Tuesday 30 November: The arbitrary law compelling us to wear a mask in an empty shop but not in a crowded pub

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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749 thoughts on “Tuesday 30 November: The arbitrary law compelling us to wear a mask in an empty shop but not in a crowded pub”

  1. Rumour Spreads Fast Silly story to lighten the day.

    A gorilla is walking through the jungle. He parts the bushes by the watering hole and sees a lion taking a drink of water with his butt sticking up in the air.

    So the gorilla thinks to himself, “Wouldn’t it be funny if I snuck up behind the “King of the jungle” and slipped him the old sausage?”

    So the gorilla sneaks up behind the lion, grabs him by the hips, and starts pumping him in the butt as hard as he can. Then he pulls out and runs away, laughing his ass off.

    The lion, however, doesn’t think it’s so funny. He lets out a mighty roar and takes off after the gorilla.

    Now, the gorilla can’t run very fast and the lion is catching up with him, so he ducks into a campsite, pulls some safari duds off the clothesline, puts them on, picks up a newspaper and sits down by the fire, holding the paper up to hide his face.

    Just then, the lion comes busting through the jungle.

    “HEY, YOU!” he says, “DID YOU JUST SEE A BIG GORILLA COME RUNNING THROUGH HERE?”

    The gorilla starts shaking behind the paper. “Um… d-do you mean the one that just s-screwed you in the a-a-ass?”

    The lion sits up with a start and says, “Jeez! It’s in the fucking newspapers already?”

    1. Good morning, wet and windy on the Costa Clyde. Suffice to say that the golf clubs shall not be leaving the locker.

  5. ‘Morning All

    #CovidClownWorld goes into overdrive

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cc3903746f181e7a354b68cf81b239d7d046a767259679833f89642e06bea897.jpg

    https://twitter.com/AnnaMazzotta9/status/1465374117230784521

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5f0a12ba5849615d4b8a0a680acc5c9fff6fb8effa4f9b9905b163516dda4464.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/814f3d67b394d8eb68a04410a59a7b26b78a99dbff3d63a27f13f6e69cb54e4b.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d1476335a69074b6f70465e67ec1cbd3c709d5acae89840e7ef9dd18783fd8ab.jpg

    https://twitter.com/bobscartoons/status/1464690132334923782?s=20

    https://media.greatawakening.win/post/afuo8wwf.jpeg

  6. The arbitrary law compelling us to wear a mask in an empty shop but not in a crowded pub.

    Yes it was designed that way, I suppose so people would ask that very question.
    Then the government will say, okay then it makes sense to make people wear them in pubs as well.

    2. I think the logic in this law is that you have absolutely no idea if there any Omicrons hanging around in either an empty shop or a crowded pub but you can bet that in the latter everybody will be enjoying the protective effect of a significant level of systemic blood alcohol.

    1. I thought that the punchline would consist of him saying (at 65 mph): “Well, dear, none of that is true but it certainly taught you not to drive at 40 mph on a perfectly clear motorway!”

  10. You’re receiving this email because you signed this petition: “Hold a referendum on whether to keep the 2050 net zero target”.

    To unsubscribe from getting emails about this petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/signatures/120203710/unsubscribe?token=2KGeFkAFCLD7Yv-PHGQm

    Dear Poltroon,

    The Government has responded to the petition you signed – “Hold a referendum on whether to keep the 2050 net zero target”.

    Government responded:

    National referendums are a mechanism to endorse major constitutional change; debates about national policy are best determined through Parliamentary democracy and the holding of elections.

    The government made a key manifesto commitment to reach “Net Zero by 2050 with investment in clean energy solutions and green infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions and pollution”. It was one of the top six pledges in the government’s manifesto, alongside policy commitments to help achieve the target. The net zero target was passed into law by Parliament with strong cross-Party support.

    It is clear that public concern about climate change is high, having doubled since 2016, with 80% of people in the UK either concerned or very concerned (BEIS Public Attitudes Tracker Wave 37, 2021). We also know that people and businesses recognise that change must happen – 80% of respondents in a recent survey believe the way we live our lives will need to change to address climate change (BEIS, Climate change and net zero: public awareness and perceptions, 2021). In the same survey, after being provided with information on net zero, 78% of all participants said they strongly or somewhat supported the net zero target.
    Moving away from fossil fuels and towards net zero gives us the unprecedented opportunity to:

    – Create and secure thousands of well-paid, quality jobs across the UK, helping to level up the country. Tackling net zero will create thousands long-term jobs in our reindustrialised heartlands.

    – Build a more secure, home-grown energy sector based on nuclear, wind, hydrogen and solar that is not reliant on imported fossil fuels, providing consumers with affordable, reliable energy for warmer homes and workplaces.

    – Reduce harmful pollution which contaminates our air and our natural environment to improve our health and wellbeing, as well as that of future generations.

    – Attract investment into UK businesses and industry, revitalising our industrial heartlands while driving down the costs of key technologies – from electric vehicles to heat pumps – to reduce bills and give the UK a competitive edge. Since the launch of the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan we have secured £5.8bn in green foreign investment.

    Recent volatile international gas prices have demonstrated that we need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. We need to protect consumers and businesses from global gas prices by increasing our domestic energy security through clean power that is generated in the UK for the people of the UK.

    Taking action on climate is also crucial to strengthening the UK’s place in the global economy as we Build Back Better from the pandemic. The whole world is trying to capitalise on the benefits of going greener, investing in innovative new technology, building new industries, and creating quality jobs in sustainable sectors.

    Our transition to net zero we will be tech-led using the best of British technology and innovation – just as we did in the last industrial revolution – to help make homes and buildings warmer, the air cleaner and our journeys greener, all while creating thousands of jobs in new future-proof industries.

    Whopper Alert!
    Transitioning to net zero is not about telling people what to do or stopping people doing things; it’s about giving them the support they need to do the same things they do now but in a more sustainable way.

    We must seize the moment to get a head start on this worldwide green industrial revolution and ensure UK industries, workers and the wider public benefit. Taking action now will put us at the forefront of large, expanding global markets and allow us to capitalise on export opportunities in low carbon technologies and services.

    Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    1. I filed my copy under ‘Government’ without reading more than the first paragraph.

      For all the petitions in the world – it won’t make a ha’porth of difference to the way we are tyrannised.

  11. The civil service has gone full woke. Spiked 30 November 2021.

    This is the civil service we’re talking about here. It is a thoroughly establishment institution, composed mainly of the posh and the privileged. According to research published earlier this year, 72 per cent of civil servants come from a ‘privileged background’; a quarter of those holding the 6,000-or-so top jobs were privately educated; and ministerial meetings are reportedly brimful with cricket metaphors and jokes made in Latin. And yet this bastion of the establishment appears to be hand in glove with the wokier than thou.

    But this is less surprising than it seems. Not because, as some believe, right-on lefties have marched through the institutions, infiltrating every nook and cranny. There was no entryism necessary. Rather, what we are seeing here is a preaching to the converted, a group of largely posh, privately educated journalists, academics and ‘trainers’ lecturing largely posh, privately educated civil servants. They share similar socio-economic backgrounds, attend the same schools and universities, and hold similar cultural and political values. Indeed, you can bet your bottom dollar that they virtually all voted Remain, think Brexit was a product of racism, and no doubt suspect gender is on some sort of spectrum.

    Well better late than never I suppose; though to suppose that the “Government” is independent of this and anti-woke is a step too far. In reality they are one and the same ! They share the same interests and attitudes. Both hate and fear the White Working Class and wish to see it replaced by a “Diverse” population of immigrants free of any link to the past.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/11/30/the-civil-service-has-gone-full-woke/

  12. Good morning all from a rather less cold dark and drizzly Derbyshire. Temperature is up from yesterday’s -5½°C to an almost tropical 4°C! The snow appears to be thawing.

  13. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    This is the leading BTL so far. It’s lengthy but well worth the effort – and full marks to the poster:

    Angus Long
    6 HRS AGO
    At the request of Wendy McNally I have reposted a comical ditty from yesterday.

    It snowed last night…

    8:00 am: I made a snowman.

    8:10 – A feminist passed by and asked me why I didn’t make a snow woman.

    8:15 – So, I made a snow woman.

    8:17 – My feminist neighbour complained about the snow woman’s voluptuous chest saying it objectified snow women everywhere.

    8:20 – The gay couple living nearby threw a hissy fit and moaned it could have been two snow men instead.

    8:22 – The transgender man..women…person asked why I didn’t just make one snow person with detachable parts.

    8:25 – The vegans at the end of the lane complained about the carrot nose, as veggies are food and not to decorate snow figures with.

    8:28 – I was being called a racist because the snow couple is white.

    8:31 – The middle eastern gent across the road demanded the snow woman be covered up .

    8:40 – The police arrived saying someone had been offended.

    8:42 – The feminist neighbour complained again that the broomstick of the snow woman needed to be removed because it depicted women in a domestic role.

    8:43 – The council equality officer arrived and threatened me with eviction.

    8:45 – TV news crew from Ch4 showed up. I was asked if I know the difference between snowmen and snow-women? I replied “Snowballs” and I am now called a sexist.

    9:00 – I was on the News as a suspected terrorist, racist, homophobe, sensibility offender, bent on stirring up trouble during difficult weather.

    9:10 – I was asked if I have any accomplices. My children were taken away by social services.

    9:29 – Far left protesters, offended by everything, marched down the street demanding I be arrested.

    By noon everything had melted

    Moral: There is no moral to this story. It is what we have become, all because of snowflakes.

    1. Why would a third / fourth / fifth jab protect you more when two of the same didn’t??
      Remember Einstein: “To do the same thing over & over and expect a different result is the definition of insanity.”

      1. USA cardiologist and CV-19 treatment expert, Dr Peter McCullough, has stated that the efficacy of the “vaccine” has all but disappeared after 120 days. In effect means that the early double jabbed are, to all intents and purposes, non-vaccinated and that list grows if ‘boosters’ are not taken. There is a report, from the States IIRC, that warns that the ‘booster’ will lead to ‘immunity exhaustion’ . Dramatically weaken/lose the body’s immune system and everything that could go wrong is on the table.

        I will see if I can find the report mentioned above.

          1. IIRC I saw a reference on The Highwire’s Jefferey Jaxen Report and I’ve been trawling episodes 240 – 243 without success. I’ll have another search later.

          2. Sounds pretty heavy! Don’t spend any time, I expect we will see another reference to it soon. TCW is a good source of references.

        2. I did some digging and may have found reference to the report in here: https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/opinion-we-should-be-questioning-the-global-suppression-of-early-treatment-options-for-covid-19/

          Here’s an extract from McCullough’s testimony:

          Dr. McCullough testifies that there is no scientific rationale to vaccinate anyone under the age of 50. The individual risk outweighs the individual benefit. Also, there were several groups that were intentionally excluded from the Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson vaccine trials in 2020; COVID-19 recovered, suspected COVID-19 recovered, those with COVID-19 antibodies, pregnant women, and women of childbearing potential that couldn’t assure the use of contraceptives. Pregnant women as a rule of best medical practice are always discouraged from coming in contact with anything pathogenic. The COVID-19 vaccine produces a pathogenic protein. Why then, are pregnant women being given the shot? The existing scientific data simply does not ensure that it is safe for this group. My family is COVID-19 recovered. Why are we being encouraged to participate when our situation was not included in the clinical trial? Whether we want to believe it or not, COVID-19 recovered individuals are unknowingly signing up for a trial now if they receive the vaccine.

          My wife and I, both double-jabbed with Astra Zeneca in January and April, caught mild Covid-19 in September. We therefore are likely to have a higher level of ‘natural’ immunity than can ever be provided by the so-called ‘vaccines’ alone. So NO Boosters for us, especially not Pfizer, which seems to be the only booster in town. We are now being repeatedly chased by the NHS in phone calls, texts and now an individual letter each that mentions that it will be followed up [until we agree – implied].

        3. I did some digging and may have found reference to the report in here: https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/opinion-we-should-be-questioning-the-global-suppression-of-early-treatment-options-for-covid-19/

          Here’s an extract from McCullough’s testimony:

          Dr. McCullough testifies that there is no scientific rationale to vaccinate anyone under the age of 50. The individual risk outweighs the individual benefit. Also, there were several groups that were intentionally excluded from the Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson vaccine trials in 2020; COVID-19 recovered, suspected COVID-19 recovered, those with COVID-19 antibodies, pregnant women, and women of childbearing potential that couldn’t assure the use of contraceptives. Pregnant women as a rule of best medical practice are always discouraged from coming in contact with anything pathogenic. The COVID-19 vaccine produces a pathogenic protein. Why then, are pregnant women being given the shot? The existing scientific data simply does not ensure that it is safe for this group. My family is COVID-19 recovered. Why are we being encouraged to participate when our situation was not included in the clinical trial? Whether we want to believe it or not, COVID-19 recovered individuals are unknowingly signing up for a trial now if they receive the vaccine.

          My wife and I, both double-jabbed with Astra Zeneca in January and April, caught mild Covid-19 in September. We therefore are likely to have a higher level of ‘natural’ immunity than can ever be provided by the so-called ‘vaccines’ alone. So NO Boosters for us, especially not Pfizer, which seems to be the only booster in town. We are now being repeatedly chased by the NHS in phone calls, texts and now an individual letter each that mentions that it will be followed up [until we agree – implied].

      2. And the human species of today … in 2021 … all 8·9 billion of them (and counting) … are the personification of insanity.

        1. Good morning Grizz. Your 8.9billion might be a mistype for 7.9 billion (7,900,000,000). A billion here,a billion there and soon we are talking real govt contract numbers.

          1. Good afternoon, Tim. Whoops!
            I do think, though, that my real typo was in referring to a milliard as a “billion”.
            i.e: a million is 1,000,000; a milliard is 1,000,000,000, a billion is 1,000,000,000,000.
            Kowtowing to the Yanks and adopting their spurious “billion” was yet another symptom of escalating stupidity.

  15. 342235+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Tuesday 30 November: The arbitrary law compelling us to wear a mask in an empty shop but not in a crowded pub

    Control, out & out control nothing more nothing less, a blitz of treacherous power to soften up those NOT coming to heel as a multitude of fools are.

    This well supported lab/lib/con political trash are running a successful campaign two pronged, DOVER intake & the BOGIE man will get you,

    Hear is further proof of their well supported handiwork,

    Next time you enter a polling booth take this thought in with you
    the three main procurers are the lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration/ paedophile umbrella close shop coalition party’s.

    breitbart,
    39 Men, Three Women Charged After Investigation Into Child Sexual Abuse in England

    The defendants, most of whom have names which would tend to indicate ethnic or cultural links to South Asia, are accused of preying on six children, all girls, “between 1995 and 2015, largely in the Dewsbury and Batley areas of Kirklees”, according to an official statement from West Yorkshire Police.

    The police force lists the defendants and the offences they are being charged with as follows:

    Donna Lynn (41) from Heckmondwike, charged with causing the prostitution of a girl under 16, allowing a premises to be used for unlawful sexual intercourse, procuring a female under 21, and controlling prostitution

    Mohammed Yakub (64) from Dewsbury, charged with an offence of rape.

    Nasir Billimoria (68) from Batley, charged with an offence of rape, and procuring a female under 21.

    Yousuf Motala (69) from Dewsbury, charged with an offence of rape.

    Ebrahim Mamaniatt (52) from Batley, charged with an offence of rape.

    Liaquat Ali (65) from Batley, charged with an offence of rape.

    Hashim Sacha (53) from Batley, charged with an offence of rape.

    Nobhar Shah (69) from Batley, charged with two offences of rape and living on the earnings of prostitution.

    Ibrahim Khalifa (83) from Bradford, charged with an offence of rape.

    Manaf Hussain (47) from Heckmondwike charged with an offence of rape.

    Maria O’Rouke (42) from Batley charged with causing the prostitution of a girl under 16, allowing a premises to be used for unlawful sexual intercourse and controlling prostitution.

    Riaz Shaikh (57) from Dewsbury charged with an offence of rape and an offence of indecent assault.

    Amjid Rangzeb (43) from Batley charged with an offence of rape and an offence of false imprisonment.

    Liaquat Hussain Hanif (45) from Batley charged with an offence of rape.

    Shakeel Haq (44) from Birmingham, charged with an offence of rape and an offence of false imprisonment.

    Rafiq Patel (69) from Batley charged with an offence of rape.

    Mohammed Abbas (60) from Dewsbury, charged with an offence of rape.

    Shafaquat Afzal Hussain (45) from Dewsbury charged with an offence of rape.

    Tariq Azam (52) from Dewsbury charged with three offences of rape and three offences of indecent assault.

    Aurrangzeb Azam (50) from Dewsbury charged with three offences of rape, two offences of indecent assault and an offence of false imprisonment.

    Israr Hussain (46) from Dewsbury charged with three offences of rape, two offences of indecent assault and an offence of false imprisonment.

    Mohammed Sheikh (48) from Batley charged with an offence of rape and an offence of indecent assault.

    Mohammed Tariq (62) from Bradford charged with two offences of rape.

    Sajid Majid (48) from Mirfield charged with an offence of rape and an offence of indecent assault.

    Zulfiquar Ali (42) from Dewsbury charged with an offence of rape.

    Ansar Mahmood Qayum (44) from Dewsbury charged with an offence of rape and an offence of indecent assault.

    Mohammed Jabbar Qayum (40) from Dewsbury charged with an
    offence of rape.

    Shafiq Siddique (52) from Dewsbury charged with an offence of rape and an offence of false imprisonment.

    Mohammed Ishtiaq Hussain ( 47) from Dewsbury charged with an offence of rape.

    Abbas Kaji (52) from Batley charged with an offence of rape.

    Mohammed Farooq (52) from Dewsbury charged with an offence of rape.

      1. 342235+ up ticks,
        Morning Anne,
        I would like to see it pinned up outside every polling point on any opportunity to vote, as in a direct combat fashion regarding the three monkeys.

  16. Mystic Rik muses………
    The current booster is useless against Omicron yet it seems Omicron provides the excuse to push that booster ever harder…….
    They seem desperate to crush Omicron,heaven forfend that a highly infective mutation with only mild symptoms provide natural immunity,surely we should be having “Omicron Parties” like we had as kids for Mumps??

    1. Morning Rik. This innocuous version of the Virus is simply being used to scare the population into having ALL the jabs!

    2. Morning Rik. This innocuous version of the Virus is simply being used to scare the population into having ALL the jabs!

  17. SIR – Three people are found with the omicron variant on Saturday and masks become mandatory three days later. Parliament will vote on the law in the next 28 days. That is just lip service to democratic governance. We are no longer a parliamentary democracy.

    Jim White
    Stroud, Gloucestershire

    Cart before horse?

    1. In the mythical ‘three weeks’ let alone 28 days, Parliament will be on its holidays.
      We are ruled by government diktat.

    1. Come on Bob, you know they won’t stop after five years! They will go as far as we the people let them.

  19. Morning all

    The arbitrary law compelling us to wear a mask in an empty shop but not in a crowded pub

    SIR – Let me get this right. The Prime Minister is saying that I must wear a mask in a shop, even if I’m the only one in there and I’m in and out in a matter of minutes, but I can spend all night in a pub with scores of other people and I don’t need a mask.

    Mike Tugby

    Warminster, Wiltshire

    SIR – What is the logic behind allowing us free access to cinemas with no face masks where, if the auditorium is full, one can observe no sort of distancing, yet in a supermarket, where observing social distancing doesn’t present much of a problem, we have to mask up?

    Matthew Biddlecombe

    Sampford Courtenay, Devon

    SIR – I’m done. No more masks, distancing, avoiding social gatherings, bumping elbows. My plans for a family Christmas will continue. I’m triple-jabbed and I’m in my seventies. I don’t have any more time to waste.

    Eve Wilson

    Hill Head, Hampshire

    SIR – It is, simply and absolutely, selfish not to wear a mask. Otherwise it would be like saying during the Blitz: “I don’t want to turn off my lights or shut my curtains because I’m happy to take the personal risk.” The bombs this attracted would have been 100 times more likely to kill someone other than yourself.

    This is also why, counter-intuitively, in a free and liberal society it is sometimes necessary to legislate and enforce rather than appeal to people’s better selves. We get too used to “Why should I?” and “Me, me, me.” The government knew this in 1940.

    Victor Launert

    Matlock Bath, Derbyshire

    SIR – Three people are found with the omicron variant on Saturday and masks become mandatory three days later. Parliament will vote on the law in the next 28 days. That is just lip service to democratic governance. We are no longer a parliamentary democracy.

    Jim White

    Stroud, Gloucestershire

    SIR – There might have been greater take-up of the Covid vaccine if the Government had been positive and removed all restrictions from those fully vaccinated with the three doses.

    The unvaccinated look at those who made the effort, see no new freedoms, and wonder why they should bother. All stick and no carrot never works.

    Eric Gibbons

    Dunfermline, Fife

    SIR – I have Covid. I got the news at 7am on Sunday after taking a PCR test at a drive-through centre on Saturday. It was my third test last week.

    I first PCR tested last Tuesday with my daughter when she felt unwell. She was positive, I was negative. I tested first thing on Thursday. Again I was negative, as was my elder daughter, but my husband was positive.

    For the third time, I tested on Saturday, this time with a cough. A lateral flow at home showed negative, but my feeling was that I was positive, so five days after my younger child tested positive, I was back at the drive-through centre. Had I relied on my first test, I would have been out and about in the community.

    So testing for travellers should be on Day 5, with isolation before it.

    Ros Walker

    Dunblane, Perthshire

    SIR – My wife was recently relieved of her purse, credit cards and cash in a two-man sting at a supermarket checkout. But at least the perpetrators had taken the trouble to be fully masked for the occasion.

    Jeremy Burton

    Wokingham, Berkshire

    SIR – The classical Greek alphabet has two types of O: the large O-mega, and the small O-micron. The latter is pronounced O-my-cron, stressed on the middle syllable (Letters, November 29). The classics staff at Eton must be squirming in their shoes to hear that even the Prime Minister has joined the Ommi-cron brigade.

    Gerald Wilson

    Lytham, Lancashire

    1. Victor, dear Victor. do you work for the government on Covid statistics, by any chance? Lovely Blitz analogy. But, seriously, If you left the light on to make yourself the target of bombing, then other people would be 100 times more likely to be killed than you? If that were the case the lights would have been left on by everyone throughout the bombing, “‘Ere Bert, whatabout the blackout?” “”Don’t worry Aida, we leaves the lights on and the bombs are 100 times more likely to hit hit other people, and not us.”

      PS You do know that the virus is not sentient? It cannot tell the difference between someone wearing mask and someone who is not?

      1. Victor is a serial dimwit, frequently producing one of the loony letters to which I referred last week.

        1. The web reveals that he is in his early fifties, suffering from a long term health problem and consequently not working.

          1. Then lockdowns are right up his street as long as the diminishing pool of taxpayers … er …. coughs up.

      2. Tut. Do not insult the virus’ intelligence.
        It can tell the time; it can tell whether we are sitting at a table or walking to the loo; it knows whether we are on a bus or in the pub.
        In short, it is far brainier than any politician or ‘expert’.

        1. Sorry. Let me make it clear that I commented without thinking. I unreservedly apologise to viruses everywhere and hope that I will not have given offence. If I have, I retract my comment and can assure the virus world that I will not denigrate* them again.
          Let me also apologise for the careless use of the word “denigrate”. It was never my intention to suggest that those of the black persuasion were of lower status than viruses. Indeed, the opposite is true, black people are superior to viruses in intelligence and in running the 100 metres.
          (What is it now!?)

    3. If at first you don’t succeed- test, test and test again! Ros Walker – what a pointless exercise.
      And isolation for every incoming traveller – except the boat people, politicians and business people I suppose.

    4. When shall we discover that we have been lied to about the Buffoon’s brilliance in Latin and Greek and that he achieved pretty poor “O” level grades in Latin and Greek, just scraped his “A” levels and did not even get a Desmond (Tutu : 2.2) but a Douglas Hurd (a Third class) degree at Oxford?

  20. SIR – During Storm Arwen our electricity supply failed for 24 hours. We have an “all-electric” house as recommended by the Government.

    With no other means of heating, we were cold. How we missed our wood stove, which kept our last house warm, heated our water and boiled our kettle.

    We tried to buy a gas heater but were told that they can be dangerous, giving off poisonous carbon monoxide.

    In the end we went to bed with our dog and cat to keep warm. This is obviously not the answer.

    Diana Sharp
    Chirnside, Berwickshire

    Having only one source of energy for the house is to be avoided if at all possible. At Janus Towers we are in the process of a kitchen refurb, and various people seem to think that an electric hob is a good idea, because “that is what is coming anyway”. No thanks, the rest may be electric but we are sticking with gas while the stuff is still in the pipes. Johnson can take his insane ‘net zero’ and shove it where the sun don’t shine.

  22. SIR – For years successive British governments have used investment in technology as an excuse for running down conventional Army land forces.

    In March, Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, introduced his defence review by stating that, “as the threat changes, we must change with it, remaining clear-eyed about what capabilities we retire”.

    He proposed a further reduction in the number of Challenger main battle tanks from 225 to 148, while upgrading the remaining fleet. However, with 100,000 or so Russian land forces massing on the Ukrainian border, the Government has hurriedly committed “extra” tanks from this dwindling fleet to the Nato Forward Holding Facility in Sennelager, Germany.

    Technology on its own, in the absence of an adequate head count, is unlikely to be an effective conventional deterrent.

    Gerard Conway
    Cuckfield, West Sussex

    More muddle and confusion, but all in the name of saving money, instead of a proper and honest asessment of what we actually need. Remember how we were told, for some years now, that the next war would not require battle tanks, and yet now there seems to be an admission that they will be required, even in smaller numbers? Whatever the new figure is, many of them will not be operational, ‘off the road’ for all sorts of reasons including repair, upgrades and so on. The same applies to our aircraft. I was once told by a senior officer that you can reckon on at least half of any frontline ‘asset’ to be out of action.

    1. Tanks not much use nowadays on a battle field, but they outrank water cannon when dealing with an uprising.

  23. The best way to beat the Channel traffickers is to let refugees enter the UK legally. 30 November 2021.

    This is what makes the proposal of a “humanitarian visa” from a group of cross-party MPs (minus the Conservatives) so appealing.

    The only realistic way to undermine demand for illegal services is to create new, legal pathways that cut smugglers out of the process. Currently a proposed amendment to the Nationality and Borders bill, such a visa, would allow for refugees who have a good claim to be in the UK instead of France and give them the opportunity for safe passage.

    I don’t know whether Andrews is writing independently here or as a toe in the water for a government plan to allow access to anyone who cares to apply. Whatever, it makes no difference . The numbers alone would be unmanageable. Within a very few years we would be swamped out of existence and still those who could not get on the list would seek other methods. We should really be preparing for the End of Civilisation in Europe. We are at one of those seminal moments in History when total collapse is on the cards. Only those countries willing to take the most stringent measures will survive it!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/11/30/best-way-beat-channel-traffickers-let-refugees-enter-uk-legally/

    1. The best way to defeat the smugglers is to tow the boats back to shallow French waters and hole the boat.

      Rinse and repeat.

      1. Morning Nan. Yes we all know how to end it but we are saddled with a decadent elite who are unable to not only act but even see the reality of the situation. If these people were all White Aryans from Shangri La it would make no difference!

        1. I’m just hoping that when Johnson and his wets detect the unrest among the populace, they might just bite the bullet and do the sensible thing.

          Either that or find that the peasants really are revolting.

      2. Morning Nan. Yes we all know how to end it but we are saddled with a decadent elite who are unable to not only act but even see the reality of the situation. If these people were all White Aryans from Shangri La it would make no difference!

    2. Hmm. So, (© Cathy Newman) what they are saying is that we can put illegal economic migrant smugglers out of business by taking over their businesses?

      2. Let us hope they will revolt against their leaders. But in the colloquial sense many of our French friends – and those people whose photo you posted here a couple of days ago – are very good company.

        I despise Macron and most French politicians – but I feel the same about Boris Johnson and his colleagues.

  26. What amazing skill and dedication…!

    Steve Stephenson, soldier who faced down gunmen in Somalia and became a leading conservationist in East Africa – obituary

    The son of missionaries, he kept the peace among warring tribes and went on to set up four national parks which still flourish to this day

    By
    Telegraph Obituaries
    29 November 2021 • 11:32am

    Steve Stephenson, who has died aged 101, served in the East Africa Campaign in the Second World War before becoming a pioneering conservationist who made a lasting contribution to that region’s magnificent wildlife.

    At the outbreak of war, Stephenson enlisted in the Kenya Regiment. He was posted to Somalia and served variously with the King’s African Rifles, the Somali Camel Corps and the British Military Administration.

    He trekked thousands of miles with camels, keeping the peace among warring tribes and looking out for Japanese submarines that never came. Several fellow officers went mad or killed themselves in the extreme conditions and loneliness of that campaign.

    As a lieutenant, aged 23, he chased bandits on foot with 13 of his Somali soldiers across 50 miles of the desolate Ogaden. When they were exhausted, they turned their weapons on him.

    Armed only with his .303 rifle, Stephenson told them calmly, “You have seen me shoot. I’m very good and you know it. I will kill five of you before you get to me. And I’ve chosen the five. So put down your rifles or open fire.” He faced them down.

    In June 1946, he took a company of Askaris to the Victory Parade in London. He was presented to Princess Elizabeth, who would much later send congratulations from the Queen on his 100th birthday.

    John Griffith Stephenson, the son of missionaries, was born on February 26 1920 in a mud hut at Kinoi, Kenya. His parents had trekked inland from the East African coast to set up missionary stations in the remote Ukambani region.

    Always known as Steve, he was educated at the Prince of Wales School, Nairobi. By nature a loner and something of an outsider among his British, settler-type fellow officers, he was a sensitive young man but he had a will of iron. The Somalis admired and respected him for that.

    Fluent in Swahili and with a preference for remote postings, after the war he joined the Tanganyika Administrative Service. In 1961, at Independence, he was the last District Commissioner of Masailand.

    He joined Tanzania’s fledgling National Parks Department, learnt to fly a small plane and set off for the south where, over 10 years as Chief Park Warden Southern Tanzania, he set up Ruaha, Mikumi, Gombe and Katavi National Parks, all of which flourish some 50 years on.

    He developed diverse skills, bush flying, leading anti-poaching patrols, road building, legislating, nurturing community relations, entertaining a string of VIPs, planning for hotels and introducing tourism. He also built a home in the bush for his family.

    His final role was to manage the Serengeti National Park, but he said his greatest satisfaction came from the nurturing and mentoring of Tanzanian wardens who later took over the national parks.

    Stephenson subsequently moved to Ethiopia as wildlife adviser to the government. He arrived a few weeks after Emperor Haile Selassie’s death. When the Marxist military dictatorship insisted that he carry a security agent in his small plane, he threw the aircraft around so violently and made his passenger so ill that no agent would ever fly with him again.

    In his 60s he joined scientist friends as administrator on a large UN project studying desertification in Northern Kenya, using his plane and knowledge of how to motivate and care for people working in remote, harsh conditions.

    He enjoyed a long retirement in Dorset, but Africa called him back and he chose to end his days in Nairobi. He travelled extensively with his second wife, Yvonne, and he was still consulting on conservation projects in his late 70s.

    Steve Stephenson married first, in 1946, Phyllis Blaikie, and they had three sons, who survive him. He married secondly, in 1964, Yvonne Caseley, who survives him with their son. Their daughter predeceased him.

    Steve Stephenson, born February 26 1920, died October 26 2021.

  27. What amazing skill and dedication…!

    Steve Stephenson, soldier who faced down gunmen in Somalia and became a leading conservationist in East Africa – obituary

    The son of missionaries, he kept the peace among warring tribes and went on to set up four national parks which still flourish to this day

    By
    Telegraph Obituaries
    29 November 2021 • 11:32am

    Steve Stephenson, who has died aged 101, served in the East Africa Campaign in the Second World War before becoming a pioneering conservationist who made a lasting contribution to that region’s magnificent wildlife.

    At the outbreak of war, Stephenson enlisted in the Kenya Regiment. He was posted to Somalia and served variously with the King’s African Rifles, the Somali Camel Corps and the British Military Administration.

    He trekked thousands of miles with camels, keeping the peace among warring tribes and looking out for Japanese submarines that never came. Several fellow officers went mad or killed themselves in the extreme conditions and loneliness of that campaign.

    As a lieutenant, aged 23, he chased bandits on foot with 13 of his Somali soldiers across 50 miles of the desolate Ogaden. When they were exhausted, they turned their weapons on him.

    Armed only with his .303 rifle, Stephenson told them calmly, “You have seen me shoot. I’m very good and you know it. I will kill five of you before you get to me. And I’ve chosen the five. So put down your rifles or open fire.” He faced them down.

    In June 1946, he took a company of Askaris to the Victory Parade in London. He was presented to Princess Elizabeth, who would much later send congratulations from the Queen on his 100th birthday.

    John Griffith Stephenson, the son of missionaries, was born on February 26 1920 in a mud hut at Kinoi, Kenya. His parents had trekked inland from the East African coast to set up missionary stations in the remote Ukambani region.

    Always known as Steve, he was educated at the Prince of Wales School, Nairobi. By nature a loner and something of an outsider among his British, settler-type fellow officers, he was a sensitive young man but he had a will of iron. The Somalis admired and respected him for that.

    Fluent in Swahili and with a preference for remote postings, after the war he joined the Tanganyika Administrative Service. In 1961, at Independence, he was the last District Commissioner of Masailand.

    He joined Tanzania’s fledgling National Parks Department, learnt to fly a small plane and set off for the south where, over 10 years as Chief Park Warden Southern Tanzania, he set up Ruaha, Mikumi, Gombe and Katavi National Parks, all of which flourish some 50 years on.

    He developed diverse skills, bush flying, leading anti-poaching patrols, road building, legislating, nurturing community relations, entertaining a string of VIPs, planning for hotels and introducing tourism. He also built a home in the bush for his family.

    His final role was to manage the Serengeti National Park, but he said his greatest satisfaction came from the nurturing and mentoring of Tanzanian wardens who later took over the national parks.

    Stephenson subsequently moved to Ethiopia as wildlife adviser to the government. He arrived a few weeks after Emperor Haile Selassie’s death. When the Marxist military dictatorship insisted that he carry a security agent in his small plane, he threw the aircraft around so violently and made his passenger so ill that no agent would ever fly with him again.

    In his 60s he joined scientist friends as administrator on a large UN project studying desertification in Northern Kenya, using his plane and knowledge of how to motivate and care for people working in remote, harsh conditions.

    He enjoyed a long retirement in Dorset, but Africa called him back and he chose to end his days in Nairobi. He travelled extensively with his second wife, Yvonne, and he was still consulting on conservation projects in his late 70s.

    Steve Stephenson married first, in 1946, Phyllis Blaikie, and they had three sons, who survive him. He married secondly, in 1964, Yvonne Caseley, who survives him with their son. Their daughter predeceased him.

    Steve Stephenson, born February 26 1920, died October 26 2021.

  28. Well said, Simon Heffer…this needed saying:

    The persecution of Michael Vaughan by the virtue-signalling mob is an outrage that demeans us all

    The attack on the former England captain has become beyond ridiculous – let’s leave it at that, grow up, take a deep breath, and move on

    SIMON HEFFER
    30 November 2021 • 7:00am

    Lord Macaulay’s apt but hackneyed observation that “we know no spectacle so ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodic fits of morality” hardly suffices to describe the dangerous nonsense of the matter of whether Michael Vaughan, a dozen years ago, referred to four Yorkshire players of Pakistani origin as “you lot”.

    Probably 99 per cent of the British public couldn’t care less whether he did or not. The one per cent that could includes those for whom an Orwellian blame-culture and a career of nauseating self-righteousness have become an addictive way of life. Why an entire sport should flagellate itself for the gratification of such people (and it is increasingly about them, and less about players who allegedly endured racial abuse), and why a man who gave distinguished service to his county and his country as a batsman and captain and, lately, as a commentator should find himself undergoing a secular crucifixion before anything has been proved against him will leave most rational people astonished.

    Ashley Giles, England’s managing director, has alluded to this injustice in remarks about the difference between zero tolerance of racism (not that any such charge has been proved against Vaughan) and zero tolerance of ‘racists’, many of whom may not be racists at all, but just foolish idiots who need to grow up. It is only sad that he appears to have made a rod for his own back by allowing Joe Root to stop any Ashes Test where a racist remark is heard from the crowd. Will play stop because one person of white Anglo-Saxon origin has called another a ‘Pommy b——’? I know Haseeb Hameed may be playing, but we are all becoming absurdly hyper-sensitive.

    I must say two things for the avoidance of doubt. First, anyone who thinks there is a place in cricket at any level – from the Test arena down to the village green – for racial abuse or discrimination should be told to shut up or be driven out of the game. The future of cricket depends on all who wish to play it being welcomed into its fold. They should feel they are being judged, as members of a cricket team, on their character and their ability. It is as simple as that. If Vaughan thought differently he would have no place in cricket, and a shadow would be cast over his conspicuous achievements; but it is obvious, from what he has said adamantly and repeatedly since the Rafiq affair blew up, that he thinks nothing of the sort.

    The second point I must make is that although Vaughan and I have had the honour to write about cricket for the Telegraph for several years, we have never met nor corresponded. The points I make about him and his treatment I make as a cricket lover and, sadly, as a seasoned observer of politics, and not because we owe each other anything as members of the same branch of freemasonry.

    I strongly believe that by any objective standards the persecution of Vaughan by the BBC and BT, who were both due to carry his broadcast analysis this winter before he was cancelled, has become an outrage. Monty Panesar, in his excellent column for the Telegraph last Saturday, noted the violation of the ancient precept of innocence until proven guilty. I draw the attention of Vaughan’s persecutors to the observations of Panesar, as a man of colour, about his friend’s and former captain’s track record of working with and developing the careers of players from ethnic-minority backgrounds.

    One wonders what Vaughan, having been found guilty without trial by both the BBC and BT, having his livelihood put at risk and having been consigned to that abysmal rank of society peopled by ‘racists’, must now do to restore his reputation. He has no recollection of having referred to his Asian team-mates as “you lot”. And why should he? Either he didn’t say it, or if he did it was a tasteless joke that meant so little to him that he can’t remember it.

    How many of us can remember much, indeed anything, in joshing with close colleagues 11 or 12 years ago? If Vaughan said it or something like it – and there being no tape recording of the incident, we shall never know – was it a vicious racist remark designed to belittle, humiliate and degrade those at whom it was aimed to the point where they felt they were being driven out of professional cricket? Or was it an ironic remark teasing them about the overdue arrival of gifted players from the Indian sub-continent into the Yorkshire side? Objectively, such a remark, however hurtful, does not begin to compare with any act of wickedness in the history of slavery or the Holocaust.

    But perspective means nothing to the zealots in cases such as this. Vaughan is, in the eyes of those who live to signal their own questionable virtue, a man who must take his place in the annals of iniquity with 18th-century slavers.

    What would satisfy the BBC and BT to re-employ Vaughan? Would crawling from Headingley to Lord’s on a carpet of red-hot cinders while whipping himself with barbed wire suffice, having, of course, agreed to confess to something he sincerely believes he did not do?

    Given we are apparently all racists now, should Vaughan (and everyone else in cricket) be expected to own up to his incipient racism, whether he has done anything ‘racist’ or not, and ask what further punishment his traducers would care to inflict?

    The England and Wales Cricket Board, whose management of this unpleasant episode has shown what a crew of overpaid, undertalented jobsworths it harbours, is now panicking about racism and ‘inclusivity’. It has ordered, among a bouquet of vacuous gestures, a review of ‘dressing-room culture’. Good luck with that. They will rapidly find that many young men are quite revolting, coarse, overdosed with testosterone, deficient in manners and unsubtle in their attitudes to anyone they divine is unlike them – people of other races, women, homosexuals and so on. In the close-knit atmosphere even of an amateur sport, let alone highly-pressurised professional games, they will say and do repellent things.

    And also, surprise, surprise, such bad behaviour does not just afflict the ‘privileged’ under-educated white working class, whose mores still dominate most dressing rooms in professional sport. Azeem Rafiq, the lachrymose victim-in-chief of the name-calling and abuse-mongering of the allegedly disgusting Yorkshire dressing room, has himself practised racism by engaging in Jew-baiting, and turns out to have behaved badly with a 16-year-old girl.

    We are all sinners, including the inhabitants of county-cricket dressing rooms. Virtually every young man has at some time said or done something disgraceful. Rafiq has apologised to the Jewish community and his apology has been accepted. He says he has accepted the apologies of those he considers have wronged him. Vaughan has apologised for ever having said or done anything that might have upset anybody. We shall soon reach the stage where, in whatever walk of life we find ourselves, we feel obliged to get up each morning and start our day with a blanket apology simply for existing.

    The attack on Michael Vaughan has become ridiculous and universally demeaning. For God’s sake let’s leave it at that, grow up, take a deep breath, and move on. Crucifixion was a pretty horrible spectacle two thousand years ago, and it hasn’t improved with age.

    * * *

    No comments allowed – now there’s a surprise!

    2. The saving grace in this baseless farrago is that these cricketers, white, brown, whatever, chose professional cricket as a career. They did not become soldiers. I cannot imagine these men facing real danger, without looking for a skirt to hide behind.

      1. I agree. Rafiq has turned out to be an arch hypocrite. It is said that he has considerable gambling debts, which may help to explain his compensation-inspired whining. He’s obviously calculated that in complaining about racism he’s pushing at an open door.

  31. The trouble with this sort of headline is that there are a bunch of joyless people who believe we should be wearing masks even on our own in the bathtub for whom open pubs are an obscenity.

    We should simply ignore these rules. I mean, treat them as an irrelevance to our lives. And then if some jobsworth tries to enforce, also ignore them. But kindly, with a smile and without fuss.
    It is becoming apparent that rationale and reasoning are irrelevant to them. Let us simply offer them a bite to eat and a cup of coffee. If that doesn’t giveth pause to think, at least we won’t have got angry.

    1. What sort of coffee? White or black? With sugar (implies approval of traditional work schemes for unwaged immigrants), or with sweeteners (implies approval of Big Pharma)?
      Dairy milk or a vegan whitener? Cups (middle class) or mugs (upper middle class)? Ceramic mugs (firing produces CO emissions) or paper&plastic?

      1. 342235+ up ticks,
        Morning BB2,
        There will always be a great many decent ,good peoples in the United Kingdom gulags of the near future, the current voting pattern will NEVER extinguish that.

  33. Two BTL Comments:-

    Chris Harris
    17 MIN AGO
    The House of Winsor Has just moved a UK republic a step closer.
    All he had to say was good luck.

    REPLY 1 REPLY 6 FLAG

    RS

    Robert Spowart
    2 MIN AGO
    Reply to Chris Harris – view message
    Message Actions
    I hate to say it, but I agree. I do not want to see Charles as King and, given his Woke comments, have strong doubts about William.

    1. There’s a nice place in The Netherlands where a not-so-distant cousin of Charles went into exile. Ik ben altijd tot uw dienst.

    2. He is succeeding: this idiot hates his race, he hates his country, he incoherent – and most unpardonable of all:- he is one of the most boring people I have ever come across – his speeches would send the most incurable insomniac into a deep, coma-like slumber.

      But, give credit where credit is due – he has achieved what I believe has been his main objective: to destroy the British monarchy.

      I used to be a firm supporter of the system but I am beginning to think that when our Queen dies we should call it a day.

        2. It’s always President Blair, isn’t it? The Irish model of a republic is more suitable i.e. the President is more of a symbolic head of state, rather than the US one, where the President has real power.

  35. The Government is still fighting the wrong war on Covid-19

    Their hasty over-reaction to the arrival of a new variant reflects just how little we truly understand this virus

    MATT RIDLEY

    Here we go again, fighting the last war. Because governments are perceived to have moved too slowly to ban flights when the delta variant arose in India, we jumped into action this time, punishing the poor South Africans for their molecular vigilance. But nothing was going to stop the delta going global, and the latest set of government measures to stop the spread of the new omicron variant are about as likely to succeed as the Maginot line was to stop General Guderian’s tanks. The cat is already out of the bag. Just because we can take action does not make it the right thing to do.

    This pandemic has mocked public-health experts. They told us to wash our hands and then realised it was spreading through the air. They told us masks were useless and then made them mandatory. They sent covid cases to ordinary hospitals where they infected patients. [MR omits the care home disaster.]

    Banning flights might have stopped the Wuhan variant of SARS-CoV-2 right at the start had the Chinese authorities not insisted until mid-January 2020, along with the World Health Organisation, that the only way to catch the virus was from an infected animal. Since then, the virus has evolved to be ever more infectious. Alpha spread twice as fast as the original Wuhan strain; delta twice as fast as alpha, and omicron looks like it may have doubled that speed again.

    Worryingly, omicron may itself have emerged as a result of modern treatments offered to patients – in particular the use of polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies as therapy. There is evidence that its mutations are concentrated in parts of the spike gene where they help it to evade such antibodies, which both reduces the effectiveness of the treatments and hints at how the mutations arose. Maybe such mutations would not have occurred in a previous era.

    Lockdowns are another example. Before the internet, and online retail, locking down the freedoms of healthy people was never an option. Yes, lockdowns slowed the spread but at severe psychological, economic and human cost, and worryingly, one of those costs may have been to prevent the virus evolving to be milder. In the spring of 2020, a strain that caused a severe case of covid was more likely to be passed on (because the victim went to hospital) than a mild case (where the victim stayed locked down at home). Much the same happened in 1918; severe flu cases got evacuated from the trenches to crowded hospitals, while mild cases did not, and in August 1918 the virus became more deadly.

    It is no coincidence that there are about 200 kinds of virus that cause the common cold, yet none are dangerous. The perfect recipe for a respiratory virus is to stay in the cool cells of the nose and throat lining and not cause systemic illness that would cause the host to cancel his or her plans. Unlike viruses transmitted by insects, sex or water, respiratory viruses generally do evolve to be mild but highly infectious.

    In the 1918 flu pandemic or the “Russian flu” of 1889-90 (which some biologists think was a coronavirus), there were two waves of deaths, then the pathogen settled down to be endemic and mild. I fear – though of course I might be wrong – that our policies this time have saved lives at first but delayed a similar taming of the virus. Evolution is not just mutation: it’s mutation plus selection caused by competition between strains for susceptible hosts.

    With luck, omicron will prove to be not only more infectious but also milder than delta. According to the doctor who diagnosed it, omicron “presents mild disease with symptoms being sore muscles and tiredness for a day or two…they might have a slight cough.” This, plus the effect of the vaccines, means that Britain’s policy of opening up in July, defying the modellers’ apocalyptic obsessions, proved sensible. The virus did not spiral out of control, or overwhelm the NHS, but a series of small waves came and went, as society inched towards an endemic truce with the enemy.

    The knowledge that we possess about this virus is truly extraordinary. Compared with even two decades ago, we can read its genome, trace its ancestry, map its mutations, predict its characteristics and understand its biochemistry in stunning detail. But this has profited us little. Our ability to stop it in its tracks – vaccines aside – is barely above the mediaeval. Would the course of pandemic have been better or worse if we could not take tests, model curves or differentiate mutant strains? I am not sure. Like Cassandra we are cursed to see the truth, but not be able to act on it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/27/government-still-fighting-wrong-war-covid-19/

    1. Would the course of pandemic have been better or worse if we could not take tests, model curves or differentiate mutant strains? I am not sure.

      We should have let it rip! It would have been over and done with by now!

      1. That was my suggestion at the start. They would have only required plenty of flame throwers to deal with corpses in the streets, and a way of isolating submarine crews. The Holy Bible’s guideline is three score and ten, after that we are in injury time.

  37. I see that the fatuous Prince Woke of Charles is breast-beating about bloody slavery – instead of telling Barbados how extraordinarily lucky they were to have been colonised – so that they had proper government, education and health services provided compenettly.

    2. I’m still waiting for millions of oppressed Africans to swarm eastward back to their ancestral lands.

    4. Morning Bill

      I wonder how long it will be when the poorest of Barbadians require handouts .

      ‘It’ll be sad for a lot of us’: Sir Gary Sobers stumped over Barbados cutting ties with the Queen
      Cricket legend, now 85, laments his country’s decision to become a republic and fondly reflects on his memories of the Royal family

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2021/11/29/sir-gary-sobers-stumped-barbados-removing-queen-itll-sad-lot/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR03IZLFgK0YeykcEVpTOaZ51Mdj6uSJ_6t4GQyZ9FzQX55sOm0n6tsQq1s#Echobox=1638220058-1

      1. Nottinghamshire’s greatest son.

        Sir Gary had the rare distinction of being knighted for his services to cricket without having to leave his hometown, after the Queen flew to Barbados for an extraordinary open-air investiture watched by a crowd of tens of thousands in 1975, a year after he retired.

        https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/royal-family/2021/11/29/TELEMMGLPICT000278620828_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqNjA8197JDAykqnnXynOTqS3N_-boGsfkSSjIbI_6mDo.jpeg?imwidth=960

        When he first heard that the monarch would be visiting the Barbadian capital, he assumed she was coming to watch the horse racing. Instead, the city’s track became the venue for the ceremony.

        “It was really tremendous because I think she hadn’t really gone to any other country to confer a knighthood,” Sir Gary said.

        “What a great honour it was. I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was a joke. The place was completely packed. When she took out the sword to knight me, my little boy was there and he said: ‘Don’t hit my daddy with that!’”

  38. President Macron – ‘France is sovereign, we cannot permit joint patrols with the British to stop the migrants!’

    Also

    ‘We are pleased to see British soldiers on the Polish border helping keep the EU secure from a migrant invasion’

    1. ‘We are pleased to see British soldiers on the Polish border helping keep the EU secure from a migrant invasion – a job we French wouldn’t touch with a bargepole.”

    3. “And also deployed in our former (but not really, let’s be honest) colonies in west Africa.”

  40. 342235+ up ticks,

    Sad to say he will eventually become king, IMO KING DICK, who will continue to be a spanner in the works of indigenous groups of
    decent Englishmen.

    Dt,
    Atrocity of slavery stains our history, Prince Charles tells Barbados as it ends royal rule
    Prince of Wales says he ‘remains deeply committed to this very special country, and to your future prosperity and wellbeing’

    1. What I find particularly annoying about the people of Barbados and many other Caribbean countries is they never seem to stop moaning and bring attention to the slave trade it’s long gone. And they now live in one of the most popular and expensive holiday spots on the planet. They can always go back ‘home’ to Africa if they really do feel so terribly upset and have serious ‘mental health issues’ over the captive circumstances they fined themselves in.
      Don’t be so pathetic and Button it Charles FGS.

      1. 342235+ up ticks,
        Morning RE,
        I do agree RE in giving big ears the Royal Seal, of the lips that is.

        1. I suppose when you get to his position your more likely to discuss the same things over and over with the same people therefore never realising what the every day existing conditions or state of affairs actually are. Blinded by the light as is were. Public opinion is very important if you are hoping to carry on with the life you have been presented with. Perhaps he should seek it more often.

  42. I find it next to impossible to open the DT website – even with much pressing of the ESC key. I have tried on Chrome and Firefox – each time a wretched – unremovable – square comes up telling me subscribe.

    Anyone else find that?

      2. No, they haven’t fixed it. I normally log in (lying in bed) on an IPhone 7 with Safari browser. If it won’t play and the paywall panel comes up more than once I power the phone OFF and wait 10-20 seconds for the Memory Cache to be cleared (by a little-known program called the Garbage Collector* that cleans up loose files and reclaims Memory after a shutdown).

        Turn the phone back on and use Google to find Telegraph Letters and hit the X in the top right hand corner as soon as it appears. This normally gets me past the paywall first or second go.

        If it doesn’t, I grab my laptop (a MacBook Air), use Google Chrome browser to Google ‘Telegraph Letters’ and hit Esc as it first loads today’s header photo, then hit today’s ‘Letters to the Editor’ text link and hit Esc as it loads. Rarely fails. I also have Telegraph Letters as a ‘Favorite’ on my other Windows computers. Hope this helps.

        *Garbage Collector Programs are present in virtually ALL Operating Systems since 1959 – look it up in Wikipedia

      3. No, they haven’t fixed it. I normally log in (lying in bed) on an IPhone 7 with Safari browser. If it won’t play and the paywall panel comes up more than once I power the phone OFF and wait 10-20 seconds for the Memory Cache to be cleared (by a little-known program called the Garbage Collector* that cleans up loose files and reclaims Memory after a shutdown).

        Turn the phone back on and use Google to find Telegraph Letters and hit the X in the top right hand corner as soon as it appears. This normally gets me past the paywall first or second go.

        If it doesn’t, I grab my laptop (a MacBook Air), use Google Chrome browser to Google ‘Telegraph Letters’ and hit Esc as it first loads today’s header photo, then hit today’s ‘Letters to the Editor’ text link and hit Esc as it loads. Rarely fails. I also have Telegraph Letters as a ‘Favorite’ on my other Windows computers. Hope this helps.

        *Garbage Collector Programs are present in virtually ALL Operating Systems since 1959 – look it up in Wikipedia

      1. If you use Paypal no direct debit is involved and, by temporarily removing all payment methods from Paypal just before the sub ends, you can exit cleanly. You then get bleats from the Telegraph, which you ignore until the next ‘offer’ comes along.

    3. I paid my £29 for 12months access. Don’t know why, it’s become even more pitifully leftist since I did. I used Paypal so I can rapidly close the account at the end of the 12 months without the hassle of a long phone discussion with their call centre.

      1. The offer I recently took up is for 75p per month. No loss there, and I will quit as soon as that runs out and wait for another deal. But I am still shadow banned by the bastards and cannot get an explanation or a reason from them.

    4. I paid my £29 for 12months access. Don’t know why, it’s become even more pitifully leftist since I did. I used Paypal so I can rapidly close the account at the end of the 12 months without the hassle of a long phone discussion with their call centre.

    5. Hi Bill. For over a week now I have been able to read all articles in the DT. Why? I have no idea.

        1. Just open your web browser again so that you have another copy of it open (but not another tab in the same copy/window/instance). Then go to the DT page and do the ESC trick.

        2. Just open your web browser again so that you have another copy of it open (but not another tab in the same copy/window/instance). Then go to the DT page and do the ESC trick.

  47. Following my comment about my “Microsoft “scam on Sunday my 2 sons, one in London and one in Texas gave me a well deserved dressing down for my folly.
    They did some research and found a site, Which? Conversation, which had an item in their money section and this was an article in November 2019 about a man called Frank who had lost £600 in a similar scam involving Microsoft – Chinese pornographers using his Microsoft account etc. He failed to notice when it came to payment. In his case £94 was taken but later a further amount was taken and he lost £600. Nationwide paid the money back but then took it back.. Eventually he retrieved the money.
    Which?Conversation was a new site to me but seems a responsible site. The Scam site is in the Money section and comments are attached to the articles. The comments to Frank were similar to the Nottler comments I received on Sunday. They weren’t offensive.

    1. I dont think that there is ever a genuine case of someone ringing you and asking for money. Now, if you ring them, ok.

    2. If you put the phone number into your search bar it will tell you if it is likely to be a scam.

    3. I do hope your accounts are well protected against any future attempts at transfers! Another thing is that they may have put you on a list now, so you might get more calls or other contact attempts in the future.

  48. Just back from the S.Market. about 5% of us not wearing masks. most staff but not all wearing masks, no signs or people on guard, so very low key.

    1. Perhaps they’ll start using the animals from the Chinese Zodiac. Starting with the rat (amazing there’s no bat).

  51. Governments which rely on CROOKED POLLS(TERS):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YQ2a883y7g&t=324s

    A YouGov survey of more than 26,000 people in 26 countries found majorities of the public in Europe and around the world in favour of vaccine passports for large events or to travel in and out of the country.

    But Dr Renee Hoenderkamp claims the poll gave her different results depending on her responses.

    It comes as ministers have been urged to take a firmer stance on mask-wearing in pubs and restaurants amid rising concern that the Omicron variant will disrupt Christmas festivities.

    Face coverings become compulsory again on public transport and in shops from Tuesday and teachers and pupils in Year 7 and above are now being “strongly advised” to wear masks in communal areas outside classrooms in England.

    2. On NTTL last week we learned that 80% of pregnant women who are vaccinated before the 20th week of pregnancy will have a stillbirth.

      2. 342235+ up ticks,
        Morning HP,
        If proven fact would it encourage those that still have ” my MP” to write to their MPs stating that ” I was ordered to ” is not acceptable at their trials,

  54. #ClownWorld accelerates………

    A union representing Border Force employees is joining a legal fight
    to stop the government from having them stop illegal boat migrants at
    sea and return them to safe, first-world France.“Our Border Force
    members are aghast at the thought they will be forced to implement such
    a cruel and inhumane policy,” said Mark Serwotka, general secretary of
    public sector worker union PCS, of the idea that Border Force — who are
    paid to enforce Britain’s border rules — might be expected to protect
    Britain’s borders…..
    Sack the bloody lot and start again!!

    2. I know a border force officer who actually would turn them away but isn’t allowed to, so having become thoroughly fed up with working shifts at Calais, has secured a transfer to a nice 9 to 5 office job in Folkstone.

    3. If the union demands that border force go on strike, so be it. It means they won’t be able to bring gimmigrants here.

      It’s long past time to reform union law, specifically that the union pays the salaries, pensions and costs of the strikers. That will bankrupt most of them.

  56. Morning all……….just.
    Surely Starmer has reach the woodwork in his barrel scraping exercise. Mrs Balls and 5 passes 13 points Lammy ???

          1. I still say and have said for a long time, that when a party is in opposition their salaries should be cut in half. It’s quite obvious these deposed idiots wouldn’t last 5 minutes out of those cushy jobs and possibly would try harder to show respect and work harder to keep on the right side of the electorate. There really needs to be some clearing out in the halls of Westminster.

      1. It’s not just that NTN, some people who might be considered as thick might be quite decent these people are horrible.

  57. UK Govt Gave Far-Left Open Borders NGO Nearly £90,000 in Funding

    https://media.breitbart.com/media/2021/11/GettyImages-1236840335-640×480.png

    The British government has handed out nearly £90,000 in taxpayer’s cash to an open borders NGO that has demanded the destruction of the “whole” immigration system.

    The far-left group Migrants Organise, which has called for the abolition of borders and the destruction of the “whole system” following the death of 27 migrants in the English Channel last week, has reportedly been propped up financially by the supposedly Conservative-run UK.
    *
    *
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/11/29/british-conservative-govt-gave-open-borders-ngo-nearly-90000-in-handouts/

    4. Then those people can pay for them, house them and be held accountabe for their crimes.

      Gimmigration is an economic issue. And frankly, gimmigrants are not welcome. Refugees can apply legally and will likely be welcomed, as is right.

    5. Right that’s it. I’m now in favour of allowing all 8point something billion people on Earth free entry into Britain.

      1. I checked out the area on Google earth and the rest of the estate was rebuilt in the early 2000s.
        2008 showed some very nice looking houses. And the majority of the types of home she lives in are 3 bed but built in concrete sections very difficult to get home insurance on and not very efficient. I hope the council get their collective fingers out and find her and others decent homes. It mus be be frightening to have this happen when you’re in your 70s.

        1. If they can’t find somewhere for her they will just have to put her up in a four star hotel. All expenses paid.

  59. A new mutant strain of Covid-19 that has sparked fears for vaccine resistance, caused flight cancellations, and sent the stock market plummeting could actually help bring the pandemic to an end, a Russian virologist has claimed.
    In an interview published on Monday in Moscow tabloid KP, Anatoly Altshtein, a virologist at the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, which pioneered Russia’s Sputnik V jab, said that there it is still not clear how deadly or infectious the new Omicron variant might be. According to him, even if it does spread faster than its predecessor, known as Delta, it could take months to become the predominant form of the virus.

    Even if that happens, he said, it’s not clear that Omicron means higher death tolls than at present. “Right now there are reasons to think that the Omicron variant could be less pathogenic,” he went on, meaning less able to cause harmful infection.

    Explaining the science behind the hypothesis, Altshtein said that “we already see Omicron has many mutations, more than Delta. More than thirty-thousand in a single gene of its spike protein. This is too many, and it means the virus has an unstable genome. As a rule, this sort of infectious agent becomes less dangerous, because evolutionarily, an overwhelming number of mutations leads to a weakening of the virus’s ability to cause disease.”
    According to the professor, if this rule holds true, then Omicron would be fatal in only a small fraction of cases, and would become like other common seasonal infections.

  60. Reality rears its ugly head…

    Russia does not want to extend its gas transit contract with Ukraine after 2024 when the current deal ends, the head of the Kiev-based state-run oil and gas company Naftogaz claimed on Monday.
    Speaking to Reuters, Yury Vitrenko said that there is “not even a hint” of negotiations on a new contract.

    “We are discussing it with the Americans and the Germans that all of us would like the transit to continue, but the Russians are reluctant to start these discussions,” he said.

    : Nord Stream 2 will cost Kiev $3 billion in transit fees every year, leaving Ukraine unable to finance its army, says Zelensky
    Transiting gas from Russia to Europe is an integral part of Ukraine’s economy, and the country receives billions of dollars annually from Russian energy giant Gazprom for the use of its aging facilities, which were constructed by Moscow during the Soviet period.

    1. There’s an irony that by their slavish adherence to the Hard Left agenda of climate change – in reality the destruction of our way of life – is likely to lead to a conflict beyond imagining.

      1. The next war was always going to be about resource scarcity. By hindering nuclear and stopping coal mining they are bring that date forwards.

        Their way of solving excess population.

        Anyone who joins the Armed forces now is an idiot.

    1. The locals have managed to invade the internment camp at Howard Springs in the NT, the place is probably swamped with security now as they have been using private foreign security to bolster the Police there.

  62. Good afternoon from a Saxon Queen with blooded axe and longbow .

    I’ve just had a jury summons for January in a Crown Court very official looking and I don’t get a choice in the matter. If you don’t turn up you’ve committed a criminal offence.

        1. When i was called i immediately booked a holiday. Worked for me.

          I know jury service is a duty of the citizen but i have no faith in the judiciary and none in the Government. If i were forced to serve i would just say guilty without bothering to listen to evidence.

          1. I’m not sure that I would want you on the jury at my trial.

            As soon as you realised that it was me, a Northerner, you would scream out, “HANG HIM!”.

          3. Heard at the rape case trial…
            Judge to defendant “You ought to be bloody well hung”
            Black defendant ” I am your honour”

          9. I don’t believe you would. You may say you want to, but when summoned you do rather think ‘I’ve someone’s liberty on my hands’.

            Yes, you get some vile scrote with 10+ convictions to his name who’s an obvious bag of scum but you still feel that sense of duty toward others. It’s an annoyance of being decent people, I think.

          10. The problem is when instinct and your bones through and through tells you someone is guilty, but the evidence presented leans in another direction.

        1. If a job’s worth avoiding; tell them that you are unvaxxed, unmasked and support the death penalty.

    4. Remember that the Court will give you subtle hints as to whether the accused might potentially be guilty. You need to know how soon he/she/it was arrested after the alleged offence, because that implies that DNA information was already stored on a database.

  65. Wonders will never cease. I ordered some Lateral Flow Test kits from the NHS yesterday afternoon – they were delivered today Parcelforce24. They should see me through my musical visits to the care homes over the Xmas period

      1. Of course – the CCP Wuhan outlet didn’t create the problem without cornering the market on the follow-on products.

    1. Oh for goodness sake, kick him off and remind him that he’s a guest and to respect our laws and mores.

        1. Our political classes have collectively and completely fucked this once safe and fairly reasonable country.
          I have never been able to understand or begin to work out what their motives are to do this.

    4. “Shocking” eh? I wonder what would have happened if a Christian was reading/chanting from the Bible, sitting opposite a muslim. Three guesses.

        1. Here’s some “high math(s) knowledge”:

          Since the treasure chest is roughly cuboid in shape (and not a two-dimensional square/rectangle), the riddle (joke) would have been more effective if it had had $1,000,000 written on it whilst underground. The resulting $100 would then have represented its cube root.

          8. Very soon I might post a photo of the mother of the bride from Sunday! Even my old man said I looked OK!
            From him, that is positively gushing!

  72. Liz Truss denies Nato is provoking Russia as she warns Kremlin against Ukraine invasion. 30 November 2021.

    Nato is not provoking Russia into military action in Ukraine and any invasion by Vladimir Putin would be a “strategic mistake,” Liz Truss has said.

    Speaking on a visit to Latvia on Tuesday, the Foreign Secretary rejected claims that a military build-up of Russian forces on the Ukrainian border was a response to provocation by Nato countries, and pledged to “stand with our fellow democracies” against “malign” activity in the region.

    “We have seen this playbook from the Kremlin before when Russia falsely claimed its illegal annexation of Crimea was a response to Nato aggression,” Ms Truss said.

    Yes it is! It is trying to make Ukraine a de facto member of NATO, as opposed to de jure, by supplying it with the most advanced weapons while simultaneously trying to intimidate Russia by its actions in the Black Sea and flying nuclear armed aircraft within easy reach of the border! There are no Russian fleets in the North Sea or the Gulf of Mexico. All this is against Putin’s publicly stated position that he will not allow this to happen because it directly affects Russian security interests. So essentially like Iraq, Vietnam, Libya etc. we are embarked on a course to an aggressive war. These forerunners I might point out, despite all the lies and rhetoric, were never a threat to the heartlands of the West. Russia is a near peer competitor capable of the most advanced responses.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/11/30/liz-truss-ukraine-russia-tank-war-invasion/

    1. I wish the west would stop playing these games in Ukraine. The time to help in Ukraine was when Stalin was starving the people to death. We didn’t interfere then, and should any such atrocity be repeated, you can be sure we won’t interfere another time either.
      Sabre rattling now is just stupid!

  73. omicron ō-mī’ krən, ō-mi’ krən, om’ i-krən [The Chambers Dictionary (recognising three acceptable variants).]

    omicron əʊ’maɪkrən [The Oxford English Reference Dictionary (insisting that only the first version of Chambers’ variants is correct).]

      1. I don’t know why they don’t just name the variants after the positions in the Karma Sutra – after all we are being well and truly fupt over!

        2. We still have a little way to go before a variant with 69 mutations in the spike protein turns up.

  74. It was estimated the variant [Omicron] emerged in September or October 2021.[37] This was worrying, as a single case from then now already appears to affect a significant percentage of airline passengers from South Africa, which moreover, are presumed relatively COVID-free due to testing, vaccination or recovery. This indicates a large absolute growth. However, it may also have emerged in its current incarnation as early as 2020.[38][39]

    Wikipedia entry with references postulates that Omicron could have been around since 2020.

    Early observations of symptoms presented by South Africans who tested positive for the Omicron variant reveal that the symtoms did not include either a sore throat or loss of smell.

    This means that anyone in the UK who has just been feeling tired since last year and has been prone to headaches could well be suffering from Long Omicron.

          2. Not under that name. The maximum length for racehorse names, including spaces, is 18 characters 🙂

  76. Apologies in advance if I have a humour fail. I am at a very low ebb today. Already somewhat depressed but MH has been on the phone to his older brother, who is the nicest guy ever, and he has to go back to hospital for a repeat heart surgery. He has been scared by covid- he lives alone and MH has been trying to contact him for ages. He has been fed a ton of BS by NHS; without his permission they have put a DNR on his notes! WHAT? He is only 69.
    I have absolutely have had enough. Sod this government and sod the NHS- think I will get pissed tonight.

    1. Bad luck, LotL. Try this – if you know the hospital, you can contact the PALS.

      The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) offers confidential advice, support and information on health-related matters.

      They provide a point of contact for patients, their families and their carers.

      You can find PALS officers in your local hospital.

    2. Oh – no wonder you feel down! I do hope all will be well with your biL and he gets througgh this surgery ok.

    4. Also, which I forgot to mention…brother’s ex wife has cancer and is on morphine. Today is the day that keeps on sodding giving.

      1. Gawd, LotL! What a horrible day you’re enduring. Thinking of you both and hope all goes well.

        1. Ex wives are not always fun but I have met this lady and thought she was nice. Having lost my mother, brother and three friends to cancer- well….
          Thanks Sue.

          1. Sorry. It was rather tasteless. It’s as if I suffer from OCP – Obsessive Compulsory Punning.

      1. Thanks Obers. I have almost run out of adjectives to say what I feel about the NHS. There is a lot more that MH has related to me but I am so bloody angry I am not going to bring y’all down too.

    10. You surely can’t be serious with reporting back on this DNR thing ..

      That is frightening and horrid, and I have heard that people on their own are the property of the state .

      Please don’t drink yourself into oblivion , it will do you no good .

    11. This is why the ‘covid regs’ are keeping people out of hospital. There are things they don’t want people to see, and not just DNR notices.

    12. If it’s any consolation (which I doubt), the NHS is disconnected from efficiency. Today I received a fourth text telling me I hadn’t made an appointment and if I didn’t I would be wiped off the list. I made one (then had the first text), then I got a confirmation letter (cue the second text), then they cancelled my appointment (yet another text) and now, out of the blue, I’ve had a threat. To say I’m not happy is an understatement. I’m going to ring the number and give them a rocket tomorrow.

      1. Conners, I am so angry this evening that I am going to limit my comments. As I said earlier- sod this government and sod the NHS. I am so tempted to go down to the beach and throw myself off the bloody pier.

  77. Today is the birthday of my grandson … He shares the date with Winston Churchill.

    Tomorrow I depart for Poland for the first time since December 2019. It is the fifth week of having two (Polish) builders here, who are extending our kitchen and converting attached brick sheds into a downstairs toilet and shower. They are waiting for us to go in order to knock through for a larger door between our kitchen and the (new) utility area.

    We have been covering all the furniture and taking the paintings down ..

    It is a chaotic backdrop to a longish (6 weeks) foreign trip (although we have a house there) ..

    And the skip is due today …. that may be them knocking now …

    1. Best of luck with the paperwork, PLF, tests, quarantine etc etc.

      PLEASE do let us know how the journey went.

      1. Bill, I am bound to send some weather reports … we will be walking out Min Pinscher, Putin, across the fields

    2. Safe journey Lewis and have a good stay in Poland – hopefully when you come back your house will be in order!

    4. Hope you have a wonderful trip, and the journey is plain sailing! I’m sure you’ll return to a lovely ‘new’ home!
      Enjoy the festivities!

  79. Grassroots Conservatives turn on Boris – and here’s the surprising pick for his successor

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1529092/conservative-polls-boris-johnson-no-confidence-successor-evg

    Not a surprise to this column…

    A top three of Truss, Lord Frost and Anne-Marie Trevelyan says a lot about the quality available, although A-MT is sound on Brexit (she told Stick Insect to shove her withdrawal agreement), climate change, fracking and fox-hunting (if that matters anymore).

    1. A successor for Boris? Larry the flipping cat. He’s more intelligent, will cause far less mess and be a better blasted PM than any of the incompetent, greedy, lazy, spiteful, useless cretins infesting the Commons.

    2. That last matters a great deal here (if she’s pro); we have at least seven hunts (foxhounds, minkhounds, harriers) in the area.

  81. THINGS MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME:
    1. My mother taught me about WEATHER.
    “Your room looks like a tornado hit it.”
    2. My mother taught me about RELIGION.
    “You better pray that comes out of the carpet.”
    3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
    “If you don’t straighten up I’m going to knock you into the middle of next week.”
    4. My mother taught me about OSMOSIS.
    “Shut your mouth and eat your supper.”
    5. My mother taught me about the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
    “I brought you into this world, I can take you out.”
    6. My mother taught me about ENVY.
    “There are millions of less fortunate children in the world who don’t have wonderful parents like you.”
    7. My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
    “You are going to get it when we get home.”
    8. My mother taught me about GENEOLOGY.
    “Shut that door… You think you were raised in a barn?”
    9. My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
    “One day you’ll have kids… I hope they turn out just like you!”
    10. My mother taught me about LOGIC.
    “Because I said so, That’s why.”
    11. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
    “You’ll sit there until your spinach is gone.”
    12. My mother taught me about IRONY.
    “Keep crying. I’ll give you something to cry about.”
    Share if you’ve ever hear these words from your mother’s mouth or possibly said them a time or two yourself!.

    1. All 12 were indeed spoken by my mum, but her favourite was “there will be a war in the camp, if you don’t behave” and I am quite sure I have said them all to my two plus now, three grandchildren!

      1. Number 12 was a favourite of mine…. No 11 I had an answer to – “I don’t care – I didn’t want to go out anyway..”

        1. No.7 was “Wait ’till your Dad gets home” which was a laugh really as he was in the merchant navy

    2. No 3 is familiar. My Mother once said, “If you do that again, you won’t know what’s hit you for a month of Sundays.”

      Like a fool, I replied (in all seriousness): “It will be Sunday…”

      Big mistake.

  82. Zemmour’s campaign launch painted a dark vision of France. 30 November 2021.

    So it’s official: Eric Zemmour will stand as a candidate in next year’s French presidential election. It was hardly a shock when he launched his campaign this morning with a video that was the visual equivalent of a Michel Houellebecq novel. Nearly seven years ago, Houellebecq’s novel, Submission, depicted an incipient civil war in France as the 2022 election approached. Zemmour believes that fiction is now a reality. It seems that whether or not people agree, there is widespread interest in Zemmour’s message: in the three hours since he launched the video on YouTube, it’s been viewed 430,000 times.

    France is going to pot, was the gist of his ten minute address, and unless I’m elected president forget about a rosy future. To underline his message, Zemmour interspersed the video with clips of police stations being attacked by gangs of youths, nurses being set upon by thugs in hospitals and drug-dealers plying their trade on busy streets in broad daylight.

    To the soft strains of the second movement of Beethoven’s symphony no.7, Zemmour told France:
    France is going to pot, was the gist of his ten minute address

    ‘You no longer have the impression to be in a country you know. You recall a country of Joan of Arc, Louis XIV, Boneparte and Charles de Gaulle…a country of Gabin, Bardot, Belmondo, Johnny, Aznavour.’

    These names and others were accompanied by black and white footage from the 50s and 60s, of Frenchmen and women going about their peaceful everyday lives.

    He attacked, too, the progressive culture that has arrived in France from America and is spreading rapidly in sport, film and music, and even ‘the schoolbooks of your children’. There was a clip of PSG footballers taking the knee and of a woman in a headscarf, taken from the recent Council of Europe campaign that claimed ‘Beauty is in diversity as freedom is in the Hijab’.

    Zemmour, looking more lugubrious than ever, intoned that: ‘You haven’t left your country but it is as if your country has left you.’
    The presidential announcement caps a turbulent few days for Zemmour, who is no stranger to controversy, having been convicted for inciting racial hatred. On Friday, a celebrity magazine ran a front page expose in which it alleged he and his 28-year-old advisor, Sarah Knafo, are expecting a baby; and on Saturday, he received a hostile reception on a visit to Marseille. Tempers frayed on both sides and the 63-year-old was photographed exchanging one-fingered salutes with a protestor, a gesture he later acknowledged was ‘inelegant’.

    Now that he has officially declared his candidature, Zemmour can expect the hostility to intensify. There have already been violent demonstrations at his presence in some cities. His political and media opponents will doubtless harden their rhetoric, starting this evening when he appears live on the primetime news. Already the attacks have begun: Gabriel Attal, the government spokesman, called Zemmour a ‘cut-price Donald Trump’.

    So far Zemmour’s political rise has been meteoric, overtaking in polling intentions Marine Le Pen of the National Rally – who, in a radio interview this morning, dismissed him as ‘as a polemicist, not a presidential candidate – but now he will come under far greater scrutiny. What exactly has he to offer France other than a bleak vision of the future?’.

    But does Zemmour need to offer anything else? If his presidential message was bleak this morning then so was the news that a female mathematics teacher in Paris was badly beaten up in front of her class yesterday by a teenage pupil, as was another female teacher last month. This latest incident made the headlines because of its location: not some deprived inner-city school but in the posh 6th arrondissement, at a school close to the Jardin du Luxembourg.

    France has become a violent, disorderly and fractured society in the last thirty years, and neither the left or the right, or Macron’s centrist vision, has been able to find a solution. Zemmour will campaign on a simple manifesto: why worry about the economy, education or the environment when the country’s survival is at stake: ‘It’s therefore no longer time to reform France,’ he said in his address, ‘but to save it.’

    If only we had the UK equivalent!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/zemmour-s-campaign-launch-painted-a-dark-vision-of-france

  83. Zemmour’s campaign launch painted a dark vision of France. 30 November 2021.

    So it’s official: Eric Zemmour will stand as a candidate in next year’s French presidential election. It was hardly a shock when he launched his campaign this morning with a video that was the visual equivalent of a Michel Houellebecq novel. Nearly seven years ago, Houellebecq’s novel, Submission, depicted an incipient civil war in France as the 2022 election approached. Zemmour believes that fiction is now a reality. It seems that whether or not people agree, there is widespread interest in Zemmour’s message: in the three hours since he launched the video on YouTube, it’s been viewed 430,000 times.

    France is going to pot, was the gist of his ten minute address, and unless I’m elected president forget about a rosy future. To underline his message, Zemmour interspersed the video with clips of police stations being attacked by gangs of youths, nurses being set upon by thugs in hospitals and drug-dealers plying their trade on busy streets in broad daylight.

    To the soft strains of the second movement of Beethoven’s symphony no.7, Zemmour told France:
    France is going to pot, was the gist of his ten minute address

    ‘You no longer have the impression to be in a country you know. You recall a country of Joan of Arc, Louis XIV, Boneparte and Charles de Gaulle…a country of Gabin, Bardot, Belmondo, Johnny, Aznavour.’

    These names and others were accompanied by black and white footage from the 50s and 60s, of Frenchmen and women going about their peaceful everyday lives.

    He attacked, too, the progressive culture that has arrived in France from America and is spreading rapidly in sport, film and music, and even ‘the schoolbooks of your children’. There was a clip of PSG footballers taking the knee and of a woman in a headscarf, taken from the recent Council of Europe campaign that claimed ‘Beauty is in diversity as freedom is in the Hijab’.

    Zemmour, looking more lugubrious than ever, intoned that: ‘You haven’t left your country but it is as if your country has left you.’
    The presidential announcement caps a turbulent few days for Zemmour, who is no stranger to controversy, having been convicted for inciting racial hatred. On Friday, a celebrity magazine ran a front page expose in which it alleged he and his 28-year-old advisor, Sarah Knafo, are expecting a baby; and on Saturday, he received a hostile reception on a visit to Marseille. Tempers frayed on both sides and the 63-year-old was photographed exchanging one-fingered salutes with a protestor, a gesture he later acknowledged was ‘inelegant’.

    Now that he has officially declared his candidature, Zemmour can expect the hostility to intensify. There have already been violent demonstrations at his presence in some cities. His political and media opponents will doubtless harden their rhetoric, starting this evening when he appears live on the primetime news. Already the attacks have begun: Gabriel Attal, the government spokesman, called Zemmour a ‘cut-price Donald Trump’.

    So far Zemmour’s political rise has been meteoric, overtaking in polling intentions Marine Le Pen of the National Rally – who, in a radio interview this morning, dismissed him as ‘as a polemicist, not a presidential candidate – but now he will come under far greater scrutiny. What exactly has he to offer France other than a bleak vision of the future?’.

    But does Zemmour need to offer anything else? If his presidential message was bleak this morning then so was the news that a female mathematics teacher in Paris was badly beaten up in front of her class yesterday by a teenage pupil, as was another female teacher last month. This latest incident made the headlines because of its location: not some deprived inner-city school but in the posh 6th arrondissement, at a school close to the Jardin du Luxembourg.

    France has become a violent, disorderly and fractured society in the last thirty years, and neither the left or the right, or Macron’s centrist vision, has been able to find a solution. Zemmour will campaign on a simple manifesto: why worry about the economy, education or the environment when the country’s survival is at stake: ‘It’s therefore no longer time to reform France,’ he said in his address, ‘but to save it.’

    If only we had the UK equivalent!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/zemmour-s-campaign-launch-painted-a-dark-vision-of-france

    4. I’m not surprised he had a rough reception in Marseille – yer actual French are in a minority there judging by the last time I went. It’s not somewhere to arrive at the Gare TGV late at night, either.

  84. A nice young roofer (recommended by a friend) came this morning to have a look at the roof of our extension ( including our bedroom) as the tiles are crumbling on the north side.

    At the weekend , when we had the biting and fierce north wind, I heard a couple more lumps come rumbling down, though this time they didn’t land on my car. Hopefully he will be able to get it done early in the new year.

    1. As supper-prep time is approaching, I read that as a ‘nice young rooster’.
      Today I bought a poussin for later in the week.

    2. Why can’t he sort your roof out now.

      If we have another spell of bad weather , damp will come through the crumbling roof and create even more problems ?

          2. You need a radiator key and a roll of tissue paper. Loosen the radiator plug until the air has escaped (hissing noise when hot) and a discharge of water has arrived on the tissue. Tighten plug and job done.

      4. Well – he needs to source the new tiles and we need to choose them; he needs to schedule it into his workload; he has to get the scaffolders to put up their kit……..

        I don’t think we’ve got the wet in yet. It’s been crumbling for some time but it takes us a while to get round to doing something about it.

    3. There is a lot of building work going on as the millions of council employees undertake home improvements funded by WFH furlough payments. Works range from new bathrooms through to home extensions and conservatories.

      Meanwhile the self employed have lost business and have difficulty in obtaining the services of electricians and plumbers.

  85. Stand by for U-turn:

    “Omicron variant: Boris Johnson dismisses health chief’s call to stop socialising”

    1. The fat clown has made so many U turns that he probably doesn’t know which way is up any more – if, indeed, he ever knew! What have we done to deserve such a “catalogue of mediocrity” as our recent PMs?

      1. Still Bleau, his mediocrity is worrying but his dangerous intents are frightening. To add to the problem the Labour opposition has gone awol and Starmer has given Johnson licence to do as he pleases.

        A government woeful beyond measure supported by a void where the opposition should be. Little wonder we’re in deep excrement.

        1. The Opposition approve of the control measures. Some of them think they don’t go far enough. Starmer criticised Fat Man Blonde for not disciplining back-benchers who asked a few awkward questions about the data.

  86. Please contain yourselves.

    Donald Trump to be interviewed by Nigel Farage on GB News

    Former US President will speak about the siege on the Capitol, his subsequent impeachment and whether he will run again for the presidency

    By
    Telegraph Reporters
    30 November 2021 • 3:19pm

    Donald Trump is to appear on GB News in a “world exclusive” interview with Nigel Farage.

    The former US president spoke to Mr Farage via videolink for the chat, with the station promising that “nothing is off limits”.

    The interview has already been recorded and subjects covered will include the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Boris Johnson and climate change.

    Mr Trump will speak about the January attack on the Capitol, and his subsequent impeachment for allegedly inciting the riot. He was later acquitted by the US Senate.

    He will also address the subject of running for president again in 2024. In a Fox News interview earlier this year, Mr Trump said he was “very seriously, beyond seriously” considering it.

    The friendship between Mr Trump and Mr Farage goes back a number of years. Mr Farage said the pair had much in common because “Trump and I have probably been the most reviled people by the liberal media in the world”.

    Farage: The Trump Interview will air at 7pm tomorrow.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/30/donald-trump-interviewed-nigel-farage-gb-news/

    1. His main statement is:

      The facts do not support the narrative.

      This can be applied to many reports in the MSM nowadays – especially climate change and Covid!

    2. We laughed when items like this appeared in the press, especially in local papers and newsletters. From the Dursley Gazzette sometime in the 90s:
      “A cassette player was stolen from a Volkswagen Passat in Slimbridge last Saturday. A gold Vauxhall Cavalier was seen acting suspiciously.”

      Little did we realise that it would become a routine way of reporting the news:
      “Three people were killed by a gun today in an incident in the market place. The weapon has not been found. Police want to talk to a man who is thought to have been holding it when it discharged its bullets.”

  91. Over-sixties in Greece who aren’t vaccinated will have to pay a monthly €100 ‘health fee’ until they get jabbed.

    Which UK politicos will be advocating something similar in the next 24 hours?

      1. An unvaccinated cohort will serve as a comparison group and depending on their health outcomes may illustrate just how effective or ineffective the vaccines are and in the latter’s case highlight a colossal waste of money and possible incompetence.

        2. MOH has had no jabs, I’ve had 2. We both have Covid and appear to be neck and neck in the symptom stakes.

          2. Both got a variety of symptoms. It’s quite unpleasant. A less stoic person might say it’s nasty. It appears as a bit of a fever/shivering, stomach not wanting to accept anything, stomach cramps, achy joints, coughing, sneezing, an overwhelming sense of fatigue and now, worst of all, my wine is tasting a bit odd. My son seems to be coping a bit better than us.

          3. Interesting. I have experienced influenza twice in my life. During neither episode did I feel well enough to get out of bed for three or four days let alone type….

            Get well soon mm.

          4. You’re right, I had it when about 19, knocked me for six for 2 weeks. It’s not as bad as flu, so far. More miserable than anything else.

  92. We are in shock!

    DORSET’S first ever wind farm has set an autumn 2022 date of completion after four large turbines were transported to the site near Wool.

    Four Vestas 2MW turbines have been secured for the Alaska Wind Farm project in Purbeck which is expected to generate enough zero-carbon electricity to meet the annual demand of more than 5,000 homes.

    DORSET’S first ever wind farm has set an autumn 2022 date of completion after four large turbines were transported to the site near Wool.

    Four Vestas 2MW turbines have been secured for the Alaska Wind Farm project in Purbeck which is expected to generate enough zero-carbon electricity to meet the annual demand of more than 5,000 homes.

    The 8-megawatt wind farm, which gained planning permission in 2012, is to be built at the operational sand and gravel extraction site Masters Quarry in East Stoke and will have a 25-year life span.

    Developers say the construction stage will provide considerable employment opportunities for the region’s construction industry.

    However the project has not been without controversy. In 2011, an initial application was refused by the then Purbeck District Council. At the time, the planning board said developers “could not satisfactorily mitigate the impacts” of the development.

    The project even made its way to the High Court when, in 2013, campaigners of the Dorset Against Rural Turbines group won the right to challenge a High Court decision backing the scheme.

    The legal challenge failed in April 2014, allowing the project to continue.

    Alaska Wind Farm is a joint venture between Wimborne-based renewable energy company Infinergy and the Holme Estate.

    Infinergy CEO Esbjorn Wilmar said: “We are delighted to see this important project move forward. Over the years, various challenges had to be overcome, such as the brownfield site’s technical constraints and the government’s changes to the market support system for renewable energy.

    “We are proud to build Dorset’s first wind farm, supplying a substantial amount of green power to the local network and contributing to Dorset’s renewable energy targets.

    “As COP26 emphasised earlier this month, tackling man-made climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing humanity. We cannot afford to delay further and it is vital that everyone does their bit.

    He added: “As a county, Dorset has been lagging behind in renewable energy generation. Alaska Wind Farm is a step in the right direction, making a real contribution at the local level.”

    The turbine towers will be stored on site until further works commence from early 2022. Turbine installation is expected to take place in the summer, with the wind farm fully operational by autumn 2022.

    https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/19745775.purbecks-alaska-wind-farm-project-closer-turbines-arrive/?fbclid=IwAR27O6aI3TiehSlBjKvSKDK3b_TfFAGFBzjXhIK8o932nSAYUtdOLGboOPw

    1. Between us all, I’ll bet the over 60s could fart more energy than Alaska Wind Farm will produce.

      3. They will cast a huge shadow over this part of the Purbecks and interfere with migratory birds and everything else , the views around here are stunning , and we have had many days where there hasn’t even been a flutter of a breeze .

          1. Rumpole always looked at me accusingly when he was the culprit. And often I had to carry the can.

        2. I was brought up to believe that the queen never did but her mother did.

          Here’s a very old one I have recalled to mind for Tom.

          Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, invited some old friends to dine with her: a general from a top cavalry regiment; the admiral of the fleet and an American Air Marshall.

          After the gin and Dubonnet, champagne and oysters the QM let fly a fart of such explosive quality that it could not be ignored. The general immediately saw where his duty lay; he stood up and said, “I must apologise, Your Majesty. That was quite inexcusable.” He then left the room covered in confusion.

          The meal continued and after the excellent Beef Wellington accompanied served with Brussels sprouts and mashed potato and a splendid Bordeaux, the old girl let rip one even more decibellily charged and with an even more oppressive odour than her first. The admiral was keen not to be proved less courteous that his friend the general so he stood to attention and said: “I must apologise, your majesty. I deserve the cat of nine tales and to walk the plank.” He too left the room.

          This left just the American aviator to share the Stinking Bishop Cheese and the port with his royal host. When the inevitable abominable abdominal volcanic eruption occurred for the third time the Yank jumped to his feet and said: “Gee Ma’am. You can have that one on me.”

      6. Armed with our magazines charged with Baked Beans. An maybe we should recruit a regiment of young vegans to put more wind in our sails?

      7. Over the years I have contributed my share of said energy, we may be relying on you Sue to keep the homes lit.

    2. “enough zero-carbon electricity” – only if you totally ignore the massive footprint involved in mining all the stuff that goes into the turbines, the concrete used to hold it up, the roads built to the site to transport it, the transport itself, etc.

      1. Exactly , and all our roads are narrow.. I mean we have Wytch Farm down the road , and a very small decomissioned Nuclear power station at Winfrith .

        We are being dumped on.

        1. Is Wytch Farm still running? I remember doing drilling core sample analysis from it back in the 80s.

          1. Located 17 miles from Poole and six miles from Wareham in the Purbeck district, Dorset, England, Wytch Farm is a mature oil field that has been extracting oil and associated gas from sandstone and limestone oil reservoirs in the Wessex Basin since 1979. The oil field underwent development to extend its operational life by 21 years to 2037.

            Wytch Farm is one of the biggest onshore oil fields in Europe. French oil and gas company Perenco is the operator of the field with a 95% share.

            https://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/projects/wytch-farm-oil-field/

      2. Was it Catweazel who referred to it as electrickery? It may have been Wurzel Gummidge but it is a term I have borrowed from time to time.

        1. Well we have Ecotrickery as our local firm – Dale Vince used to be a traveller living in a caravan – now he’s a multi millionaire. He put up a turbine a cople of miles from here right on the skyline.

        1. Turbines require pylons to transfer energy to the grid. Whole areas of our landscape have been wrecked by lines of massive pylons.

          Gainsborough and Constable would turn in their graves at the sight of these monstrosities.

          1. We have, at least, Corri, forced the wind farm to bury their cables from wind-farm to sub-station.

    4. Who are the Dorset, profiteering landowners, Maggie?
      Who did they bribe to gain planning approval?

      1. Lacoste ,

        Dorset Council has developed a knee jerk reaction to Boris’s green agenda! They love it !!!!!

        The flora and fauna and very special heathland Stokeford Heaths SSSI, Dorset Heathlands SPA, Dorset
        Heathlands Ramsar Site, and Dorset Heaths SPA cover the
        majority of the land around Hyde pit, and other non-SSSI
        land is designated as SNCI.

        file:///C:/Users/My%20PC/Downloads/bap-masters.pdf

        Those Turbines will be seen from everywhere.

        Nothing is sacred anymore.

        2. Which is why, Maggie, we in Flowton, Somersham, Burstall and Bramford, Suffolk, are fighting tooth and nail to object against 3 companies – ENSO (Australian Financed), EDF (French) and Stakraft (Norwegian) who want to surround our small villages with so-called ‘Solar Farms’ taking up over 500 acres of good food-producing land, installing container loads of Lithium-Ion Batteries (liable to explode in thermal runaway and release toxic fumes) and ride rough-shod over local objections.

          We keep trying.

    5. ‘The turbine towers will be stored on site until further works commence from early 2022.‘
      Any saboteurs in your area, Belle?

      1. Infinergy is an independent renewable energy company fully owned by its management, Dutch green energy entrepreneurs Esbjorn Wilmar and Tjiwolt Wierda. Both are passionate about renewable energy and the instrumental role that wind and solar have to play in decarbonising and decentralising the energy sector. Having been involved in Infinergy for many years, in March 2017 they agreed a management buy-out and made the company their own. Since then, Infinergy has entered into a long-term partnership with Canadian renewables company Boralex.

  93. I see the Tories are defending their government’s record but the motion is about BoJo’s conduct.
    They don’t seem to have a defence.

    2. Many’s the true word (once again) spoken in jest. A parent took her two children to a swimming class in the US and when she came to collect them she found they had been ‘vaccinated’ (injected) at the class.

        1. I have been Mola, nearly all day. I cannot bear what it happening in this once great country. Your support is, as always, appreciated.

          1. Sorry to hear that, Lotl. Some days are like that. I’ve been sombre because the lovely black lab belonging to two of my friends had to be put to sleep at the weekend. He was a super dog. It brought it all back about Charlie, too.

          2. It’s always so tough when a wonderful dog/cat has to be let go. Been through it 4 times myself and it never gets easier- nor should it.

  95. I cannot see a rational discussion taking place until we stop calling a gene altering injection a vaccination. That is the big government lie!

    1. As I am sure some Nottlers may have noticed when I write the word vaccination I strike it through and write gene therapy instead. Purists complain that ‘gene therapy’ isn’t quite the right expression but it is nearer than vaccination.

  99. Wine o’clock has just struck. So now is the time for me to saaay good-bye. (etc etc)

    I hope to join you tomorrow – a mildish start (9ºC) becoming colder as the day wears on. May have to force myself to turn on the CH..

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

  100. Latest Breaking News – Due to the fact that we are running out Greek letters for naming the new covid variants the WHO are going to use Chinese letters instead, they have at least 135,000 they say.

  105. 2 hour GBNews tomorrow at 7pm with NF interviewing Donald Trump for 30 minutes on a variety of subjects including the Sussexes and the Capitol “riot”
    NF looked elated as he gave us a foretaste of it. Mark Steyn was in charge of the show tonight.

    2. That will be fascinating, clydesider; these days, NF is the best expositeur of UK politics …

      Mark Steyn was SHOUTING; I had to switch …

    1. I am not convinced anyway that Mair was guilty. It was all very strange. There were things that didn’t add up. I smelled rattus rattus.

      1. No doubt that he carried out the attack, but who supplied the weapon? Lot of unanswered questions.

    3. The BBC also pretends that Hitler and the Nazi’s were Right wing when they were clearly Left.

      It’s all a desperate agenda.

      1. Unfprtunately, it’s the only agenda many of our schoolteachers (who, in turn, infect the young and impressionable) and middle-and-old age fogeys get … and then they wonder why there seems to be so many imaginary and real victims in British life these days.

        What is more frustrating than talking/devating with someone who never watches GB News or Fox News? My son-in-law’s family still believe Trump recommended people swallow detergent to counter Covid.

      1. When I was 11 years old I went to the chemical supplies shop next to Edinburgh University and bought the chemicals required to make gunpowder, in the appropriate relative quantities, as per the formula. I wore the distinctive uniform of my primary school. No one in the shop turned a hair or asked any questions. I did this several times. I singed myself yellow with my experiments. If I did that today I would be a terrorist?

        1. “I singed myself yellow with my experiments. If I did that today I would be a terrorist?”

          You’d certainly be a marked man…

    6. Mentally ill White man kills MP. Non-stop coverage of far-right white supremacist terrorism.

      Muslim kills MP. A few platitudes, “mentally ill man” then “nothing to see here, move on”.

  107. Evening, all. Of course it’s arbitrary; none of it makes any sense whatsoever. Wear a mask when standing, but not when seated, okay until ten pm in England, but only six pm in Wales, okay to have a drink with a meal but not just a drink on its own. I’m surprised people haven’t questioned the lack of logic before now. Still, better late than never, I suppose.

    1. How long before those fishermen are arrested on some spurious racism charges?
      While looking for Christmas cards, I specifically avoided any that were even partially supporting the RNLI.

  111. Good night all.

    Chicken korma with thick yoghurt & pilau rice.
    Fresh pineapple.

    Missy has learnt that the smell of curry is associated with yoghurt, so she always appears when i dish up. She gets a Tbspnful in a little dish, & no more, but guess who had most of the chicken.

    1. My Maine Coon cat in CT loved cheese and spaghetti. No idea why. His name was Basil because his personality reminded us of guess who?

          2. Now why would I do that? Have been out this pm and just now done a lot of washing up that I should have done yesterday. I am my own worst enemy.

  116. I am very fond of John Betjeman’s poetry and know many of them by heart and am always happy to recite – when there is a chance that my audience won’t lynch me once I get started.

    Summoned By Bells (his verse autobiography) and an anthology of his poems are often on my bedside table.

    Why John Betjeman would have approved of a ‘Netflix for churches’
    A new streaming platform raises awareness of crumbling churches, inspired by John Betjeman’s own ‘churchcrawls’. The BBC should take note
    DT Simon Heffer : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/architecture/john-betjeman-would-have-approved-netflix-churches/

    I dip into his verse frequently and this one is one of my favourites:

    The Cockney Amorist

    Oh when my love, my darling,
    You’ve left me here alone,
    I’ll walk the streets of London
    Which once seemed all our own.

    The vast suburban churches
    Together we have found:
    The ones which smelt of gaslight
    The ones in incense drown’d;
    I’ll use them now for praying in
    And not for looking round.

    No more the Hackney Empire
    Shall find us in its stalls
    When on the limelit crooner
    The thankful curtain falls,
    And soft electric lamplight
    Reveals the gilded walls.

    I will not go to Finsbury Park
    The putting course to see
    Nor cross the crowded High Road
    To Williamsons’ to tea,
    For these and all the other things
    Were part of you and me.

    I love you, oh my darling,
    And what I can’t make out
    Is why since you have left me
    I’m somehow still about.

    1. I know it is very bad form to upvote one’s own post. But this upvote is not for me – it is for John Betjeman!

  118. Good morning all. Sat up in bed again with another early mug of tea.

    A random letter and response:-

    SIR – Due to the effects of Storm Arwen we lost power to our house last Friday evening, and it was only restored on Monday morning. During those 60 hours we were also without mobile phone signal or landline (as our phone was recently upgraded to a digital line).

    Our only link to the outside world was a longwave radio. All this coincided with the coldest weather of the winter so far, with temperatures of -5C and snowfall on Sunday.

    Throughout the power outage we were able to keep warm with our wood burner, and fed thanks to our gas hob. Several neighbours have houses in which every appliance runs off electricity and they had a horrible time. One neighbour’s air-source heat pump was rendered useless by the lack of electricity.

    Had I owned an electric car I would have been confined to the house all weekend as I would not have been able to recharge it after using it on Friday.

    The Government may believe that the future lies in all-electric devices powered by renewables, but I will not be giving up my wood burner under any circumstances.

    Phil Mobbs
    Kendal, Cumbria

    Excellent letter by Mr. Mobbs. Once the Guv’ment has it’s way, future powercuts during bad weather will become deadly.
    Quick point on that, when did we adopt the term “Power Outage” to replace “Powercut”?

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