Tuesday 28 January: The Foreign Office gave inept coronavirus advice to Britons in China

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/01/28/lettersthe-foreign-office-gave-inept-coronavirus-advice-britons/

729 thoughts on “Tuesday 28 January: The Foreign Office gave inept coronavirus advice to Britons in China”

    1. Good evening, John! Nice to see you at this time again. By the way, did you ever read/finish Greg Iles book ‘Cemetery Road’ if so, what did you think of it? Btw, I’m always nice!!

      1. Hi Jill, nice to see you too! I think I forgot to get it – after I’d re-read the Penn Cage series. Will rectify – he’s a good writer. Hope you and Jack are well.

        1. Sorry I didn’t get back to you last night, was side tracked! We are both well and staying clear of coughs, sneezes and diseases! (Now I’ve provoked the gods!) Hope all is well with you too.

    2. Sales of books and music. There was a rumour that he was given a modest sum, (raised by city grandees) for entertaining etc when he first became party leader.

  4. ‘Morning All
    The coffin lid creaks open (briefly) and a confused Rik returns to NTTL,who the hell are all you people??
    Never mind,I’ll work it all out in time……………
    Meanwhile,funny old world,a few years ago I was very reassured by a documentary about virus mapping (university lab??) that put forward the proposition the fear of the grand pandemics were in the past,
    Advances in the accuracy and speed in mapping of attachment and binding sites of a new virus were so fast a vaccine could be started in production in days
    Needless to say I can find no trace of the documentary when I search today……………..
    We have a number of sci/fi fans here I know and one of the joys of the genre is that as much as we can enjoy a Grand Space Opera based on Unobtainium a lot of books have a very solid science aspect………………
    “Basement bootleg gene splicing labs”
    “Dual expression viruses” (what you mean like a combination of a high Ro rhinovirus for maximum spread with a viral pneumonia for lethality??)
    Cough Bat Sars and Wu Han pnemonia cough
    Under a Graveyard Sky John Ringo.best Zombie Apocalypse ever

    1. Good morning, Rik.

      I hope you are feeling better.

      Some of the chums have changed their avatars.
      The down voters have been identified!
      Many have lost their up votes.
      Uncle Bill has not been persuaded to return.
      We have been inundated by luscious young
      girlies looking for lurve with kind gentlemen!!
      The Site has been closed twice, once by The Boss
      and once by me.
      Quite a number have had and still are suffering
      with the lurgy.
      Apart from those everything is okey-dokey pops!

      It is nice to see you back here!

    3. ‘Morning, Rik, you just keep coffin dodging old troop. We need all the help we can get.

      Good to see you back.

    5. Morning Rik! Welcome back. Hope you’re feeling better. Some new IDs have already been and gone quite swiftly. Some are easy to identify by the same old mantra…groan!

    6. Welcome back Rik, you’ve been missed along with those amusing cats/dogs postings at the end of the day.

    9. Good to see you back again, Rik. I’m afraid I haven’t a clue about what you have just posted – Ringo excepted – but I am looking forward to seeing more of your evening cat videos.

    3. Talking of J H-B: here’s her a Spekkie article.

      https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2020/01/the-deranged-rage-against-the-brexit-50p-coin/

      “The deranged rage against the Brexit 50p coin | Coffee House

      Remoaners are having the mother of all meltdowns. What’s rankled them this time? The Brexit 50p, of course. Yes, they’re now raging against a coin. I’m genuinely starting to worry about these people.

      To clarify, I’m not talking about Remain voters. There were 16.1m of those and the vast majority of them are perfectly normal people who understand how democracy works. They aren’t having sleepless nights about the new 50p, released to mark the UK’s departure from the EU.

      No, I mean hardcore Remainers, the FBPE people, the folks who think Brexit is literally the worst thing that’s ever happened to Blightly. I mean the kind of people who think that after Friday – Brexit Day – the UK will become a Cormac McCarthy-style dystopia bereft of Camambert but awash with chlorinated chicken from the Great Satan that is America. It’s those people who have gone doolally over a coin. Of course it is.

      No sooner had Sajid Javid unveiled the rather pretty new 50p than the Brexitphobes were having public emotional meltdowns. ‘I am never using or accepting this coin’, declared Lord Adonis, conjuring up a hilarious image of the peer turning his nose up at bemused cashiers just trying to hand him his change.

      ‘This coin is not legal tender to me’, declared one of Adonis’s online followers, rather summing up the blind arrogance of the Remoaner set. I guess it follows that if you think you have the right to overthrow the largest democratic vote in UK history, you’ll also think you can decree what is and isn’t money.

      Alastair Campbell also won’t be touching the new 50p. Instead he’ll ask shopkeepers for ‘two 20p pieces and a 10’. These people seem to view a commemorative coin as positively toxic, liable to pollute their souls should their decent, delicate hands ever come into contact with it.

      Professor Tanja Bueltmann, founder of the EU Citizens’ Champion campaign, invests the coin with the power to rip society apart. The coin is ‘pure populism’, she says. It will ‘divide [us] further’. Others have vowed to remove the coin from circulation, or write ‘I love EU’ on it with permanent marker.

      There’s a medieval streak to this deranged fear of an inanimate object. Some see the coin almost as the embodiment of evil, hence they fear it and dread it and promise not to touch it. And they say Brexiteers are simple-minded folk!

      Then there’s writer Philip Pullman. He’s calling for a boycott of the coin because, get this, it is ‘illiterate’. It’s missing an Oxford comma, apparently. The coin says ‘Peace, Prosperity and Friendship with all nations’, and Pullman, being so much clever than everyone else, especially Brexit oiks, reckons there should be a comma after ‘prosperity’. The coin should be ‘boycotted by all literate people’, he says. And there we have it. The real driving force behind the surreal coinphobia that has seized the Remoaner lobby. Once again, this is all about demonstrating intellectual and moral superiority. It’s about making a big, fat advertisement of how much more grammatically clued-up and morally virtuous you are than the dim hordes who will be exchanging these evil coins for bag of crisps and other fare without giving a second thought to the fact that this foul unit of currency is literally dividing our society.

      The self-congratulatory sniffiness about the coin’s absent Oxford comma sums up hardcore Remainerism. Often being a Remainer isn’t really about being pro-EU (I didn’t see many people waving the EU flag or banging on about the brilliance of Brussels before the vote for Brexit). No, it is about distinguishing yourself from the masses – from the kind of people who read tabloid newspapers, like Nigel Farage, voted for Boris, and think that the laws British people are expected to live by should be made in, you know, Britain.

      Remainerism is not a political ideology so much as a cultural identity. It is a mechanism for moral distinction. It is a means of distancing oneself from the problematic little people and from populism — which, as the Oxford English Dictionary reminds us, merely means ‘policies or principles… which seek to represent the interests of ordinary people’. Well, we can’t have that, can we?

      This is what lies behind the mad 50p meltdown. They sneer at this coin, and promise not to handle it, and mock its alleged grammatical shortcomings, all as part of their need to show that they are wiser and better than us.

      This could be the last hurrah of the Remainer identity of moral and intellectual distinction. Indeed, this might be why so many people sound so unhinged right now — they’re no doubt deeply worried about how they will continue to lord it over the rest of us after Friday, when our leaving of the EU finally renders this identity null and void. Screaming at a 50p coin and throwing it in the bin — it’s a rather fitting and suitably tragi-comic image of what has become of Remainer elitism.

      2. Good morning, Anne

        Did you see my comments on this site and the thread last night about the Oxford comma and Philip Pullman?

        1. No, Richard, I didn’t. No offence, but nor did I wish to. I am seriously considering stationing myself by my local supermarket’s tills and collecting unwanted new 50p pieces from hard-core Remainers and Oxford comma pedants.

          1. Are you going to the posh one – Waitrose, if you can brave the traffic jams – while I’ll be common and do Aldi and Lidl.

          2. I seldom visit Waitrose – currently traffic jams make it unwise despite Peddy swearing by it. I tend to use Aldi and the occasional trip to Sainsbury’s to get items Aldi doesn’t stock. I find Lidl too large, and usually short of cashiers, Annie.

  6. Morning, all!
    Could you not sleep? Or is the new nttl page worth staying up all night for?
    (Correct answer: Yes. Thanks, Geoff!)

  7. Let’s face it – English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.

    English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.

    We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

    And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

    If teachers taught, why don’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetable, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?
    How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

    English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are on, they are invisible.

    PS. – Why doesn’t ‘Buick’ rhyme with ‘quick’?

      1. I’m afraid that little homily didn’t mention parliament so your mis-spelling to include a liar in parliament is a bit wide of the topic.

        1. NtN,
          AS with no morning greeting from you, still it was just my additive surely one is allowed that,no ?

      1. ‘Morning, Tim, it wasn’t even the French that the Norsemen beat the crap out of – they were Franks who went away and sulked and became the French we know today after co-habiting with the Gauls.

        I have passed through these guys on my family tree journey from Egil, King in Sweden – Uppsala born 530, through Bill the Bastard (who was also the 7th Duke of Normandy) a further 7 Kings and one Queen (Matilda) mostly Plantagenets, until the coats of arms and titles were lost in 1651 when Sir Timothy Fetherstonhaugh (Fanshaw) was beheaded by the Cromwellians who caught him in Chesterfield. Descending down the tree, it passes through naval families to the present day where I am a Great-grandfather of the 50th Generation.

          1. I’m happy to say that all that I’ve posted above (I read by oldest first to get a chronological thread) was on my Mama’s side.

            My Father’s side, good old peasant stock is descended from a Lincolnshire Allen Hxxx in Frieston and born in 1580. Hardly an immigrunt.

        2. “The tree then descends down”? I thought it grew up. Only in the English language. (But that is the very point that you were making in your earlier post, isn’t it, NtN?)

          :-))

        3. “The tree then descends down”? I thought it grew up. Only in the English language. (But that is the very point that you were making in your earlier post, isn’t it, NtN?)

          :-))

    3. ‘Afternoon, Nanners.

      The writer is talking Americanese. Draw whatever conclusion from that, that you will.

  9. Good morning thinkers

    I didn’t sleep very well last night .. I guess there was too much to think about ..

    There is no other way to say this , but the Germans slaughtered the magnificent brain power that enhanced civilisation in Europe, only to replace them less than 75 years later by inviting millions people in to Europe who have not contributed anything but murder and strife and hate .

    1. ‘Morning, Mags, in the light of what we talked about yesterday, I empathise over your inability to sleep with all the thoughts churning through one’s head.

    2. And with the treatment of our confused, disturbed and manipulated children who are being encouraged to pretend to change sex/gender, we are undertaking experiments that Mengele would approve of.

      1. Had we caught him,he would have been hanged in the blink of an eye. Now we have a “medical ethics committee” that permits horrors.

    3. Very true. What did we do about these things? We watched, we permitted, we condoned.

    5. Good morning Belle, and other Nottlers.
      Sorry, but I beg to differ. Anti-semitism is simple to comprehend, but the inevitability of WWII was partially determined by events after the Armistice, eg at Versailles and Trianon.

    6. My dog got me up at 02.45 this morning and I couldn’t get back to sleep. Head too full of thoughts churning around.

  10. Another day,another revelation of the Pakiderm in the room

    “VILE GANG

    Police Scotland took down large-scale asylum seeker grooming gang in Glasgow – but kept it secret”

    https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/5215881/police-scotland-glasgow-grooming-gang-secret/

    Goes with this

    5 bloody years and yes that’s Lord Ahmed currently on child rape charges

    https://twitter.com/kwilliam111/status/1219654676230156288
    5 bloody years countless rape victims dozens of pimps convicted and yet……………
    Not one customer convicted,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
    Meanwhile
    Not One Police Officer
    Not One Social Worker
    Not One Councillor
    Have faced charges for their part in enabling this vast scandal,not One Lost Job,Not One Lost Pension across the whole country
    You have to ask what they all have in Common don’t you??
    Common Purpose that is,the poison that even the likes of Alison Pearson and Sherrele Jacobs dare not name in their articles,this cancer runs very deep

    2. The secrecy is nothing to do with the fact that a Minister in the Scottish Government is a muslim with a Pakistani father, and is currently Justice Minister?
      Any convictions? Apparently not. I supposes we do have to consider social cohesion and the sensitivities of certain “communities”.
      The mention of Barnardo’s does suggest that this gang may have followed standard procedures by targeting girls in care.
      Will we ever know the full story as in “Justice must be seen to be done”?

      1. Meanwhile, Sajid Javid is accused on the BBC of being a “Coconut” by someone of ethic minority who thinks he owes a duty to those of similar origins to him ……I suggest this is better than any other award he might have gotten because it shows he is, so far as “they”a are concerned, acting without reference to his origins, impartial as it were and should be…. let’s hope a few others can act to the same standard and not rely on their ethnicity as a get out of jail free card.

    3. They missed that bit about justice not only being done, but being seen to be done that is at the heart of our system of law?

  11. You can see there is no free press when every front page headline is about Prince Andrew as it is today. Totaly co-ordinated.

    2. Can’t find anything to write about Johnny! Vlad, Russia and Novichok have been displaced by China. An attempt to steal the Domesday Book in Salisbury has been attributed to a local thug and not the KGB. A plane in Afghanistan was brought down but not by the Taliban the Americans say. Not a word that large numbers of Americans have reported to their ophthalmologists after attempting to claw their own eyes out rather than watch the Trump Impeachment trial. Whatever next?

  12. Move reporters in and out of contamination zones……………..
    “Explain the concept of infectivity during incubation periods”
    What could possibly go wrong………………

    1. Have you not heard of the five second rule, whereby toast landing face down on the ground is uncontaminated providing it is picked up soon enough? Those reporters were surely not long enough there to be infected.

    2. Morning Rik,
      Good to sea yer,
      As with accepting imports on a daily basis from across the channel.

  13. Consistent with the advice to stay inside a burning building or on the back seat of a broken-down car stranded in the live lane of a “smart” motorway awaiting the rear-end shunt from a dozing lorry driver.

      1. “A f*cking crayon”; that would tie in nicely with the comment above about the Norwegian artist/mathematician.
        (work it out)

      2. A couple of ex-ministers are bleating that they didn’t really understand what they were approving.
        The civil service are really the enemy within. The death watch beetle of Britain.

  14. Apropos of nothing-at-all, today is the 60th Anniversary of the day I joined the Royal Air Force as a 15 ½ year old Boy Entrant at RAF Cosford.

    A lot has happened since then!

          3. We corresponded briefly about 4 or maybe 5 years ago but I had a different email address and screen name then – Brat91.

    2. Thank you Nanners and those posting below for your service.
      As an Army type, I am reminded of this that appears in the funnies every time the military is in the news…

      ARMY OFFICIAL VOICEMAIL MESSAGE

      Thank you for calling the British Army. I’m sorry, but all of our units are out at the moment, or are otherwise engaged. Please leave a message with your country, name of organisation, the region, the specifics of the crisis and a number at which we can call you. As soon as we have sorted out the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, the Millennium Bug, marching up and down bits of tarmac in London and compulsory Equal Opportunities training we will return your call.

      Please speak after the tone, or if you require more options, please listen to the following:

      If your crisis is small and close to the sea, Press 1 for Royal Marines.

      If your concern is distant, with tropical climate and good hotels, and can be solved by 1 or 2 low risk bombing runs, please Press ‘hash’ for the Royal Air Force. (Please note that this service is not available after 1630hrs or at the weekend).

      1. Yes, I like it Stormy but we also served 24/7/365 and I confess to being being very fearful in October 1962 – the Cuba Crisis.

        Every aircraft, fully serviceable or not, including the Trainer, was marshalled on the ARP at the end of the runway, on telescramble, able to go at a moment’s notice.

        Not a lot of people are aware that at the time, the Thor Missiles at North Luffenham were down to two minutes readiness and, like all missiles, had no recall function (if we could stop ’em so could the enemy). That’s how close we were to a nuclear WWIII – two minutes. Small wonder I’ve never given credence to the EU and its rantings – they don’t know they’re born.

        1. I met MB just before all that erupted. It rather passed me by as I had other things on my mind. I did vaguely wonder why everybody was so upset.

        2. Only joking Nanners, although on the few occasions I worked with the RAF, I found their accommodation, food and general operating conditions much favourable to the Army’s.
          Mind there was also generally a higher intellect and standard of behaviour in the boys and girls in blue than in thosé in khaki so I suppose you gets what you sows.

    4. What would you expect from a nation that buries a shark for a few months until it’s rotten and stinks, and then eat the smelly stuff? Nice to see you back.

      1. I think, Stormy, that what he’s doing requires him to be very hole(y).

        Dirty little beastie.

    7. I though the point of having a sovereign wealth fund was so that the oil money wouldn’t be wasted on carp like this. (The Dutch had let the natural gas money go to their collective head, and subsidised rubbish like this in the name of art. Learn from history, etc.)

    1. When I was but a young lad she was Boadicea as the statue on the corner of Westminster Bridge says. Did someone find a tape recording of her calling herself Boudicca? Or is it an affectation.

      3. Some years ago, I came up with the term Boudiccology which I defined as “The instantaneous adaption of a revised version of a historic name while pretending that they have always been familiar with the historic term ( Peking/Beijing etc).

        The Boudiccoligist will adapt the new term with great enthusiasm and use it with a frequency which suggests that: “Well, I’ve always used that version myself…”

        Yes, it’s an affectation.

        I did send it into Radio Four’s Word Of Mouth programme, but had no reply.

    2. Good Morning Mr Viking .

      Hmm, looks a bit girly for a brutal iron age warrior woman
      does Bouddica and she lost against the Romans.
      The Saxon Queen defeated both Vikings and the treacherous
      Welsh. Where is my cloud ? 🙂

  19. Morning Each,
    May one ask, will the huawei 5g mob be a safe pair of hands regarding our future security as a nation ?
    My advice to boris on the Chinese issue is kick 5G into
    touch, ( even with extra mushrooms) and welcome the return of this countries fishing fleet, win double.
    Still, leave it with boris and “hope” he does the right thing as with the Brexitexit final reckoning.
    As in June 2016 the cry went up victory is ours, leave it to the tory’s, four years later………

  20. Listening to Iain Dale on LBC last night, I realised there is a fundamental dishonesty – an inversion of the truth – in the media’s discussions re. the rise of antisemitism (on Holocaust memorial day). There the LBC reporter linked a strong association of the rise in antisemitism with the rise in populism in Europe and the US. Iain Dale didn’t raise a peep against the proposition. But it seems to me that the source of the rise in antisemitism is the rise in the muslim population** (and those who seek their votes). Populism is usually a reaction AGAINST this.

    It reminds me of a large EU study published about 15 years ago on the rise physical attacks against Jews. The Press/Executive summary at the front of the doc linked it to the rise of the ‘Far-Right’. However, in the report the data showed that over 90% of the attacks were by muslims.

    The dishonesty of our media and the failure of our political elites to at least speak the truth appals me.

    ** A very good novel where this features is Mark Helprin – ‘Paris In The Present Tense’.

    1. LD,
      The failure ( treachery) by the
      in-house politicians still receives support / votes time & again.
      We seem to be in the crime pays era.

    2. There are almost daily attacks on Jews and synagogues by Muslims in France.

      Europe will become a caliphate unless the politicians wake up to the danger that confronts all of us us by this desecration of Jewish places of worship.

      2. Churches are also being attacked, and they are also attacking Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists worldwide, as well as other faiths and those whom they consider apostate within their own creed.

        Some places they are going for the Muslims, such as in China and Burma, and others are beginning to discriminate while not going as far as open persecution, such as Hungary and India. I leave it to others to work out the justice of this.

        Whilst I recognise and respect Holocaust Remembrance as one of several Jewish festivals of attempted annihilation and triumph over their enemies, I think it is a pity that Jews exclusively claim they are the only people ever to be persecuted unjustly. Rather, it is a nasty side of human nature that goes right back to Cain and Abel, and no doubt back to the time when human chimps liked to tear monkeys apart for sport.

        I would prefer Holocaust Remembrance at a secular level (and the UK is a secular nation) to be included in those two festivals in November where we British commemorate both the Armistice after the War to End All Wars and the defeat of the insurgent who attempted to blow up democracy in 1605. The message carried by the poppies “never again” equally applies to the atrocities of WW2, and not least the Holocaust itself.

        1. “It is a pity that Jews exclusively claim that they are the only people’s ever to be persecuted unjustly”

          Indeed, and Britain has its own dark history on persecution, vide Catholics and ‘witches’ in the C16 and C17.

          2. There is also an utter gulf between trying to compare those deaths back then with what we have seen in the past century. I wasn’t sure of the actual numbers of witches killed in this country, but I’ve just looked them up:

            “It is estimated that less than 500 people were executed in England for witchcraft between 1566 and 1684 and that just six were put to death between 1066 and 1560. Of these six, only one is confirmed as having been burned at the stake, this being Margery Jordemaine on 27 October1441.”

            That is 500 people in 118 years, which is around 4 people per year. It has been estimated, depending upon which University and other studies that you use for reference, that those on the far-left of politics (Stalin, Mao, and so on) murdered, starved or caused the deaths of 100 million people in the last 10 decades. That is a million lost souls a year compared to 4 witches a year.

            It does illustrate that if you want mass murder on an industrial scale, the Marxists, Socialists and Communists are the people to do it for you.

            (For the witches figures:)
            http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/witchcraft.html

        2. Read any good books lately ? One about Roman Catholicism, maybe ? Something about Jews and Unbelievers ?
          There have been many atrocities around the world. The Holocaust was just down the road. And it was a big one. It could easily have extended to here. Saying ( like Horace Pendleton ) ” I’m sick of hearing about the Holocaust.What about the Armenian Genocide, then ? ” is not in any way antisemitic, but it is shockingly bad thinking.

      4. A Europe which, unless there is some decisive change in official attitudes, will include Great Britain.

    1. I have never seen so many people happy to be losing their jobs.
      Boris, you had better deliver.

      1. Yes, Boris HAD better deliver.

        For many people, the jury’s still out on the man and any attempt to dupe us or sell us up the river won’t work out well.

        As for the Brexit MEPs, their talents should not go to waste as we begin cutting the ties that bind.

          2. He comes across as a sound lad. In fact, having watched the BrexBox videos, most of his colleagues come across as genuine characters.

          5. There is a difference between someone who is pedantic and someone who corrects factual (if unintentional) mistakes, P-T.

        2. Morning E,
          May one ask at this very,very late date what will one do if the “hope” in boris turns fickle ?

          8. Very littl chance of that as most do not know their MP’s name let alone recognize them

          9. One thousand upvotes, Tony. Already the general public seem to be criticising Boris because he is not devoting all his energies to:
            Protecting our fishermen
            Cancelling HS2
            Finalising a deal with Trump
            Prosecuting all Muslim rapists
            Sorting the illegal immigrants
            etc, etc, etc.

            Do people not realise that he has thousands of priorities and is making small but significant progress on many of them?

          10. This reminds me of Blair’s order ‘I want at least one positive action Identified with me personally each day’. If Bojo has selected competent ministers, they should carry out policy, not him. Of course that is a big IF…

          11. And is pursuing the Huawei deal despite the damage it may do both to our security and to a UK/US trade deal which we really need to close quickly so we can really stick it to the EU.
            Even his one time admirer James Delingpole is now very cautious about what we can expect of Boris.
            Now is when we really need a strong sane and electable opposition to hold him to account. What we have is the Labour party in China Syndrome mode and digging their hole even deeper. It may be a decade or more before we have the necessary counterbalance to the Boris Government and in that time he can pretty much do what he wants.

            It is no good relying on the ERG or 1922 committee, both have proved wet blankets in the Cameron, May and first Boris governments.

          13. With the judgement, upon conviction, being castration – and not the chemical kind – without anaesthetic.

          14. 1. Nothing is better than God
            2. Half a loaf is better than nothing
            3. Ergo: half a loaf is better than God.

            This is a well-known fallacious argument.

            Just as it might prove to be a fallacious argument that Boris’s ‘fantastic deal’ is better than nothing if it proves to be BRINO and not a proper Brexit at all.

            As far as I am concerned the jury is still out and we shall have to see..

          15. That reminds me of the chap who asked for a packet of Nothing in the chemist’s, only to be met by a blank look.

            “I’ve got a headache and the telly tells me that Nothing acts faster than Anadin.”

          16. I will be celebrating with a glass or two on Friday come what may….it’s taken me 45 years.

          17. I’ve been celebrating the prospect all week – I suspect I shall be drowning my sorrows on Friday night 🙂

          19. If I could see into the future, I’d be on some wind-swept promenade with a crystal ball, earning a bob or two.

            Morning ogga.

          20. If I could see into the future, I’d be on some wind-swept promenade with a crystal ball, earning a bob or two.

            Morning ogga.

          21. E,
            My meaning is that leaving a lot to “hope” is in my mind a great deal to hope for regarding an issue of such importance.
            By the by door to door lucky heather & peg selling is a better option than ball gazing.

    2. It does make a pleasant change to see a group of politicians who have spoken only the truth about the European Union, and who would keep their word about leaving with a full Brexit with no doubts about their intentions at all. You would not need to be waiting for another 12 months to find out where we are with these people.

  23. ‘Points-based’ immigration review to be published

    A review into how the government could introduce a “points-based” immigration system will be published later.
    Home Secretary Priti Patel asked the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to look into the best practice for the policy back in September 2019.
    It came after Boris Johnson made the proposal a key pledge of his leadership campaign.
    The committee has also been looking into salary thresholds immigrants must meet to come to the UK.
    Currently, skilled migrants from outside the EU seeking five-year visas need to have a minimum salary of £30,000.

  24. Labour Leadership Candidate Long-Bailey Says Idea That Britons Rejected Socialism is ‘B**locks’

    The far-left candidate to replace Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party, Rebecca Long-Bailey, said it was “b**locks” that the British people rejected socialism in last month’s general election.

    In a leaked audio recording of remarks given at an event on Saturday, Ms Long-Bailey refused to blame Corbynism for the Labour Party’s historic electoral defeat, even though she admitted that the results of the election left her “crushed”.

    “We had a few wobbly people on the doorstep because of Brexit, but I thought everything was going to be alright,” she said

    “I was in a state of shock and it was as if everything I believed [was] being ripped up before my very eyes, that everything we fought and we’re so proud of was suddenly invalidated, [that] no-one wanted us, no-one wanted socialism,” added the MP for Salford and Eccles.

    “And then I pushed that thought out of my head because I thought ‘that’s b**locks’,” she surmised.

    1. “And then I pushed that thought out of my head because I thought ‘that’s b**locks’,” she surmised.”

      She wants to be careful about pushing thoughts out of her head. It is not as if she has a rich crop in there to begin with.

      1. I believe she may have got confused. What she meant to say was ” And then I pushed my brain out of my head”

    3. As Jeremy Corbyn’s mother said:

      “He’s not just JC – he’s a very naughty boy!”

    4. Curious that she didn’t then offer an alternative explanation for Labour falling off a high cliff and burying themselves a good few feet underground. I suppose she could lay the blame on Global Warming, Putin…. all the usual suspects ……. except UKIP or The Brexit party of course. Or even that she is Corbyns only real fan and no one wanted him in charge.

      3. Major Dennis Bloodnok: Little does he know that I am as smart as the next man.

        Eccles: Little does he know that I am the next man.

    6. Vince Cable and John Bercow both used the slogan” Bollocks to Brexit” – I think it is not very wise for ‘Wrong Daily’ to use this epithet.

    7. Don’t get so fretful, Becky Luv.
      I’ve watched what I believe in being trashed since 1973.
      And I still manage to smile.

      1. Perhaps they can get Jack Dee to take over JaM. He has filled Humph’s shoes on ISIHAC brilliantly.

    4. And of those crimes, is there any breakdown by category:
      e.g.

      Violence against people
      Criminal damage, arson, graffiti, turning over gravestones and the like
      Hurty speech.

      2. According to the article:

        Anti-Christian crimes: 996 “actions” (theft and/or damage as you describe) and 56 “threats” (violence aimed at people, with no further detail).
        The figures for antisemitism are actually rather nastier in that 151 crimes are classed as “actions” whereas the remaining 536 are violence aimed at people.
        No detail is given about the anti-Muslim crimes.

        1. It’s the low level attacks, gradually becoming more serious that concerns me.

          When one sees graffiti on war memorials, particulary those honouring the deported, and then pro daesh slogans appearing on bridges in tandem with an obvious increase in the Muslim community’s number that I think something is bubbling under the surface and it is going to get worse not better.

          But hey ho, maybe I’m just paranoid.

          1. Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you (and the rest of us) 🙂

          2. I console myself with the fact that anyone out to get me is losing time; when they could be chasing more worthwhile targets!

  27. Beeching rail cuts: Fund to restore lines goes ahead amid criticism

    £500M will not go far. Another problem is when Beeching axed the service the old lines were not protected so many have been built over making it almost impossible to reopen them

    The quickest way an least expensive way to improved public transport in the more rural area is to improve bus service including linking them to rail stations

    You could provide over 50,000 new bus services with £500M whereas on rail one new line could take £500M

    1. I’ve not read up on the proposals, but the bulk of the old Blythe & Tyne track planned for reopening is still in place and the Fleetwood line was only disconnected from the main line at Poulton le Fylde a couple of years ago and, I believe, the bulk of the line is also still in place.

      1. A good few ended up as footpaths so there will be merry hell to pay when the Right to Roam people realise what is going on.

      2. Double track still in all the way to Ashington, Bob. Currently being used for the transport of American forests to Lynemouth Power Station for subsidy generation.

        Freight-only, low speed, used by Class 60s and 66s. The track will need upgrading to passenger standard, some new platforms built in places and some bus shelter type canopies put up next to some ticket machines. Ashington platforms are still there, although the station buildings came down in 1968.

        Not a lot of cost to bring that branch back into use.

        EDIT The Blyth branch had been lifted in a lot of places, so new trackworks and routes needed there.

        1. Hopefully the line will be extended past Woodhorn to include Newbiggin. A pity they demolished Ashington & Newbiggin Stations.

          1. I watched Ashington station coming down, and used it only a fornight before it closed to get to Newcastle when they gave us the day off school because school was being used as a polling station in the October 64 election.

            There’s a lot of nostalgia about the old station building at Ashington, and when people see photos of it on Facebook they come out with comments about how they are looking forward to the line being reopened (usually with the qualifier that it’s just political promises) and the station rebuilt. It’s all fairy dust, of course (apart from the line being reinstated, all that will take is will) but I’m sure the poor souls imagine that when it does reopen the pretty old stations, with their ticket offices and warm coal fires will return.

            Not a hope of that. It’ll be a draughty bus shelter and a ticket machine.

            Hardly anybody in Newbiggin remembers where the station was from what I can see. It used to cost me 2d to get there from Ashington, but the bus was easier, and the same price. Most of the rail passengers from Newbiggin were schoolkids going to Ashington Grammar School in the last few years the line was open.

          2. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7fb4abe44612e159baafde97bb6958926ec31fcef6acc84aae83f1041a0531c6.jpg I remember sitting on Staveley Works station one day (1962?) when a passenger express being hauled by a Thompson B1, 61027 ‘Madoqua’, came through after being diverted.

            I wondered for years afterwards what the hell ‘Madoqua’ meant. I later found out that it is a type of African gazelle. All that grouping of B1s were named after antelopes, gazelles and impalas.

          4. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2172b24b3b807df709fa8acef8cb8fceabbab49f1f32ca01db8279f88d440053.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cd72a8fdb51dadcefd7bdda5ee0f675e52141359b18a1dde1e633554551a2b78.jpg
            Sigh! That photo takes me back to a more friendly age. I used to while away my summer days sitting on Staveley Works (GC) and Barrow Hill (LMS) stations, when I was aged between 10 and 14, watching the old steam locos chug their way through. I can still remember the smell of the smoke that pervaded my clothing.

        2. Immigrants selling the steel for scrap I suppose..

          “The Blyth branch had been lifted in a lot of places,”

    3. Regarding the reopening of the Fleetwood Line, odd as it may sound, it was once part of the LNWR route to Scotland!
      Before the line over Shap was completed, trains would run into Fleetwood where passengers could then, after refreshment in the North Euston Hotel, board a paddle steamer to Ardrossan and transferring onto a train for Glasgow.

    4. ANd some of those used old canals…. Croydon south I think? so we might have to dig them up again when they restore some of the old canals.

    5. Er, would it be wrong of me to suspect that the much damaged West Country service will be restored and in part because so many “Londoners” have holiday homes there now and a restored railway will push their property rpices through the roof?
      Or am I just being cynical?

    6. I live in the country; if I take the bus (assuming it’s running at a convenient time and I can actually get back again) it will take me an hour and a half to get to the county town. I can do the same trip on the train in 30 minutes.

      1. Indeed, doesn’t that give one confidence in the competence of the leadership of the EU…

        1. As we know all too well, they do not promote people for competence within the European Union, you are raised up through the ranks depending upon how corrupted you are. If you are a befouled spawn of satan you can even get promoted twice in one day.

          1. That still depends what the PM agrees to after we leave.
            Whether it’s NATO or nothing or the EU is treated as a single entity as a NATO participant.

            I would be a lot happier if the whole EU defence force concept was dropped entirely.

    2. I remember an Excercise back in the nineties when we did t have any blank ammo and all had to do our assaults and fights through shouting “Bang”.

      1. But were you issued painted broomsticks as pretend guns?

        On balance I would prefer us to have a shortage of blank ammo as opposed to plentiful blanks and none of the lethal.

    4. I belive this is all down to Ursula Van De Leyden or whatever her name is (Ursula…. isn’t that the latin for Bear?)…. she will be good for the EU, not.
      But this is no worse than when we relied on the “multi-National” arms companies for our ammunition from Belgium or somewhere and they got sniffy over the Falklands and our [poor troops had o shout “Bang” when on “simulated” firing exercises……

        1. Ursula = little bear (cf Hadrian’s address to his soul, ‘ animula, vagula, blandula …).

    6. The ministry has said it is ‘not satisfied’ with the lack of infantry fighting vehicles.

      And the rest of Europe says “Pheww,” in relief.

  30. Boris Johnson risks wrath of Trump by approving Huawei to help build UK 5G network

    Probably sensible decision. Full details are not clear but my understanding is they will only be involved in the radio side. and not the core network so the data will not be stored o n Huawei equipment

    The government security risk is largely nonsense. Classified data is where ever possible not sent over public networks and where it does it uses military grade encryption

    3. BJ,
      As with mosques being recruiting centres in waiting, every chinese
      take away will have an intelligence
      officer / waiter… in waiting.
      What can go wrong, will we have a yen for the yen next ?

  31. What is the peoples take on huawei are you seriously
    agreeing to the Chinese having a hand in this country’s
    security,has AKA the turkish delight, amnesties R me,
    johnson really lost the plot.
    Are there many still “hoping” he has done the
    right thing ?
    Has he a yen for more treachery ?

  32. Amusement arcade The Fabulous Showboat in Margate shuts due to trading losses

    Similar to the demise of the old mining towns. When the mines went there was nothing else. It was similar with the coastal resorts , when the holiday makers went they were left with nothing

    An iconic seafront amusement arcade in Margate has been forced to close due to significant trading losses.
    The doors to the Fabulous Showboat in Marine Terrace, run by Praesepe, shut unexpectedly with a sign in the door thanking customers for their support over the years.

    The arcade shut on January 16. It comes almost a year after the Beacon Bingo club, located next door and also run by Praesepe, closed after 35 years in the town.

      1. We went to Skegness once. Nothing can be more depressing than Skegness on a cold and rainy afternoon in March.

          1. Yes Bass. those famous “bracing winds” (mostly westerlies) come in off the Atlantic (Irish Sea), blow over the docks of Liverpool, the cotton mills of Manchester, the coal fields of north Derbyshire and south Yorkshire, and the steelworks of Sheffield and Scunthorpe before dumping all that smoke on Skeggy. :•)

        2. Believe me, it is depressing every day of the year, no matter the weather.

          Gibraltar Point, six miles to the south, is well worth a visit, though, if you like nature reserves.

          1. Not for a birdwatcher it isn’t. I’ve spent many days facing the sea in such conditions (from the lighthouse) seeing movement of many thousands of ducks, geese, terns, gulls and waders.

            Of course it pays to be well-wrapped and of a hardy nature.

          3. I’m now on my ninth Swedish winter (including one up in the Arctic) and I have the requisite clothing to keep snugly warm and dry.

      2. Oi youse Mr Grizzle

        Leave Skeggy out of this

        Where would all the Chizits* from Leicester and Nottingham go, if Skeg was not open

        The first words they alway say on entering a shop ‘Owmuchizit?

        2. Like pensioners at bus stops waiting for the off-peak service, the twerlies.
          Are we too early?

  34. Will the roll-out of 5th Generation mobile ‘phone technology by Huawei be known henceforth as “Huawei 5.0”?

      1. Not Cricket?

        You are getting confused with the original (and best) Hawaiian Eye, and the later (and terminally inferior) Hawaii Five-0.

        Lend us your comb!

          4. Correct, it was. However 77 Sunset Strip, a detective series set in Hollywood, and Hawaiian Eye, a similar set up in Oahu, often crossed over. In one episode the 77 men went over to Honolulu to assist with a case.

            Kookie, from 77 Sunset Strip (played by Edd Byrnes) also teamed up with Cricket Blake, the nightclub singer in Hawaiian Eye (played by Connie Stevens) to make the record on the video you’ve shown me.

          4. “True grit” coin.

            I wonder if it would create large pearls as it gets under the remoaner’s skin?

          1. He certainly had no allegiances to any mainstream political parties, which for me and quite a lot of people made him someone trustworthy.

          5. My mother ( your wife ) Ealhswith said as it
            was the dark ages she didn’t see or remember a single thing 🙂

    2. I think it was JHB who said all remoaners should send her their Brexit 50p coins, then she’d send them back 20p and tell them what to spend it on, so they could continue thinking they were still in the EU 🙂

    1. I think we are long past the point of worrying. There are thousands of Chinese folk studying in out top universities and working in important fields of research. Only yesterday I posted a reference to the Chinese Microbiologist who was escorted out of Canada’s National Cat 4 Lab in the Summer of 2019 along with a number of other Chinese nationals. The Lab which studies the worst & most contagious viruses. It is reported that she had links with the Chinese Cat 4 Lab based in Wuhan China which is reported as a biological weapons research facility.
      There is a suggestion that the nCoronaVirus -2019 may have ‘escaped that lab rather than be attributed to a Bat sold at market.

      1. S,
        Past the point of worrying, what puzzles me is why the cause of this continuous worrying, the governance parties, are still finding support / votes after decades of, well, worrying ?
        I liken it to re-cladding one side of a tower block whilst the other side clad, in the same material,is burning.
        Now bat’s.
        My personal belief is with the latest issue this johnson chap has bats in the belfry & his squeeze only sent him out for a chinese 2, 11,14 with extra mushrooms not a whole bloody nation of spy’s.

      3. Apparently bat chomping picture is 3 years old. The woman earns her living as a travel journalist.

  37. New recruit in Indonesia’s first FEMALE flogging squad punishes her first ‘criminal’ – an unmarried woman found in a hotel with a man in the country’s Sharia law province of Aceh. 28 january 2020.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9dcf9a6cd6e0b86b73f26a4fea471a479f52929a4e07d5ac058fdb9d4cc19b70.jpg

    The masked woman nervously approaches her target, shuffles into position and then unleashes a flurry of lashes – proving herself as the newest member of the first female flogging squad in Indonesia’s Aceh province.

    The new recruit initially needed some coaxing to punish the offender – an unmarried woman caught in a hotel room with a man.
    But despite her reticence, she persevered and delivered her first flogging.

    ‘I think she did a good job. Her technique was nice,’ Banda Aceh Sharia police chief investigator Zakwan, who uses one name, told AFP.

    Obviously the Police Chief is a connoisseur which makes one wonder about his interests off duty!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7936855/Indonesias-Aceh-unveils-new-female-flogging-squad.html

      2. Our politicians at the top know full well that islam is satanism-lite, and they embrace what it will achieve. They wish to purge Europe of Christianity and Judaism, as well as “Western morality” in general, and the United States as well if they can get away with it. Our desire for democracy and fairness does not fit in with a group of people who want to run the world with no elections required.

        The EU is a proto-model with unelected and unremovable people at the top. They just need to get rid of, or crush underfoot, the populations in their countries. Of course, the British people are just “too nice” in our outlook, and a lot of us in the country do not think that our own politicians are involved in this. In spite of what we are seeing happening all around us.

        There is still time for us though. Our enemies have seen before what happens when you put our backs up against the wall.

      1. I hope she’s got her vest on under that.
        Plastic’s rather chilly at this time of year. Or so I’m told.

    4. “Obviously the Police Chief is a connoisseur which makes one wonder about his interests off duty!”

      Working down the local meat market flogging dead horses?

    5. I know that we castigate this practice, and for the reasons given, in this type of country. And I agree.

      Having said that, does anyone on this forum disagree with me that this precise type of punishment would be a good thing to introduce in the UK for:

      Child-molesters; cruelty to animals; proven rapists; proven false accusers of rape; stabbers; being in possession of an offensive weapon in public; machete-wielders; unruly mobs; arsonists; burglars, robbers and thieves; committers of GBH; committers of criminal damage; reckless driving; and probably a few more serious offences that they now get away with not even a ticking off?

      2. Could be the thin end of the wedge. Left unchecked, the list could include all Labour Party politicians

  38. Good Morning from the Saxon Queen and daughter of Alfred of Wessex
    with long bow and blooded axe.

  39. Morning, everybody.
    I read this Spekkie article by Hugo Rifkind last night, and I found it touching and thought provoking. A slightly different and personal angle on yesterday’s commemorations.

    https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2020/01/what-it-means-to-be-descended-from-holocaust-survivors-2/

    What it means to be descended from Holocaust survivors | Coffee House

    “This is a short piece on Holocaust Memorial Day, and what it means to be descended from Holocaust survivors. Many, many people could write a story like this, but this one is mine.

    All parts of my family lost people in the war. My grandfather, though, lost pretty much his whole family. They were in Krakow, in Poland, and only he and one brother survived. His first wife, his baby daughter, his parents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews all died.

    To understand the immediacy, that’s my mum’s half-sister, grandparents, her whole extended family. All gone before she was even born.

    Recently, I’ve been trying to find out about them. It’s really hard. My grandpa died when I was three, and I gather he didn’t like to talk about the past much. So, now, there are only really two sources.

    One is a record of births, marriages and deaths from Krakow, but it’s pretty muddy. The other is the testimonies of the dead left to the Holocaust museum at Yad Vashem by my great uncle, my grandpa’s brother, who fled to Brazil after the war.

    That’s priceless, but fairly muddy, too. Particularly vexing is the lack of mention of my grandpa’s first wife and daughter, probably because they died at the hands of Russians, not Germans. We’re not even certain of their names. To repeat, that’s my aunt. No names.

    The one I fixate on is Ryszard, the child of my mum’s uncle. He died aged nine. That’s the age of my own eldest kid. The ‘circumstances of death’ box for Ryszard says ‘Actions against children in Podgorze Ghetto’. I think about him a lot. It seems very important to remember him.

    I don’t know who his mother was, though. On the testimony form, the name of his mother doesn’t match other records for the uncle’s wife. I don’t know if this is a mistake, or if she had two names, or if he had two wives. I have nobody to ask.

    It’s possible his father wasn’t even who I think he was, but another close relative with the same name. I don’t know. Which means nobody knows. Because there is nobody left who might. Nor was there even anybody left who might have told somebody else.

    Now, obviously these are the travails of any historian or amateur genealogist. I get that. But this is not ancient history. When these people died, my own, normal, London terraced house had already been standing for fifty years. Many of them would still be alive.

    Even if they weren’t alive, they would be remembered, photographed, known about. They aren’t. The point being, it wasn’t a failure, the Holocaust. It wasn’t curtailed. It was a plan, carried out, which worked very well.

    These people are gone, eradicated, flushed down the memory hole. Reduced, at best, to scraps and half-remembered fragments. In the space of a lifetime. So, you remember what you can, and as loudly as you can.

    Because otherwise, there is nothing left at all.

      1. I watched the programme about the efforts to bring stability and lack of terror into the lives if Jewish children who had suffered in concentration camps by looking after them in a camp at Windemere.

        It was both very moving and disturbing to hear of the sheer scope of the evil of the Nazis..

    2. Morning Anne. I have always thought that it is a mistake to prosecute Holocaust Deniers not only because it is an attack on Free Speech but because it also provides a spurious legitimacy, martyrdom and rallying point for anti-Semitism. The best refutation I have ever read of it was a gentleman who asked, “If there was no Holocaust, where are my family?

      1. I always had the uncomfortable thought that prosecuting them was wrong somehow, but couldn’t put my finger on it. It is, of course, suppression of speech, and that if they can do it to Holocaust deniers, they can do it to other people.
        My father’s family was Jewish , but I believe they came before the war, from Eastern Europe, but I don’t know where or when, and there’s also no one left to ask.
        We watched a different programme last night, about a Polish officer in Auschwitz, who collected information to smuggle to the outside world, and who managed to escape. The Polish resistance had thought the Russians would assist them against the Germans, but Stalin hated the Poles so no help came until Europe was liberated.
        What Rifkin mentions in his piece, and what I also raised this morning with MOH is that all attention is on the Nazi death camps, but none on the Russian gulags, and the people who died there.
        And that’s important because the far Left are denying that they seem were bad places. They were re-education camps, with conjugal visits, not as bad as the CIA told everyone….apparently, according to the current Marxists and communists. We should be worried about this, because Bernie Sanders campaign staff are talking about “re-education” camps for Republicans, to “teach them not to be Nazis.”

    3. “Preserve your memories, they’re all that’s left you”. (Simon and Garfunkel – BOOKENDS.)

  40. Coronavirus

    It looks as if it has already spread beyond China

    Two people from Japan and Germany who had contracted coronavirus had not visited the area in China where the deadly viral outbreak originated, authorities have confirmed.
    One of the patients was a Japanese tour bus driver in his 60s in the city of Nara who had driven two groups of Chinese tourists who had come from Wuhan earlier this month.​
    He was diagnosed with pneumonia on Saturday and has now been hoslpitalized

    1. Well, all the passengers must have been infected, so stand by for the apocalypse.
      You’ve got to wuhand it to the Chinese.

  41. Hong Kong to close borders with mainland China as global alarm spreads over coronavirus. 28 January 2020.

    Hong Kong said on Tuesday it would “temporarily” close some of its borders with mainland China and stop issuing travel permits to Chinese tourists as the death toll from the Wuhan coronavirus jumped to 107 and reached at least 14 foreign countries.

    I would probably be seriously alarmed if I had the faintest idea what was going on here!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/28/hong-kong-close-borders-mainland-china-global-alarm-spreads/

  42. Ireland: EU Will Keep Seat Open for ‘Small Country’ UK in Case Brexit Doesn’t Work Out

    Hre is getting very worried. The UK is the worlds 5th largest economy and we are the EU largest single export market. WE also have a huge trade deficit with the EU which means it will be in our interest to trade less with the EU unless they are prepared to offer a good trade deal

    Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has said that the UK must “come to terms with the fact it’s now a small country”, and said that the EU would leave a seat open for Britain in case Brexit is a failure.

    The Irish Taoiseach made the insulting remarks in the week that the UK leaves the EU. Mr Varadkar told the BBC on Monday: “The European Union is a union of 27 member states. The UK is only one country. And we have a population and a market of 450 million people

    2. If he thinks we’re a small country his will remain, forever, insignificant and he’d better get used to it. EU will put a stop to RoI low tax rates and there’s nothing he will be able to do about it.

      1. Maybe he is trying to curry favour with the EU? Good luck on that. They are not exactly the sorts to reward good deeds.

    5. 27 member states – out of which 4 pay the bills – Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands – soon to be 3.

      All the rest are effectively on benefits.

    6. Ignore him. Step over him.
      Let him chuck himself on the carpet and drum his heels. He can scream or hold his breath; the choice is all his to make.

  43. Boy, 16, stabbed by attacker ‘carrying foot-long machete’ in first London teen killing of 2020

    Louis Johnson, 16 , suffered a fatal wound in a 40-second eruption of “senseless” violence inside East Croydon station just after 4.30pm yesterday.

    He was attacked on a footbridge over the platforms and staggered down stairs before collapsing near a ticket barrier, witnesses said.

    Despite the efforts of paramedics and the London Air Ambulance he was pronounced dead at the scene a short while later.

    His attacker was reportedly carrying a foot-long machete and fled into the crowds, possibly escaping on a train

    1. Very scary, East Croydon is my local station.

      I wonder how much luck they will have catching the attacker when the police will be relucant to mention his skin colour. Be on the lookout for ‘a youth.’

    3. Why do we even bother with dross like this? As long as they stick it to each other, it seems a shame to interfere.
      (Yes, I am aware that it could overspill.)

  44. We waited 40 years for a referendum on the EU. We should wait at least another 40 years before we have another.

  45. London growth ‘hit’ under sweeping migration changes

    We dont need more migrants we need to up skill people already in the UK and invest in training and equipment and drive productivity up which is already very low
    We have about 2 Million people in the UK unemployed or underemployed. £25,600 as well is only a frw thousand pound above the London living wage

    Minimum salary cap ‘should be cut to £25,600 to cover skills shortages’

    1. BJ,
      60 months we could have, via apprentices, adequate numbers of trained to UK standards English speaking English bred, plumbers, sparks, chippies, brickies, etc,etc.
      In those fields no outside help required.
      One muslim chippy unemployed, also carries in some cases four wives in his toolkit.

      1. But you would have to persuade the unemployable that it would be worth making the effort.
        Would any political party have the fortitude to reduce benefits to the level where getting off your derriere became the preferred option?

        1. R,
          Yes I know of one, one that has been a governmental advisory
          by reluctant proxy for years, but always suppressed in fear of the truth coming out.

  46. Fairly high up on agenda on the BBC Radio 3 ‘News’ this morning was a piece on a Study reporting on the melting of a large glacier in Antartica which has apparently contributed to 4% of the recent increase in the rise of sea levels around the World. I suspect it was reported that way to sound alarming. However, I understand there is currently no incontrovertible measurement of World Sea Level rises. Also missing from the ‘news’ report was how much world sea level had risen. If it is around 1mm a 4% contribution would equate to the square root of bugger all.

    Edit: I hit the send button before completing what I wanted to write!

    1. According to the Today programme, its melting accounts for 4% of sea-level rise. They didn’t say how fast the sea-level is rising.

      1. Morning JBF,
        Could the establishment not start up a sea floor dredging
        company ? ( displacement)
        Come Saturday scams are getting whittled down, & HS2
        is looking decidedly dicey also.

        1. So there’s too much water in the sea. Squirt some of it into orbit, and we’ll have rings (or at least one ring) like Saturn and Neptune.

          1. Don’t laugh something similar is being contemplated:

            “Known as the Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx), the experiment will spray calcium carbonate particles high above the earth to mimic the effects of volcanic ash blocking out the sun to produce a cooling effect. This appears to be the same as NOAA’s “Plan B.”

            https://thefreethoughtproject.com/congress-now-funding-controversial-geoengineering-plan-b-to-spray-particles-in-the-sky-to-cool-earth/

            As Minty is fond of saying: “We are Doomed!”

          3. The original plan was to use SOX particles…. this was based on the fact that fossil fuelled power stations were actually more or les self-compensating because of the SoX, NOX and COX emmissions while COX might, according to the warmers, be driving us into extinction, the SOX were doing the volcanic ash thing and blocking solar energy from warming is. This was seriously proposed. Of course, it might be that Google no longer lets you find some things…… Google is apparently doing its bit to promote St. Greta and supress opposition voices, so might not find it now.

          1. FA,
            Especially in England due to weight of numbers.
            You will find a, down towards Dover tilt with cloud levels closer to earth in
            Scotland.
            The increasing channel armada is having a telling affect.
            This will only be obvious to many as in current lab/lib/con supporters when chimneys become tunnels

          2. You mean there’s so many people now in the south-east of the British Isles that it is sinking?

          4. Apparently Britain is still slowly rising from the weight of the ice sheets which melted 10,000 years ago.
            (Ponders on reason for vast ice sheets melting when the global human population was about the same as that of Little-Oozing-in-the-Mud.)

      1. My understanding is that if Arctic ice were to melt completely sea level would remain exactly the same. However, if the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets

      2. No, because the expansion is above the water, displacing air. If ice melts the atmosphere gets lower.

          2. Big problem working it all out because the earth is not a sphere but an oblate spheroid….. so what is the datum? Of course, these days we have satellites but satellite observations, which are so much better, are routinely ignored by warmists because they don’t say we are headed for a sudden heat death and called into question a lot of that Hadley data etc.
            Plus, of course, as the ice melts sea levels might rise locally until the levels have had a chance to equilibrate but the new water flowing elsewhere. And really? Surely the ice, whatever its density displaces an equal mass of water so when it melts, you substitute the water for the ice…. now if they are talking about glaciers and land ice, as the ice disappear and the weight is removed, the land may actually rise………. 🙂

    6. I’ve just had a new ‘fridge feezer delivered. Defrosting the old one (in the back garden as we speak) is a much greater risk to sea levels than any iceberg.

  47. The inexorable rise in pedantry for pedantry’s sake.

    This current furore over the correct or incorrect use of the so-called ‘Oxford Comma’ inevitably makes the pedants quake in their slippers.

    Let us not lose sight of the fact that many—if not most—of those pedants were taught by hardline, unwavering, pedantic teachers to whom rules are inevitably set in stone. Unqualified ‘rules’ trumping common sense is never a good dictum.

    For a definitive answer to this matter I inevitably turn to the two men whose authority on English language usage is, by common consent, unassailable.

    Henry Watson Fowler was an English schoolmaster, lexicographer and commentator on the usage of the English language. He is notable for both A Dictionary of Modern English Usage and his work on the Concise Oxford Dictionary, and was described by The Times as “a lexicographical genius”

    Sir Ernest Arthur Gowers GCB GBE is best remembered for his book Plain Words, first published in 1948, and for his revision of Fowler’s Modern English Usage.

    On the “Oxford Comma” Fowler advises thus:

    Examples of sentences calling for a comma before the and are: ’Tenders were submitted by John Brown, Cammel Laird, Vickers, and Harland and Wolff.’ Without the comma after Vickers we do not know whether the tendering firms were four or five, or, if they were four, whether Harland partners Vickers or Wolff.

    “The smooth grey of the beech stem, the silky texture of the birch, and the rugged pine.” If there is no comma after birch, the pine is given a silky texture. The use of a comma before the and is here recommended.

    Gowers adds:

    In such a sentence as:

    ‘The company included ambassadors, cabinet ministers, bishops and judges.’

    commas are always put after each item in the series up to the last but one. [However] supposing the sentence were:

    ’The company included the Bishops of Winchester, Salisbury, Bristol, and Bath and Wells.’

    the reader unversed in the English ecclesiastical hierarchy needs the comma after ‘Bristol’ in order to sort out the last two bishops. Without it they might be, grammatically and geographically, either (a) Bristol and Bath and (b) Wells, or (a) Bristol and (b) Bath and Wells. Ambiguity cannot be justified by saying that those who are interested will know what is meant and those who are not will not care.

    Fowler and Gowers are equally intransigent when it comes to other matters of English usage. Take the split infinitive for example. Fewer grammatical devices cause so much unnecessary consternation and dispute.

    Fowler’s comprehensive dissection of the troublesome topic continues over four pages of his magnum opus and he deals with the minutiae of the subject in clinical detail. Suffuce to say he acknowledges that, generally, two—utterly irreconcilable—camps exist: those waving the banner for the routine use of the split infinitive and those inconsolably opposed to its use in any situation.

    He then further splits those camps. ‘The English-speaking world may be divided into (1) those who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is; (2) those who do not know, but care very much; (3) those who know and condemn; (4) those who know and approve; and (5) those who know and distinguish.

    Fowler finishes his extensive treatise with this amusing penultimate paragraph:

    After this inconclusive discussion, in which, the author’s opinion has perhaps been allowed to appear with indecent plainness, readers may like to settle the following question for themselves.

    ’The greatest difficulty about assessing the economic achievements of the Soviet Union is that its spokesmen try absurdly to exaggerate them; in consequence the visitor may tend badly to underrate them.’

    Has dread of the s.i. led the writer to attach his adverbs to the wrong verbs, and would he not have done better to boldly split both infinitives, since he cannot put the adverbs after them without spoiling his rhythm? Or are we to give him the benefit of the doubt, and suppose that he really meant absurdly to qualify try and badly to qualify tend?

    Gowers is even more unwavering. He advises:

    The grammarians’ well-known rule against splitting an infinitive means that nothing must come between to and the infinitive. It is a bad name because we have many infinitives without to, as in ‘We helped him start the car’, ‘I let them go’, ‘I made her apologise’. Since to is not an essential part of the infinitive, broadminded grammarians see no grammatical reason for the rule.

    It is also a bad rule, which many people (including good writers) reject. It increases the difficulty of writing clearly and makes for ambiguity by inducing writers to place adverbs in unnatural and even misleading positions.

    Some of the stones … must have been of such a size that they failed completely to melt before they reached the ground.

    Did the hailstones reach the ground completely frozen or incompletely melted? The second is probably what the writer meant, and he probably committed the ambiguity because he was scared of the split infinitive (failed to completely melt). In this example, however, he could have avoided the ambiguity if he had expressed the second meaning by failed to melt completely and the first by completely failed to melt.

    It is right therefore to record our view that the time we were given was sufficient to allow us properly to consider the issues raised by our terms of reference.
    Here fear of the split infinitive (allow us to properly consider) has persuaded the writer to put properly in an unnatural position before to consider. To escape the problem of the split infinitive, we would need to abandon the infinitive: ‘… the time we were given was sufficient for proper consideration of the issues raised by our terms of reference’. We have at the same time improved the sentence by omitting the redundant to allow us.

    Another conundrum which causes much teeth-gnashing is the question of what word to follow different with: to, from, or than!

    Fowler is uncompromising:

    That different can only be followed by from and not by to is a SUPERSTITION. To is ‘found in writers of all ages’ (OED), and the principle on which it is rejected (You do not say differ to; therefore you cannot say different to) involves a hasty and ill-defined generalization.

    The fact is that the objections to different to, like those to AVERSE to, SYMPATHY for, and COMPARE to are mere pedantries. This does not imply that different from is wrong; on the conrtrary, it is ‘now usual’ (OED); but it is only so owing to the dead set made against different to by mistaken critics.

    Gowers is clear and unambiguous:

    There is good authority for different to, but different from is today the established usage. Different than is not unknown even in The Times.

    ‘The air of the suburb has quite a different smell and feel at eleven o’clock in the morning or three o’clock in the afternoon than it has at the hours when the daily toiler is accustomed to take a few hurried sniffs of it.’

    But this is condemned by the grammarians, who would day that than in this example should have been from what. Different than is, however, common in America.

    And there you have it. The two most vaunted and celebrated authorities on English usage are vocal in their condemnation of pedantry for pedantry’s sake, and I agree with them wholeheartedly. Why slavishly follow incomprehensible and illogical centuries-old dogma (for that is what it truly is), when its unquestioned use leads to stilted, ambiguous and highly illogical prose?

    Grizzly.

      2. When you read aloud the following from the King James Bible without the Oxford comma you end up putting all three of them in the manger:

        “And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger”

        In fact you need a long pause after Joseph – maybe two Oxford commas would help?

        (I hope this debate will not send me into an Oxford coma.)

        2. ‘Morning, Richard, to get the long pause after Joseph, a semi colon would do the trick, wouldn’t it/

          By the way has anyone made a case for using the Oxford Comma before ‘but’? As I remember from schooldays, the teaching was that both ‘and’ and ‘but’ indicated a pause, thus obviating the need for a comma – except in very rare cases and the inscription on the 50p piece ain’t one!

          1. In the case of Bob & Marcia’s reggae song, Young, Gifted and Black becoming Young, Gifted, and Black; you could transpose a word as an old friend of mine once did:

            Young, Gifted but Black, became Young, Gifted, but Black.

        3. I just get tired of amateur pedants continually ramming their tedious, hackneyed and insupportable false tenets down my throat.

        4. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph in the stable with the Babe lying in a manger

        5. I used to like ‘and she laid her baby in a manger’. Pre facts of life, I assumed that this was a literal statement, like hens do… I suspect I was not alone.

          1. A sweet little girl in St Mawes, whom I used to know when I was a child used to think for some time that God’s son was called Hereward because she had misheard ‘hallowéd be thy name‘ in The Lord’ Prayer before she could read.

            She is now a grandmother and has been a brilliant godmother to our second son, Henry, in spite of her initial shortcomings in Scripture.

    2. ‘Morning, George, even Gower gets confused by thinking that the Bishop of Bath and Wells is two people.

      Although I also swear by Fowler, his example, “Tenders were submitted by John Brown, Cammel Laird, Vickers, and Harland and Wolff.” could easily be avoided by, instead of the comma, rephrasing slightly to read “…and also Harland and Wolff”

      1. ‘Afternoon, Tom.

        Sorry but I’ve just re-read Gowers‘ sentence on the Bishops and I can see nowhere in that text where he implies that there is a Bishop each for both Bath and Wells.

        To me his meaning is clear and has stood the test of time.

        I agree, though, with your second point. The fact is that with a bit of care all ambiguities can easily be avoided.

        1. “…in order to sort out the last two bishops.”

          When he’s referring to the Bishop of Bath and Wells.

          1. I disagree.

            He’s saying that the comma is needed (after Bristol) “in order to sort out the last two bishops”, meaning to clearly separate the Bishop of Bristol from the Bishop of Bath and Wells. I think it’s pretty unambiguous (and I’d be loathe to argue with Sir Ernest Gowers).

        2. Ambiguity; reminds me of a back and forth with some bloke over the “Megan Markle to run for President” bookies slash odds thread.

          I interpreted what some “I am not a name but a cypher” poster had said as meaning one thing while he claimed he meant something completely different. It was not clear that that was what he meant and I explained why to him and he got all bent out of shape and declared he didn’t need grammar lessons, though he clearly did.

          I see now, going back, that he was so bent out of shpe that he has had one of my posts removed:

          “My comment was already clarified.” No, you have just gone back and edited it It is not that people are confused but that you confused them.

          And no, while I may get niggled by people confusing There and their i could not care less about poor grammar unless it affects meaning which the ambiguity in your original post did.

          Most people, including me and I have done before now because I at least am aware I am not perfect, would normally acknowledge their error in a civilised manner and move on but not you. Now you are resorting to insults which tells us all a good deal about who you are and your opinion of yourself.

          https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/01/11/bookie-slashes-odds-meghan-markle-running-president/#comment-4755989104

      2. Moving “Harland and Wolff.” up the running order would work. “Tenders were submitted by Harland and Wolff, John Brown, Cammel Laird and Vickers.”

      1. I f•cking care. Especially when I am forever given bad advice by pedants who ought to know better!

  48. I see that Rebecca Long-Bailey, in her pursuit of power thinks it’s a good idea to let Scotland have another referendum on independence.

    Now suppose, just suppose, she was ever in a position to let that happen and the Nats won, where does she suppose the votes for Labour in the rump of the Union would come from? What an outstanding tactician she is. One of a kind.

    She’d never make a tree surgeon. She’d saw through the branch she was sitting on at the first available opportunity.

    1. Well, for the last 3 general elections Labour has won less than 1 in 20 of the seats. In comparison they have won a much greater share of the seats in England. Indeed, in London, where their effnic block is huge, they are unbeatable.

      1. Be that as it may, what proportion of Scot Nats regularly vote with the Tories as opposed to Labour when the House divides?

    3. She is a socialist. And socialists have the brain power of an amœba, the rationality of pigshit, and the logic of a clothes peg. Proper Oxford Union stuff then.

  49. Will the long postponed reduction in the number of MP’s and revised Constituencies now come into force ?

  51. We all have our political crosses to bear, as this comment shows:

    “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a longtime evangelical, drew upon the Book of Revelations to defend the Trump administration’s drone-strike assassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, and he has regularly referenced the “rapture” to defend American support of Israel, among other positions. He is just one of the top White House officials, along with Vice President Pence, to attend an End Times Bible study group, which informs the domestic and foreign policy thinking of attendees.”

    One of the major beliefs of these people is that once all the Jews have united in Israel, the Messiah will return. Hence the US evangelicals’ total support for the state of Israel.

    Scary that people like this have any power at all. At least we know Trump is not religious – he just plays his religious followers to garner support. And they lap it up.

      1. And anyway the “rapture” is apparently based on a misinterpretation of a particular biblical passage (according to a recent sermon at church – sorry cannot give you chapter and verse – I was paying that much attention.)

        1. There’s certainly a translation of the Latin word tuba from St Jerome’s Biblia Vulgata which leaves room for misinterpretation.

          “In momento in ictu oculi in novissima tuba canet enim et mortui resurgent incorrupti et nos inmutabimur”
          — 1 Cor.. 15:52

          This has been widely translated as:

          “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last TRUMP: for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall rise again incorruptible. And we shall be changed”

          Mike Pompeo probably thinks the last Trump mentioned in the English version, refers to his boss.
          ;¬)

    3. “once all the Jews have united in Israel,the Iranians will drop Obama’s bomb on them and the Messiah will not be pleased “

  52. Someone mentioned this earlier: I have been getting a number of upvotes to comments made a week ago, from names I have never heard of. One is from a site about pop stars, in Spanish; two of them are from a female apparently hinting at exotic services.
    Spam, obviously.

    2. The upvotes are the same accounts that were posting spam messages on here at the end of last week. We were getting over a hundred messages a day with many variations on “I’m looking for a real man”.

      I believe that you are supposed to look at their profile and vainly contact them to strike up a conversation.

    2. Well prepared? Canadas immigration controllers just let insomeone returning from Wuhan despite him being ill.

  54. Latest from the Guardian Shitrag –

    “Donald Trump will unveil his much-delayed Middle East “peace plan” alongside the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Tuesday amid Palestinian protest and a rising global chorus of doubt about its timing and substance.”

    The rising global chorus of approval at Trumps intention to support peace in the land of our forefathers has not been mentioned.

  55. Any blokes on here who could explain to me why so many men refer to spouses as ‘the wife’ and not e.g. ‘my wife’ or ‘his wife’?

    3. It’s odd, isn’t it. Can’t decide if these men are shy of saying my or if they are being derogatory. Perhaps we wives can be charitable and not start another “them” and “us” argument.

      2. Never really thought about this before, but I can’t say I have heard a woman use the expression ‘the husband’ in anyway, other than in a friendly manner.

      3. Wives are possessionsakin to dogs, cars, etc. “My” is to distinguish one’s wife from any other man’s wife.

      1. Better than ‘the wife’.
        I don’t think I’ve EVER heard a woman say ‘the husband’.

  56. Grenfell refurbishers knew cladding would fail, inquiry told

    Arconic are in my view correct. It is not their responsibility that the material is used in the correct application. The cladding that was decided to use on Grenfell was correctly specified as flammable

    The architect, builders and fire engineer who worked on the disastrous Grenfell Tower refurbishment knew the cladding system would fail in the event of a fire more than two years before 72 people were killed, according to emails revealed at the public inquiry on Tuesday.
    Staff at architects Studio E, the fire engineer Exova, the facade installer Harley, and Rydon, the main contractor, discussed how the cladding system they were planning to wrap around the 120-home apartment block was likely to fail in the event of a fire.

    The architect, builders and fire engineer who worked on the disastrous Grenfell Tower refurbishment knew the cladding system would fail in the event of a fire more than two years before 72 people were killed, according to emails revealed at the public inquiry on Tuesday.
    Staff at architects Studio E, the fire engineer Exova, the facade installer Harley, and Rydon, the main contractor, discussed how the cladding system they were planning to wrap around the 120-home apartment block was likely to fail in the event of a fire.

    “Metal cladding always burns and falls off,” an architect emailed a fire engineer in spring 2015. An employee of the facade installer told a colleague: “As we all know, the ACM [the combustible cladding panels] will be gone rather quickly in a fire!”
    The shocking correspondence during the refurbishment works was disclosed to the inquiry by Craig Orr QC, counsel for Celotex, the manufacturer of the combustible insulation used on the building. It came during the second day of phase two of the Grenfell Tower public inquiry, which is examining events leading up to the disaster.

    Arconic said it was not its responsibility “to decide if the product was appropriate to use on a particular project or in a particular configuration”, but rather the designers, contractors and fire engineers working on the project.
    Celotex said its insulation was sold as combustible

  57. ‘I still feel sick’ – Zizzi apologises after serving vegan families dairy meals

    Why go to an Italian restaurant. They serve Pizzas and pastas so what did they expect ?

    2. They think they are untouchable and even if caught they are probably out before they are 40 and with a good chance they will do it again.

      Hang the bastards.

    3. They just can’t see further ahead than the ends of their noses. Like the guys who gave HS2 and Huawei the go-ahead in the first place.
      At least this one didn’t die. So many lately you forget which was which and where.

  61. When we were last down south, we visited this beautiful garden in Dorset which is strongly recommended if you are in the area.

    MINTERNE GARDENS – a fascinating Himalayan collection of rhododendrons & azaleas has been listed in The Top Ten Gardens in The Times. Set in the Minterne Valley and landscaped in the manner of Capability Brown in the 18th Century,

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3kWH6BFzuI

        1. Yes. Sadly having just sold our house today I’m unlikely to ever see them in flower again….

          1. I hope it’s the not seeing of your lovely garden that is sad, not the selling of your house, Sr. Should congratulations be in order for selling your house?

  62. Chaos as broken down train leaves passengers stuck for FIVE HOURS

    The Greater Anglia chaos continues with their new trains being even less reliable than the old ones. They are breaking down daily

    Angry passengers were stuck in limbo for more than five hours after a new Greater Anglia train heading to London broke down.

    It was one of the two new intercity trains built by Stadler, which are currently being rolled out on the line.

    Disgusted passengers reported a lack of toilet access, air conditioning and electricity while the train stood at a standstill for hours in the east of the capital.

    Video footage on board the train showed police officers and Network Rail engineers passing through the carriage, while Mr Nunn said passengers were initially told to cross the line to a relief train by walking across a plank – which was later U-turned after not having a risk assessment.

    “The train fitters came onto the train and could still not fix the train.

    A spokesman for Greater Anglia said a specialist team of engineers from Switzerland, the home of Stadler, to assist with the issue to help improve the reliability of the new trains.
    A Greater Anglia spokesman said: “We are very sorry for the length of time that customers were caught up in this problem and the major inconvenience they have suffered as a result.

      2. They have gone for the jackpot tonight 9 out 9 line are subject to delays and cancellations

  63. Highways England’s smart motorways policy killed drivers, says ex-minister

    These have proved to be a highly dangerous disaster

    1. Minor correction, Bill.

      These have proved to be a predictable and widely predicted highly dangerous disaster.

      Whoever signed off on their introduction should be facing manslaughter charges.

        2. …the refuges are to small to get out of safely danger without closing a lane

          is what I think you meant to say.

  64. “The UK has chosen to become a third country; to leave the Single Market
    and the Customs Union; to leave behind the EU’s framework of common
    rules, common supervision and common Court of Justice,” Mr Barnier said.”

    ROFL……..

  68. Evening, all. Bitterly cold wind today – when I went riding I had to wear my hunting kit because it was the warmest riding wear I possess! When I came home, I spent an hour or so digging up my borders to try to save the plants and bulbs from the mini digger that will be digging up my drains and wrecking my borders in the process. I fear the peony will not survive the move.

    1. It is very sad to lose precious plants – I lost my beautiful clematis last year after growing it for many years…..but I needed a ramp building up to my front door for my chair. My neighbour potted a few other shrubs and all but two survived so you may be lucky. Depends on how deep the roots are. YES!! – it is very cold today.

      1. I saw the picture of your lovely clematis. Such a shame. The peony was well established (it had been there for many years) and alas, I damaged the roots when I was digging it up. Peonies don’t like to be moved anyway, so I think this will be a replacement job (and then a wait for the new one to flower).

        1. Yes, it was very sad but once we repair and have the cottage painted, we can plant something else. This will make you laugh…..when the ramp was finished, the clematis was in full bloom above the window. The ramp builders left it there and just took out the trunk – my hubby said (He’s 81 lol) well at least they left your clematis alone…..rofl. We all laughed about that. He is not green fingered.

        2. We have peonies in our garden that I first saw in my wife’s father’s garden, when I was first dating her almost 50 years ago. They have survived two house moves since then, in 1978 and in 1987 and the occasional transplant within the garden.

          You may be OK.

          2. Part of the problem is, the border has to be cleared and I don’t have anywhere to put it in the meantime (it will be replanted in the same border once the work has been done) so it’s in a large pot at the moment. Replanting it then digging it up again in a week’s time would surely give it the coup de grâce.. It had started to bud as well, which can’t help.

    2. Peonies seem to be quite hardy. My son had to dig up some peonies on a building site and brought the tubers home and though they didn’t get too well treated initially (moved about, replanted, something dumped on top of one) they have somehow survived the mistreatment and are managing to grow and we even got a flower or two last summer.

      1. You are giving me hope! It was a very nice, dark red one. Fingers crossed it will make it. I did move one a few years ago that hadn’t been so long established and that died, so maybe it’s me!

        1. Best of luck, hope your plants survive. I can’t make any useful suggestions, as we probably didn’t do anything right in gardening terms.

  69. ROFL…just out of interest, I have just checked the menu for an Inn near us. Underneath all the dishes, there s a ‘suitable for or contains’ info statement. There is ONE for vegans….Melon Balls….’Suitable for Vegans’……made me laugh……if you want anything else, go elsewhere – came to mind.

    2. Sat Bains at his Michelin star restaurant said of his menu that to just serve Veg at his prices would be a rip off. He does an extensive well researched many course taster menu which he has balanced the flavours of. To offer a vegetarian option or even a vegan option is unthinkable.

  70. New light shed on the causes of Down’s syndrome

    A new insight into the causes of Down’s syndrome was revealed today by London scientists.
    They found the genetic factors that cause the learning disability were more varied than previously thought.
    The University College London-led team of researchers described the findings as a “complete surprise” and said they could pave the way for different therapies. About one in 800 babies worldwide are born with Down’s syndrome, with the prevalence rising due to older mothers.

    The condition is caused by a chance happening at the time of conception that results in an extra copy of chromosome 21. Pregnant women are offered NHS screening to check for the syndrome.

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/new-light-shed-causes-of-down-s-syndrome-university-college-london-a4346951.html

    1. Sadly AFP screening doesn’t always work . The wife of a chap I once worked with had all the tests but they didn’t pick up Down’s.

    2. Downs people are loving and caring and full of delight. I would prefer more of them than the Muslim rapist bombing truck driving stabby bastards Just my opinion….obviously my being a racist male stale and pale bigoted old bastard has me pigeon holed.

    1. Rik!!!….good to see you. Hope you are feeling a little better! Love the gifs. Sleep well….xxx

    3. Goodnight Rik. You were mentioned often at night while you were away.

      I hope the worst of the lurgy is now past and that new set of medications is working for you.

  72. Huawei, raab admits risk in UK telecoms cannot be eliminated, reads to me like UK security can be if things go breast’s up.
    Could any of the current MPs have a touch of philby in their porfolio’s & a yen for the ren ?
    Both parties involved have a very high treachery count
    so personally I would put my trust in Goldilocks residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington Dc.

      1. T,
        Said by a true ersatz tory, as in the cry nearly four years ago, leave it to the tory’s.
        Since then the tits have entered the stratosphere

      2. T,
        You saying there is value in sh!te ? I know where there is muck there is brass but sh!te, no way.

    2. Anyone with the knowledge and experience of the past 60 odd years of our politicians will know that we were sold down the river by these people.

      It might have started with Macmillan and his successors, principally Heath, Wilson, Callaghan and even Thatcher. Major and Blair took us further down the road to non-nation status and Brown did the rest.

      Watching TV earlier I was struck by the perception of Hugh Gaitskell the Labour leader at the time. He understood the question of our inevitable loss of sovereignty as did Enoch Powell and Michael Foot.

    2. There are no such persons as Palestinians but an assortment of Arabs who once dwelt peaceably among the Jews of Israel.

      There is little chance of that stability returning as long as the Iranians keep funding arms to the anti-Israeli militias.

      From an Israeli perspective it must be intensely irritating to have to defend a constant barrage from militias operating from across border residential areas and schools. On the other hand it must be irritating to Arabs working in Israel to have to submit to discriminatory or harsh treatment by border security personnel when the they move to Jerusalem and other cities for work.

      1. Agreed on all counts.
        The so-called Palestinian nation is an excuse for the likes of Iran to keep the various Arabia vs Israel wars going. They have never made any secret of their desire to wipe Israel from the map.

      1. It’s a biggie. The 19 posted testimonials are from over 100 miles away from the epicentre

          2. No, but some low lying places could experience a fair amount of damage as that 1m is not just a single wave but is a sudden and sustained inrush of powerful flow.

  77. English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald. The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

    The Armada by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Lord Macaulay (1800–1859)

    ATTEND, all ye who list to hear our noble England’s praise;
    I tell of the thrice famous deeds she wrought in ancient days,
    When that great fleet invincible against her bore in vain
    The richest spoils of Mexico, the stoutest hearts of Spain.
    It was about the lovely close of a warm summer day, 5
    There came a gallant merchant-ship full sail to Plymouth Bay;
    Her crew had seen Castile’s black fleet beyond Aurigny’s isle,
    At earliest twilight, on the waves lie heaving many a mile.
    At sunrise she escaped their van, by God’s especial grace,
    And the tall Pinta, till the noon, had held her close in chase. 10
    Forthwith a guard at every gun was placed along the wall;
    The beacon blazed upon the roof of Edgecumbe’s lofty hall;
    Many a light fishing-bark put out to pry along the coast,
    And with loose rein and bloody spur rode inland many a post,
    With his white hair, unbonneted, the stout old sheriff comes; 15
    Behind him march the halberdiers; before him sound the drums;
    His yeomen round the market cross make clear an ample space;
    For there behoves him to set up the standard of Her Grace.
    And haughtily the trumpets peal, and gaily dance the bells,
    As slow upon the labouring wind the royal blazon swells, 20
    Look how the Lion of the sea lifts up his ancient crown,
    And underneath his deadly paw treads the gay lilies down.
    So stalked he when he turned to flight, on that famed Picard field,
    Bohemia’s plume, and Genoa’s bow, and Caesar’s eagle shield.
    So glared he when at Agincourt in wrath he turned to bay, 25
    And crushed and torn beneath his claws the princely hunters lay.
    Ho! strike the flagstaff deep, sir Knight: ho! scatter flowers, fair maids:
    Ho! gunners, fire a loud salute: ho! gallants, draw your blades:
    Thou sun, shine on her joyously; ye breezes, waft her wide;
    Our glorious semper eadem, the banner of our pride. 30
    The freshening breeze of eve unfurled that banner’s massy fold;
    The parting gleam of sunshine kissed that haughty scroll of gold:
    Night sank upon the dusky beach, and on the purple sea,
    Such night in England ne’er had been, nor e’er again shall be.
    From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford Bay, 35
    That time of slumber was as bright and busy as the day;
    For swift to east and swift to west the ghastly war-flame spread,
    High on St. Michael’s Mount it shone: it shone on Beachy Head.
    Far on the deep the Spaniard saw, along each southern shire,
    Cape beyond cape, in endless range, those twinkling points of fire. 40
    The fisher left his skiff to rock on Tamar’s glittering waves:
    The rugged miners poured to war from Mendip’s sunless caves:
    O’er Longleat’s towers, o’er Cranbourne’s oaks, the fiery herald flew
    And roused the shepherds of Stonehenge, the rangers of Beaulieu.
    Right sharp and quick the bells all night rang out from Bristol town, 45
    And ere the day three hundred horse had met on Clifton down;
    The sentinel on Whitehall gate looked forth into the night,
    And saw o’erhanging Richmond Hill that streak of blood-red light.
    Then bugle’s note and cannon’s roar the death-like silence broke,
    And with one start, and with one cry, the royal city woke. 50
    At once on all her stately gates arose the answering fires;
    At once the wild alarum clashed from all her reeling spires;
    From all the batteries of the Tower pealed loud the voice of fear;
    And all the thousand masts of Thames sent back a louder cheer:
    And from the farthest wards was heard the rush of hurrying feet, 55
    And the broad streams of pikes and flags rushed down each roaring street;
    And broader still became the blaze, and louder still the din,
    As fast from every village round the horse came spurring in;
    And eastward straight from wild Blackheath the warlike errand went,
    And roused in many an ancient hall the gallant squires of Kent. 60
    Southward from Surrey’s pleasant hills flew those bright couriers forth;
    High on bleak Hampstead’s swarthy moor they started for the north;
    And on, and on, without a pause, untired they bounded still:
    All night from tower to tower they sprang; they sprang from hill to hill:
    Till the proud Peak unfurled the flag o’er Darwin’s rocky dales 65
    Till like volcanoes flared to heaven the stormy hills of Wales,
    Till twelve fair counties saw the blaze on Malvern’s lonely height,
    Till streamed in crimson on the wind the Wrekin’s crest of light,
    Till broad and fierce the star came forth on Ely’s stately fane,
    And tower and hamlet rose in arms o’er all the boundless plain; 70
    Till Belvoir’s lordly terraces the sign to Lincoln sent,
    And Lincoln sped the message on o’er the wide vale of Trent;
    Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burned on Gaunt’s embattled pile,
    And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle.

      1. Lines on the Antiquity of Microbes, also known simply as Fleas, is a couplet commonly cited as the shortest poem ever written, composed by American poet Strickland Gillilan in the early 20th century.[1]
        The poem reads in full:

        Adam
        Had ’em.

    2. All those Spanish ships wrecked while running south past Ireland accounts for a lot of those dark swarthy Irishmen.

        2. You can still buy cloaks such as that from a number of places. I have 3 for “special occasions” such as St Georges Day or some others. I cannot find a picture of the “standard English cloak and tabard” of mine, but I did find 2 of the others that I have. They can be as hot as hell to wear as they are made as close to the originals as practicable, with no metal zips or anything that was not available at the time. They do keep the chill out though, come twilight:

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cf17774866368e4ae70f2268db29e4cd1ca9fdcd35d130a69138c729ef9a76c4.jpg

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/91c62ff4922540ac6af7b3048cd724e6a11cd6ab5f652474ead9bded52e45cf8.jpg

      2. I met a chap whose name was Caddick – he looked very Iberian to me – I wondered if he had Spanish ancestry …

    3. Welcome to our humble abode. Point of order, though – it’s hard to see Skiddaw from much of Carlisle. Not even from Skiddaw Road, at least at ground level. The roof of the Civic Centre offers the best vantage point, but wrong era… :-))

  80. Really is this johnson chap (Pm) for real ? he has made a move to heal the UK / US rift over Huawei “promising”
    it will never happen again.
    We are ALL aware of the value of a tory vow, promise or
    pledge so no worry’s there then.

    1. That is very good. 🙂

      Those poor Remainers. It is like shooting fish in a barrel. If only they had the level of understanding to realise that taking us out of the European Union is the best thing that could possibly happen to them and this country. But if they understood enough about the real world to see that, then they would be Leavers anyway.

  83. ‘King John’

    John was a tyrant, John was a tartar
    John put his name to the Magna Carta
    Every baron from Thames to Tweed
    Followed the road to Runnymede.

    Every baron had something to say
    To poor perplexed King John that day.
    “Pray sign your name,” said Guy de Gaunt,
    “It’s easily done and it’s all we want.”

    “A J and an O and an N” said Hugo, Baron of Harpenden.
    Quietly spoke the Lord Ranbure,
    “Oblige Lord King with your signature.”
    “Your name my liege, be writ just here,

    A mere formality,” laughed de Bere.
    “A stroke of the pen and the thing is done,”
    Murmured Sir Roger of Trumpington.

    “Done in a twinkling,” sniffed de Guise.
    Said Stephen Langton, “Sign if you please!”
    So many people egging him on
    I can’t help feeling sorry for John.

    1. King John was not a good man—
      He had his little ways.
      And sometimes no one spoke to him
      For days and days and days.
      And men who came across him,
      When walking in the town,
      Gave him a supercilious stare,
      Or passed with noses in the air—
      And bad King John stood dumbly there,
      Blushing beneath his crown.

      1. :o( That’s me on a Saturday night. Am i noble or just a total knob? Don’t answer that !

  84. From that other site:
    Let’s give Brexit an anthem and force the BBC to play it on their chart show.
    Dominic Frisby’s hilarious pro-brexit 17 million f*off song is available to buy on Amazon or iTunes for a quid.
    It is currently at number two, let’s make it number one!!!
    Frisby is donating all profits to the “Maggie Oliver Foundation”. (Survivors of the Rochdale scandal).
    https://www.themaggieoliverfoundation.com

  86. Be quick. Get outside and take a look at the crescent moon and a brilliant Venus in a clear sky.

    5:45pm

    2. Thankyou for that alert – really is brilliant. I would not have known that was Venus. I am now expecting the the Three Wise Men to pop by any moment.

        2. Thankyou – that looks useful next time I wish to identify a heavenly body in the night sky.

  87. The Brook

    I come from haunts of coot and hern,
    I make a sudden sally,
    And sparkle out among the fern,
    To bicker down a valley.

    By thirty hills I hurry down,
    Or slip between the ridges,
    By twenty thorps, a little town,
    And half a hundred bridges.

    Till last by Philip’s farm I flow
    To join the brimming river,
    For men may come and men may go,
    But I go on forever.

    I chatter over stony ways,
    In little sharps and trebles,
    I bubble into eddying bays,
    I babble on the pebbles.

    With many a curve my banks I fret
    by many a field and fallow,
    And many a fairy foreland set
    With willow-weed and mallow.

    I chatter, chatter, as I flow
    To join the brimming river,
    For men may come and men may go,
    But I go on forever.

    I wind about, and in and out,
    with here a blossom sailing,
    And here and there a lusty trout,
    And here and there a grayling,

    And here and there a foamy flake
    Upon me, as I travel
    With many a silver water-break
    Above the golden gravel,

    And draw them all along, and flow
    To join the brimming river,
    For men may come and men may go,
    But I go on forever.

    I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
    I slide by hazel covers;
    I move the sweet forget-me-nots
    That grow for happy lovers.

    I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
    Among my skimming swallows;
    I make the netted sunbeam dance
    Against my sandy shallows.

    I murmur under moon and stars
    In brambly wildernesses;
    I linger by my shingly bars;
    I loiter round my cresses;

    And out again I curve and flow
    To join the brimming river,
    For men may come and men may go,
    But I go on forever.

    Alfred, Lord Tennyson

    1. SALLY IN OUR ALLEY.

      Of all the girls that are so smart, there’s none I love but Sally;
      She is the darling of my heart, and she lives in our alley.
      There’s not a lady in the land that’s half so sweet as Sally;
      She is the darling of my heart, and she lives in our alley.

      Her father makes cabbage nets, and thro’ the streets doth cry ’em;
      Her mother she sells laces long to such as please to buy ’em.
      But sure such folks could never own so sweet a girl as Sally;
      She is the darling of my heart, and she lives in our alley.

      When she is by, I leave my work, I love her so sincerely;
      My master comes like a Turk, and bangs me most severely.
      But let him bang his belly full, I’ll bear it all for Sally;
      She is the darling of my heart, and she lives in our alley.

      Of all the days that’s in the week I dearly love but one day,
      And that’s the day that comes between Saturday and Monday.
      For then I’m drest all in my best, to walk abroad with Sally;
      She is the darling of my heart and she lives in our alley.

      My master carries me to church, and often I get blamed.
      Because I leave him in the lurch as soon as the text is named.
      I leave the church in sermon time, to walk abroad with Sally;
      She is the darling of my heart, and she lives in our alley.

      When Christmas comes about again, oh! then I shall have money;
      I’ll hoard it up, and box and all, and give it to my honey.
      And would it were ten thousand dollars, I’d give it all to Sally;
      She is the darling of my heart, and she lives in our alley.

      My master and the neighbors all. make game of me and Sally;
      And but for her I’d rather be a slave, and row a galley.
      But when my seven long years are out, oh! then I’ll marry Sally;
      Oh! then we’ll wed, and then we’ll bed, but not in our alley.

  88. A good article from Allison Pearson in the DT

    Sorry, Remainers, but you made us fight for Brexit – we deserve a party

    A comment under the article with which I agree:

    Why weren’t both Heseltine and Clarke expelled from the Conservative Party when, in treacherous style, they shared a platform with Tony Blair against their own party which was, at the time, led by the once resolute William Hague who seems to have been mysteriously corrupted since then and seduced into the Remain faction.

  89. 3 days to go to B day

    I thing I will put a flag pole up on Friday evening and fly the EU flag and at exactly 11pm, the flag will be lowered and the last post played and then the Union Jack will be raised to the tune of There’ll Always Be an England

  90. That’s better.
    Tuesday Session Night at the Old Bank in Matlock Bath.
    Out just the back of 7, up Clatterway and through the village past the church to Masson Farm.
    Then drop down the steep path to Upperwood Road and down to the Parade and the pub. A decent hour’s walk.

    Two & a half hours later, after three decent pints, three songs and a listen to some good singers & performers, back home again in a respectable 50 minutes!
    A quick back, light supper and now ready for bed!

    Goodnight all.

  91. BTL comment in Spectator Coffee House; you can probably guess the column subject.
    May I suggest that the motorway manager may have a problem with logical thought?
    ….”I heard one “smart motorway” manager explain on TV that there are fewer incidents on hard shoulders reported when there aren’t any hard shoulders….”

    4. That sort of comment is the same one used by those who want to lower moral standards everywhere. As one example – legalising certain drugs, and then more drugs, then even more of them. “When the substance was made legal in X then the rate of drugs offences plummeted.”

      Yes, but now there are more people using them than ever before, but you are just not calling it a crime you poorly-educated muppet.

  92. I know that China does have a great deal of cultural history, and I can see why some would go there for a holiday to see how our future overloads lived their lives before world domination kicks in. I can understand why those tourists should be brought out of any contamination zones and put in quarantine here for a month along with the aircraft and its crew.

    But there have been a few people who are full expats out there that we have seen on the news saying” “We have heard nothing from the government and feel let down and forgotten.” I do have some difficulties with that way of thinking. You have moved there and chosen to live your life there. Whatever citizenship they still hold, China is now “their government” not the United Kingdom. Although, with China’s record, keeping British Citizenship sounds as if its a “get out of jail free card” to be played if China decided that you have been naughty.

    That must be a cold and sobering day when you sit down with your children when they reach the age of deciding their own futures. You can almost hear the words:

    “I knew something was up! I don’t look anything like any of my friends! What was that? You mean that I could have been raised in England’s green and pleasant land. With it’s history, it’s traditions, it’s freedoms… But you decided to move us to China and raise us here. I am going for a walk father, I may be some time. Oh no, wait! That is not my culture either is it?!”

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/30ebcf35504abcd60673e070362b28fdad9f37967ce6946d787164866936a1c5.jpg

    1. Probably find many (most?) of those expats are there because of their jobs. That’s why we first came to the US all those years ago. And no, I would not expect HMG to send a gunboat to rescue us. Besides, it could not get over the rapids further down the river…

      2. I wouldn’t class those who are there on a temporary work placement, and who fully intend to return home once the contract is completed, as ex-pats. I was speaking of those who have chosen to move to a country with no intention of coming back at all. As the old saying goes:

        “It’s all fun and games until people start dropping in the streets.”

        On that cheery note, I have a series of programs lined up to watch that should take me until 04:00AM, so have a good night chap. 🙂

  93. Have the airports been alerted that a large number of luvies going to be fleeing UK on Friday. I would not hold you breath though luvies are full of hot air

    2. To see Hugh Grant pontificating makes me smile. Exactly what what he caught doing,I really can not take him seriously.

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