Tuesday 25 February: How long will the EU prioritise open borders over disease prevention?

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 blacklisted.

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/02/25/lettershow-long-will-eu-prioritise-open-borders-disease-prevention/

778 thoughts on “Tuesday 25 February: How long will the EU prioritise open borders over disease prevention?”

  1. Good morning all!
    It’s 4.20 am and I came downstairs to brew a cup of tea. So, once again, I am first on here. I shall add a postscript to this post to start your day off with a small smile on your face. And then I’ll finish my cuppa and go back to bed.

    1. Here’s my postscript:

      GREAT QUOTES BY GREAT LADIES:

      A male gynaecologist is like a car mechanic who never owned a car.

      Whatever women must do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.

      Thirty five is when you finally get your head together and your body starts falling apart.

      I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.

      If you can’t be a good example, then you’ll just have to be a horrible warning.

      When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country.

      Behind every successful man is a surprised woman.

      I am a marvellous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man I keep his house.

      And one from me, Elsie: I must go back to bed now in order to bake a rhubarb crumble later today.

      2. Morn EB – “A male gynaecologist is like a car mechanic who never owned a car” but who could still overhaul an engine through the exhaust port.

  2. Good morrow, fellow NoTTLers, be ye awake or not, the fun, started by Elsie, must go on.

    With a very seductive voice the woman asked her husband, “Have you ever seen Twenty Dollars all crumpled up?”

    “No,” said her husband.

    She gave him a sexy little smile, unbuttoned the top 3 or 4 buttons of her blouse, and slowly reached down into the cleavage created by a soft, silky push-up bra, and pulled out a crumpled Twenty Dollar bill.

    He took the crumpled Twenty Dollar bill from her and smiled approvingly.

    She then asked him, “Have you ever seen Fifty Dollars all crumpled up?”

    “Uh… no, I haven’t,” he said, with an anxious tone in his voice.

    She gave him another sexy little smile, pulled up her skirt, and seductively reached into her tight, sheer panties… and pulled out a crumpled Fifty Dollar bill.

    He took the crumpled Fifty Dollar bill, and started breathing a little quicker with anticipation.

    “Now,” she said, “have you ever seen $50,000 Dollars all crumpled up?”

    “No way!” he said, while obviously becoming even more aroused and excited.

    “Well go look in the garage,” she said.

    1. New MasterChef started last night. They’ve tweaked the format again but not John Torode’s grammar.

          1. Good, that means I can have one on Friday as well, before the Cote menus change on Sunday.

    1. ‘Morning, Peddy, what a load of twaddle – who on earth would blame the tea supplier if an MP wanted to make tea for the troops?

      Smacks of the usual lefty nastiness.

      1. ‘Morning, Nanners. Nastiness is the stock response from yer average lefty. They don’t have the wit to respond in any other way.

      2. ‘Morning, Tom.

        Indeed it does. I tried YT once & didn’t like it much. Maybe we have the wrong water here in Hunts.

        1. Look hard enough and you will find YT specially for hard water areas and there is even a decaffeinated product.

        3. For teabag tea I only ever buy Clipper or Cafe Direct. As we’re on chalk our water is hard and those brands work well. I was always led to believe that hard water was best for making tea. It never seems to be as good where we holiday in Spain, where the water is soft.

      3. ‘Morning, Nanners. Nastiness is the stock response from yer average lefty. They don’t have the wit to respond in any other way.

      1. ‘Morning, Belle.

        We’re in for a real mixed bag of weather today; fortunately I did the shopping yes’day.

        1. Pleasant morning here …. so far. Pink sky looking East, we had some rain during the night.

          I fear you may be correct about the weather though.

          1. I know this is very shallow of me, but he has a lovely smile.
            Unforced, is perhaps a better word.
            I think he would actually be good company.

        2. ‘Morning, Anne, he may have a teapot but that’s when you brew with tea-leaves and NOT tea bags.

          1. I have used tea bags in a tea pot.
            I then use any remaining tea to soak fruit and sugar to make Irish Brack.

      1. ‘Morning, Anne.

        You can carry on drinking it as long as you don’t enjoy it. Alternatively, have the fingers of your left hand crossed behind your back.

        1. That’s ‘handist’ Peddy. Your comment will cause a Twatter storm for all aggrieved left-handers like me…

          2. So was mine. She was made to use her right hand.
            She could remember changing hands while playing tennis whenever the games mistress hove into view.
            She always attributed her bad spelling to the forced change.

          3. ‘Morning Anne
            I suffered similar attempts to make me write right handed,that combined with the inevitable smearing when using dip nib pens with my left hand left me with a lifetimes handwriting that looked as if a demented spider had fallen in the inkwell and crawled out
            Hooray for keyboards!!!

          4. Good morning, Rik. I think you are either Lady Judge-Spider or Prince Charles and I claim my five bob postal order.

    4. It must be really depressing to be a leftard as they look and find misery in everything they see and do.

      1. I keep forgetting to smile and often grouse, Alf. So clearly my drink of choice is The Famous Grouse.

        1. A very wise choice. I’m on Bell’s at the moment I won it at a bowls match towards the end of last season. I’ve also got some a Teacher’s I picked up duty free in December for £11 per litre. Used to drink it years a go when I knew one of their sales managers. I’m a bit of a mercenary where Scotch is concerned.

      2. Well looking out my bedroom window I can see blue sky for the first time in days, so definitely worth getting up for if it’s the same your way.

          1. Disappointingly it has now clouded over – so often seems to be the case: I wake up to a sunny morning, but by the time I have dressed etc I come downstairs to discover the sunshine has disappeared. At least it is not raining and the river level is stable and not rising.

    2. Maggie, just for a second I thought Matt Hancock had suggested that holiday makers who visited Italy should self-immolate!

    1. Morning to you.
      This is the very reason I walk down into town to buy our meat from the local butcher.
      I had a long discussion with him about halal slaughter and supermarket produce, he does not partake in that practice.
      He even has beef in his burgers and not the ass and tail cuts.

      1. My preferred local butcher had a notice on the counter stating that very fact.
        It disappeared so I can only assume that they had a visit from some town hall desk pilot.
        However, it was there long enough for the message to get through.

      2. Morning to you

        When I asked my butcher cheekily whether his meat was halal slaughtered , the little wretch asked me ” Why , are you racist?”

        Our old butcher had died , and his old business was sold to another family .

        3. His answer indicates to me that it is. He would no longer get my business but I appreciate how difficult it is to find an alternate supply.

  9. SIR – My village has no gas supply; my house has oil-fired central heating and a log burner (Letters, February 24). Which should I abandon first in the interests of curbing global warming – the oil or the wood?

    Angela Lawrence

    Woodbridge, Suffolk

  10. SIR – When I marked the ballot paper, I thought I was helping to get Boris Johnson into office; I think I must have checked the wrong name as we seem to have the Greens in government.

    Philip Hall

    Petersfield, Hampshire

    1. You’d think with such a majority Boris would actually be repealling legislation that is detrimental to the UK – starting with Theresa May’s hideous ‘net zero’ nonsense.

  12. Now ( last few minutes) Tenerife hotel with 1000 guests in isolation after Italian is in hotel.

    1. ‘Morning, Angie, those parasitic Italians get everywhere. Does he have slant eyes and a yellow complexion?

  13. 316636+up ticks,
    Morning Each,
    “How long will the eu prioritise open borders” seeing it was set up mainly as a controlling people, power movement, with the continued backing of politico ego addicts / golden troughers it is hardly likely to set up a campaign for the benefit of all, it was never set up for that.
    The boris chap could gain the peoples trust in saying we
    are taking a total severance standing, isolating these Isle
    but for emergencies & essentials only.
    Instance, peoples cannot go holidaying abroad then return & whinge knowing the current consequences.

  14. What an extraordinary chap,……

    SIR – I built my own aircraft in my garage. It took me eight years, and an extraordinary amount of training and study was required. I had to perfect new skills, and at every stage of the process I was examined and my work checked.

    I flew the aircraft all over the world for 10 years without any maintenance or other issues. I fulfilled all the airworthiness directives and carried out maintenance myself.

    I have visited Boeing’s facilities in America many times and been impressed by the company’s “can-do” attitude. It has been a major contributor to civil and military aviation.

    However, I was not surprised by your report (February 20) that debris had been found in the fuel tanks of grounded 737 Max jets, in the wake of two fatal crashes. While I admire the scale of Boeing’s operations, its accounting for tools, equipment, components, materials and work done always left me with the impression that something could go wrong.

    During my aircraft-building days, my garage was like an operating theatre. Every tool had a clear storage place, all items were accounted for and each period of work was logged. I was accountable to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, but ultimately my safety was in my hands.

    At Boeing, I was surprised to see each worker wheel out a personal toolbox at the start of their shift. Each airframe had an army of people crawling all over it with what seemed like casual professionalism.

    Boeing, like many big businesses, is focused on profit – and, while it may proclaim that safety is its top priority, recent events cast doubt on this. Cost-cutting in any industry where safety is critical leads to safety being compromised. A cosy relationship with a regulator can make things worse.

    I do not recommend your readers build their own aircraft – but mine was the safest I have ever flown in.

    Dr Michael A Fopp

    Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire

        3. Talking of planes; how on earth did Sopwith come up with the name ‘Camel’ for one of his aircraft?
          Surely the hump would suggest a lumbering animal that wasn’t exactly aerodynamic?

          1. Early in its development, the Camel was simply referred to as the “Big Pup”. A metal fairing over the gun breeches, intended to protect the guns from freezing at altitude, created a “hump” that led pilots to call the aircraft “Camel”, although this name was never used officially.

      2. Likely a mechanical engineer. A google of the fellow shows (perhaps?) to be the retired director of the aviation museum.

    2. Walk into any RAF maintenance hangar and you will see wall-mounted boards with Dayglo cut-outs for every tool. A visual check is quick and easy. Unfortunately there is still the occasional mishap caused by the failure to remove everything before engine or flight testing. Problem is, it is a system operated by humans…

      1. A friend of ours built a two seater from a kit and he was absolutely meticulous over parts and tools.
        He was unpleasantly surprised by how many small pieces were not exactly as they were supposed to be according to the instruction manual. He always double checked measurements/threads etc. before moving them into place.
        The plane was a lovely thing and he has had a lot of pleasure from it.

        You still wouldn’t get me to fly in it!

          1. His was a similar sort of size.

            His had a two seats at the front if I recall correctly, which would presumably cause balance/trim issues unless the passenger was roughly as big as the pilot.

            The mechanics of it were surprisingly straightforward looking. Like a very glorified soapbox derby cart.

      2. Agreed, Hugh, when I first went into Man Service in the Royal Air Force in 1961, I was issued a tool bag and a set of tools. I was never more glad than when it was withdrawn and I was issued with identity discs, each with a hole in it, to place on the shadow board for every tool I took to use on aircraft. I had/have a habit of putting a tool down while working and then forgetting to pick it up! A loose screwdriver in a non-fly-by-wire aircraft is an accident looking to happen.

        1. Me too Tom – I think my personal tool kit (minus any special tools I had made) was handed in in ’61 and the shadowboard replaced it. One hangar I worked in later didn’t even have shadowboards, you had to book tools out from a store which was ridiculously slow and inefficient and you handed them back in at the end of your shift. Thankfully it was discontinued after a few months.

    4. When Boeing took over McDonnell Douglas, the old Boeing “Engineering for engineering sake” attitude was displaced by McD-D “Money at all costs” attitude as a kind of reverse take-over, and they have been much more cost focused. That shows, in the statistics.

    1. Even BoJo is terrified at the thought of an attack by an ignorant, anti-right media. That and the dreaded soshal meeja, of course.

    2. Why don’t the Conservatives have any ideas ?

      They don’t need any as Open Society claim to have “leveraged policy” for an amazing “three decades”, so it’s all outsourced to them !

    3. Yet it is what will continue. We voted for change and nothing will. It only ever gets worse as the state further controls our lives.

        1. 316636+ up ticks,
          J,
          The reason I asked was that to my mind there is a lot amiss behind the disqus tag.

        1. Our previous MP – you know who – actually had a photograph of him tossing pancakes with a number of other Parliamentarians removed from the interwebby.
          Presumably he thought the chef’s toque didn’t flatter him.

    5. Sorry, but to me those are not Shrove Tuesday pancakes. Pancakes should be filigree thin, see through in many places and much larger than the ones in your picture. Some lemon juice and sugar are then the only accompaniment they need.

  17. Wow…we have full sunshine now. Just when I am stuck here with decorators and waiting for the car coming home after repair.

  18. Silence over latest carelessly parked car.
    Do we assume the driver wasn’t Johannes Schmidt?
    Or even that well known Methodist, Johan Smed?

    1. Amazing, not a squeak. Maybe the brakes needed servicing. German citizen, but probably not a sausage lover.

    2. What do we know about the driver?
      The suspect was a local from the town and was known to police in connection with other offences including breach of the peace and assault. He was not known to authorities as an extremist, reported German news agency dpa.
      He will appear before the investigating judge as soon as his state of health permits, said the Frankfurt General Prosecutor’s Office in a statement.


      https://www.dw.com/en/german-man-crashes-car-into-crowd-at-carnival-parade-injuring-dozens/a-52509654

      1. A moderate jihadi? Not given to killing, only causing serious injuries? Kind to his mother, went the messages for his grannie?
        (State of health? Ah, they mean mental health. I get it.)

        1. The investigators will be being cautious, given previous early calls that were wrong. That said, I would err on the side of him being an extremeist.

          1. Driving into a crowd probably qualifies as extremism. Its just a matter of whether it was islamic inspired or right wing extremism. I’m still undecided but its odd how that after last week’s hookah horror, the name and complete life were on the wires within hours, but in this occasion, the name is withheld under privacy laws.

          2. I also find that somewhat strange.

            There will be a lot of digging going on the background. I would be interested to know if the car was stolen.

            It’s probably my imagination, but there seem to be more cases of estranged men/women trying to take out their “ex” with little or no heed as to collateral damage.

      3. Der Spiegel saks he was drunk at the time. Muslims do not drink therefore he cannot have been a Muslim.
        He was a German citizen.

        1. I think you may be ill-informed over Muslims not drinking.
          I know many Muslims who drink regularly, often to excess.

          I’m reasonably sure that first indications were that he was not drunk.

          1. I dont’s see many around here, just the occasional one sipping furtively at a glass while looking over his shoulder to see who may be watching him.

          2. I suspect it very much depends on how high a proportion of Muslims live in the area and also the level of education/social interaction with non Muslims.

          3. Boy, do we know about Muslims and alcohol. As anyone who has provided accommodation for English language schools can attest.

  19. The reply I would like to post to John Redwood’s Diary but cannot as JR does not want mention of names in his latest series of essays. Today’s essay reviews the performance of the Home Office and immigration.

    The Coalition government Home Secretary and later Prime Minister you mention was Theresa May, as if anyone could forget. While many would like to expunge the memory of her tenure of two of the great offices of state from memory, history must remember how close this woman came to literally destroying the UK as a free nation.
    Commonly regarded as the worst holder of the great office of Prime Minister and a useless Home Secretary who clearly failed in her oft repeated pledge to deal with mass immigration. Sadly, her legacy of continuing the displacement of the British people lives on in the numbers she ushered into the Country.
    Was May promoted way above her pay grade and therefore incompetent or was she a duplicitous politician who said one thing and then blatantly did the opposite to meet the demands of her unpublished agenda? One could argue that where the benchmarks were abject failure and being deceitful to a degree rarely seen, even in British politicians, she did very well on both counts.

    1. I think too much blame is placed on May – which is an unusual thing for me to say.

      Over the removal of profiling for stop and search that was obviously a political bid which continues to do damage to this country, especially London.
      Over the EU negotiations her team – the civil servants – withheld data and simply were playing for the other side and as a consequence she was terribly informed – of course, she shouldn’t have got involved at all leaving it to David Davis. Again, political manouvering.

      I think her tenure was a series of steps up the greasy pole to win notoriety and visibility for Theresa May, taking bad advice and doing the wrong thing but the politically opportune and state welcomed thing and thus ensured a comfortable waft up the ladder to PM.

      Of course, the consequences for the UK were disasterous, but politicians think to Friday afternoon. May was a politician – a good one. In that sense, she was successful in her roles because she achieved the highest office in the land. The damage she did to the country is – to her – irrelevant. It is that lack of sense of duty and integrity that makes me look at Westminster as a snake pit of failure, back stabbing and poisoning one another for fractional gain rather than a pack of dogs all working together.

      1. I disagree. She is evil.

        The word ‘evil’ has religious undertones which may be relevant given that there is a cloud of suspicion over her priest father about unsavoury behaviour. Why was Mrs May so very keen to get information about him removed from the web?

      2. She wasn’t up to the job.
        There were plenty of people around her to make use of her disastrous mixture of arrogance and lack of imagination.
        History is littered with useful puppets being manipulated by eminences grises behind the scenes.

    2. He finally named Soros !

      Check out my post on his blog yesterday.

      Ask him if Treasa and George were best friends.

      Particularly as Treasa just picked up a huge bung at Davos for speeches hardly anyone wanted to listen to.

  20. Catch you later……must look after cats as their room is being stripped and they don’t like change…especially Luna.

      1. 316636+up ticks,
        Morning Jbf,
        It has come as a surprise to me but a most welcome one, suggest contact Alan Craig / Carl Benjamin / Peter Mcilvenna on twitter.

          1. 316636+ up ticks,
            Jfb,
            In the nicest possible way then you have two options,
            One is change your seed diet,
            Two is await further info, which I do not believe will be long in coming.

          3. 316636+ up ticks,
            Jbf,
            Maybe forewarned is forearmed as in not revealing to the opposing enemas until the last moment.
            I know that works both ways but I would assume the Tommy /Carl/ Alan side to be more dedicated.

    2. Tommy Robinson & Carl Benjamin To Launch Free Speech Movement In London.

      That’s not going to go down too well!

      1. 316636+ up ticks,
        Morning AS,
        Something had to give, I for one will say the pat mountain & co
        ersatz Nec, UKIP will be in total disagreement.
        As in prior post the likes of Tommy Robinson as with Tommy Atkins will be sorely needed, and is being called for as day follows day and things get progressively worse.

      2. I very much doubt whether there a single member of the current government who has the courage to say, unequivocally, that he or she is in favour of free speech?

        1. Morning Richard. They could of course say it, but it would be a lie. In their attempts to mislead and gull the public into accepting their policies the Political Elites have constructed an edifice of unparalleled deceit. This has to be maintained and so the truth must be suppressed at all levels of society. It is not unlike the situation that existed in the old Soviet Union and will very probably end the same way!

  22. According to the labour party, women in deprived areas are more likely to die earlier. The causes have not actually been defined but of course It’s because of tory government cuts. Nothing to with lack of funding because the people who are living in the deprived areas are recent migrants, don’t work and live completely off the UK taxpayer.
    Then of course it’s everyone else’s fault that the local councils have no money in the kitty because their income is almost no existent. Perhaps a simple reminder might be circulated in such ‘deprived’ areas. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”.
    Unless of course you’re a political figure, or a lounging specialist trougher in the house of Lords.

    1. I suspect it is more like lt to be down to they don’t take any exercise and that they are obese and that they are heavy drinkers and smokers and may also be taking drugs

    3. As part of their findings that life is sooo unfair due to austerity, they are surprised that life expectancy has stopped increasing. Well, unless you can regenerate the basic human biological form, then there must be a limit as to how long you can keep an organism from living. Once you have reduced deaths from avoidable or treatable illnesses, improved nutrition and improved care for the elderly, there is little more than you can do. One thing is for certain, none of us gets out alive.

  23. DT Headline

    Politics latest news: Brussels to reveal its red lines in trade negotiations with UK

    Red lines are completely irrelevant. All Traita May’s red lines were ignored and swept away – the same should happen to the EU’s red lines.

    The sooner BJ abandons all further non-negotiations with the EU and finds a better use for his testicles than his own domestic gratification the better it will be for all of us including, I suspect, Ms Symonds.

    2. Most youngsters play with plastic balls now not much heavier than a balloon.
      Footballs are also far lighter than the lumps of paneled wet leather with the huge laces we played with when we were younger.
      I’d imagine more brain damage could occur with constant use of 4 and 5 G.

      1. Apparently the number of times you can head a ball will depend on your age – I wonder who will keep tally?

      2. What is utterly ridiculous is banning heading in training for the youngsters yet still allowing it in matches. It should be all or nothing.

        A child who has not been taught to head the ball properly is in far greater danger of damage than a well trained youngster.

        Agreed re mobile devices.

        1. I knew two guys who had brain tumours attributed to the use of mobile phones. One died his doctor told hem he had a virus !
          The other one use to spend most of his daily life on his phone for business reasons. He’s still alive but in a bit of a mess after the tumour was removed.

          1. That is disturbing, I watch people in the streets who seem to have their mobiles grafted onto the sides of their heads. Youngsters will probably be even more vulnerable.

            Presumably the figures are too low to establish a pattern, although it quickly became apparent that vaping wasn’t as “healthy” as first thought.

          3. Thought for the day.
            They are playing with them on their laps, might that cause sterility or deformity of off-spring?

        2. I’ve often wondered about ‘head banging’ shaking heads when dancing etc, more obviously boxing, it must have a deleterious effect.
          The guitarist in the Rock Band ACDC Angus Young, for instance.

          1. Sports are waking up to the dangers, even for fully developed adults, but I don’t suppose the music/entertainment industry gives two hoots.

          5. It won’t happen.

            Farah is as close to fireproof as any athlete gets. If he goes down there are potentially dozens, if not hundreds of athletes who will be attached to the anchor chain.

            Famous last words; (from someone who believed Lance Armstrong for a long time)

      3. When I played rugby at school I often used to take the conversions or the penalties.

        It would have been virtually impossible to succeed with a soggy, water-drenched, heavy leather ball as it is today when conversions and penalties can fly between the posts from the half way line even of the wettest of days..

        Mind you, in those days a penalty was worth the same as a try – three points.

        1. So what you are saying is that the cover girl for “Time”, the advisor emeritus to Heads of Government such as the UK, the darling of eco-greens everywhere, is a retard?

    2. It will be difficult for her to maintain the image of plucky child as she grows up. World watchers might just expect her to be able to answer questions and explain her views.

      1. Looking at her, she doesn’t seem to resemble a properly developed western 16 year old girl.
        Soviet Bloc gymnasts spring to mind, though probably her alleged anorexia may play a part.

    3. This poor girl is nothing more than an auto-cue reader for her eco-loon parents/minders. She can’t lecture ‘off piste’ as she doesn’t speak from research, merely the outpourings from her scriptwriters. Think Naga Munchetty with a higher golf handicap.

  26. When are the police going to act against Left wing Extremists and anarchists

    Why are the police still failing to take action against left wing extremists and anarchists. Parts of the UK are now regularly bought to a halt by so called Climate Activists which appear to consists mainly of extreme left wing types and anarchists and are frequently protesting about anything and everything yet the police take almost no action

    1. Perhaps the police need to keep on the ‘right side’ of these people because the authorities will be in need of thousands of woke smoke detectors. Walking the streets looking for people burning wood in future urgent chimney alerts.

    2. They have friends (and possibly parents) in high places, Bill. The Establishment is on their side. Think on it, the Church of England is teaming up with XR for it’s Lent programme. Forget the man from Nazareth, He didn’t say the right things.

      1. Peaceful protest is permissible but ER go way beyond that and have broken endless laws yet the police largely ignore them

    3. Well the Canadian barricades are down. The climate warriors just moved down the road and are now throwing burning tyres onto the tracks.

      1. Ship in a few Chinese pseudo-tourists who are surprisingly keen to take photos, especially selfies, and let them cough a little. Or even some Italians.

  27. Why burqas, grass skirts, and african costumes come mostly in larger sizes>

    Type 2 Diabetes Rates by Country

    Rank Country Value Year
    1 Kiribati 22.50 2019
    2 Tuvalu 22.10 2019
    2 Sudan 22.10 2019
    4 Mauritius 22.00 2019
    5 New Caledonia 21.80 2019
    6 Pakistan 19.90 2019
    7 Solomon Islands 19.00 2019
    8 Papua New Guinea 17.90 2019
    8 Palau 17.90 2019
    10 Egypt 17.20 2019
    11 Belize 17.10 2019
    12 Malaysia 16.70 2019
    13 United Arab Emirates 16.30 2019
    14 Saudi Arabia 15.80 2019
    15 Tonga 15.70 2019
    16 Qatar 15.60 2019
    16 Bahrain 15.60 2019
    18 Fiji 14.70 2019
    19 Puerto Rico 13.70 2019
    20 Syrian Arab Republic 13.50 2019
    20 Mexico 13.50 2019
    22 Barbados 13.40 2019
    23 St. Kitts and Nevis 13.30 2019
    23 Brunei 13.30 2019
    25 Antigua and Barbuda 13.10 2019
    26 South Africa 12.70 2019
    26 Jordan 12.70 2019
    28 Suriname 12.50 2019
    29 Comoros 12.30 2019
    29 Seychelles 12.30 2019
    31 Kuwait 12.20 2019
    32 Nauru 12.00 2019
    33 Vanuatu 11.90 2019
    34 Guyana 11.60 2019
    34 Dominica 11.60 2019
    34 St. Lucia 11.60 2019
    34 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 11.60 2019
    38 Nicaragua 11.40 2019
    39 Jamaica 11.30 2019
    40 Lebanon 11.20 2019
    41 Turkey 11.10 2019
    42 Trinidad and Tobago 11.00 2019
    43 United States 10.80 2019
    44 Sri Lanka 10.70 2019
    44 Grenada 10.70 2019
    46 Germany 10.40 2019
    46 India 10.40 2019
    46 Brazil 10.40 2019
    49 Bhutan 10.30 2019
    50 Libya 10.20 2019
    51 Oman 10.10 2019
    52 Guatemala 10.00 2019
    53 Portugal 9.80 2019
    54 Israel 9.70 2019
    55 Cuba 9.60 2019
    55 Paraguay 9.60 2019
    55 Iran 9.60 2019
    58 Liechtenstein 9.40 2019
    59 North Macedonia 9.30 2019
    60 Samoa 9.20 2019
    60 China 9.20 2019
    60 Afghanistan 9.20 2019
    60 Bangladesh 9.20 2019
    64 Costa Rica 9.10 2019
    65 Cyprus 9.00 2019
    65 Serbia 9.00 2019
    65 Montenegro 9.00 2019
    65 Bosnia and Herzegovina 9.00 2019
    65 Albania 9.00 2019
    70 The Bahamas 8.80 2019
    70 El Salvador 8.80 2019
    70 Iraq 8.80 2019
    73 Dominican Republic 8.60 2019
    73 Chile 8.60 2019
    75 Tunisia 8.50 2019
    76 Denmark 8.30 2019
    76 Malta 8.30 2019
    78 Panama 7.70 2019
    78 Andorra 7.70 2019
    80 Canada 7.60 2019
    81 Colombia 7.40 2019
    82 Burkina Faso 7.30 2019
    82 Uruguay 7.30 2019
    82 Honduras 7.30 2019
    85 Nepal 7.20 2019
    86 Mauritania 7.10 2019
    86 Philippines 7.10 2019
    88 Morocco 7.00 2019
    88 Thailand 7.00 2019
    88 Czech Republic 7.00 2019
    88 Venezuela 7.00 2019
    92 Hungary 6.90 2019
    92 Romania 6.90 2019
    92 Spain 6.90 2019
    92 Korea 6.90 2019
    96 Bolivia 6.80 2019
    96 Cayman Islands 6.80 2019
    98 Haiti 6.70 2019
    98 Timor-Leste 6.70 2019
    98 Algeria 6.70 2019
    101 Peru 6.60 2019
    101 Austria 6.60 2019
    103 Uzbekistan 6.50 2019
    103 Slovak Republic 6.50 2019
    105 Dem. People’s Rep. Korea 6.40 2019
    105 Cambodia 6.40 2019
    105 Lao PDR 6.40 2019
    108 Indonesia 6.30 2019
    109 New Zealand 6.20 2019
    110 Turkmenistan 6.10 2019
    110 Kazakhstan 6.10 2019
    110 Poland 6.10 2019
    110 Ukraine 6.10 2019
    110 Kyrgyz Republic 6.10 2019
    110 Russia 6.10 2019
    110 Armenia 6.10 2019
    110 Azerbaijan 6.10 2019
    110 Tajikistan 6.10 2019
    119 Congo 6.00 2019
    119 Vietnam 6.00 2019
    119 Bulgaria 6.00 2019
    119 Equatorial Guinea 6.00 2019
    119 Gabon 6.00 2019
    119 Central African Republic 6.00 2019
    119 Cameroon 6.00 2019
    119 Dem. Rep. Congo 6.00 2019
    119 Chad 6.00 2019
    128 Slovenia 5.90 2019
    128 San Marino 5.90 2019
    128 Argentina 5.90 2019
    131 Iceland 5.80 2019
    131 Botswana 5.80 2019
    131 Georgia 5.80 2019
    134 Switzerland 5.70 2019
    134 Moldova 5.70 2019
    134 Tanzania 5.70 2019
    137 Australia 5.60 2019
    137 Japan 5.60 2019
    137 Finland 5.60 2019
    140 Singapore 5.50 2019
    140 Ecuador 5.50 2019
    142 Croatia 5.40 2019
    142 Yemen 5.40 2019
    142 Netherlands 5.40 2019
    145 Norway 5.30 2019
    146 Somalia 5.10 2019
    146 Eritrea 5.10 2019
    146 Rwanda 5.10 2019
    146 Burundi 5.10 2019
    146 Djibouti 5.10 2019
    151 Luxembourg 5.00 2019
    151 Italy 5.00 2019
    151 Belarus 5.00 2019
    151 Latvia 5.00 2019
    155 France 4.80 2019
    155 Sweden 4.80 2019
    157 Greece 4.70 2019
    157 Mongolia 4.70 2019
    159 Belgium 4.60 2019
    160 Malawi 4.50 2019
    160 Namibia 4.50 2019
    160 Hong Kong SAR, China 4.50 2019
    160 Angola 4.50 2019
    160 Zambia 4.50 2019
    160 Eswatini 4.50 2019
    160 Lesotho 4.50 2019
    160 Madagascar 4.50 2019
    168 Ethiopia 4.30 2019
    168 Macao SAR, China 4.30 2019
    170 Estonia 4.20 2019
    171 United Kingdom 3.90 2019
    171 Myanmar 3.90 2019
    173 Lithuania 3.80 2019
    174 Mozambique 3.30 2019
    175 Ireland 3.20 2019
    176 Kenya 3.10 2019
    176 Nigeria 3.10 2019
    178 Monaco 2.90 2019
    179 Ghana 2.50 2019
    179 Uganda 2.50 2019
    181 Cabo Verde 2.40 2019
    181 Mali 2.40 2019
    181 Liberia 2.40 2019
    181 Senegal 2.40 2019
    181 Niger 2.40 2019
    181 Côte d’Ivoire 2.40 2019
    181 São Tomé and Principe 2.40 2019
    181 Guinea-Bissau 2.40 2019
    181 Sierra Leone 2.40 2019
    181 Guinea 2.40 2019
    181 Togo 2.40 2019
    192 Greenland 2.10 2019
    193 The Gambia 1.90 2019
    194 Zimbabwe 1.80 2019
    195 Benin 1.00 2019

    https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/indicators/SH.STA.DIAB.ZS/rankings

    1. What on earth are we doing? 171st out of 195? We can do better than that surely? Come on, let’s show them. Let’s set a target of getting in to the Top 10 in the net five years. We can do it!

        1. The USA and Canada are up there. There must be money in diabetes treatments.

          Oh look another TV ad, there is money in diabetes.

    2. I wonder if the low rates in some countries African countries like the Congo, is because everyone gets killed before they can reach an age at which it usually develops.

  28. Any one noticed how the ER brigade have gone a lot quieter since the schools and colleges etc have gone back

  29. Good morning, everyone. MacBook Pro is in the hospital as I spilled half a pint of beer on it last night. Now on a very slow iPad.

  30. BBC hits back at poll showing majority of UK adults support scrapping BBC licence fee

    Well they would. 61% in a poll is a massive majority and only 29% thought the TV licences was value for money. It probably really started going wrong at the BBC with the arrival of digital and they were no longer constrained by lack of bandwidth for channels. They also got heavily into so called local radio of which less than 5% is local the rest is pumping out the same music but usng different presenters for each local station

    1. What is a radio ? You mean some kind of television with no picture, like they used to have in the olden days ?

          3. Ah that brings back memories – the radio that is not the actress. Radio Luxemburg under the bedclothes club.

          5. Ah! The bus from Bromley South Railway Station to the Bromley Court Hotel, not been on that for a while!

  31. Good Morning All,

    Some of you will have noticed the absence ot CV2 this last week. He is fine – perched in his new home on a hill tom in East Wiltshire (the views are spectacular), but he is being mucked around by BT who do not seem to be able to sort out his internet provision. Engineer coming tomorrow so he hopes to be back soon.

    8. A BT technician/ repairman or woman will repair the fault just as a motor mechanic repairs a car.
      An Engineer is a highly qualified graduate in civil engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering………….

  32. Met Office warnings UPDATED: New alerts as snow bomb to blast Britain this week

    Seems the Met Office is joining in the climate change scam. It appears we no longer have snowfalls but snow bombs. Does the snow explode as it hits the ground ?

    2. The weather’s been far worse since they kept naming the slightest alteration in wind, sun or rain behaviour.
      The elements have to live up up to their monikers.

        2. I looked in at the end of the spat. I was very close to handing out a pair of one hour suspensions.

          1. A one hour suspension at that time of night would hardly have cut the mustard.

            I flagged the most offensive post, but it was still there this morning.

          2. It would have stopped them going on and hopefully given them time to calm down.

            I did not receive any notification about an offensive post, maybe someone approved it.

          3. They had already stopped – more or less. Andy had twice said goodnight, but Sos kept up the tirade of insults.

            But never mind, water under the bridge.

  33. Environment Agency chief: Avoid building new homes on flood plains

    Given the planning regulation dont stop homes being built on flood plains they will continue to be built on them. Local council cannot see that over development sand particularly on flood plains cause flooding and to stop that flooding you would need to spends tens of million pounds which would make building on them non viable

    Building new homes on flood plains in England should be resisted if at all possible, the head of the Environment Agency Sir James Bevan has said.

    He said where there was no alternative, homes should be made more resilient, for example by using ground floors for garages so people stay safe upstairs.

    He also argued there may be a need to shift some communities out of harm’s way when the risks become too great.

    It comes after Storms Ciara and Dennis caused widespread flooding.

    1. I noticed that he mentioned the climate emergency, so its nothing to do with the EA then and little that we can do about it, apparently. I saw some of the near brain dead from Pontypridd being interviewed, they complained that an EA text that said there would be flooding had arrived after the water flowed into their house (by the river). There had been warnings for days about the rain and likely flooding. If you go to bed and believe that you are going to be reliably informed of the situation in time to move your valuables upstairs then you are deluded.

  34. ” EU demands UK keep chlorinated chicken ban to get trade deal”
    Leaving aside vested interests, what is the general opinion here about this ?

    2. Both Chlorine and lactic acid can reduce contamination of food. It is nonsense to say the US only uses it because o poor hygiene practices. I suspect the EU has banned it to block competition

      Contamination of meat and poultry occurs on the surface which is why a rare steak is ok but not a rare burger

      1. Interestingly the EU have approved lactic acid which is used for the same purpose. I suspect it is to try to block competition as the US has used Chlorine rather than lactic acid

      2. Rather like turkey twizzlers.

        When Jamie Oliver showed youngsters exactly how they were made and asked the children if they still wanted to eat them, there was a resounding “yes”; much to his surprise/horror.

      2. The use of chlorine on poultry in the US is due to their lower standards of husbandry. As stated elsewhere, if people here don’t buy it then it won’t be imported. Quite simple really.

    5. The EU says chlorine-washed chicken is safe

      No one is saying that you just rely o chlorine for food safety that would be daft

      The European Food Safety Authority has said that there are “no safety concerns” with the chlorination of chicken, but it has also said this practice might not be sufficient for maintaining good hygiene standards throughout the slaughter process..

    6. This is the farming lobby seeking to keep down the competition. A visit to a chicken processing factory should weed out the snowflakes. Those bruises you see on the raw chicken before you cook it? That means they weren’t dead before the feathers were ripped off!

      1. Stress has a bad effect on animals. They produce all sorts of chemical/hormones as part of the “fight or flight” response. However they cannot do either. The chemicals remain in the bodies after slaughter and adversely affect the taste. After death comes packaging. The film released showing the Two Sisters truly horrible factory made it clear what the bottom end of the food industry looks like. Two Sisters supply M&S. The standards of M&S have dropped thought the floor. There was time that they required producers to have a dedicated M&S factory.
        They lost us as a customer after I raised the issue with M&S and they blatantly lied about things.

    7. ‘Morning, Tony what has it to do with the EU? We will import what we like and if they want our chicken nuggets then you get what you pay for, otherwise you’re free NOT to buy them. Understand, thicko? – Not you Tony, the EU.

      1. The only say in it the EU should have is whether they want to buy chlorinated chicken from the UK or not

    8. Here are 3 articles related to chickens imported to the UK from Brazil. I don’t understand the chlorination fuss.
      https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/food/1148776/salmonella-bacteria-risk-warning-food-poisoning-what-is-salmonella-infection-chicken
      https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/chicken-forests-greenpeace-supermarket-fast-food-wildlife-trees-climate-deforestation-a9292576.html
      https://www.globalmeatnews.com/Headlines/Promotional-Features/How-the-Brazilian-poultry-industry-is-adapting-to-changing-European-demands

    9. I would have thought they would have been delighted that we were all going to die from eating it. I wonder how many Americans die from eating their hone produced chicken? Probably the same number who die in the U.K. from U.K. produced chicken. Not many.

      1. Been eating chicken here for 40 years without any ill effects. I recall poor Edwina Currie getting in the neck for pointing out back in the late ’80’s that the British chicken and egg business was riddled with Salmonella, which of course it why the Americans do wash their chickens as part of the process.

        What you are really seeing is lobbying by British chicken farmers trying to avoid competition.

        1. But why are English egg yolks so much yellower than American egg yolks? They don’t bleach the eggs do they?

          1. They might add something to the feed in UK, eg maize.
            French egg yolks are delicious, at least from the local farmer who definitely uses maize (it’s a maize growing area).

        2. Agreed Jack. Scaremongering of the first order. They think we’re re as stupid and insular as they are. Condescending dimwits.

    10. I gather that the US is moving towards using acetic acid instead of chlorine to remove bacteria.
      I don’t have a problem with it, as like Richard L I’ve eaten it when I’ve been in the U.S..
      Beats eating horsemeat labelled as beef…

    11. I suppose that when we visit the US, we get to eat chlorinated chicken. We are still here, so it did not kill us.

      Unlike the tap water in many places , their chicken does not smell or taste like some chemical brew (Jack or Jill may contradict me if WV water is drinkable).

      Edited.

  35. Outgoing head of MI5 says lack of regulation on ‘wild west’ web is ‘mystifying. 25 February 2020.

    Questioning why there was so little regulation of social media and the internet, he said: “Are we really wanting a world where there’s a cyber space that is a wild west, unregulated, inaccessible to authorities?

    Er…? Yes! Next question.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/02/25/lack-regulation-wild-west-web-mystifying-says-head-security/#comment

  38. Pst do me a few favors and I will give you a seat in the Lords giving you a nice £300 a day plus expenses and heavily subsidized meals

    In any other business it would be a criminal offence but in politics s anything goes

    How you change this corrupt system who knows as it is the politician that control the system. At the rate they are going we will have a 1000 Lords before long

  39. Coronavirus
    spreads to the SOUTH of Italy, with panic-buyers stripping supermarket
    shelves bare in Palermo after infected tourist from the north – where
    death toll has hit 7 – visits Sicily
    (From the Mail)

    1. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TCM0nDE1BfU

      Will All Cruises Be Cancelled In Europe This Summer For 2020?

      The cruise industry has already pulled out of the Far East because of the virus outbreak. With the outbreak in Italy, the Mediterranean could be next.

      This could seriously affect the global economy, seeing as so many countries have outsourced so many jobs to Chi and so much of their production of goods, plus the effects it will have on international trade overall.
      If it does badly affect the US economy, that could benefit Bernie Sanders, as an economic downturn tends to favour the presidential challenger, and the left will spin it as being Trump’s fault.

  40. Would you eat a ‘steak’ printed by robots?

    You might not know it, but if you wear a hearing aid, you are likely to be part of the 3D printing revolution.

    Almost all hearing aids nowadays are produced using the technique.

    Also known as additive manufacturing, 3D printing involves building up layers of material – plastic, metal or resin – and bonding them together, until eventually you have the finished product.

    Sounds a bit like how integrated circuits work which is a mixture of depositing materials and etching material away

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51263266

    1. What on Earth is that?
      It looks like one of those rubber things with suction pads that sticks to everything!
      I think it has quite a long CV considering the small length of time it’s been around.

      1. A long CV ?
        The popular song : ” I’ve gotta long Corona Virus ” ?
        (No relation of the 2CV below)

  42. BBC Drama Chief Defends ‘Doctor Who,’ Says It’s A “Long Way” From Being Rested Amid Ratings Drop

    The program is tired and probably needs to be dropped after this serious. There will be I am sure a niche audience of fans but just not that many

    1. Working for the BBC means never having to say you’re sorry, or that you’re wrong in any way, even if your ratings are disappearing faster than an ice cube in a hot desert.

    2. The programme has been ruined by far left identity politics.

      Could be worse. Could be Batwoman on CBS in the U.S., which can’t muster a million viewers out of 350 million audience.

      Both series have been renewed for another season.
      When in the wrong and destroying a brand, double down, and refuse to admit you’ve f***** up. Blame the audience instead.

    4. BJ, you cannot be serious! (No, NoTTLers, I am not a famous tennis player, and I will not send you each a five bob postal order.)

  44. It’s time for men to man up. Spiked. 25 February 2020.

    My fear is that 21st-century culture is helping to infantilise men, and that this in turn feeds bad behaviour. We no longer venerate great fathers, husbands and brothers. Instead, we are expected to value self-obsession, self-promotion and self-prioritising. Men don’t seem to strive to have a family anymore. Increasingly, they have protracted, frivolous and feckless existences. Their adolescence stretches way beyond their youth.

    Morning everyone. We have never venerated great fathers, husbands and brothers the very idea is a self-serving feminist myth since it casts men in a supporting role. The real justification for past masculine social supremacy was their willingness to be rounded up when required, equipped with weapons and then be despatched to fight like minded groups. Their reward for risking their own lives and the sacrifice of their brothers was to be “venerated” by the society which they served. The requirement for this has now passed away due to the technological changes in warfare where only small contingents are required to wage it and almost none at all at the higher levels of lethality. This evolution in conflict has made men socially redundant and ushered in the Feminist Age by default. It is no coincidence that it is almost without exception a Western phenomenon and paradoxically because they have been the most successful at what they were sent to do! White men conquered the world and thus made themselves and their raison d’être irrelevant! Unfortunately it also means that the present supremacy of Women will not only continue but augment.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/02/25/its-time-for-men-to-man-up/

  46. Morning

    SIR – The Schengen Agreement is the perfect policy to implement if you wish to spread any contagious virus.

    The coronavirus has reached Europe and will now fly – yet the EU is reluctant to close its borders. Clearly its blinkered devotion to the rules comes above all else.

    Mick Ferrie

    Mawnan Smith, Cornwall

    SIR – May we be clear that “pandemic” refers to the spread, not the devastation, of a disease?

    The geographic coverage is not synonymous with “global disaster”.

    John Buckland

    Iwerne Minster, Dorset

      1. No! I can….and isolated myself from a hospital visit and the family when I had that infection and it wasn’t the C one….but the main public? No.

      3. It seems that some are infectious but symptom-free. That is a particularly clever virus!

        ‘Morning, Belle.

      4. Morning, Belle.
        How can they? Obviously the actual patient can take themselves off to bed, but those around them must still get on with life. What happens to a household that cuts itself off for a fortnight – or a month as is now being suggested?
        Children still have to go to school.
        Shopping still has to be done. Even if others do it for the plague house, the goods have to be handed over. Who has handled the goods beforehand?
        Most work places would be unamused if staff failed to turn up because Jacintha sneezed.
        Although I would be v. cross and whingey if I caught the bug, it would seem to be on a par with previous winter flu outbreaks.
        The uncertainty is a secretive Chinese government and the proximity of China’s answer to Porton Down in the original area of the outbreak. Most pandemics have originated in the Far East.
        (And given the number of Chinese in Africa, I treat the silence over infections levels there with great scepticism.)

        1. Good morning Anne ,

          The media are scaring the living daylights out of many people .

          I woke up this morning feeling very headachy.. Moh who always feels the cold far more than me , had closed the bedroom window and turned the electric oil heater up in the bedroom .. so that plus 2 dogs on the bed was a very uncomfortable feeling .

          This country has more things to worry about re the dreadful floods .. and other things.

          1. That is the problem. The whole matter has been inflated to fill space – both on air and in newsprint.
            In my more paranoid moments, I wonder what is being hidden behind this smokescreen of deliberately stoked-up panic.

          2. It used to be that the government would try to restore calm and give confidence to people that they had it under control. Those days are long since gone and it now seems they try to scare the sh 1 t out of everyone at every twist and turn.
            I wonder if our parents became like us as they got older? Sceptical of so called authority.

      5. No. It is completely weird of the government to have expectations that they will do so. May their chickens come home to roost in Westminster. In any group I am sure there are people with the turn of mind “well, if I’ve got it let’s see how many I can give it to”. In this day and age the concept of ‘me first’ will prevail especially if they’ve just returned from a holiday and have to re-stock the pantry.

        1. Morning pm,

          Just like the blighters who spread STD’s / Aids/ toxic TV/ coughs colds and the rest ..

          Just thinking about BBC Breakfast prog this morning showing a bike hike for charity in the Sahara .. Louise Minchin and several others sweating their hearts out to raise money for mental health .

          I think they must be darned mad themselves because their carbon foot print , transporting a whole BBC team there in the middle of nowhere to record the event must cost a bomb!

          Just saying, that’s all .

          1. I agree. There are many people these days who act solely for themselves. Our country is feeling so foreign in many ways (apart from the obvious) from the one in which I grew up and started on the path of my young adult life.

    2. SIR – A recent study found that the plastic personal effects trays used in security checks at airports contained many viruses and bacteria more harmful than those in airport toilets.

      These trays are not washed frequently, so passengers should carry anti-bacterial spray to administer to the tray and their hands before and after passing through security.

      Fiona Thomas

      Grosmont, Monmouthshire

          2. It seems to be, but I’m not up to date on airports; I stopped flying when I retired 8 years ago.

          3. I am happy in summer just visiting a local garden and having a pot of tea and a home made scone or snack……and a good book. Heaven.

          4. In a mere century, one of mankind’s greatest aspirations has been turned into a living hĕll.
            I loathe flying. I resent handing over good money to be treated like vermin.

          5. Console yourself by considering that the UK were world leaders in setting up “airport security”. As the Home Secretary of the time stated publicly, “it does nothing for security. It is a PR exercise to make people feel safer.”
            That has not changed. The number of actual terrorists arrested at “airport security” each year is zero.

          6. Oh, I thought it was just an exercise in annoying travellers to make flying an evermore unpleasant experience (with thelong term knock on effect of discouraging people from flying and reducing their carbon footprint).

          7. No that’s just collateral irritation, part of the package.
            If it is so uncomfortable it must be working?

          8. ‘Morning, Jenny. In my experience, no. There is the usual tray-through-the-xray-machine and the walk-through archway thingy, and if you trigger the latter you get the magic wand treatment, but I haven’t come across any of the other measures like the ban on liquids. Mind you, it’s some years since I flew anywhere; if I can’t get there by Eurostar then I don’t go.

          9. Morning Hugh…..my sentiments exactly. It is over 20 years since I have flown and never will again now and I wondered about the tunnel.

      2. Morning all.
        Big problem Fiona Thomas, if you took out any type of spray can at the endless boring cattle queue at airport security, you’d be jumped on immediately by the security guards.

    3. SIR – Given the Covid-19 transmission rate, I wonder how many infected children will be returning to school from a short break abroad with parents during half term? None, I hope.

      William Blake

      Clun, Shropshire

      SIR – I am astonished by the number of people who have been photographed wearing masks but not gloves. These are a tried-and-tested means of preventing the spread of disease.

      Geoff Lowden

      Wimborne, Dorset

      SIR – Having spent a fair bit of time in Africa these past few years, and witnessed the large numbers of Chinese people there, I’m amazed there are no recorded cases of the coronavirus.

      Robin Beckett

      Singapore

      SIR – Is the spread of the coronavirus on a cruise ship a wake-up call to carriers, ships or aircraft to install more effective air purification systems? These could include Hepa filters and ultraviolet light, as used in hospitals, to destroy bacteria and viruses.

      If these are not thought to work, there would seem to be a business opportunity to develop an effective air purification system.

      Eirwen Sykes

      Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire

      1. BBC Radio 4 this morning reported that a BA flight coming into Heathrow when 7 miles from the runway reported an emergency. The co-pilot had passed out and was unresponsive. The Captain had to land the plane. The cause was a leak of toxic air into the cockpit. The report also said that an average 5 such incidents took place world wide each day.

    1. 316636+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      These requests ( at the moment) should not come to hard too the governance parties seeing as they are
      being of a submissive,PCism, Appeasement nature already.
      All the peoples have to do is join the dots nationwide on who is getting power positions where it counts.
      Plus the fools, sorry typo, peoples really must stop this party before Country voting trend.
      My belief is that the islamic ideology
      followers already have the curtain requirements for the lab windows.

  48. Four men jailed for smuggling 29 Vietnamese nationals into Britain in back of van

    Four men have been jailed for smuggling 29 Vietnamese people into Britain in the back of a cramped van.

    Women and children were among those taken into the UK from France on a 42ft yacht before being herded into the vehicle.

    Jon Ransom, 63, from Kent, Glen Bennett, 55, from Burnley, and Frank Walling, 72, from Colne, were sentenced at Truro Crown Court on Monday to four and a half years in prison, police said.

    Keith Plummer, 63, was sentenced to three years and four months.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d584e810a7b8823d718d474578fc655b01d1dad45913dc268800b0ba3875db6d.jpg

    2. Faced with that group of dubious individuals it’s surprising the Vietnamese didn’t head straight back to France.

  49. Police sergeant sacked for refusing drugs test

    A police sergeant who refused to provide a drugs test has been dismissed despite a “previously unblemished career”.

    Sergeant Michael Suley, of Essex Police, who was based in Clacton, was found to have breached standards of professional behaviour for orders and instructions and discreditable conduct.

    Essex Police Chief Constable BJ Harrington chaired a hearing yesterday in Chelmsford, which heard that Suley refused to provide a urine sample during a drugs test on November 25, 2019.

    Suley cited the reasons for his refusal related to concerns that the test would return as positive because he took cannabidiol (CBD) oil and that he had recently been at risk of passive inhalation of cannabis smoke while off duty.

    Refusing to provide a sample is deemed to be as serious as failing a drugs test, Essex Police said.

    1. I understand the police have routine drug tests……if only the higher ups did it might curb some of their stupid political decisions

    2. Good.
      When I was working, had I refused to allow urine or blood samples to be taken and tested for drugs I’d have also been sacked.
      A pity our MPs and senior snivel serpents are not under the same regime.

  51. Amazon and Netflix face new rival as France’s TF1 launches London TV drama studio

    Have they not heard of Brexit. They are supposed to be fleeing the UK and not fleeing to it

    France’s biggest commercial television company is launching a major English language drama production company in London to create a European alternative to US studio giants Netflix and Amazon.

    TF1’s Newen division is investing in a major joint venture with veteran TV producer Gub Neal, famed for hits from The Fall and Cracker to Prime Suspect.

    Ringside Studios, as the joint venture company is called, will create English language series and serials using talent from across Europe.

    It will both create entirely original dramas, and remakes of existing foreign language series into English versions.

    1. It might be dawning on the continentals that following Brexit, there is a good chance of tapping into preferential terms with all sorts of places (a lot of them English-speaking) that have trouble tying up a deal with the EU. Australia, India and the United States all have thriving industries, but continental Europe could well find a cultural niche beyond them. If it all goes pear-shaped for the incompetent Brits, there’s stlll the UK home market, competing with the BBC.

  54. Greenpeace boss John Sauven at risk of two-year jail term after stopping BP drilling for new oil

    Greenpeace’s boss could be jailed for two years, after the owner of a rig that eco-activists blocked from drilling for new oil wells pursued legal action against him.

    John Sauven, the executive director of Greenpeace, whose HQ is at Canonbury Villas, attended a hearing at Edinburgh’s Court of Session today, which saw Transocean seek to hit the non-governmental organisation with unlimited fines for contempt of court.

    The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise blocked the Transocean rig – which BP was paying £140,000 a day to use – as it was en route to the Vorlich oil field in the North Sea to drill for new wells in June, forcing it to do a u-turn and head back to shore.

    Greenpeace stands accused of breaching an interim interdict secured by Transocean – with BP’s consent – because it continued its protest – which eventually lasted for 12 days and saw activists board the rig.

    Lawyers for Greenpeace argued it was necessary to disrupt the BP rig to prevent the multi-national oil and gas giant from making the climate emergency worse by extracting 30 million barrels of oil.

    The rig is the ‘Paul B Loyd Jr’, owned by Transocean, and on its way to the Vorlich field where it was to be drilling new oil wells, operated by BP, paying 140,000 a day for its use. BP is the operator, and Transocean the owner. Picture: Robert Omerod/ Greenpeace
    Greenpeace climbers on BP oil rig in Cromarty Firth, Scotland. The rig is the ‘Paul B Loyd Jr’, owned by Transocean, and on its way to the Vorlich field where it was to be drilling new oil wells, operated by BP, paying 140,000 a day for its use. BP is the operator, and Transocean the owner. Picture: Robert Omerod/ Greenpeace

    He said: “Six months after our rig action ended, and after getting a permanent interdict against Greenpeace, BP’s rig operator Transocean is desperately doing everything it can to scare us off. But we will not be silenced. We will stand up proudly in court to defend our peaceful protest.

    J

  55. Mother fears epileptic son could drown in bath at overcrowded housing association flat in Cally

    Seems to be an excuse to try to get rehoused

    A single mother has been pleading for a walk-in shower for two years because she’s fearful her son will have an epileptic fit and drown in the bath.

    How about taking the plug away and then that risk goes

      1. The bath has one of those but she is trying to claim he could have a fit and drown. The solution though is simple just take the bath pub away

        Foe some reason she is also trying to claim she needs a ground floor flat

  56. Brexit and lack of European nurses applying for UK jobs creating ‘extensive difficulties’ for Homerton Hospital

    What Brexit has to do with it who knows. How about the NHS training nurses. The NHS have pretty much depleted the supply of EU nurses that want to work in the UK. You are also reach the time when some will want to return home

    Brexit and the reduction in European nurses applying to work in the UK are contributing to the “extensive difficulties” in recruiting workers, Homerton Hospital bosses say.

    Other factors causing a vacancy rate of 7.4% at the hospital include a 22% drop in the number of new entrants to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register and the number of nurses quitting. From 2016 to 2017, 20% more people quit than became registered nurses.

    1. New recruits are probably scared off by the thought of student debt. Yet again government has mended something that wasn’t broken. Time to return to the old ways of Probationary Nurses taught on the wards by experienced nurses and Sister overseeing it all. Pass their probationary period, see what sort of nursing they have an aptitude for and then provide day release for further studies to make them proficient. Those that don’t like the sharp end will drop out and not be left with a debt mountain.

          1. ‘ere, Alf, can you tell that daughter of yours that she’s starring on BBC4 tonight at 8pm.

            I haven’t seen her all day.

          2. I saw her this morning climbing into HG Wells’ time machine. She was determined to make a personal appearance.
            Thought I had posted something like this earlier but can’t see it.

  57. Rape complainants consented to sex with grime star Solo 45, court told

    Why are the all called stars. Never heard of this guy

    Four women who accuse a grime star of rape and false imprisonment consented to the sexual activity with him, a jury has been told.

    Andy Anokye, 32, who performs as Solo 45, is on trial at Bristol Crown Court, where he denies 31 charges, including 22 of rape and five of false imprisonment.

    The musician, who grew up in the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham and had a flat in Bristol, insists the allegations relate to consensual sexual activity between him and the four complainants.

    In the defence closing speech, Sally O’Neill QC said officers who initially investigated Anokye showed a “prejudicial lack of open-mindedness which corrupted this investigation from the outset”.

    She said failings in the disclosure process led to a previous trial in January 2019 being delayed, with a new team going “back to square one”.

  58. Murder probe after dog breeder to royalty shot dead near Stanley Johnson’s Exmoor estate

    A murder probe is under way after a dog breeder to royalty was shot dead near an Exmoor estate belonging to the prime minister’s father Stanley Johnson.

    Debbie Zurick was found with shotgun injuries outside a house in Winsford, Somerset, on Saturday. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

    The 56-year-old was a dog breeder who supplied spaniels to Princess Anne.

    Boris Johnson’s father Stanley paid tribute to her on Monday night, saying she will be “sorely missed by her many friends”.

    Police were called to a property in the village at about 2.30pm on Saturday after concerns were raised over the welfare of a woman.

    They arrived to find Mrs Zurick. Her cause of death has since been confirmed as shotgun injuries.

    A second woman, who is being treated as a key witness, was located nearby and taken to a place of safety. She was uninjured.

    A further search of the premises by police a 67-year-old man was found in an outbuilding, Avon and Somerset Police said in statement.

    He had suffered serious injuries caused by a shotgun

  59. Tesco announces 1,800 staff could lose jobs in bakery changes

    Tesco has announced 1,816 of its employees are at risk of losing their jobs as it makes changes to its in-store bakeries.

    It comes as the supermarket announced a number of changes to “adapt to changing customer demands”.

    Tesco will convert 58 of its bakeries to be able to finish off pre-baked products in-store.

    While 201 sites will only bake some of its most popular items from scratch.

  60. HS2 releases new images of west London ‘super hub’ Old Oak Common station

    Old Oak Common is set to be constructed in 2026 in Hammersmith and Fulham as part of the government’s HS2 plans.

    It will see high-speed rail services to the midlands, Scotland and the North, as well as access to central London and Heathrow via Crossrail, according to HS2 Ltd – the government-funded body responsible for developing the new network.

  61. HSBC will close 27 branches this year to reduce its network to 594.

    “The plans reflect the long-term change in the way customers are banking alongside the bank’s need to ensure a sustainable branch network for the future,” it said.

    Over the past five years, the number of customers using HSBC UK branches has fallen by a third, it said

    “Retaining a sustainable branch network is extremely important to us and we need to ensure it is fit for the future,” said Stuart Haire, HSBC UK’s head of retail banking and wealth management.

    “But, the way our customers bank with us has changed significantly over the last five to ten years, and that change is something we cannot ignore”

    The bank said it will be investing almost £34m in its branches this year, including installing new technology and refurbishing 49 sites.

  62. HSBC brings early close to partnership with British Cycling

    Probably down to the drug taking in Cycling. Not the sort of image thy want to be associated with

    British Cycling has announced that HSBC is to end its partnership with the sport, four years into an eight-year arrangement.

    The bank, which recently announced 35,000 job losses worldwide, has cited a shift in “UK marketing and sponsorship priorities” as being behind the decision, which will come into effect after the Olympic and Paralympic games this year.

    1. I think the one on the left would date more closely to mid-20th C, or more precisely third quarter of the 20th C. I would say they had become extinct by the late 20th.

          1. You missed out paedophile.
            The German Socialist movement was very much into the sexualisation of children during the ’60s & ’70s.

            The Sexual Revolution and Children
            How the Left Took Things Too Far

            Germany’s left has its own tales of abuse. One of the goals of the German 1968 movement was the sexual liberation of children. For some, this meant overcoming all sexual inhibitions, creating a climate in which even pedophilia was considered progressive.

            Von Jan Fleischhauer und Wiebke Hollersen
            02.07.2010, 15:22 Uhr

            https://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/the-sexual-revolution-and-children-how-the-left-took-things-too-far-a-702679.html

    2. BBC Radio 4 reported this morning that working with police and authorities, the muslim Mosque leaders have formed a volunteer group of about 100 civilian muslims to protect their mosques from the “fascist right group”, [Britain First] , attacking their mosques. Vigilantes?

      2. It seem the authority which to deflect attention away from the real problem. I don’t think there is much left of Britain First in fact I think it has disbanded. Now whilst not a particularly nice group they did not go around planting bombs or knifing people or grooming school girls. In most case any violence was due to far left groups attacking them

  66. EU set to agree UK trade talks mandate

    Ministers from the EU are meeting to approve their mandate for post-Brexit trade talks with the UK.
    The document approved by the EU General Affairs Council on Tuesday morning will be the basis for future negotiations, to be carried out by Michel Barnier.
    It says that EU standards should serve as “a reference point” in any future trade deal.
    Meanwhile, UK ministers will also meet at No 10 to discuss the government’s opening stance for negotiations.
    The final agreement is due to be published online and presented in Parliament on Thursday.

    Nathalie Loiseau, an MEP for French President Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche! party, said the bloc wanted clarity about what the UK wanted to achieve in trade talks.

    “If you would like to lower the standards [in areas such as food, farming], there would be mechanism to protect us from any sort of unfair competition,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

    “But the question I would like to ask is: what sort of discussion will your government have with other trade partners? Will you abide to American standards in terms of consumer protection for instance? This is still unclear to me.”

    It is expected that ministers in the UK will commit to seeking a Canada-style agreement with zero tariffs, a proposal Mr Johnson and his Europe adviser David Frost have set out in speeches in recent weeks.

      1. Ah it appears now that most use lactic acid on chicken. Whilst never mentioned most UK beef i washed in lactic acide

  68. 316636+up ticks,
    Paging Mr Gerard Batten, paging Mr Gerard Batten,
    how about joining Tommy / Carl / Alan & co and giving the peoples a large dose of HONEST political rhetoric
    in their shell likes.
    You have the proven CV as seen in actions / rhetoric
    inclusive of being a politician of an honest decent standing.

    PS,
    IMO retirement does not become you.

  70. There is huge demand for more homes to be built.

    More people are living alone and growing numbers of young people are living with their parents because they cannot afford their own place.

    But everything from where all the new homes should go to how big there are is a source of much debate.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-51577853

    Scroll down to the bottom and see for yourselves how mean some of the property sizes are .. depending in what part of the country they are built ?

    1. 316636+ up ticks,
      Afternoon TB,
      I do believe we the indigenous quit building homes long ago it is now a case of immigrants building homes for immigrants, ongoing.
      Turn off the inlet valve clearly marked
      “Mass Uncontrolled Immigration”, stop giving mass uncontrolled immigration parties support & start jailing their voters as enemas of the state, then commence GIANT cull of illegal bodies.
      We will then find we have enough homes for the indigenous to have two dwellings, one for living in, and one as a holiday chalet.

    2. My studio flat in a block opened in 1937 is just 310 square feet but apparently there are many much smaller than that being built today.

  71. Ex-Lib Dem leader quits party after Westminster child sex abuse report

    Ex-Liberal Democrat leader Lord David Steel has quit the party and will retire from the House of Lords “as soon as possible” following the publication of a damning report into allegations of child sexual abuse linked to Westminster.

    The 81-year-old said: “I have received indications that some in the Liberal Democrat party wish me suspended

    1. In his twilight years, at least Lord Steel can take his well blagged earned retirement, safe in the knowledge that the LibDems continue to go from strength to strength.

      The new leadership has issued instructions to “Go back to your constituencies, and prepare for Government” to both party members.

    2. I understood he’d already been thrown out because he’d known about Cyril Smith and not said anything.

      1. How is it that the “great & good” seem wholly incapable of doing the right thing? Steele is beneath contempt for doing nothing: I wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire.

  72. Thief fined for stealing from vehicles and carrying a knife

    Carrying a knife ought to have an automatic prison sentence in my view

    A thief has been fined £90 and forced to wear an electronic tag for three months after stealing from three vehicles, carrying a knife and possessing class A drugs.

  73. Q: If you wake up and it’s bright and sunny with a blue sky at 8 o’clock, what does it signify for you?

    A: That by 3:30, when I collect my grandson from school and begin the walk home, it’ll be p1ssing it down.

    2. I commented earlier today that usually it has turned cloudy by the time I have got dressed and come downstairs. It was attempting to snow as I went to collect my grandaughter – by the time I reached her school it had passed on but still freezing cold, though she insisted on having the car window open on thte return ( I deduce the school is overheated.)

  74. The Guardian view on Eurovision 2020: don’t blame the public. Editorial. 25 February 2020.

    Yes indeed. But what might seem straightforward for Mr Ulvaeus has become horribly complicated for the United Kingdom, which has underperformed in the competition to a startling degree for more than 20 years. Britain’s last victory came in 1997, with Love, Shine a Light by Katrina and the Waves. Years of failure and sometimes outright humiliation followed, most famously in 2003, when Jemini finished last with no points at all. Last year Michael Rice fared little better, scoring a miserable 11 points and also finishing at the bottom of the pile.

    Underperformed? How is this possible? Winning this dreadful load of Gay Kitsch would be a blot on any country’s record. The European Song Contest is the prototype of all the drivel that currently appears on the BBC. If my television did not have an on/off switch I would be condemned to hiding behind the sofa as I did when I was six, albeit that was to avoid the horrors of Quatermass, a far superior production! The reason for the BBC’s addiction to this exercise in cultural androgyny is that it is European and thus irreproachable!

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/24/the-guardian-view-on-eurovision-2020-dont-blame-the-public

  75. Greek clashes erupt over new migrant camps

    This mass migration in my view will end very badly. Hundreds of thousands of illegals are pouring in to a very overcrowded Europe from countries with low population densities. It cannot continue but the politicians and left think it can and believe Europe can accommodate unlimited numbers of people. The problem is it cannot. If it carries on Europe will become in my view a tinder box. WE are already seeing the strains and frictions it is causing

    Hundreds of thousands of migrants arrived on the Greek islands off Turkey en route from Syria to Europe in 2015 and 2016. Numbers have dropped since then after an EU deal with Turkey.

    However, arrivals have been rising again and a total of 42,568 migrants are currently on the islands.

    Some 19,000 people are currently housed at the Moria refugee camp on Lesbos – originally designed to accommodate fewer than 3,000.

    There are similar levels of overcrowding at other sites spread across the islands.

    Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, recently called for an end to the “shocking and shameful” conditions at the Greek camps.

    Mr Mitsotakis and his conservative government have taken a tougher line on migration. The Greek government recently invited proposals for a floating barrier to block migrants from arriving by sea.

    1. Total land mass of Africa 30,365,000 square km
      Total land Mass of UK 245,000 square kilometers

      THe above gives some idea of the problem of mass migration. It is a bit like trying to fit a Litre into 1cc

      1. More than half of the world’s population growth will be in Africa by 2050.

        By 2050 around 2.2 billion people could be added to the global population and more than half of that growth will occur in Africa.
        Africa will account for the highest population spurt with an additional 1.3 billion people on the continent, a new UN population report shows.

        There is no way that Africa can support this increase! They must therefore come to Europe which will collapse under the influx!

        https://qz.com/africa/1016790/more-than-half-of-the-worlds-population-growth-will-be-in-africa-by-2050/

        2. The 19th century was the century of massive population growth in Europe and those lands settled by Europeans as economic growth drove medical advances, advances in agriculture and demand for labour. The 20th century was Asia’s “turn” . Now Africa is following.

          1. Doesn’t the tribe with the upper hand just slaughter the others. It keeps the numbers down in London.

    3. 316636+ up ticks,
      BJ,
      We in England / GB lead the way, a country mile ahead of the others with our packemin campaign.
      Mr cameron ( the wretch) a conservative leader of late even when out in front with the packemin campaign, raised the numbers,what a man, what a leader.

      1. Anyone that begins a thread with fishy puns is to be Meunièred and have capers thrown at them !

          3. They are aren’t they. Mine are line caught individually. At least i think so, given the price.

    3. Please be aware that any fish that flounder into your home remain the property of the EA and must be returned to them

    2. “M Barnier, I open with the EU having to pay £39Bn PA for access to Britain for trade.
      Limited, tightly controlled, fishing rights will cost you a further £39Bn PA.
      You will of course be required to meet any standards that Britain might decide to create to make the EU’s life difficult.
      Britain will be granted all overseas territories “owned” by EU members, but we will return Gibraltar to the Spanish.
      All illegal immigrants and asylum seekers will be returned to the EU.

      Oh, and don’t forget that the final arbiter, in case of any dispute, will be Dominic Cummings.”

        1. As a caption, I prefer lacoste’s “play your games” as opposed to your more accurate “place your bets”

  79. Funniest story of the week (so far)
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/2020/02/25/clarifying-rugbys-thorny-issue-transgender-players-hormone-levels/
    “Clarifying rugby’s thorny issue of transgender players’ hormone levels is vital for fairness in the women’s game

    At a time when participation numbers in the women’s game are soaring,
    there are concerns that players who were born as male, but now identify
    as female, could increase the risk of injury when they play in the
    women’s game. There is also the issue of fairness.”

  82. What happened to the medically correct term ‘quarantine’ to describe isolation measures that have proven medical benefit? When did everyone begin to use the term lock down? Was it to save time having to type two characters in a headline? Is one more complex description than the other for the ‘audience’ to grasp? Or is it, that one is synonymous with figures in baseball caps and bullet proof jackets armed to the teeth shouting acronyms as they wave automatic weapons? Is one therefore immediately and dramatically more exciting and therefore stimulating of reactions? Fear, anxiety? Public health since A.I.D.S. has pursued a path of maximum strength dysfunction in place of common sense and objectivity. By this date full millions in the U.K. should have died from A.I.D.S. They have not. Then by now, a million plus should be languishing in the grip of the truly horrific Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (C.J.D.)– such were predictions made at the time. S.A.R.S. is worth mentioning. Instead of science and measures that were commonly employed by ‘matron’ decades ago have been replaced by a shallow and dishonest disaster movie. Theatre has replaced science (c.f. Ms Thunberg). I shall have to face facts: Quarantine is not going to shift product is it?

    3. Not too concerned about this latest scare over the COVID-19 virus, I just hope I don’t get that damn’ Ebola again.

      Had a job shaking it off last time.
      :¬(

      1. Yes, we recall that it complained that being in you was like trying to get blood out of a stone.

        {:-O

      2. It’s that leprosy that’s difficult to shake off, it’s the fingers and toes that usually get shaken off. Right, just off to the lazarette.

    4. The way they dealt with Foot & Mouth was to organise huge funeral pyres and burn all susceptible creatures within a 3 mile radius of any outbreak.

      Shouldn’t we be doing the same here?

    5. With you nearly all the way, but I’d prefer AIDS (without the full stops), as it’s a true acronym (rather than an initialism) and is pronounced “aids” (unless you actually say “ay eye dee ess”, of course).

      1. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (A.I.D.S.) Each word is abbreviated. The full stops are therefore sending a message. I cannot be held responsible if the message is unwelcome.

    2. They are also selling a range of Wokes for cooking the Wokeamole in complete with a signed certificate of authenticity

    1. Strongly disagree; the lady is simply talking favourably about 200 of her constituents, and about a product that is available to purchase in Westminster.

      The BBC then confuses the matter by quoting a man who lost his seat at the last general election, but they cunningly refer to him as an “ex-Plaid Cymru” MP. He has not drifted off to a different party, rather he is no longer a Member of Parliament.

      Mind you, I liked the pun about “… this could be opening up the floodgates.”

    2. Strongly disagree; the lady is simply talking favourably about 200 of her constituents, and about a product that is available to purchase in Westminster.

      The BBC then confuses the matter by quoting a man who lost his seat at the last general election, but they cunningly refer to him as an “ex-Plaid Cymru” MP. He has not drifted off to a different party, rather he is no longer a Member of Parliament.

      Mind you, I liked the pun about “… this could be opening up the floodgates.”

      1. I am not a prude…well maybe just a bit – but such behaviour imo, should result in instant dismissal.

        1. Dismissal from what? He wasn’t an MP at the time.

          Nobody saw any more than if he had been wearing a Speedo on the beach.

          1. Peddy… I just feel that people at the top need to be squeaky clean….call me old fashioned.

    4. 316636+up ticks,
      BJ,
      Is he into animal husbandry same as the wretch cameron ?
      May we ask, what is it with the tories & their tool kits?
      In time what will johnson reveal ?

    5. From other reports it was the woman who asked he lift his shirt tails to show his crown jewels at a private (!) function.

    6. So 13 years ago this bloke exposes his bits at a private party with the encouragement of those there and nobody saw what happened apart from those in the room.

      13 years later a Peeping Tom who videoed the event exposes the video to a potentially worldwide audience without the permission of the person in question.

      Which is the bigger exhibitionist?

      Not very bright on his part, but a lot of double standards on display.

        1. I thought publication of revenge porn was now an offence. Maybe the one with the video will be expecting a knock at the door.

          Or maybe not.

  90. Travelodge gets more than 1,500 job applications for its new Sittingbourne hotel

    So much for the claim that mass migration is needed to fill jobs in hospitality. What they mean is they prefer to recruit cheap labour. I thought as well they are claiming we have a Labour shortage ?

    Travelodge says it received more than 1,500 applications for the 15 positions it advertised for its new town centre branch.

    The budget chain is set to open a 63-room hotel in Sittingbourne at the end of the month.

  91. Apols if already posted; been on hospital duty.
    From the Spekkie:

    COFFEE HOUSE

    Mhairi Black’s drag queen stunt has backfired spectacularly

    Joanna Williams

    25 February 2020 5:52 PM

    Sometimes a politician displays such spectacularly bad judgement their only option is to lash out at their critics. This appears to explain how the SNP’s Mhairi Black has spent much of the past 24 hours. Black has never knowingly shied away from publicity. Perhaps then we shouldn’t be too surprised at her decision to pop along to a primary school for a reading session with a drag queen in tow. And not just any old drag queen but one with a penchant for sharing sexually explicit posts on social media.

    Children have always loved story time. Throwing drag queens into the mix is a far more recent development. Drag queen story hour took off in the US as anxious parents sought to tick off both a visit to the local library and lessons in gender fluidity in one trip. Such sessions are slowly becoming more popular in the UK, with teachers and librarians seeing them as a way to challenge the homophobia and transphobia they perhaps envisage to be lurking deep in the heart of every toddler. Still it’s not every day that your local MP comes along for the ride.

    It seems fair to say that the drag queen Black accompanied, Nathan Mullen, aka FlowJob, was used to performing for slightly older audiences (the clue was surely in the name). Mullen has taken to social media again to defend the story time routine:

    “You take your kids to see panto at Christmas that has drag. Drag is mainstream now. It’s on our TVs, in the news and all over social media.”

    Perhaps it’s just Canterbury, but the dame at my local pantomime was far more interested in shouting ‘Oh yes he is!’ than posting racy pictures online.

    It’s astonishing that not just Mhairi Black but also the school itself decided a visit from a drag queen was just what the children of Glencoats primary school in Paisley needed. Presumably FlowJob received an appearance fee. This was money that could, surely, have been better spent on, well, books for the library.

    But Black still isn’t backing down. The SNP MP has justified her decision to accompany FlowJob to the primary school by Tweeting:

    “If my school had invited a gay MP and a drag queen to visit during LGBT History Month, or even acknowledged that LGBT History Month existed, it would have made an immeasurable difference to the difficult childhoods my LGBT classmates and I had.”

    This gets to the heart of why the drag queen visit happened. Campaigning MPs like Black, as well as teachers like those at Glencoats Primary, appear to see the role of school not as educational but political. This presumably means challenging old fashioned notions that there are just two sexes. And it means exposing kids to characters like FlowJob. Heteronormativity, it seems, is far too conventional.

    Yet rather than having an argument about the rights and wrongs of the gender debate with adults who might dare to disagree with them, campaigners opt to persuade children who can’t answer back. Enter, stage left, the drag queen. The cross-dressing risque performer, once a cheap turn in working men’s clubs, is now also likely to be found reading stories to pre-pubescent children in schools and libraries. The gender-bending, outlandish costumes and crude double-entendres remain. But now the audience is too young to be in on the joke.

    In the hands of ideologically-inspired teachers and librarians, nothing is off limits in the drive to shock children out of their heteronormative assumptions. The notion that some topics are not suitable to discuss in front of children or that (whisper it) the role of adults is to protect children from ideas and issues they are too young to need to know about is derided as hopelessly out dated. The views of parents, of course, are deemed to be largely irrelevant.

    Since her school visit, Black has explicitly attacked those who she claims have expressed “faux sincerity” about FlowJob’s trip to Glencoats. Taking to Twitter once more, she said:

    “You just know that the people pretending to be livid that a drag queen read a book in a school. . . are also the people who run out to buy their kids the latest Grand Theft Auto on release day. Your homophobia is transparent.”

    Let’s hope she’s not relying on the votes of any of these parents come the next election.

    Black deserves all the criticism that has come her way over her decision to join FlowJob in the visit to the primary school. But before Black got involved in this stunt there was a teacher who thought that having a sexually explicit drag performer come along to read to children was a good idea. And, even before this, there were MPs and civil servants all too ready to act at the behest of campaigners in their demands for ever more relationship and sex education for even the very youngest children. Children at school are a captive audience for adult concerns. It’s imperative we do not abuse this responsibility.

  97. Well, we’ve learned something today.
    We took elderly chum to the hospital. She has a Blue Badge card. MB took it to reception and was asked if he wanted a permit for the day or for the whole span of the card (over 2 years). His car registration was entered on the parking data base, and he now has free parking until April 2022.
    We then registered my car number as well, since I also take chum to appointments. Et voila. We waft in and out like Her Maj.
    First find your Blue Badge patient.

    1. Brilliant! No one should have to pay anyway to park for appointments or doing a good turn…..jeez, even the poor staff have to pay. All needs stopping.

      1. Fine but your taxes will go up to compensate and you’ll be battling for scarce parking spaces with commuters and shoppers.

    2. We have a dedicated car park for disabled badge holders at our local hospital. We still have to pay!

        1. I may not have made myself clear. When I say we still have to pay I meant we all have to pay, disabled badge holders too.

          3. Here in the US some people have used mannequins in their cars, when driving on roads that require more than the driver. Otherwise, the toll is higher than for a single occupancy.

    1. The Severn catchment has a long and well documented history of flooding going back to 1258 and probably further back, there are probably no record prior to then

      The flooding may be getting worse but not due to climate change but to large amounts of development which add to the water flowing into the river causing higher levels of water in the river

  100. I have better things to do with my time than be downvoted because of having moral principles.

    1. Huh?
      Who cares what other eejits think? Be true to yourself, and the world can eff itself if it doesn’t like it.

      1. I won’t stand for it Obers…..I never attack others and if I offend someone inadvertently, I will always apologise profusely.

        1. I’m sorry others don’t appreciate you as much as they should, but that’s their problem. Don’t make it yours.
          Those of us with a thinking brain appreciate you beng on nttl. You make it a better site.

          2. The older I get, the more the Yorkshire comes through. That, and not having lived in the UK for 22 years, I tend to be more & more direct. Clarity in everything, say what you mean and mean what you say.

      2. Exactly people who get all uppity and abusive when others post opinions they disagree with should chill a bit.

    4. We lost Bill Thomas because of down-voting to bully him.

      Stand up to it and ignore them.

      Hell’s teeth, I’ve got so many downvotes that even if I earn another 100,000 up votes I still won’t have any!

        3. Don’t take some stupid computer seriously. It’s a machine.
          Mind you, I have to admit I wouldn’t have a clue how to check votes – up, down or even sideways.

          3. I can’t understand why some take it so personally. All my ups disappeared a while ago and if someone disagrees with me, that is the nature of discussion. Try Twatter if you want some real offence!

        4. Jenny – I’ve just checked my old account for upvotes. I’ve reached the dizzy heights depths of
          minus 164,051. It’s not important. No-one cares. Don’t go.

          1. Downvoting is one thing but being accused of being Polly is quite something else…..my God….answering this in my notifs btw. Have seen enough.

          2. Calm down, dear. Since this site was founded, there have been s few posters who may or may not have been Polly, with user names similar, but not identical, to yours. I believe you are genuine. Nothing else matters.

        1. True.

          There is a silly bot that automatically gives downvotes.
          I have been on zero for months.
          Even your current avatar shows 9000+ comments and zero votes

        2. I only used to downvote cruel or ray-cialist comments, but gradually I realised that would be hypocritical.

      2. Can’t be many ministers who are actually bigger than their own country, but she’s giving it her best shot.

        She’s already absorbed Luxembourg.

        2. A few years ago, I had a – totally unnecessary – pre-op assessment with a diabetic nurse. Not a Diabetic Specialist Nurse – just a hideously obese nurse who claimed to be diabetic…

          2. It didn’t help that the nurse had no idea what I was in for. Then, on reviewing my meds, I didn’t recognise the majority of them. Straining to read the form, upside down, I pointed out that, while the surname on the form was the same, the Christian names were far from correct…

          3. One of the few things I retain from being an auditor is the ability read type that is upside down nearly as well as I can read it the right way up.

            When working, I lost count of the times people were telling me one thing and the paperwork was telling me they were being economical with the truth.

          6. About thirty years ago I had to visit the foot clinic.
            As I walked into the consulting room, I noticed the doctor seemed rather surprised.
            His notes were for a woman with the same surname. Her Christian name and address were different. And she was 84 years old.
            Apart from that, the records office was spot on.

      9. Well someone has to test each batch of Belgian Chocolate to confirm it conforms to public health standards and who better to do the job than the health minister…

  102. German amok driver
    In response to a request from Andy, I read the articles in the FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), & wrote a summary but it got buried between articles from 5 – 6 hours ago.

    peddytheviking AndyCochrane65 • 2 hours ago
    I read the main article, then went on to read the subsequent articles.
    52 injured including 18 children, the youngest just 3 y.o. The driver was a 29 y.o. local man from a town of 7,000. He was already on police records for criminal activities. A 2nd person has been arrested, who was filming the event. It’s not yet known whether he was directly involved or just an on-looker.
    So far no motive known, but it is thought that the deed was neither political nor terrorist. When the car came to a halt, members of the crowd ripped open the doors & attacked the driver. He is now in a state which makes formal questioning not possible. There was no alcohol involved but there is a possibility he had taken drugs. His apartment has been searched, various papers & computer examined but no significant clues found. It is thought that there is no connection with the recent mass shooting in Hanau.
    Everybody in a deep state of shock, Carnival has been abandoned. Local church communities are providing counselling.

    1. Ah, yes. Those big, efficient, centralised slaughter houses that meant foot and mouth was trucked from Northumberland down to Essex.
      Soooo much more hygienic than small, local abattoirs.

      2. I have suffered severe food poisoning a few times. The first was after eating Bratwurst in Berlin in 1972, next eating processed meat in a hotel in Switzerland next the German border circa 1978, next eating steak tartare in a fashionable bistro in Pimlico around 1982. In the last instance the presence of a boiled caterpillar on the greens was perhaps a clue as to what to expect.

        1. 316636+up ticks,
          BJ,
          You mean the farce.
          As far as many of the peoples are concerned the “Talking” is over and the polite request
          time commences.

  108. Just a thought,how many cruise ships are in Venice at the moment?? and where will the Mobile Petri Dishes be sailing to when the Italians have pasta(sic) the virus around??

    2. Me. I had roast beef on Friday, fancied Yorkshire pudding, and froze the remaining batter. No lemon, sugar a no no, so I had tuna and mature cheddar, with a squirt of tomato puree. Yum.

      1. My first was lemon and sugar (can’t be beaten) then second with M&S’ lemon and gin and tonic sauce, umm.

        Talking of gin, I got a litre of Silent Pool gin for £22 at Gibraltar airport last week!

        1. Not bad. Closer to home (for the moment), I noticed that the Post Office in Tongham was selling Thundry Hills Gin in gift packs at the weekend. Sadly, Lent begins tomorrow…

        2. Gin and tonic sauce? Not something that I have ever seen over here.

          Must add to the shopping list for the next trip.

  118. Mum says it’s good news from our lake. After hearing nights of happy croaking, it’s full of frog spawn !

  119. Harry the hopping hypocrite is jetting in.

    Prince Harry’s final hurrah:

    Duke arrives in Edinburgh to begin one of his last round of engagements as a working woking royal before Megxit on March 31

    The Duke of Sussex will host a summit tomorrow for Travalyst, where he is expected to unveil a new holiday scheme with a ‘scoring system’ to help tourists pick environmentally-friendly flights.

    Wot? Like using a private jet and helicopter whenever possible?

    Gawd, how many trees must be turned into charcoal and buried to cover your trip?

      1. No idea.

        I suppose it depends how you define it, but I would not be surprised if it was close to the beginnings of the NHS.

          1. Well, somebody paid for mine, and it wasn’t me and I wasn’t insured, perhaps I was an NHS Guinea pig.

            And just as a matter of interest, why have you suddenly popped up here, off topic on the matter being discussed, are you trying to pick a fight?

            And please post your proof of that, together with how a laparoscopy differs from an arthroscopy in terms of “keyhole” surgery.

          2. Both are forms of keyhole surgery or therapy if you prefer. The proof is on several timelines of the NHS. Am I trying to pick a fight? Who knows and who cares anyway ?

          3. I remember reading about a dog that had open heart surgery in the early 1970s, but probably not on the NHS.

  120. Amazing. My uptick total has been halved at long last! Less than halved, in fact. I am no longer offended!

    Edit: I mean my total is now less than half. Oh this is so exciting. I have been discovered.

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