Tuesday 3 March: Simple measures in public places should be taken now to prevent the spread of coronavirus

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/03/03/letterssimple-measures-public-places-should-taken-now-prevent/

735 thoughts on “Tuesday 3 March: Simple measures in public places should be taken now to prevent the spread of coronavirus”

  1. Putin submits plans for constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Mon 2 Mar 2020

    Vladimir Putin has submitted a draft amendment to Russia’s constitution that would enshrine marriage as between a man and a woman in a conservative update to the country’s founding document.

    But plans for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage have come together quickly, appearing to crystallise during a speech to politicians last month. “As far as ‘Parent No 1’ and ‘Parent No 2’ goes, I’ve already spoken publicly about this and I’ll repeat it again: as long as I’m president this will not happen. There will be Dad and Mum,” Putin said, according to Reuters.

    Morning everyone. Well one can only applaud such a measure but that it happens in Russia and requires the force of law tells you how far the rot has spread!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/02/vladimir-putin-submits-plan-enshrine-marriage-between-man-woman-russia

    1. I cannot imagine Putin using the expression “Dad and Mum”. Father & Mother, yes.
      Morning, Minty.

      2. It’s a translation. The Italian expression applies “traduttore, traditore”: translator, traitor. We rely on BBC /MSM journalists to translate foreign stories. Given the biased hash they make what we know about here, we cannot rely on anything. The Devil is in the detail.

      3. It’s a translation. The Italian expression applies “traduttore, traditore”: translator, traitor. We rely on BBC /MSM journalists to translate foreign stories. Given the biased hash they make what we know about here, we cannot rely on anything. The Devil is in the detail.

      4. It’s a translation. The Italian expression applies “traduttore, traditore”: translator, traitor. We rely on BBC /MSM journalists to translate foreign stories. Given the biased hash they make of what we know about here, we cannot rely on anything. The Devil is in the detail.

    2. Why is it some people demand the right to legislate about what consenting adults do when the action they’re banning harms no-one? I’d assumed you were a libertarian Minty.

      1. Greetings Andy,

        If 2 men or 2 women can marry, why not 5 men or 5 women? Why not 50 men or 50 women? Why not 500 men or 500 women?

        1. Indeed why not? As long as they’re consenting adults and their actions harm no-one else, what they do is their concern.

          1. ….or maybe “marriage” is a special human tradition between one male adult and one female adult (at least in Western societies), one that leads to procreation, families, and the survival of the species?

        2. What about the lovely wee furry animals? Can’t we make buggery a legal relationship between a human and their pet?

      2. Putin is banning no one! He is simply codifying (against the trend of Western Law) the custom that has existed since the beginnings of human history.

        1. Why do you wish to ban consenting adults doing something that harms no-one? Aren’t you a libertarian?

          1. Mr Cochrane, no-one is banning consenting adults from doing anything that harms no-one. It is just that same-sex marriages make a nonsense of the word “marriage” (just like “gay” has already succeeded in doing with that word) and that offends many people – they are therefore “harmed” by it. Are you suggesting that people can use the word “golliwog” with impunity because, although it offends many black people, it doesn’t “harm” anyone?

          2. Golliwog, golliwog, oh, golly, gollywog. To the tune of “lollipop”. I use the word golliwog a lot. Impugn me! I do not care about offending people if it constrains me in any way. I am offended endlessly, by so-called comedians, by anti-Christian comments, by anti-Christian laws, by bad manners, by bad behaviour, by butchery in our streets. But society is not about looking after well-behaved, polite, heterosexual, Christian, tax-paying model citizens any more.
            It is about not offending foul-mouthed druggie rappers and anti-Christian rapists..

          3. Robinson need to put the gollywog back behind the marmalade jar labels… we collected them as kids….

          6. Greetings Elsie, my question centers on the fact that every same-sex couple (married or not) is sterile. No children will issue. So if the “Church of LGBT” declares two men can marry or two women can marry, what does that have to do with the state?

    4. Morning Minty,

      Interesting fact: 100% of all same-sex couples (married or otherwise), are sterile. “Naturally!”

    5. 316793+ up ticks,
      Morning AS,
      Will we in the UK be overstretched when we send a force of aggression to the Russian borders ?
      Our military really must ask itself are
      rainbowflaged tanks the way to go ?

  3. I wonder if we all wear full body burka’s in public places we could stop the spread of the virus.

    1. 316793+ up ticks,
      Morning B3
      Keep up the same voting pattern & in a short while it will be compulsory.

    2. 316793+ up ticks,
      Morning B3
      Keep up the same voting pattern & in a short while it will be compulsory.

      1. ‘Morning, George, she looked and sounded like the earnest undergraduate, busily reciting her lessons during a tutorial to her mentor.

        What a pair of blithering idiots. She’s obviously desperate for the Calder Valley to flood several times before 2024 to bolster her whining about austerity and Tory Cuts.

        1. ‘Afternoon, Tom.

          Sorry for not replying before but I had to nip to to the GP’s to give a blood test prior to my annual old fart’s MOT next week.

          As that crusty old pinko, Pete Seeger (who wrote the lyrics), said:
          “When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?”

      2. ‘Morning, George, she looked and sounded like the earnest undergraduate, busily reciting her lessons during a tutorial to her mentor.

        What a pair of blithering idiots. She’s obviously desperate for the Calder Valley to flood several times before 2024 to bolster her whining about austerity and Tory Cuts.

    2. I don’t understand why they think ‘green’ will create jobs. It doesn’t. The industries are already established and exist on tax payers money.

      Take that away and it folds up into a nice neat package of debt.

    3. In order to have a so-called “green” revolution one needs “revolutionary” technology, which is conspicuously absent from the brains of these two talking heads.

    1. Quite correct. Judge them by what comes out of the mouths and in general at least i n my view they are far from impressive

  7. Male-born athletes do not belong in women’s sport. Spiked. 2 March 2020.

    Women are being outcompeted in sports like cycling and athletics by trans athletes who have an unfair advantage. And in some cases, women are being put in danger by the decision to allow trans athletes to compete against them in contact sports, like rugby and even MMA.

    Women’s sport is being sacrificed to trans dogma.

    Thinking as I do that Feminism is itself a Cultural Marxist fraud to see it hoist by its own petard brings only warm but profound feelings of schadenfreude.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/03/02/male-born-athletes-do-not-belong-in-womens-sport/

      1. ‘Morning Stephen, nice, but maybe a little modification…

        “On your Marx, Get Set, Go (Left)!”

    2. The ‘progressives’ have created a dilemma for themselves and eventually will have to decide which of their positions they have to support and which one to throw under the proverbial bus. Seeing as how the ‘progressives’ always give total support to minorities, women’s sport could become a complete farce.
      However, women’s sport has one inbuilt saviour, money. If the progressives were to have their way then women’s sport becoming uncompetitive will erode its support, and hence the money, will drain away.
      I cannot believe that the Olympics, Wimbledon, etc will be prepared to lose out financially on the bidding of a minority. Unless the ‘progressives’ have wormed their way into the governing bodies to the extent where they have total control and therefore are able to ignore the consequences of their dogma, then women’s sport should survive. The number of ‘interesting times ahead’ situations makes one quite dizzy.

    3. The ‘progressives’ have created a dilemma for themselves and eventually will have to decide which of their positions they have to support and which one to throw under the proverbial bus. Seeing as how the ‘progressives’ always give total support to minorities, women’s sport could become a complete farce.
      However, women’s sport has one inbuilt saviour, money. If the progressives were to have their way then women’s sport becoming uncompetitive will erode its support, and hence the money, will drain away.
      I cannot believe that the Olympics, Wimbledon, etc will be prepared to lose out financially on the bidding of a minority. Unless the ‘progressives’ have wormed their way into the governing bodies to the extent where they have total control and therefore are able to ignore the consequences of their dogma, then women’s sport should survive. The number of ‘interesting times ahead’ situations makes one quite dizzy.

    4. ‘Morning, Minty, I cannot see the LTA allowing women’s tournaments to progress without DNA testing beforehand to establish the xx or the xy difference.

    5. To think we were once outraged at the hormone fed east bloc athletes with complaints that some of them were not strictly feminine any more given the amounts of male hormones steroids etc they were dosed with…. and now we are supposed to applaud this new “morality”?
      Mind you, perhaps when drug testing they might restrict the entry of trans only if they are “natural” trans and not medically “enhanced”…. no. They won’t allow that….. and if any of the drugs they take to be trans happen to be the drugs normally tested for and banned then I guess they will now permit them……but only for those who choose, on competition day, to be “Trans” and normal on any other days…

  8. Good morning

    Here are the viruses:

    SIR – Yesterday as I stepped into a bank I had my temperature taken by a security guard, was given the all-clear and allowed in.

    The bank tellers all had medical masks, and on the counter tops there were pump-type bottles of hand sanitiser.

    This was in Malaysia, where the government has seen the risks of the coronavirus spreading, and correctly instructed the population on simple preventative measures.

    Edward George Snowdon

    Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    SIR – It will be very reassuring to have spotless hands when I am sneezed on by someone newly arrived from Italy who wasn’t temperature-checked on arrival at the airport.

    Jill Selwood

    Chichester, West Sussex

    SIR – It seems daft to ban events such as football matches when the biggest mass meeting of all, the London rush hour, goes ahead every day. Banning movement in any city would be economic suicide. Spreading panic and bankrupting the country won’t help.

    Pauline Streets

    Ayr

    1. SIR – Government advice for over-60s to avoid crowded places isn’t being heeded. On Saturday, at a National Trust property where most volunteers, not to mention a fair few visitors, are over 60, all volunteers were present and correct and the house was packed.

      The British public appears to be keeping calm and carrying on.

      Sue Pickard

      Epsom Downs, Surrey

      SIR – I do not want coronavirus. But the idea of a couple of weeks’ enforced isolation isn’t terrifying. I’d love it.

      My husband and I spend every day together anyway. I have my writing, knitting, the garden, Twitter, unseen box sets. I wouldn’t have to entertain. Visits to the gym would be prohibited.

      Eve Wilson

      Hill Head, Hampshire

    2. Well, we were promised years ago that we would all be able to work from home. (Maybe not undertakers though).

      1. When I was a village postman, there was a taxidermist on my round who regularly used to receive shapeless parcels. If they were held up in the post, they could get a bit smelly and drip blood through tears in the packaging, so we were advised not to hang about with delivery.

        What were you saying about undertakers?

      2. When I was a village postman, there was a taxidermist on my round who regularly used to receive shapeless parcels. If they were held up in the post, they could get a bit smelly and drip blood through tears in the packaging, so we were advised not to hang about with delivery.

        What were you saying about undertakers?

  9. SIR – Iain Duncan Smith (report, March 2) reminds us that civil servants are unelected and have a duty to carry out the policies of ministers.

    For too long, home secretaries have had to deal with uncooperative senior civil servants. Sir Philip Rutnam would do well to remember who is in charge at the Home Office: Priti Patel.

    David Kidd

    Petersfield, Hampshire

    SIR – The Labour Party and much of the press seem to have decided that Ms Patel is guilty of bullying, despite a lack of due process. I thought we had stopped burning witches.

    Don Edwards

    Lawford, Essex

    SIR – I once asked a recently retired permanent secretary whether he had ever given a minister bad advice.

    A long silence followed. “No,” he said. Then, after a another pause: “But it was occasionally misunderstood.”

    Nicholas Franks

    Dorchester, Dorset

    1. “Trolley”, indeed! We’ve been discussing Americanisms for some time. It’s a tram, FFS. Have the people who made this video never seen a trolley bus?

      1. Far too juvenile, Joseph. The last trolley bus I saw was in Kingston-upon-Thames in the mid-fifties.

        3. London early ’60s. I remember Clapham Junction (by Arding & Hobbs) being criss-crossed by overhead trolley-bus wires.

  12. Eddie Izzard’s decision to quit comedy and become Labour MP

    Could it be people dont find him? funny

    I am sure he will work wonders in reducing the Labour vote. Just where is the Labour party going? . It is not the Labour party of decades ago

    EDDIE IZZARD’s decision to quit comedy and try and become a Labour MP has sparked a wave of hilarious responses online, with Twitter users joking about the comic’s future plans.

    The comedian has been a longstanding support of the Labour party. He has admitted previously that he has wanted to become an MP for the party and most recently saw a bid to become a representative on Labour’s National Executive Committee fail. But now the funnyman is set to focus his attentions completely on becoming an MP.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/33bb4208d93a117a22c0b1ee5abbff0ea7b5d64c6fcc0c2a05781a2191d9da2d.jpg

    1. It is not the Labour party of decades ago.

      It’s not actually a political party at all but a cult!

      1. 316793+ up ticks,
        AS,
        The sad fact is none are, as was, nearer the truth to judge them ALL as a willing coalition
        party.
        Party before country is still their
        mindset.

      1. Ah but he will increase the Labour vote in Islington not that it will do Labour any good s it is a cast iron safe Labour seat anyway

        What is would take to move Islington & Hackney away fro Labour who knows it is a reflex action to vote Labour i n those places

      3. The biggest laugh will be if thee are enough mugs to vote for him and he gets elected. There are number of seats in London where that could happen. He does face the problem that the incumbents will not want to give these seats up

          1. As long as that isn’t their defining point – ie, a bloke trying to do a job, who just happens to be gay, I have no problem. It’s the evangelising and “in your face” types (gay, vegan, or otherwise) that get my goat.

    5. I wonder what solid working class constituency he will choose?
      Will he be as successful on an all-woman shortlist as Mr. Harriet Harman?

  13. Any news on the culprit in the case of the car crashing into the festival in Germany? What religion was he?

        1. Greetings Peddy, If you check the posting times, Andy and I were discussing marital relations (below), and I wrote him a question about an hour ago. In response, about a half-hour ago Andy decided to “top post” a (presumed) terrorism case from over a week ago–in Germany no less.

          I’m sure Andy will say he can carry on multiple conversations at the same time–but did he really wake up this morning wondering about German jurisprudence?

    2. The whole episode has gone strangely quiet. I take it from the question that you are about to tell us.

    3. The latest I could fid was from 5 days ago…

      https://www.archyworldys.com/amok-driver-from-hessen-a-loner-and-not-a-friend/

      A total of 61 people were injured in the carnival horror in Hesse – including 20 children (BLICK reported). German Maurice P. * (29) was at the wheel of the Mercedes C230, which raced unchecked into the crowd. Three days have passed since the drama on the Monday of the Monday procession in Volkmarsen (D). And now more and more details are becoming known about the amok driver who lived in the small town in Hesse.
      Neighbors describe Maurice P. as a nerd with a penchant for drugs and alcohol, as reported in “Bild”. The couple Ehrengard (84) and Josef Berens (96) have lived in the half-timbered house in which the amok driver lived for over ten years. «He was always a loner, never had a girlfriend. We never even saw friends here. »
      Maurice P. (29) was “often alone in the car for a long time”
      According to the elderly couple, Maurice P. canceled several apprenticeships, then worked as an auxiliary worker, but continued to lose his job. The pensioners are certain: “Drugs and alcohol played a role here.”
      Around a year and a half ago, the Volkmarsen amok driver also lost his driver’s license. However, according to the neighbors, he did not deregister his silver Mercedes. The car was probably his everything.
      «He often sat alone in the car for a long time. Sometimes he opened the hood. He started the engine several times and drove back and forth like crazy. Once he ran the engine at night. So we called the police, ”the senior woman recalls.
      Neighbors had noticed strange behavior for a long time
      Maurice P. must have planned the amok ride in the small town in Hesse for a long time, because several weeks ago he is said to have made a strange remark to his neighbors. “He said I’ll be surprised. He would be in the newspaper soon. »
      When Ehrengard Berens looked out the window on Shrove Monday and noticed that Maurice P.’s Mercedes was gone, she immediately sensed that something was wrong. “For me he is mentally ill,” said the pensioner.
      With his strange behavior he had noticed the neighbors for a long time. So Maurice P. only slept in the burning light. He did not enter his apartment through the front door, but only through the terrace. “He said that he was afraid of the dark and was afraid of meeting roommates in the stairwell,” explains neighbor Ehrengard Berens.
      He often walked around in front of the door with a glass in his hand for hours. Sometimes, however, he was just sitting there, smoking, drinking and wearing his headphones.
      Amok driver still unable to be heard
      Maurice P. was arrested at the scene on Monday. But the amok driver himself could not yet be interviewed because he was injured in a crash and is in a hospital.
      Dozens of his victims are still in hospital: seven of the 61 victims were seriously injured. The youngest victim Maurice P. is only two years old, the oldest 85 years old.
      In the case of the Volksmarsen amok driver, the General Prosecutor’s Office has taken over the investigation. An arrest warrant was issued against P. for attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm. (wheel)

        2. And it strikes me that he might not have slowed his car into a crowd if others hadn’t already set an example…

    4. The latest I could fid was from 5 days ago…

      https://www.archyworldys.com/amok-driver-from-hessen-a-loner-and-not-a-friend/

      A total of 61 people were injured in the carnival horror in Hesse – including 20 children (BLICK reported). German Maurice P. * (29) was at the wheel of the Mercedes C230, which raced unchecked into the crowd. Three days have passed since the drama on the Monday of the Monday procession in Volkmarsen (D). And now more and more details are becoming known about the amok driver who lived in the small town in Hesse.
      Neighbors describe Maurice P. as a nerd with a penchant for drugs and alcohol, as reported in “Bild”. The couple Ehrengard (84) and Josef Berens (96) have lived in the half-timbered house in which the amok driver lived for over ten years. «He was always a loner, never had a girlfriend. We never even saw friends here. »
      Maurice P. (29) was “often alone in the car for a long time”
      According to the elderly couple, Maurice P. canceled several apprenticeships, then worked as an auxiliary worker, but continued to lose his job. The pensioners are certain: “Drugs and alcohol played a role here.”
      Around a year and a half ago, the Volkmarsen amok driver also lost his driver’s license. However, according to the neighbors, he did not deregister his silver Mercedes. The car was probably his everything.
      «He often sat alone in the car for a long time. Sometimes he opened the hood. He started the engine several times and drove back and forth like crazy. Once he ran the engine at night. So we called the police, ”the senior woman recalls.
      Neighbors had noticed strange behavior for a long time
      Maurice P. must have planned the amok ride in the small town in Hesse for a long time, because several weeks ago he is said to have made a strange remark to his neighbors. “He said I’ll be surprised. He would be in the newspaper soon. »
      When Ehrengard Berens looked out the window on Shrove Monday and noticed that Maurice P.’s Mercedes was gone, she immediately sensed that something was wrong. “For me he is mentally ill,” said the pensioner.
      With his strange behavior he had noticed the neighbors for a long time. So Maurice P. only slept in the burning light. He did not enter his apartment through the front door, but only through the terrace. “He said that he was afraid of the dark and was afraid of meeting roommates in the stairwell,” explains neighbor Ehrengard Berens.
      He often walked around in front of the door with a glass in his hand for hours. Sometimes, however, he was just sitting there, smoking, drinking and wearing his headphones.
      Amok driver still unable to be heard
      Maurice P. was arrested at the scene on Monday. But the amok driver himself could not yet be interviewed because he was injured in a crash and is in a hospital.
      Dozens of his victims are still in hospital: seven of the 61 victims were seriously injured. The youngest victim Maurice P. is only two years old, the oldest 85 years old.
      In the case of the Volksmarsen amok driver, the General Prosecutor’s Office has taken over the investigation. An arrest warrant was issued against P. for attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm. (wheel)

      2. As opposed to rather bigoted in automatically assuming all such incidents are Islamic terrorism.

        1. Entirely understandable given Islam’s record in the practice.

          Once again, you display your monstrous moral conceit. How do you cope with such a burden of conscience?

  14. In the fight against telecomms businesses to get my Mother’s phone fixed, I found the following website:
    http://www.ceoemail.com
    This lists the CEOs and contact details (sometimes mobile phone) so you can raise your problems more effectively if the noHelpline doesn’t respond. Worth bookmarking, I believe.

    1. Thank you, Paul. I may well be using that site in the near future, since Plusnet have managed to kill my email account and domain hosting. I was assured on Thursday that the issue would be ‘escalated’ – unfortunately, escalators travel down as well as up, and I’m fairly certain where my problem has been placed…

      1. Plusnet was set up as a foil for BT. Like most things with the prefix ‘British’ that were once public services, it went to the dogs, inspired by American management methods, and was rightly losing its customers. “Good honest broadband from Yorkshire” seemed a good antidote to the Americanized alternative.

        Since then, of course, once having attracted a loyal clientele, they sacked their Yorkshire management, put up their prices, put the level of customer service on a par with a Delhi backstreet, and are now little distinguishable from BT. I expect they’ll be subsidising Premier League next.

    2. Yes, it is. In my not infrequent disagreements with supermarkets and other, I find that writing to the CEO is more certain of reply than contacting “customer service”. The term “customer service” is like “gay” as it means the opposite.

      1. I believe you need to give them a chance, so I follow their process with calling “Customer No-service” first. When that doesn’t work, I then get on to the CEO or relevant division Director.

        1. Been there, done it. I got tired of boilerplate replies, from customer service correspondents perhaps barely out of school who appeared to know nothing about how businesses work and I assumed that I was equally ignorant. Palpable lies were presented bare-faced. This necessitated a follow-up letter. I am not interested in prolonged correspondence to teach tyros stuff they should know.
          Example: An individual business with several production units will use standard procedures and operational methods across all their units, all covered in manuals and tick lists. So telling me the product I bought was not made in the specific factory that has been condemned for dirt and falsifying data won’t impress me at all.

      2. I believe you need to give them a chance, so I follow their process with calling “Customer No-service” first. When that doesn’t work, I then get on to the CEO or relevant division Director.

    3. Just (fingers crossed) concluding the Zoom Telecom saga.
      Elderly chum was caught out; didn’t understand the cold call, said ‘yes’ to everything and ended up with a dodgy company (apparently it was an off-shoot of a mobile company from which we had disentangled her a year earlier). We wondered where these strange bills came from and discovered that she had unwittingly moved from BT.
      I hope that we have now put her back with a company that she understands and one that we have found sympathetic to the difficult situation.
      The pressure is unrelenting; just one scam after another. You have to be permanently on the alert.
      We will have to block unrecognised phone numbers, but that then runs the risk of a hospital appointment being missed because the number isn’t recognised.

      1. We get up to ten scam calls a day in France.

        We cannot block unknown numbers as many people who want places for their offspring on our residential French courses for Sixth Formers need to ring us up to chat about what we can offer.

      2. Good morning Anne. The NHS has reluctantly entered the 20th century and will remind patients of appointments by SMS. You could offer to receive her medical txts on your phone. As for the call blocking, you have to be on it at least once a week. My tip would to cover the cvv security digits on your chum’s debit card. That prevents payment by phone to strangers. Credit card payments are refundable.

    4. Just (fingers crossed) concluding the Zoom Telecom saga.
      Elderly chum was caught out; didn’t understand the cold call, said ‘yes’ to everything and ended up with a dodgy company (apparently it was an off-shoot of a mobile company from which we had disentangled her a year earlier). We wondered where these strange bills came from and discovered that she had unwittingly moved from BT.
      I hope that we have now put her back with a company that she understands and one that we have found sympathetic to the difficult situation.
      The pressure is unrelenting; just one scam after another. You have to be permanently on the alert.
      We will have to block unrecognised phone numbers, but that then runs the risk of a hospital appointment being missed because the number isn’t recognised.

  15. An interesting read re “The wettest February on record.”

    Not a lot of people know that – February rainfall pretty meaningless actually

    In England, February 2020 was only the 24th wettest months since 1862, Wetter months have occurred roughly every seven years on average.

    In Wales, it was the 14th wettest.

    The wettest month in England was all the way back in 1903, whilst in Wales it was during that notorious winter of 1929. Clearly a “record February” has nothing to do with “global warming”.

  16. More UK women investing in buy-to-let properties

    Probably getting into it at the wrong time. So many new taxes on it as well as regulation costs and large numbers of bad tenants

    More down side than upside in my view. Lots of BTL landlords do not really understand the costs and tax bills they face

    The number of women investing in buy-to-let properties in the UK has increased slightly to almost half the total, a new study has found.

    Women now account for 47% of the 2.5 million buy-to-let investors in the UK up from 46% the year before, narrowing the gender gap in the investment class, according to the research by London estate agents Ludlowthompson.

    The number of female residential property landlords rose by 5% to 1.2 million for the 2016/17 tax year, up from 1.1 million the previous year, according to the latest available HMRC data.

    1. Let me get this right.

      The London Marathon may be banned, yet the London rush-hour will continue to be held twice a day every Monday to Friday?

      What planet are these twats on?

        1. Morning, Maggie.

          No. I have no need to since Peter Howse’s book (from which the serialisation is taken) is on order and should be with me next week.

          Peter Howse was a very good (and well-respected) copper and a very nice chap. I only met him once, giving a class on a refresher course at training school, and he was very pleasant and listenable.

  20. I wonder what’s cracking off up the road?
    Just as I was logging 6 or 7 minutes ago, on a pair of unmarked police cars went past with siren & blue lights going and the third has just followed them.

  21. The laptop is back and working OK. I think I got away with it. The bill was only £45!

    1. From what I have seen of him as a person I’m not a fan of TR. But with out any doubt at all he’s been seriously stitched up by all sides of the establishment.
      He has as much right to make his points in public as the kid Greta, whose being funded the woke greenies. And incidently I emailed all the current ‘we are committed green’ outfits re Barnet council building a 50 megawatts gas fired power station on green belt land in NW7. And none of them are slightly interested in doing anything about it. Which stinks of the suspected gross hypocrisy surrounding them.
      On that note I would say, at the very least TR is reasonably honest and open about his commitments.

      1. Real heroes tend not to resemble the old ladies who have tea with the vicar. When we need heroes, tough guys to defend us, we look towards the Paras and not the vicarage.

        1. Oh I don’t know. There are plenty of heroes quietly tending graveyards for free, making the coffee for family evenings, distributing leaflets, supporting other less firm elderly people.

          1. Good point. They are good citizens, well worthy of the greatest respect and support. I was thinking of those who have to face bloody-minded adversaries.

        3. Oh I don’t know about that.
          I suspect there have been many old ladies having tea with the vicar who have, in their past, been involved in some VERY heroic exploits, ranging from being undercover in Occupied Europe, to manning AA guns during the blitz.
          Not forgetting the gallant QARANC nurses who closely followed the troops after D-Day.

        4. Oh I don’t know about that.
          I suspect there have been many old ladies having tea with the vicar who have, in their past, been involved in some VERY heroic exploits, ranging from being undercover in Occupied Europe, to manning AA guns during the blitz.
          Not forgetting the gallant QARANC nurses who closely followed the troops after D-Day.

        5. Well in Canada we can forget calling for the paras. They were shut down after a peace keeping deployment in Somalia when it became evident that paras could be rough, tough barstewards.

      2. 316793+ up ticks.
        Afternoon RE,
        Goes deeper than that, it has been seen / proved there are a great many party before all else, ie family, definitely Country,
        peoples in positions of political power and a multitude of peoples of the same mindset who put & keep them or their likes there on a 5 year basis.
        Batten / Robinson as personal advisory was used as an excuse by the likes of “nige” & the lab/lib/con political hierarchy all
        submissive, PCism, Appeasement jockeys to suppress any opposition to the ersatz tory party, a segment of the lab/lib/con coalition.
        As in a prior post I maintain before long Tommy Robinson & likes, as with Tommy Atkins will be called upon once more.

    2. Daily Mail exactly the same. No mention at all of the man groping TR’s 8- year old daughter. The DM is no better than the Guardian, only with more smut.
      There are no comments allowed to their article either, because they know the public would be all over it, for omitting that important piece of information.
      The mainstream media across the world are an absolute disgrace.

  23. Calls to put Brexit talks on hold because of coronavirus are already gathering pace
    BENEDICT SPENCE
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/03/02/calls-shelve-brexit-coronavirus-already-gathering-pace/

    Is George Soros safe….?

    Poppy Day 2 Mar 2020 8:18PM
    There’s a rumour that Soros funded genetically engineered Covid-19 in an attempt to a) delay brexit b) kill off all the over 60s in an attempt to swing another UK referendum and c) depress share prices so he can buy the big dip. Oh, and before you point out the obvious, he’s already been vaccinated, duh. With the vaccine he owns. He has also cornered the market in hand gel and face masks.

      1. Apparently according to a conversation I over heard in a pub, he’s had a few organ transplants already. By donation of course 😆

        1. Voluntary donations?
          Or from Chinese prisoners who’d pee’d off the authorities?

    3. Calls to put Brexit talks on hold because of coronavirus are already gathering pace

      Of course they are.
      That’s why there’s videoconferencing.

    4. Calls to put Brexit talks on hold because of coronavirus are already gathering pace

      Of course they are.
      That’s why there’s videoconferencing.

  24. UK unveils coronavirus action plan

    Here are some more points from the government’s briefing:

    A possible delay strategy could be used to move the peak of the outbreak to warmer months so that it does not overlap with normal flu and allows more time for research
    There are plans ready for a range of outcomes, from mild pandemic with low impact on services (like Swine Flu in 2009) through to severe and prolonged pandemic
    There are plans for the Ministry of Defence to provide support to Civilian Authorities if requested
    If the disease becomes established in the UK, further measures to be considered include school closures, home working and reducing large-scale gatherings
    Police would concentrate on serious crimes and maintaining public order if a lot of officers are on sick leave, in the case of the disease being fully established
    There could well be an increase in deaths, particularly amongst the vulnerable and elderly
    Concessions may be made by tax officials if businesses struggle to pay tax bills
    Some non-urgent care in the NHS may be delayed to focus on treating coronavirus patients.
    Recently retired staff may be called back

    1. Morning Bill and all Nottlers.

      I thought you were going to say “a possible delay strategy could be used to” … delay 31st December and our proper supposed final exit from the EU. Very handy delay tactic.

    2. Phew!

      For one moment I thought that they were intending to check immigrants for health.

    3. Phew!

      For one moment I thought that they were intending to check immigrants for health.

  25. UK unveils coronavirus action plan

    Here are some more points from the government’s briefing:

    A possible delay strategy could be used to move the peak of the outbreak to warmer months so that it does not overlap with normal flu and allows more time for research
    There are plans ready for a range of outcomes, from mild pandemic with low impact on services (like Swine Flu in 2009) through to severe and prolonged pandemic
    There are plans for the Ministry of Defence to provide support to Civilian Authorities if requested
    If the disease becomes established in the UK, further measures to be considered include school closures, home working and reducing large-scale gatherings
    Police would concentrate on serious crimes and maintaining public order if a lot of officers are on sick leave, in the case of the disease being fully established
    There could well be an increase in deaths, particularly amongst the vulnerable and elderly
    Concessions may be made by tax officials if businesses struggle to pay tax bills
    Some non-urgent care in the NHS may be delayed to focus on treating coronavirus patients.
    Recently retired staff may be called back

    2. I cannot imagine a fairly mainstream channel programme in the UK, with three reporters,where she would have been allowed to say what she did without constant interruptions.

      1. Our media have had it their own way, unchallenged for far too long. They’ve almost set them selves up as extended political parties.

    4. ‘Morning, Eddy, thank you for putting that up – it needs to be widely disseminated and those who dare not speak the truth need to be aware, as she says, that they are not alone.

      We, the silent majority need to stand up to these little ‘erberts who don’t understand reality, who want to cower in safe spaces and who think that they and their Mohammedan brothers and sisters are going to take over and rule Britain.

      The best way to do this is to ridicule everything they say and do because, if that doesn’t work, the only result is going to be a bloody civil war. It will not be pretty.

      1. If the blocked user is trying to reply and/or castigate me, forget it as, by blocking you, I have my fingers metaphorically firmly in my ears and am saying, “La, la, la.” to you.

      2. I’ve not had time to watch it all yet Ntn. I had to pick up my new lawnmower and cut the grass and yrim edges in the back garden.
        A lot of people have made certain judgements on her with ourt even considering her opinions.
        Some of my family included.
        I rather like her, she’s had far more of lifes practical experience than most people give her credit for.
        But the ignorant ‘erberts are too thick and brainwashed to accept what is happening on their watch and to the whole of western societies and established
        cultures.
        I suspect that even my newly born grand children might be forced into banging their heads on the floor mats before they are our age. Or else……

  27. First-time buyers need incomes of €100,000 to buy new homes in Dublin

    First-time buyers need to be earning nearly €100,000 a year to secure a mortgage for a new home in Dublin, a report by KBC Bank has indicated.

    The study found that the price of new homes purchased by first-time buyers has “virtually doubled” from about €200,000 to €380,000 since 2012. This has eroded affordability for first-time buyers, it said.

    A first-time buyer or a dual-income first-time buyer household availing of a 90 per cent loan-to-mortgage would typically need an income of €98,000 to qualify, the report noted.

    1. All the poor Irish seeking a home can come to to Great Britain. Unless we change the law in order to give them the same status as EU citizens.

    2. Well, well, well. I wonder what could possibly have caused that. Funny how countries that pursued the same open-borders policy end up with unaffordable housing and stagnant wages. I can’t think how…

  28. Cobra meeting for this virus and severe contigency plans .. including pleading for hospital volunteers to help with feeding and tending the elderly..

    What contingency plans have been made to halt the flow of illegals .. quarter of a million + unskilled migrants of a different religion into Britain… how helpful will they be in a national emergency?

    1. Clue…

      ”We leveraged …policies, legislation…by…building strong relationships with officials, politicians and other actors… for three decades”.

  29. Italian residents ordered to stand a metre apart to help stop coronavirus spread

    Italians have been told to stand at least 100cm apart as the death toll in the country rises to 52.
    The rule applies to pubs, public spaces, shops and churches and is based on a study looking at how far saliva droplets can travel in the air, The Times reported.
    Health Authorities have also closed schools in the north part of the country as 355 new cases were and 18 deaths were reported yesterday.

        1. Or a yard, i.e. one arm’s length. However will Italians greet each other?

    2. If Italians are compelled to stand at least one metre apart, that’ll put an end to “La Dolce Vita” quicker than you can say “Cazzo!“.
      :¬(

      1. But how can the men possibly grope the women at that distance. I can’t see them just putting up with leering.

        1. I have a powerful 80x–130x catadioptric telescope. I can leer at a great distance.

  30. FAKE NEWS

    In view of the fact that the British taxpayers do not wish to continue to pay for the protection of the Parasite Pair and Canadian government has decided that it no longer will pay for their security George Clooney has very generously stepped in to say that he will pay for it himself and get his Hollywood friends to chip in.

    “Meghan and Harry,” said George Clooney, backed up by his wife Amal, “are lifelong friends of ours and good friends, particulalry old friends like us, must be loyal and supportive.”

    A night at the Met Ball, a role in a superhero movie…? So much for the quiet life, Meghan!
    CELIA WALDEN

    The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are to fly back to Britain to complete their final official engagements as working members of the Royal family

    So Meghan Markle is reportedly attending the Met Gala in May. Because where better to celebrate your newfound privacy and “space” than at the “the party of the year”, “the Oscars of the East Coast”, “the Super Bowl of red-carpet events”?

    What could be more perfectly suited to anyone fleeing “intense scrutiny” and “commoditisation” than an annual mega-bash to which anti-commodification activist Kim Kardashian once turned up dressed in a nude-effect wet-look Mugler dress? A celebrity Pavlova, where the 225 assembled photographers will take an estimated 50 shots a minute, before blasting millions of images out into the ether?

    Although why this is more appealing than a royal visit to the Mumbles Lifeboat station in south Wales is anyone’s guess.

    According to sources at the weekend, Markle is to leave Prince Harry at home for the night, so “she can establish herself once more in Hollywood”, attending the Met Gala with Vogue’s editor, Edward Enninful. This makes about as much sense as a woman who craves the quiet life asking her LA agent to find her a leading role in a superhero film, “something that pays big” – which is exactly what one Sunday paper claims Markle has done.

    As the Sussexes fly back to Britain to complete their final official engagements as working members of The Firm – and come face to face with the Royal family for the first time since The Statement, the long, petulant Instagram post from a fortnight ago in which they whined about dropping plans to use the “SussexRoyal” brand as there was no legal case to stop them trading on the name abroad but, okay, they promise not to – the pair may have no choice but to brazen it out.

    Anyone with the gall to question the Queen’s authority in this way might not find that a problem. “Who made you Queen?” the statement effectively sneered, “you don’t own the word ‘royal’.”

    I’m not sure the Sussexes will understand just how colossal a miscalculation that statement was, or how transparent the motivations beneath the legalistic jargon were until they’re confronted both by the Queen, and a great British public that is increasingly bemused by the couple’s conflicting words and actions.

    Reduce the statement to a human level – without all the titles, castles, formalities and traditions – and it’s more shocking still. After all, you have a young man and his wife turning on a 93-year-old grandmother at one of the toughest moments of her life.

    You have them disregarding the pain and sadness prompted by Prince Philip’s ill-health, Prince Andrew’s involvement with a paedophile and her beloved grandsons falling out – all because they have a brand to promote. Is there any way back from that?

    Had you asked me a month ago, I would have said yes. Despite the acts of clumsiness and the missteps we’ve witnessed over the past two years, I would still have said yes. So they invited a bunch of A-listers that they’d only met once to their wedding. How many of us would do the same if we knew George and Amal would actually come?

    Was their dispensing of certain Royal traditions really so bad? The insistence on Archie’s christening remaining private and the setting up of their own “breakaway” website? Harry has always been his own person. At this point, one could still push a convincing narrative that these two were “breathing new life” into an outdated institution.

    Certainly, many will have understood the couple’s decision to wage war against the British media, and tried to tune out the cynical voices in their heads when they went on to try and manipulate that same media to their advantage.

    But the precise moment the couple began to lose the public’s sympathy wasn’t when they chose the hospitality of a billionaire in Vancouver Island over that of the Queen at Christmas, or indeed when they decided to make the desired “break from royal duties” permanent.

    No – that moment can be charted back to a lament the misty-eyed Duchess of Sussex made in the ITV documentary charting the couple’s African tour last year: “Not many people have asked if I’m OK.”

    Because that single sentence managed to eclipse everything the couple were in Southern Africa to highlight – from the 1,000 minefields that have yet to be cleared in Angola, to the abject poverty in Malawi and HIV-hit children in Botswana – and make it all about Markle.

    We can only ever guess at what’s going on inside other people’s relationships, and it may be unfair to blame Markle any more than Prince Harry for these recent missteps. But one thing is certain: neither the words nor the sentiments in The Statement appear to be those of a happy young couple, revelling in the joy of each other and their nine-month-old baby.

    And I worry that something is unravelling behind the scenes. Because if their intention were really to enjoy a quiet life, why would they care about a title that can only ever be used for professional profit and status? Why would the team of LA-based agents, lawyers and publicists be necessary and the showbusiness parties and blockbuster film roles so appealing?

    Anyone can tell them that you don’t need those things or grand branding to live a serene and peaceful life. But solid family relationships? They’re essential.

    Read Celia Walden at telegraph.co.uk every Monday, from 7pm

    1. They’ve really messed things up haven’t they. Sadly it’s no surprise. Except for the way in which Harry has behaved – he should have known better.

      1. Poor lad – he’s a bit thick and can’t use the brains God didn’t give him.

    2. They’ve really messed things up haven’t they. Sadly it’s no surprise. Except for the way in which Harry has behaved – he should have known better.

    3. Who is George Clooney? Is he related to Rosemary Clooney? Did they live together in This Ole House?

      [Answer: Wikipedia tells me he is her nephew.]

      1. Just as the USA’s president’s grandson, Judd Trump, seems to have snookered everybody by playing as skilfully as his grandpapa.

        Mind you, Is is hardly surprising that Jo Brand’s boy, Russell, has turned out the way he has.

      2. …. and Rosemary Clooney was a “close friend” of Senator Robert Kennedy, so you could say Bob’s his “uncle”.

    4. ……
      George Clooney, backed up by his wife Amal, “are lifelong friends of
      ours and good friends, particulalry old friends like us, must be loyal
      and supportive.”
      So they have known both Megan and Harry since theyw ere kids?
      And how does he know what his wife thinks? She is apparently hard working and he is always partying and they haven’t seen each other for over 120days…. Hollywood rumpours are they will be the next HW Couple to divorce….

  31. Hangmen, slave owners, brutal killers – if you thought Trump was a bad president.. 1 March 2020

    In fact, Trump is probably most like Andrew Jackson, who was president from 1829 to 1837. Jackson fought what Gimson reckons to be the dirtiest campaign in American history, vowing, like Trump, to clean up Washington, while at the same time throwing mud at his opponent.

    On a personal level, Jackson makes Trump look meek and mild. When one of his 110 slaves escaped, he offered a reward of $50 for his recapture ‘and ten dollars extra for every hundred lashes a person will give him, to the amount of three hundred’. Jackson remains the only president to have shot an opponent dead in a duel. He also took charge of a massacre of hundreds of Creek Indians. Finding a living child in the arms of a slaughtered Indian woman, he adopted him. ‘Like many cruel men, he had a streak of sentimentality,’ is Gimson’s typically wry comment.

    I have to confess to having a weakness for Andrew Jackson. He was, unlike nearly all modern politicians and presidents unafraid to risk his own life in defence of his country.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-8051123/CRAIG-BROWN-Saints-sinners-coveted-presidency.html

  32. Hangmen, slave owners, brutal killers – if you thought Trump was a bad president.. 1 March 2020

    In fact, Trump is probably most like Andrew Jackson, who was president from 1829 to 1837. Jackson fought what Gimson reckons to be the dirtiest campaign in American history, vowing, like Trump, to clean up Washington, while at the same time throwing mud at his opponent.

    On a personal level, Jackson makes Trump look meek and mild. When one of his 110 slaves escaped, he offered a reward of $50 for his recapture ‘and ten dollars extra for every hundred lashes a person will give him, to the amount of three hundred’. Jackson remains the only president to have shot an opponent dead in a duel. He also took charge of a massacre of hundreds of Creek Indians. Finding a living child in the arms of a slaughtered Indian woman, he adopted him. ‘Like many cruel men, he had a streak of sentimentality,’ is Gimson’s typically wry comment.

    I have to confess to having a weakness for Andrew Jackson. He was, unlike nearly all modern politicians and presidents unafraid to risk his own life in defence of his country.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-8051123/CRAIG-BROWN-Saints-sinners-coveted-presidency.html

  34. I see the Mail is still Tommy bashing:

    Moment police arrest furious Tommy Robinson for common assault after he ‘smacked a holidaymaker during row at Center Parcs swimming pool’

    No comments allowed, but I did suggest via their complaints section that they present both sides of the story, not just the biased one. Now they have modified the article by including the sentence:

    Mr Robinson later said he had been trying to prevent a man he believed had committed an offence from leaving the scene.

    No mention of the alleged sexual assault on his daughter by the alleged victim.

    1. I watched TR’s video report of the incident and although TR said the alleged attacker was a middle-aged “asian”, he would be in breach of his bail conditions if he gave his name. Apparently this “asian” was in the company of two other middle-aged men – no wives, no children – and they just happened to be in a children’s swimming pool. Aye, right!

      The “asian” admitted both to TR and the police that he’d groped TR’s 8 year-old daughter, yet he wasn’t even arrested and questioned let alone charged with anything.

      Colour me cynical but the whole thing stinks of a carefully orchestrated set-up designed to get TR’s collar felt.

      1. Presumably there will have been some sort of discreet monitoring of the pool by CCTV, life guards or the like, who can state whether three middle-aged men were wandering around the childrens’ swimming area acting suspiciously.

        The suggestion of them only touching one child and that child just happening to be TR’s daughter strikes me as beyond a coincidence.

        1. The CCTV record has gone missing/ wasn’t working/was being reset/ does not cover that area…

          1. The PTB are prepared to be unscrupulously dirty when they are trying to stitch up TR.

        2. “Only touching one child”! Touch not!
          What kind of a country allows the molestation of children to go on blatantly?

          1. The UK.

            The point I was trying to make was that the probability is that if touching was going on, TR’s daughter would be unlikely to be the only one molested; unless she was targeted deliberately.

          2. Indeed. It’s a good setup, bound to trigger TR – hell, any father would be triggered by that. The nonce was lucky not to be pulped.

          1. TR makes a good point. Why not confiscate the accused’s cellphone? What if he’s taking pictures of his intended victims? What if the three are taking pictures of each other ‘in the act’?

    2. No mention of the alleged sexual assault on his daughter by the alleged victim.

      There wouldn’t be! Though there’s a dearth of information it seems more than likely that it was a setup!

  35. Just received the sixth call today from an automated system stating that my internet service will be disconnected due to ‘illegal activity’, so I should press ‘1’ to talk to one of their ‘executives’. As I don’t want to pay premium rates to be scammed I put the phone down each time, Unfortunately, as they use a different caller ID each time there is no point in blocking them. I’ve e-mailed BT about this but I don’t expect any action. It’s about time they worked out how to stop caller ID spoofing.

    2. I have had the same, last week. Another said I was going to be charged £79 to join Amazon prime and they would help me fill in the form to clain it back….etc. All Indian types.

      1. We have had so many of the Amazon prime ones, they never let up. Usually it is an automated voice that starts off with ‘Hi. This is Amaz……’ That is as far as they get because we have either put the receiver down or blocked them, but this latter is very much like whack-a-mole. Up it pops again.

    3. Buy a BT8600 phone – it has caller blocking and has reduced the number of scam calls I used to get down to near zero.

      Edit. It hasn’t stopped me hitting “enter” before finishing typing though; hence my need to edit this post.

  36. Top Comment on the onshore wind farm article

    “Where’s the analysis of a turbines carbon footprint x its lifespan x energy produced x vast government subsidies.

    Wind farms are a con played out on the great British public for the benefit

    of big businesses. It’s disgraceful the government is complicit in this

    faux ‘green’ energy lie

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/02/onshore-wind-farms-brought-back-government-contracts/
    74% in favour??? Where are they polling?? Islington??

  37. Suffolk cinema temperature screens customers amid coronavirus fears

    The Felixstowe Palace in Crescent Road introduced the policy last Friday for all visitors and contractors entering the venue to undergo non-invasive temperature screening.

    Anyone recording a temperature of more than 37.4C will be turned away.

    Patrick Duffy, managing director of the Palace Bingo Clubs, Cinemas and Bowling said: “I feel we have a duty of care to our customers and to make sure all steps are taken to protect and keep them safe, along with staff and management.”

    The policy was introduced on February 28 for all customers, visitors, contractors and staff for raised temperatures and Mr Duffy said it would be in place until further notice.

    He added that anyone who refuses to have their temperature taken would be turned away: “I am not prepared to take the risk as it only takes one person to contaminate many.

    “We are talking real risk to anyone, especially those with existing medical conditions.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2a1e0c5b13ba203fede949ea1bfe1c3dda1d53a82e1d92b176c38d00f5bbcc6e.jpg

    1. 316793+ up ticks,
      BJ,
      Someone ask Frank how he is fixed currently for running a government.

      1. I think he tried but they said he was overqualified for the job and they wanted someone with less experience

        1. 316793+ up ticks,
          BJ,
          He will be castigated and rhetorically stoned for using the
          common sense commodity, that has no place in today’s society,
          for proof look to the polling booth.

    3. Anyone with a raised temperature is highly unlikely to go to a cinema in the first place.
      I’ve had a raised temperature for a couple of days, and the only place I wanted to go was my bed.
      If people have the corona virus and are asymptomatic, then they are unlikely to have a raised temperature, which would be a symptom of infection with something…..

      1. 316793+ up ticks,
        Morning A,
        There are parents in such locations as rotherham and in positions of power ie councils, council employees and judging
        by what has been revealed, is being revealed seemingly putting
        party before ALL else, a very,very sad fact.

      2. 316795+ up ticks,
        Afternoon Ntn,
        Hear tell, hear say, there were three “asians” in close proximity to the kids pool, but no burkas reported, police prefer burkas wearers as the rulings, Submission, PCism, Appeasement, governance party’s tools come into play, nullifying the nonce
        charge.
        Seemingly the establishments tailors are calling on Tommy for another fitting for a suit e in Belmarsh.

  39. Morning again

    SIR – Ordinary flu kills thousands a year in Britain. Since we do not live forever, total deaths per year from all causes amount to about 600,000.

    So why are we in terror over a few dozen cases of coronavirus in a population of 65 million? Coronavirus is not smallpox, it is not the Black Death, it is not the Zombie Apocalypse. It is flu, and over 98 per cent of people who get it recover from it.

    What is wrong with us? Are we all snowflakes?

    Dr J C Edwards

    Goostrey, Cheshire

  40. Labour: Party ‘braced for losses’ in May’s council elections

    The challenge facing Labour’s next leader has been laid bare by internal research suggesting the party is facing “one of its worst” results in recent history in May’s local elections.

    An internal party document, passed to the BBC, says it should brace itself for the loss of councils including Plymouth, Amber Valley and Harlow.

    In a worst-case scenario, Labour risks losing 315 seats and control of historic strongholds such as Sheffield.

    Voters go to the polls on 7 May.

    Seats in about 118 councils in England will be up for grabs.

  41. Afternoon all.

    The Boss Leaves Early

    Three girls worked in an office with the same female boss and each day they noticed that the boss left work early.

    One day the three decided that when their boss left, they would leave shortly after her.

    After all, she never came back to work so she would never know that they went home early too.

    The brunette was thrilled to be home early.. She did a little gardening, spent time playing with her son and enjoyed her evening.

    The redhead was pleased to be able to get in a quick workout at the spa before meeting a dinner date.

    The blonde was happy to get home early and surprised her husband but when she got to her bedroom she heard noises coming from inside.

    Slowly and quietly, she cracked open the door and was mortified to see her boss lady riding her husband..

    Gently, she closed the door and crept out of her house.

    The next day, during their coffee break, the brunette and redhead planned to leave early again and they asked the blonde if she was going to do
    likewise..

    “No way”, the blonde exclaimed. “I almost got caught yesterday!!”

  42. May one ask is there any news on stopping the daily dose of uncheckedimmigrantvirus.

    1. I once asked an Iranian friend about how his country fell to Islam and he said, “they did what all invaders do – killed the men and raped the women”.

    1. “For ’tis the sport to have the enginer
      Hoist with his own petard”
      — Hamlet

    2. I raised half a cheer when last week’s court case went against Heathrow runway 3. I don’t think it (HR3) is necessary but it shouldn’t be the idiotic Climate Change Act that prevents it. Ditto here. Anything that delays HS2 has to be applauded, if rather quietly if it has to be by the CCA.

    4. What a wazzock. One of the main excuses for HS2 is to reduce CO2 and pollution by encouraging people to use the train. That some fluffy bunnies might lose their homes is just collateral damage and nothing to do with Climate.

  45. Afternoon all. If the same allegations of bullying were being made against Dianne Abott, then the screams of “RAAYYYCCCISSSTT!!” would have been deafening. Priti Patel is Asian and female (and it seems brave and competent to boot) but she is not ‘the right kind’ of Asian female, (woke, Left-wing) hence it is perfectly permissable to denigrate her in the most vile terms.

    Being a Tory clearly negates the protections she would otherwise have from her race and gender. Don’t you just love the double-standards of the Left?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/03/02/tory-mps-dismissing-claims-priti-patel-bully-wonder-john-bercow/

    1. I do hope that she receives the support that she is entitled to from her boss the PM, and which most of the country rightly expects will be extended to her throughout this Parliament. Few people care how many unco-operative, EU-supporting civil servants get moved, demoted or fired.

      1. Agreed. She appears to be one of the very few Thatcherite, small-c conservatives in this otherwise left/green/liberal government. I wouldn’t be suprised if she is thrown under the bus, Tories don’t have a great record of defending their own (see their treatment of Roger Scruton). Hopefully, the ‘optics’ of white male Boris sacking Asian female Priti will mean he is forced to stand by her.

        1. If Boris does not stand by her it will be the end of him.

          I would not trust slimewball Gove not be up to some nasty skulduggery behind everyone’s backs.

          1. I pity her the role.

            The HO was “ruled” byTheresa May for over six years and as PM she appointed two look-a-likes with similar attitudes who lasted a further three and a bit years. Add to that another ten plus years of Labour and that’s an awful lot of shit to clear from the stables.

            The HO civil service is well and truly infiltrated by common purpose.

            I doubt she’ll survive, much as I would like her to.

      1. That’s one accusation that – at least openly – has still to be thrown at her.

    3. I hope that she stays put and completes her current and future aspirations, especially if she’s upsetting the far left.
      She’s a ray of sunshine, this country needs people like her. It needs a serious kick up the backside.

    1. The old Colchester firing ranges.
      What will the MoD will spend the money on?
      Trannie bog blocks?
      Morning, Belle.

    3. This is where the greenies could step in. much of MOD land is low impact…. i.e. they and only they use it for exercises (when they can get the MOD to provide equipment, fuel and amunition) which are not an everyday event. In studies done some years back they are some of the best places for wildlife to prosper.

  49. ANCIENT WISDOM

    Keep this in mind the next time you are about to repeat a rumour or spread gossip.

    In ancient Greece (469 – 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day an acquaintance ran up to him excitedly and said, “Socrates, do you know what I just heard about Diogenes?”

    “Wait a moment,” Socrates replied, “Before you tell me I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”

    “Triple filter?” asked the acquaintance.

    “That’s right,” Socrates continued, “Before you talk to me about Diogenes let’s take a moment to filter what you’re going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

    “No,” the man said, “Actually I just heard about it.”

    “All right,” said Socrates, “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about Diogenes something good?”

    “No, on the contrary…”

    “So,” Socrates continued, “You want to tell me something about Diogenes that may be bad, even though you’re not certain it’s true?”

    The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued, “You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter, the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about Diogenes going to be useful to me?”

    “No, not really.”

    “Well,” concluded Socrates, “If what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me or anyone at all?”

    The man was bewildered and ashamed. This is an example of why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.

    It also explains why Socrates never found out that Diogenes was banging his wife.

    1. My mother refused to allow any of us near a Corona bottle .. I visited a friend and drank a Corona orange drink , and arrived back home with an orange tongue.. My mother was furious .. She said the brand had unatural colouring , too much sugar and made children hyperactive .

      1. Your mother was right. An experiment was carried out on inmates of a juvenile detention place in the USA. The scientists allowed the inmates to drink Coca-Cola. They observed and measured behaviour with access to Coca-Cola and when they did not get any, over a period, and the behaviour of the inmates was wilder and more unruly when they had Coca-cola than without.

    2. They should have included the word ‘flu’ in it, as that it what it is. so ‘ COVID-19 FLU’

      1. he looks like a diversity version of Alan Whicker…. he just needs to practise the delivery a bit more.

    4. Covid 19 is just the name of the virus. The friendly name is a bit like bird fly rather than H5N1.

      1. That’s correct. All the flu-like viruses are coronavirus derivatives, such as MERS, SARS, Bird-Flu and the like. To simply call this current one “coronavirus” is patently silly.

      2. Well, they could start naming them the way they do hurricanes and storms……. this is Virus Cora… Kyle? how much less alarming that would be…

    5. Covid 19 is just the name of the virus. The friendly name is a bit like bird fly rather than H5N1.

    7. Morning, P-T.
      I like Littlejohn’s suggestion of it morphing into vimtovirus and fantavirus.

  51. Census 2021 to be Changed after ethnicity Row

    Daft it is not even an ethnicity

  52. Some ladies of the night are requiring that their client have their temperature taken before getting don to business

  53. Coronation Street sparks hundreds of Ofcom complaints over sickening Geoff and Yasmeen scenes

    What twisted minds these TV companies have

  54. The “You couldn’t make it up files” get an outing

    “Damascus, SANA – President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday issued Decree

    No. 76 for 2020 setting Monday April 13th as the date of the

    parliamentary elections for selecting members of the People’s Assembly

    for the third legislative term.

    The decree also sets the number of members at 250 divided into 127

    members from the workers and farmers sector and 123 from the other

    groups of the population, divided among 15 electoral districts.”

    https://sana.sy/en/?p=187266
    Bad Assad!! Back to brutal dictator school for you!!

    1. 316793+ up ticks,
      Afternoon TB,
      I thought we had a good chance of being first in the take over stakes, can’t be far of now with the new party emerging from the old labour host.
      They are fighting the 4 W war subsidised by their opponents & with the opponents consent.

      Wage Warfare whilst on Welfare is part of their campaign.

  57. From

    “Shouting at Tea”

    to

    “Bawling at Breakfast”

    Spiked on James O’Brian’s demented rants

    “James O’Brien, LBC radio host, King Remoaner and author of How To Be Right,

    is doing that thing again – that thing where he goes ballistic over

    nothing and in the process makes himself look far more unhinged than the

    fulminating gammons of his nightmares.

    A ‘patriotic breakfast’?

    Sausages were

    invented by Sumerians circa 3000BC; all beans used in baked beans are

    native to South America; pork was first salted in ancient China &

    hens were first domesticated in ancient Egypt. ‘Patriotic’

    What an awful joke Brexit is making of the UK.”

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/03/03/the-madness-of-james-obrien/

    1. 😃😄Well, I can’t compete. All that happened to me today was it rained just before I managed to put the garden tools away.

    1. Public Transport. (n) A means of transportation that runs from a place inconvenient for you to another place inconvenient for you at a time of its own choosing and at a speed too slow for useful purposes, while charging you money to sit next to people who in other circumstances you would prefer not to share a town with, never mind a dirty bench seat.

      2. Ah! So you’ve been on the Wooler to Alnwick bus at school time too then?

        1. The last time I was on a bus was in 2012, when my front brake nearly caught fire because of a seized caliper as I headed south on the A189 Spine Road. I got the break-down service to take my car to a garage at the top end of Ashington, 5 minutes away and after dropping the car off at 10am I went over the road to get a bus home. After a while I found out that there isn’t an Alnwick service as such from Ashington any more (it was half hourly in my day) and that I had to go to the bus station in the town centre to get a bus that went only as far as Amble and change there.

          A short ride on a bus heading away from home got me to the bus station, where my bus came in and we all had to wait for a crew change, even though the bus was already behind schedule. The new driver got in and spent a good 5 minutes just getting the height of his seat right before he finally settled down to do his paperwork. Eventually he let us on board.

          The bus then travelled on every pointless diversion known to man to pass empty bus stops at out-of-the-way villages.

          The trip of less that 20 miles that would have been 25 minutes by car eventually got me home at 12.45, after leaving my car at the garage at 10.00.

          It was my first time on a bus in over a decade, and if I have my way it will be my last. I’m entitled to a bus pass, but I’ve made absolutely no effort in finding out how to get one.

          1. Sounds pretty normal . It the way buses operate now. The bus companies though are doing their very best to drive their remain customers away with the dreadful services they offer

  60. Erdoğan is reaping what he sowed: Turkey is on the brink of disaster in Syria. Mon 2 Mar 2020 17.37 GMT.

    The humbling of Turkey is no cause for cheer in Europe and the US. What it does do is underscore its responsibility – so far shamefully ducked – to intervene directly in the Idlib crisis to protect civilians, halt the fighting, and pursue a wider peace. Leaving it to Erdoğan was never going to work. The western democracies have a last chance to do the right thing in Syria: manufacture and enforce a just and lasting settlement – and tell Putin and his bombers to go home.

    Tisdall makes a pretty good fist of describing Erdogan’s self-inflicted predicament and then ends with this peroration of moronic propaganda. The western “democracies” from the UK’s False Flag chemical weapons scams, to the US’s supply of the Jihadists are responsible for Syria’s travails. They have no interest whatsoever in a “a just and lasting settlement” which would deny them their goal of the end of Assad’s government.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/02/erdogan-turkey-syria-assad

    1. In virtually every case in which we have intervened in the Middle East – Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Syria etc. we have chosen to support the wrong side and have made matters considerably worse.

      1. Supporting the Palestinian terrorists was never a good idea. It just encouraged them to continue and avoid any chance of peace.

        1. There can never be peace with those whose faith invites them to Paradise should they murder Jews.

    2. The Graudian, like many Western Politicians, fail to realise and acknowledge, that Syria’s Assad is their duly ELECTED Head of State in some sort of Middle Eastern Democratic Election. At least he is not a despot from some ‘Royal’ family who are only there because an ancestor, way back in the mists of time, beheaded all his rivals.

  61. Worth recording.
    BBC1 2.15pm New ‘Moving On’ – Jimmy McGovern, until Friday.

    Well done aunty…..

  62. I have just emailed the large company who installed our new telegraph pole and removed the old one last week

    I have nothing but praise for their team efficiency especially as the job was in a difficult part of the garden . The guys who shinned up the pole were from the Philipines , and the team leader was Welsh , they were great guys , and considering the pole is nearly 8ft taller than the old one , manoevering it by crane from the other side of the hedge into the hole in the ground in our garden was a masterpiece of skill..

    My garden birds are slowly returning .. the feeders are full. and am now making plans as to what I can grow to replace the roses and honeysuckle and ivy that did so well over the past 20 years!

    Two supervisors turned up this morning to check up on last weeks work . These guys told us that they were ex High rise pylon repair bods , but are now not so young… My vertigo certainly felt rather challenged when they mentioned that… perish the thought !

    2. Gosh. Was it really necessary to have an 8ft taller pole? And the roses etc. did they have to be removed because of the new pole? Perhaps you’ve managed to move them elsewhere in your garden?

      1. Fresh start now .. the previous plants were well and truly deeply rooted and years old .. sad moment to sacrifice them , but there we go.

    3. Do you get paid a wayleave for it being on your property?
      The previous occupant of my place was paid for an electricity pole in the garden which was removed some years before I moved here.
      Apparently though the Electricity Board, as it was then, continued paying the wayleave until I returned their cheque to them after I moved in!

      1. In Scotland we got a payment for an electricity pole but my Uncle accepted a lump sum and the payments stopped. That was in the late 50s,/early 60s.

      1. Thank you Peddy , I will consider your choices, the hedge is the problem re shade as will the choice of position of the plant against the pole .. so poor old plants will be north facing sadly.. my masquerade rose struggled but grew above the hedge line and flowered at about 10ft and more to catch the SW sunshine / N/E chill .. I also had a honesuckle which was erratic re flowering .. large headed flower , forgotten the name .

        My clematis Montana developed wilt after four years , but I would love another one , different variety , the yellow one looks a nice plant.

        Thank you so much for posting those links ..

    1. As the guy with the red hat, second from left, keeps saying – ” Where are the women ? “.

    4. 316793+ up ticks,
      Afternoon JK,
      You’re lagging they’er, sha-ging abusing,& pillaging, the invasion took place long ago, at least ten GE past.

        1. Or the Pleasure Donkey…… I think it was in France that they had to round up a bunch of them and make them get treatment for an STD from the donkey….

    7. Healthy?
      They all seem to mess up and then are discovered to have mental health problems……

    8. sorry it wont work………It was supposed to be the band Ace singing “How long has this been going on”.
      Can someone else oblige :-))

  64. Bristol volunteer Lesbos migrant aid worker feels ‘hunted’

    Greek people are generally pretty hospitable but they have been pushed past there limit and are not happy with people coming fro the UK to try to facilitate illegal migration. Lesbos is not a big Island it is about 4 times the size of the Isle of Wight

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-51708627

      1. Arrogant, presumptuous and sanctimonious half-wits or simply victims of their own naive and dangerously misplaced goodheartedness?

        1. The first, with virtue signalling thrown in for good measure. It makes them feel good about themselves.

    3. Totally naïve idiots who think they ‘do good’ but, in fact, do the opposite.

  65. The database that means festivals have ‘no excuses’ on gender balance

    More nonsense people go to these events to see particular artists they dont got there because of gender balance

    What next they will have to have a balance of opera singers, pop singers etc

    1. How about gender balance on the BBC for white, heterosexual and intelligent presenters, actors, etc

  67. London Marathon likely to be banned

    It is still quite a few weeks of yet but if things do not change or the better it will be banned

    1. Is there an alternative word for ” banned “, which implies that the Marathon is something illegal, or dangerous, like fire-arms or smoking ?

      1. ‘Cancelled’ would be perfect, but it doesn’t instill the right degree of fear and panic.

        2. Will they also ‘ban’ or ‘cancel’ the London rush hour?

          And if not, why not?

    2. Is there an alternative word for ” banned “, which implies that the Marathon is something illegal, or dangerous, like fire-arms or smoking ?

    3. You have obviously not read my comment on that event a few hours ago on this forum.

    1. Not to worry, all can replaced by immigrants in under a year, without even having to encourage more.

    2. Not to worry, all can replaced by immigrants in under a year, without even having to encourage more.

    3. Love these reports that use phrases like up to; in other words, we’re guessing.

      2. Well, they can’t put a wet finger in the air in case they catch something nasty…

    4. Love these reports that use phrases like up to; in other words, we’re guessing.

  69. Ten people found inside shipping container at dock in Hull

    THey should in my view be deported but I doubt they will.

    Illegal entry into the UK is just being encouraged by failing to deport them

    Ten people have been found inside a shipping container at a dock in Hull.

    A Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) spokeswoman said they had responded to the incident at King George Dock on the River Hull around 11.30am on Tuesday.

    She said three patients were taken to hospital and another seven were assessed at the scene but did not need treatment.

      1. THe only way they can get into shipping containers is if someone is smuggling them. Shioping containers are steel and have substantial locks on the door as well as a seal

          1. I was out with the eldest dog earlier at about 5pm, still bright light , high on a hill with old historical mounds and some rough ground , freezing cold, visibility brilliant.. and I saw a barn owl in hunting mode … diving , swooping hovering, gliding on the breeze..

            I stopped walking with the dog , and watched the bird for a while, I didn’t venture any further .. just felt in awe of such a wonderful sight .

          3. I think it was TW3 that did a skit on every commentary being accompanied by ‘helpful’ pictures; the 3 illustrating the Lord Privy Seal were:
            1. a lord
            2. a privy
            3. go on, take a guess…

          8. …and that reminds me, Anne.

            It must have been in 1942 when Sir Stafford Cripps, whom Churchill detested, was Lord Privy Seal in the coalition government.

            It transpires that one morning, while Winston was at his daily toilet and ablutions, a footman knocked on his toilet door to tell him that Sir Stafford Cripps was here to see him.

            The well-known voice boomed from the other side of the door, “Please inform the Lord Privy Seal that I am sealed in my privy – and can only deal with one shit at a time.”

            Thought you’d like that.

  70. UK snow warning: Charts show Britain smashed by barrage of snow as freezing air strikes

    Another ridicules weather headline. translated it means we might get a few inches of snow and since when has 6 deg C been bitterly cold ?

    BRITAIN is bracing for snow to crash into the country, according to the latest weather charts, as bitterly cold air grips the UK

  71. Brexit BREAKTHROUGH

    Who knows it does seem the EU are keen to try to reach a deal but I doubt they would be giving much ground yet

    BRUSSELS negotiator Michel Barnier hinted at a possible post-Brexit compromise after an early round of trade talks with Britain.

    The Frenchman said he and David Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator, had worked on establishing “grey zones” during their opening session in the Belgian capital. He added that the pair had both agreed on some areas of “convergence” in their negotiating guidelines. “On the first stage we are trying to see clearly, precisely where our divergences, grey zones, convergences are,” Mr Barnier told reporters after leaving the talks.

    1. Barnier still believes that our civil service have control over Government policy. He looks at the demonisation of Priti Patel and the now standard false accusations of ‘bullying’ and reckons that Boris will cave in under pressure by association. Priti used dismissive language to some obsequious civil servant prat used to preening himself when dealing with Theresa May and took exception. What a wimp!

      The fact remains that Theresa May lasted so long as our worst ever Home Secretary simply because she obeyed her civil servants all of whom were and remain pro EU. The silly cow survived as our worst ever Prime Minister for the reason that she handed control of our Brexit negotiations to her treasured civil servants and then deceived the Nation with her lying mantras. ‘No deal is better than a bad deal’ my arse.

  72. MS Society sorry for ‘let’s turn Belfast orange’ tweet
    A Multiple Sclerosis charity has issued an apology after inviting the public to “turn the streets of Belfast orange” for a fundraising walk.

    MS Society UK issued the rallying call on Twitter to raise awareness of the “family friendly accessible walk” ranging from 1km, 5km and 10km.

    “Let’s turn the streets of Belfast orange”, the charity tweeted to its 53,000 followers, with a picture of supporters wearing bright orange T-shirts. However, the charity, whose branding features bright orange colours, did not anticipate that this would cause offence in the city after it appeared to endorse one half of its bitter sectarian divide.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/03/ms-society-sorry-turn-belfast-orange-tweet/

    Oops.

    1. The MS Society UK might have got away with that ‘tweet’, had they not ended it with the words “NO SURRENDER!”
      ;¬)

    2. One wonders what kind of ignoramus is doing their PR and also whether the Chief Executive has sacked them, and then taken responsibility and resigned.

      No?

      Thought not…

    4. You can be damn sure that Belfast will be turned green on March 17th, whether they like it or not.

    1. It’s all UKIP’s fault.

      They created the hostility to those who might have stopped it by making the “right” poisonous

      Their policies were the ones that allowed the appeasers to take power by forcing the Conservatives to the left.

      If UKIP had kept to getting us out of the EU rather than pissing in the well, perhaps we would not be where we are now.

      1. 316793+ up ticks,
        You would say that wouldn’t you, masterful buck passing I’ll give you that considering con /lab took the treachery route regarding
        the downfall of England / GB at least 12 years before UKIP came into being.
        YOU supported / voted for what you have now, then whinged,
        very very unbrit like.
        You could not wait to get back to supporting lab/lib/con post result on the 24/6 /2016 the very parties that continued to keep us in sh!teland.
        Then elected YET ANOTHER bum PM to add to the very long list of bum PMs.

        1. Yep, UKIP queered the pitch.

          New Labour, under Tony Blair, was slowly getting established, just as UKIP appeared and poisoned the right wing of politics, taking votes away from conservatives.

          UKIP may well have given us the Blair years and the Lib/Con coalition.

          You should be proud of what you did re the EU, but heartily ashamed over how your influence threw the UK to open borders, however unintentionally you did so.

          1. 316793+ up ticks,
            Not biting, won’t wash, when you resort to buck passing as you are doing you are truly in the sh!te.

          2. Made you think did it?

            UKIP’s activity at the time, however unintentional, was the real cause of Blair’s ability to open the doors.

          3. 316793+ up ticks,
            The b liar was the latch lifter then the tory’s were the willing partners, pro eu rubber stampers all.
            The wretch cameron for instance pledged to reduce the numbers then promptly raised them, he had his finest hour with his approach to animal husbandry via the pigs head.
            He was one of the torys best was he not ?

          4. I would suggest that Blair needed no excuses for his behaviour, with or without UKIP he would still have done what he did. he and Mandleson admitted to going looking for suitable (potential labour voting) immigrants and he would have done so anyway expecting a normal pendulum swing back to the right….. had the Tories not chosen such dreadful leaders all the time.

            Sorry but my rule of thumb is that anything bad starts with Bliar and no one else.

            And lets face it, UKIP only relly began to put the frighteners on when the moved offf the 2-3% mark and started to gain popular support in the Cameron era.

          5. I agree re Blair and bad things, but UKIP certainly made the “right” totally toxic and that pushed marginal voters, disgusted with Major’s efforts, new Labour’s way, rather than towards a right of centre party.
            UKIP was never going to be regarded as centre right by the MSM, always far right, even if that wasn’t true.

            May’s “nasty party comments thn effectively sealed two more rounds of Blair/Brown as well as ensuring that Cameron eventually drifted to what would be regrded in Thatcher’ day as soft left.

            I will never forgive Blair and the wrecking crew for what they did to the country.

          6. And what exactly, under Major, were the Conservatives doing? Until 2010, UKIP never got enough votes to make a difference. Labour had already done its damage. And all the Tories have done since is emulate the Left. I fail to see where any blame can be levelled at UKIP. They were never far right, though the media has done an admirable job of smearing anyone to the right of Corbyn as such.

          7. I agree re modern smearing.
            Blair and his crew were clever, they exploited the disatisfaction with the Tories under Major.

            UKIP started up in the early 90’s and along with the Referendum party they were bleeding votes from the mainstream right.Marginal seats decide elections.
            The blame that falls on UKIP is not down to what they did directly, they had no power, it was what they did indirectly by allowing Blair and the wrecking crew to retain power and open the borders to unlimited immigration from the new EU members, when even the French and Germans were wary.

      2. I think that was the National Front and the BNP.
        The use the same tactics in Fra, Germany, USA (look at the islanders and opprobrium heaped upon Trump), etc. I don’t think UKIP are responsible for any of that.
        The Left have used the tactic of smearing anyone to the right of them as being “actual Nazis,” and the Left have infiltrated everywhere, including the Conservative party.

        1. I agree re Left smearing etc., but UKIP at the time was the bolthole for BNP and NF people to have a new party without the stigmatism But they were identified and did the harm to UKIP’s cause. That in turn eventually led to Blair and the open doors.

      3. It was mass immigration post-2003 (with the admission of the ex-Warsaw Pact countries) that gave anti-EU sentiment the boost it needed.

          1. He certainly gave them the ammunition by not restricting movement as he was permitted to do.

      4. “We… leverage policy and legislation…by…forming strong relationships with officials and politicians…for three decades” probably has far more to do with it than li’l old UKIP, Sosy.

        Particularly as the “leveragers” have a mountain of money.

        1. How much does Soros pay you to be his shill, “bigging “him up all the time?

          Telling the world that he has more power and influence than is actually the case.

          He must be really proud of you.

          1. My post is a precis of Open Society’s mission statement, Sosy.

            As British policy and legislation since at least 1997 looks remarkably similar to Open Society policy, why would you disagree with their claim ?

          2. Why do you spend all your time praising their successes?

            You’re a shill.

            shill (n) an accomplice of a confidence trickster or swindler who poses as a genuine customer to entice or encourage others.

          3. Where is the praise ?

            I merely point out the activities of Open Society and their claims.

            If you dispute their claims, please explain why so with evidence.

          4. Every day you come on here telling us of Soros’s latest, in your crib sheet’s view, successes.
            You’re a shill.
            How much is he paying you to troll Nottle?

          5. So no evidence to dispute their claims ?

            No, of course not, and your accusation about “shill” is ridiculous.

          6. Ridiculous?

            Hardly!

            You sing his praises daily, you worship at his altar, you constantly tell us how successful he is, and his organisations are.

            You are a shill, pure and simple.

            Just a nasty little sorosophite.

          7. Where’s the “praise” ?

            My posts are purely about facts and likelihoods.

            Instead of constantly complaining about what is happening in Britain, Sosy, do try to be constructive and find out why.

          8. Is he, by any chance, a relative?

            Your grandfather, perhaps.

            Your admiration of his activities and constant genuflection suggests you are in awe of him.

            I suppose it’s understandable when your own achievements are so inadequate.

            Keep up the good work, I’m sure he thinks you’re worth every penny spent.

          9. No, Sosy. None of that is true.

            But if you have evidence about Open Society to prove me wrong, please go ahead and post it.

          10. Why are you trying to make people look at Open Society?

            Are you paid by the click, shill?

            Does Granddaddy Soros pay extra when it comes from his sorosophite?

          11. Because, unlike you, I seek explanations. I suggest you do the same.

            In the meantime, please post sensibly and politely.

          12. Oh, poor parrot, been called out as a shill for your trill have you?

            You’re a Soros shill/troll, pure and simple. Just here to wind up the blog.

            Carry on. We now see you for what your are. A sorosophite.

          13. No, once again that is all nonsense, Sosy.

            As I said, try and be constructive and find explanations instead of moaning almost all the time.

          16. Because that’s where much of the funding for all the left-wing groups comes from, including Greta.

          17. Possibly so, but who else comes on here daily, telling us how well Soros is doing?

          19. Why?
            This nasty little troll arrives every day to try to disrupt the blog with its pro Soros posts.

          20. It’s not praise. It’s a warning, though I’m not sure what we can do about it, as none of us have several £billion tucked away anywhere to combat it.

          21. Sleight of word, sos. Keep banging on about bogey man George while the really big players get on with destroying our world.

          24. He is one of the bogeyman. He donated $18 billion of his personal fortune, along with others such as the Gates, into the Open Society Foundation, which funnels money to many left-wing groups, e.g. Hope Not Hate.

    2. Perhaps there’ll be a bit more resistance to an Islamic invasion in the Balkans than there has been so far further west in Europe. After all, they have long and bitter memories of what comes out of The East.

  74. Government’s coronavirus battle plan: Army on standby and police told to stop investigating lower-level crime. 3 March 2020 • 10:31am.

    1. Coronavirus compared to Spanish Flu
    2. Outbreaks could come in multiple waves
    3. Police will concentrate only on serious crime
    4. Tax mitigation for businesses
    5. Expected increase in deaths
    6. Medical supplies will be stockpiled
    7. School closures and working from home urged
    8. Non-urgent NHS care to be delayed
    9. The Army on standby
    10. Pressure on society will become ‘significant and clearly noticeable’

    So no change then?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/03/governments-coronavirus-battle-plan-army-standby-police-told/

    1. 11. Members of the HoL to be allowed to claim attendance allowance without actually attending?

    1. “Well Kate, when you kissed me in the bog, all those years ago, and I promised you a Prince in exchange, did you believe me?”

  77. LIVE: Government admits UK outbreak ‘increasingly serious’ as number of cases rises and plan for extra mortuary space revealed

  78. NHS declares national major incident

    The NHS has declared a national major incident over the coronavirus outbreak and ordered all hospitals to review their numbers of intensive care beds and how they could be increased to cope with a surge in patients.

    A letter sent to health chiefs today by NHS England reveals patients infected with the virus could soon start to be treated on hospital wards instead of specialist units as the numbers affected grow.

    Hospitals have been told all patients in intensive care who have signs of a lung infection should now be tested for coronavirus, amid fears the virus could already be in hospitals and could spread between patients.

    1. Odd that the treatment for normal flu is to go home, take an aspirin and sweat it out. Unless there are underlying health issues.

  79. Putin seeks constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and says it’s his ‘duty’ to stop gay people getting married. 3 March 2020.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3bfe1a80dd0635cdab945d5bf3123fc94fa61a5947c04532ad1126468bf89b3e.png

    Vladimir Putin said the Russian constitution should define marriage as between a man and a woman and nothing else, a senior politician said..

    I’ve already commented on this today but I couldn’t resist this. The Mail ran this story with comments premoderated (Yes Really!) but the whole thing was such a disaster that they had to shut it down! Lol!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8066487/Russian-constitution-define-marriage-heterosexual-Putin-says.html#comments

    1. Seems Putin is giving the Russian people as much say in the matter of same-sex ‘marriage’ as did Cameron the British people – i.e. none. At least the Irish were given a referendum on the matter, but I suppose the British people could not be trusted to come up with the ‘correct’ decision.

  80. The migrant crisis is exposing deep flaws in the EU project

    PATRICK O’FLYNN

    The scenes on our television screen are grimly familiar: thousands of migrants, mainly young men, massing on Europe’s south-eastern borders, desperate to find a new life away from war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Five years ago, at the time of the last migrant surge, Europe’s senior political leader, Angela Merkel, issued a “let them come” decree which undoubtedly increased the volumes. Germany ended up accepting more than a million refugees back then.

    Not only was Mrs Merkel proud of her stance, but she also sought to take the moral high ground by pressing for other countries, especially Hungary and Poland, to take part in “burden sharing” by also accepting many of the irregular migrants she had encouraged to travel.

    Their refusal, she said, “contradicts the spirit of Europe”, adding: “We’ll overcome that. It will take time and patience but we will succeed”.

    Well, half a decade on that is not how it is panning out. Instead the zero tolerance towards irregular migration showed by Hungary and Poland is spreading. Greece, under a new right-of-centre government elected last year, is taking a muscular – some would say brutal – approach towards defending its borders. Armed police and soldiers are at the frontier and the gates are shut. By sea, dinghies full of migrants are being forced away from the coast.

    There are even reports of Greek islanders on Lesbos chasing off western NGO workers and attempting to burn down a migrant shelter. Locals complain that while tourism to the island has slumped because of the impact of the migration crisis, there seems to be an awful lot of money slushing around within the aid industry.

    When I was an MEP attending the European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents as understudy to Nigel Farage during the 2014-19 parliamentary term, leaders of parliamentary groups such as Guy Verhofstadt and Phillippe Lamberts made no secret of their desire for the EU to impose compulsory quotas for asylum-seekers on member states, often berating officials from the European Commission for not being aggressive enough in their demands for this.

    Back then, Merkel was hailed as the exemplar. I doubt very much whether that is the case now as she has undertaken a striking shift in stance. On Monday her spokesman Steffen Seibert told a press conference in Berlin: “We are seeing refugees and migrants who are being told on the Turkish side that the route to the EU is now open – and of course it is not.” Merkel’s government has made no request that Greece should open its border this time but now merely talks of the need to “de-escalate an extremely difficult situation”. It hopes to persuade Turkey’s bully boy president, Tayyip Erdogan, to go back to a deal to house the migrants in his country in return for financial support.

    Meanwhile the ambitious Friedrich Merz, a contender to take over the leadership of Merkel’s nominally centre-right Christian Democrats, has struck an even more negative tone towards the would-be incomers, declaring: “There is no point in coming to Germany. We cannot take you in.”

    As in Greece, the reason for the shift in tone and policy is obvious: public opinion has had enough of mass immigration into Europe from its neighbouring continents. The ideology of a single, liberal EU migration policy – being pushed in Brussels – is no match for the refusal of national electorates to countenance such an idea. So the EU’s few remaining national governments of a liberal-Left complexion have piped down. There is no powerful figurehead calling for an open door in their own country, still less for making other countries take up the slack.

    The most likely outcome will be that a new deal for Erdogan to continue housing the migrants will ultimately be struck, involving even higher payments into this borderline tyrant’s coffers and further foreign policy concessions to him as well.

    The EU will have been bullied by a single neighbouring national leader. To the Verhofstadt tendency this will signal the need for more centralisation and “more Europe”. But these days such demands are simply not going to fly.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/03/03/migrant-crisis-exposing-deep-cracks-eu-project/

    2. I wonder how the EU will enforce these quotas?

      “OK, you lot, the first 30 to Poland, the next 30 to Hungary” etc. They’ll just refuse to move. How will they deal with that? Load them onto trains err… buses? And as soon as they arrive and decide Poland and Hungary are not to their liking they’ll be straight back to The Fatherland.

        1. We had an arithmetic teacher who kept her handkerchief tucked in the leg of her harvest festivals.
          I wonder if she supplemented her income? Weekends and long holidays?

        1. The EU was quite happy for a £1.8 billion cheque to cover a notional one year’s tax take from drugs and prostitution.
          As ever, Call Me Dave said ‘no’ and then meekly signed on the dotted line.

  82. Government should have been more open about the revival of windfarm subsidies

    TELEGRAPH VIEW

    The consequences of the Government’s accelerated programme for turning Britain into a carbon neutral country become more apparent by the day. The sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars is to be phased out earlier than planned, fracking has been suspended and the burning of certain types of coal and wood is to be banned. But at least we thought the landscape was spared the march of onshore wind farms across the countryside.

    Not so: a moratorium on onshore projects has suddenly been lifted. Wind turbine producers will again be able to bid for the price support removed by David Cameron after pressure from rural Tories because people were “fed up…with these unsightly structures”.

    The price of electricity produced by wind farms has dropped sharply, making the technology significantly cheaper than other forms of low-carbon generation such as nuclear power. Alok Sharma, the Business Secretary, said cutting carbon emissions rapidly requires “making the most of every technology available”, including onshore wind and solar. He said this would be done in a way that does not alienate local communities. However, campaigners said if new onshore developments were to go ahead then planning restrictions would have to be relaxed, alongside the renewed access to subsidies.

    This decision marks a reversal of a commitment made to rural areas, without it being spelled out, during the general election campaign. The Conservative manifesto reconfirmed the party’s commitment to offshore wind but did not mention onshore, or solar power for that matter.

    Voters are entitled to think the party should have been more open about the implications of its energy policy.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/03/03/government-should-have-open-revival-windfarm-subsidies/

    BTL:

    Allan Plaskett 3 Mar 2020 1:02PM

    “Ah, but renewables are getting cheaper and more efficient all the time,” they say. Yes, but that’s like saying the car is cheaper to make and run when it still won’t start two days a week.

    In the case of wind turbines, it’s more like one day per fortnight.

    M Donovan 3 Mar 2020 12:36PM

    I am alarmed that the government has made this announcement during the coronavirus emergency. It smacks of the Blair government’s 9/11 announcement of unacceptable policy which a civil servant was caught saying something like ‘this is a good day to announce bad news’.

    1. And battery powered cars are not cheap to buy even with the larges subsidies and dont forget there are almost no taxes on the electricity for cars

      Now that situation cannot continue as the government is to dependent on fuel duty and tax

      For Petrol & diesel you pay

      If you pay £1.30 for a litre of petrol, you would pay

      83.9p per litre of petrol

      79p per litre of diesel

      1. On Sunday I took a cab to the pub, it was a hybrid , [Toyota Prius? ? ] – up to now I was a great sceptic of these battery driven things – this car changed my mind, good & proper!
        If they weren’t so damned expensive, a hybrid would be my next car

        2. If you were thinking about environmental benefits, forget it. In most of the publicity thy calim its pollution free operation but do not report on the manufacture and disposal as being pollution free. In a stdy a few years back which took account of everything from raw materials to final disposal Prius came in at about 65th on the list. Top of the list? One of the much loathed (by greenies) Jeeps because of the basic steel used and that the big engines would run practically forever while the prius needed special steels and then there ar the batteries and so on.

          Of course, this research was disputed but I have yet to see an other proper accounting for whole life pollution (never mind where the electricity comes from) …..

      2. According to the SMMT (or whatever they were called) the reason diesel car sales in the Uk were much lower than in Europe was because of the excessive taxes. When it came to LPG they balked at providing the necessary facilities because they fully expected that once established using the low fuel price, the government would then push the taxes much higher and people would not then buy LPG cars…. leaving them with a major stranded investment.

        And of course it will be the same when and if everyone does have to go electric…..

      1. The beauty of “New” NoTTL is that we’re not constrained by Disqus’ naughty word filter. But, in the interests of good taste, I agree. FFS…

    2. “Hello Erdi, old chap. Any chance you could send us a few more jihadists, disguised as refugees?”

      1. Hi Erdi, are they all firemen/ ambulance crew/ electricians / plumbers / carpenters/ engineers/ scientists/ nurses / carers / lab technicians / train drivers./ police/ teachers/ academics/ waiters/ washing machine repairers/ tilers / brickies/ roofers/ scaffolders/ lolipop men/ women/ nannies/ social workers/ accountants / lawers /pilots / radiographers/ boat builders , architects etc …

        What do you mean that they are none of the above … who are they what do they want to do in Europe then… WHAT, just here to shag British/ Swedish/ German / Italian/ Greek girls ..

    3. You can understand why and how our long established culture and social structure is being undermined by our own political classes. They certainly do not speak for or even mildly represent the average voter. They don’t get it do they. They are still effing up everything they come into contact with. Everything !
      The useless effing wonkers.
      Grow up FFS.

      1. Nah, Sharpe would be better, as long as he can have Patrick Harper as his PPS.

    5. Is this a joke ? Fake News or what ? Erdogan is in this for his own advantage, with killing a few more Kurds on the way. He forfeited his right
      to be considered an ally a long time back.

    6. Dominic old bean, that’s what happens when you invade another sovereign country.

    7. Which pretty much tells us that if the UK was being invaded (no comments) that Raab would be there apologising and handing out roses to the invaders….

    8. The replies to this tweet are pretty scathing.
      The general public are not going along with it.

  85. I don’t know whether it has been mentioned already, but in the event of a serious outbreak of coronavirus here, one logical consequence should be the nationalisation of supplies and a price cap on essentials such as food and power. This was a necessity which many of us will remember from the time of the Second World War.
    This would be good for the economy, also; at that time the parents and grandparents of many of our affluent classes grew rich on what was then called the ” Black Market.
    Happy days ahead.

          1. Well, she may have done, for all I know*, Geoff.

            * “very little (of any consequence.)”

      2. Where i was at junior school in Mill Hill, i must have been around 8 years old.
        Two of the young teachers in their first job asked if anyone knew if there was any local accommodation available. I put my hand up and next day passed on my grandparents address. They lived about 3 miles from the school in Hendon.
        The two young teachers from Yorkshire stayed with my grandparents for around two years. After my grandparents died and the house was being cleared we found two ration books in the names of the two lady teachers. I was probably around 18- 20 years old. It’s at moments in time just like this reminder when I regret so much, not having tried to make contact with them. I suspect that they may well have passed on by now.

        1. Ah – Mill Hill. Both parents worked for John Laing. I had summer jobs with them, then joined them in 1975, till 1990-ish. The company was founded in my native Cumbria, but the Head Office moved to Bunns Lane in the mid 20th Century. Walking from Mill Hill Tube station to “Pupils, Students and Technicians Day 1980” was a revelation. Every other car had a Carlisle registration…

          1. It’s quite a long walk from Mill Hill East tube to Bunns Lane.
            I knew two people who worked at Bunns Lane. Ian Morris and John Keeton. I was offered a job with them when I first left school but it ment working on building sites in the coming winter. With memories of 62 -63.
            After being made redundant in his previous job, my father worked for John Laing.
            Apart from the original building which I believe is listed, the newer buildings on the corner of Page Street were demolished and blocks of flats built.
            I use to play golf with a chap who piloted the Laing helicopter.

        2. I attended Pinkwell Junior School Hayes. Middx. I kept my mum’s ration book for years with other
          paraphanalia dating from that time including a gas mask…and an ARP wardens helmet.

          1. I was only saying to Jill the other day that I wished I still had one of the old WWII gas masks. Walking down the road in one of those big black masks would certainly attract attention today. Designed for poison gas, not superbugs, though.

          2. Probably best that you don’t have a WW2 gas mask, the filters often contained blue asbestos.

          3. In my grandparents ‘Hall stand’ they kept all old war paraphernalia.
            We use to play with it as children.
            Funnily enough none of us caught so much as a cold 😕
            I had a WW1 bayonet and a tommies helmet no idea what happened to them.
            They lived next to the Compton family. My mother was at school with Dennis. She said he cheated 😄 how’s that, we would say.

          4. My father brought home two pistols as “war souvenirs”, a Walther P38 and a French MAB model D. My brothers and I used to play with them, Dad having first emptied the magazines. He insisted on no “dry-firing” and taught us to strip and clean the pistols.

            Those were my first lessons in firearms safety and maintenance – after that, things just went onward and upward!
            :¬)

          5. Great war relics Duncan.
            We had some ‘soldiers chocolate’ in a tin. A piece of pumice from Mt Etna and two clips of 303 ammunition. I suspect it was still live. A knife made in Algeria and a small hand made wooden box with the RAF insignia neatly carved on the lid made in Trapani Sicily, that I keep my father medals in.
            Some photos of the man in his Mediterranean RAF uniform.
            And after his stint in North Africa, my father often telling me, never trust and Arab son.

    2. What about a moratorium on all immigration, no exceptions, for at least 3 months?

          1. Black cab drivers ? You mean those big ‘uns that queue outside Kings Cross Station and charge unwary
            visitors two arms and three legs to go anywhere ?

          2. I recall in the seventies travelling in a black cab where the driver was moaning incessantly about the number of Jews driving black cabs.

            God knows what the black cab drivers are saying about the Uber drivers who I assume are now mostly Pakistani and Muslim to boot.

          3. Not necessarily, but I’ve yet to meet an indigenous one. I wouldn’t use Uber at all, but I live in a ‘taxi desert’. Can’t get Ubers from here, all the licensed cab companies charge extra ‘cos I’m ‘outside their area’. I can get them home from Frimley and Guildford, though…

          4. In my time living in Clapham Common in London from the seventies to early eighties it was almost impossible to persuade a black cab to take you south of the river of a late evening. The black cabs determined to stick to the lucrative West End custom. As a black cab you might take a fare to Clapham Common from central London but the chances of obtaining a reverse fare from Clapham Common to central London was remote.

            On one occasion, after queuing for more than half an hour outside Mile End tube station (Central Line failure) the cab driver denied knowledge of Snaresbrook. I had to walk to Snaresbrook to collect my car. I lived in Cambridge at the time and commuted by car after the ‘wrong type of snow’ episode where it took in excess of twelve hours to get to Cambridge from Marble Arch.

            Any fucker suggesting giving the railways preference over private cars need their heads testing or something else.

          5. Black cab drivers ? You mean those big ‘uns that queue outside Kings Cross Station and charge unwary
            visitors two arms and three legs to go anywhere ?

          6. Yep. That’s the ones. I can get from Guildford to home via Uber for less than the cost of a taxi from Aldershot. The former is twice the distance as the latter. Go figure, as they say…

          7. Yup. I recall the film of Bazza or Barry Humphries (later immortalised as Dame Edna) where his character arrives at Heathrow and summons a cab to take him to Earls Court. The taxi duly delivers him to Earls Court after taking him via Scotland before arriving at his intended destination and presenting him with an enormous fare.

            There is some truth in that tale.

      2. Any sensible government would have already put in place plans to do that, especially from infected areas. Sadly, we have a government, like many before it, wedded to flooding our Country with all and sundry. It doesn’t matter that they be carrying a contagion e.g. TB or the latest threat, just get them in. Pleading that the economy needs these people doesn’t cut it any longer.

        1. You’d think so wouldn’t you, what with the NHS pleading for retired doctors and nurses to help, asking hospitals to conjure up extra emergency beds from somewhere, the army being on standby and goodness knows whatever else. (And if extra emergency beds can be found somehow why aren’t they already in use?). We seem to be living in a really perverse world.

      3. We will need all the gimmigants we can get to clear bodies from the streets, apparently.

    2. “Donald please, please, I don’t deserve this”

      “It’s OK Nancy, I’ll try to get you freed before Hillary’s people apply Arkansacide”

  87. I noticed Laura Karlsberg of the Bbc was doing her usual “don’t listen to what the speaker says and ask a question about something they’ve already said”. Bojo stated quite clearly several times in his speech to journalists that they didn’t know bad the Corona virus would get, but she still asked “how bad will it get?” You could almost feel the exasperation in Bojo’s body language.

    2. “How bad will it get? well Ms Kuenssberg, if it kills you we can be reassured that it’s not all bad…”

      3. Over in La-La-Lefty-Loony-Land she’s a pro-Brexit stooge of the Tory party.

  88. Khan throws his toys out of the pram

    He is ll upset as he was not invited to Boris’s Corona virus meeting. Why would he be invited. It is a government meeting

  89. Not a Davy Crockett, but Mike Bloomberg (for President) will probably die in Texas today.

    3. Aren’t they going to be underwater before they are built? Or are they reverting to flying boats?

    4. Ah, but that’s a different environment. It’s Foreign.

      In the eyes of the Greenies those foreign people have smaller brains and need to be protected for their own good by the superior Westerners, who will cut down on their own wealth so that the lesser people can prosper and make the same mistakes, but later.

      Developing counties don’t produce greenhouse gasses, only we with the guilt complex do that.

      Carbon dioxide produced in the west hurts the planet more than the same chemical produced elsewhere.

      It’s obvious.

      1. She died of the flu I imagine, back in the seventies. Albert Tatlock I imagine contracted the perpetual state of misery virus and Minnie Coldwell just died, presumably, of the effects of the cold.

        1. It was Martha Longhurst who died, in the Snug in the Rover’s Return, Corrie Mobile. Minnie Caldwell went home to her cat Bobby. Years later, when LGBTXYZ took hold, she self-declared as a cat, married Bobby and the couple re-located to Bermuda where she still lives, although now married to Whiskers, her 75th husband since cats don’t live as long as humans.

          :-))

  92. How Afghans Can Work Together to End the War. Aref Dostyar – The New York Times – 28 February 2020.

    For such fruitful discussions, the two sides should distinguish between questions that will be resolved in formal talks and questions that can be resolved through informal talks. They need to build an effective mechanism for addressing the right questions in the right settings.

    Questions such as an agreement on the venue and timeline of talks, and clearing of roadblocks to peace along the way should be discussed informally. Issues such as return of refugees, reintegration, prisoners, sanctions, political inclusion and agreement on policies to strengthen the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan should be discussed formally.

    Finally, the language surrounding the peace process should be agreed upon, because it affects the negotiations. The coming negotiations between Kabul and the Taliban are described by some as “intra-Afghan peace negotiations” and by some as “negotiations between the Islamic Republic and the Taliban.”

    This is the most amazing tosh! It’s quite obvious that once the Americans and NATO have left Afghanistan that the Taliban will overthrow the government and shoot anyone who served in it; not least because they are a gang of drug running traitors and Quislings who richly deserve it!

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/28/opinion/Afghanistan-talks.html

    1. Sadly the desires of ordinary folk to live in a free society will be utterly crushed.

    3. I believe it’s the longest running war in U.S. history, so Trump is correct in getting the hell out. But nothing will stop the holy war going on inside Afghanistan’s borders, where the government-mandated punishment for apostasy is already death. Nothing will stop it, because it existed long before the Americans arrived.

      https://web.archive.org/web/20181011173259if_/http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/images/START_GlobalTerrorismDatabase_TerroristAttacksConcentrationIntensityMap_45Years.png

    1. You’re right, Bill.

      A partially collapsed Crinkle Crankle wall is only marginally more interesting than one in pristine condition.

  96. Everyone at John Lennon Airport has been quarantined.

    Imagine all the people….

    1. It doesn’t say that at all. It says the Liverpool fans who came home via Northern Italy last week have been asked to self-quarantine.(Express).
      Link to your comment please ?

        1. Sorry, mate, but nobody gets my jokes either. The way things are at the moment, people are really on edge. With so much unreliable news around, joking can end up as a truth all over piss book.
          And Elvis isn’t dead, either ………..:-)
          P.S. I had to google to find out what imagine, etc. was. Never heard of it before! Never liked Lennon. Never wanted to hold his hand.

  99. I can only assume that the Democratic Party in the US is so scared of what its ‘leaders’ have been up to that they wish to blow Mr Sanders out of the water and try to install this dishonourable man as their candidate for President. Are Americans really that stupid? ( PS I hold no brief for Bernie).

    https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1234579299652554753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1234646500581498882&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fdems-converge-around-dementia-addled-warmonger-ahead-super-tuesday

    1. Bernie wants people of a republican mind to be forcibly sent to camps to be re-educated. Now why does that sound familiar…hmmm

    3. Not the issue. The Democratic party knows if Sanders is chosen, they will be wiped out in the election, and probably lose their gains in Congress as well. A lot of Americans may detest Trump and his antics, but might well just stay at home if faced with Bernie as their candidate.

    2. That reminds me………our clever lab can open doors she’s supposed to be in the utility room pre her evening meal, but I have two steaks coming to room temperature in the kitchen next door………. slayders.

      2. Well our delicious melt in the mouth steaks came from Aldi. I’m watching the TV programme Waitrose vs M&S, quite interestingly to reach the local Aldi we have to drive past both or the other stores. And the parking is free at Aldi.

    4. Brave dog, but until they know the source of the outbreak, aren’t they worried about “Typhoid Goldie”?

  101. From the Spekkie:

    Christopher Meyer

    3 March 2020, 04:50pm

    “The civil service definition of bullying has changed over the years

    In my 37 years in the Diplomatic Service, I neither witnessed nor experienced what I considered to be bullying.

    There were senior officials who took regular pleasure in finding fault with a cutting remark. Others swore like troopers. I was the speechwriter to three Foreign Secretaries. One of them told me, with a sardonic laugh, that my latest draft was ‘as useful as a dead fish’.

    But never in a month of Sundays did I think any of this to be bullying. The Foreign Office had exacting standards and you expected to be held to them. Still less was it grounds for complaint if the minister rejected your advice, even with contumely.

    It was made very clear that once the minister had taken a decision, it was your duty to implement it to the best of your abilities. If that stuck too much in the craw, you resigned or got a transfer.

    Things got muddied in the Noughties. An edict emerged from Whitehall decreeing that complaints of bullying should be assumed to be well-founded. In other words, the innocence – not the guilt – of the accused would have to be proved in any investigation, thus turning on its head a thousand years of English justice. ‘It’s best practice’, said the FCO.

    The inevitable happened. Many of those admonished for poor performance took shelter under an accusation of bullying. But one person’s bullying is another’s brisk reprimand. There is no legal definition of bullying. The whole area is a bog of subjectivism and Priti Patel will have to prove her innocence in an age when taking offence has become as contagious as coronavirus.

    I remember my mother taking me as a small boy to a film version of the 19 th
    century novel, Tom Brown’s Schooldays. Seared on my memory is the scene where poor Tom is roasted in front of a fire by the dastardly older boy, Flashman (who was to become the hero of George MacDonald Fraser’s marvellous novels).

    Now that’s what I call bullying.”

    1. “‘as useful as a dead fish'”
      Was he one of those ‘live elvers in a pint glass’ sort of chap?

    2. That same episode with Flashman and Tom Brown defined bullying for me at the time too.

      I never thought that day-to-day stuff that we endured at school was anywhere in the same league as what the bully Flashman doled out. It was just being at school.

          2. I’m sure I read that some parts of the old public schools were so awful that they were ‘no go’ areas for staff.

          3. Yep.

            Bill Thomas’s dormitory.

            I know, because 10 years later it was still something out of a Blundell’s nightmare.

          8. As far as I am aware, yes.
            I believe that they will still be frequent visitors to France

  102. “Twenty people have been charged with violent disorder after violence

    flared at a Tommy Robinson rally as masked supporters clashed with

    crowds shouting ‘racist scum’.

    Police cars were smashed, missiles

    were thrown and fireworks were launched into crowds during the event

    held by the English Defence League founder on 18 May, last year in

    Oldham, Greater Manchester.”

    Those evil violent White Nationalists,they all need locking up for life!!

    Oh Wait a minute

    Those appearing on 5th March are:

    Haroon Hussain, 40, of Essex Street, Halifax, West Yorkshire

    Hadir Ali, 25, of Olivia Terrace, Lee Street, Oldham, Manchester

    Mubasher Khan, 25, of Worcester Street, Oldham, Manchester

    Atiq Urrehman, 25, of Edilom Road, Crumpsall, Manchester

    Faraz Ahmed, 32, of Fredrick Street, Oldham, Manchester

    Majid Khan, 30, of Worcester Street, Oldham, Manchester

    Salman Ahmed, 21, of Tamworth Street, Oldham, Manchester

    Mohammed Zeeshauan Khan, 21, of Cotton Mill Crescent, Oldham, Manchester

    Kamran Ali, 27, of Savoy Street, Oldham, Manchester

    Abdul Nazir, 27, of Hardy Street, Oldham, Manchester

    Rahim Ahmed, 25, of Bankside Close, Oldham, Manchester

    Amann Ul Haq, 19, of Frederick Street, Oldham, Manchester

    Those appearing n March 19 are:

    Mikail Ahmed, 21, of Cummings Street, Oldham, Manchester

    Matthew Henry, 25, of Alder Road, Oldham, Manchester

    Dillan Simpson, 19, of Southcroft Street, Oldham, Manchester

    Jayden Mack, 18, of Parkfield Avenue, Oldham

    Duane Coleman, 33, of Huntley Way, Rochdale

    Luke Tucker, 19, of Napier Street, Oldham

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8070587/Twenty-people-charged-violent-disorder-Tommy-Robinson-rally-Oldham.html
    ‘Slimes and Antifa……………..
    Edit
    No comments allowed,natch

    1. Which side is defending the right of middle-aged men to touch little girl’s bums in public pools?


    2. Police said ‘ugly scenes’ had blighted the event and scores of officers armed with shields and batons had struggled to separate both sides as trouble erupted.

      From what I recall, the police stood aside, having accompanied the mob towards where TR was holding his rally and where lots of families were, allowed the mob to throw missiles, did nothing to stop them, but did film them.
      They certainly too long enough to do anything about it. At least it’s a start, and I have to speculate that they may not have done had Teresa May still been PM….

    1. Old news, sadly.

      Being a particular sex but “believing” they are not is a very good indicator of mental dysfunction. In times past, someone would declare they were Napoleon or Julius Caesar and they would promptly end up in the local loony bin. I know we are supposed to have moved on, but pandering to people with obvious psychological issues rather than treating them can hardly be considered progress.

      1. Sadly, Jack all the loony bins have been closed and replaced with “I don’t Care in the Community”

    2. So one person complained and the council promptly apologises and remove the flags celebrating “International Women’s Day! what on earth is the matter with people? Surely the clue is in the name. How can anybody accuse the slogan IWD of being transphobic? This is unbelievable.

      I’d love to see lots of women descend on the council offices to protest. Loudly.

      1. Seems to me the Council is already infested with a lot of old women. (No disrespect to the fairer sex intended…)

        1. These public bodies are setting a dangerous precedent, surely, caving in to one person’s complaint. So any development in the offing can be stopped in its tracks (except, seemingly, HS2) and there’s no discussion everything comes to a grinding halt. This doesn’t unfold very well for a “global future” or an independent U.K.
          Edit: This doesn’t bode very well …

  104. If Carling did European foreign policy:

    “Look, Erdogan, we know what your sh1tty game is, and if you don’t clear the border and start bringing some order to your country, we’ll 1. put on full trade sanctions, 2. deport all with Turkish passports back to their homeland.”

  105. Look Boris, in case you have not noticed there are millions of us who are fed up with the present state of our country. I write as a west countryman, an architect responsible for several major London buildings, one of which you Parliamentarian cretins wish to destroy (Richmond House, Whitehall, listed Grade II* and of importance to every conservationist in the country) for some fucking temporary Commons Chamber nonsense.

    I read daily about the demands the EU are making on our country as if we have not left their clutches at all. They seek to continue the exploitation of our fish in our coastal waters as though by right without restitution. These are the people who have effectively destroyed our own fishing industry and profited for decades at our expense. This action has all but destroyed many of our coastal ports and left us with utterly deprived coastal towns and community unemployment.

    The same EU has exported the very worst of their populace to the UK. This export comprises an assortment of French gypsies, Polish and Albanian criminals and many more undesirables besides. We catch some of them and jail a few but are unable to send them back to their countries of origin because, alarmingly, our prisons are more acceptable to the EU than these beggars’ prisons in their own bloody godforsaken countries.

    I could go on. I also dislike the BBC. I prefer rather that you, Boris, take it upon yourself to take action and sort this unholy mess. Please make it quick while the opportunity arises.

    1. ‘Evening, Cor, have you sent it the Johnson? If not, please do. You might like to also mention our (the great unwashed) support for Ms Patel and hope to see many amendments to the law (ha ha) as it stands (fumbles) today.

    2. The architect of the disaster that has befallen the fishing industry was the treacherous traitor Edward Heath who betrayed it treacherously. (Please forgive the tautology but his treachery and treason were perfidious)

      1. The undermining is already taking place, a la Brexit and the scares.

        I’m already hearing radio briefings about how our fishing industry is only a ‘small part’ of our economy, as if it isn’t important and national borders were a minor issue. The drip-drip continues.

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