Tuesday 22 July: Labour’s treatment of pensioners hardly encourages workers to save

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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509 thoughts on “Tuesday 22 July: Labour’s treatment of pensioners hardly encourages workers to save”

  4. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,494 5/6

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    1. 409829+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      Ben Leo
      @benleo444
      ·
      34m
      The lack of action in the Channel and levels of unfathomable incompetence in ‘stopping the boats’ all makes sense when you finally accept this one premise:

      It’s intentional.

  7. Every year I get a Statement from my two little company pension providers explaining why the Rules allow them to limit any cost of living rises in my pension to a small fraction of inflation, thereby dropping the true value of my pensions, which no longer keep up with my Council Tax. It is a sleight of hand, and presumably someone is making some money out of this. CPI bears little resemblance to what I need to buy in order to subsist. There is some fiddle going to exclude things like food, water, Council Tax and standing charges from the "average household budget".

    Private pensions are therefore not reliable to keep one in old age – far too easy to be dipped into by legalised fraudsters, leaving me dependent on the State Pension, for as long as we still have the Triple Lock.

    Savers have been penalised in favour of borrowers for quite a while now, and pressure is always on the Bank of England to restore favour to borrowers, in order to boost "growth". The Magic Fairy will hold off inflation until the next election is in the bag, so we are led to believe.

      1. Even if his intentions were good the simple fact is he doesn't seem to know what he's facing, how long it would take or where to start unravelling the endless chains of red tape. Farage is making grand bold claims of what he'll do but the monolith in front of him is kilometres high. He simply hasn't a clue how to dismantle it.

  12. 409829+up ticks,

    No matter how expensively camouflaged you CANNOT CONCEAL political / judiciary turds, the sulfurous odour regarding past actions reveals all.

    Dt,
    Tony and Cherie Blair given nearly £50k discount on designer clothes
    Former PM and his wife were advised to pay back remaining savings to avoid opening ‘real can of worms’

    1. Blair was and is a crook. In it for the money. When he left office he had become a millionaire.

          1. An arrangement so complex the Warqueen said – and I quote 'It's very well done.' Of course, HMRC have just given up as they can't be bothered understanding it.

      2. “The pigs outside looked from Blair to Obama, and from Obama to Blair, and from Blair to Obama again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

        1. I'll bet he still has 24/7/365 armed protection supplied by the British taxpayers.
          If only the film The Ghost Writer had been true.

    1. Starmer is far too insensitive and stupid to be embarrassed by anything.

    2. Because they don't damned well want to, that's why! The more dindus are vomited on to the country the better as far as these revolting foreigner worshipping hate fuelled Lefties are concerned.

  15. Morning all 🙂😊
    Was sunny but clouded over now. Rain expected.
    The Labour party are being unbelievably stupid somehow they seem to under the impression that retirement means wealth. Most of our politicians take home more in expenses every 4-6 weeks than the basic annual state pension amounts to. Just because many pensioners own a property, it does not in anyway whatsoever make them wealthy.

  16. Guten morgen alles!
    After cooler day yesterday it's a beautiful sunny morning.
    I've noted that the hotel I'm in has a very impressive array of solar panels.
    There are even more on the roof! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/115bc5d3f80143aaa331b37d531bd3acc962489f0745e2c80ae510d3223c5cdb.jpg I went for a walk round the Altstadt and passed through the Bergergarten, almost literally just out the gates of the old Bindon Barracks. In this view it's as if nothing has changed:- https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bda6df3b9f2402729697feb39878e0788f9a009cb4cf3fefbd88cafe4d71009c.jpg The Bergergarten still has the old bronze statues I remember:- https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7d3de071bdb04719d2ac7c3a16870244936abc6cdf1af10a9a75f4a22ba3e508.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e2a700010f49d75b32bdab6ad911294c51ae0ae8a3382b9decd49e7a7a63f48d.jpg And sundials do not work in cloudy conditions:- https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d331f37469d4b773deca2e7cff78ce11185534d41ec9f73647fc36dd47029bbc.jpg And, of course there is a homage to the Pied Piper leading the town's children into the hillside https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3a65afd6b65bfc5350e34cc1067bd9f864d585ba2f495c7f9ae2561a2d9d1dba.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b65ce64c96ce3017f4b7f3a9decfb0bbb949e38d08a1ec148c89c968e411a8f8.jpg And, of course, the piper still leads the rats https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/176f556f39b1cd7a39b077ad60b8ff3e63e3674efea7cb8a1a9f9c3b27cbb190.jpg and children prompt at 13:05 every day https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6611ccf34c179cfce4566c24041ec30fb63d437881c99afb647ae8de8c552b69.jpg

    1. I like the idea of local solar but the ones on the orange block are in front of windows, blocking out natural light.

  17. Good morning, all. Blue sky all around this morning.

    On a gardening note, this year I followed BT's advice and I am growing Cobra climbing French beans. After a slow start the plants, grown in a well prepared bed limed last autumn and filled this spring with homemade compost and slow release fertiliser, have really taken off. I have eight plants initially and seven from a late sowing are now about 3" tall. Frankly, if they keep producing at the same rate I will not know what to do with the beans.

    Excellent posting from Liam Halligan – watched his and David Starkey's excellent discussion a few weeks ago – displaying the coming ruination of our economy. Are politicians really this stupid/incompetent or is there another element to these shenanigans?

    When the economy literally collapses where will the money come from to keep Starmer's "guests" in the lifestyle they have become used to? Add on top the 1.5 million homes, water and sewage upgrade, solar/wind provision, carbon capture etc. etc. promises and this government has created the shitshow of all shitshows.

    Reeves & Co must not be allowed to get their hands on our private pension funds as a source of "investment" funds to pour into the black hole they have created.
    https://x.com/LiamHalligan/status/1947287095283765532
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f45282858c4835c5d40b3da704d4192b376b6588c754cc706ce3a8ee17c6c497.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e9ca96a16d30cdc888c0bf19df83cd4fae38556500d8e5fa6769da7d82bab670.png

    1. I took Uncle Bill's advice on Cobras too. They are prolific.

      When you have a reasonable crop. Top and tail them and blanch them in hot water for 3 minutes. Then portion up and freeze.

      Cook from frozen in boiling salted water for 3 to 4 minutes and they should still have crunch.

      1. Phizzee, I'm not sure that prolific covers what I'm growing. I picked a colander full yesterday, two days after I picked my first lot, and there's much more to come. I am freezing them as you suggest but my small freezer is almost full. A friend has some freezer space and I will have to use that.

    2. B-orrow-ing….More debt. More waste, more tax. Rather than allow the wretched thing to fail and a better company step in, the Left waste money by replacing the regulator and bailing out the failed fools.

    1. The English have tried – and failed – for centuries to change the Irish mindset.

      The Irish may not have been very quick on the uptake but they are now beginning to see that EU membership and its rules are bringing with them an Islamic invasion and destruction of their proud Irish culture far worse than the English.

      It will be interesting to see if, after all, sheer bloody-mindedness proves to be the best policy.

      1. 409829+ up ticks,

        Afternoon O,

        Saint Florian seems justifiable
        active in Ireland currently, was it something allah said ?

  19. Ed says.. put me down for some.

    Poland discovers largest oil and gas field in its history near the German border, with 33 million tons of oil and 27 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

    1. When Miliband is put into a lunatic asylum then part of his therapeutic treatment must be that, under careful supervision, he has to don a boiler suit and the hard hat he so dearly loves wearing and made to work in an oily job in Poland.

    2. What a horrible, inarticulate man. He is also a drug crazed crook. Without the F word he would be speechless.

      1. His Daddy gave him a' Presidential Pardon' or at least the automatic signing machine did.

    5. According to ChatGPT, the immigrant population of the USA is 14%, +/- a few. So, with 86% whites, I would expect they would be more represented in the violence statistics.
      How about the rate of offending, Mr Biden?

    2. That's what our surgery sometimes looks like. Full of foreigners, none of whom know how to behave.

  22. Double-decker bus crashes into bridge in Manchester
    Fifteen people taken to hospital as major incident declared in Salford
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/21/bus-crash-hospital-salford-manchester-eccles/

    How can this happen?

    Apparently the bus was not on the regular route but surely the person who gave instructions for the new route knew about the low bridge and presumably the driver could see how very low the bridge was?

    BTL

    I suspect that they are not releasing any details about the driver for the usual reason.

          2. or takes the practical test – they may also have got a proxy to take the test

    4. There is a clip of the bus hitting the bridge on FB. The bridge is very clearly marked as being low.

  23. Starmer and the EU are still trying to punish Britain for Brexit

    Under our hapless PM, the UK is agreeing to pay for things that many smaller nations would not accept

    Daniel Hannan • 19th July 2025, 3:02pm BST

    We are reaching the scorched earth stage. Labour senses that it will lose the next election. The EU senses it, too. So both sides have decided to lock the UK into its subordinate status, to sign "Farage-proof" agreements that future governments will struggle to unpick.

    The Telegraph has seen the texts on agriculture and energy policy that Sir Keir Starmer agreed in May. No wonder the PM was reluctant to get into specifics. Britain has accepted permanent and unilateral EU control of its food and energy regulations. Worse, it is agreeing to pay for the privilege of being slapped about.

    The ins and outs of the deals, unlike Starmer's soft-soap salesmanship at the time, are brutal. We are to become the EU's helots.

    "Neither agreement should give the United Kingdom the right to participate in the Union's decision-making," the text proclaims, without diplomatic niceties.

    Yet, at the same time: "The United Kingdom should contribute financially to supporting the relevant costs associated with the Union's work in these policy areas. This includes financial contribution to inter alia the functioning of the relevant Union agencies, systems and databases."

    To see how abusive the relationship is, try to picture it the other way around. Imagine a British Government insisting that trade with the EU is contingent on Brussels making financial transfers to the Treasury; that disputes will be arbitrated by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom; that Brussels must label its goods to avoid leakage into Northern Ireland; that British fishermen should have access to EU waters; that the EU might be allowed to defend British interests militarily, but only if it pays for the privilege; that any change in future British regulations will automatically be shadowed on the Continent.

    Such things are, of course, unimaginable. British Euro-fanatics maintain that this asymmetry simply reflects the difference in the size of our economies, but that is nonsense. We are the sixth-largest economy in the world, for Heaven's sake, and we are accepting terms that far smaller EU trading partners would not countenance.

    Indeed, nowhere else in the world are trade deals dependent on the deliberate subjection of one of the contracting parties. Australia and New Zealand have perhaps the most comprehensive trade agreement on the planet, but it would not occur to either side that the Kiwis should make budgetary transfers or hand over their fishing grounds as a participation fee.

    Talking of which, New Zealand has a mutual recognition deal on agrifoods with the EU of a kind not uncommon among developed economies. Each side agrees to trust the other's regulators. If a consignment of Danish bacon is approved by local inspectors, that is good enough for the Kiwis, and vice versa.

    There was no reason for the EU not to have a similar deal with Britain, whose food standards were not simply compatible with its own, but identical. But Eurocrats were feeling vindictive. They wanted to punish us for the referendum. More than this, they fretted that, if Britain was allowed to opt out of the more unscientific and onerous Brussels regulations, it might import food from the rest of the world. It might, for example, go back to buying its beef from Australia and Canada rather than Ireland and France.

    So Eurocrats demanded "dynamic alignment" (an odd phrase, few things being less dynamic than the EU). They insisted that the UK should not simply meet EU standards when selling to the EU, but should impose them domestically. And they insisted that the deal should be open-ended, so that future changes in those regulations would be automatically applied in Britain.

    The last Government was having none of it. It was well aware of the statistics. EU food exports to the UK were worth around two to three as much as the reverse. And many British exports were in categories where safety checks did not apply: Scotch whisky, for example.

    It was Brussels that was, in diplomatic parlance, the demandeur here. The UK buys around £40 billion of EU food each year – a quarter of everything Europe exports. We take substantially more than the US and China. If Brussels wanted a New Zealand-style mutual recognition deal, said the Conservative Government, great; but the idea that Britain would invite foreign officials to regulate its domestic food standards was a non-starter.

    Then came Starmer and everything changed. The hapless Labour leader was not interested in cost-benefit analyses. Rather, he approached the EU in the spirit of a mediaeval penitent, a man who wanted the sin of Brexit to be scourged from him. Deep down, he shared the European view that his country deserved to pay a price.

    So he reversed the previous Government's position and invited Brussels to tell him what to do. More than this, he agreed to pay for it. As the text spells out: "The United Kingdom should bear appropriate costs for participation in the common sanitary and phytosanitary area and for the implementation of the agreement to link the United Kingdom and the Union's greenhouse emissions trading systems."

    In exchange for what? Insults, chiefly. Again, try to imagine it the other way around. Imagine that, at every summit with a European leader, the British began by saying how wrong the other country was to allow its laws to be set abroad. "I deplore Germany's decision to hand over its democracy to unelected Brussels functionaries, but I accept the decision of the German electorate."

    You can't, can you? Yet we barely notice any more when European leaders say, as the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz did at his summit with Starmer this week: "The UK, and I personally deplore this deeply, decided to leave the European Union." The reason he gets away with it, of course, is that Starmer agrees. So, indeed, does the Cabinet.

    The Europhile think-tank, UK in a Changing Europe, writes quarterly reports monitoring the extent of divergence between Britain and the EU. Its latest, published last week, finds an unprecedented degree of alignment across 21 areas including energy policy, fisheries, trade and competition. The few areas in which Britain had been diverging – the freedom to grow precision crops, for example – are being brought into line.

    Leftists often have a false idea of what conservatives believe, and Labour came to office genuinely convinced that the Tories were rejecting collaboration with the EU out of xenophobia. As a Number 10 spokesman told this newspaper last week: "The Tory method was making bad choices because they were stuck in the ideological treacle of the past. We're not going to continue that."

    The truth – that Britain had pushed for close economic relations and had baulked only at the Carthaginian terms demanded by the other side – never entered Labour heads. Thinking that they were putting pragmatism above ideology, Labour accepted the EU's terms, to the incredulity of Brussels functionaries, who are now rushing to lock the deal in permanently.

    Britain's paltry asks [sic] – easier access for touring artists, equivalence for our financial services companies – were dropped during the talks. The sole claimed victory – the use of e-gates for British passport holders, something the EU could have done at any time, as Britain does for EU passports – turned out not to have been agreed.

    On the other hand, Brussels got absolutely everything it wanted, from guarantees against British competition and a UK defence commitment down to a British agreement to perhaps subsidise the university fees of EU students, something that matters enormously to the children of Eurocrats (Eurobrats, as it were). It was an EU clean sweep. So long, and thanks for all the fish.

    I suppose there is one silver lining. When, as seems inevitable, Labour's fiscal incontinence brings a full-scale financial crisis, not even the #FBPE halfwits will be able to blame Brexit. As far as the economics goes, Brexit never happened.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/19/starmer-eu-punish-britain-for-brexit

    1. Stop the bastard then, Mr Hannan. You're a life peer. Fight back. Demand the agreement is rejected.

      Ah, but of course. You're surrounded by hard Left peers who love the EU – mostly because, like the revolting Heseltine trough from it. Why have the civil servants who negotiated this not been sacked?

      2. Mr Hannan is as weak as water when it comes to the crunch. He has jelly for backbone.

        Any admirers of Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time will remember what
        Templer says of Widmerpool,

        "He was so wet you could shoot snipe off him."

        This description fits Hannan a T.

        Kenneth Widmerpool was elevated to the House of Lords as Hannan has been.

      1. Starmer's aged well.. I didn't know he was an actor or spoke German, but I'm not surprised.

  28. As Britain's Leftist puritans enforce rationing, America lives in abundance

    Anti-growth elites say the answer to our water woes lies in depriving us of basic comforts. They're wrong

    David Frost • 21st July 2025, 6:48pm BST

    Who knew that Britain has a Museum of Water and Steam? No, not another name for our water supply system, but an actual museum, in Brentford, where Sir Jon Cunliffe launched his commission's report on the water industry on Monday morning.

    The report has been heavily trailed and contains no surprises. It spells the doom of Ofwat, a regulator that has few friends, and deservedly so. It argues for better planning and more rational balancing of economic and environmental needs. And it correctly sets out that, in a privatised system with limited real competition, the next regulator will need to constrain the corporate behaviour of the water companies much more effectively.

    So far, so conventional. It is unfair to blame that on Sir Jon, who is a more original and less constrained thinker than many in the British establishment. The scope of his recommendations was largely constrained by the initial terms of reference. He wasn't even allowed to look at Scotland for fear of upsetting their so-called "government", which makes a nonsense of calling this a "national" report.

    So the fundamental trade-offs will remain unresolved. The water companies have poured in more than £200 billion of investment since privatisation to deal with our Victorian infrastructure – a genuine museum piece back in the 1980s – but it has not been enough to deal with the problems. Planning issues have meant that we haven't built a major reservoir since 1992, yet the population has increased by 10 million people since then, and is still growing.

    But the bigger difficulties are political, economic, and cultural. Political and economic – because so many politicians and campaigners demand immediate, magical solutions, and simply will not understand that a nationalised water industry would face the same basic problems. Yes, the water industry has taken out an estimated £80 billion in dividends since privatisation, and in a competitive market that would likely have been a lot less. But investing and building takes time, often quite a long time. And the capital has to come from somewhere.

    In a privatised industry, that capital comes from the markets, and they need a return. Rightly so: for if Rachel Reeves continues with her plans to force British institutions to invest in British industries, it's a return for you and your pension fund.

    In a nationalised industry the capital comes directly from you, the taxpayer. But governments never like making people stump up now for something that will only pay off in the future. So investment gets restricted, is badly used, and then prices are held down for political reasons. That's how the state-run water industry got into such a mess by the 1980s. Indeed, that's how every nationalised industry gets into a mess in the end.

    The truth is that if we want a better water system, we are going to have to pay for it, either in bills or in taxes. We can't get around that problem. That's why it's so important to get back to economic growth so we all start getting richer again.

    And that's why the other problem, the cultural issue, is so important. It is the anti-abundance mindset and it goes well beyond the water industry. This mentality ultimately stems from the 1970s "Limits to Growth" report, which predicted that natural resources would run out, prices would shoot through the roof, and there would be mass starvation.

    Reality has shown this to be bunk. Yet it lives on in decision-takers' minds, reinforced by the belief that climate change requires a reduction in our global footprint as human beings and use less of everything. And it's strengthened by a fundamentally elitist, snobbish mindset about economic growth, the view that growth is all about the hoi polloi buying more "stuff" they don't need, rather than what it is: the advancement of human possibility for all us during our limited time on this planet.

    Look hard – actually you don't need to look hard – and you see it everywhere. Consider the disdain for "cheap food" and the moral panic about UPFs, surely a fabricated concept, and one whose principal benefit is psychological, allowing well-off politicians and campaigners to play Lady Bountiful telling ordinary voters how to eat. Think of the sneering at big cars, or worse still people with more than one car, the suburban lifestyle, houses with gardens instead of egg-box flats, package holidays instead of leisurely eco-travel.

    Contemplate all the tedious lifestyle preaching, the hectoring of supermarkets about packaging, the determination to build houses with tiny windows and small rooms and then to ban air conditioning as it's too damaging to the environment.

    This world view is inimical to economic growth and to human prosperity and well-being. The industrial revolution gave us the huge benefits of more energy and more clean water (the two are of course connected). But we have got ourselves into a mentality where we think using less of these things is good and where we ignore the connection between low energy use and low economic growth. In Britain we use nearly 30 per cent less energy and 25 per cent less electricity overall than in 2000 – despite the increase in population. The Americans use the same amount of energy as then and 15 per cent more electricity. That's a big part of the reason why they still have economic growth and we do not.

    And similarly on water. Each American uses about 300 litres of water a day. Each Brit uses about 140 litres, and the Government wants to get that figure down to 105. Hence the proposals in the Water Commission report for compulsory water metering, water reuse, and social tariffs. Better get used not just to hosepipe bans, but showers even feebler than now, and dishwashers that are beautifully eco-friendly but leave your plates dirty.

    Without an abundance mindset, you don't have any choice but to ration, either by price or by queue. But Britain is a wet country. We are surrounded by water which we could desalinate if we didn't restrict energy production. In Western Europe, only mountainous Norway and Switzerland get more rain. We could have enough water for everyone, if we built and invested accordingly. That should be our target. If we need to manage demand while we are getting there, that is one thing. But to tell us we will never have enough water, and it will cost ever more? I say no to that.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/21/water-woe-rationing-america-does-it-better

    Up to a point he's correct. I'd quibble over desalination and although he mentions the growth of the population, I think he's failed to take into account its density.

    1. There's no need for desalination. We just need reservoirs. We need power stations. We need plentiful, cheap fuel. We need lower taxes. We need a smaller, less polluted population.

      At every step, the hard Left have stood in the way and either forced nonsense globalist policies on us or simply taxed our freedoms out of existence. Boris, a few days after Brexit was signed and agreed – 8 years after it was voted for – triumphantly declared tax harmonisation with the hated EU. Why! We had given the oaf the freedom to set our taxes vastly lower to demonstrate how sclerotic and incompetent the hated EU was, but no, he gives away a massive trump card. Sunak continued with the miserable Northern Ireland border farce and Starmer now slaps even heavier chains on us.

      It's an obvious and clear intent to destroy this nation out of Left wing spite. Worse, reform, touted this great white hope will do nothing to undo the damage.

    1. That sounds like Starmer's wet dream – we pay them to buy our weapons. The EU has no military industrial complex outside of Belgium so is sunk without us.

      That treacherous sewage has intentionally, spitefully sold us down the effluent river.

  30. Good morning all.

    Dull day , still no rain , breezy.

    Same old same old .

    Sophia Yan
    Senior foreign correspondent
    21 July 2025 1:00pm BST
    Sophia Yan
    Migrants are scamming their way into Britain using forged visa documents bought from consultants boasting openly about weak border controls.

    Pakistani migrants are paying up to £50,000 for visa applications, which the Home Office is waving through despite the documents being littered with errors and falsehoods.

    One application obtained by The Telegraph includes a job reference, with grammatical mistakes, from a fake hospital that said staff would “recommend her for any position she may to seeking. We wish her all the best in future”.

    The Telegraph also posed as a migrant seeking a UK visa from the consultant who had drawn up these fake documents. He boasted of a 98 per cent chance of successful entry into Britain within three months.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/07/21/exposed-pakistani-migrants-50k-falsified-visa-documents/

    1. Where does the money come from? £50,000 would buy a comfortable standard of living in rural Pakistan. This makes sense only if the money is being provided specifically to be spent for one purpose.

    2. Case in point that the Home office is recruiting the 'diversity' specifically to ensure this happens. All the lies and twaddle about 'respecting people' has been designed to make sure the criminality continues lest the pakistani muslim complain.

  32. 409829+ up ticks,

    Dt,
    Dominic Johnson
    The real threat facing British media is not foreign investment
    The Telegraph’s future is dependent on how it adapts to a world dictated by algorithms

    Should read,

    The real threat facing British media is peoples trust in investment in the reigning monarch, not foreign investment
    The Telegraph’s future is dependent on how it adapts to a world continuing to be dictated by political rogues

  33. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14926981/Nigel-Farage-Britain-societal-collapse-halve-crime-five-years.html

    The usual bluff and waffle, with no substance. Is he afraid Starmer will pinch his ideas? Wouldn't that be a good thing? Most crime is caused by drugs, and as drugs are mostly brought in by eastern Europeans, blacks and muslim he's goiing to have to confront massive uncontrolled gimmigration.

    To really stop criminality vast numbers of law must be repealed. Those law protecting muslim, for a start. That means leaving the ECHR which means unravelling all that twaddle and tosh.

    I simply don't think Farage has the energy or the will to undo 25 miserable years of socialist red tape – a system designed, specifically to trap and entangle government from doing what he wants.

      1. I have no idea what Starmer thinks. If he is ignorant of the hatred the country holds for him and his policies, their destructive effects then he's stupid. If he is aware and carries on implementing such damaging and malicious policy then he is spiteful and vicious.

        I suspect it's far simpler than that though. I think he is in thrall to foreign agencies, such as his beloved hated EU who have instructed the state to ensure that the UK is ruined for the temerity of leaving the useless communist failure that is the EU.

          4. But he can't face them. He's a bureaucrat, not a leader. He just says how horrible those he hates are. He wants massive uncontrolled criminal gimmigration. He doesn't care if children are raped or murdered. As far as he's concerned that's a statistic on paper that should be ignored against his 'great leap forward'.

  34. Activist advising Rayner over Islamophobia definition sparks conflict of interest row
    Calls for chief executive of Muslim trust to quit Deputy PM’s working group

    A businesswoman who is helping to draw up a definition of Islamophobia for Angela Rayner has become embroiled in a conflict of interest row after being offered a key role in policing it.

    Akeela Ahmed is one of five people on a working group advising the Deputy Prime Minister on a new definition of Islamophobia.

    On Monday, Ms Rayner’s department announced that the British Muslim Trust (BMT) – which Ms Ahmed is due to lead as chief executive – would receive up to £1m a year to monitor incidents of Islamophobia and “raise awareness” of hate crime.

    It follows a decision by Ms Rayner’s department to cut funding for a rival Islamophobia reporting service, the Tell Mama organisation, which was founded by Fiyaz Mughal, an outspoken critic of creating a new official definition of Islamophobia.

    The disclosures follow criticism of the “secretive” process to draw up a definition and warnings that the proposals to define anti-Muslim hatred could have a “chilling effect” on free speech.

    Lord Toby Young, the director of the Free Speech Union, said Ms Ahmed should step down from the working group. “This is a clear conflict of interest since Akeela Ahmed’s new job will be to monitor and tackle Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred,” he said.

    “And the more broadly the working group defines it, the more work there will be for the BMT to do and the more money it will be given by the Government. I think she has no choice but to step down from the working group.”

    He said it was “odd” that Tell Mama, an organisation which had recorded anti-Muslim hatred for a decade, had been dropped because its founder opposed the Government’s attempt to define Islamophobia.

    “It suggests that the Government has already decided to impose a dangerously authoritarian definition, zealously monitoring social media posts for traces of ‘Islamophobia’ and then petitioning Ofcom to take them down, before it has even read any of the consultation responses,” he said.

    Claire Coutinho, the shadow equalities minister, said: “I’ve been saying for weeks that a definition being cooked up behind closed doors by activists with extreme views on how to define Islamophobia is only going to create more division.

    “Labour have even refused my requests to open up the working group to let counter-terror experts, free speech advocates and grooming gang victims join the working group.

    “Now it looks like one of the members is set to benefit financially from taxpayers’ money being handed out by the government she’s supposed to be independently advising. It’s almost like the process was designed to lose public support.”

    The selection of the BMT to receive the funding to develop a “robust” reporting system for anti-Muslim hatred was announced by Lord Khan, the minister for faith.

    The Government said the money would also enable BMT to “provide direct support to victims, raise awareness of what constitutes a hate crime, and encourage greater reporting from affected communities”.

    Ms Rayner’s department said the BMT had been established by the Aziz foundation and Randeree Charitable Trust, who had worked closely with Ms Ahmed, MBE, who they “intend to appoint as chief executive officer”.

    It said they aimed to draw on “her decades of experience in working with grassroots organisations and policy-level anti-hate work”.

    Lord Khan said: “The rise of anti-Muslim hatred in this country is alarming and deeply concerning. That’s why we established this new fund: to ensure we’re doing everything we can to deeply understand the situation our Muslim communities are facing, provide them with the support they need and give us the tools needed to tackle this unacceptable hatred.

    “I look forward to working with the BMT on our shared ambition to create a safer, more tolerant society for everyone as part of our Plan for Change.”

    Critics are concerned that the new definition, if too broadly drawn, would threaten free speech, act as a de facto blasphemy law and stifle legitimate criticism of Islam as a religion. The working group is being chaired by Dominic Grieve, a former Tory attorney general.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/21/conflict-interest-row-over-rayners-islamophobia-definition/?recomm_id=e7a60628-29b7-4c00-a568-0f125bae8079

    1. Wait for the Manchester airport “boys” to be let off. Any day now.

        1. It should be with everything that’s been going on, but people seem not to be willing to do anything. Have they been putting stuff in the water?

    2. A monumental waste of public money, a complete waste of time. muslim should be insulted. It's a revolting savage religion that has no place in this country.

      1. We had no idea , had we that after WW2 and the long 6 year war our parents fought in , my father afloat in the Indian ocean and my mother , a Wren , working on aircraft stations in Britain .. We had no idea that an incoming tribe of non Christians would take precedence in our judiciary , government and everywhere else , dictating how our language should be conducted and spoken .

    3. Is there a definition of Christanity-ofobia, sikhism-ofobia? No? Why not? Or is Islam the only religion that's so God-awful that it needs special protection?

      2. It's such a bother to everyone that it even gets a mention in the communities act – an act passed specifically for muslim.

        They are that much trouble, they are so unwanted that laws have to be passed to stop people pointing out that they don't want to be raped/stabbed/murdered by a slammer.

    4. No muslims should be involved in creating what is, in effect, a blasphemy law to protect their ideology. They have too much of a vested interest in it.

    2. We have a commemoration here today: On 22 July 2011, Norway experienced the deadliest attack on its soil since World War II. The tragedy involved two sequential attacks carried out by Anders Behring Breivik. He detonated a car bomb outside the Office of the Prime Minister, and 8 people were killed, with many others were injured. Whilst that occupied the authorities, he travelled to Utøya ( a holiday island about 40km north of Oslo) where he attacked a summer camp organized by the Youth League (AUF), affiliated with Norway’s Labour Party. He was dressed as a police officer, who shot at teenagers and young adults at the camp.
      69 people were killed, most of them teenagers. Dozens more were wounded or traumatized while trying to escape or hide.

      That was a bad day for this little country.

        1. Although i don't think any of us Far – righters here would murder all those people because we disagreed with their views.

          1. Neither do I.
            But if you look through the entry you will find bits that could be direct quotes.

          2. I skim read the bit about his disturbed childhood and psychotic mother……… I'll read the rest later as I'm going out now.

          3. Just had another look at the Wiki page – he's clearly intelligent and completely unhinged. I don't much like Muslims either but I wouldn't go and shoot them.
            He will never be safe to be released.

          5. It is not in our Christian culture to murder those who do not believe in Christ but they could be deported.

            Some faiths may be a little less squeamish about murdering their infidels.

          6. History has shown that Left Wing Extremists such as Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao Tse Tung and Hitler have killed far more people than Right Wing Extremists.

      2. I'm afraid my sympathy for his victims has rather gone the way of my sympathy for Stephen Lawrence. The problem is that every time the devil worshippers slaughter far greater numbers and with unerring frequency, there's always one ass who says, "But…but…the Far Right…but…but…Anders Breivik" and my natural response is f*ck Anders Breivik. No more false equivalence.

  37. ‘It looks awful, David’: How to master a buzz cut without ruining your style
    After Beckham broadcasted his failed attempt at cutting his hair at home, here’s how to avoid it happening to you, according to our experts
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/beauty/hair/how-to-master-a-buzz-cut-not-like-beckham/

    BTL

    Style?

    How can a man whose face and body is smeared with horrible, vulgar body graffiti (i.e.tattoos) be said to have 'style'?

    He must do what any sensible person would do – wear a wig in public until his hair has regrown again.

    Surely, now that he is a knight he should see if it is possible to have surgery which will remove all signs of the vandalism he has inflicted on his body?

        1. Today I had to take Spartie to the vet for a regular check-up.
          One of the nurses – pleasant enough person, but no oil painting – has decided to splurge on tattoos. Like Tony Hancock but both arms full. The one on her neck is particularly ….. eye catching. I could be unkind and say it distracts your attention from her manky teeth. But as I'm nice, I won't say it.

          1. Why do they do it ?

            I really do wonder whether those women plastered in tattoos have been sexually molested , and want to hide behind a blanket of graffiti.

        2. On a close look I think it's David Beckham. More money than sense and it looks hideous.

    2. Is he so strapped for cash he couldn’t afford a professional haircut? It is the duty of those with money to employ those without.

    2. What happens in a multi-car pile up when areas will be destroyed – surely fake news

      1. 409829+ up ticks,

        Morning FA,

        "What happens" ? your leccy bill will go up, of course.

    3. Looks AI generated? They'd get awfully dusty, surely? They should be on the sides of motorway embankments though.

  39. Vincent DeLorenzo is wrong in claiming you need a licence to own a TV – it's what you use the TV for which needs a licence ie watching or recording LIVE broadcasts on any channel on any device inc BBC iplayer

  40. 409829+ up ticks,

    Blair’s secret scheme to make immigration more popular
    Labour prime minister was warned that research into public’s views ‘could be explosive in the wrong hands’, files reveal

    Blair’s secret scheme to make immigration more popular, he's leaving.

    " Explosive In the wrong hands" ? in regards to revealing "miranda" past there are very few " wrong hands"

  42. Princes’ cousin found dead near firearm at home
    Rosie Roche, 20, had been packing for a trip away when her body was discovered by family
    Grant Davies, the area coroner, said police had “deemed the death as non-suspicious and there was no third-party involvement”.

     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2025/07/22/princes-cousin-rosie-roche-found-dead-at-home-wiltshire/

    It must be horrific to have a suicide in the family. This is not the first occasion that this has happened in this family

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

    1. I learned a painful lesson when a good friend killed herself. Others around the deceased will be desperately upset by that act, and it lasts for years, likely forever. So, although it won't help anyone, they have my deepest sympathies.
      Why would Rosie Roche kill herself whilst packing? Doesn't feel right to me.

      1. Imagine the scene; suntan lotion, flip flops, beach towel.. oh yes and a gun to kill myself. Odd to say the least.

    1. Many of us did not agree with everything Tony Benn said but he was very right on the subject of democracy.

      He also was clear that the EU was an abomination.

      Had he lived to see how his disgusting son, Hilary, did his best to thwart Brexit – which was what the democratic vote demanded – it would have broken his heart.

  46. Yesterday's DT letters

    SIR – It appears that hydrangeas have joined the ranks of middle-class targets in Labour’s war on perceived privilege. With peak water rates cunningly aligned with the flowering season, one must ask: where will all this end?

    Dermot Shortt
    Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire.

    Where indeed , our hydrangeas are so thirsty , thank goodness so far we are not on a water meter and do not have a hosepipe ban yet !

  47. Michael Deacon
    The mask is finally off: ‘anti-Zionists’ just hate Jews

    What else can we conclude, when activists protesting against Israel scream, ‘F— your Jewish state’?

    22 July 2025 6:00am BST

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2025/07/21/TELEMMGLPICT000432052169_17531161113340_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqSVvUZdQ6XEeiFMQoJrtQYyUCfNd2zsjGpRluRfohzUQ.jpeg?imwidth=1920
    The March against antisemitism from the High Court to Parliament Square.
    Credit: Matthew Chattle/Future Publishing

    During an anti-Israel rally in London on Saturday, some participants were heard to scream, “F— your Jewish state”. On the face of it, this may seem alarming. In a way, though, I think we should be grateful to them.

    After all, their words should help awaken more people to what so much anti-Israel activism is really about.

    Most of the time, anti-Israel activists remember to employ the handy euphemism “Zionist”: a crucial tool in their efforts to persuade the public that they definitely, unequivocally, 100 per cent aren’t anti-Semitic. But on this occasion, it would seem, some of them were so rabidly incensed by the arrival of a small band of pro-Israel counter-protesters, they forgot – and accidentally blurted out what they always really mean: “Jewish”.

    Afterwards they must have been kicking themselves. What a careless lapse. Luckily for them, their words don’t seem to have been reported by the Left-wing newspapers that so many of their sympathisers read. But on social media, where users are constantly exposed to stories from newspapers they don’t normally read, there’s a grave danger that the sympathisers will catch sight of the Telegraph’s story, which quoted the words “F— your Jewish state” in the headline. Think how disgusted those sympathisers will be, at seeing the activists so foolishly give the game away.

    Of course, this isn’t the first time an anti-Israel activist in Britain has made this unfortunate slip. At a rally held a mere month after October 7, 2023, a speaker disparagingly referred to Suella Braverman’s “Jewish husband” – before hastily correcting it to “Zionist husband”.

    The anti-Israel movement surely can’t afford too many more little slips of this kind. Of late, though, we appear to be seeing more and more of them. At the weekend, video footage circulating on social media showed a man on a bus in Ireland ranting about “genocidal Jews”. Then, when a woman tried to intervene, he accused her of “white-knighting for the Jew”. The man’s manner suggested strongly that he’d been drinking. Sober, perhaps he would have been able to control himself, and remembered to say “Zionists” instead.

    Meanwhile, the NASUWT teachers’ union has just published the results of a survey, revealing that more than half of Jewish teachers in Britain have experienced anti-Semitism over the past two years. One teacher reported hearing a pupil shout, “F— the Jews”. You can readily imagine the frustration of anti-Israel activists. (“It’s ‘f— the Zionists’, you teenage idiot! Honestly, how many times!”)

    At this rate, hitherto unsuspecting members of the public are bound to start asking some awkward questions. Are these endless protests really just about the actions of the Israeli government, and nothing more? Is “anti-Zionism” definitely about ideology, and not ethnicity? And how come the people marching so righteously in solidarity with innocent Palestinians appear to have so little interest in the slaughter of the Druze by Syrians, just across the Israeli border?

    Naturally, therefore, anti-Israel activists will be anxious to avoid making the same mistake again. To that end, perhaps they should try using some form of aide-memoire. Before setting off on their next march, they could write the word “ZIONIST” on the backs of their hands.

    Then again, there may be one small flaw in such a plan. Their fellow travellers might misunderstand, and beat them up.

    At last, the England team get off their knees
    The England women’s football team – who play Italy in a Euro 2025 semi-final tonight – have decided to stop “taking the knee” before matches. In a statement, they said football needs to “find another way to tackle racism”.

    A sensible decision. The mystery is why they kept on doing it for so long.

    The players may have meant it as a protest against racism in general. In the eyes of most people, though, the gesture will always be inextricably linked to the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020. In short: it was an American response to an American crime committed by American police.

    It felt a touch odd, therefore, to see it adopted by sports teams in countries thousands of miles away. And it felt odder still when they continued to do it, long after American teams had stopped. Hence the bizarre spectacle before the match at the men’s football World Cup of 2022, between England and the US. The England players took the knee – yet the US players (more than half of whom were black) didn’t.

    Goodness only knows what viewers in America made of it.

    “Say, honey? Remember that whole ‘taking the knee’ thing that was big a couple years back? Looks like the limeys have just got into it. Bless ’em. I know they always like to copy our trends. But I never thought they’d start mourning our murders.”

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

      2. He wasn't. If he hadn't been off his head on drugs and stopped struggling he would be alive. The police officer was using an approved method of restraint. He should never have gone to prison for doing his job.
        The rioting, looting and burning would have happened anyway.

    2. As has been pointed out, St. George Floyd has been drug free for five years.
      God moving in mysterious ways.

    3. It's become fashionable to equate Globalist with Zionist even though both the Jewish communist movement that became the Frankfurt School and those few Jews among the Globalist Elite (mainly Soros and some of the Rothschilds?) are fiercely anti-Zionist. Methinks these Jew haters don't anyway have the slightest comprehension of the Return to Zion.

      1. I'm not keen on the show pony, but I hope his head injury isn't serious enough to put O(a)F into contention for the Test.

  52. We have an old couple living in our building. She recently ha knee replacement surgery and decided to stay in a rehab unit for a couple of weeks to recover.

    The hubby (who is almost as old as BT) was persuaded by his family that at his age, he shouldn't be driving – especially not to and from the hospital when he might be distracted and cause an accident. Hubby has been dutifully taking the bus up to town to visit with his slowly recovering wife.

    Unfortunately the bus was in an accident at the weekend and he was seriously injured with broken collar bone, ribs and assorted fractures. Injuries serious enough that he was carted off to the regional hospital to be fixed up.

    Wife is now home and depends on family and neighbours for support.

    bummer!

    1. Senior Tory Laura Anne Jones defects to Reform in biggest Welsh coup for Farage yet..

  54. Mill House
    3h
    Mr Whitbread says that Epping is not a suitable Iocation and he is correct. But nowhere in the country is suitable.

    It sickens me to think that there are people in this country who are seriously iII or in need of major operations, people who could be treated privately at NHS expense but the government won't do that on grounds of cost but they can find billions of pounds to accommodate people who are not wanted here. It's not worth solely blaming Labour because the Conservatives were no better and just as complicit. What a dreadful cesspit this country has become.

    Ian Skinner
    2h
    Two things disturb me about this incident: 1/ Alone of all the news outlets the BBC did not initially report the sexual assault that was the trigger for the protests, 2/ the initial protest was peaceful until the police bussed in the counter protesters from the nearby railway station: Why would the police facilitate a protest?

    Lord Farquard
    Ian Skinner
    2h
    I don't mean this as a criticism of you, I don't think most people realise how corrupt and controlling the regime is… But asking " Why would the police facilitate a protest?" is like asking why the BBC isn't impartial and continually pushes a narrow regime approved narrative.
    The "far Left" protestors are bussed in with help from the police because they are agent provocateurs, most likely members of the security services or military.

    Their job is to scream "N*zee sc|_|m" on the faces of peaceful protesters. I'd imagine the overtime pay and bonus is pretty good.

      3. Of course they did; in case their swimming trunks slipped off, they would need their hats to cover their modesty.

  57. Had a busy morning……… now going to meet a friend for lunch. Catch you later.

  58. Good Moa Afternoon.
    Well, I laughed. Though after year of this carp, my laughter has an hysterical edge to it.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/sausage-king-starmers-bad-afternoon-on-the-grill/

    Sausage King Starmer’s bad afternoon on the grill

    21 July 2025, 5:11pm

    Starmer leaves No. 10 on his way to a liaison committee meeting (Credit: Getty)
    Sir Keir Starmer has a sausage problem. Stop sniggering at the back. Not only was there his infamous slip demanding that Hamas ‘return the sausages’, but there is also the fact that he increasingly resembles a great British banger: pink-skinned, spitting and whistling when grilled and filled with all kinds of rubbish. Sir Keir has become the Sausage King of Westminster and today – at the House of Commons liaison committee – he was due a spell on the barbecue.

    Part of the problem for the Sausage King is that he’s managed to wind up a fair few of the select committee chairs who make up the grilling committee: quite an achievement given that almost all of them are his own MPs. Emily Thornberry was there, looking extraordinarily jolly for one who’d been passed over for attorney-general in favour of one of Starmer’s lawyer mates. Dame Meg Hillier spearheaded the rebellion that forced his humiliating climb-down on welfare, while Florence Esholami led much of the resistance to the assisted suicide legislation, a bill which purports to be the brain-child (which in this case is unfair on both brains and children) of Kim Leadbeater but which Westminster insiders know has the Sausage King’s porky fingerprints all over it. There’s also the small matter of how badly things are going.

    The first few minutes were relatively uneventful; not so much a grilling as a quick go on the sunbed. But soon both Dame Meg and Ms Esholami rounded on him over the housing crisis. Eshalomi pointed out that councils were currently being forced to bid for the same housing stock for multiple uses – thus pitching homeless children against asylum seekers. Did the Sausage King plan to do anything about this?

    ‘I’m furious’, he said in a voice that betrayed all the emotion of the announcement of a rail replacement bus service. Hillier tried again; ‘precisely’ what accommodation would the government be taking over to house asylum seekers at the expense of local residents, she asked? The PM replied that there was ‘lots of housing’ going spare, ‘and many local authorities that can be used’. With a look of real exasperation Hillier asked whether he could provide just a single example. ‘No, but I’ll write in and give you details’, came the inevitable reply.

    Someone who actually was furious was Debbie Abrahams who launched into a remarkable broadside over the government’s botched welfare reforms. ‘This was poor legislation, so far removed from Labour values that I felt ashamed,’ she said, and I promise this is not hyperbole, bristling with contempt. ‘We must do better, Prime Minister’. The Sausage King opened his nostrils and shot Mrs Abrahams a look of genuine venom. The grilling was getting hotter. Sizzle sizzle!

    Even possible allies turned on him; Liam Byrne asked about potential tax cuts. ‘No Prime Minister can set a budget six months in advance’, stammered the PM. The sausage turned pinker and pinker.

    Dame Caroline Dinenage asked what the PM was doing to support charities forced to cut their staff due to NIC increases. The Prime Minister belched out an answer of purest word vomit; ‘We are looking at what we can do on – sort of, business rates for charities and, sort of, putting in the support they need’.

    ‘That’s it?’, replied Dame Caroline, raising a quizzical eyebrow. She accused him of ‘balancing the books on the backs of charities like children’s hospices’. By now, the Banger looked like he was actually going to go bang. Dame Caroline went one further when she asked him why his constituents were so mean when it came to charitable giving. After all, she observed, ‘you and your colleagues aren’t averse to being on the receiving end of a bit of philanthropic giving yourselves’.

    Finally, the grilling came to its end. In everything from the economy to migration to welfare it had revealed a litany of failures. Dame Meg ended proceedings with a softer tone: ‘What’s been your best moment in the last 12 months?’ The Sausage King said it was walking into Downing Street. On that it was very hard to take issue with him; it’s certainly been downhill from there!

    1. No wonder I have stress issues ..

      Meeting last night nearly finished me off ..

      We were informed .. although the powers that be decided 1,000 extra homes for the village , bitch Rayner is dictating to county that we are in line for 3,500 in our beautiful rural , much put upon now very busy area !

      2. Rayner hates the real England. Still, she was born and brought up in Stockport, so that sort of puts a lid on expectations.

      3. Same here. We don’t have the infrastructure or the jobs. In fact the houses are not selling. Still every property that can be divided into flats is being allowed to be sectioned. It’s lunacy.

    2. Trouble is, nothing will ensue. They will bumble on, making things worse, for years.

    1. the Institute for Fiscal studies (IFS) warned that without reform of the pension triple lock, state retirement age could rise to 69 by 2049 and to 74 by 2069.

      72% of Mohammads have no intention of working ever.. so in fact it's a good move & a saving because Universal Credit is far less than your state pension.

      1. Why do those on a lifetime of bennies get the pension at all?

        Why can someone live on welfare?

    3. This mob of totally appalling, vile and insane political scum should be arrested.
      There are thousands of people who would never be able to hold a job down at the age of 65 let alone 74.
      What happens to them with no income for at least 9 years ?

      1. How many will die before they draw the pension which they have paid taxes for?

    4. Why should I wait until I am 74 to claim something I have paid for but some dindu or chav dross gimmigrant never has but gets anyway?

      They need shooting. Welfare must be tackled and any form of benefit time limited and regularly reviewed. There's enough damned people floating around pushing paper about.

  60. Not only have we recently experienced the highest temperature ever recorded since hieroglyphic records began but we have just had the biggest downpours ever measured since God decided to punish humanity by creating the great flood for which Noah was covenanted to build his ark.

    God promised not to do it again thankfully.

    Here's the evidence of the rainfall measurement over the last two days:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d5e03576b44e20caca01a288521c811a25d6b33e8973fdafe4f142f358fdf497.jpg

      1. The BBC has been quoted as saying there is a 7% increase in water vapour for every one degree increase in global temperature.
        The climate is working as best it can to verify BBC’s statement – it raining at the right increased amounts but not necessariy in the right places.

  61. Alt-Fa fa fa faaaar right protests spread to the streets of Diss and outside The Park Hotel in South Norfolk to challenge the decision of a hotel housing single male asylum seekers.

    Brave counter-demonstrators from Stand Up to Racism were ferried in by Home Office taxis to oppose the frustrated bigoted local residents.
    All taxi receipts sent to Whitehall and budgeted under Islamophobia.

  63. As a 'bytheway':

    Our energy usage so far this month

    Gas £7.98 Electricity £11.26 Total £19.24

    Without Standing Charges = £3.12 ……………..

  64. Dahonk
    17h
    The thing is Starmer is not really a politician and sort of floated into the job at a time when the quality of MP's was and is at an all time low so here he is in the top job.
    A man of the establishment, knight of the realm, multi millionaire a lot of it from the taxpayer and hasn't produced anything of value for the UK apart for himself and some real nasty pieces of work he and his profession have fought tooth and nail to keep in the UK.

    Ultimately he and his profession, the activist lawyers and judges have cost this country dearly not just financially but also our well being, safety and also our human rights have all been degraded by the likes of Starmer, likeminded liberal elites and politicians.

    We live in dangerous times and we have the weakest politicians this country has ever produced along with Institutions run by the Starmer like clones who are failing us all on a daily basis and have been doing so for years. No one is held accountable for anything so the UK limps on.

    1. 409829 + up ticks,

      O2O,

      Audacity,audacity,and bloody more audacity.

      ALL going to plan

      Work until 75 then get a single ticket to Switzerland you deserve the rest, as a spokeperson for the lab/lib/con coalition "we could not have got to where we are today without your input" so THANK YOU.

      DROP THE PELLET.

    2. Is the bloke sat down saying 'Take off these straps… what're they laughing at? What're those vile creatures going to do to me?

    1. But pensioners are older, wiser and don't vote Labour. Dindu scum do.

      But it's bigger than that. The population should be as big as it is. A well educated service industry middle class can work for far longer but doesn't because the state destroys their income in tax.

      It's utterly, completely back to front. The state has caused this problem because it imported 20 million wasters. At every turn, we're forced to pay the consequences of government malice.

    2. We have paid in (or at least most of us have). Governments have spaffed it up the wall.

    2. Another form of FOAD to be certain.
      At 74 people are likely to be down sizing as well. Sell your home and the government will also steal a quarter of the sale price in tax and expenses.
      forcing some people into extremely care homes. Job done.

    1. I have never – would never – hug the Warqueen in such a proprietal manner. She is not my property nor I hers.

      1. Married couple are each other's property. My late wife and I would hug regularly.

    1. While looking at that, I noticed a link to this …
      https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/starmers-betrayal-of-northern-ireland-army-veterans/
      Worth a read – here's a taste, on the topic of endless investigations "It must surely be noteworthy that in the example of so-called Bloody Sunday – portrayed as the blackest day in the Army’s recent history, subject to multiple inquiries including one that took 12 years to complete and cost £400million, scrutinised a direct chain of command starting at cabinet minister level and descending through GOC, brigade commander, CO and company commander – the only person held to account was a solitary lance corporal".

      1. The PBI are always blamed. This is what the pakistani muslim paedophile rape gangs will also find, by the way.

    2. If people want to come and live here – they should learn to speak English. The friend I met for lunch today is German – but she speaks English as well as I do.

  70. Afternoon all. More faffing from Zen; having told me there were no appointments available on Wednesday afternoon, I now have one between 3 and 6. They claimed they couldn’t access my back gate because it had a combination lock on it. That’s my neighbour two doors down. Predictably there was a complaint about the engineer being there (that would be my nasty neighbour to the south). It hasn’t started well!

    Labour treats everyone badly except those who have no connection to or even no right to be in the country.

    1. Zen seem a bit inept – why are they coming out? Surely the problem is with your dsl connection, which is controlled by bt openreach.

      1. I don’t have fibre to the property, so they are going to have to run a cable or whatever the equivalent is. I have the gizmo that acts as a router. Even that wasn’t straightforward; I had to go to the post office to collect it. It says I have to make sure it’s clear where they’re going to connect it, but I have no idea where it’s going and nobody I have spoken to can tell me. I can only hope it will be alright on the afternoon, but if I disappear you’ll know why.

        1. I know from experience that Talktalk is dire……….but I hope you get better service than it appears to be so far.

          1. I never chose to go with Talk Talk (I wouldn’t, I know what they’re like!). They were the last in a long line of take overs from the provider I did choose (the Post Office).

          3. I had to wait until I was out of contract. As soon as that came up, they didn't see me for dust – although they did try to persuade me to stay; they even put my account in credit!

    2. Update on the appointment front; it’s now back to the 4th. I hope the internet service is better than their organisation.

  73. Just reading about the state pension age.

    Don’t worry, it won’t affect the public sector who will continue to be able to draw their unfunded gold-plated index-linked inheritable pensions from 60…

    2. I was able to draw my state pension at 60………. but it is paid at a lower rate than the post-2016 version.

      1. Far more dindus in London. If folk complain there you'd get a horde of knife weilding muslim and met plod would do nothing while the savages let rip.

        1. Oscar is more sensible in his sleeping arrangements, Lucy tends to just lay on her side. Mongo though… often he lays on his back on th sofa, legs in the air head on the floor, tail up the seat.

      2. Cushioned vertebrae and flexible spine. I think there is something different about the shoulder joint too.

    5. Jessie is sprawled on the dining table – don't know where Ziggy is but she does like the roof of our neighbours' toolshed.

      1. All very well, if you have a local branch. I used to take the GWR Reading train to Blackwater, where there's a branch close to the station.

        Guildford has an Aldi branch which is undoubtedly closer, but requires the addition of a bus trip as well.

        Not universally available, but here, Amazon Fresh is pretty good. I can choose from Fresh's fulfilment centre in Frimley, the Co-op in Guildford, and Morrisons in Woking (odd – since there's a Morrisons branch in Aldershot, considerably closer). They use independent couriers, rather like Deliveroo / Just Eat / Uber Eats, so they're prolly all illegal.

        One can order, and have a delivery within 2 – 3 hours…

  77. On the topic of the economy and increased debt, I liked this BTL comment – "If the Tories set the car off downhill on a collision course with a tree, then Labour have removed the steering wheel and pressed the accelerator."

  78. Michael Simmons
    Britain is broke
    22 July 2025, 7:38am

    Britain is continuing to chuck billions onto our mounting pile of debt. Figures just released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that last month the state had to borrow just under £21 billion. That was £6.6 billion more than in June last year and the second-highest June borrowing total since records began 32 years ago.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/britain-is-now-broke/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=CampaignMonitor_Editorial&utm_campaign=LNCH%20%2020250722%20%20House%20Ads%20%20SM+CID_4b9c134db7d6ef8734a513274ffd1145

    The ONS confirmed the surge in borrowing was a continuation of the fiscal doom loop this country now finds itself in. ‘The rising costs of providing public services and a jump in the debt interest we have to pay on inflation-linked gilts outweighed increased revenue brought in from tax hikes.

    Interest due on our debt hit £16.4 billion in June, which was £8.4 billion more than June last year and again the second highest figure since records began. We’re reaping the results of what might prove to be a financially fatal decision by the treasury to issue billions of ‘index-linked gilts’ when borrowing costs were so low. Now that inflation has returned, that borrowing has become cripplingly expensive and is why we’re paying Greek levels of debt interest on Canadian levels of debt.

    This morning’s news is yet more evidence that the Chancellor’s wafer-thin headroom against her ‘ironclad’ fiscal rules has been more than wiped out. The borrowing figure for June was £3.5 billion more than the Office for Budget Responsibility had assumed in their forecasts. Their overall forecast for the year is more on track but economists expect that to slip as we approach the budget in Autumn.

    It does not seem at all sustainable that we can tolerate debt interest doubling in the space of a year. Yet this is the mess the Treasury created by issuing so many inflation-linked gilts with little foresight – and one the Bank of England, as I wrote in last week’s cover, helped entrench with its addiction to cheap money and painfully slow response to rising prices. Now that inflation has returned, the bill is coming due.

    Britain is no longer borrowing to invest and grow. It is borrowing simply to stand still. We’re chasing our tail to service past decisions, patch up public services, and cover the interest on our own excess. We’re broke and we should be angry about it.

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

    Ignatius Duhhbot
    8 hours ago edited
    We’re not a country anymore — we’re a Ponzi scheme with a flag. Successive governments blew the money bribing an electorate allergic to fiscal reality, the Bank of England printed more, and now we’re paying interest on interest just to tread water.

    But don’t worry, we’ve still got the world’s most diverse civil service and a net zero plan that costs more than colonising the moon.

    Antonedes
    8 hours ago
    We are not borrowing to stay still, we are borrowing to go backwards. The first thing any debt councillor would advise is to stop spending more than you earn. It is crackers.

    Anitawales
    8 hours ago
    Yet the government continues with the disastrous net zero folly, they continue paying eye-watering bills for undocumented migrants, and just recently Lammy went to Syria and pledged £94.5 million to a government busy ethnically cleansing itself of Christians and Druze in horrific ways.

    This governments incompetence is truly breathtaking. They are destroying the country, they should face up to at least that single truth, and they should call a general election.

      1. That is the last thing they will do because then we might focus on why we're in debt and who is responsible for the fiat currency mess – they prefer us out on the streets protesting at migrant rapes and Ed Milliband's antics.

    2. Britain Is broke. And no excuses, no blame elsewhere and all due to our double dealing, useless, self serving, ignorant political idiots. All of them.

    3. It does not seem to have occurred to the writer that further borrowing may become impossible if people simply don't want to buy our debt slips, in which case the Bank of England will presumably perform accountancy juggling with smoke and mirrors and create sterling out of thin air to buy it themselves.

          2. A shiny new Global Government will step in and save us all…………………………..

          4. #MeToo. I'm looking forward to being served popcorn by an Optimus prime robot.

            Funnily enough the robot would do it with more panache than our so called Prime Minister.

      1. Unfortunately the overspend is rather greater. Not long now before the government's ability to borrow will start to head south.

    5. Thank God we're shot of Carney.
      Tough on Canada.

      Yes, I accept it's been happening for years before him, but he pushed it further, I think deliberately.
      Another wrecker of the Blair Brown stables/sty.

  79. Back from my lunch – sat outside at a nice little cafe I'd not been to before. My old friend, who is 84, was very chatty and the two hours free parking whizzed by.

  80. The BBC’s mistreatment of the Proms

    It’s becoming a compound of sporting event and talent show
    22 July 2025, 5:00am From Spectator Life

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/519803.jpg Jules Buckley, Anouska Shankar, Petroc Trelawny, Katie Derham, Linton Stephens, Alison Balsom and Nicholas McCarthy

    The Proms – the BBC Proms, to stick a handle on its jug – remains a good deed in a naughty world. Eight weeks of orchestral music, mainly, performed nightly at the Royal Albert Hall by artists from every continent, for as little as £8 if you are prepared to stand.

    One of those artists, the Georgian fiddler Lisa Batiashvili, supplied the highlight of this year’s ‘first night’ with a mighty performance of the Sibelius concerto. The concert ended with Sancta Civitas, a rarely heard choral work by Ralph Vaughan Williams, performed with love by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under its principal conductor, Sakari Oramo. Musically, it was a good start, despite the tiresome clapping between movements of the Sibelius.

    So why did the occasion, carried live on BBC2, fall flat? For the same reason that so many televised events do. It was presented as a compound of sporting event and talent show, designed to titillate adolescents who might feel ‘excluded’ by anything formal.

    You had to feel a tinge of sympathy for the presenters. Petroc Trelawny has one of radio’s most pleasing voices, and Georgia Mann is a bright lady. Both love music. Here, though, they were following instructions laid down from above: make it groovy!

    There was much joshing and gurning, and as the evening wore on, Mann ignored her Ts and lurched into ‘Mockney George’ territory. There was also a comedian on hand, one Nick Mohammed, who said nothing funny, nor offered an observation that might not have been said with more brevity by a Prommer plucked from the queue. But he said ‘staggering’ four times, to go with ‘phenomenal’ and ‘surreal’, so he served his purpose.

    Trelawny gave the game away in his introduction, referring to the ‘crowd’ that had gathered inside the hall. Sporting events have crowds. Concerts have audiences. It’s an important distinction, because language establishes tone. Nor was it wise for Trelawny to invoke ‘a sense of democracy’. The Proms is a musical festival, open to all, not a rally for zealots.

    Trelawny gave the game away in his introduction, referring to the ‘crowd’ that had gathered inside the hall. Sporting events have crowds. Concerts have audiences

    This year, for unfathomable reasons, they have decided to go backstage before and during Proms, in search of ‘colour’. The man selected for this absurd exercise was Linton Stephens, whose banal questions, read from a crib sheet, would have shamed a six-year-old. ‘What’s it like to perform this epic work?’ he asked Batiashvili, who responded with admirable tolerance. Other questions followed, to baffled choristers preparing for the Vaughan Williams: ‘What’s it like performing at the Proms?’ ‘What does it mean to you?’ ‘What’s going through your head?’ ‘What does your family think of you performing at the Proms?’

    Drivel like this wouldn’t be acceptable at a lower league football match. At the Proms it was excruciating. Suzy Klein, the corporation’s head of arts and classical music, must know this sort of rubbish is strictly for amateur hour. Get rid.

    A living composer was brought on to freshen the bloom in the second half. Errollyn Wallen is Master of the King’s Music and, in Mann’s estimation, ‘a Proms trailblazer’. The trail she blazed here was a ten-minute piece called The Elements, written for the occasion, and it sounded pretty thin. The lady wore dazzling yellow specs, though.

    What’s to come later this season? The Traitors Prom, of course, and another CBeebies entertainment. They’ve cleared the decks for Star Wars, ‘Soul Revolution’, a Classic Thriller Soundtracks evening (which sounds promising), and Anoushka Shankar and her wretched sitar.

    This is not traditional Proms territory, and there’s a reason for it. The BBC, obsessed with cultural identity, is embarrassed by the undeniable fact that orchestral music has been composed over the past four centuries by white men. In our world, where ‘diversity’ is the thing, that great tradition makes people uneasy. Hence the desire to introduce new features that have less to do with quality than the fulfilment of quotas. That way the clever producer clambers up the greasy pole.

    So here are a few ideas for Klein and her band of groovers to consider: a brass band Prom; a Fred Astaire tribute; a flamenco evening; a return for Roby Lakatos, the great Magyar gypsy fiddler; a George Formby night; a bubblegum pop spectacular; and a gathering of Nordic jazzers. There have been enough Soul Revolutions of various sorts in recent years, though it should be said the Northern Soul two years back night worked. A rare triumph.

    Carry on, Petroc and Georgia. But remember, to thine own selves be true. And please, no comedians.

    Written by Michael Henderson
    **************************

    Ianess
    10 hours ago edited
    Nice lineup photo. Three bints, three metrosexual men, one obvious homosexual, two ethnics, all smug.

    Marius
    9 hours ago
    I find the intrusion of pop and jazz into the Proms very annoying. There's plenty of outlets for those genres, but as noted above, it is all part of the drive to 'diversify'. If they wish to diversify, there are other classical music traditions, so why not weave a bit of those in instead of pop and soul? I am not averse to new classical compositions either, although I understand the Wallen piece was pretty dire.

    Most live television is ruined by yapping idiots and the Proms is no exception.

    Helmholtz Watson
    8 hours ago
    Take any major sporting or cultural event, and 80% of the Beeb’s coverage will be dedicated to some halfwit presenter droning on about how marvelous it all is.

    1. I checked to make sure. On Friday night, Georgia Mann really did say 'extremer-ly'.

    2. Things would change pretty quickly if the audience got up and walked out as soon as the dross came on stage.

  82. Wordle No. 1,494 3/6

    🟨🟨⬜🟩⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 22 Jul 2025

    Charred for Birdie Three?

    1. Well done, just a par here.
      Wordle 1,494 4/6

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

    2. Respect.

      Another par here

      Wordle 1,494 4/6

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

    3. And me, surprisingly.

      Wordle 1,494 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      2. Well done.
        Wordle 1,494 5/6

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

  83. Steerpike
    Ex-Unite boss under fire over private jets and million-pound hotel project
    22 July 2025, 3:42pm

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/GettyImages-2016508857.jpg
    Well, well, well. It would appear the former Unite the union boss Len McCluskey is not immune to the temptation of free gifts. An internal report has revealed that the trade unionist enjoyed private jets and freebie football tickets arranged by a company in charge of building a multi-million pound hotel for the organisation. Alright for some!

    The Unite report notes that the Corbynite ‘overruled’ advice from staff and union lawyers when he signed the contract with the Flanagan Group firm – which is run by the former union boss’s ‘good friends’ – with the company going on to overcharge Unite at least £30 million for the Birmingham hotel and conference centre project. More than that, the review found that the union awarded Flanagan Group the contract to build the hotel without a ‘competitive tendering process’ – and despite the company’s ‘history of poor performance, delays…and cost overruns on previous contracts’. Oh dear…

    The probe also stated that private flights (which, the report said, jetted McCluskey to Liverpool games in Kyiv and Madrid) and footie and hospitality tickets were ‘consistently organised and paid for’ by the Flanagan Group. It claimed McCluskey received ticket for five Liverpool games in the UK, and of these four included hospitality. The report also noted that there is ‘no indication’ McCluskey later reimbursed the expense. For his part, the former trade union chief’s lawyers told the Beeb that he paid for his own travel in full and – according to his memory – always paid for his football tickets. McCluskey also denied had ignored the advice of union staff or lawyers. There are no concerns, however, that the trade unionist breached Unite’s gifts policy because, um, it didn’t have one. How helpful!

    The ex-union boss was hugely supportive of the Unite hotel project which was expected to be an investment for union members as well as a conference venue. But costs began to soar: the union’s auditors found Unite has spent as much as £125 million on a development which has since been valued at, er, £38 million. The Serious Fraud Office got involved and last year launched a probe into the project. McCluskey’s successor, Sharon Graham, was quick to order a number of internal inquiries after stumbling across apparent irregularities in the union’s accounts. ‘Now that I’ve uncovered it, I’m going to make sure that it never happens again,’ Graham remarked, adding: ‘Because this is members’ money, I expect it back in the union – and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that happens.’ And Mr S can imagine her trade union members are awaiting updates with bated breath…

    GUBU
    29 minutes ago
    Unite members should take comfort in the fact that Len didn't do a complete Scargill on them, who famously began his trade union career with a small house and a very big union and ended it with a very small union and a substantial property portfolio.

    Altogether now, 'the working class can kiss my a#se, I've got the General Secretary's job at last!'

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b2dc78a515298c00d6611a6965cd3c7b65679b453ae27ce70264925b6bed30ef.png

  84. Went to get a prescription.

    Firstly there's the grafitti everywhere, scrawled by scum. Then there's two chavs trying to destroy the bus stop, kicking in the panes, pulling off the time tables. Then you get to the pharmacy and more than half the people there are foreigners, gabbling in foreign.

    You get out and some woman can't reverse park, so has to go around again. A pile of cars queued behind her as she struggles with basic angles. Then you pootle along to a roundabout which is jammed solid because no one understands the first rule:don't enter unless you can exit. Three junctions, all stuck solid as moron after tattooed moron clogs it up trying to get ahead. Then there's the endless, constant road works, the crossings – at the top of a blind hill, at a junction with another one 10 feet further on.

    The council is spiteful. It all comes down to the state having far too much of our money and wasting it. The vulgar, chavvy tattoos a result of yet more welfare, the foreigners simply shouldn't be here at all and just cost money. Scrap welfare. Stop the chavs breeding, cut taxes, shred the state, if you don't work, you starve. Have a kid and can't afford it? Tough.

    Every thing is wrong, broken, crappy, vandalised or decrepit not because there isn't enough money but because the bloated, obese, corrupt, pointless state has too much money and wastes it on vermin.

    1. Glad we live in a semi-rural area, where things are still much the same as they used to be. Our small local town was busy this lunchtime, but I managed to reverse into a parking spot for two hours free parking. I'm not good at reversing either.

    3. I used to love driving. Surrey congestion became wearing. After dspensing with both feet, I ascertained (not, er, entirely legally) that I could still drive my automatic Mercedes C-Class estate quite happily without modification. I was rather less confident about my ability to fix the MOT advisories with the car on 4 axle stands, on a gravel drive, and me underneath. Purchased with 190k on the clock, I parted with it on 280k, and scrapped it, by which time the interior had become somewhat mouldy. In the right hands, it prolly had much life left in it.

      Had DVLA ever dealt with my renewal application (during Covid they weren't dealng wih paper applications, which as a diabetic on insulin, I had submitted 2-3 forms).

      Then I moved home and GP surgery, rendering the application void. Resubmitted. Still no response. But I had moved to within a few minutes' walk of a rail station, so kissed driving goodbye, with few regrets.

      PS: bugger "getting prescriptions". I can warmly recommend Pharmacy2U. I can order my repeat prescriptions on line. The surgery usually approves the request within 24 hours, and before I know it, the postie turns up with the meds.

      1. From what Wibbers has said previously I would say the Hampshire basin with particular reference to a sea-going city. I may be wrong.

      2. Southamptonshit.

        The poorest areas as in all the other Banlieus in France and Germany here have infested the poorer areas on welfare and now are the focus of local councils.

  85. Pilot probably needed a new/clean flight suit after this

    Seagull smashes cockpit of £73m Spanish fighter jet

    The collision was caught on camera during the Eurofighter display at San Javier Air Base

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/world-news/2025/07/22/TELEMMGLPICT000433161808_17531905244780_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqwqIKvSy63MYgAPQjZTvNf8XPz2z7l1BiKUuCdHkObE.jpeg?imwidth=680
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/briefs/2025/07/22/TELEMMGLPICT000433161806_17531890684570_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq9ipoqzrpJx-0lCLDc3i7Wk8FchWZRD3tSYOiRwPjWDo.jpeg?imwidth=960
    There isn't much seagull left either.

    3. I replaced a couple of plexiglass noses on Canberras when I worked on them – the stench inside the cockpits was unbelievable and hard to get rid of

  86. Well, that's my last full day coming to a close and I decided to have a trip to Rinteln for the day and what a lovely little town!
    A bit of a walk from the Bahnhoff to the Altstadt over this bridge https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a77bc1e16e4797cf836d7067e24302a6786883fd84780f2c660b97c4b34276d7.jpg Which replaced this one that fell down https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/de2f349f3226a6653744b5fdbc791370ed251db1a326cf6e1d95a1ce8a3e7667.jpg And they have an old watchman still doing his duty https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d29356560dbc18600ac9c1b54149812b53555bf32c6da3ef75bfa1d6a3b9a548.jpg As the St. Nicolai Kirche was open https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5af6d37e8bc1853957aa693532b9de0438cdf85619593cee1adee39fb68e0e8e.jpg I went in and it was worth the visit https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/81b18ece60701222ea1c96c6c77b161273ed5bd61f9e2f55e850e62230b21f03.jpg And what a sight the organ was https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c6c38474c225511776ba65af982f32ff8d26e8f75830460cf7a11ebfa9351018.jpg The acoustics were excellent so after chatting to a guide whose English was much better than my German, I went into the nave and sang "Come Holy Ghost Our souls Inspire, which inspired a lady visitor to also sing! And yes, she had a very nice voice, so we had a very enjoyable 15 minutes singing to each other!
    The Guide then asked me to stay where I was for a moment whilst she vanished into the vestry ad then returned with a CD of Bach actually recorded in the Kirche.
    I then had a walk round more of the town and caught the train back to Hameln.
    I am now off for a bite to eat and a last visit to the Badwanne.
    TTFN

    2. Sounds like a great trip down memory lane. I remember doing crossings in our FV439s at Hameln. My first posting was Minden in 1969. I met my wife at Rinteln, she was a QA nursing sister at the hospital there. We celebrate 49 years marriage next month!

    3. I really loved the 12 years I spent in Germany. Clean, modern, (by necessity) and orderly, with little chance of encountering antisocial behaviour (more likely from other squaddies than from Germans). I spent the first five years in Verden, which while an OK town was all flat and with a dull landscape. Exercises were mostl,y in the Corps area – Weserbergland, much more attractive countryside. And it introduced me to gyros and tzatziki.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/73f74a896a7b1bcbac599f5ab57be198dd9bd25128edc71e883ae2978001a5a8.jpg

      1. I spent the most enjoyable 3 years of my service life there – from what I remember of it!

    4. Thanks, Bob. Most interesting. For the best part of a year, thanks to multiple retinal bleeds in the "good eye", I haven't been able to read music. I can read the laptop screen OK, inverting black and white, but pdf's seem to be exempt.

      To my surprise, I find that I can churn out hymns from memory, as long as I know what key they're in, and memorise the number of verses. I can print those details white on black.

      Voluntaries are a different matter. I can manage some from memory, but only a few*.

      Anyway, it's all academic: my contract terminates at the end of September. Neither the Rector nor any PCC member is willing to reveal what their plan is for the future. I understand that one of the local "Great and Good" think they can cover services with volunteers (we have three in the parish – none of whom are entirely free on Sundays). I wish them luck.

      I won't ask again. I'm now working on the assumption that on the first Sunday in October, I'll either be staying home, or worshipping elsewhere. I've already identified a (somewhat high Anglican) church, just a short walk from Guildford Station (the latter 7 mins from home) which appeals. Or – after 54 years of beiing tied to village church organs – I may decide to explore English Cathedral worship, and be "entertained" by proper church music.

      What's not to like?

      *Since the last bleed / laser session, I do believe the mists are clearing. Slowly. Little things like almost being able to tell the time from Seale tower clock last Sunday, for the first time in almost a year.

      3. Good luck with it.

        There are times when I'm convinced the "new Anglicanism" is on a mission to self destruct, by cutting out old but very healthy tissue.
        And replacing it it with septic wokery.

      4. Geoff, I can only say that I am surprised you've kept going for so long.
        And that says a huge amount for your strength of character.

      6. I thought your asterisk was going to specify which voluntaries you can belt out!

        Good news on the eye front, bet the silly buggers will miss you once they've let you go, and may you find a place of worship you like with unexpectedly enjoyable music.

      7. You haven't lost your sense of humour in spite of your tribulations. Keep going Geoff! Enjoy being able to go to different churches.

    6. Bach's Nicolai Kirche in Leipzig is stunning but your one is beautiful too. I hope the other visitors enjoyed your singing. Beautiful organ.

  87. That's me for today. Dry all through – except for a 20 minute downpour at 4 pm. Cats still basketed….!

    Have a super evening not listening to the beeboid radio or telly.

    A demain.

    1. They qualified for an upgrade that's all.. pretty standard.. all those mini bar & buffet bills. Nice pool too.

      1. Brutannia Hotels have consistently been the bottom of the league in the UK for years. It is no wonder they have taken the contract.

        That pool won't be so nice when the residents have used it. The water will be the same colour as their skin within a week.

    4. I think I've worked out the leftist thinking on this… The people freezing to death on the streets have been white and therefore possessors of 'White Privilege' that comes from being born in a western country. The illegal economic migrants are differently coloured and have had the great deprivation of having been born in some awful hell-hole of a country – what could be called 'Black Deprivation'. So it's only fair to equal up the situation by giving the 'deprived' those benefits enjoyed here in the privileged West.

      The fact that this suicidal altruism will bankrupt the country is ignored by the leftists because they think that their wealth (yes, only wealthy people can afford the luxury belief of socialism) won't be affected, and they can live in their bien-pensant bubbles well away from the problems created.

      But they won't because the country is already bankrupt (borrowing money to pay the interest on debt already incurred) and the fiscal crisis will affect everyone.

      1. They also ignore the fact that flooding the country with the "black deprived" will turn the country into a black deprived land and everyone (except the elite, of course), will suffer.

    5. We stayed at the Marriot just round the corner from here, it is just half the price. They also have rooms available.

      Do you think that the Britannia hotel will be serving their traditional Christmas meals this year?

    6. Some thing has to happen to stop all this, it's an absolute insult to any British person. The SAS should now be out arresting all those who are obviously committing treason.

  92. Day 2 of our renovations and 1 load bearing wall removed and RSJ fitted other stud wall removed al kitchen units removed and pipe work removed and started replacing drains for washing machine. Electrics being sorted and going back tomorrow morning to confirm siting of new LED ceiling lights.
    Have great confidence in the chap and his team.

    1. He and the team certainly seem to be making rapid progress.
      Let's hope it's as good as it sounds.
      Good luck.

    1. "what he doesn't realise is that I've already let it out to the Home Office for gimmegrants.
      My sales pitch was that they'd feel totally at home…"

  94. Britain's most persecuted group: white men

    Britain is suffering a crisis of masculinity, just not the kind the identity politics-obsessed Left believe

    Annabel Denham, Columnist and Deputy Comment Editor
    22 July 2025 5:27pm BST

    On Sunday the BBC managed the difficult task of getting the Environment Secretary, his shadow opposite, and the leaders of both Reform UK and the Lib Dems onto Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, each for a discussion on our water industry. Unfortunately for the programme's producers, the guests were all male, white, and over the age of 59.

    And so, with mind-sapping predictability, the identity politics brigade – to which the BBC usually obediently kowtows – went bananas. "British politics in all its diversity this morning," sniffed the political editor of The Byline Times, though the country is 81 per cent white and 50 per cent male.

    It's true that men and women are treated unequally in this country, just not in the way most people think. We approve when females dominate certain industries, run FTSE100 companies, make up the majority of university graduates, yet cry "sexism" whenever and wherever men are in the lead on some criterion. We have an Equality Act offering a legal get-out card to employers who prefer candidates from "under-represented" groups. It's why the RAF, NHS and several police forces have all tied themselves in knots explaining why they have prioritised minority recruits.

    We used to pride ourselves on providing "equality of opportunity" but now that's not good enough. We have to aim for "equity" which, purportedly righting the wrongs of the past, permits turning a blind eye to evidence suggesting white males are now often at a marked disadvantage. White British males eligible for free school meals, for instance, are now the lowest performing group at GCSE. They are grossly underrepresented in higher education, with just 13 per cent going to university.

    And when was the last time you heard about an outreach or access programme focused on this group, rather than ethnic minorities and women? Who will advocate for the white men, in left-behind towns and communities, hit hardest by the decline of manufacturing jobs in the late-20th century?

    None of these opportunities have returned, whilst others are gradually being cut off: it was reported this week that women in the construction, electrical and plumbing sectors are now "inundated" with requests from customers who feel safer with them working in their homes. Apparently, there's too much "inappropriate behaviour from tradesmen" going on. Really? How many clients can honestly say they've been subjected to Gregg Wallace-style misogynistic banter over a faulty cable or leaky pipe?

    White men have the highest suicide rates in the UK; white working-class men are statistically among the least likely to experience upward social mobility. The list goes on and on.

    But it's not unique to men from any particular ethnic group. If you possess XY chromosomes, you are growing up in a society which will treat you with suspicion, as a predator in the making, whose basic instincts ought to be suppressed. Where you are terrified to approach members of the opposite sex in a social setting, let alone in the workplace, in case you are taken to be an Andrew Tate tribute act. Where traditional masculine qualities – assertiveness, competitiveness, independence, strength – are dismissed as destructive to our society. Where your economic contribution will be downplayed: how many people are aware, for example, that men pay over 70 per cent of all income tax? That they pay back more of their student loans on average (£50,800) than women (£39,200)? How many stop to consider that, Waspis notwithstanding, women's life expectancy means we get the state pension for longer? That men account for the vast majority – 95 per cent – of fatal workplace injuries?

    Meanwhile feminist groups bemoan the gender pay gap, conveniently forgetting that it is largely a consequence of compensating differentials and free choice. If women opt for part-time roles, remote roles, less demanding roles, why should they expect to be paid in line with male colleagues who are putting in the harder yards?

    For all the grimness of our medieval maternity wards, I'm glad I'm a woman in modern-day Britain. Most of us do reasonably well. I should confess, however, to having a stake in this debate, as the mother of three young boys. But why should my sons be instructed to "stand aside" to allow girls to rise up? It's precisely this mentality which leads us to convince ourselves slavery reparations are a solid idea. Boys born today have nothing to atone for, nor will they benefit from the "patriarchy" of the past.

    So why should they listen to people like Jerry Levins, the late AOL-Time Warner CEO, who famously proclaimed that "it's time to replace all men at the top with women"? "Women are better leaders", he intoned back in 2017 – before the full scale of the Jacinda Ardern or Angela Merkel catastrophes became clear. The evidence is far from definitive.

    Perhaps it's time for a truce between the sexes. Not least so that we can focus on the areas where women are genuinely disadvantaged, discriminated against or mistreated. The Left appears far more troubled that EasyJet pays its male pilots more than its female cabin crew than it does the steady rise in FGM or warnings from charities that forced marriage is on the rise. I'm sorry, but I struggle to see the Kuenssberg panel as such a horror show. Laura was in charge, after all.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/22/men-arent-the-enemy-but-i-wouldnt-want-to-be-one

    1. Never mind the white man, what about the white boy from a poor background? How much chance do they have of breaking away from their impoverished background?

      1. My sons have done ok – They both had the benefit of a grammar school education, as did I – but their father didn't. They both went to University – I didn't.

    1. I was never a fan, but that's sad news.

      Bugger the pigeons, though. Any ideas for repelling pink-ringed parakeets? They ignore my feeding station, but repel everything from Jackdaws to Dunnocks, via various finches. Including wood pigeons…

      2. I realise a .22 Air rifle might be a little inconvenient for you, but how about a Larson trap?

      1. Hello Eddy

        Yes , felt a bit of a twerp , but , the sunflower is the conversation not me .. the plant should have been at least 15ft tall .
        An erratic year for our sun flowers , we ordered Giant Russian seeds , and only 2 grew, feebly .

        2. I usually have a competition with my 5 year old grandson. But I had too much else to cope with. My knee operation. So he won again. 😉😊

  99. Scraping the barrel…

    Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has made Sir James Cleverly her shadow housing secretary as part of a reshuffle of her senior team.
    The new role will see the former foreign and home secretary go head-to-head with Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner in Parliament.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c24v0j73e75o

    1. Setting a black man up against Rayner? She's obviously going to have his babies. Then terminate them while he fucks off.

      Ooh…stereotypes are so unkind. Like the Southport and Epping protesters are all Nazis.

      Two can play at that game.

      1. While there is some truth in the stereotype and I am not a fan of the misleadingly named Cleverly, he does not strike me as particularly unstable in his private life.

  101. 409289+ up ticks,

    This happened last year seemingly if so, is there some time limit, or child body count to be found acceptable until something is seriously done.

    Hello the links disappeared if only the "authorities" could disappeared the murderous shite as quick.

    3. What happens to Muslims who pray quietly in the vicinity of an abortion clinic?

      1. Police immediately arrive and protect them. Then say Jihad has several meanings and because their culture is different we don't understand the nuances.

          1. Labour reducing the voting age to 16 is just the next step. You already know the way this is going. 6 year old girls married for fuck sake.

  103. Well, that was a pleasant evening.
    Went to the Insel Bar, https://www.die-insel-hameln.de/ , for a bite to eat and waiting for the food to arrive I got bored so started on my mouth organ, much to the delight of the two men on the next table!
    A very nice meal of pork, beef and chicken on a skewer with roast vegetables and a glass of Herforder Pilsner.

    Then to the Badwanne for a last drink and a walk back to the hotel.
    Setting my alarm for 07:30 and plan heading off for the train about 11ish.

    Ferry's due into Harwich 06:30 on Thursday and I should be in Cromford about 1ish.

    It's been a bloody good trip!

    2. Very much enjoyed your photo essays and contributions. Your singing because you felt like it is wonderful too.

      No wonder you and Ashes hit it off.

  104. It's raining gently out there – so I'm not going to bother with watering this evening. OH is watching the footie – we've just had a bit of salad leaves and quiche, with home grown tomatoes. And a glass of chardonnay.

        1. Pastryless quiches are trending. Not so heavy though i do like pastry.

          The trick is to beat the egg yolks separate from the whites which are whisked to meringue level and then fold together. If you can be bothered lol !

          2. Very close. The other ingredients you add like salmon and broccoli or whatever takes it down a bit but it is lighter and …well.. you know…

            You can use that technique of separating the eggs with an omelette too. Much lighter.

          3. Not really, no. The one we had has pastry but not too much and it’s nice and eggy with red bits of pepper.

      1. And me…..After some of the decisions I was beginning to think the ref was on the Italian payroll.

      2. Just saw one of the England girlies push one of the Italians over – she shoved her in the back & pushed her over……..

  105. I'm supposed to stay up and watch the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England ladies. I'll make make it to half time,…. now one down after all the first half pressure. Oh dear.

    1. The Italians chose to use gamesmanship having a one goal lead, pretending to injury and taking as long as possible over throw-ins and free kicks. This led to over seven minutes (nearer ten minutes actually) of extra time during which England scored. The Italians were effectively hoist by their own petard.

      Extra time and a blatant penalty conceded and scored on a rebound gave England victory.

  106. I have just emptied the dishwasher , and am furious because there were half a dozen golf balls or more amongst the clean glasses and cups , cutlery , plates etc and the golf balls were still filthy ..

    I feel really cross and disgusted with Moh, well, he then commented that he can do what he wants because it is his dishwasher , house and he lives here.

    1. If I had been in your situation, I'd have said to him that in that case he could have the dishwasher and the house all to himself and live there alone – and I'd have walked out.

          1. You do know her husband trolled us for a while without her knowledge using her access to disqus? Upset quite a few regulars and laughed about it?

            Dicky Snook was a shit then and is still a total shit now.

        1. But the truth of the matter is that she loves her Richard dearly and will admit that this is the case when she has stopped being angry with him!

          I don't know whether washing dirty golf balls in public is a good thing but I do remember this quotation:

          “The amount of women in London who flirt with their own husbands is perfectly scandalous. It looks so bad. It is simply washing one's clean linen in public.”

          ― Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

      1. He would have done better if he had soaked his balls in vinegar . They would have hardened up as opposed to …..

          1. I know you are averse to vinegar but soaking your balls or in in your case your feet is actually beneficial. Kills pathogens. Hardens the skin. Reduces fungus and makes you smell nice to your husband when he licks your toes………………Sorry ! It's that time of night !

    4. He said he can do what he wants? You mean the man that tells you what is what? What does your freeloading son think about that?

    6. Tell him you wouldn't mind, if he was any good at golf.

      Clearly he's not, so if you empty the dishwasher and find his balls throw them back into the rough where they came from.

      He should find them easily, after all that's where they usually end up.

    7. If I'd have done that it would have been my balls which were in the dishwasher

    1. I knew Labour would be useless (I remember the seventies), but even I couldn't imagine they would be as crap as this.

    1. That cannot be true. The Labour Party said they would support working people.

      Though i think the working people they intended to support didn't speak English and worked from home in Pakistan.

  111. Goodnight, all. I'm having an early night tonight; off to a plant sale tomorrow with the dogs.

    1. Starmer has no plan. The only thing he can now react to is far right pensioners.

      1. I fear it's worse than that Phizz – the plan is to drive us into such a bad situation that people will practically beg for the digital id and restrictions on freedom.

    2. I think that’s the plan, then they can jail a few more hWiteys

  118. Well, chums, it's now my bedtime. So I'll wish you all a Good Night. Sleep well and I hope to see you all early tomorrow morning.

  120. Stuart
    7h
    Seems like Britannia Hotels are doing very nicely out of housing asylum seekers…
    This from the Byline Times last year, just remember we are paying for this.

    “UK’s ‘Worst Hotel Chain’, Britannia Hotels, Makes Remarkable Profit After Joining Government’s Asylum Seeker Hotel Network

    Britannia Hotels profits increased to £40 million in 2023, amid reports that at least 17 of the chain’s hotels have been block-booked by the Government for asylum seekers

    1. It's hard to see all this as anything except blatant provocation of the population. They want riots and civil war so that they can blame the financial crash and the slavery on us. "if you're not controlled, you'll just fight each other. Your rioting made it impossible for the government to govern. It's for your own good!"

      1. Good morning BB2

        I didn't sleep very well, I felt insecure and worried .. it feels as if the UK is being car crashed in slow motion .. You know those adverts that show a model car slowly imploding with the dummy being bumped forward to prove that speed / or not wearing a seat belt / using a mobile phone kills when driving to fast?

        I guess my sleeplessness was also the result of a meeting that I had to attend , and the final conversation was that our village is going to be in line for plans for 3,500 new homes , all because our county council is scared of Angela Rayner and the penalties incurred of not complying .

        1. Belle, there are places where I drive past where I still expect to see fields…rows of houses and soon, a massive, ugly, unwanted except by those profiting from it, solar power station.
          The next few years are going to be bad, but life always goes in cycles – it will improve again I am sure.
          It is not a given that the 3500 houses will happen, they might run out of money/borrowing ability first.
          Can you do something concrete to feel better? Move away or connect with other like-minded people?

          1. We have lived here in our village for over 25 years .. now in our late seventies ..

            I am a passionate campaigner , always have been , and have had many roles locally . I love our countryside, history , natural beauty .. There are many like minded people like me , and I do connect ..

            I have been involved with politics for years, and have been significantly a major part of politics for this area until a few years ago , sadly the Tory party stopped listening and ended up flat lining .

            Why on earth are we accepting Saharan medievals as asylum victims .. why are we allowing them in ..

            Why are we seeing notices in public loos , don't stand and squat on the toilets , why are we seeing halal, mosques , and drab totally covered women and weirdly bearded men , no connection nothing .. what on earth has happened so quickly .

          2. I don’t think we can save Britain now, so concentrate on saving yourselves. If enough people are just a little bit more oriented towards survival through hard times, it will make all the difference to communities.

          3. We have lived here in our village for over 25 years .. now in our late seventies ..

            I am a passionate campaigner , always have been , and have had many roles locally . I love our countryside, history , natural beauty .. There are many like minded people like me , and I do connect ..

            I have been involved with politics for years, and have been significantly a major part of politics for this area until a few years ago , sadly the Tory party stopped listening and ended up flat lining .

            Why on earth are we accepting Saharan medievals as asylum victims .. why are we allowing them in ..

            Why are we seeing notices in public loos , don't stand and squat on the toilets , why are we seeing halal, mosques , and drab totally covered women and weirdly bearded men , no connection nothing .. what on earth has happened so quickly .

    2. It’s write to my MP but so far she hasn’t responded to any of my previous letters.

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