Wednesday 27 December: Those who are dying should have the right to avoid needless sufferingWednesday 27 December:

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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421 thoughts on “Wednesday 27 December: Those who are dying should have the right to avoid needless sufferingWednesday 27 December:”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. today’s story

    A Variation On A Theme
    Reaching the end of a job interview, the human resources person asked a young engineer fresh out of MIT, “And what starting salary were you looking for?” The engineer said, “In the neighbourhood of $125,000 a year, depending on the benefits package.” The interviewer said, “Well, what would you say to a five-week vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company matching your retirement fund to 50% of your salary, and a company car leased every two years, say, a red Corvette?” The young engineer sat up straight and said, “Wow! Are you kidding?” The interviewer replied, “Yeah, but you started it.”

  2. Good morning, chums. I hope you all slept well, ready for a new day. And here is something I did earlier:

    Wordle 921 5/6

    A great job – I did it in five.

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

      1. And me, surprisingly.

        Wordle 921 3/6

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

    2. Lucky again
      Wordle 921 4/6

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

  5. Those who are dying should have the right to avoid needless suffering

    Yes, don’t let them watch the BBC

  6. No10 plans to end inheritance tax in spring ahead of election. 27 December 2023.

    Downing Street is considering axing inheritance tax in three months’ time in a pre-election giveaway to boost Rishi Sunak’s chances of victory.

    The move is one of a handful of major tax cuts that have been discussed by senior figures in Number 10.

    The Prime Minister has ordered a “gear change” on tax, having made bringing down inflation, rather than reducing the tax burden, the priority early in his premiership.

    Do you think anyone would figure out that it was just a bribe?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/12/26/rishi-sunak-end-inheritance-tax-spring-ahead-of-election/?li_source=LI&li_medium=for_you

    5. They might figure out it’s a bribe and ACCEPT IT and pray that it will not be changed by the next non-Conservative government.

      I believe that, like stamp duty on property transactions, it is a tax which has massive, undesirable, distortionary affects on economic behaviour.

      2. Taxed for moving – at an already horrifically expensive time is disgusting. It is pure greed.

    6. They might figure out it’s a bribe and ACCEPT IT and pray that it will not be changed by the next non-Conservative government.

      I believe that, like stamp duty on property transactions, it is a tax which has massive, undesirable, distortionary affects on economic behaviour.

    7. Note the language ‘unfunded tax cuts’ – as if it’s their money that they allow us to keep. The state has become simply abusive.

  7. Good morning everyone. 11C windy. full moon tonight.
    To shop or not to shop. That is the question.

    1. I have to make the same decision, Johnny but it means a taxi as I’ve written off my car, Can’t do it before 10:00,crazy licensing laws here.I want whisky

    2. It’s wet and windy on the Costa Clyde but the north face of Tesco Irvine awaits. The trick is to time the exit to 10.00, to allow purchase of the vino.

  8. 379379967+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Wednesday 27 December: Those who are dying should have the right to avoid needless suffering,

    What a spiffing idea, the current version of dying for ones Country,

    Take the RESET exit, die for ones party, give a booster shot for accelerating depopulation.

    ALL the political overseers / pharmaceuticals would be asking is, we legalise their recent past actions, in fact make
    herd culling a norm.

    Come in number 30 your time is UP.

    The hara / kiri option will be, I believe, on the
    lab/lib/con /current agenda for dedicated members.

    2. Well it’s the Torys own fault. For fourteen years they’ve been conducting wishy washy leftie policies to the annoyance of all Tory voters.

      If the voters had wanted ineffectual leftie policies they would have voted LibDem.

  11. It’s time to think again about MPs’ security. 27 December 2023.

    No one who values democracy should relish measures which put distance between MPs and their constituents. Our representatives need to make themselves available for robust debate, not just in Parliament but in the public realm. We all need to be able to see our MPs and make our feelings known about their parties’ and their personal policies.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    Carl Atvarnieks. 12 HRS AGO.

    They created our diverse society let them experience it with the rest of us

    This is beyond parody. Democracy itself has ceased to exist under the rule of these traitors. Now we are supposed to pay for it?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/26/its-time-to-think-again-about-mps-security/

    1. Stop paying taxes. If we all did it, too many to prosecute and they don’t get their paycheque.

    6. Politicians have done this to themselves. They keep voting as their party dictates and ignore the wishes of their constituents.

      If they voted as we instructed them they’d be genuine servants rather than than just party wonks. But they’ve proven their hatred of democracy time and again.

  12. Morning all! Dark and wet here. We’ve both got the coughing bug.
    Vitamin D has kept me well since January 2020 so I shouldn’t complain at catching something now.

    2. Sorry, it must be one of those computer viruses that I passed on.
      Fourth day now and at least it has reached the stage where there are breaks between the coughing and sneezing fits.

      1. I haven’t sneezed much and no runny nose yet. Didn’t sleep too well though as OH was coughing mightily.

  13. Good morning all,

    It’s dull and wet at the McPhee demesne, rain off and on all day, wind Sou’–Sou’-West and a tad warmer again, 11℃.

    Do we think this will buy-off us boomers?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d58ba7ed3cbea8b92dbb6ca4204964e8dd0dae9a263209807351bf9b1e1aab07.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/12/26/rishi-sunak-end-inheritance-tax-spring-ahead-of-election/

    Of course, it’s not we boomers who will benefit from it, it’s our offspring and grand-offspring. It is a fundamentally conservative thing to do, so conservative that it should have been done decades ago. Margaret Thatcher could have done it but she didn’t, probably because she couldn’t get ‘uniparty’ agreement on it. Has something changed behind the scenes at Westminster? Whether or not it has it’s a pretty cynical ploy to do it now and it’s not going to work.

    1. I suspect Starmer will replace it as soon as he gets in – another cynical attempt by Hirisk Anus and rhyming slang to buy us off.

      1. We remember that Lord Cameron of Greensil promised many years ago that he would cancel Inheritance Tax

        if people voted for him………….and yes, they did vote for him.

    3. Before the election: Vote for us and we’ll abolish inheritance tax

      After the election: Yeah, we won’t. We’re going to hike fuel duty though.

  14. Good morning all,

    It’s dull and wet at the McPhee demesne, rain off and on all day, wind Sou’–Sou’-West and a tad warmer again, 11℃.

    Do we think this will buy-off us boomers?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d58ba7ed3cbea8b92dbb6ca4204964e8dd0dae9a263209807351bf9b1e1aab07.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/12/26/rishi-sunak-end-inheritance-tax-spring-ahead-of-election/

    Of course, it’s not we boomers who will benefit from it, it’s our offspring and grand-offspring. It is a fundamentally conservative thing to do, so conservative that it should have been done decades ago. Margaret Thatcher could have done it but she didn’t, probably because she couldn’t get ‘uniparty’ agreement on it. Has something changed behind the scenes at Westminster? Whether or not it has it’s a pretty cynical ploy to do it now and it’s not going to work.

      1. Accredited security company protecting the ulez cameras. If khan insists on using thugs to do his dirty work the response should be a mob of residents armed with baseball bats to intimidate them right back and make them afraid.

  17. Yo and Good Morning to you all

    and big big Fanx to the Boss for making our lives better, over the last 10 or so years, by devising and running Not the Telegraph Letters

  18. Morning all 🙂😊
    What a couple of full on days.
    We had a total of 12 adults and 4 children at one stage yesterday. My nice and her three daughters from SA are staying with my elder sister, only a twenty minute walk away.
    They ‘popped round’ to see our family and the children before lunch.
    After table games the family left at around 8:30 we tided up a little, stuffed the dish washer with as much as possible. And went to bed totally exhausted.
    I just have to go and bring back number one to pick up his car, they took an Uber home.
    And……..rest ! Phew. 😊🤗

    1. Yo RE

      Take the (bottle) debris to the nearest Bottle Bank, otherwise the dustmen will ‘Wake the Street’, when the empty your Grey? recycling bin

      1. I’m sure we’re nor the only household in our road where black makes a lot of noise.
        A lot of tins in there as well of course 😉

        1. It is simple, whether disposing of the empties in your bin, or at the tip, shout (loudly) that they are your neighbours.

          The same at the supermarket checkout, say anything alcaholic or fattening is for them too

  20. Good morning! Pouring down in York. Leaving the hotel this morning then coffee with my siblings followed by, hopefully, a train back to Kings Cross. I discovered when checking online yesterday that seat reservations are mandatory and only one train had any seats left – in first class. When I bought the ticket I had no idea what the family plans were so left it open. Will have to pay the upgrade but hey ho. It’d better be comfortable.

    1. Hope you don’t find someone sitting in it. Last time that happened the guard said their was nothing they could do.

      2. I had that when I was taking a party of students to France. Two drunken Scotsmen who refused to budge from seats that had been reserved. I went off to see the “train manager” who said he couldn’t do anything. While I fumed, he walked through the train, the Scotties saw him coming and scarpered. Order restored, no thanks to the train company.

    2. Tell them that one of your distinguished forebears invented electricity which entitles you to a free ride in the driver’s cab. It will be a real thrill to whizz along at 125mph+ with one hand on the ‘Dead Man’s Handle’ and a mug of tea in t’other. {:^))

  21. A while back, I grumbled about Google deleting the Panoramio photographic archive chronicling many images worldwide taken at the start of this century. They did so after buying up the provider, which was linked to Google Earth, and then stripping anything that was not commercially profitable away and deleting it. All we get now is curt note “this product has been discontinued”. These days, the only images on offer are paid-for commercial shots of tourist hotspots, rather than the contributions of many hundreds of thousands of internet enthusiasts, at a time when the internet was more of a hobby than a business. What I particularly lament are pictures of places destroyed by war or redeveloped over the last twenty years.

    It seems though that all may not be lost. There have been a few web crawlers that have been squirrelling away website archives in vast servers, which are still on disk somewhere, but not easily accessible. It may be that nobody has bothered to buy up all of them, so they can be wiped like so many episodes of much-loved TV shows. Remembering the debacle of appalling decisions taken by managers in the 1970s and 1980s and how they are so marketable today, there may be those who raid skips for what may turn out to be treasures in the future. I have the Renown Pictures 2014 calendar from Noel Cronin, who set up his own TV channel from his garden shed, and is much visited on Freeview 82.

    As for Panoramio, one such is suggested here: https://medium.com/jackontheroad-en/rescuing-panoramio-memories-how-to-restore-panoramio-photos-9c80267fe978

    Is there some easier way of restoring the old Panoramio archive?

    1. Talking Pictures TV is (in my humble) the best channel on Sky, they have just had a TV award nomination. I hope this doesn’t ruin it. I worked for Southern TV in the sales office in Victoria in 1980/2 (which some of the archive is from), in the days of luncheon vouchers and quarterly bonuses, curtesy of the ITV technicians strike in the late 1970’s (I think) – happy days for a while, till they lost the southern franchise to TVS

    2. Talking Pictures TV is (in my humble) the best channel on Sky, they have just had a TV award nomination. I hope this doesn’t ruin it. I worked for Southern TV in the sales office in Victoria in 1980/2 (which some of the archive is from), in the days of luncheon vouchers and quarterly bonuses, curtesy of the ITV technicians strike in the late 1970’s (I think) – happy days for a while, till they lost the southern franchise to TVS

  22. A rather belated good morning to all.
    Dr. Daughter & boyfriend were occupying the bed-settee in here and I couldn’t be bothered with the laptop.

    After finishing of fitting a folding table to the van, the DT & Self were dragged out to the Boat in Cromford by the Brood.

    Chucking it down earlier with 3°C, though the rain appears to have eased off a bit.
    t’Lad’s headed up to the workshops at Crich Tramway Museum and then home whilst aforesaid Dr. Daughter and boyfriend are off for a run before they depart for North Eastern pastures later today.

          3. Saw her just before Christmas, dropped off pressies & cards.
            Not planning on a visit on the way home, she’d likely not notice anyhow.

    2. Not keen on the cancelled flight. Flying (we hope) from Bristol in a couple of days, and looks like it’ll still be stormy. Last stormy, we were diverted with much delay via Ireland.
      Bugger. Keen to get home now.

  24. ‘Morning All

    DM

    “Tesla robot ATTACKS an engineer at company’s Texas factory

    during violent malfunction – leaving ‘trail of blood’ and forcing

    workers to hit emergency shutdown button”.

    Assault with Battery.

    Medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e5fde90f6de96dd2575e18baddefdeb73a4934e00cb8018cf2994fffcb0f95b5.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cce8a5d1e2f6d1183166d597a9fb254a1ed7124bcf925d87488c43d27cafd6a5.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8eeba32aa4b7a7b48f7b7e8f3959c8c8b6f147ffee468ed22097301b1cf3c979.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c89d671a23eb4b7f349160e177d4d81cfae28b95c0d0bcf69010f70921c229da.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f9d2b9870bea502e937ec922bd4797306167e45ca0576218e5b67a803e616068.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f4d573507000255fa4307e574a4f74157339a94ab5cafb2311b335e27e523e16.jpg

  26. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1784e2f6d8c721ce709dac458578a2c39b6525b85fc7ca87572fc1e31044076c.jpg

    The @Daily_Express seem very grumpy that we are no longer in the EU…I hereby invite The Express to help turn around this crazy situation and get one back at the scheming EU countries… by joining the EU again and acquiring voting rights! They can’t leave us out then!! Ha! 💡 pic.twitter.com/FzK1vk4lhx— Mike Galsworthy (@mikegalsworthy) December 26, 2023

  28. BBC’s new Agatha Christie drama uses ‘an allegory of colonialism’ in show, director reveals. 27 December 2023.

    Africa-inspired scenes have been added to the BBC’s new Agatha Christie adaptation to use an allegory of colonialism in the show, the director has revealed.

    Meenu Gaur said that a story originally from West African Yoruba culture had informed sequences in the new TV adaptation of the mystery writer’s 1939 book Murder Is Easy.

    “I thought it was a great allegorical story about colonialism and empire and how by becoming a part of another culture – which is what empire and colonialism is – what part of us as people becomes invisible,” she said.

    The story – about a man who goes hunting and uses the palm oil of two strangers before becoming invisible to everyone he knew and loved back home – shaped the opening scenes, in which the protagonist is chased through a forest.

    God save us from this relentless stupidity!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/27/bbc-new-agatha-christie-allegory-colonialism-director/

        1. from anne

          “A 14-year-old boy has been arrested for killing his sister during a Christmas Eve row over who had more presents.

          Abrielle
          Baldwin, 23, was shot in the chest by her sibling in Florida’s Pinellas
          County, police said. She had her 10-month-old son in a carrier at the
          time.

          The teenager, Damarcus Coley, 14, was then shot himself by
          his older brother, Darcus Coley, 15, who was armed with his own
          semi-automatic handgun.”

          And to think we complained about this year’s crackers being disappointing.

      1. I have always regarded your fathomless subtlety to be your most endearing characteristic…{:^))

    4. Palm oil? When Little Black Sambo was chased around a palm tree by a tiger, the sun melted the tiger into butter and Little Black Sambo used it to make pancakes.

      Ah, those days of innocence.

      1. Helen Bannerman seemed very confused about African and Indian culture.
        LBS’s mammy (I was always mystified why he was bothered by tigers, not lions) made the pancakes with ghee (that goes with the tigers but not LBS). Sonny Boy son ate 147 of them.

    5. Palm oil? When Little Black Sambo was chased around a palm tree by a tiger, the sun melted the tiger into butter and Little Black Sambo used it to make pancakes.

      Ah, those days of innocence.

    6. The opening scene of Fitzwilliam being chased features him holding an Ikenga, which is a sign of power among the Igbo people – an ethnic
      group in Nigeria – and the scene recurs throughout the first episode. Siân Ejiwunmi-Le Berre, who wrote the screenplay,

      That whirring sound is Agatha, rotating in her grave!

    7. The opening scene of Fitzwilliam being chased features him holding an Ikenga, which is a sign of power among the Igbo people – an ethnic
      group in Nigeria – and the scene recurs throughout the first episode. Siân Ejiwunmi-Le Berre, who wrote the screenplay,

      That whirring sound is Agatha, rotating in her grave!

  30. Fot those old enough to remember, (and know what bad weather is really like) watch Channel 46, (5 SELECT) at 1500- 1630 today,
    to see The Great Flood of ’53

    I doubt if Net Zero, Climate Change, Convid, Brexit etc will even get a look-in.

    My family (and me) were staying in a holiday (gypsy like) caravan at Blue Anchor bay, near Minehead, an (enterprising) local coach company ran coach trips to Lynton/Lynmouth: we went on one: Horrendous

    1. The Physio Gym at Southend General Hospital was used as a temporary mortuary for the bodies of those drowned on Canvey Island.

    2. One of my grandfather’s churches in 1953 was in Eccles-under-the-Sea in Norfolk, He used to go to the beach, perching his lectern on the steeple each year to keep it consecrated.

  32. Does anyone long for the good old days when we had a bit of a blustery day without it being called a storm with some weird name?
    I note now that now Christmas is over that we are back on climate change project fear this morning on the mainstream media.
    Summers might be a bit warmer, winters a bit wetter, they say, causing a mass extinction to wildlife.
    Wildlife that has been around for millions of years adapting to all sorts of extreme events, like ice ages, meteors and volcanic catastrophes
    But they’ve never had to cope with slightly warmer summers and wetter winters before.
    We should all be very worried, very worried indeed and send more of our industry and jobs to China instead.
    Plus it wouldn’t hurt to freeze a bit in winter and stop using our cars, stop eating meat and live on cabbage instead, if we cannot get enough insects, that is.

        1. The most annoyingly emetic thing is that clip which I posted was taken from today’s Daily Telegraph, a pathetic — once-magnificent — rag that uses every possible opportunity to attempt to brainwash its readership with false WEF propaganda.

        2. The Met office is already making proclamations based on models rather than data and those models deliberately push in ideology modifiers over facts.

          1. My Fox Terrier can predict the weather better than the Met Office. I asked him today if he wanted to come for a walk and he point blank refused. We got a few hundred yards down the road, the heavens opened and Oscar was laughing into his fleecy rug as we struggled against horizontal rain like stair rods whipped up by strong winds 🙂

      4. They own what is, basically a ruin somewhere in Suffolk – I forget the details, it was 30 years ago near my school. A developer offered to repair it back to how it was at his expense – not to own it, just repair it.

        After nigh years of wrangling over the wood to replace the windows (I think the developer wanted to use a modern weather seal clear stain to protect it) the Trust kept pushing for ever more expenditure that’d need continual replacement and the developer said sorry, you seem happier to let it fall apart than to maintain it’. As far as I know nature has properly destroyed the building now.

    3. Animals and plants are quite able to survive incremental warming and cooling. The most frequent result is a change in migration patterns (for those that migrate), and a movement north or south of territorial boundaries for those that don’t or can’t migrate. Where non-migrating populations are isolated by boundaries such as water or mountains, if they can adapt fast enough they too will survive.
      Extinctions have been happening since life started on Earth. Mass extinctions have only occurred on 4 or 5 occasions, and reflect enormous happenings like asteroid strikes or super volcanic events, which both have a huge and sudden effect on atmospheric and water temperatures.
      This is not a new phenomenon, these people are barking.

        1. Of course, some quicker than others, whether by wind born pollination and also by having hooked seeds that attach to animals and birds.

    4. They closed the ‘old’ Severn bridge this morning because of scary winds. Later on there were multiple accidents on the ‘new’ bridge. A thoughtful controller might have reopened the old bridge with a suitable speed limit. But no, why not take the opportunity to create absolute chaos and have them both shut. Idiots the lot of them, luckily I was going in the other direction.

      1. Yep, I saw they’d closed it – very convenient when Chepstow was staging the Welsh Grand National.

  33. “A 14-year-old boy has been arrested for killing his sister during a Christmas Eve row over who had more presents.

    Abrielle Baldwin, 23, was shot in the chest by her sibling in Florida’s Pinellas County, police said. She had her 10-month-old son in a carrier at the time.

    The teenager, Damarcus Coley, 14, was then shot himself by his older brother, Darcus Coley, 15, who was armed with his own semi-automatic handgun.”

    And to think we complained about this year’s crackers being disappointing.

    2. “Hopalong boots and a gun that shoots” goes the song.

      We sang it this year, arguing whether “Bum!” should be pronounced “Bam!” or “Boom!” to sound more authentic in the lower parts, and whether “Barney and Ben” was giving the right impression, or whether “Barbie and Ken” was more appropriate genderwise.

      The Americans sure know how to celebrate Christmas.

    3. 14-y.o. killed a 26-yo with a knife on a suburban bus close to our place 2 days ago. Apparently over mobile phone filming.
      Both wogs.

    1. We brought out the Gigabit optical fibre tree this year as it’s capable of transmitting the Christmas message to Christians (flashing in all colours) worldwide and with, albeit the speed of light delay, to the universe.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/93b3241e424b6545fbffb6333f3abf7057ef9d4a3dce4d7385708ced37646df2.gif

      The message of Peace on Earth may not have got through everywhere because some faiths have different festive seasons which means that they can continue their traditional unholy fighting at Christmas.

  36. Refugee camps? Gaza?

    Refugees from where/what?

    Have they claimed ‘Asylum’?

    I’m confused

  37. More good news from The Empire Of Khan.

    London knife and gun crime surges amid gang warfare

    Knife crime in London is rising at its fastest rate in five years with more than 40 incidents reported to the police every day, the Telegraph can disclose.

    Warfare between rival drug gangs combined with spiralling street robbery rates are contributing to the surge in violent offences. Gun crime in the capital is also on the increase with shootings up more than six per cent on the same period in 2022.

    Despite Scotland Yard’s express determination to bear down on violent crime there have been more than 90 homicides in the capital this year, 20 of them teenagers. Data analysed by The Telegraph shows an average 43 knife-related incidents reported to the police in London every day.

    The pace of the return to pre-pandemic levels of violence in London has left some front-line officers fearing they are losing the battle, while other experts have called for a shift in tactics. One front-line officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity said the level of violence on the streets was the worst he had experienced in more than two decades.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/25/drug-gangs-worst-spike-knife-gun-crime-five-years

    Blow for Khan as European drivers challenge Ulez fines

    Penalties worth up to £6.5 million were issued unlawfully, according to lawyers acting for Dutch lorry firm

    Sadiq Khan’s Transport for London (TfL) may have to pay back millions of pounds in Ulez fines after a legal challenge by European drivers.

    Penalties worth up to £6.5 million were issued unlawfully, according to lawyers acting for Dutch lorry firms who have launched a legal review against TfL in the High Court. It is the first legal challenge against TfL and Euro Parking Collection (EPC), its debt collection agency, over fines to foreign drivers. If successful, it could potentially open the door to further cases in the courts.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/26/ulez-blow-sadiq-khan-european-drivers-challenge-fines

    1. Anyone who saw what was happening in American cities a decade ago knew it would be coming here. They tried all sorts of policies targeted at specific groups to no avail. It will be Fentanyl next. Yet still we have people in power who appear to be clueless and don’t know what to do. The only option is either through education or more prisons.

        1. The gangs are like the hydra. Take out the leader and another rises. Destroy that gang completely and another expands their territory.

          1. Then cut off the head of the person enabling it Khan. Reverse the Left wing happy clappy policies, abolish the DIE twaddle and start breaking them. Ignore due process – it doesn’t apply to the black thugs.

            This is the result of Left wing ideology, a complete liar in Khunt and the total failure of ‘diversity’.

      2. They have moved on from fentanyl over here, there is a new drug called tranq that is being added to the mix. Apparently 200 drug deaths a month in BC is not enough.

  38. Why does Russia look bigger than Africa on a map?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/123118d7d0e555f400699ba3e9548a3dc16b7d03733b7b2a11bb2330c12ca646.png

    The knowledge of the majority of people about the relative sizes of countries is probably based on maps than statistics.

    The Mercator projection, the most popular world map, distorts the size of the shape of landmasses near the pole. This results in Russia looking bigger than Africa. Actually Africa can nearly fit two Russias. In fact, Africa has an area of 11.73 million square miles while Russian one is only 6.6 million square miles.

    One can refer to the image above to get the exact sizes of countries compared to what we are used to on a map.

    For those of a geographical or even topographical disposition.

    https://topglobe.co.uk/blogs/news/why-does-russia-look-bigger-than-africa-on-a-map#:~:text=Actually%20Africa%20can%20nearly%20fit,used%20to%20on%20a%20map

    1. I’ve a globe here which helps you see the true size. We had to make adjustments to our visual seismic data coverage whenever north or south of the equator. Thankfully, I personally, never worked in the high northern and southerly latitudes where the distortion is huge.

    2. Good evening, Minty. Referring to “the image above” only confirms that Russia looks bigger than Africa. Shurely shome mishtake?!?!?

      EDIT: my own mistake, Minty, I now see that the dark areas shown are the true sizes and the pale blue ones are those shown on the Mercator projection.

  39. What a load of bolleax,that’s me well and truly “Triggered”
    Flicked on the idiot box Ah Dambusters only to discover the revisionists have been at Guy Gibson’s dog now named Trigger
    Off!!
    I hate the barstewards responsible for this nonsense with an abiding passion!!

    1. Same here with the wokery. A black woman apparently with chalk-white daughter, in some family drama.

  40. Anyone who wants to understand how power in this country has been usurped and how the wishes of the people can be ignored needs to read The Party System by Hillaire Belloc and Cecil Chesterton (brother of G.K.). It explains everything.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/250f2106cbe416808e8430b9a9d52d2fc16524706b8c74114e6c5ddf7c6c6d7c.png

    It’s available as a free.pdf download.

    https://archive.org/details/ThePartySystem

    It’s about the events of 1909 but it’s still relevant today. It is why Reform UK is, ulimately, not the solution but It’ll do as a battering ram to start the process of getting rid of the Uniparty.

    1. Why do all publications of this type run to 160+ pages? Can it not get the point over in 10 or less?

      2. Here’s few pages worth that make it sound like our current Houses of Parliament.

        “We have to-day to deal not with a divided but with a united plutocracy, a
        homogeneous mass of the rich, commercial and territorial, into whose
        hands practically all power, political as well as economic, has now
        passed.

        During the whole course of the nineteenth century two processes have
        been going on side by side, the one patent to all the world and the
        foundation of much comment and speculation, the other almost entirely
        unobserved and unmentioned.

        The first is the extension of the franchise. Step by step since 1832, more
        and more citizens have been admitted to vote for members of Parliament.
        First the clerk or shopkeeper, then the urban workman, and finally the
        agricultural labourer became an elector. This process should clearly have
        meant an increase in the power of democracy, and it has been practically
        universally assumed that it did mean this. But in fact it is extremely
        dubious whether the mass of the people have as much political power to-
        day as they had before the process began. Had the enfranchisement of the
        people come suddenly there is little doubt that something like real

        democracy would have been achieved. But it came by slow degrees, and
        there was time for another process to go on side by side with the
        widening of the franchise.

        That process was the transfer of effective power from the House of
        Commons to the Ministry, or, to speak more accurately, to the two Front
        Benches, Government and “Opposition.” There was no definite moment
        at which you could say that this was done, but it has been done very
        thoroughly by now. Anyone who doubts this will find it easy to convince
        himself of it by glancing at the relations of the House and the Executive
        at the beginning of the process and at the end. At the beginning the
        Government was dependent on the House; now the House is in a state of
        abject dependence on the Ministers and ex-Ministers, who arrange
        between them details of all policies.

        A very simple test will show this. One of the most important historic
        powers of the House of Commons is the power of driving a Minister or
        Government from office. That power was not only possessed by the early
        Parliaments of the nineteenth century, but was continually exercised; and
        Administrations, strong in reputation and in parliamentary support, were
        repeatedly overthrown by revolts of their own followers, and dismissed
        by the vote of the Commons. So Wellington was overthrown in 1830, and
        Grey in 1834. So Peel was driven from power by the Protectionist revolt
        in 1845. So Lord John Russell fell in 1852, and so in a few months
        afterwards fell the Ministry of Derby and Disraeli. So the Coalition
        Ministry of Lord Aberdeen was defeated in 1855 by a vote of censure on
        the conduct of the Crimean War. So in 1857 Palmerston was beaten on
        the Chinese War, and again in 1859 on the Conspiracy Bill. So in 1865
        the strong Ministry of Russell and Gladstone was overthrown on its
        Reform Bill by the rebellion of the Adullamites.

        If we take the year 1870 as the pivot year, we shall find that in the forty
        years that preceded 1870, nine Administrations which could normally
        command a majority of the Commons were upset by the independent
        action of members of that House. In the forty years that have passed since
        1 870 only one instance of this happening can be mentioned — the defeat
        of Mr Gladstone’s Home Rule Bill of 1886. There the circumstances
        were in many ways exceptional, and even that example is now nearly a
        quarter of a century old. In the last twenty-four years not a single case of
        such independent action on the part of the Commons has occurred.

        Another illustration, if further illustration be needed, of the progressive
        emasculation of the House of Commons may be found by comparing its
        attitude in the matter of the Crimean War waged fifty years ago, and its
        attitude in the matter of the South African War waged only the other day.
        Both wars, whether wise or foolish, just or unjust, were undoubtedly
        supported by the bulk of public opinion both within and without
        Parliament. Both wars were scandalously mismanaged. But the Crimean
        War was fought when Parliament was comparatively free. As soon as the
        details of the mismanagement began to be known in England there was a
        fierce popular agitation, and the popular voice was immediately heard not
        only in the Press but also in Parliament. A Committee of Inquiry was
        demanded and refused. But in spite of the opposition of the men in power
        the demand was carried in the House of Commons by a huge majority.
        The result was that Lord Aberdeen had to resign and Lord Palmerston
        took his place. Palmerston wanted to get rid of the Committee, but the
        House insisted, and he, powerful and popular as he was, was obliged to
        bow to its will. All this was done, it must be remembered, not by the
        Opposition or the Peace Party, but by men returned to support the
        Government — men who thoroughly approved of the war and merely
        wished to see it efficiently conducted.

        In the case of the South African War there was plenty of grumbling in the
        country, and not a few sensational exposures of the incompetence and
        corruption which weakened our arms. But within the walls of Parliament
        scarcely a voice was heard, and it certainly never entered the head of any
        Conservative member (or Liberal member either for that matter) to take
        the strong step of driving out the men in power and putting better
        administrators in their place. Indeed, the war was conducted invariably
        without consulting Parliament; and during the whole of its course
        financial scandals, quite openly talked of among the educated classes of
        this country, had no place in Parliamentary discussion. The House of
        Commons had ceased to be an instrument of government.

        To whom, then, has the power of the House of Commons passed? It has
        passed to a political committee for which no official name exists (for it
        works in secret), but which may be roughly called “The Front Benches.”
        This committee is not elected by vote, or by acclamation, or even by
        general consent. Its members do not owe their position either to the will
        of the House or the will of the people. It is selected — mainly from
        among the rich politicians and their dependents — by a process of sheer
        and unchecked co-option. It forms in reality a single body, and acts, when

        its interests or its power are at stake, as one man. No difference of
        economic interest or of political principle any longer exists among its
        members to form the basis of a rational line of party division.
        Nevertheless, the party division continues. The governing group is
        divided arbitrarily into two teams, each of which is, by mutual
        understanding, entitled to its turn of office and emolument. And a number
        of unreal issues, defined neither by the people nor by the Parliament, but
        by the politicians themselves are raised from time to time in order to give
        a semblance of reality to their empty competition.

        That is the Party System as it exists to-day, and by it the House of
        Commons has been rendered null, and the people impotent and without a
        voice.
        ”

        Any typos/gaps etc are down to the PDF file.

      3. The print is large and it is not a difficult read. With a tight font it would be half that number of pages, maybe fewer.

      4. The print is large and it is not a difficult read. With a tight font it would half that number of pages, maybe fewer.

  42. King Edward.
    .
    Complement:
    48 (23 dead and 25 survivors).
    Ballast

    About 02.40 hours on 27th December 1942 the Empire Union and Melrose Abbey in convoy ONS-154 were torpedoed and sunk north-northeast of the Azores. About 03.10 hours, the Soekaboemi and King Edward were also hit. All ships must have been torpedoed by U-356 (Günther Ruppelt), which was herself lost after the attacks.
    19 crew members and four gunner from King Edward (Master James Herbert Ewens) were lost. The master, 15 crew members and four gunners were picked up by the Toward (Master Gordon K. Hudson) and landed at Halifax on 9th January. Five crew members were rescued by HMCS Napanee (K 118) (Lt S. Henderson, RCNR) and landed at St. Johns.

    Type VIIC U-Boat U-356 was sunk on 27th December 1942 in the North Atlantic north of the Azores by depth charges from the Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Laurent and the Canadian corvettes HMCS Chilliwack, HMCS Battleford and HMCS Napanee. 46 dead (all hands lost).

    https://uboat.net/media/allies/merchants/br/king_edward.jpg

    2. If it’s the same thing we’ve got, you have our sympathies. Mine arrived on Christmas Eve and has got steadily more unpleasant.
      HG has had it for over a week now, and doesn’t seem to have reached the worst yet.
      Good luck.

      1. I’v been coughing & regurgitating ever since we arrived, but thanks to copious alcohol cures, it’s mostly over now.
        Go home Friday. Bugger.

          1. At in-laws, Instow, by Bideford, returning home tomorrow via Bristol and Schiphol.
            No dramas, just had a cold the whole visit.

        3. Caught it on your way to the UK and you’ll be the spreader on the way home. Germs and viruses have to live too.

      2. That’s the one I had. Slow to get going – a week at least – and slow to depart. Two months in total, mine arrived last week of November and I am still coughing from time to time. It comes and goes. Worse in the evenings. I blame China….

      3. If it’s the same thing I’ve had, I’m lucky. Dry cough a fortnight ago. Nose unaffected. Cough became more productive. Started to feel better by Sunday. Monday, had email from churchwarden saying that she’d tested positive for Covid. Ordered LFT tests from Amazon. Wouldn’t have bothered, but we were due to sing carols at a local care home. Before LFTs turned up, couldn’t taste Weetabix or tea. Test confirmed it. Better now, and wondering why we crashed the economy for “Covid”…

        1. It’s a strange one.

          My eyes are watering like mourning, when I sneeze, which is a frequent occurrence, I see flashes in the eyes and they hurt.
          Last night I doubt I slept for more than 20 minutes at a time.
          The cough is just starting to stir.

          I wonder if the Covid bug is breeding with the old fashioned cold virus.

          1. Seeing flashes behind the eyes when you sneeze is due to the jelly like substance being pulled. It shouldn’t hurt. I suggest you see your optician in case there’s a problem with your retina.

        2. We’ve both got a dry cough – his started a couple of days ago, mine during last night.Throat not really sore now and not coughing much. Nothing much coming from nasal passages. I haven’t lost my sense of taste and smell – not yet anyway. Will see how we are tomorrow – I could do with an early night as I slept very badly. So was your test positive for covid? Neighbours have also had a bug but said it wasn’t covid.

  47. It’s grim out there! Friends set off from Penzance this morning at 9:30 am en route to London via A303 but have yet to reach Stonehenge…..

    1. We are in Somerset. Our daughter & husband were staying and left midday to go back to Surrey. It took three hours for a trip that is usually about 1hr45.

      1. The book I’m currently reading, “The Africa House” by Christina Lamb (about Stewart Gore-Browne in what we now call Zambia between 1914 & 1967) discusses how they get the post out to literally the middle of nowhere (no roads) every 2 weeks pre-WW2 and post WW2 how they develop the air routes to get the post out there. Can you imagine. What we have now, as might be said, is a “failure of imagination”. To get anything done.

    3. The 303 is always better in the dark because the traffic isn’t held up by rubberneckers slowing down to look at the pile of old rocks.

      2. They should travel about 88 miles further east and gawp at the revolting massive pile of old rocks, concrete, tarmac and glass desecrating that disgusting area within the bounds of the M25.

      3. This is true. Similarly, when I was in East Anglia, the A1065 skirted around RAf Lakenheath. It wasn’t uncommon for someone in front to slam on the brakes, in the middle of the road, to watch a fighter take off.

        1. There is a safari park near Barrow In Furness. When I worked at the gas terminal, I often returned to my digs in Ulverston via the A590, next to the park. They had to plant some very tall trees to stop drivers from slowing down to see the exotic animals, often leading to rear end shunts.

    4. The train I was booked on from York was cancelled but an earlier one that was actually an hour and a half late came in a few minutes after I got to the station and I was advised to just jump on that one. Found a free seat in standard class and sat next to a Scots woman who was well peed off. She’d got to Edinburgh Waverley for a 9 am departure and was not impressed to be arriving at Kings Cross at 3.25 pm. For me, that was just an hour fifty from York but I sympathised, especially as she then had to go to Waterloo for another train, to Guildford.

      1. Good thinking but it’s a new car that can’t go any faster than the traffic in front of it!

        1. No one will ever be capable of imitating Elvis Presley. Just as no one will ever be capable of imitating Leonard da Vinci, Johann Sebastian Bach, William Shakespeare or Donald Bradman.

      2. I was taking the recycling bins out last night, when next-door-neighbour came out and said “they’re not collecting till Wednesday”. “Yes”, I said. “That’s tomorrow morning”

        1. As i spent the 23rd and 24th in bed i lost track too. Kept looking at my clock and thinking ‘oh why can’t the weekend end !’ I thought it must be over by now…it was 10am Sunday morning. :@(

        3. Mine would normally be collected on Wednesday, but since we are a day out with Christmas, they’ll be collected tomorrow, Thursday.

  50. Just in case anyone hasn’t seen it i recommend ‘The Last Bus’ starring Timothy Spall. It is on iplayer. My throat is so tight and the tears streaming down my face i can hardly speak.

    1. He read, well acted really, the final reading for the Dickensian carol service at Barts last week. The passage at the end of A Christmas Carol where Scrooge emerges as a reformed character.

      1. I have admired Timothy Spall since I first saw him as the boring Brummie carpenter, Barry Taylor, in Dick Clement and Ian la Frenais’ Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, back in 1983.

        He was also superb in numerous productions, my favourites being him playing Britain’s last hangman, Albert Pierrepoint in Pierrepoint, Peter Taylor in The Damned United and many more. I have yet to see him playing JMW Turner in Mr Turner.

        The Last Bus will be watched in the next week.

          1. He was also in ‘My House in Umbria’ acting against Maggie Smith. Though i enjoyed it a lot they could have given his role a bit more umph.

        2. He was brilliant in a comedy about a cricket club, with Brenda Blethyn (also excellent) called ‘Outside Edge’!

          1. We have such fantastic character actors that play superb roles and hardly any of them would have even been considered in America because of the way they look.

        4. He was brilliant in The Knight of the Burning Pestle performed by The Royal Shakespeare Company performed it in 1981, with Timothy Spall in the lead.[

        5. When Auf Wiedersehen, Pet was on, I was working on the City Centre Redevelopment in Carlisle, the Lanes. While Laing originated in Cumbria, this project was entrusted to the NE region. Several of the team were dead ringers for Auf Wiedersehen characters.

          What fun…

    2. You sod, Fizz, we just watched it

      Must have been a bad recording, it went all blurry at the end

  51. There’s a lovely production of HMS Pinafore on Sky Arts. An all white cast in good voice and costumes of the right period. G&S would recognise it as theirs.

  53. Last evening we were sitting at a very large dining table, in a massive and characterful old Swedish farmhouse, being treated to a traditional English Christmas Dinner.

    Last June we became acquainted with an expat Englishman, Andy, who had moved to Skåne 43 years ago with his Swedish wife, Karin, where they started farming on a smallholding scale (vegetables, eggs and honey). On that occasion we had been invited to dinner at the summer home of mutual friends, Madeleine and Christer. Andy and Karin invited us to attend their annual Boxing Day turkey roast, an event they have put on for the past 42 years. Andy is not a huge fan of Swedish Christmas fare so uses the opportunity to remind himself of his roots.

    Also in attendance were a German couple: Suzanne, a retired music teacher, and Karl-Heinz, a retired concert violinist and a former director of the Berlin Philharmonic. Later in the evening Karl-Heinz treated us to an impromptu solo on a provided violin A Swedish couple, Magnus and Mia, were also in attendance with their late-teen university-bound daughters, Elisa and Cajsa. Although I was the only non-multilingual individual of the ten people present, English was spoken all evening, which made for a relaxed and convivial atmosphere.

    Andy had roasted a turkey and presented it with forcemeat balls, roasted spuds, Brussels sprouts, green beans, carrots, “pigs-in-blankets”, gravy and cranberry sauce. Much later he emerged from kitchen, lights dimmed, with a blazing Christmas pudding. This was followed by a massive English trifle (which had to be explained to the non-English guests).

    Since I was the designated driver, I only had one small glass of red wine, choosing to drink water for the rest of the meal. The evening was a roaring success, the company were erudite and delightful, the food was delicious and everyone enjoyed the event. This was the first time I’ve actually eaten turkey in over 40 years. I have previously found it to be a dreadfully boring, dry and flavour-free meat. I was, therefore, quite astonished to discover that when it is properly marinated first, with copious amounts of butter injected into the flesh prior to roasting, just how delicious it can be. Quite a Damascene epicurean moment.

    1. Congrats, Grizz. I eschewed turkey this year, since my sense of taste has yet to return, post Covid. But it doesn’t have to be dry and tasteless. There’s a view that roasting it upside-down improves the final result.

      Anyway, I was Johnny-No-Mates on Christmas Day. After two very well-attended services, led at short notice by the Bishop of Dorking, one not-even-parishioner mentioned that she was invited to the Rectory for lunch. “Where are you going, now?” “Home”, was the response. Under previous incumbents, I was invited to the Rectory for Christmas lunch on several occasions. No longer.

      A Co-op Roast Chicken Dinner sufficed. In this part of leafy Surrey, Amazon offers three grocery options, usually same day. Fresh (their own operation, based near Frimley Park Horse Spittle). Morrisons’ Woking branch, and now the Co-op, which, being on this side of Guildford, is the nearest source.

      I’ll remember the butter for next year…

      1. There are ups and downs of being on your own during the festive seasons. The worst downer is imagining everyone else having a fabulous time with great company, but that is far from true.

        1. Indeed. For me, most Christmas Days, especially since moving to Sweden 12 years ago, have been quiet affairs at home.

          1. I was away visiting friends this Christmas Day; the first time since I was a student in the ’70s. I am very happy to be home with just the dogs for company.

      2. Thanks, Geoff. Keep your fingers crossed that you start to get invitations to Rectory dinners again in the future as you did in the past. I have occasionally enjoyed my own company on Christmas Day, and often just in the company of one other.

        Hope you soon regain your sense of taste.

        2. Taste is coming back. My first solo Xmas was in the first lockdown. Had, and enjoyed, sardines on toast. I’ve spent the last few Christmasses with former neighbours, but they have elderly parent issues, and are rushed off their feet taking Mum to see Dad in the care home.

          Previous Rector was forever invited to meals around the parish. Current one doesn’t seem to like us Surrey types very much, and largely eschews invitations. I kind of agree, to a point. But we’re all different, and he does good sermons, and is anything but woke. So not all bad, then.

      3. “There’s a view that roasting it [the turkey] upside-down improves the final result.” Is it equally successful if you roast it in the normal way, but eat it standing on your head? Lol.

        Seriously though, Geoff, sorry to hear that you weren’t invited to lunch at the Rectory. I am quite the opposite, perfectly happy to enjoy Christmas Day all on my own. In the past I have had to refuse invitations from friends who are convinced that I will be desperately unhappy if “Home Alone”. I guess it is a result of early family Christmases when there was so much bickering and talking over each other. Being on your own means that is not the case.

        Incidentally, I was invited to coffee and nibbles on the 22nd of December this year. I lost track of how often I was asked questions, followed by people refusing to listen as I started to reply but instead barging in with their own points of view. And the hostess topped up my coffee cup and gave me milk, but – unlike the first cup – there was no sign of sugar. This really is not a whinge, Geoff, just to show why I am perfectly happy spending Christmas on my own. And to show how listening is a little practised skill.

    4. Lovely description, Grizz! Berliner Fiharmonika, eh… Wow!
      Believe turkey is a blank canvas upon which you assemble the flavours desired – by marinading, as you suggest, Grizz. And adding sauces… as SWMBO does.

    5. Sounds like a great day and pleased you enjoyed it. For me there is nothing like a proper English Christmas. Its how the turkey is treated before it is cooked is the key as I found out when we lived in Norfolk.

  55. One of my Christmas presents was two tickets for Exbury Gardens:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/efe4f2336a88cd1e809435f51677c2579048d5e111842dd15f5ecc33978dd0be.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/62fdb476f79a376a4ccdd67340716a582e27021722eec65debdec501fcae971f.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/11458a9fbeb3673f78c7c33eefb0e377d974315331dc60d6652af91f83dacb2b.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cf2bc71f27a447c224c4b43823eedd2b62d95af615e1c2574849d2b6a89bca51.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ace306777f0bda2050318be40e615300d9555c563d952847b2b18619d1bbaee5.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a50d935479d63eee103f96ab8235656e1c3d2701e9d392baa40f532ce5c31734.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9c6074d4ec2a66463d92046b72b7a0567bc4a6906c21057834737ca04189e00b.jpg

      2. I got lost in a rhododendron once.
        Army cadet on orienteering, didn’t want to go round, so went through & got lost.

    1. OK, Mary, you win, I’m told there’s a good play on at Ford’s tomorrow, called A Shot in the Dark, or something.”

  57. Pheeeee-ew.
    Just staggered through the door after an eleven hour drive back from Glasgee, fifty miles of M6 through mosonn level rains at 15mph is no joke.

    First thing after walking through the door – fed PCs.
    Second thing – poured myself a JD and coke. I think I’ve earned it.

    4. I spent the first 30 years of my life in the Glesca area and the only time I heard it referred to as Glasgee was by Mike Read when he was on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show..

  58. Evening, all. The problem with the emotive headline is that it won’t stop at that, as we’ve already seen with abortion. Soon, it will be shuffling off all those who are inconvenient, either to their families or because they hold opinions the government doesn’t like.

    2. I still would like the choice of my time to go, when I’m either in intense pain (strong painkillers are all very well and might be well be a choice of departure) or in a totally undignified situation (no bowel control for example) and need constant care, then I want a way out.

      Overdosing gently with opiates gets my vote. I remember in July 1984 sitting by my dad’s bedside in hospital as he was slowly and painfully dying of liver cancer that had spread like wildfire. When he was semi-conscious, all he groaned about was stopping the pain. In tears, I asked a nurse, “Can’t you do anything to help him stop suffering?” She was shocked, or pretended to be shocked when I mentioned overdosing, but he died 2 hours later.

      1. I wonder if the ‘Liverpool pathway’ is still bring used.
        Some years ago my mother in law had been ill for sometime.
        We were sitting alongside her bed she was barely conscious. We were asked by the nurses to wait outside while they ‘made her more comfortable’. Within half an hour of sitting back alongside her bed she had quietly slipped away.

          2. We’re ok thanks! Having a quiet time while the two sons visit their father. They’ll be back later today and then tomorrow the younger one has his 50th birthday. Husband has a stinking cold and cough – I got it too but I think it’s on the way out. Not coughing so much now.

          3. Oh dear there seems to be a lot of illness about tis year.
            We had lunch at our eldest’s Christmas day, his in-laws were both there as well.
            And all the family six extra adults, came to ours Boxing day. Also one of my nieces, with her three teenage daughters over from Cape Town came to see us, with a focus on our four grand children. Staying with her mother, my eldest sister about a mile from us. Crowded house for a few hours but lovely to see them.

          7. That is how my mothers life ended in the hospice.

            Once we agreed that the objecive was to just keep her comfortable, she was put into a deep sleep and never woke up again. It took a few days but as far as we could tell there was no suffering.

      2. Lord, MM. The description of your Father passing has reduced me to tears. I’m sorry his last moments were that way.
        I was too far away for the similar scene with my Father, was too late by about an hour, but I firmly believe a nurse or some other kindly soul opened the morphine taps for him, he went down so quickly.

        1. I hope so, but at present, it would be illegal I imagine. My brother had been present at my mum’s demise in 1979 at her home. Massive heart attack. Shocking for my brother, but a swift death for her and hopefully the pain didn’t last too long.

      3. My Mum was taken into hospital, aged 89. She was more or less paralysed, but had managed to get from her bed, down the stairs to the hall. She had managed to phone me, and i elicited the help of a neighbour. Ambulance followed. I drove as fast as possble from Surrey to Carlisle. At the Cumberland Infirmary, I was told she had secondary cancer in the neck, and one false move would finish her off. They shipped her off to Newcastle General that night. Following morning, a consultant said “we can treat this aggressively, of we can make her comfortable”. Since she was by this time mostly blind and immobile, I opted for the latter. Her quality of life had deserted her. I don’t know the details, but the whole process was over within a week.

          1. Could have been much worse, Paul. I lived 300 miles away, and the prospect of managing that over several weeks or months didn’t bear thinking about. My point is that suffering can be ended, with sensitive care.

        3. ‘To make someone comfortable’ is code for killing them off under sedation, whilst avoiding any liability.

          1. At Odeon Cinemas staff were told to tell the Duty Manager that “Mr Alert has asked to see you” which was meant to be code for “There is a fire in the building”. I preferred to use the more sensible code of “Mr Sands would like to see you”. Fancy saying “Mr Alert” – you might as well have said “Mr Fire wants to see you”.

    3. Evening Conners, i hope youve had a decent and pleasant Christmas.
      There are also many people needlessly suffering right now, who are probably nowhere close to death, but are suffering because nobody really cares. Treatment for so many painful and longstanding problems is being shoved aside or being totally ignored. And quite often one thing leads to another.

      1. Kadi got bitten by one of the bitches in my friend’s pack, but I had a good time 🙂 It wasn’t his fault, but if I have to take him to the vet because it won’t heal up it will have been an expensive day out.

          1. It was uncharacteristic of him, too. He’d been sitting behind my chair and not moving, but suddenly he betook himself to wander off. She must have resented his entering her territory (she was a bit unpredictable at the best of times). He’s got a gash on the back of his neck. I suspect she clamped her teeth on him and he pulled away. The other four salukis and two Afghans were perfectly well behaved. Oscar slept through it all.

          2. Hope Kadi’s wound heals quickly. Packs of dogs or even a pair of dogs can have odd reactions to an ‘interloper’.

            My Oscar is suspicious and cautious near Alsatians, singletons as well as worst case scenario, Alsatian club gatherings. I confess to feeling he has reason to be.

          3. Charlie (border terrier x cairn) used to loathe Rottweilers with a passion. They used to look at him and think, “what the ..?”

    4. Try the Canadian way. Cannot get treatment for cancer, try the new assisted death service!

      Yes it is happening and the politicians don’t seem to care.

  59. Back from the family curry cookoff

    Yay victory was mine for the sag aloo

    ‘Night All

    Leave you with Konvid Kitties

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0c27d17d87d1e65ed8c877410a95d88dc813e2a092c7ec00427151be59cf9c3e.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2e391bd516d111727b6e709162b6eb55b44d69b984795676b1b37f52b9a8230a.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ad3b094e924107be9a3bc83b78d9e1d06715857155a9e28e1e3a1d7024f3488f.png
    Yes,life really was that batshit crazy……..

      2. 26 in service with the RN at one time plus 12 Rothesay class. Makes today’s Navy look pitiful.

          1. In the late 70s, I was stationed in Verden, near to Bremen. Consequently, the Navy came to us on courtesy visits to Germany. I recall some great err social events with the crews of Juno and Diomede.

  63. I think I’ll slide off now.
    Watching an ‘adaptation’ of Murder is easy. Adaptation appears to mean a lot of Diversity.
    Bored already.
    Night all. 😴

      1. Fitting certain people into positions on TV because of their origins has become more annoying than ever. If you get the chance take a look at doctor who. The title of the programme has never been more appropriate. 007 will be next. It’s all becoming rather annoying and they know it.

        1. It’s why I no longer watch anything but the racing or old films (even the racing is celebrating “diversity”, but as I record it, I can whizz through that and avoid the propaganda without missing anything of importance).

  66. Well that’s me for another day, chums. Hope to see you all in the morning. Sleep well.

  67. Goodnight, all. The Rayburn is stoked and I’m about to put the hot water bottles in my bed so I can snuggle up and listen to the wind howling outside.

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