Wednesday 11 March: Britain must step up its coronavirus screening programme if the spread is to be contained

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/03/11/lettersbritain-must-step-coronavirus-screening-programme-spread/

610 thoughts on “Wednesday 11 March: Britain must step up its coronavirus screening programme if the spread is to be contained”

  1. ‘Morning All

    Missed this AP article yesterday

    “Every so

    often, a reader sends me an email that reveals something so striking, so

    heartrending, that I can’t get it out of my mind. So it was when a

    teacher from Bradford got in touch to say that she was mystified when

    some of her brightest pupils failed their exams and had to do re-takes.

    It took the teacher a while to figure out that the girls were

    deliberately mucking-up their papers.

    You see, once they completed their education, they knew they would be

    sent back to Pakistan or Bangladesh to get married to a total stranger,

    or even a cousin or an uncle. As British girls, born and bred, that

    prospect made them feel sick.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/society-need-trevor-phillipss-fierce-candour-ever/
    Yet another grotesque failure to protect children and boy have the moderators been busy in the comments

    1. Morning Rik

      This reminds me of a story Moh told me about bright boys and girls who attended Grammar School with him.. many left school at 16 , because their parents could not afford to support them anymore through to A level .. they had to leave school to get jobs, this sadly applied to girls who had no role models because very few clever girls in the 1960’s who were regarded as swots managed to achieve university places .. even in medicine

      1. I was fortunate enough to get a Saturday Job at the age of 15 so was able to buy my own school uniform to stay in School until I was 18.

        1. Well done, Stephenroi.
          I wasn’t given that chance: at 15 I was earning a small amount each week and was prepared to work on farms in the harvest seasons but my mother insisted that I had to leave grammar school after my ‘O’ levels. The low point was telling my school friends on the last day of school and while doing so being joined by our chemistry master who wished us a good break and looked forward to seeing us in six weeks. When I told him I wasn’t joining the sixth form – and his ‘A’ level class – he was quite put out and said he’d see what he could do. Subsequently the Head wrote to my parents and asked them to change their minds but to no avail.
          I obtained an apprenticeship with PO Telephones and made a good career for myself and family. However, my mother understood that she had destroyed my hopes and would try and mitigate her decision by telling me that I had done well blah, blah.

          1. These stories are heart-rending, Korky. How tragic that some parents of bright children in the 1950s could not see far enough ahead to support their sons and daughters.

          2. My experience was in the ’60s, Elsie. My mother thought that five years was enough and that was that. Matter closed. She never understood my aspiration to go as far as I was able.

          4. Tightly curled green leaves and red stalks are appearing. A couple of weeks should see a big change. I’ll pick some young stalks for you.

          5. That must have been really hard. Unfortunately when my parents read the letter telling them I had been accepted and that they were expected to allow me to stay until I was 18, my dad simply said: “I can’t afford to keep you on after 16…..”. I don’t blame him he simply didn’t have the wherewithal to support a growing family being the sole wage earner.

      2. ‘Morning, Mags, I left Bungay Grammar School in December 1959, at age 15 ½, not because my Mama couldn’t afford to keep me in uniform but rather to fulfil my dream of joining the Royal Air Force, where I stayed until 1969. A far better university – that of life.

      3. My Mam had the offer of a scholarship to train as a Domestic Science teacher just before the War, but instead was shunted off out of school and into service because teaching wasn’t what a pitman’s daughter did.

  3. As a society, we need Trevor Phillips’s fierce candour more than ever
    ALLISON PEARSON

    10 MARCH 2020 • 7:00PM

    Every so often, a reader sends me an email that reveals something so striking, so heartrending, that I can’t get it out of my mind. So it was when a teacher from Bradford got in touch to say that she was mystified when some of her brightest pupils failed their exams and had to do re-takes. It took the teacher a while to figure out that the girls were deliberately mucking-up their papers.

    You see, once they completed their education, they knew they would be sent back to Pakistan or Bangladesh to get married to a total stranger, or even a cousin or an uncle. As British girls, born and bred, that prospect made them feel sick. They would gladly face their parents’ wrath for failing GCSEs so long as it postponed their cruel fate.

    The teacher was much too afraid to share her findings with the police. By bringing the girls’ plight to light, she would risk a charge of Islamophobia and disciplinary action. Ironically, she could lose her job for protecting her pupils from a cultural practice that was anathema to the majority of their fellow citizens.

    How many Muslim girls in the UK are trafficked every year against their will? A Bangladeshi friend tells me that it’s not unknown for desperate teenagers to put a spoon in their underwear so they set off the metal-detector at airport security. That’s their last chance of being rescued. It’s a serious problem. In 2018 alone, the Home Office’s Forced Marriage Unit reported it had supported 1,764 cases. The actual figure was believed to be much higher.

    How the hell did our country, a beacon of fairness and equality, end up with something called a Forced Marriage Unit? These girls come from Huddersfield, not Helmund; they’re loyal to TopShop, not Taliban. An appalling failure of integration is the grim answer. For decades, a cowardly policy of cultural appeasement was adopted by the authorites towards people who had imported attitudes that were incompatible with our way of life.

    And just look at how well that worked out: an epidemic of so-called “grooming gangs” the length and breadth of the UK raping thousands of young girls whom they regard as subhuman because they are white “slags”. Not to mention sharia courts where female plaintiffs are treated as “minors” and – this really is incredible – have even fewer rights than women in Islamic countries.

    One of the very rare people in public life who has been brave enough to speak out on this unfolding disaster is Trevor Phillips. The former chairman of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, now head of Index on Censorship, has made superb documentaries with pungent titles like Things We Can’t Say About Race That Are True and What British Muslims Really Think.

    Phillips’s voice has always been particularly powerful because he was a black man from the Left who was prepared to challenge his own party’s policies. Far from encouraging integration, he said, they had given rise to a situation where it was “in the interest of community leaders to preserve the isolation of their ethnic groups”.

    A pioneering anti-racism campaigner, Phillips worried that we were “sleepwalking towards segregation”. Observing that a “chasm” was opening up between Muslims and non-Muslims on key issues such as sexuality, freedom of speech and even the validity of violence, he advocated a more “muscular” approach to integration.

    In short, Trevor Phillips was so intelligent, sane and willing to challenge “liberal self-delusion” that it was hard to figure our what he was still doing in the Labour identity-politics madhouse.

    Well, he isn’t. Not any more. Phillips has just been suspended from the Labour Party over allegations of Islamophobia.

    Pretty strange when you consider that it was he who he first alerted the UK to the problem of anti-Muslim feeling in the 1990s and has Muslims in his own extended family. You can forget about fairness and the facts. It’s enough that this notably genial 66-year-old has expressed concerns about men of Pakistani origin sexually abusing girls in northern towns like Rotherham, and the fact that a poll a few years ago showed an alarming proportion of British Muslims sympathised with the Islamists who massacred the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine.

    Not coincidentally, those concerns are shared by the vast majority of voters in Labour’s so-called red wall. The one that came tumbling down so spectacularly at the general election while the Corbynists argued over which sex they identified as.

    Absurdly, Jennie Formby, Labour’s general secretary, has suspended Phillips as “a matter of urgency […] to protect the party’s reputation”. What reputation? The one for advancing increasingly extreme views which their former supporters find completely barmy? And do please compare and contrast Ms Formby’s remarkable haste in this instance with the interminably dragged-out inquiries into the disgusting antisemitism that runs through her party like woodworm.

    I last met Trevor Phillips a couple of weeks ago at the launch of The Free Speech Union in London. Trevor gave a terrific talk in which he mischievously observed that some might wonder what on earth he was doing there with a bunch of “Right-wing nutters”. He did a masterly demolition of those who claim that Boris comparing the ghastly burka to “letterboxes” is racist. Phillips understands, as few on the authoritarian Left do, that once you start forbidding people to think and say certain things, the feelings of discomfort and dislike don’t just disappear. They may intensify.

    Reflecting with characteristic eloquence on his expulsion from a party he had belonged to for decades, Phillips pointed the finger at the zealots who now threaten him with excommunication for questioning the true faith of identity politics. He wondered whether it was a way of intimidating the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which is presently investigating Labour’s appalling handling of antisemitism. “Pure political gangsterism,” he snapped.

    With free speech suppressed daily now by those who fancy themselves virtuous, I reckon we need Trevor Phillips’s fierce, compassionate candour more than ever. The Labour Party he once loved may have become an “authoritarian cult”, but there are millions of people who still value his bold challenges to the prevailing liberal orthodoxy.

    Trev, if you don’t mind a few Right-wing nutters (so much nicer than the Left-wing kind), we’d love to have you.

    2. I seem to recall reading this before, possibly something similar from same author some time ago. The “spoons in knickers” expression was the clue. (The Phillips thing is recent, of course.)

    3. 317057+ up ticks,
      Morning Jbf,
      “How the hell did we get into such an odious state as a nation”, inform A Pearson it is due to the lab/lib/con coalition party input without doubt, & the carte blanche
      given them at every opportunity to vote.

        1. 317057+ up ticks,
          Jbf,
          Neither does any of the odious issues the governance parties bestow upon the nation, not that that matters in regards to voting in the ” vote in to keep out ” mode of voting, regardless of consequence.
          Many believe that the good name of the party is paramount
          ( king minus clothes).
          They, in many cases refuse to face the fact that the toxic trio are
          the same political sh!te under different labels.

        2. No Joe, but Tony Blair was quite open about the reason he was importing so many uneducated and unintelligent members of an hostile faith, yet the majority of voters, and the MSM all approved of his actions.,

  4. “The Left must end its insidious war on free speech”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/03/10/left-must-end-insidious-war-free-speech/

    “Insidious”?? I think not,bloody blatant more like

    The top comment below is one of the best things I’ve read in ages,it’s rather long so here’s a taster I do urge you to enjoy it in full……..

    “The MSM have become the gate-keepers of the New Order. The
    Inquisition. The witchhunters. The cover-up artists, the Cleaners,
    Judas Iscariot and Torquamada, the agit.-propagandists and fake news
    merchants.

    The Guard Dogs of Animal Farm.

    Farmed in the
    Re-education centres the elders used to call universities. All living in
    a happy incestuous bubble of self-delusion, unbearable smugness and
    self-importance, all staring in disgust at the creatures outside their
    narrow windows, high up in their ego/sky-scraping ivory towers”
    William Raaf I salute you.

    1. That’s because the MSM are likely the “other actors” in George Soros’ admission that he “leverages legislation and policy”.

    2. ‘Morning, Rik. Unable to find the full version, possibly because some of the comments are disappearing faster than bog rolls in Tesco.

  6. Morning all

    SIR – As someone with lengthy experience in chemical and biological defence, I am astonished at the way this country has been handling the threat from coronavirus.

    Effective screening is the only way to address the problem early. As the time period from infection to the onset of symptoms is 10 to 14 days, we may expect there to be an explosion of casualties, perhaps within the next two weeks. National official advice and publicity has been lacking.

    Finally, appropriate measures for general public protection and – more importantly – for decontamination are missing. There is a lot of military expertise available about lethal chemical and biological attack. This expertise will not be found in the NHS.

    Sqn Ldr Philip Congdon RAF (retd)

    Poyntington, Dorset

    1. SIR – Amid the doom and gloom, new reported cases of coronavirus in China have declined to double-digit figures. That should demonstrate to the rest of the world that large outbreaks can be brought under control through strict measures, effectively applied.

      The question in Britain is: will we succeed in implementing and adopting such measures?

      Nigel Dyson

      Alton, Hampshire

      SIR – I was staggered to read your report (March 9) that dozens of flights arriving from coronavirus hotspots, including Milan, were allowed to land in Britain without checks.

      Professor Chris Whitty, England’s Chief Medical Officer, says that Italy “was the first country in Europe to ban flights from China and they also looked at airport screening”. However, looking at procedure is quite different from implementing it. As Rory Stewart, the London mayoral candidate, points out, a “half-hearted” approach will simply exacerbate the problem.

      John Howden-Richards

      Abingdon, Oxfordshire

      1. Presumably Nigel Dyson trusts the figures put out by China. Not sure I do.

        ‘Morning, Epi.

        1. “…new reported cases…in China have declined to double-digit figures.” The person recording the figures caught the virus and is in intensive care. Normal service will be resumed as soon a possible.

    2. The NHS staff have expertise in medical matters but little expertise in risk management

      1. A defensive, inward looking and self-regarding institution. But that’s what you get for making it a sacred cow.

      2. Neither have airlines Bill.

        They allow their cabin staff, who have been close to many hundred of potential coronavirus carriers, to return to their families and communities.

        After all, a bit more profit on a flight is far more important than the risk to the community which will be underwritten by the taxpayer.

  7. SIR – The suggestion that the elderly should self-isolate ignores the fact that this group is propping up the current workforce.

    Many grandparents collect children from school and step in to provide care when children are ill, as well as covering inset days and holidays.

    Alex Catto

    London SW1

    SIR – In the event of widespread self-isolation, one thing is critical: identifying those who are elderly, alone or “invisible”.

    Some will have no experience of shopping online, and many may not be able to afford the £40 minimum spend for supermarket deliveries. Who will ensure that food reaches them?

    Lavender Buckland

    Iwerne Minster, Dorset

    2. I doubt £40 is much of an issue, You dont get much food for £40. The £40 limit is more just to stop people just ordering a couple of items

  8. SIR – Written on the back of a van seen locally: “No toilet rolls are stored in this vehicle overnight”.

    K M Jones

    Hambledon, Hampshire

      1. ‘Morning, Anne, not one for self-congratulation but don’t you find that that is often the case?

      2. Ah the good old Soyer stove in that clip – invented for the Crimean war and still in service in the 1980s.

      1. Yes it will encourage people to borrow even more money and to save even less.

        For savers it will mean 0%. Most saving accounts only offer 0.1% now although there are some that offer more, mainly regular saving schemes and notice accounts

  11. Morning again

    SIR – Lord Carey appears to believe that what a majority favour equates to what is right.

    Christians need to hold fast to traditional church teaching about the sacred value of life and sensitively speak out in our secular society. Going against sound family values and respect for life may have an attractive “liberal” appeal, but the unintended consequences are far from liberating.

    The end of life needs to be managed so that people die without undue suffering. Most doctors know how to ensure this without the need for a change in the law.

    John Capel

    Reading, Berkshire

    1. …what a majority favour equates to what is right – that worked well in 1930s and 1940s Germany, didn’t it?
      Morning, Epi.

  12. Health minister Nadine Dorries tests positive

    Health minister and Conservative MP Nadine Dorries has been diagnosed with coronavirus.

    Ms Dorries, the first MP to test positive, said she had taken all the advised precautions after finding out and has been self-isolating at home.

    This comes as a sixth person died from the virus in the UK, which has a total of 382 cases.

    The latest person to die was a man in his early 80s who had underlying health conditions.

    1. She has mostly recovered from it. but her over 80 mum is showing signs of it.

    2. It’s a bit of a worry as it
      only goes to show that the precautions might not as effective as we are led to believe.

      1. What precautions ? All the government are really saying is keep washing you hands. This is of minor help in trying to reduce the spread of it. The main way it will spread is from coughs and sneezes . Some research was done on this and when you sneeze it can reach a 100kph
        One the disease takes hold on the underground it will really state spreading fast. The underground is an ideal environment for spreading it. Small tightly packed and very hot carriages and the trains also act like a piston pushing a blast of hot air up to the top of the escalators at the stations
        The trains are rarely cleaned neither other than have a broom swept quickly through them at night

        1. Don’t worry Bill the political classes know everything…..in hindsight.

          The people of her constituency reckon they are safe. They never see her.

      1. Funnily enough, neither was Bluff King Hal.
        Somehow, I doubt his sickly brother Arthur would have been much cop; more a re-reun of the disastrous reign of Henry VI.

    2. Ref the latest radio phone-in debacle… Was the man born with any sense at all? Just like Uncle Andy, can’t keep it shut (mouth, not zipper) when he should.

        1. Their intention is to set up a charity to tackle homelessness.
          Another effing charity expecting us to donate. Will this be to help the homeless of Britain or of Canada? I wonder how much they themselves will donate or how many they will invite in to use one of their, I daresay, many spare rooms.

          1. Yet to come across a single housing charity that does anything much for homelessness

            Most housing charities are keen to make the situation worse as most want the UK to have an open does migration policy. WE are already seeing the impact mass migration hs had on housing and homelessness

          2. Bill, can you find one politician from the parliamentary parties who will agree with your last sentence? Mass immigration is seen by politicians as ‘good’ without any downsides at all.

          1. I fear that he’s just carrying on with the seemingly traditional short term marriage relationships often seen in the royal circles.
            Alternatively they are trying to avoid this. I hope so.

    1. He really is quite magnificent.
      Any self-respecting coronavirus would curl up and die when faced with such a challenge.
      Morning, R-R.

  16. Tthe four phases of the government’s coronavirus action plan

    Below are what the Government claims are the 4 phases for dealing with Corona virus. It seems to be ill thought out and illogical

    The Contain phases is really redundant What seems to be happening in this so called phase is basically do nothing. WE should have gone straight into the Delay phase which is what most countries in the world have done

    Stage 3 is Research which is nonsense it should nol be a phase. Are they seriously saying they will do no research until we come out of the delay phase

    Stage 4 is Mitigate

    So really there should in my view be only two phases

    Phase 1 Delay

    Phase 2 Mitigate

    Contain

    Prof Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, said on 4 March the UK had “mainly” left this phase.

    It consisted of detecting early cases, following up people who had been in close contact with patients and preventing the disease taking hold “for as long as is reasonably possible”.


    Delay

    This consists of slowing the spread, “lowering the peak impact and pushing it away from the winter season”.

    The government said this is important because it reduces overlap with seasonal flu and other challenges the colder months bring.

    People can take much of the action themselves, such as washing their hands more.

    However, other actions could be enforced on the public, including school closures, reducing large-scale gatherings and encouraging greater home working.

    The delay phase also buys time for drug testing and development of vaccines.

    Research

    This phase will seek “better understanding of the virus and the actions that will lessen its effect on the UK population”.

    Mitigate

    The fourth and final phase is about caring for those who become ill, and supporting hospitals.

    An increase in deaths is likely during this stage, particularly “among vulnerable and elderly groups”.

    Minimising the impact of the disease on society, public services and the economy is also a priority. However, the government has warned key public services could be affected by staff absences.

    It will include further development of drugs and vaccines, for which the government pledged £40m.

    1. Sadly It reminds me of the time a politicians wife was unfortunately electrocuted in their kitchen because a cowboy had carried out some dodgy wiring and the screw fixings of a bracket near the sink had gone through the buried wiring.
      All hell broke loose and regulations were tightened almost imeadiately.

  17. Several people have suggested that holiday makers and daytrip visitors should be discouraged from popular tourist areas .

    Our health matters more than the local economy.

  18. UK more nostalgic for empire than other ex-colonial powers. Wed 11 Mar 2020 06.00 GMT

    Ekpenyon said the large number of Britons with ambivalent views made her “wonder about their education” and she recalled her own schooling in the UK being taught about “David Livingstone and Mary Slessor going to Calabar and doing good for the savages on the benighted continent”.

    “There are people who do not recognise the contribution that people of African heritage make to this country,” she said. “Look at the Windrush scandal.”

    Well anyone who has read any African history prior to colonialization would know that it was a benighted continent inhabited by savages and hasn’t improved much since. Slessor was sent to Calabar where one of the more charming local customs was to kill one of any twins born by immuring them in clay pots to die. Livingstone was on the other side of the continent where Arab Slaving was endemic and there seems little doubt that his exposure of it encouraged the British government to suppress it. As to the contribution of those of African heritage to the UK, what exactly does this consist of? The discovery of Penicillin? The invention of the Jet Engine? Television? Social Security?

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/11/uk-more-nostalgic-for-empire-than-other-ex-colonial-powers

    1. You cannot apply modern standard to what happened centuries ago in any case. Slavery was normal in Africa and occurred long before the British reached there. We nearly carried on the practice

      In the UK we used to employ children in factories and mines and send them up chimneys

      In London they employed street Urchins to check whether an early form of tram electrification was safe. If was a short lived job as many ere killed

      1. Well, nowadays at least we let them volunteer for the job. At least, I assume that’s why young men climb onto coach roofs and touch the overhead lines.

        1. Well when they are not stabbing each other

          The overhead electrification system in the UK uses 25KV , you do not even have to touch it to get electrocuted it can arc over quite a distance. Quite a few rail staff dies during the changeover from steam when they climber onto the tender to move the coal forward

          1. I’m just wondering if there is any potion or powder that one may take to sharpen up one’s “humour awareness”?

    3. Four Guineas a Journey Through West Africa by Elspeth Huxley

      Africans living here in Britain should stop and wonder why they are living here , and would the alternative of their Grandparents homeland be a better lifestyle option ..

      Whoops , they also need to reminded about the severe tribal conflicts that led to maniacal leaders experiments in mass genocide !

      1. If it’s so awful, living in the UK, why not return to Africa and their roots? I’m sure they would be delighted to see them in DR Congo, rolling up with the new residency permit and application for citizenship.

    4. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

      I once went to Casablanca. The smell of rotting over ripe fruit in the heat is still with me.

  19. To those who are still confused, bear the following in mind when writing any words that begin with ‘th’ and rhyme with ‘air’.

    “They’re going to park their cars over there.”

    It’s not difficult.

  20. I will go to Hull.
    I am getting a smug satisfaction that all those caring Italian families that keep Nonno e Nonna at home to shell peas and churn out the evening pasta, are the cause of the high coronavirus rates.

    1. ‘Morning Anne

      A post from elsewhere suggests another cause

      “I Bet the EU aren’t happy that it’s because of sweatshops full of cheap

      Chinese workers (100,000 plus apparently) that has caused the large

      outbreak in Italy. Or more likely the EU aren’t happy that people have found out about the number of cheap Chinese workers imported by and for the Italian fashion houses.

      So while Italy has some of the highest youth unemployment in the EU they

      have been shipping hundreds of thousands of cheap chinese workers in.

      Unbelievable.”

      And a quick google…………………..

      https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/16/the-chinese-workers-who-assemble-designer-bags-in-tuscany

      2. Thanks for that article. Well remembered. When I had a job selling frozen food, I was told that the Sara Lee cakes/desserts/confectionery were made by Vietnamese workers in London.

  21. Sir — Rory Stewart has suggested that the Government should ignore the advice of medical and scientific experts and close schools immediately.

    Mr Stewart is clearly seeking attention to bolster his mayoral bid, but to suggest that politicians should make decisions that fly in the face of expert advice is ludicrous.

    David Kidd
    Petersfield, Hampshire

    Rory Stewart is ludicrous per se. Nearly as ludicrous as the London voters who elected the current mayor. He is clearly hoping that those hapless eight million will use their innate stupidity to elect him too. Plus ça change.

    1. Good morning Grizzly,

      As far as I know Rory Stewart has only once said anything sensible – and the effort of doing so drained him of all common sense and left him a complete imbecile.

      What he said was that those who had left Britain to fight for ISIS should not be allowed to return to Britain and that they should be executed in the Middle East.

      I think that the shock of realising that he had actually said something sensible was too much for him and led to his complete intellectual and psychological collapse.

    2. Good morning Grizzly,

      As far as I know Rory Stewart has only once said anything sensible – and the effort of doing so drained him of all common sense and left him a complete imbecile.

      What he said was that those who had left Britain to fight for ISIS should not be allowed to return to Britain and that they should be executed in the Middle East.

      I think that the shock of realising that he had actually said something sensible was too much for him and led to his complete intellectual and psychological collapse.

    3. I calculated that fewer than 25% of Londoners eligible to vote actually voted for Khan. The problem is apathy and the dire quality of the candidates. I will vote for Sean Bailey but only because he’s the best of a bad bunch. This is where Ogga’s theory falls down. The peeps don’t choose the candidates.

      1. The peeps don’t choose the candidates.

        And, therefore, proof that we do not live in a true democracy, merely an elective oligarchy. If the peeps could choose the candidates then democracy would exist.

  22. Ancient human settlement was obliterated by a COMET that exploded in Earth’s atmosphere and sent fragments of molten glass ‘hot enough to melt cars’ flying to the ground 12,800 years ago. 10 March 2020.

    An ancient human settlement was obliterated by a comet that exploded in Earth’s atmosphere around 12,800 years ago, a study has found.

    The event destroyed a village found in the Abu Hureyra dig site in Syria and splattered fragments of molten glass ‘hot enough to melt cars’ to the ground.

    The impact is also believed to have contributed to the extinction of many large animals, including mammoths as well as North American horses and camels.

    Wow. So they lost their cars did they? No wonder the horses and camels went extinct, they were probably worked to death!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8095923/Ancient-human-settlement-obliterated-COMET-exploding-Earths-atmosphere-12-800-years-ago.html

    3. ‘Morning, Minty, conspiracy theory; it was a nuclear bomb, dropped by an alien society, that didn’t want competition from an emerging ‘intelligence’?

      1. 317057+up ticks,
        Morning NtN,
        If it were regarding politico’s in the intelligence
        department they had little worries there.

    4. Did the cars run on petrol, diesel or electricity generated from coal, wind, sunshine or moonshine?

    1. Were the indigenous population ever asked if they wanted to be invaded and then swamped by alien cultures?

      Why must we accept on the one hand that Europeans should not have had colonies in the past but on the other hand that we should accept being colonised ourselves now when, if one is truly ‘woke’, one must admit that colonisation is evil?

      1. I’ve mentioned this before, but IMHO certain medieval minded people, led by their literature are taking revenge for the crusades.

        1. The crusades were an attempt to regain lands previously dominated by whitish Christians, from the vicious murdering invaders known as the Religion of Peace. (The door only swings one way.)

          1. ‘Morning, Horace, and is the reason for The Vatican State and it’s walled defences, after Rome was sacked by Muslim Hordes – long before the Crusades.

    2. 317057+ up votes,
      Morning TB,
      It was sacrificed on the alter of submission, PCism & Appeasement as a prototype prior to being rolled out
      nationwide.
      With the aide of the current voting pattern it is working out well, gone are the days when two gents stepped out of the pub to settle an argument with a clout on the snout
      before re-entering, the cane in the school, and RESPECT for policemen.
      Join the dots of those being placed in positions of power
      as a good indicator of what is to come.

    3. Correct me if I’m wrong folks but I seem to remember that Khant was involved in the defence of the 7/7 London bombers.

    4. Is Khan implying that non-whites are more likely to get involved in crime? Tut tut…

    5. No white Londoners.
      Only Blecks can be criminals, young or otherwise
      Handouts can only be made to blecks.

    6. There were some white faces but they have been photoshopped out. See bottom left .

  25. I had a hunch that there could be something in Amazon that would inhibit virus replication:

    Pau d’arco (Tabebuia impetiginosa), also known as lapacho or ipe roxo, is an Amazon tree with healing inner bark that can treat colds, influenza, herpes and viral stomatis. It contains quinoids that inhibit virus replication by damaging the DNA and RNA inside the viral protein that would insert itself in a healthy human cell and replicate.

    https://oand.org/uncategory/top-ten-natural-anti-viral-agents/

      2. Can’t be worse than death by virus – unless you’re barking up the wrong tree!

    2. Tree – bark – quinoids – quinine – tonic water – Gin.

      God be praised! The cure is Gin and Tonic! I’m going out panic buying straight away!

          1. I remember listening to Clarissa Dickson Wright on Radio 4, when she was describing her wild past. She went down with some strange ailment that gave her the shakes and all sorts of other complaints. The medics were baffled and went through a host of tests, but eventually after many blind ends they found the cause.

            She was going at the G&Ts so hard that she was suffering from quinine poisoning.

    3. Around the net Chloroquine has been bruited about as an antiviral (old malaria treatment) first saw this maybe a fortnight ago
      Available over the counter…………………
      Except everywhere seems fully sold out……………..

        1. Both.

          If they’ve finally found something better than snake oil I want as much as I can get. Can they make toilet roll from it too?

      2. It’s tree bark so it’s probably sold by the Rod, Perch or Pole length with a discount for knot holes.

      3. It’s tree bark so it’s probably sold by the Rod, Perch or Pole length with a discount for knot holes.

    1. I read that several hundred thousand Chinese nationals are resident in Italy, but I have no source figures.

  27. Now that interest rates are being cut is it not time to make the maximum rate payable on student loans no higher than the bank rate?

    Students now have to pay over ten times the BoE base rate in loan interest.

    This is usury.

    This is theft.

    But who gives a toss?

      1. One of the best things we did for our children was to pay for their university education so that they are now established in good jobs (one an aerospace engineer the other a software writer) and have no student loans to repay.

      3. One of the best things we did for our children was to pay for their university education so that they are now established in good jobs (one an aerospace engineer the other a software writer) and have no student loans to repay.

          1. I did not have to pay for my own university education and I did not think that my children should have to do so. I hope that when they have children of their own they will be able to provide for them in the same way.

            We have had to be pretty frugal and our children have always been our priority.

          2. Yes, certainly. I was only pointing out that not all students have parents with the necessary means to do so. It cost us an arm and a leg to see our daughter through university, but fortunately at that time we had the necessary parts of the anatomy….

    2. The financial system is feeding on itself Richard. It’s killed off the savers, the only course now is perpetual debt slavery for the peasants!

      1. There are many young men and women who lack the intellectual ability, drive or family support to go to university and have to take a job and pay income tax. An advanced education statistically means that one can earn more. Why should those who do not have the advantage of an advanced education and the life-long benefits it brings pay for those who do? I have no problem with giving free advanced education for doctors, engineers, teachers, scientists or other callings that we desperately need to maintain society but asking an 18-year old factory worker to help pay for others to enjoy what he/she cannot is questionable.

    4. ‘Morning, Rastus.

      You’ve said that many times & I have said many times that it is another form of financial slavery.

      1. Good morning Peddy,

        Sorry – forgot to give you my statuary apology for repetition!

    5. A young colleague in his thirties told me how much is still being deducted from his salary to pay off his student loan, even though he’s been employed since leaving university. I was quite shocked. He’s recently moved to a job at BBC Wales, as he and his girlfriend have a better chance of being able to settle down and buy a home of their own in Cardiff than they would in London.

      1. Our youngest is in the same boat. He and his lady are buying north of London but have taken in two lodgers to help with the finances.

          2. I didn’t say anything about tax. It used to be the case that you had to notify your lender and insurance company. That may still be the case. Obviously unnamed and unquantified sublets create an insurance risk.

        3. When I worked in London fifty years ago I rented a room from a friend who had just bought a house in Fulham. This helped him pay off his mortgage and gave me a good place to live.

          Imagine:

          Student loan outstanding balance on graduation: £60,000
          Interest at about 6% £3,600 pa

          And if you ‘pay back’ less than this per year you will not be paying back anything at all – indeed, your loan will continue to go up rather than down. This is state imposed slavery.

  28. Last night I received an email from the Conservative Party giving me some “advance details” of this afternoon’s Chanchellor’s speech to Parliament about his budget. And on the radio today yet more details are revealed, on an apparently hourly basis. Is there any point in my listening to the Budget speech this afternoon? I thought that, since Boris took over from Theresa, briefing to the media ahead of Parliament was a thing of the past. Ah, well, back to bed! I’ll read the fine detail later this evening.

    1. I usually don’t listen to budget speeches, but the last time that I did, the Chancellor started by saying that details of the budget had been presented to and approved by the European Commission. If I hadn’t already been a UKIP activist, I’d have joined there and then.

      1. The last one I heard was part of one of Gordon Brown’s which happened to be on the car radio.

        His constant use of the term ‘one pence’ drove me to distraction and I switched it off.

        If the clown posing as a chancellor didn’t understand the basic units of currency, what chance did we have?

        1. Surely it was a step forward from the early days of decimal currency when we traded in “peas” (or was that “pee”s)?

          2. Not really. Although I was a great supporter of Keith Waterhouse and his battle against the Pea.

    2. Just get yer chopper (aka axe)
      out Elsie go to the bank and before they start charging for it, just make a huge withdrawal.
      Take your own carrier bags or you’ll be charged.
      Take it home and shove it under the mattress. Sleep well.
      Mind yer nose on the bedroom ceiling.
      Don’t forget to wash your hands and launder the cash.

      1. 317057+ up ticks,
        Morning Anne,
        I do agree but, silliness can be forgiven, unlike political treachery which is unforgivable, until the next GE, and there lies a great many of our problems.

  30. Another MP goes into self-isolation

    Labour MP Rachael Maskell has become the latest politician to go into self-isolation.

    It comes after she met junior health minister and Tory MP Nadine Dorries, who has tested positive for coronavirus, last week.

    1. I don’t wish her any harm, but strangely I do not feel as upset when it is a Labour MP.

      I do not think it likely that Nadine passed it on to ” Rachael” deliberately.

      1. Curiously whenever I see the name spelt “Rachael’ I wonder about the ancestry or religion. But she comes from a left wing family, and her uncle campaigned against capital punishment in the early 1970s.

    2. Good Morning all.

      I wonder how many will “self-isolate” from the Budget speech.

      Our new chancellor does not seem to respect the budget purdah rules juding from the announcements made in the past few days.

      1. There has been so much bullshit about the budget in the media for weeks that I have lost interest.
        I only want two things in the Budget –
        1. A substantial increase in the State Pension.
        2. Abolition of the TV Licence,

        1. Definitely 2, but a reduction in the tax burden would do more general good than an increase in the state pension.

      3. There has been no budget purdah for at least a decade. The content of them has been widely leaked almost every year

  31. advert for British bed that reads ‘no nasty imports’ banned for racist overtones

    An advert showing a cartoon mattress wearing a surgical mask along with the words “no nasty imports” has been banned for racist overtones.

    The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) judged that the advert was likely to cause “serious or widespread” offence.

    The regulator’s decision came after two members of the public complained about the advert, which appeared in a north London newspaper on 12 February.

    1. Two anonymous complaints, possibly from employees of competitors.
      I’d be quite willing to join a “total offence party”, or TOP*, dedicated to offending everyone everywhere.

      * Working title, open to suggestions.

  32. MP’s to be told to sit 3 foot apart during budget speech, How will that work. It is the one day of the year they nearly all turn up so there will not be enough room to sit 3 ‘ apart

    1. They should all have been issued Zakmat Suits (or whatever they’re called or the Budget should be issued from a stage at Wembley Stadium.

    2. That is like the advice to avoid crowded places in New York. Ever been on the subway?

    3. I have a feeling that the house may be less crowded on this occasion.

      ‘Urgent business elsewhere’ trumps being seen in the house.

    1. 317057+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      The wiff of islamic ideology is growing stronger from within the host party aided & abetted by large doses of
      submission,PCism,Appeasement.
      We won’t be fighting them on the beaches only but in parliament also.

  35. British Airways asks staff to take voluntary unpaid leave

    British Airways has sent an email to all of its staff asking them to take voluntary unpaid leave after the reduction of its flight schedule because of the Coronavirus outbreak.

    Other airlines have taken similar measures.

  36. Grooming gangs review: Government refusal to publish ‘characteristics’ research could be debated by MPs after 100,000 sign petition. Indy 13 Hours ago.

    Officials said they had applied a “public-interest test”, but the information was exempt from the FoI act because it could be used for government policy and included “operationally sensitive” information from police.

    “The information could be misleading if made public and used out of context,” the letter added.

    “We recognise that this topic in general and any insight and learning are matters of strong public interest, although it does not necessarily follow that it is in the public interest to disclose any specific information relating to it.

    Morning everyone. My guess is that they are going to stonewall this one regardless and the Labour Party is unlikely to object. If it came out it they might have to do something about it and it would be a stick to beat them with for the next five years.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/grooming-gangs-review-petition-home-office-characteristics-research-debate-a9388746.html

    1. “if made public and used out of context“; depending what the report actually says, I think the context may be all too obvious!

    2. As well as signing the petition, I’ve also e-mailed my new Political donkey. I hope she is more independent minded than Mr. McLaughlin.

      Dear Miss Dines,
      As you are no doubt aware, the petition requesting the immediate release of the Home Office’s report into the Pakistani Rape Gangs has now passed the 100,000 benchmark.

      I wonder if I can rely on you to campaign for the immediate release of that report?

      The claim that it is being withheld because of “Public Interest” is more than just laughable, it is down right insulting and patronising to the electorate, who, let us face it, are your employers.

      It is fairly obvious that the interests being served by the embargo on the release of this report are those of the local government officials, police, politicians and civil servants, national as well as local, who’s connivance at covering up this shameful affair allowed the rapes and sexual exploitation of these children to carry of for over two decades.

      If there is any chance of justice to be done, then these people need to be held to account.

      Failure to publish this report will only indicate that, despite the support your Government still enjoys from the electorate, you have no respect for or sympathy with the people of Britain.

      Yous Sincerely,

    3. “if made public and used out of context“; depending what the report actually says, I think the context may be all too obvious!

  40. Joe Biden wins string of key primaries in major blow to Bernie Sander. Wed 11 Mar 2020 05.33 GMT.

    Speaking from Philadelphia, Biden sounded confident about Tuesday’s election results and struck a tone that hinted his race against president Donald Trump might be beginning.

    “Just over a week ago, many of the pundits declared that this candidacy was dead. Now we’re very much alive,” Biden said. “Although there’s a way to go, it looks like we’re going to have another good night.”

    Well I don’t know about the candidacy but the Candidate is brain dead!

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/10/democratic-primaries-joe-biden-bernie-sanders

    1. Frightening isn’t it, Araminta. Will we see the first embalmed POTUS in the Oval Office?

      1. It may be covid19 that does Trump in. His total lack of empathy is getting to people, the lack of testing kits is a disgrace, his childish tantrums with governors of states fighting the virus further diminish his status.

        His don’t panic message may be valid but the presentation is far from reasonable.

        So the Democrats really shouldn’t have a hope in hell of winning the election but it will come down to how coronavirus works out. Only one thousand cases (maybe, testing if available, has been restricted to those with symptoms that have been travelling) so far but it is still early days.

    2. Sanders and Biden. That the best the Demoncrats can do? I expect The Donald sleeps soundly at night with that sort of competition.

      1. They also have Tulsi Gabbard, but she’s far too sensible, so the party and media have deliberately ignored her, or in Hillary’s case, slandered her as being a Russian agent.

    3. I do not like many of the American politicians and Joe Biden is no exception.

      But I do feel sorry for him when he completely loses the thread of what he is trying to say as I do the same. Fortunately I am not running for political office as the aptest saying applicable to me is:

      My train of thought often leaves the station without me.

      1. Not only that with me but sometimes completely the wrong word comes out of my mouth!

        1. I find I am beginning to misplace names of things/people I know well. They come back to me later.

        2. Aphasia is an impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read or write.

        3. I do that sometimes. The voice in my head says the worst possible thing at the worst possible moment and it pops out of my mouth. I’m even aware that i’m doing it but can’t seem to stop myself.

        4. That happened to me when I was in my forties. Only once, at work when I was trying to multiplex too many thought streams at once. It was however extremely embarrassing. Talking to my secretary about a leg injury she had got I confused ‘shin’ with ‘thigh’. She blushed…

  41. Coronavirus: GP appointments to be held by video link -Brits warned stay away from surgery

    So you cannot go to the GP’s because of the risk of spreading it but can quite happily come into the UK with no checks at all. How does that make any sense ?

    2. 317057+ up ticks,
      BJ,
      All under the submissive, PC,Appeasement, umbrella,
      by boat or plane, skiff or glider no one should be deterred from entering these Isles, surely that is obvious
      by now.

      1. Morning Clydesider

        How are things in N Yorks today.. Sun is shining here this morning ..Feels Springlike , but there is a general feeling of consternation everywhere.

        Copied that from F/B

        1. Blue sky with light winds. Fields drying up. Bit depressed by the Bank rate drop this morning. The politicians are making the most of Covid – 19. I will survive.

    2. Also designed to deter the licking of certain body parts.
      Which often leads to successful
      career advancements.

    1. ‘Morning, Rik, just 4 white faces amongst that lot and that includes the Suppressor-General, Ratman.

    3. Maybe we should stop calling it msulim rape gangs and be more specific – Pakki rape gangs? After all, I know several Msulims who are outraged by that behaviour.

    4. I would suggest it is not in the public interest to not publish the report

      As far as I know it is not in the committees powers to not publish the report. That would be a decision for the government

      The fact that the report is not being published gives us a fair indication of what the report say’s

      1. Is Rutnam in that photo? He’s so nondescript that he reminds me of the quote “An empty taxi pulled up and out stepped Clement Attlee”.

          2. The sort of person who, when they leave a room, make others feel someone has just entered.

  44. Good Moaning.
    Who, out of Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov played the Grotty Thunderbug role?
    Running through my mind is the voice of Terry Jones as Mandy, mother of Brian.
    The Ex-Duke of Sussex is a Very Stupid Boy.

    1. A fake Greta, a fake Harry, fake news? There are computer programmes that can simulate anybody’s voice you wish….

  45. Ah, Jazus, Paddy, not you again?

    Bloke at a horse race whispers to Paddy next to him “Do you want the winner of the next race ?”
    Paddy replies “No tanks, I’ve only got a small garden.”

    A coach load of Paddys on a mystery tour decided to run a sweepstake to guess where they were going. The driver won £52!

    Paddy’s racing snail is not winning races anymore. So he decided to take it’s shell off to reduce its weight and make him more aerodynamic. It didn’t work, if anything it made him more sluggish.

    Paddy finds a sandwich with two wires sticking out of it.
    He phones the police and says ” I’ve just found a sandwich dat looks like a bomb.”
    The operator asks, “Is it tickin?”
    Paddy says “No I tink it’s beef”

    The Irish have solved their own fuel problems.
    They imported 50 million tons of sand from the Arabs and they’re going to drill for their own oil.

    Paddy says to Mick “Christmas is on a Friday this year”
    Mick says “Let’s hope it’s not the 13th.”

    Paddy’s in the bathroom and Murphy shouts to him. “Did you find the shampoo?”
    Paddy says “Yes but it’s for dry hair and I’ve just wet mine.”

    Paddy and Mick found three hand grenades and decided to take them to the police station.
    Mick says “What if one explodes before we get there ?”
    Paddy replies “We’ll lie and say we only found two !”

    Paddy goes to the vet with his goldfish. “I think it’s got epilepsy” he tells the vet.
    Vet takes a look and says “It seems calm enough to me.”
    Paddy says “I haven’t taken it out of the bowl yet.”

    Paddy spies a letter lying on the doormat.
    It says on the envelope ‘DO NOT BEND ‘.
    Paddy spends the next two hours trying to figure out how to pick the letter up.

    Paddy’s dog goes missing and he’s inconsolable.
    His wife says “Why don’t you put an advert in the paper”.
    He does but two weeks later the dog is still missing.
    “What did you put in the paper” his wife asks.
    “Here Boy” he replies.

    Paddy’s in jail. The Guard looks in and sees him hanging by his feet.
    “What the hell are you doing” he asks.
    “Hanging myself” Paddy replies.
    “It should be round your neck” says the Guard.
    “I know” says Paddy “But I couldn’t breathe”.

    An American tourist asks Paddy “Why do scuba divers always fall backwards off their boat?”.
    Paddy replies ‘If they fell forward, they’d still be in the feckin’ boat”.

  47. Nadine Dorries has always been an embarrassment to the Conservative Party – particularly as she was pro-Brexit when many Party members were remoaners and when she appeared on misnamed ‘reality television’ and had various scandalous love affairs. But maybe this time she has gone too far if she is trying to get Boris Johnson into bed with corona virus!

    .

      1. Give her a prize for being the first MP to contract it – maybe a packet of toilet rolls.

  48. The flawed system of police bail is failing victims. It is in desperate need of reform. VERA BAIRD. 10 MARCH 2020.

    Let’s get back to police bail that protects victims and gives the public confidence. Since reforms in 2017, the use of police bail has fallen sharply. People suspected of sexual and violent offences, including domestic abuse, are often being released without restrictions on where they can go or and who they can contact. This has made victims all the more reluctant to report crime as they fear they will be left unprotected.

    Lol! This is like Mayor of Nagasaki saying we need to keep the streets clean! The police are finished. They exist only to intimidate the law abiding.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/10/flawed-system-police-bail-failing-victims-desperate-need-reform/

  49. We will have to accept the curtailment of our liberty to vanquish the coronavirus. JOE ARMITAGE. 11 MARCH 2020 • 7:06AM.

    BELOW THE LINE

    Carolyn Bates 11 Mar 2020 8:28AM.

    Absolutely agree. When we look back just two weeks ago, Italy had roughly the same number of cases as we currently have. While the lockdown there is shocking, there are already nearly 10,000 known cases in the country and it keeps rising.

    Surely the health and well-being of our citizens should be paramount to any democratic government and any measures taken, no matter how stringent, should be welcomed by the population, as it has their best interests at heart.

    Mrs Armitage one presumes!

    PS. Joe is a Senior Associate at Global Counsel. He spent three years as a UK parliamentary adviser, working for two government ministers. He has commented on parliamentary procedure for the British print media and his work has been cited by the House of Commons Library. He has also represented Global Counsel on national broadcast media.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/03/11/will-have-accept-curtailment-liberty-vanquish-coronavirus/

    1. “While the lockdown there is shocking, there are already nearly 10,000 known cases in the country and it keeps rising.”

      Worked well, dinnit?

    2. 10,000 cases in a population of 60,000,000 is one in six thousand.

      Sounds a lot, but still a very small percentage.

      Given that there is no instant method of determining covid infection and that the only method of screening is by checking if someone is a bit warmer than average, an effect that could be caused by a host of reasons other than novel viruses, looking for a needle in a haystack is simple in comparison to screening every visitor to this country.

    3. Will liberties be uncurtailed once the crap is over? Or, like the “temporary” income tax, will liberties be permanently curtailed?
      “Never waste a good crisis”.

    4. With my tin-foil hat on, I might almost suspect that governments might see this as a ‘beneficial crisis’ which will allow them to further restrict our liberties. Every cloud eh?

  50. Carney could lower interest rates even further !!!
    The fur curs will be charging people with money in the banks.
    I’m self isolating from the bankers…..

    Slight spelling mistake first letter last word.

  52. 317057+ up ticks,
    I can, in reality see the damage that the lab/lib/con coalition
    have done / are doing to these Isles via the ballot booth returning the same political tripe to power.

    The same nonsensical approach to politics, lacking common sense, & forever putting the party before all else well before any benefits to the Country.

    As for the politico’s LISTEN UP it is not only the coronavirus that needs screening there is a multitude of killers these governance parties have unleashed upon this Country as in TB etc,etc, not to mention the two legged critters, FGM, paedophilia rape & abuse.
    These mass uncontrolled immigration parties odious actions have certainly opened the eyes of many to changing lifestyles, undeserved
    injury & abuse, death.

  53. Airport screening

    Recent academic research ran simulations that suggested temperature checks at airports would catch just over half of coronavirus-infected passengers.

    Airports in Italy have been running temperature checks on passengers since early February, and there are also tests at railway stations. Thermometers are a common sight at airports throughout Asia.

    The US is not allowing foreign nationals into the country who have visited either China or Iran in the last 14 days.

    Passengers arriving at the 11 US airports, to which all flights from China have been directed, are being screened for fever, cough, and shortness of breath.

    The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has also recommended that people with underlying health issues defer all cruise-ship travel worldwide.

    2. What has having temperature checks in Italy since February achieved?

      Like all these things it depends on the purpose and then what they’re going to do with the data. Doesn’t seem to have stopped Coronavirus does it.

      1. 317057+ up ticks,
        Afternoon N,
        Has not reached here yet but it will get an airing
        that is for sure, as for child abuse it is also I would say, an abuse regarding ALL decent people also.
        Peoples, sad to say in this Country still support / vote for parties that have knowingly covered up paedophilia.

    3. This is Washington State isn’t it? Pretty much the same here! Indoctrinating children in depravity!

    4. 317057+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      We must surely,surely, near run the course of ALL this
      sh!te we are having to swallow and urgently need to bring it to an end, by applying “The beginning”

    5. Washington state is odd. The western coastal part is ultra liberal and very lefty; the eastern part is considered part of the “American Redoubt” area where far right, gun toting white supremacists hang out.

    1. The Chinese are now saying that 4.5 metres is the safe distance, and that as aerosol the virus can exist for several days.

    4. If they had some chalk they could write some Roman numerals on the ground and tell how long they’d been in the queue from the movement of their shadows, just to pass the time.

  56. Off to the hospital in a few minutes for a 3pm appointment. Hope to see you all later.
    I’ll let you know if I see any sick people.

    1. Even by Westminster standards this is double-tongued hypocrisy raised to an art form!

    2. A few lines in a Larkin poem which are very pertinent are:

      It becomes still more difficult to find
      Words at once true and kind,
      Or not untrue and not unkind.

      I cannot finds words about Gove that are both true and kind and so all I can say truthfully about him is that he is a piece of excrement. Not kind, I admit, but undisputedly true.

      1. Is he a competent slickster, I suppose that is the most relevant question, not whether he is a man of strict moral principles or nice to his dog.

  59. Rishi Sunak – “getting it done”. Has the boy done good?

    Am I alone in pointing out that he had Asian talent on both sides of him. As an old fashioned forward line it would read:

    Rees-Mogg Patel Johnson Sunak Braverman …

    Rees-Mogg and Sunak look as if they’d take some marking at corners and the other three look as if they’d not be above some fast pouncing on second balls in the penalty area …

    2. Increasing the ‘green’ levy on gas? No that’s not good, the number 10 woman still rules the roost.

  60. Woman becomes latest British person to die after contracting virus

    A 53-year-old woman who was already “critically ill” has become the latest British person to die after contracting coronavirus.

    The woman died in Indonesia, its health ministry said. She is the first person to die after testing positive for COVID-19 in the country.

    A spokesperson said she was “critically ill” when she was diagnosed with the disease.

    Achmad Yurianto, the government spokesman on efforts to contain the coronavirus, said the woman had diabetes and lung disease and had contracted the virus abroad.

    1. Either Indonesia is as soft a touch as Blighty, or the late lamented unwisely took a long haul holiday to a hot country.

      2. The article is unclear. It is possible she was living in Indonesia, hard to say for sure

  61. Budget 2020: Rates scrapped for shops and cafes

    Tens of thousands of England’s retail, leisure and hospitality firms will not pay any business rates in the coming year, the chancellor has announced.

    Companies with a rateable value of less than £51,000 will be eligible for the tax holiday, Rishi Sunak said.

    The measure applies to firms including shops, cinemas, restaurants and hotels

    1. Which will surely lead to a huge shortfall for local authority spending and possibly cuts to essential services. Unless the treasury plans to make up the shortfall.

  62. Lidl to open its first pub in Northern Ireland

    German supermarket chain Lidl has revealed its plans to open its first pub in Northern Ireland.

    The discount supermarket has submitted a planning application to turn part of its new store in the town of Dundonald, just outside of Belfast, into a tap room.

    The proposed plans will see the pub lie next to the Lidl supermarket, but will have a separate entrance.

  63. Little girl rushed home from school crying bitterly.
    “Mummy”, she said, ” I passed my English and Arithmetic exams, but I failed in the Sex and Gender ones “.

  64. Coronavirus: Newport ONS worker tests positive

    A worker at the Office for National Statistics has tested positive for the coronavirus.

    Bosses said the Newport office remained open and the company was “taking appropriate steps to protect the well-being” of staff.

    Nine new cases were confirmed in Wales on Tuesday, taking the total to 15.

    “We will continue to monitor our operations in line with official public health and government guidance,” said an ONS statement.

  65. Coronavirus, Good News and Bad News and Good News:

    1. Young people and children seem to ride out this virus fairly easily

    2. Older people with “underlying conditions” seem to be particularly vulnerable

    3. There could if Covid-19 sweeps through be quite an increased supply of houses later this year and this should REDUCE house prices (especially if immigration is controlled)

    and as an afterthought:

    4. Looking at some on the Labour and SNP benches, I’d say there could be quite a few by-elections this year in Labour-held seats

    5. Public pension payments will also be lower than previous Treasury forecasts

    2. Which on the red rose on a donkey basis would result in even more snowflakes in parliament. It’s bad enough having so many on the ‘Conservative’ benches…

    5. Hmm. If house prices are to drop later this year, am I better off selling my house now, or should I wait until after I’ve died of the coronavirus?

      1. Action this day, A.

        If you wait until you have coronavirus, you’ll have to be quarantined and the red cross painted on your front door may put-off prospective buyers.

      1. Well done, Tony. I thought of that joke myself, but couldn’t think of a clever yet tasteful way of putting it.

    2. Because – see the latest film version of David Copperfield – using a mixed race cast looks rather ludicrous.

    3. When are they going to ask:”Why are TV adverts stuffed full with mixed-race couples?”?

      1. Full of a wider assortment than a box of chocolates: white father, latin mother, Chinese child…and that;’s just one advert.
        I buy nothing advertised in this way.

      2. You may well ask, AA.  Two recent examples – a blik female AA engineer helps to restart a spaceship, and two gay men receive a visit from a blik British Gas engineer.  Has anyone ever seen a female AA person attending a roadside breakdown, never mind a blik female AA person? Fortunately most of our programmes are recorded, which means that adverts are easy to skip whilst retaining some control of my blood pressure.  Some say that there is no such thing as bad publicity, but in my case I avoid any organisation which wants to ram colour and gender down my throat.  These people and their ludicrous portrayals of such matters must be from another planet.  They might even realise that their clumsy attempts at social engineering are counter-productive.

        1. I’m learning that I’m too white, too old and, presumably, too poor to afford new furniture, a replacement kitchen or car breakdown cover.
          Fine; I’ll just buy more books.

          1. No, just trade in your other half for a black man. Although that might be difficult, ‘cos the same black man in a beard keeps appearing in different adverts – he certainly seems to get around a bit, or maybe he’s got a good agent.

      3. Then they’ll put it right by sacking the white ones so that they can be more inclusive.

  69. Budget 2020: Sunak confirms £600bn in capital investment for UK

    The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has pledged £600bn in investment over the next five years for infrastructure and industry in today’s Budget.

    The announcement will mean that public investment will hit its highest levels since 1955, and will see capital budgets rise over £110m in 2024 and 2025.

  70. Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault. 9 Minutes ago.

    Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in jail after being convicted of rape and sexual assault.

    The 67-year-old disgraced movie mogul was last month found guilty of sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006 and raping an aspiring actress in 2013.

    Well he produced some good movies.

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/harvey-weinstein-sentenced-rape-sexual-assault-23-years-a4384146.html

    2. He deserves that time in chokey.

      Just like Epstein it was abuse of their power over young women.

      I once saw him on the Graham Norton show. He came across as very charming and entertaining.

      1. Afternoon Phizzee. I’ve never made any comment (apart from the above) on Weinstein and I’m not going to make any on Salmond either. How someone can be found guilty without either forensic or corroborative evidence I do not know!

      2. In saner times it was known as the casting couch, and all actresses and some actors knew all about it.

      3. Good afternoon, Phizzee.

        There are other ways to display one’s talent!
        That is: Talent!
        Without that……then the alternative is,
        Show us your stocking tops/boobies

        1. Good afternoon, Flower.

          If London goes into lockdown you need to be prepared for a postponement.
          Best laid plans etc…

      4. “…abuse of their power over young women.”

        Er, abuse of their power over willing and eager young women, all of whom knew the ‘casting couch’ rules and accepted it, even if “No” meant no film part.

    5. They could be brothers!

      Weinstein and Alex Salmond are very alike both physically and psychologically and they have the same interests. Perhaps they could be put in the same prison cell?

    6. In a nutshell, Harvey became vulnerable when his movies stopped making money. People kept quiet whilst the goose was producing golden eggs.
      A certain Ms Paltrow made a fortune via Harvey, and all that dosh that may have affected her memory, who knows?
      Another actress co-operated during the audition process, but didn’t get the role that she thought she deserved. Eventually she got her revenge.

    7. ‘Evening, Minty, it’s a pity the prosecution didn’t produce any good evidence, other than hearsay, but perhaps America has adopted the Napoleonic Code – they generally manage to get things wrong when they try to ape their colonial masters.

      I expect the appeal will quash it with ‘time served.’

  71. Pinched from GP:-

    Doing my weekly shop in Asda today. I was horrified to find they had no toilet paper at all.

    Reluctantly I headed for the checkout and asked if they had any. A firm NO was the answer.

    Walking back to the toilets with my pants and trousers around my ankles was a walk of shame..

    1. Nice, has that nice rolling rocking rhythm that I associate most with the Atlanta Rhythm Section.

        1. Used to be “Dion and the Belmonts”, The Wanderer and Run Around Sue being big hits for them.

  73. Anyone see Sunday Night at the London Palladium last week? It’s variable, but last week’s had Pete and Dud putting on a good show, and this one, which I’ve always liked, from the Hollies before they lost Graham Nash to the USA:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1E-9ZwoKnA

    All done live, look at the expression of relief on the guitarist Tony Hicks’s face at the end!

  74. I could have highlighted all of this:

    They say parting is such sweet sorrow, but, if you ask me, Harry and Meghan’s final appearance as working members of the Royal family seemed distinctly short on sweetness. It wasn’t quite Murder in the Cathedral, more looking daggers in the Abbey.

    You didn’t need a doctorate in body language to gather that things are just a teensy bit tense right now among the Windsor clan. The Cambridges could hardly bring themselves to acknowledge the Sussexes. The Wessexes acted as a buffer zone.

    Prince Edward made animated small talk with Meghan on his right, while Sophie Wessex on his left pretended to be incredibly interested in the Order of Service. No Order of Service has ever been more fascinating than the one for the Queen’s Commonwealth Service as far as Sophie was concerned. If she needed to memorise every single hymn, and sing it nude, then she would do it rather than make eye contact with that bloody actress.

    Meghan had arrived dressed as a peapod with matching pillbox hat in jealous green. Like all her glamorous outfits on this “Farewell, Stuffy Royals, Hello Disney Princess!” tour, this one almost seemed designed to make her sister-in-law look frumpy. Kate isn’t frumpy, she just looks Royal, something Meghan never really understood.

    Harry’s jacket had a green-silk lining to match his wife’s dress, which was either a nice touch or evidence of rampant control-freakery by She Who Says We Must Live in Canada and Won’t Let Archie Back in His Birthplace in Case He’s Abducted by MI5 and Shut in the Tower Before the Divorce.

    Harry seemed pensive and pained by his brother’s curt: “Hello.” He looked as if he’d rather be anywhere else. Afghanistan, perhaps.

    At the entrance to the Abbey, Meghan did her “I’m so glowing and compassionate, me” routine with a receiving line of enraptured clergymen when she noticed Prince William come in and hastily scuttled along. No love lost there.

    Meghan Markle: inspirational, self-assured, bi-racial humanitarian who has brought joy to lost, motherless boy and sticks up for what she thinks is right? Or fame-hungry, scorch-the-earth people-dumper dragging poor Harry down a dark path? Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. At least there is little doubt what William thinks.

    You could tell how anxious things were because Buckingham Palace was forced to make a last-minute change to avoid upsetting the swansong couple. Harry and Meghan were supposed to be shown to their seats while the Cambridges joined the Queen’s procession.

    Instead, faced with the dread news that the Sussexes were “emotional and upset” at being excluded from the Royal line-up, the one they had chosen to leave, William and Kate defused the situation by dropping out of the procession and also being taken to their seats. There was no time to re-print the 2,000 orders of service which stated clearly that the Cambridges would enter with the Queen and the Prince of Wales.

    Once seated, everyone looked tense and utterly miserable except the person who had done most to cause the tension and misery. Meghan kept her newly-whitened smile on full-beam lest she damage the brand by appearing unhappy in the photographs.

    Boy, I have seen some awkward family gatherings in my time, but this one took the Bath Oliver. It will be just one year ten months and 12 days since Meghan joined the Firm on 31st March, the day that she and Harry bow out of Royal life. A remarkably short period of time to have sown such discord. Princess Diana would be devastated to see her boys so coldly estranged.

    Perhaps Harry was always looking for a way to leave the life he thought had murdered his mother. Fair enough. I get that. Given time, people would have respected his decision. But it has been done so impatiently and with such arrogant obliviousness towards the Queen. It was Her Majesty who, upon their marriage, appointed the Sussexes as youth ambassadors to her beloved Commonwealth, a thoughtful gift that, at Monday’s lovely ceremony, they threw back in her face.

    I count myself a Harry fan, but I find I now care very little that he is leaving our national life. I am not impressed, not at all, and I suspect a lot of people feel the same way. One day, the prince may have cause to reflect that, in pursuit of love, he carelessly squandered the affection of millions.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/not-so-fond-farewell-harry-meghan/

    1. Gosh one wonders how well this article will go down on the Sussexes breakfast table – Harry will be in the doghouse for some time I reckon.

        1. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, is he?
          He was also taken in by the Russian scammers posing as Greta.

          1. If the scammers were faking Greta, there is nothing to stop them from faking Harry, thus fake news. I suspect the hand of MM in all this…. if she is going down she is determined to take him with her. Look at the ‘word salad’ of ‘his’ speech (her trademark) and the occasional Americanisms e.g. ‘the military’. Perhaps that is why he was scowling towards the end of the QCT service – she told him; that and making sheep’s eyes at William in public – Harry would be concerned for Kate. There is more going on than we know about. Kabuki theatre.

          2. Years ago I was privileged to meet a successful guy from a zero-education background, and he could scarcely read or write (according to mutual friends). But he certainly knew (& knows) how to count and add up.

          3. I’m sure Harry managed that much – and he was bright enough in other ways to excell at Sandhurst and also to fly helicopters in battle situations.
            But not bright enough to see what Meghan was up to when she ensnared him, or to see that he has isolated himself from his family. I think he’ ll eventually be back home without her.

      2. Meghan achieved her goal – she is now a worldwide celeb, mixing with Hollywood types who previously would not have given her the time of day – just another also ran actress in a small audience cable soap opera. If the Duchess title had also been revoked, they would all have dropped her faster than a hot potato.

  75. Prose which made me smile:

    Meghan had arrived dressed as a peapod with matching pillbox hat in jealous green. Like all her glamorous outfits on this “Farewell, Stuffy Royals, Hello Disney Princess!” tour, this one almost seemed designed to make her sister-in-law look frumpy. Kate isn’t frumpy, she just looks Royal, something Meghan never really understood.

    Harry’s jacket had a green-silk lining to match his wife’s dress, which was either a nice touch or evidence of rampant control-freakery by She Who Says We Must Live in Canada and Won’t Let Archie Back in His Birthplace in Case He’s Abducted by MI5 and Shut in the Tower Before the Divorce.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/not-so-fond-farewell-harry-meghan/

    1. I remember years ago when she did that critics programme on the old BBC with Tom somebody, I concluded she was what I would now call a snowflake. But it seems she has matured…

      1. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/not-so-fond-farewell-harry-meghan/

        “A not-so fond farewell to Harry and Meghan!

        They say parting is such sweet sorrow, but, if you ask me, Harry and Meghan’s final appearance as working members of the Royal family seemed distinctly short on sweetness. It wasn’t quite Murder in the Cathedral, more looking daggers in the Abbey.

        You didn’t need a doctorate in body language to gather that things are just a teensy bit tense right now among the Windsor clan. The Cambridges could hardly bring themselves to acknowledge the Sussexes. The Wessexes acted as a buffer zone.

        Prince Edward made animated small talk with Meghan on his right, while Sophie Wessex on his left pretended to be incredibly interested in the Order of Service. No Order of Service has ever been more fascinating than the one for the Queen’s Commonwealth Service as far as Sophie was concerned. If she needed to memorise every single hymn, and sing it nude, then she would do it rather than make eye contact with that bloody actress.

        Meghan had arrived dressed as a peapod with matching pillbox hat in jealous green. Like all her glamorous outfits on this “Farewell, Stuffy Royals, Hello Disney Princess!” tour, this one almost seemed designed to make her sister-in-law look frumpy. Kate isn’t frumpy, she just looks Royal, something Meghan never really understood.

        Harry’s jacket had a green-silk lining to match his wife’s dress, which was either a nice touch or evidence of rampant control-freakery by She Who Says We Must Live in Canada and Won’t Let Archie Back in His Birthplace in Case He’s Abducted by MI5 and Shut in the Tower Before the Divorce.

        Harry seemed pensive and pained by his brother’s curt: “Hello.” He looked as if he’d rather be anywhere else. Afghanistan, perhaps.

        At the entrance to the Abbey, Meghan did her “I’m so glowing and compassionate, me” routine with a receiving line of enraptured clergymen when she noticed Prince William come in and hastily scuttled along. No love lost there.

        Meghan Markle: inspirational, self-assured, bi-racial humanitarian who has brought joy to lost, motherless boy and sticks up for what she thinks is right? Or fame-hungry, scorch-the-earth people-dumper dragging poor Harry down a dark path? Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. At least there is little doubt what William thinks.

        You could tell how anxious things were because Buckingham Palace was forced to make a last-minute change to avoid upsetting the swansong couple. Harry and Meghan were supposed to be shown to their seats while the Cambridges joined the Queen’s procession.

        Instead, faced with the dread news that the Sussexes were “emotional and upset” at being excluded from the Royal line-up, the one they had chosen to leave, William and Kate defused the situation by dropping out of the procession and also being taken to their seats. There was no time to re-print the 2,000 orders of service which stated clearly that the Cambridges would enter with the Queen and the Prince of Wales.

        Once seated, everyone looked tense and utterly miserable except the person who had done most to cause the tension and misery. Meghan kept her newly-whitened smile on full-beam lest she damage the brand by appearing unhappy in the photographs.

        Boy, I have seen some awkward family gatherings in my time, but this one took the Bath Oliver. It will be just one year ten months and 12 days since Meghan joined the Firm on 31st March, the day that she and Harry bow out of Royal life. A remarkably short period of time to have sown such discord. Princess Diana would be devastated to see her boys so coldly estranged.

        Perhaps Harry was always looking for a way to leave the life he thought had murdered his mother. Fair enough. I get that. Given time, people would have respected his decision. But it has been done so impatiently and with such arrogant obliviousness towards the Queen. It was Her Majesty who, upon their marriage, appointed the Sussexes as youth ambassadors to her beloved Commonwealth, a thoughtful gift that, at Monday’s lovely ceremony, they threw back in her face.

        I count myself a Harry fan, but I find I now care very little that he is leaving our national life. I am not impressed, not at all, and I suspect a lot of people feel the same way. One day, the prince may have cause to reflect that, in pursuit of love, he carelessly squandered the affection of millions.”

  78. Exciting times… Mother taken into hospital yesterday evening, so I must hie me to Wales ASAP. No calls returned from the medical folks about her condition or why she is in, or anything else for that matter.
    Questions: Do I need to take my own bog roll with me? If I’m as nimble as a Welsh fly-half, can I dodge the virus? Is Tescos really empty of food?

    2. Oh dear.
      Have a safe journey.
      At least you will be there to see exactly what’s going on.

      1. Thanks!
        … and take care of some administration – and tidy her house a lot.

        2. Remember there will probably be a pay and display car park.

          Let’s hope that the medics look hard for underlying health problems, because dementia isn’t always so quick. There is a medicine that delays the effects for several years, and which can only be prescribed to people who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

    3. Take a few cases of toilet rolls with you. Then you can sell them on the black market and make a huge profit.

    7. Do you need anything when here?
      I’m guessing Llandough Hosp.
      Have a safe visit.

      1. Yes, Llandough. Thanks for the offer, that’s very kind of you, but so far everything is sort of under control. Of course, may all turn to ratshit at any moment… ;-))

    8. Hell of a time to have to handle a situation like that, Herr Obst.

      God reise, Stay safe and I wish your mother a speedy recovery.

      1. Thanks for the kind wishes, Duncan.
        It’s been coming a while, no dodging it this time.

        1. It was once before – when the police replaced their “noddy bikes” with Panda cars.

          5. I got a push bike a few years later when I came off the unit-beat pandas and response vehicles and returned to being a community village bobby. I also acquired a cape too, invaluable for keeping warm and dry. Those were the most satisfying days of my service.

          6. Was your pushbike a Pashley or Raleigh?
            I bought a couple of each at Wheatcrofts Auction in Matlock 20odd years ago when Derbyshire Police sold them off.

          7. Do you know, Bob, I can’t remember what it was. It certainly wasn’t a Raleigh because I’d had Raleigh bikes before and I worked at Raleigh in Nottingham after retiring from the police.

          8. If it was black and had a larger than standard frame, then it was probably a Pashley.
            The Raleighs I bought were green Raleigh Superbs.

  81. I found racist graffiti in my own classroom. And yet my first reaction was denial. Peter Olusoga. 11 March 2020.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6e17fa354c5d74d9cbe8d6b28f7a05c0484d6cad77124313b172c53691f0369e.jpg

    I’m a senior lecturer in psychology in a multicultural city. My adult life has been largely protected from the more visceral acts of racism that I read about every day, and I’m grateful for that privilege. I was a little taken aback, then, when I went to teach a class on campus recently, and found that someone had scrawled the N-word on the whiteboard eraser.

    Is that really what it says?

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/11/racist-graffiti-classroom-denial-race-card

    1. Not exactly. He’s filled n a very large blank. Could have been two people’s initials.

    2. Afternoon Minty and all.

      We can all see that that’s not what it says; however, I would say that it is intended as a racist comment. I have no idea where this this lecturer or his ancestors hail from but IMO it is racist.

      Perhaps the students should be treated as if they were at primary/junior/first/second school – all should be suspended or lose marks in their next exams. That would be interesting. Maybe they should all be sent down! That would put the cat among the pigeons.

      1. Afternoon Vouvray. I’ve read it a couple of times and I’m less than convinced. He does say for example that it was his classroom so why hasn’t he noticed it before and the first and last two sets of initials look as though they were written by different people. This doesn’t of course mean that someone didn’t see the opportunity to insert a G and E, but why stop at one rather indeterminate letter? He’s also a psychology lecturer and yet writes like some woke virgin about gaslighting. There’s also this…

        Though part of our daily lives, in a more high-profile way it commonly takes the form of TV “discussions”, where black and brown thinkers are invited into the studio to explain why a racist thing is racist – while being shouted down by the show’s white host or well-known guest, who have little knowledge and no experience of what racism actually is.

        …which is a blatant lie since no interviewer would survive such an exchange. So all in all I think he’s invented this little scenario!

        1. Regarding “while being shouted down by the show’s white host … “ Like you I find it not believable. A couple of days ago I caught some kind of interview with Nick Ferrari on TV, can’t remember what programme, when he was talking to Dawn Butler I think it was about racism. There certainly was no shouting, in fact, he bent over backwards to give her the chance to soften what she had just said.

          Edit: I notice that generally, people other than whites often become extremely excitable when in discussions no matter what the subject.

          2. Your last comment could apply to anyone from the other side of the English Channel.

          3. I notice that generally, people other than whites often become extremely excitable when in discussions no matter what the subject.

            They have no tradition of rational discussion so you are lucky if it doesn’t end up in bloodshed!

        2. When I was about twelve, some schoolkids posted a piece of bacon through my letterbox. They asked me about it at school the next day, it was clearly intended as some kind of anti-semitic insult, albeit a bit of a half-hearted one.

          Somehow, I have managed to struggle through the rest of my life – but the memory of that bacon still haunts me!

    3. It seems as though some people go hunting for things that aren’t there and by some sort of magic they find something that isn’t and then extrapolate it into something it isn’t.

      Is he suggesting that the country of Niger should change its name?

      1. Or is he proving that his ‘students’ can’t spell, which wouldn’t surprise me.

        1. Or is it NI (Northern Ireland) and ER (Elizabeth Regina) with a scrotum in between.

    4. Whiteboard? What can he mean? Surely it is very, very racist to scrawl on something called a “whiteboard”? Very demeaning to whiteys, surely?

    5. Niger is a landlocked nation in West Africa located along the border between the Sahara and Sub-Saharan regions. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east.

      Clearly geography is not his strong suit….

    2. “- another hole lot of mess…”

      It usually pays to stop diggin’, sweetie ! … x

  83. Two test positive for coronavirus after getting home from Fred. Olsen cruise

    Italy and Cruises seems to be the main source of infection.

    Ipswich-based cruise line Fred. Olsen has revealed that two passengers have tested positive for coronavirus after returning home from a Caribbean cruise on the Braemar.

    The company said both guests were aboard Braemar as part of the ‘Western Caribbean and Central America’ fly-cruise, and left the ship last week. Neither guest presented with any symptoms prior to their travel or whilst they were on board, and did not visit the medical centre.

    Fred. Olsen said they were not able to give any further details about the passengers – not even which country they were from or where they were tested.

    A statement from the company said: ‘The Captain is keeping guests and crew fully informed of all developments, and the ship is operating under its highest level of sanitisation, which includes the suspension of self-service buffets and increased cleaning around the ship.

    ‘There are five people on board who are currently isolated as they have presented at our Medical Centre with influenza-like symptoms.

    ‘As a precaution, we are making arrangements to have these crew members tested for COVID-19 coronavirus when we arrive at the next port of call of Willemstad, Curaçao on Tuesday March 10.

    1. The convention to treat the name Fred as an abbreviation with a full point ceased many decades ago.

      1. Maybe, but look at the company name as shown on their home page: https://www.fredolsencruises.com

        FRED. OLSEN CRUISE HOLIDAYS

        Awarded ‘Best for Itineraries’ in the Cruise Critic UK Editors’ Picks Awards for the fourth year running, and rated over 4.5 out of 5 on independent review site Feefo, Fred. Olsen offer a cruise holiday experience like no other. Sailing from five local UK departure ports.

        Complete with said “point”.

        1. The term “full point” is the accepted name in the editorial and proof-reading world. I learnt that fact on a proof-reading course.

          1. The company was founded in Norway by one Fredrik Olsen and his brothers. Different rules there?

          2. They used to do the ferries from Newcastle to Oslo & Bergen until the company was sold and the new owners decided to drop the ferries and concentrate on the cruise market.

    2. I’ve given up on the idea of future cruises on MV Floating Petri Dish and its sister ships. What with Norovirus routinely hitting every third cruise, and now Covid-19, it’s just not worth it.

      1. ISLANDS OF THE CARIBBEAN & THE AZORES (M2006) – CANCELLED

        Wednesday 11th March 2020, 9am

        We are very sorry to let you know that the forthcoming cruise ‘Islands of the Caribbean & the Azores’ (M2006) has unfortunately been cancelled. We must sincerely apologise for the late notice.

        Guest safety and that of our crew is our number one priority. Late last night we found that a small number of people currently on Braemar have tested positive for COVID-19 Coronavirus. There is also much uncertainty in the Caribbean region with ships frequently delayed or denied access to planned ports of call. In these unprecedented times, we can therefore not guarantee that we could deliver the holiday we have promised our guests.

        We will of course be offering a full refund to all guests including any additional expenses incurred (e.g. train tickets, airport parking fees).

        All guests who are affected will be contacted by us today. In the meantime, please call our Guest Relations team on 0800 0355 145 between 8am and 8pm with any questions.

      2. Perhaps try the small cruise ships on the Danube. They don’t seem to suffer these bugs so much.

    3. I’ve given up on the idea of future cruises on MV Floating Petri Dish and its sister ships. What with Norovirus routinely hitting every third cruise, and now Covid-19, it’s just not worth it.

  85. This could slightly accelerate the decline of printed newspapers and magazines and books

    The 20% VAT on them has been scrapped. If you have any digital subscriptions you might want to keep an eye on them as the publishers may decide to pocket this saving rather than pass it on

      1. I may not have worded well. Currently printed books, magazines and newspapers are VAT free but the E versions carry 20% VAT, It is this that is being abolished

        1. I see. There is VAT on e-versions currently, (I didn’t know) but he is going to abolish it, which would if the e-versions are currently dearer than the paper versions, would get more people away from reading the paper ones.
          I think the coronavirus has been introduced to get rid of all us old fogeys so that they can digitise everything.

          1. Generally the e-versions are cheaper than the printed version and if the VAT saving is passed o will become even cheaper

            Currently the Telegraph appear to be charging £3 a week for the E subscription. I think the printed version is about £1 a day and about £2 at weekends

          3. Looking at their Web site a Standard esubscription is a £100 a year. If they pass on fully the VAT saving that would go down to £60 a year

            A printed subscription for 7 days is £14 a week which works out at £720 a year

          4. Yes, thanks. But I think the Telegraph should pay its readers for reading it………..

  86. Grenfell: Cladding firm suggested use of cheaper panels

    It seems to confirm my earlier view that fire safety for buildings in the UK is a mess. There seems to be no one with overall responsibility for Fire safety and various people seems to be involved and seem to lack competence on the subject

    The nearest to overall responsibility seems to be the Local Council who should sign off that it meets the Building Regulations. Not being familiar with them I dont know how much of them covers fire safety

    A cladding company manager suggested using a cheaper material for the Grenfell Tower refurbishment, a 2013 email seen by the inquiry has shown.

    Mark Harris, of Harley Facades, told architects his firm’s preference, “from a selfish point of view”, was to use aluminium composite material (ACM).

    ACM was “tried and tested” and the firm had used it many times before, he said.

    It was eventually used on the tower, with the inquiry concluding it fuelled the 2017 fire that killed 72 people.

    Now in its second phase, the inquiry is looking into how the building came to be covered in such cladding.

    It is the first detailed evidence the inquiry has heard suggesting reasons why the material was changed during the refurbishment programme between 2012 and 2016, with catastrophic consequences.

    Mr Rek also said he was unaware of several fire safety requirements for buildings and considered it a “subject outside of my competence”.

    He said he did not know at the time what would constitute a material of limited flammability and was unaware how individual parts of the cladding system should be considered for fire issues.

    The council has admitted a series of failings by its building control department which signed off the work despite the safety risk.

    1. The Building Regulations at least the 2019 version do have a Fire Safety section but it mainly covers things like smoke alarms and means of escape

      On the actual construction side it appears to weak and talks vaguely of may be met by doing this. There is also a distinct lack of recognized National or International fire safety standard

      https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/832631/Approved_Document_B__fire_safety__volume_1_-_2019_edition.pdf

  88. 10,000 tests a day.

    Whenever tests for anything increase there follows an increase in detection rates.

    Following MSM reports of the increased prevalence of the entities under investigation the public’s fears are moderated by the official explanation that the testing rates have increased.

  89. There’s something bothers me about skyscrapers. How can I put it? I feel much less uneasy having a room on the 14th floor of some hotel for a few nights than I would be about having a flat on the 14th floor of some tower block …. and this is irrespective of the quality of the neighbours. The likelihood of one day being in a burning tower is much higher in the latter situation – although nothing like as high as the complete inability of any Fire Service (and certainly not our jobsworth infected service) to rescue people from the 14th Floor.

    1. When I was working in the DC ‘burbs, we had an 9 floor building. The execs were on the 6th floor. When I asked how this was chosen, the facilities manager said that the CEO wanted to be high up in the building, but the 6th was as far as the local fire engines’ ladders could reach. Guess who had a 7th floor office…

    2. When I look up at these high-rise flats, I often see precarious balconies outside the windows. The word ” vertigo ” comes to mind.
      It must be the most awful thing imaginable to live in one of those places. Going up in a scratchy old lift, fourteen floors, must be very different to staying in a five-star hotel.

    3. Hotels in generally have better fire safety in my view than high rise. They will certainly have a second escape rooter plus emergency signage and a proper fire alarm system plus staff trained in what to do should a fire break out

      They also do not operate a stay put until the Fire brigade policy. If a fire breaks out in a hotel you evacuate. The procedure is on the back of the door in every room

    4. I was shocked when i realised Grenfell and other such blocks only have one staircase. If the Fire Brigade need to get their equipment up the stairs i can see why the advice was to stay put so they could do their job. So many poor people died unnecessarily for the sake of another staircase.

      1. Penny wise £-foolish can be writ very large about post-war UK housing policy.

        1. The builders have got away with murder. There are many people who bought flats in blocks such as Grenfell up and down the country and they are the ones landed with huge bills to change the cladding. There is some Government help but not for all. Some of the buildings are clad in wood and they don’t get any help.

          Who in their right mind would clad a building in flammable material?

          1. “Who in their right mind would clad a building in flammable material?”

            From past experience with senior Birmingham City planners, I’d say somebody living well out in the countryside.

          2. Looking at the building regs fire section it is pretty vague and invokes no recognised national or intentional standards . Most seem to e focused on fire alarms and exit routes . The other problem is no one organisation is in overall charge of fire prevention and most seem to have little understanding of fire prevention. The same material Greenfell is clad i is frequently used to insulate houses usually behind plasterboard. Most standard plasterboard does not have good fire resistance probably about 30 to 60 minutes . The big problem though with these material when used internally is if it get hot or catches fire it gives off toxic fumes as well as black smoke and particles

          3. I am baffled by this. It implies there are no proper standards for buildings as if there were whoever sold them the building would be liable

          4. ‘Evening, Phi, surely, as it’s an integral part of the building, it’s purely the landlord’s responsibility. No tenant input, as they agreed the tenancy as is and if the landlord wants/must change the building he’s altering the tenancy agreement and it must be his cost.

          5. Good morning, Nanny.

            That is what i thought but they have added the cost to the maintenance charge.

            I had a similar agreement on a flat in Southsea. There was talk of replacing the roof. I managed to dodge that bullet by selling before it became official.

      2. The refurbishment of Grenfell Tower should have included an additional staircase. My own personal view is that such tower blocks are a failed socialist experiment and it was preferable to have demolished it and replaced with low rise development.

          1. Precisely. I worked with the Richmond on Thames architectural practice, Darbourne & Darke, early seventies. John Darbourne won a competition for the Westminster housing development known as Lillington Gardens. This was built in several phases but proved that low rise, carefully designed, could provide higher densities than high rise tower blocks and give every occupant their own front door to the outside.

            The Lillington Gardens apartments are now listed and cherished by their owners, most having passed to private ownership.

            The problem with developments of tower blocks is the space required to surround them in order to allow open views and to avoid wind vortices which can make ground conditions very inhospitable.

            Edit: Given the fact that the council had no idea who was living in Grenfell and was clearly allowing multiple sub-letting I suspect Grenfell was very high density.

            This was proven by the high numbers of foreign chancers making undetected false claims and costing us millions before being exposed as frauds.

          3. I am pretty sure high rise buildings used to be required to have at least 2 staircases one of which would be classed as a fire escape then some bright sparc decided if the flats were designed to have 1 hours containment they could do away with the second stair case to save money

          4. This certainly applied to office buildings. One staircase with dry riser pipe and one lift would be dedicated fireman’s lift and stairs.

            Any building more than 100 feet above ‘mean pavement level’ would have to incorporate sprinklers.

            This was specified in The London Building Act.

            Regrettably, with the abolition of the GLC and the general diminution of its otherwise separate and distinctive powers, including a network of highly qualified and experienced District Surveyors, the whole building control system was transferred to the Building Regulations as applying outside London.

            The result was the dismissal of true expertise and its replacement by mostly inadequate local authority amateurs. London is where the major developments occurred, especially in the field of high rise, and The London Fire Brigade and Home Office Fire Inspectorate (covering Crown Buildings) were the acknowledged experts.

          5. I live in a ten storey block opened in 1937. The ground plan is T shaped with a staircase at either end of the long section.

          6. Just ensure that some smart arse developer (with an incompetent architect in tow) do not decide it is in your best interests to tart the place up.

        2. Originally I heard that some of the corridoors and landings were partially block with rubbish that was left out because the rubbish chutes were block.
          But a lot of the problems brought up at the time, seem to be taking a back seat. And the contractors are being lined up to take the blame.
          Having completed many loft conversions during my working life. Most of them have the same wall and roof insulation as these refurbed tower blocks. But none of it is self igniting.

          1. Yup. There appears to have been little council management of Grenfell Tower. From post fire photographs it appears that some tenants were permitted to replace fire doors at the entrance of their apartments with the inexplicably popular upvc doors favoured by grunts who which to ‘personalise’ their accommodation.

            ‘Plastic and mastic’ are not appropriate materials for any building whether some semi detached or terrace and especially in a tower block relying on the integrity of fire compartmentation.

        3. Le Corbusier and the City in the Sky turned into Glasgow’s Red Road flats. Now happily demolished.
          Technically it is possible to have high density low rise housing. People prefer it.

          1. I had Le Corbusier rammed down my throat by Professor John Needham when studying for my first degree at Sheffield University.

            I have never understood the attraction of Le Corbusier or his mad ideas, nor for that matter his wretched disciples and successors.

            The Modern Movement has proven to be a blight on our country. Ugly oblong buildings still proliferate with flat roofs and walls of glass. The German, Hermann Muthesius, knew better and published his fabulous book ‘The English House‘ which recognised and celebrated the intrinsic qualities of our English domestic architecture.

            Nikolaus Pevsner, another German, devoted his life to the study and recording of every significant building in England in his ‘Buildings of England’ books. These have proven to be a most welcome source of reliable historical information.

          3. All over the UK cheap and poorly constructed high rise building were thrown up

          4. Yup. There were multiple failures too, such as Ronan Point as a result of which disaster the Building Regulations were hastily amended to cover the concept of progressive collapse. This affected even low rise buildings.

            I was obliged to put reinforced concrete framing to link and stabilise traditional 9” party walls on a low rise development in Queens Road, Richmond on Thames, at the time.

      3. They should have given priority to evacuating the building , Difficult to fight a fire from inside that is actually on the outside of the building

      1. Not a lot of good for the Grenfell fire as it would be taking you through the heat and flames. The inside staircase was the safest exit route

      3. Ingenious. But it’d need to be bigger otherwise a Dianne Abbott would block it.

    6. Fire fighting of high rise building was never really properly considered . It was assumed the fire brigade got their quickly enough and the containment held
      That was a flawed assumption. The minimum Fire resistance is just 60 minutes. It could in London take at least 10 minutes to get to a fire. There is also the unknown variable of how quickly a fire will be found and a 999 call made. lets call it 10 minutes. The fire brigade have then get there kit set up and get to the fire thats another 5 minutes say so best case 25 minutes has passed

      The other problem is they never really considered the evacuation of the flats it assumed they could quickly get the fire out

      The other problem is they had never consider at all a fire spreading up the outside of the building in fact the outside of high rise building almost encourage the spread of fire upwards. They also had no equipment to fight fire on the outside higher than about 12 floors

  90. Flood alert for Caerleon in Newport

    CAERLEON Road will be closed this evening for emergency flood defences to be set up.

    This evening’s high tide is expected to exceed the Natural Resources Wales trigger level for Caerleon, Newport City Council said.

    The flood alert follows some flooding this morning, with the River Usk overflowing into neighbouring fields.

    A flood barrier will be set up this evening on Caerleon Road, causing road closures and traffic diversions.

    The council said it expected these restrictions would be in place from 7pm until 10.30pm today (Wednesday).

  91. BREAKING NEWS: NHS England said another patient had died in Warwickshire after testing positive for coronavirus, bringing the total to eight. More follows…

    1. Another Briton died in Japan having been on board the quarantined Diamond Princess ship.

    2. To keep things in perspective, we need to know:

      1) The number of tests per day, and
      2) The number of positive outcomes per day …

    3. If people keep dying after being tested for corona virus, maybe they should stop the testing.

          2. After that, therefore because of that – it’s the fallacy of affirming the consequent.

      1. 317057+ up ticks,
        Evening NtN,
        Won’t happen all the time the submissive,PC,Appeasement brigade has a shout.

  93. Chris Grayling to head body that will have final say over Russia report. 11 March 2020.

    Chris Grayling and other senior Brexiter Conservatives are set to be appointed to the powerful intelligence and security committee, who will then have the final say over whether to release the long delayed report on Russian infiltration.

    Yes let’s make Chris Grayling chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee. A man to whom the description moron would be a compliment. This said, the report itself, large sections of which have been leaked (just as one might expect when dealing with the UK’s intelligence operations) consists of accusations without victims. Just what exactly are the Russians supposed to have achieved? Electing Boris? Leaving the EU? Once you see the name Bill Browder in there you know you are being sold a pup!

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/mar/11/chris-grayling-to-head-body-that-will-have-final-say-over-russia-report

  94. I just looked at the budget details. This seems to be an absolutely first class budget. I hope we can afford it.
    The media haven’t started slagging off Sunak yet. Maybe they are afraid of his wife.

      1. there’s quite a few videos up of the Japanese SDF performing. Some VERY pretty young ladies too!

    3. She should come to my pub’s open mic, it is the Rising Sun. He sounds like the soundtrack from a Noodle Western movie.

  99. Windy up here tonight.
    Gusts down here in the valley and a continuous roar from the wind at the top.

    But that’s me for the night.
    Peaceful dreams to one and all!

  102. Regarding the issues raised again by the Grenfell Tower debacle.

    Almost all of the problems in ensuring fire safety result from two measures. Firstly the abolition of the GLC and its network of experienced District Surveyors and its replacement by over-promoted tea boys employed by local authorities.

    Secondly, by the requirement placed on local authorities to house multiple families of immigrants who, without close supervision by the relevant council, were allowed to abuse their rights and sub-let their council properties to any number of itinerants.

    The resultant cost to the taxpayer to compensate crooks and illegals is running to many millions. It is time some councillors at Kensington and Chelsea were made accountable and prosecuted for this fiasco.

    False claimants should of course be deported forthwith. The rest of us are sick and tired of these evident abuses to our systems.

  104. Evening, all. I have been grappling with vehicle problems today so missed the budget. It appears to be a case of spend, spend, spend and never mind the debt, from what I have read.

      1. If you drive you’ll pay for it via VED and if you use gas you’ll be paying extra, too.

        1. However, if you use electricity all that can happen is that eventually you get cut off from time to time. Daily.

    2. Another zerolite with an over developed sense of self importance.
      I hope he’s locked up for years.

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