Wednesday 28 September: The Chancellor sees the necessity of weaning Britain off cheap money

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

536 thoughts on “Wednesday 28 September: The Chancellor sees the necessity of weaning Britain off cheap money”

  3. Why Putin would want to blow up Nord Stream 2 and the advantages it gives him. James Crisp. 28 September 2022.

    The suspected sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines could be a page ripped straight from Vladimir Putin’s playbook of panic, escalation and misdirection
    The former KGB agent’s illegal war on Ukraine resulted in unprecedented Western sanctions against Moscow.

    But the Russian president is confident that his people can endure economic pain longer and better than Europeans.
    His calculation is that soaring gas prices and the cost of living crisis in a continent hopelessly addicted to Russian energy will turn the situation to his advantage.

    This is pathetic. There cannot be one sensible person who doesn’t know that this was the Americans. Crisp is not alone unfortunately. Heilbrun in the Spectator has written a similar piece and no doubt the other shills will follow throughout the day. It has however proved useful in confirming who is on the MSM payroll and the identities of the 77 Brigade Trolls on the threads. The complete denial of reality is pretty much a confession! The absence of regular critical voices strongly suggests that the comment sections have also been heavily censored!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/09/27/putins-nord-stream-2-sabotage-sends-warning-will-blow-pipes/

      1. Morning Johnny. No! The Ukies don’t have the ability. It’s the Americans without the shadow of a doubt!

  8. Good Morning Folks,

    Chilly start here.

    Man came to fit a new radiator yesterday and left the heating on, so I can still say that I haven’t put the heating on yet.

    1. Similar story here. Our boiler pump stopped working at the weekend, chap called yesterday, all fixed but “leave the heating on for a couple of hours to let it run through”.

  9. Page 17 of the Terriblegraph: EU splashes out diversity funds for drag queens.
    “ The European Union has spent almost €1million to fund drag queen shows and other diversity projects aimed at “blurring” traditional gender roles, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

    The bloc’s taxpayers’ contributed some €892,000 to help finance the schemes, which promised to tackle issues such as “toxic masculinity’’ and to establish LGBT friendly schools. The disclosure over the spending prompted accusations that Brussels is “hell-bent on pursuing a woke agenda”.

    The battle over woke ideology has become a key political divide between the EU’S founding members and the nationalist governments in central and eastern Europe.

    The cultural split has left more conservative member states such as Hungary and Poland at loggerheads with the European Commission and Western members, prompting fears in Budapest and Warsaw that their EU funding could be cut in retaliation for their stand on LGBT rights and abortion.

    One of the EU funded workshops, called “Drag it Up”, said it would help young men learn about “make-up, wigs, walking in high heels and other methods of blurring and exaggerating traditional binary gender roles”.

    The Berlin-based drag act Queen of Virginity, who has more than 7,000 social media followers, secured €21,700 from the EU to host the sessions.

    In another year-long youth exchange scheme, organisers put on drag shows with volunteers to help raise awareness of same-sex marriage, adoption and sexually transmitted diseases.

    “Participants will become more aware of the LGBT+ issue … will have less anxiety and will feel more confident and healthier,” the organisers, Transyouth, said.

    Nicolaus Fest, a German MEP, said: “By frittering away taxpayers’ cash on lipstick lessons and lacy lingerie for men, the EU is displaying that it’s hell-bent on pursuing a woke agenda whatever the cost.””

    1. As I haul boxes of books to charity shops and cart furniture and crockery down 2 flights of stairs, I could use some toxic masculinity.

    2. It all goes to shew just how dangerous this pandering to lesbians, homosexuals, and the so-called ‘Trans-Gender’ lobby is, as it is breeding into the young, the willingness to experiment with un-natural ways.

  10. Page 17 of the Terriblegraph: EU splashes out diversity funds for drag queens.
    “ The European Union has spent almost €1million to fund drag queen shows and other diversity projects aimed at “blurring” traditional gender roles, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

    The bloc’s taxpayers’ contributed some €892,000 to help finance the schemes, which promised to tackle issues such as “toxic masculinity’’ and to establish LGBT friendly schools. The disclosure over the spending prompted accusations that Brussels is “hell-bent on pursuing a woke agenda”.

    The battle over woke ideology has become a key political divide between the EU’S founding members and the nationalist governments in central and eastern Europe.

    The cultural split has left more conservative member states such as Hungary and Poland at loggerheads with the European Commission and Western members, prompting fears in Budapest and Warsaw that their EU funding could be cut in retaliation for their stand on LGBT rights and abortion.

    One of the EU funded workshops, called “Drag it Up”, said it would help young men learn about “make-up, wigs, walking in high heels and other methods of blurring and exaggerating traditional binary gender roles”.

    The Berlin-based drag act Queen of Virginity, who has more than 7,000 social media followers, secured €21,700 from the EU to host the sessions.

    In another year-long youth exchange scheme, organisers put on drag shows with volunteers to help raise awareness of same-sex marriage, adoption and sexually transmitted diseases.

    “Participants will become more aware of the LGBT+ issue … will have less anxiety and will feel more confident and healthier,” the organisers, Transyouth, said.

    Nicolaus Fest, a German MEP, said: “By frittering away taxpayers’ cash on lipstick lessons and lacy lingerie for men, the EU is displaying that it’s hell-bent on pursuing a woke agenda whatever the cost.””

  11. Interest rates should never have dropped below 2.5%. Thats why so much pain wil be felt for mortage holders. We have seen it all before and regretably the left wing Conservative governments of Cameron, May and Johnson are totaly to blame.

  12. Something you’ll never see on Al-Beeb. From the business section – interview with Crispin Odey:

    “… Odey, arguably Britain’s best known hedge fund chief, said: “I never felt the kind of hate that Friday stirred up for a long time.

    “Amongst lots of friends of mine who are Remainers, they just decided that they hate this Government. Obviously Kwasi they hate now as well, and they think Liz Truss is useless. They can’t stand poor Jacob Rees-mogg”….

    He said: “The City loved it when Theresa May was in. It is in a deeply conservative place that doesn’t change.

    Until we got to Covid, governments didn’t spend money, all they did was increase taxes. [George] Osborne was the worst of them. And this minibudget was just ripping out the last of Osborne’s legacy.”

    Despite the short-term pain, Odey predicted that Kwarteng and Truss’s prescription for the economy will deliver a turnaround before long.

    He said: “I look at this and think I am now, for the first time, in the medium term very optimistic about the UK. The Remainers would love our situation [to be] much worse for having left Europe.

    “But actually in the last four years Germany has lent southern Europe €400bn (£356bn). That is a monstrous amount of money that will never get paid back.

    “Europe’s got all the same problems that we have in terms of inflation coming through, but it doesn’t have a Kwasi trying to sort of introduce a marketplace again … incentivising people to do the right thing rather than the wrong.””…

    “Whereas this is a Government that has taken some big, big decisions. I don’t think it was politically motivated so much as it was, it was people [in the City] just hating that they might even get this right.”

    Odey attacked Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey over the current turmoil.

    “The Bank of England and therefore everybody else had a completely rosy view of inflation a year out. So they still think inflation is going to be 3pc. They now think it’s about 3.5pc in a year’s time.

    “In order to have that view, they have to also believe that there will be a deep recession between now and then.

    “But that didn’t take into account the fact that the Government was very unlikely to want to recession two years before a general election. So what happened last Friday was the Government making sure that the recession was going to be much milder

  13. Something you’ll never see on Al-Beeb. From the business section – interview with Crispin Odey:

    “… Odey, arguably Britain’s best known hedge fund chief, said: “I never felt the kind of hate that Friday stirred up for a long time.

    “Amongst lots of friends of mine who are Remainers, they just decided that they hate this Government. Obviously Kwasi they hate now as well, and they think Liz Truss is useless. They can’t stand poor Jacob Rees-mogg”….

    He said: “The City loved it when Theresa May was in. It is in a deeply conservative place that doesn’t change.

    Until we got to Covid, governments didn’t spend money, all they did was increase taxes. [George] Osborne was the worst of them. And this minibudget was just ripping out the last of Osborne’s legacy.”

    Despite the short-term pain, Odey predicted that Kwarteng and Truss’s prescription for the economy will deliver a turnaround before long.

    He said: “I look at this and think I am now, for the first time, in the medium term very optimistic about the UK. The Remainers would love our situation [to be] much worse for having left Europe.

    “But actually in the last four years Germany has lent southern Europe €400bn (£356bn). That is a monstrous amount of money that will never get paid back.

    “Europe’s got all the same problems that we have in terms of inflation coming through, but it doesn’t have a Kwasi trying to sort of introduce a marketplace again … incentivising people to do the right thing rather than the wrong.””…

    “Whereas this is a Government that has taken some big, big decisions. I don’t think it was politically motivated so much as it was, it was people [in the City] just hating that they might even get this right.”

    Odey attacked Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey over the current turmoil.

    “The Bank of England and therefore everybody else had a completely rosy view of inflation a year out. So they still think inflation is going to be 3pc. They now think it’s about 3.5pc in a year’s time.

    “In order to have that view, they have to also believe that there will be a deep recession between now and then.

    “But that didn’t take into account the fact that the Government was very unlikely to want to recession two years before a general election. So what happened last Friday was the Government making sure that the recession was going to be much milder

  14. Good morning all.

    Does anyone else think it is rather cheeky for the IMF to be telling our PM and Chancellor what to do? Especially when their main concern seems to be the removal of a tax threshold which “would benefit high-income earners.” When something like 0.3% of the population are in the top tax bracket, is this not a nakedly-political statement?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/09/27/imf-urges-truss-reverse-top-rate-tax-cut-extraordinary-attack/

    With my (limited) understanding of economics, it seems to be that we have a government doing what conservatives are supposed to do, i.e. cut taxes, let people keep more of their own money and let them get on with creating wealth. I would like to see more detail on how they also plan to cut government spending, the size of the State needs to radically shrink in order to ‘fund’ (I hate that word in relation to our money!) tax cuts.

    Let’s hope that this Ms T is also ‘not for turning!’

      1. Let’s see what happens with the dinghy invasion.

        I am prepared to be disappointed by Truss, as I have been by Cameron, May, Johnson. But as she has been in power for about two weeks, with the Queen’s death taking over, I am prepared to give her some time. So far, the direction of travel is a good one.

    2. Morning all.

      Untrustworthy has already made two U turns. We were to come out of the EHRC and she was supposedly going to reduce immigration.

    3. You have to remember that the IMF is a bought and paid for EU stooge. They wanted their man running it. Of course he’s going to do down a low tax Britain. That’s exactly the sort of thing that terrifies the EU.

      The plan all along was:

      Leave the EU
      Engineer catastrophic economic and societal collapse (debt, taxation, immigrant invasion)
      Bring the UK through high tax and waste to it’s knees
      Force UK to IMF.
      IMF proclaims lots of help, but under the demand that we rejoin the EU as, basically, tax slaves.
      Suddenly all the problems engineered by big state vanish and we get back to normal.

      Except we’re forever chained irrevocably to the hated EU, forced to use Euros with a currency utterly outside our control facing taxation of 70-90%, energy policies so destructive they cripple us permanently.

      The EU is not a trade organisation. It’s a political one. One stuffed full of greedy ex communists. Their entire aim is to force a command economy with them at the top.

      1. Well said.

        I seem to remember another globalist body the UN sending a ‘special rapporteur’ to decry Britain as a nation of Dark Satanic Mills. They even used the phrase ‘bedroom tax!’

        If all the usual suspects are squealing, then Truss and Kwarteng must be on to a good thing! I hope they hold their nerves and do what’s right.

  15. Good morning all.
    Another autumnal start to the day. Clear with bright sunshine and a cold 1°C. Ground is a bit damp so we appear to have had a shower overnight.

  16. Finally, just the headline from Tim Stanley’s opinion piece on page 5. I want some of what he’s on:

    “ For the first time in a long time, Labour looks like the ‘not mad’ op­tion”

    1. ‘Morning, Mir. ‘Every Labour government ends in financial chaos’ so the saying goes. His memory must have failed him – unless of course he is one of the young scribblers at the DT…

      1. The Conservatives have been labour-like for so long that he probably thinks Starmer would be Labour-lite in comparison?

    2. 365629+ up ticks,

      Morning Mir,
      Always keep in mind their ex
      PM, the perfect lab role model.
      One anthony charlie lynton
      ….. and keep in mind one of the parties major building
      blocks, rothrtham plus.

    3. Morning, all. Bright and calm in N Essex this morning.

      …Labour looks like the ‘not mad’ op­tion”

      Tim Stanley must have missed, amongst many other policy ideas, the crazy notion of meeting ‘Net Zero’ by 2030. The Tory’s later pledge is already playing havoc with the economy and the quality of people’s lives and will have to be rescinded before the whole of the UK goes into a planned recession so deep it will take decades to recover from even if what passes for normality is restored.
      By proposing the 2030 deadline Starmer proves that either he is totally uneducated/unbriefed on the realities of energy production and the need for reliable energy, or he has another agenda about which he is being extremely coy. Either way, he is not to be trusted.
      Sadly, the Tories are in the alternate agenda game and therefore completely untrustworthy as well. We really are up deep shit creek without a paddle.

    4. Yet why say that? Taxes needed to come down. Borrowing for tax cus is the only reasonable borrowing to be considered as they pay for themselves through increased revenue.

      Of course, it would have been more sensible to cut state spending first, by say, 40% initially.

  17. 365629+ up ticks,

    Wednesday 28 September: The Chancellor sees the necessity of weaning Britain off cheap money,

    Wednesday 28 September: The Chancellor sees the necessity of weaning Britain off
    cheap labour, potential / proven paedophiles /
    troops,/ assorted felons / terrorist in waiting
    invading English Channel crossers.

    IF ONLY.

  18. European leaders blame sabotage as gas pours into Baltic from Nord Stream pipelines. 28 September 2022.

    European commission president Ursula Von der Leyen said the leaks were due to “sabotage”, and threatened the “strongest possible response” to any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure.

    “Any deliberate disruption of active European energy infrastructure is unacceptable and will lead to the strongest possible response,” she warned, and urged and investigation to get full clarity on the “events and why”

    Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen described them as “deliberate acts”, adding: “We are not talking about an accident.”

    Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the leaks were an act of sabotage that “probably marks the next step of escalation of the situation in Ukraine”.

    Sweden’s outgoing prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, said “there have been detonations” although foreign minister Ann Linde said they would not “speculate on motives or actors”.

    Amid the claims of sabotage, suspicion immediately turned to potential culprits – with fingers pointed at Russia, whose pipelines were hit, suggesting a further weaponisation of energy supplies to Europe in the midst of the conflict in Ukraine. Not least it was seen as a possible message about the vulnerability of other marine gas infrastructure.

    These people are just lackeys! The United States is fostering a war in their own territories that may destroy them all and they dare say nothing. What the act itself tells us is that peace is not even a possibility.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/27/nord-stream-1-2-pipelines-leak-baltic-sabotage-fears

    1. Why would the Russians destroy the infrastructure when presumably all they need to do is turn off the taps?

      1. Morning Sos. Precisely. There are also other reasons. The Baltic is in essence a large NATO lake. Any Russian activity would have been noticed at the time!

        1. …and surprise, surprise, the US was carrying out an undersea conflict scenario, at the time with bangs and booms heard in Sweden.

        2. Indeed.
          Presumably a surface vessel or a submarine would need used to transport the saboteurs, unless the location is both close to the shore and shallow.

    3. Why is gas pouring into the sea? Why was the flow not stopped at the first cut off valve (or whatever the proper name is). A chum works with lasers to monitor oil flow and pipe status. If there’s a problem, the flow stops – automatically. It doesn’t just keep flowing if a crack is detected, or pressure lost.

    4. Flash News: Putin Shoots Himself. His last words were (in Russian) “This will show those people in the West and it will ensure total defeat of the Ukraine”.

  19. ‘Morning, Peeps. A cool, dewy start with sun forecast all say – lovely.

    Today’s leading letter:

    SIR – The Chancellor’s mini-Budget was long overdue and came after a gradual and sustained increase in the tax burden to the highest level since the Second World War, with economic growth dropping as a result.

    For years the economy has been fed on cheap money at the expense of those foolish enough to try to save at derisory interest rates. For the economy to be sustainable in the long term a substantial adjustment is needed; money has to be priced at a level equitable to both borrower and saver.

    To achieve this, the world of work must be freed from excessive taxation and regulation to make it pay for employer and employee alike. The Chancellor’s plans are a start. His proposed simplification of IR35 rules will have a big impact, but this has hardly had a mention amid all the brouhaha about sterling.

    We live in a competitive world. For Britain to succeed it needs a dynamic wealth-creating sector. We have been struggling under the growing load of regulation and taxation but at last have a Government determined to fix this. It must keep up the good work.

    Alastair MacMillan
    Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire

    Couldn’t agree more, Mr MacMillan. And it has also provided the BBC with a useful distraction from the ludicrous Labour circus. I’m heartbroken (not!)

    1. Yet as soon as the tax changes were announced, the Wai’s comment boards were flooded with utter wasters binning the tax reforms, wailing about how horrible it was that people got to keep more of their own money and how it helped, yes, you guessed it ‘da wich’ more than them – as if they’re entitled to other people’s money.

      It just seemed a co-ordinated assault by a frenzied bunch of Lefty socialists, fanatics blaming the tax cuts for the rise in interest rates – when historically we know that tax reductions usually work in the opposite manner, as people reduce debt.

      We seem to have a truly poisonous, ignorant tranche of people in the population determined to refuse to accept that other people’s money is theirs, not the state’s.

    1. Good Morning. Hope the MR is feeling a bit better this morning. Did Nurse Gus remain on duty overnight?

      1. We started that (daily) debate yesterday afternoon. I compromised by lighting the fire.

        ‘Morning, N.

    3. That they were waffling on about how horrible it was to call him a man was hilarious in a sad, twisted world. He is a paedophile – end of story!

    3. I am a fierce proponent of the afternoon nap. Lunch at 1, nap at 2. If your need rest, you should take it. Your body is designed to tell you when it’s had enough.

  24. This BTL caught my eye and raised a smile for its sheer inventiveness:

    Cuthbert Thomasson
    1 HR AGO
    Letters: The Chancellor sees the necessity of weaning Britain off cheap bbc panic attacks…
    Anticipating another pretended pandemic this mid winter, with absolutely settled bbc cod science quacks and model gender-stereotype experts in the panic-monger’s vanguard all merrily once again screaming blue murder for an all too predictably ruinious Lockdown that would itself be the real catastrophy…
    Whilst also, as intended, being the bbc’s coupe de grâce to finish the conservative government.
    I have , in all bbc reasonableness, stocked up on bottled electricity, filled the fridge with emergency cans of instant wind power and, as an extra imaginary and self destructive precaution, been thrice vaccinated with genetically modified bbc expert doomsday panic attack virus.
    Then locked myself down in a state of overwrought nervous idiocy, on the verge of certain carbon terror extinction .
    Dreading all that must come of having voted conservative : what else did I expect ?
    But what I am wondering now, in my bbc approved morbidly obsessed pointlessly worried way, is this;
    am I too early, or is this pitiless bbc misinformed paranoia too late now to save me from the ever impending certain horribleness of net zero dreary doom ?

    * * *

    Those whom the gods wish to destroy…

    1. Winter flu could kill 20,000: Perfect storm of seasonal virus and Covid may overwhelm NHS and lead to large number of deaths, experts warn
      Experts predict the flu season could cause up to 20,000 deaths this winter
      Dr Susan Hopkins said there were ‘strong indications’ the NHS would be hit hard
      Vaccine fatigue could lead to people ignoring calls for flu and Covid jabs

      Doctors are particularly worried natural immunity to the flu virus is lower than it has ever been following the pandemic, which led to people socialising far less than usual.
      A sharp wave of cases in Australia – driven mainly by children – has prompted fears of a similar outbreak in the UK.
      International surveillance shows the UK can expect the spread of the H3N2 strain, which is known to cause more severe disease particularly in the very young and the very elderly.
      It was responsible for the last severe UK flu season five years ago, resulting in around 20,000 deaths and 40,000 hospital admissions.

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11256517/Winter-flu-kill-20-000-Perfect-storm-seasonal-virus-Covid-overwhelm-NHS.html

      We’re all gonna die again, and again, and again……

        1. Indeed

          A new analysis of the burden of influenza in England and Wales has been published by a team from the Health Protection Agency’s centre for infections.

          The authors say that flu causes between 10 500 and 25 000 deaths a year in England and Wales and is responsible for about 800 000 visits to GPs a year, a seventh of all visits for respiratory disease (Journal of Infection 2006 Nov 9, doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2006.09.017).

          My bold underlining.
          https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1676118/

        2. Every year except when they call it Covid, Bill. There were 28,000 flu deaths in 2014 for example.

      4. Sadly yes, but if you ignore the Left wing clap trap and live your life as best you can, you’ll make it to a good old age.

    3. Your money is also being eaten by bankers. Bankers are small rodents who live in ‘the city’. According to the BBC all bankers and ‘the city’ are evil and take your money and sell it to their ‘wich fwends’ and leave you with nothing.

      That this sounds remarkably like the BBC itself is irrelevant.

  25. “Country before party”, says Starmer.
    Admirable, except Labour will always find when they are in power that it’s ‘unions before country’.

    1. It’s all they have, a blatent stab at much bolero.
      I’m certainly not voting for any of the three.

  26. SIR – I’m glad that Gloria Havenhand (Letters, September 26) has raised some red flags regarding the consequences of pursuing fracking in Britain.

    Another that she did not mention became apparent when Third Energy turned up near my parents’ home in North Yorkshire some years ago. Aside from the upheaval caused by the fracking company, throngs of protesters also arrived at the site.

    As the idyllic rural environment was trashed, my parents considered moving away, only to find that the value of their home had plummeted by 50 per cent due to the proximity of the fracking site – a potential loss of more than £100,000.

    While “Luddites” may be a convenient term for Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Business Secretary, to use to describe those opposed to fracking, I have no doubt that such people will feel a lot more amenable when he produces black-and-white guarantees for environmental protection, and a fully accessible compensation framework for those who suffer financial loss as a result of fracking activity.

    Andrew Woodward
    Chonburi, Thailand

    Martin Selves28 MIN AGO

    Andrew Woodward from Thailand gets on his fracking Horse and demands we stop it before we start. It seems to me common sense to start over, with conditions in place, and Frack. Lets find out the seismic shift, the ground movement, the quantity of the Gas reserves, the noise and inconvenience of a small plot the size of a football pitch will bring to our Countryside. If you don’t want to lift your finger, if you simply do not want to try, if you are not curious, if you do not want to solve the energy riddle, then you are not part of this 21st Century, but a dinosaur.

    * * *

    Mr Selves has spoken and I think it’s time he had his own column!

    1. They do want to solve the energy riddle but they want to do it by pouring 400 tons of concrete into the ground for unreliables. To them, that’s acceptable.

  27. SIR – It’s beginning to feel a lot like 1963 and 1997, both of which I remember well. What followed was inevitably a Labour government.

    The first of these Labour prime ministers assured me that the pound in my pocket had not been devalued – it had. The second assured me that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq – there weren’t.

    Brian Hooper
    Tiverton, Devon

    Like most Nottlers I clearly remember both episodes. Problem is, younger voters won’t and the danger is that they will be taken in by the ‘promises’ of sane government by Sir Kneel Beer-Korma. Every generation needs a spell of a Labour government, but please make it as brief as possible!

      1. Heath on his own inflicted more lasting damage to the UK than most labour governments. Omitting Blair of course.
        It’s difficult to imagine what secrets people knew of that b&st&rd. We knew he liked sailing around bouys in the Channel.

    2. Watched a 1960s episode of the Saint. One of Roger Moore’s lines, ‘three dollars to the pound’…

    3. Yet we had 12 years of tax and waste and if you ask a lefty now why we’re in the mess we are, they say ‘da tor-wees!’. If you mention who broke the banks they say ‘da torrrwweeees and deir wich fwends!’ (and yes, they do speak in that foam flecked manner).

      Reality doesn’t intrude on the Lefty mind.

      2. Ours ticked on when it got to 15’c. I swiftly set it to 7 and closed the windows except in those areas that need to ventilate, although even I’ll admit that the tiled floor is rather cold.

          1. Even through those! I have these flexible thick sock types slippers rather than the firm soled ones.

      4. Mine went on yesterday but reprogrammed for half the ‘on’ time. Woodburner will be utilised more

  29. 365629+ up ticks,

    Me thinking rotherham cover up of mass paedophile action would nail shut the labour box and mortally damage the coalition, the coalition is as strong as ever.

    These political creatures in power are the peoples democratic choice.

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    14h
    If you want real racism & anti-semitism you go to Labour.

    ‘You ain’t black unless you sound black on the radio.’ Imagine if a white person said this, never mind an MP, they would be hounded out of their job.

    Labour can only cope with racial stereotypes. Can’t understand anything that doesn’t fit their pea brained narrative.

    Rupa Huq suspended as Labour MP after Kwarteng comments — BBC News
    Rupa Huq suspended as Labour MP after Kwarteng comments — BBC News

    Rupa Huq faces criticism after describing Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng as “superficially” black.

    apple.news

    1. This is because the big demographic is Muslim pakistani’s and other gimmigrants. 70% of all muslims (those identifying as followers of that faith) are entirely dependent on welfare. That’s a shocking figure that should be shameful, but they don’t care.

  30. SIR – Sir Keir Starmer is clearly living in a parallel universe: his aspiration for a fossil-fuel free electricity system by 2030 is a fantasy (report, September 27). He obviously knows little about the geography of Britain. He should acquaint himself with the Orkney Islands, which need diesel generators for back-up when the wind blows too hard and the sun doesn’t shine.

    Graham W Swift
    Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire

    Anyone with half a brain should realise this, Mr Swift, but eco-dogma seems to get in the way…

    1. Starmer has roughly two demographics who vote for him. Rich Lefties in cities who are beyond worrying about the cost of energy bills and welfarists who aren’t bothered because someone else can always be forced to pay for them. Both are idle scroungers.

  31. Morning all 😉
    I just paid a visit face book and it seems they have censored comments on two of the articles they feature. One about the Brussels mafia getting stuck into Italy over their election results. Possibly reversing it. And another regarding the Brussels mafia insisting that the UK now join the euro.
    And I thought our parents and grandparents fought a war against the oppression of the Nazi regime. And won.
    Maybe not.

    1. They don’t see it that way though. It’s ironic how oppressive Lefties are. They haven’t changed, they never will. Until you’re forced to accept their view, they’re not happy.

      1. But it’s been perfectly obvious that the Brussels mafiosi through various means and channels has been directing hate filled projections at the UK since we voted to leave. But unfortunately due to certain obstructions (Bore-us) caught us in the exit door we have never completed our objective.
        Assisted massively by our doggedly manpulative and intrusive media and now it seems social media.

        1. It was inevitable that the EU would try to subvert democracy. It uses vast amounts of our resources trying to control a narrative – it is, at heart, a failure. It knows it, but it continues to promote the propaganda hat it isn’t dedicated to communist fascism.

          2. Still hate us for beating them up.
            And the French hate us because we and the allies reschedule their future.

  33. Min, seems to be around now at 8.45AM, is 6.4C. Lots of dew, I shall have to squeegee the car windows before I go out, but clear blue sky

      1. The daughter of one of my friends came round and was about to leave as I saw her through the window. “Oh,” she said, “I couldn’t see your car and I thought you were out.” It was in the garage where I always keep it.

  34. Min, seems to be around now at 8.45AM, is 6.4C. Lots of dew, I shall have to squeegee the car windows before I go out, but clear blue sky

      1. In Gitmo. (Other prisons are available.)
        Why should the British taxpayer fork out £50,000 pa to keep sh!tes like that alive?

        1. Why does a prison cell cost £50,000!

          It’s a square room with a thick door. Once built, forget about them.

    2. Eight years and out in five or less. Some bloke who harassed a celeb got five years. No physical harm.

    1. Loving that dog! I saw one in a crate on the back of a motorbike in Glasgow last weekend! Nae sunglasses though!

      1. I have a carry crate for Dolly that fits on my E Bike but i’m nervous about using it.

        I have also negotiated a price for a Chi puppy from the breeder that sold me Dolly. £500 which is well below market rates for Kennel Club registered. Dolly is going to get a little brother soon.

          1. Thanks. I don’t have any carpets so everything is moppable. I’m hoping they will become firm friends.

        3. I had a big sister….Wish the little fellow good luck from me. (My brother and I called her ‘Droopy-Drawers’. She didn’t like it.)

    2. Loving that dog! I saw one in a crate on the back of a motorbike in Glasgow last weekend! Nae sunglasses though!

    2. I like the Star Trek reference………..the guy in the fish restaurant on Oban …. Bream me Up Scotty.

    1. There are so many things wrong with this country, but the biggest issue seems to be the demented arrogance and spite of far too many of the population. A bunch of thick, stupid, malevolent, ignorant, arrogant, vicious, nasty, bitter, entitled, egotistical, gormless, economically illiterate Lefties.

      1. 365629+ up ticks,

        Morning W,
        None left out there, all encompassed in
        the lab/lib/con/current ukip coalition party.

      3. You missed out habitual and pathological liars, gravy trainers and money grabbing greedy bustards, AKA all of our political classes

  42. Good Morning. Some sunshine but it won’t last. Horses going up and down the road, one group of seven.

  43. Yesterday I was looking at the government website to find out about the rules and paperwork for exporting to the EU. There is a lot of stuff to set up, code numbers, tax details and so on.
    Then I noticed that you have to do all that to export to Northern Ireland. To sell anything from the UK to NI requires this heap of documents. It is quite clear that NI is actually in the EU for all commercial and business purposes.

    1. Yes, and yet Johnson declared that Brexit was “done”. Someone should have explained to the blustering, blundering fool the term ‘vassal state’, because that is what NI has effectively become.

      1. As I have said above – Boris Johnson deliberately betrayed the UK and the British public was too thick to see it.

    3. Why did both Boris Johnson and Michael Gove arrive in Brussels just before the “deal” with the EU was struck? I shrieked at the time in BTL comments and an unpublished letter to the DT because I guessed what they were up to but the MSM was happy not to ask why they were there.

      David Frost was holding firm on both UK Fishing waters and having no border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. And sure enough, just as I foresaw, within 24 hours of Johnson and Gove arriving the UK had capitulated and the gullible press and many complete imbeciles started saying how brilliant Boris Johnson was to have pulled off Brexit.

      Poppycock!

      It is as clear as a pikestaff that Gove and Johnson were determined to undermine Frost and lumber the UK with a completely excremental non-Brexit. They are both traitors.

      1. Yes it is a disaster. If the paperwork is required in the other direction, ie NI to UK then that is even worse. There must be many small businesses who have simply ceased to trade across the Irish Sea.

    4. Why did both Boris Johnson and Michael Gove arrive in Brussels just before the “deal” with the EU was struck? I shrieked at the time in BTL comments and an unpublished letter to the DT because I guessed what they were up to but the MSM was happy not to ask why they were there.

      David Frost was holding firm on both UK Fishing waters and having no border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. And sure enough, just as I foresaw, within 24 hours of Johnson and Gove arriving the UK had capitulated and the gullible press and many complete imbeciles started saying how brilliant Boris Johnson was to have pulled off Brexit.

      Poppycock!

      It is as clear as a pikestaff that Gove and Johnson were determined to undermine Frost and lumber the UK with a completely excremental non-Brexit. They are both traitors.

    5. Why did both Boris Johnson and Michael Gove arrive in Brussels just before the “deal” with the EU was struck? I shrieked at the time in BTL comments and an unpublished letter to the DT because I guessed what they were up to but the MSM was happy not to ask why they were there.

      David Frost was holding firm on both UK Fishing waters and having no border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. And sure enough, just as I foresaw, within 24 hours of Johnson and Gove arriving the UK had capitulated and the gullible press and many complete imbeciles started saying how brilliant Boris Johnson was to have pulled off Brexit.

      Poppycock!

      It is as clear as a pikestaff that Gove and Johnson were determined to undermine Frost and lumber the UK with a completely excremental non-Brexit. They are both traitors.

    4. Phew, at least she’s been caught and identified………….perhaps many other chaps have now escaped similar actions.

    1. We signed the UN Migration pact, or rather T. May sneakily signed it on our behalf, knowing full well that it did not have support.

      2. 365629+ up ticks,

        Afternoon BB2,
        As with heath, eu assets
        If that be the case “arriving passengers” then there is just
        reason to call politicians
        political KFs, ( kiddey fiddlers.
        And there is sure as hell plenty of reason for that.

        What is crossing the channel is morally illegal.

        Treacherous tresa ex PM should be in Broadmoor along with ex PM
        anthony charlie lynton, AKA the BOG MAN.

        Ps,
        Fancy them odious pair having a chavvie

    3. While yes, they are arriving passengers, they are also criminals, illegal economic migrants and rent seekers. Dress it up however you want, the truth remains.

      Get rid of them.

  46. Hallo all! Hope that everyone is OK. I am not posting because I’m still having medical problems, not the least is difficulty in looking at a computer screen without getting nauseous. But I do read what everyone is posting in an off and on effort so my eyes don’t whacko!
    Many of you will have seen the interview of Jordan Peterson with Pierce Morgan, if not I post it here, the full interview. But I also came across this short interview and thought I would post it. “Never Underestimate the People You Are at War With.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-K_j2KcBX8
    Above it is the full version of the interview with Morgan. “FULL INTERVIEW: Dr Jordan Peterson sits down with Piers Morgan “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpnvGA-wJIE&t=62s
    Finally. I hope that once I can get my eyesight sorted out I can post a lot more often. In the meantime I hope you are all well. Miss you all because this is an enjoyable place to post. Miss the chats about gardens and plants in particular. I could, at this point moan about the absolute crappy NHS which, apart from Oncology, has let me down incredibly. I am, at this point disgusted with them.

    1. Good to hear from you, JR.
      We all appreciate the effort you are making.
      As has been remarked, good laughs are in short supply, but that reflects the times we are living through, rather than a complete failure of NOTTL sense of humour.

    2. Hullo Jonathan, might be one to see about getting a higher refresh rate monitor. Some can have low refresh rates which while not seen are still detected by your eyes which wears them out and can, as you’re experiencing, induce nausea.

    4. Hello Johnathan, it’s good to hear from you! I miss your horticultural knowledge as well.
      Hope you manage to get your eyesight and a better screen sorted out.

    5. Good to see you again. Hope your medical problems are sorted quickly and look forward to seeing you again in the not too distant future.

    6. Great to see you, johnathon! Sorry about your health problems, and hope you get them sorted pdq! Nice to have you back and take care of yourself!

    7. Good to see you Johnathan! I repotted my bourgainvillia and it has spent the summer outside – it’s looking much healthier now and is due to come back indoors.

      I do hope you can get some help with your sight soon.

    8. Glad you are back, even briefly.
      The stuff on screen sickens me too, but because of the news reports, not the flicker.

  49. PayPal: I sent the Spekkie/Toby Young article to hot-shot banker chum.
    Here is her reply.

    “The clearing banks also block perfectly legal payments if they don’t like any country they are linked to.”

    2. That will be why Paypal will not process payment for the Cuban coffee that I buy. When I use my card, I always lie. “This purchase has nothing to do with Cuba, OK!”

    3. I often come up against that at work. I remember once a payment to Ruptly for some footage of a giraffe was blocked by the bank and I’m afraid I couldn’t resist pointing out that the poor creature had been euthanased by the zoo but not because he was a Russian spy!

    1. If asked the same question I might have assumed that the reason the question was asked was because the women’s were full and I would try to be helpful by saying it would be OK if they used the men’s instead.

        1. Indeed;
          I do sometimes wonder if people go around looking to be offended where no offence was intended.

        1. Why do there need to be separate girls’ changing rooms? If they are too young to change alone, they will be escorted by the responsible adult and if they are able to change alone why shouldn’t they use the women’s?

          1. I had jumped to the conclusion that “girls” changing rooms was the same as “women’s”. There have never been changing rooms for minors, as you say below.

    1. We price our courses in pounds because most of our clients are from the UK.

      In the last six months the pound has fallen in value from €1.21 to the £ to €1.11 to the £. On top of the ruin that the Covid tyranny wreaked we have this year now suffered a fall of 9% in the value of the money we do receive.

      It is perfectly clear that politicians have absolutely no idea of the difficulties small business face which are completely beyond their control.

    2. I will hold my house in the high wood
      Within a walk of the sea,
      And the men that were boys when I was a boy
      Shall sit and drink with me.

      I always enjoyed this verse from one of Hilaire Belloc’s poems, The South Country.

      Hope your lunch went well with the girls who were girls when you were a girl!

    3. I will hold my house in the high wood
      Within a walk of the sea,
      And the men that were boys when I was a boy
      Shall sit and drink with me.

      I always enjoyed this verse from one of Hilaire Belloc’s poems, The South Country.

      Hope your lunch went well with the girls who were girls when you were a girl!

  53. Labour MP Rupa Huq is recorded describing Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng as superficially black.

    I agree. He has no criminal record.

  54. It is absurd to call Giorgia Meloni ‘far right’

    Her critics have had a very tough time finding evidence to support their claim. Frankly, they are scraping the barrel

    NICHOLAS FARRELL • 27 September 2022 • 1:15pm

    The world’s media – whether right or left wing – invariably call Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s new prime minister, “far right”. It’s the modern way of saying “fascist” (without actually saying it). She and her party, Brothers of Italy, keep telling us, are “the heirs to Mussolini”.

    It is incredible how herd mentality builds up, like herd immunity: you get to a point where if enough people are saying something then it must be true. Yet to describe Meloni who identifies as conservative as far right is dishonest. There is nothing in her political programme that is remotely fascist.

    A famous left-wing Italian historian of fascism Emilio Gentile once drew up a 10-point list to check whether someone is, or is not a fascist. While Vladimir Putin would unquestionably be regarded as a fascist on nearly all of the 10 points, Meloni and her party unquestionably fail on every single one.

    They include: the use of terror to destroy parliamentary democracy; a totalitarian state that fuses the individual and the masses in the nation and persecutes those considered outsiders; a police force that represses opposition by force; a political system commanded by a leader invested with sacred charisma; a corporate economy controlled, not owned, by the state; and a foreign policy inspired by the myth of the nation whose goal is imperial expansion.

    Yes, as a teenager in the early 1990s Meloni, now 45, was a member of the Movimento Sociale Italiano, Italy’s long defunct neo-fascist party, and its successor, Alleanza Nazionale, likewise now disbanded, whose leader said that fascism is “il male assoluto” (absolute evil) – a sentiment with which Meloni once again said she agreed during this election campaign.

    In 2011, she co-founded Brothers of Italy as a centre-right party and identifies as a conservative who is inspired, not by Benito Mussolini, the revolutionary socialist who founded fascism, but especially by English conservatives such as Sir Roger Scruton and JRR Tolkien.

    When I interviewed her in Rome last month, she told me: “If I were British, I would be a Tory.”

    Whether or not Italians can be Tories is an interesting matter for debate given the absence of a Anglo-Saxon conservative tradition in Italy. But she is determined to give it a go. She is also president of the European Conservative and Reform Group in Brussels which was co-founded by David Cameron’s Tory MEPs.

    Her critics have a tough time indeed finding evidence to support their definition of her as “far right”. Frankly, they are scraping the barrel.

    Their so-called evidence includes her calls for a naval blockade of Libya to stop migrants crossing to Italy (750,000 have done since 2015). Yet the Libyan coastguard already operates such a blockade, equipped and trained by successive Italian governments in which the left was a major partner.

    They say that she wants to install a dictatorship because to sort out Italy’s sclerotic parliamentary system, dogged by short-lived impotent governments, she has talked about introducing a French-style presidency to replace the current situation in which the president’s powers are largely ceremonial. It would mean the president would be elected by the people and not by parliament – yet that’s apparently the road to dictatorship. It cannot happen anyway without a two thirds majority in parliament, or a referendum.

    They say that she wants to restrict abortion rights. This is not true. She has not said she will attempt to change Italy’s abortion laws. She has simply proposed pro-life and family policies to encourage motherhood, including free child-care services.

    Regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she is an unequivocal supporter of sending arms to Ukraine and much more committed to doing so than either Emanuel Macron or Olaf Scholz.

    The only charge that is remotely convincing in my view is that she refuses to banish the fiamma tricolore (tricolour flame) from her party logo. Critics say that this proves that she cannot bring herself to abandon fascism because the flame was the logo of the neo-fascist MSI and the post-fascist AN. But she says – and she repeated it to me – the flame is not a fascist symbol but the symbol of the Italian right which existed before fascism and has “got nothing to do with fascism”.

    In fact, Meloni’s victory is a triumph for democracy. She will be Italy’s first elected prime minister since Berlusconi in 2008. None of the six prime ministers since 2011 when Berlusconi was forced to resign during the euro crisis was the leader of a party or coalition that won the most votes in a general election. Four were not even elected parliamentarians.

    Her use of the slogan “God, Fatherland, Family” as a rallying call encapsulates precisely why she is like a red rag to a bull as far as the liberal left is concerned, most of whom do not believe in God because they are atheists, the fatherland because they are globalists, and the family because they are woke.

    That Italy is on the verge of getting its first democratically elected government for 14 years ought to be seen as a welcome sign that democracy is at last returning to what is often called “the beating heart of Europe”.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/09/27/absurd-call-giorgia-meloni-far-right/

    1. BTL:
      Arthur two sheds Jackson
      Meloni seems to me to be a sort of Italian Alison Pearson. Full of common sense and totally endearing…

      Gill Ray
      But considerably more intelligent. Can’t see Pearson understanding Roger Scruton’s thinking…

      Arthur two sheds Jackson
      Ouch!

      Here she is…

      Giorgia Meloni isn’t far-Right – she just says what we all think

      When I listen to the new Italian prime minister speak, I hear mainstream Conservative values that millions of people share

      ALLISON PEARSON • 28 September 2022 • 9:11am

      During a rally in 2019, Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy party, quoted G K Chesterton. The English writer, theologian and heavily-mustachioed sage seemed an unlikely choice for the climax of an impassioned oration by a tiny, fiery Italian blonde. But maybe not. Chesterton was known as the “Apostle of common sense”.

      “Fires will be kindled to testify that two and two make four. Swords will be drawn to prove that leaves are green in summer. That time has arrived. We are ready,” she shouted in her thick, working-class Roman accent.

      The audience whooped. Part of Meloni’s speech went viral. “They want to call us parent 1, parent 2, gender LGBT, citizen X, with code numbers. But we are not code numbers … and we’ll defend our identity. I am Giorgia. I am a woman. I am a mother. I am Italian. I am Christian!” Some DJs, who were unhappy with Meloni’s views on gay marriage, sampled her words and put a disco beat behind them to demonise her.

      It backfired big time. The song became a hit in Italian clubs and shot up the charts; far from discrediting Meloni it only boosted her popularity.

      This week, that fiery, 45-year-old blonde became the first female prime minister of Italy, a major personal triumph in a still notably macho culture. But the headlines all focused on Giorgia Meloni being “far-Right”.

      “The most dangerous woman in Europe,” warned Germany’s Stern magazine. Meloni had even upset Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission. Responding to a question on whether there were any concerns about the forthcoming elections in Italy, a sanctimoniously smirking von der Leyen replied, “If things go in a difficult direction, I’ve spoken about Hungary and Poland, we have tools.”

      They call Giorgia Meloni a fascist, but it’s the impeccably liberal von der Leyen who behaves like one.

      We have tools. Spoken like a true totalitarian. Who would you trust when it comes to respecting a democratic decision? The first elected leader of Italy for 14 years, a single mother from a poor home, or a failed German defence minister, the product of a wealthy elite who was shoehorned into the EU’s top job without a single vote cast?

      While there are valid concerns about the fascist origins of Meloni’s party, what I hear when I listen to her are mainstream Conservative values. Here is a politician who speaks up for the family and the nation. She opposes globalisation which turns men and women into faceless units of consumption. She says yes to secure borders and no to mass migration, yes to sexual identity and no to the alphabetti spaghetti of gender politics.

      Why are these views of millions of middle-of-the road people now called “far-Right”? It’s because the Left, while failing consistently at the ballot box, has assumed control of political nomenclature. That way they alone get to decide who is virtuous and who is Boris Johnson. For two and a half years, they called Boris “far-Right” and then they met Liz Truss.

      Far-Right now translates as “anyone I don’t agree with who is, ergo, not a nice person”. Reporting for Channel 4 News on the recent clashes in Leicester between groups of Hindus and Muslims, Darshna Soni attributed the violence to “Right-wing ideology politics imported from the sub-continent”.

      It made a change from blaming Brexit, I suppose.

      Two religious groups with strong tribal affiliations, who live here but still hate each other, is not a comfortable story for those with a leftist outlook. Bring on the “far-Right” bogey monster!

      And so as a result of this Orwellian appropriation of the “truth”, we have a society in which Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, declares he is ready for government but cannot say what a woman is because believing in biological sex is unfashionable.

      A society where a “charity” called Mermaids gives breast binders to confused young girls, without their parents’ knowledge, and all the best people think that supporting this charity is showing marvellous tolerance rather than the utmost cruelty and stupidity. A society where mothers nursing their newborns are called “chest-feeders” because some NHS trusts fret that calling a mother a mother will offend against the prevailing orthodoxy.

      If saying all of these examples are crackers and wicked makes you “far right” then too bad. Sono Giorgia Meloni. I am a woman. I am a mother.

      “Fires will be kindled to testify that two and two make four … We shall be left defending … the incredible virtues and sanities of human life.” Spot on, G K Chesterton, Sir. We are indeed left defending common sense as if our children’s lives depended on it, which they rather do.

      Millions of us agree with Giorgia Meloni, and we’re not far-Right. Just right.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2022/09/28/giorgia-meloni-isnt-far-right-just-says-what-think

        1. Did you see my post yesterday?

          I translated what the teutonic Ursula Fond Lyin’ said to the Italian lady:

          We have ways of making you squawk

          1. I did, Richard and yesterday, I made that PowerPoint to .jpg meme, from that photo without the speech bubble.

    1. I have Richard Lynn’s book on race and intelligence. He doesn’t just quote data. He gives the sources and explains how, where and by whom the data was collected and what methodology was used. His detractors cry “debunked!” but never back up their claim with anything more than so and so said such and such at this time or that. No-one is saying that there aren’t smart people in Sub-Saharan Africa but the average IQ is far lower than in Singapore or among Ashkenazi Jews (and I know one of those who’s defo not the sharpest knife in the drawer).

  59. £ down. Bank of England pushes the panic button.
    My gold increased in value by £600 today…so far.

      1. Not jewellery. Massively overpriced if you just want precious metals or are you on one knee and proposing? :@)

    2. Great news eh.
      It’s your shout at the bar then Phizz.
      I’ll have a ‘Brown’ Ale, careful not to spill any.

      1. Any time. It will go down again though. It’s for the long term. My insurance to pay for a place on a ship to South America when the proverbial hits the spinning thing.

    5. I read that if they hadn’t pushed the panic button, several major pension funds would have gone bust…
      I have come to terms with the likelihood that when I come to collect my pension, it will just about buy me a cup of tea each month.

  60. Not long been back from a cross country 5 mile walk with doggo. When I set off I felt a bit chilly. But was sweating buckets by the time I had arrived home. Last half mile all up hill.
    Closer to home I bumped into two sets of ladies who had 3 labs between them all. And then three old friends from the village. Had a catchup chat.Two are off to their second home near Toulouse next week.
    Lucky old them.
    Oh yes doggo is clapped out right now.
    I picked up a few nice eating apples in a help your self box.
    Cuppa tea and feet before the family arrive. They’re cooking dinner tonight, no facilties at home, they are having a new kitchen fitted at the moment.

    1. As soon as anyone, politician or anyone else, begins with “let me be clear” you can be assured what follows is first class gobbledegook. It is a totally unnecessary phrase.

      1. Americans seem to have no shame, nor sense, putting a decrepit old man onTV to make a fool of himself.
        Shameful.

    2. Try and get the Slammers to speak English, understand our cultural differences and, above all, INTEGRATE – no more ghettos. No Halal, No shouty minarets.

      1. Most of them are uneducated which is why we are supposed to take up the slack. Here is a handy phrase…

        بھاڑ میں جاؤ

        1. That appears to be Urdu – not Arabic.

          ‘Imshi’ is another, (English pronunciation of Arabic). I think it means ‘Go away in short jerking movements!’

  63. OT Let me share what is wrong and also what is good about the NHS.

    I have had sporadically weeping eyes for a month. It started in France. I went to a pharmacie and the chap identified the problem as “dry eyes” and sold me some drops. They help but do not stop the problem.

    This morning at 10 I e-mailed the GPs using their excellent online system. I said it wasn’t that urgent but that a face to face apptmt was needed.

    At 12.30 a woman rang from the GPs. English was clearly NOT her first (or even second) language. I couldn’t understand half of what shesaid. She asked how she could help. I repeated what I had said in the e-mail. She asked lots of questions – and ended by saying that she thought a face to face apptmt was needed: “Because it is very difficult to examine eyes over the telephone…” Geddaway. She would arrange for Admin to make a apptmt.

    1 pm – English woman rang – was I available at 2 pm. You bet. Went there. Saw a nurse – who reckoned it is “dry eyes” and prescribed different drops. 2.15 left GPs with the drops.

    So, an analysis.

    Wrong part: The African woman phoning was a complete waste of her time, the GP surgery’s time and my time. 15 minutes spent uselessly. No wonder the NHS is “ovewhelmed”
    Good part: Rapid apptmt and diagosis with a competent nurse within 4 hours of my first approach.
    Conclusion: Just make an apptmt……

    2. What a coincidence! I’m also struggling with weeping eyes, and have tried chloramphenicol drops and allergy relief stuff. Had some artificial tears in the fridge from a previous bout, and they have finally done the trick! Having Sore eyes makes you feel very tired!

      1. What are “artificial tears”? They sound just the ticket – though the stuff I have had prescribed may to the trick.

        1. They’re called Liquifilm artificial tears and they lubricate the eyes and stop them being irritated, which ca uses them to water in the first place! I was surprised the first time I had it but my optometrist prescribed the tears.

    4. It’s not just the NHS, Bill.

      At the last place, my broadband was expensive and slow. So I bought a 4G router, signed up for a Vodafone Unlimited Max SIM card, and had faster and cheaper interweb. When I moved to the new place, all I had to do was bring said router with me. No need for a landline or broadband, and the associated costs. Except there wasn’t a useable Vodafone signal here. So I signed up with the aforementioned for broadband and landline phone, being the cheapest option, according to USwitch. I don’t use that phone. Too many spoof calls. Superfast 1 should give a download speed of 38 Mbps and an upload speed of 10 Mbps. My results are around 21 and 1.3, respectively. It’s not all bad. With that upload speed I can’t attend the Zoom evening services. But they now propose to increase my subscription by around 15%.

      Today, I attempted to give notice to terminate the broadband and landline phone. Purely by chance, I’ve discovered that I can get unlimited bandwidth from Smarty (via Three’s network) for 20 quid a month, without annual increases. And it’s around three times faster than broadband.

      So I called Vodafone on 191. When I uttered the ‘termination’ word, I was directed to ‘Tobi’, their online chat ‘service’. As soon as it understood the ‘termination’ word, I was told to phone them on 191. I persevered. One hour and four ‘advisors’ later, I had achieved precisely nothing. There’s a limit to how many timnes one is willing to give name, address, account number, telephone number, PIN number, broadband reference number, inside leg measurement etc…

      After an hour, I told the fourth advisor that I was unwilling to spend any more time on this fruitless exercise. “We are unable to progress with your request” was the response. So a letter (I know – it’s so 20th Century) is going in the post, and will also be emailed, with a copy to their CEO (thanks, Paul)…

        1. Quite. I’ve tried, in vain. So – allowing for the 30 day notice period, I’ll cancel the direct debit the day after my next payment. Then they’ll beat a path to my door…

      2. I cancelled all Mothers direct debits that weren’t charities. That brought the bastards out of hiding, all kinds of threats, but the letters did include reference number and a telephone number. So, I call and cancel. Some get quite shirty.

        1. I’ve sent a letter (how 20th Century) giving notice of cancellation. I’ve also emsiled it, with a copy to thier CEO. I’ll cancel the DD after the next payment, so – one way or another – I’ll beat the barstewards. Ironically, Vodafone are the best option for most of the churches in the Parish.

          I’m helping to roll out card donations. Since Covid, folk ignore the collection plate. They don’t carry cash.

  64. My dad got a job as a human cannonball.

    He’d only been there 2 days and they fired him.

    He went ballistic.

    I’m leaving with the circus in 5 minutes. :@(

          2. The daft girl was planning to go to “Keep Fit” tonight. Thank God it is cancelled because all the people involved are, er, unfit…!

          7. [O/T

            You beagles are amazing. Look at what you’ve done now! Shades of Dr Anthony Fauci

            Pictured: Beagle gives birth to world’s first cloned Arctic wolf

            The birth has been described as a milestone for the conservation of rare and endangered species

            https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/world-news/2022/09/28/TELEMMGLPICT000310872755_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqRo0U4xU-30oDveS4pXV-Vv4Xpit_DMGvdp2n7FDd82k.jpeg?imwidth=680
            Proud mum and her pup

            https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/world-news/2022/09/28/TELEMMGLPICT000310872766_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=1280
            The wolf is currently living with her surrogate mother at a Sinogene lab in Xuzhou, eastern China but will soon be moved
            *
            *
            ************************************

            Edward Harding
            35 MIN AGO
            and the beagle said “god, how drunk was I at that party ?”

            https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/09/28/beagle-gives-birth-worlds-first-cloned-arctic-wolf/

          13. The daft girl was planning to go to “Keep Fit” tonight. Thank God it is cancelled because all the people involved are, er, unfit…!

    1. Read that as “Trying not to sneeze”. Better clean me specs…
      Evening, Tom. I just had an hour in the sofa after the excitement of changing the shower thermostatic tap and a Polish celebratory beer.
      I do like the sofa…

  68. Afternoon, all, from sunny Kidlington. The motorhome survived the night as I’m sitting in it typing this (on a Win 10 laptop so if I make lots of typos and then suddenly disappear, you’ll understand why!).

    1. The last Oof was obviously that we are now part of the European Caliphate in all but name.

      Time to rebel and oust these invaderrs fom OUR land – every single one of them, and make Islam illegal in the UK. Despite what our ‘King’ might say, he needs to defend just one faith – Christianity.

      1. Islam isn’t a faith – it’s a political ideology. A controlling, proscriptive and prescriptive one. It is totally incompatible with western democratic ideals.

        1. In a serious book on Islam, possibly translated from the French, IIRC the author described the ‘faith’ as military feudalism.

  70. I noticed recently with some envy, that my neighbour had goldfinches in her garden. I wanted to attract some to my garden, so I asked her what she fed them on. She replied “The Bird Table”.

    4. Goldfinches, common as muck here, and the newly fledged ones are raucous and stroppy. The adults are stroppy on the feeder too.

  71. That’s me for today. Very successful – the eyes have it. Market tomorrow.

    Have a smooth evening.

    A demain.

  72. The longer and louder the objections from the usual suspects continue, the more I begin to think that the Chancellor has scared the living daylights out of them and may actually be on the right track.
    If he achieves nothing else he will have set fire to all the world’s forests of magic money trees.

          1. 365629+ up ticks,

            Evening GG,
            I do beg to differ, in my book there is no longer an option of “a while” not at the incoming rate of invaders.

  73. Family are here for dinner, before I log off who gave the chance a lot permission to wreck people’s lives ? I think the general consensus is our more than useless government are trying to falsely claim innocence from the expensive F€ck up they have made by allowing thousands of bloody illegal invaders to come into England. But of course as it’s usual. It’s every one else’s fault.

    1. Amen. I watched The Funeral on GB News. On the whole, the coverage was fine. Alastair Stewart dropped a couple of bollocks. He said All my hope on God is founded was composed by Michael Herbert Howells. Actually, the hymn tune is ‘Michael’. It was written by Herbert Howells and dedicated to his son,Michael, who died of polio at the age of nine. As an aside, I attended a christening of a third cousin at Twigworth church, near Gloucester, before it was closed down. The vicsar was keen to mention the afore-mentioned hymn. Poor Michael Howells is buried in the churchyard alongside the poet Ivor Gurney.

      The second bollock was that he announced the lone piper, whereupon the choirs sang the James McMillan anthem. Perhaps he turned over two pages of the Order of Service?

      Nevertheless, I was spared from listening to Huw Wotsit…

  75. The Free Speech Union

    This email includes links to register for our exclusive, members-only, online events and to get discount tickets for in-person events.

    Recordings of our online events are published on our YouTube channel. We will update you here and in the weekly newsletter of new arrivals.

    If you missed our special book launch with Andrew Doyle and can get to Birmingham on Monday night, Toby will be interviewing Andrew at a free event hosted by The Critic magazine. Book here.

    FSU Online Speakeasies with Jack Dee and Neil Oliver

    Next Wednesday, the 12th of October, Toby will be joined in conversation at an Online Speakeasy by stand-up comedian, actor, writer and presenter Jack Dee. You can watch Jack’s video message inviting you to the event by clicking here and register to receive the Zoom link here.

    And we are delighted to announce that on Wednesday 9th November, historian, author and television presenter Neil Oliver will be speaking to Toby at another Online Speakeasy for FSU members. Register to receive the Zoom link here.

    Exclusive FSU Member Discount on Battle of Ideas Festival Tickets

    Members are offered discount tickets to the Battle of Ideas Festival 2022 (15th and 16th October). During that event, Toby will be speaking on a panel the FSU is sponsoring on the Online Safety Bill. The Free Speech Champions will also be partnering on a session about how young people can be persuaded to join the defence of freedom of speech. To get your discount, click on ‘enter promo code’ (blue text at the top of the ticket page) and type in FSU-BattleFest2022, then click ‘apply’, before selecting your ticket.

    FSU Annual Convention 2022 for Gold and Founder Members

    On Wednesday 5th October we’ll be holding our second Online Annual Convention. This event is exclusively for Gold and Founder members. They have received an invitation in a separate email. The Convention affords senior staff and the Directors of the FSU the opportunity to thank members for their continuing support and to report back on highlights from the past year – e.g., legal victories, case-work successes and the impact our behind-the-scenes legislative and policy work is having. It’s also a great opportunity for Gold and Founder members to participate in a Q&A where they get to have their say about the work we’re doing.

    If you would like to upgrade to Gold membership and join the event, log in to your FSU account, click on “My Subscription” in the left-hand menu, scroll down and click on “Upgrade” and then complete the payment process. If you experience any issues, email Esther Hartley at admin@freespeechunion.org

    1. I think the FSU is doing a great job.

      But

      This event is exclusively for Gold and Founder members. They have received an invitation in a separate email. The Convention affords senior staff and the Directors of the FSU the opportunity to thank members for their continuing support and to report back on highlights from the past year – e.g., legal victories, case-work successes and the impact our behind-the-scenes legislative and policy work is having. It’s also a great opportunity for Gold and Founder members to participate in a Q&A where they get to have their say about the work we’re doing.

      Isn’t this exactly the way that other “scratch my back” organisations work? Mingle, network, give each other the best jobs/exposure/introductions?

      Yes, I do recognise that they are going the right way, but it could be interpreted as same old same old.

    1. I don’t know how you get the Speccie cartoons in advance of publication, Michael, but please keep them coming. I’ve pulled my subscription, and am about to do the same with the Daily Leftygraph.

      PS Most Disqus sites would have blocked your post for mentioning Simon Whore…

  78. I don’t know about anyone else but after the economy has been under attack and trashed for years from money printing, unwarranted lockdowns, insane carbon zero targets and importing millions of people from the third world with absolutely no complaint from Labour, the IMF, the UN and the economic experts that are now going into meltdown after the imposition of small tax cuts.
    I think Kwasi must be doing something right .

    2. I must admit I can’t really understand why the pound has dropped so much simply because of a few tax cuts. Seems most exaggerated.

      1. The borrowing of billions to provide the money, plus no cut in expenditure, is likely the cause. Interest rates are rising, it’s not such a good time to be borrowing – unless you intend to inflate the debt away, of course… another reason to not want to hold Sterling.

    3. The Bank of England is intent on undermining Kwarteng (and one assumes Truss). Printing money during a massive recession is on the direct orders of the IMF, WEF and the globalist elite and spells the destruction of our economy and with it our freedoms.

  79. Peeps just pop out side and look up at the south Eastern sky and you can see Saturn glowing in the distance. From Planet Earth.

    1. Wow Eddy, it’s gobsmackingly huge. I thought it was a plane at first but when it didn’t move … thanks for that.

      3. I think you might be right, my neighbour told me it was Saturn.
        I told he I couldn’t see the rings. 😉

  80. Where are the Wordlers?

    Perhaps they did badly?
    I had a miserable Bogey Five.

    Wordle 466 5/6
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
    🟨⬜⬜🟨🟨
    ⬜🟨🟩🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Par 4 for me. Odd one today.
      Wordle 466 4/6

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

    3. Par four here

      Wordle 466 4/6

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

    4. Par, my birdie was stolen from me.
      Wordle 466 4/6

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

    5. My wordle, quordle and yeardle.

      Wordle 466 5/6

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

      Daily Quordle 247
      4️⃣9️⃣
      8️⃣7️⃣
      quordle.com
      ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
      ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
      🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟨⬜🟩🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨
      ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
      ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
      ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
      ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
      ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟨🟨⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟩⬜🟨🟨🟩
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

      #Yeardle #190
      🟥🟥🟨🟨🟩🌟🌟🌟
      🔽🔽🔽🔽🔨🌟🌟🌟
      https://histordle.com/yeardle/

    6. My wordle, quordle and yeardle.

      Wordle 466 5/6

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

      #Yeardle #190
      🟥🟥🟨🟨🟩🌟🌟🌟
      🔽🔽🔽🔽🔨🌟🌟🌟
      https://histordle.com/yeardle/

    7. Late to the party today!
      Wordle 466 4/6

      ⬛🟨⬛⬛⬛
      🟨⬛🟩⬛⬛
      ⬛⬛🟩⬛🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      Daily Quordle 247
      3️⃣5️⃣
      6️⃣8️⃣
      ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
      🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨
      ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟨🟨🟨⬜🟨
      ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
      🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
      ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩⬜🟨🟩⬜
      ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  81. Watching BBC4 From ice to fire. It debunks the whole climate change/net zero lunacy. This is Episode 1 of 2. Worth a catch up and watch next episode.

      1. 240 million years ago Budleigh Salterton had temperatures equivalent to the Sahara. A meteor hastened the end of dinosaurs but some survived by adapting and now many of them reside in the Houses of Parliament.

  82. Ugh, I just glanced that the Mail and wish I hadn’t. Kate is now wading into politics by saying we need more food banks. The Mail is conning people into believing that Kwasi Kwarteng has caused the end of a fiat currency all by himself with a few tax cuts.
    I take back what I said about him after HM’s funeral; I am not at all surprised that he is on the Columbian marching powder (*if that is what it was).
    A couple of tarts get their fifteen minutes of fame in the first few articles.
    I feel grubby just looking at that rag.

    2. I have never bought it.

      I have occasionally picked up the Mail on a train, but quickly discarded it.

      1. I used to read it when I was an undergraduate. Then graduated to the Telegraph. Then abandoned the latter in disgust.

        1. There area of bubbles…
          Fun fact #2: Did you know that, were you to sail into the bubbles in a smallish ship/boat, you could easily sink? The area filled with bubbles is less dense, won’t support a boat. That, and with the atmosphere filled with methane, you may well be asphyxiated, or blown up from a spark.

        1. It is 18’c inside. The Warqueen is buried in blankets with Ozzie beside her – because he’s warm – and Junior is abed with a giant dog 4 times his weight also under the covers.

          1. Oh dear. My ‘umble retirement bungalow has a large East-facing picture window. At present, it’s 20°C in the lounge.My heating has been off since the Spring. I confess that I turned the leccie blankie on, on a low setting, for the last couple of nights…

          2. We have the woodburner going in the lounge and a temp of 20.5°C. My kitchen lair is only 18.5°C. Every 30 minutes or so I pop into the lounge, turn my back to the fire with coattails lifted.

          3. I’m gritting my teeth and pulling up a blanket while I watch TV. Will.. not..put..the..heating..on….

    4. Oh dear, it gets more amateur by the minute – as if whoever did it would carry a passport! I think my money is on Ukraine, and/or USA.

      1. Not knowing what the video title is, difficult to check, but there’s plenty videos from her in English & Italian in YT.

      2. Well I have seen other references to this. I will click on my posting of this video yesterday.

    1. Am I alone in thinking that the Great Ukrainian Pantomime, ‘led by a comedian’ is a dangerous recipe for Nuclear War / WWIII?

  88. That’s me off to bed.
    Did a small amount of pulling nettles and brambles on the wild bit of garden behind the house and felt rather more knackered than I expected.
    However, I did belly pork marinaded for a couple of days in my home made cider, cooked on a bed of sage & onion stuffing made up with aforesaid cider for dinner, with veggies & tatties. Much appreciated by the DT & S@H.

    Also steamed a cauliflower to be used for another cauliflower cheese, probably on Friday.
    Anyway, goodnight all.

  90. 1. Who could possibly have blown up the NordStream2 pipeline?

    Look who has a motive.

    Financial gain = Ukraine (where there is competing pipeline)

    Could it be a NeoCon/CIA conspiracy (financed by military-industrial complex) … Dunno, “above my pay-grade”

    Leads to

    2. Who is behind EIGHT disabling fires/explosions at EIGHT oill-refineries in the last few eeks?

    Only surprise is that Donald Trump has not been accused of these crimes.

    1. This is rather a long article in response, but I think it’s behind a pay wall in the Daily Sceptic?

      “On Monday, the two Nord Stream pipelines connecting Russia and Germany sustained “unprecedented” damage in what look like deliberate acts of sabotage. The pipeline operator, Nord Stream AG, has said “it is not possible to estimate a timeframe for restoring the gas transport infrastructure”. And it may take another week before the pipelines can be inspected.

      The question on everyone’s mind, of course, is whodunnit? There are four prime suspects: Russia, the U.S., Poland and Ukraine. Let’s consider each one in turn.

      Russia is arguably the least likely suspect, given that the two pipelines were its main source of leverage over Europe. Indeed, Russia had previously given Europe an ultimatum: drop the sanctions and we’ll turn the gas back on. Europe initially refused, but there was always the possibility this would change. Russia was hoping that the ongoing energy crisis would eventually force Europe to give in.

      Yet Russia’s ultimatum is now dead in the water, if you’ll excuse the pun.

      The Nord Stream pipelines were more valuable than Russia’s other pipelines into Europe, as they didn’t incur transit fees to other countries. And as many people have been asking, why would Russia sabotage them when it could just keep them switched off?

      However, there are a couple of theories that do lay the blame on Russia.

      Sabotaging the pipelines might have been a way for Russia to signal: “We have the capability to blow up undersea pipelines, so Norway better watch out.” But did anyone doubt that Russia has this capability? And if it was the Russians, wouldn’t they have given us some kind of hint, while maintaining plausible deniability? (Like when they claim such-and-such “fell out of a window”.)

      Alternatively, it could have been a false flag attack, or a desperate attempt to drive up gas prices. But again, these theories seem unlikely for the simple reason that having leverage over Europe is much more useful to Russia.

      Another obvious suspect is Uncle Sam. As I noted in a previous article for the Daily Sceptic, the U.S. has been trying to sabotage Nord Stream 2 for years (via sanctions and other threats, not demolition). And this may have been one major reason why they got involved in Ukraine in the first place.

      There’s some circumstantial evidence that America was behind the sabotage.

      At a press conference on February 7th, Biden stated, “If Russia invades … there will be no longer Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.” He was then asked by a reporter how he could be so sure, given that the project is under Germany’s control. And he replied, “I promise you, we will be able to do that.”

      And yesterday, a Polish MEP – who happens to be the husband of notorious Russia hawk Anne Applebaum – tweeted: “Thank you, USA” next to a picture of the gas leak. However, he subsequently backtracked, claiming that someone (tagging the Russian government) “did a special maintenance operation”.

      There’s also evidence that the U.S. Navy was recently active in the area where the sabotage took place. Make of that what you will.

      Now, readers will be aware that I’m generally sceptical of U.S. foreign policy. But if I had to put my money on it, I’d say this wasn’t the Americans. I could be wrong, of course. But it just doesn’t seem like their style.

      Which brings me to suspect number three: Poland.

      Like the U.S., Poland has long been opposed to Nord Stream 2 – though for slightly different reasons. Nord Stream 2 would circumvent the Yamal pipeline that runs through Poland, denying the Poles lucrative transit fees. And for understandable historical reasons, the Polish tend to be wary of Russo-German cooperation.

      Since Russia’s invasion began, Poland has been one of the most hawkish countries in Europe, having given a higher percentage of its GDP in aid than everyone else besides Latvia and Estonia. It was also at the forefront of efforts to get EU sanctions on Russian energy. Meanwhile, Poland has been demanding war reparations from the Germans.

      Just yesterday, the country completed its own pipeline from Norway (though this is may not have much impact on prices, as almost all Norwegian gas already goes to Europe). And back in August, the Polish president actually called for a “complete dismantling” of Nord Stream 2.

      On the other hand, Poland is getting hit just as hard by the energy crisis as the rest of Europe. In August, the country recorded an inflation rate of 16.1% – above the European average, and even higher than Russia. This militates against the theory that Poland was behind the sabotage.

      The fourth and final suspect is Ukraine.

      The Ukrainians opposed Nord Stream 2 for exactly the same reason as the Poles: it would circumvent the pipelines running through their country, denying them billions in transit fees. And if the pipeline had come to fruition, Ukraine would have lost influence with the EU – since its own pipelines would be obsolete.

      Of course, Ukraine had an even stronger motive to sabotage the pipelines: preventing Europe from giving in to Russia’s ultimatum. Now that both pipelines are unusable, Europe has much less incentive to drop the sanctions against Russia, or to stop providing arms to Ukraine.

      There’s also the fact that Russia has been attacking Ukraine’s infrastructure. So why not retaliate against Russia’s infrastructure? According to people who know more about such things than me, blowing up the pipelines was well within Ukraine’s capabilities. (The country received underwater drones from the UK back in August.)

      Another reason why Ukraine may be the culprit is as follows. The Nord Stream pipelines are jointly owned by Russia and Germany. So if the U.S. or Poland sabotaged them, it means the West has directly attacked Russia. And if Russia sabotaged them, it means Russia has directly attacked NATO. I’m not sure either side is bold enough for that.

      Ukraine, by contrast, is already at war with Russia. So from their point of view, sabotaging the pipelines is much less risky.

      I don’t know who attacked the pipelines, and nor does anyone else. But if I had to guess: I’d say there’s a 10% chance it was Russia, a 20% chance it was America, a 30% chance it was Poland, and a 40% chance it was Ukraine.“

  91. I am very worried about my pals in GA, USA. Likely they will get too much rain and flooding. My son and his wife in NC should escape the worst of it but may well get some heavy rain.
    Hurricanes are nasty and at this time of year, because the Atlantic water is so warm, the storms are more severe.
    I have been through 3 hurricanes and several tropical storms- none to be taken lightly.

    1. I hear you, Anne. We are in for some turbulent times, methinks, hope your friends in Georgia escape, and of course your son and his wife.
      We are in for a stormy, wet weekend from what the weather people are telling us, for WV panhandle. Hurricanes should never be taken lightly, as you well know, unpredictable in their paths.

  92. 365629+ up ticks,

    Has a certain winning way with words & getting the truth across does Mr Batten.

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    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    1h
    This article explains how the USA had the means, motive & opportunity to blow up the Nord Stream pipelines. The world has three superpowers: USA, China & Russia. They are all enemies of their own peoples, & the peoples of the World.

    The scum MSM is blaming Russia, but remember, Britain no friends only intetests & our Government & political class has no concept of identifying or protecting those interests.

    ANALYSIS: Nord Stream Pipelines Sabotaged, and Only One Country Benefits
    ANALYSIS: Nord Stream Pipelines Sabotaged, and Only One Country Benefits

    Aerial view of blown Nord Stream pipeline near Bornholm Island. Guest post by Bill Hennessy Three deep-water explosions destroyed the Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic Sea on Monday. While the MSM and governments reported “leaks” in the pipeline…

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
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    2h
    Western civilisation continues on its course up shitcreek rapids towards the edge of Insanity Falls.

    Students pay tens of thousands of pounds for a Mickey Mouse degree, & then the Marxist ideologies who indoctrinated them do all they can to prevent them finding a job in essential industries.

    University bans fossil fuel companies from recruiting students with careers service — The Indep
    University bans fossil fuel companies from recruiting students with careers service — The Indep

    It is believed to be first university to cut ties with oil and gas recruiters

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