Tuesday 22 October: Ministers’ priority should be working with GPs to restore 24-hour care

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

674 thoughts on “Tuesday 22 October: Ministers’ priority should be working with GPs to restore 24-hour care”

  3. Got lucky this morning..

    Wordle 1,221 3/6

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    2. Well done!
      It went a little bit differently for me….
      Wordle 1,221 X/6

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      Gah!

  4. Morning All (not forgetting Geoff)
    Today's Fishy Tale
    A guy went past a seafood restaurant and saw a sign on the Specials Board which read, “Big Red Lobster Tails, $1 each.” Amazed at the value, he said to the waitress, “$1 each for lobster tails! Is that correct?”
    “Yes,” she said, “it’s a special just for today.”
    “Well,” he said, “they must be little lobsters!"
    “No,” she replied, “it’s the big lobster.”
    “Are you sure they aren’t green lobsters – a little tough?”
    “No,” she said, “it’s the big red lobster.”
    “Big red lobster tails, $1 each?” he said, amazed. “They must be old!”
    “No, they’re today’s.”
    “Today’s big red lobster tails – $1 each?” he said, astounded.
    “Yes,” she insisted.
    “Well, here’s my dollar,” he said, “I’ll take one.”
    She took the dollar and led him to a table where he sat down. She sat down next to him, put her hand on his shoulder and said, “Once upon a time there was a big red lobster…"

  5. Morning All (not forgetting Geoff)
    Today's Fishy Tale
    A guy went past a seafood restaurant and saw a sign on the Specials Board which read, “Big Red Lobster Tails, $1 each.” Amazed at the value, he said to the waitress, “$1 each for lobster tails! Is that correct?”
    “Yes,” she said, “it’s a special just for today.”
    “Well,” he said, “they must be little lobsters!"
    “No,” she replied, “it’s the big lobster.”
    “Are you sure they aren’t green lobsters – a little tough?”
    “No,” she said, “it’s the big red lobster.”
    “Big red lobster tails, $1 each?” he said, amazed. “They must be old!”
    “No, they’re today’s.”
    “Today’s big red lobster tails – $1 each?” he said, astounded.
    “Yes,” she insisted.
    “Well, here’s my dollar,” he said, “I’ll take one.”
    She took the dollar and led him to a table where he sat down. She sat down next to him, put her hand on his shoulder and said, “Once upon a time there was a big red lobster…"

  6. Frozen Russian assets to bankroll £2bn loan to Ukraine. 22 October 2024

    The UK will for the first time use frozen Russian assets to bankroll the Ukrainian war effort.

    As part of the G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) Loans to Ukraine scheme – a commitment by G7 countries to provide Kyiv with $50 billion (£39 billion) – the UK will give Ukraine a £2.26 billion loan to be paid back using the extraordinary profits on Russian assets frozen after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the country.

    More commonly known as theft. This is just a small demonstration of the moral collapse of the West. Devoid of Christian Guidance it no longer has any sense of right or wrong. The end now justifies any means.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/22/frozen-russian-assets-bankroll-loan-ukraine-war-uk-g7-era/

  7. 305154_ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    This is not a happening that will be forgotten within a week as in the usual manner, Peter, RIP, is the first political prisoner to die under government
    incarceration, but I have a strong feeling he will NOT be the last.

    By many, tribal, family tree voters, Tommy Robinson is seen as a bastard, to my mind he is an enemy of these odious governing elite so therefore my friend, he now
    will face incarceration, outcome unknown, for in my eyes patriotic services rendered.

    https://x.com/KTHopkins/status/1848391630430028104

    1. .. And 91 days & counting since Manchester Airport victims Fahir Amaaz and his brother Muhammad Amaad and their fat ugly mother have been falsely accused of windmilling a policewoman.

    2. We need to all watch this 100 times and get his algorithm up (or however it happens)

    3. Given the nature of the demonstrations at which he was arrested, it might have been wise to segregate him from the moslem gangs which rule the prisons. Not doing so was a death sentence.

    1. Saw it in the TV listings, studiously avoided. I don't watch very much television and this sort of hit job never features

    2. The general public have enough tension to put up with and live through on a daily basis without all these limp wristed DHs on tv programs trying to make some sort of false political point through inventing situations and drastically telling lies all the time.

    3. These cheeky people just do it to wind up decent tax payers. That's how they get their fun. Shame they can't put equal energy into trying to improve their lives for themselves.

  12. They must be due some compo for the racist way that the justice system is prolonging their finding of innocence

    1. Instant promotion & office will suffice..

      Speaking on behalf of the family, Mr Anwar also revealed that one of the brothers had 'interviewed to join Greater Manchester Police', …

      1. Well if the GMP selection process is anything like the Met's then he's in with a good chance (still)

  15. 395154+ up ticks,

    This is now a proven fact as the WEF / NWO / RESET
    fully realise they were counting on the ex prisoners to cause havoc and re-offend, people must get over their beliefs that these bent governing elites are working on their behalf this has NOT been the case for nigh on four decades.

    Dt,
    Live, Prisoners released early are likely to reoffend, warns probation chief

    2. Many of them would have been financially better off in prison.
      Many of the current elderly certainly would.

    3. And there was me thinking it was to free up hundreds of places for 'Far Right' demonstrators Rioters pi55ed off with government policy….that should do the trick to quell any thoughts of demonstrating against this 'So Far Wrong' government….

      Morning ogga1 and all….

  16. Good morning, chums, and thanks to Geoff for today's NoTTLe site. One of my better Wordle results today.

    Wordle 1,221 3/6

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    1. Snap! Well, almost. Good morning!

      Wordle 1,221 3/6

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    2. Well done, pleased with mine too.

      Wordle 1,221 2/6

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  17. Peter Lynch, a political prisoner dying in jail and our establishment has the nerve to criticise Putin when he does the same thing.

    1. Yes, but we have one thing that Jerry doesn't, Private Laurie: pluck – and determination. Laurie (eyeballing Captain Mainwairing): "That's TWO!"

      1. Shurely "fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to the pope"?

  20. Good morning all.
    A dull, damp, dreary start with 4½°C on the Yard Thermometer with light rain and no discernible wind.

  21. Train collision in Powis kills one I see.
    A quote from the BBC Report:-

    He said it appeared that one of the trains had failed to stop in the normal place on a hill "and from what we can gather he just slid and he couldn't stop the train".

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y0yg7m8meo

    At this time of year "Leaves on the track" are NOT a matter to joke about.

    2. It's the first fatal collision of trains since Ladbroke Grove in October 1999 (as opposed to derailments and other causes).

    3. I believe that in the days of steam trains, leaves and foliage were cleared in case of sparks from the engine causing a fire. Is that correct, Bob?

      1. Correct.
        Then it was decided that diesel trains only needed sufficient clearance to get through and the lineside vegetation was allowed to grow unchecked.

  22. Train collision in Powis kills one I see.
    A quote from the BBC Report:-

    He said it appeared that one of the trains had failed to stop in the normal place on a hill "and from what we can gather he just slid and he couldn't stop the train".

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y0yg7m8meo

    At this time of year "Leaves on the track" are NOT a matter to joke about.

  24. 395154+ up ticks,

    No worries, it will ALL be over in a flash of insanity.

    breitbart,

    NATO Warns of ‘Serious Escalation’ if North Korean Troops Fight in Ukraine

    1. And while they are diverting us with this squirrel, BRICS are inching slowly towards their new 40% gold-backed exchange currency (if the BRICS unit comes off), and gold and silver are making nominal all time highs in fiat currencies.

      Poland, China are encouraging their citizens to buy both metals. Russia is adding not just gold but silver, platinum and palladium to its reserves. The Indians don't need any encouragement to stack PMs. Gold bars are flying off the shelves in Costco in the US.
      But in Britain, the Daily Mail ran an article at the weekend saying "You can make this much money by selling your scrap gold!"
      Woo hoo. Whatever you do, peasants, don't own any actual wealth. Keep believing in the fiat paper system!

      British Indians will certainly be stacking real money – they will end up owning the country. We'll go from being an overseas US state to being an overseas Indian province 🙂
      Could be worse fates.

        1. Basket of BRICS currencies. All fiat at the moment.
          For some reason, 40% gold backing seems to be a magic figure. Didn’t work too well in the past, but then the central bankers don’t seem to like gold anyway – it stops them printing and looting too much.
          I think they only bring gold into the equation to quiet the horses, as soon as they credibly can they will take it out again. So we will never have actual honest banking.

          Oh, and what’s the logo of the BRICS unit? it’s that ruddy WEF rainbow, just swished round a bit.

          1. 40% gold-backing seems to be the norm. But if the other 60% is made up of fiat currencies, rather than securities denominated, one way or another, in gold, all you have is the SDR on steroids.

      3. A gold backed currency is inherently more stable and retains value. It also prevents nations from using QE to waste money so inflation is controlled.

        This is why Labour won't consider it – no massively indebted Western country will. The ability to destroy the currency to waste more money is too tempting. The EU certainly would forbid it against the Euro. It'd be the end of that currency as it is utterly worthless.

        1. They won’t have a choice if people are voting with their feet.
          I think the plan for the next economic cycle seems to be not just one reserve currency, but several in use. So the dollar will still have its place, but they won’t be able to go to war at the drop of a hat if their money printing is curbed. And it does look as though everyone might have to jump on the gold wagon in that situation.

    2. Didn't NATO already escalate the war by supplying weapons to Ukraine?
      How many people have to lose their lives before common sense steps in ?

      1. NATO are already actively involved. Apart from training, there are the spy planes that operate close to border supplying battlefield and electronic info.

        1. As far as I know Ukraine are not NATO Members they were not allowed to join because any country with an active conflict with a neighbouring country.
          I’m not absolutely sure what caused original conflict, i doubt if the truth actually exists any more. But I remember one of our well respected retired army general’s explaining the situation in a bbc interview. I don’t think he actually blamed the Russians for what happened. But he was quite often asked his opinion on tv.
          But he hasn’t been seen on tv since.

          1. After the pro Russian gov was ousted and replaced by a pro EU mob in 2014, the ethnic Russians in the Donbas protested against the change. The demonstrations were dealt with violently and a reported 14000 were killed, allegedly by the Azov brigade. After continuing harassment of the Dobas population, Vlad gave notice that he would take action if things didn't change in the Donbas region. They didn't and the rest is history. A very simplified version, but those seem to be the bare bones!

          2. Yes thanks for that, it’s all coming back to me now. And that is what General Lord Sir Richard Dannatt said.
            That’s why the bbc didn’t like it. And since then our stupid government’s have been pumping millions into Ukraine since. Another very large Bkack Hole.

    3. I've always wanted to die as a meaningless vaporised blob in a war started by

      someone I never heard of in a cause I knew nothing about.

  25. 'Morning All
    'Nuff Said
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    Rest
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    1. In reply to the top one: "Because the brains of the world are addled by a diet of eating shit; and by listening to the twats who fed them shit and bullshit."

    4. The Birmingham one – this could also apply to many other towns and cities in the UK. Bradford springs to mind. Son & partner were considering moving, and looked at some properties in Baildon – far too close to Bradfordistan for my liking. Houses were a bit cheaper there than their current area – cheaper for a reason. Fortunately, they decided to stay put for now.

  26. Morning all 🙂😊
    Weather its usual self. Political Out look grey.
    Another flat bursts into flames in London yesterday. It must be that vicious cladding again. Or will be after the next longwinded enquiry.
    The only priority ministers seem to have is stealing benefits and savings from elderly people. Apparently they are after bus passes now and TV licences. 'Members' in the Lords each have a potential for taking away more than 80 thousand pounds a year. For enjoying subsidised lunches, feeling self important and doing absolutely eff all. And the Dopey Wokies in government still can't find the black hole in the economy.

  27. Charles Moore
    The Tories need to show they have something fresh to offer – and Kemi may be just the woman to do it
    A black African woman leading the oldest political party in the world would be a sight for sore eyes

    Charles Moore 21 October 2024 11:09am BST

    Party members have just received their ballot papers in the Conservative leadership election. We shall know the result of their decisions on Saturday week.

    In my own coverage of this contest, I have broken all the rules of good commentary. I have been reluctant to get in first and unwilling to perceive either triumph or disaster, heroes or villains. Beyond suggesting that James Cleverly was overrated and Tom Tugendhat was underrated, I have felt unwilling to pass any overall judgment on individual candidates. I apologise to readers who find this an unexciting form of journalism.

    The problem is that one has very little to go on. This may seem a strange thing to say after the candidates have been appearing on scores of platforms for three months, but there remains a huge gap between what any candidate, however brilliant, can say, and what he/she can be expected to achieve.

    Although Sir Keir Starmer is working hard to fritter away his own party’s vast majority, it remains overwhelmingly likely that we shall not have another general election for at least four years. This turned out to be true in the last great Conservative rethink after Margaret Thatcher won the leadership in February 1975, but she did not know that then. She was taking on a Labour government with a tiny overall majority and so had to be ready for a general election at any time.

    Next month’s winner will have the unwelcome luxury of a long wait. So one should be suspicious of extravagant claims for or by any candidate: they may never be proved in action. One should also fight shy of cast-iron policy commitments. A specific promise made by someone in no position to fulfil it is nothing more than what Sir Keir would call a sausage to fortune.

    My final reason why no decision can be very definite is that the Conservative Party, though certainly demoralised, is no longer deeply split. Since the defenestration of Mrs Thatcher in November 1990, it has been divided by bad blood over the manner of her fall and by the issue of Europe. Scars remain, but it is a mistake to try to identify any candidate as adhering to the true path or representing the Devil incarnate.

    The right leader will need strong beliefs and the power to express them, but modern Conservatism should have no 39 Articles to which supporters must swear allegiance. There can be no overwhelming case for any candidate at this time.

    Due, in part, to comical miscalculations by Conservative MPs in their final round of voting, the two remaining candidates come from the Right of the party.

    Although originating in the Centre, Robert Jenrick is now the more programmatically Right-wing of the two. This may be because his time as immigration minister convinced him of the fundamental uselessness of Tory policy on the subject. He became angry at his party’s promises which could not, in the present state of the law, be kept. The iron entered his soul.

    Emotionally, therefore, Mr Jenrick is close to the sort of voter who defected to Reform. While in office, he came to realise he was thinking what they were thinking. He can therefore claim that he would be the sort of Tory leader who could win such people back. His policy positions on several subjects during this campaign reflect this. His most specific one – the shibboleth he wants to set up – is that Britain should withdraw from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights. Even his support for fewer housebuilding restrictions is closer to Reform voters who feel excluded by current house prices than to true-blue Tory southerners who are obsessed with protecting what they have.

    It is to Mr Jenrick’s credit that, in his tone, he has almost always avoided Faragiste point-scoring. He puts forward tough policies calmly and reasonably. Kemi Badenoch’s views are not so different, but her approach is. Rather than advancing within the Tory tribe and using the language that tribe recognises, she speaks as an outsider. Here is someone, she suggests, who learnt her conservatism in a cold climate and could almost say she has worked it out for herself.

    For her, it is less a matter of party, more a set of beliefs. Because of her ethnic background, she has had direct encounters with the hostile ideologies that divide Britain (and other Western countries) through identity and sexual politics which set people against one another and weaken families. She has an immigrant patriotism for this country, an emotion often underrated by those of us brought up here. Her memorable striking eloquence comes from this.

    In terms of personality, Mr Jenrick is coolheaded (and therefore potentially unresonant with the public), and Mrs Badenoch is fiery (and therefore potentially troublesome).

    Having no vote in this contest (I am a non-affiliated peer), I look at it with some detachment. I would say it would be unwise to overlook the obvious. A black African woman leading the oldest political party in the world would be a sight for sore eyes. The Left’s cant phrase in relation to racism – “lived experience” – would come back to bite them. Sir Keir, never eloquent, would be lost for words.

    A Badenoch leadership would undoubtedly make a difference and start something new. A Jenrick one might guarantee a quieter life within the Conservative Party but would surely make less impact on the nation. It feels as though the greater risk will reap the greater reward.

    1. The superficial sub heading already ruined it. Why hop onto the bandwagon of kowtowing to her minority status?
      Of all the reasons for supporting Badenoch, that is the absolute worst. The left are horrible racists anyway, they would merely bring out the coconut, Aunt Jemima insults and carry on as usual.

    3. Well over 100 days and they still haven't elected a leader! The last time they did this it also took far too long, and when it was over, although it was all done according to the party rules, they decided to install someone else!! The CINOs have a death wish!

    4. Neither of them offer anything worth voting for. I appreciate they cannot present policy but there's no discussion of root and branch reform. No discussion of the bloated tax code, of the scale and extent of the state machine, no mention of reining in government spending, of the huge amount borrowed and wasted rather than invested.

      Notable that the only thing Labour fussed over was reducing foreign aid. Not the other service cuts, foreign aid. That's how demented and backward

    5. When Badenoch wins – as I suspect she will – Jenrick should create a schism in the Conservative Party which allies with Reform.

      Jenrick should accept that he is not a natural leader – he lacks personality and charisma and – like Starmer – he is socially gauche; but some of his thinking seems to be sound.

  29. G'day all,

    Partly cloudy here at McPhee Towers, wind South-West, 8℃ rising to 15℃. Should be a nice day.

    Thank the Lord for Elon Musk and JK Rowling. But it is a bit laughable that Swinney can't control the nutjobs and fruitloops infesting Holyrood.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1dac0bee0401f91c3115d3777ad55353b91b71c166237f2309a46a7a5381ad91.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/21/elon-musk-and-jk-rowling-mock-snp-list-24-official-genders/

    Dear Lord, may a future government of righteousness and sanity abolish the Holyrood and Cardiff clown shows. Amen.

    1. Good morning Fiscal, and everyone. OT, forgive me, because I remember and respect that photo of you in work overalls some 40 years ago, but I have this image of you stepping outside each morning, checking the windsock and then hoisting a flag or two.
      As for JK Rowling, with her expression 'endarkenment' the lady is indeed a canny linguist.

    2. Keep them, but remove any funding for those countries from central government. Then they only have themselves to blame. They'll swiftly devolve into socialist hell holes (or, as they already have, even further) and as money belts away and poverty reigns Westminster can simply point and say 'stop electing communists'.

      But that's the problem, isn't it? We get the government we deserve and if the Welsh cannot think their way out of a paper bag then they get morons. However it also says something for the type of person who wants the job. Look at Drakeford. A nasty, bitter socialist who's neve worked a day outside of an expenses account suddenly thinks himself Chairman Mao. Then here's the SNP – a bunch of bonkers national socialists will all the brains of a pop idol loser.

    4. Ah but, note the language scam. I don't believe in any of them, but I'm in that list, as maybe are you. They would no doubt count me as "Agender (a person who does not identify as having a gender)". I'm there because I don't believe such a thing as gender even exists, but in their conversation I merely do not identify (… presumably with the reality).

      That's the point in the end. Zealots and silly cults are always found holed up in their own bunkers, nicely separated from reality.

      1. In my school day 'gender' was a purely grammatical concept, beloved of foreign languages.

        1. Mine too. Now it’s become a matter of metaphysics indulged in by people who know sod all about that subject.

  30. 395154+ up ticks,

    Just pondering,

    Will there be a lucrative payment to give, all found board to early release, homeless foreign prisoners?

    If so we can have an early release nonce at the daily dinner table how would that rate on the voting agenda,
    will the majority go for it ?

    ALL governing parties detest the electorate with a vengeance, even their own tribal,family tree supporters.

  31. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/undercover-exposing-the-far-right-channel-4-review/

    The journalist writing this article didn't once ask himself – or the Left – why they set about making this. He doesn't ask why Right minded people don't set out to spy on Left wing organisations. He hasn't considered the level of malice, spite and hatred needed to set about trying to demonise the 'other'. He doesn't ask what the motivation was, or the reasoning nor draw historical parallels between this and the same behaviour of spying on others carried out by the Left throughout their nasty, bitter history.

    1. Perhaps those currently in charge really do believe that with a little surgical & chemical magic men can indeed have babies? At the end of the day the proof of the pudding is in the delivery suite!

    2. Morning Belle,
      BUT: Each young male can impregnate MANY women/girls, while each female can only have ONE pregnancy at a time… It's all about the numbers.

    1. Ogga. What do you think of UKIP now under Nick Tenconi? I see Tommy Robinson is urging people to join up.

      1. 395154+ up ticks,

        Afternoon JR,
        The ukip party currently ? Godders Bloom on interviewing N Tenconi
        pressed him on membership numbers his reply was 2000.
        I believe that the hard core of that 2 K was in agreement with the 2019
        NEC / farage when they said Gerard Batten was not of good standing within the party so therefor could not be re-elected as leader.
        Batten asked the membership for £100.000 on taking office in reply
        he got £300.000,putting UKIP financially in the black, with thirty thousand members ,more joining daily,not bad for a bloke according
        to farage & the nec input ” not of
        good standing”

        Then low & behold the brexit party under farage took to hill climbing,
        then stepping down in support of that johnson chap.

    1. Statistical gaslighting is that one, Belle. I have the misfortune to travel through Londonistan occasionally and it's simply untrue. They have weighted the survey somehow, I guess. I'm going through again Thursday and I will no doubt hear next to no English spoken on the tube, I'll hear on previous evidence about five different languages and just occasionally I have heard some announcements over the tannoy in what sounds like an Arabic tongue.

      1. "…I have heard some announcements over the tannoy in what sounds like an Arabic tongue."

        That'll be the call to prayer, James. Do keep up.

        1. Bit slow me, Bill. I can be excused, since as the line from the old song goes, “I’m sorry, I don’t pray that way”.

      2. When I used to attend the Battle of Britain service in Westminster Abbey, I was often the only white person and certainly the only native English speaker on the bus from Crystal Palace.

  35. Not much coverage in the British media but today, Russia is hosting its BRICS summit in Kazan. BRICS is going to be a gamechanger for everyone as it develops, a competing global payment system that will topple US dollar dominance. Nobody wants to hold USD anymore to pay for essential resources when the Federal reserve is inflating the value of its currency away at such a terrifying rate. US national debt is approaching £36 trillion. It has increased by 1/2 trillion in just 100 days!!! Kamala Harris is intending to spend another $5 trillion in her first year in government. Printy Printy – Complete madness.

    Consequences for the UK? Well, all western economies are tied to USD dominance, so if developing nations, Russia & China decide to pay for their resources in a competing currency system, then we are ALL toast. Kiss your pensions, savings and investments goodbye. Crazy times.

    1. Thats what 4 years of Democrats have done for America as the far left Labour government is now doing for us.

      1. Satan is the great deceiver. The people who rule us aren't smart enough to realise that their path will lead to their own self destruction as well as ours.

    2. BRICS is going to be a gamechanger for everyone as it develops, a competing global payment system that will topple US dollar dominance.

      1/ Don't be daft.
      2/ Most of those BRICS have been trying to defy the gravity of the impossible trinity of the Currency Trilemma.. for like ever.
      3/ Nobody wants the Chinese Yuan.. not even the Chinese.
      4/ Tell me.. what would you do with a large bucket of Yuan? I'll tell you.. go to Macau & launder it for 20% in the VIP rooms at the casinos like everybody else. (But not for too much longer).
      5/ Nobody wants to hold USD anymore.. Everybody still trades in US$, even btc.

      1. That is a bit uncalled for. It's happening alright. Just very, very slowly.
        It was in the WEF's you-will-own-nothing presentation in 2015 – it's no surprise.

        I don't think anyone wants to wipe out the dollar, it's still going to be a very important currency

    3. BRICS is going to be a gamechanger for everyone as it develops, a competing global payment system that will topple US dollar dominance.

      1/ Don't be daft.
      2/ Most of those BRICS have been trying to defy the gravity of the impossible trinity of the Currency Trilemma.. for like ever.
      3/ Nobody wants the Chinese Yuan.. not even the Chinese.
      4/ Tell me.. what would you do with a large bucket of Yuan? I'll tell you.. go to Macau & launder it for 20% in the VIP rooms at the casinos like everybody else. (But not for too much longer).
      5/ Nobody wants to hold USD anymore.. Everybody still trades in US$, even btc.

    4. This is Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates. And we are lied to in the West, supposed to believe that Russia's only friends are Iran and China, the Triumvirate of evil. Thank god we have the internet, the MSM are nothing more than propagandists. Which, by the way, the above interview by Nick Robinson of Matt Goodwin, amply demonstrates.

    5. This is Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates. And we are lied to in the West, supposed to believe that Russia's only friends are Iran and China, the Triumvirate of evil. Thank god we have the internet, the MSM are nothing more than propagandists. Which, by the way, the above interview by Nick Robinson of Matt Goodwin, amply demonstrates.

  36. On a more cheery note, Matt Goodwin's interview with Nick Robinson on R4 the other day was a zinger. Nick Robinson was forced to invoke Enoch Powell to try and trip him up. His YouTube channel and Substack are really good too.

  37. Parents who scrimp to afford private education
    SIR – Despite being a single parent, I scrimped and saved my money in order to provide my younger daughter with a private school education. I drove an old car, forfeited holidays and was very abstemious.

    I could not have afforded an extra 20 per cent on school fees, and would have had to rely on the state sector. Labour’s plan to impose VAT will have absolutely no effect on truly rich people, thus making private education even more exclusive.
    Robin SeQueira
    Poole, Dorset

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/8325843.stm

    Chinny rub rub … what a load of fibs !

      1. Don't have any idea but the name is real. He is either Dutch or South African. My friend, the South African, has the unfortunate name of 'Kok' which is pronounced exactly as you might surmise. In English it is the surname 'Cook'.

    2. As I posted yesterday we have two boys on a French course at the moment both of whom go to extremely prestigious private schools. These boys have siblings who are also in private schools so between the two of them the fathers will be having to pay £40,000 in VAT.

      One of the fathers is self-employed and extremely successful at what he does – however he is suffering from extreme stress trying to work out how he can raise the amount of money he has to make in order to continue educating his children as he does.

      1. trying to work out how he can raise the amount of money he has to make..
        As I said yesterday he'll work it out.
        Out of interest.. ask him where his vote is going.

    3. Chairmen of health trusts were not paid vast amounts, as it is often a part time role. He was born in 1943, so was likely to have been paying school fees in the 1980s and 1990s.

      1. Robin SeQueira. Former Director of Social Services Dorset County Council

        Care conundrum 13 May 2021 12:02am BST
        SIR – I began my career in social work in 1965. The hot topic at that time was how social care and healthcare could better work together. That conundrum remains, not because of resource constraints but simply because of the intractable question at its heart: who controls the resulting service?

        Is it to be local government, through locally elected members, or central government through Parliament? Therein lies the rub: the control of social care is locally determined but within parameters set by central government. The control of healthcare is firmly embedded in Whitehall. Neither entity is likely to give ground.

        The problem, therefore, is not about resources but power.

        Robin SeQueira
        Former Director of Social Services
        Dorset County Council
        Lytchett Minster, Dorset

    4. Sounds similar to my single parent experience. My four went through private school, albeit subsidised on the Continent. Holidays did not feature much in their school days, apart from those blasted sailing and skiing trips that the rich parents were so darn keen on! To be fair, the school did manage them on a shoestring and my daughter loved them!
      But in days gone by, I used to load all four in the Ford Fiesta, with their little (second hand) skis and a sledge in the back, and head off for skiing day trips – a family day ticket was 55 euros! Hate to think what it would be now, easily double that I should think.

    1. As with the Easter Rising of 1916, it was the execution of the 16 rebels that turned the masses against parliament.

      1. One of a number of stupid decisions by the British Authorities in Ireland. In particular, it was General John Maxwell who ordered that the Courts Martial would be held in secret and without a defence, which Crown law officers later ruled to have been illegal. The British government under Prime Minister Asquith and his cabinet soon became concerned with the speed and secrecy of events and had to intervene to prevent further executions.

      1. Yes him. Obviously another left winger that is going to react with bias towards normal people.

    3. Wow. A stupid shrieking woman who frankly sounds like she was panicking has caused this man’s death. Thank you for posting.

      I am beyond despondent.

  39. Good morning, all. Blue sky, calm with a really heavy dew on the grass. The grass needs a cut and so I'll leave it to later when it may have dried a little bit.

    American politics has all the bad bits we have and worse e.g. attempted assassinations, lawfare etc. but I can't remember one candidate in the UK trolling their opponent(s) quite as blatantly as Trump has done when he did what he said he might do, a stint in McDonald's.

    Now, one of Trump's supporters has put together a short skit mimicking Trump working under the golden arch. Double trolling of Harris?

    The line, "being indicted for putting too much salt on the fries" is rather clever when the attempts at lawfare re Trump are considered.

    Quite good for American humor (sic).

    https://x.com/Shawn_Farash/status/1848362761299865765

    3. Americans can be quite good at humour, but the winner is Trump. He's just hogged the news on what was a merely comedy skit. He knows that. The worst thing you can be in politics, especially American politics is a nobody.

    4. No. The North begins with the Humber and the demarcation line passes between Leeds and Huddersfield, then skirts South of Blackburn to meet the Irish Sea just South of Preston.

        1. I think of the North as recognizable more through accent than anything else. That isn't monolithic because there are several accents and they differ from one another. But I would say I know that I'm in true Northern England when I hear accents that are distinctively not Southern English or Midlands.

    6. Yes. Agrees with my world view (as a born Midlander who lived oop north before moving dahn sarf)

    7. I recall the Euro-regions, which aroused so much controversy, but which were, with exception of Greater London, the work of WW I civil servants.

    8. Well, I agree with top line since I lived nearby for most of my life. The top part of Derbyshire is certainly in the North since its customs, dialects and habits mirror those found in counties to its North. Whereas below that line, the Midlanders have different customs and habits and their dialects are weirdly unsimilar to the North.

      Chesterfield is a Northern town and I (a Cestrefeldian) am a Northerner.
      Although it's in the same county, Derby is a Midlands town and those hailing from thereabouts are Midlanders.

      As for the Southern line demarcating the Midlands from the South, I neither know nor care.

  41. Transgender darts player hits out at ‘toxic b—–s’ after booking World Championship spot
    Noa-Lynn van Leuven, who transitioned in 2021, says ‘conservative’ players who oppose her participation see her ‘as a threat’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/darts/2024/10/21/transgender-darts-world-championship-noa-lynn-van-leuven/

    The comments section was closed down after only 24 comments had been posted.

    I wonder why virtually all the posters had this quite unacceptable view that a transgender woman is not a proper woman at all but the sort of woman of which our government, led by the prime minister, approves: a woman with a penis.

    Some posters also expressed the extreme right, fascist view that if men in frocks wanted to compete in sport they should either compete in the Men's division or set up a new division for transgender players. Clearly such posters need to correct they way in which they think or they will be guilty of thought crime – just as silent praying Christians are!

    1. I got blocked so many times by the Telegraph commenting system that I gave up. The site commenting seems to be moderated by MI5 or by the 77th Brigade psyops

        1. Order-Order and Con Home both use Vuukle, which has an embedded AI moderation system developed in conjunction with Google (What could possibly go wrong?!!) . It is completely unusable. It has no ability to differentiate context so it'll see a word it "doesn't like" and just delete the post. Fatty Staines likes it because he doesn't have to pay someone to moderate his site for him, so he allows a communist programmed AI moderator to vet every post on his site. Worra massive wanker.

    3. There appears to be a lot more thought crime around than previously.

      We're so delighted that the Government is making sufficient room in prisons to deal with the perpetrators.

  42. And so the punchline to the joke begins to emerge.

    "Tougher punishments outside prison are being considered as part of a government review into sentencing.

    The review will be launched on Tuesday by Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood in a bid to ease overcrowding in the prison system.

    Led by former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke, the review will be activated on the same day that around 1,100 inmates are set to be released early as part of the government's policy to free up prison space.

    Latest figures show there are just over 2,000 free spaces in prisons across England and Wales – and they are expected to reach critical capacity again by July."

    As I recently argued elsewhere, Britain is heading for a dikastocracy, in which ordinary everyday life can in principle become your prison. The next step will be to pass on the creation of a minor "devolved" ability for judges to create localised legislation as the need is perceived to arise. The police and other agencies will eventually become more dedicated to work as open prison jails in a new panopticon society.

    It made me yawn a bit at first, but note that a former Conservative Justice Secretary is heading the review. If anyone didn't spot collusion with the lawyer Starmer over the past decade on this one then they simply weren't paying attention.

      1. Already they’re establishing a principle for the future. The proposal we saw a couple of days ago, long telegraphed, was for government to have the power directly access and control bank accounts of anyone claiming benefits. Next it’ll be anyone in receipt of a sentence or misdemeanour and so on.

        1. Access to ones bank account……

          Anyone who doesn't see how dangerous that is needs to give their head a wobble.

  43. Morning all, nice day in West Sussex, sunny and warm enough that I have the front door open for fresh air. Hope everyone is well? So onwards and upwards and all that.

  44. Today FREE SPEECH has three new articles, which I hope you all read and comment upon. Iain Hunter, in protest against the continuing assault on our culture, decided to do something about about it and, in his piece , rings the bell for positive action. Ever grumpy Graham Bedford gripes about the continuing assault on his nerves by the modern world in his piece that most will have some sympathy with, and I have an article on the continuing assault on our freedom and what I consider may be the judicial manslaughter of political prisoner Peter Lynch , given a cruel and unusual punishment that appears to have driven him to suicide.

    Please support us by reading and commenting. Thank you.

    2. The damage done to this country by massive unwanted immigration is irreparable. The only possible solution is containment and oppression, treating any disobedience with absolute violence.

      The problem of course is the state is doing that – but against the native population.

  46. Well, just had a phone call ref. compensation for my assistance to t'Lad after he was knocked off his bike 2y ago and the weather is beautiful after the miserable start.
    Just about to slup a last mouthful of my 3rd mug of tea and head to the "garden".
    TTFN

  47. That has been the case in Germany for a long time.
    Ironic that Britain is now going down the same route just when people have alternative options (cryptocurrencies).

    1. No doubt all to force EU alignment. After all, the state won't let us diverge from the hated thing.

      1. Don’t know if they do that in other EU countries. Also, they have a dual system there – the first two years you get paid from the insurance contributions that you paid in. IIRC, after that you go on benefits, and that’s when the real restrictions kick in like them having access to your bank a/c, restrictions on the amount of holiday you’re allowed to take etc.
        There’s another tier beyond that if you simply refuse to get a job, where your benefits become dependent upon you turning up to factory work that they send you to, and for which you get paid a token extra 1 euro.
        (This is what I heard anyway, I never tested it myself!)

        Typical if Britain goes for the benefits office getting your bank details immediately you lose your job and sign on. Britain has a history of messing up these policies that come from Europe.

  48. Remember the lass who was upset and angry about the child killings and woundings in Southport?
    On the X website and in the formal Sentencing Remarks, the Judiciary misspelled Lucy Connolly's surname. As in Rex -v- Lucy Connelly.
    Other errors are available, eg, the Twitter website changed its name in July 2023, not July 2024.
    No idea if the Recorder's Sentencing Remarks constitute a legal document, but both versions are available to download, Connolly and Connelly.
    Sorry, cannot post a screenshot of the error on X.
    https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Connollysentence.pdf

  49. Apols if this has already been posted.
    Golly Gosh; I am just sooooo took aback.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/22/chris-kaba-gunned-down-rival-oval-space-nightclub/

    "Chris Kaba was a violent gangster who shot rival in nightclub

    Convicted criminal was a key player in one of London’s most feared and dangerous gangs

    Martin Evans22 October 2024 10:40am BST

    The man shot dead by police in south London two years ago was a violent, armed gangster who gunned down a rival in a packed nightclub just days before he was killed, it can now be disclosed.

    Despite his family claiming that convicted criminal Chris Kaba was trying to turn his life around, the 24-year-old remained a key player in one of London’s most feared and dangerous gangs.

    In the early hours of Aug 30 2022 – just six days before he died – Kaba and three of his gang associates smuggled a handgun into a Notting Hill Carnival afterparty in the Oval Space nightclub in Cambridge Heath, Hackney.

    After spotting a rival on the packed dance floor, Kaba coolly raised the gun and fired, hitting his 23-year-old target in the leg.

    CCTV footage from inside the club captured the terrifying moment.

    Miraculously nobody else was hurt but panicked partygoers were sent running for their lives.

    Kaba was not finished, however, and as his injured target tried to escape he chased him from the nightclub into the street and shot him again as he lay on the ground.

    He and fellow gang members then left the scene in two cars – one of which was the Audi he was driving the following Sunday evening when he was shot dead by police.

    The victim was rushed to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel where he was put under armed guard and treated for gunshot wounds to both legs.

    He refused to cooperate with the police and later discharged himself from hospital against medical advice.

    In February this year, three men, Shemiah Bell, Marcus Pottinger and Connell Bamgboye were convicted over their role in the attack.

    At their trial, prosecutors said if he had still been alive Kaba would have stood trial for attempted murder.

    Far from laying low after the incident, however, Kaba’s armed activities continued the following week.

    On Saturday Sept 4 – just 24 hours before he was shot dead by police – Kaba and his gang are suspected of carrying out a gun attack outside a primary school in Brixton.

    Members of the public reported seeing three masked and hooded men opening fire with a shotgun on a white Mercedes containing two people.

    The suspects were then spotted changing their clothes and getting into two getaway cars, one of which was the Audi Q8 driven by Kaba when he was shot.

    While the identity of the gunman was never confirmed, following Kaba’s death his clothes were examined and gunshot residue was found on his sleeve. A Balaclava was also recovered from the scene.

    The Audi, which was not officially registered to Kaba, was also linked to a shooting in Bromley around five months earlier in May 2022.

    In that case two, people suffered gunshot wounds after being fired upon by unidentified assailants.

    Kaba’s criminal record dated back to the age of 13, but by his late teens he had graduated from petty crime to serious violence with convictions for stabbings and grievous bodily harm.

    In 2017, while still a teenager, he was charged with possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence after shots were fired in the Canning Town area of east London.

    He appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court in January 2019 where he was found guilty of possessing an imitation firearm.

    Kaba was sentenced to four years in a Young Offenders Institute but was released on licence in 2020.

    Not long after his release, he was returned to jail after a knife was discovered in his car when he was stopped by police for driving without insurance.

    He received an extra five months in custody because the offences were committed while he was still on licence.

    At the time of his death, Kaba was an expectant father, but court records reveal how in April 2022 he was served with a 28-day domestic violence protection order relating to the mother of his unborn child.

    The order barred him from contacting her on social media or entering the street where she lived.

    His family claimed that following his spell in prison he had been working hard to make a fresh start with aspirations of becoming an architect.

    But in reality, Kaba was one of the leading figures in Brixton’s Hill’s notorious 67 gang, an organised criminal network and drill rap collective.

    The 50 or so gang members controlled the lucrative drug trade in the area, using firearms and knives to terrorise their rivals and protect their business and territory.

    In 2019, a member of 67 was convicted of a gangland murder, and there have also been numerous stabbings and shootings linked to its members.

    In 2021, an associate of Kaba was stabbed to death and in May 2022 two people were shot by members of 67 in a robbery.

    The 67 gang was also active on the drill rap scene and was even nominated as the Best Newcomer in the 2016 Music of Black Origin awards.

    Kaba, who went by the name Itch, appeared in several videos produced by the outfit.

    According to the Metropolitan Police, far from being focused on music, 67 was the highest-harm criminal gang in London.

    In 2019, the police disrupted a county lines drug dealing operation, which resulted in 16 people, including key figures from 67, being jailed for a total of 61 years.

    At the time of his death, Kaba was the subject of an interim gang injunction, aimed at preventing him from engaging in organised criminal activity.

    The Metropolitan Police were about to apply for the injunction to be made permanent and a hearing had been listed for ten days after he was shot dead.

    Before Martyn Blake, the officer who shot Kaba stood trial, police said they had intelligence that there was a credible threat to his life from members of 67.

    An assessment sent to the court by one senior officer read: “In nearly 30 years of service I have never been more concerned about the welfare of an officer or the risk to them and their family to come to harm as I am about the officer in this case.

    He went on: “There is specific intelligence which indicates the risk to the officer’s life and that members of the 67 gang actively seek or locate him as a result of the death of Mr Kaba.”

    1. Wot no 1 realises is.. My auntie and uncle both got health conditions because of this trauma.'

      Around 200 demonstrators held signs, including ones reading 'ashamed to be white' and 'born 1999, lynched 2022,' referencing Mr. Kaba's death.
      In tears, Sheeda Queen, Mr. Kaba's cousin, addressed the crowd, calling the speed of Martyn Blake's acquittal 'shameful.'
      She said: 'My family can't be here. On the first day, when we started the trial, we watched footage of Chris being killed. We carried on watching it because it was part of the evidence.'
      'My auntie started shaking.. crying uncontrollably. My auntie and uncle both got health conditions because of this trauma.'

      1. I think his shooting should be memorialised. As a victory for justice.

        Kill the rest of the scum as well. Crime would fall off a cliff.

        1. That's just it.. it wasn't a victory for justice.. the warning message was loud n clear.
          Don't become a firearms officer, they will jail you. Eventually.
          Don't shoot.. ever. Too risky.
          They let you off this time.. next time you're dead.

    2. The Police Officer should have been given a George Cross for bravery. Knowing the history why did they choose to prosecute him?

    5. BBC radio news solemnly intoned that reporting restrictions had been lifted and described his past convictions as though they were merely parking fines or similar.

      1. Up until that point the BBC had been reporting it as another example of the George Floyd murder – stirring up racial hatred and practically calling for civil unrest in the UK – it was that strong. They must have wept when the litany of attempted murders and criminal offences committed by Kaba was revealed. The policeman who shot him has done the country a service by removing that vile specimen.

      2. Up until that point the BBC had been reporting it as another example of the George Floyd murder – stirring up racial hatred and practically calling for civil unrest in the UK – it was that strong. They must have wept when the litany of attempted murders and criminal offences committed by Kaba was revealed. The policeman who shot him has done the country a service by removing that vile specimen.

    7. I wonder whether his last victim's family thinks he was trying to turn his life around when he accidentally smuggled a handgun into a party?

      Thank you that jury and that policeman. Some other family won't be grieving – possibly the family of one of the police officers on that day.

  50. Wot no 1 realises is.. My auntie and uncle both got health conditions because of this trauma.'

    Around 200 demonstrators held signs, including ones reading 'ashamed to be white' and 'born 1999, lynched 2022,' referencing Mr. Kaba's death.
    In tears, Sheeda Queen, Mr. Kaba's cousin, addressed the crowd, calling the speed of Martyn Blake's acquittal 'shameful.'
    She said: 'My family can't be here. On the first day, when we started the trial, we watched footage of Chris being killed. We carried on watching it because it was part of the evidence.'
    'My auntie started shaking.. crying uncontrollably. My auntie and uncle both got health conditions because of this trauma.'

  52. Archbishop of Canterbury: My ancestors were slave owners. 22 October 2024.

    Most Rev Justin Welby said his father was the great-great grandson of Sir Anthony Montague Browne, who enslaved people on a plantation in Jamaica and was compensated when slavery was abolished.

    The archbishop said: “I am deeply sorry for these links. It is now time to take action to address our shameful past.”

    “Our shameful past?” The last three generations of my family worked down the coal mines. I don’t think that they would feel much guilt for Jamaican slave owners.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/22/archbishop-of-canterbury-justin-welby-slave-owner/

    1. Coming out at the end of a shift they would now be accused of blacking up and cultural appropriation, Minty.

    3. If his family was compensated, then he can give up his own fortune. But like all socialists, he won't of course; he just wants us to give up ours to pay for his ancestor's sins. A double whammy, since our ancestors paid for his ancestor's compensation in the first place!!!

    4. "The last three generations of my family worked down the coal mines."

      Another example of capitalist exploitation for which we must be shamed.

    5. You be as ashamed as you like. Not only did my ancestors not have the money or position to have slaves, but even if they did, you personally can pay what reparations you like, don't involve the rest of us in your pathetic handwringing, Bish. We don't care.

    8. Well, well, Welby, your rich relative profited from the British taxpayer when he was forced to renounce ownership of his slaves. The poor peasants who were deprived of their meagre earnings got nothing in return. Despite that, I am not concerned about your family's past, it is your woeful present that is of more concern. Jack in your job, Justin, and b*gger off – preferably to Africa where you will be more at home with the bowl and stick community that you love so much.

    9. If the Archbishop knew his biblical theology a bit better, he would know that God has, through the prophet Ezekiel, determined that wrongdoing is the responsibility of the person doing it, and not his or her descendants:
      "The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself." (Ezekiel 18:20)

      Following this teaching would allow Mr Welby to reject any idea of his (or anyone else's) ancestral guilt, and banish any thought of paying reparations for ancestral wrongdoings.

      2. This should be sent to the Archpillock and every priest in Christendom should include it is his sermons.

        And while we're at it the Idiot King should learn from Ezekiel.

        When I was a schoolboy the prurient found the 23rd Chapter of the Book of Ezekiel essential and fascinating reading.

        Verse 20 is particularly scurrilous:

        There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.

        1. It's a good job I wasn't drinking as I revealed the hidden words. Maybe it is time to dig out my old bible……

  53. Gangsters put a £10,000 bounty on the head of a police marksman after he shot dead Chris Kaba, it can be revealed today.

    Martyn Blake is having to live in hiding, fearing for his life and his family after a £10,000 reward was offered to anyone prepared to offer information on his whereabouts in order to kill him in revenge for the death of Mr Kaba.

    Now it can be revealed that Mr Kaba was one of London's most feared gangsters with a shocking history of violence.

    But it was Mr Kaba who had pulled the trigger as part of a vicious war for control over a 'county lines' drug dealing network which raged between the two gangs.

    Nicknamed 'Mad Itch', Mr Kaba had a shocking history of violence, with convictions dating back to the age of 13 for affray, knifes and weapons possession relating to several shootings.

    Jurors were told merely that the victim was an expectant father. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13986529/Chris-Kaba-gangster-verdict-Martyn-Blake.html

    Black gangsters, I wish the Krays were still alive .. they would have sorted those black b########s out .

      1. We're not. We could find the rest of them and shoot them too. We could forcibly deport anyone relating to them. If there's no safe country, why not simply dump them out to sea. We could then arrest and deal with those whinging Lefties at the trial.

        We don't. Because we're better than them. Perhaps we should stop worrying about that and just get rid of them.

  54. Is this for real?

    Comment at the bottom…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c989aa9477f99ba6dd56d971e12715043c9c2ca9645f1d68f9924348f3fafc22.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5e40f6a86f5a23ca3b42961270f6e7081344f91620eaa1b902074432dd85ea66.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ca0e4ab56341e8af4addda1ebb7f1a726275f6493deb12ce80b67cdc28336233.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/71413f08147d7e0ef5112bb2643fb82366aafa0531b8e04fbd0cba05670c13c1.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/200671e6d6a6ee032c8208897ea35489aecf3c717609c3ac86dc337740349fe1.png

  57. From the Substack of John Leake & Peter McCullough*
    you have to be a paid subscriber to read more.
    So that's why the conversation is so scintillating on NOTTL!

    "Of all life’s pleasures, conversation has always struck me as the most energizing and delightful. A good conversation has no particular purpose. Like contemplating a beautiful work of art, conversing is not a means to an end, but an end in itself.

    Some of the best conversationalists I have known were older Englishmen, born right after the Second World War. In their education, they were, I believe, far closer to the 19th century than they were to the 21st. Nowadays I often get the impression that British education fell off a cliff sometime around 2000.

    According to multiple sources, the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was the most scintillating conversationalist of his era (1772-1834), which is saying something, as it was an era of fascinating characters. Coleridge could purportedly talk about any subject with extraordinary knowledge, gusto, and imagination**. As Thomas De Quincy wrote of him:

    Coleridge, like some great river, swept at once . . . into a continuous strain of eloquent dissertation, certainly the most novel, the most finely illustrated, and traversing the most spacious fields of thought, by transitions the most just and logical, that it was possible to conceive."

    *gets money from The Wellness Company -> probably controlled opposition

    ** it woz the drugs

    1. I wonder whether the British education falling off a cliff around 2000 had anything to do with the Blair government taking power in 1997 with its emphasis on 'education education, education'? As Wikipedia says: "During his first term, Blair enacted constitutional reforms and significantly increased public spending on healthcare and education while also introducing controversial market-based reforms in these areas. [Bold emphasis added.]

      1. They are bad. See, Peter Lynch. Also, the undercover prisoner who writes a column in the Features magazine every Tuesday. He’s super-interesting

        1. All my socks for everyday wear are the same – short, black, so pairs is irrelevant. I just grab two out of my sock drawer, and they are guaranteed to match.
          Simples.

          2. Indeed.
            Diversity is my kilt socks, long, white wool, with a pattern knitted into the top. I also have working-boot socks that I don't care so much if they are tporn or soaked in diesel.
            A man doesn't need more than that

          4. Not a bad system. I once made the mistake of buying day of the week socks for one of my sons. It was traumatising, I can tell you!

          5. If you sew a long piece of elastic between them and then thread this up one trouser leg, across your kecks, and down the other trouser leg, you will never lose another odd sock. [Sewing a label on each sock: i.e. Name; Age; Right foot/Left foot; also helps].

            This is what Rastus does with his gloves (a trick he picked up when he was a public school fag).

        2. We've got one of those "octopus" sock hangers with mini pegs to hang them on. Odd socks get hung up and stay there until, eventually, it's partner turns up.

          2. Good idea. I have an annoying pile in my bedroom. Will migrate it to a tasteful mobile somewhere else.

  60. Not bad:
    Wordle 1,221 5/6

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

  61. I just listened to the Delingpod with Owen Benjamin – thoroughly entertaining. Intelligent conversation pushing the boundaries of reality.

    1. When they sabotaged BREXIT, they really did a good job, didn't they? How about just telling Europe they've had all they are going to get?
      Oh, look, the politicians broke their promises. What a surprise… not.

    3. One of the repliers below is desperately, in contortions of statistics worthy of sstate trying to argue it wasn't valid or 'not binding'.

      They're deranged. They simply hate being told no.

    4. That is not the fault of BREXIT per se, but those who tried to stall BREXIT and who, eventually, delivered BRINO with some VERY avoidable strings attached.

    5. Where to start? We haven't had Brexit and we didn't owe them a penny. It's our remainiac government that's spaffed the money.

  64. I am outside the Royal Courts of “Justice” where a motley crew of JSO/Shut Down Shell supporters are protesting.

    so far I can see three banners that are made of plastic, two of which are tied to railings using single-use plastic ties. The “protestors” are drinking cups of coffee from a nearby coffee house, using single-use plastic lids. They are wearing clothing derived from oil. One wonders if their hypocrisy will ever occur to them.

      1. And all the pension funds that rely on it…?

        I'd quite like these people to do without oil. Not forever, say a month. Just one month, with no use of anything made from or with oil.

        It's cold and went, so the greeniacs can start now. They'll die within 3 days from thirst, but maybe it'll rain.

        1. A colony should be built, perhaps on a remote island. Nice but completely devoid of polyethylene derivatives. They should be sent there. It would be like Lord of the Flies.

      1. Shell's Profits= Londoners' Poverty.
        Go on Einsteins.. tell us how you worked that one out.
        Mental gymnastics plus outright lying with a sprinkling of sanctimonious fraud at its best.

        Genghis Khan's low-emissions scheme had raked in £500 million, a staggering £376 million is still owed in unpaid fines. and either can't or won't pay the resultant £180 fine. Since the scheme was expanded last year, 975,0000 penalty notices have not been paid.

      2. Shell's Profits= Londoners' Poverty.
        Go on Einsteins.. tell us how you worked that one out.
        Mental gymnastics plus outright lying with a sprinkling of sanctimonious fraud at its best.

        Genghis Khan's low-emissions scheme had raked in £500 million, a staggering £376 million is still owed in unpaid fines. and either can't or won't pay the resultant £180 fine. Since the scheme was expanded last year, 975,0000 penalty notices have not been paid.

    3. The Left are hypocrites. It runs through their entire character. These are stupid, spoiled children.

    4. Plastic ties can be re-used; a tool such as a narrow bladed screwdriver is inserted to release the strap, fiddly but not difficult.

      2. They are zip ties and cannot be reused. In fact I sat and watched as they cut them off to retrieve their banners.

  66. Germany’s leaders appear determined to pursue economic stagnation. 22 October 2024.

    Earlier this month, official forecasts of German economic growth went from bad to worse. Rather than eking out 0.3pc of expansion, the eurozone’s largest economy is poised to contract by 0.2pc, having declined by 0.3pc last year too.

    There’s a narrative developing that Germany’s manufacturing-heavy, export-driven market has suffered from the double whammy of higher energy costs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the slowdown in demand for its goods from China. This is true, but not the full story.

    Have no fears. The “full story” does not include the real reason for Germany’s precipitous economic meltdown which is due to the destruction of the Baltic Pipeline by the US and the subsequent loss of cheap Russian Gas to manufacturing. Everyone in Germany knows this of course but no politician, particularly Stoltz, dare say so. The problem is that like the UK with immigration the people know the truth. That is why the so called far-right is rising.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/10/22/germany-leaders-determined-pursue-economic-stagnation/

  67. Germany’s leaders appear determined to pursue economic stagnation. 22 October 2024.

    Earlier this month, official forecasts of German economic growth went from bad to worse. Rather than eking out 0.3pc of expansion, the eurozone’s largest economy is poised to contract by 0.2pc, having declined by 0.3pc last year too.

    There’s a narrative developing that Germany’s manufacturing-heavy, export-driven market has suffered from the double whammy of higher energy costs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the slowdown in demand for its goods from China. This is true, but not the full story.

    Have no fears. The “full story” does not include the real reason for Germany’s precipitous economic meltdown which is due to the destruction of the Baltic Pipeline by the US and the subsequent loss of cheap Russian Gas to manufacturing. Everyone in Germany knows this of course but no politician, particularly Stoltz, dare say so. The problem is that like the UK with immigration the people know the truth. That is why the so called far-right is rising.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/10/22/germany-leaders-determined-pursue-economic-stagnation/

  71. Afternoon, all. Been a lovely day here; sunny and even warmish! The person whose dressage lesson I went to watch the other day borrowed a manege from a friend and we boxed up so I could give her a private lesson today. She said she enjoyed it (and the horse was working better at the end), so it might become a regular thing. That will keep me out of mischief and give me a dose of horse medicine at the same time.

    GPs should never have been given the terms they were. It was never going to end well for the patient. One more disaster to lay at Blair's door.

    1. We knew this was coming. An excuse to put up cameras everywhere in preparation for 15 minute cities.

      They are insane.

      1. That's all very well for you but a lot of people need their cars and vans for work

        1. They will have to learn to harness up and drive a carriage/gig/governess cart/dog cart/shooting brake … 🙂 That will be excellent for the roses!

    3. I'm a northerner but I have trouble understanding her. Sounds like she's got a toffee in her mouth or something. Suppose she thinks it elitist to enunciate properly. Don't mind an accent but she just cannot speak well. Know plenty of northerners who can be bothered to form their words clearly.

      1. She isn't exactly the sharpest spoon in the drawer, and probably thinks speaking in tongues makes her more cuddly and down-to-earth.'

    4. 'Rancid parasites' is the rather good term used by one comment (or is that a tweet?) below that.

  73. They are still trying to push the Pandemic Agreement aka one world government through the WHO

    "The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body has just published the provisional agenda for their 12th meeting.
    They have publicly stated that they hope to reach agreement during their next set of meetings on a streamlined version of the “Pandemic Agreement,” which some people have referred to as the Pandemic Agreement “Lite.” "

    What this "streamlined" version means is that they have agreed to define details after the treaty is signed. So our traitors would be signing up to stuff that is not yet defined if it goes ahead. Can't think of a better way to sneak in world dictatorship.

    details on James Roguski's substack

      1. Nobody knows that anything is up, and most older people are still regarding anyone who questions the agenda with hostility. Sad but true in my experience.

  74. They are still trying to push the Pandemic Agreement aka one world government through the WHO

    "The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body has just published the provisional agenda for their 12th meeting.
    They have publicly stated that they hope to reach agreement during their next set of meetings on a streamlined version of the “Pandemic Agreement,” which some people have referred to as the Pandemic Agreement “Lite.” "

    What this "streamlined" version means is that they have agreed to define details after the treaty is signed. So our traitors would be signing up to stuff that is not yet defined if it goes ahead. Can't think of a better way to sneak in world dictatorship.

    details on James Roguski's substack

  75. Due to inertia, I have not checked my car insurance renewal for a couple of years. Luckily, my debit card was changed and the company – Hastings – informed me that the £694 ( gosh, that's surprisingly high for my 17yo Micra) had not gone through. No insurance – a potential offence!!!

    So, I stirred myself. http://Confused.co m search …. and within 30 minutes the car was insured – with Auto- Protect – for £360. A saving of £334 …. useful. I can feel happier with my 20 miles per week tiger.

      1. I have legal cover, but no breakdown cover (but I rarely travel more than 4 miles from my local garage).

    1. We have a completely broken justice system.

      The worst thing about it is that is has been broken deliberately by the PTB.

    2. Thanks Johnny. I subscribe to DS, haven't had chance to read thoroughly yet today tho'. Also Free Speech Union – that's a good one.

  77. I'd be very grateful if there are some financial whizz kids on here who could advise me on capital gains. I've just sold a property ('before' the budget announcement). Does that mean that I will still have the 3K capital gains discount? Or will I be likely to lose it as I'll be submitting my tax bill 'after' the budget and Reeves might well discontinue the discount. I've tried to check online but it's hopeless – lots of info. but not on what you want. Hope you don't think I'm cheeky asking but I'm not making much on it and it will really slam my profits if I lose the 3k discount.

          3. I just looked up ‘has a British government ever applied retrospective law’ and it seems they do. I tried to post the link here but it wouldn’t paste.

      2. That’s what I’m hoping. It’s only a small margin and it won’t have really been worth it without the 3k allowance. Certainly won’t be doing such a project again under this government. I’ve made a derelict flat (which didn’t even have a kitchen) into a nice home. There’s got to be some incentive. They think they are attacking the rich but the rich are rich enough to leave – and they are. Don’t blame them.

        1. Agree, it is pure spite and dogma. They could halve the civil service, ditch the green racket and stop the invasion to save money. I guess you can only wait and see what happens.

    2. I have opinions and experience…they may not fit your requirements and I'd hate to advise you wrongly. You may well find an IFA locally or possibly online who's prepared to give you an hour at reasonable rate to give you initial advice on way forward. Good luck, jellybee 🙂

    3. Yes, current rules still apply and I don’t think she can effect her changes immediately, more likely fro 5 April next year.

      So currently £3k plus a c/fwd of £3k from last year, if you didn’t use last year’s allowance

  78. Free Speech has three new articles, which I hope you all read and comment upon. Iain Hunter, in protest the the continuing assault on our culture, decided to do something about about it and, i n his piece , rings the bell for positive action. Ever grumpy Graham Bedford gripes about the continuing assault on his nerves by the modern world in his piece that most will have some sympathy with, and I have an article on what I consider maybe the judicial manslaughter of political prisoner Peter Lynch , given a cruel and unusual punishment thatappears to have driven him to suicide.

    Please do read and comment – we need your support. freespeechbacklash.com

  79. A cheeping Birdy Three!

    Wordle 1,221 3/6
    🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. You lot must be cheeping – I hate you all! Bleedin' par again…..

      Wordle 1,221 4/6

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

    1. When Khan says "I respect the decision made by the jury today" he really means "The jury are a bunch of racists".

      2. He utterly ignores Kaba's criminal records.
        If he put this statement out in full knowledge of what a scumbag the man was, he's a bloody disgrace.

    2. In London, we police by consent.

      No they don't. That's all gone. Like all the other State Institutions the police have been corrupted from within. They are the lackeys of the Political Elites.

    3. You would have needed to cover your ears with the way London black cabbies were talking about the git today.

      1. Assuming I am getting your meaning correct, that's excellent, well done cabbies. (I presume you mean black cabs, not black drivers.)

        1. Yes sorry. Though some black cabs are driven by black people. All fine men. Haven't met any black lady drivers yet.

          The black cabs are of a higher standard if you leave out the aberration of the Worboys rapist.

          The cabby said he was looking to be out of business in 10 years with the way Khanage is going.
          Khan also doesn't view cabs as public transport !

          Personally i don't view his walking his dogs needing a three car bullet proof cavalcade as public transport either even though the taxpayer is paying for it.

  84. From today's ES newsletter

    Guess which side Khan and Mahmood are on.
    My bold italics at the end. Surely to God this should have been decided seconds after the Jury's verdict?

    You may recall that the murder charge brought against Blake prompted anger among firearms officers with dozens downing tools in apparent protest, and the army being placed on standby in case required to plug the gap. Prosecutors and a police watchdog have defended the decision to prosecute the officer.

    Today, justice secretary Shabana Mahmood said that the verdict in the trial "must be respected" by all sides, but also acknowledged that there was “work to do” to rebuild trust with the police and communities in London.

    In a statement, mayor Sadiq Khan said he respected the jury's decision while also recognising wider mistrust in the police.

    Meanwhile, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley made a statement outside Scotland Yard, in which he said Blake had paid “a huge personal and professional sacrifice” over the past two years since the shooting and that the office had made “a split second decision on what he believed was necessary to protect his colleagues and to protect London”.
    Sir Mark then took aim at the systems used to hold police officers who take lethal shots to account.“No police officer is above the law, but we have been clear that the system holding police to account is broken."

    The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, will now consider whether Blake should face a disciplinary hearing.

    1. "The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, will now consider whether Blake should face a disciplinary hearing."

      I cannot understand why anyone would still want to be a Firearms Officer.

      1. A disciplinary hearing for carrying out his job, and NOT committing any crime?
        The police officer and his family should be given new identities, or at the very least, 24 hour protection. Along with the Batley teacher who has been in hiding for so long, why aren't these upstanding British people given support and protection?

        1. The Political Elites of all parties hate and despise the indigenous population. They intend our destruction.

      2. A disciplinary hearing for carrying out his job, and NOT committing any crime?
        The police officer and his family should be given new identities, or at the very least, 24 hour protection. Along with the Batley teacher who has been in hiding for so long, why aren't these upstanding British people given support and protection?

    2. "The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, will now consider whether Blake should face a disciplinary hearing."

      I cannot understand why anyone would still want to be a Firearms Officer.

    4. The IOPC, none of whom have ever been a serving policeman!! 🤦🏻‍♀️ Just check out the people on the board!

      1. "By law, the Director General can never have worked for the police. None of our executive team or directors have previously worked for any of the police forces or organisations under our jurisdiction."
        [IOPC]

      2. Meaning they have no idea of what coppers experience every single day, especially in Londonistan. Threats, violence, concealed weapons, machetes, gangs of violent thugs …….

        1. Exactly! I realise it has to be ‘independent’ but fit for purpose must be a requisite?

      3. Standard modern bureaucracy.

        Whatever happened to judgement by ones peers, and I most certainly do not mean HoL.

    5. Perhaps the disciplinary was the right response: test whether he took the right, split-second, decision, and if not, then slap his wrist and make changes to the training so that it can be better the next time (which is surely coming, or has been) comes.
      But, sometimes, the only answer is to shoot the crim.

      1. Test???

        The guy has just been found innocent by a jury, what further disciplining does it need.

    6. Well, in the past 4 years my faith in Plod has plummeted to zero. I wouldn’t trust him to be on my side and I certainly wouldn’t rush to help him.

  86. Daily Telegraph: Jenrick: "I’d make James Cleverly my deputy leader."

    He is determined to show that he has no judgement at all. I think it is time that The Conservative Party accepted the fact that they are no longer of any significance to Britain's future.

    1. They aren't supposed to be. The real power brokers, the people who really control the UK no longer need a strong Conservative Party. They are happy that the right wing vote is split down the middle. It will keep Labour in power for long enough to complete the agenda on behalf of the ruling globalists. The UK is being strangled to death economically but more worrying, our ancient hard won liberties are slipping away quickly now. I don't think a "real" conservative party is coming back, probably not ever.

    2. They aren't supposed to be. The real power brokers, the people who really control the UK no longer need a strong Conservative Party. They are happy that the right wing vote is split down the middle. It will keep Labour in power for long enough to complete the agenda on behalf of the ruling globalists. The UK is being strangled to death economically but more worrying, our ancient hard won liberties are slipping away quickly now. I don't think a "real" conservative party is coming back, probably not ever.

      1. I'm a white bloke. Vote for me and i will employ a black bloke might have worked better.

        I wonder if i could get a speechwriters job.

  87. Just to say I am signing off for a few days. My faithful 11 year olf desktop is decidedly on the blink and needs to be replaced (with all the buggerment of transfer etc that that involves). Also under the weather myself – again. So a spell in the sickbay probably a good thing.

    KBO, all of you

    2. Bye for now Bill .

      I am sure you have loads of things to occupy your thoughts and time .

      A rest will do you good , take care and don't overdo things.

      2. He has been overdoing things. Putting his huge estate garden to bed ! He needs to learn better pacing.

    3. Take care Bill. I expect your ears were burning. At lunch today our mole told us you were classed as 'expert' in your role of Legal Beagle. Oh how we laughed. :@)

      1. You caught your train OK? We had to wait more than half an hour for a bus and of course it was packed all the way.

        1. Yes thank you my dear. Easy 10 minutes to spare. The black cab that brought us was £20. The one that took us back was £10.

          Khan's planters and troughs are causing mayhem.

          I really liked Michael's opening conversational gambit of who has ever been detained by the authorities ! I didn't see many hands go up. Shy bunch you are.

          Must do it again some time when not pushed for time. And a better restaurant !!!

          1. Ha ha! I’m a Good Girl, I am. Yes, Michael’s story was a good one. He got a cab OK too.

          2. That's good.

            When i got out of the cab at Waterloo i decided to have a last cigarette.

            As i was standing there looking like some Hollywood Star,……. two young ladies (American) approached me and asked if i knew where the London Eye was.

            Of course i had just come over the bridge from which you can see it and so i said to them……Yes, it's next to the river.

            They laughed. Of course they knew that.

            I wasn't even tempted to direct them in the opposite direction as one should normally do with tourists.

            I obviously hadn't had enough to drink ! :@)

          3. That's what happens when you don't invite me to any of your NoTTLe get-togethers, Phizzee. I would gladly have put my hand up and told you about my being detained by the authorities some time ago.

          4. When i am doing a do where Nottlers are coming i put up messages for at least a week beforehand. Not my fault you are a Nottler slacker ! ;@)

            This particular occasion was to meet Mr and Mrs Harry Kobeans because i am not prepared to travel to Norfolk unless they send a heliocopter.

            We can trade old lags tales another time.

          5. Phizzee, I had no idea of your get-together and I don't spend every waking hour reading every single message posted on here. Sometimes a NoTTLer has an urgent message which he/she wants everyone to see, and moderators seem to be able to "fix" it so that the message/invitation appears at all times at the top of the page. Would you kindly be able to arrange this for future get-togethers, please? Thanks!

          7. Invite BIll…haha…

            I know Anne did the long trek to get to me and i thank her for her efforts but journey times over 2 hours are something i am no longer prepared to do.

          9. Second message. My garden party got the banner treatment but this was a lunch arranged because i wanted to see the Kobeans but didn't want to travel so we met in the middle.

            You weren't purposely excluded but some people live in far away regions.

    1. Evidence from sedimentary and rock deposits, and features such as moraines. (I forget the other forms – words on tip of my tongue, joys of aging.)

          1. Plus…they only get funding now for expeditions that don't disprove climate/global warming/bollox.

    2. If you click on the blue words in your link it explains how certain geomorphological features were formed by glacial action. eg Cirques.

    1. What could possibly go wrong? Such sentencing might be appropriate in some cases – such as those found 'guilty' of using hurty words – but nobody guilty of anything violent should be given such a sentence ……. of course, plenty will.
      British justice was once something to be proud of.

  90. For those that love to stress.. we've got silver & gold going north at the same time as the US$ going up.. along with crude.
    Soooooo, all eyes on Israel & Iran to give us a global depression.
    Cue: Sir Keir's eyes dart from left to right, and Ed Milipede just stares straight ahead in frozen-like manner with bottom lip quivering.
    Large thud in background as letter "G" in GROWTH drops to floor.

    1. Gold is reaching record highs. I'm glad i got a pile of it. I have 200 silver Britannias too but they don't seem to be doing as well. At least they are in spendable form.

  91. Circus is back in town..
    BLM protests start in Britain.
    Er, what about the aspiring rapper youth Kaba shot inside the night club, & then chased him down the street & shot him again?
    Two tier BLM?

  92. It's been a hard day, just had an hour shuteye in the sofa after a G&T.
    Feel a bit more human now.

    2. Haven't concentrated like that for nearly 8 hours since decades ago.
      My poor remaining two braincells weren't expecting a workout of that magnitude!

      2. Oh dear. Poor you. I have now had the pleasure of cameras top and bottom. Both without any type of anaesthetic !

        I hope your results are good.

          1. Must be the season for it! My poo-on-a-stick result was bloody, so I have a bottom end scope on Monday! Aaargh!😱

          2. I have had similar results. Blood in poo doesn't necessarily mean the worst. Especially if there are haemmorroids (?) But still. Besides the discomfort and inconvenience it is best IMO to know.

          5. Good luck. I hope nothing bad is found. Is this your first bottom end one?
            I have just got used to them, and the I sometimes think the restricted food & liquid intake and the prep time the day before is the worst part.

          13. I am beginning to think i want pictures now. Just so we can all be there for Sue. Do they still do the TV/Video thing? …erm.

          14. If you are terrified of the procedure then please don't be. Yes it is uncomfortable and sometimes makes you wish you had brought some boxing gloves but it doesn't last all that long.
            We will be thinking of you and Nottle is a great shoulder to cry on.

          16. You are welcome. I meant what i said.

            I only mess with people a foot shorter than me that have no northern roots.

          17. There are some threads that are useful to come late to 😵‍💫

            I've just posted my biennial sample on Monday………………….

          19. They looked inside my head with a CT scan some months ago. Told me that they found nothing…

        4. I've had too many lower end colonoscopies to count. Years ago, I used to be given adequate sedation, where I didn't remember anything after. These days, I'm lucky to get gas & air.
          If I had to have the top end version – yikes, I'd need major 'help.'

          3. The reason i refused the meds was so i could leave soonest. They did keep offering me gas with all the grunting i was making but i refused.

            The one down the nostrils was to try to discover why a nose bleed lasted more than 12 hours even with traditional ways of stopping it failing.

            They didn't find anything but if you remember the scene from Alien with John Hurt at the dinner table just as the uninvited guest made its shocking appearance it was a bit like that.

            I was sitting in a high site and as the probe went down i started juddering and vocalising buh buh buh buh buh.

            Then they did the other nostril………………..the batsards !

          4. Crikey. Sounds very scary!
            At least they didn't find anything untoward that caused the nose bleed.

          5. I mentioned the horror film because it wasn't like any ordinary nose bleed which could be stopped in the normal way.

            This just came pouring out with a great deal of gloopy snot like substance for hours and hours. (apologies).

            And i couldn't stop it.
            They didn't find any splits or ruptures in the tissue.
            I also have never had a nose bleed before or since.
            No idea what was going on.

          7. The only thing i can think of is i over did the Beconase during the worst of the pollen season and it weakened the tissue.

          9. The top end one I had was very easy, but I had to be fully sedated! I felt the tube, had a little gag then knew nothing more!

          10. Yikes! I just hope I never need that doing. But maybe if I made enough fuss, they would knock me out ……

          11. I did insist, then came out to find a little old lady after me had only had the throat spray! Embarrassed? No!

          14. We all have phones you know !

            Sorry. Possibly a little too much Sauvignon and i'm seeing double Sue's.

      1. You mean you didn't get it!!!

        Come to my garden party next June. I'm making it an annual unofficial Nottler event.

          3. We are spread out rather. The thing to do is find Nottlers who can do it and arrange a pub lunch or some such.
            I think we all enjoy seeing the pics of happy gatherings.

            You may be aware that Grizzly lives in Sweden. I said next time you are over give me a call and we will meet up.

            Seems he already had plans to come and didn't mention anything. Just sneaked in without my knowledge and then snuck out again !

          5. Not at all. Grizzly and I are good chums, but he still didn't let on that he would be in the UK during his recent "break". It's just that if he had made an exception of one NoTTLe chum he might have upset all the others and been accused of favouritism.

          6. I am not entirely sure you understand my somewhat warped sense of humour.
            If you do visit you will have to sit at the back with the pushy nurse. :@)

          7. You do sometimes baffle me, Phizzee. I am happy to sit at the back with Annie – just don't tell MB (her Bill). Lol.

          8. I think if we met for lunch one day you would leave happy but wondering why you paid for it all…Just so you know…a minimum of two Martini.

          11. Well…er…um…

            My next door neighbour who has become a great friend is a life long supporter and season ticket holder of Pompey.

            So naturally i support Southampton !

            I don't really. Never seen the point. However Pompey have or at least they were doing quite well recently so i am happy that he is happy.

        2. Any idea of the date? Yesterday I bought myself a new 2025 diary and would be able to pencil the date in the new diary.

          1. Not yet. Too early. But it is likely to be around the 20th.
            I won't forget you. Particularly as you have mentioned an interest.

            I had Geoff playing my piano last time. Goodness knows why any Church asks him back. More like Les Dawson. :@)

          3. The exact reason why i do it !

            And of course all the smooching, accolades and odd bottles of Malt. :@)

            I told everyone there was no need to bring anything as i had it all covered.

            Seems to have worked !

            I ended up with more booze than i started with, boxes of chocs and bunches of flaahs and special cheeses and chutneys and books on how to make cocktails !

  94. Hundreds of prisoners were being released early on Tuesday, with inmates thanking Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

    Daniel Dowling-Brooks said "big up Keir Starmer" as he was celebrating with friends, his mum and sisterx, who picked him up in a convoy of a white Bentley and black Mercedes G-wagon outside of HMP Swaleside.

    Sheikh Yaqub Al Sabah was picked up in a lavish £250k Lambourghini after being released early.

    Gotta make way for the hurty tweeters.

  95. As if the capital flight from the UK wasn't fast enough, those wazzocks in Labour want it to go faster:
    Dozen Labour MPs join call for 'extreme wealth' tax
    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx242gw70x7o
    A dozen Labour MPs have joined a cross-party call for an "extreme wealth" tax in this month's Budget. The MPs have written to chancellor Rachel Reeves to demand a new 2% tax on assets worth more than £10m, which they claim could raise £24 billion per year. The left wing Labour MPs and two Labour peers have joined forces with MPs suspended by Sir Keir Starmer, including former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, and former leader Jeremy Corybn, who was elected as an independent. The call is also backed by the Greens, Plaid Cymru, the SDLP, Alliance and one Liberal Democrat MP.
    The Labour Party has been asked for comment.

    2. Economically illiterate is an understatement for this bunch of spiteful, envious liebour idiots.
      Which other parties are in this 'cross party' group? Limp-dumbs and Greeniacs?

    3. They’ll all be handing over their own assets to the treasury then? Charlatans playing to the ignorant.

    4. What was kier Stalin’s net worth again? £8m? I wonder what Bliar and his fragrant lady wife would say to this? Oh, probably nothing as their money is all off-shore

      1. No, da Wich will have moved out. There’ll be nobody with real money left to squeeze.

    1. I thought it was our previous deputy-leader, Nicolas Cleggover, who was "much-loved"?

    1. Autumn Fires

      In the other gardens
      And all up the vale,
      From the autumn bonfires
      See the smoke trail!

      Pleasant summer over
      And all the summer flowers,
      The red fire blazes,
      The grey smoke towers.

      Sing a song of seasons!
      Something bright in all!
      Flowers in the summer,
      Fires in the fall!

      RLS

      1. Paul Carr who set this to music in 'Four New Seasons' also included this poem:

        AUTUMN SONG
        Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949)

        Like a joy on the heart of a sorrow,
        The sunset hangs on a cloud;
        A golden storm of glittering sheaves,
        Of fair and frail and fluttering leaves,
        The wild wind blows in a cloud.

        Hark to a voice that is calling
        To my heart in the voice of the wind:
        My heart is weary and sad and alone,
        For its dreams like the fluttering leaves have gone,
        And why should I stay behind?

        YouTube has a video of the English Arts Chorale rehearsing the Autum sequence here (Music starts at 1':30"

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-hxyF7zlAU

          1. Agreed. Bumped into him in Waitrose (now under non-woke management) a couple of weeks ago he looks well….

    5. Do not stand at my grave and weep;
      I am not there, I do not sleep.
      I am a thousand winds that blow.
      I am the diamond glints on snow.
      I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
      I am the gentle autumn rain.
      When you awaken in the morning's hush
      I am the swift uplifting rush
      Of quiet birds in circled flight.
      I am the soft stars that shine at night.
      Do not stand at my grave and cry;
      I am not there, I did not die.

      – Mary Elizabeth Frye

  99. Just to restate the obvious. Our respected Government (sic) is lucky that the Kaaba verdict was announced yesterday, as it relegated Peter Lynch’s suicide off the front pages. Bloody lucky that

    1. Peter will be remembered on Saturday in London. And the treachery of the ruling elites will not be forgotten

      1. In past revolutions it must have given much satisfaction to deal with corrupt judges.

  101. Yes – first experience! And I just wasn’t expecting it! 🙇🏻‍♀️ 2 lots of fruity laxative and it’ll be a breeze!

    1. No food restrictions? I have to follow a low-residue diet for 2 full days before the prep day, black tea, white rice, boiled fish or chicken, dry toast ….. But then I get wonderfully welcome sandwiches and cuppa in recovery. 🙂
      My lovely consultant of over 20 years retires in a couple of years, so then I will get very anxious again. (and I just hope and pray his replacement is a proper doctor … i.e.trained & qualified in this or another western country and speaks good English!)

      1. Oh yes! All the stuff I don’t usually eat – white bread, no roughage, no red meat, lots of jam, oh and mayonnaise!! 3 days of that, then the laxatives! Fruit punch flavour and mango!
        I know it’s a common procedure but not for me!

        1. I wouldn’t normally eat such things either. I’m not allowed jam or marmalade, but clear jelly is allowed.
          I suppose I have just got used to the procedure. In past years, at a different hospital with a shared waiting ‘lounge’, I have tried to reassure some rather nervous ‘first timers.’ At the current hospital, patients don the delightful gown and paper pants then wait in the changing cubicle to be collected. I suspect that the replacement consultant will work out of the big city hospital, so a totally different set-up. My current consultant works (NHS) at a private hospital, seeing both private and NHS patients.

        3. It was only when the DR had the glove on and finger extended that I realised what he intended.
          You never saw such a quick reaction in your life!

        4. The lax are super fast so beware.

          I commented to the team i found it quite strange they were recommending all the things one was normally told to avoid. But then voiding is what they require so the camera lens doesn't need windscreen wipers. :@)

          2. You know i talk bollocks all the time. Well this time i’m talking shit.

            I don’t think i would ever qualify as a BBC comedian you know. Can’t imagine why.

    3. I hope you read/see this in time but those laxatives are powerful and fast. Really fast. Be near a loo. Very near.

  103. After my lovely experience this afternoon I'm worn out.
    Parents of, were both in London for work meetings. Nanny was doing something else.
    I was nominated to collect our four and a half year old grandson from his school at 3:15.
    Quite a long walk for me and my knee.
    But first to arrive out side the glass door of the class room he and his little friends soon noticed me. I bumped into three ladies I've know for sometime. Quick chats took place.
    Then off up the very steep hill to his home.
    Of course I knew the way but I let him take charge. And very well he carried out the task.
    We had a few lafs as well.
    It was one of those lovely experiences that are often taken for granted.
    So it's, a worn out goodnight from me. 😴

      1. I will never forget when son and his children arrived from Canada in the Spring how the older child especially shouted to me, ran in and flung her arms around me. I was quite choked. Younger child similar, though more restrained.

    3. Yes, I do that with my grandson, now 6, and I'm dreading the day he doesnt want to bother with his old Bappa (as he has called me from a very early age) – it's life affirming, isnt it?

        1. Dont give up hope Oberst, I was hoping for a second but it didnt happen for them – I have another son but he seems to be a long way away from settling down.
          It does, however, provide an excellent incentive just to stay alive!!

          1. I just hope to live long enough that our baby grandson remembers me/us, but it is highly unlikely that I will last until he grows up, gets married etc.. With the Canadian grandies (age 6 & 9), I hope they will remember me. We don't see them more than once a year now (if that), and Skype calls are only every few weeks.

          2. Like I said – continue to stay alive for years and years and irritate the life out of all of them!! Heh heh heh…….

        2. I'm in the same boat. No prospects on the horizon and the clock most definitely ticking

      2. At the age of 10 our grandson became a trainee teenager and cuddles stopped overnight. He’s now 21 and often calls us from university and we have a great relationship.
        Get the cuddles in before your grandson becomes one of those trainees.
        Alf using vw’s IPad,

        1. Thanks for that Alf, I sort of suspected as much. I think we’ll still go to the football together!

    2. Starmer was editor of "Socialist Alternatives." Published by the British wing of International Revolutionary Trotskyite Tendency.

      He was never what he was advertised as, a safe moderate. He was always a communist revolutionary, almost certainly a high level mason.

          1. I have friends who are masons. They are supportive and do their best for local charities but if you think your experiences are definitive you are mistaken.

            Just like any groups there are levels and in the case of masons and scientologists there are inner circles.

            Closed groups also like outliers… Like Starmer. Gove for that matter also.

          2. Most of the masons we meet in our lives are blue lodge craft freemasons. Their activities are administered by the United Grand Lodge of England. Craft freemasonry is just a cover for the higher degrees that are administered by a separate body, the Supreme Council 33rd Degree based at 10 Duke St, London SW1. From here, the activities of the most senior masons in the UK and their appendant bodies such as the Templars, Rosicrucians and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (Jimmy Savile) are run.

            It's not a coincidence that Hitler banned freemasonry and Franco arrested all freemasons. All masons above the 18th degree were considered so subversive, Franco had them all arrested and murdered.

            The Roman Catholic Church has been among the most persistent critics of Freemasonry. The Church has prohibited its members from being Freemasons since the papal bull In eminenti apostolatus, promulgated in 1738 by Pope Clement XII. Since then, the Vatican has issued several papal bulls banning the membership of Catholics in Freemasonry under threat of excommunication.

            Freemasonry is the most malign, pernicious, dangerous and corrupting influence on world affairs. It's slimy tentacles slither into every institution of state. Satan's servants always hide behind a cloak of respectability.

          3. Freemasonry is a nested hierarchy, a brotherhood within a brotherhood. It is compartmentalised so that certain sections and degrees and their meanings are totally obscured from other members. Satan is the great deceiver and freemasonry is the most dangerous deception of all.

    3. Starmer was editor of "Socialist Alternatives." Published by the British wing of International Revolutionary Trotskyite Tendency.

      He was never what he was advertised as, a safe moderate. He was always a communist revolutionary, almost certainly a high level mason.

  107. Maybe the little old lady has had the scope done many times. Either that, or she was made of far sterner stuff than us mere mortals.

  108. The disgraceful Kaba farce shows why police morale is in freefall

    Previous governments have repeatedly failed to resolve the issues which lead to these perverse outcomes

    David Spencer • 22 October 2024 • 6:13pm

    The prosecution of Sgt Martyn Blake for taking the shot which killed Chris Kaba – who days earlier had reportedly shot a rival gang member on a nightclub dance floor – is just the latest example of how police officers are being hung out to dry.

    It took an Old Bailey jury less than three hours to find Sgt Blake not guilty of murder. The unusual speed with which they reached their verdict tells us much of what the jury thought about this case. The officer should never have been on trial. And this was a far from isolated incident.

    In 2005, Azelle Rodney, described at the subsequent public inquiry as a "mid-level career criminal", was travelling with two fellow gangsters. In the car were three guns and some ammunition. In the subsequent police operation, Rodney was shot and killed by an officer.

    The Crown Prosecution Service charged the officer with murder, after a public inquiry found Rodney had been unlawfully killed. It was 10 years after the original police operation before a jury finally found the officer not guilty.

    In 2015, Jermaine Baker was part of a gang waiting to ambush a prison van to release one of his associates, who was in court for possession of a machine gun. The gang were in possession of an imitation Uzi sub-machine gun. In the ensuing police operation, Baker was shot and killed by a police officer. It took seven years for the public inquiry to conclude that the officer acted lawfully. The Independent Office for Police Conduct still decided that eight years after the incident the officer should face a misconduct hearing. The hearing has not yet been held.

    In 2018, Brooklyn McFarlane was intercepted by police officers as he and another associate were about to execute an armed robbery. McFarlane was shot but not killed by police officers when he ran from police while in possession of a knife – the officers believed he was carrying a gun. The officers were charged with causing grievous bodily harm. It took three years for prosecutors to decided that there was actually no "realistic prospect of a conviction" and the case was dropped. The Independent Office for Police Conduct remained unsatisfied, and directed the officers be subjected to a misconduct hearing. The hearing was held earlier this year and the officers were cleared of wrong-doing.

    These cases are just some of those where officers have been suspended or prosecuted simply for doing the job which the state asks of them. Based on my conversations with former colleagues in policing, these cases are contributing to a free fall in police officers' morale.

    As Sir Mark Rowley, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, made clear in a speech to Policy Exchange last year, the way the Independent Office for Police Conduct and Crown Prosecution Service choose to operate is having a chilling effect on officers' willingness to take on the most dangerous criminals.

    Previous governments have repeatedly failed to resolve the issues which lead to these perverse outcomes.

    Standing up to the anti-police activists, some of whom are working within our institutions, will require political courage from the Prime Minister and Home Secretary. This is an opportunity for a Labour Government to demonstrate that they really are on the side of the law-abiding majority, rather than the criminals and the legal "blob" that covers for them. They should take it.

    David Spencer is a former Detective Chief Inspector and Head of Crime and Justice at Policy Exchange

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/22/disgraceful-kaba-farce-police-morale-is-in-free-fall-met

    1. "It can now be reported that Mr Kaba, 24, was in one of London's most dangerous gangs and would have faced trial accused of shooting a rival in an east London nightclub had he not been killed himself days later.
      Neither Mr Kaba's gang history nor his criminal record was revealed during the trial after a senior judge ruled this had no bearing on the issues for jurors to decide upon."

      Sounds ridiculous to me.

    2. There was a KC called Jeremy Dein on Talk with Richard Tice earlier this evening, who was so pompous and full of himself that he told the audience that Sergeant Blake ‘deserved’ to be tried for murder, and that the public who disagree, can’t possibly understand because they’re not lawyers!

    3. TBH, after the way the police behave when faced with anything vaguely on the Right of politics, I have no sympathy for them.

    4. From Coffee house, the Spectator

      The cowardice of the Chris Kaba case

      Niall Gooch22 October 2024, 9:24am

      Since 2010, British police have shot dead 30 people. This works out at an average of around 2.1 people per year. In two consecutive years – 2012-13 and 2013-14 – not a single person was fatally shot by police in the UK. In 2023-24, the last period for which we have full data, it was two; for 2022-23, it was three. Which is to say that incidents where the British police kill people are vanishingly rare. It is highly unusual for the roughly 6,000 licensed firearms officers in England and Wales to use their weapons at all. Over the past decade there have been only 66 incidents where officers have fired their guns at people, even though armed police are deployed to around 18,000 incidents every year.

      By way of comparison, about two people per year in the UK are killed by lightning, with 58 confirmed deaths in the 30 years before 2016. And only 5 to 10 per cent of lightning strikes on humans are fatal, meaning that something like 1,000 individuals were struck by lightning during that time.

      Given that almost all armed police confrontations involve known criminals, terrorists or madmen, the average sane law-abiding Briton is far more likely to be struck by lightning than to be shot by the police. Indeed, the chance of such a person encountering an armed response team is effectively zero.

      This is the crucial context for the Chris Kaba incident, in which a South London gangster was shot dead during a ‘hard stop’ after driving his car at armed police officers who were trying to arrest him. Sergeant Martyn Blake, who pulled the trigger, was acquitted of murder at the Old Bailey yesterday, more than two years since the shooting in September 2022. Campaigners have tried to insinuate that the British police are trigger-happy racial bigots, able to kill with impunity. But there is simply no evidence for this. At this point, belief in the concept of ‘institutional racism’ when it comes to the current police force, is for all intents and purposes a conspiracy theory.

      Most popular

      Steerpike

      The five worst takes on the Chris Kaba case

      The manifest weakness of the prosecution case against Martyn Blake – the jury deliberated for only three hours before returning not guilty – will surely lead many to ask why the case made it to court in the first place. The body-worn video footage seen by the jury, and now in the public domain, shows Kaba refusing police commands to surrender, and driving his large, heavy car at officers. It seems beyond reasonable doubt that – as contemporary media reports indicated – Blake was justified in considering Kaba a deadly threat to himself and others, especially in light of the fact that the car he was driving was linked to a firearms incident the previous day. Kaba was only 24, but had already spent time in prison for violence, and shortly before his death was suspected of involvement in an attempted murder. Tom Little KC, for the Crown, did his best with a threadbare brief, trying rather feebly to suggest that officers had not identified themselves appropriately, even though the footage shows that they did, in case Kaba hadn’t noticed the blue flashing lights and the large car in front of him with the word POLICE written on it.

      Little also picked a few inconsequential holes in Blake’s testimony, but it was pretty thin gruel. Blake’s fellow officers testified that they had considered themselves to be under threat by Kaba’s actions, and one of them stated that he too had been on the verge of firing his weapon.

      There are a couple of plausible theories for why Blake ended up in the dock on an indictment that no jury was likely to accept. One of these blames good old-fashioned cowardice. In this account, no one in the Met, or the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), or the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), wanted to take responsibility for deciding on no further action, and so the buck was passed to 12 good persons and true. If there were going to be riots or protests in response to Blake ‘getting away with it’, or career repercussions for those deemed insufficiently attentive to the alleged bogeyman of police racism, then of course offloading the decision was an extremely attractive prospect.

      Then there is the even more worrying possibility that the Met, the IOPC and the CPS are institutionally sympathetic with the anti-policing and anti-law beliefs that animate groups like Black Lives Matter. The BLM ideology is essentially nihilistic insofar as it rejects the need for organised policing without offering any serious proposals for how to maintain public safety. It encourages racially-based hostility to whites and to other ethnic minorities. Support of its agenda is clearly incompatible with serving in organisations which are meant to uphold law and order, and to monitor police integrity.

      The IOPC in particular has a track record of coming down very hard on individual officers who are doing their duty in difficult situations, and giving succour to those who thrive on racialist grievances. Just in the last two months, their judgment has been called into question by two rulings. In September, Southwark Crown Court quashed the conviction of PC Perry Lathwood for assault. Lathwood was originally convicted of this offence in May, after he mistakenly arrested a woman on suspicion of fare-dodging in July 2023. The IOPC had been instrumental in persecuting Lathwood, but when you consider the details, the Met Police Federation were surely right to call the initial conviction ‘erroneous and perverse’.

      Two weeks ago, a second high-profile IOPC case unravelled. Two officers who had been sacked from the Met after a controversial traffic stop of the athlete Bianca Williams were reinstated by the Police Appeals Tribunal. The tribunal described the termination of the pair as ‘irrational’ and ‘inconsistent’.

      The whole system tends to be cruel towards individual officers. The officer who shot the heavily armed career criminal Azelle Rodney during another ‘hard stop’ in 2005 spent a decade with the threat of prosecution hanging over his head, while various bodies considered his actions at excruciating length, before finally being acquitted of murder in 2015.

      It is a difficult time for British policing, with forces facing criticism from all parts of the political spectrum. Like many conservatives I have my own severe reservations about how the country is being policed. But that does not mean that we should abandon all defence of the thin blue line against cynical and dishonest attacks. We cannot remain silent when vexatious prosecutions are brought against dedicated individual officers for murky political reasons.

  109. The disgraceful Kaba farce shows why police morale is in freefall

    Previous governments have repeatedly failed to resolve the issues which lead to these perverse outcomes

    David Spencer • 22 October 2024 • 6:13pm

    The prosecution of Sgt Martyn Blake for taking the shot which killed Chris Kaba – who days earlier had reportedly shot a rival gang member on a nightclub dance floor – is just the latest example of how police officers are being hung out to dry.

    It took an Old Bailey jury less than three hours to find Sgt Blake not guilty of murder. The unusual speed with which they reached their verdict tells us much of what the jury thought about this case. The officer should never have been on trial. And this was a far from isolated incident.

    In 2005, Azelle Rodney, described at the subsequent public inquiry as a "mid-level career criminal", was travelling with two fellow gangsters. In the car were three guns and some ammunition. In the subsequent police operation, Rodney was shot and killed by an officer.

    The Crown Prosecution Service charged the officer with murder, after a public inquiry found Rodney had been unlawfully killed. It was 10 years after the original police operation before a jury finally found the officer not guilty.

    In 2015, Jermaine Baker was part of a gang waiting to ambush a prison van to release one of his associates, who was in court for possession of a machine gun. The gang were in possession of an imitation Uzi sub-machine gun. In the ensuing police operation, Baker was shot and killed by a police officer. It took seven years for the public inquiry to conclude that the officer acted lawfully. The Independent Office for Police Conduct still decided that eight years after the incident the officer should face a misconduct hearing. The hearing has not yet been held.

    In 2018, Brooklyn McFarlane was intercepted by police officers as he and another associate were about to execute an armed robbery. McFarlane was shot but not killed by police officers when he ran from police while in possession of a knife – the officers believed he was carrying a gun. The officers were charged with causing grievous bodily harm. It took three years for prosecutors to decided that there was actually no "realistic prospect of a conviction" and the case was dropped. The Independent Office for Police Conduct remained unsatisfied, and directed the officers be subjected to a misconduct hearing. The hearing was held earlier this year and the officers were cleared of wrong-doing.

    These cases are just some of those where officers have been suspended or prosecuted simply for doing the job which the state asks of them. Based on my conversations with former colleagues in policing, these cases are contributing to a free fall in police officers' morale.

    As Sir Mark Rowley, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, made clear in a speech to Policy Exchange last year, the way the Independent Office for Police Conduct and Crown Prosecution Service choose to operate is having a chilling effect on officers' willingness to take on the most dangerous criminals.

    Previous governments have repeatedly failed to resolve the issues which lead to these perverse outcomes.

    Standing up to the anti-police activists, some of whom are working within our institutions, will require political courage from the Prime Minister and Home Secretary. This is an opportunity for a Labour Government to demonstrate that they really are on the side of the law-abiding majority, rather than the criminals and the legal "blob" that covers for them. They should take it.

    David Spencer is a former Detective Chief Inspector and Head of Crime and Justice at Policy Exchange

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/22/disgraceful-kaba-farce-police-morale-is-in-free-fall-met

  110. Stick with Southampton – the Saints have got a better song!!

    All together now… Oh when the Saints go marching in! (contd for 94 verses)….

      1. I share your appreciation of the beach volleyball – I enjoy the tactical intricacies of the sport and have no time at all for the skimpy costumes of the combatants….. (that's enough. Ed.)

    2. I would likely be safer chanting ‘for he’s a jolly good fellow’ for Yahya Sinwar in Southampton now.

  111. Stick with Southampton – the Saints have got a better song!!

    All together now… Oh when the Saints go marching in! (contd for 94 verses)….

  115. Another out of touch fool who has no idea what he is talking about. Is he, by any chance, an effnic?

        1. Actually, I’ve just watched a video of him, and I think he’s definitely mixed race!

          1. My parents were mixed race

            My dad liked the 100 metres and my mum preferred the 5000 metres steeplechase

          4. Nah, I've never enjoyed sperm on my boiled egg…. that conjures up a whole host of highly worrying imagery……

          8. And just like Prince Harry's controller, he probably emphasises his blackness when it suits, even though such a feature is barely noticeable.

  118. According to an official Harris campaign statement headed “Opportunity Agenda for Black Men”, legalising marijuana will help to “lift Black men up” by “break[ing] down unjust legal barriers” and “creating opportunities for Black Americans to succeed”. Ms Harris, the statement goes on, will “fight to ensure that as the national cannabis industry takes shape, Black men – who have, for years, been over-policed for marijuana use – are able to access wealth and jobints in this new market.”

    3. Her campaign relies upon drugging and bribing people to vote for her. Has she given no thought to, you know, policies that might help everyone or is she determined to be a racist, insulting cretin?

    3. He's only saying that because he wants to wheel out the armed forces to die in another bankers' war soon

  122. I’ve got 8 prints of my stomach and duodenum. Oh, and I allowed a trainee to do the pipe cleaning.

    1. I rather admired the bone structure of my neck exposed by the MRI scan. School careers advisors are terrible. I could have been a ballet dancer !

  125. OT. That's me for tonight. A long but enjoyable day. I think i would have preferred more semi naked people dancing in feathers and skimpy skimpies but you can't have everything. Besides……..Michael and Max gave a definitive NO shake of the head, though i think the ladies might have been game. :@)

    Sweet dreams.

  126. Britain is soft on crime and soft on the causes of crime

    Our broken justice system requires real, lasting solutions for prisoners, not ‘virtual’ confinement, which hardly scratches the surface

    Ian Acheson • 22 October 2024 • 5:04pm

    ‘House arrest’ may be a term more usually associated with tinpot dictatorships but it has in fact been a key feature of our crime control apparatus for years. Home Detention Curfew (HSC) was brought in under Labour in 1999. Now the Justice Secretary wants to extend that Blairite concept which covered only the last six months of an offender’s custody to the whole sentence. Will this make a difference in solving Britain’s omnishambles prison crisis?

    We’re being blinded by the white heat of technology again. House arrest as conceived will rely on electronic tagging, ‘geo-fences’ that restrict movement beyond a certain area and wearable devices that monitor desistence from alcohol and drugs as well as reminding you when your next appointment with your probation officer is.

    Public confidence aside, there’s mixed evidence that house arrest has an impact on deterrence from criminal behaviour. The proposals are reported to be focused on low level offenders, so a typical recipient might be a non-violent criminal who has multiple convictions for acquisitive crime like shoplifting to feed a drug addiction. But these people might come from homes that are predictive rather than protective factors in their offending if they have a stable address at all. They tend to be chaotic in their lifestyle and wildly impulsive. The idea that such a person might meekly submit to remote monitoring alone to stop them getting into trouble again is rather fanciful.

    But necessity is the mother of invention and it’s abundantly clear that today’s second tranche of mass early release of prisoners will buy only months of breathing space for our feral, violent prisons. Necessity is also a handy new income stream for electronic monitoring companies. Last year, G4S and Serco were handed contracts worth up to £450 million by the Conservative government to deliver electronic monitoring – the bedrock of house arrest. This was despite them being fined millions and investigated by the Serious Fraud Office for massively overcharging the state. Just last month at the first mass release of prisoners, hundreds went home without arrangements in place to provide tags that were a key part of allegedly ‘strict license conditions’ trumpeted by Labour to assuage public disquiet. Fingers crossed.

    But even if the scheme did go smoothly, the restriction of offenders in and of itself, is unlikely to do much to foster long term commitment to a law-abiding life without further victims. Although the scheme won’t apply to serious offenders and safeguards will inevitably be put in place, house arrest can only work as part of an integrated sentence that puts help around the offender. This is what should happen now when the courts give out community penalties.

    When this supervision and support is good, the results are cheaper and better than custody. But in order to guarantee this, sentencers must have confidence that the probation supervision can do more than keep an occasional eye on a person sentenced otherwise to six months under his duvet. That’s not as expensive as a jail cell but it’s not cost free either. Who will deliver effective risk management, supervised work and training and offending behaviour programmes?

    As it stands, just barely, today’s national probation service is staggering under huge workloads with leaving rates of probation staff threatening to outstrip ambitious targets for new recruits. A renaissance of community penalty design and supervision is necessary for this process to be anything more than a hasty accountancy exercise to move the burden of offending from one broken part of the criminal justice system to another.

    Still, at least these initiatives show signs of action. The appointment of former Tory Justice Secretary David Gauke to the sentencing review is an interesting choice by an administration that is looking for political cover as well as answers to our penal crisis. I hope, without much confidence, that the review covers a diversity of opinion, including that which says short sentences aren’t bad per se, it’s just that the conditions we carry them out in are uniquely bad at making them work.

    Keir Starmer has been gifted this hospital pass by an outgoing administration who were manifestly useless at planning for the crisis we are in. Caution: ‘But the Tories…’ won’t last forever.

    Ian Acheson is a former prison governor and author of Screwed: Britain’s prison crisis and how to escape it

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/22/britain-is-soft-on-crime-and-soft-on-the-causes-of-crime

    Bring back the chain gang…

      1. Corporal punishment in schools attracted and sustained countless paedophiles over very many years – we're much better without it.

          1. I don’t think it has a great deal to do with discipline. I changed schools several times when i was small and i remember the naughtiest children were in the school where they were beaten all day long.

          2. I don’t think it has a great deal to do with discipline. I changed schools several times when i was small and i remember the naughtiest children were in the school where they were beaten all day long.

          3. Both solid arguments. What do we do? Do we accept children in essence running these schools?
            We have seen the softly softly approach in prisons and now the prisoners dictate terms.

            I don't think we have either prisons or schools.

          4. There needs to be some form of sanction that’s respected. At the moment, there doesn’t seem to be anything.

          7. Not at all, I find the concept of legitimised violence and assault perpetrated by adults on children wholly revolting – actions which, if undertaken outside of the school environment, would rightly attract criminal charges.

          8. We have the opposite extreme now though, where people are growing to adulthood not understanding about violence because it's been proscribed in their childhood worlds. And that's dangerous for society, because they gaily step in where angels fear to tread.
            That's one reason why female politicians are the worst warmongers – they don't understand violence.

    2. It isn’t peculiar to Britain. Communists view criminals as part of their client class. A tool in the destruction of the old order.

      1. I am in admiration of your knowledge on this but and this is a big but because i haven't had anything what a Nottler might call an education but how many old orders would suffice? And when does it stop?

        1. It stops when a sufficient proportion of the populus refuses to play ball but Marxism thinks it can produce the perfect man of the future. That’s why they always end up killing a lot of people.

          1. Transhumans come to mind. It seems what they want.

            I really can't cope with this. I have no power or influence. And knowing isn't helping or improving for me and mine.

            I do appreciate your insight.

            Had a couple more drinkies now so don't expect much more sense from me.

      2. And, in any case, eventually there will be mission creep. They will extend the scheme to domestic violence and aggravated bodily harm convicts. It is inevitable.

      1. To be honest, neither do I, but it's a prime example of the hypocrisy of the Black Lies Matter movement that, though the gunman is well known amongst them, he's still walking around a free man.

  131. Caught a bit of Arsenal versus Shaktar Donetsk of Ukraine. The Ukrainian team consisted mostly of expensive Brazilian players. There were many Ukrainians in the Emirates waving their blue and yellow drapes.

    I wondered where all of the money gifted to Zelensky had been spent. A Ukrainian team comprising Brazilian internationals is obviously one of the money sinks. I also noticed Zalushny in the high level Ukrainian contingent of fans. I was surprised not to see Zelensky’s best friend Starmer but then he might have been secreted in some exclusive box.

    There is something rather indecent in that shower watching football as their country falls and their countrymen die in the many hundreds of thousands.

  132. Well, chums, I nodded off in my armchair and have just woken up. So a belated Good Night to you all. Sleep well and see you all tomorrow.

    1. We went out spontaneously yesterday. A comedy night in Kingston. It was different. But that’s it for me for another year!!!!

  135. I think it’s time I left this forum. For the most part, I have enjoyed the 18 months or so I have been here, but I cannot accept the comments made about Freemasonry and its associated Orders. I have been involved in the administration of two of the smaller Orders and can assure you there are no inner sanctums that make decisions. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta that Saville was associated with is Roman Catholic and its heirarchy has nothing to do with Freemasonry.

    2. I would ask that you continue to see what the opinions on this site are. For the most part we are not against anyone or group. You may have come up on posts you find offensive and i must admit the one you have just mentioned is new to me.

      Don't let some offensive post made after the …er Cocktail hour drive you away. If the post is or are so offensive we have several Mods who will deal with it…..

    3. Just to add to my previous comments I was was security checked because my townhouse was directly opposite St Ursula when ….if you know…you can fill in the blanks.

    1. I am only going to open that tweetietwattie if you can assure me it is all about Richard pulling what remains of his hair because the mole is winning the battle.

      I guarantee at least one of your 'lovely boys' would piss themselves laughing.

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