Tuesday 25 May Shouting in a pub all night is fine, but distanced choir practice is banned

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/05/24/letters-shouting-pub-night-fine-distanced-choir-practice-banned/

587 thoughts on “Tuesday 25 May Shouting in a pub all night is fine, but distanced choir practice is banned”

  1. More than just a statue: why removing Rhodes matters. Simukai Chigudu. 25 may 2021.

    I remember so viscerally my own anger this time last year as I screamed Black Lives Matter in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. And I was not alone. The world witnessed a prolonged outpouring of rage. Global protests with emotionally charged testimonies and determined calls for justice abounded. These protests soon extended beyond the immediate circumstances of Floyd’s death at the knee of Derek Chauvin to challenging an array of institutions that are built on or propagate anti-Black racism. Anger had made it abundantly clear that, despite all the promises of liberal democracy, western society still has a problem with race.

    Morning everyone. He screamed support for a Black Man detained by the police for engaging in a criminal act? There is of course an unintended irony in this obsession with toppling statues. Had the authorities undertaken this prior to Floyd and Black Lives Matter they would have been accused of seeking to conceal the past!

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/24/oriel-college-rhodes-statue-anti-racist-anger

      1. I don’t think black lives matter to other blacks when drugs are involved.

        The fact that we’ve gone beyond horror, shock and outrage to accepting, tolerating now laughing at it shows how entrenched the problem is.

    3. I am so angry myself with a living man, Simukai Chigudu that goes into an innocent city with false charges of institutional murder, based on the psychopathology of a foreign policeman against one not entirely innocent victim thousands of miles away, and propagates hate and violence on my sort, purely on racist grounds.

      Chigudu should have a rock tied around its neck and thrown into the river to drown. That would be justice.

    4. Of course. Where is this racism that they speak of, scream of? Are they looking in a big mirror?

    5. Well Simukai, you knock down statues in your own country. The black looting mob are not but abusve, egotistical racists with no place in the world.

      Black lives DO NOT matter. That’d be racist. People, as individuals do. From your attitude and perspective, I don’t really think you’d matter to me regardless of how much you screamed and shouted your pathetic outrage.

  2. Good Morning Folks,

    Sunny bright start here,

    I note the Starlings have only two old decrepit henpecked fat balls left,
    Will have to replenish them before they get too agitated.

    1. Dont worry there is no reason to feed wild birds at this time of the year, in fact there are reasons not to.

    2. Dont worry there is no reason to feed wild birds at this time of the year, in fact there are reasons not to.

  3. Good morning, all. Grey – not raining – yet. Got the cats out of bed at 6 – much to their astonishment!. Gus now weighs 3.8 kg; Pickles 3.4 kg. Quite a handful. But they are long and lean and well muscled.

    1. They’ll go back to bed elsewhere. Cats aren’t happy unless they get their full 20 hours worth.

  4. Mng all. Today’s topical woke delicacies: John Stewart started well then someone turned on his electric chair and boosted the voltage. Angela Lawrence may begin to worry why her pesnion;s not been paid. Jayne Robinson gives her clothing tastes an airing havingdecided wearing a skirt made her handwriting neater and precise so then wore jodphurs. Andrew Blake’s having a bad week. greg Bannerman is either the plonker with no plonk or is the plonk in plonker:

    SIR – On Saturday I visited my favourite pub for the first time since mid-December. The staff had carefully organised everything and the beer tasted like nectar.

    The pub, which is not big, was busy and there was a lot of talking and laughter. As I sat there sipping my pint, I couldn’t help wondering why Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, and the Public Health England enforcers believe it’s safe for me to be in such an environment but that it would have been too risky for me to mingle the evening before with fewer than 30 people at a socially distanced choir practice with strict Covid protocols.

    The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has put in place a policy tighter than that in force immediately before Christmas, which seems totally illogical.

    The unworthy thought crossed my mind that VAT and beer duty aren’t payable at choir practices – but that can’t be relevant, can it?

    John Quinn
    Gloucester

    SIR – Non-professional singers (all the amateur choirs up and down the land) are limited to six indoors, but the limits do not apply to professional singers for work purposes. What is the basis of such an inconsistent policy?

    Paul Collins
    Baunton, Gloucestershire

    SIR – As a lifelong member of various choirs, usually rehearsing in a well-ventilated church or hall, I have found that the enjoyment of rehearsal is often enhanced by a visit to the pub afterwards.

    By what logic, scientific or governmental, is the former now banned and the latter allowed?

    Ven Robin Turner
    Southwell, Nottinghamshire

    SIR – Not only church choirs are prevented from singing, despite our being on Stage 3 of the Covid roadmap. More than 40,000 amateur choirs can’t sing together either. The great tradition of choral singing in our country is in danger of disappearing completely – but that’s apparently fine if we’ve got football, pubs and indoor gyms. The DCMS should drop “Culture” from its title.

    Jane Read
    Fairford, Gloucestershire

    SIR – As chair of the Halifax Choral Society, which has performed high-quality live music for more than 200 years, I was dismayed by the updated guidelines from the DCMS last week. The limit is six people for indoor and 30 people for outdoor singing for amateur groups such as ourselves.

    We were booked to perform Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle at Halifax Minster on June 24. This we have had to cancel, as now we cannot rehearse to our usual standards with a choir of 80 and professional soloists, conductor and instrumentalists.

    This last-minute change of “guidelines” goes against everything previously said about the importance of music to audiences across Britain.

    Roger Harvey
    Halifax, West Yorkshire

    Cancer diagnosis

    SIR – I am a consultant radiologist hospital doctor working in breast-imaging diagnostics, which includes cancer diagnosis.

    I and a team of other doctors, trainees, radiographers, breast nurses and healthcare assistants, as well as our breast surgical colleagues, have continued to see patients face to face for breast disease diagnosis by clinical examination, imaging and biopsy – none of which could be done by telephone or video call (Letters, May 24). Our service has meant that women have had a diagnosis of either benign breast disease (and thus important reassurance) or breast cancer, followed by swift treatment.

    I am proud that our team has been there to deliver this service in person. We have not added to the numbers of NHS delayed cancer diagnoses, and we have been able to provide peace of mind for many worried women.

    Dr Sarah Moorhouse
    Canterbury, Kent

    SIR – Since January I have been treated for breast cancer. My hospital appointments have been and still are a mixture of face-to-face and telephone sessions.

    Most of the time I am happy with the arrangements. But there comes a point when it feels necessary to see the consultant to get reassurance on what is happening to you. Nobody should be made to feel that this is unreasonable.

    Val Penfare
    Sandy, Bedfordshire

    Trapped in the UK

    SIR – As someone who travels to France for business, it worries me, given the success of the UK’s vaccination programme, that the UK is now about to score an own goal by continuing to limit travel to and from Europe.

    The Europeans have opened up travel within the EU and to other selected countries, including the UK. It is perverse that, as infection rates fall, the UK wants to keep its own citizens within its borders. The vulnerable are protected, so it is vital that our freedoms, ability to trade and right to move freely are restored.

    Nigel Hindle
    Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France

    M&S and the EU

    SIR – You report that Marks & Spencer is to buy more food from the EU to counter the Northern Ireland Protocol.

    It is imperative that the Government makes scrapping the protocol a priority. It is a threat to peace and damaging to businesses, and it breaks the Union with Ireland Act 1800, which states: “The subjects of Great Britain and Ireland shall be on the same footing in respect of trade and navigation, and in all treaties with foreign powers the subjects of Ireland shall have the same privileges as British subject.”

    Nicolas Lewis
    Chorleywood, Hertfordshire

    Wine-shaming

    SIR – When guests arrive with random bottles of wine (Letters, May 21), none of which match my carefully curated selection, I stow them away, noting the donor on the label.

    When attending the return function, I take the donated bottle and, on handing it over, say: “I am afraid this is just a cheap bottle.” They tend to reply: “That’s all right”, and I respond: “Yes, it’s the one you gave me last time.”

    This means that they either never give me another bottle or up their game to something more palatable.

    Greig Bannerman
    Wadhurst, East Sussex

    Harry’s freedom

    SIR – My recollection is that the Queen wanted to protect her grandsons from public hysteria after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, but was pressured by the Government and elements of the media into returning with them from Balmoral.

    Harry’s “freedom”, if truly achieved, has been won by trashing his family, who, by convention, cannot respond to the allegations. He has made a Faustian pact with the American media and will never be allowed to rest content.

    Elizabeth Prior
    London SW10

    SIR – Prince Harry should follow the excellent example set by participants in his Invictus Games, many mentally and physically scarred as a result of wounds received on operations.

    You do not hear them whinge about their misfortunes. Far from it. They have earned our admiration for the positive attitude they have adopted in rebuilding their lives and achieving great goals along the way.

    Anthony Haslam
    Farnham, Surrey

    Cummings unmasked

    SIR – Dominic Cummings may think he knows a lot, but judging from the picture on your front page (May 24), he clearly (like far too many other people) doesn’t know how to wear a mask correctly, leaving his nose exposed.

    Andrew Blake
    Marlborough, Wiltshire

    Smarter in a skirt

    SIR – When I was a young female bookkeeper for a small aviation company, working in a helicopter hangar in Thruxton, Hampshire, in the 1970s, my bosses were three highly amusing men. We became great friends, worked hard and convened at 6pm each day at the pub. It was a relaxed and happy atmosphere.

    However, the accountant insisted that I always wear a skirt to work (Letters, May 18). I believe this wasn’t solely to give the boys some eye candy. It did,
    in fact, make me much neater and more precise with my work, which was handwritten accounts.

    Simultaneously I worked as a farm secretary and part of the job was to be ready to leap on one of the nine horses at any time, so I wore jodhpurs. Those ledgers were rather haphazard, and covered in smudges and corrections.

    Jayne Robinson
    Andover, Hampshire

    Critics of Shakespeare should know their birds

    SIR – One would have thought the academics criticising as racist Shakespeare’s reference to a raven and a dove would be familiar with the tale of Noah’s Ark.

    In this context the intended meaning becomes clear.

    Frances Williams
    Swindon, Wiltshire

    SIR – Lysander’s statement in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream compares a harmless bird, the dove, with a carrion bird, the raven. Nothing more, nothing less.

    Stephen Howey
    Woodford Green, Essex

    SIR – The Globe Theatre’s seminar on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, one of a series of “anti-racist Shakespeare” seminars and part of a project
    to “decolonise the Bard’s work”, brings to mind a line from Alexander Pope: “All looks yellow to the jaundiced eye.”

    Michael Banyard
    Charlton Adam, Somerset

    Why should anyone be forced to fund the BBC?

    SIR – Why am I, a 78-year-old pensioner, being forced to pay £157 a year to support what I consider to be a lying, morally corrupt and despicable organisation?

    Make the BBC a subscription service so that I can block that lot from my system.

    A S Osborne
    Falkirk, Stirlingshire

    SIR – As a retired BBC journalist, I’m ashamed of what the organisation I was once proud to work for has now become. The Bashir scandal, uncovered far too late, is an appalling example of the self-satisfied arrogance of an organisation that has been exposed by Lord Dyson as rotten to the core.

    Apart from conniving with Mr Bashir’s cruel, manipulative lies these past 26 years, it saw fit, unbelievably, to appoint Mr Bashir as its religion editor. That would be absurd if it weren’t so sickening.

    Despite being in receipt of an extremely modest BBC pension, I believe it’s time for the corporation to sink or swim without the lifebelt of the licence fee.

    Angela Lawrence
    Woodbridge, Suffolk

    SIR – The resignation of the former chairman of the BBC, Lord Hall of Birkenhead, from the National Gallery (report, May 24) merely served to emphasise how a small group of London-based liberals circulate from boardroom to boardroom of our national institutions, promulgating their woke agenda wherever they go.

    The real irony of this situation is not that these individuals are so out of touch with the values of the majority of people whom their institutions serve, but that their role is to ensure the highest standards of governance.

    John Stewart
    Terrick, Buckinghamshire

    1. I have never understood the ban on singing. But, then, I have never understood what passes for policy from this joke “government”.

      1. Singing is the one thing that improves national morale that we were born with, and they are determined to take from us. So much for Dowden’s remit!

        Why must we all, in the name of British Culture, go down on one knee to worship millionaire footballers, because that is the done thing?

          1. Down in the village, someone keeps a flock of cockerels in the garden. I call them the Male Voice Choir. I don’t think they are Christians.

          3. If only we still had a village beat copper who could keep it under constant surveillance.

      3. We don’t have a government – we haven’t for many decades. We have politicians.

        Politics is bad government, government is bad politics.

    2. “SIR – One would have thought the academics criticising as racist Shakespeare’s reference to a raven and a dove would be familiar with the tale of Noah’s Ark.”
      Why would they be, Frances Williams? It is, after all, a Bible story and the woke don’t do Christianity.

    3. I wonder if Jayne Robinson’s post-equine untidy book-keeping was down to was down to a frisson of excitement generated by sitting astride a trembling beast?

      2. I don’t know. I know a chum who works for what he calls a ‘personal seecurity company’ and their idea of corporate hospitality is rather interesting.

        As it usually involves a breaching shotgun, flashbangs and shooting people.

  6. Russia thought to be behind Belarus flight hijack, says Dominic Raab. 25 May 2021.

    Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said the incident was a “state hijacking” and that flights over EU airspace would be banned.

    “This is an attack on democracy,” Mrs von der Leyen said. “This is an attack on freedom of expression. And this is an attack on European sovereignty. And this outrageous behaviour needs a strong answer.”

    This from a woman who not one ordinary person in the EU has voted for!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/24/secret-security-agents-board-hijacked-plane-forced-land-belarus/

    1. mng Araminta. More heat and light on this than the US sponsored shooting down of MH17. Raab and von der Leyen are drowning themselves out in their own echo chamber

      2. I think Minsk are reeling in the Western Nations nicely.When enough nonsense has been uttered,they will release the transcript of the ATC/pilots and sit back and wait.

        1. mng Harry, this echo chamber soundbite goes nowhere. And never intended to, other than create smoke and mirrors ahead of G7 childrens party at Cornwall

    2. Oh yes, Minty. The Frau Doktor voted for her. And her vote was all that was required to parachute this incompetent nonentity into the one of the many “presidenzs” of the EUSSR.

    3. Minsk Put No Pressure on Ryanair Plane’s Crew, Belarusian Transport Ministry Says
      The transcript of negotiations between Belarusian air traffic controllers and pilots of the Ryanair aircraft, there was no pressure from Minsk on the crew when a decision on emergency landing was made, Artem Sikorsky, the director of the aviation department of the Belarusian Transport Ministry, said on Monday.

      “There was no pressure on the part of Belarusian air traffic controllers on the Ryanair crew to make a decision,” Sikorsky said at a briefing.

      He stressed that the Belarusian air traffic controllers had acted in accordance with international obligations.

      Sikorsky said that the reports about alleged threats with the use of air-to-air missiles against the aircraft were not true.

      “We strictly follow all the standards of international civil aviation. There are not any threats to shoot down an aircraft in the standards,” he added.

      2. “I say, you chaps up there. Yes, you, the Irish wallahs in the Ryanair thingy. How about you drop in on us here in Minsk? It’s hardly out of your way, and we’d love to see you. We’ve got the cook making the draniki as we speak, and the vodka is chilling in the fridge. Do come. We’d be terribly disappointed if you didn’t.”
        Kind of thing?

        1. “Air Traffic Control, Minsk, to pilot of Ryanair Jet, Tree Tree Tree: will you give me your height and position?”

          “Ah, to be sure. Oi’m foive foot six and oi’m sitting in the front seat.”

      3. Well if there weren’t intended to be any threats, why send up an armed fighter ‘plane?

        1. Standard procedure…don’t they do the same in Britain?
          I’m pretty sure Ukraine did.
          “The West declared no such outrage when in a remarkably similar incident in 2016, the Ukrainian authorities forced a Belarusian Belavia airliner to land in Kiev and arrested one of the passengers, the Armenian “journalist, blogger, and anti-Maidan activist” Armen Martirosyan.
          Had you forgotten that one?

        2. Standard practice i think..don’t the UK do it?
          The Ukrainians certainly did!
          The West declared no such outrage when in a remarkably similar incident in 2016, the Ukrainian authorities forced a Belarusian Belavia airliner to land in Kiev and arrested one of the passengers, the Armenian “journalist, blogger, and anti-Maidan activist” Armen Martirosyan.
          I’m surprised you forgot that one.

    5. Dominic Raab has been misinformed.

      The EU forced a passenger aircraft to land in Vienna, I think in about 2013, and also there was the Monarch Airways flight that with the connivance of their management landed at Nice so the the French could detain a British citizen.

      In neither case can we recall any protest or objection from the British government.

      1. Morning Janet. Raab is a Globalist Shill. He never misses an opportunity to involve Russia or Putin!

  7. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/90da44304e7c3cddab046b72f8e31757adfbbbbb374a8d37c043beb2d0bfa7dc.png Judging by your loathsome proclivity for announcing your repulsive caddishness to the world via this newspaper, Bannerman; it is a wonder that you still receive invitations to supper.

    You would pull that stunt on me once only. The ensuing plonk shampoo you would receive would announce to the world the commencement of your tenure as a social outcast.

        1. Thanks in advance – flowers for the hostess, wine for the man. And only wine that I’d drink (no great recommendation, I’m afraid), and can be put aside if not suitable for the meal.

          1. I generally try to take a reasonable wine but tell them to put it to one side to drink another day, because it has been in my cellar.

            I’ve had the embarrassment of the recipient opening mine as the evening has gone on and being told by another guest that it was better than the one that had been served earlier.

            Not actually so, just different and more to their taste.

          3. Or flowers and wine as thanks in advance to the hosts? Small bugbear of mine (the hostess may be the one in charge of the wine).

          4. Why assume?
            The woman may be host and bartender. Come to that, so might the man.

        2. I don’t think it’s bizarre. It’s a way of expressing appreciation.
          You don’t have to use it at the time.

          1. Even fairly cheap wine may be used for cooking. A friend told me. I mean, I’ve read it somewhere.

          2. Have to disagree with you there, Horace.

            It doesn’t need to be a vintage but it also shouldn’t be cheap.

          3. Morning Phiz.
            So what the foxtrot are you supposed to do with the cheap stuff no one drinks?

          7. Well, not Algerian* red, certainly. But most can be turned in to a reasonable sauce with the usual witches’ ingredients. Other than champagne most of what we drink has a year on it, thus making it “vintage”, although not necessarily expensive.

            *On the basis that Algeria, when part of France, produced lots of red wine, I tried a bottle from Oddbins. “How bad can it be ?” is the question that we asked. And then we found out. that was long ago, yet we still try things and ask ourselves the same optimistic question.

          8. Many years ago, when I was still dancing with the King John’s Morris, we had a French traditional dance side over on an exchange visit.
            At the time I had some home made elderberry wine I’d used far too much fruit in and one of the senior members of the French side, who loved really rough Algerian Red, tried a glass of it and ended up taking two bottles back to France with him!

          9. Morning ‘Orace!
            I’m not a wine drinker and the DT does not drink at all, so any bottles of wine we get have tended to sit under the stone slabs in the pantry so I’ve began using them in cooking.

          10. Pah. In the unlikely event of my inviting someone to dinner, I do not expect to be rewarded. If I wanted a bottle of wine, I’d go and buy one. I ask people for their company. A reward in itself.

            So there!

          11. It’s not all about you. People like to show their appreciation.
            I’m fine with that and I do the same for others.

          12. What do you mean, it’s not all about me? Of course it is…!

            Appreciation? How quaint…

          13. Doubleplus agree.

            Met some Australian chums over a bad bottle once. Took it along, bloke actually grew the stuff. After ward we went wine tasting – not some snooty event, most of it was snorted in laughing about the wives – and not too long after – and many decidedly weaving trips to the wine shed and back – we got in half a dozen decent bottles.

        3. I thought it was just common courtesy to present your host with a gift to show you appreciate the hospitality. It could be wine, or flowers for the hostess or a box of chocolates.

    4. It’s an absolute corker.
      It’s so bad I cannot decide if it’s a wind-up. Surely nobody would expose themselves as being such a pathetic snob.

    5. It’s an absolute corker.
      It’s so bad I cannot decide if it’s a wind-up. Surely nobody would expose themselves as being such a pathetic snob.

    7. Someone buying you a gift – when they don’t know your tastes, interests or palate and rejecting it shows you to be a base, pathetic little man.

  8. EU cuts air links with Belarus over forced plane landing. 25 May 2021.

    The move came as Belarusian state television broadcast a 30-second video of Protasevich, who had been living between Lithuania and Poland, confirming that he was in prison in Minsk and “confessing” to charges of organising mass unrest.

    The footage showed Protasevich – who could face 15 years in jail – with dark markings visible on his forehead, saying he was being treated “according to the law”.

    All Nottlers should take note here! When arrested and tortured by the Secret Police you should “confess” immediately. No one will believe it anyway and it will reduce your exposure to further unpleasantness!

    There is no doubt that Lukashenko is not only a thug but a moron as well. He’s becoming such an embarrassment that the way things are going he will eventually end up being abandoned by Russia, his only, though unwilling, ally!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/25/eu-cuts-air-links-belarus-forced-plane-landing/

    1. Wrong on every point.I’ll remind you of your post in a month’s time.

        1. It reminds me of the western MSMs tirade against Bashar alAssad a few years ago.
          He was also a thug and a moron.Those of us who follow the Syrian story know differently.
          Lukashenko is the elected President of Belarus,not some US puppet.
          When Minsk releases the Air Traffic Control transcript(and it will be soon)a lot of people are going to have a lot of egg on their face.
          Let’s give it at least a few weeks to see if i’m correct.
          Morning.

          1. Lukashenko’s real sin is to reject the scamdemic/great reset bribes. For that he must be punished.

  9. George Floyd’s family having an audience with Biden today. BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning making the most of this forthcoming event.

    1. Well, I guess they do have a lot in common. They both have criminals in the family.

    3. Today reported, doubtless with surprise and disappointment, that popular support for BLM has diminished over the past twelve months.

      2. Morning Anne -Surely they will have given the £27million to the BLM cause.

    5. WTAF? A career criminal’s family are meeting the president?

      Good criking lord. The world’s insane.

      1. for diplomacy’s sake wibbling, let’s say a career criminal is meeting the coloured variant for diversity and equality purposes

  10. I see that the BPAPM has said he is to marry Carrion in 2022. More to the point, I suspect, Carrion kept on and on at him until he (as always) caved in.

    I’ll also bet anyone a shilling that the wedding does not take place; or, if it does, they will be divorced within a few years. Serial shaggers such as BPAPM do NOT change their ways.

  11. Good morning, all Y’all
    🙂
    Hope all’s well in your various households.
    I’m trying to find whether / where my Mother has savings, pensions, shares etc etc, and have tried mylostaccounts.org – problem with them is you need to have a clue as to where to start, and I don’t. I have no idea where she might have savings accounts stashed away… can any Nottler help? Have you had to do the same? I can’t get access to her filing cabinet, so I can’t find bank books, statements, you name it.

    1. Do you know her national insurance number? Perhaps you could go down the line of finding out what she pays/paid taxes on.

      1. Nope, don’t know even that. 🙁 It’s a bother, so it is.
        Can’t get that kind of info from her, either. She’d happily tell a stranger on the phone, but apparently I’ll spend all her money so …

        1. Does she have a solicitor? If so, maybe you could have a word and get the ball rolling.
          How about (hollow laugh) her GP? Maybe she’s in a good post code.

        2. I think you’re buggered until you manage to get a Power of Attorney. I discovered most of the accounts my mother had squirrelled her money in by walking around the town and visiting all the banks and building societies armed with a death certificate.

          I’d be happy to ring her up as a stranger, LOL!

          1. Have the PoA, the problem is access to records – like, they are in Wales, and I’m in Norway. 2 x 10 days quarantine isn’t something I would take lightly, especially with the hotel at my cost!

        3. There should be some pension statements or P60s lying about. If not, try making an appt with her GP to explain the problem. The GP may have those details;

          Havenyou got power of attourney? If so, write to the DWP.

    2. Morning Oberst. My guess is that you should first apply for a Power of Attorney (see Bill for details) which will enable you to compel others to assist you.

      2. Have the PoA – the problem is to find out who “the others” actually are!

    3. Good morning Paul.
      Principality B. Soc. would be the favourite in Wales but Power Of Attorney will probably be needed. Good luck.

      2. I already contacted the Principality – but there may well be savings elsewhere. That’s the mystery!

          1. how considerate. Not much this end, the usual late, short rains / obligatory power cuts mid afternoon. Various political stomach wanabee candidates trying to self promote but seem to be stuck when told unless your paying all the rounds, don’t sit down, keep moving

  14. Good Moaning. Bored teenagers not paying attention to online teaching – well, not by their schools.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/24/fifteen-year-old-among-eight-arrested-crackdown-royal-mail-text/

    “Fifteen-year-old among eight arrested over ‘Royal Mail’ text scams

    Police carry out dawn raids in London, Coventry, Birmingham and Colchester in action against rising wave of fraudulent texts

    24 May 2021 • 6:30pm

    A 15-year-old boy was among eight people arrested as police launched the first major crackdown on scammers sending fake Royal Mail text messages.

    Officers carried out dawn raids in London, Coventry, Birmingham and Colchester in a week of action against a rising wave of fraudulent texts and calls fuelled by the Covid pandemic.

    The scam messages, known as “smishing” texts, are used to steal a victim’s personal and bank details by getting them to follow a link to a fake version of a trusted website.

    During raids carried out this week, seven men and one boy were arrested on suspicion of fraud for allegedly sending out fake messages asking people to pay a fee to retrieve a Royal Mail parcel.

    Investigators recovered stolen bank details and devices suspected of being used to send thousands of text messages an hour. They also found bank details allegedly belonging to people soon to be targeted and protected their accounts.

    Seven of those arrested have been released under investigation, while one man has been charged and is in custody.

    The arrests included a 15-year-old boy from London and an 18-year-old in Colchester. The other six men, aged between 19 and 22, were held in Birmingham, London and Coventry.

    The charged man, from Enfield, will appear at Inner London Crown Court on June 21. He faces charges of fraud by false representation, possession of articles for use in fraud and possession of criminal property, a spokeswoman for the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU) said.

    A police source said “ongoing investigations” were expected to result in further arrests and charges.

    Fraudsters have seized on the Covid pandemic to send millions of messages designed to lure people into giving up their life savings.

    Cases almost doubled from 20,109 in 2019 to 39,364 last year, with losses up from £134 million to £150.3 million. Many of the texts claim to be from trusted organisations such as the NHS or major high street banks.

    In recent weeks, thousands of people have reported messages claiming to be from the Royal Mail and saying a package is being held and asking for a shipping fee so it can be delivered.

    An example of a Royal Mail scam text reads: “Royal Mail: Your package has been held and will not be delivered due to a £1.99 unpaid shipping fee.”

    The message includes a link for payment, which sends the user to a fake website mocked up to look like a genuine Royal Mail site and is used to steal bank details.

    Often the scammers use the details to make a small payment and then call the victim pretending to be from their bank. The victim is told of the suspicious payment and warned to move their money to a “safe” account – which is in fact operated by the scammers.

    Detective Chief Inspector Gary Robinson, the head of the DCPCU, said: “The success of these operations shows how, through our close collaboration with Royal Mail, the financial services sector and mobile phone networks we are cracking down on the criminals ruthlessly targeting the public.

    “Ongoing investigations are now under way and we will continue to work together to bring those committing ‘smishing’ scams to justice.”

    1. One operation, partly completed, is not that much to boast about, DCI Robinson. There are hundreds of these frauds operating at this moment. Many of them are very large scale.

      2. But, if one of them used the name of Guy Gibson’s dog, even Cressida Willy would have turned up

        A long time ago, when the Royal Anglian Regiment were in Rhodesia, they were told not to use the “N” word, so

        they renamed them Stills, as they were still Ns

      3. They should realise the onlyones to scam money out of Post Offices are the government, via bad computer programming

    2. Good morning Anne. I was wondering if by any chance that the kids behind the scams are of Nigerian origin & are simply carrying on a time honoured family tradition ?

          1. I think pikeys are too thick for these text scams. Their style is stealing agricultural vehicles and drain covers. Oh, and a bit of sheep rustling on the side.

      3. I was a bit worried when I saw the words ‘Colchester’ and ’15 year old’.
        It would seem that the Colchester scammer is 18. Phew!

    3. Comically, if they paid more attention in English and understood grammar, they’d probably have a higher success rate.

      These people are instantly caught out by the use of have instead of ‘of’. Mindless fools.

      2. T’other way round usually isn’t it?
        E.g. ‘Should of’ instead of ‘Should have’

    4. I received one the other week purporting to be from Hermes. The link was dodgy so I blocked the sender.

  15. Good morning from a cold and damp Derbyshire. Peeing it down and 5°C in the yard.
    When is Spring arriving??

  16. How Cambridge is being turned into Xi’s China. 25 May 2021.

    On Sunday, I studied the website of Report+Support, a new “reporting tool” offered to students by Cambridge University by the vice-chancellor, Professor Stephen Toope. It is based on a template already used by some other universities. It invites you to denounce anyone you like in the university for “racism, discrimination and micro-aggressions”.

    It is impossible not to laugh, but one should not doubt the seriousness of the operation. Prof Toope, who has made repeated speeches in praise of Xi Jinping’s China, is developing methods of denunciation of which the People’s Republic would be proud.

    Minty’s Law. There is no one as stupid as an intellectual!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/25/cambridge-turned-xis-china/

      1. Enid Blyton’s Famous five? (Can’t be. The above were all dogs.)

    2. I am ashamed of my alma mater. Even when I attended, the individual quest for understanding was being displaced by gaining points for conformity. I will be eternally grateful for the one professor who engaged with me fiercely on an intellectual level and encouraged independent thought. My tutorial partner was a conformist who hated me for that. He’s now a professor there.

  18. 333381+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,

    Tuesday 25 May Shouting in a pub all night is fine, but distanced choir practice is banned

    Combined the two, have choir practice IN the pub, pub licise the ludicrous ruling combined with a party, all round winner.

    2. All quite happy to use such despised (loathed?) organisations as police, ambulance service and – natch – ‘our’ NHS.

    3. DIVERSITY STRENGTH!

      The utter, utter muther **F***KKI**n c**st**ar**d.

      While he is not personally killing black kids, his sheer arrogance in refusing to accept that he has failed so utterly is inherent in the problem.

      2. You’ve been brainwashed by seeing too many size 6 models in the media Bilty. The lady in the above isn’t big, she is normal.

      1. Rik Redux posted yday re Labour MP claudia webb who closely resmembles Lily Munster, on tw@tter yday waffling about black community not responsible for manufacture, importing or distributing guns, blah, blah, blah and culture of violence.

        2. Hi AW, thank you for the detailed reply you made to one of my comments about ten days ago; I left it too late to continue the thread.

          2. Aftn tim, no worries. I posted the same hours ago, but some comments seem to have habit of “doing a Lord Lucan”. It’s been happening for past 72 hours

        3. You missed her whining on Sky News just now.

          Oh boy! What an embarassment having her as an MP.

  22. Did anybody notice this letter in yesterdays DT letters?

    SIR – as a well respected artist I must protest the lack of progress made by the police in the UK & Interpol in Europe in investigating the theft of one of the UK’s most beloved art treasures and ask that it be returned to its rightful owner forthwith, I am of course referring to the portrait of the fallen Madonna.
    sincerely
    Van Klomp
    Netherlands

      1. Or got rolled up in a Gestapo Knockwurst & due to postal delays was only recently delivered to the current Fuhrer in Berlin, Frau Merkel.

          4. It’s not pornography when it’s culture, or geography….. allegedly….

          1. “I was raised in Nipples. As they say – see Nipples and do.”

            Officer Crabtree

  23. Good morning all.

    That excellent host and wine connoisseur Mr Greig Bannerman has reminded me of another unintentionally famous citizen of the UK; whatever happened to Ronnie Pickering?

  24. #CovidClownWorld
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7393637fe8fe073144f705832f6f1f4b4cc2f0350fa8afcf47f3aa7c0e8c25c8.png
    https://twitter.com/Ireland2020/status/1395661313649651712?s=20
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4fdfa456f90678044cd13e14b260765421ffb28b5f304752a79a67d7f9b01740.png
    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/15d2846b2bc289981db5e7cc94e6893a8de0e3915244989a7e22c4c5dc8c2631.jpg

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ea9e9c549ee9e1390be4d9f8f9a9fe42aee51a0e6ef722130d42eb12c03e1c9f.png

    1. I’d rather they dropped their banner in your first picture, Rik!

    1. Aldi has a bucket by the checkouts. They will have to empty it a bit more often.

  27. Consider the following:

    1. If you refine heroin for a living, but you have a moral objection to liquor. You may be a Muslim

    2. If you own a £3,000 machine gun and £5,000 rocket launcher, but you can’t afford shoes. You may be a Muslim

    3. If you have more wives than teeth. You may be a Muslim

    4. If you wipe your butt with your bare hand, but consider bacon unclean. You may be a Muslim

    5. If you think vests come in two styles: Bullet-proof and suicide. You may be a Muslim

    6. If you can’t think of anyone you haven’t declared Jihad against. You may be a Muslim

    7. If you consider television dangerous, but routinely carry explosives in your clothing. You may be a Muslim

    8. If you were amazed to discover that cell phones have uses other than setting off roadside bombs. You may be a Muslim

    9. If you have nothing against women and think every man should own at least four. You may be a Muslim

    10. If you find this offensive or racist and don’t forward it. You may be a Muslim

    4. Highly offensive, but I could not prevent the laugh from escaping, m’lud.

  30. Good morning, my friends

    More gibberish from Ursula Fond Of Lying

    Blame Brexit for Northern Ireland tensions, says Ursula von der Leyen
    European Commission president says recent issues in Northern Ireland are not the fault of the protocol

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/05/25/blame-brexit-northern-ireland-tensions-says-ursula-von-der-leyen/

    To quote from the leading comment under the article by a Mr Stephen Kirby:

    “….. Boris Johnson was faced with: a trade deal with EU with an obligatory NI Protocol attached to it,
    or
    neither the NI Protocol nor a trade deal.”

    I am afraid that Johnson made the wrong choice: No deal, no NI Protocol and WTO terms was the far better option.

    I am deeply suspicious of the Machiavellian Mr Gove – I am sure that his last minute trip to Brussels just before the deal was struck was in order to blackmail Johnson into surrendering on fishing and N. Ireland. I am also sure that Boris Johnson’s paramour joined forces with Gove to ensure Johnson’s capitulation.

    1. That bloody woman is worse than just septic, she’s poisonous. Mafia trained employed by and sponsored.

  31. Showing a rare political judgement of the public mood in Batley Keir Starmer has put Kim Leadbeater’s brother-in-law, Brendan Cox, in charge of her election campaign.

    1. ah, this will be the same serial sex offender, while he was in highly paid jobs in the charity sector. Kneel Smarmer’s again pulling another hat out of the rabbit

    2. A serial sex-pest,an assaulter of women………..
      Fit right in with the “community” in Batley

      1. George Floyd was a serial assaulter of women, and it hasn’t done his reputation any harm.

  32. Good morning dear people , I dare say that in perhaps a month or so I will be complaining about the heat and watering the garden every day .

    Oh dear, today is already showery, with a brisk cold wind blowing , patches of sunshine , but warm clothes weather.

  35. Grim piece from Independence Daily by Colliemum

    “Well – it’s official: vaccinated or not, people will still

    have to self-quarantine when coming into contact with a covid

    ‘infectee’. We said from the start of the ‘unveiling’ of BJ’s roadmap

    that by hook or by crook the covid empire would never give us back our

    freedom. We were right.

    The ‘new normal’ will consist of more tests, more muzzle wearing, more ‘precautions’, more fear. And more jabs, of course. The DT has the ‘exclusive’ on this news item (paywalled link), but the DM copied from the DT early this morning (link). This quote shows what this is really about:

    “Government sources

    say it is crucial that the contract tracing system stay in place because

    it is still possible for vaccinated people to pass on coronavirus.” (link)

    Strange, isn’t it, that these sources,

    in their zeal to keep their hands on controlling us, don’t realise that

    they are totally undermining the whole vaccination strategy according

    to which ‘the jab makes you free’. I wonder what all those who’ve

    clutched at getting the jabs so they can finally go on summer holidays

    will have to say when, holidays over, they’re back to the same old

    controls and quarantines.”

    https://independencedaily.co.uk/your-daily-betrayal-tuesday-25th-may-2021-toldja-and-the-art-of-finger-pointing/
    I commend the rest of it as well,worth your time

    2. Reflecting on the enormous list of crucial things that have to be done when you are about to return to your OWN country (with criminal sanctions) – as so helpfully set out by BB2 yesterday – I honestly cannot see the great unwashed either complying or even knowing what they have to do.

      All these people sunning themselves will be returning within the next two weeks. I can envisage some civil unrest when thousands are refused entry because their “paperwork” is not correct – while, at the same time, hundreds of unwanted illegals are welcomed on the Kent coast with no paperwork, lotsa infectious ailments etc etc.

    1. I could quite make out what the little girl was saying.
      But it was just a goat.

    2. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings.

      Mind you goats do have a reputation for carnal enthusiasm!

  37. Morning all.
    Muz Abbott is at it again. She’s making a thinly disguised racist stunt out of the ‘attempted murder’ of the BLM activist. She knows full well that 4 black men arrived at the party and discharged a hand gun. Some one will know who they are. And she was stirring it up regarding the first anniversary of the Floyd death. But it’s a shame for the relatives of PC Keith Blakelock, the local residents who were present at the time he was hacked to death in Brixton with a machete, knew who hacked him to death but they were too cowardly to say so. Silcott possibly got away with it. Can you imagine the riotous uproar if the copper had been black and the attacker white ? Perhaps this is what is happening now, nobody wants to identify these 4 men because of their cowardice.

      1. That’s the whole problem isn’t it Bill. They are all Yap Yap yap, but when it comes to the real nitty gritty they keep schtum.

        1. But they still keep on demanding ‘inquiries’ and disagreeing with the outcomes, because ” all the facts didn’t come to light, innit”!
          Edit: inquiry!

      1. Lamely was on zedlebrity Master Mind, the BBC i guess were trying, as they do, to over promote their diversity campaign. I think he scored a total of 9 points. DH of the year.

        2. He was also “allowed” answers that I doubt would have been accepted other than on the celebrity version

    3. Correction:

      Keith Blakelock was murdered at Broadwater Farm Estate in Tottenham. He was stabbed multiple times and his head almost severed from his body.

      1. Yes of course, soz for the error.
        He had a wife Elizabeth and three sons I often wonder family and I often wonder how they might feel with all this stabbing and shooting by black people going on all over.
        Lunch time news BBC, it seems that the police are now being blamed for the attempted ‘assassination’.
        Was it Kahnt that forced an end to stop and search ?

    1. McLaughlin needs to learn to capitalise the perpendicular pronoun.

      And to slap herself every morning because she is a nasty, bitter, spiteful human being who, without conservative cash, wouldn’t exist.

  41. From the Telegraph . . . Black Lives Matter activist Sasha Johnson was shot in a garden after
    “four black males dressed in dark clothing discharged a firearm”, police have said.

      1. Black lives matter but only to white people apparently
        Black lives matter but only to white imbecilic lefties apparently
        There that’s fixed it for you, as I personally don’t give a flying fork about Black Lives Matters opinions !

    2. I don’t believe it. She was obviously shot by a white supremacist!

      1. That’s what Diane Abbott thought before she discovered the egg on her face.

        2. Her reply was insulting. The desperate efforts these creatures go to beggars the mind.

    3. Morning stupendus, nobody speaks English at the Met Pol nowadays ( no surprise as its the de facto Mecca Police force ) – shouldn’t that statement have read in English ” One Black male , accompanied by 3 other Black males all dressed in dark clothing, discharges illegal firearm ” The way it reads its not clear if only one fired the pistol or they took it in turns to fire the weapon, in which case BLM can set up a GoFundMe website to buy the other 3 impoverished Black males an illegal firearm of their own to use in further Black on Black crimes !

    4. Hands up if you thought it was someone else?

      Yes, you at the back. I’ve a bridge to sell you.

      However, where are the riots, the looting, the mob? Where’s the people screaming at the outrage?

    1. The department of education should have stepped in and said that teachers have a duty to teach, not pander.

      It should have supported the school.

      The school should have spported the teacher wholeheartedly.

      The police should have sent the complaining Muslims home and reminded them they are proving the teacher’s point.

      The media should have reinforced that point, making it clear that, defacto radical Islam IS intolerant.

  43. “We have talent to win Euros’ says Rashford” . . . .
    Good on you Rashford . .getting ready to be signed up by the BBC ??

    3. Providing, of course, that our footballers all (alone amongst competing nations) “take the knee”.

      2. I don’t think any of their games are in St Petersburg(there are 7 games there).
        Taking the knee there would not be a good idea!!

      3. Apparently, England will be ‘taking the knee’ in the Euros this year. When will this nonsense end?

    1. There may be an element of truth in this but not as a bio-weapon. Somebody did some research into the vaccination of women of child bearing age and came up with figures showing that some suffered an irregular menstrual bleeding in the days following vaccination. The conspiracy theorists were just getting ready to shout from the rooftops when somebody pointed out that this was a feature of all vaccination programs.

      Ovulation causes changes in the immune system to allow a fertilised egg to embed in the womb wall. Vaccination also affects the immune system and in some cases this can lead to the womb shedding the wall covering early. It’s a one off irregularity and doesn’t affect already pregnant women. Apparently this is well known in medical circles.

      That’s what I have heard and seems to make some sense although I’m no expert. What surprises me is that it is not well known as it is the sort of thing that the anti-abortion lobby would latch on to.

      1. 333381+ up ticks,
        Morning JOH,

        “that it is not well known as it is the sort of thing that the anti-abortion lobby would latch on to.”

        And rightly so.

    2. There may be an element of truth in this but not as a bio-weapon. Somebody did some research into the vaccination of women of child bearing age and came up with figures showing that some suffered an irregular menstrual bleeding in the days following vaccination. The conspiracy theorists were just getting ready to shout from the rooftops when somebody pointed out that this was a feature of all vaccination programs.

      Ovulation causes changes in the immune system to allow a fertilised egg to embed in the womb wall. Vaccination also affects the immune system and in some cases this can lead to the womb shedding the wall covering early. It’s a one off irregularity and doesn’t affect already pregnant women. Apparently this is well known in medical circles.

      That’s what I have heard and seems to make some sense although I’m no expert. What surprises me is that it is not well known as it is the sort of thing that the anti-abortion lobby would latch on to.

    3. 333381+ up ticks,
      Morning RE,
      I am still reeling from the fact that so many wanted an armful of an unknown consequence substance onboard.

      The drug dealers must believe that all their eids have
      come at once.

      If factual I believe that shameful should read as
      orchestrated murders revealed within the near future.

      Reset could be inclusive of bluntly put, murder inc.

      Keep in mind lab/lib/con parties ( the coalition) will be depleted hence the DOVER intake is essential for party welfare.

      Will it make a difference to party members allegiance at the annual jab oree, very doubtful.

    4. And all swept under the carpet by governments and media. I hope I live to see their day of reckoning.

        2. Didn’t Ted Ray get into trouble at the BBC when he thought his microphone was switched off and he recited a rhyme about girls of sixteen and when roses are red being ready for plucking?

    1. aftn TB, the comments below are just as good : “Can’t wait for Mel Gibson to play Mandela” & “can’t wait to see ‘Barry’ from Eastenders be cast as the role of Martin Luther King”

    2. As I posted the other day I would prefer to see that outstanding Black actress Diane Abott who plays a Labour front bench MP in the series House of Cards….er ….House of Commons get the part of Anne Boleyn or failing that Eddie Izzard as Anne Boleyn !

    3. Sex and colour don’t matter to actors so I hope to see Miriam Margoles play George Floyd in a film of his life story.

      1. Can’t wait to see white opera singers taking the lead in Porgy and Bess.

  47. Are these people dangerous, race-baiting, paranoid troublemakers or just laughable and inadequate failures?

    Sasha Johnson vigil: Emotions run high as well-wishers gather in London

    More than 150 people attend vigil which lasted around four hours consisting of prayers and speeches

    A vigil has taken place for Sasha Johnson, the Black anti-racism activist fighting for her life after being caught up in gunfire when violence erupted at a party.

    The gathering took place in Ruskin Park, Camberwell, around the back of Kings College Hospital in south London on Monday afternoon.

    Ms Johnson, 27, remains in a critical condition in hospital after she was shot in the head in Peckham, southeast London, in the early hours of Sunday.

    More than 150 people were in attendance at the vigil which lasted around four hours consisting of chanting prayers, sharing of memories of Ms Johnson and positive affirmations, as well as the beating of drums and pouring of libation.

    Loved ones and friends spoke passionately about the time they’ve spent with the mother-of-two, extending well wishes for the wounded campaigner.

    One man, who said he met the activist a few years ago prior to last year’s Black Lives Matter protests, told attendees at the vigil: “Sasha Johnson ain’t going nowhere. The Black woman must be protected at all costs. Women are warriors, females are fierce, the girl equals ‘goddess’. Sasha puts her passion, life and power in the life of liberation. She does not deserve this.”

    “Sasha is a fighter – she don’t stay down. She’s everyone of the kinds and queens of the past in one body. That’s who she is,” another friend said.

    A friend who was visibly tearful through the event told the crowd how much of a devoted mother Ms Johnson is.

    “She just did her son’s birthday last week and went all out. There’s nothing those boys could say they ever need on this earth that she didn’t provide,” she said.

    “Sasha is a friend. If you’re lucky to say you know her – she will give you anything, You could call her at 3am and say ‘sis’, it doesn’t matter if she’s tired, she will wake up.

    “This cannot be it (…). We’re going to Ghana for Christmas oh!”

    Another campaigner urged members of the local community to cooperate with the police as enquiries into the shooting remain ongoing while “holding them to account”.

    “Your good hearts and emotions are all appreciated at this time as we send them out, via our ancestors, to Sasha and her family,” one man added.

    “Unfortunately within our community there are some bad eggs as well as some good eggs, and it’s up to us to make sure that those bad eggs are held accountable for their actions because it’s not acceptable for our bad eggs to be taking out our warriors – be they male or female – who are out here often at all hours without any pay, working for our community, our families,”

    The same campaigner cautioned vigil members: “Don’t give the white supremacist media a story, don’t give them a narrative, don’t give them anything until they give us less racism, fair representation, peace, justice and safety.

    It later emerged that there was a confrontation between an LBC journalist, Matthew Thompson, and members of the vigil.

    Speaking to The Independent during the vigil Leo Muhummad, an activist and former actor, said he couldn’t “do anything but be here”.

    “I heard the news of what happened to our sister Sasha Johnson and was determined to come down to show respect and stand in solidarity with our sister to add to whatever positive energy we can add to in order that the creator may, if it’s His will, bring her back from where she is,” he said.

    “I know my sister and she is a young warrior on behalf of our people. I couldn’t do anything but be here.”

    Drawing reference to the rumours about the circumstances surrounding Ms Johnson’s hospitalisation, Mr Muhammad said: “It is being said that the shooting was not targeted at the young sister and that it’s possibly gang related – and it’s almost like we are collectively saying that with some kind of relief.

    “Why is it acceptable? Why do we have these gangs?”

    The Metropolitan Police has said there is no evidence that the 27-year-old campaigner was the intended target of the shooting – although the Taking The Initiative Party, of which she is a member, said the attack came after “numerous death threats as a result of her activism” in an Instagram post.

    Ms Johnson’s friend Imarn Ayton told BBC News: “As far as we are aware, she was at a party.

    “There was a rival gang that may have heard about someone being in that party that they didn’t feel quite comfortable with or trusted and so they resorted to driving past and shooting into the garden, and one of those shots obviously hit Sasha Johnson.

    “But I don’t believe she was the intended victim.”

    Ms Ayton also said: “Of course I can’t speculate, I wasn’t there.”

    Police enquiries continue.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sasha-johnson-blm-london-vigil-b1853110.html

    1. GM William, I grew up in Herne Hill bordering on the road leading to Ruskin Park, where I and my friends spent many a happy hour playing as kids , it deeply saddens me to know that Black gangs & BLM terrorists have made a beautiful park their territory !

    2. Somehow this black on black shooting will be blamed on us long-suffering whites.

      3. this is exactly where MSM is shafted. There’s hardly any white faces left in Peckham and they can’t even remotely point a finger of blame, hence usual woke hysteria

    3. A drive-by shooting apparently. She must have a big drive as she was shot in the back garden. Nice pad though.

        1. Oxford Brookes Uni better known as Oxford Poly and a degree in Social Care. she’s funded by Govt quangos when she’s not high as a kite, rumoured to be a mother

      2. I wonder what the neighbours thought about a party in a garden at 3 in the morning.

    5. Re your opening line William = all of them apply.

      As for the video – a collection of wasters on a bandstand in Peckham [none were at any party] knowing there’s money to be made through Govt grants, charities, so they play the game. Don’t forget this bint was arrested in Jan this year https://twitter.com/i/status/1350516902146277379 given it’s the Indy which is where Johnson’s canine companion’s old man made his ill gotten money, you’ve got a better chance of cub scouts / brownies [no pun intended] on bob a job week writing a better script

  48. Another Yorkshire headmaster on the run?

    The Telegraph must do better. You could read this headline and think that the headmaster in question was supporting the ‘Palestinian’ cause, not criticising it.

    Once you have got the sense of it, despair at it – the back-tracking of the HM, the poor hurt feelings of the local Muslims (apparently a minority in this neck of the woods) and the wording of their petition, and the utterances of Ross Greer, another mentally retarded Greenie (and MSP to boot).

    Watch Mike Roper follow Gary Kibble into the darkness.

    School faces criticism after head describes Palestinian flag as a ‘call to arms’

    Mike Roper has apologised and said external speakers with ‘specialist knowledge’ would be invited in to give a lecture

    By Lizzie Roberts • 24 May 2021 • 10:22pm

    Police were stationed outside a school on Monday as it faced a “barrage” of criticism after the headteacher described the Palestinian flag as a “call to arms”.

    Mike Roper, who leads Allerton Grange School, in Leeds, was forced to apologise in the wake of the comments and said external speakers with “specialist knowledge” would be invited in to give a lecture.

    A group of around twenty pro-Palestinian activists chanted, played music and waved Palestinian flags outside the secondary school on Monday afternoon and branded the comments “inflammatory”.

    Yasmin Ahmed, 30, from Leeds, who attended with husband Shaan said: “The kids at that school were displaying the Palestinian flag in a peaceful way to make a statement about how they felt about what is happening over there, and to display their anger and their solidarity.

    The school is the second to have become embroiled in culture wars in recent months, after a religious studies teacher was suspended from Batley Grammar School, in west Yorkshire, after showing a picture of the prophet Mohammed to a class prompting protests at the school gates.

    “For the headmaster to then issue a video saying that the Palestinian flag is a call to arms and a symbol of anti-Semitism was shocking and inflammatory.”

    The Palestinian flag was also draped over the school sign.

    West Yorkshire Police said: “Officers from the local neighbourhood policing team monitored a protest outside the school this afternoon. There were no issues.”

    There are understood to have been tensions at the Yorkshire school last week after some pupils reportedly had lanyards bearing the Palestinian flag confiscated and posters were removed.

    In an attempt to defuse the situation Mr Roper held an assembly on Wednesday where he claimed the flag makes some people “feel threatened”.

    “By using a symbol such as the Palestinian flag that message is lost because for some people they see that flag and they feel threatened, they feel unsafe and they worry because for other people that flag is seen as a call to arms and seen as a message of support for anti-Semitism, for being anti-Jewish, and it was never meant to be like that in the first place,” Mr Roper said in his speech.

    A clip of the assembly – which was being live-streamed due to Covid-19 – was then shared on social media with some claiming his comments were “blatant Islamophobia”.

    Activist Fatima Said tweeted: “This is actually wild, complete erasure of Palestine and blatant Islamophobia on display here”.

    Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who was held in the camp for nearly three years and released without charge in 2005, said on Twitter: “Not even Apartheid… Israel says that” about the Palestinian flag.

    While Ross Greer, Scottish green party MSP, posted: “Imagine being a Palestinian kid at this guy’s school, being told your national flag is inherently hateful. Absolutely outrageous and racist behaviour from someone in a position of power.”

    A petition has now been launched calling for Mr Roper’s “instant resignation” which had around 300 signatories by Monday evening. However, it is unclear if the person who launched it is associated with the school.

    “He has caused concern and alarm within the Muslim community due to his extremist views and has caused distress, upset and anger within the surrounding Muslim community,” the petition read.

    It is understood some parents are in support of the headteacher, who joined the school in 2015, and have accepted his apology.

    One parent, who did not want to be named, told The Telegraph she hoped Mr Roper “doesn’t lose his job over this as he has changed the school so much from what it was”.

    It is understood the protest was organised after a flier advertising the demonstration was shared in local pro-Palestinian Facebook groups.

    It comes as tensions over the conflict in Israel and Palestine has spilled out in the UK.

    The FA has been accused of double standards when it comes to flying to Palestinian and Israeli flags, after Tottenham Hotspur fans were told to remove an Israeli flag last week.

    However, Leicester players Hamza Choudhury and Wesley Fofana have been told they will not face any action after flying the Palestinian flag at Wembley.

    Activists protesting Israel’s attacks on Gaza were filmed driving through north-west London apparently shouting anti-Semitic abuse last week.

    The Metropolitan Police confirmed four men were arrested and bailed in connection with a video.

    It also comes just months after a religious studies teacher was suspended from Batley Grammar School, in west Yorkshire, after showing a picture of the prophet Mohammed.

    The teacher was forced to go into hiding after protesters gathered at the school calling for him to be sacked.

    In a letter to parents on Sunday night, Mr Roper said he was “deeply sorry” for the “upset” his comment had caused within the community.

    “For those of you who have witnessed the social media barrage against the school this weekend, I am sorry for any distress this has caused you or your family,” the school wrote on social media.

    He joined the school in 2015 and introduced a formal uniform and behaviour code in a bid to raise standards. On the first day of the new policy around 50 students were sent home for failing to meet the new uniform requirements.

    However, Mr Roper has overseen the school’s improvement during his tenure. In 2017 it was rated as “requires improvement” by Ofsted, which was raised to “good” just three years later.

    The 2020 Ofsted report described the school as “multicultural” and stated “pupils enjoy the diversity”.

    The religious makeup of the local area, Moortown, north-east Leeds, was majority Christian (49 per cent) in the last Census, following by 8.2 per cent Muslim, 5.4 per cent Sikh, 4.6 per cent Jewish and 2.7 per cent Hindu.

    School staff were stationed outside the gates on Monday morning to escort students into the building amid reports of planned protests. The school said it had been working with Leeds City Council throughout the weekend regarding the “unrest”.

    One parent told The Telegraph protesters were trying to get pupils to join in the demonstration as they left, minibuses were blocked and some children didn’t know their way home as they had to leave from a different exit. The council said they had received no such reports.

    The parent said only around 40 seconds of the five minute speech had been shared on Twitter and the school was “very diverse in all races and religions”.

    An 18-year-old student, who finished sixth form at the school on Friday, said although people have the right to be angry over the headteacher’s comments the protest left her younger sibling “visibly upset”.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/24/school-faces-criticism-head-describes-palestinian-flag-call/

    1. So – slammer gangs terrorise school – is OK. Police say, “No issues”… in other words, are scared.

      Funny old world.

      1. Yes, this rather has to stop. We either have law that applies to all, or we don’t.

    2. I get angry at the media’s distortions, as here: the heading implies he thought the flag was a call to arms, but he actually said that it was a call to arms for some, a totally different meaning.

      FFS keep politics out of schools, which is what he was trying to do by explaining why wearing that flag in school was inappropriate.

      And stop siding with the idiots bullying and cowing others into acquiescence and silence.

    3. “The religious makeup of the local area, Moortown, north-east Leeds, was majority Christian (49 per cent) in the last Census, following by 8.2 per cent Muslim, 5.4 per cent Sikh, 4.6 per cent Jewish and 2.7 per cent Hindu.”

      Sounds like the local area could do with a good maffs teacher

      3. If you’re referring to the remainder of the 100% not mentioned, I suggest most of those either have no religious affiliation or prefer not to say. On the other hand, if it’s the suggestion that 49% constitutes a majority, I’m inclined to agree with your point.

    6. ENGLAND’S Muslim population has smashed the three million mark in 2019.

      Some parts of London are now almost 50 per cent Islamic, according to analysis from the Office for National Statistics.

      If current trends continue the areas could become majority Muslim within ten years.

      Official ONS figures for 2018/19 that were released in December show that there are 3,194,791 Muslims living in England, with over a third aged under 16.

      English Muslims make up the vast majority of the 3,363,210 currently living in England, Scotland and Wales. They make up 5.9 per cent of the 2018 English population (55.16 million).

      5.9 PERCENT OF ENGLAND IS MUSLIM

      2018 figures show that London was home to nearly 1.26 million Muslims, making up 14.2 per cent of the capital’s population. 74 per cent of Londoners are listed as Christian or a-religious.

      Following the migrant crisis that started in 2015, there were reports that Islamic populations would triple by 2050 as refugees headed west.

      However the Islamic community in England is relatively low compared to other religions.

      Christianity (all denominations) is still the most popular religion in England by a long shot, with 27.9 million people identifying with the church. 21.5 million of us don’t identify with any religion at all.

      The overall English population sampled by the 2019 ONS survey was 55,318,085. There were 63,783,693 Brits surveyed in all.

      The Muslim Council of Britain has been approached for comment.

      https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10669341/muslim-population-england-smashes-three-million-mark-for-first-time/

      1. Wait until it reaches 10% – won’t be long now – and then we’ll be in trouble.

      2. “…there are 3,194,791 Muslims living in England…”

        I find it hard to believe it is as few as that.

  49. Lights out time in the recruits’ billet and there is a lot of chatter. The serjeant comes round and shouts “Right, you ‘orrible lot. When I say “Good night” that means shut the f*ck up. Do you understand?”
    Silence. He turned out the lights and as he walked out a voice came from the back of the billet,
    Good night Serjeant.

  50. You almost certainly care as little as I do about the proceedings of Stonewall but this might interest you, even though its 600 words read as though they are 6,000. Very simply, a revolution is eating itself…

    Stonewall is finally paying the price for turning its back on gay men and lesbians

    The LGBT charity has strayed far from its core purpose, alienating large numbers of people in the process

    JOSEPHINE BARTOSCH

    This weekend, the reputation of LGBT charity Stonewall crashed as decisively as the British Eurovision entry. Not only did Matthew Parris, one of Stonewall’s founders, criticise their foray ‘into the trans rights war’ but they lost a key relationship with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

    This is not a minor blip in the culture wars; it is the beginning of a reckoning against the woke authoritarianism that has gripped British institutions. For the past 20 years Stonewall has invited organisations to join its Diversity Champions scheme, whereby members pay a fee and allow the charity to vet their internal policies. The 850 signed-up include the Ministry of Justice and Cabinet Office.

    But this weekend it was revealed the EHRC will not be renewing their membership; a blow for Stonewall which trades on its image as the equality expert. A letter from EHRC chairwoman Baroness Falkner stated membership of the scheme “had no influence on external work” and that the decision not to renew membership was purely financial. But the news follows increasing public disquiet about the role of Stonewall in shaping policies which critics argue undermine existing sex-based rights and penalise those who refuse to accept that ‘transwomen are women.’

    Last week saw the publication of the Reindorf Report, an independent investigation into the no-platforming of feminist academics by the University of Essex. Professors Phoenix and Freedman were disinvited from speaking due to preconceptions about their views on transgender people. Along with 120 other universities, University of Essex is a Stonewall Diversity Champion.

    The report was damning, noting the university had adopted policies which reflected “the law as Stonewall would prefer it to be, rather than the law as it is.” Significantly, it advised that should the university continue with its membership of the Stonewall scheme it “devise a strategy for countering the drawbacks and potential illegalities.” Stonewall’s problems can be traced to the appointment of Ruth Hunt in 2014.

    Having won the fight for same sex marriage, there was nowhere to progress for lesbian, gay and bisexual equality. Following a consultation with 700 trans people, in 2015 Stonewall accepted a donation to ‘integrate trans-specific work’ into its campaigns. In 2019 Hunt left Stonewall and accepted a peerage.

    There is no link between people who identify as trans and those who are same-sex attracted; the addition of the ‘T’ to the ‘LGB’ was more about funding than facts. Today Stonewall promotes the notion that each of us has a ‘gender identity’ and that this might not align with our sexed bodies. By doing so Stonewall opened the ideological door to the concept of ‘lesbians with penises’ and ‘gay men with vulvas.’ Unsurprisingly, many lesbians and gay men have objected to this idea.

    Simon Fanshawe OBE was one of Stonewall’s founders; he believes the charity has strayed from its core purpose and that it is now “entirely devoted to political conformity.” “Stonewall is no longer an advisor and campaigner on lesbian and gay equality. Instead, it has set itself up as the arbiter of who is the right kind of gay. It’s tells any gay man or lesbian who does not agree with its gender ideology that they have put themselves ‘outside Stonewall’.”

    Fanshawe is far from alone in his criticism of Stonewall. Allison Bailey is a lesbian barrister with concerns about the embedding of gender ideology in institutions. Bailey alleges that Stonewall colluded with her employer to remove her and is suing both.

    On Monday 24 May, in an attempt to deflect from negative coverage Stonewall launched a new strategy with the strapline ‘Free to be.’ But there is no freedom for gay men like Simon Fanshawe or lesbians like Allison Bailey to be critical of gender ideology. Having undermined its foundations by alienating same-sex attracted people, it seems Stonewall may finally be about to fall.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/24/stonewall-finally-paying-price-turning-back-gay-men-lesbians/

    2. When are we going to have a Heterosexual Support Group?

      All the LGBTrty, BLM, SNP etc are doing is dividing the the population of GB

      We really need an:
      All Lives Matter
      To be Heterosexual is OK
      Halal must not be mandatory (see new animal protection law)
      It is OK to be white
      It is OK to be Christian

      plus many more

      Campaign

      1. OLT, thanks for your post and what needed to be said, others on here am sure would say the same thing. Currently the “Woke anacronyms” are “gobbling up” as much money and attention they can get c/o clickbait / advertising and not interested in real people. So your opening, valid point, is a non starter, just like I’ve yet to hear of a single MP in HoC standing up for the English and its values. All these woke anacronyms are merely confirming an addiction to illusion of fantasies and fulfilment given lack of education, merely to put their views out with support from MSM / SM.

        For the most part they’re poorly educated with irrelevant degrees etc. Their knowledge of the past is scant. They’re encouraged to live in an eternal present enlivened with a few selected episodes from the past like Empire and slavery from which to form a charity, sound off and rake in taxpayer grants / money [aka the Gig economy]. They are taught to regard religion and morality as something malleable and with no foundations. They are taught to see themselves as the ultimate product of the past generations and they alone as truly moral and enlightened,. They are taught to think they are gods. In the end they are taught nothing, and learn nothing.

        This being so they cannot grasp that the free society we had in UK for many generations took struggle and must be struggled for continuously. The Government and it’s entities aka SAGE are familiar with this. They too share this ignorance of the past, and truth and reality let alone the concepts of good and evil, let alone public office.

        At all levels, they’re taught what to think NOT how to think

    3. Stonewall should receive not a penny in public funding. I don’t see why I should be forced to pay for something spewing out propaganda on a lifestyle choice.

    4. “Last week saw the publication of the Reindorf Report”
      Is that concerning English cricket matches and bad weather?

      1. If not gold, the rarest and finest – the Strasbourg Parliament has to be seen to be believed.

    2. Nobody in Scotland (apart from the SNP natsies) will be in the slightest bit surprised by this. Anything at all to stir
      the divisive pot will do fine for the Nikeliar!

        1. She only knows ‘dirty’ politics! The story of her leaving the legal profession is well worth a look (giggle)

    3. It’s odd that she bleats so loudly about independence yet clearly wants to give it at the earliest opportunity for her own personal profit.

      2. That is correct. Independence is a slogan used to gain power. Now they have it they seem reluctant to lose any of it by Scotland’s becoming independent.

    4. This is not new. Our littlest one worked in the Scotland Europa office in Brussels around 10 years ago. I suspect a big chunk of the money is required because the EU Bureaucracy decamps to Strasbourg for a few months every year.
      As to the existence of a distinct Scottish office in Brussels, it is because the UK representatives do not look after Scottish interests. They do not know where Scotland is, unless their family have a grouse moor, nor do they care one jot. Please see any history of Scottish fishing industry in the last 70 years for irrefutable evidence..

      1. To be fair, Horace, the UK EU representatives didn’t look after UK interests either.

    1. There were over 40 deaths in the US last May that were attributed to police actions. Surely they can find a more deserving person to commemorate.

      1. We must accept that the very worst black person is considerably better than the very best white person. Not to admit this makes you a racist

        1. OK, I am racist.

          I scrolled through the list of those deaths. All except one was a reaction by the police to someone violently resisting arrest, maybe the police action was excessive but they were certainly not dealing with good guys.

          The only exception was a woman who died after being struck by a police car. She was walking on the on ramp to a freeway, it was after dark and there were no street lights.

        2. I think the beatification of Floyd as a paragon is absurd. Treat people as you find them.

  53. As we have reached a lull in posting i would like to announce officially after 45 years i am now a non-smoker.

      1. Thank you. It just makes me more kissable. You’ll have to try it out. :@)

      1. Given how quickly my appetite has returned i shall probably qualify for Sumo in 6 months.

        1. I used that some years ago and found it unbelievably easy. I had doubts that after I finished the course my cravings would return but they didn’t.
          The only thing I noticed was the odd occasion when for example I wallpapered one side of a room I would say to myself “now I would go out for a cigarette” Not a craving just realising it was as much a habit. Even in a Greek Taverna with a glass of beer never brought about cravings.
          Keep up the good work.

          5. I used to spend every morning wrapping caul for Sephpa sausage. Sticking your hand in the bucket of fat membranes would have been worth the tips except for the owner stealing them.

            Still. Good work experience. :@)

          6. I gave up nearly 40 years ago, but every now and again I smell a freshly lit cigarette and think ‘Ooh, gizza drag.’

      1. Friday morning was my last ciggie and i stubbed it out before finishing it. The drugs do work !

        Thank you.

        PS. Expect a surprise tomorrow. :@)

    5. That reminds me: it’s thirty years pretty much to the day that I gave it up.

      1. Good for you Mr Fox.

        I have very little willpower so this new drug helped a lot.

        I blame it on my hedonistic lifestyle.

        1. Yo Phizzee! I gave up when I was pregnant and have never blamed my hedonistic….oh! oK!

        2. With asmug face:

          I have been smokeless for 76 years,

          I did try it, when I got ‘Duty Frees’ but just could not do it

          1. #Me Too, only in my case it’s only 72 years 🙂 It made me cough, made my eyes run and I couldn’t stand the smell. I didn’t try very hard to acquire the habit 🙂

    6. Well done Pirrip! I know from others how hard that can be.

      I was going to ask before, but didn’t want to stir up any latent cravings for a puff.

      1. Thank you. The Champix stops the cravings. I have a zero Vape for the hand to mouth habit. Looking good.

  54. Oh dear..no Russian spooks.

    Just one Russian citizen left the Ryanair flight that was forcibly landed in Minsk by Belarusian authorities on Sunday, it has been revealed, disproving the widely circulated claims that four intelligence agents disembarked.
    On Sunday, a Ryanair jet carrying 126 passengers from Greece was forced to make an emergency stop in Belarus because of a supposed bomb threat. Once it landed at Minsk airport, police came onto the aircraft and arrested activist Roman Protasevich, a passenger on the flight. Later, when no bomb was found, the plane left Belarus to its final destination of Lithuania.

    Shortly after the second leg of the flight took off, claims were made that multiple Russian citizens failed to reboard the plane, triggering rumors that state operatives from Moscow were somehow involved in the grounding of the aircraft as a means to arrest Protasevich.
    However, it has since been revealed by Belarusian state TV that just one Russian didn’t make it back on board, presumably Sofia Sapega, the girlfriend of Protasevich. Three Belarusians also remained in Minsk, one of whom was the activist himself. The two other Belarusians were named as Alexandra Stabredova and Sergey Kulakov. One Greek man, Zisis Yason, who was planning to travel to Minsk via Vilnius to see his wife, also decided not to reboard.

    The true identities of these five passengers have even been confirmed by the likes of the New York Times and Bellingcat.
    Confusion was further created by Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary, who called the plane’s forced landing “state-sponsored hijacking” and suggested that intelligence officers were on board. “It appears the intent of the authorities was to remove a journalist and his traveling companion… we believe there were some KGB agents offloaded at the airport as well,” he said.

    There now appears to be no evidence for this claim.

    1. Not as if O’Leary doesn’t have a vested interest or anything…If he even made such a statement in the first place.

    2. “Belarusian state TV” – unlike the BBC, that will, of course, be completely independent of the government and be objective in its output…(sarc)

    3. If there had been Russian spooks, having got their man why wouldn’t they get back on board?

          3. The two “Russian spooks” who wandered around Salisbury in full view of all the CCTV cameras trying to find where the Skripals lived so they could poison their door handle.

    4. I don’t think that a single word that gets into the public domain can be believed. If it is the case that agents of foreign governments can get alternative passports*, no statement can be made about the citizenship of any passenger, or any person.

      *Lots of countries will accept as citizens people who will retain their “home country” citizenship and passport.

      1. Photo is deceptive, look at the size of the grass (horrid variety that is cultivated for lawns in hot climates).

        A clue is usually the scaly tail.

    1. That needs dealing with, immediately. It’s utterly inappropriate. If that’s how they want to behave, there’s another country for them.

  61. 333381+ up ticks,
    Reminiscent of no balls at a reich meeting it is very hard to put a name to the evil creation the electorate has come up with this time, one thing for sure it must be the for last time.

    These politico’s now have their hands on a herd manipulation tool that cannot be surpassed.

    They have on their watch reintroduced to these Isles TB that was
    nigh on eradicated, unleashed a plague of paedophilia, whilst taking the knee in appeasement etc,etc.

    Totally wrecked education, incarceration.accommodation, medication.
    given themselves extra yearly booty for treachery rendered.

    And are STILL finding support from the herd.

    One thing for sure I would not have any of a great many of this electorate babysitting the family kids.

    https://twitter.com/BernieSpofforth/status/1397175590285893634

      1. 333381+ up ticks,
        Afternoon N,
        In the twisted (reset) scheme of things ( the big picture) no age discrimination will apply in the culling.

        IMO anyone of a decent, self respecting nature can plainly see the lab/lib/con coalition overseers have burnt all bridges,
        they can only only surely survive on peoples support who agree with them totally.

  62. In a new list of so-called ‘crash for cash’ hotspots, areas of Birmingham and Bradford make up the five worst offending postcodes, with others across Walsall, Blackburn and Romford featuring in the top 10.

    The Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), which released the figures, says single gangs can be behind thousands of orchestrated collisions in some areas, with the combined value of fraudulent claims running into millions.

    RAC announcement : Of the 2.7 million motor insurance claims made across the UK between October 2019 and December 2020, IFB identified more than 170,000 potentially linked to ‘crash for cash’ networks.

    Postcodes B25, B34 and B8 in Birmingham are the three areas most affected by this type of scam, while BD7 and BD3 in Bradford follow as the most at-risk locales.

    There are others, which have a common denominator – scratches head, now I wonder what on earth that can be…

    List via link:

    https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/birmingham-is-uks-crash-for-cash-hotspot/?cid=eml-AC058_CHUB_MEMBERS_RE-CHUB_M_RE_W1_20210525_132428&utm_medium=email&utm_source=AC058_CHUB_MEMBERS_RE&utm_campaign=CHUB_M_RE_W1_20210525_132428&omhide=true&contactURN=48660323&hasBreakdown=None

      1. Happy Tuesday, Mahatma! Probably, if you also count in certain EU violent & dishonest immigrants.

        What a lovely flower clip!

      2. Happy Tuesday, Mahatma! Probably, if you also count in certain EU violent & dishonest immigrants.

        What a lovely flower clip!

      3. Take a look at my post above Hatter, it will go down well on your alternative discuss site

        1. Thanks, Daniel Greenfield ran Front Page Magazine which I posted on for several years, last year Disqus pulled the plug on his comment section in the hope of getting him to quit blogging, he is still going but has lost most of the readers & advertising revenue from back then & you can only post a comment with a WordPress acct ( I have one ) & even then it goes into pre-moderation & may not appear for days so hardly anybody posts on his articles .

      4. Yo Hat

        May I fiddle a bit

        Happy Tuesday Heartslass, the common denominator is 3rd world low IQ violent & dishonest EMIGRANTS

        Emigrant::a person who leaves their own country in order to settle permanently in another.

    4. Hi HL

      Looks as if non indigenous varieties who accept the hospitality of these Islands, are not only spreading the virus , but ripping us off financially as well.

      1. ‘Lo Belle,

        They’ve been doing that for years. Plus increasing the crime statistics into orbit. Courtesy of our governments spending our wages.

        Howsya diddling?

    5. Bradford was thus 40 years ago.
      If hit one was advised to refuse to move and wait for the police.

        1. I avoided being hit, but I know from work colleagues who were, that they did and in those days police were a lot more visible

  63. Further Proof the world has gone completely mad. Advanced Western Culture is being now being lined up to be wiped out.
    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/boris-johnson-s-burqa-comments-gave-impression-tories-insensitive-to-muslim-communities-review-finds/ar-AAKmhf6?ocid=msedgntp
    http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FromNyToIsraelSultanRevealsTheStoriesBehindTheNews/~3/3eRSygBm0U4/biden-brings-in-islamic-activists-to.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email

  64. The long-awaited personal meeting between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will happen on June 16 in Switzerland, a traditionally neutral country that isn’t a member of any major military bloc.

    1. “I am really honored to be here in Stockholm to meet with Comrade Stalin……”

      1. I wonder where he will stay..the US embassy or the European HQ of the CIA.?

        1. I was being ironic, Hatman – Joe not knowing what country he was in etc etc…

          (Holds head…)

        2. You seem to miss the joke – Biden won’t know where he is or whom he’s meeting.

        3. mng squire. Suggest you edit your statement. Change penultimate word “petted” to “fondled” then you’ve zeroed in

      2. To prolong his life & make sure that when his time come he died peacefully in his sleep rather than sick with Covid-19 & gasping for breath on a ventilator & on anti-biotics

      4. Because he, or his advocate, agreed to it.

        The jabs are offered, not forced, although the constant text messages about getting vaccinated are annoying.

    3. In Israel there have been no deaths of vaccinated folk as the result of the Pfizer vaccine & I see its reported that he died of other illness ( not specified )
      People die all the time, old , young, fit or sick.

      1. Not in the UK.

        No one has died in the UK before 2020. Then everyone died from covid.

        1. The first rule is worth remembering: Never believe anything you are told by a politician. Believe the opposite.

          The second rule is: never trust the press, social media and sites such as Wikipedia for facts about anything especially actual Covid deaths. As Dan Bongino recites : if you say the truth ‘it’s a conspiracy theory’.

      2. Afraid so, Hat.
        Nobody is immortal.
        Even the Son of God couldn’t manage that.

    4. He looked very ill on the photo taken at his vaccination. He has done well to last this long.

    7. A silly old fool allowing himself to be propaganda for inhuman politicians and a health service that has lost its way.

      A sort of Captain Bob, the chap who never faced enemy action but wore the two a penny medals as though he was some sort of war hero.

      1. re Capn Bob, he was in the North Staffordshire Reg and fought from Normandy to Berlin and did win the MC in 1945, presented by Monty. End of war he transferred to FCO [or rather 6]. Aside tracing nazis [involed in follwing the rat run], he used his FCO time to build up his contacts / networks which started his business

      1. I’m worried that she could suffer from permanent brain damage …. but then I was worried about that two weeks ago as well.

    2. The blm nonsense was not about race, it was an excuse for the usual tired rentamob to shout and scream.

      Blacks have killed blacks plenty of times but there were no riots or complaints. It was just an excuse to steal, rob and destroy.

  70. Radio 4 news headlines:
    • The Labour Party has urged the government to withdraw advice to restrict travel in parts of England with the most cases of the ‘Indian’ variant of Covid.
    • Just 15 cases of Covid were detected amongst 58,000 people who attended test events for spectators, including the Brit awards and the FA Cup final.
    • The Conservative Party has promised to implement all the recommendations of a report into claims of Islamophobia [sic] in the membership.

    I saw a headline earlier today about Labour and travel advice but it didn’t specify that it was domestic – it implied it was about international travel. Labour is, of course, protecting its own in those English [sic] towns.

    1. I thought I read yesterday that the LIebour shower wanted MORE restrictions…

  71. The SNP’s one-man invasion force is at it again on the Twattosphere.

    Sturgeon and Sarwar’s immigration nonsense is worse than virtue signalling: it’s arrant hypocrisy

    The SNP’s own blueprint for independence backed the ‘forcible removal’ of people in the country illegally

    ALAN COCHRANE • 24 May 2021 • 8:33pm

    This virtue signalling nonsense on immigration as contained in the letter signed by Nicola Sturgeon, as well as Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar, to the Home Secretary is just that: and what’s more, it’s arrant hypocrisy, too, as the facts about both their parties’ history on the issue proves.

    The SNP’s White Paper, produced to convince Scots to support independence in the 2014 referendum, proposed that a separate Scotland would have a points-based immigration system very similar to that planned for the whole of the UK.

    Furthermore, it also backed the ‘forcible removal’, where necessary, of those migrants who failed to qualify as asylum seekers.

    https://twitter.com/PaulJSweeney/status/1395820208443494405

    What, perhaps, is a more baffling aspect of the communication to Priti Patel is the fact that Anas Sarwar, the leader of Scottish Labour, has put his name to it.

    But then again maybe it is not so mysterious, given that Mr Sarwar appears more than ready to advance his own popularity, rather than that of his party, all the time. And if agreeing with the First Minister is the way to do it, then so much the better, appears to be Mr Sarwar’s motto.

    But anyone with a knowledge of immigration policies in the UK will know that then Home Secretary John Reid called a halt to what was known as Labour’s open-door and ‘free for all’ immigration policy in 2006, claiming it wasn’t ‘ fair or sensible’ and imposed extra burdens on schools and hospitals.

    By way of contrast, a later Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was accused of planning to scrap all controls in his ‘humane’ immigration policy. It should be remembered that Mr Reid was a member of a hugely successful Labour government; Mr Corbyn took the party to its worst ever defeat.

    The letter, also signed by the leaders of Scottish Greens, followed the actions of a mob which prevented two Home Office employees – acting lawfully – from taking two Indian nationals into some kind of custody for apparent breaches of Britain’s immigration laws two weeks ago.

    Sturgeon was supported in her anger at the actions of the immigration officials by Humza Yousaf, who, thankfully, is no longer Scotland’s justice minister. Incredibly, he’s been ‘promoted’ to the health department.

    Moreover, the letter to Priti Patel insisted that Scotland’s attitude to immigration was different to that in the rest of the UK – a claim not backed up by any number of opinion polls.

    And, even more incredibly, it blamed the Home Office employees’ actions for ‘provoking’ people into leaving their homes and mixing with others to protest against the forced removal of the two men whilst there was a surge of Covid cases in their neighbourhood.

    It also demanded an end to unannounced – or ‘dawn’ – raids.

    While such acts are seen as inflammatory, how are immigration officers to proceed without them? Are Sturgeon and Sarwar suggesting that they make ‘appointments’ with those with no legal right to remain in the UK about when they’ll be detained?

    For her part, the Home Secretary accused her critics of ‘threatening the safety and security of the British public’ and insisted that she would push ahead with new laws to make it easier to remove people who do not have the legal right to stay in the UK.

    The result of the raid in South Glasgow was that the mob won and the Indian nationals were freed into the custody of a well-known Glasgow lawyer where, as far as I know, they remain still.

    I have no knowledge whatsoever if the men – both Sikhs from India, which is the world’s biggest and still functioning democracy – are entitled to asylum, refugee status or any other right of abode in the UK. But if any of these outcomes is what the proper authorities subsequently decide, then good luck to them.

    What cannot be allowed to happen is for the mob to thwart the rule of law.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/05/24/sturgeon-sarwars-immigration-nonsense-worse-virtue-signalling/

    1. Two Sikh students stayed here on limited time student visas but, after the visas expired, overstayed the permitted time by ten years.

  72. That’s me gone for this dreary wet day. No chance of any gardening – just able to dodge the rain to bring a barrow of logs down to the house. LOGS – at the end of May. I ask you.

    It is supposed to be much the same tomorrow THEN Thurs/Fri/Sat/Sun warm and sunny(ish). But warm – that’s the important thing – so I can get stuff out of the greenhouse and into the vegetable patch.

    Have a jolly evening – mind you don’t get caught up in any drive by shooting.

    A demain.

    1. It’s been dry all day here! The first dry day for at least a week. Rather windy but we did have some sunshine.

      1. It rained this morning but the sun came out mid afternoon, the clouds have been dodging around it ever since.

  73. HAPPY HOUR

    You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving recently.
    They left a little note on the windscreen, it said ‘Parking Fine.’
    That was nice.. …

    1. “The man who is watching me thinks I am writing down my name and address to apologise for damaging your car.”

  74. 333381+ up ticks,
    The tory party ( ino) are being accused of islamophobia these are the
    politicos who I am sure carry a prayer mat in the arse pocket, accept oaths taken on a lookalike bible and make sure the main items on the parliamentary canteen menu are halal.

    To me smacks of an “arranged” accusation as we see the number of
    islamic ideology followers in positions of power increasing.

    I do get a bit islamophobic when seeing things like the JAY report and the resulting cover up by governance employees & likes, also soldiers
    decapitated, and teachers plus living in fear due to criminally dangerous politicians & equally as dangerous and insane supporters.

    3. Fedup with hearing about him. Fed up with seeing his extremely ugly face and fed up with people grovelling on their knees for this criminal. The world is better off without him.

  81. Busy day, followed by brain fart. Can’t remember if I’ve posted this already:

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-should-it-fall-to-the-binmen-to-stick-up-for-the-batley-grammar-teacher-

    In praise of the Batley binmen | The Spectator

    “If you need someone to support your right to freedom of speech, forget the teaching unions. Don’t look to the commentariat. And don’t even bother with the Labour party, many of whose younger, angrier members will often be found in the ranks of cancel-culture mobs calling for someone or other to be erased from polite society for having blasphemed against a trendy new orthodoxy.

    No, it’s the binmen you want to turn to. It’s the nation’s fine refuse collectors who will back you up when your liberty to speak is being pummelled.

    Consider the case of the Batley Grammar schoolteacher who was suspended for showing his pupils an image of Muhammad during a religious studies lesson. Alarmingly, that teacher is still in hiding, fearing for his life. He has received death threats simply for doing what all good teachers should do: challenge their students to consider difficult moral questions.

    The supposedly liberal establishment behaved shamefully in response to the demonisation and harassment of the teacher. Batley Grammar itself, in the face of angry protests outside the school gates, suspended him. The school essentially ‘threw him under a bus’, the teacher’s family said.

    The teaching unions stayed almost entirely schtum about the case for ages. ‘It would not be appropriate to make any further comment’ while the school is investigating the incident, said the National Education Union. Not appropriate for a teaching union to comment on the fact that a teacher had received threats to his life and is now, according to his father, ‘devastated and crushed’, an ‘emotional wreck’?

    The teaching unions stayed almost entirely schtum about the case for ages

    In which case, why do teaching unions even exist?

    The political class wasn’t much better. Tracy Brabin, then the Labour MP for Batley, now the Mayor of West Yorkshire, praised the school for dealing swiftly with this incident that had caused so much ‘offence’ and ‘upset’. She essentially sided with the protesters who wanted a teacher punished for blasphemy — these days referred to as ‘offence’ and ‘upset’ — rather than with the teacher and his right to free expression.

    But not everyone has turned their backs on this persecuted teacher. Enter the binmen of Bury. Shaming the intellectual elites, these workers have taken a principled stand on behalf of the teacher and his right to free speech in the classroom.

    The Bury branch of Unite, which represents refuse collectors, has put forward a motion championing the Batley teacher. The emergency motion, submitted for consideration at the National Conference of Trade Union Councils in June, urges all unions to back the teacher.

    The motion points out that England’s blasphemy laws were formally abolished more than a decade ago and insists there should be no ‘dogmatic restraints’ on our right to discuss religious matters, including Islamic matters.

    The proponent of the motion is Brian Bamford, secretary of Tameside Trade Union Council and a retired electrician. He says:

    ‘This is a motion which has come in from binmen, from ordinary working people… Freedom of expression is very important. I don’t feel guilty in any way for taking a stand on this issue.’

    Bamford says an NEU official contacted him and asked him to consider withdrawing the motion. Apparently the official told him the motion ‘risks inflaming what is an extremely sensitive and very complex situation’. An NEU spokesperson said: ‘It is a sensitive issue and the NEU did ask for the motion to be withdrawn. With every viewpoint that is expressed our members face yet more public exposure.’

    Got that? Binmen and other working-class union members want to express support for a teacher who has been hounded into hiding for a supposed speechcrime, and a teaching union official is reportedly saying to them, ‘Please don’t do this’. This is bonkers.

    These binmen have shown us what true solidarity looks like. Their support for the Batley teacher is in keeping with the best traditions of working-class activism. They saw someone being harried and silenced merely for displaying a religious image and they’re not having it. More power to their elbow, and their motion.

    They have also shown up what passes for the liberal establishment these days. Too many people in positions of power treat freedom of speech as a negotiable commodity rather than as a core principle of democratic life. Too many turn away — or nod along — as people are shunted out of polite society merely for criticising Islam, or asking questions about transgenderism, or making an un-PC joke.

    Many so-called liberals now consider the right not to be offended to be more important than the right to free expression. So when they saw that fuss outside Batley Grammar, they instinctively sided with the right of the protesters to glide through life without ever having their religious beliefs called into question, rather than with the right of a teacher in a pluralistic democracy to use his freedom of expression to challenge and enlighten his pupils.

    Thankfully, there are still people, like those Bury binmen – and of course like the Free Speech Union – who understand that no one has the right not to be offended. Who understand that freedom of expression is more important than any individual’s feelings or any religion’s diktats? Binmen for Free Speech — it’s exactly the campaign we need right now.”

    1. I just made a compliment to Bury Council regarding their binmen’s support of the Batley teacher, for what good it may do.

    3. I was a member of a teaching union for 25 years (ditched them as soon as I retired) and they were absolutely and completely useless.

      1. Admittedly I only taught in the private sector but I managed to avoid ever being as member of any teachng union.

        The only Union I ever joined was the NUS – and that was because it was not possible not to join it or to leave it once one was in it.

    1. I still recoil at the thought of Margaret Thatcher embracing Jimmy Savile and quoting Rolf Harris’s crap ditty about ‘Two Little Boys’.

      1. I remember going to a concert in Adelaide where folk singer and Northern Territory politician Ted Egan (who accompanies himself on a beer crate) said that Rolf Harris pinched the song from him.

    1. Perhaps she called a black police officer a race traitor and used the N word.

    2. mng, she was arrested again in January on same charge, then again 4 months to appear in court will go same way as previous appearances, dragging it out to ensure “BLM” gets its quota of coverage

  84. Evening, all. After a dull start, the sun came out – yay! It even stayed dry enough for me to tackle the hay field that was originally my lawn. After one swathe, the mower downed tools, so while it was sulking I gave the ground elder another zapping. Eventually, after a bout of Tourette’s and lots of jiggling about with the cable, it consented to co-operate and finish the job. It took me all afternoon and I was shattered! When I came in for a rest I had to take over from MOH’s cooking of sausages – if I hadn’t, I’d have had a congealed greasy pan to deal with and the tap left running, filling the sink. Today is a drugs day, not alcohol, but I was sorely tempted!

  87. National Trust chairman QUITS amid revolt over his ‘woke’ policies including report into estates’ slavery links – just 24 hours after members launched bid to depose him
    Tim Parker has resigned as chairman of the National Trust after rebel members set out plans to depose him
    More than 50 members said they had no confidence in his leadership and demanded he quit the charity
    Last September the Trust published 115-page report which ‘blacklisted’ 93 estates over links to slavery
    Rebel members group Restore Trust, set up to stop history being ‘demonised’, welcomed the news

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9618429/National-Trust-chairman-QUITS-amid-revolt-woke-policies.html?ito=push-notification&ci=190513&si=26738248&ai=9618429

      1. The mistake was in letting senior managers using data from the flawed computer system to persecute innocent post-masters. I trust we haven’t heard the end of this sorry saga.

      2. The mistake was in letting senior managers using data from the flawed computer system to persecute innocent post-masters. I trust we haven’t heard the end of this sorry saga.

      3. Crocodile tears. Easy to say “sorry” when you’re raking in the loot and sending the innocent to prison on the back of your money-making.

        Reminds me of the apology from a certain Liberal Democrat politician, whose complete denial of the formal election pledge that got him into Government, and which destroyed his party and lost a lot of good people their seats in Parliament, said “sorry” and then did a deal with Facebook involving a Harry-and-Meghan lifestyle in California.

      4. With people like him in charge, no wonder they couldn’t spot a software flaw.

    4. Excellent news. The first of many depositions I trust. The Lifeboats’ woman should be next and the woke Canadian prat Stoope, presently polluting and wrecking Cambridge University.

    5. Excellent news. The first of many depositions I trust. The Lifeboats’ woman should be next and the woke Canadian prat Stoope, presently polluting and wrecking Cambridge University.

    7. Good morning Belle

      He will no doubt reappear in some highly paid sinecure through the revolving door system.

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