Wednesday 19 March: Kemi Badenoch has injected a dose of realism into the net zero debate

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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538 thoughts on “Wednesday 19 March: Kemi Badenoch has injected a dose of realism into the net zero debate”

    1. Politicians and the judiciary have much to answer for. I hope the next lot in Parliament will have an extensive and profound clear out of those culpable.

  3. Good morning, chums. And thank you, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe site.
    Wordle 1,369 4/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Wordle 1,369 4/6

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  5. Morning everyone. Had a cold this week. Chronic sore throat. Unable to sleep. Just thought I would share that with you.

    2. I had a streaming cold t'other week that kept me awake for large chunks of several nights.
      Hope you're feeling better now.

        1. Have you noticed how recovery from a cold is so gradual that you barely notice it until you suddenly realise, "Oh! My cold has gone!"?

    3. Get well soon Minty. Quercetin + Zinc + C can help you get better if it's hard to shake off.

      1. Morning B. Nearly choked to death on a chewable Vitamin C tablet. It reacted with my throat.

      1. Here also. The forest has dried out. The Springer is pleased that she returns from a walk in clean condition and doesn't have to go under the hose.

  7. Good morning all

    Sunshine , bright , and a slight frost.

    Moh getting ready for golf .

    We haven't had any rain for 2 weeks .. the garden has now been scarified , and Moh has now aerated it , mossed killed , and extra seed and sharp sand .. it will still look the same .. not like a golf green !!

    Always a nice surprise to see the new buds on the surrounding trees , and the lilac that was so bare a few days ago is showing its green buds .

  8. Good morning all.
    Bright sunshine and a light frost with a tad above -1°C on the thermometer when I got the milk in.
    A day off the firewood stacking as I'm off to Stoke to check up on Stepson.

      1. But they were Bill.
        Stranded by Biden's refusal to allow Space-X to carry out the return mission in the light of the Boeing capsules failure to pass the safety requirements.

    1. News report that Russia agreed no energy source attacks during the period of peace negotiations. Meanwhile, this morning, reported that "somebody" attacked a Russian oil storage tank farm with drones. So, the ceasefire idea only applies one way, it seems.

      1. Headlines this morning: “Russia attacks two Ukrainian hospitals after Putin rejects Trump's ceasefire plan”.

  12. Good morning from Somerset, swirls In on a gentle breeze. About to make a cup of tea

  15. I liked this DT letter .

    SIR – Georgina Fuller laments leaving her hairdresser after 10 years (Features, March 17). I have been with mine for 40 – on and off, as I have moved for work, but come back to him whenever possible.

    He has been very tolerant of the various other men and women in my life, and how they have cut my hair. When I told him I was returning to Cambridge in retirement, he exclaimed: “Good – then you’ll be all mine!”

    I am taking him out to lunch soon to celebrate the longest relationship of my life. I hope there will be no break-up, and that he won’t retire until a time when I no longer need my hair cut.

    Professor Elizabeth Archibald
    Cambridge

    Last year , in the Autumn , my dear hairdresser whom I had loyally visited every 12 weeks for over forty years , retired aged nearly 80years old .. he cut his finger , sepsis affected his hand and arm and he became very ill . He recovered well but decided to rest and retire .

    He was a good man , and handled my hair so well, various styles through the years and then just an ordinary cut and blow dry sufficed .

    I was distraught , my hair grew , I tinkered with it myself , and Moh snipped the back of my hair , the line I couldn't reach.

    My hair grew and looked a bit of a mess so , I tried one of the local hair salons , ( I have spent years visiting Wimborne and getting my hair sorted , the last time was last year )

    Last Friday .. well how maddening and irritating , I spent what appeared to be a small fortune locally on the most mediocre hair trim I have ever had in my life .. the hair wash was done by a confident girl , but the hair cut was done by a nervous fiddly pair of hands had me screaming inside .. as she delicately snipped , when I had requested layers and trimmed ends .. and some vigour … 🙄🤐

    Forty +years is a long time , but S.. my previous hairdresser had also trimmed my late step mother hair , friends , discussed everything under the sun , was a Thatcherite , and was a jolly nice person and a great stylist .

    I am now stuck and in a quandary what on earth am I going to do next time I need a proper trim ?

    1. The guy who did mine was unreliable – hair today and gone tomorrow (a bit like my own thatch)

    2. That is such a hard question to answer, Belle. For every good hairdresser there are twenty who can only do a few styles and have no idea what would suit you. Long story but since covid I cut my own hair now. Probably looks like it, but there was no alternative at the time and I just stuck with it.

      1. Bb2,

        Yes , and it is all a matter of technique , and confidence . She didn’t lift my hair to trim it , my hair was flat on my head .. and then I became fretful ..

        If I had made a fuss , well a village is a village !

    3. The butch crew cut is very fashionable these days but you might get some unwelcome propositions from laydees in dungarees with coloured hair!

    4. I had mine done last week by G – I've been going to him since 1988. But he's recently (just over a year ago) gone back to being his own boss in a good spot in town. He has a young family so won't be retiring for a while.

      1. Pip and Jack spaniel used to visit a dog groomer they didn’t like , they growled and and had to be muzzled , so I found a new groomer , both dogs were happy waggy tailed and beautifully groomed , including a nail cut after their new experience

        Pip is due to see her next week for his Spring trim, feathers , tail and toenails and a bath , it will be worth it

        I might just ask her to trim my dead hair ends that weren’t attended to last week .

        1. My hairdresser takes his dogs to work. But they are smoothhaired so don't need a trim. The young one is due to be spayed but she also has a knee problem. She's a Rottie bulldog cross and apparently it's a common problem with Rotties.

          1. Indeed. My sister and brother-in-law's Rottie, Frank, has had both rear knees surgically corrected.

            They are such big dogs and prone to weight-gain, just as Frank has been, but he's fine now.

            Their size makes them look intimidating but he's friendly and quite playful once he gets to know you. I wouldn't be a burglar at their home, mind you.

        2. Oscar was a nightmare to groom; the girl who dealt with him was very good, but he must have had a bad experience at some time. Before I got him he had to go to the vet's and be sedated to be done. We eventually managed to get him done in a normal salon, but he was drugged up to the eyeballs (gabapentin and trazadone) and he had to be poured out of the car and virtually carried into the groomers. Even so, he needed to be muzzled, just in case!

      2. When I was younger I used to part my hair on the left hand side. I now part it in the middle but there is now far more parting than there is hair!

    5. I had mine done last week by G – I've been going to him since 1988. But he's recently (just over a year ago) gone back to being his own boss in a good spot in town. He has a young family so won't be retiring for a while.

      1. Yes , I know you did , the Swanage one was booked up and rather expensive .

        I should have gone there , and in fact I will next time , thankyou for remembering .

        Sorry to moan on x

    8. I went back to my original church for he BCP service this morning (the wrecktorette was away and a retired priest I know and like took the celebration). He said he needed his hair cut. It turns out he goes to the chap who used to cut my hair.

  16. Morning all 🙂😊
    Frosty but bright sunshine.
    It seems at last the tory party may have woken up. We'll see.

    1. There are 14 years of "Conservative" embuggerment to unravel.
      Sisyphus had it easy.

  17. 403515+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,
    Interview some years back, young girl holding baby
    granddad, dad, and me ALL vote labour and this baby will also.

    This last forty years voting pattern has been reminiscent of into the polling stations strode the gallant x millions, mass Balaclava syndrome.

    IMO we should be backing MP Lowe to the hilt, the electorate majority has backed every other mp on the strength, with retrospect, of their lying, deceitful, treacherous, rhetoric these past forty years, so law of averages dictates we are due beneficial change.

    https://x.com/ramonagusta/status/1902019103558144325

  18. Right, I've been sat around starkers for long enough, time to get dressed and off to Stoke to see Stepson.
    Might be having a trip to Stafford with him and, as he'll be using his bus pass to get home, I'll have the chance to call into the farm shop at Amerton on the way back home!

      1. Less cold is the term I prefer.
        Still a bit chilly for hanging the washing up the garden!

        1. Ummmm ….. sorry, I am still brooding over the two facts you've mentioned so far.
          Maybe you still need those trees to screen the garden.

          1. Reminds me of the story of the young chap on a train who was so eager to get back to the book he was reading that he did not adjust his clothing properly when returning from the lavatory.

            A rather austere woman sitting opposite him said to him: "Young man, your 'thing' is sticking out!" He was embarrassed but had the composure to reply: "I am very sorry, madam, but you flatter yourself – my 'thing' is not sticking out, it is hanging out."

  19. Good Moaning.
    I am currently re-reading The Moving Toyshop – a rather daft whodunnit set in 1938. The freedom enjoyed by the characters may be fictional, but it does rather echo the freer life of the post war years.
    The 1930s were described as a 'low decade'; what on earth do we call the 2020s?
    Another gem from that era:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDIpkz6DOi8

    1. Morning Anne. I've just read Agatha Christies, They Came to Baghdad. Set in the interwar years. The self-confidence of the characters and the view they have of their place in the world is quite striking.

        1. Amazingly back in the day. I use to be in parking in London by 7:30 am, it's also about the same time I wake up now.

          1. I used to be in work for 08.30 at the latest and I'd done all the household chores and walked the dog before travelling to work. Now, I struggle to get up for 08.30!

  21. Bore da pawb.

    Tell me, why do people on benefits object to having annual assessments?
    I work, and I have to have an annual appraisal to assess what I've done in the past year and to look ahead and assess what, if any, support I wil, need in achieving the year's objectives.

    What's the difference?

    2. Yo Stormy

      'Cus the assessors will out number the workers and they make the rules which make THEIR jobs more important than yours

    3. I suspect that the assessors will have targets like 25% of people must be taken off bennies. So if you're the last one they interview that day and they haven't made their targets……

      There is a lot of fraud, especially by people who are so dumb and brainwashed they don't even realise they are defrauding the system, they genuinely believe everyone else owes them a living becuase they can't handle life.

  22. Trust me, I am a convicted fraudster.. here's my new exciting message..
    .
    https://x.com/efenigson/status/1875972599735275550
    Furthermore, The EU has introduced the “Savings and Investments Union”, aiming to redirect €10 trillion in “unused savings” from citizens to finance military growth and bolster Europe’s defense industry. “We’ll turn private savings into much-needed investment,” tweeted von der Leyen.

    1. I have used my Visa debit card across Europe. Why do we need a card issued by the ECB? (Silly question.)

      1. To be fair.. "Visa" are the frontline troops of the US$ hegemony and are quite capable of restricting your access to your dosh if you upset Uncle Sam. CBDCs have many more bells & whistles and can lidderally control you like a caged Tommy R in solitary confinement. (Refer to CCPs digital Yuan).

        Swoooon, salivating Sir Keir in background.

    2. The BRICS financial group includes the Saudis, who may be hedging their bets on whether the petrodollar will survive as the global currency of choice. A currency the Saudis will not be using for such transactions is the Euro as it is not backed by anything substantial. It's Monopoly money relying on faith, which is seriously undermined by the presence of Fonda Lyin and Lagarde.

  23. I see that the astronauts are more down to earth than our government.
    Literally.

    4. Of course, it's so simple. Burn all the jobs, tell young people their only option is to join the army, go to war with Russia.
      Result = cull of young people, but the planet is overpopulated anyway in their anti-human propaganda, so one must assume – job done.

  27. Just emptied the ash from the woodburner. Noticed that the rear firebrick was not in its correct setting. Removed it and took out a shovelful of ash that had fallen behind it. Then tried to put the firebrick back….. The chap who "designed" the otherwise excellent stove had clearly never tried to assemble it himself. The damage to my hands (gloves are useless) will last for a week or more. Grrr.

    On the other hand, the frost is slowly going and the sun remains out. And the stove is ready to light late afternoon…

    1. I am sorry to say it, but German designed woodstoves are far better than British ones in my experience!

        1. No, the Clearview was made in Shropshire and the Woodwarm was made in Devon. We bought the first ten years before we bought the second. We ordered each one from France, took the back row of seats out of our minibus to make room for them and collected each one ourselves.

          1. Well, you are fortunate. Mine is a Burley. Glass is now opaque. Replacing the firebricks is a real pain. Otherwise, a very good stove.

          2. The Burley had very good reviews as far as efficiency is concerned.

            Clearview bricks are easy enough to fit but expensive to buy. The Woodwarm brick have not yet needed to be replaced.

            Vermiculite sheets are light but pricey.

    1. For heaven's sake – you will have accumulated hundreds of thousands in savings, own a house worth getting on for a million.

      Just get real and be glad you are not on the breadline.

      Pip pip…(geddit?)

    2. Living on the state pension is an oxymoron – you are not meant to live but to die asap.

      1. We certainly don't. As a working mother, I needed the money then, not in some hazy future.

        1. I have an annuity that I have paid tax on every penny saved for the then future.
          I withdrew some of it last April to cover our running costs and for the first time the withdrawal was taxed. Ironically almost the amount of the winter fuel allowance was stolen. I'm trying to get it back but it's not going anywhere.

    1. At this rate, the only young people who will want to stay in Britain are the ones sucking on the taxpayer teat, either with government jobs or benefits.
      The mathematics of that – is not going to work!

    2. Part timers and the lower paid will be badly hit.
      When increased NI starts at half the previous level, millions of workers are dragged into the net.
      Coupled with increased minimum wage and "enhanced" workers' rights, many businesses will decide to rub along with fewer staff.

  30. 403515+ up ticks.

    While "nige" is thinking up a plausible answer we surely MUST be supporting the trio of look like, sound like, if so tis a good chance they are Patriots, R Lowe,
    B Habib,& A Brigden.

    Back up, IN PLACE,safeguarding party, if and when reform elites prove to be rogue.

    Might interest some, maybe not, but in 2016 I was calling with every post to at least use UKIP as a fall back party when the electorate were busy scampering back to the lab/lib/con anti Brit.pro eu coalition party,
    many of the electorate are still of the same 2016 mindset.

    https://x.com/PWestoff/status/1901987389033029873

    1. Put simply. He's a fraud. That "news conference" the other day was a joke and his reaction to being asked questions about Rupert Lowe was his arrogance breaking cover and escaping out from under his mask of bon homme. All he is doing is creating another left wing party that intends to do nothing, just like the other parties. But, at least, I suppose, he's being honest in admitting his defeatism with regard both to Islam and deporting aliens. But what a waste of time his behaviour has caused and frankly, what a coward lying through his teeth about Rupert Lowe. I look forward to Rupert dragging him into court and discrediting the fraudster completely. He has become an obstacle to saving the country.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei6UDz_CQh4&t=473s

        1. I can't watch unless I accept all cookies. If I don't pay to reject I can't go any further.

          3. You really should get a VPN. You don't have to bother with things like that if you have one.

      2. Just renew the page (Top left circle) when it reloads click again same place (X) to stop it loading the payment demand.

  32. If Labour is so determined to cut disability benefits because they claim it’s costing the country too much, why are they ignoring the elephant in the room?

    The UK government argues that disability benefits are unsustainable and must be reduced, particularly for those whose conditions are not lifelong. But if cutting costs is really the goal, why is the single biggest contributing factor to rising disability numbers being completely ignored?

    The Rising Cost of Disability in the UK

    Disability-related spending in the UK is at an all-time high. The NHS alone spends £2 billion annually treating disabilities linked to consanguineous (first cousin) marriages, a practice that is most common within certain ethnic minority groups. This figure does not account for the additional cost of:

    Lifelong disability benefits (such as PIP and Universal Credit disability premiums)

    Specialist housing and adapted accommodation

    Carers’ Allowance and respite care

    Disability equipment and mobility aids

    Motability scheme cars

    Special educational needs (SEN) provisions in schools

    While the government is eager to push disabled people off benefits where possible, they refuse to address the root causes of rising disability rates—especially within communities where these issues are most prevalent.

    Birth Rates and Disability Among Economically Inactive Ethnic Groups

    The UK’s ethnic minority population has a significantly higher birth rate than the White British population. Between 2014 and 2019, births to minority ethnic mothers rose from 34% to 39% of all births, while births to White British mothers declined from 65% to 61%. (ONS Data)

    https://ons.gov.uk

    Among these groups, some of the highest birth rates are found in economically inactive communities—those with high levels of long-term unemployment and dependency on the welfare state.

    At the same time, studies have repeatedly shown that first cousin marriages increase the risk of severe genetic disorders and lifelong disabilities.

    The Born in Bradford study found that 37% of British Pakistani children were born to first-cousin parents, and the rate of congenital disabilities in these families was more than double that of the general population.

    In Luton, the stillbirth rate and infant mortality rate among Pakistani/Kashmiri families was significantly higher than average, with a clear link to consanguineous marriages.

    Children born to first-cousin parents have a 6.5% chance of severe congenital anomalies, compared to just 2.5% in the general population. (Born in Bradford)

    https://borninbradford.nhs.uk

    This means that the communities most reliant on the welfare system are also producing the highest number of disabled children, many of whom will require full-time care, benefits, and NHS treatment for life.

    Why Is This Off-Limits?

    Instead of addressing this unsustainable reality, the government and media refuse to even acknowledge it. Discussing it is considered "taboo" or "offensive," despite the real financial consequences for the NHS and welfare system.

    Instead, Labour’s approach is to cut benefits for working-class Britons who have fallen ill or developed disabilities later in life, while ignoring the long-term economic burden of lifelong disabilities caused by cultural practices that remain unchecked.

    If the government is serious about tackling the costs of disability benefits, then it must start by addressing who is having the most disabled children, why, and at what cost to the taxpayer.

    Labour won’t touch this issue—because they care more about political correctness than economic reality

      2. Belle, apologies for the "Kisses" at the end of my comment.

        My French is pretty good and in the last 3 weeks I have been corresponding with two French ladies about a holiday I am planning with them in July/August. To save time and effort I use Google Translate to send my emails in both English and French, for the avoidance of doubt.

        Their French replies always end up with "Bises", which is "Kisses" in English, so I use it for good manners when replying and today it just slipped out.

        Hope you are not offended or distressed (or even excited?). At the age of 84 I'm not stalking you. RC.

        2. Belle's the wrong generation to take umbridge.
          The same applies when being asked about allergies in eateries.

          1. When I had (a working) lunch with a friend, the waitress asked if we had any allergies. I told her I was of an age where we didn't have allergies.

    2. The welfare bill could be reduced by 1/2 overnight – stop giving any welfare payments to the gimmegrants, that will also remove the incentive to come here – win win

    1. Watched that this morning, excellent remarks. Suggest you watch the Lotus Eaters I'm about to post.

      1. All great great news.. better them reveal themselves now in 2025 rather than in January 2029.

        Current status..
        Civil war clock ticking away to countdown.
        Vote Reform.. until something better turns up.. to avoid a decade of Labour.
        Awaiting new party announcement that may never come.

        btw, Nick Lowles & his gang are a front for Mi5. Don't mess with them.

        1. That wouldn't surprise me in the slightest, re Lowles. MI5 doing its best to slap down the natives before they rebel. Waste of time. It will happen anyway and it all can be laid at the feet of the cattle in the Augean Stables that we call "The Establishment".
          If Rupert starts a party I will go there.

          Watch the video below Jollyheretic. Hope Not Hater pops up in relation to Reform and the Brexit Party.

      2. All great great news.. better them reveal themselves now in 2025 rather than in January 2029.

        Current status..
        Civil war clock ticking away to countdown.
        Vote Reform.. until something better turns up.. to avoid a decade of Labour.
        Awaiting new party announcement that may never come.

        btw, Nick Lowles & his gang are a front for Mi5. Don't mess with them.

    1. I wonder if he has any spare time on, say, alternate Tuesdays?
      Don't want to be a trouble, but we could do with a spot of political decluttering.

  36. A question to the multitude. I made the remark yesterday that Kami Badenoch was responsible for legislation letting thousands of Nigerians into this country. I don't remember the source for that but I know she was certainly accused of it. Ndovu would like the source for that that story. Does anyone else remember this? It was before she became leader of the Tories. Thanks.

    1. Asked AI and got the response below:
      I couldn't find any credible reports linking Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, to legislation that allows thousands of Nigerians to enter the UK. The available information primarily focuses on her recent calls for a national inquiry into grooming gangs and other domestic policy issues. If you have more details or context about the legislation you're referring to, please provide them, and I'll be glad to assist further.
      With a warning that it might violate their terms of reference

      1. OK I obviously have to word it another way. I know I'm not imagining things. But I like to be scrupulous and not mislead. Trouble is that I read or watch so many things in a day that sometimes I can't figure out what came from where. Today I have already gone through 16 videos and read the Telegraph too.

  37. "Revitive, the best kept secret for aching legs", the slogan says on much repeated commercials, featuring either Ian Botham or Clare Balding, with both aired frequently on various tv channels. I think I'll pass on sharing any confidences with them.

    https://www.revitive.com/

  38. I see from the Telegaffe this morning that the "Government", or what passes for one in this country, are going to make GCSEs easier as expecting the poor dears to know stuff and be able to explain it is "far too stressful".

    1. Lowering the standards so the black mongs can pass.

      Oxford University found another way of dealing with those thickos. They diagnosed 90% of the student body as having ADHD which allows them 25% more exam time.

        1. Then in the workplace they're given even more preferential treatment.

          You'd think, given their failure in academia, the need for legal support at work to disguise failure that someone would realise the diversity simply aren't good enough for this country.

    3. When "O" levels were abandoned we referred to their replacement as G.C.S Easies.

      When we were home schooling our boys we did the International GCSE exams which were much more difficult. The higher level ICGSE in Maths was as difficult as the "O" level I took in 1962 and included calculus.

      G.C.S.E. is no preparation for "A" level and Caroline now has to teach basic French grammar to our students who are taking "A" level French. She estimates that a student who got a C grade in 1990 – the year we started our courses – would now easily get a top grade.

      Many of our students taking French are also studying English Literature and I am astonished at how superficially they know their set books and how little they have read.

      1. I got mostly B ( numerical then – grade 3 of 9) grades for my O Levels in 1964. I didn't take German at school but did an evening class in 1986/7 and passed German with an A. When I went for my oral exam at the school my boys went to the teacher said "Well done – that was better than most of the boys"………….. he was sacked some years later for leading the boys astray on school trips. I did the written exam in the school hall with the boys.

        1. I travelled to the Goethe Institut in Manchester to do my German qualification – Zertifikaet Deutsch als Fremdsprache. I managed "Gut bestanden". German is my fifth and least liked language.

          1. I met my OH in 1986 at the German class! We’re still together. I went on to do the A level and passed that with a B in 1989. After that I had to get a full time job.

          3. At school? You did better than I did, but I was distracted……….boyfriend!! I got D for French and E for English (Latin – failed). If I’d worked a bit harder I might have done better. I was more focused when I did the German in my 30s & early 40s.

          4. At school, yes. I took my O Levels a year early, which meant I had two years in the Sixth (Upper and Lower) and a year in the Scholarship Sixth. Bit of a hothouse flower, me 🙂

          6. Just very boring, I think. I did enjoy learning things and I loved languages. I went to France (1963 and 1966) and Italy (1964), which made the study interesting and relevant. I also visited the HoC as part of the BritCon A Level. Although we were excused Eng Lit (we only did 9 O Levels as a concession to losing a year) we also visited Stratford on Avon and went backstage at the Shakespeare Theatre before watching a performance. It opened my eyes to what had previously been just dull reading. I was very lucky in my schooling; it was a state grammar school, but I think I had as good an education as anybody in a public school. We had extensive playing fields, tennis courts, a gym and a swimming pool. Not that I was sporty. Those were the days!

          7. My girls’ grammar school was a bit of a hothouse for the star pupils (of which I was not one) but the rest of us just went along. I had mediocre results at O level and discovered A levels needed a bit more work than I was prepared for. We did have a trip to the HoC – that was interesting. also went to Stratford & saw David Warner in Hamlet, but my mother was keen on Shakespeare so we went quite frequently to Stratford as a local coach company organised trips.

      2. I got mostly B ( numerical then – grade 3 of 9) grades for my O Levels in 1964. I didn't take German at school but did an evening class in 1986/7 and passed German with an A. When I went for my oral exam at the school my boys went to the teacher said "Well done – that was better than most of the boys"………….. he was sacked some years later for leading the boys astray on school trips. I did the written exam in the school hall with the boys.

  39. Radio 4 – The Law Show

    Justice delayed is justice denied – the court backlog in England and Wales has reached a record high and suspects being charged with new offences are regularly told they may not get a trial until 2027. Some courts are already booking court dates for 2028. The government has commissioned an independent review of criminal courts to work out how to cut waiting times. A victim of crime and a criminal defence solicitor tell Dr Joelle Grogan about the human cost of court delays.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0028zyb

    I just can't think what the problem might be…

  40. More smokers in the South as Northerners stub out habit

    SOUTHERNERS are now more likely to smoke than Northerners. Research has revealed that last year 17.3 per cent of people in the South of England smoked cigarettes compared with 16.8 per cent in the North.

    The data marks a reverse in a trend that has lasted decades and comes after smoking rates have halved among Northerners in the past 18 years.
    Smoking rates have fallen by just a quarter over the same period among Southerners and risen since 2020. People in the south-west are now the most likely to be regular tobacco smokers, according to the study.

    Academics from University College London (UCL) analysed Smoking Toolkit Study data from 368,057 adults in England between 2006 and 2024.
    The study, published in the journal Addiction, suggests the national average for smoking prevalence fell from 25.3 per cent to 16.5 per cent over the period. The largest and fastest fall was in the North, where rates almost halved from 28.8 per cent to 15.8 per cent.
    Dr Sarah Jackson, the lead author from UCL’S Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, said the study “shows regional differences have narrowed considerably over the past 18 years”.

    She said the biggest falls had occurred in the North where “dedicated regional tobacco control programmes have been largely concentrated”.
    Dr Ian Walker of Cancer Research UK, which funded the study, said: “A future free from harms of tobacco is in sight but we can’t afford to lose momentum.”

    Well that comes as no surprise at all to those of us with a functioning brain. It has long been an irrebuttable presumption of fact that the further North you travel in England, the more intelligent you find the population.😊

    2. Good morning, Grizzly

      I had my last cigarette on December 31st 1987.

      I seem to remember you did something similar?

      2. Good afternoon, Rastus.

        9:30 a.m. Saturday, 31 December, 1983.

        Give or take a few seconds!😉

        1. Very wise. It is the most difficult thing to give up and when you finally do you get fat.

        1. My 30g of Amber leaf rolling baccy now costs over £27 luckily a non-smoking friend has regular trips to Jersey and other forrin climes Duty Free £75 for 8 30g pouches or sometimes £65 for 5 50g pouches
          Needless to say lifts to airports are free {:^))

      2. Only people in the South, where the money is. To poor up North to afford cigarettes.

      3. I was in a queue in a shop the other day with a customer in front of me. She ordered seven packs of 20 cigarettes. When I heard the cashier say '"£140 please" I was shocked. £20 for 20 fags! I stopped smoking in 1977 and the last packet of cigarettes I remember buying cost me 46p for 20.

    4. When in England, I had lived in the South, East Anglia, the North and the Midlands. No discernible difference by region.

      Back then, it was more rural vs. urban/suburban, not helped by generally poorer schooling in rural areas – including fewer grammar school places in rural areas. Plus a certain predeliction for keeping the family close – a bit too close in some cases, hence the old phenomenon of the village idiot.

  41. Got a lot of work done this morning.
    Sat down for a rest and a cuppa and my chosen starter was nearly correct. Only one other probable answer – Bingo!
    Wordle 1,369 2/6

    🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. To clarify your mystification, Bill: Bingo (Little) is a P G Wodehouse character, and Womble is a litter-picking character who lives on Wimbledon Common. Lol.

  43. That is insane. Why waste money like that? Just think about how many orphans in Gaza you could be helping if you sacrificed your filthy habit. 😁

    1. I'm not in poor health.

      I have manageable conditions which the Consultant said were not down to smoking. I asked him specifically about that.

  46. Ref the "stranded" (NOT) astronauts:

    "Libby Jackson, head of space at the Science Museum, adds it was always a mistake to frame the pair as abandoned, given the ISS always has a capsule docked capable of returning all the astronauts in the event of an emergency.

    “They have never been stuck or stranded,” she explains. “There is a general perception that to get to and from the International Space Station you have to wait for a capsule like catching a bus. But it’s much more like driving somewhere in your car. The spacecraft is ready and waiting for them to come home at a moment’s notice.

    “Musk and Trump have played on this sense that they had no way home again. That’s not true. It’s just that after the problems with the test flight, Nasa decided the right thing for the crew to do was to stay and join the crew. Butch and Sunny are fantastic astronauts who are enjoying having some unexpected time in space. Any astronaut who goes there says it’s a brilliant, wonderful place to work.”

    1. Given their prolonged spell on the space station, I take it that unmanned cargo flights continued to ensure they had sufficient provisions until a manned flight was ready to relieve them. Or is it the case that the station has a large stock of provisions for just such an extended spell?

      1. You would think water would be at a premium up there too. Must all be recycled I presume. Perhaps some of the food is recycled too. Yum.

      4. I would imagine after that length of time, they have to be very careful as their bones and muscles will be somewhat wasted.

        1. They are currently in rehab for those exact reasons. Plus the (relatively) high radiation doses as well.

  47. Anyone tried lately renewing house buildings insurance for an 18th century Cotswold stone cottage? The current insurers (Post Office) want an increase of 40%, but another one we've just been speaking to on the phone says their quote would be a lot more and we're probably not fully insured. Husband can't get into the account as it's all online and he's forgotten the password.

      1. Thanks Anne – the chap we spoke to this morning said the premium he would offer would be far more than we’re paying at the moment or the increase we’ve been quoted by the Post Office. So we’ll probably stick with what we have. Our house is non-standard and a listed cottage which would obviously make rebuilding costs prohibitive in the case of a disaster.

      1. Thankyou – I think we’re more or less decided to just renew but will certainly check it out.

      1. "why is its CEO earning/getting paid being given £750k a year for doing SFA?"

      2. "why is its CEO earning/getting paid being given £750k a year for doing SFA?"

  49. So it looks like Labour wants to cut welfare until the pips squeak.
    Still they say what goes around comes around in the end.
    Just look how the Left was mocking the plight of the farmers and the freezing pensioners not so long ago.

    2. He ignores the wishes of some of the country. There will always be some who applaud Prime Ministerial decisions. As for freeing dangerous criminals early, the only way to have stopped that would have been to not imprison newly convicted dangerous criminals, although sending to jail those who express opinions in especially hostile and provocative ways doesn't help. That said, urging others to burn to death those deemed dangerous simply because they share certain characteristics with those convicted of serious crimes might be seen as dangerous in itself.

  51. I came across the phrase "Suicidal Empathy" to describe the libtard do-gooders
    it struck a chord
    They ignore reality
    “Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and their freedoms”
    Sad but true

  52. Just been catching little bits of information about the incident with the van in London.
    Just remember when the local elections come around, how little our lives are thought of by government.
    You can be horribly murdered in the street and there will be tv and radio silence if it looks like the news might upset our new arrivals feelings or make the government's policy on illegal immigration look bad.

  53. 403515+ up ticks,

    Has Mr Lowe MP, mentioned anymore about starting a party yet, main object being currently, to promptly catch up, overtake, and leave standing far behind the remnants of reform.

    Otherwise the "see you in court"campaign could & would linger on for years even after the palace of westminster had converted to being a paedophile brothel r/r for islamic overseeing troops & politico's.

    Say the word Rupp and trigger the GREAT RECLAIM.

    https://x.com/BGatesIsaPyscho/status/1902270483141206364

      1. Maybe not by saying it, but Khan will favour the sewage who vote for him and consequently that'll make the area horrible for normal decent people.

      2. 403515+ up ticks,

        Afternoon A,

        Then I stand corrected, but will still say his thoughts were very strong on the issue.

      3. In the clip, Khan addresses underemployment and job unsuitability among Muslim Londoners' children and says: "Every Londoner who is on low income or not working will get free training to get the skills for jobs that are created in London."

        He also identifies housing as an issue for Londoners, particularly Muslims, due to a preference to live near cultural and religious sites.

        "So, we're going to build at least 40,000 council homes, at least 6,000 rent control homes," he says in the video.

        Reuters must think we're stupid.

        1. But the training isn't 'free', is it? It's paid for by working white people. Thus we're being forced to pay for lazy, uneducated welfare dependent muslim to get a job.

          Here's a better idea: cut off welfare for muslim. If they want to eat, they work. Cut off the tap.

        2. I think you would find already that the most people with Blue badges in London are muslims. Free parking.

        3. If they like to live near "cultural and religious sites" Can I suggest a mega mosque in the middle of Dartmoor or somewhere in remotest Scotland.

          1. No! If they want to live near "cultural and religious sites" send them to a muslim country.

          2. The only "cultural and religious sites" that Islam recognizes are in a resort a long way from London.

            It must be a resort, think of all the sand and sun.

    2. 'Ang about Ogga, I thought that the Palace of Wastemonster already was what you said.

      1. 403515+ up ticks,

        Afternoon RC,
        I am led to believe that the S(TOOL) has made certain changes, as in also adding a troupe of FAT dancing trannies.

    4. I'm keeping alert to that one. However, if he is doing something I would expect a period of quite as he and others arrange, plan and in general figure out what to do. A good source is Dan Wooton's podcast which I will listen to tonight, amongst other things. Looking at Rupert's X account there is nothing there about that subject.

  54. The edit function is back again.

    The edit function seems to be missing.

    When I read my posts again I often find I have made typos which I would like to correct but I cannot do this without the edit function.

  55. Just been into the garden. It's WARM out. Bliss. An afternoon of moving logs awaits – after lunch. The MR has gone to Narridge for a hair-do. So I shall indulge myself with baked beans on toast!

    1. I have cheated and had a chicken korma. It's just me and three dogs and they're not having any.

      Well, maybe Lucy will have a spoonful but not the big ugly ones!

      1. When Osama bin Laden was wanted, someone called the police in Norwich to inform them they thought they had seen him at an address in Hellesdon.

        When the Norfolk police visited the address a chap, who was a reasonable doppelgänger for the renegade terrorist, opened the door. The following conversation took place:

        Police: "You bin Laden?"
        Chap: "Nooo … I bin Swaaffham!"

  56. A million illegal migrants live among us. It's time for mass deportations

    Britain's streets would be safer and British workers would no longer be undercut

    Guy Dampier • 19 March 2025, 11:57am GMT

    Like it or not, a debate about mass deportations is now underway in Britain. Hardly surprising, since research estimated there were as many as 1.2 million illegal immigrants living in Britain by 2017, which will have increased since.

    The concept of mass deportations still seems controversial, but so are the implications of the alternatives. Mass illegal immigration means the industrial scale breakdown of the rule of law. It is now undeniable that this gravely endangers the safety of the British people, especially women. To be an illegal immigrant means the first interaction you have had with our country is criminality. It is also unfair to those who make the effort to migrate here legally, and exposes the illegal immigrants themselves to ruthless traffickers, drug gangs, prostitution and risky work in the black market. There is no clear alternative to the deportation of large numbers of people.

    Critics argue that mass deportations are only a slogan. It would be too hard to track down that number of illegal immigrants, they say. Even if you did find them, human rights law would mean it was impossible to deport them. Some foreign governments also refuse to co-operate, which is one reason why years after convicting them, not a single member of a rape gang has been deported back to Pakistan.

    Just look at the statistics. In the year ending December 2024, 37,000 people entered illegally on small boats. Yet since the last General Election in July 2024, the Government has deported only 16,400 people. This means more people arrive illegally than are deported, in no small part because legal appeals can drag on for years, with the taxpayer footing the bill.

    Some suggest that we should have an amnesty. Regularise the illegal immigrants and let them become tax payers. But this doesn't work. The United States tried it in 1986, and despite regularising three million people, around a quarter of them fraudulently, illegal immigration kept on going. An amnesty will only encourage more people to try their luck, hoping to be regularised in future, as well as rewarding breaking the law.

    President Trump won the US elections in part on a promise of mass deportations, which he has begun carrying out. Trump has turned the CBP One app, which was used by asylum seekers to enter the USA, into a "self-deportation app". Illegals who use the app to prove they've left the country will have the option to try and return legally one day. Those who do not leave on their own and have to be deported will be barred from all future entry. Countries which refused to take back their citizens were threatened with trade sanctions; Colombia gave up in less than a week.

    Crucially, the USA isn't constrained by many of the ECHR-derived human rights laws which are a problem here. Where they are, they've expressed a willingness to depart from them. Britain can and should follow that lead, by leaving any international law agreements and repealing any laws which prevent the speedy deportation of those with no right to be here. Anyone who suggests that this is against the rule of law should explain how the rule of law is upheld by the presence of millions of lawbreakers, or our continued failure to uphold parliamentary and legal sovereignty.

    To deport that many people however will require the private sector. The American Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) suggested that a tax could be imposed on those using illegal immigrant labour – a similar approach to the Victorian clampdown on the exploiters of child labour – which private citizens could collect by suing employers. Illegal immigrants could even self-deport by suing their own employer and taking the cash reward with them. Employers could ensure that employees were legal by using e-verify, which the UK also uses.

    In the UK, use could be made of civilian enforcement officers, expanding on the Magistrates Act 1980, which gives them powers of arrest and detention. New legislation should introduce fines of £100,000 or more for employing or renting to illegal immigrants. Licensed firms of enforcement officers could detect, bring to court, and deport illegal immigrants in return for collecting fines. This would shift the costs of border enforcement from the Government to those British businesses and citizens who break the law, providing a strong disincentive.

    Britain's streets would be safer, British workers would no longer be undercut, and without the lure of illegal work migrants would be spared exploitation and abuse. After all, Heathrow has 1,400 flights every day, so in principle, two million illegals could be deported in just three days. This would also be an election winner – when polled, 84 per cent of the British public supported so-called mass deportations.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/19/million-illegals-uk-migrants-mass-deportation

    1. In principle, Heathrow could deport all illegal immigrants for as long as it takes if it were to suspend all commercial flights for the duration. Or a much smaller airport could be commandeered for the same purpose but over a rather longer period. Might Biggin Hill be reactivated to meet demand?

          1. During the war it was used as an emergency landing ground for damaged bombers because of its long runways.

      2. Ironic that the last of The Few died this week.
        They were resisting another invasion.

  58. If it was only a million – it's at least 5 times that – at least. The pollution are everywhere and big fat state has stopped bothering tracking them.

        1. No. No, no no no, no no. No.

          Trying to be rational – it was war time. I doubt people had time to think to themselves 'I'm not a man, I'm a woman!'. The trans nonsense comes from a complete decadency of recent times, when we have the time and money to do what we want.

          Worse it is a result of the modern era, a detachment, isolation, an essential loneliness of weak people who don't know where they fit in, who can't simply 'be' and feel they must be something else to fit in when they're really just following the herd of equally disturbed people.

        2. Well, at least it provided a nw topic of conversation during an awkward silen … um …..

  60. BBC's remake of that well loved cartoon Popeye, based on lives of current staff and controllers.
    https://scontent-cdg4-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/162649070_10159428480849954_2499613022929467459_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=61hIyZhkTEUQ7kNvgF4ZbUt&_nc_oc=AdmKOxLn_c2a3B8pJ-LH3fzTmgJ4y51SJ2gufuHnAg_ARnkS5hrT6C4Dw48Hpv9ON9Ll_y1s3VnTnAnZGST3bEHj&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg4-2.xx&_nc_gid=aXxdj3FC5NNxampAecHzgg&oh=00_AYG1nekRflqZNv-0-cmUNncIDGD_oUI8RJ9w6HVBaq9jKw&oe=6802398E

    3. "Earl! My DNA results just arrived. Apparently I'm 10% poodle. Do you think that accounts for my curly hair?"

    2. When I was walking the dogs this morning, one of the bin men (it was recycling day) came over as I was chatting to a neighbour (dog walking is a very social activity!) and asked if they'd like a biscuit! Of course, they never say no!

  65. Afternoon, all. Lovely sunny day. I am just psyching myself up to cut the front lawn. Apparently, the scaffolders are coming tomorrow, not today. Winston has his second leptospirosis jab tomorrow. It's all go!

    I get the impression that Kemi is all talk and no action, dose of realism or no.

  67. Here starteth the rant.
    I am bloody sick of constant unannounced road works clogging up the town every time I try to drive anywhere. Yes, yes, pothole repairs are needed, but they haven't appeared overnight.
    Today, MB had his (postponed) appt. with the hospital vampires.
    Roughy speaking, a half hour job. Middle of the day; I was none too chuffed as I had other plans for today that did not include driving in, round or through Colchester. But needs must; it wasn't his fault that a patient chose to have a heart attack on Monday.
    However, every road was closed or restricted because of roadworks. The particular egregious example was the area around North Station; road totally closed No warning notices until you were actually in the queue and wondering what the blue blistering blazes was going on.
    So, a job that should have taken half an hour took two hours. Everyone – including nurses – were late.
    On the plus side, I took MB home via the scenic route which included a couple of villages north of Colchester. We made half hearted attempts to admire the daffodils and signs of the hedges blossoming and greening up.
    Notices placed a mile or so away from the sites would have allowed at least half the trapped drivers to replan their routes. But, hey ho, who are we to value our time?
    End of rant!!!!!!

    1. Its the end of the financial year, commit any funds available or lose them next financial year.

      1. Good point! Isn't this the time of year when government departments splash out on new office furniture and fittings?

        1. Not just government. The most important lesson I learnt from my boss after leaving the military was never to have uncommitted funds. As soon as funds were available after budget approval commit everything, then they can't reallocate them, a thing that often happened due to overspend in some departments because of lousy management.

          1. Happens in all companies – don't spend your budget this year, and the accountants will reduce next year's. We used to practice the fine art of stocking the data center (yes, it was a US one) with stuff we went through regularly – like tapes used for back ups, extra disc drives, etc., etc., for that exact purpose. If there was still money in the pot, a major UPS servie could be brought forward – there were twin V-16 GM diesels to provide power generation when needed, serious bits of kit and seriously expensive to look after.

          2. It was the same when I was head of department; buy books and stationery so we didn't have a surplus at the end of the financial year.

          3. Where I worked in the civil service, any surplus at the end of the year was construed as evidence that you had been allocated too much and so would have a greatly reduced allocation next year. If Branches overspent, it was taken as evidence that they had been allocated too little and, guess what?

    2. We have the reverse problem. We have diversion signs and road closed warnings, then they don't close the roads!

      1. Actually, there has been a warning like that for some months on one of the roads running north.
        I've yet to discover where this fantasy work is happening.

  68. Go on Nige..
    you're dying to tell us that Farage Ltd think it a grand idea to rejoin & adopt the digital euro.

    1. It is notable how many nations – all with the same denominator – are pushing, no, racing to force a 'digital currency' on the public. All with the same restrictions. All pushing the same lie – we won't abolish cash (but no doubt they'll ensure it is worthless/that you have to present your account ID and the value).

      The lie will be that it's to prevent money laundering and crime, but in reality it'll be used for rationing – energy, fuel, meat, dairy, sugar. All in the hard Left agenda. Before you know it the statte will announce a state of emergency and simply take what is in your account 'for the good of the nation'.

      Oh, and of course, the diversity will be exempt, some diversity given more than others.

      We all know what the hard Left intend, what their plan is. They lie habitually. It's in their nature.

      1. Not sure how the barber shops will take the news.. with all those blockchain transactions recorded on the Treasury ledger.. but I'm sure they will be accommodated somehow.

        1. I think the barber shops and nail bars are part of Create Problem – Implement 'solution' which the government wanted to implement all along.
          They could close them down pretty quickly if they wanted to but 'money-laundering' is such a handy excuse for all kinds of draconian, freedom-destroying legislation.

  69. The British Army is grappling with a severe recruitment shortfall, enlisting only 6,720 soldiers last year—just 63% of its 10,450 target. With a net loss of 300 soldiers per month, critical gaps are emerging across key regiments, threatening the Army’s operational readiness.
    The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) reported just 75,983 active-duty personnel in January 2024—the lowest in over 200 years.
    According to The Telegraph, 15,000 soldiers left the military in the year before October 2024, more than half voluntarily.

    Gurkha soldiers, famed for their battlefield prowess, are set to form a new British Army regiment specializing in artillery—marking a historic shift in their traditional infantry role. They will be deployed to form a new British Army regiment, potentially destined for Ukraine following a peace agreement with Russia.

    In 2009, retired Gurkhas won the right to live in the UK 16,000 took advantage and the current estimated
    population of Nepali people in the UK is around 100,000. Fine soldiers but – more immigrants.

    1. They couldof course, pay more so military families did not need to top up with benefits.

    2. I feel sure that, as a whole, ex-Gurkha soldiers settling in the UK are honest, hardworking, law-abiding, friendly and decent. However, if they do not integrate, they will not benefit the country. Has any study been done to measure whether or not ex-Gurkhas integrate well?

      1. I do think they take loyalty to this country seriously, which is more than can be said for many incomers.

  70. 403515+ up ticks,

    Seemingly with the petition only on 17+ thousand it could be taken as rape & abuse of children is being absorbed into society and taken as a price to be paid for accepting mass uncontrolled immigration introduced through "miranda" a corkscrew type MP/PM, to the English nation via polling stations, and electing labour.

    https://x.com/JNospan61704/status/1901645827845529702

    1. 40355+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      God in heaven, the English majority voters are having a bloody good try,
      even to the extent of swallowing shite on a daily basis.

    2. Feminists appear to be remarkably silent on the issue of Bacha Posh. Prepubescent girls being raped on a daily basis. Once they reach puberty they are then married off to some old goat fucker.

      Let alone boys under the age of 10 years old being raped.

      1. I might add the fact that the police and the authorities in Pakistan/Afghanistan and many UK towns not only turn a blind eye to this abomination many of them are part of it.

    3. Tomorrow there is a judicial hearing about Tommy Robinson. Keep him in your thoughts and wish him luck.

    1. Sorry – I simply do not believe that Cur Ikea sits round watching the telly of an evening. He is supposed to be running the country – flying hither and yon. Greeting thugs such as Zelensky. Having "Cobra" meetings. Ripping off pensioners – you name it – it's not TV watching.

      Lady Victoria Sponge MAY watch a series with her children – but if they are teenagers, I assume they are away in their rooms looking at porn – like normal children. Or gaming.

  72. Keir Starmer says Nigel Farage ‘can’t even lead a party that fits in the back of a taxi’
    Those of us with a long memory know very well that this is plagiarism. Originally a joke about the Liberal Party. The idiot can't even do his own jokes but has to steal them.

    2. That is a reflection on FPTP (First Past The Post).

      Starmer might also note that with far fewer votes than Farage's Party the Lib Dems won 72 seats to Reform's 5.

      Since then Davey has been very shy about beating the usual Lib Dem drum complaining that PR is a fairer system!

      1. In a two-party system, if one party got one vote less than the other in every constituency, it would have no MPs at all. Nationwide, that would be 650 votes less, for a total wipe-out. That's total government based on 0.00095% majority.
        How fair is that?

    3. Yes, that one worked until Cyril Smith was elected! He needed a taxi to himself.

      I was always a big supporter of FPTP as I believed it led to a more balanced government – unlike the appalling horse-trading that seemed to go on in Europe which could give disproportionate influence to extreme parties.

      However, in the last election Labour won a landslide with 20% of the available vote – that cant be right! – and the Libdums getting 70 odd MPs to Reforms 5, despite Reform getting more votes!!!

      Ergo, despite my earlier reservations, I would now support some form of PR, and damn the consequences (they cant be any worse….)

  73. Keir Starmer says Nigel Farage ‘can’t even lead a party that fits in the back of a taxi’
    Those of us with a long memory know very well that this is plagiarism. Originally a joke about the Liberal Party. The idiot can't even do his own jokes but has to steal them.

  74. Now I know how Bob feels after stacking his wood.
    Just brought in a pallet-load of tiles for our bathroom & kitchen refurb. 46 boxes of 20kg each, down the garden steps and stacked neatly in the hall.
    That had to be followed by a sleep in the sofa…. now enough strength has returned for me to start consuming red revivifyer…

    1. When I worked as a roustabout on a rig in the North Sea we had to pile 50 kg sacks of chemical mud in the store room. To begin with this was fine because you put each sack down but as the pile grew higher you had to put each sack up. To begin with we would show off and load two bags at a time but we soon ran out of bravado. Recently I had to make some concrete and even handling 35 kg sacks is very hard work.

      1. Heaviest physical work I ever did was as a late teenaged farmhand, stacking new hay bales by hand. Following the lead of the Foreman, an ancient man by the name of Goody, one learned that it was all in the leg action: Grab the strings, lift, get your knee under it and flip it up by leg power, using the arms just to steer. Not only was one not destroyed after a half-hour, but it went quicker as well.
        Goody was the toughest man I ever knew. Wiry, old and never tired. Knew about pretty well everything, updated on the latest news.

        1. Mine was a summer job as a meat humper at an abattoir, minimum 10 hour days, carting carcasses around.
          As you note, good technique ensures that less effort is involved overall.
          If you missed the chandelier with the eye-hook and dropped the carcass it often took two or three men to get it off the floor and onto the chandelier. Not a popular move, as it stopped the line for everyone.
          By the end of the summer my rugby hand-off was powerful enough to knock opposition players backwards.

  75. Log stacking finished – about 1½ cubic metres. Colin left two lots of logs – those ready to stack; those which need splitting. He has been doing my trees for nearly 30 years – and will retire next year. I dread hearing him say – I am giving up tree work…… But he told me on Monday that he can't wield an axe like he used to. Next time he comes, he'll bring a splitter.

        1. …as the spider said to the fly. You think that you can get away with fuelling him with two or three gallons of tea. He needs and deserves much, much more. {:^))

    2. Of course that is a cord – the measurement we use in France.

      Against a wall a stack of logs, each 50 cms in length with a height of 1 metre and a length of 3 metres gives you cord.

      Before we cut our own logs we got our logs from a local woodman and we were able to see very quickly that he had given us a tightly-packed delivery. Our chap was straight but some less scrupulous people delivered a pile of wood which. when stacked, was well short of a cord.

      1. Interesting. In Laure we bought logs by the “stère” = 1 cubic metre. I didn’t know there was a larger measurement. What is the French for a “cord”, je me demande…?

      2. That suggests that my recent oaks' falling and producing roughly 20 cords was a fair bit of wood.

        It was very, very hard work barrowing it up hill for roughly 200 metres just to get it to the stacking point.

    1. Farage is a busted flush. Wrong about Blair’s intentions, wrong about Rupert Lowe, wrong about the urgent need for mass deportations and on it goes.

      I am finding it difficult to cancel my membership of Farage’s Reform. Anyone found a way to be rid of it yet?

      1. Now that is an interesting aspect of the CBDCs that nobody's flagged up yet.
        If you have cash, you simply don't hand it over.
        If you have a direct debit, you cancel it.
        As CBDCs won't be money and they won't belong to the people in whose bank account they sit, it's pretty well known that the bank (read; government) would be able to stop your money. But they could of course equally well force you to spend out for stuff you don't want.
        Everything so far has been done by coercing people to take decisions that harm themselves, so that they ultimately had nobody else to blame. But who knows how it will go in the future?

      3. I have been told that Reform have raddled the exit route from their website. Lots of people are trying to get out but can't. Typical Farage tactics. If only Nagsman was still here to give us the inside story…Gawd Bless her.

    2. I wouldn't rule out Farage welcoming Blair into the Reform Party.

      He is determined to kill The Reform Party as he is beginning to get terrified of actually winning office and having to back up his words with actions.

      1. As I have said on other forums, in my opinion he's Been knobled by the establishment.
        Actions speak louder than words, look for the actions in the future and also evaluate the past.
        To me Yusuf is a busted flush, if Farage won't get shot, that tells another tale.

      2. The one thing that would kill Reform stone dead would be Blair joining it!
        What on earth are they playing at? Is it a simple plan to nobble any and every small party as it rises?

  77. Well that was a pleasant day out with Step-son.
    Got to his flat, helped him with a couple of bills and then had a run down to Stafford where I treated him to lunch, did a bit of shopping and he then went to catch his bus back to Stoke.
    As I mentioned earlier, I came back via Amerton Farm Shop where I did a bit more shopping.

    After the cold morning, it's warmed up quite nicely this afternoon.

    1. Considering how many dogs I've had over the years and they have all licked me at one time or another, I should be dead many times over.

    2. I wouldn’t mind betting that there have been fatal reactions to using toothpaste, soap or lip salve let alone contact with the bodily fluids of others after engaging in certain physical interactions.

      1. You can catch far more things from the same species (human to human) than you can across species (human to domestic animals for instance).

        2. That sounds like the warning that servicemen used to get when posted to the Far East.

    3. Haven't read it all, but dogs licking their own wounds is a natural and beneficial action. Humans (a lot of them at least) always screw things up.

  79. I was in superb shape after that summer of heavy work.
    Tractor and mower broke down away from the farm – the axle fell off the mower. I lifted the mower unaided, replaced the axle with one hand and then ran several miles back to the farm to get the Landrover and welder… aahhh… good times!
    Was in great shape in the sack, as well. SWMBO was one happy lass!

  80. Wordle No. 1,369 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 19 Mar 2025

    A flash for Birdie Three!

    1. #MeToo – I'm on a very good run at the moment with my starter word(s), delivering yet another nailed-on birdie – I suspect that will come to a shuddering halt in the next day or so…..
      Wordle 1,368 3/6

      Wordle 1,369 3/6

      ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨
      ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Par for me today.

      Wordle 1,369 4/6

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

    4. Just back from a good pub session.

      I think I did it in 3. Will just post.

      Wordle 1,369 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜
      🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      Yes, a birdie.

  82. What's the truth behind Trump offering White South African farmers U.S. citizenship? 10 March 2025.

    President Trump doubled down Friday on his offer to grant U.S. citizenship to White Afrikaner farmers in South Africa, accusing their government of treating them "terribly." Mr. Trump said the U.S. would offer them "safety" and that they would be given a "rapid pathway to citizenship."

    Mr. Trump had previously pointed to new land expropriation laws in South Africa that he claims are racist and a breach of the White farmers' human rights. In reaction to the laws, he has halted all foreign aid to South Africa.

    This is a welcome move though the Afrikaners are not as enthusiastic as might be supposed. This I suspect is mostly inertia. Moving to another country is a big step and it is human nature to cling to what you know. Nevertherless in my view they should get out while they can. South Africa is sinking and they will be the scapegoats for it.

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-south-africa-farmers-white-afrikaners-offer-us-citizenship/

    2. Many of the white farmers were murdered to drive them off their property's. Same thing happened further north when Mugabe was handed the lead by Wilson's devious actions.
      What is never mentioned is that a lot of white people in South Africa are more African than many of the others who moved south to take advantage of the more modern environment created by whites.
      Quite a few went to live in Australia when it all went wrong for them.

      1. Yes, when we were in Australia – got to be 35 years or so ago, we met a number of South Africans who had emigrated. All said the same thing, once majority rule really takes effect, the country is doomed. And they were right.

        Probably a lot harder for farmers to give up their land, but either they do, or it will get taken – just like Rhodesia.

    3. I know very few Afrikaners. My son-in-law is one, although he speaks 'posh Anglo' having got a rowing scholarship to Eton and thence to Durham University. 'Surrender' is not part of their vocabulary.

          1. Best way. European South Africans and especially Rhodesians, are good people and prepared to fight for theit land.

      1. Yes, but the indigenous black Africans will feel superior (the wealthy ones at least), until the mealie flour runs out.

  84. Who would buy them Paul? Not the blacks. They are envious of them but show no interest in taking them over.

    2. So, the farmers won't leave.
      Never underestimate the attachment to the land you farm and those who work it with you.

  85. There is an interesting article by MiriAF on her Substack
    "By slashing disability benefits now (just as they have ruthlessly disabled millions more with their Covid injections), the ruling classes are testing the waters for social attitudes towards non-workers. They are evaluating the public reaction, to see whether there is uniform outrage that vulnerable people are being penalised and jeopardised like this, or rather, if the populace can be stirred up to support the cuts, by being encouraged to see the non-working as a useless, parasitical class, sucking up workers' hard-earned wealth."

    She sees the cuts to disability benefits as part splitting society into a minority of privileged workers and a large number of people put out of work due to AI taking their jobs, coupled with UBI and 'assisted dying'
    Of course, importing millions of functionally illiterate people into Europe is helping that along nicely.

    1. I just count my blessings that Covid-19 injections have left me unscathed. However, I am now confident that I am one of the few who are immune to their ill effects, so I will continue to take them. I'm determined to get as much out of the NHS as possible, whether or not I need it. I might even have already taken more out than I've paid in without being in any way swarthy. How about that?

      2. Take care. The injections don't protect you from anything and apparently some ill effects may not manifest themselves for up to 5 years

        1. The advantage of being so old is that elongated manifestation of ill effects will become far less apparent than if one were younger.

      3. I think you will find the vast majority suffered no side effects – excluding the Astra Zeneca vaccine, which they never even submitted for approval in the US, and which is now apparently withdrawn from the market.

        Being certifiably "elderly", I have had vaccines (Pfizer) regularly since they were first available with zero side effects, not even a sore arm, despite being with close family who turned out to have Covid – very mild though, due to the fact they had had their "shots" as they are called here.

        1. It has never been claimed that everyone who got the covid jabs ended up injured. The percentage of injured is however, far too high for the jabs to remain on the market. Other medications have been withdrawn for a far smaller percentage of injuries.
          And the somewhat provocative point made by Miri is actually correct – there is a group of people now claiming disability benefits because of jab injuries.

      4. Those taking the Covid shots, if containing DNA or of the MRNA variety (Moderna and Pfeizer) are GMO.

        Several middle aged friends of mine suffered from having succumbed to these shots and one died instantly with an aortic embolism despite having been very active and fit.

          1. Genetically Modified Organism. Some say you are now GMO if you have had the mRNA shots.

    2. Appeals are in the near future. But Trump has to accept he cannot rule by decree. Still, Congress, who are the ones to make the laws, is so full of people scared to cross him in any way, because they know he will do his best to make sure they don't get re-elected – and that's just people in his own party.

    3. Wiki – "Ana Cecilia Reyes is an Uruguayan-born American lawyer who has served as United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia since 2023" Described by Pink News as "trailblazing lesbian Judge"

  88. That's me for this delightful day. The joy of being W ARM in the garden instead of shrimmed with the cold. 2½ hours useful log stacking – the MR is just back and is satisfied with what I did! Another bonus. Market tomorrow then more gardening.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.,

  89. I think Starmer needs to be taught a lesson; he is PM of the UK, not the EU or the Rest of the World.

  90. When America sneezes…

    The latest legal assault against Donald Trump is an offence against democracy

    Perhaps the Democrats will win a few cases. But they won't win over the American public

    Fred Lucas • 19 March 2025, 4:27pm GMT

    Democrats have momentarily abandoned their quixotic quest to imprison Donald Trump. Yet their fixation on lawfare – weaponising the legal system as a political cudgel – remains undeterred. Despite its previous failures, the strategy trudges on, now shifting from criminal prosecutions to civil litigation.

    A phalanx of Left-leaning non-profits has unleashed a torrent of lawsuits – more than 100 planned this year – targeting Trump administration policies.

    The lawsuits challenge immigration enforcement, efforts to rein in the federal bureaucracy, and new policies on transgender issues in school sports. The flood-the-zone playbook is clear: overwhelm the administration with legal entanglements, hoping for victories in the lower courts, where sympathetic Democrat-appointed judges might provide temporary relief.

    But the track record of lawfare – criminal or civil – offers little cause for optimism among Trump's adversaries. Criminal charges collapsed under the weight of their own overreach. Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, once heralded as the death knell of the first Trump presidency, sputtered to a conclusion that even most partisans reluctantly accepted. Two House impeachments failed in Senate trials. After Trump lost the 2020 election, the subsequent barrage of investigations and indictments by the Biden Justice Department and Democratic state prosecutors commenced.

    The pile-on, accompanied by undemocratic efforts to disqualify Trump from state ballots, is thought to have pushed fence-sitters towards Trump in 2024, and bolstered his populist credentials. The Democrats' only trophy from the effort was the legal farce of a New York conviction tied to an alleged decades-old dalliance.

    Even if they gain a congressional majority in the 2026 elections, Democrats might still decide that it would be futile to attempt another impeachment. Well, never say never. But stopping Trump in the courts appears to be the strategy for the moment.

    And, yes, some of the civil cases have been gaining some traction. The Supreme Court only accepts about 75 cases per year, which means more liberal circuit court rulings could stand. Moreover, the mostly conservative Supreme Court has shown a willingness to rule against Trump if justices think he's wrong.

    But as a strategy, civil litigation is unlikely to fare that much better. The American public has grown weary of the sanctimonious woke scolds endlessly fixated on vanquishing one man.

    Trump's policies – however contentious – align with the views of the majority of Americans. Cracking down on illegal immigration, rooting out government waste, and preventing biological males from playing women's sports are not fringe positions. They are mainstream convictions. The optics of entrenched federal bureaucrats, for example, complaining about being held to similar standards to most private sector-workers, will do little to rally popular sympathy.

    Lawfare, once the province of banana republics, now masquerades as the last redoubt of democracy. But it is a perilous game. The American people – stubbornly independent – are likely to resent the use of the legal system for partisan ends. They know that democracy is not preserved by judicial fiat or bureaucratic intransigence but by the ballot box.

    The irony shouldn't have been lost on the would-be saviours of the country. In their relentless pursuit to destroy Trump, they helped guarantee his return to power in the 2024 election. The civil strategy could be another boomerang.

    Fred Lucas is manager of the Investigative Reporting Project at The Daily Signal. He is the author of 'The Myth of Voter Suppression: The Left's Assault on Clean Elections'

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2025/03/19/latest-legal-assault-against-donald-trump-offence-democracy

    1. It's about time that US Presidents, of whatever hue, were temporarily excused from being prosecuted personally, apart from Impeachment, during their tenure.
      It is a total distraction.

      If it must continue, then any case brought and lost should result in the litigant being fined/imprisoned/punished in the way that they were seeking for the President.

      2. A good many of these lawsuits are being brought because Trump/Musk are taking actions on things which are the purview of Congress, i.e. where the executive branch, headed by the president, has no authority. The presidency is but one leg of the US government – by design, the others being Congress and the judiciary.

        Law making – or repealing, raising taxes, declaring war, etc., are part of the duties of Congress, not the president.

        1. I don't mind those.

          The problem you have is that the judiciary has been politicised; quite deliberately.

          I was pleased when Roberts intervened. But it's time that personal attacks on partisan lines were restricted.

          It's the cases where it is purely action at the personal level that I object to.

          1. Those "personal level" lawsuits are being brought by lawyers, who may be politicized or just hired guns, though we have issue focused law practices, just like the UK.. What US lawyers do, is to try to find a judge with a sympathetic ear to take their case. The good news is, all this stuff gets appealed, maybe up to SCOTUS. That's probably where most of the cases involving Trump will end up.

          2. But what a waste of time and money!!

            And for me the real issue is that that court time could be used so much better, dealing with things that really matter, such as the sterilisation of youngsters who are too young and immature to realise what is being done to them by people with “an agenda”.

        2. "Law making – or repealing, raising taxes, declaring war, etc., are part of the duties of Congress, not the president."

          If stopping a war is also down to Congress, they don't seem to be doing a good job.

    1. The production of humanoid robots is very sinister. There is no need for a machine doing a job to act like a human.

    3. Just glad I'm exiting this world rather than just coming into it. I fear for our only grandchild.

      1. I know.

        Perhaps you missed the joke, subtle though it may have been (the cast provide a clue).

        1. Great "British" Railways with foreign slammer women "workers"?

          Was that the joke?

  95. I believe the words "proud" and "pride" are often misused. I consider the terms should involve satisfaction, self-esteem, pleasure in one's achievements, in things one has striven to be or acquire.

    An example of pride in what one simply has or who one is struck me just a short time ago. The goalkeeper, Tim Howard, is hosting a programme about neurodivergence in the world of football, and he claimed to be proud of his own neurodivergence in that he has Tourettes and ADHD.

    While I can understand how he might very well have become accepting and unashamed of his conditions, pride seems misplaced. He hasn't set out to have these conditions and tried hard to achieve them, becoming proud of succeeding in his efforts, he just happens to have them, in the same way he happens to have the colour of his eyes and hair.

    Would one be proud of having bulimia, a heart defect, arthritis, curly hair or long fingers? I think not, but am I being too prescriptive? Perhaps it's better to just allow people to take pride in who they are and what nature has given them, rather than feeling shame, embarrassment or awkwardness.

    3. Tim Howard was great value (and not a bad keeper!).

      Everton fans used to sing (to the tune of Chim-Chimeney from Mary Poppins);

      Tim Timiney Tim Timiney
      Tim Tim Taroo
      We've got Tim Howard
      And he says Fuck You

      Away fans used to sing

      Swear in a minute
      You're gonna swear in a minute

      You've just got to love football crowds……

    4. The gross women who call themselves ‘plus-size models’ always say how ‘proud’ they are to show their fat bodies to the world.

    5. Yes, it's a question of coming to terms with your 'uncontrollable' extant conditions, being proud or having pride in them is nonsensical.

    6. 'Pride' has been hijacked – there is nothing to be proud of by being a homosexual. It's a life choice, one made freely. No one else should care because it's nothing to do with anyone but the person making the choice.

    1. It’s very odd how Celtic never get sanctioned or fined for their Green Brigade bigots behaviour. Oh, and the Palestinian flag waving, booing the National Anthem and damning the Royal Family!

      1. I think it was a general complaint, it just happened to be expressed at that game.
        I may be wrong.

        1. You can be sure that "defend Europe" will have been interpreted as anti-Turkish and thus anti-Muslim by the PTB.

          1. Of course it will. For some insane reason they want the continent flooded with savages who rape and murder.

            Ah, but the reason isn't strange at all. They're clients. The hard left desperately need a victim and decent, honest, law abiding, nuclear family inhabiting working white folk who cause no trouble are not that.

            The Left far away prefer to spray the brown sewage around to make the place stink and then force decent people to clean up their mess.

  97. Appointment with the surgeon in the morning.
    Im not sure what it will actually achieve as I have several appointments over the last 6 years with medically qualified people and no progress at all. Oh well we will see.
    Slayders Nottlers, good night all. 🤞

    3. Only joking:

      Tell them that you injured your knee kneeling in support of George Floyd and BLM

      You'll be fixed by Friday.

      1. 😅

        I’ll tell him that I’ve converted and I’ll be sending the Boyz round if he doesn’t fix it.

  99. I'd just like to point out that Jon Pertwee is the only Dr Who, Sean Connery is the only James Bond. That Jeremy Brett was the only Sherlock Holmes and Joan Hickson was the only Miss Marple. Good night.

    1. I'm a "William Hartnell is the real Dr Who" advocate.
      SC, I agree, but DC has been good.
      Basil Rathbone for SH
      JH, on the money.

        1. He's got the attitude down to a "T"
          I look at the films from how I pictured the books

    3. I liked Moore's sardonic take. Dalton was closer to the books, Brosnan was perhaps the best combination of characters.

      For me Dr Who was McCoy or Tom Baker. Baker was more madcap genius, McCoy the paternal, wise, but also the dark humour.

    1. That's got to be 60 or 70 on the same oversized inflatable dinghy. We've had strongish easterlies here in the west but it's dropped to gentle southerlies now, fine invasion weather.

      1. Why is getting rid of the criminal so difficult? They've no right to be here. Get rid of them. Starmer seems desperate to defend Ukraine, perhaps he could start by properly defending this country.

    1. The dindu pollution has been poured over this country. It is time to wash it away and get rid of them. If the Left wing state doesn't like it, they can go too.

      1. Will voting get rid of them? I think not. There are simply nowhere near enough people willing to vote for parties pledged to expel them. Only terrorism, including indiscriminate murder and the self-martyrdom of those brave enough to sacrifice their freedom for the cause, be capable of yielding anything like that outcome. The IRA showed what was possible for those willing to resort to evil violence. Northern Ireland is now a semi-detached part of the UK. That would not have been possible without the IRA murdering innocent civilians. Are you and those who yearn for what you wish for willing to resort to such actions?

  104. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/03/19/starmer-faces-councillor-exodus-over-benefit-cuts/

    Yet welfare does need to be cut, and cut radically. It is simply not fair that any old jobbie can cadge vast amounts of money from the public and worse, other people who need the money.

    However the ones to scrap are child benefit and housing benefit. A start would be forbidding it to anyone who wasn't born in this country. Revocation of child benefit is just sensible – return it to married couples as a tax rebate. No work, no money.

    Scrapping Housing benefit would drop house prices as people could only afford what they can pay. It'd get the dross out for a start. Why should they be given a free flat or house?

  106. A short conversation about this please.

    Beyond Andrew Tate: the imitators who help promote misogyny online
    ‘Manosphere’ influencers profit from pushing sexist ideas alongside more innocuous lifestyle advice

    Group of Labour MPs seeking to steer young men away from ‘toxic influencers’

    While Andrew Tate has become a household name for his brand of misogyny mixed with get-rich-quick tips, he is far from the only online influencer promoting dangerous ideas alongside more innocuous lifestyle advice.

    Gareth Southgate highlighted the role of “callous, manipulative and toxic influencers” in shaping problematic worldviews among young men and in harming their mental health. Here are some of the people he could be referring to.

    Blah blah blah .

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/mar/19/beyond-andrew-tate-the-imitators-who-help-promote-misogyny-online

    Misogyny, no mention of Muslims , eh?

    Violence against women .. has always been , but the worst culprits are blacks and Arabic / Urdu speaking Muslims

    1. I know this isn't your point. Belle. but Tate has recently converted to Islam. From my PoV that destroys any possibility that he is not the toxic, woman-hating scum that he has been cracked up to be (I had my doubts before his conversion, on the grounds that anyone so wildly reviled by the wokists must be onto something).

      Having said that, this is pure and reprehensible prejudice on my part (and a smidgeon of visceral revulsion) as I know very little about him and have only endured a few minutes of watching him interviewed, where he did make some excellent arguments.

      He is not stupid but he is very arrogant and, I think, venal.

        1. Piers Morgan is hardly mega brain, is he? He is a popinjay with a smart mouth, at best.

    2. Andrew Tate is a household name? Andrex is a household name. What is he known for?

  107. Well, chums, it's bedtime for me. So I wish you all a Good Night. Sleep well, and I hope to see you all tomorrow morning.

Comments are closed.