Tuesday 23 February: Fear instilled by the Government will hamper the lifting of lockdown

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/02/23/lettersfear-instilled-government-will-hamper-lifting-lockdown/

644 thoughts on “Tuesday 23 February: Fear instilled by the Government will hamper the lifting of lockdown”

  4. ‘Morning All

    A rich crop of #CovidClownWorld today

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/155422ccbc3f457392839c6cdf1630ba999e20a694ce275e2ef379a86f98e29e.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e905b3d7642c82ced41e6a562d502a0d258c0a02552efc012f7a6c5d95027039.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d9cbecac199f133364abb911b61d94702bc32215158915115390bc7c91ccd363.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e5fa7a12065232783755599a06b00a6695ecc58b29381c6724b482ab17498dd6.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e1673ed3f0cc1d40f3be91eeeb8c8dcb2da0700a030100345c8e8941d8b6c582.png

    1. Rik, you have illustrated the “Tinkerbell virus” with a picture of the Blue Fairy (from Pinnochio) instead of Tinkerbell (from Peter Pan).

      (Just a correction, I am not related to Peddy.)

  5. This is literally lunacy

    “Face masks and four tests for pupils when secondary schools reopen

    Colleges and university students included in recommendation following decision to reopen all schools from March 8”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/02/22/secondary-school-students-must-wear-masks-social-distancing/

    BTL put it better than I can…………

    “An absurd and abusive measure simply to appease the SAGE zealots. If

    masks have any minimal effect at all, it is only when used with clinical

    protocols, which these ‘scientists’ know full well. Once again,

    children are going to be made to suffer for purely political reasons.”

    “I work in a school. The masks are filthy, germ-ridden rags by the time they get to the classroom.

    “This is a terrible idea unless the aim is to make children ill.

    (Also, what the heck…how on earth can they communicate effectively in class ?)”
    Not to mention the utter chaos of multiple testing with tests KNOWN to have a high false positive index,schools will be openenig and shutting faster than a whores knickers move!!
    Finally,hay fever season is coming up fast,masks will be soooooooo much fun then…..

    1. Morning, Rick.

      This masking measure for schoolchildren is a very nasty attempt to continue the disruption to children’s education. Johnson et al knew that to continue the school shutdown was politically impossible and so a plan to ensure continued disruption has been put in place. The testing regime could force individual schools to close if sufficient “positives” are found and the mask wearing is designed to make the children as uncomfortable as possible and make attending school a trial as opposed to being a time of fun and learning. The behavioural bastards (they must not be accorded the title scientist) must have been working overtime to come up with this evil plan.

  6. Morning all

    SIR – Lockdown cannot yet be significantly lifted, because the public approves of it.

    From the outset the Government has set out to instil unreasonable levels of fear, even now running shroud-waving advertising on television.

    This approach has been the very opposite of the traditional British “Keep Calm and Carry On”.

    It is the Government that created an attitude of fear instead of hope, and we shall all live with the economic and social consequences for a generation.

    Michael Tyce

    Waterstock, Oxfordshire

    SIR – Lucy Worsley (Features, February 19) is right to say that fear links the experiences of Covid and the Blitz.

    I was seven and I remember that we caught the fear from the grown-ups. At first, it was almost an adventure. But after a while, anxiety was transferred.

    Already, grown-up nerves were taut because families were involved in the fighting. But now there was a shared pattern of direct involvement. First came the siren and the rush for shelter. Then whispers in the semi-dark, the throb of the planes and noise of anti-aircraft guns. And the anticipation!

    Then the bombs. I became aware of the random way they fell; a micro-second on the release button could mean a difference of life or death.

    We emerged from the shelter either into a shambles or to a neighbourhood unscathed. But there was always the possibility of worse tomorrow.

    And, oh, the relief when finally the skies were safe! A bit like the feeling when I was vaccinated.

    Nigel Thomas

    Elham, Kent

    SIR – Prohibiting holidays in the UK until June will ensure overcrowding as everyone, young and old, descends together on tourist destinations.

    Yet older and vulnerable people will have been effectively vaccinated long before then, enabling them to enjoy breaks safely during April and May. This would provide crucial early support for hard-pressed tourism and hospitality industries that desperately need to trade before the summer.

    Many have made great sacrifices during the pandemic but now a key advantage of the UK’s vaccination programme is to be squandered.

    Stephen Kemp

    Tilton on the Hill, Leicestershire

    SIR – It appears lockdown is already over. We had more than 40 motorbikes through the town on Saturday.

    Carry Hepworth

    Petworth, West Sussex

    SIR – We need a roadmap for gradual reintroduction of the word “plan”.

    John Golightly

    Torrington, Devon

    SIR – Much is made of the permission for two distanced people to sit on a bench and drink coffee. Sensational and game-changing as this is, what of those who don’t, alas, drink coffee?

    Peter H York

    Daventry, Northamptonshire

    1. 329657+ up ticks,
      Morning E,
      L Worsley is wrong in trying to tie covid to the blitz as in the blitz the peoples suffered death & destruction on a daily basis, suffered in countrywide unity but with trust & confidence in the government.
      That is the complete reverse of today’s proceedings.

    2. Sage will tell tell you whether you are allowed to drink state approved boot polish or plump for Earl Grey.

    2. Lockdowns at no point and in no country have reduced deaths from Covid – they merely prolong the epidemic, as was carefully explained by the Prime Minister at the start of the first lockdown…

      An inconvenient truth. If the Virus was not artificially created the Pandemic certainly was.

    3. Lockdowns at no point and in no country have reduced deaths from Covid – they merely prolong the epidemic, as was carefully explained by the Prime Minister at the start of the first lockdown…

      An inconvenient truth. If the Virus was not artificially created the Pandemic certainly was.

  8. Trapped and jabless

    SIR – I receive messages telling me to arrange for my husband and myself to have Covid jabs. We are both in our seventies and classed as being at risk.

    Does the Government realise how difficult it is to be trapped in another country and, because of all the changes it makes, have flights home repeatedly cancelled?

    We came to Spain before the third lockdown as we had problems at our house here. We had a flight home in January cancelled, one in February and two in March. We now can’t get back until the end of March.

    Is it a case of out of sight, out of mind?

    Christine and Irving Duncan

    Alhaurín de la Torre, Málaga, Spain

  9. Royal family split

    SIR – I am sure we all wish the Sussexes well in their new life.

    What is harder to accept is their lack of respect towards the Queen, who is not only Prince Harry’s monarch but also his grandmother. The way she has been treated is unforgivable.

    Marel Elliston

    Hatfield Peverel, Essex

    3. Isn’t colonic irrigation a posh term for an enema?
      Or does it go a bit further than that?

      2. ‘Morning, BoB, I believe there are many thriving clinics providing Colonic irrigation in Brighton & Hove.

    6. Even allowing for a Nigella’s expert make-up artist, poo sniffing doesn’t seem to do much for the face.
      Gilly looks as if the world has fallen out of her bott ….. ah …..

  11. Biden embraces the forever war. Spiked. 23 February 2021.

    The operation may not have done much for freedom, but it has certainly endured, despite President Obama giving the operation a name change in 2014. In fact, it is the longest war that the US has ever been involved in. Longer than Vietnam. Longer even than the two world wars combined. It has cost the lives of tens of thousands of Afghan civilians, and hundreds of American and British soldiers. The Watson Institute at Brown University puts the overall death toll at over 157,000 and counting.

    And for what? The continued impoverishment of one of the poorest nations on the planet? A territory which is held by roughly the same antagonists in the same proportions as it was held 20 years ago? Rarely have so many given so much for so little.

    I’ve never doubted that Biden would renege on Trumps Deal; not simply because Trump negotiated it, but because he needs a war. It keeps the Military onside, the People reminded of their Patriotic Duty and the Military/Industrial complex happy. Of course if you are one of those dummies who actually gets to go this hellhole, where literally no one is on your side, your view is likely to be a little more jaundiced. The only son of the Elites that I know who has trodden the Afghan Turf is oddly Prince Harry; why he chose to do so, (since he could obviously have got out of it) is something of a mystery. He was probably the last. The Great and Good have no qualms about sending the sons of oiks to their pointless fate but draw the line at their own!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/02/23/afghanistan-biden-embraces-the-forever-war/

    1. The only people ever to have civilised the Afghans were the 1970s hippies in their camper vans.

      1. If only, K – on the other hand, the local elections are on the horizon. An opportunity to give the Tories very satisfactory kicking.

        1. That has to be the plan. Not voting must not be an option. If the Tory % vote remains high, even on a very small turn-out, that eventuality will still be spun as an endorsement for the Tories.

  13. Good morning from a dull but dry & not very cold Derbyshire. 3°C in the yard and overcast.

  15. Oh Joy Unconfined!
    BBC headline this morning: “Covid-19: Lockdown easing to make life ‘incomparably better'”
    Is it me? My reaction is to think,”**** these ******s, and the rest”*.
    I can remember better. I can remember being as free as the air. I remember being Lord of Creation with my entire wealth, a half-crown, in my pocket.

    *Please insert expletives of choice.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56164098

    2. Salamander is saying that there is a conspiracy to remove him from public life……..who on earth would want to do that ?

  18. The Quiet Carriage

    After a tiring day, a commuter settled down in his seat and closed his eyes.

    As the train rolled out of the station, the young woman sitting next to him pulled out her mobile phone and started talking in a loud voice:

    “Hi sweetheart. It’s Sue. I’m on the train”.

    “Yes, I know it’s the six thirty and not the four thirty, but I had a long meeting”.

    “No, honey, not with that Kevin from the accounting office. It was with the boss”.

    “No sweetheart, you’re the only one in my life”.

    “Yes, I’m sure, cross my heart!”

    Fifteen minutes later, she was still talking loudly.

    When the man sitting next to her had enough, he leaned over and said into the phone, “Sue, hang up the phone and come back to bed.”

    Sue doesn’t use her cell phone in public any longer.

  19. Good morning, everyone. Just walked the dog for an hour. Blue sky, puffy white clouds and sunshine!

  20. EU to sanction Russians responsible for Alexei Navalny’s detention. 23 February 2021

    Russians responsible for the “arrest, sentencing and persecution” of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny will be hit by EU sanctions in the first use of the bloc’s so-called Magnitsky act.

    Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, said the 27 member states had agreed to impose restrictive measures under powers adopted earlier to target people behind human rights abuses.

    The names of those involved are yet to be made public, but Borrell said he did not expect it to take longer than a week for formal approval of the freezing of assets and imposition of travel bans.

    The EU has no Army, Navy, Airforce, controls no Land or Sea, possesses no Tax Gathering Powers and consists solely of a Bureaucracy and Administration with no Democratic Mandate. The Papacy has more legitimacy! It is here provoking one of the most powerful States on the planet over a political nonentity who has been legally convicted. Wise heads would remember that Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbour over the sanctions levelled at them over their activities in China.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/22/eu-must-be-united-and-determined-on-russia-sanctions-says-josep-borrell-alexi-navalny

    2. ‘Morning, Minty, but, but,but the EU has a President, it has a flag and it has an Anthem…

      …oh, yeh.

    3. I’m sure Putin will survive being slapped round the chops by a wet kipper.
      Several years ago, Simon Reeves interviewed a Russian farmer who had diversified into producing Brie.
      I realise that interviews were controlled, but the possibility to take advantage of EU ‘action’ is there.

    4. Oh look…a squirrel.

      One would think the EU would get to grips with its own problems and not go looking for trouble elsewhere.

      Produce from the EU is disappearing from supermarkets. German and Belgian beers being caught up in red tape being one example.

      Seafood and shellfish disappearing from the Menu’s in European restaurants is another.

      People can do as they choose but sourcing food and drink from anywhere but the EU is our patriotic duty.

      Morning, Minty.

      1. Fine wines from Australia, Argentina, Chile, California, New Zealand. Fizzy from England.

        1. We also have quite a few dairy producing excellent cheeses.

          Others specialising in charcuterie.

        2. Thanks for reminding me…we ditched our Commonwealth to join a bunch of losers…

          I need a drink…Oz. Shiraz of course.

          1. I left out wines from Algeria, an applicant to join the Commonwealth. Algeria used to produce wine in the days before it removed itself from France. The wine growers were French and they left in droves at the time of independence. I’ve tried Algerian wine in the past as Oddbins listed some. I always say to myself, “how bad can it be?’ Now I know.

  21. 329657+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,
    I truly believe that now is the time ( 6th May) for ALL good men, women,.
    inbertweeners, to come to the aid of the Country as in giving the lab/lib/con coalition candidates a serious coating of avoidance in the polling booth.

    That is unless you agree with what could be their covert coming agenda.

    https://twitter.com/naomirwolf/status/1363956315970805761

      1. 329657+ up ticks,
        Morning W,
        To my mind it is the continuing voting actions of the ovis that has done, is doing, the damage.

    2. Tom Newton Dunn is just plain wrong.

      Already Saga Cruises have stated they require documentation showing vaccination at least 14 days before travel.

      United Airlines, BA, Delta and Virgin Atlantic have also announced that they will require proof of vaccination.

      Are these the last? I doubt it.

  22. I don’t see any postings of videos of people demonstrating against lockdown or anything at present. Have the city demonstrations in the UK come to a halt? Is it because any gathering of more than 2 people, or one household, is currently illegal?

  23. ‘Morning, all. In other news, the struggle continues ……

    BLACK NOTES MATTER

    The Black Musicians’ Student Branch at the Royal College of Music has demanded that the racism inherent in the piano keyboard be addressed. Chairman Katanga Nbungo-Nbongo – previous winner of the ‘Young Black Musician of the Year’ award and tom-tom virtuoso – explained that racism is the reason there are no black composers of classical piano music, whereas white composers from Bach to Beethoven, Chopin to Schumann, are plentiful.

    “A standard eighty-eight key piano contains just over seven octaves, made up of fifty-two white keys but only thirty-six black keys and the black keys are insultingly referred to as ‘accidentals’ which suggests that they shouldn’t really be there. White keys are known as ‘naturals’ which implies that black keys are somehow ‘unnatural’ and therefore inferior to white keys. The piano keyboard is clearly a blatant manifestation of white supremacy at its most egregious.

    We are demanding that in future all piano players ‘take the knee’ before performances to recognise the exclusion and oppression of black people and the unjust stifling of their natural musical talent. We will be announcing a new scholarship available to black musicians who compose piano concertos, sonatas, nocturnes, études etc. using only the black keys. In the meantime, all classic piano compositions must be rearranged to ensure that black keys are played at least as often as white ones.” said Mr. Nbungo-Nbongo in a statement today.

    … I’ll get me atumpan.

    2. Would they be happier if they simply played all their music in the key of G♭Major? That way they would use ALL the black keys and just one white one (F).

      1. Morning Grizz – or they could reverse the keys (think Vox Continental) like some keyboard manufacturers offer now or use a Yamaha Roli which is all black

        1. Morning, Spikey. Those Vox Continentals were very popular in the 1960s. I remember Mike Smith (of the Dave Clark Five) playing one.

          4. As does the Vox Dei.

            “Tonabit de caelis Dominus et Excelsus dabit vocem suam”
            2 Sam. 22:14

  24. 329657+ up ticks,
    May one ask,why then do these fear creating governance parties as
    in the lab/lib/con coalition group, proven as real fear creators as any
    raped & abused child will confirm consequences of mass ongoing uncontrolled immigration still find regular support at the polling booth ?

    Tuesday 23 February: Fear instilled by the Government will hamper the lifting of lockdown

  25. I shall shortly be leaving – the local Arts Society (an organisation I commend – there will be a branch near wherever you live in England) has organised a virtual tour of David Parr House in Cambridge. Starts at 10.30. The irony of the quarantine is that, in real life, we would NOT be able to do a visit by the local membership (about 150) because entry is limited to six people!!

    Looking forward to it immensely. They have had monthly talks online – including, as I mentioned, a live walk round part of Venice which was just breath-taking.

    1. How does one “check” a box? Check means ascertain that it is there. What happened to the word TICK?

      1. All this shit, George is American originated.

        If you cannot ‘check’, maybe send a ‘cheque’, that’ll fool them for three hours while they try to check – American – what a cheque is.

    2. I might have a minute bit of respect for politicians if they cut their income to same level as ours since our business was put completely out of action and with our having no entitlement to furlough or other schemes.

    1. Let’s be really diverse and international and follow reciprocal policies to our friends in the Middle East. Boris Johnson should decree:

      ” We shall now show our solidarity for Muslim ideology in Britain by exercising the same reciprocal policy towards Muslims, their qu’ran and their mosques as Saudi Arabia shows towards Christians , their Bible and their Churches.”

      Is there anyone who could logically refute this and if so on what grounds?

      1. 329657+ up ticks,
        Afternoon R,
        Methinks it is a tad to late for “we shall now show” as we have gone past the taking the oath on the islamic followers instruction manual ( that gives permission to lie to non believers) that rests between the dispatch boxes, and including halal nosh in the parliamentary menu when decent peoples are asking for a humane way of animal slaughter to be used.
        Also they are heading for, I believe in-house prayers five times a day in the near future, little wonder he hasn’t come out of the closet in his pyjamas & the squeeze in a burka, as of yet.

    1. Was there a spelling mistake in the article Sos ……….should have been ‘as Pole finds’ ?
      Speaking from a personal point of view and jabbed, this is the second booked holiday we have lost in the past 6 months.
      Unemployment is rising by the hour and so is the loss of millions by the day from the UK economy.
      Who do they actually ask ?

      1. I suspect that well over 20% of the working population are in the public sector and are almost totally unaffected by it all, and are thoroughly enjoying their fully-paid sabbatical.

        EDIT
        This suggests 16.7 in absolute %
        I would argue that anyone whose employment is directly due to the public purse should be included, even if it appears they are “employed” in Quangos, charities and the like.
        https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN05635/SN05635.pdf

        1. Ah,…….. that might mean there’s an underlying suggestion that more people in the public sector are polled ?

          1. Not necessarily.
            But if a fifth of the population is PS and the poll should catch an equivalent ratio.
            Clearly it isn’t quite that simple.

    2. I bet prof bonkdown is probably salivating at the thought of meeting his gf again sooner than anticipated.

      1. Strange that NTN.

        Last March a very important civil servant announced there would be eight million Covid deaths within a year.

        How do you think his numbers are adding up?

  30. Morning all

    Sunny morning , very breezy and we can hear the sound of tanks firing on the Purbeck ranges .

    Life goes on as usual , birds tweeting, traffic busy on the roads, probably tourists , 2nd home owners , day trippers , and the beauty spot car parks will be building up.

    It is a year since I properly shopped in Dorchester , the last day of the closure of local branch Marks and Spencer .. despite petitions and protests , they shut it!!

    Little did they know that months later the virus that no one suspected would cause so much pain and loss, closed all the high street favourites with younger generations , now also shut for good . The local economy is shattered.

    Where do the lady Nottlers shop on line , what sites are recommended , please don’t include M+S.

    1. Morning T-B – bright and breezy here too – quick reply before I join OH savaging the buddleia.

      I do very little shopping – online or otherwise. Last year I bought a jacket and a pair of casual trousers from Mountain Warehouse online. Before all this panic I used to like going in to Edinburgh Woollen Mill in Cirencester, when I met my friends for lunch. Lots of my jumpers came from there, also two nighties. I think they’re closing down. Just before Christmas I went into Peacocks in Stroud (also closing down ) and bought the most comfortable bra ever – wish I could buy another. That’s about it really – food shopping mostly in Morrisons, some things from Waitrose – their balsamic salad dressing is nice, also mushroom pate. Stuff I can’t get in Morrisons.

      Just trying to think if I’ve ordered anything else – teacosy for son in Switzerland (his request) from one of the Etsy sellers. Some things from Amazon Marketplace – books mostly – they are good for secondhand books in good condition.

      1. Morning J

        Just the same here. I would pop into Edinburgh Wool , they did some nice light summery tops etc. It is knowing what fits, and isn’t too scratchy texture wise. Used to be able to trawl through M+S for golfy stuff for Moh . There is a dumbed down M+S in Weymouth , but parking is a pain and it means wandering down a sandblasted very blowy high street navigating rough sleepers and drunks and anti social behaviour .

        Places seem to be rotting before our eyes , and certain types seem to even more feral than ever.

        I food shop in Sainsbury or wherever the car takes me , for a change!

        1. It’s a year now since I went into Cirencester, apart from driving through on my way to the printers for our calendars – and not that since November. Last time I met my old schoolfriends in Gloucetser was the end of September – we had lunch but didn’t look round the shops.

          I haven’t been anywhere much for a whole year! What a wasted year it has been. And months more of it to come. No wonder life feels tedious at the moment. No concerts, theatre trips, table tennis – all our usual activities. I’ve been expanding my family tree a bit – thanks goodness for Ancestry! No family reunions – last time we met J’s family was two years ago – our little great-nephews are growing up. The eldest is now a teenager. I haven’t seen my sons since Christmas 19.

          1. I feel as if we are living in captivity , and have just got used to it , because the village feels just the same .. The local garage posts amusing little stories about people arriving from the midlands and London area who top up with fuel, but who won’t wear masks when paying , and then cough and spit, that sort of thing .

            These local villages host a huge retirement colony , people who have worked locally and then retired or people whoo have moved down here for that Enid Blyton experience , the countryside freedom to cycle everywhere , sailing that sort of thing , local people rely on tourism .

            R has been almost static , we haven’t done any redecorating and that sort of thing, his nose is buried deep in golf videos , and he takes a golf iron with him and a bag of balls to wack around when we give the dogs a run .

            The garden is still very soggy , so haven’t done alot re sorting out the flowerbed etc.

            I haven’t hosted my Dorset Canal Zoner group for a year, we meet up for lunch 6 times a year , I have been doing that for 17 years . Everyone who are still able to attend are in their late eighties now, but all have had their jabs thank goodness .

            We are riding out our lives , aren’t we .. I actually feel quite low , I have piled on a few pounds unfortunately !

            This has been a tough business for everyone , and I haven’t seem son number 2 since last summer. , he is on furlough still.

          2. I’ve become an indoor girl – I can’t be bothered to go outside or go for walks – I’d have to if we had a dog…… outside this morning my daffs are coming up in the pots and containers, there are crocuses all over the lawn, and the geraniums that had survived two mild winters are all dead now. I need some potting compost but the garden centre is shut.

          3. I was just thinking this morning when I was out walking my dog that PoWs must have felt a bit like this; they were in captivity and they had no idea when it would end or if there would be a life afterwards.

          4. We have not seen our children since Xmas 2020. This is a year we will not get back, a high percentage of the time remaining to us.
            For what? So that the government /NHS could pack old people into care homes to die?

          5. Yes – that’s my thoughts too. We none of us know how long we have left but we know it’s not a great deal. Young people have lost a year out of their lives, too, but a small proportion. We oldies have lost maybe 10% or more of active life.

          6. Sometimes I get really morbid thoughts and wonder if I’ll ever get to enjoy life before I die.

          8. I hope so, too, but sometimes I wonder. The thought of being able to ride at the end of March has cheered me up somewhat.

          9. I’ve seen ‘1 son maybe 4 times since this nonsense started. I don’t know when we’ll get yo see our first grandchild who is due in a week or so’s time/ #2 son has been stranded in Switzerland for the duration and is on furlough but has put his time to good use in studying remotely for a post grad degree. I’ve been into Winchester twice to stock up on clothes from Debenhams before that goes kaput. Other than that SWMBO have been taking long walks every weekend. Trouble is we’re running out of local ones and are seeking out more further afield, no doubt illegally. We have missed sporting events, gigs, presents of fancy meals out… The list goes on. The education system has failed, the economy is imploding, my wife and I are going mental and I’m sick and tired of it. At least SWMBO and I are still working though I’m being laid off in a few months *try looking for a new job when you’re 64 and you can’t get a face to face interview). However, we’ve been relatively unscathed – how are the less fortunate managing?

      2. Savaging the buddleia… Oh yes . Moh did that to my bright yellow flowered , lovely scented buddleia last autumn .. it seems to be wiped out now,

        1. Cut it back TB, I massacred ours last autumn most of the branches were tangled and growing into next doors garden, but it’s already got new buds on it.
          I’ve been ordered by the head gardener, to do something similar to the lilac and a large evergreen (Ceanothis ?) shrub with blue flowers.

          2. Easy with the ceanothus. I cut one of mine (a repens) down a few years ago and it gave up the ghost.

          3. We originally had it in a trough but moved it into the garden fully it’s gone mad since but i refrained from pruning, as it has suffered from heavy frost recently.

        2. I’ve never had a yellow one but the standard pink ones and variant colours need cutting back hard in February. a light trim is all they need in the autumn to take off the spent flowers but I didn’t bother last year.

      3. Is there not a manufacturers label on the Bra. If so you can google them to find other outlets.

    2. Little did they know the Government that no one suspected would cause so much pain and loss………… There that’s better….

      I await the opening of the charity shops Belle…..

        1. Cirencester and Bath were brilliant hunting grounds for quality bargains. Plenty of money …..unlike piss-poor Cornwall!

          1. Ah! So you bought all my 👠 shoes? I wonder what size you are!
            Am always giving away things to the local charity shop, as I can’t be doing with the faff of eBay etc.
            Also pass on my books & dvds etc…& large hats as they took up so much room!

          2. My wedding outfit, shoes and bag came from Cirencester charity shops in 1997. Still got them, though I doubt I could fit into that little two-piece now, and the shoes are much too high for these days.

      2. Charity shops are going to be overloaded with clothes PT, so much weight has been gained over the past 12 months.

          2. I went down to a 12 when I was going going through divorce in the early 90s – but mostly I was a 14 and still am.

    3. Sunny morning , very breezy and we can hear the sound of tanks firing on the Purbeck ranges .

      There not shooting at people on that lovely Purbeck golf course are the TB ?

    4. Bought a wheelie bin for my mother online. britishbins.co.uk.
      Otherwise, we don’t. We go to our local shops and supermarkets, even enduring the face nappy, or they won’t be there if this shit ever stops.

      1. I’m waiting for the charity shops to open 🙂 I love having a browse and one can usually pick up a bargain! Certainly one finds out of print books and interesting curios.

    6. Kettlewell Colours, also Adini. I only buy occasionally.
      https://www.kettlewellcolours.co.uk/
      https://www.adinilondon.co.uk/
      You can also find Adini at Sariska with other different brands (good for sale items and back numbers of Adini):
      https://www.sariska.co.uk/
      and
      Seasalt
      https://www.seasaltcornwall.co.uk/?cm_mmc=google-_-Brand-Search-_-Search-UK-Brand-_-seasalt&gclid=Cj0KCQiA7NKBBhDBARIsAHbXCB5NVlVigp6cl-KTbxbkT3ne4EzNvA23ihLxK_IcHEAMRW6_4Edmr8AaAuJqEALw_wcB

      1. Nor will all their brothers. sisters, aunts, uncles. brothers in law, sisters in law, nieces, nephews, cousins, grandfathers, grandmothers etc etc – who have already been telephoned/Skyped to be informed of the good news – ” A life on Whitey’s taxes from now on “.

    2. The 21 were desperate to get a lawyer to get an action going against Border Force. The 21 are demanding an inquiry and no doubt millions in compensation for hurty feelings as Border Force FAILED to come out and pick them up, to ferry them to Dover, NHS check and onward to waiting hotels.

  32. A purge of conservative book editors should worry anyone who cares about democracy. 23 February 2021.

    It is clear that if a book is in danger of inciting hatred, then freedom of speech is not a strong enough defence. But often with these clauses (common in the US over the past few years), it is more to do with protecting the financial interests of the company – indicating that not all MAGA titles are felt to guarantee commercial success.

    Throughout history, authors have been silenced for all sorts of reasons, sometimes for sitting outside the religious status quo, often because they have veered from pervading moral tastes. In our functioning democracy, we must commit to a diversity of opinions, no matter how unpalatable they might be.

    Really? Who is to make this judgement prior to publication? How would they know unless they were referring to their own views? In retrospect it would certainly include the Bible and the Torah! ALL censorship is about supressing views the Censor finds personally offensive!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/purge-conservative-book-editors-should-worry-anyone-cares-democracy/

  33. Ever more spurious management speak. “Road map, “route map”. These people could not find…, Well, they are useless.
    This stage by stage guff is just more evidence of their control fever, their unwillingness to let go and let the people decide. We are really at the point where everything should all go back to how it was in September 2019. Not least because they are in no position to determine any effects of any action taken. For example, senior pupils are to wear masks all day at school. How can the effect of doing that, or not doing it, be measured separately from any other “measures”? It cannot. The government has not kept any accurate statistics. “Died of”, “died with” were so conflated that the true figures are unknown, or at any rate not being made public. Nobody’s died from ‘flu, strangely. No single action or group of actions can be directly correlated with any figures in respect of progress of the disease. It is not just pretence, it is a pack of lies.

    2. Local Beeb radio station keeps giving out infection figures. “200 per 100’000” – or 1 in 500 in sensible speak. I don’t think I meet 500 people in a year. I have NEVER seen any other info, on anything, ever given in “per 100’000” . Clearly the govt wanted something that sounded scarier to the masses.
      As for died with and died of I find the worst and most stupid is the “died within 28 days of a positive test” – If I get run over by a bus as I walk out of getting my result – I’m one of the Covid statistics ???CRAZY.

      1. ‘200 per 100’000’ – why don’t they user common or garden percentages? It’s because 200 sounds a lot scarier than 0.2%

  34. The government has never taken into account the morale of the people. They have used us as an easy target. what they have done has been totaly unfair to us all. The NHS is supposed to save us not the other way round, they even rubbed our noses in it with the stupid clapping . It supprised me just how many did it without thinking. The Brits have lost their bottle. I will never vote for any of them again. New parties required.

    1. I don’t think “unfair” comes anywhere near close. WE get threatened with a criminal record, jail and a massive fine for going outside – while illegals are ferried in, instantly checked by taxpayer funded NHS crew and equipment and then ferried by coach to hotels, where THEY complain they want better.

      1. 329657+ up ticks,
        W,
        The country goes by the majority vote, mass uncontrolled immigration ( ongoing) parties have never been out of favour via the polling booth, the electorate are in collusion, more so daily as the intake grows.

    2. The government has turned the whole country into male and female versions of The Stepford Wives.

    4. 329657+ up ticks,
      Morning JN,
      Many of us tried that under the leadership of Batten
      reinstating the real UKIP as a once again credible party and it was proving successful.
      That triggered the UkIp nEc / nige treacherous response.

      Proving nowadays you cannot have a lab/lib/con vote AND self respect, oil,water.

  35. Good morning my friends

    I am sure that our prime minister’s shortness of temper with Dilyn, Carrie’s dog, is not just down to the fact the ill-trained little terrier chews the furniture, cocks the leg both on antique furniture and visiting ministers at Downing Street and causes expensive damage for which Johnson must pay. No, his pique is based on the fact that Dilyn is far more important to his paramour than he is.

    DT Article

    In the dog house: Is your pooch causing domestic drama?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/pets/dog-house-pooch-causing-domestic-drama/

    A BTL Comment:

    This reminds me of a flamboyant retired wing-commander who retired to the village in Cornwall where I was a boy. He and his wife had a very exuberant dog, an Airedale called Tail End Charlie – or just Charlie for short.

    Dennis, the wing-commander, had a roving eye as well as an Airedale and he started an amorous adventure with the pretty young widow a few doors away. His wife was far from gruntled when he decided to move in with her taking Charlie with him.

    She sent the new mistress a letter which she photocopied and circulated around the village:

    “You’re welcome to Dennis but let me have Charlie back without delay!”

    And I suspect that when Carrie can endure Boris’s fumbling and clumsy, inexpert groping no longer she will get her priorities sorted out and leave Downing Street taking Dilyn with her.

      1. 329657+ up ticks,
        Morning P,
        See a vet more like, preferable a pavement sleeping one for some home truths.

    2. Obviously a dog like its owner, badly in need of disciplinary training.

      I’m sure that Larry is well qualified for giving that training via clawing the silly mut’s nose.

    2. How many Twitter accounts have you got, Bob? I know your Bob of Bonsall one has gone – suspended? closed? banned? This one is on its way too I guess? I’ve forgotten how to open a new account but I may have to as I was “limited” for a day last week for very little.

        1. If you do – remind me how to open an account – I’ve had mine since 2010. I don’t use the hedgehog one for anything personal.

    3. As Dominic Frisby sang of Lord Adonis in his marvellous Brexit song :

      Who the FUCK is he?

  37. Well – didn’t stay out there very long! Perishing wind and the sun went in. Did half the buddleia – will have to finish it off tomorrow.

    1. When they know they’ll be punished by being put in hotels and waited on they will make sure and try ANYTHING to get here.
      Priti and Dan should be fired NOW.

      1. Agenda 21 – basically the extermination of european whites, by sheer numbers. All tv ads now have mixed race couples and dark skinned kids – brainwashing us into our own extermination.

        2. Yet the census leaflet, Walter, lists the census as an ‘invitation’ when we know it’s a definite LEGAL requirement to fill out the Census Form, in full, as to those in your household on the specified date.

          Bluddy pandering Government – the figures will be rigged – even in the unlikely event of EVERYONE in the country filling out the form (correctly).

    5. Do the politicians understand that the vast majority of indigenous Britons are dismayed by this invasion – and if they do know it do they give a tinker’s?

      1. I reckon a significant majority of (tax-paying) indigenous Britons would gladly see the vast majority of these invaders placed in prison ships (for at least 10 years or until they voluntarily scarper back to safe fRENCH TERRITORY) off the channel coast and put on a bread, gruel, and water diet …. offset only by the occasional luxury of the odour of bacon sandwiches coming from the guards’ canteen. Leaflets and notices should be available at the French coast to tell them what awaits if they invade ….

        1. The only way to stop them is to give them truly horrible conditions in which to live when they arrive and arrange for their deportation asap.

          If I were a native of an African, Asian or Middle Eastern hell-hole then I would certainly chance my arm and try to get into Britain by any means I could. And until the British government is prepared to to make life for me even worse than it was in the hell hole from which I had escaped then I – and millions of people like me – would continue to come regardless of the long voyage.

          Is there a single Nottler who would not do the same and chance his or her arm?

    6. I seem to recall that, when the Channel Tunnel was being planned, one of the objections was that it would easy for invaders to use the tunnel to get to England. The argument looks very silly now!

    7. I seem to recall that, when the Channel Tunnel was being planned, one of the objections was that it would easy for invaders to use the tunnel to get to England. The argument looks very silly now!

    8. PTB can’t (or won’t) stop illegal immigrants, but I guarantee if in future you try to travel without a covid vaccination passport you’ll be arrested and incarcerated.

  41. Hi folks

    If you ever wondered what we get for the £150 billion our NHS costs i can point you to one example.

    I had my weekly visit to the vampire for my blood letting. A nice lady came round with a trolley and asked me if i wanted a sandwich. I said yes please.

    It consisted of a rather nice egg mayonnaise sandwich. An apple. A pack of two digestive biscuits. I very small yogurt and a very small orange juice. A pleasant little snack presented in a brown paper bag.

    Cost to the NHS £20.

    No charge to the patient.

      1. A patient doesn’t normally pay for food while in a British Hospital even though i was just a day patient.

        However if people can afford to pay then i think they should.

        I know they are not set up to take the money and all the backroom staff required to process everything but how about…Have a collection bucket on the trolley for those to who wish to to chuck in whatever amount of money and be used as part of their fundraising. I was in Haematology and Oncology department and they had three inhouse charities asking for support.

        I had £100 in my wallet. I would have been happy to pay for my lunch.

        1. Don’t worry we soon will be paying if we can afford to or wait forever for treatment.
          The NHS is now a WHS – World Health Service. Sadly it’s past its sell-by date.

        2. I feel we have a slight misunderstanding…..

          I meant the contents were worth only £5. £20 from the taxpayer is extortion (contracted out?). I think everyone should have to pay for their food and meals in hospital on a not-for-profit basis as, after all, they would have to buy food during that time if they were at home. This is not a criticism of you btw!

          2. No, no, I had no ulterior message other than my observation, there was nothing snide intended there about your ability to pay or otherwise!!

      1. The main reason everything is so much more expensive for NHS purchasing is everything needs to be certified.

        As usual…too much red tape.

          1. An annual bonus could be linked to how much money they had saved rather than wasted their department.

    3. A few years ago, I worked out how much it cost me to buy and make my (packed) lunch for work, compared to some of my (mostly younger) colleagues who went out every lunchtime to buy theirs from a sandwich shop of burger outlet.

      My average make-it-youself lunch consisted of a ploughmans sandwich (ordinary shop wholemeal bread), apple, banana (afternoon snack), jacob’s club (morning snack) and drank tap water. Cost – about £1.50 Far cheaper to buy fruit like apples, pears, etc in a bag of 6 than loose, but NOT bananas (always buy loose). I only buy long-lasting foods such as biscuits, cereal, canned food, etc when on sale (and a known low price) and/or in bulk to save on the cost (often – prepandemic – up to 50% off the price, average I’d guess at 33% off)

      Shop bought lunch – burger, fries, drink and apple pie cost around £5 – £6, similar price for shop-bought sandwiches from bakers if they buy the same meal as mine and don’t use tap water from the office. Soft drinks cost more than beer per ml. For me, they are a treat and I only buy when on heavy discount and in 2L bottles for use over a week or two. Then nothing for normally 2 months, just drinking tea or tap water.

      The supermarkets are cheaper than the small shops using their ‘meal deals’, but I bet, like petrol & diesel sales at their filling stations, they use them as a loss leader to get people in the store. A normal spend would likely come to about £3.50 – £4 for my meal if bought in a supermarket.

      £20 for A meal is a distigusting price. Ironically, many WRVS (or similar) shops in hospitals do provide lunches at reasonable prices, not to be confused with hospital cafeterias, many of which are very expensive, at least for non-staff.

      My average weekly shop (for one) at the supermarket is around £20 – and that includes washing liquids, bleach, loo rolls, etc etc. That also includes me buying brand names for a good few items (especially condiments and washing liquids).

      2. Sounds like you are a sensible shopper.

        I also wait until a supermarket is doing a discount on larder items and then buy in bulk.

        I was annoyed in Tesco’s one day to see a price of £3.75 for a pack of four tins of tomatoes.

        Aldi sell them for between 25 to 30p a tin. Ot they did the last time i looked.

        Speaking of which, i find nothing wrong with the quality of Aldi products and i am very pleased they have started a home delivery service. Bye Bye Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

          1. When Tesco’s said they were closing some stores and selling off their land banks Aldi were announcing the opening of another 100 supermarkets. I think they know how to run a business.

        2. One thing I note is that often when a ‘big 4’ supermarket has a Bogof offer or a major sale on a item, it is cheaper than buying from Aldi, because they rarely have deals of that sort. Not always. I’ve made a spreadsheet listing all the foods I buy with the cheapest normal (per item/pack of 4 etc) and best deal price, occasionally updating it as prices and deals change.

          It does mean I rarely can shop at just one store to get the best prices.

          1. I don’t like to go to that much trouble. I do know that a trolley of the things i would normally buy works out £20 cheaper than the main supermarkets if bought in Aldi or Lidl.

          2. Once or twice I saw my favourit spagbol sauce jars on a bu1 get 2 free offer – 66% off the price. I worked out how many I could buy based on my normal usage and the use-by date on the jars and bought more than a year’s worth!!

      1. My nurse said a pint of blood can sell for £1000.

        My blood was useless both to me and them because of my condition and it went in the bin for cremation.

        I’m having a memorial service later. :@)

  43. Phew – the virtual tour of the David Parr House (Cambridge) was fascinating. It lasted two hours. The guide’s primary school teacher delivery was offset by her enthusiasm and devotion to the project.

    Worth having a look at the website – if you are interested in the followers of William Morris.

    1. “Vaccines get us on road to freedom.”

      And if the virus varies like flu? Do we attempt to vaccinate and certify everyone every time this happens?

      Michael Fabricant says people ‘are getting alarmed over nothing’ in respect of vaccination:
      https://www.expressandstar.com/news/health/coronavirus-covid19/2021/02/16/no-plans-for-mandatory-vaccination-passports-mp-says/

      He’s quite right that they’re alarmed. What he doesn’t appear to understand is how many there are who approve of passports. Here’s something I found on my rounds on another comments column:

      No one would be forced to have a vaccine ceritifcate. But those who choose not would have to accept there’s some things they’ll be unable to access as a consequence.

      if you choose not to have a passport you can’t travel abroad. If you choose not to have a driving licence you can’t drive a car. If you choose not to have age ID, and you look young enough to need it, you can’t buy aged-restricted products like alcohol.

      And I reckon a ‘vaccine passport’ could accommodate those unable (as opposed to unwilling) to have a vaccine for health reasons. In number they’re probably fewer than those who would have had a vaccine but fall within the few % for whom it doesn’t work.

      Making false comparisons, just as Fabricant does with yellow fever, a stable disease for which a reliable and long-lasting vaccine is available.

      1. The government has no right to demand we have a “certificate” declaring we’ve been vaccinated, nor has it the right to encourage companies to demand one from new employees. (What about current employees?). It does not demand a certificate proof of vaccination against measles, rubella, polio, or any other disease before you are “allowed” to go here or there or somewhere else or before you can take a job.

        We are just sliding into a dictatorial communist state and I hope someone of note will stand up and say so and defend our rights to decide not to have a vaccine or require testing. The fact that children returning to school next March will have to be “tested” is an utter disgrace and even worse is that they may have to wear masks.

        1. The continued frequent testing and masking of children is nothing short of child abuse.

          I’ve had the vaccine because I want to be able to travel – I fully expect some sort of certification to be a requirement for that. But not for home use – shopping events, etc. Definitely not.

          1. I agree with your “nothing short of child abuse” comment. And I too think other countries may well require some sort of certificate of vaccination. We usually fly to Dubai every year to visit family and we’ll have a big decision as to whether or not we have the vaccine. I think we would at least have to have a test before travelling.

          2. I’ve rebooked my trip to Kenya (which should have been next week) for October. I expect the requirement to have a negative test before flying in either direction will still be in force. Hopefully not the Hotel Corona though.

          4. It kept me going through December but once they banned travel I knew it was a non-starter and I would have to rebook. It’ll be my 5th trip to Kenya and I love being there. I’ve stayed in all those camps before and the guides are great. There are some favourite animals I can’t wait to see again.

      2. Ahem, even if you don’t have a driving licence (or have been banned) it doesn’t stop you actually driving a car. You’ll just be in trouble if you’re found out.

    2. That he gives the account of his own twin brother and then (IMHO) appears to imply that his brother’s COVID experience is widespread is nonsense. Even amongst the under 60 group, 99.99% of those who have likely caught it either go on to have no symptoms, cold or at most flu-like symptoms and recover within the normal period for those symptoms – with no after effects. It may well turn out that his brother and probably himself have a genetic defect that makes them more susceiptable to this virus.

      That’s bad luck, but isn’t an excuse to lock down the nation etc for a year. Common sense in PROPER risk management has been thrown out of the window. This is why, as an engineer (who has used risk management all their professional life) I dispair at the attitude of those in charge of the COVID response.

      Once all the vlunerable are vaccinated, why isn’t the country completely re-opened with (other than to countries that have nod had their vulnerable groups vaccinated yet) NO requirements for vaccine passports other than for a limited period for international travel.

      I should also note that he does A LOT of TV work – including (predominantly) on the BBC and Ch4, not know for their unbiased coverage. He may well have good intention, but we all know where roads paved in those lead to. IMHO, WAY too many scientists, clincians and journalists – who all should be capable of rational though and critical thinking – have been naive and had the wool pulled over their eyes during the pandemic.

      Newspapers – especially the tabloids, love a good scare story and sensationalism to inflame the public to get more copy.

      You have to wonder why, if the immune system plays a huge part in whether people get sever COVID and/or die/have a long, difficult recovery, why the government all over the airwaves and newspapers urging everyone (especially people with dark skin, first generation immigrants from third world nations and the immuno-compromised) to take vitamin D supplements with Zinc every day – especially from authum to spring and, as much as they safely can – get outside into the sunshine to get vitmain D for free and exercise/fresh air – which also lessens the viral load/effects if you do get it.

      1. They’ve been very quiet on Vitamin D and also on treatments/prophylaxis which have been shown to be effective – eg Ivermectin, Hydroxychloroquine, Doxycycline, etc.

        2. Yep. And he’s a degree-qualified, ‘experienced’ physician. I’ll believe Dr Sam Bailey – she knows what she’s talking about.

  45. Is Alex Salmond about to kill off Scottish independence?
    ‘Wee Eck’ has devoted his life to wrecking the UK, but a personal vendetta against his former protégé threatens ruin for the SNP

    ALAN COCHRANE
    Daily Telegraph 22 February 2021 • 6:00am

    The famed braggadocio had long gone. It was a solemn, even morose Alex Salmond who walked out of the High Court in Edinburgh on March 23 last year. There was no smile, nor any other sign of emotion from a man who had just been acquitted on 13 charges of sexual assault including one of attempted rape.

    Instead, there was a grim determination to reveal what he believed was a conspiracy to destroy him – a plot, moreover, that he reckoned was orchestrated by the very woman he had “invented” and who had become his successor as leader of the SNP and First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon.

    Vengeance may be said to be a dish best served cold but Alex Salmond, in the words of Robert Burns, his favourite poet, has been “nursing his wrath to keep it warm” every day of these past 11 months. So much so that most observers, including this one, now reckon that his long-cherished political aim – Scottish independence – is taking a poor second place to that of destroying Sturgeon.

    If so, it is an aim that I’d happily support, especially as there is every chance it might help smash the SNP’s aim of breaking up Britain. It’s not as if we’d get “Wee Eck” Salmond instead of Sturgeon as first minister – he’s well past his sell-by date.

    On the steps of the court last year, Salmond said he had been prevented from revealing crucial evidence, but stressed: “At some point, that information, those facts and that evidence will see the light of day.” But he also said that he’d wait until the pandemic was over.

    We may still be in the grip of Covid, but Salmond’s evidence is to be aired on Wednesday, when he is due to repeat on oath his claims that Nicola Sturgeon lied to the Scottish Parliament about what she knew and when concerning the allegations against him and also that she had been the arch-conspirator in a clique determined to destroy him. Sturgeon has angrily denied both and will give her evidence to the same committee next week.

    As a result, if there is any justice in the world, the next few weeks should certainly help finish the Nats. The whole squalid catalogue of claim and counterclaim – initially centred on accusations of sexual assault, we should remember, by several women – has been played out before an SNP-dominated Holyrood committee. Its proceedings have been bedevilled by a catalogue of official obfuscation, obstruction, half-truths and even a claim of perjury against one senior nationalist, who just happens to be Sturgeon’s husband. He denies lying.

    Its official remit may have been to decide why an official government inquiry into allegations against Salmond crashed, leading to him being awarded more than £500,000 in costs. But what it’s really about, in the public’s view, is whether it is Salmond or Sturgeon who has been telling the truth.

    Furthermore, whatever this body concludes after Salmond’s evidence this week and Sturgeon’s next must surely help convince voters in the May 6 Scottish elections that the SNP and its leader are not fit to run a devolved Scotland and their aim of taking it out of the United Kingdom should be judged as too ridiculous for words.

    That it is not yet is one of the great mysteries of political life. Thus far, Sturgeon’s popularity has been attributed to her efficient daily Covid briefings, but she stumbled badly over her initial vaccine rollout and her determination to impose a total ban on foreign travellers was widely judged a shambles. Her government’s domestic record across a wide range of devolved matters is abysmal.

    Even for political veterans, the venom between Sturgeon and Salmond and their acolytes has to be seen to be believed – easily eclipsing the Blair/Brown or Thatcher/Heseltine feuds. Salmond is certain that his evidence to the committee will prove that Sturgeon lied to the Scottish Parliament over what she knew and when about allegations made about him. If a separate independent ethics inquiry by a leading Irish barrister, to which Salmond has submitted evidence, concludes that she did break the ministerial code in this regard then she will have to resign.

    One of Salmond’s leading supporters, Jim Sillars, a former deputy leader of the SNP, has called for Sturgeon to be ousted and called on nationalists not to vote for her supporters in the forthcoming Holyrood election. Both sides are perpetually briefing against each other and another Salmond loyalist, Joanna Cherry, was sacked from the party’s front bench in the Commons.

    Sturgeon has rejected claims she broke the code, while her allies say that although she may have got a date wrong for when she first heard the claims against Salmond, it wasn’t her who ended up as the accused in the High Court.

    Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon transformed the SNP from perpetual also-rans into a brilliant election-fighting machine and put it on the cusp of wrecking the United Kingdom. The next two weeks may well decide whether this battle of egos over one of the sleaziest episodes in British public life has destroyed all of that.

    2. Cockers, if I may call him that, was a never-ending source of amusement when I had free access to the DT. While what he says is superficially plausible it is off the point. Over half of the voters in Scotland consistently support independence. That may, or may not, indicate support for the SNP. I have advised Douglas Ross, the Tory leader, that if he attacks the SNP on the ground of independence he will lose, as he will be seeking votes from only half the voters rather than all of them. He must attack the SNP on their record in government. In every aspect it is appalling. Cockers is right in that.
      As for the conspiracy against Salmond, it is a picture of conspiracy, cover-up, collusion, and attempts to pervert the course of justice, in my opinion.
      You don’t need to like Salmond in the least to think that the governance of Scotland should be fair, honest and transparent, as should the justice system, and not open to manipulation.

      1. Lived in Scotland, Horace, in Banff, and was forced to escort the Salmond around ‘The Caribonum’ as it’s known in Turriff, with his subsequent defeat of the sitting Conservative MP (sometime between 1985 -89).

        To me, it would be ironic if this original fishy character was able to see off the latest, even more fishy, stinkhorse, to the detriment, or even demise, of the SNP.

      2. Why do Scots want to be independent? Are they free to create their own laws? Yes. The have overwhelming representation in Westminster compared to capita. They can change taxes as they see fit.

        Are they enslaved? Made to pay more for goods and services? Are they forbidden their history or heritage?

        Scotland is hugely welfare dependent. Massive numbers of public sector jobs are up there. It has a very real drinking problem on sink estates and genuine poverty. Despite endless intervention and incredible amounts of tax payers money, these issues have not been resolved. Why? Because the SNP has no interest in doing so. It allows them to keep blaming England. The whole nonsense is idiotic. Sturgeon blames the English to whip up her follows, deflect from her own failure and keep her petty empire going. It’s lies and deceit for her profit at the expense of the Scottish people.

        I hate them. I hate them all.

      1. I got blown to bits out there this morning hacking at the buddleia – but it blowing twice as hard now.

    3. East Anglia seems to have got over the snow, rain and blustery wind. Currently 13ºC and sunny – sort of.

      2. It’s been – and still is – a gorgeous day.
        MB has actually been pottering round the garden and tidying a border.
        The sun should give him a good boost.

        1. It said 11 degrees on the external thermometer so I took a glass of wine to sit out in the last evening light. Hmm, either the thermometer lied or the wind chill made it feel significantly less! I wasn’t out long.

        1. I spent the afternoon in the garden, setting up Mowhammed, the robotic mower, and trying to sort out several overgrown roses. The sun shone. Max temp was 13 degrees, but the wind was quite strong. Calmer now.

    4. Blowing a hooley up here, just been to see SWMBO and the high road was clear but on the way back trees were down blocking the road, guy with chainsaw managed to make a hole so we could get through. This happens every time we get a high wind – someone is going to die up there and I’ll be bluddy annoyed if it’s me. Council are aware and on their way to clear the road. The council should cut the trees down (the owner won’t) and bill the owner.

      1. Were you allowed in or just to wave through the window? I hope you can see her properly again soon.

        Strangely the wind seems to have died down completely now.

        1. I can still only see her through the window but this time it was the sunlounge window and she was able to see the whole of me rather than head and shoulders, she immediately recognised me and seemed very excited, I pressed my nose against the glass and she took her hanky and polished it from the other side – sounds nothing but it meant a lot. The only downside was she was able to see me drive off. Thank you for asking, hopefully I can go inside in a couple of weeks and maybe even play my keyboard in there soon

          1. This is so sad, Alec. I used to take my keyboard to the local care homes for a communion service, on a monthly basis. No longer, sadly. But the churches have also closed. My role as Director of Music is merely downloading three hymns a week from Mr Bezos, and adding them, with lyrics, to a PowerPoint presentation. For the Zoom service, which I refuse to ‘attend’ on principle.

  47. Apropos my comment about the online tour of the David Parr House – I have another gripe (not limited to the guide on our “visit”).

    Why can’t people who claim to be historians – and, no doubt, read Anglo-Saxon like a native – pronounce old money properly?

    The lady today said that some item cost: “Three pounds four shillings and two pence”. I would have said, “Three pounds four and two” or “Three pounds four and tuppence”. Anyone disagree?

    1. I suspect she wasn’t born when we decimalised.

      I would have used tuppence then, but I don’t think I would use tuppence or thruppence for modern cash.

        1. I was trying to recall what I say nowadays.

          I think I tend to say a penny, two p, three p and pence after that, probably a throw back from pre decimal where I would have done similarly after three.

    2. Good afternoon Bill. Hope you and MR are well.

      Those are the same people who would give you 1 pence change. Arrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhh

    3. Who would dare? !!!!!

      It’s a bit like someone who tells you the price is five pounds and one pence. Drives me mad.

      I’ve just taken a phone call from a furniture company, to arrange delivery of (guess what) some furniture. So she says, “is that Mrs …?” (And no, it’s not Mrs dot dot dot!). I say yes it is. Then she says “Can I ask you to confirm the first line of your address”! For data protection purposes!!!!! How barmy is that. I should have said I’m sorry I can’t give you that information due to data protection. The world has gone bonkers 😦😦😦.

    4. Why do people refer to ‘4 heads’ rather than ‘forrids’.

      Didn’t we all learn the rhyme when we were little:

      There was a little girl and she had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead,
      When she was good she was very, very good, but when she was bad she was horrid.

      (Of course when we became a bit older we corrupted this innocent little rhyme to when she was bad she was better but we still knew how to pronounce forehead)

    5. Why do people refer to ‘4 heads’ rather than ‘forrids’.

      Didn’t we all learn the rhyme when we were little:

      There was a little girl and she had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead,
      When she was good she was very, very good, but when she was bad she was horrid.

      (Of course when we became a bit older we corrupted this innocent little rhyme to when she was bad she was better but we still knew how to pronounce forehead)

    2. The Nazi wives “..often wielded considerable influence and power behind the scenes…”

      Sound familiar?

  49. Prince Philip ‘a lot better’ and ‘looking forward’ to leaving hospital, Prince Edward says – Sky News

  50. Johnson has caved in again. He has agreed to allow another 2 month extension to the EU to complete the trade deal . He certainly favours his European friends.
    He seems to fail to understand how the EU masters operate. The Independent. These requests for delay could go on for years.

      1. We are wont to leave?

        I am a cynci (really! Who knew?) but when we voted out all those years ago I said ot my chum ‘Don’t worry, they’ll never let us leave.’

        I hate being proved right.

      1. I think you are right Plum. I know the remainers are working in the background trying to destroy Brexit. Heseltine let the cat out of the bag a week or two ago.

    3. 329657+ uo ticks,
      Afternoon CS,
      “He fails to understand” ” make johnson PM he makes us laugh” both bloody great errors, in truth he is a master manipulator of the pro eu ratchet, also pilot of the nose cone of the three tier semi re-entry rocket

    1. That’s gorgeous. We have sarcococca under a front window and some at the back and the side of the house. It smells wonderful and also a Daphne Jacqueline Postill which also smells wonderful. And at this time of the year it’s so lovely.

      1. I grow mine on a West facing wall. It usually flowers around Christmas. I’m
        looking forward to bringing a few sprigs into the house, the scent is wonderful. I would recommend and it requires little attention apart from removal of dead flowers.

        1. That’s interesting. Do you have to support it against the wall? I’m wondering if it would thrive on a wswest facing wall.

        2. I have a Jasmine – don’t know what variety – on the pergola at the west end of the garden – it gets a lot of wild weather coming up the valley. It needs a good trim but is lovely when it’s in flower.

          2. Mine ‘s a summer one – it’s quite vigorous and hangs over the patio table. It needs trimming back a bit when I can see which bits to keep and which to cut off.

    3. My old place had white jasmine growing on one corner, to eaves level. The scent was glorious. Until a former churchwarden appointed her favourite painter to redecorate externally. Since the jasmine was using the soil and vent pipe for support, he cut it down. Killed it, the useless tw@.

      I’ve since planted a replacement. Sadly I won’t benefit from it. Perhaps I should plant another at the new place. Today I’ve been pruning and training unruly roses.

        1. Good plan, Plum. I’m calling round to the old place tomorrow. Partly to apologise for the fact that there are still two sets of Mercedes W203 wheels and tyres (one winter, one summer) in his garden. They’re all on eBay, and have lots of views and a few watchers, but no bids.

          Since I’m at the new place till I shuffle of this mortal coil, I’ll explore Chinese Jasmine.

          1. Still available in the shops ..what’s a shop?
            Some nurseries have stock or buy online… Jasmine polyanthemum.
            Happy gardening Geoff…x

    4. We have mimosa in blossom around here, some of the plants are spectacular.

      I recently discovered mine get eaten by the hares.
      {:-((

      I’ve wired the access so I hope that in a few years I might actually get some flowers.

    5. The first time I remember smelling jasmine flowers was when we went to live in Oz for a year when I was 7yo. There was a tree in our back garden. The scent still conjours up those times..

  53. 329657+ up ticks,
    Give the arab students at least credit for knowing who hitler was,

    Seemingly many English students don’t.

    Antisemitism Report Claims Arab Students Had ‘Passion for Hitler

          1. I know of the “Britisches Freikorps”, Sos, a sorry bunch of British and Commonwealth traitors that numbered less than thirty active soldiers at any one time.

            Compare this with the some 42,000 muslims that served with Waffen-SS and Polizei units and who took part in some of the worst atrocities committed in wartime Yugoslavia, for example the massacre at Karitska Jama in 1941.

            The Bosniaks and Albanians already had a historical hatred for Jews and Orthodox Christians (Serbs) and this hatred was stirred up by the muslim clerics, most notably the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who later, on a tour of concentration camps, urged the guards at Auschwitz to “work diligently” as exterminating the Jewish race was the number one priority.

            Alija Izetbegović, who became the first President of an independent muslim Bosnia in 1992, served as a youth recruiter for the muslim Waffen-SS.

            Still think accusing muslims of pro-Nazi sympathies is a slur?

          2. I’m not denying that they were bastards.

            But to me it’s similar to saying that any Christian/Buddhist/Atheist or whatever who fought for Germany/Japan/USA/UK made the rest bad or good.

            People fought for whatever they believed was right and for the most opportunistic what they thought was likely to get the most for them.

            My suspicion is that the chance to kill jews was probably a significant factor for many Muslims.

          3. I know of the “Britisches Freikorps”, Sos, a sorry bunch of British traitors that numbered less than thirty active soldiers at any one time.

            Compare this with the some 42,000 muslims that served with Waffen-SS and Polizei units and who took part in some of the worst atrocities committed in wartime Yugoslavia, for example the massacre at Karitska Jama in 1941.

            The Bosniaks and Albanians already had a historical hatred for Jews and Orthodox Christians (Serbs) and this hatred was stirred up by the muslim clerics, most notably the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who later, on a tour of concentration camps, urged the guards at Auschwitz to “work diligently” as exterminating the Jewish race was the number one priority.

            Alija Izetbegović, who became the first President of an independent muslim Bosnia in 1992, served as a youth recruiter for the muslim Waffen-SS.

            Still think accusing muslims of pro-Axis sympathies is a slur?

          7. Real islam, you mean. I am a bit uncompromising because I have had too much to do with muslims of all kinds, I’m afraid, and I’ve heard what they say when there are no westerners around. I would never say anything blanket about muslims because they are all individuals with different beliefs and understandings, but I detest the cultish set of ideas and texts that forms islam.

          8. I tend to err towards your viewpoint, but I know and am related by marriage to many Muslims.

            Those I know well are extremely pleasant, but there are many within that family circle that I wouldn’t trust to tell me the time.

    2. If you asked the current lot they’d probably claim that Churchill was the bad guy for his ‘slavery’, without the slightest fact or evidence.

      After all, if they had to start looking at the Nazi party and it’s evils they’d probably explode as their own behaviour was mirrored back to them.

    2. I wish the writer could ascribe this as doublethink, but considering they’ve not used a space nor capitalised the man’s name…

      The Left have always wanted to twist the meaning of words. They’ve been doing it since time immemorial. As for describing something very clearly natural as not in a bid to normalise the obviously unnatural – that’s just idiotic, but certainly not new.

  58. Reposted from earlier because it didn’t get any laughs. :@(

    My nurse said a pint of blood can sell for £1000.

    My blood was useless both to me and them because of my condition and it went in the bin for cremation.

    I’m having a memorial service later. :@)

          4. I don’t think being banned from posting prevents you logging in – I could be wrong. It is definitely possible to log in and not post.

  59. That’s me for the day. Got the greenhouse set up – both propagators working (I hope). The MR pruned the roses – much helped by G & P who have just taken to the garden in a wonderful way. Sometimes they give me a look – as they pause in a 30 yard scamper – as if to say, “Why didn’t you tell us about this before?”

    I will join you tomorrow, waves permitting.

  60. Prevening, all. Instilling fear was the whole point of the government’s mishandling of the event; a terrified population is a cowed population. I doubt they have any intention of lifting lockdown in any meaningful sense. On a positive note, in 40 days’ time the Connemara and I will be reunited. I have booked my first lesson since January for 31st March. Now I have to see if I can squeeze into my britches and boots!

    1. Evening Conway.

      If you find it a tight fit you have a month to drop the excess. Should be enough time.

  61. Did you watch?

    The Cassandra Crossing….Deadly global infection looms when a wounded terrorist carrying a fatal virus boards a transcontinental train..

    Film 4 – recommended viewing.

          3. It was a reference to Mr Adams dumping the TSEs up on another planet….along with hairdressers….

    3. Let’s hope that the great and the good don’t – it might give them more ideas for COVID-21…

      2. I can just visualise a spoof video about re-booting your hand if the chip doesn’t work.

        Jobsworth: “I’m sorry sir, you’ll have to reboot…”

      2. Correction: Biden is stark, raving bonkers …

        As for the freak ‘Doctor’, I have nothing polite to say….

          2. 🎼🎵If a person’s born with bollocks they’re a bloke,
            If a person’s born with bollocks they’re a bloke,
            If a person’s born with bollocks,
            Though they call him Betty Swollocks,
            If a person’s born with bollocks they’re a bloke!

            If a baby’s got a fanny, it’s a lass,
            If a baby’s got a fanny, it’s a lass,
            If a baby’s got a fanny,
            Just like your sister Annie,
            If a baby’s got a fanny, it’s a lass!

            If a baby’s got a willie, it’s a lad,
            If a baby’s got a willie, it’s a lad,
            If a baby’s got a willie,
            Don’t start being silly,
            If a baby’s got a willie, it’s a lad!
            🎶

          4. Biden is not thinking of very much, and his controllers are spitefully thinking of how they can wreck America in the fastest way possible.

        1. Controlled by Obama.

          Edit: Just watching Smithsonian channel on TV.

          I had not realised that the Americans had organised and active supporters of Hitler. An oilman, William R Davis, was busily exporting Mexican oil to Nazi Germany. FDR was involved and held personal meetings with Davis who was deluded in much the same way as our current monsters Bill Gates and George Soros.

          Davis claimed that he could negotiate a peace accord with Hitler. A perfect example of a wealthy fool attempting to do deals with tyrants. Compare Biden and Obama trying to strike a deal with the Ayatollah in Iran. Needless to say FDR saw through the deal and banned Davis from the White House.

          Davis, who was a major party donor then decided to attempt to unseat FDR by interfering with the next election and enlisting the support of the powerful Craft Unions and Hitler.

          This echos the pincer movements of the latter day ‘Davis’ types on President Trump over the past five years. Biden is of course trapped by the Unions, Corporates and Big Tech and those from whom he and his family have taken massive bribes.

          History endlessly repeats itself. We simply need to connect the dots.

          1. Indeed – and JFK’s dad was a known appeaser of the N@zis and got the sack as British ambassador for going beyond his brief in pushing for that policy.

    4. It wants to get lower than a slug’s fundamental female orifice.
      Unfortunately its balls stop it getting that low.

    8. Children can’t consent to sexual relations. They most certainly cannot consent to bodily mutilation.

  66. Nicked Awkward………..

    “Not good on my football geography, but isn’t Benfica a Portuguese side?
    Tomorrow they will be playing Arsenal here. As Portugal is a red zone,
    are they all currently locked up in a designated hotel for the
    mandatory £1, 750 at a 3* hotel for 10 days? How can that be when they
    played Arsenal in Portugal last Thursday? Indeed, why aren’t Arsenal
    still in quarantine from that match?…”
    Shut and clap prole nothing gets in the way of the bread and circuses
    Logic?? We don’t need no steenking logic!!

    2. Wouldn’t it be cheaper for them all to get a rapid ‘COVID test’ (quote marks because its a carp PCR one) at the entry point, then no need to stay more than 2-3 days?

  67. I noticed on the six o’clock Bbc News that someone was moaning about the ‘poor disadvantaged’ not receiving vaccine passports. Correct me if I’m wrong, but surely everyone in the UK is entitled to the jab? Or was she talking about illegal immigrants?

      1. Chinese are asset stripping the oceans with factory fishing .

        There is even a shortage of great white sharks and other shark species off the Cape coast .

  70. I have been bad. I have pretty much stopped buying EU wines, especially French wines. However, I have been buying Italian wines from a shop in Rome for a number of years. Last week they sent me an offer and I was able to buy a case of my favourite Italian wine for £42 less than the wine merchant in London who are the UK Agents. I ordered on the 14th February and the wine was delivered today. Seven business days. Pretty good going.
    I excuse myself by saying that the Italians did not indulge in the vicious UK bashing carried out by the demented French, hard-faced Germans, and the treacherously ungrateful Irish.

    1. Aaaand….. they have led by example in bravely opening up their country and booing the police when they entered the cafés and restaurants. Italy deserves our encouragement.

  73. Seems that Elon Musk, dazzled by his own infallibility, brilliance and success, has lost $15 billion of his personal worth by the fall in value of Bitcoin (he invested heavily just recently) and consequent fall in Tesla shares, who also bought heavily into Bitcoin.
    Oops.
    He’s no longer the world’s richest man.
    Such a shame.
    Cobblers and lasts come to mind…

  74. Seems that Elon Musk, dazzled by his own infallibility, brilliance and success, has lost $15 billion of his personal worth by the fall in value of Bitcoin (he invested heavily just recently) and consequent fall in Tesla shares, who also bought heavily into Bitcoin.
    Oops.
    He’s no longer the world’s richest man.
    Such a shame.
    Cobblers and lasts come to mind…

    1. It took me a while to work out that ARO isn’t his first name but it wouldn’t surprise me given the Bassett’s Allsorts of names in Bath if his parents had named him ARO…

    2. We had to do something similar for a young starling whose first trip out of the nest was on to an alongside chimney pot…. and it fell down the chimney into our bedroom – except not quite into the bedroom as the chimney was blocked at firehood level. We heard the rush as it fell down the chimney, a scrabble, then silence. Poor little thing, we thought, that’s it. A short life.

      Next morning we awoke to hear more scrabbling, so p’dad set to work to unblock the chimney. Some time later there was a rush of soot and debris, to be followed 10 seconds later by a young starling tumbling into the centre of the debris. There he sat, blinking at us. P’dad picked him up and this scrap of life clung to his finger with its claws. We took him to the landing window which overlooked a flat roof extension. We tried to detach him from the finger, to no avail. And here’s where the magic happened. Almost immediately an adult starling flew over, gave a caw, young ‘un on the finger gave an answering caw, head to one side, watching above. The adult circled around, landed on the flat roof, helpfully cawing. Young ‘un jumped off the finger and fluttered on to the flat roof close to what we assumed to be its parent. Then they both took flight to land on the low roof of our outhouse. We discovered that the nest was in an adjacent chimney to the one young ‘un fell down. Then I returned to the bedroom to clear up the decades of soot which had coated absolutely everything.

      1. Well done! We have a starling called Sparky roosting every night in the nest box by our bedroom window. OH checks the camera every night to make sure he’s there. Could be a she. Might be one of the five youngsters which fledged from the box last spring.

        1. So you might have another starling family there this year. We love sharing our life with wild things. On one occasion we had a swarm of bees down the chimney…. but that is another story. In France there was a tiny wren that came to roost in one of our hanging baskets every night for a while.

          1. We hope to have babies again! They usually finish nesting before the swifts arrive. The other box by the front door had four young last year. They are great to watch as they grow.

          2. We have watched several families of blue tits be raised in our nesting box. It is a delight to see the parents take wing down the garden in search of insects on the apple tree, then back to the box again, and off they go again. Then one day they are gone, all fledged and the garden feels quite lonely without all the activity for a few days. Three or four years ago the box was attacked by spotted woodpeckers, we dashed out to shoo them off but not before they had removed the soft inner cosy lining of the nest, and the little ones died overnight. It was very sad. The box hasn’t been used since – we replaced it with one with a metal frontage around the entrance but there has been no sign of interest, not even a temporary winter’s roost.

          3. A pair of bluetits has shown an interest in the box on a post which was used last year – sadly the babies died, possibly from lack of food as one of the parents disappeared. There’s no camera in that box so we can only watch from the conservatory.
            The great tits have their box on the silver birch tree – it’s used most years.

  76. Night All

    The cheapo White Rioja from Tesco proved very very glugable with the pan fried cod so I leave you with some cats and dogs

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d7b22dc70b62f58d56618a587b753fff5e39098d7a83ae71ce7b5ad029293557.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1ccdc1f9fb74284c1a97b4ff5d6f123eb5e829c348ee4daa987614e21675b741.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6be6b74ef2345cbf9e0d2bb15a21d9a204b63068cc94865fe876be663e62f305.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2dccf9dd0b5b7f33a3eb43c6c4c4c9262d3afd92806d3bf32475a823a6909a93.jpg

    https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1363877070007328770?s=20

        2. The only possibility I can think of is that somewhere you looked at a link/video clip on which audio was playing – and if that video clip was on a continuous playloop then your comp may still be seeing that link as active ?? – any like that I actively stop it if I can as I have noticed that just scrolling the clip off the screen does not always automatically break the link to it.

          1. I checked through , Walter, and yes you were quite correct , some thing was re running on the thread that i had been watching . Thanks for the advice x

    2. Hi Belle! I use an iPad and have always had trouble opening Twitter comments except in a new tab. Have just tried to open one and apparently my browser will no longer support Twitter!

        1. I have never used twitter at all but have had a nosy round on the tweet from Farage and the other one about the dog ( i.e – someone elses tweets ) – – Noticed that in bottom right corner there is a small i in a circle. Right click on it and open into a new tab. I got the twitter site with help subjects and “contact us” on it.
          I have a feeling your probs will be something simple in real terms but frustrating to us.

          1. I think it’s just that my laptop is getting old and the system is out of date. Lots of things have stopped working, particularly videos. I can’t use Facebook any more as the latest bloatware jams everything up and I have to reboot. I can catch up with things on my phone if I want to keep in touch with people.

      2. Can you get onto Twitter help page? – see my reply to Ndovu below.

        Am also wondering if your laptop or Twitter has automatically given you a small update without you realising it – and now there is a conflict.

        I have been getting several small updates on Windows 10 recently ( driving me MAD ) – and it has caused my video card to go jerky on certain things. They even “wiped out” my video card recognition from my laptop all together. Windows feedback hub got a post of £”$*£*)”£$*£() – -( in English – put the damn thing right you $*£(*$%s ) – and within a short time of sending it to them a small noise informed me there was a download – and my video card icon reappeared on the bar across the bottom of the screen. Someone was clearly on the ball that day.

  78. Eh! Guess who’s 5th from top comment with 131 upvotes on today’s letters page with his small hours posting!

    Robert Spowart
    23 Feb 2021 3:59AM
    Michael Tyce is quite correct in his comment. I often wonder how the Hell we have, in such a short time, become a country of face nappy wearing, germophobic hysterics terrified to even pass close to other people in the street!
    When, if ever, this lockdown ends, it will take years to undo the damage caused by the hysteria from both the Government and the MEEJAH.

    1. I’ve always wondered how you pronounce your surname? Wouldn’t be at all surprised if it sounded like ‘Spout’

        1. From your previously posted photos, plus your descriptions, I think anyone visiting you would need to be helped by a mountaineering team to get there.

    3. Excellent comment from Mr Spowart! 🙂
      Trouble is, it’s only older people who understand that. Young people are too busy navel-gazing about their mental health.

  79. Here is a sad story. Eighteen illegal immigrants were rescued from container lorry in Cambridge. Poor things. The lorry arrived from France.
    Blistering Blue Blazes! as Captain Haddock might say.
    What is happening at the border? We cannot get a lorry load of fish across the border into France if there is a comma in the wrong place anywhere on a bundle of 60 or 70 export documents. Yet a lorry load of undocumented humans can get into the UK from France? Something very wrong and very smelly going on. Vicious clandestine policy on the part of the French? That would be right up their street. Or bribery and corruption in our Customs people and our Border Force? That would be no great shock.
    I’d have thought that rather than coddling these criminals we would investigate and prosecute. But that’s just me.

    https://uk.yahoo.com/news/lorry-rescue-police-cambridgeshire-peterborough-162431391.html

    1. How very strange , how is this happening .

      Our shellfish trade is rotting , trade is going haywire , we cannot even sell cheese to the Eu , yet something is very wrong … they are flooding in everywhere and escaping .. Who is the mastermind of all this .

      Britain is becoming a crime ridden cesspit. The countryside is a muddy rubbish strewn mess, and this bleeding government wants to destroy every village in Britain by throwing houses up and turning the settled small communities into large towns .

      2. A certain group seems to have free range to roam the countryside stealing whatever they want.
        Law and order in Britain has broken down, it’s just that the law-abiding majority hasn’t realised it yet.

    1. Blimey, you’re several hours ahead of your usual timing, have a good night, see you tomorrow.

        1. Quite right too.
          Yesterday was turning a wee bit unpleasant.

          And yes, I know I was part of it, but I’m sure you know by now that when bitten, I bite back!

          };-))

    1. Good one Sue. This is absolutely the case here in the U.K. too. We need young people to rebel against all these rules and regulations – it’s no use us oldies trying to do anything – but I can’t see any sign that younger people are remotely alive to what’s going on.
      Edit: Alf and I rebel the only way we can. We do not and have not ever worn masks and we go out pretty much as usual although you can’t go anywhere on the spur of the moment. We took a 45 mile trip to Littlehampton a couple of days ago and it was brilliant. Lots of families out and about, only 5 people wearing a mask. Thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

        1. How the hell can we go about our lives as normal when the politicians have effectively killed our business and removed every penny of our income?

      2. Young people today don’t even understand teh concept of liberty. They see everything in terms of victimhood.
        Hence those students complaining that fences round their halls of residence “affect our mental health”. It’s the only vocabulary they’ve been taught.

    1. Boris Johnson is a Charlatan and will
      do everything to preserve his position. He is truly the most obnoxious Prime Minister in my lifetime, and that takes some beating.

    1. Good night Lovely Belle

      It’s a scandal – but the politicians don’t give a damn about it.

      1. They don’t give a damn Richard – because NO MP will ever be living next door to them. And every one of those who arrived ( presumably all males ) will have wives and children, all wanting to come and live off our taxes – forever.

      2. Perhaps we could slightly turn the argument. If these people are not subject to any of the rules others are why not scrap the rules for everyone? That’s not to say I welcome gimmegrants, I don’t. However we all know these arrivals are never going to be stopped.

  87. Good morning. Yet again sat up in bed on my laptop.
    An unusually long but none the less excellent BTL comment on the letters page regarding Slavery:-

    Colin Harrow
    24 Feb 2021 12:27AM
    Yesterday culture secretary Oliver Dowden was due to meet museum and so-called heritage leaders to discuss the current obsession of show-boating, virtue signallers leaping aboard what has now become the dangerously over-hyped, “BLM” bandwagon to black, or more appropriately, woke- wash British history, particularly on the subject of slavery.

    Hopefully he reminded them that UK involvement in the trade, in which most other European countries were also engaged although we’re the only ones who seem to get singled out for condemnation, ended over two centuries ago, and that we were the first country in the world to abolish it.

    Also that having done so we then employed the strength of what was then the world’s mightiest fighting force, the Royal Navy to suppress the trade.

    He could have also reinforced his argument by referring to two recent instances of public record, given extra emphasis by the fact that both come from people of African heritage, which provide much needed balance to the twisted “black victims of wicked white men” cultural narrative BLM and its supporters are now forcing on the British public. .

    The first is a BBC 4 TV series of several years ago titled “Lost Kingdoms of Africa” in which even the black social historian presenting it, Dr.Gus Casely-Hayford, admitted that both the Asante and Baganda “kingdoms” were largely based on the wealth they derived from the slave trade which they enthusiastically supported, supplying their fellow Africans with considerable zeal.

    When the British stopped the trade and they had to return to supplying Arab slavers who’d been their traditional customers for centuries.

    However there is also on record an even more personal and telling account of the direct part black Africans played in promoting and supporting the slavery of their own people. It appears, surprisingly in view of the their general support for BLM, on the BBC website (see link at end of this post).

    Written by Nigerian journalist and novelist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani it tells how slavery was endemic in Nigeria during the period of the Transatlantic trade and how her great-grandfather, an active slave trader, was regarded at the time as just a normal businessman and a respected one at that.

    She writes: “My great grandfather, Nwaubani Ogogo Oriaku was what I prefer to call a businessman. From the Igbo ethnic group of south-eastern Nigeria he dealt in a number of goods, including tobacco and palm produce. He also sold human beings” Her father had told her:”He had agents who captured slaves from different places and brought them to him.”

    Slavery, she wrote, was so ingrained in the culture that a number of popular Igbo proverbs refer to it. They include: “Anyone who has no slave is his own slave” and referring to the practice of “masters” who when they died had their slaves buried with them: “A slave who looks on while a fellow slave is tied up and thrown into the grave with his master should realise that the same thing could be done to him some day.” .

    She then goes on the say that when the British tried to enforce abolition after the UK government outlawed slavery in 1807 they met with considerable opposition, including from one local “king” who told them: “We think this trade must go on” adding: “That is the verdict of our oracle and out priests. They say that your country (Britain) however great can never stop a a trade ordained by God.”

    She added that slaver traders like her great grandfather did not suffer any crisis of social acceptance and were respected members of the community. “They should not be judged by today’s standards,”

    she declared.

    However although today’s preening, wide-awoke virtue signallers would no doubt agree with her regarding her grandfather, they’ve already made it clear that as far as anyone with a white skin is concerned, no matter how many centuries have past and whatever other contribution they might have made as soldiers, sailors, statesmen and philanthropists they should be unreservedly condemned and expunged from Britain’s historical record.

    And in doing so these statue toppling and monument defacing hypocrites who want to change the names of streets, buildings and schools and cancel previously regarded great and important figures from our history books, show themselves up for the blatant racists they are.

    I.’d like to think Mr.Dowden gets this point across as forcefully as it deserves to be.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-53444752 .

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