Tuesday 27 February: Labelling criticism as racism is a cynical way to score political points

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer 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.

645 thoughts on “Tuesday 27 February: Labelling criticism as racism is a cynical way to score political points”

  3. https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/21eb25515a2b061dd6665ed62a0da7aa8530ae89/0_0_2960_1976/master/2960.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=3356bace6384e64def737a5cfe8a6b73
    Kent, UK
    Giant waves crashing against the harbour wall in Folkestone

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/14b86d3f37395886d2202ece9686e77c52ba2bb5/0_0_3500_2331/master/3500.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=191c11075093961124239f58d7f18881
    Kent, UK
    A dog enjoys the windy weather on Folkestone beach

  5. Good morning, chums. Did the Wordle this morning in four:

    Wordle 983 4/6

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

    Now for Sir Jasper’s morning funny. Looks like Sir Jasper isn’t logged in yet, so I will return to this site later today.

    2. Took me four tries
      Wordle 983 4/6

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

      Now to hunt down the funny.

  6. SIR – Criticism of a religion should not be construed as racism. Did Lee Anderson MP make negative comments about people of a certain ethnicity (report, February 26)? No, he did not. So why do people like Anneliese Dodds, the Labour Party chairman, accuse him of racism, when they know perfectly well that he was speaking about Islamists, who come from many different racial backgrounds?

    Would criticism of Christianity be construed as racism? Of course not. These people, and many others, are simply stirring up trouble.

    Rev Donald Morrison
    Culbokie, Ross and Cromarty

    And

    SIR – It is all very well for Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, to condemn anti-Muslim rhetoric, but he seems to have facilitated police inaction against racial hatred of Jews, which has been prominent in weekly protest marches in his city.

    Sandra Barnett
    Barnet, Hertfordshire

    1. Of course criticism of Christianity wouldn’t be construed as racist. It would be considered normal, fair game, quite right and lauded.

  8. Multiculturalism is dead. It took a fool like Lee Anderson to prove it. 27 February 2024.

    When it comes to the Lee Anderson fiasco, two observations stand out. The first is that Lee Anderson is a blockhead.

    The second is that the entire mainstream political class is terrified to confront the catastrophic failure of liberal multiculturalism and the consequent proliferation of Islamic fundamentalist enclaves that threaten Britain. The uneasy consequence is that Anderson is fast becoming an unlikely national hero. The truth is that many exasperated conservatives have welcomed his willingness to broach the “Islamism elephant in the room”.

    They are not so much terrified as paralysed. One of the basic tenets of their belief system is proving to be a lie. They don’t know what else to do except keep plugging on. This is not unusual in politics.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/26/multiculturalism-is-dead-fool-like-lee-anderson-proved-it/?li_source=LI&li_medium=for_you

    1. Either the political class haven’t heard of the law of holes i.e. ‘If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging’ or they don’t understand its meaning. If they ever do come to their senses there is another problem they will have to surmount, where to start: they’ve dug themselves in to so many holes they will be spoilt for choice.

      1. Morning Korky. You have to try and imagine the fIx they are in. They have propagated this lie, supported it, indeed implemented it. How can they now disassociate themselves from it? They can only go on and hope the General Election will bring their sufferings to an end.

        1. They are desperate to cling on to a few votes from Muslims whereas the Labour party have abandoned the Working Class vote and are trying to appease the muslim block vote. A pox on both parties.

          Morning Minty and all

        2. It’s clear that this islamic situation, and many others, hasn’t just appeared out of the blue. The politicians are all responsible but they are unable to admit that they got something so badly wrong and are too cowardly to 1) admit they got it wrong and 2) take steps to correct their dangerous policy.

          The current government has the full weight of the government machine, the law, the law enforcement agencies, the military etc. available to them but because they have corrupted these agencies in to uselessness the politicians remain powerless and afraid. A rabbit in the car’s headlights is a good analogy.

          The weak and cowardly way out for the Tories is as you clearly state, a GE transferring power and responsibility to someone else. Sadly, that someone else will take over the digging of the hole with greater gusto than even the Tories applied. It’s their policy and they appear, at the moment, wilfully blind to the consequences even following attacks on some of their members. To these unnaturally thick politicians, the ends justify the means or so it appears at the moment.

          I am not a vindictive person but the betrayal of my Country by the political class is for me beyond forgiveness or understanding. Therefore I will greet the first serious attack on either a government minister or MP with a high level of schadenfreude. It will be no less than they deserve.

          1. Would you ant to sort out the mess that politicians have brought on?

            Better to take your ill gotten gains and get out while the going is good. I am sure that the MOs pension wil be adequate.

    2. It was a good article, other than her gratuitous insulting of Mr Anderson.

      I disagree with her when she said that it’s “ludicrous” to suggest Khunt is under the sway of Islamists. He may not be. But it’s worth considering and finding the evidence that he isn’t, rather than just saying he isn’t. In fact, it might turn out that Mr Anderson is indeed correct in his comment that both Khunt and Sir Kneel (Beer) Korma are.

      1. Anderson could have brought up Khan’s involvement with the C40 cities movement. Irrefutable proof exists of Khan’s involvement, he’s co-chair.

    3. It was a good article, other than her gratuitous insulting of Mr Anderson.

      I disagree with her when she said that it’s “ludicrous” to suggest Khunt is under the sway of Islamists. He may not be. But it’s worth considering and finding the evidence that he isn’t, rather than just saying he isn’t. In fact, it might turn out that Mr Anderson is indeed correct in his comment that both Khunt and Sir Kneel (Beer) Korma are.

    5. Isn’t there a sense in which Jacobs is contradicting herself? She describes the unIslamic things that Kahn has done that make him a fully paid-up member of the PC-world Labour Party then goes on to describe how Islamic fundamentalists are ‘gaming the system’:

      As far as Muslim fundamentalists are concerned, Khan is the consummate infidel figure. He was shortlisted as “Islamophobe of the year” by the Islamic Human Rights Commission for his efforts to proscribe the political wing of Hezbollah. He has received death threats and was branded an apostate for voting for gay marriage.

      He ignored Hamas sympathisers to light up City Hall with the colours of the Israeli flag after the Oct 7 massacre.

      Anderson’s suggestion that Islamists control London misses the mark too. The problem is not that a powerful cabal of Islamists is running City Hall; it is that Islamic fundamentalists opposed to British values have become experts in gaming a broken system.

      They have exploited the flawed liberal multiculturalist social model to create ghettos where sex-segregated restaurants, and madrassas that teach their students that dancing is inspired by the devil, are the daily reality. They have exploited the liberal policy of “community outreach” via a select number of unelected elders to amass control of local “ethnic” voting blocs and silence rival moderates.

      They have become masters at invoking liberal values like tolerance, liberty and human rights in order to destroy them. This can be seen when it comes to the strategy of branding all criticism of Islamism as Islamophobic.

      The term is routinely used by hardline Islamists to silence not just blowhards like Anderson but moderate Muslim voices too. Liberals lobbying to institutionalise the term have proved quite the useful idiots to extremists.

      If Khan has ever spoken out against Islamism, I’ve never heard him.

      1. If Khan ever did anything apparently anti-islamic, he would have cleared it with the imman at his local mosque first. “It’s taqiyya, you know. We need to fool those filthy kuffars so we can advance our cause.”

    6. Isn’t there a sense in which Jacobs is contradicting herself? She describes the unIslamic things that Kahn has done that make him a fully paid-up member of the PC-world Labour Party then goes on to describe how Islamic fundamentalists are ‘gaming the system’:

      As far as Muslim fundamentalists are concerned, Khan is the consummate infidel figure. He was shortlisted as “Islamophobe of the year” by the Islamic Human Rights Commission for his efforts to proscribe the political wing of Hezbollah. He has received death threats and was branded an apostate for voting for gay marriage.

      He ignored Hamas sympathisers to light up City Hall with the colours of the Israeli flag after the Oct 7 massacre.

      Anderson’s suggestion that Islamists control London misses the mark too. The problem is not that a powerful cabal of Islamists is running City Hall; it is that Islamic fundamentalists opposed to British values have become experts in gaming a broken system.

      They have exploited the flawed liberal multiculturalist social model to create ghettos where sex-segregated restaurants, and madrassas that teach their students that dancing is inspired by the devil, are the daily reality. They have exploited the liberal policy of “community outreach” via a select number of unelected elders to amass control of local “ethnic” voting blocs and silence rival moderates.

      They have become masters at invoking liberal values like tolerance, liberty and human rights in order to destroy them. This can be seen when it comes to the strategy of branding all criticism of Islamism as Islamophobic.

      The term is routinely used by hardline Islamists to silence not just blowhards like Anderson but moderate Muslim voices too. Liberals lobbying to institutionalise the term have proved quite the useful idiots to extremists.

      If Khan has ever spoken out against Islamism, I’ve never heard him.

      1. Extremely disappointing. People were told “ no jab, no job”, especially in care homes. And now, presumably, there’s a shortage of people to staff them. I, too, don’t care about parties in Parliament other than the fact everyone else was told it was forbidden. Hypocrites.

        But then Alf and I ignored all the instructions and psychological warfare, never wore masks, and printed from the government website the get out clause for refusing. I took it shopping with us.

        1. I refused to wear a mask, too. I also printed out an exemption certificate for my friend, who was nervous about using it at first, but soon cottoned on when no challenge came.

          1. We told other people about printing off what was on HMG website but they were all too nervous. Or cowardly. We were the only two who never followed any HMG diktats. So many had the two jabs, then the first booster, then the next, and the next. How many were they all prepared to take! Anyway congrats on your own actions.

    2. Told you all Reform were fake as hell Tice was a jab fanatic too
      No compulsion
      “Take the clotshot or lose your job”
      Sounds pretty compelling to me!!
      They’;re all terrified as the horrors emerge that they’ll all end up decorating lampposts
      Covid Enquiry seems to have vanished as well………

    3. Anyone would think that politicians (only qualification: to have kissed the Blarney Stone) went into the job for purely altruistic reasons (to help their fellow man).

      A maniacal quest for power, a finger-or-two in the biscuit-tin, and an unfeasible attraction to corruption couldn’t be further from their minds.

    6. So the threat of losing your job or not being able to travel unless you took the shot wasn’t coercion?

  11. ‘Morning All

    Not just Stollenberg,it looks like the nutters have received their orders and WW111 hoves into view,,,,,,,,

    https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1762244719160029633

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/630b8b9bbdebfff9cdb48505a7976ba7a3ef5b1e096f624a3eeceb7f350bc289.png

    I wonder who is giving the orders……….

    Rest

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fe50a552795f3f8eede3e11abca0fcaee5222083611cf07b681278e737c5d1fe.jpg

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4ae1599659c0f1c1e38d8ebd894b9ebe3a8b3e789b88ca7eda4a3839a3865c8d.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/074d650f4912ea1e82e9e5a5cf7b3ce213f1cb50269c8c4c02d5424f213276d2.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e5a69c9f466e21b44f1dc777d1cf47e293394257b86796a63da60bc377f781ba.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5fa6f4758f28a6af143a38ef2b7ff43773916d4f1ae708bb33cb25b75dfc5f6e.jpg

    1. Darn it. For a brief moment (given I am having a day off and so am an hour behind my normal getting up time) I imagined there would be a picture of mountains of delicious German Christmas cake. Mmmmm.

  12. UNPRODUCTIVE BRITAIN

    SIR — Over the past 20 years, the spread of smartphone technology has enabled us to do things in seconds that once took hours and involved many people. Yet our standard of living has remained static and productivity has declined (“Workers in 20s more likely to be signed off sick”, report, February 26).

    Could it be that this technology has resulted in several hours a day spent on unnecessary communication and pointless occupations such as gaming?

    Charles Pugh
    London SW1.

    It is the proliferation of the unfeasible popularity of innumerable, banal, and utterly cretinous computer “games” that keeps the uncultured and not-fully-developed minds of hordes of so-called Generations X, Y and Z youngsters … clinically moronic.

    Legions of these morons are being created by those making and selling these imbecilic time-wasters; the majority of which feature computer-generated cartoon (or cartoonish) creations engaged in shooting —and killing — randomly whoever (or whatever) gets in their way.

    It is symbolic of the current age that television quiz questions, on this modern phenomenon, even feature, weekly, on what passes for University Challenge these days; such is the seemly universal popularity of this mind-numbing obsession.

    Perhaps the Globalists — who rule the roost — are more than eager for the proliferation of such trite technology, since controlling the vacuous minds of the young is paramount to maintaining the already high levels of their malignant and insidious dominance.

    1. Computer games are another propaganda tool. You underestimate their complexity!

      I use an iPad in my work for app testing, and it had the most annoying trailer for a game being promoted by the app store imaginable.
      It was a survival game, where you have to pick a sequence of correct options in order to survive as a castaway on an island.
      The castaway was a young woman and the introduction showed her on a raft on the ocean. A young man is clinging to the raft. She pulls a pregnancy test out and shows it to him – it is positive. He lets go of the raft and sinks into the ocean, never to be seen again. She then lands on the island alone and the game starts.

      This is the kind of pernicious evil being poured into the minds of children by Apple.

      On the flip side are games produced by the likes of my son and his friends, for example Friday Night Funkin’, In this game, you want to go out with a girl, and in order to get a date with her, you have to pass a skill test. This is the description from snokido:

      “Friday Night Funkin’ is a music and rhythm game in which you will have to participate in battles against your girlfriend’s father who is a seasoned musician. To win the heart of your sweetheart and get her father’s agreement you will have to beat him in rhythm competitions and prove that you are a better singer than him. Press the arrows at the right time to produce the right sound and keep the rhythm throughout the songs and miss as few notes as possible. Friday Night Funkin’ features a story mode in which you will have to win rap battles against many different opponents over the course of 7 weeks. Sing against Daddy Dearest, Skid and Pump, Pico and many more and try to beat them all without losing the beat! The story mode offers three levels of difficulty, the hard mode is extremely difficult and will require perfect coordination. To practice, you can play freeplay mode which will allow you to work on each song individually.”

      Of course you can sneer at such harmless activity in order to prove your point, but gaming is like every other form of time-wasting known to man; within reason, it helps you relax and wind down, and it does promote socialising if you play in groups.
      Games can be designed to be addictive, just as social media is. Computer games are just another creative form like painting, writing, film-making etc.

        1. Games are a product of the creative process, and modern ones are not necessarily mind-numbing – they’re not all shooting games these days.

    2. Watching a TV prog about Gabon Africa yesterday, I had to comment to my good lady regarding the dozens of happy children running waving laughing and cheering behind the camera van.
      “That wouldn’t happen here, they’d all have faces in their mobiles”.
      Oh dear what have ‘We’ done.

  13. Dear Reader,

    You have been suspended from our commenting platform for three days for posting comments which contravene section 1 of our community guidelines.

    Please be aware that repeated breaches of the guidelines may result in permanent removal of commenting privileges.

    Our guidelines state that all content is subject to our Terms of Use and we reserve the right to remove any content, comments and/or commenting privileges at any time, without reason and without prior notice or warning and will not enter into any discussions regarding moderation decisions or actions.

    Kind regards,

    The Community Moderation Team.

    I recently signed up to the Telegraph, not from any intention of posting comments, but to gain access to the articles which has become increasingly difficult. Needless to say I couldn’t help myself. The above is the result after three days! I don’t know if it is some sort of record but is shows their sensitivity.

    I did learn some things. The excuse above is spurious. I did have a tussle with the above CMT Team who also act as a Nudge Unit to support the Government Line over Ukraine and as trolls (one of their replies would have required access to my records) to suppress views like my own.

    I don’t think that I have been picked out here. Panic seems to have taken over. There appears to have been a massive drop in support for Government Policies resulting in (from other posts on the threads) a great many suspensions beside myself, and editing (edited by the Telegraph not the posters). It is almost like the old Disqus days before Nottl and Goeff that I’m sure Nottlers can remember when I once had an entire post deleted and then rewritten and frozen so that I couldn’t change it. Lol!

    What does any of this tell us? Well it shows that the Telegraph still acts as it always has done, as a traditional Conservative Party mouthpiece. It hasn’t changed due to its present terminal difficulties. It’s going down with the ship! It will probably improve when the Arabs take it over!

    1. With the ever-increasing threat that government is to provoke a real war with Russia, not just a proxy one, by sending troops to Ukraine, and naturally there will be repatriation of British lads and lasses in body bags – if we aren’t all nuked in the meantime – no wonder they are losing support. Add to that the bullshit that government come up with to piss off the population and those who might fight for the UK, and no wonder there’s a sense of panic in the authorities. Add calls for Sharia law, the effects of Sleepy Joe, and I forsee trouble ahead (well, gosh and bugger me!) of a revolutionary and violent nature.

    2. Your’e in good company, Araminta. I’ve been shadow-banned there since January 2022. I didn’t insult anyone, apart form the obvious trolls but everyone did that, I didn’t post anything racist, sexist or homophobic. No, what I did was I posted links to ‘Planet Lockdown’ interviews with Dr Mike Yeadon and Dr Wolfgang Wodarg talking about the ‘vaccines’ and the so-called novel SARS virus.

  14. Good news! Or at least something to make one smile.

    “ sir – As a student in Winchester in the 1970s, I arrived at my digs late at night and was tempted by a jar of Shippam’s in my landlady’s kitchen cupboard.

    The paste consumed, I needed to dispose of the evidence, so opened the back door and threw the empty jar into the night. To my horror it crashed through my landlady’s greenhouse.

    Ben Beavan

    Winchester, Hampshire”

    2. “As a student in Winchester in the 1970s…”

      Methinks Mr Beavan may not have been bright enough to have finished his studies and, ergo, could well have failed in his quest to become an Old Wykehamist.

  16. Good morning, all. Thin high cloud with plenty of blue around: no frost.

    Courtesy of @billellmore on X.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/346a9561eff6784eb3282c6530a747b01cffa55ede1ec5c3b110eab59a63b6f5.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b9650004ca8616b671c31ac1df56e8375e1f18e56f49e1cd2ee0c3f2463d1e1f.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2c3099fde5ca422d6ebf52b9abfdc73e2652a271cccbcbf617c22739ca44b9dc.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7e33e318cc7891d867ff07a2caa4b621fdd2f9ae70d9c832cf700444ac58780c.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/594c1be3200d47b890d1c55ce345cab03eb69f35d6f2e58697b0db94978ad8c5.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2a375ca694cdee4db1a7bdd046c9fbe9ae8199aea851bac7582f29bfe37c97cf.png

    1. Excellent.
      Number two…..
      I don’t particularly think of my self as a Conservative, but before I had read half of that I was lining up my friends to send it to.

  17. We have now been told. Existential, mark you, existential.

    “ sir – Extreme weather is the number one concern of farmers, according to polling. Environmental initiatives will make farming more resilient. These include improving soil health, planting new hedgerows to shade livestock, and providing new woodlands to trap carbon and reduce flooding. A farmer can’t harvest food if it’s three-feet deep in a soggy flood plain, or baked into the ground by a 40-degree heatwave.

    Climate change is an existential challenge for farming. Addressing it is the most important thing we can do.

    Head of land, food and farming Energ y and Climate Intelligence Unit London SE1”

    1. Sigh it’s remorseless ain’t it……
      All those farmer protests all across Europe are about Climate Change are they??
      Nothing to do with overregulation,land being stolen forced to cull their herds denied fertiliser etc etc etc

      1. Your comment is absolutely spot on. Rik, farmers are the hardest working most dedicated people on the planet. They keep us alive at all costs.
        Even our ‘know it all’ and ‘know nothing’ simultaneously, plotical idiots are relying on the rewards of their hard and often very complicated efforts.

        1. They’d experience a rude awakening if they had to farm. It isn’t a 9 to 5, Monday to Friday job.

      1. …and yet not doing anything towards dredging the rivers which overflow every winter, being a

        nuisance to many house owners as well as farmers.

    3. I wonder what the general consensus from farmer’s is regarding the reintroduction of certain wildlife. Such as beavers that damn streams and rivers, thus causing flooding and wild boar that kill and eat newborn lambs.

    4. Radio 4’s Today programme has just run a piece on Norfolk’s coastal erosion. It included the sad case of a man who lost his retirement home. He was followed by a gimp who said we need more climate change mitigation because erosion is much faster than previously predicted. He makes a living from this:
      http://www.sayersandpartners.co.uk

      1. I simply do NOT understand the f*ckwits who buy houses on the NE Norfolk cliff edge then moan when they fall into the sea.

        1. Think Dunwich. (Yes, yes, I know it’s Suffolk.)
          It has been recorded for several hundred years that chunks of East Anglia are falling into the sea.

          2. As children we were fascinated by the bones sticking out of the cliffs where the grave yards had been washed away. If we found one on the beach, that was all our birthdays coming together.
            Of course, nowadays, we’d need counselling.

      2. Ah, yes.
        Written in his office while enjoying the view.
        A choice of the rolling wheat fields of Peckham or the lush pastures of Vauxhall with its herds of dairy cattle.
        Easy for some.

    5. BTL@DTletters

      michael knowles
      3 HRS AGO
      Tom Lancaster. Tom has a degree in Geography. He has been in his job for under a year. He previously worked for the RSPB in land management. You have never done any actual farming have you Tom? You know like raising cows,sheep or pigs or produced any crops which we need for food.
      I don’t think you’ll find a farmer who doesn’t know about flooding or bone dry land. Everybody with a garden knows too Tom.
      Lovely pasture land in SE1 eh?

      Sally Smith
      4 HRS AGO
      Tom Lancaster ..I suggest you get out of your cosy little office, leave your student ideology at your desk, and come and talk to some real farmers down here to learn how, more than anything, it is trying to adhere to petty rules and nonsensical official directives etc that is causing mayhem among farming communities. As for the unbelievable payments now in place to stop growing food (woodland replacement schemes etc), how is Britain going to feed itself…just more and more imports? All you freeloading bureaucrats should be sacked now. Shame you have no conscience.

      2. Not to mention all the building on farmland with the consequent felling of mature trees and grubbing up of miles of hedgerows (never mind their “ecology surveys” – if there are no newts, the rest of the wildlife doesn’t matter).

    7. FFS! The WEATHER has always been the number one concern for farmers; can you get the harvest in before it’s ruined? Will irrigation be necessary? Can you work the land because it’s too wet? Climate lack of intelligence unit it seems.

  19. Time for some smiles

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/984811ddd598a663d308ce31c7b2e7514498354632195dd57c3cab073189dff6.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/52ace7927545ad98d1de344eac722137655d024a5a9c9b8343d94dc77a3188b4.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1afda8546cc2b6ee4ba4948a582b2fa5eeb9e7585be14a27eedf1ffb4a64bb14.jpg

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/517cfe06b265f93ef76b3b57233e0322fcc3d54db5ef3c110e6a6091ab9e14d5.jpg

    https://twitter.com/historyinmemes/status/1761571967998779576?t=TKhQ2FMCFjqRpT975gapRw&s=08

    2. I had a similar experience with a chugger in the city centre. She tried to buttonhole me about some dog charity. I said no and walked on. She then gave it “So you don’t care about dogs, then?” I quoted the entire canon of Anglo Saxon colloquialisms and walked on.

      1. I usually tell these people when they ask me to support the dogs’ home that I can’t afford it; my dog’s vet’s bills take up all my cash!

  20. “Computer games are another propaganda tool. You underestimate their complexity!”

    Oh, please believe me. Underestimation is not one of my strong points.

    1. It’s been giving me a headache and a half for months. Clearing the archive in these old docs is a challenge. At least one of the suppliers is dead. Took ages to track down his widows lawyer. Glad it was worth the effort!

    1. While you were away Ellie we had quite a few wildlife programs featuring Elephants filmed in Kenya.
      You might be able to view them on catchup.

      1. Oh good – which channel? I spent the first few days in Selenkay which is close to Amboseli and had some good sightings there.

          2. He posed for us that evening and also in the morning. He was very calm and came very close to our car. He is recovering from an injury from another elephant which was treated at the end of January. He’s still a young boy at 37.

          3. I do hope these animals are properly protected from those blinking Trophy hunters , why anyone would want to slaughter animals like that is just disgusting .

          4. There’s no trophy hunting in Kenya but a few months ago two big tuskers were killed a short distance into Tanzania. It’s the same ecosystem and elephants don’t recognise the border. There was previously an agreement that no hunting would take place in the border area. Those two were apparently lured over and chased with helicopters. There’s a hue and cry about it of course but no way of identifying the two because the remains were burnt.

          3. We suspect that if you don’t agree to mention it, you don’t get the contract.

            Some “leftie” comments on the BBC are from people who’ve never said anything left of centre in their life.

          4. On recent cookery programs Hairy Bikers and Rick Stein, it’s been pretty obvious they have been told to included and over load of diversity or else…..

    4. The sound and smell of the savannah must still be in your memories J.

      The click of grasshoppers, bird sounds , zebra calls , the whole echo thing of African creatures is so memorable .

      My late father had an encounter with a lioness.. apparently my siblings and mother and father were out for a couple of days in the Kruger, and had borrowed a friends big VW wagon to monitor birds and smaller mammals .

      According to legend , daddy got out of the wagon to have a pee, and unseen and unknown to any of them a lioness appeared around the side of the wagon , family were shrieking , and my brother opened the sliding door and hauled daddy, all 6ft of him into the wagon as the lioness grabbed his foot and the shoe came off in her mouth.

      The lioness had been lying low with her cubs , unseen by anyone at the time , but according to my 2 sisters , she then wandered back to her alert cubs who had come out of hiding , with daddy’s shoe in her mouth .

      Cross my heart that is a true story , because I have seen the photos .. happened sometime in the early nineties .

        1. I don’t think so , J.

          I was in England at the time , but the story is just one of many that I was regaled with .

          Another story was Dad checking oils and stuff under the car bonnet , and a young cobra was asleep , curled up .. difficult task removing it !

          1. A simikar thing happened to my father in Southern Rhodesia in the 50s. He;d driven over a snake on a strip road and in doing so, flipped the snake into the engine compartment.

      2. I was just about to take a pic of mating lions, when the little boy in our car needed a pee. I had to grab my pic quickly as the car swung round and we moved to a safer spot for a pee. In the end we all took turns to go.

        1. I was on a pipeline survey and a rhino walked past the Land Rover I was sat in, only about 4 feet away. I have surveyed in Mozambique and Zimbabwe, but this was on a gas pipeline in…Knowsley Safari Park.

      3. My sister worked in Orapa in northern Botswan for a while. A popular pastime (Orapa being a small town with not much else to do) was to go out into the bush for the weekend looking for animals and sleeping overnight in your vehicle.

        A recently arrived couple fromn Europe and their baby daughter though they;d give it a go but instead of sleeping in the vehicle as advised, decided to sleep under it, the weather being hot. They were woken in the wee hours to see a lion take their daughter.

        They returned to Europe shortly thereafter.

    5. Incredible photo. How close were you to this lioness and cubs? I’m presuming you were using a long-range lens.

    2. Gynaecomastia. I wonder if he realises his condition can be reversed (without surgery) or he actually likes them.

  24. Morning all 🙂😊
    Sun’s trying its luck but who am I to judge.
    And of course the far and distant left turn everything upside down to suit their own despicable adgenda.
    Lee Anderson is the new Enoch. But this time we need to listen take it in and act on his commonsense opinion. Because from years of experience we know that he is without any doubt right.

  25. Good morning all and the 77th,

    Cloudy again over the McPhee demesne, wind in the West going South-West, 1℃ rising to 6℃ so a tad cool again.

    So Sherelle Jacobs thinks Lee Anderson is a fool and a blockhead?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/49e66f6ef43b7c4465f3d0170d3ae2998ac3d7fd13a58cbe283c7351bf1855ba.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/26/multiculturalism-is-dead-fool-like-lee-anderson-proved-it/

    She writes this:

    Anderson’s claim on GB News that Islamists have “got control” of Sadiq Khan is presumably either born out of ignorance or downright anti-Muslim prejudice. While Khan may be a shoddy mayor, to suggest that he is under the thumb of Islamists is ludicrous.

    Then she writes this:

    As far as Muslim fundamentalists are concerned, Khan is the consummate infidel figure. He was shortlisted as “Islamophobe of the year” by the Islamic Human Rights Commission for his efforts to proscribe the political wing of Hezbollah. He has received death threats and was branded an apostate for voting for gay marriage.

    Does she not think that the sending of death threats and the branding as an apostate constitutes some sort of control? It would make most people take a little more care. Apart from that she appears not to be aware of taqqiya which is what we can probably say of this:

    He ignored Hamas sympathisers to light up City Hall with the colours of the Israeli flag after the Oct 7 massacre.

    Thus Kahn appears to be something he isn’t. Let’s not forget that he also tells the Metropolitan Police what to do. Or not do. She then summrises neatly how the adherents of fundamentalist Islam game the system and lists how our political establishment has failed us before blathering on a bit about what it ‘means’ to be British. To most of those of us who are British, and I mean native English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish people with their small admixtures of other European nationalities, I suspect it doesn’t mean anything. We just ARE British.

    It doesn’t appear to occur to her that many millions of us resent parts of Britain being turned into parts of Not-Britain. It really is that simple.

    Maybe it is she who is the fool and the blockhead.

    2. Perhaps she needs to get out a bit more often.
      In certain parts of London it’s quite easy to see the rewards people have been allowed for voting for him.
      And the opposite.

        1. Near, but on the Saesneg side of it. Three years at a Welsh university absolutely convinced me I was English.

  26. 383078+ up ticks,

    The question is “will they follow him”
    The same may be asked of sunak, bearing in mind the veterans lullaby “The pavement is my pillow”

    Ukraine-Russia war live: Macron won’t rule out sending troops to Ukraine

      1. 383978+ up ticks,

        Morning SJ,

        ” SEND THEM”
        I am strongly assuming,as with sunak
        if the occasion arises, he will LEAD THEM.

      2. ” Mount Kilimanjaro (/ˌkɪlɪmənˈdʒɑːroʊ/)[4] is a dormant volcano located in Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest single free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: 5,895 m (19,341 ft) above sea level and about 4,900 m (16,100 ft) above its plateau base. It is the highest volcano in Africa and the Eastern Hemisphere.”

  28. Three men charged with terrorism over ‘extreme Right-wing activity’. 27 February 2024.

    Three men have been charged with the preparation of an act of terrorism following an investigation into suspected “extreme Right-wing activity”, counter-terrorism police have said.

    Brogan Stewart, 24, from Leeds, Marco Pitzettu, 24, from Derby, and Christopher Ringrose, 33, from Cannock, Staffordshire, have each been charged with engaging in the preparation of an act of terrorism under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006.

    I’ll give anyone five to one that they have bought the Anarchists Cookbook!

    PS, No comments allowed.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/27/uk-northeast-right-wing-terrorism-three-men-charged/

    1. The most successful multi-ethnic country
      / …. which he will depart, never to return, sometime in 2025.

      1. 383978+ up ticks,

        Morning LD,

        🎵,

        I’m Alabama bound
        I’m Alabama bound
        And if the train don’t turn around
        I’m Alabama bound

        1. Because the non-ghettos etc. are racist. We need to give the diverse all the most expensive areas in the future. Which will then be subject to a government-supported levelling-down exercise.

      1. Wasn’t it Voltaire, or someone of his era, who said that to see who wields real power on a country

        you must see who cannot be criticised.

        Does anyone know the exact quote? Could come in useful.

          1. Thank you – excellent and well done giving the source.

            Reminds me of Rumpole who borrows from Rider Haggard in calling his wife She Who Must Be Obeyed. Indeed one of our Nottler friends refers to his good lady as SWMBO!

          3. Misquotes and misappropriations abound wherever one cares to look. One particularly despised common misquote comes from George Bernard Shaw’s Man and Superman.

            He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches. This is never quoted (or punctuated) correctly. For some weird reason, known only to the culprits, the word “Those” is frequently (and irrationally) substituted for the Shavian “He”.

    3. If he genuinely thinks Lee Anderson’s comments have no place in the Tory party, or even in part of public opinion,
      it just emphasise how disconnect with reality he is.
      White indigenous British public opinion would back Mr Anderson’s comments entirely. We’ve cowered beneath the threat of islamic extremism for decades.
      So Don’t be so childish and Get real Richie.

      1. “White indigenous British public opinion would back Mr Anderson’s comments entirely.”

        That cannot be the case, Eddy. Some of the strongest condemnation of Anderson’s remarks comes from white indigenous British people. The white indigenes of these islands are not a homogenous blob who all think and act in the same ways. We are not stereotypes.

        1. “An overwhelming proportion of white indigenous British public opinion would back Mr Anderson’s comments entirely.”

          There, fixed it for you.

        2. “An overwhelming proportion of white indigenous British public opinion would back Mr Anderson’s comments entirely.”

          There, fixed it for you.

        4. White indigenous left-wing “British” (as opposed to those who would label themselves “English”) people who are not affected by what’s happening, in all probability.

    4. Decades ago I joined my husband who was on small military exercise with his crew and the helicopter he was flying … up at Cape Wrath , Durness.

      I had had one of the most beautiful train journeys ever , several changes , then a long wheelbase landrover journey to Durness.

      We stayed in a hotel , and I explored the area and even saw the resident legendary Albatross flying from the cliffs .

      One evening , there was a whiskey fest , and a sing song , accordion , harmonica etc, then some locals brought in a piper , who played an absolute dirge , so the crew put on their ear defenders , ..

      Wow , the reaction was frightening , because the locals reacted in a violent way , lifted chairs , and someone waved a dirk at us .. and hounded us all out of the bar .. by screaming “Sassenachs oot , oot oot ” … they were drunk as lords , , and although nothing got broken , well perhaps things were thrown , my husband and the crew etc and including me escaped very quickly.

      Things were patched up the next day , but the dirge from the bagpipes will always remain in my memory , as will the wonderful scenery !

      2. Exactly, Belle, we already had plenty of (unsuccessful )diversity in the UK, thank you very much.

      3. I’m not surprised spelling whisky like that.
        Lovely area Durness, there used to be a radar station up there, the accommodation is now used as small business premises inc the most fab chocolate maker

    6. Yes, it does, as being afraid of people who want to kill you is a healthy thing.

      We are not multi ethnic, we’ve been invaded. Such societies die.

      We are NOT a democracy. His installation proves that.

  31. Why we must support our Jewish friends.
    Allison Pearson: https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/not-in-our-name/ February 27, 2024

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bb807264bd9f8db783def7e1437c046ee77c0ca1d4423fe664bb445a256a104d.png

    Even The Conservative Woman seems to be timid about people pointing out that the man who murdered David Amess was a committed Islamist already on a security watch list while Jo Cox’s murderer was a solitary lunatic.

    Allison has to admit that the Islamist hate groups have got PR sorted out – but why are so many people taken in by the foul terrorists.

    Beware of Islamic ant-Semitic :

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d18a1f26a322397eb401a68f7882332b1e4b055e2806e0c9299d2bce2dd0a464.png

    What is now called trolling used to be called getting a person’s goose!

    2. There is a point of view that holds that Thomas Mair was/is an agent of the deep state. Let us not forget that the EU is essential to the construction of a one-world government. We weren’t supposed to vote to leave it.

    1. There are a minimum of two reports in today’s DT where the commentator feels obliged to promulgate this crass far-Right idiocy, despite me educating them of it being a bombastic fallacy.

      The former Marxist fantasist, Suzanne Moore, being the first; and the over-opinionated harridan, Sherelle Jacobs, being the second. I would bet that a comprehensive perusal of this now-sad rag could unearth a few more.

    2. Bullets are too humane for these bastards. I’d take them to the Cape, hand-cuffed, put them in boats, go a few hundred yards off shore, chum the waters and when the great whites show up, chuck them in.

      1. 383078+ up ticks,

        Morning FM,
        You must be caretul in regards to the GREAT WHITES dietary system, ask yourself, could a GW handle the toxicity of a complete @rsehole.

  35. Good morrow, gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) story (Sorry, I couldn’t get out of bed this morning).

    CONVERSATIONS ON CONVERSIONS

    A Catholic Priest, a Baptist Preacher and a Rabbi all served as Chaplains to the students of Northern Michigan University at Marquette in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. They would get together two or three times a week for coffee and to talk shop.

    One day, someone made the comment that preaching to people isn’t really all that hard, a real challenge would be to preach to a bear. One thing led to another, and they decided to do an experiment. They would all go out into the woods, find a bear, preach to it, and attempt to convert it to their religion.

    Seven days later, they all came together to discuss their experiences.

    Father Flannery, who had his arm in a sling, was on crutches, and had various bandages on his body and limbs, went first. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I went into the woods to find me a bear. And when I found him, I began to read to him from the Catechism. Well, that bear wanted nothing to do with me and began to slap me around. I quickly grabbed my holy water, sprinkled him and, Holy Mary, Mother of God, he became as gentle as a lamb. The Bishop is coming out next week to give him first communion and confirmation.’

    Reverend Billy Bob spoke next. He was in a wheelchair, had one arm and both legs in casts, and had an IV drip. In his best fire-and-brimstone oratory, he exclaimed, ‘WELL, brothers, you KNOW that we Baptists don’t sprinkle! I went out and I FOUND me a bear. And then I began to read to my bear from God’s HOLY WORD! But that bear wanted nothing to do with me. So, I took HOLD of him and we began to wrestle. We wrestled down one hill, UP another and DOWN another until we came to a creek. So, I quickly DUNKED him and BAPTIZED his hairy soul. And just like you said, he became as gentle as a lamb. We spent the rest of the day praising Jesus… Hallelujah!

    The Priest and the Reverend both looked down at the Rabbi, who was lying in a hospital bed.

    He was in a body cast and traction with IVs and monitors running in and out of him. He was in really bad shape.

    The Rabbi looked up and said : “Looking back on it …circumcision may not have been the best way to start.”

    1. Reminds me of the joke about the RC priest, the Anglican vicar and the rabbi who all had new cars. The priest sprinkled his with holy water, the vicar said a prayer over his and the rabbi cut an inch off the exhaust.

    1. Shirley, if you perform a “dehumanising” act, then you forfeit your ability to claim the “rights” of a human?

  37. One for the “all cultures are equal, but different , crowd”. ( to be followed by a display of popular hijabs and flogging-lashes).

  38. Just received my NHS Bowel Cancer screening kit. The department that sent it said they don’t have access to my medical records even though they are NHS.

    If they had access to my medical records they would know that i have done two tests recently and had a colonoscopy as a result. The result being no Cancer but Diverticular disease.

    Total waste of resources.

    2. Morning Phizzee ,

      The NHS are a load of old poo.

      I had my echocardiogram a month ago , still no letter re results .

      Hung out to dry is their mantra .

      1. I had a 24 hour heart monitor to wear last Thursday. To get the result I have to ring my surgery in 3 weeks.

        You need to ring your surgery, do not wait for a letter is my advice. Hope all is well.

        1. That’s the impression I get, if you don’t hear anything you must be okay.
          I heard nothing after recent blood tests. Until I had a face to face with a superb paramedic.
          No problems.
          There is a facility to enquire about the results of tests. But it can take 20 minutes to get through.
          And also as soon as you are over retirement age, the NHS don’t seem to be in too much of a hurry.

      2. Good morning, Maggie.
        Call them and tell them the stress in not knowing is affecting your blood pressure.

      3. You must be ok then – when OH had his first one they told him to go straight to A& E. We went home as it was too much of a shock for him but he was admitted to hospital a week later.

      4. I use an ecg with interpretive software and test for about five minutes:

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/57f440ea7486879dc8023ba825bee8c56f27c71eb45b39d7d4b45a567a1d8a6a.jpg

        My pulse oximeter sometimes thows up an alarm state but I don’t need to worry unless pulse rate stays too long in the mid 40 bpm range when I can distribute my bisoprolol dosage more evenly over the day.

        I did bring up an issue with my cardiologist after I noticed scratches on my hand were not healing from using the tea caddy (i suspected too high a dose of anti-coagulants). He said I ought to get a new tea caddy.

  40. Good Moaning.
    Well, as I’m hanging around waiting for the cooker man to advise on temperatures and uneven baking ….. I might as well gossip away on NOTTL.
    It’s that or the ironing.

      1. All sodding electric.
        I would love a dual fuel cooker – with two ovens – like I had at Allan Towers; cost and hassle have put that project on the back burner.

        1. When I was nobbut a lad in my second flat I had an electric cooker. Baked unevenly. A lady from the Electricity Association came and prepared and cooked a victoria sponge. Apparently that was the British Standard test for oven heat. Turned out that I was the problem – not the stove!

          2. Chap Wot Knows has just been and conducted tests.
            New thermostat needed. With his monitoring kit, he found that the temperature would burble along correctly and then suddenly whoosh up by 20 – 30 degrees.
            No wonder some of my cakes and pastries looked rather tanned.
            He will sort out new thermostat.

        2. I have a brand new electric ceramic hob that scares the hell out of me. My old one had knobs on it and was dead straightforward to use but this sodding thing is digital and requires a bod with computer nous to operate it successfully.

          1. Whenever I see tv ads for the Quooker, which dispenses both boiling and chilled water from one tap, I wonder about what safety features it possesses to prevent rinsing hands in boiling water.

            Their website is quite reassuring on the matter but I would make it a feature of the tv ads as it was my immediate concern when I first saw one.

            https://www.quooker.co.uk/safety

          2. Normal hot / cold is obtained by moving a lever on the side of the tap.

            Boiling or cold filtered water is obtained by operating and holding a ring around the body of the tap which depending on the operating sequence lights up a blue LED ring for cold water or a red led ring for boiling water.

            No problems so far…..

          4. All four in fact, H, C, Boiling and Cold filtered. If you want it you can get one which also has a carbonated water module – so 5 functions from the one tap.

          5. I also wonder about bacterial problems as the cold water would be running through warm pipes.

          7. Too late for you now Sue, but I would recommend induction hobs. The glass surface gets hot but nowhere near as hot as traditional electric cookers or ceramic hobs. The induction hob glass cools down quickly once switched off and the pan is removed.

          8. Oooh; I HATE induction hobs! 🤣🤣 It may well just be me, but when cooking at friends’ houses, which I seem to do a lot, the swearing which ensues when they have an induction hob has to be heard to be believed. You can’t shuffle things around, which makes the fiddly bits of timing impossible; even wafting a hot pan *near* the surface gives the whole shebang a fit of the vapours. Gas hobs all the way!

          9. Sadly we can’t have a gas hob, so for us induction is the best alternative – once you are used to them they are generally fine, although a “bit quirky” at times [my way of saying I occasionally swear at mine!]

          11. We did, until we remodelled the kitchen. We find induction superior – no wells under the burner to fill up with yukk that then burns on.

          12. We sued to do that but it was a bit untidy! We now have a gas camping stove tucked away for use in the inevitable power cuts!

          14. Since buying my Daewoo table top oven i don’t use the big fan oven any more. I also have a gas hob he says smugly

          19. I had an induction hob when we moved house. It wouldn’t work when the sun shone through the window.

          20. We are strongly in favour of induction. Easy control, no wasted heat, and when the pan boils over, you don’t need a razor blade to scrape the burned-on muck off the glass top.

          21. You will get used to it. I have the same problem with new tech but after a while i wonder why i was fretting.

          22. I really do not like the convection hob that is in the Dower House.
            However, money and patience are finite, so I’ll stick it out for a bit longer.

          23. Why, oh why is there this need for all digital bells and whistles for household appliances?
            Whatever happened to KISS?
            Keep It Simple, Stupid!!

          24. Exactly. The microwave I just bought has simple controls – temperature setting, timer and that’s it. None of these digital multi-function nonsense.

        3. I brought a gas stove last time round. Living in the countryside I learnt quickly that it isn’t good to be all electric.

          2. That’ll do too. I find the idea that we will have to go all electric rather frightening. It would cause serious trouble for some people in the future.

          3. How many gas furnaces and fireplaces need electricity to function? Ot just for the fan motors but for nice safe sensors and igniters?

            When they cut the electrical supply, the only option could end up being a nice wood bonfire in the middle of the living room.

          4. My Rayburn requires power to run the pump to circulate the water. Otherwise I have to keep running very hot baths!

          5. I keep matches in the house. Because experience with gas stoves tells me not to depend on the igniting mechanism.

          8. Snap. It’s on the list, but after the past year of upheaval, we need a few months’ break.
            After the hurricane, most of our friends were stuck for cooking and heating. We had a Calor gas stove, so we could still cook and we had an open fire. The heating was oil, so we still had hot water.
            Candles etc…. we always keep in stock.

          9. If you buy one, can I suggest buying from AO. Very satisfactory company. I now buy all my appliances, large and small from them.

          10. I’ve got solid fuel heating (and open fires on which I can cook if need be). I also have oil heating for when the weather isn’t consistently cold. Candles, oil lamps, wind up torches and battery operated lamps as well.

          11. Have a windup torch, really like it. Where did you get the battery operated lamps from, if I may ask?

          12. I can’t remember now. I got them for camping a while ago. One of them was a gift from a French friend and was bought in France. I have some battery tea lights as well.

        4. Lol. I went to visit my son in Cardiff last Saturday and bought a nice butcher’s steak for him. He said, thanks but there’s no point as they only have an electric hob and he can’t get the heat high enough for the steak.

          1. A heavy-bottomed skillet or a cast-iron pan would do the job on a hob.

            What a nice gift.

            One Christmas i bought a friend a Tomahawk steak. Wrapped it in Christmas paper and put it in his freezer. He said it was the first time he had a Christmas present in the freezer rather than under the tree.

          4. Ahhhh i got him a nice non-stick one but maybe need to rethink. Always a good present!!

  41. In case anyone wonders why Hamas takes hostages.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/galleries/article-13130287/Biden-says-ceasefire-Israel-Hamas-war-come-Monday.html

    Negotiations are underway for a weekslong cease-fire between Israel and Hamas to allow for the release of hostages being held in Gaza by the militant group in return for Israel releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

    The current going rate is 10 fighters to one hostage, but it has been far, far higher in the past.

    1. Female Hostages will be returned in 3 separate parts (there may be some fraying at the edges).

  42. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

    Denmark Concludes Nord Stream Blast Sabotage Without Naming Perpetrator

    COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – Denmark on Monday joined Sweden in closing its investigation into the 2022 explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines, with authorities saying they concluded there was deliberate sabotage but “not the sufficient grounds” to pursue a criminal case.

    Danish authorities said the probe “has been both complex and comprehensive.” Copenhagen police, which carried out the investigation jointly with the Danish security service, said they were not able to provide further comments.

    The underwater detonations on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which were built to carry Russian natural gas to Germany, occurred in international waters but within Swedish and Danish economic zones. Sweden earlier said that a state actor was the most likely culprit.

    Denmark´s investigation was one of three into the explosions.

    1. The one thing that one can guarantee is that if there was even the slightest hint that it was the Russians it would be trumpeted across all the MSM.

      1. And many people are beginning to suspect that Biden and Johnson actually had to persuade the totally corrupt Zelensky to scupper the peace talks and go to war by promising him support.

  46. Mock on, mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau:
    Mock on, mock on: ‘tis all in vain!
    You throw the sand against the wind,
    And the wind blows it back again.

    And every sand becomes a Gem,
    Reflected in the beam divine;
    Blown back they blind the mocking Eye,
    But still in Israel’s paths they shine.

    The Atoms of Democritus
    And the Newton’s Particles of Light
    Are sands upon the Red Sea shore,
    Where Israel’s tents do shine so bright.

    [William Blake]

    2. Perhaps that how some people managed to walk al the way from central Africa and actually get to Somerset where ‘their bones’ were discovered and reconstructions of the faces were displayed on Digging for Britain. Probably took at least 50 years to walk that far in those prehistoric days. It’s hard to imagine it. (sarc)

  49. It certainly would for many country-dwellers. We had a recent power cut here and it was off for a whole morning.

    1. I’m coming up on an 8 hour power cut next month for two consecutive days. What they are doing they haven’t explained but, at least, they are going to hook me up to a generator because I’m ill. But that is planned. An unplanned 48 hour power cut would kill. Not me because I would campout in the kitchen with the gas stove on, but there are certainly people in such a situation who would die.

    3. In this part of the world we have power cuts most months.

      The record last year was three in one month.

      –now you understand why no one around here owns an electric car.

      1. We used to have lots when we first moved her nearly 30 years ago, but they are much less frequent now. The recent one was the first for quite a while.

    2. It’s said that herbal remedies can shrink a tumour. The widely held assumption today of course is that the reason hospitals such as St Barts which goes back to 1123 had a herb garden rather than a pharmacy is because they hadn’t progressed to our elevated level of knowledge but it’s entirely possible that warmth, rest, nutrition, prayers and herbs were the ideal recipe for recovery.

      1. Most medicines have some origin in plants – I dopn’t believe that we can make hard and fast rules except to govern the conduct of those who are involved in their production. The Hippocratic vow is as relevant today as ever it was and its violations are everywhere to be seen – such violations are among the worst of crimes.

    1. Hi Phizzee, this made me laugh out loud 😂 😂😂. I have lost count of the times as a graphic designer i have had to create these in print/powerpoint/websites !!!!

  53. 383978+ up ticks,

    The luxury capsule that will fly passengers to space from 2025
    The £100,000-a-seat vessel could soon take passengers to the edge of space. How does it compare with Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic?

    On the return it all depends on the depth of hole the vehicle makes and if they can retrieve you in time.

    Has proved perfect on the up,up,& away part of the journey.

    1. There was a popular joke back in the 1960s that by the year 2000, half the worlds population would be living on the moon. And how does half the worlds population feel about that? “Me no wanna go massa”.

      2. 383978+ up ticks.

        Afternoon MM,

        The way things are at the post office pushing the envelope too far is a risky business.

      1. On and off a number of years.

        Help support financially, and now active here for a number of months.

  55. EXCLUSIVE The great car boot sale
    war: Trouble brews amid the trestle tables as popular village event is
    cancelled after 50 years because neighbours complained about parking and
    traffic chaos – so council hikes tax by 158 per cent to make up for
    lost income

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13127577/The-great-car-boot-sale-war-Trouble-brews-amid-trestle-tables-popular-village-event-cancelled-50-years-neighbours-complained-parking-traffic-chaos-council-hikes-tax-158-cent-make-lost-income.html

    It’s all not happening in Norfolk.

        1. You shut yer face. Rollesby is in the weird part of Narfurk. Over to Yarmouth way. I didn’t bother to read the article – but I wonder how many of the complainants have lived in the village for 40 years?

      1. A decent chap with that username (NormalforNorfolk) used to comment on the old DT letters’ page (forerunner of this NoTTLe forum).

        Another splendid chap on that same forum was NorfolkandChance.

  56. If anything shows how very far to the left Labour has moved and equally how far the Tories have too, it is the fact that Lee Anderson who, let’s face it, is really an old school labourite, felt reasonably comfortable as a modern Conservative MP and was almost certainly voted into Parliament by old school labourites to represent them.

    If Anderson is far right Heaven only knows where I and I suspect most Nottlers live on the political spectrum.

    1. As I said a couple of weeks ago – in his day George Orwell was considered to be a leftie – now he would be considered well to the right of centre.

    3. And just as the BBC is running programmes on the miners strike 40 years on. Any of you who watched Sherwood last summer will know how the Red Terror sees it.

      1. Thatcher could have done a lot worse than support those collieries where miners didn’t strike when the dust had settled.

    5. Somewhere to the right of Attila the Hun is how traditionalists used to be described but the wokies haven’t a clue who Attila was so they just screach their meaningless buzz words. Racist! Bigot! Homophobe! Islamaphobe! Transphobe!

  57. I think part of the problem with the NHS is that it’s so disjointed. You can reorder meds in so many ways and the NHS site is so damned long winded. Alf and I usually reorder through Evergreen linked to the surgery.

  59. I wondered why i started goose stepping and arm waving. Must be something in the vaccine water.

  65. Yesterday the Canadian government introduced anOnline Harm Reduction bill that attempts to reduce hateful and incorrect content from the internet.

    There will be a government appointed commissioner to rule on what is acceptable, they will have the right to demand that inappropriate content is deleted. The penalty for spreading false information could be up to life imprisonment!

    I suppose no one sees any issues with this.

    1. I just wanted to state for the record how anyone could have issues with a munificent government wishing to protect its citizens from online or indeed biological harms is totally beyond me.

    2. Early release for murderers, life in prison for hurty words. Will no-one fix Canada?

  67. Three men charged with terrorism over ‘extreme Right-wing activity’
    Trio to appear at Westminster magistrates’ court accused of preparing an act of terrorism
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/27/uk-northeast-right-wing-terrorism-three-men-charged/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-onward-journey

    No details of what they were panning to do. Maybe they were planning to get a group of people together to show solidarity with Israel and hold hands and dance around the Angel of the North saying some hurtfully true things about the Mayor London?

    1. “Extreme Right-wing activity” is not an offence: it is a concocted state of an addled mind. It does not appear on the Statute Book.

      Should I offer to defend them in court?

  68. Great idea. After all our Prime Minister has stated in the House that they are safe. And you can’t get much safer that a Pharma HQ’s Safe!

  71. In a speech yesterday, Trudeau stated very clearly that Russia must win the war in Ukraine.

    Biden has old age as an excuse, how does numb nuts explain away this little faux pas?

  72. She did. The mining industry was in decent shape after the strike, even though British coal was still more expensive than some imported coal (the UK had been importing coal since 1970). It was Heseltine who, on his return to government after Thatcher’s expulsion, saw the premature end of mining with his ‘dash for gas’ under EEC directives.

  73. It’s all boiling up nicely. And Street doesn’t get much support for his Twatter outburst.

    Tory MP claims Birmingham and London have ‘no-go’ areas amid Islamophobia row

    West Midlands mayor urges those in Westminster to ‘stop nonsense slurs’ in backlash against Paul Scully’s remarks

    A Tory former government minister has claimed that there are religious “no-go areas” in Birmingham and east London, sparking a fresh row over Islamophobia.

    Paul Scully, an MP who ran to be the Conservatives’ London mayoral candidate, made the remarks during a discussion about allegations of anti-Muslim sentiments within the party.

    It comes as Rishi Sunak is under pressure over his handling of comments by Lee Anderson, who was stripped of the Tory whip after claiming that “Islamists” have “got control” of Sadiq Khan.

    In an interview with BBC London, Mr Scully, the London minister from 2021 to 2022, made reference to parts of the capital and Birmingham with high Muslim populations.

    He said: “The point I am trying to make is if you look at parts of Tower Hamlets, for example, where there are no-go areas, parts of Birmingham Sparkhill, where there are no-go areas, mainly because of doctrine, mainly because of people using, abusing in many ways, their religion to… because it is not the doctrine of Islam, to espouse what some of these people are saying. That, I think, is the concern that needs to be addressed.”

    There was an immediate backlash, with Andy Street, the Tory West Midlands mayor, urging “those in Westminster to stop the nonsense slurs”. He posted on X, formerly Twitter:

    https://twitter.com/andy4wm/status/1762120767800746421
    Labour’s Jess Phillips, whose Birmingham constituency includes part of the Sparkhill area, said: “As one of the MPs for Sparkhill, I am expecting an apology for this utter drivel. My kids hang out in Sparkhill day and night, never had a moment’s worry, I go there weekly and live literally a five-minute walk from there and used to live there myself.”

    Ali Milani, the chairman of the Labour Muslim Network, told BBC London that Mr Scully was perpetuating an “Islamophobic myth” and said: “There are no Muslim ‘no-go’ areas in this country… this is not true, it’s Islamophobic.”

    A previous row over “no-go areas” was sparked in 2015, when Donald Trump said during the US presidential race that there were places in London “so radicalised” that police were “afraid for their own lives”.

    Boris Johnson, then the London mayor, mocked the idea that officers would stay away from some neighbourhoods as “ill-informed” and “complete and utter nonsense”.

    Scotland Yard broke with convention to issue a statement, with a spokesman saying: “We would not normally dignify such comments with a response. However, on this occasion we think it’s important to state to Londoners that Mr Trump could not be more wrong.”

    The same year similar claims were made by Fox News, which later issued an apology and was criticised by Ofcom.

    Earlier in the interview on Monday, Mr Scully said he did not think the Tory party had a problem with Islamophobia. He added that he did not “like the term”, preferring to use “anti-Muslim hatred” where appropriate.

    Asked whether he thought there was a Tory problem with Islamophobia, he said: “No, I don’t think there is. I think there are people who are fearful that they’re trying to represent. It’s a sense of populism in certain parts of the country where… you see what’s happening, unravelling in Rochdale at the moment and during the by-election and those kinds of things.

    “It tends to be soaked up partly as a political thing – you’ve had the anti-Semitism in the Labour Party over the last few years, you’ve got people concerned about their neighbourhoods changing, in parts of the North in particular, not especially in London, and I think they’re trying to reflect that but in a really, really clumsy way.

    “We’ve got to have a sensible use of language so that we can have a constructive, adult debate about this.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/02/26/paul-scully-no-go-areas-birmingham-london-islamophobia

    1. I would like Jess Phillips to walk around Sparkhill after dark on her own. Then the gobby Brummie might change her tune.

      1. Nobody with a white face would go into any park there after dark. 25 years ago, my nephew took his ball into a park in Small Heath for a kickabout and was told “This is our park” by a group of Hamiltons (Accies).

    3. If Andy Street is “proud to lead the most diverse place in Britain”, then he is a traitor to his country, his nation, his ethnicity and he should be shot for high treason.

    5. It’s not “anti-muslim” it’s telling the truth about islam. Of course, these days, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

    6. It always was going to come to a point, and I think that we’re nearing that point now. Things will get worse before they can get better, but it’s all slipping from the Establishment’s control now.

    7. I live in her constituency which includes a small slice of Sparkhill, literally a couple of streets but not the whole of it, not least the Stratford and Warwick Roads. (A34 and A41).

  74. It’s all boiling up nicely. And Street doesn’t get much support for his Twatter outburst.

    Tory MP claims Birmingham and London have ‘no-go’ areas amid Islamophobia row

    West Midlands mayor urges those in Westminster to ‘stop nonsense slurs’ in backlash against Paul Scully’s remarks

    A Tory former government minister has claimed that there are religious “no-go areas” in Birmingham and east London, sparking a fresh row over Islamophobia.

    Paul Scully, an MP who ran to be the Conservatives’ London mayoral candidate, made the remarks during a discussion about allegations of anti-Muslim sentiments within the party.

    It comes as Rishi Sunak is under pressure over his handling of comments by Lee Anderson, who was stripped of the Tory whip after claiming that “Islamists” have “got control” of Sadiq Khan.

    In an interview with BBC London, Mr Scully, the London minister from 2021 to 2022, made reference to parts of the capital and Birmingham with high Muslim populations.

    He said: “The point I am trying to make is if you look at parts of Tower Hamlets, for example, where there are no-go areas, parts of Birmingham Sparkhill, where there are no-go areas, mainly because of doctrine, mainly because of people using, abusing in many ways, their religion to… because it is not the doctrine of Islam, to espouse what some of these people are saying. That, I think, is the concern that needs to be addressed.”

    There was an immediate backlash, with Andy Street, the Tory West Midlands mayor, urging “those in Westminster to stop the nonsense slurs”. He posted on X, formerly Twitter:

    https://twitter.com/andy4wm/status/1762120767800746421
    Labour’s Jess Phillips, whose Birmingham constituency includes part of the Sparkhill area, said: “As one of the MPs for Sparkhill, I am expecting an apology for this utter drivel. My kids hang out in Sparkhill day and night, never had a moment’s worry, I go there weekly and live literally a five-minute walk from there and used to live there myself.”

    Ali Milani, the chairman of the Labour Muslim Network, told BBC London that Mr Scully was perpetuating an “Islamophobic myth” and said: “There are no Muslim ‘no-go’ areas in this country… this is not true, it’s Islamophobic.”

    A previous row over “no-go areas” was sparked in 2015, when Donald Trump said during the US presidential race that there were places in London “so radicalised” that police were “afraid for their own lives”.

    Boris Johnson, then the London mayor, mocked the idea that officers would stay away from some neighbourhoods as “ill-informed” and “complete and utter nonsense”.

    Scotland Yard broke with convention to issue a statement, with a spokesman saying: “We would not normally dignify such comments with a response. However, on this occasion we think it’s important to state to Londoners that Mr Trump could not be more wrong.”

    The same year similar claims were made by Fox News, which later issued an apology and was criticised by Ofcom.

    Earlier in the interview on Monday, Mr Scully said he did not think the Tory party had a problem with Islamophobia. He added that he did not “like the term”, preferring to use “anti-Muslim hatred” where appropriate.

    Asked whether he thought there was a Tory problem with Islamophobia, he said: “No, I don’t think there is. I think there are people who are fearful that they’re trying to represent. It’s a sense of populism in certain parts of the country where… you see what’s happening, unravelling in Rochdale at the moment and during the by-election and those kinds of things.

    “It tends to be soaked up partly as a political thing – you’ve had the anti-Semitism in the Labour Party over the last few years, you’ve got people concerned about their neighbourhoods changing, in parts of the North in particular, not especially in London, and I think they’re trying to reflect that but in a really, really clumsy way.

    “We’ve got to have a sensible use of language so that we can have a constructive, adult debate about this.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/02/26/paul-scully-no-go-areas-birmingham-london-islamophobia

  75. It’s all boiling up nicely. And Street doesn’t get much support for his Twatter outburst.

    Tory MP claims Birmingham and London have ‘no-go’ areas amid Islamophobia row

    West Midlands mayor urges those in Westminster to ‘stop nonsense slurs’ in backlash against Paul Scully’s remarks

    A Tory former government minister has claimed that there are religious “no-go areas” in Birmingham and east London, sparking a fresh row over Islamophobia.

    Paul Scully, an MP who ran to be the Conservatives’ London mayoral candidate, made the remarks during a discussion about allegations of anti-Muslim sentiments within the party.

    It comes as Rishi Sunak is under pressure over his handling of comments by Lee Anderson, who was stripped of the Tory whip after claiming that “Islamists” have “got control” of Sadiq Khan.

    In an interview with BBC London, Mr Scully, the London minister from 2021 to 2022, made reference to parts of the capital and Birmingham with high Muslim populations.

    He said: “The point I am trying to make is if you look at parts of Tower Hamlets, for example, where there are no-go areas, parts of Birmingham Sparkhill, where there are no-go areas, mainly because of doctrine, mainly because of people using, abusing in many ways, their religion to… because it is not the doctrine of Islam, to espouse what some of these people are saying. That, I think, is the concern that needs to be addressed.”

    There was an immediate backlash, with Andy Street, the Tory West Midlands mayor, urging “those in Westminster to stop the nonsense slurs”. He posted on X, formerly Twitter:

    https://twitter.com/andy4wm/status/1762120767800746421
    Labour’s Jess Phillips, whose Birmingham constituency includes part of the Sparkhill area, said: “As one of the MPs for Sparkhill, I am expecting an apology for this utter drivel. My kids hang out in Sparkhill day and night, never had a moment’s worry, I go there weekly and live literally a five-minute walk from there and used to live there myself.”

    Ali Milani, the chairman of the Labour Muslim Network, told BBC London that Mr Scully was perpetuating an “Islamophobic myth” and said: “There are no Muslim ‘no-go’ areas in this country… this is not true, it’s Islamophobic.”

    A previous row over “no-go areas” was sparked in 2015, when Donald Trump said during the US presidential race that there were places in London “so radicalised” that police were “afraid for their own lives”.

    Boris Johnson, then the London mayor, mocked the idea that officers would stay away from some neighbourhoods as “ill-informed” and “complete and utter nonsense”.

    Scotland Yard broke with convention to issue a statement, with a spokesman saying: “We would not normally dignify such comments with a response. However, on this occasion we think it’s important to state to Londoners that Mr Trump could not be more wrong.”

    The same year similar claims were made by Fox News, which later issued an apology and was criticised by Ofcom.

    Earlier in the interview on Monday, Mr Scully said he did not think the Tory party had a problem with Islamophobia. He added that he did not “like the term”, preferring to use “anti-Muslim hatred” where appropriate.

    Asked whether he thought there was a Tory problem with Islamophobia, he said: “No, I don’t think there is. I think there are people who are fearful that they’re trying to represent. It’s a sense of populism in certain parts of the country where… you see what’s happening, unravelling in Rochdale at the moment and during the by-election and those kinds of things.

    “It tends to be soaked up partly as a political thing – you’ve had the anti-Semitism in the Labour Party over the last few years, you’ve got people concerned about their neighbourhoods changing, in parts of the North in particular, not especially in London, and I think they’re trying to reflect that but in a really, really clumsy way.

    “We’ve got to have a sensible use of language so that we can have a constructive, adult debate about this.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/02/26/paul-scully-no-go-areas-birmingham-london-islamophobia

      1. I know of the gyroscopic effect. Riding a motorcycle at 100 miles an hour on the autobahn with my arms folded.

          2. A pushbike (Northern slang for pedal bicycle) stays upright as long as it keeps up a forward momentum of any velocity. Stop, though, and you’ll fall over!

          10. A former neighbour of mine’s hobby was to be the sidecar passenger in motorcycle combination races. He was as mad in real life as he needed to be for his hobby.

    5. Dunno about the train, reminds me of One Leg Too Few by Peter Cooke and Dudley Moore. But the El Al advert washed some grit out of my eyes.

  78. What do you think of when you think of Hampshire? The glorious chalk streams such as the Test, Itchen and Avon? Jane Austen country? Chocolate-box villages with striking parish churches? The South Downs Way into Sussex? Or yachting across the Solent to the Isle of Wight. I’ll bet it’s not Waterlooville.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b2ffcb6200d03995aa9b6dd12d72ddb408800e414a3141cdecc0aba1a8700f84.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/27/english-high-street-london-road-waterlooville-hampshire/

    This is what councils, finance and corporatism have done between them.

    The sad thing is Waterlooville is not alone in Hampshire. The county is a conundrum. Beautiful countryside abounds with crystal clear streams and a lovely coastline in parts. But, many, or even most, of the towns are shit. As well as Waterlooville the list of shit towns might include such places as Alton, Andover, Basingstoke, Eastleigh and Havant. It’s true there are some gems such as Alresford, Petersfield, Stockbridge and Lymington and I would have included Winchester, the county town, in that but even it is beginning to look decidedly seedy in parts. It used to be a good shopping destination but with many of the independent shops now gone, it is like everywhere else. Take away the Cathedral Close, Winchester College and the River Itchen walk and there’s not much to attract visitors. And it now has a bad case of developer blight with the appalling new housing estates of rabbit hutches which have been added to its edges.

    No doubt Waterlooville is the worst but it’s a warning of where the current trend is leading. I can see it in our local town, Newbury, where the main street has lots of empty premises, a recently-built shopping centre that is failing because John Lewis pulled out in 2021 and Debenhams went bust. There is an older shopping centre that is virtually empty.

    It doesn’t make you feel good for our peoples’ futures.

      1. I hear a small town nearby has changed its’ name.

        I is now Lee-on-the-Insolvent

        PS I used to live there, when I was at HMS Deadloss

    3. And the new Bracknell town centre, called ‘The Lexicon’. Around a third of the shops are empty, the rest filled by the sort of shops nobody wants and an abundance of burger type restaurants. The Lexicon owners say it is wonderful, myself I rarely go there as we have a Tesco just round the corner.

    4. This is the sort of thing our MPs should be debating, not Ukraine/Russia or Israel/Hamas. This government is killing this country. I’m not sure I have the strength to be angry any more. There is too much to be angry about.

    5. Stevenage town centre is not yet that bleak but larger premises once occupied by British Home Stores, B & M, Home Bargains, T. K. Maxx, Poundland and Wetherspoon lie empty, BHS since 2016. Numerous smaller units, both in the pedestrian precinct and indoor market are also unoccupied. Although Poundland quickly occupied the vacant Wilko plot, that merely created the gap from where they moved.

    6. I bet the rates are sky high and they charge for parking (I see the centre is pedestrianised). If they followed a blueprint for destruction they couldn’t have done better.

  79. Let’s not be beastly to the Germans!

    From the DT:

    “Olaf Scholz has ruled out sending Nato troops to Ukraine as he held firm on blocking the supply of long-range missiles.

    The German chancellor flatly rejected Emmanuel Macron’s suggestion on Monday night that European soldiers could be deployed to the battlefield.

    “Once again, in a very good debate, it was discussed that what was agreed from the outset among ourselves and with each other also applies to the future, namely that there will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent there by European countries or Nato states,” Mr Scholz said.

    He also rejected pressure from Kyiv to supply them with long-range Taurus missiles, saying “we will not become a warring party.”

    1. Scholz can see what the result would be of sending troops to Ukraine. Dead being shipped home, and likely a serious war between Russia and NATO.

  80. Hinkley Point C delays will leave Britain facing blackouts, report warns

    ‘Perfect storm’ comes as row escalates between UK and France over funding pressures

    Jonathan Leake
    27 February 2024 • 12:11pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/business/2024/02/27/TELEMMGLPICT000363789711_17090335816280_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqRo0U4xU-30oDveS4pXV-Vv4Xpit_DMGvdp2n7FDd82k.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Hinkley Point C costs have surged to £46bn, significantly more than the £18bn proposed when contracts were signed in 2016 CREDIT: Handout/AFP

    Delays to French-built nuclear power stations will leave the UK at risk of blackouts by 2028, new research has warned.

    A “perfect storm” of increased demand because of net zero, the closure of existing nuclear power stations and delays to the delivery of Hinkley Point C, which is being built by French state-owned power company EDF, will leave the country facing a “crunch point” that risks blackouts.

    Analysis by Public First predicts that the UK’s demand for power will exceed baseload capacity by 7.5GW at peak times by 2028 – a shortfall equivalent to the power used by more than 7 million homes.

    A shortfall is expected as ageing British power infrastructure is set to close in the coming years. Ratcliffe-on-Soar, the UK’s last remaining coal-fired power station, is scheduled to shut down this year.

    Hartlepool and Heysham I nuclear power stations will be decommissioned in March 2026 and Heysham II and Torness come offline in March 2028.

    At the same time, demand for electricity is expected to increase sharply as Britain shifts away from fossil fuels and adopts technology such as electric vehicles and heat pumps.

    The warning comes amid a political row between Westminster and Paris over who will pay for cost overruns on the long-delayed Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor, which was scheduled to open in 2025 at the time of approval but will now not come online until at least 2031.

    French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has demanded “an equitable sharing of costs” but the UK Government insisted the EDF-led development must be privately financed.

    The cost of building Hinkley Point C, which is under construction in Somerset, has risen from £18bn to £46bn – equivalent to £700 for everyone in the UK.

    Public First’s warning is politically highly sensitive as it implies the UK could face power shortages and consequent increases in prices, or even the risk of blackouts, around the time of a general election.

    The report, Mind the Gap: Exploring Britain’s energy crunch, was commissioned by Drax Power, the owner of the controversial Drax power station that once burned coal but is now fuelled largely by wood chips imported from “sustainable” forests in North America.

    It generates about 4pc of the UK’s electricity but is reliant on taxpayer subsidies that last year earned Drax £617m, but which comes to an end in 2027. Drax is lobbying politicians to extend those subsidies.

    The report said expected shortfalls in generation capacity will leave the UK even more dependent on international generation – meaning power imported via undersea cable from France, Norway and other European countries.

    Britain already relies on its European neighbours for electricity supplies. In the first half of 2023 a record 13pc of the UK’s electricity was imported, generating import bills of £2bn, government figures show.

    However, relying even more on such imports will cost the UK billions of pounds in exports that also support their rivals’ power industries.

    The Public First report said the expected shortfall in generation capacity by 2028 would be “more than three times the secure power that Sizewell C [the UK’s planned next nuclear project, which is also led by EDF] will be capable of providing – 2.5GW – and nearly double the gap in 2022 (4GW)”.

    https://cf.eip.telegraph.co.uk/illustrator-embed/content/935da37539cc8f6e54266de537fd7a223f2df0d0/1704902125934.jpg

    Daisy Powell-Chandler, head of energy and environment at Public First, said: “Setbacks in bringing new nuclear and offshore wind online, the retirement of generation assets and increasing power demand will create an energy crunch point in 2028.

    “But the challenge of keeping the lights on is not set in stone: policymakers have a suite of levers they can pull to ensure that we have a more secure, diverse, and sustainable energy system in the future.”

    Richard Gwilliam, director of Drax’s carbon capture programme, said: “This research demonstrates the UK is facing a power generation crunch point, with demand set to outstrip the supply of secure dispatchable and baseload capacity – leaving the UK reliant on intermittent forms of generation.

    “To keep the lights on, part of the solution will be extending the lives of existing generation assets.”

    Juliet Phillips, a UK energy analyst at E3G, an NGO campaigning for greener energy, agreed the UK faced an energy crunch but said relying on new nuclear stations like Hinkley or on burning more trees, as Drax proposes, were both mistakes.

    She said: “Rolling out renewables at pace is the no-regrets answer for boosting domestic energy security.

    “At the same time, there is an essential need to focus on the technologies that can help balance the system and provide back-up. These include often-overlooked solutions like demand flexibility services, battery storage and green hydrogen-to-power. Achieving the right combination of these can replace nuclear as a ‘baseload’ in the system.”

    **************************************

    Angus B
    5 MIN AGO
    What has been imposed on the Great British population over the last 50 years and where it is today:
    1. The EU
    The majority of the Great British population voted to leave the EU in 2016.
    2. Mass uncontrolled immigration
    The 7 October massacre of Israel’s by Hamas has ripped the stick plaster off the UK Establishments subversive plans of mass immigration. A make -or- break voting issue now.
    3. Net Zero
    The lunacy and costs are becoming clearer to the masses. If you want a stable and reliable supply of electricity from around 2025 you will need to supply it yourself. The next big voting issue after (2)
    4. Cultural Marxism
    Economic Marxism has been empirically debunked. To keep the Marxist idea alive the axis has been tilted 90 degrees from a rich to poor axis (Economic Marxism) to majority to minority (Cultural Marxism). Again the masses are waking up to the subversion that is post modernist cultural Marxism
    5. Central Bank Digital currencies (CBDC)
    If a politician support CBDC DO NOT vote for them. Currently the only political party opposing CBDC in the UK is Reform and in the US Mr Trump.

    Gilbert Bellairs
    1 HR AGO
    Renewables are not reliable or dispatchable and hence do not provide energy security. Quite the opposite.

    1. I worked on the safety case for HPC up to 1990, when I changed employer… that’s 34 years ago! If it had been built then, it would be life-expired by now.

    2. If Hinkley Point C is delayed then Britain will have to buy even more electricity from the French.

      Could anyone explain why this situation would encourage the French government to give more money to the British government

      in order to pay for cost overruns on Hinkley C?

      1. Even if Hinkley C opens on time there will still be a shortfall in supplies.

        The only answer is to use smart meters to cut off certain consumers in times of shortage.

        All you minions must expect great pressure to install a smart meter if you haven’t already got one.

        1. That is already happening. My supplier has said that having a smart meter means agreement to have the supply turned down or cut off in times of heavy demand. Yeah, so I’m going to sign up for that, aren’t I? Mind you, an awful lot of people don’t read the Ts&Cs.

      2. Even if Hinkley C opens on time there will still be a shortfall in supplies.

        The only answer is to use smart meters to cut off certain consumers in times of shortage.

        All you minions must expect great pressure to install a smart meter if you haven’t already got one.

  83. Excellent letter in DT today.

    SIR – I read that there are 5.6 million people claiming out-of-work benefits and that the Government is to introduce a £2.5 billion “Back to work plan”. Would it not be a simpler and more cost-effective encouragement to reduce the out-of-work benefits?

    HMG never does anything that doesn’t cost us a fortune.

    Edit: To make sense.

          1. But if they took over the GPO – they’d need tens of thousands more workers. More means worse, you know that.

          2. Do I ? If you are not able to do a better job than production line or factory work you should be happy in the first place you had a job at all. Amazon cracks the whip which makes the business productive. Good Capitalism. There are far too many people sitting around doing next to nothing.

    3. Buy a book of stamps and a month later discover you’ve been signed up to Amazon Prime and the money’s pouring out of your account. No, thank you.

    1. What was the trap? I hope it was poisoned needles.
      Also what i find interesting is they kick an inanimate object as if it is to blame for their life choices.

  87. Four arrested as pro-Palestine protest turns violent outside Bradford kebab shop. 27 February 2024.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a39a4c7108b5748602fb6ecc1b04a462c5ad6d6115424ae9b4d3930c9cf6e91f.jpg

    Salah’s takeaway was accused of selling Coca-Cola under the counter

    A brawl erupted outside a kebab shop after pro-Palestinian protesters stormed the restaurant and allegedly demanded the owner boycott Coca-Cola.

    Footage of the confrontation, at Salah’s takeaway on Leeds Road in Bradford on Friday evening, shows a large group of demonstrators draped in Palestinian flags shouting outside the restaurant.

    You couldn’t make it up!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/26/palestine-protest-arrests-bradford-leeds-cocacola-takeaway/

    4. When we were in Southern Sicily in 2005 aboard Mianda we sailed into a port called Licata. We needed to buy some Camping Gass for our cooking stove but we discovered that you cannot get Camping Gas in Licata because the Mafia won’t allow it and you have to buy the brand they want you to buy.

      While we were in a grocer’s shop a young spiv in dark glasses and a slick mohair suit and aged about 20 drove up onto the pavement in a Ferrari. He walked around the shop taking what he wanted and then went back to his car without paying and drove off.

      Licata should be a wealthy Mediterranean town attracting visitors with money but it is run down and the people are poor. The Mafia seemed to have complete control.

  89. PALESTINE SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN SLAMMED FOR TORY FUNDRAISER ATTACK

    https://order-order.com/2024/02/27/palestine-solidarity-campaign-slammed-for-tory-fundraiser-attack/

    Concerns over whether civil society can function are growing – now serious questions are being asked of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Its director Ben Jamal told MPs in December that “alongside the national marches, we have called for days of action, where people have marched and held protests and vigils in towns and cities across the UK. We have not specifically organised or called for demonstrations outside MPs’ offices“. Then, during Wednesday’s Gaza debate chaos, Jamal told protestors: “We want so many of you to come that they will have to lock the doors of parliament itself” and called for them to “ramp up pressure” on MPs. That pressure has led to protests in increasingly private locations.

    Two days later, Anneliese Dodds was harassed and protestors stormed a Tory fundraiser in Stoke from which MP Aaron Bell had to be warned off arriving by the police. The Stoke Palestine Solidarity Campaign declared itself responsible of the attack, which was led by ex Hizb-ut Tahrir member Tayyib Muqeem. The central Palestine Solidarity Campaign has, on top of this, taken ownership of the Stoke branch. Three arrests have been made so far…

    https://i0.wp.com/order-order.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-27-at-15.21.59.png?w=832&ssl=1

    David Spencer, Head of Crime and Justice at Policy Exchange, now slams the Palestine Solidarity Campaign: “We are now seeing an increase in groups such as the PSC seeking to apply pressure to Members of Parliament. While there may well be qualified rights to freedom of speech and assembly there is no right to harass, abuse or intimidate. Police chiefs must take robust action to protect Parliamentarians and enforce the law. Our democratic settlement is at stake.” Intimidation is a threat to the normal operation of British politics…

    Read the PSC’s celebratory post about the attack below:

  90. PALESTINE SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN SLAMMED FOR TORY FUNDRAISER ATTACK

    https://order-order.com/2024/02/27/palestine-solidarity-campaign-slammed-for-tory-fundraiser-attack/

    Concerns over whether civil society can function are growing – now serious questions are being asked of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Its director Ben Jamal told MPs in December that “alongside the national marches, we have called for days of action, where people have marched and held protests and vigils in towns and cities across the UK. We have not specifically organised or called for demonstrations outside MPs’ offices“. Then, during Wednesday’s Gaza debate chaos, Jamal told protestors: “We want so many of you to come that they will have to lock the doors of parliament itself” and called for them to “ramp up pressure” on MPs. That pressure has led to protests in increasingly private locations.

    Two days later, Anneliese Dodds was harassed and protestors stormed a Tory fundraiser in Stoke from which MP Aaron Bell had to be warned off arriving by the police. The Stoke Palestine Solidarity Campaign declared itself responsible of the attack, which was led by ex Hizb-ut Tahrir member Tayyib Muqeem. The central Palestine Solidarity Campaign has, on top of this, taken ownership of the Stoke branch. Three arrests have been made so far…

    https://i0.wp.com/order-order.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-27-at-15.21.59.png?w=832&ssl=1

    David Spencer, Head of Crime and Justice at Policy Exchange, now slams the Palestine Solidarity Campaign: “We are now seeing an increase in groups such as the PSC seeking to apply pressure to Members of Parliament. While there may well be qualified rights to freedom of speech and assembly there is no right to harass, abuse or intimidate. Police chiefs must take robust action to protect Parliamentarians and enforce the law. Our democratic settlement is at stake.” Intimidation is a threat to the normal operation of British politics…

    Read the PSC’s celebratory post about the attack below:

    3. Pity they’re going to have to fill it in again. Or will it become a nuclear bunker for the chosen ones?

    4. Pity they’re going to have to fill it in again. Or will it become a nuclear bunker for the chosen ones?

  94. https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/f6e67187d777b7d72f21d9317c810c4bd5e1e312/0_0_5732_3882/master/5732.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=9ec3c240f38cc2794229bd2079622c08
    Seoul, South Korea
    Students take part in a commencement ceremony at Ilsung women’s middle and high school. The school has a two-year course open to students aged 40 and older who have not previously received regular education

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a4a58dca04c528fb6f2eb036fd095b203ea2ee4e/0_0_5497_3637/master/5497.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=b6eb2661f391999968699b95bc6ad034
    Warsaw, Poland
    Demonstrators gather in front of the Palace of Culture and Science at a farmers’ protest against EU climate measures and Ukrainian imports

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/cde6fed9cd1e1278dc6a464d2d040d39bc4be5fb/0_0_5985_4000/master/5985.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=2bb19f780f3030c475d8b95d6a019812
    Pontós, Spain
    Tomatoes are taken from trucks as Spanish farmers block the AP7 highway in Catalonia connecting Spain to France with tractors. Farmers and livestock breeders are demanding higher prices to cover production costs, and for non-EU importers to face the same regulations

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c60f236d8278e5c78835ce93e3567e7bcf926f55/0_0_5000_3000/master/5000.jpg?width=980&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=ad5b326a8ed9249b70df59a7078179ba
    London, UK: Self-portrait at the Crossroads Between the Arts of Music and Painting, by Angelica Kauffman, 1794, at the Royal Academy

    2. Could equally well be the Labour Arms. Starmer is turning on the charm offensive in Shropshire. As well as claiming to run a “patriotic economy” as reported yesterday, he’s now telling us Labour is “unrecognisable from 2019”. It’s had a coat of black paint and been tied up with a pinko ribbon, I suppose. It’s still anti-hunting, anti-personal responsibility, pro-mass immigration, fiscally incompetent and pro-big state with high taxes. It still dislikes country people intensely because they are independent and self-reliant.

      1. Starmer is turning on the charm offensive in Shropshire.

        I don’t know how the people of Shropshire feel but I find him far more offensive than charming.

        1. I think an awful lot of people just ignore him. There are the die-hard Labour supporters I suppose and a lot have lost their minds and gone Lib Dem. Cons are keeping their heads down. Lots have people have said to me that there is nobody to vote for.

  97. A smelly Par Four!

    Wordle 983 4/6
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
    🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩
    🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Then my 5 is a stinker.

      Wordle 983 5/6

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

    3. Four here

      Wordle 983 4/6

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

  98. Prevening, all. Labelling criticism as racism is an easy way to shut down debate. It’s what they’ve been doing since at least 1997. You may find lots of typos tonight; I’ve got a plaster on one of my fingers and it isn’t easy to hit the right keys at times.

          1. Excellent. How would you describe your before and after vision improvement, Asking as someone with currently just a growing cataract in one eye.

          2. There is no difference in ordinary vision. I will need new glasses – in about two months.

            The test will be driving at night. Pre-op, I found it almost impossible to drive after dark – and oncoming headlights were a nightmare. I’ll keep you informed.

    2. Good evening.
      And what have you done to yourself? I presume you mean sticking plaster rather than a plaster of Paris cast?

      1. Yes, it’s sticking plaster. I managed to stick a sharp point in it. Bled like a pig, unfortunately.

    1. Is it racist to criticise, Christianity?
      Is it racist to criticise Judaism?
      Is it racist to criticise Buddhism?
      Is it racist to criticise Hinduism? Is it racist to criticise Pantheism or Zoroastrianism?

      We do not have blasphemy laws in the UK and we are free to say what we like about religions so why should Islam say that any criticism of it is racist? There are Christians, Jews and Muslims of assorted races and colours.

      1. They have been trying since the ’70s to get islam protected by blasphemy laws. I thought it was a bad idea then and I’m even more convinced now.

    2. Oh my word so many people in politics have such short and self adjustable memories.
      But back to reality…..
      Tony Blair set about wrecking our country and he’s labour A.D. Or don’t you want to be reminded of that ? His idea of future is the horrendous situation we find our selves in now.

      1. Sorry, his idea of the future is still to be fully achieved, where we are now is merely the launchpad for far far worse to come.

  101. Right – that’s me done for today. Jolly good trip to the tip. For once a helpful bloke there. Usually they go out of their way to be objectionable. Then bought the gold-plated compost. Six 50 litre bags for £40. Two years ago, six 60 litre bags cost £30.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

  102. Right – that’s me done for today. Jolly good trip to the tip. For once a helpful bloke there. Usually they go out of their way to be objectionable. Then bought the gold-plated compost. Six 50 litre bags for £40. Two years ago, six 60 litre bags cost £30.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    1. It was burned down (almost certainly arson) and then “collapsed”. They’ve been told they have to rebuild it. I used to go there with my parents in the fifties.

      1. Poor old boozer. There used to be a jape where you put a marble or a well-balanced coin on the windowledge, and it appeared to roll up hill.

      2. They have a period in which to appeal against the Order to rebuild. If they lose – they’ll go bankrupt to show that they have no funds. Or the appeal will be allowed on the basis that no pub is needed there. Either way – the building will never be restored.

  105. Is this why Birmingham is virtually bankrupt?

    The dashboard is available here: Census 2021

    We have also published a short topic briefing on ethnicity and religion here: Census 2021 Ethnicity and Religion Analysis

    Some of my highlights:

    – You will have seen the news that Birmingham is now a superdiverse city, with 51% of the population being from Black, Asian or other minority ethnic groups. When you compare ethnicity across the core cites, Birmingham’s not only has by far the largest Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic population (51%), but also stands out along with Manchester (43%) and Nottingham (34%) in contrast to the other core cities which still have a large majority White populations. (See page 2 of the dashboard to explore and download the data.)

    – When you compare ethnicity across the West Midlands Combined Authority Area, you can see a high level of diversity across much of the region: Sandwell has the same level of diversity as Manchester (43% Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic pop.) and Wolverhampton is close behind (39%).

    – Birmingham is the ‘most religious’ of all the core cities with 66% of the population professing a religion. The Muslim group in Birmingham is by far the largest of any core city and is now almost the same size (30%) as the Christian group (34%). Liverpool stands out as being particularly Christian (57%).

    – At the regional level, our Sikh population stands out: 3% of Birmingham’s population are of this community, and the figure is 11% for neighbouring Sandwell and 12% for Wolverhampton. If you look at the maps on page 4 of the dashboard, select ‘output area’ and click on a religion or language, you can see in detail where different communities are concentrated. This is important data for many partners planning services, facilities and public engagement.

    – Birmingham’s overall population has grown from 1.07 to 1.14 million people. However, there has been a fall in the population aged 0-4 years, and the largest growth is in the older age categories. (Page 3 of the dashboard gives you the exact numbers). We are also becoming more densely populated per dwelling: the number of people has increased by 6% but the number of households by only 3%.

    – Check out page 5 of the dashboard for detailed information on how people usually travel to work and how far they go (although do note that lockdown measures will have affected answers on this topic). If you select ‘output area’ you can see in fine detail which parts of the city work from home, use trains, and get on their bicycles. At the time of the 2021 Census, the number of people working mainly from home had jumped up to 26%, and the biggest compensating fall has been in the number driving a car or van.

    As usual, the dashboard is a work in progress, and we want your feedback. What functionality is most important to you? What doesn’t work well, what is missing, or wrong, or in your view misleading? What issues and topics would you like to see addressed? And most importantly, what can we do together to enrich and improve the data and make it more valuable and insightful for all of us?

    Please join us on this journey to make the City Observatory a valued and shared resource. We are happy to come and discuss, demonstrate, develop and explore with you. Finally, from myself and all the team at the Birmingham City Observatory, we wish you a peaceful break over Xmas, and a successful and curious new year.

    Author: Richard Brooks https://www.cityobservatory.birmingham.gov.uk/blog/analysis-of-census-2021-data

    1. It’s not the Sikh population that is a major threat to national security or the safety and human rights of decent people in either Birmingham, or any other UK location or any other civilised nation where the savages/moslums have invaded.

    2. I dropped dad off at Birmingham airport today. We went by train from Wolverhampton. We were definitely in the minority on the train and at the airport.

      The toilets at Birmingham airport are “Toilets and wugu” (?) – i looked it up and it’s an area for “ritual cleansing”.

    3. Birmingham if far from multicultural – it is largely mono-cultural, that culture being Islamic.

  106. Is this why Birmingham is virtually bankrupt?

    The dashboard is available here: Census 2021

    We have also published a short topic briefing on ethnicity and religion here: Census 2021 Ethnicity and Religion Analysis

    Some of my highlights:

    – You will have seen the news that Birmingham is now a superdiverse city, with 51% of the population being from Black, Asian or other minority ethnic groups. When you compare ethnicity across the core cites, Birmingham’s not only has by far the largest Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic population (51%), but also stands out along with Manchester (43%) and Nottingham (34%) in contrast to the other core cities which still have a large majority White populations. (See page 2 of the dashboard to explore and download the data.)

    – When you compare ethnicity across the West Midlands Combined Authority Area, you can see a high level of diversity across much of the region: Sandwell has the same level of diversity as Manchester (43% Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic pop.) and Wolverhampton is close behind (39%).

    – Birmingham is the ‘most religious’ of all the core cities with 66% of the population professing a religion. The Muslim group in Birmingham is by far the largest of any core city and is now almost the same size (30%) as the Christian group (34%). Liverpool stands out as being particularly Christian (57%).

    – At the regional level, our Sikh population stands out: 3% of Birmingham’s population are of this community, and the figure is 11% for neighbouring Sandwell and 12% for Wolverhampton. If you look at the maps on page 4 of the dashboard, select ‘output area’ and click on a religion or language, you can see in detail where different communities are concentrated. This is important data for many partners planning services, facilities and public engagement.

    – Birmingham’s overall population has grown from 1.07 to 1.14 million people. However, there has been a fall in the population aged 0-4 years, and the largest growth is in the older age categories. (Page 3 of the dashboard gives you the exact numbers). We are also becoming more densely populated per dwelling: the number of people has increased by 6% but the number of households by only 3%.

    – Check out page 5 of the dashboard for detailed information on how people usually travel to work and how far they go (although do note that lockdown measures will have affected answers on this topic). If you select ‘output area’ you can see in fine detail which parts of the city work from home, use trains, and get on their bicycles. At the time of the 2021 Census, the number of people working mainly from home had jumped up to 26%, and the biggest compensating fall has been in the number driving a car or van.

    As usual, the dashboard is a work in progress, and we want your feedback. What functionality is most important to you? What doesn’t work well, what is missing, or wrong, or in your view misleading? What issues and topics would you like to see addressed? And most importantly, what can we do together to enrich and improve the data and make it more valuable and insightful for all of us?

    Please join us on this journey to make the City Observatory a valued and shared resource. We are happy to come and discuss, demonstrate, develop and explore with you. Finally, from myself and all the team at the Birmingham City Observatory, we wish you a peaceful break over Xmas, and a successful and curious new year.

    Author: Richard Brooks https://www.cityobservatory.birmingham.gov.uk/blog/analysis-of-census-2021-data

  107. UK terror threat has increased due to Hamas’s October 7 attack and Gaza fighting, says watchdog Jonathan Hall as he suggests new police powers to protect MPs

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13131959/UK-terror-threat-increased-Hamas-October-7-attack.html

    I’ve got a better idea.
    Why don’t you blasted MPs pass laws giving more powers to the police and courts to protect the rest of us?
    Start with fast track deportation of illegal immigrants and convicted foreign criminals.
    Harsh corporal punishment and prison for knife wielding thugs
    Longer prison sentences for killers and rapists
    etc etc.

    1. Are you sure they need MORE powers? They don’t use the ones they’ve got (which would keep us safe).

      1. How many deportations are you aware of?
        What corporal punishment takes place?
        How many killers and rapists are freed well before serving what they were sentenced to?

        1. That doesn’t mean they don’t have the powers, they just don’t use them. Back in ’76 two Italians were caught shoplifting in London. Being “duty officer” I had to go up and collect them from Chelsea police station. They were on the train home the next day. We deported them (and we were in the EEC at the time).

          1. I doubt that the current restrictions, HRA and ECHR bits were in place then as they are now.
            We’ve adopted stacks of new rights for criminals since 1976.
            Perhaps repeal of the bits that protect the criminals would be a good idea.

    3. “Jonathan Hall KC warned that militant Islam still poses the biggest risk to the UK, and that the problem had got worse since the October 7 attacks.”

      What are the religious demographics of all the illegal immigrants, as well as those legal ones, that made up the 745,000 net immigration figures of June 2022 to 2023, I wonder.

        2. A future prime minister? Which party would have him if he continues espousing such unpopular views (unpopular with the elite that is).

          Thus little skirmish has made it to the Canadian media. Khan us being positioned as a woke extremist not an Islamic extremist.

    5. Then you have Harriet Harmon demanding that to avoid being hassled by protesters, MPs be able to work from home. They really do think that they are superior.
      Canadian MPs are still able to work remotely, that way Trudeau can avoid appearing before parliament.

      Todays obfuscation. When the village idiot was questioned about the defence funding being way below nato standards, he announced money to establish a gender and diversity working group to promote gender-transformative mine action in Ukraine.

      1. “…gender-transformative mine action …” – transformed into flying mince and hair?

        1. It doesn’t matter if it is a man and woman doing the mine clearing if they end up blowing their bits off when they detonate a bomb.

      1. Or, if they do attempt to use them, they simply become cash cows for the shyster immigration lawyers leeching off the Poor Bloody Txpayer.

  108. Its a funny old world
    All these people going apoplectic because someone said that we have some no go areas in parts of London & Birmingham appear to be the very same people that support 15 minute neighbourhoods and closing off roads to cars, literally making them no go areas.

    1. Ah but that is when the powers that be do it, it is different when the local inhabitants create these ghettos.

    2. I’d like to see a couple of blatantly obvious white pouffs holding hands and walking around Whitechapel near the East London Mosque after dark asking questions of locals about their thoughts on Islamophobia.

  109. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-68402662

    Some very poor English here… “A litre of petrol costs more than three times what it did nine months ago, while the price of the staple food, rice, has more than doubled in the past year.

    Like many nations, Nigeria has experienced economic shocks from beyond its shores in recent years, but there are also issues specific to the country, partly driven by the reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu when he took office last May.

    How bad is the economy?
    Overall, annual inflation, which is the average rate at which prices go up, is now close to 30% – the highest figure in nearly three decades. The cost of food has risen even more – by 35%.

    However, the monthly minimum wage, set by the government and which all employers are supposed to observe, has not changed since 2019, when it was put at 30,000 naira – this is worth just $19 (£15) at current exchange rates.

    Many are going hungry, rationing what food they have or looking for cheaper alternatives.

    In the north, some people are now eating the rice that is normally discarded as part of the milling process. The waste product usually goes into fish food.

    Widely shared social media videos indicate how some are reducing portion sizes.

    One clip shows a woman cutting a fish into nine pieces rather than the average four to five. She is heard saying her goal is to ensure her family can at least eat some fish twice a week.

    What is causing Nigeria’s economic crisis?
    Inflation has soared in many countries, as fuel and other costs spiked as a result of the war in Ukraine.

    But President Tinubu’s efforts to remodel the economy have also added to the burden.

    On the day he was sworn in nine months ago, the new president announced that the long-standing fuel subsidy would be ending.

    This had kept petrol prices low for citizens of this oil-producing nation, but it was also a huge drain on public finances. In the first half of 2023, it accounted for 15% of the budget – more than the government spent on health or education. Mr Tinubu argued that this could be better used elsewhere.

    However, the subsequent huge jump in the price of petrol has caused other prices to rise as companies pass on transportation and energy costs to the consumer.

    One other factor that is pushing up inflation is an issue that Mr Tinubu inherited from his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, according to financial analyst Tilewa Adebajo.

    He told the BBC’s Newsday programme that the previous government had asked the country’s central bank for short-term loans to cover spending amounting to $19bn.

    The bank printed the money, which helped fuel inflation, Mr Adebajo said.

    What has happened to the naira?
    Mr Tinubu also ended the policy of pegging the price of the currency, the naira, to the US dollar rather than leaving it up to the market to determine on the basis of supply and demand. The central bank was spending a lot of money maintaining the level.

    But scrapping the peg has led the naira’s value to plunge by more than two-thirds, briefly hitting an all-time low last week.

    Last May, 10,000 naira would buy $22, now it will only fetch around $6.40.

    As the naira is worth less, the price of all imported products has gone up.

    When will things get better?
    While the president is unlikely to reverse his decisions on the fuel subsidy and the naira, which he argues will pay off in the long run by making Nigeria’s economy stronger, the government has introduced some measures to ease the suffering.

    Nigeria’s Vice-President Kashim Shettima announced the establishment of a board charged with controlling and regulating food prices. The government also ordered the national grain reserve to distribute 42,000 tonnes of grains, including maize and millet.

    This is not the first time the government has said it is distributing aid to poor and vulnerable Nigerians, but labour unions have often criticised the government’s method of food distribution, saying much of it does not reach poor families.

    The government has also said it is working with rice producers to get more of it into markets and customs officials have been instructed to cheaply sell off bags of the grain that they have seized. In a sign of how bad things are, on Friday this led to a crush in the biggest city, Lagos, which killed seven people, local media report. These hand-outs have now been halted.

    The rice was seized under the previous government, which banned imports of rice to encourage local farmers to grow more. That ban was lifted last year in at attempt to bring down the cost but because of the fall in the value of the naira, that has not worked.

    Around 15 million poorer households are also receiving a cash transfer of 25,000 naira ($16; £13) a month, but these days that doesn’t go very far.

      2. Major thrust of the story is how government actions make everything worse. See the para starting “The government has also said…”, three paras from the bottom. What a cock-up!

    2. “What is causing Nigeria’s economic crisis?”

      I shall be logical and jump to the conclusion of corruption.

    3. ‘Fraudster’ with fleet of Rolls-Royces tried to buy Sheffield United
      A businessman who vanished from the UK last month is accused of fleecing investors of millions via a ‘fictional’ mobile phone company claiming to help Nigerian farmers

      A few doors from where Sir Winston Churchill once lived, the grade II-listed property in Pimlico sat empty, with only a pile of bailiff’s letters in the hallway giving a clue as to its former occupants.

      Mmobuosi, 45, who portrayed himself as a billionaire businessman with all the trappings, including a fleet of Rolls-Royces, burly bodyguards and a personal chef, vanished at the start of last month, according to neighbours.

      His disappearance coincided with the US authorities, following an investigation by the FBI, charging Mmobuosi with a brazen billion-dollar fraud.

      accused of “looting” at least £16 million from publicly listed companies
      The allegations revolve around a mobile phone company, Tingo, which Mmobuosi floated on the American stock markets by falsely claiming it was a hugely profitable enterprise helping ten million farmers in west Africa. Fake bank statements, invoices and websites are said to have been used as part of the ruse.

      https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/fraudster-with-fleet-of-rolls-royces-tried-to-buy-sheffield-united-j827pr93c

      A parallel civil action brought by the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) alleges that Tingo Mobile is “a fiction”. “Its purported assets, revenues and expenses, customers and suppliers are virtually entirely fabricated,” the action claims.

      As well as allegedly fleecing investors across the world and “reaping millions of dollars in illicit profits” through illegal share sales, according to the SEC, the Nigerian-born Mmobuosi is accused of “looting” at least £16 million from publicly listed companies to fund his lavish lifestyle.

      SEC investigators allege that he siphoned off at least £6.5 million in an aborted attempt last year to buy Sheffield United, the Premier League football club.

      Hundreds of thousands of pounds were spent on luxury cars and parties at the Dorchester hotel in London’s Park Lane, according to US court papers. Mmobuosi denies wrongdoing.

      Announcing the criminal indictment against Mmobuosi in New York last month, James Smith, an FBI assistant director, described the alleged fraud as “an unseemly display of greed and corruption of our financial markets”.

      Mmobuosi, a married father of three, appointed Christopher Cleverly, a British barrister and cousin of James Cleverly, the home secretary, as a key business executive.

      However, the lawyer appeared to indicate that he, too, may be a victim of the alleged fraud. “My contracts were never honoured and I’m still owed over a million dollars in salary and out-of-pocket expenses,” he said.

      If Mmobuosi is still living in Britain and is extradited to stand trial in the US — where he faces up to 45 years in jail — James Cleverly would potentially have to sign off the order to have him transferred to America.”

      Helping “hero” farmers

      Mmobuosi, whose real name is Odogwu Banye Mmobuosi, claims to have set up Tingo Mobile in the early 2000s, with the aim of helping farmers in rural Nigeria to maximise their yields and profits.

      By 2019, when the US authorities allege his fraud took off, Mmobuosi was stating that he had leased smartphones for a small fee to millions of customers, providing them with easy access to banking facilities, weather reports and other useful apps.

      The SEC’s civil claim says: “Mmobuosi created fake financial statements and forged supporting material to falsely portray Tingo Mobile as a thriving and profitable enterprise with hundreds of millions of annual revenue … In reality, throughout 2019, the company had no meaningful operations or customers and about $15 in its bank account.”

      It is around this time that Mmobuosi is thought to have settled in the UK, living at first in a futuristic new-build mansion in Hertfordshire, before later moving to Eccleston Square with his British wife, Oluwatosin, 38, and their three young children. Both landlords claim that he owed tens of thousands of pounds in unpaid rent after he left their properties.

      In August 2021, Mmobuosi put Tingo Mobile into a US-based private holding company, Tingo International Holdings (TIH), and engineered its sale in an all-stock reverse merger to a publicly listed company called Tingo Inc, later renamed as Agri-Fintech Holdings.

      Cleverly, 56, whose expertise as a barrister includes white-collar fraud, was appointed president of both TIH and Tingo Inc around this time. He was later granted about 11.5 million shares in total, which were worth about £12 million at one point.

      In December 2022, Agri-Fintech sold Tingo Mobile once again, to the Nasdaq-listed Tingo Group. “Each merger valued Tingo Mobile at more than $1 billion,” according to the SEC claim.

      With such a high valuation, Mmobuosi and Cleverly found themselves as cover stars of a Forbes Africa supplement. Last year, Cleverly extolled the work of Tingo Mobile with farmers in an interview at the Davos economic forum. “For us, the farmer is the hero of the story,” he said.

      Lavish spending spree
      Financial investigators at the SEC allege that Mmobuosi later “replicated” the Tingo Mobile fraud with another company, Tingo Foods, a purported food processing operation in Nigeria which was concocted “from thin air”. It was sold to the US-listed Tingo Group for $200 million last year.

      Not content with cashing in on $200 million worth of falsely inflated shares, Mmobuosi is alleged to have “looted” the public companies to fund his opulent tastes.

      US court papers reveal that large sums were transferred, via intermediaries, from an account used by the Tingo Group to an account in Mmobuosi’s name at the London branch of EFG, a Swiss private bank. For example, on December 21, 2022, $10 million left the Tingo Group account and $9.5 million was deposited in the EFG account.

      A day later, Mmobuosi allegedly transferred $7.83 million (£6.5 million) from the EFG account to United World Holding Ltd, the Saudi-backed owner of Sheffield United. At the time, Mmobuosi was being touted as a potential saviour for the then Championship side and was linked to a £115 million takeover bid.

      Media reports described Mmobuosi as an “African tycoon” who had pumped £6.5 million into the financially stricken club as “a deposit” to help them avoid administration before Christmas 2022. However, the sale later collapsed amid requests from the English Football League for further information about Mmobuosi’s finances.

      The US court filings show that payments of £343,000 and £378,000 were made from the EFG account in 2022 to HR Owen, the luxury car dealership.

      Although it is not known what cars may have been bought, residents of Eccleston Square say Mmobuosi had access to three Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUVs, a Rolls-Royce saloon and a Mercedes G-Class 4×4, nicknamed a G-Wagon.

      “They would have their engines running day and night and he would simply pay daily parking fines for each vehicle,” one resident said last week.

      The court documents also disclose transfers of $1.3 million in October 2022 from the EFG account to Omni-Blu Aviation, “a private helicopter and charter service company” that runs direct plane flights from London to Lagos, the largest city in Nigeria.

      Between May 2022 and February last year almost £800,000 was paid to the five-star Dorchester hotel. Media reports show that during that period Mmobuosi used the venue to throw a gala dinner and dance to launch a philanthropic foundation in his name. Guests performing at the event included the rappers Akon and D’Banj. The foundation’s website now appears to be suspended.

      Mmobuosi also used the Dorchester to hold talks with Prince Abdullah bin Musaid al-Saud, the owner of Sheffield United.

      Wanted by America
      Things began to unravel for Mmobuosi in June last year after Hindenburg Research, a New York-based investment firm, investigated the Tingo operation and described it as an “exceptionally obvious scam”.

      It could not find any farmers in Nigeria using Tingo-issued phones and discovered only a handful of staff at its office in Lagos, which had been served with a “notice of non-compliance” by local tax authorities.

      On December 18 the SEC, which is being assisted by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, filed its civil complaint against Mmobuosi, Tingo Group, Agri-Fintech Holdings and Tingo International Holdings after suspending trading in company shares.

      The SEC is seeking to ban Mmobuosi as a director or officer of a public company and to make him hand back profits from any illegal conduct, known as “the disgorgement of ill-gotten gains”. A court summons has been sent by SEC investigators to the Eccleston Square address.

      Separate criminal charges of securities fraud, making false filings with the SEC and conspiracy were unveiled against Mmobuosi at a Manhattan courthouse on January 2. Prosecutors described the businessman on that date as being “still at large”.

      Last week it was unclear where Mmobuosi is living. Some of his Pimlico neighbours believe he has moved his family to Windsor.

      However, a few days ago he popped up in Nigeria to launch a food processing plant, which he claimed in a local newspaper would create 12,000 jobs. Mmobuosi and Tingo Group deny all the allegations. He did not respond to a request for comment by The Sunday Times.

      However, in a statement issued to the African press last month, Mmobuosi said: “I wish to make it unequivocally clear that these allegations are unfounded and we are preparing to contest them to the full extent of our capacity.”

      He added: “I am resident in the United Kingdom and cannot be said to be at large.”

      Cleverly said he resigned from the network of companies in December, soon after the SEC filed its civil complaint. He said he had previously given his Tingo shares to a charity helping victims of slavery. “It’s a great shame now if they have no value,” he said.

      He said he was never involved in the “day-to-day” running of Tingo’s operations, and that he had made clear he would not give any legal advice or do any work that could be construed as the work of a lawyer because to do so would contravene the Bar Council’s code of conduct.

      He said he had not been asked to make a statement to any financial investigators or regulators.

      Cleverly said he was grateful to The Sunday Times for flagging up a website, tingomobile.com.ng, that identifies him as Tingo Mobile’s “chief of staff”. He said he had never been offered or held such a position: “The website that you have sent me is fake or created for some heaven-knows-what nefarious reason.”

      He said he had been convinced of Tingo’s bona fides in part by the involvement of senior Nigerian politicians, including Goodluck Jonathan, the former president. He said the comments he made at Davos were based on public filings and audits completed by independent accountants, including Deloitte.

      “It is terrible that so many people have been left in a bad position over this and that an opportunity to build something great has been missed,” Cleverly said.

      “But people should not give up on Africa just because of this and I know that some very good people are working hard right now to restore the companies involved and value to the shareholders.”

      O Deane
      2 DAYS AGO

      I have to say it gets tiresome reading how it’s the Americans who are the ones who are policing our citizens. Where the hell were the UK police on this? Why are they not stopping this? Who else is here doing the same thing that the UK police are doing nothing about.

      The UK is turning into rubbish

      Reply

      Recommend (73)

      Nick Leason
      2 DAYS AGO

      Chris Cleverly adjusts his resume to fit his needs. He has a history of failed businesses across Africa and yet because of his ‘network’ continues to be trusted. Both Mmobuosi and Cleverly purported to provide counsel to Malawi for the recent COP28 but only used the access their diplomatic status provided for their own benefit. Unfortunately another story of wealthy individuals trying to further personal interest at the cost of the most needy.

      Reply

      Recommend (39)

      Share

  111. A point to ponder.
    Diverse Labour MPs are making great political capital by screeching about the supposed “ISLAMOPHOBIA!!!” of Lee Anderson and other Tory (INO) MPs.
    But who remembers when that party and their supporters howled down as “RACIST!!!!” anyone trying to bring the Pakistani Muslim Rape Gangs of first Rotherham, then Rochdale and then half the bloody country to to National Attention?
    This stinks of the same tactic.

  113. Horrendous, the poor bastards:
    .
    S.S. R.P. Resor.

    Complement:
    50 (48 dead and 2 survivors).
    105,025 barrels of Bunker C fuel oil

    At 06.36 hours on 27th February 1942 the unescorted R.P. Resor (Master Frederick Marcus) was hit by one torpedo from U-578 (Ernst-August Rehwinkel) about 20 miles east of Manasquan Inlet, New Jersey, while steaming blacked out on a zigzag course at 12.5 knots. The torpedo struck on the port side just forward of amidships and blew oil over the entire length of the ship and into the water. The oil ignited and flames rapidly spread 500 feet around the tanker as the eight officers, 33 crewmen and nine armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in gun) tried to abandon ship. One boat with about 30 occupants was launched successfully but was soon engulfed in flames, other men perished as they tried to swim through the oil. One crewman and one armed guard were picked up by the picket boat USCGC CG-4344 and landed at the Manasquan US Coast Guard station.
    The burning tanker stayed afloat until the tug USS Sagamore (AT 20) attempted to salvage her. She capsized after the stern grounded in 122 feet of water and sank almost 48 hours after the torpedo hit about 31 miles east of Barnegat, New Jersey.

    Type VIIC U-Boat U-578 has been missing since 6th August 1942 in the Bay of Biscay. No explanation exists for its loss. 49 dead (all hands lost).

    https://uboat.net/media/allies/merchants/am/r_p_resor.jpg

    3. It always surprises me how small some of these boats were. Even without the war, crossing the Atlantic during a storm must have been a frightening experience.

        2. I’m not sure ‘Are Allowed’ really enters into it.
          It’s a dead dog allowed or otherwise.

  121. “Monica Lewinsky makes modelling debut with campaign to encourage voting in US election” – DT. She might do better promoting cigars. Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet… although I dont think the brand mattered to Bill…

    2. Hey, Conway! Nice to see you. Decided to look you up cause it’s been a minute since you threw down some music with us. I hope you are well.

  124. 383978+ up ticks,

    Pillow ponder,

    They are at it again,

    The brexit party = the reform party= the in name only tory party.

    Lee Anderson meets with Richard Tice amid talk of defection to Reform
    Former Tory deputy chairman says he should have been even more critical of Sadiq Khan’s links with Just Stop Oil and Black Lives Matter

    By the by
    .
    The Reichstag Fire. On February 27, 1933,things are most certainly hotting up currently, it is so reminiscent of many yesterdays ago….

Comments are closed.