Tuesday 25 August: National Trust members must be free to explore as they please

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/08/24/lettersnational-trust-members-must-free-explore-please/

704 thoughts on “Tuesday 25 August: National Trust members must be free to explore as they please”

    1. Blower on good form! Notice the descent of Johnson’s trousers…says it all, really. We are witnessing the failure of what we were promised would be a Conservative government, as it lurches and bungles its way out of office at the next GE.

      1. About the same here in Colchester. I’m glad I finished the section of fence re-painting I had planned for yesterday. Today will be a more relaxed day for me, shopping and browsing amongst the garden plants at local nurseries.

          1. Yes and no, Peddy. In scorching hot weather many plants start to wilt and, if not properly watered, may be reduced in price in order to at least get some of the purchase price by the garden centres. I usually buy the “least worst” of the bunch – with a bit of TLC I am able to revive them.

          2. In wet weather fewer people, especially brats, to get in the way. Less waiting at check-outs.

    3. Note that Blower’s cartoon lampoons Boris and his Government as opposed to the BBC, who are the ones planning to do away with Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory at the Last Night of the Proms!

  2. SIR – Those complaining about Rule, Britannia might look more closely at La Marseillaise, which includes the line: “Let impure blood water our furrows”.

    I doubt the French will eviscerate their national anthem in the interests of political correctness.

    Clive Kent
    Heathfield, East Sussex

    1. SIR – It is ironic that, just as Lord Hall is promoting the BBC as an arm “to bring the country together” (report, August 24), the corporation is considering banning Land of Hope and Glory from the Proms.

      David J Dodd
      Gramont, Tarn-et-Garonne, France

      1. They think banning Land of Hope and Glory will bring the country together. They want us to just disappear.

      2. SIR – If anyone needed proof that the BBC has lost its way, its plan to axe the singing of Land of Hope and Glory and Rule, Britannia is ample. If it does, it should lose the right to run the Proms in future years.

        The licence fee should be abolished and the BBC made subscription only

        Dr Tony McAllister
        Hertford

        Fear not, Dr McAllister; the end of this wretched leftie woke BLM-loving PC monster is in sight.

        ‘Morning, Citroen.

  3. Racism in British TV has led to ‘lost generation’ of black talent. David Olusoga. 25 August 2020.

    Systemic racism in British television has forced out a generation of black talent who quit because they were being ignored or worn down by their experiences, the industry’s leaders were told on Monday.

    In a devastating critique, the prominent broadcaster and historian David Olusoga said the impact of this “lost generation” could be seen in unrepresentative programmes that failed to reflect modern Britain.

    “Unrepresentative programmes” Those would be the ones produced by Olusoga then? As to the “lost generation” the only one with which I’m acquainted did not go home in a tiff but disappeared permanently into the trenches of WWI.

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/aug/24/david-olusoga-racism-in-tv-has-led-to-lost-generation-of-black-talent

    1. An excellent post on GP addresses this………….

      Ace Race Gripe Monger suffers for his art shocker!

      TV presenter David Olusoga has told the Edinburgh TV Festival his career

      had sometimes left him feeling “crushed, isolated,” and “disempowered”.

      Luvvies complicit in patronising and undermining one of the greatest
      minds ever to appear on the small screen claims Mr Learned and Rehearsed
      Blackness in narrow ranging whining aimed at the collected junketing wokerati who thought they were doing him a favour. – I mean, he doesn’t look that black does he? Black-ish at best.

      Next Week: David agrees to make a twenty five part series on himself and his
      searing story of over coming tidal waves of prejudice to rise to the
      top ‘against all the odds’ in a white dominated culture specifically
      designed to thwart the world’s greatest living black storyteller historian there has ever been and suggest ways that it can make amends by dropping dead en masse.

      But he added the industry’s “culture” had also led him to seek medical treatment for clinical depression.

      “I have been given amazing opportunities, but I’ve also been patronised and marginalised,” he said in his MacTaggart Lecture.

      He wasn’t appointed Head of State for Broadcasting on Day One and was
      forced, forced! to take orders from white people and suffer micro
      aggressions (David love, could you turn a bit more this way for the
      camera … was typical.)

        1. I did read that the tribe to which his surname belongs was one of the major players in the slave trade.

          1. Shame on you, Robert – his mob were trying to rescue the white slaves taken by the Moors, Africans etc etc…..

    2. The Black Broadcasting Corporation (for that is what it is rapidly becoming) is obviously blind to Olusoga’s sickening hypocrisy and his whiney promotion of everything BLM. I can imagine them high-fiving every time one of his programmes is broadcast. Getting people to watch is, of course, an entirely different matter. For this poisonous organisation (whose motto is “We are never wrong”) being ‘woke’ is the only game in town. With any luck their craven stupidity will speed its demise.

  4. The BBC’s Proms decision shows how out of touch with the country it has become

    If the Last Night of the Proms goes ahead denuded of its most important traditions, it will be an error that many will never forgive

    TELEGRAPH VIEW – 25 August 2020 • 6:00am

    The BBC’s decision to dispense with the words to Land of Hope and Glory and Rule, Britannia, and to proceed instead with a half-hearted orchestral arrangement for the Last Night of the Proms, is as extraordinary as it is wrong-headed. The Corporation says it is reinventing the Last Night, respecting the traditions and spirit of the event, while adapting to the circumstances of the time. Most of the public will see this as the broadcaster caving to pressure from far-Left activists who have long loathed this uniquely British tradition.

    The idea that this was a change forced on the BBC by the Covid pandemic does not bear scrutiny. Reports initially suggested that the Covid-compliant orchestra might be too small to perform the songs, or that there would not be enough singers present to give a suitably rousing rendition. Both of these problems, however, would be imminently surmountable if there was a will to do so.

    Instead, this is the BBC using the pretext of Covid to do what many in the Corporation have long been itching to do: remove elements from the Last Night that they deem to be embarrassingly jingoistic and laudatory of imperialism. In an all too typical cultural cringe before those who dislike our country and despair at our history, they appear to have accepted without question the argument that Land of Hope and Glory and Rule, Britannia are problematic, and must be stripped of their words to save liberal blushes.

    But these songs are not outrageous relics of an imperial past. Yes, they are products of their time, but they are also much-loved traditions that reflect and inspire a very British form of patriotism. Who, in their right mind, could possibly think that “Britons never shall be slaves” is meant to imply that other people should be? Or that anyone stirred by Land of Hope and Glory wishes to recreate an empire that was dismantled over half a century ago, and which for most Britons is now a distant memory?

    The fact that the BBC clearly does not see this is reflective of how disastrously out of touch it has become from a country that is more than capable of grasping such nuances. The Director-General, Tony Hall, must intervene immediately. If the Last Night of the Proms goes ahead denuded of its most important traditions, it will be an error that many British people will never forgive.

    1. People need to stop accepting all this tripe, refuse to pay their licence fee or just boycott the BBC, they are just chancers, one step at a time Marxists that just chip away at everything that is British and they replace it with sh-t

      1. 323007+up ticks,
        Morning B3,
        You are asking a great deal of a multitude who continue to support proven failures as is the
        lab/lib/con coalition party.

      2. I did years ago, Bob3, at the time of Sachsgate and the BBC’s defence of the appalling antics of Ross and Brand as “edgy comedy”. Since then it has only got worse, although it does still produce some decent and intelligent documentaries.

          1. By reading posts on this site, Peddy. I have implicit trust in NoTTLers, unlike in the BBC.

    2. People need to stop accepting all this tripe, refuse to pay their licence fee or just boycott the BBC, they are just chancers, one step at a time Marxists that just chip away at everything that is British and they replace it with sh-t

    3. Let the gloating begin:

      ‘White guys in a panic’: Insider slams BBC’s bungled decision to play Land ofHope and Glory and Rule Britannia but NOT sing the words on Last Night of the Proms following calls to scrap historic songs because they are ‘racist propaganda’

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8657909/Academics-demand-Rule-Britannia-Land-Hope-Glory-BANNED-Night-Proms.html

      I am so heartily sick of these creeps.

      What was your first reaction to the video? Be honest.

      1. “… Although a Soprano will sing the National Anthem…” What, with the “racist” line about crushing the Scots?

    4. Like I keep writing:
      “Never waste a good crisis”
      “Keep an eye on the opportunists”.

  5. What does ‘Rule Britannia’ have to do with George Floyd? Spiked 25 August 2020.

    The most telling phrase coming from the BBC is that ‘a ceremony without an audience’ is the perfect opportunity for ‘change’. Clearly, on some level, the BBC is aware that the audience will be disappointed by breaking with Proms tradition. But artists and broadcasters today seem to think their role is to re-educate the public and instil in them the correct messages. Pleasing the audience is considered vulgar, especially when they don’t know what’s good for them.

    The call to scrap them is less an attack on the songs themselves than it is on the audience, who are imagined to be bitter, gammon-faced empire nostalgists. For woke culture warriors, re-education and censorship are needed to get the public to think correctly.

    Given this totalitarian mindset, there is no area of public life that the woke will not seek to colonise.

    The only question to ask here is why do the Government not exercise their prerogative and shut down this Marxist mouthpiece? The answer is of course that they are largely in sympathy with this view but obviously dare not say so since it would lead to their evisceration at the Elections. This can also be seen with the Home Office Cross Channel Immigration Travel Agency. Much talk but no action. This view is across the political board in that it also applies to Labour though for slightly different reasons. The elites are like an army of occupation, they hold all the reins of power but are sitting on top of a white population who have not yet been conquered. The present aim is to simply hold on and accustom them to slavery by increments.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/08/24/what-does-rule-britannia-have-to-do-with-george-floyd/

    1. “They hold all the reins of power but are sitting on top of a white population who have not yet been conquered.”
      I disagree. When the police can choose to fine families for holding birthday parties, when our kids have to wear masks in school, where travel is discouraged, etc, etc, then I’d say we have been conquered, and passed under the yoke.

  6. Why do we have a kraut I/C The British Museum?

    Exclusive: British Museum removes bust of slave-owner founder Sir Hans Sloane

    Sloane is now in a display which explains his legacy as a “collector [and] slave owner”

    By Craig Simpson – 24 August 2020 • 10:00pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2020/08/24/TELEMMGLPICT000237705828_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQfyf2A9a6I9YchsjMeADBa08.jpeg?imwidth=680

    The British Museum has removed a bust of its founding father from its pedestal and labelled him a “slave owner” in an attempt to confront its links to colonialism, the institution’s director has announced.

    Sir Hans Sloane’s likeness has instead been placed in a secure cabinet alongside artefacts that explain his work in the “exploitative context of the British Empire”.

    Sloane, who funded his collecting using profits made from his wife’s family’s sugar plantation, is in a display which explains his legacy as a “collector [and] slave owner”. Curators said the Black Lives Matter movement had been a catalyst for highlighting imperialist activities the museum has profited from.

    The decision was signed off by Hartwig Fischer, the museum director, and revealed in an interview in The Daily Telegraph on Monday.

    “We have pushed him off the pedestal,” Mr Fischer said. “We must not hide anything. Healing is knowledge.”

    It is part of a wider process of acknowledging the museum’s links to slavery, curators said.

    Other artefacts, including those taken by Captain James Cook on his voyages, will be given new labels explaining how they were acquired by the museum through “colonial conquest and military looting”. Mr Fischer said: “Dedication to truthfulness when it comes to history is absolutely crucial, with the aim to rewrite our shared, complicated and, at times, very painful history.

    “The case dedicated to Hans Sloane and his relationship to slavery is a very important step in this.

    “We have pushed him off the pedestal where nobody looked at him, and placed him in the limelight.

    “The British Museum has done a lot of work – accelerated and enlarged its work on its own history, the history of empire, the history of colonialism, and also of slavery. These are subjects which need to be addressed, and to be addressed properly. We need to understand our own history.”

    The decision to revisit Sloane’s past was made during lockdown in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests, which sparked debate around statues of controversial historical figures in public spaces. In June, a statue of Edward Colston was removed from its plinth by protesters in Bristol.

    The Rhodes Must Fall campaign in Oxford also successfully called for the removal of a statue of philanthropist Cecil Rhodes.

    Neal Spencer, keeper of Nile and Mediterranean objects and the curator behind the new Sloane display, said that “Black Lives Matter provides a certain level of urgency”.

    He added: “It’s expected of museums today. The collection is owned by the public in the widest sense.

    “We want to be upfront about Sloane’s collection being at the root of the British Museum. And we want to put it in a wider context, which is obviously a very difficult context.

    “It happened in the exploitative context of the British Empire. I wouldn’t describe it as an imperialist organisation, but it is a museum that was founded within the context of Empire.

    “Eventually we’re going to be redisplaying the whole British Museum. We want to tell more of these stories.

    “We want to talk more about the context of how the museum was founded.”

    Sloane’s collection of 71,000 artefacts became the starting point of the British Museum after being bequeathed to the state in his will.

    The Irish-born collector, known for London street names such as Sloane Square, and being the purported inventor of drinking chocolate, also had investments in the slave-trading Royal African and South Sea Companies.

    These facts are now noted on labels beside his terracotta bust, which is surrounded by tokens of the slave trade and its legacy.

    A panel beside Sloane’s bust explains that this collection was “enabled by the wealth and networks that grew out of European imperialism”.

    New labels also state that this bequeathed hoard contained “anatomical specimens relating to skin colour and theories of racial difference”.

    While the origins of the foundational collection are being examined, a new “trail” for visitors will allow them to move through the museum on a themed tour of 16 objects unjustly taken from far-flung places in the days of Empire.

    This trail will not include the Parthenon Marbles – also known as the Elgin Marbles – which have long been the subject of demands for repatriation to Greece after being taken from the Acropolis in the early 19th century.

    Mr Fischer is determined that in the coming years the long-term commitment of the museum to being open about its imperial heritage will lead to an overhaul in the information available to members of the public visiting in future.

    He said: “This is not just about empire and colonialism, and European expansion across the world in the last 500 years.

    “It is also setting this in the wider context of human history.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/24/british-museum-removes-bust-slave-owner-founder-sir-hans-sloane/

    Ian Hislop
    https://c8.alamy.com/comp/F2Y0EH/file-pic-dresden-de-6th-of-january-2012-dr-hartwig-fischer-F2Y0EH.jpg

    Hartwig Fischer
    https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/ccc-uploads/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/30101127/Ian-Hislop-BM-2-330×224.jpg

    1. “Why do we have a kraut I/C The British Museum?”

      He was probably brought over by one of those pesky Hanoverians.

    2. “We have pushed him off the pedestal,” Mr Fischer said. “We must not hide anything. Healing is knowledge.”

      What?

    3. As ever, our side – the British – accept the narrative of our enemies.
      “enabled by the wealth and networks that grew out of European imperialism”.. Is this statement true? More importantly of the wealth created in the Empire, how much was spent in the “colonies”? Schools, courts (law and tennis), plantations, roads, public buildings, civil services, libraries, bridges, ports, and railways do not appear out of thin air. While the universities are very big on propaganda and social commentary, they are exceedingly light on historical cost/benefit analysis.

  7. Rail in the North
    SIR – Disappointingly, Grant Shapps’s announcement accelerating the delivery of rail projects (Comment, August 22) contained only one tiny project north of the Watford Gap. Several that are vital, if the Prime Minister is to deliver on his promise to level up the economy, remain stuck in the bureaucratic mud.

    Why is the Government only investing taxpayer’s’ money in already affluent southern constituencies?

    Mr Shapps will start to feel the heat from his own Red Wall backbenchers.

    Peter Bryson
    Chairman, Skipton and East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership

    Come now, Mr Bryson…”investing”? How very New Labour! Spending (and usually wasting) would be much nearer the mark.

  8. Good morning all.

    Rain, rain, go away, come gain another day.

    When you can see enough blue sky to make a shirt, you can go out to play.

    2 ditties from my grandmother’s knee.

    1. Good morning Nottlers!
      My Gran used to say if the bit of blue sky was big enough to make a sailor a pair of trousers, we could go out!

  9. The other day, I posted a comment about my experience with an online discussion forum that illustrates the grave disillusion many of us here have with all our institutions, I am not one of those who wishes the dissolution of the BBC, the Church of England, the National Trust, the Police and legal profession and Parliament itself that have become so woke, corrupt and rotten to the core. They should be a crucial part of our nation, and I want these valuable public services to be run properly, not disbanded for some tawdry market-led replacement.

    I have since had an exchange of letters with the founder of this forum, which nottlers might find interesting:

    Re: Support Request created via Contact Us Form

    Hello,
    Thank you for reaching out and sharing the issues you’ve experienced. Our apologies for the broken e-mail address–our technical team was able to find and correct the issue after you let us know and ourprivacy@loveshack.org e-mail address once again goes to the appropriate team.

    I noted in your message that you indicated you deactivated your account. If you’d like any further action taken on your account (for example, having the account deleted), or to discuss postings made by a particular account, you’ll need to make a request while authenticated to ensure you are the account holder. Simply log into LoveShack.org using your credentials, reactivate your account, and submit a new request via the Contact Us link at the bottom of any page.

    Please let us know if there’s anything further we can assist with.

    Best,
Paul

    ———————

    Hi Paul

    Thank you for your kind message. It must be quite frustrating for you, having set up LoveShack, which is actually quite nicely designed, being undermined by the behaviour of a gang, who alas seem to be friendly with the moderators, judging by the reaction to my original complaint. When I flagged up a concern about a post to a moderator, it was met by a “friendly reminder” soft ban on me, rather than any effort to address the problem.

    What I tried to do with my original post was to explore ways to restore social relationships, especially during this lockdown where many of us have got seriously out of practice. In addition, courtship rituals that we once took for granted have been taken from us by various lobby groups, leaving men such as myself no way of ever finding a mate again.

    I had hoped your forum was the best place to discuss this, but this required me opening up and making myself a bit vulnerable in order to have a proper debate.

    One issue that is as old as the hills is that young women are more attractive than old men, and given the chance, I’d go for a young woman. However, taking the line “do not judge lest you be judged” when discounting the old from my interest well means that I, an old man, would also disqualify myself from the interest of others. Therefore I have to find some way of finding the old more attractive than I do, and in so doing, might even make myself more attractive to others.

    This was the direction the discussion was going, but was seriously derailed when a gang of members, and probably a mod or two, started accusing me of being a paedophile and threatening a Twitter storm against me, which I know all too well is calculated to destroy lives.

    It is bad enough when someone attached it to my natural likings for 24-year-old women, but became seriously threatening when discussing my love of the beautiful music and character of a young world-renowned female composer who happened to have grown up in the same town I did, who is 15, and therefore quite unavailable as a mate. It does not and should not stop me admiring her music though, and gaining some sort of hope for the future of humanity. It is vitally important that she is not tainted with that sort of label aimed falsely and maliciously at her fans, nor the reputation of someone who is of impeccable character be sullied by the nasty comments of those far removed from her circle of friends.

    If I am to be judged a paedophile over this, then every doting grandfather is similarly condemned, and I cannot tolerate this or have anything to do with such people who attack me personally for what I have to say on the matter.

    I am even more concerned by those who come on to your site for some sort of comfort through emotionally difficult times being laid into as soon as they expose their demons in good faith. It could well spark off suicides, and I consider the gang that attacked me may well be complicit in a homicide if this happens. The singer Sir Cliff Richard was pretty badly affected when the police raided his home as the result of such a libel.

    I hope you understand why I do not intend to rejoin LoveShack for the foreseeable future, even to flag up concerns about various members, but wish you well in your endeavours to bring some sort of decorum to your site.

    With best regards
    Elmbeard

  10. Morning all

    National Trust

    SIR – It was with rising blood pressure that I read your report (August 22) on the National Trust’s plans to discourage visitors from making long car journeys to country properties.

    I pay £300 a year for membership for myself and my husband, and for our two sons and their families. We only have one small Arts and Crafts property near us – very nice, but not full of excitement for young children, or indeed adults. The highlight of my 50-year membership has been visiting the historic houses on holiday trips. Benefactors gave their homes so that visitors could discover the history, beauty and tranquillity of these places.

    I was on the verge of becoming a volunteer, but this will not happen if the rules are changed over when and how the properties are visited. Nor will I be renewing my membership.

    Margaret Whelband

    Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire

    Advertisement

    SIR – I worked at a National Trust property that was six miles from the nearest town, with no public transport available. From inside the property itself, it was two miles to the visitor centre, lavatories and café.

    Most stately homes are on large estates, away from towns and cities, which makes it hard to get to them on foot. If the Trust doesn’t want to lose more money, it needs to rethink.

    Andrea Hall

    North Anston, South Yorkshire

    SIR – Charles Moore’s article on the National Trust’s plans for the future (Comment, August 22) gives great cause for alarm, but I fear that the organisation has already damaged itself through its approach to Covid-19.

    Compared with privately owned castles, stately homes and parks, the trust has made a poor effort to open properties safely. Many interiors remain closed – and even just parking a car requires a booking. If the Trust looks at how, say, Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland has adapted, it will see why its members are frustrated.

    Mark Blandford-Baker

    Magdalen College, Oxford

    SIR – We use National Trust properties as stopping-off points on longer journeys. Better than the average roadside halt or service station. Judging by my recent attempt to book a ticket for Stourhead at lunchtime on a journey back from the West Country, many other travellers do this, too.

    People visit National Trust properties for all sorts of reasons. Deterring them would be a bad move.

    Nick Eckford

    Harpenden, Hertfordshire

    SIR – As a National Trust volunteer, I am surprised by the suggestion that the “mansion experience” is “outdated”.

    The vast majority of visitors we talk to want to know about the history of the house and family. Exhibitions relating to other matters are not the main draw. To change this model would challenge the loyalty of many enthusiastic and knowledgeable volunteers – as well as that of visitors.

    Nik Perfitt

    Bristol

    2. I think that the National Trust actively wants us to cancel our subscriptions and deter people from visiting so that it becomes uneconomical to run as an organisation. They will then de-trust it, as no-one visits, and so this then provides the opportunity for them to sell the land and homes as building land, and homes into converted apartments. History gone in a flash. Communism uk style. Just how many stones is Corvid providing? The Great Re-set indeed. What a cynical ole rat-bag I am.

  11. The olden days…..

    SIR – With regard to eating and drinking outside (Letters, August 24), 
 I remember a lecture given at Cleveland Grammar School for Girls, by our headmistress, Miss Clish, during the Sixties.

    She began by saying that she had witnessed a dreadful sight, involving a girl from the school.

    This girl had been spotted walking along Redcar seafront eating an apple while still in her school uniform.

    Patricia Abbott

    Wattisfield, Suffolk

  12. SIR – Eve McLeish (Letters, August 21) asks why GP surgeries are still not offering face-to-face appointments.

    The sad fact is that since March, unless you are a Covid-19 patient, NHS medical and dental primary healthcare has virtually ceased to exist.

    I have waited three weeks for a GP phone appointment, and have been told that this is how surgeries will be run from now on. My oncologist has been unable to consult for four months because the private hospital he works from was commandeered by the local NHS hospital for a Covid-19 epidemic that never materialised.

    I feel that the public have been let down.

    Dr Martin Henry

    Good Easter, Essex

    SIR – My 90-year-old neighbour, who can hardly walk and has no transport, was told to go to the surgery, as no doctor would visit. What is going on?

    Carol Sutcliffe

    Castle Cary, Somerset

    SIR – There have always been good and bad GP surgeries, so it is unfair to condemn them all.

    I recently phoned mine at 8.30 am. A doctor rang me back an hour later, and, after discussing my symptoms, said I needed to see someone. Half-an-hour later I was told I had a face-to-face appointment that afternoon. Last Friday had blood tests. This practice has always provided excellent service.

    Margaret Wade

    London SW6

    SIR – Eve McLeish’s sister has the misfortune to live in the wrong part of Kent.

    In her final months, my wife received half-a-dozen visits from the NHS Home Treatment Service (west Kent), as she is registered with a surgery over the border.

    A doctor in full personal protective equipment examined her, performed blood tests, prescribed antibiotics and made follow-up phone calls. She also had a couple of visits from her GP.

    All the NHS staff (including the ambulance crews, rapid- response teams and district nurses) were faultlesss, and this service should be available to everyone.

    Anthony Lott

    Etchingham, East Sussex

    1. I feel that the public have been let down.

      Is this classic British understatement or the opinion of a fool?

      1. I doubt Dr. Henry is a fool.
        He is under the care of an oncologist, so I suspect this is his version of ‘Mustn’t Grumble’.

    2. I feel that the public have been let down.

      Is this classic British understatement or the opinion of a fool?

  15. Good morning, all. Raining

    I see the beeboids are banning ALL white programmes, music, presenters.etc etc

      1. Bet she’s got some bame in her, somewhere. Touch of the old wossname, you know (nudge, nudge, wink wink).

        Good morning, dear heart. I hope Colchester is still there, and not overrun by bames.

      2. Annie, I have been very remiss today. I forgot to wish you a very Happy Birthday. I hope you are enjoying your day.

  16. Today’s failed missive to the DT:

    SIR — It seems to me that the English language is in terminal decline. Modern linguists, such as Dr Lauren Fonteyn (report, August 24), are complicit in this retrograde development.

    English evolved from the time of Chaucer and progressively improved throughout the lives and times of excellent writers such as Shakespeare, Donne, Austen, Dickens and Kipling (among others). Since the turn of the twentieth century, however, it began a slow decline when slang and absurd Americanisms became more prevalent in spoken and written prose. From the commencement of the new millennium the standard of written and spoken English has deteriorated to such an extent as to be incomprehensible to those of us who were brought up with higher expectations.

    At the current rate of diminution we, as a devolving species, will be soon reduced to grunting and all attempts at communicating in writing will be forsaken.

    A Grizzly B

    1. Oh well.. without those pesky “Americanisms”, I guess you’d have lovely Germanicisms instead..

      1. Oh, sorry. I should have been a bit clearer about what I meant about “Americanisms”. I wasn’t trying to be rude, I simply meant: idiotic jive-talk, street talk, rap talk, inability to spell and pronounce words correctly, and crude banal idiocies instead of words found in the OED since 16-oh-blob. I would sooner listen to English spoken by Laurence Olivier or Ralph Richardson than any grunting by Snoop Doggy Dogg and his ilk. The sooner I never listen again to any statement preceded by the word “so” or “I mean”; have any multiple described as a “bunch”; or embark on transport at a “train station”; the better I’ll be!

        I hope that clears up any ambiguities.

    2. You don’t have to attempt communicating, just understand enough English to obey orders given by the Elite.

        1. With some 900 members of the Metropolitan Police checking Twitter, I’m sure that at least one is watching you.

          Wait for the knock at the door.

          1. Morning, Janet. Two things:

            1. Members of that force only have jurisdiction within the bounds of the M25 (except for the square mile of the City of London).
            2. They would need to obtain a European arrest warrant to try and get me here in Sweden.

          2. Plus…the Police got their fingers burned the last time they tried to ‘adjust the thinking’ of an ex copper.

          3. A scenario ( a one act play):

            Curtain rises.

            Knock, knock. Grizz opens the door.

            Copper: “I’m here to check your thinking.”

            Grizz: “No need, I’ll tell you. I’m thinking that I used to wear a uniform similar to yours, but much smarter. I’m also thinking that my prime remit was the protection of life and property, the preservation of order, and the prosecution of offenders against the peace. I’m also thinking that I could only question people who had committed a transgression of either common or statute law, or as a witness to someone who did. I certainly could not badger people as the direct result of some unlawful whim of a transient politician. Having said all that I’m now thinking of asking you to fuck off and stop bothering me.”

            Door slams shut. Grizz goes to the kitchen to mash a pot of tea.

            Curtain falls.

        2. “Orders must be obeyed at all times” – Whittaker, Journey Into Space (in the 50s)

    3. Good morning, Grizzly

      This point was clearly made by George Orwell in Nineteen Eighty Four in which the state wished to reduce the vocabulary of the language as much as possible so that nuance and litotes could no longer be used. Antonyms were considered redundant so if something were bad it was said to be ungood.

      1. Good afternoon, Rastus.

        Indeed he did. It has long occurred to me that Newspeak supplanted English as the standard means of communication in the UK quite some time ago. The deplorable standard of journalism in what now passes for the Daily Telegraph is testament to that.

          3. I remember really weird lines from obscure films. Examples:

            Electra Glyde in Blue. Robert Blake, playing a wannabe detective, dressed up in his best suit and expensive hand-tooled leather boots, goes in search of a murderer. He comes across a hippy sitting in the middle of a pigsty minding his pigs. Blake wades across to the hippy and says, “I’m looking for some information.”

            The hippy looks bemused, points at Blake’s boots and then offers, laconically, “Yeah, I got information. You’re standing in pigshit!”

            Waterhole #3. James Coburn has seduced a young girl in a barn and is in the act of making love to her. Her father catches them at it and aims his rifle at Coburn. He says, “My daughter is under 21; that’s statutory rape!”

            Coburn tells the father not to be too hasty, he says, “I wouldn’t exactly call it rape; more like assault with a friendly weapon.”

            These lines might not be funny to some people but, in the context of the films, they crack me up.

    5. Not wishing to nit-pick but the preposition ‘among’ is usually followed by a plural noun phrase. The derivative ‘amongst’, although more formal and less common, would be more appropriate in this case.

      I hope that makes it betterer!

      1. Thanks, Ped.

        As a secondary modern pupil, who didn’t receive any formal education in the nuances of English grammar, I continue to learn each day. I hope I shall never give up learning.

        1. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1b393cadc1c5a1d49884c0efd492e349ae5bbca3d86fc7c3f6b58e2f46c7cd63.png Having said that, Ped, in line with my desire to continue my education I have done some more research into the “plural noun phrase”. The Cambridge dictionary gives the above definition.

          I would extrapolate, from that, that my use of “among others” is correct since “others” is every bit as much a plural noun phrase as is “friends” (“among friends”) in the example given above.

          Or am I missing something?

    1. While I rather agree with Mr Soapbox, when disaster struck my younger son it was a tremendous help to me to be able to share the misery with NoTTLers (and with my French chums – none of whom knew Jim).

      1. And I do hope that Korky has felt supported by the compassion and affection we have all expressed towards him.

  19. Good morning, everyone. Mrs D just returned from walking the dog. Both saturated and one of them doesn’t mind.

    1. In his old age, on a wet morning my late hound would look out of the front door and say, “You go – I’ll stay by the fire…!”

  20. Morning all, Mrs VVOF returned some goods ordered incorrectly online to the local Dunelm branch. The most interesting part was her conversation with the staff member dealing with the refund.
    Mrs VVOF had trouble with steamed up glasses due to the face nappy and mentioned the fact the sooner they are not compulsory the better. It was at this point the staff member stated that they have been told to expect face nappies to be here with us until February or March next year.
    If correct then the high street may have a poor trading period, including Christmas.

    1. I shall be doing all my Christmas shopping in one swoop online from W/rose Wines later today.

  21. I passed a layby near Dundonnell in the Highlands yesterday morning just as some ginger bearded low life was taking a dump, trousers around ankles squatting on the grass in full view of the road. He could have gone in the bracken or behind his van but chose to go public. What’s up with these people?

        1. The chap has put netting round the tree in the paddock to prevent them doing just that!!

  22. Austria arrests Syrian over attacks on Jewish leader, synagogue. 24 August 2020.

    Austria has arrested a 31-year-old Syrian refugee suspected of carrying out attacks last week on a Jewish community leader and a synagogue in Austria’s second city Graz, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said on Monday.

    The leader of Graz’s Jewish community association, Elie Rosen, was assaulted by a man with a wooden object resembling a baseball bat as he tried to drive into the grounds on Saturday evening. He was able to get back in his car and avoid injury.

    The incident followed two attacks on the synagogue last week in which windows were broken with chunks of concrete, and prompted condemnation by political leaders including Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and President Alexander Van der Bellen.

    “The investigators believe that the motive is Islamist,” Nehammer said, adding that security measures at synagogues were being reinforced to prevent copycat attacks.

    No kidding?

    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200824-austria-arrests-syrian-over-attacks-on-jewish-leader-synagogue/

    1. How many of a particular type watch and listen to the Proms.

      The audience is in the majority white.

      This thing the BBC are doing is racial, because WE HAVE BEEN racially profiled, haven’t we.

      Cancel the Notting Hill carnival , their grotesque costumes and culture and musica and Rap nonsense offends me.

      1. Perhaps Lawrence Fox should lead a vox pop rally declaring:

        WE SHALL ONLY ACCEPT THE BANNING OF PATRIOTIC SONGS AT THE PROMS IF YOU ALSO BAN THE NOTTING HIlL CARNIVAL
        .

    2. You/re very late this year, Peddy. Everyone knows to have to shop in April to ensure the brussels sprouts are put on to simmer no later than April the 10th! (Good morning, by the way.)

      1. Buenos dias, Elsie.

        Cooking the Christmas dinner is not my responsibility. Simon is a very good cook.

  25. Tanks ‘could be scrapped’ in radical overhaul of armed forces. 25 August 2020.

    Britain’s tanks could be axed under radical proposals by military chiefs to modernise the armed forces.

    Instead, other military assets could be prioritised including cyber and space technology.

    Morning everyone. The disarming of the UK proceeds according to plan. It should be remembered that the Armed Forces of any country are guarantors of its Sovereignty against both external and internal foes!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/25/tanks-could-scrapped-radical-overhaul-armed-forces/

    1. The dismantling of the UK appears to be going full steam ahead whether we leave the EU or not.

        2. Once it is destroyed the only way of survival will be to join the EU….on their terms!

      2. That’s the only reason why we would be allowed to leave the EU at all (if it happens).

      3. Rumours that the RN’s entire fleet is to be sold (without any reduction in the number of admirals) to the Bolivian navy are said to be exaggerated.

        Report: Two Border Force Ships Sitting Idle as Migrant Boats Surge Across Channel

        Two UK Border Force cutters have been sitting idle in Suffolk as illegal migrants surge across the English Channel in record-breaking numbers, according to reports.

        HMC Protector and HMC Searcher have allegedly been idling in Lowestoft Harbour well over a hundred miles from the scene of the action in the ongoing Channel crisis, with another cutter many hundreds of miles away in the Aegean Sea to pick up migrants heading to Greece, leaving just two covering the main route to Britain from France.
        *
        *
        *
        https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/08/24/report-two-border-force-ships-sitting-idle-migrant-boats-surge-across-channel/

    2. ‘Morning, Minty. Once again money drives defence policy, not the perceived threat. Another whopping great cock-up is heading our way.

    3. They probably need a lot of people trained in cyber warfare. They won’t get them, because the best talent (a) can earn far more money in the private sector and (b) does not want to work in a woke, globalist, politically correct government organisation.

  26. ‘Morning, Peeps. Here comes the backlash, but whether it will restore an outbreak of common sense at the NT remains to be seen:

    SIR – It was with rising blood pressure that I read your report (August 22) on the National Trust’s plans to discourage visitors from making long car journeys to country properties.

    I pay £300 a year for membership for myself and my husband, and for our two sons and their families. We only have one small Arts and Crafts property near us – very nice, but not full of excitement for young children, or indeed adults. The highlight of my 50-year membership has been visiting the historic houses on holiday trips. Benefactors gave their homes so that visitors could discover the history, beauty and tranquillity of these places.

    I was on the verge of becoming a volunteer, but this will not happen if the rules are changed over when and how the properties are visited. Nor will I be renewing my membership.

    Margaret Whelband
    Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire

    SIR – I worked at a National Trust property that was six miles from the nearest town, with no public transport available. From inside the property itself, it was two miles to the visitor centre, lavatories and café.

    Most stately homes are on large estates, away from towns and cities, which makes it hard to get to them on foot. If the Trust doesn’t want to lose more money, it needs to rethink.

    Andrea Hall
    North Anston, South Yorkshire

    SIR – Charles Moore’s article on the National Trust’s plans for the future (Comment, August 22) gives great cause for alarm, but I fear that the organisation has already damaged itself through its approach to Covid-19.

    Compared with privately owned castles, stately homes and parks, the trust has made a poor effort to open properties safely. Many interiors remain closed – and even just parking a car requires a booking. If the Trust looks at how, say, Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland has adapted, it will see why its members are frustrated.

    Mark Blandford-Baker
    Magdalen College, Oxford

    SIR – We use National Trust properties as stopping-off points on longer journeys. Better than the average roadside halt or service station. Judging by my recent attempt to book a ticket for Stourhead at lunchtime on a journey back from the West Country, many other travellers do this, too.

    People visit National Trust properties for all sorts of reasons. Deterring them would be a bad move.

    Nick Eckford
    Harpenden, Hertfordshire

    SIR – As a National Trust volunteer, I am surprised by the suggestion that the “mansion experience” is “outdated”.

    The vast majority of visitors we talk to want to know about the history of the house and family. Exhibitions relating to other matters are not the main draw. To change this model would challenge the loyalty of many enthusiastic and knowledgeable volunteers – as well as that of visitors.

    Nik Perfitt
    Bristol

    I can certainly vouch for the comment by Mark Blandford-Baker (“…poor effort to open properties safely…”) – the NT is currently like the Snivel Service on a bad day with bureaucracy rampant and the urge to find ways of not doing something. And as for deterring access by car, they really have lost the plot. Utterly bonkers.

    1. People who still belong to the National Trust are probably the same people who pay the BBC tax.
      Stop grumbling – stop subsidising these destroyers!

  27. 323007+ up ticks,
    Give credit where due the three parties have / are, worked / working, well as a successful coalition with priti johnson continuing the mass uncontrolled immigration b lier legacy at Dover.

    Methinks johnson is readying his counter attack and breakout of brexit & a semi break in to brussels.

    I am getting a strong fishy odour concerning the fast approaching endgame.

    https://twitter.com/AgainBraine/status/1298193019284447232

    1. 323007+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      May one ask, the current buns the tory politico’s have at this moment in time, which way are the current buns facing, across the channel or inland ?

  28. Boris Johnson ‘is planning to QUIT as PM in six months because he is struggling to recover from coronavirus’, claims Dominic Cummings’ castle-owning father-in-law Humphry Wakefield
    Baronet is said to have made the claim to a visitor to his Northumberland castle
    Reportedly likened the PM to a horse knackered through working while injured
    His journalist daughter Mary is married to Cummings and they have a son

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8661609/Boris-Johnson-planning-quit-Covid-aftereffects-claims-Dominic-Cummings-father-law.html?ito=push-notification&ci=29859&si=7271111

          1. 323007+ up ticks,
            Evening RE,
            Give credit where it is due there are very few top flight manipulator sprinters.

        1. 323007+ up ticks,
          Afternoon Pm,
          Post hoying a grenade into the exitbrexit
          campaign and slamming the door.

          1. Hello ogga. This is what I have been thinking for a while now. Covid is proving to be so very convenient in so many different ways. I still wonder why Merkel went to China last November, it is hardly the holiday season north of the equator.

          2. “hardly the holiday season north of the equator.” . . Depends what you want to bring back as “presents”.

      3. Well he certainly looks very unwell.

        I expect Williamson will take over…ideal leadership material….(sarc)

          8. Oh, hush my mouth…… because she looks to be about twelve years old, do you think?

          2. Nah Willlum,Rishi is the annointed one,worked for the Vampire Squid,parachuted into the third safest conservative seat in the country just 5 years ago and already Chancellor…………..
            Coming out of nowhere,Macron,Obama……..all sounds familiar don’t it

  29. When they have demolished our culture and our history, they will then start to get rid and demolish the people that gave rise to that culture and remember their history. We will not be required on board in their brave new world. And it is coming sooner than we think. They have scented blood, and victory.

    1. The times i have tried in vain to tell our family and they don’t appear to care, let alone believe any of it.

      1. When you are in the middle of a confidence trick being worked upon you, it is very difficult to see or understand what is happening because you have faith in the perpetrator(s). I have the same problem with my family.

      2. The history of Genocides and Massacres is replete with disbelief on the part of the victims who simply cannot imagine that such has been planned for them! It is this to a large extent which makes it possible!

        1. 323007+ up ticks,
          Afternoon AS,
          Sounds like current member / victim / voters of the lab/lib/con coalition party to me.

        2. Bill Gates is a genocidal maniac. If he succeeds in his plans for mass murder, it will make the combined crimes against humanity of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot pale into insignificance.

          The time for debate is over. Gates needs ‘taken out’ NOW before it’s too late.

          1. Sorry, but that’s just daft.

            How, exactly? What plans for mass murder? He’s trying to cure polio for goodness sake.

            This nonsense hyperbole needs to end. It’s absurd.

          2. I would down vote you, but I believe that ruins your point score.
            Bill is not a “genocidal maniac” and it is wrong to suggest acts of violence, especially on this forum.

          3. Your magnanimity is wasted on me, I’m not here to score points – I’m here to make them – so if it makes you feel more virtuous, down-vote me and be damned to you.

            Violence is wrong, you say. Do you believe it would have been wrong to assassinate any of the four mass murderers that I mentioned in my post before they had the chance to slaughter millions? Gates is no better than them, albeit more subtle. He is on record saying that the way to achieve his goal of reducing the world’s population is through mass vaccination.

            His words are self-contradictory. How can a vaccine, which is purported to save lives by preventing folk dying from life-threatening diseases, be a means of population reduction? Unless of course there’s more to that ‘vaccine’ than we’re being told.

            I stand by what I said. If Gates is not stopped, he will become the greatest mass murderer the world has ever seen.

          4. There could be something in the vaccine which renders people sterile. Just saying.

          5. If so, it would be found long before production.

            Even hten, perhaps it’s a good idea. The third world is grostesquely over populated and there are seemingly horrific numbers of stupid people in this country, let alone those breeding for welfare.

    2. This beloved country of ours will then decay , become like any 3rd world country , and the parasites will begin to wonder what happened , and who is going to keep things moving.

      Oil rich countries like Nigeria and Venezuala, and of course the breadbaskets of Africa that fed the continent are be no longer, because the blacks have destroyed everything and their economies .

      This country will become overwhelmed with breeders who in turn will snort and sniff and chew and contribute absolutely nothing as they bow to Allah or some other strange deity!

      1. I do not know how they will keep going for very long. No-one left to generate wealth, pay taxes, pay for and organise the importation of food, no-one with the know-how to grow food in these climes, no working together for the good of society, everyone out for himself, let alone their habits and culture (men not working). It will all fall apart overnight. I am feeling scared, now (sorry to confess this, folks).

        Edit: I missed out ‘how’ fifth word – now inserted.

        2. You’re entirely right poppiesmum. However when that happens and the tax base collapses entirely and the few remaining effective people will likely either be dead or looking to leave.

          That leaves nothing – bankruptcy, chaos and nothing left. Britain will have been eradicated by the Left. Another war they will say they’ve won but always lose.

          More likely though is that normal people will push back and the Left will find themselves facing a war again. They always lose, so it’s simply a matter of time before a reset and resolution to keep a boot on the viper’s neck forever or extinction.

          1. I take comfort – sort of! – from your last paragraph. I was hoping that things would gave started to happen by now but I realise that backs are not yet against the wall and no-one is hungry. It is hunger that brings people out onto the streets, not principle. Thank you for your reply.

    3. “Can I join your club?”
      “I don’t like the rules – can we change them?”
      “Don’t like the changed rules? Go and join another club”.

  30. Morning all just a quickie…watch this and wonder…..who are these people who purport to run the world ?
    This ‘vaccine’ is designed to reduce the population, i’m not saying that it’s a bad idea but……….
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0heB3FnXyCI&feature=youtu.be

    This is what the ‘Banned’ video was saying:
    Anti HCG antogen
    OLH 37 amino acids (CTP)
    63 women were tested with HCG 61 of them became infertile. (GSK tested)
    GNRH result decreased gesticular size, drop of testosterone levels and marked sperm specific mitro condrial antogen. Marked atrophy of the prostate.
    Won’t be seen in the population for 7-10 years.
    Depopulation by any other word.

          1. If all new vaccines had to be tested on politicians, peers and civil servants and their extended families first, I doubt they would be quite so blasé about using them on the rest of us.

    2. Yet another very worrying video about the vaccine and a reason to avoid it like the plague.

  31. Last Night at the Proms

    Let the country decide on how they feel

    Let us take a leaf out of “Save the NHS/Covid” book and run a similar campaign.

    On 12 September, In conjunction with Our Sue. the Promenader, who can advise of the usual time. let us all go out into the street and sing

    Rule Britannia
    Land of Hope and Glory
    Swing Low
    etc

    at the tops of our voices.

    3. And Duncan can join along singing:

      Scotland the Brave
      Flower of Scotland
      On the Bonnie Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond
      Donald, Where’s Your Troosers

          1. And, of course, the parcel of rogues were the Scottish Government that took the English gold.

          2. Indeed so. The people were not pleased. If you read how it was done, one can see many parallels in the modern world, with the UK and the EU obviously, and also with the influence of Soros and bribery bypassing democracy.

        2. Jacobites? Fine group of men and warriors. Shame they were led by a pansified Italian dwarf! [©Billy Connolly]

    4. I’m not a musician, I dont live in London and I’m not a very good organiser. I’m sure there is someone who could cobble together some chairs and musicians to set up outside the RAH to play RB and LOHAG at the precise time it would have been played inside on the last night for us to sing along to.

      1. Need to corrupt the orchestra to play LoH&G even without the conductor waving her arms about. Wouldn’t that be delicious?

    5. 323007+ ticks,
      Morning OLT,
      Instead of dare you do it, it should be the order of the day
      along on a Sunday with every Church bell achiming nationwide.

  33. Is Laurence Fox that emerging man who has come to the fore in our times of great need to rescue England?

    3. I am right behind him – but I do hope he gets those horrible tattoos removed.Would you believe it his elder brother, Tom, came on one of our French courses many years ago before our own children were born

  34. Having read the discussion lower down on the banning of people from the Last Night of the Proms and no singing of our favourites, have the BBC deliberately forgotten that there are usually large crowds in the open air in Glasgow and Belfast, all singing? If people wish to join large open air choirs why shouldn’t they?
    If it rains they could, of course, stay at home and watch recordings of “Till Death Us Do Part” and “It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum”.

    1. Illegal raves. The police will break them up with tear gas. Meanwhile, in Notting Hill, the cops will be joining in with the replacements for the Carnival.

  35. ‘Morning All

    Finally a “feel-good” story that brings a warm glow to my heart

    “The prison cell that’s a fate worse than death: If

    convicted in the U.S., the jihadi ‘Beatles’ will be spared execution.

    But that would be a release compared with the mental torture of its most

    secure jail,”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8659915/TOM-LEONARD-prison-cell-thats-fate-worse-death.html
    Oh Noes,from the article they may well die of suicide after years of mental torture
    How Sad
    What A Pity……………

    1. ‘morning Rik, all prisons should be like that. It would certainly make criminals think twice before re-offending.

      1. It would also stop them from continuing to run their criminal and drug empires from their illegal mobiles.

  36. It’s in the UK’s national interest that Joe Biden wins the presidential race. William Hague. 24 August 2020 • 9:30pm

    Last week, 73 former US national security officials who worked under the Reagan and Bush presidencies called on Republicans to forsake their party and vote for Joe Biden. Many British Conservatives, even those of us with decades-long friendships among Republicans, will feel the same. Biden will face his own problems, particularly of how to restrain the Left of his own party. But if he wins, which is by no means certain, he is committed to uphold human rights and democracy, persuade other countries to join the US in more ambitious environmental goals, and “restore a commitment to science and truth in government”. Such an approach would be good for the world and for America. And that means it would be good for Britain.

    One is always left with the impression that paid enough Hague would have written that it was in the UK’s national interest that Adolf Hitler become Chancellor of Germany! Biden, even if he were compos mentis, (which he is not) cannot restrain the Left since he is its figurehead and frontispiece. He would be replaced within the year by Kimala Harris, a white hating crypto Marxist.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/24/uks-national-interest-joe-biden-wins-presidential-race/

    2. Has Hague broken 90 yet?

      He used to have quite a high IQ but each year it has fallen by about 5 points – last time we looked he had broken the 100 barrier and was down to 95.

    3. “If paid enough Hague would have written that it was in the UK’s national interest that Adolf Hitler become” Prime Minister of Great Britain!

  38. One of life’s pleasures is encountering some organ specialising in comprehensive cultural racism that would get itself cancelled by all the tutting wokes.

    There was always Radio Tirana, back in the days of Hoxha. Fifteen minutes would be spent insulting pretty well anyone who was not Norman Wisdom – I cannot remember whether we were social imperialists, or decadent bourgeoisees, but my national standing was duly laid to waste by these politically enlightened saviours of the world. At the end came their catchphrase “and that was the news”.

    One of my favourites was ‘FCO Advice to Travellers’ posted on Ceefax – a sort of official Lonely Planet Guide. Here, I could do my armchair world tour of bogus Chinese police officers, who were actually armed robbers, ex-Soviet aircraft that might have had a service in the time of Stalin, deadly avalanches in the Alps (no, not even Switzerland was without its perils). It made one jolly glad to be booking in again at the guesthouse in Bognor and being grateful to be alive.

    Last night, I thought I’d revive this pastime by researching women of the world by googling ‘Latvian girls’ and seeing where it got me. What surprised me was how few pornographic images came up where they normally put the ads. I then went round the world, and came up with all sorts of things that would never make it to the BBC.

    Scandinavians are intelligent and beautiful but feminist, and you’d better learn to do the washing-up and the cooking and cleaning and never say anything that might be considered misogynistic. If a Finn looks at you with no interest whatsoever, she is probably in love with you. Armenians all look like Kim Kardashian. The Greeks are spoilt as children and will stamp their feet if they don’t get what they want immediately, and probably set their uncle on you. Hungarians are ultra-conservative, but like to party. Nigerians are not feminist, but have big bottoms and will dump you if you don’t express religion with enough enthusiasm. The Thais regard the Bobbit manoeuvre as quite normal if you look too closely at another woman (which might explain the large number of ladyboys there). Americans are rude and neurotic, but the Canadians are a little more civilised, but still like their guns to hunt moose. Most fun was what they had to say about the Icelanders – they dispense with courtship or indeed any romantic nicety. It’s “are you my cousin? If not, then let’s go to bed”. As for the Latvians, they are as picky as they are beautiful, but have smaller breasts than the Lithuanians, who like strong men, same as the Russians.

    Who needs a harem in these socially distanced times?

      1. Clive James was Enver Hoxha’s cousin. He practised his wit by writing humorous speeches for Hoxha.

  39. Good morning all, just abit of a strong blow here and raining /heavy drizzle .

    Is the BBC dismissing our Royal Navy and the powerful songs that rouse the nation , we are an Island for goodness sake .

    3. The BBC rules Britannia because billionaires rule the BBC.

      See also $50,000,000 bung from Bill Gates to the BBC plus more $$$$$$$$$$$$ to come.

      1. So the beeb doesn’t need our licence fee – Soros and Gates will make up the shortfall anyway.

    1. I suppose because fewer and fewer other print outlets are available.He is slowly being “cancelled”.

  41. Heart-warming – n’est-ce pas?

    “A former chicken shop worker has been cleared of planning a drone terrorism attack after a trial at the Old Bailey.

    Hisham Muhammad, 26, was accused of having a stash of weapons and devising a contraption with lollipop sticks to drop a projectile from a small drone.

    He was arrested in June 2018 after his landlord became suspicious after seeing knives, a tub of wires and a soldering iron at his home in Bury.

    He had denied engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism.

    His cousin Faisal Abu Ahmad, 25, who lived with him in Victoria Avenue, Whitefield, was cleared of failing to disclose a plot to authorities.

    A jury last October failed to reach a verdict and following a retrial Mr Muhammad was found not guilty of preparing for an act of terrorism.

    He admitted making £8,000 from a fake escort agency, but said most of it was sent to his wife and family living in Senegal.

    The Old Bailey heard he had an interest in weapons and his collection included axes, bear-claws, a tomahawk, a machete, and Japanese “ninja eggs” packed with glass shards and chilli seeds.

    Mr Muhammad explained he liked to invent household gadgets, such as a “coconut hammer” and a “fly zapper”.

    The jury deliberated over four days before acquitting him of the terror charge.”

    I am, like, OMG, Sooooooo relieved that this “gun collector” is not in chokey.

      4. Someone who strangles chickens whilst waiting for his asylum claim to be processed and his wives to arrive from Calais and Dunkirk.

    3. Bury Magistrates?

      Nigerians are in principal the largest African community in London – both officially and un-officially. We all know that. 1,000,000+ human beings of Nigerian heritage currently call London home with branches in Bury, Bolton, Burnley, Barnsley et al. Over a million adults born in Africa (excluding South Africa) are living in the UK,

      Let us all celebrate this diverse aspect of British hospitality.

      https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2017/9/2/3cd781f6a3a341b6abb92ab58f5ab7dc_18.jpg

    1. There is a seasickness pill called Stugeron which Caroline finds invaluable if she takes it a few hours before we set sail. A generic has also been produced: it is completely safe and has been used throughout the world but you cannot buy it in France.

      You cannot buy it in France – or even the molecule – because French laboratories were not involved in its development.

      It does strike me that the conduct of Gates, Soros and the Democrats in the US may not be entirely directed towards the benefit of mankind as far the treatment of Covid19 is concerned.

      2. 323007+ up ticks,
        Afternoon B3,
        “We” tried to tell them once,twice, even maybe three times after sampling the political wares as in the manifesto’s, finding just a continuation of lies & deceit, that they were making the same mistake again.

        A multitude refused to recognise the daily deterioration of these Isles and still cast around for someone else to blame.

        What near done for me was on the 24/6/2016 hearing the cry “we have won” now leave it to the tories.

    2. Are you referring to the complete lack of white faces in the class or the taped out ‘stand in your square’ approach?

      The latter is the result of incompetence, a massive, unthinking over paid public sector that gets paid regardless alongside ignorance, stupidity and a refusal to think rationally.

      1. 323007+ up ticks,
        W,
        You cannot blame kids of any flavour, thick, treacherous adults put them there.
        Overall it is a lesson to be learnt as a child and carried into adulthood, submissive appeasement.

      1. 323007+ up ticks,
        Evening Bob,
        As that well know far right racist said last night
        musical chairs, the punters( voters) never win
        the politico’s never lose.
        The party first mode of voting has
        cost / damaged this Country badly.

        For the last three decades it has been plain to see, the daily deterioration.

        This continued even to the extent of keeping out
        decent people and protecting the close shop.

        Plus has also been the case where we witnessed odious long term cover ups purely to protect the “good” name of the party.

        The lab/lib/con coalition treacherous tiger never
        did mind being gripped by the tail all the time one or tother was guaranteed power, & they are.

    2. Excellent stuff, so good for the soul, every single note so precisely played to stir the spirit.

      1. Yeah, but the white fella with dee stick woz enjoying himself far too much … must of been whipping the brothers.

  45. How stirring are the words of Rule Britannia, and what anathema such robust patriotism and talk of ‘manly hearts’ must be to the Britain-hating BBC!

    Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!

    Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.

    When Britain first, at heaven’s command,

    Arose from out the azure main,

    This was the charter of the land,

    And Guardian Angels sang this strain:

    The nations not so blest as thee

    Must, in their turn, to tyrants fall,

    While thou shalt flourish great and free:

    The dread and envy of them all.

    Still more majestic shalt thou rise,

    More dreadful from each foreign stroke,

    As the loud blast that tears the skies

    Serves but to root thy native oak.

    Thee haughty tyrants ne’er shall tame;

    All their attempts to bend thee down

    Will but arouse thy generous flame,

    But work their woe and thy renown.

    To thee belongs the rural reign;

    Thy cities shall with commerce shine;

    All thine shall be the subject main,

    And every shore it circles, thine.

    The Muses, still with freedom found,

    Shall to thy happy coasts repair.

    Blest isle! with matchless beauty crowned,

    And manly hearts to guard the fair.

    Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!

    Britons never, never, never shall be slaves

  46. If it is safe for schools to open and for people to return to work then the governmemt should remove all the emergency regulations, to prove that it is.

    1. It is a reminder of when people were not deemed to be equal, when differences were allowed.

      This is counter to the current fashion (oh I hope it is just a passing fad) of ignoring the differences between cultural achievements of different races and pretending that we only got to where we are by suppressing the hopes and aspirations of the brethren of colorful past.

      Well you did ask.

    2. On the picture, Britain is socially distancing itself from the French.

      I don’t know what accent the soloist is using, but it’s not Yorkshire.

    2. And the moment that happens the BBC will pull the plug on the concert and go to a newsflash on some inane nothingness.

  49. When a piece of furniture is infested with woodworm you either treat the pest or the furniture eventually collapses in a heap of dust.

    This is what is happening to the heritage, culture and traditions of this country. The pest in this case is BLM, all the assorted liberal hand-wringers and the one that is particularly dangerous and has the most influence, namely the BBC.

    The BBC’s decision to stop Rule Britannia on the last night of the Proms (almost certainly against the wishes of the vast majority of indigenous Britons), is yet another worm hole in the fabric of our society.

    Where is the equivalent of Rentokil when it is so badly needed?

      1. From that article, “Father Marcus Walker, the rector at Great St Bartholomew’s in London, also condemned the move”. A clue as to why I’ve now joined the congregation at Barts. We had Choral Evensong on Sunday. 1662 service, readings from the King James Version and the choir back to sing Stanford in A and Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb.

          1. True – the beeboids will never use him – unless he decides to identify as a black woman, of course.

  52. The BBC has ditched the lyrics of “Rule Britannia!” for its traditional end-of-summer concert amid a debate about the song’s celebration of the British Empire at a time when critics are re-evaluating the nation’s colonial past. It will be substituting lyrics from ‘The Red Flag’ and the ‘EU Anthem’ in a joyous celebration of the UK re-joining the ‘Brotherhood of Peace and Diversity’ , which is scheduled for the end of February 2021.

    Will strychnine pills be on sale at the door?

    https://cdni.rt.com/files/2019.09/article/5d7f55e585f540342d0ffafc.png

      1. Tweeting is doing something as far as these spavined MPs are concerned. Our local MP, a Tory, spend his entire day on his phone. When Parliament is televised he can be seen on the back benches totally focussed on his phone.

  55. Brass band playing Hearts of Oak in background on Radio 4 cricket programme. Volume reduced as soon as commentators noticed it. R soles!!!

    2. Sorry chaps but you’re looking for offence. That was an interview from the Lord’s Test in 2015 with a brass band marching up and down, getting louder as it neared the commentary box and fading as it got further away.

      1. No, it was reduced immediately the commentator mentioned it. I t didn’t fade away , it was supressed.

        1. It wasn’t. The window remained open, the sounds continued to come in. You can hear the PA announcer throughout.

  56. “The British Museum stands in solidarity with the British Black community, with the African American community, with the Black community throughout the world. We are aligned with the spirit and soul of Black Lives Matter everywhere,” the museum’s director wrote in the statement, published on the British Museum’s blog on Friday, June 5. Hartwig Fischer. (Camp Commandant British Muslimeum).

    His African boyfriend was not available for interview – he was otherwise engaged partying with the successful Bayern football team in their luxury corral on the banks of the Niger river.

    …and no, I did not make up the first part of this comment.

    2. Has no one pointed out to the furriner that the BLM “movement” is determined to destroy capitalism – including, of course, all museums, such as the one he is in the process ruining?

      1. He doesn’t care, I suspect he is paid not to care (you-know-who), all part of the plan (and no, I am definitely not PP!) – it is clear that his job description involved overseeing the demolition of our history. Traitors, the lot of them.

  58. I watched, belatedly, the last (I think) instalment of “Once Upon a Time in Iraq”.

    Two things struck me. First, there was no reference at all to the influence that Rumsfeld and the other Yak oilmen had over the gormless (oilman) Bush. They were clearly happy to wreck the country to get oil at tuppence a barrel.

    Secondly, the appalling effect that Bush, Bliar and O’Bama (peace prize winner) had – and their complete and utter indifference to the total, bloody chaos that remains there ten plus years on. Those three really make me feel sick.

    1. “If a Neil appointment would have senior BBC managers heading for the doors, a Moore one would see them running for the hills.”

      Moore’s the man!

    2. Or Prime Minister

      I think one of many, many shortcomings was her admission – on appointment – that she knew sod all about, er, school examinations

        1. Although she is supremely well qualified – having been a teacher for 40 years and a very senior examiner and paper setter for 20 – (and the dosh would be handy) she wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole..!!

  67. Off out today folks! Meeting two old friends for the first time since January – for lunch at cote. Catch you later.

      1. ‘Morning, Belle.

        I’m not going out in tis weather, except to put the green wheelie-bin away once it has been emptied.

      1. When I went for my Turkish lunch last Monday, I wasn’t asked for my personal details. The only concession to the virus was a hand-sanitiser facility near the door.

  70. Eeee – I remember when Fred Trueman got his 300th test wicket. Those were the days. Pay was 1/- a day – he went home on the boos. And first thing cleaned the boots of the gentlemen players…..

    Now they get given motor cars and women and drooogs…

    I’ll get me box…..

    2. And when he was asked if he thought his record would ever be broken he quipped:

      “Aye, but whoever does it will be bloody tired”.

      If Trueman had played as many tests as Anderson and against similar opposition I suspect he would have topped 700.

        1. Agreed.

          I’m a great admirer of FFT (sic) and I think that had he played in the modern era he might have done better than that.

          2. Only a few??

            My reasoning is that although batsmen might be more “accomplished” in the modern era (Down to more analysis and heavier bats) the fielders and particularly the close catchers, are head and shoulders above earlier generations.

      1. …. the one in the middle looks as though she would be nippy – all that bed making – and the one on the right has a touch of haughtiness and imperiousness.

          1. You bad mouthing our Annie? Careful, she might arrive with a rough flannel for your bed bath.

        1. Some cocktail party conversation lines:

          a)
          Q. What are your hobbies?
          A. Climbing.
          Q. Social or Mountains?

          b)
          Q. What do you do for a living?
          A. I’m an accountant.
          Q. Chartered or turf?

          1. When I was young and visited my grandfather in Leicester, I could never understand why people needed to buy so much lawn… eventually, my parents explained. All those turf accountant shops!

          2. reminds me of the (paraphrased) Bruce Chatwin dinner conversation in Gloucestershire, early 1970s, county guests:
            “… I am writing a book. What do you do?”
            “Do? Do! What d’ye mean DO? I hunt four days a week; I haven’t got time to ‘do’ anything.”

          3. reminds me of the (paraphrased) Bruce Chatwin dinner conversation in Gloucestershire, early 1970s, county guests:
            “… I am writing a book. What do you do?”
            “Do? Do! What d’ye mean DO? I hunt four days a week; I haven’t got time to ‘do’ anything.”

          4. Hobbies yes. But asking someone what they do for a living! Rather de trop dear Sir.

            Not my idea of cocktail party.

          6. Nah. Bash straight in with a good blast of politics and religion.

            ‘Did you vote to stay chained to the EU or were you sensible and voted to leave?’

            And yes, I have said that outright. One of the chaps almost wheedled that yes, he had voted to leave. I asked why he was ashamed of it. He said ‘I don’t want to be branded a racist or homophobe.’ I replied that that said more about those trying to silence you than yourself.

            As it is, he’s another tax accountant. He left feeling better. The other two suffered an artillery barrage of facts and logic that they couldn’t argue with and were reminded that they were wrong in their every thought and deed. After an hour of a wife trying to rescue one of my victims the warqueen intervened and made me talk about furniture or wallpaper, or some other nonsense.

          7. I made the remark to someone at a Mayor-making ceremony about remainers. Cue my conversation partner drawing himself up to full height (I am short, after all) and saying huffily, “I voted to remain”. ‘Why on earth would you have done that?’ I asked. Exit huffy party with no answer.

          8. re b) Q2
            My decision wear a tweed suit to the office was mentioned to me as follows, “This, Pendleton, is an office of management accountants, not turf accountants”.

    4. Funnily enough, those pictures were in the very first book I bought MB for our first Christmas together: “Miss Jemima’s Swiss Journal”.

  72. I’ve only just realised that Monday is August Bank Holiday. That crept up quietly in velvet slippers.

      1. Ah – there you are – been worried about your absence.

        See you tomorrow – some nice pix for you to discover as you trawl through…..

    2. Good on you, Stormy :-))
      They don’t want my mudblood – too polluted with chemicals. :-((

    4. Even though I have the blood of Kings in my veins, they won’t accept any more donations from me – too old, they say.
      :¬(

      1. Don’t kid yourself, young man. It’s the whisky in your veins that they worry about!

      2. They will not take my royal blood because of time spent in the UK.

        Still cautious about anyone from the UK being a mad cow apparently.

  76. Forgive me for being an even worse grump than usual. I have just looked online at the Test Match score – and – though the players have done SFA for most of the day, and play is now limited – they have stopped for DRINKS?????? WTF is going on?

      1. Yes, yes, I know all that. I just don’t see why – within a short time of starting a truncated day – they have to bloody stop….

        Bring back the days when they played from 11.30 to 6 30 – no limit on overs….

        Dr Grace would be spinning in his grave.

  77. For our children’s sake, let’s wrap them up in face coverings — not cotton wool. 25 August 2020.

    As for masks? Tick that one too. My daughter’s school has already emailed to request she wears a face covering on return, And we – or rather she – is ready to oblige.

    Surely it’s perfectly sensible to require children to cover their faces at school – especially since the World Health Organisation has now advised that children aged 12 and over should wear a mask. In fact, the time has come to make it mandatory.

    I would guess that this article is being floated as a preparation for the announcement of face masks in English (they are already compulsory in Scottish) schools. Children are of course largely immune to the Coronavirus.

    This is just to keep the old Fear Glands at full stretch!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/08/25/childrens-sake-wrap-face-coverings-not-cotton-wool/

  78. If possible could someone post the link to the German Dr talking yesterday about autopsy’s and the results of the virus.
    I’ve just had a an hour on the ‘dog and bone’ with Bruce in Victoria, they are still under severe restrictions and don’t really understand what is actually happening around the world.

      2. Oh and he is so right.
        Like i have said if a person is found to have the virus it doesn’t mean they’re going to die from it.

      1. D & sil bought 1st Growth Claret en primeur for granddaughters when they were born. They have performed well over 18 & 16 years.

      1. The charity fears putting volunteers at risk as many are in the vulnerable category.The safety and well-being of our volunteers, staff and members is paramount.

      1. They will wear a black one with a white centre; representing the eventual conquest of the “West” by BLM.

    3. Just as well, there must be a link between poppies and slavery if the wokerati look hard enough.

      2. They’ve already complained that it’s celebrating bloodshed and have their own version of white feathers poppies. Plus purple ones for the animals. Leave off for Gord’s sake!

    2. Saturday 12 September. Assuming that the anti-British Broadcasting Corporation doesn’t change its mind, we need crowds outside the RAH, to sing Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory. At full volume. If no-one else organises it, I will.

      2. If I lived nearer and didn’t have to quarantine, I’d be there. However I suspect plod will be anticipating such a gesture and ensuring it doesn’t work.

    3. Saturday 12 September. Assuming that the anti-British Broadcasting Corporation doesn’t change its mind, we need crowds outside the RAH, to sing Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory. At full volume. If no-one else organises it, I will.

  82. Good news, as you may all recall the rotary dryer line got taken out by the grandkids trampoline during the last storm.
    The replacement has just been delivered during the current storm.
    I think I’ll wait until tomorrow to install it, just to be on the safe side!

  83. Trying to imagine what would have happened in my school days if we were forced to wear masks.
    Pulling them and let them snap back in the victims face.
    Rubbing something nasty on someone’s mask when they weren’t looking.
    Writing something unpleasant on them.
    Will mothers sew the masks onto elastic onto coat hoods and blazers ?

    1. 323007+ up ticks,
      Afternoon B3,
      It’s as plain as the nose under your mask,
      A onesie burka is the overall answer the question is which of the politico’s has the franchise ?

          3. Do you empty it properly? That is to say take the bag out of the box, cut the corner off and tip the last knockings into a glass?

          5. When I lived in Sweden the wines in the systembolaget were just about affordable – for drinking with meals, but definitely not for cooking. For that purpose, every time I visited my father in Germany, twice a year, I would fill the car with litres of vin du pays from Lidl.
            Any remaining space on board was taken up by bottles of gin.

          6. It’s the problem with all this quarantine crap. No flights abroad = no duty-free on my return. We’re a gin, vodka, rum-free house. Only the shine to fall back on.

          9. What? That’s about £12 a bottle! Outrageous! If I buy a 5 litre box of decent Malbec here it’s 18€ which translates to under £2.50 a bottle.

          10. Chianti is about £12 a bottle and upwards, just the bottles aren’t as big as a box and take more throwing away!
            Scandinavian alcohol duties for you.
            :-((

          11. Cripes. I’d never drink wine if it cost that much.
            Was in Alsace recently, and stocked up on Cremant d’Alsace…I’m trying all the labels I can lay my hands on, to find out which is the best.

          14. No way.
            If you think the locals would allow you to take their birthright you’re very mistaken.
            They’ll send vin de pays D’Oc.

          18. The EU banned movement of wine in tankers a long time ago, thus ending Robert Armstrong’s 20,000 litres of Blue Nun for bottling by Sichel in Paddock Wood.

      1. Frae Helensburgh – a local lad made good:

        Walter John “Jack” Buchanan (2 April 1891 – 20 October 1957) was a tall (1.88m) Scottish theatre and film actor, singer, dancer, producer and director.

  86. Why can’t the creekiters play in the rain? We have to play in the heat, dust, pollution and squalor of Pakisteen.

      1. Cote was good today, Peddy! – Fish Parmentier very nice but the prawn gratinee starter was even better!

        1. We are out to lunch Tmz with our friends from MK, only third choice unfortunately, all other restaurants were booked.

          1. We all had that – M & J had porc rillettes for starters, but the prawn was excellent. No lunchtime prices, it was all a la carte, but we got £30 off the bill so that was ok.

          2. I love rillettes, but I find the Côte version a little on the dry side. I find their version of ratatouille too chopped up, undercooked & too wet.

          3. I don’t think I’ve tried their ratatouille. The rillettes is a meal in itself and very filling. Ok if you’re only having two courses, but M & I had puds, although J couldn’t manage any more.

    1. Exactly what I thought…. the French would never have complained! – it is their cultural right, after all – and Perpignan Is chock full of muslims.

      1. Go to the down chevron at the top right of his post, click on it, look for Report Tweet on the list and follow on from there.

    2. Are you sure you’ve linked to the correct thread? It looks fairly standard Twit to me.

    3. Afraid I can’t help, Bob, I’ve been banned by Twitter. Can’t imagine why …….
      :¬)

        1. Wouldn’t help, Bill. Seems it was my comments on one of Mrs. Murrell’s favourite ministers – that Paki arsehole, Humza Yousaf – that got me banned.

          2. “that Paki arsehole, Humza Yousaf”

            Blimey, I’d have thought that that was high praise.

    1. It’s not just the BBC: that organisation is just their mouthpiece. These people have invaded every echelon of British society whilst normal people have remained in a complacent torpor. They have stolen your country and all its institutions from under your noses.

      Tut-tutting about it on social media won’t get you your country back. Only revolution will do that; and to start a revolution you have to be organised and have desire and deliberation. Those qualities were lost during the years of complacent torpor.

      For you, Tommy, the war is truly over.

  94. There have been many comments about BBC bias but Guido Fawkes has just uncovered one so blatant and so contrary to the BBC’s charter, the very document that gives it a legal existence, that it needs to be more widely known.

    “BBC’S ANTI-SCHOOL RETURN ‘CONCERNED MUMS’ ARE FAR-LEFT FANATICS” https://order-order.com/2020/08/25/revealed-bbcs-far-left-anti-school-mum-campaigners/#comments

    If a limited liability company was in flagrant violation of its articles of association it would be closed down. Why not the BBC?

    Article 6 (1) of its charter:

    To provide impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them: the BBC should provide duly accurate and
    impartial news, current affairs and factual programming to build people’s understanding of all parts of the United Kingdom and of the wider world. Its content should be provided to the highest editorial standards. It should offer a range and depth of analysis and content not widely available from other United Kingdom news providers, using the highest calibre presenters and journalists, and championing freedom of expression, so that all audiences can engage fully with major local, regional, national, United Kingdom and global issues and participate in the democratic process, at all levels, as active and informed citizens.

    Edit: By the way, I don’t hold out much hope for improvement, not to mention the education of the country’s children, given that a former Labour MP, James Purnell, is its ‘director of strategy and education’. Salary: £325,000

    Purnell has stated that he is concerned for the poorest in society. But he is a champagne socialist with a salary double that of the Prime Minister. How can he live with himself? Who decides these outrageous salaries? They are an insult to the dwindling number of people who pay their license fee.

    2. Little Jack Horner sat in a corner
      With a finger stuck up his anus
      “What a revolting little boy!” we thought
      But then who could really blame us?

  97. After a hard day decorating, walls three coats and ceilings two, I’m going to bed hoping to preserve my sanity.
    Good night all.
    Lunch at Willen Lake tomorow……….
    Slayders.

    1. Is that the Willen Lake in Milton Keynes? Where is the lunch venue there? My old firm has offices at Willen Lake.

      1. Not sure M, but our friends had a problem booking a venue of choice.
        I’ll let you know later.
        Yes that’s the one near MK. South of the city they live in a very nice 4 bed detached.
        What was your old firm called ?

    1. Look. If that story turns out to be true then it is good news indeed. Tony Abbott is a bonzer, fair dinkum Ocker. He’ll not let Juncker come the raw prawn with him. No dramas, mate.

      1. She’ll be apples mate.
        So much more down to earth than Malcom Fraser ..”Life wasn’t meant to be easy.” As he stated after he and Tammy had just got back from a world tour in the new government jet, picking up odds and ends to furnish their version of the White House.

  99. That’s me for the day. 12 hours of very useful rain – now being rather undone by a gale.

    Time for some red medicine. I have to be up early – the oil tanker is coming (and, just to keep us on our toes, sometimes rocks up at 07.00. What a difference a few months make. My last 1600 litres in Feb cost £777 – tomorrow’s identical delivery £441…..

    Anyway, have a jolly evening.

    A demain

  100. Throughout my career as an Architect I have been very aware that many prestigious contracts are routinely awarded to Freemasons. This applies not only to the architectural practices but extends to the building contractors awarded the contracts.

    I first noted this pattern when working with
    Feilden and Mawson in Norwich. Sir Bernard Feilden himself proclaimed his Freemasonry, and as far as I can tell (from personal experience) you had to be a Mason in his firm to gain promotion.

    As far as the building contractors were concerned, every Project tendered by R G Carter of Drayton was successful. Presumably they were also Freemasons.

    This has troubled me, personally, for decades and I fear the trend persists. All Court works, including the Supreme Court, are evidently controlled by this Freemasonic cabal.

    The architects are in my personal view mediocre and better exposed as insensitive and useless.

      1. The guy who got embroiled with the police on Mykonos. He got a suspended sentence of 21 months. Might impinge on his career.

    1. Same here. When I was out at my shed (in the corner of a field so it gets the full force of westerly winds howling across the downland) the gusts were really strong. The strength of the wind is much less apparent down in the village which nestles in the valley.

  104. The Guardian has an article about the BBC and Rule Britannia. It is both predicable and even hilarious.

    The article says: “Normal people would not care about any of this, but we do not live in a normal country.” As if Guardian readers and journalists (especially a certain young boy and another who hones her socialist credentials in her villa in Tuscany) are normal! Many of them should be kept in a zoo!

    And a commentator predictably says: “But the BBC is like a right-wing newspaper, and they like to bash Labour but give the Tories an easy ride”.

    What was that about the BBC spending 86% of its advertising budget on the Guardian?

  105. Quarter past 3 and it’s a windy, notchy night!
    Sat up in bed with the DT and a mug of tea each.

Comments are closed.