713 thoughts on “Wednesday 18th December: Unconvincing candidates to restore the standing of the Opposition”

    1. A very ambiguous cartoon. Boris kicking the EU bauble and shattering it plus the message “No 1 at last” plus *Not An Extended Play” suggests that Boris and his colleagues are going to get us out of the EU and refuse them an extension. However, Maria Don’t Carey gives succour to Leavers by suggesting that Boris doesn’t really care about leaving and is a Remainer at heart. Damning with faint praise, which is often the attitude of Peter Brookes.

    2. A very ambiguous cartoon. Boris kicking the EU bauble and shattering it plus the message “No 1 at last” plus *Not An Extended Play” suggests that Boris and his colleagues are going to get us out of the EU and refuse them an extension. However, Maria Don’t Carey gives succour to Leavers by suggesting that Boris doesn’t really care about leaving and is a Remainer at heart. Damning with faint praise, which is often the attitude of Peter Brookes.

  2. Good morning all. Just started to drizzle The forecast said it would be fine. But, then, they are on strike…

    Bad losers still whinging.

    1. We are due the dreaded ‘yellow rain’ tomorrow and Friday. I know they moan sometimes but I do genuinely pity the farmers who are stiil unable to drill crops that should have gone in the ground in November. I can’t recall an Autumn as wet as this one.

  4. Unwanted blubber
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/opinion/2019/12/17/TELEMMGLPICT000219285763_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqzpnK1fqIf8AfXYjEGXVTorAdVfYD_pgZfwgBThcgDZU.jpeg?imwidth=1240
    SIR – I was pleased to see that two fatbergs had been removed from sewers in central London (report, December 17) thereby reducing the risk of flooding.

    Given that the two together weigh about 100 tons, it raises an interesting point – what did they do with them?

    Roger Brimble
    Sanderstead, Surrey

    Were they delivered to Madame Tussauds to be made into Emily Thornberry and Diane Abbott?

  5. Germany to investigate own police and military in crackdown on far-Right. 17 DECEMBER 2019.

    Under the new plans, 600 new positions are to be created at the police and domestic intelligence service to focus exclusively on combating the far-Right.
    A special “central office for far-Right extremists in public service” will be set up by the BfV domestic intelligence service to uncover cases in the police, military and civil service.

    Morning everyone. Of course the creation of internal enemies and the Bureaucratic and Intelligence organisations to apprehend them has always had positive outcomes in human societies!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/17/germany-investigate-police-military-crackdown-far-right/

  6. SIR – Socialism ends up either as failure or tyranny. Thank goodness ours was only failure.

    Ronald Burton
    Chigwell, Essex

  7. SIR – Lisa Nandy, a candidate for the Labour leadership, whom you profiled yesterday, is the sort of politician (of whatever political affiliation) that the country does not need.

    She studied politics at university and entered local government, rising through the ranks. As such, she has only had wealth-distribution jobs, and never wealth-creation jobs.

    Sadly, there are many other MPs with this myopic background. It should be a legal requirement for all MPs to have had a significant period in wealth-creating jobs if we wish to prosper in the global economy.

    Alan Belk
    Leatherhead, Surrey

    2. Everybody needs a period in their working lives when they are self-employed and do not have the guarantee of a salary cheque or transfer at the end of the month or a cash-filled envelope at the end if the week.

      I spent half my working life as an employee and the other half working with my wife in our own business. Our first few years before we were well established were precarious but they made us determined to work hard, use our brains and make sure that our ‘product’ -. our French courses in France for British “A” level/IB/Pre-U students are the very best available. We now can relax a bit as all our courses are always fully booked but we had to struggle and have faith in ourselves to begin with and money was tight but we have never had to rely on state handouts.

  9. Corbyn and Blair: two cheeks of the same arse. Spiked 18 December 2019.

    Another key point of agreement among Blairites and Corybynistas is the replacement of class solidarity with multiculturalism, diversity and identity politics. While left-wing anti-racism once sought to overcome racial oppression and divisions within the British working class, the ideology of diversity encourages identity-based division and undermines social solidarity. This is why the word ‘white’ has become a pejorative and is used by Corbynistas to denigrate and attack the majority of workers. Racial identity politics has created a narrative of suspicion and, at times, outright hostility towards Labour’s traditional constituencies.

    Though it’s true that both Blair and Corbyn have always hated and despised the White Working Class Male this is misleading since it misses the obvious corollary that these attitudes are a sine qua non for membership of the Labour Party as a whole. You would simply not gain entry (though why you would want to is moot) unless you could personally confess to White Male Guilt: Slavery, Empire, Racism, Homophobia, Misogyny etc. This self-hatred is what makes British Socialism so unpleasant; it generates a servile masochistic narcissism in its followers, “We are White Brits please forgive us!” and of course it’s logical expression personified by Corbyn; love of the Other, any Other regardless of their moral qualifications, IRA, Hamas, Iran etc. They are not White Brits ergo they are good! Is there an internal cure for this self-hatred? Probably not because it provides the energy to drive the Labour machine. Without it they would cease to exist! The only real cure would be a reinvigorated Conservative Party true to its founding principles.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/12/18/corbyn-and-blair-two-cheeks-of-the-same-arse/

      1. And – dare I say it – they have unwittingly encouraged a kind of racism by appearing to favour cranks, nutjobs, oddballs and weirdos…at the same time denigrating the vast majority of normal people. So be it; they may not be around for many more years.

        ‘Morning, Stephen.

  11. Morning all

    SIR – The BBC has shown us five women and one man who are front-runners to be the new Labour Party leader – Lisa Nandy, Sir Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Angela Rayner, Jess Phillips and Emily Thornberry.

    I think back to Harold Wilson, Richard Crossman, Anthony Crosland, Barbara Castle, Denis Healey, Patrick Gordon Walker and Shirley Williams.

    Is it my imagination or were they far more substantial characters than any of the present bunch?

    John Wallbridge

    Wolverhampton

    1. SIR – I am reminded by Caroline Flint’s spat with Emily Thornberry of the story of the new MP being shown round the House. Looking across to the other side, he remarked: “So that’s the enemy.” His colleague replied: “No, that’s the Opposition – your enemies are on this side of the House.”

      Chris Whitty

      Guildford, Surrey

      1. SIR – Socialism ends up either as failure or tyranny. Thank goodness ours was only failure.

        Ronald Burton

        Chigwell, Essex

        3. We’ve never had socialism here, we’ve always had a mixed economy and since the forties a social democratic mixed economy with a welfare state. You can argue a bit too much was nationalised and I’d certainly agree but it was still a long way from socialism.

    2. I dont think an of them would appeal to the typical Labour voter although one Lisa Nandy I dont know as I have never hears of her

      2. Lisa Nandy, MP for Wigan, is the most deceptive of them all.

        Her persona is of a poor, lost little girl about to burst into tears, as her brow goes into wrinkles and her eyebrows sag like a bloodhound that’s lost its master. It may be a ruse, a cover, like Boris’s buffoonery, and she might be tougher than she looks.

        She doesn’t seem quite as terminally stupid as the rest of them.

      3. She was the person who officially proposed MP Hoyle as the new Speaker of the House yesterday.

  12. Skripals Voluntarily Refuse To Meet With Russian Diplomats – UK Ambassador To Moscow. Tue 17th December 2019.

    Former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia chose not to meet with representatives of the Russian embassy in London, UK Ambassador to Russia Laurie Bristow told the Echo of Moscow radio station in an interview on Tuesday.

    None of the excuses for the Skripals non-appearance are valid. There seems little doubt that they have been murdered by the UK Security Services.

    https://www.urdupoint.com/en/world/skripals-voluntarily-refuse-to-meet-with-russ-789868.html

  13. 69 ‘visitors’ dragged out the Channel and landed at Dover yesterday. That makes 1760 this calendar year. Appears that the Border Farce are continuing to do the people smugglers’ job for them. The French have been paid millions to stop the departures and the question must be asked, are the French authorities doing the job that they have been handsomely paid to do?
    Time for Priti Patel to stand up to the plate and do her job.

      1. I don’t agree, Bill. And, after all, Parliament has only just re-convened. Give Cut the woman some slack, for goodness’ sake.

          1. Yes, but the words were a good start, and (a) Boris had more important priorities, e.g. Brexit, and (b) his was a minority government and to introduce bills to take some action would have been challenged by the Remainers aided no doubt by Bercow.

          3. Yesm but if Brexit was Boris Johnson’s priority then why has he gone for May’s rehash BRINO rather than a proper Hartley-Brewer Brexit?

    2. Yes, Border Farce is just a free ferry service. No wonder they are piling across, no doubt aided by a France that is glad to see the back of them.

      ‘Morning, Korky.

      1. Is the UK not unique in having so many and sunstantial non-contributory benefits/handouts?

        1. Pretty much unique. When it is claimed the UK has pretty much the most generous welfare benefits in the world they will often cite Germany has having more generous benefits. Now that is true to a degree but you have to have worked for at least a couple of year to qualify for them and those benefits are time limited, After a period of time many of the benefits stop and other go down to a very basic level

          In Germany as well after a time unemployed you are expect to accept a job you cannot keep turning jobs down on any excuse

      2. Morning, HJ.

        What I don’t understand is how all the deliveries of large motorised rubber dinghies to the Calais area do not arouse suspicion within the French and British authorities: that is if the illegals do actually launch from beaches and small marinas.
        The Channel is a dangerous stretch of sea to cross at any time and in a dinghy piloted by someone without a good level of seamanship skills a full crossing doesn’t ring true. What happens to the dinghies? Are the boats piloted by experienced people, and if so, what happens to those people? Do the illegals really set out from France or are they ferried close by and then launched close to Britain? So many obvious questions but no one appears to be asking them and if anyone did, would an answer be forthcoming?

        1. The French are more than happy to let, or even assist, immigrants across the channel. It relieves some of their problems, and since the UK will Brexit soon, the UK deserves all they get.

      3. France does not encourage them but equally it does not deter them and is quite happy for them to make there way across France to Calais

        I very much doubt these people are making it the whole way across the channel in these dinghy’s. It is a very difficult and very busy channel and even people with good seamanship kills would struggle to make it particularly at night

        Almost certainly larger boats are bring them across and putting them into dinghy a few miles of shore. The fact that multiple dinghy are arrive at very similar times seem s to support that this is happening. IT does not say a lot for the security of our borders

        1. “…people with good seamanship kills…”

          Maybe it’s we who need the good seamanship kills.

    3. We saw the same in the Med a decade ago. The trickle became a flood. The same thing will happen here also.

      1. As we dont send them back it will in fact we are already seeing the number escalating at a rapid rate

        Interestingly they nearly all claim to be from Iran or Iraq. Now we have a lot of information on those camp in the Calais region of France and only a tiny percentage are from Iran or Iraq which tends to indicate that most are making fake claims an in any case France is a safe country
        The other thing is Iraq and Iran are no longer war torn. There may be a limited amount of terrorist activity there buy there is in the UK as well

    4. The chances are that only a fraction of the numbers entering the UK are ever detected so the numbers just getting in vi the Dover area you can probably double

    6. The law is clear on dealing with illegal immigrants yet the Government is failing to enforce it. I think France and UK governments are colluding on this. What instructions has the Home Office given the Police and Border Force on this matter. Why aren’t drones in operation over the Channel to spot the mother ships before they unload their cargo.

    7. I would prefer English idioms ‘Go out to bat’, ‘Get on the front foot’ – but completely agree. No politician and none of the media are able to recognise in pubiic that immigration, legal and or illegal was a major factor in last Thursday election.

  14. SIR – Years go, when at the Royal Opera House (report, December 17), I regularly moved down in the first interval from the amphitheatre to a more expensive seat. Thankfully, I never got punched, or even told off.

    Charles Lewis

    London N2

    1. So, Mr Lewis, you buy a second-class railway ticket and then sit in first class, do you?

      That makes you a thief, matey.

      2. Good morning,

        I think it’s different with Theatres. The seats nearer the stage look better when full.

      3. More enterprising than a certain party ‘leader’ who pays for a train seat and then sits on the floor…

        ‘Morning, Bill.

    2. A common occurrence by youngsters at one of Colchester’s early theatres/cinemas, The Hippodrome. If challenged by the commissionaire, they would say that they were only moving down to use the loos.

  15. SIR – An interesting statistic in the aftermath of the general election is that only one member of the studio audience on the BBC’s Question Time admitted to voting for Boris Johnson.

    Guy Mainwaring-Burton

    Saint John, Jersey

    2. You’ve set the Cat among the Pigeons there Mainwaring-Burton. There will be an internal inquiry at the BBC to find out how he managed to sneak in!

    3. How does Guy M-B know that the person who voted for Boris lives in the PM’s constituency?

  16. Morning again

    SIR – When was a law passed to oblige every television drama, regardless of period, setting, or subject, to use crude and offensive language?

    Even a rather shallow fiction about Agatha Christie had to scarred with the use of the F-word.

    It is unnecessary and vulgar. It impresses no one. It is just an ugly assault upon the viewer.

    E C Coleman

    Bishop Norton, Lincolnshire

    1. The same law includes a provision that every tv drama will have a disproportionate number of actors of colour.

      1. If we talk purely Black ie not Asian or mixed race they consist of less than 3% of the UK population clearly in some places it such s London it is much higher in the rest of the UK it is about 1% on average and not the 40% the TV and advertising companies seem to think

    2. The fascist protests after the election were populated by an unsavoury mixture of foul mouthed thugs, foul mouthed public schoolgirls and foul mouthed oddities with green hair.

      1. Strange the BBC never mentions the violent extreme Left but keep going on about the extreme right although that is almost extinct now/ What far right organisation are there now ? I dont think I can name one

    3. Every TV program has to mandatory have Gay couple and a black person and it is mandatory that the gay couple must be seen kissing

      It is hard to believe that the Gay population in the UK is less than 2%

    4. Whilst agreeing with you in principle, Mr/Ms Coleman, at least they haven’t sunk to the depths of calling each other Silly Sausages.

      :-))

    5. I always find it rather absurd when the censors used to remove our occasional use of obscenities on this site when the television is so often full of virtually incessant vulgarity. I have even had the word c*ck censored when it was used entirely with reference to poultry.

      Talking of which, if there is any justice at Christmas my fair round belly will be lined with a good capon as Jacques’s justice’s belly was. But if I have heard correctly capons are now banned in Britain.

    6. “Even a rather shallow fiction about Agatha Christie had to scarred with the use of the F-word.”
      Is an effing ‘be’ missing from E C Coleman’s missive?

    2. They sniff extra funding for the national treasure, better not be wasted on those pesky patients.

    1. So, what you’re saying is… If the English must join in a referendum on Scottish independence, the rest of the EU should have joined in our Brexit referendum. (Hides. Hello, Bill!)

      2. The rest of the EU have still to approve Boris’s amended Withdrawal Bill. The EU could send it back to him.

    2. Next Scottish referendum not due until 2039. Then the English must be included as General Bloom points out.

      ‘Morning, Ogga.

    1. There speaks the voice of wisdom ignored.

      ‘Morning, Mags and I wish the other Maggie could be re-incarnated.

    2. Yes but… The euro celebrates its 21st birthday in a few days’ time. In he EU, politics trumps economics every time.

      1. Ref the quote by Jan Monet (posted yesterday). The EU development is to be dressed up as economics but in reality is aimed at a Federal Europe, slice by tiny slice, so that the population doesn’t notice until too late.

    3. Good morning Veritable Beauty

      Compared with Margaret Thatcher all subsequent prime ministers have shown themselves to be completely incompetent and lacking in judgement.

      1. And, boy, do I remember the sneering, patronising voices that denigrated her.
        Particularly from women who would describe themselves as ‘feminists’.

        1. Did you ever seethe stand-up routine by Reginald D Hunter, when he was talking about his admiration for Margaret Thatcher? Not her politics, but her as a person. That she was the epitome of feminism, in that “she worked her way to the top of a male-dominated profession by her own efforts, and didn’t shake her ass one time.”
          Exactly.

          1. No, I didn’t.But I do remember Lady Warnock (a dead ringer for Spider Woman) sneering at Maggie.
            There was a whole herd of these shrivelled souls and bodies belittling MT’s humble origins. And all of them were socialists.

  21. Political Manifestos and costings

    Most of these costings need to be taken wit a very large pinch of salt and they do not in any case take into account all of the costs. So if say they promise 20,000 police all they cost in is their salaries. They ignore NI Pension costs training, uniforms office space etc etc. You probably need to terrible the sums they come up with. I They would also need more senior officers to supervise them

  22. A good blog post by an expat in Japan:

    Britain just dodged a bullet.

    What did Jeremy Corbyn and his closest allies represent at the polls?

    Marxism, authoritarian leanings, expansion of the state, economic vandalism, a history of support for terrorists, military incompetence, the undermining of domestic security, national self-hatred, extreme and divisive identity politics, dragging out Brexit indefinitely, with all the instability and conflict that would prolong, mob politics, spite, hatred, abuse, and, perhaps most shamefully of all, antisemitism.

    Enter the working class, who, seeing what was at stake, seeing an open threat to Britain’s Jewish community, and to the country as a whole, and to the Brexit vote too, set aside tribal considerations and did the only thing that could avert the catastrophe of allowing a racist movement to govern, lending their support to the Conservative Party.

    And so I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the working class, in the face of constant wrong-headed condescension from arrogant celebrities and biased commentators telling them not to vote Tory, just saved Britain by not voting Labour.

    Or rather, by not voting for the party that calls itself Labour, but is in fact a hijacked vehicle.

    To do the right thing is admirable. To do the right thing, while going against enormous pressure to do the wrong thing, and weathering abuse and insults for your efforts, is magnificent. And to steer a country from the brink of disaster, through pillory and defamation, is noble.

    And so there it was, when the results came in. That sense of relief. Of tranquility after the storm, for a while at least. No route to Remain remaining, and a stable, Conservative government.

    And as for the Corbynites? They’re still there, on Twitter, screeching and railing, and calling the entire country racist, and here’s the thing, the wonderful thing: it doesn’t matter. Nothing they say is of any consequence anymore, it’s just noise. Juvenile, temper tantrum noise. You can ignore it, or you can watch the spectacle, if you like. Try to identify the personality disorders. It’s funny, and disturbed, and ridiculous. And one thing is for sure: if someone’s response to not being elected is to become very angry with the electorate–with you–for not electing them, then you can be absolutely certain that your judgement was sound.

    “I hate the public so much. If only they’d elect me, I’d make ’em pay.”

    Homer Simpson

    But even as you tune them out, don’t forget who they are, the cheerleaders for this hard-left sewer that has toxified British politics. Don’t forget Owen Jones, Ash Sarkar, Aaron Bastani, and the rest of them, covering for extremism and intimidation.

    Don’t ever forget that Guardian editorial. The one that, with these shameful lines, “The pain and hurt within the Jewish community, and the damage to Labour, are undeniable and shaming. Yet Labour remains indispensable to progressive politics”, explicitly urged its readers to vote for an antisemitic party, because, well, because what? The ends justify the means? Is that how they operate? Is that what that word, ‘progressive’, now conveys?

    I don’t even want to know. It’s too dark to contemplate, but when I read that passage, it felt like something–liberalism, or the progressive left, or perhaps just Corbynism and the Guardian itself–had died.

    For all that though, I’m strangely glad to have witnessed the takeover of the Labour Party and its subsequent descent. It did us the favour of dragging left-wing racism and terror-support into the full light of day, and clarified that there is a poisonous channel running through the far-left that’s every bit as dangerous as that which can be found on the far-right.

    Those who supported Corbyn have to learn from this, as starkly as society as a whole has learned how to quarantine and repel right-wing extremism.

    And there are lessons for the media too. It has become over-run with people who feel rather than those who think.

    Dr Ben Irvine
    @BenIrvineAuthor
    BBC reporter: “How did you feel voting Conservative for the first time?”

    Man from the North East: “I didn’t feel anything. I thought it was the right thing to do.”

    This man’s marvellous statement is the antithesis of the BBC’s political coverage.

    1,117
    11:37 PM – Dec 13, 2019
    Twitter Ads info and privacy
    396 people are talking about this
    There is, of course, a place for those who operate primarily according to their feelings. We’re simply talking about different personality types. But when there are only those types of personalities, then you will run into trouble, as would be the case if you had nothing but those who shun emotion in favour of logic. This shouldn’t really need explaining, but here we are. You need both in order to follow the centre path.

    And therein is another problem: What’s the point in a commentary class who don’t fully understand what they’re commenting on, because they’re a part of what needs commenting on? I don’t know the solution to that one, other than what seems a little too obvious: expand out of the bubble, and ensure diversity of opinion and thought.

    Britain can do better now. Politics can re-calibrate. The media can steer away from partisanship and what looks like activism over journalism. And I’d hazard that many people have had enough, in all areas of society, of having every decision and discussion steered according to vague feelings and identity politics, while those who by their nature don’t operate according to such drives are sidelined or vilified, despite being, it would appear, in the majority and with much to offer.

    There has been a perfect storm, taking in Brexit, the refusal by influential Remainers to honour the result, identity politics spun out of control, and the hard left takeover of the Labour Party, that escalated Britain to a cultural breaking point.

    Now, perhaps, the country is out the other side and ready to move forward afresh.

    It feels like a time to discard labels. Suddenly, Leaver and Remainer are outdated and pointless. Left vs right doesn’t adequately describe the position in which many voters now find themselves, with so many former Labour communities having lent their support to the Tories. Identity political categories feel regressive and narrow-minded.

    But in the end, I like this lack of meaningful categories. After all, who wants to be boxed in?

    I’ve argued before that tribalism is restrictive and unfulfilling, and this election has seen the mass removal of political loyalties in order to forcefully reject one of the worst tribes Britain has seen for some time.

    Maybe now it would be for the best to simply forget the old labels, respect the democratic process that has always served Britain so well, and move forward with a much missed sense of composure.

    https://upallnight.tokyo/2019/12/15/done-the-right-thing/

    2. But, but, but isn’t Corbynism ‘a kinder and more progressive style of politics’?
      Looking at the 18 – 34 voting map of the UK and seeing every constituency save about a dozen coloured red confirms that that age group have been almost completely brainwashed by the Corbyn hype. They either ignored or are completely ignorant of the many downsides of Corbyn’s history and the Corbyn agenda. Here, the MSM and especially Al-Beeb, Sky, C4 and individuals such as O’Brien and Snow must take responsibility for their crass irresponsibility in pushing the hateful Labour line as a benign progressive path to a Utopian future.

    3. Never drop your guard.
      The Left are relentless; politics is their sole raisin raison d’être.
      Remember the sleeper cells – of many year standing – that the USSR established all over the Free World?

      1. The Left are relentless; politics is their sole raisin d’être.

        Is that really still a currant view?

        ‘Morning, Anne.

  23. Morning Each,
    That is a much abused word “opposition” I have, over much of the last 4 decades witnessed more of a pro eu “coalition.”
    IMO also is that the lab. segment of the coalition, has a very strong element of momentum running through it which in turn will conceal a future leader.
    This future leader is at present using lab as a host party
    & PC / Appeasement as tools of concealment.
    Currently the perfect breeding ground for the near future opposition leader to step forward from, as in,
    meet imam mo, no sweat in swearing him in in parliament, the tools are in place.
    The turks have taken to using the three monkey mode of viewing some issues, so in my book a wary eye must be kept on a PM AKA, the turkish delight & amnesties are me.

  24. Will Boris ban the flying of the EU flag outside all Government and local council offices from sunset on 31st January 2020?

    1. And will motorists be obliged to cover the golden garrote on their number-plates when leaving our shores? Have you all fixed a good old-fashioned oval GB plate to the rear of your vehicles?

      1. I don’t see why. I was still using Victorian pennies in the 1960s, and remember also going to France using “Travail Famille Patrie’ francs of the Vichy era.

        1. Here’s the back story: while Poland was still negotiating its entry to the EU, some enthusiastic Polish motorists started putting the crown of thorns on their plates, over the letters PL. However, they were told at the border that this was not (yet) allowed. (Worth bearing in mind which country that was a border with.)

      4. Had the British number plates changed on my car when I bought it.
        The originals had that sneaky little side section with the EU logo.

      5. The nasty EU patches on my number plates (front & rear) have been covered with stickers, depicting the cross of St George and yes, I have a magnetic oval GB plate of the required size for when we go to France.

        I’m wise to their Traffic Polices’ trick of claiming you’re not shewing the right International Signage. Be sure that you also have the requisite number of gilets jaune, a first-aid kit, 2 warning triangles, fire-extinguisher and, if you wear glasses, a spare pair.

        3. But do you dress your GB plate left or right? I remember there was actually a rule about national stickers, but I can’t remember what it was. Magnetic ones don’t work on my last few cars. Not only do they have curved panels everywhere, but the boot section seems to be alloy.

      1. Morning Anne,
        It’s is a culture being nurtured & tended by many of the peoples & should be stamped out
        whenever seen / heard.
        Many do not know the difference when calling a spade a spade & eventually the
        PC / Appeasement route will be taken as norm.
        Ps, terrible to be so serious, so early, but we travel through dire times.

        1. The media will never accept that there is a problem with Islam.

          After all, they’re probably all afraid of what happened to Charlie Hebdo.

          1. W,
            The MsM are proven sh!te.
            You mean that those with a full set of bollocks should say nothing ( that is all it takes ) and accept the consequences.
            I do believe there are 1400 / 1600 rape & abused in rotherham would have a valid argument with that.

  26. One year, I decided to buy my mother-in-law a cemetery plot as
    a Christmas gift…

    The next year, I didn’t buy her a gift.

    When she asked me why, I replied,

    “Well, you still haven’t used the gift I bought you last year!”

    And that’s how the fight started…..

      1. I rather like my Mother in law – far more than my own mother!

        She’s almost always sloshed on G&Ts, margaritas or other mixers. Often we’re greeted at the door with her supping from a giant jug of Pimms and Long Island ice tea. The wife shook her head in shame, things got worse when wife went to take the jug from her to the words ‘get your own!’ as she cupped it protectively.

        Bless her, she goes to bed early, is a dreadful cook and makes a fuss of Mongo – feeding him under the table.

  27. The tories are to appoint more brexiteer peers, so £300
    sobs a day will continue, nice little purse filler for a signature and maybe a couple of anti UK comments.

          1. Night sorting on a cold and frosty night, sustained by tea and chocolate biscuits, those bars with the very thick chocolate. Surrounded by ex school friends in a wonderfully colourful assortment of university scarves, which had not then become unfashionable.

    2. The very fact that neither the attackers’ ethnicity nor their religious affiliation is mentioned in this article tells us that they are not ethnic English and they are Muslim. If they were not we would have been clearly told. Does the Guardian – and most of the MSM – think that half-truth’s and deliberate omissions and evasions are that much better that downright lies?

        2. Quelle sur-feckin-prise.

          There’s a problem with black kids killing oen another. UNtil the Left stop wailing about how horrible we are for pointing out the truth the fewer kids will be killed.

          What’s more important? Stopping murders by being honest about the colour of those killing or pretending it’s all just nasty people being waycist and ignoring the death toll?

  31. Morning All

    “Hamas, the extremist Islamist group that controls Gaza,

    is committed to the murder of Israelis and the destruction of Israel

    itself. It launches regular rocket attacks on the Jewish state, along

    with other terrorist atrocities and assassinations. Its militants also

    inflict misery on the people they rule, all in pursuit of an

    unattainable goal motivated solely by atavistic hate. Why, then, has

    Turkey, a supposed ally of the West, not only given sanctuary to these

    dangerous terrorists but allowed them to use its territory to plan their

    attacks?”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2019/12/17/turkey-giving-sanctuary-terrorist-enemies-west/#comments
    This is posed as a question?? Are you lot deaf as well as blind??
    Erdogan:”There is no moderate Islam there is only Islam” “Our mosques are our barracks”
    Who bought the oil from ISIS ??
    Who enabled the foreign fighters to flood in??
    Fuckwits,fuckwits everywhere,the bastions of Secular Turkey are crumbling fast they are no friends of ours

      1. Living in Macronie, I should just mention that the peaceful protesters did chuck petrol bombs at the plod…

  33. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband has called on Boris Johnson to “take responsibility” and help free his wife from jail in Iran.

    Boris and other have done what they can. In my view the responsibility is with his wife who traveled to Iran against Foreign Office advice. She went against the advice and has to accept the consequences of ignoring that advice

    Current Foreign Office Advice on travel to Iran

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advise all British nationals against all travel to:
    within 100km of the entire Iran/Afghanistan border
    within 10km of the entire Iran/Iraq border
    the province of Sistan-Baluchistan
    the area east of the line running from Bam to Jask, including Bam

    Additionally, the FCO advise British-Iranian dual nationals against all travel to Iran.

    There is a risk that British nationals, and a significantly higher risk that British-Iranian dual nationals, could be arbitrarily detained or arrested in Iran. The criminal justice process followed in such cases falls below international standards.

    Iran does not recognise dual nationality. If you are a dual British-Iranian national and are detained in Iran, the FCO’s ability to provide consular support is extremely limited. See Safety and security

    1. Being Iranian, she knew what risks she was taking and the exact purpose she went there for. It was a bit more than just a family visit, I do believe from reports at the time.

      1. She new the advise and choose to ignore it. The advise was not to travel and if she did she it was at high risk

  34. Good Daily Brexit Betrayal

    Give me strength: has ‘business’ still not had sufficient time to ‘adjust’?

    Are we going to see the spectre of cliff edges resurrected for the next

    twelve months? And have we not voted Out because we do not accept the

    ‘Supremacy of EU Law’? Let the EU chew on this:

    “A new clause in Mr

    Johnson’s withdrawal agreement bill will let lower courts overturn ECJ

    rulings. MPs will vote on the bill on Friday. Mr Johnson has argued that

    Britain should “take back control of our laws” and the change will be

    celebrated by his party as restoring the sovereignty of the justice

    system. It will mean that British courts can rule on existing EU case

    law” (link, paywalled)

    Yes, there are the usual ‘concerned’ nay-sayers,

    and yes, their complaints come under ‘it’s too difficult so we better

    not try and anyway the EU won’t like it.’ It seems many of the returned,

    former Remain MPs also haven’t heard our voices, given on December

    12th!

    So don’t think it’s all over, it isn’t

    https://independencedaily.co.uk/your-daily-brexit-betrayal-wednesday-18th-december-2019/

  35. ‘He suggested Mr Johnson may face “an issue” with his electoral base, saying “that many of the working class Tories who voted Conservative last Thursday will not be social liberals at all”.

    Mr Hammond claimed they are “social conservatives with some very old fashioned ideas about society and the structure of the family” who hold “views about immigration which are very different from the views in a metropolitan area like London which is very much more liberal-minded”. ‘

    By ‘old fashioned’, I think he means ‘different to his’.

    1. By ‘old fashioned’ he means…generally white, married to a woman, nominally Christian. And happens to be that rare beast…a tax payer.

  36. UK/EU Trade Deal by End of 2020

    A trade deal as such with the EU by the end of 2020 is perfectly feasibly. With most trade deal the time is taken up on tariffs and quotas. This is not an issue with a UK/EU trade deal. The issues will be political so Fishing grounds. and how closely the EU keep to EU legislation etc

    1. Cut and paste any other trade deal, why should they be different. Perhaps I’m showing my ignorance of the high world of business/politics.

      1. Carving out a totally new trade has horse trading over the tariffs and quotas for various goods plus meeting each others standard. With an EU/UK trade deal none of those are an issue. WE meet EU standard for goods. WE already trade with the EU quota and tarriff free

        With say a US/UK trade deal we would have to agree tariffs and quotas. Currently we trade with the US under WTO

        1. It would only be difficult if the EU want to make it so.

          We have some bagaining chips – eg a licencing system for fish if they want to continue trawling our waters. No big trawlers should be allowed.

          Boris has a big mandate from the people now to get it done.

          1. Yes with most of the commons rebels out of the way and with Boris taking a proper business like approach to the negations we should be able to reach an agreement. We have a lot of the aces. . Our Fishing Grounds , cars and Food. WE trade with the EU at a lose but the UK market is huge for the EU

            There will be give and take though that is what happens with negotiations. I am sure we will give the EU some access to our fishing waters. We could not in any case make full use of our waters from day one as we have little of our deep sea fishing industry left. It would take time to rebuild it

            There will be hard line Leavers who will say we should make no concessions to the EU but that is simply not how trade works

          2. Bottom trawling by anyone should be stopped totally in, what will be I hope, our Exclusive Economic Zone.

    2. Translation: Border (of) Netherlands/Germany many German farmers support Dutch farmers today.

      1. I’m not sure they have Godwin’s Law in Italy.
        Not the funniest of cartoons, but may reflect opinion in some sectors of Italian society.

      2. There are very few things I will absolutely not take the pee out of, and Holocaust, Auschwitz & other extermination camps is one of them.

  40. Difference between Political Parties

    All political parties want to achieve the best for the electorate & provide the best services for them

    The Conservatives are fiscally prudent and try to budget so that the UK lives within its means

    Labour just decides it want to provide a certain level of benefits and services and basically ignores how it can be afforded. The Lib-Dems are similar to Labour but not quite as extreme as Labour

    The Greens are similar to the Lib-Dems but would bankrupt us with Green measures

    The big problem is at the moment the UK is not living within its means. The Conservatives have made cuts to try to bring the books into balance but have not succeeded. They have also grown the UK economy largely by importing Labour but this has not improved the UK economy and it continues to make a loss

    The big problem for the UK is we have to big a population and we have been growing the unskilled economy and that has lead to stagnant or declining productivity productivity

    WE need to reduce our population and up skill our population as well as implement some small tax increase. AS we are a service based economy to much taxation would reduce spending

    The key thing is to get the UK books into balance. That was supposed to have happened in the first 3 years of the Cameron administration but did not

    What we should also be looking at with interest rates so low is to pay down some of the UK debt this would help to get the UK deficit down

    1. All political parties want to achieve the best for the electorate & provide the best services for them – I would dispute that.
      It should read “All political parties want to achieve the best for thenselves, and stuff the electorate”

    2. Of course nothing appears on the BBC news website. Perhaps it’s time Boris started doing a ‘Daily Boris’ where he talks about this sort of thing.

  42. Roger Brimble asks what happened to the 2 fatbergs weighing 100 tons which were removed from London sewers. They are installed in the House of Lords where they can rest for their remaining days at 300lb a day (see what I did there?)

    1. Another BTL suggested that they attached legs on them for Saturday nights and let them loose on the High Street.

      1. They would have to be labelled appropriately, lest anyone gets confused and try to pick them up.

  46. I have just read the article in Conservative woman posted by the redoubtable anneallan. https://conservativewoman.co.uk/patriotism-the-sleeping-giant-that-crushed-corbyn/?utm_source=TCW+Daily+Email&utm_campaign=6a40d8d4ce-Mailchimp+Daily+Email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a63cca1cc5-6a40d8d4ce-559682581

    What struck me was the clarity of thought. Not just of the article bust the posts in response. They don’t seem to do jokes though, so i shall stay here with the B stream. :o)

  47. “Washing machine recall: Whirlpool ‘sorry’ as website crashes”

    Goes in threes. What’s next ?

    1. My guess is they had one of their washing machines in the office and it caught fire

      I have been raking my brain o work out why a fault with the door lock would cause a machine to catch fire. The machines do heat the water I can only think it is somehow related to that. If the heater went on with no water in the machine that could cause it to overheat but that would be pretty poor design. I would expect safety cut out to stop that even electric kettles have that. With the old designs that you have to plug the lead into the kettle it was typically a bi metallic strip this expanded and pushed the plug out. There were better solutions as well

      1. It is a pity the government lost its expert on washing machines

        There really need to be a review of safety of white goods there are far to many serious faults developing with them and the Fire brigades have them down as the major cause of household fires

          1. That’s done by self certification. It depends how well they do it. It is just produce a Technical file and sign a DofC. There is no real auditing of it. It used to be trading standards were supposed to police it but they dont have the expertise

            There is not even any central records. The technical files & DofC’s are held by whoever self certifies it. You can sub contract it out to what the EU refers to as a Notified body

          3. Whoever signs off the EU DofC is technically legally liable. I dont think there have even been any prosecutions

            With no central record You have no idea as to whether anything has even been approved at all. Anyone in China could put a CE mark o a product and put a copy of a DofC in the user guide and you have no way of proving it was actually approved. Well the only way would be to independently test it against the EU standard

            The approval of products under CE marking directives has to take place in an EU or EEA country. The preference is the manufacturer/design company does it id in EU otherwise whoever first puts it on the market in the EU

    3. The one thing none of the

      Great and Good
      Sorososki’s
      Corbyniskls
      etc is

      I s anything that washes whiter

  48. “Jeremy Corbyn will whip his diminished parliamentary party to vote against
    on Friday, in the outgoing Labour leader’s final strategic call.”

    Hope it hurts.

    1. But Labour voted for it at the first reading so Labour are still as confuse as ever over their position on Brexit

  49. There’s some good stuff in here but I’m not sure if it all hangs together in the near term. Surely the Miller, Blair, Soros axis are feverishly working on ways to frustrate/overturn Boris’ new legislation. Spiderwoman is soon to be pensioned off but all bar one of the rest of the Chicken Supreme are Remainers.

    I’m sure that Soros’ £52million investment in 2018 was exceeded by his 2019 investment but that is all ‘sunk cost’ to him. Another £50 or 100 million in 2020 to frustrate all these annoying democratic votes for Brexit would be of little concern to him if it keeps the EU on life support.

    COFFEE HOUSE – We’re heading for a Singapore-style Brexit, no matter what Boris does
    Pieter Cleppe – 17 December 2019 – 12:40 PM

    Reactions to the landslide victory of Boris Johnson have been rather positive on the other side of the Channel. German Chancellor Angela Merkel for example, stated: ‘To be honest, many are now happy to see a clear result. Boris must be recognised for having managed to convince lots of citizens. Chapeau.’

    So what’s next?

    First, the Withdrawal Agreement will be ratified by both the UK and the EU. The UK will then formally leave the EU at the end of January.

    After that, the UK will enter the ‘transition’ stage, effectively outsourcing its trade policy and regulatory powers to Brussels until the end of 2020, in return for full and unrestricted market access. Nothing will change until then.

    Meanwhile, negotiations on the future relationship will commence. There have been some statements and leaks on what the EU is willing to negotiate and how, but the bottom line is that the EU wants the UK to align as closely as possible, fearing that the UK would otherwise emerge as a ‘competitor’, as Angela Merkel has put it. The EU side is also sceptical that the negotiations can be sorted by the end of 2020.

    What will the future relationship look like?

    One thing is for certain: the UK wants to leave both the EU’s single market and customs union. Theresa May’s great failure was to underestimate the importance of leaving the customs union, and agreeing a Brexit deal whereby the EU would be able to veto whether the UK would get its trade powers back. This stance was inspired by businesses understandably fearing disruption to their supply chains. But it should always have been considered unrealistic for the world’s fifth largest economy to outsource its trade powers to Brussels until further notice. This mistake has since been rectified by Boris.

    Is there any precedent for a country leaving the EU’s single market and customs union? Apart from Algeria in 1962, Greenland in 1985, and St Barts in 2012, not really. But there is a precedent of a non-EU country that wanted a close relationship with the EU, but at the same time refused to join its single market and customs union.

    That country is of course Switzerland, which decided in 1992 in a referendum not to accept the status of Norway as a ‘regulatory vassal’ or ‘fax democracy’, as former Norwegian PM and current Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg once dubbed his own country (where officials sit by the fax machine waiting for the latest directive from Brussels to arrive). It basically then took five years, from 1994 until 1999, to negotiate which EU rules the Swiss would align with and the degree of market access that would be granted in return. A package of seven sectoral agreements was signed in 1999 – all related to single market access. Like Norway, Switzerland isn’t part of the EU’s customs union. Tariffs on Swiss-EU trade mainly apply to agriculture.

    It will be a challenge to negotiate a ‘zero tariffs and zero quotas’ arrangement between the EU and the UK in less than one year, but this kind of agreement would only determine whether tariffs are due on goods that are being traded, not whether those goods are able to enter the market at all. Financial services also wouldn’t be covered.

    Therefore, the real question is if there is time for the UK to negotiate a Swiss-style ‘pick and mix’ arrangement for market access? Having five times as many staff working on something – as there would be five times less time available – would speed things up and any arrangement could be implemented ‘provisionally’, meaning it would partially enter into force before national parliaments in the EU have approved it. At this point, Boris should perhaps wonder if the importance of sticking to his promised timetable is worth it – and implementing the exit from ‘vassalage’ in phases instead of in one go could save him face.

    Another question is why the EU would relax its opposition to Swiss-style ‘cherry picking’ of market access. Its claim that this somehow endangers the functioning of the single market is quickly debunked by the fact that such an arrangement has been working just fine between the EU and Switzerland for almost twenty years. Whether Switzerland agreed to freedom of movement of persons as well as part of the package is irrelevant. If the UK rejects freedom of movement, it would simply have to ‘pay’ for this EU concession with reduced market access.

    Sure, there have been tensions in the EU-Swiss relationship lately, with the EU cutting off market access to the Swiss stock exchange last summer, when the Swiss refused to sign up to a role for the ECJ and to take updates of EU regulations automatically. It must be said that this escalation, which didn’t cause much damage in the end due to Swiss countermeasures, was partially fuelled by the EU’s desire to set an example to the UK. And the tensions weren’t the result of a dysfunctional Swiss-EU model, but because of the EU’s attempt to increase its control over regulations in Switzerland.

    It’s very hard to see any alternatives to the Swiss ‘pick and choose’ model for the EU-UK relationship. This model strongly resembles Theresa May’s Chequers proposal, which was previously called the ‘three baskets approach’. Here’s why there are few other options. Suppose the EU sticks to its current stance, and so forces a cliff-edge event, dismissing the UK’s offer for ‘selective rule-taking in return for selective market access’ because the UK refused ‘full rule-taking in return for full market access’ (which would have meant letting the EU regulate the City of London, the biggest financial centre in the world). EU businesses keen to see the chemicals trade and manufacturing supply chains undisrupted would be up in arms. It would also be strange to see the EU, which otherwise goes around boasting about how it is a ‘regulatory superpower’ – because other countries adopt its regulations – dismiss the UK’s offer to do just that, because the UK would only take over part of the regulations. Will the EU risk its £94bn trade surplus in goods to simply avoid making yet another negotiation U-turn? Political gravity is likely to prevail here.

    A key question is naturally also whether Boris will reheat the Chequers deal again. Opinion seems to be divided here, with some arguing that Boris will prioritise the timetable and stick to his promise of not extending the transition, at the price of aligning more closely to the EU than one would expect, which will be easier given his comfortable majority. The prospect of possible job losses due to loss of EU market access and regulatory divergence, would push Boris to aligning even more closely.

    Others argue that the election result is a vindication of those desiring to diverge in terms of regulation, to fully exploit the benefits of ‘taking back control’ as soon as possible. The thinking here is that prioritising the timetable will actually result in the UK opting for a more divergent approach. This is because there would simply be no time for a ‘mixed agreement’, which basically allows for a deal whereby the UK is more closely aligned, but which would also need to be ratified by all EU member states. An agreement which falls under EU exclusive competence alone is easier to fudge in such a short time period, but only allows a looser relationship.

    Both sides make strong arguments and we’ll probably know sooner rather than later what the intention of Boris is. We’ve already seen reports that he will legislate to ‘block’ an extension of the transition period. In the longer term, it is very likely that the UK will opt for more regulatory divergence, which is in line with Boris Johnson’s own strong preference for divergence from the EU.

    The reason for that is quite simple: one only needs to take a look at the new European Commission. Dutch EU Commissioner Frans Timmermans, who was responsible for the ‘better regulation’ agenda in the previous Commission and who only achieved disappointing results, is now pushing the so-called ‘European green deal’, which contains a raft of new EU initiatives for more regulation and imposes all kinds of more stringent targets – not to forget wild spending plans.

    One example: imagine the UK ends up agreeing to align with EU chemical regulations, like REACH, after Boris listened to the concerns of the UK’s chemical industry, who are keen to keep EU market access (after having made huge investments to comply with REACH) and are wary of competition from outside of the EU. After a number of years, however, the EU may update REACH. That this update is likely to be more stringent, especially after it has gone through the European Parliament, is not hard to predict. If the UK rightly decides not to accept this update, this may well force it to give up part of its EU market access, something that would then need to be renegotiated. Remember: Brexit means perpetual negotiation.

    To summarise, even if Boris opts for the softest of soft future relationship models, the EU’s regulatory zeal is likely to drive the UK to diverge in terms of regulation, thereby truly becoming the ‘competitor’ Angela Merkel fears. And so it would be the EU that would drive the UK toward becoming a ‘Singapore on Thames’ (even if Singapore is actually not as deregulated as sometimes assumed).

    Last but not least, the regulatory competition resulting from all of this would not only benefit the UK, which would be able to attract new business and research, it is also likely to put more pressure on the EU’s regulatory machine. European companies may urge the EU to abandon regulations similar to its burdensome, unpredictable GDPR data regulation in case the UK offers digital service providers a more comfortable regulatory environment. Prominent European researchers have already warned that an ECJ ruling on gene-editing ‘will end innovation’. In the future, if the UK decides to adopt a more innovation-friendly approach, companies and researchers may consider moving there, in turn putting pressure on EU regulators to change tack.

    Forget about the money that the UK will save as a result of no longer having to contribute to the – largely wasteful – EU budget or how the UK will manage to open more markets than the EU. The real benefit of Brexit will be to be released from the burdensome Brussels regulatory machine. Just as Brussels is partly to blame for Brexit, it may well ultimately drive the UK to more regulatory divergence than would have been the case otherwise.

    Will the EU be divided during the trade negotiations?

    This question is easy to answer. The EU is divided in every single trade negotiation. There always is a protectionist camp and a free trade supporting camp, and sometimes when a ‘pro-free trade’ country happens to host an industry which may face more competition after a trade deal, that country quickly jumps into the protectionist camp. There is little reason to believe it would be different here.

    What would be different from a classic trade negotiation is that the purpose of this negotiation is not to open up new markets, but instead to protect ongoing trade as much as possible and reconcile this with the UK diverging in terms of regulation. The stakes for companies in an ordinary trade negotiation tend to be lower. Then, it’s about gaining new possible business or defending a market against new competition. In the EU-UK negotiation on the future relationship, it will be life and death for some companies, as they may need to lobby against being partially or fully shut out from the market where they currently operate.

    In an ideal world, the UK would have remained a member of a trade-friendly EU, focused on its core business of scrapping trade barriers. But if there is one great benefit of Brexit, it is how regulatory competition will eventually enable an environment where different regulatory zones can experiment with their own approaches for the great challenges of today.

    It’s likely that the UK will have to rethink the timing set forward by Boris, while the EU will eventually need to grant it Swiss-style selective rule-taking in return for selective market access. That would still closely align the UK to the Brussels regulatory machine, but due to the EU’s apparent willingness to continuously give in to its instincts favouring ever more regulation, the UK will ultimately end up as what has been described as ‘Singapore-on-Thames’.

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

    Harry Pond • a day ago
    Singapore-on-Thames means no chewing gum on the pavements, a major step forward.

    Ronan Sleep • 18 hours ago • edited
    A simpler, clearer and more convincing prognosis than Ivan Roger’s lengthy tear stained effort of Nov 25th 2019.

    Ed Stevenson • a day ago
    The comparison with Switzerland misses the point that we are many, many times more economically relevant to the EU. Also, we are starting from a position of total alignment and access.

    I hope that the government appoints Cummings as head negotiator.

    Ug • a day ago
    There has never, in history, been a FTA agreed between two states or groups of states outside of a tariff environment.
    Look at the USA and China situation, the only reason china is beginning to agree to a new FTA is because it is better than the situation they have today.
    It won’t matter how long the transition period goes on the EU is never going to agree to worse terms than it currently has, a good example being they have free access to our territorial waters and an FTA cannot include the annexation of the UK’s assets. Therefore an FTA will never happen within the current environment.
    The EU needs access to our markets, we have comparatively little access to the EU markets today, so the need for an FTA is with the EU not the UK.
    Only when the EU and the UK are trading on WTO terms will it be advantageous for an FTA to be agreed, therefore there will be no FTA agreed during the transition period no matter how long it goes on for.

    1. The UK this week gave away to the EU a big chunk to our fishing quota for our fish in our waters. So I’m really not thinking that the UK will ever get a proper grip of our fishing in our EEZ. The UK fishing industry is being sold down the river yet again. It simply means that the more of our fishing the EU controls now the easier it will be for them to cling on to lots of it when we are out.
      (Oh, think of the poor children of all those Spanish and French fishermen who will be unemployed.)

    2. The EU can ask for access to our waters, we can say no.

      Germany will then – because it desperately needs our sales – push to remove that clause.

      It doesn’t care about France or Spain. It can buy fish from us if it wants it. The EU has no cards. It never has had.

  50. Just back from the Barber’s for my Annual Trim….Sky (spit) news was on and ‘Lo an Angel of the Lord came on and Gory shone around”

    Blair (double spit) pontificating and just to demonstrate utter fealty to He who cannot be named was wearing an Emperor Purple tie (just like the Clintons wearing purple after Hill Billy’s defeat (Hurrah!)

        2. Hmm. I’m not really happy with people taking the pee over how people look be they fat, thin, tall, short, black, white, big nosed or small.

          None of us are perfect.

          As Martin Luther King said, ‘judge by the content of our character’. Nothing more.

          4. Oh for sure. She’s a bigoted, hypocritical, abusive, snobbish troughing waster with the mind of a duck who’s contribution to this country has been negligible.

      1. I think 10 and 11 are in tension as well – 500 plus scientists think there is no climate emergency!

  52. Blair has been flapping his gums again.

    The comments on the BBC site were funny. Someone posted. (Not verbatim).

    ‘If someone were to put sooty and sweep on Blairs hands he would have more worth’.

    To which someone responded…

    ‘ It was as if a million childhood memories cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced’.

    1. Earlier this morning someone on LBC likened Blair’s speech to a WWII style of presentation. I have to say, it did sound odd.

        1. No, think of Ronnie Barker performing a sketch when he lampoons those Government expert spokesperson films. It sounded weird, even for Blair.

    2. In this case, the Devil hasn’t looked after his own.
      Blair hasn’t aged well. As it’s not likely to be a guilty conscience plaguing him, what could it be?
      I seem to remember that he has a congenital heart problem (how did they find it?); MB wonders if it’s Parkinson’s.

      3. The man destroyed public records – his expenses. For that he should be charged with theft first, and malfeasance in public office second.

        Then shot.

    1. I know it’s unpopular, but we don’t know anything of what was giong on with Prince Andrew.

      Nor, really has anyone asked what a 15-17 year old (underage) girl was doing there, let alone repeatedly coming back.

      Nothing about this makes sense.

      1. And if the powers that be get really uppity we will all be down in the sewers living off fat burgers!

      2. The real hope for AI is to get rid of government. If decisions were made solely by a machine, making trillions of logical computations per second without the need to pander to weak minded Lefties, immune to the wailings of Dave the could but won’t work, making decisions based not on getting elected but on sound economic principles – doing things as simple as knowing that a group of people want to start a business, offering them favourable loans and then also putting Colin near them everyone gets what they want.

        No greedy troughing councillors, perfectly controlled traffic, no blocked roundabouts by stupid fools, no blocked junctions, just perfect logical decisions.

  55. Reforming the Lords – Will this ever happen?

    First you need to define what the Lords does . Its role is to Peer review (Scrutinize) legislation produced by the commons

    Second what is the scope of the work of the Lords. It covers Legislation produced by the commons for England and the UK. IT DOES NOT cover legislation produced by Scotland, Wales or NI

    Third what skills does the Lords need. Well it needs skills that will cover the subject matter in the legislation so that could be Legal, Quality, Finance, HR, Engineering, Education , Medical. It is unlikely that the Lords would ever have all the skills need so it may need to bring in outside experts s consultants

    Fourth what should the size of the Lords be? To come up with a sensible number one need to know how much legislation goes to the Lords each year. It is though clear that it is currently far to big. Peer review a piece of legislation cannot possible need more Lords than there are MP’s logic would suggest it needs to be in the region of about 300

    Fifth How should people be appointed to he Lords ? If they are elected it does not mean they have the right skills and it is likely to become political, The current system means although not elected they are political and are frequently there for political favour given including the funding of political parties
    Perhaps they should b e independently appointed based on the skills they can bring to the Lords or a hybrid system where an independent body identifies several potential candidate and the electorate choose which one (No politics to come into this though)

    1. In reality…
      First the function of the Lords is to reward your friends for services done badly, so they can be called a fancy name and still get to feel important whilst trousering (other garments are available) great wads of taxpayers cash for doing bugger-all.
      Second – Fifth Not relevant once First is in place.

      1. Morning OB

        Did the mouse bite you, or was it a bad dream ?

        Re the HOL members , I wonder whether ERMINE are still bred to furnish the elaborate garments of state?

        1. Mouse woke me by chewing on my knuckle… horrible little furry rodent. But I believe he is late now.

    2. So we can produce data at a fantastic rate but we can’t store it for more than a century yet the British Library has papyrus scrolls from 100 AD.

      1. We were promised holographic storage two decades ago. That promised almost infinite storage.

        Now I see the disks I want stuck at the same price they were 1 year ago, so something’s going squiffy with the market.

    3. “they lopped off a bit of its ear and extracted the DNA-containing beads.” Wouldn’t its foot have been luckier?

  57. OT, but an interesting night last night…
    Woke up at 01:00 to find a mouse biting my knuckle! Flipped it away, settled down to sleep again, but then the mouse ran over my head on the pillow. :-((
    Went to find a cat; got Big Cat (10 kg), brought him to bedroom. He settled down to be cozy on the bed, then suddenly flew off, followed by much scrabbling, crashing and banging (just like Tom ‘n Jerry), then blissful silence. Then I could get some sleep. Feel like shut this morning, though.

    1. Our cats used to sit on a window ledge and look up – suggesting, “You have mice in the attic”. Never showed any interest…!

        1. You can imagine them saying, “Go on, you do it.” “No, you – it’ll be more fun.”

      3. Chaucer had that cat-like nasty habit of playing with the mice he caught. However he was an expert at catching rabbots which Rumpole stole from him and ate.

        2. Big Cat is the patient one. He’ll lie for hours, staring at the mouse unblinkingly, waiting…. I watched him once, working a mouse under the dining table stretcher (about 1/2 inch space from the floor, he couldn’t reach in). After about 90 minutes, the mouse made a mistake, and BAM! A paw the size of a garden spade hit the mouse, and it was game over.

  58. Facebook asks what I’m thinking. Twitter asks what I’m doing. Google asks where I am. The internet has turned into my girlfriend.

  60. Got back from the pub to our house with my mate a bit pissed and my missus was in her underwear ready for bed,

    “Hiya sexy, how do you fancy a hot sandwich here with Dave and me?”

    She smiled and blushed a little, “OK, then, ” she answered, “I’m up for it. ”

    “Great, “I replied, “three bacon and egg it is then, you know where the kitchen is”.

  61. Corbynliner is not yet ready to resign, insisting “The Party needs a period of reflection”. A cynic might wonder if his reluctance to relinquish his position as Leader of the Opposition is driven by financial considerations.

    According to public records, from April 1, 2019 Mr Corbyn earns £79,468 as an MP, and figures for April 1, 2018 show an additional £64,297 goes into his account annually for his role as Leader of the Opposition.

    I reckon Jezbollah will be ‘reflecting’ all the way to the bank for a wee while yet.

    1. When one is a marxist multi-millionaire I suppose one has to look after the pounds so that the pennies can drop.

    2. I would dispute a bit of that, He receives £79,468 I doubt he Earns it

      Why an earth he get an extra £64.297 for being leader of the opposition who knows. It reinforces the two party cartel as well

  62. May one ask how successful has the
    PC / Appeasement umbrella been over the last few years in Halifax ?

      1. HP,
        If rotherham was a template then mostly establishment employees were involved.
        The lab/lib/con coalition party in action.

        2. Well, yes. Thousands of them.
          In this case though just one policeman has been charged.

    2. He is talking nonsense. They have to register as other wise we will not know which EU nationals have a right to reside in the UK. All that is required at present is an EU passport. The process id free and is as simple as it can be. No one will be at risk of deportation unless they just refuse to register. They have until 2020 to register and as long as they commence the process before then they will not deported even if it goes past that date

        2. I understand that people that size are now normal – and that what you and I would regard as normal are regarded (especially by fat doctors) as morbidly thin.

          1. It does not help when nearly all the shopping centers have mobility Scooters to transport these lard asses about usually whilst they are stuffing there faces with food and most get a Blue badge so that they minimize the mount of exercise the need to take and have the local takeaway on speed dial

    2. They need 6 administrators? Wow! My Drs surgery, with 5 doctors, has 1 admin person, & she also takes blood.

      1. Zakhria Dar and Natalia Glowacka appeared in the Magistrates Court after attempting to rob the British electorate of their voice.

        3. Why were they sending out people canvassing that very usually I have never heard of it happening .Most council just send follow up letters if people had not registered. Doing canvassing is wide open to fraud

      1. No one cares…..We used to have a decent District Audit system until it was abolished by a peeved gov’t minister

    6. I don’t suppose it would be possible to trace who the beneficiary of the fraudulent votes was.
      I know the odds are heavily stacked towards the socialist, but proof would be nice to see.

        2. Why wasn’t he arrested long ago for breach of the peace?

          If you or I had yelled endlessly (and pointlessly) into a megaphone – the plod would have moved us on or arrested us years ago.

          6. It does usually come with a general anaesthetic …. but after that nothing else will come…..

          7. It does usually come with a general anaesthetic …. but after that nothing else will come…..

          10. Very funny. I had it done privately under local anaesthetic……..(I can still feel the scalpel…)

            When there was later bleeding, and I sought help, my GP accused me of indulging in fringe medicine…

            Those were the days – when a GP had English as his first language…

          11. It was the sodding antiseptic spay after Les Snips that stung like buggery….almost as if a lit blow torch had been applied to one’s nether regions

          12. It was the sodding antiseptic spay after Les Snips that stung like buggery….almost as if a lit blow torch had been applied to one’s nether regions

          13. Policing is very selective today. Look at what Extinction Rebellion were allowed to get up to./ Do anything UKIP or the BREXIT party would have been treated in the same manner ?

        4. Opps sorry Sosraboc, I repeated what you already said.

          Still nice to know how much he is known by that name.

    1. She will struggle now. Boris has a good majority now so there will be nothing for her to take to court

    3. “I, for one, will not stop using the campaigning voice I have developed over the last 30 years…I will continue to speak out against injustice, inequality and the abuse of power, whenever I see it.”

      What? Thirty years? I’d never heard of the interfering hag until the Article 50 case.

      I presume her campaigning was done from a plush office by dictation to her low-wage secretary, all of it paid for by her various sugar-daddies. She’d certainly know all about inequality from her comfortable position.

      Perhaps BJ can get someone to investigate her…

      2. She means ‘I’m getting paid a lot to keep my backers rich. I’m not passing that cash up!

  71. Police officer in group charged with sex offences

    Sixteen men including a police officer have been charged with historical sex offences against children aged between 13 and 16.

    He and 15 other men are charged with offences against three girls in the Halifax area, dating from 2006 to 2009.
    The allegations include several counts of rape, sexual assault, supplying drugs and trafficking.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-50838823

        3. Evening Bob,
          Lest we forget there are a great number that go into the three monkey mode in the ballot booth, putting party before welfare of kids and certainly before the nation.

  72. Afternoon, everyone. Just back from Solihull after spending a few days with my younger daughter and her husband. She will be 60 on 2nd January. (I was a child bride!). Visited elder daughter, all my grandchildren and my only great grandchild.

    2. “Entertains“?? I’m beginning to wonder if he’s entirely sane!? Edit – actually, I’m not just beginning to wonder!

      1. I dont think the media identified the parents but I suspect that they were probably Labour party activists who saw an opportunity and exploited it

  78. Just to say we had a lovely walk this afternoon around the lake. 18ºC. Pruned the vine for the last time…

    Planning on how to dispose of contents of house without having a fire (thanks, stephen) or having to pay someone to take it away.

    I shall go and look for a glass of medicine.

    1. I think you’ll have to pay someone, unless there’s a charity outlet nearby that’ll take all your stuff.

    2. Sounds like you have finally found a buyer for your French house, Bill. Congratulations!

  79. Emily Thornberry throws her hat into ring for Labour leadership

    Just confirmation really it was clear she was going to enter the race. It seem Labour have learnt nothing or perhaps it means the Islington Momentum group still have a tight grip on Labour

  80. Nicked ‘cos Oi Laffed

    Future Breaking News

    Following
    the published sexual abuse by their peacekeeping troops the U.N.
    appoint Brendan Cox as a special advisor to get a grip on the situation.

    2. I believe that he and his wife were about to start divorce proceedings when the poor woman was murdered, not by a terrorist but by a mad man. Apparently Brendan Cox was sex-obsessed and was always keen to try it on with his female targets to the extent that he got sacked from his job because the women in his office found his leering and touching repulsive and complained.

  81. ‘Bye dad, we will love you always!’ Family’s tribute to Variety star Kenny Lynch who had top 10 hit with Up On The Roof and became a TV game show regular who has died aged 81

  83. Call me an old fogey (and many do) but I have had the misfortune (or, as the person to whom I am about to refer would have said “mizfourchoon) to hear some ghastly tottie “persenting” (sic) Radio 3 this afternoon. She referred to an “antherm” in Choral Evensong; and has just hope we’d have a “nise consett” this evening.

    Where do they get these frightful people from?

      1. Hi Bill, I have no idea! Some of the tv continuity announcers, especially, are dreadful. I’m a Yorkshire lass but I don’t murder the English language like some of those people.

        Edit: that’s an invitation to someone to say I murder it in a different way – ah well!

        4. Yorkshire lass, eh? I thowt there was something wonderful about you… The accent doesn’t show in print!

    2. From the same place they get the people who say “sekertree”, “Janury”, “Febery”, “nookelar”…..

    1. The Thatcher Foundation website has the full text of her speech but it’s rather long, assuming this is it?

      Prime Minister

      Prime Minister, Rector, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

      First, may I thank you for giving me the opportunity to return to Bruges and in very different circumstances from my last visit shortly after the Zeebrugge Ferry disaster, when Belgian courage and the devotion of your doctors and nurses saved so many British lives.

      And second, may I say what a pleasure it is to speak at the College of Europe under the distinguished leadership of its Professor LukaszewskiRector.

      The College plays a vital and increasingly important part in the life of the European Community.

      And third, may I also thank you for inviting me to deliver my address in this magnificent hall.

      What better place to speak of Europe’s future than a building which so gloriously recalls the greatness that Europe had already achieved over 600 years ago.

      Your city of Bruges has many other historical associations for us in Britain. Geoffrey Chaucer was a frequent visitor here.

      And the first book to be printed in the English language was produced here in Bruges by William Caxton.

      BRITAIN AND EUROPE
      Mr. Chairman, you have invited me to speak on the subject of Britain and Europe. Perhaps I should congratulate you on your courage.

      If you believe some of the things said and written about my views on Europe, it must seem rather like inviting Genghis Khan to speak on the virtues of peaceful coexistence!

      I want to start by disposing of some myths about my country, Britain, and its relationship with Europe and to do that, I must say something about the identity of Europe itself.

      Europe is not the creation of the Treaty of Rome.

      Nor is the European idea the property of any group or institution.

      We British are as much heirs to the legacy of European culture as any other nation. Our links to the rest of Europe, the continent of Europe, have been the dominant factor in our history.

      For three hundred years, we were part of the Roman Empire and our maps still trace the straight lines of the roads the Romans built.

      Our ancestors—Celts, Saxons, Danes—came from the Continent. [end p1]

      Our nation was—in that favourite Community word— “restructured” under the Norman and Angevin rule in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

      This year, we celebrate the three hundredth anniversary of the glorious revolution in which the British crown passed to Prince William of Orange and Queen Mary.

      Visit the great churches and cathedrals of Britain, read our literature and listen to our language: all bear witness to the cultural riches which we have drawn from Europe and other Europeans from us.

      We in Britain are rightly proud of the way in which, since Magna Carta in the year 1215, we have pioneered and developed representative institutions to stand as bastions of freedom.

      And proud too of the way in which for centuries Britain was a home for people from the rest of Europe who sought sanctuary from tyranny.

      But we know that without the European legacy of political ideas we could not have achieved as much as we did.

      From classical and mediaeval thought we have borrowed that concept of the rule of law which marks out a civilised society from barbarism.

      And on that idea of Christendom, to which the Rector referred—Christendom for long synonymous with Europe—with its recognition of the unique and spiritual nature of the individual, on that idea, we still base our belief in personal liberty and other human rights.

      Too often, the history of Europe is described as a series of interminable wars and quarrels.

      Yet from our perspective today surely what strikes us most is our common experience. For instance, the story of how Europeans explored and colonised—and yes, without apology—civilised much of the world is an extraordinary tale of talent, skill and courage.

      But we British have in a very special way contributed to Europe.

      Over the centuries we have fought to prevent Europe from falling under the dominance of a single power.

      We have fought and we have died for her freedom.

      Only miles from here, in Belgium, lie the bodies of 120,000 British soldiers who died in the First World War.

      Had it not been for that willingness to fight and to die, Europe would have been united long before now—but not in liberty, not in justice.

      It was British support to resistance movements throughout the last War that helped to keep alive the flame of liberty in so many countries until the day of liberation.

      Tomorrow, King Baudouin will attend a service in Brussels to commemorate the many brave Belgians who gave their lives in service with the Royal Air Force—a sacrifice which we shall never forget.

      And it was from our island fortress that the liberation of Europe itself was mounted.

      And still, today, we stand together.

      Nearly 70,000 British servicemen are stationed on the mainland of Europe.

      All these things alone are proof of our commitment to Europe’s future. [end p2]

      The European Community is one manifestation of that European identity, but it is not the only one.

      We must never forget that east of the Iron Curtain, people who once enjoyed a full share of European culture, freedom and identity have been cut off from their roots.

      We shall always look on Warsaw, Prague and Budapest as great European cities.

      Nor should we forget that European values have helped to make the United States of America into the valiant defender of freedom which she has become.

      EUROPE’S FUTURE
      This is no arid chronicle of obscure facts from the dust-filled libraries of history.

      It is the record of nearly two thousand years of British involvement in Europe, cooperation with Europe and contribution to Europe, contribution which today is as valid and as strong as ever [sic].

      Yes, we have looked also to wider horizons—as have others—and thank goodness for that, because Europe never would have prospered and never will prosper as a narrow-minded, inward-looking club.

      The European Community belongs to all its members.

      It must reflect the traditions and aspirations of all its members.

      And let me be quite clear.

      Britain does not dream of some cosy, isolated existence on the fringes of the European Community. Our destiny is in Europe, as part of the Community.

      That is not to say that our future lies only in Europe, but nor does that of France or Spain or, indeed, of any other member.

      The Community is not an end in itself.

      Nor is it an institutional device to be constantly modified according to the dictates of some abstract intellectual concept.

      Nor must it be ossified by endless regulation.

      The European Community is a practical means by which Europe can ensure the future prosperity and security of its people in a world in which there are many other powerful nations and groups of nations.

      We Europeans cannot afford to waste our energies on internal disputes or arcane institutional debates.

      They are no substitute for effective action.

      Europe has to be ready both to contribute in full measure to its own security and to compete commercially and industrially in a world in which success goes to the countries which encourage individual initiative and enterprise, rather than those which attempt to diminish them.

      This evening I want to set out some guiding principles for the future which I believe will ensure that Europe does succeed, not just in economic and defence terms but also in the quality of life and the influence of its peoples. [end p3]

      WILLING COOPERATION BETWEEN SOVEREIGN STATES
      My first guiding principle is this: willing and active cooperation between independent sovereign states is the best way to build a successful European Community.

      To try to suppress nationhood and concentrate power at the centre of a European conglomerate would be highly damaging and would jeopardise the objectives we seek to achieve.

      Europe will be stronger precisely because it has France as France, Spain as Spain, Britain as Britain, each with its own customs, traditions and identity. It would be folly to try to fit them into some sort of identikit European personality.

      Some of the founding fathers of the Community thought that the United States of America might be its model.

      But the whole history of America is quite different from Europe.

      People went there to get away from the intolerance and constraints of life in Europe.

      They sought liberty and opportunity; and their strong sense of purpose has, over two centuries, helped to create a new unity and pride in being American, just as our pride lies in being British or Belgian or Dutch or German.

      I am the first to say that on many great issues the countries of Europe should try to speak with a single voice.

      I want to see us work more closely on the things we can do better together than alone.

      Europe is stronger when we do so, whether it be in trade, in defence or in our relations with the rest of the world.

      But working more closely together does not require power to be centralised in Brussels or decisions to be taken by an appointed bureaucracy.

      Indeed, it is ironic that just when those countries such as the Soviet Union, which have tried to run everything from the centre, are learning that success depends on dispersing power and decisions away from the centre, there are some in the Community who seem to want to move in the opposite direction.

      We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them re-imposed at a European level with a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels.

      Certainly we want to see Europe more united and with a greater sense of common purpose.

      But it must be in a way which preserves the different traditions, parliamentary powers and sense of national pride in one’s own country; for these have been the source of Europe’s vitality through the centuries.

      ENCOURAGING CHANGE
      My second guiding principle is this: Community policies must tackle present problems in a practical way, however difficult that may be.

      If we cannot reform those Community policies which are patently wrong or ineffective and which are rightly causing public disquiet, then we shall not get the public support for the Community’s future development.

      And that is why the achievements of the European Council in Brussels last February are so important. [end p4]

      It was not right that half the total Community budget was being spent on storing and disposing of surplus food.

      Now those stocks are being sharply reduced.

      It was absolutely right to decide that agriculture’s share of the budget should be cut in order to free resources for other policies, such as helping the less well-off regions and helping training for jobs.

      It was right too to introduce tighter budgetary discipline to enforce these decisions and to bring the Community spending under better control.

      And those who complained that the Community was spending so much time on financial detail missed the point. You cannot build on unsound foundations, financial or otherwise, and it was the fundamental reforms agreed last winter which paved the way for the remarkable progress which we have made since on the Single Market.

      But we cannot rest on what we have achieved to date.

      For example, the task of reforming the Common Agricultural Policy is far from complete.

      Certainly, Europe needs a stable and efficient farming industry.

      But the CAP has become unwieldy, inefficient and grossly expensive. Production of unwanted surpluses safeguards neither the income nor the future of farmers themselves.

      We must continue to pursue policies which relate supply more closely to market requirements, and which will reduce over-production and limit costs.

      Of course, we must protect the villages and rural areas which are such an important part of our national life, but not by the instrument of agricultural prices.

      Tackling these problems requires political courage.

      The Community will only damage itself in the eyes of its own people and the outside world if that courage is lacking.

      EUROPE OPEN TO ENTERPRISE
      My third guiding principle is the need for Community policies which encourage enterprise.

      If Europe is to flourish and create the jobs of the future, enterprise is the key.

      The basic framework is there: the Treaty of Rome itself was intended as a Charter for Economic Liberty.

      But that it is not how it has always been read, still less applied.

      The lesson of the economic history of Europe in the 70’s and 80’s is that central planning and detailed control do not work and that personal endeavour and initiative do.

      That a State-controlled economy is a recipe for low growth and that free enterprise within a framework of law brings better results.

      The aim of a Europe open to enterprise is the moving force behind the creation of the Single European Market in 1992. By getting rid of barriers, by making it possible for companies to operate on a European scale, we can best compete with the United States, Japan and other new economic powers emerging in Asia and elsewhere. [end p5]

      And that means action to free markets, action to widen choice, action to reduce government intervention.

      Our aim should not be more and more detailed regulation from the centre: it should be to deregulate and to remove the constraints on trade.

      Britain has been in the lead in opening its markets to others.

      The City of London has long welcomed financial institutions from all over the world, which is why it is the biggest and most successful financial centre in Europe.

      We have opened our market for telecommunications equipment, introduced competition into the market services and even into the network itself—steps which others in Europe are only now beginning to face.

      In air transport, we have taken the lead in liberalisation and seen the benefits in cheaper fares and wider choice.

      Our coastal shipping trade is open to the merchant navies of Europe.

      We wish we could say the same of many other Community members.

      Regarding monetary matters, let me say this. The key issue is not whether there should be a European Central Bank.

      The immediate and practical requirements are:

      • to implement the Community’s commitment to free movement of capital—in Britain, we have it;

      • and to the abolition through the Community of exchange controls—in Britain, we abolished them in 1979;

      • to establish a genuinely free market in financial services in banking, insurance, investment;

      • and to make greater use of the ecu.

      This autumn, Britain is issuing ecu-denominated Treasury bills and hopes to see other Community governments increasingly do the same.

      These are the real requirements because they are what the Community business and industry need if they are to compete effectively in the wider world.

      And they are what the European consumer wants, for they will widen his choice and lower his costs.

      It is to such basic practical steps that the Community’s attention should be devoted.

      When those have been achieved and sustained over a period of time, we shall be in a better position to judge the next move.

      It is the same with frontiers between our countries.

      Of course, we want to make it easier for goods to pass through frontiers.

      Of course, we must make it easier for people to travel throughout the Community.

      But it is a matter of plain common sense that we cannot totally abolish frontier controls if we are also to protect our citizens from crime and stop the movement of drugs, of terrorists and of illegal immigrants. [end p6]

      That was underlined graphically only three weeks ago when one brave German customs officer, doing his duty on the frontier between Holland and Germany, struck a major blow against the terrorists of the IRA.

      And before I leave the subject of a single market, may I say that we certainly do not need new regulations which raise the cost of employment and make Europe’s labour market less flexible and less competitive with overseas suppliers.

      If we are to have a European Company Statute, it should contain the minimum regulations.

      And certainly we in Britain would fight attempts to introduce collectivism and corporatism at the European level—although what people wish to do in their own countries is a matter for them.

      EUROPE OPEN TO THE WORLD
      My fourth guiding principle is that Europe should not be protectionist.

      The expansion of the world economy requires us to continue the process of removing barriers to trade, and to do so in the multilateral negotiations in the GATT.

      It would be a betrayal if, while breaking down constraints on trade within Europe, the Community were to erect greater external protection.

      We must ensure that our approach to world trade is consistent with the liberalisation we preach at home.

      We have a responsibility to give a lead on this, a responsibility which is particularly directed towards the less developed countries.

      They need not only aid; more than anything, they need improved trading opportunities if they are to gain the dignity of growing economic strength and independence.

      EUROPE AND DEFENCE
      My last guiding principle concerns the most fundamental issue—the European countries’ role in defence.

      Europe must continue to maintain a sure defence through NATO.

      There can be no question of relaxing our efforts, even though it means taking difficult decisions and meeting heavy costs.

      It is to NATO that we owe the peace that has been maintained over 40 years.

      The fact is things are going our way: the democratic model of a free enterprise society has proved itself superior; freedom is on the offensive, a peaceful offensive the world over, for the first time in my life-time.

      We must strive to maintain the United States’ commitment to Europe’s defence. And that means recognising the burden on their resources of the world role they undertake and their point that their allies should bear the full part of the defence of freedom, particularly as Europe grows wealthier.

      Increasingly, they will look to Europe to play a part in out-of-area defence, as we have recently done in the Gulf.

      NATO and the Western European Union have long recognised where the problems of Europe’s defence lie, and have pointed out the solutions. And the time has come when we must give substance to our declarations about a strong defence effort with better value for money. [end p7]

      It is not an institutional problem.

      It is not a problem of drafting. It is something at once simpler and more profound: it is a question of political will and political courage, of convincing people in all our countries that we cannot rely for ever on others for our defence, but that each member of the Alliance must shoulder a fair share of the burden.

      We must keep up public support for nuclear deterrence, remembering that obsolete weapons do not deter, hence the need for modernisation.

      We must meet the requirements for effective conventional defence in Europe against Soviet forces which are constantly being modernised.

      We should develop the WEU, not as an alternative to NATO, but as a means of strengthening Europe’s contribution to the common defence of the West.

      Above all, at a time of change and uncertainly in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, we must preserve Europe’s unity and resolve so that whatever may happen, our defence is sure.

      At the same time, we must negotiate on arms control and keep the door wide open to cooperation on all the other issues covered by the Helsinki Accords.

      But let us never forget that our way of life, our vision and all we hope to achieve, is secured not by the rightness of our cause but by the strength of our defence.

      On this, we must never falter, never fail.

      THE BRITISH APPROACH
      Mr. Chairman, I believe it is not enough just to talk in general terms about a European vision or ideal.

      If we believe in it, we must chart the way ahead and identify the next steps.

      And that is what I have tried to do this evening.

      This approach does not require new documents: they are all there, the North Atlantic Treaty, the Revised Brussels Treaty and the Treaty of Rome, texts written by far-sighted men, a remarkable Belgian—Paul Henri Spaak—among them.

      However far we may want to go, the truth is that we can only get there one step at a time.

      And what we need now is to take decisions on the next steps forward, rather than let ourselves be distracted by Utopian goals.

      Utopia never comes, because we know we should not like it if it did.

      Let Europe be a family of nations, understanding each other better, appreciating each other more, doing more together but relishing our national identity no less than our common European endeavour.

      Let us have a Europe which plays its full part in the wider world, which looks outward not inward, and which preserves that Atlantic community—that Europe on both sides of the Atlantic—which is our noblest inheritance and our greatest strength.

      May I thank you for the privilege of delivering this lecture in this great hall to this great college (applause).

          2. That is because most kids these days are stupid, uneducated morons made so by an academia that doesn’t teach them anything.

            The standard of grammar, punctuation and sentence construction are seemingly lost arts.

            Maybe if the iliterate were, I don’t know… shot? the number of mistakes would fall?

        1. Lady Thatcher was amazing. Bloomin’ predicted it all.

          That makes me equally as great, as so did I. I shall call my Lord Wibbling, of Halfwit.

  85. That’s me for the day. I’ll join you another day, all being well.

    Have a spiffing evening looking out for Bercow.

    1. They’re in a decreasing minority after three weeks of these hearings. Before the hearings started, those who thought Trump should be impeached were a small majority, but now they’re well below 50%.

      Tucker: Impeachment is a terrible idea for the country
      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L5A–UJ_6y8

      The Democrats are long on allegations, short on evidence.

  87. News Flash from the English coastal area

    The Royal Navy intercepted three boatloads of people off the coast of
    Kent today. This placed the Navy in an awkward position as the boats
    were not heading to, but away from Kent towards France . Another
    surprise finding was that they were loaded with British people who were
    all seniors of pension age. Their claim was that they were trying to
    get to Calais so as to be able to return to the UK as illegal
    immigrants and therefore be entitled to far more benefits than they
    were receiving as legitimate UK pensioners. The Navy, it is believed,
    gave them food, water and fuel and assisted them on their journey. We
    are booking the next boat out; let me know if you want to come.

      1. “Mairead McGuinness (born 13 June 1959) is an Irish politician who has served as the First Vice-President of the European Parliament since 2017. She has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the Midlands–North-West constituency since July 2004.”

        She is Vice-President of the European Parliament, which is a parliament that is only there as window dressing and a fig leaf to pretend that the EU is a democratic organisation. As we know, they have almost no power at all. So she is a bossy little nobody doing a non-job and being very well paid for presenting to the world this sham of democracy. So of course she gets riled when Nigel Farage points out what they really are and shows them no respect at all, because they do not deserve any. 🙂

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5acadcce292366625bf43c1b3742da7dbdde775edaf3227928a807fcd06f042f.jpg

          4. PT,
            Good answer, mine was diamond class, by going on the number of vowels but not knowing the other lock in clues.

    4. The way that the Conservatives have treated Nigel Farage is abominable. Had he not withdrawn TBP from Conservative held constituencies it is very unlikely that the Conservative would have won the election.

      But there is no acknowledgement of this fact and no thanks

      The fact of the matter is that Johnson and Rees-Mogg for all their Eton education are not gentlemen. Napoleons described Tallyerand as i>de la merde dans un bas de soie.’ (A lump of excrement in a silk stocking). How aptly this could be applied to many Etonians in politics.

      1. Why would you expect there to be thanks and decent treatment. Career politicians have always treated Farage as a joke. There’s no honour in politics. Calling someone honourable or right honourable in politics is laughable.
        Unfortunately since 2010 Farage has been a joke. He’s not fit for mainstream politics. He’s proven that now with two different parties.

    4. It was him that defined the difference between brotherly love and homosexuality
      Brotherly love = fellow feeling
      Homosexuality = another fellow feeling

      1. Afternoon Anne,
        This issue in the UK has now matured if left to gain strength in maturity it will give a new meaning to “a chip of the old block”, it will morph into chop of the old block in a market place near anybody.
        Party before peoples welfare is a very dangerous road to go down & could very well lead to the market square.

    2. No, we won’t be forgotten. We’ve rescued Europe form communism yet again.

      Take your money from Credit Suisse. If you won’t admit you’re paid to lobby for favourable banking policy to the detriment of Britons then I will.

    1. Ash Presto, an academic at the University of the Philippines, wrote:
      “Imagine having a universal need like relieving yourself in the toilet made uncomfortable by your employers just to fully utilise your full labour power, which this system considers as just another commodeity.”
      My bold.

      1. And in the men’s lavatories they’ve raised the height of the urinals by six inches, just to keep the workers on their toes.

    2. Yo JB

      I have for sale 100,000 pairs of 13 degree sloped rubber wedges, ideal eradicate the slope of the loo seat

      Use them and you can tell the boss to ‘bog off’ for 20 minutes at a time

      Mr Rashid is responsible for sales

  94. Michelle Dewberry announces she is ‘stepping away’ from The Brexit Party

    Michelle Dewberry says she has “stepped away” from The Brexit Party after failing to win a Hull seat last week’s general election.
    The broadcaster and commentator was unveiled as The Brexit Party candidate for Hull West and Hessle at a glitzy event at Brantingham Park, near Elloughton last month.

      1. You’re mistaken, Herr Oberst. Ogga1 assures me it is the fault of the stupid general public who keep on voting Lib/Lab/Con.

        :-))

  95. Drastic action taken at Hull’s A&E as people ignore pleas to only use A&E for ‘serious stuff’

    The main problem is out of hours alternatives are either non existent limited and can be difficult to get to
    ,
    A new ‘patient streaming’ service is being introduced at Hull Royal Infirmary

    Those turning up to A&E in Hull with a minor illness or injury will be sent to another service to ease pressure.

    Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is introducing “patient streaming” at the front door of A&E to ensure people in need of emergency care are prioritised.

    Every person attending the department will be met by a senior nurse known as a “nurse navigator” within 15 minutes who will determine the most appropriate place for them to be treated.

    Patients could not be referred to services away from the Emergency Department, such as another service based at the hospital or in the community.

    People will be given information on where to get mental health support or help with addictions, while others will be given future appointments to see their own GPs if their conditions are not serious.

    Chief operating officer Teresa Cope said: “We’ve been asking people for years to keep our Emergency Department for ‘serious stuff’. However, around 46 per cent of people who come to our Emergency Department could have gone to other services.

  96. London killings hit 11-year high after 33-year-old stabbed outside family home

    A man stabbed outside his family home died in hospital last night — making 2019 London’s bloodiest year for more than a decade.

    The victim, 33, was found with fatal knife wounds to his leg in Drake Road, Croydon, at 9.20pm on Sunday. His life support machine was switched off yesterday.

    The killing means there have been 135 violent deaths in the capital so far this year, surpassing last year’s total. It is the highest toll since 2008 when there were 154.

    1. Of course they’re shocked. Christopher Eastwood was charged too, with two counts of rape and two counts of supplying a class C drug.

      Anyone want to bet against him being “paid in kind” for supplying the drugs?

      1. On closer reading I see that there are several charged similarly.

        Even more suspicious that they are being paid in kind.

        This case might not be all that it appears at first sight.

    2. I’m shocked that this story is on BBC.
      People tend to assume after the Rotherham
      exposé and some short prison sentences for the dirty bastards brutalising children…That this has gone away.

      I don’t expect the so called moderate MUSLIMS will have much to say about the matter. Because there aren’t any.

    3. One of them had been previously convicted for similar offences. Back out and doing it again.

    4. up before, I think…..
      Shakespeare said it first though………..” I could not say Ahmed ..”

  99. Been running sister around various doctors and doing the shopping and stayed for a meal
    First time in ages had a read of the Times
    20 mins later and I’m frothing with rage
    First the ghastly smug sneering Parris (I paraphrase)
    “Those dim voters were asking for biros as they didn’t trust the pencil,as if anyone was going to alter their vote,stupid tin-foiled nutters”
    Great timing cretin, on a day we are posting about convictions for voter fraud
    Then the Prat whose name escapes me
    “We must all stand up for the endless victimhood of those totally innocent Moslems all over the world lest our inaction drive them mad(HAH) and cause them to launch even more jihad against us
    Bloody Idiot !!
    At least they gave the UN a good kicking

    1. Don’t worry Rik. Parris will be one of the first to be chucked off a carpark roof. If they don’t do it…i will. I might even invite a couple of others to a rooftop party and then use a JCB. Obviously not before Aperitifs and canapes of course. It’s not as if i am any sort of Infidel !!!

    2. It is an astounding mindset that is held by those on both the left and the right of politics. Which is a bit of a hint that it is coming from somewhere else.

      “We must let them do whatever they like or they might kill some of us before they are ready to kill all of us.”

      2. Evening MM,
        Sanity is creeping back slowly
        maybe have Gerard Batten & Tommy Robinson do a school tour on the niceties of following
        the islamic ideology route, we sure as hell cannot leave it to
        those with the shout at the moment.
        All with a say currently in power are riddled with
        PC / Appeasement issues.

    1. Was it that bad?…The clip i watched looked quite good. But the i might be a bit biased, Dolly was all over it.

    1. I have seen a number of articles over the years claiming that the Little Ice Age was caused not by reduced solar activity but by unusually high volcanic activity and the resulting atmospheric pollution. There was no attempt to link the two.

        1. OK, let’s see if I understand that.
          A Solar Minimum reduces the Sun’s magnetic field, resulting in an increase in the Cosmic Ray flux from outside passing through the Solar System and hence through the Earth.
          When this increase in Cosmic Rays passes through a silicon rich magma in a volcano, it causes nucleation, (clumping together?) of the silicon particles within the magma which makes it less able to retain the dissolved H2O within it.
          The H2O is forced out, (exsolution) presumably with a corresponding increase in the pressures within the magma leading to a greater chance of an explosive eruption.

          2. Ok. That explains it. I think. I have come across this theory elsewhere, mostly among the mini-Ice Age proponents.

          3. That makes sense in terms of a large volume of volcanic ash in the atmosphere will block out more sunlight leading to a lowering of global temperatures.

    4. I’m fairly certain that this is twaddle. The International Association for Gondwana Research is China based and does not have the cachet of Nature or New Scientist. The content is also iffy, eleven samples do not a theory prove. “We note the possibility…” We also speculate…” “can be explained…” are not scientific reasoning and bubble chambers are not real world duplicates! Its very opacity speaks against it. It’s probably a student spoof!

        4. I’ve also seen suggestions that Earth’s magnetic field is weakening and fluctuating, allowing more cosmic radiation to reach the atmosphere. The North Pole has been wandering around by a significant distance, and there’s been speculation that the poles could flip.

          2. They will do that from time to time and a recent article notes that the North pole wanderings are getting a bit extreme.

      4. I recalled reading some years ago about a great ‘Muraine’ (sic??) across the Land”- So I thought I’d try to find a reference. Here’s what a google search returned:
        https://www.bahs.org.uk/AGHR/ARTICLES/57_201Newfield.pdf

        The paper describes a world wide loss of cattle (disease suspected but cause unknown) as well as crop failures.

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7ebd1e657102baa890a4843e4709104b4b2bd16f04dd4fa5acb94e2f315b88c5.png

        The dates are significant: They are slap bang in the middle of The Wolf Solar Minimum from 1280 to 1350

      5. Interestingly The New Zealand White Island Volcano which erupted last week is mainly composed of Andesite – “Basaltic andesite is a volcanic rock containing about 55% silica….

        [I’ve no idea whether all volcanos around the word contain a large proportion of silica]

        1. ” Magma that reaches the earth’s surface is called lava. It may be acidic or basic. Acidic lava is viscous, is lighter in colour and has higher silica content. Basic lava is non-viscous, is darker in colour and has lower silica content.”

          2. This is what confused Cameron on the Letterman show as he couldn’t remember which was termed the Magna Carta…. not bad as his PPE did not cover vulcanology.

  104. As the Trump impeachment process continues apace and Gina Miller is threatening similar here, I can’t help thinking that the leftwaffe lawfare might be the Kristallnacht of Democracy, if we are not very careful.

    1. Are Swedish men no longer capable of defending their woman from savages?

      No. They are trying to create the same conditions here!

      1. Or ‘wet boots’.

        Edit: ‘wet boots’ was an expression used in the C18 for men who ejaculated prematurely but you will on past evidence probably already know this.

  107. DM Story today

    Nigel Farage and the Brexit Party handed victory to Labour in 20 key seats, according to secret Tory poll numbers

    To borrow an epithet recently used by both Vince Cable and John Bercow: “Bollocks!”

    If the Conservatives had stood down in these seats then the Con/BP pact would have had a majority of over 100 and we would now be looking at a proper Brexit rather than the the BRINO (Brexit In Name Ony) Johnson will go for.

    Let’s face it – the Conservatives are bullies. If the Brexit Party had not stood down in Conservative held constituencies the Conservatives would not have won at all. The trouble with bullies is that the more you give in to them the more they will take.

    To adapt a couple of lines of a pretty well-known wordsmith:

    Blow, blow thou winter wind
    Thou art not so unkind as Johnson’s ingratitude

    1. Nasty nasty Farage, having the temerity to stand candidates against that nice Mr Johnson and his “oven ready deal”

      The cheek to offer voters a choice between Brexit and a likely BINO. Sarc meter overload.

    2. Secret Tory poll numbers? It is simple to work out how many seats the Tories lost by looking at the number of votes they would have had if BXP hadn’t stood – assuming all BXP votes would have gone to the Tories instead. I’m sure someone here can work that out, if it hasn’t been done already.

  108. Great BTL comment on the DM article on Trump’s impeachment:

    The Democrat Party is scared that American voters will interfere with the 2020 Elections.

  109. Madness in Scotland at least in my view

    Scotland is to let children self declare their gender. It appears as well the parents have no input to this neither

          1. That picture reminds me of a story my Grandfather told me.
            He was a regular who served in the Great war and when the war was over his regiment was part of the “occupation” forces (I found a photo so I can now say where, but now I have to remember where i put the photo).
            A Scottish regiment was being sent to relieve them and they rather mischievously told the local German folk that they were barbarians from the far north of the British isles who were practising cannibals still. It appears the locals were somewhat taken in and the Scots were not pleased at their reception and couldn’t understand why.
            Its funny how regimental rivalries came almost to equal the attitude toward the enemy. Once, camped along side an Australian unit he and his comrades mounted up (cavalry regiment) and galloped through the Australian lines tent pegging…. the cavalry sword, designed I think by Major Paw (Poor?) he said, was such that at full extension they were as adept at tent pegging with it as the lancers with their lances but without the risk of banging themselves on the back of the head with the butt of the lance as the skewered the peg and rode over it.
            The Australians, he said, were not amused as the pegs were holding up their tents with them in them.

      2. Englishman: “Is anything worn under the kilt?”
        Scotsman: “No, everything is in perfect working order”.

    1. Fiona Bruce knows more about antiques than she knows about politics and that is fuck all. I cannot believe that this daft bint has been promoted to Question Time. The woman is an idiot.

      On the plus side this idiocy spells the effective end of BBC privilege. It is farcical but that the bunch of back-scratching lunatics, Gary Lineker, Huw Edwards, Andrew Marr, Paul Mason, Mishal Hussain, Nick Robinson, Martha Kearney, Justin Webb and the other creeps are now hopefully doomed.

  113. Popping back

    Dear Owen Jones,

    Your Prosecco went untasted I am afraid and with good cause. You lost.

    I
    trust (though, in truth I doubt it) that through the events of recent
    days you have come to realise that the Party whose mantras you have
    hitherto slavishly espoused is a fraud. It cannot by any stretch of even
    the most fevered imagination be claimed that the Labour Party of today
    is representative of the working man. In short, that which it does not
    represent in its own being cannot be understood by its priests and
    prophets. Consequently you have been howling at the moon.

    Perhaps
    you would be so kind as to answer this. What have you in common with the
    man who works an eight hour shift, rising at 4.30am to be at his place
    of work for 6.00am? What do you know about the toil and grind of
    physical labour, the pain, the callouses, the sores and the aching
    bones? As a child I watched my Father toil long hours to feed his wife
    and children and such were his ‘wages’. Yes, they paid him in money for
    as long as he was useful but then when he could work no more he resigned
    himself to receiving a pittance of a pension, sharing the services he
    had paid to create and preserve with countless persons who your party
    had invited here and who had given not a penny piece. He was a proud man
    and I have vivid memories of him taking his place in the queues and
    waiting long hours to be seen by a doctor. He did not complain openly
    but I know that deep within their was a rolling tide of resentment and
    bitterness that he took with him to his grave.

    Please do not
    misunderstand me. My Father did his job in the full knowledge that it
    was potentially injurious to his health and I have no doubt that he
    would do it all again to see the people he loved provided for. It was
    not this that made him bitter but the betrayal of those in your party
    who forsook the labourers of the land by showering the undeserving with
    the proceeds of their sweat and toil. My Father did not make these
    sacrifices for persons unknown to these shores but for those he knew and
    loved and thereafter those with whom he shared a kinship of
    nationality; his fellow citizens.

    In truth the only manner in
    which it could be said that you are close to such a man is that you have
    ridden on his back for so long, claiming to be his guardian, his voice
    and his friend. There were those in the past who could claim to be such
    things with fair reason but those times are long faded by the onward
    march of history.

    No, Mr Jones. Your world is not his world. The
    fanciful dreams of harmonious egalitarianism, the pseudo-paradise of a
    borderless world, the negation of national identity, the universal
    entitlement to things that are already possessed, the frenzied largess
    with other people’s money, the hypocrisy of those who deny the citizens
    of the land those very things which they enjoy themselves, these things
    and much more besides have now been understood and the people have had
    enough.

    No longer will we be content to be told what we need by
    Islington hipsters with no experience of life. The tide has turned and
    from here on the people will tell the politicians what it is that they want.

    Yours sincerely,
    Mr J W Paid

    1. I doubt UKIP has much income so £29K will hit them hard. I would guess as well they pretty much lost all the deposits in the general election

        1. THe former leader and others/ UKIP lost the case so the court has awarded £29K cost against the party. ie UKIP have to stump up £29K

          1. I think you mean “The former leader (Richard Braine) brought the case, and the NEC – representing UKIP – lost the case”.

          2. BJ,
            on the writ served on leader
            Richard Braine & others, please re-read the original post, the NEc lost the case.
            That is better ogga.

            Edited to correct.

    1. Why are they drooping ? They should be flying proudly in the wind.
      Could 31 January be celebrated as VE Day ?

      1. I don’t rise to this sort of thing. I know the answer but do not wish to spoil others’ pleasure.

  120. “A £22 million painting that possibly depicts Moses on the banks of
    the Thames with Greenwich hill in the background has been bought for the
    nation.

    Orazio Gentileschi’s The Finding of Moses, commissioned by Charles I
    in the 17th century to celebrate the birth of the future Charles II,
    has been bought by the National Gallery after a public fundraising
    appeal.

    That’s a lot of money to raise from standing outside the National Gallery rattling a box.
    Where does it all come from ?

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