Wednesday 22 January: What Kemi Badenoch can learn from Donald Trump’s American dream

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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725 thoughts on “Wednesday 22 January: What Kemi Badenoch can learn from Donald Trump’s American dream”

  2. Good morning, chums – and thanks to Geoff for today's new NoTTLe site. First! Correction, I'm still only second. Well done, Johnny.

    Wordle 1,313 5/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      The algorithm worked today!
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      1. Didn't they use to say this as the first word of a four word command in old cowboy films, BB2? Lol. EDIT: I changed "three" to "four". Obviously I can't count!

  3. Good morning, chums – and thanks to Geoff for today's new NoTTLe site. First! Correrction, I'm still only second. Well done, Johnny.

    Wordle 1,313 5/6

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    3. Shameless.

      Yes, this particular failed case started under the equally useless Tories' watch but what we must remember is that the Tories and Labour are following the same overall game plan. Truss's recent admissions in an interview confirmed what all thinking people have suspected for some time. However, the Tories weren't in office at the time of the Southport incident and everything that followed is Starmer's responsibility, he's the PM, take it like a man, admit your lamentable reaction and failures and then do the UK a favour, resign!

    4. There is Always an excuse, it's always everyone else's fault.
      This country because of this and the previous useless government is in a foul mess.

    5. What’s with the wood, Kier?

      Squandering out money?

      Does it make you feel more at home, with your wooden performance?

  9. Benefit cheats to be banned from the road. 22 January 2025.

    Benefit cheats face being banned from driving for two years under a proposed new anti-fraud law.

    People who owe more than £1,000 in wrongly claimed welfare payments and who have ignored repeated requests to return the money could be punished under the proposed changes.

    Ever more bizarre measures to try and hold up a collapsing system.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/01/22/benefits-cheats-stripped-driving-licences/

      1. It is almost certainly the same group who drive without a valid licence and insurance not forgetting the 'joy' riders…..

    2. That kind of mission creep is worrying.
      What next? No driving if you've said naughty things on social media?

      This is clearly part of getting people off the road.

    3. Good morning Minty and everyone.
      Perhaps intended to cover minicab drivers and substance couriers. Edit: everyone appears to have missed a gloriously non-pc remark in a Telegraph 'Opinion' piece two days ago. I will try to post it later, but important to recognise that it is the vocabulary that is significant, not the unconscious prejudice.

    4. Good morning Minty and everyone.
      Perhaps intended to cover minicab drivers and substance couriers. Edit: everyone appears to have missed a gloriously non-pc remark in a Telegraph 'Opinion' piece two days ago. I will try to post it later, but important to recognise that it is the vocabulary that is significant, not the unconscious prejudice.

    5. Good morning Minty and everyone.
      Perhaps intended to cover minicab drivers and substance couriers. Edit: everyone appears to have missed a gloriously non-pc remark in a Telegraph 'Opinion' piece two days ago. I will try to post it later, but important to recognise that it is the vocabulary that is significant, not the unconscious prejudice.

    9. As if they're going to comply! If they're gaming the system, they aren't going to worry about driving when banned.

      2. Nor me everything else worked okay. I thought that the 'government' as in extreme far left, had been interferring

  11. Morning, all Y'all.
    light snow overnight, just enough to make it look fresh & white again.

    1. Cheeer up, Eeyore. Try singing "Always look on the bright side of Life". (Good morning, btw.)

      1. I might be more amused if the sign read Downing Street instead of Washington. (Good morning, btw.)

  14. Today FSB concentrates on the Establishment’s disgraceful cover up of the Southport terrorist attack, covered up for the same reason they covered up the rape gang atrocity. We have two short articles on the subject, on slightly different angles, Cover Up Kier Crawls Under the Cover of an Inquiry, Still Evading the Truth , and a very short, pithy and concise one by Paul Sutton, COVER-UP KEIR AT HIS FINEST . Please read and comment, and note that the Establishment is intent on using the Southport murders as an excuse for more censorship and an attack on civil liberties.

    If you want to avert your eyes from this disgusting charade, read Mikdys’ article (related through globalism), Vogons, Energy Performance Certificates & Heat Pumps on where all this lunacy is leading us on the energy front.

    And talking of energy:

    Energy watch 07.10. Demand: 37.287GW. Supply: Hydrocarbons 69.4%; Wind 0.6%; Imports 7.9%; Biomass 8.2% and Nuclear 10.2%. Solar: 0%.

    Yes, wind is producing a negligible 0.6% of our demand for electric power. Even hydro-electric is producing more, at 1.6% and gas is supplying over two thirds of demand. If gas powered stations were shut down, as Mad Miliband wants, the whole country would be without an electricity supply.

    1. Morning Tom. The wind is about to get up with a (supposedly) ferocious storm on Friday. I wonder what would happen if it decimated the Wind Farms?

      2. I believe several wind turbines have been destroyed by excessive winds already.

        Of course when man-made global warming causes a really ferocious storm and over half the UK turbines are destroyed then the solution will be obvious:

        Replace all the broken turbines with new and bigger ones and built more and more in order to slow down man-made global warming!

      3. Eowyn. They've run out of English names. Would have been nearer the mark if they'd named it Mo.

  15. Good morning, all. From where I'm sitting it looks overcast and the power dashboard shows that there's little or no air movement in/around the UK.

    Miliband claims that renewables will provide a "secure" source of energy. The only security being provided today and on many recent past days is GAS. If last night's forecast comes to fruition then on Friday there will be too much wind over many areas of the UK.

    Drill baby, drill is a much more secure mantra than blow baby, blow but not too much and not too little.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e51e7acf269e5f7e412f9042e4178fe32f22dcda0eb0f99cc75dff86f41d66b8.png

    1. Someone needs to have a serious word with him about his actions and pointless behaviour. And he needs to be stood in a corner.

        1. He shows every indication of it. He is disconnected from reality, not to mention physics and biology.

  17. Allison Pearson
    Why we Brits envy the US having Donald Trump

    On his first day back in the Oval Office, President Trump put our treasonous Labour Government to shame

    In one of the many starry boasts made at his inauguration, the 47th (also 45th) president of the United States promised to put a man on Mars. From this side of the Atlantic, the depressed, downtrodden masses cried as one, “Please can that man be Keir Starmer?”

    We looked upon that glorious, happy occasion, watched agog as the new incumbent signed executive orders that would rewire his nation with cheery insouciance, and rubbed our eyes in disbelief. Imagine having a leader who puts the good of their country first. We can’t. Britain Last is our Government’s motto. It is becoming increasingly clear that we are run by progressive lawyers who use our taxes to fund their international human rights projects and pay reparations for resurrected sins of the past. Forking out £11.6 billion in “overseas climate aid” appeared to take first prize for national self-harm and then along came paying Mauritius to take the Chagos islands off us, an idea so mad our only hope is that President Trump has arrived in time to slap it down.

    Like benighted souls behind the Iron Curtain, we must now peer enviously from afar as the US does pretty much everything we wish would happen here. On X (formerly Twitter), I said, “Anyone else looking forward to watching the Trump administration humiliate our calamitous Labour government?” I meant it as a joke, but almost a million views later the heartfelt replies kept thundering in. “Can’t wait, it’s going to be delicious.” “I’ve already got the popcorn in.”

    “Honestly, it’s the only bit of good news we have to look forward to at the moment,” said Susan. “As a proud and loyal Brit,” said Phil, “I’m looking forward to Trump giving the UK a good kicking for the next four years.” “Never in my life could I have dreamt of wishing a foreign state would heap humiliation on our own country’s leader,” said another anguished contributor. “Yet this is what we have been reduced to. Starmer’s cabal is treacherous and corrupt.”

    The response I liked best came from Tina: “Can’t wait, I’m hoping he’ll proscribe the Labour Party as a terrorist group.” We can but hope, Tina. Sending that blithering idiot David Lammy to Guantanamo Bay for calling the new president a “Nazi sympathiser” would be perfect.

    One respondent did call me “treasonous” for inviting a foreign power to influence our affairs, although it’s fair to say it was only due to foreign interference that the child-rape gangs suddenly went to the top of the news agenda. We have so lost our way, it seems, that we need people with the perspective of distance to point out clear moral abominations.

    If treason means betraying your country and its interests, there are plenty here who are doing that already. Treason is creating economic conditions so hostile that a dollar millionaire is leaving the UK every 45 minutes. A terrifying 10,800 millionaires have left since Labour came to power. As that top 1 per cent pay 29 per cent of all income tax, this is seriously bad news.

    Treason is refusing point blank to exploit your country’s bountiful natural resources – we are built on coal and surrounded by a sea of oil and gas – out of some deluded aspiration to virtue signal your green credentials to other countries who privately think you’ve lost the plot.

    Treason is dumbing down your young people, teaching them their culture is toxic, Shakespeare is elitist and not for the likes of them, and that the majority population must atone for their “white privilege”, even when they’re struggling to make ends meet.

    Treason is having borders so porous that 150 illegal migrants (at least) get in every day to benefit from accommodation and healthcare not available to those who have lived here all their lives. Treason is a justice system which says it’s not possible to deport those illegals – and calling anyone who wants them gone bigots and racists.

    Why would envying America her exciting new direction count as treachery? Even female friends who hated Trump the first time seem to have come around; there is private acknowledgement that a President Kamala Harris would have bowed down to the Democratic nutcases and put rocket boosters on the gender-identity nonsense which jeopardises women’s spaces and equality itself.

    I found rather a lot to enjoy about Trump’s hilariously bombastic inauguration. Melania thrillingly strict in a Victorian governess-meets-Wonder-Woman outfit; her boater recalling Oddjob’s lethal hat in Goldfinger. You half hoped she might suddenly throw it like a murderous discus at a dazed Joe Biden to see if he was still with us. The First Son, Barron Trump, towered over his tall mother; he must be 6ft 10in, adding to the vertiginous, slightly scary sense that a superior new species of human was taking over. Almighty God was invoked at regular intervals and, it’s fair to say, He may have been surprised to learn that He had saved Trump from assassination solely to “Make America Great Again”.

    JD Vance, his wife Usha (radiant in powder pink) and their three adorable children were there representing the American Dream. Vance was born in the poorest part of the country to a drug-addict single mother – a story he tells brilliantly in his book Hillbilly Elegy, which was feted by the liberal elite until they realised, to their horror, that Vance had come to the view that America’s working class stood a better chance with Trump and the Republicans.

    Usha is a Hindu, the daughter of immigrants (and an alumna of my Cambridge college), the first Asian Second Lady, but no one made a thing about that because diversity is a thing that should happen naturally, not be legislated for with quotas. As Trump said of his vice president, “the only person smarter than him is his wife”.

    In the first 24 hours, we got executive orders banning net zero and promising bountiful cheap energy for Americans (“Drill, baby, drill!”). No more open borders letting millions of people, some of them dangerous, into the country. (See, it can be done!) Farewell lunatic excesses of wokery and schools telling vulnerable children they can change sex. No more funding of UNRWA (Hamas supporters masquerading as a relief agency in Gaza). Quit the corrupt World Health Organisation, which danced to China’s tune during Covid. A passionate commitment to free speech.

    All that, and a bust of Winston Churchill returned to the Oval office after it was removed by the Anglophobic Biden.

    Hell, yeah, let’s go! It comes to something when things are so dire that our dearest wish is that The Donald takes pity on us and adopts the dear old country as the 51st state of America. I’d be on for that – how about you?

  18. Allison Pearson
    Starmer’s mealy-mouthed statement shows he’s no leader

    The public deserves to know details about Axel Rudakubana and the Southport attacks – there must be no cover-up

    21 January 2025 7:40pm GMT
    Allison Pearson
    In the six months since he became Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer has proved again and again that he simply doesn’t have what it takes to be a leader. On Tuesday morning, as damning revelations came to light about multiple official interactions with Axel Rudakubana before the Southport massacre, the PM gave an address from Number 10 in defence of something that really, really matters to him. His job.

    If Sir Keir intended to come across as a unifying Father of the Nation, he failed miserably. The effect was more weaselly solicitor arguing that he couldn’t possibly have been expected to disclose details of the terrorist’s background because the trial could have collapsed (“I would never do that and nobody would forgive me if I had”). The PM didn’t make sense. Anyone who angrily posted online about it being Islamist terror had to be arrested and go to jail because that was a conspiracy theory, even if the evil perpetrator spent a lot of time on jihadi websites with helpful tips on slaughtering the enemies of Islam which, on reflection, yes, maybe, OK, that was terrorism, but it was a NEW KIND of terrorism that Sir Keir had just made up.

    We’ve never had any terrorist attacks by lone-wolf misfits before, have we? Let me be very clear, as the PM always says when reaching for the How to Obfuscate on Unfortunate Side-Effects of Multiculturalism handbook: Starmer is on the hook for failing to level with the British people following the heinous murders of Elsie Dot Stancombe, Bebe King and Alice da Silva Aguiar. Hence the urgent, defensive statement. His argument that the three little girls would have been “denied justice” had he shared more information about the attacker was morally disgusting. It also has the significant disadvantage of being untrue.

    The suffering of white working-class girls is a secondary consideration
    When Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered in June 2016, the public knew almost all the details of her killer within 48 hours. That didn’t prevent Thomas Mair being given a whole life-term, did it? The difference is Mair was a white, “far-Right terrorist” and the Left is keen on publicising the few individuals who fit that description because they help to distract attention from the source of the real terrorist threat to this country.

    In his speech on Tuesday, the PM finally conceded, in a slightly shifty, crab-like way, what many of us deduced at the time. He knew that Axel Rudakubana had been reported to Prevent, the counter-terrorism organisation, three times. Starmer and the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, will have been informed within hours of the massacre at a Taylor Swift holiday club, that ricin, a lethal bio-weapon, and an academic study of an al-Qaeda training manual had been found at Rudakubana’s home. (I am told the traumatised families were informed in August that a suspect substance had been discovered, but Merseyside Police didn’t trust the public with that knowledge until October.)

    The Labour government wanted a tightly-controlled narrative about this highly combustible story. Pre-emptive attacks on the “far-Right” began even before any riots took place. As we know from the child-rape gangs scandal, the suffering of white working-class girls is a secondary consideration compared to avoiding the stirring up of racial hatred as well as wider discussion of the effect of mass immigration on female safety.

    Two-tier Keir
    On July 31, two days after the massacre, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, did her bit for Operation Denial, saying speculation that details were being kept from the public that the murders were an act of terrorism was “fake news” and “conspiracy theories”. Even three months later, at the end of October, when it emerged that senior Government figures had known for weeks that the Southport killer could face terror charges, the Home Secretary was still urging the public not to speculate on the case “in order to ensure justice for the families”. In order to spare you and the Government embarrassment, don’t you mean, Yvette?

    How unfortunate for Sir Keir that, in September 2024, his own independent reviewer for terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall, warned that an “information vacuum” after the Southport attacks had led to riots across the country. The public was entitled to know the motive behind the mass murder of children, Mr Hall said. As for jeopardising the trial, “Judges are very experienced in directing juries to put prejudicial information out of their minds.”

    Just the sort of wise insight you might have expected from someone who has been – ooh, I don’t know, let’s pick a job at random – Director of Public Prosecutions? It’s worth noting that Starmer had no hesitation in calling the Southport riots “far-Right thuggery” and promised to heavily punish all involved before anyone had been found guilty. Two-tier Keir. What else do you expect from this emotionally-inert man known to some relatives of the dead and injured children as Nineteen Seconds – the amount of time he spent laying a wreath in Southport as a distraught crowd demanded answers and cried, “How many more children, Prime Minister?”

    Alice, Elsie and Bebe might be alive today. Not only if people had done their jobs, but if Sir Keir and the sanctimonious woke brigade had not fought every attempt to prioritise and root out Islamist terrorism. As Kemi Badenoch pointed out on X, while the Conservatives were trying to toughen up the Prevent anti-extremism programme, “Starmer and Cooper were running for office on manifestos worried about Prevent ‘alienating communities’.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/21/starmer-southport-axel-rudakubana-jo-cox-thomas-mair/

    There, ladies and gentlemen, you have the problem in a nutshell. Official fear of alienating “communities” – and, believe me, they don’t mean white working-class communities with gorgeous little girls like Bebe, Alice and Elsie.

    The PM said the public inquiry will ask “difficult questions, unburdened by cultural or institutional sensitivities”. I wouldn’t bet on it. Tiptoeing around cultural sensitivities is ingrained Labour behaviour. Cooper will be far happier banning harmful online content or sales of knives to minors than deporting Welsh choirboys who turn out to be Rwandan psychopaths.

    How many more children, Prime Minister?
    After the sentencing of Rudakubana on Thursday, details of the atrocities committed at that Taylor Swift dance club will start to become public. Nothing will prepare you for the horror of what he did to those little girls, the sheer blood-curdling savagery. Nothing.

    How were little British girls ever exposed to that kind of danger in a northern seaside town? Starmer says the Southport case marks a “line in the sand for Britain”. He promises a “fundamental change in how Britain protects its citizens and children”.

    Why should we believe him? I know I don’t. All trust is gone. More than 36,000 people, the majority of them men, and many from cultures that despise Western women, who hate little girls who dance and sing along to Taylor Swift, entered our country by small boat in the past year. Starmer believes the human rights of those illegal migrants are equal to the rights of all the Elsies and Bebes and Alices.

    He should resign before the people force him out. The stench of cover-up is overwhelming. How many more children, Prime Minister? How many more?

    1. Allison Pearson
      Telegraph
      11 hrs ago
      pinned
      Evening All, as the late lamented Dixon of Dock Green used to say. Here we are again discussing our dreadful prime minister and his Southport massacre excuses. I can’t remember loathing a PM as much as I loathe Starmer. Anyone else?

      Allison x

      A Cottom
      His speech was cop out clauses and excuses almost as though his arms was being twisted to actually do this,

      Alec Collie
      just now
      Are the people convicted of protesting about this barbaric murders being released on the news they were correct? From this horrendous story to the gang-rape grooming gangs Liebour accuse the 'far-right' as the extremists. The left and their knee bending servitude to the altar of multiculturalism is to blame.

      There is only one culture in Britain and that's British culture. There might be multiple religions to celebrate but there is only Britishness. Sign up or get out.

      andrew mason
      10 hrs ago
      Just remember the last inquiry set up by Labour.

      The Chakrabartii report into anti semitism within the Labour Party…

      That's all you need to know…

    2. He's not even worth a mention because everything he is involved in is stacked up against the origin of our culture and social structure.

          3. The West’s political class hate him because he stands up for his country and he isn’t signed up to their agenda.

    3. Excellent stuff! However, I'm running out of space if I have to write "Two Tier, Free Gear, Never Here, 19 second Kier" every time. In future TT/FG/NH/19S!

    2. Joey Barton might have a reputation for being a 'thug' on a football field; however, he is much more erudite and listenable to than, say, Stephen Yaxley Lennon.

  20. Call me over-sensitive, but I'm beginning to get the impression that our nation's state broadcaster is not entirely happy with America's 47th president. Perhaps our Susan could re-assure us.

    1. Morning Joseph. I thought that I had noticed an increase in hostility in the subtext.

    2. I had a battering yesterday on a comment I made on Facebook re Trump about the very invigorating feelgood speech he gave .

      The bod who threw the verbal at me sounded like a Scottish nationalist .. his invective was sharp and nasty .

      Several people agreed with me , but I was shocked by the legions of anti Trump comments that followed by them agreeing with his shocking invective aimed at me!

      2. The woke mob are not suddenly going to disappear. They are embedded like a cancer and now v angry as well. Given that the cons didnt roll back 'progressive' change, there is no chance with the lot we have now.

        1. Everything goes back to the Cameron government which poisoned the Conservative Party by turning it into a party which was ashamed of being conservative. As the evil May pointed out they were afraid of being labelled the 'nasty' party and so they attempted to be 'nice' with catastrophic consequences.

        2. If the 'Woke' mob are not going to suddenly disappear, then they need a short, sharp (and very effective) shock!

      3. I don't bother any more showing my preference for Trump because of the anger directed at me. Instead I just chuckle quietly to myself when TDS kicks in and lefty heads explode.

  21. Annabel Denham
    Trump is humiliating his woke enemies – and it’s a joy to watch

    In the US, The Donald has declared that the progressive dogma has had its day. But it lives on unchallenged in the UK

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2025/01/21/TELEMMGLPICT000232782711_17374800716270_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqZgEkZX3M936N5BQK4Va8Rf4Xpit_DMGvdp2n7FDd82k.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, and his deputy, Angela Rayner, take a knee in solidarity with "anti-black racism"

    Annabel Denham
    Columnist and Deputy Comment Editor
    21 January 2025 5:24pm GMT

    For years, those of us who dared warn that the dogma of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) was destroying rather than upholding Western values of meritocracy and equality were denounced as uncaring bigots who needed to get with the programme. Woke culture warriors subverted our institutions, embedded the doctrine of social justice in our companies, cancelled academics – yet claimed to occupy the moral high ground because they were creating a “fairer” and more “tolerant” society.

    Despite all the evidence to the contrary, they insisted we had never been more prejudiced. They foisted on us the imperative of “equity”: equality not of opportunity, but of outcomes. And so many drank the Kool-Aid – two-tier Keir took the knee, privileged Columbia undergraduates cosplayed as Gazans, the Los Angeles fire chief proclaimed her devotion to DEI, as though anyone would give a moment’s panicking thought to a firefighter’s gender when their house is ablaze.

    Governments tried to legislate for diversity, businesses talked themselves – or were gaslighted – into believing they should go woke or risk going broke. UK public authorities began spending over £500 million of taxpayer money a year on diversity and inclusion jobs, while US companies were pumping hundreds of billions into “driving racial equity”.

    So forgive those of us on the unfashionable, low-status side of this argument if we succumb to momentary schadenfreude on hearing the news that Donald Trump is proscribing this pernicious ideology. As it happens, the trend was already being bucked: for months companies have been in a race to ditch their diversity schemes. Harley-Davidson and Jack Daniel’s torched their DEI targets last year. Walmart is winding down its funding for the Center for Racial Equity. Meta and Google have cut DEI employees and programmes. Even the New York Times headlined a story: “The University of Michigan doubled down on DEI: What went wrong?” (To which the quick-witted on X responded: “It doubled down on DEI”.)

    And now The Donald has issued an executive order directing state agencies to recognise only two sexes. His administration will also review and possibly end “discriminatory programs” such as environmental justice grants and diversity initiatives. Already, he’s fired the female leader of the US Coast Guard over concerns about her excessive focus on DEI policies. This re-embracing of meritocracy has elicited opprobrium from the usual suspects: the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), America’s largest LGBTQI+ advocacy group, has vowed not to be “intimidated” – but they look to be battling against the tide.

    Good for Trump, and good luck to America. But Britain is surely a lost cause. Labour cannot conceive of amending the 2010 Equality Act which underpins DEI, they want to take it a step further with a Race Equality Act in some time-wasting, tautological attempt to beef-up our anti-discrimination laws.

    The Tories might have the appetite to scrap certain clauses, such as Section 149 which introduced a “public sector equality duty”, but recent experience indicates they lack the stomach for the fight. It was the Conservatives, after all, who introduced gender pay gap reporting – utterly pointless Maybot legislation which briefly turned EasyJet into public enemy number 1, until people realised it was probably acceptable for female cabin crew to be paid less than male pilots. Would Reform stand up to the professional managerial class, whose very jobs rely on DEI? They might bluster, but they’ll need an iron will to take on hundreds of thousands of people who now work in HR – among the best remunerated roles in the country and sustained by the growing body of rules to which firms adhere.

    Part of the problem is that we now send too many not-very-bright people to university, where campuses are often insufferably woke and standards painfully low. As a consequence, we are creating a generation of young people qualified for professional jobs but unable to find them. But DEI fills the gap, providing well-paid sinecures for these “educated” elites to fill. They won’t let them go lightly.

    Around the time Donald Trump was setting out how he intended to Make America Even Greater, the UK press reported on an NHS cleaner who took 400 sick days in four years, was fired, claimed her “complex mental health issues” constituted a disability and successfully sued for nearly £50,000. In the US, DEI is dying. Over here, it’s Britain that’s pegging out.

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

    Daniel Boon
    14 hrs ago
    Perhaps Starmer & Rayner could take the knee for the young girls murdered at Southport

    Gordon Tanner
    14 hrs ago
    Reply to Daniel Boon
    And the thousands of young girls raped by Pakistani heritage Muslm men.

    2. Badge Marine Safety Insignia
      1st row Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal
      2nd row Defense Superior Service Medal Legion of Merit with two gold award stars Meritorious Service Medal
      3rd row Coast Guard Commendation Medal with "O" device and award star Coast Guard Achievement Medal with "O" device and award star Commandant's Letter of Commendation Ribbon with "O" device
      4th row Coast Guard Presidential Unit Citation with "hurricane symbol" Joint Meritorious Unit Award DHS Outstanding Unit Award
      5th row Secretary of Transportation Outstanding Unit Award Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation with "O" device and award star Meritorious Team Commendation with four award stars
      6th row Coast Guard Bicentennial Unit Commendation National Defense Service Medal with one bronze service star Antarctica Service Medal
      7th row Coast Guard Arctic Service Medal Global War on Terrorism Service Medal Humanitarian Service Medal
      8th row Coast Guard Sea Service Ribbon Coast Guard Overseas Service Ribbon U.S. Coast Guard Pistol Marksmanship ribbon
      Badge Coast Guard Command Ashore insignia
      Badge Joint Chiefs of Staff ID Badge
      Badge Commandant Staff Badge

      1. It reads like a very impressive list, but I wonder how many of those are "being there" awards, rather than "doing something" awards and how many are given automatically because of promotions or long service.

        2. Charles Dickens Museum. When I was on the CDM Management Committee I realised that CDM did NOT mean Cadbury's Dairy Milk. Lol.

  23. Morning all 🙂😊.
    Along side grey, wet for a change and slightly warmer.
    I'm not if we have anyone in our political group in our country that are actually capable of learning anything. They all seem to believe that they already know everything.

    1. He does have an intelligent look about him. Compare and contrast the picture of the child killer and i think the case is proven.

      1. He's serious, reserved, and rightly so – every word, every move watched, recorded, played endlessly by MSM. Smiles and laughs a lot when he's with his family.

        1. A lot like Melania really. I thought that hat was masterful. Nobody could make eye contact but she could see out presumably.

    4. He was the lad that gave his business class airplane seat up for a Veteran (there was some reason the Vet couldn’t sit in his assigned seat).

    5. Absolutely. DT campaign organiser, continuing to work behind the scenes. Educated by his mother, birth to present time. A credit to America.

  25. Hey Joe Biden,

    Remind us all what your legacy is, before the last of the water in the pan finally flushes it away.

    1. The US.. and the world dodged a serious bullet with that Harris woman. Surprised they didn't pull a fast one at the last minute.

      2. I think they realised that they'd only JUST got away with it last time and realised doing the same thing a 2nd time would be too bloody obvious.

  26. Good morning all ,

    Another dull overcast start to the day, damp and dreary . 4c
    Moh golfing , yes up and about early and out before 8am!

    Birds are feeding , cat curled up on chair and Pip spaniel snuggled down , he was in the garden earlier , and he is always anticipating signals from me re coat on, lead , car keys etc..

    I have a few things to do first.

    Daffodil shoots are galloping ahead in the pots and ground, yet elsewhere along the road to Wareham there are clumps of daffodils in flower.. How can that be .. and why are some bulbs programmed to flower early ?

    Is this left leaning Labour government posing a threat to the stability of the UK.

    I had a dental appointment on Monday afternoon , relief dentist was Romanian , and the hygienist came from Venezuela , married to an IT whizzkid .

    Hygienist , sensible clever girl has been in the UK for 14 years , her words not mine .." We are leaving Britain , it is too expensive " child care and schooling has deteriorated , a worry because one child is attending a good local private school , fees now escalating , and everyday living is causing financial problems .

    She thinks that Britain is a communist country and out control, now locking people up for speaking their grievances on line etc.

    Funny that , I feel the same .

        1. The (young) lady polisher is Cornish, and it’s a pleasure when she presses her equipment against me for balance.

        1. Good try but . . . Łódź – Possibly the only Polish place name I can pronounce – [wutɕ] Wood-je is about the nearest in English.

      4. Seeing my dentist a 11am today. She's of Indian heritage but born in London and looks and sounds English. Only a Hindu name gives her away. An old wobbly crown held in with a now infected post is to be removed. It's likely impacting on the heart problem so absolutely has to come out but I'm not looking forward to the process. Will report later.

  27. They're using Southport to legally broaden the definition of terrorism to include the "far-right". It's obvious. Every so called 'counter-terrorism' initiative they put forth never tackles real terrorism, but always right-wing wrong-think. And Starmer thinks he can worm his way out of this by hiding behind contempt of court laws. Isn't anyone going to ask him why, even if he was concerned about prejudicing the trial, he locked up people simply for expressing what he knew to be true but couldn't say?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2638de9aa6eeeae17c8c8b16f69231b7a5774c919185e6700b1b6d9f9e94f9d3.png

  28. Good morning all. Somewhat late out of bed this morning.
    The string of dry weather has ended with overnight rain making in a dull damp start for the day. 4.2°C when I took the milk bottle out with yesterdays maximum being an almost warm 8.9°C and a minimum of 3.9°.

    1. Morning Bob ,

      Don't get me wrong here , but how can you get by with one milk bottle especially as you are a prolific tea drinker?

      We use twice as much as that a day and even more, especially if porridge/ scrambled eggs / tea coffee / custard etc are required!

      1. We have four from the milkman and sometimes an extra one when shopping but that's less than a pint a day. We don't make custard though.

          2. Ours is silver top whole milk. I have the top on my muesli in the mornings, and if there's none left I use cream from the tub of single cream I buy each week. Fatty meat, butter and eggs….. all welcome here. We don't eat cheese though and that's because we don't like it. A little grated on the top of a lasagne or fish pie is fine though.

          3. Yes, we have whole milk too. I’m supposed to be on a low fat diet due to diverticulitis….but I don’t …🤔😄

          4. I have diverticulitis too. After the examination with the camera ! The Doctor said roughage was more important than anything else.

          5. Yes, I had that camera exam, too. I’ve followed largely vegetarian diet for long time, no idea why I had diverticulitis. It went, and not re-appeared as yet. Pehaps the whisky keeping it at bay (but I think more likely to make it re-appear, as much as anything).

          6. I had it done without drugs or gas ! A bit of grunting but it did mean i could leave straight away.

          7. I think they do it in case patient panics. Could barely walk afterwards, like a drunk, got some odd looks staggering around on husband’s arm which he found quite amusing.

          8. How about cheeses like ricotta or marscapone? They are more creamy than cheesy. And you can use them in Lasagna and Moussaka.

          9. No – not keen. I've lived for 76 years without liking cheese so I can't see any point in trying to like it. I only use it for grating as already said.

          11. It is but I don’t mind it that way as it browns the top and doesn’t taste of cheese like the raw stuff does. I couldn’t eat a lump of cheese to save my life.

          14. A litre? What's that in English, Rastus? I don't understand why petrol stations sell petrol in litres. but the car manufacturers advertise that their cars do so many miles per gallon. I know that I should never have thrown my old slide rule and log tables away. Lol.

          15. 1.76 pints, I believe. I fully understand why petrol is sold in litres; if you realised you were paying £6 or more for a gallon you'd be fuming. 131.9ppl doesn't sound so bad and when it goes up 2ppl, people don't realise that's 8p per gallon.

      2. That just happened to be the one I emptied when I did my tea and the DT's cereal. We get through 3 pints per day.

  29. Starmer’s Attorney General Litigated Against Brexit

    Lord Hermer’s colourful choice of client over his years in the legal profession has earned him continuing press coverage in the wake of recent Gerry Adams news. Jenrick, who some have dubbed ‘the Herminator,’ smells blood…

    Brexit is another relevant policy area Hermer has dived into in the past. Back in 2019 the Attorney General served as barrister for notorious human rights pressure group Liberty (the same one for which he represented Shamima Begum), during which he tried and failed to sue Boris out of breaching the Benn Act – current Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn’s piece of legislation that would have blocked a no-deal Brexit. That should surprise no-one by now…

    Hermer said in his argument that Liberty’s challenge should be brought before the courts immediately that they had a “constitutional duty to be seized of the matter” because if Boris wasn’t bound by the Benn Act he would cause “irremediable damage”:

    “Accordingly, in order to avoid irremediable consequences of fundamental constitutional importance, it is essential that the lawfulness of those steps is determined before such irreversible consequences are caused.”

    The barrister failed in his bid. Hermer will still be Attorney General when Starmer resumes EU negotiations next month. Labour is so far endeavouring to prove that Brexit isn’t so irreversible after all…

    21 January 2025 @ 17:18

  30. 400368+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Police were ‘gagged’ by CPS over Southport killer
    Merseyside detectives ‘warned’ to hold back from releasing information about Axel Rudakubana.

    The manipulation of the peoples over decades by the political elected powers is an issue of wonderment ALL done to appease foreign entities, in the main of a criminal nature, and via the lab/lib/con coalition party.

    The whole political content of the HP sauce factory
    as in Wednesday 22 January: What Kemi Badenoch can learn from Donald Trump’s American dream for starters, NO MORE RESHUFFLING POLITICAL SHITE.

    President Trump is shedding political tripe NOT giving it succour.

    Let a multitude of prayers be offered in regards to President Trump acting as a political drag anchor for the United Kingdom in its current race to the basement.

    1. Morning ogga.
      All this garbage about protecting the culprits of all of the recent and passed vile criminal act's could be considered as reverse racism. But also a more protective way of avoiding the most obvious issues.
      Almost all Racist act's against white girls, of murder and outrageous violence.

    2. When reality doesn't fit the narrative, they lie and lash out. Remember in the 1960s the hippies told us that there is only one race, the human race. We're all the same under the skin. We all only want what's best for ourselves and our families and if given the same advantages, we'll all achieve nirvana. Those hippies are now the ruling establishment and they've invested everything in their fantasy.

  31. Meanwhile back on the ranch…..
    Did any see the story of the road in Litchfield this morning?
    A huge truck load of rubbish had been dumped on a road and stopped some people going about their business. Apparently some evidence was found amongst the rubbish as to who it belongs to.

      1. I hope we will find out, but I doubt it.
        When I was working London years ago Great Percy street Islington, we had a skip outside the house covered over at night. We found several black bags had been dumped and on close inspection discovered a local address on some paper work. We took it back to the house and placed it on the doorstep and rang the bell.
        A lady answered and she immediately apologised for her sons behaviour.

        1. Quite enjoyed the last line, Eddy – did you believe her? When I first moved to where I still am…grass verges littered with empty drink cans, old sandwich boxes, (full) poo bags (those also hung on trees and even on wheely bins)…I spent a day on my own clearing it, two full black bin bags. Some people stopped to ask me what I was doing, and also congratulate me. No-one offered to help me tho’ 😀

          2. We did believe her, she jumped at the immediate chance of an apology.
            Our country seems to be victim of far too much ignorance as far as litter is concerned. Hanging bags of dog poo in trees is the most stupid thing anyone can do.
            But some councils have recently removed the poo bins to save money.

          3. There was a lot more of it during lockdown/s, seems to have disappeared now. I visited my dad just prior to him going to live in a home (this was pre lockdowns)..we walked past the church, where I noticed a tree in the churchyard had a huge amount of (used) poo bags thrown at its base. As my mother would say ‘some people are really pigs’. Orwell would agree.

    2. Litchfield of course is not inn Staffordshire.

      But Lichfield is.

      The Terriblegraph is, once again, terrible.

      1. Put your feet up, above your head for 15-20 mins, Eddy (recommended during pregnancy for high BP)….

    3. That judge. Custard pie springs to mind. How is it that they are so corrupt, what happened to justice?

  33. BTL Comment on how to negotiate with Russia to end the war in Ukraine:

    "We should make a deal and give Russia Victoria Nuland as a prisoner to show we mean business."

    2. It is the fact that the WHO is totally corrupt and totally controlling that makes the UK support it with $400m. Our repulsive politicians have a fellow feeling with the detritus which runs it.

    3. Bill & Melinda Gates funds GAVI I think, so they would be the largest contributor if both contributions were counted together.

    1. "They pay taxes so why can't they have the vote" I seem to remember was among his weedy premises for that before he got to No 10. Except they don't, many of them. Plus of course whatever law he passes will include anyone who happens to be here from the EU. He will be hoping no one notices that until it's too late, I'm sure.

    3. What is the Bradford Council afraid of – any enquiry put in place by Starmer will be toothless.

    1. Give him a break. Little people don't like to be reminded of the big people towering over them, so removal of offensive pictures is probably good for his 'mental elf'.

      2. I'm short (and shrinking); I have no problems with being with tall people (apart from the crick in the neck, of course).

      1. He's not very nice is he and pulls face's when callers disagree with him.
        He had that awful 'journo' Yasmin alibi brown on yesterday she was ranting all the time about Trump, switched off.

  40. Sparkling water could be key to weight loss

    Carbon dioxide absorbed into red blood cells may boost metabolism and uptake of glucose

    The Daily Telegraph, 22 Jan 2025, By Laura Donnelly, Health editor.

    SPARKLING water could boost metabolism and help dieters shed pounds, a BMJ journal study suggests.
    However, researchers said the effect is likely to be so small that slimmers cannot rely on it alone.

    The Japanese study published in BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health examined the impact of carbonated water on the body. The findings suggest it may boost metabolism and uptake of blood glucose, and as a result aid weight loss.
    Many dieters have said fizzy water helps them stick to their diets, partly because it is seen as more “filling” than still water, helping to curb hunger pangs. There have also been previous suggestions that it speeds up digestion and lowers blood glucose levels.

    The new study examined the impact of carbonated water on the blood.
    Dr Akira Takahashi, from the dialysis centre at Tesseikai Neurosurgery Hospital, Shijonawate, Japan, led a team that compared it with the haemodialysis process, in which blood is filtered to remove waste and excess water when the kidneys no longer can.

    Haemodialysis turns blood alkaline, primarily producing carbon dioxide (CO₂). Similarly, the CO₂ of fizzy water is absorbed through the stomach lining and is rapidly converted to bicarbonate (HCO₃) in red blood cells.
    This alkalinisation process speeds up glucose absorption and use by activating key enzymes in red blood cells.
    Clinical observations during haemodialysis show that blood glucose levels fall as blood passes through the dialyser, Dr Takahashi added.

    The findings suggest that fizzy water may indirectly promote weight loss by enhancing the uptake and use of blood glucose. But the researchers said the impact was very small.
    Independent experts said the study added to evidence that fizzy water could help dieters, but said there was not enough proof to recommend its use.

    Dr Takahashi said: “The impact of CO₂ in carbonated water is not a standalone solution for weight loss. A balanced diet and regular physical activity remain crucial components of sustainable weight management.” He also highlighted some risks from drinking too much fizzy water, “particularly for individuals with sensitive stomachs or pre-existing gastrointestinal conditions”.

    Keith Frayn, emeritus professor of human metabolism and emeritus fellow at Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, said he was “sceptical” about the claims. He said: “Red blood cells cannot fully ‘burn’ the glucose, and it will be recycled by the liver. If fizzy drinks were shown to help weight loss, it would more likely be through feelings of fullness.”

    The 'key' to weight loss (and improved nourishment and disease resistance) is to just eat fatty meat, fish and eggs. There is clear and mounting —irrefutable — evidence that eating vegetation, grains, carbohydrates, sugars and 'ultra-processed' food is massively detrimental to a human's wellbeing. They cause inflammation, which is the precursor to all ailments.

    Trouble is, most people are too stupid and bone idle to research this and act accordingly. Consequently they continue to become morbidly obese, increasingly ill (with both acute and chronic life-threatening conditions) and die early from a plethora of avoidable illnesses.

    1. I drink two litres, at least, of the stuff per day. I have just got fatter whilst drinking it. So I'm rather sceptical of this report.

    2. I drink two litres, at least, of the stuff per day. I have just got fatter whilst drinking it. So I'm rather sceptical of this report.

    3. I think "many dieters" are just getting comfort from putting a water bottle to their mouths every ten minutes as a substitute for those little snacks they were once used to. That's where the weight loss occurs. Sticking a dummy in a baby's mouth isn't new.

  41. 400368+up ticks,

    For what its worth, I would strongly advise we follow President Trump as a living ghost leader as best we can, I also believe outstanding odious issues are rapidly coming to a head as in, this festering Nation is shortly going to lose its political manipulating protective scabs resulting in releasing a great volume of treacherous pus hitting the fan.

    https://x.com/LeilaniDowding/status/1882005756918350091

  42. Morning all. Mediocre day weatherwise. Cat sleeping on the carpet, not worth going out apparently. Lots going on in the USA, as you all know, stagnant in the UK.

    Here is the front of fox news website for those who want to root around. Far to much happening to comment on it all. Troops on the border. Department of Woke (DEI) shut down. People being raised up and others going down like nine pins.

    If you have never had a look at Fox USA, have a peek, it's refreshingly nothing like Fox UK and, I think the BBC would burn in its presence like a vampire caught in the sun.

    https://www.foxnews.com/

  43. Morning ogga, from a grey and misty East. It's a start and I understand why Trump has to use that language. After all they've become so used to the gender question for so long now that I think it's difficult for them all. They do realise that the gender question is really the same as the old religious one don't they: how many angels can stand on a pin head at once.

    Eventually they'll come to realise that there are no genders at all.

    2. Gender is a grammatical construct – masculine, feminine and neuter. Male and female are two sexes. Men can not become women. If they have XY chromosomes they are male. XX are female. Pronouns are he/she.

      2. Precisely so and it only applies in any depth to some languages such Russian and French. It’s of limited use in English. Trump said, “drill baby drill” when it came to Green expansion. Perhaps he should have said ‘it’s all down to sex baby’ when it came to trans.

    3. I believe Dr Emma Hilton nailed it.. on every single gender bollx argument.
      The BBC is Lying: Olympic Boxer Is NOT A Woman – Dr. Emma Hilton (4K) | heretics. 80

      Their only slim strand of hope was that boxer at the Olympics.. where his testosterone signalling had malfunctioned and the penis didn't grow. And didnt they fight tooth & nail to protect the info.

  45. 400368+ up ticks,

    Yet another old saying being given an airing, "if you can't beat them join them".

    Braverman: Tories and Reform must unify
    Former home secretary says collaboration across the Right is ‘the formula to beat Labour’ and urges the Conservatives to copy Trump’s spirit

    A rhetorical statement that, with a veneer of truth in "copy the Trump spirit"is concealing the real meaning,
    BUSINESS AS USUAL.

    For our country to survive ALL three current governing parties (the anti Brit coalition) MUST dei.

    1. Yep, this is a sign of desperation. Subtext business as usual and no doubt to follow will be some guff about tactical voting and parties agreeing to work together by standing aside in key constituencies across the country 🥱

      1. The sooner the Conservative Party is completely extinguished the better. The woke wing of Conservative MPs must join the Lib/Dumbs and the others should join Reform – if Reform will have them.

        1. We’ve been saying it for years. I was prepared to wait for them to sort out their Wet / Dry schizophrenia up until about 2005 but in the end it was clear that they could not. It didn’t bode well when they elected that sop Haig back in the day and it’s only got worse. Time to go.

        2. I am still waiting for Farage to turn Reform into a proper democratic party. At the moment he is in complete control and, it appears, Ben Habib was right which makes Farage a liar and a fraud.

      2. 400368+ up ticks,

        Morning JG,
        Tactical voting got us to where we are today, good A ?

        A multitude of fools teaching one segment of an anti Brit COALITION a lesson
        ( spite) in regards to another segment of the same anti Brit COALITION.

  46. Grey and wet:
    Wordle 1,313 4/6

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

  47. I've never enjoyed putting anything fizzy in my mouth (and swallowing it). I hate fizzy water, fizzy beer and fizzy wine.

    1. I use it Griz because the Radiologist told me two drink at least two litres of water per day. Apparently it lessens the risk of bladder stones, which I had for over a year and which I live in terror of getting again, absolute horror to have them. But I can't stand water it's to dull so I decided to drink sparkling water instead. It's marginally better than plain old water.

      1. Every morning, Johnathan, my first action is to half fill a pint glass with half-a-pint of lukewarm water (cold water topped up with boiled from the kettle) into which I put a quarter of a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda and a tablespoonful of apple cider vinegar. This is quickly followed by a full pint of lukewarm water.

        I make my first pot of Assam tea about two hours later.

        I find that water is much more palatable if some boiled water is added.

      2. Be cautious as to the salt content, some types are very high in salt, even though they don't taste salty.

    3. Is this the Telegraph? Evidently an accurate assessment is to much for them to stomach.

    4. I am sure that many of us here who have posted comments under DT articles have had their comments censored or taken down completely.

      When the Conservative Party and the Daily Telegraph find the truth unprintable or unsayable the UK is finished as a haven for free speech and democracy.

  49. Update on Tom/Sir Jasper!
    He’s in Dumfries hospital again with a severe chest infection, and perhaps a UTI. He woke feeling very confused on Sunday and used his emergency button to call for help. He’s on oxygen and a steroid and was really quite bright and funny! Apart from the place itself he wasn’t complaining and had got one of the auxiliaries to put BBC 2 on, but he really wanted GB News!
    If anyone has his number, give him a bell! He’d love it!

    2. I do hope he is better soon. Please wish him best wishes from me and, I'm sure, everyone else here, if you see him again in the hospital.

      1. Yes and he was very chatty, I think because he made the call himself, and wasn’t dragged there, kicking and screaming!

        1. In hospital they give you lots of fluids with the drip – I noticed with an elderly relative, he was very alert after a night with oxygen and a drip – back to his normal self.

    6. In an awful way, that is probably a better place for him. Regular food and human contact.
      Shame he has to be really ill to access such every day facilities.

    1. I remember the hullabaloo when they thought they were getting radio signals from space and it turned out someone using the microwave oven in the kitchen.

      They periodically release articles like this to maintain funding. Waste of time in my book.

      1. I agree but the problem is Phiz we don't actually know exactly what 'they' know. And probably never will.

          1. And Mark Zuckerberg. You know, it has been talked about as part of their strategy to have politicians who are AI, and people won’t know if they’re real or not. This kind of weird idea gets thrown out at WEF meetings and the like, and one never knows how serious it is.
            But then you see Starmer and Zuckerberg and you think, Hmm….

  51. Belated Morning All
    Midweek Medley
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cef97bce62dc219e706aff7265cb73621432406d997dfdd8f29378299e29062f.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/12299d48371b69437e8717a0ce7ecdb29227789251bef1df1c749b61c85d644f.jpg
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    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/05edf44c48a087112675a0accfb0ea5431b50541a85222faabf541324586cfe6.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/194fc8f1dc939a320c62d4f8831bfc86c8c3f28d3ec9d4545747abb7ebacb641.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/289a9f7e5177409b523569ef63560d7da64c08b8056305a6afa7bc69bc07b340.jpg
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    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b50ce22248894747a5505a1bacb1352aff36ec297d8f3abee7bf225f589bd38e.jpg

    1. Anyone with even a slight acquaintance with horticulture/botany know how to make Ricin. It really is as simple as pie. I'm not going to identify how because it isn't the sort of thing that should be in general awareness. But you could really make a primitive form of it within an hour using ordinary household tools. I'm surprised that you can buy the ingredient as easily as ordering sweet peas from a catalogue. It should be a severely banned substance.

      2. And several weed killers are banned to encourage wildification and discourage petard production!

    2. I'm slowly getting the feeling that "Al Quaeda handbook" serves the same purpose as "Anarchists' Cookbook"…

        1. Had to delete my comment re Labour Party/Government, Grizz…bit too rude for a lady such as myself.Hope you're having a good day, notwithstanding. Off to depress myself even more by watching PMQs…

          1. I'm having a busy but reasonable day thank you, Katy.
            That's why I only pop up on this forum intermittently between chores.😊

        2. At one time you had money taken out of your subs to fund the Labour Party! Thankfully, they made it optional eventually, but you still had to deliberately opt out.

          1. The only union I was ever a member of (as a young man) was beyond useless. The shop steward was a complete waste of space and the union failed to come to my aid when I had a nasty accident at work.
            I ripped up my union card and left. Some time later, a new shop steward was elected and he told me that a “closed shop” policy was going top be instigated and that I needed to rejoin.
            I told him where to stuff his union and their “closed shop” policy and that, under no circumstances, would I be coerced to rejoin. A few months later I left that employment for a much better job.

          2. I only joined a teaching union for the cover it gave me in case of malicious accusations. I am sure I wasted my money!

    2. On first look I thought it was a parody account. Then…

      …he's bonkers, lost the plot, he's asleep dreaming and doesn't know it, he's…

  53. Busy yesterday so here’s the latest Secret Prisoner column. Apols if someone already posted it.

    “Defending yourself once you have been imprisoned is, if not impossible, certainly an uphill task. When I was imprisoned for the first time, on remand, I had not appreciated just how many defendants are held in custody pending trial. Moving in slow motion, the justice system sets trial dates many months in advance – in my case, almost a year – so you are likely to be here for a while even if, as I have always done, you protest your innocence.

    It is often the case that defendants choose to “go guilty”, sometimes at a late stage, simply because they realise that they have, in effect, completed their sentence before they even got to trial. Although the rule is, understandably, that the later you plead guilty, the less your sentence is reduced, in theory a crime punishable by a two-year sentence would earn a third reduction – of eight months – for a guilty plea. So, if you serve eight months on remand before a trial date, you have already served your time inside. This is because, provided you are not a serious violent offender, the second half of a sentence is usually served
    “on licence”.

    But legal guiltiness is an odd animal. As we have all learned from the Horizon IT scandal, sub-postmasters who opted to plead guilty did so in order to avoid a prison sentence, not because they were guilty. It’s the same scenario with thousands of remand prisoners every year.

    And remand prisoners often realise, once inside, that they are rowing against a powerful current if they mean to prove their innocence. To begin with, almost all prisoners lose their income. Unless you have cash in the bank, or a wealthy friend or family member, you are cast upon the legal aid system.

    I ran my own company, and being imprisoned led directly to its liquidation. I was told that the legal bill for my defence would be at least £25,000, and I already had debts on the outside, including a hefty mortgage. So I had to find a free solicitor.

    My suspicion is that some firms are excellent at getting paid while being ruthlessly aware of the minimum service they need to deliver in exchange for your non- paying custom as an inmate.
    You will usually get a consultation with a barrister, but there is no guarantee that you will get the same barrister on the day, or the same solicitor handling your admin throughout: in fact, most of this will be done by paralegals.

    All prisoners have a phone in their cell and we fill in a special form to add the numbers of legal firms and individual solicitors to our permitted call list, which can take a couple of weeks. From my cell I attempted to telephone my legal aid solicitor on 27 separate dates, always leaving a message. In all that time, I succeeded in getting through precisely once.

    I will never forget having to wait for four hours in the video link holding cell without seeing my solicitor at all. I did eventually succeed in getting one video link appointment with my legal “team”, but even this was cut short after 45 minutes. My barrister’s last words were “we need another meeting”. We never had one.

    Once you have a lawyer, the next thing you need for your defence is evidence. The huge difficulty in our digital age is that it can be almost impossible, once in prison, to gather it. Written evidence for your defence is out of reach. On remand, you usually have no access to the internet: no phones, no laptops.

    The police almost invariably seize your phone, using it to try and find incriminating data or content. The problem is that your phone is equally likely to provide information which could serve your defence. I have failed to secure any access to digital sources while in prison, and have been told by more experienced defendants not to bother trying.

    After months of being inside, I found it hard to enlist the help of friends to access my online life simply because I had forgotten some of my own passwords anyway. Not allowed back into my own house, not allowed to send a friend on my behalf, I could not even access diaries and notebooks which could help me.

    So you are more than likely to go to trial without all the evidence you need and without a barrister you know or who has any great familiarity with your case.
    And as a legal aid barrister may earn an appearance fee of as little as £150 per day for the brief, who can blame them?”

    1. Has he ever said what he's accused of? Even if he's eventually found not guilty, he's lost his business and probably his home.

      1. The punishment even if found not guilty (plus some others, friends, neighbours, relatives…continuing to believe guilty).

      2. Hang on. It says the writer is an inmate at a Cat B jail – the second highest security – which the Independent Monitoring Board found to be chronically overcrowded and understaffed, with self-harm and drug-use rife. A professional entrepreneur on the outside, he is on remand awaiting trial charged with non-violent crimes, which he denies.

        1. Is it because he’s pleading not guilty that he’s locked up? The process is the punishment in that case. Even if he’s found to be innocent when tried, he will have spent a year inside for no crime, losing his business and livelihood. I hope a book about his experiences will recoup some of that as Jeffery Archer did.

      1. I assumed it's a "white collar crime" – something like fraud, perhaps. The sort of criminal who really doesn't need to be in custody. His articles make interesting reading though. Perhaps he'll write a book when he eventually gets released.

        1. Definitely worth reading “A bit of a stretch” by Chris Atkins.

          Seems he’s also got a podcast with that title. I will investigate.

    3. I've posted this before:

      The Law and Justice are only very distant cousins, and most of the time, are not on speaking terms.

      1. As I said to a judge in California. If Lady Justice was to appear in this courtroom you would have her arrested and thrown down the court house steps like a whore. And yes I was Peed off.

      2. Remember that famous line in Rattigan's The Winslow Boy:

        Let right be done!

        Of course what is right and what is justice have often only a tangental connection.

  54. Thought for the day:

    If to be promoted to the level of one's incompetence is called The Peter Principle; then surely to be promoted
    to three or four levels above one's incompetence must now be named The Starmer Principle.

        1. The thing about “Lammy Lamination” is that it’s sticking short planks together to make even thicker ones.

    3. The Peter Principle and Parkinson' Law should be compulsory reading for every young person who chooses to study in the Sixth Form. I would also recommend Straight and Crooked Thinking by Robert H. Thouless.

      No teacher in a secondary school should be unfamiliar with Fowler and Sir Ernest Gowers .

  55. Sunak takes new part-time job in California. 22 January 2025.

    Rishi Sunak has taken a job lecturing at a university in California, amid rumours he would like a full-time move back to the state.

    The former prime minister – who is still MP for the Yorkshire constituency of Richmond and Northallerton – has taken up a visiting fellowship at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

    A little late but not unexpected. He’s realised that the “Conservative Party” are toast.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/01/21/sunak-takes-new-part-time-job-in-california/

    2. What a joke. Summed it up really.. when the lad would hold early morning meetings with his spads and ask them.. "anyone with any great ideas?"

  57. These hospital visits are getting more and more frequent though. Do they ever manage to clear the chest infections etc, or is it because he drinks too much and doesn't eat properly? He used to be such a good cook, but cooking for one is a bore.

    1. I think you’re absolutely right, but he will need to make that decision for himself. I’m sure the fact that he made this visit his choice, rather than being told he was going, is a good sign.

      1. Perhaps he’s being more realistic. He does need help, and company. He doesn’t seem to get that at his current home. He probably should be in care.

        1. ‘Sucks teeth’! Well, I think that’s a solution but whether Tom would agree… He was talking about his daughter in Tasmania today.

          1. Does she know how he is? She's a long way off. He needs the kind of care home where he's free to come and go but gets looked after and meals cooked. Like a husband, really.

    2. I think you’re absolutely right, but he will need to make that decision for himself. I’m sure the fact that he made this visit his choice, rather than being told he was going, is a good sign.

          1. Absolutely bonkers. When LA cut ours, they close the A roads – both sides, although they’re only cutting one side at a time. Traffic trails for a long way….

    1. Letters to the Editor
      What Kemi Badenoch can learn from Donald Trump’s American dream

      22 January 2025 7:15am GMT Letters to the Editor

      SIR – Leaving aside protectionist tariffs – which promote inefficiency and are taxes on the consumer in all but name – Kemi Badenoch can now expedite her review of her Party’s policies having been gifted a template by Donald Trump’s inaugural programme (report, January 21).

      Who would have thought that promising to: control immigration; enrich your country through exploiting its easily obtainable resources; make male and female the only official genders; promote a society that’s “colour blind and merit based”; and insist that civil servants will be expected to work a full week, could be quite so thrilling?

      Tim Coles
      Carlton, Bedfordshire

      1. Wet Tories desperately hope that Continuity-Tory leader Kemi Badenoch can whip up the same popular frenzy as Trump.. then once in power revert back to the safe soggy wet treacherous managed decline.

          1. Completely agree. Starmer is surrounded by supporters, baying for Tory blood. CP needs an attack dog.

          3. I do like her, but she speaks too softly and reasonably, seems anxious licking her lips. Wasn’t wearing one of her odd dresses today – wear a suit fcs. I still think she’d benefit from coaching, practise lessons.

          4. I think she was chosen because the Conservative Party thought she would be the sort of leader the party could parade as an example of their open-mindedness.

  60. BBC claims Donald Trump’s election victory fuelled by ‘fear’
    Accusations of bias over election is latest to hit broadcaster, as discussions over licence fee renewal loom
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/21/bbc-claims-donald-trumps-election-victory-fuelled-by-fear/

    BTL

    GB News has to provide 'balance' by having left wing guests and pundits to counter right wing bias.

    Is it not time for the BBC to have to provide right wing guests and pundits to counter left wing bias?

        1. If it takes a long, convoluted, procedure including many readings of a Bill in both Houses before Royal Assent is given to pass any law … why can just one man, at whim, remove a law — post haste — from the statute book?

          1. I’ve never been able to work out how many of our political nonces get away with so many of the awful things that they get upto.
            They are a nightmare.

          2. Blair didn't remove treason from the statute book. He tried, but the matter went to the (then) Law Lords, who ruled that treason itself could not be removed as a crime, and that to do so would itself be treason! What Blair managed to do was to remove the death penalty punishment.

        1. True, but immaterial. No British court would have sentenced to death anybody convicted of high treason as the UK, both then and now, is signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights, which forbids capital punishment. The UK would have to resile from the Convention and, consequently, quit the European Council, as being a signatory of the Convention is a condition of membership. I accept that many here would applaud both acts, not only to restore the death penalty but also to make it legally possible to enforce it.

          I also suggest that a wholesale replacement of the current judiciary and its replacement by those willing to impose death penalties would be a requirement as well as of those in institutions that appoint judges and nurture the careers of those who aspire to become one, as the incumbents are largely not of a mind to pass death sentences, nor to appoint those willing to do so.

    4. 3h
      I read an interesting comment about Starmer and his socialist chums recently. It said that Starmer et al were internationalists (as all Socialists are) and thought that we owed a higher duty to international courts and to the "global majority" than they do to British citizens.
      We knew that they worshipped international courts, but the comment then linked this attitude to immigration. They said that the Socialists felt a huge obligation to the "global majority" to even out global inequality by letting as many people as possible into the UK to enjoy a better quality of life – no matter what problems it causes and no matter what the people of this country think.

    5. 2h
      As enjoyable as that was, it's a sad, sad situation when a senator from Louisiana cares more about the interests of our country than our own government.

      1. I think he would get on like a house on fire with Jacob. In fact the Americans would go crazy. A genuine and clever English eccentric.

        1. That is what i thought as well. He would also honourably represent the interests of the United Kingdom.
          He speaks in measured tones that i am sure Americans would appreciate as opposed to them scratching their heads after they had heard anything from Kamala Harris.

    5. Fabulous! you've just made my day Jonathan,Mandlescum is number 2 on my hate list after Bliar

  64. 2 dead, several injured in knife attack in southern Germany
    Police arrest 1 suspect after attack in Aschaffenburg, with authorities saying public safety not at risk..

    You know the drill.

    1. Not far from the site of the battle of Dettingham. Last King to lead the British army into battle. George ll.

    2. Crack out the tea lights and teddy bears.
      Cue "Hate must not win".

      "Hass darf nicht siegen": has Google got it right?

      1. All Badenoch is doing is setting out her stall for negotiating with Wets. She won't have any scope for change until that party ceases to be the much vaunted "broad church". That's if she actually wants it that is.

        1. She’s a decent person, I reckon – but she needs to up her game in PMQs, go on the attack – it’s a dog fight. Thatcher an expert.

          1. Decency alone is not enough. You also must have integrity, strength and a proven record of achievement outside the HoC.

            I cannot think of anyone with such qualifications other than Rupert Lowe.

          3. Too many potential leaders and not enough actual weight Kate. Too many people have underestimated Thatcher. There are those who just hated her. That's fine, but you get the likes of Bliar and others telling us how much they admired her without I think understanding why she was so effective. At the core was ideology of a very basic philosophical level. I've heard proper philosophers who would readily count her in their ranks when they'd just pooh-pooh other political leaders as irrelevant. That's where Badenoch is going wrong. She is blown about as it were on every wind, still.

          5. Also, it must be a bit difficult for someone who is only "British" at all by virtue of Nigerian mother-coming-here-to-give- birth and then immediately going back to Nigeria to talk about immigration, British values, or anything else which she really knows little about in terms of actual experience or background. She wasn't even brought up here.

            There is rather a credibility gap, however able she may or may not otherwise be.

          7. Apparently Thatcher had a very rocky start with PMQs.
            We ony remember her handbagging Footie.

          8. She did, until Scargill/unions decided to challenge her, quite foolishly calling a strike in summer, when coal stocks were high.

        2. It is high time she got a grip.

          She must remove the whip from all the Wets in her party and encourage them to join the Lib/Dumbs.

          Then, with a purged party, she might be able to think about forming an alliance with Reform.

          But as things stand at the moment there is no way that the Reform Party should want to touch the Conservative Party with a disinfected dildo.

  67. Begorragh!
    3h
    Off topic. Trump has signed an order leaving the OECD. He wants American companies to pay their taxes in the US. Currently, nearly 1,000 US companies pay €28.1 billion in corporation tax in Ireland, a country that runs a surplus. If they leave, which now seems likely, Ireland will have a serious deficit.

        1. And Leprecoons like O'Bama!

          (Not original – borrowed from the excellent black folk-singer Johnny Silvo)

          3. The former presidents showed enough respect of the presidential office to attend. Mrs Obarmy is a nobody.

          6. It was suggested it was because he would have to go through scanning machines that would reveal….. well, would reveal. It was being said that that was also the reason he did not attend Carter's funeral a week or so earlier.

  68. Iraq lowers age of consent to 9 years old with sick law to allow old men to marry girls..

    Somewhere in a court room in Iraq there's a defendant in the dock making a plea to the judge.. "Well, she looked nine to me.."
    Credit: Jimmy Carr.

    2. "Well your honour, she had hair."
      "What?!"
      "You know, she had hair… down there."
      (spoken many years ago by a man who had been charged with under age activity involving a teenager who was younger than he believed)

    3. A spot of Chaucer. A modern translation of lines from the Merchant's Tale "January and May".
      England 630 years ago.
      To cheer you up a bit, May does get her revenge.

      "The bride was brought to bed, as still as stone;
      And when the bed had been by priest well blessed,
      Out of the chamber everyone progressed.
      And January lay down close beside
      His fresh young May, his paradise, his bride.
      He soothed her, and he kissed her much and oft,
      With the thick bristles of his beard, not soft,
      But sharp as briars, like a dogfish skin,
      For he'd been badly shaved before he came in.
      He stroked and rubbed her on her tender face,
      And said: "Alas! I fear I'll do trespass
      Against you here, my spouse, and much offend
      Before the time when I will down descend.
      But nonetheless, consider this," said he,
      "There is no workman, whosoe'er he be,
      That may work well, if he works hastily;
      This will be done at leisure, perfectly.
      It makes no difference how long we two play;
      For in true wedlock were we tied today;
      And blessed be the yoke that we are in,
      For in our acts, now, we can do no sin.
      A man can do no sin with his own wife,
      Nor can he hurt himself with his own knife;
      For we have leave most lawfully to play."
      Thus laboured he till came the dawn of day;
      And then he took in wine a sop of bread,
      And upright sat within the marriage bed,
      And after that he sang full loud and clear
      And kissed his wife and made much wanton cheer.
      He was all coltish, full of venery,
      And full of chatter as a speckled pie.
      The slackened skin about his neck did shake
      The while he sang and chanted like a crake.
      But God knows what thing May thought in her heart
      When up she saw him sitting in his shirt,
      In his nightcap, and with his neck so lean;
      She valued his playing not worth a bean.
      Then said he thus: "My rest now will I take;
      Now day is come, I can no longer wake."

  70. Starmer Quick to Call Out Acts of ‘Terrorism’ in the Past But Not on Southport

    Tory MP Nick Timothy has accused Keir Starmer of delivering “a cynical masterclass in obfuscation” over his handling of the Southport attack. Despite knowing the attacker possessed a terror manual, manufactured ricin, and carried out a calculated stabbing spree, Starmer refused to label it a terror incident. Now the grandfather of one victim has accused Starmer of “protecting himself” rather than letting the truth about the killer emerge sooner…

    Starmer’s record shows no hesitation in calling out terror incidents before charges or trials. After the 2017 Finsbury Park van attack, Starmer tweeted the same day, describing it as a “terrorist attack,” even though the attacker was initially charged with attempted murder rather than terror offences. It was only days later that terrorism charges were laid…

    Similarly, following the 2017 London Bridge attack, Starmer immediately took to Twitter to call it a “terrorist attack” the day after it occurred, well before any court proceedings. He also happily commented on incidents long before any trials were concluded – two days after the Plymouth shootings in 2021, he condemned the violence as “further evidence of an extreme misogynist ideology which is riddled with hatred and incitement to violence”. If Starmer was so confident in labelling other incidents terrorism before formal charges, why the sudden silence after Southport?
     https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/78f68cc43fdca1f7243af63acdda57ac0129784824abd28fa765dda24db4bb7b.png
    The government’s excuse—that it couldn’t disclose the terror links without formal charges—rings hollow, especially given Theresa May’s transparency after the 2017 Parsons Green bombing. Meanwhile, some Labour MPs are quietly defending Starmer’s decision to keep the public in the dark, suggesting that revealing the attacker’s possession of an Al-Qaeda manual would have led to even worse rioting…

    22 January 2025 @ 12:33

    1. 1h
      Starmer's in it up to his neck. Nigel Farage called it terrorism from day one, the whole of social media knew.

      275 people jailed for so- called riots where nobody was seriously injured.

      Mike b
      53m
      Only a handful in Harehills jailed, where the police ran away and left them to it.

      1. A complete and utter scandal. But they’ve got away with it (Harmer’s govt of all the talents).

    2. Twisting the truth rather than getting to the bottom of it. The old lawyer temptation.

    3. We might remember the Finsbury Park mosque attack that was immediately classed as terrorism despite it being perperpetrated by a guy with issues. Of course, he was not of the islamic faith and was white.

  72. 400368+ up ticks,

    To be found well entrenched within the political 650

    spotted via uniform dressage being dark pinstripe.

    Ps,
    Don't reveal starmers real name.

    Does Hitler have a secret family living in Britain?
    The newly discovered diaries of Unity Mitford reveal her obsession with the Führer – and raise questions about her stay in a maternity home

    1. Before scrolling down I thought it was which MP would I save – to which I would have answered Rupert Lowe.

    1. Ah…not alone, Ndovu…early am I think ‘get these msgs out the way, get on with my day’…now almost 3pm, still here, even ate my lunch here. Have you ever watched Big Bang Theory? the one where the super groomed Penny starts gaming and only realises when one of the other characters butts in, what she’s actually doing, and wasting her life, picking bits of food out of her hair to eat etc……you get the idea…..

      1. No – never watched that. But i do sit for hours reading what people have to say on topics of the day, here and on other sites, and the comments on DT articles.

        1. I’ve always liked to read, but I’ve found I don’t retain what I’ve read as well as I used to. Any tips on improving that, gratefully received x

          2. I’ve wondered this lunchtime if caffeine might be a factor, and there’s me hoping it’d sharpen me up…😂

  78. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/22/prince-harry-settlement-onslaught-press-freedom-end/
    Isabel Oakeshott

    Could it be that the heat of the Los Angeles wildfires has gone to Prince Harry’s head?

    Or is it just that from a distance of almost 9000 km, it’s rather difficult to judge the mood in your home country?

    Following a dramatic eleventh hour settlement in his long running privacy dispute with a newspaper group, the Duke of Sussex unleashed a furious broadside against the publisher, demanding yet more retribution for his supposed suffering.

    In a statement read by his lawyer, he depicted his sudden decision to throw in the towel in his decades-long battle with Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper group as a “monumental victory”.

    Listening to his extraordinary diatribe, you could almost see the Prince puffing out his chest. Far, far away from chilly reality in London, it is clear Harry thinks that the agreement he has reached with the newspaper group is a phenomenal triumph – and that this marks the moment that he finally reigns supreme.

    Well, here’s a cold hard reality check for the Prince of Montecito: no aspect of his crazed vendetta against the media will make him any less unpopular with the British people. By extracting a public apology from News Group Newspapers, he might think he has scored a tremendous win, but here in the UK, we are all sick of his endless courtroom crusades.

    1. I would be wary of anyone who named their son Hilary (or Jocelyn, Shirley, Lesley, Vivien … or Doris).

        2. Not all Rachels are bad, evil or unpleasant like MS Reeves!

          Rachel Rosing           – a sequel novel to Shabby Tiger by Howard Spring. Well worth reading.

          And didn't Martin Amis and Daphne du Maurier also write novels with a Rachel as a central character?

          1. Oddly enough, in my life I've personally only come across only two Rachels – and they were both vile!

          1. When I was at prep school we called each other by our surnames. I remember feeling it rather odd when Radcliffe Major referred to his youngest brother as Radcliffe Minimus! But my father was the third boy in his family and his brothers referred to him throughout his life as Tertius. Uncle Geoffrey (Primus) was killed at the age of 19 in WW1, Leonard (Secondus) became a wealthy farmer in Rhodesia.

            We all felt sorry for a boy whose surname was Jane (of the Fighting Ships Family) because we had to call him by a girl's Christian name. At the time my family name was not a girl's Christian name.

            Echoes of Johnny Cash!

          3. Or Marion Michael to some.

            Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison on May 26, 1907, at 224 South Second Street in Winterset, Iowa. The local paper, Winterset Madisonian, reported on page 4 of the edition of May 30, 1907, that Wayne weighed 13 lb (around 6 kg) at birth. Wayne claimed his middle name was soon changed from Robert to Michael when his parents decided to name their next son Robert, but extensive research has found no such legal change, although it might have been changed informally or the documentation may have been lost. Wayne's legal name apparently remained Marion Robert Morrison his entire life although to this day his original name is almost always referred to as Marion Michael Morrison. [Wiki].

          6. I had an uncle Marion. He was a displaced person (during WWII) from Lithuania who married my mother’s younger sister.

            “Marion” was a diminutive for Marijonas, his real name.

    1. "I've spoken to Marco Rubio about this.. and I've spoken to The President about this.. and I hope they're gonna do something about this."

      Well done The Yanks. Quelle embarrassment.. soggy wet Tories. Quelle embarrassment.. Trot paedo protectors.
      Now, Mr Kennedy please be advised of three things; Starmer & Lammy have taken bribes on this, and Starmer is a great believer in the imaginary International Law, and lastly Starmer hates Britain.. hates Trump and hates the notion of nationhood but loves China.

      Please help.

  82. Solar and Wind currently providing less than 2GW combined
    Shortly Solar will drop to zero
    https://gridwatch.co.uk/
    Their theoretical combined output availability is 45GW
    Are ALL our MP's so numerically ignorant that they don't realise it doesn't matter how much wind and solar you install if the wind don't blow or the sun don't shine??
    Email these #HateFacts to your MP for all the good it'll do…………

      1. I was just about to post this. Great minds and all that!

        Elvis was clearly not dependent on renewables!

    2. "Are ALL our MP's so numerically ignorant that they don't realise it doesn't matter how much wind and solar you install if the wind don't blow or the sun don't shine??"

      The answer is clearly that most, but not all, of them are.

      To be fair to Nigel Farage he has been banging on about the lack of power when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow for some time on GB News.

      Our boat, Mianda, had solar panels and a wind generator but in the winter they were useless and we needed a petrol generator or the diesel engine to keep the batteries charged up when we were at anchor.

  83. 400368+ up ticks,

    And where will they go ?
    Oh No,No, No,no ,no…….

    Live Trump cancels flights of 10,000 incoming refugees

        1. Good afternoon. Please do.

          With people like Ellen Degenerate coming here to escape the Trump Presidency i claim the one in one out bonus !

  84. Another minor incident in Germany.
    Afghan kills man and toddler, move along now.
    Someone needs to re-draw that WWII cartoon.
    The price of petrol diversity has been increased by one pfennig.

    1. A toddler? Seriously? That's taken the shine off the day for sure.
      Poor wee mite.
      Now I'm seriously upset.

      1. Is where you live overwhelmed with muslim illegals? Everywhere that is sees the death of innocents every day.

        1. There may be some, but not noticeable yet. Quite a few dark faces, though.
          If that shit happens, and it's coming (gun fight in Oslo last night), then I'll start going armed – in case.

          7. Yes. But after that my mental health improved and i decided familicide possibly wasn't the answer.

            Though…

    2. And another incident in Vermont yesterday (I refuse to call it minor). A Border Patrol officer was killed in a shootout. The shooter was a German citizen, he has not been named yet.
      It happened close to the Canadian border so obviously we are being blamed for our open borders even though the assailant has a valid US visa.

      2. "Minor incident," a play on words; one of the Afghan methodist's victims was a toddler who attended a local pre-school.
        "The stabbing occurred shortly before noon at the Schöntal park near the city center. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said the suspect deliberately attacked a kindergarten group in the park with a kitchen knife.

        A 41-year old German man, a passerby, and a two-year old boy of Moroccan descent were both killed, Herrmann added.

        Bavarian Health Minister Judith Gerlach confirmed that three other people were wounded, including a 61-year-old man, a child and a teacher.

        The perpetrator had attempted to run away from the crime scene across nearby railroad tracks, with German rail company Deutsche Bahn temporarily halting trains in the area.

        Herrmann said the suspect had entered Germany in 2022. His asylum clain was unsuccessful and was supposed to have left the country late last year.

        The suspect had a history of violent behavior and was undergoing psychiatric treatment by the time his assylum (sic) case was denied."

  86. Pictured: Boy, 12, stabbed to death on his way home from school as police quiz 14-year-old for murder teacher pays tribute to 'lovely and bright youngster'
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14313017/Teen-arrested-12-year-old-boy-stabbed-death-assault-woman.html

    Poor little boy.

    As expected no details given about the stabber's name or ethnicity.

    I would think that Starmer's decision to withhold the facts about the Southport murderer might have encouraged the PTB to be open and transparent from the very outset. if not then is there not a danger that the 'Extreme Right' might come to conclusions that are not 'helpful' or wanted and may be completely wide of the mark?

    Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that if the suspected stabber is white we would have been told this straightaway?

  87. A negative or positive factor? I usually have a large cup of tea in the morning, followed by a medium size coffee sometime later. I might have another cup of coffee, but usually not, and I don’t drink coffee later than lunchtime. Tea (same large cup) mid afternoon. Some wine some evenings with dinner, but not always.

    1. Previously thought positive but now wondering if negative – but only soft drink/s, espresso seems OK. Usually herbal tea, I like Pukka lemon ginger & honey. Never wine, if anything would be whisky, but not had an alcoholic drink for few weeks now. Maybe it’s just this lousy government 😆

  88. Wordle No. 1,313 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 22 Jan 2025

    A crowning Birdie Three!

    1. Well done Rene – I was in the same position as you after the first word but I decided to try and get the three letters I had in the correct spaces – unbelievably I got all five right!! (note to self, buy some Lottery tickets).
      I was feeling very pleased with myself but a little later I was in the car and had Vernon Kay's show on Radio2, he was asking listeners to ring in with something great that had happened to them today and someone mailed in that they had just done Wordle in one for the first time…….ho hum….

      Wordle 1,313 2/6

      ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Very well done, GGGG; my usual second word proved to be useless, so I played word games and was lucky!

        1. Yes, I would normally have gone for a different second word like you, but decided to change tactics and just go for the word using the three letters I had.

    2. Just to show how good you are, here is my effort and even that was a stretch.

      Wordle 1,313 4/6

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

    5. Well done, same here.
      Wordle 1,313 3/6

      🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. The Carthaginians sacrificed children to their god.
      Diversity is Europe's version of Baal-Hammon.

          2. Missed you, manger repas. Yes, Hammamet. A rather nice sunny week, home into the gale on Fri.

    2. What a lovely woman Eva is!

      She used to be a regular on the Mark Steyn Show on GB News before he was banished for being right about the Pakistani rape gangs and those damaged by Covid jabs.

      But we must not forget that The Conservatives were just as keen to hush up the truth as this filthy Labour government is.

  92. Well, every day's a school day.
    I have now seen what the battery looks like in my laptop.
    Yes, flattish black plastic object – but objects; a string of them located under and beside the track pad.
    Everything defluffed and ticketty boo.

  93. 5:00pm and it is still light!

    I'm told this work in progress is called a Strip Quilt (I can't think why). The quilting is complete, but the strips need sewing together. It has been produced to be First Prize in this Year's Village Show. Proceeds are being given towards the cost of refurbishing the Village children's playground.

    Oh and let me be the first to say – Bah Humbug!!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6337b933469ee3638dffa9158b352973d19aee7b6d65c3699db343ecbde31129.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/18511db3a7690a632bd0f5a7b40fb21ccf848131b4fb36f42c2f587e16fcb054.jpg

      1. I thought it was on Friday – so that many MPs will have gone off home (which incidentally I think is completely wrong – they should stay while there is business in Parliament. other professions have to. But then, MPs are hardly the professional class…).

        1. yes it’s Friday – I thought it was Thursday today…have an urgent deadline for Monday plus lots of other stuff, have barely left my computer for about ten days.

        1. It might get quietly murdered in the committees. But my MP (rural, LibDem) is supporting it. The AH!

          1. I’m old enough to remember when Liberals were Liberals, as in the Peterson mould. Very few female politicians around at the time, Barbara Castle was one. Then Thatcher came along…..

  95. We have heard about all the basements and sub-basements in Downing St. Thousands of busy bees working.

    Sound familiar?

    1. Not so much, still wfh. UK taxpayers footing the bill, wages, expenses etc. No wonder IFAs/consultancies doing so well with Tax avoidance advice.

  96. Evening, all. Been (relatively) mild here today inasmuch as it hasn't been hissing down with rain and the wind has dropped. It meant I managed to make a start of tidying the garden. The majority of the leaves have been swept or raked up, the wisteria and a few roses have been pruned along with a few more raspberry canes. As this had completely knackered my knee, I gave up and came in with a whole load more still left to do another day (or week or month!).

    Does KB have the equivalent of a British Dream? I wonder. There has been so much good news (Mandelson – hahaha!) I feel better already!

      3. hmmm.. Remainer from Academia I suspect puts on brave analysis.
        Then there was annoyance that a conversation between Trump and Starmer was leaked, apparently to embarrass Trump.

        Nothing short of unconditional surrender will do.
        All political prisoners released.
        Fresh elections.
        As for Chagos Islands..

  97. Seeing all these children die on a daily basis, here and in Europe it is starting to feel like trench warfare all over again.
    But instead of sacrificing thousands of young men to gain a yard of ground.
    We are sacrificing children and young people, to the knife and to rape in order to create some new order of civilisation throughout the West.
    Out with the old and in with the new, change for change sake.
    We never needed to embark on any of this.
    It is all becoming so normalised now and accepted by those in authority, just like back in the days of trench warfare.
    I hope all the people that support this, think it will all be worth it in the end.

    1. If I may tag on to your post, made an hour ago, Bob3 to speak to Sue Ed. I see you are now back from the dentist, Sue. How did it go?

    1. Watching that, I think we really haven't been sympathetic enough to our Canadian friends! Trudeau is far more annoying even than 2TK.

      1. "Annoying" is far too gentle a word, BB2.
        But it's good to have you post that and control te invective… 😉

    2. Canada's own Tony Blair, and yet, when one examines the legacy of both of those wreckers it merely underlines how appalling and destructive Blair was, to be even worse than Trudeau.

  101. Husband reports back one of his clients, 2 small children, is moving back to Berlin as his nursery bill is over £3,500 a month, out of taxed income. Then the rent on top. And council tax. Etc.

        1. It does get very cold in the winter.

          I don’t mind Germany, which is just as well, given I speak it as a second language.

          1. I live in Norway. We get cold, too. But Germany, and especially Berlin, is great! München too.

          2. My second language is French. If I brush up my Russian, I might consider St Petersburg, White Nights and frozen river and all 🙂

  104. A bit different: Joik.
    According to Chat GPT: "Joik (or joik, also spelled yoik) is a traditional form of singing practiced by the Sámi people, the indigenous inhabitants of the Arctic regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. It is a type of vocal expression that is often deeply tied to nature, animals, and people. Joiking is unique in that it doesn't always involve clear words; instead, it can evoke emotions, sounds, and even describe people, animals, or landscapes in a musical form.

    Unlike typical Western singing, joik is not primarily a narrative or melodic song. Instead, it focuses on expressing a spirit or essence of the subject. In some cases, a joik can be dedicated to a specific person, animal, or place, capturing its unique qualities or feelings associated with it. The style often includes repetitive, rhythmic chanting, with a deep connection to the environment and the Sámi worldview.

    Joik has been practiced for centuries and remains an important part of Sámi cultural identity today, although it has evolved over time and can now blend with contemporary music styles as well."
    Enjoy.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCL9FiAuezk&list=PLMWmZospNfHafyvWEFOCPZPr9D3wfaA1H&index=3&ab_channel=BellaBurst

      1. Imagine sitting outside in -12C, dark except for the Northern Lights, and birch trees swishing gently in the wind…
        Really moving.
        The power of music and song – neither am I gifted in, sadly. But, I can lsten.

  106. Here's something similar that could do with being brought in here:

    "..the American flag to be flown at U.S. facilities at home and abroad, with two notable exceptions: the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA) emblem and the Wrongful Detainees Flag."

    No more BLM, Rainbows or other silly minority agitprop lefty rags to be hung from government buildings. Excellent.

      1. The two exceptions may be flown at discretion I'd think if not flying US flag. I do remember the bickering between Rep / Dems when Biden suggested BLM flags ought to be flown at US premises if they wanted.

      2. He's just recently reimposed his ban on transgenders serving in US forces too, which Biden overturned when he got into office following Trump's last term.

  107. Doea that mean that those currently serving need to be discharged? A bit hard, that.

        1. "Also, under [the new] order, federal prisons and shelters for migrants and rape victims are to be segregated by biological sex. It would block requirements at government facilities and at workplaces that transgender people be referred to using pronouns that align with their gender. Trump’s team says those requirements violate the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and religion."

          There are apparently 9,000 – 14,000 trans serving in the US military who according to Trump were brought in on preferential treatment and not merit. More than I thought.

          1. I'm sure they would all be happy in a Regiment / Squadron/ Flotilla of their own kind…

          7. Are you suggesting James that there is limited wardrobe space on-board ship, in an aircraft or in a tank?

          8. Well clearly there is. If I were Biden I'd have passed down an order requiring every US flotilla to be assigned a sort of caravan train including wardrobe boat, trans specialist surgical ship, etc. Just not Progressive enough was he?

          9. Just a thought Corporal Klinger in Mash dressed as a woman in the hope of being discharged. Is it possible that the US has 14,000 Cosplay Klingers???

          10. Klinger did it as his campaign to be discharged as medically – i.e. psychologically – unfit.
            Some change from 1950, n'est pas?

    2. Good question, but I suspect it might. There'll be challenges in the courts of course.

    3. Are the armed services the right place to have people with mental traumas they had before joining up?

        1. Oh I'm sure they'll be compensated. Just think of the men and women serving alongside of them who can now breathe a sigh of relief.

    2. People in a bar which is subsidised where people got to drink on expenses in a place where 9 out of 10 toilets test positive for cocaine? Is that the bar we are talking about?

      1. Yes, that’s the one! It was the arrogance of the stupid woman who appears to believe that MPs are so loathed/important that it’s dangerous to drink outwith waste monster!

      2. Yes, that’s the one! It was the arrogance of the stupid woman who appears to believe that MPs are so loathed/important that it’s dangerous to drink outwith waste monster!

    3. They were despised
      Despised and rejected
      Rejected of men
      MPs of sorrows
      Not acquainted with good grief!
      MPs of sorrows
      They were despised
      Rejected
      Despised and rejected of men

      (With Apols to the Late Mr Handel)

    4. I love the phrase “We spend a lot of money on ,,, What she means is, we spend a lot of your money

    3. I love this song.

      Caroline posted it on this forum for my birthday a couple of years ago.

  114. James O'Brien joins up the dots like only a moronic progressive libtard can..

    “How the hell” the British government can “rein in” the powers of big tech companies.
    “It was on Amazon that the Southport killer bought his knife. Amazon, of course, is owned by Jeff Bezos. Jeff Bezos was sitting in the row behind Donald Trump at the latter’s inauguration.

    “The man who owns the platform that still hosts and holds the footage that the Southport killer looked before he set off to that Taylor Swift dance class, he was not just sitting in the row directly behind Donald Trump, he is the guy that got on stage and did the Nazi salutes.

    “So, I am not given to hyperbole, but the aligning of these planets is at the very least notable. But what the hell can a British government do to rein them in? Because that is the fight that they’ve picked.”

        1. Because they are looking for yet another excuse to control and interfere in people's lives.
          Government by embuggerance.

        2. He can see it. He knows full well what the problem is. O'Brien refuses to acknowledge it though because as soon as he does, full blown doublethink rams through his brain and he has to accept that everything he believes is wrong. So he keeps lying. He has to. It's defence mechanism against reality.

    2. Dear James. These little murdering shits don't need Amazon to slash and kill. They can just take a knife from the kitchen. Their single black mother's kitchen.

      'Where ya goin' boy?

      Just off to the youth club mamma…………………….

      1. It's just astonishing isnt it?

        Apparently it's all now the fault of Amazon despite everything that is known about this case and the total dereliction of duty of the relevant authorities.

        This falls into the 'We must be seen to be doing something' – that 'something' yet again involving huge inconvenience to the vast majority of law-abiding people.

        Just when I think I could not possibly loathe and despise these assholes any more – they come up with something yet again!!

        Nice one, Yvette – and may you rot in hell…..

        1. How do they explain the millions of people who buy knives on Amazon and comment on X but don’t commit murder? It’s like ascribing criminality to poverty. The vast majority of the world’s poor don’t commit crime.

    4. It is politicians logic: my cat has four legs, my dog has four legs, therefore my dog is a cat.

      The desperate unwillingess to confront the obvious and do everything possible to deflect. He's an evil, mendacious, vile rodent.

      1. I think it's more "my dog has four legs, my cat has four legs, the dog savaged the postman, but the cat is to blame".

      2. I think it's more "my dog has four legs, my cat has four legs, the dog savaged the postman, but the cat is to blame".

      3. Nothing is better than God.
        Half a loaf is better than nothing.
        Therefore Half a loaf is better than God.

    5. He's not very well. I suspect he is suffering from depression. Alistair Campbell has opened up about his depression, I see similarities between the two men.

  116. 400368+ up ticks,

    Pillow ponder,

    One must ask oneself, after nearly four decades, and before we act in haste and regret it, have we enough evidence to consider these islamic types guilty ?

    One must ask oneself are these governing parties at fault, has PM Starmer been cruely misjudged ?

    One must ask oneself would it not be better to wait maybe another decade say in a
    " best we forget " mode ?

    I do believe there are many out there that WOULD willingly do so.
    https://x.com/IanCockerill2/status/1882115966689260029

        1. Cruel, unfeeling, lacking in any kind of empathy for people. He has dead eyes – he's like an automaton, hardly human.

          1. He's a socialist. They don't need to take any notice of other people; they are right in their own minds (or, as we sensible people view it, right out of their own minds).

        2. You're far too polite Conners 🙂he's an absolute AH, he knows exactly what he's doing.

    2. Have we misjudged the muslim? Yes. By letting them live here and not decking and expelling the first one of them to set foot in this country.

      Starmer? The man is an oaf. He hasn't a single competent bone in his body. The sooner we are rid the better life will be.

      In another decade we will either be fighting for our lives or rebuilding from the carnage these psychotic imbeciles have perpetrated.

  117. This isn't good news for the rest of us….
    "An exodus of millionaires from Britain last year was equivalent to losing half a million taxpayers, analysis shows.
    The UK lost 10,800 millionaires to overseas countries in 2024, more than double the number who left in 2023.

    Their exodus comes amid Labour’s tax raid on non-doms and private schools, as well as a wider collapse in business confidence that followed £40 billion of tax rises announced in Rachel Reeves’s first Budget.
    According to research by the Adam Smith Institute (ASI), each of the millionaires who left Britain last year would have paid at least £393,957 in income tax per year.

    One millionaire’s payout is equal to the income tax take of 49 average taxpayers – meaning the Exchequer faces a shortfall in revenue equivalent to losing 529,200 average taxpayers.
    The top 1 per cent of taxpayers pay 29 per cent of all income tax in the UK, which is the highest source of tax revenue.

    Many millionaires are already leaving Britain in anticipation of changes to the non-dom tax regime, which will take effect in April."

    1. It's the only sort of growth Rachel from Complaints understands – growing poverty of those who are stuck here.

    2. Elsewhere you have people saying 'Good riddance, rich [expletive].

      That's the level of stupidity we suffer under.

    3. Most of the millionaires were probably home owners in the South East. They probably wanted to escape the UK's inhumane death duties.

  118. I've just been watching a program about Pompey I recorded earlier this week.
    They are still excavating the fallen ash and making remarkable new discoveries.
    We were on holiday in lovely Sorrento about 6 years ago and spent a day in the old ruins at both sites.
    Well worth a catch on BBC4
    Popping orff now goodnight all 😴

      3. My closeup eye sight is appalling I'm not making excuses but the ashes have never contested in Portsmouth 😅😆
        Second cataract removal early next month.

    2. BBC4 you say? What was it called – will have to have a look for that. I would love to go there sometime – I've never been to Italy.

    3. Thanks for the winter viewing recommendation, Eddy.

      Bugger all else to do. Although it is forecast to get a little warmer over the next few days.

    4. Thanks for the winter viewing recommendation, Eddy.

      Bugger all else to do. Although it is forecast to get a little warmer over the next few days.

      1. I’ve explained it Alf 😊😏 when i use my mobile phone for comments the lettering is about 3mm high unless i enlarge it which is not always practical. And because of that i cant quite see what i have written because i am waiting (six months ) for my second cataract operation. Then and only then will i be able to buy some ne reading glasses.

        1. It wasn’t a criticism but that’s what my brain transmitted. My mind does strange things these days.

          1. I know Alf I didn’t find it critical, I just wanted to explain what happens sometimes when I post a comment it is often caused by the spell checker.
            And I don’t notice.

  119. It is possible that a defendant may not wish to plead guilty to all the charges. There are court procedures for dealing with such situations as explained here:

    Circumstances regularly arise where a defendant wishes to plead guilty to some, but not all, of the charges faced, or to an offence but only on a certain set of facts.

    https://www.kangssolicitors.co.uk/news-insights/basis-of-plea/#:~:text=The%20Procedure%20for%20a%20Basis,without%20a%20basis%20been%20entered.

  122. Goodnight, all. The fire's dying down and the hot water bottles are warming the bed, so time to retire.

  130. Sadiq Khan has just demonstrated why people are turning to Reform
    His arrogant dismissal of a plan to tackle knife crime was politics at its worst
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/17/sadiq-khan-arrogance-people-turn-to-reform-party/

    BTL

    Is there not a parallel between Sadiq Khan not wanting to listen to Alex Wilson of the Reform Party and Nigel Farage not wanting to acknowledge that Tommy Robinson was the first to draw public attention to the Pakistani rape gangs?

      1. Both true.
        Anne Cryer raised the matter in 2003 and got slapped down hard.
        Nick Griffin and BNP took up the matter in Rotherham a couple of years later. It was their involvement that forced Andrew Norfolk to publish his Times articles in 2011.

    2. Nick Griffin was the first to campaign on that issue and everyone ignored him for years. He was just making up racist stories to justify wanting deportations, apparently.
      I have never voted for his party, but he was right on that issue.

  131. Well, chums, it's now way beyond my bedtime, so I'll wish you all a Good Night. Sleep well and I'll see you all tomorrow.

  132. Morning. According to someone on PressReader, breaking news is a major stabbing incident in Plymouth.

    And the headline is 1 in 12 in London olis an illegal.

    Just when are the authorities going to get a grip?

    Edit. See True Belle, she has the info!!!

  133. Morning. According to someone on PressReader, breaking news is a major stabbing incident in Plymouth.

    And the headline is 1 in 12 in London olis an illegal.

    Just when are the authorities going to get a grip?

    Edit. See True Belle, she has the info!!!

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