Wednesday 16 October: Let the hospice movement guide MPs’ judgment on assisted dying

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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708 thoughts on “Wednesday 16 October: Let the hospice movement guide MPs’ judgment on assisted dying”

  1. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff.

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    1. Good morning Elsie
      Back to normal Wordle today!
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    2. Me too Elsie:
      Wordle 1,215 4/6

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    3. There’s a Disqus problem so I can’t reply to you on the original thread about Chas and Dave but Christo’s first remark was a reference to their line “You’ve got more rabbit than Sainsbury’s” . I presume Leclerc is a French supermarket equivalent.

  2. Morning People (that includes Geoff)
    Today's Financial Planning Tales
    Harry had Just pulled a £100,000 jackpot on the poker machine. When the club manager was presenting him with the cheque, he asked Harry how he was going to spend the money.
    “Well,” said Harry, “first I’ll spend £25,000 at the race-course, and I’ll spend £25,000 on wine and whisky and another £25,000 on women.”
    “Wow!” said the manager. “What are you going to spend the other £25,000 on?”
    “I’ll probably just squander that,” replied Harry.

    An elegant woman walked into the bank to deposit a large bag of cash. The bank manager was called over.
    “Did you hoard all this money yourself?” he asked.
    “No,” she replied, “of course not. My sister whored half of it.”

  3. Morning all from India, where it’s 11:30 already!

    As my Grandmother would have said: “Half past eleven and not a child washed!”

    Her other expression was: “and i’ll cut you a piece of cake”.

    I suspect no other family says these things. But i like them.

      2. Work; back on Friday. Was in Jakarta for work last week.

        So i am 4 1/2 hours ahead of Blighty at the mo

    2. Father's mother was fornd of exclaiming with surprise "Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs!" (pronounced "ower stirs", naturally.

    3. Watch out for the Delhi Belly!
      When asked what was for dinner my Mam would respond "Shit with sugar on"!

    4. Watch out for the Delhi Belly!
      When asked what was for dinner my Mam would respond "Shit with sugar on"!

    5. As we walked in the door to visit my Nan, she invariably asked my Dad, "Do you remember Mr/Mrs so-and-so? Well, he/she died."

  5. Morning, all Y'all.
    Cloudy, but too dark to be absolutely sure.
    Woke up to a message from Brother – at the age of 73, he's getting divorced. After that kind of information, the rest of the day looks wonderful – but getting it before breakfast coffee was a low blow.
    Actually, considerably saddened by this, it's a real downer.

      2. I hope not. I hope to start a romantic relationship as I reach my 80th – with someone around my own age, i.e. plus or minus 5 or 6 years.

  6. Are fish fingers actually healthy? 16 October 2024.

    Yes, on the whole. But some fish are mightier than others. “Oily fish – sardines, salmon, herring, anchovies, trout and mackerel – are a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids,” says Lucy Miller, a clinically trained nutritional therapist. “They’re also a good source of B vitamins, selenium and vitamin D (especially when you eat the tiny bones).”

    More pertinent (I confess to burying a pack last year prompted by childhood memories) is there any fish in them? The ones I bought seemed to be back to back batter. They lacked that soft consistency that I seem to recall.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/diet/nutrition/fish-fingers-healthy/

    2. I buy fish fingers and try to keep a small stock in the freezer as an occasional treat!
      Fish fingers, oven chips & a tin of mushy peas!

    3. You can buy white fish fish fingers but cod fish fingers are better. Try Birdseye 100% cod fillet fish fingers.. The battered ones are too thick for my taste. I prefer the crumb.

      In a sandwich with lots of salty butter.

      Better still…make your own.

        1. One slice buttered. Fish fingers on top. Dollop of homemade tartar sauce on top. Top with second slice.

          Ta dah !

    4. Morning, Araminta.

      So bad you felt the need to inter them?😋

      I have found that just about any battered/crumbed fish product has an excessive amount of covering.

    5. My own BTL comment:

      Don't buy any of this crap. Buy some fresh cod/haddock/pollack and make your own. 1,000 times more delicious and nutritious and not full of additives and junk.

      It is now well known that ultra-processed 'food' is the food of the devil and the cause of obesity, chronic ill-health and rapidly-rising stupidity. Yet here we have a publication recommending it. You couldn't make it up.

  7. Extra National Insurance
    There are rumours of maybe an extra 1 percent (or more) increase in National Insurance charges on Employers. The NHS is probably the biggest Employer in Europe with 1.7 million people. I haven't heard anybody say where their Employers will get the money to pay an extra 1 percent on all those NI bills. And what about all the Civil Serpents? We should be told. Oh yes, perhaps that's why the £22 billion Black Hole has just become £40 Billion.

      1. Isn't that the plan? Followed by a RESET that will misappropriate our investments, property and what remains of our freedom.

        Hasn't Charlie Boy spoken about a RESET?

        1. He's probably still trying to work out the meaning of the letters.
          Re Educating Seriously Ethnic Types.

      2. It's already broken. Resolving the problem isn't difficult, no is a significant course correction back to a rational system of government. The problem is, government gets votes by spending other people's money on those who haven't, and never will earn it.

        We are being forced, headlong into a cataclysmic economic collapse, forcing the IMF to bail us out and for that to be the excuse the state uses to force us back into the hated EU.

        It'll be a finger waggled exercise in abuse of 'now, we told you so, haven't you learned your lesson? Do as you are told in future.'

        All engineered, designed and planned by a grostesquely overmanned, overpaid, feather bedded, wasteful, incompetent, arrogant state machine.

    3. It's just a different way of spelling "tax". Government incomes aren't hypothecated (love that word!) so it just goes into the great big open maw that is government spending.

  8. Extra National Insurance
    There are rumours of maybe an extra 1 percent (or more) increase in National Insurance charges on Employers. The NHS is probably the biggest Employer in Europe with 1.7 million people. I haven't heard anybody say where their Employers will get the money to pay an extra 1 percent on all those NI bills. And what about all the Civil Serpents? We should be told. Oh yes, perhaps that's why the £22 billion Black Hole has just become £40 Billion.

    1. We'll probably get ours sometime in February.
      By which time, we might have twigged something was up.

    2. Good point Jen K – how much did it cost to send all those letters? Any savings from the theft of WFA have now been further reduced – meanwhile Milioaf, and others, continue to waste money on an industrial scale!

    3. Good point Jen K – how much did it cost to send all those letters? Any savings from the theft of WFA have now been further reduced – meanwhile Milioaf, and others, continue to waste money on an industrial scale!

  14. Let the hospice movement guide MPs’ judgment on assisted dying

    They make it all sound so benign and safe on the mainstream media.

  15. Russia suspected of trying to parcel-bomb German aircraft. 16 October 2024.

    Germany narrowly avoided an aviation disaster over the summer after suspected pro-Russian saboteurs tried to sneak a parcel-bomb on a plane, it has emerged.

    The targeted plane had been on the tarmac at a DHL logistics centre in Leipzig when a freight package caught fire, German newspaper Tagesspiegel reported.

    By sheer coincidence the flight had been delayed, which meant that the package caught fire while the plane was still on the ground, German security officials said.

    These people haven’t been caught but German Intelligence knows their political affiliations? This is just another story to add to the others about the Russian Menace. Almost anything suits; attacks on Supermarkets, an IKEA store in Lithuania, a shopping mall in Poland. Anything is grist to the mill. This program is designed to keep the public onside. It has no reality.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/15/russia-suspected-parcel-bomb-german-plane-leipzig-disaster/

    1. MB's 'pooter wouldn't fire up the other day.
      First, I did check whether he'd been rude about Vlad.

  16. Good Moaning.

    Cameltoe really is bat shit crazy. And racist and misogynistic; plus no doubt a few other "istics" can be raised as well.

    "It comes after the vice president unveiled new policy proposals aimed at black men on Monday that include a new legal recreational marijuana industry which she will ensure black men have access to."

    1. It's difficult to know where to start with this one, isn't it?

      Harris is suggesting that black men can be bribed with drugs – the very conceit being a crushing slur on that demographic as well as demonstrating the utter disregard she has for black men.

  17. Why is it that only the Lefty national socialist types that jumping for joy because we now have a German managing the English team?
    But only because they think it will annoy people on the Right.

    1. I have no idea about football at all, but I imagine the usual Lefty outrage is a result of those the Left hate being unhappy, which causes them joy. The why is irrelevant.

    2. Thomas Tuchel, the former Chelsea, Paris St Germain and Bayern Munich manager becomes the third non-Englishman to hold the post after Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello.

      “I am very proud to have been given the honour of leading the England team tribe” said Tuchel.

      The objective is to have at least one white European (if we can find one) in the team to prevent accusations of blatant anti-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

  18. Good morning all.
    After overnight rain we have a dull and rather misty start with a clammy 9°C on the Yard Thermometer.
    At least it's not raining at the moment.

    Well said this retired Colonel:-

    United Nations failure
    SIR – I started to lose faith in the United Nations in 1995 when, in Bosnia, a Dutch battalion, tasked with the responsibility for the designated UN Protected Area of Srebrenica, stood by and watched Serbs slaughter 8,000 Bosnian Muslims. It was a horrendous failure of UN peacekeeping.

    Some years later I was chief of staff of British Forces Cyprus and came into contact with the UN operation on the “Green Line” border between the Greek- and Turkish-controlled areas of the island. By day UN forces manned the watchtowers facing Turkish installations and patrolled the no-man’s land. It was just posturing. At night and on days off they went into Nicosia and could stroll along Ledra Street, wave to colleagues in the watchtowers, and cross into the northern (Turkish) area of the city. The Turkish officers I met had nothing but contempt for the UN operation. It therefore comes as no surprise to learn that the UN presence in Lebanon has failed to enforce the terms of the 2006 ceasefire (Letters, October 15).

    The UN cannot prevent most of the slaughter and instability wrecking this world, as it is stymied by the veto it gives to presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. When peacekeeping forces are deployed they are often ineffectual or counterproductive. The UN has failed and should now stand aside, as it had to in Bosnia.

    Col Mark Rayner (retd)
    Eastbourne, East Sussex

  19. If only they did, but as always they will do it their way…………..and it will all go wrong.
    morning all.

    1. Knowing a few hospice staff, they are hugely pragmatic in wanting to make the last few years/months or even days of their charges as comfortable as possible. They do go above and beyond to care knowing the inevitable outcome.

      For some, such medicated death with consent is welcome.

  20. Good morning, all. Mixture of light overcast and blue sky. Damp but not raining at the moment.

    Elon Musk on the British Empire and the ending of slavery.

    https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1846211256622968856
    Elon has definitely poked a stick into the hornet's nest. So many responses in support of his comment and many against. The subject of the British Empire, and Worldwide slavery, is far too complicated to simply be clarified by listing both the good bits and the bad bits and then attempting to make a judgement: so many undercurrents to consider. Undoubtedly the British via the Royal Navy – losing thousands of sailor's lives and spending huge sums of money – put a stop to the Atlantic slave trade and that was a wonderful action but alas, slavery continues today in Africa and around the World.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7154e1e425e23c1f7e91b7352ca602ca9d99aabb71601d2259badcac4c364e41.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c0635ba5259bab79654cc8113e2b444f21f6f15455948d013973bdedcf3780f3.png

    Little wonder that Lammy appears confused.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d62b774b4eaeb228dc8b74919481bfc531bba03bcd819a2a3b8fa91380320884.png

    1. Lammy can read? The man knows nothing about history, economics or world affairs. He parrots utterly deceitful gibberish from his primitive, egotistical mindset.

      2. Not only can he read, he can write.

        He dips his stick into his bowl (of ink) and scribbles on his blanket.

      1. Beeing a white woman does not always go hand-in-hand with being intelligent. The 'white' world is awash with imbeciles of either sex.

    3. Give him his due, he is No1 in the world of diplomacy – the thickest Foreign Secretary in the history of the United Kingdom.

      In August 2022, an inquiry found that he had inadvertently breached the MPs' code of conduct. He apologised in a letter to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner – Hime sory I dident meen to doo it unintenchionnaly. Ey will doo it hintentionally from nowe hon!

  21. This thread on the use of weight loss drugs to help the unemployed lose weight has a bit of sense in it:-

    Jacqueline Heath
    29 min ago
    I can’t think of many jobs which can’t be carried out by obese people, unless they are so obese they can’t get out of bed. A generous benefit system is far more likely to be the cause of inactivity.

    Weight loss drugs won’t make any difference to that, and, apart from the material cost of the drugs, who knows, the unknown side effects might well cause more strain on the NHS.

    K Brown
    27 min ago
    Reply to Jacqueline Heath
    Weight loss drugs given en masse may give opportunities to sue the NHS and live on benefits forever

    Judith Gordon-Nichols
    24 min ago
    Reply to Jacqueline Heath
    I agree. I suspect the reason many overweight people (and thinner people too) are out of work is because they get more in benefits than they would in work and potentially too lazy to work – attitude rather than health issues.

    William Bradley
    24 min ago
    Reply to Jacqueline Heath
    Wes should start in the hospitals where a seemingly high proportion of the staff are obese.

    K Brown
    23 min ago
    Reply to William Bradley
    Wes does not appear underweight in pictures.

    Rosie Waters
    13 min ago
    Reply to Judith Gordon-Nichols
    I agree. I have no doubt that even if cured of obesity , another ailment would prevent a return to work – mental health maybe.

    I don’t think that Wes Streeting is going to be the saviour for the health service, everyone thought he was going to be.

    Helen Rivans
    2 min ago
    Reply to Jacqueline Heath – view message
    If it was obesity that prevented people working there would be very few nursing staff on duty in our hospitals.

    1. Obesity is often brought on by inadequate nutrition making one lethargic and exercise really quite challenging. Before we can push the fatties into boot camp, with a real risk of breaking something, one answer may be to bring back staff canteens with a brief to provide nutritious and satisfying meals rather than cheap junk?

      These have been cut back in recent decades, and I consider that to be grossly negligent and a major contributor to this health crisis.

      1. No. These all attempt to solve a symptom, not the problem. The problem being the cost of healthcare.

        The issue isn't weight, it's the weight costing the NHS more money. Therefore, the NHS should be reformed to operate on a more efficient, for profit basis.

  23. 394817 + up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Leave well enough alone, this issue is taking on the mantle of rhetorical erosion, keep hammering away at an issue until it is found acceptable.

    Concerning this issue take out the criminal content
    and leave freedom of choice as being a way to go NO ifs or buts, NO input from so called higher authorities
    if it must be considered at ALL it must be an individuals own choice, surely.

    Wednesday 16 October: Let the hospice movement guide MPs’ judgment on assisted dying

  24. ‘Tidal wave’ of demand for NHS weight-loss jab

    ‘Tidal wave’ of requests for jabs comes amid fears the slow rate of roll-out means they will have little impact

    The Daily Telegraph. 16 Oct 2024. By Laura Donnelly, Health editor

    The NHS cannot meet the “tidal wave” of demand for weight-loss jabs, medics say. A report calling for a review of existing treatment services has been backed by more than 200 healthcare professionals. It comes as the Prime Minister said the new drugs could be “very important for the economy and for health”. Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, said the new class of medication could have a “monumental” impact into work.
    THE NHS cannot meet the “tidal wave” of demand for weight loss jabs, medics say.

    A report calling for a review of existing treatment services has been backed by more than 200 healthcare professionals, with campaigners warning that plans to roll out injections will take too long to make a significant impact.

    It comes as the Prime Minister said the new drugs could be “very important for the economy and for health”.

    Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, said the new class of medication could have a “monumental” impact into work. Mr Streeting this week announced a £280 million investment from Lilly, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, in developing new medicines and ways to deliver treatment.

    The plans will include the first realworld trial of the medicines’ effect on worklessness, productivity and reliance on the NHS.
    Sir Keir told the BBC: “These drugs will be very helpful for people who want to lose weight, need to lose weight, very helpful for the economy because people want to get into work. And very helpful for the NHS, because I’ve said we need more money for the NHS but we’ve got to think differently.”

    Earlier this month the NHS announced a phased introduction of the jabs, which would go to up to 1.6 million people, starting with the most morbidly obese, with multiple conditions. However, the timescale is 12 years, with just 250,000 expected to get them in the next three years.
    The charities called for a full review of existing obesity services and the economic case for expanded access to be made. The vast majority of prescriptions for weightloss jabs are issued privately, with NHS use so far restricted to specialist clinics.

    The report found some patients are facing five-year waits for specialist help, with other services so overstretched they have closed their waiting lists. Medics said the NHS could not keep up with “unprecedented public demand” for new pharmaceutical treatments.
    In a letter to Mr Streeting, members of the Obesity Health Alliance – a coalition of health charities and medical royal colleges – urged the government to prioritise unequal access to obesity services, saying this is critical to reducing long-term sickness and supporting economic growth.

    Dr Sarah Williams, NHS clinician, said: “We’re seeing a tidal wave of unprecedented demand that we simply cannot meet with the resources currently available. The government needs to act now to make obesity services more equitable and sustainable. Clinicians
    are in a difficult position, having to ration life-changing treatments due to overwhelming demand.” Alfie Slade, of the Obesity Health Alliance, said: “The new weight loss drugs represent a breakthrough in treatment, giving hope to the millions of people struggling to manage their weight, but they also expose the weaknesses in our current obesity services. Without urgent government intervention, we will fail to meet the needs of millions of patients, leading to greater health inequalities.”

    A Yougov poll last night found Labour voters far more likely than Tory supporters to back the rollout of weight loss jabs to help the unemployed return to work. The survey asked 3352 adults: “Would you support or oppose weight loss drugs being provided on the NHS for unemployed people where losing weight may help them return to work?” In total, 61 per cent of Labour voters showed support, while 47 per cent of Conservative voters to back such plans. Across all voters, men tended to be more keen on the jabs than women, with 55 per cent backing such moves, along with 46 per cent of women. Overall, 50 per cent either strongly supported or somewhat supported the jabs, while 34 per cent either somewhat opposed or strongly opposed it, and 16 per cent said they did not know.

    A five-year trial in Manchester will assess the “real-world effectiveness” of Mounjaro, also known as tirzepatide – including its impact on worklessness and use of health services. The drug, manufactured by Lilly, has been hailed as the “King Kong” of weight-loss jabs after a study found those on the jabs lost an average 21 per cent of body weight over 36 weeks. The drug has been shown in clinical trials to be more effective than semaglutide, which is marketed as Wegovy for weight loss, and as Ozempic for diabetes, in helping patients lose weight.
    ‘We’re seeing a tidal wave of demand that we simply cannot meet with available resources’‘These drugs will be very helpful for the economy because people want to get into work’

    It was the insistent questioning of my four-year-old grandson that goaded me into it. “Why is your tummy so big?” he asked with a faux innocence belied by the knowing look in his eye. A good observation and an even better question, I thought, and resolved to do something about it. I am not a massive eater or drinker and never snack but getting weight off as you get older is hard. Think about it. From the age of 20 you only needed to accumulate one pound a year to be three stone heavier in your 60s. Holding back that one pound is possible only with constant dieting or inherited serendipity.

    My father was the same weight throughout his life, well into his 80s and he ate like a horse, so there was no genetic predisposition to gain weight, just a more indolent lifestyle, much of it spent sitting at a computer for hours on end. Let’s face it, years of heavy lunching as a political journalist didn’t help either. I have lost weight many times through various diets – 5:2, Atkins, 18-hour fasts etc – but never stuck with them because as I shed the pounds I did not want to be on a permanent diet, which is essentially what is needed. So when these magic weight-loss drugs came on to the market I became interested, especially when I saw the effects on people who had taken them, both friends and colleagues. Some had lost two or three stones in as many months. A miracle!

    I did some online research and ordered a batch of tirzepatide, an injectable drug produced by the US pharma giant Eli Lilly and marketed under the brand name Mounjaro. It was remarkably easy to obtain given that I am not obese (though the absurd BMI rating might suggest otherwise) and nor do I have diabetes or any pre-diabetic markers judging by annual blood tests.

    Questions were asked, a judgment reached by “a team of clinical experts” and the drugs were on their way, while £220 went flying out of my bank account for one month’s supply. They are not cheap and are only available on the NHS to those who have been referred to specialist clinics.
    Mounjaro is the weight-loss drug that Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, is now proposing to hand out to unemployed people who are so obese they cannot get out of the house. All I can say is that it had the opposite effect on me. I was so sick – I will spare you the details – that I couldn’t go to the office for days.

    When the initial effects subsided and I increased the dose marginally for the second stage of injections I was sick again and gave up. I certainly lost weight but only because I could not eat anything, which I suppose is the point. For people who do not get these side effects (which, to be fair, are well advertised), Mounjaro and the other drugs like Wegovy are no doubt life-changing.

    Are they the answer to the obesity crisis as Mr Streeting hopes? There will be a “nanny state” backlash against his proposals but he is surely right to say this problem needs to be tackled or our health and care systems, already teetering on the brink of disaster, will be pushed over the edge.
    There is nothing inherently wrong with the state prescribing a preventative drug – statins are now available free for over 60s in a bid to reduce cholesterol levels. So many ailments are connected to obesity, from diabetes and heart disease to failing joints that need replacing, that the cost of treatment is rising to unsustainable levels. Mr Streeting has made his pitch not just on health grounds but on the impact on worklessness.
    Writing in this newspaper he said the cost to the NHS was £11billion while illness from obesity “causes people to take an extra four sick days a year on average, while many others are forced out of work altogether”. About 40 per cent of the NHS budget is spent on preventable health conditions, a figure forecast to reach 60 per cent by 2040.

    “The long-term benefits of these drugs could be monumental in our approach to tackling obesity. For many people, these jabs will be life-changing, help them get back to work and ease the demands on our NHS,” Mr Streeting wrote. It seems to work since the obesity rates in the US, where weightloss drugs are more widely distributed, are declining for the first time, even if they remain higher than 10 years ago.
    It is extraordinary to think that in the three decades after the NHS was established hardly anyone was overweight. People were slimmer even if they ate well because they moved around more. Until relatively recently you could not spend hours slumped in front of a TV or a screen playing computer games – because they didn’t exist.

    The type of work that many people did in the now defunct industrial sector involved more activity than now, houses were not centrally heated so calories were used up just keeping warm and there were few tempting snacks around. A packet of Smiths crisps with a little blue bag of salt was about it. Nowadays, entire supermarket shelves are groaning with every imaginable variety and flavour of calorie-laden comestible. Fizzy drinks are also a menace judging by the contents of people’s supermarket trolleys. Moreover, whoever it was who said “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” has never tried a bacon roll.

    We are always being told that we should not judge or “fat shame” people for the bad choices they make, yet this is a public health issue that cannot be ignored since we all pay for the consequences through our taxes either for medical care or welfare benefits.
    Here is yet another modern paradox – obesity is greater among poorer people who theoretically should have less money to buy food, especially the takeaways delivered to your door, and the processed meals that are more expensive than cooking for yourself.
    The biggest issue of all is overweight children who are often seen with obese parents who think over-feeding them is a sign of parental affection. When I was at school, a long time ago, admittedly, hardly any pupils were fat.

    Mr Streeting said the injections should not be seen as an alternative to changing unhealthy lifestyles – but that is exactly what a lot of people hope they are, an easy way of doing something that is otherwise difficult. After my bilious experience with Mounjaro, it’s back to the 5:2 diet, for a few weeks at least.

    There will be a ‘nanny state’ backlash against his proposals but he is surely right to say this problem needs to be tackled.

    Conclusive proof, if it were ever needed, that advanced human stupidity has now exceeded epidemic proportions. When people are still clamouring for injections instead of eating real food, then there is little hope for the continuance of the species.

    1. Nail. Head. Hammer. Real food, fresh, prepared and cooked yourself, not ultra-processed muck, no seed oils, no refined sugars would mean that you naturally eat less. There would be no additive-induced cravings for more. Combine such a diet with a modicum of daily exercise. There is no need to go to extremes – half an hour to raise the heart rate and exercise all the major muscle groups is enough. There is no need for expensive gym membership, everyone has an 'outdoors' and you can do exercises against the walls and doorframes. The overweight/obesity problem would be fixed in a few short years.

      The food industry and the "health" industry have a lot to answer for.

      1. The equation is quite simple. The Global Corporations, who produce unfeasibly massive quantities of ultra-processed crap that is heavily marketed as 'food', want people to carry on buying it (and gobbling it down) as a 'convenience'; that is, a convenient way of keeping the cash-flow into their already overladen coffers continuing unabated.

        At the same time their partners-in-crime, Big Pharma, continue to rake in similar amounts selling their chemical 'cures' for people who succumb to this daily trencherman competition of guzzling shite. The strategy is a proven winner for both oligarchies.

      2. As well as walls and doorframes, so many parks now have 'adult gym' equipment alongside the play equipment. Our small village even has a selection. It is quite unusual to see any adults using any of it.

    2. Nail. Head. Hammer. Real food, fresh, prepared and cooked yourself, not ultra-processed muck, no seed oils, no refined sugars would mean that you naturally eat less. There would be no additive-induced cravings for more. Combine such a diet with a modicum of daily exercise. There is no need to go to extremes – half an hour to raise the heart rate and exercise all the major muscle groups is enough. There is no need for expensive gym membership, everyone has an 'outdoors' and you can do exercises against the walls and doorframes. The overweight/obesity problem would be fixed in a few short years.

      The food industry and the "health" industry have a lot to answer for.

    3. Nail. Head. Hammer. Real food, fresh, prepared and cooked yourself, not ultra-processed muck, no seed oils, no refined sugars would mean that you naturally eat less. There would be no additive-induced cravings for more. Combine such a diet with a modicum of daily exercise. There is no need to go to extremes – half an hour to raise the heart rate and exercise all the major muscle groups is enough. There is no need for expensive gym membership, everyone has an 'outdoors' and you can do exercises against the walls and doorframes. The overweight/obesity problem would be fixed in a few short years.

      The food industry and the "health" industry have a lot to answer for.

    4. I can't be bothered to read all that Grizz. But surely it will encourage the dedicated fatties to carry on as before. Eat what they want to and take the jab.
      Otherwise all the fast food outlets will go bust.

    5. Interesting that liebour voters are more likely to support these fat jabs. Anything for an easy, free life. Chances are the unemployed liebour-voting whales are unemployable anyway.

  25. Employer National Insurance contributions not covered by the “working people” pledge, say Starmer and Reeves

    Credit: Hollie Adams Telegraph View 16 October 2024 6:00am BST

    During the election campaign Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves insisted that a Labour government wouldn’t raise taxes on “working people”. Given the size of the spending plans implied by their other manifesto commitments, many wondered precisely how they intended to keep this pledge.

    The answer is now clear: they didn’t. Ms Reeves is now insisting, absurdly, that increasing employer’s National Insurance contributions was not covered by the “working people” pledge.

    It is important to be clear about what this means. As any economist will tell you, whether a tax is formally charged to an employer or an employee is meaningless when working out who actually “pays” for it; employers offset the cost of higher labour taxation by reducing wages, and pass the cost on to customers by higher prices.

    In fact, in 2021 the Office for Budget Responsibility thought these effects were so large that it assumed the burden of the tax fell “entirely” on real wages; 80 per cent through lower wages, 20 per cent through higher prices. In other words, it is a tax that falls almost entirely on working people.

    It was this logic that caused one Rachel Reeves to comment at the time that a 1.25 per cent increase in employers and employees National Insurance contributions was raising taxes on “ordinary working people”.

    Sir Keir Starmer has accumulated an impressive record of U-turns and broken promises in his time as Labour leader. Dropping a manifesto commitment barely more than a hundred days into his term as Prime Minister would sadly be in keeping with the tone of his tenure. But both Sir Keir and Ms Reeves should be honest about what they’re doing.

    1. They should never have made this pledge in the first place. It was as ridiculous as Nick Clegg pledging not to put up tuition fees "under any circumstances" including getting into Government.

      1. What they should have done, in a sane world is properly reform the tax code replacing it with, say, the Swiss or Singaporean one and made significant and serious cuts to state spending. No one would notice if a few hundred quangos were shut down, nor if multiple departments were abolished.

        Remember, public sector workers are merely disguised welfare recipients.

      1. The only thing I have against Jackson is that the Royal Green Jackets and many other local regiments disappeared on his watch.

  27. I have nil respect for any politician that argues against tax rises for working people. It was a stupid thing to pledge during the election, and is a stupid thing to uphold at a Budget addressing a serious shortcoming in revenue over committed expenditure. It therefore rules out any respect due to the likes of Keir Starmer and Robert Jenrick, as well as much of the media commentariat.

    Nobody likes tax, and I share this dislike. In times of crisis, this burden needs to be shared out as broadly as possible in order to minimise the impact on one particular sector or other. To make favourites of the vast majority in order to win an election, means a disproportionate hit on those less favoured, which may well be devastating rather than just unpleasant. Pensioners are not "working people" it seems. Neither are employers. Global financiers are given honorary "working people" status for tax exemptions because of their favoured status among well-lobbied "business-friendly" politicians. Everybody loves Goldman Sachs, and even arranged the privatisation of Royal Mail where it got the lion's share of the takings.

    It is a no-brainer too, but it seems ignored by the stupid that impose their theories on me, to spend what available money there is as wisely and as frugally as possible, not splash it out on huge infrastructure projects because these are popular with favoured contractors and enhance "growth" at the expense of those whose lives do not matter. Never mind HS2, I saw how hospital provision in Worcestershire was wrecked when

    In the TV show where a brace of hapless numpties is given six months to do up a house and then hand over their profits to lawyers and professional fleecers, the only chance to break even is to be creative when saving money, such as re-using serviceable items and doing what can be done in-house rather than subbing it out to cowboys. Is this not something Government could try?

    1. In times of crisis, this burden needs to be shared out as broadly as possible in order to minimise the impact on one particular sector or other.

      Exactly. And sharing out that burden MUST include the Government cutting it's spending so that proposed tax increases are kept to a minimum.

        1. I fear that that hole will be bottomless until a political party with not only common sense but that has been tutored in real science, comes to power. Labour, Tory, LibDum and the Greens are wedded to this nonsense.

        2. Unfortunelty Ellie our political idiots wouldn't recognise a black hole if they were sitting on a commode.
          More than 8 million pounds a day spent on feeding housing and clothing illegal invaders. And they can't admit it. Between them all, they have wrecked our country.

        3. Not to mention pouring I don't know how much into the black hole that is Africa to "fight climate change"!

      3. If the government doesn't do so voluntarily, it will be forced upon us/them at some point, when the government is unable to raise any more money to squander via increasing the debt.

    2. Woah there. A serious shortcoming in commited expenditure….

      Righty. If you're 50,000 in debt due to your own reckless waste the solution is simply to rob other people of their money?

      The correct approach is to simply cut your own spending to accommodate your debt. The state has lived in our overdraft for 3 decades now and has become used to taking whatever it pleases. That must end and serious and significant spending controls be imposed – the state must, bluntly, be put through a blender.

      1. The correct approach is to simply cut your own spending to accommodate your debt.

        That sentiment is fine for running your own household but ludicrous for the nation, The Chancellor & Treasury.

        You have the process backwards. The state always has the power to 'fund' anything because Government spending creates the circulation that generates the matching funding. Just like any bank creating and deploying money.
        That's not the question. The question is whether the resources & "sound policies" are there in the first place.

      2. The money is already spent, a whole litany of things from HS2 to 18 months off with Covid. Much of it gone in the pockets of the corrupt and clicked abroad at the first hint of clawback. PFI cost a lot more and left us with rubbish hospitals styled like airport lounges and a lot of land sold off cheap to developers. We couldn’t even stop shitting in the rivers, since the priority was the market-led bonus.

        Now we have more admirals than ships and the threat of a world war where defence preparedness is paramount. Where is the money coming from?

    3. what available money there is as wisely and as frugally as possible

      Nation's economies are not run like a household.. and it's all about the 'money flow' and that is the driving force.
      Tax has nothing to do with raising money. Tax is about retiring money (shredding) to offset money that is created by government spending (printing).
      After that it's all resources & politics.
      And that's where it gets messed up.

  29. Morning all 🙂😊
    Misty and murky and damp here.
    Since when have our politicians ever taken a blind bit of notice of public opinion. And current happinenings in our social structure and culture effects prove this. They, as we have recently witnessed carry out their own adgenda usually with the least helpful side effects and with a lack of sympathies with ongoing public life.
    And the current 'government' appears to be determined to keep that in motion.

  30. 'Morning All
    Random Medley
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ea91c783623d58922ed8c2ce4511a24de691f0510b2a58570c8a025d9cc217df.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0fe671897403222a9b2814750c10056bee40af8916513f185f9dc0248ed9b448.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/58eaf521cf08989eaa3400135b0dc679ed4fd2090b703a4872b4a0e19019bb05.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c1f84140822fc8073d00cc5991e30080a05bc5a5d94a3f2a6b30aa2a653d2347.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7ded7c824732b4db93aad785dcfa7df72248deeedb3ef995970500046d6f95f8.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f293aa0fae3e786da780009a3f30fa5aafc9445f25a7812a5a5f0dd54af90fd5.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/de5c77cdabcccd22f86cf3d87f170dfb3c08ba62faa29ef8b753cce232e65529.jpg

  31. Good morning all

    Miserable damp morning , 17c.

    Pip spaniel regurgitated his breakfast , yep, a pile to clear up.

    Moh arrived home 20minutes ago, golf match cancelled , huge puddles on the course , bunkers are full of water.

    Squirrel on the bird table.

    Leylandii hedge suffering with huge patches of brown deadness.. Moh has cut out the brownness, and bought some young plants to fill the gaps .

    Mole has been busy , despite Moh buying 3 more anti mole solar powered bleepers.

      1. Nowhere to putt his balls, ooh err matron… Thank goodness TB has clearing up to be getting on with.

    1. Classic over-reach.
      Encourage it.
      Whatever it takes for the "Normies" to wake up, open their eyes and reject it.. in 5 years time.

    2. Don't I recall correctly that the bells of a church were silenced after 200 years because some newbie in the village objected to the 'noise'?

    1. Good man. Fine soldier. Very funny. His missus and my big brother did a couple of books together. His sense of humour was not always appreciated by his wife.

  37. 6 bags of hedge to take to the tip. On the upside, that is a good 3/4s of the blighter. Not sure now what to do. Would like to redirect the path and build a parking bay but that'd mean levelling the area. Might add to the saleability of the house though rather than just having the driveway (which you have to sort of reverse down to get out again (unless you want to do an Austin Powers-esque turn.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QpL8CbcOko

  38. Tucking into ultra-processed foods may not be all that bad for you

    The Daily Telegraph. 16 Oct 2024, By "Daily Telegraph Reporter" (how convenient, you are given invisibility!).

    WARNINGS to avoid ultra-processed foods (UPFS) could lead to some people eating even less healthily, researchers have said.
    Experts from the universities of Aberdeen and Liverpool argued research around UPFS is still in its infancy and more needs to be known before people are told to stop consuming them. Instead, they said the focus of public health guidance should remain on eating a diet full of fruit, vegetables and wholegrains, while also limiting foods high in fat, sugar and salt.

    Studies have linked UPFS to poor health, such as a greater risk of obesity, heart disease, cancer and early death.
    Examples of UPFS include ice cream, processed meats, crisps, mass-produced bread, some breakfast cereals, biscuits and fizzy drinks.
    UPFS often contain high levels of saturated fat, salt and sugar and additives, which experts say leaves less room in people’s diets for more nutritious foods. These UPFS also tend to include additives and ingredients that are not used when people cook from scratch, such as preservatives, emulsifiers and artificial colours and flavours.

    However, some experts say it is not clear why UPFS are linked to poor health and question whether this is because of processing, additives or because people tend to eat less nutritious other foods. In the article, published in PLOS Medicine, experts argued that less welloff people could be most affected by any blanket health warnings about UPFS without more scientific evidence.

    Prof Eric Robinson of the University of Liverpool, one of the authors of the article, said: “Foods classed as ultra-processed which are high in fat, salt and/or sugar should be avoided, but a number of ultra-processed foods are not. “We should be thinking very carefully about what advice is being given to the public, as opposed to providing simplified and potentially misleading messages that grab headlines.”

    The article states there is a potential “social cost for people with more limited resources” of removing convenient options and the possible negative mental health impacts on “those who worry about their health or live with eating disorders, particularly if social circumstances make avoiding UPFS difficult”. It continued that “avoiding some types of UPFS” could lead some people to choose alternatives “that are higher in energy or macronutrients of concern.

    “We know with certainty that foods which are energy dense and/or high in saturated fat, salt or sugar are detrimental to health and we should continue to advise consumers to limit consumption of these foods. “Likewise, we should be encouraging consumption of health-promoting foods, like fruits, vegetables and wholegrains.”

    Dr Hilda Mulrooney, reader in nutrition and health at London Metropolitan University, said: “For some groups in particular, foods classed as UPFS make very significant contributions to nutrient intakes, and these would be difficult to achieve otherwise.”

    Anyone who is still labouring under the delusion that the MSM (in particular The Daily Telegraph) is not under the direct control of of Big Business/Big Pharma/WEF/UN/WHO et al, should simply take their 'advice' and continue their rapidly accelerating physical and mental decline.

    Those who still possess a fully-functioning brain will know that these so-called 'experts' (who are wheeled out every day, ad infinitum, ad nauseam) are paid more-than-handsomely by the aforementioned global giants to say precisely what they tell them to say.

    1. Good morning, Grizzly

      You would have made an excellent missionary – you have the zeal for the job! The Police Force's gain was the loss of missionary organisations!

      In fact, one of my aunts was a missionary doctor and she married a missionary doctor and together they worked in Rwanda. They had five children: three doctors, a nurse and an architect.

      1. Good morning, Rastus.

        On what topic do you think I would make a good missionary for? Religion and Politics are, of course, completely out of the question.

      2. Good morning, Rastus.

        On what topic do you think I would make a good missionary for? Religion and Politics are, of course, completely out of the question.

    2. Fat doesn't make you fat. Too much sugar does. Though my husband, addicted to sugar, has never been overweight.

      1. I've been saying that for years. Animal fat is nutrituous and what the body doesn't absorb in nourishment it gets rid of. Adipose fat (the layers laid down in the body by eating an inappropriate diet)) is made by sugar. Carbs are sugar, so is alcohol. Sugar and seed oils are killing people yet they still carry on buying and eating them.

        I also know people who eat a lot of sugar and do not put on weight. Having said that, the sugar is doing lots of other nasty things to their bodies.

        1. My mother had a diet supplement kept from a 1950s magazine which decreed that to lose weight one should consume no more than 15 carbohydrate units per day. I haven't been able to locate a copy of that list of foods or any definition of a carbohydrate unit. I do recall that one portion of spaghetti (no mention of pasta then) blew all 15 units in one go but various meats plus some green veg such as runner beans have zero carb units. Full fat cream was also allowed. Bread and potatoes were of course to be rationed.

          1. I have cooked off the shin of beef, kidneys and mushrooms. Tomorrow i will be making the suet pudding and steam it.
            Though i will be serving it with Savoy cabbage i will also be double carbing on the butter and cream mashed potato !

          2. I remember that. Diet advice was always “cut out potatoes and bread”. It wasn’t until 1980 when the wrong advice was given out by the WHO praising carbs and rebuffing meats and animal fats. Of course, that event coincided with the rapidly escalating rise in obesity and morbid ill health (not to mention stupidity).

      2. Maybe guidelines have changed, but when our offspring were young children, we were told that they should be given full fat milk and yoghurts, presumably for energy and brain health. Our oh-so-wise son & DiL in Canada have been giving their children semi-skimmed milk since they were under 3 years old.
        MH struggles to lose weight, but his carbs consumption is far too high, as a proportion of his food intake and lack of portion control.

  39. SIR – The decision to bring before Parliament a Private Members’ Bill to legalise assisted dying should be deplored (report, October 15).

    I had the privilege of working in the hospice movement for 11 years, seeing first hand how hospices were able to provide the holistic care that enabled all patients to have a good death. The core principle common to health care professionals – from doctors and nurses to all other specialisations – is “do no harm”. Ending a person’s life surely does not fit with this.

    This Bill is a result of decades of government failure to support proper palliative care delivered by those in the hospice movement – mainly registered charities, which at least are free from NHS inefficiency and bureaucracy.

    Mark Jackson
    Charlton, Worcestershire

    Dear people , do not think badly of me when I say , sending our young men into a warzone .. isn't that assisted dying .. and how all governments have trashed those who survive the onslaught yet they venerate the dead , as they will be doing in November .

    Many of those who have been sent into war zones are now pensioners , those who were injured , some suffered from PTSD.. and now are struggling to make sense of their sacrifice , yet are now surrounded by those who wear gowns and the call to prayer five times a day…

    For what purpose .. why were they sent away to fly ridden smelly frightening hell holes like Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere ..

    Why do we even need our armed services .. to protect our overseas interests, no surely some mistake .. because we are being overwhelmed by an unstable vicious invading species of males who have no right to be here .

    Assisted dying , yes we are discussing that, and how many assisted stabbings and murderous monsters have wrought havoc recently ..that is assisted dying , isn't it?

    Apols for the outburst .

    1. Who knows how to classify the importing of millions of barbarian savages. The economic, social, cultural and physical damage is impossibly high. So high no normal person would consider it.

      But it wasn't forced from a rational perspective. It's singularly malicious.

    3. Three instances in which I was directly involved.

      A friend who's husband was riddled with cancer and no pain relief helped. He begged his wife to kill him. In the end after weeks of pleading she smothered him with a pillow. He did not resist. She was a wreck for months afterwards because she loved her husband and didn't want to see him die. She was never the same because she gave her life away by taking his. To my mind her gift to him was the ultimate gift. She destroyed her life because of love and accepted the consequences that she would suffer torment for the rest of her days.

      A friend of mine diagnosed with ALS. With that after losing all you muscular abilities and your ability to communicate, you finally suffocate to death. She had a party while she could, said goodbye to her friends then went upstairs and took a concoction that gave her a peaceful death.

      A professor I helped look after. with severe Alzheimer's. The disease attacked his brain in such a way that every waking moment of his life was a moment of sheer terror. He would scream and cry constantly and fought everyone and everything. He died in that dreadful state, not euthanized. No one involved thought his "natural" death was a good thing. It was cruel, inhumane and downright evil and there was nothing virtuous in it at all, save in the minds of the cowardly who will not take on to themselves the burden of another's pain in the most practical way, by ending it.

        1. With the man who’s wife smothered him. No pain medication was working properly.

          Judith who committed suicide did so because after a certain point she would not be able to do it for herself and she was not going to ask her husband or anyone else to do it for her once she became helpless. She was a highly productive person for whom the idea of being totally unproductive and helpless was horrifying.

          The professor with Alzheimer’s, was sedated but that didn’t help much either. And why would you want to torture someone going through that? It’s neither compassionate or helpful to such a victim. The only person who benefits is the person who self righteously says: “Well we did our best” to salve their own conscience about putting someone through horrendous pain.

      2. Yes , I know .

        The government tried to kill us all 4 years ago .

        My logic is ..if that doctor got away with killing hundreds of innocent patients , and the nurse who allegedly disposed of babies’ lives , who will stand for us if the NHS decide baby boomers are a bed blocking nuisance ?

        Decades ago , and I mean decades ago , doctors dispensed a medicine , scheduled drugs to lessen pain ..

        1. Well the trouble is that if policy was made worrying about ‘what ifs’ nothing would ever be done and society would grind to a halt. If problems do arise then we find solutions or scrap the idea altogether.

          With regard to abortion. Totally different in my opinion. You do not kill innocent lives that can’t speak for themselves, period. The latest idea that you can abort your child up to the moment of birth is horrendous, the depth of depravity. I hope it never becomes law and if it did I would regard it as fully justified to kidnap the mother and force her to give birth. Then the creature could be released after having her tubes cut.

    4. All killing can be characterised as assisted dying. The Ten Commandments don't actually say Thou Shalt Not Kill. It's Thou Shalt Not Murder. It's necessary then to define what category of killing constitutes murder. I don't believe that abortion or euthanasia have a moral imperative therefore I'd class both as murder. War if justified and execution as punishment for treason or murder does have a moral imperative.

  40. 394817+ up ticks,

    May one ask,
    With the likes of the rotherham paedophile, very long tern cover-up, and ALL governing political cartels, can these odious political miscreants be serious when bringing the word morality into any issue ?

    Live Britain has ‘moral obligation’ to legalise assisted dying, insists Labour MP

    1. It's been long established that Leftie psychopaths use wordies & props very carefully to craft their message. Usually means 180 degrees opposite of what they're touting.
      eg. Starmer's over use of Union Flag = hates Great Britain.
      Growth = overthrow of capitalism.
      Protect you from = micro-manage your bank account. etc…

    2. I'm not sure that having anonymous apparatchiks in the NHS administration deciding whether your time has come

      because your house is required by the Government is a good idea.

      Although the moral imperative to house newcomers is obviously very important to the Government.

      2. 394817+ up ticks,

        Morning HL,
        I believe it comes under the political elites way of solving the housing problem to their design.

        ” Government ” these past, near forty years, I can only read as
        political, treacherously criminal. cartels.

      3. The inversion of language. Typical of Marxists. Good means bad and bad means good. Hence treason is morality.

  41. The ‘fat jab’ has worked for me – and it can help cure our economy
    My weight-loss journey has been a wholly positive one. Many people would welcome help to improve their lives for the better
    Allison Pearson: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/15/allison-pearson-weight-loss-journey-mounjaro-wes-streeting/

    BTL

    Good luck to you with having a fat jab – it was your decision. However the idea of compelling people to have a fat jab is totally repellent.

    Many people have suffered seriously bad and even fatal effects from the Covid jabs – I am very fortunate that my doctor told me NOT to have these because of my medical history and I followed her advice.

    1. Allison Pearson is such a pharma shill whether she realises it or not!
      I've just been reading her novel published in 2017 – the heroine and all her colleagues get flu jabs (Everyone does, you know!), and the menopause is medicated – only lentil-weaving earth mothers aren't popping hormones.

    2. I've gained about 5 kilos over the last few months. I can feel it when I'm exercising. It adds a tiny amount to an already very heavy body.

      The prospect of just having an injection to make it go away is incredibly alluring.

        1. Whilst i thoroughly agree, i do miss overindulging in wine, and bread and butter.

          1. I love (freshly-baked) bread and butter but being sated on meat or fish, these days, I don’t think about it much.

            I gave up on drinking wine eight years ago. The tannin in red wine upset my stomach and kept me awake at night. White wine is as exciting as sweetened vinegar.

        2. Whilst i thoroughly agree, i do miss overindulging in wine, and bread and butter.

      3. No it isn't, wibbling!
        I've also put on some weight over a rather stressy summer. Right now, I have no strategy for losing it – I keep popping chocolate while I try to get my head around winrt (winrt SUCKS. It's the bastard child of UWP and MFC. Run a mile and never, never use it for anything!). But I'm sure as hell not going to get some disgusting concoction filled with goodness knows what injected into my blood.
        I'll just keep going, and one day I won't feel like eating, so I'll go with the flow, and then hopefully I'll be motivated to fast for another couple of days, do a bit of exercise and it'll be gone.

        1. I acknowledge the attraction of a quick fix, but I distrust the politicians too much! My problem is the difficulty of exercising with bad knees and a painful sacroiliac joint. It makes walking and even cycling difficult.

          1. I have trouble walking longer distances. Terrible cramps due to a clot.
            My E-bike is good though. With the battery assist i can cycle several miles without pain.

          5. Depends on the size of your house, if it can accommodate a large number of incomers I would suggest at least two stripes on your zimmer frame.

      4. If you would like to have a weight loss jab then it's your decision. I have decided not to have one and the thought of it being compulsory is quite horrifying.

    3. I recall her writing about undergoing liposuction a few years ago, to look good at an old school reunion.

      I think our Allison lacks a bit of willpower. Not a criticism per se. It is hard, especially when you get older. Someone else somewhere on t’internet pointed out if you just put on 1lb a year, in 30 years that’s 2 stone. And 1lb isn’t much. 3500 calories.

  42. Former President Donald Trump sat down with Bloomberg Editor-In-Chief John Micklethwait for an interview in partnership with the Economic Club of Chicago – where he knocked several tough questions out of the park, while starting – and ending, with a standing ovation.
    At the beginning of the interview, Micklethwait said Kamala Harris refused to appear to discuss her 'economic vision.' Probably a smart move.

    Trump landed more hits when the topic moved to inflation. When Micklethwait noted that the WSJ says Trump's economic plan will increase the national debt by more than 7 trillion, Trump replied:
    "What does the Wall Street Journal know? They've been wrong about everything. And so have you, by the way…"
    "You're trying to turn this into a debate," Micklethwait shot back – to which Trump said "It's not a debate, but you've been wrong all your life on this stuff."

    Full interview here…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX_IVnmoHUE&t=4742s

    1. A brill reply to all Lefties about everything.. take your pick: religion. sex n gender. science. climate. nations. list goes on & on..
      "It's not a debate, but you've been wrong all your life on this stuff."

      1. I told a Lefty chum that he was wrong in everything he said, did and thought. He couldn't understand what i meant. I asked if his head was hurting. He said, yes, it was a bit.

        I replied – don't worry, the cognitive dissonance will pass as reality asserts itself. You might need to sit down for the duration, but it won't take long.

    2. Micklethwait is a good Viking name. Micklegate in York was the Main Street of the Viking settlement. A thwaite is a meadow or pasture.

    1. Usual pattern, no? Create the problem (in this case by deliberately promoting a diet that will make people fat) then pretend they have the solution (in the form of a potentially dangerous injection). Then sit back and enjoy the money and the power over life and death. Just think, when the combination of bad diet and dodgy injections makes their lives miserable and hardly worth living, they can be offered euthanasia.

      1. They don't listen. They prefer to squeeze their eyes shut, put their hands over their ears and scream, "NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, SHAN'T!" Before diving, yet again, into the biscuit jar.

        Well, it's their funeral.

      1. Thanks for that, there are many interesting place names that when looked into come up with the origins.
        There was a TV program a few years ago about peoples names. One that stood out was Curtis, that meant people with short legs. And Curt hose.
        There is a village near us, on the River Lea named, Wheathampstead. I'm told It was originally named Watta ham stead.
        Via the Thames Julius Caesar and his army landed there in 55BC. There is also a massive bronze age dyke on the edge of the village. Part of a system that spread south towards St Albans. It never seems to get a mention on Digging for Britain.

  48. Morning all. Dark and gloomy outside and dark and gloomy inside, thank Edison for light bulbs!
    Something I found out last night that I find extremely disturbing. How many of you know that Reform works with 'Hope not Hate' an extreme Communist organization implacably opposed to the Right?

    1. I thought they did it to head off the inevitable hatefilled Left wing desperation where they'd investigate anyway and dig up any dirt they could to discredit reform?

      After all, Lefties can't play the ball so they go for the man.

  49. Morning, all! Don't faint! I'm here early because my oil tank is being replaced and the lads arrived at 08.45 (I wasn't expecting them until ten!). True to form, it is hissing down here; the path is flooded and when I went out to greet them my mac was soaked in minutes. I only took Kadi a short walk up the back drive and he came back soggy, despite his mac. To add to the joy, it's bin day so the binmen aren't going to be pleased that there's a lorry blocking the back drive. I'm on the computer because it's too dark to read without the light on.

    I personally am not in favour of assisted dying because of the inevitable mission creep. Certainly politicians should be nowhere near any decisions about it.

      2. Our best oppotions are to Take a train to Calais and boat it back. And speak gibberish.
        I wonder if anyone might have already tried this.

      3. Depends what the criteria is, I suppose. I think three should be a case where an individual is a harm to themselves or others and thus should be properly dealt with would get most of them.

      1. I'm afraid you're confusing me with someone else. My Oscar died in February this year. Alas, it was assisted dying and I still feel guilty.

  50. Stupid boy! I did it again. Forgot to include a letter I already had on third line.
    Wordle 1,215 5/6

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

    1. I do the same occasionally. Might have got an Eagle but decided to eliminate several alternatives before completing the third line.

      Wordle 1,215 3/6

      ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. They are an evil bunch. They are the ones who keep threatening Tommy Robinsons family. It was in large measure that he divorced in order to protect them. Hope not Hate are also involved with Antifa.

    2. They are an evil bunch. They are the ones who keep threatening Tommy Robinsons family. It was in large measure that he divorced in order to protect them. Hope not Hate are also involved with Antifa.

      2. When I was in Munich in the mid 1970s, I needed to cross a wide road. Along with a number of others, I was at a pedestrian crossing. There was absolutely no traffic, so I walked over the road. Nobody else did. It turns out it was against some law to cross before the green man signal showed. Obedient little Germans.

        1. Yep. I did similar and got a warning from the Polizei! Only the fact I was a foreigner let me escape incarceration, I think.

        2. Still happens!! Amused me no end when I first lived in Germany to find a group of leather-clad we're-so-hard young men waiting at a light at 3 a.m. in the middle of town, where there hadn't been a car for hours. 🤣🤣

    1. Love Katie. She has completely grown on me, thanks to the posts you guys put on here and which i then watch. Wouldn’t really have come across her otherwise.

  57. Why do the Left in the UK have to be so anti British?
    It is as if they take pride in putting their country down, politically, historically, culturally, in business and even in sport.
    Suddenly for example it is considered to be far right to want an English person as England football manager, how weird is that?
    Anyone that expresses a negative opinion of the job going to a foreigner is somehow not a proper living person, uneducated, primitive, a cockroach that has to be crushed under the progressive Jackboot.
    Yet our Left leaning neighbours on the continent do not have all this angst and anxiety over supporting their own country and wanting to be proud of their historical achievements, culture, business and sport.
    They would never dream of having an Englishman as manager of their national side and wouldn't be pilloried and gaslit for saying so.
    This has been our problem in the UK with the Left, why are they so eager to self harm their country for petty ideological gains.

    1. I hope i live long enough to see the pendulum swing back and that lot of self haters are consigned to the dustbin of history.

    4. "Everyone" hates the English, as "everyone" hates the Jews. Specifically, English. Nobody hates the Welsh, Irish or Scots.
      Probably because both English and Jews have been very successful over the years, humiliatingly so to proud Foreigners who reckon they should have been as, or more, successful, but weren't willing to make the effort required.

      1. I think in large measure you are right. People hate success and in recent history that means the Jews and the English.

        1. Oh, I dunno, I think we Scots have lent a hand:

          Road transport innovations
          Macadamised roads (the basis for, but not specifically, tarmac): John Loudon McAdam (1756–1836)
          The pedal bicycle: Attributed to both Kirkpatrick Macmillan (1813–1878)[4] and Thomas McCall (1834–1904)
          The pneumatic tyre: Robert William Thomson and John Boyd Dunlop (1822–1873)
          The overhead valve engine: David Dunbar Buick (1854–1929)

          Civil engineering innovations
          Tubular steel: Sir William Fairbairn (1789–1874)
          The Falkirk wheel: Initial designs by Nicoll Russell Studios, Architects, RMJM and engineers Binnie, Black, and Veatch (Opened 2002)
          The patent slip for docking vessels: Thomas Morton (1781–1832)
          The Drummond Light: Thomas Drummond (1797–1840)
          Canal design: Thomas Telford (1757–1834)
          Dock design improvements: John Rennie (1761–1821)
          Crane design improvements: James Bremner (1784–1856)
          "Trac Rail Transposer", a machine to lay rail track patented in 2005, used by Network Rail in the United Kingdom and the New York City Subway in the United States.

          Aviation innovations
          Aircraft design: Frank Barnwell (1910) Establishing the fundamentals of aircraft design at the University of Glasgow.

          Power innovations
          Condensing steam engine improvements: James Watt (1736–1819)
          Thermodynamic cycle: William John Macquorn Rankine (1820–1872)
          Coal-gas lighting: William Murdoch (1754–1839)[27]
          The Stirling heat engine: Rev. Robert Stirling (1790–1878)[28]
          Carbon brushes for dynamos: George Forbes (1849–1936)[29]
          The Clerk cycle gas engine: Sir Dugald Clerk (1854–1932)[30]
          The wave-powered electricity generator: by South African Engineer Stephen Salter in 1977[31]
          The Pelamis Wave Energy Converter ("red sea snake" wave energy device): Richard Yemm, 1998[32]

          Shipbuilding innovations
          Europe's first passenger steamboat: Henry Bell (1767–1830)[33]
          The first iron–hulled steamship: Sir William Fairbairn (1789–1874)[34]
          The first practical screw propeller: Robert Wilson (1803–1882)[citation needed]
          Marine engine innovations: James Howden (1832–1913)[35]
          John Elder and Charles Randolph (Marine Compound expansion engine)[35]
          Military innovations
          Lieutenant-General Sir David Henderson two areas:
          Field intelligence. Argued for the establishment of the Intelligence Corps. Wrote Field Intelligence: Its Principles and Practice (1904) and The Art of Reconnaissance (1907) on the tactical intelligence of modern warfare.[36]
          Intelligence: Allan Pinkerton developed the still relevant intelligence techniques of "shadowing" (surveillance) and "assuming a role" (undercover work) in his time as head of the Union Intelligence Service.

          Heavy industry innovations
          Coal mining extraction in the sea on an artificial island by Sir George Bruce of Carnock (1575). Regarded as one of the industrial wonders of the late medieval period.[37]
          Making cast steel from wrought iron: David Mushet (1772–1847)[38]
          Wrought iron sash bars for glass houses: John C. Loudon (1783–1865)[39]
          The hot blast oven: James Beaumont Neilson (1792–1865)[40]
          The steam hammer: James Nasmyth (1808–1890)[41]
          Wire rope: Robert Stirling Newall (1812–1889)[42]
          Steam engine improvements: William Mcnaught (1831–1881)[43]
          The Fairlie, a narrow gauge, double-bogie railway engine: Robert Francis Fairlie (1831–1885)[44]
          Cordite – Sir James Dewar, Sir Frederick Abel (1889)[45]

          Agricultural innovations
          Threshing machine improvements: James Meikle (c.1690-c.1780) & Andrew Meikle (1719–1811)[46]
          Hollow pipe drainage: Sir Hew Dalrymple, Lord Drummore (1700–1753)[47]
          The Scotch plough: James Anderson of Hermiston (1739–1808)[48]
          Deanstonisation soil-drainage system: James Smith (1789–1850)[49]
          The mechanical reaping machine: Rev. Patrick Bell (1799–1869)[50]
          The Fresno scraper: James Porteous (1848–1922)[51]
          The Tuley tree shelter: Graham Tuley in 1979[52]

          Communication innovations
          Telephone: Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)
          Print stereotyping: William Ged (1690–1749)[53]
          Roller printing: Thomas Bell (patented 1783)[54]
          The adhesive postage stamp and the postmark: claimed by James Chalmers (1782–1853)[55]
          The Waverley pen nib innovations thereof: Duncan Cameron (1825–1901) The popular "Waverley" was unique in design with a narrow waist and an upturned tip designed to make the ink flow more smoothly on the paper.[56]
          Universal Standard Time: Sir Sandford Fleming (1827–1915)[57]
          Light signalling between ships: Admiral Philip H. Colomb (1831–1899)[58]
          The underlying principles of radio: James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879)[59]
          The Kinetoscope, a motion picture camera: devised in 1889 by William Kennedy Dickson (1860-1935)[60]
          The teleprinter: Frederick G. Creed (1871–1957)[61]
          The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC): John Reith, 1st Baron Reith (1922) its founder, first general manager and director-general of the British Broadcasting Corporation[62]
          RADAR: A significant contribution made by Robert Watson-Watt (1892–1973) alongside Englishman Henry Tizard (1885-1959) and others[63]
          The automated teller machine and Personal Identification Number system: James Goodfellow (born 1937)[64]

          Publishing firsts
          The first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica (1768–81)[65]
          The first English textbook on surgery (1597)[66]
          The first modern pharmacopaedia, William Cullen (1776). The book became 'Europe's principal text on the classification and treatment of disease'. His ideas survive in the terms nervous energy and neuroses (a word that Cullen coined).[67]
          The first postcards and picture postcards in the UK[68]
          The educational foundation of Ophthalmology: Stewart Duke-Elder in his ground breaking work including ‘Textbook of Ophthalmology and fifteen volumes of System of Ophthalmology’[69]

          Culture and the arts
          Gospel music: according to Yale University music professor Willie Ruff, the singing of psalms in Scottish Gaelic by Presbyterians of the Scottish Hebrides evolved from "lining out"—where one person sang a solo and others followed—into the call and response of gospel music of the American South
          Scottish National Portrait Gallery, designed by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson (1889): the world's first purpose-built portrait gallery.[70]
          Ethereal wave: a subgenre of dark wave music that emerged with the release of the albums Head over Heels and Treasure by Scottish band Cocteau Twins.
          Shoegaze: a subgenre of indie and alternative rock pioneered by Scottish bands such as Cocteau Twins and The Jesus and Mary Chain.
          Future bass: a style of electronic dance music pioneered by Scottish producers such as Rustie and Hudson Mohawke.
          Hyperpop: a microgenre characterized by a maximalist or exaggerated take on popular music pioneered by Scottish producer Sophie.
          Christianisation of Scotland and England partially done by Scots who invented new kinds of pacifist missionary traditions[71]
          Dean George Berkeley and His Entourage, a portrait painted by Scottish-born John Smibert that became one of the most influential New England paintings[72]

          Scientific innovations
          Logarithms: John Napier (1550–1617)[73]
          Modern Economics founded by Adam Smith (1776) 'The father of modern economics'[74] with the publication of The Wealth of Nations.[75][76]
          Modern Sociology: Adam Ferguson (1767) ‘The Father of Modern Sociology’ with his work An Essay on the History of Civil Society[77]
          Hypnotism: James Braid (1795–1860) the Father of Hypnotherapy[78]
          Tropical medicine: Sir Patrick Manson known as the father of Tropical Medicine[79]
          Modern geology: James Hutton ‘The Founder of Modern Geology’[80][81][82]
          The theory of Uniformitarianism: James Hutton (1788): a fundamental principle of Geology the features of the geologic time takes millions of years.[83]
          The theory of electromagnetism: James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879)[84]
          The discovery of the Composition of Saturn's Rings James Clerk Maxwell (1859): determined the rings of Saturn were composed of numerous small particles, all independently orbiting the planet. At the time it was generally thought the rings were solid. The Maxwell Ringlet and Maxwell Gap were named in his honor.[85]
          The Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution by James Clerk Maxwell (1860): the basis of the kinetic theory of gases, that speeds of molecules in a gas will change at different temperatures. The original theory first hypothesised by Maxwell and confirmed later in conjunction with Ludwig Boltzmann.[86]
          Popularising the decimal point: John Napier (1550–1617)[87]
          The first theory of the Higgs boson by English born [88] Peter Higgs particle-physics theorist at the University of Edinburgh (1964)[89]
          The Gregorian telescope: James Gregory (1638–1675)[90]
          The discovery of Proxima Centauri, the closest known star to the Sun, by Robert Innes (1861–1933)[91]
          One of the earliest measurements of distance to the Alpha Centauri star system, the closest such system outside of the Solar System, by Thomas Henderson (1798–1844)[92]
          The discovery of Centaurus A, a well-known starburst galaxy in the constellation of Centaurus, by James Dunlop (1793–1848)[93]
          The discovery of the Horsehead Nebula in the constellation of Orion, by Williamina Fleming (1857–1911)[94]
          The world's first oil refinery and a process of extracting paraffin from coal laying the foundations for the modern oil industry: James Young (1811–1883)[95]
          The identification of the minerals yttrialite, thorogummite, aguilarite and nivenite: by William Niven (1889)[96]
          The concept of latent heat by French-born Joseph Black (1728–1799)[97]
          Discovering the properties of Carbon dioxide by French-born Joseph Black (1728–1799)
          The concept of Heat capacity by French-born Joseph Black (1728–1799)
          The pyroscope, atmometer and aethrioscope scientific instruments: Sir John Leslie (1766–1832)[98]
          Identifying the nucleus in living cells: Robert Brown (1773–1858)[99]
          An early form of the Incandescent light bulb: James Bowman Lindsay (1799-1862)[100]
          Colloid chemistry: Thomas Graham (1805–1869)[101]
          The kelvin SI unit of temperature by Irishman William Thomson, Lord Kelvin (1824–1907)[102]
          Devising the diagramatic system of representing chemical bonds: Alexander Crum Brown (1838–1922)[103]
          Criminal fingerprinting: Henry Faulds (1843–1930)[104]
          The noble gases: Sir William Ramsay (1852–1916)[105]
          The cloud chamber recording of atoms: Charles Thomson Rees Wilson (1869–1959)[106][107]
          The discovery of the Wave of Translation, leading to the modern general theory of solitons by John Scott Russell (1808-1882)[108]
          Statistical graphics: William Playfair founder of the first statistical line charts, bar charts, and pie charts in (1786) and (1801) known as a scientific ‘milestone’ in statistical graphs and data visualization[109][110]
          The Arithmetic mean density of the Earth: Nevil Maskelyne conducted the Schiehallion experiment conducted at the Scottish mountain of Schiehallion, Perthshire 1774[111]
          The first isolation of methylated sugars, trimethyl and tetramethyl glucose: James Irvine[112][113]
          Discovery of the Japp–Klingemann reaction: to synthesize hydrazones from β-keto-acids (or β-keto-esters) and aryl diazonium salts 1887[114]
          Pioneering work on nutrition and poverty: John Boyd Orr (1880–1971)[115]
          Ferrocene synthetic substances: Peter Ludwig Pauson in 1955[116]
          The first cloned mammal (Dolly the Sheep): Was conducted in The Roslin Institute research centre in 1996 by English scientists Ian Wilmut (born 1944) and Keith Campbell (1954–2012).[117]
          The seismometer innovations thereof: James David Forbes[118]
          Metaflex fabric innovations thereof: University of St. Andrews (2010) application of the first manufacturing fabrics that manipulate light in bending it around a subject. Before this such light manipulating atoms were fixed on flat hard surfaces. The team at St Andrews are the first to develop the concept to fabric.[119]
          Tractor beam innovations thereof: St. Andrews University (2013) the world's first to succeed in creating a functioning Tractor beam that pulls objects on a microscopic level[120][121]
          Macaulayite: Dr. Jeff Wilson of the Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen.[122]
          Discovery of Catacol whitebeam by Scottish Natural Heritage and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (1990s): a rare tree endemic and unique to the Isle of Arran in south west Scotland. The trees were confirmed as a distinct species by DNA testing.[123]
          The first positive displacement liquid flowmeter, the reciprocating piston meter by Thomas Kennedy Snr.[124]

          Sports innovations
          Scots have been instrumental in the invention and early development of several sports:

          Australian rules football Scots were prominent with many innovations in the early evolution of the game, including the establishment of the Essendon Football Club by the McCracken family from Ayrshire[125][126][127]
          Several modern athletics events, i.e. shot put[128] and the hammer throw,[128] derive from Highland Games and earlier 12th century Scotland[128]
          Curling[129]
          Gaelic handball The modern game of handball is first recorded in Scotland in 1427, when King James I, an ardent handball player, had his men block up a cellar window in his palace courtyard that was interfering with his game.[130]
          Cycling, invention of the pedal-cycle[131]
          Golf
          Ice Hockey, invented by the Scots regiments in Atlantic Canada by playing Shinty on frozen lakes.
          Shinty The history of Shinty as a non-standardised sport pre-dates Scotland the Nation. The rules were standardised in the 19th century by Archibald Chisholm[132]
          Rugby sevens: Ned Haig and David Sanderson (1883)[133]
          The Dugout was invented by Aberdeen FC Coach Donald Colman in the 1920s
          The world's first Robot Olympics which took place in Glasgow in 1990.

          Medical innovations
          Pioneering the use of surgical anaesthesia with Chloroform: Firstly in 1842 by Robert Mortimer Glover then extended for use on humans by Sir James Young Simpson (1811–1870)[134] Initial use of chloroform in dentistry by Francis Brodie Imlach
          The Saline drip by Dr Thomas Latta of Leith in 1831/32
          The hypodermic syringe: Alexander Wood (1817–1884)[135]
          First diagnostic applications of an ultrasound scanner: Ian Donald (1910–1987)[136]
          Independent discovery of inoculation for smallpox: Johnnie Notions (c. 1730 – c. 1803)[137]
          Discovery of hypnotism (November 1841): James Braid (1795–1860)[138]
          General anaesthetic: Pioneered by Scotsman James Young Simpson and Englishman John Snow[139]
          Identifying the mosquito as the carrier of malaria: Sir Ronald Ross (1857–1932)[140]
          Identifying the cause of brucellosis: Sir David Bruce (1855–1931)[141]
          Discovering the vaccine for typhoid fever: Sir William B. Leishman (1865–1926)[142]
          Electrocardiography: Alexander Muirhead (1869)[143][144]
          Discovery of Staphylococcus: Sir Alexander Ogston (1880)[145]
          Discovering insulin: John Macleod (1876–1935) with others[10] The discovery led him to be awarded the 1923 Nobel prize in Medicine.[146]
          Penicillin: Sir Alexander Fleming (1881–1955)[9]
          Pioneering of X-ray cinematography: John Macintyre (1896); the first moving real time X-ray image and the first KUB X-ray diagnostic image of a kidney stone in situ[147][148][149]
          Establishment of standardized Ophthalmology: Sir Stewart Duke-Elder, a pioneering Ophthalmologist in the 1930-50s[69]
          The first hospital Radiation therapy unit: John Macintyre (1902); to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of injuries and illness at Glasgow Royal Infirmary[147]
          The Haldane effect, a property of hemoglobin: First described by John Scott Haldane (1907)[150]
          The first Decompression tables: John Scott Haldane (1908); to calculate the safe return of deep-sea divers to surface atmospheric pressure[151]
          Oxygen therapy: John Scott Haldane (1922), with the publication of ‘The Therapeutic Administration of Oxygen Therapy’, beginning the modern era of Oxygen therapy[152]
          Transplant rejection: Professor Thomas Gibson (1940s) the first medical doctor to understand the relationship between donor graft tissue and host tissue rejection and tissue transplantation by his work on aviation burns victims during World War II[153]
          Discovering an effective tuberculosis treatment: Sir John Crofton in the 1950s[154]
          Developing the first beta-blocker drugs: Sir James W. Black in 1964;[155] revolutionized the medical management of angina[156] and is considered to be one of the most important contributions to clinical medicine and pharmacology of the 20th century.[157] In 1988 Black was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
          Developing modern asthma therapy based both on bronchodilation (salbutamol) and anti-inflammatory steroids (beclomethasone dipropionate): Sir David Jack (1972)
          Chainsaw invented by surgeons John Aitken and James Jeffray for widening the birth canal during difficult childbirth[158]
          Glasgow coma scale: Graham Teasdale and Bryan J. Jennett (1974)[159]
          Glasgow Outcome Scale: Bryan J. Jennett & Sir Michael Bond (1975): diagnostic tool for patients with brain injuries, such as cerebral traumas[160]
          Discovering and developing the anesthetic drug Propofol: Dr. John B. Glen (1977); a globally-used surgical anesthetic common in general surgery cases. In 2018 Dr. Glen received a Lasker Award.[161]
          Glasgow Anxiety Scale: J.Mindham and C.A Espie (2003)[162]
          Glasgow Depression Scale: Fiona Cuthill (2003); the first accurate self-report scale to measure the levels of depression in people with learning disabilities[163]
          Discovering the Human papillomavirus vaccine: Ian Frazer (2006); the second cancer preventing vaccine, and the world's first vaccine designed to prevent a cancer[164]
          Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS): Strathclyde University (2014); a laser and nanoparticle test to detect Meningitis or multiple pathogenic agents at the same time.[165]

          Household innovations
          The television: John Logie Baird (1923)
          The refrigerator: William Cullen (1748)[166]
          The flush toilet: Alexander Cumming (1775)[167]
          The vacuum flask: Sir James Dewar (1847–1932)[168]
          The first distiller to triple distill Irish whiskey:[169]John Jameson (Whisky distiller)
          The piano footpedal: John Broadwood (1732–1812)[170]
          The first automated can-filling machine John West (1809–1888)[171]
          The waterproof macintosh: Charles Macintosh (1766–1843)[172]
          The kaleidoscope: Sir David Brewster (1781–1868)[173]
          Keiller's marmalade Janet Keiller (1797) – The first recipe of rind suspended marmalade or Dundee marmalade produced in Dundee.
          The modern lawnmower: Alexander Shanks (1801–1845)[174]
          The Lucifer friction match: Sir Isaac Holden (1807–1897)[175]
          The self filling pen: Robert Thomson (1822–1873)[176]
          Cotton-reel thread: J & J Clark of Paisley[177]
          Lime cordial: Lauchlan Rose in 1867
          Bovril beef extract: John Lawson Johnston in 1874[178]
          The electric clock: Alexander Bain (1840)[179]
          Chemical Telegraph (Automatic Telegraphy) Alexander Bain (1846) In England Bain's telegraph was used on the wires of the Electric Telegraph Company to a limited extent, and in 1850 it was used in America.[180]
          Barr's Irn-Bru, soft drink produced by Barr's in Cumbernauld Scotland and exported all around the world. The drink is so widely popular in Scotland that it outsells both American colas Coca-Cola and Pepsi and ranks 3rd most popular drink in the UK with Coca-Cola and Pepsi taking the first two spots.[181]

          Weapons innovations
          The carronade cannon: Robert Melville (1723–1809)[182]
          The Ferguson rifle: Patrick Ferguson in 1770[183]
          The Lee bolt system as used in the Lee–Metford and Lee–Enfield series rifles: James Paris Lee[184]
          The Ghillie suit pioneered by the Lovat Scouts[185]
          The percussion cap: invented by Scottish Presbyterian clergyman Alexander Forsyth[186]

          Miscellaneous innovations
          Boys' Brigade: Sir William Alexander Smith[187]
          Bank of England[2] devised by William Paterson
          Bank of France devised by John Law
          Grand Theft Auto: developed by Scottish game developers DMA Design (later known as Rockstar North)
          The industrialisation and modernisation of Japan by Thomas Blake Glover[188]
          Colour photography: the first known permanent colour photograph was taken by James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879)[189]
          Buick Motor Company by David Dunbar Buick[190]
          New York Herald newspaper by James Gordon Bennett, Sr.[190]
          Pinkerton National Detective Agency by Allan Pinkerton[190]
          Forbes magazine by B. C. Forbes[190]
          Fried chicken: the origin of fried chicken in the southern states of America has been traced to precedents in Scottish cuisine.
          The establishment of a standardized botanical institute: Isaac Bayley Balfour[191]
          London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine: founded by Sir Patrick Manson in 1899[79]
          Educational reform at the College of New Jersey that influenced other universities and American culture and intellectual movements done by John Witherspoon[192]
          The performance of John Paul Jones as a commander in the Continental Navy kept it going and helped it become the modern United States Navy.

        2. Success requires application, hard work and taking risks. Easier to sit back, pick your nose and complain about others.

      2. The ancient Greeks, Romans and Hebrews were superior races whose reputation it's become fashionable to trash and belittle. Others now lauded as their equals, who may have had some form of early carved (indecipherable and not really written) language were not civilisations and bequeathed us nothing of value.

    5. "Everyone" hates the English, as "everyone" hates the Jews. Specifically, English. Nobody hates the Welsh, Irish or Scots.
      Probably because both English and Jews have been very successful over the years, humiliatingly so to proud Foreigners who reckon they should have been as, or more, successful, but weren't willing to make the effort required.

  58. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8814141788c6d5c46d8c54094e9a28902fb9adb2fdccc027a094b0521e2fc1ad.jpg Where's Philip?

    There you are, boy: the perfect fried egg. Shallow-fried in hot lard until the white is cooked and slightly crisp-brown around the edges yet the yolk is still soft and 'sunny-side-up'. That would pass the Roux Brothers' famous recruitment test on frying an egg properly.

    Oh, I've just scoffed it for my dinner, with some home-made haslet [pron: 'ace-let'] 😋

    1. I know that is the correct way to fry an egg but with my reflux problems the crispy bits climb back up my throat.
      I like a fried egg sarnie but i prefer poached on buttered toast.
      I think it was one of the Roux's who demonstrated deep fried eggs. Might have a go at that some time.

      I will be having battered cod, triple cooked chips and a TIN of Harry Ramsden's mushy peas.

        1. Scoffing right this minute. The batter recipe on 'Great British Chefs' works a treat. No eggs !

          1. The only batter I put eggs in is the batter for Yorkshire pudding/Pancakes.

            For battered fish I used flour, salt, baking powder, a dash of malt vinegar and water (sometimes with a bit of ale in it)

          2. I read that adding salt to the batter would make the gluten react stronger. They suggested just sprinkling salt on the finished article.

          3. Dunno. It seems to work OK.
            If I use just beer in the batter instead of water, it tends to burn the batter very quickly in under 7 minutes, even at 180ºC, the recommended temperature.

      2. It was Michel Roux (Senior) who demonstrated that technique. He was a bit behind the times since my mother routinely fried eggs like that in lard (in her chip pan) for decades before we'd even heard of Albert and Michel Roux.

      3. Soft yolk/crisp whites is my No 1 way of eating eggs. I know we all have our favourites.

        It's a bit like spuds. For me., out of the thousands of spud recipes, my favourite is roasted, either with the joint or in duck/goose fat. My worst (ugh!) is baked in their jackets! Baking a spud simply concentrates the starchiness,which I find emetic.

        1. You can bake the spud. Scrape the flesh from the skin. Whip with butter, cream and cheddar and pipe back in to the skins and then grill.

          1. No I can’t. You can’t disguise that over-starchiness. I’ve tried everything. I’d much rather have them in any of the other 3,000,000 ways there are of cooking the things.
            Life’s simply too short to bake a bloody inedible spud.

      1. Where did you get that from? I've spent years on this forum telling people that it is normal, good, wholesome, delicious, healthy and nourishing food. If you want to believe the constant lies told to you by the WHO then that is your problem.

        If you want an early, miserable, painful and debilitating death, use seed oils to fry in; the powers-that-be will love you for it.

        1. It isn’t my problem Grizzly, that’s why I’m asking you, I am always open to new things and to being corrected. I will now, in my Sainsburys order, which I must do today, order some lard. At present I fry in olive oil, it is the only oil I use.

          1. I can’t buy lard, here in Sweden, but I can buy späck [pork back fat] which I mince up then render down into lard in the oven. Curiously I can buy packets of talg [beef tallow] which I use for both deep-frying and in my air-fryer. Every generation past (our grandparents and before) used healthy and delicious animal fats for cooking and sustenance. It kept them slim and healthy. Here is an interesting video which explains why seed oils are toxic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQmqVVmMB3k

          2. I don’t think you can buy lard in California either. I don’t recall ever seeing it or know anyone that used it. All I know is that it was something that was never used but always criticized as unhealthy. But then I lived in Berkeley, which is famous in America as ‘The Gourmet Ghetto’.

          3. In the early-to-mid 20th century, Procter and Gamble, John D Rockefeller and a few others in the global corporations paid a ‘scientist’, called Ansel Keys, to conduct a study showing that their seed oil concoctions were healthy, and that saturated animal fats were responsible for the premature deaths of millions. This went completely against the accepted wisdom of the time and Keys’ findings were taken as the way forward. Vast funding was provided by these corporations to universities and health authorities to promulgate this message.

            Keys studied the eating habits of 22 nations but selected just a convenient seven of them to ‘prove’ his theories (the other 15 countries didn’t fit into his thinking, indeed, they served to show what a charlatan he was). It was the universal adoption of the Keys diet that triggered the exponential rise in human obesity and countless other malign conditions; premier among them being cancers, heart disease, strokes and metabolic syndrome — the trigger for inflammation and, as a direct consequence, all manner of nasties.

            Since then, detailed stable-isotope studies (primarily Nitrogen-15 and Carbon) on prehistoric human ancestors’ bones conclusively prove that our natural human diet has been — since we emerged as a species — overwhelmingly meat, fish, eggs and other animal fats. The consumption of that healthy diet made their bodies strong, powerful and healthy, while their brains kept growing in size as their intelligence grew. This meat-eating ancestry accounts for 99·6% of human existence. [The only vegetation available to them in those times were a few sour berries and a few nuts, which they only consumed in inclement weather when hunting was difficult].

            It was only a mere 10,000-or-so years ago (i.e. just 0·4% of human existence) that humans started to consume and produce vegetation for consumption. This so-called ‘agricultural revolution’ presaged the weakening and shrinking of the human skeleton, and the rise of many ‘modern’ diseases. This has accelerated ever since. Again, stable-isotope testing on the bones and mummified remains of ancient Egyptians (forerunners of agriculture) show that they were obese and riddled with disease: a feature previously unknown in human evolution.

            I have a paper, in prep, on the entire topic, which I shall publish anon.

          4. Let me know when you do publish. I watched the video, which thanks, it was highly informative and, as I said, I have ordered lard. Will try it on Monday to fry some eggs. I like cold fried egg sandwiches. Something that makes some people recoil in horror.

  61. 'A country that jails women simply because they advocate for their rights has no business being the face of the UN's top forum for women's rights and gender equality.

    'Saudi authorities should demonstrate that this honor was not completely undeserved and immediately release all detained women's rights defenders, end male guardianship and ensure women's full rights to equality with men.'

    Saudi lawmakers passed a law in 2022 that claims to have increased the 'personal status' of women in the nation.

    But the law explicitly says that a woman has to obtain permission from a male guardian to marry.

    It also says that a wife has to obey her husband in a 'reasonable manner', and states that her husband's financial support depends on her 'obedience.'

    A husband can withdraw financial support for reasons including refusing to have sex with him, live in a marital home or travel with him without a 'legitimate excuse.'

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13965747/Saudi-cartoonist-jailed-23-years-satirical-drawings-insulted-kingdoms-leaders.html

  62. V.Good point!

    But from his surname I guess not, so he'll have to go and whistle Dixey……!

    1. It looks like a couple of people crossing the road were struck down. If that's the case then there will be fatalities given the speed the car was travelling…

      1. Being erased by the Left wing state. Don't worry. The foreigners are not contributing anything and cost a fortune

  65. Burning rubbish now UK’s dirtiest form of power
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3wxgje5pwo

    More and more, BBC reports insult the intelligence. This is quite one of the worst examples of recent times. There are two major faults with this article. One is in the presentation of the data, the other is a misrepresentation of a simple chemical compound. See if you can identify them.

    There is a serious debate to be had about the usefulness of incineration. You won't find any hint of it in here.

    No one had a go at this yesterday. The answers:

    1. The report doesn't say how much electricity is produced by incinerators. Simply presenting volume of CO2/Kwh is misleading if only a tiny fraction of the country's electricity is produced this way. Nor does it say how much of the waste is plastic; this will vary considerably from one local authority to another.

    2. The use of the word 'dirty' is, well, a filthy lie. Carbon dioxide isn't dirty. It's the basis of life. Burning waste can be very dirty without proper emissions controls to clean the flue gases of the products of combustion. Modern plants have these.

    BBC East Midlands Today featured this and used the 'dirty power' line without question. Nottingham has had an incinerator since the 1970s and there had been complaints in the past. More recently a new plant has been built near Shepshed with all mod cons, as it were, and no complaints.

    1. "Burning rubbish now UK’s dirtiest form of power" Oh, I thought lying to get elected was…..

      2. Mechanical Biological Treatment plans and Refuse Derived Fuel is surely the only way to deal with the rubbish the country creates instead of digging deeper holes in quarries to bury waste .

        Isn't that how the we should be delivering energy ?

        (of course the green lobby and other crackpot organisations will duck and dodge answers to waste problems .)

        1. Ironically, it was EU directives on groundfill that led to the rise in the number of incinerators in the UK.

          Landfill is the really dirty practice. The greenhouse gas argument against it (methane leakage) can be ignored; it's the leaching of the products of decomposition (including plastics) into the soil, aquifers and rivers that is the menace.

          1. Yes William, that is my understanding .

            There are incinerators and incinerators , and modern filtration systems have improved considerably .

            My cry here is that rubbish from clay areas like the London area is imported to be buried in our quarries .. when London and many of the big cities should deal with their own waste, and create energy from waste by using Mechanical Treatment plants .

            Why do I know all of this?

            Because about 15 years ago an MBT / RDf facility was planned for the area here near our village .. and in order to feed it , waste from many other far off areas would be lorried in !

            Each town should have their own RDF technology .. perhaps even near hospitals etc .

            https://dorchester.nub.news/news/local-news/poundbury-waste-depot-becoming-more-energy-efficient-102423

            https://poundbury.co.uk/sustainability/ad-plant/

            The one in the new town of Poundbury seems like a wonderful idea .

            Except most of us are now very concerned that twice the amount of maize has been grown this year, and even now in October , the harvest is still being collected , tractor and laden trailers by the dozen , to be used as biofuel.

          2. There will always be waste that cannot be reprocessed. Not all households have the space to sort rubbish for collection. Once all the dry waste has been removed (metal, glass, paper, plastic), what's left is the problem to be solved. It's what we might call wet or dirty waste. A combination of composting and incineration should dispose of this problem without any need to send to landfill anything but the most inert, harmless and useless dry waste.

            The BBC is certainly sticking the boot in. It's obviously running a campaign:

            Flies, rats and offers of hush money – the price of living next to a 'monster' incinerator
            https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwylepd79d5o

        2. I'd like to see us reaching a 95% recycling rate. Remake as much as we can.

          The BBC has never – to my knowledge – discussed the damage the WEEE does to the world. That EU regulation has us dumping our waste on foreign who then tip it into the sea.

          The BBC is not a serious source of information. It is biased, deceitul and it's agenda is more important to it than the truth.

        3. I'd like to see us reaching a 95% recycling rate. Remake as much as we can.

          The BBC has never – to my knowledge – discussed the damage the WEEE does to the world. That EU regulation has us dumping our waste on foreign who then tip it into the sea.

          The BBC is not a serious source of information. It is biased, deceitul and it's agenda is more important to it than the truth.

      3. I don't actually think it is. The dirtest, most polluting form we have for output is windmills. sea bed damage, slaughtered birds and bats, thousands of tons of steel and concrete, hundreds of litres of oil, mined rare earth metals – all for so little real output.

        1. Not to mention the need for diesel generators to ensure there's a steady input to the grid when the wind blows too fast and they have to be shut down before they self-destruct.

    1. You mean enough turned up to make a rabble?
      How many people are required to form a rabble?

      1. Apparently Rolls Royce were about to produce a new luxury motor car and name it The Silver Mist after the Silver Wraith, the Silver Dawn, the Silver Ghost and the Silver Shadow. However when they discovered that mist means excrement in German they decided it was not a good marketing ploy to use this name.

  68. All my other dogs have been ready to go and slipped away peacefully. Oscar fought it, but really it wasn't fair to keep him alive because he had no quality of life – he had gone off his legs and his front leg was contracted so he couldn't put it down. We did all we could to try to make it better, but it was impossible.

      1. It's true. The muslim cannot seem to exist anywhere without causing trouble. Folk blither on about the uyghers, or whatever but they ignore the brutality, abuses, theft, extortion those muslim carried out prior to being put in a prison camp.

        The Chinese realised the problem and rather than be softly softly, knowing this would fail they cut the cancer out and contained it.

        1. The Chinese should set up a humane programme of shipping Uyghurs to Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries in the Middle East. Apparently there are about 11 million Uyghurs in China so if they deport one million every year they will end the problem in just over a decade.

          Why is it acceptable for Muslim countries to ban churches, Bibles and Christian and Jewish immigrants when Christian and Jewish countries would be considered Islamophobic and racist if they banned mosques, the Koran and Muslim immigration?

          It is this inconsistency which will destroy the West if it does not stand up for itself against alien cultures which clearly seek to overwhelm its own culture.

    2. Wrong. Islam is not the greatest threat to UK.

      It's the moronic progressive liberal leftie.. that encourages & facilitates the Islamic nutters.. that dips into public purses and ferries them into your lands, then arrests anyone that dare to disagree. Without the moronic progressive liberal leftie.. Islam could never prosper & could be neutralised overnight in the UK.

      1. Yes, the way to end the problem is to cut off the money supply then round up the perpetrators. The primitive client is just a low grade creature dependent upon the largesse of the powerful.

      2. Sorry Richard I can't remember… so many articles reviewed and that is the problem individually we can't keep track of all the important stuff going on. perhaps Geoff should appoint individual Nottlers with specialist Portfolios eg. Minty Russia / Ukraine etc etc..

      3. Sorry Richard I can't remember… so many articles reviewed and that is the problem individually we can't keep track of all the important stuff going on. perhaps Geoff should appoint individual Nottlers with specialist Portfolios eg. Minty Russia / Ukraine etc etc..

    1. The invasion and destruction of the country by massive importation of criminals is intended to create a wholly dependent class whose affiliation is to the state, not the country. An endless, manipulable underclass demanding massive public services – crime, prisons, healthcare (for the victims of diversity murder).

      1. This Treasonous behaviour is why the whole of Westminster should be cleared out. And the perpetrators should be arrested.

    2. EU states are working on how stop unwanted immigrants:

      Hungary has built a massive fence to deter immigrants and is being fined by the EU for being unfriendly.
      The Poles are sending offensive military hardware to their border to stop absolutely everyone.
      Germany is closing all its borders to stop freedom of movement in or out.
      Italy sends people it doesn't want to Albania.
      France helps unwanted immigrants into rubber boats and pretends to stop them with UK backing.
      UK maintains that all boat people are students and house them in hotels because college accommodation is too costly.

      1. Since the UK is outside the EU it can be used as a foreign country – such as Rwanda – to which to send illegal immigrants.

        1. Didn't we abandon Sunak's plan, Rastus – thanks to opposition. I understand Germany are now using the facilities the UK (taxpayers) paid for…

    3. EU states are working on how stop unwanted immigrants:

      Hungary has built a massive fence to deter immigrants and is being fined by the EU for being unfriendly.
      The Poles are sending offensive military hardware to their border to stop absolutely everyone.
      Germany is closing all its borders to stop freedom of movement in or out.
      Italy sends people it doesn't want to Albania.
      France helps unwanted immigrants into rubber boats and pretends to stop them with UK backing.
      UK maintains that all boat people are students and house them in hotels because college accommodation is too costly.

    4. I thought it a reasonable idea to seek accommodation in Rwanda …. on the other hand, they could be given outdoor accommodation on South Georgia.

    1. It's the epitome of the problem across society. Rather than accepting the shame and guilt of failure the weak looks for a way to attack the critic. When the individual is made more important than the group society fails.

        1. Dunno…maybe she knows the right person/people..how is she going to cope with any enemy – try sobbing there n then that should work.

    5. I'm sure all those Mooslime men will respect her and not say hurty words.
      Their actions might be different.

  72. Well, saw the eye consultant. She had a good look and said that I had an ailment beginning with B. Drops and eye wash proposed. I'll see (geddit) what happens.

    Lovely warm day here. Gardening calls. And – possibly – a bike ride.

    There appears to be no news – which is a relief.

    1. It took four people to hold me down for eye drops. Even then they were thrown about. You're a braver man than I, Bill.

    4. I think I know the one you refer to, Bill. Lots of info on YouTube, likely similar to advice from consultant. Him indoors had it for a while.

      1. Snap! I suggested that. I suffer from it occasionally, so have to put hot compresses on my lids and massage them.

      1. My optician recommended hot compresses on the lids followed by gentle massage from the inner (nose) end to the outer. Seems to work for me.

    3. I had a particularly bad case about 25 years ago and was sent to Moor St Eye Hospital where the Consultant got very excited and asked if all his students could come and see; as it was uncommon and i had an egregious case of it. All i remember is that i was very very miserable with it

  74. Hi Bill. I have just recieved a letter advising me of an appointmant with an opthalmogist as I have missed the previous one. Needless to say i have not recieved a previous letter or even a response to my scan several weeks ago. Anyway i shall attend this one. Friday.

    1. Check with receptionist/secretary – sometimes we've received multiple copies (from other departments). Good luck, Araminta 🙂

  75. I have to put drops in my eyes every day! I have dry eye and without the drops my eyes get very sore.

    1. Me2. Optrex do good drops. Also, on prescription Minims artificial tears 0.44% (Bausch & Lomb) can be used several times daily – ask opthalmologist to refer you if GP doesn't want to subscribe (NB not for use with contacts, Optrex do one for those but you should check first). Good luck, Conway 🙂

          1. Yes and yes. I wear Ortho-K lenses and the Celluvisc is used as a wetting agent for them (although it’s specifically for dry eye). Similarly with Optase; I put those in before I take the lenses out.

        1. I like Optrex too, but GP not offered them on prescription, complains enough about the Minims. Spike Milligan never wrong 🙂 I especially liked ‘fighting nights’, when I had to work long hours I’d sometimes refer to it..:-D

        2. I like Optrex too, but GP not offered them on prescription, complains enough about the Minims. Spike Milligan never wrong 🙂 I especially liked ‘fighting nights’, when I had to work long hours I’d sometimes refer to it..:-D

        1. The only alternative parties that were allowed to get media coverage were Reform (so many strikes against them now) and Reclaim (run by a professional actor).

      1. ALL political parties are establishment.

        ALL of them.

        Every politician in Europe — every last damn one of them — and the entire 'western' world is having his/her/its strings pulled by the WEF and its cronies: the UN, the WHO, the Global Corpoartions and 'Big Pharma'.

        The choice, at the ballot box is:
        1. Vote for Big Brother.
        2. Don't vote (you'll still get Big Brother).

  78. We have known for decades that the French government has been lying, they’ve done absolutely nothing to stop this invasion. But unfortunately our idiots have done nothing to stop it. Despite having lied to us as often as possible.

    3. But the French don't want these people any more than we do and if the British are foolish enough to pay them vast sums of money then more fool us.

  79. The English, the English, the English are best! I wouldn't give tuppence for all of the rest 🙂

  80. Flood warning! The path outside my studio is now nearly a foot deep in water (the drain can't cope with the volume of rain). I've just been out to bring my bins in and thought Kadi was about to go under! I had to take him with me on a lead because they've taken the back gate off to get the old tank out and he has no sense, let alone road sense.

  81. According to the ITV lunchtime news the majority of public opinion is behind assisted dying. I doubt it. I wonder how much plus VAT and all other hidden charges and hidden expenses for the 'lifetime relief' will the usual suspects be charging for a new version of death by misadventure ?

    1. Actually, I think that they have done things in their 100 days – nothing to profit the country or the indigenous, though.

    3. TBF – they have.
      They cancelled the Rwanda scheme, just as the idea was beginning to work.
      (See Irish eyes not smiling.)

  83. In Parliament, this young lady is referred to as "The Mother of the House" – Usually shortened to Muther ****er!
    Luckily for her, her continental quilt still works because the tossers in charge left us tied to the EU.
    https://scontent-cdg4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/72812755_10157799889469954_7828673792225312768_n.jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=13d280&_nc_ohc=GACU5JwrrycQ7kNvgFfdWZ5&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg4-1.xx&_nc_gid=AdXPMIwNcN59uQjE-jk3E8H&oh=00_AYDK_xvSjYwZzdz_gDDb9CXJalc7gmpKx7yM3JqFq5NeCw&oe=67372D26

  84. More than 1,400 vehicles have been seized from drivers who have persistently ignored fines relating to London’s Ulez clean air zone, Transport for London has revealed, with more than £25m being recouped by bailiffs.

    Bailiffs working on TfL’s behalf seized 1,429 vehicles in the last year from drivers who had repeatedly ignored penalty charge notices, with £710,000 being raised from the sale of nearly 800 of these cars.

    The figures, which cover the 12 months up to the end of July, come a year after the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, extended the Ulez to cover all 32 London boroughs from a previous zone that covered the area between the capital’s north and south circular roads.

    Vehicles that do not meet certain emissions standards and are caught using roads in the zone must pay a £12.50 daily charge, or a fine of up to £180 for non-payment.

    If drivers do not pay this penalty it is registered as an unpaid debt and an order is made for recovery. If it remains unpaid, a warrant is issued which allows bailiffs to recover the outstanding debt.

    TfL said that in the past 12 months bailiffs had recouped £25.6m from those who refused to pay penalty charge notices. This included one driver who was forced to settle a balance of £16,000 after 45 warrants were issued against them. In another case, a driver saw their vehicle seized to pay off an outstanding balance after ignoring 10 warrants.

    TfL has hailed the Ulez expansion as a success, pointing to research showing that it has reduced levels of harmful air pollutants significantly since its introduction, as well as helping with the climate emergency by cutting London’s emissions.

    However, the scheme has also faced a strong backlash from some quarters, including owners of non-compliant vehicles refusing to pay fines and others vandalising the cameras that police the zone.

    TfL said a significant amount of debt remained outstanding and it was now tripling the number of staff in its investigations to help enforcement agencies target repeat offenders.

    While the compliance of a vehicle is based on declared emissions rather than its age, a rule of thumb is that it affects diesels made before 2015 and petrol cars before 2006.

    Last month, TfL was forced to refund drivers in Chingford, east London, after its camera had become misaligned and incorrectly charged vehicles outside the Ulez boundary.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/16/tfl-seizes-vehicles-drivers-ignore-london-ulez-fines

    2. Tax/penalise the workforce. Sooner or later, workers won't bother and there'll be no more money to plunder. And Starmer and his associates hate generators of wealth, like Elon Musk.

  86. Take physic, pomp;
    Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,
    That thou mayst shake the superflux to them,
    And show the heavens more just.

    King Lear realises that he has always been protected from the rigours that the poor have to endure and that he should be prepared to 'shake the superflux' to help them.

    With the Winter Fuel Allowance cut it would be good to see Starmer and Reeves having to expose themselves and suffer.

    A school proposed to turn off the heating for a "Blue Nose Day" to teach its pupils to empathise with those who are cold – but the message was confused in that at the same time it gave the message that traditional ways of heating – with oil, gas and coal – were bad for global warming. But the school chickened out when it was pointed out that children might be cold on that day so they should not be even remotely exposed to feel what wretches feel!

    Patrick Christys of GBNews is trying to draw attention to a charity which supports old people who cannot afford to heat themselves properly. Of course it is a gesture but he is exposing himself to being deprived of comforts to make the point. A couple of weeks ago he spent only the weekly amount a pensioner who had appeared on his programme said she spent on food for a week (about £13) and next week he is going to swim, wearing just swimming trunks, submerged for three minutes, in a remote tarn where the water will be about 8° Celsius.

    School planned to turn off heating on ‘Blue Nose Day’
    Secondary school moves climate change event to the summer term after staff raise concerns
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/15/wolsingham-school-blue-nose-day-climate-durham/

    1. Although I spent lots of my early childhood years in Africa , I had to attend school when back in England when my parents took leave ,, and including when eventually being admitted to boarding school .

      I can remember starting my my African Anglican school in Khartoum early in the morning and finishing at midday, to avoid the heat of the day , but back in the UK , English schools were freezing places , draughty and my goodness mother used to make sure we were (sister and I) wrapped up in layers of warm underclothes , scratchy woolen knee socks and cumbersome leather shoes .. Vyella vests, liberty bodiceand wearing 2 sets of knickers , blouse , gymslip , cardigan , gaberdine mac or duffel coat .. I was only a little girl , swamped in warm clothes , I sometimes felt hot sticky and scratchy .

      Classrooms were cold , and so was the gym where we did PE everyday or games outside , or swimming lessons elsewhere , where our teeth chattered and our poor little legs turned blue as we hopped around trying to keep warm .

      Khartoum and Moascar were different stories , the hum of a high ceiling fan , and other distractions , like a procession of ants marching across a classroom floor , or a preying mantis or giant bee whirring around .

      1. I remember finishing school at midday in Libya, must be standard for English kids in hot climates? For us it was then straight to the beach for the rest of the day living the life of Riley for a child.
        Pure white sand that went on for miles and a sea so transparent we could open our eyes underwater to watch the fish swim by. It was wonderful.

      2. In the infant classroom at my little (English) village school, we had an open fire in the winter. There was a guard round it. Later it was replaced by a pot-bellied coke stove. I would think those were banned years ago as well.

      3. Ah yes. The luke warm radiator that hadn't been decoked from 1907.
        We used to huddle round them smothered in scarves, gloves and blazers.
        The temporary classrooms – thank you, post war sell off of RAF huts – were much warmer as they contained Tortoise stoves. H&S would have conniptions.

        1. We used to pile so much coke or coal on that they used to glow so bright you didn't need the light on

    2. Thanks, Rastus. He's one of the good guys. Around 40 years ago when my children were in infants/junior I got to know the headteacher quite well…would tell me no control over heating on/off/temperature, in summer all windows/doors open. Anyone could walk in and out of the school anytime of day, no questions asked. Things have changed now, thankfully.

      1. Yes, it’s truly a sign of progress that we have to lock schools up to avoid innocent kids being stabbed…

        1. Even more scary, to me anyway….is that in a few years if not sooner..this will be the new normal, with no turning back.

          3. Sorry, it's nuisance not trespass. 1996 Education Act, with subsequent additions. I've seen it on signs on school playing fields.

          4. Thanks, Conway after mine had left but still good to know. I think many parents currently meet their children when school finishes, especially in infants/juniors, more so than in the past, and I don’t blame them I would be the same.

          5. I walked to and from junior school (about two miles) alone. Then I cycled to grammar school (about three miles). The past is a foreign country.

          6. Certainly is. I did similarly but not quite as far. Grammar school quite a slog, especially in bad weather. No buses.😒🤯

          8. My school was at the top of the hill, to walk there I had to leave the opposite hill. Just over a mile. End of the day, in reverse 😀

    3. What exactly is shaking the superflux? I can usually work Shakespeare out with a little thought, but that has me flummoxed. Or superflummoxed, maybe…

  87. Romanian ‘champagne gang’ sweeps through Britain’s supermarkets. 16 October 2024.

    A professional gang of shoplifters who have stolen at least £73,000 worth of champagne and other luxury goods are being hunted by police.

    The “mafia-style” operation is run like a business to steal champagne to supply to mainland Europe, where shortage of the wine have fuelled a lucrative black market, according to the National Business Crime Solution (NBCS).

    This I suspect is just the tip of the Iceberg,

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/16/inside-romanian-champagne-gang-stealing-from-supermarkets/

    4. Wonder what will happen when there is nothing left to plunder? No wonder the workforce is shrinking. Crime pays.

  88. Romanian ‘champagne gang’ sweeps through Britain’s supermarkets. 16 October 2024.

    A professional gang of shoplifters who have stolen at least £73,000 worth of champagne and other luxury goods are being hunted by police.

    The “mafia-style” operation is run like a business to steal champagne to supply to mainland Europe, where shortage of the wine have fuelled a lucrative black market, according to the National Business Crime Solution (NBCS).

    This I suspect is just the tip of the Iceberg,

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/16/inside-romanian-champagne-gang-stealing-from-supermarkets/

    1. If this is true and Trump wins this upcoming election, he should be allowed two terms as President to run consecutively. As would have been the case in the event that the true answer is that Trump was deprived of the last election. Something I have never changed my mind about. Biden stole the election by foul means.

    2. What sort of vile far-right extreme bigoted fascist hate-speech disinformation is this?

  90. Oopsy! Fake job evaporates…

    Sue Gray Envoy Job Now ‘Unlikely to Materialise’

    Downing Street continued to refuse to supply any details on Sue Gray’s fake envoy job a full week after they promised it would all be public “shortly.” Guido revealed last week that a row over pay and severance was responsible for the roadblock…

    Gray’s role as “PM’s Envoy to the Nations and Regions” now looks like it’s up for the chop before it even exists. A Downing Street source tells Guido she’s now “very unlikely” to do the role, “not least as no one can work out what it is.” John Swinney’s refusal ever to talk to Sue Gray is seen internally as an indicator of how stupid the position would be if No 10 pressed ahead with it…

    Meanwhile whispers from government have Gray backing down in her fight for a bumper severance pay package, so that it doesn’t need to be publicly approved from above. Just that speedy peerage on the way then…

    2. Yesterday, I crossed the border from Essex into Suffolk.
      I expected Sue Grey to be standing at Pop's Bridge to help ease me into a foreign culture.

  91. Been trying to access TSB all afternoon. I get in and it immediately logs me out. 40 minutes on hold and it turns out there is nothing they can do until the problem is sorted.
    I said to the advisor that i would be emptying the account once i regained access.

    I also said i understood that as an advisor he was not at fault but that i thought TSB was a shit bank.

      1. TSB was sold to Santander and then again i think. They are doing things on the cheap…and it shows. Never had any problems with Nationwide or Yorkshire Building Society.

        One of my previous complaints to TSB was the CEO said in a news article that the problems were all fixed which they patently weren't, so i told them he was either misinformed or was telling lies.
        They gave me £200 for that moan.

        2. No YBS or Nationwide near here. No Lloyds, Nat West, Halifax, West Brom or other Building Society either.

          2. I bank online with First Direct – except when I don't have any Internet (like a few days ago).

          3. I bank online with First Direct – except when I don't have any Internet (like a few days ago).

          4. I use Barclays – nearest branch now is Gloucester, but i seldom need to go into a branch as I use their website to transfer funds when necessary. I don't use my phone or apps for payments.

        1. One of my friends did; Barclays kept offering her parents loans. Her mother had dementia and so they got into terrible financial difficulties all because of lack of due diligence on the bank’s part. If they’d looked at the spending patterns the alarm bells would have rung and they wouldn’t have kept on pushing more loans.

        2. I think all of them are potentially difficult. My late mother used Barclays and when I tried to close her accounts after her death they were unbelievably unprofessional, useless and obstructive, despite my having POA and being the executor!! The so called "bereavement service" online was awful – the drop down menu they told me to use didn't actually exist! There was a lot more, but it's depressing to list it!

          1. When my mother died Barclays were very helpful – it was before online banking took off. I guess it all depends who you get to deal with things.

        3. Barclays not only gave loans to the South African Government in support of Apartheid they also supported the Nazis.

          Wouldn't stop me from banking with them if they were any good though.

          1. I expect they all have some sort of skeletons in their records. I've banked with them since I first had an account when young.

      1. I have a First Direct account. Not much good when the Internet goes down (I don't do banking apps).

      1. Never close a bank account.. may need them one day. When they start sifting through the disqus comments for impure thoughts.

      2. I kept it open because they kept mucking up and giving me money for my inconvenience. Emptied now. Left 19p in it. Did the same to HSBC too. Costs them more to administer the accounts. Especially as i changed back to paper statements which get thrown in the bin.

    1. And just look who's in last place, by a considerable margin.
      No wonder she chose him as her running mate, what a fiscally incontinent pair.

  93. These are hard, gas permeable lenses, mind. Not soft ones. Don't know if it's suitable for those.

  96. We relented this afternoon, when Gus woke from his morning sleep – and let him out. He is just so pleased not to be confined. Last night, while still confined to barracks, Pickles joined him in front of the stove….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/de2d5f2d06f0ea32da5a4525c722cdf75c7ec3545c74436eb3eab3211a0d577d.jpg

    Rather sweeeet, we thought! The old pullover is something they both like to knead, suck and lie on. I is quit disgusting. From time to time it is washed – they then take against it for a bit because it doesn't smell right!!

      1. About 95%, thanks, Our Susan. He barely limps and rarely lefts the affected paw. The bug juice from the vet has obviously done some good. He was running round the garden earlier.

          1. He had a sore paw and nobody could see an obvious reason for it. Result house arrest and a big vets bill.

          2. Started limping and holding up right front paw. One pad was inflamed but no sign of thorn/splinter etc. No temperature. After a week took him to vet on Monday who prescribed an anti-inflammatory and said he should stay indoors for THREE days…

      2. About 95%, thanks, Our Susan. He barely limps and rarely lefts the affected paw. The bug juice from the vet has obviously done some good. He was running round the garden earlier.

      3. Oh no! I have been barking up the wrong tree.

        I’m going to blame it on the time difference.

      4. Oh no! I have been barking up the wrong tree.

        I’m going to blame it on the time difference.

    2. We put a thick carpet lining on the base and sides of Rumpole's box thinking it would make it more comfortable. He tore it to threads as he preferred that hard wooden floor and sides.

      We thought it was rather austere but he was very happy.

      1. I bought Charlie a nice thick, comfy cushion for his bed. In no time he'd chewed holes in it and pulled out some of the stuffing. Even recovering it didn't help – the new cover was holey in short order. In the end, he lay on rags with the stuffing poking out and was very happy.

    3. Eldest daughter adopted a small black cat some years ago. It spent most of the summer outdoors. It has its own fob to activate the cat flat. A soft toy dog was recently acquired by the two grand children and placed in a doll's pram. The other evening daughter heard gentle snoring – it was her cat curled up with the toy dog in the pram – first time in their house for months…

  97. 394817+ up ticks,

    Listen up intently Please,

    Court currently in session, so as a side issue in regards to the wearing of the burka being protected under the culture banner.

    A case could arise where a school child wears a burka to school to conceal beatings & body abuse on account of DEI, surely if said child were to DIE from
    this concealed battering we the peoples, of the host country, are at fault also via acceptance of such a
    medieval, evil garment.

  98. "An NHS hip replacement patient was poisoned and left in agony by an implant used in thousands of other operations, she has revealed.

    Tracey O’Neill, 56, spent years struggling with memory loss and paying to see private cardiologists because of side effects that have since been linked to cobalt poisoning caused by her replacement hip.

    About 5,000 patients in Britain had the same “modular neck” hips made with metal parts implanted between 2009 and 2017. The false hips are proven to have higher failure rates, putting anyone with them at increased risk of cobalt poisoning.

    Mrs O’Neill, a former fitness instructor and long-distance runner, has been in agony since having both hips replaced with the implants – the first of which was when she was 46."

    I'm not qualified to comment on the implant. But many fitness obsessives do seem to end up crocked long before their physically lazier contemporaries.

    1. 46 is very young for such a replacement. At 76, I know I'm lucky, but I have no problems with my hips.

      1. Neither do I oddly enough and I've walked thousands of miles and climbed hundreds of mountains.

        1. Neither do I but I do have a torn knee cartilage which will at last be getting attention mid-November following an MRI scan. It was noted that there was no other problem with my knee, no arthritis, nothing. In fact I don't have any arthritic pains anywhere. Confession: torn cartilage occurred whilst chasing new pup round the garden – he did a handbreak turn – having consumed a gin&tonic (a mum measure)earlier in the evening. Five years ago I fractured my ankle having also consumed a gin&tonic earlier in the evening, I put my foot down a rabbit hole….

      2. Precisely what I thought.
        All that pounding hard pavements and contorting yourself into odd shapes takes its toll.
        One of our granddaughter's friends became obsessed with jogging and veganism.
        She's ended up with knackered shins at the age of 20.

        1. Our son's brother-in-law turned vegan about the time of the start of the covid fiasco. He became obsessed with running as a means of doing something during that time. On one occasion someone gave the brother-in-law a hug at the start of a cross country run, (coast to coast) and fractured one of his ribs. At the start of covid, the brother-in-law was marooned in London and went to stay in Biggleswade with our younger son and his wife. They too were infected by brother-in-law's enthusiasm for veganism but came to their senses rapidly two years later after the fractured rib event. I have to say that the brother-in-law doesn't look ill, but neither does he look healthy. He has an 'old man' look about him.

          1. I think a vegan diet is very unhealthy – not only the deprivation of good food, but the substitutes are packed with chemicals and highly processed.

          2. We weren't designed to be completely veggie. We have canines to tear meat and our stomachs aren't designed to break down lots of plant tissue.

    2. My brother needs new knees. Mostly due to climbing steps up the side of brewing vessels all his wworking life.

    3. My right hip was replaced 16 years ago with a Chromium Cobalt joint. every year so far i have had blood checks and x-rays to make sure the hip is good. I believe in the US people were suing the replacement teams because of serous side effects and problems after the event.

    4. Go to the san in any independent school and you will find the majority of pupils there are there because of sports injuries.

      Sport can be very bad for your health!

      Having said that I greatly enjoyed playing rugby, cricket, swimming, sailing, squash and ping pong but I was never really aggressive enough to be very good.

      1. I was useless at sport at school, but I rode when I got home so that was okay as far as I was concerned.

    2. The time to become really worried is when Mount Millilobotomy explodes in England and the economy is destroyed under a blanket of concrete..

    4. Thank heaven we still have volcanoes to supply us with life affirming CO2. Control that, Milliband.

      2. I want to know what will happen when the UK reaches net zero (which it cannot without us returning to the Dark Ages). Thing is, with all the foreigners here we will never progress past that point. We did before because of a shared set of values. This time round it'd just be barbarian savagery.

        Anyway. When our 0.04% impact on CO2 in the air is eradicated (and 80 million people die) what happens?

        I suppose we'll never know as there won't be any electricity to power the working communication systems. We'll just be like North Korea. Dark, cold, starving.

      3. If these fools continue with their ridiculous and unscientific trajectory on reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere then they will kill all plant life on Earth.

        2. And then all life, apart from the very most primitive forms.

          Oh bugger, the socialists will survive

      4. I think of him as Minibrain or Moribund. He is a stupid, obsessed idiot, worse luck. How can we get rid of these utterly stupid people?!

    6. I imagine that he's white-knuckle grasping his worry beads over his inability to control these events.

  100. Returned home from my lunch date about 3.15 – now having a cup of tea. Lunch was good – I had haddock and chips – won't need anything else to eat today. Rain held off while I walked back up the hill from where my friend dropped me off.

    1. I already suffer from depression (if I let myself think about what's going on). I don't need it induced by a jab!

  103. A bountiful Birdie Three!

    Wordle 1,215 3/6
    🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Me too – and that's never a given!

      Wordle 1,215 3/6

      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Someone had to fail with a poor old par
      Wordle 1,215 4/6

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

    4. After yesterday's dismal fail, I was pleased to get back in the saddle with a boidie!

      Wordle 1,215 3/6

      🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    5. Yes, a bit easier today.

      Wordle 1,215 3/6

      🟨🟩⬜⬜⬜
      🟨🟩🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  104. I can't stop laughing.

    My landlady came round to check the flat as we renewed the contract (hooray; I love my litttle flat).

    I took the opportunity of asking her what the little black droppings on the balcony were from, as it drives me nuts having to sweep them up every day.

    Her answer? Murciélagos. (Bats.)

    I am offically batshit crazy!! 🤣🤣🤣

    1. If they are flying nearby they are worth looking out fro, wonderful to watch their manoeuvring.

      1. Yes; I like bats. Apparently they tend to sally forth at about 7pm and retorn to roost at 5am. I shall keep my eyes peeled!

        1. Château sosraboc is built with stones and hardly any mortar, so there are hundreds of potential nooks and crannies for them to live in.

          I get an enor-die-fleder-mous pleasure (ho ho) watching them fall from the walls, sometimes a dozen at a time and then flitting around the eves eating all the horrid bugs, mosquitos and the like.
          My only complaint, like you, is that dropping are everywhere; our boiler house looks like a Chinese cave at times, with all the droppings.
          But hey ho, live and let live.

      2. I think they’re little ones, squeezed into the gaps behind the metal blinds. My landlady was definite that they’re not vampire bats. 🤣🤣

        I suspect they mostly eat insects. If they get rid of mosquitos, HOORAY!

        1. Yes, vampire bats are small and sneaky, creeping along the ground to sleeping prey. Cattle and such, you're likely to be hundreds of km from the nearest one.

  105. I can't stop laughing.

    My landlady came round to check the flat as we renewed the contract (hooray; I love my litttle flat).

    I took the opportunity of asking her what the little black droppings on the balcony were from, as it drives me nuts having to sweep them up every day.

    Her answer? Murciélagos. (Bats.)

    I am offically batshit crazy!! 🤣🤣🤣

  106. Beauty student, 19, who joined rioters outside migrant hotel dressed in yellow cocktail dress to hand out 'egg missiles' is branded 'extremely stupid' by judge – but is spared jail..

    Police cars are pelted with eggs by Asian gangs as matter of routine in; Bradford, Luton & Rochdale.
    As seen on C5 TV programme called Police Interceptors.
    They never dare intercept though.. by Order.

    1. So throwing missiles at police cars is ok. Aiding and abetting crime is also ok – as long as you're a [expetive] paddywhack?

    3. I 'brand' that judge as beyond stupid.

      I'd love to brand a judge (and a politician-or-two).

    1. Looking through the results tonight, I noticed Batman's Boy running – he was trained by Adam West!

  109. I normally try to maintain my grumpiness when away, but was cajoled into going out tonight, here:
    https://thebombaycanteen.com/pages/menus

    I am ftb*, but had a very nice rice beer as well as lots of food. One to tell my friend, whose job is flogging American beer in the European region. She is a beer sommelier, if you can imagine such a thing.

    *i assume everyone knows this abbreviation but of course it could be another family thing (= full to bursting)

    1. We tend to criticise American beers but one of the best lagers I have ever had is Yuengling (it sounds Chinese but is actually the oldest brewery in the USA).

  110. That's me for today. Helpful eye consultant. Some garden work. Cats happy. MR off to her Keep Fit class. Market tomorrow.

    Have a jolly evening. If you want old-fashioned, highly agreeable entertainment – watch this on catch-up:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0023syg Brilliant film.

    A demain

    2. A perfect headstone script?

      'The PM stood. He paused. He summoned an answer. Nothing arrived. The political Deliveroo had gone to the wrong address.'

      A headstone inscription is usually made up of a top line, the person's name, date of birth and death, and a few short words to pay tribute to them.

  112. Fun Fact: 70 Labour MPs attend Gaza debate….same day only 5 turned up for a British Steel debate… that's your government folks.

    2. It's like the Hunting Bill; the Labour benches were empty for the debates, but they all piled in to the lobbies to vote to destroy a way of life.

    1. There were ten German Bombers in the air….
      There were etc etc

      And the RAF from England shot one down
      And the RAF etc etc

      There were nine German Bombers (I think you get the idea…)

    1. Dictionary
      Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more
      ta-ta
      exclamationINFORMAL•BRITISH
      exclamation: tata
      goodbye.
      "well, I'll say ta-ta, love"

    2. Tata commissioned a giant new Steel Rolling mill – the same month as the closure of Port Talbot.

      Over 4,000 people worked at the plant until the last blast furnace shut down on 1st October ..

      Tata Steel is building a massive new blast furnace in India while closing down Port Talbot's

      Tata announced on Friday, September 20 that the company had successfully commissioned India’s largest blast furnace at Kalinganagar in Odisha.

      There are no reports of any freebies . . .

  115. I know it's early but,,,

    …Another day is done so, goodnight, Gentlefolk. Bis morgen fruh. Schlaf gut. Ich hoffe.

  116. Taking my leave of you now – may be back later – to nip across to my neighbours (assuming I don't get swept away in the flood). We're going to a quiz at a local pub. Be good – and if you can't be good, be careful!

  117. I had to pop out to put some rubbish into one of our bins by the back door. And thought I was in the southern hemisphere. So unusually warm. Even my old tommies in the green house covered in plastic are racing to ripen. At last.
    Popping off now.
    Good night all.

  118. FFFS!!!

    "The former prime minister of New Zealand has been made a dame by the Prince of Wales, despite being a republican.

    Jacinda Ardern, 44, said she was conflicted about accepting the accolade when she was awarded her country’s second-highest honour last year for leading New Zealand through the Covid pandemic."

    1. What I find most striking about all of these WEF Young Global Leaders is that none of them are young. Mind, Dame Horseface looks older than she is. 44 apparently.

          1. Good one, Geoff (good evening..) especially like the 'Intact & Functioning Genitals' tag…:-DD Should we add 'Trump supporter'…..I would….

          5. Moran is definitely the No 1 Political satirical cartoonist!
            Matt is definitely the No 1 Political satirical cartoonist!

      2. We once had a couple who were of these "YGL" staying in our cottage.
        They were WEF/UN/EU types and attended Davos etc.
        They were excellent company, clearly highly intelligent and very knowledgeable regarding their specialisations.

        What we particularly noticed was their total, complete and utter refusal to accept there might be another viewpoint.

        They would debate, but never accept a different approach.

        Fun, but lost.

        If only it were possible to get such people to look at all sides of the triangle/dodecahedron.

        1. Your reply should have been: "I'd love to share you point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my arse!"

          1. Far from it.
            They debated happily, they were not to be moved, but to give them credit they accepted that we were unlikely to be moved either.

            Give me people like that over the likes of Miliband every time.

            They gave us a 5 star review, so I can't have pissed them off that much!

          2. I refer my Hon. Friend to the above comment:

            "It's usually impossible to get someone to see something when their income depends on their not seeing it…"

            (Just Kidding!!! :-)))

        2. It's usually impossible to get someone to see something when their income depends on their not seeing it…

          2. We got the impression that they were committed by belief rather than employment, though clearly they would have sought appropriate jobs.

    3. How disgusting. Charles and William are as bad as each other. Rewarding an openly authoritarian prime minister – sickening.

        1. How utterly depressing that these morons have been so brainwashed! Can they not be bothered to think for themselves?

          3. I believe that QEII vetoed honours for Blair as long as she could.
            Given his position it was next to impossible not to honour him

          4. It's OK he dishonoured himself – Fact he couldn't attend his own book signing in the UK….

          1. Already made in his case, seeing some stills of him looks like he’s had enough…Charles welcome him back, not so sure about Wills.

          3. Hear you…Harry & Meghan not been good with Kate..wonder if they’ve been in touch with concerns for her health and wellbeing..William not likely to forgive or forget if they haven’t….they may accept Harry return, very good together the three of them…doubt W&K welcome Meghan back…would you?

          5. So what you are saying sos is that this may be the first time in history that a Prince may be reduced to kissing frogs?

        1. The Daily Mail understands that Prince Harry and Meghan have bought a home in Portugal. They are not the only royals who have a Portuguese property, with Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank , owning a home in the CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club, a luxury development of 300 properties by the sea in Melides, south of the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. Mr Brooksbank, 38, works in marketing and sales for CostaTerra. He, Eugenie, 34, and their two sons, August, three, and Ernest, 16 months, split their time between Portugal and London.(from the Daily Mail)

  119. This made my flesh creep. Mass drone swarms being taught to avoid obstacles in a forest as they hunt their human prey…
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/16/horror-weapon-transform-warfare/
    "“We enjoy these fabulous displays, with a cityscape or Spitfire or whatever being formed in the night sky, but it’s the same technology to make weapons of war, so who’s going to do it first?” Prof Clarke says. “In battle terms, the area below 5,000ft is a new section of aerial warfare: it’s the drone domain now.”

    1. Horrible

      I'm fairly confident that someone will invent a "laser-spray" that detonates such things mid-air, rather like Israel's Iron-Dome.

          1. And even then we were technologically superior. Imagine putting a goal keeper missile defence turret in there now, or a few L115s and mortar.

        1. No politician will 'stop the boats' wibbling, reason is future population numbers…discuss…..

    2. In technical terms while these look a good idea we do have sensors that can detect them. Basic laser detection will do it, then detonate a fragmentation round near it. They can be distinguished from wildlife quite rationally as a bird doesn't emit a continuous noise.

      Then, of course, there's the far simpler EMP.

  121. They've been told that there is no place for royalty in the New World Order unless they toe the line.

  123. Just look at this, Obama deep in discussion with Biden I always thought the old man, away-with-the-fairies stuff was an act. It gives Obama complete control without any responsibility for the actions, and lets Biden off the hook for any blame or fault due to an alleged diminished responsibility and 'dementia'. Note the awareness of the camera.

    https://x.com/Liberty_Scrypt/status/1846609582036045844

    1. I think the entire democrat chain is corrupt. They had Bill Clinton waffling on nonsense promoting Harris the other day.

    3. They've been thick as thieves for years. Have been told Obama regularly drops in WH. I have no vote US but if I did it would be Trump.

      1. I can’t imagine voting for anyone else. The democrats are disgusting. But I posted the clip not to point out that they were best mates, it was to show that Biden was having a normal conversation with normal responses, not his usual ‘doesn’t-know-which-day-of -the-week-it-is’ act. And see how alert he is (they both are) when they realise they are being filmed by a camera.

  124. Well, chums, I'm going to have an early night tonight. So Good Night all, sleep well, and see you all tomorrow.

    1. Lots of people will cheer Trump and boo any opposition wherever he goes. He was a popular president and has the support of at least fifty percent of the electorate.
      However unless he gets a landslide victory, which is doubtful, Harris will win the election. if it’s fifty/ fifty the results will be manipulated to give her a toe in. There is too much at stake. The establishment will do all it can to prevent a Trump victory.

  129. from Coffee House, the Spectator

    I’ve seen too many deaths to think that assisted dying is a good idea
    Druin Burch16 October 2024, 2:05pm
    Over my quarter-of-a-century of being a doctor, I have overseen thousands of deaths. For a busy hospital physician, this is not an unusual number. Helping people die is a core part of our job.

    In the Commons today, the Assisted Dying Bill gets its first reading. But the debate about this bill is missing a crucial detail: assisted dying is already something of a reality. For those in unsalvageable agony, I like to think it happens almost automatically. Neither people, nor the NHS, being perfect, there will be errors and omissions. But I’m confident that assisted dying, in a sense, happens often already, and I speak from experience.

    As junior doctors we were taught that we had the power to kill
    Hospital is the most common place of death. When the end comes, its preceding indignities and inconveniences, its terrors and agonies, are more than familiar to me. Working in a wedding florists, perhaps, or an exuberantly joyous restaurant – somewhere people went out of happiness rather than necessity – would have made for a different life. As it is, my experience of death is extensive and new legislation to support assisted dying would, in my view, be a terrible mistake.

    As junior doctors, we were taught that we had the power to kill. Not merely the technical ability, not only the moral and legal right, but often the duty. The doctrine of double effect holds it perfectly acceptable to cause someone’s death if you are doing it in order to relieve their pain. If I dose someone with morphine because they’re distressed, but in the full knowledge it may hasten their death, I act legally. My decision is subjective. I have no forms to fill in, no hoops to jump through, no supervisor to ask. If you suspect that I am deliberately describing my powers in such a way as to suggest that they are open to abuse, you are correct. I am doing so because it is useful to remember that powers always are.

    Most popular
    Lloyd Evans
    Keir Starmer is full of bilge

    Arguments justifying new laws for assisted dying tell stories – true and awful stories – of people tortured by suffering without any prospect of merciful release, at an apt time, via a fatal dose of medication. Perhaps their misery is that of decay, and not of pain. To decline into a state where one reasonably wishes to die, but is unable to commit suicide or to find anyone to help, is a horror. As, of course, is ending your life early because you feel that you are a burden, because you are depressed, or because you are nudged into feeling you should do so. About six thousand people kill themselves each year in the UK. Legislation to make assisted dying easier risks raising that number.

    The problem, which does not get spoken of enough, is that no perfect solution exists when it comes to assisted dying; there is no system to help in one direction, without harming in the other. That people are willing to flex and break laws should never leave our mind. We should not forget that it happens now any more than we should pretend it will not continue.

    Many poisons grow in our gardens or are sold in our shops. There are books and articles on how to end one’s life. I am not being coy in refraining from giving examples. It is wise not to publicise such things. Better that the barrier of effort keeps them from becoming too easy to find. Making something easier, even a little, has consequences.

    Consider that minor irritation of modern life, the frustrating limit on how much paracetamol you are allowed to buy at one time. An intrusive bit of nanny-state public health policy, yes; but this rule has also likely cut the number of deaths from paracetamol poisoning. Even small changes have real impacts. Install railings on high bridges and it seems probable to assume that fewer people will jump to their deaths (nor do they necessarily go and find other methods: instead, they live). Making something even very slightly easier has serious consequences. If this bill becomes law, and we make assisted dying an option, we are introducing a change that is far more powerful than we may realise.

    All effective interventions, we teach medical students, have side effects. The question is not whether a drug or a surgery or a piece of public health policy does good or harm; the question is whether it does more good than harm. Making euthanasia simpler and more available would undoubtedly save some people from awful misery and appalling deaths. The question is not whether it would have benefits, the question is what it would do overall.

    In a long career of hospital medicine (about general practice, I cannot speak), I have never yet cared for someone who needed the help of this proposed legislation, someone with the judicious and irreversible desire to kill themselves, who was both unable to do so without help, yet free of the pain and distress that might allow me to act on their behalf. These people exist, and their suffering is terrible, but I do not believe they are many. Daily, however, I care for those who are depressed or suicidal, those whose spirits and hopes have faltered, those worried about being a waste of space or a burden on others. Even putting aside what it might do to relations between doctors and patients, legislation to make assisted dying easier would help some, but imperil many.

  130. from Coffee House, the Spectator

    Britain shouldn’t take part in joint EU defence missions
    Eliot Wilson16 October 2024, 1:18pm
    Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to ‘reset’ the United Kingdom’s relations with the European Union. But at what cost? The EU has reportedly set out part of the price the UK might have to pay to be allowed back into its good books: Brussels wants Britain to contribute to the EU’s defence missions.

    Foreign Secretary David Lammy travelled to Luxembourg this week to a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council to address the issue of security – an important element of Starmer’s intended ‘reset’. In Monday’s meeting, the EU reportedly pressed the Foreign Secretary for UK participation in its peacekeeping and conflict prevention missions, of which there are currently more than a dozen.

    It would be interpreted in Washington as a slap in the face
    Brussels has indicated unofficially that this would be an easy way for the UK government to begin negotiating one of its manifesto commitments, ‘an ambitious new UK-EU security pact to strengthen co-operation on the threats we face’. But this is a hazardous project: the EU’s defence capability is weak and fragmented. Attempts to strengthen it are also likely to undermine Nato, the cornerstone of the UK’s defence policy.

    Despite the existence of an EU common security and defence policy, military matters remain largely the preserve of member states. Article 42 of the Treaty on European Union draws relatively tight constraints around defence policy, and notes that some members ‘see their common defence realised in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’. This is an understatement: of the 27 EU member states, only four – Austria, Cyprus, Ireland and Malta – are not also members of Nato, and in military terms they are all minnows with a combined active strength of under 50,000.

    The Brussels bureaucracy is eternally ambitious, however. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has nominated former Lithuanian prime minister Andrius Kubilius for a newly created defence and space portfolio when the college of commissioners is confirmed next month. This follows the publication earlier this year of a European defence industrial strategy intended to increase collaboration, investment and readiness in defence procurement in the bloc.

    Most popular
    Lloyd Evans
    Keir Starmer is full of bilge

    This is a direction of travel the UK must not encourage, let alone join. There is a simple truth which is often overlooked: military assets cannot be in more than one place at one time, nor committed to more than one mission. Nato is the primary framework of UK defence and security policy, and should emphatically remain so: 75 years old, it is the most successful alliance in the world and has well-developed command, control and planning functions. Critically, it engages the United States and forms a vital transatlantic bridge.

    Countless words have been spoken and written about the challenges Nato faces, especially if Donald Trump is elected president of the United States for a second term in November. Trump distrusts the alliance on an elemental and instinctive level, seeing it, in his childlike, paranoid way, as an example of ill-intentioned foreigners taking advantage of American goodwill. However, his accusation that Nato’s European members do not spend enough on defence was fundamentally accurate. It is only this year that the majority are expected to meet the target of 2 per cent of GDP on defence (which was first proposed 20 years ago).

    There could hardly be a worse response to Trump’s threat to potentially reduce US support within Nato than for the UK, having left the EU more than four years ago, to contribute scarce military assets and capabilities to EU missions. We know that the defence budget is under almost intolerable strain, major equipment programmes are years behind schedule, recruitment is utterly inadequate and the army’s professed ability to mobilise a division-sized war-fighting unit at short notice is a myth. There is no slack in the system.

    What kind of message would our participation in EU missions send? Even sources in Brussels are saying that it would not be a critical part of a mooted security pact, but that they expect it is something that could ‘be done really quickly’. Yet it would be interpreted in Washington as a slap in the face. EU members like France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands which, despite apparent agreement, shamefully backtracked on supporting the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian to protect maritime commerce in the Red Sea. Britain, on the other hand, stood shoulder to shoulder with the United States. Would this proposed change put such displays of solidarity at risk?

    The Prime Minister must decide how vital he believes a security pact with the EU to be. Since we are already partners in a defence alliance with 23 EU member states, it is hard to see what concrete gains there would be in signing up, save for making our European neighbours like us. But to contribute scarce military resources to an organisation of which we are not even a member, when funding and assets are at the centre of Nato’s immediate challenges, would be nigh on unforgivable.

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