12213625/Meghan-NOT-talks-Duchess-Dior-sources-say.html

      1. Build them up then knock them down. Though i think they deserve everything they get.

    3. No, Americans are not getting fed up with the Sussex Saga, they did not care enough to start with, it’s all supermarket tabloid fodder as far as I can see.

  54. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/22744236/asylum-seekers-crossing-med-for-uk/

    Earlier this month, Immig-ration Minister Robert Jenrick embarked on a five-day tour of North Africa and Europe as part of the campaign to stem the rising numbers of migrants.

    The Sun followed in his foot-steps to investigate the scale of the ­problem — and discovered the Government now faces a mammoth task.

    An estimated 400,000 migrants will head from Africa to Italy in small boats this year — a four-fold increase compared to last year — and many are determined to press on to the UK.

    The majority now leave from Tunisia, owing to the instability in neighbouring Libya.

    One of the most popular departure spots is a decrepit wooden pier on the edge of the city of Sfax, where Saliou plans to leave from. It is nicknamed Titanic by migrants because so many boats, packed with people full of hope on their maiden voyage, launch there. The irony, given Titanic’s demise, seems lost on those planning to sail.

    Almost all are men from sub-Saharan Africa, in their teens or twenties, who live rough in Sfax while battling to scrape together the cash they need to make the crossing. Fees can be up to €1,500 but vary hugely. Many migrants group together to buy their own second-hand craft — a cheaper option than the services run by trafficking gangs.

    Two weeks ago Loic Azeutsop, 22, from Cameroon, set sail as part of a 40-strong group in a boat they bought for 25,000 Tunisian dinars (£6,340). He chipped in his share of £160 using the last of his money — but five hours after setting off he was left in tears when the Tunisian coastguard escorted his group back to Africa.

    Now he spends his days staring out to sea and dreaming of when he can again attempt the 120-mile crossing to the nearest European land, the Italian island of Lampedusa.

    He said: “I was devastated when they stopped us. Making it to Europe is all I think about every day, and when the coast-guard appeared my dream was destroyed. I will keep trying until I succeed — or die. I have no other choice.”

    The traffickers earn a stagger-ing sum for each of the many crossings they organise. Joseph Thomas, 30, from Sierra Leone, was among a boatload of 45 migrants who paid 2,500 dinar a head (£650), meaning traffickers made £30,000 from just that one group.

    After eight hours at sea, their boat was intercepted and the migrants were returned to Tunisia, exhausted and broke. The traffickers don’t offer a refund for failed journeys.

    But he said: “As soon as I have money, I will try again.”

    Seized boats are taken to the port in Sfax ­— the country’s second-biggest city and its industrial powerhouse, a four-hour drive from capital Tunis.

    More than 100 small craft are now piled up in a migrants’ boat graveyard, littered with shoes, gloves, jackets and small plastic containers used by the terrified boat passengers to bail out when waves crash over the side.

    Less than a mile away in the city centre, around 200 migrants live in a litter-strewn park, an African equivalent of the Jungle migrant camps in Calais.

    Jone James, 29, fled from Sudan, in north-east Africa, when fighting erupted between military factions in April, and he dreams of a new life in England.

    Rolex watches
    Like with every other migrant we spoke to, the Government’s plan to deport them on a one-way ticket to Rwanda — now in legal limbo, with the Court of Appeal set to rule soon — is no deterrent.

    He said: “Life is hell for us here. We have no water and I have not eaten for two days. So I will go on the boats. Some people die but it is worth the risk because it would be so good if I got to England.

    “Nothing the UK Government can do will stop us.”

    Mr Sunak insists Jone is wrong and he reckons his Stop The Boats campaign — one of his five key pledges as Prime Minister — is working.

    But the scale of the numbers trying to get to Britain means he has his work cut out.

    In 2018, just 539 migrants made it across the Channel in small boats. Last year it was a record 45,755. This year’s figure has already topped 10,000 — after 860 arrived on just Friday and Saturday.

    Meanwhile back in Tunisia, a Jungle-style camp has sprung up in Tunis. Around 200 people live in tents in a back alley just yards from luxury shops selling Christian Dior perfume and Rolex watches. It is a staging post on their route to Europe.

    They worry about crossing the Med, especially after last week’s disaster just 45 miles off the coast of Greece, but not enough to deter them.

    Married father-of-one Joseph Milk, 29, from Liberia, said of what happened off Greece: “It was a terrible tragedy — but it won’t stop us trying.”

    Nasra Ayash, 28, from Yemen, lives in just a pair of two-person tents with her husband Ahmed, 30, and their eight children, aged between 12 and two weeks. She said: “We live a horrible life here, with hardly any food and water.

    “It’s better to die on the sea trying to get to England than to stay here and die on the streets.”

    1. “Nasra Ayash, 28, from Yemen, lives in just a pair of two-person
      tents with her husband Ahmed, 30, and their eight children, aged between
      12 and two weeks. She said: “We live a horrible life here, with hardly
      any food and water.“It’s better to die on the sea trying to get to England than to stay here and die on the streets.”

      She needs birth control. With eight children and no money her life would be horrible wherever she is.

      2. UN humanitarian office puts Yemen war dead at 233,000, mostly from ‘indirect causes’
        https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/12/1078972
        This is another ongoing genocidal war with the innocent as victims. It is actually a war between Iran and Saudi Arabia with two sides in Yemen being used as pawns. The result is the Yemen has been devastated.

        1. Yes – a proxy war and they’ve stopped talking about it because Ukraine is more important.

        3. Yemen was once the land of the Queen of Sheba of course but more recently it was under Ottoman rule and it would have been better for the Middle East had the Ottoman Empire not been destroyed in 1914-18 and Saudi Arabia not created soon after. Europe should also have been left under the Habsburgs, Romanovs and Hohenzollerns. The Great War was the beginning of the New World Order and it was intentionally so.

          1. Sue. Did you listen to the video I posted of Col Macgregor and Godfrey Bloom? It was most instructive in regard to the empires. I suggest that you watch it if you missed it. Good historical discussion between the two of them

      3. …so once they get to England they will need a large Council house to accommodate eight children, and neither

        of them will be able to work because they’ll need to care for eight children.

        Praise Allah for such a generous British government.

      6. She needs to be sent back if she’s having a horrible life here. You know it makes sense.

    2. “It’s better to die on the sea trying to get to England than to stay here and die on the streets.”

      England. The one-stop doss house, soup kitchen, labour exchange and health clinic for the world’s poor and disaffected.

      Come on over! There’s plenty of room! This is Tardis England – small from the outside, enormous on the inside!

      2. Then when they arrive they complain about the food, weather, boredom, having to make their own beds.

    1. I remember on one occasion an Eastern Stater said to me he had the impression that Engerland the was one road of terraced houses from the south coast to the Scottish boarder.

  56. Got to go and get the aircon fixed in our car,…………. funny how we not noticed it’s not been working recently.

  57. 373596+ up ticks,

    Seems a tad harsh but could, “sink the incoming boats be they either smuggler owned or RNLI”, thereby solving after a warning of course these odious problems at their root.

    “The lad was surrounded” this was NOT a mass synchronized
    swimming practice it was involment in sexaul abuse, by foreign elements

    Are we continually to be murdered, raped & abused, victims ageing from the cradle to the grave, posing as a herd for the selective pleasures of these foreign deviants ?

    Let me pose a question, how long are the English majority
    voting worms (lab/lib/con/current ukip ) coalition prepared to travel in a straight line.

    https://twitter.com/UnityNewsNet/status/1671106124886556677?s=20

  60. Britain ready to join rescue mission, says Sunak. 20 June 2023.

    The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We stand ready to provide any additional assistance, including as our capacity as the host nation for Nato’s multinational submarine rescue capacity.”

    Downing Street said that it was not aware of a request from the family of Hamish Harding for help.

    “We are ready to provide assistance. At this stage I’m not aware they’ve specifically requested assistance from our capacity, which is based in Clyde in the naval base there.

    God! These people are beyond contempt. Is there no virtue signal they would not sink too? No posture too base? No dick they wouldn’t suck?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/06/20/titanic-submersible-missing-hamish-harding-latest-updates/

    1. Last sentence not tasteful. But if the British PM could learn about submersible technology, he might be able to pump some oxygen into the Conservative and not-very-Unionist Party.

    2. Under US leadership NATO the peace keeper has spent its entire existence waging war but there is a very real possibility that the Ukraine debacle will not just curb NATO expansion but finish it off once and for all.

    3. A remotely operated vehicle capable of winching the stricken submersible Titan out of the Atlantic has been blocked from joining the rescue mission by the US government, the Telegraph understands.

      What does the US Government not want Rishi to find down there?

      1. According to the Mail, the technology needed to rescue them does not exist.

        I feel sorry for the poor people trapped down there, but have once again, that sensation of sitting in the audience as a marvellous theatre-piece plays out in the media…

          1. Yes. I don’t know if the people are in serious danger or not, but this media coverage is very uncomfortable.

      2. I fear the worst – once communications were lost surely the Capt of the sub would have surfaced unless something catastrophic happened or a complete power failure occured

        1. The sub is the size of an SUV and being electric a battery failure will require it to be towed back to base – at least the exit hatch won’t be electrically operated!

          1. First they have to find it then remotely attach a cable to get it to the surface

    4. 373596+ up ticks

      Afternoon AS,

      The sunak chap, good man on the sinking front,
      him and his political ilk are running a successful sink England campaign, and England is attached underneath to the planet.

      1. Heh! Maybe he wants to be pictured with the Titanic wreck as it’s in better shape than the UK economy?

    1. That top video is magical. I love how her left hand is Don Felder while her right hand is Joe Walsh.

          5. Each July they hold the Festival of the Celtic Harp in Dinan and we have seen the Paraguayan harpist, Ismael Ledesma, play this melody, Lena s’endort, which he wrote about his daughter going to sleep when she was a little girl. Lena has grown up and here she is accompanying her father on her guitar.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FQ9-xOFAbk

      2. Just sounded like a lot of plucking nonsense to me. Very difficult to pick out any discernible tune.

          1. Thank you, Jules, good to know I’m not alone.

            I generally dislike most far-eastern supposed music. All high-pitched whining mainly.

      3. Good afternoon, Grizzly

        The instrument is very like a harp. Talking which I find this combination of harp and guitar very good.

        https://www.google.com/search?q=classical+gas+harp&ei=CqSRZMzZNNubkdUPlfe7GA&oq=Classical+Gas+harp+&gs_lcp=Cgxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAQARgAMgYIABAWEB4yCAgAEIoFEIYDMggIABCKBRCGAzIICAAQigUQhgM6CggAEEcQ1gQQsAM6BAgAEB46CAgAEAgQBxAeOgYIABAIEB5KBAhBGABQyg5Y5ilgxDxoAXABeACAAYkBiAGAFJIBBDMuMjCYAQCgAQHAAQHIAQg&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:37eeb6e5,vid:0vXtywOlayc

        1. I am sure the state will insist on a small and private family affair for security reasons.

    2. All I can say, Elton, is wait until Islam has control, a majority won’t be needed for that. And then you’ll know all about homophobia, and you won’t be able to do anything about it.

      1. Yes but after all his virtue signalling when the going gets tough he can piss off in his private jet to pastures new.

      2. As a devout Muslim Sadiq Khan is a great practitioner of this:

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5cfb7274eec50b824d1000c47810979545387f51994e64462e57881f8496659c.png

        This means that a Muslim is allowed to blaspheme against Islam and lie about his stated beliefs if these lies help to further the cause of Islam.

        Homosexuals in some Muslim countries are stoned to death or thrown off high buildings but Khan is no doubt lulling homosexuals into a sense of false security so that, as each one comes out as “gay” his, her or its details can be recorded. This will make it a simple matter when the great Mahommet”s day of reckoning and purification comes to gather all the people deemed to be sexual deviants and take them up to the top of the Shard in London and push them off.

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dac0e3088d7945f0d633105f2c8fe244bdcb242d5b3aebd98411ff72d5508a5a.png

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/36c4656e2d88f947589face31eb928d89cbde0cb6d6901407524dbb994a8a353.png

  66. After being under the Haematology Department for a year they wrote a letter to my Doctor with recommendations for two medicines. Those medicines were supposed to be prescribed July 2022.
    It only came to light with a new Doctor last week that i hadn’t had them.

    I asked for help from the pharmacist and was stonewalled.

    Who do i complain to?

  67. Well, after a long and tedious hospital visit, here is the saga. Got there at 10.45- appt at 11. Seen promptly at 11.30 but did actually see the consultant. It is not good. The cancer is aggressive and has spread, as I suspected, into me mush. Surgery will mean removal of part of my ear and right side of face. There are one or two other options which don’t sound promising. I have a shitload of pills including liquid morphine which I doubt I will take. A scan is being booked so they can check my lungs and the next appt is with an oncologist.
    I asked the doc if I just ignored it- what would happen. He said he would give me 5/6 months.
    So much for All the Time in the World….
    I am going to get pissed tonight and in fact, a large Pinot is ongoing.
    Forgive me for any typos and bad language.

    2. Very sorry to learn of your diagnosis. Hope the treatment offered halts the spread. Best wishes.S

      1. I did raise a laugh when the consultant was explaining stuff and I said well can’t I just leave my head here? He and the nurse both laughed.

    4. Oh Ann, I am so sorry…wish I could say something helpful…love and best wishes from us across the pond.

    5. What awful news, Ann. I’m so sorry to read it. Sending all my love to you and your lovely husband.💐🍷

    6. Sorry to hear this. At least they seem to be getting a move on with appointments.

    7. At the very least, Ann, you know what to expect – not that it makes it any easier.

      Our hearts go out to you and if there is any way you need help – just shout. Someone near will come, or I’ll come myself, from Scotland.

    8. Now that you know the horrid options, it is perhaps to best proceed with all haste, Ann.

    9. Not what you wanted to hear. So sorry. Especially as you were there last year and they gave you some sort of treatment which was not enough.

    10. Oh LotL, this is shocking why didn’t they get a move on with your case right from the first? I suppose there was a back-log from the ‘covid’ days. Our politicians have a lot to answer for. It is pedal to the metal from now on. Always know that your support group will be here, ready and waiting.

    11. Bad news but at least all has been confirmed.

      Not much we can do to help from here but I will avoid the Pinot rather than causing a run on supplies.

      Hopefully they will get a move on and actually do something to help, not just deaden the pain.

      2. It can’t be much fun being the Consultant, forever bringing that kind of news to patients and their families. It must be really hard.

    12. My God, Ann.
      Don’t know what to write.
      The Pinot is on me. And a sackload of hugs by express delivery.
      Was YOH with you? He will need Pinot too!

      1. Yes, he was and is too distressed to speak about it. He prefers Vermouth which I loathe.

    13. What awful news. So sorry that this is happening to you. Cancer is an evil disease but try anything you can. And you know that you have the full support of all of us on here to talk and say whatever you need to.

    14. Oh Ann, I’m so sorry. Will they rebuild what has to be removed? Prayers for you.

    16. FUCK.
      Sorry, but that is my reaction and I can’t blame you for getting pissed.

        1. I had exactly the same reaction as Bob but am too much of a lady to say it. 😉

          There is not enough pinot for this. Hugs x

    19. I am very upset to read that; it is dreadful for you and your family.
      I pray that they can find suitable and effective treatments and very quickly.

      Good luck.

    20. Hi Ann.
      Sorry for you, and apologies for sharing the following.

      Someone who lives locally, almost as young as you, developed a lump on his face during or after the first China Virus lockdown. The GP practice person (not a Doctor) recommended paracetamol, which is 99.9% ineffective against cancer. Eventually he had a load of tests and had to undergo a 12 hour operation by three surgeons. He lost one ear, one eye and a chunk of jawbone. His voice changed, and he had difficulty eating and his life became miserable. For a strong, self-reliant person it was beyond awful. We all expected him to die shortly (although he is relatively tall) and have been flummoxed by his gradual recovery. He is not AFAIK in complete remission, but when he was frail and depressed, a different oncologist gave him a series of injections that have once again made his life worth living.
      Never say die, and remission can last for 20 years.

    23. For me, today of all days to hear your news is a double punch below the belt. Stay strong and keep fighting, I knew a wonderful woman who did just that for years.

    24. It is always gut-wrenching when someone shares that kind of news. We know about that cruel disease in our family; you have our deepest sympathy, LotL. May God be with you.

    25. Oh, Ann.
      Use all the bad language you wish. What on earth can we say?
      Did the consultant give any idea of when your next appt. would be?

      1. Two weeks to see oncologist and in between a scan to check lungs,
        And BTW- I am getting pissed.

    26. Terrible news, but I think your sense of (dark) humour and your sheer bloody mindedness will help you.

    27. Oh, what an awful day. I am so sorry that you were given such shockingly terrible news. I don’t know what to say.
      It seems you have an ordeal ahead. We can but hope all the bad tissue will be removed before further spread.
      Use all the bad language you want; it may not change anything but it can help express your emotions.

    28. So sorry to hear this, Ann. We’re all thinking of you (and some are praying). You can get through this. I have no direct experience, but would echo Rose’s post below.

    29. Ann

      You have been put through an appalling delay.. months of waiting around and cancelled appointments and dithering consultants .

      If you weren’t so stressed out and poorly , I would chuck the book at them for negligence .and sue .

      The journey you have narrated to us over the past few years has been frightening and shocking , proving NHS incompetence is more common than anyone of them would dare to admit .

      Regard this comment as part of a big group hug .

      Try to sleep sweetly.

  69. Russia warns it would consider long-range attack on Crimea to be ‘the full involvement’ of US and UK in war. 20 June 2023.

    In the statement, Shoigu said:

    According to our information, the leadership of the armed forces of Ukraine plans to strike at the territory of the Russian Federation, including Crimea, with Himars and Storm Shadow missiles.

    The use of these missiles outside the zone of the special military operation will mean the full involvement of the United States and Great Britain in the conflict and will entail immediate strikes on decision-making centres on the territory of Ukraine.

    Shoigu has probably heard something here (they have good sources in Ukraine) but it need not necessarily be as straightforward as he states. Obviously any overt action by US or UK forces would be an Act of War so he’s actually talking about Ukraine delivering this attack. I usually keep out of the back and forth’s of this business but I’ll make an exception here. I think, judging by the silence that has descended on operations and the suppression of any news that the Ukie counter-attack has been a disaster. Not only tactically but I suspect that at least some part of their army has downed tools and is now refusing to fight. This wouldn’t be a surprise. It has all the defects of the Chateau Generalship of WWI. The grunts are taking all the hits while the leadership are coining it back in Kiev. Things like this get out. One wonders if Shoigu knows this and is cautioning against some mad scheme by the Ukies, who knowing that they cannot win alone, are going to try and drag in NATO to widen the war.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/jun/20/russia-ukraine-war-live-attacks-reported-across-ukraine-putin-nuclear-weapons-threat-is-real-says-biden?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with:block-649176ab8f0890e11a2bdf0e#block-649176ab8f0890e11a2bdf0e

    1. I said it was going to be a failure the other day. Macgregor also says it has been a failure. If you recall I said the dam incident was an attempt to cover up the fact that the Ukrainians haven’t the resources or the man power to conduct an offensive.

    2. …is cautioning against some mad scheme by the Ukies

      What’s the probability of some mad scheme from the globalist hawks in the UK and/or the USA? The current story re Johnson and possible shenanigans in the Russia/Ukraine peace deal is worrying. It could be a case that nothing is off the table when it comes to prolonging, and worse, escalating the conflict.

  70. Well, that was fun!
    The Nurse was a bit late calling me in and had found out that a colleague had taken the doppler machine used to pick up pulse rate in the feet, to an outside call.

    She tried using her fingers but had been using the machine so long she’d lost her touch!
    “Ah!” she then thought, “There’s this old one with a broken battery cover I can try!”

    Well, it switched on ok, but she couldn’t get it to stay on so she tried her fingers again and again without success.
    I then said, “Are you sure the battery is ok?” and she handed the machine over.

    I saw it was a 9V PP9 battery so took it out and touched the terminals on my tongue. Barely a tickle!! So off she went for a new battery and eventually got the job done!

    I made a few comments about “Our” NHS and the split between the upper echelon REMFs and the sharp-end which she agreed with, especially concerning the Alphabet Soup bullshite and we both generally had a good laugh.

    One thing that did strike me was how a £400 bit of electronic kit can be made awkward to use because of the cheap bit of plastic that they used for the battery lid!

    HOWEVER, in lieu of the blood & urine results, I appear to be otherwise disgustingly healthy with excellent blood pressure and pulse rate with my weight recording as 13st 12lb.
    Not bad considering I was pushing 18st a couple of years before I retired!

        1. I suspect the 5st difference has been expended on the Great Wall of Derbyshire.

          1. Not all of it.
            I realised I was getting fat a short while before I was diagnosed as Type B, but by that time, I’d already dropped over a stone.
            By the time I retired 5y ago I was down to a couple of pounds above 16st.
            I’ve been gradually dropping my weight since then and feel MUCH better for it!

          2. Me too, BoB, since August last year I have dropped 15 Kg and can actually see my willy again. All through stopping eating. No exercise, I cannot walk more than 70 metres, so longer journeys have to be in the car.

    2. When you consider that, barring accidents, our parents and grand-parents used to wear the same clothes for up to a week, is it really such a big deal?
      We are the most “hygienic” generation ever and look at the problems affecting our children.

      1. A further comment, on Forward Training Exercises in Germany during the ’70s, wearing your grollies for a week was quite common!

        1. We were issued with 3 pairs of shreddies (drawers cellular ORFTUO) – one on, one spare and one in the laundry

          2. During my 3 year apprenticeship we didn’t have that option although some got away with it

        3. Execise Autumn Sales 1977, we Lineys had a “grot” competition. Two of us managed 14 days without changing socks and shreddies.

        4. Execise Autumn Sales 1977, we Lineys had a “grot” competition. Two of us managed 14 days without changing socks and shreddies.

          3. 1st man – How long have you been wearing corsets?
            2nd man – since the wife found some on the back seat of the car

      4. I remember my Dad having detachable shirt collars. I assume he wore he same shirt for several days.

    3. There is no climate change crisis. By all means, he can clean his clothes in a river – oh there aren’t any – using stones if he wants.

      This is the demented future the Left want.

      1. They have definitely tested AI on chat fora in the past. “SocialistWarrior” was an early prototype.

      3. Now look here! I might go on about the same topics all the time but I am very real!

    2. This is what bothers me about the census.

      If the state wanted to, it could gather all the information it wanted from the various databases the state has – where you live, current employment status, tax code, tax paid, income, where you live, how long you’ve lived there, everything about the house – extensions, significant building works, the car you drive, how long you’ve had it, when it was last serviced, how far you usually drive – and from that work out where those places are. The pets you have from various licences and microchipping.

      All the data is there, the state just wastes money making us fill in a godawful form that is ignored.

      1. They know that all the foreigners who don’t speak English well will ignore it, which gives them a valid excuse to underestimate the population.

        1. Which is why supermarkets are a far better judge of population. Everyone needs to eat. The state says there are only 67 million people in the country, Tesco says 80 million. Sainsbury’s 2 million fewer.

          To everyone else it is obvious the state is lying. Why they bother is anyone’s guess.

          1. Looking at the physical size of so many of the general population I would conclude that many are eating for two and in some cases for three or even four.

          2. The slimmest women in our LONG wait in the hospital were the receptionists who sit at desks all day. Most of the nurses were large and waddled.
            I am no oil painting but I am not fat like that. Also, I will be hideous if I I opt for surgery.

          5. Beauty is only skin deep, Ann. It’s what’s inside that matters and where the real beauty lies.

  74. For those interested The Spectator has emerged from its self-imposed isolation complete with approved comment threads!

    1. I’m debating with myself whether or not to cancel my subscription to the Speccie. As far as I’m concerned only Rod Liddle, Lionel Shriver, Melissa Kite and Douglas Murray on one of his good days are worth reading. The Critic is much better.

      2. I prefer The Critic these days. From the emails, Speccie Australia looks better, especially Alexandra Marshall but then I see her on The Mark Steyn Show on his webpage now so no need to read the articles!

  75. Just back from beach. Quite breezy – but swimming OK.

    While the weather forecasts are sort of indicative – the best sign is the number of boats anchored in the bay. On a fine, sunny, warm, still day – there will be 50 plus.

    Today NONE!

          2. We are getting all the doom and gloom articles…. ‘only a 1% chance’ …. ‘the submersible will have imploded and they will all be dead by now….’ I feel we are being primed for a rabbit being plucked out of the hat moment.

          4. I admire your optimism.

            The NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) is based on the Clyde – it should have been despatched – by air – yesterday.

            The location of the submersible is not yet known.

            The system is unmanned and has no means of communication with the silent, missing submersible.

            AFAIK, there has never been a rescue at these depths.

            No one on board the submersible has training or experience of deep sea rescues.

            The people onboard cannot exit the submersible; it can only be ‘opened’ by the rescuing vehicle.

    3. As I posted yesterday- RMS Titanic is an under sea graveyard. It is not a tourist site.

    4. Definitely.
      In fact, I wonder about minds that cannot understand how sick those cartoons are.

      1. Put yourself in the mind of a doomed submersible and then see the black humour that kept us (especially military) going through the cold war – particularly the Cuba Crisis, October 1962.

        I was on a front-line fighter squadron, expecting incoming nuclear weapons at any moment, Anne, while it all played out. It stayed like that for 72 hours. How would you have kept your morale up?

        1. And the lads sitting in their Vulcan for the one-way journey to Russia. And only the pilots having bangseats.

    1. A lot of men wear their top hats tilted ‘aft’, bb2 – and thereby look ridiculous!

      1. I caught a glimpse of a woman in a morning suit and a top hat this afternoon. She didn’t appear to be a tranny, just a woman wearing a morning suit over a blouse.

  80. Par Four today.

    Wordle 731 4/6
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜
    🟨🟨🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Me too.

      Wordle 731 4/6

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

    3. Me too.
      Wordle 731 4/6

      ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜
      ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜
      ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

          2. Second bottle of whisky since yesterday, Ann and many glasses (with ginger ale) raise to your continuing and increasing health. Slainte.

      2. I’ve toasted one lady today, not with Pinot but a chilled Sauvignon Blanc. Another will not go amiss and you’re very welcome.

          1. Elsie, you are a silly sausage and I claim my 5/- postal order. You know the address.

          2. How dare you accuse me of being a Silly Sausage. Wash your mouth out with soap. You should be ashamed of using such foul language! Lol.

      5. Good evening Lotl,
        How was today? Just hope it wasn’t too awful and that you haven’t been left in pain again.

    2. I regularly remember Lotl (and others on this site who have medical problems) in my prayers.

  82. Re the lost submersible:
    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/uk-government-rishi-sunak-titan-submersible-atlantic-b1089056.html

    If it’s on the Clyde, shouldn’t whatever it is be on its way by now, every minute is likely to be precious.

    If we can waste money on weapons to Ukraine, surely this could be regarded as both humanitarian and training?
    Given the wealth of the people involved I’m sure they would be willing to cover the costs of their rescue.

    1. The NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS), based on the Clyde, should have been despatched – by air – yesterday.

      PM Rishi Sunak is busy proclaiming virtue signals.

      As with other political assurances, I fear it will be too little, too late …

      1. One might wonder whether it is actually being used as support elsewhere on Ukraine’s behalf.

  83. “The Telegraph has discovered that a pupil at a secondary school in the South West is insisting on being addressed as a dinosaur. At another secondary school in England, a pupil insists on identifying as a horse. Another wears a cape and wants to be acknowledged as a moon. ”
    from https://dailysceptic.org/2023/06/20/parents-of-13-year-old-girl-called-despicable-by-teacher-for-standing-up-to-trans-ideology-say-how-proud-they-are-of-her/

    Do you think the kids might be taking the p out of the ridiculous system….

    2. England lost it – stupid 1st innings declaration and not giving the new ball with 12 overs to go to Jimmy Anderson

  85. Trips into outer space, view the Titanic, climb Everest.
    Games for millionaires and billionaires.
    Just so they can boast been there seen it done it.
    My sympathy is vanishing rapidly.

    Titan sub is like a ‘kit car built from Amazon parts’: Observers say ‘flimsy’ vessel uses camping shop lights, ‘off the shelf’ cameras, salvaged metal pipes for ballast and a Playstation controller – with a comms team in a ship previously traded on eBay

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12214617/Titanic-sub-like-kit-car-built-Amazon-parts.html

    Are there no regulations regarding such things?

      1. It’s a sick joke now.

        OceanGate admits that the sub’s interior includes several pieces of ‘off-the-shelf technology’ which it says ‘helped to streamline the construction, and makes it simple to operate and replace parts in the field’.
        The company warns customers that Titan is an experimental vessel, and they are asked to sign a waiver accepting that it ‘has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, disability, emotional trauma or death’.

        My bold

    2. I think it’s just part of the future Hollywood film news story. I am taking it with a grain of salt. I hope they will be OK though.

        1. Every day I read the real news from financial commentators on Twitt.
          Then I go to the Mail and read what the government wants me to think. The Mail version is sick, in my opinion.

    4. Sounds like a tin of sardines .

      Being wealthy does not necessarily mean one is endowed with common sense .

      I wonder who will be praying to God and who will be asking Allah to intervene .

    5. Off-the-shelf cameras… if they are cheap shit from the local motor factor, then right to complain, but they can easily be off the expensive shelf – mass made components of quality. We buy a lot of that, it’s the quality and reliability of the component that matters, not whether its OTS.
      Salvaged pipe is good, if you inspect it first.
      Believe PS controllers are pretty robust, but if not, plug in the standby one.

        1. No.
          Missing so long now has a bad feel to it. I suspect they aren’t coming back – whether the pressure hull has collapsed or otherwise. Maybe they had an internal electrical fire? That’s fatal in a small submarine, although a friend at university, then a Midshipman aboard a nuclear sub (with sealable compartments), experienced a fire under the polar ice…! After that, he transferred to HMS Hermes.

    6. Another Darwin award winner I’m afraid. Not worth risking anyone’s lives looking for the crushed tin can.

      1. I’d be surprised if it wa crushed – just floating somewhere, with lightly toasted occupants who asphyxiated.

        1. Any breach of the hull’s integrity would surely result in huge compression if the ‘vessel’ were at the wreck’s depth of 12,500′ equating to 368 atmospheres (according to an online conversion).

      1. Comical Rishi – and his billionaire wife – are not interested in No.10 or GB; they are merely seeking their next Gravy Train somewhere over the rainbow.

    4. Makes me think of a remark overheard by my brother in passing on Regent Street, “The man’s a cunt, an absolute shit!” applicable today to Sunak.

    5. If he believes this BS, Sunak clearly is, along with many other unattractive traits, a fantasist.

    6. If he believes this BS, Sunak clearly is, along with many other unattractive traits, a fantasist.

    7. Stopped the boats for sure, but mid channel, and transferred to our BF and RNLI vessels

    1. Give them all a machete and tell them it’s 10 years for the survivor or life with no parole ever for all of them.
      Law of the jungle…

    2. 24 years for 6 men means around 4 years each. Less one year probably already served in custody whilst waiting for the trial and verdict, so only 3 years each to go. But sentence reduced by half for good behaviour. So therefore out in a year from now? This is conjecture on my part, but do you blame me?

      1. Quite.
        It makes me cross the way the Press says “xyz years” but never explains that the real figure per head is SFA to a jam tart.

      1. 373596+ up ticks,,

        Evening B3,

        In many eyes they don’t look the types to be robbers , in many eyes they would be seen as vicars.

        There lies the rub.

          1. 373596+ up ticks

            Evening T5,

            In a rush, rectified before seeing your post (honest) fall out from working for Vickers years ago in Uganda

    4. If all Y’all could carry a concealed firearm, this shit would be very much less likely to happen. Draw the weapon, and the buggers would run away. You don’t have to shoot anyone, unless they are about to cut you. Then, they lose.

      1. If that was available, what makes you think the bad guys wouldn’t be carrying too?

        1. One could get a carry permit based on being of good character. They would have to buy a gun illegally – more expensive. And, in any case, who would try to rob someone who just might kill you in return – although that crew don’t look as if they have the intelligence to lick the correct side of a stamp.

          1. When the bad guy sticks a gun up your nose and says” wallet!” are you really going to start to pull your own gun?
            Or are you going to shoot them in the back as they walk away with your wallet?

          2. No to either.
            The first is stupid (watch Active Self Protection on YT: Never draw against the drop), the second is murder.
            But why should the innocent party be defenceless – by law? If you see the incident happening, then you can be prepared and draw the weapon in time. If you don’t, let them take your stuff. It’s only things, after all.

          3. Yep
            Many, many years ago I always told the self defence class that I taught that you should always back off.
            Give the wallet away quickly.
            The answer to the question: “What do you do if?”
            is .. “die”
            The robber is unlikely to be merciful and is almost certainly far more practised in such situations than you will ever be.

          4. And – the problem is, you are the ambushed one, barely any time to prepare a defence, so all you can do is react. Give away the wallet/watch.
            But: Keep awake and aware of what’s going on around you so that you can be ready. Best of all, bugger off so you don’t get involved.

          5. Indeed.
            Don’t walk in bad neighbourhoods, if you can possibly avoid them.
            If you must, keep awake, don’t draw attention to yourself but equally don’t look like a victim. These creeps go for the weak or the obviously rich.

        2. It seems perverse that the innocent party is not allowed to defend themselves – and when seconds count, the police are only hours away.

          2. At Firstborn’s place, the de-policing means that the police are only weeks away.
            WTF?? Of course, these decisions are made by people guarded by big men with firearms…

      2. In the good old days a gentleman would have had a revolver and a sword-stick.

  88. Heading to bed for a while. Exhausted and a lot to come to terms with.
    Maybe later.

    2. Ann – check out Ivermectin and cancer https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7505114/#:~:text=Interestingly%2C%20ivermectin%20can%20also%20inhibit,combination%20with%20other%20chemotherapy%20drugs.
      After you’ve waded through item 1 the interesting stuffs starts at item 2. And just carry on. Ivermectin is heralded as one of the safest drugs in the world. And I suspect its use in cancer is possibly one of the reasons the Japanese inventor won the Nobel prize for medicine. And why big pharma wants it banned (no money in curing people and it is a cheap drug). If you google ‘Ivermectin and cancer’ it will come up with the ncbi website but will also give you access to questions such as ‘is ivermectin safe to use with chemotherapy’ – the answer is yes. You can get ivermectin online from the US, ivermectin.com, there are also other places. There is also, usually, a handy chatbox somewhere on the screen where you can ask about dosages and any other queries.

      To anyone else wishing to detox from the effects of the jab, it seems that Ivermectin should always be the first port of call, followed by Nattokinase (clot buster) NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine) – immune support and Bromelaine (from pineapples) – reduces inflammation. Each at 600 mgms daily. I don’t know for how long but probably for six months. Please do research.

      I in no way wish to give false hope but desperate times call for desperate, adventurous measures.

        1. Struggling, Paul, really struggling. We are both finding it really difficult. I have just sat down on the sofa and I momentarily expected her to walk out from behind it to join me on the sofa…. it’s things like that. It’s early days I suppose. We have had other pets (cats) but this is our first family dog, although as a child there was always a dog in the house. Poppie was included in everything – meals out, family celebrations, we shared the meat from our dinners with her and in her latter years she shared and had substantial access to our bank account….! In short, everything we do reminds us that she isn’t here.

          I have very much appreciated everyone’s kind comments and support on the blog, it really has made a difference and assisted me in the coming to terms with our loss.

          1. It’s really difficult, PM.
            We lost Magnificat, the best cat ever, some years ago now. It took forever for me to stop looking at the warm mat just inside the door (to dry shoes, subsequently occupied by Magnificat) for him every time we came home.
            That was som years ago, and we still miss him.
            Enjoy the memories, and don’t forget them. A new dog isn’t a betrayal, just a new pet to get to know and love in different ways, because they are all different.

          2. Thanks so much Paul, especially for your last sentence. I have told other people when they have lost their much loved pet that a new dog would not be a replacement but would run alongside the memories of the pet that had gone on ahead. So much more difficult to apply my advice to myself, so thank you for reminding me. It does take someone else to get the message home. I love the name ‘Magnificat’. I hope you are enjoying Iceland by the way. Isn’t t’internet wonderful that we can all keep in touch like this?!

          3. Hertslass has various email addresses.

            I’m not sure whether a note to Plum tart would be well received but she has been through similar and might both appreciate the contact and offer some experience.

          4. I miss her. It would be good to get Plum back on Nttl, but we can’t force her.

          5. Agreed.
            lacoste keeps in touch but even he says she’s becoming more withdrawn, a common grief might produce a common support.

          6. I hope she’s unwilling to return due to the endless moaning and enegativity, rather than that she has issues that she can’t cope with. Sounds like the lady needs hugs (as do we all).
            I’m first in the queue, BTW.

          8. I recall, not so long ago but pre-covid days that it was quite the thing to sit in, for example, Trafalgar Square or your local shopping mall holding a sign saying ‘Free hugs given here’ – that was in the days when we were so much nicer to each other.

          9. I remember the ‘free hugs’ when I was sitting by the National Gallery one day. I didn’t partake myself but I saw others do so. Probably five or six years ago now.

          10. You won’t betray Poppie, Mum if you do get another dog – in fact you should- you need someone to love and who loves you. That’s the wee beastie who needs your hugs and cuddles,

            Do it and do it soon. You both need it. Hugs from here.

          11. Thank you, Tom. Your hugs are much appreciated. Your advice would be seconded by James Herriot who said the quickest way to recovery after the loss of a dog was to get another dog. His ‘Dog Stories’ are a delight, written in the style and language of our day (that was). We will be collecting Poppie’s ashes on Thursday (tomorrow) or Friday, and when they are scattered we will start to look around. Charles (poppiesdad) was looking around for another dog online (Battersea) on Monday, the emptiness and silence and time moving so slowly was getting to him. The dog shaped-hole in his heart was requiring attention. We miss her gentle snuffles and snorts, her joining in our conversations with a gentle snuffle from underneath the chair we were sitting on, her frequent eye contact that said ‘what’s for dinner’; ‘oh, for heaven’s sake!’; ‘are we going out? when are we going out?’….. we even miss her ever increasing sbd evening farts as she got older…!

          12. Try your local blue cross, it’s where Judy and I found Dotty, our chihuahua. Since being exiled to Scotland, I miss that little dog.

          13. We miss our pets differently from the way we miss people, they we give them access to our hearts along swifter paths and they enter through different doors. And they don’t care about our warts and cysts (not that I have any!) – they are just accepting of our human condition. We were both in tears again this morning walking our familiar dog walk through the wood – we are trying to maintain our level of fitness – we knew exactly where she stopped for sniffs and where we turned to look round to ensure she was keeping up. Other stuff in life seems so trivial – this stupid net zero – against this loss and loud noises upset me. Most of the main rescue places seem to have only large dogs available, the staffies and staffie crosses, lurchers and greyhounds and we would probably be considered too old as well for the main rescue centres. I will look at our local Blue Cross.

            I think you need to find somewhere to live in England, Tom, if you can – it is a long way from the culture with which you are familiar and Scottish culture and people are different from the English.

          15. My post wasn’t meant as a criticism or directive, it was a mild observation of your circumstances which of course I know you know already, I was attempting to reinforce what you already know.

            I think I’ll shut up for the day!

          18. Trying, Mum, Maggie is pointing me in the direction of Halsey House, Cromer, that would certainly suit me better being ex RAF and a Norfolk Dumpling.

          19. Go for it. We could come and visit you. In fact, we could all come and visit you!

          20. I think I recall that Hertslass said that Plum didn’t want her contact details given out to anyone so I think that is a non-starter. Lacoste must have got round that in some way….!

          21. That’s what we’re here for on this site, poppiesmum. We all care about each other, except when joshing each other, e.g. Bill Thomas referring to Anne Allan as “the Pushy Nurse”.

          23. Exactly, pm. Similarly when I “swear” at people by calling them a Silly Sausage. Lol.

          24. It is the loss of a family member, after all. You are bound to grieve and that’s normal.

  89. Goodnight and God bless, Gentlefolk. our thoughts, love and hugs are with you especially Ann who needs them above all.

  90. A good day to bury bad news.
    In and amongst all the Titanic Hoh hah etc. etc. et bloody cet:

    Republicans rip Hunter Biden’s ‘slap on the wrist’ for tax and gun crimes: GOP says president’s scandal-plagued son’s plea deal to likely AVOID jail is just a ‘distraction’ from alleged $10million bribery scheme
    Hunter Biden’s lawyers have reached a deal with prosecutors that would see him plead guilty to tax crimes but likely avoid jail time
    The president’s son has been under investigation for five years for tax crimes and for handgun paperwork where he attested that he did not abuse drugs

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12214845/Republicans-rip-Hunter-Bidens-slap-wrist-tax-gun-crimes.html

  91. From https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/19/us/titanic-wreckage-missing-submersible-search-explainer-intl-hnk/index.html
    How did they go missing?
    The submersible was part of an eight-day journey conducted by OceanGate Expeditions. The trip is based out of Newfoundland, with participants first traveling 400 nautical miles to the wreck site, which is about 900 miles (1,450 kilometers) off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

    The submersible began its two-hour descent to the wreck on Sunday morning. It lost contact with the Polar Prince, the support ship that transported the vessel to the site, 1 hour and 45 minutes into its descent, officials said.

    Search operations began later that day.

    It’s still not clear what happened to the submersible, why it lost contact, and how close to the Titanic it was when it went missing.

      1. Indeed.
        And, TBH, I’m not sure I care too much. Rich man dead due to own inadvisable action – oh, dear.

        1. I used to get really distressed by these sort of incidents, now I simply cannot be bothered. If you have more money than sense, what can you expect?

        2. Every man’s death diminishes me…

          Hopefully the papers have just blown it out of proportion and they will be rescued.

      2. I was just thinking the same myself! So very convenient. I am smelling a very large rat.

    2. My first reaction to this was that it is just another false flag diversion.
      I’m still thinking that

      1. Me too, will those ‘pesky rooshans’ be involved (false flag) in this somewhere? Will this kick-start WWlll?

      2. Could be. Could easily be. Who can possibly verify what we have been told? The militaries could but they’d be instructed to keep schtum.

    3. It had a ‘playstation’ joystick to operate manoeuvres, I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

      “Hull breach and massive deep water compression, go back to start of game!”

    4. It vital to know what depth is implied by ‘1 hour 45 minutes into its descent’, Oberst.

      Existing rescue craft, unmanned, cannot perform at the depth of the HMS Titanic graveyard.

      The best hope for the missing submersible – ‘Titan’ – would be if the skipper manages to ‘blow the tanks’ and resurface.

      A surface recovery would be relatively simple.

      At an unknown depth and without any communication, this continues to be a dangerous adventure.

    5. Why not lower the damned
      submersible attached to steel cable with a winch?

      It cost the ‘explorers’ a lot of money to join the trip. How much more of taxpayer money is to be spent recovering and salvaging the egoistical idiots who paid for the adventure?

      The cynic in me says that this story is some diversionary false flag exercise in order to conceal yet another Biden Crime Family
      indiscretion.

  92. Well, chums, another busy day so I will wish you all a Good Night. Sleep well and see you all tomorrow.

  94. Evening, all. Any politicians who are intent on achieving net zero should be booted out. It’s idiocy of the first water.

  96. As we predicted…

    Covid Inquiry: Former chief medical officer close to tears over pandemic deaths

    England’s former chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies was close to tears at the Covid Inquiry as she apologised to families bereaved by the pandemic. “It wasn’t just the deaths, it was the way they died… it was harrowing and it remains horrible,” she said. She also said the UK did not have enough resilience to cope with the pandemic, with fewer doctors, nurses or hospital beds than similar countries.

    The inquiry is currently examining the UK’s preparedness ahead of Covid. In her evidence, Dame Sally also expressed concern about the impact of the lockdowns on children and students. “We have damaged a generation, and it is awful… watching these people struggle,” she said.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65962091

    She’s certainly correct about the impact on education but the day’s proceedings were about blaming Call-me-Dave and Gideot for starving the NHS of funds. According to a BBC radio news report, Oliver Letwin, a ‘minister for resilience’ in Cameron’s time, blamed himself for ‘not challenging the government’s monomaniacal focus on an influenza-type pandemic with not a thought for any other’.

    Yep, the conclusion will be ‘The evil Tories killed Grandma’.

    1. The whole damn thing was a scam from start to finish. The irreparable harm done by our Pharma-funded-politicos is immeasurable.

      These bastards have made billions from PPE contracts and all the rest of the paraphernalia visited on the rest of us. In my local surgery we still have those hideous footprints marked on the floor and admonitions to those not wearing a mask.

      A poor massively overweight woman sat near to me in the surgery wearing what I discerned to be a homemade mask. She asked whether she was required to wear the mask in the surgery waiting room. I advised her to stop wearing a mask altogether because it was harmful to her health.

      Thankfully the poor woman took the mask off.

      This tale demonstrates the evil intent of our political and medico masters. They have frightened so many innocent and trusting people all of whom will have deserved better. A little honesty and truth even.

      2. I for one, will never, ever again trust anything that Big Pharma puts out there of any benefit that comes from their Junk medicines.

        You’ll get a better result from McDonald’s Hamburgers than any Shiite that Big Pharma might lie to you.

  97. As we predicted…

    Covid Inquiry: Former chief medical officer close to tears over pandemic deaths

    England’s former chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies was close to tears at the Covid Inquiry as she apologised to families bereaved by the pandemic. “It wasn’t just the deaths, it was the way they died… it was harrowing and it remains horrible,” she said. She also said the UK did not have enough resilience to cope with the pandemic, with fewer doctors, nurses or hospital beds than similar countries.

    The inquiry is currently examining the UK’s preparedness ahead of Covid. In her evidence, Dame Sally also expressed concern about the impact of the lockdowns on children and students. “We have damaged a generation, and it is awful… watching these people struggle,” she said.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65962091

    She’s certainly correct about the impact on education but the day’s proceedings were about blaming Call-me-Dave and Gideot for starving the NHS of funds. According to a BBC radio news report, Oliver Letwin, a ‘minister for resilience’ in Cameron’s time, blamed himself for ‘not challenging the government’s monomaniacal focus on an influenza-type pandemic with not a thought for any other’.

    Yep, the conclusion will be ‘The evil Tories killed Grandma’.

    1. The sun highlighting the stunning facade. Do you know how old this church is?

        1. Quite new then. It’s an interesting design with a modern twist to traditional church building.

  100. That’s me for tonight. Ann’s news took the shine off the day, and I’ll drift off with her in my thoughts.
    KBO, Ann. It’s all one can do, and there’s a lot of us cheering you on.

    2. It’s perfectly acceptable to wear a black topper with a grey suit. A grey topper worn when carriage driving indicates that the whip is the owner of the equipage.

    3. Absolute idiot, learned nothing from his Mama, who was an inspiration to us all.

      When shall we ever see her like again.?

  103. And it’s goodnight from me and to the Lady Ann, along with all Nottlers, far and wide, we wish you and your OH all the very best, have a good night.

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