Wednesday 17 May: The unintended consequences of the Government’s war on landlords

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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511 thoughts on “Wednesday 17 May: The unintended consequences of the Government’s war on landlords”

  2. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Think Before You Speak

    A cop pulls over a car and asks the driver why he isn’t wearing his seat belt.

    The driver says, “Officer, I always wear my seat belt. I must have just forgotten.”

    The man’s wife says, “Aw come on honey! You never wear your seat belt!”

    To which the husband replies, “Shut up you old cow!”

    The cop asks, “Does he always yell at you like that?”

    To which she replies, “Only when he’s drunk!”

    1. Very good, Sir Jasper. Now I think I too shall return to bed for a few extra Zeds. Keep well.

  3. Good Morning Folks

    Another bright blue sky start here, but the planes passing over appear to be blanking it out again with their climate changing contrails

  4. The unintended consequences of the Government’s war on landlords

    Not sure that there is such a thing as unintended consequences, they always know what they are doing.

    1. If the results are intended, does this mean a British government actually owns a handful of brain cells?

      1. Of course not, just that the Sir Humphries are still giving them the runaround as they strive to drag us back into the EUSSR.

  5. ‘Morning All

    “Food Innovation Hubs” Oh yum bugs and printed meat

    https://twitter.com/wideawake_media/status/1658059319919759365?s=46&t=jsYaoYdKZNkuKlRjhvxpuQ

    Overdue……

    https://starecat.com/content/wp-content/uploads/in-1672-a-mob-of-angry-dutch-killed-and-ate-their-prime-minister-options-just-sayin.jpg

    Rest of the Medley……

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fd1e53e165cab2473da8cec345bacf7ef33b87a5afff67311750d5d0ce478b17.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/282527d49f9de5f4af50580a89d37b4f27047452e51f11a38554c7c337918f2d.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/968921788045209561c2e09969703a38020281ba2ed3b5c0c9d41b2347e7bcbc.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/37ab9ecb0ed0491164cc6a33d0b856dc71081c307ed6b4ed8325c262f68cf095.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4ca7cd8522dacbca848245826fefcbcef1df3eaa8fd533fcf60fd6cca18d1d6f.png

      2. The fact that the Idiot King is a committed proponent of Schwab’s WEF should make us realise that the sooner he is forced to abdicate the better. He is potentially as dangerous as that extremely nasty Rutte.

      3. Good morning Rastus,
        Pure evil. While I am glad I may not be around for too many more years, I suspect plenty of this sinister filth will affect me. it is coming in faster than is generally accepted. The majority of the unawake, unthinking masses just think the 15 minute cities and ulez controls are nothing more than the plans of some power crazed local councils.
        It is my ‘children’ and grandchildren I fear for.

  7. ‘Morning, Peeps. Another dry, sunny day and 16°C forecast here in west Dorset.

    Below is the latest from the Coalition for Marriage. It is indeed heartening to be able to post some good news for once:

    Breaking news: Times newspaper pays substantial damages to lawyer ridiculed for taking on man-woman marriage case

    Dear marriage supporter,

    The Times has today issued an apology (£) and paid “substantial damages” to Dinah Rose KC, who represented the Cayman Islands Government as it sought to block same-sex marriage.

    Dinah Rose argued that there was no right to same-sex marriage. The Privy Council agreed in a landmark ruling given in March 2022.

    The Times admitted that its reporting on Ms Rose was “incorrect” and “misleading”.

    Throughout the case, Dinah Rose received “abuse and threats” for taking a brief which opposed same-sex marriage. LGBT activists also said she was not a fit person to be President of Magdalen College, Oxford – a position she has held since 2021.

    It all started in 2019 when LGBT activists used legal action to try to get same-sex marriage permitted via the Cayman Islands courts. The Chief Justice agreed that the ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. But the Cayman Government then successfully defended it case all the way to the Privy Council in London.

    After the Privy Council ruling, activists complained about Dinah Rose to the Bar Standards Board (BSB). The complaints said it was unethical to take the brief from the Cayman Islands Government. On 21 November 2022 the Times wrongly reported the Board had ruled against the barrister for “recklessness” in taking the case.

    Dinah Rose has always argued that barristers are required to act on the ‘cab-rank’ principle. They take cases whether they agree with their clients or not. Ms Rose has certainly acted for LGBT clients. But she also represented the late Lillian Ladele, the Islington marriage registrar forced her out of job because of her Christian beliefs about marriage.

    How sad that The Times newspaper wrongly impugned the reputation of a senior barrister, just because she defended a Government that believed in marriage between a man and a woman.

    It is gratifying to know that LGBT activists have failed in their bully-boy tactics. Well done to Dinah Rose for standing up to them.

    * * *

    I find that the occasional victory against those who wish to bully the vast majority into accepting their point of view is to be greatly welcomed, rare as it is. The tidal wave of alarming and vicious insanity now sweeping this country deserves nothing less. Furthermore, I trust that the damages awarded against the Times were eye-wateringly huge – and that the same applies to any costs awarded against those who took her on and lost!

  8. Good Moaning.
    Apologies if you’re eating your breakfast.

    “Woman ‘duped girlfriend into believing she was having sex with man’

    Blade Silvano is accused of carrying out a ‘sophisticated’ scam to convince her partner of two years that she was a man………..

    ……… “It is claimed she always made her partner wear a blindfold and rebuffed the alleged victim’s touches.””

    ALL the time, presumably.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7674fbc54f90aeaea2fd7495b14da754200f9a14a086ca09986d17d456a9742b.jpg

  9. Parliament could be destroyed by catastrophic event before it is repaired, warns committee. 17 may 2023.

    There is a “real and rising risk” that the Houses of Parliament will be destroyed by a catastrophic event before it is repaired, MPs warned last night.

    The Public Accounts Committee said the thousands who work in the Victorian edifice were being put at risk because it was leaking, at risk of fire, with masonry falling down.

    Let us hope that they are all inside when it happens!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/05/16/parliament-destroyed-catastrophic-event-before-its-repaired/

    1. 371339+ up ticks,

      Morning AS,

      Also falling foul of pikes and cudgels ( with nails)

      from the “we have had more than a bloody nough shite” brigade.

    2. I work too close to that shower of shyte. – I can see it from my office. So I would ask the CIA to hold off sending a bunch of mad Arabs in to do their work.

      But if termites would get on with it …

    3. I work too close to that shower of shyte. – I can see it from my office. So I would ask the CIA to hold off sending a bunch of mad Arabs in to do their work.

      But if termites would get on with it …

      1. It is a very real danger. I’d hate to be caught in that rabbit warren in a fire.

  10. How’s this for silly letter of the week/month/year, even:

    SIR – I confess to being a bit of an anorak with my dishwasher (Features, May 16). Nobody else is allowed to stack it – the result of people thinking it is a Tardis, with the intelligence to work out how to get water on the most stupidly positioned items.

    A good tip is to buy a machine with a delay timer to make use of cheaper night-time electricity.

    Stan Kirby
    East Malling, Kent

    Apart from the worrying degree of trivia, I wonder whether Mr Kirby realises that the daytime rate is inflated when using Economy 7? Years ago we heated our water in the early hours by this method, using an immersion heater. It wasn’t until I looked at the two rates more closely, with a view to switching, I realised that a cheaper daytime rate was possible if we dropped the Economy 7. It only showed any benefit to the consumer if the night time rate was very heavy. I don’t know if the same applies today as we haven’t touched it since.

    1. I have to admit I didn’t realise Economy 7 still existed.
      I am very wary of putting appliances on during the hours when we are asleep or out of the house.

      1. I would never use any appliances during the hours of darkness – thanks to solar panels I use them during the day for free

        1. One day a lot of miffed NoTTLers are going to show up on your doorstep with a lot of ironing for you to do ‘for free’.

    2. Hope he’s got a good smoke alarm system if he’s running all his appliances in the night.

  12. Bit of a dichotomy between Sir Kiers plans to build all over the green belt while trying to achieve net zero

    2. He doesn’t care about the actual environment, only authoritarian measured being wheeled in behind the CO2 scam.

      1. The two most dangerous scams in the last few years have been Net Zero and Covid vaccines.

        Veganism and the killing of agriculture envisaged by the WEF will add to the misery the PTB want to impose on the human race. And the motive behind this bizarre trans nonsense is clearly to destabilize society.

  13. Russia’s most potent hypersonic weapon neutralised, says Ukraine. 17 May 2023.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e5c8c0ab1bc04104e3294d88e3d8cbb51eae444c2fb058eb92e3e93aeeb25e4a.png

    Ukraine has said it has neutralised the Kremlin’s most potent hypersonic weapon, shooting down six out of six Kinzhal missiles launched at Kyiv, but hours later it emerged the intense night-time attack had damaged a Patriot air defence system.

    Yurii Ihnat, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s air command, said Moscow had also bombarded the capital with nine Kalibr missiles and three ballistic rockets, as well as six attack drones and three reconnaissance drones. All were shot down, he said, thwarting what he called “air terrorism”.

    But the attack appeared to have damaged a US-made Patriot air defence battery, US sources told CNN later on Tuesday. Officials warned the system may have to be withdrawn entirely depending on the level of damage it had sustained. An assessment was ongoing, they added.

    The level of truth in Ukie Pronouncements is on about the same level as that of Iraq and Comical Ali during the Gulf War. Everything they say should be taken with large dollops of salt!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/16/ukraine-russia-targets-kyiv-with-massive-overnight-airstrike

    1. Neutralise? Do they mean they are destroying the missiles with their own high-value targets?

      This reminds me of the advice I sometimes give my martial arts students: “Don’t block punches with your face.”

  14. Our ‘obsession’ with phonics has worked
    On reading and in many other areas of education policy, the Labour Party remains in hoc to the views of the teacher unions

    Sad to say tis not the same for phonies such as the very peoples that are in hoc to the views of the teachers union.

    Our ‘obsession’ with phonies has worked and the supporting of such, a fair dingcom treat, colluding with the political actions via
    a kiss X your United Kingdom bum good-by,

    The Labour Party remains in hoc to the views of the teacher unions, that figures, labour party being a successful arsehole magnet, with the tories ( ino) party running a close second.

    If only the children could learn to relate at an early stage the cries of anguish and despair from the remaining decent peoples of these Isles when related to treacherous politico’s actions then I would most certainly deem phonics a great success.

    By the by,
    labour in any sort of contact with children is a definite NO,NO
    lest we forget rotherham plus as many of the
    party first before country will, the same goes for the tory (ino) party as peoples are well aware of,I’m sure.

    1. We taught Christo and Henry using phonics and they were both fluent readers at the age of 4.

      1. I’m not sure what method I used but both my boys could read at 4 years old, as could I.

        1. We read to each of the boys every evening. I read to one boy in English; Caroline to the other in French. When a book was finished we swapped boys and filled in the time if one boy’s book was finished before the other’s with reading poetry to them.

          This helped ensure that they were bi-lingual from the start both orally and in reading. The are both still avid readers.

        2. Morning J

          I was also reading at 4 years old , I was a real little book worm.

          The boys were avid readers , but sadly younger son is Dyslexic.

        3. Look-Say works well enough for most children but phonics is essential for children with any dyslexic symptoms.

    2. Sorry Ogga but, as usual your rants become un-intelligible and un-readable.

      Must try harder.

      1. 371339+ up ticks,

        You really do let the blockers fraternity down, your post has the odour of an old tory (ino) party member about it.

        1. No, Ogga, I’m an old-fashioned lover of our English language.

          Nothing conservative about that except the wish to conserve the REAL meaning of English. Something you just garble.

          1. 371339+up ticks,

            “I’m an old-fashioned lover of our English language.”

            For all that a long term tory party member / voter I’d wager.
            And as such a party before country voter trying desperately to do a 180°.

            You do not seem up to it as a blocker, can I be of any help?

          2. You obviously DON’T understand even basic English. I shall have to think seriously about blocking you again as your posts have rapidly declined into being just a waste of space.

  15. Good Morning all.
    Another bright & sunny start, but still a bit chilly with 5°C on the yard thermometer.

    A multi sig in today’s letters that is actually worth reading:-

    Oxford intolerance
    SIR – We are academics at the University of Oxford, possessed of a range of different political beliefs – on the Left and Right. We wholeheartedly condemn the decision of the Oxford University Student Union (Oxford SU) to sever its ties with the Oxford Union (the Union) after the latter’s refusal to rescind an invitation to the philosopher and gender-critical feminist Kathleen Stock.

    Professor Stock believes that biological sex in humans is real and socially salient, a view which until recently would have been so commonplace as to hardly merit asserting. Whether or not one agrees with Professor Stock’s views, there is no plausible and attractive ideal of academic freedom, or of free speech more generally, which would condemn their expression as outside the bounds of permissible discourse.

    Unfortunately, the position of her opponents seems to be that Professor Stock’s views are so illicit that they cannot be safely discussed in front of an audience of consenting and intelligent adults at the main debating society at the University of Oxford. If this were the case, it is doubtful that they could be safely expressed anywhere – a result that, as her opponents are no doubt satisfied to find, would amount to their effective prohibition.

    Fortunately, it has become clear that the Union’s capitulation cannot be secured by the usual methods of moralistic browbeating and social censure. However, Oxford SU is now threatening its financial model by seeking to prevent the Union from having a stall at future freshers’ fairs. This is dangerous territory.

    Universities exist, among other things, to promote free inquiry and the disinterested pursuit of the truth by means of reasoned argument. To resort to coercion and financial threats when unable to secure one’s preferred outcome in debate would represent a profound failure to live up to these ideals.

    Universities must remain places where contentious views can be openly discussed. The salient alternative to this, one apparently favoured by many of Professor Stock’s opponents, is simply unacceptable: a state of affairs in which the institutions of a university collude to suppress the expression of controversial, but potentially true, viewpoints in an effort to prevent them from becoming more widely known.

    Dr Julius Grower
    Faculty of Law and St Hugh’s College
    Plus 43 others.

      1. Dr Julius Grower
        Faculty of Law and St Hugh’s College
        Dr Michael Biggs
        Department of Sociology and St Cross College
        Dr Roger Teichmann
        St Hilda’s College
        Professor Nigel Biggar
        Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology, Faculty of Theology
        Professor Jeff McMahan
        Sekyra and White’s Professor of Moral Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy and Corpus Christi College
        Dr Edward Howell
        Department of Politics and International Relations and New College
        Dr Marie Kawthar Daouda
        Oriel College
        Dr Jonathan Price
        Faculty of Law and St Cross College
        Colin Mills
        Department of Sociology and Nuffield College
        John Maier
        Balliol College
        Dr Alexander Morrison
        Faculty of History and New College
        Dr Richard Gipps
        Blackfriars Hall
        Professor Carl Heneghan
        Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine
        Kathryn Webb
        Oxford Institute of Clinical Psychology Training and Research and Harris Manchester College
        Dr Tim Mawson
        St Peter’s College
        Edward Hadas
        Blackfriars Hall
        Professor Richard Dawkins
        New College
        Professor Jonathan Jones
        Department of Physics and Brasenose College
        Professor Lawrence Goldman
        Emeritus Fellow, St Peter’s College
        Professor James Binney
        Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics and Merton College
        James Forder
        Balliol College
        Clive Hambler
        Lecturer in Biology and Human Sciences, Hertford College
        Daniel Villar
        Department of Biology
        Yuan Yi Zhu
        Research Fellow, Harris Manchester College, and Nuffield College
        Professor Richard Ekins KC (Hon)
        Professor of Law and Constitutional Government, St John’s College
        Professor Julian Savulescu
        Uehiro Chair of Practical Ethics, Faculty of Philosophy
        David Carpenter
        Faculty of History
        Professor Timothy Williamson
        Wykeham Professor of Logic, Faculty of Philosophy
        Daniel Kodsi
        Trinity College
        Professor Susan Bright
        Professor of Land Law, Faculty of Law
        Professor Joel David Hamkins
        Professor of Logic, Associate Faculty Member, Faculty of Philosophy
        Dr Ruth Dixon
        College lecturer, Queen’s College
        Professor John Tasioulas
        Professor of Ethics and Legal Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy and Balliol College
        Xenofon Kalogeropoulos
        Faculty of Classics and St Anne’s College
        Jane Cooper
        All Souls College
        Dr Abhijit Sarkar
        Faculty of History
        Professor Edward Harcourt
        Professor of Philosophy, Keble College
        Professor Michael Bentley
        Senior Research Fellow, St Hugh’s College
        Professor Catharine Abell
        Faculty of Philosophy and the Queen’s College
        Professor John Chalker
        Department of Physics and St Hugh’s College
        Dr Sophie Allen
        Faculty of Philosophy and St Peter’s College
        Professor Volker Halbach
        Professor of Philosophy, New College
        Sir Noel Malcolm
        All Souls College
        Aftab Mallick
        Brasenose College

      1. Not her bringing down the Oxford Union, but the Left Wing activists of the Student Union.

  17. Duchess of Sussex catapults herself back into public life. 17 May 2023.

    The Duchess of Sussex thanked Gloria Steinem for her “incredible friendship” as she accepted the Women of Vision Award at a gala in New York on Tuesday evening.

    In her first public appearance with Prince Harry since skipping the Coronation, the Duchess of Sussex thanked Ms Steinam, 89, “for [being] the inspiration that you are, for your mentorship, your sage advice, your extraordinarily cheeky sense of humour and, of course, for your incredible friendship”.

    Woman of Vision! Lol! Women with Nothing to Do! Would be more appropriate!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/05/17/duchess-of-sussex-award-women-of-vision/

    2. “as she accepted the Women of Vision Award ”
      Isn’t this insulting to visually impaired ladies?

    3. Considering she didn’t want the job, it’s odd that she’s pootling about doing this sort of thing.

      Oh! I see! She’s getting paid to do it. Right.

      1. Good morning, Maggie. I’m enjoying a few sunny days which have made the bowls greens play better as they dry out.

    1. Hancock did what his media training said to – attack the messenger to avoid dealing with the message. It’s pathetic, weak and tiresome. Hancock should be called out as the gormless thug he is.

    1. Someone pinged that they’d been issued with a no fault eviction notice and the response was weird. Most people said ‘go to the council to force them to reverse it, or to house you, or we should be building more council houses, or call your MP….

      Very few looked to the individual to provide for themselves. Only one person – me – pointed out that this was the explicit fault of government policy, and looking to the state to solve a problem caused by the state was illogical.

      Are people really so weak that their immediate response is to cry to Big Brother when they want something? Where is the resilience, the self discipline, the ‘my life, my responsibility?

      1. Years of indoctrination that it is never your fault, only someone else’s, if you do something stupid, that actions do not have consequences and all shall have prizes have killed off personal responsibility.

    1. And thus why people like the Warqueen (and me) are both working 4 days weeks, with masses of holiday. Neither of us see the point in working for the state. Where this comes unstuck is in applying for mortgages and so on, but we got around that by presenting service company accounts (as that’s where our money really goes).

  23. Good morning, all Y’all. Beautiful day, and it’s Constitution Day here in Norway. Lots of bands, parades, traditional dress, partying. Cool, strong wind, brilliant sunshine – just the weather for wearing itchy felted wool clothing… 😉

    1. ‘Morning, C1. That’s a good cartoon. Less funny was listening Blair Mk2 on Farming Today, promising to sort out the supermarkets and their refusal to pay even the cost of production to egg farmers and the rest. I was so inspired I turned it off before he’d stopped blathering.

    2. Considering he’s deliberately done in two elected PMs to get the job he’s the snake in the tree.

      1. Must have been the man mentioned on nttl recently, the bald one who had a rabbit tattoed on his head.
        (because from a distance it looked like a hare)

  25. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/16/dont-cheese-sandwiches-cant-afford-ingredients-widdecombe/

    While I agree that we have no automatic right to low prices for anything, we DO have a right to market prices. As in, that an item costs what it costs to produce, transport and stock for sale.

    Now, that explicitly does NOT include the taxes that are levied against every step in the supply chain. Those are destructive and unhelpful and penalise everyone because they’re just passed on, and thick people don’t understand that. When government makes energy, fuel and levies horrific taxes to plunder road transport, air freight and so on the cost of food is forced up artificially beyond the cost of production.

    Most of the price of food is tax. Stupidly, the tax is then shovelled back to the producers (farmers) who the supermarkets screw down. I don’t mind the market setting, but the entire food chain is utterly dim where subsidy is returned to farmers from the taxes of those buying through the proxy of supermarket taxes which customers pay anyway.

    Why not scrap all taxes affecting food (and everything else) and just have customers pay the price for the real cost of goods? That solves the profiteering/greedflaion nonsense from silly people who don’t understand the reality?

    1. Let’s hope that it collapses in upon itself when both houses are in full session.

      What a great outcome to get the Gods laughing hysterically.

  27. Duchess of Sussex catapults herself back into public life
    Despite keeping a very low profile recently, Meghan arrived at a New York gala in a dazzling gold gown to accept the Women of Vision Award
    DT Story

    Does anyone remember A.A. Milne’s rhyme about James, James, Morrison, Morrison whose mother was clearly an adulteress and a bolter who put on a golden gown and then disappeared. I fear that the Duchess of Sussex has little intention of disappearing.

    James James
    Morrison Morrison
    Weatherby George Dupree
    Took great
    Care of his Mother,
    Though he was only three.
    James James Said to his Mother,
    “Mother,” he said, said he;
    “You must never go down
    to the end of the town,
    if you don’t go down with me.”

    James James
    Morrison’s Mother
    Put on a golden gown.
    James James Morrison’s Mother
    Drove to the end of the town.
    James James Morrison’s Mother
    Said to herself, said she:
    “I can get right down
    to the end of the town
    and be back in time for tea.”

    King John
    Put up a notice,
    “LOST or STOLEN or STRAYED!
    JAMES JAMES MORRISON’S MOTHER
    SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN MISLAID.
    LAST SEEN
    WANDERING VAGUELY:
    QUITE OF HER OWN ACCORD,
    SHE TRIED TO GET DOWN
    TO THE END OF THE TOWN –
    FORTY SHILLINGS REWARD!”

    James James
    Morrison Morrison
    (Commonly known as Jim)
    Told his
    Other relations
    Not to go blaming him.
    James James
    Said to his Mother,
    “Mother,” he said, said he:
    “You must never go down to the end of the town
    without consulting me.”

    James James
    Morrison’s mother
    Hasn’t been heard of since.
    King John said he was sorry,
    So did the Queen and Prince.
    King John
    (Somebody told me)
    Said to a man he knew:
    If people go down to the end of the town, well,
    what can anyone do?”

    2. Je me souviens bien. That Markle creature just gets worserer and worserer. She is the epitome of US luvviedom’s bicoastal ghastliness. Even the Yanks are getting fed up with her.

    3. “The Women of Vision Award”. Have I missed something, what vision, what has she done, written, created???

  28. Alastair Campbell’s post-truth Remoanerism. Spiked. 17 may 2023.

    Wherever you encounter Campbell, his thesis is the same. The UK has been destroyed by Brexit, he says, and everyone associated with Brexit is a liar. You can watch him bashing Brexiteer ‘liars’ on Newsnight, or on Politics Live, or on Sky (this time alongside his daughter for some unexplained reason). You can read the same in the Guardian, or you can buy his new anti-Brexit book, But What Can I Do?.

    I would pay serious money to be able to go and see this creep and his boss hanged on the same scaffold!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/05/16/alastair-cambells-post-truth-remoanerism/

    1. He’s myopic and angry. He refuses to acknowledge the reason behind the vote and continues in his obsession, ignorant and uninterested in his (and that of other statists) attitude being responsible for the result.

      1. He’s miffed? I’m sure all those people he and his boss betrayed and murdered are sorry for him!

      2. I think he is mad. He is certainly one of the nastiest people in public life.

        Talking of nasty people I saw Piers Morgan on Talk TV last night. He was interviewing Alex Phillips, the woman who had been horribly bullied by the monstrous Campbell.

        Morgan was gloating over the fact that Nigel Farage said that Brexit had been a failure. What Morgan failed to understand was that Farage said Brexit was a failure – not because the idea of Brexit was wrong but because the government from the very start – from May onwards – was determined to thwart it as were the majority of MPs in the HoC, virtually all the peers in the HoL, the civil service and the MSM. The initial ‘leaving agreement’ gave an immediate surrender of Northern Ireland and Fishing and showed the EU that the English government would be weak and not take advantage of the liberation Brexit offered.

        BRINO (BRexit In Name Only) has failed but the idea of Brexit has not failed – it is the fact that all the PTB wish to destroy democracy and if the destruction of democracy brings Britain down with it then so be it.

        1. In other words, the PTB wish to emulate the EU hierarchy of being un-elected and and un-accountable for the diktats they wish to rain upon our heads.

    2. He is horrible. I suspect he was promoting his latest book. That relies heavily on the I word.
      And he’s got a daughter ? How unfortunate for her.

    3. By that “liar” definition, Campbell must have been one of Brexit’s strongest proponents he’s one of the biggest liars anywhere.

  29. Yesterday’s tributes to 617 Squadron on the 80th anniversary of Operation Chastise (The Dambusters Raid) were very apposite and moving.

    Today is the 22nd anniversary of John Prescott biffing an obnoxious twerp. Much as I admired him for doing that, JP could be a gold plated vindictive little twerp all on his own.

    https://youtu.be/Cdoysx82vrU

    1. I use to know the wife of the captain of the cable laying ship he was a steward on. He was a bit of a tosser on there.

      1. When he first entered parliament, whenever he walked into the Commons bar, Conservative MPs would lift their glasses in his direction and shout, “Another G&T over here, Pedro!”

        2. That’s just nasty, whatever you think about someone. Like those belittling jibes made at Carol Middleton having been an air hostess.

  30. People working in dozens on professions face being dragged into the higher 40p tax band if their wages go up in line with inflation forecasts in a stealth raid on people’s income.

    A report out today has warned that one in five taxpayers will end up paying the higher rate by 2027 as a result of the Government’s controversial freeze on tax thresholds.

    Nurses, teachers and police officers are all among those who could end up paying what has traditionally been seen as a tax reserved for the rich – with 7.8million people expected to sent some of their income at this level. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12090695/The-33-jobs-face-dragged-higher-40p-tax-band-2027-wages-rise-inflation.html

    1. That is of course the whole aim of this government’s fiscal drag. With reductions in the allowances for CGT, dividends and interest everyone bar those on benefits are going to be squeezed. Its not going to change with a different government either. We are stuffed…

      1. Why give the tax increases a fancy cuddly name. They are all increases in the rates of tax.
        vw retired in 2010 and has not paid income tax since then except for this and ensuing months. That increase has totally wiped out, and more, the increase in her very small private pension and has eaten into the amount of state pension increase.
        A pox on all MPs houses.

        1. Indeed. Their salaries are taxed but their expense claims, where they make their money, aren’t…

    2. Morning all.

      Having been retired for nearly 13 years, on a very small private pension plus state pension, I have now been dragged into the tax scam. I don’t blame any independent trader/sole trader/businessman or woman for not working any harder than they have to to live. HMG are thieving bar stewards. So much for the “generous” increase in state pension. All clawed back!

  31. Morning all😊 Beautiful weather here in West Sussex. Letting the Magnificent Caticus Khan out I have, for the first time this year, left the front door open to let in the air. I am, therefore, spared the incessant meowing demand to reopen the door for him and the distinct air of disapproval I get for my tardiness in failing to open the door the second he meows. How come we domesticated an animal that expects you to be its servant?

      1. Haven’t a clue how to upload photos. I really need to learn. But Caticus is a typical black and white cat, White bib and white paws. Like this. In fact this could be him.
        https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Black_and_white_cat_in_a_park-Hisashi-01.jpg

        He adopted me. Opened the door one night to take out garbage — it was a dark and story night, thunder clashed, rain deluged, trees creaked, cracked and crashed, and the wind howled Maria — typical night when something of importance happens. This cat soaked to the skin marched in and sat in a corner. Wouldn’t let me touch him at all. But I put food out for him and made a litter tray and we eventually made friends. Gave me a magnificent gift of a flea infestation. And so, he has been here ever since. He is a house cat and only goes out to inspect things for a few minutes, then it’s back in doors for treats, lounging about and other essential activities that cats so urgently need. His name was ‘Cat’ had to give him a name for the vet, so he became ‘Caticus Khan, terror of the neighbourhood’ in his dreams.

          2. I find such errors add to the fun if a suitable non pedantic response can be found.
            Never a need to apologise for such typos.

        2. He is gorgeous.

          We have a visitor to the garden just like Caticus Khan. He hides in the hedge , not far from the bird feeders and the mousehole .. he is so wily and and keen..

          Sadly watchful for my spaniels, who will try to see him out of their territory. He is a brave cat .

      1. Don’t know why the top of Gus’s head is missing. It is there in the original!

        1. You didn’t comment, yesterday, on the photograph of my Cobra seedlings I posted for you.

          1. I was off colour. I am pleased that they are doing so well. An extremely reliable variety.

        1. Pickles ate a hearty breakfast.

          Gus – quite clearly – “ate out” last night and is in one of his beds in the porch. He declined to come in to the house and missed his breakfast.

          3. We have rabbit years. Last year we had none, this year we are inundated. Our cat, Chaucer, used to catch the rabbits, Rumpole, our boxer, ate them.

    3. Because, johnathan, all cats are always on the wrong side of the door!

      1. Actually Sue, from their point of view, I’m sure, we are on the wrong side of the door.

  32. Morning all 🙂😉
    Bright but not lasting and rain tomorrow.
    Head line, leads to ‘Once more unto the breach’…….. our useless idiot politicians are at it again. Gove again. What an absolute toss pot he is. What are they doing.
    We have 3.9 unemployment and rising, around 100,000 scroungers living off the British taxpayers and rising. And 650 plus morons and rising, in Westminster wrecking every thing they come into contact with. And rising.
    I’m not sure but I doubt if the unemployment figures include those many thousands who have never done a single day’s work in their lives. And live entirely off the British taxpayers.

    1. Sunshine and 15° C here in the borders.

      I shall have to do some shopping later.

  33. Russia’s Military Has Improved — The West Should Take Note. 17 may 2023.

    The invasion exposed Russia’s boast that it had the second-strongest military in the world, and the initial phase of the war saw massive failures across the chain of command, including dysfunctional logistics and repeated evidence of poor training and equipment. A planned blitzkrieg-like seizure of Kyiv dissolved into a hard-fought battle in which the Russians failed to seize the critical Hostomel airport and were subsequently routed despite a seemingly decisive numerical advantage.

    The early phase of the invasion saw the rapid unraveling of the myth that the Russian army was modern and capable of matching Western standards. Other assumptions about its operational planning and tactics also melted in the heat of battle. Having failed in the early stages of the war, its commanders reverted to a traditional Soviet-era approach to warfare, using massive artillery bombardment coupled with the wanton expenditure of soldiers’ lives in mass wave attacks.

    It’s worth remembering that in WWII the Red Army was hopelessly outclassed by the Wehrmacht in the opening stages. It took the Russians two years to correct the imbalance but it was they that marched into Berlin.

    https://cepa.org/article/russias-military-has-improved-the-west-should-take-note/

    1. The only trouble with that load of waffle is that Russia never intended to seize Kiev. Really is depressing that we, on the right side in WWII, are now using propaganda to perpetuate lies and have become the enemies of truth. No wonder Tucker Carlson rebelled.

  34. Many young people aren’t driven to owning a home ..they need their money for holidays , pop concerts , leisure activities , cars , they worry about the expense of owning a home .. New houses have less room space , no garages , hollow walls , no gardens .. and not enough space in a hall to put a pram or pushchair or even a wheelchair .

    Builders say that people these days need a space to lay their head and feed , because their social life is paramount !

    Our stairs are proving a problem to me , Moh can gallop up, but I nearly crawl up , stairs have bends !

    Bungalows are now as rare as hens teeth.. Older people who want to dumb down do not enjoy the idea of mixed developments, younger people and their families can be dreadful neighbours . Noise pollution. ☹

    1. I live in bungalowland. Very quiet. There are only 2 children in the entire street and they are well behaved.

      1. Morning Phizzee,

        Your bungalow looks lovely.

        We have a lot of bungalows here as well, and many retired people . Older bungalows need updating , there in lays the cost .

        We have spent a lot of money repairing and updating our place , but more needs to be done .

        1. I have had new windows and boiler in the last 10 years. I had the outside plastered which helped solve a minor damp problem. A new bathroom and conservatory plus a 6 metre garden shed for an office. 2 years ago i had the entire interior painted.

          That’s it. Not doing anything else.

          Good morning, Belle.

        1. I think you are bending the truth! You have posted some photos of your home which looks pretty prosperous.

          1. Take no notice of them, Sir (doffs cap), they are all lies. I was born in a converted Victorian workhouse (“Please sir, may I have more?”). Whenever I travel, which is seldom, I invariable go scumbag class (used to be known as ‘steerage’).

            I only appear on this column to bring a bit of balance among all the Château-dwellers.😉

            Scarsdale Hospital, Newbold Road, Chesterfield (which no longer exists) was indeed a converted Victorian Workhouse.

          5. The ability to pull up the drawbridge will be a major plus in the troubled times ahead.

          6. We don’t. We did have a Georgian place which we’re selling to move to a more normal red brick lark with an extra bedroom.

        2. We have done a lot of work on it ourselves and bought more land around the original garden but in 1988 the initial cost of it would not have been enough to buy us a 2 bed-roomed terraced house near where we worked.

          The little house on the lhs is where we put up our students so the place has given us a very decent living for the last 35 years.

    3. Houses are built these days to be tall and thin. That lets builders cram dozens of ‘4 bed!’ houses in a plot. In reality, we tried this wit the war queen and I. Back to back, we sat on the edge of our imaginary bed and both our knees were touching a wall.

      It’s pathetic. They’re cramped, uncomfortable boxes to force more people in to a small space for profit.

      Comically, this is the exact opposite of what the lying doom monger pushing climate change believe should be pushing to be built, proving again that it’s all a lie for tax.

  35. A question: Since the UK sent depleted uranium shells to Ukraine (now scattered in bits all over the place), the UK used these shells as antitank munitions, fired from the 120mm rifled gun on the Challenger tanks, how were the Ukrainians supposed to use them? Do they have 120mm rifled guns? Not in their tanks, they don’t as the Soviet tanks were smoothbore, like pretty well every other tank except Challenger.
    So, were these shells sent to Ukraine for a)show, and b)for the Russians to blow up all over the place, thus poisoning the land? Or what other purpose?

    1. I found mine at my place of work but she did not come from England she came from Holland.

      [I first saw Caroline in the Masters’ Common Room at Allhallows School, Lyme Regis!]

      1. And that WEF tool Rutte is now determined to destroy fruitful production in the Netherlands!

      1. Made a rhumb line straight for you, did he. I seem to remember the nurses home in Gibraltar was always on call for ship to shore treatments.

  37. It seems i am involuntarily transitioning. The swelling is now noticeable. I wonder if they make mono-bras for men.

      1. The so called GPS bras are common in the big football clubs. They’re used for the training or test matches.
        These bras record the movements on the pitch and the physical data.
        Like this it’s easier to analize: how fast is the player, where is he
        moving to, what is his heart rate like etc.

        Does that mean i have to start playing football? Tell me it aint so… :@)

    1. I was rather confused when we first came to France by the fact the word for soldering and welding is the same.

        1. As far as I can tell brazing (noun) is brasage but to braze (verb) is souder.

    2. Note that’s a white male, 30-50s. We build everything, make everything, pay for everything.

      Without us, there’s no nation.

      1. Note that it’s actually a yellow male (the clue is in the photograph’s caption).

  39. Oh my word, today MPs are scrutinising the coronation policing.
    There has to be 60 people in one room asking questions and giving answers.
    Individual opinions seem to be the main approach to the questioning.
    Perhaps the police should be investigating politicians.

    1. I think they’ve brought with them many extra shackles for us locals, Belle.

    2. Good morning Belle,
      Unwanted, unwelcome, uncivilised, unreformable, unemployable, unskilled, undesirable, unfriendly …….Savages

        1. The only integration that lot are interested in is claiming benefits for life our tax money

          1. They see it as jizya (the tax dhimmis pay to live in a muslim country) and expect us to integrate with (i e submit to) them.

    3. Our politicians are absolutely ‘king useless. They never get anything right.

    4. They’re all in one place. It’s not difficult to solve the bloody problem.

      In fact, it’s even easier. Cut off welfare for any gimmigrant. They’ll leave so fast and save the nation tens of billions a month.

    2. I think Putin should nuke the centre of London and do the world a favour

      1. There’s some fine architecture in the centre of London that would be a real loss. Better to round up the miscreants. The Smithfield Elms and the Tyburn Tree are long gone but Trafalgar Square would be ideal.

      2. Good idea, but this POS can’t be allowed to continue, it just can not happen.

  43. Good morning all,
    From a farcebook post from the Bruges Group:
    What’s going on with the Conservative Party?
    I don’t think it’s panic.
    It’s more like inept delusion.
    Parliamentary Party seems to have handed itself over to the Civil Service. Sunak quite obviously cut from the Major/May social Democrat globalist cloth delivering a technocratic solution to what is perceived by Whitehall and Brussels as a failure of Government as populism and democracy took over with the Brexit Referendum result, and two subsequent General Elections which didn’t go their way at all.
    It seems to me the plan is to restrict growth with higher tax, increase regulation through overzealous application, swamp the country with migrants to worsen the deficit/change voting blocs as punishment while highlighting the schism in the union with the NI Windsor Framework and these daft “not for EU” labels.
    Conservatives lose the election to Labour and let them get the blame for taking us back into alignment with the single market, reforming the House of Lords to impose a permanent EU-style “democratically” elected but hardly representative oversight on the House of Commons, vastly expand the voter base making teenagers and people on extended holidays here eligible to vote in our national elections.
    I went to Bournemouth which was entertaining, but nobody in power is listening (I happened to sit next to the two Conservative party vice chairman who were dispatched to spy on what was going on, and you could tell they were embarrassed to be there).
    The grassroots are angry and many (me included) have left the party and will no longer vote for our local MP.
    CDO Conservative Democratic Organisation isn’t actually a Boris supporters club; many people in the audience were no fans of his but its leadership see Boris as the solution, which is not something I can support.
    There is absolutely no scope in the next 12 months for a change of leader because MPs will not vote for it and there doesn’t appear to be any justification for it yet, as any leadership change would be hugely politically and economically destabilising and any new leader would not be able to turn things around in the short period available to them plus we are at the back end of a 14 year run of power so it’s going to be hard to talk about reinvigoration and change.
    Better for Rishi to own the loss, but that for the loss to be modest so that labour has power but doesn’t have to go running to the SNP or Lib Dems for support.
    I think though CDO is more about improving the democratic governance within the party to enable us to deliver better candidates and a clearer governance structure which doesn’t have to rely on the 1922.
    CDO should be a group focused on enabling the delivery of true mainstream conservatism rather than supporting any one individual.
    The Conservative party is no longer conservative. Liebour/Green lite at best.

  44. Good morning all,
    From a farcebook post from the Bruges Group:
    What’s going on with the Conservative Party?
    I don’t think it’s panic.
    It’s more like inept delusion.
    Parliamentary Party seems to have handed itself over to the Civil Service. Sunak quite obviously cut from the Major/May social Democrat globalist cloth delivering a technocratic solution to what is perceived by Whitehall and Brussels as a failure of Government as populism and democracy took over with the Brexit Referendum result, and two subsequent General Elections which didn’t go their way at all.
    It seems to me the plan is to restrict growth with higher tax, increase regulation through overzealous application, swamp the country with migrants to worsen the deficit/change voting blocs as punishment while highlighting the schism in the union with the NI Windsor Framework and these daft “not for EU” labels.
    Conservatives lose the election to Labour and let them get the blame for taking us back into alignment with the single market, reforming the House of Lords to impose a permanent EU-style “democratically” elected but hardly representative oversight on the House of Commons, vastly expand the voter base making teenagers and people on extended holidays here eligible to vote in our national elections.
    I went to Bournemouth which was entertaining, but nobody in power is listening (I happened to sit next to the two Conservative party vice chairman who were dispatched to spy on what was going on, and you could tell they were embarrassed to be there).
    The grassroots are angry and many (me included) have left the party and will no longer vote for our local MP.
    CDO Conservative Democratic Organisation isn’t actually a Boris supporters club; many people in the audience were no fans of his but its leadership see Boris as the solution, which is not something I can support.
    There is absolutely no scope in the next 12 months for a change of leader because MPs will not vote for it and there doesn’t appear to be any justification for it yet, as any leadership change would be hugely politically and economically destabilising and any new leader would not be able to turn things around in the short period available to them plus we are at the back end of a 14 year run of power so it’s going to be hard to talk about reinvigoration and change.
    Better for Rishi to own the loss, but that for the loss to be modest so that labour has power but doesn’t have to go running to the SNP or Lib Dems for support.
    I think though CDO is more about improving the democratic governance within the party to enable us to deliver better candidates and a clearer governance structure which doesn’t have to rely on the 1922.
    CDO should be a group focused on enabling the delivery of true mainstream conservatism rather than supporting any one individual.
    The Conservative party is no longer conservative. Liebour/Green lite at best.

    2. I’m too old now, but if I was in my 30s I would definitely get out of this self ruined now dump of a country.

      1. I reckon many Nottlers would think the same.
        Not long after we were married in the very early 1980s, we had the chance of spending 2 years with MH job in New Zealand. Of course, the NZ of that time was a different country to how it is now. (We didn’t go, partly because we didn’t want to leave my recently widowed Mum.)
        When it became clear nearly 15 years ago that our older son was likely to relocate to Canada with his Canadian wife, I was happy that at least one son was escaping. Little did I know that that country would become as bad as, if not even worse than, here. AT least we don’t have turdeau.

        1. Perhaps Blair and Campbell could learn Arabic. They must need onanists somewhere…

    3. In our constituency the Conservative vote traditionally has been weighed rather than counted.

      We’ve had some top quality MPs in the past.

      However, at the last election a “leftie” was imposed on us by CCHQ. A very intelligent and hard working leftie.

      He expounds Lib Dem policies at frequent intervals, even the BBC admire him and give him interviews.

      Now we have a majority on the local councils who are not Conservative, and enough protest votes to get

      some Greens into position.

      Will the Tories win the next GE in this constituency?

      Do they want to, as our “Tory” MP is a dedicated Remainer, and obviously feels that a good job awaits him in Brussels.

      1. Our bloke is like that (but definitely NOT hard working). Greeniac, eco-freak Limp Dumb posing as a “Conservative”.

        1. Yes, there appear to be a number of bogus Tories.

          It will be interesting to see if they “come out” after the next election, or whether they will remain in the Conservative Party as fifth columnists.

        2. Our hitherto true blue constituency voted in a genuine Limp Dim. She’s done nothing constructive as far as I can see, but she gets a lot of publicity. Her phizzog is always in the local press.

      2. We currently have a supposedly conservative MP (no idea what he is like). Before him, we had the odious Nick Boles who defected to the reds but, of course, didn’t think he needed to call a bye-election in this staunchly conservative constituency.

      3. Dunno about the GE. Eight years (two elections) ago, I stood as a ‘paper candidate’ in the Guildford Borough election, for UKIP. I had no expectation to win in this safe Tory seat. But I came narrowly third (against Guildford Greenbelt Group) and still beat the LibDem into fourth place.

        This time, the “Conservative” candidate won in my old ward (I’ve moved). Again. But overall control of the council has gone to the LibDems.

      1. I know, hence the courage of these people actually protesting against Islam in Iran.

  46. https://mattgoodwin.substack.com/p/what-i-told-natcon-london?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&fbclid=IwAR22ORV3qlNCG5hsJYSfeBcBliGCC4Frvfr_TJJbprD6UD-YddWnNp_wisg

    What I told NatCon London
    My speech at the most important conference in Britain right now – Matt Goodwin
    I’m not a member of the Conservative Party. And unless something changes I don’t currently plan on voting Conservative at the next election. But this week I did agree to address the National Conservatism Conference in London. Why?
    Because one of the most interesting and important debates in politics right now is where conservatism goes next -not only here in Britain but globally. From America to Sweden, Britain to France, Italy to Hungary, conservatives are now asking themselves the same questions. What is conservatism in the 2020s? How can it build a different electorate? And how should it involve in the years ahead?
    I wanted to contribute to this debate. So, here’s what I said.
    Why are so many people in Britain today so utterly disillusioned and despondent with the state of the country? Why do so many of us walk around with a palpable sense that something, somewhere has gone fundamentally wrong –as though we’re trapped in a car with the doors locked, being driven to some dystopian destination?
    Why do 60% of us no longer feel able to say what we really think? Why do more than half of us think neither the Left nor Right represent our views? And why, over the last decade, have so many people desperately been trying to change course —whether by voting for populists, Brexit, or pushing through the post-Brexit realignment?
    The answer is revolution. Over the last half century or so the British people have been subjected to a profoundly destabilising political, cultural, and economic revolution.
    It came in two stages.
    First, on the right, the one political party that’s supposed to care about our national community, the place we call home, ushered in a radical and relentless economic liberalism. And then, on the left, the one political party that’s supposed to care about ordinary working people accepted much of that legacy while ushering in a radical and rampant cultural liberalism.
    By the time they were finished, by the 2010s, Britain had been completely and utterly reshaped around a bewildering, narrow and disruptive liberal consensus —a consensus which reflected the values of a new and deeply narcissistic elite minority who have shown remarkably little interest in the values of the wider majority.
    And what is this “consensus” exactly? Well, it was defined by three things.
    Firstly, it was defined by hyper-globalisation -a new and profoundly destabilising economic model which prioritises the interests of big business and the urban graduate minority over the interests of the wider national community.
    Secondly, it was defined by an entirely new and historically unprecedented era of mass and uncontrolled immigration -a relentless and now visibly failing experiment which was introduced to help big business solve a labour problem but which is today not only failing to do that but is now also bringing us a glaring cultural problem.
    And, thirdly, it was defined by the hollowing out of our national democracy —by the removal of Britain’s claim to be a self governing, independent and sovereign nation. While power was sent up, to an insufficiently democratic and insufficiently transparent European Union, it was also sent sideways –to an array of unelected, amorphous and unaccountable ‘governance’ structures led by technocrats.
    Britain, to quote one academic, was pushed into “post-democracy” —a new era in which millions of people came to realise they were simply no longer able to influence the decisions that were affecting their daily lives and were no longer even in the national conversation that was taking place around them.

      1. Thanks. I was scrolling down their farcebook page, nodding in agreement as I went. Good exercise for the neck muscles 🙂

    2. The mass immigration wasn’t to help business. It was to create a voting bloc. A group that depended on the state for it’s existence. If business needed workers the simple option is to jut cut welfare, but as Labour were inn power then and had massively expanded welfare, they weren’t going to cut it. Now we have more people than ever on welfare – comically the government assumed that it could keep taxing people and this would have no consequences.

      It isn’t complicated. Stop paying people to breed. If you must help families, then help married, tax paying couples with a different tax code. Simple. However that doesn’t earn you votes from the chav scum single mother. Newsflash. They’re never going to vote Tory anyway. Yes, there are exceptions – widows, for example. Move them into the same tax code. Make work pay. Make being a family provide tax advantages. Make marriage return value.

      1. Remember that it was Starmer in 2003 that took the then Labour Party to court and forced them to pay the gimmegrunts welfare benefits.

        1. MOH watched Starmer being interviewed very warmly and kindly on Sky Business News.

          Absolutely no guesses needed to work out where the interviewer’s sympathies lie.

          Starmer said that the Brexit deal needed renegotiating, and we need a much closer relationship with the EU.

          He claimed not to want to rejoin the EU, but we can’t see any reason that the EU would give without taking. After

          all they’ve never done that in the past !

          Perhaps he means to shadow the EU without publicly rejoining?

      2. The current situation for a widow is that when her husband dies she loses his pension and the government taxes her more because she also loses the married person’s allowance. How can that be right? They should introduce a “bereaved person’s allowance” to stop the widow being taxed more on less income.

    3. We can’t say what we think thanks to “hate speech” laws, Matt. I should have thought you might have realised that.

      3. Now I understand, Philip, I’ve never come across or heard of this chap until I saw the video.

      1. The episode of The Persuaders! with Terry Thomas as guest star with Roger Moore and Tony Curtis was on tv the other night. A fun non-pc comedy caper.

        1. I wish I knew, Phil. Given her support of deserving (and undeserving – that’s you, Peddy) Nottlers, we owe her the same. But emails go unanswered. Short of going door to door in Wellingborough, I’m at a loss to know the answer…

  50. I posted this yesterday but am doing it again because I think it demonstrates that history talked about by Net Zero nutters is very recent.

    My dad would have been 119 today.

    99 years before he was born Nelson died at the Battle of Trafalgar in a wind powered wooden boat.
    The year before he was born the Wright brothers made the first powered flight.
    By the time he was 65 man was landing if the Moon
    Today he wouldn’t believe the utter bloody mess the country’s in.

    1. Sailing ships are definitely the way to go. The ultimate in wind power. Bluddy hard work too. Could you imagine the spoiled brats of XR and Just Stop Oil coping?

      1. Especially if the captain wanted to go water skiing – they wouldn’t half have to row fast

    2. My dear departed Mum would have been 109 on 4th June. Were she still around, I believe your final sentence would have applied. It certainly applies to her Son…

    1. These effing politicians don’t know when to stop wrecking our culture and social structure.
      I expect the name on the Dambuster’s ‘dog memorial’ will be covered up in case it offends any of them.

          4. Ha ha, thank you! Well, I didn’t check and I knew it was one of those guys!

          5. It was Roy Rogers with his horse Trigger. I’m showing my age now 😉🙂😆

      2. Looks like their answer is to move the whole shebang, including Nigger’s grave, to RAF Marham.

        Not quite the thing in my book, old troop.

        1. And Ironically just to accommodate people who gave arrived to scrounge and don’t give a tinkers (polite) cuss about the UK or its history. The same as Whitehall. They don’t give one either.

        2. I’ve worked at RAF Marham, constructing hush-hush communications facilities. But moving Nigger’s grave there would be no more logical than exhuming my parents’ remains from their resting place in Carlisle Cemetery, and relocating them to a Surrey churchyard. I’m not planning to do this, by the way…

    5. Another D H BBC presenter Jermain Jenas apparently referred to the Dambuster’s Raid as Infamous. Try telling that to the relations of the 53 men who died during that raid you Divot.

    1. I would rather have a gangster like Putin running the UK than any number of Shapps and their ilk!

    1. Of course we have been programmed to be cynical about things we don’t understand and we are encouraged to malign as ‘conspiracy theories’ the ideas of people who bring them up.

      I think the Covid Scam and the green climate “crisis” have opened many people’s eyes to the fact that politicians and the MSM never tell us the truth!

  57. Great day, I just found a twenty pound note in the pocket of a pair of old jeans. I wonder what else is in this guy’s locker?

  59. During the summer holidays one of our class was given the school hamster to look after but they’d always die during the break and then someone else had to look after the hamster.

    3. Seriously, we once looked after the class Gerbil for a long weekend when my son was in 1st grade. Bedlam- both the dog and cat went completely bonkers and we had to put the Gerbil’s cage as high as we could. Given that cats are mountaineers not a perfect solution but it worked, sort of.
      Never again.

  60. Breaking news chums!! The Montecito grifters were apparently involved in a paparazzi high-speed ‘chase’ last night, after the trollop ‘won’ an award for something! Very strange, as the ginger whinger is currently involved in a court case about his security!

        2. Fake. All bigged up to make the Markles seem to be akin to that Lady Di woman.

    2. Everything she does is interpreted and reported by her or Scobie as a repeat Diana, we’re at the ‘paparazzi high-speed chase’ stage now to gain attention. Mentally weird. She lives Diana’s life in her head in order to focus the world’s attention on her. Except the world isn’t bothered. Will she imitate the car crash at some point, one wonders. And its final sequel? I no longer believe a word of anything, anywhere from the media.

      1. Seems it might have been a scooter chase – oh, the danger! The stuff released seems to show the car stopped in a traffic jam with a police car right behind!

    1. I see two ways of reading that. Either that it was obvious Brexit would end in failure or that it was inevitable Farage would be disappointed with the outcome.

    3. He’s been convicted of corruption?

      What are we waiting for? We have hundreds of politicians in the UK who urgently need prosecuting for the same offence!

    4. I’d be happier if large numbers of our politicians were forced to wear electric chairs…

  64. DT Letters. I agree wholeheartedly.
    SIR– Almost every day we are told by Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, what she plans to do. Would it not be a pleasant change to be told of something she has actually done?

    His Honour Barrington Black
    London NW3

      1. Perhaps when we next listen to one of them make a speech, the whole audience needs to shout “Bullshit! Bullshit!” until they are driven off the podium.

        1. I liked it when Theresa May got handed a P45 when she made a speech at the Tory conference.

    2. Braverman’s a political animal and waffling about what they plan to do is their modus operandi. Planning to do and not attempting to achieve your goal is pointless but planning to do and then actually attempting to do it and seeing it fail is a no, no politically. Many cynics, of which I am one, do not believe that politicians get much if anything right and the reason for that being that said politicians are planning and doing what they want to do and not what the people want.

  65. A double bogey today

    Wordle 697 6/6

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

    2. Bogey Five for me; far too many words with ‘middle three’ letters!

      Wordle 697 5/6
      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨⬜🟩⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. I think we had the same problem.

      Wordle 697 6/6

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

    5. Bogie here, too.
      Wordle 697 5/6

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

  67. “My family all followed the medical profession.”
    “Doctors?”
    “No, undertakers.”

  68. That’s me gone. Became a bit sunny and slightly less cold this arvo – so buckled to and built the tomato frames. Planting out tomorrow.

    The MR has been out all day – so I am really looking forward to her return. You don’t half miss them…!

    A demain.

  70. Prince Harry and Meghan in ‘near catastrophic car chase’ with paparazzi in New York. 17 May 2023.

    The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been involved in a “near catastrophic car chase” involving paparazzi photographers, their spokesman has said.

    The “relentless pursuit”, which took place in New York on Tuesday evening, lasted more than two hours and resulted in several near collisions with drivers, pedestrians and police officers, the Duke’s spokesman claimed.

    Two hour car chase? Where were they going? Canada?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/05/17/prince-harry-meghan-markle-car-chase-paparazzi-new-york/

      1. I have been to NYC a few times. There is no way a high speed chase could happen. That woman is a nutter.

        1. Never surfed the green?
          I was in a taxi and once went down town and every light from central park towards the battery changed to green as we arrived.
          The drivers said that as long as you stayed exactly on the limit the lights always favoured you.

          1. Yes, but that’s in regular traffic with cabbies who know how to handle it.
            In fact, the police comments compared to the Markles’ comments are very different.

          2. Gosh! Colour me surprised! (or should that be color, as we’re talking about a Merkin)?

        2. It all sounds totally manufactured for the sympathy vote. They are pathetic.

    5. She gloried in the attention , Why did she have her window down ?

      Lies and more lies , I believe .

      Her fantasy , and she will egg it on .

    8. Trying to make her out to be princess di. Didn’t care about her either.

      I’ve just got this image of them stuck in traffic inching along as paps follow them while thee narcissist negotiates a fee for the photos.

    9. I’m sorry, but I think this is a theatre production, directed by M. Markle. It reeks of set-up!
      I liked her gold frock though.

  71. The doctor was very honest.
    On the death certificate where it said “Cause of Death”- he signed his name.

    (Sorry if these couple of jokes seem in poor taste but given what Eddy and others are going through, I thought a little dark humour might be OK. I am certainly trying to keep my spirits up and it’s not easy.)

    1. Well you should know – having been a patient of Dr Harold Shipman………..

      1. I was too young then to be of interest. My mate had a fairly narrow escape, I would say.

  72. Record temperatures .

    Look , if you are living in a city, you feel the heat , stand for ten minutes on a hot day in a big supermarket carpark , and you might pass out .
    Feel a sandy beach , how dreadful , a huge motorway see the mirages .
    A wheat field .. the heat bounces .. see how our cities and towns have spread , look at the sizes of cities overseas ..

    Things I know about .. the population of Khartoum 1950 182,686…

    2023 6,344,348… Madness

    The UK 50 million

    67,703,939 now according to UN data https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries

    1. I have a sneaking suspicion that the UK population is nearer 80 million, the missing 12 million are under the radar.

          1. Does that get monitored – not by water companies, too time consuming and expensive, let’s just pour the excess into rivers and waterways. Irresponsible, money-grubbing gits.

          2. Our water policy is set by the EU. We have had 8 years to change it, you cry yes, I know, but big government doesn’t want to. It wants us chained to the EU.

            As a consequence, we are not building reservoirs. We are not reforming our water control law. All this failure entirely down to statist spite.

    2. More like 70 – 80,000,000 according to supermarket research, which I’d believe before ONS.

      2. Although looking at the new “modern Brit” they are so fat that they could be eating for two or more…

    3. Ask Tesco – a far more likely arbiter as they’re not counting how many respond to a survey. It’s closer to 80 million. 35 million who arrived in the last 20 years.

  73. Someone was playing music in the quiet carriage so I got out my noise cancelling headphones and used them to beat him to death.

  74. I’m wearing a track suit and someone just asked if I’m sporty which is great as I’ve never been mistaken for a Spice Girl before.

  75. I can count on one hand the number of times people have told me I’m inbred. Six.

    3. But… you’ve only got four fingers and a thumb…?

      I know, because I had the sixth one removed when I was little.

    4. I actually knew a chap with five fingers and a thumb on one hand.
      No relation.
      He was good at holding a pencil in his open palm.

  76. Dear Geoff

    Will you please CANCEL Paul? I almost larfed at one of his jokes…!

    1. Oh, there’s so many to choose from. Enoch Powell, I think. Then Lady T. Churchill.

      Of the living lot – Nigel Farage, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Andrew Bridgen, Philip Hollowbone, who seems to be a decent man in a viper pit.

    2. My favourite politician has always been Enoch Powell.
      Honest and well we know the rest.

      1. Wasn’t old enough to know Powell properly. For me, it’s Norman Tebbit.

        1. Nor was I Obs. I picked up on his speeches and his seemingly honesty and the obvious facts that what he was referring to was fare and obvious.
          And I liked Norman as well. He use to write a column in the Telegraph.

  81. I’m getting bored. perhaps it’s pill time and possibly bed but I still have a slug in a mug to finish (coffee with a slug of the water of life in it). Later, chums.

      1. Ennui, when one couldn’t care less. sorry Maggie, I’ve fought my battles over 64 plus years. I’m tired.

          1. I certainly feel like giving up, Maggie.

            Where has it got me to date, just fighting for what’s right?

    1. Can’t get into the times and don’t want ‘Free’ (ha ha) subscriptions.

      1. No recipe for cooking a Greek granny but .

        Yiayia Niki’s bakaliaros plak (cod bake) from Kalamata
        Serves 4-6

        Ingredients
        1kg salt cod or cod fillets
        Dried oregano, to taste
        120ml olive oil
        2 onions, roughly chopped
        3 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped
        600g potatoes, roughly chopped
        4 bay leaves
        1 cinnamon stick
        ½ tsp peppercorns
        5 cloves
        5 allspice berries
        100g currants (Zante currants)
        1 red pepper, roughly chopped
        130ml water
        500g tomatoes (can be tinned), quartered
        A bunch of parsley, chopped (including the stalks)
        Sea salt flakes
        Bread, to serve

        Method
        1. If using salt cod, soak the fillets overnight in water, then the next day rinse again under cold water, drain and squeeze the fillets to remove any excess water.

        2. Lay the fish flat in a baking dish and sprinkle with oregano, then set aside.

        3. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 6.

        4. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan with a lid over a high heat and fry the onions, garlic and potatoes for 5 min.

        5. Add the bay leaves, spices, currants and red pepper, along with a final sprinkling of oregano and 80ml of the water. Cover and steam for 10 min, stirring occasionally so that the potatoes don’t stick. If you’re using cod that hasn’t been salted, sprinkle in a tablespoon of sea salt flakes at this point.

        6. Add the tomatoes and cook for a further 2 min with the lid on, then remove from the heat and pour the mixture over the cod in the baking dish.

        7. Sprinkle half the chopped parsley over the top and pour in the remaining water, then bake in the oven for 40 min.

        8. When cooked, garnish with the remaining chopped parsley and serve with a slice of bread for soaking up the juices.

  83. We were so poor we couldn’t afford a watch dog.
    When we heard a noise in the night, we’d bark ourselves.

  85. Britain’s immigration is out of control, and could spell the end of the Tories

    The pressure of numbers on housing and the health service will soon turn us into the kind of failed state asylum seekers come here to escape

    ALLISON PEARSON • 16th May 2023 • 7:16pm

    Amidst the wall-to-wall coverage of Eurovision, one fact was curiously overlooked in all the reviews. To borrow Bridgerton star Adjoa Andoh’s infamous comment about the British Royal family on the Palace balcony, Eurovision was “terribly white”.

    Of the 26 acts on Saturday night, only a handful featured a black person at all. Ukraine’s lead singer was originally from Nigeria, and Belgium’s entry – the oldest man ever to think it was a good idea to wear pink culottes – had three black female backing singers, as did the Lithuania song. The eventual winner, Sweden’s Loreen, has Moroccan parents. Apart from a few dancers, though, that was it for ethnic minority representation in the whole of Europe.

    I must have missed the uproar. Where was the Channel 4 News item bemoaning Eurovision’s appalling lack of diversity? Remember former anchor Jon Snow gazing with north-London horror at a pro-Brexit march and complaining, “I’ve never seen so many white people in one place.”

    Did The Guardian splash on “institutional whiteness” in Europe? Not a peep. When it came to the overwhelmingly pale stage at Liverpool, there were no cries of “racism” from Labour MPs, no allegations of “white privilege” from the identity politics agitators. Why the silence?

    I think we know. To criticise the overwhelmingly homogenous contestants from Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, France, Austria, Czechia (six porcelain-skinned damsels) et al would be to acknowledge that, by comparison, the UK is really not the ghastly racist country the left wants and needs to claim we are.

    On the contrary, according to the recent World Values Survey, Britain is one of the least racist nations in the world. Meanwhile, the supposedly enlightened, brotherhood-of-man, caring-sharing EU, worshipped by the Remainer elites, is riddled with the kind of bigotry and discrimination that has long been on the decline here.

    Of course, the BBC felt obliged to shoehorn diversity into the show elsewhere. In the Eurovision interlude, John Lennon’s Imagine was performed by Mahmood from Italy when a talented lad from the streets where John, Paul, George and Ringo grew up would have been more appropriate, not to mention comprehensible. Unfortunately, white, working-class boys are the wrong kind of “underprivileged” for middle-class TV executives.

    Don’t get me wrong. It’s refreshing that other European countries have not yet been guilted into featuring non-white people in every band, advert and drama, in wholly disproportionate numbers to their presence in the population. The non-Anglophone world has largely been spared the toxic import of identity politics from the US that views everything through the poisoned prism of race. Lucky them.

    Unlike us, they are still allowed to be unashamedly proud of their heritage and culture, even if that meant Norway was represented by a strapping lass who looked like the love child of a hockey goalie and a mythological green elf. (Charming song, though.)

    As for that chanteuse in the coquettish black beret smouldering atop a phallic crystal pillar and practically smoking between verses. Just a wild guess – French? Evidemment!

    With Eurovision over for another year, Suella Braverman made a barnstorming speech about immigration, which struck a chord on a related theme. “It’s not xenophobic to say that mass and rapid migration is unsustainable in terms of housing supply, public services and community relations,” insisted the Home Secretary. The “unexamined drive towards multiculturalism as an end in itself, combined with identity politics, is a recipe for communal disaster”. In addition, she told the National Conservatism Conference in London: “White people do not exist in a special state of sin or collective guilt. Nobody should be blamed for things that happened before they were born.”

    That this should even need saying by a British government minister is grim proof of how successfully leftists have assumed ownership of immigration, shutting down debate by saying anyone who frets about the likely effect on our national quality of life is “racist” while turning “white” into a dirty word. So, all credit to Braverman for marching into the treacherous ground where timorous Tories fear to tread.

    But it’s a bit late, I’m afraid. May 25, 2023. Pop that in the diary as the day the final nail was hammered into the Conservative coffin. Next week, the Office for National Statistics is expected to report that net immigration (after deducting those who have emigrated) has risen to between 700,000 and 997,000. That follows a record of 504,000 in the year to end June 2022.

    Anyone who claims they are relaxed about this – Grant Shapps, I’m looking at you – hasn’t really grasped the scale of what’s happening. Over the past 20 years, the population of the UK has risen by 8 million, with nearly 7 million (85 per cent) of that due to migrants and the children of migrants. And this population explosion happened with net migration of about 245,000 per annum. We are now approaching four times that.

    The pressure of numbers on housing and the health service, unmatched by enhanced infrastructure, will soon turn us into the kind of failed state asylum seekers come here to escape.

    This is not what the millions who voted for Brexit had in mind. We can say with complete confidence, I think, that everyone who voted Conservative in 2019 wanted the exact opposite. The reduction in immigration promised in that Tory manifesto united people in both the Red Wall and the Blue Shires. Those people have been betrayed on an almost unimaginable scale. Traduced, kicked in the teeth, lied to by a government which, far from enforcing a tough, Australian-style point-based system has engaged in a crazy loosening of entry criteria, with no limits and few checks on those coming in.

    Instead of governing with the people’s interests and values in mind, the Conservatives have sold out to hyper-liberal globalists who owe their loyalty to no place and no one. The rootless elite are at odds with the deep rootedness of a good society.

    In addition, greedy universities (some of them barely worthy of the name) have admitted hundreds of thousands of foreign students to sustain their rapacious business model while discriminating against our own young people. It should be utterly shocking that there are 200,000 students from outside the UK at our top Russell Group universities, a staggering 34 per cent of all students. Who knows, if we’d given half the medical places allotted to wealthy international students to British kids, maybe we wouldn’t have a catastrophic shortage of doctors. Oh, and why has the UK admitted 136,000 “dependents” of foreign students; who takes their mum to college?

    Before I self-combust, let me point out that the net migration rate in France last year was only 161,000. France is a country which jealously guards her culture, language and special ethos. What are we? Increasingly, a hotel, not a home. A place which cares little for Britishness, admits too many too fast for successful integration and sacrifices community harmony in pursuit of GDP.

    On Tuesday, a universities’ spokeswoman told the Today programme that the UK needed to remain “an attractive destination” for foreign students. I nearly threw the radio. How about remaining an attractive place for the people who live here?

    Braverman did well to speak out, but it’s not enough. When she offered the Cabinet yesterday several proposals aimed at cutting immigration, just one was approved. This betrayal could be the end of the Conservative party. I hope we see a principled resignation by the Home Secretary next week when the shameful immigration figures come out.

    We deserved to do badly in Eurovision. And the Tories deserve what’s coming. Nul points.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2023/05/16/britains-immigration-out-of-control-end-of-tories/

    17.4 million voted to leave the EU in 2016 and almost 14 million in 2019 effectively endorsed that. They face a terrible dilemma – punishing the Tories at the next GE will let in Labour, who will continue the programme of the race replacement of the ancestral British.

    To whom do we turn? Or perhaps the question will become ‘To what…’?

    1. Agreed; to what? There is NO alternative to vote for.

      The best we can do is spoil the ballot paper by scrawling NOTA across it but that doesn’t put it right.

      Methinks revolution and civil war is the only (bloody) answer.

      I thank God that a.) I’m too old to take part and b.) I shan’t live long enough to see the results.

      I can only hope that my children and grandchildren, will survive long enough to reap the fruits of such a revolution.

    2. A chum who has suddenly become fervently Left wing thinks – and believes – anyone opposed to massive uncontrolled gimmigration is a racist. The economic, social, power, water, housing, service provision is utterly beyond him. He just wants more foreigners in the country because ‘that’s good’.

      He thinks they’re all fleeing war or some other event. I asked how his obsession with green would be met by this massive influx of a town the size of Sheffield every day and the usual Lefty retort – we’re rich, we should pay. I said ok, you can. I don’t want to. Of course, I was a ‘denier’ and a racist. I got fed up and snapped that I wasn’t a religious fanatic and economically illiterate. Well, I didn’t because I respect him too much, but I did present his argument to him logically and

      he shut up once he saw the orobouros of his own idiotic ideology.

      I despair. Some people need to pay more tax because they’re blatantly thickheaded. I don’t bloody want to any more. I’m done with the lies.

      1. Smack him, very hard around the head to try and get his thinking straight.

        It’s the only way to deal with these lefty loonies, otherwise you’ll be fighting against them in the civil war following the coming revolution.

    3. The end of the Conservative Party came after Bunter Johnson’s sell-out of the UK over Brexit, his partying whilst the rest of us were confined to our homes under the fraud of Covid, his profiteering since his succession by a more diminutive WEF puppet after the dismantling of Truss and its unwavering support of a clown Zelensky in Ukraine in order to please the already discredited neo-cons in the US.

      The failure of the Ukrainian prosecution of the US proxy war in Ukraine consigns the Tories under Sunak to political oblivion, along with his fellow WEF puppets in France, Holland, Italy, Germany and at a distance Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

      The European economies led by Germany are in disarray and German economy contracting with its loss of cheap gas supplies from Russia which fuelled its economic prosperity and industrial base.

      France is literally in the shit and with a stagnant or should I say constipated economy. Presumably an army will be deployed to clean the filth from its streets and parks in readiness for the next Olympics.

      As in previous remarks I feel shocked, disgusted and ashamed of our government which has visited great harm on our people through its preposterous neglect of its duties.

  86. Some stories from the telegaffe:
    Phone hacking witness for Prince Harry is self-confessed ‘professional liar’, court hears
    https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2F2023%2F05%2F17%2Fphone-hacking-witness-prince-harry-self-confessed-liar%2F
    Watch: Duchess of Sussex heckled arriving at New York gala
    Meghan attended the event alongside Prince Harry and Doria Ragland to accept a Women of Vision award
    https://12ft.io/proxy?ref=&q=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/05/17/duchess-of-sussex-award-women-of-vision/

    1. I misread that earlier on and thought the award was for “women of Virtue” Easy virtue.

          1. Trash does as trash is, or is it the other way round? Not much difference in the effect. There is something rather comical in watching what we might view here as a bit of a natural chav, trying to ape a lady!

          2. Oh yes! And I don’t think I’m really a b*tch, but she is a very easy target! Do any of her very expensive chav clothes actually fit her, other than where they touch?

  87. Some stories from the telegaffe:
    Phone hacking witness for Prince Harry is self-confessed ‘professional liar’, court hears
    https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2F2023%2F05%2F17%2Fphone-hacking-witness-prince-harry-self-confessed-liar%2F
    Watch: Duchess of Sussex heckled arriving at New York gala
    Meghan attended the event alongside Prince Harry and Doria Ragland to accept a Women of Vision award
    https://12ft.io/proxy?ref=&q=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/05/17/duchess-of-sussex-award-women-of-vision/

    1. Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I’m going to go and eat meal worms.
      Like hell I am!

    3. Cochineal has been used to make pink icing for cakes for centuries. My mother had a small bottle in the pantry for that purpose. No one batted an eyelid.

      It has also long been used as the main red colouring in lipstick.

      1. That “Eat the bugs, peasants” argument also appears on the BBC website, I believe.
        Firstly, it’s an extract, not the whole insect; secondly, it’s consumed in far smaller quantities than what they want us to eat and thirdly, some people have been avoiding food colourings for years, as some, azo dyes in particular, have long been known to cause reactions.

        1. Yes it’s an extract, but that is made from the ground-up bodies of the whole insect’s dried larva. No matter how tiny a proportion one consumes, my point is that the eating of insects is nothing new.

          1. Sometimes larger quantities of an allergen can tip you over into a reaction though. I’d be very wary of insects from that point of view alone.

  89. Enough is enough for me. Goodnight and God bless, Gentlefolk. I may see you in the morning’s light if I haven’t died in my sleep.

    Strewth, I wish. as I’ve said, enough is enough.

      2. Thank you, Maggie for your sterling efforts but, I’m afraid it is like dead-wood here.

        I’ve arrived at the point where I don’t give a flying f*** and I’m quite happy to roll over and die.

        I feel that there is no hope for we right-minded people in this current world.

        Therefore we/I am better off out of it.

      3. Quick march.
        My father was the standard bearer for the RAF association at Hendon. NW4.
        He kept the two piece pole and flag in a full length bedroom cupboard. For all the many special occasions he attended in his very smart dark blue Blazer, badge on pocket and immaculate grey trousers. Highly Polished black shoes.

  90. A quieter day than usual, but I’m still knackered, so I’m off to bed.
    G’night all.

  91. Evening, all. Just about everything the government meddles in has unintended consequences.

    1. I don’t think I can remember anything they haven’t effed up over the last 28 years.
      Can you imagine how much they have all cost us over the last 3 decades.

  92. I’m joining the exodus this evening.
    It’s been a pleasant day. I found my paint trays brushes and small rollers.
    They were under the lid of the BBQ now all in the shed and I throughly cleaned the BBQ.
    About two weeks ago I found a paper bag witb seeds from a Basil plant I’d say I have around 150 seedlings sprouting now.
    The neighbours will be pleased when I pass them on to them.
    So I’m off now.
    Good night all.

    1. You can make Pesto with Basil- I have some pine nuts or pignoli nuts to do the same. Have been collecting glass jars for the purpose.
      Sleep well.

  93. Signing off as it’s been a long day. Need to pop out tomorrow and need some fitful sleep.
    Try and behave yourselves.

  95. BBC news is getting itself quite worked up about Brexit: “Car manufacturers say changes to the deal are required or production will cease and jobs will be lost.” In reality, this is about battery cars only. It is almost certainly the case that there are some aspects of the ‘the deal’ that are bad for the UK but that was always likely to be the case, even with the best of will. However, the almost manic way in which this has been pursued today by the BBC says much about that organisation. There is nothing objective about this reporting.

    1. Tillykke med fødselsdagen, min gode ven, Dukke.
      Håber du nyder en dejlig dag.
      Jeg tænker på dig og hæver mit glas til dig!
      Mange kram,
      Bamse. 😘🎂👍🏻🥂😊

    2. Thank you so much Caroline and Rastus.

      Things have been a bit difficult recently, hence absence, but hoping to catch up with all you lovely NoTTLers again soon!

Comments are closed.