Tuesday 24 December: Labour’s election promises of economic growth have come to nothing

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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673 thoughts on “Tuesday 24 December: Labour’s election promises of economic growth have come to nothing”

  1. Good Morning Geoff and Nottlers, am I first this morning?
    Today's Tale for Christmas Eve

    An engineer who was unemployed for a long time decided to open a medical clinic. He puts a sign outside the clinic: "A cure for your ailment guaranteed at $500; we'll pay you $1,000 if we fail."

    A Doctor thinks this is a good opportunity to earn $1,000 and goes to his clinic.

    Doctor: "I have lost my sense of taste."

    Engineer: "Nurse, please bring the medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in the patient's mouth."

    Doctor: "This is Gasoline!"

    Engineer: "Congratulations! You've got your taste back. That will be $500."

    The Doctor gets annoyed and goes back after a couple of days later to recover his money.

    Doctor: "I have lost my memory, I cannot remember anything."

    Engineer: "Nurse, please bring the medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in the patient's mouth."

    Doctor: "But that is Gasoline!"

    Engineer: "Congratulations! You've got your memory back. That will be $500."

    The Doctor leaves angrily and comes back after several days, more determined than ever to make his money back.

    Doctor: "My eyesight has become weak."

    Engineer: "Well, I don't have any medicine for this. Take this $1,000," passing the doctor a $500 note.

    Doctor: "But this is $500…"

    Engineer: "Congratulations! You've got your vision back! That will be $500."

    1. Morning Johnny. I get a regular post asking for a donation when I access Wiki. I ignore it. It is now simply a Woke encyclopedia.

      2. Its a pity. Years ago I added a line to the BBC entry. saying that it was keft wing and it was a pity that it was. In no time at all I had a lefti note sent to me saying that it was taken down and if I posted similar again they would close my account.

  5. ‘Morning all, and Happy Christmas Eve!
    Preparations were disrupted yesterday by our youngest grandson (Finlay, 10 months) being rushed to hospital with high temp. and blood in stool! We went to look after the other two while Daddy went to be with them at Borders General! He’s much better now and should be out today! Unlike poor Tom, who won’t! But he’s definitely in the best place!
    Anyway we got home about 11pm and so today will be mainly doing the stuff I should have done yesterday!
    Ah Christmas! Dontcha love it!
    Sending good wishes to you all!

      1. It was scary! However he was much better last night and he’s standing up shouting in his hospital cot this morning! I don’t think Mummy is!🤦🏻‍♀️

        1. Hope he is better soon.

          Don't wear yourself out trying to catch up. Have Christmas dinner on Boxing day.

          1. Well, we might have done, but my sister, BiL, nephew, wife and daughter are arriving from Greece then!

    2. Hope the wee man is up & running around, driving you all mad already, Sue. As in, fully recovered. And the rest of you, too.

    5. I feel for you all.
      Our little grandson was in Addenbrooks hospital early this morning for the planned removal of all of his tubing that administered his drugs for the treatment of his leukemia. Hopefully now free of it. 🙏🤞

    4. His Wiki entry sums up his political ideals.
      And I'd query the claim that there is anything "former" about his Maoist beliefs.

      Regarding his political affiliations, he was formerly a Maoist and a member of the Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory, a left-wing pressure group founded by Labour Party members, now known as the Alliance for Workers' Liberty. His interest in Mao Zedong began as early as age eleven, when he gave fellow Craigflower School students copies of the Little Red Book that he had requested and received from the Chinese embassy.[12][13] His affinity for Maoism continued into his time at Cambridge, where Marr says he was a "raving leftie" who acquired the nickname "Red Andy".[14][15]

    5. Just having a stable govt there for 5 10 years LOL.
      with down to earth ordinary serious people. LOL.
      talking like the rest of us. LOL.
      .. is going to mean a wall of money coming into this country. LOL.

    6. Marr was formerlyis a Maoist and a member of the Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory, a left-wing pressure group founded by Labour Party members, now known as the Alliance for Workers' Liberty. His interest in Mao Zedong began as early as age eleven, when he gave fellow Craigflower School students copies of the Little Red Book that he had requested and received from the Chinese embassy. His nickname at Cambridge was Red Andy (WIki -with minor alteration)

      He went further left after school. Claiming to be completely impartial and involved with politics and broadcasting all his life he whinged and whinged when someone broke an injunction against reporting his extramarital shenanigans with one (or more) of his staff. What an hypocrite!

      1. He’s a little shit that used to (may still do, for all I care) strut around Waitrose in East Sheen, trying to be recognised.

        i don’t go to Waitrose on principle any more.

      1. I have never watched Question Time.

        Why should I fry my brain listening to the witterings of imbeciles?

    9. Another lefty idiot who thinks we can be taxed into prosperity.
      I hope he’s got deep pockets and he’s taken for a serious ride by the numpties ruining our country.

  8. After Magdeburg, the fury at the elites. Spiked. 24 December 2024.

    It will be up to the courts to establish the causes of the Christmas-market car attack. But there are pressing questions from the public about the deteriorating security situation in Germany. The Magdeburg attack is only the latest in a succession of deadly attacks that have taken place this year. In the summer, three people were killed and several injured in an Islamist terror attack at a festival in Solingen. By targeting social gatherings, from Christmas markets to summer festivals, terrorists are attacking German public life itself. As the anger towards Scholz in Magdeburg shows, many people are not willing to accept this becoming normal.

    Hopefully the Germans are going to show us the way. One of the most remarkable things about this attack is the response in the UK MSM. The Telegraph has produced around five or six articles on it and allowing comments on only the one, which ended with them being deleted in panic at their hostile nature. I tried personally to comment on another thread and the House Trolls jumped on me before the post was deleted. Make no mistake, this response both here and in Germany is ordered by the PTB. The Political Elites of Europe are the enemies of their people. The sooner they are all overthrown the better.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/12/23/after-magdeburg-the-fury-at-the-elites/

  11. Good morning, chums. And thank you, Geoff, for today's NoTTLe page. Today and tomorrow will be an extremely busy two days for me, so you may not see too much of me until late – very late – on Boxing Day. So in the meantime, enjoy your Christmas festivities, chums, thanks for Wednesday's and Thursday's NoTTLe pages in advance, Geoff. And see you all again late on Boxing Day. PS – Well, chums, I enjoyed rough common's first post, failed to understand the one from Oggie (Old Lips Common?!?!?) and now I am away until Boxing Day.

    Wordle 1,284 6/6

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      1. Thank you, Ndovu. 11 hours ago I switched off the NoTTLe site and set to scrubbing the house, oven and hob ready for my guest who will be joining me for Christmas Day. But I got everything organised in very good time, so here I am back again skimming through the NoTTLe site. At around 11 pm I shall phone both of my sisters in New Zealand to wish them a Happy Christmas. They are sadly both in nursing homes but 11 pm our time is approximately 11 am on Christmas Day. Then off to bed for a few hours of sleep before I drive to my guest's nearby house and bring him round to share Christmas goodies with me.

        1. Sounds lovely, Elsie! God bless you this Christmas and all the other wonderful Nottlers here. Wishing you all the utmost joy, peace and prosperity as well. From a very appreciative slacker xx

  12. Good morning, chums. And thank you, Geoff, for today's NoTTLe page. Today and tomorrow will be an extremely busy two days for me, so you may not see too much of me until late – very late – on Boxing Day. So in the meantime, enjoy your Christmas festivities, chums, thanks for Wednesday's and Thursday's NoTTLe pages in advance, Geoff. And see you all again late on Boxing Day. PS – Well, chums, I enjoyed rough common's first post, failed to understand the one from Oggie (Old Lips Common?!?!?) and now I am away until Boxing Day.

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  14. 399237+ up ticks,

    Priorities,priorities,priorities,
    You wanna do your bit then start by packing the churches tonight
    and offering up a prayer, the mainstay of which should be that your children live in a Country of freedom and decency of character.

    The alternative is you PIG out ( ironically you could be mandatory celebrating eid in a very near future) condemn your children to "innocents being incarcerated" as a norm. way of life.

    https://x.com/DaveAtherton20/status/1871152696625098784

    1. No early TAG release for that one.. for not caring.. if a migrant hostel burnt down.
      One of the larger nails in Labour's coffin.

      2. I don’t care if Keith’s plane, the one taking him on the holiday that he couldn’t take in the summer because of the far right thugs*, i don’t care of this plane crashes into the sea, or the side of a mountain.
        How many years in jail for me? More, or fewer, than 31 months?

        *copyright Starmfuehrer/Starmlin

        1. Good God! Where’s he off to now? I hope the flight is delayed…for hours…many, many hours….and then they cancel it!

          1. Forced, i tell you, forced…

            “Sir Keir Starmer will take his first holiday of his premiership over the Christmas break, Downing Street has confirmed.

            The Prime Minister is to spend time abroad with his family before MPS return to the Commons in the first full week of January. He was forced to cancel a planned European holiday in August after putting the police on “high alert” over the risk of a third week of far-right riots.

            Rumours of a planned summer trip sparked significant political anger and senior Tories urged him to reschedule it. Sir Keir eventually decided to work from No10 and Chequers as the Government aimed to dampen the unrest that followed the killing of three young girls in Southport. A government source said at the time his decision not to leave the country following the unrest showed his “dedication to public service”.

            Sir Keir will mark six months in office on Jan 5, a period that has been marred by unpopular policy decisions and a string of high-profile scandals.

            Asked about the Prime Minister’s plans for the festive period, his official spokesman said: “He and his family will be going abroad for a few days over the new year.” As is convention for prime ministers, the spokesman declined to go into any details about where he will be going.
            Sir Keir was already historically unpopular after his first five months in charge, with 61 per cent of voters dissatisfied with his performance while 27 per cent were satisfied. One of his first policy moves was to strip around 10 million pensioners of their winter fuel allowance. In October, he repaid more than £6,000 in gifts including Taylor Swift tickets after a row over freebies from donors including Lord Alli.”

    2. The Third Reich started like that. Fifty million or more people perished before it was brought to a stop. This time it could be five hundred million.

    3. Thanks for posting.

      What a criminal justice system we have.

      I am saddened, appalled, angry, and mot at all surprised.

    4. The Left have made this country worse than Soviet communist Russia. Starmer is just another Caucescau wannaabe, terrified of criticism and using state force to get his way.

  15. Good morning all.
    Still black outside of course, but not currently raining and a nearly warm 9.5°C on the new Yard Thermometer.
    A high of 11° and low of 1.1°C recorded over yesterday.

    A letter and response:-

    SIR – Tim Stanley is right when he says: “But when you remove Christ, Christian behaviour slips out the door, too, with the result that clerics behave as badly as – well, as badly as us.”

    Being a priest is a 24/7 job, and carries with it huge responsibilities. While there are some who, for various reasons, do not do it well, there are many more who offer the best they can to those around them – especially at this time of year, when their tasks include trips to schools, hospital visits, administering communion at home, organising carol concerts and preaching, alongside the usual baptisms, weddings and funerals. These are the people who sit with, and hold the hand of, someone recently bereaved – a task many of us avoid, but which clergy go towards willingly.

    At Christmas, when many clergy are running on empty, having been caring for others for months, gratitude for their presence is greatly appreciated.

    Heather Erridge
    Weston-super-Mare, Somerset

    M Gudenian
    7 hrs ago
    Heather Erridge is right; while there are members of the clergy who do not serve the church well (the upper echelons are a case in point), there's many a parish priest who deserves our praise. Our vicar, Rev'd. Julie, who is loved by those of faith and none; has five widely spread rural parishes to care for. Her mother-in-law died a fortnight ago and she has been with her husband and family and taken the funeral in the north of England. A day after her return to Devon she took a parishioner's funeral and is busy with Christmas preparations, hospital visits and carol services. She is an example of the perfect parish priest – and how marvellous it would be if one such were appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Instead, I suppose the poor old C of E will get another bureaucrat like Justin Welby.

  16. 399237 + up ticks,

    Morning BT,

    I believe that the line he is taking consists of white powder via the nasal canal.

    1. Tell yonder peasant that gathering sticks is forbidden since wood burning stoves were banned.

  20. Wordle in 3 this morning. Yay! A little Christmas present.

    Wordle 1,284 3/6

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    1. 399237+ upticks,

      Morning AS,

      It would not surprise me in the least that we have accepted it as such.

        1. 399237+ up ticks,

          Morning G,
          Sticks & stones in a time of war hardly warrants such a sentence,
          the English race in the main SHOUTED GERMAN BASTARDS at the skies in 39/45 lest we forget.

        2. They wouldn’t like it if someone threw any unknown substance over them, either. Especially after well-known “comedians” had previously “joked” about it being acid.

          Yes, it may turn out to “only” be concrete, or a milkshake.

          But but but it’s Nigel and je deserves it, apparently. Because.

        3. No, I'd want someone who set fire to my house jailed. I would want to talk to someone who wanted to burn my house down to ask them why.

          That's what differentiates right wing and left wing people. Lefties want to kill the messenger because that gives them control over who can say what.

          Righties want to engage with the message and argue their case to understand both sides.

  24. From The Times:

    A minister has been interviewed by the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team over allegations that she helped her family to embezzle up to £3.9 billion from a nuclear energy project in Bangladesh.

    Tulip Siddiq, the economic secretary to the Treasury, is accused of helping her aunt, the recently deposed former prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, to broker a corrupt deal with Russia for the power plant.

    Siddiq, who is a friend of Sir Keir Starmer and represents his neighbouring constituency of Hampstead & Highgate, agreed to attend a meeting with a representative of the propriety and ethics team (PET).
    .

    We note with interest that the Fraud Squad from the Met. aren't invited. We wonder who told them to stay away?

    1. It's just after midnight in Los Angeles, cold and foggy. It gets warm during the day sometimes as high as 25 degrees but temperatures can plummet at night.
      Taken to see a special showing of Die Hard, now officially a Xmas movie in a nerdy cinema downtown.

  28. I understand that Chuck's Christmas Message to be aired 3:00pm tomorrow sounds very much like a political broadcast for the Labour Party

    2. 399237+ up ticks,

      Morning C1,

      Leading the way for every waiter to carry a cosh
      and that sounds par for the current course today.

  32. Morning. Thought I'd get it sooner:
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      1. And it is the same in the Eastern Russian-speaking part of Ukraine.

        Eastern Europe has seen and experienced the misery of communism; Starmer thinks it is just what he wants to impose on the UK.

    2. But we know that. Starmfuehrer cslled the Southport protesters “far-right thugs”.

      To use one of my least favourite words: it’s a slur.

    3. What else did you expect the media to say? They've trapped themselves in a corner of abject muslim support regardless of the atrocity. When this happened in Berlin in 2016 they said much the same.

      The Left have a narrative and have to keep to it.

      Notable though that they're stuck now as the muslim terrorist child killer called himself far Right. What have Sky to say to that?

  34. Good morning all, it's 12°C damp and grey on the Costa Clyde. Though it is supposed to dry up later. All I have planned for today is finishing wrapping presents (which will happen a lot sooner when I start wrapping them!), and then dropping them off at various family addresses. Ho! Ho! Ho!

  36. I expect I shall be regarded as "controversial" – but here goes.

    I do not trust Mr Farage. He is an excellent orator – and that's about it. If he was really serious about creating an organisation to govern the UK, he would not be buggering about in the USA. His "party" seems to me to be a party of protest only. Many of the leading lights in it seem to me to be a bit odd (to say the least). The same can be said about the fake Conservative party.

    I foresee a Liebour government for many years.

    1. Morning Bill. I think that we all have our doubts about Nigel but there isn't a lot of choice out there.

      1. Morning, Minty. I have a lot of time for Rupert Lowe. He makes good use of his allowance of questions to the government every day. He has plenty of experience in the higher echelons of business.

      2. On the other had Rupert Lowe could get things done – he has a background of success and achievement outside politics.

    2. Morning Bill. I think that we all have our doubts about Nigel but there isn't a lot of choice out there.

    3. I've been saying and thinking in a similar way about Farage for many years. He's actually never done anything but wave his arms around and talk a lot.

    4. I think a looney left of centre coalition, Greens, LibDems, SNP and Labour + Islamists seeking leverage.

    5. We all know how impartial our MSM is and they will only ever report the bad things. I live in hope that Reform will get its act together.

    6. Nagsman had plenty of uncomplimentary things to say about Farage. UKIP's National Executive Committee were forever trying to rein in his out-of-control ego and narcissism which has led to him making Reform a corporation with him having a controlling interest. Nobody should trust him but he can 'lead the charge' to cause upheaval. What happens after that….we'll wait and see.

      I don't think Liebour will be able to continue after this 5 year term.

      1. I wish I could agree, Michael – but I cannot see any group anywhere large enough and attractive enough to form a government.

          2. Miliband would simply lie and say 'E: wonderful, as green unreliables are amazing and will solve every problem we have forever and people will be [number from thin air] 3567 better off.'

    7. I agree. Reform is leading people down the garden path. Our planned future may include a Reform government, but if it does, it'll be for the purpose of giving people some false hope and allowing the City of London to steer the financial reset.

    9. Farage is not a details man.
      Let us hope that he gathers a good reliable team round him who do not resent his high profile.

      2. Oddly he is, but only on some things. Read Tim Shipman's books about Brexit is interesting as you see how much of a game the political class saw Brexit and how Farage was excluded and did his own thing anyway, but when he was front and centre did do his homework.

    10. I completely agree, Bill. You're right. However – Farage has talked about how UKIP failed because it was just that, a protest. It lacked the momentum and environment for genuine change.

      Reform have that now and farage is talking genuinely about pushing a genuine professionalisation of the party: fighting the right seats, concentrations of investment, a costed, tested manifesto.

      Thing is, he's not doing enough (although will it ever be enough)?

      1. May I ask who failed to make UKIP more of a political party than a protest? Who was in charge at the time?

  37. Morning all 🙂😊🎅
    Ho ho ho, bright but wet again.
    The weather 'experts' faltered again.
    For the sake of health safety and sanity this government must be gone before the next bank holiday.

  39. It’s Christmas Eve, and we all need cheering up. Nanumaga does that today in his Free Speech article on the State of the US (and us ), laden with optimism that Trump’s taking office will be the a hugely beneficial Christmas present for the whole world, and that the Evil Woke One’s will get their just deserts.

    And of course our Christmas offering today is the eternal ‘ Twas the Night before Christmas’ .

    And is you missed our two masterpieces in verse yesterday, one epic one short , please look at them today, you are in for a treat.

    Christmas is a time of giving, and we are blessed to have family around, but if you know anyone alone at the precious time, nip in and say hello, and bring them some Christmas spirit.

    The petition calling for a general election has passed the three million mark, with 3,002,196 at 08:00 this morning. Well done to all this who signed.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    2. Likewise to you and your family Richard and Caroline. Are you with family this Christmas?
      We’re off to our daughter’s tomorrow who is having all 9 of our family to Christmas dinner and staying overnight.

    5. Thank you.
      I hope you enjoy a great festive season and a Holy Christmas.
      Let's pray that 2025 is an improvement on 2024.

    8. Thank you Rastus and Caroline and a Merry Christmas to you and your family too. Lovely Christmas tree!

    9. Thank you Rastus and Caroline and a Merry Christmas to you and your family too. Lovely Christmas tree!

  43. SIR – The resurgence of the greasy spoon (Features, December 23) comes as no surprise to me. I have long been a consumer of cooked breakfasts, although in recent years I have needed to fight through thickets of “street food” stalls to
    find one.

    The Irish breakfast (identical to the English but for the addition of white pudding) is easily procurable in the Emerald Isle. The best I have ever had in Ireland was probably in Tony’s Bistro in North Main Street in Cork City, complete with Formica tables.

    However, in both Britain and Ireland, fried bread is usually unavailable. An exception is in my favourite breakfast location, the Victory Services Club at Marble Arch. One serving of its fine fried bread at breakfast sets one up for the day and is worth the (extremely reasonable) membership fee on its own.

    Jim Corbett
    Cork, Ireland

    The VSC does excellent full English breakfasts. As much as you want.

  45. “Bashar al-assad’s British-born wife must not be allowed to live a “life of luxury” in the UK, Sir Keir Starmer was told, after rumours she was seeking a divorce and a return to London. Asma al-assad and her husband have reportedly been confined to Moscow while they seek asylum there, and have had their assets frozen. Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said yesterday: “It would be an affront to the millions of Assad’s victims if his wife returned to a life of luxury in the UK.”

    BASHAR al-assad’s British-born wife must not be allowed to live a “life of luxury” in the UK, Sir Keir Starmer was told, after rumours she was seeking a divorce and a return to London.

    Asma al-assad and her husband have reportedly been confined to Moscow and their property assets frozen by authorities since seeking asylum there…..”

    Btl on the Terriblegraph”

    “The Begum /Assad debate highlights the confused thinking of the the leftards.”
    ”I would imagine that human rights says she has every right to come here for treatment.”
    “Yet they want Shamima Begum back, and will spend a lot of out money to get her back here. Is there no end to the cognitive dissonance of the Leftards?”
    “Yes , this is odd. Begum is welcome back , but not Assads Mrs ! Odd.”

    1. By that token should we remove all Muslims and refuse any more, of whatever flavour?
      “It would be an affront to the millions of Islam's victims if any Muslims returned to a life of luxury in the UK.”

    3. WTF has it got to do with kur Starmer.
      And as an ex hoomun riaghts lowyer,
      if she was born her she's entitled to live here.
      But why would she ?

    4. I think this is just a fictional story by the press to stir the pot. I very much doubt she has the slightest desire to return to the UK.

    1. He was recently invited to ‘ring the bell’ at both Addenbrooks and Luton and Dunstable hospitals in celebration of the completion of his treatment. A lovely occasion suported by the wonderful staff who have all looked after him for more than two years.

  47. 'She incited violence by posting, "set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards".'

    Funny how, in previous generations, citizens were encouraged to show solidarity in protecting the realm against insurgency and threats from without. I wonder how — and why — that patriotic mindset has evaporated?

    1. In the past in the cafe or the pub:
      "Hang the bastards!"
      "Line 'em up against a wall and shoot 'em!"

      Just noise, forgotten within hours or by the next day. Not now with social media.

      1. Yet the sentiment hasn't changed. It still isn't meant. The difference is the Stasi want to support one side and suppress the other.

  48. Good Morning all, I will be off on my travels for a few days after today so I thought I would take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
    I have attached something that reminds me how Christmas felt to me all those years ago when Christmas had more of a spiritual feeling not so commercialised.
    Your grandchildren, children and perhaps even yourselves may enjoy it.
    https://youtu.be/xUNrRQzd-g8?feature=shared

  49. Good morning all,
    Just popped by to wish everyone a happy, healthy Christmas.
    I shall leave you with a few of the jokes I sent for my grandchildren in Canada. The younger one, in particular, is very keen on 'Knock, knock' jokes – but she only appears to have about three, which we have to pretend be surprised by, so I thought I would increase her offerings.

    Knock, Knock. Who’s there? Snow. Snow who? Snow way I’m telling you.
    Knock, knock! Who’s there? Scold. Scold who? Scold outside, let me in.
    Knock, knock. Who’s there? Snow. Snow who? Snow use, I’ve forgotten my name again!

    Where do young trees learn to become Christmas tree? Elemen-tree school!
    Why are Christmas trees so bad at sewing? They always drop their needles.
    If a reindeer loses his tail, where does he get a new one? Re-tail store
    Why does Santa like gardening? Because he likes to hoe, hoe, hoe.
    What did the big furry hat say to the warm, woolly scarf? You hang around while I go on a-head
    What do you call 10 Arctic Hares in a row all hopping backwards through the snow together? A receding hair line
    What do you call a frozen crocodile? A croc-ice.
    How do you stay warm in a cold room during winter? Go to the corner; it’s always 90 degrees.
    Which kids wear the biggest snow boots? The ones with the biggest feet.
    Why do Arctic foxes have winter coats? Because they’d look silly in shorts.
    Merry Christmas to you and yours.

  50. SIR —We now have clear evidence that the Government has no idea what it is doing (“Economic slump risks forcing Reeves into another tax raid, says IFS chief ”, report, http://telegraph.co.uk , December 23).

    Before and after the general election, Labour claimed that its main aim was economic growth. Therefore, Rachel Reeves’s October Budget came as a bolt from the blue. To anybody with even a limited grasp of economics, this Budget had no chance of generating growth, and was almost certain to have the opposite effect. Now we know that to be true, and must probably anticipate a recession.

    Ministers on the Labour front bench seem to do little more than hope for growth. This is not a policy. Growth must come from the private sector, and a government’s job is to get out of the way, not create hurdles – such as increasing taxes to finance inflated public pay settlements.

    Between 1945 and 1979, Britain tried out socialism repeatedly, and the economy suffered accordingly. Margaret Thatcher demonstrated how quickly a dose of sensible government could banish those woes, but the nation has a short memory, so it’s back to the 1970s we go.
    Who’s crashing the economy now, Ms Reeves?

    Gregory Shenkman
    London SW7

    "Between 1945 and 1979, Britain tried out socialism repeatedly, and the economy suffered accordingly."

    When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?

    1. Yet the idiots who insist that socialism would work if it woz dun right are still legion.

      Starmer and company have promised growth but have they specified economic growth? They want to grow the state, grow the dependent class, grow state spending, grow their own wealth and power. Economic prosperity will shrink to oblivion.

      Russia was redeemable after 70 years of Communism because the Russian people never lost their orthodox Christian faith. The Frankfurt School identified the need to smash that if the peoples of Europe are to accept Marxism and not push back.

      1. "Yet the idiots who insist that socialism would work if it woz dun right are still legion."

        Tell me about it. I know a good few of the vacuum-headed quarter-wits.

        1. Yes, some folk still squeal for 'soshuhism'. These people are nutters. One thing you usually find is that these people are not very bright, poor (because they're not very bright) and angry (because they're poor and others have more than them.

    2. It really is quite staggering. Their tax hikes have tanked the economy so they havne't the money they want. Now, to get more money they're saying they will hike taxes even more.

      It's as if they're thick or something. When will they learn? When? Is there ever going to be a point where they realise that everything they believe is wrong? That their idoelogy is moronic and only ever results in carnage and poverty?

      Surely the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result? If that can be proven, then Labour are utterly insane. Can we section them for that?

  52. It was pretty awful if I remember correctly.
    The usual suspects batting their own self important BS at each other and the selected audience’s.

  53. It was pretty awful if I remember correctly.
    The usual suspects batting their own self important BS at each other and the selected audience’s.

  55. Merry Christmas one and all
    Medley Time
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/37bf6bf5c8d3ce93aa914c3cd27dd5605012dd89a2c2910fc7b0edda6357ae5e.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/851ae51714fc8ab67f429cdb45325ce300e5f925a5f78e66ca78c777d25f8c87.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/07e311ab53b6aa490600ca66a2f8d1b88ef6b8267e4ceba4d7aa6a53bfc935f8.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5764e920ae6df48282e92dc19e6bbf7789d63f58f917817bc02219d90faad896.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/27a292e4d4d87763daf56af7962c01d32a010d6364a05c35037d3d69a11e6059.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ee376458048e49d6437d8d67e492ae3c07bc6acfc7747d1fc5a2712d24afd458.jpg
    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fe772d6bfecb87ba15c4450ccf2c377ca2ac33b4247cf9416d770d56e51b44ef.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/354e8891c1b1e7ff5426ae8f95203e3cf22a65fd9e27a1b205da85ec5739ebe1.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b879d6b341b44a8bcdae427c03295662941633c9518ea1b5b68dcafccd533bb2.jpg

  57. The "Five Go Mad …" one is far too flattering to those ugly people! Spiritually as well as physically!
    Love the owls!!

  59. Just goes to show there is still a lot of kindness in the world and what a wonderful gesture.
    Have a wonderful Christmas.

    1. I’ve always praised the staff at hospital’s. They work under so much pressure.
      🎅🌲Same to you
      and yours Alf. 🥂🍾

  61. Gentle reminder during the whatever it's now called Season..

    While Sam Melia, Lucy Connolly & Tommy R sit inside top security jails.. the kind & gentle Islamic State devotee Madihah Taheer has just been released onto your streets even though she was jailed for training, sourcing and acquiring equipment and researching targets for action.

    May God protect you from these nutters because your government certainly won't.
    Or as Andrew Marr calls em.. the stable govt of down to earth ordinary serious people that talk like the rest of us.

  62. Gentle reminder during the whatever it's now called Season..

    While Sam Melia, Lucy Connolly & Tommy R sit inside top security jails.. the kind & gentle Islamic State devotee Madihah Taheer has just been released onto your streets even though she was jailed for training, sourcing and acquiring equipment and researching targets for action.

    May God protect you from these nutters because your government certainly won't.
    Or as Andrew Marr calls em.. the stable govt of down to earth ordinary serious people that talk like the rest of us.

  66. Labour’s election promises of economic growth have come to nothing

    Little did Labour voters know that their plans were for China's economic growth

    1. Little did Labour voters realise that Labour was lying through its teeth and really intended to destroy the country.

        1. Modern Yanks do not speak English, they just grunt Americanese.

          Shame is, prior to 40 years ago they spoke English very well.

    1. Yes and no – as the alternative IS Reform.

      It might be a protest to vote for them, but is voting Tory a protest against voting Labour? Is it not simply supporting the same tired, failed policies only 'not as bad'?

  69. Hallo all. Just popped in to wish everyone a merry Christmas. Having a busy time but that is almost done.

    So posting one video for fun because Christmas is a time for cheer and one video that is rather long. It is last years Christmas Liturgy from St. Isaacs in St Petersburg. Because, for us, this years Christmas is on Jan. 7th. 2025. For those who enjoy the Orthodox Liturgy. It is rather Christmassy, i.e. colourful.
    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VEkUN4PKocU?feature=share
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPqEAiZPBM4&t=2211s

    1. Mongo went through a tree fixation for a time. He'd pull down huge branches – 6-7' logs and haul them home.

      The great twit broke a tooth doing that once.

    2. Mum's Golden Retriever does something similar at points. In the summer time she likes to go diving for flat stones off the river bottom. The dog is very proud of her work for about 10 minutes, carrying the stone on her walk. Then gets distracted and it's on to the next thing of interest.

  70. Hallo all. Just popped in to wish everyone a merry Christmas. Having a busy time but that is almost done.

    So posting one video for fun because Christmas is a time for cheer and one video that is rather long. It is last years Christmas Liturgy from St. Isaacs in St Petersburg. Because, for us, this years Christmas is on Jan. 7th. 2025. For those who enjoy the Orthodox Liturgy. It is rather Christmassy, i.e. colourful.
    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VEkUN4PKocU?feature=share
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPqEAiZPBM4&t=2211s

  71. The prison sentence of rioter that got hit with a brick appears to be getting a lot of coverage in the MSM released in the run up to Christmas
    Typical Left wing media, not caring about those that were slain
    Not caring about the person that did it
    But only caring about the governments attempt to control public opinion by issuing harsh punishments against those that do and go too far.
    The same media agenda as this is in operation in Germany at the moment
    Biden did the same with the so called insurrection
    Is this the globalist way of gaslighting and controlling the masses and potential public protest when these terrible events occur while their agendas are being imposed upon us?

  72. Excellent news!
    Sir Jasper/Tom has been traced to the Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, ward D8, where he's in today, may be out before Christmas, and is well but sounds very, very tired. I presumed to pass on your collective regards and best wishes… his mobile phone is back in his flat, so direct contact not possible. If you want to try contact, the hospital number is 01387246246, ask for the ward.
    That's a relief, I tell you. I was getting worried.

    1. Thanks Paul, I won't phone, staff can get slightly nowty if they get too many calls – other hand, gets 'em out of actual nursing. Hope Tom makes progress, likely in best place for now rather than go home and have little/no support during Christmas period.

    2. Bravo Paul! Thank you so much for your kindness! I did phone him, but as you said his mobile was off – and he didn’t have it with him! 💕

    3. Thank you, Herr Oberst.
      I hope Tom will be all right. I don't know what the regime is in his home.

    2. I can see what he did here. When preparing the drawings, they specified the outside measurements for the base plate, but the numpty laying the concrete used these to set the fixing bolts. This bodge was about the neatest way to hold the thing in place and get paid.

        1. It must be the bolts. They could hardly drill the holes on the outside corners and hope they would hold a bolt in place.

      2. Not so.
        The MACE project manager signed off & approved the last minute cost cutting substitutions of the specified fixture & fittings submitted by the Main Contractor.
        Always On Time & Within Budget is the company mantra.

        1. Later.. project manager & Main Con seen down pub discussing draft Variation Claim(s).
          Trebles all round.

    3. Labour''s model for fixing the foundations.
      It uses aerated concrete, black recycled plastic and Chinese bolts.
      They should have been spring washers but it was too late in the season.

    1. Luckily Lucy Connolly, arch-criminal, is not getting released early.

      She can rot in prison, for all i care*

      *irony/sarcasm. I care about her, and the broader state of the UK, very much

    2. That's no way to talk about Starmer's removal of the WFA. If anything that's economic warfare and he learned that from the EU.

  79. "Can you get some bleach, washing powder and some shake and vac while you're out?" My wife asked.
    "Can't you wait until you’ve opened your presents tomorrow", I replied. – Women eh!

    1. Nottl is deeply saddened to learn of Ped's death on Christmas Day found very pale (Bleach) foaming at the mouth (washing powder) on a very spic and span carpet……….

    3. MB bought me madeleine baking trays.
      I assured the assistant in Dunelm that I had actually asked for them.

    4. MB bought me madeleine baking trays.
      I assured the assistant in Dunelm that I had actually asked for them.

      1. Was in our local pub a few weeks ago and a young chap said to the barmaid "can I get a pint of London Pride?" I said to him "if you ask nicely she'll get it for you". A look of bewilderment spread across his face.

      2. Cliche-ridden and formulaic. With knobs on. I loved every minute of it!

        "Now I have a machine gun. Ho-Ho-Ho!"

  84. Merry Christmas one and all, from a warm and damp Buenos Aires. I shall be going out dancing all day (quelle surprise… 🤣) to work up an appetite for Christmas dinner English-style tomorrow. 🙂

    Love,

    Katy x

        1. Just because you succeeded in leading her astray and then, you cad, told everyone about it, does not mean that she is anything less than saintly.

        1. If you can't be good, be careful and if you aren't careful you may have brought it on yourself.

          Either way, have fun.

  85. Just a note to all you kind and well-wishing Nottlers to let you know that the gloriously snotty and smiley Finlay is home on the farm with his exhausted mother, and delighted siblings and Daddy! He has ‘flu apparently!

      1. And you don't have to be a very good statistician to be able to work out that the UK and Europe will have populations that are majority Muslim.

        The Lebanonisation of us all and the compulsory elimination of Christianity is probably less than 50 years away.

    2. Hard to work out how it will pan out.
      Is there a rescue cavalry that lands from the US or Visegrad at the last moment?
      Do the progressives do a U-Turn and release the Roy Larners & political prisoners to take back control (snow in hell first).
      Dunno.. kicks off in Ireland first then Germany.. imho.

  93. Blessed are they this Christmas Eve who are not traipsing round the shops in a late tizzy or stuck in a traffic jam on a motorway or at a railway terminal in London facing uncertainty in a teeming crowd of passengers (assuming there are any bloody trains being driven by the privileged drivers).

    1. We've just got back from trudging round Waitrose for cheese, beer and other things necessary for Christmas. I picked up a bag of rolls and put them in a trolley…….only it was the wrong trolley, being pushed by the wrong man…… both wearing khaki jackets but that one wasn't my son.

    1. Ab, i have had the opportunity yo read the Fail’s story. Biden has commuted the death sentence for 40 or so evil murderers. It makes sense. In Starmfuherer’s Britain, we may not have the death sentence but the “justice” system isn’t keen on locking these scum-bags up for long. Soft targets, on the other hand, are exactly that.

      1. Given what they did, I cannot see why the state should have to give them free board and lodging.
        I suppose we could compromise, leave them in solitary with a suitable rope and give them bread and water only.

  99. I've never believed the state should have the power to kill someone. All too easily it turns into vengeance, not justice. Look at political prisoners around the world – especially here. Does anyone doubt the Left wouldn't kill those who they disagree with if the law said they could?

    However, death row is pointless for a career criminal. We've thieves with thousands of convictions. The state keeps letting them out. They reoffend and that's it. Rinse, repeat. A different form of justice is needed.

    1. I take it that you're quite happy for the State, ie taxpayers to give these animals free board and lodging forever?

      Just how do you propose a different form of justice?

        1. Except that if the article is correct he has been. Perhaps because he knew American justice wouldn't beat him.

          Even so, I agree that draconian public punishments might deter others. Seeing a "hard-man" bawling his eyes out after a thrashing might work.

        1. Indeed, but most of them are only fit for litter collecting and they'd need to be chained to control them. And doubtless 'uman roits lawyers will claim it's demeaning and bring it to a halt.

  100. There is a phoney photo of the Ginger Growler in The Grimes today – "Doing her Christmas cards"…. Yeah, right.

    Wait until late 23 December? I think not.

  101. Just back from a two mile walk. Blimey, I'm unfit… Still, King's College Nine Lessons is on in under half an hour.

    2. Hello Bill ,

      We love the Detectorists , and we watched both the interview and the rest .

      I hope the series continues .. I had a metal detector years ago , and have found old buckles , buttons , aircraft bullets , those long things they fired during the war , old coins etc.. nothing serious .

      My original metal detector broke a few years ago , so my son bought me a new one , was quite a cheap one compared to the previous kit.

      Some one was searching for a dog , so I lent my metal detector out to aid the search, either for dog collar and tag or worse .. and I never got it back.. I guess some one will have had lots of surprises like bottle tops and ring pulls .

      Off for another walk with the dog before it gets dark .

      Moh is at the driving range , golf ball practise into the nets !

      12c here

    3. Hello Bill ,

      We love the Detectorists , and we watched both the interview and the rest .

      I hope the series continues .. I had a metal detector years ago , and have found old buckles , buttons , aircraft bullets , those long things they fired during the war , old coins etc.. nothing serious .

      My original metal detector broke a few years ago , so my son bought me a new one , was quite a cheap one compared to the previous kit.

      Some one was searching for a dog , so I lent my metal detector out to aid the search, either for dog collar and tag or worse .. and I never got it back.. I guess some one will have had lots of surprises like bottle tops and ring pulls .

      Off for another walk with the dog before it gets dark .

      Moh is at the driving range , golf ball practise into the nets !

      12c here

  103. Just spent an hour barrowing wood from the trailer into the house. I am sweating now and don't need the fires that are presently burning. Still, ready for the New Year.

  105. A good opportunity to have a laugh and a joke with a stranger.

    I see someone i like i do it all the time. :@)

  108. Settling down for Carols from Kings live on Radio4 with a tin of shortbread and the last of Pat Bryant's 2023 brew of sloe gin. The BBC2 televised version was recorded months ago and is woke.

    1. There's a pattern forming as the Warqueen has opened a box of M&S biscuits and grabbed the next box of Lindt choccies. I've more 'hidden' in the attic as out of sight makes them easier to replace.

  110. 2025 is going to be a tough year. I expect Labour to do incredible damage very quickly over and above the carnage already.

    However, to all here – thank you. You've kept me sane, made me laugh, made me think. I can't ask for better.

    Happy Christmas all.

    2. It’s a bummer when you know with certainty that Mongo and Lucy would do a better job than Starmer and Reeves, isn’t it? Happy Christmas.

    3. Happy Christmas, wibbles, and to the fur-kids, real kid and the Warqueen. You entertain us and keep us sane, too.

  111. Good evening all,

    I haven't been around here for a day or two – I've been tied up with last minute shopping and preparations for tomorrow.

    As we move towards Christmas Eve and contemplate the forthcoming festivities, some of us may be wondering what our King will have to say to us at 3pm tomorrow about the events of the last year and how he sees the next few. King Charles III attracts a lot of criticism from a lot of people for a lot of different reasons. But, have a listen to what Fr. Gavin Ashenden, a former Royal Chaplain, has to say about him. You may find it surprising. It will only take 22 minutes of your time.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5akeaaz-cjo

    1. Why wait until tomorrow you can have le Roi’s speech right now:

      Wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and Happy New Year oh and by the way bar humbug! 😊

    2. I was feeling smug that I didn't need to go shopping and I'd got everything, until I got things out of cupboards and freezers ready and discovered I didn't have any Christmas cake and only one small pudding (I've got a friend coming over and just in case, I needed to have a spare). Unbelievably, the shops weren't packed and I got everything I wanted.

  112. I had a follow up consultation with the cardiologist yesterday following my heart MRI on 21st November.
    It appears that I've had a mild heart attack at some time but no idea when but have been suffering a shortness of breath for 4+ years. I had a letter a week or so ago that had the phrase "left ventricular function remains well preserved with ejection fraction of 67%." That figure was worrying but my fears were allayed when he told me that the 'normal' range was 50-55% and that my heart remains strong. Discussed medication and he has suggested swapping one med for another that may help with the shortness of breath. I'm quite happy with a one in one out proposition. He also briefly mentioned statins and knew that I was not going to start those after a very unsuccessful trial 10 or so years ago. He said they're different now to all those years ago and explained that it's the dose that has shot up. He said it started off at 10 whatever and is now 80 thingies and may increase further. I said to him that I had, obviously, made the right decision not to take them.
    He'll monitor me and by the time I got home there was a message that my next appointment was 25th June 2025. Never expected that but will no doubt have to wait a number of weeks before the letter comes through.

    Merry Christmas to all NoTTLers.

      1. Always enjoy Christmas with whole family this year. Daughter sil and 2 granddaughters, both in their 20's plus son, dil and 21 year old grandson. All staying over. Should be a great day and evening.

    2. Blimey Alf! You certainly know how to enjoy Christmas, pet! Best wishes and Merry Christmas to you and vw! 🤶🏻🎄

      1. Each day I wake up makes me smile. If I didn’t wake up I wouldn’t know. 😂😂
        Can’t live in fear of something you have no control over.

    3. Yes, an ejection fraction of 67% is good news. On 15 Dec mine was 34% but we’re hoping that’s due to the Afib and will improve when my pulse rate lowers. Next Echo on 15 Jan. My breathing is alright. I dread any mention of statins. My GP knows I will resist and I don’t think he’ll push that subject.

      1. Thanks sos. Very happy with the result and well put by he doctor. Left him smiling when I mentioned Victor Borg's father invented a cure for which there was no disease, caught the cure and died. I said that's my opinion on statins.

  116. King's was OK – some of the readers were a bit, er, uncertain – but at least it was the proper Bible and not a Janet and John variety. It always meant the start of Christmas when I was nobbut a lad, and still does. Thank goodness they don't televise it.

    I am signing off now – wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas. Indulge yourselves while you still can!

    A Noël

    1. Well done! I needed more clues.

      Wordle 1,284 4/6

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

    3. Well Rene, after my first word (I think you use a similar one) I thought, well it's Christmas, how about a bit of nominative determinism so I went for it and bingo – A Christmas Eagle!! You clearly thought he same thing!!

      Wordle 1,284 2/6

      ⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      A Very Merry Xmas to all Nottlers and Wordlers – as Noddy would sing (shout) – It's Chriiissstmaaassss!

      (If anybody is confused – today's word was EAGLE….)

    4. I collect divots

      Wordle 1,284 6/6

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

    1. Happiness, you dont have a clue what is going on in the world around you. If you are not quite there yet, try alcohol.

  125. Very, very unusual for the Evening Standard, I'm staggered they permitted it.
    Jack Kessler has definitely moved on.
    I bet most people have at least one chuckle.

    Nine ways evil woke snowflakes have ruined Christmas from Quality Street wrappers to 0% beer

    https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/christmas-woke-annoying-quality-street-wrappers-recyclable-wrapping-paper-b1201612.html?lid=0j0iqwh8gul4&utm_medium=email&utm_source=braze&utm_campaign=News_email_2024-12-24&utm_term=ES_News_Daily_CDP&empar=a5a4791040899364e61ef9f1d5449150a9c0012b4e500bdb121b158033542c2a

    1. I see Charlie is going to do his speech from some chapel rather than Buck House. His mum would never have been so plebeian.

    3. The down vote is for TTK – what an utter crock that was! A man who wants peace but funds Zelensky, hopes we are well but cuts WFA for pensioners – what a crass message, delivered with dripping insincerity!

    1. This was also a President that had a good relationship with our Prime Minister. Given the Agenda is to destroy everything they wanted to build it is no surprise we see the rise of total incompetents to positions of power supported by foreign interests.

  133. I remember the media attacks on him at the time. 'The Presidents brain is missing' on Spitting image and also HIGNFY.

    1. They could have done the same with Joe Biden but he seems to have had a fairly free pass. It’s been clear for years he was suffering with dementia.

      1. Reagan was very dignified in acknowledging his dementia and, in effect, bidding farewell to the world. My wife and I queued for hours in scorching hot sunshine to pay respects when he was lying in state in the Capitol. The length of the queue was testimony to the high regard in which he was held.

  134. Reagan was an excellent and dedicated horseman.
    When he became President, the SS, sorry secret service, discovered that they didn't have any people who were sufficiently competent as riders to be able to protect him when riding, and they had to recruit specialist people for that squad.

    1. Clearly nothing changes. Always playing catch up. It is why you will only see staged events when Lefties wish to do a photo op.

      Yvette cooper.. Brown.. They can't allow that to get in the news.

      And more home delivery by armoured car from Waitrose.

    2. "Reagan was an excellent and dedicated horseman."

      Good job he was or he would have been a crap cowboy in all those films.😊

      2. True, and unlike most he didn't need a stunt double.

        Without looking it up can you name a single film he was in?

        I certainly can't.

          1. It's a huge shame that his successors didn't build on what he achieved with the Russians, but instead chose to do the opposite.
            Fools, all of them.

          2. Reagan was a good judge of so called geopolitics, light years ahead of the corrupt Washington establishment.

            I hope and pray that Trump can reverse the present mess, pull troops from Syria, and stop funding NATO and the UN. Trump will hopefully pull out (again) from the Paris Climate Accord and the rest of the Net Zero nonsense.

            I also trust that criminals including Fauci, Pelosi, Gates, Soros and the Cheney’s father and daughter are brought to justice and put in prison for their multiple financial, social and constitutional crimes.

          2. I've heard of Cattle Queen of Montana but only because my mother was a huge Barbara Stanwyck fan (I'm not).

  135. I have had some family members who i have not been in contact with for 15 years after our parents had died message me. Talk about being paranoid ! Only one had my contact details.
    So i just sent them all my medical records from when i was under their care from 10 years old to the point that i left at 16.
    I didn't wish them anything.

    1. That's sad, they might have been trying to lay ghosts and their own memories might be like yours, but from the other side.

      Says I, being more than somewhat estranged from siblings.

      1. Not sad at all.

        You are estranged from your siblings too? We all have tales to tell.

        Mine are mostly in my medical records i had to pay for. And what i find difficult to accept is because so many years have passed they think i should just accept it.

        And now because of one contact they are descending.

          3. That isn't a good suggestion Sos. I have been for many years…though not recently because of Nottle and party time……afraid to even answer the front door. Even more so now seeing as i cancelled my BBC tax……………….

        2. I only have a brother and he is jealous of me (why, I have no idea; he had all the opportunities being the No. 1 son but rejected them all) so he doesn't contact me. Even when I found out his wife had died and sent my condolences and contact details if I could be of help I heard nothing. He's ten and a half years older than I am.

    2. They heard about your pre Christmas Beef Wellington spread and would like a share.

      if they are much older than you, would someone be sensing that they are not immortal and just want to repair the rift.

      I have two brothers who will not consider coming over to Canada but always ask when I am visiting them. At least one of them can afford the trip, he has no problem visiting Thailand at least once a year.

  137. Until you look at the alternatives.

    Cooper, Reeves, Rayner or Lammy, let alone Wes Streeting, for PM?

  138. The story goes that he was in a horse-drawn carriage with the Queen when one of the horses, shall we say, broke wind very loudly.

    "Oh Mr President, I do apologise," said the Queen.

    "That's all right, Your Majesty, said the President, "I thought it was the horse."

  139. Evening, all. Merry Christmas! Thanks to Paul (Oberstleutnant) for getting in touch with Tom Nunn and giving us news. I've not long got back from a carol service and will be off again later to serve at Midnight Mass. Kadi is beginning to wonder who I am, but as long as I give him his meals regularly, he's prepared to put up with a stranger 🙂

    There has been ZERO growth between July and September (I wonder what happened in July …). I expect the next lot of figures to show negative numbers.

    1. Is that Gdp or gdp per person?

      Canadas gdp grew 0.1% in Q4 but with about a million new invaders, gdp per capita is way down.

  140. You are lucky you have only one. I am the youngest of six. And i am sixty years old and the eldest is not of my father. Getting the picture now !

    1. There would only have been one had my parents not over-indulged the Boxing Day before I was born 🙂

  141. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/474e73c592dd8be7de7e25f663d4e7abd483f1113a04fbd2359f43697fe7db1c.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c51f49ee25b99678ca889d95c83f63208a9c0fc7346b64d979e9650a03e7fd1b.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d8edba0453956fff23f3a120442a431a7a5dca66edd2eb37801ac672efc2ccf2.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9102981dc30a409d66e0bb38eb56dc7b8e9c940c156a9eba9b965544f6bb7419.png Here in Sweden, Christmas is celebrated on Christmas Eve. I've just enjoyed julbord (Christmas table) the traditional Swedish festive meal.

    Top picture: First course of three types of sill (herring) all in mild pickles, plus gravadlax (salmon) and a sweet dill mustard. This was taken with a small glass of my own home-made snaps (aquavit) that I made from swedish vodka and caraway seeds.

    Second picture: Janssons Frestelse (Jansson's Temptation), a type of potato dauphinoise flavoured with sprats.

    Third picture: prinskorv (cocktail sausages) and körtbollar meat balls. The main even, a large ham had already been carved up (and the rest frozen).

    Fourth picture: I am undecided which brand of vodka to use for a vodka martini later this evening. The Swedish 40% or the Finnish 37·5%.

    God Jul to all NoTTLers.

    SKÅL! 😊🥂🎄🍗👍🏻

      1. God Jul, Conners. I enjoy both Swedish and English Christmases. When I cook I roast a duck or a capon (or a loin of pork, rib of beef, or shoulder of lamb) with all the trimmings.

  142. Having seen the chapel in question, it is truly magnificent, and given his medical problems, it is an appropriate setting.
    I don't think QE 2nd would have objected.

    1. I only saw a headline, so didn't get the full picture. Chapel to me conjures up very utilitarian surroundings (I have Welsh relatives, look you). Does he think he might need a medic on hand during the filming?

  145. I with you. Those Scandinavians have weird ideas about earing fish.
    Surströmming is a bit beyond an acquired taste.

    1. When you have to open the tin under water so your guests don't faint from the smell…Then eat the smallest sliver of it they sound to me like they are eating a perverted version of Christ unrisen.

  146. I only saw the headline banner (I was in a hotel at the time and it was scrolling across the top of their advertising), so I can't elaborate.

  147. Completely and utterly off topic.

    I like spiders.
    We have a fairly big one that lives around the hand basin of one of the downstairs loos.
    It shoots up to the edge of the basin or into the overflow hole when one washes ones hands and once the sink is empty returns to the edge of the plug.
    I've removed it several times but it always reappears a few days later.
    Do spiders have a "homing instinct"?

    1. Not sure about that but perhaps you should let it do what is does. She obviuosly likes you. Have you watched Charlotte's Web

    2. Aaarghhh! I do remember just how large and aggressive are the Southern French spiders. Arachnophobe here. They are more like animals than insects, They probably do (have a homing instinct). But no – no no no no no

      1. This one isn’t huge.
        The body is roughly 3/4 of an inch, the legs give a total length of 2 to 2 1/2 and about 1 1/2 wide.

  149. Since 2021, Channel 5 has broadcast nine new adaptations of P D James's Dalgliesh novels. They're a challenge for any production team as they were written between 1962 and 2008. In what period should they be set? ITV adapted the first ten novels between 1983 and 1997 but not in the order in which they were written. BBC followed with the next two in 2001 and 2003. All were set contemporaneously.

    C5's are also out of sequence but are set in the 1970s. It's not a bad effort but not entirely successful either. Too much of the modern physical world intrudes in many productions set in the past (Foyle's War and Endeavour fell down a few times) so these were filmed in Northern Ireland, which appears to have an ample supply of gloomy churches as well as other gaunt old buildings to masquerade as hospitals, schools, seminaries, country houses and the like.

    Fashion-wise I sensed it was bit of a muddle. The clothes were very 70s but there's a big difference between 1973 and 1978 and it wasn't always obvious. While Dalgleish drove an E-type Jag that was authentic, the Plods were still in Morris Minor and Triumph Herald Pandas. I'm sure they were retired well before 73-74. And none would have been R-reg!

    Of course, the modern world intruded in other ways. Yes, you know what's coming. DS Kate Miskin is mixed-race and Dalgleish gets to give one of the dumb male juniors a lecture on prejudice. Not many white women were making it to DS in the 1970s, let alone mixed-race ones to DI. There were also African and Asian pathologists (male), and a black actor playing the chauffeur in 'A Taste for Death', portrayed as man who was a Coldstream Guard in NI in the early 70s.

    The most unlikely scenario was in 'Cover Her Face'. This is set in 1962 in a country manor house. The owners are now Hindus. I rather doubt whether the locals in rural England would have hob-nobbed with them in 1978 in the way that was portrayed in this; today, perhaps. I'm not sure if we were meant to regard the Indian family as having become thoroughly integrated into English ways by behaving as loftily as they did. Perhaps it was a dig at the class system, showing how it corrupts the incomer. Or maybe a demonstration of the Indian social caste at work: "My father governed 50,000 acres in the Punjab, you know!"

    Anachronisms? Dalglish's big, posh flat, an obvious modern warehouse conversion. In many buildings, IKEA paint schemes and a distinct lack of 1970s brown and orange patterned wallpaper. Drinks brought to the table in a pub and a surfeit of Irish publicans in East Anglia (see above). Wine bottles with metal screw caps. LED street lights.

    Speech:
    "Sorry for your loss."
    "It's a big call."
    "We are actually into each other."
    "…the passing of…" (a murder victim)
    "…democratising…" (a stuffy church institution)
    "…getting in our faces…" (being questioned)
    management style
    inappropriate behaviour
    friends with benefits
    outreach work
    placeholder

    The third series of three two-parters is available on the C5 player until January.
    For the first two series you'll have to rummage around in Dailymotion ( https://www.dailymotion.com/gb) . And no sub-titles.

    1. Being an utter Philistine I watch things because I enjoy them, not to take them apart to show how much cleverer I am than the rest of you plebs, which is what it seems to me that such critics are doing.

    2. The most common mistake with period costume is to pick a date and have everyone in the drama wearing the latest styles for that year, which is not how people dress. Very few actually have a bang up to date wardrobe.

      1. It is also necessary to remove satellite dishes and aerials from the chimney stacks.

        I always remember that programme about some neurotic women clothiers mocked by French and Saunders where on slamming a door the entire set wobbled on camera and then in the street outside a Penny Farthing was followed by a Saab 900.

  150. Just sitting back and listening to the festival of carols from Cambridge.

    Enough of little drummer boy, Christmas can now begin.

    1. I greatly regret that for the 10+ years I lived in East Anglia, I never managed to attend the annual Carol Service from King's. Invariably, this was due to rather more mundane organist duties out in the sticks. Sometimes at Center Parcs, Elveden, but usually in church.

      Perhaps when I retire (theoretically at the end of September 2025, if the buggers don't extend my contract), I'll make a special effort to get there…

    2. Watched a bit of it but as a former choirboy at Bath Abbey I thought the trebles were too animated. I was taught to just sing without making emphatic gestures towards the choirmaster.

      I also thought the choice of music not as good as in the days of Willcocks and later Cleobury and why choose readers who cannot project their voices and pronounce the English language.

      Then I watched a bit of the Carol service supposedly organised by Woke William’s wife Katharine. The camera kept focussing on ghastly celebrities in the audience, Richard Madely and ‘tits out’ featured plus a load of Olympians. The wokery extended to some of the singers a mix of DIE performers that as with the glass chandeliers polluted the space of Westminster Abbey.

      All very disappointing and depressing.

      1. Sporting a smart military uniform, light gingery beard and jovial demeanour, one of the guests spotted arriving at Westminster Abbey for the Princess of Wales' carol concert – airing tonight on ITV – looks very familiar.

        Eagled-eyed viewers tuning into the service might be forgiven for thinking Prince William and Prince Harry had embarked on a festive truce such is the likeness between the Duke of Sussex and a mystery airman attending Kate's festive occasion.

        Prince Harry's cheerful doppelganger appeared in the trailer for the 'Together At Christmas' concert, which first aired last week ahead of the ITV broadcast on Christmas Eve.

        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-14223829/Prince-Harrys-look-like-spotted-trailer-Kates-Christmas-carol-concert.html

      1. I watched the second series when it was broadcast and did enjoy it. It was the third, currently being broadcast, that began to jar a little. I then found the first series on Dailymotion. It was of variable quality.

        I certainly don't sit down 'to take them apart'. Nevertheless, too many modern productions set in the past seem to want to lecture us in the present yet they sometimes misrepresent that past.

  153. 399237+ up ticks,

    May one ask on health & safety grounds are we witnessing the
    reformation of the tory (ino) party as in MK2 ?

    Dt,

    Reform UK membership set to be higher than Tories’ within a month
    Nigel Farage’s party launches online membership tracker, which puts number at 120,549 at noon on Monday

  154. 99237+ up ticks,

    Dt,

    Wealthy gay couple who raped their adopted boys given 100 years in prison
    Zachary and William Zulock will spend the rest of their lives behind bars after pleading guilty to multiple charges

    There is no way on Gods green earth these brace of evil twats will do heavy time, this country currently with what they are accepting as the norm. would not hear of it.

    4. I read that but chose not to post it.
      They are not gay. They are not married. They have taken advantage of the zeitgeist to indulge themselves in paedophilia. These perverts are supported by Left wing thinking. Many in the Labour party are in support of these abominations as they are of muslim children being married at 8 years old to old men.
      Who is calling for the voting age to be reduced to 16?Labour.

        1. To the age where there is no consent. It has been happening for quite a while. Pakistani muslims taking their children on holiday.

    1. Indeed. I think African and Asian immigrants are over-represented in professional roles in modern productions of TV progs set in the 60s, 70s and 80s. The 'casual racism' of the time isn't disputed, that unfortunate British habit of making a little wisecrack of just about everything and often hitting the wrong target.

      Kate Miskin was introduced in this series as a DS in a rural English force in the 1970s. Is that accurate?

      1. I hadn't seen any diversity in my rural bit of England until recently. I didn't meet any diverse people until I did my MA in 1983 (and that was because the students were from all over the world).

    1. That brings back memories.
      I can't recall the badge, but we had to make a cat's whisker crystal radio in scouts.

      1. I didn't do that but I remember making a very small transistor radio back when I was a kid.

        My how things have changed, my new phone has 128 gigabytes of memory.

  161. When I've picked it up to put it outside it hasn't seemed unduly aggressive, quite the opposite in fact.

    I know it's eating tiny things I don't want in the house because it leaves digested bits on the sink.

    My enemy's enemy is my friend, so I'm content to live and let live with Charlotte.

    1. Maybe they’re only unduly aggressive with people like me, who are arachnophobic (like muslims with islamophobes?) But I remember, amongst other horrors, finding one in my autistic son’s underpants near Carcassonne (not when he was wearing them) and boy, was it hirsute, muscular and up for it

      1. Carcassonne, what a superb place, we were there late in November one year. Breakfast outside on one of the squares in the old town.
        A very very good short break. We hope to get back soon.
        BT lived fairly near by and I can well understand why he loved the area so much.

        1. I had a similar experience whilst staying in Carcassonne a few years ago. We stayed in a hotel in the centre and left the car in the underground car park across the street.

          The old city was beautifully reconstructed by the Architect Viollette le Duc the same architect who rescued the rose window of Notre Dame and designed the spire which has now been beautifully rebuilt to his designs following the devastating arson attack.

          A former Architect colleague of mine Emmanuel de Maurepas lived there but died a decade ago. He did freelance work on The Institute of Chartered Accountants building for the practice I worked for and also on the Hunterian Art Gallery in Glasgow.

          We enjoyed the great cathedral and churches (and their magnificent organs) and took a trip along the Midi Canal from the central basin in the town.

          Most memorable was the sight of a large murder of crows flying across our balcony in the early evening every day we were there.

        2. I had a similar experience whilst staying in Carcassonne a few years ago. We stayed in a hotel in the centre and left the car in the underground car park across the street.

          The old city was beautifully reconstructed by the Architect Viollette le Duc the same architect who rescued the rose window of Notre Dame and designed the spire which has now been beautifully rebuilt to his designs following the devastating arson attack.

          A former Architect colleague of mine Emmanuel de Maurepas lived there but died a decade ago. He did freelance work on The Institute of Chartered Accountants building for the practice I worked for and also on the Hunterian Art Gallery in Glasgow.

          We enjoyed the great cathedral and churches (and their magnificent organs) and took a trip along the Midi Canal from the central basin in the town.

          Most memorable was the sight of a large murder of crows flying across our balcony in the early evening every day we were there.

      2. I don't think islamophobes cause muslims to be aggressive – they're aggressive all the time to kuffars.

          2. I think it now comes across to some as a micro-aggression. Bizarre, but at the same time chilling.

  163. Upticked because I'm pleased to see you, Geoff. Merry Christmas! And thank you so much, as aye, for the nottling, xx

      1. A local 'real pub' which was rammed. Fled the house as dear daughter has friends round. Now returned to check on my drinks cabinet and tuned into my favs on UTube.

        2. Nah. When he arrived i didn't know who he was.

          I thought who is that handsome chap? Can't possibly be a Nottler !

          Then i met his lovely wife.

          She set me to rights .

          She said….Sos isn't the standard.

          I could only nod.

      2. Thanks Pip. I shd apply a bit of make up next time like the celebs (and undertakers) do. I'm cooking tomorrow (as usual), at least is saves me from nasi goring again. Not being religious, at Christmas I always reflect upon my good fortune in life, you can never tell which way you are swept in this journey. Off topic, We need to tempt Wibbs out from his safe space. I think he might be susceptible to a bit of peer pressure! If we are lucky, we could tempt the Warqueen along and have fine night!

  169. As I awoke at 3am and didn't get back sleep for at least 2 hours, I'm popping orff soon.
    I wish all of you a very Happy Christmas and a happy New year.
    Our 5 years old in February grandson had his 'Hickman line' removed this morning and is recovering well. What a lovely Christmas present for the little fella and his parent's. What a relief for all of us.
    Good night all.
    😴🎅
    Have a lovely time all.

    4. And to you too Eddy! Brilliant news about your superstar grandson! 🌟
      They’re such a worry, aren’t they!

  170. Dishwasher loaded……. just sitting down now for a few minutes before we head off for bed. Been a busy day.
    Made a fish pie for dinner, then round next door for drinks and nibbles, fish pie now cooked and eaten. Mince pies made for tomorrow.

    1. It's so weird, isn't it, Ndovu, how much effort and anxiety is centred around one day, a day that should be full of joy? Have a wonderful Christmas! I fully intend to dump the burden of worry, at least for the next 24 hours. I will have all my chicks around me, and I do hope that the love will prevail over the disagreements.

      1. One of mine is here now, and the other arrives tomorrow. Had to clean up the top room earlier on…….. We live in a very spidery cottage. One rather large black spider escaped so i hope it stays hidden.

  171. I wish you all a very good night, and a Christmas that you will remember for years to come, for all the best reasons.

    2. Getting all soppy now are you ?

      Well, me and Dolly wish you the very best (had to feed her a sausage to say so). Harry was ambivalent. In fact Harry is ambivalent about everything. I even put him in his
      Christmas jumper which was sausage shaped. Nope, nothing. ……………..

  173. Happy Christmas. This Christmas Eve morning we were taken for a pancake breakfast in Burbank. Photos of Robert de Nero on the walls as scenes from Heat were shot in the restaurant.
    very cloudy and drizzling so now as cold as it should be at Christmas.

  176. Well blow me down with a feather !!!

    I've done my cooking. (don't know if you saw the pics).

    Do you really want to be in the same room as the WarQueen and Mrs KP? And Three hundred weight of dogs?

    I'm sure you will have a fine Christmas Dinner……. Best to you both.

  177. No mains power or mobile signal: The valley 'on edge of society'

    "We have appalling roads, no street lights, no fibre broadband, no mobile phone signal, no gas, no mains water, no mains sewerage and no mains electricity."

    Sam Wood is one of the 48 people living in the remote Upper Coquet valley in Northumberland, in farms and cottages dotted along a single track road winding into the Cheviot Hills, straddling the border between England and Scotland.

    She has campaigned for a decade to get mains power to an off-grid community she describes as "on the edge of society".

    But with a connection to mains electricity coming, this is the last Christmas the community will have to celebrate with the threat of a blackout hanging over them. [Ha! Communications must be so bad that they've never heard of Ed Miliband.]

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr4r30p63nqo

    This was featured on Countryfile in the last year or so.

    Location: https://www.streetmap.co.uk/map/idld?X=386817&Y=610867&A=Y&Z=126

  180. You can buy spray glitter from Amazon. If you can't catch it spray it and then tell him it was his present as it skitters across his face while in bed.

    Some people are never satisfied !

  181. I'm interested in the actual dynamics of the relationship. I like the grit of real life. Wibbs, over to yooou. I have seen plenty as I suspect you have. Love it!

    1. I have very small doggies as you know. Are we talking saddles here? Wibbles dogs are huge. And who gets to sit in them?

      and it's goodnight from him…

  182. The Christmas Tree has been brought down from the "garden" and brought into the house and is being decorated as I type!
    In the yard:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ecd21e2038dfb79f896488288415d65b4c49038fe8f9d6d0729eaffa4400f63f.jpg
    And in the front room;
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/78d22912df30bec10ab85b7bba5659898e6213a357d27317f61fd33661b53edb.jpg And these are from last year.
    Note the old Yard Thermometer:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8e1f6fe9c48e4016bb63eb91bd9da7fc2097313d48e783afffc5ef6bf692f1e8.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b6814d9fa94f99ca910501b13f90ecab6d6e234b271892e35e361fecc8a68e70.jpg

  184. Goodness gracious. From all your felling and logging i would have thought you to be more Spruce !

  185. A merry Christmas and God's blessings to you all, thank you for putting up with my inane witterings.

  186. Goodnight, folks and a very Merry Christmas to you all. I'm off to Midnight Mass in a few minutes (I have to drive to get to church). Sleep peacefully and may Santa bring you all you would like.

    1. Barbara Bonney is one of my favourite American sopranos. I love her performance of Brahms’ German Requiem under Giulini and alongside Andreas Schmidt. I may also have the version with Bryn Terfel.

      I love Roberta Alexander too especially her recordings of Barber.

  189. I listened to this too, Corim, and was also disappointed. I am not as musically knowledgeable as you clearly are, but I am musical. There is a different style of singing, which lacks the purity in which Kings, in particular, excelled in the past. Even the opening solo had a wobbly, almost female – would-be opera – quality. I so much prefer the flute-like purity of trebles as they once were.

    1. I do agree with you. My wife describes the female readers as auditioning for central casting. Just read the text as loudly and clearly as you can without gesture.

      I lived in the centre of Cambridge for ten years over thirty years ago. I preferred the choir of St John’s College even in those days.

    1. 399306+ up ticks,

      Morning O,
      We really should follow the USAs
      sentencing pattern,no death sentence but life means life.

  192. Merry Christmas to all of you .
    I do hope your celebrations will be successful.

    There will only be three of us , a fresh turkey to cook , and I am ashamed to admit , I haven't used my oven for a year, so I hope it still works .

    Thank you Geoff for everything , and I mean everything .

    I hope your eye test was not too worrying , and tomorrow won't be too arduous ..

    Christmas is a strange time , expectations , and waiting/ or sending good wishes to absent friends .. can be difficult.

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

  195. Good morning all, and warmest Christmas greetings to all Nottlers, and a Happy New Year in 2029 (least said about 2025-28 the better).Home from Midnight Mass – just tomorrow's morning Communion to go, before I get my life back. This has been the weirdest Christmas in fifty-odd years as a church organist, since with the eye issues, everything has been played from memory. I'm outside my comfort zone, but have coped better than I imagined possible.

    Whisper this. but vision seems clearer this evening. Fomgers crossed.

    Anyway, enough about me. Wednesday’s new page is here .

    1. Same to you, Geoff. This time travelling sounds interesting, any chance of going back 50 years?

    2. Same to you, Geoff. This time travelling sounds interesting, any chance of going back 50 years?

    3. Merry Chrimbo to you Boss and to Nottlers evreywhere

      Thank you for being OUR Sanity Saviour, over the last few years, with this page

    4. Merry Christmas Geoff and thank you for you good humour and vigilance in keeping NoTTL going. Hope you have a good day.
      I like the happy new year for 2029. 😂😂

    5. Merry Christmas to you too Geoff and wish you a very Happy New 2029. Fingers crossed about your vision. Hope today’s service goes well.

      1. Thanks, Maggie. Service was brilliant, thanks. There can’t be many village church choirs of seven voices vhich include a former High Sheriff and a High Court judge – the latter’s family are all great musicians. And their volume control doesn’t turn below 11…

        Seaasons greetings to you and John.

    7. Warmest Christmas greetings to you friend Geoff.

      You couldn't manage Dolly Suite on my E-Piano though could ya…..!

    8. A very Happy Christmas to you, Geoff, with all best wishes for a much better New Year for you.😊

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