Wednesday 29 January: Does this Government even understand the meaning of growth?

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting 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.

657 thoughts on “Wednesday 29 January: Does this Government even understand the meaning of growth?”

  3. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff for today's new NoTTLe page. Sadly, I'm not fully recovered to full health, but I slept a little better last night.

    Wordle 1,320 4/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all.
      Hope you have a nice restful day and feel better soon.

      Wordle 1,320 2/6

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      1. Thank you Kate. I thought that I would need another warm water with salt gargle, but that was eventually not needed. I think the worst is now over.

    1. They should have been given the opportunity to remuster as their biological gender, or quit on the spot. Firing seems harsh – change the rules and then immediately fire folk rather than allow them to follow the new rule – or not.

          1. And Latin farmers – couldn't make their minds up (feminine declension but masculine gender).

      3. Maybe they have taken a few bits ofv here and there so they cannot go back to where they weere

  6. Good morrow gentlefolk, especially Geoff and thank you for his wonderful work on this site

      1. Back home and happy to leave DGRI (Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary) behind. Desperate for a smoke.

        2. Is their cottage pie as good as Colchester General's?
          Sod the treatment; I was dead miffed at being booted out in the morning so some other bu88er got my cottage pie. (I hope they were a bloody vegan.)

  7. Morning, all Y'all. Hope all's going well with all Y'all.
    Had a whole day of memory and reasoning testing yesterday, covering things like short-term memory, pattern recognition and manual dexterity. By the end of it, totlly exhausted, went to bed at 20:00 yesterday, and too tired still to go to work today – I feel mentally dull, and the left leg doesn't work so well, as it doesn't when I'm properly tired.
    Quite likely I will go quiet as the day moves on and I fall asleep again.

      1. A massive honey sandwich for breakfast and a sleep in the sofa, and things are feeling improved.
        Rinse & repeat…

    2. Morning! Have you thought about going part time or retiring completely. I realise that ultimately it depends upon your finances but I found 75% part time great for my last few years working.

      1. It's looking more attractive, I admit.
        Today is the result of tests and stress yesterday. Hoping that a day off to sleep in the comfiest sofa will restore the mental energies.

  10. Does this Government even understand the meaning of growth?

    They all look a tad vertically challenged, I suppose

    1. Who says growth has to be upward? Sewage released into the community grows sideways unless there is enough of it.

  11. The truth about Covid vaccines may finally be coming to light. 29 January 2025.

    Van-Tam replied: “I think there were a multitude of sources available to explain what the potential adverse events were … At vaccination sessions, I would say pretty much every patient I saw was given a patient information leaflet.”

    Van-Tam seems to be implying the NHS provided information communicating comparative risks and benefits of vaccination (eg differences by age or comorbidity).

    Working as a GP, I have seen no evidence to suggest any such communications existed. Perhaps the inquiry should examine this further.

    Although I am loath to counter anecdote with anecdote, the vaccine clinics I worked at certainly did not provide such information.

    When Van-Tam was subsequently questioned about whether individuals were sufficiently empowered to understand their risks in detail, he responded with an unrelated tale about his elderly mother.

    Wriggling on the hook there. I think that the principle of deception and malfeasance has now been accepted but no one is going to ‘fess up for it. Least of all anyone who was in the Governments pay. Ten years maybe when most of the victims are dead.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/28/truth-about-covid-vaccines-may-finally-be-coming-to-light/

    1. I asked my elderly father whether he was aware that the injections had not been fully tested, and his reply was a vague "they gave me a leaflet."
      Consent is only informed if the person has actually been informed, not just given a leaflet.

    2. I can recall instances on video when doctors etc. unwrapped the "vaccine" packet insert that should have all the available information printed on it, only to find "Intentionally left blank" or words to that effect, on the insert.

      Searched on Google and found that fact checkers generally disagree with claims that inserts were (intentionally) blank. Whom to believe?

    3. Coincidentally, Whitty was ducking and diving yesterday, suggesting that it was all a political decision. That may have worked if he and his ilk hadn't stood there daily suggesting that they were 'following the science'.

  12. Good morning, all. Clear blue sky all around at the moment.

    I haven't visited Wayne Dunlap's X feed for a while, here's a recent selection.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3964fbea9e0bcd05d29d16657b8ee6b14c7dde2e54d47d7a732f3886d7dec52d.png
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    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7cf8e06d84a47477e5399211d780ffba013bcbe3958f9e3228d2dccfcb87fe84.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2be741bb5c5d71f07447f6dbf56ff2dd74b37017c4cc9e651a080a1ee2410fef.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1139eebe51da03a01773742f897b8891a7f26bd459e3d6c95432028727febe27.png

  13. 400713+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Annabel Denham
    Migrants must be expected to integrate
    By the 1980s, Britain had become a civilised country – now some of those hard won advances are eroding

    Realistic view,

    By now it must be fully realised that these migrants will NEVER integrate, by the 1980s, Britain had become a civilised country – now ALL and more of those hard won advances have eroded into the dust of futility.

    We are rapidly reaching the point of revenge seeking, that will be the only option for treachery rendered left open to the decent folk of these Isles.

    1. As I have repeated ad nauseam: why do you think Blair disarmed the GBP?
      Only agents of the state and criminals now have access to effective fire power.

      1. 400713+up ticks,

        Morning Anne,
        An overdose of kindness and good intentions can injure of prove fatal at times, as in, more ways to skin a cat.

  15. Good morning good people!
    A brighter and dry morning though still somewhat overcast with 4.2°C just now as I brought the milk in. Recorded max & min for yesterday is 9.1° amd 4.1°C.

    1. People like Suella Braverman should have the following tattooed on their forehead for a reminder.

      Islam isn't the problem.. it's the Progressive Marxists.

  18. The shockwave from the release of DeepSeek R1 is being compared to Suptnik 1957 with taunts of our Nazis (Chinese) are better than your Nazis (Chinese).
    There are plenty of YT clips showing the insane level of understanding and impressive explanation & thought process. All languages.. PhD level.

    Kind of puts into question why the UK is importing vast quantities of low IQ Africans & other ne'er do wells.. and why the Muslims failed to pray hard enough to deliver their version.

    2. I was once told by a leftie friend that IQ doesn’t exist. People succeed, he claimed, purely through access to wealth and privilege. He believed it too. On that basis, he of course defended DEI. He was gay, on HIV meds and terrified by Covid. He’d be the same age as me but he’s now dead. Sad because he was in many ways a very nice person.

      1. A familiar story. As a student in London I shared a flat of a family friend.. insanely intelligent, worked at Winfrith.. however, a fully paid up active member of Vanessa Redgrave's WRP. Nuff said. Beyond help. Eventually killed I believe by SPG D Division or HIV.

  20. 新年快乐 (xīn nián kuài lè) — Happy New Year!

    Today is the beginning of Chinese New Year and the Year of the Snake , and Zhang YingYue has written a lovely piece for FSB telling us all about it, and giving an introduction to Chinese ‘horoscopology’, with glimpses of what two prominent people can expect.

    If you missed it, the Duke essay on Class and University , arguing that Uni is not seen as an attractive option to working class youth, is both erudite and entertaining.

    Energy watch 07.30. Demand: 39.849GW. Supply: Hydrocarbons 27.9%; Wind 37.4%; Imports 12.9%; Biomass 7.2% and Nuclear 11.7%. Solar: 0%.

    We are importing – very expensively – almost 13% of our demand for electric power from the continent while cheaper UK gas powered stations are off-line but still being paid – the economics of the mad house. Of the nominal demand of 40GW, Britain is only producing 33GW.

    恭喜发财 (gōng xǐ fā cái) — Wishing you prosperity!

    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. 400713+ up ticks,

      Morning TA,

      There will be much celebratory hissing in parliament no doubt of that.

  22. Good morning all

    I am listening to the news from Ireland on GB news .. the storm last week has left millions of homes without power, fallen power lines , fallen trees and populations living in new properties with heat pumps .. and no chimneys no fireplaces .. no electricity , nothing .

    Miliband , you are an utter b######.

    Net zero, what an idiot .

    1. Don't worry your pretty little head about it. The growth generated by redeveloping Old Trafford will make it all good, so we are assured by our betters.

  24. I don't trust "fact checkers" – even the BBC has one; BBC Vilify or summat, so we know they are biased!!

  25. I enjoyed the letters , in particular the letter about the old dear who had never reversed her car.

    Decades ago, when Moh was based down near Helston at Culdrose , we had a mini traveller ( for those who don't know , it was a very small car similar to an estate, rear bit made of wood and windows)

    I drove around on a provisional licence , (sometimes on my own ).. I had to go into Penzance for what I cannot remember , parked the car on the street , to go shopping , came back to the car to find the mini hemmed in by other cars , no room to reverse or move forward .

    Several hunky chunky chaps saw my predicament , and decided the only way out was to lift my car out into the road , which is what they did , with a bit of heave ho and loverly jarb .. brilliant .

    Yep, that is my confession , hadn't taken my driving test either ! We are talking over fifty years ago .

    Remembered the reg no DP 4077 .. just asked Moh. (Green mini Traveller Estate )

    1. Back then my best friend had a green mini Traveler CTY 751B.
      I had a souped up black saloon with fat tyres. KLY 567D.

    2. When I first went to Dartmouth the Commander had a mini- moke. As it was easy to lift it often got placed sideways in various narrow lanes in the college grounds. Usually well received but after one senior division moved it to a pontoon on the river moke-jokes were banned!

      1. We had a nasty teacher at school who drove her bubble car to and from each day. It once ended up at the top of some steps near the car park.

      2. When were you at Dartmouth?

        When I was at school in Tiverton we used to go to the BRNC for field days and messed about in whalers.

        I also played for a school rugby team against one of the College's sides and as we came off the pitch at the emd of the game we were all handed pint jugs full of best bitter..

        My best man was at Dartmouth from 1964 – 65 – he then went to sea for a year and then went to study Electrical Engineering at Cambridge.

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/39904be7f0881c54c4ff7086e5dbab67e41f626f52ed7a24855a4fbb6a854e54.png

    3. Our first car was a Hillman Imp.
      We were stopped on the A12 when I was doing 85 mph.
      I was given a dressing down by plod.
      My sons were doubly impressed:
      1. That their mother could reach such speeds.
      2. That I didn't answer back to plod.

      2. I remember when the 70 mph limit was first introduced there was a Giles cartoon of a chap in an old Austin 7 who had just been pulled in on the M1 by the Police by a Road Sign saying what the speed limit was. Instead of looking chastened the driver looked overjoyed: "My god, was I really?"

        1. My first speeding fine was for doing over 30 mph on a suburban road.
          At the time, I was driving our sons' battered 2CV; tatty hood and mould growing on the back seat were only 2 of its problems.
          When Plod hauled me up, I just said "Really???"
          Even he allowed a brief smile to cross his face.

          1. I got caught by plod concealed in a white van – no hauling up, just a letter in the post saying I was doing 38 in a 30 limit. No penalty points if I agreed to pay for a 'speed awareness course'.

  26. 'Morning All
    "Ah a day ahead of Labour talking about economic growth, like a chimpanzee talking about particle physics."
    Meanwhile Midweek Medley
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c33941f41c74f95a4147dc86255743b622e3dabb6c1f03df034d9f57c30e5151.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fadac16e30ed87be6f03500dd22de5f7db6f181f104a78d46e0d63e3e4d9a3e7.jpg
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    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3842cc1ff379b5e581e186cab48cb343d909b19f789d63206db4cbbf9961204e.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0a411c388b22b618faacd3485da5df925207a1bc47a6d54b89ec9a68f2e5224e.jpg
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    3. Excellent – worth an uptick just for the chimp comment, although I’d back the chimp to exhibit more understanding of the topic and common sense.

      2. A lamb of the Church. How apt.

        When i went to the Isle of Skye the grass everywhere looked manicured.

      3. Goats are good and faster. There are several businesses in California that hire out goats for "mowing" the lawn. Popular they are too. Someone must do it in the UK surely?

          1. I used to have two. Twilight and Twinkle toes. They would spend a lot of time on my roof. Hell of a racket on a slate roof. But they were wonderful animals.

    2. Strimmers are best in a cemetery.
      I've got an old scythe in my garden shed they are difficult to sharpen in the traditional manner and not at all easy and safe to use.
      But we seem to have too many useless political idiots poking their noses in to matters that have been easily managed for decades. As you suggest job's worth trying to prove something that they are not. Useful.

      1. Have you ever seen what can happen when a line trimmer/ brushcutter hurls a tiny stone at a window or a person's face?

        1. More time to reply now… we have had chips in our own windows at home caused by the lawn mower. And a friend or mine in 1978 who was a copper in Adelaide almost lost his young daughter as he was cutting his grass with a lawn mower. A stone flew out and hit her on the forehead, fortunately she lived to tell the tale with a very nasty scar.

    3. Good morning Phiz and everyone.
      The story was in the Telegraph yesterday.
      Easy to see the Council's point of view: large assortment of middle aged volunteers, many likely to have health issues, no supervision, no training etc, all using tools on Council property. Which idiot transferred the cemetery to the local Council, and why?

      1. The article says the group have their own insurance. Is that not enough?

        It seems such a shame when volunteers are happy to do something (when councils are cutting down on this sort of thing because they’ve overspent on other projects). It’s to a good look.

        Edit: it’s NOT a good look!

        1. Agreed, not a good look. Ditto a potential compensation claim over some missing fingers or toes.

      3. Are you suggesting that their clients have no health issues? They say the quiet ones are the ones needing the most medical attention.

    4. There was once civil war break out in the village of Upper Sapey in Worcestershire or Herefordshire (never sure which) between the mowers and the grazers. Sheep were cheap, did a good job and the only attention they attracted was from Welsh tourists. However, they ate the flowers on the graves and fertilised the roses.

      [Edit – Upper Sapey in Herefordshire, but Lower Sapey is in Worcestershire]

        1. My gran would have volunteered. She used to drag us up the Carrick Hills to gather sheep droppings for her roses.

          1. We used to dash out with bucket and shovel to clean up after the coal man's and the rag and bone man's horses. We had magnificent roses 🙂

      1. 400713+upticks,

        Afternoon JR,

        As far as I can work out,
        “Dr Lindsey and EDH” most likely refers to a medical professional named Dr. Lindsey who specializes in the field of “EDH,” which stands for “Extracranial Dopper Ultrasound” – a non-invasive test used to assess blood flow in the arteries of the neck and head.

  30. Morning all 🙂😊
    What a treat sunshine and a clear sky. But was frosty.
    I see that women from accountants is lining up private pensions as a tax revenue now. Why can't we have another election before she and her colleagues wreck something else ?
    Come on HMK, please chuck them out. For the sake of all the honest hard working people.

    1. Is HMK the King? If so that prerogative has been taken away from him. He now must consult the PM if he wants to remove him. What do you think the PM would say?. As I said the other day. People think that Elizabeth the II was wonderful. But in not exercising any of her powers as monarch she lost them for future monarchs. Precedence is all important and under that the rule: "Use it or lose it" prevails. As I also said. Despite the facade of royal splendor, we now have the weakest Constitutional Monarchy in Europe. That angers me because it is supposed to act as a break on the possibility of Parliamentary tyranny, something we had once before, Cromwell. The king is supposed to represent the people against parliament and that, sadly, has been taken away. We are now at the mercy of tyranny by government. Thanks, in no small measure to Elizabeth.

  31. Trump decree paves way for ‘Muslim ban’, targeting pro-Palestine students

    Whimper Whimper.. Deepa Alagesan, a lawyer at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), says the new order is “bigger and worse” than the “xenophobic” travel ban Trump imposed in his first term. Whimper Whimper..

      2. Well done Patrick, but who knew this was happening…..all of those people in politics knew and have obviously been ignoring or conversely encouraging this for years. And now have created a huge problem for everyone else in our home country. It's not really diversity at all, it never has been. It's quite clearly subversity on a huge and destructive scale.

          1. It’s all we have now and they don’t even like adverse comments aimed firmly at their continuous acts of tyranny. And the last ‘government’ are included in this as well.

          2. When I was a schoolboy aged 15 the PTB (i.e the prefects and the housemaster) decided that I needed to be beaten.

            They could not pin anything specific on me but they knew I had a rebellious spirit and so they decided to give me six strokes of the cane on my buttocks for : Being a subversive influence on the Junior Common Room.

            As was expected of me after the thrashing I had to shake hands with each of the prefects who had admonished my punishment.

            We all took this sort of thing philosophically. It would have been very bad form to have whinged and whimpered.

          4. Yes. They certainly administered admonishments as well as the thrashing!

            Mrs Malaprop and Dogberry are my constant companions!

          5. We had that sort of thing at the grammar school I went to. If your crime was deemed bad enough to be handled by the prefects you had to go through two lines of them and they each had a slipper which they hit you with. I grabbed one slipper and smacked the prefect in the gob with it then regretted it as the beating was then intensified. Happy days!

      4. Exactly.
        Until you remove the Progressive Marxists in power the Muslims will run amok.

        As Peter Hitchens noted.. it's no use expecting a wet soggy Tory to deal with this.. they haven't a clue what they are up against.

    4. I didn't think it was possible to admire Trump more than I did, but he just gets better and better!

    1. My next car after a drunken ponker side swiped the mini and wrote it off in Barnet, was a bronze yellow MGB GT YYT 6H.
      I think it’s still on the road. But not mentioned in the MG car FB website.

        1. The father of one of our friends gave her a car; a girlie runabout.
          We knew it could run because we could see the road passing underneath the passenger seats.

        2. How curious it is that one can remember registration numbers from half a century (and more) ago – but I do not know that of my present car…..

          1. I can remember the registration of the little Morris tourer my father bought in 1948 when we moved from London to Essex.
            It was a 1935 model; BTW 48. She had a jeep seat inserted into the back to accommodate the children; bloody hard it was.
            Inevitably she was known as Beattie.
            After that, can't remember any subsequent registrations.

    2. The Colombian Press are interviewing some returnees. One woman said ICE detained her for a month. Not bad going as Trump's orders only came out a fortnight ago.

  36. Morning all. Sunny and cold.
    Todays letter to the editor is a clear absurdity. This government is obviously about bringing the country to its knees and then dancing on the ashes.

      1. I agree. In all his actions as PM and in his career as a lawyer he clearly favours Islam. And, by the way, did you know he's a republican? A fact I learnt last night. To my mind that makes him very dangerous because it tells me that no institution that symbolizes Britain is beyond his malice.

  37. My younger son bought a Morris Minor. It was his first and only car. He left it behind here when he went to Switzerland and has never owned or needed a car since then.

  38. MSM 'concerned' about Trump's pause and review of USA spending.

    How in hell was $50 Million earmarked for condoms in Gaza? The White House press secretary stating that the Biden admin was spending money like drunken sailors doesn't appear to be an exaggeration.

    Sadly, we have our own crew with access to the moneybox and no one in sight take away the keys away.

    https://x.com/RealAlexJones/status/1884400127994892738

          3. You need to click accept and put up with the adverts – but you can clear the cookies when you leave.

          6. I so appreciate NOTTL for the maturity and restraint of its commen… ah. Morning, Anne!! 🤣🤣

        2. Carole Middleton's secrets to looking incredible at 70
          8.5k viewing now

          Most of the photos in this DM puff piece are t least 10 years old and some going back to 2005. Of course she looks good for 70! She was only in her 50s.

      2. This item was not behind the pay wall. However, here it is, shorn of distressing photos of vindictive and ineffective shysters.

        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14335517/Controversial-Home-Office-extremism-report-far-Right.html

        Controversial Home Office extremism report is written by group that claimed liking The Thick of It makes you far-Right

        The Home Office team behind a controversial extremism review had previously claimed enjoying classic British sitcoms and great works of literature were signs of far-Right activity.

        The leaked report – which branded concerns about two-tier policing as part of a 'extreme Right-wing narrative' – was produced by civil servants within the Prevent scheme's Research Information and Communications Unit (RICU).

        It was the same unit which previously provoked outrage by singling out TV shows Yes, Prime Minister, The Thick of It and Great British Railway Journeys as possible red flags for extremism.

        Research by RICU revealed in 2023 also listed books by Shakespeare, Chaucer and Milton among 'key texts' of interest to 'white nationalists/supremacists'.

        Yesterday ministers were urged to sack Home Office staff amid outrage over the leaked findings of its counter-extremism review, which also claimed grooming gangs are an issue exploited by the far-right to stir up hatred against Muslims.

        It also sparked fears for freedom of speech by proposing new 'punitive measures' for online comments deemed abusive including increased police use of Non Crime Hate Incidents.

        Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick blasted: 'The officials that produced this factually incorrect garbage are unfit to serve the public. They should be fired.'

        The Home Office team behind a controversial extremism review had previously claimed enjoying classic British sitcoms, including The Thick Of It, were signs of far-Right activity

        And in the Commons Tory MP Robbie Moore asked: 'Does the Minister agree with the language used in the report around grooming gangs?

        'If not, how can he, or the Home Secretary, have faith in the Home Office officials?'

        Security minister Dan Jarvis scrambled to disown the report, saying: 'Many documents are produced across Government as part of commission work that are not implemented and that do not constitute Government policy.

        'These are not Government plans; this is not Government policy.'

        Senior Conservative Sir Bernard Jenkin asked him: 'Does that document not demonstrate that a large body of opinion has completely lost its way on how we deal with extremism and terrorist threats?

        'I urge him to encourage the Department to return to what Prevent is intended to achieve and not get distracted by all this political correctness, given that most of the country have no idea what a 'non-hate crime incident' is.'

        Ministers reject recommendations to expand extremism definition

        The minister replied: 'We will leave no stone unturned to ensure that we have the appropriate level of resource in the right place at the right time, so that the ever-evolving and complex nature of the threat we face-both in the United Kingdom and abroad-is appropriately addressed by our law enforcement agencies.'

        Mr Jarvis said it would be right if the head of the civil service launched a leak inquiry to find out how the unpublished report found its way into the hands of the Policy Exchange think-tank.

        He warned: 'If I were the leaker, I would not be too comfortable at the moment.'

        But he also insisted: 'I am actually very proud of the civil servants in the Home Office, who work extremely hard day in, day out to keep our country safe from a diverse range of threats.'"

        1. If he really believes that "civil servants in the Home Office, [who] work extremely hard day in, day out to keep our country safe from a diverse range of threats." then he's a complete moron!

          1. Same with me it's so annoying what are the Mail trying to prove by being this stupid….that they are stupid ???

          2. I use adblock plus and the ads are very annoying but I put up with them if there's something I want to read.

          3. I have adblock on the Daily Mail and i can still see non paywall articles.

            Turn adblock off. Open the article. Turn adblock back on again. I only had to do that once weeks ago.

          4. Doesn’t work. I have other security devices, too.

            All it requires is thoughtful NoTTLers to copy ad paste….

        4. I can't see too many people, white supremacists or not, regularly reading Chaucer (presumably in the original) or Milton. "Keeping us safe from a diverse range of threats"? The diversity is the threat!

      3. And a p.s.
        Jarvis should know better. He's ex-Army and should not allow parliamentary perks and privileges to skew his attitude.

    2. Why doesn't somebody in authority admit that the report was written by Muslims for Muslims?

  40. I came across this rather barbed comment amongst the BTLs under today's DT Letters:

    The one thing that the King does well is to show, by his own example, just how much better a monarch the Queen, his mother, was than he will ever be.

    1. None of us can live up to our parents. My father was – in hindsight – a great man. Humble, decent, polite, knew almost everyone was kind, honourable and honest. Despite having two ghastly sons – one who picked every fight going, another bullied like nothing else – he never got angry.

      He wasn't perfect, but he was better than I am. Charles is doomed to live in a far longer shadow. Her Majesty seemed eternal. She typified Britain. She was an enigma made real.

      1. It's because she was enigmatic she was so successful. She didn't wear her heart on her sleeve or show what she really thought about anything.

        2. The exemplary figurehead; a constitutional monarch par excellence. Charles is a meddler and can't keep his opinions to himself.

          1. I think he’s made his views known throughout his life, so we all knew them anyway, before he became King; whereas his mother was a fairly unwritten page when she became Queen, and remained discreet all her life.

        1. What always strikes me about WW1 (and 2) photos is how mature the young men look. None of this "cult of youth" rubbish where mutton is dressed up to look like lamb.

      3. I suppose I was a disappointment to my mother (I wasn't really a wanted child like my elder brother), but I haven't turned out too badly.

    2. We have quite a crisis in Canada. No working government, Trudeau hiding under his bed again and threats from Trump of harsh tariffs starting this weekend.

      Requests to Charlie boy for guidance have been met with Not my concern. He is supposed to be our head of state, the country is falling apart and he just walks away.

      1. He is pathetically muddle-headed and unforgivably dull and boring and seems to have no judgement whatsoever. A total dolt.

    1. Nige was on itv morning prog today. He came across well and was amusing. I'm still not sure he is PM material, he's not miserable or vindictive enough. He wasn't at all nasty regarding the other and current opposition leaders, including the present wrecker of our country.

      1. 400713+ up ticks,

        Afternoon RE,

        In regards to ANY political inmate
        using parliament as a platform, use great caution, I’m not teaching grandma how to suck eggs BUT,
        one must first ask oneself, what is the greatest asset a confidence trickster has if not the convincing power of speech.

        1. I’m not easily hoodwinked Ogga, I’ve been around a long time. I mentioned not long ago that I believe he’s a bit of a fake. When he backed out of his responsibilities in the election when he was leader of the Brexit party. He’s never really impressed me further than his seeming enthusiasm. Which has never seemed to blossom into anything further.

      2. Did he point out Starmer's short-comings (in a non-nasty way)? Perhaps he should have. Starmer's unsuitability should be hammered home at every opportunity.

        1. No Nige was quite polite about him.
          Probably a protective safe guard. No need to go over the top.
          Everyone else in the country already knows what starmer is.

    1. "Brown accused Henyard of 'sleeping her way to the top', being a 'half-a**ed mayor', and even suggested she would never get married, ABC7 reported."

      I'm not sure I'd bother to hawk it around to become Madam Chairman of a parish council.

  43. NHS ordeal of Flog It! star Michael Baggott as he dies aged 65: Expert complained about care from Labour's crisis-hit health service that left him 'dying of thirst'
    DM Story https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html

    I think that denying patients water is a way in which the NHS finishes off old people.

    My mother was in Southampton General Hospital in 1994 when she was aged 90 and she was in considerable distress because the staff were not giving her any water. I made a fuss and she was finally given the water she craved. She went on living until she was 97.

    1. Sad to hear that, he was indeed an expert in antiques but he was massively over weight. He actually died of a heart attack age 65.

      1. As I brought the pictures up the Warqueen said 'No, you're not. Yes, you could, but no. You're not.'

        Which made me feel better.

        Yesterday had a Combat session – I've a punch pressure of 2200 newtons. I also got my heart to 178 and felt it.

        1. Pulse of 178? I can beat you. While I was wearing a Holter monitor back in December, I apparently hit 194. The doctor who saw to my dental bleeding two days ago read my notes and remarked on it. I didn't know. Down to a range between 80-120 now. Interestingly one of the heart meds which helps to regulate the beat turns out to be an old herbal remedy. It's in tablet form and looks very modern but Digoxin is extracted from foxgloves and it's properties as a medicine were discovered centuries ago.

      2. I didn't realise he was that old.
        But Flog It was made between 6 and 20 years ago, so he may have altered a lot since then.
        But yes, he was certainly overweight.

    2. My mother died in Gloucester hospital in 1989 aged 80. She had been ill for several months prior to admission to hospital and she could not stomach any food apart from soup or Complan. She couldn't eat the hospital food, even when she could actually reach it. She went in for tests to see what was the problem and came out dead a week later. A PM showed she had cancer of the pancreas.

  44. German parliament to hear proposals on asylum law change after Aschaffenburg killings. 29 January 2025.

    Friedrich Merz, favourite to become the next German chancellor, will bring proposals to radically change asylum and immigration laws before parliament today, even if they end up being passed with the support of Alternative für Deutschland.

    As our Berlin correspondent, Kate Connolly, explains, Merz has been accused of shifting his position on the country’s “firewall” against the far-right party with the proposed law change, which would aim to dramatically increase the number of deportations.

    The proposals include effectively closing German land borders to irregular migration and allowing the federal police to request arrest warrants for people who do not have the legal right to remain in Germany. Critics say the proposals could break European law.

    The policy shift follows an attack in Aschaffenburg last week in which a two-year-old child and a 41-year-old man were stabbed to death by an asylum seeker from Afghanistan who had been scheduled for deportation. Chancellor Scholz will speak about the attack today, too.

    I strongly suspect that there has been a sea change in the intentions of German voters and that the AfD were on a roll to come out ahead in the elections. Merz is just trying to save his ass here. I don’t think it will be enough.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/jan/29/europe-live-germany-parliament-merz-european-union-afd-news-updates

    1. The endless lawfare against their political opponents, the mass of law pouring from the EU – all designed to laud the immigrant – it's all wrong. The public don't want this, the political class do. Why, given that we're all so called democracies is the State not obeying our will?

    2. I hope it won't be enough. With any luck, Germans will put Germany's safety before "European" (i e EU) law. I just hope Starmer Harmer won't invite them all over here.

  45. ASylum seekers should apply before arriving in-country, or face immediate rejection.

    1. Which in turn will highlight with our any doubt to the authorities, that people arriving in small boats are all illegal and will then be turned back.

  47. A mid morning chuckle…

    BTL Comment by
    Lady WooHoo

    "£90m a year for Diego Garcia – Lammy said worth every penny as he's a great goal scorer"….

  48. With the banning of the XL bully where does this end? What next? All giant breeds because they're big and strong? I look at Mongo, half asleep (I know you're listening kiddo!) who's most dangerous action has been to try to pull a tree home (he did), does my friend Brigdgette have to put her German Shepherd's down? Those things are faster than Usain Bolt could ever imagine and have teeth like chainsaws.

    And they're completely loyal, well socialised, well trained, friendly and calm. They just look terrifying in a way Mongo never will. You take one look at that daft, gormless face and see something utterly dippy that you can't possibly be scared of it. Oscar is still wary and a bit barky nervous, but he's mellowed. Lucy is going to be a lovely Daddy's girl.

    What happens when someone in some Whitehall department decides they want to ban the giant breeds?

      2. I feel very sorry for dogs that have been deliberately bred for their worst traits.
        And those traits are also found in people to whom they appeal; people who should never own dogs.

    3. Hundreds of Muslims in the Home Office will ban all dogs eventually. That will surely lead to insurrection.

    4. Muslims don't like dogs; expect increasing restrictions. Oscar had fearsome teeth. Thankfully, he only ever nipped as a warning. Kadi has smaller teeth, but they could do some damage if he put his mind to it (thankfully, that is the last thing on his mind).

  49. An extract from a longer article:

    It’s not coincidence that Europe has been overrun with third-world migrants, most of them Muslim, in the past decade. These groups are acting as a blunt weapon, used by the elites to silence dissent by native born citizens.

    As I write this the British are being subjected to increasing Orwellian oppression. The AFD party in Germany is under threat even as they grow more accepted by voters; progressive elites are seeking to ban them from elections entirely. The French establishment is using lawfare against their political opposition in the National Rally party and they are working to subvert voter demands. Both Germany and Romania claim they have the right to ignore election outcomes if conservatives continue to win.

    There is a coordinated effort across Europe to stop conservative groups from entering government. The only place where the tide has truly turned is in the US (and perhaps Argentina). But we still face a long road and government reform is slow. A movement outside of politics will be needed.

    The great fear among centrists and libertarians is that a religious inspired movement will result in theocracy. I share these apprehensions. Yes religious institutions can be corrupted because institutions are controlled by men, but this is true of ALL institutions. How well has secular leadership performed in the past century? Yeah, not so great.

    The idea of “separation of church and state” was never intended to remove Christian influences from government. It was designed to prevent government from interfering with individual religious expression. America was founded under Christian doctrine and Christian leadership. A return to that dynamic would be welcome, as long as personal freedom (freedom with responsibility) is maintained.

    Make no mistake, the enemy has been trying to build their own religious empire. The woke movement is driven by self worship and the worship of bureaucratic power. Behind the curtain they are not secular and they have more zealotry than any cult in recent memory. They claim to be atheistic and progressive in their principles, yet they happily ally with third-world fundamentalists that hold completely contrary beliefs. Why? Because Islam is not a threat to their ultimate aims; Christianity is.

    https://alt-market.us/do-we-need-a-final-crusade-to-save-the-western-world/

    1. I don't know why the West felt the need to swamp our countries with muslim. They don't add anything to our culture or society. Well over 70% are utterly welfare dependent. Unlike the Poles they don't bring skills or a work ethic with them and they don't share any European values or heritage.

      Many muslim no doubt do work, conscientiously, quietly, calmly more interested in their families, mortgages and bills same as everyone else but as a demographic they're nothing but trouble. Labour brought them here as a voting block. Now that voting block is a poison infecting everything.

      I think the Left forced them on us precisely because they are so alien. Because they don't – and won't – share our values or ideology. Thus they are only loyal for what they can get and because the state is hard Left, that is a massive demand for public services and other people's money.

    2. It's a process.
      The majority of the electorate still haven't woken up to the threat. It will take a good three years.
      You should encourage Starmer, Rayner & Cooper to go full-on Pol Pot.
      Luckily they are truly thick and don't have the flair of Blair to mask their cunning plan.

      You can easily measure where you are at.. by measuring the Palestinian & Hamas support on the streets. Check the faces of the protesters & the faces of the bystanders. This will give you an understanding of the mess you are in.

    3. Because Islam is not a threat to their ultimate aims;

      "He Who Sups With The Devil Should Have A Long Spoon".

  51. Taxpayers alliance email received today.

    http://www.taxpayersalliance.com
    It’s time to abolish inheritance tax.

    Thanks to our supporters, we were able to launch a new campaign last week – Scrap Inheritance Tax.

    Labour Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, removed Agricultural and Business Property Relief (APR and BPR) at her Budget in October.

    Farmers rightly took to the streets in protest, gaining a lot of coverage in the process. But the removal of BPR will hit ANY family owned business, potentially affecting millions of people.

    And for what? Inheritance tax brings in very little revenue but causes major distortions. All that time spent on tax planning; lawyers and accountants wasting brain power on ways to keep their clients’ bills low; the opportunity cost of entrepreneurs not doing more productive things with their time.

    When Labour talks about the changes that Reeves made, they sometimes talk about fairness. That inheritance tax should be applied equally to everyone.

    In that case – we say scrap inheritance tax for everyone.

    Our campaign launch was a big success. We led with new polling – when asked about the fairness of nine different taxes, inheritance tax was listed as the most unfair by a plurality of every group with the exception of those with a PhD! You can analyse the full poll results here.

    We also found a significant majority of those surveyed support abolishing inheritance tax for those seeking to pass down farms or businesses to family members, with 63 per cent supporting abolishing the tax for the former and 59 per cent for the latter.

    We received 33 media hits, including:

    Independent: Majority of Brits support cutting or abolishing IHT
    Express: IHT named UK’s most-hated levy
    Daily Mail: Rachel Reeves on undoing her own damage
    Guido Fawkes: Campaign launched to abolish death tax

    The Sunday Times also launched its Tax List this weekend. This is a list of the UK’s biggest taxpayers. I used that opportunity to take aim at Business Property Relief, telling the paper:

    "Those outside the political bubble understand the dedication and sacrifice it takes to make this list, and they will be tipping their hats to those who are not just contributing significantly to the Treasury but are also powering our wider economy. Public services are heavily reliant on successful entrepreneurs, yet Labour's tax plans on business property relief and employers' national insurance will squeeze them ever harder. It's highly likely that this will be disastrously counter-productive, with great British success stories forced to cull jobs, cancel pay rises or even sell up altogether – all of which would shrink their tax contributions. Ministers should be looking to reduce the tax burden and drastically simplify the system to create the environment for even more entrepreneurs to flourish, and help grow the economy."

    We also launched a bespoke campaign website with online tools to give people a chance to make their voice heard:

    Thousands have viewed and signed the petition
    Our launch video has reached 60,000 people across X, Facebook and YouTube

    Thank you for supporting our work. We couldn’t do it without you.

    Best wishes,

    John O'Connell, Chief Executive
    TaxPayers' Alliance, 55 Tufton Street, London, SW1P 3QL
    + 44 (0)20 7340 6020
    24-hour media line: 07795 084113 (No texts)
    @jjpoconnell
    If you'd like to support our work, please click here to donate

    Listen to the TPA Podcast

    http://www.taxpayersalliance.com

    1. With increasing amounts of wealth filling the government coffers and needing every penny, there is no way they will ditch IHT. It would do a great deal of good if they just raise the threshold. I have just received a reply from a letter I wrote to HMRC at the end of Oct… sorry for the delay it said. I was just offering to pay income tax on estate income, nothing difficult! They are overwhelmed by the numbers and complexity of taxation.

      1. Before coming into office in 2010 the Conservative Party promised to raise the threshold for IHT to £1,000,000.

        15 years later – of which there were14 consecutive years of left of centre Conservative rule – the threshold is still under one third of that at £325,000.

        Cameron and Osborne in their own devious and nasty way did as much damage to the UK as Blair did.

        They should be locked up in the same prison cell as Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Alistair Campbell

        1. 'Afternoon, Rastus. I've written about IHT before, some may have read it, and I won't go into our details again. Most solicitors will offer a free one hour consultation, so it's worth asking if your local one offers that service. IHT can seem complex – for anyone co-habiting, it may entail marrying, making out new wills etc. Definitely worth finding out, when tax could be anywhere up to 40%, and as property values continue to rise, could affect anyone owning property.

        2. Successive governments have seen the price of property sky-rocket over the past couple of decades, and have realised that by not increasing the IHT allowance, more and more estates will be liable to Inheritance Tax. So it could really be termed a stealth tax as the government is not actually making any changes – they just collect more money as property prices rise.

          1. And, as Blighty becomes more congested, property prices will rise.
            Is the cost of harbouring countless useless aliens offset by the taxes triggered by overpopulation?

          2. Stop complaining. Just work harder to pay the extra tax needed to support the useless incomers! Who else is going to pay their benefits?

  52. Sky News to overhaul newsroom around paid-for content
    UK broadcaster is launching premium model to combat decline of linear TV and ‘stagnant’ revenue streams..

    If no one is watching their Woke Cultural Marxist propaganda for free.. then everybody will definitely sign up to an expensive subscription. LOL.

    1. I read your post and immediately received two copies of an email headed, "Change to the way you receive content from Sky". It really is coincidence, since the email relates to buying archive clips for use in new productions.

      Television viewing figures have been in decline for some time now. Programmes being left on iPlayer for 12 months where copyright clearances permit, instead of 30 days, is intended to compensate for that but it would be interesting to know by what percentage iPlayer hits have actually risen, if at all. Is it rearranging the deckchairs or adapting to new viewing habits?

      2. Was interested to discover a few years ago that the TV viewing figures process is manipulated, so the audience statistics are essentially inaccurate. As for BBC I-player, it was a good idea once, rather like terrestrial TV. Fortunately you work for the commercial part, so you are safe.

  53. Back from the Doc and a quick shop
    Charming Doctor but a complete waste of space for me no explanation of the cause of the increasing numbness and watching her googling away for answers that didn't come was interesting still new painkiller prescribed and a blood test ordered just KBO I suppose

      1. Whole of my left side appeared after TIA now spreading
        Both feet buggered by diabetic nueropathy

        1. May not help you, Rik , not recommending…husband a type 2 (has changed his diet to carnivore), also he has some of those insoles with areas massage soles of his feet when walking, have you seen those – he really likes them.

        3. Insist on a second opinion and/or seeing a specialist.
          This is a difficult question: can you afford to pay and get things on the road?

          1. We could crowd fund him. If we do i would throw in £250 against Bill Thomas's used stamps.

    2. Ask chatGPT yourself. Take the answer(s) to the Dr. Write the query in English, longhand.

    3. The surgery rang me up today to ask me to do a home BP reading. It took me ages to find the machine and I certainly need to give myself a rest before I take any readings after the day I've had.

  54. After wind turbines and solar panels the third arm of Miliband minor's wet dream is more than likely battery back-up as opposed to Carbon Capture. Battery storage is a known and workable solution e.g. in my field, telephony, battery storage is a must have but only for short outages. However, powering a region or a state is a completely different ball game: here, a politician no less, explains the maths to an audience.

    https://x.com/Artemisfornow/status/1884274315010687284
    Now, Miliband has a masters in economics and I'm certain that there must be a mathematical component (Abacus for Dummies?)in obtaining that degree. I'm open to being corrected.

    1. Why is anyone surprised? Labour – the Left generally – hate achievement. They hate success. They hate anything they cannot control so everyone must lose to make things 'fair'.

  58. I don't know why she is complaining – she's got two dishes for the price of one – parsnips and toad in the hole.

        2. I googled that (not knowing what itmeant) and received this infomation:

          "This extension may soon no longer be supported because it doesn't follow best practices for Chrome extensions."

      2. As we supposedly live in a democracy and you are the only one having problems i suggest you sort it out yourself.

          1. You are the only complainant in this case…. Bangs gavel

            Just accept for the article and then reset to your normal settings or are a few clicks of the mouse a bit much for you?

      3. Click accept if you're keen to read the articles, if not keen to accept, ignore the thread.

        I don't find the DM adverts particularly intrusive.
        My adblocker trips me up on most sites nowadays.

    1. There was a toad at the bottom of our garden.
      Our Newfoundland licked it so much that it got hundreds of likes.
      Nelson was like OMD ( Oh My Dog), soooo BOWOW afterwards!

    1. Ask DeepSeek R1 what do Africans do when their King announces he's on the side of the state against the people?
      Answer: They eat him.

      Ex British Army Paz49 on YT says..
      He swore an oath of allegiance to his mother, and showed great reverence towards The Queen & action man Prince Philip.
      "However, The King of Diversity is a soppish woke goon. After he gave Sadiq Khan a knighthood I'm done with him.. A stooge of WHO. WEF. He's on thin ice. Agincourt sub naming is the final straw."

    2. Didn't i read once that Her Majesty led a French big wig through the gallery showing portraits of battles we had won against the French?

      Not only did Her Majesty have a good sense of humour it would also have been a test to see how the Frog reacted.

      Charles is a poor substitute.

    3. HMS Hastings? Strictly speaking the Normans were not French, they were Norse Vikings who'd settled in Northern France but does that prevent them claiming the battle as a French victory?

      1. Not me. William isn't Christian and both of them would turn up gurning to support anything, however bad. Poncing around in Davos and playing international climate change fraudsterssaviours. No principles, they're just an empty front of a very privileged family that do nothing for ordinary British people.

          1. But only if something happened to her older brother. Unfortunately, I suspect all 3 children will be fully brainwashed.

          2. Can only hope she supports and advises him. Might depend on whoever he chooses as partner. Likely they’ll all become less relevant as time goes on, and elder population dies off.

          3. She has the character, KJ, Let us hope and pray that she is not brainwashed into the crap the RF are now pushing upon their subjects

        2. I was really upset (discombobulated) when Prince William said that the ceremony he was contributing to was in memory of "the Holocaust" and all subsequent genocides. Not a good thing, and in tune with what all of us "alerts" have noticed – the Jews are being erased. They were always the canary in the coalmine – just to remind those who think themselves safe.

          2. There was no need to add the "and all subsequent genocides". It diminishes the unique awfulness of what was then inflicted on the Jews.

          3. He could have mentioned that the main victims of the holocaust were JEWS. The J word seems to stick in their throats.

  64. From the DT.
    "Lord Mandelson said he was wrong to call Donald Trump a “danger to the world” in a retraction of historic comments about the US president.
    The Labour peer is expected to become the UK’s ambassador to the US, although there is still a chance he could be rejected by the White House."

    BTL comment – by moi (yes, yes, I am just too modest for my own good)
    'In an interview with Fox News, Lord Mandelson said: “I made those remarks six years ago in 2019, led rather along this path by an Italian journalist, I was being interviewed at the time.'
    "Please, Sir, it was that nasty Eytie wot made me do it."
    (Followed by sound of reversing ferret)

    Trump will accept the weasel and then play with him.
    To continue the animal analogy; think of a cat toying with a mouse.

    1. Mandelson is a danger. The creature is corrupt, bent, on the take. He's a useless waste of carbon the country would be better off without. An evil, hateful, odious cancer that epitomises everything wrong with this country.

      1. I wonder if the FBI have access to the "D" notices that were enacted during the Blair era ?

    1. Very well said. Minimal IQ that includes the ability to torture, rape, murder, terrify and sponge off British taxpayers with impunity.

  68. That's me back from Derby.
    Stepson's birthday Saturday so I've been to buy him a wallet as he requested.
    Picked up t'Lad who has Wednesdays off and did a bit of other shopping with him.

    over 160 posts to catch up with!

  70. I think the fact she left them in that bag for 5 days tells us what we need to know about her roast dinners. Buy fresh…buy local…toads extra.

      1. Not sure if they're so alike, Phiz…Diana wet and soppy, Meghan tough as nails (although seems to have been dropped by Netflix for not delivering).

          1. Diana seemed to want someone, anyone, to cling onto, for whatever reason. Meghan set her sights on a ‘Prince’, she liked the idea of being ‘Royal’. I just think they’re all quite boring, if I met them just as non-Royals not sure I’d take to them – or them to me 🤣

          2. According to someone who knew her well, Diana set her sights on marrying Charles. She should have been careful what she wished for.

          3. Most who knew him seemed to think him more than happy with Camilla, someone else’s wife. Tangled web. Bit like my Disqus messages, all over the place, no idea what I’ve done, inbox full of old stuff mixed up with new…have already spent a good half hour on it.

          5. Yes, but she got bored waiting (and was not acceptable to the politicians of the time, for hymen reasons) and Charles had no courage

          7. Both fantasists who got their dreams come true, KJ. Apparently (according to her schoolfriends) the Divine Diana also had but one wish – to marry a prince. That bit came true, as it did for the other one.

          8. Crazy. Can’t imagine wanting that life, I like my own space too much. Seems like Netflix decided not to carry on with Megan, saw a report earlier they’ve ditched her. Peta was one of the few I knew interested in the RF, supported the Queen but not so much the younger ones (especially Meeagain).

  73. Glasgow child sex abuse gang given life sentences

    White people are disgusted when white people commit foul acts and say just how disgusting it is. They do not make excuses and they don't hush it up and try to come up with mitigating circumstances.

    How many Pakistanis and Muslims have spoken out about the Pakistanis Rape gangs?

    After 9/11 Margaret Thatcher called on members of the Muslim community to stand up and say:

    "Not in Our Name"

    She was accused of racism for saying such a thing!

    You could argue that there is a tacit snobbishness in two tier policing and two tier justice. If we say that we cannot expect people of other ethnicities to hold to the same standards as we expect from white people aren't we implying that white people are superior?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a45ec639c15bbc6bec0355a746314bd7badbbe3280a13304df8440af5c1d8437.png

    1. They should all get similar punishments for similar crimes, whatever their skin colour or religion.

    1. That's good. It might be an idea to disinfect everywhere to avoid reinfection.

      Not suggesting your home lacks hygiene but sometimes things get missed. Like light switches and door handles. The mouse to the laptop.

      1. I think I'll rely on my natural defences thanks. I did put bleach down the loo and I cleaned the basin. I even washed my hands. My laptop doesn't have a mouse. Just a trackpad.

        1. Vitamin D3 helps against bugs, flu & the like. Since I started some 4 years ago, no colds or flu.

          1. I’ve taken VitD3 since 2020. I’ve had the occasional slight sniffle but no serious illness for years. I’ve had flu twice – in 1972 and 1984. I haven’t so much as taken a painkiller since I had shingles in 2019.

    1. To get spaced out properly you need to find a MAGA toad – they have greater bufotoxicity. 😨

  79. There's a particularly annoying moving one on the lower right hand side. It does have an X so it's easy to close.

    1. Pop ups are different to the other adverts. You should also be able to block those in your settings. I don't get any adverts or pop ups and i can still read the non paywalled garbage.

  81. He said about being dehydrated and not being given any for hours on end. It was suggested that his condition may have meant he shouldn't drink too much but i find that difficult to believe.

    Some years ago i had an operation where i had gone nil by mouth. The operation was not a success and i was bleeding for six hours before they called an ambulance to take me to another hospital.

    A second anaesthetic and another operation to cauterise.

    I had gone more than 48 hours without a drink and two anesthetics.

    When someone finally came round to check on me the nurse said i should have been put on a drip and she was to set up the second one.

    I had over the night woken up and pressed the buzzer. No response. So i kept pressing it. Got told off for that but she did ask me what i wanted.

    I asked for water. She put it on the table at the end of the bed. As i had stitches at the base of my spine i was unable to reach it.

    I can well believe he was neglected.

  86. You can forget about Kemi Badenoch.

    Michael Fabricant says she's lazy and has zero ideas.
    Anyhow, Badenoch claims before she reveals "her ideas" she's needs to complete a round of GroupThink by listening to the ordinary people at grass root level.

    Jeeez.

    2. Whenever I watched Mr F perform in Parliament in his attire it reminded me of that memorable joke told in the Film 'Cemetery Junction':

      "Question: Why does Noddy wear a bell on his head"

      "Because he's a cunt!"

  87. There you go.. a network 700 publicly funded jihadi's running your institutions thanks to The Marxists.
    .
    The body responsible is RICU, the Home Office's propaganda department, run by sisters Dame Sara and Sabrina Khan, and formerly by Baronness Warsi's chief of staff Richard Chalk.

    They, and the Home Office Islamic Network of 700 Muslim activists, oversee Prevent. They have called it "inherently racist" for monitoring Islamic extremism.

    No wonder William Shawcross found they all but stopped, and now focus myopically on the "Far Right".

    After Islamist terror attacks, RICU bus Imams out to the crime scenes for photo-ops, control newspaper front-pages, and tell grieving parents "Don't Look Back in Anger."

    They are a taxpayer-funded activist network who endanger the public with their wilful ideological blindness to Islamist terror.

    They must be investigated, defunded, and disbanded immediately.
    https://courage.media/2024/12/16/the-radicals-redefining-extremism/

        1. As i said earlier today…Prevent doesn't. It is filled with Lefty well meaning types that have no concept of reality.

          Even as their own were slaughtered and members of the public had to take down the insane Islamist with a Narwhale horn for fucks sake they still don't get it.

          The 'right wing football convicted hooligan' that got stabbed while all the other people in the restaurant were saved by his actions was vilified.

          "How many more Prime Minister? "

        2. To be expected really. I’ve seen not one instance where Islam has not come out on top. It is demonstrably a protected cult.

    2. Defunded should do the trick. They will always come together no matter what HMG does. (Which is nothing).

  88. There you go.. a network 700 publicly funded jihadi's running your institutions thanks to The Marxists.
    .
    The body responsible is RICU, the Home Office's propaganda department, run by sisters Dame Sara and Sabrina Khan, and formerly by Baronness Warsi's chief of staff Richard Chalk.

    They, and the Home Office Islamic Network of 700 Muslim activists, oversee Prevent. They have called it "inherently racist" for monitoring Islamic extremism.

    No wonder William Shawcross found they all but stopped, and now focus myopically on the "Far Right".

    After Islamist terror attacks, RICU bus Imams out to the crime scenes for photo-ops, control newspaper front-pages, and tell grieving parents "Don't Look Back in Anger."

    They are a taxpayer-funded activist network who endanger the public with their wilful ideological blindness to Islamist terror.

    They must be investigated, defunded, and disbanded immediately.
    https://courage.media/2024/12/16/the-radicals-redefining-extremism/

    1. But, but, how will they go on holiday? 'Cause you know, Brits never set foot in continental Europe before the EU. Much.

      1. I don't know how I managed to drive round Europe (Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland) in 1971 because we didn't join until 1972. Even more amazing I went to Paris in 63 and Rome in 64 and I even lived in France in 66.

  90. I think in times gone by, Rastus…there would be public floggings, and hangings (those often over the river Thames). Perhaps those who decide these things in law need to consider those punishments as an option. I can't post what I really think should happen.

  92. Parents’ cars: 1952 = AME124 (pre-War Austin 12); 1954 = TUB587 (Standard 8); 1960 = FMG587 (Ford Zodiac)

  93. The Russian spy ship in Britain’s waters preparing ground for war. 29 Januray 2025.

    Sailing off the south coast of England, the Russian trawler known as the Yantar carried its usual array of hi-tech equipment.

    In photographs released by the Ministry of Defence, a large radar dome can be seen behind two masts bristling with antennae.

    Officially, these allow the 108 metre-long craft to monitor ocean currents, befitting a vessel the Kremlin maintains is part of its oceanographic research fleet.

    Spy ships are ubiquitous. Everyone of note employs them. I’m pretty sure that most Nottlers can remember the USS Pueblo and the later Liberty that got into trouble in the Mediterranean. They are actually just one aspect of the universal gathering of intelligence about potential adversaries. The article doesn’t tell you this of course. Its purpose is propaganda, in this case mostly half-truth and sophistry. There is one glaring omission. Though supposedly about the Russian threat to our undersea pipelines and cables it doesn’t mention the Baltic Pipeline which was almost certainly sabotaged by the US.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/29/russian-spy-ship-british-waters-preparing-war/

      1. Perhaps Vlad is fed up with all the illegal invaders landing on the UK shores and he's planning to carry out the same treatment they used in the gulf on the Somalia pirates.
        Fingers crossed 🤞

      2. Perhaps Vlad is fed up with all the illegal invaders landing on the UK shores and he's planning to carry out the same treatment they used in the gulf on the Somalia pirates.
        Fingers crossed 🤞

      3. BELOW THE LINE..

        awld divil. 3 min ago

        Sadly our Navy are more interested in gadding about in their overpriced gin palaces, visiting the flesh pots of Asia, than they are defending our seas!!!

        We need to sink these Russians ships wherever we find them and launch an all out strike against Russia TODAY!!!

        Millions of innocent lives depend on it!!!

        Sigh. Where do the Nudge Units get these people?

        https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/29/russian-spy-ship-british-waters-preparing-war/#comment

        1. What we should be sinking are invaders in rubber boats, not a Russian ship in what I suspect are international waters?

      4. BELOW THE LINE..

        awld divil. 3 min ago

        Sadly our Navy are more interested in gadding about in their overpriced gin palaces, visiting the flesh pots of Asia, than they are defending our seas!!!

        We need to sink these Russians ships wherever we find them and launch an all out strike against Russia TODAY!!!

        Millions of innocent lives depend on it!!!

        Sigh. Where do the Nudge Units get these people?

        https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/29/russian-spy-ship-british-waters-preparing-war/#comment

  95. Keir Starmer told to accept EU 'mobility scheme' in return for defence pact..

    Brussels is also expected to demand a guarantee that;
    EU fisherman will not be restricted from UK waters – and is unwilling to consider any British proposals unless its demands are met.

    Only then would the UK be permitted to spend billions on Germany & French guns n ammo.

    1. Keir Starmer borrows script from Surrender May.. leans on lectern and says in irritating nasal whine..

      "Let's be clear.. its a great deal for Britain, taking back control of our money & our borders of the country wot I love."

      1. Didn’t even have to do that really. The ‘please let me join your club’ has been there from the start.

    3. Since they seem not to be able to cope without UK military, tell them to fcuk off until they come with a better deal.

      1. Boeing were good until the reverse takeover by McDonnell-Douglas and their unsafety culture.
        Just watched a video on cargo doors falling off DC-10s, and it happened 3 times until they fixed it properly, with all the hoo-hah necessary. The worst was the THY DC-10 in the forest outside Paris, 1974.

  97. Wordle No. 1,320 2/6

    🟩🟨⬜⬜🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 29 Jan 2025

    A bovine Eagle?

    1. Good stuff! back to back Bogeys here – I reckon anyone using that very popular starter word ADIEU would have a good shot at an Eagle like yours!

      Wordle 1,320 5/6

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

    2. Struggled again

      Wordle 1,320 5/6

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

      1. Good day today. Well, great day, tho I say it myself.
        Wordle 1,320 2/6

        ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟨
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Well done, a mere birdie here.

      Wordle 1,320 3/6

      ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟨⬜🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  98. It's no laughing matter for the poor devils losing their jobs. However, it's all about timing in the comedy/clown world this awful woman inhabits and she just doesn't get it.

    I would have thought a small unit essential to ensure that bad news and crass announcements from Politicians do not happen on the same day.

    https://x.com/addicted2newz/status/1884612698555519210

    1. These morons have absolutely no idea – a bunch of no hopers with no practical experience of real life or earning a real living.

      1. How long will it be before any new runway is in use – including legal challenges & enquiries? 20 years? More? Bah!

        1. If it does get the green light, however long it takes, it will seriously annoy Sadick Khan't and mad eco-zealot Millipede, so that would be a bonus.

        3. You are Mr optimist today. It's over twenty yeatprs since they first proposed a third runway, it is unlikely that any of us will see it completed.

          It must be time to revise the idea of a new runway in the thames estuary- the fog laden one on top of that sunken explosive ship.

      2. Heathrow Sham Three. To be known as HS3. Will it be in service before HS2 has a train on a track?

    3. 400713+ up ticks,

      Evening KtK,
      From the WEF / NWO /RESET point of view, success all the way, with royal seal.

    4. A BTL regarding the photo Rachel from complaints – 'That's the face I pull when I've trusted the wrong fart"!

    5. Labour have ALWAYS been a disaster. Attlee, Wilson, Callaghan, Blair, Brown and now Starmer. Mind you, I am beginning to think that maybe Starmer has even surpassed Blair for the damage he's done to the country. No mean feat!

  99. Signing off now. A cool day with bits of sun. Flattened 30 molehills. G & P have lost interest in catching moles. I deferred putting down traps in case they shoved a paw into one. Tomorrow I'll see where the varmints are tunnelling and set several traps covering them with inverted flower pots to keep cats away.

    Tomorrow is supposed to be a lovely sunny day: but then so was today.

    Have a spiffing evening

    A demain

  100. Nvidia down a meagre 5%.. no big deal cookie-boy.
    Though Congress still managed to lose their shirts with insider trading.

    1. The lunatics in Westminster are economically illiterate, Britain & British-hating, slammer-loving monsters.

    3. Apart from the moral and ethical considerations, why spend so much time and money on something which may only be of interest to about 1% of the population? Surely these resources could be better used elsewhere?

      1. 1%??
        Fewer than 0.005% of the population of the UK, I would suggest. As to the population of the world, I would guess even fewer than 0.0005%.

        1. I’m going on estimates of homosexuals in the UK, which are usually about 2%. Half of them will be male, so 1%.

          1. But how many will want children, and of those how many will want to go down this route?
            A miniscule number I suggest.

  106. Does anyone really think that Labour wants a third runway at Heathrow.
    Or is it just a cynical way to divert public and mainstream media attention?

    2. Does anybody want another Heathrow runway, except perhaps for a miniscule number of people, including plane spotters?

  107. 400713+ up ticks,

    To celebrate the name changing from REFORM to the RIGHT WING EXTREMIST CONSPIRACY PARTY, the first mandate must be a levy collected from all patriots
    to fund an AI,cloning of President Trump.

    Purpose,

    As an AI no dummy mummy party leader.

    1. First Executive order.. TrumpClone launches anti-Semitism crackdown as he orders deportation of pro-Hamas students who terrorized campuses..
      Vetoed by Islamic Home Office.

    1. If they get to Carbon 14, at least possible future civilisations (an evolved cockroach perhaps) will know how long ago ours came to an end.

  109. 3 D Chess…

    "In a huge development which significantly raises the stakes for any future potential Trump-backed negotiations related to seeking ceasefire in the Ukraine war, President Vladimir Putin has said that he won't negotiate with Ukraine so long as President Volodymyr Zelensky is in power, and on the other side of talks.

    "If he wants to take part in negotiations, I will select such people, it's not an issue. The question is about the final signing of the documents," Putin said in a state broadcast TV interview on Tuesday. He argued that because of canceled elections Zelensky's legitimacy has expired, and this means he "does not have the right to sign anything."

  110. If liberals oppose the death penalty, they must oppose assisted dying too
    Liberals don’t appear to recognise that both capital punishment and assisted dying risk the loss of innocent life
    Michael Deacon https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/29/liberals-oppose-the-death-penalty-oppose-assisted-dying/

    BTL

    And what about abortion – the killing of conceived but unborn children?

    How nice for liberals to be able to be so selective with their indignation and so flexible with their consciences!

    1. OK, then, what's your line? Pro death penalty, abortion and assisted dying, or against all three?

      1. Me.
        Pro death penalty, but wary of what qualifies.
        Pro abortion, but not as an alternative to contraception and not after the child is "viable" unless there are serious medical issues for the mother and/or child.
        Pro, but extremely wary of assisted dying, because it's too easy to become a way of ridding ourselves of the inconvenient elderly/ill/useless eaters/relatives who might provide a legacy.

        Edit for spelling mistake

          1. No.
            I err on the in favour side, but I'm cautious.
            OK he was technically a child, but the Southport monster should be executed, and I hope the prisoners ensure he is.

      2. Me.
        Pro death penalty, but wary of what qualifies.
        Pro abortion, but not as an alternative to contraception and not after the child is "viable" unless there are serious medical issues for the mother and/or child.
        Pro, but extremely wary of assisted dying, because it's too easy to become a way of ridding ourselves of the inconvenient elderly/ill/useless eaters/relatives who might provide a legacy.

        Edit for spelling mistake

        1. Too easy for the innocent to be claimed to be guilty. Once dead, difficult to argue.

          1. Letby?
            However, I think there are cases where there is NO doubt whatsoever, and hanging them is the option I would accept.

      4. I'm always surprised when people on forums (fora?) like this who have a deep disregard and suspicion (rightly in my view) for 'The State' then seem to have no problem with granting that same 'The State' the powers to kill us for any number of reasons.

        Ergo, I am resolutely against the death penalty, abortion and assisted dying .

        1. I'm not totally for all 3, nor totally against all 3. Nothing is black and white with any of them.

          1. I was wary of permitting abortion because I could see where it would end. In theory I am in favour of it where the life of the mother is in danger, which is how it was introduced, but not where it has ended up. For the same reason, I am against assisted dying. There will be mission creep and I don't trust the PTB. As for the death penalty; for truly vile crimes where the victim dies, I am generally in favour. I don't think abolishing if has made us safer.

          2. Yes mola but there is nothing more black and white than the State having the ability to terminate life and for that reason I'm a bloody big NO…..

          3. Abortion and assisted dying are on request of the subject and not at the behest of the state. Some deserve the death penalty and rightly so, too many recent examples of murderers walking away from the scene dripping in blood. If you need someone to do the deed, I would volunteer.

          4. Do you know what, Kaypea, I absolutely would do so myself without any hesitation.

            However, I dont believe that that is how policy should be decided.

            Also abortion and assisted dying may not be at the behest of the State, but the State does and will decide what the parameters should be. And that scares the shite out of me…..

      5. Death Penalty – where there is absolute proof -such as caught in the act of murder – Agree
        But where there is a scintilla of doubt e.g Letby No.
        Terminations of pregnancy. Walk in service up to 14 weeks of pregnancy . But not thereafter.
        Assisted dying. If the individual has considered the matter well in advance and written wishes in a will or granted POA for health a year or two in advance. Yes

        1. Addendum. In the UK 250,000 TOPs are performed every year. Part of me wonders how many brilliant lives were aborted and by the same token how many evil ones taken out…

        2. i agree with you, King Stephen. but I would perhaps change your 14 weeks to 12. The last bit – let's leave things as they are, wherein doctors can legally prescribe pain relief as indicated for intolerable pain even though it may end life.

  111. Evening, all. Have had one heck of a day! It was fine and dry so I worked in the garden, knackering my knees. When I came to stoke the Rayburn, the handle on the clinker door disintegrated. It's been on its way out for a while, but although I can buy a new clinker door, they come without handles and you're supposed to reuse the old one! Thankfully, my neighbour has excellent metal working skills and he made me a new handle. which meant I could relight the Rayburn. Just as well because when I looked at the Watchman it was flashing (which I took to mean it was empty) despite the fact there had been four bars on it when I last looked a couple of days ago. I couldn't see any sign of leaks (it's a brand new tank and bonded anyway) so I don't know what's going on. Unless someone has drilled a hole in the back of the tank to steal the oil, it could be the Watchman (also brand new when I replaced the tank) that has gone faulty. Switching it off and on didn't do any good. By the time I discovered it, it was too late to contact the installers anyway. On the plus side, I have managed finally to dismantle my Christmas trees, although I haven't yet put all the boxes of decorations away since I keep them upstairs and my knees just couldn't cope with going up and down.

    Of course government knows the meaning of growth – it means increase the size of the state.

    1. Yes, it was a lovely day and I'm cleaning out my garage – involving multiple trips to the local tip.

      Everything was going fine until some young slip of a lass (an employee of the Council) offered to help me carry my loaded bags up the steps to tip into the huge skip.

      I thanked her and said that I really didnt need any help (with a metaphorical pat on her pretty head) – I mean for God's sake look at me, a fabulous specimen – and then I tripped going up the steps and sprawled horribly dumping detritus everywhere. She charged up and helped me sort it all out.

      I'm not sure I'll be capable of going back there again… (big problem as the garage is only half cleared)…

          1. Fortunately, I'm not proud. When I struggled to put the large, heavy bag of compost in my trolley I was only too pleased to accept help. The bloke just got there before the woman!

          2. Yes, but it's all about pretending that you could have done it yourself, so you're not seen as some dribbling useless overhead…… or is that just me?

          3. Unfortunately for me, I knew I would have had problems doing it (I have severe degeneration in my spine) and I thought capitulation was better than maybe being unable to walk back to the car.

          1. Don't it always seem to go, you don't know what you got til it's gone……Joni always number one for me…..

        1. How dare you, I’m only (?) 67 – she must have been at least less than that….by several decades…..

      4. Hope you didn't hurt yourself, G4? Stone steps the worst, especially if you chip a bone. Btw, looked for Moscow Flyer/Essee, no luck yet but will keep an eye out. Take care of yourself, Kate x

          1. Glad that’s all it is, G4….I fall sometimes, supposed to have ‘loose joints’…bx, I’m just clumsy..day dreaming…:-D

          2. You be careful KJ – it's amazing how often I read about some poor sod dying a few days after 'having a fall'….

          3. Coincidentally just seen on my phone…last bad fall in Jan ’19, managed to knock myself out. Haven’t had one like that since, so I’m trying..thanks for good wishes, G4…appreciate it (still not seen Moscow/Essdee, but will continue to lookout)

        1. You’re not kidding Bob, fortunately she was very nice about it – I was dying of embarrassment…..

    2. Re:last sentence, Conway – it's Labour, it's what they do. We had a Watchman type thingy, it plugged into 3pin socket, was never accurate, so now we put a long twig into the oil every so often, worked so far. Our electricity off all day tomorrow because a neighbour is having a charge point installed by his EV supplier. Sigh.

  112. Any news of Citroen1?
    He didn't appear on his birthday and I've not noticed any posts since.

  113. I have already backed off supporting the monarchy (which I fully did under her late Majesty). If Charlie keeps going on the way he is, he might eventually turn me into a republican!

    1. Might that depend on Camilla, Conway? All the younger people I come across aren’t the slightest bit interested in any Royals, more concerned with education/qualifications/employment/friends etc…also politics/politicians not on their radar, they think them irrelevant.

  114. Probably already been posted, but here is just a smidgen of what President Trump has set in motion for the US Military.
    From https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czj3v42m9x0o

    'Trump also signed an executive order directing the military to formulate policies regarding the inclusion of transgender troops and update any guidance on the topic.

    According to documents published by the White House, the president's executive order on "prioritising military excellence and readiness", external says "expressing a false 'gender identity' divergent from an individual's sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service".

    A White House fact sheet uses the term "trans-identifying" rather than transgender.

    It is unclear how many transgender personnel are serving in the US military – although previous estimates from researchers have put the figure at between 9,000 and 15,000.

    As part of the order, the use of pronouns will be forbidden across the defence department, and the order also says males will be explicitly forbidden from using facilities designated for females.

    In 2021, then-President Joe Biden signed an order allowing transgender people to serve in the military and preventing discharges based on gender.

    During most of Trump's first term at the White House, transgender personnel were banned from joining or serving unless they received a waiver.

    The Trump administration has claimed members who undergo transition surgery are often incapable of the physical demands of their jobs – potentially harming military readiness. The White House did not provide evidence of this claim and the BBC has reached out to the Pentagon for comment.

    Sparta, an organisation which advocates on behalf of transgender military personnel, criticised the order, saying that transgender troops have served in combat zones and have "demonstrated their ability" to operate in military units.

    "While some transgender troops do have surgery, the recovery time and cost is minimal, and is scheduled so as not to impact deployments or mission readiness," said Sue Fulton, an army veteran and senior advisor to Sparta.In a very deep voice.

    "The readiness and physical capabilities of transgender service members is not different from that of other service members," Fulton added.

    In 2017, the Palm Center – an independent research organisation – estimated that removing about 10,000 transgender troops from the military could cost approximately $960m.'

    My bold.

      2. No he's not – he's an appalling orange-faced, criminal, lying, cheating man-baby….

        But at least he's our appalling orange-faced, criminal etc etc

  115. I don't know whether or not any of you have seen this, but I am posting it anyway, because I detect a good and courageous man testifying here. It is long but very interesting indeed (i usually cannot last the stretch on podcasts) and he has named names, yet not been sued. Harassed by the Police and the PTB, but not sued, even in the present corrupt climate.

    https://youtu.be/6egrJ5Vi0o4

    1. Mark Steyn the first, or among the first, to publicise this, opopanax. He interviewed at least one girl on GBN, he was sacked from there. Went to France, had four heart attacks quick succession – from which, fortunately, he seems to have recovered. He still writes on his blog, steyonline.com (if I give his web address, sometimes my messages are deleted, will see if it gets through here). He also, bizzarly lost his case against Michael (Hockey Stick) Mann, who was awarded something like $1m damages.

      1. Agree, KJ , and i adore Mark Steyn, always have.

        Raja Miah, though, is, in my view, exceptionally courageous and worth listening to. May he give others of his ilk courage to speak the truth.

      1. Yo Nd (and all),

        We both came down withthe Lurgy, stuff coming out of all ends

        Food below Par,

        Staff Great

        Weather better than UK

        also just away for too long

        Good to be home

        1. Sorry you had the lurgy – not nice as I found yesterday in a brief way.
          Did you need the food if you were ill?
          Weather here was not brilliant.
          How long was too long?

          1. Are you better now? Fambly coming down with bugs colds so far, hoping everyone swerves the winter vomiting one…even dog's belly rumbling and squeaking…

          2. Yes -thanks! I've been fine today after an early night and a good night's sleep. No problems with food today. Whatever it was it didn't last long. Just indigestion I think and my system expelled it quickly.

      1. They look so hideously Victorian dont they – I have a (very small) hernia in my groin (That's enough detail – Ed.!) but I dont intend to do anything about it until it consumes me – I'll then probably have to go private as I believe the NHS waiting list for such operations is about several millennia…..

  118. After a difficult day, but successfully baked five large loaves. I'm popping off early.
    Good night all. 😴

  121. Little girls do crave this sort of "fairy dress" princess thing. Most grow out of it, but the two we are discussing never did and have become very angry indeed that it was not the "lived happily ever after" story they had told themselves.

    Kate is different. She is quasi divine. (Of course she isn't, but she is a proper middle class English girl with exemplary manners and a kind heart)

    1. Kate separated from William for a while then they got back together. A test like that usually means the marriage will survive.

  122. I am totally understanding of anyone who wants to see that monster fried – I'd do it myself! – but the extreme cases like that one should not dictate the broader policy.
    In today's febrile atmosphere I truly believe that reinstating the death penalty would be a massively dangerous step to take. Death penalty for people being beastly to Sir Two-Tier on Nottle, anybody???

    1. I still like to believe that the courts and the jury system work.

      If "life" really did mean "life" I would be more sympathetic, but year, after year, after year, more and worse cases of murder surface.
      In the vast majority of murders the perpetrators are freed with many more years of freedom in front of them; often to use that freedom to kill again.

      Using a silly example, as you just did, demeans the whole debate.

      1. I exaggerate to make the point – always worth doing to expose the inanity of some arguments…..

        A civilised state should never, repeat never, condone state-sanctioned murder……

      2. Given Starmer's attempts to shut down debate and criminalise people for expressing opinions he doesn't like, that last example isn't so far-fetched. Could come a time when it isn't silly at all, but prescient.

  124. No, but it stands to reason given the numbers and the cost of hotels. Then add in the free healthcare (not free – paid for by us) and the "free" education for youngsters (ditto) and the child benefit, allowances, food, heating …

  125. When I was a student there was a dingy local shop called Jackson’s Surgical Stores that displayed such things in the window along with various contraptions comprising a lot of rubber tubing and glass syringes. I think the last customer to go in there must have done so in about 1940.

      1. There used to be a restaurant in Edinburgh, years ago, called Desperate Dan’s! It did serve cow pies, complete with plastic horns, but the real star of the menu was the beef kebab – a massive collection of skewers that a friend of mine described as "a stampede on a stick" – lovely but possibly why they closed down because it can't have made a profit?

        1. For many years after he retired, one of my uncles (all from north of Aberdeen) wore Desperate Dan braces to hold up his trews. The oldest, and very straight-laced, sister never let him forget how he embarrassed her. All his nieces and nephews, and great nieces and nephews thought he was a hoot!

  128. My OH went private a few years ago for a bilateral inguinal hernia. I don't think he regrets getting it done.

    1. Good news. Mine went for replacement hip, we've had an insurance policy for a while, in a group of other people similar ages etc. General & Medical. Back on tractor in a few weeks. Waiting time would have been almost a year otherwise, in pain. NHS just can't do that, too many people using it, free at the point of use.

      1. I asked my GP just last week if I couldbcould be referred for hip replacements. I expect to get an appointment around 2030, and I don't mean half past eight.

        1. The Physio from the Orthopaedic Outreach sent a letter to my GP practice saying I needed a referral to a consultant for a knee replacement. It seems to have vaporised because that was early last year and I've heard nothing since. I'll mention it if I ever get past the receptionist.

        2. So sorry to read that…you say ‘replacements’ in the plural, would have thought that might put you higher in the queue. I’ve heard of some going to A&E to get admitted, pushed up the queue. Good luck, Storm

  129. Ah – yes – that's a bit long. We've had some three week trips and one five week one, but mostly 10 days to two weeks.

    1. Until Convid, we would quite happily spend months away, in Spain, in our touring caravan, which was stored over there.

      Once settled,our out goings wer the same as living at home, however, our lives wer under our control, not that of a Hotel.

      We had live like that for over 20 years, until ejaculated from Spain 2020

  131. And that's me off to bed.
    After getting back from Derby I did an hour over the road helping myself to some of the wood from the trees that have been felled.
    Apparently, the wood is supposed to be chipped and go to one of the wood-burning power stations.
    What a bloody waste!

    Goodnight all.
    https://youtu.be/jZFeCer1hMg?si=vTjbx9WFK2-tH9mA

    1. What a shame that the orchestra didn't bother to dress up for their live performance in church. It makes it look like a performance in a restaurant where the menus for "Today's Chef's Specials" are marked up on the walls behind them. Lol. Anyhow, sleep well, BoB.

  132. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    The best that can be said about Lord Mandelson’s change of heart over Donald Trump is that it shows how much he wants to be the next British ambassador to Washington. He is expected to be confirmed in the role shortly. Even so, Mandelson was taking no chances in an interview he gave to Fox News, widely believed to be Trump’s favourite TV viewing.

    Peter Mandelson is just the latest Labour figure to undergo a Damascene conversion on Trump

    The Labour peer wants everyone (especially Trump) to know that his previous criticism of the American leader was “ill-judged and wrong”. In previous years, he has described the president as “reckless and a danger to the world”. In a 2018 interview, he called Trump a “bully”. He could not have been more wrong in doing so, apparently. Mandelson explained away his views back then as due to a time of “fraught politics in Britain” when there was “high emotion about many things” in the country. No one explains away the inexplicable quite like Mandelson.

    He was keen to lavish praise on the US leader, acknowledging his “extraordinary’ second mandate, praising him for giving “ leadership to all the freedom-loving democracies in the world.” Mandelson told viewers that Trump was a “nice person”. More fawning of the highest calibre. The Labour grandee is nothing if not good at spotting changes in the political weather:

    “Frankly, I think President Trump could become one of the most consequential American presidents I have known in my adult life. There are so many threats and challenges the world is facing at the moment. It takes courage, somebody, sometimes, who’s prepared to be argumentative and, indeed, disruptive, not just take business as usual. With the approach that he’s taking to government, which frankly seems to us in Britain so much more organised, so much more coherent, he seems to be so much clearer in what he wants to do, we take encouragement from that. That gives us greater confidence.”

    Mandelson’s changed views on the US president won’t completely quieten Republican allies of Trump who have questioned Keir Starmer’s decision to replace Karen Pierce, a career diplomat, with the Labour peer.

    Chris LaCivita, a Trump campaign adviser, has described Mandelson as an “absolute moron” and suggested that he should “stay home”.

    But the Labour grandee is relaxed, insisting that he would be welcome at the White House: “I’ve heard nothing from the president or the White House or anyone working for him that suggests that there’s going to be any difficulty about my appointment,” he said.

    More significantly, Trump’s team is said to be concerned about his links to China and the client list of his consultancy, Global Counsel. The firm advised the Chinese fashion company Shein last year. Mandelson has also held meetings with senior Chinese Communist party figures as recently as 2023. A dossier of his connections with Beijing has reportedly been handed to the FBI. In 2018, Mandelson criticised Trump’s hawkish views on China, saying they threatened free trade and that Trump was a “bully and mercantilist”. On China too, Mandelson is a changed man. He thinks America and Britain can “outsmart and keep ahead of the curve” when it comes to China, and he praised Trump as a leader who was not “naive” about China.

    Peter Mandelson is just the latest senior Labour figure to undergo something of a Damascene conversion when it comes to all things Trump. David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, has been busy showering praise on the president after previously calling him “a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath”. One might be forgiven for thinking it difficult to disown such firm views but Lammy has shamelessly done just that. He dismissed his earlier views
    as “old news” and recently called Trump “funny, friendly and warm”. Needs must. Britain wants a trade deal with the US. But it does nothing for Lammy’s political credibility.

    Mandelson’s change of heart over Trump is cut from the same cloth. He could hardly function effectively as Britain’s most senior diplomat in Washington without in some way explaining away his earlier hostility. Voters in Britain might take a more sceptical view of this ability to move from castigating to obsequious in record time. Is it any wonder that people widely distrust politicians, the likes of Mandelson and Lammy, who are prepared so easily to disown everything they profess to believe when it suits them?

    WRITTEN BY
    Jawad Iqbal
    Jawad Iqbal is a broadcaster and ex-television news executive. Jawad is a former Visiting Senior Fellow in the Institute of Global Affairs at the LSE

    1. Couldn't they refuse to let Mandy in as he's been forced to resign twice over "irregularities"?

        2. They will probably look forward to humiliating him, catch him out and generally have a ball with the lying, hypocritical squirmer.

  133. Well, chums, it's time for me to go to bed. Good Night all, sleep well, and I'll see you all tomorrow.

    1. That’s correct. It is the Council who are summoning the person to appear at the Magistrate’s Court for non payment of Council Tax. The Council will book a slot at the courts to deal with a tranche of cases and will book, probably a morning, for these cases to be heard. TV Licensing will do the same and HMRC etc. The papers will be delivered to the court, probably the day before, and the recipients of the summons can attend and state their case if they want to. The police issue summonses etc, etc.
      It is those organisations who are bringing the cases for the Magistrates to decide the penalty if any.
      This happened in the 10 years I was a Court Usher and, no doubt, for years before that and for years to come. I have been retired for 13 years.

    2. That’s correct. It is the Council who are summoning the person to appear at the Magistrate’s Court for non payment of Council Tax. The Council will book a slot at the courts to deal with a tranche of cases and will book, probably a morning, for these cases to be heard. TV Licensing will do the same and HMRC etc. The papers will be delivered to the court, probably the day before, and the recipients of the summons can attend and state their case if they want to. The police issue summonses etc, etc.
      It is those organisations who are bringing the cases for the Magistrates to decide the penalty if any.
      This happened in the 10 years I was a Court Usher and, no doubt, for years before that and for years to come. I have been retired for 13 years.

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