Wednesday 20 November: Reeves attacked farmers without thinking through the consequences

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

704 thoughts on “Wednesday 20 November: Reeves attacked farmers without thinking through the consequences”

        1. Ogga – 'Motning'

          Ogga, I believe you have just coined a new phrase: "to do a reeves"' meaning to go back and quietly alter important but erroneous information.

          It may get up there with 'Darwin awards' for stupidity and 'MRD' (Mandy Rice Davies) awards for saying "He would say that, wouldn't he".

          Well done. And I mean that.

  7. Fibbing Reeves has taken us for fools – and it’s backfiring spectacularly
    Despite her CV inexactitudes, the Chancellor might still cling on because of Labour’s paucity of alternative talent

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/11/19/TELEMMGLPICT000398092362_17320398770070_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqElF0I9gVKkQRgim_zrL4AWWabBQ2DintFhNkCkLq_zA.jpeg?imwidth=680

    Annabel Denham Columnist and Deputy Comment Editor
    19 November 2024 5:59pm GMT

    It would be tempting to feel a modicum of sympathy for Rachel Reeves. As two-tier Keir gallivants the globe, our neophyte Chancellor has been lumped with defending Labour’s indefensible domestic policy. It cannot be easy coming into a key post like this with no previous experience in government and no detectable political nous. She’s making enemies Left, Right and centre, and may soon discover that even her union chums will desert her when economic reality bites.

    But reader, do not give into this urge. Since assuming the role, Reeves has barely uttered a single truth: the claim Labour inherited the “worst set of circumstances” since the Second World War was a nonsense, her promises not to raise taxes on “working people” were hollow. She was at it again this week, justifying her inheritance tax raid on grounds it is necessary in order to “invest in… [our] health services”, as though the NHS isn’t already showered with riches.

    Even before the election, Reeves appeared to display a somewhat loose relationship with the truth. She is facing accusations of breaching the ministerial code, after reportedly embellishing her CV to suggest she had worked as an economist for the Bank of Scotland before standing for Parliament. Her LinkedIn profile has been changed to reflect that she had actually spent three years in retail banking at Halifax.

    This would be easier to shrug off as a momentary lapse were it not for her proclamations that she “knows how to run an economy”, or the fact that her most recent book pulled chunks of material from other sources, including Wikipedia, without acknowledgement. She joins a long line of LSE graduates whose training in economic theory seems to have drummed any common sense out of them.

    Reeves might feel “deeply proud to be Britain’s first female Chancellor” but, for now at least, we still live in a country that values performance over progressivism. And she is conceivably the worst holder of the post, excluding those of very short tenure, since Anthony Barber triggered a wage-price spiral and massive inflation in the 1970s. Of course, from Elizabeth I’s Sir Richard Sackville onwards, the Exchequer has been a poisoned chalice. There’s rarely been a shortage of eager candidates, but few have had much clue about what to do with it and fewer still enhanced their reputation as a consequence of their stint.

    Businesses are now warning that Labour’s hike to employers’ national insurance and increase in the minimum wage makes job losses “inevitable”. However innumerate Reeves may at times appear, she must have known that no chancellor can squeeze £25 billion out of the economy without knock-on effects. And bosses are predictably irked: a new survey from even the milquetoast CBI has found that close to two-thirds have a negative view of the Budget.

    As pollster Luke Tryl reminds us, pensioners, farmers and small businesses owners – the big losers from the Budget – all “attract significant public sympathy beyond their own numbers and can be highly effective campaigners”. Scrapping the winter fuel payment (WFP) and ending agricultural tax relief might appeal to the bright sparks toiling at the Treasury, but they are politically calamitous.

    Yet in Reeves, they have one of their own: a bean-counter who shares their proprietary attitude towards other people’s money. She won’t be stung by the WFP in the way George Osborne was by the pasty tax; it’ll just be another of those supposedly “difficult decisions” such as cracking down on non-doms or slapping VAT on private school fees.

    Is it time for Reeves to go? Tough though it would be to hold back a tear, recent Tory experience cautions against switching ministers every five minutes. In 2022, let us not forget, we had four chancellors. And who would replace her? Louise Haigh, the Transport Secretary, would probably try to nationalise the FTSE100. Angela Rayner might force us all into the employ of the state. Shabana Mahmood seems to think women aren’t responsible for the decisions they make, which rather disqualifies her from becoming our next female chancellor. Bridget Phillipson says exam results don’t matter, so neither would growth rates presumably: “happiness, wellbeing and inclusion” being more important.

    Five more years of Reeves might fill you with dread. But look around the intellectually challenged nonentities who make up the rest of the Cabinet, and consider the harrowing possibility that things could be worse.

    Starmer has made a poor choice. But we’re stuck with her.

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

    Jimmy Boy
    11 hrs ago
    Reeves in charge of the economy, Cooper in charge of immigration, Lammy in charge of foreign policy, Miliband in charge of energy, an overgrown pink-haired teenager in charge of transport… and Starmer overseeing them all.
    I don't really have the words. If it was comedy it would be too slapstick to be funny.

    Tony Birtwistle
    11 hrs ago
    Reply to Jimmy Boy – view message
    Brilliantly put Jimmy. Why does that pink haired idiot think it is acceptable to look like a teenage rebel whilst supposedly working as a minister?? Don't get me wrong, the rest are completely inadequate beyond belief but it demonstrates the level of (or complete lack of) professionalism expected to serve in this puerile government.

    2. They are children playing at politics. Sixth form common room failures who have never grown up. None have the faintest clue what they're doing. The problem is, they're not really the ones making the decisions. There are entire departments around them. Around these monoliths to failure sit expensive, pointless quangos duplicating the effort. They farm the work off to fake charities.

      At each step, vast amounts of public money goes into organisations that say 'make big government ever bigger'. None of them think of the public.

  8. Good Morning Geoff and everyone
    Today's Tale carries a trigger warning for Catholics

    The drunk boarded the bus, took a seat next to a priest and began reading his newspaper. After a while, in a slurred voice, the drunk asked the priest, “Do you know what causes arthritis?”
    The priest looked at the drunk disdainfully. “Yes, my man. I can tell you. It’s too much alcohol! Too much immoral living! Too much smoking. How long have you had it?”
    “S’not me,” said the drunk. “It sez here the Pope’s got it.”

  10. Putin’s empty nuclear threats of World War Three shouldn’t stop Starmer. Hamish de Crettin-Gordon 20 November 2024.

    Still, we must keep in mind that the Russian leader’s warnings have always been bluff and bluster in this regard. Now he says that if a non-nuclear nation attacks Russia supported by a nuclear nation, he will escalate to nuclear attack. But this has always been Russian nuclear doctrine, certainly since the last major review in 2014 and restated by Putin at a press conference in October 2022.

    They are “bluff and “bluster” until they aren’t.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/19/the-battle-for-kursk-has-begun-ukraine-must-prevail/

    1. Quite.

      "Well Hamish if you're wrong, what then; if Putin nukes Kiev are you going to retaliate, and if so where will you stop?"

  11. 397122+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Gives you a warm glow does it not that is, to deny yourself and give to others, the elderly can keep warm this yuletide
    knitting socks / cloves knowing their financial input is waiting at the bottom of the ocean, waiting for another war to be orchestrated.

    To come,
    A missile has destroyed the only research centre that had the cure for cancer etc.

    https://x.com/Lindstar24/status/1858841168814944592

    https://x.com/Lindstar24/status/1858841168814944592

  12. This could be fun…

    MPs to summon Elon Musk to testify about X’s role in UK summer riots

    Commons inquiry into rise of harmful content on social media also expected to call Meta and TikTok executives

    Robert Booth and Jessica Elgot
    Wed 20 Nov 2024 05.00 GMT
    Share
    MPs are to summon Elon Musk to testify about X’s role in spreading disinformation, in a parliamentary inquiry into the UK riots and the rise of false and harmful AI content, the Guardian has learned.

    Senior executives from Meta, which runs Facebook and Instagram, and TikTok are also expected to be called for questioning as part of a Commons science and technology select committee social media inquiry.

    The first hearings will take place in the new year, amid rising concern that UK online safety laws risk being outpaced by rapidly advancing technology and the politicisation of platforms such as X.

    The MPs will investigate the consequences of generative AI, which was used in widely shared images posted on Facebook and X inciting people to join Islamophobic protests after the killing of three schoolgirls in Southport in August. They will also investigate Silicon Valley business models that “encourage the spread of content that can mislead and harm”.

    “[Musk] has very strong views on multiple aspects of this,” said Chi Onwurah, the Labour chair of the select committee. “I would certainly like the opportunity to cross-examine him to see … how he reconciles his promotion of freedom of expression with his promotion of pure disinformation.”

    Musk, the owner of X, fumed when he was not invited to a UK government international investment summit in September. Onwurah told the Guardian: “I’d like to make up for that by inviting him to attend.”

    Former Labour minister Peter Mandelson, tipped to become the next UK ambassador to Washington, this week called for an end to the “feud” between Musk and the UK government.

    “He is a sort of technological, industrial, commercial phenomenon,” Mandelson told the How to Win an Election podcast. “And it would be unwise, in my view, for Britain to ignore him. You cannot pursue these feuds.”

    X did not respond when asked if Musk would testify in the UK, although it appears unlikely. The world’s richest man is preparing to take on a senior role in the Trump White House and has been highly critical of the Labour government, including weighing in on changes to inheritance tax on farms by saying on Monday that “Britain is going full Stalin”. During the riots that followed the Southport killings he said: “Civil war is inevitable.”

    The Commons inquiry comes amid fresh turbulence in the social media landscape as millions of X users move to Bluesky, a new platform, with many migrating in protest at misinformation, the presence of once-banned users such as Tommy Robinson and Andrew Tate, and updated service terms that allow the platform to train its AI models on user data.

    Keir Starmer said on Tuesday he had “no plans” to move his or government accounts from X. The prime minister told reporters at the G20 summit in Brazil: “What’s important for a government is that we’re able to reach as many people and communicate with as many people as possible, and that’s the sole test for any of this as far as I’m concerned.”

    After Musk was not invited to the UK government investment summit, he said: “I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted paedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts.”

    One person jailed after the riots was Lucy Connolly, who posted on X: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards for all I care.” She was convicted under the Public Order Act for publishing material intending to stir up racial hatred. X found the post did not violate its rules against violent threats.

    Onwurah said the inquiry would attempt to “get to the bottom of the links between social media algorithms, generative AI, and the spread of harmful or false content”.

    It will also look at the use of AI to supplement search engines such as Google, which was found recently to be regurgitating false and racist claims about people in African countries having low average IQs. Google said the AI overviews containing the claims had violated its policies and had been removed.

    After the Southport killings on 29 July misinformation swept through social media, with accounts with more than 100,000 followers falsely naming the alleged attacker as a Muslim asylum seeker.

    Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, has already concluded some platforms “were used to spread hatred, provoke violence targeting racial and religious groups, and encourage others to attack and set fire to mosques and asylum accommodation”.

    Next month, Ofcom will publish the rules on illegal harms under the Online Safety Act, which are expected to require social media companies to prevent the spread of illegal material and mitigate safety risks, including policing activity that provokes violence or stirs up hatred, and false communications intended to cause harm.

    Firms will have to remove illegal material once they are aware of it and address safety risks in the design of their products.

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/nov/20/mps-summon-elon-musk-x-role-uk-summer-riots

    https://i2-prod.chroniclelive.co.uk/incoming/article12986177.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200/chitweet.jpg

    1. The first hearings will take place in the new year, amid rising concern that UK online safety laws risk being outpaced by rapidly advancing technology and the politicisation of platforms such as X.

      We can only hope so and thank God that Musk is here to protect our rights. He would be foolish to come to the UK which is now a totalitarian Police State. Arrest would be a real possibility.

      1. Ahem
        PARIS/MOSCOW, Aug 25 (Reuters) – Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire founder and owner of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing on a private jet late on Saturday and placed in custody, three sources told Reuters.
        The arrest of the 39-year-old technology billionaire prompted on Sunday a warning from Moscow to Paris that he should be accorded his rights and criticism from X owner Elon Musk who said that free speech in Europe was under attack.
        'Morning Minty

    2. A fascist adding to the on line harm bill. Just what this country needs.

      It is NOT for the state to legislate how children use the internet. That is for their parents. If those parents are not doing that them they're deficient in their duty. How about you solve the problem at source and stop paying flipping wasters to breed?

    3. They really are a bunch of pipsqueaks inflated with their self-importance.
      Do they seriously think Musk will rock up in their pathetic committee room to be berated like a schoolboy who has broken a classroom window?

      1. Billionaire. Friend and confidant of the next President of the United States. A massive diplomatic incident if they lay a finger on him.
        They can't do to him what they did to Tommy Robinson.

        Musk is also expert in reading body language. He comes very close to being able to read your mind.

        The Select Committee have already made up their minds. Kangaroo court that it is.

        I hope Elon Musk does come. He will run rings around them. Chew them up and spit them out.

    1. "Human Rights" and "Communist agenda" linked in the same sentence, an oxymoron if ever I saw one.

  14. Dame Priti Appalling
    7h
    O/T '‘My first job was on the farm. I grew up in the countryside. All of my family live in the countryside, and we’re a rural family. I’m the only one that lives in a city.’ Two Tier Free Gear Never Here, speaking to Christopher Hope in Rio.

    Mr Davies
    Dame Priti Appalling
    4h
    Starmer grew up in the countryside in a tool factory.

    William Ager
    Dame Priti Appalling
    5h
    And on the farm my job was to milk the bulls…

  21. Good morning chums andGeoff (thanks for todays new site).

    Wordle 1,250 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
    ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  24. Northerners have an ear for fake accents

    The Daily Telegraph 20 Nov 2024

    Yae cannae kid a Geordie or a Scot with a fake accent – they’re far too canny, according to a study. Northerners, Scots and the Irish are far better at spotting interlopers imitating their dialects, while southerners struggle to detect phoney parlance.

    Experts from the University of Cambridge argue that strong cultural identities in areas such as Belfast, Dublin, Glasgow and the North East may have made locals wary of outsiders, and more adept at picking out frauds.

    In contrast, communities in the south are more transient so may have less desire to keep strangers at arm’s length. The study was published in Evolutionary

    Of course Southerners fail to detect phoney accents, because their own accents are so phoney.

    "Received Pronunciation" and "Estuary English" are nothing more than noise pollution.🤣

    1. Northern dialects are mostly unintelligible to those not familiar with them. Similarly for broad Norfolk.

  25. Police force at centre of Allison Pearson row did not investigate controversial imam

    Users of X, formerly Twitter, alerted Essex Police to comments by Shaykh Shams Ad-Duha Muhammad

    Neil Johnston

    19 November 2024 8:30pm GMT

    The police force at the centre of the Allison Pearson row has not investigated a controversial imam who called for “Zionists” to be destroyed.

    Users of X, formerly Twitter, alerted Essex Police to comments by Shaykh Shams Ad-Duha Muhammad after footage of him calling for “punishment” of those who support the existence of Israel was posted.

    The imam’s remarks came during a sermon at Hamptons Sports and Leisure Centre, in Chelmsford, last year. On Monday, Essex’s police, fire and crime commissioner had been due to speak at the same leisure centre before the address was cancelled with 90 minutes notice.
    Advertisement

    Users responding to the post tagged Essex Police’s X account, urging it to “investigate”, but the force said this cannot be used as a report of a crime.

    Essex Police has come under scrutiny over its decision to investigate Pearson, a Telegraph columnist, over an allegedly offensive tweet a year ago.

    Two officers visited her home on Remembrance Sunday and invited her for an interview over “an incident or offence of potentially inciting racial hatred online”.

    She is being investigated under section 17 of the Public Order Act 1986, relating to material allegedly “likely or intended to cause racial hatred” over a tweet on Nov 16 last year.

    It can now be revealed that, three days before Pearson tweeted, the footage of Ad-Duha Muhammad’s comments was flagged to the force on social media.

    Speaking in Arabic, he called in prayer: “O Allah, destroy the Zionists who fight your allies and obstruct your path. O Allah, seize them with a mighty and powerful grip, O Lord of the worlds, and unleash upon them your punishment that cannot be repelled by the criminal people.”

    In the footage, viewed more than 6,000 times, he called for Allah to “defeat the enemy” and to “support their fighters” and to “grant us victory over the disbelieving people”.

    In another clip, in which he spoke in English, he said the word jihad had been “polluted” in “the age of counter-terrorism”, and appeared to suggest that fighting against Israel in Gaza was “virtuous”.

    Essex Police has said it can only effectively triage, record and assess potential crimes if they are reported by phone or through its website.

    It is understood the force receives around 90,000 engagements from the public across its social media platforms each year, making it challenging to identify reports of crimes from a tweet.

    However, an email shows that the force previously defended the same imam’s right to freedom of expression. Following a complaint including about a selection of his other comments in video footage, Chelmsford residents were told by a district commander in November 2022 that no criminal offences had taken place.

    “As you will be aware, the footage is a compilation of numerous excerpts of interviews and recorded preaching in which views that may be contrary to the beliefs of others are outlined,” the officer wrote.

    “The rights of all individuals to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, which includes in public or private, and in worship, teaching practice and observance is one that is enshrined under Article Nine of the Human Rights Act.

    “And whilst you are of course afforded the right to disagree with the views of others where no legislative UK criminal offences have taken place, either through the words used or conduct displayed, then as the police we are unable to take any action.”

    The imam has made a series of controversial comments in the past, including in 2013 that Muslim girls should have children instead of careers and that homosexuality was “a vice among vices”, adding that the spread of HIV and AIDS were down to “general moral decline”.

    On Monday, Roger Hirst, the police, fire and crime commissioner for Essex, cancelled a public meeting on community safety at Hamptons Sports and Leisure Centre, with his office saying it was postponed in the “interests of public safety” and it was “deeply disappointed” to move the meeting.

    Residents who had turned up accused Mr Hirst of running scared of scrutiny and said they were surprised by the choice of location, noting that the leisure centre had been used by Ad-Duha Muhammad for controversial sermons.

    The force is facing a growing backlash over its handling of the Pearson investigation, and has been criticised by Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, and Boris Johnson, the former prime minister.

    Mrs Badenoch said it was “absolutely wrong” for the police to visit any journalist’s home simply because they had expressed an opinion, and that chief constables who prioritised looking into complaints about allegedly offensive tweets would be “held to account for those decisions”.

    Mr Johnson called the behaviour of the police “appalling” and said police were being “forced to behave like a woke Securitate”.

    Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, has said police should focus on tackling violent crime and burglaries instead of questioning people over their social media posts.

    A spokesman for Essex Police said: “As a force, we ensure it is really easy for people to make a report. If you’re aware of an alleged offence, get in touch. We encourage anyone to make a report concerning any alleged offence.

    “Simple tagging of our force social media accounts will not constitute reporting a crime, as we need to be able to effectively triage, record, assess and take certain key details with any reports we receive.

    “Thankfully, we have a number of simple methods of reporting offences, which we ensure we promote consistently. You can let us know by submitting a report on our website. Alternatively, you can call us on 101. Always call 999 in an emergency.”

    Ayman Syed, the chairman of the Chelmsford Muslim Society, said: “We are a community organisation supporting our local community irrespective of who they are, and at no point have any individuals or organisations used our premises for any activities that may be construed as unlawful.”

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

    11 hrs ago

    Labour has mandated that only white people can be racist. Only white people can be right-wing. Only white people riot. They have instructed the police to implement that.

    2. Racism, islamophobia and anti-moslem is all that he's got in his playbook.

      "Stamped out" has the ring of extremism about it. Where are the 'thought police'? Oops, I forgot, he's the boss. 😡

  28. Well five minutes into a Labour government and we are back in the 1970s already
    Pip squeaking taxation, inflation surging, unemoployment surging, farmers hit with IHT
    https://scontent.flhr3-4.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/467509134_1715809102534709_8476811834608971462_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p526x296&_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=aa7b47&_nc_ohc=QQFyUtUtJRIQ7kNvgHDSk7v&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr3-4.fna&_nc_gid=AurXovxDWZ4IjMxWjKr1eUT&oh=00_AYA3SqX-ytf6Cj3mykgjLTlnRpE8pJJzicFsmdChPNRrqw&oe=67436A22

    1. But what are all the opposition actually doing about it.
      They all seem to have withdrawn from politics recently.
      They just keep it ticking over and taking home their expenses etc.

      1. What can they do about it? The cause is their own policy!

        Successive governments have deliberately made everything more and more expensive. They tax jobs, energy, fuel, food, food growers, heat, light, water – the air we breathe is taxed. Our roads are heavily taxed yet a ruin. There is waste everywhere – the state is some 70% larger than it was 40 years ago and absolutely everything is worse for it. There's on going improvement to the M27 but despite building new lanes (by removing the hard shoulder) they're now closed and being repaired.

        The net zero abomination was designed solely to make energy unaffordably expensive to ram down use and thus meet this pointless target through destructive means. Big fat state didn't care about the damage this would do. It simply said 'up yours' to the country and economy and forced through nothing less than carpet bombing through taxation.

        Of course everything is more expensive.

  29. “SIR – A small, family-owned bicycle shop in west London has just closed after trading continuously since 1935. Lacking the 100 per cent inheritance tax exemption that applies to farms at the moment, the owner of this small family business cannot hand it on to his daughter.
    Farmers may feel hard done by, but they are not the only ones.
    Tom Quinn
    London W3”

    Of course, there has ALWAYS been the option of getting rid of IHT.

    1. Oh Tom, you do realise that what you are referring to is exactly what might happen to numerous farms because of the tax you are claiming destroyed the small business. Is that what you want?

    2. We should. It's an egregious tax. The problem is nutjob Lefties like it because they think it punishes 'da wich'. 'Why shud da wich get to keep there own munny', they squeal. 'it shud be spent on ar nhs.' (spelling to represent the Left wing mind, which, being Left wing is stupid).

  30. Good morning all from the Prince Regent at Woodford Bridge.
    An excellent concert by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican last night, once we found the bloody place that is!!! The modern piece at the start was not quite a appalling as I thought it might be and the Beethoven & Berlioz were excellent.
    A bit miffed that the Barbican has gone fully cashless.

    A trek to near Loughborough Junction after breakfast, unload the donated engraver, then pick out way back round London and the M1 home. Though considering the amount of 50mph speed restrictions on the motorway, I might use the A5 for a break off the M1.

  31. A few days ago Free Speech asked, in an article about online security and snooping, Do You Need A VPN? Not really one reader replied, what you really need are onion rings. Bewildered, we asked him to enlighten us, and here it is, in the new article It Pays to Know Your Onions by James Gatehouse.

    Still featured are Psychologist Xandra H’s considered opinion that Labour's Gang of Four ‘ Are Not Us’ , the Grumpy Old Man with a debate on the autumnal question of whether one should suck or blow .

    The backlash against NCHIs appears to be growing and we urge you to write to your MP demanding that this sinister practice be stopped. This article has a template letter you can use . The farmer’s backlash at the attempt to steal land from family farmers is also growing, and we have an account into what’s behind it all here , written by Stuart Agnew, farmer and former MEP. And this article ties it all together and explains why we are in such a political mess.

    And please help us grow and reach a wider readership. Spread the word and give the site address to anybody you think might be interested.

    Energy Watch: Demand at 0800: 41.789 GW. Supply: Fossil fuel = 37.3%; Renewables = 39.8%; Nuclear 9,.9%; Biomass = 6% and Imports 9.9%.
    There's a moderate breeze in the North Sea today, and they still import almost 5% of total ebnergy demand.

    https://www.freespeechbacklash.com/

  32. When I looked out at 8 o clock it didn't look too bad…. now a heavy dose of snow coming down. Not sure I'll be going out to lunch after all.

    1. This time last year the Warqueen had moved out (yes, yes, I know she was upset and unhappy but still) and Mongo, Oscar Junior and I were fending for ourselves in the house being 11'c and colder in places.

  33. Morning all 🙂😊
    Bright but a very frosty start.
    Headine, It's seems as usual something else our political classes have effed up.
    Once they've moved in, it doesn't take them long does it and the rest of the British taxpayers and the public have to put up with their nonsense and try and live with it.

  34. Доброе утро, товарищи,

    Partly cloudy at the McPhee demesne, wind North-West, -1℃ with 3℃ tops later.

    Well, the DT has reported quite extensively on the farmers demonstration yesterday and Herr Stürmer says he has the backing of the BBC over the IHT raid. It would, wouldn't it, so quite how he thinks this influences anyone's thinking is beyond me.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/33c840c6034f55a833e6a9f6c33682ce6318cb1e875f4b86fb5b37179a342a0b.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/19/farmers-protest-starmer-bbc-iht-tax-inheritance-clarkson/

    This contrasts starkly with MSM non-reporting of other marches and demonstrations by the good people that have taken place, doesn't it? Has the DT been told to give this more publicity.?

    Is this a psy-op? I think it could well be.

    Consider that what is being done is that Agricultural Property Relief is being restricted to £1m then IHT is payable at 20% on everything above that figure. The inheritor then has up to 10 years to pay in instalments with no interest charged. If a farm is jointly owned by two people, they each have a £1 million APR exemption. You can then add to this £325k for the normal IHT threshold x 2 and the residence nil rate band of £175k x 2 for the farmhouse. That means the tax-free element of a farm inheritance is potentially £3m. It will vary, of course.

    How many family farms are there? It is reported that 13,000 people were at the demonstration. Who knows the real number? Are there 13,000 family farms? I doubt it, but I don't know.

    Compare and contrast with the IHT raid on private pensions. Private pension funds will be pulled into estates from April 2027. The rate of tax is 40% and it must be paid in one instalment before probate is granted on a will. How many individual private pension funds are there? I don't know, but I'll put money on it being far more than 13,000. How much more? Ten times? Twenty? A hundred? Who knows?

    Middle class families with houses worth a million and a pension fund of about a million are not unusual. Whereas their descendants would pay nothing in IHT on those assets now, after April 2027 they will be relieved of £400k in immediate IHT. Until Reaves has a go at the Residence Nil-Rate Band, which she will, of course. Either that or CGT on house sales.

    This is the real target. Reaves can offer to scrap the farmers' IHT in order to look as if she does care, really, and she has 'listened' but, she will retain the the pension tax raid. It crushes middle class wealth, you see, and renders a heritable pension fund worthless in a generation or two.

    It is significant that while Badenoch has pledged to reverse the farmers' IHT, she has said nothing about the pension tax raid.

    Oh, how we are played by the Uni-party.

    2. Certainly the backing of BBC "journalist" Victoria Derbyshire.. as she fired off aggressive 'gotcha' questions towards Jeremy Clarkson.
      Jeez batted them off one by one.

      "Rachel Reeves needs to raise money for the NHS."
      "Where do you get these figures Jeremy?"
      "Have you tried to get a GP appointment recently?"
      "Where should she get the money from..?"

      JEEZA: You hear that everyone? Farmers have got to pay for everything. She gets her figures from the middle of her head.. from the 6th form debating society that she is no doubt a member of.. which formed her opinions.. and yours.

      DERBYSHIRE: I am not expressing opnions I am lidderally asking you questions. You know that, Mr Clarkson.
      (Groans from crowd).

      1. More, he played her at her own game. Stupid woman merely defines the entire Left wing establishment's attitude to other people's property.

      2. She is an extremely unpleasant woman.

        But how many political journalists at the BBC are even remotely pleasant? They are specially recruited for their spiteful ability to curl the lip, sneer and attack anything slightly to the right of Trotsky.

    3. Yo F Mc F

      "he has the backing of the BBC over the IHT raid. It would, wouldn't it, so quite how he thinks this influences anyone's thinking is beyond me."

      It does influence us

      The 'common man' (woman, mixture-either, etc) has come to realise that anything the Bullshit Biased Cockroaches support is Total Anal Waste

    4. Not sure how the pension fund raid works. Is it the whole unused part of the fund? If the owner had used it to buy an annuity that would die with him.

      1. Yes. It is the capital value of the fund left on death. It can be left tax-free to a spouse, but not to offspring after April 2027. Sensible people never buy annuities knowing that they are relinquishing their capital to do so.

        Many people manage their pension funds so that there will be a substantial heritable pension fund left after death. They are effectively inter-generational pensions. That’s why Reaves hates them.

    5. Of course the BBC will support the hard Left. They're all the same.

      Someone should point out that the BBC is not there to suppoort a government perspective but to report the facts, but Al Beeb no longer bothers itself with trivialities like that.

      Yet the questioning of Derbyshire was obviously heavily biased and Clarkson didn't fall for it. 'Who will fund the NHS?' What about cutting the waste in Whitehall?

      1. The BBC follows government line, in this case and others esp Covid virus and vaccine. There is no opposition in politics other than Reform/Farage, Lib/Dems will vote with Labour, Conservatives are irrelevant. Main opposition for now until GE is online.

          1. I think Vilify has been panned on DS, isn’t it put together by a young (green leaning) female? I stopped paying the licence a number of years ago, him in the workshop re-instated it, most I watch terrestrial TV is GBN (I love Chopper :-DDD)

      1. His statements generally seem to be consistent with the ideas of Race Marxism, so yes.

        ps Morning KJ.

        1. Thanks AA, we’re of a mind. And a very good day to you too – even if it’s not, we’ll have some fun panning it, Kate x

          1. Getting up this morning I was wondering “What fresh horror awaits me online as result of the current lot being in power”.

          3. I’ve been working my way through a huge collection of 1990s/early 2000s techno electronic dance music of late. What’s been on the KJ playlist?

          4. I’m very boring, A A….the usual, Joni, Dylan, Cray…I do watch various short clips on Ig (when I’m not banned there)..Depeche Mode is a current fave. I like how music fills my head, makes me unaware of anything else, I do things automatically (if that makes any kind of sense to you)…so what’s on your playlist, see if I know any? 😄 Kate x

          5. Here's one that later became famous. The original track. As it goes this track is towards the funkier end of the stuff in this playlist I have been working through.

            On a note about dance music of this type, it should generally be viewed in the context of a larger happening. As in a DJ set or an event. Tracks are generally not so much self contained like songs to stand on there own. Tracks are constructed to be placed back to back against other tracks and mixed between. https://youtu.be/Oj6vw6hrOw8?si=vvwqArXH7CTvC1wA

          8. Looked at the player to see what’s on current list…Jeff Buckley (permanent fixture), UB40, Diana Krall, Nils Petter Molvar, Beth Ditto, Pentatonix…

          10. I have Sean, thanks – they’re very similar (including drug use) – that’s their choice, I love their music 🙂 thanks for tip 😍

    5. What Khan actually said would be useful. The Liberal and Left wing media play this game all the time.

  36. Breivik’s Russian-style Z for parole hearing

    The Daily Telegraph 20 Nov 2024 By Daniel Hardaker

    MASS killer Anders Breivik appeared at a prison parole hearing in Norway yesterday with his hair styled into a pro-russian symbol.
    The terrorist arrived at a makeshift courtroom in Ringerike jail in Tyristrand with a patch of hair above his right ear shaved into the letter Z.

    “Z” is commonly painted on Russian military vehicles in Ukraine and has become a symbol of support for Vladimir Putin’s war. In a rambling statement to the court, the Right-wing extremist described Putin as “the foremost defender of Europeans globally” and held up a handmade poster expressing support for Russia as well as for China, Iran and North Korea.

    Breivik, 45, who killed 77 people in a terror attack in 2011, has been held in isolation since being given a 21-year sentence in 2012. He is seeking parole for a second time, a request that is expected to be refused.

    Breivik carried out the worst mass killing in Norway since the Second World War. He killed eight people in a bombing of a government building in Oslo before gunning down 69 others, mostly teenagers, at a Labour Party youth camp. Addressing reporters outside the court, Breivik said he would be a “tremendous help to the Norwegian state” if he were released early. He later said that the judges would not regret releasing him. Under Norwegian law, a prisoner can apply for parole once a year after spending 10 years in prison.

    Prosecutor Hulda Karlsdottir told the court he should not be released, arguing that he would be a risk to the public. “Is there a danger Breivik will commit crimes against life and health again? The danger is real,” she said.

    A new risk assessment found that the risk of Breivik being violent again remained the same as before, she added.

    In February, a judge ruled against Breivik after he attempted to end his prison isolation by arguing it violated his human rights. He threatened to go on hunger strike in 2014 unless the prison provided him with better video games.

    A 21-year sentence for murdering 77 people? Let's do the maths. That accounts for a gaol sentence of a fraction over three months for each of his victims.

    No wonder this world is no longer fit for purpose.

    Any comments on this, Paul, regarding the pathetic non-justice system apparently in force in yer Norge?

      1. I do not believe in capital punishment for crimes of this sort. I much prefer an extended period of prolonged torture.

        Big softy, aren't I?

    2. We can't really talk. The state has quietly refused to charge the muslim who assaulted police officers and has intentionally kept that 'cut the throats of those who oppose muslim' Labour waster.

      The UK is a legal mess as well: political prisoners, a malicious legal system that supports criminals. Maybe Breviik should appeal to come to the UK. Starmer would let him out in a flash. Ah, hang on – he shot Labour kids… maybe not then. Of course, if they'd be new conservatives or something…

    3. 'morning Grizzly, in cases such as these where there's irrefutable proof/confession the costs of life imprisonment to taxpayers should be considered. I don't need to spell out the solution. (Return of green woodpecker again, btw.)

      2. I prefer the Japanese method. Murderers are kept in solitary for years with nothing to entertain them but their thoughts. Then, sometimes decades later, they are given a few hours warning that they are to be hung and that is that. Unfortunately the Norwegians are nice about it. Breivik has a sort of two cell apartment, books, TV etc. for some people that would be anything but punishment.

        1. Thanks johnathan…I think it’s solitary for five years or for life if not? I have a book I keep meaning to read (many such, and too little time) ‘Murakami’ complete trilogy, do you know it? Breivik’s life sounds similar to some GB pensioners. When my grandmother grew infirm my uncles tried to persuade her to live in a newly built high rise especially for elders (what?) her response ‘I’m not going there, dear – it’s full of old people…’

          1. Hi KJ No, not familiar with that name but I have read Japanese 'classics' in translation. Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, Tale of Genji, Ise monogatari etc. Just looking to check my Japanese spelling I find that most of these classics are on line for free.

            It has stuck in my mind for decades, the contrast. While we were fighting the Danes prior to 1066, Sei Shonagon was making paper cherry blossoms with all the women of the court in the dead of winter and in the dead of night. So that, on opening the screens to the garden in the morning, the sick Empress would be greeted with cherry trees in bloom in the snow covered garden in order to cheer her up.

            I have long contemplated such things because it calls into question such things as just what does it mean to be civilized.

            Besides which these sort of books are beautiful to read.

            Islam, by the way, does not make the grade.

          2. Tale of Genji rings a bell, must look it up, thanks for mention. Is it true, jonathan – that the cherry tree was introduced to Japan by an Englishman surname of Cherry? And that all trees are from the same stock? Bit risky if so. I’m quite a fan of Japanese woodblock prints, have a few cherished possessions and also a couple of books. I believe an Englishman David Bull has been instrumental in bringing a few woodblock artists work back to life. I like to watch Sumo (NHK) too.

          3. No that isn’t true. I doubt that an Englishman prior to 1066 introduced cherry trees to Japan, there are native species of cherry but also species were introduced from China.. The name for cherry is Sakura, by the way. As for painting. I have a couple of paintings but the ones I would really like to have are so rare that it would be the equivalent of finding a Rembrandt or some such, sell for millions. The artists name is Kaigetsudo Ando. Also did block-prints and they are also very rare.

          4. Thanks johnathan – I got it the wrong way round, I think ‘Cherry’ Ingram helped to save the cherry trees of Japan by introducing different strains? Hadn’t heard of Ando, they look good…I like Ohara Koson prints, and some others I have which aren’t signed. I buy a calendar for new year ahead, often a mix of Japanese artists, the least expensive treat I can find 😊 King & McGaw in the UK sell quite a few. Another favourite artist is Francis Bacon, but he’s not to everyone’s taste.

          5. Hi KJ. If you want to search around and look at Kaigetsudo Ando paintings you should be aware that in Japan the surname goes first. And, actually, I like Francis Bacon too and, yes, not to everyone’s taste. Hardly the sort of painting to put in the sitting room 😊

          6. Thanks johnathan…I found him OK…online very powerful now. Art is supposed to be subjective, or so it’s said. Another favourite of mine is Andrew Wyeth:-)

      3. Good morning, Katy. Indeed.

        I am certainly envious of your Yaffle. I've still only seen the one in my garden.

        1. Just seen another returnee, Grizzly..pied wagtail, not seen for a few years, another sign of winter ahead perhaps 🤔

          1. We get white wagtail Motacilla alba alba, here, which is the same species as pied M. alba yarrellii, but a separate subspecies (much more pale grey and much less black on it). For the first eight years I lived here we had a returning pair that nested under the ridge of the porch roof on my annexe. Ours partially migrate to the coast and a bit further south in winter but return in March.

          2. I used to get house martins all the time, plugging their mud into the wall. Not seen them, or swallows, or swifts for a few years – bet I see them next year (assuming I haven’t been called).

          3. Some years ago I lived in a house adjacent Clumber Park, in Nottinghamshire, and we would have around ten house martin nest under the eaves. Here, in Skåne, I get lots of swifts, swallows and house martins flying around all summer but none nesting nearby.

          4. We had lots of fun Clumber Park when children young…talking half a century ago…gone by in a heartbeat 🙂 Hope to see the birds return next year.

    5. Tad confused but that makes sense judging what he's inside for. Should be supporting the Ukrainians, they have real NAZIS in their ranks.

  37. Just karchered the windows as were running with condensation. Trickle vents just aren't enough. Got the washing out but that's also downstairs drying. Warqueen suggested getting another dehumdifier.

    I suggested we move and open a window at night. Now who's the brains of the operation!

  38. Reeves Now Claims She Was an “Economist By Trade” as LinkedIn CV Scandal Deepens

    Reeves’ team is scrambling after Guido revealed she claimed her business occupation was “economist'” on legal documents at a time she has since admitted she was not. Hilariously, the latest spin from her team is that she is “an economist by trade”. “By trade” doing a lot of heavy lifting there…

    Treasury sources are now also saying “Rachel Reeves was a trained economist that worked in financial services.” Translation: she wasn’t actually an economist at the time she said she was…

    Meanwhile, Number 10 still refuse to answer whether she broke the ministerial code by editing her LinkedIn CV, and Tories continue to accuse Reeves of “brazen lies”, being “banged to rights” and having “serious questions to answer” after Guido’s story last night. No amount of valiant efforts from her team seems likely to bury this one for the Chancellor…

    20 November 2024 @ 09:00

    3. I identify as a heart surgeon. You know where to go if you want to beat those NHS waiting lists.

    4. I studied economics and philosophy at UEA. On that basis I suppose I could call myself a trained economist.

      The truth is I messed about sporting with Amaryllis while enjoying life rather than scorning delights and living laborious days and acquired neither skill nor ability in economics. I then qualified as an English teacher at Southampton University thereby subjecting myself to the eagle-eyed scrutiny of Grizzly and Peddy who are always keen to spot my typos, grammatical faux pas and typos!

      1. Morning Rastus. "…sporting with Amaryllis…." I take it you don't mean hybridizing hippeastrum?

        1. Borrowed from John Milton's Lycidas which I studied as a schoolboy and then taught as an English teacher.

          Were it not better done, as others use,
          To sport with Amaryllis in the shade,
          Or with the tangles of Neæra's hair?
          Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise
          (That last infirmity of noble mind)
          To scorn delights and live laborious days.

          A question for a Nottler reader. Who wrote a novel with its title taken from this extract?

          1. I spotted "Fame is the Spur" but had to look up the author. Wiki tells me, "Fame Is the Spur is a novel by Howard Spring published in 1940".

      2. Shouldn't "a trained economist that worked in financial services" be who not that, or are her pronouns "that/they"?

        2. There are only ten personal pronouns: He/him/his. She/her/hers. It/that/its/thats.

          They cover all possibilities.

        1. Good day to you, Sir

          Nice try! Funnily enough I looked it up:

          The plural form of faux pas is also faux pas. However, it is pronounced differently. The singular form is pronounced /ˈfoʊˌpɑː/ and the plural form is pronounced /ˈfoʊˌpɑːz/.

  39. That's a hearty Worker's Breakfast duly eaten and we're just about ready to go.
    Wish me luck!!

  40. Today The Conservative Woman asks why they are going to such bother to persecute Allison Pearson.

    We know why they bother to go after her (and why they bother with IHT on farms and with VAT on school fees which, when private school pupils have to enter the state system, will cost far more than it raises) : it is not about money : it is about class, envy, spite and hatred.

    Hate Crime? I have never known a government in Britain to have generated so much hatred and to have directed that hatred towards ordinary British people.

    Instead of going after Allison Pearson the police should go after the current government which is the most hateful government Britain has ever suffered.

  41. 'Morning All
    Medley Time
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/49eed2df58ad5ccde2da367472a8e400e900eedf81883c41de9e6c4270df99e3.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bd2a67349d128affca22e24693dedcaea62e81a9ae1005603de7d1ac0cff8354.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9222a6b9e7e48064ef8f21218808576880747e03cc89784f13c69d3529e480cb.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/027e6bfb59652aa69cfb0daf6199ae691d09a52e762ec6d9685d01de280ac11d.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fcafdd47baf05a139710d9e7d944bc67f329e9a46d7029d0f4a1e87472ad12c0.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b76722426263004d0b8abb028586c4397234da1b464bfe406e7f4d671bf11d48.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9b0d86daf7d2eaa247a844ee98b5d854193ad7949cea8ad8e07dc328d122c3bc.jpg

  42. Morning all!!! Sunny and cold here in W.Sussex and, for the first time, a heavy frost. Verry nice with the sun.

    Nothing much happening but I'm thoroughly fed up with the Royal Surrey Hospital and am thinking of transferring to Saint Richards in Chichester. Does anyone know how you do that?
    I have another question. Why are comments on NOTTLERS locked after two days?

    1. Can we do a swap. We take a few million Russian men and Russia takes a few million of our Africans and Arabs. We then turn the mosques into orthodox churches and all is good.

      1. They may take a few million British (anti-) Socialists and American Demotwats with them as well while they're at it.

    1. Are 2049 Owen Jones and Polly Toynbee in the same state of advanced dementia?

      OK, OK, I know. They always were!

    1. I'm with "trashed" but then, they are going all electric apparently!
      Edit – just seen the new advert [above]; another instance of "go woke, go broke" in progress??

    3. An unholy. ugly and quite pointless mixture of upper-case and lower-case lettering?

      How very progressive. How very avant-garde. How utterly idiotic.

      1. It looks like lettering of a type that would adorn a shop front selling expensive fashion clothing. Retiring the leaping big cat is a mistake, in my view. Changes such as this are as much about drawing attention as creating a new image.

        2. It looks like the type of lettering that would adorn Harry Enfield’s shop, the one that sells extortionately overpriced crap, We Saw You Coming.

  47. A genuine question for all those NoTTLers who are (by choice or otherwise) parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and even great-great-grandparents:

    Have any of you taken your children/grandchildren/great-grandchildren/great-great-grandchildren to one side and explained to them that the world — as we have for so long known it — no longer exists and that their future, and their concomitant prospects for a long and happy life, is getting more and more uncertain and doubtful by the second?

    Or have you simply lied to them — or buried your heads in the sand — hoping it will all "go away"?

    The unassailable facts are: the world we now inhabit is the way it is, precisely, because we — collectively — have made it that way. Our now ingrained inertia is guaranteeing that.

    Inertia is a word that did not exist for our grandparents' generation, or any other generation going back into the annals of history. Those eight billion + humans now infesting this planet are, when compared to our illustrious and brave ancestors, simply no-longer-fit-for-purpose.

    Please discuss, but remove any rose-tinted spectacles before doing so.

    1. My parents never got to know their great grandchildren and I've never felt up to the task of reproduction. My father ranted over what was in the 1960s and 70s termed The Permissive Society. He felt then that we were going to hell in a handcart.

    2. My son, who has just turned 40, has similar ideas to myself about the world. Probably not quite so extreme but having just started his daughter, my only grand child, in private school in London this Sept he is well aware of the redistribution of wealth and dilution of our culture. His thoughts may also be coloured by being one of those evil bankers working for JPM in Canary Wharf. However, you have to have some hope in this world, he still seems to have enough loose change for a beer at £7 (cheap for Scandi land). Each generation has to adapt but I think the unquestioning acceptance and adaption to the ways of immigrants into many areas of British life makes us poorer and is the most serious societal issue facing us today.

    3. To borrow from P.G. Wodehouse: It is never difficult to distinguish between Grizzly and a ray of sunshine!

      1. Maybe, but you — and nearly everyone else on this forum — have studiously avoided answering the question I posed.

        Is this the head-in-sand syndrome I postulated about? Or are you simply too terrified to tell them?

    4. It's very difficult explaining how we feel about how the world has changed to our two children, both in their thirties. The lad hears us discussing politics and lack of social cohesion, often the very subjects on this forum. In one ear and out the other.
      Our daughter, a very bright girl, will shut us down if we start explaining our thoughts and feelings on the current state of things worldwide and closer to home.
      They refuse to see our fears, perhaps just pretending they don't exist , I don't know. Ironically, our daughter is imminently due to give birth to our first grandchild. I wish I could feel happier about it. Oh, she won't be letting us pick up the baby until we get flu jabs or until it is a few months old and develops its own immune system. Her mum is upset at this because we have been avoiding flu and covid jabs. Our daughter will accuse us of gawd knows what and think us mad.

      1. As you clearly show here, Moly, trying to explain things (of any topic) to those with closed ears is the hardest thing in the world. Three years ago I attempted to explain to my brothers about the folly of having ‘Covid’ jabs, wearing masks and avoiding seed oils, sugars and too many carbs. They shouted me down at every juncture and ignored everything I said. They had themselves, their wives, their adult children and all their grandchildren (aged between two and ten years) inoculated on multiple occasions. They had countless photographs of themselves taken wearing masks. One brother developed non-Hodgkin’s disease and nearly died; the other suffered from a plethora of maladies, including bacterial meningitis.

        This summer, despite being lifelong capitalists and staunch supporters of the Conservative party, they voted Labour! You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

      2. How sad. Still, a week of sleepless nights and she may think a grand-mother is an ideal person…

    5. Parents don't have to do that because children grow up in today's world, not the world of their parents or grandparents. The world simply is as they find it for them.

  48. While I quite admire Clarkson for playing at farming – there is a danger for the farmers' lobby that he could become their Lineker = laughing stock.

    Just saying.

    1. If Clarkson behaves with honesty and integrity, which he has so far appeared to have done, there shouldn't be a problem.

      What are you picking up on Bill?

      1. Nah. Whatever one says thinks or does.. to a Trot you are wrong and should be shot. It's a fight to the death. Wind them up.. laugh in their face, and don't give quarter.

      2. Just that he sometimes appears to speak without thinking. And that he is only a “gentleman” farmer, playing at it. My family have been farmers for hundreds of years. Father to son (or daughter)…for generations.

        1. Clarkson may have farming in his ancestry too. I know what you mean, but he does seem to be making a serious shot at it, although he hammed it up for his TV programme.

    2. Oooo they've scoured through 875,000 words he's written in The Times, Sun & elsewhere and the best they've got so far..

      Jeremy Clarkson got rattled when it was put to him that he bought a farm to avoid inheritance tax.

      Great bit of interviewing it must be said. Hoist by his own petard.

      The full clip is worse. He suggests the money should instead come from firing people whose jobs he doesn't understand.

      Clarkson is a grifter and cares nothing for farming and farmers.

      at the time, admit that he had bought it cause he "wanted to shoot".

      I feel like he's lying and trying to rewrite history here. If he isn't, he's admitting to the fact that he paid loads of money and took up farming just because he loved murdering animals.
      What a charming fellow.

      And the double-down.. from full-on right-on Guardian reading Trot.

      Pay up like the rest of us have to and cry a river to your cows about it. It's not even the full 40% rate either. You're getting a 50% reduction and a fucking decade to pay it off. So get renting out your farmhouses and barns to rich twats as posh air BnBs, Rent out your land where possible. Sell some of it etc etc…

      If your business does not have enough cash to meet it's liabilities then it's a shit business that should fail.

      1. "firing people whose jobs he doesn't understand". So a £115k pa "Lived Experience Manager" at the NHS isn't a non-job, it's a job we don't understand. Pathetic!

        1. During the interview.. his head nodded towards The Home Office buildings in Whitehall. The crowd cheered.

      3. That old chestnut again "If your business does not have enough cash to meet it's liabilities then it's a shit business that should fail." used as an excuse to hoik up taxation.
        If all farms were to operate as efficiently as possible, they'd have 8000 cows kept in factories and milked twice a day.
        Farming is not a business like any other!

      4. I wonder how many Grauniad readers do, in fact, “pay up”? If you are rich enough to be a socialist you can presumably afford good advice on tax avoidance?? Or you could change the law so that your pension is exempt and grab as many freebies as possible.

    1. Apparently over a month out of UK since July! Madeline Grant in today's DT sggests that if Two Tier's first job was on a farm, it might have been as silage; bit unfair, silage is useful!

    2. What? No sneering from 6th form "journalist" Maitlis..
      You're never in Clacton, don't you find it interesting?

    3. He told us that before he got elected, when he said he preferred Davos to Westminster. Too many horrible people criticising him at home!

  50. Took some finding:
    Wordle 1,250 4/6

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

      1. Well done, me too, but very few words available with the letters I had and presumably you too.

        Wordle 1,250 2/6

        ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

        2. Well done…bit slower here

          Wordle 1,250 4/6

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

        1. Thank you. It was a fluke as the two original letters didn't lend themselves to a lot of words.

  51. The weather has changed on the Costa del Skeg and brought me out in song

    Snowdrops keeping falling on by Shed

  52. In turn, Grizzly – I’m envious of your use of the word Yaffle – not heard it afore…just the one here so far, yet another to add to the growing list of ones not seen for a good while.

      1. All I can say, Bill, is…my children liked Bagpuss…😄 (and so did I, watched it with them)…thanks for your comment, Kate x

    2. Jarvis Dupont of Hearts & Science, a brand of Omnicom Media Group (Activist. Healer. Radical intersectionalist poet. Nonwhite. Ecosexual. Pronouns: variable. Selfless and brave) explains..

      'The Jaguar brand is in decline, it's been in a decline for a really long time, and if we do not attract young drivers to come and drive this brand there will be no future for Jaguar,'" he/them said.

      Jarvis stressed a need to "evolve and elevate" the car brand away from the "Top Gear/out of touch humour" brand of the younger generation. he/them expanded on that idea:

      "What does evolve and elevate mean? It means inclusivity… It means shifting the tone. It means having a campaign that's truly inclusive and feels lighter and brighter and different. And appeals to women and to men. And representation is sort of the heart of revolution."

      He didn't say that but he could have..

      2. James May summed up Jaguar drivers: they're the sort that when you sit down, let out an 'ahhhh' sound.

      3. Presumably they're hoping that in the near future, my grandson will be a buyer.
        Somehow, I don't see him or his sister being inspired to splash the cash on a PervMobile.

      4. It's been on the decline for some time so we thought we'd really put the skids under it and make nobody normal want to buy one. Sounds about right.

    4. Great comment – "At least without sound you would never know this freak show was supposedly selling cars. I thought watching it was a high fashion show perhaps on an alien planet."

    1. Our Evri driver is excellent, has been on this route for a couple of years. She is always smiling, says good morning, finds a neighbour if you're out or takes the package round the back of the house. But as ever it is only the bad ones that make the news.

      To be fair, the DPD guy, sounds like an Eastern European, is also very good.

  55. I see [BBC] that Biden has now approved sending anti personnel mines to Ukraine – great idea, totally indiscriminate and will takes ages to clear.

    1. That's O'Bama and Clinton for you – Biden is the fall or rather falling guy doing what he's told.

      If there is still a world with human life on it by the time Trump comes to power in January then he should send all three of them (and their spouses and families) to Russia so that Putin can sort then out.

          1. From the Daily Telegraph

            Why Putin’s repeated nuclear threats could play into Trump’s hands
            Expert warns escalating Ukraine conflict could reinforce the president-elect’s argument for direct dialogue and ending the war

            Roland Oliphant20 November 2024 10:54am GMT
            Seldom has the fog of war lain so thick.

            The week began with Joe Biden authorising the use of American Atacms missiles inside Russia. Or at least that was what the American papers reported, the White House neither confirmed nor denied the claim.

            Initial reports said the permission was restricted to strikes in the Kursk region. But overnight on Tuesday, Ukraine hit a Russian ammunition dump further north in Bryansk.

            Then, Vladimir Putin signed into law a revised nuclear doctrine that said America would be considered to have attacked Russia if it assisted Kyiv. But retained exceptionally high thresholds for nuclear use.

            So, who is threatening to do what? Should we be frightened or reassured? And should we be ready for a nuclear war?

            Militarily, the obvious and mundane response is to keep calm and carry on.

            The Russian army long ago adapted to the threat of Atacms and Himars in occupied Ukraine.

            Its troops should not find it too difficult to employ the same lessons about dispersal of logistics and troops in Kursk. They redeployed aircraft away from bases within range months ago.

            Unless America has provided Ukraine with many more missiles than is publicly thought, permission to fire across the border is unlikely to stop the 50,000-man Russian and North Korean force massed to counter-attack the Ukrainian salient in Kursk.

            Diplomatically, updating the nuclear doctrine has multiple benefits. It makes headlines, looks intimidating, and might (if he’s lucky) make the Americans think twice about the missiles.

            It gives ammunition to domestic critics of Mr Biden accusing him of escalating the war, and potentially reinforces president-elect Donald Trump’s message that the war must be ended as soon as possible.

            It is also relatively safe: Putin announced the changes in September, so it does not come as a surprise. It’s a document, not a bomb, so it effectively observes the unwritten rule of cautious and incremental tit-for-tats between the US and Russia.

            Mr Biden observed the same rule when he waited for North Korea to enter the war before granting Ukraine strike permissions, and did Russia the courtesy of leaking the decision to The New York Times.

            So Putin may be content to let things lie.

            Tatyana Stanovya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, warned that he may also find further escalation dangerously tempting.

            It would expose Biden to further criticism and reinforce Mr Trump’s argument for direct dialogue with Putin, increasing the chances of a settlement of the war on Russia’s terms, she reasons.

            Much has been made of the nuclear threat, but Russia has plenty of options for raising the stakes that do not involve making mushroom clouds.

            It could supply weapons and more targeting data to Yemen’s Houthis to pressure Western shipping.

            It could encourage other proxies to hit US and Western troops and assets elsewhere in the world.

            It could step up their sabotage campaign in Europe, including against undersea communications cables.

            Nuclear use can never be entirely ruled out, of course.

            But even Putin’s decree uses careful language about actually firing a weapon.

            Only if a nuclear or other weapon of mass destruction is used against Russia, or it faces a conventional attack that poses a “critical” threat to its sovereignty or territorial integrity, would the deterrent be used.

            That creates more room for bad faith interpretation than the previous wording about a threat to Russia’s continued existence. Still, it is hard to see how Atacms strikes – even in Bryansk – could meet that threshold.

            Escalating the war would expose Biden to further criticism while reinforcing Trump
            Escalating the war would expose Biden to further criticism while reinforcing Donald Trump Credit: Al Drago/Bloomberg
            The decree adds the mass launch of “aerospace attack assets” across the Russian border to its definition of such threats – alongside the traditional detection of ballistic missile attack.

            Could the last be aimed at Ukrainian drone raids? Maybe. But again, it would be a dramatic leap to nuclear use.

            The most significant line is in Article 4: “State policy in the sphere of nuclear deterrence is set by the president.”

            In other words, Putin will decide if and when Russia uses its nuclear weapon, if and when he feels like it.

            Is that reassuring or alarming? Who knows.

  56. LABOUR – has said inheritance tax on farmers will raise £520 million by 2030 To fund the NHS!… which is 1 day and 2 hours!

    But really it’s to contribute to this utter shower of expenditure.

    ▪️£12.8 billion to Ukraine

    ▪️£22 billion on carbon capture (LOL)

    ▪️£4 billion to fund illegal immigrants

    ▪️£10 billion per year for ‘Net Zero’ projects

    ▪️£11.6 billion climate finance for developing countries

    ▪️£1 billion for the Great British Insulation Scheme

    ▪️£12 billion for the UK Infrastructure Bank – for financing renewable energy, sustainable transport, and other net zero projects.

    ▪️£25.5 billion net zero public sector spending – Annual spending rising to £7.7 billion by 2024-25 on green public sector initiatives.

    ▪️£113 million to Sudan – Aid package

    1. But really it’s to contribute to this utter shower of expenditure.

      It isn't.. because that's not how taxation works.
      Labour will, and always have, used taxation as a big stick to beat up people they don't like. The list is short & sweet.
      Private schools.
      Owners of farmland.
      SMEs.
      Anyone outside the public sector.

      1. Altogether now..
        "It's fair.."
        "Pay up like the rest of us have to.."         (LOL).
        "I will take no lectures"
        "£22bn bl@ck hole"
        ""fixing the foundations"
        "14 years of Tory mismanagement"

    2. But really it’s to contribute to this utter shower of expenditure.

      It isn't.. because that's not how taxation works.
      Labour will, and always have, used taxation as a big stick to beat up people they don't like. The list is short & sweet.
      Private schools.
      Owners of farmland.
      SMEs.
      Anyone outside the public sector.

    3. But really it’s to contribute to this utter shower of expenditure.

      It isn't.. because that's not how taxation works.
      Labour will, and always have, used taxation as a big stick to beat up people they don't like. The list is short & sweet.
      Private schools.
      Owners of farmland.
      SMEs.
      Anyone outside the public sector.

  58. Yes indeed. I have read most of his novels.

    One or two of them were set in Cornwall and our dear Plum was a keen fan of Howard Spring's books.

    Any news of Plum, by the way? She has a birthday coming up on 16th December.

      1. The advert is all about diversity and inclusion and changing the brand logo of Jaguar .

        Some one quoted this…

        102 years of 'the Jaguar' marque.

        Reminds me of the terrible BA logo change in the 80's – multi coloured tail planes – Maggie Thatcher hung her scarf over an image of it, – that was the end of it and back to the Union Jack.

        Brands take yrs to build, minutes to destroy.

        I think the agency may have mixed up their clients and thought they were working for Jaeger.

        1. The most beautiful aircraft ever was Concorde, all in white except for the BA "flappy flag" logo on the tail and the twisted ribbon by the nose. That was something really special.

          3. I was going to point that out as well. Looks like a Series I. (That's a Roman numeral one not a letter I, for readers who aren't LR cognoscenti.)

          5. I flew from RAF Changi in Singapore to a jungle clearing in North East Malaya in one of those, just above the tree tops. Must have been the oldest aircraft still in use. New Zealand Airforce. It could even have been that one. An interesting journey.

          6. It sounds as though it was Gong Kedak – no longer just an airstrip but a base for the RMAF. Happy days, the likes of which we shall not see again.

          7. No, it was a temporary landing strip constructed for the exercise Bersatu Padu 1970. We were an Artillery Parachute Regiment but there wasn’t enough open area in the jungle into which to parachute with our guns.

    2. Strangely enough I posted the Ratner connection half-an-hour ago. Great minds and all that!

    3. At least they haven't (yet) renamed the company using some meaningless invented word – Innova, concentrate and so on.

  60. Marcus Fakana of Tottenham, 18, faces 20 years in Dubai prison over fling with 17-year-old UK girl he met on holiday after her 'furious mother reported him to police'

    A job for The Tottenham Turnip. Oh what joy to see what unfolds. Muslim mother doesn't want randy oppressed victim of slavery near her daughter.

  61. Marcus Fakana of Tottenham, 18, faces 20 years in Dubai prison over fling with 17-year-old UK girl he met on holiday after her 'furious mother reported him to police'

    A job for The Tottenham Turnip. Oh what joy to see what unfolds. Muslim mother doesn't want randy oppressed victim of slavery near her daughter.

  62. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats-last-7-days

    Did you know, and will you read the link?

    My question is … hahah.. who do they think they are kidding , and how many undetected ?

    Definition of a small boat
    A ‘small boat’ is one of a number of vessels used by individuals who cross the English Channel, with the aim of gaining entry to the UK without a visa or permission to enter – either directly by landing in the UK or having been intercepted at sea by the authorities and brought ashore. The most common small vessels detected making these types of crossings are rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RHIBs), dinghies and kayaks.

    The data on arrivals includes individuals who:
    are detected on arrival in the UK
    are detected in the Channel by UK authorities and subsequently brought to the UK
    The data on arrivals does not include individuals who:

    arrive in the UK on larger vessels, such as go-fast craft, yachts (except those arriving in the area of operations of small boats), motor cruisers, tugs and fishing vessels – although these are rarely used by irregular migrants at present
    arrive in the UK clandestinely on larger vessels not referenced above, including where hidden in a vehicle on a ferry
    are prevented from departing France, or those intercepted by French authorities and returned to France
    arrive in the UK undetected, or where there have been reports of people making the crossing, but no actual encounters

    Uncontrolled landings
    ‘Boats involved in uncontrolled landings’ are a subset of ‘boats detected’. Uncontrolled landings are boats which have been recorded as arriving in the UK without interception. Any people detected in uncontrolled landings are counted in ‘irregular migrants recorded arriving by small boat’.

    Related information
    Irregular migration to the UK: quarterly data on small boat crossings and other irregular migration routes from 2018 onwards.

    Migrants detected crossing the English Channel in small boats – monthly data: data on daily small boat crossings, from 14 April 2022 to 30 January 2023 (historic data published by Ministry of Defence; not updated).

    Back to top
    Is this page useful?
    Yes

    1. An interesting use of the word ‘intercepted’. These people are not intercepted, they are actually brought to this country. On the order of HMG. They are not in difficulties at sea.

    1. Lefties refuse to understand that energy underpins everything. Beneath energy prices is tax. Therefore government is solely responsible for inflation.

      I'd also note that they were elected saying they would save us £300. Folk thought this meant lower bills, but it means higher bills so you use less, thus saving money.

      1. Lefties refuse to listen to anything except each other. And then they spout on about misinformation…

        1. I think this is simply because as soon as someone sensible asks them 'how' and 'what happens if' they simply can't cope and then the bad ones – most of them – get angry but the better sort keep prevaricating and you push them further and further until they realise that everything they say, do and think is wrong.

    2. When their mouths are moving, ogga1. I don't know if you saw footage of the women, a lot of them seemingly in their 20s?, chanting from the River to the Sea, as they straggled along. My guess is they'd be Starmer voters and/or activists, plus the many similar minded but middle-aged women who didn't march. I hope politicians (esp Conservative/Reform) have woken up to this tsunami of young Labour voters, possibly hoping 'they'll grow out of it'.

      1. Just cleaned my downstairs windows! 70 little panes inside and out! And that doesn’t include the dining room and kitchen!

        2. I employ a window cleaner. He will even do the inside of my conservatory if i wave a wad of money at him.

          1. Our window ‘cleaner’ is an Irish gypo who bought the business from our former bloke! He’s not very good (understatement) but he’s very pleasant and I really don’t know how to get rid of him!

          2. I said to my two windies earlier in the year that i really couldn’t see any point in them cleaning my windows when i wouldn’t be looking out of them.

            Months of grey weather etc.

            I think it fair to give warning as in notice. I said to mine i would only want them to come between May and August from next year. Their last time being December this year. Then the new schedule. These chaps can find other jobs to fill in.

          3. I’d hate to think what Olly does in his spare time! He seems to have a lot of rescue dogs on bits of string…

          4. If he isn’t up to no good i wouldn’t worry. Probably just doing Hare racing and teaching chickens how to dance. Given our governance who are we to judge. Especially when the remnants end up as dinner.

  65. Oh what a surprise, Canada also reports an equivalent increase in the rats of inflation.
    Not that there is any collusion of course,

        1. Gosh – that takes me back to the War – sitting under the dining table during air raids. My elder brother singing that…

  66. Reeves claimed she was economist on document – when updated LinkedIn profile says she was not
    Chancellor under pressure to come clean about employment history after appearing to have exaggerated experience
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/19/farmers-protest-starmer-bbc-iht-tax-inheritance-clarkson/

    So if Allison Pearson deletes a post which was only up for a short moment that is a hate crime whereas if Reeves deletes a lie on her CV having possibly got her job on the basis of the lie then does it not stink of :

    TWO TIER

    (and, according to The Guardian,* it was a post about two-tier policing that got Allison into trouble.)

    Most parents will try to tell their children that if they regularly tell lies nobody will believe them even when they are telling the truth.

    We have learnt our lesson. Rachel Reeves is a liar. She never tells the truth. Nobody should ever believe her again.

    * Allison apparently posted a picture of some police officers smiling with a group of Palestine supporters when they had refused to be photographed smiling with a group of Jews or Israel supporters.

    1. She never may tell the truth. Nobody should ever believe her again.
      That's a bit more accurater, Rastus.

      1. Think it was Burghart had a pop at her PMQs today, she sat stony faced until it just went away…Rayner defended her, obvs…

        1. My apologies to All; my TalkTalk Internet connection failed at 16.50 yesterday – just before our Wordle chat.

          I am now back online – since 12..30 Wednesday.

          1. We had problems until we transferred to B4RN, specialise in country areas. Occasionally goes off for a few hours for maintenance, but so far notified in advance. Guessing you have many messages to catch up, good luck 🙂

          4. The internet connection in Television Centre went down yesterday afternoon. Not sure how long it was out for but when it sprang to life and some new emails suddenly appeared, my ticker miraculously calmed itself. A sad life, isn't it?

          5. Ah, Talk Talk. I am cursed with them, too. Mine has been dropping out on and off for weeks. Then it seemed to stabilise. Today it dropped out again.

  67. Why so many farmers are asset rich but cash poor

    Rising land values belie the fact that much of the sector is barely scraping by

    Melissa Lawford, Economics Reporter
    19 November 2024 4:12pm GMT

    Shortly before delivering her maiden Budget last month, Rachel Reeves warned it would be "those with the broadest shoulders" who would bear the largest burden of any tax raid.

    As thousands of farmers descended on Parliament Square on Tuesday morning to protest over the Chancellor's inheritance tax overhaul, the Government continued to hammer home this message.

    Steve Reed, the Environment Secretary, said it was "only right to ask the very wealthiest farmers" to "pay their fair share".

    However, farmers have warned that this misconception of how their business works is what will end up destroying their livelihoods and Britain's agricultural sector along with it.

    Currently, farmers can claim up to 100pc inheritance tax relief on agricultural land, but from April 2026 they will have to pay inheritance tax on the value of their land above £1m.

    They will get a 50pc relief on the charge, which Ms Reeves said means they will face an effective tax rate of 20pc.

    But there is a contradiction at the heart of what the Chancellor is trying to do.

    While the value of the land owned by rural communities has soared in recent years, the profitability of farmers' businesses has not.

    "Agricultural land values and farm profitability are not directly correlated," says Sam Holt, head of estates and farm agency for Strutt & Parker. This is because farmers are caught in the middle of two opposing sets of market forces.

    Richard Jowett runs a 300-acre farm just outside Salisbury that he says will be subject to a £500,000 inheritance tax bill following the changes to agricultural property relief. He told BBC Radio Four's Today Programme: "Farms are different because the land value is so absurd compared to its profitability potential."

    The value of farming land has "accidentally increased" because of factors largely unrelated to farming, says Alex Lawson, director of national farms and estates at Savills.

    "In many cases the value of their farm or property will have gone up quite a lot if they have owned it for decades. But the revenue that they can derive from that has not increased at the same rate," says Lawson.

    In the 1990s, an acre of arable land cost around £2,000; today, the price is five times as high, at around £10,000 an acre, Lawson says. The price of grassland has similarly shot up from around £1,500 per acre to £7,000 over the same time frame.

    The price surge has been driven primarily by the non-farming world, with demand for farming land driven by infrastructure projects, forestry planting and renewable energy projects such as solar panels.

    "All of these things are contributing to a multi-faceted and varied demand for a finite resource," says Lawson.

    The proportion of farms and estates bought by farmers on the open market last year fell to a record low of 44pc, according to Strutt & Parker.

    Historically, farmers have accounted for 50pc to 60pc of purchases. More recently they have been replaced by a mix of private and institutional investors and people looking to buy country dwellings.

    Farmers only benefit from capital growth if they sell. Meanwhile, they are grappling with soaring costs of production in the wake of the energy crisis, which pushed up the costs of both fuel and fertiliser.

    When it comes to the profitability of their day-to-day businesses, farmers are subject to a completely different set of market forces.

    Lawson says farmers are competing with the rest of the world's food sellers while also facing a price ceiling on what UK consumers are willing to pay for produce: "There's been a squeeze on margins across the whole production cycle, but the farmers seem to bear the biggest brunt of it."

    Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers Union (NFU), adds: "We can have an asset worth £5m, but the profit that we make from producing the food for this country is so low that many years it's only a 1pc return."

    This is markedly less than the average 8.8pc net return made by non-financial businesses between April and June this year, according to official data.

    Many farms make no profit at all. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that 30pc of farms in England made a loss in 2023-24. A further quarter had income of less than £25,000. Less than one in six had an income of £100,000 or more.

    "Food inflation hasn't kept up with real inflation and ultimately we're not getting the returns we need from that food production," says the NFU's Bradshaw.

    "If you were a businessman, you wouldn't do it," Jowett told the BBC. "There are heaps of other ways you could do better. It sounds corny, but it is a sort of calling rather than just a job."

    The £1m tax-free threshold is "meaningless" considering how much capital farmers have to put into their businesses, says James Farrell, head of Knight Frank's rural consultancy. "A combine harvester alone can cost £1m. This is a tap on a group of people who are some of the hardest working in the country."

    Farmers have warned that the changes risk forcing them to sell up in order to meet the costs of the new inheritance tax bills.

    Savills' Lawson says: "If they have to realise pretty large capital sums in order to pay tax on the transfer of ownership to different generations, something has to give. That is either saddling themselves with debt or a 10-year payment programme on a business that already has desperately tight margins, or a sale."

    The Treasury says that only a small proportion of farms will be affected and that a combination of other reliefs mean that a couple should be able to pass on £3m of farmland tax free.

    The land value of farms in parts of the country where residential property prices are higher, such as the Home Counties, are particularly distorted by what Lawson calls "non-farming motivations".

    Bill Quan, a farmer in Herefordshire whose farm will be hit by the tax changes, says: "Essentially it stops you being able to pass the business on from one generation to the next in working order. There is no incentive for us to invest now. There is no incentive for wealth creation.

    "We have worked all our lives. And those of us that are self-employed generally take responsibility for our health and dentistry, taking the strain off government services. And we are the people getting penalised the hardest."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/11/19/why-many-farmers-are-asset-rich-but-cash-poor

    1. Farmers have warned that the changes risk forcing them to sell up in order to meet the costs of the new inheritance tax bills.
      Essentially it stops you being able to pass the business on from one generation to the next in working order.

      In the corridors of power of The New Elite scream.. "Oh what joy to hear that.." "You were right Bill, it's so easy.. keeerchiiing time."
      "What do we tell the BBC & The Guardian to repeat ad infinitum until they believe it?"
      "It's fair.." "£22bn bl@ck hole" ""fixing the foundations"

      2. "fixing the foundations"

        I.e. underpinning.

        Now, Reeves is an expert on building construction. Is there no end to her talents?

    2. So pensioners have the "broadest shoulders" do they? I tell you who has sloping shoulders and that's this lot of incompetent Labour urbanites.

  68. Fears of major Russian air attack on Kyiv as West rushes to shut embassies. 20 November 2024.

    Western nations moved to shut their embassies in Kyiv on Wednesday over fears of a major Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital.

    The US, Italy, Greece and Spain all closed their embassies in the city after receiving information about a potential “significant air attack”.

    The threat comes a day after Ukraine used US-supplied long-range missiles to strike a target inside Russia, taking advantage of newly granted permission from Joe Biden.

    They are feeding these poor suckers into the meat grinder by their tens of thousands and there’s a rumour of an air attack and they all leg it for the nearest shelter as if their pants were on fire.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/11/20/russia-ukraine-zelensky-putin-war-latest-news57/

    2. By defying Putin's warning not to deploy US long-range missiles, Dozy Joe Biden has provoked escalation and a possible nuclear retaliation.

      Why doesn't he FOAD?

      1. I'm completely bewildered at what Biden is thinking about. A last ditch desperate assault on Trump? A hope to make a 'mark' on the world?

        Sodding land mines? It's insane.

      2. The American constutionis not all its craced up to be. There should be ways they can overide a president in very exstream cases like this.

  69. Apparently it's Liam Payne's funeral today. There's a guy on BBC World News gushing about, "the light he brough to every room". Pass the sick bag. He was a junkie, wasn't he?

    1. Yes.

      There's a running joke that the smoke coming from the chimney of his cremation is cocaine, not ash.

  71. Overcooked the quiche, the coleslaw is off and the spud salad rock hard. A disappointing luncheon, all told.

    Thankfully we have three large hoovers on stand by.

    1. I had rather crispy bacon this morning. While I had put it to cook, the temperature of the oven (solid fuel – you can't adjust it very quickly) rose rather markedly.

  72. Sun is shining, in the Costa, Panels charging

    The MET office is right bout the Orange warning….. it is the Sun

  73. Letters to the Editor
    Reeves attacked farmers without thinking through the consequences

    SIR – The inheritance tax raid on farmers could raise £520 million a year for the Government by 2030. This is money taken from people who have successfully managed their finances, in an often challenging environment, sometimes over generations.

    By contrast, this amount is less than two days’ worth of interest payments on the national debt, which the taxpayer has to fork out, after successive governments mismanaged the nation’s finances.

    It is clear who the heroes and villains are here.

    Shaun Holt
    Stafford

  74. Just had a nice Tapas lunch with my (as Geoff calls her) long suffering Sister.

    Laughing and joking. Me flirting with the staff. I said i would pay for lunch.

    I got loads of money (Harry Enfield). Card was rejected twice.

    What a wally. Wrong card in wrong wallet. Still, i had enough in cash to pay.

          9. You really should come to one of my soirées. Then you would know what these lady Nottlers are really like !

        2. I rarely drive into town, let alone park there.
          Today, Sonny Boy Snr and I collected a revamped marble bracket clock (when the Victorians made a marble clock, they didn't stint on the marble) so I needed someone with rather more strength than I possess.
          The nearest car park took coins!!!! Bloody wonderful.
          Cheered up up this Lady Dinosaur no end.

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3af6cc7cfa5fd58a4698b42bea5f15a45b5d9cd180a969b84f1f61fa74c0cc09.jpg

          3. Yes. It is a serious piece of kit. That is why I splurged the cash to get it cleaned etc….
            It was last done over 20 years ago; apparently you should have them cleaned about every 5 – 6 years.
            (Ooops)

          4. At least you can fit that into a car. I had to get a van to collect my long case clock when I had it renovated and serviced.

    1. They do shoot in the USA if you don't comply. Then they lock up the Police officer.
      Derek Chauvin for example trying to restrain a muscular black guy high on drugs. He should have just shot him.

      I hope Trump pardons him. Quietly. And the supposed Capitol Hill rioters.

      You can add to that asylum for Tommy Robinson and his family.

  78. Trump must defeat Putin, if he is to prevail against Xi
    The President-elect seems to have a distasteful fondness for autocrats, but he also hates to lose

    18 November 2024 5:14pm GMT Charles Moore
    President Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine’s use of US long-range missiles in the Kursk region currently occupied by Ukrainian troops is welcome. But he does make Marshal Blücher, who famously arrived at the Battle of Waterloo at 4pm, look like an early bird. He could and should have made this decision last year.

    As for Britain, we should have refused the Biden constraints on what Ukraine could do with the Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles that we have already given them. Now we must help as fast as we can. With rare decisiveness, Germany chickened out yesterday.

    Apart from the fact that Mr Biden has only two months left in office, what seems to have prompted him to act more boldly is the arrival of 10,000 North Korean troops to fight on the Russian side in the Kursk region, standing behind Putin’s invasion. Their presence is such a blatant affront to international norms that even “Sleepy Joe” woke up. What happens next, of course, is largely a matter for Donald Trump, not for the now comprehensively defeated Democrats.

    The Trump camp have a theory that Ukraine is not a matter for them, but for Europe. They wish to concentrate their energies on confronting China.

    In terms of burden-sharing, the Trumpists are quite right that the European part of Nato should be the main protectors of Ukraine. It is our persistent failure even to meet agreed levels of spending, let alone commit further, which has fed Mr Trump’s almost pro-Putin rhetoric. In the Far East, America makes all the difference, and calls on Japan, South Korea and Australia, more than on us.

    However, the North Korean presence in the middle of Europe is vivid proof that, from a joint European and American point of view, our interests do not divide clearly at some imaginary border roughly between Europe and Asia. The crazy and cruel regime in North Korea is a client state of China and a supplier of Russia. Kim Jong-un’s exploited soldiery would not be turning up in Kursk if Xi Jinping were actively opposing their move.

    Just before the current Ukraine war got going, China and Russia declared a “friendship without limits” (even though they hate one another). What they have in common is a determination to advance their respective empires and persecute minorities within them, and a detestation of democracy. The fall of Kyiv and Taipei would be welcome to Russia and China for similar reasons. Western weakness in support of one makes their task of subverting or invading both so much easier.

    Mr Trump seems to have a distasteful fondness for autocrats, but he also hates to lose. His chances of prevailing in his struggle against China are far weaker if he decides to let Russia win in Ukraine.

    3. "President Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine’s use of US long-range missiles in the Kursk region currently occupied by Ukrainian troops is welcome." I stopped reading after that. If anybody thinks it's a good idea to escalate a civil war and extend it to a near world war, they do NOT deserve my attention.

      1. I think of all those voices condemning the USA for starting wars all over the planet since WW2 yet are utterly silent on its contribution to this one. Perhaps they really are simply ignorant of the actions of the CIA and Victoria Nuland.

    1. "It's astonishing to me that these people go to Davos in their private jets, and they're able to tell these world leaders how to govern us in ways that eradicate our constitutional and civil rights."

      Obviously not a Wokey.

      1. And of course Starmer said he was happier in Davos than in the UK. And what about the Idiot King?

        2. Admiral Levine is not a US Navy Admiral but Head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corp. I imagine that all of our Admirals are better than her.

    4. We are sitting here , mouths open , shocked and furious.

      We are an Island for goodness sake .. don't those fat arsed politicians understand anything ?

      They will be getting rid of our nuclear subs next .

      There will be just us to defend ourselves with garden forks , tractors , scythes and garden rollers ..

      What are they thinking about ?

      2. Defend ourselves from whom, Belle?
        We've already been invaded and the Navy was used to bring invaders in.
        The enemy is inside our gates, mostly in Westminster, in the universities, civil service, top police, armed forces, media etc etc.

    1. Looks like Labour’s plan to increase defence funding is yet another in the ever lengthening list of broken pledges! What a surprise.

      3. If the alternative is them buying a lot of weapons to fling at Russia and Iran, I'd rather they didn't!

    2. Tell Vlad to target no 10 and 11 Downing St and leave the rest of the country alone; after all, we didn't cause this mess – I certainly didn't vote for the idiots in Wastemonster.

  86. As bitcoin hits $94,000.. Rachel Reeves urgently consults Gordon Brown what to do with UKs stash of 61,245 Bitcoin that the police seized from China-linked scammer Jian Wen in 2021.

    1. Gordon is-a-moron Brown passes on his five economic tests as the criteria defined by the UK treasury under Gordon Brown that were to be used to assess the UK's readiness to dump the nation's bullion right at the precise bottom.. then miss an almighty multi decade long bull run.

    2. The Bitcoin came from a £5bn investment scam carried out in China by accomplice Zhang who arrived in the UK on a false St Kitts and Nevis passport.

      David Lammy "British" Foreign Secretary has filed a reparation claim on behalf of St Kitts and Nevis.

    3. The Bitcoin came from a £5bn investment scam carried out in China by accomplice Zhang who arrived in the UK on a false St Kitts and Nevis passport.

      David Lammy "British" Foreign Secretary has filed a reparation claim on behalf of St Kitts and Nevis.

  87. As bitcoin hits $94,000.. Rachel Reeves urgently consults Gordon Brown what to do with UKs stash of 61,245 Bitcoin that the police seized from China-linked scammer Jian Wen in 2021.

  88. Just back from a bimble along the Frome at Wareham: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/afb6b7eba09c7c90c065fada883ca42499d9fc3e778126271719bc4b0c981b46.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f36297931eda79855880cf7e39739b6307c01913f58ba1db5843617ca6dff103.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0a86a4d39218755e8c5e2d02ba6456aef5bfb354f62b5f7820cd2dd6efdbdf3c.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/121cba7df9911d485d33186ba273d558abfd60325a70de2d9c52b41d08401362.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7cb541c652c03132573697c42b8171f6281b99fc66444472ae3ecb1d92211842.jpg

    4. Lovely. I've not seen a Maureen for years. 😉

      When I were nobbut a toddler, we had them come into the garden to peck at the food in the henhouse. Grandad invariably called them Waterhens.

    5. It must have been 45 years ago that I sailed up the River Frome on a rising tide from Poole to Wareham with my mother. We tied up alongside the quay using plenty of fenders with the main halyard securely attached ashore so that Inca – my 22 foot boat – did not fall over as the tide ebbed.

      We then had a very good meal at the Old Granary.

      Inca took me all along the South Coast of England, to Normandy and the Channel Isles before Raua, my 30 footer took me to the Caribbean and back and then Mianda, our 40 footer, took Caroline, our two sons and me from the Baltic to Turkey via Gibraltar.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/04ea2cf24ca91b0e5a0dbbfcbb10cc34d62ced46f2a748099d4f0e69ec5e58d4.jpg

    6. That mallard drake photo is just beautiful. It shows how incredible – how intricate – their design and their sheer magnificence. And the water. Anyone who thinks this could have happened by accident has their eyes closed. Thank you.

  89. Afternoon, all. I am here early to annoy you because I was preparing for an AGM this evening, but everybody cried off because of the weather. The main roads are clear and no more snow has fallen, but they were all in favour of rescheduling for January (when the weather will probably be worse, which I did point out, but hey ho!). Although I'm chairman, I did baulk at turning up on my own, so here I am. Their loss is your somewhat dubious gain.

    Reeves attacked farmers for ideological reasons. No thinking was required (or, indeed, desirable as far as Labour was concerned). Everyone I speak to is appalled how badly they've behaved in such a short time. I am not surprised by their nastiness, just by the speed with which they have enacted their class warfare.

          1. Except for the strikes and sabotage until after Operation Barbarossa, of course (to be fair, they were mainly communists who did that).

          2. Indeed. British communists had been instructed by Moscow to treat the war with Hitler as capitalist on capitalist. The poor buggers had to turn on a kopek when Hitler headed east.

  90. A clubhouse Par Four!

    Wordle 1,250 4/6
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩🟨🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Tied
      Wordle 1,250 4/6

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

    2. And me.

      Wordle 1,250 4/6

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

    3. Likewise,

      Wordle 1,250 4/6

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

          1. I can't speak for the driving skills of London bus drivers (they did mainly seem to be effniks the last time I was in London).

        1. I was taught that soccer fields could be wider than they were long and vice versa, but they could not be square.

          5. No. They can never be wider than they are long. (See my formula above). But the rest is correct.

            I hate the word ‘soccer’.

        1. Last time Carlisle flooded, a solitary goldfish appeared at Brunton Park as the waters receded. Discovered by the daughter of Fred Story. A former colleague.

          FWIW, my paternal aunty lived at 275 Warwick Road, just by the ground. 1960's Plod were provided with rowing boats from the park next door to my childhood home. More recently, the MSM published photos of her old house, plus piles of sodden furniture.

          1. Driven past Brunton Park a few times – it's on the main drag in, isnt it? – still expecting to see a statue of Chris Balderstone, probably the last great 'double' sportsman……..

      5. Is that a UK soccer pitch or an American football field or even a slightly larger Canadian football field?

        1. I don't know what the details of the rules are. Maybe the USA didn't sign the treaty. It shouldn't take too long to find out. We of course did because the sainted Diana was involved in the campaign against land mines and that is, in effect, what many of the cluster munitions dispensed.

    3. I am no expert as you know. Ha !

      We sold the Sauds loads of cluster bombs just before they were banned internationally. They kept them in their arsenal and then most recently used them against terrorist groups in Yemen.

      That turned out well !

      It brutalised the population to the point they were all happy to hide Fighters/Martyrs/Terrorists.

      Almost like hiding Jews in attics.

      The Biden administration is lashing out in its death and should be put down immediately.

        1. I think there needs to be a re-run of the Capitol Hill non-riot but for real this time.

          These are very dangerous psychopaths in control of forces if they unleash we all die.

  92. Hello, good evening, it's time to draw the curtains and become more cozy 🙂

  94. Some thoughts.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7e4d25178186b14d1f961929f7570d437a8b7038d572895284ca1eaef5315466.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/57292d5283dfdea2f6c7f57f2ba9adb7e9ce82b8b76a79939e6bc53d74206fb9.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/adaba0574e51fc11b3a5555b5c726cb9470a015310fc0310dc6794691ef13c6b.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c29569527fcc30d73eabe3c286812f68af696391eb1dd87ffbe0cca7fbfad1b2.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e21cee695c6f63366fc6d4a250d1fc3bfd5689000706ddc0ee5e7ef7667857a5.png

  97. I was trying to work out what CV stood for as we are hearing a lot about the Chancellors work experience this week.
    It obviously means –
    Conning Voters
    In Labour's Lexicon, that is.

    1. It's too serious even to crack jokes about which part of the UK they should bomb first.
      Nobody wants these endless wars except the brainwashed and the sociopaths who fund them and profit from them.

    2. Maire O' Contraire
      3h
      Isn't 2-TK doing well!
      Mission 1: punish pensioners.

      Mission 2: bankrupt the nation in pursuit of ideological 'Net Zero' scam; end energy security.

      Mission 3: transfer ownership of family farms to billionaire 'investors'; end food security.

      Mission 4: punish the productive sector; bloat the public sector; stoke inflation.

      Mission 5: start WW3.

    3. As we all know, the RAF has been flying EW missions against Russia from the begining, so we have been at war for a while. Although its not lethal force, the info gained will have been essential in target selection.

    4. The human species has lived quite a long time in the Phanerozoic æon, Cenozoic era, Quaternary period, Holocene epoch, and Meghalayan age.

      Some scientists believe that we are also in a new geological epoch called the Anthropocene, which began around 1950. This new epoch is marked by human activities that have left a permanent impact on the planet, such as:

      Plastic pollution.
      High levels of nitrogen and phosphate in soils.
      A layer of airborne particulates in sediment and glacial ice.

      I further — fervently — believe that Homo sapiens sapiens has now transmogrified into H. sapiens imbecilus. The present day routine moronic antics of most people, but especially the ruling class, is now completely and irreversibly out-of-control and common sense has been universally supplanted by irreparable crass idiocy.

      Lemmings — despite what the fantasist, Walt Disney, told you — do not commit mass suicide. Only one species does that.

          1. Mine was to his own description of himself as Spike Milligna – the well=known typing error!

            His original book (AH, my part etc) was excellent, the follow-ups not so good…..

  100. That's me for tonight. May be a frost overnight. Probably no market tomorrow because – after two years of waiting, the council are repairing the our road and all traffic is banned. Wonder if they mean that!

    Have a jolly evening

    A demain.

  102. Conspiracy theories gradually leaking out regarding "Southport cover-up" alluded to by Nigel Farage last week.
    Involves Starmer instructing Merseyside police to threaten any resident that mentioned the you-know-whats doing a bit of you-know-what with some you-know-what.. in case it revealed that the security agencies knew all along that the you-know-what was going do some fiendish you-know-what.. all in the name of protecting the you-know-whos.

    1. Best defer the trial to.. way way way over there.. somewhere sometime never.. about the same time as the Manc Airport windmilling trial. Sir Keir has so much work to do in the meantime.

    2. Thats certainly clearrd up a lot of you know whats..! And we didnt even get round to the super-you know what…

        1. I am, a v pleasant 28 with a breeze. Hard to read the screen in all this sunshine. Back at the weekend.

  103. Has anyone noticed that the women on Labour's front bench all have the same facial expression, like they are sniffing a turd

          1. I love all of them but particularly Happy the croc whose parents are elephants!

            My grandson is 6 now so not as into it as he used to be….. I'll just have to watch it on my own!!

  105. All these Lefties on facebook groups celebrating the plight of the farmers, for reasons only a psychiatrist could explain.

    They all seem to think that food is just handed to them on a plate

  106. Dear Vlad not everyone in the UK Or the US dislikes you. Please don't nuke us and our innocent families because our dick head political idiots are trying to stir up retaliation to their stupid and dangerously inane actions.

  107. 397122+ up ticks,

    I do believe it could very well happen with the current situation worsening,

    The tool on awakening.
    saying to his bedroom serf,Birmingham has gone , what do you mean, gone, gone where ?

  108. Motor manufacturers have been drastically affected by governments globally through COP resolutions to reduce emissions.
    BBC news today focussed on Ford's demise following the sharp decline in expected demand for EVs.
    This follows concerns about UK Labour Government policies following plans to make further spending cuts and raising taxes whilst still trying to lead a fast tracked. crusade into net zero.

    Nevertheless Porche has decided to replace the Porche Taycan EV with a petrol engine.
    This seasoned anti-EV blogger is ecstatic about this turnaround from EV to ICE cars and it all hinges on net zero unaffordability and impracticality.

    https://youtu.be/48WU7G4iM_E?si=PUnhS2H9byNKTnPo

  109. I wonder whether the death Western civilisation, as a result of Biden and Starmer triggering WW3, will get the same wall to wall tearful coverage as young Mr Payne.

      1. Yep , my 3rd x ray of the year..then splatter ..

        Why are they trying to end the world , yet throwing £billion rockets into the sky and yacking on about carbon footprints and freezing us to death..

  112. Back to Jaguar..look at this ..

    https://twitter.com/CaptainKennie/status/1859239230624411726 Decades ago when Moh and I lived down in Helston , he was based at RNAS Culdrose .. we were in married quarters ..

    A garage in Helston had a purple E Type Jaguar .. I can remember it being open topped , the garage guy used to enjoy taking a few of us , Navy wives , out for a spin , another friend myself and my young toddler son used to pile into it , hood down , and I am certain the spaniel had a ride as well . We all had several trips in that lovely car along the narrow Cornish lanes during the early seventies , the chap looked very similar to Marc Bolan, of T Rex fame .

    If any of you were familiar with Helston in those days , I expect you will remember the car .. it was gorgeous .

    Psst

    We had a green mini traveller , push button starter on floor at the time !

    1. Before my time in Cornwall, Maggie. As for the 'Laird of the Manor', I suppose he still lives up at the Big Hoose. (LOTL used to enjoy "You'll Have Had Your Tea?"

    2. Aaaarghhh! I had two XJ6's in the past (one totalled in a motorway smash, I walked away without a scratch!) – fabulous motorway cruisers but lousy in freezing conditions like today….
      Wouldnt touch them with a shitty stick after this abomination……

        1. Yes, I was overtaking a big artic who suddenly decided (as they do) to pull out as soon as they indicate. He clipped my rear end and spun me round – I was going fast enough, fortunately, not to disappear under his wheels (as the copper who attended the scene told me he had often witnessed, with horrific results) and crashed into the hard shoulder.
          I've also totalled a BMW in a motorway crash (I covered 30,000 miles a year for many years in my job) so that's lucky twice – I dont want to think about the third time…….

          2. Nice! 68 mpg is pretty special – I thought I was doing well with 48 mpg on my current BMX X1M!……

          3. The really amazing thing was the fact because the car hadn't sold for one year it was £14,950 below the list price!

            I hope it will last me another 8 years when I shall be 80 so I can then try out the Sport mode and paddle gear shift!!

          5. (Nor me!!!) :- )))

            Not much chance around here where 90% of the roads are limited to 20 mph. Still the cruise control set at 20 mph must pi55 off a lot of folk who voted Lib Dem!

          6. On decent runs I get half that in my Landrover.
            That said, for a 20 year old Landrover with nearly 195k on the clock I drive reasonably economically

          8. Assuming you meant "owe".

            It's treated as if it's depreciated down to zero, so unless we start to get either regular breakdowns or horrendous repairs we'll hang on to it rather than buy a new/newer car.
            We certainly can't even consider something as high quality.

          9. Similar happened to my s-i-l on his motorbike, in plaster for weeks, using commode as he couldn't get to the bathroom….daughter really happy about that….

    3. On our family holidays at the Lizard this was our mode of transport. We looked down on the inferior E-type of course.

        1. For some peculiar reason my wife was recommended by someone she worked with to visit Helston, we stayed there on our honeymoon. But went out somewhere every day 😆😂🤗

    5. A friend had an E type, it was quite scary to be along side him in it.
      My MGB GT was fast enough.

    6. I remember drinking some ridiculously strong beer called 'spingo' in Helton, can’t remember the name of the pub though. Blue Boar? Blue Bell? In about 1984.

    7. When I lived in London in my early 20s I remember seeing a bright pink E-Type parked in Fulham with the number plate: FU2.

  113. Wordle 1,250 4/6

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

    1. Maybe Putin will novichok the no10 door handles ?

      He already did, three months ago, and what we're seeing is the death throes.

  115. I'm feeling a bit drowsy, I've been marketing our number three son's Ford Focus with local dealers. They don't seem to have the same ideas of price scale as he does.
    Two more tomorrow and that's it.
    I'll just finish watching one of my favourite programs. Digging for Britain.
    Night all. 😴

    1. I still always laugh at this…. just……

      https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=doctor+strangelove+final+credits&sca_esv=86a7437669578f61&ei=sD8-Z8ejFpK6hbIPtMXB2Q8&ved=0ahUKEwjHu8O62euJAxUSXUEAHbRiMPsQ4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=doctor+strangelove+final+credits&gs_lp=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-wHCAhsQABiABBhDGIoFGEYY-wEYlwUYjAUY3QTYAQHCAiYQLhiABBixAxiXBRjcBBjeBBjgBBj0AxjxAxj1Axj2Axj3A9gBAcICCBAAGBYYChgewgIjEC4YgAQYlwUY3AQY3gQY4AQY9AMY8QMY9QMY9gMY9wPYAQHCAgUQIRigAcICCBAAGKIEGIkFmAMAiAYBkAYIugYGCAEQARgUkgcKMjQuOS4wLjEuMaAH-cYD&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:401671c7,vid:s4VlruVG81w,st:0

      2. If it does kick off one can have the consolation of falling as radioactive particles on the barstewards who pressed the buttons!

        1. So many opportunities to stop this conflict and all those useless Left wing fools have done is make everything worse.

          1. A conflict with an opponent who is unwilling to enter into a nuclear war…. but out of self-defence has to lob one (or more) back at the west.

          2. They’ll have to come out sometime and the half life of radioactive particles is many, many years!

      3. Peter Sellers….always a favourite…btw established JDP lives in Devon, according to blurb on book jacket…doubt this helps you much (sorry) but otherwise bit of a dead end.

    3. If we did have a nuclear war chances are we wouldn't know about it.

      My only request would be for Putin to use multiple missiles on London. Make sure you get the sewage in Westminster.

      2. Only if we were the lucky ones at the epicentre (vaporised). Otherwise we sure would know about it.

    4. I feel like that every second these days, my King. But then i grew up during the cold war, when this was also standard fare. We had regular "what to do in the case of nuclear war" protocols, which involved huddling under our desks and covering our eyes. Useless really.

    1. Sick joke, look away now, if other than a swine.

      Germany is now advising people to head to the concentration camps to avoid being incinerated

      1. What goes around comes around. What gives sholz the authority to mobilise 800,000 nato troops unless he is being told what to do?.. I very much doubt the german people agree with this.

  118. Geniuses.

    British Storm Shadow missiles 'may have been used to target Russian facility with underground control room where Kim Jong Un's commanders are holed up': Defence experts reveal fascinating evidence as attack stokes WW3 fears

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14106523/British-Storm-Shadow-missiles-used-target-Russian-facility-underground-control-room-Kim-Jong-Uns-commanders-holed-Defence-experts-reveal-fascinating-evidence-attack-stokes-WW3-fears.html

    Let's really wind up one of the planet's most irrational dictators.

    North Korea's last nuclear test was in September 2017. The ICBM that North Korea launched in December, the solid-fueled Hwasong-18, had a lofted trajectory flight time that suggests a potential range of 9,300 miles on a normal trajectory, putting it within striking distance of anywhere in the mainland U.S.

    Edit, so that makes pretty much anywhere in the UK in range.
    No wonder Cursed Harmer spends so much time out of the country.

    2. A weapon that cumbersome, slow and inefficient would be destroyed long before it got close to us.

      1. You have more faith in our defences than I do.

        By the time all the chains of command had been consulted, all the arses covered, and the OK to launch had been agreed it would be good night Vienna.

  121. Madeline Grant
    Rayner’s easy ride is over as Tories unveil a new nemesis
    Facing Alex Burghart at PMQs, the deputy PM was on the back foot – and missing her cutesy double act with Oliver Dowden

    Sir Keir was away, off on another of his trips away from the country he so visibly hates. For the man who dreamed of a brave new nation where people get jail time for using memes, or can be transported for vaping, the actual business of the House of Commons is clearly tiresome. This time he’d been delighting world leaders with his airy badinage at the G20: “Do you need more spit on your loafers, President Xi? 我父亲是名工具制造商. Uighur Muslims? Never heard of them.” That sort of thing.

    Anyway, this put Big Ange back in the driving seat but with a new opponent. Alex Burghart is the shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and was clearly not going to give Ange the cutesy end-of-the-pier show she used to get from Oliver Dowden. He began by simply asking what the Government was going to do about inflation. Ange, so flippant that she barely remembered to welcome him to his place, simply quoted the statistics of the Truss government at him. Burghart was having none of it and scored a delicious blow when he referred to the findings of “real” economists. Rachel Reeves who, with Lucy Powell, was flanking Ange in identical outfits like the twins from The Shining, winced.

    Next came the farmers, those inconvenient people who just, you know, provide our food. Did Ange think they’d come to London to thank the Government, asked Burghart? Ange simply reasserted that she believed the Government’s calculations. It didn’t matter that they’d been disproved by the NFU and various expert agencies – Ange had her line and was sticking to it. Reeves could have got a half-cut chimp to throw the stats together on the back of a fag packet and it still wouldn’t have mattered. In fact, for all we know, she did.

    Labour’s backbenchers conducted themselves with their usual dripping contempt for the general public. Charm-free area, and fast identifying himself as premier bottom-crawler of the new intake, Torsten Bell yelled “Nonsense!” at the first mention of the farmers’ plight and how many would be affected. Another MP screamed “Did they vote for Brexit?” as if some farmers having a different opinion on the EU justified their bankruptcy and suicides. It is important to remember that many of these MPs are not just stupid, but nasty as well.

    “I fink it’s an audaciteh for him to stand there and suggest Labour broke promises.” This shot of Ange’s, delivered in her best not-angry-but-disappointed tone was met with genuine shrieks of laughter in the house. Burghart ended with a list of people Labour were punishing for not voting for them, something his opponent never actually denied.

    Other highlights included Lee Anderson suggesting that the Environment Secretary’s claim that he’d met a farmer who supported the inheritance tax changes could only mean that his primary crop was cannabis. There was a reminder of what good, decent backbenchers are for when Labour MP Graham Stringer challenged Ange to condemn what he referred to as “the Stasi-like questioning of Allison Pearson”. Good on Mr Stringer – he got a number of cheers, but sadly few from his side of the House. Ange flustered some platitudes about free speech coming with responsibilities.

    Lincoln Jopp closed with a softball question about Spelthorne litter-pickers, a reminder of the glorious ability of the British Parliament to switch between the lofty and mundane in an instant. This was much more Ange’s speed: she even called Mr Jopp her friend. After her evisceration by Burghart it must have felt pleasant to be back on easier ground. Unfortunately for her, the shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster isn’t going away: clearly Ange’s easy-riding days are over.

    1. The uighur muslims deserve what's happening to them. They caused endless trouble – rapes, violence, murders, theft and kept pushing and pushing and the Chinese finally said up yours and collared and chained them.

    2. What we need is some real opposition that will hold the government to account. That's been sadly lacking for some time.

  122. Completely and utterly off topic
    I enjoy the Microsoft daily Solitaire timed trial.
    I am currently in second place in my group, having had a pretty good series of games.
    My time, just over 53 minutes.

    The bot, because I cannot believe it is a human, completed it in 6 minute 5 seconds.

    It's a pity the system can't either eliminate the cheats, or put them in a second category.

      1. Today it was 20, varying from "easy" through three levels to "expert"

        If one completes an expert problem in under five minutes it gets an award.
        I use "award" loosely, it's a game and the awards relate to completed puzzles.
        Roughly 500,000 people complete the challenges each day.

        As it stands at the moment, the leader of my group ranks in the top 20 of 350,000.
        It must be a bot.

    2. I like FreeCell but I’m only competing against my own best score. A pretty good score mind. Been watching old Olive and Mabel videos tonight.

        1. Good question. It seems to auto set my Daily Challenge and up the difficulty level depending on my score.

          1. Mine is "Solitaire and casual games"
            Microsoft Solitaire Collection

            It gives all five of the normal collection, daily and monthly challenges, as well as lots of other games.

            An utter waste of time, but I enjoy them

      1. Just completing a series of solitaire challenges.
        The degrees of difficulty change every day
        I can't provide a link
        "Solitaire and casual games"
        Microsoft Solitaire Collection

        It gives all five of the normal collection, daily and monthly challenges, as well as lots of other games.
        Klondike, Spider, Free Cell, Pyramid and Tri Peaks.

  126. Home after a bit of a problem two miles from home.
    Coming up from Wirksworth towards Steeple Grange, I was chatting to the DT and, I will be totally honest, became distracted, when I noticed an X17 bus coming towards me was passing some parked cars.
    Veering to the left, I hit the kerb and wrote of my front left wheel and probably the tyre too.

    Realising that the issued wheelchange kit provided by Vauxhall was total crap, I was lucky that Welder Son was able to come and give ma a hand.
    1½h later than expected, I eventually for home at 20:30.

    2. You didn't need that , and your poor DT must have been really shaken up as well.

      Tomorrow is another day.

      Sleep well and thank God for a lucky escape 🙏🏻

  128. Another lengthy article worth a look

    Middle class people who became swept up in the violent riots following the Southport killings have now “lost everything”, a police and crime commissioner has said.

    Matt Storey, the Labour commissioner for Cleveland, said that people with “really settled lifestyles” had been drawn into the violence that erupted over the summer.

    And he said it was important to talk to people who were involved in the disorder to understand why it occurred and ensure it never happened again.

    Riots broke out across the country after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport in July.

    Axel Rudakubana, 18, has been charged with the girls’ murder and is due to go on trial at Liverpool Crown Court in January.

    Middle class people who became swept up in the violent riots following the Southport killings have now “lost everything”, a police and crime commissioner has said.

    Matt Storey, the Labour commissioner for Cleveland, said that people with “really settled lifestyles” had been drawn into the violence that erupted over the summer.

    And he said it was important to talk to people who were involved in the disorder to understand why it occurred and ensure it never happened again.

    Riots broke out across the country after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport in July.

    Axel Rudakubana, 18, has been charged with the girls’ murder and is due to go on trial at Liverpool Crown Court in January.

    Matt Storey
    Matt Storey, the Cleveland police and crime commissioner, says he intends to visit prisons to talk to rioters serving sentences Credit: James Hind/Alamy Live News
    Speaking to reporters at the National Police Chiefs’ Council conference, Mr Storey said he would be going into prisons to speak to people convicted over the riots.

    Advertisement

    He said: “I want to speak to the people who perpetrated the violence and say, ‘Why did you do it?’

    “If they do hold prejudiced views, I want to know why they hold them. I want to understand how we can best educate people to make sure they don’t hold those views anymore.”

    Mr Storey, who was elected in May of this year, said that there had been “consistent messaging” over many years about “swarms and invasions” of migrants.

    “That feeds into that culture of we are being somehow negatively affected in our communities by immigration and by people who’ve come from somewhere else,” he added.

    Mr Storey said the disorder seen in Middlesbrough had largely been perpetrated by people who “exploited” the Southport killings in order to “voice offensive views and prejudices”.

    He suggested that in Hartlepool, also part of his region, the violence had been primarily instigated by people who held anti-police views and wanted to cause “mindless violence”, and others may have been swept up in the chaos.

    Mr Storey continued: “[Police] have told me of people who had really good jobs, really settled lifestyles, middle class, and have lost everything because they basically got drawn into it.

    “I think that restorative justice work will be really important in a preventative sense, because we need to make sure these things don’t happen again.

    “And that’s not going to happen if we don’t understand from the people who did it why it happened in the first place.”

    Matt Jukes, the UK’s head of counter-terror, said there was a narrative that “the thought police” were “arresting hundreds of people for having opinions”.

    He added: “The reality is the hundreds and hundreds of people who were arrested were arrested because of their suspected involvement in violence, criminal damage, direct harms in communities.”

    Mr Jukes said a small proportion of the arrests linked to the disorder were for online offences, about 100, while the rest were for disorder or violence in real life.

    So far, 1,590 people have been arrested, of whom 17 per cent were children aged 18 or under. A total of 1,015 have been charged. Just under half of those arrested (46 per cent) were aged between 18 and 35.

    The latest figures from the NPCC show policing the disorder over the summer cost £31.7 million, and that figure is expected to rise.

    Mr Jukes also criticised commentators who have claimed information has been covered up about the investigation into the Southport killings.

    “It is unhelpful when people who I suspect fully well know what the constraints are on reporting during ongoing legal proceedings point to limited disclosures or limits on what can be said as evidence of cover-up and conspiracy,” he said.

    Mr Jukes added that bots had “turbo-charged” hate and misinformation posted online during the riots.

    “The vast majority of messaging which was problematic online was domestic, driven by people who lived in our communities, who were stoking fear in those communities,” he said.

    “But we have seen that turbo-charged by bots online. And so as we were tracking the amount of traffic, hateful traffic, during the 24-hour period across the days, we would see tremendous spikes as, around midnight, bots kicked in.

    “And we would just see that amplification, automation of that reach of those messages which were at times hateful, at times misinformation.”

    Mr Jukes said some of the bots are thought to have been based in Russia but added that no country has a monopoly on “bot farms”.

    Jean Edwards
    46 min ago
    Storey said, ' “I want to speak to the people who perpetrated the violence and say, ‘Why did you do it?’

    “If they do hold prejudiced views, I want to know why they hold them. I want to understand how we can best educate people to make sure they don’t hold those views anymore.” '

    This sent chills down my spine. One person's prejudice is another's fact. Are we on the way to re education camps?

    Reply by John Fellows.

    JF

    John Fellows
    43 min ago
    Start talking to the present and past Prime Ministers and government.

    Reply by Jon Wisbey.

    JW

    Jon Wisbey
    30 min ago
    Jean – yes, chilled me too. Thanks for making this point- it should chill all of us. My rather ill tempered response to another comment, below, was made in a rage, I am so angry, but your comment is really what counts here.

    Comment by Roz Adams.

    RA

    Roz Adams
    50 min ago
    Middle-class as an adjective (middle-class people) and without the hyphen as a noun (the middle class is…).

    David Adams
    1 hr ago
    It is only a matter of time until the establishment create gulags to re-educate people who do not believe that mass immigratiuon is beneficial.

    Comment by Graham matthews.

    Gm

    Graham matthews
    1 hr ago
    Well now it is pretty clear where the misinformation was coming from.

    Comment by Tess Tickle.

    TT

    Tess Tickle
    1 hr ago
    They have poisoned the well for decades.

    Shame on them.

    Comment by Bill Masen.

    BM

    Bill Masen
    1 hr ago
    If he wanted to do something useful, he could explain why those two thugs who were filmed punching airport police officers in the summer still haven't been charged. Manchester police sure as hell haven't given any compelling answer.

    Comment by Tim Ledbury.

    TL

    Tim Ledbury
    1 hr ago
    Incredible. Just incredible. Do they really think we’re all stupid and dont see whats going on? (Mrs L)

    Comment by Rob Scarr.

    RS

    Rob Scarr
    1 hr ago
    If you really don't understand why there is a problem, read this sentence:

    "Axel Rudakubana, 18, has been charged with the girls’ murder and is due to go on trial at Liverpool Crown Court in January."

    A lot of people involved in even the smallest way with the riots even down not leaving their homes, but writing "hurty words" on the Internet received "justice" within hours, followed by completely out of proportion custodial sentences.

    Has the Labour councillor, who advocated slitting the throats of rioters been tried yet? (I know the answer, but will keep asking the question until the answer is the correct one, and a suitable sentence is passed.)

    1. "Mr Storey said the disorder seen in Middlesbrough had largely been perpetrated by people who “exploited” the Southport killings in order to “voice offensive views and prejudices”." This really is the way they view it. Not righteous anger and indignation that such dreadful things had been allowed to happen, but "offensive views and prejudices". What has become of the country?

    2. “If they do hold prejudiced views, I want to know why they hold them. I want to understand how we can best educate people to make sure they don’t hold those views anymore.”

      ”Mr Storey said the disorder seen in Middlesbrough had largely been perpetrated by people who “exploited” the Southport killings in order to “voice offensive views and prejudices”.”

  129. 397122+ up ticks,

    You mark my words, the next slashing action will be the elimination of firing pins.

    Dt,

    Government slashes £500m from defence as Storm Shadows hit Russia
    Six major programmes across the Armed Forces, including Army’s main fleet of drones, scrapped on day Ukraine unleashes British missiles

    1. The UK is the glittering prize , we have been deceived and left very vulnerable … and the stiff wooden Aunt Sally clothes peg that says he is our Prime Minister .. does he really represent us?

      .Trotsky advocated for a decentralized form of economic planning, worker's control of production, elected representation of Soviet socialist parties, mass soviet democratization, the tactic of a united front against far-right parties, cultural autonomy for artistic movements, voluntary collectivisation

  132. Matthew Lynn
    The EU is heading for fresh financial doom
    20 November 2024, 1:34pm

    If it came from Nigel Farage no one would be very surprised. Or from one of the band of German professors who launched the far-right AfD party. But the latest warning of a fresh crisis in the eurozone comes from a far more unexpected source: the European Central Bank (ECB). In its financial stability review published today, the ECB warns that the single currency could soon be plunged into a replay of the trauma of 2011 and 2012. Unfortunately, it is almost certainly right.

    The review, published twice a year, is intended to warn the markets of impending risks to the system. Today’s update explores a familiar cocktail of risks, from the potential for a bubble in AI stocks to the danger that the return of tariffs might pose to the trading system. But it is the section on the risks to the eurozone which catches the eye. ‘Elevated debt levels and high budget deficits, coupled with weak long-term growth potential and policy uncertainty, increase the risk that fiscal slippage will reignite market concerns over sovereign debt sustainability,’ it notes.

    Roughly translated from the dry language of central banks, what it means is this: we are bust. The ECB identifies a toxic mix of zero growth and high, escalating debts that could potentially trigger a repeat of the 2011 crisis. France is now in deep fiscal trouble, with the government still spending 6 per cent more of GDP than it collects in taxes every year. Added to this, thanks to the political deadlock which has existed since President Macron’s decision to call rash elections earlier this year, there is little sign that the French parliament will ever be able to agree on serious cuts to spending –or that the French would tolerate it if they did.

    Likewise, the Italian economy was meant to have been fixed by the €400 billion (£334 billion) it got from its neighbours under the EU’s coronavirus recovery fund in 2020. But the cash seems to have mostly been frittered away on vanity projects, and the economy has now ground to a halt between them.

    Both countries look alarmingly like Greece back in 2010, with rising debts, zero growth, and a political system that is incapable of addressing the issue. Of course, the ECB is taking a risk by warning of trouble ahead. After all, if that prompts investors to start bailing out the market it could quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

    Even so, the ECB clearly felt that this was a chance worth taking. It wants to bully governments into taking action to start bringing their debts under control again – because if they don’t, it will soon be too late.

    *************************************
    David B
    8 hours ago
    And the great economic proposal of our "economist" Chancellor and her former employer, the Bank of England, is to shackle us to this corpse in the hope of finding growth.

    You couldn't make it up!

    Anglomicronesian David B
    8 hours ago
    What they really want is to rejoin so that they can move accountability offshore.

    MikeBrighton
    8 hours ago
    The EU is in big trouble.
    Quite simply now the UK has left the show is essentially bankrolled by Germany.
    You may have noticed Germany has big problems and the EU is in Trump’s trade crosshairs for being a protectionist racket. Which is basically true.
    Germany can no longer write an open cheque as its economy and demographics are in broad collapse.
    Italy is functionally bankrupt.
    France teeters on the edge of bankruptcy.
    (We are not far behind sadly…)

    When the paymaster can pay no more then much of the architecture that holds it together falls apart.

    2. They never miss an opportunity to get that so called smear in their articles do they “far-right AfD party”
      Our MSM still being the lapdog to their Lords and Masters.

    3. We had a great opportunity to trade with countries all around the world having extricated ourselves from the EU.

      Regrettably and predictedly the gross buffoon Boris Johnson and his lapdog the orphan Gove scuppered our chances of a half decent trade deal with the EU. That weakness and the aggregate gifts Johnson and Gove bequeathed to the EU viz. fishing rights in our territorial waters, retention of many stupid EU green policies on carbon emissions and the rest merely incentivised the apparatchiks in the EU to punish us further.

      The EU immediately punished us by ordering EU member countries to stop investment into our country and to make life here very difficult by refusing to export products from the EU to us and doubly to make it difficult for us to export to them.

      Who in the hell would wish to be a member of that corrupt club? excepting a succeeding idiot Kier Starmer and his coterie of amateurs posing as professionals. May he rot in hell.

      During the years of our membership of the EU we neglected our own interests, the effectiveness of our NHS and other public services, our essential infrastructure and needs.

      Instead we funded the development of other countries within the EU such as Poland and eastern countries in general. The roads and motorways in France and Spain, for example, during our membership of the EU went from primitive gravelled tracks to super highways at our expense. Meanwhile our own infrastructure was neglected, worn out and crumbling such that every road in the UK is now potholed and frankly unfit for purpose.

      I hate the EU and its affiliated institutions in particular the European Courts. The EU is the opposite of a democratic institution but instead a centralised bureaucratic state.

      We need urgently to be rid of Keir Starmer. The man is a Marxist idiot and frankly dangerous as are the mostly female muppets surrounding him.

    4. They will never get their finances in order. People are addicted to free stuff paid for with mouse-click money.

  133. Well, chums, it's almost 11 pm (my new bedtime) so I will wish you all a Good Night, and hope that you sleep well and awaken refreshed tomorrow.

    1. You did well to stick with us. I am quitting after 2.00am. I tend to be late on this forum for the reason that I follow the most reliable news viz. US podcasters.

      The mainstream media both here in the UK and especially in the US is a dying format for real news. Their time has come and gone! Thank God.

      1. I don't rely upon any newscaster in the world, they all lie for their own advantage. Goodnight, Corri.

          3. I can’t say what my dad would say, but along those lines…he was a (disappointed) Labour voter, know that feeling now albeit not about Labour (or Liebour as it’s known). Will borrow your dad’s comment, with variations on ‘bluddy’, if I may 🙂

Comments are closed.