Wednesday 14 July: We can see through a wave of Covid fear meant to generate compliance

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/2021/07/13/letters-can-see-wave-covid-fear-meant-generate-compliance/

783 thoughts on “Wednesday 14 July: We can see through a wave of Covid fear meant to generate compliance”

    1. It should be renamed Condom Street as we are being well and truly fupt!

      Good morning Michael et al

      1. “fupt” – Is that an acronym for “fucked under parliamentary tyranny”?

  2. SIR – All we ever hear are “scientists” warning about what might happen in the near future, and how many thousand hospitalisations and deaths we can expect. This is not science.

    We the public are tired of this incessant stream of prognostications which, in the recent past, have often been wide of the mark. We have wised up to a deliberate government policy of creating fear so as to generate compliance with endless diktats.

    We are still none the wiser as to the proportion of Covid-positive people who are actually ill, and I’m sure we are not going to be told.

    Dr Martin Henry
    Good Easter, Essex

    And a Merry Christmas to you, Sir

  3. Is Tony Blair on the verge of a comeback? 14 July 2021.

    The other key takeaway from this poll of course is Blair’s relative popularity in his own party, compared to the contempt in which some held him during the Corbyn era. A positive rating will add fuel to the fire that the New Labour premier is plotting a comeback, with the Times recently reporting his private view that he would do a better job as PM now than when he first occupied the post – a belief that has only grown throughout the coronavirus pandemic, according to one well-placed source. Is it time for another ‘rare intervention’ from Tone, announcing his intention to return to the Commons? His former safe seat of Sedgefield went blue at the last election which rules that one out.

    Morning everyone. War Criminal. Murderer, Traitor. Liar. He’s almost a shoo- in for 10, Downing Street!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/is-tony-blair-on-the-verge-of-a-comeback-

  4. SIR – Some years ago, at Clifford’s Tower in York, I was privileged to attend the 700th anniversary of the expulsion of the Jews from England. As a member of an ancient Jewish family and later a Christian, I found this a very moving ceremony, conducted by the Council of Christians and Jews.

    Now the Church of England has announced it is to apologise for the expulsion (report, July 13). Isn’t this getting silly? That expulsion was in 1290. The Church of England was founded in 1534.

    I would be more impressed if the Church did more to stop the anti-Jewish sentiment rife in Britain today.

    Rev Gillian Lurie
    Westgate on Sea, Kent

      1. Yo OLT

        The Argentinian Marxist is in hospital and I was rather hoping he might be dead by the date of the ‘Apologia’

        1. Isn’t winning the Coudenhove-Kalergi Charlemagne Prize a pre-requisite for Popedom (or should that be Popehood?) nowadays? Contenders had better get writing – or is the successor already a foregone conclusion?

          Morning Citroen!

        2. Isn’t winning the Coudenhove-Kalergi Charlemagne Prize a pre-requisite for Popedom (or should that be Popehood?) nowadays? Contenders had better get writing – or is the successor already a foregone conclusion?

          Morning Citroen!

    2. Are they also going to demand that the Danish government apologises for the Viking invasions (and all the concomitant raping and pillaging) that introduced the Danelaw (and Danegeld) and made York (Jorvik) the capital of the Viking kingdom in England?

      2. Funnily enough, I met a Dane at the stables today (his daughters had booked a riding lesson), he was joking about the Viking invasions and how we were all Danes really after all the raping and pillaging.

    3. Good morning Citroen. What a silly, blinkered vicar. Of course the C of E won’t criticise current anti-Jewish ‘sentiment’. Doing so would upset their beloved peace-loving, Palestinian friends and slammers.

    4. ‘Morning, Citroen.

      Interesting – on that very spot in 1739, Dick Turpin was hanged.

      Could we arrange for Welby, Johnson and now Blair to have a repeat performance, before all this mayhem and destruction goes much further and we are robbed of our future.

  5. SIR – Your report (July 9) about the cost and number of Anglican bishops tells only part of the story. Including suffragan posts, there are now 105 bishops in the Church of England – a number largely unchanged since the millennium – although active membership has declined by about a third since 2000.

    The latest episcopal role – Bishop to the Archbishop of Canterbury and York – was created only recently. It appears that the archbishops struggle to coordinate their activities.

    Parishioners across the country, hopeful that the current review of the Church’s structures will result in radical changes, might bear in mind that each element of the review is headed by a bishop.

    Nigel Lewis
    Farnham, Surrey

    And how many of them are worth their salt?

    1. SIR – Thirty years ago, two MPs made a BBC television documentary on the salvation of the Church of England. Tony Benn (Labour Left, radical, nonconformist) argued that for the Church to survive and progress, it must be freed from its historical shackles to the monarchy. The solution, he believed, was disestablishment.

      Norman Tebbit (Conservative Right, radical, nonconformist) wanted the Church to be privatised, like other state assets being sold off under the Thatcher-Major governments.

      Since then, free and privatised churches have flourished, while parish churches are subject to increasing financial demands, constant cuts to clergy numbers and a disabling conservatism. The Church is stuck in a rut – perhaps it is time to revisit disestablishment and privatisation.

      Ruth Winstone
      Bideford, Devon

      1. With only 130 parishioners and about 7 or 8 regular worshippers, I doubt if our small Church and Parish could afford a vicar, if we disestablished and privatised ourselves

    2. Nigel Lewis, “…might bear in mind that each element of the review is headed by a self-serving bishop.”

      There, fixed it for you.

  6. MI5 wants you to be on the lookout for Chinese and Russian spies as much as you are for terror threats. 14 July 2021.

    Britons should be on their guard about spying and hostile state attacks from the likes of China and Russia in the same way they are about terrorism, MI5’s top boss will warn today.

    In a major speech at the Thames House headquarters in London, MI5’s Director General, Ken McCallum will warn that ordinary members of the public are not immune to the tentacles of hostile states.

    The chance of you spotting a Russian or Chinese spy are of course pretty near zero but while you are doing that you will be watching your neighbours for anti-woke views! The Gestapo, who despite their fearsome reputation, were a surprisingly small organisation, relied largely on informers among the population for their work in disposing of the Reich’s purported enemies.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9785813/Britons-alert-spying-China-Russia-terrorism-warns-MI5-chief.html#comments

    1. One of my children likes Chinese takeaway.
      Should I tell MI5?
      I’ve never had any myself, obviously.
      Well… just a little bit.

      1. Morning LiM. Obviously your children are deeply suspect. I’ll refer them and you to PREVENT!

          4. There are few, if any, Chinese takeaways in Skåne; certainly no decent ones. There are some very good Chinese grocers in Malmö, though, so I buy the necessary ingredients and make my own.

          5. I was thinking earlier this morning about when the first Chinese restaurant opened in town in about 1960. A 3-course lunch (soup, chow mein or chop suey, then a sweet) at a low price, became a regular feature of a Saturday shopping trip. Nobody dared to use chopsticks, although they were available. I learnt to use them at Uni.

          6. Wasn’t that difficult to do whilst you were riding a unicycle? And were you doing the Varsity Rag at the time? (Sorry about the slight hint of sarcasm, Peter, but I find I get very reactive when proper words like “University” are shortened. Another one which seems to have surfaced in the past week is footballers who take “pens” to their matches – to sign autograph books no doubt.) :-))

          9. We had the same in Chesterfield. When I was an apprentice on day-release from work (1967 – 1971) to attend the local College of Technology; every Friday, my chums and I would enjoy a similar three-course special for six bob (30p) at our local Chinese.

          10. Good on yer, Grizzly. Yesterday I made a lovely gooseberry crumble with fruit from my own garden and some extra donated from a friend’s garden. Today I plan to make raspberry jam from fruit in my garden harvested over the past week or so. And I am looking forward to finding damsons in my local garden produce greengrocer’s shop.

          11. Thanks, Auntie Elsie. One of the best home-made wines I was ever given was damson. The other was beetroot.

      2. I have some home made borscht in the freezer. Should I chuck it out before the neighbours twig?

  7. The headline shouts about white militias but the photograph shows a distinctly dusky hand holding the metal bar. Typical New Woke DT.

    White militias fill lawless vacuum in South Africa after worst violence since Apartheid

    PLUS: How the surge of unrest in the wake of Jacob Zuma’s imprisonment has exposed stark divides

    By Mark Eveleigh IN HOWICK
    14 July 2021 • 3:11am

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/world-news/2021/07/13/TELEMMGLPICT000264246188_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=680
    A suspected looter is beaten by the owner of a shop in Bara Mall in Soweto, Johannesburg
    *
    *
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/07/13/white-militias-fill-lawless-vacuum-south-africa-worst-violence/

    2. To be fair, I have read that black owners of businesses have been fighting along side white owners. Which is a good thing because it puts the lie to those who will claim this is a race conflict.

  8. Tory MP says party must change attitude towards taking the knee. 14 July 2021.

    Conservatives urgently need to change their attitudes towards people taking the knee, an influential Tory MP has said amid an angry backlash against the government over the racist abuse of England footballers.

    Steve Baker, the former minister and hard Brexit campaigner, broke cover on Tuesday to plead for his party to think again about dismissive attitudes towards the taking of the knee and calling for better understanding of the motives behind it.

    The Party? Why should the Party and not individuals take their own position? What is Baker suggesting here? That kneeling be on the legislation agenda! This of course is much like what prevails in the English Football team. Peer pressure and moral blackmail prevent any individual breaking ranks with Southgate’s personal agenda!

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jul/13/leading-tory-mp-says-party-must-change-attitude-on-taking-the-knee

    1. All based on over hyped posts on twitter that nobody knows if they are real or from people of this country and a mass media narrative, I have thought all along that as part of the great reset some that there was some sort of organised global race baiting agenda going along in unison with it and now it looks very much that it wasn’t just tinfoil hat conspiracy theory.

      1. Morning Bob. It looked pretty suspicious to me and the MSM frenzy was clearly orchestrated!

      2. Morning Bob. It looked pretty suspicious to me and the MSM frenzy was clearly orchestrated!

    2. I’ve changed my attitude to the Conservative Party. No subscription renewal in January 2021.

    1. I have stood on the roof of the (old) World Trade Centre, top floor of the Empire State Building; top of the Eiffel Tower and climbed on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, all without fear.

      However, ask me to climb a ladder to clean out the guttering and my knees shake uncontrollably.

      1. Grizzly you are really Bill Thomas, and I claim my five bob postal order.

        :-))

      2. Hmm. I will not, for choice, go more than two rungs up a stepladder, or look over a bannister, and climbing a ladder on a harbour wall is a feat of willpower.. Yet flying in a helicopter looking at the ground 200 feet below me gave me no concerns.

        2. That is all to do with perception. On a ladder you can see the ground and that it represents pain and injury if you fall. At great altitude the ground becomes a mere distant illusion that presents no perceivable threat to life or limb whatsoever.

          Also tall structures and aircraft have a solidity that gives assurance. A wobbly ladder has nothing of the sort.

          1. Yes, but they don’t make lifts with see-through bottoms for good reason.

            Go’morgen Bamse!

  11. Britain will work with Taliban if ‘they take off terrorist balaclava and enter Afghan government’. 14 July 2021.

    While working with militants responsible for deaths of 457 British personnel is controversial, Ben Wallace says pragmatism must win the day.

    Well we don’t want to worry about a few dead Tommy’s do we Ben? Even though we sent them there!

    In reality of course the Taliban will not be “entering” government. They will be the Afghan Government; hence Wallace and his accomplices will have no choice!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/13/britain-will-work-taliban-take-terrorist-balaclava-enter-afghan/

  12. Bloody Sunday: Soldier F named in Parliament by Irish nationalist

    Colum Eastwood made the remark in the Commons just hours before the Government is set to announce plans that will end Troubles prosecutions

    By Harry Yorke, WHITEHALL EDITOR 13 July 2021 • 9:40pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/politics/2021/07/13/TELEMMGLPICT000264282667_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqsv7aT626_14DJUXhO54EUOknfLM6ja74Ig47ie2r9EE.jpeg?imwidth=680
    The Commons Speaker has been urged to sanction Colum Eastwood, the SDLP leader, after his announcement in Parliament on Tuesday

    An Irish nationalist MP has been accused of endangering the life of a British veteran by naming him in Parliament, just hours before the Government is due to announce plans that will end Troubles prosecutions.

    The Commons Speaker was on Tuesday urged to sanction Colum Eastwood, the leader of Northern Ireland’s Social Democrat and Labour Party, after he chose to name a former soldier facing a potential trial over his actions during Bloody Sunday.
    *
    *
    *
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/07/13/bloody-sunday-soldier-f-named-parliament-irish-nationalist/

    Sanction him?? SANCTION HIM??? String up the filthy little coward.

  13. SIR – Surely if we all wanted to be “as safe as possible” at all times, shouldn’t we wear masks, life jackets, and stab vests?
    Keith Macpherson Clevedon, Somerset

    No, just become a “VIP/MP/G7er etc” , as advocted by a certain Tory MP

    1. olt mng. When copy / pasting all the above scribbles, I caught Macpherson’s jottings. I guess he spends all day wandering around in a NBC suit

  14. mng all, more software updates and slow net, so usual delays. Here’s the scribbles:

    SIR – All we ever hear are “scientists” warning about what might happen in the near future, and how many thousand hospitalisations and deaths we can expect. This is not science.

    We the public are tired of this incessant stream of prognostications which, in the recent past, have often been wide of the mark. We have wised up to a deliberate government policy of creating fear so as to generate compliance with endless diktats.

    We are still none the wiser as to the proportion of Covid-positive people who are actually ill, and I’m sure we are not going to be told.

    Dr Martin Henry
    Good Easter, Essex

    SIR – When will the penny drop? Covid is not going away; it will continue to mutate. Lockdowns, unless permanent, do not work; they only buy time.

    The daily figures for those receiving their first jab are much reduced, so we are probably approaching “peak voluntary vaccination”.

    If infections and deaths do reach unacceptable levels then we need a new strategy not a new lockdown. Vaccination will have to be incentivised by making life difficult for those who refuse to be inoculated.

    I hope I am proved wrong, but I believe that some restrictions will be permanent. We are not going to see a full return to work with people squeezing into packed Underground trains and overcrowded offices. Have Wimbledon and Wembley been filled for the last time?

    I do not think we will again enjoy life as it was before Covid, and as soon as we realise this we can begin to plan our new society, starting with a complete reorganisation of the NHS.

    Dr Michael Pegg
    Esher, Surrey

    SIR – I am double-jabbed but do not have a smart phone. I presume therefore that I will be unable to get a Covid passport and will be barred from public gatherings or even the pub.

    Katherine Shone
    Shropham, Norfolk

    SIR – The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 covered physical impairment, social exclusion and equal opportunities, and its provisions were brought into the Equality Act 2010.

    Many people with conditions such as asthma, allergies or heart problems have, on the advice of their doctors, not taken the Covid vaccines.

    As the unvaccinated who suffer from such physical impairments will not qualify for a vaccine passport, they will be excluded from entering certain venues and prevented from having the same opportunities as those who have received both jabs.

    This contravenes the law, which might mean penalties for those venues that demand a Covid passport.

    Thomas Saunders
    London N6

    SIR – Surely if we all wanted to be “as safe as possible” at all times, shouldn’t we wear masks, life jackets, and stab vests?

    Keith Macpherson
    Clevedon, Somerset

    Data protection rules

    SIR – During a recent visit to a National Trust property, my wife lost one of her hearing aids. We tried to leave contact details in case it was handed in but were told that, due to data protection, they could not take my telephone number – I could ring in to inquire.

    When I pointed out that, had they not scanned my NT membership card, then under Test and Trace rules they would have taken the number anyway, they said it was a different department.

    Dr Peter Hills
    Norley, Cheshire

    Morrisons’ values

    SIR – I think Matthew Lynn (Business, July 9) has misunderstood some of the opposition to the proposed takeover of Morrisons. It may be the fourth-placed supermarket chain in Britain with fewer branches than others, but unlike them, it aims to buy British produce, pay sensible prices and build long-term relationships in communities.

    At this time, short supply chains and concern for the environment, staff and customers are considerations that should not be overlooked by private equity firms in the pursuit of profit.

    Frances Braithwaite
    London SE6

    Road verge safety

    SIR – While I support letting the grass grow on verges to encourage wildlife, there must be concern for road safety.

    Out on a walk with her family, our seven-year-old granddaughter was knocked down by a car while crossing a road from a public footpath. Neither she nor the driver were aware of the other’s presence due to the height of the uncut verges.

    She spent a night in hospital with a head injury, cuts and bruises, and all parties have been greatly affected by the episode.

    The council has responsibility for road safety and ensuring that sight lines are clear at crucial junctions. Surely human life must be a priority.

    Elizabeth Kershaw
    Solihull

    Beat poet used his loaf

    SIR – Your obituary of Michael Horovitz (July 9) included a story of him arriving with stale loaves from Cranks in return for use of the Private Eye photocopier. But it was in fact bread that he had baked himself as a “thank you” – and very good it was too.

    Barry Fantoni
    Turin, Italy

    Prosecuting veterans

    SIR – The Government’s briefing to the Telegraph (report, July 11) that it has a plan, to be “unveiled” this week, to protect Northern Ireland veterans from vexatious and discriminatory prosecutions is not only misguided; it does the veterans and the country a disservice.

    The Government already had a plan, which was to pass legislation equivalent to the Overseas Operations Act 2021, to bring such treatment to an end. The enactment of this plan has been promised numerous times since the general election in 2019. But it hasn’t been delivered.

    Now there is a “new plan” to introduce a truth and reconciliation commission. The fact is, this should have been done in 1998. It’s too late now. Such commissions only work if the perpetrators of violence can be persuaded to cooperate in return for amnesties. The Northern Ireland paramilitaries already have their amnesties, whether under the Good Friday Agreement or through the more secretive “on the run” scheme. They have no incentive to participate.

    Meanwhile, the veterans don’t have – nor do they even want – such amnesties. They just want fair treatment. Therefore, such a scheme is dead on arrival. The only parties that will effectively participate are military witnesses, rendering it totally one-sided. Nothing will have changed.

    Instead, the Government will have only served to create a more effective machine with which those seeking to rewrite the narrative of the Troubles may scapegoat the veterans.

    Matthew Jury
    Managing Partner, McCue & Partners
    Austen Morgan
    Barrister, 33 Bedford Row
    London WC1

    Theft of letters

    SIR – Julia Evans (Letters, July 10) praises the use of postboxes outside houses in France. We had such a lockable box but were advised by the police that, due to thefts from these boxes, we should revert to the use of a letter box slot in our porch.

    Apparently criminals target lockable outdoor boxes by filling them with paper almost up to the slot. When the letters are delivered, instead of falling to the bottom of the box they sit high enough for fraudsters to retrieve them shortly afterwards.

    This is what happened to us. Subsequently three applications for credit cards in our names were made, which we luckily managed to avert.

    Len Biggins
    Chorleywood, Hertfordshire

    Apologies for the past

    SIR – Some years ago, at Clifford’s Tower in York, I was privileged to attend the 700th anniversary of the expulsion of the Jews from England. As a member of an ancient Jewish family and later a Christian, I found this a very moving ceremony, conducted by the Council of Christians and Jews.

    Now the Church of England has announced it is to apologise for the expulsion (report, July 13). Isn’t this getting silly? That expulsion was in 1290. The Church of England was founded in 1534.

    I would be more impressed if the Church did more to stop the anti-Jewish sentiment rife in Britain today.

    Rev Gillian Lurie
    Westgate on Sea, Kent

    SIR – The Entomological Society of America has decided to remove the forename “Gipsy” from the moth as it may be “inappropriate or offensive” (report, July 13). No doubt we shall also have to cancel Sir Francis Chichester.

    George Kelly
    Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire

    The squeeze to get modern cars into garages

    SIR – No one seems to have mentioned that planning spaces for garages (Leading Article, July 8) have not been altered since laws were passed in the 1920s – and the size fitted an Austin 7.

    That’s why I love America. You get a garage where you can swing both doors of the car open, and still have room for more.

    Ian Clark
    North Walsham, Norfolk

    Bishops multiply as congregations dwindle

    SIR – Your report (July 9) about the cost and number of Anglican bishops tells only part of the story. Including suffragan posts, there are now 105 bishops in the Church of England – a number largely unchanged since the millennium – although active membership has declined by about a third since 2000.

    The latest episcopal role – Bishop to the Archbishop of Canterbury and York – was created only recently. It appears that the archbishops struggle to coordinate their activities.

    Parishioners across the country, hopeful that the current review of the Church’s structures will result in radical changes, might bear in mind that each element of the review is headed by a bishop.

    Nigel Lewis
    Farnham, Surrey

    SIR – Thirty years ago, two MPs made a BBC television documentary on the salvation of the Church of England. Tony Benn (Labour Left, radical, nonconformist) argued that for the Church to survive and progress, it must be freed from its historical shackles to the monarchy. The solution, he believed, was disestablishment.

    Norman Tebbit (Conservative Right, radical, nonconformist) wanted the Church to be privatised, like other state assets being sold off under the Thatcher-Major governments.

    Since then, free and privatised churches have flourished, while parish churches are subject to increasing financial demands, constant cuts to clergy numbers and a disabling conservatism. The Church is stuck in a rut – perhaps it is time to revisit disestablishment and privatisation.

    Ruth Winstone
    Bideford, Devon

    1. I would be more impressed if the Church did more to stop the anti-Jewish sentiment rife in Britain today.

      Well Gillian this would necessitate action against the Muslim Community which is unacceptable to the Wokeys!

      1. Everybody form a circle
        Put your left foot in
        Your left foot out
        Your left foot in
        And shake it all about
        You do the Hokey Wokey
        And turn yourself around
        Now put your ‘right’ Tweet in
        Your ‘right’ Tweet out
        ‘Right’ Tweet in
        Then you scream and shout
        And then you do the Hokey Wokey
        Turn yourself around
        That’s what it’s all about
        You put your dim head in
        You put your dim head out
        Put your dim head in
        And bang it all about
        Do the Hokey Wokey
        And turn yourself around
        That’s what it’s all about
        Let’s do the Hokey Wokey!
        Let’s do the Hokey Wokey!
        Let’s do the Hokey Wokey!
        That’s what it’s all about!

          3. It was a mockery of Catholic worship. Now try introducing mockery of muslim worship.

          4. With a chop, chop here, a boom boom there, here a chop, there a chop, everywhere a chop, chop …

    2. I would be more impressed if the Church did more to stop the anti-Jewish sentiment rife in Britain today.

      Well Gillian this would necessitate action against the Muslim Community which is unacceptable to the Wokeys!

    3. I would be more impressed if the Church did more to stop the anti-Jewish sentiment rife in Britain today.

      Well Gillian this would necessitate action against the Muslim Community which is unacceptable to the Wokeys!

    4. Dear Doctor Michael Pegg, why haven’t we been in constant lockdown since the Black Death in 1346?

      Then we wouldn’t have been accused of all those filthy racist acts

      1. Edward 1st. expelled the Jews c. 1290/92.
        Maybe William the B’stard should have locked us down so we weren’t nasty to the Normans.

    5. I think, Keith Macpherson, that you have omitted fur coat, snow shoes and pith helmet from your safe list.

    6. Having been woken up early this morning (MOH couldn’t find a sock), I decided I was in time to get to church for the 10.00 service. It was BCP – what a delight! I had forgotten how beautiful and expressive the language is. Not soulless like the modern version. Because I’m a linguist, it always irks me that I am expected to vouvoyer mon Père (and as my little act of rebellion I always tutoyer le Bon Dieu).

    1. Typical of the sort of ruling that we are currently getting from our own J.P.s and Judges.

      1. I know – it all changes after today. Thank goodness I had the bonfire yesterday.

  17. Too late…

    It’s a Left-wing lie that free speech is safe on campus

    Unless dissidents in our universities are given legal protection, Britain’s liberal public culture is at risk

    NIGEL BIGGAR
    ARIF AHMED
    13 July 2021 • 5:00pm

    Concern about threats to free speech in universities is commonly dismissed by the Left as a Right-wing distraction. So, last month, Tony Blair and Andrew Adonis wrote that the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, which had its second reading in the Commons yesterday, is “a reform in search of a problem since free speech is hardly a key issue on university campuses”.

    This is wrong. There is widespread empirical evidence that the freedom to speak and research of university students and teachers in the UK is being inhibited. Those affected range from conservatives to feminist critics of transgender ideology. And the evidence comprises not just anecdotes, but social scientific data. Four years ago, a poll of members of the University and Colleges Union revealed that 35.5 per cent of respondents admitted to self-censorship, mainly of their political views. It also found that, by European comparison, the UK’s legal protection for academic freedom was “negligible”.

    The Government’s Bill will go a long way toward thawing the chill. By requiring universities to promote free speech, it will provide an internal counterweight to the “equality-and-diversity” industrial complex. By creating a new post of director for freedom of speech, it will enable the Office for Students to focus on analysing the problems into a set of solutions that will establish sector-wide norms. By authorising the director to recommend redress, it will encourage vice-chancellors to push the issue up their agendas. By allowing staff to appeal beyond their own institutions, it will support beleaguered individuals. And by extending the duty to secure free speech to student unions, it will caution student leaders against yielding to pressure to stifle dissent.

    The Bill has its critics. Some object that legislation cannot change culture, so as to lift the fear of professional ostracism that causes self-censorship. Not so. Legislation can nudge culture in the right direction by reassuring dissidents that an external body stands ready to hold universities to account. And by establishing a set of liberal norms, the new law would help dissipate the climate of fear.

    Others object that persuasion would be better than the threat of sanctions. It would be ideal if universities could be persuaded to do what they should, without ever having to pick up the punitive stick. But sight of that stick is often necessary to encourage serious nibbling at the diplomatic carrot.

    A third criticism is that the new law would burden universities with even more bureaucracy, requiring the demonstration of compliance, especially in the promotion of free speech and academic freedom, in order to gain or maintain registration. This is so, but, unfortunately, it is also necessary, and the issue is important enough to make it proportionate.

    The Government’s Bill promises to go a long way in addressing the problem. But it could go further still. By confining academic freedom to an academic’s “field of expertise”, it fails to protect the freedom of students and academics to voice dissent from politicised curricular change – such as “decolonisation” – without fear of disciplinary action on the grounds of bringing their institution into “disrepute”. In its current form it would also still allow discussion in an academic context to attract allegations of having the effect of “harassment” under the Equality Act 2010.

    And it does not yet give staff access to affordable justice via an employment tribunal, in case of being dismissed for speaking or researching freely within the law. Access to a tribunal is relatively straightforward and shields complainants from the threat of having to pay huge costs if they lose. A tribunal can also order reinstatement.

    If it were amended, the Bill could make a vital contribution to reducing political polarisation in our country. What is at stake is not merely the liberty of individuals, but the preservation of universities as places where young citizens are educated to discuss controversial ideas that excite fierce passions, and to do so in a civil, rational, and responsible manner – so that light might prevail rather than heat. What is at stake is the future of liberal public culture in Britain.

    Nigel Biggar CBE is Regius Professor of moral and pastoral theology at the University of Oxford. Arif Ahmed MBE is university reader in philosophy at the University of Cambridge

    1. I see comments are open:-

      Philip Walsh
      14 Jul 2021 5:00AM
      Our woefully weak Misgovernment has handed/vacated almost unlimited power to the far Left. Boris isn’t up to the job of keeping them in check. 🙄

      Flag3UnlikeReply

      Robert Spowart
      14 Jul 2021 8:12AM
      @Philip Walsh The Long March Through The Institutions began with Marxists working their way up the ladder in our education system. This is not a recent phenomenon, it’s been going on for decades and no one took any notice.

      DeleteLike
      Reply

      2. 335369+ up ticks,
        Morning Bob,
        Many of us “took notice” only as a party were given a Thomas a Becket award via the parties nEc / nige.

    2. If we need to enshrine freedom od speech in a series of laws, we’ve probably sunk beyond recovery.

    2. This really is beyond funny now. This man is not fit and never mind America, his obvious senility puts the entire West in danger. Western governments should be protesting to the U.S. government. They wont because they are all spineless cowards. It’s infuriating!

      1. A comment:-

        This is beyond funny. It is not only tragic but dangerous that such a person should have been appointed as President of the USA.

        And I stress appointed because the evidence emerging from the Poll Audits strongly indicates substantially more fraudulent activity during the 2020 election than any previous American ballot.

        1. I know. I’m one of those people who believes that the rightful President of the USA is Trump. In fact when you put the Republicans together with the Independents and the Democrats who believe that, in surveys, it is clear that people believe Trump is the real President.

    3. Like Hillary, if he was there, did he experience being fired upon? If he did, pity they missed.

  19. Those that were given the AZ vaxx made in India are not allowed to travel to European countries for some reason.
    Those that were given it say they didn’t know, Darwinism at work here.I think

        1. mng, I also enjoyed the play on words “GaynorFunction” with the link direct to Gain of Function [research money paid by Fauci / US Govt for research in Wuhan Lab]. Grauniad will take a while to figure that

  21. Smoking guns aplenty…

    Twenty-year genetic trail behind Covid’s creation

    By Neville Hodgkinson
    July 13, 2021

    A 20-YEAR trail of patent applications concerning the virus responsible for Covid-19 proves it is neither new nor the result of a jump from animals to humans, an inquiry has been told.

    Instead, the patents show that a natural virus, harmless to humans, was subjected to numerous laboratory modifications which ‘weaponised’ it, such that it could become the basis of a marketing campaign for tests and vaccines which are of questionable value to the public health, but which have proved to be a financial bonanza for drug companies.

    A dossier of evidence supporting these claims has been presented to the international Corona Investigative Committee headed by Reiner Fuellmich, a senior German lawyer specialising in exposing corporate swindles. The committee has been taking testimony from scientists and other experts since July last year.

    The dossier was submitted last week by Dr David Martin, who heads M-CAM International, a US company which monitors innovations relevant to financial interests.
    *
    *
    *
    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/twenty-year-genetic-trail-behind-covids-creation/

    1. Morning Hatman. The past is another country! The sixties almost seem like a Golden Age from here!

        1. Morning, J, what is it they say, “If you remember the 60s, you weren’t there.” In other words, permanently stoned.

          I spent the 60s in the Royal Air Force and raising a family, so I guess I wasn’t there.

          3. I was in London, so as very young at the time I did miss a lot, but I still experienced a lot vicariously too.

          4. I was in London, so as very young at the time I did miss a lot, but I still experienced a lot vicariously too.

    2. all PC Elf, “When I went for a woke…when I get down on my knees… all the leaves are brown and the sky is grey” Woke anthem?

          1. So so, Ham-arse has been quiet but we have had over 700 new infections from the Delta variant in the last few days, however all are mild cases & the number of hospitalized has dropped from 49 to 46 with less than 24 on ventilators and no new deaths for 5 days so I guess we are doing OK compared to some other countries .

    5. Little Known Facts #349: When they were recording the song, they decided they needed an instrumental break in the middle of the song. One of them bumped in alto flute player Bud Shank in the corridor and asked him to play. He agreed and was offered a percentage of royalties or a one-off payment.

      He took the latter…

    2. Pleasant looking lass. Pity about her insane politics and inherent racism.

    4. I always chuckle whenever I hear the expression “think tank” since, in 99·999999% of cases, clear and concise thought is never on their agenda.

    5. Should they not advise Salima Begum to go and settle in a Muslim country that is not so full of foul racists like us English? How about Afghanistan – the beastly Europeans are all moving out so there is plenty of room for her.

      1. The draw is Richard, she’d have more slammer allies in the UK than where she is.
        She’s going to fit very nicely indeed with their destroy the British culture agenda.

  25. A puzzled pensioner writes. If the gang posing as a government annpounce that masks are no longer required by law – how can little squirts such as Sad Dick, Caliph of Londonistan or the Stafford Killer Burnham say that masks must be warn in their dominion?

    Just asking.

    1. I too was pondering the very same absurdity. I guess that it must all have something to do with devolution – maximise the stroppiness and undermine Westminster whenever the opportunity arises. Thank Bliar & Brun.

  26. Apparently Dick Head of the Yard wants to have a new contract – presumably to save London from the rent-a-quote self publicist Basu ….

  27. Russia heading for 2021 budget surplus, even with Putin spending goal – analysts. 13 July 2021.

    MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia is on course to run a budget surplus this year, analysts say, a turnaround after strong half-year data, with high oil prices giving room to cover spending promises from President Vladimir Putin ahead of parliamentary elections.

    Last month, Putin promised to spend on infrastructure, education and health, seeking to give the ruling United Russia party a boost. The pledges added to social support measures announced in April that will cost the budget around 400 billion roubles ($5.40 billion) over two years.

    Remember this the next time you read about Russian weakness or Western prosperity.

    https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/russia-heading-2021-budget-surplus-141835962.html

      1. Morning AW. Yes. Reuters was at one time an independent source, now sadly a member of the Propaganda Club!

    1. I am not ‘racist’, but I am a 100%, card-carrying, dyed-in-the-wool idiotist.

    2. Yeah, Britain is so racist that hundreds of thousands of people of all different races are falling over themselves trying to come here to live.

      2. Time for us to become really, really racist; we can then stand on a Kent beach and watch the loaded dinghies heading east.

    3. Has she rather forgotten that she herself is incredibly privileged, spoiled and indulged?

      It’s time all public funding were removed from such organisations. Let’s see them spread their poison without public money.

  29. 335369+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,

    Wednesday 14 July: We can see through a wave of Covid fear meant to generate compliance

    Many have SEEN this building for years it only needed a manufactured
    trigger and with this super flu, lab created or not it had one.

    To my mind the ashes of the last bridge between the electorate and the
    politico’s are still smoldering, there to be seen resulting from yesterday’s vote.

    IMO they ( the politico’s) can no longer be considered to be servants of the people’s but serpents ( poisonous var, ) would be more descriptive.

    This political action yesterday really,really should put the kibosh on any who consider themselves patriots writing to “their Mp” the reset
    title will most likely be something along the lines of area controller, and any future correspondence letter heading should be O most dominant one, if it pleases you …….

    1. It is a far better tune than our British National Anthem though I do like the British idea of confounding our enemies’ politics and frustrating their knavish tricks – the trouble is our enemies are now at the very heart of our once noble land..

      Does anyone remember, as I do, that Tony Benn chose La Marseillaise as one of his Desert Island Discs when he was on Roy Plomley’s programme?

          1. The French are very particular about using French, gusto is too close to German.

          4. I have a jar of that in my fridge. waiting for dispacho in the next heatwave.

          11. One of my official translators, when I was working in Paris, always claimed the Canadian French was much purer than Parisian French

          12. In France you have signs that read “STOP”. In Québec you have signs that read “ARRET”. French Canadians, unlike the French French, take the “traversier” and not “le ferry”. Zut alors! Deux peuples divisés par la même langue 🙂

      2. I can’t help thinking of the service’s version, which began, “A Frenchman went to the lavatory…”

        1. “Ou est le papier?”
          I bet my parents are glad they beggared themselves to pay the school fees.

      3. Can’t stand French. It sounds like a person with adenoid problems and severely congested with phlegm.

    2. It is a far better tune than our British National Anthem though I do like the British idea of confounding our enemies’ politics and frustrating their knavish tricks – the trouble is our enemies are now at the very heart of our once noble land..

      Does anyone remember, as I do, that Tony Benn chose La Marseillaise as one of his Desert Island Discs when he was on Roy Plomley’s programme?

    1. Referism, recall and direct democracy.

      Three simple ways to bring the state to heel.

      1. 335369+ up ticks,
        W,
        The current lab/lib/con coalition supporter / voters would NOT allow it.

        1. Not until we amalgamate all the vote-splitting parties. Then, we might get there.

  33. This Is For Men Tired Of Receiving Male Bashing Jokes

    How many men does it take to open a beer?
    None, it should be opened by the time she brings it.

    Why is a Laundromat a really bad place to pick up a woman?
    Because a woman who can’t even afford a washing machine will never be able to support you.

    Why do women have smaller feet than men?
    So they can stand closer to the kitchen sink.

    How do you know when a woman is about to say something smart?
    When she starts her sentence with “A man once told me…”

    How do you fix a woman’s watch?
    You don’t. There is a clock on the oven.

    Why do men pass gas more than women?
    Because women won’t shut up long enough to build up pressure.

    If your dog is barking at the back door and your wife is yelling at the front door, who do you let in first? The dog, of course. At least he’ll shut up after you let him in.

    All wives are alike, but they have different faces so you can tell them apart.

    I married Miss Right. I just didn’t know her first name was “Always.”

    I haven’t spoken to my wife for 18 months: I don’t like to interrupt her.

    Scientists have discovered a food to diminish a woman’s sex drive by 90%.
    It is Wedding Cake.

    Marriage is a 3-ring circus: Engagement Ring, Wedding Ring, Suffering.

        1. So did I. Didn’t Tom post a series of jokes yesterday representing the women’s side?

  34. The Daily Human (rapidly escalating) Stupidity.

    “The belief that the world was created yesterday seems to hold great appeal to those born at that time.”

    Gary Malone.

  35. I wonder if that mural of St. Marcus Rashford ever received planning permission . . . ?
    I know that if I chose to paint a huge picture on the wall end of my house, the local council would soon be round . . .

      2. I doubt it – that would waycist. Heaven forfend that a local council should be seen to be that.

        Morning PA, and welcome!

    3. The Boat pub in Cromford a couple of year back had a beautiful mural of a ship in full sail painted on the end wall.
      The council made them paint it over.

      1. 335369+ up ticks,
        S,
        As parents without doubt yes, as islamic ideology followers
        and keeping the likes of rotherham plus firmly in mind …….

        1. I wonder how many of those groomers actually were parents themselves. Very few I suspect.

          1. 335369+ up ticks,
            S,
            I don’t know, they work from a different book where much is made permissible,to me.
            I to wonder how many of the towns people / parents continued to support / vote for mass uncontrolled immigration ( ongoing) parties ?

          2. Probably not – their whole system is geared towards four wives per man. There are simply not enough women to go round. Especially with boatloads more men coming in.

          4. Afternoon, AWK. Goats are a treat. Easier to groom little girls, goats don’t drink…

      2. Yes, but if non-muslim parents objected, would they have been caved in to? Not on your Nellie!

        Morning, sos!

      3. Yes, but if non-muslim parents objected, would they have been caved in to? Not on your Nellie!

        Morning, sos!

    2. Oh dear. P!ssing off your remaining voters is not a Good Idea.
      The Allan Towers think tank had already foreseen that scenario.

  37. Right, medications to pick up so I’m walking to Cromford for the bus to Matlock.
    Play nicely all.

    1. they all flew out yesterday [no masks on plane]. All in attempt to bypass rules on State vote. Should have gone direct flight to Guantanamo and left there

    2. The governor is threatening to arrest them when they return to Texas. Good!

    3. Funny how it’s democracy when they win, but fraud when they stand to lose.

      One could almost suggest that they’re hypocrites.

      1. ‘Afternoon, Wibbles, “One could almost suggest identify that they’re hypocrites.”

        There, fixed it for you.

      1. Sensible. Just chuck it under the stall and clear it all up at once at the end of the market.

    2. I encourage people to go on to You Tube and start at 1900 or so and then work your way up through the decades. It puts the lie to the belief that this has always been a multi-ethnic country. I am old enough to remember when seeing a non-white person was actually unusual to the point that such a person stood out like a sore thumb.

      1. I was brought up in Edinburgh. I could count on my fingers the numbers of non-whites in 1962.

      2. The pro immigration lobby deliberately ignore the fact that whilst there has undoubtedly been a multi cultural religious influx over the centuries, the vast, vast majority of those people came from Judeo-Christian, white, ethnic backgrounds.

        Pretending that huge numbers of those immigrants were BAMEs, and Muslims and other religious groupings is a lie, pure and simple.

        1. I remember the 60s – walking down the High Street and seeing our neighbour, who raised his hat. How quaint it seems, and how comforting…

          Morning, Plum.

          3. I was just thinking about hat-raising – I mean, you don’t take off other items of clothing to give a respectful greeting… “Hi, Hertslass! Just wait a mo whilst I take off my jumper for a moment”! for example. So, lifting the hat just seems weird.

          4. Men took off their hats in church, and as a sign of respect. It’s easy to do as men’s hats weren’t tied under their chin, or pinned in place…

            Why do people bow, and not do the splits instead? :o)

          5. Apparently, Paul, the origin of raising one’s hat to a lady intimated, “I would undress for you!”.

          6. Erk!
            But only to lay ones clothing in the puddle ahead of her!
            Whew, that was close!

          8. We were always encouraged to raise our hats to various people and I remember, Nurse Brittain, our District Nurse, congratulating my father (born 1895) on my raising my school cap to her in passing.

          9. At the local boys’ grammar school pupils were expected to raise their caps (purple, traditional, peaked, schoolboy caps) every time they saw a master. It was quite a sight when the crocodile passed across the playing field and caps were doffed.

        2. I remember the 60s – walking down the High Street and seeing our neighbour, who raised his hat. How quaint it seems, and how comforting…

          Morning, Plum.

      5. The first non-white person I saw was a nurse when I was a patient in hospital in 1959. She was kind enough – but criticised me for reading “Alice in Wonderland” – she said “That’s a children’s book” – I was 10.

        1. I spent my school holidays with my two spinster aunts who lived in London. I remember the street markets full of colour and music when the West indians arrived …..after the depressingly grey 50’s .

      6. The first non-white person I saw was a nurse when I was a patient in hospital in 1959. She was kind enough – but criticised me for reading “Alice in Wonderland” – she said “That’s a children’s book” – I was 10.

    1. Is that why our country’s going to hell in a handbasket, or is it just a bunch of utter wasters regardless?

  42. It is time to end the toxic narrative that Britain is a racist country

    Sowing division and encouraging young people to think there may be barriers to success that do not exist is far from harmless

    CALVIN ROBINSON
    14 July 2021 • 7:00am

    Yet again, Britain has been accused of being a fundamentally racist society. A new report by the Runnymede Trust, released this morning, claims the Government is in breach of its human rights obligations, finding that racism is “systemic”, with our laws, institutional practices and customs all to blame.

    Sometimes I wonder if I live in the same country as some of these so-called “anti-racism” campaigners. Of course there is racism in the UK. I have faced it myself. Of course it should be tackled. But the extent to which the political and media narrative ignores the truth about this country – that it is one of the most tolerant, inclusive and welcoming places to live in the world – is breathtaking.
    *
    *
    *
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/14/time-end-toxic-narrative-britain-racist-country/

    *********************************************

    Altec Lansing
    14 Jul 2021 9:28AM
    “If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labelled as radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago and a racist today”

    – Thomas Sowell

      1. The current government and their apparatchiks are well-versed in newspeak.
        The psycholgical war currently being waged on several fronts – the racist one and also the fear campaign has made normally sensible people frightened of their own shadows.

  43. ‘Morning, all. We’ve seen the whipped-up hysteria, led by the media, over alleged ‘racism’ from the England football fans but I was surprised to see this ‘tweet’ from Richard Tice, legendary Brexiteer and leader of the Reform Party.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/59a47e8f4b905f5b87b2bd95c77be8d69ea47aa5b9653a7a539b93854bd22f42.png

    Reform Party?? Aye, right! Seems to me more of the same old shite that we’ve come to expect from all the other political parties on offer. Now Tice has jumped aboard that same woke control-freak band wagon and I’m wondering …. was his comment just a cynical move to garner support amongst the BAME folk and their politically-correct auxiliaries, or has he been ‘got-at’ in one way or another?

    1. mng mac, totally agree re Tice. either he’s crossed the woke rubicon or he’s too busy running his mask free pub with Laurence Fox and forgot what he’s supposed to be doing. Reform party goes nowhere

      1. Fox is a considerably better character than Tice, and I will not have these two tarred with the same brush.

        Fox is a genuine egalitarian, and not afraid to be punished for suggesting that all lives matter. Tice seems to have thrown in his lot with those cheering on the popular bully in the playground, and favouring select “protected” identity groups, whilst vilifying the unprotected, purely founded on prejudice.

          1. Fox reminds me a little of the character Spike (played by Jeffrey Holland) in the old sitcom Hi-di-Hi. He has complete integrity, but a bit of a wet blanket and everyone is happiest when he is chucked in the pool. He has this partnership with the rogue Ted Bovis, who does get things done, who is his opposite even though they are in the same chalet.

            What Laurence Fox really needs is a fixer like Ted, but one who is content to be No.2, so that power remains with the good guy. It’s a complicated arrangement, playing integrity off against pragmatism, requiring a bellyful of good judgement – about how far one should bend the rules for the good of everyone, and when to put one’s foot down and keep order.

            In a way, the Americans had a similar experience under the Trump presidency, except that the rogue was the No.1 and the good guy was the No.2. Maybe it should have been the other way round? I don’t know what to make of Joe Biden, and I doubt he does either.

            The British constitutional monarchy puts the “good guy” (who is actually a woman, but who knows what one of those is these days?) as No.1. At the moment we have the pragmatic rogue as the official No.2.

    2. 335369+ up ticks,
      Morning DM,
      The professional sh!te purveyors are as we know the lab/lib/con coalition and well practised.

      The real UKIP terminating with the Gerard Batten treachery could never be accused of dealing “old sh!te” the nearest I can see on offer now is the For Britain party with Anne Marie Waters leadership.

      1. I never liked Tice’s economic agenda, now he seems to have gone woke as well. What became of the old UKIP libertarianism? Or even a belief that we are a free country, which used to be mainstream until talk of mass surveillance and policing of opinions became fashionable.

        I take issue with Tice’s belief that the source of “online racism” is from those who object to English Sport kneeling in homage to a vicious and vile American thug simply because of the colour of his skin.

        The real racism is coming from BLM, and Tice should be saying this loud and clear instead of treating BLM as if they actually believed in racial equality.

        He won’t though, and as far as I am concerned I have no more time for the Reform Party.

        1. 335369+ up ticks,
          Morning JM,
          The UKIP as shown in one year of Gerard Batten leadership was the perfect vehicle for combatting today’s troubles.

          That is why treachery was successfully triggered via the parties nEc and “nige” in bringing down Batten & UKIP.

          Now I’m ex real UKIP as with many more so I will support the FOR Britain party under Anne Marie Waters.

          1. Ogga, once again you’re living and dreaming in the past.

            This is now and those minorities need to get together and form a formidable alternative to your beloved lib/lab/con.

          2. 335369+ up ticks,
            NtN,
            Doing neither, pointing out the past a history that should be heeded and used when dealing with today’s problems.
            Peoples known to me personally telling me I was in the wrong and surely MUST vote lab to keep out con or the reverse and to me the three parties were a coalition, that was about the time the mosque building program started in earnest.

            “Your beloved lib/lab/con.” that coalition is a bigger killer than covid could ever be along with side effects such as
            paedophile rape & abuse, lifetime mental damage etc,etc.

            I want to see Anne Marie Waters party built on to me that is a clear way forward.

      2. See my remark about amalgamating, Ogga, rather than just vote-splitting. It’s the only way to go.

        1. 335369+ up ticks,
          NtN,
          The only vote splitting that took place of late was in the farage / nec take down of Gerard Batten who was on course building a very credible party re. UKIP.
          The brexit party came into being, to my mind a tory
          ( ino) party back up, £25 to become a non member in supposedly opposition to johnson, only to have farage stand a good % of candidates down in a very pro johnson manner.

          Learn from the past

    3. My Facebook account is in my own name; Twitter knows who I am as well, though I took my real name off it some time ago. Twitter is such a snakepit that hiding behind a pseudonym is the only way to go.

    5. The sad thing is that in person people are far more polite than on the internet.

    6. Just another vote-splitting party allowing the loonies in.

      Amalgamate you twats and form a united front, while giving us something realistic to vote for.

    1. ‘Morning, Belle.

      Did you give that washing a second run through the machine?

    2. The one thing that peeves me about fining corporations/utilities/etc is that it’s the user that ends up paying, in this example I would like to see the managers/executives/functionaries responsible for the decision to be bound hand and foot and dipped 3 times in a poorly maintained cess pit while being bombarded with the detritus usually trapped at the treatment works, nappies/used condoms/etc etc.

      2. What you are advocating is a sensible, civilised response. It’ll never catch on.

    1. No one voted for it. We have a management team we employ to prevent it. We pay for materiel and training to give those men the tools to properly protect us from these invaders.

      The managers are incompetent and our trained, provisioned staff are not doing their jobs.

      1. 335369 + up ticks,
        Morning W,
        Then may one ask why year on year on year via the polling booth you continue paying them ?

        1. We aren’t give a choice in funding the state. if we did, most of the problems this country has would evaporate.

          No matter who you vote for, the state acts solely against the public will.

          1. 335369+ up ticks,
            Afternoon W,
            I beg to differ most strongly, all the time this odious state of affairs has been under construction via the polling booth there has always been a choice, not so much as on the day of
            voting but in building a party of credibility preparing for the day of voting.

            Family tree voting has brought us to this very sorry, dangerous state of affairs as a nation in no way are the politico’s to blame as much as the electorate, whom must don blinkers inside a burka when entering a polling booth their mantra being, fool me once, then fool me twice ,then fool me once again.
            Many a vote cast to keep a party be it lab/lib/con in power ALL the while a covert party is building getting stronger by the day with a shout in society getting louder.

    2. Those blow-up boats are very easy to … blow uo!

      They wouldn’t have presented much of a difficulty to a U-boat.

      1. 335369+ up ticks,
        G,
        There is a remedy, that is the monies saved on a daily illegal arrival (backdated) is put into an account after stopping welfare and returning peoples to port of cast off.

        Monies to be used for combatting issues the political overseers are neglecting, anything that is that has NOT got a covid tag.

        Monitored by a completely independent panel of everyday tradesmen, butcher /baker / plumber etc, regularly changed
        as with jury service.

        1. No, Ogga, interception as soon as they enter English waters and given the option to turn 180° or be sunk if they proceed.

  47. Just received this:

    You recently signed the petition “Leave the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol & revoke the Immigration Act”:
    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/577927

    On 19 and 20 July, MPs will debate the Nationality and Borders Bill. According to the Government, the Bill has three main objectives:

    • To increase the fairness of the system to better protect and support those in need of asylum;
    • To deter illegal entry into the United Kingdom, thereby breaking the business model of people smuggling networks and protecting the lives of those they endanger; and
    • To remove more easily those with no right to be in the UK.

    Apropos the last bullet point – it will never succeed until we leave the ECHR and repeal The Human Rights Act.

      3. Nah! There’s no fun in that. Fastening the buggers in a pillory would be more apt. 🤣

    2. Morning all, I don’t like the sound of that one To increase the fairness of the system to better protect and support those in need of asylum;
      Probably 99 percent of the recent invader’s have no right to be here.

        1. Which pic Ellie ?

          I had an email clip from a friend who has friends in Durban and she sent a 3 minute film of a shopping Mall had been ransacked and absolutely wrecked. I would post it but i have so many problems trying to do this, I’ve tried many times over with these sort of short videos, but it discloses the senders and the receivers details, not a good thing to do.

          2. I think we’ve all seen some horrific images posted from newspapers and on facebook. You don’t need to post personal ones. A lot of Fb friends of mine are South African and what’s happening is horrifying but not surprising.

          3. It seems to be the Zulu tribe that are centred around the natal area who are causing the main problems they Didn’t Like Zuma being locked up. It’s all become rather tribal all over.
            I’ve just tried to post a 42 second version of another clip in the shopping Mall but all the email details stay attached 😖

          5. I seem to remember “Come on you Zulu warriors” from my rugby player friends.

          7. The jailing of Zuma was an excuse but the riots and looting are being coordinated and encouraged by the EFF.

          8. When you look at the large number of the Army mobilised last year to deal with Covid, and compare it with the small number

            mobilised to keep peace on the streets, one wonders why?

          13. And it’s spreading all around the world.
            When I was living in SA and the ‘whiats’ were in charge it all ran very smoothly.

          14. ‘Afternoon, Eddy, “It’s all become rather tribal all over”

            It’s always been tribal in Africa. If they cannot get over that and unite, they won’t ever get anywhere.

    3. European Court of Human Rights rules Russia MUST allow gay marriage, as Kremlin says move would be ‘impossible’ under constitution
      Moscow has rejected a new order from Europe’s top civil liberties court that would require it to recognize LGBT+ marriages, after a joint complaint from three same-sex Russian couples was upheld by judges in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
      In the ruling, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that Russian law, which defines marriage as only between a man and a woman, breached the right to private and family life enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights in respect to the claimants. As a result, the decision, issued by a panel of seven judges drawn from nations across the continent, obliges the country to legislate for recognition of LGBT+ marriages. The Court also awarded €2,200 in costs to the claimants.

      The case relates in part to the immigration status of one foreign citizen, who moved to the town of Sosnogorsk in the Komi Republic region of northern Russia to co-habit with his partner and their son. When his application for a new residency permit was rejected in 2013 over incomplete paperwork, he complained that requiring him to leave the country and re-enter on temporary visa terms would cause disruption for his family and breach his fundamental rights. These rights, the ECHR found, were ignored because his relationship is not formalized in Russia.
      However, one member of the panel, Cypriot judge Georgios A. Serghides wrote a dissenting opinion, attached to the ruling, in which he said that “I am unable to contribute to opening Pandora’s box by giving the impression that the Court may allow applicants to disobey or disrespect laws, regulations and equitable principles and thereafter try to have their behaviour condoned and seek the protection of the Court.”

      Responding to the court’s decision later on Tuesday, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that implementing such legal changes was out of the question. “According to our constitution, it is impossible,” the official declared.

      Constitutional amendments passed after a nationwide vote last year have a specific clause committing the state to protecting “the institution of marriage as a union of a man and a woman.” In addition, the package of changes affirms the principle that Russian law must take precedence over decisions made by judges abroad, despite it being a member of the ECHR.
      Defending that position, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that “the requirements of international law and treaties, as well as decisions of international bodies, can act on the territory of Russia only to the extent that they do not entail restrictions on the rights and liberties of man and citizen, and do not contradict our constitution.”

      1. It is ironic that Russia seems to be becoming the last bastion of Conservativism.

          2. Russians are Russians.They were exactly the same under Communism.
            They just couldn’t show it.

          3. Because people still think it is the USSR or, at least, that Putin is a mad dictator trying to rebuild the USSR. I hear that accusation all the time although there isn’t a shred of evidence for it.

          4. Tell them that Novichok was patented in the US in the 80s and watch their faces!

        2. Russia looks to be the last survivor of European Christian Civilisation!

      2. ECHR should invade Russia; that’ll show Ivan who’s boss.
        First get in the harvest and then launch an attack in the autumn.
        What could possibly go wrong?

          1. The people might want them to, but western governments don’t do want their people want.

      3. I don’t suppose that those who came up with the idea for the ECHR in the years after WW2 considered that it should ever be a human right for a man to ‘marry’ a man or a woman, a woman.

      4. I don’t suppose that those who came up with the idea for the ECHR in the years after WW2 considered that it should ever be a human right for a man to ‘marry’ a man or a woman, a woman.

      5. ECHR is actually European Convention on Human Rights – it is not a law court but an agreement between countries.

      6. A national vote. Who wonders where we would be if we had been allowed a say?

        Instead, Cameron forced it on us – another hated EU diktat.

    4. A Human Responsibilities Act sounds just the ticket. Trouble is, humans will never accept their responsibilities.

  48. Petition for the final to be replayed has reached well over 150,000. People have been saying that the ref should have sent two Italian players off for the disgraceful fouls they committed.
    Frankly I would prefer it if the Uefa just admitted that they had fixed the game and leave it at that. We all ready know this is what happened.

    1. Haha..England played one game outside their own country in the entire tournament.
      It certainly was fixed!

    2. I can remember when if you voiced suspicions that a match had been fixed there would have been an embarrassing silence. Now of course you have to consider it as a real possibility!

      1. Absolutely Minty, there is no way any player in normal playing circumstances would have stayed on the field after those two obviously brutal ‘tackles’ in law both would probably have been classed as common assault. It’s just not part of the game of football.

          1. How could they? The quality of passing especially in the midfield was dreadful.

        3. The problem the referee had was that the fouls did not prevent a clear cut goalscoring opportunity, so his only option was a yellow card.
          He might possibly have sent them off on the grounds of violent conduct but as the England players were not head-butted or hit with a hand it would have been a very marginal decision.

          Let’s face it, England did not measure up to their hype, they just weren’t good enough when it mattered, neither at the player level nor the managerial level.

          1. Even the MR, who knows even less about wendyball than I do, thought the Italians were the better side – certainly after half time.

          2. I think the manger bowed to wokeness bringing on those two right at the end as the manager he must have known they were no good with penalties.

          3. I do too, but to be fair, I’ve also read that the three BLMs were the ones who had performed best in training.

            I don’t know how GS chose them and why he decided on the order of taking but I think he made a series of errors. There’s an enormous difference between training in front of your mates with nothing riding on it and doing so in front of 60,000 when the cup itself is on the line.

            My view is that it was a political judgement. He hoped the first two would score and that Pickford would come good so that the three later takers would be under much less pressure and appear the heroes. Pickford did his bit as did Kane and McGuire. Then Rashford made an arse of himself, Pickford again came to the rescue and we know the rest.

          4. Did Rashford actually get another attack of overwhelm?

            Tweet Rashford to Raducanu “It happened to me playing for the national team in U16s against Wales. I remember it to this day. No explanation for it and it never happened again. You should be very proud of yourself.”

            https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/emma-radacanu-marcus-rashford-overwhelm_uk_60e56d42e4b095e781041957

            Getting overwhelm in sport is a failure to maintain an acute state or awareness and mental relaxation required to be in the zone which can lead to mental and/or physical overload.

            When you are frustrated or emotionally/physically overloaded you need to NOTICE it and consciously make a change. Being in “the zone” or having any peak performance in sports requires an acute state or awareness and mental relaxation. The moment you start feeling out of control or overwhelmed…remember to find it, don’t force it.

            https://an.athletenetwork.com/blog/controlled-aggression-the-secret-to-emotional-overwhelm

          5. I’m not sure about all that AO but the fact that he didn’t exactly feature on the pitch during the whole tournament suggested to no only me, he as a highly paid professional player was not up to the mark and what ever the (one guess is enough) reason might have been for bringing him and the other candidate on with seconds to the end to take part in a penalty shoot out was ridiculous.

      1. I haven’t watch that garbage for many years it’s been quite obvious it’s rigged, why we even bother is beyond me.

      2. Peter, welcome to your recent arrival at this site. The more posts of yours I read, the more I realise what a good addition to we happy band of NoTTLers you are. And I am sorry that my first post to you (about “Uni”) had a hint of sarcasm in it. Just pretend that this post of mine was added before my “Uni” post.

      1. I disagree. A different strategy, but not necessarily better. I have never seen so much blatant cheating.
        And there needs to be an urgent rule change the game is going to the dogs with all the play acting and fake injury claims.
        If a player rolls on the ground in such obvious agony they have to go off the pitch off assessment for 5 minutes.

        1. Yes, Italy did cheat. Italian football teams have always cheated. They were still the better side, and really had no need to cheat.

          2. Harry goes down rather easily that;s why i say the rules need changing.
            Previous super hero Sterling dipped out of penalty taking.

        2. I saw these figures (not sure of the source):
          Possession: E 35%, I 65%
          Goal attempts: 6-19
          Bookings: 1-5

          If Saka had started, England might have been two or three up before Italy sorted themselves out. Southgate has done well since his appointment but caution overtakes him at times (notably the WC SF in 2018). I didn’t hold out much hope after the negative group campaign here but it got better – and the win over Germany, however ordinary they were, was a heartening moment.

    6. And their goal was technically hand ball as an Italian player used the outside of his shoulder in the box. But the ref’s missing it wasn’t a clear and obvious error.

      But we lost. Time to be gracious, accept defeat and stop blaming others. The team just wasn’t good enough despite home advantage and Southgate’s PC gamble to include 3 black penalty takers backfired on him and got the result that it deserved.

    7. And their goal was technically hand ball as an Italian player used the outside of his shoulder in the box. But the ref’s missing it wasn’t a clear and obvious error.

      But we lost. Time to be gracious, accept defeat and stop blaming others. The team just wasn’t good enough despite home advantage and Southgate’s PC gamble to include 3 black penalty takers backfired on him and got the result that it deserved.

          1. Well, the Russian ref was rather lenient when the controversial Jeff Hurst goal looked on the wrong side of being in.
            But the Germans were never very nice to the Russians and………….the rest is history.

          2. The referee in 1966 was Swiss. The linesman who awarded the goal was described as Russian but was an Azerbaijani – not very Russian at all!

          3. Oh well it was a long time ago……….only 20 or so years after WW2 it wouldn’t have made either of them like the Germans.

    9. If it had really been fixed the three Numbian Lions would have roared to England’s rescue.

      2. I wonder how many Black Lion pubs in the UK are filled with Pride now and enjoying the new rulings. No penalties for breaking the area lock down. Dribbling is allowed.

          1. A bit rude so put behind spoiler.

            Three sportsmen from the past to avoid :

            Football – Stanley Matthews who dribbled before shooting;
            Cricket – Geoffrey Boycott because once you got him in you could never get him out;
            Rugby – John Pullin – even in amateur days hookers wanted to be paid.

            Any more offers? Golf and tennis must have some candidates.

          4. Marcus the area penalty dribbler. That action will be as memorable as his school lunches.

          5. Marcus the area penalty dribbler. That action will be as memorable as his school lunches.

  49. I mentioned Parker Wilson yesterday.
    Seems he won’t be in the news after all.
    US diplomat at center of railway sign theft scandal was flown back by Washington to avoid facing charges in Russia

  50. STIG: My sincere apologies. I’ve just realised that I missed your birthday on Monday. A very happy belated birthday to you.

      1. Peter – were you here before under another name? Or have you been silently lurking for a while?

          8. Oooh, you’re in trouble! Elsie’s crumbles are not concrete and clay, my dear.

          12. I think you have to be in the close environs to get lucky with Elsie’s crumbles.

    3. No excuse – I posted good wishes at midnight as Stig’s birthday arrived and reposted the following morning!

      We have some more birthdays coming up this month: 18th July – Lacoste; 19th July – Ndovu; 21st July – Tier51mate; 26th July – Delboy; 29th July – Lewis Duckworth; 30th July – Alf the Great.

      Time to repost the list? Please let me know if there are any mistakes or typos and let me know if I should add any more birthdays to the list?

      02 January – 1947 : Poppiesmum
      07 January – **** : Lady of the Lake
      08 January – 1941 : Rough Common
      09 January – **** : thayaric
      10 January – 1960 : hopon
      16 January – 1941 : Legal Beagle
      18 January – **** : Stormy
      21 January – **** : Nagsman
      23 January – 1951 : Damask Rose
      27 January – 1948 : Citroen 1
      10 February -1949 : Korky the Kat (Dandy Front Pager)
      11 February- 1964 : Phizzee
      22 February- 1965 : AW Kamau
      22 February- 1951 : Grizzly
      24 February- 1941 : Sguest
      28 February- 1956 :Jeremy Morfey
      29 February- **** : Ped
      05 March—– 1957 : Sue MacFarlane
      08 March—– 1957 : Geoff Graham
      26 March—– 1962 : Caroline Tracey
      27 March—– 1947 : Maggiebelle
      27 March—– 1941 : Fallick Alec
      19 April——- **** : Devonian in Kent
      22 April——–1950 :Jay Sands
      26 April——- **** : Harry Kobeans
      18 May———****: Hertslass
      24 May——– 1944 : NoToNanny
      08 June——– **** : Still Bleau
      09 June——- 1947 : Johnny Norfolk
      09 June——– 1947 : Horace Pendleton
      23 June——– 1957 : Oberstleutnant
      25 June——– 1952 : corimmobile
      01 July——— 1946 : Rastus C Tastey
      12 July——— 1956 : David Wainwright/Stigenace
      18 July——— 1941: lacoste
      19 July——— 1948: Ndovu
      21 July———-1960: Tier5Inmate
      26 July——— 1936 : Delboy
      29 July———- 1944 : Lewis Duckworth
      30 July———- 1946 : Alf the Great
      01 August—— 1950 : Datz
      03 August—— 1954 : molamola
      10 August—— 1967 : ourmaninmunich
      14 August ——-1944 jillthelass
      18 August—— **** : ashesthandust
      19 August——- 1951 : Hugh Janus
      04 September- 1948 : Joseph B Fox
      07 September- 1946 : Araminta Smade
      11 September- 1947 : peddytheviking
      12 September- 1946 : Ready Eddy
      13 September- **** : Anne Allan
      15 September- **** : veryveryveryoldfella
      26 September- **** : Feargal the Cat
      30 September 1944 : One Last Try
      07 October—– 1960 : Bob 3
      11 October—– 1944 : Hardcastle Craggs
      25 October—– 1955 : Sue Edison
      12 November- ***** : Cochrane
      01 December– 1956 : Sean Stanley-Adams
      06 December– 1943 : Duncan Mac
      10 December– **** : Aethelfled
      16 December– **** : Plum
      21 December– 1945 : Elsie Bloodaxe
      (E&OE)

  51. 335369+ up ticks,
    This headline could near be used on two occasions the release of a felon that can so easily cost another life.

    Pitchfork’s release is a sorry occasion, but there were few other options

    &

    Pitchfork release is a sorry occasion but there few other options in regards to yesterday’s vote on compulsory jabbing.

    Passports will not be required in a civil war.

      1. 335369+ up ticks,
        Morning PA,
        I agree, but there is a multitude of defence lawyers out there who would totally disagree, all the while the wonga held out.

          1. 336369+ up ticks,,
            Afternoon Ntn,
            I believe it goes much deeper than that as in, time to leave out in the cold ALL politico’s appertaining to the toxic trio
            mass uncontrolled immigration (ongoing) coalition.

            The majority of the electorate are relying to much on HOPE and have been for years, to many elastoplast patches applied in the polling booth that cannot now contain the treacherous sh!te leaking in abundance from these parties.

      2. Fingers crossed he commits a minor infraction and is sent back to clink.

  52. Oh well dolly and her Uwe friends haven’t turned up, grass has dried and now I have to go and cut it all………..again. Mown mown mown 😎🤔

      1. There already are – they are called crematoria (or crematoriums, if that’s how you want to call them).

        1. With Concentration Camps encompassing them, Lass?

          Will they be rounding up the Muslims? No, thought not.

    2. If they’d stop testing healthy people with no symptoms there would be no ‘cases’.

      1. A new fascist regime which will ensure everybody is tested daily and all must be jabbed.

      2. A new fascist regime which will ensure everybody is tested daily and all must be jabbed.

  54. Father of Brighton jihadi brothers killed fighting in Syria charged with terrorism offences. 14 July 2021.

    The father of Brighton brothers killed fighting in Syria has been charged with terrorism offences.

    His sons, 17-year-old Jaffar and and 18-year-old Abdullah, died fighting to overthrow President of Syria Bashar al-Assad in 2014 having left Sussex to join Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda-affiliated group.

    Another of Mr Deghayes’ sons Abdul, 22, was stabbed to death by 37-year-old drug dealer Daniel Macleod in Brighton on 16 February 2019.

    His only remaining son, Amer, is still in Syria having left the UK before his younger brothers.

    Mr Deghayes is also the brother of Omar Deghayes, who was held by the United States as an enemy combatant at Guantanamo Bay after he was arrested in Pakistan shortly after the fall of the Taliban in 2002.

    I’m sure he’s innocent! ROFLMAO!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/14/father-brighton-jihadi-brothers-killed-fighting-syria-charged/

    2. My guess is that, like sham Begum’s father, his guilt (and support of terrorism) has been obvious for at 10 years …. But that also applies to 1000s of other muslim parents (and imans) in the UK …

      1. And the PTB are afraid to mention it.

        Are they just naturally supine and gutless or is there some sinister force that has them all by the short and curlies?

    3. He is a good Islamic father, having children to be sacrificed for the sake of Islam. And that is no joke, that’s how many of these people think. Such people cannot possibly love their children.

      2. Some years ago, an opinion poll found that 93% of Muslims in this country agreed with the aims of ISIS.

        As with all opinion polls, it all depends on how the question is worded, but we feel that the British can rely on a large percentage of Muslims

        being dedicated to the downfall of Britain.

        1. Isn’t that why they came here? Apart from a better life – it’s amazing that they can’t distinguish why the better life was over here.

        2. But not the cessation of our work to provide their benefits, which are, of course, their due.

          1. It is, of course, jizja – the tax that dhimmis pay to live in an islamic state.

        3. Maybe, Janet, it’s time we repeated the 1290 Expulsion – only this time Muslims and not Jews.

        4. People in England should look into the type of Islam that exists here because there are important differences with regard to violence. We have the two worst in the UK. To a lesser extent Wahabi’s from which you get ISI and then there are the Deobandi from the sub-continent. They are no improvement on the Wahabi. If you haven’t already, I suggest you look them up and see what it is we are dealing with in this country. To be blunt they are hostiles.

      3. Plenty more where they came from. Fatimas 1, 2, 3 and 4 have been put on the alert for a nighttime visit.

      4. …let alone their wives. Does love, as opposed to submission to their so-called [abhorrent to any civilised person] perfect man, figure in their thinking? Certainly joy (apart from killing), music and dance don’t. And where is the dignity in shoving your @rses in the air? What a miserable set!

      5. For this ideologically challenged idiots, Islam is above Country, Family and probably Allah.

        Having a couple of martyrs – on their way to receive their 72 ninety-year old Catholic Nun virgins – reflects so well on the family at Friday prayers.

        1. It does indeed. You know that the Palestinian Authority rewards the families of people that blow themselves up or die in some other pointless way for the cause. It is really pathetic if you think about it. Pathetic and a thoroughly evil form of corruption that you would actually have children in order for them to kill themselves.

    4. What a pity he doesn’t live in Oz, otherwise he would have been deported years ago, along with the rest of his family.

    5. Wowsers; enrichment with knobs on.
      Engerland was just sooooooo dull before these people kindly deigned to settle here.

  55. Apologies if posted before, I thought we could do with a laugh, it is so far beyond realistic it must be a laughable farce being played out for someone’s amusement..
    We all know who’s fingerprints are all over this, take a bow Mrs Johnson.

    The plan to drive petrol cars off the roads
    Ministers may be plotting a new network of road tolls to help make up for the decline of fuel duty as electric vehicles gain momentum
    Rachel Millard14 July 2021 • 6:00am
    For months, ministers have made ever bolder pledges about cutting carbon emissions across the economy as they race to meet the legally binding target of net zero emissions by 2050.
    Finally they are having to get down to the details of how they will do so, with a wide-ranging “greenprint” for the transport sector, set to be revealed today.
    In a preview published on Tuesday night, they insisted the proposals in the Transport Decarbonisation Plan (TDP) are not about stopping people doing things, but will nonetheless require huge changes to people’s behaviour.
    Although there was no mention of how the plans will be paid for, there is understood to be a lively debate on the topic in Government.
    Senior Government figures suggested that one answer being actively considered is the introduction of a network of new toll charges in roads across the country, helping make up for fuel duty that will be lost as drivers shift to electric cars.
    Dubbed a “greenprint” to decarbonise the UK’s seas, skies, roads and railways, the proposals were still being finalised in the early hours of this morning.
    They are likely to spark anger on the Conservative back benches – and indeed lead to raised eyebrows in some Whitehall departments.
    A ban on diesel lorries, a headline-grabber given the lack of zero-emission models on the market, is only one of a raft of reforms.
    Electric charging stations will be required to soothe “range fear”, and thousands of buses will be replaced.
    The railways, where Britain has lagged its European cousins for years on green credentials, are set for a sweeping overhaul.
    Last night’s preview also suggested the end of new petrol and diesel car engine sales could start earlier than the current 2030 ban on sales of new models, with the Government pledging to consult on a phased mandate.
    “It’s not about stopping people doing things: it’s about doing the same things differently,” said the Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps.
    “We will still fly on holiday, but in more efficient aircraft, using sustainable fuel. We will still drive, but increasingly in zero-emission cars.”
    He insisted the plans will “ultimately create sustainable economic growth through healthier communities as we build back greener.”
    Truck on
    Diesel trucks’ days have been numbered for some time amid the push to decarbonise, and the TDP finally reveals exactly when the end will come.
    New diesel trucks will be banned in the UK from 2035 and 2040 – the smaller ones first, followed by those weighing more than 26 tonnes.
    Heavy goods vehicles account for about 17pc of emissions from transport according to government figures, compared with more than 55pc from cars. Many in industry yesterday cautiously welcomed the clarity provided by the cut-off date, but the path ahead is not easy or clear.
    The weight of trucks and the huge distances they have to travel makes banishing efficient diesel a daunting task.
    Most truck manufacturers have prototype electric or hydrogen powered vehicles in development, potentially just a few years away from being on the roads.
    But how well they will actually work and whether the charging points, hydrogen stations and fuel cells needed to power those vehicles will be ready is uncertain.
    Trucks are often run for a dozen hours a day compared with passenger cars, which are idle 90pc of the time.
    “The announcement of proposed phase out dates for new diesel HGVs will be welcomed by the logistics sector, which has been waiting for further clarity from Government and is keen to start preparing for decarbonisation,” says Alex Veitch, general manager at Logistics UK.
    “However these suggested dates will only be attainable if there are sufficient, cost effective vehicles and a robust, nationwide charging or refuelling network available for operators to use from day one.”
    Trains – a decade behind schedule?
    Ministers rubber-stamped proposals designed to ensure the railways are net carbon neutral by 2050. Diesel locomotives will be phased out from 2040.
    The lofty ambitions were treated with scepticism by some. Graeme Cooper at National Grid says: “We need a strategy on how to decarbonise harder-to-reach parts of the rail network – this will allow energy networks to align their plans to support in a timely manner.”
    But the plans are already 10 years behind schedule, according to one of the world’s biggest train makers.
    Siemens Mobility, which the Prime Minister hailed last year as work began on a new train manufacturing plant in Yorkshire, has calculated that electrifying the rail network will take until 2060 to complete.
    The UK’s railways are well behind their counterparts on the European Continent in terms of electrification. Three in five services in Britain are still powered by diesel locomotives, compared with roughly two in five in the EU.
    Rail bosses’ proposals, leaked to The Telegraph a year ago, urged Shapps to take action immediately or risk missing Johnson’s 2050 net zero pledge.
    The awkwardly named “Traction Decarbonisation” review estimated that it would cost taxpayers £30bn to make the railways greener. Industry sources said that the review has been stuck in the Treasury in-tray, with officials seemingly unwilling to sign-off such an outlay at a time when there is significant uncertainty over future demand for rail travel.
    Siemens, recently snubbed in a £2.8bn tender to build HS2 trains, estimates more than 300 miles of track needs to be electrified each year and ministers should set aside money to introduce hydrogen and battery-powered alternatives – as is already happening across the English Channel.
    Meanwhile, the airline industry is to be pushed to cut emissions from domestic aviation and airport operations to net zero by 2040 – ahead of the legally binding target for the whole country.
    Emma Gilthorpe, chief operating officer at Heathrow, said: “We look forward to working with Government to translate this ambition to action and deliver a future where people can continue to enjoy the benefits of air travel – without worrying about their impact on the environment.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/07/14/inside-governments-plan-kill-car/

    2. Meanwhile in the USA research is going on to replace inefficient electric vehicles with more efficient, and cleaner, ammonia powered ones.

      Once again, the British government is way behind in it’s thinking.

      1. I thought exactly the same. They want us plebs to use Shanks Pony, that is how far they want us to travel.

        1. I suppose we’ll be able to use a bicycle, but probably only if we get a permit.

  56. Afghan Taliban seize border crossing with Pakistan in major advance. 14 July 2021.

    Taliban fighters in Afghanistan said on Wednesday they had taken control of one of the main border crossings with Pakistan, perhaps the most strategic objective they have captured so far in a rapid advance across the country as U.S. forces pull out.

    The crossing, south of Afghanistan’s main southern city Kandahar, is the landlocked country’s second busiest entry point and the main link between its vast southwest and Pakistani ports. Afghan government data show it is used by 900 trucks a day.

    Obviously once the Taliban control the borders they will be able to prevent the resupply of the Government forces. All they will need to do is isolate each City and Town and they should fall without the nasty consequences of Street Fighting.

    https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-claims-control-key-afghan-border-crossing-with-pakistan-2021-07-14/

    1. According to Shafiqullah Attai, the chairman of Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment, the Taliban are targeting border posts so that they can seize customs revenues for themselves while depriving the Afghan government of funds. He told Reuters that while there is no exact figure on the volume of trade currently going through Taliban-controlled crossings, incoming from these points of entry were already starting to go to the insurgent groups.

      They’re quite savvy for uneducated tribesmen!

      1. You would be surprised, many of them are very well educated even by Western standards. But then let me remind you that it was engineers and the like that ploughed into the Twin Towers. Education is no immunity from the insanity of Islam. Remember the two doctors that attacked and tried to kill people at Glasgow Airport? Failed miserably because they were NHS doctors 😁

  57. Afghan Taliban seize border crossing with Pakistan in major advance. 14 July 2021.

    Taliban fighters in Afghanistan said on Wednesday they had taken control of one of the main border crossings with Pakistan, perhaps the most strategic objective they have captured so far in a rapid advance across the country as U.S. forces pull out.

    The crossing, south of Afghanistan’s main southern city Kandahar, is the landlocked country’s second busiest entry point and the main link between its vast southwest and Pakistani ports. Afghan government data show it is used by 900 trucks a day.

    Obviously once the Taliban control the borders they will be able to prevent the resupply of the Government forces. All they will need to do is isolate each City and Town and they should fall without the nasty consequences of Street Fighting.

    https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-claims-control-key-afghan-border-crossing-with-pakistan-2021-07-14/

  58. Afternoon All

    Nicked

    In the 1940’s, Dr Joseph Mengele committed thousands of medical
    atrocities, including forced injections of tens of thousands of people
    and children which murdered and maimed them. Post War, these were
    recognised as some of the worst war crimes ever committed. This led to
    the Nuremberg Code which requires all people to have a legal and human
    right to informed consent. A right to be fully informed about their
    medical treatment and its possible consequences and the right to refuse
    that treatment without consequence, social or otherwise. Britain was one
    of the primary signatories of the Nuremberg code.

    Last night, 329
    British MPs threw that principle in the bin and signed a law that
    requires people working in the care home industry to have the
    vaccination regardless of consent, or lose their jobs. A medical
    apartheid. This is despite lying to us for the past year (as they have
    lied to us about everything) and promising that this would not come to
    pass.

    This is illegal under international law. Even if you think
    that this is a good idea to protect old people, even if you are happy
    with the covid vaccine; it sets a principle where the Government now has
    control over your personal health and wellbeing and can force you to
    undergo whatever medical procedure they choose to inflict upon you.
    Let’s also note that over 2,600 people in India were injected with sea
    water by a cabal of Doctors who were scamming the profits. Most of them
    died.

    In Australia and Canada, people are being held down by
    multiple persons and forcibly injected. It is only a matter of time
    before we see that in Britain and the US.
    Not exactly being shouted
    about by the mainstream media, whose job is to obfuscate and
    indoctrinate, not inform. If you haven’t already, find alternate sources
    of information.

    Oh, and a similar law was passed in France yesterday as well. Coincidence?

    Welcome to Nazi Britain.
    Ahem
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/40402f533e98d27abaabdacf785a5b5453acc5ab225998442785382882f8ad59.jpg

    1. Afternoon R-R, how many here who has read your comment will still continue to vote for those 329 MPs who supported last night’s Bill.
      I would rather not vote than support one of those 329 MPs. I’m afraid we bring it on ourselves when we keep electing such dross to Westminster.
      I’m so glad I am closer to journeys end in life rather than at the start, how our grandchildren will manage I do not know.
      Lampposts and piano wire may be an answer.

      1. With the politicians and leaders we are now getting, those lampposts and piano wire will be used on our grandchildren if they don’t toe the lines, pour encourager les autres.

          1. That child wasn’t the only one not wearing a mask. What a shocking way to deal with a minor incident.

          5. Dreadful, but give authoritarian bullies too much power and I’m afraid that is a typical outcome.

  59. Are we heading for a winter lockdown? 14 July 2021.

    The return of our freedoms was meant, in the words of the prime minister, to be ‘cautious, but irreversible’. But the government’s tone has shifted decisively this week. Both Boris Johnson and health secretary Sajid Javid have admitted that lockdown restrictions could return, perhaps as soon as this winter. ‘We must rule nothing out’, Johnson told last night’s press conference.

    We are entering the Age of Lockdown where just because it’s not banned doesn’t mean that it’s allowed. Where you don’t have to wear a mask except where you do. Where you don’t need a COVID passport except when they are required. Welcome to Alice in Covidland.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/07/13/are-we-heading-for-a-winter-lockdown/

        1. I’ll have to watch that later on my fibre connected router at home.
          On mobile router at moment.

  60. Afternoon, all. Just saying “hello” before I head off to ride the Connemara in ever decreasing circles 🙂

      2. Not while I’ve owned him. He may have in a previous life. Charlie used to come racing with me, so he saw lots.

    4. I can’t figure, Connors, if you’re in Hibernia or Caledonia – not that it matters, I just hope that Oscar gets a good run with you and the Connemara.

      2. I’m in no man’s land, really; the Marches. Not really England and not really Wales.

          1. As there are different rules either side of the border, sometimes I don’t know if I’m coming or going 🙂

    5. In the event, we didn’t do decreasing and increasing circles (he was a bit stiff after having been lunged in a Pessoa yesterday); we did pole work instead. Collected trot for the first set (close together), then extended trot over the second (farther apart). The idea was to get him to bend his hocks and pick his feet up. The fun bit was collected trot, walk in the gap between the two sets and then power into extended trot for the second set. He could just about do it the other way round (extended, walk, collected), but you could almost hear him think, “huh! Putting that one in the too difficult tray!” 🙂

  61. Britain willing to ‘come to terms’ with Taliban and work with enemy for sake of peace if it ‘behaves’, UK defence secretary says

    Despite fighting the group for two decades, Britain will engage with the Taliban should it come into power in Afghanistan, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said, “provided it adheres to certain international norms”.
    In Washington for a visit with his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin, Wallace said the lessons of the past 20 years “will not have been lost on the Taliban”, and acknowledged that the UK would likely have to work with the group.

    Last week, the Taliban claimed to control 85% of the country’s territory. However, the Afghan leadership has dismissed this assertion as part of a propaganda campaign.

    “Whatever the government of the day is, provided it adheres to certain international norms, the UK government will engage with it,” Wallace told The Telegraph. He warned that the “relationship” would be reviewed “if they behave in a way that is seriously against human rights”.

    Its hard to believe that Britain promotes people like Wallace.
    After 20 years Britain STILL doesn’t get it.The Taliban don’t want you anywhere near Afghanistan..they will shoot you on sight!

  63. Paying reparations for historic crimes is both impractical and unethical. 14 July 2021.

    In the first place, Jamaica is by no means the only Caribbean island to which British slavers delivered their cargo, and surely the Africans who sold them were every bit as culpable. But more importantly, the transatlantic slave trade and Britain’s role in it were far from unique. Not only were we one of several European slave traders, but the practice was popular all over the known world, especially in the Middle East and the Ottoman Empire, until our very own British navy policed its abolition from the 1830s on.

    The merits of reparations for historic oppression are also questionable in the context of far more pressing contemporary demands. According to the Global Slavery Index, maintained by the International Labour Organisation, slavery today, defined by forced marriage or labour, is worse than ever, with millions of Uyghurs enslaved in China and as many as ten million people in Africa, enslaved by fellow Africans. Surely their ethical claims far outweigh those of centuries past?

    This is a well written and concise article on slavery whose points have featured many times on Nottl whenever Olusoga has opened his bigoted gob. This said one is surprised the author managed to get it into print since it contravenes the Elites racist narrative absolutely. The poor guy will probably be assassinated tomorrow!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/14/paying-reparations-historic-crimes-impractical-unethical/

  64. The joy of popping out in the car is that I can listen to stuff I like / tolerate/ become irritated by on the car radio.

    If the penalty shoot out on Sunday involved all white men , those who kicked three duff shots , would there have been the fuss due to the criticism and hollering by a dissappointed football crowd?

    So would white players have attracted a racism call by being abused and shouted and booed at by black fans , and of course by Lineker etc in the studio?

    1. The white players who missed penalties in previous tournaments received plenty of abuse, including the sainted David Beckham. However, all of that was in the pre-Twatter world. Unfortunately, the last two to miss (in 2012) were the Ashleys, Cole and Young. Paul Ince and Darius Vassell were the only two black players who failed prior to that.

      1. Well then , that proves that someone is stoking the racial inferno, and the press and luvvies and Labour BLM types etc , have not understood the depth of passion for the game , and the mistakes created by the Woke English manager , due to his unwise selection of point scorers which we all know was a Woke decision to create more black appeasement .

        Football fans had been looking forward to the successful conclusion of a rather hysterical European cup.. The build up was almost orgasmic, and it fell flat with tears and whimpering .

        Wussies , all of them.

        1. As far as I can see the whole purpose of BLM is to abuse white people and worsen race relations .

          And Runneymede is saying that white people are ipso facto racists because they are white. The implication again is that black people are perfectly entitled, indeed they are obligated, to hurl as many insults at whiter people as they can.

          It probably racist for a white person to suggest that a black person is a racist but not racist for a black person to say that a white person is a racist.

          1. No previous era had these foreign and taxpayer funded people who were just paid to make everyone else more miserable.

        2. Hmm, Mags, passion for the game? Transport yourself to the Africa of your youth and think tribalism.

    3. It does seem odd that out of the 5 penalty takers, of the 3 black ones, 2 were only minutes on the field before taking their penalties and the third had never taken a first class penalty before. It does seem to me that Southgate was trying to make some sort of political point here, and if it had come off it would have been a massive coup for the BLM cause…
      As it turned out, it has people like me thinking that he had no right to play fast and loose with an occasion of this importance to the country.

      1. Exactly so , Iffy , he played fast and loose , everyone thinks so.

        Unless there was something more sinister , because the Italians were a good team even though they were bullies ..

      2. The two that came in at the end were not really warmed up or part of the game – if he wanted to use them he should have brought them in sooner.

      3. But of course, the cunning plan that Southgate had in mind, was for the 3 Black Players to score, thereby “saving” England . . .
        Cue – Invites to Downing St, Awards and Titles, Invite to Buckingham Palace etc etc etc . .

    4. Don’t listen to the radio, Mags, it brings on heightened blood pressure – better to put in your own music and listen to the calming effects.

  65. Several media outlets earlier reported that some Afghan applicants for American visas had been experiencing trouble getting them prior to the US exit from Afghanistan. Many of the applicants fear the Taliban could retaliate against them and their families for helping American and NATO forces.

    You makes your bed……………..
    Consorting with the enemy has always been frowned upon.

  66. Merkel Politely Told Zelensky to F*** Off Over Nord Stream 2, Ukrainian Lawmaker Says

    Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described Nord Stream 2 as a weapon that Moscow could use against his country. Russia, however, has repeatedly warned against politicising what it calls a purely economic project.

    A Ukrainian opposition lawmaker has hailed German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision not to support a proposal by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project within the Normandy format-related talks.

    Writing on his Facebook page on Tuesday, Vadim Rabinovich specifically pointed to Merkel’s good manners during her talks with Zelensky.

    “A well-bred woman even tells someone to f*** off in a polite manner, so as not to offend a person”, Rabinovich noted, in an apparent nod to Merkel and Zelensky.
    The pipeline’s construction is being financed by the Russian energy giant Gazprom, Germany’s Uniper and Wintershall, as well as France’s Engie, Austria’s OMV, and the UK-Dutch concern Royal Dutch Shell. Once completed, the pipeline is expected to double the capacity of the existing Nord Stream network.

    1. I learnt, last night, that the people of Ukraine are the poorest in Europe, even poorer than Albanians, Bulgarians etc. It is all due to corruption, nothing else.

  67. Disaster nearly struck…or…just dodged a lightning bolt.

    3pm blood test at the hospital yesterday.

    7pm Doctor tells me to get to A&E pronto.

    Taxi !

    Blood tests, BP read, Canulas and decorated like a Christmas tree with 8 different pads connected by a festoon of wires plus an oximeter…5 hours later admitted to the Acute Medical Unit.

    Tenth circle of hell but Satan’s Demon’s worked hard in all the noise clanging, people coughing up their lungs and throwing up on the floor.

    When the orderly asked me my name to put on the sign behind my bed he said…Mr…? and i said…President…

    I will tell you all of ‘The Great Escape’ in the next thrilling instalment…

      1. Yeah it’s all their fault…lets get ’em….

        I’m not in any pain. Or rather, any more pain but it is tiresome.

        1. Dear heavens above , you are going through some unbelievable stress , I really hope you have a good team, in Southampton General are you?

          1. QA…home now for now.

            Belle…you are more excitable about it than i am.

            I am not stressed. I put on my funny hat and had all the nurses laughing.

          3. When i joked that i looked like a Christmas tree the nurse said… i like patients like you.

            I said…you have me at a disadvantage…
            She said…..I know.

            Howzat for banter?

          4. I hear nurses are so good these days they can make the patient without disturbing the bed…..I think that’s right….

          6. In the NNUH – in the acute ward – none of the nurses were overweight (unlike other wards); all had plenty of backchat and reminded me of the old days – when nurses cared.

          9. I have had loads of practise reacting quickly to disasters , believe me I could write a book .

            Glad you are cheerful , how did they sort your potassium levels out ?

          10. Ongoing. Litre drip and some Metallic cocktail that tasted like a witches brew. I certainly won’t be ordering that one again. I’ll stick to Bloody Mary’s in future. :@)

          14. Thanks Oberst.
            Alternative lifestyle being considered.

            Vodka instead of Gin…possibly.

      1. Thanks Korky.

        I am always amind that there are people worse off.

        In the bed to my right was someone being transferred to Kings for an emergency liver transplant. In the bed to my left was someone being told they had discovered multiple tumours.

        Opposite was a 91 year old who had fallen at his grandsons BBQ and broken his hip. And next to him was the pro thrower upper who had the day before discharged himself and then gone straight back on the drugs and was detoxing.

        Blessings, I have many. Including your good selves.

        1. Sorry to hear of your trials and tribulations, Phil. KBO – Nottl needs you! 🙂

    6. Take care, sunshine! Too many sparkly jackets and lady Nottlers can go to your head! Thinking of you! 💕

        1. He was able to come out today in a porters chair, and we sat in the glorious sunshine outside in the hospital grounds and had a picnic. Vic wheeled him out and Alan and I took the twins! Simon was delighted as this was a goal for the week after next! His physio is going really well and he sits up well enough to hold the boys on his knee! The twins were thrilled to see him and went through the new tricks they’ve learned, such as high fives and waving bye bye!

      2. Just enjoying haddock and chips which is just what the Doctor ordered. High in potassium…see.

    1. People are ‘radicalised’ (a nonsense term) against ‘draconian’ government measures to control the population.

      This – the resistance to draconian measures – are ‘self defeating’. Has he even read what he has written?

  69. Racism won Euro 2020: Italian football team has too many damn Italians, The Economist argues, in bizarre racial rambling

    The problem with the Italian football team is that there’s just too many Italians on it, The Economist argued in a bizarre article linking Italy’s Euro 2020 victory to fascism, racism, and the defeat of multiculturalism.
    “The most striking aspect of Italy’s 26-man squad before it took to the pitch was that, alone among the main contenders, it did not include a single player considered as being of color,” the article read, noting: “Although three were born in Brazil, they are of Italian descent.”

    How Italy’s team ended up so shockingly full of Italians, The Economist continued, is explained by Italy’s citizenship laws. Basically, Italian citizenship is based on jus sanguinis (‘right of blood’): it is passed down from an Italian parent to an Italian child. Many countries around the world award citizenship this way, from Ireland to France to Japan. The opposite, jus soli (‘right of soil’ or ‘birthright citizenship’), grants citizenship to anyone born on a nation’s territory. The United States awards citizenship this way.
    Anyway, the end result is that Italians play on the Italian team. But they’re not just any Italians, The Economist continued, they’re bad Italians who were “ambivalent” about taking a knee before their games – a bizarre gesture imported from the US in the wake of the ethno-narcissistic Black Lives Matter movement.

    Not only that, by winning the championship, the Italian team made right-wing politicians in Italy happy, which of course is a crime.

      2. Yes, Bill, especially those economically and socially backward [sic] Warsaw Pact countries.

    3. The racism industry certainly won the European cup. I have rarely seen a spectacle so disgusting as the deliberate whipping up of hysteria around race in the last few days – and the sneaky passing of the compulsory jabs for health workers bill under its cover.

    4. Is the demented, Left wing, barmy to the nth Economist just talking BS to appeal to a group who don’t understand economics at any level?

    3. So handsome , they are very lucky cats to be living in such luxury .

      Do they follow each other around now, or are they little individual beings and do their own thing.

      1. Most days they have some play time together, Maggie. Increasingly they have their own activities – though, even then, they look out for each other.

        Edit: That “luxury” is merely the tip of the iceberg. It is in the porch. They have chairs, settees, beds all over the house – as well as their own baskets!! Anyone might think they are spoiled!!

      1. Can’t be doing with all that “picking up” malarkey.

        Putting warm turds in a plastic bag does NOT appeal to me.

        2. No problem with emptying the litter tray then?

          What do the neighbours say about the invasion of their gardens? Sometimes dogs are a bonus.

  71. OT – information.

    The MR is registered at the GP surgery under a former name. So her vaccination record is in that name. For travel, the name on the vaccination certificate has to agree with the UK passport. So she is going to attempt to persuade the harridan to change the name on her NHS record.

    I thought I’d mention this just in case any NoTTLer is in a similar situation.

    1. Good luck to the MR.

      My GP surgery is amalgamating with two others. £36,000 patients.

      When that is settled in 6 months time they will sell off the properties and do consultations in the Bus Stop.

      Welcome to the future.

      2. Ours has closed and we have had to re-register with one about 15 miles away but they seem quite reasonable. I’ll keep you informed – I have another INR on 22nd.

        1. Hope all goes well. Even though they don’t always know cause they know how to treat the conditions .

    2. We discovered a spelling mistake.

      Very surprisingly the French authorities merely crossed out the wrong one and wrote in the new one.
      Atypically French.

    1. No.

      If he creeps near politics again he must be arrested, chained, beaten and booted into London’s sewer.

        1. I’d chain him and Mandelson with their faces just above sewage. They’ve shoved our noses in it, so turnabout is fair play.

          Unfair on the sewage though, in my opinion.

    1. You painted that gate a couple of years ago.

      Bindweed – it’s like islam – it spreads everywhere and ruins things.

      3. A suggestion if you are not organic. Dip a paintbrush in Rosate and paint a dozen or so leaves with it, the more the better. Be careful that you don’t let the Rosate drip onto wanted plants. It will do the job most efficiently. It will kill plant, roots and all.

      4. A suggestion if you are not organic. Dip a paintbrush in Rosate and paint a dozen or so leaves with it, the more the better. Be careful that you don’t let the Rosate drip onto wanted plants. It will do the job most efficiently. It will kill plant, roots and all.

    2. Those butts are back to front. The flaps should be concealed viz. chopped in to the frame and stile with only the knuckle showing.

  74. From the Spectator – about PMQs today:

    “Who won the Euros? Race-baiters clearly. Sir Keir Starmer spent most of PMQs trying to label Boris as a bigot.

    The Labour leader craftily wove several arguments into one. He claimed that by failing to condemn fans who booed the BLM-inspired rite of genuflection, Boris was responsible for the abuse suffered by black players after the match.

    The PM had many powerful and obvious lines of defence. But he failed to use them. He fluffed it completely. He ignored a BBC report suggesting that most of the online abuse originated abroad. He didn’t mention that BLM is a political movement whose Marxist supporters want to close prisons and abolish police forces. Nor did he say that booing such an idiotic manifesto is simply common sense. And football is supposed to be politics-free so the jeers of the crowd may have been directed at the authorities who have allowed their sport to become the plaything of revolutionaries.

    Sir Keir brought up Marcus Rashford (the England team’s education secretary) and praised him for ‘feeding children that the government won’t’. But Rashford has simply forced the government to make taxpayers fund youngsters’ school meals instead of their parents. That’s not ‘feeding children’.

    Sir Keir turned to Tyrone Mings (the England team’s home office spokesman) who has criticised Priti Patel for calling pre-match genuflections, ‘gesture politics.’ Her remark, stated Mings, had stoked the fires of racism. It’s helpful to Sir Keir that the Mings Doctrine has already been endorsed by the Tory outcast, Johnny Mercer. Sir Keir quoted him with enthusiasm. ‘I am very uncomfortable,’ said Johnny, ‘with the position we Conservatives are needlessly forcing ourselves into.’ Note the wording, ‘we Conservatives.’ He equates his lone voice with the views of entire movement.

    But one feels a pang of sympathy for poor old Cap’n Mercer of the Royal Horse Artillery. With his easy manner, his good looks, his unstuffy personality and his heroic military background, Johnny doubtless feels a bit miffed that destiny has overlooked his many claims for preferment. Perhaps he’s already contemplating the Bercow Trail from one political wilderness to another. His sniffy asides are certainly useful to the Labour party. How long before he joins them?

    A handful of MPs called for ‘freedom day’ to be scrapped. Hywel Williams of Plaid Cymru said he was ‘aghast’ to see the English preparing to reclaim their liberty. He warned tourists visiting Wales to observe its stringent rules to the letter. How ironic. A party that that once stood for a free Wales now it wants its citizens under house arrest forever.

    The most significant power-grab came from Labour’s Clive Efford. He called ‘freedom day’ a ‘reckless gamble’ and he mentioned a constituent, Jackie, who suffers from a chronic illness that makes her fearful of ever leaving home again after Monday – even to visit the shops. Efford happily exploited the physical and mental frailties of his constituent in order to satisfy his warped desire to control everyone’s movements. He added an interesting footnote. ‘And yes,’ he called out, ‘Jackie did vote for Remain.’

    So the Lockdown Forever Club are the same people who were desperate to live under the jackboot of the EU. Now it makes sense.”

    1. I have long suspected that those who are happy with incarceration and mask wearing submission are remainiacs. Good to have it confirmed.

    2. Doesn’t Hywel Williams recognise (sadly for him) that the law is the law of England and WALES. His is a subject nation – tough titty.

      1. No more, Tom. Wales was “devolved” to its pretendy parliament – and makes most of its own laws.

    1. The only reason for famine in Ethiopia was because the elite decided to put their WarLord hats on.

      Ethiopia is so fecund that if you dropped a seed you would be beating back a plantation by lunchtime.

      Then Geldof stuck his beak in and the population went over 100 million.

      They are one bullet away from the biggest mass starvation the planet has ever seen.

    2. …SA joines Zim in being a basket case after being the breadbasket of Africa.
      One wonders at Blecks thought (?) processes. But one can’t point out that they have the brain of an amoeba, without being called names. Problem is, it’s being shown on TV right now.

      1. I initially thought the Beeb was a tad weak in not reporting the scale of the looting and killings. However, given the propensity of the copycat gene I’m glad the Beeb’s reports are muted……

    3. Fuck the roll-out, at this stage, by looting all the food, they are bound to starve within a month/six weeks. Let ’em starve and then no need for vaccines – just coffins and funeral pyres.

      Savages.

  77. Headline in the Wail. Good to see the “important” people looking after themselves.

    “One rule for them, another for us? Thousands of ministers and officials are escaping self-isolation rules thanks to ‘get out of jail free card’ pilot scheme that means they can take daily tests instead”

    Bet they don’t have to pay for the tests, either…

  80. That’s me for the day. Nice sunny evening. Pasta to roll out – to eat with a broad bean sauce. Own beans. And other ingredients also from garden. Strawberries to end with!!.

    Market tomorrow.

    A demain.

    1. Blackbox, go over to Spiked Magazine and you will find the same story in greater detail.

      1. I believe you, but honestly, I don’t have the energy. I knew it was a con right from the start when Southgate started posing about the BLM salute.
        I’m so fed up with it all. So fed up with people falling for the BS, and falling over themselves to try and show they’re not racist.

        When I realise that the same idiots are likely to be “nudged” i.e. weaponised against me this winter (unvaccinated), I’m not terribly optimistic.
        The vaxx passport scheme can only work if people feel virtuous for having the passport instead of telling anyone checking it to go stuff themselves.
        In order for them to feel virtuous, there need to be bad guys with whom they can compare themselves.
        Today it’s racists, tomorrow it’ll be the unvaccinated.

        1. Your: “…tomorrow it’ll be the unvaccinated.” Is insightful and probably true. But I would encourage you not to give up, loose energy. That is just what the left wants, to beat us all into submission.

          1. I’ve got a virus today (NO, NOT THAT BLOODY ONE!) and came home from work early. Hope to sleep it off tonight and feel better tomorrow.
            Meanwhile spreading a bit of doom and gloom until I can reasonably go to bed…

          2. I have a story much on the same lines today, so my sympathies. I have also felt like doom and gloom today, caused panic at hospital with suspected Covid because I was feeling terrible and opened my mouth when wisdom would have said, keep it shut, because I knew very well that it was impossible that it be the Wuhan Wobblies. So slept most of the day and feel better now, ate an enormous Subway Sandwich, Ham and Cheese with everything on it. And now, my favourite, “I’m sick” food, trifle with plenty of whipped cream, of course. But when I get down I always keep in mind that nothing lasts for ever, even if it is you that doesn’t last, even that is still an end to the problem, whatever it is. It’s an attitude that keeps cheery.

          4. Received this email this morning from a previously sensible friend………..it’s criminal what this propaganda has done to people.

            ..”.However for me it bodes too much of a risk
            to travel by bus any more. The fact than anyone can come and sit next
            to me, not socially distanced or wearing a mask. The same goes for
            eating inside.I have family holidays booked and cannot jeopardise them.”

            I had to ask her to take her mask off last time we met as I couldn’t hear what she was mumbling.

          5. It is sad isn’t it. There is nothing one can say to them. I hope that my embarrassed silence might cause them to re-think.

          6. Tell them you are part of the control group and can’t get vaccinated or it would ruin the stats 🙂

          7. I just said to my friend that I was sorry she won’t be joining us for lunch next week. She’s bought into the fear propaganda as has another friend – although I knew she disapproved of my dropping masks last month but as we’ve been friends for over 60 years we’ve agreed to differ.

          9. Oh – I’ll have a look now. We’ve not long finished outr dinner and plant watering – J is still outside on swift -watch.

        2. I don’t understand this racist thing..
          We are being saturated with black adverts / black media progs, black presenters etc , if you stir up a hornets nest there is bound to be a reaction. They are trying to alter our culture and history , they riot , play loud music , keep residents awake , push drugs , steal , cause disruptions in schools create argie bargy nonsense in Parliament , and then their kids kill each other , stabby stabby, shoot , and the rest . Oh and I forgot to mention fertility levels and black fathers who bolt away from responsibilities .

          Yet white children who are slow , are being pushed further down the list . Little white boys who want to play cricket and football are pushed aside infavour of black children . Our athletics are full of black youngsters, okay they are good at what they do, but white children don’t get a look in .

          The only ones who appear to blend in , make money and become useful intelligent citizens are the Indians and Malayans .

          Many many people are sick and tired of this word racism , as far as they are concerned the blacks have brought everything on themselves.

          That is my jaundiced view , and for three black men who deprived the football fans of glory because of a crafty political BAME choice by the Woke English football manager .. who could have chosen 3 white very capable experienced kickers , and trying to get acts of Parliament to stop us saying horrible things is an absolute joke.

          1. You’ve just said what a lot of people think – and we are very lucky we have this forum to say what we think. I’ve nothing against people who have a different skin colour from me – lots of my friends on Facebook are African – some I’ve met and some I haven’t. The guides and other people we’ve met on our trips are good people.
            What annoys me is the way it’s all pushed into our faces all the time. We don’t watch the adverts on telly – anything on ITV or the other channels that we want to watch we record so we can skim through them but you can’t fail to notice all the black faces. I suppoe it makes a change from all the Querty stuff and gender nonsense.

          2. I do agree Belle. The penalty takers should have included Jordan Henderson and Jack Grealish, both club captains and brave individuals.

            I would add that although Sancho missed a penalty, having sat out the game proper, any Germans watching would have been completely flabbergasted that he was not played from start to finish. Sancho is one of the most accomplished and feared players in the Bundesligue.

          3. And they say that he was a good supporter and friend of Don Quixote in La Mancha.

            :-))

          4. I absolutely agree with every word TB.
            Every thing we snow see on our TV screens is directed at the promotion of black people surely this is racist in the extreme.

  83. The estate agent being hung drawn and quartered for using the N word should self-identify as a black rapper. Nothing to see here, move on.

  90. Goodnight (good morning) fellow NoTTLers at 00:53, and God bless. Until later (much later) this morning.

    1. Good night at 1.40 am, Tom, to you and all still awake. I’m now off to bed myself.

      1. Still here Elsie but wondering – isn’t it time we East Anglian got together for some sort of Knees-up. I know you Chelmsfordians are a clique in yourselves but would you consider including the the likes of Bill and me in one of your crumblefests?

        1. Annie, Korky and I all live in Colchester (just north of Chelmsford), Tom. I am definitely up for a meet-up with you and Bill. What do Korky and Annie think?

  92. another deranged moron opens mouth without engaging non exostent brain: Dubbya is HEARTBROKEN over Biden’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, frets over dangers to women and girlshttps://www.rt.com/usa/529221-bush-criticizes-afghan-exit/

  93. another deranged moron opens mouth without engaging non exostent brain: Dubbya is HEARTBROKEN over Biden’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, frets over dangers to women and girlshttps://www.rt.com/usa/529221-bush-criticizes-afghan-exit/

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