Tuesday 25 March: Why is it taking Britain so long to deal with its plague of potholes?

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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564 thoughts on “Tuesday 25 March: Why is it taking Britain so long to deal with its plague of potholes?”

  4. Why is it taking Britain so long to deal with its plague of potholes?

    Because they are being used to put people off driving as a traffic calming measure

    2. Isn't it strange when some people in our country think that 'they' are being clever. But traditionally they make themselves look rather stupid. It is common practice within our political classes.

    3. Our steep hillside lane is 'pot hole alley' – one of our neighbours started a petition the other week to the council to get something done about them. We will have to see. If the local Councillor, who is quite active, gets on the case and actually achieves anything I might even vote for her, although she's a Greenie.

      1. The last thing she'll do is set about repairing potholes. She'll probably suggest closing the road to vehicles.

        They tried that down our way. The council cut off an arterial route. Accidents soared as people desperately sought to get out of the traffic.

        Folk argue 'take the bus'. Yes, and I do if on my own. Would I want the Warqueen or Junior to? Life no. It's too dangerous, not to mention the feral chavs.

        1. In our part of the world buses are few and far between. Not only that, but if you are lucky enough to have one, it is unlikely to be going where you want when you want.

      2. As a parish councillor I spend a lot of my time trying to get County to fix potholes. Highways put a bit of tarmac in and in no time it needs doing again.

        1. We’ve had a small team doing some patching around here but not in our bit. It soon goes again because they don’t seal around the filler.

          1. I heard that they were not allowed to use hot bitumen because of health and safety. Not sure how true that is, but it would not surprise me.

      1. Cur Ikea Slammer:

        "Britain leads the world in have more potholes per mile than any country except Ethiopia. That's why I have sent Gobby Rayner there to find out how they cope with potholes"

    1. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2191dc7591d4514bc06e01f58c0cce1faeda144c3259c9529ea8daa8b7249e34.png
      It was a grand upstanding bantam cock
      So brisk and stiff and spry
      With springy step and jaunty plume
      And a purposeful look in his eye
      In his little black blinking eye, he had

      I took him to the coop and introduced him
      To my seventeen wide-eyed hens
      He tupped and he tupped as a hero tups
      And he bowed from the waist to them all, and then
      He upped and he tupped 'em all again, he did

      And then upon the peace of me ducks and me geese
      He rudely did intrude
      With glazed eyes and open mouths
      They bore it all with fortitude
      And a little bit of gratitude, they did

      He jumped my giggling guinea fowl
      And forced his attentions upon
      My twenty hysterical turkeys and
      A visiting migrant swan
      But the bantam thundered on, he did

      He ravished my fan-tailed pigeons and
      Me lily-white columbines
      And while I was locking up the budgerigar
      He jumped my parrot from behind;
      She was sitting on me shoulder at the time

      And all of a sudden with a gasp and a gulp
      He clapped his hands to his head
      Fell flat on his back with his toes in the air
      My bantam cock lay dead
      And the vultures circled overhead, they did

      What a champion brute; what a noble cock;
      What a way to live and to die
      I was diggin' him a grave to save his bones
      From the hungry buzzards in the sky
      When the bantam opened up a sly little eye

      He gave me a grin and a terrible wink
      The way that rapists do
      He said, 'You see them big daft buggers up there?
      They'll be down in a minute or two;
      They'll be down in a minute or two.'

      [Jake Thackray]

  7. The Employment Rights Bill is morally wrong. 25 March 2025.

    It is also an affront to free speech. The Bill’s already infamous Clause 20 makes employers liable for the harassment of their staff by third parties. The definition of harassment includes the indirect “effect” of harassment. This can be deemed to have happened even if the “victim” was not present.

    Creating a society of Narks and informers.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/24/the-employment-rights-bill-is-morally-wrong/

    1. Employment contracts will necessarily be re-written to counter this. Don't sign? Goodbye.

      It is designed solely and completely to ensure the Left extend their control over what is said and done. The end result will be that people don't eat out, don't go to pubs. It will destroy jobs and lives.

      Raynor doesn't care about this because she is a worthless heap of excrement with the intelligence of a pea.

  8. Good morning, chums. And thank you, Geoff, for Tuesday's NoTTLe page.

    Wordle 1,375 4/6

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    1. And you won't see much of me today, chums. I am off to a funeral service for a former Rotarian friend.

  10. Morning all 🙂😊
    Sunny start, careful don't get too excited.
    Got to go out, be back later.

  11. I see that the Lords voted with the government yesterday to support cancelling local elections for over 5 million people.
    It seems strange that our political establishment is so against dictators like Putin, while behaving just like him.

    I suppose it is all down to Trump now, the saviour of the free world to impose high tariffs upon us until democracy is restored and our political classes start behaving themselves.

    1. Is it constitutional for the Lords to facilitate the cancelling of elections?

      1. Calm down, dear! Your elected representative will remain in office until the new councils are elected (for all the effing difference that makes).

      2. The Lords is stuffed full of placement who will do as they are told. This is why it is stuffed full of placemen.

    2. 403825+ up ticks,

      Morning B3,

      Nobody but nobody needed 20/20 vision over the last three plus decades to see what was building via the politico's actions.
      No matter how peoples squalk against fact BUT the fact is the electorate aided & abetted ALL the way.
      Now we seem to be depending on a neighbour to sort out OUR self inflicted problems.

      The voting masses should be pavement scrutinising, in united shame.

      1. No, Ogga, you're wrong. We do not live in a democracy. The state is not beholden to the public. We have seen countless times that it does whatever it wants, regardless of democratic wish.

        Politicians ignore their constituencies, councils are even worse. Councillors don't understand the idea of public money.

        This is not the fault of the electorate at all. Do you not remember Brown going to court to have the manifesto rendered basically nonsense? Did you get to refuse Reeve's budget? Could we say no to private school taxation? Were we asked about massive uncontrolled gimmigration? Did Raynor get told no for her appalling unions bill?

        How you can point at the electorate is beyond me.

        Should universal franchise be revoked? Of course. Should voters be far more engaged and aware? Yes. Being allowed to vote should require a test to confirm understanding of basic economic principles. Fail and you cannot vote. We do not live in such a society governed by intelligent, enlightened, motivated, tax payers. We live inn one where the dross are given a say and the state bribes them to vote for it with money stolen by force in ever greater amounts from the ever shrinking worker.

        1. 403825+ up ricks,

          Morning W,
          Granted, it is a dictating governance with a thin veneer of democracy.

          “The state is not beholden to the public. We have seen countless times that it does whatever it wants, regardless of democratic wish.”

          And there lies the major problem,
          “countless times” over & over & over again
          same voting pattern always, PARTY BEFORE COUNTRY.

          ” How you can point at the electorate is beyond me

          With great ease, I know with unshakable certainty, it ain’t no bloody sheep.

          Once bitten twice shy, bitten thrice plus is bordering on the criminally insane.

        2. Maybe being allowed to vote would require that you show that you have skin in the game – so, being a taxpayer, owning property, being an employer, for example, since these are the people who will be required to pay for it all.

          1. I still think Nevil Shute's proposal for the franchise (as explained in his novel 'In The Wet') has merit.

            "Perhaps the most interesting (and enduring) feature of the book is the "multiple vote", seen as a necessary reform of democracy. A person can have up to seven votes. Everyone gets a basic vote. Other votes can be earned for education (including a commission in the armed forces), earning one's living overseas for two years, raising two children to the age of 14 without divorcing, being an official of a Christian church, or having a high earned income. The seventh vote, which in the book is awarded to David Anderson for his heroism, is only given at the Queen's discretion by Royal Charter."

          5. I think it was to encourage a wider appreciation/understanding of foreign climes.

        3. I should like to point out that SOME councillors do understand the idea of public money. I have repeatedly spoken against schemes I think waste it (I am, however, a lone voice).

  13. For those pondering.. Why don't Rupert Lowe & Ben Habib just takeover UKIP?

    Forget it. Former UKIP leader, Richard Braine explains it's riddled with Mi5 moles and was destroyed long ago. Any party that gains a fanbase & starts threatening the Establishment is targetted and dealt with from within.
    Also, The Blob will not tolerate a Farage/Cummings link up.

    Cummings is the one person the Blob fears.

    1. Forget it. Former UKIP leader, Richard Braine explains it's riddled with Mi5 moles and was destroyed long ago."

      The English Defence League went the same way. Even Tommy Robinson could do nothing with it. Eventually he just walked away.

    2. Maybe then a proper party of Loyal Opposition, rather than a patsy doing the Establishment's bidding, needs to address the risk of MI5 infiltration?

      In the menagerie of representative politics, it is wise to sift the moles from the rats, the pigs, the sheep, the ducks and the polecats, and find a way of accommodating them all without wrecking the party or losing sight of what it is there for.

      In short, a party that lacks this resilience is hardly fit to guard or direct a nation.

      As regards MI5, their job is to protect the nation from destructive internal insurgency, and it is probably wise for every party aspiring to Government to have their MI5 operative in there, making sure that the country is not put in danger. It is the job of the party though to have an inkling who their agents are, and to stop any mission creep into matters that threaten rather than safeguard the nation.

      For me, the test of where it ventured across the line occurred when the Leader of the Opposition was falsely accused of "antisemitism", humiliated his party at a general election on this false charge, and then got the man thrown out of the party, to be replaced by someone reliably compliant with a sinister agenda.

      I would have preferred Jeremy Corbyn to have been humiliated for being an old-fashioned international socialist, and reassuringly simple for Tories on the right to tackle.

      Another instance concerns the number of people with Islamic sounding names making it to positions of leadership and policy direction. If MI5 is complicit in this, then this too might be regarded as mission creep, and their agents exposed in the national interest.

    3. MI5 exist — ostensibly — for homeland security, i.e. defence of the realm [MI6 exist to look after the UK's interests abroad].

      These days, though, MI5 are nothing more than puppets of the liberal establishment.

      1. Like all law enforcement as the law is now designed for the state, not the citizen.

      2. Good grief, Grizzly, I am so pleased to see that your shingles have now cleared up.

    4. Yet Cummings is a complete blithering idiot. He lives in a theoretical world, not the real one.

  14. For those pondering.. Why don't Rupert Lowe & Ben Habib just takeover UKIP?

    Forget it. Former UKIP leader, Richard Braine explains it's riddled with Mi5 moles and was destroyed long ago. Any party that gains a fanbase & starts threatening the Establishment is targetted and dealt with from within.
    Also, The Blob will not tolerate a Farage/Cummings link up.

    Cummings is the one person the Blob fears.

  15. 403825+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Tuesday 25 March: Why is it taking Britain so long to deal with its plague of potholes?

    The answer is so blatantly obvious to this mornings letter tis because " Camels can see them coming.

    Main mode of transport Dover beach-head to
    London islamic hub.

    .

    1. Good morning Ogga ,

      My car , acquired last year, second hand , but in pristine condition etc has now developed a terrible graunch somewhere on the left hand side , probably a damaged spring , I don't know ..

      I drove last night to my meeting , and as I turned a corner .. phew , grindingly horrible sound .

      Pothole damage , so many now , and I blame the heavy in weight road traffic , huge electric cars , massive gravel lorries , etc and the constant flow of holiday traffic .

      My next bleat is the amount of space huge cars take up in car parking spaces . Why do lots of elderly couples need such enormous cars / 4×4's , and are indifferent to medium size motor cars.. ?

          1. Doubtful, if it was a bearing the grinding sound would be heard whilst straight

      3. Many car park spaces were 'drawn' years before cars became so bloated.
        Many multi-storied parks also have pillars that make it impossible to open the doors to get out; your passenger needs to leave the car before you park, so you can give yourself enough space without clambering out of the back.

      4. Chap had parked this huge tank in Tesco and it barely fitted between the lines. He'd clearly tried, but it was absurd. Must have been 2.5m wide.

        Parking space sizes are based on 1970's vehicles, long before the hated EU forced endless crash protection/pedestrian deformation configuration. I am not angry at the changes as cars are now safer, but every other element of vehicle use must also change: lane width, road composition (the Swedes use deformable, permeable rubber that does undulate under pressure, then restores itself) as well as parking space.

        Parking our van in a car park is a royal pain as we get stuff out of the side which means clobbering two spaces.

      8. As I discovered when I needed to change my car, it’s very difficult to find a small car. Minis are enormous and even the Aygo and Corsa have become bloated.

  16. Good Morning!

    FSB has two new short reads today, one – Do You Have A Book In You? – by Clive Matelas, who lost his job for criticising Islam, on how to get that book you keep on promising yourself you’ll write published, and the next – Bomb Disposal and How It Got That Way – by former RAF bomb disposal bod Sudo Nonym. As ever, please read and comment.

    Part Five of Nanu’s humorous and well-written satire, Life In The Bunker , on the efforts of the Remainiacs to keep us in the cursed EU is posted, along with an appeal for you all to read it, and comment, make suggestions and give advice, as he’s turning it into a book, to be published on the anniversary of the referendum. Who knows, it might even be made in a movie.

    Energy watch 07.30: Demand: 34.36 GW. Total UK Production: 29.53 GW from: Hydrocarbons 34.8%; Wind 29.3%; Imports 14.5%; Biomass 3.2%; Nuclear 11.2. Solar: 2.8%.

    They seem to be going off biomass for some reason. A policy change? Not ‘green’ enough?

    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. Unreliables providing a inconsistent 10gw – makes you proud that we're paying for 70, doesn't it?

    1. Maggie: do you have a spare room where you can sleep without interruption on a comfortable mattress?

      1. Jules, Spikey and Maggie,

        I don't know how to answer that. I'm told it is not easy polishing a turd! 🤣 Today's avatar is the latest taken of me at the end of last year.

        1. Well at least you look relatively normal in that one – an improvement on the shingles face.

    3. Did you recover your good looks? Shingles is nasty and very painful. When I had it it didn't reach my face, it was just down one side of my neck and shoulder.

    4. Good morning, Grizzly

      I would not advise either of these as your next avatar.

    5. A friend of ours is recovering from the same problem: plus viral meningitis.
      I suspect the shingles struck because she was so run down.

      2. The weirdest thing is that I never — at any stage of the five weeks — suffered any pain, discomfort or itching. It was a totally surreal situation.

        I still have six white spots on my forehead where the scabs were.

        1. Mine itched like crazy and the liquid Mother painted on to cure them sent me running around the lawn howling!!

          2. Did you wish that your mother had been like the popular singer who sang "Ain't got time to paint the shingles, ain't got time to paint the floor…"?

          3. Ha! 🤣

            No; I would have endured anything, I was so desperate to get rid of the unsightliness. As it was I took my Latin O level wearing a veil…

        2. That was my experience too. The only discomfort I suffered was a sensation that I recognised from my mother's description, which was a pain on the ear as though a crab had lodged itself there, digging its claws in – but whereas she suffered this for days at a time, I experienced it momentarily two or three times over the course of a week. The blistery rash was on the right side of my shoulder (and never on my ear).

  19. 403825+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    There seems to be a great deal of compliance around
    is the mindset of the indigenous beginning to take a shine to BIG MO & Allah ? the politico's most certainly have and the guardians of the law cannot seem to get enough pro islamic material to slake their compliance cravings.

    https://x.com/RadioGenoa/status/1904175802511487381

    1. That one is in Huddersfield. Hundreds of churches have been taken over in West Yorkshire and Lancashire.

      1. Hello Per,
        So do I gather the empty churches are in areas where the white population has been over run with sub Continent incomers , and old communities that were the life and breath of wealthy industrial Britain have been destroyed and moved on?

    2. Well, the Church could say no and prevent the sale.

      If we stopped paying muslim welfare they wouldn't be able to and would leave. That must be the first starting point to getting rid of them.

    3. I should forward this to our vicar who said the muslims wouldn’t buy Westminster Abbey.

      1. They bloomin' would if they got the chance. Starmer's next project to raise more money to send to Africa.

      2. 403825+ up ticks,

        Afternoon C,

        The way things are going currently, the vicars governor would most likely gift them it, if asked.

  20. Have any of you thought about this , the push to bring illegals into Britain , so replace the work force .. ha ha

    How many are in properties where the rent is paid for them , how many are not educated , no spending power , one assumes that so many come from poor countries .. so they won't be tax payers , or will they .

    Large towns and cities have to support many feckless unemployable illiterate Mosque worshipping , multiwives and children .. as well as dropout feckless white families .. state dependent !

    I mean , they are not all going to get jobs with the BBC are they, and they won't be teachers or serve in the armed forces , no they will have prison records, drug dependent sex crazed lives , and whether they are black or brown knifey characters .

    So soon the UK will be full of parasites .. and who will pay their pensions when they are older?

    2. Any UK government, whatever colours they fly, has a poisoned chalice on their hands. None of them seem to want to face the reality of the country breaking down at all levels. There maybe trouble ahead.

    3. The muslim predominantly does not work. They are entirely state dependent. Most of those loafers also work cash in hand and support organised crime.

      The entire purpose of regulation and statism is to ensure the muslim is protected and feted. The state loves this as it's an entrenched client class. It destroys society and imports and forces ever more people into state dependence.

      They bring nothing to this country apart from ruin, chaos and cost.

    4. They will do well enough sub-letting all their council properties that they are given.

  21. On form today:
    Wordle 1,375 3/6

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    1. Yoohoo, me too! I left off after some disappointing runs, but I'm back playing now. Well, today anyway.

      Wordle 1,375 3/6

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  22. Scientists say odds of US volcano erupting in weeks have gone up. 25 March 2025.

    Almost 300,000 residents in Alaska's largest city are bracing for an explosive volcanic eruption.

    Mount Spurr, a 11,000-foot-tall volcano that sits just 81 miles from the largest city in the state, is due to blow this year for the first time in 30 years.

    There are three or four volcanoes that are looking very iffy at the moment. Two of them; this, and the one off New Zealand are particularly dangerous. Alaska was the site of one of the largest earthquakes of the Twentieth Century, in fact the second most powerful on record, while New Zealand’s Mt Taupo was the last supervolcano eruption on earth. The truth is that the Earth has been relatively quiet; geologically speaking, for the last five hundred years. A really good blowout would have immense repurcussions and make the Icelandic affair of a few years ago look quite moderate.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14531533/Alaska-braces-volcanic-eruption-mount-spurr.html

    1. If the volcano under lake Taupo went off it could destroy nearly all of North New Zealand. I was stationed in Wairou, on the slopes of three active volcanoes, south of Taupo. The area was called the Rangipo Desert, but it was often covered in six foot of snow.
      https://th.bing.com/th?id=OSK.HEROoGh7NuocoF6D3KBMAK30GtXfiXFvpCHJNjqlja4YaZ8&w=312&h=200&c=15&rs=2&o=6&dpr=1.1&pid=SANGAM
      One account of crossing the desert from an early Pākehā (Non native) explorer in the region described it as "a most desolate and weird-looking spot… a fit place for Macbeth's witches, or Faustus's Brocken scene. "The town of Waiouru, with its army camp, lies to the south and much of the southern part of the desert is used for training purposes. To the north of the desert lies the Rangipo prison farm.

      1. Tax us to make it amends for our man-made destruction of Gaia. The fact that it is Gaia doing what Gaia does is lost on the Greeniacs, as is the weather and climate.

  23. Good Moaning.
    And it is … so far.
    I am going to dice with death by actually going out in it – for some time!!!

    1. One of the 'great' achievements of Muslims in the UK is that they have taken over the mindset of the Labour Party and the whole of the Civil Service and The Church of England.

      1. They are the client class. Massive police, welfare and social service needs. Then there's all the laws to enforce the continuation (because the muslim are nothing but trouble) of the problems they cause and silencing of dissent.

        It's all about engineering the mutual growth of cancers: muslim and statism.

      2. What is going on with a new Archbishop of Canterbury, have they decided not to bother?

        1. They only amounted to 20% of the electorate. The largest cohort of the electorate were non-voters, such as me. Having been a lifelong voter I had recently turned to spoiling my ballot paper. I couldn't even be bothered to do that last year.

      2. The uniparty has entrenched failure and forced pollution all over this country by robbing workers and giving it to shirkers. It has enforced and embedded reward for failure and upended the normal state of things. The unnatural is now forced. This is why nothing works, it's why the country is a tip. It's why the Left are emboldened.

        It's going to be a fight to dismantle the state, the legal structures and the taxation but it must be done. Get rid of the vermin, stop paying them. Deal with their criminality violently, immediately. Remind the scum that it is not their country but ours and we are better than them.

    3. No, that is not England. It's a bunch of brown sewage floating around polluting the country. They've no place here, are not welcome here.

      This is muck spreading by a Left wing state. Burn it out.

    4. The point is what sort of difference? Does the dimwit automatically think that a difference is automatically positive. The Titanic hit an iceberg. Was that a positive?

  25. If meritocracy is now ‘racist’, Britain truly is doomed
    This guidance on workplace ‘inclusivity’ is not just insufferably sanctimonious – it’s offensive
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/25/if-meritocracy-is-now-racist-britain-truly-is-doomed/

    MIchael Deacon is on good form in today's DT:

    "These days, so many innocuous activities, customs and inanimate objects get denounced as “racist” that, a few months ago, I compiled an entire A-Z of them. Astrophysics, ballet, cutlery, dieting… all the way through to yoga and zombies. In fact, the examples were so numerous that in the same column I was able to run a second A-Z, from Alice in Wonderland to zoology.

    Already, though, it seems the time has come for me to start compiling a third. Because I’ve got an excellent entry for the letter M.

    Meritocracy."

    2. The Left absolutely hate merit. If people are judged on what they can do then their precious diversity are abandoned. The only way they can control society is to tear it down.

  26. If meritocracy is now ‘racist’, Britain truly is doomed
    This guidance on workplace ‘inclusivity’ is not just insufferably sanctimonious – it’s offensive
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/25/if-meritocracy-is-now-racist-britain-truly-is-doomed/

    MIchael Deacon is on good form in today's DT:

    "These days, so many innocuous activities, customs and inanimate objects get denounced as “racist” that, a few months ago, I compiled an entire A-Z of them. Astrophysics, ballet, cutlery, dieting… all the way through to yoga and zombies. In fact, the examples were so numerous that in the same column I was able to run a second A-Z, from Alice in Wonderland to zoology.

    Already, though, it seems the time has come for me to start compiling a third. Because I’ve got an excellent entry for the letter M.

    Meritocracy."

  27. I was speaking to a friend on Sunday who has recently returned from visiting his daughter, who is studying at a college in Peoria, Illinois. I was surprised to hear him describe the poor condition of the roads in the state, potholed just as much, if not more, than those in this country, not just in Peoria but also Chicago, where he and his wife also spent some time. The other surprise was the expense of eating out, which he said was higher than here.

    Less surprising was his description of urban decay, less so in Peoria, but very evident in Chicago, to the extent that, away from the city centre, he and his wife felt distinctly uneasy in public spaces. His daughter runs for the college athletics team and the evening journey from the arena back to their hotel on public transport was a nervous one, the appearance and behaviour of those who live in neighbourhoods blighted by this decay putting them on edge until they re-entered the hotel district.

    1. Coming to a city, town and village near you – very soon.

      Incidentally, isn't Peoria the place whose general election result ALWAYS matches the national result?

    3. Democrat city. They are pushing the green agenda so hard the intent is to literally stop people driving is all they care about.

    4. My next door neighbour's youngest son lived in the Chicago area with his wife and family for many years – but they returned to the UK last year and are glad to have done so.

    6. You can blame it on the fact that it is a Democrat ridden city and state. But the stupid never learn, they vote again and again for the same thing. I believe that behaviour has a definition of some sort.

    7. I have a nephew who lives in Chicago with his wife and three kiddies. His wife told me that their neighbourhood is relatively safe. My guess is that as with Shepherds Bush, there is violence but one mostly doesn't see it. Their family car is a Tesla so doubtless contributes to the pothole situation.

    8. Sounds a bit like Demonrat-[sic]-controlled Los Angeles, where every pavement in some parts of that massive metropolitan area is covered in human shit!

    10. Trouble is, the "old" cities are a magnet for the have nots of the population and that means the local representatives tend to come from that same segment. Add in the lack of jobs for anyone who is not educated and reasonably bright, and you have a welfare dependent underclass fairly quickly. And this is followed by those who can, moving away from such areas. They only go back to buy their "recreational" chemicals…

      The Chicago outer suburbs can be very pleasant however.

      It's a bit like New York City, or Washington DC. Some very high end areas, some truly awful ghettoes, but the population is only too aware of where not to venture – especially after dark.

    1. An absolute shyte – in spades. A ripper off of thousands of anxious householders with plumbing issues.

      1. Do they award OBEs to scumbag ripper's-off of the public?

        Maybe the poiltical élite thought his skullduggery was worthy of him being part of their cartel of charlatans and mountebanks.

          2. Friend of our got an MBE (My Bloody Efforts) for 60 years of services to athletics at the highest level. She’s just retired as President of the local athletics club and she’s knocking on 85. Wonderful lady.

    2. A very unpleasant little man! Remember his ‘No jab, no job’? And a blooming gobby Remainer! And he’s now pushed off to Spain! What a horror!

      1. He is indeed unpleasant but Herr Starmer's threat is even more unpleasant. Apparently he is happy to blackmail someone in order to get his way. But, really, that comes as no surprise.

    3. I'm inclined to disbelieve him. Those previously stripped of an OBE have usually received a criminal conviction. If there was a threat, it was most likely an empty one.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_revocations_of_appointments_to_orders_and_awarded_decorations_and_medals_of_the_United_Kingdom

      I'd strip him of his gong for his rotten bottle-blond hair style. Petty, I know, but more irritating than anything else I know about the vain attention-seeker.

      1. Paula Vennells had her CBE revoked without a criminal conviction (although she had offered to return it previously).

        1. I eat my peas with honey
          I've done it all my life.
          It makes the peas taste funny
          But it keeps them on the knife.

    1. So far Labour has either financially and/or politically assaulted:

      The elderly
      The working class
      The rich
      The self employed
      The farmers
      Their land
      White people in general
      Our children
      Their schools
      The judiciary
      The United States of America
      Water consumers
      Energy consumers
      Food consumers
      Smokers and drinkers
      Disabled people
      Care home occupants
      Care home and NHS staff
      Women in sports
      Females in changing rooms and toilets
      Christians and the Alawites in Syria
      Israel
      Companies of all sizes
      The Brexit vote
      5:53 PM · Mar 24, 2025
      ·
      3,048
      Views

      1. You haven't mentioned the pretentious class. Are they unaffected?

        Yes, I know they are 'affected', but you know what I mean.

    2. You didn't think they were building them for Britons, did you? These will be packed to the rafters with dindus, all subletting all on welfare.

      Good grief, why do you think Labour are forcing the vermin in?

      1. Like the rest of the left they hate this country. It's the only rational reason. Hate it so much they are prepared to harm themselves by becoming dhimmis.

    3. The best way to deal with all these Aslyum-[sic]- Seekers is to build lots more Aslyums to contain them.

    1. The gobby woman is an arrishole for having the discourtesy of eating on the bus. Disgusting habit.

        1. Train = iffy. I have had a sandwich. But not one of the gross curries that many people bring to eat.
          Planes = passes the time. And the “food” tends not to have a pungent odour.

  36. Mediocrasy describes the political classes. They inhabit and populate a mediocrisy.

  37. Yes , I agree ,

    I have some old fashioned ideas , but the only thing I have eaten in public is an ice cream or a lollipop..
    I enjoy picnics etc .

    Can you remember the old railway carriages , how we used to travel , well if I had a packet of fruit pastilles or a tube of Rollo , I would offer the passengers sitting next to me one or any one else as they would do the same for me.. times were nicer then ..

    Yes and once a lovely lady had a paper bag full of Nuttalls mintoes .. remember them ?

    She shared them amongst the passengers in the carriage I was travelling in .. oh dear , a chap finished off his bad tooth crunching into the one he was offered !

    1. Those were civilised times, though. Now we're overrun with Labour's children, the dindus and welfarists who've been told for over a decade that what they want is more important than anyone else.

    2. I remember Nuttall's Mintoes, Murraymints, Fox's Glacier Mints, Trebor Mints and Polo Mints.

      I much prefer mint sauce though.😊

    3. We buy Morrison’s or Sainsbury’s butter mints which are very similar to the original.

  38. Good Morning. I've just had a quick look at today's posts and my goodness they are all about depressing topics! Not a criticism, just an observation but I wonder what has brought this about? We do however live in depressing time I must admit.

    2. Yes; I quite often stick my nose in then scuttle off if things are too grim. Happens from time to time.

  39. No doubt he'll be arrested. The easiest way to defeat muslim is to simply stop paying them welfare. Millions of the wretched vermin will leave.

  40. The best way to deal with all these Asylum Seekers is to build lots more Asylums to contain them. We could also give a boost to the straitjacket industry while we're at it.

    1. They'll do what they did on the islands off the north coast of Oz. Burn them to the ground.

      2. In that case send them all to the Isle of Shite [sorry: 'Wight'] and install artillery all along the Hampshire coast to blast any attempting to escape.

      3. In that case send them all to the Isle of Shite [sorry: 'Wight'] and install artillery all along the Hampshire coast to blast any attempting to escape.

      1. I would but for two things:

        1. It’s nowhere near near big enough.
        2. Spikey wouldn’t permit it (it’s on his doorstep).

  41. But muslim has been told, repeatedly that it is more important than anyone else. Thus they think they can make these demands.

    1. It makes me feel like carrying a bacon sandwich in my pocket every time I use public transport.

      2. Always ensure you have some in the fridge. You can wrap it around the door handle if necessary, lob it if required should a home invasion look likely.

  42. Good morning again. 😊
    All done at the opthalmology department,
    home by 10 am. I arrived at the private hospital half an hour earlier than the appointment but was seen 15 minutes before the appointment time and collected a new supply of prescription drops and home. What a difference in helpfulness and atmosphere, than when we go to the basic NHS. But finding Parking usually very difficult. But drove in today just as someone was leaving, job done.
    Another appointment fixed for four weeks.
    And still waiting for even a phone call to acknowledge my left message to an NHS department re my knee. Officially now crowned 'king useless.

    2. They’re making a difference alright; costing us a fortune in benefits, committing crimes, changing our laws and way of life, making us unsafe…

    1. That was me. It contained a copy of a video posted a few minutes before, but with a fine display of notreadundery, I duplicated it. Then self-deleted. Sorry.

  46. Having asked the question about who is going to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury. I decided to have a look. the choice is out of three men and four women. So we all know where that is going to go. the final end to the Anglican Church in England. The Catholics will stop their efforts at 'ecumenicism' and the Orthodox most certainly will.

    We really need to figure out how to revive Christianity in this country because if you think agnosticism or humanistic thinking is anything to combat Islam with, you are very much mistaken. If you have seen thousands upon thousands all doing the call to prayer you know you have to counter with spirituality or ……

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/next-archbishop-canterbury-justin-welby-candidates-b2646096.html

    1. Usher has said he is not standing. The Midwife would be Welby in a skirt. Hartley is the least worst.

      1. Well then. Reading through the list they will pick Rachel Treweek for the maximum amount of damage.

    2. Pronouns, climate change, Palestine, nasty Israel, same sex couples – what an awful collection! None of the above, surely – no mention of God [or maybe I missed it whiel recoiling in horror], but maybe that’s just the Indy's reporting???

        1. I visited the site of his (mis)deed a couple of weeks ago and thought of you.

          2. A history nut rites.
            The She-Wolf was Isabella of France. Edward II's wife.
            Eleanor of Aquitaine was Henry II's wife. A formidable lady who lived to the age of 82; practically unheard of in the 12th century.

          3. And Edward II didn't order the slaughter of any turbulent priests. He was a waste of space that couldn't even beat the Jocks. An embarrassment to both his father and his son. A red-hot poker up his arse would have been too good for him.

          6. The wine is a bit tasty too.

            One of my favourite cookery books is called Goose Fat and Garlic, which showcases the cuisine of the south-western quarter of yer Frogland.

      2. A turbulent priest would rock the boat I would have thought. The chosen one will be put there to comply.

    5. I cannot see myself feigning an interest in Christianity merely to curry favour with those who strongly object to Islam. As a Christian yourself, I cannot see you welcoming frauds to your cause.

      1. No one is asking you to feign an interest in Christianity but a cursory look at what happens to non muslims when islam takes over should surely make you think that perhaps a bit of support would be a good thing.

          2. I’m reminded of Joni Mitchel. ‘Paved Paradise’ one of the sentences is “They wont know what they’ve got ’till it’s gone.’

      2. "When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion, it is called Religion."

        Robert M Persig, Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance.

        Imagine, with John Lennon, a world with no religion. Imagine no suicide bombers, no 9/11, no 7/7, no Crusades, no witch-hunts, no Gunpowder Plot, no Indian partition, no Israeli/Palestine wars, no Serb/Croat/Muslim massacres, no persecution of Jews as 'Christ-killers', no Northern Ireland 'troubles', no 'honour killings', no shiny-suited bouffant-haired televangelists fleecing gullible people of their money ('God wants you to give till it hurts'). Imagine no Taliban to blow up ancient statues, no public flogging of blasphemers, no flogging of female skin for the crime of showing an inch of it …

        2. Zen is not beyond religion, on the contrary, it is based on something called Hua yen. The most profound expression of what Buddhism is. The pretence, because that is what it is, that Zen is the destruction of religion is a misunderstanding of what it is doing. It is profoundly religious, in fact it is the essence of religion. Another fact. Suzuki who introduced Zen to the West admitted that Shinshu, which is pure faith in the Buddha, produced more Enlightened people than Zen.

          1. I have neither views nor interest in 'Zen' (or any other religion for that matter). I was merely posting a quotation.

      3. What I'm concerned with is the bedrock on which this country is founded. That is Christianity. I am not that concerned with sectarianism or what form a revival of Christianity takes. I am concerned with how to combat Islam and the destruction of this country which will certainly happen if we fail to fight back.

        I do not buy Grizzly's quote below, it is nonsense. The sort of thing that people say because they have not studied or understood what religion is about. And by that I don''t mean Christianity exclusively but the impulse to transcendence common to all the higher religions and the transformative power of that urge to transcend, to go beyond oneself.

        If you want to get an idea of what I'm talking about I would suggest you listen to Jordan Peterson or read the Philokalia.

        1. And Grizzly does not buy into mind-control, whether by Religion, by Politics, by Force, by Bribery or by Coercion.

          1. It has nothing to do with ‘mind control’ Griz. It has to do with understanding what constitutes our civilization and how to fight back.

          2. You may well think that, Johnathan, but you will never persuade me to follow that thought process.

            As for civilisation; clear unassailable evidence is presented daily as to how that concept has been consigned to history.

    6. In another report today Muslims are buying a church and converting it into a mosque.

      Why don't the Roman Catholics buy Westminster Abbey, and the Cathedrals at Winchester and York and convert them into Roman Catholic places of worship?

      1. The Catholics are draining away. Not as bad as the Anglicans yet but they are getting there.

        1. Went out the back. By the way did you notice the old lady toward the end with her glorious hat with wings?

  50. Cmon.. there's no other choice. And she's a hottie.

    In launching her candidacy, Ms Pochin said she would "do everything" to shut down a 'migrant hotel' in Daresbury.
    Reform UK Launch Runcorn & Helsby Campaign And Candidate For Upcoming By-Election

    1. Just don't start getting above your station & too popular.. or you will be "Nigeled".

    2. How strange her former social media posts about "Refugees Welcome" have disappeared…………..
      Wouldn't be just another lying politician??

  51. Cmon.. there's no other choice. And she's a hottie.

    In launching her candidacy, Ms Pochin said she would "do everything" to shut down a 'migrant hotel' in Daresbury.
    Reform UK Launch Runcorn & Helsby Campaign And Candidate For Upcoming By-Election

  52. Good afternoon, all.

    The 'meadow' received its first mowing this morning and is looking a wee bit better but if grass etc. had feelings it would be feeling sorry for itself. Strimming tomorrow and so I will charge both batteries as a precaution.

    The UK is a laughing stock, not becoming, but actually a laughing stock. The antics of our politicians are embarrassing, and I include Reform UK in this sorry group: late joiners but making up for their delayed start.

    Starmer, of course, is currently in the gold medal position and although there is plenty of competition in the silver group I think that I would bet on Starmer holding the lead for a while. Reeves, tomorrow, may make inroads if she's on form.

    https://x.com/ForeverScept/status/1904157347422900304

    1. The UK was the laughing stock before when Chamberlain signed the Munich peace agreement. Hitler told Molotov that because there was a peace agreement then.they could invade Poland together.. Molotov did have his doubts however when they had to reconvene their meeting in a shelter after an air raid siren went off.

      The rest is a long story but at the Nuremberg trials at the end of WWIi, Hitler's remaining supporters had a good laugh about what they did following the Munich peace agreement.

    2. The UK was the laughing stock before when Chamberlain signed the Munich peace agreement. Hitler told Molotov that because there was a peace agreement then.they could invade Poland together.. Molotov did have his doubts however when they had to reconvene their meeting in a shelter after an air raid siren went off.

      The rest is a long story but at the Nuremberg trials at the end of WWIi, Hitler's remaining supporters had a good laugh about what they did following the Munich peace agreement.

    3. very dangerous mindset.. leader of the freeworld. LOL.
      EuroNATO. LOL.

      Mobilise for war?
      Roll out the steel. LOL. "er, Ed closed down the steelworks."
      At least we can feed ourselves. LOL. "er, Rachel killed off the farmers.
      What about power? LOL "er, the French have just switched us off."
      Armed forces? LOL. "er, You & your Islamic friend have been slaggin them off for decades.. they've gone.. though you've got some DEI hires."

    4. I recognise Peter Lavelle in the picture. He presents "Cross Talk" on RT and for commentary on Ukraine it's very good but since October 7th the show has been peddling an appalling anti-Jewish narrative that I can't stomach. I follow him on X and up-tick what I perceive as sensible comments on the Ukraine debacle but have given up trying to counter the poor pallystinians narrative. Historical fact is especially unwelcome.

      1. I should add that Lavelle said at the outset that the Ukraine war would be deemed to have been won by the West whatever happens because Russian troops didn't reach the English Channel. He didn't spell out that conquering Europe was never Russia's objective because the Cross Talk audience know that.

    5. I met my LD neighbour walking his dog this morning and he muttered (he is a natural born pessimist) that he hoped he’d get to the end of the year without a war. When I pointed out Starmer was doing his best to start one, he opined that he didn’t think Starmer was the problem! No wonder he votes LD! I told him the war wouldn’t have started if Trump had had a second term then. He changed the subject.

      1. I don't discuss politics with neighbours or friends. (except on here)

        At lunch the other day my sister opined she thought the Jews were being beastly to the Palestinians.

        I asked her how she would feel if the only clothing she was allowed to wear was a burqa. Was not allowed an education. Was not allowed out on her own. And was forbidden from talking to anyone including other women
        She didn't have an answer to that.

        I thought it bad form to be discussing such topics over the lunch i had prepared.

        1. Every friend or acquaintance that I have been in contact with over the past few weeks has opened up with the observation, "What do you think of that utter idiot, Trump?"

          Not one of them has voiced an opinion or observation on his beyond useless geriatric buffoon of a predecessor, Obama's puppet.

      1. A painter, bloke, I once knew met a chap in a white suit and said to him: " I don't know whether to fight you or fuck you!"

        1. Arsehole, arsehole, a soldier I will be
          To piss, to piss, two pistols on my knee
          Fuck you, fuck you, for curiosity
          To fight for the old cunt, fight for the old cunt, fight for the old country.

          (It's a homophone song – no, not, anti-pooftahs!!)

  53. I think we should attack the Houthis in Yemen – anything else top secret you'd like to discuss?

    1. Experts examining the smouldering ruins of London believe that what Sir Alec Douglas-Home actually said was,
      "We declare war on rush-hour"…

      Boom, boom.

    2. Experts examining the smouldering ruins of London believe that what Sir Alec Douglas-Home actually said was,
      "We declare war on rush-hour"…

      Boom, boom.

  55. Afternoon all. Dull and overcast here and quite chilly. I have postponed the necessary gardening work until warmer weather.

    We can’t fix potholes because the money has been wasted on diversity and equity officers.

    1. The wellbeing of those traumatised by microaggressions far outranks the cost of burst tyres, broken axles and collisions. The latter take a mere moment in time to fix whereas the former can leave people out of the workforce and on welfare support for, perhaps, decades.

      1. Those traumatized by "micro aggressions" should have been at my school. It was more Darwinian than loving and kind.

          3. Come in, Grizz. It’s me! I grew up there! (Just changed my name in the last week).

          5. Lol NO! But not a million miles. An interesting place, interesting history. I once made it home in 10 minutes to beat my mother’s curfew, down the New Road, when i was 17. You couldn’t do that now. The girl whose 18th party it was at this particular nightclub died 2 years ago tomorrow aged 56.

        2. As are the flowers in the country and the people in town as Cecily and Gwendolen said when trying to out-repartee each other!

  61. I have never understood why septics use that word rather than Mum. (or Mommy for Mummy). Weird.

      3. My Derbyshire mum called her mum, "Me mam".
        My Yorkshire dad called his mum, "Me mother."

        "Any more tea in t'pot, mother?"

    2. Here, Mommy is only used by very small children.

      Mummy is only used by the effete among us.

      However since Mommy is apparently acceptable, why is Mom not when Mum is?

  64. I sometimes empathise with Sartre's observation that "hell is other people".

    A couple of days ago it was the incessant finger drumming on his shoes and a plastic beaker by the young man sat next to me in a hospital waiting room.

    Today it's a man seated at a nearby table who prefers to repeatedly engage in snotty sniffing rather than clear his nose.

    1. Gawd. I'm sitting quietly at home and I tensed up when I read your post.
      Very deep sympathies; hope your blood pressure is fairly stable.

    2. The poor chap has prolly been waiting three years to see an ENT consultant about his infected sinuses.

      1. Derbyshire born, Derbyshire bred,
        Strong in t'arm and thick in t'head.

        I know, I know, I've heard 'em all.

  67. Yo and Good afternoon to you all, from a dark, rainy C d S

    Went shopping in Tescos this morning: Wine, over 6 squid a bottle is 25% off if you buy 6 or more bottles.

    We have just saved 24 squid

  68. Just had a heads up that a parcel will be delivered by Royal Mail

    This was on the e-mail

    If you have a dog help us to deliver safely by keeping it secure and out of the way before we arrive, find out more about dog awareness.

    Nowt about SWMBO, who can be a bit of a ..tch at times

    1. I got a text from Evri saying the same. Then 10 minutes later asking me to put a light on.

      I replied to the texts…'Piss off'

      It was 9pm and they woke me up. The gits.

    3. My dogs are incredibly nice to he postman. He was a bit scared when they all sat there (bar Oscar, who was with the Warqueen), quietly and calmly as I opened the door.

      1. When i was young i had a paper round. There was this one house that scared the living daylights out of me the first time i delivered.
        On subsequent occasions we played tug of war until only half the paper was left. They never did complain to the newsagent. Or he never mentioned it to me.

  69. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/25/pessimism-about-economy-surges-ahead-of-spring-statement/

    Well, here's an idea. Reeves announces the following:

    The end of welfare for immigrants who haven't lived here for 20 years.
    The abolition of child benefit within 3 years, replaced with a tax refund at source for married couples.
    The abolition of housing benefit over 8 years.
    The scrapping of insurance tax, road tax, stamp duty, import and export duties inheritance tax (inc the abolition of farm theft), fuel duty and forcing councils to exist from a local sales tax fixed at 8%.
    Then the scrapping of the upper and higher rates
    Reduction of corporation tax to 10%
    Abolition of business rates.

    With those simple change the economy would boom.

      1. Just remove housing benefit. Make people pay their own way. This will also rebalance the housing market.

        Besides, without the welfare to pay the rent they'll leave anyway.

        1. While good in principle all I think will happen is incomers will just not pay and we'll end up with millions of squatters in rental properties and a bankrupt rental stock. OK, evict them – but where to? The problem has been long in the making, politicians the root cause, and I don't think there is a simple solution, it needs top down policy and then putting into effect – a task which seems to be beyond the capabilities of years of our so called political elites. But I agree the first step must be to stop the inflow so it doesn't keep getting worse.

          1. I think there are already areas where there is sub letting going on, with a lot more than double the original renters. Using the same property.

      2. Anyone who sends money back "home" not given leave to stay or British nationality. To many people having their cake and eating it at our expense.

  72. While good in principle all I think will happen is incomers will just not pay and we'll end up with millions of squatters in rental propertiers and a bankrupt rental stock. OK, evict them – but where to? The problem has been long in the making, politicians the root cause, and I don't think there is a simple solution, it needs top down policy and then putting into effect – a task which seems to be beyond the capabilities of years of our so called political elites. But I agree the first step must be to stop the inflow so it doesn't keep getting worse.

  73. A recently unearthed fossilised skeleton. Experts thought it was from approx 3500 BC but it turned out to be a member of the England football team who had overdosed on drink and drugs.

    https://scontent-cdg4-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/480676783_613859241465038_7974103509402848907_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_s600x600_tt6&_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=aa7b47&_nc_ohc=JGoMLgHySAkQ7kNvgHdD_Jo&_nc_oc=AdlJ6zbysI_43XKbin766UtRLuT9QUW7oumLfRVDX9HYtC4MBCd6WGH78gSIHeUNHttLQQg6yz52o0qdzotStjPk&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg4-2.xx&_nc_gid=p-orrJOIIchxXTmhiHgiZw&oh=00_AYGu_IV3RQD7ANUE5aHWyW6bc2dhW5ouTeznJTWhPZz5Jg&oe=67E89689

  75. Funny thing, horticulture.

    In 2018, a very agreeable NoTTLer sent me some saved tomato seed from plants he had grown at his retirement home in the Peloponnese. The chap was called Martyn (I think) – he was a former civil aviation pilot. He died in 2019. His wife was Greek.

    Ten days ago, I sowed the very last four of those saved seeds – and all four have germinated. For several years, I have saved seed from the offspring of his donation with limited success.

    These four plants will be a tribute to a very decent chap.

    2. On the subject of seeds I noticed two of the three Magnolia Stellata saplings I grew from seed about 8 years ago are producing a few flowers this year. I'll try and post a photo in the next day or two…

      1. Clever you. Many people think I am nuts – but, even after 78 years of gardening I still find real joy in growing things from seed.

    3. In fertile ground, a tiny seed we place,
      A promise held within its gentle grace.
      With tender care, and sunlit, hopeful days,
      It grows to life, in countless, vibrant ways.

      So let us sow the seeds of love and light,
      To banish shadows, and make darkness bright.
      For every act, a seed of hope we plant,
      A future blooms, where dreams can now enchant.

  78. Wordle No. 1,375 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 25 Mar 2025

    A rack for Birdie Three?

    1. Well done. After a tricky start I thought I'd rescued a par – alas I had not even considered the alternative (correct) answer.
      Disappointing bogey……

      Wordle 1,375 5/6

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

      Interestingly, though, this bogey gave me the perfect sinusoidal guess distribution!!
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dad681a970cde1d32e370ae8b138bca028ba49039aeb50a88f1fe4b9a664f14d.png

    2. Made a dumb mistake with guess three. Finally got there because every other possible answer contained letters already discounted.

      Wordle 1,375 4/6

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

    3. Well done, upped my game today with some luck.

      Wordle 1,375 2/6

      ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. And the vet's bill was £7,500….

      I wonder why they didn't show what happened later…

          1. I just remember a few faces, no names, because it was on without much choice of anything different.

  81. Good news and lots of bad news..

    Al Jazeera reports that 98% of Sudanese "asylum seekers" are approved.
    Labour wants the "countryside" diversified.
    Labour to guarantee the use of new homes for asylum seekers.
    Labour plans to build 1.5 million new homes in countryside.

    The good news.. this will reduce the need for hotels to house asylum seekers. LOL.

  83. Something strange is happening all of a sudden, so many people from the right are suddenly finding themselves being charged with offenses and facing prison.
    It looks like the powers that be are putting their foot down after the Trump administration has openly taken them on.
    They appear to have learned nothing from the attempts to silence Trump through the judicial system.

    1. It's time that people from the right started taking offence about anything the lefties say or do, claiming it caused them whatever the left are claiming the offence caused them.

  85. That's me for today. A grey and decidedly chilly day. Not much fun to be outdoors. The Wet Office claims it will be warmer tomorrow.

    Have a spiffing evening – this Annunciation Day.

    A demain….

    1. It is indeed; Ave Maria – I went to sung High Mass this evening. Nine months to Christmas!

  87. In words

    ‘This woman is slightly adrift on the facts and reality.’ – Graydon Carter, the former editor of Vanity Fair, dismisses Meghan Markle’s latest venture selling clothes following her Netflix show.

    ****************************************
    Meghan ‘convinced new ventures will make her a billionaire’
    Duchess of Sussex has high hopes for online shop and lifestyle brand, well-placed source reveals

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2025/03/25/meghan-convinced-new-venture-make-her-billionaire-sussex/

    DD YY
    4 hrs ago
    Paltrow is basically who she’s trying to emulate, and despite the success of Goop, a low key celebrity lifestyle and a successful film career her net worth is nowhere near a billion. Yet somehow Markle thinks that her business is going to make her billionaire, despite being deeply unpopular globally, not having her own products to sell and a few major personality disorders.

    1. All this piling on is a bit distasteful though. I don#t even read the comments in the Mail under the Meghan articles, they are just sad women getting rid of their bile at this point. I don't believe that Meghan says or does most of the things attributed to her.
      Believe it or not, she has a lot of fans who see her as a poor girl made good. At least selling things is more honest than setting up as global know-all life advisers which is what they were doing before.

        1. As long as she grifts elsewhere and not whilst representing my country, I don’t feel the need to have any emotions about her.

          1. But she’s still trading on her RF connections. The only money she’s ever made was by spewing her vitriol when the Queen and Prince Philip were so ill. She is a horror.

          2. I would be very upset if one of my children got caught by someone like her. Doesn't bother me if she still trades on her RF connections.

      2. She was never a "poor girl". Her father had a very good job in Hollywood, which paid for her private schooling and art/song/dance classes, all of which, along with Daddy's contacts, propelled her into her acting career.

        Her problem is that she sees herself as a beloved star, which she is not.

        It was the South Park episode that really did them in over here. Just a perfect skewering of both of them.

        1. He won the lottery apparently, which is what paid for her private school. Poor man must have been regretting that investment when she turned against him. She's not particularly privileged either.

          1. Funny how mixed race, white/anything else, children almost invariably turn against the white parent.

    2. Why is the media filled with bla bla bout Megan? Why do so many give a shit?

    1. Please God,
      pretty please,

      give us a mini ice age for just a few years,

      being able to skate on all Europe's rivers from September to May seems about right.

      Three or four such years might be sufficient to knock some sense into the morons.

  89. From the Telegraph

    We need to value and celebrate our boys. Let’s not behave like they’re all latent misogynists
    Government plans to combat sexism in schools must not demonise masculinity. Otherwise, the likes of Andrew Tate will only gain more power

    Celia Walden25 March 2025 8:30am GMT
    Unless they make a TV drama about an issue, it doesn’t exist. That is where we are now. It took Mr Bates vs The Post Office for people to gasp: “But this was horrendous!”, for the prime minister to announce new legislation to exonerate wrongly convicted subpostmasters and former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells to have her CBE withdrawn. It took Baby Reindeer for us all to realise that, yes, women stalk men too! And maybe it’s time we started taking it seriously?

    Then there’s the hit new Netflix show Adolescence, which shines a light on the corrosive impact of social media and misogynistic influencers on teenage boys – and has taken this phenomenon to an almost comedic level. Like coma patients, who have awoken from a 25-year slumber, we’re all suddenly up in arms about this thing called “The Internet”. “These boys who spend their days and nights immersed in a toxic online culture,” came the mass musings. “What if it’s not good for them?”

    I think it may very well not be. And we could probably have come to this conclusion sooner. But an awakening is still an awakening, and while the scientists, sociologists and mental health campaigners who have been telling us this for decades beat their heads against the wall, everyone has been busy coming up with solutions to this “new” problem.

    One, reported on Sunday, is the introduction of “counter misogyny classes” at school. As part of a concerted effort to quash the growing influence of toxic figures such as Andrew Tate, and broader “incel culture”, the Government is to include this guidance in relationships, health and sex education lessons (RHSE) before the end of the academic year.

    With content expected to include everything from “the real-life complexities of romantic and sexual relationships” to “how to manage difficult emotions that can relate to relationships – including disappointment or anger as well as the influence of online misogynistic content and the impact of pornography on sexual behaviour”, this should only be a step forward. A positive thing. So why does the idea fill me with dread?

    The truth is that I’ve lost all confidence in schools – or, at least, in their ability to behave sensibly with sensitive issues such as these. We’ve seen what happened with inclusivity and gender teachings. One minute we’re nodding sagely along to the principle of our child being taught about equal opportunities and respect for all, the next that child is being taught that he or she is innately racist, sexist and exclusionary. Introducing the idea that we shouldn’t feel bound or imprisoned by socially constructed gender characteristics is obviously a good thing. We are all very different. Only suddenly children are being told to put their biological gender in doubt, and that they can in fact pick from 72 different kinds, if they want.

    Why should these anti-misogyny classes be any different? Because I can imagine all too clearly what the narrative might become. As with critical race theory, we’d have teachers telling young boys that they are inherently misogynistic. That they can only be cleansed of this natural toxicity if they shed all characteristically male attributes and become more like girls. And this would only compound the problem.

    Boys have had enough of being told that they are the bad apples. Every statistic now reflects how detrimental that strategy has been, from their worsening academic performance to their school drop-out rates. We now know that 550,000 young men are not in work, education or training, and that for the first time in history, young men are earning less than women (by nine per cent).

    It’s because they no longer feel that there is a place for them out there in the world – where their loud voices may cause upset and their preference for directness is construed as “aggressive” – that they have been driven underground towards the likes of Tate.

    If we are genuinely trying to quash the rise of misogyny in boys and young men, we should be looking at what they find so appealing about “manosphere” influencers. And by the way, the answer to that is simple: it’s about value. These cynical, money-making scumbags have only got where they are by making boys feel valued.

    We can do that too. We can show them that they are valued for what they are, and not what they could or should be if they change everything about themselves “to fit”. That alone would take away so much resentment and allow a respect for women to flourish.

    But if Starmer – who has apparently been watching Adolescence with his two teenagers – really wants to make an immediate difference, he knows what he has to do: ditch the cowardly “we’ll leave it up to you” stance and ban mobile phones in schools.

    1. All males are toxic – until it comes to going to war in Ukraine. Then see what advantage being toxic gives.
      Or maybe, having been denigrated all their lives, they won't go to Ukraine and fight.

      1. This morning I was walking along a central boulevard in the centre of the Spanish city in which I live. The local government had placed small billboards, publicity in favour of female participation in professional life, photos of women doing different important jobs.
        High buildings on either side of the wide avenue. Looking up my wife saw a worker suspended from a high roof repairing something on the wall of the building. She commented on the perils attached to his job and wondered if he was financially compensated for the danger he was facing, suspended as he was from so many storeys.
        I said nothing but pondered on the irony of the photos of women craving equality doing posh, sought for positions and the reality of this person literally on a trapeze in a job only males ever do.

    2. When are they going to make a film about the harm unlimited immigration from people who hate the natives has caused?

  90. Evening all! Been out most of the day. Back a bit later than I intended. Had an adventure earlier on – caught the wrong bus in town……. went all around but not where I was planning to go……… got there eventually.

  93. Urgent warning over surge in killer Victorian disease that makes patients cough up blood – UK about to lose its 'low incidence' status

    What could possibly be the cause?

    Rising migration has been blamed for a surge in the killer Victorian disease tuberculosis (TB) in Britain.

    Officials say the increase in cases over recent years is now so large that the UK could lose its 'low incidence' status for the disease.

    Experts said the return of social mixing and international travel following the Covid pandemic, as well as changing migration patterns, has led to the 'reemergence, reestablishment and resurgence' of TB.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-14534749/surge-killer-Victorian-disease-UK-tuberculosis.html

      1. I suppose it depends where they go on holiday, back to the countries they claim they have fled from.

        1. In which case they are not the "native population".

          Though they may be a population of natives -like those depicted in '50's Geography text books.

    2. I remember when working in Australia (offshore late 90s) that we had to send a current chest x-ray to prove we didn't have TB…

      1. Did you work in the oil and gas off the North coast ?
        I have a friend who worked up there. He lives in Perth.

        1. NW coast seismic exploration. Perth was the base but crew changes were on Barrow Island.

    3. "the return of social mixing and international travel" aka normal behaviour. Are we supposed to avoid that because unchecked migrants have bought TB with them?

    4. There was a TB alert in the Hall of Residence I stayed in for my first year at University (1979) traced to a student from sunnier parts of the world. We all had to be tested.

      1. It is lethal, and we're happily importing it.
        Wait until a new vaccine resistant strain appears, then we'll regret our open borders.

    6. Unfortunately we have another pandemic in the current atmosphere, it effects the elderly. Labour enforced uncontrolable coughing (up) fits. Give us yer savings. Or else.

    7. TB was on the rise here even before the scamdemic. It is because of immigration from countries that have very poor hygiene standards. No screening on entry. Probably against their human rights or some such bollox.

    8. In the late 1970's the Health Economics Research Unit at the University of Aberdeen calculated that given the very few cases of TB in the UK, the Government could stop the BCG vaccination programme as it was costing far more that the costs of treating the number of cases likely to occur ….. The past is a different country….

  94. Watching a Geographic Society lecture on ancient rainforests in the Falkland Islands. Interesting but hyping up about “carbon” accumulation/stocks…..

    1. Strange how a fledgling ITV had to go to Canada to entice Spewie Green to host Double Your Money (on a Thursday) and to New Zealand to coax Michael Miles to compère Take Your Pick (on a Friday).

      Was there no UK talent available at the time?

      [Edited!]

      1. My point was the 3rd child answering the doubling numbers question (Cleopatra') appeared to be 'blacked up', I could be wrong.

        1. Pretty sure it was a black girl, mola. I thought your point might have been how she was clearly so much quicker off the mark (more intelligent) than her non-black counterparts.

    3. I remember Double Your Money, and I remember Nancy Roberts, who Hughie used to ogle. Not surprising, as she was a very healthy young woman…

          1. My great great grandmother was called Subbrina (spelled that way) – she had 13 children – but only two daughters lived to produce children of their own. Most of them died young. the last surviving child was my gt grandmother who lived to 91.

  97. Been walking in our very local woods this afternoon, with my friend and her dog. These cup and ring carvings are Neolithic and they are just ‘there’ by the track through the trees. My friend, who has lived here all her life, had never heard of them. I’ve shown them to the twins and couldn’t explain how long they’ve been there. It was quite a thought that all those thousands of years ago someone sat where we stood, and carved them.

      1. Very interesting, can you get hold of Prof Alice Roberts she'll know someone who can work out what it is.

      2. Looks like someone had some sort of ear fetish, at least I think they're meant to be ears.

        1. When I was a baby (and I am one of those weirdos whose memories are very clear indeed from pre-speech age) I used to make such shapes in the mortar on the inner walls, through the wallpaper (by my cot). The shapes signified nothing, they were just extremely satisfying to make. Any consequences were easily deflected to my elder brother.

          2. Earliest I can remember is being in my grandparents' bomb shelter. Working it out in later years with my elderly aunt, it seems I was somewhere between 1and 2 at the time. Curiously, my son also has memories back to about that age – but his sister does not.

          3. Earliest I can remember is watching the 1953 Coronation on TV. I would have been 4.5.

          4. I can remember being three years old. One particular memory from that time was when my father's shed arrived in pieces, it was delivered and rested against the wall. My uncle came and helped him put it together and install it in the garden. Many years later I found the bill – he'd bought it in 1951, and paid in installments. He also took me to a local sawmill to buy timber to make his workbench. Sadly he didn't live long to enjoy it – he died in May 1953. I don't think I watched the Coronation on TV – I was staying in Weston with my uncle and aunt, while my Mum got herself sorted as a widow. I did go to a street party, and still have the photo.

          5. Earliest I can remember is being in my grandparents' bomb shelter. Working it out in later years with my elderly aunt, it seems I was somewhere between 1and 2 at the time. Curiously, my son also has memories back to about that age – but his sister does not.

  98. Dear President Zelensky.

    We will continue to supply weapons on the basis of one rocket plus one hundred illegal gimmegrants.

    Use both as you will.

    Dear President Putin,

    We will remove sanctions in exchange for you taking any illegal gimmegrants we send.

    The only condition being that you patrol our borders and collect them at sea.

      1. I just feel glad we don't have any hotels near where we live.
        But feel sorry for those who do.

      1. In real life, plenty.
        Among the virtue-signaling lefties, nobody of course – but remember Joe Obama, who doesn’t have much time for their flaky father.

  102. But she is. What gives power to her "brand"?
    True, but still grifting off her royal connections
    If only. She appears in the Press daily, almost impossible not to stumble across.

    1. Only because the Press wants her to appear daily – she’s clickbait.
      Many people grift off royal connections and always have done. Often, they were rewarded with titles.
      In fact, she seems to have passed through the phase of making money by airing her stories and fantasies – she’s now back to pure Hollywood/influencer businesses.

  103. Thought for the day:
    If Saudi Arabia did a Saddam/Kuwait on Yemen would it be an attack that the West should repel or an attack that the West should support?
    I would support it, but in all honesty is there a great deal of difference?

    1. The UK supplied Saudi with cluster bombs before they were banned by international treaty. Don't seem to have had much effect.

      2. The problem with SA is that they are no better than the rest of the Muslim countries, and worse, they are the centre of Satan's cult.
        Even so, I would support the Houthis being taken out.

    2. We should keep our nebs out, sos, in my view. Although I, like you, would support a cleaning out of Yemen, which is presently full of very bad actors indeed.

    3. Let them get on with it. As the old saying goes, "kill 'em all, let God sort them out". Goes back to Europe's religious wars, that saying.

  105. From the Telegraph

    I was detained by Chinese police after classmate in Britain spied on me
    International student details terrifying repercussions of speaking out against Beijing at UK universities

    Poppy Wood
    The student's ordeal began after he joined several hundred protesters outside the Chinese embassy in London in 2022
    The student’s ordeal began after he joined several hundred protesters outside the Chinese embassy in London in 2022 Credit: Alexander Mak/Reuters
    In late 2022, Haoyu, a Chinese student at a top British university, saw a call from a withheld number flash up on his mobile phone.

    The male voice at the end of the line identified himself as a member of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA), a network of student-led organisations claiming to represent Chinese citizens studying abroad.

    The caller said he knew where Haoyu lived, where his parents lived, and that there would be repercussions for what he had done.

    Haoyu – whose real name has not been used in order to protect his identity – was among several hundred protesters who had gathered outside the Chinese embassy in London on Nov 27 2022 to demonstrate against president Xi Jinping’s Covid policies.

    The rally was one of dozens organised across the world in what was known as the White Paper Movement to show solidarity with rare anti-government protests that had erupted in China several weeks earlier.

    Though ostensibly reacting to strict lockdown measures under Mr Xi, the demonstrations were also part of a broader protest against Chinese oppression. Wearing Covid masks to obscure their faces, protesters filled the street outside 49 Portland Place, in central London, and held up blank sheets of paper – a symbol of China’s pervasive censorship.

    Haoyu is one of several students to whom The Telegraph has spoken about the real-life consequences of Chinese dissidence in the UK. Students described a similar pattern of receiving flak from their peers after speaking critically about China, before the situation escalated to more formal punishments.

    It comes amid growing fears that UK universities are failing to protect China-critical students for fear of jeopardising lucrative ties with Beijing.

    Around 150,000 Chinese students are enrolled at British universities, who collectively contribute around £2.3 billion in fees each year.

    Chinese students also make up a significant portion of the overall student body at many universities, including some leading Russell Group institutions.

    More than a quarter of all students at University College London came from China in 2022/23, while just under a fifth did at the University of Manchester, according to the Higher Education Statistics Authority.

    At the same time, the UK university sector receives millions each year in donations, grants and research funding from Chinese sources, with many institutions holding fruitful partnerships with Beijing institutions.

    The Telegraph has seen a letter sent last week by leading China hawks to Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, warning that this has created a university sector in which Chinese students are being “systematically silenced on UK campuses”.

    Haoyu, who is in his twenties and studying for an undergraduate degree, immediately moved in with a friend after the phone call. When his parents called him a few days later, he realised that news of his activism appeared to have reached China.

    “They told me they had been questioned by the administrative police in China, in my home town. [The police] asked them if I had done something abroad, so they felt very scared,” he told The Telegraph.

    After a family member became ill in 2023, Haoyu booked a flight to China. He was right to fear that something may happen when he landed. Chinese border officials soon led him to an interrogation room, where he was questioned over what he had “done abroad” before being handcuffed and driven to a nearby police station.

    There, he was subjected to further questioning by officers. “They kept asking me the same thing. What they wanted to do was just to force me to confess, just to admit what I did, and then they were asking me if I recognised any other members [of the protest],” he said. “They said if I confessed I would have a relatively un-severe punishment, but I didn’t recognise them.”

    Dozens of protests were held across the world in November 2022 to show solidarity with rare anti-government protests in China
    Haoyu says he was targeted after he took part in one of the dozens of protests across the world in November 2022 to show solidarity with rare anti-government protests in China Credit: Kim Jae-Hwan/via Getty Images
    After about an hour, Haoyu was forced to sign a document confirming his presence at the demonstration, and was taken to a single cell with a hard board for a bed, where he was told he would remain for two weeks.

    “At the beginning I was told [it would be] for 14 days, so I was counting down. But there was no clock. You don’t have a concept of time inside. There is no window, so you have no [natural] light, but I also couldn’t sleep because they kept the lights on,” he said.

    Haoyu claimed he was repeatedly hauled into an interrogation room during the two-week detainment, where he was frequently forced to recite China’s national security law from a small brochure. Officers sat scrolling on their phones while he was reciting the law, but would get up and flash a spotlight directly into his eyes if he stopped.

    “There was one time when it lasted more than a day… [I know] it lasted for more than 24 hours, because I can remember that they changed shifts two or three times to different officers,” Haoyu said.

    His prevailing feeling during the sleepless fortnight was one of “hopelessness”, abated briefly by a single phone call to his parents that he was allowed to make on the third or fourth day.

    ‘They had the fear’

    Haoyu was released after signing a “repentance letter” – used as a political tool in China by forcing dissidents to express regret over their actions. When he finally reached home, few words were exchanged with his parents about what had happened to him, or their previous visit from police.

    “They had the fear – they wouldn’t talk about that,” he said.

    Hoyu returned to the UK several weeks later. He managed to convince Chinese officials to let him board his flight by showing them proof of his forthcoming university exams.

    “I felt a relief when I was on the plane, but at the same time, I thought I don’t know what I can do next,” he said. “I went back to my accommodation, and I didn’t know it but I was in a very large depression at that time. I was scared of Chinese faces and also I was almost afraid of my mother tongue.

    “When you’re just walking on the street and someone with a Chinese face approaches you, I feel scared. You have no idea where the fear comes from – you just feel like someone’s watching. You self-censor what your behaviour is.”

    He has slowly built back his confidence, but received another blow when fellow students reported him to the Chinese government about a university presentation he had given in which he briefly criticised his country.

    ‘I can no longer trust anyone’

    Haoyu received an email from an anonymous address, which included a screenshot of a “successful report” made about him through a Chinese government platform. The website, seen by The Telegraph, claims to reward Chinese citizens for “whistleblowing” about dissidents.

    “I didn’t realise after the class but people were asking for my name, like ‘oh, your speech was very interesting, shall we get to know each other?’ So some of them reported me, and I don’t know how long it was, but after that my parents were questioned again by the police in China.”

    Haoyu believes his experience shows that the UK is not safe for Chinese dissidents, even at university.

    “Once I received the threat from the CSSA, I can no longer trust anyone,” he said. “I can’t fall asleep and I have flashbacks and nightmares… I’m just a dissident, I’m not someone who’s committed a crime. But when I hear the sound of a police car now I feel scared. I always feel like someone is following you.”

    Ms Phillipson has been warned by more than a dozen academics and human rights campaigners that “Chinese students in the UK live in fear”.

    In their letter to the Education Secretary last week, they raised serious concerns that Chinese students faced the threat of “surveillance, harassment, intimidation, and even violence as Chinese authorities attempt to suppress their engagement with sensitive or political issues”.

    ‘Rewards’ for information about dissidents

    The China hawks claimed that “Chinese embassies regularly threaten universities with the loss of Chinese students if they fail to respond to embassy ‘guidance’”.

    The letter – signed by figures including Prof Steve Tsang, from the School of Oriental and African Studies, and Charles Parton, a senior fellow at the Rusi think tank – raised particular concerns over the 90 or so CSSAs operating across the UK.

    The academics warned that while they purported to be student bodies helping their peers to integrate at university, CSSAs were often “heavily involved in reporting Chinese students to the embassy and authorities”.

    The Telegraph has also seen evidence that Chinese students may be getting financial rewards to report peers who speak critically about Beijing in the UK.

    The Chinese government website used to report Haoyu to Beijing authorities states that it offers “corresponding rewards” for people who submit information about dissidents that “is found to be true”.

    The platform accepts “clues” about Chinese citizens involved in “organising, planning, and implementing activities to split the country, undermine national unity, subvert state power and overthrow the socialist system”.

    It claims to offer rewards ranging from around £1,000 to more than £10,000 for those who make reports that lead to the prevention or punishment of acts “that seriously endanger national security” in China.

    The Chinese government website used to report information about dissidents
    The Chinese government website which people can use to report on dissidents
    The UK Government has promised to crack down on Chinese pressure in British universities through its planned Foreign Influence Registration Scheme. The Home Office register, which will track foreign lobbyists, has been repeatedly delayed by Labour as it works out its stance on China.

    There is mounting expectation that China may be exempted from the “enhanced tier” list when the scheme comes into force, which The Telegraph has been told will be this summer. The top threat level will require individuals and organisations to make extra disclosures about links they have with countries that pose the biggest risks to Britain’s national security.

    In the meantime, academics have called on Ms Phillipson to fully implement new free speech laws to properly target Chinese influence on campus. In January, she announced that she would revive the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act in a watered-down version, with several key elements removed.

    Students will be barred from a new free speech complaints scheme under changes to the Tory laws planned by Ms Phillipson.

    The Education Secretary also told MPs she needed “more time to consider” whether to implement a new duty on the Office for Students, the universities regulator, to scrutinise overseas funding for UK institutions.

    The Government is concerned that this may be overly burdensome for universities and first wants to monitor how well the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme tackles the issue.

    In their open letter, academics accused Ms Phillipson of planning to torpedo “essential safeguards for our Chinese students”, saying: “We must not allow the Chinese government’s systematic efforts to suppress free speech and academic freedom to take root in our universities.”

    ‘Committed to responding to foreign interference’

    A Department for Education spokesman said: “We are committed to responding to foreign interference, including those actions which amount to transnational repression. We take protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety very seriously, and any attempt by any foreign state to intimidate, harass or harm individuals in the UK will not be tolerated.

    “As autonomous institutions, we also expect universities to have robust processes in place to prevent and tackle incidents of harassment and abuse on campus.”

    An Office for Students spokesman said: “We take these concerns seriously. It’s important that international students studying at English universities and colleges can speak freely without fear of repercussions from their home countries.

    “As part of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, institutions will be obligated to secure and promote freedom of speech and academic freedom. This includes ensuring international students can exercise their free speech rights.

    “In our 2024 draft guidance on the duty to secure freedom of speech, we said that if universities and colleges had international scholarship arrangements that had the effect of limiting free speech, they should take robust steps to address this, which could include terminating such arrangements.”

  108. Kept awake last night with a sore throat. I always kid myself it won’t develop into a cold this time but it always does. With the continual nasal drip has come a persistent cough. It’s developed very quickly. Hopefully it won’t last long.

    A sad message on the Gallery Prommers FB page. Another of our long term regulars has died. I knew Robert V for many years. RIP Bob.

    2. Evening Sue, Mrs Pea had flu 2 weeks ago and it has now subsided into a nasty cough. Son also developed it a week later. Very nasty. I have staved iff the worst, maybe beer is my salvation!

    4. Get well soon, Sue! Me and the Mrs have been bouncing some lurgi backwards and forwards for a couple of weeks now.

      'Hey, it's a cough with nothing else!'
      'Hey it's the sneeze thing without a cough!'

    1. Hoyle is the most appalling disappointment. Following the sub Khan idiot he replaced, many of us truly believed he was cute, cuddly and would discharge his duties with unbiased integrity. What fools we are.

      2. £7m on an appartment that had already been renovated by Burcow. He should be charged with fraud and thrown to dogs. They have no shame.

    2. The big question is not of the Welsh choir boy but his parents who apparently have no documented traces of their entry into the UK. They were mixed up with the Rwanda genocide but any leads on their involvement seems to have disappeared. Something stinks here

  111. Well, chums, my bedtime approaches. So I shall wish you all a Good Night. Sleep well, and I shall see you all tomorrow.

    1. Night night, Elsie. I've spent the day getting a security waiver from the US embassy in Ottawa for a trip from Canada to the USA, and I mean the day.

      Purpose of visit: "Catering consultancy"

      "During your time in Iran in 1997 did you ever engage in anti-USA activities, propaganda on behalf of an enemy of the United States, terrorism, or genocide?" I wonder if anyone ever said "Oh fuck, you got me. Yeah, fair play. I'm a genocidal maniac."

      I'm tempted to say "So who is the bad guy these days?"

      I took the easy approach and said 'No.'

      1. A wise decision; I suspect the people checking your application will have had a sense of humour (or humor) bypass.

      2. Lol back in 2017 i was applying for an ESTA for a work trip. It got refused. Turns out on the questionnaire – which was like a paper form on line – you clicked on some yes/no answers and then metaphorically “turned a page” and carried on; seems in my methodical checking, at one point i had changed a “no. I have never attempted to enter the US illegally or helped someone enter the US illegally”.

        I am now the proud owner of a 10-year US visa, obtained after an in-depth interview at the Embassy. “Why did you tick the box….”

        1. Hello LIR.

          Yes, indeed! I feel they time your response to questions when deciding whether to grant an immediate approval or whether to send you to a human being!

          ‘So, this dude spent 45 minutes deciding whether or not he’s engaged in genocide or terrorism.”

      3. That's reminiscent of the form Winston Churchill had to fill in when visiting FDR during WWII. Where the form asked him if he intended to subvert the USA in any way, shape, or form, he wrote "Sole purpose of visit". Of course, because he was the Prime Minister of Great Britain, the authorities laughed at his little joke; anyone else would undoubtedly have been refused entry under any circumstances for the rest of their lives.

        1. "Have you ever smoked pot?"

          Beatles, no. Zepp, no. Who, no. Doors, no. Clapton, no. etc etc.

          Well that's OK then, any chance of a couple of tickets?

    2. Night night, Elsie. I've spent the day getting a security waiver from the US embassy in Ottawa for a trip from Canada to the USA, and I mean the day.

      Purpose of visit: "Catering consultancy"

      "During your time in Iran in 1997 did you ever engage in anti-USA activities, propaganda on behalf of an enemy of the United States, terrorism, or genocide?" I wonder if anyone ever said "Oh fuck, you got me. Yeah, fair play. I'm a genocidal maniac."

      I'm tempted to say "So who is the bad guy these days?"

      I took the easy approach and said 'No.'

  113. Wednesday 26th March, 2025

    Caroline

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/882ec80557ea6a79d51d0e30c4bdcf448a556c8cd275efe99ae9d6064922fab0.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f15108925be65a9a2608d8e25edca14c950fe7218c958fddb1d38927a117d0b9.png
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WBpN1htubI
    My very fondest love,

    Richard

    P.S. Remember the chap who used to do this song at the Marmaris Yacht Marina karoake?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F_RCWVoL4s

    2. Grattis på födelsedagen, Mrs Tastey. I hope that 'him indoors' spoils you rotten.😉🥂👍🏻🎂🍾

    3. Happy birthday, Caroline. Yay and thrice yay !! 🎉 🥂🍨🎁🎂🍨🍷🎈🎊

  114. Allison Pearson
    If Rachel Reeves were Conservative she’d have been turfed out long ago
    Whatever the Chancellor is planning for her Spring Statement, the effects of her ‘Reevescession’ are already causing sleepless nights

    Why is Rachel Reeves not sacked? Who will rid us of this clueless Chancellor? Whatever face-saving, backside-covering blather Reeves comes up with in her Spring Statement – “Please, Sir, s’not me, it’s that nasty Orange Man wot dun it!” – it is a fact that Rachel from Accounts has crashed the economy and tipped us into Reevescession. She did the exact opposite of what she promised. Rachel’s October Budget was to growth what paraquat is to a putting green. Green shoots died, the earth was scorched; pain stopped play.

    With remarkably convenient timing, the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, popped up on Monday to warn that Labour’s hopes for growth have been dealt a blow and it is tariffs and an ageing population that pose major threats to the economy. Well, tariffs haven’t started yet, Trump has only been President since January, and our older generation have spent their whole lives putting into the pot, rarely claimed benefits or taken a day off sick, yet suddenly they are the problem? Nothing to do with Rachel’s gargantuan tax on business and mind-blowing fiscal ineptitude – are you quite sure, Andrew?

    Many of our ageing population are now retired, but often providing childcare for the grandchildren so their parents can work and pay taxes. Meanwhile, the UK has been squandering up to £8 million a day housing illegal migrants, who pose a danger to our young women, and a deafening £7.5 billion a year on benefits for households containing foreign-born claimants.

    (Oddly enough, I see tax receipts were almost exactly that amount, £7.7 billion, below forecast for the first 10 months of the past financial year.) If Rachel was giving the matter her full attention, instead of scrounging free £600 VIP concert tickets and rewriting her comic novel of a CV, then we might not have got into this frightening mess.

    Back in the autumn, Reeves was full of herself, expensively made up on her first Budget Day; the class nerd who finally gets to bask in the popular girl’s attention. She was “deeply proud” to be the first female Chancellor, saying it showed girls and women there should be “no ceiling on our ambitions”. What it actually showed was that over-promoting a woman who’s not up to the job just because it looks good for Labour to have a woman in the role can badly backfire when that job happens to be stewardship of the world’s sixth-largest economy. How far we’ve fallen from the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who could not have been less interested in being a woman prime minister, and was only concerned to be the best at the job. I paid tribute to the Iron Lady at the Freedom Festival at the University of Buckingham over the weekend, wearing a Mrs Thatcher pussy-bow tribute dress. What else?

    More………

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/25/if-reeves-were-conservative-shed-have-been-turfed-out/

    Blooming brilliant article

    Allison speaks for me , and probably for us all.

  117. Up late, got Wordle done whilst under the influence. Happy with a par.

    Wordle 1,376 4/6

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