Tuesday 4 June: Hope that Nigel Farage can shake the complacency from British politics

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

759 thoughts on “Tuesday 4 June: Hope that Nigel Farage can shake the complacency from British politics”

  1. GOOD MORROW, GENTLEFOLK. TODAY’S (RECYCLED) STORY

    <b>LUCKY GOLFER</b>

    A golfer playing in Ireland hooked his drive into the woods. Looking for his ball, he found a little Leprechaun flat on his back, a big bump on his head and the golfer's ball beside him. Horrified, the golfer got his water bottle from the cart and poured it over the little guy, reviving him.

    'Arrgh! What happened?' the Leprechaun asked.

    'I'm afraid I hit you with my golf ball,' the golfer says.

    'Oh, I see. Well, ye got me fair and square. Ye get three wishes, so whaddya want?'

    'Thank God, you're all right!' the golfer answers in relief. 'I don't want anything, I'm just glad you're OK, and I apologise.'

    And the golfer walks off. 'What a nice guy,' the Leprechaun says to himself. ‘I have to do something for him. I'll give him the three things I would want… a great golf game, all the money he ever needs, and a fantastic sex life.'

    A year goes by and the golfer is back. On the same hole, he again hits a bad drive into the woods and the Leprechaun is there waiting for him. 'Twas me that made ye hit the ball here,' the little guy says. 'I just want to ask ye, how's yer golf game?'

    'My game is fantastic!' the golfer answers. I'm an internationally famous golfer now.' He adds, 'By the way, it's good to see you're all right.'

    'Oh, I'm fine now, thank ye. I did that fer yer golf game, you know. And tell me, how's yer money situation?'

    'Why, it's just wonderful!' the golfer states. 'When I need cash, I just reach in my pocket and pull out $100.00 bills. I didn't even know they were there!'

    'I did that fer ye also.' And tell me, how's yer sex life?'

    The golfer blushes, turns his head away in embarrassment, and says shyly, 'It's OK.'

    C'mon, c'mon now,' urged the Leprechaun, 'I'm wanting to know if I did a good job. How many times a week?'

    Blushing even more, the golfer looks around then whispers, 'Once, sometimes twice a week.'

    'What??' responds the Leprechaun in shock. 'That's all? Only once or twice a week?'

    'Well,' says the golfer, 'I figure that's not bad for a Catholic priest in a small parish.'

  2. GOOD MORROW, GENTLEFOLK. TODAY’S (RECYCLED) STORY

    <b>LUCKY GOLFER</b>

    A golfer playing in Ireland hooked his drive into the woods. Looking for his ball, he found a little Leprechaun flat on his back, a big bump on his head and the golfer's ball beside him. Horrified, the golfer got his water bottle from the cart and poured it over the little guy, reviving him.

    'Arrgh! What happened?' the Leprechaun asked.

    'I'm afraid I hit you with my golf ball,' the golfer says.

    'Oh, I see. Well, ye got me fair and square. Ye get three wishes, so whaddya want?'

    'Thank God, you're all right!' the golfer answers in relief. 'I don't want anything, I'm just glad you're OK, and I apologise.'

    And the golfer walks off. 'What a nice guy,' the Leprechaun says to himself. ‘I have to do something for him. I'll give him the three things I would want… a great golf game, all the money he ever needs, and a fantastic sex life.'

    A year goes by and the golfer is back. On the same hole, he again hits a bad drive into the woods and the Leprechaun is there waiting for him. 'Twas me that made ye hit the ball here,' the little guy says. 'I just want to ask ye, how's yer golf game?'

    'My game is fantastic!' the golfer answers. I'm an internationally famous golfer now.' He adds, 'By the way, it's good to see you're all right.'

    'Oh, I'm fine now, thank ye. I did that fer yer golf game, you know. And tell me, how's yer money situation?'

    'Why, it's just wonderful!' the golfer states. 'When I need cash, I just reach in my pocket and pull out $100.00 bills. I didn't even know they were there!'

    'I did that fer ye also.' And tell me, how's yer sex life?'

    The golfer blushes, turns his head away in embarrassment, and says shyly, 'It's OK.'

    C'mon, c'mon now,' urged the Leprechaun, 'I'm wanting to know if I did a good job. How many times a week?'

    Blushing even more, the golfer looks around then whispers, 'Once, sometimes twice a week.'

    'What??' responds the Leprechaun in shock. 'That's all? Only once or twice a week?'

    'Well,' says the golfer, 'I figure that's not bad for a Catholic priest in a small parish.'

  5. 388099+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    To suit current feelings, prior to a General Election
    “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
    ― George Orwell, 1984

    The first "fruitcake" maybe?

    https://x.com/A1an_M/status…

  6. Good Morning Folks

    Another hotter than average day today, according to the Met Office

    Okay another dull cloudy start here.

    1. It's so darned cold here I am trying (and currently failing) to light the Rayburn.

    2. It's so darned cold here I am trying (and currently failing) to light the Rayburn.

  8. Hope that Nigel Farage can shake the complacency from British politics

    Lets hope he can cause Sunak to drop the baton on the changeover to Starmer.

  10. SIR – Why do so many politicians today have so little political nous? Rishi Sunak campaigns joyously as he sees the end is in sight, but still does not understand that, by making attractive promises he will never have to deliver, he could reduce Labour’s majority by at least half.

    As a parting gift, therefore, let’s have commitments to abolish inheritance tax, cut corporation tax, leave the ECHR, remove the tourist tax, semi-privatise the NHS, build more prisons and offer tax rebates to parents choosing private schools.

    John Bunker
    Olney, Buckinghamshire

  11. Good morning, chums. Enjoy your day.

    Wordle 1,081 5/6

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

    1. Good Morning, Elsie,

      Wordle 1,081 4/6

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

      1. Morning.
        Wordle 1,081 5/6

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

      2. Morning.
        Wordle 1,081 5/6

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

    1. Good morning C

      Once I am awake I cannot go back to sleep

      I have been awake since 0430, dog needed to go out in the garden , son was awake and dressed in his running kit , and then off out to run a half marathon before work .

      He arrived back home half an hour ago . Fresh and fit as a fiddle .

      1. I think the falling body wearing a Reform Rosette is supposed to be Mr Farage about to explode the 'Conservatives" to Kingdom Come!

        It's shadow is a caricature of Dear Nige!

  13. Well that woke up the electorate.. here's a typical comment.

    "The Conservatives have had 14 years to do something that the public wants doing and they've done nothing. Labour have had 14 years to think of something that the public wants doing and they've thought of nothing. Reform are saying very loudly and very clearly what they want to do, and what they want to do is what the public have been demanding for years.It isn't a hard decision. My vote is for Reform."

  14. Well that woke up the electorate.. here's a typical comment.

    "The Conservatives have had 14 years to do something that the public wants doing and they've done nothing. Labour have had 14 years to think of something that the public wants doing and they've thought of nothing. Reform are saying very loudly and very clearly what they want to do, and what they want to do is what the public have been demanding for years.It isn't a hard decision. My vote is for Reform."

  15. Sunak vows to introduce annual cap on migration. 4 June 2024.

    Rishi Sunak has vowed to impose an annual cap on immigration visas to reduce the number of foreign workers and dependants coming to the UK.

    The Prime Minister unveiled the plan in a move to woo core voters frustrated by the surge in net migration to a record high of 764,000.

    As with all Sunak’s promises one wonders why he didn’t do them while in office?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/03/rishi-sunak-vows-to-introduce-annual-cap-on-migration/

    1. Why didn't he , because I don't think he has an authoritative voice , and rather similar to Starmer , he just babbles on and on , pushing an impossible agenda .

      All I see and view is a little Indian chap with a sunny disposition , nearly a head wobbler , talking the talk , and doing the brisk walk but not connecting with the electorate .

    2. Because he's only promising this to get votes. He has no intention of doing it. Actions speak louder than words.

    3. Because he's only promising this to get votes. He has no intention of doing it. Actions speak louder than words.

  16. Many of us on the Right have doubts about Farage. He's a bit of a charlatan to many, possibly controlled opposition and a bit dicky on some subjects. I share those doubts – but I will still vote for him and Reform. Voting Labour or Tory only endorses the woke Globalist agenda both parties endorse. Voting Reform sends the message that we, the people, have had a belly-full of it.
    Nobody's perfect, least of all politicians. But we all know that a Tory or Labour government will continue with the planned decline of our country, our democracy, our culture, our national identity and of course our prosperity. There's a chance that Farage can reverse this. There is no chance that Labour or Conservative government will even try.

    So give Farage and his team a chance and vote Reform.

    1. There is no chance that Labour or Conservative government will even try.

      Morning Tom. Both Labour and the Conservatives are Globalist wooden horses.

    2. There is no chance that Labour or Conservative government will even try.

      Morning Tom. Both Labour and the Conservatives are Globalist wooden horses.

    3. There is no chance that Labour or Conservative government will even try.

      Morning Tom. Both Labour and the Conservatives are Globalist wooden horses.

    4. There is no chance that Labour or Conservative government will even try.

      Morning Tom. Both Labour and the Conservatives are Globalist wooden horses.

    5. There is no chance that Labour or Conservative government will even try.

      Morning Tom. Both Labour and the Conservatives are Globalist wooden horses.

    6. Good morning.
      Reform is controlled opposition, we've had plenty of hints of that. The real opposition doesn't get any media coverage.
      I think they would be happy with a coalition to do the dirty work, then all the politicians could blame each other.

      1. Could well be the case BB. Note the weasel word ‘net’ before the immigration he is saying he will cut to zero. But I’ll still vote Reform as the more of us that do so the louder the message that we are fed up with the Establishment. A Farage government or major opposition cannot be worse than Labour or the Tories, and voting Reform is just the beginning of the fight back.

        1. Hopefully it would shake things up a bit, and indicate to the Cons and Labs that being voted in is not a given.

        2. Hopefully it would shake things up a bit, and indicate to the Cons and Labs that being voted in is not a given.

        3. I fear it’s too late for this to be sorted out at the ballot box. I see no alternative at the moment apart from individual families strengthening their position to be better able to resist the crap that’s coming down the pipeline at us.

          1. You might well be right BB, but a large vote for Reform now will serve to legitimise resistance and show just how anti-democratic the Establishment really is.

  18. 388099+ up ticks,

    For your own good and on health & safety grounds in regards to your children, are you listening,

    Andrew Bridgen
    @ABridgen
    Behind closed doors and out of sight the World Health Organisation has agreed a package of sweeping changes to the International Health Regulations in direct violation of its own charter. This paves the way to a pandemic agreement that will see British public health policy made by unelected bureaucrats in Geneva. Only independent MPs are free to challenge this plan in Parliament.

    https://x.com/ABridgen/status/1797203654224543809

    1. 388099+up ticks,

      O2O,

      Carlisle
      @RobCarlisl14661
      ·
      Jun 2
      Replying to
      @realpetesanford
      This is the first step to empower the genocidal cabal. Depopulation is gonna be biological and WHO will give theses political scum plausible deniability. National service Is distraction from this. It would take a major revolt of the people to break away from this tyranny.

      https://x.com/RobCarlisl14661/status/1797233020237213785

    2. There seems to be a lot going on behind closed doors. We are not in a democracy. It's a sham. Sunak sneaked in a quarter of a million Indians (Pakistanis and Afghans and other such were extra numbers to this) last year – despite knowing full well the electorate's grave misgivings about mass migration.

      Wonder why he has promised to cap numbers today? Big clue, Farage entered the race yesterday. Even if Sunak got back in his promise would be watered down and laden with so many caveats as to become meaningless. What the heck else is he doing that we don't see? Just wish Farage was PM. How much more can the UK take? We have to keep the UK on life support until Reform become our government.

    1. Just been putting a couple of milk bottles into the crate and there is an almost imperceptible drizzle.
      Rain is forecast for later.

  22. To win power, opposition parties need to say something compelling about the status quo. This isn’t necessarily as easy as just advocating “change”, the word Labour has chosen to emphasise in the speeches and backdrops of its big election events and on the side of its battlebus.

    Promise too much change, as the party did in 2019, and voters either won’t believe you can make it happen, or will be put off by the potential disruption. Promise too little change, as Labour did at the 2015 election, and voters will remain unengaged.

    Then there is the question of communication. How good is the opposition leader, and their candidates and activists, at making change sound appealing? Under the careful, conscientious Keir Starmer, Labour seems to offer a welcome shift from the Tories’ slapdash and reckless rule. But whether such a switch to what you could call slow politics has long-term appeal to an electorate that has got used to manic governments is something we have yet to find out.

    Trickier still for Labour is the issue of voter complicity with the Conservatives. Even the most rotten status quo always has beneficiaries. Some of them are rich and powerful, with privileged access to the media, such as the non-doms, private equity firms and rightwing press proprietors that have flourished under the Tories. But others are relatively ordinary citizens, such as the better-off pensioners and homeowners whom Conservative policies since 2010 have also blatantly favoured. All these interest groups usually see a Labour government as a threat – despite the party’s patchy record of redistributing power and wealth. When seeking office, Labour has to choose between reassuring the winners from Tory eras or promising to reduce their dominance – or it has to find clever ways to do both.

    Long periods out of power also present Labour with a less obvious but even bigger problem: how not to appear alien in an economic and social landscape largely created by its opponents, where many voters find it hard to imagine anyone but the Tories in Downing Street. Large Labour poll leads may have become familiar to those who follow politics, and therefore the notion that the party holds the political initiative and could theoretically run the country, but no Briton under 30 has adult experience of an actual Labour government.

    The last time Labour had the exciting but anxious experience of campaigning as the change party against a stale and unpopular government in a country that had largely forgotten how centre-left rule felt was during the 1997 election. I remember travelling with Tony Blair by train, watching the Britain built by Thatcherism slide past the windows, new private housing estates, business parks and busy roads, and wondering how Labour could get any purchase on this harder, shinier world – how the party could make a meaningful difference if it finally got back into government.

    It soon became clear that Blair’s solution was to accept much of what Margaret Thatcher and her successor, John Major, had done over the previous 18 years. “Some things the Conservatives got right,” said Labour’s 1997 manifesto, with disconcerting directness for anyone on the left. “We will not change them.”

    At least at first, the Blair government deftly wove progressive reforms such as the minimum wage and devolution for Scotland and Wales into the rough fabric of the Thatcherised economy and state. One reason Blair was able to do this was that New Labour, encouraged by sympathetic thinkers such as the sociologist Anthony Giddens, had carefully studied and thought about the country it aimed to inherit. This sensitivity to social realities would become a weakness – a source of reasons not to pursue more radical change – but for Blair’s first half dozen years as leader, in opposition and then office, it was a strength. New Labour understood modern Britain.

    Can the same be said of Starmer’s party? He has got good at making speeches about the country’s “chaos” and “decline” under the Tories, at persuasively laying out what has gone wrong with our public services, privatised utilities and standard of living. Despite his lingering stiffness as a communicator, he’s become more effective at channelling voters’ dissatisfaction.

    Yet the fact that his portrayal of the status quo is, justifiably, so negative suggests that, should Labour win, his task will be harder than Blair’s. Rather than the relatively vibrant, if ever more unequal economy and society of the late 1990s, with its signs of reviving national confidence such as the Young British Artists and Britpop, Starmer will inherit a depressed country. Its surface appearance hasn’t deteriorated that dramatically since 2010, thanks to pockets of growing wealth, widespread speculative construction and fancy new cars financed through loan deals – which all distract the eye, to an extent, from the shut-down council amenities and vanished high street shops. But inside many homes things are bleaker, with worsening public health, and meals and central heating in effect rationed to save money.

    Why Labour must adopt radical new tax policies – including on wealth and capital gains
    Patrick Diamond
    Read more
    When Starmer does talk about the texture of everyday life and how Labour could change it for the better, he often uses old-fashioned, pre-Thatcherite phrases such as “working people” and “service of our country”. It’s refreshing to hear an otherwise centrist, pro-business Labour leader speaking emphatically about class and the non-commercial imperatives of public service. But the backward-looking language suggests that, so far at least, not enough new thinking about Britain lies behind the rhetoric.

    Strikingly, the one part of society to which Labour has paid close attention is the conventionally patriotic, socially conservative voter in the villages and towns of England. Brexit, which such voters supported in decisive numbers, is one cause of our current stagnation that Labour, for all its change talk, insists it has no intention of reversing.

    Another is the squeeze on public spending since 2010, which the party says it will largely continue. Will that approach survive a Starmer administration’s first winter NHS crisis, or a meltdown in another underfunded public service? If and when such a moment comes, the change that Starmer talks about so much may have to happen inside the government itself.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/04/keir-starmer-tory-britain-voters-labour

    Usual Guardian Bunkum, or is it?

    1. "…no Briton under 30 has adult experience of an actual Labour government."

      But they've had several years of knowing what it might be like.

    2. Indeed it is – since when has a shifty London lawyer with a record of gross hypocrisy once elected and more than a dash of Stalinesque authoritarianism be even remotely "careful and conscientious"? As for a change from Tory slapdash rule, he is openly saying nothing will change there, because hard decisions have to be made. The only change he has ever promised is that he is not Corbyn, who perversely was the only recent politician who was offering change.

      We the nation are his Regents Park hedgehogs.

      From my perspective, he is worse than Sunak [edit for the correct name]. Good God, even from a conservative view, he is worse than Corbyn. It may well be that Labour won't do particularly well, and their huge poll lead is mostly down to Tories sitting at home. Those looking for real change may well turn to Reform, the Liberal Democrats or the Greens, especially since they (and also the SNP in Scotland) are under new management. All would be wise to take votes off Labour everywhere, not just the Tories.

    3. Labour hasn't been in opposition; it's agreed with all the non-con policies. It will be possibly even more big state, tax and waste, but there won't be a great change at all, other than tax payers will be even more clobbered.

  23. Just come across a handy modernised rhyme for forecasting the weather

    Chem trails in the morning, Met Office warming.
    Chem trails at night, Met Office delight

  24. Good morning all,

    Grey at Castle McPhee, wind Westerly 13℃ rising to 17℃, showers this afternoon.

    One thing bothers me about 'The Return of The Nigel' and it's this:

    “If you care about net zero and getting there in a way that prioritises our country’s energy security and doesn’t land families with thousands of pounds in extra costs, I’m the one who’s going to deliver that, not Keir Starmer.”

    He wouldn't just cancel it then?

    1. I don't want to rely on foreign gas or oil though. Net zero or no net zero. And it's not a bad aim as long as people are not impoverished. The whole thing is baffling and the science seems unsettled and the whole thing is over-hyped, I think And I long stopped believing BBC nudging. But if he ditches Net Zero he might lose a lot of potential votes. Whether he believes it or not, practically speaking, no point losing votes for no good reason.

  26. There's an ex-professor of political studies called robertsonjames commentating in The Spectator.. he often repeats that it is absolutely impossible for Reform to win any meaningful number seats. It would require a seismic shift greater than the 1906 Liberal landslide.. the 1945 Labour victory.. and any other landslide all combined.

    Well, judging by the avalanche of 17,410,742 positive comments on social media.. it looks like, smells like, sounds like another brexit earthquake.

    1. Let us hope so. I feel my own rekindled after Nigels appearance on the stage

      1. All hinges for Reform for Farage to be able to extend the party's appeal beyond the Thatcherite core, as Leave did in 2016. Half of Corbyn's Momentum movement were Leavers, a third of Liberal Democrats, especially in the West Country, and there are many Greens sceptical about the EU's true commitment to the environment after being lobbied by powerful business interests eager to centralise and close down pesky small local competitors. None of these would find a bolt back to Thatcher remotely appealing, even though it might bring in some stalwart ex-Tories.

    2. Robertson James is a very sound guy. I can’t remember seeing any posts from him since the new comments regime was introduced – is this opinion from him recent?

      1. Is your body clock completely snafu for a health reason or jus because you've become used to being nocturnal? I find it difficult to get to sleep before 2am now but I have a nap in the middle of the afternoon that keeps me going. If I don't have that I am cranky and annoying (OK, MORE cranky and annoying).

        Is it one where you just need to stay active to reset your body clock?

  28. Looks like Gas prices might rise 18% this coming winter…

    Italy Pipes Up Against NATO Escalation as Court Ruling Could Cut Off Russian Gas Sooner Than Expected

    https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/06/italy-pipes-up-against-nato-escalation-as-court-ruling-could-cut-off-russian-gas-sooner-than-expected.html

    The headlines appear to infer Russia's Gazprom is to blame for cutting off supplies. However, it seems europe is determined not to allow payment (in Roubles) for supplies of gas….

    1. We're buying Russian gas from the Chinese. That's the absurdity of our situation. It is a deeply frustrating situation where government deliberately, for entirely ideological arrogance refuses to do the right thing over the expensive and complicated.

      I imagine this is because it doesn't have to pay the bills. The public do.

  29. Looks like Gas prices might rise 18% this coming winter…

    Italy Pipes Up Against NATO Escalation as Court Ruling Could Cut Off Russian Gas Sooner Than Expected

    https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/06/italy-pipes-up-against-nato-escalation-as-court-ruling-could-cut-off-russian-gas-sooner-than-expected.html

    The headlines appear to infer Russia's Gazprom is to blame for cutting off supplies. However, it seems europe is determined not to allow payment (in Roubles) for supplies of gas….

  30. Nato has ‘two to three years to prepare for war’, says Norway’s top general . 4 June 2024.

    Discussing Russia’s ability to rebuild its forces while waging war in Ukraine, General Eirik Kristoffersen said: “It will take some time, which gives us a window now for the next two to three years to rebuild our forces, to rebuild our stocks at the same times as we are supporting Ukraine”.

    This is the third ant-Russian propaganda piece this morning.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/06/04/ukraine-russia-war-live-russia-losses-casualties-nato-years/

    1. “Jaw, jaw is better than war, war.” Quote mistakenly attributed to Winston Churchill.

      2. Sir Martin Gilbert, speaking of this quote, noted that Churchill actually said, ‘Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war.’

    2. Well it's nice of them to let us know precisely when they're planning to start the next war.

  31. Every week, the BBC's PM programme picks a handful of constituencies at random for a special report the following week. Imagine my surprise when my own constituency was one of the chosen. They invited people living there to write in. Since Radio 4 is London-based and has little inkling of anything beyond the M25, they came up with "Ah, Worcester Woman, where is she?"

    I therefore offer nottlers a sneak preview of my submission before the BBC editors file it in the bin for failing to originate from a protected category:

    "Hello PM

    I live in West Worcestershire.

    This is a safe Tory seat and likely to remain so. Dame Harriett Baldwin is a bear of little brain, is seen in the right places and shows concern about local matters, but will respond with platitudes prepared by staffers. She is considered a good reliable Conservative and having a junior ministry is her reward.

    There was a strong Lib Dem challenge in 2005 by Tom Wells, a local musician and leader of Malvern Hills District Councillor, who left the party three years ago and now sits as an Independent. Lib Dems are strong in the town, whereas the Independents are strong in the villages. The Tories have been strong enough in both in the past to prevail comfortably.

    The Greens have been making steady progress in recent years, and there are as many Green district councillors as there are Tories. Labour is practically non-existent, but improved its standing under Miliband and Corbyn, mostly at the expense of Lib Dems who were in the dumps in 2015. There is little if any appetite for Starmer's leadership.

    It is a beautiful part of the country, and quality of life is very high. There is a lot of culture, but it must be said that most people are elderly and West Worcestershire has become somewhat of an asylum for Old Britain. It is Elgar Country.

    The fate of the Malvern Hills college shows well the difference between the parties. This was a bequest to the community in the 1930s with a grand purpose-built building. It was run for a long time by County, but was privatised when the Conservative-run County Council got rid of its interest in adult education. It changed hands several times, ending up with the Warwickshire College Group, who first downgraded the college to little more than basket weaving, centralising its other courses onto Evesham, The college was closed down during Lockdown, with a view to sell off the valuable site to a developer.

    One casualty of this was the world's smallest commercial theatre, the Theatre of Small Convenience, a 12-seater puppet theatre in the town. Its founder, Dennis Neale, fell ill and had to retire, so he passed the theatre to an arts group in the college, which went when the college closed. It is now languishing empty.

    I raised the issue during the last County elections. The county council, despite taking the lion's share of the Council Tax and having the remit for public education, showed no interest. The Independent-run District Council made a bid to buy the site for use as a community college. They were supported by the Greens in coalition with the Independents, but could not raise enough money, and the Warwickshire College Group were holding out to make more money from a developer. In the end this split the Independents after Tom Wells joined them with three other former Lib Dem councillors (including the 2019 Lib Dem parliamentary candidate) and took over the leadership. The Liberal Democrats said that the college was not viable, and that the money was better spent on social housing. The Conservative MP put in place a restrictive covenant, meaning the building and the site could only be used for educational purposes, as per the original bequest. Warwickshire Colleges Group are applying to the court to have this lifted, and the site remains on the market.

    One issue worth covering by PM is that a few years ago there were four pharmacies in Great Malvern high street (Church St). Since then pharmacies were given extra responsibilities for prescribing, taking pressure off the GP surgeries. Today, there are no pharmacies in Great Malvern – they have all closed, to be replaced by coffee houses and nail bars.

    Your programme wondered about "Worcester Woman" – this was actually referring to the city of Worcester, which has long been a bellwether Tory/Labour marginal. West Worcestershire Woman is closer to the traditional idea of the Middle England of the 1950s, updated by Green interests, and perhaps the best BBC portrayal can be found in 'The Archers'.

    The most important issue is Quality of Life, I think.

    Best regards
    Jeremy Morfey"

  32. Nice to hear from you Jeremy. Out of curiosity why do you not buy a proper computer?

    1. I am put off by the antics of the latest operating systems that force users to comply with the Cloud with its compulsory and unnotified malware installations and popups demanding agreement, and the continuing bloat slowing everything up and making it flaky and at risk from corporate cancellation.

        1. You have less. Don't get me wrong, all our desktops here are Linux Mint and oh my skies does that cause support people problems (Errr, you have to use Chrome on Windows….') but even that is still really chatty – an order of magnitude less than Windows and Mac OS, but it still pings out for captive portal detection.

          1. I’m just a user so I don’t understand any of the techie issues. My support person is my son in Basel and I haven’t had to trouble him at all since he installed it on my new laptop at Christmas. There are a couple of minor issues but they can wait till I see him.

          2. I am fine with the Laptop – after 40 years experience it is manageable when thing go "differently".
            My problem is Apple – i-pad & i-phone – OK when things just roll along.
            When "something happens" i need to call in a son (choice of 3) and they can straighten things out.
            For the money spent on the new Laptop my sons said I should have bought a MacBook – that was a joke on their part.

          3. I did inherit my son’s old Apple laptop some years ago, but it was already on the way out by then. Eventually the battery gave up. Since then I’ve only used Linux.

        2. I adopted a policy on my PC to avoid as much in the way of add-ons, apps, signing up for XYZ. Use my machine much as I did 10/15+ years ago. The only exception is that I can download/upload so much quicker since I got FTTP 3 weeks ago – 3,4 or 5Mbps for 20+ years and now 150Mbps.
          40 years of IBM PC in the house – was US model, odd keyboard, no £ sign and you put the date & time in every time you switched it on – them were the days!

          Changed my car in 2023 – some make, model as my old car 11 years old, only one repair bill (pot hole snapped main spring front)
          The new car was not the same car at all – taller, wider, longer all perfectly manageable. It was the move from manual switched, buttons for auto rather than a lever – again just getting used to it was OK. The big sticking point was the electronic interference driving – the odd one was useful (Blind Spot flasher on door mirrors etc) but nearly all the interfering electronics such as lane keeping etc etc all switched off. DAB Radio only good if you do not go far from home and do not drive in hilly areas.
          If I could have bought a brand new 2012 car it would have been easier and it was1/2 the price of today.

      2. That makes sense. I thought it was me. Computers ten years ago were much more efficient and easier to use. Now there are pop ups everywhere, you are forced to buy apps and subscriptions for what was once free, they seem to get full much more quickly. Actually, I am convinced that a significant part of the desire to work from home is because modern IT is so inefficient and frustrating that people prefer not to be in an office using it. Regular breaks need to be taken because it is so frustrating.

        1. I actually did an A Level in Computer Science fifty years ago.

          In those days, there was a real premium on computer resources, and saving kilobytes made a huge difference to both time and cost. I never got beyond Fortran and Cobol, but the emphasis was on covering every option, and programming in the most efficient way possible, rather than heaping bloated subroutine on bloated subroutine, doing the IT equivalent of digging a hole and filling it in again just because it was too much effort to clear out the bloat.

          Today, it is like a home lived in by a hoarder. After a while, it becomes overwhelming and one cannot even begin to clear out the dross, lest something precious is thrown out and then needed next week. How much space does a modern OS occupy? 50GB perhaps on disk and 8GB in memory? That is a hell of a lot of code to sift through.

        2. Yep!

          I remember a printer driver being 700mb. It installed SQL server to host the images software it also installed. On top of that, it replaced the standard Windows driver graphics – assuming it was the only printer going – with it's own, causing the dialogs to distort.

          A printer driver needs to be a few kilobytes to get going. Maybe if there's clever things like ink level detection, a few more – but those should be separate programs.

          Windows itself doesn't help as, in reality it hasn't changed much since 2000. The efficient fast light engine of Windows 2000 has been mangled with the increasing bloated mess of different visual styles, competing business department demands (make it an ad server! Push our 'free' software in there!' in a cross licencing deal, the comedic anti virus protections (because doing it properly to protect the core OS files is too much work)

      3. You'll get my whole hearted agreement there. The amount of intrusion, fiddling and faffing, the sheer volume of traffic in tracking, advertising hooks, 'widget' updates all combine to make my iMac the nosiest machine I have. When the Windows VM is started up it overtakes it by a mile.

        I think much of this is a complete lack of care for bandwidth, legalese disguised tripe saying 'you agreed to this in the EULA' and a general lack of concern for the purpose of an operating system.

        1. Same here. When my old Win10 computer pops its clogs (it's about 10 years old), I'll go with another OS, not Win 11.

      4. Jeremy. All you do is when you are setting up your new computer and it asks you if you would like this or that you relentlessly say no, until you get to the end of the process. Then you are home free with a tranquil computer, or as near as dammit. I have just done that on a new computer and all is fine.

  33. Nice to hear from you Jeremy. Out of curiosity why do you not buy a proper computer?

    2. It makes the commies who just lined people up against a wall and shot them look honest, doesn’t it?

      1. Morning Sue. In Communism you knew at least that there was overtly a charge sheet for your crime against the people, even if the real reason was obviously something else. In Canada you'll be virtuously helping the planet by dying, the State too, your loved ones and most of all of course, your own good self. Nevertheless, it's still not clear the real reason.

    3. If anyone doesn't realise that our cash-strapped national religion would be doing the same thing five minutes after the law was changed…they are probably intending to vote Labour :-(((

  35. this made me laugh:
    “SIR – Both Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak appear to be honest and sincere.
    Perhaps we should be more appreciative of the fact that, whoever wins the election here, it is unlikely we’ll be subjected to the self-serving shenanigans associated with Boris Johnson and Donald Trump.
    Patrick Miller
    Hartlepool, Co Durham”

    2. A good argument in favour of the more conventional sort of canine sniffing!

  38. A belated good morning to all! A bit of a lie in this morning.
    A bright dry morning so far with 11°C on the Yard Thermometer.

    A bit disappointing from ERNIE. The DT won £50 and I got bugger all! Second null month this year.

  39. Morning all 🙂😊
    And another grey summers day.
    I expect Nigel will be making sure his wheel nuts are tight and also not flying advertising in small aircraft.
    Does anyone know how he actually makes a living these days and would he not be better off avoiding full time politics.

    2. Reminds me of what MB did with the classroom skeleton and a lunchtime banana.

  41. 388099+ up ticks,

    General election latest: Tories have betrayed Britain and Reform won’t stand aside, says Farage

    I take this to mean,

    General election latest: Tories have betrayed Britain and Reform won’t stand aside, says Farage .
    We would never get away with it twice, this time we must come across as a genuine opposition party.

  42. Morning, all Y'all!
    So busy, just had a moment to check in.
    Muggy day; rain later.

    1. Hopefully the 'parents' will be charged with attempted murder/infanticide when/if apprehended.

    2. Hopefully the 'parents' will be charged with attempted murder/infanticide when/if apprehended.

  44. The electoral stakes have risen suddenly
    –
    The Tories are most vulnerable to this populist insurgency, despite announcing a series of policies aimed at potential Reform backers
    –
    TELEGRAPH VIEW • 3 June 2024 • 10:00pm
    –
    The Conservative Party's worst nightmare became a reality when Nigel Farage formally emerged from semi-retirement to throw himself fully into the election campaign for Reform. He promised to engineer a "revolt" on the Right and even to secure more votes than the Tories.

    Judging by the latest opinion polls, this is not a fanciful boast. A YouGov MRP survey for Sky News showed support for the Conservatives collapsing and forecast a Labour majority of 194, even without the intervention by Mr Farage.

    The former Brexit party and Ukip leader had previously indicated that he would stay out of the fray, but was persuaded to take the leadership of Reform in succession to Richard Tice. Support for the party has been running at about 12 per cent and Mr Farage's decision should see that figure rise.

    Since most of the party's votes are coming from disgruntled Conservatives, the higher the proportion it receives, the greater the chance of the Tories losing scores of seats that they might otherwise have retained. Mr Farage, however, has also set his sights on winning Labour votes, especially in the so-called Red Wall seats. In 2015, David Cameron won an unexpected majority because Ukip stopped Labour in many constituencies.

    Nonetheless, the Tories are most vulnerable to this populist insurgency, despite announcing a series of policies aimed at potential Reform backers. Support running at anything around 15 per cent nationally would see them in serious trouble, even if Reform itself wins few, if any, seats. One exception might be Clacton in Essex, where Mr Farage is to stand and which was won by Ukip in 2015.

    A weekend poll suggested that the Conservatives could be reduced to a rump of 66 seats in the Commons. Mr Farage envisages a meltdown on a par with that in Canada in 1993, when the ruling Conservatives retained only two seats in the 295-seat lower house.

    But if Reform performs so well that the Tories lose large numbers of seats, Labour will be elected by a landslide. Reform leaders get irritated when they are told that a vote for them means Sir Keir Starmer in No 10. They say that is going to happen anyway. Their ambition is now to replace the Conservatives as the main party of the Right over the next five years. The stakes in this election have just risen dramatically.
    –
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    1. from Coffee House, the Spectator

      Farage’s return is Rishi Sunak’s worst nightmare

      Comments Share 4 June 2024, 8:57am

      From the moment the Conservatives called this summer election they seemed doomed: Sunak had failed to deliver on his five promises, much of the electorate had given up on him, and Starmer looked set for power. But there still seemed like the possibility of a hung parliament, or perhaps Labour only getting a small majority, rather than a landslide.

      Last week, my polling firm J.L. Partners did a poll for the Rest is Politics podcast, which showed the Tories pushing Labour down to a 12-point lead. That was nothing to get excited about, but with Reform UK still on 12 per cent, it looked like there might be a way for the Tories to squeeze third-party voters to reduce Labour’s advantage further.

      With current Reform voters Farage has a net positivity rating of +79. That is God-like

      Even before Farage announced that he would be taking over as leader of Reform, this was already looking more difficult. Our latest poll, released on Monday, showed the Labour lead extending to 17 points, buoyed by ‘early middle aged’ voters and Liberal Democrats folding behind Starmer. Hesitations about Rishi Sunak and the party’s national service policy were part of the reason. Critically though, the Reform vote – which Sunak must squeeze to below 5 per cent if he wants to have any chance of depriving Labour of a majority – remained firmly at 12 per cent.

      Whereas before it was theoretically possible for the Tories to win over these voters, Nigel Farage has now locked in that Reform vote. With current Reform voters he has a net positivity rating of +79. That is God-like. I’m not exaggerating: that is a higher rating than the King, and higher even than the late Queen had with the public.

      Most popular

      Julie Burchill

      The glorious downfall of Lloyd Russell-Moyle

      In the same poll only one in three Reform voters said they were open to considering voting Conservative. Expect that number to come down further now their man is in the race.

      Farage has had something of a reputation makeover in the last six months. Before he went into the I’m a Celebrity jungle in November, he was seen as frank and straight-talking but lacking in relatability. Now, as well as the strongman they always respected, many voters in the middle see Farage as someone they might like too.

      All this means there is no understating the significance of his announcement yesterday. Farage’s presence and the excitement he brings to this campaign now means he will dominate it. His return is Sunak’s worst nightmare and a total repudiation of the prime minister’s ‘go early’ strategy that was supposed to flush Farage out.

      Sunak now faces this new threat with a public deeply disaffected with politics, the Conservative party in the doldrums and immigration a top three issue for the public. It is the most fertile ground for Farage yet and truly dire for the Tories.

      What should the Tories do now? It would be wrong, in my view, to assume their policy blitz of the last week has caused them problems. It is true that the national service announcement did drive up Labour votes. But it is reasonable to think this would have happened anyway as Labour rolled out their message to 2019 Liberal Democrat and Green voters. The only option for the Tories at this election is to target voters on their right: the pension triple lock plus resonated well with this group.

      But policy has its limitations. Winning Reform voters is going to be so much harder now because Farage embodies their values. He can also make the fair observation that Labour will win anyway, so a vote for Reform is cost-free.

      The Conservatives might do well to take a leaf from this playbook. Rather than pretending they can win, they should put the spotlight on the consequences of a crushing Labour majority. They should say that a vote for Reform simply means higher immigration levels under Starmer, or more woke culture, or higher taxes. This is likely to be more effective than trying to ape Farage at his own policy which will simply divide the Conservative party and make it harder to recover afterwards.

      Keir Starmer should not rest completely easy. In an analysis for the Sun a few weeks ago, we showed that Farage re-entering the campaign could take some voters from Labour too. Farage in parliament also makes Starmer’s job in government harder.

      But there are few Tory cherries to be picked here. Farage’s re-entry has changed the game. For the first time, a genuine wipeout of the Conservatives is a serious possibility.

      1. Rishi Sunak's worst nightmare would be winning the election and having to be Prime Minister through whatever evil the parasite class is determined to inflict on us during the next five years.

    2. There is another important section of the electorate that is being ignored by the media – those that abstained or spoilt their ballot papers in 2019 and are generally fed up with all the options on the table.

      Starmer thinks all that is needed to bring them in is to shout "CHANGE" on every poster, with absolutely nothing to suggest that in reality all he is offering is a worse version to what the Tories have delivered since the fall of Blair in ignominy. I have great trepidation about Starmer, who I think is another Stalin, but lacking even a 5 Year Plan, and his only virtue he can boast is that he is not Corbyn. Surely there must be a better alternative to the Tories?

      It is presumed that Farage will take votes off the Tories, since these are easy cherries to pick. Why though can't he take votes elsewhere, especially amid those who really do not know who to vote for any longer? Above all, he should be taking votes off Labour, especially Corbyn loyalists who despair at the return of Blair with a vengeance. I voted Labour at a general election once when Corbyn was leader.

      Rather than automatically presuming Starmer will be coronated in Downing St on 5th July, maybe it is time to think the unthinkable?

      If Starmer's New New Labour fails to inspire the nation, the Tories are out for the count, the SNP and the Lib Dems recover enough to take a few seats they might have lost, the Greens grab one or two and split the Left in other places, then if Reform also takes one or two with a huge popular vote, it might end up holding the balance of power. If Farage turns out to be the only person capable of uniting the nation, then he is going to have to work with the Lib Dems, the Greens, the SNP, Plaid Cymru, and the rump of Independent Tories and non-Starmer Labour (most likely the non-Muslims).

      What has he to say to them?

  45. The electoral stakes have risen suddenly
    –
    The Tories are most vulnerable to this populist insurgency, despite announcing a series of policies aimed at potential Reform backers
    –
    TELEGRAPH VIEW • 3 June 2024 • 10:00pm
    –
    The Conservative Party's worst nightmare became a reality when Nigel Farage formally emerged from semi-retirement to throw himself fully into the election campaign for Reform. He promised to engineer a "revolt" on the Right and even to secure more votes than the Tories.

    Judging by the latest opinion polls, this is not a fanciful boast. A YouGov MRP survey for Sky News showed support for the Conservatives collapsing and forecast a Labour majority of 194, even without the intervention by Mr Farage.

    The former Brexit party and Ukip leader had previously indicated that he would stay out of the fray, but was persuaded to take the leadership of Reform in succession to Richard Tice. Support for the party has been running at about 12 per cent and Mr Farage's decision should see that figure rise.

    Since most of the party's votes are coming from disgruntled Conservatives, the higher the proportion it receives, the greater the chance of the Tories losing scores of seats that they might otherwise have retained. Mr Farage, however, has also set his sights on winning Labour votes, especially in the so-called Red Wall seats. In 2015, David Cameron won an unexpected majority because Ukip stopped Labour in many constituencies.

    Nonetheless, the Tories are most vulnerable to this populist insurgency, despite announcing a series of policies aimed at potential Reform backers. Support running at anything around 15 per cent nationally would see them in serious trouble, even if Reform itself wins few, if any, seats. One exception might be Clacton in Essex, where Mr Farage is to stand and which was won by Ukip in 2015.

    A weekend poll suggested that the Conservatives could be reduced to a rump of 66 seats in the Commons. Mr Farage envisages a meltdown on a par with that in Canada in 1993, when the ruling Conservatives retained only two seats in the 295-seat lower house.

    But if Reform performs so well that the Tories lose large numbers of seats, Labour will be elected by a landslide. Reform leaders get irritated when they are told that a vote for them means Sir Keir Starmer in No 10. They say that is going to happen anyway. Their ambition is now to replace the Conservatives as the main party of the Right over the next five years. The stakes in this election have just risen dramatically.
    –
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

  47. I'm coming to the conclusion that today's oxymoron should be "General Election". I've never heard so many meaningless promises made by so many politicians in such a short time, all of which come across as empty vote catching soundbites and treat us with disdain. If these were so important why has it taken them 14 years of inaction to do nothing about them.

  49. https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/some-awkward-questions-for-the-candidate-on-your-doorstep/
    From the Conservative Woman : Some awkward questions for the candidate on your doorstep
    "Immigration must make it much more difficult for the NHS. Net migration for the year ending June 2023 was 672,000. UK population grew by 2.5million in the 20 years from 1980 to 2000. In the next 20 years it swelled by 8.2million. England now has 1,135 people per square mile, France 306 and Oregon (a US state about the same size as the UK) 43."

    Q. Of the 672,000 people making up the Net migration figure what percentage of these are not of the same ethnicity as the indigenous UK population?

    A. Don't worry about that. In 25 years time the indigenous UK population will have changed its ethnicity and the new arrivals will fit in perfectly

    1. If I got the chance to sink my teeth into a candidate, my first question would be about the WHO pandemic treaty and my second about the net zero scam.
      The media's pushing the agenda onto migration – which should be enough to tell you that it's not the most serious issue!

  50. Up to 600,000 migrants would be allowed into Britain every year by Reform, Nigel Farage has said (Chris Smyth writes).

    The party’s new leader said that skilled immigration would continue “in limited numbers” across a range of sectors, including care workers. He contrasted this with construction workers, where “we literally don’t need any” foreign workers.

    But he said with 500,000 people leaving the UK every year there was “plenty of room” for overseas workers while bringing net migration towards zero. “You’d still have room within the labour market for up to to 600,000 people,” he told Today on BBC Radio 4. “Now hopefully, we wouldn’t need that many but it still leaves plenty of room.”

    He insisted: “We cannot go on as we are, we have to limit numbers, our lives, our quality of life in this country is being diminished by the population explosion. If that means that in some sectors, there’d be shortages what that then means is that wages would go up and we’d start to encourage people to learn skills rather than heading off to university.”

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uk-general-election-tv-debate-latest-news-itv-keir-starmer-rishi-sunak-xrc85cglp

    C Shepherd
    13 MINUTES AGO

    Andrew, check the figures. Of the 3,000,000 permanent (immigrant) visas handed out like candy in the last two years, only 7% were given to careworkers, and only 4% to skilled workers (who, though "skilled", can earn as little as £38,000, at which salary they are a net drain on the taxpayer).

    The remaining ~2,670,000 visas were given to dependants, students (56% of whom are given leave to remain after their studies end, with or without a job), refugees, Ukrainians, and so forth.

    This is not sustainable.

  51. Yo and Good Moaning all, from (sunny) Costa del Skeg

    Surley, the time has come to limit the playing time of the top players in a single season."

    Let us go the whole hog and apply it to all jobs.

    Ok, I know the 'working'-from-home Snivel Serpents are already doing it, as are a lot of employees in other areas of business.

    Footballers get very, very highly paid, relative to other workers and that is just what they are: they work just a couple of days a week…..

  52. Because of the EPC rating of our house we do not qualify for the grant that would fit solar and a heat pump. Our neighbours do.

    We don't have £15K sat around to splurge on these things. We did, and we wanted to, but we don't any more as other things took precedence. Saving that up will take nine months – assuming nothing else goes wrong.

    EPC is a pointless faff that doesn't measure the actual heat loss. It just seems to tally up double glazing, cavity walls, loft insulation and say yep, you have all three, you're a C. It ignores the efficacy of these systems. There seems to be no way to appeal because big fa state really isn't interested in doing anything useful.

    Which leaves us with plan A. Move.

    2. Our house is a listed 18thC stone cottage with solid walls and some later additions. There's no way it meets modern EPC standards.

  53. Both Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak appear to be honest and sincere. :Doctor

    Patrick Miller
    Hartlepool, Co Durham

    I see the monkey is alive and will and still in the same town

    1. Appearances can be deceptive.
      I give you Nick Clegg. A charming man. A disastrous politician.

    2. Appearances can be deceptive.
      I give you Nick Clegg. A charming man. A disastrous politician.

  54. I'm not sure I understand the context. Market forces determine pay. This is why (some) footballers are paid a lot. It's what makes supermarkets competitive and energy not at all. It's why insurance has soared across the board everywhere although that's mostly down to government policy in not stopping green maniacs from damaging expensive cars and forcing electric vehicles on us.

    The public sector is immune to markets. That's why it is inefficient, bloated and unproductive. Case in point: council wonk sees a problem of too many tickets coming through and hires another person. We see too many tickets come through and change our processes to better handle, route and queue them. The state achieves very little efficiency improvement because those doing the work are tied up in meetings talking about the work or the people doing the work. The private sector just gets on with it.

  55. You reap what you sow.

    In failing to make any arrangements with the Brexit Party in 2019 and by bungling Brexit and losing Northern Ireland to the EU and by losing the exclusive rights of UK fishermen to UK fishing waters, the Conservative Party, then led by Boris Johnson, betrayed both Farage's Brexit Party and the majority of UK voters who had chosen to leave the EU in the referendum.

    Not surprisingly Nigel Farage does not feel any obligation to support the Conservatives again and many voters now agree with him that the last five years have shown that the Conservative Party deserves to die.

    (To confuse my metaphors homophonically : The Conservatives will reap what they sow and Farage is giving people hope that he can sew up the Conservative Party!)

    1. You place far too much emphasis on the importance of Northern Ireland and UK fishing waters. They won't be much of a consideration for most voters on mainland Britain.

      1. You put too little emphasis on the importance of principle, national borders and democracy.

        1. Whatever the failures in my emphases, I just don't think those two matters will have much influence on any outcomes in this election on mainland Britain.

          Northern Ireland voters might take it into account, although many will be torn by opposing forces. A substantial number still value Northern Ireland's position in the United Kingdom, but most – whether Republican or Loyalist – didn't want trade barriers erected between them and the Republic of Ireland.

          As for democracy, a small majority of those in Northern Ireland who voted in the 2016 referendum wanted to remain in the European Union.

          The UK fishing industry will matter to those communities dotted around our coast who still – or would like to – make a living from it, but it's now rather small – could have been bigger – and will now be seen by many as no more important than coal mining.

      2. You put too little emphasis on the importance of principle, national borders and democracy.

    2. You place far too much emphasis on the importance of Northern Ireland and UK fishing waters. They won't be much of a consideration for most voters on mainland Britain.

  58. If half a million go out and 600,000 come in are we not losing the most capable and gaining the dross?

    There's wider changes that need to be made as well. We must stop paying people to breed. If you can't afford to raise your child on your own, you can't have them. Yes, I appreciate this makes me something of a hypocrite demanding public funding for our home changes but I'm paying for that in taxes anyway. I just want my own money back.

    That would stop the draw for the majority and might stop muslim breeding. Immigrants should also pay toward their own healthcare cost. I spoke with an Indian woman who wanted to bring her parents here to get them care she couldn't afford in India. She seemed to think it almost evil that she couldn't bring her entire family over to trough.

    In addition school places should be paid for – but then why not make schools voucher based anyway and move the whole lot into a free market? Do the same for healthcare and the administrative cost evaporates as well.

    So many simple things could be done, but the political class has no interest in making these obvious, simple changes.

    1. Whatever “solution” the state comes up with is always the most expensive and circuitous route.

    2. Yes. As long as benefits are paid, the dross will never leave. The people who perceive that they are paying said benefits will leave.

    3. Why are politicians so dishonest and seemingly stupid ?
      Let's be honest, people would not be flooding out of the UK if it hadn't been for their stupidity in the first place.

  60. More notable is that our infrastructure hasn't changed to adapt to the 65 million figure, let alone the 85 million we labour under.

    That's ten Southamptons. Worse, the morons in government are running down our infrastructure – destroying power stations, not building reservoirs, not dredging rivers all out of political spite.

    1. Even worse they are building on productive farm land. When the food runs out, the excrement will hit the rotator.

    2. Even worse they are building on productive farm land. When the food runs out, the excrement will hit the rotator.

  62. You have said succinctly and brilliantly what I have been trying to express in ages.

    Warmakers since WW2 think nothing of blitzing whole cities as a necessary component of war, and yet whilst the news dwells on the human casualties, rather than the lumpen matter of things, nevertheless far more than human lives is lost. It takes nine months to make a human being, which is designed to last no more than a century at most before needing replacement. To create the heritage for a civilisation worth having, and you start with centuries and build up from there.

    In recent years, we have lost Aleppo, Grozny, Mariupol, Gaza, Mecca, (yes, 98% of that ancient city, holy to many, has been destroyed in this century). Brazil lost its national museum to fire; the archive of Universal Studios with its priceless collection of original recordings of much of 20th century jazz lost by mismanagement; and the national library destruction in Bucharest during the uprising against Ceausescu wiped out most of Romanian literary heritage. My heart bled when I saw those wonderful wood carvings in the souks of Aleppo burning.

    On a far more mundane level, I have been building an outbuilding extension to my cottage, which has claimed years of me. All that could be wiped out without a thought or a care and would never be replaced.

    Before my paternal grandmother died, we used to argue. She had lived for six months after she was given 24 hours to live, and was argumentative to the end. As a teenager, I lamented the loss of so many beloved landmarks to the developers of the early 1970s. She looked up and said "nonsense, Jeremy, you must live with the times and embrace progress – sweep away the old and in with the new". This was an 89-year-old lady addressing a lad of 16.

    My maternal grandmother had a much more straightforward remedy to the troubles of the world. She would say "I think we should line them up against a wall and shoot them", but then she was a clergyman's wife.

    1. Somebody remarked this morning that Putin should be assassinated (a limp dim of course). I told him there were lots of people I'd like to see lined up against a wall and shot, but Putin wasn't one of them.

  63. In my experience, the big fat state splurges money everywhere on everyone who is in need – except me when I really, really need some help, there is never any for me.
    That reminds me, my quarterly tax bill is due soon >:-((

    1. Yep. Free this, free that; only when you read the small print people like me don't qualify.

  65. My niece has a friend who said this on WhatsApp to her:

    "One of the girls at works nieces had Liz truss come to her door at the weekend (doing the rounds and trying to get votes)

    Liz truss handed her a leaflet and her niece went “oh sorry I don’t have enough room in the back for a conservatory”

    1. Unfortunately I can't read telegraph reports on line.
      But I wonder how so called 'scientists and experts' might explain how the deaths from covid 'vaccination' only seemed to have an effect on the 'underclasses' but not any of the so called hierarchy..

      1. The AstraZeneca vaccine – should you be worried?

        The jab has been linked to at least 81 fatalities and numerous injuries. How did it work and, if you had it, should you be concerned?

        David Cox 11 May 2024 • 9:00am

        AstraZeneca vaccines

        In 2021 alone, around 2.5 billion doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were administered globally Credit: Getty

        Earlier this week, the European Commission announced that the Covid-19 vaccine, developed as part of a collaboration between the British pharma company AstraZeneca and University of Oxford, is no longer authorised for use, after the company made the decision to remove it from the market.

        The news follows a high-profile court case in which AstraZeneca was sued by more than 50 alleged victims and grieving relatives, relating to serious injuries or death due to a very rare side effect which occurred during the vaccine rollout.

        Overall, the jab has been linked to at least 81 fatalities and hundreds of injuries in the UK, and Dr Michael Head, a global health researcher at the University of Southampton, says that more should have been done to make it easier for those who suffered vaccine-related harm, to receive compensation.

        “The public sign up for a vaccine campaign in good faith,” says Dr Head. “If there are adverse events, then those who were injured by vaccines are entitled to compensation. And I suspect that those compensation mechanisms are harder to access than they should be.”

        It is now almost three and a half years from when the vaccine was first approved for use in the UK in December 2020. While it is widely acknowledged to have played a major role in curbing the vast numbers of hospitalisations and fatalities from Covid-19, there remain ongoing questions as to why it seems to have led to sudden death or permanent injury in a small minority of people.

        How did the AstraZeneca vaccine work and how was it different to Pfizer’s vaccine?

        As Peter Openshaw, a professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London points out, AstraZeneca is not traditionally a vaccine company. Instead, AstraZeneca is better known for producing drugs to treat cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and rare diseases.

        During the first year of the pandemic, the company formed a collaboration with vaccine experts at the University of Oxford who had been developing a vaccine platform based on adenoviruses, common viruses which typically cause cold or flu-like symptoms. This technology had already been studied for many years as a means of developing vaccines against other coronaviruses such as SARS and MERS, which had previously caused epidemics, as well as deadly viruses such as Ebola, Zika and HIV.

        While the Covid vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna carried strands of artificial messenger RNA, molecules designed to instruct immune cells to recognise and attack a virus, the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine achieved the same results via a subtly different mechanism. The injection inserted an adenovirus – carefully modified so that it could not replicate inside human cells – which was carrying the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein gene. When this adenovirus bumped into immune cells in the blood of the recipient, it would insert its DNA into these cells, stimulating them to release their own natural messenger RNA, thus spreading the message across the immune system to be alert to the presence of the coronavirus.

        How effective was it in protecting against Covid?

        A large clinical trial in 2020 showed that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine offered strong protection against Covid-19, with an overall efficacy of 76 per cent. While this was lower than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine had the advantage of being more robust, due to the resilience of adenoviruses. Because it didn’t require storage at ultra-cool temperatures, it was ideal for being transported around the world and played a key role in vaccinating people across low-income countries.

        In 2021 alone, around 2.5 billion doses of the vaccine were administered globally, with studies showing that it saved an estimated 6.3 million lives. Dr Head says that it played a key role in reducing mortality rates from Covid-19 in India during the first half of 2021 when the delta variant was spreading rapidly through the country.

        “Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines had to be frozen, whereas one of the selling points of the AstraZeneca vaccine was firstly, it was cheaper, and also, it could be stored at fridge temperatures,” he says. “So for a couple of years, it was a vaccine for the world that could be used far more easily in low income settings, like for example in rural Africa.”

        Why did people die?

        The deaths and injuries are related to a very rare condition known as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), causing the affected person to develop life-threatening blood clots around their body, ranging from the limb veins to major arteries, lungs, the abdomen, and the brain. People with TTS sometimes experienced initial symptoms ranging from breathing difficulties, chest pain, leg swelling, to persistent headaches, difficulty speaking and confusion, depending on where the clots were located.

        This risk appears to have been higher in under-60s who received the vaccine, while young women seem to have been slightly more likely to develop TTS.

        We still know relatively little about why certain, otherwise healthy individuals developed TTS as a consequence of receiving the vaccine, but one study suggested that in these rare cases, the adenovirus may have entered the bloodstream and accidentally bound to a small protein called platelet factor 4 (PF4). This could have triggered the immune system to mistakenly attack PF4, causing platelets to cluster together and form blood clots.

        At the same time, Dr Head says it is important to remember that there was a far higher risk of developing blood clots from Covid-19 infection, compared to the vaccine. A 2021 study showed that for every 10 million people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine, approximately 66 people would develop blood clots in their veins and seven would develop clots in their brain. However, in comparison, if the same number of people were infected by Covid-19, 12,614 would develop clots in their blood vessels and 20 would experience clots in their brain.

        But going forward, Prof Openshaw says it will be important to understand more about why vaccine-induced TTS occurred and how to prevent this risk in the design of future jabs.

        “It’s so difficult when there are rare adverse effects to understand why they’ve happened, but it may be a great source of biological importance in future vaccine development to do so,” he says. “In the field of vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), there was a trial by GSK that was using RSV vaccines in pregnant women, where they found there was an increase in the frequency of premature labour. Nobody understands why, but until we know, everyone feels very nervous about future vaccines of that sort. So understanding the mechanisms behind these rare and often inexplicable side effects is very, very important.”

        I had the AstraZeneca vaccine. Should I be worried?

        In short, no. Research showed that the risk of TTS was lower after the second dose of the vaccine than the first, and for people who experienced severe side effects, the development of clots happened relatively quickly.

        “With any vaccine, the effects are noticed pretty quickly,” says Dr Head. “Anything that’s more neurological or related to blood clots, you probably would notice within one to three weeks. You wouldn’t get a sudden adverse event appearing years later. So people who’ve had the AstraZeneca vaccine dose in more recent times, if they’ve not had an adverse event now, they don’t need to be worried about anything occurring in the future.”

        Why was the vaccine withdrawn?

        This is believed to have been a purely commercial decision from AstraZeneca, rather than anything directly related to the cases of vaccine injury or the lawsuit.

        Researchers point out that the demand for Covid vaccines is now much lower compared to three years ago, and the jab has been surpassed by those produced by Pfizer, Moderna and another company called Novavax.

        “The AstraZeneca vaccine wasn’t quite as effective as these other vaccines, which is why they’re better bets going forward,” says Dr Head. “And we now know that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines can be chilled rather than frozen for longer than was first thought, so the advantages of the AstraZeneca vaccine are less pronounced than they used to be.”

        1. Interesting.
          MB had his heart attack (myocardial infarction) a fortnight to the day after his first AZ jab.

      2. ”But I wonder how so called 'scientists and experts' might explain how the deaths from covid 'vaccination' only seemed to have an effect on the 'underclasses' but not any of the so called hierarchy”.

        Maybe because the hierarchy didn’t actually have them?

    2. Unfortunately I can't read telegraph reports on line.
      But I wonder how so called 'scientists and experts' might explain how the deaths from covid 'vaccination' only seemed to have an effect on the 'underclasses' but not any of the so called hierarchy..

    3. Nearly 1500 comments there now – most saying the vaxxes have caused the excess deaths – for this to now be openly commented on in the DT is a turn-up.

  67. Lots of choices:
    Wordle 1,081 4/6

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

    2. The dizzy heights of back-to-back birdies…. big comeuppance awaiting!

      Wordle 1,081 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
      🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  71. I want Reform to win. I'd love to see every seat in the Commons go to Reform.

    However, as with Brexit the state will then slam an iron curtain the size of Jupiter in it's path and ensure absolutely nothing got done. If Reformers say 'Cut welfare' then the secretary of state would first do nothing – for months, prevaricating at every turn. Then when prodded it would raise countless legal challenges mobilising the entire quangocracy against Reform. Bogged down in legalese – which would have to be dealt with by the department, so only made worse the entire process of one simple change would never get done, consuming the entire department – deliberately – to stagnate the policy. Then, having failed utterly they'd just run out of time.

    Decades without elections are needed. The political class have to think long term, not short but the election cycle prevents that and the state deliberately hinders anything that does not suit their agenda.

  72. Reform would reduce net migration to zero, says Farage. 4 June 2024.

    Nigel Farage said Reform would reduce annual net migration to zero.

    The party’s new leader said the nation was suffering because of a “population explosion” and “we cannot go on as we are” because people’s quality of life was being “diminished”.

    Asked what he wanted the annual net migration number to be, Mr Farage told the BBC: “Net migration at zero would be the target.”

    Beware of selective quotes. Morning Belle.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/04/general-election-latest-news-sunak-starmer-farage/

      1. But it is white indigenous folk who are leaving, JN – blacks and slammers coming in.

  73. 388099+ up ticks,

    Sound advice & judgement seems to be lacking in many areas,
    "Miranda" has the gift of ALL con men, the gab.

    Nigel Farage
    @Nigel_Farage
    ·
    Jan 4, 2021
    I do not agree with Tony Blair on much but he has led the debate on vaccinations well.

    Put him in charge of the vaccine programme and let's have a government of all the talents to end this unmitigated disaster.

    https://x.com/UnityNewsNet/status/1797918311562527225

      1. He'd steal the door and invite squatters in to your home, then feed them the cat using ingredients he has stolen from your cupboards.

        As a final act of spite he'd leave the oven on.

        1. You missed a bit….he’d take thousands in advanced rent from the squatters.

    2. Hi Ogga! Curious, what are you going to do in terms of voting? I am seriously conflicted in that I don't want to vote for Farage but I don't want to vote for any of the others. So do I hold my nose and vote Farage or do what Gerard Suggests and write: "Non of the above." on my ballot.

      What I would really like is for Tommy Robinson to cotton on to the fact he needs to begin cultivating the middle class and bring them into his movement. The "O tommy, Tommy etc" is wearing a bit thin" and is not attractive to an important segment of the population, it's all a bit football and drinking. But if he could tap into the middle class he would build a unstoppable patriotic movement in my opinion. The reality is that throughout Western history it has been the middle class that has created revolution, not the working class or their opposite, the upper class. So without them you are beating a dead horse.

      1. Nigel Farage upset ogga – and many others – by describing Tommy Robinson as a yob and saying that there was no place for him and his ilk in UKIP.

        This was snobbish but Farage did not want to deter the Middle Classes from supporting UKIP. Yes it was snobbish but it was pragmatically snobbish!

        On many issues Farage and Robinson share the same beliefs and should be on the same side politically. Farage should be less snobbish and more inclusive socially and perhaps Robinson could try to be just a little bit less defiantly yobbish!

        .

        1. Actually Rastus it was far worse than that. Farage actively sabotaged UKIP out of jealousy concerning Gerard Batten. Ogga knows the story. It is why neither of us trust Farage.

        2. Farage upset me because when he stomped off, he described UKIP supporters and activists (the very people who had helped him in his campaigns and stood for UKIP as candidates) as "racists and bigots". Well, Nigel, when I was pounding the streets campaigning for you I wasn't a racist bigot then and I'm the same person now.

      2. What you say is true, that throughout history it has been the middle classes who have created revolution. However, there is a big caveat. You want to look at what happened to them once they had got their way….. All they did was to smooth the path for the bad actors to take power. The only "revolution" that did not result in that was the industrial one.

        1. Hi Peta! I am not thinking of revolution in a negative manner but in a neutral sense. I would argue that the industrial, revolution was also driven by the middle class, because they had the means to invent the instruments that created that revolution. I would say that here we have to reclaim our history and start taking pride in ourselves. After all we are the country that invented the modern world and all its wonders. So we need a revolution in pride for what and who we are, we have nothing to be ashamed of and everything to be proud of, and, I believe, that is what Robinson is about. But the cry should not be "O Tommy etc" but a variation on, 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!' or some such battle cry. We need to restore the vision in Jerusalem, which, I believe represents the quintessential English vision.

          1. Hello Jonathan 🙂 The industrial revolution was indeed driven by the middle classes but of course it wasn’t a violent one designed to overthrow the ruling classes. I think to say that “we invented the modern world and all its wonders” while partly true, is a bit of an over-statement. We didn’t, for example, invent the printing press which in itself was revolutionary , and much of what we have done for the modern world has roots in the ancient world – democracy for example. However, we do have every reason to be proud of the very large, positive contribution we made much of which was actually driven by colonialism, though that of course is a very unpopular thing to say these days 😆!
            I cannot warm to Robinson though I do see where he is coming from, and equally, I have, and always have had, some reservations about Farage. That said, the “pride in who we are” revolution has to start somewhere because we cannot go on as we are – Farage and Reform are as good a starting point as any. If I were them I would target Red Wall seats using decent, credible candidates. In my view it is the only way they are going to get any MPs elected and keep Labour out of at least some seats. They do not have the organisation nor the money to put up anything like 650 credible candidates and it is foolish to think they can.

          2. I don't think it is an over statement to say that we invented the modern world at all. I am, of course aware of antecedents that flow from ancient times and become our present but those ancient things are largely irrelevant. Yes they created seeds that grew but in very few instances are the things that we do are a mature growth of what the ancients did. We would, for example, be horrified by Greek Democracy.
            Here is a list, take these things away and there would not be a modern world and bear in mind this is only in one field of human endeavour. But then you can also turn your attention to the arts and sports and again you would see that the modern world is severely lacking if the British achievements are subtracted from the whole, medicine too. None of the great international sports would exist and in the arts we have, of course Shakespeare, Dickens etc. In the philosophical world and political world it is British ideas that prevail. Pragmatism and Utilitarianism characterise our daily dealings in business and in the world of politics Parliamentary democracy and even the Republicanism of the USA, inspired by British political philosophers.
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_innovations_and_discoveries

          3. We may not have invented the printing press, but we used it to good advantage to further ideas and enlightenment.

      3. Trouble is, TR comes across as a gobby yob – despite the obvious truth of a lot of what he says.

        He'd never get my vote or support.

          1. I agree that he performed well there – but you have only to see him when he is holding forth on court steps, or in the street to find a quite different persona.

      4. Trouble is, TR comes across as a gobby yob – despite the obvious truth of a lot of what he says.

        He'd never get my vote or support.

      5. 388099+ up ticks,

        Morning JR,
        Totally agreement with your post
        personally I am going for Daisy the cow as I informed AtG yesterday,
        she is patriotic, as is the herd, done society no harm and is farmer friendly.
        Otherwise Gerard is right but I find NOTA to be an empty gesture.
        The lost opportunity in regards to Gerard and the one year, very successful leadership via fools still holding faith in the governing overseers was to me immense.

        Where would we be now as a very
        credible party if treachery had NOT intervened meted out via
        the party NEC & the farage chap.

        Poor excuse the Gerard Batten / Tommy personal adviser tie to put Gerard down, then in the same breath to ask him to stay another six months.

        As for him being a full party member with his following, unstoppable, and that is what the political “nasties” could foresee.

        1. I remain puzzled by Daisy the Cow in preference to NOTA. Is Daisy the Cow a euphemism for any candidate not belonging to a mainstream party or does she represent not voting at all, not even spoiling your ballot paper?

          1. 388099+ up ticks,

            Afternoon DW,

            My personal choice as NOTA is to me of no content whereas my choice is patriotic, has a following and is farmer friendly.

          2. You are still communicating in riddles. Just tell me which candidate in your constituency will be getting your vote.

          5. 388099+ up ticks,

            DW,
            The bus has India on the tires but it ain’t going to Delhi.

            Regardless of that fact ,Daisy the cow WILL be my casting vote on the 4th July.

        1. This is the lawfare documentary.

          Have it but haven’t watched it yet. But I’m not the one that needs persuading it’s Bill Thomas

      7. Console yourself with the thought that, unless you live in Clacton, you are not actually voting for Nigel. You are voting for your Reform candidate (grill him or her on what he/she actually believes) and the party's policies.

  74. Once the ‘indigenous’ population has changed its ethnicity, those who are here will not find it difficult to oppose further immigration (other than the rest of their village where they are a sponsor). This is because:
    1. The magnetic draw will be much less once there are no higher rate taxpayers to fund everything for new arrivals.
    2. Related to 1. Will be the fact that society will have split into sectarian factions that will be visiting violence on each other in the manner of the countries from which we imported them.
    3. The Guardianista/BBC axis will have departed (in one way or another) and no longer be crying ‘fascist’ at anybody who stems the flow or ‘transphobe’ at anybody who believes in biology.
    4. Capital punishment will have been reintroduced so foreign criminals will find this country less congenial.

    1. For 3 they might, but the group the BBC so fervently supported will turn on them. Considering the demographic of the BBC they're in for a shock when invited to a rooftop meeting with the local Hamas supporters group.

  75. Nothing. Starmer – no politician – cares about the electorate at all. They're solely focussed on doing whatever they want to do.

    Thing is, Starmer will do absolutely nothing. His waffle about 'gb energy' is a farce as the blunt reality of force building more windmills will cost an absolute fortune in cash 9as we can't make them) and takes years, probably decades. Then we're lumbered with their offensive subsidy for the next two decades while hey produce 5% of the energy they were supposed to at ever ratcheting costs.

    In the meantime Reeves will pretend to create a wealth fund – which reminds me of a drug addict and their cash: they don't think beyond the next hit. Labour will spend a lot of money but it will all evaporate into even bigger government because not one of them understands how to actually improve things because they've never had to. There's always more money to take to say they are, but never the real world outcomes people expect. What there are is an awful lot of headlines and publicity. The state gets bigger, the politico gets the credit, but on the floor everything gets worse for the customer because, well, they're an annoyance big government would rather do without.

  76. If true – and it is, by basic economic fact – who will pay the welfare bills of the immigrants? Who will build everything? Who will maintain everything? Who will teach? Who will repair? Who, bluntly, will pay for everything? Because it isn't the immigrants, that's for sure.

  77. Well, that livened things up. BBC, LBC & Sky in meltdown. They get him on to ridicule and bait.. and it all backfires nicely.

    "There are streets in Oldham where no one speaks English' and not subscribing to British values."

    1. To be fair there are UK expats living in France who don't speak a word of French.

      It would not be unreasonable for all countries to have rules about all immigrants having to pass proficiency tests in the language of the indigenous residents.

      1. to be fair.. those expats haven't been known to wear hissin backpacks, nor decapitate poppy sellers.

      2. My brother and family emigrated to Canada in about mid80s all four of them had to be able to speak some French! They went to Toronto.

      3. I wouldn't mind betting, however, that despite not speaking the language, the Brits actually shared French values.

  78. Well, that livened things up. BBC, LBC & Sky in meltdown. They get him on to ridicule and bait.. and it all backfires nicely.

    "There are streets in Oldham where no one speaks English' and not subscribing to British values."

    1. Daily Fail.

      in other news..
      bookmakers make Nigel Farage the odds-on favourite at 4-9 to win Clacton in the upcoming general election.

      Pah. Everybody knows bookies are always wrong.

      1. Ah, sorry. I landed on it and got distracted by Rhian Sugden and the 2nd hardest working bra.

      1. Fun fact.. Total turnover at Hong Kong Jockey Club reached record heights during 2022-23 to £30.94bn.. x3 UK.
        Not bad for a couple of Mickey Mouse tracks.. Happy Valley course is less than a mile in length, and can just about cram in 12 horses.

        1. The real entertainment at Happy Valley in my view, is watching the punters go berserk with excitement. Nobody gambles like a Chinaman.

        2. But that's because betting is engrained in Chinese culture. Less so for ours ("bet responsibly", "take a break", "pace yourself", betting affordability checks, etc). Puritanism is alive and well in the nanny state.

      2. Fun fact.. Total turnover at Hong Kong Jockey Club reached record heights during 2022-23 to £30.94bn.. x3 UK.
        Not bad for a couple of Mickey Mouse tracks.. Happy Valley course is less than a mile in length, and can just about cram in 12 horses.

  82. Immigration UK:
    In 2023, approximately 1.22 million people migrated to the United Kingdom, while 532,000 people emigrated from the UK, resulting in a net migration figure of 685,000. If about fifty percent of the emigrants were indigenous whites then the democratic change was almost a million non-British. That's the equivalent of ten towns the size of Burnley or 65 towns the size of Skipton.

    We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependents. . . It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre.

    Enoch was right . . . only the figures are ten times worse than the time of his prophetic warning. We are mad!

      1. 388099+ up ticks,

        Morning VW,
        May one ask in the nicest possible way,
        how do these HMGs get in a position of having the shout on any issue?.

        1. The turnout at the last GE was 65.3% that, obviously, only those who voted, mainly, ate the polling booths. Only allah knows how many times each muslim voted.

    2. The endless fallacy of "Net Migration" even if it is zero……
      Pour half your kettle of pure spring water away and replace it with raw sewage it won't end well

        1. You feeling any better? I won't take illness as a reason for you not coming to my party !!! :@)

  83. Immigration UK:
    In 2023, approximately 1.22 million people migrated to the United Kingdom, while 532,000 people emigrated from the UK, resulting in a net migration figure of 685,000. If about fifty percent of the emigrants were indigenous whites then the democratic change was almost a million non-British. That's the equivalent of ten towns the size of Burnley or 65 towns the size of Skipton.

    We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependents. . . It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre.

    Enoch was right . . . only the figures are ten times worse than the time of his prophetic warning. We are mad!

  84. OT – funny thing. When I was a lad, and premium bonds were new – one would go for years without a "win". Now it seems that everyone gets lotsa dosh nearly every month. Printing money to give back to you, I suppose.

    1. In the past you would have held £5 worth sent by granny for a birthday. Nowadays, people hold the max which is now £50k. Tax free and so a reasonable return for workers fleeced at the higher rate.

      1. If you pay tax and don't hold premium bonds the government is giving you tax to gamblers, but that's what governments alway do.

        Edit – is for are

      2. If you pay tax and don't hold premium bonds the government is giving you tax to gamblers, but that's what governments alway do.

        Edit – is for are

    1. In 1966, when I was 20, a friend of mine and I went to Spain in an old Morris Minor 1000 and spent a fortnight staying in our tents in various camping sites.

      Harold Wilson had just imposed the £50 per person foreign travel limit but this was far more than we proposed to take with us!

      2. When MB went to Switzerland in 1958 – his first foreign trip (his mother wouldn't speak to him for weeks afterwards when she discovered her boy was building his own life) he took £17 spending money.

  88. Hi Peta! I am not thinking of revolution in a negative manner but in a neutral sense. I would argue that the industrial, revolution was also driven by the middle class, because they had the means to invent the instruments that created that revolution. I would say that here we have to reclaim our history and start taking pride in ourselves. After all we are the country that invented the modern world and all its wonders. So we need a revolution in pride for what and who we are, we have nothing to be ashamed of and everything to be proud of, and, I believe, that is what Robinson is about. But the cry should not be "O Tommy etc" but a variation on, 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!' or some such battle cry. We need to restore the vision in Jerusalem, which, I believe represents the quintessential English vision.

  89. Hi Peta! I am not thinking of revolution in a negative manner but in a neutral sense. I would argue that the industrial, revolution was also driven by the middle class, because they had the means to invent the instruments that created that revolution. I would say that here we have to reclaim our history and start taking pride in ourselves. After all we are the country that invented the modern world and all its wonders. So we need a revolution in pride for what and who we are, we have nothing to be ashamed of and everything to be proud of, and, I believe, that is what Robinson is about. But the cry should not be "O Tommy etc" but a variation on, 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!' or some such battle cry. We need to restore the vision in Jerusalem, which, I believe represents the quintessential English vision.

    1. Indeed Jonathan, and very few people know this. If those early Jewish settlers had not returned to Israel and reversed the desolation of the original "land of milk and honey", no-one would want it. The peasants were merely scratching a living on land they never owned. Their absentee landlords, mostly Syrian in the north, Egyptian in the south and Jordanian in the middle were only too happy to sell it to the returning Jews, many of whom were actually driven out of both Europe by the pogroms and Arab countries where they had lived peacefully and productively for centuries.

    2. Indeed Jonathan, and very few people know this. If those early Jewish settlers had not returned to Israel and reversed the desolation of the original "land of milk and honey", no-one would want it. The peasants were merely scratching a living on land they never owned. Their absentee landlords, mostly Syrian in the north, Egyptian in the south and Jordanian in the middle were only too happy to sell it to the returning Jews, many of whom were actually driven out of both Europe by the pogroms and Arab countries where they had lived peacefully and productively for centuries.

      1. He will probably be persecuted/prosecuted. Far right thug where as the Bournemouth stabber is of good character.

          1. Yes. The white indigenous people are now officially classified as "unprotected" by the Police Service in parts of the country.

          2. Yes. The white indigenous people are now officially classified as "unprotected" by the Police Service in parts of the country.

  92. Now that “Tricky Dicky” has gifted the leadership of Reform by way of a handshake not election, Nigel Farage has entered the political arena once again to take an opportunity which he believes is for the taking. Don't be fooled into thinking this is the end result either. With a history of deals and decisions which have let down candidates and voters before, this move may just be the first of many.

    Sent out by the Chairman of UKIP:

    "I wish Nigel luck in Clacton where he has decided to stand in the General Election, but despite the Aaron Banks polling, this may not prove to be the best seat for him. Only time will tell.

    Much like Tice’s support of mandatory COVID vaccinations, he was resolute in preventing our party UKIP working with Reform in the interests of the UK’s electorate. I very much hope that with Mr Tice out of the picture, the sensible people in his company will recognise UKIP’s value.

    As before, we are ready to work with any political party, group or candidate who share our values.

    Either way, it’s business as usual for UKIP. Working in partnership with The English Democrats, we intend to field as many candidates as we can in the abruptly called General Election and we call on you to support a truly democratic, political party which supports British values and not the egos of its personnel. Support UKIP, the original political revolution and agitator. We even carry out our own vetting and don't rely on the services of lefty extremists to do it for us.

    Family – Food – Future"

    1. Ukip, Heritage, Reclaim and several other parties have followings, but far smaller than Reform UK. All have fairly similar 'manifestoes' and it's a shame they can't live together.

      1. All bar Reform can. Having said that, UKIP isn't fielding a candidate in my constituency because there is a Reform candidate and the person willing to stand withdrew so as not to split the vote. Reform, of course, wouldn't do the same, but the need to send a message outweighs, in my view, party considerations.

  93. 'Afternoon All
    Clacton 95% White British
    Meet the Labour candidate………..
    https://x.com/sallyanna25/status/1797885031890681862
    Rest
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a53085579cbc9f82cec1d693649c0116046cc0bc1b81a6353a0289d0ffe76b48.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/41687ae88d426556097b243e27c3eea17ff4b3a5c11193146407ed6b3a3e6538.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0780c34f47da3c3eb9282cb8f8609f74dd69d056c4b26fc0f1350293a1cc6338.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/43b64976e57eca8e1a851ce33a11e09e1247212fa42255275faca4169dc4bd9f.jpg

      1. Not for parties like UKIP. Candidates are volunteers who are vetted to make sure there are no skeletons in the cupboard.

    3. You really couldn't make the Clacton Labour candidate up, could you? Either Labour think they have got the seat in the bag along with a lot of others, or that they have no chance of winning it.

      1. Clacton has one of the most deprived areas in the UK Jaywick. After leaving BT I worked part-time for a few years and my final job was with a small group attached to Tendring Council. One project was to interpret the council ward data and have it included in a report my boss was compiling.
        One fact that stood out was that the life expectancy in Jaywick was the lowest in the Tendring district and a whole 8 years lower than the best ward.
        Plenty of talk of improving the lot of the Jaywick people but up to when I left not a lot happened. Some urban areas of Clacton could be fertile land for Labour but there's plenty of rural areas where the opposite is present.

        1. Jaywick "looks the part" so politicians and other worthies love to have a camera take a shot of them standing there promising the earth. It's an old trope and seldom does anything ever get done.

          1. Like Austin Mitchell, labour MP representing Grimsby. Very popular but could do nothing for the town. Now places like Freeman Street which were busy are now full of prostitutes and druggies.

        2. Strange isn't these Labour Councils and Governments never improve the lot of their constituents because if they did they wouldn't vote for them. Labour either need the poorest in socient or the Champagne socialists.Anyone with brains wouldn't have voted for them. That now appears to be the case of all the parties.

        3. Built before planning rules became so stringent, one of the problems with Jaywick is that the council wants to demolish it and clear the site, but the locals disagree.
          As a result, the council are refusing to allow residents to improve their homes.

        4. Fertile land for Labour if the party stood up for the working classes and the indigenous deprived. Unfortunately, they seem to think virtue signalling and doing down whitey is all they need.

          1. Good stuff, I’ve seen one or two of your posts of late but wasnt sure you might be just typing in from your deathbed!!

          3. That's what I thought! You'd still make more sense than anybody else…..

    4. You really couldn't make the Clacton Labour candidate up, could you? Either Labour think they have got the seat in the bag along with a lot of others, or that they have no chance of winning it.

    5. The appeal of the Kardashians remains an utter mystery to me. How on earth did they acquire a substantial television following, one sufficiently large to enable Kim to indulge in such lavish frivolousness?

    7. Clacton has a tiny African population.

      As for the Labour candidate, Clacton is one of the party's least winnable seats. Mainstream parties often try out novice candidates in such seats to test them and see whether they perform better than expected. If Jovan does well, he'll be selected for a much more winnable seat next time should he wish to try again in 4-5 years.

      1. It would help if he had any sense of style. That shirt and tie combo and that hair !

  94. 'Afternoon All
    Clacton 95% White British
    Meet the Labour candidate………..
    https://x.com/sallyanna25/status/1797885031890681862
    Rest
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a53085579cbc9f82cec1d693649c0116046cc0bc1b81a6353a0289d0ffe76b48.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/41687ae88d426556097b243e27c3eea17ff4b3a5c11193146407ed6b3a3e6538.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0780c34f47da3c3eb9282cb8f8609f74dd69d056c4b26fc0f1350293a1cc6338.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/43b64976e57eca8e1a851ce33a11e09e1247212fa42255275faca4169dc4bd9f.jpg

    1. "I was taught how to take advantage of the Conservative's Right to Buy policy whilst simultaneously calling them scum and my son (currently starring on OnlyFans), shares my love of decency"

      1. Maybe I am oddly liberal, but I quite like the idea of onlyfans. Maybe it's that the Warqueen has lived in that industry but personally I think 'your life, your choices.'.

    2. I'm sorry? Integrity? Honesty? She scammed a council house, pocketed the cash, hid the advice and has lived on welfare her entire life. She has the integrity of bubble bath.

      1. hid the advice..
        openly flaunted her "Home Sweet Home" on her Instagram diary.

  98. Good afternoon, all. Later than my usual appearance but home and garden took priority today.

    Last Tuesday, 28th, I wrote to the PPCs of the Conservative, Labour, LibDem and Reform parties re Essex Police's decision to place all white people in an unprotected group and all those of a darker hue into a protected group. What this means is somewhat mysterious but it's in Diversity Speak and so not too surprising.

    The LibDem PCC replied within a few hours and he tried to put his idea of what this move means and doesn't mean. Well intentioned but a bit of a word salad, in my view.

    Reform answered on the 28th a few hours after the LibDem. More in line with my thinking but no surprise there.

    From the Conservative and Labour PPCs, not a word. The emails did not return a fail message, ergo, I have to assume they were delivered to the addresses advertised.

    Ignoring a concerned constituent's communication is not a good look, in my view.

    1. How do you mean “Essex Police's decision to place all white people in an unprotected group and all those of a darker hue into a protected group?” Is there a link please? And, if true, how bloody dare they.

      1. They dared and here’s the link. It’s Charlie Peters’ twitter feed and you will have to scroll down the comments, not too far. There’s a tacky picture in the first comment.

        Charlie Peters

  99. Hi Risk Anus and Jimmy Saville and muslim rapist friend Kier Starmer haven't been able to draw enthusiastic crowds like Farage…

    Nigel Farage hails Clacton as 'the most patriotic' part of Britain as he launches bid to become the seaside town's new MP – with Reform UK leader slamming Tories for 'betraying' voters and predicting Rishi Sunak will pay a 'big price' at the election.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13492813/nigel-farage-reform-mp-campaign-clacton-seat.html

    1. Unwise of Farage to big-up Clacton's patriotism too much. Reform candidates elsewhere will be challenged to say how patriotic they think other constituencies are.

      2. They can say it depends on how many non-English there are in the constituency. Inflammatory, but true.

      1. Nope.
        This is a repeat of Reading Forbury Garden attack by Khairi Saadallah who targeted a gathering of Rainbows LGBTQ+.

        Of course Sky News noted that.. "Deaths of Reading terror attack victims 'probably avoidable', had they not openly flaunted their gaydom".. or words to that effect.

        1. Yet if I were to suggest that young women shouldn't go about in public half naked, I would be acuused of "victim shaming". I saw one on the tube the other day wearing a substantial top and jacket but only knickers on her lower half, with no leg covering either and bless 'er, she had scrawny little legs. It didn't look nice.

    2. The Bournemouth badlands: Its 'unsafe' town centre sees 100 rapes and 300 stabbings a year. After the latest shocking double stabbing, PAUL BRACCHI charts the once charming resort's near terminal decline

      Guess who?

    3. a young man of 'good character'.. he is.. and still is by a certain section of the diverse community. He's not your usual stabbie, more the other kind of stabbie.
      And that's part of the gig when you invite fighting age men into your country who get very worked up when they view any LGBTQ types.
      The other type of stabbie are much easier to spot, and are only active around feeding time or when "protecting ownership" of specific postcodes.

    4. a young man of 'good character'.. he is.. and still is by a certain section of the diverse community. He's not your usual stabbie, more the other kind of stabbie.
      And that's part of the gig when you invite fighting age men into your country who get very worked up when they view any LGBTQ types.
      The other type of stabbie are much easier to spot, and are only active around feeding time or when "protecting ownership" of specific postcodes.

    5. Conversation with the woman who lived in B'mouth , who cleaned my teeth at the dentist yesterday.
      Incident happened late in the evening .
      Why was a 17year old chap from Blackburn arrested first
      Why were 2 women together on the beach , ( leaving a wife at home )
      Why was a a chap from Croydon there ?
       https://www.bournemouth.co….
       It is all very odd, don't you think .
      A meeting place for County Lines and drug dealers , don't know .
      Bournemouth has been ruined during the past 20 years .

      1. Very sad. I had a holiday in Bournemouth with Mum and Dad when I was very young. It was a nice place then. Last went there a few years back for the funeral of a cousin who lived near the sea front at Highcliffe. She died with Alzheimer's. Got a taxi from the station to the crem so saw very little of the town.

        1. I had a holiday there with my schoolfriend – the year I left school. We stayed in two places and the second one was a down at heel flatlet close to the station. We missed our boyfriends, and really the first week would have been enough. The beach was ok.

        2. Bournemouth used be respectable, full of nice hotels , places to have tea , listen to the band in the park , browse some very nice department stores .. Enjoy the variety of Chines and their beaches , tranquil happy places , yes seriously .

          Sedate , not boring … then the university was built and various colleges and loads of foreign students ( not European who were always welcome ) we used to do a foreign exchange when my sons were younger , Italian and French lads , all good fun .

          The Theatres were great , concerts by the BSO , son no1 had a girlfriend for 4 years ( 3rd violinist with the BSO years ago )

          There is /was a large Jewish community , and a group of us visited a Synagogue in the town , very enlightening .

        3. My parents took me to the Pavilion to see La Fille Mal Gardée and Swan Lake as they enjoyed performances by the Royal Ballet Company I enjoyed these but I am no dancer myself as I have far less elegance than the hippos in Fantasia.

          I went with friends a couple of times to a night club – if you could call it that – called Le Kilt but that sort of thing wasn't really my sort of thing.

          https://www.google.com/sear…

      2. Alf and I were at a hotel opposite the beach on a bowls tour that weekend and I heard all the commotion. 7 sirens and 3 helicopters. (Alf didn’t hear a thing!).

      1. True. Given the state of the roads at least you don't have to drive anywhere.

    2. How terrible. Wouldn't they be able to tell from the DNA if the parents were closely related?

      1. Not if DNA tests show they are full siblings. The 2 boys presumably have the same Y chromosome.

          2. Dear God.
            What kind of evil is that?
            Now, that's upset me greatly. Poor little buggers, nobody to love them or care for them, just do them in.
            Afraid I actually shed tears over this, me, a hard-baked engineer with experience from all over. I'll need to take a moment.

          4. All three will be told they are siblings but how will they be able to handle knowing they were abandoned at birth? That might scar them.

          5. Will they be told they are siblings? I thought the perceived wisdom was to withhold information on birth parents if children were adopted. They have the right to access this information when they turn 18, I think, but by then, hopefully they will be able to cope.

          10. I believe it is somewhat conventional in certain parts of the world to abandon unwanted babies to nature. It's a cultural thing, innit? Who are we to criticise?

          11. The Romans and Greeks exposed unwanted babies.
            In Oedipus' case, he was also deliberately crippled.

          13. All three will be told they are siblings but how will they be able to handle knowing they were abandoned at birth? That might scar them.

          15. Dear God.
            What kind of evil is that?
            Now, that's upset me greatly. Poor little buggers, nobody to love them or care for them, just do them in.
            Afraid I actually shed tears over this, me, a hard-baked engineer with experience from all over. I'll need to take a moment.

  102. This is Nigel Farage's finest hour: it will make the man
    –
    He knows the Tories must not be allowed to continue in their current form, and he is the only person who can force them to change
    –
    MATTHEW GOODWIN • 3 June 2024 • 4:17pm
    –
    One of my favourite scenes from one of my favourite films is when, in Wall Street, the ambitious and arrogant young stock trader, Bud Fox, finally gets to meet his hero Gordon Gekko, who is unforgettably played by Michael Douglas. "Well," says Bud Fox, looking at his nervous, young self in a mirror while straightening his tie. "Life all comes down to a few moments. And this is one of them."

    It's a scene that perfectly encapsulates how, sometimes, our lives can suddenly be pushed in a different direction by just one chance encounter, one pivotal moment. And it's a scene I suspect Nigel Farage can relate to. Not just because of his days as a broker in the City but because, as Britain hurtles toward the general election on July 4, Farage's entire legacy now comes down to this one moment: his announcement that he will stand as a candidate in Clacton.

    And, for the reasons I'm about to outline, I think it was the right decision.

    Well, let me start with the obvious. This campaign, so far, is as dull as dishwater. It's flat, bland, dry, boring, and completely lacking in energy. Everybody's bored. Anything Farage does, in other words, will immediately be magnified. Everybody is looking for anything remotely exciting to talk about. He knows this.

    This election is the "None of the Above" election – a contest where neither of the big parties, neither Rishi Sunak nor Keir Starmer, are inspiring the masses. And nor, for that matter, are their ideas. Brexit might be done but the new, dreary, stifling, post-Brexit consensus – big state, big tax, big debt, big immigration, big on woke – is irritating millions.

    It's not only Labour and the Tories looking utterly indistinguishable, but has left millions of ordinary people up and down the country feeling completely neglected, marginalised, and without representation. Just look at the low turnout at recent elections. Look too at vast numbers of voters who openly say "the mainstream parties don't represent people like me". Are they all Farageists? Of course not. But is much of the country right now completely fed up with our entire political class? Absolutely.

    There's not just one open goal for Farage, in other words; there are several.

    The palpable anti-Westminster mood. The genuine panic about how to afford life. The creeping sense of despair about mass immigration. The intense anger about our broken borders. The spiralling concern about lawlessness and crime. The rising fear about a dark new sectarianism. The visible erosion of British values and ways of life – particularly since October 7. And, on top of all that, the deep, unyielding sense of pessimism about where all this is heading – about where this country of ours is heading, about where this place we call home is heading.

    That overwhelming, inescapable sense that while the present is already worse than the past the future will be even worse. The parents quietly asking themselves, do we really want to stay here? Do we really want our kids to have to spend the rest of their lives here? The young Zoomers from Gen-Z openly talking about the "great retreat", leaving Britain for good and not looking back. The quiet but growing awareness that Britain's best days are now firmly in the past and all that awaits us is managed decline, a country where it's each to their own, where people hunker down and hope for the best and say to hell with the wider community.

    All of it has left an enormous vacuum at the very heart of the system and one that's much larger than anything Farage faced in the 2010s. Back then, our debates were still, on the whole, about policy. Could Britain actually change its destiny by leaving the European Union? Could the Tories cut net migration? Could we build a "Big Society"? Could we create "community cohesion"? But today, for many people, as the inability or sheer unwillingness of our leaders to deliver these things, to even try and change our future, has become unavoidable, the mood has become much more existential.

    Farage has realised this; many other politicians have not. He has grasped that many people want to have a very different kind of conversation about where we are heading as a society; they have not. He might be criticised by broadcast interviewers and BBC newsreaders as "inflammatory" and at times he certainly is; but already in the opening days of this campaign he's tapped into this much deeper sense of unease among the British people, this legitimate sense of unease, about what is now unfolding before them.

    Can Britain – our shared history, collective memory, identity, values, and ways of life – actually survive in a form that we recognise, respect and want to pass down to our children and their children? How can a national community hold itself together while undergoing unprecedented demographic change, persistent economic decline, and a ruling elite that routinely downplays or derides, rather than defend, who we are?

    And who out there, exactly, is willing to push back, seriously, against the growing assortment of radicals and extremists who very clearly loathe who we are, who have no interest in respecting our ways of life? Nigel Farage does not have the answers to these questions. But he is at least willing to talk openly about them. And that in itself gives him an enormous opening.

    While Labour will put much of this on steroids, from removing deterrents for illegal migrants to embedding gender ideology and other woke policies into the fabric of our national life, the Tories have consistently shown themselves unable or unwilling to speak to these questions.

    Even worse, they've actively encouraged this national decline, presiding over the population explosion, mainstreaming radical liberal progressivism, and repeatedly failing to reform institutions that are actively promoting a culture of national repudiation – a culture in which we are implicitly encouraged to spend more time reflecting on what is wrong than what is right with who we are.

    Which is why the Tories must, and they will, lose this election. And lose it heavily. Nigel Farage knows this. He knows the Tories must not be allowed to continue in their current form – a lifeless, pointless, shapeless, intellectually vacuous party that at each and every turn has put its own interests ahead of those of the country. They simply have to become something else.

    But, at the same time, the only person who can force them to do this, at this moment in time, is Farage. Those who say the Tories can only ever be changed from the inside miss the fundamental lesson of the last decade, which is that the only thing the Tories have ever understood is pressure from outside. Put it this way, do you really think a party that sidelines the likes of David Frost is really going to change itself? Nobody inside the Tory party is seriously interested in changing the Tory party.

    So what does this mean? Right now, it means destroying the current model of conservatism. It means not voting Tory. It means demonstrating, beyond doubt, that the model of conservatism which brought us mass immigration, broken borders, a London-centric economy, treating levelling-up as an afterthought, refusing to take on the Blairite consensus and prioritise the British people in everything from housing to the economy is completely broken.

    It means not only maintaining the Reform party's double-digit support in the polls as a foundation for after the election but, as a result, Farage doing all that he can to support this. And that means leading from the front, by standing for parliament.

    Farage announcing he is standing in Clacton, in Essex – which is probably the only seat he would be able to win in a matter of weeks, given its long history of supporting Ukip – is the only way he can inject a new sense of energy and enthusiasm into Reform. It is the only way he can ensure, beyond doubt, that this election not only becomes a referendum on immigration but also, for many people, a referendum on the Tory party, on the very nature of conservatism. [On the very existence of the country, as you wrote above.]

    It means absolutely "no deals" between the Tories and Reform at this election or in the future, at least until the former have been humiliated electorally. It means donors piling money into Reform. It means activists, former MPs, councillors, and others defecting to Reform. If the Tories are going down anyway, which they are, then at least clear the runway for something else.

    And it means Nigel Farage demonstrating proof of concept by establishing a voice in parliament where he can genuinely make the case for a much broader and more representative conservative movement. And, ultimately, all this means Farage finally realising that his entire life and legacy now come down to this one moment, to this one decision.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/03/this-is-nigel-farages-grandest-moment-it-will-make-the-man/

    1. Finest hour, my…..foot. He's obviously just there to ensure a big Labour win so that Prime Minister Starmer can do the dirty work (war, slavery, famine).

      1. The choice is between a big Labour win or an even bigger Labour win. Starmer will be Prime Minister whether or not Farage stands in Clacton.

    2. Small problem, Matt; we haven't done Brexit. The PTB have done their best to do it in.

  107. Fauci's deeds are too many to list here, but they are documented and referenced in RFK Jr's book The Real Anthony Fauci. If only a tenth of that fully referenced account is true, Fauci would be a mass murderer.
    Here he is eliciting sympathy at a covid enquiry in the US.
    https://x.com/ImMeme0/status/1797690383163376065

    1. That is priceless! I hope the little guy behind has good personal protection

  108. Milkshake thrown over Nigel Farage as he launches campaign in Clacton. 4 June 2024.

    Nigel Farage had what appeared to be a milkshake thrown at him on Tuesday afternoon as he relaunched the Reform party’s election campaign in Clacton.

    Mr Farage announced his shock return to the political fray at the start of this week at a press conference, succeeding Richard Tice as leader of the insurgent Right-wing party.

    In photographs of the incident, a woman can be seen throwing a McDonald’s milkshake at Mr Farage as he left a Wetherspoons in Clacton.

    Can’t keep up with the Below the Line Comments.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/04/milkshake-thrown-nigel-farage-campaign-clacton/

      1. I think the hideous Jo Brand once suggested throwing battery acid over him. No action was taken against her as I recall.

        1. A few times I have said that people here will only get their way by use of terrorism, mainly on the basis that voting will never achieve their aims. Not that I endorse it but I'm probably going to hell.

          1. I think you're probably right, David. Not so much terrorism, but definitely getting out on the streets en masse and waving pitchforks to back up their arguments.

          4. I don't see why not; there'll be no electricity to keep the street lamps alight 🙂

          3. Remarkably no!
            Ofcom investigated and decided there was no need for further action as she (eventually) qualified her comments, and I quote directly, 'making it clear they should not be taken seriously' What!!!!
            You couldnt make it up, could you?……..

    3. Something like that was almost inevitable. He's despised by millions, although really no more than a pantomime hate figure.

        1. It's not that. Its just that Farage is one of those public figures who causes visceral revulsion out of all proportion to any ill effects he's supposed to have. They are reflex responses.

      2. I'd question the "millions". He's certainly despised by lefties who make a lot of noise.

          2. The aggregated votes of those who choose Labour, LibDem, Green, SNP, Plaid Cymru plus some Conservatives OR the number of people who voted to remain in the European Union.

          3. I don't think you can extrapolate from that that their votes were because they despise Nigel. It's like your argument that fishing isn't an issue for the UK voter. You don't know that, you just think that. It may be an issue, but just not top of their agenda. So their reasons for voting for those parties may have nothing to do with their feelings, if any, for Nigel. There may be lots of other reasons for their choice. Tribalism, lack of choice, lack of information, pig headedness …

          4. The aggregated votes of those who choose Labour, LibDem, Green, SNP, Plaid Cymru plus some Conservatives OR the number of people who voted to remain in the European Union.

      3. I’m not sure that ‘despised’ covers it properly. He engenders hysterical virtue-signalling.
        For example, I don’t like George Galloway’s politics but I certainly don’t despise him.
        I do despise Tony Blair.

        1. Its the virtue signallers' brand dream. I imagine the likes of that woman wearing a little button badge with his face on it and round the rim the words, "Not in my name'.

          2. Sorry! I forgot too that they don’t tend to have original ideas of their own either.

      4. "He's despised by millions …"

        That is an unworthy and vacuous judgement, DW.

    4. Lefties don't have logical language in order to make coherent arguments, so chucking a milkshake will have to do. We shouldn't mock the afflicted.

      1. My own family rainman pseudonym was slightly off line earlier.
        I had just spent two hours trimming endless edges and mowing the lawn and everything cleared away.
        Made a cuppa and it started to rain.
        Perfect timing.
        I must buy a lottery ticket. 😄🤗

    1. Might they have thought that Nelson Mandela had been ennobled after a racist attack outside Waterloo station?

    2. Belloc had the sequence of events right!

      "Oh murder! What was that, Papa!"
      "My child, It was a Motor-Car,
      A most Ingenious Toy!
      Designed to Captivate and Charm
      Much rather than to rouse Alarm
      In any English Boy.

      "What would your Great Grandfather who
      Was Aide-de-Camp to General Brue,
      And lost a leg at Waterloo,
      And Quatre-Bras and Ligny too!
      And died at Trafalgar!–
      What would he have remarked to hear
      His Young Descendant shriek with fear,
      Because he happened to be near
      A Harmless Motor-Car!
      But do not fret about it! Come!
      We'll off to Town
      And purchase some!"

  111. Biden rules out Nato membership for Ukraine in major intervention. 4 June 2024.

    In a major intervention, the US president said he did not support the “Natoisation of Ukraine” and that peace with Moscow would involve Ukraine in partnership with the alliance, rather than as a member.

    If that’s true why have they spent the last two years arming Ukraine?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    2. Could it possibly be because Volodymyr Zelenskyy was suggesting that Hunter Biden's activities (10% for the big guy) might be exposed? Now that HB is going to trial the novelty of exposure is relatively less.

    3. Those with the real power (and a hand up Biden's arse) made that decision, as they make ALL decisions these days, in the US of A.

      1. Spot on. Probably they've told him that Russia wants a return to the Iron Curtain and that they'll be very happy if it's drawn somewhere down the middle of the Ukraine. They can argue about Moldova, et al following that.

      2. Spot on. Probably they've told him that Russia wants a return to the Iron Curtain and that they'll be very happy if it's drawn somewhere down the middle of the Ukraine. They can argue about Moldova, et al following that.

    4. I thought NATO had a rule that you may not join if you are currently in conflict.
      But, silly me!

    5. Cos they thought that they could defeat Russia. Now that it's clear that they cannot, they're back to square one.

    6. Cos they thought that they could defeat Russia. Now that it's clear that they cannot, they're back to square one.

  112. Afternoon, all. I've (yet another) meeting to attend tonight, so I'll be annoying you early and then disappearing (in a puff of smoke, probably). I attended a local coffee morning this morning; I used to go regularly to catch up with the gossip, but then life got in the way and I haven't been since before Christmas. Seems all the lefties (of which there are, unfortunately, many) are going to ditch Labour to vote LD. When I pointed out that last time the LDs bused in people from as far afield as Brighton and Wimbledon, one of them said, "what's wrong with that?" Well, if you're asking people to vote for you, I would have thought you would have wanted local support and besides, the object should be to have a connection with the people you're supposed to be representing rather than making sure the party is the beneficiary. Serving the community seems to be an alien concept. But then, I'm a parish councillor to try to represent my parishioners rather than my political party. Silly me!

    On the trike situation, I have approached my mechanically minded neighbour and he has agreed to help. I suspect, having read through the rest of the manual after the derailler part, that he's going to have to help more than I thought at first! I have, however, managed to take the lights off the bicycle (I don't need them as the bike has been turned into a static exercise bike). Once I changed the batteries, they even work! Result!

    1. WTF was that? I was hoping for a stirring rendition of the last post in commemoration of D day.

  114. Farage let down by security again.. don't they ever learn after the Newcastle attack.
    Of course, you never know, after Jo Brand's recommendation on using acid for more effect.
    And didn't the infantile Lefties scream with laughter.

    1. Remind me. Did the fat ugly unfunny bitch get cancelled for that comment? Askin' for a friend.

        1. Astonishing. Makes me want to go out and smack Owen Jones for some reason. But hey, who needs a reason for that.

          1. If you want to supress a person's libido and promote chastity all you have to do is show him a picture of the Gargoyle completely naked. One glimpse would put a chap off sex for at least six months. And if he shows signs of weakening after five months you must go the whole hog, use the nuclear option and send for Ms Abbott.

          2. Oh i don't know. There are plenty of men that appreciate the larger frame of a woman. Why would any red blooded male want sex with an anorexic that struts the catwalks.

          13. "A diplomat is a person sent abroad to lie for his country" (sort of thing!)

          14. A proper diplomat is the type of person who can tell you to go to hell and you look forward to the journey.

          15. A proper diplomat is the type of person who can tell you to go to hell and you look forward to the journey.

          17. "A diplomat is a person sent abroad to lie for his country" (sort of thing!)

      3. She’s in the Mail today slagging off a few more better-known people than her! She really is an ignorant, fat old cow!
        Oops! This should be ⬇️

          2. Since we're in the naughty corner together, maybe we should team up, Sue!

          3. I won't tell. :@)
            It does seem though that middle class middle age Nottlers who don't tend to swear have become so exasperated that saying words like FUCK feels good.
            Let ya hair down though don't do it in front of the Judge !

          10. Counterintuitive i know but the new discus requires spoilers done back to front. Post the pic then hit the spoiler.

    2. I have a feelin the Govt will instruct Clacton-On-Sea on Yell Magistrates Court to dish out a lengthy custodial sentence.. to stop copycats.

      The woman, who would only say her name was Victoria strolled away smirking after drenching the politician, told reporters afterwards: 'He doesn't stand for me, he doesn't represent anything I believe in, or any of the people around here.'

    3. Difficult one.
      Politicians are now so sealed off from human beings, that it adds to the aura of being cut off from reality.

          2. They won't be JD's basic 'sweatshoppers'. His image team will have made sure of that.

          7. As long as it doesn’t involve tigers running round palm trees…I think!

          8. As long as it doesn’t involve tigers running round palm trees…I think!

      1. S someone a lot of us can relate too. Mind you given the opposition, an over eager school boy with trousers too small, a very slimey lawyer and a complete idiot of a lib dum, there really isn't much competition.

    4. The most puritanical, hand wafting, tutting non-smoker that I know used to chain smoke; and not just tobacco.

  117. A slick Par Four?

    Wordle 1,081 4/6
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
    🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Me too.
      Wordle 1,081 4/6

      ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Another five for me.

      Wordle 1,081 5/6

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

      1. Me too.
        Wordle 1,081 5/6

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

    3. Back to back birdies, L – see below!
      I look forward to crushing disappointment tomorrow…….

  119. "Six Conservative candidates on the verge of joining Reform UK . . . Another five considering such a move …"

    [GBNews 17.05]

    1. They should have moved to Reform at least six months ago.

      How poor old Jacob Grease-Smog can bear to stay with Rishi and the Arrivistes is beyond my understanding.

    2. They should have moved to Reform at least six months ago.

      How poor old Jacob Grease-Smog can bear to stay with Rishi and the Arrivistes is beyond my understanding.

        1. We’ve had enough of politicians, though. We want ordinary folk.

        2. We’ve had enough of politicians, though. We want ordinary folk.

      3. They're actually red wall MPs upset at wet soggy professional middle class Oxbridge SPADs being parachuted by GCHQ into their local territory.
        Anyhow they have until 4pm Friday to defect. Not sure what will happen to a Tory seat if they don't have the time & details to fill out a fresh form at 3:55pm.

        1. They could have left months (years!) ago. They’ve sniffed the wind and reasoned that they have a better chance of hanging on to their seats if they stand for Reform. Sorry for the cynicism, but I’ve yet to see a truly principled MP today, apart from Andrew Bridgen.

        2. They could have left months (years!) ago. They’ve sniffed the wind and reasoned that they have a better chance of hanging on to their seats if they stand for Reform. Sorry for the cynicism, but I’ve yet to see a truly principled MP today, apart from Andrew Bridgen.

      4. They're actually red wall MPs upset at wet soggy professional middle class Oxbridge SPADs being parachuted by GCHQ into their local territory.
        Anyhow they have until 4pm Friday to defect. Not sure what will happen to a Tory seat if they don't have the time & details to fill out a fresh form at 3:55pm.

      5. They're actually red wall MPs upset at wet soggy professional middle class Oxbridge SPADs being parachuted by GCHQ into their local territory.
        Anyhow they have until 4pm Friday to defect. Not sure what will happen to a Tory seat if they don't have the time & details to fill out a fresh form at 3:55pm.

  120. "Six Conservative candidates on the verge of joining Reform UK . . . Another five considering such a move …"

    [GBNews 17.05]

  121. Rain delaying play in England's first T20 World Cup match against Scotland in Barbados. Great timing of the competition, at the start of the hurricane season.

  122. Well, I am signing off early – a foul evening. Gus – who demanded to go out – has returned sharpish soaked to the skin. A yellow sponge… Pickles simply sleeps through it all.

    Today seems not to have been "great shakes"…. (Hope that daft bint is banged up…)

    A demain – in the rain and cold…..

  123. Well, I am signing off early – a foul evening. Gus – who demanded to go out – has returned sharpish soaked to the skin. A yellow sponge… Pickles simply sleeps through it all.

    Today seems not to have been "great shakes"…. (Hope that daft bint is banged up…)

    A demain – in the rain and cold…..

      1. July last year. He would not have to have given away his assets to his wife as they go to the spouse IHT free.

    5. Maybe he had a weakness for fast women, drink, drugs, smoking and gambling…. doesn't everybody?

  125. Just read that the slammer that murdered that young woman in Bournemouth has been described as having a good character. Just means he had been hiding under the radar. How many more???

  126. Will this be covered in tonight’s debate. Almost certainly won’t be.

    Demonstrating how we’re all in this together and his Pension Scheme of which he is the only member. He says he will ban it when he becomes PM. I bet he won’t repay the overpayment.

    Sir Keir has faced accusations of hypocrisy from Conservative MPs after The Telegraph revealed his Crown Prosecution Service pension is exempt from the lifetime savings allowance he plans to reintroduce.

    The pension scheme, of which he was the only member, had tax benefits that were "broadly" in line with those offered to judges, according to the CPS’s annual reports.

    Ministers even passed a statutory instrument in Parliament that mentioned Sir Keir by name when he retired in 2013 to ensure his pension increased annually with inflation.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    1. All you need to know is that Kier is a socialist, and therefore everything you have belongs to him and all the other socialists. Apart from what they themselves have. That's private. Soviet leaders did the same thing. They never change!

      1. ain’t that the truth. I have a number of socialist friends that think everyone else (“the rich”!) should pay “more” but they themselves are quite happy to hide their additional income and not pay tax on it. I loathe them all.

        1. If you loathe them, they can’t be friends, surely? I know what you mean, though. The hypocrisy is always strong with them. And ironically, the most ardent socialists are to be found amongst the wealthy.

          1. Back in the 1970s Harpers & Queen magazine used to publish advice for Debutantes, which included, “Don’t talk politics, your host might be rich enough to be a communist”.

        2. If you loathe them, they can’t be friends, surely? I know what you mean, though. The hypocrisy is always strong with them. And ironically, the most ardent socialists are to be found amongst the wealthy.

      2. ain’t that the truth. I have a number of socialist friends that think everyone else (“the rich”!) should pay “more” but they themselves are quite happy to hide their additional income and not pay tax on it. I loathe them all.

    2. All you need to know is that Kier is a socialist, and therefore everything you have belongs to him and all the other socialists. Apart from what they themselves have. That's private. Soviet leaders did the same thing. They never change!

    3. I will make no effort to watch it. I'm not in the least interested. It will merely confirm my deep indifference.

      1. I dare say I can find a patch of wet paint which needs close observation.

    4. I will make no effort to watch it. I'm not in the least interested. It will merely confirm my deep indifference.

    5. That's on a self serving level with the Trudeau government recently introduced legislation that would allow the next election to be delayed by a week,
      Nothing to do with the fact that if the election is called as scheduled, many MPs would lose their nice fat pension if they were nor reelected.
      No honest, it is to avoid a clash with the Hindu Diwali festival – honest!

        1. Mac is an anachronistic cartoonist. That one was created for the Clacton 2014 by-election but it looks like something out of the 1950s.

          5. But…but…Clacton is something out of the 50s. That's why it attracts Ukippers.

        2. Mac is an anachronistic cartoonist. That one was created for the Clacton 2014 by-election but it looks like something out of the 1950s.

  128. Very happy that Lord Farage has decided to run for Parliament and take over from Tice. Very pleased indeed. I would love to have seen the expression on the face of the Tory MP for Clacton when he heard the news!😂😂😂

    1. Have you been ill? I don't seem to have noticed any posts from you recently.

      1. I’ve been visiting my son in Bristol. I like Bristol, it’s a very nice city even if they have the silly 20mph speed limits. No ill health, thank goodness.

        2. Never been to Bristol. Past, through, but never stopped.
          Remiss of me.

          1. I had a good time there in summer 1977. Some school friends went to Bristol university and invited me to visit.

          3. There can’t be many people who have driven through Bristol without being forced to stop. Regularly.

        3. Never been to Bristol. Past, through, but never stopped.
          Remiss of me.

        4. I used to change trains at Bristol Temple Meads when I travelled home from prep school in Bath to St Mawes. Then with luck you could get a through train to Truro or St Austell where my parents collected me in the car.

          1. When Sonny Boy Mk1 was at Bristol University, his wheezy 2CV collapsed and died half-way up St. Michael's Hill.
            A good test of his driving skills!

        5. You’ve clearly managed to avoid the choicer spots such as Knowle West.

          1. I’m not familiar with Knowle West which I assume from your post is pretty rough. I like the centre, the area along the river by the old docks and Clifton where my son lives.

          2. My sister used to work in a family planning clinic there. She described it as full of the prototype for Little Britain’s Vicky Pollard.

        6. I had relatives in Henleaze, Bedminster and Knowle. I love Bristol despite being a Bathonian.

          As boys for a threepenny bit you could climb up Cabot Tower and enjoy panoramic views of the city. Bristol was of course the Second City after London for many years.

          Another fondly remembered jaunt was through parkland from Kings Weston (an imposing house designed by Vanbrugh) to Blaise Hamlet (John Nash).

          After the bombing of WWII the centre of Bristol and its main shopping street Castle Street was destroyed and left unreconstructed. Park Street became the main and most fashionable street leading up hill from the Cathedral and College Green civic buildings to the University Wills Tower and Whiteladies Road, then on via Blackboy Hill to the Downs, Clifton and beyond.

          Bristol retains some wonderful C18 buildings on Corn Street and Broad Street.

      2. I’ve been visiting my son in Bristol. I like Bristol, it’s a very nice city even if they have the silly 20mph speed limits. No ill health, thank goodness.

  133. Be nice to each other while I'm away at my meeting. I said I'd probably disappear in a puff of smoke, but actually it is a billow! I've been trying to light the Rayburn because it's so cold and damp, but it's being recalcitrant. The cold, damp chimney doesn't want to draw properly and the kitchen was filled with smoke. It seems to have cleared now, so I hope that by the time I get back the house will feel less like a refrigerator.

          3. Generally, yes, I agree – but this is the incomparable Simon & Garfunkel – the more acceptable face of the soundtrack of my youth!

          4. I liked them, too. I have many memories accompanied by their sound track. I'm still living in the real world, though.

          7. Yes, but I like madness as well – One step beyond!…. dah dah dah (ad infinitum)

    1. 388099+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      In reality a multitude will suffer amnesia just prior to the 4th July, for the good of the party or to salve their own turbulent thoughts, but I do believe a bigger multitude will remember the macabre dance of death many of us witnessed and suffered from, Lest we forget, never.

      https://x.com/MarkSteynOnline/status/1797976664837611884

      1. Thank you.
        Tomorrow is artfully arranged cobbles day.
        Blasted bag split and I had to fish them out of the Noddy car spare wheel area.

        1. What bait did you use to catch cobbles? Hopefully puns were not involved with your rock cod.

        2. Oh goody! I love a bit of arty farty stuff! Our young neighbour is a site manager/scaffolder with a house building company and they’ve recently given him a nice whit van for travelling between his 3 sites. He arrived on home Friday night with a load of plants from the show houses, and a lot of large rocks for edging of our quite big lawn! Very happy we were!

  136. According to GOV.UK, 38,546 irregular arrivals were detected in the UK in the year ending March 2024, which is 28% fewer than the previous year. Of those arrivals, 81% came by small boat, which is also a 31% decrease from the previous year. However, as of June 2, 2024, nearly 10,500 people had crossed the Channel, which is higher than the same period in the previous four years.

          1. I like quite a lot of Scaggs' output. Shame he didn't get the same exposure in the UK that he got in the US.

          2. I know what you mean – he was well known in the US as part of the Steve Miller Band, I think.

  138. What has happened to 'blazing June'? Where is my promised global boiling? Whenever there is a warm spell all the climate doom mongers are hopping about in excitement saying 'told you so', but they go very quiet when we have a washout summer.

    1. All the heavy cloud has lead to warmer than usual nights, so glowball boiling continues apace.

    4. Hottest May since records began ….. according to the Beeb.
      Possibly referring to the Sahara desert.

      1. Temperatures taken next to the runway at Coningsby after the Typhoons have taken off.

        1. Extremely high temperatures were recorded in numerous locations that day. Several exceeded the previous UK record. They cannot all have been artificially inflated by a passing Typhoon.

          2. No, but commercial airliners, blast furnaces, and other heat enhancing mechanisms wouldn’t have gone amiss, no doubt. I’m afraid they cherry pick the data to suit their agenda.

      2. Globally, but the weather gods forgot about the UK. June is none too hot, either.

    5. Just had exactly thta on the news this morning – whilst I search for a jumper and need a waterproof to get to the car.
      Otherwise, it's been the same as Grizz posted below.
      Maybe holidays should be cancelled? They seem to attract bad weather, after getting your hopes up!

  139. What has happened to 'blazing June'? Where is my promised global boiling? Whenever there is a warm spell all the climate doom mongers are hopping about in excitement saying 'told you so', but they go very quiet when we have a washout summer.

  140. Judging by his earlier comments, Uncle Bill is a great personal admirer of hers. {:^))

  141. Hell, it's only Tuesday. Trudeaus record this week –
    1. Deficit a mere ten billion dollars more than they estimated in their budget (that was April).
    2. Parliamentary Budget Officer reveals that his office has been prevented from even referencing a negative report on Trudeaus favourite carbon tax.
    3. Auditor General rips into Green Transition initiative grants and contracts as poorly managed, not valid and against the program rules..
    4. A report on foreign election interference states that in some cases, the MPs have been the ones to instigate contact with foreign powers.
    5. In a rant about global warming / burning a minister tells kiddies that they should only go on their summer vacations if they accept that their disregard for the climate will lead to the world burning.

    No I didn't make it up.

    Thank God the pretendy emporer is in France for the D Day remembrance ceremonies. He doesn't deserve to be there representing Canada but it keeps him out of the way.

    1. We knew that. People weren’t officially vaccinated until fourteen days after the injection and many died within the first few days and were labelled unvaccinated deaths. The scam was obvious.

  143. A good evening here; two beautiful mature hares have been feeding close to the house and I know there are a few leverets in hiding in the rough scrub I leave for wildlife.
    Springwatch commenting on another "special" and rare orchid, I have at least three of that type in flower in the garden at the moment.
    Probably next up they will be telling us about the brown/pink ones that get their nutrients via funghi in the soil rather than chlorophyll.
    I have dozens of those.

    1. You should contact the producer and send snaps of your orchids. Maybe we’ll see you on telly!

    2. "I know there are a few leverets in hiding in the rough scrub I leave for wildlife."

      They have form for that.

  145. just watched the opening salvo in the PM/opposition leader debate. Now watching women’s football. Debate just turning into a “I can speak louder than you” match. Pointless.

  146. Sir Cursed Harmer vs the Hi Risk Anus in a debate with barely a soiled nappy liner to place between them.

    1. I can't watch it. Staying with someone else at the moment, and they have got it on downstairs. Starmer is awful, even worse than I thought he was. Sunak is handling the debate better but we all know what a dead loss he is.
      They are ignoring anything important and bickering about the same old themes that the media keeps telling us we care about.
      It's ghastly.
      Yet I just know that someone, somewhere is saying how impressively Starmer is performing and what a good Prime Minister he will make.
      Bleughhh.
      What a time to be alive, eh.

      edit: heh heh
      They've switched it off now

      2. Britain has worked long and hard /sarc to get what is about to befall it and it serves us right.

      3. We think Starmer is ghastly , wriggly and spiteful .

        Poor old Sunak , oh well, he is doing his best against the puffed up gobmaster Starmer

        2. He is, but Sunak – and his party – has had 14 years to make the changes they're now promising. Instead they've hiked every tax going, added ever more regulation, tax and waste.

          At every turn they've done the exact opposite of what they should have done.

          1. Yeah, but the Labour party have had 14 years to have some magic wands , but they haven't .

            Youngsters don't remember the Labour party , changed or not . What?

          2. Oh quite true, they're both loathesome. The problem is best demonstrated when Hunt stood up and announced non-dom status was being revoked and gloated that he had stolen a Labour policy and was proud of it.

            That's not how Conservatives should work. They should revile Labour's tax polciies, not be proud of adopting them.

          3. Yeah, but the Labour party have had 14 years to have some magic wands , but they haven't .

            Youngsters don't remember the Labour party , changed or not . What?

    2. We went to the gym and I watched my glorious wife's boobs jiggle about as she kicked and punched her way to to not killing me.

      The debates are theatre, and I'm tired of it. Sunak shouting that Labour will raise taxes when he's already done exactly the same only worse. Starmer will just continue it and make it worse with other tax rises.

      Both are making energy expensive and will make it even more expensive.
      Both will hike welfare and tax workers.
      Both will heavily tax workers.
      Both will go for pensions – just not public sector ones.
      Both are globalists and will promote an ever bigger state and tighter chaining to the EU and UN.

      Neither will do anything to properly cut taxes and reduce state spending. They just don't think that way.

      They joust and waffle but the simple truth is they're exactly the same.

  147. Hi, all. Back now after a lively (in a good way) meeting. Now enjoying a glass of Merlot. Post mortem on a recent visit from our French guests was very positive and now we're planning next year's over there. D Day (Jour J) 80 + 1 and a significant anniversary for our links.

  149. Is it me? Since I've come back, when I post it puts up a red bar saying to check my internet connection. Then "1 new post" appears and it's my post, but the reply box remains open, though empty. Is anybody else having this problem?

    1. It happened to me this evening. I’ve also discovered that XTwitter posts are loading again but the copy/paste process has changed. Sussed by trial and error.

  150. Awful lot of crap on the Starmer/Sunak debate (and God, they both have awful voices – Sick Ear in particular). Sunak is hopeless at pointing out SK's blatant hypocrisy. Going to switch off

      1. Sue Ed, you are George Galloway, and I claim my five bob postal order. Lol.

    3. I haven't watched any TV news or current affairs programmes since 2016 so I have never heard Starmer/Sunak voices. From what I read here and elsewhere, I'm not missing much.

    4. Starmer … Grumpfutock from Peasmouldia ..

      Starmer has put on weight , he is wearing power spectacles , looking like Lord Haw haw .

      1. Bogus and unappealing in every way – and Lord HawHaw just about sums him up

    5. I didnt watch it, O (life's too short) but I was rather hoping you could give us your trademark 'abrasive' view on how it went, specifically, who 'won'??

      1. Sorry TwoHorses! Switched off when I said i would. No desire to attend A&E tonight – rather wallop back a glass or three of collapso.

    1. "Owen Jones has already called Farage's drenching a work of art. But the professional whingebag once could barely tolerate criticism of his favourite Jeremy Corbyn, let alone an egging."

      The Left shows its true colours by cheering on the drenching of Nigel Farage
      –
      We want our politicians accessible, not hidden behind safety glass, a Zoom screen, or a phalanx of bodyguards
      –
      WILLIAM ATKINSON • 4 June 2024 • 5:19pm
      –
      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/04/the-left-shows-its-true-colours-by-cheering-on-farage/

      1. My definition of a 'work of art' would be somebody beating the living crap out of Owen Jones – but I've always been a bit of a performative activist…..

        1. You don't need to "beat the living crap" out of Jones; just call him/her/it a hurty name and he'll burst into tears and run home to bury his face in his mummy's pinny.

      2. I wonder whether Owen Jones would see a drink thrown in his own face in quite the same light?

        1. If Owen Jones is the victim, it's a hate crime. If it's Nigel Farage, it's a public service.

    2. Nigel at least got compensation for the last one. TR got nothing, not even an arrest of the perp. It must be rigorously policed, whatever the politics of the victim.

  153. Change of subject , read this .

    The most highly decorated Royal Marine to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan has been held in Dubai for seven months accused of spying, The Times can reveal.

    The former Lance Corporal Matt Croucher, 40, who received the George Cross for bravery in Afghanistan, has had his passport taken off him and has been banned from leaving the UAE.

    He was arrested in November last year and charged with “intentionally and illegally accessing a telecommunications network”. No further details were provided such as who he was accused of spying on, or allegedly on behalf of, although he was interrogated about his links to the UK Ministry of Defence. Croucher is a security consultant, normally based in the UK.

    Croucher was put forward for the George Cross, the highest award for gallantry, after throwing himself on a Taliban tripwire grenade to save his comrades as part of a reconnaissance mission near Sangin in Helmand province, Afghanistan on February 9, 2008.

    Croucher, who served three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, was questioned about his links to the UK’s Ministry of Defence and the British embassy

    In a statement, the family said they were suffering from “immense stress” and the case was “made up and ridiculous”. They said: “We’re shocked at the set of circumstances which have played out over the last seven months. Matt was due to only be away for a couple of weeks, returning through Dubai after working in the Middle East on his way home.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    “We don’t understand why it’s taking the Dubai authorities so long to process this case, being constantly told it should be resolved in a week or two, a case we believe to be made up and ridiculous.”

    They accused the foreign office of being “useless” in offering Croucher any assistance, saying they were “often making things worse with misinformation, telling him the case was formally concluded and would only take one to two months”.

    The family’s MP prior to the election, Jess Phillips, was trying to assist, but due to the election was unable to do anything further until she was re-elected, they said.

    “This has caused our family immense stress and we just hope this can be concluded at the earliest opportunity,” they said.

    Croucher, from Solihull, near Birmingham, was arrested on November 4 and jailed, during which time he was forced to sleep on the floor because the prison was so overcrowded and ate a “primitive meal of rice and chicken twice a day with very unsanitary amenities”, a close friend said.

    The friend said Croucher was interrogated for six hours by Dubai’s police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) — a cross between the UK CID and MI5 — and was accused of being a spy.

    He was questioned about his role within the UK’s Ministry of Defence and intelligence services and what relation he had with the British embassy, according to the friend, who is campaigning for his release.

    They obtained a search warrant for where he was staying and retrieved an electronic device he claimed he used for security penetration testing in the course of his normal day-to-day security work.

    He was subsequently jailed for four days before being released under investigation. It was understood there was insufficient evidence for the public prosecutor to progress with the charge.

    However, the Dubai authorities confiscated his phone, passport and internet banking access device, which means he is stuck in the country with no money.

    As a security consultant, Croucher had previously worked with the Dubai CID

    According to close friends his ordeal began in October when he had been working in Qatar and Saudi Arabia and was stopping off in Dubai to meet friends on his way home to the UK.

    After his release he was required to report to Al Barsha police station every week until March 27. He says he was repeatedly told his situation would be resolved the “next week”.

    Croucher had previously lived in Dubai from 2014-21 and had worked with the authorities on security-related matters, including for those who questioned him.

    “Unable to earn, access banking and having to fund his stay in Dubai, unable to leave (due to government enforced travel ban), has caused significant financial strain. This has also put a huge strain on his family who are left waiting in the UK with no answers or support.

    “He was only due to be passing through the country for a few days to catch up with friends before returning to the UK,” the friend said.

    While serving in Afghanistan in 2008, Croucher felt a trip-wire against his leg and saw that he had activated a grenade when moving through a compound. He threw himself to the ground, and used his rucksack to pin the grenade to the floor, and tucked his legs up to his body. He was thrown some distance by the explosion, but due to the protection offered by his rucksack and body armour, suffered only a nose bleed, perforated ear drums and some disorientation.

    King Charles presented the Royal Jubilee Medal to Croucher when he was prince in 2012, and is due to meet the ruler of Dubai at The Royal Ascot race this month

    The pack was ripped from his back by the explosion, and his body armour and helmet were pitted by grenade fragments. Of the other three members of his patrol, the rear man managed to take cover by retreating round the corner of a building and the patrol commander threw himself to ground, and received a superficial face wound from a grenade fragment. The final team member did not have time to react, and remained on his feet, and would have been within the lethal range of the grenade but for Croucher’s action.

    Croucher is one of only 22 living recipients of the medal of which only 406 have been awarded.

    Croucher was presented with the George Cross by Queen Elizabeth II at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace on October 30, 2008.

    His detention in Dubai at this time could cause embarrassment for King Charles as it is likely that members of the Royal Family will meet the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum at Royal Ascot this month. The sheikh, a racing-horse owner, has also recently been at the centre of a human rights issue involving one of his daughters, Princess Latifa. She was kidnapped and detained in Dubai and only released after a global campaign.

    A FCDO spokesperson said: “We are supporting a British man in the UAE and are in contact with the local authorities”.

    The UAE has been contacted for comment. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/navy-hero-held-in-dubai-for-seven-months-on-spying-charges-7gjc8q8q8

    1. How strange! They tend not to throw these accusations around lightly…. brave man, however.

    2. Correction. The GC is the highest decoration awarded for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of the enemy. It's a bit like the Air Force Cross vs the Distinguished Flying Cross.

    3. While he's there, perhaps King Charles could ask to see Mr Croucher?

  154. This is the kind of half-witted opposition policy that a functioning party in government should be going after and ripping to pieces. The Tories won't because most of them probably don't seen anything wrong in it. It will be left to Farage and other fringe players to do so but with little effect, especially where the BBC, C4 and Sky are concerned.

    Labour's GB Energy is a dangerous con
    –
    For someone who will be prime minister next month, there is a profound lack of seriousness about Keir Starmer's plans
    –
    MATTHEW LYNN • 4 June 2024 • 4:07pm
    –
    It will "close the door" on Vladimir Putin and free Britain from dependence on foreign energy, while cutting household bills and fixing the cost-of-living crisis. Sir Keir Starmer has today doubled down on his plans for GB Energy, the state-owned electricity company that has taken centre stage in the party's general election campaign.

    There is, however, a flaw in the proposal. Because in reality, GB Energy is a dangerous mess that might well leave Britain even more exposed to global energy markets that remain as volatile as ever, and Sir Keir's increasingly deranged promises will only make that worse.

    Putting aside the point that the UK didn't really import much oil and gas from Russia in the first place – a factoid that seems to have escaped Sir Keir's forensic legal mind – there are four other huge issues that Labour does not seem to have noticed.

    First, the new GB Energy would be woefully under-capitalised. The original plan of £28 billion for green investment a year, but this new energy entity will spend just £8 billion over the lifetime of a parliament, which works out at £2 billion a year. For comparison, Shell spends $22 billion a year on capital expenditure. Energy production is an expensive business, and a couple of billion does not get you very far.

    Next, it's not clear whether the technology required works effectively. There is still surprisingly little detail on what "green energies" will be prioritised, but all the evidence so far is that wind and solar are not capable of providing the power needed efficiently enough. Indeed, some wind suppliers are already in financial trouble.

    Thirdly, even if the capital was available, it doesn't seem the UK has the skilled workforce in place to build the wind and solar installations on the scale that is necessary, nor do we have the capability to drive it through the planning system.

    Finally, it now turns out that GB Energy is only going to be an "investment vehicle" instead of an actual energy company. Of course, there is already plenty of capital available for green projects, with billions already invested. So long as the financial case is compelling, there is plenty of cash available. But GB Energy, with its vague offer, will be left with the projects where the maths doesn't stack up.

    Moreover, it seems that Labour are ludicrously over-promising. When I tapped my postcode into the GB Energy website, it turned out that the company will create 68,000 jobs in London alone. (Seriously? How exactly? Where will all the windmills get built, or will they just be over-paid consultants?) For comparison, EDF UK, one of the biggest energy suppliers in the country, employs 11,000 as a whole. Something just doesn't seem right.

    If the UK genuinely wanted energy security it would not be too hard. We could reboot the North Sea, award new licences, start fracking having learnt all the lessons from the American boom, and build mini-nuclear power stations.

    For someone who will be PM next month, there is a profound lack of seriousness about Starmer's plans. Few people have noticed, but gas prices spiked this week on supply issues in Norway. Our energy security remains as precarious as ever – but Labour will make it much worse.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/04/labours-gb-energy-is-a-dangerous-con/

    1. Everything Labour does makes things worse. It runs through their policies like Blackpool through a stick of rock.

    2. Good article by Matthew, but all he needed to write was these words, 'when has a mainstream party ever kept its election manifesto promises over the past ten years?'

      They'll fudge everything, blame the nasty Tories then nationalise energy i'd think. It'll be worse than Kneelalot has promised.

    3. Good article by Matthew, but all he needed to write was these words, 'when has a mainstream party ever kept its election manifesto promises over the past ten years?'

      They'll fudge everything, blame the nasty Tories then nationalise energy i'd think. It'll be worse than Kneelalot has promised.

    4. "… free Britain from dependence on foreign energy, …" Does that include the Ormen Lange (Langeled) pipeline which can supply the UK with up to 20 per cent of its gas?

    5. "… free Britain from dependence on foreign energy, …" Does that include the Ormen Lange (Langeled) pipeline which can supply the UK with up to 20 per cent of its gas?

  156. Milkshake for Mr Campbell!

    The Left's attempts to smear Kemi Badenoch over trans rights are utterly shameless
    –
    Whenever they accuse the Tories of 'stoking a culture war', you know they're run out of arguments
    –
    MICHAEL DEACON • 4 June 2024 • 7:00am
    –
    It may be over 20 years since Alastair Campbell resigned as Tony Blair's king of spin. But it's clear that he hasn't lost his touch. Yesterday, after Kemi Badenoch pledged to protect single-sex spaces for women, Mr Campbell demonstrated that he still possesses a matchless talent for smearing his political opponents.

    "I'm sure the world of trade and business will take note that the actual Secretary of State for Business and Trade has decided that the biggest issue on her agenda on her first big election outing is the weaponisation of trans rights," he scoffed.

    This is textbook spin – because, while superficially factual, it's also slyly misleading. Yes, Mrs Badenoch is indeed the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. But she's also the Minister for Women and Equalities. Which means that it is in fact her job to talk about women's rights – in this case, their rights to have their own sports, public lavatories and hospital wards. Mr Campbell, however, had made it sound as if the subject were none of her business.

    But then, such tactics are all too typical of the modern Left, when it comes to the clash between the rights of women and the demands of trans activists. Since the Left know they're bound to lose any debate on this topic, they do all they can to prevent debate being held in the first place. To this end, there's one ploy they favour above all others. Loftily dismissing the whole issue as a "culture war".

    First out of the blocks yesterday was Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Lib Dems. Asked about Mrs Badenoch's pledge to protect women's spaces, she said: "Time and again we have seen how [the Government] tries to wage these phoney culture wars."

    What a handy phrase "culture war" is. When you've got no idea how to counter your opponent's arguments, it enables you to duck out of engaging with those arguments at all. Gender identity isn't the only area where it's useful, either. You can use it to dodge other awkward debates, too. Can't think of a way to defend Left-wing students who ban speeches from visitors they disagree with? Say, "This is just a Tory culture war!" Can't think of a way to defend cowardly publishers who rewrite classic works of fiction to appease the permanently offended? "This is just a Tory culture war!" Can't think of a way to defend the peculiar trend for drag queens reading stories to children? "Tory culture war!"

    The possibilities are practically endless. In February, Keir Mather, a 26-year-old Labour MP, even told Parliament that objections to 20mph speed limits were part of a "distracting culture war by the Conservative party".

    So there you have it. If you think motorists should be allowed to drive at any speed above snail pace, you're a bigot. And probably a racist and a transphobe, too. [TBH, if I saw a snail moving at 20mph, I'd be inclined to put my foot down.]
    –
    Corporate virtue-signalling over Pride fools no one

    Yes, it's that time of year again. Pride Month. Four weeks in which social media accounts representing capitalist corporations heroically demonstrate their unswerving support for gay people and other marginalised minorities. Within reason, anyway.

    At the weekend, a user of Twitter/X noticed that BMW (an English-language account for Western followers) was displaying the rainbow colours of the Pride flag – yet Middle Eastern accounts, such as BMWSaudiArabia, were not. What was the reason for this curious discrepancy? In reply, BMW stated that it was "an established practice" which "takes into consideration market-specific legal regulations and country-specific cultural aspects".

    Right. I think I see what that means. The policy is to trumpet support for gay rights in countries where gay people have rights. But not in countries where they haven't.

    Of course, this is far from unusual. Plenty of other corporate social media accounts follow the same policy. I can't help feeling, however, that it's ever so slightly odd. Because, if displaying the Pride colours is to serve any real purpose, surely corporations should be doing it in the Middle East. In that part of the world, after all, gay people are widely persecuted. Showing public support for their rights, therefore, might actually be useful, in promoting the case for change. At the very least, it would show that the corporations' support is honest and heartfelt – and not just a shallow, virtue-signalling PR exercise.

    Sadly, it may already be too late. In June last year, a poll by YouGov found that 75 per cent of British people "say that brands which focus activity on Pride Month are doing so more for PR purposes than out of a sincere desire to show support for the LGBTQ+ community". A mere seven per cent of respondents said they believed the effort was genuine.

    What a dreadfully cynical bunch we are.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    1. ‘What a handy phrase “culture war” is. When you’ve got no idea how to counter your opponent’s arguments, it enables you to duck out of engaging with those arguments at all.’
      Spot on

      1. It’s a superficially more polite but equally vacuous alternative to the old tried and tested ‘racist’, ‘homophobe’, ‘islamophobe’ etc.

  157. Another day is done so, I wish you a goodnight and may God bless you all, Gentlefolk. Bis morgen früh. If we are spared!

  158. Another day is done so, I wish you a goodnight and may God bless you all, Gentlefolk. Bis morgen früh. If we are spared!

  159. In a Parliament of dullards, Nigel Farage will be king
    –
    Great speeches could once be heard in the Commons. Now bland management babble is all that is left
    –
    MADELINE GRANT, PARLIAMENTARY SKETCHWRITER • 4 June 2024 • 8:09pm
    –
    Not since the days of vaudeville has a man at the end of a pier attracted quite so enthusiastic a crowd. Hundreds flooded into Clacton to watch the Nigel Farage show. It's quite a rare sight; we are used to our politicians being boring. Trust me, I watch them every week in the House of Commons, so I know whereof I speak.

    It looks as if things will only get worse. Sir Keir Starmer has spent the past few months quietly – or in the case of Diane Abbott, not so quietly – trying to purge anyone who looks like they might disagree with him in favour of what has to be the greyest field of election candidates in British history. It is no surprise that Farage draws a crowd, along with the occasionally chucked milkshake: there's almost nobody else worth throwing a flavoured milk product at.

    As a result of this draw, Farage has a near-unique ability to annoy the professionally "sensible" commentariat. A typical Centrist Dad take is "ha-ha – multiple election-loser Nigel Farage". What this ignores is Farage's rare talent for accomplishing his political goals without actually needing legislative power, making him one of the most consequential British politicians of our times.

    He achieved this through direct engagement with the public and old-fashioned public speaking. The rest of our political class seem to be allergic to the former and incapable of the latter.

    Parliamentary oratory has been in decline for many years. There was a time when even the use of notes was a rare thing in the Chamber, punishable by a heckling from the Speaker; now MPs bask on the green benches looking at their phones. Specific backbenchers would draw in members of all sides, such were their powers of persuasion. Now you can count on the fingers of one hand those capable of delivering a speech with even a single watt of energy to it; a total that does not include the PM or Leader of the Opposition.

    Both specialise in managerial gobbledegook; the language of the corporate away-day. Sunak waffles about "delivery" while Starmer favours a "mission-driven" approach.

    The Labour leader recently spoke of "leveraging the power and potential of dynamic government" to solve the small boats crisis. Rachel Reeves deploys equally gnomic phrases, describing her flagship "Securonomics" thus: "providing the platform from which to take risks; not to retreat from an uncertain future, but to embrace change and the opportunities it brings with clarity of purpose and stability of direction". We've gone from Marcus Tullius Cicero to Consultio/Consultius.

    There is a sense in which the "medium is the message"; the consistent failure to say anything meaningful is an admission that nothing meaningful can be done. Just as postmodern academics such as Judith Butler hide their substandard thinking in a tangled thicket of impenetrable jargon, I wonder if the vacuous language of contemporary politics serves a similar function – namely, to bore the listener into submission.

    There will soon be even fewer accomplished Commons speakers left, with the departure of Michael Gove (and potentially Penny Mordaunt). A few outliers such as Sir Geoffrey Cox, Tom Tugendhat, Hilary Benn may remain – and that's about it.

    In theory, impressive untested people could rise through the ranks, but given the chaos of many Tory selections, and Labour HQ's systematic eradication of all personality from their lists, this seems a remote possibility. It's highly conceivable that the two great speakers of the next Commons will be Farage and George Galloway; both mavericks, both operating outside the mainstream.

    Some will say that politicians have always been full of meaningless hot air, but a cursory look at even the immediate past shows it really has been a rapid and recent decline. Consider Michael Foot's masterful lampooning of Margaret Thatcher and David Steel before the no-confidence vote in 1979, or Tony Benn's speech against the bombing of Iraq in 1998. Whatever your politics, these were substantial people with rich hinterlands. Watching old interviews is similarly jarring; politicians of past eras speak in fully formed sentences and choose their words carefully.

    Today, however, debate quickly reverts to the trivial and personal. Perhaps the Commons's worst offender here is Jess Phillips, who rarely answers a policy question without somehow bringing it back to her favourite topic (Jess Phillips).

    While old copies of Hansard are replete with references to poetry, history and the classics †, just about the one thing reliably invoked by many politicians today is football. Is this their only cultural reference point? Is it to avoid accusations of elitism, or simply because everything they say has been sifted through several "focus groups" for maximum "cut-through"? All options are equally depressing.

    The decline of parliamentary debate also mirrors a shift towards a more remote politics in which decisions are increasingly made extra-democratically, through arm's-length bodies and expert committees. The Conservatives' latest bright idea was to hand over decision-making power on net migration to a quango. Labour plans to set up even more of them. When asked whether he preferred Davos or Westminster, naturally Starmer chose Davos.

    Barring a massive surprise, the result of the election seems clear. It will doubtless be claimed as a great victory for the sensibles. But a Commons full of uninspiring yes-men is a recipe for alienation, which may give more power to demagogues than ever before.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/04/in-parliament-of-dullards-mavericks-will-win/

    † I wonder what happened to the most recent classicist?

    1. ‘ Whatever your politics, these were substantial people with rich hinterlands.’
      Well expressed.

    3. Nigel is an orator par excellence. "…"leveraging the power and potential of dynamic government" to solve the small boats crisis. " No, what you need is orders to turn them back, dump the inhabitants on a French beach and sink the boats.

      1. "…"leveraging the power and potential of dynamic government"

        Ah! The dressing on the word salad.

    4. Not only to "arm's-length bodies and expert committees" and quangos, but also it seems the tyrannical WHO.

      Great article.

    5. For my degree, I read the South Africa Hansard for the period 1920-1939 and was always struck with how erudite the speakers were there then.

  160. Well, chums, that's me off to bed. Sleep well, and see you all tomorrow.

  163. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/parents-pay-school-fees-advance-risk-tax-clawback-labour/

    Rather early here – tax avoidance is legal. It is also right, justified, entirely proper and essential.

    The money raised won't go into state schools though. It'll disappear into the black hole of big government, probably department of education pay rises.

    What galls most is that state schools get similar amounts of funding. The difference is half the money is immediately swallowed by the state. The next half by the local council. Then rather than it being a blanket division per pupil, as funding should be, the council has useless groups who decide who gets the funding.

    The solution is not more government, not more taxes, more waste. The correct solution is school vouchers. Get the state out of education entirely.

    1. ' Morning, Geoff and thank you for all the sterling work you have lavished on us, on our behalf.

  165. Good moaning all. Just switched on computer to look at Nottl to find 666 comments. Is that an omen?

Comments are closed.