Tuesday 22 June: The Tories must stop the planning rot or risk losing traditional support

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/06/21/letters-tories-must-stop-planning-rot-risk-losing-traditional/

672 thoughts on “Tuesday 22 June: The Tories must stop the planning rot or risk losing traditional support”

  1. The Batley test. Spiked. 22 June 2021.

    Everything about the Batley Grammar controversy stinks. This scandal shines an unforgiving light on the illiberalism and cowardice that are unfortunately rife in establishment institutions. The teacher in question committed his supposed offence back in March. As part of a religious studies class he held up a cartoon of Muhammad. The reaction was furious. Muslim agitators gathered at the school gates for days. They demanded his sacking. The yellow-bellied school caved. It capitulated to the mob. The head issued an ‘unequivocal’ apology for the ‘totally inappropriate’ display of the Muhammad image and suspended the allegedly blasphemous teacher, and two others, no doubt causing many people to wonder since when Britain has been a Sharia-ruled country in which affronting Muhammad is some kind of cultural sin, a calumny for which you can be thrown out of your job.

    So, let’s hear it. Candidates, what is your position on this local issue that has become a national scandalWill you stand with freedom of speech and teachers’ rights, or with the woke / Islamist cults of offence-taking, censorship and putting undemocratic pressure on schools to change their curricula to suit the moralistic tastes of noisy mobs? This is the Batley test.

    Morning everyone. Surely Brendan must know? There will be no speaking out! They have closed their eyes to mass rape; to the crossings of the Channel, the bombs, the stabbings. What is the fate of one man in this tale of betrayal?

    The Elites have already surrendered. They are Cowards and Quislings without conscience. They simply await the official yoke of Islamic Rule! They will make good slaves.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/06/22/the-batley-test/

    1. 334636+ up ticks,
      Morning AS,
      Seemingly they are talking of tactical
      voting AKA more of the same, WE do NOT want change.

      IMO it is a test of strength in what is best for the nation / peoples between
      Anne Marie Water / islamic ideology.

    2. The two cancers of islam and woke are now well established and killing the host. Every day seems to bring a more whacky idea on how to destroy our heritage and society. It is thoroughly depressing.

    3. Do you remember Bill Deedes came up with what he called his ‘snob test’.

      Apparently at the wedding of David and Victoria Beckham there were solid silver champagne flutes. After the wedding it was discovered that over half of them had been taken ‘as souvenirs’ by the guests.

      The test:

      i) Are you surprised?
      ii) Would you expect the guests at the sort of social functions you attend to steal?

      Your answer to these questions will tell you whether or not you are a snob!

      1. Yes – considering the incomes of folk the Beckhams likely know and no, no bash I’d go to would have those.

        Last bank bash I was hauled on to I broke two champagne flutes due to essential tremor and terrific strength – let’s face it, the blasted things are mm wide so doesn’t take much.

        Being far more affable than most of the twonks who go to these things a chap brought me a nice half empty pint of orange juice.

    4. Do you remember Bill Deedes came up with what he called his ‘snob test’.

      Apparently at the wedding of David and Victoria Beckham there were solid silver champagne flutes. After the wedding it was discovered that over half of them had been taken ‘as souvenirs’ by the guests.

      The test:

      i) Are you surprised?
      ii) Would you expect the guests at the sort of social functions you attend to steal?

      Your answer to these questions will tell you whether or not you are a snob!

    1. 334636+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      How opportune seeing I believe, that gary is on day release.

    3. I remember reading years ago that if children wriggled around and scratched their botty parts, those actions were a sure sign of a worm infestation .

      Worms , round and threadworms used to be a common complaint in childhood , and still are probably.

      In fact children are similar to puppy dogs , they should be wormed routinely .

      (Also adults)

      1. 334636+ up ticks,
        Morning TB,
        In some cases it can been seen especially in-house politico’s
        that the worm was victorious and devoured the host.

      1. How many Nottlers could honestly swear under oath that when they were little children they never said to someone of the opposite sex: “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours”?

      2. Aptester? I thought that was a tech geek. Or are you or auto correct sponsored by the Test and Trace programme to give us a nudge into getting tested for Covid? Or is this woke Newspeak for aptly?

        PS To be really pedantic, I think there should be a hyphen there: aptly-named. Ooh, being morally superior and putting down others is such fun. No wonder youngsters love it. Don’t criticise my writing though; I’ll have a hissy fit and cancel you.

    2. We had a head boy and a gives head girl.

      When I was 16 I had no idea what that meant. Which is a shame.

    1. What we need is the other half, with the 2 pumps taking water from people’s paddling pools, one marked ‘BoE Ltd, Inflation’ and the other ‘Treasury Ltd, Higher Taxes’.

      The ‘Ltd’ is essential as the perpetrators will have limited liability, vanishing off into obscurity with their pensions and revenue-earning contact lists and leaving everyone else with eye-watering losses.

  7. Today is the 80th anniversary of the launch of Operation Barbarossa. Let us hope that Russia can save us again!

    1. And 07 July will be the anniversary of the earlier Marco Polo Bridge incident that led to the 2nd Sino-Japanese War, Japan’s invasion of China, US sanctions and punishments, The US’s being forced into WW2 on our side, Mao’s China and the CCP-run China agressively taking over the world today.

  8. Good Moaning.
    Whatever you do, don’t try to smuggle a packet of dead cow (aka corned beef) through Sydney airport. No, Sirree.
    However, if you really wish to protect native fauna in Oz, this seemed like a good idea.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/environment/2021/06/21/tasmanian-devils-wipe-penguins-australian-island-relocated-insurance/

    “Tasmanian devils relocated to Australian island wipe out entire penguin population

    Plan to move protected endangered species backfires

    21 June 2021 • 7:12pm

    The relocation of endangered Tasmanian devils to a remote Australian island to ensure their survival from a deadly contagious cancer has backfired after they wiped out the local population of penguins.

    Twenty-eight healthy Tasmanian devils were introduced in 2012-13 to Maria Island, which previously had no population of the animals, to act as “insurance” against the species dying out from the facial tumour disease that had spread on the mainland.

    Since then, numbers have risen to more than 100, but with tragic consequences for the local population of little penguins on the 44-square-mile island, which appear to have fallen victims to the devils’ voracious appetites.

    The penguins, which once numbered 3,000 breeding pairs, have now disappeared from the island, according to BirdLife Tasmania, a conservation group.

    Numbers of short-tailed shearwaters have also been “eliminated” since the introduction of the devils, according to a paper published in the journal Biological Conservation last year.

    “All of the colonies of penguins once nesting around the Maria Island foreshore are gone because of the devils,” Eric Woehler, a convener for BirdLife Tasmania, told The Australian newspaper.

    “Parks and wildlife rangers went out 18 months back and couldn’t find a single penguin breeding in any of the previously known penguin colonies on the island.

    “So, the devils have wiped out the penguins. It’s 100 per cent. The shearwaters have also been hammered.”

    He said there “seems to be a degree of reluctance to let people know what’s going on”.

    Loss of bird life ‘predictable’

    According to the 2020 study, “because of their larger size and ability to dig, devils had greater impacts on nesting shearwaters than either cats or possums”, which are native to the island and also predated on by the newcomers.

    Mr Woehler said the loss of the bird life on the island after it was turned into a refuge for the devils had been predictable.

    Indeed, a 2011 report from the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment had warned of the need to monitor local populations of little penguin and shearwater, although it said the introduction of devils was unlikely to lead to local extinctions.

    Meanwhile, a study last year suggested the Tasmanian devils were becoming resistant to the facial tumour disease, which is passed by biting and has caused their numbers to decline by 80 per cent since the 1990s.

    Mr Woehler told The Australian that in light of the apparent recovery of devil populations elsewhere, “the rationale for still having a population on an island where they’ve had catastrophic impacts on the native fauna is rather difficult to justify”.

    A spokesman for the Tasmanian government told The Australian it “continually monitors, evaluates and reviews the devil population”.

    “All effective conservation programs are adaptive and the STDP [Save the Tasmanian Devil Program] will continue to evolve in line with new knowledge in science and emerging priorities,” it added.

    “This also applies to Maria Island, where active monitoring and management occurs. Maria Island remains an important part of the broader devil program to help restore and maintain an enduring and resilient wild devil population in Tasmania.”

    1. Not forseeable at all! .
      What shit-for-brains thought that a good idea? Isn’t Oz full of the experience of moving animals around to bad effect? Rabbits, cane toads, for example? Dear God, yet another example that Grizz is right – the stupidity of people is endless.

    2. Man shouldn’t fiddle around with nature – nature is so unpredictable.
      Women…yes – but not man.

        1. There is deliberate ambiguity in my omment which adds to the confusing semantics.😉

      2. I’m confused. Aren’t we supposed to include Transgender, so that should be ‘Transgender fiddles around with nature’. Yet my wife says that if I say that then I’ll be lynched on social mejia, whatever that is, and could lose my professional status and prospects of getting another job, if I ever wanted one.

        1. One could say “Humans fiddle around with nature” but there are probably some who walk among us that identify as horses…

        2. One could say “Humans fiddle around with nature” but there are probably some who walk among us that identify as horses…

      1. Having seen photos of TD’s with the facial cancer, I can understand why they want to save them.
        But it takes a wildlife expert to be so stratospherically dim.
        3,000 flightless bird leading a dull, blameless life pottering around on a small island; let’s release the psychotic cross between a wolf and a fox and gee things up.

        1. As mentioned below, they should have learned a bit about unintended consequences concerning animal relocations.

    5. They’re carnivores, so once they’ve run out of Shearwaters and everything else they can eat they’ll starve to death.

      I can see all the scientists and animal rights zealots turning their backs and saying “nothing to do with my, guv” and mounting a campaign for taxpayers to fund feeding programmes for them.

    6. “native to the island and also predated on by the newcomers.”

      Is ‘to predate’ a verb made up by those who don’t know that a predator preys on its victim?

      Wiki words and, I daresay the OED, lists the meaning as “to exist or occur at a date earlier than (something)”

    7. One would think that the Aussies had learned their lessons with rabbits, camels and cane toads. Obviously not.

      If they were concerned about a disease ravishing the species it would have made more sense to freeze the eggs and or put breeding pairs in a controlled environment.

      1. We too could be criticised for importing too much of a particular human alien species which is determined to wipe out the indigenous population.

          1. We have many, Anne, and they should be used for the detention of illegals awaiting deportation. That’ll stop ’em doing a runner and it’s how Australia dealt with its boat-people.

      2. I never realised that Australia was over-run with camels, Phizzee. (Good morning, btw.)

        :-))

        1. Good morning, Elsie.

          Camels have become a serious problem in Oz. They will tear down fences to get at green pasture.

          1. Why don’t they learn from the natives (kangaroos) and just jump over the fences?

            :-))

        2. They were introduced as pack animals during the Victorian era to travel across the Outback. Then they were released and have bred like …. rabbits? They are now a serious problem.

      1. I’ve seen that expression on Spartie’s face when I’ve tried to trim his claws.

    9. Yet on the north shore of Tasmania is a little town called Penguin with little shelters built for the native Little Penguins and they seem to thrive, however, my daughter, hobby farming at Wynyard cannot keep chooks because the Devils slaughter them all.

      2. Even simpler and becoming more appropriate every day Johnson is in government would be to take out the red cross in the design.

      1. She’s overcompensating this year, but Emily Thornberry doesn’t drive a white van.

    4. Why are England supporters the only ones who need to put their country’s name on their flag? Is it to help them remember how to spell it? 🙂

    5. Why are England supporters the only ones who need to put their country’s name on their flag? Is it to help them remember how to spell it? 🙂

    1. Methinks mere removal is less than 5% of “justice done” in this case …. so much death and total disruption of the world …. Ovens in Hell should be reserved for those who’ve financed the “gain-of-function” research in Wuhan (Fauci, Collins, Zuckerberg) and those who’ve gladly taken part in the cover-up (Editor of Lancet; MSM personnel …. ) and we shouldn’t be reluctant to despatch many of these people early to the said Ovens ….

      1. Note: Only MAGA/Patriot bank accounts are “looked at” in 21st Century, USA.

  14. What a badly organised competition the Euro’s are, apparently lacklustre England has now qualified for the final stages after two boring games.
    What a waste of time and effort, a straight knockout would be much better.

    2. The 24-team format is the problem. With 4 of the 6 3rd-placed countries qualifying (to make a knockout round of 16), it’s almost too easy to get through although it does give the lesser countries a chance of progress.

      Just 8 from the 24 – the group winners and the two best runners-up – would make it more exciting, even brutal. Everyone would have to go at it from the start but smaller countries would be just making up the numbers.

      If England win their group they stay at Wembley; if they win the last 16 match they go to Rome. If they’re 2nd, it’s Copenhagen and then St. Petersburg. If they’re third, it’s not yet decided.

    3. The 24-team format is the problem. With 4 of the 6 3rd-placed countries qualifying (to make a knockout round of 16), it’s almost too easy to get through although it does give the lesser countries a chance of progress.

      Just 8 from the 24 – the group winners and the two best runners-up – would make it more exciting, even brutal. Everyone would have to go at it from the start but smaller countries would be just making up the numbers.

      If England win their group they stay at Wembley; if they win the last 16 match they go to Rome. If they’re 2nd, it’s Copenhagen and then St. Petersburg. If they’re third, it’s not yet decided.

    4. The 24-team format is the problem. With 4 of the 6 3rd-placed countries qualifying (to make a knockout round of 16), it’s almost too easy to get through although it does give the lesser countries a chance of progress.

      Just 8 from the 24 – the group winners and the two best runners-up – would make it more exciting, even brutal. Everyone would have to go at it from the start but smaller countries would be just making up the numbers.

      If England win their group they stay at Wembley; if they win the last 16 match they go to Rome. If they’re 2nd, it’s Copenhagen and then St. Petersburg. If they’re third, it’s not yet decided.

  15. What a badly organised competition the Euro’s are, apparently lacklustre England has now qualified for the final stages after two boring games.
    What a waste of time and effort, a straight knockout would be much better.

  16. Putin Plummets, Stalin Stays on Top in Russians’ Ranking of ‘Notable’ Historical Figures – Poll. 21 June 2021.

    Half as many Russians named President Vladimir Putin as the most notable figure in history than the last time they were asked four years ago, according to independent survey results published Monday.

    Soviet dictator Josef Stalin maintained his decade-long hold on the top spot at 39%, followed by his predecessor Vladimir Lenin at 30%. Poet Alexander Pushkin and tsar Peter the Great also ranked ahead of Putin at 23% and 19% each.

    Notable of course does not mean likeable or admirable. This said I’m pretty sure that I would not like to be ahead of Stalin in any poll!

    https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/06/21/putin-plummets-stalin-stays-on-top-in-russians-ranking-of-remarkable-historical-figures-poll-a74280

      2. Probably Levada…registered as a foreign entity.
        And its in The Moscow Times..also foreign-owned but no longer a newspaper.
        It is solely digital.

  17. Old Laurel Hubbard, went to the trophy cupboard
    To send a whatsapp on her phone,
    When she got there,
    The cupboard was bare,
    Because the Olympics were covid postponed.

  18. Morning all

    SIR – If recent events in our village are a guide, the Tories will have a real fight on their hands to keep the support they have nearly always enjoyed.

    Over two years ago, two locals, having been approached by a developer, applied for planning to build two very inappropriately large houses in their gardens. This was vociferously opposed by over 30 local residents, the entire nine-person planning committee of the parish council, the Horsham council planning department and West Sussex council highways authority.

    The decision was appealed and nine months later an inspector from central planning in Bristol arrived, took a look at the site for 30 minutes, and approved the plans.

    Our MP, who is close to Boris Johnson, now informs me that such “garden grabbing” won’t happen under the new definition of brownfield land in the proposed planning legislation, and that local authorities will be given powers to prevent it “where appropriate”. All a bit late for our village. We are not in quite the same political situation as Chesham and Amersham, but the protest could spread.

    ADVERTISING

    I could never vote for the wishy-washy Lib Dems, and the socialists have no chance, but I will absent myself from elections until this Government shows that levelling up will not in fact become levelling down.

    The writing is on the wall.

    David Neeson

    West Chiltington, West Sussex

    SIR – Following the Chesham and Amersham by-election, I am left wondering how we will ever build both the houses necessary to keep a lid on prices, and the major infrastructure needed to ensure Britain remains competitive in global markets.

    It seems a cohort of voters who have benefited handsomely from affordable houses and infrastructure built after the Second World War are intent on voting for whoever opposes similar development needed by following generations. A lot of these will be people who received free university education, gain from the pensions triple-lock promise, and currently enjoy defined benefit pensions.

    This country faces lots of problems, including long-term social care and climate change, and many of these are inter-generational. All raise questions, but I struggle to believe that voting Lib Dem will ever be the correct answer to any of them.

    Advertisement

    Ian Mackenzie

    Preston, Lancashire

    Placeholder image for youtube video: WQDGls3MrkA

    SIR – You ask how we can build houses without spoiling beauty spots. The answer is to force builders to incorporate beauty, or at least charm, into the homes they build.

    In our village, our deservedly well-regarded local builder has done just that in two recent developments. All the houses, including the affordable ones, delight the eye.

    Housing ministers would do well to visit and see that it can be done.

    Bob Russell

    Brighstone, Isle of Wight

    Pensions peril

    SIR – The Government is considering reducing the pensions lifetime allowance – the amount that people can save without incurring tax – from a little above £1 million to £800,000 or £900,000.

    It should be careful about this. Many senior hospital doctors are close to or above the current cap. After giving their all during the Covid crisis, then being offered a meagre pay rise as thanks, many are considering reducing their NHS hours or retiring early. This will only make the backlog of cases worse.

    John Whitehead

    Stanghow, North Yorkshire

    Advertisement

    Low-traffic pollution

    SIR – I try to visit my grandchildren in south-east London each week. This involves a car journey of about 40 miles that, pre-pandemic, took about one hour and 40 minutes.

    However, since the introduction of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), the last mile now takes 20 to 40 minutes, during which I am stuck in mostly motionless traffic.

    LTNs are not a solution but another problem. Forcing traffic on to already overloaded trunk routes is causing additional pollution, not reducing it. I can easily quantify the extra noxious fumes generated per journey by my increased fuel consumption.

    Alan Greer

    Maidenhead, Berkshire

    Dog days

    SIR – Mike Gilbert (Letters, June 18) wonders how dogs spend their time.

    I would refer him to the wonderful book A Dog Day by Walter Emanuel (1902), exquisitely illustrated by Cecil Aldin.

    Although written in a different time, much of it still resonates with me as I observe my Patterdale terrier, particularly the entry for 10 to 10.15: “Wagged tail.”

    Wendy Farrington

    Ivinghoe, Buckinghamshire

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    SIR – Since arriving here from Romania, Miss Betsy has had a very full timetable.

    Roles willingly undertaken include: vacuum cleaner, pest controller, personal trainer (she ensures we both do at least 15,000 steps every day), mental health counsellor, bouncer (in the event of unwanted callers) and in-house entertainer.

    I’d say she earns her keep.

    Pat Stone

    Ingatestone, Essex

    Bomber Harris tribute

    SIR – English Heritage’s online entry for Sir Arthur Harris’s statue, which is under our care, pays generous tribute to an outstanding war leader. It does indeed refer to the area bombing campaign, pointing out that this was initiated by the War Cabinet, not by Harris himself. It was controversial at the time, even among Sir Arthur’s fellow officers, and remains so today.

    It is right that the issue should be discussed. I urge everyone to go online and read the research for themselves.

    Sir Tim Laurence

    Chairman, English Heritage

    London EC2

    SIR – English Heritage says that some people think Sir Arthur Harris’s “bombing of German cities, with large numbers of civilian casualties, was a war crime”. I doubt that few, if any, of such fashionable-thinking folk lived in London as I did in the 1940s, to watch the angry orange and red flames rearing high, night after night, into the sky over the East End as docks, warehouses and homes burned.

    Advertisement

    Thank heavens someone was sufficiently “unequivocal, blunt and uncompromising”, as English Heritage calls Bomber Harris. And above all, thank the bomber crews whose sustained courage enabled us to strike back in the only way then available.

    Nigel Stocks

    Harpenden, Hertfordshire

    Covid escape fee

    SIR – I have returned from France and booked and paid for the Covid PCR tests on days two and eight. If I paid another £90 I could be released from quarantine on day five, if that test was negative. However, if I don’t take that and use the eight-day test I must wait another two days, even if that test is negative, before being released from the 10-day quarantine.

    Is there some mysterious algorithm responsible for this calculation?

    Geoff Smith

    Lymm, Cheshire

    SIR – It was demoralising to read the letter from Sue Hardy (June 17). Both her children, in their 20s, are at such low risk from the Covid-19 virus that they cannot have the AstraZeneca vaccine because it presents a very small risk of blood clots.

    Advertisement

    I do not blame members of the public who still have fears. It’s the Government and its advisers, who have cynically misled the British people with their presentation of the data, who must carry responsibility for this irrational fear.

    Dr David Walters

    Burton Bradstock, Dorset

    Placeholder image for youtube video: lpYpuhEyP1k

    Inflexible rail tickets

    SIR – The new flexible rail ticket is not very flexible.

    A book of eight return tickets from Welwyn Garden City to London is £140.40 (valid for 28 days). This replaces the flexible carnet ticket that Great Northern has provided for years, where a book of 10 peak outward, and 10 off-peak returns costs £148 (valid for 90 days).

    James Dunmore

    Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire

    Sitting ducks

    SIR – Two weeks ago I bought a bench for my husband’s birthday.

    We placed it under a shady tree in the garden. I wonder if anyone has warned the Duchess of Sussex (report, June 21) about the risk from birds.

    We’ve since moved the bench.

    Sue Mitchell

    Peterborough

    A ban on halogen bulbs isn’t such a bright idea

    ‘Every race uses the Z half-watt bulb’: an advertising poster from Valencia, 1930

    ‘Every race uses the Z half-watt bulb’: an advertising poster from Valencia, 1930 CREDIT: bridgeman

    SIR – The banning of halogen light bulbs is another case of politicians entering a field they don’t understand.

    Advertisement

    In 2007, Tony Blair and other EU heads decided to ban incandescent bulbs. In the laboratory, only about 15 per cent of the energy input to an incandescent light bulb ends up as light; the rest ends up as heat, and makes them theoretically inefficient. In practice, however, we use lights overwhelmingly between October and March. Not surprisingly, that’s when we use our house heating. Thus the heat from incandescent bulbs is not wasted, but helps to heat the house.

    Raymond Marsh

    Winchester, Hampshire

    SIR – If the Government bans halogen light bulbs, it must ensure equivalent LED bulbs are available.

    I have a small table lamp that can be dimmed but I discovered that non-dimmable bulbs do not function properly without flickering. It is hard to find a dimmable LED bulb.

    Chris Yates

    Peasedown St John, Somerset

    SIR – When we had our kitchen refurbished in 2009, we had six 50-watt spotlights installed. I soon discovered that not only were they using a lot of electricity, but they also overheated the holders. As soon as I discovered LED spotlights I replaced the bulbs and changed the power supplies. The electricity savings have paid for them many times over. I have also replaced all incandescent bulbs with LED equivalents and I replace compact fluorescents with LEDs when they fail.

    The only drawback is that they are made in China.

    Roger Jackson

    Stockport, Cheshiir

    1. A repeat of a BTL Comment made in the small hours with a couple of responses:-

      Robert Spowart
      22 Jun 2021 4:27AM
      The Government’s raid on Pensions, referred to by John Whitehead, and the comments about the unfolding planning disaster are reminders, if ever they were actually needed, that we do not have a Conservative Government, but Government by a Blairite “New Labor Lite” clique that has usurped control of the Party.

      Delete23LikeReply

      Terence Courtnadge
      22 Jun 2021 5:51AM
      @Robert Spowart

      “New Labour Lite” or Blue Labour ; far too late now, it started when the Party enthusiastically elected Blair clone Cameron as their leader in December 2005.

      Flag17LikeReply

      Robert Spowart
      22 Jun 2021 8:06AM
      @Terence Courtnadge @Robert Spowart Exactly. Had the Party but known it at the time.

      1. Let the Yanks keep their idiotic ‘Lite’. I shall stick — quite properly and sensibly — with Light.

        1. I use the term “Lite” as a means of implying the alien aspect of the current leadership of the party.

        2. Morning, Grizz.
          Ah, the beauty of language – and the ability to be precise.
          I like the distinction between something positive that is associated with light – lack of weight, delicate, bright, sunny, and lite – artificially sweet, nasty, manufactured, political.
          Same with fries – moulded potato sticks that soak up fat and become greasy and nasty when cold; have to be heavily salted to have flavour of anything other than cardboard, and chips – deep fried pieces of potato often cut with a knife, and having the flavour of potato. Delicious hot or cold). Fries come from McDonalds, and the best chips I had were fried in Perth WA, cut by hand by the chef whilst you watched.

      2. Yep. Didn’t want that, didn’t vote for it. Should have known better.

        No mention of green fanaticism in the manifesto, but that’s a pack of lies anyway.

    2. I inherited my grandmother’s Glowbaby, a bedwarmer which is a metal frame with a 60 watt light bulb wired inside. It is brilliant.

      I also use a 60 watt light inside my washing machine outside in the shed (no room for it indoors until the planners let me build my extension and I can find an honest tradesman with it) ,which I turn on whenever it is frosty to protect the washing machine.

      Both rely on incandescent technology to generate a modest amount of heat. The light is not important. Fortunately I managed to buy a couple of heavy duty bulbs before they were banned.

      1. My father used to give these as wedding presents saying that it was not meant to cast any aspersions on the bridegroom.

      3. If you added a thermostat as well you could have the light turn on whenever the temp dropped to a certain level.

    3. ” we use lights overwhelmingly between October and March. Not surprisingly, that’s when we use our house heating. Thus the heat from incandescent bulbs is not wasted, but helps to heat the house.” – a point I have been making for years.

    4. Without the sacrifice of soldiers we would not be a free nation now.

      Perhaps with the sacrifice of MPs we would remain a free nation. One a day would be a start.

  19. And a 2nd Good Morning to all. Bright & sunny up here with 6° in the yard.

  20. 334636+ up ticks,
    In the main it is thanks to the electorate & their continuous support of the odious, treacherous, political three ring circus lab/lib/con that children now run the
    gauntlet of fear twixt womb & teen.

    Being set up for mental issues, open to paedophilia on a
    grand scale, knife attacks etc,etc, with the electorate,
    inclusive of parents calling for more of the same via the polling booth.

    Dt,
    Live Coronavirus latest news: Five-year-olds having panic attacks about socialising, say NHS leaders

      1. 334636+ up ticks,
        Morning Bob,
        What I do consider worse is that “our leaders” are given support time & again, and again.

        1. Good morning, ogga

          When are you going to launch the Ogga Party for which we can vote instead of the Con/Lab/Lib-Den fraudsters?

          1. 334636+ up ticks,
            Morning R,
            Maybe a good thing maybe a bad thing but I believe there are many out there with an Ogga mentality in their briefcases / toolkits, if they only chose to consider what the consequences of their vote in the past has been before casting one for the future.

  23. E-scooter rider, 55, in critical condition with head injury after crashing without helmet

    Injured man was part of a large group of people who had been riding the vehicles in Newcastle city centre on Saturday night

    Callous, I know, but these people think themselves invicible and my sympathy level is low

    How many pedestrians have been injured by .mis-use. of these machines

    The bigger problem of course, is when the riders are helmeted, they will become a bigger danger

    Theses machines must be taxed and insured

    1. There are several BTL comments on the letters page about that:-

      Fils de Clouseau
      22 Jun 2021 6:13AM
      ‘E-scooter rider, 55, in critical condition with head injury after crashing without helmet

      Injured man was part of a large group of people who had been riding the vehicles hired from Neuron in Newcastle city centre on Saturday night.’

      “At Neuron, rider safety is paramount. Our e-scooters are fitted with a range of safety features, including the world’s first app-controlled Helmet Lock which secures a safety helmet to every e-scooter.

      Whilst wearing a helmet is not compulsory in the UK, it is the single most important piece of safety equipment, and we strongly encourage all of our riders to wear one.”

      In my early 20s, I had a 250 TM dirt bike. An extremely keen sense of balance and rapid reaction was essential in ensuring that one didn’t end up in the dirt. I can only imagine the sense of balance needed to ride something with wheels the size of those fitted to my wheelbarrow.

      One would have thought that a 55 year-old would have had more sense, and put away foolish ideas long ago !

      Mind you, back in the day, a Newcastle Saturday night ‘gannin’ doon the toon’ was a pretty wild affair.

      Are smartphones and apps replacing basic common sense ?
      Flag18Like
      Reply

      W Stevens 22 Jun 2021 6:28AM
      @Fils de Clouseau

      >>common sense

      Severely rationed these days – youngsters are invincible.
      55 year olds with a few pints of Newcastle Brown are also invincible, well in their minds they are.

      Flag17LikeReply

      Roger Galoubet 22 Jun 2021 6:46AM
      @Fils de Clouseau

      Morning Fils. Your wheelbarrow must indeed have tiny wheels. Not much good for the job I should think. Now my scooter when I was very young boy had quite large wheels, but solid tyres.

      Flag5LikeReply

      Fils de Clouseau
      22 Jun 2021 7:14AM
      @Roger Galoubet @Fils de Clouseau

      Morning Roger.

      It’s bucketing here, so I’m not inclined to go outside to check the diameter … but you may well be right.

      Flag1LikeReply

      Peter P Whitehouse 22 Jun 2021 7:16AM
      @Fils de Clouseau
      Good morning Fils – these devices will leave a trail of destruction in their paths.

      Flag7Like Reply

      Fils de Clouseau 22 Jun 2021 7:24AM
      @Peter P Whitehouse @Fils de Clouseau

      Morning Peter.

      ‘Darwinism’ in Technicolour.
      Flag7LikeReply

      Graeme Harrison
      22 Jun 2021 7:42AM
      I’m not sure how being knocked off your feet by someone on one of these damn things counts as Darwinism.

      Flag1LikeReply

      Fils de Clouseau
      22 Jun 2021 8:04AM
      @Graeme Harrison

      I was, of course, referring to those mounted upon their electric steeds.

      As with jousting, a sharp extension of one’s arm should unseat those who blatantly disregard the safety of others.

      FlagLikeReply

      Maisie Surrey
      22 Jun 2021 7:30AM
      @FilsdeClouseau

      Well on the bright side at least it was the rider and not some poor innocent pedestrian that was killed by the scooter!

      Flag12LikeReply

      Michael Cox
      22 Jun 2021 8:22AM
      @Fils de Clouseau

      Shared safety helmets?
      Oooerr…better call the nit nurse!

      Flag2Like
      Reply

      1. “One would have thought that a 55 year-old would have had more sense, and put away foolish ideas long ago !”
        Oh dear. I took up rollerblading when I was 68! Did ‘Go Ape’ in the tree tops when I was 73. I will be 85 next month and make no concession to that number. It helps that I am fit and healthy.

  24. Why were my colleagues murdered? 22 June 2021.

    On the evening of 8 June, 110 deminers were sleeping in a camp set up in a disused compound in Baghlan province. At 9.50 p.m. local time, a group of masked men broke into the camp, demanding my staff identify anyone from ethnic and religious minorities. Our deminers refused, standing in solidarity with their colleagues. The gunmen started shooting indiscriminately, murdering ten men in their beds and fatally wounding another, who later died in hospital.

    Early reports blamed the Taliban. They were wrong: a local group who sometimes align with the Taliban chased the gunmen off and prevented greater loss of life. An offshoot of Isis later claimed responsibility, though the picture remains murky. One thing remains clear: Afghanistan is in the midst of another bloody chapter in its history.

    An interesting insiders account of an incident that was attributed to the Taliban. I suffered similar doubts about an attack on a girls school in Kabul. What could possibly be the purpose of it? The answer of course lies with those opposed to their coming rule. To engage western sympathy and hobble their aspirations before they take office. This is just a reminder to take nothing at face value in the Middle East!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-were-my-colleagues-murdered-

      2. Years ago, Julie Burchill pointed out that, while Russian occupation wasn’t great for AfGaff, it was the one time that women in that area had a chance of some freedom.

    2. For the gun men to make demands to know of religious identity it is clear that they are Muslim. Most likely of Paki bastard origins.

    3. False flag operations are common. It should be the first question: qui bono?

          2. Latin is a language
            As dead as dead can be;
            It killed the Ancient Romans
            And now it’s killing me.

  25. 334636+ up ticks,

    Tuesday 22 June: The Tories must stop the planning rot or risk losing traditional support

    The situation is getting very confusing, WHAT tories ?

    As for the inhouse tory (ino) mob there would be more
    satisfaction to be had in discussion with an imam over a halal breakfast in the parliamentary canteen.

    There are NONE that have the power or authority

  26. A bleak new era of Covid socialism threatens to end in carnage for the Tories
    If the Government props up its excessive spending with ‘levelling down’ tax raids, it will be game over

    Sherelle Jacobs
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/06/21/bleak-new-era-covid-socialism-threatens-end-carnage-tories/

    BTL
    Much as I loathe and despise the Conservatives and think that Boris Johnson has that fatal combination of arrogance, timidity, bravado, bombast and incompetence the alternatives offered by Labour and the monstrously misnamed Liberal Democrats provide no more hope of escape from the nightmare.

  27. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eeabb9108565456e9e67e59a9a72977cc888584115dd33d4e2b4869808e9b076.png Lewis Hamilton has called for the statues with any link to racism in Britain to be pulled down — from the luxury of his Monaco mansion.

    What this odious tax-dodger won’t tell you is that the company that pays his multi-million pound annual salary made a fortune from Jewish slave labour during World War 2 — just 75 years ago.

    And many of those Jewish slaves were later sent to concentration camps — where they met their deaths in horrific circumstances.

    Hugo Boss made the Nazi uniforms, Volkswagen & Audi both used Jewish slave labour and produced military vehicles during the war. If you want to jetwash Western history, don’t forget about the individuals and corporations that pay your bloated salary — otherwise you look like a whiny, over-privileged hypocrite.

    1. What does he vave to say to Extinction Rebellion about his carbon footprint? (Seems to me the XR and BLM Venn diagrams overlap almost to the point of eclipse)

    4. Good morning, Grizzly

      Your point is extremely pertinent.

      But will anyone in either politics or the MSM have the integrity, nous or courage to put it to him face to face in public so that he cannot evade the issue?

      I fear that people like Lewis Hamilton and Boris Johnson are expert at avoiding scrutiny. And how on earth did Johnson manage to conceal the sheer hopelessness of his WA and avoid a live interview with Andrew Neil before the election? And how did he pull the wool over so many people’s eyes about just how disastrous his EU “trade deal” is?

        1. Yo anne

          I disagree

          5H1T is essential to our lives. Wihout it , well the abilityto do, it, we would die

          Hamilton belongs to the WOKE class,

          What he does, says etc is OK, the rest of can bow to his greta! knowledge etc

          Prime candidate for not crossing road to…………….

      1. I know you disapprove of procreation but I am sure you must have been a very good uncle

        Did you inspire love, fear, and respect?

  29. I am almost impressed by the sheer Machiavellian nastiness of Nicola Sturgeon in her demented lust to wound England in any way she can.

    Realising that the likelihood of Scotland going any further in the football competition was remote she concentrated on demolishing England’s chances. And how better to do that than by seeing to it that a Scottish footballer was infected with Covid and would embrace a few key English players in their match thereby making sure that these English players would have to go into isolation. With key players unavailable the chances of England doing well would be very greatly reduced.

    I think many people are deceived into thinking that Ms Sturgeon wants Scotland to do well. The truth of the matter is she doesn’t give a toss about Scotland or the Scottish people – it is far more important to her to damage England in any way she can.

    (Is this a joke? Maybe it is – but maybe it isn’t!)

    1. I’m loving the playground spat with Andy (Eyeliner) Burnham.
      Edinburgh v. Manchester. Sit back and enjoy.

      1. Andy Burnham has an air of innocent unworldliness about him , and he has quite a nice warm voice .

        I have no idea what he is like as a Mayor , but I wonder how he compares to Khan ?

    2. Please, can we have the whole team quarantined so that they drop out of the tournament? The psychological damage the current team is doing to England supporters is better stopped sooner than later.

    3. Don’t know but if she don’t improve her attitude then I’ll support the reintroduction of the Dress Act 1746 which banned the wearing of the kilt and trews leading to the loss of many tartans. Such is the spite of enemies.

  30. Mispronunciation

    When Charles de Gaulle decided to retire from public life, the British ambassador and his wife threw a gala dinner party in his honour. At the dinner table the Ambassador’s wife was talking with Madame de Gaulle.

    “Your husband has been such a prominent public figure, such a presence on the French and International scene for so many years! How quiet retirement will seem in comparison. What are you most looking forward to in these retirement years?”

    “A penis,” replied Madame de Gaulle.

    A huge hush fell over the table. Everyone heard her answer… and no one knew what to say next.

    Le Grand Charles leaned over to his wife and said, “Ma Cherie, I believe ze English pronounce zat word, ‘appiness!'”

  31. Johnson should be careful over planning regulations.

    Our town centre had a lovely 1920s Art Deco cinema that had become a nightclub then lain idle for years. A developer bought it and got planning permission for a small block of flats with shops below provided the original facade was maintained. After knocking down the building and using a frame to maintain the facade, the site was repeatedly sold to different development companies, each of which allowed the facade to deteriorate. Eventually the rigmarole stopped when one of the companies appealed the original decision and got revised planning permission for a block twice the size with neither shops nor facade. Whether the permission was forced on the council or not is unclear, as is whether their accepting increased contributions was a bribe, but either way a monstrosity was forced on us. That permission was then used as a lever to get permission for a similar monstrosity next door on the site of a scout hut and meeting hall. These blocks are completely out of character and have made parking and road congestion even worse.

    At every council and borough election in the ward since then the previously-dominant Conservatives have lost to the Greens. Even I, a long-term Conservative voter, vote for them as they are honest and hard-working councillors who are a check on the Conservative-led councils worse excesses. The Conservative vote has been declining for years and my Green county council candidate got more than twice as many votes as all the other candidates combined.

    1. Homes with out any character are being thrown up all over our treasured rural Dorset .

      Homes built by huge companies , room sizes are pathetic , and back gardens non existent . Builders say that modern homes are for people to lay their heads , and eat , before they clear off to their gyms , places of work, week end breaks and holidays elswhere . They are red brick rabbit hutches , with no gardens , and nowhere for families to have a ball game in the garden or even a vegetable patch .

      The Poundbury settlement outside Dorchester is even more appalling than when it started out a couple of decades ago .

      If you squint your eyes, the whole lot looks like Highgate cemetery .. it stretches into the horizon… the brain addled Prince of Wales is over crowding his Duchy land , where once partridges and hares , and plover frequented the fields ..

      The view from the old Iron Age hillfort Maiden Castle looks across to Poundbury .. it looks ghastly, full of white flight retirees from the Home counties , and hosts the most pretentious shops that one would only view in the fashionable areas people have now deserted. BBC prop land!

      1. Developers are half-way through a 100-house ‘executive’ development next to us. The gardens are tiny, particularly in those houses with a patio on top of the garage. They are all family homes, minimum price £575,000 for a 3-bed, but there is no children’s play area on the site as there is in nearby 20th century developments. Perhaps adults don’t do gardening and kids don’t do running around outside as previous generations did.

        As for aesthetics, the houses are graded. Those nearest us that we see daily are modelled on the adjacent 19th century large house but then graduate to the farthest away modern ones, clad completely in a slate grey cladding that we find hideous. Alas, for us those hideous grey panels are an eyesore poking up through the trees in the distance on our regular green belt walks. I know tastes change – remember the 1970s? – and the grey may fade with time, but everyone I talk to thinks these are a step too far.

        We objected to the development, mainly on NiMBY grounds, as did hundreds of others in record numbers for this council planning department. However, the council was under pressure from central government and approved the build. I’m sure that this is a significant factor in the area’s voters’ voting for Green councillors ever since planning permission was granted.

        1. The other thing about the house build business is that builders go to appeal if plans are turned down and appeals cost the county money .

          I reckon there is an absolute turd up in Bristol who hates the UK , and grants permission to every appeal recieved .

    2. Farming next for development.
      Britain to accept flood of Australian beef in landmark trade deal…..wot happens when they suffer a serious drought?

      1. Just recently they have been sending thousands of Tonnes of hay and animal feed thousands of miles by road train from other states to feed the cattle in QLD this was happening only last year during the droughts.
        I think we have enough beef in our own country this is just another massive government cock up.

        1. All foodstuffs should be labelled with country of origin – then if people choose to buy Aussie beef, NZ lamb or British meat, they can. Nobody is forced to buy stuff from abroad, though our winter fruit and veg diet would be very dull if we only bought British at that time of year.

          Morrisons is actually very good with country of origin labels. It’s not difficult. All halal meat should be labelled as well, so that we can avoid it.

          1. I suspect after the meat has been frozen and traveled half way around the world they’ll use the beef for burgers.

      2. A drought in Australia is the least of our concerns over the deal. This deal will be the death knell for British beef raising and dairy farming. Recently the government put out a paper re British farmers retiring early and that should have been a warning of what this government is up to. Import beef and close off home production; place tax on red meat to make it less affordable all in the name of Climate Change i.e. fewer cattle = less methane (horrid greenhouse gas). Ergo, Johnson reduces/eradicates one source of greenhouse gas in his mad rush to Net Zero. Where red meat disappears to dairy products will follow.

        Where then to get our protein and important minerals? Well, for protein there’s soya beans but producing sufficient of those will probably entail more deforestation; then there’s meal worms – recently cleared by the EU to be fit for human consumption – and then there are rumours that certain billionaires are looking at insect protein for the masses. The vitamins and minerals will of course be manufactured by the pharmaceutical companies.

        I’m guilty of reading too many articles etc. It’s a bad habit than can turn a relatively sane man into a conspiracy theorist.😎

        1. Japanese PoWs in Changi, Singapore used to scrape cockroaches off the latrines and eat them raw for the protein. Needs must but if meal worms are a good substitute for red meat, why haven’t we been eating them for years?

    3. The councils have become as unsympathetic towards the people who subsidise them as our government has.
      If they can make a lot of money out of allowing any form of planning applications they are doing so all over the country.
      Corporate greed leads the way in every development we see.
      Not far from where we live two well established well used golf course have been put up for grabs for developers, the course owners are selling them off as ‘brownfield’ sites. When obviously these areas were and still are very valuable carbon neutral green belt areas. With thousands of trees and shrubs. How can this be allowed ? Corporate (and council coffers) greed are king.

    4. The cinema that Elsie used to manage is in the same state; I think it’s now been empty for 20 years.

  32. My daughter got her degree results this morning.

    She’s been awarded a first with honours in pharmacology.

    1. Many congratulations to her.
      I hope she finds worthwhile and satisfying employment.

      1. Me too.

        She’s still hopeful of finding a PhD place.

        I suspect she’ll end up in some dead end job for minimum wage along with shedloads of other science grads.

        I wanted her to do engineering as I believed that had the best employment prospects but it wasn’t to be she is very interested in biochemistry, pharmacology and genetics.

        1. Congratulations to your daughter, my Son-in-Law is a Pharmacist and although employed at the moment he is becoming increasingly concerned for the future with the automation being implemented , central warehouses with automatic picking etc, He’s saved the skins of several GPs over the years by questioning the dosage/interactions of prescriptions, I can’t see a robotic arm having that facility, his sister however works at Porton Down and I rather think she’s going to be busy for a few years to come.

          1. In the early 60’s, Porton Down were regularly requesting Matelots to volunteer to go there for the testing of “flu/common cold” cures!!

          2. An automatic system, suitably designed and updated, should be far better at spotting and querying doses and interactions than any human. The pharmacists at my local Boots are run off their feet just churning out prescriptions and IMO don’t have the capacity to supervise GPs’ decisions beyond talking to the patient in front of them.

        2. To give her a’ headsart’ in life, persuade her to be a Nottler and get to see life from a

          Grumpy
          Jaundiced
          Disrespectful
          Obtuse
          irreverent
          Altruistic
          Mature
          Questioning
          Unbiased
          Experienced*

          but realistic point of view

          *other adjectives may be added

        3. Be careful what you wish for. Engineering is not as well-regarded and lucrative as in other countries. In my Oxbridge college engineering cohort, 14 of 18 left with jobs in the accounting and tax sectors. I was one of only 4 with engineering jobs, and I later changed career into finance/insurance. One of my sons got an Oxbridge first in Physics and went straight into a job in tax consultancy.

          1. Solution: Go and work abroad. Increases the horizons, challenges the preconceptions, often sunnier. Haven’t regretted it for a moment. Oh, yes, and better paid. What’s not to like?

          2. For me the only thing that ever put me off was the language barrier. I was never any real good at other languages.

          3. As are just about all indigenous brits. We really are lazy and blinkered. I worked abroad in an English-speaking environment where my local contacts preferred their English to my good but not fluent local language skills that I learnt as preparation. Outside work my fellow brits socialised in English and rarely went beyond learning the minimum to get by.

          4. People like Duncan and Ped really do have my respect. Duncan speaks Latin like he lived in the Roman Empire at its height. Ped knows a lot of languages and seems very good in all of them. I’m just nothing like them. All of my talents lie in the sciences and technology sectors. I’m not great with my hands and never reached anything like fluency in even French which I studied for a good ten years lol.

          6. Can be difficult. Immersion helps, and that sense of triumph when you can read a novel in the language (even slowly), and in my case, when I heard myself automatically putting a plural adjective against a plural noun without having to think of it!

          7. Very true, Paul, immersion helps and it’s how I learnt German in the 60s. Very few Germans spoke English at that time and I was not eligible for married quarters so in order to get my wife and daughter out with me, I had to find a wohnung (flat) and that was the first word I learnt – the rest followed as dictated by need. I had similar during a couple of years working in La Defense, Paris. My schoolboy french advanced by leaps and bounds. Despite being married to a Swede for 13 years, my Swedish is very basic.

            I still thank God I was brought up to speak English correctly and taught Latin by my father and at school.

            German is a good language to bollock people and French is a good language for making love but if you want to get something across and understood clearly and precisely, you cannot beat English.

          8. SWMBO was told, repeatedly, at school that she would never be any good at languages.
            After nearly 25 years in Norway, in an international company, she can keep her end up in meetings in English, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Dutch, plus get by with German. Enough Italian to ask the way to the station… not bad for someone written off as a dumbass.

          9. Bluddy good for her. I’m by no means fluent but I can certainly get by in most of the languages I’ve identified.

        4. Christo, Henry’s older brother, studied Aerospace Engineering at university and got a 2.1. He has been in very well paid employment ever since.

          We were a bit worried about Henry when he decided to study Philosophy and Politics because he had started at UEA doing a course in Law with French and abandoned it even though he was getting very good marks. However he has never had any trouble finding jobs and has a splendid girlfriend with whom we get on very well.

        5. Most of my career I hated the work; she should follow her heart as far as employment is concerned.

    2. Congratulations to your daughter and you and your family. You must be as proud as a peacock with ten tails. And deservedly.

      1. You know I am, especially as I never bothered with uni as I was earning good money almost right out of school.

      1. Hahaha. She’s drinks lol. She doesn’t like beer or wine but loves most spirits and cocktails.

        She doesn’t smoke, and she hasn’t followed in her parents footsteps and become a Chemical Brother.

    4. Oh – well done her! It doesn’t seem long since you were worried about her A levels.

      1. She didn’t get the results she deserved. Gove screwed up the curriculum, the school taught her the wrong curriculum then didn’t accept any responsibility when only something like 2 from 23 scraped a pass in the maths A level. She went to college and did far better but she’s always been an exam underperformer which is silly when her IQ is very high, she has the good memory of youth and a strong dedication to learning. She didn’t have high enough grades for Huddersfield, but they accepted her via clearing and she’s been top of her year group three years running. In fact she won the student of the year award in her first year there.

        1. Brilliant – just shows that the right kind of teaching will enable a bright student to get on.

          1. The university style of learning where you are more guided and self-taught rather than taught robotically like in school really suited her. College was a step in that direction and she blossomed there and actually took to university like a duck to water.

    5. Excellent! Good on her! Lots of hard work pays off – so many congratulations!

      1. Thanks Paul.

        Yes she does deserve her first. She’s always prioritised education. She’s very much a planner and very dedicated.

    6. Brilliant news and I hope her University experience was fulfilling and rewarding in other ways .

      Where did she study .. and is she terribly in debt now..?

      1. She went to Huddersfield university.

        Yes she had a whale of a time but didn’t put any effort into ‘coupling up’. She had a few dates but they all turned out to be ‘dicks’. She was always focused on her education believing that wasn’t the right time to get involved with anyone.

        She’s probably about 80-90k in debt. It’s a joke but she took it on willingly knowing the deal.

        1. Clever girl , so she really was there to work hard . I hear about so many using the word Uni as an extension to their social merit , and parents twittering on about Uni as a means of freeing up the spare bedroom .. similar to child care.

          In these months of Covid , earning a good degree in one of the sciences must have been very challenging .

          It was heart warming to read your proud announcement , and so amazing to realise how time has flown by . I remember when you first mentioned your daughter , a few years ago .

          Well done to you for your nurture v nature .

    8. Congratulations. Very well done! I don’t know how you feel or how well you did academically yourself but I am always delighted when my children do far better than I ever did!

      I hope your daughter was able to enjoy her time at university. It must have been very difficult during lockdowns.

      Our son, Henry, is going to get the results of his M.Sc in computer technology from York University very soon so our fingers are crossed for him.

      He studied on a 2 year Masters’ course externally while holding down a well-paid job and while his girlfriend is studying for her Ph.D. at Lancaster University and being paid to do so.

      He got a 2.1 in Politics and Philosophy at UEA and met Jessica in his first week there when he was only 17.

      1. 13 O levels, 3 A levels, 1 S level then entered work. I did the three sciences. Got A,1, A, A.

        I should have gone to uni but decided on a gap year during which my salary skyrocketed. Life was too good to give it up. When it wasn’t I’d had my daughter and then I couldn’t. funding for mature students sucks if you have a family.

        I am over the moon for Amy. She works hard, she deserves that result.

    10. Good for her, Thayaric! You must de delighted! Where did she study? My sister did hers at Heriot Watt!

      1. Thanks Sue. Yes i am over the moon for her. She studied at Huddersfield Uni. We visited a few times, it’s a really good university and deservedly has a great reputation these days. She spent two years in halls, then the last year in a rented house with her mates who happened to be the crowd she was in halls with. The halls are well situated in town, or a larger complex out of town which isn’t such a good place but there is a bus service. Amy was in town, it was perfect for her. There’s a thriving nightlife or at least there was pre-pandemic and student discounts abound. My partner and I both loved the place, I like Yorkshire and the Peak District.

        1. I’m really pleased for you all! It’s such an achievement and will set her up for life. So much can stem from that degree. My sister went into industry before she and her husband moved to Greece (he is from Athens) and although she had the degree, the language and experience, her technical Greek wasn’t good enough to work! So she taught English as private lessons! My nephews reckon she has no language at all now, and I agree! Quite hilarious as she stumbles around looking for a word! Her 3 year old granddaughter helps her a lot, and says “Oh yaya!”

      1. You can dig yer own in the back garden isn’t it.

        But i get the point back in the 80s not a good idea.

        1. I remember the Welsh nationalists blowing up pipelines to stop England using our water.

          Monty Python.
          “Bl**dy English coming here and nicking our water. We’ll show them. Blow up the dam! Doh!”

          1. Back in the early 70s I was asked by an architect who I did a lot of work for in London, if i wanted to go and refurb his new country holiday home in Wales. Not a good idea i thought.

  34. Good morning all.

    From the DT obit of John Patterson, Alabama politico when against civil rights…

    “We cannot stand idly by and raise no hand to stay these forces of
    confusion who are trying to capitalise upon racial factors for private
    gain or advancement,” he declared.

    Even truer today but for whom?

  35. Navy’s £3bn warship playing cat and mouse with Russia. 22 June 2021.

    As the new carrier prepares to join the first ever combat effort against Islamic State, Russian surveillance is keeping the crew alert.

    When HMS Queen Elizabeth set sail on her maiden operational voyage, her crew expected Russia to keep a close eye on the warship. However, the sheer extent of Russian surveillance already seen has gone far beyond what the military expected.

    As crew on board the £3 billion warship set about preparing two F-35B fighter jets on Sunday morning to take part in their first ever combat operation against Islamic State (IS), a further two jets had to be deployed at short notice to investigate Russian aircraft overhead.

    Shiny toys. Much posturing. Little real ability! We are the Italy of the Twenty First Century.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/22/hms-queen-elizabeth-playing-cat-mouse-russia-3bn-warship/

    3. All a load of Gollox

      1. More USN (jet) aircraft than British
      2. More RAF (jet) aircraft than FAA
      3 Nilstock FAA Jets

      That is like saying today Manure United iare playing: the team comprises of players from

      Man City, Everton, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs and Pompey

    4. We got them, got to use them. Thanks, Gordon Brown. Next stop, a humanitarian mission, helping the Border Farce rescue illegal economic migrants in the Channel and bring them to their hotels and benefits in the U.K.

  36. I don’t want to rain on anybody’s parade, but could I just note that as a university lecturer over a span of three decades (late 60s tp late 90s) at a Russell Group university, I observed massive grade inflation re. degrees. My estimate was that no candidate who got a 2.1 in the 1960s would not get a 1st by the late 1990s. Some new universities in the 1960s, like York, got onto this game early and were spraying Firsts around from the off.

    1. These days ‘Old Universities’ are also in on the scam…. A function of the ‘funding model’ and the scramble for overseas students in particular.

    2. I know of a continental uni where they get a load of Chinese students who all expect to pass because they have paid a lot of money. And indeed they receive their certificate so everyone is happy.

      1. We started running our residential French “A” level courses in 1990 and each year Caroline writes a new course book.

        Most of the young people who now come to us find the 1990 course book far too difficult. Caroline estimates that a person capable of getting a C grade in 1990 would probably get an A grade today.

        I taught “A” level English in the 1970’s. I often find it frustrating trying to discuss young people’s literature set texts today. They don’t seem to know their books at all.

        Many people seem to have very little grasp of French grammar and so Caroline has written this book which has helped many students get into the more academic universities to read French.

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d478aaa0cfbf8b8a6350e6f22e5b25a7b559cffadd1f9e1dfa6c198ab4a7f0db.jpg

      2. We started running our residential French “A” level courses in 1990 and each year Caroline writes a new course book.

        Most of the young people who now come to us find the 1990 course book far too difficult. Caroline estimates that a person capable of getting a C grade in 1990 would probably get an A grade today.

        I taught “A” level English in the 1970’s. I often find it frustrating trying to discuss young people’s literature set texts today. They don’t seem to know their books at all.

        Many people seem to have very little grasp of French grammar and so Caroline has written this book which has helped many students get into the more academic universities to read French.

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d478aaa0cfbf8b8a6350e6f22e5b25a7b559cffadd1f9e1dfa6c198ab4a7f0db.jpg

    2. Is that huge tree still there by the side of the road? It’s a long time since I’ve been that way. We lived for a while just outside Andover and that was the route from here to there.

        3. I see several oaks similar to that when I am walking Spartie.
          The changes they must have seen to our area over at least 500 years.

          1. Indeedy, how very true…. many of us are pretty gnarled and ill tempered by the changes of the most recent 50 years. I fear we’ve lost the Heart of Oak.

            Botanically and more specifically, Dutch elm disease and, especially here in the South West, ash die back are wreaking havoc. I get the sense that UK arable farming practices are recovering from the gross excesses of the ‘Barley Baron’ era but plenty remains to be done. Get rid of the oil seed rape that is used in biodiesel. The corn (i.e. maize) subsidies/scams for production of ethanol in the USA are even more outrageous.

  39. The Daily Human Stupidity.

    “Ah! how little knowledge does a man acquire in his life. He gathers it up like water, but like water it runs between his fingers, and yet, if his hands be but wet as though with dew, behold a generation of fools call out, ‘See, he is a wise man!’ Is it not so?”

    H. Rider Haggard.

      2. He never got round to getting any rose-coloured underwear so he could do a tribute act to that band that claimed it did not wish to receive any classroom instruction.

    3. M&S used to have a brand named “St. Michael”. Perhaps they could name this brand “St. George Floyd”.

    7. Presumably they are waterproof and absorbent for that special intimacy when a George fentanyl Floyd type points a gun at the wearer and they shit and piss themselves.

  42. California brothers break highline record with daredevil walk between Yosemite mountains

    Brothers from San Francisco believe they have set a world record for the longest highline ever completed in Yosemite with 2,800ft walk
    *
    *
    Cool dudes…
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2021/06/21/Monterubbio_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq3480UNUU8UfSxDSaY1n7MBMSxGIR1rd_-iNIxL4YeIk.jpg?imwidth=680
    +*
    *
    …or crazy Idiots?
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2021/06/21/TELEMMGLPICT000261901058_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqm4L56w4cFv5P4PB-PpmHI6H09bjWBd-E7qf0jFXb3OI.jpeg?imwidth=680
    *
    *
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/21/california-brothers-break-highline-record-daredevil-walk-yosemite/

    3. Just looking at the picture has made my skin prickle.
      The same effect as ‘The Turn of the Screw’ which I read years ago but the memory still gives me the creeps.

      1. I have an extremely poor head for heights and even when we cross the Normandy Bridge I prefer Caroline to drive and I close my eyes firmly until we are across. Apparently I have incipient gephyrophobia.

        1. Acrophobia?
          There’s a flyover on the North Circular that, if I could, I would drive across with my eyes closed.

    1. Elfin, that hits the mark.
      By the way, with reference to the former speaker of the HoC, i remember thinking a couple of years ago that he was bloody irritating. So I googled him….

  45. Oh bugger.
    The Salisbury & Wood wagon has just been and I’m not only £116 worse off than before, but I’ve 60 x 4″ high density blocks & 3 x 25kg bags of cement to shift.
    Will shift the cement now and shift the blocks over the next few days.

  46. Oh bugger.
    The Salisbury & Wood wagon has just been and I’m not only £116 worse off than before, but I’ve 60 x 4″ high density blocks & 3 x 25kg bags of cement to shift.
    Will shift the cement now and shift the blocks over the next few days.

  49. Good luck, EU – without us, your TV will be a total embarrassment
    The EU’s spiteful plans to block British TV from the continent are moronic. Even the French know most of their TV dramas are duds.

    Benji Wilson : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/good-luck-eu-without-us-tv-will-total-embarrassment/

    My fellow Nottlers will remember that the Dauphin sent Prince Hal a gift of tennis balls to make the point that he was not fit to be king as he prioritised pleasure and sport over serious work.

    This current nonsense makes me feel that Britain should send the EU large consignments of nappies, telly-tubby dolls and rubber dummies as they are behaving like babies.

    BTL Comment

    Is the EU aware of just how petty and spiteful it is? It almost defies belief that a political entity such as the EU can behave in such a childish manner.

    2. Yesterday I went with the Wrinklies Film Club to watch a most dire “comedy” called THE HITMAN’S WIFE’S BODYGUARD. The film started out with “the President of the EU” (neither a look-alike Juncker nor a look-alike von der Leyen, but some non-descript bloke called Smith or Jones or some such) who announced that as a result of its (The Greek government’s) policies the Greek people would be given an enormous EU fine. Outside were Greeks demonstrating against this edict with placards (written in English, natch) and on the inside a Mafia-type organisation shot dead the EU President’s two bodyguards and warned him that if he didn’t want to suffer the same fate he would have to cancel the EU fine. “But, but, but” he stammered “I can’t do that – it was a fine imposed after a democratic vote!” At this point I burst out laughing at what turned out to be the only (unintentional) joke in the film. Sad, though, that the great unwashed public are still unaware of the non-democratic nature of the EU.

      1. They think that because they get to vote for the EU parliament that that’s democracy.

        1. To be picky, picky, picky

          “They believe that because…”

          They don’t think nuffink

      2. “Sad, though, that the great unwashed public are still unaware of the non-democratic nature of the EU.”

        Very true, Auntie Elsie, but not only that. The way we are currently being controlled in the UK shows very clearly that the EU is still, despite Brexit, wielding great influence over British affairs.

        1. What the heck they were doing at the recent G7 boondoggle in Cornwall, escapes me.

          3. What I find interesting, Grizzly, is that The Queen was there sans mask and distancing, yet the MSM have criticised the politicians and not her. Strange that Boris allowed this yet insisted that she obey “the rules” at her late husband’s funeral.

          4. 334636+ up ticks Afternoon EB,
            They were rhetorically slapping their supporter / voters silly just proving they can get away with it.

        2. As I still point on regularly!

          Was the Johnson/Gove capitulation to the EU over Northern Ireland a deliberate action made because Johnson and Gove actually want Britain to continue to be under the EU’s thumb?

          I can see no other coherent reason for it.

          1. 334636+ up tick,
            R,
            The toxic trio ARE eu asset, STILL.
            The only way out to total severance is to execute a few lab/lib/con voters to show the decent peoples mean business.

  50. 334636+ up ticks,

    breitbart pics,
    Watch: Palestinian Activists ‘Storm and Occupy’ Israeli Defence Factory in England

    is the recruitment centre for this war front in batley / spen
    lab office ?

      2. Here you go, Bob

        Watch: Palestinian Activists ‘Storm and Occupy’ Israeli Defence Factory in England

        https://media.breitbart.com/media/2021/06/VXP-VX_Staff-3-Palestine-Action-in-Oldhams-Cairo-House-June-21-2021-scaled-1-640×480.jpeg

        efence contractor’s factory in Northern England on Monday morning, in a protest against “Israel’s kill chain in the UK”.

        The far-left activist group, Palestine Action, has taken credit for shutting down the factory of Ferranti Technologies — a subsidiary of the Israeli defence contractor Elbit Systems — in Oldham, Greater Manchester.
        *
        *
        *
        https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/06/22/watch-palestinian-activists-storm-and-occupy-israeli-defence-factory-in-englandwatch-palestinian-activists-storm-and-occupy-israeli-defence-factory-in-england/

        All the usual suspects

        BTL:

        Bonce • 2 hours ago • edited
        Smelly, unemployed brain dead leftists are obsessed with this Palestine stuff.
        It has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with them.
        You will find these same morons will also support all of the other leftist causes like:
        +BLM
        +Extinction rebellion
        +Climate action
        +LGBTQ+
        +Green new deal and Net Zero.
        +Pro Lockdown forever
        +Communist party of the UK

        They don’t call these morons NPC for no reason.

      4. Around 5 years ago we were in Spain and walking a little off the beaten track. As i looked below from the narrow ridge i was on i thought i could see a large black dog lying on the ground in the gully. I didn’t have a camera, but i chucked a stick down, it landed near the animal i thought it might have been dead. But it leapt to its feet and stared up at me. It was a black Iberian Lynx, with piercing yellow eyes. It just walked off into the undergrowth. Quite a rare sight.

      1. Strange mentality. 10 months’ sentence usually equates to 5 months actually served. So now he will be on the lookout for a very long time if not caught. However, if they do catch him, presumably a somewhat longer sentence awaits ….?

          1. We had an ex footballer on Zedlebrity Master Mind last week overall score of 3 points as john Humphries added “well at least you have now tripled the score on that of your specialist subject. He wasn’t happy. I thought he was going to roll on the studio floor and cry, claiming a penalty.

      2. If he’d attempted that stunt in the good ol’ U S of A he would have been shot.

        “Take him away. Next?”

        2. And the next thing you know he would have been a martyr and idolised like George Floyd?

          1. It would probably be a black cop that shot him.

            Black-on-black killings are de rigueur in the U S of A. In fact they are nigh-on compulsory.

      4. Oloyowang lives in the NW3 area of Camden, also in north London, and is described as being black, 6ft 1in tall, with a heavy build and short dark hair.

        “He was clean shaven when he was last seen,” the Met added, before advising anyone who might see him not to approach him directly, but to call 999.

        Describing him as Black, must be the first time ever’ it is onlt Whitey who has his colour stated, of course, by default that puts the 90% remainder as BAME

      5. Oloyowang lives in the NW3 area of Camden, also in north London, and is described as being black, 6ft 1in tall, with a heavy build and short dark hair.

        “He was clean shaven when he was last seen,” the Met added, before advising anyone who might see him not to approach him directly, but to call 999.

        Describing him as Black, must be the first time ever’ it is onlt Whitey who has his colour stated, of course, by default that puts the 90% remainder as BAME

      6. But now much more difficult to spot in a crowd, but may be seen at regular intervals on small screen advertising etc etc.

    1. My only concern is that Hamas get lumped in with generic Palestinians.

      I’m sure there’s a chap called Geoff who gets up at 7, gets his son out of bed, ready for school, makes the family porridge, drives to school, wishes him goodbye and goes to work and is as equally bored and frustrated as every other person in a meeting always is, dreaming of a new car, worrying about the gas bil/dinner, comes home, picks up son, walks dog, has a poo, puts on pyjamas and goes to bed.

      Said Geoff hears the alarms or the missiles and is powerless to stop them and more than anything wants it to stop because he knows one day it’ll be his son in the firing line.

      However, what can Geoff do against a fanatic with an AK47?

      1. What is a generic Palestinian? They only came into existence as a supposed separate people from the rest of the Arabs with the creation of the PLO in Cairo in 1964 by Gamal Abdul Nasser, his agent the Egyptian born Yasser Arafat & the backing of the KGB. Before that even their first so called leader & wanted war criminal the Grand Mufti Mohammed al Husseini had declared in an interview to a Damascus newspaper prior to WW2 – ” We reject the notion of citizenship under the British Mandate, we are all citizens of a Greater Syria “

  54. Laurel Hubbard is the beginning of the end of women’s sports. Julie Bindel. 21 June 2021.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0afdf737bd9266b02ccadab8b8b03263aa266f575d5344dffccfddfc63e29c05.jpg

    The decision to allow Laurel Hubbard, a 43-year-old weightlifter who transitioned from male to trans woman in 2012, to compete in the forthcoming Olympic Games against female competitors is the beginning of the end of women’s sport.

    Why does women’s sport exist at all? Because biology in sport matters. Separate categories give females equal opportunities of sporting success..

    I could bear the complaints of the feminists better if they weren’t, as here, such hypocrites. It is they, who through their activities and beliefs, have opened the door to the Wokeys! They are hoist with their own petard!

    “Women are the equal of men.” How often have I read this piece of cheap sophistry? Seen its visual untruth! The tennis match between the 29 year old Billie Jean King and the 55 year old Bobby Riggs. If it were a truth there would only be sport without differentiation.

    With such methods did they undermine the integrity of Common Sense and now suffer the results of it!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/laurel-hubbard-is-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-women-s-sports

    1. Looks like his arm’s on the wrong way round. Was that part of the transition process?

      1. It isn’t a ‘he’. It gave up the right to be referred to as anything other than it.

        You can cut off a bloke’s nuts and dick and manufacture a pseudo-minge; and you can give it pretendy tits. None of this alters the irrebuttable point of fact that it doesn’t want to be a bloke; but it can never be a woman.

        Ergo it’s an it. It’s ‘personal pronoun’ is IT!

          1. IT is not a eunuch! Eunuch’s are only castrated: they don’t have their John Thomas Hampton removed as well.

          2. Some do. The Chinese used to remove the whole lot for the ones guarding the Emperor’s harem.

          5. There is the scene in The Last Emperor when all the palace eunuchs leave for the last time carrying their bits in a casket so they can be buried whole.
            In the Turkish Sultan’s harem, the eunuchs had a little metal peeing pipe that they carried in their headdress.

    4. Needless to say some of the luvvies over here and are posting comments on this story saying that this is a good thing, some are pressing to have all womens sports opened up to declared trannies.

      I pointed out the difference between mens and women’s world records in several sports and asked why real women should bother. No replies yet, not even the normal cry of fascist?

      1. How many women are joining men’s sports? Don’t recall anything in the press about it.

        1. The list is short
          Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie have both tried in golf.
          There is a woman driver in one of the US motore ‘sports’ and doesn’t one F1 team have a woman driver in training?
          A girlie has just joined the hitherto all male Ontario Hockey League

    5. The only sport in which women and men compete on level terms is the equestrian events.

      1. Only because it’s the steed that does the heavy lifting! Hi, Con : what news of Oscar?

        1. He’s back home now, John, but not pleased with me for abandoning him at the vets for a day. He seems much brighter, but I’ve got to give him a syringe full of liquid paracetamol twice a day and ensure he has a bland, low fat diet. After a week he has to have another blood test for his pancreatic enzymes.

          1. Thanks, Con. I hadn’t read far enough before. Fingers crossed he gets the all-clear.

    1. The British timid wets will never do it they are so risk averse they will put up with anything. look how many are still wearing masks when they can exempt themselves. They are frightend to do even that.

  56. A real Laugh Out Loud contribution from the BTL comments in the Spectator:
    “Is Thornberry the one who looks like the weird aunt who reeks of gin?”

    3. Pleeez won’t you tell us more about the aunt who had to be dug out of a snowdrift still clutching a bottle of sherry?

        1. Which one is your mother and which one the feisty aunt?

          I have a photo of my mother with that sort of hairband.

          1. My mother is second from the left, next to her youngest sister.
            The third girl sitting from the left is the aunt who lived to 101.
            The oldest sister is the one on the far right (probably politically as well).
            I think this picture was taken in the summer of 1918.
            Time and technology made the photo pretty dull, and I was amazed when I worked on it the details that appeared.
            The dresses were a blur and the wire netting behind the girls was not visible at all.

          3. There’s a bit of a crease in that photo that I hadn’t noticed before. Needs a bit of work.

  57. “Upon this rock I will build His church”….and Francis Bergoglio will destroy it….with a few good laughs on the way

    EU Architect Robert Schuman Headed for Sainthood

    https://media.breitbart.com/media/2021/06/GettyImages-1145517903-e1624355248238-640×480.jpg

    ROME — Pope Francis has advanced the cause for canonization of European statesman Robert Schuman, bringing him one step closer to sainthood.

    This weekend the pope authorized the promulgation of a decree recognizing the “heroic virtues” of Robert Schuman (above, right), one of the founding fathers of European unity, granting him the title “Venerable.”

    Francis had an audience with the Vatican’s Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, in which the pontiff advanced Schuman’s cause, along with that of four other Venerables and eleven future Blesseds, including ten martyred Polish nuns killed in 1945 during the invasion by Soviet troops.

    Schuman (1886-1963) was arrested and imprisoned by the Gestapo in September 1940 and held for seven months. He eventually escaped and lived in hiding until the end of the war, “taking refuge mainly in convents and monasteries,” Vatican News reported.

    After the war, Schuman held a number of important posts in the French government, including Minister of Finance, Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of Justice.
    *
    *
    *
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/06/22/robert-schuman-father-of-european-unity-headed-for-sainthood/

    I can’t wait to hear about the Two Miracles that must be attributed to Robert Schuman before he gets his sainthood. (Guffaws)

    1. I Driving the British out of Europe 1945
      2. Fostering the Alliance between France and Germany.

    2. Caroline is a very committed Catholic. Not only does she play the organ in our local parish church but she does the financial accounts and edits the monthly bulletin. Indeed, it’s tough being married to a saint but I am managing to cope!
      I am a lapsed Anglican and Williams and Welby have done their best to drive me away completely. I am agnostic rather than atheist but I do believe in what I would call the Christian ethic and philosophy.

      1. I have a little difficulty with the God business but i do believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ. Even if it was holy ghost-written later.

  58. Well it just shows how wrong one can be

    I wrote a letter to my local Council the other day to personally thank them for all the new sensible cycle lanes that have appeared all over the borough, just in time for Freedom Day.

    But alas I got a letter back this morning explaining that those brightly coloured double yellow lines were put there to signify that no parking was allowed at any time and were not in fact for cycling between.

  59. Right.
    That’s 3 bags of cement and 8 blocks shifted up the garden, another dozen repositioned for carrying up.
    Each block, by the way is 19kg or 3 stones in weight.

  60. French woman goes on trial for killing stepfather who repeatedly raped her

    Valerie Bacot shot her husband after years of sexual abuse, including forcing her to work as a prostitute

    A French woman went on trial on Monday for killing the man who raped her for years as her stepfather before becoming her husband and pimp.

    Their “justice system” is as mad as ours

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/21/french-woman-goes-trial-killing-stepfather-repeatedly-raped/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-onward-journey

      2. Controlling behaviour. The woman probably believed she had no other options. I’m glad she shot the bastard.

  61. Boris Johnson’s plans for new Royal Yacht ‘look like 1950s fishing trawler’

    Designer of Queen Mary 2 says PM’s £200 million project, unveiled on May 30, would be too small and cost £5 million a year to run

    Have we anyone left alive, whao can remember British Fishing Trawlers (well apart from the Cod wars)

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/06/20/boris-johnsons-plans-new-royal-yacht-look-like-1950s-fishing/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-onward-journey

    2. We were under the impression that Don Gosling left £50million in his will towards a new royal yacht.

      …so does the £200million include this, or is it in addition?

    3. It’s the weather Bill.

      Last night was so cold that when I came home from a meeting last night I had a bowl of hot porridge , i was so chilled through after sitting in a cold village hall for 2 hours , I have a baggy jumper on now , and would like a bright sky but not too much heat.

      Rest up for a while Bill, and watch your trombetti grow .. My tomato plant has failed miserably .

      Chin up and KBO x

    8. Sorry to hear that, Willum.
      Look after yourself …. and don’t forget to wear your vest.

    9. Sorry to hear that, Willum.
      Look after yourself …. and don’t forget to wear your vest.

    11. Don’t be ill, Uncle Bill – we need you!
      Will check in the morning.

  64. 32 blocks moved up to the garden. 10 blocks left on the ground with 18 on the lower wall, stage 1, waiting to be lifted to the higher wall, aka stage 2, before being carried up to where they are needed.
    That will wait for tomorrow or Friday.

    Just thinking.
    If each block is 3 stone in weight and I weigh 14½stone at the moment, then with the block I am 17½ stone.
    That is how much I weighed 4 years ago!!

    1. 20 kg is a heavy lump of rock! Before lock up it was my top 3×8 rep bicep curl. Now I can barely get to 15!

      Kudos!

      1. When I worked on a drilling rig as a student over 50 years ago I thought nothing of lifting 50 kg sacks.
        30 years ago when we were building the extension to our house I could still cope happily enough with 30kg and 40 kg sacks of cement.
        Now I get a neighbour’s son to help me with anything over 20 kg.
        I think 70 is a fairly critical age. I am coming up to 75 now but I am very much weaker than I was 10 years ago.

        1. A year of lockdowns and restrictions and inactivity has resulted in my husband losing quite a bit of muscle – he still plays tennis but says he has no power in his serve now. Partly due to the shoulder injury two years ago but partly atrophy. He’s 78.

    1. There actually is a Bishop Webley – at first I thought she meant Archbishop Welby.

          3. I don’t think that that is the revolver Clint Eastwood was referring to.
            I’m fairly sure it’s a Webly .38.

    2. The Crown Prosecution Service, Legal Aid , Social Services, the NHS, the British Knife Manufacturers Association, the Probationary Service & the Prison Service would like to thank all those that arrived on the Windrush, their descendants, extended families and friends for keeping them in full time employment at great cost to the UK taxpayer. ( sarcasm )

    3. The Windrush imports had a massive influence on Brixton. The Jamaican gangs drove out established market traders with the use of extreme violence and threats of extortion. The streets became unsafe to walk at night, car thefts and knife mugging became the norm and remain so to this day.

      Whilst living in Clapham Common 1973 – 1982 I experienced the Brixton riots of 1981. We left the area in 1982 after my wife was mugged at knifepoint on Crescent Lane by black boys from the adjacent balcony access blocks of council flats.

      Those bastards should be compensating us white folk forced to witness and subjected to their crimes.

      1. Growing up in Herne Hill in the 1960’s I had a next door neighbor who owned a shop in the Granville Arcade in Brixton. He refused to pay protection money to the violent Jamaican gangs & was beaten up & both he and his wife mugged several times when they were on the way to the bank with the days takings, the little lock up garage where he kept the stock for his shop was looted one night & finally it was torched and so they called it quits, sold their business at a loss to a Jamaican ( who was probably one of the gangsters ) & moved to Westcliffe in Essex . Their experience was common among White shopkeepers in the arcade & among the stall holders in Brixton market & the Police did nothing, absolute nothing as they too were under attack & since Labour controlled Brixton they got no support

    4. I’m just waiting for the day white heterosexuals get a compo payout. It’s going to be huge after all the crap we’ve put up with after paying for everything every other group has taken for granted.

    1. Cornwall’s Covid rate has surged since the G7 conference.
      The fact that they deny that G7 caused the surge confirms all beyond reasonable doubt that it did!

      1. The BBC argument goes:
        The surge started before the G& people arrived so it can’t be them, completely ignoring the fact that huge numbers of security/hospitality/press people will have come in from all over the world to make their assessments.

  67. Why England are absolutely right to take the knee – PAUL BALDWIN Dreary Express

    LET’S just get this cleared up once and for all shall we? The England back four are not crypto-Marxists. Gareth Southgate does not read out choice passages from Das Kapital as the half-time pep talk. And Tyrone Mings is much more likely to bring down Che Adams on Friday than the capitalist hegemony..

    I doubt Southgate has ever read anything more challenging than the Beano and Health & Fitness. Baldwin appears to be just as thick. Stick to Wendyball you morons and keep your snouts out of politics. We don’t want your tiny brains spontaneously igniting and adding to the climate scare.

    1. It is Southgate and Co.’s absolute conviction that they are right and anyone who doesn’t agree with them is either stupid or a racist that irks me. At best, his attitude is divisive, because many people look on the knee-taking as as sign of active support for BLM and its policies of defunding the police, the destruction of capitalism and the aim to disrupt the traditional nuclear family.

      The England team could easily support anti-racism by adopting a different approach, or even a different gesture e.g. standing instead of kneeling, but they seem hell-bent on alienating a huge proportion of their supporters by their apparent endorsement of BLM.

  68. The forever wars that the US launched after 9/11 led to a surge in military suicides, a new study claims, with traumatized soldiers taking their own lives as they are repeatedly deployed in conflicts that have no public support.
    A new report by Brown University’s Costs of War Project provides a new insight into what many dubbed an epidemic of suicides among the US military. Based on data from the DoD, the VA and secondary sources, the study found that at least four times as many military lives were lost to suicide than to combat in wars launched since the 9/11 terrorist attack.

    Since President George W. Bush launched his global War on Terror in 2001, 7,057 service members have been killed in military operations. Over the same period, an estimated 5,116 active-duty personnel died by suicide. Between 2011 and 2020, 1,193 National Guard service members and 1,607 Reserve component service members also took their own lives. The suicide death toll among veterans of those wars was conservatively estimated at 22,261. The numbers totals 30,177 – more than four times higher than the combat deaths.
    The estimated number of suicides is a minimum, the report stressed, as there was no statistical data available for Reserve and National Guard deaths prior to 2011. In addition, the statistics do not necessarily include every suicide, since in some cases attribution may be difficult. Overdose deaths, weapon misfires or single-vehicle crashes may not be conclusively linked to suicidal behavior.

    Even so, the recorded suicide rates among both active-duty service members and veterans have surged and significantly surpass those in the general population, which itself has been increasing in the US, the study said.

    This goes against historical trends. Active-duty personnel usually have lower suicide rates than the general public and these went even lower during wartime in every US conflict before Vietnam. More recent military suicide deaths continued to climb even after combat deaths sharply decreased after 2007.

    1. It’s the same here. Suicides and lonely deaths homeless amongst veterans are far higher than the the population rate. There’s a lot of research by veterans groups out there on PTSD and suicide.

      My troubled relative was in Gulf War 1 and lost many friends there and in his time in the military. Governments deny his suffering is service-related and he gets no extra help, or should I say no less neglect, because of his 20 years’ service.

  69. Just had an interesting phone chat. Friend told me someone she knew had the jabs – and got the effects some Nottlers have described on here, headache, arm hurting etc – but these didn’t go away – and 2 weeks after the jabs she is now paralyzed. The jabs – or coincidence? Of course it will NEVER be the jab will it? and presumably won’t make the papers either.

    1. My wife plays the organ at our local church. She has had to play at more funerals this May and June than ever before and the churches are finding it hard to cope with demand. Our doctor says that she has had no covid deaths amongst her patients but four deaths amongst those who have been vaccinated.

      Of course this will not be reported in the French media.

      Our doctor advises me not to have the jabs because I am on various medications including Pradaxa but I will have to go to England one day as my elder son has already postponed his marriage this summer and re-booked for next July.

    1. Chamberlain did manage to delay the start of WWII and get us re-armed

      Boris just does as he is told to, by everyone but us Brits

    2. 334636+up ticks,
      Evening LD,
      I cannot agree there, Old Nev was naive to say the least
      but I believe a gentleman, the turkish delight is neither.

  73. Losing Iain Dale – that’s one hell of an achievement for a “Conservative” government:

    I can no longer support this irrational lockdown
    I used to see the logic in the restrictions, but surely now the Government can see that they’re absurd

    IAIN DALE
    22 June 2021 • 6:00am
    Iain Dale
    When the facts change, you change your mind. At least that’s what happens in normal times, and that’s what reasonable people do. I’ve strongly supported the Government’s various decisions on lockdown. People have accused me of being a lockdown hawk, and up to now they would have been right. However, we are now in a very different situation. Hospitals are in no danger of being overrun. The Delta variant may be leading to a rise in the number of cases, but given most adults have now had at least one dose of the vaccine, and half the population has had both, the danger of hospitalisation and/or death is a fraction of what it was before. Intensive care units are not heaving with new patients. The average number of Covid deaths per day is 11, and shows no sign of increasing.

    The Government’s decision to delay “Freedom Day” was influenced by out-of-date figures, and some of the rules that will stay in place for at least the next month are risible. Ascot has gone ahead unhindered. Centre Court at the Wimbledon Final will be full. Top-hole! Trebles all round! Yet amateur choirs are not allowed to sing. You cannot dance at a wedding.

    The public, which has been very understanding up to now, can be forgiven for being not just confused, but uncomprehending. A government can only govern by consent and, in my judgment, that consent is about to be withdrawn. People see a vaccination programme which has been among the most successful in the world, and they see a daily death rate mostly in single figures. If the current restrictions are not lifted on July 5 or 19, Boris Johnson will live to regret it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/22/can-no-longer-support-irrational-lockdown/

    2. Death rates are 27 today with an increasing number of new cases. I wish they would tell us where people are dying and how did they pick up the virus.

      1. Playing in the Euros and watching the games.
        Playing at Queens and Eastbourne and watching the games.
        Caught from those attending the G7

      2. It’s all done with track and trace or, really, smoke and mirrors. The number of cases is irrelevant and “saving the nhs” is not a priority. IMO it never should have been and then many elderly people would not have been sent to care homes with the virus only to spread it around.

        The number of deaths last year is entirely comparable to deaths in each of the last five years – all on the ONS website. There has been no epidemic. It is a complete hoax. Yes there has vp even illness but do you notice how flu and pneumonia have disappeared? Could it be all put down to Covid19? I think it can. None of this is “following the science”. They are following an entirely different agenda.

        1. Absolutely, vw, I agree with everything there. It is a complete hoax whipped up into mass hysteria by a complicit press.

        2. The last 12 weeks or so deaths have been well below the five- year average. Last week covid was 24th on the list of causes.

      3. 334636+ up ticks,
        Cs,
        That would be of covid being the prime cause to be believed as a statement, otherwise coming from a governance overseeing group of renowned deceivers, liars &
        qualified political @rseholes it has no value at all.

      4. None of the figures add up. Everything is deliberately distorted, graphs doctored by adjustment of the X or Y axis to amplify relatively minor or small effects and fabricated to induce fear and deceive.

        Abbapottamus could have made more accurate predictions than this skip load of worms, charlatans and chancers.

        It is not as though we have not been here before. Ferguson has a long and tragic record in professing and predicting death and despondency. He should meet his maker sooner than later along with his evil compatriots.

      5. None of the figures add up. Everything is deliberately distorted, graphs doctored by adjustment of the X or Y axis to amplify relatively minor or small effects and fabricated to induce fear and deceive.

        Abbapottamus could have made more accurate predictions than this skip load of worms, charlatans and chancers.

        It is not as though we have not been here before. Ferguson has a long and tragic record in professing and predicting death and despondency. He should meet his maker sooner than later along with his evil compatriots.

    3. If the experimental gene therapy jabs are so successful then we might expect lockdown and all other restrictions to be lifted. It seems that the government and its SAGE advisors will not relax restrictions until every poor sod has been jabbed with one or other of the toxins present in the jabs.

      There are signs that thousands of adverse reactions to the jabs and the likelihood of the jabs proving ineffective (and worse no defence against wild virus) are intentional. They really do wish to incapacitate us, destroy our economy and take control of the population.

      Every postulation labelled by the MSM as a ‘conspiracy theory’ is being revealed as the truth.

  76. I wondered when this would happen. The DT have an item by Nigel Farage. Nigel tells us he has been given a spot on GB News on Sundays at 10am called ” The Political Correction”. I look forward to that.

      1. Definitely lacoste. Andrew Neil will give him free rein unlike the BBC.
        AN is getting some good people around him and is bringing up subjects for discussion. One topic which is being considered is “why do we need so many new houses? A question which I wished I could ask our PM. Of course I know my answer but I would like to hear what the PM would bluster as an answer.

  77. Summer.
    I’m watching branches falling in the woods around us.
    Visibility is down to 100 yards, it’s blowing a hooley, the rain is beyond the guttering downpipe capability.
    There is constant thunder and the lightning is sufficient to trip the fuse box.
    Internet and phone on and off.
    At least we don’t have the hail that’s been in the area.

    1. We had some mighty hailstorms in May, then nearly three weeks of summer – the last few days have been chilly, sometimes wet and today dry but with a cold north-easterly. It hasn’t been quite so violent as you’re having.

      1. The valley now looks as if several people are burning very wet wood, so dense is the mist.

  78. Top comment on today’s DT Letters page is the NoTTLers’ very own favourite Muscle Man and Baritone (currently with 207 upticks)

    Robert Spowart
    22 Jun 2021 4:17AM
    It seems Ian Mackenzie is unable to realise that we do not have a housing shortage, but a people surplus and that the main driver is immigration.

    1. 334636+ up ticks,
      Evening C,
      Small correction large issue,
      ” Main drivers ” are lab/lib/con issue is
      mass uncontrolled immigration, ongoing.

  79. How long will it be before we whiteys become ethnic minority groups. Every advert every voiceover on BBC has a patois , even the weather on the radio, and are advertising companies all black , and they are targetting their own species with every aspiration under the sun, is it the Lewis Hamilton effect.

    Our national football team isn’t even white anymore , our athletics , everything is being dominated by diversity . No wonder white kids don’t get a chance .

    All schools seem to be overcrowded by black children , haven’t mentioned Asian youngsters ..

    Even down here the holiday makers are a different hue , and they drive beautiful top of the range cars.. How do they do it , is making money that easy nowadays?

    1. To begin with…

      Stop watching commercial television.
      Stop watching any output from the BBC.
      Stop reading newspapers.

      Run away with me instead….

      Hope you like a suave young man with good dress sense, sexy wavy auburn hair and doesn’t play golf…… :@)

    2. …… everything is being dominated by diversity

      I beg to differ everything is being dominated by conformity.

      1. Absolutely nail on head. All the Left are doing is what they’ve always done: forced intolerance, division, dissent and conflict to control people and force their view on the world. They must be stopped.

    3. So at the end of the day, who is responsible for all of this anti white nonsense, who decided after the war that over a period of time we had to flip our population, I don’t think that is was black people that are to blame. They are just as much caught up all of this global transformation as we are.

    1. That’s an interesting read, thank you.

      When he talks about the MAGA rioters as having no will – I’ve not read his other writing – but does he ascribe the same lack of will to the Lefty riots which were far worse and far less understandable?

      The Washington building riots all ignore the same issue: no one engaged with them. Ignoring that Americans are a bit weird generally (leather trousers, a fur ruff and medallions? Really?) the election result was in dispute. The Left refused a re-count because they were frightened, the Right didn’t believe them. No one took a middle ground, rational approach and said ‘look, here’s the situation we should talk about it.’

      Tucker blaming the FBI will be believed by the rioters because it’s easier than accepting responsibility for their poor behaviour.

      1. He’s a strange character to be on such a magazine, I’ve always suspected Taki of being anti-Semitic, but this man’s posts appear to be strange for a Jew. There are numerous back-posts, well worth looking at for a different take on US politics.

          1. and in the Speccie he adds some anti Arab comment, though technically they are linked. And occasional pro German stuff, possibly because Taki’s wife is a German aristo. Problem is that the nat. soc. krauts originally had the best kit but the worst policies (equal with the samurais).

          2. and in the Speccie he adds some anti Arab comment, though technically they are linked. And occasional pro German stuff, possibly because Taki’s wife is a German aristo. Problem is that the nat. soc. krauts originally had the best kit but the worst policies (equal with the samurais).

  81. That’s the van taken up the village for it’s MOT.
    Had a quick pint of Bateman’s Gold and then a 10 minute natter with one of the locals when I went past his house.

    1. “Flu and pneumoniA deaths now 10 times higher than Covid “.

      Big deal. Ten times what? As usual it gives the impression of many many deaths. More scare tactics. So if some time next month we are grudgingly allowed a little more freedom it will be with the proviso that, should infections return in winter, well guess what. Another lockdown. And infections and viruses will return in winter – it is inevitable.

      So double your daily dose of vitamin D3 units to 10,000 for the first winter month to gain an extra boost to your immune system and carry on with 5,000 daily afterwards. (As advised to Alf by two separate consultants earlier this year).

  83. More poisoning of society. I cannot describe my contempt for these evil people.

    Councils forcing ‘divisive’ idea of white privilege upon parents and schools

    Local authorities accused of ‘teaching children they are racists’, as Telegraph analysis finds concept is being promoted around the country

    By Camilla Turner, Education Editor, and Ewan Somerville • 22 June 2021 • 7:25pm

    The white privilege concept is being promoted by local councils around the country, an analysis by The Telegraph has found.

    Several councils have published resources, advice and training materials for teachers, parents and children, leading a senior Tory MP to accuse them of pursuing an “entirely wrong-headed” strategy.

    It comes after an education select committee report recommended that schools should cease to use the term “white privilege.”

    The report, published earlier this week, said that the phrase may be “alienating” to disadvantaged white communities and may have contributed towards a “systemic neglect of white people facing hardship”.

    Last summer, Brighton and Hove Council committed to “building understanding of the impact on pupils and staff of bias, discrimination, white privilege and institutional racism” into teacher training.

    The council’s Racial Literacy Training 101 for staff in primary and secondary schools says it provides an “understanding of structural/institutional racism, white privilege, and a critical race theory approach”.

    Meanwhile, a list of resources published by Lincolnshire County Council for children as part of its racist bullying and hate crime awareness campaign includes a video about white privilege.

    In the video, a group of children are told to take part in a running race but are asked to take a step backwards if they have been the only person in the room of their race, and if their parents have ever warned them about racism.

    Before starting the race, youngsters are also asked to step forward if they have never been asked where they come from and never been worried about being stopped and searched.

    The video, titled “Heartbreaking moment when kids learn about white privilege”, explains that people often confuse white privilege with being wealthy or being rich and it “isn’t about that”, adding: “What it’s about is the absence of having to live with the consequences of racism.”

    Coventry Council has published a series of resources for parents and teachers which includes a guide on “How to be an anti-racist family”.

    The guide advises parents and teachers to listen, watch and read about “the lived experiences of everyday racism to make you aware of white privilege”.

    The guide explains: “If you can travel without your bags being searched, or can run for a bus without worrying people think you’ve stolen something, or exit a shop without panicking where your receipt is, then you’re probably in a bubble of white privilege.”

    Robert Halfon, the Tory chairman of the education select committee, told The Telegraph that it was “entirely wrong-headed” for councils to be promoting the concept.

    “It is basically saying that everyone is collectively guilty, when individuals should be responsible for acts of racism,” he said.

    “Secondly it is a poke in the eye for disadvantaged white communities. All it does is lead to further disengagement from curriculum and pits one group against the other. It is also factually wrong, given the underperformance of white pupils.”

    He said that the promotion of the concept by councils had to stop, adding that the Government should publish guidance for local authorities on the issue.

    “It’s divisive and it undermines harmony rather than promotes it,” Mr Halfon added.

    Brighton and Hove’s resources have sparked a backlash from parents, who have accused the council of breaching its duties to impartiality under the Equality Act 2010 and claim it means “non-white children will be taught that they are victims of their white classmates”.

    More than 700 people have signed a petition demanding the council “stop teaching our kids that they are racists”, saying they are “shocked” at the allegedly racially divisive nature of the critical race theory being included.

    The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities defines white privilege as the “idea that there is societal privilege that benefits white people over other ethnic groups in some societies, particularly if they are otherwise under the same social, political, or economic circumstances”.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/22/councils-promoting-white-privilege-concept-parents-schools/

    1. For heavens sake , what nonsense, who on earth is in charge … this is all Common Purpose and Agenda 21…

      We need to know who these people are and how old they are and what party they belong to.

      1. I don’t care how old they are – I think I can guess which party they belong to……… none of it matters much but this victimisation of the disadvantaged white kids must stop. They do badly enough at school, especially the boys, without being made to feel guilty they’re not black.

        1. You have been to Africa haven’t you J.

          Youths in Africa are more muscular, physically stronger , and probably keener to learn stuff..
          I have heard that black youths in Britain are streaks ahead growth wise , they mature earlier , but are difficult to educate .

          Poor white lads are on a hiding to nothing, many are just left behind , they are the products of chav parents or single mothers and various other step siblings in tow ..

          Britain is in a mess , some modern mothers are nothing but penned sows drawing their benefits.

          1. I’m not sure which age group these people are bullying with this nonsense – primary or secondary. Certainly black teenagers ares are stronger – not sure about the younger ones. A lot is down to the attitude in the home towards education.

      2. I’m sorry, Maggie, but it seems that is all the Right can do: tut-tutting in social media whilst the Left continue their programme unabated.

        The Left won its campaign years ago with their surreptitious guerilla tactics and the clueless Right have no answer to it.

    2. 334636+ up ticks,
      Evening WS,
      How do these council members get into power ? do they self elect ? does the public / council tax payer have a say
      as in council member elections ?

      1. They are unable to get proper work actually producing wealth rather than frittering it away.

    4. Vile people and, coupled with Common Purpose, is actively encouraging racism with their ideological literature and ‘advice’.

    1. Plus the human cost of the lives of British people raped, mugged, burgled, scammed, trafficked, pimped & murdered by 3rd world immigrants & then there is the loss of value of property when the Wogs move in and panic selling by Whites sends property values tumbling to say nothing of the inconvenience of having a Mosque or two in your neighborhood to further depress property values because nothing signals that the area is a dangerous slum like the dirty great whacking minaret where a church or a pub once stood.

      1. I always considered myself to be a London architect, born in Bath, trained in Sheffield and London universities and starting practice in London.

        I love London and can describe moreorless every significant building and name its architect. I can do the same for all major UK cities.

        Over the past twenty years or so I have found my old stomping grounds unutterably altered. Whitechapel is now lost to Muslims as is much of the East End of London, from Stratford to Leytonstone and beyond.

        The rot started with the Grand Central Mosque in Regents Park in the seventies. Nowadays mosques are springing up everywhere. Meanwhile our own churches remain in some dystopian lockdown and the heathens are left to do their worst.

        If anyone supposes that this occurrence is accidental I suggest you wake up before it is too late.

        1. Nothing that has happened in the UK since 1994 is accidental. After the unexpected death of the last actual socialist leader of Labour, John Smith on the 12th of May 1994, the 2 Globalist ( Marxist ) leaders of Labour Tony Blair & Gordon Brown met at the Granita restaurant in Islington & agreed that if Labour won the next General Election, that a full range of core Marxist policies would be implemented to drastically alter the direction of the UK & at its core was the policy known as ” Social Reengineering ” which meant the turning of the UK from a White majority Christian country into a divided multi-racial country with both large populations of unskilled low IQ 3rd world migrants taking over the major cities to ensure that Labour would control them & the country further divided with Scotland, Northern Ireland & Wales on the path to independence thus further adding to the disunity of the United Kingdom & having the 4 weakened sections of the UK fully subservient to the rule of the EU in Brussels rather than rule from Westminster. In 1997 Labour won the General Election & within months of taking office began the programme of mass immigration & fast tracking to UK citizenship the dregs of humanity that Pakistan, Bangladesh & Africa produce by the millions . The fact that the Tories came back into office under David Cameron did not stop the momentum of the immigration of the scum of the earth to the UK as the Conservative party from John Major onward is like New Labour a party fully infiltrated by the Globalists & does not intend to halt the ‘Social Reengineering’ of the UK into yet another failed 3rd world state.

        2. Last Sunday, my village church opened up for two hours to serve cream teas on socially-distanced makeshift tables in the graveyard.

          I met the Church Warden, just one left – a 72-year-old lady charged with the upkeep of a large 1000-year-old Grade 1 listed building. She pointed out the damp patches on the ceiling caused by failing valley lead after the roofers had been to fix loose tiles.

          £1.2 billion – the latest handout to HS2 – would have gone a long way in patching up our church roofs.

      2. I always considered myself to be a London architect, born in Bath, trained in Sheffield and London universities and starting practice in London.

        I love London and can describe moreorless every significant building and name its architect. I can do the same for all major UK cities.

        Over the past twenty years or so I have found my old stomping grounds unutterably altered. Whitechapel is now lost to Muslims as is much of the East End of London, from Stratford to Leytonstone and beyond.

        The rot started with the Grand Central Mosque in Regents Park in the seventies. Nowadays mosques are springing up everywhere. Meanwhile our own churches remain in some dystopian lockdown and the heathens are left to do their worst.

        If anyone supposes that this occurrence is accidental I suggest you wake up before it is too late.

  86. 334636+ up ticks,
    Political governance overseers running a softening up exercise for future reset inmates.

    The regular voting pattern MUST be kept up for reset to be a success.

    These Isles under the lab/lib/con/greens coalition CAN be world beaters appertaining to herd management and
    manipulation.

    ‘Locked-in Trauma’: Young Children Having Panic Attacks After Playdates

  88. Goodnight all Nottlers. Bedtime music: I Kissed A Girl – Vintage ’50s Doo Wop Katy Perry Cover ft. Robyn Adele Anderson

    Robyn Adele Anderson and The Tee Tones (from our Miley Cyrus cover and others) are back to bring you the Postmodern Jukebox version of Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” – after all, the title sounds like it could have been a very innocent ’50s song…
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW0zsiNUrz8

  89. Evening, all. Oscar is back home now, steadfastly turning his back on me because I abandoned him at the vet’s for a day 🙂 He had his sedation, was scanned and the results aren’t too bad; all his organs are okay and he doesn’t have an intestinal blockage, just inflammation in his pancreas. I have to administer a syringe of 2.4ml of liquid paracetamol twice a day (that should be fun!) for a week then get another blood test done. In the meantime he has to have a bland, low-fat diet (I’m sure he’s looking forward to that no end!). The nurse who handed him over said he was a character – apparently, they couldn’t shut the door of his cage or he barked the place down. Once they left it open, he was fine – “lord of all he surveyed” as she put it! They couldn’t touch him except to scratch his chest, either. I did warn them he could be reactive. She was quite impressed that I fussed him with no bother. He was glad to come home. I opened the door of the car and he leapt in, then grumbled until he was told to stop. That also impressed the nurse. Not bad for two weeks, I thought. Fingers crossed he makes a complete recovery and we enjoy at least a few years together. It was surprising how much I missed him, even after two weeks. Nobody to supervise while I tied up the roses and netting that supported the Virginia creeper and honeysuckle, nobody to get in the way when I moved a Lonicera (shrub) that was in the wrong place because I was re-working that area of the garden … I’ve grown accustomed to his (hairy) face and to his “smile” 🙂

    2. So pleased to hear that things are not as bad as you were thinking they could be and that Oscar is safely back home with you. It is amazing how quickly our four legged friends worm their way into our hearts without our being aware. It’s their smiles that do it, I’m sure. Good luck with the paracetamol…. (you might need it more than he does…).

    3. Conners, he missed you

      You both felt the missing of each other

      He ‘is yours’: you are ‘his’

      The wait for you to get together was for a reason

      A trip to the vets made him realise

    4. So very pleased all is almost well with handsome Oscar.

      I loved your story , you created lots of lovely mind pictures , and I could almost imagine Oscar’s response to his stay away from home , he does seem like a really solid little gruff gruff chap , with a twinkle in his eye .. I daresay if he was a human , I could imagine him smoking a pipe!

      Genuinely happy for you both … a bland diet sounds fun!

      1. Thanks, Maggie. He is a grumpy old man – perhaps we should get him to post on Nottl? 🙂 He has a strange bark – more like Grrrrr – uff, uff!

    5. Good to know, Connors, good luck with administering medication – mind you dogs are much easier than cats.

        1. that wouldn’t work on our cats. Thick leather gauntlets and a blanket to immobilize them in was the order of the day..

          One of our cats would rule the vets office as well. He was not interested in a cage even if the door was left open, the only spot acceptable to him was on the counter beside the receptionist.

    6. Thank you for the update, Con. So pleased that the prognosis is fairly positive. Give him a scratch from me.

    8. Great news Conway! The fact that he was cross with you speaks volumes! Wishing you all a speedy recovery and have you tried turkey mince? It’s even more bland than chicken, and my vet daughter recommends it!

      1. Apparently, he shouldn’t have chicken as it can trigger his allergy (what his allergy is, I have no idea). I bought some ham that was near its sell-by date (and so greatly reduced) and he ate his second dose of paracetamol wrapped up in that – I doubt he even noticed it! He had salmon in his breakfast (a tin I’d had in the cupboard for years and which needed using up) and the first dose went down okay mixed up with that. Oh what a cunning web we weave when first we practise to deceive 🙂

  90. The first post on here today was a link to Brendan O’Neil’s piece on Batley, Islam and Gary Kibble, the teacher in hiding. I’ve returned to it because of this:

    The Batley teacher controversy should be treated as the most important issue in this by-election. First, because it is essential that the candidates who aspire to represent this community make it clear that they will defend its public servants from regressive campaigns of demonisation. Secondly, because we need to know that the next Batley and Spen MP will take seriously those many local people who do not want noisy mobs determining what can be taught to their kids, and who want Britain to be a free nation rather than one stifled by Islamist or any other kind of repressive ideology.

    OK so far…but then:

    And thirdly, because the clearest signal that can be sent to Muslim citizens in Batley and Spen that they are accepted as full and equal members of the community is by putting their religious faith on an equal footing with every other religious faith – that is, as a faith you are perfectly at liberty to follow and which everyone else is perfectly at liberty to criticise. Treating Muslim voters as children who must be offered special protection from difficult discussion or ‘offensive’ ideas, as Labour seems intent on doing, is demeaning and divisive. Everyone in Batley and Spen has a shared interest in holding at bay regressive, illiberal ideologies and allowing open discussion and freedom of thought to flourish. This unifying message of freedom and trust could win one of the candidates a great deal of support.

    Islam will never consider itself equal. The very idea of it is supremacist: that its enemies must be conquered and either killed or enslaved. It cannot accept discussion of the relative merit of any other idea – except, perhaps, to flatter those who believe themselves to be reasonable but are merely suggestible:
    “We smile in their faces as we curse them in our hearts.” And laugh inwardly at them…

    On your feet or on your knees, Brendan?

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/06/22/the-batley-test/

    1. That’s the problem; people view islam in the light of Western ideals. It isn’t compatible at all.

    2. 334636+ up ticks
      Evening WE,
      Second post pointed out Anne Marie Waters, the peoples call for change put her in parliament, shades of Ian Paisley
      “no surrender” fighting an issue that urgently needs fighting.

  91. The first post on here today was a link to Brendan O’Neil’s piece on Batley, Islam and Gary Kibble, the teacher in hiding. I’ve returned to it because of this:

    The Batley teacher controversy should be treated as the most important issue in this by-election. First, because it is essential that the candidates who aspire to represent this community make it clear that they will defend its public servants from regressive campaigns of demonisation. Secondly, because we need to know that the next Batley and Spen MP will take seriously those many local people who do not want noisy mobs determining what can be taught to their kids, and who want Britain to be a free nation rather than one stifled by Islamist or any other kind of repressive ideology.

    OK so far…but then:

    And thirdly, because the clearest signal that can be sent to Muslim citizens in Batley and Spen that they are accepted as full and equal members of the community is by putting their religious faith on an equal footing with every other religious faith – that is, as a faith you are perfectly at liberty to follow and which everyone else is perfectly at liberty to criticise. Treating Muslim voters as children who must be offered special protection from difficult discussion or ‘offensive’ ideas, as Labour seems intent on doing, is demeaning and divisive. Everyone in Batley and Spen has a shared interest in holding at bay regressive, illiberal ideologies and allowing open discussion and freedom of thought to flourish. This unifying message of freedom and trust could win one of the candidates a great deal of support.

    Islam will never consider itself equal. The very idea of it is supremacist: that its enemies must be conquered and either killed or enslaved. It cannot accept discussion of the relative merit of any other idea – except, perhaps, to flatter those who believe themselves to be reasonable but are merely suggestible:
    “We smile in their faces as we curse them in our hearts.” And laugh inwardly at them…

    On your feet or on your knees, Brendan?

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/06/22/the-batley-test/

    1. I wonder what would ultimately make Prince Harry happier – a separation from his wife and his freedom restored or as life sentence as her subordinate vassal?
      I know that very few people on this site could tolerate such a life of enslavement but Harry is not a Nottler and maybe he yearns to be dominated and humiliated and he would be truly lost without her.

      1. I think it’s unfair on the victim to say that he yearns to be dominated. That is what people say about victims of domestic violence, you know – if they didn’t enjoy being hit, they would leave. Reasons are far more complicated than that.
        Harry is a toxic mixture of unhappiness and having been flattered and helped to succeed in things he should have been allowed to fail at, all his life.
        I bet he’s terrified right now. He has nowhere to run except back to the shelter of his family, which would be complete humiliation. He’s probably been told that he wouldn’t survive in the big world on his own without Meghan.

        The best thing for him would be to be allowed to fail at his marriage and high-falutin media career, and to start a humble but independent career that is suited to his meagre talents and doesn’t trade on his name. That way, he could get some genuine self-respect.
        But that’s never going to happen.

    2. Indeed. Once you’ve met one, you’ve met them all. They all share the same characteristics.

      1. mng Araminta, I fully agree. And the beginning of the end game of “representative democracy” [phrase coined by Mandelson in 1997 and Wesley Clark post 9/11]

  98. As I am off to work now, Many happy returns, Oberstleutnant!
    (thank you for the reminder, Rastus!)

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