Wednesday 26 March: Another patient comes up against the brick wall of NHS bureaucracy

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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488 thoughts on “Wednesday 26 March: Another patient comes up against the brick wall of NHS bureaucracy”

  3. Good morning, chums. I hope you all slept well.

    Wordle 1,376 5/6

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    1. In Blighty, we merely stop local elections under the pretence of changing the administration of boroughs and counties.

  9. Morning, all Y'all.
    Sunny, lovely day. For some reason, there's nobody about. Roads almost empty, train had empty seats, bus driver on holiday, so bus seriously delayed…

  11. 403848+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    May one ask has it sank in ALL round yet ?

    our lives are in their treacherous hand's, for starters every day on average 150/200 new threats to our children / elderly / womenfolk / infrastructure hit the beech / hotel / welfare route on a regular basis, accepted by ALL current governing overseers & supporting members.

    We are ALL, in accepting this, also accepting
    PREMATURE ASSISTED DYING EN MASSE AS A NATION.

    https://x.com/NoFarmsNoFoods/status/1904443308320940348

        1. 403848+ up ricks,

          Morning SE,

          Seemingly much to racist for the local authorities, who seem to be wanting more of the burka look.

        1. 403848+ up ticks,

          Morning A,

          Precisely, and I believe in ALL honesty many would accept it as being, the inevitable.

      3. Reading between the lines the girls must be at the independent Dover College.

        1. 403848+ up ticks,

          Morning R,
          Independent of decency, integrity and well being looks like.

  12. 'Midweek Medley…
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ff207582a0e68092b43804298442e36e3de04b84f9513597e75afbb7318b547c.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/aa6f4660cd042a6ad34f7eb461120137ff5db808877e8f0019927a2a62622893.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9a0cf5f616a48dae547b860d1db89d9b529ba295f4bba23b167e7071ed4ea4b1.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/842b86cfac4fcb2fb86200897f1b2faaab7e3def478666c25474f7c333259bc5.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6c272c29b36da30df69e90e6add535df814a6cfa89ebe646a63a434eea2dd985.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bc50c9963b8893b6cf677a98d03d601ac357cd16547271c17814760cfdc72f2e.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0b1300fca5eae2cc3fc3ceef99a8a23ad8df4752f04d8ee4e9cd9ce601f965f3.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e8c5896c78b668caeeb770cb01b6643325663eb384ba928994d249d68dc28271.jpg

  15. Eighth straight day of migrant activity in the Channel, which has seen more than 1,700 cross since last Thursday.

    Wait until the latest news filters through..
    Front of the queue for a Brand New House & 98% chance of asylum being approved.
    And if the natives complain they go straight to jail.

    2. Yo Caroline, have one happy Birthday and of course 364 Happy Unbirthdays until the next Anniversary

      PS If you use the OLT Age Scale, the first 50 yeras are practice, you only count BDs from 50 onwards, so you are 13

      1. Grattis på födelsedagen, Mrs Tastey. I hope that 'him indoors' spoils you rotten.😉🥂👍🏻🎂🍾😊

    12. Happy Birthday, Caroline!
      Hope it's the best one yet!
      33 years old (one's best age) with 30 years experience! Couldn't be better!

    1. 403848+ Up ticks,

      Morning TB,
      NO serious signs of rebellion so one can only assume everyone & illegals are happy with the status QUO.

      1. Economically, it makes sense. Savings on pensions, healthcare etc., and revenue from IHT. Pensioners, we'd better watch our backs!

    2. I posted about the population of Ethiopia the other day in relation to its population growth.

      "The current population of Ethiopia is 134,533,489 as of Wednesday, March 26, 2025"

      I forgot to mention another statistic in there.

      "The median age in Ethiopia is 19.1 years." If that doesn't scare you I don't know what will.

      Oh, and UK's median age is 40.1 years.

      https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ethiopia-population/

      Edited to add UK

      1. Median: centre of gravity of the distribution. Half the population under, half over.
        Compare with the UK: "As of mid-2021, the median age of the UK population was 40.7 years."

  20. Today’s article, A Farewell To Masculinity , by Frederick Edward, relates a transition from the masculine work of manual labour to the metro-sexual environment of office work, subtly lamenting the waning of old fashioned masculine values.

    The two new short reads – Do You Have A Book In You? – by Clive Matelas on how to get that you keep on promising yourself you’ll write published, and – Bomb Disposal and How It Got That Way – by former RAF bomb disposal bod Sudo Nonym are well worth reading. As ever, please read and comment.

    Energy watch 06.30: Demand: 28.66 GW. Total UK Production: 21.92 GW from: Hydrocarbons 44.3%; Wind 11.6%; Imports 22.2%; Biomass 3.5%; Nuclear 11.6. Solar: 0%.

    They seem to be going off biomass for some reason. A policy change? Not ‘green’ enough? Over the past 24 hrs, renewables (wind + solar) produced 24.4 of or electricity.

  21. Inflation has fallen unexpectedly in a boost to Rachel Reeves as she prepares to announce cuts to public spending in her Spring Statement.

    The consumer prices index (CPI) eased from 3pc in January to 2.8pc in February, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

    Economists had expected inflation to remain unchanged, having jumped from 2.5pc in December.

    ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said: “Clothing prices, particularly for women’s clothes, was the biggest driver for this month’s fall.”

    Inflation remains above the 2pc target set by the Bank of England, which expects inflation to hit 3.7pc in the third quarter of this year.

    Paul Dales of Capital Economics warned the latest drop in inflation is “a bit of a red herring” ahead of a surge in energy and water bills, which are expected to push CPI back to 3pc in April.

    The slowdown of the pace of price rises comes as the Chancellor prepares to speak in the Commons, where she will set out her plans to keep the public finances in order.

    Ms Reeves will blame spending cuts on the global market turmoil triggered by Donald Trump as she reveals slashed growth forecasts in her Spring Statement.

    After the latest inflation data, the Chancellor tweeted: “Security for working people and renewal for our country. That is our mission. And in a changing world we will deliver.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/26/spring-statement-2025-rachel-reeves-spending-cuts-inflation/

    The Mekon voiced chancellor has burnt the economy to cinders , chased people with good money overseas, and if she is not sacked she will be a bigger threat than the San Andreas Fault.

    Labour have caused the death knell of the UK.

  22. Good morning Nottlers. 10°C, light winds and cloudy on the Costa Clyde. Loins girded prior to hitting the north face of Tesco Irvine.

  23. Good morning, all. Bright with a light mist hanging around. Washing on and charging strimmer batteries in readiness to tackle those grass edges the mower can't reach.

    Cannot argue with the sentiment of Burgon's first sentence. However, increasing taxes is a short term attempt to eradicate a long term problem, and as we all know, long term problems are caused by run-of-the-mill politicians who then have no idea, or will, to cure the problem. It will take a strong and radical person to grip the challenges the UK faces. If it's not too late, that is.

    Burgon, along with many others it would appear, wants a "wealth tax" to raise £24Billion. Would this be an annual attack on rich people's assets or a one-off? I think we can guess, and how long before mission creep increases the wished for 2% tax? Plenty of wasteful schemes for this devious government to spend the money on.

    https://x.com/RichardBurgon/status/1904661620732682522

  25. I try to fight my way through Facebook's algorithms when I am feeling strong. It used to be such a pleasure once, but now it's mostly a battle with corporate America.

    One site I try to visit often is the Theatre of Small Convenience, in Malvern. This is in the Guinness Book of Records as being the smallest commercial theatre in the world, having just twelve seats. It used to be a public convenience, and was used for years by the puppeteer Dennis Neale, who used to do little Dali-esque shows there.

    It has had a hard time in recent years. Dennis Neale fell ill and passed the theatre to an arts group attached to the Further Education college in town. However, the college was privatised a while back, and sold on several times to a holding company "Warwickshire Colleges Group" primarily interested in asset-stripping and the quarterly bonus for their executives. The little theatre was closed and then vandalised.

    When the theatre was up-and-running, a fundraiser was a couple of trellises where, for a donation, people could create a tile, which hung on the trellis. The artwork from many sources and of many styles was on display and delighted passers-by. Sadly, after the theatre was closed, it was vandalised and most of the tiles smashed.

    The Friends of the Theatre has now mounted a rescue bid, and with the help of the District Council (which is now scheduled to be abolished in favour of regional Party commissioners controlled by Whitehall), the theatre is now undergoing restoration and is intended to re-open before too long.

    1. That sounds awfully sad, Jeremy. Let's hope the place can be recovered.
      How much money do they need? And, if one were to donate, what do you get for that? A share, perhaps?

        1. Looks as though a team of people are trying to get it up and running again. Good luck to them!

      1. 403848+ up ticks,

        Morning S,

        Good thinking, But truth does not rank too high in their everyday lives.

    2. They literally want us to become part of the Caliphate. Why? What’s in it for them?

      1. IMHO the caliphate (I will not capitalise anything to do with islam) is of no interest to the politicians infesting the Western World. That idea is just a means to an end. The current PTB need foot soldiers to force through their control measures and there's copious numbers of moslems prepared to move around the World and do their prophet's bidding.

        The globalists are using the moslems and the latter have been given hope that their goal, the caliphate, is in sight. Fact, the globalists want total control, as do the moslems, ergo, there will be a clash of ideologies i.e. riches beyond the wealth of Croesus and total domination, versus total domination from a Dark Age socio-religious cult. And the winner is…

        The moslems have the numbers but the globalists have the technology, including bio-weapons.

  27. At Last! An internet connection!!
    Sat in Wetherspoon's in Warminster with a mug of tea having just had a bacon butty!
    Spent Monday night in Corsham and last night on Mere Down near Kingston Deverill.
    A bit chilly last night, I had to get my sleeping bag out to augment the blankets I was using.

    Tried to get on the 'net twice yesterday.
    Why oh why do so many places expect customers to enter so much personal data to the internet providers?
    And why do other places, trying to offer simpler internet provision, not ensure that it actually bloody works???

    I plan meandering my way up to Malmsbury for tonight as I still need to drop off a pack of welding rods I've sold on E-bay as the buyer got in touch with me after I dropped a note through his letterbox!

    I've 40 minutes left on the parking ticket, so I'm off for a stroll.
    TTFN all.

    1. Not far from us – Malmesbury is a nice little town – we used to have an aunt (of my ex) there.

      1. While on a five month Advanced Air Electronics Course I played basketball for RAF Hullavington. Watched motor racing at Castle Combe.

  28. Well after today’s announcement from the Bank of England, there is something very, very, very wrong in the system… 😡
    So … let me get this straight:
    * British Gas made a profit of £1.3bn between January & June
    * BP announced profits of £6.95 billion between April and June alone
    * Shell has profited by £9.4bn in a year
    The MEN at the top:
    * John Pettigrew, boss of National Grid received £6.5m bonus on top of his salary
    * Chris O’Shea, chief executive of British Gas owner Centrica was paid almost £2m last year in salary and benefits
    * Centrica's non-executive directors were paid almost £1m
    * Scottish Power's CEO Keith Anderson is on £1.15m.
    * E.On boss Michael Lewis is on £1m
    * EDF's Simone Rossi is also on £1m
    * And their top execs enjoyed a share of £4.65m
    * Peter Simpson of Anglian Water earned a £1.3m pay package
    * Welsh Water bosses awarded themselves bonuses of over £930,000
    * Severn Trent bosses awarded themselves bonuses of £5.56m
    * Thames Water's Sarah Bentley, received a £727,000 bonus on top of her £2m annual salary
    Meanwhile there are…
    * People who haven't had breakfast and/or lunch TODAY, because they can't afford it.
    * People using FoodBanks because food is becoming more of a luxury than a necessity.
    * Children celebrating a birthday without presents.
    * Parents worrying about new school uniforms – and some schools enforcing rules which are not cost-effective.
    * People who can't get to work because they can't afford to put petrol in their cars/pay for public transport anymore.
    * People who are working so much they're making themselves ill, and they STILL CAN'T AFFORD to pay their bills.
    * People who have been given fines by these same energy/water companies because they couldn't afford to pay their bills in the first place – increasing their debt.
    * Customers being told to do STAR JUMPS TO KEEP WARM for crying out loud!
    * Hose pipe bans when gallons of water leak away everyday.
    * Elderly people NOT DRINKING because they're worried about running out of water!!!
    All this and energy prices are set to rise up to 75% in October…
    THIS IS MADNESS!.. I'm all for supporting profits … I'm not for supporting greed at the cost of lives of others.
    Something needs to change.
    Why is customers' money being used to make life more comfortable for those who are making life more intolerable for the rest of us?
    I actually don't understand how the energy companies are allowed to get away with this and why the government aren't stopping them instead of handing out money…..

    1. Although the energy companies are making big profits, the government is raking in the windfall tax off their backs. The CEOs still get their bonuses, so what is not to like… unless you are the hapless bill payer.

      1. I read the govt is making the energy companies go green resulting in larger bills for us. At the same time govt gives energy companies subsidies to go green: said subsidies funded by us, the tax-payer. 'Us' of course, doesn't have any choice but to shut up and pay up.

    2. Socialism in action. The elite class and their chosen underclass get fat by bleeding the productive working class dry. Illegal Mohammedan migrants will be handed the good life on a plate. Meanwhile there is a team of people who arrive at 5am every morning to provide breakfast for the homeless at the Whitechapel Mission in the East End of London. Each breakfast costs less than £4 and they serve hundreds every day but are reliant on volunteers and donations, with no public funding. It's wrong.

      1. Good for them, but what checks are made, if any, that the recipients need the support and are not just scrounging?

    3. BTL; Guido

      Reincarnated
      1h
      Since the announcement of the triple lock pension increase in April.

      Water bill +£200
      Council tax +£104.
      Electricity +£180.
      Car Tax +£15

      Not taking into account food cost I'm about £50 pounds a year worse off!

      State pension increased by £472.

      Satan Claws
      1h
      2.8% is a dodgy figure that nowhere near represents the inflation that most people are dealing with

    4. BTL; Guido

      Reincarnated
      1h
      Since the announcement of the triple lock pension increase in April.

      Water bill +£200
      Council tax +£104.
      Electricity +£180.
      Car Tax +£15

      Not taking into account food cost I'm about £50 pounds a year worse off!

      State pension increased by £472.

      Satan Claws
      1h
      2.8% is a dodgy figure that nowhere near represents the inflation that most people are dealing with

    5. Looking at that short (many more plaguing us) list of horrors that are besetting our Country and that none of the rump political parties are placed to do anything about the situation, rather they are the creators of this mess, there is an abundance of fertile ground for a party of the people to destroy the old guard. A generational destruction with their old ground heavily salted to ensure their long-lasting doom.

      Reform UK posed as that party but the recent internecine warfare has made them look too similar to the usual suspects. Will Ben Habib, Rupert Lowe and very likely, Andrew Bridgen come together via the GB PAC i.e. Great British Political Action Committee, and be that party?

    6. I have no issue with those whose who talent, industry, initiative and skills have made them wealthy, and I have no sympathy with those whose life-style choices have kept them in poverty but I do think that the enormous, and growing, gap between those at the top of the heap and those at the bottom is a dangerous development for the country. The increasing greed of many at the top, together with the lack of sanctions if they fail in any way, is a cancer in both commercial and public life.

  29. Very nice out – heavy dew – but bright and warm sun and not a breath of wind Completely still. ("Smoke rises vertically" – for those of you who are old enough to remember!!)

    I have been listening (yet again) during the night to the excellent reading of Chips Channon's Diaries. Whatever one thinks of the man, and he was an absolute shit, his daily record of life between 1918 and 1950s is riveting. Anyway, just got to April 1945 and Winston's speech in the Commons on the death of Franklin Roosevelt – and, a few days later, on VE-Day.

    Just tried to imagine such momentous events being marked by the nasally-challenged Cur Ikea Slammer – or, better still, the Ginger Growler.

    Completely beyond any existing British politician of any party.

    Ah me…autre temps etc etc

    2. I read Michael Foot’s books: Loyalists and Loners and Another Heart and Other Pulses.

      Michael Foot was an excellent writer and recorder of events in his political life and writes in the style of Swift.

      Foot gives many insights into the political characters of his day. As you say we have no politicians today, nor journalists and pamphleteers, with the political skills and knowledge of our forebears.

  30. Overcast morning .. slight breeze .

    Pip spaniel is booked in for an overall clean up .. His feathers on his legs , botty hair , tail hair , ears etc will be trimmed and after a good wash.. his toenails need trimming .

    The problem with spaniels is that gorse twigs leaves seeds cling to the hairy feathers on the legs .. and of course , MUD.

    The dog groomer always does a magnificent job, and now we are down to one spaniel , it will be a bit cheaper, usually get him done twice a year , before summer and then the autumn.

    My dog groomer has better skills than the timid fiddly little thing who gave me a terrible hair trim and the rest .. Moh was not impressed . and had a fit when I told him the cost .

    It will be Swanage or back to Wimborne next time .

    I really miss my retired old hairdresser who had humour , kindness and great hairdressing skills .

    1. Hello, Maggie. We had all that done to our Springer last week. When she got home she paraded around showing off.

    2. Which reminds me – I must book in the botty bar in town to get my botty hair permed, coloured and styled. Got to keep up with the neighbours.

    4. Dolly and Harry are getting their coats and nails done on Sunday ready for Summer.

      The dog breeder does them gratis. :@)

      1. (A propos, not opened your email yet due to crazily full couple of days. Soon x)

        1. Doubt it. I didn’t like to ask her. We will have a face to face when she turns up on Sunday

    5. Not forgetting two pairs of sturdy leather spats (or gaiters) to protect his legs from adder bites.

    6. Thankfully, Oscar, a Staffie Springer cross has a shiny short coat and just needs a power wash when he rolls in muck etc. There again, all our clothes and bedding leave a large amount of short black hairs in the tumble drier filter.

      1. I now trim Kadi myself. Oscar was a specialist job! Winston is sleek but I still find his hair everywhere.

    7. The more posts I see about dogs, their grooming and consequential costs the more I'm glad I've got a cat

        3. I was just thinking this morning as I manoeuvred two dogs through shoppers; it’s like having a couple of toddlers.

      4. Would you like to borrow Mongo for a few days? It's like living with a bear with the mind of a toddler. Everything is exciting and new.

        I'll even provide a week's food.

        1. I’ll pass on that thanks – I don’t want to see my cat disappearing into the distance carrying a stick with a spotted hanky on the end, full of her toys

  31. If this non-stop invasion of fighting-age men from Africa and the Middle-East are so desperate for asylum; build a lot more institutions — based on Bedlam — for them, preferably somewhere south of the Sahara.

    1. None of it makes sense. We can’t stop the boats because of “international law” and ECHR. Yet the French have no interest in “saving lives at sea”

      1. Nonsense. The French call out the British rescue services by the shortest route. Saves lives, spares France.

        1. The French are justified in having contempt for the sheer stupidity of the British as far as illegal immigration is concerned.

          The Mayor of Calais blames the British for ruining her town. If the British did not lavish food, shelter, hotel accommodation, and pocket money on them the illegal immigrants would not be infesting Northern France.

          1. If the French didn't let them into France in the first place, then it wouldn't be problem for Calais.

            If I recall correctly the British were also blamed by the French in WWI and II for not coming to France's aid sooner…

          4. Yet the law states that the barbarian savages have to be dealt with at the first safe country.

            Equally wth Shengen, we don't have to take them. Criminally entering this country must mean we can remove the vermin.

          5. Other countries have closed their border, who are in the Shengen Agreement. And Merkel unilaterally let a whole load in that weren’t in the contemplation of the Schengen Agreement. The rest of the EU does what it wants – especially Germany and France. They have plenty of choice.

          7. If the French didn't let them into France in the first place, then it wouldn't be problem for Calais.

            If I recall correctly the British were also blamed by the French in WWI and II for not coming to France's aid sooner…

      2. Yet the frogs do nothing to deport the barbarian savage, and dump them on us. Why are we not returning the favour?

    3. That's why I suggested Dartmoor the other day. Keep them in the remotest place possible, preferably surrounded by the bogs. Process them there and ship them out. I see that Dartmoor Prison is closed but it could always be reopened.

      1. Dartmoor Prison has been reopened … as a brewery. Their ‘Gaol Ale’ is a superb brew.

    4. Off topic slightly but you may be able to answer this question. With reference to True_Belle’s post about Chief Constable Serena Kennedy of Merseyside Police, what is the proportion of women to men junior officers in the UK police forces compared with the proportion at very senior levels?

    1. This is the terrorist state in action: official threatening by the PTB against ordinary people.

    2. She pu more effort into crushing those angry at the murder of children by muslim and equal weight into placating the muslim child murderers.

      Her priorities are utterly debased. This is simply evil.

    1. Least of their crimes..

      Southport..
      Snuggle-Struggle gang cover up..
      Invasion..
      Chagos Islands..
      Farmer cull..
      New build on Farmer's land..
      Blackrock love affair..

    2. Labour may have got away with the cut to WFA this winter, as it has been mild (here in the South-East, anyway). If it had been a cold one, it would have been a different story.

    3. The purpose of the climate cult is control. It's nothing to do with energy, environment, ecology. It is just solely a control system.

    1. Turn the printer off and then back on.
      Go to settings and get it to print a test page.

    2. What brand printer? Are they genuine or compatible cartridges? Do you get a message saying 'not recognised'?

    5. Unplug the printer from the power socket. Leave for five minutes. Plug in again and try.

    6. Sometimes I yhonknthat I should just buy a new printer, they come with ink cartridges and are cheaper than just replacement cartridges.

      It's like the others have written, the cunning manufacturers verify the cartridge make – not one of theirs and they won't work. I ended up dumping my $10 elcheapo cartridges and went back to the $30+ manufacturer brand.

      Another problem I have had with an ink jet printer is that surplus ink can accumulate on internal cleaning pads and that jams up the works.

      Do you get any error messages on the printer?

      1. An excellent company called Stinkyink (honestly) supply a huge range of printer cartridges at very good prices and with excellent service. Many are guaranteed to work with the printer even if they are not from the same make as the printer. I haven’t tried any but Stinkyink have a pretty good returns policy.

        Epson printers seem particularly vulnerable to ink pads becoming too clogged up and stopping the printer from working. I think that they are part of planned obsolescence.

        2. Maintenance box.
          Basically, a plastic box to the right of the paper tray with a sponge in it to mop up used ink – especially after a printhead cleaning session.

          1. Yes, and any engineer could design a cheap and easily replaceable sponge. The printer manufacturers probably felt that they couldn’t get away with charging £20 or more for a piece of sponge so made it very difficult to replace and requiring software (not free) to reset the counter which otherwise stopped all printing.

    1. Surely sending him to a nice Muslim country would aid him in his recovery from alcoholism.

    2. Then put him through the 12 step program and deport him.

      Or don't bother and deport him anyway.

      It's a complete farce. They're clearly just mocking the public.

  38. Prince Harry engulfed in racism row as he quits own charity
    The Duke founded Sentebale in memory of Diana, his later mother, to support children with HIV in southern Africa
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2025/03/25/prince-harry-quits-own-charity-in-wake-of-infighting/

    I do feel sorry for Harry – but what can you do when a black, female, zealous Zimbabwean lawyer gets going on race.

    BTL

    'Celebrities', politicians and royalty like to associate themselves with causes which, they hope, will reflect well on themselves.

    How many of these people publicly associate themselves with The Distressed Gentlefolks Aid Association? Not much kudos there!

    1. Wow, mention of the Distressed Gentle folks Aid Association brought back a long-forgotten memory (hmm, not much of a memory if it was long-forgotten) so I searched the interenet to see if it still existed. It seems to have morphed into Turn2us – still doing good work.

    1. It's a pity the UK doesn't appear to have similar.
      We could do with such widely publicised investigations, where very highly paid executives are called to account.

      1. I hope that it makes the critics of the BBC come out in force. But, I'm afraid, this government will do nothing because, I'm sure, they feel that the BBC isn't left wing enough.

        1. The BBC thinks itself a government department. It doesn't understand why people don't want to pay for it, so up it's own fundament is it.

    2. An even bigger pity that Canada cannot do that.

      one of the supposed unbiased news sources has been posting news? about Poliviere becoming conservative leader thanks to Chinese interference. They sat on the item for three years and are only now releasing it during the election campaign.

      Surprising how information from a supposedly top secret investigation is released at the most inopportune time.

    3. We have been alternating between lefty NPR and righter than Fox news radio this last few days. They all need a swift kick up the derriere with the bias they are showing.

    4. There seem to be many many youtube channels dedicated to 'we hate Trump' propaganda. They are all very short on detail and facts, with lots of ranting and screaming.

  40. I don't think much of Harry these days but on this matter I'm with him, really – he put in a lot of time and effort on this project and I think he was genuinely involved, not just a figurehead.

      1. That's how politics work in South Africa and Zimbabwe Rhodesia since the whites were removed.

        1. "That's how politics work in South Africa and Zimbabwe Rhodesia since the whites were removed."
          Fixed it for you, Rastus.

  42. I see Fox News have decided to go with the winning side. I see their Facebook posts and there's actually some good stuff there.

    1. Of all the American channels it is the one that is the most reasonable. CNN which used to be my favorite channel has become a cess pit of unwatchable woke idiocy and so have the rest, MSNBC, ABC etc. They have become propaganda media that are impossible to watch. So much so that even the left are not watching them, viewership has plummeted and they are threatened with bankruptcy. But they still churn out nonsense, they can't help themselves because its all they know how to do. Trump has sent them all mad!

      1. During my overseas work trips I often tuned in to CNN. I had already abandoned the BBC and licence fee. About 12-15 years ago, I noticed a distinct leftward slant in their news. Thank goodness for the internet.

        1. Indeed John, if it wasn’t for the internet we would be drowning in a sea of lies.

        2. Indeed John, if it wasn’t for the internet we would be drowning in a sea of lies.

    1. Probably true, but every scrounger deprives others in genuinely desperate straits.

  45. I went to Castle Combe once – motor bike races – had a lot to drink on the way home and was horribly sick. I was 17.

  50. Grey and cool here.
    Another threesome:
    Wordle 1,376 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
    🟨⬜🟨🟨🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Blue skies up above but it didn't help.

      I wish that my memory was better, one of the suggested sites on the browser homepage yesterday was Wordle answer for March 26th. I looked, but by the time I got to doing the puzzle, I had forgotten the answer. it gave
      Anyhow:

      Wordle 1,376 4/6

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

      Now for the drive through Maryland, Pennsylvania and into New York. Like most Canadians we are getting out of the US before tariff tit for tat really sets in next week.

  51. Farage is not the Messiah, but he is a very haughty boy.

    I found this BTL borrowed and adapted from Monty Python beneath an article in TCW.

  52. 403848+ up ticks,

    OH they wouldn't would they, but without their support the labour party would be in dire trouble, for starters there would be a wee cough celebration period creating ALL sorts of merriment, mass lefties taking charabancs to Switzerland ( cheaper by the dozen)etc,etc,etc.

    New party top priority, halal banned, followed swiftly by daily mass round ups / .deportation's.

    https://x.com/GSGB01/status/1904480488875557278

    2. Good. Go. You're not wanted here. Out of interest, what else would cause muslim to leave?

    1. Almost glad I didn't, looks like an alien woke army is about to pour out of a wormhole in space and devour us.

      2. Might be an improvement on what we’ve got now! Racing is in turmoil at the moment and the idiots in charge have concluded that only the government can sort it out! They must have a death wish. It will be completely destroyed if this lot get near it.

    2. Clever sod.

      Although! The higher your literacy and reading age the more likely you are to not 'read' the words. Your brain simply ignores the errors and pieces together the sentence.

      Therefore, I is well clevar innit.

  56. Russian journalist blown up by mine on Ukrainian border. 26 March 2025.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d0c9714e711b770ede192fd37c2055956b55f6432864743e75f6efe75d3e32ba.jpg

    A Russian war correspondent has been killed by a mine near the Ukrainian border.

    Anna Prokofieva, who worked for Channel One, Russia’s main state TV channel, was travelling in a car when it hit an “enemy mine” in Russia’s western Belgorod region, her employer said.

    There’s some confusion here about the responsibility for this death but reading between the lines I suspect a targeted killing (the “mine” would have been detonated remotely) by Ukie Special Forces.. This because it is only one of six over the weekend and one would have thought that they were in safe territory.

    At one time journalists were relatively sacrosanct in War Zones but have now become actively discriminated against. This is partly due to their becoming propaganda mouthpieces, as opposed to neutral observers. The West is primarily responsible for this change with its policy of “embedding” journalists into active units. This ensures that at the very least their views are partial to their hosts. Several posts on the thread lament this difference but there is a considerable amount of jubilation at this young woman’s death from the Nudge Unit Trolls. To read the Telegraph comment threads is to observe the moral putrefaction of the West. Trump, whatever his shortcomings, is trying to bring this war to an end. The opposition have no peaceful intentions whatsoever and their policy is war without end. Their comments are devoid of any humanitarian consideration. They applaud the deaths of innocents.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/03/26/russia-ukraine-zelensky-putin-black-sea-war-latest-news/

    1. “Trump, whatever his shortcomings, is trying to bring this war to an end”. It is really easy to stop a war – all it takes is agreeing to everything that the other side wants. It is even easier if you offer them to him before even starting to negotiate.

      1. In the case of the Crimea though. Ukraine was happily shelling the area before Russia 'invaded'.

        The Russians turned up, booted Ukraine about a bit and since them have pretty much sat tight. It's Ukraine that wants Russia out – same as the IRA want the UK out of Northern Ireland.

        The EU provoked Russia and since then everyone seems to have wanted to continue the killing on both sides.

        1. The only equivalence between the conflicts in Northern Ireland and Ukraine is that both are riven with centuries-old ethnic and religious rivalries and grievances. I have some minor sympathies with Russia’s claim to the Crimea but invading it had no more justification than that of Germany invading Poland in 1939. Russia had no justification whatsoever for invading Ukraine. “We were forced to attacked Ukraine to defend Russians there” – “We were forced to attack Poland to defend Germans there”.

          2. German propaganda claimed that nearly 60,000 ethnic Germans in Poland had been indiscriminately raped, tortured, machine-gunned and murdered.

          4. No, it was propaganda, just as Russian claims about genocide of Russian speakers in the Dondas region of Ukraine have been widely discredited. There were attacks by Ukrainian forces against armed Russian proxies fighting for the independence of the Donbas region but that is no justification for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

          6. Then perhaps Russia could take diplomatic action, apply sanctions, appeal to the UN or adopt other non-military actions but certainly not invade or other offensive military measures.

    2. I don't believe that she was blown up by a mine. I think she was taken by a wolf.

      With possibly the assistance of an old man, aided and abetted by his grandson, Peter.

    1. Damn All we could do about it anyway, armed forces are non existent.

      Don't worry, they will claim that no secret information was discussed – right!

  58. SIR – I work as a locum GP, both privately and in the NHS. However, as a result of the tendency to employ cheaper paramedics and physician associates, NHS GP work is thin on the ground.

    I was carrying out a medical in my private clinic for a 51-year-old woman who had never had a mammogram. I gave her the telephone number to book one on the NHS, as this is something to which all women over the age of 50 are entitled.

    However, the patient later emailed me to say that, when she phoned, she was told she was not entitled to one, as no invitation had been sent to her. Outraged on her behalf, I spoke to the manager of the relevant breast screening unit, who reliably informed that, without an invitation number, the booking system would not allow an appointment to be arranged – even though he had all of her details, including her NHS number.

    How can such an inefficient system, which shows no regard for patient safety and cancer risk, have developed ("I didn't trust NHS to diagnose my cancer, says Katherine Ryan", http://telegraph.co.uk , March 21)? The box-ticking has to be stopped and medical common sense applied.

    Dr Belinda Griffiths
    Bradfield, Berkshire
    ________________________________________

    SIR – You report (March 25) on the continuing lack of face-to-face NHS appointments. I have recently been offered a physiotherapy appointment in a fortnight's time – on Zoom.

    Simon Cox
    Brixham, Devon
    ________________________________________

    SIR – Joan Manning (Letters, March 18) highlights the flaws of charging for a visit to the GP. She does not, however, suggest a solution to the fact that many appointments go to waste because patients fail to show up.

    I recently attended a cardiac rehabilitation appointment offered by the NHS. This was three weeks later than recommended, owing to a long waiting list – and yet, at my first session, there were three people present, despite a capacity of 10. Seven had not turned up.

    Nigel Taylor
    Penzance, Cornwall
    ________________________________________

    SIR – In 1961, when I and my fellow medical students enrolled, the NHS was just over a dozen years old.

    Executive leadership remained largely in the hands of doctors, nurses and administrators. It was a "lean" and efficient system, driven by an ethos of public service. It was not without its abuses, but the Griffiths report of 1983 – which resulted in a shift of executive authority to non-medically qualified managers – was an overreaction and, in retrospect, a profound mistake. Public services are by their very nature monopolies, and do not thrive if structured as pseudo-corporate bodies in a quasi-marketplace.

    The NHS is a case in point.

    Denis Wilkins FRCS
    Liskeard, Cornwall

    Re. the first letter – If I don't die of old age before the problem is dealt with, I'll later relate my own tale of public/private communication breakdown in the health sector.

    1. I was offered a telephone appointment for my meeting with the physio about my joint problems. Needless to say I had to have a proper face to face one eventually.

    2. What's free is not treated as if it has value.
      Pay for GP and outpatients visits – about £20 a visit, capped at £1,000 a year and free for minors and OAPs.

    3. I've recently experienced a number of instances where I received a phone call from the NHS and was offered two or three possible appointment times and selected one, only to receive letters inviting me to all three. Needless to say, I turn up to the one agreed and confirmed via text and another phone call. I don't doubt though that I'm marked down as no-show for the others. Why should I pay for their incompetence? I've also received back-dated appointment letters that were clearly issued in one month for an appointment in a previous month. Again, why should I pay? It's not even as if it doesn't happen frequently. It does.

    4. Re the first letter. I worked at the Jarvis Screening Centre during the 7year breast screening trial. There were administrative ladies who went to all GP surgeries within the defined areas in turn in order to list all ladies’ particulars within the relevant age group.

      What they found at many of the surgeries was out of date records, I.e., ladies had died or simply moved out of the area. The fact that the NHS had all this lady’s details, to me, shows that the ‘system’ has failed the patient.

      However, surely a call from the doctor should have been enough to prompt an invitation.

  59. MoD and GCHQ Declare Diversity & Inclusion “Strategic Priority” for National Cyber Attack Force
     https://order-order.com/2025/03/26/mod-and-gchq-declare-diversity-inclusion-strategic-priority-for-national-cyber-attack-force/

    stephen dean
    1h
    The laughter you can hear is coming from the Kremlin.
    And that slight tremor you can feel was Winston Churchill turning in his grave.

    Honestly what rubbish, I was going to say we are being led by donkeys but I do not wish to insult donkeys.

    keith waites
    46m
    'The names Bond, Sandy Bond and this is my friend Julian'

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/59ffcd0a6d9d47c350284344bee5fea525d86d83ef88cc40e11c9e9e6b6610f7.png

    1. I suppose that the strategy is not just Yeah, whatever turns you on just do the job.

      Along with Churchill, Alan Turing must be turning in his grave

      1. Except that Turing was dismissed for being diverse in a way incompatible with the societal norms of his time.

        1. Wasn't he charged with "soliciting and importuning". Was the pardon because he didn't do it or because an ideological shift decreed that it shouldn't have been a crime?

          1. The latter, I believe. I don't think there's any dispute that he broke the law as it stood at the time.

          2. Thank you. Soliciting for sex is still illegal of course but my assumption was that what he did wouldn't fit the current definition.

    3. Of course, Corporal Klinger wanted to be declared insane so that he could get a discharge. The happy ending wasn't that he succeeded. He goes straight and marries a Korean girl.

      1. And stops dressing as a woman to get out. His story is a rather intelligent one, as he takes responsibility for himself and others, finds a purpose in life and leaves behind his pretence.

        Perhaps that's the answer for all the mentally ill men in a dress?

    4. There is some merit to DEI in this instance. Those who we now call "neurodiverse", often thought eccentric, odd, peculiar or strange in times past, can have particular talents that are well fitted to cyber security and many aspects of code breaking, data and intelligence security, or seeing patterns in a jumble of information which elude most of us.

      1. e.g.
        HG spotted/stumbled on all the errors in Phizzee's earlier post on first reading.

        I read what I thought I saw and had to look a few times to spot them all.

  60. Comedian is performing in an old folks home where they all have dementia. He tells the same joke 100 times and they all laugh at every one. On his way out one of the residents says to him "I don't know how you remember them all"

  62. Afternoon, all. Just had a mosey into town with the dogs. Nice day, but now I am shattered.

    Nottlers know all about struggles with NHS bureaucracy. Did one of us write the letter?

  63. A thought from the garden.

    Politicians of all stripes prate on about "diversity being our strength" in relation to mixing races and cultures, and are forcing that state upon us. Those same politicians are attempting to force one form of energy, green electricity, on to us. Why is a diverse energy programme e.g. electricity from various sources, along with gas, oil, coal, wood etc not a strong situation to have?

    Politicians, eh!

    1. That's different, they would say.

      The mind of a Lefty is an insane place to be. I imagine it is really a malestrom of carnage and chaos, with all sorts of contradicting ideologies bashing away at impervious fact while the individual, a small, particularly thick child sits in a tiny square of calm playing with toys.

  64. Ten years ago today – the interment of Richard III at Leicester Cathedral. BBC East Midlands reported on this last night but I haven't seen or heard anything on national news yet.

    I haven't been able to fnd the full C4 documentary on the discovery of the skeleton but there is this, a YouTube copy of it minus the credits.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8QDa1zuUd4

    1. I'm a simple man.
      All I want from life is a warm home, enough food to eat, and Kier Starmer stuffed in a concrete mixer full of bricks, salt and razorblades.

    2. Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. Two of the worst specimens of human scum ever to have been born.

      That useless wizened wanker of a Labour peer — Longford — tried, in vain, for years to have Hindley freed.

        1. I wonder if his best mate — Mary Whitehouse — also got some weird perverted thrill out of her ongoing complaints?
          I doubt it though, I think she was just a dried-up, vinegar-titted old bag.

  67. READ IN FULL: Spring Statement
     https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5c6a06a4b9ebd87673093ded066265c91a1604cfb847038f95e1cb5e7ad39009.png
    Colin Fisher
    29m
    Well I have to say I'm impressed. An excellent read. The only thing it is missing is "Once Upon a Time" at the start, and "They Lived Happily Ever After" at the end like all the other fairy stories

    stephen dean
    30m
    The Tottenham Turnip and the Ginger Growler have requested special copies of the Statement.
    With all the long words removed, none of those number thingies and plenty of pictures.

      1. No – it’s been identified by its ring as the female of the Rutland Water pair.

    3. School that axed Easter service 'will still celebrate'

      Ethan Gudge
      BBC News
      Published
      26 March 2025, 11:58 GMT
      Updated 2 hours ago

      A school that faced backlash for cancelling its traditional Easter celebrations over religious inclusivity has hit back, saying it would still be marking the holiday.

      Norwood Primary School in Eastleigh, Hampshire, had announced it was axing its Easter Bonnet Parade and Easter Service at a local church.

      After a letter, seen by the BBC, was sent to parents, the school came under criticism for what some said was a "disgraceful" decision, with a protest against the plan now organised.

      The school has said the changes were made in consultation with parents and that Easter would still be celebrated at the school with various activities and events.

      In a statement, a spokesperson for the school said: "To be clear, we are marking Easter in school and as with other religious festivals, children continue to learn about and celebrate Easter both educationally in our RE lessons and in our assemblies across the whole half term."

      They said the school, which has no religious affiliations, had decided not to visit the local church and instead celebrate the holiday "where all children are able to take part and benefit".

      "Changes were made in consultation with our parent forum, and we have received many positive messages regarding these," the spokesperson added.

      Some parents at the school, who wished to remain anonymous, told the BBC the controversy was a "storm in a teacup".

      "It's really surprising that this has happened and it's caused such an uproar, because it [Norwood Primary] is such an inclusive school and there's so many people from so many different backgrounds, ethnicities and religions," one said.

      Following the letter sent to parents by head teacher Stephanie Mander over the weekend, the word Easter became the number one trending topic in the UK on social media platform X.

      In her initial letter to parents, Miss Mander explained that the decision had been made "in the spirit of inclusivity and respect for the diverse religious beliefs represented" in the school's community.

      "Our school is committed to fostering an environment where every child feels valued and respected, regardless of their religious background," she said in the letter.

      "By not holding specific religious celebrations, we aim to create a more inclusive atmosphere that honours and respects the beliefs of all our children and their families."

      She added that the school would also be "celebrating inclusivity" by taking part in Refugee Week events in June.

      Among those to criticise the decision was former home secretary Suella Braverman, who said: "This isn't inclusivity; it's cultural surrender."

      "Britain's Christian roots are being erased by spineless leaders who'd rather appease than preserve," she added.

      Former MP, and leader of the Workers Party of Britain, George Galloway also said: "Cancelling Easter in any school in Britain is completely unacceptable and the government must make this clear."

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0mwd083l4lo

      1. Okay. I understand what the school is trying to do.

        But.

        Children, especially little girls love the Easter Bonnet parade.

        Also, CofE children are being encouraged to go to mosques so why not Churches to learn about different religions?

        1. But are Moslem children being encouraged to visit churches?

          I doubt it, and if they were. there would probably have been some nasty pushback by now.

      2. I'm sure "all children are able to take part and benefit" from visiting a church. I doubt you'd stop them going to a mosque (as long as the girls and boys were segregated, of course). I bet ramadan got a mention or two. You don't "celebrate inclusivity" by encouraging refugees; you increase division.

  72. Reeves has failed to meet the challenge of these extraordinary times. 26 March 2025.

    The world has changed, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves keeps saying, and we must change with it. Few would disagree. But what she actually delivered in the Spring Statement was just a little tinkering at the edges.

    None of it will make much difference to the economic growth she aspires to, and it falls so far short of the radicalism the occasion demands that she might as well not have bothered.

    The end is fast approaching my friends.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/26/reeves-has-failed-to-meet-the-challenge-extraordinary-times/#comment

    1. The BBC will examine and analyse and discuss in moderate and respectful tones, much like academics carefully examining a new scientific or historical claim. If it were the Tories in office, they wouldn't be holding back in their contempt and incredulity.

      1. This is why the BBC must be made a subscription model and equally why Labour will fight tooth and nail to ensure it's pushed into general taxation.

      1. Even with Pinocchio's nose she looks far better in this picture than she does in real life.

    3. Remember, Brown moved us from CPI to RPI when RPI became embarrassing. Sunak fiddled it even further, removing airline tickets (so he could hike air passenger duties) Hunt removed things like energy and housing (which he had made more expensive) from CPI. Reeves did much the same. Eventually the 'basket of goods' will be empty and they can declare that inflation is zero.

  75. Just in from a brilliant two hours in a WARM garden – pruning the first of 12 apple trees. A bit of a trial but with our handy new tools: Stihl Hand Pruner; Stihl battery secateurs and, above all, the Henchman stepladder – all was achieved without either blood or swearing. A first!

    Now for a cup of tea outside on the terrace.

          3. I've had enough of this. I'm going to my greenhouse to speak to some vegetables a la King.

          10. Or they could be like Paddy Ashdown’s other ranks – who followed him out of curiosity!

          11. They don't follow me. They come because it is an opportunity to meet other Nottlers.

            Experience some hospitality and an opportunity for me to gaslight Geoff into playing my unused expensive organ.

          15. Farnham is where i address all the invitations to Nottlers i don't want to arrive. Evil face

          16. Don’t you call me “Ducks”. That is as much a hate crime as saying, “Give us a smile, darling”.

          22. I've frequently visited the country pile of The Duck of Devonshire.

            Nice posh gaff it is too. Trouble is, Stoker is never at home when I call!

          23. His mother wrote in her memoirs that the family had called him Stoker for as long as she could remember but she’d completely forgotten why.

          28. That is our Plum-Tart, who used that very username for around 15 years on the old DT letters' forum then on NoTTLe. She only dropped the 'Tart' aspect of her name about a year before she stopped commenting.

          32. "Lay on Bit Duff and damned be she that first cries hold!"

            (With apols to the Late Mr Shakespeare!)

    1. There is a claim that GDP is only up because of mass immigration.
      I would suggest GDP per capita has been falling steadily, because I believe the population has been rising far faster than official figures indicate..

      1. Yo s o s

        population has been rising far faster than official figures indicate.

        That is because immigration has been rampant for the last few years

        In numbers and sexual predation

      2. I remember rumbling the GDP scam years ago when I found that India was in the top five nations vis-avis GDP but 130th for per capital wealth.

        The Irrefutable Theorem :

        The level off immigration is inversely proportionate to individual wealth per capita.

        (The more one rises the more the other falls)

    2. And the Tory Party knifed Thatcher in 1990 when Thtacher had to resign and look what happened to taxes when she was gone.

      We never had it so good as when Macmillan was PM in 1962 but after that taxes soared.

    3. That looks like my ECG on the KadiaMobile. The six-channel hospital readings are usually a much neater and more regular pattern.

    4. You'd think some thick idiot in the Treasury would say 'hang on. When taxes were low, the economy grew at a record pace. We had no gimmigration, either.'

      But no. The plan has always been to destroy the country. The Left hate Lady T because she interrupted this grand plan.

  78. The Spring Statement That Makes You Think The Americans Are Right About Us

    The recitative of rubbish the Prime Minister gives us when he’s like this. You need an element of cruelty in your nature to enjoy it, but it’s hard not to laugh when he says, “today’s spring statement will showcase a Government going further and faster on the economy”.

    His voice changes register from alto to castrato. The chattering castanets of his staccato delivery rattle off a list of ever greater public spending promises but you can see that he’s making half of it up and twisting the other half out of recognition.

    On his X-feed, Nick Timothy posted a list of 25 falsehoods the PM uttered in his previous 30 minutes at the despatch box, some of which were repeated today. The peak of Tory inflation was half that the PM claimed. The Black Hole has been disavowed by the sainted OBR. Liz Truss blipped interest rates which are now higher and staying that way.

    The fact that Labour has managed to establish their economic narrative is a sad commentary on the Tory leadership.

    Had Kemi any feel for these things, it might have been different today.

    She went on education, to keep off Mel Stride’s patch. She asked why Labour MPs had voted against banning phones in schools last week.

    The PM said that such a measure was unnecessary because “almost every school bans phones”.

    So, she asked, why is the Government reviewing the matter? And don’t headteachers who ban phones get better results? And did he not know – and here came a frisson of excitement – that only one school in 10 are smartphone free?

    What an opportunity for a forensic prosecution of the facts. For a final flensing of Sir Keir, laying bare his humiliating ignorance.

    It was time for, “if you believe that the vast majority of schools are phone free you are operating under a massive misapprehension. It is one in 10. As the facts have changed, will you change, too?”

    He would have blustered. She would have put aside her scripted questions and returned three times to his error of fact. And with brevity, so he didn’t have time to think about it. “Are you really saying that you thought the vast majority of schools were phone free, but that the real figure is only one in 10?” And then, in a dazzling coup de Commons theatre, sitting down.

    She didn’t, of course, the silly goose. She ended up asking, “can he guarantee that no teacher will lose their job as a result of his jobs tax?” It’s not a question that deserves an answer, nor a question that a Tory ought to be asking.

    Mel Stride has the corpulent look of an effective class bully, and none the worse for that. Robert Jenrick on his left looked at him in an impassive, Mt Rushmore attitude presenting his audience with the question: is Jenrick prime ministerial timber?

    There will be more than one answer to that.

    Angela Rayner, opposite him, has acquired a distinctly Medici look – watchful, waiting with lazing, snaky grace. She flicked the inside of her eyelid – once, twice, three times – with the back of a fingernail. It had something of “these tiny fools”. She feels her time is coming.

    The rest of the front bench clearly felt the most truthful line in the Chancellor’s statement was “the world is changing before our eyes”. From their collective attitude, they were planning their retirement eulogies for her leaving party. “I am impatient for change!” she declared. “Not as impatient as us,” they muttered, Rayner, Streeting, Phillipson, Miliband, Darren Jones.

    The first female Chancellor is also the most egocentric. In her statement, she used the word Me 39 times and I 60 times.

    When nervous, she becomes the vocal opposite of her leader. He goes Queen of the Night and she goes Tugboat Annie.

    The things she says are beyond satire.

    “The British people knew that I would never take risks with our public finances.”

    “I will always deliver economic stability.”

    “I can confirm that I have restored in full our headroom to a surplus of £9.9 billion in 2029.”

    Best of all, when the OBR halved its growth forecast, she boomed, “I am not satisfied with these numbers!”

    It was hard to say what her statement meant. What was all that Government chatter about cuts, over the last period? Rachel said spending was increasing by more than 1% above inflation every year. Isn’t borrowing headed for record levels? How will productivity increase with so many more low-skilled immigrants flocking the beaches? Will reducing the civil service by 15% really make a difference to the public finances?

    Stride was twice as good as Kemi at asserting a different economic narrative, so there’s a long way still to go.

    All we know from the way things happen in Britain, is that after the Reeves revolution, the Government will be going further and faster on the economy until it’s gravel for breakfast, migrants in the Ritz and a nine-hole golf course in the garden of Buckingham Palace for our de facto President.

    26 March 2025 @ 16:27

    1. "going further and faster on the economy" the only translation of that which can be read by those with delicate sensibilities would be "going downhill faster than a greased pig."

      1. I was about to make a similar comment, only my analogy was "we're pressing the pedal to the metal as we head for the cliff".

  79. Wordle No. 1,376 4/6

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

    Wordle 26 Mar 2025

    Joint for Par Four?

    1. Five looking for my arris.

      Wordle 1,376 5/6

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

    2. Bit unlucky again (my fourth guess was clearly the same as your third), my starter words are bombing at the moment, a consecutive bogey…. grrrrr……

      Wordle 1,376 5/6

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

    4. My Wordle was done about 15 hours ago.

      Wordle 1,376 4/6

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

  80. Back from a nice afternoon – lunch at Ruskin Mill with an old friend and then we had a walk around the grounds – spring flowers looking good in the sunshine, and some wildlife too.
    Edited: to include the venue as OLT was confused………..:@))

  81. Good afternoon all 😊🙂
    What a terrible day it's been, for some still to be explained reason out internet was cut off around 6 am or even before. And there was no way of finding out way or how.
    No land line no connection for mobile phones all dead. Virgin media had a notice to ring a number on the land line and an email address and of course none of that was working all day, not was our mobile phones or the internet. And still no explanation as to why !
    It was quite an eerie experience. Immediate neighbours and their daughter who live a few miles away had the same problem.
    We went to an out door pub garden lunch with our eldest and his wife, it is her birthday today. Lovely sunshine.
    Can some one please explain todays head line to me and where i can view the details please. I feel i am rather a part of it.

    1. Eeek! No connection and no way to check is scary. I offered the below comment this morning as there was talk of charging for missed NHS appointments.

      I've recently experienced a number of instances where I received a phone call from the NHS and was offered two or three possible appointment times and selected one, only to receive letters inviting me to all three. Needless to say, I turn up to the one agreed and confirmed via text and another phone call. I don't doubt though that I'm marked down as no-show for the others. Why should I pay for their incompetence? I've also received back-dated appointment letters that were clearly issued in one month for an appointment in a previous month. Again, why should I pay? It's not even as if it doesn't happen frequently. It does.

      1. Similar experiences, Sue..plus duplicate letters for same appt. Joined up NHS. I've been told they have different computer systems in different departments, with different internet providers – can that really be true?!

        1. Well they don't talk to each other across county borders (let alone country ones between England and Wales).

    2. It is a precursor of the way life will be very soon. Get used to it © The Caliph of Londonistan.

      1. Thank you very much Sue.
        Those letters have a familiar content. From my own ongoing experiences I can sympathise.
        But there seems to be no way around it all. It's definitely set up deliberately to push patients away from much needed treatment and turn their experiences into a form of victimisation. It's probably why allegedly they don't turn up.
        I've been given a phone number of the person who is suposed to be organising the queue for knee surgery. I rang the number on Monday and the message said the office was reopened on that day. But no answer. I left a message but no response. Here we go again…..

      1. Conners I'm actually feeling very tempted to send my own account of the terrible none treatment I've experienced. I've got lumps from banging my head against the wall. 😵‍💫🤯

        1. I collected a repeat prescription today and they include another prescription form with it. I noticed the review date was September last year. It crossed my mind that once you reach 75 they can't be bothered with you and their only thought is that we FOAD. I used to get regular reviews before my surgery closed and I was transferred to the current one.

          1. Absolutely agree Conners.
            After everything we have done in our lives we are just being shoved aside.
            They can’t wait to get rid of us.

  82. Exactly as I predicted earlier. R4's PM had Tory Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride in the studio to talk about The Riever's latest disaster in the HoC. He hadn't got more than a couple of sentences out of his mouth before Evan Davis dived in, almost mockingly. "Come on. The Chancellor admitted that the autumn budget hasn't worked [she's honest and therefore forgiven] but the OBR's forecast says growth will be good in the 30s." Yes, that's right. Davis gave credence to a forecast for the economy in 7-8 years time.

    Stride's response should heve been one of disbelief. It wasn't. I switched off…

    1. A clear example why I never listen to any news/politics/current affairs on the BBC or any other channel.

    2. The "unbiased" BBC is an utter disgrace and should forfeit the licence fee income!

      1. They no longer get mine. I've been quite happy without watching TV (and probably my blood pressure has benefited too).

      2. I've been TV and licence free for 20 years. I'm much the better informed for it.

        1. Me too but for half that – I still watch what I want through catch-up tv, legally and free

          1. Is that true for BBC? Whenever I start up iPlayer, I get a popup asking me to affirm that I have a licence.

      3. BBC director general Tim Davie expects a switchover to digital from the 2030s. Once BBC TV reception becomes by internet only, I assume that a TV licence will become impossible to apply or enforce and that a subscription will be introduced by the BBC for BBC content. Whether or not all the other channels follow suite is a moot point.

    3. He emailed me today to support the Cons! I forbore to reply that a)if the Cons had done their job properly in the first place and not been so lefty and woke, Labour wouldn't have got a look in and b)they had absolutely no idea about how, nor any will to take the measures needed, to get us back on track.

  83. Exactly as I predicted earlier. R4's PM had Tory Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride in the studio to talk about The Riever's latest disaster in the HoC. He hadn't got more than a couple of sentences out of his mouth before Evan Davies dived in, almost mockingly. "Come on. The Chancellor admitted that the autumn budget hasn't worked [she's honest and therefore forgiven] but the OBR's forecast says growth will be good in the 30s." Yes, that's right. Davies gave credence to a forecast for the economy in 7-8 years time.

    Stride's response should heve been one of disbelief. It wasn't. I switched off…

  84. So how does building 1.5 million new homes create more wealth for the country to plough back into public services?
    Assuming most of the materials will come from abroad, that is only wealth leaving the country, not to mention the labour to build them.
    Some of the land used will have been productive farmland, now to be used as unproductive sink estates.
    As I understand the majority are going to be for new arrivals so they won't be paying any taxes, like council tax.
    They are only really going to be a drain on public services.
    The vast majority of indigenous Brits will not get a look in.
    We would be better off sending the money abroad to build houses from where all these people are coming from and giving our public services a welcome reprieve.

    1. I doubt we'll find the labour to build them and anyway, think of the carbon footprint!

    5. The entire budget was a fiasco. One pack of lies after another. A self serving pile of dog waffle, lies and deceit.

      The country has been kicked to it's knees by the Left wing state. Reeves did nothing to admit her abject, utter failure and incompetence.

  86. Michael Deacon
    The vile assisted suicide Bill is on its last legs. Now let’s kill it off
    Anyone who is still in two minds about this issue should read the following shocking quotes from a leading supporter

    26 March 2025 4:00pm GMT

    If you’re still undecided about assisted suicide – or, as its supporters prefer to call it, “assisted dying” – I invite you to consider the following quote. It comes from a newspaper interview conducted in 2017 with Henry Marsh, a leading brain surgeon and author of a bestselling medical memoir entitled Do No Harm. The interviewer, from The Sunday Times, asked Dr Marsh about his support for “assisted dying”. And here’s the most extraordinary section of his reply:

    “So much of [the opposition to it] is all bloody Christians,” complained Marsh. “They argue that grannies will be made to commit suicide. Even if a few grannies get bullied into it, isn’t that a price worth paying for all the people who could die with dignity?”

    Well. Quite a lot to take in there. But we might as well start at the beginning. Personally, I don’t see why it should matter if opposition to assisted suicide comes from “bloody Christians”. In any case, I would point out that opposition also comes from a great many people who are not “bloody Christians”. I, for one, have never been religious, yet I oppose assisted suicide as strongly as anybody.

    The part of that quote I particularly wish to focus on, however, is not the part about “bloody Christians”, it’s the part about “grannies”. Let’s read it again, and take a moment to digest it: the assertion that, even if “a few grannies” get “bullied into” assisted suicide, it would be “a price worth paying”.

    Now, you might assume that I’m about to condemn Dr Marsh for the jaw-dropping crassness of those words. But actually I’m not. On the contrary, I wish to thank him most sincerely for his candour. Because let’s face it: this is what the campaign for “assisted dying” really amounts to. To support it, you have to believe that “a few grannies” getting “bullied into it” is “a price worth paying” – even if you wouldn’t dare to put it in such blunt terms.

    I only wish that other supporters of assisted suicide – especially the MPs among them – could be as frank, open and honest as Marsh was in that 2017 interview. Not least because, if they were, the wider public would surely be so horrified, the Bill wouldn’t stand a chance of becoming law.

    Thankfully, though, it looks more and more as if the Bill is doomed anyway. As we report today, its future has been thrown into doubt after Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP trying to steer it through Parliament, backed down and agreed to delay implementing the law until 2029, after the next election. Civil servants responsible for drafting amendments are said to have told her that the Bill was “unworkable”. And opponents have told The Telegraph that the delay was indeed an “admission that the Bill does not work”.

    This latest setback follows weeks of chaos, criticism and controversy. The committee of MPs overseeing the Bill removed what had previously been cited as a key judicial safeguard: the need for a High Court judge to approve each request. Meanwhile, eating disorder charities expressed their fear that anorexics would be able to choose “assisted dying”, after MPs refused to close a loophole in the Bill. And Reform UK’s Lee Anderson, an MP who initially voted in favour, declared that he would now vote against (“This Bill becomes less credible by the day”). I very much doubt he’s alone.

    Despite all these woes, it seems that Ms Leadbeater remains determined to push on. Frankly, though, I think she’s wasting her time. So let me put it to her in language she’ll understand: I know it’s hard to accept, Ms Leadbeater, but the truth is, your Bill is dying. It has no realistic prospect of recovery. And, in all honesty, its struggles have become painful to watch. So what point is there in prolonging its existence in this futile manner? Wouldn’t it be more dignified to put the poor thing out of its misery?

    Once Ms Leadbeater thinks about it in those terms, perhaps she will finally come round to my point of view. I certainly hope so. This vile Bill is on its last legs. Now let’s kill it off.

    **********************************************
    K Wilson
    1 hr ago
    The bill will never work properly.

    We would be far better increasing support to the wonderful hospice sector. That would make a difference.

    A Allan
    2 min ago
    Dear Ms. Leadbeater; view your bill as a surplus grannie. Then its death doesn't matter.

    1. The problem is that normal people can't fathom the utter lust some people have to kill.

    2. Why is so much Labour legislation unworkable? I put it down to a complete lack of experience of real life.

        1. I'm sure the implications were made clear to them and they just ignored them because they know best.

          1. Nah, they're just not very bright. Labour has a history of not so bright politicians.

          2. Well, that is true, but they are also so blinkered that even when the flaws are pointed out to them, they plough ahead anyway,

    3. Suicide is by definition entirely self inflicted therefore assisted dying is more accurate. Murder nails it.

    4. Any suicide legislation by our present and recent governments will be shambolic of course. I'll be going my own route when the time comes, but it might well have to be assisted by people I trust.

  87. That's me gone for today. Very agreeable. Lots of sun and warmth. One apple tree (out of12) pruned. More follows tomorrow. Seedlings coming on apace in t'greenhouse. The late Nottler based in Greece who gave me some tomato seeds was Martyn Johnson – if anyone wanted to know.

    Market tomorrow – must get the list sorted. So have a jolly evening. We watched a prog about Ken Dodd last night – never found him remotely funny but he seems to have been very popular. His wife was a tremendous person – had great respect for her and what she has achieved in his memory.

    A demain.

    1. I managed to get my incinerator alight today – no wind, I thought. It was going nicely and smoke free until I put the chimney on! My neighbour came round to see if my house was on fire!

    1. Very nice. I have discovered some chionodoxa are out (they're the white variety; the blue seem to have disappeared) and the Japanese quince as well.

      1. Other than those, the pieris, the ribes and the hellebores, everything seems to be yellow (narcissi/daffs, kerria, forsythia, winter jasmine) or purple (two varieties of violets, one darker than the other and some of the purple crocus are still going).

    2. Looks like the others have failed to load from my phone as Disqus thinks they might exceed 5MB.

      3. Save the images to your computer then save each one as a JPEG file to your desktop but before pressing the save button use the resizing slider button to reduce the size to below 5MB. Good luck!

        1. Too much effort as they're on my phone. They should appear on google photos tomorrow so I'll have a look then. It's much easier to share them from there.

          1. Interesting! There were only a couple of clumps of it – and they're very eco-minded there. I don't recall seeing any of it before.

          2. I only found out about it when we were staying up at Loch Awe, and it was everywhere in the river flowing into the loch. It looked so alien that I googled and found it was invasive. I think it looks so odd particularly when it balloons!

  91. From the Telegraph

    Universities told to uphold free speech or face multi-million pound fines
    University of Sussex is hit with £585,000 fine after ‘significant and serious breaches’ of free speech

    Poppy Wood
    Prof Kathleen Stock claims she was forced to leave the University of Sussex in 2021 after a three-year witch hunt
    Prof Kathleen Stock claims she was forced to leave the University of Sussex in 2021 after a three-year witch hunt Credit: Christopher Pledger
    Universities have been warned they could face multi-million-pound fines over free speech after the University of Sussex was hit with a record penalty.

    The Office for Students (OfS), the regulator for the higher education sector, announced on Wednesday it had fined the university £585,000 for “significant and serious breaches” of free speech and governance issues.

    Prof Arif Ahmed, the Government’s free speech tsar, said that there could be “higher fines in the future” if universities failed in their duty to uphold academic freedom.

    It comes amid an increasingly bitter row between the higher education regulator and the University of Sussex in the wake of a landmark ruling over the treatment of Prof Kathleen Stock.

    The regulator said “a chilling effect arose” from the university’s transgender policy that left staff and students feeling “self-censored” and unable to express “lawful views”.

    Prof Stock, an expert in philosophy, claims she was forced out of the university in 2021 after a three-year witch-hunt over her views on gender identity.

    ‘Potential for higher fines’

    The OfS investigation, which ran for three-and-a-half years, concluded that the academic “felt unable to teach certain topics” as a result of her university’s trans and non-binary equality policy.

    The University of Sussex could have been hit with a maximum fine of nearly £3.3 million for breaching two “conditions of registration” with the OfS, but the figure was reduced to £585,000.

    Prof Stock confirmed that she would not receive any money from the fine, which is 15 times larger than any other sanction the OfS has previously imposed.

    Prof Ahmed, the director of free speech and academic freedom at the OfS, said the regulator “applied significant discounts to reflect the fact that this is the first case of its type that we’ve dealt with”.

    “I think universities should be looking at their policies and thinking carefully about what they need to do to comply with the law and to comply with regulatory requirements,” he told journalists on Wednesday.

    “Clearly, future cases will not be the first case of their kind, so there will be a potential for higher fines in the future.”

    The ruling marks the watchdog’s first major reproval over free speech violations at a university, and was made in relation to existing laws around equality and freedom of speech.

    Prof Ahmed said tougher new free speech laws set to come into effect later this year would allow the OfS to address complaints “more straightforwardly and more quickly”.

    The regulator said that 'a chilling effect arose' because of the university's transgender policy
    The regulator said that ‘a chilling effect arose’ because of the university’s transgender policy Credit: Andrew Hasson
    The University of Sussex has condemned the findings and claimed it is “being made an example to other universities” as part of efforts to stoke the “culture wars”.

    The institution, which came in at 26th in the UK in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024, has promised to launch a legal challenge and said lawyers were drafting a pre-action protocol letter.

    A spokesman told The Telegraph: “Sussex is far from the only university to face challenges navigating contested issues but has been the sole focus of attention from the higher education regulator and is explicitly and deliberately being made an example to other universities.

    “Levying a wholly disproportionate fine at the conclusion of a flawed, politically motivated, and wasteful investigation, when the higher education sector is in financial crisis, serves no-one.”

    ‘Perpetuating the culture wars’

    Prof Sasha Roseneil, the vice-chancellor of the University of Sussex, also criticised the verdict and said it would have far-reaching implications for the sector.

    “The OfS is effectively decreeing libertarian free-speech absolutism as the fundamental principle for UK universities. In our view, the OfS is perpetuating the culture wars,” she said.

    “The [regulator’s] findings mean… universities cannot protect groups subject to harmful propaganda or determine that stereotyped assumptions should not be relied upon in the university curriculum.”

    Prof Roseneil also claimed University of Sussex officials were subjected to a “Kafkaesque” process during the multi-year investigation after being warned not to speak about the issue publicly.

    A spokesman for the university told The Telegraph that its “nine explicit requests for meetings with the regulator were either refused or ignored”.

    Prof Ahmed that the OfS “did engage with the university” and that “there may have been occasions where they wanted to see somebody, and in fact that was done in writing instead”.

    The saga comes ahead of new free speech laws set to come into force this summer aimed at protecting academics and visiting speakers.

    Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, announced in January she would revive the Tories’ flagship Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, after previously saying she would consider junking it altogether. Labour sources had previously branded it a “Tory hate charter”.

    Ms Phillipson defended the OfS on Wednesday and said it was there to ensure “students and academics are not muzzled by the chilling effect demonstrated in this case”.

    The Secretary of State said free speech and academic freedom were “non-negotiables in our universities” and that “robust action will be taken” if officials are found to have breached these.

    1. Saw that in a BBC article this morning. Wouldn't be surprised if the judgement was overturned on appeal.

    2. The vice chancellor really does not get it. The university hounded a member of staff over a book she wrote, which the ultra wokes did not like. And "libertarian free speech" should be the goal, not something decried.

      1. The Left hate freedom. They'd far prefer everyone was commanded to say how they think. They are intolerant, spiteful, evil bigots. The Left are fascists. They want, desperately to think they're the good guys but they're just cowardly thugs.

    3. Yet outside of universities you've jaled those who told the truth because you didn't like it.

      Utter hypocrites.

  92. From the Spectator
    The University of Sussex, one of the leading temples of progressivism in academia, has been fined £585,000 for failing to safeguard free speech following the Kathleen Stock affair. Stock, a philosophy professor, was hounded out of Sussex in 2021 over her belief in biological sex. The Office for Students (OfS)’s investigation into the fallout from that debacle is damning: it criticised the university’s policy statement on trans and non-binary equality, saying its requirement to ‘positively represent trans people’ and an assertion that ‘transphobic propaganda [would] not be tolerated’ could lead staff and students to ‘self-censor’.

    The message that the times have changed does not seem to have got through to the University of Sussex itself

    Could this mark a turning point in the culture wars surrounding the corruption of our institutions of higher learning, pressured by trans activists to put their emotions and feelings above biological truth? On the face of it, it certainly looks as though the chilly winds of reality blowing across the Atlantic from Donald Trump’s America has penetrated at least one quango, the OfS.

    However, the message that the times have changed does not yet seem to have got through to the University of Sussex. Vice-chancellor Professor Sasha Roseneil said the university would appeal against the fine. She accused the OfS of pursuing a ‘vindictive and unreasonable’ campaign against it and holding to an ‘absolutist definition’ of free speech. The university said that if the ruling was upheld in spite of its appeal, it would leave them ‘powerless to prevent bullying and harassment’.

    It doesn’t seem to have occurred to the Sussex authorities that it was precisely their inability to prevent the bullying and harassment of Stock that brought the fine down on them.

    Stock was forced out of her position at Sussex – well known even in academia for its leftist sympathies – by naked and hate-filled intimidation. Her crime? Writing a book in which she questioned whether fashionable social attitudes to trans and non-binary issues outweighed the biological reality of male and female sex. Sussex students put posters up around the university campus calling for her to be sacked for her views. Stock even considered employing private security guards to ensure her personal safety while she was on the university premises.

    Disgracefully, the university did little, or nothing, to protect or defend their own staff member from the abuse. Eventually, the threats forced Stock to resign.

    Encouragingly, the Education Secretary has voiced her support for the OfS’s decision. Bridget Phillipson said that academic freedom and free speech were ‘non negotiable’, that the government had taken powers to enforce such principles, and that ‘robust action’ would be taken against all those who did not uphold these standards. It’s about time.

    My daughter was a student at Sussex while all this was going on. So horrified was she by the toxic atmosphere stoked by the trans fanatics that she preferred to stay off campus and pursue her studies remotely. She soon learned that only approved ‘progressive’ views were allowed in essays and projects, and that opinions that contradicted or challenged the ‘official line’ risked being marked down.

    The OfS’s verdict is welcome – and long overdue. If this ruling is a straw in a changing wind, there may be some hope that the freedom and independence that should be the bedrock of all learning may be returning to our centres of higher education. But make no mistake: there is a long way to go to ensure free speech and liberty is properly restored on campus

    WRITTEN BY
    Nigel Jones
    Nigel Jones is a historian and journalist

    1. Err, the entire point of these hard Left proscriptions on free speech is solely to force people to keep quiet.

      The Left DO NOT want freedom of speech or independence. They hung her out to dry because they were terrified of the Left coming for them.

      The entire Left wing establishment is using lawfare to silence dissenting – factual – views. It's plain, simple 1984: Newspeak, doublethink and the evil of fascists.

    2. It's a skirmish in a war, and a small, and probably temporary victory. Educational establishments have been so infiltrated by left/woke, call it what you will, numbers, that it's all too late unless a conservative party (no capital letters) can stop it. The right wing efforts of Reform, Ukip, etc have all been infiltrated right from their naissance. We've been done up like kippers.

  93. From the Daily Mail

    EXCLUSIVEExperts now even more confident a 'vast city' exists under Giza Pyramids in Egypt after new discovery
    Scientists on a mission to prove a 'vast city' sits more than 4,000 feet below Egypt's Giza Pyramids have released a new analysis they say proves the findings to be true.

    Last week, the team in Italy presented bombshell research that claimed to have discovered multi-thousand-foot-tall wells and chambers under the Khafre Pyramid.

    If true, it would turn Egyptian – and human – history on its head, though independent experts have said the discovery is 'completely wrong' and lacked any scientific basis.

    Researchers said they determined 'a confidence level well above 85 percent' that the 'structures identified beneath the Pyramid of Khafre, as well as those beneath other pyramids on the Giza Plateau,' exist.

    The wells and chambers were identified by sending 'high-frequency electromagnetic waves' into the subsurface, and the way signals bounced back allowed researchers to map structures beneath the pyramid.

    The team used 'a specialized algorithm' to process the data and create the images that showed what looked like wells with spiral formations leading to enormous chambers.

    They cross checked the structures with known architectural forms, 'specifically those accessible to us today, such as the Pozzo di San Patrizio in Italy,' Niccole Ciccole, the project's spokesperson, shared with http://Dailymail.com .

    Professor Lawrence Conyers, a radar expert at the University of Denver who focuses on archaeology and was not involved in the study, said: 'To make correlation confidence levels there needs to be something to correlate to or compare to.

    'What could that be here? Without that, these percentages are meaningless scientifically.'

    Scientists on a mission to prove a 'vast city' sits more than 4,000 feet below Egypt 's Giza Pyramid have released a new analysis they say proves the findings to be true
    Scientists on a mission to prove a 'vast city' sits more than 4,000 feet below Egypt 's Giza Pyramid have released a new analysis they say proves the findings to be true
    However, Professor Conyers suggested that it is conceivable that small structures, such as shafts and chambers, may exist beneath the pyramids, having been there before the pyramids were built, because the site was 'special to ancient people.'

    He highlighted how 'the Mayans and other peoples in ancient Mesoamerica often built pyramids on top of the entrances to caves or caverns that had ceremonial significance to them.'

    The team claimed they found eight wells and two enormous enclosures more than 2,000 feet below the base of the Khafre pyramid and 'an entire hidden world of many structures' another 2,000 feet below those

    'I am skeptical of the deeper claims. If their 'algorithms' can do what they say (I can't comment on those), then perhaps this will hold up,' Professor Conyers said.

    'A 'well' or 'tunnel' is what I would expect under a pyramid.'

    The work by Corrado Malanga from Italy's University of Pisa, Filippo Biondi with the University of Strathclyde in Scotland and Egyptologist Armando Mei has not yet been published in a scientific journal for the review of independent experts.

    The team sent the analysis to http://DailyMail.com , where they admitted 'further validation is recommended through additional tomographic scans and in-situ verification.'

    To determine if anything was hiding below the Pyramid of Khafre, they sent high-frequency waves (similar to how radar works) into the ground beneath the pyramid.

    Researchers said they determined 'a confidence level well above 85 percent' that the 'structures identified beneath the Pyramid of Khafre, as well as those beneath other pyramids on the Giza Plateau,' exist. Pictured are six of the eight shafts and an underground room found
    Researchers said they determined 'a confidence level well above 85 percent' that the 'structures identified beneath the Pyramid of Khafre, as well as those beneath other pyramids on the Giza Plateau,' exist. Pictured are six of the eight shafts and an underground room found
    The wells and chambers were identified by sending 'high-frequency electromagnetic waves' into the subsurface, and the way signals bounced back allowed researchers to map structures beneath the Khafre pyramid (pictured)
    The wells and chambers were identified by sending 'high-frequency electromagnetic waves' into the subsurface, and the way signals bounced back allowed researchers to map structures beneath the Khafre pyramid (pictured)
    When the waves smashed into something below the surface, they bounced back to the surface, and by looking at how the frequency of these waves changed, scientists could tell what kind of materials were underground.

    However, Dr Zahi Hawass, Egypt's former minister of antiquities, told The National: 'The claim of using radar inside the pyramid is false, and the techniques employed are neither scientifically approved nor validated.'

    The team said while they 'have the utmost respect for Egyptologists,' their 'findings are based on objective measurements obtained through advanced radar signal processing.'

    After gathering the data, researchers used a special algorithm that turned the information into vertical images of the ground beneath the pyramid, capturing the first look at the hidden structures.

    One of the images 'exhibits a vertically elongated feature with varying intensity distributions, suggesting the presence of a deep well-like formation,' said Ciccole who has 25 years of experience in forensics.

    'The upper portion of the well reveals patterns indicative of potential helical or spiral formations, which could correspond to a staircase or a sloped passageway.'

    She added that high-intensity reflections seen in the images suggested 'structured discontinuities that may align with step-like features.'

    'Preliminary estimations indicate that the well extends significantly underground, with notable signal variations at multiple depths,' Ciccole said, explaining it could indicate different materials or chambers at various levels.

    'The helical feature aligns with descriptions of spiral-descending shafts found in other ancient structures.'

    Professor Conyers said agreed in that spiral-descending shafts are found in other ancient structures, such as the Pyramid of Unas and certain Middle Kingdom tombs.

    The team also believes the shafts and enclosures are around 38,000 years old. The pyramids were built around 4,500 years ago
    The team also believes the shafts and enclosures are around 38,000 years old. The pyramids were built around 4,500 years ago
    After gathering the data, researchers used a special algorithm that turned the information into vertical images of the ground beneath the pyramid, capturing the first look at the hidden structures. Pictured are the eight wells under the pyramid
    After gathering the data, researchers used a special algorithm that turned the information into vertical images of the ground beneath the pyramid, capturing the first look at the hidden structures. Pictured are the eight wells under the pyramid
    Researchers believe there are other structures reaching more than 4,000 feet below the surface. The scans captured structures extend along the northern side with a tuning fork shape
    Researchers believe there are other structures reaching more than 4,000 feet below the surface. The scans captured structures extend along the northern side with a tuning fork shape
    'We estimate a correlation confidence of 85 to 90 percent with the hypothesis of a helical staircase within the well,' said Ciccole.

    The team also believes the structures were built around 38,00 years ago, which predates the oldest known man-made structure of its kind by tens of thousands of years.

    They based the claim on ancient Egyptian text that they interpreted as historical records of a pre-existing civilization that was destroyed during a cataclysmic event, but Professor Conyers said: ''That is a really outlandish idea.'

    He added that at that time in human history people 'were mostly living in caves' 38,000 years ago.

    'People did not start living in what we now call cities until about 9,000 years ago,' he said. 'There were a few large villages before that but those only go back a few thousand years from that time.'

    But researchers explained there was likely a pre-existing civilization that was destroyed during a cataclysmic event.

    The event is a theory about a massive asteroid hitting Earth around 13,500 years ago, causing global climate change and extinction worldwide.

    While ice cores in Greenland and other geological data in the Atlantic Ocean point to such an event, scientists have largely dismissed it due to never finding an asteroid crater.

    Researchers believe that ancient Egyptian text seen as myths are actually historical records of life before the cataclysmic event.

    They said chapter 149 of the Book of the Dead describes 14 dwellings of the divine which team interprets as describing remnants of an advanced civilization existing before dynastic Egypt.

    Ciccolo said the team also used the Turn King List, or Royal Canon, which is an ancient Egyptian document that features the name of kings, including gods and demigods, who supposedly ruled Egypt before the first recorded dynasties.

    Researchers believe that the god and demigods were actually living kings long before the first recorded pharaohs.

    Ciccolo said these ancient texts 'provide a whole series of references that a pre-existing civilization' lived in the region before 'a cataclysmic event.'

  94. From the Spectator

    Amid the back and forth during today’s Spring Statement over who really crashed Britain’s economy, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published a 180 page document that makes grim reading for Labour and anyone looking to get on the housing ladder. Labour was elected with a pledge to build 1.5 million homes during its term. Backing the builders not the blockers has become the number one priority for the current government.

    That OBR document pours cold water on that ambition. It projects that 1.3 million homes will be built from now until the end of the decade. But that’s across the entire UK and Labour’s pledge only applies to England. It is likely that 1.1 million of those homes will be built in England, leaving Labour 400,000 homes short of their goal. That 400,000 is the same number of homes as in Milton Keynes, Newcastle, and Plymouth combined.

    Even worse for Labour, the OBR doesn’t seem to give them much credit for the reforms they’ve made so far. Of those 1.3 million homes, the OBR reckons only 13 per cent will be built thanks to Labour’s planning reforms.

    You would expect Labour to blame this on their grim inheritance from the Tories. And there is some truth to this. Housebuilding has slumped by a third since 2019. But Labour already knew this when a glitter-bombed Keir Starmer made the 1.5 million pledge at the 2023 Labour party conference. So ultimately, Labour is fully responsible for its housing pledge – and time is running out.

    To meet its target, the government could cancel its scrapping of the urban uplift (which forced cities to build more houses). In doing so, it effectively rewarded Sir Sadiq Khan’s failure to build in London with a lower housing target. This might force the London Mayor to reconsider his home-blocking Strategic Industrial Land policy. At the moment, land within walking distance of 11 tube stations and Old Oak Common’s future HS2 station is being preserved by the Mayor for a McVitie’s factory, some warehouses and an oddly high number of Lebanese bakeries.

    Labour could also speed up their new town plans. The government has given a taskforce a whole year to find sites for these proposed new towns. This is unnecessary – there are easily a dozen sites that would work already. At the moment, whether anyone will live in a Labour New Town by the next general election is an open question. This is a shame. Given the size of the government’s majority, it really should be possible to build at least one home in a new town in the space of five years.

    Ultimately though the make or break for Labour’s housing dreams comes down to its ‘brownfield passport’ – which will allow building on previously used land. When this policy was announced, little detail was given and it is still shrouded in uncertainty. But if done well it could transform the country. We often hear that cities like London are completely full. But they are actually filled with swathes of semi-detached suburbia. Just replacing these with terraces within walking distance of a London tube or rail station could add upwards of 900,000 homes.

    The idea behind a brownfield passport is that if a development meets a set criteria, it should receive planning permission quickly. New Zealand has done something similar by making it easier to build in town centres and near public transport spots. In Auckland rents are down by a third. If this was replicated in London, the average couple could save £6,000 a year.

    The saving grace of the OBR’s report is that it conclusively shows that more house building boosts Britain’s stagnant economy. In the long-term Britain’s GDP will be 0.5 per cent higher based on the reforms that Labour have made, a £13 billion boost to the British economy just from building homes in the right areas. This growth comes without the government spending a single pence of taxpayer money. All it has to do is make it easier to build houses. Just think how much richer we could be if this went even further.

    The OBR’s report that Labour is not on track to meet its house building goal should kick start the party back into action. Labour’s current reforms have made progress in tackling our massive housing shortage. But the party cannot rest on its laurels if it actually wants to get Britian building again.

    WRITTEN BY
    Ben Hopkinson
    Ben Hopkinson is Head of Reasearch at Britian Remade.

    1. Better yet, they could deport foreign criminals and stop importing more. This would both save money and relieve pressure on housing. We need farmland to produce food.

  95. I am going to slope off early again. I seem to be lacking in energy these days. I bid you all goodnight.

  96. Hello fine people. Mrs DC's birthday is fast approaching – this is a good thing. I love her to bits, and she has good friends up here who even though we don't socialise that often, are always a joy to be around. However, there is a downside. Her long-term childhood friend will be visiting from Barrie, Ontario. Never were there two people whose lives took different directions and yet they can still hang out together. I also love that she is a fantastic singer and folk guitar player, even though her day job is working as a Tax Auditor for the CRA.

    But I do know how the 5 days will go once she gets here after flying up here.

    1. She will follow me around the kitchen, turning off the taps that I leave running – because that's 'wasting water'. I have stressed in the past, that if the water comes from the ground, into the well, and from the well to the cold water pressure tank, and from there to my taps, and from my taps to the plughole in the sink, and back into the ground – where is the waste?

    2. She will still suggest that I should use chemicals in the hot tub, because that way, I wouldn't need to drain it and refill it each time it's been used. I know that is the norm – but when you're heating the water for free with solar collectors (wooden box painted black with coiled water pipes), it is also free during the warmer months – so there is no 'wasting energy' – and so therefore I have no interest in polluting the water course with chemicals. Somehow, despite being a greeny kind of lass, that does not compute for her. I understand why, she lives in an urban area.

    3. Inevitably, we shall turn to firearms. She will, once again, point out that hunting animals for food is cruel. Now if she was a vegan, I'd be OK with that. She would have the moral high ground. But somehow she is able to blank out the fact and think that buying chicken, pork and beef from a supermarket avoids the process of killing.

    4. Finally, it will come down to a 2am conversation after a gallon of gin, where she says "And given there's no crime up here, you really don't need guns." – even though it would take the nearest cops 90 minutes to get here if i called 911. The fact that there may be a connection between these two facts is also lost because she really can't see beyond her own environment. I get that. Being a Brit, I had a learning experience too.

    I am confident that these usual 4 will come to pass. But most of all, she's still welcome because her and Mrs DC go back a long way – and she is highly talented for camp fire company. She's smart at her stuff, despite all of this.

    Maybe she's just fecking trolling me? In which case I tip my hat to a worthy adversary.

    1. I think you fancy her. Hunting animals, for food, is a lot more natural than buying meat from a butcher. Same with your fish. I'm also sure that your hunting and fishing in Canada is not only far better but more sustainable than hunting and fishing in the UK. End her over here to be re-educated. Happy birthday to Mrs DC.

      1. Heh heh! No, she is without doubt 'not my type', just as sure as shit that I am not her type either. As a confirmed 'solitary man' till my early 40's, I have a good read on that. Well, I would think so, naturally.

        She has visited the UK. She loved London, and 'Liverpool for The Beatles', and Edinburgh. Then moved on to Paris, and Rome, and Barcelona. Stereotypes are real for a reason.

        Cheers for the best wishes to my good lady, it's a while to go but she will have a blast!

        1. She sounds like a city person, rather than a hard -life country person that you must be with your life-style. She's used to buying her meat from a shop, and her water being purified, and guns only useful for criminals.

          1. Yup, that’s the way they parted ways in terms of life-style, but not as friends.

            She’s smart though, not some echo-chamber pink-haired liberal. But yes, it’s hard to break out of what is drilled into you – as I found when I moved over here.

          2. Distant Cumbrian: Your wife's friend seems a right pain. Assuming that her visit is not much more than a week, wouldn't it be better to humour her (turn off the taps, etc.) for a few days rather than work yourself up into a lather? When she leaves, you can explain to your wife that it was either a case of humouring this nutter or using the gun on her.

          3. Aye. I think that’s why she might be trolling me rather successfully. 🙂

    2. "Inevitably, we shall turn to firearms." – surely, your arguments don't get that fierce?

    3. Millions of women (and, to be fair, soy-boys) unfortunately think like this. No logic. And then we end up with the Governments we get.

      My favourite on chemicals. In order to “save water”, we all now have ridiculous toilets with hardly any water in them…..and I spend a fortune on chemicals to -ahem – break deposits down which don’t reach the low water level. I don’t remember ever having todo that when we had “proper” toilets. I can’t be the only one who now does this. But somehow this new system is “saving the planet”.

      1. I get the feeling (rightly or wrongly) that the high cisterns we used to have were more efficient – not just because they held more water, but because of gravity. On the other hand, they were more difficult to access…

    4. I would go away for the week and leave them to it. She sounds like a terrible guest.

      1. Heh heh, Phiz. If it wasn’t the busiest time on the farm, I could manage that – fly off to some Costa Rican beach for a week.

          1. I’ll get her to strip down the rifles blindfolded and load a round in under 45 seconds – or NO FOOD FOR YOU!

  97. People may recall my alter ego MIR was co-opted onto the One True Sport (Bill! 🏑) club committee as Treasurer a few months ago. We had a Committee meeting tonight and on the way home were diverted past a fellow team member’s house. This lady’s husband must be 65 and about three years ago was “let go” from his job as a Group Accountant. He always moaned to me he hated his job – but seems he hated being “let go” more, as he promptly descended into alcoholism.

    Anyway tonight i saw an ambulance and two NHS SUVs outside their house. He was taken away, slurring/swearing. Luckily i could see my friend’s som was there. It is so sad.

    3. Hello, LIR. I wonder if the alcoholism was the result of being let go, or the reason for being let go?

      I've worked with dozens of incredibly high-functioning alcoholics in kitchens, but also get the feeling they blame the booze on 'the way they were treated'.

      Not saying this applies to the person from your comment, but I have wondered for a long time that 'there but for the Grace of God go I.'

      1. Hard to know, if I think about it. He probably always drank a lot, but I never thought it was out of control; but of course, that’s the point, isn’t it? They do manage to hide it.

  100. Well, chums, it's bedtime for me. So I shall wish you all a Good Night; sleep well and I hope to see you all tomorrow.

  101. morning all. More is now Less; but you still couldn’t make this stuff up:

    “A NATIONAL TRUST manager was accused of being a “white saviour” by a colleague he invited to join a diversity group.
    Abida Jenkins, who worked at a heritage site in Cheshire, sued the charity for race discrimination after she was asked to be part of its inclusivity team.

    She claimed she was being “singled out” by Wayne Carter, her manager, because of her race.

    She said she was “shocked, embarrassed, humiliated and very much degraded” by his invitation which she compared to “using a sledgehammer to break a vase”.

    However, her claims were dismissed by an employment tribunal which ruled she had an “unjustified sense of grievance” and had “exaggerated her evidence”.

    The tribunal, held in Liverpool, heard Mrs Jenkins started working at Quarry Bank Mill, a preserved textile factory in Styal, in early August 2022.

    The engineering graduate was approached by Mr Carter, who explained he was setting up a diversity group and asked if she was interested in joining, the hearing was told.

    She said he asked her repeatedly and she felt his requests were inappropriate as they were allegedly made in front of visitors.

    Describing one incident, she said: “It felt he was using a sledgehammer to break a vase.

    “I politely declined … he wasn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer … leading me to view him as just another superficial individual presenting himself as a ‘white saviour’ singling me out for his group only because I was an ethnic minority.”
    She complained to her line manager about Mr Carter, who said he was mortified to have caused any upset.
    Mr Carter said the reason he asked Mrs Jenkins more than once was probably because “I don’t believe I received a definitive yes or no answer”.

    Mrs Jenkins resigned in 2023 after she received a verbal warning for using equipment at the museum without supervision. She was “convinced because she had an engineering degree she should advance quickly”, the tribunal heard, and she was accused of using a “patronising tone” when speaking to bosses.
    She then accused the trust of race, sex and age discrimination.

    But her claims were dismissed by employment judge Dawn Shotter, who said Mrs Jenkins “had an unjustified sense of grievance, imagining slights and conspiracies when there were none”.

    She added: “The tribunal concluded that [Mrs Jenkins] has exaggerated her evidence with regards to being invited to take part in the diversity group.

    “It found she was not pressured by Wayne Carter to join, and his recollection of what transpired has been adversely affected by the passage of time and lack of detail in [her] allegations. [She] had not made it clear from the outset that she had no interest in being part of the diversity group.

    “Had [Mrs Jenkins] genuinely felt Wayne Carter’s requests were inappropriate, especially as he asked her on the Mill floor in front of visitors, she would have raised a complaint at the time or soon after.””

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