Tuesday 7 October: The urgent challenges facing the Conservatives under Kemi Badenoch

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.

652 thoughts on “Tuesday 7 October: The urgent challenges facing the Conservatives under Kemi Badenoch”

  1. Goodmorning all.
    A bright moon last night, but it's currently dry, not yet daylight, but looked overcast with 14°C on the thermometer.

  2. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe site. Back to a Par for today's Wordle.

    Wordle 1,571 4/6

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

    1. Thanks for the upvote, Herr Oberst. But please see my post about Little Cat. I looked at your posts for yesterday and all I can see is that little Cat "was spotted". By whom, and how did that person know how to contact Frau Oberst? And how did that person manage to keep Little Cat from running away until she arrived? I am genuinely curious to know more details. But I am truly pleased that your story has had such a happy ending.

      1. The owner of the cat hotel spotted Little Cat mincing through the vegetation, and tracked him to the derelict barn. Called me, then I called SWMBO (who was close by, at IKEA) and she went round, made soothing noises to Little, and grabbed him by the scruff. He was then rammed into his travelling crate that we'd left at the cat hotel in the hope of getting Little into it and home – and it all ends very happily – thank goodness!
        He was happy to be allowed to sleep on our bed last night, too. Big, heavy lump that he is, and he exercises his claws when at rest, pulling (and holing) the bedding. I had to grab both front paws and hold them so he couldn't.

        1. An animal that won't blasted well return to heel when called should have a tracker stuck in them.

          They're too much of a worry otherwise. I'm really glad he's home.

    1. DOGE is nonsense. Most of the savings can only come from cancelling centralised government directives such as the settlement of Marxist equal pay claims. And of course operating in the world's most expensive overpriced construction industry. Then there's energy.

    2. Sounds like the reality of government is suddenly markedly at variance to the marketed intent.

      However I would ask why social care is so expensive. If we assume each resident has a Premier inn style room at £100 a night and their own full time staff member (which they don't). That's still less than £4000 a month. Why are care home fees often double that?

      1. Because they can? Because they have a lot of staff? Mother's care home is like that – and meals are also included. Fees ca £6 000 a month.

  6. Picked up from X and I'm afraid we're going to see a lot of this today:-

    Tomorrow, Oct 7, on the anniversary of the Hamas massacre which killed 1200 people, mainly civilians, and saw a further 250 taken hostage, Liverpool University will be holding a celebration event.
    There will be a ‘Palestine bake sale’.
    The celebratory strapline is ‘time for desert’.
    There is a SICKNESS in our society, especially within universities.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d7536eeb0984e28098a6f3a93a433c5e7010702dcd253cd77e7f2d8d6d5dea03.png

    https://x.com/BeardedBob7282/status/1975439198183395433

    3. What I find incomprehesible, and perhaps others who know better than me can give me better information than I am getting…

      How many of the Palestinian prisoners being detained in Israel since their invasion of Gaza are guilty of atrocities during the 7th October raid into Israel? How many are guilty of nothing more than showing sympathy, whilst not actually involved in the raid, and how many are simply Gazan residents who happened to be in the way?

      The Israeli judicial system has had two years now to sort them out. If any of those actively involved in that raid are being returned to Gaza under the so-called Peace Agreement, then I feel this a travesty of justice, and will perpetuate trouble. How can Britain be so sniffy about the sympathisers, and yet utterly relaxed about releasing proven thugs and murderers back into the community, where they will only cause more trouble, emboldened by having got away with it last time? Maybe this is Netanyahu's intention, to seed back his agents provocateurs, confident that he has all the pretext he needs to tear up the Peace Agreement once the hostages are released, and resume his ongoing demolition of the ghetto.

      1. Out of the 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, 1,999 were mental jihadis.. one was just mental.

        1. Their mental state is irrelevant. Thought crime is not a crime in my book, even though it has become fashionable. They should be judged not on what they are thinking, but on what they have done or intend to do.

          With the active aggressors, due sentence according to law should be carried out. If this is a war, then it is routine to summarily execute an enemy committing aggression within one's sovereign borders, and to inter an enemy who may be on suspicion of joining in, but is otherwise innocent.

          Those who simply belong to the wrong group and picked up, but otherwise not part of the actual conflict but risk being caught up and should not be allowed in, should be deported.

          1. Hang on Jeremy. You can't ask how many and then dismiss the answer. By default, being a humus is mentally ill as their only wish is to kill Jews – and everyone else who disagrees with them.

            Wanting to kill other people is not rational.

            Deported to where? Gaza, where they'll immediately pick up a gun and start killing Israelis?

          2. How am I dismissing something I have not yet been given?

            I don’t understand what the main constituent of topsoil has to do with Gaza. Nor how by default, being human means only to wish to kill Jews. I am human, but I don’t wish to kill Jews or dissidents; perhaps you are the same? What I think you may be saying are those who are members or subscribers to a proscribed Palestinian party, currently attempting to run the province according to their policies and principles, however misguided. They are not the only ones there fuelled by bloodlust, and none of them should be immune from justice, just because they belong to a protected category.

            Nor have I suggested that those who actually committed the crimes should be deported. What I was actually arguing was that they should have been shot, so it’s quite a leap of logic in your part! Those who played no active role, the non-combatants, who happened to be in the way or regarded as proscribed aliens, are no more likely to start killing Israelis than you or I, but it’s wise to deport them lest they have other ideas. The same could be said for Israelis in Gaza and the West Bank, who may be no more than alien non-combatants, although a fair few of them there at the moment are anything but.

    4. Gotta support the Jihad.
      All the thicko kids brainwashed by thicko Lefties tearing down the yellow ribbons & support for peace & hostages posters.

      1. That woman cutting down the yellow ribbon memorial – you have to wonder what vile poison is going through her head.

        Yes, they're ignorant, they're stupid, they're immature but still – she deliberately set about destroying something she hated and thought not only that she could, but that she should. Such unreasoning arrogance, such desperate, monomaniacal self righteousness is unthinkable.

    5. Every single time there's conflict in that region, it's always the pallywhacks who start it.

  7. Morning, all Y'all. Light rain, delayed trains.
    Many thanks for all he expressions of joy at the return of Little Cat. It's a great relief to have him back – as a treat, he was allowed to sleep on our bed last night & lovely and warm he was, too!
    Big Cat is much happier, too and his appetite seems to have returned, thank goodness.

    1. This is wonderful news, Herr Oberst. I am so glad you got him back. Did the advert in the local paper help or did he just return of his own free will, or did you go searching again and he heard the cries from you and Big Cat? (Good morning, btw.)

      1. He was spotted going into a derelict barn. SWMBO went over (since she was in the neighbourhood) and actually grabbed him – whilst trying not to fall off a ladder. Returned home, he patrolled the house and garden, shouting loudly.
        Firstborn was over last night too, as he has a training course in Oslo this morning – so we all went to dinner to celebrate! That was a good meal!

          1. Oh, boy, was he! He's now eating properly, too. The two are inseparable just now.

        3. The news really made my day, Paul! And the thought of the reunion with Big Cat was a joy! So pleased for you all! 🥰

          2. It’s a real pleasure! Our first cat, Archie, disappeared for 5 days and I was demented! He finally arrived home in the middle of the night, starving and very muddy. We think he’d been stuck in a rabbit hole! I know that feeling!

    2. There was more interest in the return of Little Cat than the Conservative party conference.

    1. This is about Christian Street Preachers, ogga1, not Christians praying in Church. There is a vast difference. (Good morning, btw.) PS: But the point about two tier justice concerning Christians and Muslims praying in public is well made.

      1. Because of course he has freedom of speech. But not us to say it's wrong. Oh no. Can't have whitey, the tax payer getting uppity about the muslim savages.

    3. This is only going to get worse and a lot uglier. the box has been opened and the contents shaken all over the floor, then smashed to pieces by decades of leftism, wokers and double standard hypocrites.

  9. Good morning, all. Mottled sky. Calm.

    The credit for the welcome return of Little Cat rest entirely with the Rector of Fakenham who – at the pet blessing service 10 days ago – invited the Lord to get Saints Francis and Anthony on the case. Lo – it worked!!

    1. When I told our vicar about the NHS appointments I had lined up, I expressed the opinion that being on the prayer list would do more good.

  11. Good moaning.
    This made Oi larf.

    SIR – Professor David J Drewry’s examination of the popular books in a prison library (Letters, October 6) reminds me of when I was working in a prison back in the 1990s.

    The prison librarian was required to check, and if needed deny, requests for any books that glorified crime or were otherwise inappropriate. One day she was very confused by a stream of requests for a book about a hobby that she thought was harmless, but not necessarily one that her regular customers would be interested in.

    So I proceeded to tell her what Trainspotting was really all about.

    Stuart Harrington
    Burnham on Sea, Somerset

      1. If they hate it, then they should move to somewhere they might like. Plenty space in Gaza City, so I'm told. Some repairs may be needed, but property is cheap.

          1. See reply to Elsie a few minutes ago. Above or below… Yes, he, Big Cat and us are all delighted he's home.

      2. 'Some people might be watching this and thinking, "Gary you are not very patriotic". I played for my country bank account 85 times and love my country. millions, I love Manchester being rich and I love England my vast estates.

      3. It's been around for a long time. George Orwell wrote about this unique English self-loathing 80 years ago.

    2. This repulsive and mediocre footballer – who was never in an English team which won an international trophy – boasted that he loved Britain. However, GB News broadcast a video clip last night of Gary Neville offensively refusing to sing the National Anthem played at the beginning of a match when he was in the team line up. Instead of singing he scowled in contempt at his country.

      It is not surprising that such scum (to borrow a a word beloved by the ex-deputy prime minister) is much esteemed by the prime minister.

    1. The Scots voted for them because nationalism trumps everything. They now reap the rewards.

      1. Thing is, we're paying for them. Scotland is a poor country attached by a land border to a rich one that, thanks to bureaucratic and historical ties is now paying for it.

        If Scotland were simply told 'live within your means' it would have to completely change how it functions. Instead, it simply bleats and we get sent the bill.

  14. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/07/man-arrested-suspected-arson-attack-sussex-mosque/

    No doubt Leftists will whinge and whine about how awful and racist we are, but these blokes were sick of muslim simply getting a free ride. The entire country is sick of being lectured about 'the diversity' and told we're irrelevant and annoying, us indigenous folk who pay for it all.

    The Left caused this just as much as the men setting the fire. It is wrong, but it is also frustratingly understandable. For over 30 years millions of foreigners have been forced on this country and it is unrecognisable. Far too many do not work, even more see no reason to integrate and are pandered to by the state machine. I fear this will only escalate and Starmer, not know what to do do and unwilling to accept responsibility will simply use force to suppress those he hates.

    1. Ahem
      So they don't give him a name then??
      I have seen reports (sorry lost the link) that the two arsonists were caught on the video speaking in Urdu
      I await further developments with interest

      1. I've no idea who did it or why. It wouldn't surprise me if it were dindus wanting to get publicity. In either case, it is escalation.

        They simply shouldn't be here. Our immigration laws are non-existent.

    1. But, let's face it, he is far less dangerous than a mother who had lost her own child being outraged by the slaughter of innocent children and tweeted what she felt only to take down her 'tweet' a couple of hours later. The child murderer turned out to be an Islamist terrorist – already known to the police whose identity the repulsive prime minister had attempted to conceal.

  16. Good morning, all. High broken cloud to the east and sadly, massive evidence of criss-crossing chem-trail spraying to the south-west and west.

    Evidence gleaned that four weather stations in the Lowestoft area have been closed down. @The Stark Naked Brief has been busy.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/851c25bfa2597043f1f17c05aedbeb364fbace69ece6565dee4d06d8d2cc9e7d.png
    The closed weather station phenomenon isn't unique to the UK. John Shewchuk in the USA has been posting on closed "ghost" stations for quite some time.
    https://x.com/_ClimateCraze/status/1974823940288827859 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/52864db68c22977d7584d99432eeea1baa8f8644c2855cbd9e6a823853e62629.png https://x.com/_ClimateCraze/status/1974823940288827859
    More tax to facilitate the spending required to assuage Miliband minor's desire to install renewables across our homelands?
    https://x.com/StarkNakedBrief/status/1975274711635345864 https://x.com/_ClimateCraze/status/1974823940288827859

    1. There is no longer any doubt that Starmer is committed to the destruction of the UK so that a Communist state can be imposed upon an enfeebled and demoralised population.

    2. It would be better for the climate if Ed Silliband and his festering 'Green' followers were interred, not interned, interred – but not near any water supply, we wouldn't want to cause serious pollution.

  17. Good Morning!

    Two important and related articles today dear reader, so please do read both. In The Digital Cage , we set out the planned dystopia controlled by the Unholy Trinity: Digital ID, Central Bank Digital Currency & Facial Recognition. In the second, it gets even scarier as the Preston Park Panther explains in Tattoo Tyranny , where we might see the end of the smartphone, but the trouble is that electronic/biometric tattoos are the next step. Thank God I'm old!

    Lest we forget: 7 October 2023:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAFDI63yvNQ&rco=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll9m0KOy2Lo
    https://www.freespeechbacklash.com/node/1203

    2. Morning J

      I think the full moon disrupts sleep , even though the moon cannot peep through thick curtains .

      Pip and visiting cat are always fidgety when the moon is full, there was a lovely stary sky

      Full moons also seem to go hand in hand with earth quakes elsewhere in the world .

    3. From a seaside village in Valencia. Sunny high 22 degrees weather still holding up but they say rains coming this weekend.

    4. Hope for better night for you tonight, N. I sleep more in late Autumn/Winter than I do in Summer. I don't read my phone, have hot milk before bed.

    1. Hi I'm Sir Keir Starmer & this is Tony.. we're just regular guys. Trust us.

      migrant invasion? more digital ID presented as solution..
      moral panic? more digital ID presented as solution..
      anti-social pub social interactions? more digital ID presented as solution..
      no vaccine status? more digital ID presented as solution..
      online abuse? more digital ID presented as solution..
      children safety? more digital ID presented as solution..
      age gating? more digital ID presented as solution..
      stop spreading hate? more digital ID presented as solution..

      "I personally don't have a problem with an ID card, I don't see what the issue is." Sarah Pochin

      1. Hottie.. Silkie Carlo.

        At last a NGO activist that lives in Brighton.. that isn't chanting Free Palestine.
        Director
        @BigBrotherWatch
        . Fighting for a free future for all. Working on human rights + tech. Vegangelist 🌱Buddhist 🌞 Views = my own✌️

      2. I think that Danny Kruger. or another Reform Party MP, ought to explain to Ms Pochin what the problem with ID cards are.

    2. Starmer is such a habitual liar that it is very difficult to tell if he ever tells the truth.

      1. Twice, according to Starkey..
        1/ I prefer Davos to parliament.
        2/ I would choose NHS over private for treatment of my dying child.

  21. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9ddd45af3e76741af48aa60bcd1049cc3944fa40bac4264dc35953871e400135.png Red Squirrel Sciurus vulgaris. [Not my photo]

    There was a red squirrel in my garden this morning, a not uncommon experience. Unfortunately I was too late to get my camera to my favoured vantage spot, the clear glass shower-room window. It had scurried off over a neighbour's garden before I was alerted to its presence.

    Grey tree-rats S. carolinensis were introduced — by some cretin — to mainland Europe in 1948. There are a few recorded in Sweden but, so far (thankfully) they are not commonplace.

    It is always a joy to see the beautiful red squirrel in our hazel shrub, looking for filberts, or scurrying across the lawn. I'll keep a weather-eye out for its return.

    1. We only have red squirrels in Brittany as far as I know.

      We have two large walnut trees in our garden: the one to the north of our house is the home of one family of squirrels, the other to the south is the home of another family.

    2. If I go down to the Isle of Wight, 40 miles from here, there are still Red Squirrels. But here in West Sussex, not a one, all grey. But I have read that in some areas the reds are fighting back and increasing in numbers. A small piece of good news.

      How red squirrels are fighting back against their grey cousins
      Resurgence in predatory pine martens has greater effect on grey squirrels, study finds
      Joe Pinkstone
      Science Correspondent
      18 June 2025 8:23am BST
      Red squirrels are staging a comeback after being almost eliminated by their grey cousins, a study has suggested.

      A resurgence in pine martens, the natural predator of squirrels, has had a greater impact on the greys, which are not native to the British Isles and do not know to fear them.

      Red squirrels, which evolved alongside pine martens for centuries, can easily avoid the predators and become more wary when one is nearby, the study found, making the “predator naive” greys easier prey.

      The reds have started to thrive as a result, despite increasing numbers of wild squirrel hunters.

      Red squirrels are native to the UK but have suffered significant population decline in recent decades because of the arrival of the larger grey variety from the US in the late 19th century.

      They have been reduced to small populations in parts of the British countryside such as Scotland, Anglesey and the Isle of Wight as their shared habitat was overtaken by greys, which are indiscriminate in what they eat and able to reproduce at a faster rate.

      Decline of pine martens
      Pine martens have also suffered a catastrophic population decline in recent decades, but efforts to protect, reintroduce and nurture the species in Britain and Ireland has assisted red squirrels.

      The study by the University of Galways laid wildlife cameras around the Irish countryside to monitor activity at feeding sites and discovered that red squirrels become wary in the presence of pine martens.

      However, greys were more unaware of the signs and were therefore more likely to be killed.

      Dr Emily Reilly, the study’s lead author, told The Telegraph: “Red squirrels would rarely even eat any food if a pine marten had been there in the last eight hours.”

      “They slowly became less cautious but you could still see the effect even days after the pine marten visit.

      “The grey squirrels do not have this response. This is most likely why their numbers have been decreasing since the pine marten has made a comeback.”

      A total of 491 squirrel visits were recorded in the study, compared to 226 pine marten sightings detected by the cameras.

      The data collected in western Ireland will probably apply to Britain, where pine marten numbers are also increasing, Ms Reilly said.

      The study said: “Following a pine marten visit to a feeder, red squirrels displayed a typical anti-predator response, exhibiting increased vigilance and decreased feeding.”

      “There was no difference in the duration of the red squirrels’ visits to a feeder, meaning red squirrels did not display a flight reaction in response to recent pine marten presence.”

      The study is published in Royal Society Open Science.

  22. 413865+ up ticks,

    We are looking at a possible coalition agreed on or a coalition
    over time with deflecting members, either way, a coalition.

    Reform on its own without a running mate, in case. safety net party is IMHO putting all our arses futures on one role of the dice
    and losing consequences dose not bare thinking of.

    Currently there is no purer form of patriotism proven over decades than that of the Farmers.

    Hence the Farmers Food and Freedom Party would prove to be a worth while back up to the reform party as a perfect safeguard.

    Dt,
    Grassroots Tories want pact with Reform, poll finds
    Survey suggests rank-and-file more amenable than Conservative leadership to working with Nigel Farage

    1. Shame there will be no role for Advance UK.
      Then again.. a few more Jihadi attacks, say one per week, and that will all change.

      1. 413865+ up ticks,

        Afternoon KB,
        Far from it, I initially posted for Ben Habib & Rupert Lowe to come under the Farmers Food and Freedom Party banner.

        We will not ever find a more sound base for a political party than those who’s patriotic activities have never let us down over generations.

    2. I received an email today asking me if I'd consider standing as a candidate, they'll doubtless have sent it to many many more…perhaps coalition not needed, if not now then in the future.

      1. Good luck if you do decide to stand and I'd certainly be willing to bung a tenner into your campaign fund!

        1. Thank you so much, Bob – I reckon family will stop me, I have syncope which means I faint time to time…possibly not a good luck 😀 I don’t think they’ll have a problem recruiting, would like to see a good number of younger ones (teens to 40s) step up, it’s my past but their future. I really want Reform to win, seeking to them sorting out the CS which I consider to be our real and permanent government.

  23. Emma Raducanu retires ill at Wuhan Open after having blood pressure checked
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2025/10/07/emma-raducanu-vs-ann-li-live-score-wuhan-open/

    BTL

    Emma Raducanu is undoubtedly a brilliant tennis player as far as her tennis skills are concerned. However she lacks the essential things in a professional sports player: physical and mental health, stamina and resilience and pure psychological grit.

    However she is very photogenic – she could probably make more money as a professional model and have a happier life.

    3. Grattis på födelsedagen, Bob Bob Bob. Hope its a spiffing one.👍🏻🎂🍷🎉😊

    11. Yo Bob3.

      Many Happy returns for today and of course have 364 Happy Unbirthdays till the next Anniversary

    2. As much as I detest Hamas.. imho there are many in the IDF that know this was a false flag event by Bibi.
      As it turns out a very successful one too.

        1. That was the exact reaction by someone in the comments section of The Spectator two years ago.

          I file it under the "They wouldn't do that.. No way. Utter bullshit" Naivety folder."

          Danzig crisis..
          JFK..
          USS Liberty..
          9/11..

          1. If this was a false flag operation, there must be many hundreds, if not thousands, of people (you claim that many in the IDF know this) who could provide incontrovertible proof of it. Yet not one through conscience, financial gain or political advantage has produced such evidence. At least your folder is accurately titled.

          2. Oh.. This User's Activity is private. Darn why did I fall for that.

            I did like the 'mysterious' collapse of Building 7.. I guess it dropped down in sympathy with the Twin Towers.

            If 9/11 was a false flag operation, there must be many hundreds, if not thousands, of people who could provide incontrovertible proof of it. Yet not one through conscience, financial gain or political advantage has produced such evidence.

          3. Building 7 had been burning for several hours after being struck by falling debris from the collapsing twin towers. There's plenty of film evidence of it.

          4. There’s nothing mysterious about WTC7 – debris from the other buildings caused a catastrophic fire that led to the collapse of the building. I would encourage everyone, including you, to keep their profile private. It is too easy for anyone with malicious intent to derive enough information about a poster from their profile and posting history to then identify them. There are too many nutters on the internet to be complacent about this.

          5. Not false flags.

            Netanyahu my be ruthless, but there is no way that October 7th was a false flag

          7. I agree, so why did you suggest that it was, even if obliquely ?

            imho there are many in the IDF that know this was false flag event by Bibi.

        2. That was the exact reaction by someone in the comments section of The Spectator two years ago.

          I file it under the "They wouldn't do that.. No way. Utter bullshit" Naivety folder."

          Danzig crisis..
          JFK..
          USS Liberty..
          9/11..

        1. Top IDF Commander Opted Not to Boost Security After Visiting Nova One Hour Before October 7 Hamas Massacre.
          "not even a cockroach can cross the fence without us knowing".

        2. Truth will out at some point Sue. For now, stories the Iron Dome down for software upgrade (on BN's order), the secure gates between Israel and Palestine were opened (again, rumoured on BN's order). Also BN has a number of lawsuits pending until 'normal' relations resumed. It always seemed an odd place to have a huge party, right next to the border, permission for such a large occasion usually required. Also, Israel has had a number of placed men/women in Palestine, as you would expect, who gave no warning (if true, that seems odd). I'd bet on Trump knowing the full details – he seems cagey around BN. All in all, I don't know what I 'seriously believe', but it seems possible the full details not yet known.

          1. Why would Netanyahu have informed Trump?

            Biden was still President and at that point hadn't dropped out of the race.

            The left use lawfare and rumour at every opportunity, especially if it harms their country. Hurting their enemies is a much higher priority.

          2. I take your point, apology for mistake. Perhaps Jill Biden, Victoria Nuland, and others did in fact know. A number of videos circulating today, perhaps some of them are even true – for example one in particular claims Egypt forewarned BN of the Hamas intelligence they had about imminent attack.

          3. Even so, I wonder what the intelligence would have stated, I doubt it would have been very specific.
            There must be many miles of border with Israel, numerous settlements and border posts and the attackers could have been almost anywhere.

          4. The video I watched was from Ezra Levant, far as I remember.Probably find it on YouTube, along with others, if you have time/interest. Some of the footage is very disturbing, say the least.

          6. Quite possible, but given Hamas tunnels and tendency to use civilian infrastructure to cover themselves how would Israel be certain.
            Whatever they do they are always wrong in the eyes of the haters.

          7. Very true. Some bombing raids have been undertaken, but selective. It will be very difficult for survivors even when released. And those are the last cards Hamas holds.

          8. I wonder what the world’s reaction will be when/if it turns out that there are far fewer living hostages than expected.

          9. I would be astonished if any of them are returned alive, sos. The wicked people who have kidnapped and tortured them are not just "Hamas" terrorists but those from other like-minded groups extant in that region, which is spiritually poisonous. My own view is that the remaining Hamas "leaders" have no idea at all where some of the hostages are being kept. The terrorist mindset is deeply embedded in the population of Gaza as a whole and into UNWRA specifically but other alleged relief agencies (receiving billions from the likes of us and the EU). QV the recently released hostage who was held in the home of a UN doctor and his family yet not well treated.

            I only pray that these innocents, Peaceniks as they mostly and avowedly were, did not suffer too much torture before they were killed.

          10. I think you’re spot on with regard to the foul creatures who have been holding hostages.

            Anyone who thinks that there is anything other than “evil” in the population of Gaza, and for that matter amongst “Palestinians” in general is totally deluded.

    3. These people mark their territory in the way that dogs do when they pee frequently during walkies.

    4. Light is the best disinfectant. In this case info streaming at the speed of light provided by Elon Musk's X.
      The truth comes out eventually.

      When you have even the son of Hamas.. Mosab Hassan Yousef.. telling you Jihad is one big con.. eventually even Gary & Owen will wake up. Then again.. may be not.

      2. Whatever Mosab Hassan Yousef says is a lie because he is a Mossad agent and can be comfortably dismissed. At least that is the logic of the left in order to hold on to their fantasy reality.

    1. I bought my first ever concessionary price item on Saturday. I noticed that the Oxford Tube ticket was £2 cheaper for the over 60s.

      It might not be the end…

      1. I can give you at minimum 15 years, Kathie 🙂 Wherever you're singing, it'll be glorious – have a happy day x

      2. I am sure you know but in case you don't…

        Ex-service personnel in the UK have access to various discounts, including the Veterans Railcard for 1/3 off rail fares, the Defence Discount Service and Blue Light Card for savings on shopping, travel, and entertainment, and the National Express discount through the Defence Discount Service. Other benefits include potential access to the Forces Cars Direct scheme and discounts through websites like Rewards for Forces.

        It's always worth asking.

        My local wet fish shop gives 15% off to veterans.

  31. Morning all,

    Nottlers may have noticed that I am still testing the retieved valve actuator from my central heating system which the installer's technician deemed to be faulty.

    This is called continued testing (CT) to see if it has failed or not..

    Here is today's test:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6ff02d33369098c55a8feadb54d92e59c21187328bcf5721e598ccf919e0827e.jpg
    The valve has been opened by the synchronous motor, the continuuity meter is beeping and the microswitch has activated but now shows a resistance of one ohm.

    This is now evidence that the valve acuator has passed the continuity beep test yet again. So should my test pass it as still fit for purpose?

    Because if I deem it to have failed then it is truly FUCT (Failed Under Continuous Testing) ©Fallick_Alec

    1. Enter it anyway. It’s a shame to lose your “current streak”.

      Wordle 1,571 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Last night was looking for a link to previous answers for a friend and it showed me the following day's answer. Bit weird, I thought it would be on Eastern US time.

    1. I watched two hours of discussion on the Ukraine war and the aftermath, this morning. Essentially Russia has won, which I have been saying for the last two years. It has only been allowed to stagger on because of the intervention of the West. But in all the information this morning I found, by far, the most interesting proposal was a proposition by Putin that the West accept the neutrality of Ukraine and that Russia and America form a friendly alliance to keep the peace by curbing the ambitions of China and Islam and serving to contain the fractious nature of the EU which has yet to understand that it is not the particularly important political entity it likes to think it is basking, as it does, in the legacy of European dominance through the last two centuries before the present one. Underlying that, but unspoken is the desire to preserve Christian civilization because, despite everything else, it is the primarily torch bearer, in this world, of civilization. Something to think about when saner heads prevail and the rabid fantasists of warmongering, the Ursula von der Leyen's and American neo-cons along with the fellow travellers of Starmer et al, have been curtailed. Apparently, informally, Trump is willing to entertain the idea.

  34. Morning all. Sun is breaking through and the temperature is quite mild.

    I thought that I would post this. Proof of the racism that has always been rife in this benighted country. It is alleged that in thinking of the future, those of a non-English character, were rounded up and forced of the streets in and act designed to be racially affirming of white supremacy, and all that! We all know that Bradford has always been a wonderful example of diversity for ever and a day.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfdQYdF-vsM

      1. 🎵Where did you get that hat?
        Where did you get that tile?
        Isn't it a nobby one and just the proper style?
        I should like to have one just the same as that
        Where e'er I go they shout: "Hello, where did you get that hat?"🎵

    3. At about 2.20, a man (presumably one of the film makers) urges the group of you ladies to walk down the street and then back towards the camera. Even in the infancy of film making, there was a great deal of artistic licence and manipulation going on.
      Nonetheless, I was given the Mitchell and Kenyon DVD for Christmas and they are fascinating.

    4. Three things I noticed; how smart everyone looked, that donkey pulling the cart was VERY lame and the bloke in the bowler had pinched my trike! I wear a crash cap not my bowler when I take it out.

  37. Do University students get better degrees proportional to their support for Hamas at these protest events, I wonder?
    Is it the reason we have so many useless MPs and people leading out institutions that have never had a proper job, always failed upwards throughout their lives because they support the right causes or are of the right cultural identity, it's like the saying,
    Having all the Keir but no idea

    1. I can tell you that unless you follow the approved direction when you do an art degree (I graduated in 2008), you get marked down. I stopped painting in my second year and wasted my time doing “conceptual art “ I e non art as I could see the way it was going. My marks didn’t match the marking criteria- they were a grade below. After 25 years teaching I can read the blurb and apply it.

  38. I would like confirmation from the Govt that there are no plans at the back of any drawer for Tony Blairstard to be given a state funeral.

    2. Hear you. Stormy – but highly unlikely, former statesman and all that jazz. Soros likely appoint someone else in any case, possibly even his Ewan (Soros having appointed his own son to follow him).

    3. I would go along with a state funeral, on condition it is carried out before the end of the year.

      1. Then it must be an open casket with a free supply of needles so we can check as we file past that he is actually brown bread.

    4. Chop his body into small chunks and flush it down the bog would be more appropriate.

    5. Stephen Kinnock, Member of Parliament for Aberavon used to (???????) work for the WEF.

      see Wikepedia

    7. When he does go to get his just reward in the fiery furnace, that will be the moment to hold a hog roast.

  40. From Coffee House the Spectator

    04 Oct 2025
    Coffee House
    Joanna WilliamsJoanna Williams
    Why do students think a bake sale is the way to mark October 7?
    7 October 2025, 11:14am

    Pro Palestine students and protesters demonstrate outside the London School of Economics (Getty image

    How best to commemorate the horrors of October 7th, 2023? How to mark the day on which hundreds of Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, slaughtering almost 1,200 people, injuring thousands more, and taking 251 hostages? For students at the University of Liverpool, the answer seems to be a ‘bake sale’. That’s right. In remembrance of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, students will eat cake and raise money for Palestine. ‘Time for Dessert’ is the event’s sickening slogan.

    Protests are expected to take place today at universities throughout the UK

    Sadly, Liverpool is far from unique. Protests are expected to take place today at universities throughout the UK. Not demonstrations against Hamas, or the states that harboured and funded the October 7th militia. No, according to the warped morality of campus protesters, this second anniversary, coming just days after the murder of two Jews in a synagogue in Manchester, is the perfect time for them to express their loathing of the world’s only Jewish nation.

    At Queen Mary University in London, organisers are planning a rally entitled: ‘Two Years of Genocide, Two Years of Resistance.’ As has become all too familiar by now, Jews are not allowed to be victims of the massacre waged against them. Instead, it is Gazans who are both victims of Israeli forces and, simultaneously, heroes of the ‘resistance’. This same theme is picked up by students in Birmingham who have planned a campus vigil for Palestine to ‘honour our martyrs’, advertised with the slogan: ‘two years of genocide, 100-years of resistance’. At Goldsmiths, University of London, students are also planning a ‘night of remembrance and resistance’.

    At King’s College in London, students have organised a talk entitled: ‘Why It Didn’t Start On October 7th.’ Who cares if history is abused? All that matters to these modern-day anti-Semites is explaining away the pogrom. It wasn’t an act of savagery, is their message, but a political act of self-defence. Bright young minds, used to highlighting microaggressions, declaring their pronouns, and urging others to ‘Be Kind,’ have dedicated themselves to justifying savagery. It is impossible to imagine an attack on any nation other than Israel being subjected to such gross treatment.

    The sorry sight of the ageing protestor
    But still the litany of shame continues. Students in Sheffield will hold a rally in support of the Palestinian cause. They have refused requests to change the date because that would involve paying to reprint posters.

    Consider, for one moment, if black or queer students complained about an event taking place on campus. Forget printing fees; the organisers would face petitions, mass demonstrations, meetings with senior managers and, most likely, be shamed into cancelling the planned event and issuing a public apology. When it comes to Jewish students, different rules apply.

    At Strathclyde University, the vibe seems positively jovial; students are invited to ‘grab your flag and keffiyeh’ and attend a ‘Protest 4 Palestine’.

    The transformation of barbarous, anti-Semitic murderers into heroes and martyrs worthy of celebration shames our universities. That the planned campus events mirror the protests that have plagued our cities for the past two years is no excuse. For more than a decade now, our universities have nurtured Jew hatred dressed up as anti-Zionism. Through Israeli apartheid weeks, campaigns for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel, and calls for students to join an ‘electronic intifada’, a new strain of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) compliant anti-Semitism was birthed on campus. Far from being frowned upon by lecturers and university managers, academics and DEI officers have been at the forefront of promoting anti-Israeli sentiment.

    It is in this climate that anti-Semitism flourished in the aftermath of the October 7th pogrom. Jewish students have reported experiencing verbal abuse, threats, assaults, and the desecration of property. At the University of Leeds, a Jewish student centre was vandalised with ‘IDF off campus’ and ‘Free Palestine’ daubed in graffiti. In St Andrews, visibly Jewish students were pelted with eggs as they returned from an event with the Chief Rabbi.

    Such incidents are, of course, condemned by those running our universities. But they occur in a context where arguing for the obliteration of Israel is of a piece with being against colonialism, white supremacism, and Western hegemony, and donning a keffiyeh paves the way to the moral high ground. For this reason, Keir Starmer’s call for students to shun ‘un-British’ protests is bound to fall on deaf ears. The only country students steeped in critical race theory and decoloniality hate as much as Israel is Britain.

    Today’s planned anti-Israel protests make clear the scale of anti-Semitism on campus. Sadly, it will take far more than platitudes from the Prime Minister to root out this vile infestation.

    Written by
    Joanna Williams
    Joanna Williams is an academic and author. Follow her on Substack here

    1. What would the reaction of those at the Palestine Bake celebration be if a group of masked, armed Jewish people rushed in, raped the women and children, murdered the men and then kidnapped those who had been neither raped nor kidnapped?

      Christians and Jews share the same Old Testament of The Holy Bible but The New Testament is not a part of the holy book for Jews.

      We might remember that an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is the message of The Old Testament. We might object to this philosophy but Muslims hold to it even more vehemently than the Jews do.

      The New Testament, to which Christians are expected to adhere, tells us to turn the other cheek and love our enemies. But how realistic is this when you are faced with a merciless foe determined to kill you and exterminate your race.

      1. An eye for an eye was intended to prevent violence escalating. As in, you take no more than an eye for an eye. Jesus also told his followers to arm themselves with a sword. This makes sense if you assume that love thine enemy means not falling out within your own community. It doesn’t prevent you fighting the enemy without.

    2. If two Jews were murdered at the Manchester synagogue, it would mean that the police marksman who killed one of them did not do so by accident but targeted him quite deliberately and with intent.

      1. You're correct, but does that in any way make the actions of the students more acceptable?

    1. It doesn't take an Einstein to realise that when electricity becomes scarce for any reason, energy providers can selectively switch off designated households that have chosen to use a smart metered electricity supply.

        1. The Boeing 787 was the smartest aircraft ever built.
          It was so smart that it lasted twelve years before crashing.

        1. That's how they made us switch – by saying the off peak meter was obsolete and would be switched off. It was pure coercion and of course OH fell for it. We don't use the display monitor though. And it does save him having to stand on a chair every month to send in the reading.

          1. In my case it was because my meter had just stopped recording the amount of electricity I was using. The figures remained the same month after month.

        2. Im smart enough to record my gas and electricity readings using my camera. I then use my gas account and an emailed photo of the dual rate images to my providers.

          I always get replies on the internet that it would be easier if I had a smart meter – but I am smart enough to not respond

          If my dumb meter conks out I can always insist that the provider replaces it with a dumb smart meter whilst I continue my regular smart way of submitting readings.

          1. I tried to get a replacement dumb meter but they claimed they don’t make them any more. I did get it in writing that they couldn’t cut me off if they thought I was using too much electricity, but that was probably a lie.

    2. Even better, stick her in a large cage, with a wheel attached to a generator, and a photograph of a naked Jeremy Corbin just out of reach.

    3. The trouble is that it is believable.

      (But she has a point because we could use a 12 volt rechargeable battery to run our television sets with an adaptor and when the battery runs low we could connect it to the battery trickle charger we have in the garage which we can plug into the mains.)

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/355cda52606b882ed45b16b46f2cd013c44570e214ac57407bda9e3a6e261717.png
      I think there may be a flaw in my reasoning somewhere!

    4. I remember the last time Labour sabotaged our electricity supply in the seventies. There was no TV after 10pm and we frequently sat around enjoying, if that’s the word, enforced candlelight. There was a baby boom, I recall.

      1. We didn't have a telly then. I remember sitting by candlelight and making shadow pictures on the wall.

  42. Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Justice and Deputy Prime Minister – David Lammy.

    A rare instance of his political appointments having more letters than his IQ. Britain at its best!

    1. Personally speaking, I think he is overdue for a few more honours. How about:

      'His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor David Lammy Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Europe in General and the United Kingdom in Particular'.

      That sounds round about his level.

  43. HAHAHAHAHAHA
    Breathe
    HAHAHAHAHAHA
    Arif Ali Rafiq, a British-born Asian man, of Harlestone Road, Northampton, has been charged with attempted arson with intent to endanger life.
    The charge relates to an incident on the afternoon of Sunday, October 5, when an attempt was made to set fire to the front door of the mosque.
    https://www.northants.police.uk/news/northants/news/in-court/2025/october/man-43-charged-with-attempted-arson/
    confirmation of what I posted early doors
    Not a mossy false flag after the Synagogue murders trying to claim the victim pyramid
    Nio Sireee
    Edit
    This is another incident those mosques wont burn themselves

  44. Under fire for stating the bleeding obvious.

    Jenrick defends calling Handsworth 'worst-integrated'
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy85zlpwne6o

    In October 2005, Handsworth was the location of one of the worst race riots of recent decades, a result of years of tensions between West Indians and Pakistanis. It wasn't the first. Not a white person involved – apart from the emergency services, of course.

    1. Is he under fire because other locations are even more 'worst-integrated'? Or is it that he hasn't endeavoured to find the 'best-integrated?

      1. I don’t think you can accept “more worst” even hyphenated. Worse examples of being badly integrated, maybe.

  45. Under fire for stating the bleeding obvious.

    Jenrick defends calling Handsworth 'worst-integrated'
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy85zlpwne6o

    In October 2005, Handsworth was the location of one of the worst race riots of recent decades, a result of years of tensions between West Indians and Pakistanis. It wasn't the first. Not a white person involved – apart from the emergency services, of course.

  46. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/661353e480fbab47a814ee8d5269790e3428fb62137d92484efddc421772004b.png Yesterday I had no food whatsoever. And at no stage did I feel hungry.

    Tomorrow I'll have no food whatsoever. And at no stage will I feel hungry.

    Today I've just enjoyed a mixed grill: pork chop, lamb chop, beef-mince patty ('smashburger'), home-cured bacon, home-made chipolata sausages,
    tiny potato rösti, fried egg. I added a spoonful of onion marmalade, and a dash of Meaux mustard (thank you, Philip).

    I've now had my fat-and-protein hit and that will keep me fully sated until Thursday.😋

    1. Does your good lady follow the same regime as you do?

      Because Caroline has Coeliac Disease much of the food I eat is gluten free but this does not stop me from eating other foods which do have gluten in them which Caroline must not eat.

      1. Not at all. I have just one meal on the days that I eat.

        She has four (small) meals every day and cannot put on an ounce. She remains around 8–9 stone in weight and would love to put on a bit more. This seems to be a common thing in her family as they are all beanstalks.

        Saturday evening meal (the traditional Swedish equivalent of the UK's Sunday midday roast) is the only occasion that we share a meal, usually cooked by me. I have a repertoire of around 100–120 different (Saturday) meals — from various cuisines — and we choose a different one each week.

      1. Only the bacon was a bit too crispy. The photo (taken on an iPhone) doesn't do the meal justice.

        Pork and lamb chops were standard size, but the hamburger (pink inside) and rösti were minuscule, and the sausages were thin chipolatas.

  47. People are beginning to make the distinction between people with newly acquired British passports and English people.

    We have designated national parks in Britain – perhaps the whole of England should be designated a National Park reserved exclusively for English people?

    1. I've been fully accepted here as a Swedish National, with certification and passport to match. The locals accept me even though I jokingly address myself as a plast svensk!

      1. Yes, I am English but I have now lived nearly half my life in France. However I cannot be anything other than English regardless of what passports, residence permits and other documentation I might have.

        A Scottish or Welsh person with a British passport – as I do – is no more English than I am Scottish or Welsh.

        1. As an Aussie friend once told her English husband (who had lived in the outback for 50 years): "Once a Pom; always a Pom."

    2. I have always made a distinction. To me if you are English this is your homeland and the land of your ancestors, no where else. If you are a decent person you are welcome but you are not English, you are British. The only reason I have a British passport is because there isn't such a thing as an English one. If there was a choice and I could have an English passport, that is what I would want 100% of the time.

      2. I had a DNA test some years ago and was told I was 88.3% English with a bit of Scandinavian and Celtic blood.
        On a slightly different note I remember reading in a Bill Bryson book that being alive now gives you a direct link to the beginning of the universe. Quite a sobering thought.

    3. As I have said several times recently, a pig, born in a sty, does not suddenly become a dog when rehoused in a kennel.

      2. Arthur Wellesley, The Duke of Wellington, was born in Ireland but remained a staunch patriotic Englshman.

        When people suggested that he was Irish, he responded, "Being born in a stable would not make me a horse!"

    4. My father used to joke that having been born within the sound of Bow Bells, that must make him a Cockney. He was kidding. Both of his parents were born and raised in Odessa and identified as Russian (since Ukraine didn’t exist). Dad was very proud of being British though and volunteered to fight for king and country.

    1. I got confused – I was assuming it was the one which was all over the news, and for which someone has been arrested. But that one was in Sussex, whereas this one is in Northants.

  50. Afternoon all. Made an effort to visit the local banking hub. The bloke was a muslim and the woman oriental. Neither was a native speaker. We are being colonised. At least the butcher was English.
    The most important thing for the Cons is to get rid of the lefty liberal wokey dopeys and foreigners and start being right of centre and indigenous. As they won’t they are fubar.

    1. The Night They Invented Champagne, from Gigi, was buzzing through my head yesterday evening.

      2. ♬"Each time I see a leetle girl, of five or seex or seven …"♬

        I keep myself to myself in case I'm mistaken for a nonce!

    2. The Night They Invented Champagne, from Gigi, was buzzing through my head yesterday evening.

    1. Steve the Beard is a much-missed former — biker — contributor (though he still appears most days on the online DT forum).

        1. Oliver Hardy must be the most graceful fat men who ever lived.

          I confess that I am rather fat but i am not nearly as fat as he is but I am a very long way behind him as far as grace is concerned.

          2. Richard
            Stop pulling yourself apart , you look as if you have a well lived in body , a happy disposition and a very clever brain and a school masterly ambience .. so shush about body shape . It takes all sorts.

      2. From one of my favourite films. I seem to remember that this song was in the Hit Parade (in the sixties?); it was certainly on 'Top of the Pops'.

        1. 1975. Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody kept it off the top spot. I've never forgiven that song for its vindictiveness.

      3. I go to the Laurel & Hardy Museum in Ulverston, Cumbria quite regularly – in fact whenever I can think of an excuse! It's just a few miles from me (Stan came from Ulverston).
        There is a mock-up of a thirties cinema playing their films non-stop and loads of interesting artefacts and belongings of theirs.
        Well worth a visit if you ever find yourself up in the Lakes.

          1. There are a lot of small and micro breweries in Cumbria producing tremendous beers – my favourite is Loweswater Gold from Hawkshead brewery (or Cumbrian Ales at Kirkstile, I can never remember!).
            My favourite microbrewery is at the Drunken Duck near Ambleside , with fabulous views outside…..

  54. I grew up in the 80's and 90's. There was a sense of optimism, of a brighter and better future. There were jobs to be had. If you saw a black or brown face such was both rare and a novelty but more, no one gave a stuff. My best friend was Asian, Akshay. Great bloke with dreadful teeth. He's a hospital consultant now.

    We were also heading toward a rational attitude toward homosexuals, cross dressers and the like. No one really cared. It was a decidedly liberal time, all told. There wasn't oppression or abuse, it was 'you do you, just in your world'.

    Then Blair got in and the world turned to shit. Instead of simply being tolerant, we were told what to think. If we didn't, we were punished. Instead of one or two black or brown faces, suddenly there were legions of them – not working, being given houses. Road traffic became markedly worse. Taxes crept up significantly making life harder and harder in ways they were not before.

    Programming changed from informative and interesting to indoctrinating and aggressive. Brown called a woman concerned about jobs 'a bigot'. A university leaving comp sci student faces being one of 100 applicants, with over 80% being Indian – not in India, but here. There's no question they're all very capable, but that competition means the local loses out. How can he compete?

    Now we have a blatantly authoritarian government that doesn't give a fig for privacy, individual freedom, self direction, responsibility or genuine tolerance. It far prefers to instruct, dictate and control. We have generations of weak, egotistical, desperate to be offended children coming along behind me – all told they're special, all taking everything said personally, none looking at the bigger picture because they're so myopically obsessed with their own self.

    Then there's me (speaking of ego). I'm tired. Tired of fighting every day. Tired of getting up in the morning to struggle to pay the wage bill. Tired of the constant corporate BS where you can't say hello to the Latvian cleaner the estate hires in case they think you're looking at them funny. Tired of not being able to point out the blasted obvious truth of the insanity of this world. Tired of everything being back to front and being constantly lied to.

    I'm tired of the soaring energy bill, of pumping it full of cash to stay afloat in winter. Tired of council tax hiking every year despite services falling. Tired of working to see 70% of it vanish in tax. Tired of clinging on by my fingernails to sanity, watching every word as some pandered, spoiled group of ignorant, bigoted, two tier protected wasters either in politics of the permoffended Left stamping on me even as they happily pocket my money for their own loathsome, miserable crusade against decency.

    It shouldn't be like this. We shouldn't have evil people spouting off about Jews knowing their protected while others are destroyed. The world should be fair, and kind, honest, but kind. People should be responsible, dignified or at best disinterested. A twit should be challenged directly, not sniped to plod for revenge.

    I am angry and saddened at what has been done to our country. It is a cruel, perverse abuse of good people to make them into what the Left so desperately wanted.

    It has to change. To go forward, we must go back. It was better.

    3. Moh and I took our spannel out and headed for Studland , nice day, slight chill when the clouds appeared, but we had a cup of tea and ate a terrible hard scone .. and I went to the loo .. New fangled sinks where one has to wave your arms around to get soap water and a loud blast of air to dry ones hands ..

      Another woman , my ageish , chatted about the new technology , and I agreed with her , she said she was a retired teacher , retired down to Dorset years ago , and she told me she was a special needs teacher in Leicester before she retired ..

      She commented on Robert Jenrick's remark about Birmingham .. why, because where we were chatting , we were amongst lots of bods like you and I , and this time , no coloured visitors , and how refreshing to be able to chat , laugh freely about times gone by, lousy present day politics and Starmer and Boris and Tony Blair causing maximum damage to the UK re Net Zero/ immigration / standards and discipline and our anticipated late winter heating bills .

      Her comment about schools in Leicester were very revealing , lots of ESN children , mostly Pakistani children who need help with their education, not so for Sikh children though who were brighter .

      Pakistani families do not integrate because there are so many of them in a family group, they have no need to integrate !!

      Believe me , a total stranger , not sounding off about things but observing , and as worried as we all are for the outcomes this country is having to deal with ..

      Studland https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/dorset/studland-bay/things-to-do-at-studland-bay

  55. Well – that was a day I'll never get back. Three one hour lectures packed with fabulous paintings and other material – and the lecturer had the very valuable skill of making them dull and uninteresting…. She READ every word of each lecture. Badly.

    Still, the cats were still in the porch where we left them at 9.30!

    1. The psychology lecturer when I did my PGCE was like that. I attended two lectures and the procedure was the same ; come in, open the notes, read the notes, close the book and walk out. I decided I could read the stuff myself and nobody would notice if I was missing. I expect that by the end of term she was lecturing an empty theatre.

    2. A few months ago when the weather was warmer , I visited a stately home .. garden tour .. Oh how my back ached as one of the gardeners gave us a tour of a lovely avenue of trees and stopped and lectured and led us around before we even got to the various themed gardens .. the pace was awful , small stops and starts , and I cannot stand around in one spot for very long ..

      My experience should have been memorable for joyous colourful reasons , but not so and my poor back took the strain for the rest of the tour ..

      1. Sounds like our recent tour of Franz Ferdinand's [NOT the group!!] villa in Bad Ischl – some very interesting stuff but too much standing and slow walking. Scheduled for 45 minutes, took 75 or so! The group who started 15 minutes after us were also unimpressed!

        1. I was in Paris and posters everywhere were advertising tours. I decided to take a tour of Versailles.

          I asked the guide when we got there what time would the minibus would be taking us back to town. He told me 3 o'clock. I said…See you then.

          Not impressed but the gardens and fountains were nice. I should have gone to Fontainebleu instead.

          Still…another box ticked.

          1. We stayed a few days in the Trianon Palace Hotel and did lots of unguided visiting.
            I enjoyed all aspects of Versailles that we visited.
            We were fortunate that the fountains were flowing.
            The food in the restaurants we visited was superb, but very expensive.

          2. I enjoyed the hall of mirrors. It would have been nicer if the chandeliers had been lit.

            I was there on a Sunday in August. The only day the fountains were switched on.

            I ate mostly in the Marais No sniggering at the back and Montmartre. Lots of seafood places.
            One night i did go to an upscale restaurant in Rue Madeleine. I had excellent veal and the cockroach wandering across the linen table cloth gave me a polite nod as he walked past.
            There's class.

          3. I love Paris.
            I was fortunate to be allocated a Parisienne as my interpreter and she took the team to lots of off-piste restaurants: wonderful value, totally French and staggering choice of food.
            I’ve spent many a happy weekend wandering the museums, cemeteries, gardens and monuments. Some of the people I was auditing joked that I knew Paris better than they did.

          4. I remember enjoying my first ever croque madame (croque monsieur with two eggs on top) sitting in a café with a view right up to Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre.

          5. We visited the Trianon as a school party when I was in the second year. We all concentrated very hard on what the guide was saying (grammar school learners of French). So much so that he was very impressed with the discipline's anglais and took us behind the ropes so we could appreciate the trompe l'oeil paintings from the other side of the room.

  56. EU threatens Britain with ‘devastating’ tariffs
    Blow to Starmer’s Brexit reset promise as UK steel producers face taxes of up to 50pc
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/10/07/eu-threatens-uk-devastating-tariffs-blow-starmer-brexit/

    The more that this pathetic sycophant, Starmer, sucks up to the EU the more the EU will treat him with the complete contempt he deserves.

    So he has ruined the chances of recovery of British fishing by extending the term of the ruinous fishing surrender given at the time of the Brexit for several more years only to be repaid with devastating tarriffs!.

    It is becoming clearer and clearer to me that Starmer really does want to destroy the UK in every way he can.

    2. If you have the political Will you can undo any Treaty you fancy.. the Yanks do it all the time.
      Just tear up the FTA and issue the EU a schedule and ask them to do as they please. Then announce UK as a freeport like Hongkong.

      1. A sovereign country is just that; sovereign and able to govern itself in its own interests. Elizabethan England didn't ask Spain or France's permission to explore the New World.

        1. France is our eternal enemy. In many wars…In the American civil War. In the relief of Gibraltar and in the Falklands.

          2. I have a copy and bought one for my Francophile sister who taught French and English in Paris. She loved it.

      2. Requires backbone. We need a Trump, a Netanyahu, an Orban, a Milei, a Meloni. Any of these would be fantastic. I think I would put Orban first, although I'd be happy with any of them. At least such people would try.

    3. Maybe so, but his appointment of Ms Mahmood as Home Secretary was inspired, given her previously unknown gift for summoning storms at will to inhibit boat crossings.

    4. He should have expected nothing more – they are an evil, petty, vindictive group of unelected [except among the elite inner sanctum] psychopaths. I still think that if the EU had given the Babbling Poltroon some concessions he might just have convinced enough people to vote remain. Instead they refused to give any ground and we tried, rather feebly, to leave. We now seem to be in a no-man's land of being theoretically out, and being punished for it, while still adhering to EU rules in many areas and being shafted at regular intervals. Perhaps TTK likes that?

      I note that UK can't use the EU passport gates in the Schengen area, while we pathetically allow the EU to enter UK with no problems while lengthening the queues at the gates we need to use.

  57. A busy morning.
    3 x pressings of apples yielded about 6½ litres of juice and the Shepherds Pie I made, using lamb mince was excellent and finished off with an Apple Charlotte & custard made by the DT.

    I now feel totally bloody knackered!

    2. I've not had a proper Shepherd's Pie for donkey's yonks. I'll have to get to it this winter.

      1. It is a family/sharing dish. Give it to to your Swedish mates and see what they think.

        You could call it Jannson's Temptation with lamb.

        1. There’s no meat in Janssons Frestelse. It’s effectively a gratin dauphinoise with the spuds cut into matchsticks and a can of sprats added (curiously here known as ‘anchovis’).

  58. Perma stooodent Nadia Yahlom, who lives in north London, revealed as ribbon cutter.
    Silly girl.

    1. Studied at Cambridge University and Goldsmiths before embarking on an Arts PhD at the University of Westminster.
      Jeez.

    2. Professional student, funded by the taxpayer, doing a PhD in something completely and utterly useless – 'exploring the topic of haunting and the supernatural in Palestinian territories'.

  59. Bizarre.
    Iris Stalzer, the newly elected mayor of Herdecke, Germany, fighting for her life after being attacked and stabbed by several men in the street.
    Polis say it's a personal issshooo.

    1. Her adopted daughter tried to murder her previous to this attack.
      Then after the attack her adopted son carted off in handcuffs, now both son & adopted daughter have been arrested.

      Betcha they are Muslim from some retard country.

  60. Wordle No. 1,571 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
    ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 7 Oct 2025

    Fabric for Birdie Three?

    1. Took me a long time but made a 3.

      Wordle 1,571 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. You did well to get it from there! It was looking pretty grim for me after the first two starter words, but my third starter came up trumps and rescued a par!

      Wordle 1,571 4/6

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

    3. Back of the class today

      Wordle 1,571 5/6

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

    4. Lucky choice today.

      Wordle 1,571 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  61. What is it about Democrats and corruption that makes them such natural bedfellows?

    Biden ordered CIA cover-up of his 'corrupt' business ties to Ukraine, astonishing secret files show

    Joe Biden quashed the release of a CIA memo indicating concerns over his family's allegedly corrupt business ties to Ukraine, it emerged today.

    CIA Director John Ratcliffe declassified a stunning memo on Wednesday after a review of historical records from Biden's tenure as vice president.

    The 'top secret' document, filled with redactions, also highlights how Ukrainian government officials were uneasy about Biden's visits to the country during the Obama administration.
    The dossier details how officials in Kiev privately raged at Biden for coming to their nation to lecture them about corruption while his son Hunter sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.

    The officials believed that the position held by the VP's son showed that there was 'a double-standard' in the US government regarding corruption in politics.

    Included in Ratcliffe's release is a portion of an email sent which states that then-Vice President Biden 'would strongly prefer the report not/not be disseminated'.

    The email was signed 'PDB Briefer.' PDB stands for the presidential daily briefing, a daily intelligence report regularly compiled for the president by U.S. intelligence agencies.

    'As of mid-December 2015, [redacted] officials within the administration of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko expressed bewilderment and disappointment at the 7-8 December 2015 visit of the Vice President of the United States to Kiev, Ukraine,' the memo states.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15170381/joe-biden-ukraine-corruption-cover-cia.html

    1. The real reason why the government was replaced and they put the queer, coke snorting corrupt Zelensky in place.

      2. He (and Mrs Z, if she does indeed exist) apparently now very wealthy. Rumour is she's bought a place in Argentina, and lives there. Guessing you saw the Azov brigade with their flag in No.10 with Johnson.

    2. Laptop from Hell is still on Amazon. Hunter was the one turned Biden to aluminium deposits (the ones Trump isn't touching). Joe was a sniffer of young girls hair, and inappropriate touching. To say nothing of how he defecated when he met the Pope. I don't believe he did these things knowingly near the end of his life (although very likely did when he was younger and in charge of himself), but his wife Jill knew what was going on with him, and apparently stayed onboard due to financial interest, keeping him going.

      1. OED's earliest evidence for abolishment is from 1538, in a translation by Richard Taverner

        Just saying! But I agree with your point.

        1. A lesson in how the English language has changed but most don’t like how it is changing now.

          1. A bit like "gotten" – which I loathe, but my grand-daughter uses automatically as do the Yanks – but which goes back to Middle English.

            And don't get me started on "train station"…..!!

          4. Ooh no! We haven’t gone there yet! We’ve been in the Dominican Republic! Athens is next month!🥰

          6. Way aye pet! And their beef is pretty splendid as well! Slow cooked beef rib with rum! Yummy!

          13. I may be guilty of train station but mostly I’ll name the station in question. Hammersmith Station, Kings Cross, Paddington etc.

          19. That is beautiful!

            When did we, as a nation, stop designating beauty as one of life's essentials? I think the Wilson government went a long way Thank God (sincerely, not blasphemously) that much of Bath was saved from the dreadful sixties demolition of all things lovely (although it's heart was ripped out) to build dross in its place. And thank God that St Pancras (which I love very dearly but the cognescenti were very snobbish about) was not similarly pulled down. Anything involving craftsmanship, decoration or any uplift of the human spirit must be despised,

            Is the Hayward Gallery a thing of beauty? Brutalism by name. Shuttered concrete is anti-human.

          20. "guilty of train station", that's a new one on me.

            Did Phizzee teach you something inappropriate?

          21. Oh do give it a rest. Sue is pure and practically Nunlike. :@)

            The impression you are giving her is you are a stalker with pervy sex on the brain.

            Anyway. I am having lunch with the lady this month and we will not be discussing you.

    2. Might like to read 'Brave New World', Alf – if you haven't already 🙂 And try 'The Machine Stops' EM Forster.

        1. It’s a good read, Grizz…hope you still find it worthwhile. I look at my groaning bookcase, and think ‘one day’…:-)) then go back to keyboard/screen….x

          2. Thanks Phiz, didn’t even know of its existence, hope to find time to watch, have kept the link, Kate x

          3. As i say it departs from the book a bit. But if you can get over that it is a good watch.

            Mustafa Mond is played by Nina Sosanya.

            They have done the usual trick about colour and gender but i think all the actors made it work well.

            It wasn't like that farce Bridgerton.

          4. Have you read any Philip K Dick, Phiz? ‘(Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’…film Blade Runner based on this, Rutger Hauer quite a number!)

          6. Brill…anything you recommend other than the Androids one? About to read PD James ‘The Children of Men’…have you read that plse?

          7. I haven’t read PD James.
            The man in the high castle was good. They also made a TV series out of that too which i quite enjoyed.

        2. Indeed.

          What I find slightly shocking is that when I was reading them he hadn't been long dead and I probably read Brave New World when he was still alive.

        4. I had to read this at school and positively hated it, Grizzly. When I retired I joined a monthly book club. Their first chosen book was "Brave New World". I thought "Oh no, not that one!" but decided to give it another go; I hated it just as much! But I persevered with the book club and have as a result read some wonderful books including "A Terrible Kindness".

  65. 413865+up ticks,

    " teach starmer a lesson" I doubt that very much seeing as they are both allies and the TOOL probably wrote the script.

    Dt,
    Ruthless EU has just taught Starmer a painful lesson
    Steel tariff threats are a reminder of how Brussels really feels towards post-Brexit Britain

  67. The Daily T: Robert Jenrick – ‘I’m not backing down, parts of the UK are like ghettos’
    Shadow justice secretary joins The Daily T for an exclusive conversation on day three of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/07/daily-t-robert-jenrick-doubles-down/

    JW

    Joe Wilko
    5 min ago
    Jenrick’s not wrong to highlight how poorly integration has been handled in parts of the UK. The pace and scale of demographic change have been tremendous, and communities are increasingly living in parallel rather than in close proximity to one another.

    People want to feel represented — culturally and politically — and, yes, questions of race and shared identity naturally arise in this context. Pretending otherwise is dishonest. Successive governments have ignored these concerns, resulting in a deepening division and alienation.

      1. Years ago, when my daughter, was a starry-eyed liberal (as was I, in my youth) who saw only good in all people, she went to one of these regions in Brummigen for some reason (to buy a car?) and came back visibly shaken, changed forever.

        So it's not at all recent. These "parallel societies" are well embedded.

        Something similar happened to me, when I went to Israel (officially between wars, but under constant low level attack from all sides), and saw what was really happening there and what enormous responsibilities teenagers my age were taking on there, with good humour in the face of life and death conflict.

        I suppose that is what shocks people into growing up. One does have to see it for oneself to throw off the fuzzy wishful thinking.

  68. Pro-trans heckler interview HIJACKED by woman he heckled! – 'Trans women are men!'

    The fact that pro-trans activist Andrew Boff is a senior Tory tells you how far adrift the Tory party has drifted off to the Liberal Leftie space.

  69. Pro-trans heckler interview HIJACKED by woman he heckled! – 'Trans women are men!'

    The fact that pro-trans activist Andrew Boff is a senior Tory tells you how far adrift the Tory party has drifted off to the Liberal Leftie space.

    2. I've never been raped in either the UK or Sweden.

      I have been (illegally) groped a few times, though, and not by men!

        1. If the buxom individual who squeezed past me in the kitchen at a dinner party, back in 1981 — taking a handful as she did so — was a trannie; then by all means ‘out’ me, Bill.

          If the inebriated woman who emerged from a nightclub at 0200hrs, and did the same to a uniformed and on duty me (whispering her address in my ear) was also a trannie; then I must have missed my opportunity to come ‘out’.
          [In the latter case, I was soon distracted by a group of gypsies having a brawl in the street to be bothered too much about her transgression.]

    4. Why should I care.. none of the rapes happened in my town. Doesn't affect me.
      [sarc].

    5. None yet, but we will get hundreds overwintering in the house as usual.
      Zero spots through to ten and more.
      The problem isn't their Autumnal arrival, it's getting them out next Spring.

    8. I might have seen a lady bird – it was a pretty looking gull but it might have been a male.
      Pidgeons are quite a different matter – the males are always mounting the females on top of the neighbour's roof.

    10. No earwigs this year, barely a ladybird, bee or wasp. Fucking Muslims have eaten them all.

  77. That's me for today. Largely wasted – though it was nice to see some familiar paintings.

    Have a smashing evening.

    A demain.

    1. Is it really the case that the interpretation of "International Law" by the UK's biased judiciary allows asylum claims to succeed for those convicted criminals fleeing justice in their own countries? It does, increasingly, seem so and it is deeply wrong.

    2. Good stuff but why do so many video makers feel a need to use an irritating music track? It's annoying, intrusive and completely unnecessary.

  79. Justice not served.

    Remember the truckers freedom convoy back in 2022? Two of the leaders were charged with mischief and they have finally been sentenced after years of jail, bail and house arrest.

    Tamara Lich and Chris Barber have both been given twelve month house arrest and community service as punishment for the demonstration.

    it's on a par with the UK two tier justice system.

    .

  80. Sir Lenny Henry: All black British people should be paid slavery reparations

    Comedian's book supports case for UK to hand over £18tn in compensatory payments

    Craig Simpson, Arts Editor
    7th October 2025, 6:20pm BST

    Sir Lenny Henry has argued that Britain should pay slavery reparations to the country's black population.

    The comedian has co-written a book, titled The Big Payback, which supports the case for the UK to hand over £18tn in compensatory payments. Sir Lenny has argued not only in favour of a vast cash transfer to Caribbean nations, but also for money to be given to individual black British citizens.

    Writing in the forthcoming book, Sir Lenny considers the position that "all black British people … need reparations for slavery", subsequently arguing that "we personally deserve money for the effects of slavery". A supporting section of the book, co-authored with Marcus Walker, a TV executive and charity boss, sets out the arguments and historical precedents for giving compensatory payments to individuals as well as states.

    Most of Britain's 2.4 million black population is of direct African descent, and therefore not the descendants of people enslaved in the Caribbean. While this is not directly addressed in the book, the two authors argue that as modern racism was brought about by the slave trade, and all black people suffer the effects of racism, therefore all black people should be given redress.

    Sir Lenny argues that "the reason we have racism today and also …why black British people are grossly over-represented in the prison population" – along with other disparities such as higher levels of black unemployment – are "all because of the transatlantic slave trade".

    The book, to be published by Faber on Oct 9, argues that it is fair for Britain to pay reparations, despite no one alive today possibly having any direct involvement in the slavery either as a perpetrator or victim. It concludes that not only should the money be raised to hand out trillions in reparations, but that these payments can and should be used for "ridding the world of racism".

    Reparations must "dismantle the foundations" of Western society built on slavery and racism and make "new foundations", the book argues. This can be done by the "redistribution" of power, and "changing how power is shared within countries and between countries".

    The book uses figures taken from the Brattle Report, a calculator by the Brattle Group, of how much Western powers owe to former colonies in the Caribbean. Its total of $100tn was reached by attempting to quantify things like loss of liberty, mental pain and anguish, and also loss of potential wages suffered by slaves.

    Sir Lenny's book includes input from Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a Labour MP, and Kehinde Andrews, Britain's first black studies professor, who has in the past argued that Winston Churchill was the "perfect embodiment of white supremacy" and that "the British Empire was far worse than the Nazis".

    The release of the book comes amid a growing movement to pressure European nations into paying reparations to the members of Caricom (the Caribbean Community). The 15 member states want former colonial powers to accept their "10-point plan" for reparations, which includes demands for not only financial compensation, but full formal apologies, debt relief and help with economic development and education.

    The Telegraph previously revealed that Lord Hermer, the Attorney General, worked with Caricom when these demands were first drafted in 2013. He then advised on a potential legal case against Britain.

    More recently, the African Union has joined the Caribbean and made its own calls for "meaningful reparations" from "former colonial powers".

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/07/sir-lenny-henry-black-british-people-slavery-reparations

    1. Eff off, Lenny! Let's bill you for the money you've made while you're here, then. Far better than what you'd have got if you'd remained in Africa.

    2. I don't understand why Lenny Henry and others complaining about racial discrimination remain in the UK, if it is so bad. Surely they would feel better if they were move to Africa or back to their or their parents' birthplace in the West Indies.

      1. The recent “Disaffected” podcast (Josh Slocombe) was good on this with respect to black behaviour in the States

        ““the fact that we're going to talk about bad black behavior…I think this is the same in blacks, women, feminist groups, particularly gays and trans, Hispanics, anybody who is described as an oppressed minority or a protected class today.

        The problem with them is Cluster B. It's all narcissism. It's communal narcissism.

        It's creating yourself a victim. The flavors are different, right? Like some people say it in a black accent, some people say it in a gay accent, but the behaviors are the same and the psychology is the same.”

        From Disaffected: Well-Spoken: Episode 243, October 5, 2025, 7 Oct 2025
        https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/disaffected/id1549604908?i=1000730504942&r=2166
        This material may be protected by copyright.

    3. Black Supremacism as a racist movement is a real thing and has been for many years (see Louis Farakhan and Black Nation of Islam, for example). We need to say NO to these bullies. If they don't like it here they know what to do.

      Far more pressing, though, is that Hermer needs removing from office and his undeserved honour revoked. Perhaps also his licence to practice law here in the UK. A prosecution for treason would seem appropriate, too.

    4. Reparations, with deductions for the cost of the West Africa squadron, including compensation to the families of the so many sailors who died stopping the slavery… That will be many thousands of pounds from every whining complainant.

    5. What an utter plonker. Do you think he is suffering from some form of dementia?

      1. I think he married Dawn French. There you go. Maybe he's not aware Britain were very instrumental in stopping the slave trade.

    8. Rubbish – Britain deserves compensation for the damage these people have done to our country. Britain ended the slave trade at the cost of many lives and the British people only recently finished paying for it.

    10. Part of me, the devilish part, thinks about acceding to these demands, by shutting down the National Health Service, various social service departments, universal credit and unemployment benefits, until such time as these, 'debts' are repaid. At the same time, point out to the general populace that these strictures have been put in place to.pay for Britain's colonial guilt. Oh, and by the way, policing will also be defunded. There will he nothing to contain popular anger.

    2. Palestinians are brought up with, surrounded by, and indoctrinated with hate. It must become corrosive, being their only motivation. Small wonder they cause trouble wherever they go. Other Muslims in the Middle East have obviously cottoned on to this attitude a lot faster than the useful idiots of the Western world.

  83. Reading today's obituary on Dame Jolly Jilly Cooper, I was intrigued by this remark, attributed to her:

    She was said to have disconcerted members of the Gloucestershire Constabulary during the preparation of Score! (1999) by ringing to enquire whether a penis could remain erect after death.

    I take it she wasn't aware that corpses are often referred to as 'stiffs'.

    2. I know that even males who were well hung at the site of a hanging had erections – they were called gallows

    3. Should I feel ashamed of myself by admitting I have read only one of Dame Jilly Cooper's books .

      A bonkbuster was too much for me , I preferred her witty columns in the Times , when she was writing for them.

      1. I've never had any ambition to read anything by her.

        Nor anything by Barbara Cartland, nor anything published by Mills & Boon. Life is far too short to be wasted on such crap.

        1. Even as a female, completely agree, Grizz. Nothing to do with female writers, currently (re)reading The Children of Men (PD James).

      3. I think I might have read a couple, but they weren't memorable and I couldn't tell you which ones. It was the equestrian aspect that made me try.

    4. 'Evening, Grizz…just asking Phizee if read any Philip K Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? film Blade Runner based on that book). Dick was the son of a single mother, played truant a lot, but an English teacher allowed/encouraged him to write down his thoughts. Btw I now know more about corpses than I already knew, thank you 😀

    5. A guy who had an enormous willie died on the job and still with an erection they put him in the coffin. They couldn't close the lid so they drilled a hole and so his willie was poking through it. As the funeral cortege passed 2 old ladies in the street one of them said "Bit tight on the flowers with just the one tulip"

    2. Is that some kind of sick joke?
      "We don't deal with crimes.. we deal with incidents."

  85. Watching the Motorbike Show on channel 26. It’s got Zeph Eisenberg on (founder of Maxi Muscle). He later got killed in an accident. He was the brother-in-law of one of my husband’s best friends.

    Edit. His bike has a jet engine on it and can go up to 234 mph

      1. Ahh! Couldn’t remember if I got it from here or somewhere else. But it’s good!

  88. It is not bigoted to point out parts of Britain are not well-integrated. It's the truth

    Robert Jenrick's intervention about inner-city Birmingham may be controversial for some. But it points to an existing reality

    RAKIB EHSAN
    7th October 2025, 10:48am BST

    So many parts of Britain have experienced massive demographic and cultural change: irrespective of your political beliefs, this is an indisputable fact.

    One such area is an inner-city area of Birmingham: Handsworth. According to the 2021 Census, only four per cent of the population of the area in Handsworth South was white-British (with this dropping as low as 1 percent in some neighbourhoods).

    While the white-British proportion does rise to sixteen per cent in the eastern part of the area, it is smaller than the Indian-heritage group (which stood at eighteen per cent) and is part of an ethnically fragmented population.

    This should be the context in which we judge the comments from the shadow justice secretary, Robert Jenrick, who has reportedly claimed that the area of Handsworth is one of the "worst-integrated places" he has ever visited.

    Jenrick reportedly made the comments during a dinner at the Aldridge-Brownhills Conservative Association last March, saying that he did not see "another white face" during the ninety minutes he spent in the area. He has come under fire from the likes of Labour Party chair Anna Turley and the independent MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, Ayoub Khan.

    However, to judge how truly "integrated" a place like Handsworth in Birmingham is, there are a myriad of economic, social, and cultural considerations to be made which go beyond ethnic and religious demography. When asked what their national identity is in the last census (where they feel they belong or could think of as home), three in ten residents in Handsworth West identified with an exclusively non-UK identity – rising to nearly half in some neighbourhoods.

    In one neighbourhood in the southern part of Handsworth, the majority of its inhabitants felt this way – 55 per cent. It is safe to say that a robust sense of Britishness – a sense of belonging to a British democratic national community – is not in high supply in Handsworth. It is not racist to say so: it is exactly what the data tells us.

    Perhaps the fundamental lack of Britishness in Handsworth is not a surprise when considering the levels of English language proficiency. For a swathe of neighbourhoods across Handsworth, one in five people cannot speak English well, if at all. How can they integrate into mainstream British civic life without a decent command of the English language, interact independently with public services, and engage with others who do not speak their native tongue?

    There are several neighbourhoods in Handsworth where one in ten residents are foreign-born and arrived in the UK less than two years before the census was held – with current figures likely to be higher due to the impact of the so-called "Boriswave". It is virtually impossible to foster any kind of meaningful social solidarity and civic belonging under these circumstances.

    Jenrick's intervention on matters of integration in inner-city Birmingham may be controversial for some. But importantly, it has drawn attention to the remarkable cultural-demographic change which has taken place in our major cities, and the challenges we face when it comes to social cohesion in modern Britain. It is not bigoted or divisive to point out a lack of integration in some parts of the country; it is the truth.

    Dr Rakib Ehsan is a Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange

    1. 45 years ago when driving through Handsworth you were advised not to stop and keep your doors locked. Just sayin'…

      1. Yep. I remember it, I was in Selly Oak 1989 – 1995, wouldn’t venture into Handsworth

      2. Yep. I remember it, I was in Selly Oak 1989 – 1995, wouldn’t venture into Handsworth

    2. No need to speak English when all your benefits literature and NHS provision is translated for you, and interpreters are provided at taxpayers' expense. We all know that statistics are considered racist.

    3. I'm a Brummie, as many here know. I have lived here since I left the Army. Even in the 70s, Handsworth was going ghetto.

  90. Thank you to everyone for wishing me a happy birthday.
    This time tomorrow I will be one day nearer to 70 than 60

    2. I have 18 days to go till 70. I can’t remember 10 but 20, 30 and 40 felt like milestones. 50, 60 and 70 not so much.

      3. I thought 70 was the strangest as all the other decades, apart from 10, I was working and it was just another day. The 70s have gone quickly and next year I’m onto the next decade. Seems impossible.

        1. I've had some memorable birthdays; riding in the Gobi, visiting the EU parliament at Strasbourg, dining at Perth racecourse, having afternoon tea at Weston Park …

          6. Pretty memorable then 😀 Saves having to remind him of a second anniversary, too. Double plus good 😀

      6. I remember the Warqueen's 40th. She was awake at 5 as usual, got dressed as usual, caught the train as usual. She got home at gone 8 that evening. She drank a glass of red and sat down. Promptly the rest of the wine went over the carpet, the glass on the floor and she fell asleep. I carried her up to bed and rinse, repeat.

        Helluva birthday.

      7. I've tended to forget since I turned 70, others (family) remind me tho. Grrrr…(I'm hopeless with dates, just as I was with maths, if i hadn't a calender any anniversary would just pass me by. And weeks are seven days, weekdays/ends the same.

    4. Happy birthday Bob. The years seem to accelerate, maybe it's a reminder to stop and look around for a bit.

      1. Leisure
        William Henry Davies, 1911

        What is this life if, full of care,
        We have no time to stand and stare.
        No time to stand beneath the boughs
        And stare as long as sheep or cows.
        No time to see, when woods we pass,
        Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
        No time to see, in broad daylight,
        Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
        No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
        And watch her feet, how they can dance.
        No time to wait till her mouth can
        Enrich that smile her eyes began.
        A poor life this if, full of care,
        We have no time to stand and stare.

      1. I've yet to see a cartoon, a 'meme' or a 'Gif' made by someone who can spell properly or use grammar correctly.

        The way education is in sharp a retrograde progression, along with politics, it won't be long before the species is back in the primordial soup from whence it first emerged.

        1. Ah. There is a reason for that but I can’t remember it. Like why in the Midlands we use borrow and lend “wrongly”.: in fact we don’t: it’s etymological and the word “lend” we use is derived from a different word “lend” than the one youmlot used. I read a fascinating book on it all once.

  93. Woman who cut Israeli hostage ribbons is taxpayer-funded PhD researcher

    A woman caught cutting down yellow ribbons remembering those taken hostage in Gaza has been identified as a Palestinian-Jewish PhD researcher.

    Nadia Yahlom, who also goes by the name of Jaglom, was filmed vandalising the display in Fortis Green Road, Muswell Hill, north London, with scissors before being confronted by passers-by.

    Ms Yahlom is currently an Arts Council-funded PhD student at the Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media (Cream), at the University of Westminster, exploring the topic of haunting and the supernatural in Palestinian territories.

    As she cut the ribbons off the display on Monday, Ms Yahlom was recorded saying "condoning genocide is disgusting", and "that's what this is".

    Ms Yahlom studied at Cambridge University and Goldsmiths, and her bio reads:
    "Nadia Dina Yahlom is a Palestinian-Jewish and British artist and visual anthropologist, looking at hauntedness, supernatural life and the bio/necropolitical between Palestine and the UK. Her research and practice considers how humans, artefacts and landscapes reverberate with colonial violence."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/07/nadia-yahlom-cut-israeli-hostage-ribbons-phd-researcher

        1. It is a bit like The Tony Blair Institute pushing driverless vehicles in Ethiopia, the government funding of the Ethiopian Spicegirls and from years past a doctorate in the study of Lesbianism in Lesotho.

          It seems the more idiotic the proposition to study some esoteric subject the more ludicrous the very thought that we should be funding it.

          The latest example of the complex known originally as ‘flogging a dead horse’ is the continued funding with taxpayers’ borrowed money (we’re paying through cuts in ‘small’ things such as our winter fuel allowance and diminishing state pensions and amassing debt at a terrifying rate) of the inept criminal mob running Ukraine. God help us, nobody else will it seems.

      1. Prolly researching a good reason to claim asylum after a taxpayer funded course. All those ghosts back home must be pretty scary…

    3. Industrial grade bullsh*tter. Arts Council of England funding. More of our money used to destroy us.

        1. *tips trilby * You're welcome. Have at it. (None of your taxes were actively used against your interests in the writing of this comment.)

  95. BBC apologises for calling Oct 7 attack an 'escalation'

    The media outlet is facing fresh accusations of anti-Israel bias

    ANITA SINGH, Arts and Entertainment Editor
    GENEVIEVE HOLL-ALLEN, Political Correspondent
    7th October 2025, 8:58pm BST

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f3101799edf5ef1fb92fe26ecd72a0ef9bd7ab8bd433f1df93bdd0260ec79196.png
    The BBC has apologised for referring to the October 7 massacres as "escalations" rather than attacks.

    The wording was used in an email to BBC News staff marking two years since the attacks. Rather than use a picture of Israeli victims of the Hamas atrocity, an accompanying image showed Palestinian women and children picking their way through the rubble in Gaza.

    The email was part of a regular series of updates sent by the BBC Audiences team, which conducts audience research and advises staff on how best to serve viewers and listeners. It began: "As we reach the two-year anniversary of the escalations in the Israel-Gaza conflict, we asked UK audiences what they want and need from news coverage moving forward."

    The wording of the email has fuelled fresh accusations of anti-Israel bias within the BBC, which has faced repeated such accusations since October 7. Adam Ma'anit, whose cousin, Tsachi Idan, was taken hostage from the Nihal Oz kibbutz on October 7 and murdered in captivity, condemned the BBC. He said: "To use that language and framing is incendiary and insulting. That this report was circulated today of all days speaks to an institutional bias within the BBC that is shocking and distressing. Does our pain not count?"

    Danny Cohen, former director of BBC television, said: "This is shocking but not surprising. It is another example of the everyday, institutional bias at the BBC. To call the 7 October terrorist massacre an 'escalation' is deeply offensive. It is the kind of language Hamas might use.

    "One might also assume that on this day the picture used by the BBC would focus on Jewish victims of the October 7 pogrom. But the BBC's instinctive bias meant that this was not the case, even on this day of mourning."

    A BBC insider said: "It is shocking that such a description of a one-sided atrocity is used in, of all things, a briefing about audience expectations from the BBC. It demonstrates – again – unconscious bias and terrible insensitivity towards Jewish staff."

    After a number of staff complained about the wording and picture choice, the BBC apologised. A spokesman for the broadcaster said: "This internal staff email should have been worded differently and we're sorry for any offence caused. We are editing it and will replace the text on our intranet."

    It is understood that the email was written by a junior member of staff. A senior BBC news presenter told The Telegraph: "I don't think the people who wrote that are evil, I think they just don't understand anything about the modern world. To use a picture of Palestinian suffering when you are marking the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks: how does that get signed off? It just epitomises everything the BBC is having to grapple with internally."

    A BBC source said that the email was illustrated with a picture of Gaza because it covered current audience attitudes to the Israel-Gaza conflict.
    Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: "This is the latest shocking example of the bias within the BBC. When will they learn?"

    Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, accused the BBC of appearing "to be trying to deny the Oct 7 massacre" and of "rampant anti-Semitism".

    The email contained a link to a longer piece which refers to the attacks. It says: "On October 7th, 2023, the conflict between Palestine and Israel reached a new escalation when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 and taking over 200 hostages.

    "In response, Israel launched a prolonged military campaign in Gaza, resulting in widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis. Over the following months, ceasefire efforts stalled, global pressure intensified, and civilian casualties continued to rise, sparking worldwide protests and diplomatic tensions.

    "In September 2025, the UK government announced its formal recognition of the State of Palestine, shortly before the two-year anniversary of the Hamas attack. This moment presents both a challenge and an opportunity for BBC journalists in how they cover the conflict for our audiences."

    The BBC has previously faced accusations of anti-Israel bias. Tim Davie, the director-general, was forced to apologise to the Jewish community in July for broadcasting Bob Vylan's anti-Semitic chants at Glastonbury. Mr Davie's leadership was called into question after the broadcaster failed to cut the live stream of the punk-rap duo urging the crowd to join them in chants calling for "death, death to the IDF".

    The BBC also failed to disclose to viewers that the child narrator of a Gaza documentary was the son of a Hamas minister, a breach which the corporation's chairman, Samir Shah, described as "a dagger to the heart of the BBC's claim to be impartial and trustworthy".

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/07/bbc-apologises-for-calling-oct-7-attack-an-escalation/

        1. He's actively funding the destruction of the country at this point. It's wrong. They hate us.

          2. husband will listen to footie on the radio. Is the compromise. Agree it’s a huge problem for stopping households giving up the license.

          3. Suspect that’s correct…they’re sitting pretty because everyone with a TV has to pay the licence fee (unlike eg Netflix). I’d make it subscription model.

        2. Mine does, too KJ. He thinks it's mandatory, like the Water Bill, Council Tax, and all the other crap to which we are subjected,. bless him. For the same reason, he subscribes to the Telegraph, which he believes to be "Right-Wing". I quietly despair.

          1. He swears at most things on TV incl MotD. If only he would quietly despair😅 and at all bills incl food. Strangely not at a new piece of wood turning equipment although half hearted stab at trying to 🙄🤪 i really don’t care if it keeps him occupied and happy. I try to live in the moment, not think about the future. Sleep well opo x

      7. I said to husband after OcT 2nd I wanted to cancel it. Compromise is I won’t renew it in Feb and we have from now until then to wean ourselves off the live tv that we watch. I don’t watch Al Beeb; I think my husband might still.

        1. I cannot understand how anyone can watch or listen to the BBC. I gave up on them at least 20 years ago.

    2. The BBC is a strange entity that is part of the problem. Our society is in a nosedive and the BBC is the head of the plane, egging the pilot on. It lies habitually – not by design, but by omission.

      It is lost. Another Leftist mouthpiece.

    3. That is utterly disgusting on the part of the BBC. Take it out the back and shoot it. Now.

    4. Was there no conflict between Israel and Gaza before 07-10-2023? Did it emerge from nothing?

      2. ""As we reach the two-year anniversary of the escalations in the Israel-Gaza conflict,"

        Of course there was, Stig, but that's pure deflection from the word "massacre".

  96. BBC apologises for calling Oct 7 attack an 'escalation'

    The media outlet is facing fresh accusations of anti-Israel bias

    ANITA SINGH, Arts and Entertainment Editor
    GENEVIEVE HOLL-ALLEN, Political Correspondent
    7th October 2025, 8:58pm BST

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f3101799edf5ef1fb92fe26ecd72a0ef9bd7ab8bd433f1df93bdd0260ec79196.png
    The BBC has apologised for referring to the October 7 massacres as "escalations" rather than attacks.

    The wording was used in an email to BBC News staff marking two years since the attacks. Rather than use a picture of Israeli victims of the Hamas atrocity, an accompanying image showed Palestinian women and children picking their way through the rubble in Gaza.

    The email was part of a regular series of updates sent by the BBC Audiences team, which conducts audience research and advises staff on how best to serve viewers and listeners. It began: "As we reach the two-year anniversary of the escalations in the Israel-Gaza conflict, we asked UK audiences what they want and need from news coverage moving forward."

    The wording of the email has fuelled fresh accusations of anti-Israel bias within the BBC, which has faced repeated such accusations since October 7. Adam Ma'anit, whose cousin, Tsachi Idan, was taken hostage from the Nihal Oz kibbutz on October 7 and murdered in captivity, condemned the BBC. He said: "To use that language and framing is incendiary and insulting. That this report was circulated today of all days speaks to an institutional bias within the BBC that is shocking and distressing. Does our pain not count?"

    Danny Cohen, former director of BBC television, said: "This is shocking but not surprising. It is another example of the everyday, institutional bias at the BBC. To call the 7 October terrorist massacre an 'escalation' is deeply offensive. It is the kind of language Hamas might use.

    "One might also assume that on this day the picture used by the BBC would focus on Jewish victims of the October 7 pogrom. But the BBC's instinctive bias meant that this was not the case, even on this day of mourning."

    A BBC insider said: "It is shocking that such a description of a one-sided atrocity is used in, of all things, a briefing about audience expectations from the BBC. It demonstrates – again – unconscious bias and terrible insensitivity towards Jewish staff."

    After a number of staff complained about the wording and picture choice, the BBC apologised. A spokesman for the broadcaster said: "This internal staff email should have been worded differently and we're sorry for any offence caused. We are editing it and will replace the text on our intranet."

    It is understood that the email was written by a junior member of staff. A senior BBC news presenter told The Telegraph: "I don't think the people who wrote that are evil, I think they just don't understand anything about the modern world. To use a picture of Palestinian suffering when you are marking the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks: how does that get signed off? It just epitomises everything the BBC is having to grapple with internally."

    A BBC source said that the email was illustrated with a picture of Gaza because it covered current audience attitudes to the Israel-Gaza conflict.
    Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: "This is the latest shocking example of the bias within the BBC. When will they learn?"

    Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, accused the BBC of appearing "to be trying to deny the Oct 7 massacre" and of "rampant anti-Semitism".

    The email contained a link to a longer piece which refers to the attacks. It says: "On October 7th, 2023, the conflict between Palestine and Israel reached a new escalation when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 and taking over 200 hostages.

    "In response, Israel launched a prolonged military campaign in Gaza, resulting in widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis. Over the following months, ceasefire efforts stalled, global pressure intensified, and civilian casualties continued to rise, sparking worldwide protests and diplomatic tensions.

    "In September 2025, the UK government announced its formal recognition of the State of Palestine, shortly before the two-year anniversary of the Hamas attack. This moment presents both a challenge and an opportunity for BBC journalists in how they cover the conflict for our audiences."

    The BBC has previously faced accusations of anti-Israel bias. Tim Davie, the director-general, was forced to apologise to the Jewish community in July for broadcasting Bob Vylan's anti-Semitic chants at Glastonbury. Mr Davie's leadership was called into question after the broadcaster failed to cut the live stream of the punk-rap duo urging the crowd to join them in chants calling for "death, death to the IDF".

    The BBC also failed to disclose to viewers that the child narrator of a Gaza documentary was the son of a Hamas minister, a breach which the corporation's chairman, Samir Shah, described as "a dagger to the heart of the BBC's claim to be impartial and trustworthy".

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/07/bbc-apologises-for-calling-oct-7-attack-an-escalation/

    1. And, when he rejected his "slave" name of Cassius Clay and adopted the Islamic name of Muhammad Ali, he changed from a name that honoured a staunch anti-slavery campaigner to that of a notorious trader in African Slaves.

    2. Every single word that Ali/Clay uttered in that clip was accurate and normal. His words have fuck-all to do with 'black supremacy'.

      It is genetically programmed into all of us to look after and protect our own race. It was Parkinson who was taking a load of bollocks and simply echoing the Globalists' poisonous line of thought.

  99. Well, chums, it's now time for me to retire to bed. So I wish you all a "Good Night". I hope you all sleep well and awaken refreshed. Hasta mañana!

    1. Nor really. I am listening to this.

      Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” talks to Moran Stella Yanai about her terrifying kidnapping from the Nova Music Festival and being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for 54 days; the chaos and fear of the Hamas terror attack; her desperate escape attempts and the physical and psychological abuse she endured; how her faith, hope, and will to live gave her strength; the manipulation and cruelty of her captors; the mental resilience needed to survive unimaginable conditions; and her powerful call for peace, understanding, and the value of human life; and much more.
      “And when I see one mother in Gaza, I saw this a few days ago, I was shocked… that video is on Instagram, being so proud that her four children died when they tried to explode themselves to kill other people.

      And she said she waited, she has two more grandchildren, and she can't wait for them to die too. So I'm asking, what am I finding again? …Because we, we celebrate life…But you don't care about your own people.

      So what am I fighting with? And that's what I'm trying to tell. I mean, you know, at some point I feel sorry for them, that that's the life that they need to live.

      That they don't have the option to dream, you know? I mean, no matter what I went through, and I'm telling you, I was abused almost every day, I still tried to take one of the captors and to explain to him how […]”

      From The Rubin Report: Chilling Details of How Hamas Treated Hostages in Captivity, 7 Oct 2025
      https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-rubin-report/id1052842770?i=1000730652376
      This material may be protected by copyright.

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