Wednesday 29 December: It is not the players but the ECB that’s to blame for the pitiful Ashes defeat in Australia

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

636 thoughts on “Wednesday 29 December: It is not the players but the ECB that’s to blame for the pitiful Ashes defeat in Australia”

    1. Coming to Britain soon! I hope they haven’t switched over to electric ambulances and fire engines….

    2. When I facebooked that it got cancelled

      Related articles
      Feedback
      this has been fact checked by Facebook and not accurate. it is therefore false information that has been posted.

      1. #MeToo, Bob.

        But remember, Ar5ebook has already admitted that their ‘Fact-Checks’ are merely their opinion.

  11. Now THAT’S awkward……….

    New Zealand reports first community exposure to Omicron

    A fully vaccinated person who arrived on a flight from the United Kingdom

    spent two days in the community before the infection was detected

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/29/new-zealand-reports-first-community-exposure-to-omicron

    New Zealand now what do you need to enter??

    “All travellers not required to go into MIQ will still require:

    a negative pre-departure test

    proof of being fully vaccinated

    a passenger declaration about travel history

    a day 0/1 test on arrival

    seven days isolation, and a final negative test before entering the community”
    All fully complied with…………..it’s almost as if the Vaccines AND the tests are utterly bloody useless!!

    1. Expect Arden to double-down on restrictions. She’s another loon who, by her reaction to this event, will proclaim she has power over Nature and only her will is capable of defeating its billions of years evolutionary strength.

    3. Obviously caught it on the flight or at departure and more proof that the ‘vaccines’ are not vaccines.

  12. ‘The Atlantic’ just destroyed Donald Trump Jr in less than 50 words and people are obsessed. 29 December 2021.

    But the line in question that has Twitter impressed beyond measure comes in the opening paragraph. Wehner wrote:
    “Donald Trump Jr is both intensely unappealing and uninteresting. He combines in his person corruption, ineptitude, and banality. He is perpetually aggrieved; obsessed with trolling the left, a crude, one-dimensional figure who has done a remarkably good job of keeping from public view any redeeming qualities he might have.”

    It’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that this is simply a distraction from the qualities of Hunter Biden, America’s First Son. A financially corrupt, drug addict and womaniser, who has only escaped prosecution because he is an accomplice to the crimes of his father who just happens to be President of the United States. .

    ‘The Atlantic’ just destroyed Donald Trump Jr in less than 50 words and people are obsessed (msn.com)

    1. I must have missed the d r u g and p a e d o p h i l e photos of Donald Trump Jr. Destroyed? I don’t think so.

        1. Ugh, Minty give some warning!
          The left wing media have been trying as hard as they can to discredit the Trump family while blatantly ignoring the posse of gangsters at the top of the Democrat party!

      3. I have a photo of Trump junior holding a severed tail of an elephant. That’s bad enough for me.

          2. I think, DT Jr, “American hunters are doing great things for ‘shit for brains’ other American hunters but they are doing nothing for wildlife apart from decimating it, wherever you go.”

          5. Trump senior said trophy hunting was a ‘shitshow’ but as his sons are hunters he did nothing further to stop imports of trophies.

  13. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    SIR – As an architectural historian, I will not be mourning the late Richard Rogers (Obituary, December 20). His lack of respect for the past was spectacularly demonstrated by the aggressive Pompidou Centre, which was placed in the hitherto serene Marais district of Paris.

    This attitude was confirmed by a predilection for colouring his buildings lime green or orange to achieve maximum obtrusiveness, and by the ruthless gutting of his own Georgian house in Chelsea. 
He also vocally derided the architecture of contemporaries 
who did evince interest in the past. All of this was of a piece with Tony Blair’s shiny new Cool Britannia, in which Rogers hoovered up commissions and one of whose darlings he inevitably was.

    Roger White
    Sherborne, Dorset

    Yes, in my view it’s a really hideous building, but I blame the planners for allowing it to proceed.

    1. Nor will I. Because of business-friendly timetabling, forcing me to use British Airways as the only way to avoid an overnight stop travelling from the UK to Germany, I went through Rogers’ Terminal Five at Heathrow. It was a grim experience – windowless, charmless, airless corridor after staircase after corridor as weary, thirsty travellers are eyed suspiciously by bouncers in uniform eager to pick out anyone acting “inappropriately” until at last the concrete arrival lounge is reached, where only the business-friendly select executives are to be treated humanely. And this is supposed to be Heathrow’s state-of-the-art welcome with all the benefits of 21st century advancement. Over the next few years, all the other terminals are to be reinvented in T5’s prison-like image.

      Changi can create beautiful gardens that make Singapore’s flagship airport a destination in itself and well worth spending four hours between flights. Don’t the English do gardens any more? Monty Don would do a finer job than Richard Rogers in designing an airport terminal.

      1. Changi was nice when I staged through there on my way to Kuantan in ’64. Changi Creek was an excellent watering hole

        1. In ’64, Changi was a Royal Air Force Station and Singapore’s International Airport was still Paya Lebar. I don’t think the move to Changi happened until sometime in the ’90s. I transited through Changi International in 2009/2010 and it was a great airport, in that it had not only the gardens but a top-floor bar where I could also smoke.

          1. I stopped smoking 11 years ago but that roof pool bar really was an oasis in the smoking desert that airports had become.

          2. Yes Tom, we landed at RAF Tengah in our Britannia, drew our weapons from the stores, bussed over to RAF Changi where we fuelled up on Tiger beer then flew in a Beverley up to Kuantan where we ( 3 Sqdn) operated our Canberra B(I)8’s with 14 Sqdn’s. Accomodation was tents, a field kitchen and a chemical bog. A great detachment

          5. Warm? we could only work until mid-day then it was around 100 in the shade so we had to rest and drink a lot of cold Tiger beer

    2. All his buildings are hideous, but the planners are part of the ’emperor’s new clothes’ syndrome.

      1. If councillors are dubious about passing the plans, they are threatened with having to finance the costs of an appeal from their own pockets if the council is unsuccessful.
        Most councillors are not rich enough to run that risk.

        1. My letter on the Richard Rogers’ supposed genius would have included a few recollections of his operations.

          Richard Rogers was a clever bastard and able to provide nuance in explanation of everything he did. He had a detailed literary explanation for every detail of every ghastly erection.

          As others have noted, he cultivated shallow egotistical politicians such as Mitterrand and Blair. The Pompidou Centre destroyed an acre of the historic Jewish Quarter of Paris. It was, like the bloody dome in Docklands, a vastly expensive novelty project serving his political masters and of negative value to the rest of us.

        2. My letter on the Richard Rogers’ supposed genius would have included a few recollections of his operations.

          Richard Rogers was a clever bastard and able to provide nuance in explanation of everything he did. He had a detailed literary explanation for every detail of every ghastly erection.

          As others have noted, he cultivated shallow egotistical politicians such as Mitterrand and Blair. The Pompidou Centre destroyed an acre of the historic Jewish Quarter of Paris. It was, like the bloody dome in Docklands, a vastly expensive novelty project serving his political masters and of negative value to the rest of us.

        3. I wrote my reply but this has apparently dissolved into the ether.

          I dislike Rogers’ buildings. I realise that he was a political animal and curried favour with both Blair and Cameron in order to gain commissions.

          I worked briefly with his son, Ab, where I found the same superiority and arrogance I had witnessed in the father. Sad but true.

  14. BTL about Christmas University Challenge:

    Archie Crompton
    5 HRS AGO
    I enjoy watching University Challenge for the curiosity of observing quirky academics.
    The current ‘Christmas specials’ feature the same types years after they have been introduced to the real world; and what a frightening bunch they are.
    Many work or worked for the BBC and now work for other media, academia or publicly funded posts. Many are ‘advisers’ who have written ‘influential’ books. Many of ethnic origin have careers dedicated to their own ethnicity and call themselves: ‘activists’ and government advisors.
    There are a few comedians present. They surely must realise how difficult their peers have made life for them?
    A number have worked on aspects of Brexit and this always brings universal sniggers whenever the word is mentioned.
    There are plenty of lawyers and academics but very few people who actually produce anything tangeable.
    It seems most derive a living from public funds but, as an exception, we did see a female financier who invests in tech start ups.
    Their sense of self-importance comes over powerfully. These people clearly reckon themselves because they are experts in a certain field. This comes across most strongly when, needing to get points, they self-indulgently take as long as they like over a question, unaware of time or circumstance, and accept the overall failure of the objective. But that doesn’t matter; any more than the effect of their advice, instructions or opinions matter beyond the giving of it.
    There are other types of intelligence beyond academic but these people are ‘experts.’ Sage people you might say and universally challenging to the rest of us.

    * * *

    Yes, they really are a collection of self-entitled, none-too-bright, mostly leftie media luvvies. Has Archie Crompton been peeking at this blog??

    1. I simply could not agree more with all that. I use to quite enjoy watching it but it’s become more like a torture procedure.
      Some of them actually are a complete waste of space, they know absolutely eff all. Come on………..

  15. Frank Hall, soldier who fought in Normandy and the Ardennes and went on to be the verger at Winston Churchill’s funeral – obituary
    He joined the forced crossing of the Rhine, and was later personally thanked by Clementine Churchill following her husband’s interment

    By
    Telegraph Obituaries
    28 December 2021 • 3:46pm

    Frank Hall, who has died aged 98, took part in the Normandy landings in June 1944; he subsequently served as the verger at the funeral for Sir Winston Churchill at Bladon, Oxfordshire, in 1965.

    After getting his call-up papers, in January 1942 Hall joined the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Ox and Bucks LI). In November he was based at Bulford Camp, near Salisbury, and began his training in gliders at Netheravon.

    On the morning he was to make his first flight, he was watching as gliders attached to aircraft by a long tow-rope took off and landed. His sergeant pointed out a glider which was approaching, and said: “You will be in that one when it lands.”

    But as the pilot released the tow-rope and flew off, the glider made a half-turn and then began to spin before spiralling straight down into the ground. Six men were killed and another died the following day. Within 20 minutes of the accident, Hall and his group were taking off in another glider.

    Hall, serving with the motor transport contingent of the 2nd Battalion (2 Ox and Bucks LI), landed at Sword Beach, Normandy, on June 9, D-Day+3. As he drove off the landing craft, the jeep and trailer behind him were blown up on a land mine.

    He swapped his jeep and trailer for a big Italian lorry and, travelling by night without using his headlamps, he delivered petrol, rations and ammunition. A round trip was often 60 miles or more.

    He subsequently served in the Battle of the Ardennes and the forced crossing of the Rhine before being taken to hospital after a motor accident and returning to England on VE Day. He served with the 6th Airborne Division in Palestine on internal security duties before being demobilised in 1947 in the rank of sergeant.

    Francis George Hall was born at Wash Water, near Burghclere, Hampshire, on February 19 1923. Aged four, he was hit with an axe by his sister who was two years older and who had been reading about the execution of King Charles I. He had a small groove on the back of his head for the rest of his life.

    Young Frank was aged 10 when his mother died. His father, a farm labourer whose eyesight had been damaged by gas poisoning in the First World War, was unable to cope with four children and the lad and his three sisters were fostered by various relatives in the village of Stonesfield in Oxfordshire.

    Aged 14, he left the local school and started work in a glove factory at Woodstock. At the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 he joined the Local Defence Volunteers (later renamed the Home Guard). Three pairs of men, working in shifts from a shepherd’s hut, kept watch every night.

    Hall worked for a coal merchant for a time, and one of his jobs was delivering coal to Ditchley Park. The house belonged to Ronald Tree, a Conservative MP and friend of the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. During the early years of the war, the PM used it as his secret weekend residence.

    Hall had a variety of jobs after the war before marrying at St Martin’s Church, Bladon, Oxfordshire, and settling in the village. His wife, Jean, cleaned the church. He became the verger, rang the bells and kept the churchyard tidy.

    Sir Winston Churchill died in January 24 1965. After lying in state at Westminster Hall for three days followed by a public service at St Paul’s Cathedral, his body was taken to Hanborough railway station and driven from there to Bladon. The village stands on the edge of the Blenheim estate and close to Blenheim Palace, Churchill’s birthplace.

    The private ceremony was attended by Churchill’s close family and personal friends. Press photographers with long-range lenses were perched in trees and, after the interment, several thousand people filed past the grave.

    The collection box in the church was soon full and Hall produced a flour sack to hold the donations. He was introduced to Senator Robert Kennedy and received a personal letter of thanks from Clementine Churchill.

    He retired in 1988 but enjoyed exhibiting flowers and vegetables at local shows as well as being an active member of the parish council, village hall and sports committee. He and his wife ran the dance club for many years.

    He was appointed to the Légion d’honneur in 2016. He also received the British Legion’s 50-year certificate for organising collections on Poppy Day.

    Frank Hall married, in 1952, Jean Maisey, who survives him with their son and daughter.

    Frank Hall, born February 19 1923, died October 3 2021

    * * *

    A couple of BTLs:

    Steven Haines
    57 MIN AGO
    Yet another inspiring obituary about an ordinary man who did extraordinary things. I know Bladon Church well – I live not far away. I always take visitors to visit the church and the collection of Churchill family graves, including that of Sir Winston. I especially like to take visitors from the US and, on one occasion a few years ago, a Russian naval acquaintance, all of whom were and are utterly amazed that a great man like Churchill should rest today in a quiet churchyard rather than in a prominent mausoleum somewhere grand. Whenever I visit I am usually the only person there. The small church is modest and peaceful and typical of so many and it was a pleasure this morning to read the obituary of a man who looked after it for many years. Thank you Mr Hall – you did your bit in war and peace and can now rest well.

    Derek Johnson
    2 HRS AGO
    This gentleman was amongst the finest of Britons; cometh the hour etc.
    Contrast the way he and his peers lived their lives compared to most of today’s cohort.
    Lockdown addicts and mask fascists are who dominate our ranks today.
    Mr Hall’s life follows the example set by our Sovereign, and when she leaves us, that’s the last link with this golden generation of Britons broken forever.

    1. This was man of his time. We shall not see his like again because the country and the customs and beliefs that motivated it and its people are no more.

      1. ‘Morning, Minty, there is still a small flame on this site that does its best to keep those beliefs and mores alive, in the hope of influencing some of the younger generation.

      1. You are very welcome, bb2. I have always found military obituaries both fascinating and humbling.

  16. Morning all

    It is not the hapless players but the ECB that is to blame for the pitiful Ashes defeat in Australia

    SIR – Tim Wigmore (Sport, December 26) is right: the current Ashes debacle is not caused the players but by the men in suits.

    The England and Wales Cricket Board has augmented the diet of sub-standard, Twenty20 county cricket with a pointless competition lasting 100 balls at the peak of the English cricket season. It has virtually abolished 50-over cricket despite England being the World Champions after trying for almost 50 years.

    The ECB has also been accused of failing to curb racism. How can this be a surprise when it demonstrates such incompetence in running our national game? If they were not paid, one would describe its members as a group of talentless amateurs.

    John Hanson

    Canterbury, Kent

    SIR – It is not the current Test team itself but the ECB that should shoulder most of the responsibly for the total failure to be competitive in this Ashes series. It is the ECB that should be justifying to the press its strategy for the past 10 years and not the players, who are merely the product of a dysfunctional system of first-class cricket in England.

    Robert Farnes

    Limpsfield, Surrey

    SIR – Following the debacle in Australia these past two weeks, what more will it take for the ECB to realise it has made a dreadful mistake in the way it has run English cricket?

    The County Championship has been sidelined to late spring and early autumn in favour of an endless diet of one-day cricket during the summer months. Players were allowed to play in Indian Premier League T20 matches rather than in Test matches for England, while those sent to Australia were expected to compete having played in no first-class matches prior to the first Test match.

    The longer format of the game is dying; this is despite players saying that the pinnacle of any season for them is to win the County Championship. One-day cricket is an undoubted success, both from audience attendances and the money it brings in. However, in their effort to make bigger profits, the authorities have relegated the first-class game to the margins. The current tour of Australia is merely a continuation of the downward slide Test cricket has been in for several years. One-day games should be played at weekends, with county games played during the week. County Championships currently feature too many players who do not quality for the national side, which is also to the detriment of Test cricket.

    Many cricket lovers despair at the direction Test cricket has been heading in, and will do so until there is some major reconstruction work.

    Matthew Biddlecombe

    Sampford Courtenay, Devon

    SIR – For Joe Root to suggest that England are as good as Australia is preposterous. The gulf between the sides is such that, time and again, Australia make England look like an English village team. And if an English village team was getting thrashed every time, their opponents would drop the fixture. Perhaps it is time for world cricket to create two divisions.

    I P Barratt

    Great Totham, Essex

    SIR – The one good thing about this dire England cricket team in Australia is they are so poor that the agony is not prolonged over five days, but matches finish in three. We are grateful.

    Ian Jolliffe

    Bingley, West Yorkshire

    SIR – I cannot help thinking that half-a-dozen “batsmen” would have done better than our “batters”.

    Charlie Flindt

    Hinton, Hampshire

    SIR – Is the recent display from our cricketers a representation of the problems Britain faces generally?

    Richard Owen

    Lightwater, Surrey

    1. Isn’t this simply part and parcel of the americanization (sic) of our culture?

      Test cricket is just a variant of baseball, innit? We should challenge the Aussies to a game of rounders.

  17. ‘Morning again.

    More greenie bolleaux. As usual, no expense is spared when the taxpayer is footing the bill! And what’s the betting that the final cost will be well over the estimate? And just what is ‘eco-friendly’ about ripping out a perfectly good, and working, central heating system?

    Taxpayers to foot £800k bill to make Nicola Sturgeon’s official residence eco-friendly
    Public will pick up cost of replacing gas heaters at Bute House with electric ones to meet First Minister’s climate change standards

    By
    Simon Johnson,
    SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR
    28 December 2021 • 9:30pm

    Replacing the heating in Nicola Sturgeon’s official residence so it meets her climate change standards is to cost taxpayers more than £800,000 despite the “woefully inadequate sum” her government is providing homeowners to make the switch.

    The Telegraph can disclose that an official assessment for the Scottish Government has estimated it will cost £807,038 to rip the gas-powered system out of Bute House in Edinburgh and replace it with an electric one.

    Although the Georgian townhouse is leased from the National Trust for Scotland, the Scottish Government confirmed on Tuesday night that the bill would be picked up by the public purse.

    The Scottish Tories said that the disclosure increased the pressure on Holyrood to start “properly” funding homeowners for the huge cost of ripping out their gas boilers and replacing them with low-emissions systems.

    The race to decarbonise Scottish homes

    More than a million homes must be converted to “zero-emissions heat” by the end of the decade to meet the country’s greenhouse gas targets, under the Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings strategy.

    Legislation is to be introduced requiring the “installation of zero or very near-zero emissions heating systems”, with the new standard to be phased in for off-gas grid areas from 2025 and on-gas grid areas from 2030.

    All buildings are to be converted to “zero emissions” by 2045 at a total cost of £33 billion, but the SNP-Green coalition has so far announced only £1.8 billion of support.

    This is the equivalent of less than £1,800 per household, raising fears that homeowners and businesses will have to meet the vast bulk of the cost, which could run into tens of thousands of pounds.

    Experts have also warned of the extreme costs and logistical challenges associated with installing the technology in older properties.

    ‘Better off moving out of HQ than turning it green’
    The Telegraph disclosed on Monday that experts advised Scottish ministers to move out of its St Andrew’s House headquarters in Edinburgh because the changes would be so expensive and difficult to implement.

    The assessment of Bute House was conducted by the same company, Hollis, an international real estate consultancy. It was obtained by The Telegraph under Freedom of Information legislation.

    “Due to the size of the building, we recommend direct electric heating will be the most appropriate heating replacement in lieu of gas,” it said.

    “We have excluded ASHP [air source heat pumps] due to the Grade A [National Trust] status.” It noted that the work would likely require listed building consent and the permission of the National Trust for Scotland.

    It said that the “indicative” £807,038 cost included the cost of switching to electricity for heating both the property and its water supply.

    Decarbonisation support ‘woefully inadequate’
    Maurice Golden, a Scottish Tory MSP, said: “The SNP Government have set aside a woefully inadequate sum to decarbonise the heating of one million homes.

    “As it stands, this funding will only go a fraction of the way to decarbonising many Scottish homes, leaving homeowners to make up the difference from their own pockets.

    “If the SNP are to have any hope of reaching their decarbonisation targets, they must commit to properly funding homeowners to make the necessary improvements.”

    A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Our draft Heat in Buildings Strategy sets out our vision for transforming more than one million homes and an estimated 50,000 non-domestic buildings to be using low- and zero-emissions heating systems by 2030.

    “We are supporting this with a groundbreaking £1.8 billion investment to transform heat and energy efficiency of buildings, rapidly accelerating the decarbonisation of an area which makes up a quarter of Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions.”

    * * *

    Just a small sample of BTLs:

    Molly Buchanan
    9 HRS AGO
    This is never going to happen. I don’t know of anyone who is going to spend their hard earned money ripping out perfectly functional gas boilers to replace them with completely new electric systems

    Mma Bozz
    9 HRS AGO
    Aye, Molly. That’d be completely new electric systems which for a long time to come will be powered by electricity generated by gas or coal! What a shame the gas emitted from Holyrood and Westminster can’t be captured!

    Catriona Chapman
    9 HRS AGO
    Pigs, snout & trough come to mind.

    Easy With The Tonic
    6 HRS AGO
    Wouldn’t it be cheaper just to get rid of Nicola Sturgeon

    2. If you’re a smartcitizen of protected characteristic, best to go on a crash course in unarmed combat and become an official bailiff. There’s a killing to be made soon, stripping unprotected householders of their assets. Nobody whose lives matter need be harmed in the process.

  18. Kindness To Animals

    Bill and Joyce are driving along when they see a wounded skunk on the side of the road.

    Joyce says, “Oh Bill, please stop and let’s try to help it!”

    Bill stops the car but refuses to do anything more, so Joyce gets out and picks up the skunk and brings it into the car.

    “It must be freezing!” she says. “See how it’s shivering? What should I do?”

    “Put it between your legs,” Bill replies.

    “But what about the smell?” Joyce asks.

    To which Bill replies, “Oh, he’ll get used to it after a while!”

  19. Headline in today’s DT:

    Windsor Castle crossbow intruder was ‘isolated and demotivated’ by lockdown, says his father
    Neighbours heard of family’s anguish at the effect of Covid restrictions on Jaswant Singh Chail, 19

    Translation: He’s a victim.

    1. He probably is a victim. A victim of the failure of the Care in the Community system like many other mentally ill people.

      1. My own younger brother, who is a paranoid schizophrenic with a mind and a morality comprehensively addled by Black Mamba and Skunk, was one of those released into Care in the Community when the Friern Barnet Mental Hospital closed. There was a report on the Nine o’Clock News with this dangerous mental inmate being let loose on the streets, with the reporter’s suggestion “Is this really a good idea?”. For several days afterwards, people would come up to me saying there was a nutter on the news who looked like me and who had the same name about to cause mayhem in London. Were we by any chance related?

        One time during a relapse, the only way he could be seen was to wander into the reception area of University College Hospital with a holdall. “You’ll never guess what I have in here” he announced before revealing that it was a crossbow and he was going to cleanse the place of bad people. No hanging about for ten hours waiting for Triage!

    2. I think the lad had it in him, as plenty are finding ways round the restrictions. But feel sorry for his family. Thank goodness it was all talk and he didn’t actually kill anyone.

    3. Ooooh dear another choochy whooochy with (convenient) mental health issues………..push out the bottom lip.

  20. In other words it’s all been total bollocks just as NoTTL always suspected,pure project fear!!

    “Just one fifth of the weekly rise in Covid inpatients was caused by

    people admitted to hospital because of the virus, figures suggest. …”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/12/28/covid-hospital-data-should-treated-caution-many-patients-admitted/

    BTL

    “They’re all falling over themselves to distance from the
    irrational covid doom mongering of the last two years. They can see
    the writing on the wall; the tide is turning, nearly there.

    Just need to beat off covid passports & mandatory vaccination now, and we’re home & hosed.”
    Omicron has exposed the nutters and liars like Morgan and Vine they cannot be allowed to slink off unpunished

    1. Just about to post on this news picked up from Allison Pearson’s twitter time-line. More snippets of information seem to be leaking out from the media. Johnson and his cabal have little or no data to justify a lockdown or other restrictive measures. The failure of the “vaccines” should have killed off this charade months ago, now the 10 weeks, 7 weeks net, protection of the ‘booster’ is another nail in the coffin of this failed government’s measures. However, we mustn’t forget the ingenuity of all those behavioural scientists employed by SAGE; by not attacking our Christmas and New Year celebrations Johnson has bought them time to think.
      Couple of replies to AP’s tweet.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b985b750581daefb605d616af5ad6de837b285ca5dae243f99dc2b0cf0a40dd7.png

    2. Just consider this: if there had been no news media, worldwide (radio, television, newspapers, social media, etc), then the “powers-that-be”, in this modern world, would have already exerted more and more control over a hapless public.

      It is precisely the existence of such information highways —a phenomenon that was not available during, say, the second world war — that keeps the populations of this world well-informed about what is happening around them.

      The next, logical, move by the global tyrants would be to banish all news media. The good thing for us all is that many of those in controlling positions continue to make their fortunes out of such.

    3. Apart from the fact that the discredited PCR ‘tests’ can pick up long-dead virus particles to create additional ‘cases’, if a person tests ‘positive’, then submits a further couple of ‘positive’ results from tests taken a few days later, is that counted as 3 ‘cases’? What a sneaky way to inflate the scare-mongering figures.

    4. Apparently this article was “doctored” overnight to remove a quote by the Chief Executive of …

      1. Started raining hard not long after I posted that.
        At the moment we’re between showers and I’ve just stacked the logs up for the evening.
        The holly bush stack is empty bar a couple of crates worth of damp bits right at the back.
        Not bad, this time last year we were already half way down the 2nd stack!

  23. A comment picked up from Going Postal:-

    Rick • 2 minutes ago
    The Daily Mail site headlining with the enormous tax rises, energy hikes and inflation costs to the average British family this year.

    What we need is a war on parasites. We can’t afford them.

    Diversity, outreach, inclusion, equality. None of these are anything to do with a government. Taxpayers shouldn’t funding them.

    Legal aid for foreigners. Foreigners have their own governments. They should seek assistance from those. Without even coming here.

    Failing public service bureaucrats. Particularly in the NHS. Capable of voting themselves more pay, perks and pensions and signing criminal contracts with crony-owned companies.

    Charities. Should never receive taxpayer cash. Ever. When they do they stop being charities and become just another money-laundering QUANGO.

    Money-laundering QUANGOs. Employment for parasites and sources of propaganda for government policies that the taxpayer neither needs nor wants.

    Parasites are everywhere. A Senator McCarthy style hunt and purge would be glorious.

      1. Big fleas have little fleas on their backs to bite ’em,
        Little fleas have lesser fleas and so on, ad infinitum.

          1. Happy to say, “Yep, and that was the full version, as taught me by my father many years ago.”

    2. A Senator McCarthy style hunt and purge would be glorious.

      A Senator Robespierre style hunt and purge would be even better.

      1. All ours went off an hour ago as one of my sons had a shower…….. it tripped the switch. That shower has been unused for two years so something amiss there. More trouble!

          2. Quite possibly…. and as it’s probably at least 30 years old we’ll probably have to get a replacement before anyone else comes to stay. That’s if we ever have visitors again……….

  25. Morning all, why did I read this and immediately think of Basil D’Oliveira?

    Full vaccination could be required for players to face France away in Six Nations

    It has yet to be confirmed if new rules will apply to visiting players, but could limit availability for England’s final match in 2022

    By Ben Coles, Rugby Reporter28 December 2021 • 7:24pm

    England’s rugby players could need to be fully vaccinated in order to play against France in Paris next year following new French Government requirements that are to be introduced next month.
    Professional sportspeople in France must be fully vaccinated from January 15, according to new rules. The French Government will confirm whether the mandatory requirement will also apply to visiting teams from outside the country. Spectators at outdoor sporting events will also be limited to 5,000 under the new regulations.
    All sportspeople will be required to show Covid passports in order to gain access to stadiums and take part in matches, with only a vaccination certificate set to be accepted from mid-January, whereas previously a negative test result was also allowed.
    England are set to play France in Paris on the final day of the Six Nations on March 19, and while there is no public information on how many of their players are unvaccinated, centre Henry Slade has revealed in the past that he was yet to receive a vaccine.
    Given nearly all of the British and Irish Lions players were double jabbed for their tour of South Africa in the summer, the likelihood is that those England players who were selected for the tour, 13 in total, will be vaccinated.
    England were also above the 85 per cent threshold required during the autumn to relax internal restrictions and operations, such as social distancing, although whether England meet the same threshold during the Six Nations could obviously change depending on the make-up of England head coach Eddie Jones’ squad for the championship next spring.
    An RFU spokesperson: “We will always follow government travel advice and we will continue to monitor travel policies in place ahead of England’s Six Nations game in France next March.”
    France are also set to host Italy and Ireland in Paris during the opening two rounds of the Six Nations next year.
    The news could also affect the Champions Cup fixtures, which has been hit hard already this season by a number of cancellations due to Covid-19 cases or travel restrictions following the increase in Omicron cases. Sale Sharks, Northampton Saints and Exeter Chiefs are all scheduled to play in France next month following the January 15 rule changes.
    Approximately 98 per cent of professional rugby players in France are now vaccinated, according to reports, suggesting that Fabien Galthie’s squad will not be overly affected as France bid to win a first Six Nations title since 2010. France are currently the bookmakers’ favourites to win next year’s championship.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/2021/12/28/full-vaccination-could-required-face-france-away-six-nations/

    1. This rule is going through the French Assembly today.

      As the ‘vaccines’ (gene therapies) seem to strike down young men who are exceptionally fit – as the collapse of so many footballers has shown – it would be cruelly ironic if the whole of France’s front row in the scrum were fully jabbed and then fell down dead on the field of play as a result.

  26. Good morning all.

    Anyone who questions what is going on behind the scenes is derided as a ‘conspiracy-theorist’ or ‘tin-foil hat wearer’ and this has been a popular image in the media for many years. I am sure that there are some conspiracy-theorists who believe the world is run by an alien race of lizards or some such nonsense, but it does rather beg the question – what would happen if there genuinely WAS a conspiracy? What if there really was a secret class of billionaires who were planning to remake the world in their image? Everyone would just dismiss the people who pointed out their plans as cranks and lunatics wouldn’t they?

    Everyone off to Davos again this year?

    https://www.weforum.org/press/2021/09/world-economic-forum-plans-2022-annual-meeting-in-davos-klosters-c77de6b5fb

  27. The ‘Colonialism’ purge, like what is happening at Kew Gardens, statues Art

    If we are required to ‘cleanse’ UK of all colonialisms, should we not export colonials back to whence they came

    2. Kew Gardens’ plan to ‘decolonise’ its collections may be in breach of its legal obligations

      Think tank Policy Exchange is calling on the Environment Secretary to review whether it is deviating from its statutory powers and duties

      By Daniel Capurro • 28 December 2021 • 9:00pm

      Plans by Kew Gardens to “decolonise” its collections could be in breach of its legal obligations, a think tank has warned.

      In a new report, Policy Exchange says that the institution may be in breach of the National Heritage Act 1983, which created the current board for Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG) Kew and sets out its responsibilities. The report calls on George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, to launch a review into whether RBG Kew is deviating from its statutory powers and duties by allegedly engaging in “forays into non-scientific, and indeed politically charged, activities”.

      RBG Kew hit back at the accusations, with a spokesperson insisting that the plans were “within the remit of our charter under the Heritage Act”.

      The report, written by Ursula Buchan, a journalist and former student at Kew, is understood to have support from Downing Street.

      “The paper provides a much-needed analysis of the drive to ‘decolonise’ the plant collections at RBG Kew. It is shocking that a great British public institution, funded by taxpayer money, should be at variance with the Act under which it was established,” a senior government source told The Telegraph.

      “Nor is there any indication that visitors want or support this kind of change. As this paper shows, it is vital that Kew’s reputation as a world-leading centre for the study and preservation of botany will be restored,” they added.

      While immediate action is unlikely to be forthcoming, the report is expected to be seen as a warning shot to RBG Kew. The Government has been attempting to rein in efforts by public institutions to pursue ‘decolonisation’ agendas and has installed a policy of “retain and explain” for controversial objects and statues. It has also been engaged in several controversies over appointments to museum boards of trustees.

      RBG Kew is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and runs Kew Gardens. In March, it published a 10-year “Manifesto for Change”, which included a pledge to “move quickly to ‘decolonise’ our collections, re-examining them to acknowledge and address any exploitative or racist legacies, and develop new narratives around them.”

      Subsequent editions of the document have had the phrase “decolonise” replaced with “re-examine”.

      At the time, Richard Deverell, RBG Kew’s director, hit back at critics of the plans.

      “Like so many other organisations, parts of Kew’s history shamefully draw from a legacy that has deep roots in colonialism and racism,” he told The Guardian.

      He added: “There is no acceptable neutral position on this subject; to stay silent is to be complicit.”

      Among the efforts to address the 19th-century institution’s colonial legacy are plans to update its signage for plants such as sugar cane and rubber to incorporate their historical context, including the role the plants played in the slave trade. As well as calling for a review of RBG Kew’s activities, the report also argues that there should be greater transparency in all its activities and that admission prices should be reviewed to ensure they are accessible.

      A spokesperson for RBG Kew told The Telegraph that the manifesto “represents a 10-year roadmap focused on five priorities that aim to understand and protect plants and fungi for the well-being of people and the future of all life on Earth.

      “This work covers our science, horticulture and visitor facing activities in the UK and around the world and is within the remit of our charter under the Heritage Act of 1983. The strategy was created following extensive consultation and is, as with the reporting of all Kew finances, fully transparent and published online.

      They also said that new ticket prices would be introduced in early January, including “a £1 ticket for those who are in receipt of Universal or Pension Credit, making both gardens more accessible to people of all ages and income levels.”

      A Defra spokesperson said: “The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew is world-leading in plant science and research which is crucial in helping to end the biodiversity loss crisis. Defra supports and works with Kew to discover nature-based solutions to some of the biggest global challenges”.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/12/28/kew-gardens-plan-decolonise-collections-may-breach-legal-obligations/

  28. The ‘Colonialism’ purge, like what is happening at Kew Gardens, statues Art

    If we are required to ‘cleanse’ UK of all colonialisms, should we not export colonials back to whence they came

    1. This doctor has raised his head above the parapet before. Good man.

      Quite a lot of support on Allison Pearson’s twitter feed re people in the media etc starting to question the data and the last 21 months of oppression from the government and its agents. However, we must never forget those in the MSM and those slebs who backed the restrictions so avidly. Is there a real hope that this nonsense has finally been exposed for the fraud it so clearly is to people who looked past the government narrative and actually thought about what was being done, and why?
      Picture sums up perfectly the state of the State.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/47288234d261954ddf5d632e0d1529d1be38b748669f8a070648c97e2e4f3216.png

      1. But even though death and serious illness figures are far below last January’s peak (in spite of alleged infection rates being higher), it still looks likely that further restrictions could be imposed next week.
        This would be completely ignoring the statistics – as we now know, the majority of people are at no risk from the latest scariant.
        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10351519/Ministers-ruled-regional-lockdowns-tackle-Omicron-Covid-variant.html

    3. I sent that to my sister-in-law who is a lecturer in nurse training and also still does shifts at her local hospital’s A&E.
      My question:
      “How long has this been going on? Months? Or even nearly two years?”
      S-in-L’s answer:
      “For the duration……”

  30. Woman who complained her pink turkey ruined Christmas is told she bought gammon!

    Zoe messaged NL Woodcock Butchers in Oldham saying she was ‘disappointed’
    But butchers pointed out her previous message ordering a full gammon joint
    Realising mistake, she apologised and asked whether any other turkeys were left
    Butcher offered her one for free because it’s the ‘best laugh he’s had this year’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10350865/Woman-complained-pink-turkey-ruined-Christmas-told-bought-gammon.html

      1. Plenty on a thick ‘woke’ though, they generally go all the way up and then make an ar5e of themselves.

    2. Not quite as good as David Niven when he was a subaltern in the HLI, and organised caviar for the soldiers’ Christmas Dinner. When asked how he liked the dinner one of the Jocks replied it was great, but the Blackberry Jam tasted of fish.

    4. I remember many years ago, going for a Christmas dinner when I was in the Middle East.
      When it came to coffee and a glass of port, I asked had they any mince pies? yes came the answer, they will be served shortly, chef is just warming them.
      They arrived nicely dusted with Icing sugar and made with shortcrust pastry: unfortunately they had been filled with beef mince !

    1. I never understood how ordinary people in Germany could have been taken in so completely by Hitler. I can now understand it in that a very large proportion of Europe’s population – even some relatively intelligent people – have been just as easily taken in by the PTB’s lies about the Covid Jabs and the undisclosed dangers that they can inflict.

      1. I never understood how ordinary people in Britain could have been taken in so completely by Johnson. ( and BBC, Sky, Daily mail etc.

        1. Cowards die many times before their deaths.
          The valiant never taste of death but once.
          Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
          It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
          Seeing that death, a necessary end,
          Will come when it will come.

          [Julius Caesar : Shakespeare]

      3. Perhaps the Nazi and brutality guns were more of a convincing factor than a harmless looking hypodermic.
        I saw a photo of several thousand out of date Astra Zeneca vaccines being dumped, I think it was Nigeria, recently.

    2. There is something very sinister about all this PM.
      Our eldest and his wife are both fully vaxed but he caught this, the latest variant, passed int on to his wife and after a few days of mild cold symptoms they were over it. Now their 6 year old son has tested positive but has no symptoms whatsoever. Obviously not been vaxed so quite frankly WTF are these people on about now ??
      It’s more annoying than having a front tyre blow out on a motorway and having no spare.

      1. One of my most satisfying moments as a young man, was watching a car speeding down a narrow road in Soho, going over a bottle and getting an instant flat – then reversing and getting a flat in a second tyre…!

        Now most people carry a spare. No one carries TWO spares!!

        1. You’ve never tired of that one.
          Most new cars don’t have a spare they have some sort of chemical kit in a spray can. I insisted we had a spare but it’s only a get you home jobbie.
          Here’s one that happened to me in the early 70s, after driving my year 66 mini back from a night out in Brighton with my old buddie, I was taking a short cut through London to Swiss Cottage, Finchley road on the way to Whetstone. Suddenly I was confronted by the towering radiator grill and head lights of a Rolls Royce.
          I could not get past, it took up too much room. But the driver got out and walked to my window which I slid open and he leaned down and said in a rather posh voice …If I were you old chap i’d turn around and go back the other way, you’re in a One way street. What a polite chappie he was.
          The days before drinking and driving were a crime.

          2. Straight up the A23 through Pease Pottage, Loose Chippings and Men at Work. Not much more than 70 miles back then, more or less a straight run.
            I’d only had three pints and a steak dinner and old bill weren’t as nasty as they are now. If you didn’t slur as you spoke and could walk in a straight line they let you off.
            It was ten years later in the early to mid 80-s when it all started to get serous and driving became a chore rather then a pleasure.

          3. I know the area.
            I think it depended very much on the local police force. They were very hot on it in Cambridge in the early 70’s

          4. These spray kits will not seal anything bigger than a pin hole, even then you have to change the tyre because it ruins the old one. Space-savers are ok for a short distance as long as you don’t exceed 50mph and the handling isn’t good. If you get a front puncture it is better if you put the space-saver on a rear axle and put the rear wheel which it replaces on the front – the handling will be better. Why everyone doesn’t insist on a spare wheel being supplied when the car is new is beyond me – insist on it or no sale like I did. I got one free although it is a full size steel wheel not an alloy. Hire cars rarely supply a spray or a space-saver for cost reasons – it’s cheaper to get the car recovered to the nearest tyre centre

          5. When I bought my latest car, one of the first things I asked was, “does it have a proper spare tyre?” If it hadn’t, I wouldn’t have bought it.

    3. That is evil – however, it’s also reassuring to know that we’re dealing with simple greedy murderers.
      It’s been obvious that there was a strong, behind the scenes lust to vaccinate children, and I feared this was part of Gates’s desire to microchip the world along the lines of the research programs that his Foundation has already funded. But his fantasies are for the moment still mere fantasies.
      The pharma criminals have overreached themselves this time.

  32. Rejected by Remainer publishers, will the Brexit Spartans soon be heading to Hollywood?
    The Telegraph’s weekly Peterborough diary column offers an unparalleled insight into what’s really going on at Westminster and beyond
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/12/17/rejected-remainer-publishers-will-brexit-spartans-soon-heading/

    BTL :

    Good luck to Mark Francois with his book about Brexit.

    The liberation of Northern Ireland from the EU will determine Ms Truss’s success. If she manages to free the UK by invoking the NI Protocol and removing all EU law from any part of the UK she will undoubtedly become the next prime minister – if she fails to do so it will be the end of her political career.

    As, at the moment, she is Boris Johnson’s preferred alternative with many people, then I would not be at all surprised if giving her her latest job is being used as a poisoned chalice. If Ms Truss show any signs of success in N Ireland then Johnson will do his best to thwart and discredit her.

    1. I think it would be entertaining – after all we need a good laugh – if Liz Truss played Edwina Currie to Boris Johnson’s John Major and seduced him. The Adultera could then shame the Adulterer.

    2. Whatever happens will be done behind closed doors and will stitch up NI and the rest of the UK.

      The EU and state will collude to support the EU and screw over the public.

  33. Morningall……….

    Nothing is so galling to a people not broken in from birth as a paternal, or, in other words, a meddling government, a government which tells them what to read, and say, and eat, and drink and wear.

    — Thomas Babington Macaulay

  34. Politicians have much longer arms than normal people.

    Thats so they can pat themselves on the back,as no one else will.

  35. Diego Maradona’s younger brother Hugo, 52, dies of a heart attack 13 months after cardiac arrest killed the Argentinian football legend. 28 December 2021.

    Hugo suffered the fatal attack at his home in Naples, the city where Diego played at the peak of his career and where Hugo played as a junior, around 11.50am Tuesday.

    You have to wonder if he’s had the Jabs!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10350033/Diego-Maradonas-younger-brother-Hugo-52-dies-heart-attack.html

    1. Can Parliament be infantilised even further – is it not more than childish enough already?

  37. Before convid was invented, I knew of a woman with such severe OCD that she never left her house (good job she never needed hospital treatment) and every person entering her home had to have a shower in the specially installed room attached to her house. I have lost touch with the acquaintance who was related to her but I often wonder how she has coped with this ‘deadly, killer’ virus everywhere. A very sad case.

    1. They’ve run out everywhere, apparently! So no testing…….. no more cases! LFTs are unobtainable as well.

      1. Oh dear, what a shame. But I’m sure they won’t let a trivial matter of no tests being available stop them claiming ‘record- breaking case numbers’.

        1. Next Door neighbour, whose partner spent Christmas feeling rough and lying on the sofa, ran out of LFT tests after he’d gone home (feeling better by then) so I offered her one of mine……… anyway she replied later and said she’d gone out anyway to a service in the cathedral. No testing – no problem!

    3. It would be funny were these ‘free’ tests not being paid by me, as a taxpayer. If you give something away for free then demand rockets. Yet more of my money Johnson is pissing away.

      1. Someone told me this morning that they were going to charge for them starting in January. Don’t know how true that is.

    2. It’s funny, when they died in the channel the bodies were returned very quickly. No problem identifying and deporting the corpses.

      Why can’t we do that with the live ones?

      6. Remember when there were reports of literally thousands of deaths by drowning in the Mediterranean of people trying to emigrate to Europe? I remember feeling worried that we might come across a corpse as we sailed around the Greek islands but mercifully we never did.

    1. Reminds me of a time when I had to play Mr Bumble in a school production of Oliver.

      “Since my lovey dovey’s chubby, could she love a chubby hubby?”

      (I am pleased to say that at the time I played the role I was considerably less corpulent than the chap playing Mr Bumble in this clip)

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RqbsySkzbA

      1. I was stage manager for our school’s production of Oliver! but was the understudy for Mr. Bumble. As I was considerably smaller than the house mistress playing Bumble, there were a few large cushions back stage to pad me with if I needed to go on. Thank goodness, I didn’t.

  44. Was looking at my son’s school report. It said:

    “He is a talentless waste of space who offers little determination or
    energy, commands absolutely no respect from his peers, and always looks
    to withdraw from any challenge placed in front of him”

    My son. Joe Root.

    1. Really? Surely you mean the cricketer?

      I always find the school reports daft. There’s never a consideration that actually the curriculum is boring and uninspiring.

      2. “Now that Richard’s handwriting has improved we can clearly see just how little he actually knows.”

        And a good ambiguous reference to give to someone applying for a new job:

        “You will be very lucky to get this person to work for you.”

    2. Joe Root is probably the best player in the current England XI – but does the best player always make a good captain?

      Kevin Peterson was a phenomenal cricketer but a pretty poor captain whereas Mike Brearley was far from being the best player in the team but was an outstanding captain.

      2. Brearley was educated at City of London School, where his dad was a teacher. Incidentally, your autobiographical BTL comment on the Telegraph received more than 200 ‘likes’.

  45. Thought for the day…

    You know you’re getting old.

    When you talk to more doctors than Bar Staff…

  46. The New Year’s Eve Conservative Annual Piss-Up in Battersea Brewery had
    to be cancelled today when it was realised that the PM had been left in
    charge of the arrangements.

  47. Afternoon you lot, hope all is well, no sniffles etc. great news about son – he is now able to eat proper food yay! Up til now he’s been having puréed food (not what he calls it but still …) and he can’t wait to get home. A bed has been brought downstairs for him until he’s built up enough stamina to make the stairs and I don’t think tha5 will be too long once he’s eating properly. He has one of these tension/resistance bands that grandson remembered he had and is doing exercises to develop his muscles once more. He goes for walks around the ward too and at the moment takes an oxygen cylinder with him but otherwise his lungs seem to be functioning well. It’s all wonderful news and our shoulders seeem to be coming down a little more every day with the good news. Voice still gravelly but is so much stronger. We are so thankful to the staff at RSCH.

    7. Brilliant news. I know what you mean about the hospital. When they get the medical stuff right – one can quickly forget the admin niggles.

    8. Good to hear, vw, our thoughts are with you all for continued recovery and easing of tension. KBO.

    10. Fantastic news, vw! Best of luck to all of you and have a wonderful reunion! All good wishes to you all!

    11. Excellent news, VW! It’s good to read something heartening for a change! :-D)
      I’ll find some quality alcohol and toast a) his recovery, and b) your and Alf’s lowered shoulders!

  49. Mark Drakeford’s Wales is the best advert for the Tories

    The Covid storm has vividly exposed the flimsiness and pettiness of the devolved governments

    MADELINE GRANT, Parliamentary Sketchwriter • 28 December 2021 • 9:30pm

    English pubs and clubs are feverishly gearing up for one of their busiest nights of the year, but for the rest of the UK, 2021 looks set to end with more of a whimper than a bang. Devolution has emerged as the party-pooper par excellence. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, devolved governments have ordered pubs to return to table service and impose the rule of six. The SNP has cancelled every aspect of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations; the street party and torchlit processions, even the midnight fireworks display.

    English hospitality venues predict an influx of party-going invaders, bravely crossing Hadrian’s Wall and Offa’s Dyke to hit nearby watering holes. For one night only, the likes of Shrewsbury, Hereford and Berwick-Upon-Tweed could become the Ibizas or Ayia Napas of the borders.

    The Covid storm has exposed both the flimsiness and the pettiness of devolved rule across Britain, but nowhere has this been done more unforgivingly than in Wales. Before the pandemic, few would have registered Mark Drakeford’s existence. To all but the most avid political junkies, this mumbling sociology professor turned Welsh Labour leader would have remained, at best, the answer to a pub quiz question. But the prospect of emergency has inspired Drakeford and others like him – those whose idea of leadership consists of looking at whatever England is planning, then doing the opposite. They have assessed the situation and see only a welcome opportunity to indulge their puritanical fantasies.

    In a crowded field, Drakeford must take the palm for grandstanding about “the science” while coming out with the most cosmically absurd decisions. Earlier this year, Wales allowed pubs and restaurants to reopen yet forbade alcohol to be served, in much the same spirit as the time-honoured Welsh tradition of padlocking the playground swings on the Sabbath. In similar killjoy mode, supermarkets were ordered to cordon off “non-essential” items from shoppers – this, of course, is the science that says a cauliflower is safe, yet a pair of children’s shoes aren’t.

    In England, at least, we seem to have moved away from our high water-mark of absurdity – measuring the diameter of a Scotch Egg and so on. Yet Wales continues to exist in a state of Pythonesque surrealism. Thanks to new restrictions on spectator numbers imposed in both Wales and Scotland, on Boxing Day 50 community rugby fans took to the Caerphilly RFC stands for the annual “Under vs Over 30s” match. Meanwhile, a further 140 assembled in the clubhouse, entirely legally, to watch the same match being streamed.

    While the Welsh government has outlawed travelling to work “without a reasonable excuse” (like, say, wanting to earn money) on pain of on-the-spot fines, you can still go to the pub if observing the rule of six. From New Year’s Day, Parkrun, the perfect socially distanced pursuit, will be cancelled throughout Wales.

    These diktats remain a bundle of pettifogging contradictions. But their stupidity is almost less striking than the arrogance of the politicians who imposed them. Presuming to dictate to businesses in this way demonstrates the kind of remote, pie-in-the-sky thinking that could only have originated from those in the Drakeford mould – public officials who have rarely if ever interacted with the private sector during their career. Devolution’s additional layers of government have offered disproportionate influence to many average Joes with little prospect of finding it elsewhere.

    The pandemic has certainly highlighted this, but longer-standing dysfunction is also at play, such as Welsh Labour’s historic mismanagement of the NHS. Despite a higher per capita health spend, Welsh citizens must endure a median wait time almost double that in England. Long before the pandemic, the devolved government was frittering vast sums on vanity projects like Cardiff Airport, while neglecting education, health and other areas where Wales has fallen behind. Such historical pressures have helped to leave ambulance services still relying on the military nearly two years into the pandemic.

    The overall picture is one of failure, but also a fragmented, patchy style of politics. Though nominally unionist, Welsh Labour has struck a deal with the nationalists in the Senedd. And despite Labour’s recent UK polling surge, Sir Keir Starmer’s likeliest route to power would involve similar jiggery pokery with the SNP.

    Nicola Sturgeon may be an infinitely smarter political operator than Drakeford, but there are many parallels in their political style – the same victim mentality, the same black holes in the budget, the same “I’m not Boris” policymaking and infantile approach to criticism. Sturgeon regularly uses her public health press conferences to launch populist broadsides at the media. One journalist recently incurred her wrath with a polite question about whether the 10-day isolation period might be shortened to alleviate pressure on sectors hamstrung by staff shortages. “Yeah that’d really help – that would spread infection even further,” she scoffed. Yet within a few days, John Swinney, Sturgeon’s deputy, had conceded that the Scottish government was indeed considering precisely this policy change.

    Any kind of devolution seems to result in similar pettiness, and differentiation for its own sake. Given a lever, you can be sure they’ll pull it. Even London Mayor Sadiq Khan pre-emptively cancelled the capital’s annual NYE fireworks display well before there was any mention of omicron. Perhaps this is inevitable; in its structure, devolution appears almost inherently biased towards failure and authoritarian politics. While financial costs and the nuances of decision-making are outsourced, political capital accrues at home.

    With luck, these real-time experiments will remind voters at the Westminster polls that Left-wing politics, even when paid for by other people, ends in disaster. Devolution has marooned millions of UK citizens with leaders they don’t deserve, but it may prove a gift to Boris Johnson. As ever, the best advert for voting Conservative is a quick glance at what their opponents are up to.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/12/28/mark-drakefords-wales-best-advert-tories/

    1. It would be good to think voters might remember such unjustifiable draconian measures but, come election day, the majority will revert to type. ‘Our family has always voted Liebour/ SNP.’

    2. BTL:

      Dun Negotiating
      15 HRS AGO
      Unfortunately the left-wing voters, to whom people like Sturgeon and Drakeford try to appeal, are generally as stupid and bitter and twisted as Sturgeon and Drakeford.

    3. Madeline Grant should be made aware that Hadrian’s wall is not the England/Scotland Border. It is solidly in England.

  50. Good Afternoon.
    Good in that MB, despite being the patient from Hull, has been allowed to survive Christmas.
    A couple of days beforehand, he sustained a common rugby injury without the hassle of actually playing rugby. He tripped on a tree root that had pushed up the pavement in our road and gave his elbow a helluva dunt. The impact travelled up his arm and his rotator cuff has been out of action for about a week.
    This morning I was changing the dressing and the uncharitable thought “wotta wimp” passed through my mind. No doubt, MB himself would describe me as a cross between Nurse Rached and Rosa Klebb.

    1. He should have taken a picture of the root and the injury and sued the council. Consider it a rebate.

      2. The council would then go round chopping down anything bigger than moss, as it would be cheaper than being sued, though.

      1. Being whingey, it did mean that a busy week became even busier; apart from anything else, I have to be the chauffeuse.

    3. Oh dear,poor bloke. The pavements where we live are pretty awful with tree roots pushing up through the roads and pavements. When we have a little local walk we go in the road, marginally better. Anyone who is blind would be in really big trouble. If there are no tree roots the pavements are just so uneven.

      1. I don’t think there is a level pavement in the south of England. Certainly not in the town I live in.

        1. Morning Lotl, off topic are you following the story about Richard III not killing the princes in the tower, (in the D.Fail, I think)?? Interested in your comments, knowing you are such a supporter of Richard.

          1. Yes, I have read it but am going to try and find it in a more learned place. I have never thought that Richard III killed them and most of the stories that paint Richard in a bad light are Tudor propaganda. I won’t go into it here but if you Google one Richard of Eastwell- an interesting person who also raises many questions.

          3. That was an interesting item. Shakespeare had a vested interest (keeping his head on his shoulders for a start) in making Richard out to be the baddie.
            Thanks to your info, I will now do some googling.

          4. Exactly! There’s a lot out there and luckily the Richard III Society has the people and the resources to do the digging.

      2. Matters have been made worse by blasted NTL who, some years back, dug up just about every street and road and then slopped a bit of tarmac into the resulting trench.
        We now have confirmation that this area was heathland, as every summer the ants kick up sand through the cracks.

        1. Been busy.

          Anyway, your comment could easily have been your usual rubbish. While mine was based on 55 years as a solicitor. There’s a difference, you see….{:¬))

          3. Sharp intake of breath: AS IF I would charge Mrs Allan and her splendid husband.

            You swine!

          5. Sharp intake of breath: AS IF I would charge Mrs Allan and her splendid husband.

            You swine!

    5. MH sustained a small cut on his thumb while opening a box from Amazon. After a period of extended moaning and shuddering with pain, I administered a Band Aid. That’s not big enough he whinged, so I put on a bigger one. This was better but the whinging continued to the point where I asked if he wanted me to put it in a sling and also said rather pointedly, that this was why the women gave birth…if it was left to men, the population would have fizzled out years ago.

      1. While hacking up an Amazon box with a stanley knife for the bin I tore throuh my shorts and deep into my leg.

        Thankfully the knife was sharp, so all I felt was cold. The blood got bally everywhere!

        1. Maybe Amazon uses particularly lethal boxes. He had no bother with the Ikea box;-)
          It is rather frightening how much blood can appear even with a fairly small cut or wound.

  51. Good Afternoon.
    Good in that MB, despite being the patient from Hull, has been allowed to survive Christmas.
    A couple of days beforehand, he sustained a common rugby injury without the hassle of actually playing rugby. He tripped on a tree root that had pushed up the pavement in our road and gave his elbow a helluva dunt. The impact travelled up his arm and his rotator cuff has been out of action for about a week.
    This morning I was changing the dressing and the uncharitable thought “wotta wimp” passed through my mind. No doubt, MB himself would describe me as a cross between Nurse Rached and Rosa Klebb.

  53. No sense of humour some people.

    A social media joker arrested over a spoof invite for a Hogmanay party
    on Nicola Sturgeon’s street (right) blasted political policing today,
    declaring Scotland was ‘More like North Korea at the moment’. Chris
    Brown, 33, was handcuffed in Hamilton at his house last Wednesday after
    around 2,000 people signed up to the pretend event (lower right inset).
    The father-of-one, who works as a bouncer, was charged under section 127
    part 2 of the Communications Act 2003 and kept in a cell until 3am the
    next day. He said today: ‘One of the cops said I was causing ‘fear,
    alarm or distress’ to the First Minister. They kept reiterating that
    this is coming from higher above, it was real cloak and dagger stuff.
    This is political policing – it’s complete over-reach. It’s meant to be a
    free society but it’s more like North Korea at the moment.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10352677/Scotland-like-North-Korea-moment-Facebook-prankster-blasts-arrest-spoof-party.html

      1. I guess those men just wanted to see what it would be like with someone who had a ‘reverse penis’.

  56. A few recent editorials suggested the DT was moving away from the wishy-washy centre ground – but then it comes out with this.

    A telling admission from David Lammy

    Mr Lammy is a rarity among Labour’s leading figures in so openly repudiating the Corbyn years. Labour remains far from being fit to govern

    TELEGRAPH VIEW • 28 December 2021 • 10:00pm

    David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, was one of the 36 Labour MPs whose nominations narrowly secured Jeremy Corbyn his place in the ballot for the party leadership in 2015. Now, the MP for Tottenham who served as a government minister under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, says that nominating Mr Corbyn to be Ed Miliband’s successor was a mistake.

    Mr Lammy told the Limmud Festival: “I regret nominating Jeremy Corbyn and if I knew what I do now, I never would have nominated him. That was a mistake and I am sorry for that.” He said that he was “staggered” when he learnt of the anti-Semitic views held by some members of the Labour Party, but added: “I don’t believe the overall culture is toxic any more … but until the party is genuinely welcome for everyone, we remain on a journey.”

    The party’s critics could be forgiven for observing that this is a desperately long journey on which precious little progress has been made. Sir Keir Starmer has sought to move the party forward, and Mr Corbyn himself remains suspended from the parliamentary whip after his reaction to the results of an investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission into Labour. But it is telling that he was reinstated as a member of the party by its ruling National Executive Committee.

    It is telling, too, that Mr Lammy is a rarity among Labour’s leading figures in so openly repudiating the Corbyn years. The party may be leading in the polls, but it is a long way from being fit to govern.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/12/28/telling-admission-david-lammy/

    1. They shouldn’t dignify the childish and extremist bickerings of the Labour Party with articles like this.

    2. By the time he was elected leader, Corbyn had been and MP for over 30 years and before that had a track record as a councillor and political activist.
      Someone wasn’t paying attention

  57. A few recent editorials suggested the DT was moving away from the wishy-washy centre ground – but then it comes out with this.

    A telling admission from David Lammy

    Mr Lammy is a rarity among Labour’s leading figures in so openly repudiating the Corbyn years. Labour remains far from being fit to govern

    TELEGRAPH VIEW • 28 December 2021 • 10:00pm

    David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, was one of the 36 Labour MPs whose nominations narrowly secured Jeremy Corbyn his place in the ballot for the party leadership in 2015. Now, the MP for Tottenham who served as a government minister under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, says that nominating Mr Corbyn to be Ed Miliband’s successor was a mistake.

    Mr Lammy told the Limmud Festival: “I regret nominating Jeremy Corbyn and if I knew what I do now, I never would have nominated him. That was a mistake and I am sorry for that.” He said that he was “staggered” when he learnt of the anti-Semitic views held by some members of the Labour Party, but added: “I don’t believe the overall culture is toxic any more … but until the party is genuinely welcome for everyone, we remain on a journey.”

    The party’s critics could be forgiven for observing that this is a desperately long journey on which precious little progress has been made. Sir Keir Starmer has sought to move the party forward, and Mr Corbyn himself remains suspended from the parliamentary whip after his reaction to the results of an investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission into Labour. But it is telling that he was reinstated as a member of the party by its ruling National Executive Committee.

    It is telling, too, that Mr Lammy is a rarity among Labour’s leading figures in so openly repudiating the Corbyn years. The party may be leading in the polls, but it is a long way from being fit to govern.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/12/28/telling-admission-david-lammy/

  58. BBC2 – 2.20pm
    Sean Connery, Talking Pictures….followed by ‘The Great Train Robbery.’

    I grew up with Bond …Dr. No ….Goldfinger

    Was Connery the best 007…?

          1. I liked George Lazenby the first time I saw the film, but when I saw it again years later, I thought he was a bit wooden. I’d like to see it again, now that I can bring the benefit of my years of experience to bear on the matter!

          2. He had a twinkle that Connery never had! Just a trace of humour plus he was much better looking!

          5. I am completely unmusical and if there was a good-looking man in the film, I certainly wouldn’t have noticed the music score…

          7. Now then, Mrs Macfarlane. When Diana Rigg appeared as the “Bond girl” (Tracy Bond) in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, she disliked Lazenby so much that she would chew a clove of garlic before every kissing scene with him. 😘

            I thought Lazenby made a a very decent Big Fry, but that is about all. 🤣

          12. Diana Rigg used to come into Mothercare in Stirling quite often! She was absolutely gorgeous and her voice….! A proper star, she was!

          13. Back in the 80s, when WQED Pittsburgh bought British tv dramas they would always be preceded on screen by Diana Rigg sitting in an armchair explaining to the American audience what they were about to see.

          14. It was called “Masterpiece Theatre” and was on most public broadcasting stations Sunday nights. Diana Rigg introduced to the audience to many English tv series at the time.

          15. She took over from Alistair Cook. Sesame Street did a spoof of the Alistair Cook intro calling him Alistair Cookie-Monster;-)

    5. Dr No was our first date just over 59 years ago.
      Met at the Angel Islington at 7pm. vw says I was late but I think she was very eager to see me. I was on time.
      Anyway jumped on a 38 bus to Piccadilly Circus, walked down Coventry Street and queued for the film at the Leicester Square Theatre. Two seats in the circle 12/6d each, loadsa dosh, then a drink in the Blue Boar in below the Empire cinema.
      Sweet dreams are made of this.
      Connery was good.

    6. I liked the ‘Invisible 007, David Niven circa 1967

      Why is Casino Royale 1967 not a Bond film?The most obvious reason Casino Royale ’54 isn’t part of the EON Productions canon is because, quite simply, the episode predates the efforts and existence of Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman’s company by about seven years.

  59. Good afternoon all,

    Had a really nasty turn this morning and phoned 111. By 11am I was in Charing Cross Hospital having an ECG. My heart is OK. The blood tests were normal too, though low white cell count and low vitamin D. The latter surprised me as I take a multivitamin supplement. Seem to need vitamin D in addition to that.

    1. Sorry to hear that, Sue. Hope nothing serious is wrong. Did they say what the white cell count might mean?

      1. The young doctor said it’s typical with Covid – but what isn’t? She sent me home to eat, hydrate and rest. I’ve had the runs for about 5 days, so severe dehydration, though I thought I’d upped my fluid intake.

        2. Sorry to hear of your woes, Sue. Chicken soup seems to be standard treatment for many illnesses here in Poland. Vitamin D …. after the poor summer in London your stock may have been quite low entering the autumn months.

        3. When I lived in a rather hot climate and had your symptoms, our doctor recommended – natural yogurt (lots) and make drinks from powder glucose and salt.
          A litre of glucose water mixed with a level teaspoon af salt.
          The glucose salt mix rehydrates quicker than water alone.

        4. When I lived in a rather hot climate and had your symptoms, our doctor recommended – natural yogurt (lots) and make drinks from powder glucose and salt.
          A litre of glucose water mixed with a level teaspoon af salt.

      1. Palpitations, vision disintegrating, dizzy, sweating and cold simultaneously and could barely stand. Got out of bed, everything spun, dropped back down.

        3. Oh my goodness. Do hope you’re well on the road to recovery Sue. It’s strange but when you need to drink to reheydrate you may not always feel like it. Our nurse daughter in law says to drink squash to put back the electrolytes and you need to not do too much. (Don’t suppose you feel like it anyway!). Look after yourself.

    5. By ‘eck, lass. Take care o’ theesen.

      Perhaps there is insufficient Vit D in your multivitamin supplement. I take a dedicated Vit D capsule every day and that seems to do the trick. Hope you soon recover. 😘

    6. So sorry to hear that Sue. What a frightener. Glad you’re back home and probably drinking lots of water. Dehydration seems easy to happen but not so easy to cure. Take it easy and don’t rush back to work.
      You may have read before thst I was advised to take Vitamin D3, 5,000 iu, daily. We recently bought 1,000 for £22.99. If you want the link let me know.
      Edit – like to link

      1. Better than this morning, yes. There was a Muslim woman in the waiting room who had breathing difficulties and was in pain. Compared to her…

        1. This sickness business is all a question subjectivity. It’s odd how if we start to have less pain without noticing, but when we have an increase of pain we do notice.

    9. Glad that you are OK, Our Susan. I do HOPE you didn’t pick up something nasty while in the CXH.

      Drink lots of liquid. We both take Vit C; Vit D – and Turmeric – every morning and, until the last week, haven’t had a cold in 21 months.

    10. Have you had another bout of covid? Sorry to hear you’ve been ill – Vit D3 is the one to take – 4000iu.

      1. At home, yes but no one nearby. That’s what panicked me this morning. If I’d passed out, no one would know.

    2. I stay up until 12, say ‘happy new year’ to the neighbours, plop the ear muffs on Mongo and send him and junior to bed.

    4. There’s a band on at my local. If it’s heaving with people I probably won’t stay too long, depending on who they are.

      1. Our pub has a DJ and so on but we’re going tomorrow for a drink or two and will stay home on 31st. Got enough grub to feed an army and I’m in the process of making turkey and veg soup. Having a break.

        1. Got a turkey pasta bake with a cheese sauce in the oven and a lamb stew/mulligatawny soup on the hob.

          1. Sounds good; soup is made and is sort of broth like. Lots of carrots, onions, turkey and green peas. Smells very nice.

          2. Mine had mixed fresh chicken/lamb stock, chopped up roast tatties, carrots and parsnips along with some freshly caramelised onion. An apple and some chutney chucked in with cumin, coriander, sweet smoked paprika and other spices and seasonings. Plus the Boxing Day slow roast lamb that literally fell of the leg bone to finish it off. Not quite sure if it ended up a stew or a thick soup, but it’s gone down very well.

          3. MH loves soup too. His particular favourite is my homemade tomato and basil soup. I like the cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soups I make…they have sherry in them. Plum would like them too !!

      2. When we awake, Spring a time of hope and renewal.

        I Watched a Blackbird
        By Thomas Hardy

        I watched a blackbird on a budding sycamore
        One Easter Day, when sap was stirring twigs to the core;
        I saw his tongue, and crocus-coloured bill
        Parting and closing as he turned his trill;
        Then he flew down, seized on a stem of hay,
        And upped to where his building scheme was under way,
        As if so sure a nest was never shaped on spray.

    5. I love getting up on New Year’s morning with a clear head. Together with the joy that all the Christmas stuff is over and there is more daylight each successive day.

      1. Roll on Spring
        When we awake, Spring a time of hope and renewal.

        I Watched a Blackbird
        By Thomas Hardy

        I watched a blackbird on a budding sycamore
        One Easter Day, when sap was stirring twigs to the core;
        I saw his tongue, and crocus-coloured bill
        Parting and closing as he turned his trill;
        Then he flew down, seized on a stem of hay,
        And upped to where his building scheme was under way,
        As if so sure a nest was never shaped on spray.

          2. No, there is more recent version, not many actors I had heard of. But it was Okay. But a tad to featured on the class system. Almost sheepish in content.

        2. A blackbird hit my windscreen this afternoon. It made a heck of a crack, but fortunately, the glass wasn’t damaged.

    6. We have ‘done’ NYE so many times; organised large fancy dress bashes, been to friends’ parties or even commercial do’s in hotels. The most enjoyable were when the grandchildren were small and stayed with us so their parents could really let their hair down. We used to organise a New Year celebration where the children made party food, had drinks out of special glasses and stayed up past midnight so they could dance in the road, throw fire crackers and watch the surrounding firework displays.
      We are now quite content to go to bed and let the New Year arrive without any input from us.

    8. I’ve never seen what the fuss is about, frankly. There rarely seems to be anything to celebrate about the forthcoming year and usually, I’m glad the old one is over.

    2. Also notable that business is leaving California in droves. There was a small gardening company that is forced to convert to electric leaf blowers and saws from the diesels. The material cost of the change would put them out of business.

      Elon Musk has moved Tesla out. And his 11bn tax bill. As with here, the majority of California’s taxes are paid by a tiny percentage. If more of those businesses leave for state’s with lower taxes then California’s done. The same will happen here.

      https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/no-wonder-why-people-and-businesses-are-dumping-california/

    1. “…we have just seen a record year of illegal boat arrivals having crossed the Channel. This isn’t the EU’s fault.”

      The UK’s handling of this has been shockingly bad but the Channel invaders made it here via the EU which was glad to herd them in our direction.

      Marks deducted for DM on that one.

    1. Delicate water-colours one here, at first, after you posted, didn’t expect much from it, then it turned fiery golden pinks and oranges. One of nature’s wonders. A wind is getting up now, perhaps we are sailing out of the doldrums at last.

      1. For 20 minutes it was glorious.

        Tomorrow dull but mild; possibly sun on FRI and SAT. Possibly!!

          1. Hmm! They have had a shite autumn/December – rain in torrents. Better now – nice and sunny and warm…Grrr.

            Seriously, we do not miss any of it. What we DO miss is the opportunity to spend a fortnight on the Cote d’Azur three times a year.

          2. Do you not miss your lovely house in Laure and your friends there? The journeying back and forth must have been a bummer though.

          3. Honestly? No. We knew the time was right. There were more and more aspects of running the house that I could no longer cope with. Decorating; roof work etc etc.

            It is a huge and genuine pleasure that the chaps who bought the house love it (and the village) as much as we did. Our pals keep in touch several times a month even after 21 months.

            I had driven the each-way journey nearly a hundred times. I could do it tomorrow with my eyes shut!! We had a routine, lovely overnight places to stay. It was part of our life that we treasure but would not wish still to be doing. Particularly right now – when Brits are banned from France by the revolting, vindictive Toy Boy.

          4. It’s good to know when enough is enough, and stop then. Leave on a high note. A pity my Mother didn’t do that, despite talking about it and look for a nive, small apartment, when there was time to do so.

      2. Completely impossible to photograph, and if you had talent and can paint, people would say “Nah! Totally unrealistic!”

  64. Brace for ‘terrifying’ Omicron wave, health chief tells public
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/covid-in-scotland-brace-for-terrifying-omicron-wave-says-health-chief-jhhzf9tgj
    Scots have been warned to prepare for a “terrifying” wave of Omicron cases next month that is expected to see more people fighting for their lives in intensive care.
    Jason Leitch, Scotland’s national clinical director, said this week’s record-breaking case numbers would pale in comparison with the peak of the Omicron wave, which is not expected for at least another two weeks.
    A further 9,300 cases were reported yesterday, on top of the 10,000 cases reported on Monday and 11,000 on Boxing Day.
    Nicola Sturgeon will outline her response to the rising case numbers to MSPs today.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/45bc7111ba579c71f483251b5d98e1342eb3d7257b2fb1d17e731e647d4c198a.jpg
    Oh, just fuck off, get in a car, and fuck off some more!

    1. What absolute BS. It’s proven to be no worse than a common cold.
      Unless of course it’s been tampered with again because it hasn’t had the desired effect.
      Nicola Sturgeon will outline her response to the rising case numbers to MSPs today. Really ???
      Why don’t they all just STF UP.

    3. They are never going to let this go! Part of the trouble is that Wee Crankie, the Welsh twerp and Boris are drunk on power. They absolutely get thrills of pleasure at the thought that they can tell us where to go, who to meet, what to spend our money on &etc Or they think they can. Liars and hypocrites all of them.

    4. But I did have a terrifying sniffle for several days.
      It was traumatic.
      You can’t deny my experience you phobe.
      I don’t know what-phobe. Just phobe.

    5. As a T r a n s v a c c i n a t e I have not actually had any vaccines but I id-en-ti-fy as fully vaccinated.
      I wear a wig skirts and tights and my name is Dick, pretty well sums up the last two years.

    6. Just had an email from RAFARS in which the sender calls is Omnicron. Rather appropriate, I thought.

    1. Some where i have his rock and roll Album, I Did not really like him too much when he went at it alone, not really my cup of tea.
      I’d moved on to Modern Jaaazzz…….. Nice………

          2. All of those,……….. my all time Favourite band the Eagles, saw them at Wembley once.
            I’ve got one of their US concerts recorded. I often play some of it.

          3. Saw the Eagles at the New Bingley Hall in Stafford. Late Seventies. Might have been the same tour. Did Reg Dwight turn up at your concert? He didn’t at Stafford, but had done so elsewhere…

          4. No he did turn up Geoff, I think he was heavily into ‘substance abuse’ at the time. We had to put up with the Quo, we hated it.
            It was the Big Apple at Brighton.
            Did you know that he got his name change from Long John Baldry and his sax player Elton Dean.
            Reggie was a piano player in the band Steam packet.
            Rod Stewart was one of the singers as was Maggie Bell. ……he probably had quite a few things to say to her.
            It would have be mid 80s when we saw the Eagles at Wembley it was a few days after the Three Tenors.

  66. When the outlook forecasts predicted this week’s mild spell, I knew that someone would attempt to link it AGW.

    Neil Armstrong [!], Met Office Chief Meteorologist, said: “The position of the jet stream and a low-pressure system to the west of Ireland over the next few days mean that a large amount of unusually warm air will be pulled up over the UK. [Correct so far.]

    “While this means a very mild start to the New Year for most in the UK it will soon be replaced by more ‘normal’ January conditions. These warm spells in winter are consistent with what we would expect with climate change, and while cold snaps cannot be ruled out, we would expect above-average temperatures like this to become a more frequent occurrence as the global climate warms.” [Non sequitur.]

    https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/news/weather-and-climate/2021/2022-rides-in-on-a-plume-of-mild-air

    If atmospheric warming continues then yes, we will have some spells throughout the year with temperatures above recent averages. However, the current mild spell is simply a consequence of the location of high and low pressure and the drawing up from the tropics of warm air. South-westerly airstreams over the UK are common but it’s unusual to have one coming from so far away in the winter. A very mild spell brought about by such a setup is not proof of global warming; it could happen in a cooling period.

    As the article points out, the UK’s record temperature for New Year’s Day was set in 1916 in Bude, a part of the country not exactly unfamiliar with very mild winter weather.

        2. Especially for manufacturing “tests” that are designed to give “positive” results….

    2. My father must be spinning in his grave in a cemetery, on a hill to the North of Athens! He was a physicist and a Met officer in the Navy on the aircraft carrier Illustrious. He talked a lot about climate and weather, seasons and out of the ordinary occurrences. He understood weather and climate and always said that it has been changing for millennia. Nothing we puny humans can do will change it one iota.

      1. With your Dad on that one, Sue.
        To the south of my house, about 20 yards, there is a small cliff . and the same to the north, like steps going down to a stream at the bottom. Both cliffs show score marks from when there were glaciers here – and now it’s apple trees.
        I guess it must have been all those coal-fired power stations thousands of years ago wot dunnit.

        1. Yep! He was also an amateur astronomer and inspired me with his tales of the light from the stars taking so long to reach us, that some of them we can see, are probably not there now (whatever ‘now’ is!) He’d be very excited about the Hubble replacement telescope being launched!

    3. Minus thirty something in Alberta this week. I am sure that they would thoroughly approve of any warming, let alone the global variety.

  67. Reflecting on the last year, I had a thought.

    This “trans” and “gender identity” bollox. The utterly ludicrous abasement by HMG – surrendering to a tiny minority of a tiny minority. Out of the 80 million people people in the UK, how many active trans fanatics are there? A couple of thousand? Yet all government organisations are told to let people choose their gender; choose their personal pronouns – and all the rest of it.

    Now, compare and contrast. A very large minority of the population – perhaps 20% – 25% – think that the covid stuff is a complete – and deadly – over-reaction.

    But what notice is taken of us? Neither a jot nor a tittle indeed, we called swivel-eyed, foam-flecked fanatics and beaten up by yer plod. And banned from social meeja.

    WHY?

    Why are we not given a platform unimpeded by people like Witless and Unbalanced, Ferguson, the Mad Woman CMO etc etc etc?

    1. And in a year of seemingly utter control of most things that matter to the public, we have a car driver knighted. And for talking BS nearly every day of the week for at least 8 months a professor on the honours list. What a very sad state of affairs Bill ……….Where did it all go wrong ?

    2. From that clause in your first sentence “… I had a thought.” – I knew you were going to offer something dangerous and subversive.

    3. Oh come on, you know the answer to that one. The trans political agenda destablises our country so it’s “good”, while the 25% who see through the covid nonsense are jeopardising pharma profits and bankers’ control plans.

    4. This fits in better here.

      As a T r a n s v a c c i n a t e I have not actually had any vaccines but I id-en-ti-fy as fully vaccinated.
      I wear a wig skirts and tights and my name is Dick, pretty well sums up the last two years.

        1. Yep, He’s riding along on the Cressida Dick and the sun is in his eye.

          We’re riding along on the crest of a wave,
          and the sun is in the sky.
          All of our eyes on the distant horizon,
          Look out for passers by.
          We’ll do the HAILING !
          When all the ships around are sailing,
          We’re riding along on the crest of a wave,
          And the world is ours.

    5. Some wag has just stirred up the trans loving community in Canada by asking how a straight man should he refer to the Trans Canada Highway and if he is allowed to use it/him/her.

      Some really cannot take a joke.

    6. Bill, you ask WHY? Now you know how it felt to be a member of UKIP campaigning for a referendum on our membership of the corrupt EU, when we were all dismissed as “fruitcakes and loonies”.

  68. That’s me for the day. A much better day, in that the rain stopped; there was a gorgeous sunset; the cats have been looning about in the garden, climbing trees and chasing each other. A few more minutes of daylight. The first 2022 Seed Catalogue arrived. The new jigsaw is a very interesting nightmare which will give us weeks of fun. And we are having an OUTING tomorrow to Wivno…

    And the Met Office have advised us to look out the sun block…. (Wait – there is time yet!!)

    So have yourselves a jolly little evening. I will look in briefly tomorrow.

    A demain.

    1. The sun set was magnificent, I tried to get number two son to take a shot of it across the fields from his west facing garden but they were out again………

    2. Bill, will you and the MR have the time to meet up with me for a swift half or coffee or even a meal when you visit Wivno?

  70. Well said, Chloe Smith; not a politician I’ve really thought about before.

    “Scots are free to cross the border to celebrate New Year’s Eve in England, a UK minister has said – putting her at odds with the Scottish government’s message.

    Responding to reports that Scottish revellers are set to head south to take advantage of England’s lighter Covid restrictions, Chloe Smith, the work and pensions minister, said people were “more than free to move around” the UK over the New Year.

    Asked whether it would be wrong for people from Scotland to travel south, she said: “Well, I think perhaps I should just add the obvious constitutional point here which is that we are one country and people are more than free to move around inside our country under the general law, obviously.””

    Wonder what the Stuffed Little Haggis will come up with to make life difficult for those disobedient revellers?

          2. Yes.
            Quite a while ago, worked at a construction yard at Ardersier. I like Inverness – much better place than Aberdeen.
            That’s why I asked.

          3. I was joking Oberst! I think it’s a lovely city. My old man is from Buckie and I love the Moray Firth coast. Freezing but spectacular!

          4. Loveliest Spring weather in the whole UK, on the Moray coast. Absolutely fabulous. Fantastic place. Could easily live there.

          6. And the most beautiful drive to Aberdeen, through Speyside, Dufftown & Rhynie. Open roads, little traffic, great fun.

          10. Oddly enough, my old man and I were talking about Elgin today. My sister in law used to live there, next to the Abbey, and the town is in the running to gain city status for the Queens Jubilee. We’d always assumed it was already a city, as the football team is Elgin City!

          11. I seem to recall that city status was given because a populated area had a Cathedral. First enacted by Henry VIII.
            I maybe wrong as it’s a long forgotten memory cell.

          12. That was the original definition of a city, but cities can also be made by charter, although they don’t have a cathedral.

          13. Posted to Kinloss in 1960. Lived in Forres before being allocated a Married Quarter. To get a drink on a Sunday you had to be a bona fide traveller. We used to sign in as ‘The Rev Simon Phipps and party’.

          14. Used to sign stores chitts as “Frank Onions”. He must have been the oldest employee, he seems to have been going to stores forever…

          18. While musing in the less/fewer issue with regard to this fine old hymn anthem, I came up with a grammatically correct version.

            The song is called “The Ball of Kirriemuir” Just change the words slightly:

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

      2. If they’re wise they’ll delay their return. I predict the Renuccis and Fontanas have stocked up on Mars bars and batter. Though, in fairness, the Mafia monopoly on chippies in the Great Border City may have subsided somewhat in the third of a century since I left…

    2. There is generally a piper on the summit at Carter Bar! I expect there may be unmarked polis vans and a host of Scot natsies with their saltire painted faces and the paint fumes affecting their tiny brains up there on Hogmanay!

      1. I certainly think the spiteful little madam will do her best to make life difficult for those daring daring to go against her ‘advice’.
        Ditto the Welsh Ducksarse.

        2. Language, Annie, language! At least it was mild and you didn’t resort to calling them (Spoiler alert for sensitive NoTTLers) Silly Sausages.

        1. Those frae Bonnie Scotland will already be en route. Suspect many will head to Manchester and maybe even find an hotel room that isn’t stuffed with immigrants.
          Knowing my former Welsh in laws, I am really surprised that they are going along with all this BS. Maybe they aren’t…
          There are many roads into Scotland and Wales that are not motorways- any border checks could be easily avoided.

    5. The “Stuffed Little Haggis” has cancelled Hogmanay for all her fellow countrymen.
      What will they do?

      Very probably celebrate in unprecedented numbers ‘over the border’ in Engerland …

    1. And you wonder why anyone is stupid enough to vote for Biden / Trump / Trudeau (select favourite bogeyperson Gammon).

    2. I know we’ll disagree here, but I would vote for Trump every day of the week given the chance, as opposed to a regular politician.

      3. We disagree on Trump, a leader needs to work with his opposition BUT I agree that they need to move away from the normal corrupt, status quo maintaining placement.

  72. Trans I Tory.
    The process where weirdos move across the horizon in a blaze of light and then fizzle on their own wizzles and disappear, to be replaced by proper Conservatives.
    If only…

    1. All this talk about proper Conservatives is funny. Surely you must realise that proper conservatism is a thing of the past. We haven’t had a proper conservative government since MacMillan. The Tories went liberal in the late sixties and that’s where they have been since.

        1. Always busy, relationship still falling apart, had offer accepted on a house so should move soon if wifey wants me to come with her. Nothing is stable atm.

          4. No we were looking at Nottingham but she got cold feet being that far up the country when her only living relative is in Brighton. Then we decided on milton Keynes/ Bletchley but the houses we could afford there were crap. We found something nice 20 mins further up the m1.

        1. Except she was a liberal. The name given to her policies is neoliberalism.
          She liberalised the economy. She liberalised global trade. She wouldn’t allow benefits to be cut savagely. She promoted gender equality. She voted to decriminalise homosexuality. She voted to legalise abortion. She turned individualism into a religion almost.
          She was never a ‘proper Conservative’.

  73. More raking through the ashes. Here’s Jonathan Liew. He thinks it’s all over…

    “Besides, if you think about it, England really has no divine right to be good at this. It is by no means inevitable that England will be good at Test cricket again. This isn’t Pakistan or India. The game does not live and breathe in our streets or our public spaces or our school system. History and tradition aside, cricket does not flow through the national bloodstream any more than judo or surfing or esports.

    “Perhaps a close parallel is with the West Indies around the turn of the century: powered by one of its greatest batsmen (for Brian Lara, read Joe Root) and two of its greatest bowlers (for Ambrose and Walsh, read Anderson and Broad), and yet infected with a basic, complacent decadence. Over time they would recover their dignity. They would be competitive. They would occasionally even win. But their true calling – driven largely by commerce and circumstance – would be to produce brilliant short-form cricketers for the global marketplace. As for Test cricket, the sun had already set and risen somewhere else.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/dec/28/after-awful-ashes-defeat-will-england-will-ever-be-good-at-test-cricket-again-cricket-australia

    2. Johnathan was a terrible sports writer when he was at the Tellygraph! Seems he hasn’t improved!

    1. More Welsh stupidity – sorry about that to all Welsh NoTTLers but the idiocy speaks for itself.

  76. ‘Night All

    Nicked comment

    “£37,000,000,000 spent on test & trace. Where is it? What is it?

    The Channel Tunnel cost £16bn. Crossrail cost £19bn. You can see both of
    those. From space, probably. They will both be here in 100 years.

    What exactly did £37bn testing & tracing go on? A massive transfer of public money to private bank accounts and for what?”
    Now THAT’S Awkward

    1. And what about all that money for TFL that Sadiq the Nitwit has obtained for London- supposedly. I have been saying to MH for some time that said Nitwit has an off shore bank account where this money is being deposited. Because nothing is improving with the tube, buses etc. So where is the money going?!!

      1. It bought forward options on natural gas with a hedge against bankruptcy of energy suppliers. The big money then piles in pushing the price up with bucketloads of loot ending up somewhere safe from the public, according to Laffer principles. The only way to keep it in situ is to pledge never to tax it.

        Loadsamoney. Little people can borrow their way out using the life savings of other little people as collateral.

        Please remind me what Bank of England controller Andrew Bailey does for the nation?

  77. Reply from pal in GA- she loved Welsh Ducksarse and also cacklefarts, which they have on Sundays.
    She and her husband went for their boosters on Sunday afternoon; she said it wasn’t good. She had fever, headache, aches and pains and fatigue. Said she had to haul herself off the sofa to go to the loo. I wondered why I hadn’t heard from her- so glad she’s OK.
    The more I hear, and we watched Farage tonight, there is no way I am having anymore dubious potions injected into me. My right arm has two new patches of red spots. If this goes on, I will go to the quack.

    1. I had two shots of AZ – no apparent problems, but I don’t want to push my luck any further. The stiff shoulder may or may not be related, I don’t know.

  78. Ghislaine Maxwell found guilty on 5/6 counts of sex trafficking. Nasty piece of work; she was a procurer.

      1. A body will be found on her cell floor and be removed; the guards will have been asleep. A replacement body will be found and Ghislaine will be spirited away to join the ghastly Epstein.
        I have become a total cynic- I don’t believe a word of anything anymore.

          1. Or Trumpicide….he was involved with Epstein etc also. Never gets mentioned here for some reason.

          3. Bill Clinton’s involvement has been frequently mentioned here but not the fact the Trump was also involved.

          6. I tend to ignore stuff mentioning Trump here, mostly because living here I have seen first hand some of the hardships inflicted by him. Off topic, I too am concerned about Peddy, hope he is okay.

          7. Yep, me too and I did live in US for 30+ years.
            I am really worried about Peddy….wish I had a phone #. He hasn’t got Missy now to jump on him and to yowl which might attract some attention.

          9. I’ve heard it mentioned many times, but never any follow through … Lolita Express flight logs has dozens of others in the frame ahead of Trump.

        2. Cameras will be found to be not working/accidentally switched off and, as you say, guards asleep. I don’t think Epstein is dead either, there was much theatre with his uncovered body being removed from jail. A crisis actor probably. We have become familiar with the use of those during this covid era within the nhs.

          There has scarcely been a word escaping about this trial during the total court proceeding.

          I too no longer believe a word of anything.

          I think Johnson is encouraging an over-the-borders movement of Scots and Welsh on NYE and much mixing to spread infection (any old infection will do) as the Emergency Coronavirus Act will be coming up for renewal in March 2022. Johnson needs that Act to continue with the emergency ‘vaccinations’. If the necessary spreading doesn’t happen he will lie his way through anyway.

    2. When her partner was killed, she should have read the runes and found a religion or headed immediately to Israel.

    4. Will this have an effect on Prince Andrew’s trial?

      PS – Today I sent an email to Peddy the Viking enquiring if he is OK. No response so far, but will report again tomorrow (Thursday). I am beginning to get concerned myself.

      1. I emailed him on 23rd and 29th…no response. It is odd that he’s not even posted here re his evening meals. I DO hope he’s OK.

          2. Harry, I have emailed Pete again as still no response and he’s not been on the page. He said he was looking forward to Xmas as a “quiet non event”. I did wonder about an internet outage but over 7 days? Our internet is dreadful but it’s never been out that long. I wish I had a number- I tried googling on white pages to no avail.
            I am very concerned. Very concerned indeed.

          3. Me too, M’Lady. I have his address but not his phone number. I have appealed elsewhere for anyone living in the Cambridge area prepared to drive to his house and knock on his door or on that of his neighbours.

  79. Well – husband and sons have all retired for the night, so I think I will too. younger son’s birthday today – 48 – we had roast beef for dinner. Time to put the dish-washer on.

  81. We must confront Covid’s vested interests

    A cultural shift towards seeing all illness as something to be defeated needs to be resisted

    ROBERT DINGWALL • 29 December 2021 • 6:56pm

    The Christmas and New Year period, and the Prime Minister’s refusal to implement additional restrictions during it, may mark a turning point in the Covid-19 pandemic. I certainly hope that we have finally reached the stage where policymakers stop treating modellers’ worst-case scenarios as predictions and give due weight to the wider social impact of new or revived controls.

    We should have some sympathy for modellers. The situation is fast moving, with a high degree of uncertainty. Understandably, policy customers want to know the reasonable worst-case scenario because it is easiest to plan backwards from that. But the modelling community must also accept some responsibility for the way that its leading figures have used contacts in media, science policy and politics to promote interventions that lack an evidence base.

    It is time to consider the forces that now stand in the way of a transition to managing Covid as an endemic infection. There is still some debate over whether omicron is an inherently milder infection or whether vaccines and previous Covid exposure are helping to lessen the severity of a variant whose virulence is not much different to its predecessors.

    For public policy, it may not matter. If the main problem is periodic high rates of sickness absence in critical sectors, the solutions lie in improving the resilience of institutions rather than restricting everyday lives.

    What are the obstacles to this shift? Two are clearly influential: the material interests of those who are profiting from the pandemic, and the political interests of groups who want to reshape the way in which British people think about health and illness.

    There is a growing Covid industry of companies selling security interventions. Some vaccine manufacturers are enthusiastically promoting repeated boosters. The private gains from PPE sales are so notorious that the Treasury should be considering a war profits tax. There is a burgeoning trade in ventilation and air-filtration equipment. Behind the push for vaccine passports are software companies with digital ID packages in search of customers.

    There are, however, less obvious interests. People outside universities may be surprised by the degree to which scientific research depends on competitive grant and contract funding. Team leaders must behave much like small-business owners to maintain the staffing, equipment and materials for their labs. Covid research funding is an opportunity to secure that base. [Squeeze the professors’ pips…] No academic is entirely disinterested, though some of us reflect on that more than others. But there are also deeper political interests. These are less blatant than the Welsh or Scottish governments apparently using the pandemic to differentiate themselves from the English.

    In Britain, we have never thought that the goal of medicine was absolute control of nature. The Medical Research Council closed its Common Cold Research Unit in 1990. Britain is a world-leader in palliative care rather than aggressive intervention for terminal illnesses. British clinicians are well used to asking themselves hard questions about whether continued treatment is a kindness.

    Some, however, would have us remodel our approach to health and illness to reflect more closely American thinking, where it is far more accepted to throw anything and everything at health risks. This raises big policy questions that need to be debated seriously, outside the heat of a pandemic. Do we really want to try to prevent every infection in all young children or infants by a medical intervention? Do we want to prolong the life of every frail person by aggressive interventions, regardless of the suffering or indignity we may be inflicting?

    In the meantime, ministers should continue to push back against restrictions by applying the test that should have been applied from at least April 2020: would we in November 2019 have considered implementing the non-pharmaceutical intervention in question ahead of a flu season? If the answer is no, an evidence-based justification should always have been required to introduce it – and certainly to continue with it today.

    Robert Dingwall is Professor of Sociology at Nottingham Trent University

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/12/29/must-confront-covids-vested-interests/

    1. As long as the mainstream media keep obediently running articles like this, we won’t come a step forward.
      Why not say the truth? The vaccine industry cynically stoked up this campaign to sell as many dubious products as they could. Corrupt politicians are plundering the pound in one last looting spree before it goes under.

  86. OK, all the good guys (and gals) – am I allowed to say that?

    Time for bed so Goodnight and God bless, one and all.

  87. We inhabit a very strange world.

    Firstly, Ghislaine Maxwell is found guilty on multiple charges yet the trial judge has ordered that the evidential statements and papers are to be closed for 50 years. Shades of Dr Kelly and Dunblane there. Has no one control over these lickspittle judges except corrupt governments.

    Secondly, Dr Robert Malone, a key scientist and expert on the development of mRNA vaccine applications has been taken down from Twitter. Why? Twitter is a supposedly open forum and claims not to be a publisher.

    Thirdly, we have been told by government to enjoy Christmas and the New Year under the threat of fresh lockdowns thereafter. Regrettably, Christmas was ruined for many prior to this government announcement by its earlier prevarication.

    People shaken by the dire Omicron predictions of the pseudo scientists at SAGE and their supporters in the media had already been driven to cancel or otherwise pull back on their anticipated celebrations.

    What a totally mad shitshow our bungling Fataturk and his utterly useless government are making of our world of enlightenment. I have no words to describe my hatred of the SAGE advisors and all those in the NHS acquiescing in this folly.

    Edit: If anyone wondered why billions have been shovelled down the throats of the four main Auditors. It is apparent that the audit trail for the transference of £40 billion of public funds to numerous corrupt contractors and friends of Johnson have audit trails which somehow have to be concealed. All dirty hands on deck, so to speak.

    Defending the indefensible is costly.

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