Tuesday 8 April: Door-to-door care and the wisdom of a preventative approach to health

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.

485 thoughts on “Tuesday 8 April: Door-to-door care and the wisdom of a preventative approach to health”

  2. Good morning, chums, and thanks to Geoff for today's new NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,389 5/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Lucky second guess today
      Wordle 1,389 3/6

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    1. I have never thought differently. A disarmed population must always be de facto slaves.

      1. Yet when americalandians argue that I remind them that the state has missiles and drones that can destroy us from another country. Faced with, for example, the diversity smoking crack on the tube – what do we do there? Shoot him?

      2. The deal so far has been that the State protects the average citizen, so they do not need to do so, and that has basically worked for the last 100 years or so, but now the deal is fraying as the State cannot do anything properly any more – not even fcuk up.

    2. Not a good idea. I'd turn Tesco into a blood bath, let alone what I'd do to the idiot who walked into me in M&S.

      Seriously. I am 6'4 and a bit. I'm huge. You CANNOT not see me and yet, matey, you ploughed straight into my shoulder. Did you think you'd knock me over? wanted to push around someone who wouldn't fight back?

      My blasted biceps are bigger than your thighs. You just wanted to pick a fight. Instead, you got bruised knees from my basket.

      1. Never underestimate the stupidity of people, and their total lack of awareness. He was probably listening to sounds in his earphones and it took the entire capacity of his brain cell to do so.

      2. That happened to Alf the other day in town. (He’s 6’5). A late teen lad brushed into him, a white lad, said sorry and Alf called out to him as he walked on, sorry I’m so small you couldn’t see me, but in a nice smiley way. The lad turned round and smiled sheepishly. He was fairly tall but not as and was with a bunch of his mates.

        1. At least he apologised. The louts on bikes who nearly ran over me when I was on a pedestrian crossing gave me a mouthful.

    3. Never mind. Crims have easy access. They just can't compete in Olympic shooting events.

    4. Never mind the handguns, the next target is shotguns. The licensing is being made more expensive and onerous, the storage more stringent and the aim is to stop country people having access to weapons (shotguns are not as lethal as Section 1 firearms, which is why you can't shoot deer with a shotgun, but the government is trying to align the licences).

    1. I don't care about an airport in pakiland. I don't want my money wasted on it. I don't want casmiri people in this country. I don't want muslim in this country.

      If you're bothered about pakiland, go live there.

    2. WTF has it to do with the U.K.? Why was he even allowed to ‘raise a point in Parliament’?

      For goodness’ sake. Wake the fu.k up U.K., we’re fast becoming ruled and run by Muslims.

      ETA: I have written to my MP asking why this has been raised in Parliament. (With some trepidation, I might add!). I may be inviting a knock on the door in the middle of the nig ….

  7. Woke up to an alert that a network card had failed borking oh, about a dozen systems.

    Of course, you don't get told this, things just stop working. Why, you can't work out because you can't get to the thing to fix it. Your only choice is a hard reset. Which is annoying in the extreme.

  8. Good morning all.
    Another bright, sunny start to the day with clear skies and again it's bloody cold outside!
    A tad above 1½°C on the thermometer outside.

    Planning to depart Southwards about lunchtime and I've not planned where to stop for the night yet.
    Will see where I can find!

    2. Good morning Bob
      Please do get in touch – Hertslass has my email (and thank you Hertslass for coordinating contacts!)

          1. Hoe strange – that is my usual hotmail account which I haven’t known bounce. I will try from another one.

          3. So did mine – she might have changed it, so I have asked her to kindly re-send or send any new email.

        1. Just made another attempt at contact. that is really odd because I don’t think any of my email addresses are out of order at the moment.

      3. Your email that I have is bouncing messages. WOuld you kindly re-sentd it or send your new one, please.

      4. Your email that I have is bouncing messages. WOuld you kindly re-sentd it or send your new one, please.

  9. Good morning, everyone. Mrs D is getting a 24 hour heart monitor fitted this morning.

      1. External. She has a leaking valve and can't walk 25 yards. She was 75 two days ago. I am considerably older but seem to have been at the front of the queue when genes were handed out.

        1. I hope all goes well. I had to wear one after having a seizure. The one I wore was stuck on and was jolly uncomfortable. Hopefully the technology has improved significantly.

        2. Well, be sure to give her a big hug from Nottlers as encouragement – but not so big that you knock her over!
          And belated Happy 75th, as well!

    3. Morning, Delboy.
      Best wishes to Mrs D. I hope the monitor doesn't interfere with her life too much, getting in the way and all that.

    4. I hope it goes well and leads to effective treatment.
      And a belated Happy Birthday to her too.

        1. Yes, I know the feeling as the DT's still working and tries to do too much.

    1. The world has genuinely gone bonkers.

      Yes it has. At one time I would have said it was impossible. But here we are.

      1. It started with the 'human rights' act. People were told they mattered. They were told there were things others could not take from you, that you were important.

        It undermined the fundamental basis of society.

    2. This was inevitable, and I forecast it when men were allowed to compete in women's sports. I said back then that this would be the end of women in women's sports as men who can't hack it at top mens level pretend to be women to get medals at women's level. Now it's reality. The women need to get together and exclude anything with a Y chromosome from their spaces, arenas and sports, and I'm sorry to say, tough on the chromosome-bearer. Life sucks, then you die.

      1. This trans thing has long since morphed into mass hysteria and cult like behaviour.

  11. Morning, all Y'all.
    Chilly, overcast. Hoping for rain, to wash away the winter dust.

      1. I know of two ski resorts that have closed due to lack of snow. It's cold enough, but the reservoirs that they use for making artificial snow are empty!

  12. I've not yet worked out how to give a dog a tablet and while Oscar is a reluctant patient he's pretty good at lapping it out of my hand and then sucking on the water bottle.

    Sparky in today to take carpet up and run socketry. What on earth needs 4 double sockets? There's already 2 doubles in there.

    1. Podcasting!
      Please do let us know if your other half starts a podcast…I'd love to listen to it.

      1. She does have a very Cheltenham Ladies accent, but with a sultry smoothing off of the edges.

    2. Does your dog like cheese? Oscar didn't like taking pills, but he loved to take his ball of cheese (with a pill in it). Other dogs would just take the pill like a sweet. Winston devours anything and everything – so far I've stopped him eating the stair carpet, the wallpaper, my slippers …

  13. Drizabone here. Not had rain since the autumn, the snow has all melted and evaporated. Wildfire warnings in force over much of the country. Some rain would help the plants and grass, too (can't call it a lawn, the only resemblance is the location for the grass is deliberate).

  15. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/04/08/buy-british-campaign-to-combat-trump-tariffs/

    Buy British, she bellows. Well… problem there is we can't, not really. Why? Because what we can grow here we don't want this time of year, we don't make much because manufacturing is too expensive thanks to tax and energy costs.

    Labour are morons. We're a services economy. We need lots of cheap energy and a small number of highly educated individuals and some to provide services to that group. It's as simple as that. Government policy has made everythig else nigh impossible. They don't seem to have the faintest idea about basic economics.

    1. So we have a small number of extremely rich tax exiles ready to move away their wealth at a sniff of tax, and a great number of people living in penury or debt, a fair number of them aggressive Muslims with no loyalty to the nation whatsoever.

      Must this be "basic economics"?

      1. It is to Lefties. The way to make rich people to pay tax is to let them get rich, as my Dad told me. At a certain point you stop buying 'stuff' and you buy the ability to make stuff – be that law, cheese or robot arms.

        When the person making stuff pays more in tax than they get to keep they won't bother. If taxes were flatter, lower and less of a mess (by, say, shredding the 12,000 pages Brown added and then binning the remaining 6000 and replacing it with 2 sides of A4) people would invest here, create jobs, create wealth, create growth.

        1. You must be reading one of my old posts.

          This was over the EU Quality Assurance directive. It covered two pages of A4 and was entirely a statement of principle. The Germans observed it to the letter, all two pages of it; the French ignored it; and the Italian interpretation defied any sense of order and was impossible to enforce. Attempts were met with a flurry of armwaving. British civil servants produced an 8-volume set of regulations and guidelines in dense legal language, which had to be read and implemented by law, with training courses for employers at their cost. Failure to do it would result in getting on a Government blacklist.

          I was wondering why, on the day I was transferred to a new office, everyone except the typist was on leave, leaving me to welcome in the inspector and demonstrate compliance. I knew nothing of course.

          The office was privatised, the Government work subcontracted out to cowboys and the trained staff had to show the incomers the ropes before getting their redundancy. The senior management got a six-figure golden handshake and returned the next week as a consultant, and a directorship of the company winning the renegotiated contract, which of course was signed off for QA by the consultant.

          After I left, they lost the Government contract after blowing up an Army base. Not even the MOD could cover that up.

          My father used to grumble about the adjective ‘quality’ in advertisements. Whilst strictly consistent with trade description, it doesn’t actually mention what sort of quality.

    2. They repeat slogans that they've heard without understanding them…we ought to bring manufacturing back, especially as we are a third world country now…

  17. Good morning and welcome to From the Editor. Yesterday is already being referred to as Black Monday, and there’s every chance we will have a Black Tuesday as well if the financial markets carry on tanking because of Donald Trump’s trade war.

    Trump insists he won’t back down, but after China slapped retaliatory tariffs on the US, it is starting to feel as though Trump has begun history’s most expensive blinking contest.

    I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback here.

    Chris Evans, Editor

    Just received this email from the Telegraph. You have to smile. At the moment he’s cut me out of commenting on any Ukraine article and of course I’m frequently REMOVED as they say.

  18. Good morning and welcome to From the Editor. Yesterday is already being referred to as Black Monday, and there’s every chance we will have a Black Tuesday as well if the financial markets carry on tanking because of Donald Trump’s trade war.

    Trump insists he won’t back down, but after China slapped retaliatory tariffs on the US, it is starting to feel as though Trump has begun history’s most expensive blinking contest.

    I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback here.

    Chris Evans, Editor

    Just received this email from the Telegraph. You have to smile. At the moment he’s cut me out of commenting on any Ukraine article and of course I’m frequently REMOVED as they say.

  19. Good morning and welcome to From the Editor. Yesterday is already being referred to as Black Monday, and there’s every chance we will have a Black Tuesday as well if the financial markets carry on tanking because of Donald Trump’s trade war.

    Trump insists he won’t back down, but after China slapped retaliatory tariffs on the US, it is starting to feel as though Trump has begun history’s most expensive blinking contest.

    I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback here.

    Chris Evans, Editor

    Just received this email from the Telegraph. You have to smile. At the moment he’s cut me out of commenting on any Ukraine article and of course I’m frequently REMOVED as they say.

  20. Peter Hitchens traces the starting point back much further.. though Blair did crank it up a notch.. or two.

    The big change – a collapse in the idea of personal responsibility – came after the militant social liberal Roy Jenkins became Home Secretary in December 1965. Until his era, the official aim of prisons was still the Edwardian principle of 'the due punishment of responsible persons'. And the job of the police was the Victorian task of deterring crime and, where that failed, catching the criminal and bringing him before the courts. The job of the courts was to punish those they convicted. They did not necessarily expect to do the criminal any good, but to deter others from doing the same.

    But after the liberal victory, both responsibility and punishment were regarded as obsolete relics. Wicked behaviour was blamed on poverty and bad housing, the supposed 'causes of crime'. So punishment was outmoded and cruel. The aim of prison was to rehabilitate, not punish.

      1. Poor defence team, and her name is a synophone for 'lose -e '. And she lost.
        Mrs C might have pointed out that unlawful immigrants are accommodated in hotels with fire detection systems and fire exits so a few careless matches would not have done anything except smoke damage.

    2. Any good Catholic knows that penance comes before reconciliation; any good surgeon knows to cut away the decay before the regrowth can be healthy.

  21. SIR – I was disappointed to read Jessica Burrell’s suggestion that mixed-metal jewellery was once a style no-no (“Mixed-metal jewellery is now the gold standard for gilded youth”, Features, April 1).

    I totally disagree. I am in my 80s now, but have been wearing mixed-metal jewellery since the early 1990s, and still love it.

    I have always felt that it’s nicer than wearing just one metal. Maybe I was lucky, as my main purchases came from the very stylish jeweller Van Peterson in Walton Street, Knightsbridge, and I received enthusiastic compliments. I am glad that the world is catching up.

    Helen Penney
    Longborough, Gloucestershire

    I am allergic to most metals , I am not a jewellery fan, dare I say I am allergic to most metals .. My 18ct gold wedding ring suffices .. and I have a collection of pearl necklaces which I no longer wear , but I do like bright happy small wooden necklaces in jolly colours , and beaded bracelets sometimes .

    Even the fastening on watches can set up an irritation.

    My engagement ring was a beautiful opal ring , 22ct .

    After a few years of marriage , we had a mega row .. I took my rings off , and Moh pocketed my engagement ring .. yes in his old corduroy jacket .. circa 1970's .. He lost it !

    Now I know that ring would be worth a fortune .. but he said he lost it , and if I had it now , the cost of my huge car bill would have been paid , and with some change as surplus .

    When that ring went missing , it broke my heart , I will never know what happened to it .

    I had the same feeling when the ancient old tortoise went missing we were given .. it belonged to Moh's grandparents , probably over 100 years old .. just vanished !!

    1. Why the bold type?
      Sorry you lost your engagement ring and the tortoise 🐢.
      I hardly wear any jewellery these days – just my wedding ring and my grandma's knot ring. I have other things but forget to put them on.

      1. Morning J.
        I don't know why I did that , probably half asleep .

        I can't believe how men and women jangle with jewellery .. and the other thing is rings through the nose , tongue , lips and the tender tissues of ears , not just the lobes etc .

        Moh doesn't wear a wedding ring , he is married to his golf clubs !!!!!!

        1. J wears his – it’s the same as mine. We bought them both in Kefalonia.

          I have some Maasai bead bracelets that I wear but they’re not exactly jewellery.

          I have earrings but forget to put them on usually.

        2. I've heard too many stories of accidents caused by rings to ever want to wear one!

          1. I thought I would lose a finger when a couple of locked ward patients jumped me and tried to get the keys. One of the keys got caught under the ring. Luckily, the patients lost interest when sister hove into view.
            Not one of my happier memories!

      2. My father wore a crested signet ring on the small finger of the left hand (as I do) but, as was the custom for men in England at the time, he did not wear a wedding ring.

        In Holland signet rings are worn on the small finger of the left hand for both men and women while in England men wear the signet ring on the left hand and women wear it on the right.

        When I married we compromised: I wear a wedding ring as Caroline's father did and Caroline wears her signet ring on the small finger of the right hand as my mother and sisters did.

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/996b49641ccafe1828943f09109b68f4daf85930a63536f95aaaad11872af87d.jpg

    3. The Warqueen's first engagement ring was a hula hoop. We did eventually buy something nice. We stuck a wotsit on it.

      That should tell folk why she hasn't left me yet.

  24. On Twitter, I gather it was being referred to as Orange Monday!
    The stock market was monstrously overblown and was already declining before the tariffs kicked in. People are blinded by TDS.

      1. It'll need some more correcting before the stock market prices reflect the true values of the companies, particularly the big 7 tech companies.
        It has been predicted that a slow decline over several years will happen, rather than one dramatic day.

  26. This may well be an improvement on the "drop-yer-trousers" method I have used since the age of four to set male from female. Never mind hormone levels; use chromosomes and be done with it.

    Those of confused gender can hold their own contests, same as the paralympics do.

  27. Morning All 🙂😊
    Lovely sunny start again with a reminder of its only April and frosty.
    Door to door care is this the same as receiving a message from the GP practice and being requested to submit a BP reading ? With a gentle reminder of what it should be.
    If not make an appointment and pop in.

  28. Good morning all. Just thinking out loud, comparing Dubai and U.K. Expats go to UAE to work hard, play hard and spend. And they follow all government rules, regulations and laws. Immigrants come here to … sponge on taxpayers, and take advantage of this country including our tolerance. (For anyone new to the site my daughter, her husband and family live in Dubai although they have a house back in the U.K.).

    UAE is a one man benign dictatorship. Here we have thousands of government employees who seem to give an ever decreasing service via institutions, NGOs and quangos. The difference is mind boggling. And HMG certainly doesn’t seem to care about us, the indigenous population, at all. They just doddle along, taxing us to the hilt and choking off all entrepreneurialism. Sorry to be so gloomy but that’s how it seems to me.

    1. Labour is chasing every decent salary earner out of the country .

      Labour are filthy controlling commies .

      I do hope a plague breaks out in dirty Birmingham .. and all the Kashmiris clear off back to their ancestral home .

        1. Wotcha, Alec,

          Won't it just remind them nostalgically of what they left – before they came here? A home from home, but with benefits thrown in.

      2. 'Morning, Belle,

        Nah, they won't go home – they'll come to your part of the country. Nothing will induce them to go back except a big fat bribe – and that will only induce more to come so that they can be paid to go back…

      3. 'Morning, Belle,

        Nah, they won't go home – they'll come to your part of the country. Nothing will induce them to go back except a big fat bribe – and that will only induce more to come so that they can be paid to go back…

    2. Morning. There’s endless talk of who to tax and how much. It never occurs to them to stop stealing and squandering what other people have earned. The Romans taxed the people they subjugated. It was punishment not altruism and as the empire degenerated, the taxes increased.

      1. Morning SE
        I totally agree.
        Imho The problem we have is there are far too many people poking their noses in to the way our country is managed. Having Too many different opinions is where common sense evaporates.
        650 in Parliament and over 800 in the house next door. Then there is the know all uncivil service. Between them all, as we well know, they couldn't even run a bath successfully. The results of their dreadful laws and control of the British taxpaying population is appalling.
        Between Them all they seem to have launched a route to the four A's. armageddon and apocalypse approaching..

        1. And some 1300 quangos as well. There should be, at best, 200 Lords. The stuffing to get legislation through is simply offensive.

      2. Corbyn considers tax competition a 'race to the bottom'. Bottom of what? Oh, that's it – improvement of services for other people's property.

        It tells you all you need to know about how they think of public money.

    3. My wife has just returned from ten days in Dubai with our youngest son.
      Her photographs and detailed descriptions make it sound marvellous. But it just doesn't appeal to me. All built from oil it's originally just desert and a small harbour town.
      One of my nephew's was a naval officer and visited several times. But it's changed beyond recognition.
      People have moved there from nearly every part of the globe. There is so much traffic on the roads massive apartment blocks with swimming pools, building projects that are continuous. Even a snow dome a huge golf complex. Grass in the desert ???
      Where will it all end I wonder.

      1. The nearest I've been is the huge airport. I bought some gold earrings by weight there in 1998. The problem is the post that goes into the ear is so thick they are almost impossible to wear now as my holes have tightened up.

      2. The nearest I've been is the huge airport. I bought some gold earrings by weight there in 1998. The problem is the post that goes into the ear is so thick they are almost impossible to wear now as my holes have tightened up.

      3. You’re right Eddy, it’s an amazing place. Somewhere to admire for its facilities, organisations, I.e., areas where all sports are, car showrooms, stadiums etc. etc. and the architecture is something else. Somebody said to us you should see the skyscrapers in New York (we had never been there) and went in 2018 for our 50th wedding anniversary. However, we’d been to Dubai visiting our family and NY was nowhere near as impressive as we expected.

        Dubai, btw, and the lifestyle our family have, was extremely impressive. Hiwever, it has no soul. We last visited in 2019 and doubt we’ll go again due to Alf’s mobility difficulties. Also sitting on a plane for 7/8 hours does not appeal to us. We would never have gone except for family.

        1. That’s the impression that I have ‘no soul’. I doubt if I will be going there VW.

  29. Good Morning!

    Nanumaga is soon off on a humungous voyage to the Great South Seas, to places few have heard of, and wants to get the draft of his book Brexit Redux finished before he goes. So please, lads and lasses, look at his new chapter and give him comments, advice, anything you can think of.

    Grumpy Old Git Graham Bedford advises us not to believe anything found on t’internet. He got his hundred comments folks, but is greedy for more, so please get stuck in to his Don’t Believe A Word if you haven’t already left your mark.

    Energy watch 07.30: Demand: 32.11 GW. Total UK Production: 28.32 GW from: Hydrocarbons 54.5%; Wind 2.6%; Imports 11.9%; Biomass 7.4%; Nuclear 13.8%. Solar: 2.5%.

    So, after billion and billions of investment, wind and solar are producing only 5.1% of our electricity.

    1. Today – tomorrow it might be higher. The problem is they're unreliable. A thorium reactor is not but the greeniac nutters won't allow us to build those.

  30. Good morning, all. Similar to Norfolk.

    When reality hits home, deflect. Does this minister even know what a watt is?

    BTL reminding Nick Timothy MP that his party, especially that May woman, is responsible for much of this dangerous nonsense.

    https://x.com/NJ_Timothy/status/1909296582341566716
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1b522270dd9be6d00e9d0343bef4e2eee362ea6273ea455b649942c0b39f0320.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9d452775707bd606f7bb69ba8b6918eb79307eebf249740b98a533db1318d29a.png

    1. With the push for electric cars , have they been examined for battery long levity ?

      I have been reading up on them ..

      Factors Affecting Battery Life:
      Usage: Extended use can lead to a natural loss of capacity.

      Environmental Factors: Extreme temperatures (hot or cold) can impact battery longevity.

      Driving Habits: Aggressive driving or frequent fast charging can accelerate battery degradation.

      So what is the point of an electric car?

      1. Our opposite neighbours have one it's a large SUV. And only last week spent a lot of money having solar roof panels fitted to their home.
        We ourselves are too old now to ever get a return for such 'investments'.
        Perhaps this is why 'Raquel from accountants' is looking into older people's bank savings and stealing our money.

        2. Next door neighbour drives a company Tesla – he loves it. I'll stick with my old diesel.

      2. Excellent question, Belle. I have posted online a number of times about the Renault Zoe my husband bought, trading in my VW, so I won't bore any further except to say aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarggggggggggggggghhhhhhhh. Anyhow, the battery is on insurance, for which we pay the grand sum of £59 per month. Go figure.

      3. So what is the point of an electric car?

        Initially a 'thin end of a wedge' in Climate Change and its other iterations. At point of use an EV has zero gaseous emissions but of course it emits heat. Its gaseous emissions are at the power station, in the case of the UK, gas or wood, or at the manufacturing plants where the windmills, solar panels, concrete, oil for lubrication etc. are created. Oops, mustn't forget the plastics, tyres etc. required to finish the vehicle.

        The idea that EVs are emission free is a scam but the fraud is well installed and many people are sufficiently stupid or easily manipulated to believe the scam i.e. no exhaust pipe = green.

      4. Control over where you can go and when. An electric motor's software can be shut down remotely, that's far harder with a petrol car.

        EVs are, as a technology, fine for a specific purpose. I'd like one to pootle about to customer sites in. No gears to change, easier to drive. But the pushing for them is not environmental. Like all the green twaddle the intent is control.

    2. Busy so cannot check now, but I suspect that the 'fines' on vehicle manufacturers may be statutory penalties rather than something that could be decided in a court of law.

      1. I fail to understand how a company can be fined for not selling its products.

    3. I don't know how much credibility Nick Timothy ever had but he surely lost whatever he did have when he became Traita May's chief of staff. He did much to destroy Britain by encouraging her pervertedly mad lust to thwart Brexit.

      1. The greatest hinderance for Brexit came firstly from the EU then the civil service. The EU made it clear that each item of UK industry would have to be individually negotiated. It didn't need to be that way, but they wanted a fight.

        The civil service then fought Brexit by giving everything away it could. Then the political who wanted to stay chained refused to allow May to say 'fine, WTO it is then'.

        At every step, the state machine fought the public will. The problem with hand cuffs is that they're easy to put on, but it takes a lot longer to saw through them. Notably when Boris suggested Singapore on Thames (for the UK to be a low tax, small state trade opponent) the EU retaliated with tariff barriers and other Tory Mps fought him in the press for such a 'silly' suggestion.

    4. It seems as if Elon Musk wants to keep up the market for Tesla vehicles, he will have to provide his own electricity generators to power them, side-stepping the Grid.

  31. Trump’s tariffs are tough love, genuinely adult politics
    Sean Walsh – April 8, 2025 https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/trumps-tariffs-are-tough-love-genuinely-adult-politics/

    BTL

    I think that Trump should have said that he would raise the existing tariff rate by 1% each week on each country until it reached the same level as the tariff rate imposed upon the USA.

    This would have given each country time to adjust and would have prevented the shock this has caused the financial markets.

    1. A complex issue America's markets might have been flooded as exporters tried to beat the system.

    2. FTSE is up, American bourse projections similar. Oil slightly up. China kicking off, as if Trump will care about that.

    4. That would have cost as much in administration as it saved in implementation…

  32. You and Good Moaning all, from a cool, but Sunny C d S.

    A follow on from last night

    Bob3
    This concept of paying to give away land is all foreign to me

    Me

    I would willingly pay towards the cost of getting rid of Starmmer.

    It would be cheaper than the money he is costing us through taxes

    Where is Jack Reacher when you need him

        1. Here you are, take your pick:- https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/95c8e74a645a1d58dd3659b65ddb27169c2c50cfb5573093a67554fff9494176.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/617ff3f00599323b8c0030b1cccc7faa98f481e1d5214533a91a3a4af514808c.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d55c34dc855c4bb40f8975da7f4314c7e48a7bf30c1e08cc54c0511f7da6a1ca.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/77e0b68d8dee9eb154541d2bdb01330b8eee0e4d6d266974252563de01bf3a06.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3e8c8e09e22f11d2cb4fedf18f7d6c2877c61c5bc66773e42ea51cd8b298d346.jpg

      3. Lust child – nothing to do with love – Lammy is probably not capable of anything beyond his exaggerated animal urges.

    2. It seems that the civil war has already started and the forces of the invaders are being augmented each day by the PTB who should be on the side of the indigenous population.

      Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it Treason.

      (John Harrington)

      I fear that many of us here will soon be judged to be guilty of treason because our free speech is being taken away from us.

    3. The latest Disaffected podcast/Rumble refers.

      “This story is nominally about 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, the white track competitor who was murdered in Texas this weekend, allegedly. I hate saying allegedly, the guy confessed to it.

      Allegedly by black teen Carmelo Anthony. But the story is only nominally about this specific murder. The murder isn't what's disturbed me above and beyond the fact that murders are disturbing, of course.

      It's horrible, but sadly it's expected. There's no sense of shock being displayed at a young black man going absolutely animalistic on someone and killing him for perceived disrespect. This is just standard fare in America now, unremarkable.”

      From Disaffected: White Lives Matter: episode 217, April 6, 2025, 7 Apr 2025
      https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/disaffected/id1549604908?i=1000702549829&r=184
      This material may be protected by copyright.

  34. Fun fact: Donald Nielson (Black Panther) was an English armed robber, kidnapper and murderer. And between 1971 and 1974 he burgled over 400 houses, then moved on to post offices and finally the kidnapping and murder of Lesley Whittle. The police caught him by chance in the street, and Nielson then carjacked the two officers, then crashed the police car outside a chip shop early evening. Nielson was overpowered by a couple of burly miners.

    Fast forward to 2025.. The 'Night Watcher' burglar has notched up upwards of 17 separate raids on the homes of wealthy residents around south-east England, since 2006. He is ex-army and keeps himself super fit after leaving the military.
    A real nasty piece of work that enjoys beating women when they are complying, and has kicked a pregnant lady in the stomach. He has serious issues, he is enjoying the robbery and the violence. There is ample CCTV footage of him travelling on the trains around Kent.

    Conclusion: He's pretty safe so long as he watches what he says on social media.

    1. Good morning KBh and everyone.
      IMHO the thug you refer to is not a burglar but a robber, because he uses violence when committing his crimes. Why do you assume that he is an army veteran?
      Computer technology could certainly be used to narrow down a list of suspects, but he is probably sharp enough to retire.
      Back in the 1980s or 1990s I recall a UK criminal who was always one step ahead of the law, until the lead detective realised that the only possibility was that the perpetrator had up-to-date inside knowledge, and indeed he turned out to be (or have been) a policeman.

      1. Witness the murder of Sara Everard by Wayne Couzens, there was a group of his colleagues on his WA.

    2. Donald Nappey (he changed his name to Neilson after being bullied at school) was captured at the chip shop in Rainworth [pron: "Rennorth"] just outside Mansfield.

      Those miners (who were in the chip shop queue) rearranged his face so much he couldn't be recognised. This was, of course, back in the days when the upholding of the law was still the responsibility of every citizen.

  35. I can't help believing that the S&P is over-valued, and possibly funded by over-blown Govt expenditure.
    https://www.macrotrends.net/2324/sp-500-historical-chart-data
    https://www.statista.com/statistics/187867/public-debt-of-the-united-states-since-1990/
    Extract the so-called magnificent 7 and things look markedly different.
    https://www.fool.com/research/magnificent-seven-sp-500/#:~:text=The%20Magnificent%20Seven%20account%20for%2032.0%25%20of%20the%20S%26P%20500,12.3%25%20of%20the%20S%26P%20500.&text=The%20S%26P%20500%20performed%20very,an%20overall%20return%20of%20178.3%25.
    Small wonder Trump wants interest rates to fall, the stock market's a distraction.

    1. Lockdowns still being felt, a number of businesses fell, survival of the fittest/better funded. Interest rates should fall, people will spend more, businesses will invest more…rinse and repeat….Trump wants to re-industrialise China and he's correct to do so imo. Anyhow China has sufficient problems, economy seems to be failing, quite a bit of unrest/marches etc – unprecedented. Eyes on Taiwan if Xi decides on distraction technique.

      1. Trump wants to re-industrialise China

        I'm not sure that's correct, he wants to bring jobs back to America.

          1. I don’t think he wants to do that either.
            Industrialisation assists everyone, and it should lead to population stabilisation, if not a decrease in the medium term, a good thing for the planet, I believe.

        2. A lot of my friends locally are extremely scathing about Trump, and I go along with them on a number of issues. However, I have niggling doubts about his gung-ho let's-make-mayhem approach to globalisation.

          If his long-term intentions are to wean America (and the world) off easy mobile finance and back to making things locally that are worth more than the paper they are wrapped in, then is that such a bad thing?

          Self-sufficiency is one very Green policy that is very much on the Right of politics.

    2. Terriblegraph’s business section is similarly in meltdown. They didn’t care so much with the Covid financial shenanigans, or the “Financial crash” ones.

      The global elites are panicking. But yes, they may bring is down with them (pensions etc). But i’m not sure i don’t disagree with breaking the current oligopoly.

  36. 404285+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Nicely put,

    Stef Anthony Coburn 🗣 reposted
    Jeckov Kanani
    @JeckovKanani
    ·
    17h
    To the unvaccinated:

    You stared down a billion-dollar machine, spat in its face, and walked away with your soul intact.

    I fucking salute you. 🫡

    2. In my case and in Caroline's we retained our Covid jab virginity thanks to our very good friend, Doctor Francoise.

      She has been reinstated but she lost her job temporarily for not being totally in favour of pushing gene therapy on her patients.

      Another very close friend of Caroline's, a nurse, did not want to take the jab because there was cancer in her close family's medical history and she knew she might be susceptible. However, with seven children she felt obliged to keep earning her salary so against her better judgement she yielded and took the jab.

      A few months later she developed the cancer and died last year. The very large Pleudihen Church was completely packed for her funeral with many having to be outside.

      We all know why dear Marguerite is dead – but some people are still not prepared to admit it.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2f15ad07cad792cdc7a719b1a193da509dfc0d958570717bf2b2709e708b719d.png

    3. I retained my Covid-jab virginity through not listening to those who insane advice was crass and illogical.

      I'm very good at listening to my own advice and ignoring the prattering of fools.

      1. Are you quite sure that you are a Covid-jab virgin, Grizzly? Today's new avatar suggests you haven't slept a wink for the past 10 years, which in turn suggests that you have had all the jabs under the sun. Lol.

        1. That's the manic stare I adopt whenever I read an article about Cur Slime-Green, Auntie Elsie.

    2. I initially read that as Trannies, and then concluded it's equally true of them!

  39. He wants to bring manufacturing and jobs back to America. America First is what he was elected to do.

    2. It is entirely right and proper for those who are not Americans to be somewhat sceptical about an 'America First' policy that puts them second.

      2. I fail to see why. We should have a UK first policy. But that is never going to happen as long as we are lead by any of the four parties currently vying for power.

  40. From the Telegraph

    Trump is turning the United States into a global laughing stock
    There is a perfectly rational case for resetting trade. But the arbitrary and incoherent administration isn’t making it
    Matthew Lynn07 April 2025 2:57pm BST
    They will rebalance global trade, reform the way the US government raises revenue, and drive the re-industrialisation of the country. There is a perfectly rational case to be made for president Trump’s imposition of tariffs on the United States’ main trading partners, even if it is hard to find anyone with a basic understanding of economics who will actually agree with it.

    Enough Americans have been disadvantaged by globalisation – rendered uncompetitive as lower cost producers have undercut their industries – to make for a compelling argument for a reset. Similarly, it is perfectly true that some countries have used non-tariff barriers to keep out US products. What the Trump administration calls the UK’s unscientific opposition to chlorine-washed chicken is a case in point.

    The trouble is the White House isn’t making a rational case for the president’s plans. Instead, the policy, and the arguments being made for it, have become completely chaotic. Trump is starting to make the US look ridiculous – and that is in large part what is rattling the financial markets.

    It is going to be a while before Trump goes back to boasting about the performance of the stock market in the way he did during his first term. After last week’s plunge, the FTSE 100 was down by a further 5 per cent at one point on Monday, Germany’s Dax by more than 6 per cent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng witnessed its biggest one day drop of the century.

    Investors have taken a long, cold look at the new tariff regime, decided it will hit the economy hard, and taken fright. They will have to take their medicine, as the president suggested last night, who has shown no signs of backing down. It looks like that medicine will be very bitter.

    But the problem is not just the direct costs to American consumers and the international economy of making trade with the United States significantly more expensive. It’s that the policy is a mess of contradictions, and investors have no real understanding of what is the tariffs’ true purpose, whether they are likely to be permanent, or even why particular rates were chosen in the first place.

    Are they just a high-stakes bargaining chip designed to terrify the rest of the world and so secure some “great deals” as the president sometimes suggests? Well, perhaps. But in that case they won’t raise tens of billions in revenues, which also seems to be one of the objectives, because they won’t last for very long. And if they do raise tens of billions, then they won’t help reindustrialise the economy because ordinary Americans won’t have any money.

    Or are they designed to “fix the trade deficits”? Well, again perhaps, but in that case why give the impression that they might be negotiated away? No one in the White House seems to know, or to have a line they can stick to for more than five minutes.

    Even worse, they are poorly implemented. The calculations on which they are based are often bizarre, apparently based on a very primitive formula. Why is Lesotho on 50 per cent for example, but Liberia on just 10 per cent? Are all 2,188 inhabitants of Norfolk Island really manipulating the global trading system so much that it is necessary to slap a 29 per cent tariff on their exports to the US? Isn’t the US meant to be protecting Taiwan, and if so is it really a good idea to put a 32 per cent levy on its exports? And to be honest, it is a little surprising anyone in the White House could find Côte d’Ivoire on the map, never mind work out that 21 per cent was the right tariff to place on its exports.

    Meanwhile, if the US is planning to raise $500 billion or more from the tariffs then surely it needs to make tax cuts elsewhere so that the overall level of demand remains the same. But there is no sign of that yet.

    It’s a mess. It is perfectly reasonable for president Trump to re-engineer the trading system. He argued for that on the campaign trail, and he won the election on that platform. But the tariffs could be phased in over a year or so, with offsetting tax cuts, and with plenty of time for “deals” to be renegotiated,

    Indeed, even if companies plan to invest more in the US to build up domestic production, it is hard to see them committing to vast levels of spending when policy appears to be made up minute by minute.

    The blunt truth is this. The tariffs are making the US look ridiculous – and until someone gets a grip on the policy then the markets are going to carry on falling.

      1. What they wont say is that Trump is upsetting the globalists with his policy of asserting the Nation State, restoring that to health. That's what his tariff tactic is about. They hoped their policies would kill off the nation state and Trump in defeating them.

        Is he technically half British because of his mother? Perhaps we can plead with him to deal with us once he has retired from the Presidency. Even a half senile Trump is better than another Socialist lump in number 10. If Kami qualifies for PM then I don't see why he can't.

          1. Yes. He has a soft spot. No thanks to Starmer. He likes the king, he phones him often apparently, probably has something to do with it. That and his admiration for his mother, Elizabeth II.

        2. Given that his mother was born in Britain, unless she formally renounced her British citizenship, then Donald, as her son has British citizenship by descent. See: https://www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-british-parent

          This is the same dynamic that caught out a number of Australian politicians, in that the law there specifically bans any MP's from holding other than Australian citizenship, and some did not realise they had British citizenship through a parent.

    2. Is the author unaware that tariffs (aka import duty) are applied by many countries? As for raising 500 billion dollars, surely it is not meant to raise tax revenue, but to encourage US industry to return to producing goods instead of importing them?

  41. Scorchio!

    Record migrants scheduled to cross the English Channel today, the largest number on a single day this year.
    We are aware of the situation today and are supporting where required.     RNLI. LOL.

    Irregular Passengers are advised to pay attention to station announcements and follow directional signage for guidance and to plan their journeys in advance over the Easter bank holiday weekend.

    Repeat.. Repeat.. Repeat.. Ad nauseam
    "Our priority is to stop the boats, which is why we have taken robust action to crack down on vile people smuggling gangs, deter migrants from making dangerous crossings and, alongside our French counterparts, intercept vessels.     Home Office. LOL.

      1. Spot on. I honestly do not understand why HMG doesn't put them on cross-channel ferries.

  42. "And – to show our resolve – we have given yer French several billion pounds – and that has worked well."

    1. Dear oh dear……….nobody asked them to come here. I'm afraid I'm all out of sympathy.

  44. Re: The headline about door-to-door care – long ago we had health visitors – when my children were babies…….. they gave good advice to new mothers.
    There were also Community Psychiatric Nurses – the CPN was a Godsend to OH's father when he was caring for his wife with dementia. It was she who eventually got him to accept that his wife needed a care home. She would sit and give him good advice and proper conversation when he was at his wits' end with caring. It was she who continued to visit for his own health. She came to his funeral and was a real friend to him.

    These proposed door-to door nurses are nothing new.

    1. I thnk the door-to-door care will be very different from the similar care of decades ago. If the assisted dying bill (state sponsored murder) is passed then I would fully expect the door-to-door care to be a state snooping service for victims to be assisted by this bill. If the bill is not passed, I would expect the SSS to be quietly dropped.

      My apologies to the bill of these pages, no similarity intended.

      1. We’ll see. I don’t know if Health visitors and CPNs still exist. District nurses still do home visits I think – a few years go when OH had to temporarily use a catheter, a nurse came to deal with it for him.

    1. It is confusing.
      Perhaps BJ also ignored calls re DN and she's implying KS should also be "brought down" because he too ignored the calls.
      I don't think you were being pedantic, merely trying to clarify her post.

      1. Exactly.
        Annoying thing is that much of her opinion I actually agree with!

          1. In which case who was the first "he", Johnson or Starmer?
            My guess is that it must have been BJ

          2. Yes, that is what she appears to imply.
            My query is why should a Tory PM be expected to order an investigation into a Labour MP?
            Surely that should be a job for the leader of that party?

          4. If the accusations were sufficiently serious then I would expect the PM to do so, after having informed the leader of the opposition/party in question that they were going to do so.

        2. Reply:
          "In which case you won't mind telling me if "he" referred to Johnson or Starmer."

    2. The MSM – and especially the BBC – is far too forgiving of Starmer and his despotic and cruel government.

      A cake which Boris did not even eat lead to his ruin; a beer and takeaway curry led to Starmer being prime minister and Rayner being his deputy prime minister.

      The MSM was already two-tier before the arrival of Two Tier Kier as PM.

      1. Beergate was filmed by Ivo Delingpole, son of James. I wonder if he really just happened to be passing by?

    3. I thought Johnson became unpopular because of his stance on Covid ('it's a nothing burger'). Something happened to him, looked very ill, ended up in hospital and on a ventilator. Now, none of the nurses can be traced. He'd been in a meeting with Cabinet – no-one else caught the 'highly contagious' Covid (or had no symptoms if they did)…Hancock 'tested positive' (with the test kits made to test for something else) but had no symptoms. And Carrie didn't catch Covid, living/sleeping with Boris. And people didn't work but were still paid. Nevertheless, essential workers (supermarket employees etc) carried on roughly as normal (although plastic screens, stupid masks now clogging up ocean floor), had no recognition let alone reward – that sucks. And now Pifizer (they of both the virus and the vaccine) seem to have little to no comment. Perhaps it was all just a bad dream, or a test run….(oh look there's a military lab in America specialising in bio-weaponry but don't tell anyone)….

      1. I caught covid (it made me ill enough to keep to my bed for a week), but MOH never went down with it. I don't think it was anything like as infectious/contagious as they made out.

        1. I think many/most? viruses are initially very infectious, but become less so the more widespread, Conway? This one seems to have been adapted in a Pfizer lab, according to various people online.

  46. Now finishing off a mug of tea, then plan to get changed and away.
    Will log on with my laptop whenever I get the chance of an internet connection.

  48. Windows 10

    End of support for Windows 10 is approaching

    Frequently asked questions

    What does this mean for me?
    After October 14, 2025, Microsoft will no longer provide free software updates from Windows Update, technical assistance or security fixes for Windows 10.

    Will my Windows 10 PC stop working?
    No. Your PC will continue to work, but support will be discontinued.

    How is Windows 11 more secure?
    Windows 11 is the most secure Windows ever built, with comprehensive end-to-end security that covers antivirus, firewall, internet protections and more.

    1. Using the same kernel as Windows 2000, by the way.

      Windows needs a ground up re-write. They're wedded to an old, inconsistent architecture. The UI is a mess, such a mess they invented a search to find basic settings. The search doesn't work, of course.

      2. I've been using a Classic Shell since XP days so it looks like old-fashioned Windows. I was happy with my work laptop on XP once I had customised it to how I wanted it to look. Then they made me upgrade to W7!

        My current home laptop has W10 with the Shell. I hove no intention of changing it.

    2. Actually I find Windows 11 absolutely fine. Never had any problems in terms of security at all. The only addition I have made in that respect is to add NORD VPN. Which I had when it was Windows 10 anyway.

      1. It's ok to use, but I don't like the constant logging in and microsoft wanting to know what you're up to all the time. My personal computer is windows 10, I am going to have to jump over to some kind of linux soon.

          7. No…the one where you were smiling, chef’s hat? M-i-l currently has shingles…I’ve had it twice, very very painful…took me a while to get over it.

    4. I've been given a new laptop at work with Windows II on it but there are, well, teething problems. Initially minor issues such as reconnecting the printer and customising its appearance but then we discovered that it doesn't have Adobe Reader and therefore can't open, print and save pdf files (and no, we can't download a copy from the internet – there are corporate restrictions on doing that). That renders it useless. IT Support have told me that it's not just me and I should go back to the old machine and Windows 10 until they resolve the problem.

      1. Stopped using years ago, even at work. Now have an Acer Chromebook/Google, for quite a few years, never known it not work, very easy to use. Good luck, Sue x

    5. What does this mean for me? Nothing as we've never used any Windows software here.

    6. I watched a video this morning from a guy who servces computers of any age.

      Here is is his video: https://youtu.be/LcafzHL8iBQ?si=__gVc-DQIH27ByJn
      Basically he sees Windows 11 as ploy by Microsoft to be able to control all your use and files on your computer and to prevent you from being able to reconfigure it for any other use e.g, installing Linux.

      2. Before I bought my first computer in 1999, a work colleague told me that I would be buying Apple. When I asked why, he told me that under no circumstances will I buy anything from Billy Goats, since all Microsoft software listens in and takes control over all you do on their sub-standard computers.

        As a direct result of this excellent advice [sorry: order] I purchased a delicious lime-green iMac. In the 26 years since then I have bought an new Apple computer (currently a Mac Mini 4 with Studio Display) around every 8–10 years and I remain deliriously happy with my decision to do so.

    7. I watched a video this morning from a guy who servces computers of any age.

      Here is is his video: https://youtu.be/LcafzHL8iBQ?si=__gVc-DQIH27ByJn
      Basically he sees Windows 11 as ploy by Microsoft to be able to control all your use and files on your computer and to prevent you from being able to reconfigure it for any other use e.g, installing Linux.

  49. Doctors home visits. Isn't that something that was routine when most of us old farts were young?

    Coincidently I have been spending the morning phoning my doctor and the Royal Surrey Hospital AKA hell on earth. My eyesight is rapidly deteriorating and the drops are not staving off the glaucoma. Took ages to get through to Ophthalmology, the path is obstructed by mechanical voices that promise you a call back which, needless to say, never materializes. So using 'creative imagination' I managed to conjure up a real person, a duty nurse, who was wonderful. Still don't have an appointement, she has to speak to the boss and then I'm set. But really, this sort of thing should not be a battle requiring numerous phone calls and dodging the pit of 'we will call you back, leave your number'. From which nothing actually materializes.

    Anyway, Weather is cool and sunny today. That is really getting boring. Wouldn't mind a howling gale or some rain for a change.

    1. Good morning. I hope they can find something to improve your situation.

      I have had better luck…sort of.

      I went on Anima to explain a changing condition and requiring new or increased medication.

      They got back to me this morning explaining in half a dozen different ways why they couldn't help me and to present myself at the practice to try for an appointment.

      I instead phoned them up this morning after the rush for appointments.
      I was 23 in the queue with the option for a call back which they did an hour later.

      I now have a face to face at 4.30pm today.

      Back to the waiting list for scans i expect.

      1. Not to rub too much salt in the wound.

        I had a consultant appointment yesterday. It had been delayed to allow me to get back to the UK for a funeral.

        He suggested that I need some strange radiography scanner thing to treat the problem.

        The consultant's secretary sorted letters etc there and then.

        I got a call this a.m., from the radiology department giving me an appointment for next Tuesday.

        1. I thought radiography was for looking not treating.

          Make sure you don't glow in the dark.

          1. First up is a head to toe survey, making sure there are no contra-indications; then I get 20 sessions of focussed nuclear something or other, so I probably will glow in the dark.

      2. I hope that they give you good news this afternoon. Let us all know, wont you?

    2. Husband has had similar eye problems. His optician has helped him with various treatments, and also has contacts at local hospital. Perhaps your optician might have clinic contacts?…good luck, I know it's a worry.

      1. Thanks KJ200. I don't think I have to worry. The person I spoke to in the hospital Ophthalmology department was the duty nurse and she promised to take care of it. There was no doctor available both times I spoke to her but she was quite wonderful. Gave me her personal number with a promise she would get back to me this afternoon or in the morning and if not phone her tomorrow.

    3. I use RSCH for A&E rather than St Peter’s which I fear I wouldn’t get out alive.
      You could always write to the CEO, email address on this link ceoemail.com it has all the NHS hospitals with CEO email and phone number. I know the CEO will never see the email but it tends to get a response from someone close to the top of the tree rather than trying to climb up from the bottom.
      Here’s the link https://www.ceoemail.com/s.php?id=ceo-75619&c=Royal%20Surrey%20County%20Hospital%20NHS%20Foundation%20Trust-Chief%20Executive

      1. Thanks Alf! What bothers me about this robotic run around is not so much the inconvenience for me. But for the old who are not able to cope with this nonsense. I wonder how many give up and die as a consequence.

    1. A variation of chlorinated chicken (we seem to have no difficulty with chlorinated salads).

      1. We drink chlorinated tap water from Anglian Water but it is many times below the maximum acceptable chorination.

        1. I think whichever water supplier, it’s all chlorinated. Doubtless government guidelines, somewhere. When I was born, my mother had kidney problems and was prescribed medication which meant she was advised to bottle feed me. My father went to the local spring to collect water (houses were on stand pipes) which she boiled to feed me. I don’t know what the baby feed was, but a neighbour told me when I was older she’d never heard a baby cry as long and as loud as I did 😂 I somehow survived…

          1. When I was young it was not the quality of the water that was the issue it was where the V1s landed.

          2. I just managed to swerve that. My dad joined up at 16 (no jobs) tried to at 14 (told to **** off) finally managed to join up, parachuted into France, shot in the leg fellow soldiers carried him out (he was the radiographer), then on to Java for the rest of the war, offered a job as manager of a rubber plantation, mother wouldn’t join him took her friends away spent their savings, he came back….again no jobs…but here I am. He voted labour all his life, never did a thing for him. Only politician I ever had faith in was Thatcher. Don’t plan to vote again.

          6. Been a long tiring day…you know what I meant. Dad was very fortunate his fellow soldiers carried him to rescue. As am I.

      2. I think the problem with chlorinated chicken is that producers can take shortcuts over hygiene. This is less critical with salad, which wilts after a day or two and is not endemically unhygienic.

        Chicken, though, can still contain quite a few nasties that a quick swish in chlorine will not deal with when managers are pushing hard for quicker productivity from processing workers.

        Unchlorinated chicken that is unhygienic will go off before it hits the shelves and can be avoided.

        1. Another problem is the way chickens are reared and fed, chicken is very different to eat now compared to what I remember as a child. My grandmother always cooked chicken at Christmas, I remember it being a wonderful treat. Yes, wrapped in plastic and shelved….

          1. One can still buy chicken as it used to be but it costs a lot more. Has a lot of flavour unlike the supermarket rubbish.

          2. Better off raising your own, Phiz…keep them on grass, feed mixed corn, neck at one year and cook as you prefer….and repeat….

    2. During our EU membership days, I was surprised to discover that much "EU" chicken comes from Thailand.

  54. And that is me logging off and bogging off to Southern Climes.
    Will try and check in when I get internet connections.
    TTFN and try to behave.

  55. Can Telegraph subscribers see the comments loading? I can read the articles not not see the comments. Haven't worked out if it's my pihole or an adblocker.

    4. There was a problem earlier – around 7.0 am.ish.
      It seems to have sorted itself out.

    5. Are you using Ghostery by any chance? I lost access to the comments today, but – by trial and error – found that enabling access to Adobe Dynamic Tag Management solved the issue. Bloody annoying, thoiugh…

  56. Green pleads with European judges to curb free speech in Parliament

    Sir Philip Green, the retail billionaire, was named in Parliament in 2018 as the man at the centre of a Metoo scandal

    SIR PHILIP GREEN is seeking to use a European court to limit free speech in Parliament.
    The retail billionaire is trying to use the European Court of Human Rights (ECTHR) to stop Parliamentarians from being able to name people whose identities are covered by gagging orders.

    Sir Philip brought the case after he was named in Parliament in 2018 by Lord Hain as the businessman at the centre of Metoo allegations revealed by a Telegraph investigation. Until then, an injunction secured by the former BHS and Topshop boss had prevented his name from being published in relation to the allegations. His lawyers are now arguing that ECTHR member states, including Britain, have a duty to take measures to prevent parliamentary privilege being used to circumvent injunctions. The Strasbourg court will rule on the case today.

    A victory for Sir Philip would raise questions about the sovereignty of Parliament and reignite the row over the European court’s influence in the UK, after a string of controversial immigration tribunal decisions sparked concerns about its reach. Lord Hain said Sir Philip’s case amounted to an “attack on human rights”. “As a strong supporter of the European Court of Human Rights, I totally condemn this barefaced attempt to suppress the fundamental principle of parliamentary privilege,” he said. “Sir Philip is utterly shameless. He should be apologising for bullying and abusive behaviour towards his employees not trying to exploit whatever leverage he can to cover it up. I hope the ECTHR will not tolerate another of his attacks on human rights.”

    When Lord Hain named Sir Philip in Parliament in October 2018, it ended days of speculation over the identity of a businessman who had been accused of sexual harassment and bullying. The Telegraph had only been able to report that the British businessman had used controversial gagging clauses known as non-disclosure agreements (NDAS) to silence and pay off his alleged victims with “substantial sums”.
    The Labour peer said he felt a “duty” to reveal the name of the retail billionaire. He did so under parliamentary privilege, which dates back hundreds of years and protects MPS and peers from prosecution when they raise contentious matters. The Telegraph then reported that the businessman had paid two former members of staff around £1 million each after he was accused of groping a female employee and racially abusing a black member of staff.

    At the time, Sir Philip said naming him was “outrageous”. “To the extent that it is suggested that I have been guilty of unlawful sexual or racist behaviour, I categorically and wholly deny these allegations,” he said.

    A complaint he made to the House of Lords standards body about Lord Hain was subsequently dismissed. The
    naming of Sir Philip prompted calls for him to be stripped of his knighthood, while his retail empire Arcadia Group also faced accusations of a cover-up after it emerged witness testimonies were left out of a report into sexual harassment in the workplace.
    In 2020 Arcadia Group, which included the brands Topshop and Topman, collapsed into administration. Filings revealed that the group had debts totalling £750million. According to official documents, Sir Philip started legal action with the European court in 2019.

    The ECTHR is the legal arm of the Council of Europe and is based in Strasbourg, France. It interprets the European Convention on Human Rights, which is given force in the UK as part of the Human Rights Act. The ECTHR cannot directly overrule a Supreme Court decision but the Government is obliged to follow its decisions in judgments concerning the UK.

    Sir Philip’s lawyers have argued that under Article 6 of the treaty his right to a fair trial and effective remedy was compromised, saying that the “statement by Lord Hain rendered his claim for breach of confidence against The Telegraph futile and thus violated his right to a fair trial in the context of those proceedings”. They further argued: “He complains that he was not able to bring proceedings against Lord Hain for breach of the injunction.”

    They said that they are not challenging the principle of parliamentary privilege itself, but the lack of controls around how it could be used to “reveal confidential information that is subject to an injunction”.
    Steve Barclay, the former Brexit secretary who has called for Britain to leave the Strasbourg court, said: “This has worrying echoes of how the ECTHR is being used to expand the reach of judges and diminish the role of Parliament.”

    BTL:

    Please, please, oh pretty please, lock me in a room (preferably a cell) with Cur Slime-Green and give me a couple of hours in there with him. I promise I will rearrange his 'mind'.

    Green the crook wants the European court of crooks to change the law. This man stole the livelihoods and pensions of his workers and should be in prison!

    Name the non-elected Euro judge that stopped the Rwanda flight.

    Name the managers who ganged up on Letby and distorted the evidence.

    MPs don't get that privilege even if I hate Green's guts. Tax MPs second homes.

    This billionaire scumbag one offered to pay me £1·75 an hour to look after the cheap tatty stock in one of his chain of dismal, grubby shops. The premises were in total disrepair, holes in carpets, sharp bits of metal sticking out on staircases, and all the staff bogs blocked because he didn't wish to pay for cleaners, shop staff were expected to do that. Meanwhile all this penny-pinching gave him billionaire status and a knighthood.

    I like Jewish people in general and I would always supprt tham against the Muzzies. However, there is always some nigger-in-the-woodpile and in the case in point this Jew, Slime-Green, is the lowest form of humanity and I would gladly dismember the twat at my leisure.

    1. I seem to remember that he transferred all his money to Laydee Green when things were getting sticky.

      1. Whenever I read of a contretemps between Lord Peter Hain and Sir Peter Green I have to admit to a conflict of interest.

        I loathe them both with equal venom.

  57. Good Moa Afternoon.
    Turned out nice again. Even the wind is giving up the ghost (as in air currents blowing across the North Sea).

  58. Carl Benjamin notes.. Suspect. Weird. 6.6% of population.
    The question asked by Lotus Eaters is.. why is the British State so voraciously promoting Islam of a sudden.

    1. Watched that this morning. Was some interesting statistics read out by Carl.

  59. “We have a deficit with the European Union of $350 billion, and it’s gonna disappear fast.”

    Sigh.. swoon.. if only the UK had a leader.
    And don't bother with Lee Anderson and his lot. A leaked audio files reveals him to be a right chancer and not to be trusted.

          1. Funny, that. I recall the French Home Secretary signing an expulsion order on three slammers in Toulouse —-within three hours, the perlice served it and accompanied them to the airport and waited until the plane left for Algeria…

            Three hours.

  62. DT Headline:
    "Zelensky: Chinese caught fighting for Russia in Ukraine".

    Seems there's a chink or two in the Russian's armour…..?

      1. I think so, once they've had a Chinese they'll be hungry for another soon after – not so much with a north Korean!

    1. Oh dear lord alive. Will this madness never end? Cultural appropriation becomes desperation.

      Look diversity: we're better than you. We always damned well will be. You live in an open sewer – see, Birmingham. Now look where white folk live. See the difference?

      1. Only for the short term, unfortunately. They keep spreading the causes of Birmingham's problems all round the country.

    3. Yes, we all remember Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Oprah Bronte.

      AKA Currer, Ellis, Acton and Oddball Bell……

  64. 70 Labour wonks have got behind the muslim and Chinese actvists who insulted Israel.

    That entire party seems to attract antisemites.

  65. OT – it really is TERRIBLE the way this poor woman suffers so much.

    "Meghan reveals she suffered from rare ‘life or death’ childbirth complication" D Telegraph

    I just don't know how she keeps going (or why, for that matter!)

      1. I suspect she is the only woman in the history of time NOT to have given birth….

        1. Yes, there's a lot of speculation in that area….. seems a little bit unlikely, but who knows?

          1. Well, she came out of the orspittle looking fresh as a daisy less than three hours after "delivery". I have known a few women who had have children and, although they smile and appear pleased – they were completely exhausted – to say nothing of the basic "repairs" etc that the birth had required. Never looking as though they had just been to the hairdressers.

          2. One possible explanation might be that H&M were photographed in St George's Hall, at Windsor, on 8th May, two days and (at least) six hours after she gave birth at 05:26 on 6th May.

          3. Even more miraculous given that, according to one of her earlier husbands, she had had a hysterectomy.

  66. Wordle No. 1,389 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 8 Apr 2025

    Back-up for Birdie Three?

    1. Par for me today.

      Wordle 1,389 4/6

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

    2. Well done. A good first word for me.

      Wordle 1,389 2/6

      🟨🟨⬜🟨🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Kaboom – I had 3 options, one of which I'm sure somebody will confirm (-H—) was a previous word??

      Badass Eagle!!

      Wordle 1,389 2/6

      ⬜🟨🟨🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      2. Took me a long time to get there.
        Wordle 1,389 6/6

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

    4. And another one, late but successful:

      Wordle 1,389 3/6

      🟩⬜⬜🟩🟩
      🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. To be fair, she does have some 'strong' features (and the eye/eyebrow makeup doesnt help) but she is surely female….. isnt she?…….

  68. Elon Musk told a political rally he hopes to see a 'zero tariff situation' between the US and Europe to create a free trade zone. LOL.

    Dream on. Wake up call for Elon. The EU is what they call an outlier, and demands all countries to follow their regulations rather than equivalence. When your regs are needlessly expensive and overly regulatory.. this makes you protectionist.

    The UK gets the full works thanks to Theresa May & Olly Robbins. Even worse for a fringe country like Ukraine or Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova.. *if you want a Free Trade Agreement with EU.. give us your currency.. your legal system.. your army.. your courts.. your fishing grounds.. your regulations.. your constitution.. your border control.*

    And for a while it all seems fine & dandy.. and then one day you wake up and find out you don't have a country anymore like Ireland.

    2. And another thing.. stop talking about 'exploring how to achieve reciprocity'..
      it upsets the BBC, Remainers and EU lovers.

  69. Limp Dumbs – doncha just love 'em?

    "A military parade marking the eightieth anniversary of VE Day has been rejected by councillors because it is “too elitist”.

    Dacorum borough council in Hertfordshire has eschewed hosting any formal event to mark the end of the Second World War in Europe on May 8.

    This is despite the Lib Dem-run council holding a day-long event last year called “50 Fest” – which included a colourful parade through Hemel Hempstead – to mark its 50th birthday.

    Instead, it has told residents to hold their own street parties if they want to commemorate the German surrender to the Allies 80 years ago"

    1. I despair of this country. The lack of patriotism and loyalty is dreadful, particularly from a local authority. I wonder who the local councillors are?

    2. Our political idiots don't know how to stop destroying our long established hard fought for freedom and its culture and social structure. Something else that have effed up.
      I remember the times when they stopped St George's day parades because of invented elf and safety issues.

    3. The bastard "councillor" should be tied to a chair and made to watch the film (last night) about Belsen.

        2. Arbeit macht frei….

          It always spooks the hell out of me just seeing that picture…….

          1. I know what you mean.
            The watchtower, with the roofline right down on the window, even looks evil.
            There are stories that no birds sing there. We were there in the spring 15 or so years ago, and I was listening for birdsong but never even saw a bird, let alone heard one.

          2. If somebody asked me to produce an image that best represented ‘Man’s inhumanity to Man’ I would absolutely put forward that image.

            Whilst I could never ever countenance visiting the place, I think it is very important that it continues to exist – as a reminder……..

          3. It’s hard work, as an adult with some knowledge of the events related to it.
            By the end of the day, one is totally exhausted mentally. A couple beers, then bed – except the kids needed managed.

          4. I think the birdsong thing is a bit of a myth. I visited Belsen in 1978 ( I was stationed nearby) and yes, there was no birdsong. However, over my 12 years in Germany, I spent many days and nights on exercises on German woods yet I don't recall birdsong commonplace anywhere. It seems it's not unique to Belsen.

    4. This was an interesting podcast recently- Jordan Petersen and the thoughtful, intelligent Winston Marshall (suspect it’s also on video but i only have time to listen, not watch).

      “So, let me see if I get your diagnosis right, first of all. So, as you pointed out, after the horrors of World War II, there was a consensus around the world that we should never forget, that was one phrase, and never again.

      The problem with never forget is that you can't remember what you don't understand. And so, you could say, well, we obviously don't want to replicate the horrors of the Holocaust, but to manage that successfully means that we've mapped the causal chain that led to the Holocaust and that we did that accurately so that we're solving the proper problem. And your contention, as far as I can understand it at the moment, is that we reflexively identified something like nationalism as the core of the problem, maybe for the war as such, but also for the exacerbation of ethnic identity to produce the Holocaust.

      And that the antidote was something like a borderless, open society that transcended national identity.”

      From The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast: 535. Is It Too Late for the UK? A Candid Talk with Winston Marshall, 3 Apr 2025
      https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast/id1184022695?i=1000702107252&r=797
      This material may be protected by copyright.

  70. That's me gone for today. Quite a nice day though still a bit chilly. Did some ladder and saw work under the close supervision of the Head Gardener, prepared the site for tomorrow's bonfire. Then sat down in the sun with a novel. When I woke up – an hour had passed!

    Tomorrow I'll be busy…bonfire etc. And it is not going to be sunny, apparently. Chilly, all day, too.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain – briefly.

    1. Well done, you. Though I have seen the film stock many times, I have chickened out of visiting.

      1. What got up my nose when visiting Auschwitz was the stink of frying onions wafting over the car park and entrance.
        You really have to be completely self-centred, cloth-eared and down right ignorant to chow down on hot dogs at a site where millions were deliberately worked and starved to death.

        1. Did you see the little piles of pebbles, Anne? Tiny memorials…
          I was also struck by the glass cases of poor, broken shoes. Of course, any good ones were "recycled". And most poignant of all, the suitcases with names and addresses painted on…

          1. Yes, we did.
            The display case of brushes spooked me because, near the front, was the identical brass backed crumb brush that we inherited from Auntie Agnes. (Unlike ours, it had not been cleaned in the past 80 years.)
            Presumably, the poor Jewish wife who packed that item believed they really were moving to new accommodation and work place. And that her family would still be sharing the Shabbat meal on Friday nights.

          2. It's these tiny, personal details, that make it such hard work emotionally. Problem is, we know what happened to her, there's no speculation or might-have. We know, no shadow of doubt.
            Hell, now my eyes are leaking. I'll have to take a moment.

          3. It's beyond weeping, isn't it? I have not been to Auschwitz and i don;t think I could bear it. Our first visit to Poland was to the Eastern bit and we were taken around various sites where Russian atrocities were perpetrated, our friends being from the Polish resistance. One of these places was so atmospherically laden that both my children (then young) burst spontaneously into tears and were inconsolable and didn't know what had come over them. I probably don't need to enlarge on what happened there. It was awful.

      2. I’ve been to Auschwitz. We were shown the footage beforehand, on the coach. I’m glad I’ve seen it but was very relieved that day to be back in lovely Krakow afterwards.

        1. It's rather hard work, isn't it, Sue.
          We were on a school trip (The White Buses) where schoolchildren aged about 15 spend a week in Poland and Germany, visiting several camps as part of their education. Escorted by parents (SWMBO & I went).
          By the time we got home, I had to get properly pissed to relax some of the tensions. Hard work. Glad I went.

      3. Bill – one of the Kibbutzim I was sent to as a volunteer in the 1970s (actually the first) was peopled by Auschwitz survivors and their descendants and had a Holocaust memorial on site (Lohamei HaGeta'ot). Until then, I hadn't had any idea how horrendous Jew hatred could be. I still don't understand it but will join the fight against it until the day I die. It really is the canary in the coalmine.

  74. Phew! Been outside most of the afternoon – hacking at the undergrowth – uncovered the old barbecue and then spent ages clearing it all up – I'm knackered……… remembered too late I was supposed to be going to a meeting – but I've managed to get Annie to go without me so we can sit down and have something to eat and relax a bit.

    1. I saw headlines suggesting that it was a racist killing, deliberately provoking one to suspect those teens were white British.
      I would be careful here, this Mitra post may be wrong.

    1. Grizzly, you are back in ShingleLand once more. You are succeeding in confusing me to a great degree.

    2. Should have been defunded years ago, Grizz, not surprised at the Dando connection. Subscription model, see how many go for it.

  79. 800 illegals have sailed in today on flimsy boats , hundreds and hundreds of them ..

    My veterans lunch today was interesting .. and everyone agreed Starmer and all preceding him have betrayed the country .. totally completely forever ..

    The VJ Day 80 Memorial Picnic will take place on Saturday 16th August in Weymouth’s Nothe Gardens

    More information will be available nearer the day.

    https://www.love-weymouth.co.uk/events/weymouth/family-fun/vj-day-80-memorial-picnic/

  80. Do you know who Ron Vara is?

    This MSNBC link explains how Ron influenced Donald's tarriff policy:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJbZCbBLqkk&t=380s&pp=2AH8ApACAQ%3D%3D
    The influencing tome is in this comprehensive book list by Trump's economic advisor:

    https://www.betterworldbooks.com/author/peter-navarro/5356952

    This might explain why Elom Musk has blasted Navarro as ‘dumber than a sack of bricks’ and ‘truly a moron’:

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/musk-blasts-trumps-moron-trade-adviser/

    1. Trump doesn't need an economic advisor
      They are all useless, just like climate scientists

      1. The ignorance about what tariffs actually are and how and to whom they are applied is truly appalling. In a pre-Brexit pub discussion with an old mate he was convinced that after a yes vote, the Germans would put tariffs on their own car exports to the UK. With the current debate, it's clear that those who are set on having a go at Trump do not understand either. Many do not realise that many countries apply tariffs to imports already and always have.

  81. Do you know who Ron Vara is?

    This MSNBC link explains how Ron influenced Donald's tarriff policy:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJbZCbBLqkk&t=380s&pp=2AH8ApACAQ%3D%3D
    The influencing tome is in this comprehensive book list by Trump's economic advisor:

    https://www.betterworldbooks.com/author/peter-navarro/5356952

    This might explain why Elom Musk has blasted Navarro as ‘dumber than a sack of bricks’ and ‘truly a moron’:

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/musk-blasts-trumps-moron-trade-adviser/

  82. So as Parliament breaks up for Easter all that the government gave up for Lent was the grooming gang inquiries.

  83. Evening, all. I did a lot of things today, but my list still seems to be long!

    I thought that, when the NHS was set up, the idea was it was to be cradle to grave care to ensure a healthy (and therefore productive) workforce. It seems to have lost its way.

  84. Good evening all.
    Sat in the Fleur de Lys in Woodford Halse listening to a local band having a practice session.
    Just had a pleasant walk round the town and took some photos of the old railway bridge, an impressively well built example:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2ccb4c5633a7d36cee092a51ee89f04250db7469a420d1774dbabd3889556db5.jpg This, between the two parts of the bridge, used to lead to the passenger steps to go up to the platform. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/aa7837a86101599773ba5759b9b5b27366c2c6acaaabd42421499c4153cae3d0.jpg The brickwork is VERY impressive https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/432a40fd31391273d23165b9f9c2065d050b2de7f1ab663dde16b6cd3ea02e6f.jpg And this rather pretty looking bridge is next to it:- https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ccb22c2d01a777cb0ab6d4422c1b97eac7c77007a5481170ed8ed74672c7bd46.jpg And this is the old Stationmaster's House:- https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/11f5c9d63247750964a890c6551fb785fe90ae237ccdb3c09fa3deef95709ba0.jpg

      1. Northamptonshire, South of Rugby.
        It had the main Great Central Railway running shed.

  86. A duck walks into a bar…and orders a bottle of scotch.
    The bartender says, "That's gonna be pretty expensive. How are you gonna pay for all that liquor?"
    The duck replies, "Just put it on my tab."
    A nearby bar patron cheekily says, "Don't you mean 'put it on my bill'?"
    The duck says to the bartender, "Okay, as he says, put it on his bill."

  87. Warning have a vomit bowl handy…

    "Stephen Kinnock says closeness to EU key to coping with trade war
    A UK minister has said the global economic headwinds are “very turbulent” and rebuilding relations with the European Union will be key to protecting Britain’s national interest.

    Health minister Stephen Kinnock told Sky News: “It is very turbulent. Nobody benefits from a trade war. We live in an incredibly deeply integrated global economy with very integrated supply chains and hugely interdependent commercial relationships, so nobody benefits from a trade war.

    “We are seeing a Prime Minister who is really showing leadership, he is engaging with Donald Trump and seeking to negotiate the best possible deal that we can in terms of economic prosperity.

    “He’s also rebuilding the bridges that were burned by previous Conservative governments in terms of our relationship with the European Union.

    “And we’re also developing an industrial strategy to help Britain stand firmly on its own two feet, investing in our own industries, boosting domestic demand, investing in skills in infrastructure rebuilding our manufacturing sector.

    “So I think the combination of those three things is going to help us to weather the storm.”

    1. hmm. Mandy Rice Davies alive and well in Wales (or wherever this idiot now lives).

      I wonder (but not enough to bother looking it up) if he is still married. Presumably not.

        1. I thought it was the Danish PM, but either way, he's here and she is Danish. But I don't care enough to find out.

          He of course didn't get investigated for breaking lockdown either.

    2. Kinnock admits that closeness to the EU is key to coping with keeping on troughing, more like.

    3. I'm more a Stourbridge girl myself, but I love the etymology of old English names.

      "There are five River Stours situated in England, one each in the counties of Dorset, Kent, Suffolk, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. There is much controversy and debate as to where the name Stour originates, with historians believing that the word could come from three different language groups."

      "Possible Origins:

      Old English:
      The name "Stour" might derive from the Old English word "styrian," meaning "to stir or move," suggesting a river that is active or dynamic.

      Celtic:
      Another possibility is that "Stour" comes from a Celtic word meaning "strong" or "powerful," which would be fitting for a river.
      Other Theories:
      Some theories suggest a connection to the medieval French word "stour" meaning "confusion or commotion," or the German word "stuhr" meaning "formidable or violent". "

      1. "We" may be able to but look at everyone else, blindly following orders without thinking.

    1. I love these little, not-grand Parish churches.
      Mostly plain, representing the fine, upstanding folk that lived there centuries ago.

    1. Interestingly enough;

      "Christianity is the third-largest religion in Pakistan, with results from the 2023 Census recording over three million Christians, or 1.37% of the total population in Pakistan. The province of Punjab has the largest population of Christians in the country. The majority of Pakistan's Christians are members of the Catholic Church or the Church of Pakistan, with the remainder belonging to other Protestant groups.

      Around 75 percent of Pakistan's Christians are rural Punjabi Christians, while some speak Sindhi and Gujarati, with the remainder being the upper and middle class Goan Christians and Anglo-Indians.

      Punjabi Christians
      As Punjabi Christians are mainly Dalit Christians—descendants of lower-caste Hindus who converted during the colonial era in India. Their dire socio-economic conditions facilitate religious discrimination; for example,       it is estimated that Christians fill about 80% of the manual sewer cleaning jobs in the whole of Pakistan. Blasphemy allegations have led to several cases of mob violence against Christian households and churches."

        1. Us natives will probably be down in the sewers hunting rats to eat in a few years when the Islamic population reduce the British population to enclave status. .

  95. It turns out that when asked who your favourite child is, you're supposed to pick out one of your own. I am knowing this now!

    And that's me for tonight. Bed beckons. Sleep well, comrades. No dreams of unpleasant things.

  96. It presents the very worst of muslim. Well, that isn't a suicide bomber, stabber or a muslim killing people with a car. They hate it because it's true and honest.

    They're revolting. They don't care. They don't work. They have no respect. They have no self respect. They're lazy. They treat this country like a toilet and they're the filth.

  98. Two men and a woman have appeared in court in connection with a £5 million fraud at a sixth form college which was once dubbed “Britain’s brainiest school”.

    The three face a series of charges in connection with suspected financial irregularities at Cardiff Sixth Form College between 2012 and 2016.

    Yasmin Anjum Sarwar, 43, from Cyncoed, Cardiff, Nadeem Sarwar, 48, from Pentwyn, Cardiff and Ragu Sivapalan, 39, from Penylan, Cardiff appeared before Cardiff Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

    Both Mr and Mrs Sarwar denied nine separate fraud and theft offences worth more than £5 million.

    Sivapalan pleaded not guilty to false accounting between 2013 and 2016.

    Magistrate Wayne Mortimer sent the case to Cardiff Crown Court for a pre-trial hearing.

    He said: “The case between the three parties will be adjourned until May 6 at Cardiff Crown Court at 9am in the morning.”

    I wonder if the Life and works of Nigerian Princes was on the curriculum?

  102. They are the bane of a good night’s rest: thoughts that plague us just as we’re going to bed, recalling the embarrassing memories of an evening gone wrong or bombarding us with worries about the day ahead. Concerns that come at a mile a minute, straight after bedtime or when we wake in the middle of the night, can feel impossible to quell.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/wellbeing/sleep/eight-ways-to-sleep-when-your-thoughts-are-racing/

    “It’s a hugely common issue, because in reality, our thoughts race all day, and it’s only when we get to bed with no distractions that we realise it,” says Dominique Antiglio. She would know. As a qualified sophrologist, with more than twenty years of experience, Antiglio helps people to “manage stress and anxiety and improve their sleep, but also to perform at their best when they need to”.

    What is sophrology?
    Described as “meditation for people who can’t meditate,” the practice of sophrology “blends Eastern meditation and yogic practices with modern science,” says Antiglio. Developed by the Colombian neuropsychiatrist Dr. Alfonso Caycedo in the 1960s, sophrology today combines physical movements, breathing and visualisation, as well as dynamic relaxation techniques, to relieve tension and “help give people more control over their minds, bodies and their experiences of life,” Antiglio says.

    Methods used by sophrologists are powerful when it comes to improving our sleep. In France and in Switzerland, where Antiglio grew up, health insurers reimburse sessions with sophrologists, and the practice is deployed in sleep clinics and hospitals across the continent.

    Dominique Antiglio
    ‘We look at what’s happening throughout a person’s whole day and week’, says sophrologist Dominque Antiglio Credit: Heathcliff O'Malley for The Daily Telegraph
    It is effective, says Antiglio, because the end result is to “rewire the brain to approach sleep more positively and to enter a state of calm more easily”. Sophrology techniques can be used at nighttime while we’re struggling to sleep, but they can also be practiced consistently throughout the day to bring calm, preventing racing thoughts from troubling us in the first place.

    Although popular in Europe, Britain has been relatively slow on the uptake, prompting Antiglio to open a sophrology practice in Mayfair in 2018, having previously run a clinic in Switzerland for ten years. She has since moved her work online, creating BeSophro, a digital sophrology platform. “I was looking after CEOs and athletes, people who were very stressed,” she says. “Sleep was a huge issue for them, with racing thoughts keeping them up at night. In sophrology we look at what’s happening throughout a person’s whole day and week too, and by doing that I’ve helped thousands of people to sleep well at night.”

    Kate Robertson
    27 min ago
    Like most people riven with worries when darkness falls and we long for sleep it’s real actual unsolvable problems that crowd in

    Visualising success won’t cure chronic illness in loved ones. Financial and personal challenges amongst grown children. An aging parent who has constant draining endless need

    Bills that loom out of nowhere

    All these sleep experts suggest insomnia is

    a random mystery disorder

    Pain at night whatever it’s cause cannot be focused away

    I prefer the occasional ibuprofen

    ‘Has been shown in studies to exceed ante depressants in efficacy

      1. We don't drink , haven't done for years , but I can remember feeling comfortable after having a last and final ( I don't mean a drink either )😉🙈

  103. From the Telegraph

    There will be a U-turn. But the longer Trump takes to make it, the greater the scars of his error
    Tariffs are economically destructive: let’s hope cool heads prevail to halt this crisis
    Matthew Lesh08 April 2025 4:33pm BST
    Donald Trump’s trade war is meant to rebalance the global order in America’s favour: in practice it’s having precisely the opposite effect.

    Trillions have been wiped off global stock markets and investors are pulling out of America. According to the Yale Budget Lab, the tariffs are expected to cost US households $3,800 a year.

    More than that, it has shown America to be an unreliable partner, pushing formerly steadfast US allies to seek closer ties with China – precisely the opposite of Trump’s tough-on-CCP stance.

    Japan, South Korea and China have already agreed to strengthen supply chain cooperation and restart the negotiations on a trilateral free trade agreement.

    Vietnam is set to host Chinese President Xi Jinping in the coming weeks. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has been speaking with Chinese premier Li Qiang.

    Companies like Australian iron ore producer Fortescue, meanwhile, are seeking closer ties with China.

    This may only be the beginning. We should not rule out the possibility that things worsen as tit-for-tat retaliation further damages the real economy and risks a global recession.

    The EU has proposed 25 per cent counter-tariffs on a range of US goods; in reply, Trump has threatened a 200 per cent retaliatory tariff on EU alcoholic beverages.

    He has also threatened an additional 50 per cent tariff in retaliation to China imposing a 34 per cent tariff on US goods.

    None of this is historically unprecedented. Tariffs have been tried before with disastrous effects.

    The Smoot-Hawley tariffs of 1930 are widely understood to have, at the very least, prolonged and deepened the Great Depression. They triggered a wave of retaliatory tariffs, collapsed international trade, and undermined global business confidence.

    American exports fell from $7 billion in 1929 to just $2.5 billion in 1932, while global trade volumes fell by more than 60 per cent over the same period.

    Political economist and author Jude Wanniski went further by arguing that the stock market crash in October 1929 was a direct response to the collapse of opposition to the tariff in Congress – that is, traders sold stocks in anticipation of the trouble tariffs would cause American businesses.

    Politically, this was all just as consequential. The resulting 1930s global economic downturn also helped catalyse the rise of Nazism.

    It’s therefore no coincidence that the postwar world leaders rejected economic nationalism and established the GATT in 1947 and, eventually, the World Trade Organization (WTO) to promote free trade, lower tariffs, and create a rules-based system to resolve disputes.

    Of course, things are nowhere near this bad today. However, the question remains how we can escape this madness. The longer it persists, the more damage will be done.

    People are scared and confidence is shrinking. Trump’s key asset in his first term was the strength of the American economy. He is now on track to go down as a historic failure. Something has to give.

    A change in position won’t be easy. Trump’s comments in recent days indicate that he is steadfast in his belief that tariffs are the solution to America’s woes.

    We should not underestimate the importance of ideology. Trump first publicly backed tariffs in a 1987 full-page paid advertisement in the New York Times. It’s one of his few consistent beliefs.

    But perhaps just as persistently crucial to Trump is belief in dealmaking. This has to be the way out. This is not a man who will ever admit he was wrong. So by signing deals that mutually reduce tariffs and increase market access for American exporters, Trump can declare “victory”.

    Kevin Hassett, Trump’s national economic council director, has said that more than 50 countries have reached out to the White House to begin talks.

    Most did not expect Trump to implement these tariffs. His unpredictability could prove an asset in negotiations, forcing other countries to open previously shut markets.

    The alternative, letting this carry on, isn’t an option. So, sooner or later, Trump will need to back down. Let’s all hope that cooler heads prevail before the world is plunged even deeper into a self-inflicted economic crisis.

    Matthew Lesh is Country Manager at Freshwater Strategy and Public Policy Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs

    1. Whatever Donald Trump's tariff threats and deals provoke, it's good to see fear among the rest of the world's fucked up governments.

    2. It is a pity that Trump is pushing Canada and Mexico away, he could have had nice obedient suppliers close at hand.

      Softwood lumber tariffs up yesterday and more expected soon, that will really help all of the rebuilding after the fires in LQA and elsewhere.

  104. Well, chums, I'm way past my bedtime 'cos I've been watching a set of NEW TRICKS DVDs. So I'll wish you all Good Night; see you tomorrow.

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