Wednesday 28 December: Cynical energy companies are hoarding customers’ cash with impunity

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

549 thoughts on “Wednesday 28 December: Cynical energy companies are hoarding customers’ cash with impunity”

  4. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, two stories today to make up for hiding in bed yesterday:

    Holy Prostitutes

    A man is driving down a deserted stretch of highway when he notices a sign out of the corner of his eye. It reads:

    SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION – 10 MILES

    He thinks this is a figment of his imagination and drives on without second thought. Soon he sees another sign which reads:

    SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION – 5 MILES

    Suddenly he begins to realise that these signs are for real and drives past a third sign saying:

    SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION – NEXT RIGHT

    His curiosity gets the best of him and he pulls into the drive. On the far side of the parking lot is a stone building with a small sign next to the door reading:

    SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS

    He parks the car, climbs the steps and rings the bell. The door is answered by a nun in a long black habit who asks, ‘What may we do for you, my son?’

    He answers, ‘I saw your signs along the highway and was interested in possibly doing business…’

    ‘Very well, my son. Please follow me.’

    He is led through many winding passages and is soon quite disoriented. The nun stops at a closed door and tells the man, ‘Please knock on this door.’

    He does so and another nun in a long habit, holding a tin cup answers the door. This nun instructs, ‘Please place $100 in the cup then go through the large wooden door at the end of the hallway.’

    He puts $100 in the cup, eagerly trots down the hall and slips through the door pulling it shut behind him.

    The door locks, and he finds himself back in the parking lot facing another sign:

    GO IN PEACE. YOU HAVE JUST BEEN SCREWED BY THE SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS.

    SERVES YOU RIGHT, YOU SINNER
     
    The Blind Cowboy

    An old, blind cowboy wanders into an all-girl biker bar by mistake.

    He finds his way to a bar stool and orders a shot of Jack Daniels. After sitting there for a while, he yells to the bartender, ‘Hey, you wanna hear a blonde joke?’

    The bar immediately falls absolutely silent.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1130daf5d327b72247d96401062c99777336ea172f982474ef3f94759620d2ea.jpg

    In a very deep, husky voice, the woman next to him says, ‘Before you tell that joke, Cowboy, I think it is only fair, given that you are blind, that you should know five things:

    1. The bartender is a blonde girl with a baseball bat.

    2. The bouncer is a blonde girl with a ‘Billy-Club’.

    3. I’m a 6-foot tall, 175-pound blonde woman with a black belt in karate.

    4. The woman sitting next to me is blonde and a professional weight lifter.

    5. The lady to your right is blonde and a professional wrestler.

    ‘Now, think about it seriously, Cowboy. Do you still wanna tell that blonde joke?’

    The blind cowboy thinks for a second, shakes his head and mutters…

    ‘No, not if I’m gonna have to explain it five times.’

  7. 369390+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Tis easy seeable collusion leaving you the choice if you don’t like it don’t use it.

    ALL in the repress, replace, RESET new order, next stage to expect is as the cost of living bills mount so, in line does the crime rate right across the board, simple burglary will lead to aggravated assault, paedophilia, murder.

    Well meant advice, with direct debit read the small print on over payments.

    Wednesday 28 December: Cynical energy companies are hoarding customers’ cash with impunity

    1. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/26/energy-firms-hoard-2bn-customers-cash/

      “Energy firms hoard £2bn of customers’ cash

      Direct debit payments rise even when bill-payers are thousands of pounds in credit, investigation shows

      Ben Smith 26 December 2022 • 9:00pm

      Energy companies are hoarding nearly £2 billion of customers’ cash amid the cost of living crisis, The Telegraph can disclose.

      Gas and electricity suppliers are raising customers’ direct debit payments even when they are thousands of pounds in credit, an investigation has found.

      Some companies have been accused of using the money as a cheap source of finance whilst many British households struggle to make ends meet.

      On Monday Christine Farnish, a former board member of Ofgem, the energy regulator, criticised the watchdog for allowing firms to behave in this way.

      Writing exclusively for The Telegraph, Ms Farnish – who quit earlier this year in a row over changes to the way the energy price cap is set – said: “Energy firms are allowed to put their metaphorical hand into a customer’s pocket and use advance customer payments to fund their own businesses.

      “It’s my guess that hard-pressed families have no idea that part of their energy direct debits are used to provide cheap financing for their supplier, rather than actually paying for energy consumed.”

      Energy bills have nearly doubled over the last year, going from an average of £1,277 a year in Oct 2021 to £2,500 currently. The true cost is even higher, but is being held down by government support.

      Bills have surged as the war in Ukraine has led to higher prices for gas, which is used to generate about a third of Britain’s electricity.

      Customers have been encouraged to cut their energy usage to save money. However, some providers have increased some users’ direct debits even if they are in substantial credit, an investigation found.

      The Telegraph is aware of more than a dozen households whose energy companies have put up their monthly payments automatically, even though they are more than £1,000 in credit.

      One customer, who handed EDF more than £2,300 for energy she has not yet used, said she had barely turned her heating on this winter but still faced an increase in payments. After being contacted by reporters at The Telegraph, the company apologised and lowered the customer’s payments.

      This advance payment is almost the same as the average household’s annual energy bill under the Government’s cap.

      The revelation comes as customers face a huge increase in energy costs, with some households saying they can no longer afford to heat their homes.

      The Telegraph analysed companies’ most recent financial statements and used their “deferred income” as a proxy for customer credit balances, where no more granular detail was given.

      This same methodology was used in a recent report from analysis firm Oxera, commissioned by Ofgem and published on the watchdog’s website. Reporters also obtained information from well-placed industry sources.

      Centrica, the owner of British Gas, held around £588 million of money that customers had paid in advance. Whilst it is the highest figure for any company, Centrica has stated that it “ringfences” these funds, so the money is not used as working capital.

      The Telegraph found that many firms, including Octopus and Ovo, held more than £100 million in customer credit. Shell held £45 million.

      Octopus said it does not use customer credit balances to fuel growth, but admitted that it does use some money to offset the bills that other customers have run up but are yet to pay.

      Shell uses customer credit balances as working capital, but said it does not rely on them and has access to the funding it needs from other sources.

      There are no rules preventing companies from using customers’ cash to keep their businesses running. In November, Ofgem said it thinks “allowing suppliers to use some of their customer credit balances for innovation, operating cash and hedging but not for riskier spending, like funding unsustainable growth, is the right balance”.

      However, the Oxera report – which examined how well Ofgem is regulating the energy market – found that many of the energy firms that have collapsed since last summer relied on customer credit balances to fuel growth.

      Several, including Avro and Utility Point, were so dependent on the money customers paid in advance that at points it accounted for more than 80 per cent of the firms’ total assets.

      Ofgem has now said firms must raise the alarm if customer credit balances account for more than half of their total assets – the point at which they are seen to be overstretched.

      None of the companies whose credit balances are disclosed in this article exceeded this threshold.

      The credit that British households build up with energy firms is protected if the firms collapse, but the cost of these failures is added to the energy bills of all British households.

      The collapse of 28 firms is predicted to have added £2.7 billion to UK energy bills – the equivalent of £94 per customer. It has also cost the taxpayer £6.5 billion to bail out Bulb.

      A spokesman for Ofgem said it consulted widely on its reforms, which strike “the balance between improving the energy retail sector’s resilience, keeping costs down for customers and encouraging innovation as we transition to home-grown cheaper energy”.

      It added: “Much of the feedback and analysis concluded that completely ringfencing credit balances would remove a large piece of working capital that would keep prices down for customers. Customers can still request their credit balance back from their supplier at any given time.”

      Octopus and Ovo said customers owe them more money than they owe to customers, and that those in credit can withdraw their funds at any point.

      A spokesman for EDF said that the company did not “use credit balances to fund our business growth” and that the regulator had recently concluded there “were ‘no significant issues’ with the way it manages its customers’ direct debit calculations”.

      Energy firms ‘have complete control and are earning interest on my money’

      When Stacey Dickens saw her energy direct debit had risen to £500 a month, her first reaction was panic.

      Despite it being winter, the business executive still has not turned on the central heating and has been using hot water bottles and a fire to keep warm.

      Her house in Skipton, north Yorkshire, is old and draughty, so throughout autumn she had been taking steps to keep her consumption down – or so she thought, until she saw money being taken from her bank account at the end of November.

      But when she contacted her supplier EDF, the situation became more confusing. Ms Dickens discovered she was more than £2,300 in credit – almost the same amount as the current energy cap, which is supposed to equate to the average annual bill. Why, then, had her monthly direct debit gone up again from £300 a month to more than £500?

      The customer service agent replied that prices had risen and asked for a reading, which she was unable to provide because she was calling from her parents’ house.

      She told them the bill increase did not make any sense, given that she effectively had many months usage in her account. But the company would not reconsider, instead telling her she should get a smart meter, which increased her frustration further.

      “They’ve got all these recorded messages about turning off the lights, closing the doors, have a shorter shower,” she told The Telegraph.

      “I’m doing all of that, but it’s not making no difference whatsoever because they are not basing the bill on how much I use but a forecast that is ridiculously out. I asked them to give the credit back, but they weren’t receptive at all”, said the 41-year-old.

      After being contacted by The Telegraph, the company apologised and lowered her payments to £200 a month.

      A spokesman said: “We’re sorry that estimated meter readings were used instead of Ms Dickens’ actual meter readings, which led to a further direct debit increase. We have now corrected this and have contacted Ms Dickens to say sorry, and to arrange setting her monthly payments at the right amount.”

      But despite this resolution, the investigation by The Telegraph has found evidence that what happened to Ms Dickens is not an isolated example. More than a dozen people in credit to a tune of more than £1,000 each have had their direct debits increased by their energy companies.

      Whilst it makes sense that the amount of money sitting in customers’ accounts will fluctuate during the year, with less energy being used in the summer and more in the winter, the issue of how companies are using the money has been the focus of some criticism.

      Ofgem has highlighted the potential for “customer harm” and asked whether firms are sufficiently resilient if they are dependent on their users’ money.

      In June, Jonathan Brearley, the organisation’s chief executive, said some companies were using the money “like an interest-free credit card”.

      Last year, Ofgem consulted on the idea to ringfence consumer money – an apparently sensible move, given either the taxpayer or energy customers generally end up footing the bill if a company goes bust.

      Surprisingly, given Mr Brearley’s earlier comment, the watchdog decided to scrap the idea in November, concluding that it would be “untargeted”.

      The chief executive of Centrica said the decision was “reckless” and an “abdication of responsibility by the regulator”. Unlike most energy firms, the company keeps customer credit balances in a separate account.

      Documents published by Ofgem show that, in November 2021, energy companies held £3.2 billion of customer money between them. However, many firms that were sitting on large sums of customer money have since collapsed, and Ofgem has refused to disclose how much is held by the remainder.

      However, the Telegraph investigation has now found that the figure stands at close to £2 billion, with the true figure probably much higher because it includes companies that only publish figures from the spring, when customer credit balances are at their lowest.

      Ofgem has said it will ask firms to report their customer credit balances each month and reserves the right to act if the figure exceeds half of the company’s total assets.

      “Instead of a complete ban, we’re setting a threshold to avoid suppliers overly relying on these credit funds,” it said in a statement. “Should suppliers not comply with our financial resilience rules, we are leaving open the chance to instruct individual suppliers to ringfence customer credit balances.”

      But although this might be of some comfort, for customers like Ms Dickens an energy company sitting on substantial funds seems to be unfair.

      “They have complete control and are earning interest on my money,” she said. “It’s almost £2,500 – I could put that in an ISA and earn money on it instead. I can cushion this – but for some people, especially [around] Christmas, it could be the final straw.” ”

      Edit: Cripes, my apologies: I didn’t realise it was this long.

      1. “Octopus and Ovo said… that those in credit can withdraw their funds at any point.” I am a customer of Octopus and on every monthly statement I receive I am reminded that I can withdraw funds and reduce my monthly repayments if I so wish. I think that a lot of this news report (and the headline) is pure sh1t stirring.

        1. Hi Elsie. My first thought was “propaganda”. Anything to shunt the blame on to the energy companies away from HMG. But customers need to be more vigilant and demand their money back or a change of DD. It’s very easy to become apathetic.

        2. That report may be a lot of things but it’s not news. It’s about a belt and braces approach by the power companies. They knew that the higher cost of energy would mean those households that pay their way would reduce their requirements thus reducing the profits to shareholders. Thus DD were increased and the profits status quo was maintained. Cut your energy needs and keep meter readings up to date, if they don’t reduce the DD request your money back.

  8. Putin bans sale of Russian oil to the West. 27 December 2022.

    President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday announced that Russia would ban the supply of oil to Western countries that have imposed a price cap.

    The G7 including the UK, the European Union and Australia agreed this month to a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil effective from Dec 5 over the war in Ukraine.

    The cap is close to the current price for Russian oil but well beneath the windfall price Russia was able to sell for this year and that helped offset the impact of financial sanctions on Moscow.

    Britain, the EU, the United States and others have already banned the import of Russian oil.

    I’m not an oil analyst but I’ll try and make some sense of this. If anyone has an alternative view or a better understanding I will be pleased to read it.

    You would imagine that banning the sale of something to someone who’s already banned buying it would be something of a fait accompli. Not so here. The amount of Russian oil on the market is second only to Saudi output and is essential to the world economy. Any attempt to ban its sale to the non-aligned countries (the vast majority) in the Ukraine War would meet fierce resistance not to say outright hostility. Moreover if such a policy were implemented, and successful, it would almost certainly collapse the World Economy. This attempt to Price Cap it is a way of limiting Russian income and not upsetting; in fact getting these people onside in the proxy war with Vlad. This result looks to me doubtful if only because it will also reduce the price of non-Russian oil. After all who is going to buy Saudi oil at $80 a barrel when Russian crude is available at $60 a barrel? Answer no one. In that sense it would probably increase the volume of Russian sales which would make up for the deficit in price. There is also the point that the rest of the world is watching these manoeuvres and like the seizure of Russian Foreign Currency reserves and the theft of Russian private property by the West must suspect that they might well be next. For these reasons this policy looks to me to be doomed to failure. Not just because the Russians may well find a way around it but because of its effect on the energy market. In simple terms it will actually raise the price for consumers. To European countries and populations already straining to pay their energy bills it may well be the straw that breaks the Camel’s Back!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/12/27/ukraine-russia-war-latest-ukraine-russia-war-latest-ukraines/

    1. Morning, Araminta.

      Which straw are you referring to? If it’s the one that finally wakes up the somnolent masses to exactly what their governments are up to i.e. deliberately breaking economies in readiness for the great criminal acquisition of the people’s assets: then, wouldn’t that be a step in the right direction for the people? Something has to break if freedom is to survive; why not the metaphorical camel’s back? Then, after the dust has settled we can go after the instigators and break them.

    2. AFAIAA India has been buying Russian oil and selling it on to ‘The West’. Does this mean they purchase at $60 and sell at $80, or do they pay Russia a fair share of the ‘profit’?

      On a minor point, the report says, ‘The G7 including the UK…’. I take it that this is just churnalistic tautology, as if it didn’t ‘include’ the UK it wouldn’t be the G7. Apparently, there wasn’t time or space to mention how BRIC are reacting to this nonsense. Which may become more pertinent as ‘The West’ carries on poking the bear whilst protecting Biden’s laundry and bioweapon labs by continuing to through billions at Zelensky’s off shore accounts.

  9. Good morning.
    I just watched the Dr John Campbell video that Korky linked yesterday.
    It seems that Rishi Sunak was a founding partner in some investment fund a few years ago.
    It invested 500 million in Moderna.
    On the strength of Moderna’s one single product that has been brought to market (the covid jab), they now appear to have a ten year contract from the British government to supply mRNA vaccines, paid for obviously by taxpayers, and on the strength of this, are building a factory that can produce 240 million of these things a year in the UK.
    The details of Moderna’s agreement with the government are confidential.
    As Dr Campbell says, none of this constitutes evidence of any criminal activity, however, it does not look good.
    https://rumble.com/v228o3u-moderna-goes-global.html

    1. Morning BB. Just because something is not actually illegal does not mean that it is right!

        1. Time for another airing; nobody, but nobody, in Westminster is now capable of such a speech.

          “It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice. Ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government. Ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

          Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess?

          Ye have no more religion than my horse. Gold is your God. Which of you have not bartered your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?

          Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defiled this sacred place, and turned the Lord’s temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices?

          Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance.

          Your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse this Augean stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this House; and which by God’s help, and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do.

          I command ye therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place.

          Go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors.

          In the name of God, go!”

    2. Whatever happened to conflict of interest? And his father-in-law’s ownership of Infosys, which will get the contract for CBDC? Sunak is in these dirty dealings up to his neck. It’s not a PM’s salary of the United Kingdom he is interested in, it’s how he can make the occupancy of that position work for him and his family.

  10. Good Moaning.
    I suspect many NOTTLers have had experience of this.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/26/ministers-talks-axe-housing-contract-soldiers-families-left/

    “Ministers in talks to axe housing contract for soldiers after families left in mould-infested homes

    Hundreds of Armed Forces personnel were forced to speak out about the ‘scandalous’ living conditions they have endured this winter

    By Danielle Sheridan, Defence Editor26 December 2022 • 8:47pm

    Ministers are in talks to axe the housing contract for military accommodation after families were forced to spend Christmas in mould-infested homes.

    The Telegraph understands that Alex Chalk, the minister for defence procurement, said the Government “may well scrap the contract” that was awarded to Pinnacle Group by the Ministry of Defence in 2021.

    The minister, who has been in post since October, is also said to have instructed the Ministry of Defence’s Permanent Secretary to conduct an internal investigation into how the contract was signed off.

    It comes after hundreds of Armed Forces personnel were forced to speak out about the “scandalous” living conditions they have endured this winter, from broken boilers to no running water. Others have told this newspaper how they have been on hold for hours – some with sick children – waiting to speak to someone at Pinnacle, only to be told it is not possible to send someone out to help.

    ‘Heard horrendous stories’

    Heledd Kendrick, founder of the Recruit For Spouses social enterprise, said: “This is one step too far. When a military family is hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away from friends and family, potentially with a serving member deployed or away during Christmas, the least that should be provided is a number to call who can help with any urgent housing issues. We have heard some horrendous stories over the last few weeks and young children’s lives have been put at risk as a result of weak leadership and planning and it’s just not good enough.”

    Ms Kendrick said families felt as if they had been “blatantly ignored”, despite some living in freezing conditions with “mould growing everywhere”.

    The £144 million contract awarded to Pinnacle, which serves families living in 49,000 military properties across the country, came into force in April this year.

    The property management provider, whose company’s accounts record its highest paid director as earning £320,000 in 2021, up from £291,000 the previous year, is the main point of contact for families to report issues with their accommodation. All property maintenance is then outsourced to VIVO and Amey, who subsequently employ local tradespeople to carry out the repairs.

    Earlier this month Mr Chalk told the Commons that the MoD was of the view that contractors were failing to meet their requirements and said a “rectification plan was imposed” in September. He also addressed that Pinnacle only had 14 people working in its call centre – a figure that has now been increased to 60. One defence source added: “Clearly the way Pinnacle could provide it so cheaply was by not employing enough staff to man the phones.”

    On Dec 17, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace tweeted that he had “directed those responsible for accommodation services to up their game”.

    However, military families told the Telegraph many in their community were “staggered” it had taken until the 17th to publicly speak out on the issue.

    “It’s a bit odd,” one said.

    “Ben Wallace could have been more reassuring to people, reaching out to army families.”

    ‘Michael Gove has been fantastic’

    Lucy Thomas, a military wife who recently met with Michael Gove, whose Surrey Heath constituency has the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on its patch, along with other families to discuss the matters regarding Pinnacle’s issues. She said: “It shouldn’t take a constituency MP to have to be so active on the issue, but Michael Gove has been fantastic and made a huge difference to families.”

    It is understood that Mr Wallace “has applied a lot of pressure” and was “pushing hard” to solve the problems, however one military spouse from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, said the MoD had “signed an inferior contract, which presumably cost a lot less, with knowingly worse management standards”. She cited how the new contract downgraded the service level response time for loss of heating or hot water from being an “emergency” and warranting a response in 24 hours, to “urgent”, allowing a 48 working hours response. The Telegraph understands a senior civil servant warned the Defence Infrastructure Organisation at the time of the contract change that this would be an issue come the winter.

    Another defence source added: “There was a lack of proper due diligence as to whether the contract was right and the provider able to do it properly.”

    An MoD spokesman said: “£350 million has been invested over the past two years to improve service family accommodation, over and above maintenance costs, with over 14,000 homes receiving some form of upgrade. A further £176 million is being invested in the 2022/23 financial year for improvements to a further 20 per cent of homes most in need of them.

    “The defence secretary and defence ministers have met the CEOs of Pinnacle, Amey and VIVO, to make certain rapid progress is made to ensure the full provision of decent, liveable accommodation for our personnel and their families. The Ministry of Defence and all suppliers are in constant contact throughout the Christmas period.” “

    1. Morning Anne. This is just par for the course. Cross the Channel and a four star hotel awaits you. Born here, live like a dog!

    2. Typical bureaucratic incompetence.
      1. Phone Pinnacle to report the problem.
      2. Pinnacle put requests through to VIVO and Amey.
      3. VIVO and Amey subcontract to local companies. Look at Checkatrade?
      How much of the £144 million to Pinnacle and £350 million spend goes in administration fees. Most of it probably and very little to solving the problems.
      W⚓️s the lot of them.

      1. It used to be all done by a branch of Babcock Engineering.

        I wonder how many brown envelopes it took to get that changed.

    3. I may be missing something but I have never understood the reasoning, beyond supposedly saving money, for outsourcing.
      This is a photo I took at a TTC (Toronto Transport Commission?) historic vehicles open day in the summer. They are doing it properly.
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c10fc7e4ebf7a9963bd4ec716ab8a0a7ec7d4e90de5d42ad50ececd871d23e25.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7bbac91395b5c2621003dc722038e14350c317a8472ae254c8fe235ce22efcc2.jpg
      Keeping various jobs in-house surely provides better, more accountable services. When a school, or the LEA, near us in Kent (1980s) stopped directly employing cleaners, standards dropped sharply. Paid peanuts, got slovenly monkeys.

    4. £144M for this contract could be viewed as a gross abuse of taxpayers money. I’ll get my coat.

  12. Good morning, from another wet day on yer sarf coast.

    This article in today’s DT is typical of the pro-hydrogen and pro-manmade global warming lot, so rather than leave the explanatory note at the end I have placed it at the top:

    ” Dr Angela Needle is campaign director for Hello Hydrogen and director of strategy at Cadent”

    In other words, this is a puff-piece for the adoption of hydrogen in place of natural gas.  And now for the article:

    Heat pumps alone won’t save us from freezing in winter

    We will need to use gas in the future and we should be looking at low-carbon options like hydrogen

    ANGELA NEEDLE 27 December 2022 • 12:00pm

    The gas switchover of the 1960s and 1970s from Town Gas to Natural Gas was one of the greatest infrastructure challenges in this country’s history.

    At the time, a debate raged over whether to stick with coal-based gas or use the new North Sea resource. Arguments against natural gas ranged from saying it was too expensive, it was difficult to move around and it was more combustible.

    Fast forward 50 years and the same talking points are rearing their heads again as we discuss how to heat our homes for a greener future.

    The loudest voices will tell you the silver bullet must be heat pumps. They insist that all our homes should be heated and run only on electricity, supplied by renewable means. A no-brainer with no alternative required, they would have you think.

    The costs associated with upgrading the grid to accommodate the extra electricity is barely mentioned and the fact that around half of all electricity generated during the recent cold snap was with gas, because there was hardly a breath of wind, is conveniently overlooked.

    Proponents of heat pumps are certainly right to say they will have a major role in our future home energy system. But hydrogen also has an important role to play in offering people choice and security of supply.

    Heat pump supporters who believe there is no other way should ask themselves: why is the Government so insistent on talking about hydrogen if all our problems are solved by heat pumps? Why are the boiler manufacturers, who also produce heat pumps, welcoming discussion of hydrogen home heating?

    The issue with going all in on renewable electricity is that it can be vulnerable to shocks. Something else has to step in when there’s not enough wind. That something else has to be ready and waiting all the time.

    We will need to use gas in the future and we should be looking at low-carbon options like hydrogen.

    In December, the Government launched a consultation on whether all newly installed boilers – of which an expected 10 million will go into homes over the next decade – should be “hydrogen-ready”.

    This means they will be able to run on the natural gas we use today but will also be able to run on the hydrogen gas we could use in the future. They will cost the same, fit in the same spot and run in the same way as your boiler does now.

    In the Government’s own words, ensuring all new boilers installed from 2026 are hydrogen-ready is “a low regrets action in terms of impacts to consumers”.

    When Town Gas switched to Natural Gas, it took the industry a decade to roll out. Like the switch to HD TV or bringing mobile phone signals to all parts of the country, any mass change takes time.

    That is why it’s so important to start the conversation on hydrogen now, even if hydrogen-ready boilers won’t go on sale for a few more years.

    The industry is convinced now is the time to start the discussion. That is why we have come together to form the Hello Hydrogen collective because we know we cannot sit on our hands.

    We are made up of the UK’s gas networks, boiler and heat pump manufacturers, and energy organisations. All agree that continuing to use natural gas will not be an option if we are to reach our carbon emission targets.

    But we also know that we must bring consumers along with us if they are to embrace a future that no longer uses the blue flames we’ve been used to since the 1970s.

    We know reaching for the thermostat is virtually reflexive, getting a flame on the hob is expected and running a hot bath is much needed. Hydrogen can help to ensure these everyday activities continue to be as instant as they are now.

    However, not all in Westminster agree that hydrogen for home heating has a significant future. A recent report by the Science and Technology committee of MPs gave a more cautious view, saying its use in homes is likely to be
    “limited rather than widespread”.

    The reason it could be limited is because homes that use hydrogen are likely to be in so-called “industrial clusters” – sites where hydrogen will be made and used for high-energy industries. These hubs would cover as much as 40pc of homes connected to the gas network.

    So the question remains: what happens to those limited number of homes? Do they get a choice or must they only have a heat pump?

    And what do we say to those who cannot fit a heat pump or don’t have a spare £15,000 for the cost of one?

    The millions of households living in Georgian terraced homes or city centre flats will struggle to affordably fit a heat pump. Do we tell them to hold tight and a different electricity solution will come along?

    What should a landlord do when it comes to upgrading a boiler in their property? Hike rents to cover the cost of a heat pump? Or turn to a practical solution like a hydrogen-ready boiler?

    The point is this: we must have a choice. One glove will never fit all. We will need to look at all options and stop telling people they can only have one.

    The industry has a choice: continue to fit gas boilers or fit hydrogen-ready ones. We think doing the latter is a win-win situation and have already committed to the new boilers remaining the same price as current ones.

    I completely understand that change can be difficult for many. We are generally cautious of the new. We ask questions and want to gather information. We want ease and convenience.

    But without change, we would still be using Town Gas. And if we are ever to reduce the carbon emissions of the future – of which residential properties make up 26pc of all the UK’s emissions – we need to be open to debate, willing to work together and recognise that a future with choice is the only rational way forward.

    * * *

    The BTL posters are not happy, and understandably:

    Roger Brady 3 HRS AGO

    “We will need to use gas in the future and we should be looking at low-carbon options like hydrogen.”

    Last time I studied chemistry, hydrogen and carbon were entirely different elements.

    I suspect you meant carbon-dioxide, as a by-product of burning hydrocarbons: as if that were a problem.

    As you are clearly part of the anthropogenic global warming bandwagon, please answer a couple of simple questions:

    1. If the UK doubled its consumption of cheap, reliable hydrocarbons (coal, oil and gas) in 2023, by how much would the global temperature rise, in hundredths of a degree centigrade? (here’s a clue: the answer is zero).

    2. If that were to happen, what would the UK consumer save in electricity costs, given that the present tax subsidies for wind and solar power would no longer be necessary?

    (here’s another clue: lots).

    Your story, Angela: over to you.

    * * *

    I would add – the energy required to create hydrogen is at best only 50% efficient, and secondly its molecules are much smaller than those of natural gas, so losses on the existing network will be much greater and therefore much more dangerous.

      1. Let’s replay the destruction of the Hindenburg ad nauseam as a dire warning of the capability of hydrogen to go BANG!

      2. At least there will be a blast of heat if only for a short while.

        My glass is half full today. 😊

    2. Much as petrol these days contains 10% ethanol, is it not possible to mix hydrogen with natural gas, adjusting burners when doing so?

      1. Probably. They mix nitrogen at regasification plants to control the energy of the gas sent to users, so I guess it should be possible.

    3. What about rural dwellers who don’t have access to gas, we have to rely on oil or LPG (very expensive)

    4. “…But we also know that we must bring consumers along with us if they are
      to embrace a future that no longer uses the blue flames we’ve been used
      to since the 1970s….”

      Why? Who gave you that power to make people colder and unhappier? If you had a cheaper, better alternative then fair enough, but you haven’t. You’ve an appalling demand that we suffer solely so this useless government (of the last 30 years) can crow about ‘climate change’.

      Up yours.

    5. The woman read Environmental Science at Hull, then did a PhD in marine ecophysiology. Plus a few short courses on management.
      I could see her gleefully organising and marketing an ecofriendly deathcamp.

  13. Today’s leading letter:

    SIR – Your report (“Energy companies hoarding customers’ billions”, December 27) captures my experience exactly.

    I have been paying British Gas £270 for electricity by direct debit for many months. Last month I happened to check my account and found a credit balance of £900, and yet it was still billing me £270.

    I contacted British Gas and have had £900 refunded, but that is not the point. Why was it up to me to instigate the refund? The answer is obvious: British Gas must love the free cash.

    I contacted Ofgem to ask why this is allowed, as it is a cynical abuse of consumers. In essence it replied saying it is up to the energy companies to monitor credit balances and adjust as appropriate. Does anyone else think the energy companies might just have a policy not to bother giving back the billions of pounds they receive, especially when the regulator is going to let them self-regulate?

    Dave Jordan
    Chichester, West Sussex

    Oh dear, Mr Jordan; why are you not checking your monthly gas and electricity statement?  When if comes to energy cost, particularly since it became eye-wateringly expensive, I am as tight as a duck’s arse at 40 fathoms, and therefore I refuse to allow my provider (Shell) to borrow large sums from me interest-free.  Mind you, I had to threaten them with OFGEM and my MP, which probably made them howl with laughter initially, but it did the trick, and since then they have not made any further attempts to increase my DD until my usage and my payments are back in balance.

    1. It seems that the DT is also ‘at it’. A BTL Comment in the letters:

      P Lamb
      6 HRS AGO
      The Telegraph is being hypocritical in its report of the energy companies taking excessive amounts by direct debit. When my annual subscription was renewed yesterday, the monthly charge was increased (without prior notice) by 24%. The subscription department will be hearing from me (a subscriber for about 25 years and a regular reader for about 60 years) to cancel. The cost is too high for a publication whose editorial policy, all too often nowadays, does not concur with my own views

    2. Twice Octopus have tried to pressure MB into increasing his monthly DD.
      Twice MB has refused.
      We are currently roughly £1,000 in credit, which means we can keep warm in a rather minimalist Allan Towers.
      We send monthly readings.
      When – WHEN – we finally move, then we can review the situation in the spring when matters are clearer.
      It’s not exactly brain surgery.

      1. I’m flippin’ terrified. Our bill jumped from about £70 to over £170. Our useage hasn’t changed, it was solely down to market rigging by the state. Junior’s got a cold. I want to put the heating up to 20.5 – I can’t, because it’s too expensive. The warqueen is bundled in 2 jumpers. All to please a greedy, malignant, arrogant, deceitful state machine.

        The scam of climate change has got to end.

    3. I don’t do DD. That way I have control over what goes out of my account. I read my meter monthly and send in what I have used.

  14. Today’s leading letter:

    SIR – Your report (“Energy companies hoarding customers’ billions”, December 27) captures my experience exactly.

    I have been paying British Gas £270 for electricity by direct debit for many months. Last month I happened to check my account and found a credit balance of £900, and yet it was still billing me £270.

    I contacted British Gas and have had £900 refunded, but that is not the point. Why was it up to me to instigate the refund? The answer is obvious: British Gas must love the free cash.

    I contacted Ofgem to ask why this is allowed, as it is a cynical abuse of consumers. In essence it replied saying it is up to the energy companies to monitor credit balances and adjust as appropriate. Does anyone else think the energy companies might just have a policy not to bother giving back the billions of pounds they receive, especially when the regulator is going to let them self-regulate?

    Dave Jordan
    Chichester, West Sussex

    Oh dear, Mr Jordan; why are you not checking your monthly gas and electricity statement?  When if comes to energy cost, particularly since it became eye-wateringly expensive, I am as tight as a duck’s arse at 40 fathoms, and therefore I refuse to allow my provider (Shell) to borrow large sums from me interest-free.  Mind you, I had to threaten them with OFGEM and my MP, which probably made them howl with laughter initially, but it did the trick, and since then they have not made any further attempts to increase my DD until my usage and my payments are back in balance.

  15. SIR – Juliet Samuel (Comment, December 24) writes that the post-Covid tendency for over-50s to seek early retirement is a uniquely British trend. Might it have something to do with the punitive taxes imposed upon anyone earning a reasonable salary?

    Lifetime pension limits, the illogical IR35 policy, and cliff-edge marginal tax rates as high as 62 per cent are encouraging those who can manage without working not to work.

    The solution is entirely within the gift of the Treasury.

    Will Curtis
    Raydon, Suffolk

    Gosh, Mr Curtis; I reckon you are onto something here…

    1. See, the treasury just thinks you’re aselifh eater who should work solely to give them money.

  16. Dare we hope that the Letters Editor may have recovered his/her sense of humour?

    SIR – My mother, who at the age of 98 was about to have her second leg amputated, was asked by her caring surgeon: “Mrs Turner, would you like an epidural?” “That would be lovely,” she said, believing it to be an apéritif (Letters, December 27).

    Leaving the operating theatre to the nurses’ applause, she said she would have preferred her usual Guinness.

    Elizabeth McGovern
    Charlton, West Sussex

    Well done, Mrs Turner – stoicism is alive and well in your case!

    1. I still see people wearing them. I don’t think they understand that it protects us from them – not the other way around.

    2. Don’t we all feel like that ?

      Lords and political classes with the umbrellas, rubber boat invaders and the scrounging eternally lazy in the flat caps.
      Something else that the political classes have entirely effed up.

    3. All the wasters on 25,000 a year are whinging at the ‘rich’ because they look at their pay and think it’s not enough and think… I want someone else to pay for my life choices.

      Of course, the bloke on 50K, does not take home twice what the bloke on 25K does. The tax system is designed to rob you. The poorer bloke thinks ‘They’re rich, why shouldn’t they pay more?’

      But he forgets: the rich buy from him. If they haven’t got any money, then sales fall. He forgets that the higher earners pay for all his freebies.

      This is a forced dependency trap engineeered by Brown. Instead of simply cutting taxes, he wanted to force everyone into state dependency. If everyone is on welfare then you can better control them. Rather than just lifting everyone, Brown’s 28,000 pages of tax code rigged it to keep some people down and lift others up. He forced socialism. Hunt is ensuring the same. Such policies suit his machinations.

      It does not, never has, and will not work.

  19. I thought that the one-off “Detectorists” was brilliant.

    One thing puzzled me. At the start, there was a warning about “strong language”. I heard none, apart from “holy grail” – which, I suppose, is offensive to many people…(sarc).

    1. If you really want to be offended Bill you might have watched Myriam Magargoyle in Tasmamnia.
      My word she’s a (shonet) trouble stirring horror story.

      1. ‘Morning, Eddy. Nothing would persuade me to watch anything featuring a leading member of the Old Bag Society. Why we are bombarded with programmes about her is a mystery – unless of course she’s a man-hating lezzer….yes, that would be it.

        1. Having lived there, and traveled extensively. I just enjoy watching the wonderful scenery pass by.
          It’s being portrayed that she is actually driving the camper van vast distances.Thousands of miles.
          She’s bad tempered over 80, and probably can’t even see over the dash board.
          I can’t believe the ozzie traffic cop’s haven’t arrested her yet.
          Probably a known contaminant.

          1. She is quite horrible: repellant, even.
            She speaks nicely and her views chime with those of the meejah whores.

        2. I can’t imagine ‘it’ doing anyone any favours. She’s vile and appeals only to the Dopey Wokies.

    2. There were a few cusswords. Also a couple of bames who have been in the previous series. Fine acting, but metal detecting is a serious matter.

  20. Good morning all,

    Gale blew all through the night and this morning it appears to be just as energetic .

    Wind echoing down our chimney .

    So , the dogs tiptoed outside into the garden to do their early morning leg liftings , then hastily came back indoors to be towelled down .

      1. Morning Anne ,

        🙄
        Moh is still in bed , cough has taken its toll .. he is sleeping .. but will feel livelier once he has had a cup of tea.

        Jack spaniel has been prescribed Stugeron for his wobbly vestibular disorder , has Corvental for his lungs and heart and has a painkiller .. BUT he is amazingly stoic , he is eating , when the weather is fine he still enjoys a short walk , climbs the stairs to bed , follows me everywhere and is still clean .. and he still has strength of purpose .

  21. Morning all 😉 😊
    Not a Typical December day, wind and rain temps could reach double figures.
    I don’t think I’ll be going out today. Maybe take the kitchen compost and place it in the bin at the bottom of the garden……well someone has to.
    More Reminders to send another set of metre readings. I’m thinking of sending them a bill for this.

  22. A message for Phizzee. A couple of weeks before Christmas you posted the web address of a company that makes jigsaw puzzles from photos. I did one for my wife, of our daughter’s wedding three years ago. A picture of the bride and groom making their vows with the vicar, with a big stained glass window behind them. When my wife opened it, she went all weepy – so I think we can say that was a success!
    Thank you Phizzee.

  24. Good morning all. A tad over 2°C outside and it’s raining.
    Taking t’Lad back home today so no outside work planned.

    I had a bit of fun yesterday hacking my way across to where I’ve some sycamore stashed, about 40y of VERY thick brambles, and managed to get 7 goodly sized lumps of tree brought over before worsening rain stopped play.
    The tree it all belonged to came down into the pond 4 or 5y ago and a couple of years ago I gave the lad who acts as caretaker for the mill a hand in dragging the major bits out of the pond 2y.
    Still quite a bit to recover, but will need a chainsaw over there.

    Dr. Daughter & boyfriend departed off back to the wilds of Tyneside so we’ve a little more space in the house!

    Not a bad Christmas all in all, certainly not the disaster poor PoppiesMum had! I hope she has a better New Year!

    6. Perhaps all those people who got hot under the collar over “Asian” grooming gangs were correct.

      They would appear to be “Muslim” grooming gangs

        1. Quite, and that’s what caused the offense taken (rightly so) and created a beautiful distraction from the real cause:
          Islam and its treatment of women, particularly kafir women.

  26. I have just chased up my coal delivery which was ordered on 8th of December but not delivered as yet.

    I spoke to a very nice apologetic woman based in Sheffield , who explained they had been overwhelmed with orders .. etc due to the terrible weather , and their distribution networks .

    GUESS where the coal comes from , where it is mined…

    Azerbaijan … yes , true , Azerbaijan

    1. Hi Belle! You’ve certainly had your share of crummy service this Christmas time! In fact I think Jack has received the best treatment! How is he now? I’ve not been around much the past 3 days and not really caught up on things! Is your son any closer to getting an op? And is your OH still coughing? Chin up pet, and take care! 🌹

  27. This is from our Nov/Dec gas meter reading
    How to calculate the cost of gas from your meter reading.

    Meter units used 121
    Volume conversion factor × 2.83
    Metric units 342.4
    Volume correction × 1.022640
    Calorific value × 38.800
    Convert to kWh ÷ 3.6
    Energy Used 3,773.9 kWh

    That’s easy isn’t it.

    1. I noticed when I went to British Gas as my supplier they have bumped up the calorific value so that they can charge more. My bills this year have all been calculated at 40.0 whereas with my previous supplier it was between 38.9 and 39.8 being adjusted monthly.

  28. Radio 3 played the Cucku from Respighi’s The Birds earlier.
    I wonder how many other decrepit old codgers listening in had thoughts of “Going For A Song” with Arthur Negus?

    1. Aha! I heard it and thought now which tv programme used that as its signature tune? Thank you.

        1. It is all relative. At 15:02 UK mains electrical demand is 32.83 gigawatts, whereas in France they show 52.91 gw demand. Their electricity output is thus about 60% higher than that of the UK.
          Of course France still has industry with real jobs that add to the Gross National Income.

    2. Wind is providing 37% of our current energy demand of 33GW (as of 12.48Z) but that is with windmills running at 67% of their total capacity. Time to lob another lump or two in the CCGT plant for when the demand increases to 45GW in a few hours time.

      1. Don’t confuse “energy demand” with “electricity demand”. The grid watch chart is electricity, probably about a quarter of our overall energy usage which would include oil and gas.

    3. Wind is providing 37% of our current energy demand of 33GW (as of 12.48Z) but that is with windmills running at 67% of their total capacity. Time to lob another lump or two in the CCGT plant for when the demand increases to 45GW in a few hours time.

  30. The light is beginning to illuminate the dark recesses of the action of CV-19 boosters on the immune system.
    As I understand from reading a couple of articles one of the actions of the inoculated substance involves suppression of the aggressive IgG3 anti-body whilst promoting the much less aggressive IgG4 anti-body.

    Read Ivor Chudov’s article for the whole story.

    Booster Caused Immune Tolerance Explained?

      1. Lots of good links on the DS comments today on the uses of vaccinations as bioweopons and population suppressants.

    2. It’s a very good piece by Igor – he expains clearly in laymens’ terms a complicated subject.

      Email sent last week by a friend……..”Despite us both having had 5 jabs, Linda has been ill with Covid since early December, she is
      now recovering and testing negative.”

    1. Studies all show that a baby – of any sort – would prefer a mother who can hug it than one that can feed it.

      3. A male might prefer a female that he can fug and not heed.

        Whoops, mustn’t make dylsexic comments.

  34. Brexit and triple PM ‘disaster’ tested respect for democracy, says Commons speaker. 28 December 2022.

    Lindsay Hoyle tells of divisiveness of EU vote and ‘bizarre’ revolving door of ministers in 2022

    People’s respect for democracy has struggled in the aftermath of Brexit and throughout a year of political turmoil in which the UK was governed by three prime ministers, Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker of the House of Commons, has said.

    The Labour MP who keeps order in the Commons said Westminster had “never seen anything like it before” with the “disaster” of three prime ministers within three months.

    He said parliament had shown itself at its best in 2022 in its response to the death of the queen, which had been “very, very moving”. But people were disappointed with what went on in politics and were left “wondering what was happening to our democracy”.

    I won’t bother to quote Churchill. I’m sure Nottlers are acquainted with his views. I have plenty of respect for Democracy. I even like it! It’s just that there isn’t any left in the UK.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/dec/27/brexit-and-triple-pm-disaster-tested-respect-for-democracy-says-commons-speaker

    1. The struggle for democracy started when the people saw a HoC continue a campaign to ignore a democratic vote. Mainly Labour and Limp Dumbs but quite a few so called Conservatives. The same contempt for democracy was again on show when Sunak was imposed on the Conservative Party without a vote by its members.

    2. There is no democracy in this country. MPs are intentionally disobedient. Look at how Truss was ousted and Sunak imposed. Who voted for him? Who voted for Truss to be removed? Oh, the globalists. Then Lefty MPs.

      Certainly not the party or public. The entire thing is a farce. We have no say or control over the state. Look at Hunt’s budget. Our first response in a democracy would be ‘no, sod off, do it again.’

    3. I argued a whie ago that the Brexit vote result was much less importnt than that the result should be respected, as a simple yes-no vote, no nuancing or trying to balance one good against another as in a general election. It was democracy, and to disrespect the vote was to disrespect and deny democracy – a very serious position to take, akin to dictatorship. If the politicians, snivel serpents and others didn’t respect the vote and overturn it, then what else? Also, they then couldn’t come back when, on a “whim”, one of their pet cases was ignored and disrespected.

      1. MPs knew a Brexit referendum was risky, but believed that they could win it. The genius of Nigel Farage (IMHO) was that he forced politicians to support a referendum, when that was the last thing they ever wanted to allow the electorate.

    4. Minty, it is curious how the Guardian avoids mentioning Sir Hoyle’s knighthood.
      Also, according to wiki young Mr Hoyle was married in 1974 when he was 17.

        1. That wouldn’t be hard! The last few speakers (Gorbals Mick, anyone?) haven’t exactly been in the same universe as Betty Boothroyd.

      1. Every time now they say ‘small scratch’.
        Every time the word ‘prick’ runs through my mind.

    1. Drive a combine harvester through them.

      They’re here, and massing. If we don’t do something about them we’re in for hell.

    2. It seems to me that one day the violence will reach such a level that the authorities will deploy and order machine guns to be used.

      1. Tanks would be better. As used in the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The tanks rolled over the protesters back and forth until there was just pulp. Then hosed the mass down the drains.

    4. It takes people like Ghadaffi and Hussein to keep these savages in check. Europe is seeing its end days.

  37. From colonialism to Putin: what did Tucker Carlson defend in 2022? 28 December 2022.

    In 2022, amid a recurring cast of hysterical hosts and unhinged guests, there has been less petroleum, but one man still stands out. Tucker Carlson, as the most-watched host of the most-watched cable news network, holds rare influence over not just Republican supporters, but politicians, too. This year Carlson has been unafraid to wield that power, across issues including war, subjugation of continents and testosterone.

    It’s obviously evaded the Guardian but the reason Carlson enjoys this position is that he expresses views that they agree with but cannot find in the MSM!

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/dec/28/tucker-carlson-fox-news-2022-russia-putin-testosterone

  38. Good morning all, I’m late on parade as I was on my weekly shopping trip to Tesco Irvine. Thankfully, footfall was back to ‘normal’ levels for a Wednesday. My only gripe would be the number of drivers who trundle along at 35mph and save money by not utilising their lights on a dreich day.

      1. Obviously the resupply column had reached Irvine. A cornucopia of the usual delights and seasonal extras was available.

        1. I went to the Queen Mary parade a couple of times in Irvine. Mary of Scotland attended by her 4 ladies, all called Mary. Does it still happen?

    2. I used to live in Annick Road in Irvine 1989 – 95. I don’t think there was a Tesco there then

      1. There’s a large ‘out of town’ style, shopping centre which runs south from the railway station on the eastern side of the tracks. I only came back to the area in 2008 so unaware of when it was built. The Rivergate still exists.

        I use Tesco Irvine as I drive up from Prestwick, barely hit town traffic and I’m done and dusted within half an hour.

  39. Beeb headline:

    “Russian troops able to freeze sperm for free”

    I thought that was just the result of trench warfare in winter….?

    1. I saw online yesterday that their opponents really have dug trenches in Ukeland. Already turned to deep mud and the mud will freeze.

    1. Could there be some correlation between that and my phone not charging properly in the cold week before Christmas? It’s been ok since then.

      1. I am warned that my ancient mobile will not work in very cold conditions if left in the car.

          1. Sockets will provide the same number of wiggly bits regardless of temperature, as long as the source is still connected. Cold affects battery use but unless you were charging your phone in the fridge it shouldn’t make too much difference.

          2. It’s odd though – it only partially charged that week and i thought it was the beginning of a downturn in efficience of the aging battery. But since then it’s been back to normal.

          3. A cold battery struggles to charge or supply current, as the low temperatures adversely affect the chemical reactions involved.
            Many electric cars use heaters and coolers, driven from the traction battery, to give optimum performance in charging, and range.
            Same applies in smaller scale for phone batteries.

    2. Sue, my observation is that ev owners generally also have at least one internal combustion vehicle. An ev is good for commuting and attracts subsidies. Li-ion rechargeable batteries are temperature sensitive and there is a correlation between intensive use and battery life., in my limited experience.

      1. Large Li-Ion batteries also have a tendency while charging-recharging to self-combust and the subsequent fire can take 30 hours and over 10,000 gallons of water to put it out.

        But they’re soooo eco-friendly!

        1. They are proposing some storage battery systems near us. One of the bonuses offered by the company behind the scheme is that they will train the local fire brigade how to fight big battery fires.

  41. Gosh, there’s a lot of rain the 7-day weather forecast … What’s the betting that the news will shortly be full of flooded town scenes along the Rivers Severn and Thames and other places.

    1. Probably the Ouse at York too and without any mention of building houses in the wrong places.

          1. It could not possibly be in Russia. Vlad doesn’t permit this sort of thing – and rightly so.

            Must be one of the “Stans”.

          4. Didn’t Vlad say they could have their huge mosque in Moscow but woe betide if they misbehave themselves. He actually opened it for them but methinks the warning was serious and they get that?

    3. The will each have a few wives , and a dozen or more children x 6.. and of course the same applies here in the UK.. how many mulitples of Muslim wives and children are part of the benefit system.. do we have access to figures like that .. infact do we also have a chav family tally.

    1. Comedian Rory Bremner has paid tribute to “one of the greatest
      satirists”, John Bird, who has died at the age of 86. Bird became known
      for sketches performed alongside John Fortune and Bremner in Channel 4’s
      satirical show Bremner, Bird And Fortune.

      Scottish impressionist Bremner, 61, wrote: “It’s an irony that one of our greatest satirists,
      so brilliant at portraying ministers, civil servants or high-ranking
      officials who exuded self-satisfaction, was himself so modest and
      self-effacing. John Bird was, to the end, never pleased with himself,
      always feeling he should have done better, been less lazy, had a late
      period like Brahms, ‘where everything was spare and abstract’. The
      reality was that he and his friend and collaborator John Fortune,
      together with Peter Cook, were pillars of the anti-establishment.”

      A statement announcing Bird’s death said he died “peacefully” at Pendean
      care home and that a family funeral will be followed by a celebration of
      his life in the new year.

      Bremner said it was “striking” Bird
      had died on Christmas Eve “nine years, almost to the day” after Fortune,
      who died aged 74 on New Year’s Eve in 2013. “Lord knows, satire has
      missed them this last decade and now that loss is permanent,” he added.
      “John may not have felt he got his life right, but by God he got it
      written.”

      Bird and Fortune became household names with their The Long Johns comedy skits, in which the
      double-act played bumbling politicians, military figures and
      businessmen. They were nominated for four Baftas and won the TV award
      for their performance in 1997.

      Bird, Bremner and Fortune also collaborated in BBC shows Now Something Else and The Rory Bremner Show
      and Channel 4 series Rory Bremner, Who Else? Bird also made appearances
      in fantasy comedy film Jabberwocky, comedy shows Yes, Prime Minister, A
      Very Peculiar Practice, Chambers and One Foot In The Grave and detective
      shows Jonathan Creek, Inspector Morse and Midsomer Murders.

      Bremner added that seeing Bird and Fortune work was the “highlight” of his life
      and he would “marvel at the genius of it all”. He said that Bird could
      be shy and nervous before the cameras started rolling but once he had to
      perform he would be “shamelessly playful”.

      In 2007, Bird and Fortune revived their show in a special called The Last Laugh which was
      broadcast on ITV’s The South Bank Show. Bremner added that watching the
      sketch with the comedians, playing an investment banker and an
      interviewer, was a way to “understand the madness behind the 2008
      financial crash” as it “ridicules the city culture that led to the crash
      with astonishing perspicacity”.

      “They realised that true satire lay not in ad hominem attacks on politicians
      but in exposing the cant behind the ‘discipline of the market’ and the
      culture of privatisation where chief executives were rewarded for
      success and equally compensated for failure,” he added.

      Bird, born in Nottingham, went to a grammar school before going to Cambridge
      and meeting his comedy partner Fortune. While there, he also directed
      comedian Peter Cook and actress Eleanor Bron in the 1959 Cambridge
      Footlights Revue, an annual show by the university comedy club which has
      seen David Mitchell, Richard Ayoade and Eric Idle among its members.

      Bird then joined the Royal Court Theatre as an assistant director, hosted
      the first episode of Beyond The Fringe, directed Austrian-American
      singer Lotte Lenya in a Brecht revue and opened nightclub the
      Establishment Club with Cook in London, and New York. He is survived by
      his wife Libby, a concert pianist, along with his step-sons Dan and
      Josh.

      R.I.P to a very understated funny man.

        1. I rewatched ‘Supernature’ stand up routine by Ricky Gervais last night. Pissing myself laughing.

  44. EIIO, EIIO, EIIO ….. Warning EI02 & EIIO may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children…. now they tell me after I’ve eaten half a box of candied orange and lemon slices…..

    2. Sunset yellow.

      Harm. Sunset Yellow FCF (E110 food additive) is a sulfated version of dangerous Sudan I colorant, which is a carcinogen.

      1. Well, after 43 yeas of having cats- all of whom would run a mile as soon as the catbox appeared – I had a brainwave with G& P when they were babies. I left the boxes open in the dining room. They got used to them, to playing in and round them. This is the payoff!!

          4. Immediately after Poppie collapsed whilst chasing squirrels in October, she went off her dog food (expensive make, I have to say) – we got her home from the visit to the vet and that was it. “I’m not eating that” she said. So I dashed out to Waitrose and got her some chargrilled chicken pieces and sliced topside, and mixed it with some veg, which she loved. 26 December she went off that… didn’t want to know, she picked it all out of the bowl and laid it to the side. This is it, I thought, the end has come, it’s her time…. However, yesterday whilst picking up our grandson yesterday from our son’s Plague House she did show a lot of interest in their cats’ kibbles. So today we tried her with some chopped brisket and home-cooked left over turkey. Three small helpings, hand fed. She loved it and ran after me into the kitchen. So Waitrose chargrilled chicken pieces are now off the menu. She still loves, though, our home cooked roast chicken.

          5. The cat we had when I was a child never had cat food – always either fresh bits of meat from the butcher or the same as we were eating. I think the dog probably had dog food – though I do remember sitting under the table eating bits of his biscuits.

          6. I remember sampling buttered Bonio when very young. Our dog loved to lick our plates after Vesta Curries. That dates me, doesn’t it?

          7. Old Nick (the dog) had oval biscuits in various colours. The pink ones were the nicest. I didn’t care much for the black ones.
            Do they still make Vesta curries?

          8. I’d have said no way but I just looked on Amazon and yes, Vesta Curry packets can be bought online!

          10. Our dog at home when I was young always had what we were eating as a family for the main meal.

      2. Oscar travels quite happily on the back seat (with a harness and restraint). Kadi has to travel on the front seat, which he’s not keen on – he balances precariously with his back to the engine. He’s fine in the campervan because there’s room for him to lie on the floor and Oscar has to lie on the floor in the back. I’ve just bought a dog booster seat, which is like a furry basket that fits on the front seat with a restraint incorporated. I’m hoping Kadi will like that better and feel more secure. When I put it in the camper it will mean I can have both of them up the front where I can keep an eye on them.

        1. I’ve never considered an annual injection was necessary for myself or my cats. I had my cats vaccinated as kittens, but never afterwards.

          I had my babies vaccinated, but have become inceasingly sceptical over the last couple of years as to whether any of them were necessary or beneficial.

          I’ve had many jabs myself, mainly for travel purposes, but I won’t be having any more.

          2. Neither I nor my siblings were vaccinated, 2 born before the war, 2 during and me after. My mum said she had to get a form signed by a JP so that we didn’t have to have the vaccines. As you would have realised she was anti vaccine.

          5. 68 is a bit young – 82 not so bad……. did they die in order of birth? Sad though, that you’re the only one left of five.

          8. I have the dogs vaccinated against distemper, parvovirus and the like. I don’t have them done against kennel cough because I take them with me when I go on holiday. I’ve been jabbed against most things, including rabies, because I’ve travelled in some pretty remote places. I shan’t be having any more ‘flu jabs or the like. Once trust has gone, it’s virtually impossible to regain.

      2. Cat ‘flu. We pay an annual fee (“premium”) and it covers the monthly flea and tick treatment, two checkups – and the ‘flu jab.

          1. You may.

            £16 per month per cat. We did the sums – and it is slightly less than “paying as you go”.

            The drugs are NOT cheap..

    4. My Mini screams if I try to put her in a cat box. If I do get her in and stitch my wounds she screams in the car so I don’t take her to the vet. Thankfully she hasn’t needed one for 8 years, if she ever does then I’ll get him to come here. I/Mini belonged to a scheme for annual check ups/vaccinations once but stopped it. She’s never been vaccinated since and despite being among sheep etc has suffered zilch. Any ticks I remove and the only treatment I give her are the tick and flea stuff

      1. We are probably over cautious. Bot cats are quite woolly and spend a lot of time in long grass in adjoining fields. They do pick up a lot of ticks.

      2. Twice in the last few months we’ve needed to take Lily to the vet. We couldn’t get her in the cat carrier without some permanent damage to us or her. So into the laundry basket she went. It’s a tall one…… she seemed quite relaxed in there.

          1. Not quite because it’s loosely woven wicker. But the top was much wider than the carrier so easy to drop her in and quickly put the lid on.

      3. We never needed to use cat boxes or cages for Chaucer who loved travelling in the car and we let him roam free as he behaved himself impeccably.

  48. Bad taste,,,

    After he fell from his hotel room window, Indian police have been asked
    if the Kremlin was involved in the death of Russian “Sausage Tycoon”
    Pavel Antov.

    The superintendent responded “All we can say is, we haven’t found any
    links”

    4. He was a super-optimist. As he passed each floor on his fall, he shouted to those inside, “So far, so good.”

      1. 369390+up ticks,

        Afternoon B3,
        I’d wager the political tall story fabrication team are hard at work knocking out plausible anti incarceration rhetoric.

  50. Par 4 today

    Wordle 557 4/6

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

    4. Moi aussi.

      Wordle 557 4/6
      ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
      ⬜🟨⬜🟩⬜
      🟩⬜🟨🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  52. 369390+ up ticks,

    A win for the peoples then,

    Border Force strikes fail to leave their mark as passengers pass customs in minutes
    More than 1,000 members of the PCS union at six airports are holding their second round of strikes in a dispute over pay

  53. Good Afternoon. It’s murder – official – as stated by the perps.

    Professor Michel Chossudovsky, emeritus professor at the University of Ottawa and Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on
    Globalization, has made an important point. The injection of a dangerous substance into a large percentage of the world population was
    not a mistake, but an intentional act of murder. https://www.globalresearch.ca/video-pfizers-secret-report-on-the-covid-vaccine-beyond-manslaughter-the-evidence-is-overwhelming-the-vaccine-should-be-immediately-withdrawn-worldwide/5780561

    Pfizer and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), charged with protecting public health, knew in February 2021 that the Covid “vaccine”
    that went into use in mid-December 2020 was deadly and under law should have been recalled. Pfizer’s own internal documents recorded 1,200
    deaths from the vaccine and tens of thousands of adverse health effects including cardiac disorders and spontaneous abortions over a two month period. Understand, the report, which was, Pfizer asked, to be locked up for 75 years, was a forced release resulting from a federal court order to the FDA. It is Pfizer’s own internal report. It is not a report by independent medical scientists that some pretend “fact checker” can label as
    “misinformation.”

    The report is now public. Under law, as Pfizer and the FDA knew the “vaccine” was dangerous to life and health and did not recall it, they committed murder.

    The issue before us is the missing indictments for murder of the Pfizer executives and FDA officials who are responsible for the deaths
    and injuries of millions of people, and the immediate withdrawal of the jabs and establishment of full and impartial inquiry intoi therse events.

    1. So as an injured peoples, what are we going to do about it? To do nothing would be an even bigger crime against humanity and we would be complicit.

      1. Keep demanding prosecutions to our law officers – even though they are reptiles. Tell everyone you can. Do not apologise for telling the stark truth. Murder is murder and we are dealing with a crime far greater than any of the horrible crimes of the last cerntury. If we want this to stop we will have to make a lot of noise and trouble.

        1. One has to KBO, it’s all we can do, and as Hlass says, onwards and upwards.

          Having finally got the Christmas tree up, on Christmas Eve, I think will put it away fully decorated and wrapped in clingfilm, ready for next year.

          1. Obviously not a real tree then!
            Ours is only on it’s 3rd tour of duty, but as it lost it’s top spike during the hot weather, I’ll be retiring it early this year. I’ve aleady noted somewhere up the hill to dig a hole for it.
            That will be the 6th ex-Christmas trees we’ve planted.

          2. We used to have a real tree each year but for the last five years we’ve had an artificial number. I look longingly now at real trees in garden centres with nostalgia but the cost is eyewatering. Actually, so is the cost of an artificial tree, I think we broke even three years ago.

          3. If you shop around at the supermarkets you can find reasonably priced real trees. Garden centres charge the earth!

          4. When I moved into this house the garden was full of small and medium sized Christmas trees. Obviously, the previous owners had planted their real trees every year. I only have one of them left now and it sits in a tub outside until I decorate it in the garden. I have two small trees in tubs either side of the front door which get decorated, too, but the indoor trees are artificial – I don’t want to confuse the dogs.

        2. Oh, yes, that was yesterday, I’d actually got over it by evening the day before – these things cannot be helped, they didn’t get ill on purpose. My main worries are about the vaccine, I was onto it straight away, Gates’s involvement seriously concerned me as did Johnson’s (see his DT article Oct 2007). Our sons just thought their mum was being over-protective, they know my middle name is Anxiety!

    2. It will be as usual the greater the crime the lesser the penalty.
      That is unless those in higher places who have not been bought take the necessary steps to prosecute the criminals. That’s the big IF.

    3. I admit to being confused. Was hte risk of the vaccine’s efficacy balanced against the virulence of COVID? As… statistically the vaccine would then be more dangerous than the virus!

    4. If he keeps up with that kind of talk, he will not be invited to afternoon tea at the U of O. He needs to be careful about his bank accounts being frozen by the dictator,

  54. Top doctor says ‘no way’ Scottish NHS can survive
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-64101348
    The NHS is “broken” in Scotland and will not be able to survive in its current form, the head of the union that represents the country’s doctors has claimed.

    Dr Iain Kennedy, the chairman of the BMA, said health staff were “exhausted, burnt-out and broken”.

    And he said calls for the Scottish government to take action had fallen on deaf ears.

    The government acknowledged that the NHS is facing unprecedented pressures.

    It said this was due to backlogs caused by the Covid pandemic, Brexit-related staff shortages and increases in winter viruses such as flu.

    Dr Kennedy said his NHS colleagues had told him over the past fortnight that the “whole health and social care system in Scotland is broken” and called for a “national conversation” on the future of the service.

    He told BBC Scotland: “There is no way that the NHS in Scotland can survive – in fact, many of my members are telling me that the NHS in Scotland has died already.

    “Over the past two weeks I have received testimonies from nearly 200 doctors, and what they’re telling me is that the whole health and social care system in Scotland is broken.

    “They are telling me that NHS Scotland is failing their patients and failing the workforce, and they’re suffering from moral injury from constantly having to apologise to their patients.”

    Dr Kennedy, who is a GP in Inverness, said an “abject failure of workforce planning” meant that the NHS was now “haemorrhaging” staff.

    He added: “They’ve told us that they’ve had enough, and they’ve been trying to get action from the Scottish government but their requests are falling on deaf ears.”

    He said Scottish government plans to recruit another 800 GPs by 2027 were “well off” target and that the number of vacancies in the health service was the worst he had seen in his 30-year career as a doctor

    1. Four and twenty GPs went down to Inverness
      And when it was all over
      there were four and twenty less…..

          5. I came up with an alternative version based on the tune being called The Ball of Kirriemuir –

            Four and twenty virgins came down to Kirriemuir;
            And when the ball was over, there were….

          6. I came up with an alternative version based on the tune being called The Ball of Kirriemuir –

            Four and twenty virgins came down to Kirriemuir;
            And when the ball was over, there were….

        2. Four and twenty Scots MPs were fishing in a sewer
          But when they caught Ms Sturgeon
          There were four and twenty fewer.

      2. Singing;
        Balls to the experts
        pricked against a wall
        if they don’t drop dead on a Saturday night
        We’ll try again this Fall?

    2. It might change if those doctors refuse to treat the politicians whether it be NHS or privately.

  55. That’s t’Lad returned home and, as we’ve had an hour & a half of “Not Raining”, I’ve even managed to get the last of the long thinner bits of sycamore from t’other side of the pond. A good 2 or 3 days burning!
    Now I’ve some sections of trunk & large branch to cart over, some of which will need to be sawn first to make them more manageable.
    Then I’ll trim the remains of the main trunk which should yield 7 or 8 5 to 6″ slices of about 14 to 10″ diameter.
    The rest will be too big to deal with so will be left to rot.

    1. Good to see you doing you bit to get up the nose of Greta!

      Edit: What’s that song? Ah Yes, ‘Smoke gets in your lies”…..

      2. I’ve a bloody nice 15′ x 12″ Ash log in a bloody awkward position and sat at a horrible angle that I’d like to see got to a furniture maker.
        Unfortunately, I need to shift it to where a HIAB wagon can pick it up, but I think I may be able to manage it using a couple of scaffolding poles to make a sheerlegs to lift the lower end of it so I can apply a straight pull to it to get it out of the building ruin (building was already ruined before I felled the tree) it’s lying in.

        A bit like this using a couple of scaffolding poles and swivel coupling with a cross-brace:-
        https://ritelite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/pole_erecting_sheerlegs.jpg

          6. There was a young fellow from Ely
            Came over all gropey and feely
            The girl that he squeezed
            Said “bugger off please
            And don’t touch me up, yes really”

          15. Beauchamp Arms Hotel, Buckenham Ferry, Loddon, Norfolk.

            read the book, Not A Bad Life – Kindle 5 USD.

          16. There was an old fellow from Buckenham
            Found brothers and sisters for fucken ’em
            He left in disgrace
            With egg on his face
            “But a smile that stretched into Bedingham”

    3. It is the same throughout the whole of this shenanigans – Ursula Fond of Lying’s husband is the owner of a pharmaceutical company manufacturing vaccines; it would seem that this sort of situation and family investments and conflicts of interest are de rigeur throughout. And no-one bats an eyelid because there is no-one or body of integrity in charge.

  57. That’s me done for today. The MR and I have talked a lot about The Detectorists special. For this old man – the very best thing was that Mr Crook is the SPITTING IMAGE of my son who died in 2016 at the terribly young age of 47. Jim was tall, skinny, melancholic, pessimistic, lugubrious…. ! I had 75 minutes of seeing my boy reincarnated. Sorry if I sound maudlin.

    Have a spiffing evening – I hoping to see whether Tutti Frutti was as good as I recall.

    G & P are sleeping off their trip to the vet. Pickles weighed 4.7 kg – Gus = 5.3 kg….. Yikes.
    The vet suggested a restricted diet to get him down to 5 kg.. That’ll be fun!!

    A demain.

    1. Your late son sounds very much like his father. 47 was far too young.

      I wouldn’t worry too much about Gus’ weight.

      1. I don’t – I think he is a very large framed cat. On the other hand, I have seen some overweight cats in my time, and don’t want to risk him going on putting weight on.

          3. I’m not looking forward to the visit to the vet early next year for their jabs. They’ll be weighed and they’ve both put weight on since I’ve had them. The little one, in particular, is starting to look a bit of a porker, but he sneaks and pinches Oscar’s food once he’s guzzled his own if Oscar isn’t looking (or in guarding mood). Kadi doesn’t get fed as much, but he’s always on the lookout for more.

    4. Putting just one cat on a diet might be an interesting exercise.

      As you wrote, you never get over it. My mother could never get past the fact that my youngest brother had died, right up to the time she was taken to the hospice she would continue to talk about it,.

      Enjoy moderatingthe cats diet, it will keep you occupied.

    5. I love the The Detectorists, and I watched it on Iplayer this afternoon .

      I used to have metal detectors , but it became very difficult gaining access to land . I have found buckles , horse shoes and things that might have been shot from aircraft probably during the battle of Britain ( my imagination )

      My last metal detector was lent to a young man to aid the search for lost dogs , it was never returned .

      Mr Crook’s role is perfect , but you feeling maudlin is not a bad thing , Bill .

      Enjoy the rest of your viewing .

      I was also hooked on Stanley Tucci’s series on Italian cooking .. and all the regions he visited .. wonderful scenery and food .

      1. Were they looking for the metal bits on their collars to find lost dogs with a metal detector, Maggie? I won one in a hospital tombola (a really unusual event as normally I never win anything)! I gave it to a friend, but I don’t think he’s found anything interesting with it.

        1. Yes they were Conway, so many dogs go missing they even use drones now .

          Dogs get caught up by their collars on branches twigs etc or end up on railways and rivers .. or run off into forests .

          Ox droves field perimeters and styles and old footpaths can be fruitful.

    6. Not maudlin at all. We all need an aide memoir. The awful thing about someone’s death is that I can never quite remember how they looked under certain circumstances, and if I do get a flash of recall it is gone in an instant. Which doesn’t mean I don’t know what that person looked like, I would recognise he/she in an instant. It is a certain liveliness that will not imprint itself on my memory.

      1. I was thinking that today. They subscribe to a barbaric ideology which really has no place in Western civilisation.

    2. A very diverse bunch of nationalities. Is there anything else that they have in common? Can’t think of anything offhand.

      1. 369390+ up ticks,

        Evening M,
        Could it be they all sport a tash on a dark background, and share a similar liking for PIE.

    1. They tried to get my next door neighbour to go back on the register during the ‘pandemic’ – notwithstanding she was nearly 70 then and had been out of nursing for over 10 years.

      1. And yet…. hospitals were empty, our younger son confirmed this, he had to go as a patient twice (suspected appendicitis treated with antibiotics, on both occasions, hospitals certainly weren’t doing any operations) he said the Lister was empty on both occasions, like a ghost town. He was kept in overnight, he said he was the only person in the ward.

        1. I had to rush my OH to A&E on 2nd January 2021 when he was suffering with urinary retention – we spent the night there and they were busy but not rushed off their feet. They saw to him straightaway and were attentive during the night. We’d arrived at 12.30 am in a snowstorm. We seem to have spent a lot of time in hospitals since then.

        2. Ah yes, these last three years have passed so quickly – our younger son had to go to hospital during the first lockdown, it was March, 2020, then again six weeks later for a longer and larger dose of antibiotic. His inflamed appendix problem hasn’t recurred since. January 2021 would be the first few weeks of the ‘vaccine’ roll-out.

  60. The BBC trumpets that 2022 with its 5 days of hot weather is the hottest year ever, dismissing the recent cold spell as a blip which changes nothing. There really is no hope.

    3. From the DT

      This year is set to be the warmest in Britain since records began, the Met Office has said.

      The provisional estimate for 2022, which will be confirmed in the new year, comes despite December seeing its coldest first two weeks since 2010, with temperatures dropping as low as –17.3C at Braemar in Scotland.

      Up to Dec 27, the average mean temperature for the UK was just 2.4C –
      some 1.8C below the average for the month, with some areas experiencing
      a white Christmas.

      Despite the chilly end to the year, 2022 has recorded the highest
      annual average temperature across the UK, exceeding the previous record
      set in 2014, when the average was 9.88C.

        1. All four seasons have fallen in the top 10 in the national series, which began in 1884.

          This year will also be the warmest year on record in the 364-year
          central England temperature series from 1659, the world’s longest
          instrumental record of temperature.

        1. Not noticeably hot here either, apart from those few days in July. Other than that, it was pleasantly mild mostly except for the week in December. The autumn was a good one – warm and sunny. Perhaps that’s what tipped the balance.

      3. As usual average includes higher and lower temperatures and, similar to all averages, is meaningless. How many people live in an average priced house?

  62. Evening, all. Oscar has been fine today after last night’s aberration. Coolio, the Connemara, did some really nice shoulder-in exercises and a few good steps of travers (which he finds hard), so we finished on a good note. The weather, however, was vile; heavy rain and high winds. I was glad I was riding indoors and I waited until it eased before I left the school!

          3. My Oscar can also get testy. Occasionally, when he’s a bit stroppy, I’ll put my face up close to him. It makes him snap at my nose, but at the last second he just touches my nose with his fangs and then looks sheepish. I’m not recommending it though.

      2. He had a reversion to the agressive behaviour that he had when I first got him – growling, barking, threatening to bite. He didn’t actually bite, but it was intimidating, as he meant it to be. I think it was all linked to his food-guarding issues because all this happened while he still had food left in his dish. Once he’d finished it off, he was sweetness and light and came to me for a cuddle. Since then he’s been fine.

          1. I did wonder about that, because he was lying down, asleep, when he suddenly woke up and started barking agressively. I usually talk to him calmly on such occasions, but he was making such a racket I don’t think he could hear me!

          3. Sometimes I have to reassure him that nobody is going to hit him or kick him here. I think sometimes he forgets.

          4. It’s understandable as he was ill-treated in the past. I expect he had a bad dream and forgot where he was for a while when he woke up.

            Lily clearly had a happy life before she came to us – but she’s quite needy, and I think she thought she’d been abandoned when OH was in hospital. Her previous people were elderly – the old man died and the old lady went into care. She must have felt abandoned, even though her physical needs were taken care of in the rescue. She’s hardly taken her eyes off him since he came home.

        2. Something must have happened for him to revert like that. Perhaps something only he can remember. All’s well that ends well.

    2. Sounds like a good day was had!
      We had a brief period of “not raining” after I took t’Lad back to Derby, so I’m a bit further towards clearing the stash of sycamore I’ve had waiting for the past couple of years, bringing it over from t’other side of the mill pond so it can be sawn, (where necessary) split and, once the woodstack I’m currently burning is emptied, stacked.

      1. His usual yappy self. He barks, then runs away and hides 🙂 Most of the time you wouldn’t know he was there.

  64. As we approach the New Year:

    We don’t have an elected government; what are we going to do about it?

        1. I was just going about the grammar in a politically correct fashion. Hanged does have a more appealing meaning though.

  65. Christmas has gone for another year and 2023 is rapidly approaching!
    It’s been raining all day – does it ever stop?

    I thought, sod it and opened a bottle of Shiraz, got my book and switched the hifi on with this album as a start.
    Reminds me of waking up and looking out of my tent and finding fresh crisp snow on the ground. The sun coming up and that quiet peaceful experience one can get on a snowy winters day, away from the cares of the world.

    https://youtu.be/19KELT3eUTM

    1. Pinot for me and I have been good- made turkey stock yesterday and turkey veg soup today. MH is slurping some Vermouth- extra dry.

      1. I can see why you drink Pinot, Vermouth: horrible stuff, I’m always surprised it doesn’t rot the glass.
        Hay-ho, it would be a miserable world if we all liked sprouts…… 🙄😏

        1. I can’t stand Vermouth but we both like sprouts.
          How was your Christmas? Ours wasn’t too bad and it was quiet which I think we both needed. I shall be glad when all the so called festivity is over.

        2. Ah, but you see Andrew: no one likes sprouts. Some people eat them and pretend they do, but … they’re lying to themselves. No one likes smelling the dead fart stench or chewing the hateful offspring of furball and wet cardboard.

          2. There are some (for unknown reasons) who seem to think sprouts are a wonderful veg.
            Hate the things with a passion, even the smell when cooking!!!!!

          3. I can see two sides forming here: the Sprout lovers and the Sprout haters. Only one solution…..soggy Sprouts at dawn ;-))

          4. The sprouts I bought for Christmas thhis time from Morrisons were the fiddliest ever – tiny and a lot of them had been frosted and were slimy on the outside. Inside they were fine but they took ages to work through and peel. They were ok to eat though and needed hardly any cooking. The remainder ended up in the soup yesterday.

          5. I didn’t bother with sprouts for myself on Christmas Day (I used to have to cook them for MOH who loved the awful things). When I was invited to Christmas dinner on Boxing Day, my friend did them with bacon and they were definitely edible.

          9. I had a good batch from Morrisons and then a bad batch. I was persuaded to stir fry some (partially pre-cooked) with bacon, butter and garlic. Turned out very popular for breakfast (along with my Christmas sausage rolls) after walking the dogs.

          16. By Christmas sprouts are past their best. You need to eat new season fresh when the are available in Oct.

          17. Nonsense, wibbling, I enjoy sprouts. This year I bought a whole stalk of them and am slowly working my way through them. Lol.

          21. A serious question, why pay for a stalk when they can be got detached and in our veg shop, cheaper?

          22. Not a clue, Andrew, I think at the time I was in a hurry to get plenty of food in for Christmas and didn’t do my usual check on the price as time was of the essence.

          23. Nonsense, wibbling, I enjoy sprouts. This year I bought a whole stalk of them and am slowly working my way through them. Lol.

      2. I can see why you drink Pinot, Vermouth: horrible stuff, I’m always surprised it doesn’t rot the glass.
        Hay-ho, it would be a miserable world if we all liked sprouts…… 🙄😏

      4. I had a second portion of roast lamb this evening, which was a repeat my my Christmas Day meal.

    3. “Reminds me of waking up and looking out of my tent and finding fresh crisp snow on the ground.”

      Is your book about Edmund Hillary or Scott of the Antarctic?

      1. I wish!
        But l love camping when snow (not the wet sludgy stuff) is on the ground or expected. Its happened a couple of times when I was in Oman!!

    4. I’ve not heard this before, Andrew, and I don’t think I can listen to it all (30 minutes before bedtime) but what I’ve heard so far (5 minutes) is really beautifully relaxing.

      2. Take time out on a quiet day without distractions and I’m sure you’ll like the whole album.

  67. Well that’s me for today. Just watched THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975) for the very first time and thoroughly enjoyed it. Now off to bed, so a very Good Night to all of you.

  70. Before I bed down , I am going to scream this out again on here .

    How the hell could 2 hospitals miss / not see / not diagnose a fractured Fibula on my son’s leg when the ankle and foot bones were diagnosed fractured, and the swelling and pain were immense .. this accident happened on the 7th December .

    He may be operated on , on Friday , all going well, what type of thoroughness can we all expect from the NHS .. I feel frightened for us all .

    1. I share your fear as I do not think the NHS care about the patients any more…it is all about them.

      1. As I’ve said before, it’s not “Our” NHS, it’s Theirs. The upper echelon REMFs and Union Activists.

      1. Morning J

        The story goes that when he slipped on the icy steps at London Bridge station , he fell heavily and a medic accompanied him by taxi to St Thomas’s.. because no ambulances .. He was xrayed , and overnighted in hospital .. but only his foot and ankle .. over two weeks later after Mike complained about a pain in his leg at the bruise clinic , and after op pre assessment , that they re xrayed him in Worthing and found a crack in his Fibula ..

        As you can see we are all in shock .

    3. The NHS is a disgrace. I found out recently that a friend had prostate cancer. He had gone to his GP with a lump in his throat and been fobbed off for weeks with throat medication. Then he went private, and had a complete test, which found the cancer. It was operated on and happily it has now completely gone. No thanks to his overpaid GP.

  72. Good morning fellow insomniacs!
    Up to pump bilges and the DT was awake too. We’ve just had a VERY heavy rain shower and we’re now sat up with mugs of tea.

    1. I woke up after just two hours asleep, BoB, so came downstairs and watched A FEW GOOD MEN, then on to the IMDb site to learn more about the film. It’s now nearly 6.15 am so my sleep routine is totally out of kilter. I guess I will just go to bed now and sleep until whenever. See you all much later, probably not before midday.

      1. I tossed and turned for hours but couldn’t get to sleep for ages. I did eventually but it’s nearly 9am now and I’m only just awake.

  73. A pickup from Going Postal with a response:-

    The_Magic_Flute
    an hour ago edited
    … former Russian president and current deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev took to Twitter & Telegram Monday night to post his own predictions for 2023 .. he is supposed to have a wicked sense of humour ..

    1. Oil price will rise to $150 a barrel, and gas price will top $5.000 per 1.000 cubic meters.

    2. The UK will rejoin the EU.

    3. The EU will collapse after the UK’s return; Euro will drop out of use as the former EU currency.

    4. Poland and Hungary will occupy western regions of the formerly existing Ukraine.

    5 .The Fourth Reich will be created, encompassing the territory of Germany and its satellites, i.e., Poland, the Baltic states, Czechia, Slovakia, the Kiev Republic, and other outcasts.

    6. War will break out between France and the Fourth Reich. Europe will be divided, Poland repartitioned in the process.

    7. Northern Ireland will separate from the UK and join the Republic of Ireland.

    8. Civil war will break out in the US, California. and Texas becoming independent states as a result. Texas and Mexico will form an allied state. Elon Musk’ll win the presidential election in a number of states which, after the new Civil War’s end, will have been given to the GOP.

    9. All the largest stock markets and financial activity will leave the US and Europe and move to Asia.

    10. The Bretton Woods system of monetary management will collapse, leading to the IMF and World Bank crash. Euro and Dollar will stop circulating as the global reserve currencies. Digital fiat currencies will be actively used instead.

    2•Reply•Share ›

    Bob of Bonsall The_Magic_Flute
    a few seconds ago
    Terrifyingly, that is all too possible.

  74. A semi-decent article from the DT but the standard of English is bloody appalling!

    The report also criticised Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson as well as a BBC Radio 4 documentary about Sarah Forbes Benetta, one of the only black women in Victorian high society.

    BBC guilty of ‘rewriting British history’ to promote woke agenda in ‘biased’ documentaries
    Broadcaster failing in its duty of impartiality by allowing ‘politically motivated campaigners’ to present shows, say leading academics

    By
    Gordon Rayner,
    ASSOCIATE EDITOR
    28 December 2022 • 9:00pm

    The BBC is “rewriting British history to promote a woke agenda”, a group of the country’s leading academics has warned, as they cited multiple examples of “bias” in its documentaries.

    A report said the BBC was failing in its duty of impartiality by allowing “politically motivated campaigners” to present “tendentious” views of British history as fact.

    Lord Roberts, the author and broadcaster, accused the BBC of pursuing a “fatwa” against Sir Winston Churchill. The dossier said documentaries on subjects including slavery, colonialism and the Irish famine distort the truth about Britain’s past through inaccuracy or omitting important facts.

    Marie Kawthar Daouda, a lecturer at Oxford University, said the BBC needs to “stop apologising” for Britain’s history. Jeremy Black, the former professor of history at Exeter University, said the BBC was guilty of “systemic failure” through an inability to present a rounded picture of the past.

    The report was compiled by History Reclaimed, whose co-editors are David Abulafia and Robert Tombs – both of whom are professors emeritus at Cambridge University. Supporters of the organisation include Lord Chartres, the former bishop of London; Vernon Bogdanor, professor of government at King’s College, London; Niall Ferguson, the broadcaster and fellow of Stanford University, and Lawrence Goldman, emeritus fellow of St Peter’s College, Oxford.

    A midterm review of the BBC’s royal charter, launched by the then culture secretary Nadine Dorries earlier this year, is currently examining whether the corporation needs to be reformed to help it achieve greater impartiality.

    The authors of the report, titled Can We Trust The BBC With Our History?, called on the BBC to tighten its editorial guidelines and set up an advisory panel of historians to reduce “groupthink” among programme makers.

    Programmes highlighted in the dossier include The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan, in which the comedian visits Freetown in Sierra Leone and discusses Britain’s role in the slave trade, without mentioning that the city – so-called because it was the destination of freed slaves – was set up by the British.

    A current affairs programme suggested the Bengal famine of 1943 was a consequence of racism on the part of Churchill, despite the fact that Britain sent large shipments of food to the Indian region in the face of wartime food shortages.

    Lord Roberts described it as an example of a “fatwa” he says the BBC has been conducting against Churchill for years, while Zareer Masani, a historian of Indian heritage, said he was “appalled” by the BBC’s claims.

    Meanwhile, an episode of the archaeology series Digging for Britain aired a claim that British policy during the 19th century Irish potato famine amounted to the “extermination” of a people and that aid was refused – even though prime minister Robert Peel ordered the purchase of American maize to feed 500,000 people in Ireland and ruined his career by suspending the Corn Laws to allow untaxed imports.

    The report also criticised Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson as well as a BBC Radio 4 documentary about Sarah Forbes Benetta, one of the only black women in Victorian high society.

    A spokesman for History Reclaimed said: “Abuse of history for political purposes is as old as history itself. In recent years, we have seen politically motivated campaigns to rewrite British history in a way that undermines the solidarity of our communities, our sense of achievement, even our very legitimacy.

    “The BBC, of all institutions, should never accept as fact arguments put forward by politically motivated campaigners. Sadly, it appears that tendentious and provocative arguments seem to be given preference, and they have often been relayed without proper concern for accuracy.

    “At their best, the BBC’s programmes are of high quality and are widely praised. But regrettably, it seems that the BBC, for all its merits, does not always respect the objectives set out in its charter and its claim to be strictly impartial.”

    Prof Tombs, co-editor of History Reclaimed, said: “The report identifies a pattern of failure by the BBC that points unmistakably to conscious or unconscious bias.”

    Rewriting history
    Dr Alka Sehgal Cuthbert, director of the anti-racism group Don’t Divide Us, said: “When a public institution such as the BBC helps normalise a radically critical, minoritarian view of Britain’s history, it makes the possibility of a culture-in-common for a nation’s citizens – old, new, and yet to be – more difficult. This is not a public service.”

    A BBC spokesman said: “We place the greatest importance on accuracy and bring audiences a breadth of viewpoints, perspectives and analysis across thousands of hours of news, current affairs and factual programming, covering a range of historical topics.

    “Across the entirety of our output there will, of course, be occasions when people disagree with or want to challenge what they have watched or heard and we have well publicised routes for them to do that.

    “Cherry-picking a handful of examples or highlighting genuine mistakes in thousands of hours of output on TV and radio does not constitute analysis and is not a true representation of BBC content.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/28/bbc-guilty-rewriting-british-history-promote-woke-agenda-biased/

  75. I’ve just watched Zulu, the film and it shews that due diligence eventually pays off.

    Now, finally, off to bed and love my NoTTLe family.

  77. 369433+ up ticks,
    What is sadly laughable is the fact that many a hardened voting veteran of the lab/lib/con coalition criticised Tommy Robinson for his brief dalliance with EDL all the while they were busy murdering a Nation.

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    22h
    There is the free speech test for such as Twitter & GB News, no Tommy no real free speech.

    I supported TR because he was a political prisoner falsely convicted for speaking the truth.
    TommyRobinson1
    @TommyRobinson1

    https://gettr.com/post/p236c9jaf5f

    ·
    Dec 27

Comments are closed.