Tuesday 29 October: Voters are losing faith in politicians who hide behind unelected bodies

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

793 thoughts on “Tuesday 29 October: Voters are losing faith in politicians who hide behind unelected bodies”

  2. Good morning, chums, and thank you Geoff for today's new NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,228 3/6

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    2. Good morning Elsie and all
      Wordle 1,228 3/6

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    1. I can understand now why so many young people kill themselves. They suddenly realise the world they live in isn't the same world everyone else lives in.

      1. 395460+up ticks,

        Morning Pip,

        I make you right, for sure NOT the same mainly decent world their grandparents lived in.

        1. Good morning.

          It was interesting to watch one of these specimens. Though to give her (?) credit she was more coherent than K.Harris.

          It was also interesting to see her programming.

    2. “We know for a fact”.

      Yeah, sure

      I know for a fact the moon is made of green cheese, too

      1. No, Mir. I know for a fact that it is made out of Wensleydale cheese, as proved by Wallace and Gromit.

    4. The two most lethal religions today – Climate Changism and Roperism – we are all DOOMED, DOOMED I say!

  4. Good Morning to GG and All Nottlers
    Today's Tales – Lawyers Again
    (With more apologies to Bill, but I'm sure he's heard these before).

    You seem like an intelligent, honest man who wouldn’t lie to the court,” the lawyer said sarcastically to the witness.
    “If I wasn’t under oath I’d return the compliment,” said the witness.

    The clerk addressed the prisoner in the dock. “Prisoner, do you wish to challenge the jury?"
    The prisoner looked at the jury. “Not all of them at once,” he said, “but I reckon I could go a few rounds with the little fat guy in the middle.”

    Did you hear about the lawyer who was so big that when he died they couldn’t find a coffin big enough to hold the body.
    They gave him an enema and buried him in a hat box.

    What do you call a barrister with an I.Q. of 25? Your Honour.

      1. Sorry to hear that, Phizzee, I still have 2 or 3 large packs of Tena Proskin Comfort Incontinence pads left over from my dear departed (and doubly incontinent) wife. I didn't throw them away in case the same affliction happened to me.

        1. I am sorry for your loss. I keep my wheelchair for the same reason.

          I only have to wear Tena occasionally.

          Depends how the medication and food go together.

          I was only being silly.

          1. MRNB
            In the shower just now, I realised that the Budget will be revealed to us TOMORROW, when I had written today in my earlier post. Oops!

            Many of us older folk have a reasonably decent house in the South East and have gained increased savings from the sale of their deceased parents' homes. So they will likely be able to benefit from the Inheritance Main Residence Nil Band of £175,000 each for self and "partner" when they eventually leave their assets to their children. For those who don't understand, here's a link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/inheritance-tax-residence-nil-rate-band

            But if Ms Thieves and her chums decide to do away with the MRNB it will cost my two sons an extra£ 140,000 (that's £350,000 @ 40%) in Death Duties (there, I've called it what it really is!). Life's good, but death's extra rotten when it adds even more tax to assets that have already been taxed at least twice.

            I'll be 84 next January. My Dad lived to almost 99, his sister to 103 and my mother's sister to 100. So since I drink very sparingly, have never smoked and exercise daily, I reckon I might make it to 100 unless I encounter the Big C. That's unless life becomes so unbearable that I will take my leave myself, ideally via a small bottle of Oramorph, if it becomes available (by a change in the Assistance in Dying Law) to those who need it.

            Fear not, I'm not leaving yet. And you know I'm a cheerful sort, from the daily jokes that I post.

          2. The nil rate band for housing is a ridiculous policy because it:
            A) doesn’t aid those who rent or have a low value property but lots of savings so it disincentivises the elderly from selling up at a point where they might (depending obviously on individual circumstance) improve their quality of life by downsizing and/or moving to live with family or into sheltered accommodation.
            B) applies a threshold for tapering off – all such policies have unanticipated consequences (as with the tapering/ loss of the tax fee allowance if one earns over £100K)

            The IHT and gift allowance provisions are painfully out of date and a decent government would address this but the Tories were too scared of the lefty MSM and Labour just sees anybody (except themselves and their donors) who has any assets as ripe for milking in their bid for enforced ‘equity’.

          3. Lola, I take issue with your point A):

            If folks with children have lots of savings but a cheap or rented home, they should be following Matthew 7: v9-11. in giving good gifts to their children. (NB, I'm an Atheist but I can and do follow this teaching from The Sermon on the Mount). If they sit on their savings and need to go into Care, these savings will mean that they grossly and unfairly subsidise other "guests" who have spent all theirs and get reduced charges. Get on and pass the money on while you can. It feels good and helps the offspring when they need it most.

            And I don't see how the MRNB policy 'disincentivises the elderly from selling up' since the one thing that greatly disincentivises them from downsizing is the shocking Stamp Duty, for which you don't even get a Receipt. MRNB is an Inheritance Tax 'discount' that kicks in only when you die, leaving a property plus savings worth more than a million pounds.

            I am also confused about your point B): 'applies a threshold for tapering off'. Do you mean that the MRNB is a 'cliff' of £175,000 after which all legacies are taxed at 40%?. If so, I agree.

            Lastly, I DO agree wholeheartedly with your statement that 'The IHT and gift allowance provisions are painfully out of date'. Hear, hear.

          4. Last Words on IHT
            I've often been banging on about Inheritance Tax on this blog. This may sound uncivil, but I didn't inherit my father's legacy until he was nearly 99 and I was already 71 years old. Given my own 'long genes' as described above, I don't wish my own sons to have to wait until I may be nearing 100 before sharing in my good fortune (and prudence). That's why I am diligently (and legally) passing it on now, while I'm "only" 83. Nuff said.

          5. And of course the story of the wise and unwise virgins is also related by Matthew:

            Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

            While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: "Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him."

            Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

            The moral is that you should provide for yourself and not rely on others. This is the complete opposite of Tarmwer's policy – those who have tried to provide for themselves will be punished.

            As you are a purveyor of smutty stories (as I am) you may remember this story from your schooldays:

            There was a power cut at Roedean School, near Brighton and all the lights were out for three days The headmistress rang up the electricity board and said: "Please send some competent men with appropriate tools because my girls are fed up with using candles."

          6. Dear Richard,
            Purveyors of smut, are we? I shall close down the Today's Tales spot if you go on like that </sarc>.

            My 2 boys sons are well set up and can manage well without me. But being fortunate in having a very generous company pension as well as savings, I particularly do not want my heirs, when I go, to have to donate wheelbarrow loads of my savings as IHT to support the undeserving, for whatever reason.

            Some will say that I am merely kicking the IHT can down the road in adding to their relative wealth in their 50s, but it was once said (by Groucho?) that "money isn't everything, but at least you can be miserable in comfort".

          7. The nil rate band for housing is a ridiculous policy because it:
            A) doesn’t aid those who rent or have a low value property but lots of savings so it disincentivises the elderly from selling up at a point where they might (depending obviously on individual circumstance) improve their quality of life by downsizing and/or moving to live with family or into sheltered accommodation.
            B) applies a threshold for tapering off – all such policies have unanticipated consequences (as with the tapering/ loss of the tax fee allowance if one earns over £100K)

            The IHT and gift allowance provisions are painfully out of date and a decent government would address this but the Tories were too scared of the lefty MSM and Labour just sees anybody (except themselves and their donors) who has any assets as ripe for milking in their bid for enforced ‘equity’.

          9. The genes are king when it comes to longevity. Oramorph, must look into that, just in case.

          10. I think a sense of levity about life and what it throws at you is just as important as genes and I'm not sure about the genes because modern medicine can beat that. My best friend is my age but he should have died, like his father and grandfather, in his 50s but far from dying, he is healthier than I am. Stress, I believe, is the main killer.

          11. Oh, stress is a killer for sure, but some people can be more prone to stress than others. Back to genes again perhaps.

          12. My mother and two of her siblings made it into their 90s.

            My father made it to 85¾ but two of his brothers, both doctors, lasted rather longer.

          15. When MOH died, not only did I lose the money from the pension and the carer's allowance, the government then taxed me more on less income. Talk about a triple whammy.

        2. Phizzee, thanks for your kind concern (which I took as humour of course). I have kept the commode and other kit as well for the same reason.
          It's just occurred to me – I may actually NEED incontinence pants after I listen to the Budget later today.
          EDIT: Sorry Phizz – I should have posted this as a reply BELOW your apologetic post, else it dosn't make sense.

        3. Phizzee, thanks for your kind concern (which I took as humour of course). I have kept the commode and other kit as well for the same reason.
          It's just occurred to me – I may actually NEED incontinence pants after I listen to the Budget later today.
          EDIT: Sorry Phizz – I should have posted this as a reply BELOW your apologetic post, else it dosn't make sense.

        4. Phizzee, thanks for your kind concern (which I took as humour of course). I have kept the commode and other kit as well for the same reason.
          It's just occurred to me – I may actually NEED incontinence pants after I listen to the Budget later today.
          EDIT: Sorry Phizz – I should have posted this as a reply BELOW your apologetic post, else it dosn't make sense.

  7. 395460+ up ticks,

    Dt,

    The way things are shaping in dear old Blighty I can see this as being a vote winner in any of the odious governing parties manifesto.

    Suffering in the United Kingdom via the polling stations will really come into its own with the signing of the unconditional surrender papers to islamic forces.

    Taliban bans women from ‘hearing other women’s voices’
    Militant group is ‘waging an all-out war against us’, says one Kabul resident in response to the bizarre rule

    1. Would that mean that I wouldn’t hear Angela Rayner, Esther Rantzen, Rachel Reeves, Amy Nickell-Turner, Tessa Dunlop or Diane Abbott?
      🤔

          1. Oh Anne, the brilliant Tom Lehrer. this was one of his best, with terrific internal rhymes and a snappy tune.

            I actually went to one of his concerts in Bristol in 1958, when he was 30. He is STILL around at the age of 96, and has generously placed the lyrics of all his many witty songs in the Public Domain.

            In 1958 I bought his Song Book (Songs by Tom Lehrer), memorised most of the words and much later, personally sang The Hunting Song to a Rotary Christmas Party. It always goes down well.

  9. 395460 up ticks,

    The town is seemingly a micro view of the country as a whole, first elect the odious then WINGE LOUDLY.

    Dt,
    ‘He’s a nasty little man’: The Runcorn constituents disgusted by their brawling MP
    When a video emerged of Mike Amesbury seemingly punching a resident, voters were enraged – and now their town is in the spotlight

      1. 395460+ upticks,

        Evening C,

        We would never have got to where we are today as a nation, without the continuing input of the lab/lib/con coalition voters.

  10. Believe it or not this is a serious question.

    Why does my cup of Yorkshire tea taste of fish?

      1. Just looked. Kettle is okay.

        I googled fishy tea and i either have Parkinsons or i am pregnant.

        I'm going to be a mummy !!!

        1. Do you feel the sudden urge to interview lots of people? No? Then it's not Parkinsons.

        2. Morning Phizzee

          Fishy business?

          Do your pooches need their anal glands emptying , if they are doing a Michael Jackson moonwalk across your kitchen floor or anywhere scraping their botties which are full glands that smell of fish .. very pongy botties , yes, phew ?

      2. Google did mention medication. But also colds, flu and allergies. Well i have had all those recently.

        I think after my shopping arrives at 11am i'm going out (on the razz) to lunch.

      1. Back to basics.
        I don’t think it was my taste buds. I think i should have drawn fresh water. In fact leave the tap running for 30 minutes.

        I’m not metered and i live on a hill. So i don’t care !

  11. Conspiracy theorist’s company funded Tommy Robinson film. 29 October 2024.

    The film that earned Tommy Robinson an 18-month prison sentence was funded by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, it has emerged.

    Robinson, 41, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was sentenced on Monday for committing contempt of court 10 times by repeating false allegations against a Syrian refugee.

    No comments allowed.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/29/conspiracy-theorist-funded-tommy-robinson-film/

    1. If they can stamp the CIA's favourite phrase "Conspiracy theorist" on anyone, so much the better…never mind that the film exposed complete corruption of the justice system.

  13. At work, in front of Lefties or small children.. it's best to start off with the phrase "I'm no fan of.."

    Tommy Robinson jailed in the blink of an eye.
    Back-peddler of the month: Mike Amesbury demanded social media posters be fast tracked through courts and sentenced. He has been caught red handed on CCTV in six different angles for doing a lot less.
    And please stop going on about Manchester Airport victims Fahir Amaaz and his brother Muhammad Amaad. This fuss has the brothers genuinely concerned about their safety.

    1. The fast tracking was only for those who plead guilty. Those who didn't have been remanded for long periods, such as the ex Royal Marine charged with something to do with his YouTube video. Appeared in court in August, next appearance February 2025 – and remanded in custody. Why have no politicians or media challenged Starmer over this? Fast tracked justice only for guilty pleas? Blatant two tier justice.

      1. And that ex Royal Marine commando Matty Taylor aka The Angry Bootneck needs to be extradited back to UK for mocking Starmer & BBC on a twice weekly basis.
        What is it with these armed forces types.. waving Union Jacks and all that?

      2. And that ex Royal Marine commando Matty Taylor aka The Angry Bootneck needs to be extradited back to UK for mocking Starmer & BBC on a twice weekly basis.
        What is it with these armed forces types.. waving Union Jacks and all that?

      3. And that ex Royal Marine commando Matty Taylor aka The Angry Bootneck needs to be extradited back to UK for mocking Starmer & BBC on a twice weekly basis.
        What is it with these armed forces types.. waving Union Jacks and all that?

      4. You will not be remanded in custody though if you call for the slitting of white people’s throats on national TV though.

        I know that because Ricky jones is out on bail in out two-tier clown world justice system

        1. He was remanded in custody just long enough for the 'riots' to fade from the media's gaze

      5. Shouldn’t be there but I hope he’s exercising his right to appear in court, in person not on CCTV, to put the system to shame. I retired as a Magistrate’s Court Usher in 2011 and, IIRC, a remand prisoner had to appear in court on regular basis, I think it was 8 days but stand to be corrected. If that rule of Habeas Corpus still exists these prisoners could coause even further meltdown of the system.

        1. Habeas Corpus went out with the European Arrest Warrant (to which May signed us up voluntarily).

          2. You can be arrested and imprisoned abroad for something that isn’t even illegal here and held while they build a case (that being the continental way of doing things). Look up Andrew Symeou.

    2. The Terriblegraph’s headline above its article on Tommy called him “far roght”. If i could be bothered i’d contact the wditor and ask him what he means by “far right” and what proof he has that Tommy is indeed that. But as the Terriblegraph is a lost cause (admittedly the best of a very bad bunch) I will let it go.

  14. 395460+ up ticks,

    The patients waiting at Calais and back through europe MUST be denied entry at dover, everyone granted entry through the "ALL party accommodate the world at the indigenous tax payers expense campaign" means a step back for every true born & bred man woman & child resident of these Isles.

    Dt,
    NHS will need more tax rises, ministers admit
    Chancellor says billions more for health service will not undo ‘14 years of damage’ under Tories

    The blame game is NO answer to suffering.

    1. Your penultimate paragraph about the NHS is disingenuous.

      At least as much damage was done during the eleven years since Alan Milburn (now a political adviser for the Starmer Government) became Health Secretary and handed over this vast, expensive empire to his hardworking, aspirational, striving spivs in global finance, who flogged off real estate to developer chums and put up substandard blocks in their place, tied up with highly lucrative for some maintenance contracts. I don't think there has been a decent Health Secretary since, Sajid Javid maybe.

      I was born next door to the civil servant who actually set up the NHS after the war, but was too young to hear what he had to say about it. They knocked his house down in 1971. My mother tells me though that it became a shadow of what it was set up to be. The chancers got in, it seems, and ruined it.

      1. Airbrushed out of most NHS histories is that the 1944 White Paper was introduced by the Conservative Health Minister, Henry Willink (albeit under a coalition government). If the Tories had won the 1945 election, we would had a far better NHS model that the one Labour introduced.

  16. Good morning all.
    A grey start but clearing up now and blue skies appearing with a tad under 7°C on the Yard Thermometer.

    A trip to see Stepson in Stoke and sort out his gas and electric bills.

  17. Trump’s greatest feat has been convincing ordinary Americans that he’s on their side. He is not. 29 October 2024.

    For all their faults, at least Biden and Harris seek, however unevenly, to shield the people of the United States from the worst aspects of capitalism. But Trump is the worst aspects of capitalism, condensed into human form: the greed, the lies, the rip-offs. While he remains vague on the detail, a collection of rightwing goons, under the aegis of Project 2025, have laid out the road he will most likely follow.

    Well I’m glad Biden and Harris are really on our side. I would never have guessed. The reality is that the Donald is not without his faults. On the other hand the Political Elites of both the US and UK are our mortal enemies. They seek our destruction in the cause of Global Hegemony.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/29/donald-trump-greatest-feat-ordinary-americans-capitalism-republican

      1. Remember, he who controls the language, controls the narrative. We need to stop using their terminology.

    2. That is one of the most vitriolic polemic I have every read. George Monbiot is so consumed with hatred for Trump it wouldn't surprise me if he prayed daily for his assassination – it is that acrimonious. Monbiot is so embittered of Trump it is difficult to describe.

    3. I started reading a most interesting article on Substack arguing that there are two vague groupings of oligarchs fighting it out for control of us plebs. We can see the technocrats, but Trump represents the let-it-rip, capitalism without constraints type.

      Unfortunately, since I have a life, I left the rest.of the article to red later, and as we all know, that is Not Allowed on any platform; we have to devote all our time to said platform or it will refresh and present us with something different.

      (Oops, didn't mean to grumble!)

      1. The woke woman doing the intercessions on Sunday referred to "let-rip capitalism without constraints." She was, of course, only interested in "fairness and equality" (not to mention being nice to the invaders refugees.

  18. Sleeping on the job: One in 10 Britons admits to napping while working at home.

    The Daily Telegraph, 29 Oct 2024, By Alex Barton.

    WORKING from home has fuelled a surge in the number of adults napping on their employer’s time.

    Nearly one in 10 Britons admitted to regularly taking naps during their working day when they are not in the office. The most popular period for those enjoying a siesta was found to be between 3pm and 4pm, a poll of 2,000 people found. The estimated 4.3 million people napping could cost employers up to half a billion pounds a week in lost productivity.

    The research, commissioned by Reign Storm, a sugar-free energy drink company, comes as businesses are increasingly encouraging staff back to the office with a growing number of employers starting to monitor attendance. A survey of 150 industry leaders by KPMG UK found that more than a third of bosses expected employees to be at their desks at least four days a week and almost half planned to track staff using swipe systems.
    In another poll of 500 bosses by the recruiter Robert Half, more than two thirds of employers said presence in the office significantly affected their chance of being promoted.

    However, 71 per cent of workers claim they are more productive when they are able to work from home at least some of the time, the research found. It comes as Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, prepares a shake-up of workers’ rights described as the biggest overhaul in a generation. As part of the package, flexible working, including the right to work from home, will become a default.

    The Government is set to introduce statutory guidance on when companies can refuse workers permission to work flexibly, such as if someone has management responsibilities or needs to train junior staff, Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary, has said. There is expected to be a spike in flexible working requests as a result of the changes.

    Despite Britain’s growing siesta habit, the Reign Storm polling found that the equivalent of more than three million Britons had quit their jobs because of negative feelings caused by tiredness.

    There is no such thing as "working from home". Its proper name is SKIVING.

    1. As ever, the answer lies somewhere between the two. Most of my working life was either in the great outdoors or required a lot of travel as well as being team based so WFH was impractical. In the latter years I would often sandwich the travelling week with a day or two working from home which was just as productive as driving to a site or office. There are plenty of people who 'attend' work and are unproductive, likewise many who are very productive. These traits are personal and applied regardless of work location. The focus should be on output not time in a particular location.

    2. Maybe we could look at tiredness, and why so many (including myself) are afflicted?

      It has become unfashionable in the last fifty years to provide everyone with stable and effective domestic support, and anyone suggesting that this is women's work had better be wearing a hard hat and know where to hide.

      Nevertheless, I think we underestimate the importance to health and well being of a square meal, regular exercise, undisturbed sleep, a clean environment and an atmosphere of love and hope, rather than dwelling always on abuse and dread.

      1. Divorced men not taking care of themselves and their health suffering as a result is a sad and neglected cliché. But I spend a lot of time cooking, doing fitness training, making sure I get to bed early, cleaning and trying to stay positive. When you know that your health depends on these things, why wouldn't you do them?

        1. Unfortunately, depression begets depression. Once people are in a downward spiral they rarely do the things that would help to lift them out of it, especially if they are on their own.

      2. The "love & hope" bit is most important. If somebody cares for you, it gives you a lift.
        I've been off work all this week, and will be so tomorrow for tests. I'm really touched how many colleagues have pinged me to enquire after my health and am I OK? They didn't need to, but they did. That gave me a real boost, after feeling down due to the Ukraine crap, and some as-yet unknown medical condition. T will tell them that when I see them again.

    4. Careful with that insult! I was a professional skiver. After I left the army I worked in a tannery for a while. I was the only skiver and they were glad of my skiving talents. – and I got paid for it to. I'll bet you are jealous aren't you?

    5. Occasionally I would have a kip at lunch-time at work. My favourite place was underneath my desk (it was large, with a 'modesty board'/draught board across the front) which was handy because if anyone poked their head around the door they wouldn't see me and I would remain undisturbed. On one occasion I heard the handle go, footsteps across the room and the phone receiver being picked up on the opposite desk. Oh Lordy, I heard his voice. It was the head of the department (we are talking University of Cambridge here) and there I was under the table. Oh please, dear God, don't let his conversation be anything personal….. fortunately it wasn't, and he never knew I was there. I couldn't understand why he had used that particular phone, I suppose he was just passing and thought 'oh, I must just phone xyz whilst I remember' and another item was ticked off his list of things to do.

  19. Morning all.

    Yesterday I posted my letter to the DT on here with the expectation that the Letters Editor would ignore it. Mildly surprised to see it as the lead letter today, albeit that they've chopped out my suggestion that the introduction of the Judicial Appointments Commission and Supreme Court has politicised the justice system.

    4. An interesting point you make that Jeremy Hunt supported the OBR when it contributed to the removal of Liz Truss as prime minister.

      I would like to know what skulduggery and blackmail was used to force Liz Truss to appoint Hunt as chancellor when his ideas on the economy were so very different to hers.

      1. An important point to remember about Liz Truss's short premiership is the chaos taht she and her Chancellor inadvertently caused in capital markets. Pension funds MUST hedge well ahead, many years in fact; IIRC, either the whole industry or possibly one single large provider was temporarily in deficit by one trillion pounds when gilts fell as interest rates increased by about 60% (3% > 5% ?) and the Bank of England had to intervene.
        E&OE, because gilts etc are not my field.
        Edit: yes, it was a disaster waiting to happen, but nevertheless it was on her watch.

      2. An important point to remember about Liz Truss's short premiership is the chaos taht she and her Chancellor inadvertently caused in capital markets. Pension funds MUST hedge well ahead, many years in fact; IIRC, either the whole industry or possibly one single large provider was temporarily in deficit by one trillion pounds when gilts fell as interest rates increased by about 60% (3% > 5% ?) and the Bank of England had to intervene.
        E&OE, because gilts etc are not my field.
        Edit: yes, it was a disaster waiting to happen, but nevertheless it was on her watch.

  20. Good morning all,

    Foggy morning , 10c, no breeze, the alarm clock spaniel had us up at 6am bouncing around , needing a garden visit and his breakfast , then the cat appeared from where I don't know .. through a window I think, meowing loudly .

    This letter..

    The Navy’s sacrifice

    SIR – One hundred and ninety-five years ago, after a deadly exchange of cannon fire at close range, HMS Pickle captured the slaver Voladora off Cuba, with slaves bound for plantations.

    The Voladora was larger and had a crew twice the size, but the Pickle closed, and after an action of 80 minutes the Voladora surrendered. Two hundred and twenty-three African men and 97 African women, who had been bought in Africa, were freed. The British crew imprisoned the slavers in their own chains.

    The Royal Navy lost more than 10,000 men stopping the slave trade (Letters, October 28). Powers that were willing to sign up for agreements they had no intention of enforcing were obliged by Britain to act, but, even more importantly, the lawlessness of the oceans was brought under control and the slave trade forced into the backwater of history.

    That was a great achievement of imperial Britain, and we should be proud of our Navy’s sacrifice.

    Admiral Lord West of Spithead (Lab)
    London SW1

    Does anyone know why the Admiral chooses to use (Lab)..

    His politics cut against the grain .. why , does a fully braided Admiral support the Labour party?

    1. You could look at this another way: the fact that a clearly accomplished and patriotic man allies himself with Labour should give us pause for thought about out own assumptions. Just sayin'.

      1. He has to present his affiliations, I believe.

        Just notable that he's speaking up for a party that is, traditionally a race baiting unpleasant lot to tell the truth: that Britain is the best country in the world and owes no one anything.

    3. And they want the UK to pay them out? After many actions as described above, the UK being about the only nation to actually do anything useful to stop slavery.

    4. No no no, we were obviously racist assuming we had a right to free the slaves clearly showing we were white supremacists.

  21. Apropos the chap who was in a fight with a thuggish MP about bridge. I mentioned yesterday evening that bridge can cause serious disputes. For example, this from 2010:

    A former world championship bridge player has been jailed for life for murdering his wife in a knife attack.

    Stephen Green, 52, stabbed Carole Green, 57, 100 times at their flat in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire.

    A jury at Preston Crown Court took 75 minutes to convict the former British Aerospace worker after a week-long trial.

    The murder followed his constant criticism of her card-playing.

    He was ordered to serve a minimum of 23 years after being found guilty of her murder.

    The court was told of the couple's stormy relationship, Green's heavy drinking and constant bickering about Mrs Green's playing abilities at Lytham Bridge Club, where they first met.

    3. Yo Mr T

      He must have been knackered after stabbing her 57,000 time.

      Sh must haave been a biiiiiig woman

    4. 100 times? The effort required to do that when you can off someone with one. He must've been properly fed up.

      However, I can sympathise. A long time ago my mother went off at me for something and went to hit me with a rolling pin. Being far bigger and stronger I took it out of her hands and could easily have beaten her quite severely. She just wasn't worth the effort.

      It took many years of support and guidance to deal with that part of my character.

      1. That is unfair to all bovine creatures.
        Typically a Labour MP will not listen to or understand the truth.

        1. Truth confuses them. Doublethink is natural to the Left wing mind. They must be in constant, terrible pain from refusing the evidence of their eyes.

      1. A typical lefty, determined that only her voice will be heard. GB News has some thoughtful, intelligent lefties on and I find them worth listening to even though I disagree with them. Why did they book this harridan?

      2. You cannot have a reasonable debate with a completely unreasonable woman!

        I must clarify: not all women are unreasonable and many men are just as unreasonable as unreasonable women are!

        (I dug the hole and had better stop digging asp)

      1. "… could we come back to the discussion…."

        "… Jacob, you're not listening…" after she's tried desperately to derail the point.

        It'd be far simpler to say to these nations demanding reparations 'We'll pay you 10bn and here's the bill for everything we've given you – 40bn. Pay up'.

      1. And rude.

        She certainly got Mr Rees-Mogg's goat!

        As they do not say in France: Même le chèvre du Rees-Mogg était bien pris.

    5. As far as I understand it, most of the Caribbean countries have run up quite large debts since independence -African countries too. QED

  23. In today's The Conservative Woman:

    By disowning Tommy Robinson, is Reform shooting itself in the foot?
    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/by-disowning-tommy-robinson-is-reform-shooting-itself-in-the-foot/

    I am glad to see that those of us here who have been banging on about the damage Reform is doing to itself are not alone.

    It is self-defeating snobbishness to think that if you do not like the manner of a person's dress, his manner of speech and the language he uses that his views and his courage to stand against oppression and injustice are not completely praiseworthy.

    Farage's contempt for Robinson is based upon his own snobbishness; I am no supporter of either Johnson or Cameron but when they were in office he banged scathingly on about their Old Etonian background – and his inverted snobbishness was equally nauseous.

      1. They cannot support him. They cannot endorse him. As soon as they do the entire establishment will go for them, like rabid dogs.

        A better option would be for Jenrick to point out – obliquely – that freedom of speech must mean hearing things we do not want to. It must mean hearing untruths. It must mean being insulted. How we bear those insults is the judge of our character.

        He could also point out the state using force to silence dissent is simple abuse, and used by authoritarian Left wing regimes throughout history.

    2. By disowning Tommy Robinson, is Reform shooting itself in the foot?

      No.

      The only clear route to removing the uni-party is through conventional politics and the ballot box. Reform are the only serious option. Farage knows he needs to steer a cautious course and he's right to do so.

      1. The one word paragraph used by you and by Fiscal McPhee immediately above illustrates the problem. Starmer, and his globalist cohort in all parties, rely on divide-and-rule to get away with whatever they impose the nation, and nobody will have the authority to stop him.

        I may suggest that TR, as a British subject of the King (even though he is Irish), is as entitlement to the same rights and privileges as those enjoyed by anyone else in what I hope can once more become a free country. He may speak his mind as he will, and if he is wrong, then we have the right and duty to point this out.

        The Syrian refugee he has been found guilty of libelling is entitled to the same level of justice for as long as he sets foot on our land, even as a guest, but it is the right of any host to eject a troublesome guest from the party.

        I would like to know more about this Syrian refugee – if he is entirely innocent of what TR is accusing him of, then I wish to be told, and really there should be some sort of character witness evidence produced that debunks as malicious gossip what TR has to say. I do not see TR's own evidence being properly tested in court, and this for me is where the justice system breaks down. I may be wrong, but justice needs to be seen to be done, and such deliberations now made public.

        The real question is whether there is a miscarriage of justice. Under our system, there is the Court of Appeal, then what were the impartial Law Lords, but since politicised and replaced by Tony Blair, and finally an appeal to the King. If any of these routes are blocked, then there remains an unresolved possible miscarriage of justice which cannot be tolerated by the nation without serious repercussions.

        There then leaves the issue over TR's involvement with the English Defence League, which is a proscribed organisation deemed a threat to national security in the same spirit that the British Union of Fascists once was.

        How far do we take political censorship though? The Overton Window boundaries can be easily shifted with a bit of propaganda, and movements brought in that should not be proscribed if free democracy is to mean anything. Too relaxed though, and one brings in, say, the Paedophile Information Exchange, which breaches a pretty powerful taboo in our society. It also brings in militant religious movements, which may well be a serious threat to national security.

        It is a great pity that the Left refuses to have this debate, and that organs like the New Statesman do not permit public discussion. Everything has to be directed from the platform. I'm sorry, but this goes against everything I thought the Left stood for when it comes to public accountability.

        1. A clear and eloquent summary, Jeremy.

          The problem we have is that the left is not patriotic. It is internationalist. It is globalist. Therefore it attacks everyone and everything that supports or defines the nation and its culture.

          I think Farage, Tice & Co underestimate the scale of the problem. It can only be effectively challenged by uniting the patriotic right, no matter how distasteful some elements may be. Get it right, win and the distasteful elements will fade away. That is why I think Reform is wrong.

          1. I had understood that the Left believes that rights and privileges should be universal, but then those purporting to be on the Left spout forth about favouring "working people" over others, or that some lives matter more than others.

            They cannot have it both ways. Either we are all in it together or we are not.

            The nation state arises from the need to provide a sanctuary from malign elements, alien to all it holds dear. Sometimes the Left must adopt a nationalist stance to protect what it believes in. They seem to have forgotten this.

          2. No, it doesn't. The Left believes rights are bestowed by the state and controlled by the state. It is actively opposed to individual freedoms and liberty as it cannot control them. Look at Starmer's dogwaffle: as you say 'working people'. A definition he can control but refuses to make, as everyone is a working person, but some are more equal than others.

            The Left use nationalism as a weapon against those they hate. Look how quickly they scream 'racist' at those pointing out the danger of muslim terrorism or mass unemployment due to uncontrolled gimmigration.

            For the Left, there are no values. Just weapons.

        2. Right and wrong are irrelevant when the state is being challenged, Jeremy. The hate Robinson simply because he has embarrassed them. They cannot allow that to pass, so they punish him. Evidence and effort will be fought because it's not welcome. No doubt endless machination will be applied to ensure his side cannot have a fair trial. They don't want him to have a fair trial. Even his after dinner speech was refused.

          This is the reality of the Left. Hatred. Blind, total, abject intolerance. It has always been thus with Left wing government and people.

    3. Here is a BTL post by Paul Westson under the article in TCW

      Why should the Reform Party support Tommy? Reform is essentially the Conservative Party of 1979, which is all well and good, but not exactly what is needed in Britain 2024 – or indeed Britain 2050.

      Tommy recognises the mortal threat posed by Islam against Western/British/English civilisation. Reform does not recognise this threat. If they did, they would be required to offer a solution to said threat, which would then place them in the exact same camp as Tommy.

      Reform never stated they would be the genuine saviours of Christian/Post Christian England. Why then, should they be expected to behave as if they were? Or in other words, forget about Reform in their entirety if you genuinely want to achieve anything in the sphere of cultural/racial survival.

      Stopping the boats does not ensure our survival. And every day our numbers decline as our enemies grow. I would say we are now just two election cycles away from losing our democracy. Birth rates and demographic realities cannot be argued against.

      Without revolutionary politics, England will be subsumed in our lifetimes – even for those as old as me. Tommy is a revolutionary. Farage is not. And as for Tice…. I will limit myself to suggesting he is simply a mid-wit chancer. When Reform threw Ben Habib under the bus in favour of Tice, they effectively told you all you needed to know about their seriousness as a potential Saviour Party.

      1. Well I agree about Tice but he makes the common error of believing you can reverse decades of drift to the left in a few short hops.

      2. Blair forced massive uncontrolled gimmigration to create a dependent voting block. A complete lack of democracy allowed him to do this. Post Brexit the state happily poured sewage on to this country because it appealed to their petty spite to punish those they hated. That it could have been stopped was irrelevant. The Sunak forced the Windosr agreement on us embedding the hated EU further into our laws.

        It was a choice by big government to ruin this country and ruin it has done.

  26. A BTL Comment I just made:-

    No comments allowed on this article:-

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/29/conspiracy-theorist-funded-tommy-robinson-film/

    But I wonder if the author or even the editor can tell me what they mean by the term "Far Right"?

    Given the Leftward drift of politics over recent decades those, like myself, who hold fast to opinions that only a short while ago were considered mainstream with much crossparty support, have become isolated to the right of the current mainstream opinion.

    A mainstream opinion that is increasing been driven by a comparatively small clique of journalists and politicians.

    To be honest, I do not consider myself as Far Right, but rather a Reactionary against current day madness.

    2. And by what criteria do they calculate 'mainstream' opinion? Or is it something just taken as fact with no real basis or evidence for it? There's a lot of that about.

      2. Will he now face a recall petition from his constituents………or are they just for Tory MPs?

        1. Why are we putting forward petitions? Why is the only way to have our voice heard creating a petition and then having MPs debate it if a certain threshold is reached, only for them to then ignore it?

          If we want them gone, we say so and they are gone. That is democracy. None of this 'please sir, could you…'. They're damned staff. No more useful or relevant except as paid contractors.

    2. But writing hurty words on twitter is not violent protest. Nor is shouting at a police officer. Lefties do this every Saturday. The reason people were jailed was because the Hard Left state wanted to crush dissent. It wanted it's own way and rather than, as a Right wing government would have done, ignore the complaint, it destroyed the people complaining. It didn't care that children had been killed. It made no cause for that. It just wanted to hurt those rejecting it's appalling arrogance and used force to do that, as Left wing states always do.

  28. Assisted dying or euthanasia is one of the most contentious topics of the day, and Richard Scott asks all the necessary questions to start a debate in his article Assisted Dying – Are you For or Against? . Please read it, join the debate, and let us know what you think. At the other end of the scale, FSB's Grumpy Old Man rides out again with a glorious, epic and funny rant about life's many little irritations . I bet many will, if you are honest, recognise yourselves, but if you don't, ask your spouse if he or she recognises you.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. Could use some funny today, after reading about the war in Ukraine. Left me at the point of tears, so it has.

      1. As I predicted long ago, Ukraine has lost and is being kept on life-support by the West, which started the war to bleed Russia. It all back-fired, but they cannot let it ewnd until after the US election.

        1. I don't know if we did start the war (honestly, not as statement). The area is ethnically Russian. It's a bit like Southern Ireland shelling Northern Ireland, British troops moving in to support the NIrish and then SIreland getting uppity about it.

          Because that's never happened….

        2. I don't believe the civil war in Ukraine had anything to do with "bleeding Russia", and it's moot who started it.

          More to the point, half of Ukraine has a special relationship with Poland and Lithuania, and the other half with Russia. No problem when Lithuania was in the USSR and Poland a vassal state, but there was bound to be conflict once Poland and Lithuania joined the EU and NATO.

          They were arguing about it democratically for years about it before one side and then the other took the initiative, and from then it descended into a Laurel & Hardy farce, and it's the Model T Ford that falls to pieces.

          1. Too much to say and no time to say it. I hope to get an article on it soon, where we can debate all day.

        3. Correct, Tom.
          The election bit I hadn't factored in. Of course, you're right.
          Still hasn't stopped the killing, maiming and overall destruction… unfortunately, it's not a video game where all stand up ready for fight the next game.

  29. 395460 +up ticks,

    This latest odious band of political carpetbaggers the
    tactical voting simple minded technicians have have saddled decent peoples with must realise, these political cartels are playing ALL parts as in. the cowboys/indiens, the cops /the robbers, new equipment needed for the NHS financed by the indigenous tax payer,first time users the invading troops, long time losers the British tax payer.

    Far better value for tax payers and beneficial to ALL Brits would be to people fund and man three English
    channel fast patrol boats ( ex druggies transport) to daily patrol, as an anti invasion squadron.

    Dt,
    Reeves: Budget tax raid not enough to fix NHS

    1. Rachel from Accounts is quite right to say the budget tax raid is not enough to fix the NHS (shurely 'our' NHS – Ed)

      The NHS has enough money – it needs to be more efficient, less bureaucracy, less identity politics, charge patients who are not entitled to NHS treatment, improve procurement etc

        2. Which, of course, is why no other country [as far as I am aware] has chosen to follow the same model!

      3. Yes, it isn't money, the NHS could consume our entire GDP and still need more. The problem is an inherent inability to be efficient.

        Much like the rest of the public sector. Reeves keeps saying the 'spending gap' needs to be covered but ignores that they're spending too much. But, as someone who just slapped her bills on a credit card which was eventually refused for excess and couldn't manage her own home bills, despite slapping most of them on expenses it's no wonder that's her attitude.

        1. No one has any incentive to look after his/her own health if everything is “free” (At the point of delivery).

  31. Seems that the front in Ukraine is about to collapse. Too many Ukrainian deaths, too much materiel damage, and a real loss of morale amongst the Ukies.
    Reading the article (behind paywall, I believe – anyway, in yer Norwegian) has really depressed me today. I'd hoped that the world had grown up enough to not feel that arguments should be settled with body counts in the hundreds of thousands. I was wrong.
    https://www.aftenposten.no/verden/i/dRMpJq/rakner-fronten-i-ukraina-de-begaar-et-massemord-paa-vaare-soldater

      1. Interest flagging?

        (Two f*ckwits in this village have those stupid blue and yellow flags aloft)

          5. There are two little corners to the Wash. If you draw a line from near Kings Lynn to the Severn Estuary, it gives a fairly rudimentary guide to North and South. Better than Watford.

            The other point near Boston to the Mersey delineates North from the Midlands.

            What always amazes me is that Edinburgh, on the East coast of Scotland is west of Bristol.

          1. I can understand him flying his flag in support of his countrymen but it is unacceptable to fly it from the Church.
            I hope someone has remonstrated with him.

          2. It has been mentioned that this is against diocesan rules but I’m not in a position to know. Others on here May do.

          4. I’ve looked for your comment but unfortucannot find it. Is it possible to repost in a reply to me?

          5. It was this one:
            Guidance from the CofE website on the subject of flying flags reads:

            "If flying the flag of St George from your church, the diocesan arms must be included in the top corner nearest to the mast, as defined by the 1938 warrant by the Earl Marshal.

            Other flags, such as the flag of the Union, any country’s national flag, the flag of the Commonwealth, together with Her Majesty’s forces flags, may be flown as long they are maintained in a condition that does not impair the overall visual appearance of the church, and they are kept in a safe condition.

            Further information on the Government rules around flying flags is available here"
            Source: https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/churchcare/advice-and-guidance-church-buildings/flags-and-military-colours

            My view is that the most appropriate flag to fly would be the English Flag (with appropriate diocesan arms as specified) as it is The Church of England, not the United Kingdom, with other national churches in other parts of the UK.

          6. Thanks very much, Angus. It would seem acceptable then to fly the Ukrainian flag. Seems a bit strange to me for a Church to be flying the flag of another nation entirely.

          8. Not really it's a Church of England church and it does not fly the Cross of St George it flies the Union Flag (Jack)

          9. Guidance from the CofE website on the subject of flying flags reads:

            "If flying the flag of St George from your church, the diocesan arms must be included in the top corner nearest to the mast, as defined by the 1938 warrant by the Earl Marshal.

            Other flags, such as the flag of the Union, any country’s national flag, the flag of the Commonwealth, together with Her Majesty’s forces flags, may be flown as long they are maintained in a condition that does not impair the overall visual appearance of the church, and they are kept in a safe condition.

            Further information on the Government rules around flying flags is available here"
            Source: https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/churchcare/advice-and-guidance-church-buildings/flags-and-military-colours

            My view is that the most appropriate flag to fly would be the English Flag (with appropriate diocesan arms as specified) as it is The Church of England, not the United Kingdom, with other national churches in other parts of the UK.

          10. I had cause to write to one of the local churches suggesting they learn the correct orientation of the Union Jack/Flag. They didn't reply but the next time I was near the church there was no flag.

          12. I guess they must have a dispensation granted by prior (pun intended) legislation, and that the CofE general guidance would omit reference to those kinds of individual exceptions.

      3. Yet another case where Britain joined the wrong side.

        Instead of negotiating an agreement to stop the fighting the hubris of Johnson, Biden and Zelenskyy was gagging for war.

      4. 'Cos it's al going South.
        Awful statistics, for both sides. Again, so many young men killed and maimed.
        Humanity is a bastard.

          2. Bonking Bozo Boris the clown? Is that who you mean or the fuckwit charlatan Johnson bastard Boris the fat lardarse?

    3. The war was used by proxies. Why? I imagine it helped the balance of payments and let us get rid of obsolete kit.

      From the outset our press has promoted a one sided argument: Ukraine good, Russia bad with absolutely no discussion whatsoever of the wider geopolitics. Worse, Putin was blamed for gas prices soaring – because it suited out government – when they were rising anyway due to a lack of local storage.

      It's just a nasty, miserable abuse of everyone the only winners being the political classes.

      1. As Basil Fawlty once said of the Germans "you started it; you invaded Poland" (forgetting that the Russians also did, but there were no Russian guests at the time, so they got let off). (Actually strictly speaking it was Ukrainians that crossed the Bug and massacred the Polish villagers in Kryłów.)

        Likewise, who invaded who on 24th February 2022? Being invaded hardly makes Ukraine the aggressor this time, whatever provocations and foreign meddling went on.

        Before the invasion, I was arguing that Ukraine had to choose between strict neutrality or partition. Now their choice is between vassaldom and sovereignty. Lest Russia thinks it a walkover, Genghis Khan's relentless and brutal march westwards was halted by the Dnipro.

        The price of fuel went up because of sanctions against Russia, which promptly sold its oil and gas elsewhere. Making a moral stand rarely comes cheap. How else does the UN stop a more powerful nation playing "might is right"?

        1. You have to also take into account the Ukrainian aggression against the two breakaway provinces in the run up. It's like the bully who taunt and taunts another child at school, hiding their things and slyly poking them with a pencil and then when the other child reacts and hits out, "Miss! Miss! he hit me!"

          2. The aggression has been overwhelmingly by Russia, with Ukraine in self-defence. I think it is Russia which is the school bully here, and Ukraine the nerd being poked with a pencil, except it is rather more vicious than a pencil.

            The UK has some experience with controlling troublesome provinces. The Scots have been fairly benign for a while, but there has been a bit of bother with the Irish. How does the British Government deal with the IRA? How does the Maidan Government deal with aggressive pro-Russian separatists?

            It’s been a couple of centuries though since the British went in heavy-handed with the Black-and-Tans, and there has been no British bombardment of Belfast or any other Irish city. In return, the partisans have limited themselves to shooting off kneecaps, the odd pub bombing and of course that assassination attempt on the British Prime Minister.

            There is even a closer parallel with the Irish republic, in that like Crimea, it successfully broke away, leaving the north still to be fought over. When Russia took Crimea off the Ottoman Turks, they were pretty brutal to the Tartars, who even to this day prefer to be ruled by Ukraine than by Russia. The colonists that took over there were largely Russian, and so it is logical that they identify more with Mother Russia. Nikita Khrushchev, himself Ukrainian, gifted Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR in the 1950s.

            More to the point, when the USSR broke up in the 1990s, Crimea remained in Ukraine, rather than joining the Russian Federation then. Why was that? I know there was some deal over nuclear weapons, whereby Ukraine would hand over its Soviet era stockpile to the Russians in return for some concessions, including a special deal over energy, which the Ukrainians then profited from by selling on to the Germans.

            The Donbas, whilst ethnically more Russian than Ukrainian, held most of Ukraine’s industrial capacity as well as the Sea of Azov being an important fishery. Ukraine was not going give it up easily, since it would leave it a vast impoverished agricultural land, and landlocked if Russia took Odesa too. With access to their old imperial power Lithuania blocked by Belarus, they would have to woo Poland, Moldova and Romania to stand any chance of trading with the world.

          5. Well it is easy to dismiss all criticism of the USA/Ukraine as “Russian propaganda.” But the only honest position is then to say that you don’t believe anything from either side, and therefore not to have a view on it.

          6. The concept of “USA/Ukraine” is as ridiculous as that of “Russia/North Korea”. They are separate nations, each pushing their own agendas.

  32. Some single people overcome it though. Sometimes you have to force yourself to do things even when you don’t feel like doing them.

    2. When you are clinically depressed, it's not possible to "force yourself to do things". Been there, done that.

      1. I was actually talking about divorced men who die young rather than depressed people, though there is overlap of course.
        The only advantage of having lost my youth to depression is that I developed very strong mental strategies for dealing with it.

  33. It's not 'divide and rule'. We want the same outcome but have different views on some of the nuances of the journey. TR & co are part of the pushback as much as Reform. TR is taking it to the streets, Reform through the ballot box. All part of the same effort but needing different approaches. A bit like the same football club with different approaches to cup and league football – a terrible analogy but out of necessity as I need to take the dog for a walk…………..!

    1. The ballot box, by giving such power to a party on a 20% mandate, has failed me. It is a long time since I have considered parliament has any legitimate right to rule over me – the way the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act of 2013 was pushed into law made a travesty of voting, and set a precedent that now brings parliamentary democracy into disrepute. Nobody outside parliament voted for it, since it was never put to the people in any form other than as a fait accompli.

      I wouldn't have minded so much had it made it to an election manifesto, but it didn't even make it to the Queen's Speech, and the Second Reading debate was a disgrace.

      Sometimes a sincere manifesto pledge proves to be unworkable in Government, either with access to more information or with changing circumstances. Breaking such a pledge can be made for good reason, but it does need to be tested by the Opposition.

      Two such pledges come to mind – Clegg's manifesto promise in 2010 not to raise tuition fees, which was dumped a few weeks into office. That was indeed gratuitous, and if he had any honour, he would have ended that Coalition there and then unless the Tories compromised.

      The other is more recent, and Starmer's pledge not to raise taxes for "working people" is palpably ridiculous, and was done mainly to deceive the electorate. Considering that fewer voted for his party than they did when it was led by Jeremy Corbyn, the only way he got away with it was because of disillusionment with the Conservative Party by their core vote.

      What is the alternative then, other than to take to the streets and/or engage in non-co-operation with the authorities?

      1. But this is the problem, Jeremy. The Left have shown, as they always do, that if you disobey, if you reject them then they will destroy you. The unpersoning, the forcing a criminal record because the state does not like what you say is how they force their goal – totalitarian dictatorship.

        There is nothing that can be done – yet. They know this. However, they're also architects of their own doom. As they're creating a situation where people have no choices. Where there is no positive outcome no matter what you do. Then people will have no choice but to rebel and then, well, I wouldn't want to be a Lefty then.

        Oh, big fat state will call up military force because force is all they know. But when there's no power, no fuel, no energy what will they do ?

        1. When I bought my lunch at the races, the chap next to me in the queue ordered two cottage pies – £5.50 each. The girl serving couldn't work out how much he had to pay! I said, "what will you do when the till goes down?" The other girl said, "use a calculator". "And when there is no power for the calculator?" No answer.

    1. We have students with us at the moment. Caroline always loves to correct any little mistakes I make in order to encourage our students and show them that even her husband is not perfect!

      She has reminded me that, against reason, le chèvre means goat's cheese (in spite of the fact that it comes from a female goat) and that la chèvre is the term used exclusively for a female goat. Le bouc is the term for a male goat.

      President Mitterrand – who was noted for his sexual indiscretions – was given the soubriquet of un bouc errant. (A randy old goat!)

  35. Ask him (though it is prolly a her) how Zelensky managed to get his hands on $40 billion….. And why the Ukes killed 14,000 Russian ukrainians….

  38. Hoik a brick through their window.

    I was in a local pub a few months ago. They had all the flags and a collection bucket.

    I lit a cigarette and they went mental.

    I walked.

  39. It's the envy of other health services. They'd love to get away with the waste, inefficiency and lack of service provision!

  41. OT – that "stolen cheese" story. Something doesn't ring true, to me. However clever the scam – I cannot believe that a long-established company would supply £300,000 worth of cheese without having the money first.

    That they overcharge for cheese generally is another matter!

  43. How very odd. My first post of the day started out at the bottom as the very first post of the day. So I reproduce it here.

    Morning all. Started off sunny now it's getting gloomy. Everyone,. I hope, is hunky dory.

    Todays start off offering. Report that the jailed demonstrators are being attacked by Muslims in jail.

    LIVE: British Political Prisoners Targeted By Islamic Cellmates
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSg2Zu18Jn8&t=151s

    1. I was hunk dory until i started making a pork Ramen.
      I can't think who had that daft idea.
      Oh ! It was me.
      Next time i'm ordering in. Sheesh. What a bloody rigmarole.
      Still…at least i had the gochujang.

      Good morning JR….Just !

    1. What?.. the charismatic Gerard Batten. Does he have a powerful friend in the White House?
      UKIP has no Members of Parliament in the House of Commons.
      As for Laurence Fox.. meh.

  45. NHS staff told it is unacceptable to refuse sharing toilet with trans colleagues

    The training, titled 'Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Human Rights Skills', was required for all staff, including off-payroll workers

    NHS staff have been told in mandatory training that it is unacceptable to say that you do not want to share toilets with transgender colleagues.

    The training, introduced by NHS England in August, was titled "Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Human Rights Skills" and was required for all staff, including off-payroll workers. A 23-page document included five case studies and multiple-choice questions to assess employees' understanding of discriminatory behaviour.

    One section, labelled "transphobic colleague", stated that asking trans staff to use gender-neutral or disabled toilets could constitute illegal harassment. It adds: "It is always an individual's choice to use whichever facilities match how they identify."

    A concerned NHS worker, who shared the document with the Daily Mail, expressed feeling pressured to complete the training. The whistleblower said: "Passing this training is required in order to progress your pay and career, and ultimately even to be employed by NHS England. For all the supposed commitment to 'diversity', if you don't agree with the ideology of a dominant clique, you either have to lie or leave."

    The training document also said that "people, rather than women, become pregnant and take maternity leave". Another case study described a community nurse being reprimanded for offering to pray for a patient's recovery, as it failed to demonstrate a commitment to equality and diversity.

    The document explained that by promoting "equality and diversity", the NHS "will bring great advantage to the workforce, the wider NHS and the population we serve". It added: "Promoting equality, diversity and inclusion are [sic] at the heart of the values of NHS England."

    Women's rights campaigners have criticised the training as "partisan and ideological". They have written to Amanda Pritchard, the NHS's chief executive, calling for changes to be made.

    Maya Forstater, chief executive of human rights charity Sex Matters, wrote in the letter: "The training in respect of sex, gender reassignment and belief discrimination conflicts with and in some places actively contradicts the law.

    "It is partisan and ideological, and it puts NHSE at risk of undertaking mass discrimination and harassment. We call on you to recall and review the training to ensure that it is in line with the law and with your responsibilities under the public-sector equality duty and the Human Rights Act."

    The NHS has since withdrawn the module and said it will be replaced "in the next few weeks". An NHS spokesperson told the publication: "This guidance is out of date and has already been removed as new training is being developed."

    https://www.gbnews.com/news/nhs-staff-trans-colleagues-refuse-sharing-toilet-unacceptable

    A rather lazily written article veering from 'is' to 'was' but it demonstrates the madness of modern Britain, notably the highlighted assertion about 'values'.

    I doubt the new training manual will differ much from the old. Sick-minded men will still be dressing up to get into the women's toilets and changing rooms and the UK will continue to spin towards mental, moral and social disintegration.

    1. "Promoting equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of the values of NHS England." Healthcare is of course a secondary consideration.

      1. Healthcare? Interesting. I think I'll write to my MP suggesting that as an option for the NHS

    2. Before all this tosh came out, a man in a dress kept using the women's loo. He'd pee everywhere, made a right mess of it. The women complained, rightly that a man was using their toilet. This was put a stop too.

      Now, that man would be able to make a mess of a women's area with impunity.

      1. Indeed. The above is just free permission for any man to use women's lavatories. He only has to say he identifies as a woman today. It's already happening in public spaces.

    3. It's important.

      I reckon they became emboldened by the recent victory in the Oz (captured) courts that declared insane-trans-woo-woo-rights trump the Equality Act.. making women's spaces (and I mean lidderally intimate women's spaces if you get my drift) accessible to any aroused pill-poppin commie AGP pervs.

      Exhibit 1.. aroused pill-poppin AGP perv. accompanied by concerned activists with look of compassion & concern.
      .
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d535edb69b956c2d4fdfa32a664ad300392f829b1f5df3f1ca886d23761a25da.png

    4. And those who disagree with this crackpot stuff will be discriminated against and excluded.
      What an absolute buggers muddle.

  46. North Korean troops ‘secretly taken to Kursk front line in civilian lorries’. 29 October 2024.

    North Korean soldiers are being covertly transported to the front line in Russia’s southern Kursk region using civilian lorries, according to Ukrainian intelligence.

    Some of the North Korean soldiers have already moved closer to Ukraine, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said.

    Let us hope the Ukies don’t read the Telegraph. These propaganda articles become sillier by the day.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/28/north-korean-troops-transported-front-line-civilian-lorries/

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/28/moscow-pipe-water-burst-video/

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/10/28/ukrainian-activists-pressure-cadbury-owner-links-russia/

      1. North Korea is one of the countries with the largest submarine fleets in the world.
        Will the massed assembly of all those periscopes provide an enhanced view of Kyiv?

    3. Yo Minty
      A fiddle

      Hamas et la troops ‘secretly taken to Dover front line in rubber boats 29 October 2024.

      Asian soldiers are being covertly transported to the front line in UK's southern Dover region using disposable rubber boats, but this is not so, according to "HM Government Intelligence" (which is an Oxymoron)

  47. Just took a look at this week HIGNFY.

    Don't bother.

    Pathetic biased rubbish.

    Just to be a la mode they have a tranny and a lefty comedian.

    Besides them they have Grayson Perry and Angela Barnes.

          1. Drag queens were funny. Loved Lily. I was four rows back in the middle at the Palladium.

            I bet Lily could have got material out of that too !

            Quite a lot of paedo's now disguise themselves in a similar fashion.

            I know exactly how Lily Savage would have responded to them.

        2. Hoho! They removed 2 polyps for biopsy, and I’m jolly sure they watered down the sedation! Budget cuts, I reckon! The whole thing was very efficient and the staff were kind!

    3. I stopped watching that around the same time I stopped watching Question Time and reading Private Eye.

  48. What on earth was the disgusting little worm Bercow doing at Salmonds funeral? Very odd!

  49. Russian-linked ship dubbed ‘floating bomb’ docks in Norfolk. 29 October 2024.

    A Russian-linked cargo ship dubbed the “floating bomb” because it is packed with explosive fertiliser has docked in the UK.

    The MV Ruby, a Maltese-flagged vessel carrying 20,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser from a port in northern Russia, had been bound for the Canary Islands when it was damaged in bad weather last month.

    So it is not really a “Floating Bomb” then?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/29/mv-ruby-russia-linked-ship-20000-tonnes-fertiliser-norfolk/

    2. Spooked by the Big Bang of Beirut (mentioned briefly at the bottom of the article).

    4. Common chemical compound of which millions of tons are shipped annually, and which is entirely soluble in water, is only a floating bomb if you burn it. To a very high temperature. The same people writing this nonsense pass chemical tankers on the roads every day with far more hazardous contents.

      1. Ah, but they can conflate Russia and bomb, so won't miss the chance.

        We used to make fertiliser here until the Left shut it down.

  50. Hospital cancelled my surgery after I complained about transgender nurse
    Teresa Steele developed an abscess after delays to operation following request for only biological women to provide her with intimate care

    Solicitor Teresa Steele found out the hard way.. some if not all private healthcare firms and the NHS have a legal duty to ensure staff & patients are given protection regarding their sex-based rights.
    However, in policy documents, you will find the word “sex” changed to “gender”. A completely different thing. diversity apparatchiks have quietly rewritten policy, which is outside the Equality Act.

    ‘There are something like 109 recognised gender identities, including furry animal identity. I don’t think most people have the faintest idea what is going on in some hospitals where diversity apparatchiks have quietly rewritten policy, which is outside the Equality Act.

  51. It is grey and gloomy out – I thought I'd do some gardening. It isn't raining or even drizzling but the atmosphere is full of damp air. Everything you touch is sopping wet so that an attempt to remove the bean frame, for example, results in a short cold shower. I shall stay in….

      1. Meanwhile, tomorrow's humility index in the House of Commoners will be around net zero.

      3. I cleared away the fig leaves from the path before I walked Kadi this morning. When we came back, it looked as though I'd never bothered. I cleared up before I went racing and had to clear up again when I got back. I have tried shaking the tree to get the damned leaves to fall, but quite a few of them are hanging on tenaciously.

  52. Crikey, the Budget, Starmer, 2 tier policing, Ukraine, the climate catastrophe, I'm off to the mosque to get cheered up………………

    2. The mosque may well be empty – all the ropers posing bums-up-in-the-air in the street to make the point that they want to be in control.

    3. The budget is the big worry. Reeves is economically illiterate. The damage that daft woman will do is incalculable.

  53. The problem with a clever child and Christmas is that they get making their current Lego set in prep for a Christmas one.

    Junior's finished his AT-AT. We thought it'd take longer but only a couple of weeks.

      1. Junior is a bit spoiled in that we don't worry about the cost, but he does have to choose which he would like.

        Only on one occassion have we got both of what he's asked for as one was going out of production so we bought it and hid it away.

        1. It must be one of the most durable toys on the market. I've got loads of it going back decades. Mind you, I've still got a Hornby train set from when I was about 10, in the original packaging.

          1. Hornby are struggling moneywise. It's truly sad to see, even with their significant cost cutting plan.

  54. Afternoon All
    Did you hear about the transvestite miner?

    Prospecting for gold in them/their hills.

  55. I have managed to get another Drs appt because my cough is no better .. keeps us all awake at night , and I burst into a coughing spasm , finding it difficult to catch my breath ..

    I saw my doctor nearly a month ago when he said I had a chest infection , rattle in my lower right lobe , and gunky stuff , cough is different now and embarrassing .

    Moh ordered me to book up , my cough is irritating everyone .. so next week is the earliest i can be seen.

    There are dozens of viruses doing the rounds .. this one has lingered over a year and got worse during early summer when all the pollen was floating around .

    As they say ,
    Its not the cough that carries you off
    Its the coffin they carry you off in .

    1. I know it's cliche but honey will help sooth your throat the coughing causes and lemon will help with any bacteria. Aside ffrom that, stay warm – overly warm – and keep eating to give your body fuel.

    4. That sounds rough, so I hope the doctor will finally prescribe something to deal with your cough.

    6. Sounds a bit like the persistent pre-covid cough I had that came, went, came back and went again several times over 4 or 5 years! Still not idea what caused it.
      Hope it only turns out to be a minor, all be it bloody irritating, infection.

    1. What sort of person wants to drill into the jawbone of an individual? They're all lunatic psychopaths!

    2. I know somebody who is about to travel to get a full mouth of 'Turkey teeth.' He enquired in this country – around £25,000. In Turkey, it is costing £12,000, with all aftercare in England. A significant saving but still an enormous cost. My teeth are in a bad way, but I would prefer to have a mouth full of dentures than having all that done.

      1. No, Willighagen taught herself to sing opera arias, using YouTube tutorials.[ That’s how she discovered her talent and passion for music. Even her mother was surprised when she heard her the first time singing

        1. Talent will out… that's why I don't sing where someone might hear, just when drowned out by loud machinery.

          1. I didn't start singing until I was 42 – I was singing from a songbook in a chapel and the old man next to me convinced me to join a Male Voice Choir. I ended up running it – but not conducting. I have sung with many choirs here in France but I have never sung in public since the Covid scare started.

          2. Wow!
            I last sang to a very noisily hard-working tractor, some 41 years ago… plenty black diesel smoke was involved, too.
            I envy you your talent, Ped!

          3. I sang in the university choir (Essex and Hull) and in the church choir. Now I just sing in the congregation.

          4. When I was at university I used to play my guitar and sing the songs I wrote at folk clubs. And when I was a schoolmaster I used to get involved with school music and drama.

  58. Assisted dying or euthanasia is on of the most contentious topics of the day, and Richard Scott asks all the necessary questions to start a debate in his article Assisted Dying – Are you For or Against? . Please read it, join the debate, and let us know what you think. At the other end of the scale, FSB's Grumpy Old Man rides out again with a glorious, epic and funny rant about life's many little iritations . I bet many will, if honest, recognise themselves, but if you don't, ask your spouse if he or she recognises you.

    freespeechbacklash.com

      1. Very good point wib – the State is near the point where it regards everything, even our lives, as belonging it it.

        1. When organ donation changed, I made sure I opted out. I have a fear of my organs being 'harvested' before I am really dead. I don't trust the 'authorities.'

          2. What a shame to change he scheme so – I'd bet many followed your thought process and did likewise.

          3. I may be wrong, but I think the relatives can still over-ride an automatic donation in the event the deceased didn’t opt out. If that is the case, and should I survive MH, I will object.

          1. “Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.” Benito Mussolini, the socilaist founder of fascist totalitarianism.

    3. Edit: Ref the little irritations. Don't dare ask. The answer will, most likely, be painful!

  60. My version:
    Whisky, juice of half a lemon, tsp. honey and 4 cloves – topped up with hot water . . . makes you feel good!

  61. Back from Stoke.
    Stepson is ok, but very reluctant to leave his flat.
    At least I got his gas & electric bills sorted out.

    2. Is there an option to create a sort of 'managed day out' where you can set how long each 'event' will take so stepson feels a bit more control over it? When we take my brother out he has an itinerary of each stage, what we'll do, how long we will be there. It caused a few problems whenhe spent too long with the giraffes at a zoo visit, but we skipped other bits to speed that up.

  62. US pilot cleared of sex assault of 9-year-old girl he found outside Harrods. 29 October 2024.

    A former US Air Force pilot has been cleared of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl.

    Robert Prussak, 57, approached the girl after she became separated from her family during a trip from France on April 22.

    Mr Prussak then walked with her to his flat and was accused in court of giving her bitter-tasting water allegedly containing the antihistamine Benadryl, which left her tired.

    It was alleged that the pilot, of no fixed address, then took the girl to Hyde Park and sexually assaulted her.

    This is an odd story, Why do I feel that some of it is missing? Why are there no comments allowed?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/29/us-pilot-cleared-of-sex-assault-of-9-year-old-girl-harrods/

    2. Mr Prussak then walked with her to his flat ….
      It was alleged that the pilot, of no fixed address, ……
      Who wrote this?

    3. It's a very odd story. Time was when that would have been the scandal of the century – if there is a shred of truth in it. (and if there is, how did he get off?)

    4. You have an ability to look beyond the narrative, or looking glass.
      There is an image online of Capt. Prussak at the controls of a USAAF C-5 Galaxy in March 2006.
      My guess is that the child is from a protected ethnic group who happen to be resident in France. Her parents admitted to being amazed by the size of Harrods.
      The accused man was using a flat at Chelsea Cloisters in Sloane Avenue, half a mile away. He was spotted by a guard outside the Israeli Embassy in Kensington, more than a mile from Harrods. I wonder if other charges are pending? Edit: he is or was employed on a corporate jet for Qualcomm, a Gulfstream 650.

  63. Well, I decided to be a brave boy and have dismantled the bean frame and the cucumber frame. We grow Cosmos as a companion plant. What huge stalks they have…. Soon be time for a cup of tea (it's known as Bob's Disease!!)

  64. Afternoon all. 🙂😊
    Back home in under two and a half hours. From our stay in Cotswolds. We have been close on several journeys over the years.
    But first stay over. Our three sons organised the stay in a 5 bed house with a lot of space inside and outside. Lower Swell, very close to Stow on the Wold. And with number three son and his lady living abroad now. Sadly missed but, 6 adult's and 4 grand children we had a lovely few days.
    Even played a few holes of golf. Two did well, but I'm not in good enough condition to make the efforts. But drove the buggy. And of course gave advice 😂⛳️
    Also went to Chipping Norton Burton on the water. And a huge pumpkin farm. Mainly for the children who loved it. A Good singer guitarist entertained.
    Back to reality now. First job on arrival home was to put the kettle and the CH on. And Unload the car.

    2. I had a travel warrant to Bourton on the Water when I went to Little Rissington and Kemble. It was so badly written I had no idea where I would end up!

      1. The Cotswolds towns are lovely.
        Parking is not easy tourism is the problem, but with out tourist’s it might be difficult for them.

          1. Christopher did not make himself popular when he corrected the way in which his teacher pronounced the word haricot.

            (Even though it was not tactful for a little English boy aged 8 to correct a French primary school teacher's pronunciation, Christo was right,)

          1. She took over this year from El Nino last couple of years which caused a two year drought in East Africa followed by deluging floods this year.

    1. Would also point out that the painting behind reeves of an Attlee minister was also during the IMF bailout. A reminder of Labour's persistent, repeated incompetence.

  68. This is the third in a series of articles about subjects that really annoy me. The list is long and growing. You could be here for some time……

    “Getting old is no fun”, as my mum used to say. But I never thought it would happen to me. I do get occasional glimpses of an old man in the mirror, who is clearly far older than what I think I am. But oddly, if out with old friends, I think that they are showing signs of ageing, but that I must be Benjamin Button.

    But I do whinge like one of those miserable old gits, you occasionally have the misfortune to meet. I constantly think about my next meal, and although I still find attractive the same age of women, that I did thirty years ago. They do not fancy me, nor did they thirty years ago!

    Straight into it:

    You are definitely trying to kill me; you told me this walk would be no more than four miles. That must had been six miles at least.

    “Outdoor Active says five point five miles, so not six”

    Five point five is nearer six than it is four. To punish both of us you can drive home, and I’ll have a kip. Best steal that Defibrillator from outside the village hall, just in case.

    “I’m fine with the driving, do you need a hand getting into the car old man?”

    We set off, I cannot believe she can drive so far without clearing the reversing sensor failure message, which sits in the middle of the tacho, and it overlays the reading that would normally be present there (selected choice: MPG) so I reach over press the end of the indicator stalk, which clears that message. And winds her up!

    Do you not see that message? I cannot believe you live with it there.

    “How about fixing the fault, so I would not have to clear it, each time I select Reverse”

    I told you when they had the bumper off to fit the tow bar, I changed the wiring loom for the sensors, and the fault still did not clear. Volvo said I would need to take it in for them to confirm the cause and it is likely in need of a replacement module. Sod that expense, and as you reminded me this morning, even with the sensors working I still reverse into things.

    “Go to sleep”

    Jawohl Mein Fuhrer…….kerb!, kerb! yes, you managed to clip it, well done, that must take some doing with no other cars around. No wonder I am on first name terms with the guys at BA Alloys! To be fair to you, that kerb was what I would call unnecessary. I get why they have kerbs where there are footpaths, but in the middle of nowhere, other than it being on a bend, their installation is beyond me. Hey, what do I know, I never understand why they resurface with the chippings certain sections of roads and ignore the potholes on others. You know the ones: where they have 20 MPH speed limits, that absolutely everyone ignores. Unless resurfacing is to keep the windscreen replacement companies in business. Try riding a bike in all the loose stuff that gathers in the verge. These guys must be giving kickbacks to the councillors. Plus, the chippings block drains and get swept to where motorcyclist place their bikes on bends, perhaps it’s all part of the de-population agenda.

    How come there is nothing coming the other way on these narrow roads to allow me to take the mickey out of your reversing?

    That was a spirited driving away from that roundabout after pulling out on that car, well done. Have I ever told you the story about Doug pulling out on the cars?

    “Yes, many times, the last one being about 4 hours ago! And when you have a dynamic car, you must drive like a spirit”

    Really, I told you that story this morning? I am losing it. At least you will be able to tell the story after I have passed on. It’s all true. You’ve been in the ‘Bird in Hand’ with me, and we have driven past the ‘Cock Inn’ sadly now closed, but the last time I was in it, with a previous Mrs Bedford, I saw Bill Bryson in there. The author of the book you are reading at night that keeps me awake with your constant giggling. I was a bit star struck on seeing him, and I really should had gone over and had a word. But my wife thought I had mistaken him. I have a history of that, as I once walked over to a guy in Disneyland or was it Disney World? who I thought I knew from Grimsby, it turned out he was American and had never visited England! Anyway, the waiter in the Cock Inn confirmed it was Bill Bryson.

    That is my best claim to fame, before that it was working with a guy who had his shed erected by Rick Astley.

    “Who is Rick Astley”

    “Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, nah, nah, nah” No? He may pop up here on Greatest Hits radio. He will be an old man now, but at his height he had the voice of an old man, with a young lad’s face, it looked odd, but he sounded great. Did you notice Ken Bruce never talked over the end of ‘Sultans of Swing? Now, he is a quality DJ. These guys that are put out to grass by the wankers at the BBC, still have great careers ahead of them.

    This is a great track, check out the lyrics: “And if a ten-ton truck kills the both of us” I bet the Latvians do not write songs like that.

    “No, we do not. Your love of Radiohead and The Cure goes some way to explain your moods”

    Not forgetting The Smiths. Having a crap memory is great, I am also reading one of Bryson’s books, the one we found in the repurposed telephone kiosk in that village. I keep reading sections and think I am certain I have read it before. We only need to own one book and one film or TV series, and I could keep rewatching them every few months. Like we did with Game of Thrones and the first series of Fargo, the one with Martin Clunes in. No not Clunes, the guy who was in The Office and played the Hobbit in Harry Potter, what’s his name? Strange how all the follow-on series got gradually poorer, it was the same with True Detective, the first one with Mathew Mconakay and the guy from Cheers was great, after that it went downhill.

    hic
    If you could only own one book, what would it be? I think I am going with the Highway Code, I just found the one I used to learn from for my test in the 70s, it was 6p Net. Sadly, that’s the only bit I could remember from it, I never could memorise the stopping distances on the back.

    “I thought you were going to have a sleep”

    I did nod for a few minutes, but woke up as I was drooling, plus I want to keep you away from the kerbs….like that one! Jeez, you missed it by millimetres. Or more accurately five thirty seconds of an inch or should that be five thirty twos? I also suspect I had my mouth wide open. And that aint a good look. It is on a baby or child, it looks cute, on an old man, or woman, it is scary!

    My memory is that bad, I cannot recall any of those milestones in life, you know like first single, first album, first pay packet, name of first girlfriend, cost of first house, mortgage interest rate. It’s all gone. I’d like to think my first album was ‘Billion Dollar Babies’, but I suspect it was a K-Tel record about movie themes. I have nightmares that my first single may had been by Gilbert O’Sullivan.

    “I’ve heard of them”

    Yeah, not the same persons. Your wish never did come true, did it Roger?

    “What are you talking about now?”

    Roger Daltry singing “I hope I die before I get old” I also cannot believe they have not removed his stammer from the song. Remember when Clown Prince Johnson said: “I’d rather die in a ditch” and the press found some mother whose child had died in a ditch to show horror at his words? That’s where we are in this crazy world.

    Yep, I thought that van was going to pull out on you, but I think you indicated left too early. You started before the junction he was on, and that confused him. Best not indicate at all, keep em guessing!

    I think you will regret taking this route through the village, I think it is school pick-up time.

    “I thought you liked looking at all the yummy mummys?”

    I did thirty years ago, but it’s more like tummy mummys nowadays. There’s too much stretched flesh about for me. There are occasional ones that are kind to the eyes, but most of them are huge monsters, that look like club bouncers. I know I bang on about it, but they are going to be screwed in later life, as are their fat kids. It’s the Filipino nurses I feel for. Imagine lifting those fat twats on and off a bed or a stretcher. I will continue looking at Telegram on my phone, rather than those hulks. Now that one is a good-looking slim girl, no wonder she is stood alone, the posse of clones do not wish to mix with her. They are all too busy showing each other the Facebook photos of the all you can eat meal on their latest iPhone with the keys to their new Range Rover on show over their fat fingers.

    “Do I detect some envy?”

    New iPhone? They do nothing my 8 does not do, other than have numerous cameras. What’s wrong with just having one camera? There’s no worshipping at the altar of Apple for me.

    New Range Rover? Easily stolen, and so insurance costs are ridiculous. It’s much better to have a car no one wants to nick. Apologies to this old girl, Kisses hand and places on dash. I have to say the Evoque is still good looking, but usually driven by women, no offence meant the rest are blingmobiles, hey look at me. If I had that sort of money, I would buy a Land Cruiser.

    There is talk of food rationing coming in by some of the people I follow. These fatties will be struggling. They will be trying to steal our thousand cases of baked beans. It will be like the film ‘Zulu’ where they are climbing the walls, with Michael Caine shouting “front row fire” Don’t worry I haven’t ordered the beans yet. When I do, I will get you to double check the order on Amazon, to ensure I haven’t ordered the sugar free ones! I bought a pack of them by accident ages ago, and they were disgusting, I did not even realise proper beans contained sugar. I had to sprinkle them with sugar like corn flakes. I know you hate beans, but I lived on them, when you were away. Gotta be really accurate with microwave times though, as they tend to explode. Good thing is, you can eat them cold, when there will be no power. I usually heat up half a tin and eat up the other half as the others get zapped, with a spoon straight out the tin. Saves on washing up. I will put money on these lot not going anywhere near sugar free!

    FFS, have you seen the line of parked cars? It must be 100 meters long, or in proper units: 95 yards, or is that 105 yards? A metre is slightly longer, therefore…yes 105 yards. No 95.

    Whatever, I will just sit and read Telegram on my phone, you decided to come this way. While you wait for a gap in the cars coming the other way. If you decide to go and force the car at the other end to stop and let you through. Just give me a shout if you want me to wave, just to double up on how grateful we are. Or I could just point my finger at you and shout “she’s Latvian”

    We are half a mile from home, is it too late to have a kip?

  69. Just had a nice, if a bit sweet, liqueur. Polish: Nalewka. Tastes alcohol and sweet, with a flavour of pumpkin skin… Rather good, actually. Reccommended!

  72. Had a very cheering walk with the Boss.
    Weather was lovely; sunny, warm and still.
    Someone had taken advantage of half-term and done a huge litter picking session. There were bags beside the bin where the council do their pick-up. I didn't have to clear anything.
    Even the blasted plastic collapsed tubes that have been left for years too long after the trees needed them have been removed.
    (Note to self: take secateurs next time out and snip a few more ties. By Spring we should have cleared the lot.)

  75. A blousy Birdie Three!

    Wordle 1,228 3/6
    🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Well done, I think everyone got a birdie today.

      Wordle 1,228 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. I think 3 is about par for today – nice to have an easier one for a change! (I note our 'divots' are very similar, we must be using similar starter words)

      Wordle 1,228 3/6

      🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Ha! Par four here.

      Wordle 1,228 4/6

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

      1. I think I know what your third guess was – I think it's the only other alternative to the right answer! Unlucky….

    5. Hmmm I had trouble

      Wordle 1,228 4/6

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

  76. Here's one for all Y'all.
    Just emailed to Mother's care home about Christmas presents. Does she need anything specific that we can supply, is she into anything specific, colours, characters, whatever. Hopefully we can deliver, but otherwise we may be able to arrange delivery.
    It's a sad couple of thoughts. Firstly, that we will likely not be with Mother at Christmas, and secondly, we're so remote from her that I have to rely on strangers to advise on family Xmas presents.
    Very sad, those two thoughts. Wish she could come & live with us, but she's not well enough now for the travel. That she doesn't recognise me any more is a (very slight) comfort.
    Sigh

    1. Been there, done that Paul. Used to send my dad new clothes, complete with name tags stitched in. When I visited, he was always wearing clean clothes, just not his. But he was nicely turned out, weight was good as he was still eating OK, and physical health generally good, just his mind shot…never knew me, but he thought one of his carers was my mum..perhaps your Mother's carers will send you a couple of videos/pics of her – maybe ask them to?

      1. Good thought! They post daily pictures of the inmates, usually groups, on Facebook already. Mother very occasionally features, but she's in the "old & decrepit" department, rather than just the "old" department, so doesn't feature often.

        1. Good that you can see her. My dad was just shy of 90 when admitted, I asked the average stay, reply was two years possibly two and a half..he was 2 years 3.5 months. I was asked his hobbies when he went to live there, ‘walking’. One time I visited, he’d gone to the local shop with a carer, came back holding her hand like a child, walked past me without recognition – I recognised that as a sign he would probably not know me again, it was quite a way for me to travel, but I phoned once/twice weekly. He once said to one of his carers ‘where the ******** hell have you been’…similarly to how he spoke to my mum – I knew then he felt at home:-D (btw they cooked all food on site, had their own chefs, he put on weight – it was a Bupa home). When he died, local funeral home came to collect him very early hours because residents would recognise them and freak out. Good advice is to get to know the staff 🙂

          1. I call Mother regularly, and she talks politely to me, but not with recognition.
            Seems the conditions are good ‘n comfortable – I’m told by the local nurses that she got a good placing. Seems that way, from all I can tell.

          2. Excellent. Best piece of advice I was given was from his social worker ‘wherever you place him, don’t put him in a local(UK) authority place, they’re absolutely dire. Good luck 🙂 By way of comparison, Peta and I exchanged notes on this one time – her husband’s first wife had been in a home in France, it sounded exceptionally good. So did GPs and Vets’!

        2. We had similar experiences with MIL. Many Facebook posts by the home about daily activities and if you were lucky she could be seen glowering in the background as she refused to take part.

      2. Hardly ever lived at home – boarding school since age 8, uni, London, Norway… Father died in '97, so, TBH, I hardly knew my parents at all. I still miss them a lot, though, and I'm supposed to be grown up! Mensch!

      3. It seems they generally muddle up the clothes in care homes. My m-in-law, who died in 1998, had some very nice clothes when she went into care. When we visited she was always wearing someone else's clothes and she was lacking her teeth.

        2. Yes…I labelled all my dad’s clothes, all went missing, as did his teeth and glasses. Staff said they would find teeth etc all over the place. My dad actually used to fight physically with (a quite large) female resident, there was a recovery room with different colours of light rotating over the walls and ceiling, and calming music. Everyone was locked in their own room at night..my dad was next to night nurse station, he would try to get out, if he did he would go from room to room asking ‘where’s that woman’. I heard a report on R4 about care home residents being sedated, when I asked the staff they told me ‘yes, we couldn’t cope otherwise, but everyone is on the minimum dose’. I actually found out more from staff by phoning compared to visiting. My dad was diagnosed with dementia a few years prior to living in home. Tbh…if it happens to me I hope I have the courage to make sure I don’t get to that point:-( …dismal thought, let’s have a whisky!

    2. I was with my father when he died in Southampton General Hospital in 1984.

      I was in France when my mother died in 2001 and could not be with her. When she was laid out in an open coffin in a chapel at rest in Wells I went to see her and spoke to her but, of course she could not reply.

      These are the only two corpses I have seen.

      1. I saw my mother laid out but only the hands were familiar. Without the spark of life, the face takes on a completely different aspect.

        1. I was out of the country, hurrying back, when Father died. I was only a few hours away at the time. I was so stressed that I fell asleep in the airport lounge, and dreamed that he spoke to me about the situation. When I saw him laid out (Mother couldn't bear it, and I understand that), he had a pissed-off expression on his face that was quite familiar, but kind of wooden, a bit like a photograph.
          Although he died in 1997, still miss him.

      2. In 1984, my father died suddenly. He was only in his 50s. We made the 3 hour journey 'home' then went to see him in the chapel; he looked so peaceful. I still miss him and feel so sad that he never got to meet his grandchildren. My mother lived as a widow for almost as many years as she was married, finally succumbing to a major stroke after lingering for many weeks, completely unable to communicate. I visited her in the hospital chapel the following day, and spoke to her for quite a while; my poor brother couldn't bring himself to enter. 11 years ago now, but I miss her every day. I feel that when a parent lives to a good age (mid 80s), we feel as if they will always be with us.

        1. I saw my mother in the chapel of rest at the hospital but she had blood on her lips and teeth. She had died suddenly after a week in hospital having tests. She was unable to eat the hospital food as she had been surviving on complan and soup for several months. I think she starved to death but the post mortem indicated pancreatic cancer. She had been in agonising pain.

          She died in 1989 and I still miss her and wish I could have done more to help her. Her GP washed his hands of her after sending her for an endoscopy which revealed nothing more than a hiatus hernia.

          1. That must have been so hard to see your mother in that condition, and knowing she was not being fed appropriate food.

          2. It still haunts me that I didn’t do more for her. I’d recently started a full time job and my ex did his best, going over each day after he finished work. Her doctor didn’t care, having decided there was nothing much wrong with her – but the ex caused a scene at the surgery and that resulted in a carer going each day to make her some soup.

            Finally, a locum doctor I’d called on a Sunday got her into hospital for tests, but it was too late.

          1. I was glad my mother wasn’t around for convid. A few months before convid landed, my late MiL had moved in to a lovely care home near us. During lockdowns, the staff went above and beyond to arrange extra activities and treats for the residents to make up for the bans on visitors.
            As for what is happening in this once great country, both would be horrified, as would, I imagine, most of our parents.

        3. I loved my father and I love my wife and children. It will always be a sadness to me that my father never met them – they would have loved him as I did.

    3. My siblings and I spent 48 hours in the palliative care room just waiting for our mum to finally pass away. She was drugged up unable to communicate. Sometimes the end is better not seen.

      1. I’m sorry for that. My deepest condolences. Father went pretty quickly, from the time I got the call – a few hours. Just wish he didn’t die alone from his family – Mother told me she couldn’t be with him those last moments.

    4. My siblings and I spent 48 hours in the palliative care room just waiting for our mum to finally pass away. She was drugged up unable to communicate. Sometimes the end is better not seen.

  77. The DT didnt like the truth so deleted my comment about their picture of the suspect. Surprisingly, they have now changed their headline pic. "Ahhh, what a sweet picture of Axel Rudakubana the DT has posted. Butter wouldn't melt…. Somewhat like the saintly Chris Kaba, smiling and friendly, unless he is trying to shoot you or ram you in a vehicle. Please get real and let us see the real face of an alleged murderer."

    1. Google his name and select "images" and you get picks of the three little girls, pics of him as a child and the drawing of him covering his face in court. Nothing else. It takes dishonesty to new lows.

      2. Same choice of image on the BBC "News" plus the interesting snippet that for these new charges "In order for the incident to be classed as a terrorist incident, a motive would need to be present" which apparently it isn't!!

  78. Southport stabbings suspect faces separate terror charge after ricin and al Qaeda manual found at home
    Axel Rudakubana has already been charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder following the mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in July.

    Tuesday 29 October 2024 16:34, UK

    The teenager accused of stabbing three girls to death in Southport faces a separate terror charge after police said a biological toxin and an al Qaeda training manual were found in a search of his home.

    Axel Rudakubana, 18, from Lancashire, had already been charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder following the mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in July.

    At a briefing today, Chief Constable Serena Kennedy from Merseyside Police said the teenager now faces two further charges related to evidence obtained by police following searches of his home after the attacks.

    She said he now faces one charge of the "production of a biological toxin, namely ricin, contrary to Section 1 of the Biological Weapons Act 1974".

    He also faces a terror charge of possession of information "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000".

    2. Well the ricin is a bit of a surprise but the rest of it is as expected.

      Poor little darling, he has already been locked up for three months so time for him to be released. Odds are that he gets out before TR.

    3. Let us hope Nigel Farage is careful on this. Many people made the assumption that it was another Islamist crime. They were disappointed. They mustn't now be vindictive – that would be insensitive. However, I'll ask the question: when did the police discover his material? If it was within 24 hours of arresting him, some people will be again be angry.

      1. "If it was within 24 hours of arresting him, some people will be again be angry."

        With good reason, William.

    3. Wasn't the OBR supposed to be a model of probity, a protector of the public finances, a guardian against reckless chancellors?

      Maybe it's just as bent as the rest of Whitehall, playing hapless Tory [sic] governments for fools.

  81. Tommy Robinson pleaded guilty to having disobeyed a court order. He clearly did so and there would be no point in denying it. He has been sentenced to prison.

    However he did not say that his video misrepresented the facts in any way – he is sticking to the truth.

    The MSM is trying to slant the story in a way that implies that Robinson has retracted his story – he has NOT and WILL NOT do so.

  82. A horrible story has broken in Dinan today.

    At midnight last night two as yet unidentified people dropped objects including a solid concrete building block from a bridge over the road onto two cars driving along the Dinan bypass. In one car the 21 year old passenger was killed while the 26 year old driver was badly injured; in the second car a 56 year old man was badly wounded and also taken to hospital.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4909ad6799b1c7070693ebec3acceb61bc0a25277b9daabb19856755d7f6a805.jpg
    Horrific. Out of the blue. Random. There but for fortune.

    1. IIRC, it was done in Wales during the miner's strike in the 1980s – strikers dropped a concrete block on 'scabs'. It's for this reason that I have always scanned any bridge I am about to pass under and readied myself to swerve. But at night?

      2. Many years ago, yobs were dropping missiles from some bridges onto the Peterborough Parkway. Some of the bridges now have either very high metal 'fences' at the sides, and some footbridges are fully covered by metal mesh 'tunnels.'
        I still check!

      3. Many years ago, yobs were dropping missiles from some bridges onto the Peterborough Parkway. Some of the bridges now have either very high metal 'fences' at the sides, and some footbridges are fully covered by metal mesh 'tunnels.'
        I still check!

      4. Standard drill when driving (Army) on the M1 motorway in NI – always exit the underbridge in a different lane you went in. Stops naughty Irish people dropping things on you.

    3. Trouble is, the more publicity given, the more "copy-cat" thugs will think it a good idea.

        1. And as you may remember children threw stones from a bridge onto the fresh new paintwork of Henry the Green Engine in the Thomas the Tank Engine series of stories.

          1. Sorry but I don’t, Rastus. My children never interested in TTE, and I never knew that was part of a story. Did they get nicked?! (I also remember a spate of graffiti on various motorway bridges, some of it a bit rude 😀

    4. Prayers for the injured driver.
      Hope the both of them are not badly mentally scarred.

  83. Should Starmer have to resign over his mismanagement of the Southport murders ?
    The rioters were right all along,
    The government sought to crush and oppress the protestors and threw them in jail.
    One has since died, was he murdered by Islamists?
    Will we ever find out?

  84. A bloody convert always the most fanatic
    https://x.com/DouglasKMurray/status/1851292321481888198
    This information was out immediately, in amongst the noise on Twitter, was the story he was known to plod and the islamist connection. The fact this information was out there, is the exact reason the Globalist filth desperately need to close down avenues of free speech like Twitter.
    Note the timing,hearing delayed so comes out after the big London Demo and Tommy's arrest

    1. How many more muslim are being watched by plod? How many more children have to die, women be raped, blown up, murdered, stabbed before this menace is burned out of this country?

      They can't live here. They've proved that. They just seem to want to kill everything for what? Their stupid invented man in the sky.

      Also, does terrorism gather a lesser sentence for murder than plain triple murder? I expectit does – you know, to calm the 'comunidy'.

          1. Check out the Governor of Belmarsh to see how low we have sunk and ask just how does such a person gain that position. Referencing Tommy Robinson.

      3. When they allowed such information into the public domain the security services in a bid to get more funding said they were watching 5000 suspected Islamic Terrorists.

        That was a few years ago now so with the influx it is probably 25,000 or more.

    2. Some nonsense out from 'Government Spokesman'…Dewberry reporting on it GBN just now …Jenrick speaking..

    3. All those angry protestors now fined and in jail or dead .. many have lost their jobs/ marriages /homes all because a hairy wog destroyed the lives of three innocent little girls and wounded lots of other little children and their teachers ..

      Starmer should be hung drawn and quartered for reacting the way he did .

      2. Starmer is either accident prone or else quite stupid.

        President Trump is filing charges against him and his Labour Party for interference in the US Presidential election. The idiot has allowed a hundred or so Labour activists to travel to the US and canvas support and otherwise assist the Kamala Harris campaign.

        Starmer always picks the wrong side. No normal person would think it a good idea to alienate President Trump. No intelligent politician would send billions upon billions of pounds to the corrupt Zelenskyy regime and no British Prime Minister would have thought it a bright idea to invite that Ukrainian crook to attend a Cabinet meeting in Downing Street.

        No sensible Prime Minister would alienate the British public by aiding and abetting Muslim fanatics whilst bullying those who speak out and insist on the truth being vented.

        The pretence that Starmer won the election in a landslide is a perversion of the truthful explanation. The silly man is in power owing to the low voter turnout, the implosion of the Conservative Party and the vagaries of our outdated ‘first past the post’ electoral system. Starmer received less votes than Corbyn. Starmer’s majority is fragile.

    4. Honestly, now I don't believe anything any more.

      "Suspect had the A*n*a*r*c*h*i*s*t*s*' Cookbook"
      "Suspect had Nazi material"
      "Suspect had Al Quaeda material"

      It all sounds the same, all guaranteed to stir up division and ultimately, civil conflict.

    5. Meanwhile Peter Lynch is dead because of it. And Countless others illegitimately locked up

  85. That's me gone. Funny old day – warmer out than in. I did 1½ hours in the garden.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

  87. BBC 1 News at 6pm: The Southport attack has not been declared a terrorist incident.

    "I recognise these new charges may lead to speculation. The matter for which AR has been charged under the Terrorism Act does not require motive to be established. For a matter to be declared a terrorist incident, motivation would need to be established. I would strongly advise anyone against speculating as to the motivation in this case."

    Chief Constable Serena Kennedy, Merseyside Police.

    1. I'm sorry, no motive is needed for terrorism? Surely the motive is obvious: kill people for fun. Kill 'the enemy'.

      Kill people you hate. The reason why he did it was because muslim told him it was alright to.

      That's the sodding motive.

    2. She didn't endear herself to me by a. emoting at the memorial service (she's the senior police officer not social worker) and b. she was shown helping to rebuild a low wall near a mosque that had been partially knocked down.

  90. Evening, all. Been at the races all day with a neighbour. Great fun because I didn't have to drive and could have a drink for once. Didn't back a winner, but didn't lose any money either, so a good day.

    The letter writer could have stopped after "politicians". We don't normally talk politics at the races, but the people on our table were adamant that Starmer and Co were nasty, untrustworthy liars.

  91. My initial post seems to have disappeared, so here it is again. Apologies for any duplication.

    Evening all. Had a great day at the races. We don't normally talk politics on the racecourse (apart from the BHA, of course), but the people on our table were adamant that Starmer and Co were nasty, inveterate liars.

    1. It's still there Conners, do I have to reply twice?

      In your original post you said the letter writer could have stopped after "politicians". The letter writer was me but I didn't write the headline, particularly as it doesn't properly represent what I said. A bit like most headlines being detached from the content of the article.

      1. Congratulations on having a letter published. Not being party to the editor’s headline writing decision, I could only go on what was written. I am having lots of problems with my Internet connection – it’s dropping out and posts seems to disappear, only to reappear later. I shall be retiring to bed shortly.

  93. From the Pope Head Substack…I cut out a few bits because it's very long

    “Commissum" as misdemeanor: not a mistake by Benedict XVI in the Declaratio

    It took four years of investigation to arrive at the most shocking acquisition on the “resignation” of Benedict XVI, which, as already investigated together with Latinists Corrias, Funari and Mosetti- Casaretto, was not an abdication at all, but an announcement of the forthcoming impeded See.

    However, there was a key piece missing, which, according to our latest translation from the Latin of the only original text, turns this declaration 180° upside down, revealing it as a true DENUNCIATION OF THE CULPRITS

    As many people surely remember, Pope Benedict's February 11, 2013 Declaratio was published by the Vatican website with a typo (hora 29.00) and two gross syntax errors that were detected by Luciano Canfora in Il Corriere della Sera: "ecclesiae vitae" and "ministerio … commissum renuntiare". These were then soon after corrected on the site with "ecclesiae vita and ministerio … commisso renuntiare".

    Actually, of these three errors, Benedict XVI actually pronounced only one, before the Consistory: “commissum.” He never read the other two and therefore, since we do not have the original writing, the only text to be taken into account, according to a correct legal procedure, is the one read by the Pope, you can listen to it again HERE

    In summary, the only error that Benedict XVI actually made was the term COMMISSUM.

    However, in the 2016 volume “Last Conversations,” the “emeritus” pope replied as follows to Peter Seewald, who asked him when and how he wrote the text of the Declaratio.

    “I could have also written it in Italian, but there was the concrete risk that I would have made some mistakes.”

    Now, this sentence, after the whole world had been talking about these errors in the Declaratio three years earlier, seems very strange and provocative. In spite of the “bad impression” made internationally, Pope Benedict, a supreme connoisseur of Latin, reaffirmed with conviction that he had made no mistakes in Declaratio.

    Ergo, since the only one of the three “errors” he had actually pronounced was commissum, this means that COMMISSUM IS NOT AN ERROR.
    …

    … let us see how the abusively corrected text with "commisso" = “entrusted” was translated by the Vatican website.

    “Quapropter bene conscius ponderis huius actus plena libertate declaro me ministerio Episcopi Romae, Successoris Sancti Petri, mihi per manus Cardinalium die 19 aprilis MMV COMMISSO renuntiare ita ut a die 28 februarii MMXIII, hora 20, sedes Romae, sedes Sancti Petri vacet et Conclave ad eligendum novum Summum Pontificem ab his quibus competit convocandum esse”.

    "For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is."

    And here is the only possible version, according to Prof. Corrias, confirmed by Prof. Funari in which the same text can be translated keeping the COMMISSUM pronounced by Benedict XVI:

    “Therefore well aware of the weight of this act I declare in full freedom to renounce to my detriment (mihi) the ministry of bishop of Rome, successor of St. Peter, because of the misdeed (for "commissum") of a handful ("manus") of Cardinals on the day of April 19, 2005, so that from the day of February 28, 2013, at the twentieth hour, the See of Rome, the See of St. Peter shall remain empty, and (I declare) that a conclave for the election of a new Supreme Pontiff must be convoked by those to whom it pertains.“*

    This is, then, the solution to one of history's greatest brain teasers: indeed, "commissum", in the accusative, also means “misdeed.”

    A simple declaration, passed off for 11 years as an abdication after being the subject – by Card. Tarcisio Bertone and Msgr. Giampier Gloder – of unspecified “juridical clarifications” and “changes in style” (as witnessed by Peter Seewald and Msgr. Georg Gaenswein) was in fact a DENUNCIATION OF THE ST. GALLEN MAFIA, the handful of cardinals who since 2005 had been sponsoring Bergoglio (according to the admission of Card. Godfried Danneels) and making life impossible for Pope Ratzinger. Significant was what Msgr. Gaenswein said in 2016: Ratzinger had been elected “after a dramatic clash,” with the St. Gallen Group.

    Why would a normal papal election be a “dramatic clash”? Gaenswein himself used Benedict XVI's words, calling this St. Gallen Mafia proponent of “a dictatorship of relativism that recognizes nothing as definitive and leaves as the ultimate measure only one's own self and their cravings.”

    Ever since his election, this group of ultramodernist cardinals, smelling of Gnosticism and Freemasonry, had evidently not accepted Ratzinger's election and had begun to make it impossible for Pope Benedict to govern, that is, to administer that ministerium to which he at one point decided to give up because, as he said in his last letter to Seewald, he was “no longer able to EXERCISE the office of Christ's representative on earth.” Benedict surrenders, thus, to the convocation of an abusive conclave for the election of a “new” Supreme Pontiff. These will be, however, an antipope, a schismatic patriarch his illegitimate successor: Jorge Mario Bergoglio, aka Francis.

    Thus …Pope Ratzinger has never abdicated, he has only physically left his See. And if another pope is elected while the previous one is not abdicatory, he becomes antipope and destined for nullity.
    …
    Benedict XVI's Declaratio is an absolute masterpiece, not only of Latin and canonical strategy, but also of theological teaching. The Vicar of Christ has “laid down his robes,” as Christ did; as in Our Father's prayer he has “led into temptation” – that is, tested his enemies – by proposing a text that, with some minor manipulation, could have been passed off as an apparent abdication.

    The Sangallists could have told the truth, or opted for a coup. They chose very poorly, banking on the “confiscation” of the media and thinking “anyway, who's going to check on Latin?”

    Eventually, someone went to check it out and the knots have come to a head. It is now over: more and more priests, most recently Fr. Fernando Cornet and Carmelite theologian Fr. Giorgio Maria Faré, are testifying this truth, based on our inquiry. Moreover, there is already a petition filed by the writer with the Vatican Tribunal on June 6 and a petition to the pre-2013 College of Cardinals already filed on November 8, 2023.

    The exit strategy of a possible mock funeral was also discovered in advance and reported today, by the writer, to the relevant bodies: Secretariat of State, Gendarmerie and Swiss Guard.

    Therefore, let the Gnostic-Masonic antipapacy finish: let justice be done and let the cardinals of pre- 2013 appointment who have remained Catholic proceed immediately, respecting Article 3 of Universi Dominici Gregis, to convene a new legitimate conclave to elect the valid successor of Benedict XVI.

      2. The Press will ignore it, and enter full and frank discussions about Rachel's haircut and/or clothes.

  95. well colour me surprised. The Southport murderer does have links to Islamic terrorism after all. Will we get an apology from all the useful idiots who said he had no connection with Islam? Just because you aren’t born a Muslim doesn’t mean you can’t convert, as my mother’s cousin can show.

    https://dailysceptic.org/2024/10/29/southport-attacker-charged-with-having-al-qaeda-manual/

    Edit: Stop Press: The Free Speech Union has put out a statement about this, claiming that some of the prosecutions over the summer of people for allegedly saying ‘Islamophobic’ things about the Southport attack on social media may now be unsafe.

    1. Well it's not foolproof but rather than concrete blocks etc it was more to counter Improvised Anti-Armour Grenades which were modelled on the Soviet RPK43.

  99. Eight days to go to Election 2024, and MSN desperately trying to uphold the appearance of a close race right up until the last minute. Every path for Kamala Harris is collapsing one after the other.
    Even the cheating postal votes have switched to Trump.

    2. Sighs. I'm letting my rye sourdough loaf prove for another couple of hours before popping it in the oven at 2130 or 10pm for an hour. I fed the sourdough starter at 8 am this morning.

          1. I use a Panasonic Sourdough 'Sourfaux' recipe. Starter recipe is here . Less hassle. The actual bread recipe has disappeared from the website, but I add 250g starter to 250g flour, add 1 tsp each of yeast, sugar & salt and 120 ml water, and bake on the 'lean' setting which on my ZD-SP2000 takes six hours.

          2. My sourdough starter is 5 or 6 years old now. Prime the starter with 80g warm water and .80g plain flour for 2 or 3 hours to double in size. ,Recipe is 100g Dove's Farm Rye, 400g strong white bread flour and a teaspoon of salt. 150g starter, 250g warm water and 25g olive oil. mix with the rest and a couple of foldings in the first 2 hours. 8 hours of proving then scrape out into a Pyrex bowl (with a Pyrex bowl cover) for another hour, a slash on the top, (no, Phizzee) and into the oven, 200 degrees fan for 20 minutes, take the top off and bake a further 30 mins, then just bread alone for the last 10 mins.

    3. Post another pic when you slice it, please, Stephen…just to make sure I'm really sick with envy…

          1. Until recently I’ve been using the breadmaker twice a week* for the best part of 30 years. During that time I’ve needed just one replacement from the same Manufacturer – Panasonic Model SD 2500. Highly recommended. (Ingredients include Sainsbury’ s dried yeast Waitrose or M&S Canadian Strong flour)

            * Cut back in oder to lose 21lbs weight (achieved)!@

          2. Well done, the bread aisle in the supermarkets look so pappy and crappy, and you know what goes into your home made loaf.

          5. Looks good, thanks – now in Amazon basket, that’s a good recommendation. Way to go on weight loss, that’s difficult to lose so much, well done…would you say how you did it? my husband follows carnivore diet – he’s a type2 diabetic, has cut out or greatly reduced all his meds, GP bit cynical at first but now trying similar himself.

          6. How long has he been on the carnivore diet? My sister's on it, though she also eats dairy.

          7. Nine months, MiB. He mostly eats steak and bacon – but any meat is ok (no fish), occasionally lamb or chicken. Double Cream (in coffee) Cheese, eggs, that’s about it. Do you remember the Atkins Diet, similar to that but no greens or any veg and no carbs. Atkins died when he slipped on ice and hit his head on the pavement, autopsy showed his arteries furred up. Husband hasn’t lost a lot of weight, but it’s reducing slowly and steadily. I think it’s changed his character too, he’s sharper thinking than he was and also somewhat calmer, but oddly not as much fun…good luck to your sis 🙂

          8. Good for your OH. I simply cut down on Potatoes bread and sugar and slightly smaller portions and weighed myself every week. Started at 15.5 stone in April down to just 14 stone now and in only one week put on a couple of ounces. If I were to cut out all alcohol I would probably lose the same amount again but that ain’t happening!!!!)

          9. Yes, I think carbs should be a smaller part of everyone’s diet, sugar is addictive. I’d miss my daily whisky end of the day, although I should lose a bit of weight too. As I like chocolate too (Lindt dark)…as you say..ain’t happening 🤣

        1. Looks absolutely delish, Stephen…toasted with peanut butter, or just as is with butter and honey….yum….

          1. Agreed. I had a slice this morning with butter and strawberry conserve! 🙂 Supermarket bread is like cardboard in comparison ….

          2. Tempted to say ‘getouttahere’, but in reality very pleased to read you had a lovely breakfast…used to make my own conserve in the dim n distant, quite easy – no preservatives.

    4. I made a loaf today in the bread machine.
      Had a slice this evening with smoked salmon.
      Delicious.

  101. A word of warning.. Mike Amesbury has the second question at PMQs tomorrow..
    According to Paul Fellows he suggests not mentioning any of the following topics;
    1/ closure of Sutton Weaver bridge. 2/ winter fuel allowance. 3/ Pol Pot policies of Sir Keir Starmer.

    Amesbury may lose his temper and tw*t you.

    1. I like what I call 'Tom's Place', read it most days. He's a good guy. And of course this place, first got to know Geoff on Spectator, another good guy.

  104. Trying to think of Starmers best option out of the mess
    A large scotch and a loaded pistol is all I can think of

  105. Even some activists are starting to nay-say CC. Reeves likely u-turn when she's spent a load of other peoples' money (when she'll claim it was the dosh wot saved the climate).

  106. Well only a cynic would think that the news of the Southport killer would be released the day before the budget so as to bury all coverage of it

    1. And after the TR march. Amazing how these revelations appear so well timed. They've been sitting on it for 3 months.

        1. Ellen Wilkinson?? A Labour Education minister and co-founder of the British Communist party! 🤦🏻‍♀️

          1. Thanks Sue, hadn’t heard of her – suffragette, died before I was born. Probably chucking soup over a VanGogh if still alive, or sticking her face to the tarmac. Sigh.

          3. We won’t be the only ones…maybe even Reeves, taken down into the cellar to choose, with a Civil to help her…honestly wouldn’t surprise me 🤣

  108. Today I ordered a replacement pair of shoes from the same British shoe maker thats been in business since the 1800's. My existing pair are at least 27 years old and and still quite respectable having been resoled and reheeled a couple of times. It's possible but unlikely that I will still be around to re-order a replacement pair 27 years in the future….

        1. Well, thank you Richard! That is my education completed for today! I do love a paradox!

          4. That's good to know. I do have a local TP but not an account with them. However, I do have an account with Brewers!

        2. Yes, if you're a clever person. For most others it's Trigger's Broom.

          I suppose it's an interesting topic, discussing when sayings are updated/replaced by modern classics.

    2. Northampton shoes last so long its the most economical way of buying shoes. You have the finest shoes at the best price. i hate to see trainers or these shoes that are white on the welt.

        1. I used to wear Churches Oxford toe cap in black for busines, leather uppers heels and linings. but now have to wear wider deeper shoes in retirement..My colour of choice is now dark brown.

      1. I still have my Trickers Brogues and Trampers from the early seventies.

        I would join the queue in Jermyn Street for Trickers’ annual sale early morning and then elbow competing city businessmen to get into the shop. The men in brown coats were shielded from the mob by a wall of shoe boxes. It was necessary to give your requirement viz. Trampers (or Brogues) size 8 x 6 or whatever to secure your purchase. Trickers sizes included a width fitting number.

  109. 395460+ up ticks,

    May I be so bold as to offer some well meant advice,when Mr Trump regains his seat of power, don't go sending out any invitations to any of the labour political elite, or, to be on the safe side to any lab, member / voters especially in the vicinity of mr lammy
    it could be taken as they are hiding among us the decent peoples.

  110. Goodnight folks! I am leaving early because I am fed up with my Internet constantly dropping out (Talk Talk took over the company I used to be with – 'nuff said).

      1. I believe TT is a subsidiary of BT (I've been with the latter for the best part of 50 years!)

        1. We switched to Talk Talk for a few years and BT kept sending us inducements to go back to them. Eventually we did, as TT were useless. Their customer service was abysmal too.

          3. BT aren't too bad – even if they did try to install my t'interweb into a house across the road when we moved here.

      1. I am currently stuck with this arrangement due to not being out of contract. As soon as I am, I’ll be looking to go elsewhere. Thanks for the recommendation.

    4. Years ago the excellent Nine Telecom sold out to Talk Talk. It took me a month to get away from them.

      Those were the heady days of the Dido woman who lost her customer’s personal data. She was subsequently well rewarded for failure, time and again, but then she is a friend of Boris Johnson the Cretin.

      1. I may make an early exit again due to the intermittent nature of my connection. As soon as I’m out of contract, I’ll be looking to go elsewhere. We left Talk Talk years ago, but owing to being in a contract (that suited us) then being taken over (twice) I am currently stuck.

  111. The Telegraph gets worser and worser.
    Report about a tram accident in Oslo. "The tram had been supposed to make a left turn, but came off the tracks and ploughed into a shop that sells Apple products at high speed."

    5. Driver confused ipads with brake pads.
      Off topic, Mr Twig, have you heard about CRISPR? Gene editing. I wonder if the researchers might be interested enough to help, and anything is worth a try.

      1. Thanks Tim but I fear in my grandson's case it is too late as there is now evidence that he is going to go blind.

    1. Scientists are now saying that even money trees are failing to abrorb enough carbon to reach their net zero target by 2050.

    2. They aren't stupid, they are evil. Net zero is about taking the population into serfdom. Anyone can see that.

  114. BTL Comment:

    43 MIN AGO
    Halloween is such an appropriate time for choosing a new Tory leader.

  115. How many people actually watch the budget rather than just get the news updates? I can't recall ever watching the whole thing.

    2. The headlines are only discussed. The real terror comes in the release afterward.

      There's 7 of the Warqueen's accountant chums over tomorrow. She bought wine this evening. Honestly, for her it means more income avoiding the stupid nonsense. For everyone else who can't afford a clever accountant it's a miserable, impoverishing experience as an unqualified, inexperienced, stupid prat dribbles on about how they're going to make you poorer, steal your savings and pension and possibly destroy your job.

  117. A good performance of Mahler's 1st, The Titan on R3 and that is me off to bed.
    Good night all.

  119. Another fine BTL comment:

    Warrenn Blacking

    By their footwear shall ye know them:

    "Sandalistas"

  120. All Reeves should really be doing is saying:
    The tax threshold will increase with inflation backdated to 2020. The department for net zero will be closed those working in it made redundant. Child benefit reduced over 7 years to zero. Housing benefit over 10 to zero.

    Then in the details discuss closure of quango funding by 5% every year.

    And sit down. Nothing else.

    1. SpaceX volunteered to rescue those aboard. That's what's holding the Biden admin from hammering them with tax and regulation policy.

      It's truly pathetic.

      I lament, genuinely, that the species that put a man on the moon, a space station, the steam engine, the nuclear reactor is now going to be forced back to the Dark Ages by spiteful, bitter, utterly unscientific hoaxes perpetrated by weak, mysanthropic, greedy Lefties.

    2. Thanks to Geoff we have an alternative outlet and can comment on the article here.

      As regards Alison Pearson’s article I believe it to be a blindingly obvious analysis of the British Deep State. There is no point in referring to Starmer for an explanation. The man is a paid for Proxy for the WEF and global banking elite.

      Starmer is a cheap suit dummy pretending to high office and his team of incompetents are just impostors dressed in Gucci with their boughten clothing budgets courtesy of Lord Ali.

      These people disgust me.

  126. Amesbury must be expelled from Parliament for his violent attack.

    The resulting by-election should be interesting.

    1. Expelled, sacked, tarred, feather and jailed for 5 years then banned from ever holding office or working in the public sector again.

    2. Truly shocking behaviour but at the same time illustrative of the low grade of our current parliamentarians. They cannot behave either within Parliament or without. Amesbury should be charged with Actual Bodily Harm and prosecuted accordingly.

      My own personal view is that Starmer, Rayner, Reeves and all others taking bribes from Lord Ali (and doubtless others of his ilk) should be investigated and put on trial for malfeasance in public office.

      1. Any inquiry into Lord Alli's business affairs could be construed as interfering

        in his traditional culture. His actions must not be described as malfeasance.

        We're quite sure that it's just his innate generosity.

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