Wednesday 29 July: The Government is not being a ‘bossy-boots’ in acting against obesity

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/07/28/lettersthe-government-not-bossy-boots-acting-against-obesity/

580 thoughts on “Wednesday 29 July: The Government is not being a ‘bossy-boots’ in acting against obesity”

    1. Morning, Bob, all
      Raining like my early morning shower here, just a lot colder!

  2. Looks like we are continuing with the same old government tricks under Boris, keep putting the public on the defensive over issues like weight loss to deflect people away from the fact that they are still selling us down the river, if not to the EU then to the UN / WHO world government globalist reordering of the world and our economies.

  3. ‘Morning All

    An “Emperor’s New Clothes” moment from the DT

    “Panic over rising Covid-19 case numbers is as irrational as it is dangerous”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/28/panic-rising-covid-19-case-numbers-irrational-dangerous/

    Loved this btl

    I’m afraid, Mr Clark, that this kind of nonsense is quite unacceptable.

    If the authorities were to accept your loose talk, it could mean a

    resumption of my commute to the office, and the end of work from home

    arrangements which have worked so well for me and countless others.

    Covid19

    has meant that at last I can enjoy a good lifestyle, late breakfast

    each day, and spending most of my ‘work’ hours surfing the Internet.

    So.Mr Clark, I would thank you to remember that we are in the midst of a

    lethal pandemic, which will kill us all like flies without social

    distancing and lockdown.

    https://i.imgflip.com/49q6sv.jpg

    1. Morning Rik and all,

      I think.the latest Government human survival policy is consistent with not taking public transport to go to the office but to ‘get on yer bike’ and find a job working from someone else’s home.

      https://youtu.be/sU_pDM1N7i0

  5. Back when Norman Tebbit quite rightly said to the unemployed that they should get on the bikes and go to work the lefties all went mad.
    Now if you go to your doctor with a life threatening illness he will give you a prescription for a bike and the Left love it.

    1. Similar to four month ago, walk into a bank with a mask on – Panic – -now you can get fined if you don’t wear one.

  6. It was a frame up……………..
    “£50 to do up your bike website crashes!
    The wheels have come off already!”
    There will be a chain reaction to this derailleured

  7. The Tories have lost the plot. Spiked 29 July 2020.

    When the new laws come into effect, junk-food ads will not be permitted on TV before the 9pm watershed. Special offers for unhealthy food in shops will be barred, as will eye-grabbing displays of snacks and sweets. All food chains with more than 250 employees will be obliged to print calorie counts on their menus.

    And these are just the confirmed policies. The government will also consult on banning online junk food advertising and on whether to force pubs to put calorie figures on beer pumps. A traffic-light system may be introduced on food labelling to warn customers of the unhealthy nature of their potential purchases.

    The case against these measures is obvious: they are a paternalistic infringement on freedom and choice – brought about by a prime minister who pledged to resist the ‘continuing creep of the nanny state’.

    Actually the case against these measures is that they are all useless!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/07/29/the-tories-have-lost-the-plot/

    1. A traffic light system will just frustrate the healthy biking initiative and promote cycling on paths to get to the chippies.

      1. Yuppitty, de troof!

        It’s not only the Policy Making (e.g. “This Government wishes to encourage ‘Behaviour X’ amongst the populace”), it’s the clod-hopping idiocy of the Policy Formulation and Implementation which ends up causing totally different ‘Behaviour Y’ wholly at odds with anything desirable, even if it should be a legitimate area for government meddling in the first place.

        1. SIR– Give people a free bike as a reward for becoming overweight? Crazy.

          Anthony Whitehead
          Bristol

  9. So it looks like foreign holidays and flying are not part of the Green new normal.
    Or car travel by the looks of it.

      1. Well it is obvious that the new normal will not require such a large human population, I wonder what their plans are for getting rid of those that are not needed?

        1. Covid in care homes.
          I gather the government is also surprised at the increase in people dying at home.
          Well … duh…

        2. 321839+ up ticks.
          Morning B3,
          Tarted up a bit something in the manifesto’s for the lab/lib/con supporters to swallow, it something like
          ……………. The final solution.

  10. Morning all

    SIR – I have possibly never read such balderdash as David Hockney’s letter (July 28) in response to the Government’s strategy to tackle the nation’s obesity problem, accusing it them of being a “bossy-boots”.

    Covid-19 has a more severe effect on people who carry excess weight, and Britain’s obesity problem is now out of control, so a government-led strategy can only be a good thing.

    In life we have to take responsibility for our actions – in this case, that if you eat and drink too much and don’t exercise you become overweight and unhealthy. This puts an additional burden on the NHS.

    Marilyn Wathes

    Witney, Oxfordshire

    SIR – I’m sure many endorse the words from David Hockney. There is a difference between living and existing. I know which I prefer.

    John Dunmall

    Warboys, Huntingdonshire

    SIR – David Hockney bemoans the prospect of life without smoking (and presumably drinking as well).

    If the smokers and drinkers in the country stopped tomorrow, the loss of revenue would make the continuation of the NHS impossible to afford.

    Dr Michael Blackmore

    Midhurst, West Sussex

    SIR – I think that David Hockney is too kind to our leaders. In March they dictated we should enter lockdown. They have since dictated that we can leave lockdown, dictated that we can travel abroad and now dictated that if we do we have to go back into lockdown.

    Without the proper scrutiny of Parliament we are now being ruled by a dictatorship. When will this stop?

    Tom Percival

    Pennant, Cardiganshire

    SIR– Give people a free bike as a reward for becoming overweight? Crazy.

    Anthony Whitehead

    Bristol

    SIR – Has our Government lost all sense of realism? I am waiting for a knee op, a hernia op and a cataracts op – all delayed because of NHS crass management.

    For the NHS now to fund bicycles while many of us are simply cast aside is the greatest insult that could be delivered. Could that money not have been better spent funding the backlog in the NHS for rudimentary operations that would benefit so many.

    Philip Congdon

    Poyntington, Dorset

    SIR – They can try to take our freedoms, but they cannot take our fat.

    Stefan Badham

    Portsmouth, Hampshire

    1. Yo Citroen

      The other 42% KNOW it is failing

      Data compliled by Lammy and Abbot Statisticks

    2. 321839+ up ticks,
      Morning C,
      Small correction, large consequences, they are doing priti much as they please & plenty of it via Dover.

      Stop welfare for illegals, priti is aiding & abetting crime by
      financing it.

      Dover the Shangri La for many, leave a safe country to be accepted by another safe Country.
      I would lay heavy wonga on there being a multitude just
      waiting for the next GE,to vote lab/lib/con so as to change the party from the inside.

  12. More crazy rules…

    SIR – I was horrified to read that ministers are considering making the wearing of gloves mandatory when out and about (report, July 25).

    Unless gloves are changed correctly and frequently there is no benefit at all. It is far better to sanitise or wash hands regularly. People will wear filthy gloves and many more unpleasant germs will be spread.

    Kate Mash

    Salisbury, Wiltshire

  13. London Council First Elected Body in UK to Ban Meat to Save Planet
    https://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/04/vegan-climate-change-peta-AP-640×480.jpg
    https://t.co/dHkLsKxWLh?amp=1

    BTL:

    Gary Whittaker
    They should ban Halal butchers in their borough then , if they are so worried about how animals are treated

    frank kydd Gary Whittaker • 13 hours ago
    9 mosques in Enfield

    flashman frank kydd • 9 hours ago
    Christ …….no sorry Mo..

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/07/28/london-council-first-elected-body-uk-ban-meat-save-planet/

    2. Firstborn & I looked at the effects of changing from meat-eating + veggy to veggy only diet, based on his farm, total area 1220 mål = 400 acres.
      The arable (tillable) land available is a small fraction, not enough to support many people – namely, one family give or take. The rest is trees, scrub and stones. Not much that people can eat (apart from blueberries, cranberries, raspberries & cloudberries) grows in the plentiful hills, but what is there is OK to feed sheep, deer, reindeer & moose, who have a gut that can digest grass & moss and the like. Google came up with a site that shows about 2.2% of Norway’s land area is suitable for tilling! https://tradingeconomics.com/norway/arable-land-percent-of-land-area-wb-data.html – that bears it out.
      So, where would all the vegetables, grains and beans come from just to feed Norwegians, let alone higher-density populations? Much of the land area of the world is arid, frozen, mountainous, which is one reason why mankind has subcontracted the conversion of scrub and grass to food to sheep, cattle and goats.
      These folk live in their own little world – bless!

  14. The holiday fiasco proves we are being fed a diet of junk

    New contradictory measures about travel to Spain and fighting obesity show the government is making it up as it goes along

    JULIA HARTLEY-BREWER – 28 July 2020 • 7:00pm

    Boris Johnson “doesn’t do detail”. It is a criticism that has dogged his political and journalistic career. In his defence, we are told, the Prime Minister acts like the conductor of an orchestra, leaving the actual playing of the notes to the individual musicians while he stands centre stage, baton in hand, leading everyone in uplifting harmony.

    Yet the latest pronouncements from Number 10 suggest that, far from directing his Cabinet to create the sweet music of good government, Boris’s left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. And, frankly, I’d chance that it seems that what his right hand is doing sometimes comes as a complete surprise to his right hand too.

    The two major pronouncements from the Government this past week are just the latest examples of this cacophony of chaos. Both the decision to impose a 14 day quarantine on Brits returning from holidays in Spain and the latest anti-obesity strategy smack of bungling inconsistency at the heart of Number 10.

    The quarantine was announced by the Foreign Office with just a few hours’ notice and came just weeks after we were told it was safe to go abroad on holiday and, specifically, to Spain. Indeed, the quarantine was imposed just 24 hours after the Transport Secretary himself had thought it safe to jet off for a family break in Spain, prompting red faces and sniggers all round. Now, we hear it might be reduced to 10 days, following the uproar.

    Yes, of course we all understand that, during a pandemic, facts can change on the ground and governments need to act fast to keep us safe, but imposing a blanket quarantine on travellers from an entire country, despite Covid-19 spikes in just a few regions of the country far away from most Brits on their beaches and including the Balearic and Canary Islands, makes no sense at all.

    Quite apart from the fact that the Canary Islands are as far from Spain as the UK itself is, given the levels of coronavirus infections it would make more sense for ministers to impose quarantine on people travelling from Bradford than from their sun loungers on the Costa del Corona.

    Equally, despite insisting that the post-vacation quarantine is mandatory, the government has also made it abundantly clear that it won’t be policed so, unless a uniformed officer is stationed outside every home, the law relies on individual travellers’ goodwill. In which case, why make it mandatory in the first place?

    Meanwhile, on the other side of Whitehall, various other departments have announced their latest attempt to slim down the nation’s expanding waistlines. After months of lockdown, the average Brit has piled on half a stone in weight and now is the time for the Prime Minister – newly evangelical about weight loss since his brush with death as an overweight coronavirus patient – to get the nation to shut the fridge door and get exercising.

    To this end, we’ve seen a whole spate of measures to tackle obesity, from a ban on adverts for “junk food” and buy-one-get-one-free supermarket offers to telling us all to join Weight Watchers and get on our taxpayer-funded bikes.

    Meanwhile, next week, the very same government will pay us up to £10 each to eat out in the restaurant, café, bar or pub of our choice every Monday to Wednesday for the entire month of August.

    So we are going to be banned from seeing adverts from companies trying to sell us unhealthy food, or buying their products cheaply in supermarkets, at the same time as we will be subsidised to buy any food we want – healthy or unhealthy – as long as we eat it in a restaurant or a pub, not at home. You couldn’t make it up. Although clearly this government just did.

    We’re constantly told, as we emerge from the lockdown, to use our good old fashioned British common sense. Yet the Government seems to have taken leave of its own senses.

    Do Boris Johnson or Matt Hancock honestly believe that millions of overweight Britons who have piled on the pounds over many years are poised, just waiting for a £50 voucher to get their old bike mended or a subsidy to buy a £1,000 electric bike, so they can finally get active? Are they aware that the mere fact of owning a bicycle doesn’t in and of itself make you lose weight? I should know – mine’s happily gathering dust in the conservatory as I type.

    It’s also a bit rich for the Prime Minister, who we’ve seen photographed cycling and jogging every morning for years, to tell us to get on our bikes to lose weight when, with all due respect, it plainly hasn’t done the trick for him.

    The chaos and confusion of current Government policy is getting us nowhere. Indeed, the anti-obesity drive is going to be, thanks to those miles of new cycle super-lanes taking up half the road, a very slow and laborious journey where we end up back exactly where we started.

    We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed that we don’t get put into a mandatory 14 day quarantine when we finally arrive home.

    Julia Hartley-Brewer hosts the talkRADIO breakfast show every weekday 6.30am-10am

    1. “the government is making it up as it goes along”

      Tell us something we don’t know….

    3. Boris Johnson should stop worrying about a second wave of COVID-19. He should adopt the common sense of King Canute and understand that there are some natural events he cannot control, climate change is another example. He should concentrate on getting the economy back to as normal as possible. We know a lot more about the virus and most sensible, responsible people know what reasonable precautions to take. Protective vaccines are not imminent , thousands of critical patients with life threatening non-COVID-19 conditions are being left to die in some areas,school children and University students are having their education badly affected. Get some backbone Boris and get the country back on an even keel.

      1. Isn’t the point of Canute that he tried to do just that, ie try to control something he could not?

        1. Morning Bug – King Canute was demonstrating to his courtiers that even a King could not control the tides.

        2. That is a popular misconception. Sycophants tried to convince him that as a king he could control the tides. He managed to show them that he could not!

        3. He knew he coiuld not control the tides, and tried to show his courtiers that fact.

      2. Boris is a Canute ( some of those letters might be surplus and in the wrong order)

    1. ‘Morning, Bill. A pleasant sunny start in yer E Sussex this morning, which should last for most of the day (allegedly).

      1. Ditto – and Thursday and Friday will be quite warm. I hope so. I am fed up with being cold!

        1. …particularly in summer, and when some of our spring temperatures were much higher!

  16. Good morning all

    This article is a month old , but could still be relevant .

    How many flights are there a day coming in to our airports from Southern Asia now ?

    Exclusive: Half of UK’s imported Covid-19 infections in June are from Pakistan
    Experts warn that the Government needed to concentrate its resources on screening individuals from ‘high risk’ countries

    By
    Charles Hymas,
    HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR and
    Ben Farmer
    ISLAMABAD
    26 June 2020 • 9:30pm https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06/26/exclusive-half-uks-imported-june-covid-19-infections-pakistan/

    2. I seem to recall that that “half” was slightly misleading, as the absolute number was something like 70 of which 34 came from Pakistan, if I remember correctly.

  17. ‘Morning again.

    Douglas Murray, you are not wrong:

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/07/28/douglas-murray-slams-blm-activists-in-breitbart-viral-video-as-demagogues-and-racists/

    Leading BTL:

    The great Douglas Murray: great simply because he speaks the truth about our horror society today.

    An important truth about these BLM characters is that they can behave as they do precisely because white western society is not as they portray it. BLM activists belong to the most free, most affluent and most tolerant society in history—-and they simply cannot accept that the white man gave it to them.

    As they say, no good deed ever goes unpunished.

    1. “At a Black Lives Matter demonstration in London, a self-described mixed-race member of the LGBT community said that the concept of intersectionality means that there is “one common enemy: the white man” and therefore “we need to get rid of them”.”

      Can the speaker not see the irony? He has the freedom to stand up in front of a crowd and call to get rid of white men – I wonder what his reaction would be to a speaker at the same event, or any other event, calling to get rid of black men.

      2. We must recognise that It is a fundamental error to expect logical consistency from people like this.

        1. Or to expect consistency from our authorities who have chosen to put in place “hate laws” that don’t apply to th most vicious of non-whites, but only to the white natives of this country.

    2. “In a Breitbart London exclusive video, one of the leaders of the Oxford branch of Black Lives Matter UK, Sasha Johnson, said that the British police are ‘no different than the KKK’ while calling for the establishment of a ‘Black Militia’.”

      “No different than the KKK.”?

      This bitch should be deported for nothing other than using banal Americanese in the UK. I suggest parachuting her into a Louisiana swamp.

        1. I know. That’s why I made the comment.

          Did you know that William Strunk Jr, an American who wrote the excellent guide to English usage (for Americans,) The Elements of Style, advises the Yanks against the use of different than, preferring different to or different from? Richie Benaud was a great advocate of Strunk’s book and advised its reading to all prospective commentators.

        1. I agree there is no such thing as “American English”, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that Americans do not speak any form of English. They speak Americanese, which resembles English in many ways but it is, fundamentally, a programmed system of a limited vocabulary of words and phrases, with idiotic pronunciations, that all Yanks repeat, parrot-fashion.

          1. Oi. We still spell most words correctly up here in Canada.

            Even though American has infiltrated and we queue in a lineup.

          2. Oi!

            I was on a bus in LA when a fat-mouthed Yank was gobbing-off to his cronies about how he supported the IRA and how he hated the Brits. Another passenger, sitting opposite me, who knew I was English, patted me on the shoulder and told me to ignore the twat. This passenger was a Canadian whom I had a lovely chat with fo the rest of the journey. [He also advised me that Moosehead and Molson beers were far superior to Coors, Schlitz and Budweiser.]

            Did I ever tell you that I nearly emigrated to Canada in 1976? A cousin of my then M-i-L was in higher management in an engineering company situated in Guelph, Nr Toronto. He knew that I had a background in engineering and offered me a job as a plater in his company.

            At the time, it was nigh-on impossible to get a Canadian visa; one had to have a definite job waiting for them and some form of support. Most jobs available were only available for Canadians. The only reason I turned it down was because I had only recently “escaped” factory work in England to join the police. It was impossible for me to join the RCMP, for example, directly from England. As a result I remained in the UK.

          3. Interesting, sorry I took so long to get to your comment, I was golfing again.

            Guelph is quite nice.
            Anything is better than Budweiser, well except Genesee from upstate New York which really is pee de chat quality.

          4. I walked into a bar in upstate New York. [“OUCH!” (said Tommy Cooper)]

            Barman: “What’ll you have?” [Standard textbook American welcome in a bar]
            Grizz: “Gimme a beer.” [Imitating American standard textbook reply]
            Barman grabs a bottle of Coors.
            Local: “Godammit, man! The guy asked for a beer. Give him a Gennie’s, not that Coors shit!”
            Barman: “OK.”
            Grizz: “Thanks for the advice.”

            And this is a true account of my conversation in that bar. I was introduced to Genessee in 1983 and, at the time, it was the best American beer, by far, that I had tasted. You seem to suggest that it has gone downhill since then.

    1. At least in University towns theft of bikes is a form of recycling (geddit). Pikies will break them down for scrap.

    2. Good morning, Bill

      Along with all the ‘special’ days we are asked to observe why don’t we have Give a Pikey a Break Day.

      We would be encouraged to leave all our doors unlocked, our quad bikes, bicycles electric invalid vehicles ready to go and our cars full of carburrant.. Archbishop Welby could lead by example and leave ladders and scaffolding against church walls to help those wishing to steal lead from the roof.

  19. I mentioned a week ago that my chest X-ray was clear. The radiologist told me so. Yesterday evening I looked at my online test results on the GP website. The report was there; had been since last Friday. So that was fine.

    But Dr Stupid does not know that I use that service. For all he knew, I might not have had an inkling about the result – and would be going round the bend with worry. It would have taken him all of two minutes to phone me.

    Good of him not to let me know. I must remember to give him a clap….with a spanner.

    1. On the side of giving the surgery the benefit of the doubt, perhaps the system itself lets the Doctors know who has and hasn’t checked and only follows up sfter a short while?

      Some people might be concerned to get a phone call from the doctor.

      1. It doesn’t. He never follows anything up. For all he knows, I could be dead.

        Mustn’t bother doctor…

    1. Morning Triers, I’ve always wondered about the mentality of the first person to see an egg drop out of a hens arse and think “I’ll eat that”

      1. Yo Alec

        If that happened with the younger geneRations now, they would just keep on eating the eggs and then wonder

        “Where have all the (new) Chickens gone”

    1. Good morning, Maggiebelle

      It is never racist to favour blacks over whites!

      Why do we never have politicians with the courage and integrity to insist that the Law applies equally to people of all races?

      1. 321839+ up ticks,
        Morning R,
        Those type the likes of Gerard Batten in the eyes
        of the lab/lib/con parties/supporters / voters were to be avoided as one trick pony jockeys whilst the serious business of con keeping lab & reverse OUT continued.
        WE had them / have them still yet the odious political close shop still operates full swing, but for how long?

      2. As we have recently found out white people are a small minority on this planet.
        When it be our turn for minority favouritism ?………

    2. …seem intent on encouraging it..

      There is no “seems” about it! It is a gradualist policy to wrest control from the indigenous population!

    3. …seem intent on encouraging it..

      There is no “seems” about it! It is a gradualist policy to wrest control from the indigenous population!

    4. 321839+ up ticks,
      Morning TB,
      As I have requested before and will again, join the dots nationwide and the predominant shape will be a bloody great MOSQUE.

      Ps can’t wait for the next GE so I can vote lab/lib/con and help change the parties from within, O my bloody aching sides, black comedy at it’s finest.

    6. These fools are the architects of their own demise, they will be displaced when the council is all Muslim and Birmingham becomes the capital of the British Caliphate.

      1. More especially when the islamic infighting kicks off and we see situations such as we have in the middle east.

  24. Good morning all.
    Leicester, Blackburn, Rochdale, Oldham and now Pendle/Nelson. . Could the commonality be mosques?

    2. Morning Issy

      Or could it be that they are flying backwards and forwards to Pakistan..

      I dare say they will all be visiting Mecca as well!

      That is why there will be a Virus spike !

    3. And of course when it al goes wrong for them it’s everyone else’s fault.
      I wonder who the Shropshire ‘travellers’ are blaming.

  25. Morning all 😎
    More total confusion as to what is suppose to happen regarding travel.
    I guess I’ll just stay at home. It’s been the safest option so far.

  26. has censorship started on this site i have tried to post three comments and a red bar with internal error appears.
    And further attempts come up as already posted this comment ?
    such as this one in reply to TB

    Echoes of Sadiq Khan’s “too many white men”?

    He’s inflicted more long term damage on parts of London than Hitler managed.
    He discounted the Jewish communities from voting in the election due to ‘administration errors’.

    1. We discussed this a week ago. You just have to keep persisting & if it tells you that you have already posted the same comment, just add another full stop.

      2. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Got it!

        1. So you’re saying, P-T (© Cathy Newman), that Harry Potter is responsible for the Corona virus?

    2. We discussed this a month ago. You are quite right; it is dangerous & spreading……

      1. I seem to remember that the discussion was sparked by the revelation that Brenda has some in her garden at Buck House.

    3. 321839+ up ticks,
      Morning PT,
      I believe it has also taken on human form camouflaged
      in pinstripe and thrives in westminster.

  29. Six ways Covid-19 is stealing our very sense of Britishness
    Guy Kelly

    Queueing

    J R R Tolkien, C S Lewis and Edgar Allan Poe supposedly agreed that the compound word “cellar door” was the most beautiful in the English language. But have a look at “queue”. It is, as the phrase goes, what it is: a queue. Those unnecessarily repeating vowels, waiting in an orderly fashion behind their consonant, just happy to be there. Early in lockdown, it looked as if queueing was, if anything, about to enter a new golden age. Shops with limited capacity? Marks on the floor showing where to stand? Doormen marshalling numbers? We loved it. We chatted, watched dogs, collectively judged those not following the one-way system… Queueing was back. Except now it’s gone again to be replaced by apps. Thanks, Covid.

    If Guy Kelly had done his research properly (something lacking in modern-day journalism) he would have discovered that the word ‘queue’ is French, not English, and is derived from the Latin cauda (a tail).

    1. Celador, an entertainment company partly founded by Jasper Carrott, took its name from ‘cellar door’. It is ‘euphonious’ apparently.
      I link the sound to ‘je l’adore’ in French, and Tolkien served in France in WW1.

  31. Covid sweeps through obesity-cursed Mexico. 29 July 2020.

    Mexico is blaming its obesity crisis for a surging coronavirus death toll as the country prepares to overtake the UK in recording the fourth highest number of fatalities in the world.

    Morning everyone. Mexico is of course not alone in its fixation on obesity. The UK Government promulgates a similar theme. According to the present profile to be old, fat, maskless and six feet tall will place you on the CV endangered list requiring isolation, a diet program and a new bicycle as a prophylactic. Is it only myself that finds these narratives increasingly bizarre? Does the virus actually impair brain function? Have they all gone off their rockers?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/28/mexico-blames-obesity-covid-crisis-country-set-overtake-uk-worlds/

    1. Yo Minty

      We should all Raleigh round the government and jump aboard the Elswick Hopper with Hercules

  34. Tommy Robinson Leaves Britain After Alleged Arson Attack on Wife’s Property. 29 July 2020..

    The left-liberal Independent news site said that Bedfordshire Police has no record of “house arson linked to Robinson’s family”.

    However, the police force did confirm receiving “a report of a car being set on fire in June”, but did not elaborate any further.

    No arson here! Nothing to be investigated. There might have been a car on fire though!

    No wonder the poor woman wants out!

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/07/29/tommy-robinson-leaves-britain-after-alleged-arson-attack-on-wifes-property/

    1. The way that the police and the justice system have treated Tommy Robinson makes me so ashamed of Britain that I no longer wish to be British.

      1. 321839+ up ticks,
        Afternoon R,
        Maybe many are of the same mindset which leads me to assume that in the main it has got to be
        voters of a foreign nature that keep returning to power these same lying,deceitful, treacherous,
        politico’s & parties to government.
        If it were not so our kids would have a beneficial
        legacy left them instead of sh!te aplenty.

  35. Tommy Robinson flees to Spain and says he wants to move his family abroad because they are ‘no longer safe in UK’ after arson attack on his wife’s property. 28 July 2020.

    Tommy Robinson has fled the country and said he wants to move abroad because he does not feel safe in the UK.
    The English Defence League founder, 37, said he left Britain with his family ‘straight away’ after an arson attack on his wife Jenna Vowles’s house.

    The MSM are of course glorying in this story with its tale of the successful intimidation of Tommy’s family. Perhaps a little too early. There seems to be some doubt about its authenticity!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8567779/English-Defence-League-founder-Tommy-Robinson-flees-country.html

    1. 321839+ up ticks,
      Morning JN,
      Keep a wary eye on not the front door, with the smiling politico on show, but what has already entered the back passage and will not be revealed until the final thrust.
      There will be a nationwide collective AGHAAAAAA, but to late the dirty deed will have been done.
      Hanging heavy over all will be the odour of fish, mainly
      red herrings.
      My personal opinion.

  37. Anyway… Boros’ devious little plan is obvious….

    You won’t have to wear a mask, or cycle everywhere and you can eat vast amounts of chips and pizza…..

    Provided…

    You have the nice Mr Gates’ luverly injection of which Boros has bought 100 million doses and probably received a fat commission !

      1. Gates has already said the world is over populated… and now he wants to inject the world….

          1. 321839+ up ticks,
            B3,
            More like there are to many politico’s becoming millionaires.

    2. And another 60 m doses bought today. Looks like we aim to provide a world health service.

  38. SIR – Whatever the British Government does seems to provoke a hoo-ha from the general public.

    Judging from experiences in Thailand, which has successfully closed its borders to pretty well everyone since March, I would support the decision to quarantine British travellers arriving from Spain. In my opinion, they should not be there in the first place.

    As an island, Britain is in a far better position to control its borders than countries on the Continent. It would have been wiser, in the circumstances, to suspend the lofty ideal of freedom of movement, as a second wave would be a catastrophe.

    Professor Harry Spence Lyth

    Jomtien, Chonburi, Thailand

    SIR – If travellers from the Balearic Islands and other Spanish territories have to quarantine on arrival in Britain, why don’t those arriving from other Schengen-zone countries?

    They may recently have been in contact with people from affected areas in Spain, and therefore could well bring the virus to Britain.

    Brian Newton

    Epsom, Surrey

    SIR – As soon as travel restrictions were lifted, we booked flights to Majorca for July 29 to visit our daughter, whom we have not seen since Christmas. We were prepared to accept quarantine on return, though we questioned the logic of applying it to the Balearics, where there are very few Covid cases.

    On Monday, our hopes were raised that this might change, so to read later that day that the Foreign Office had extended the warning against non-essential travel to include the islands was, to us, inexplicable and unfair.

    We live in Wrexham, where recently there has been a small rise in Covid cases. We are at more risk staying here than travelling to Majorca.

    Patricia Antlett

    Wrexham

    1. 321839+ up ticks,
      Morning Epi,
      We may be an Island and could have the best well protected perimeter coastline we are still only as strong
      as our weakest / treacherous politico, and boy have we got a choice.

    2. Professor Lyth: “As an island, Britain is in a far better position to control its borders than countries on the Continent. ”
      Tell that to the people of Dover.

      1. It may be in a better position to control its borders, but it needs a government willing to do so.

  40. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    SIR – I’m sure many endorse the words from David Hockney. There is a difference between living and existing. I know which I prefer.

    John Dunmall
    Warboys, Huntingdonshire

    Well now, John Dunmall…If I have understood you correctly, I take it that you prefer “living” and therefore by the tone of your letter you are not unhappy about damaging your health to the point whereby you will expect the NHS to intervene, possibly at great expense, to keep you going. Fine, that is your choice, but in that case you should renounce your right to receive such treatment at our expense and instead make your own, private arrangements. That is only fair.

    1. You trust Borogatesoros to do things in your interest ?

      You need a drink !

    2. I suspect smokers and heavy drinkers have already gifted enough tax to cover the cost of their treatment.
      And they die earlier, so we don’t have to pony up for their pensions.
      Morning, HJ.

      1. I worked out once that revenue from smoking was about £30 million a day. It will be a lot less now but still a huge contributor to the coffers.

        1. In round terms that’s just shy of £11bn p.a. …but in an annual expenditure on the NHS of around £130bn, probably still not enough? Smoking was said to kill about 120,000 annually (although I suspect that figure is falling). That is an awful lot of ill-health to be treated before they finally shuffle off

          ‘Morning, BSK.

      3. How about putting all revenue from tobacco and alcohol taxes into a special medical service for the exclusive use of smokers and drinkers?

      4. ‘Moaning, Annie. Setting aside for the moment whether or not smokers and heavy drinkers have paid enough towards their almost inevitable treatment costs, what about those numpties on the ‘see food’ diet, from whom no additional tax revenue has been derived as they gorge themselves to the point of exploding? We are told that one third of our population are overweight or obese…surely they are way ahead in the race to bring down the NHS?

      5. ‘Moaning, Annie. Setting aside for the moment whether or not smokers and heavy drinkers have paid enough towards their almost inevitable treatment costs, what about those numpties on the ‘see food’ diet, from whom no additional tax revenue has been derived as they gorge themselves to the point of exploding? We are told that one third of our population are overweight or obese…surely they are way ahead in the race to bring down the NHS?

    1. Quite funny, but fake nooz, I’m afraid. He did say in 2017 that all non-English speaking migrants that come to Britain should learn English.

      1. 321839+up ticks,
        Afternoon A,
        Is it fake news or a forewarning of reality of the near future seeing as an instruction manual lies
        between the two dispatch boxes and halal items are on the canteen menu ?

      1. 321839+ up ticks,
        Afternoon AOE,
        Some people actually said bojo made them laugh
        make him PM, I have a strong feeling that laughter is going to come to an abrupt end at years end.

  42. 321839+up ticks,
    breitbart,
    UK’S BORIS JOHNSON: CORONAVIRUS ‘SECOND WAVE’ STARTING IN EUROPE

    But rest assured priti is doing her best, shouting from the Dover clifftops
    go back, go back… quietly.

  43. Here’s an interesting allegation… does anyone know if it’s true ?

    “Well said,and nothing has ever been said in the S$ro’s mates owned or controlled media about the meet up with S$ro’s and Heseltine many years ago,probably the same hotel, back when Heseltine was on one of his worst cash strapped times with a queue of debt collectors banging on his big house door,just after their short ‘getting to know’ you meeting all of Heseltine’s debts were cleared,with cash in his bank and many lucrative doors suddenly opened,a certain UK lady PM,that just happened to be slowing down G. S$ro’s and his ultra mates ‘EU Project’ got stabbed in the back by Heseltine Major,Hurd and co.”

  44. Now I admit I have sometimes been called a cynic but I expect an almighty spike(spoke) in corner shops in inner city areas registering as “Cycle repair specialists”
    Of course families that cycle together stay together,from great,great grandad Mo and his wife Fatima cascading down the generations to Mini Mo…………
    As for Lammy’s infamous taxpayer bike………………….

  45. Ancient microbes raise hope of life on Mars

    ANCIENT 100-million-year-old microbes which have lain dormant since the time of the dinosaurs have been revived by scientists, raising hopes life could be found on Mars.

    Japanese and US researchers collected minute life forms from sediments 328ft beneath the ocean floor within the South Pacific Gyre.

    Although they expected the microbes to be fossilised, the team was astonished to find that when incubated, the tiny organisms came to life.

    Let me get this right. Microbes, that existed before the time of dinosaurs, have been brought back to life? How much stupider can mankind get?

    Why are we, as a species, so hell-bent on gaining knowledge for knowledge’s sake? Despite the evident inherent dangers, such as ‘awakening’ an unknown microbe which could possibly wipe out life on the planet, we go ahead anyway.

    Having said that, we are the only species to have developed nuclear weapons. Have we become programmed for self-annihilation?

    1. If it wriggles and is not a whisk, they’ll serve it up for dinner in China.

    2. 321839+ up ticks,
      G,
      “Have we become programmed for self annihilation”
      As the voting pattern continues, lab/lib/con unabated, what more evidence would one want ?

    5. “Then, just two years later, an even older microbe came to light – this time thought to be a remarkable 3.5 million years old.
      It was unearthed by Russian scientist Anatoli Brouchkov. The bacteria came from ancient permafrost at a site known as Mammoth Mountain in Siberia.
      Brouchkov has even injected himself with the 3.5-million-year-old microbe, known as Bacillus F, in the hopes that the “eternal life” bacteria will work their magic and extend his lifespan too.
      He had already tested the inactivated form of the bacteria on mice, fruit flies and human blood cells with promising results. He claims that he has not caught the flu in the two years since his self-treatment with the ancient microbe.”
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/story/20160602-some-lifeforms-may-have-been-alive-since-the-dinosaur-era
      My bold.

      1. Not catching ‘flu in a two-year period is the norm, not evidence of the magical properties of an ancient bacillus.

    6. Lawrence Wright wrote a novel along those lines where a long gone virus from yonks ago was unearthed. Just say it did not end well.

      The End of October, published earlier this year.

    7. Fire up the Quattro !

      But IMHO Mars is where humans came from “in the beginning”.
      ‘Chariots of the Gods’ and all that/
      After they wrecked that planet they invaded the earth.
      I find it very difficult to believe that such precision was achieved when cutting rocks and stones thousands of years ago when pyramids and other such structures were built.

      1. Of course, if you believe the science fiction of Erich Anton Paul von Däniken, then anything is possible.

        1. None of theories have disproven, and you really have to wonder how thousands of miles across the oceans the Egyptians and the Mayo’s where building similar constructions in a similar era. And cutting rocks and stones with such precision. And by what means ? These were made by several pre-Columbian cultures including the Olmecs, Maya, Toltecs, and Aztecs. 1000 BC. And the people there even resembled those of Egypt.

          1. Consider the accuracy to which colossal slabs of stone were carved with impeccable precision to build our cathedrals (not to mention lifting them into position at great height) in the 11th–14th centuries when technology was in its infancy.

            All I can say in answer to those extra-terrestrial theories is that at no stage has science detected any form of life anywhere in the observable universe other than on our own ‘goldilocks-zone’ planet earth.

            No other body in our own solar system has the support mechanisms for life — especially intelligent life — to exist, let alone perform acts of sophisticated civil engineering.

            If intelligent life does exist outside of our solar system then to reach us would take a phenomenal effort of unimaginable speed, unfeasible endurance and preposterous longevity; all concepts which are beyond the bounds of science.

            Also, Erich von Däniken has been denounced as a fantasist by most eminent scientists.

          2. People in the Egyptian age of civilisation were just as intelligent or as stupid as people are now. They made use of the technology that was available at the time, and their craftsmen were very skilled.

      2. We know how stone was cut because there are examples of stones being excavated. A famous example is a huge block at Baalbek which was partially formed before being abandoned on discovery of a fault.

        Thousands of slave labourers were used each hammering the block with harder stones.

    1. When Hancock says ‘secured’, does he mean the government has guaranteed options on the vaccine or has he already committed the taxpayer to buying 60 million doses of something which only has potential at this stage?

    2. BBC reporting this morning that it won’t be available until the second half of next year. Not much good for this year.

  47. Registration on the first day back at school in London, England….

    Ahmed Al Sheriah ………………………………”here”

    Mustafa Al Sheriah ……………………………..”here”

    Fatima El Bindiri ………………………………..”here”

    Ali Acmah Shabeeb ……………………………”here”

    Ali Sun Al En ……………………..No answer
    Ali Sun Al En?

    Little girl at the back stands up and yells …….. “It’s pronounced Alison Allen, for fuck sake !”

  48. “I’m proud to be Asian.” Said the Asian.

    “I’m proud to be black.” Said the African.

    “I’m proud to be white.” Said the racist.

    2. It’s pointless to compare an overcrowded island like Gt Britain with its 67 million population, with small islands like Ireland and New Zealand – population only 5 million, and it’s on the edge of the world. We are what we are, an international hub with people arriving from all over the world. This is why our infection rate and death toll was so high.

      The British people have always travelled the world, and they’re not likely to stop now.

      We’ve been criticised by Remainers and EU people for being an “offshore island”, “isolationist” and “Little Britain” but we are anything but.

    3. There will be no “wiping out” – how long has it taken to not-quite get rid of Smallpox, for example – and smallpox doesn’t mutate annually… Just gonna have to live with it, like “ordinary” Flu.

      1. It’s not over till it’s over! This thing could keep going for an unknown period.. No vaccine is guaranteed!.

          1. I seem to remember that the last person to die of smallpox in the UK was a lab technician who caught it from one of those samples.

          3. There’ve been cases of people with Monkey pox in parts of Africa though and isn’t that a close relative?

          5. I was taught that vaccinations were for smallpox only (vacc being the cow part) – anything else for other diseases was called n immunizations.

          6. The two terms seem to be interchangeable nowadays, but I can see where that came from.

  50. Just back from W/rose. Wearing a face mask for the first time since I retired 7 years ago; felt like old times. The only problem was my specs misted slightly when I bent forward to read labels on the bottom shelves. People who are kicking up about wearing masks with no relevant medical contraindications are making a load of disruptive fuss about nothing.

          5. The exemptions in the government regulations are extremely broad and vague and no proof is required. As with so many things these days, one self-identifies. I know some folk strongly disagree but I figure as shopkeepers are not required to police the regs, if they get arsey about it then they deserve the loss of trade.

          6. Absolutely Sue! The back of the fag packet pronouncements are driving normal people nuts! No joined up thinking and absolutely nothing resembling what the average person thinks.

          7. I have a friend who hates wearing them, genuinely has anxiety issues, and has printed out an ‘exemption’ card.

            I’m happy to use them when there’s a genuine need. I actually have a 3M full face respirator with gas/vapour cartridges plus N95 particulate filters, principally because I was burning off a lot of (prolly lead-containing) paint, but I’m not about to wear it on the bus. ‘Face coverings’, as mandated by our ridiculous government, are worse than useless.

            I had a three hour train journey from Devon last weekend, and wore the required muzzle, but it was far from pleasant, my specs were constantly steamed up, rebreathing CO2, and the only respite was when I removed it to eat my lunchtime sandwich. As for shops, I shall simply buy online. The CofE now ‘strongly advises’ that they be used in church, but we haven’t restored normal service yet, singing isn’t likely to be allowed in the foreseeable future, and choirs are being disbanded, so I guess I’ll stay at home. Until the Church throws me out of said home, which may yet happen…

          8. I shall be emailing the rector to send my apologies for this Sunday and until the face covering diktat is repealed. I found the brief foray into the supermarket bad enough; the thought of sitting through even the shortened service is just too much.

          9. Have you not faced “mask rage” – people shrieking at you for being a risk?

      2. Brian in New Tricks was described by his wife, Esther;

        “He’s never happy but when he’s grumbling. And even then he’s not best pleased.“

      1. I find them annoying too, not only from steamed up glasses but wearing hearing aids it’s hard to just pull the mask off without entangling them!

          4. Shirley, an N95 mask with an exhaust valve, totally defeats the object of we, the great unwashed, wearing them? We’re supposedly protecting others from our virus. Admittedly, it’s all bollox, but nevertheless…

          3. No, it was taken in the backstreets of Barcelona when I visited friends there for my 60th birthday.

    3. Used one for the first time yesterday in a supermarket. Didn’t like it one bit. Can’t see myself getting ‘used to it’, so will be making the bare minimum of shopping trips.

      PS would feel the same way even if I considered they weren’t just for show.

      1. I started off wearing the mask fairly philosophically but each time I wear it I find it is worse than the time before and I feel more suffocated. I admit that my problem is entirely psychological but it is no less of a problem for that.

        1. You’re supposed to wear a new one each time, Rastus. Wearing the same one repeatedly means it only gets clogged.

          3. Good afternoon, Peddy

            The freshness of the mask does not seem to make any difference.

  52. When I was moaning about sub-surface moles, I was trying to describe the behaviour. Instead of being a foot or more underground, the present gang (of Pikey moles) are only about an inch below the surface – creating ridge all over the grass. Virtually impossible to trap/kill. Just a damned nuisance.

    In the past, there have been occasional sub-surface – but this year they all seem to be at it.

    2. Yo Bill

      If only you could eradicate the the following moles.

      Treason May

      David cameron

      Boris the Buffoon

    4. Some cats are good at catching moles but our Chaucer was completely useless – but he was very good at catching rabbits for Rumpole to eat.

      The fact that there are literally over 20 sure ways of catching or trapping moles is proof that there is actually no solution that really works and the brutes have no natural predators.

    6. My cat will catch them from afar and bring them to the house, whereupon they will dig themselves in and creates their havoc locally. The only solution is to take them off the cat as soon as he arrives with them and take them far away.

  53. And so it goes on and on and on……….

    Yahoo! News UK
    Men jailed over kidnap and ‘sickening’ torture of young couple that lasted two days
    Andy Wells 45 mins ago

    Arbaaz Chauhan (left), Matis Cohene (centre) and Shaan Khanyal (right) pleaded guilty to robbery, kidnap and false imprisonment. (SWNS) Arbaaz Chauhan (left), Matis Cohene (centre) and Shaan Khanyal (right) pleaded guilty to robbery, kidnap and false imprisonment. (SWNS)
    A gang who kidnapped a young couple at a house party before subjecting them to a two-day ordeal have been jailed.

    Shaan Khanyal and Arbaaz Chauhan, both 24 and from Coventry, pleaded guilty to robbery, kidnap and false imprisonment at Warwick Crown Court and were sentenced on Monday.

    Matis Cohene, 18, of Coventry, who was only 15 at the time of the incident in October 2017, also pleaded guilty to the same offences.

    Khanyal told a woman who attended the party that she owed money for the food and drinks, and she and her partner agreed to hand over £30 by the end of the month, West Midlands Police said.

    However, Khanyal insisted on meeting the pair, who were both aged 19, at a flat in Radford rather than be sent a bank transfer.

    When they arrived, the couple were told to deactivate the location settings on their phones as they handed over the money before the man was taken for a drive “to be taught a lesson”.

    a man posing for the camera: Arbaaz Chauhan (left) and Shaan Khanyal (right) were jailed for robbery, kidnap and false imprisonment. (West Midlands Police)© Provided by Yahoo! News UK Arbaaz Chauhan (left) and Shaan Khanyal (right) were jailed for robbery, kidnap and false imprisonment. (West Midlands Police)
    Chauhan took the man in his Audi A3 back to his home address before using a Taser all over his body and hitting him with a steering lock, knocking him out.

    The group of men then stripped the man naked and threw eggs and flour at him.

    The gang stole his PS4, jewellery and other property, and he was forced to dress in his girlfriend’s clothes before being taken to an ATM where he was made to withdraw £240.

    He and his girlfriend were then taken to another house where the boyfriend was burned with a cigarette and slapped.

    MORE:Widow of PC Andrew Harper asks Boris Johnson for retrial of teenage killers

    The couple were then ordered to close their eyes, and the girlfriend was told a gun with a silencer had been put against her head.

    The next day a man called ‘Max’ threatened the girlfriend before subjecting her to more humiliating abuse.

    Daniel Oscroft, prosecuting, said: “Max produced a butcher’s knife and held it to her throat and she was told to write down the names of everyone she had told about the previous day.

    “Khanyal then poured juice over her and Chauhan squeezed talc over her head.

    a large building: The gang were sentenced at Warwick Crown Court. (Flickr)© Provided by Yahoo! News UK The gang were sentenced at Warwick Crown Court. (Flickr)
    “They opened the attic and told her to go up, but she would not go.”

    Hours later the gang cut off her long blonde hair and sprayed Fabreze air freshener into her mouth.

    A Taser was then used on the boyfriend’s genitals before the gang stole more of their valuables.

    The next day the couple were released and they reported the ordeal to police.

    In a victim impact statement, the male victim said: “Because of these events I have moved away from Coventry and my friends and family.

    MORE: Government signs deal for 60 million doses of coronavirus vaccine

    “I have had to start a whole new life, and I suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.”

    Khanyal was sentenced to 10 years and five months in prison, while Chauhan was sentenced to nine years for the same offences. The teenager was given a two-year detention and training order.

    DC Richard Walker, from force CID, said: “This was an absolutely sickening sustained attack on two people who had done nothing wrong. They were hounded, harassed and humiliated and I hope the prison sentences offer them some comfort after what they went through.

    “I am glad to see these men behind bars and I would always urge anyone who has ever been subjected to anything of this nature to come forward. We will always do all we can to find those responsible.”

  54. No, it’s 14 days’ quarantine for returners from Spain after all. 17.00 News.

    1. People are avoiding hospitals, not illogical, bearing in mind that the DT openly reported a case of a French Doctor who tried to switch off the ventilator of a named 58 year old patient, who survived. (Malika Fisli, in Brest)

    2. People are avoiding hospitals, not illogical, bearing in mind that the DT openly reported a case of a French Doctor who tried to switch off the ventilator of a named 58 year old patient, who survived. (Malika Fisli, in Brest)

  57. Donald Trump pulls 12,000 troops out of Germany and slashes presence there by a third because Angela Merkel is ‘delinquent’ on NATO spending. 29 July 2020.

    The U.S. will bring about 6,400 forces home and shift about 5,600 to other countries in Europe, U.S. defense leaders said Wednesday, detailing a Pentagon plan that will cost billions of dollars and take years to complete.

    The decision fulfills President Donald Trump’s announced desire to withdraw troops from Germany, largely due to its failure to spend enough on defense.

    A number of forces will go to Italy, and a major move would shift U.S. European Command and Special Operations Command Europe from Stuttgart, Germany, to Belgium.

    I’ve always thought that post war German prosperity was a product of making profits while the UK picked up the defence bill.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8572353/Officials-US-bringing-6-400-troops-home-Germany.html

      3. I miss those Sunday radio programmes where messages were exchanged between BFPO whatever and relatives in the UK.

        Edited thanks to advice from Conway. I had a real problem translating correct BBC pronunciation for us poor buggers in the West Country. One of my masters at Technical school was Mr Leyshon. I spelled his name as Leisham until corrected. Yup, German was the language we were taught.

    2. The German government has been short changing NATO by approximately 24,000,000,000 euro per annum. (Depending on your figures for GDP and the military budget).
      That pays for a whole lot of first class health care, while Americans have been dying from Covid because their Federal government has had to subsidise Deutschland.

      2. Only the US really exceeds NATO guidelines on defence spending and thats been the case for years. Of course lots of that US spending is not directly related to NATO.

        A handy graphic:

        https://static.euronews.com/articles/stories/03/98/58/46/808x511_cmsv2_9c2e96c1-ba01-594f-91dd-bd7cee60c84a-3985846.jpg

        Only the UK can really be said to be holding up our end in comparison to the other Big Boys – France, Germany and Italy.

        Greece spends more, but only in percentage terms. A lot of that is to do with its deep trust of beloved NATO ally Turkey.

        Estonia also does well, again, that’s in percentage terms only. Since it’s a tiny country that doesn’t make much difference to the overall NATO situation.

      3. Only the US really exceeds NATO guidelines on defence spending and thats been the case for years. Of course lots of that US spending is not directly related to NATO.

        A handy graphic:

        https://static.euronews.com/articles/stories/03/98/58/46/808x511_cmsv2_9c2e96c1-ba01-594f-91dd-bd7cee60c84a-3985846.jpg

        Only the UK can really be said to be holding up our end in comparison to the other Big Boys – France, Germany and Italy.

        Greece spends more, but only in percentage terms. A lot of that is to do with its deep trust of beloved NATO ally Turkey.

        Estonia also does well, again, that’s in percentage terms only. Since it’s a tiny country that doesn’t make much difference to the overall NATO situation.

  58. Walked into Cromford for the paper and it’s absolute chaos!
    BT are having conduit for fibre optic put in and it’s a three way temporary traffic light system in the middle of the place.
    This of course has caused the predictable gridlock when pillocks coming down the Via Gellia don’t have the gumption to hold back and not block the road to oncoming traffic getting past parked vehicles on Water Lane.
    I’ve no idea what it is like coming off the A6, but coming down Cromford Bank t’other day it was backed up at least half a mile.

    1. Sheer barbarism.

      I agree there is no way that decent God fearing Christians should be expected to live alongside cruel and sadistic savages in a civilised society.

      1. 321839+ up ticks,
        Evening R,
        I am sure the Marines would agree with you but
        no way would any lab/lib/con politico.

      1. Never forget that was said several hundred years before islam existed! Christianity is an astonishingly modern religion when you look into the heart of it.

        1. Islam is a plagiarised concoction of Judaism and Christianity, but without the compassion and concept of forgiveness.

          1. “It is a manual for fascism, with plagiarised parts from religions in order that it can own people body AND soul.” said an ex muslim in my hearing.

      2. 321839+ up ticks,
        Evening A,
        Much used by me when a large segment of the herd were castigating & trying to take down Tommy Robinson.

          1. There’s an item on the DT site today which refers to ‘peddling’, when it means ‘pedalling’. Thanks for knowing the difference…

          8. Peddling – is that being pedantic in German or Swedish? or, is that peddying?

          4. Gallows Humour:

            Often it helps when nothing else will

            You are a hero and a star

          5. Neither a hero nor a star. I could have controlled the diabetes better, or so I’m told.
            The prosthetic feet have nail beds, but no actual nails, and the buggers never grow…

          6. Neither a hero nor a star.

            I think, that lots of nottlers will disagree with you on that, Geoff

          8. Can we please drop these tyred bike puns please. Put a brake on them and crank up something else in a higher gear before this thread becomes derailled?

          13. I had a French Motobecane scooter. My younger brother called it a ‘Moto be gone’. He had a point; it was slow and struggled on the steep inclines of Bath.

          15. Precisely. Very good downhill but a bugger on an incline.

            I wish I had kept the Motobecane because in our mad world some effing idiot would prize it as an antique. I could see the thing being bought for thousands by American Pickers.

          18. This is gearing up to be a winner – that’s what my drug dealer medical expert said. His arm is very strong.

  61. In Arkansas, Senator Tom Cotton has caused controversy by describing slavery as ‘a necessary evil’.

    Come election day, I doubt many black folks in Arkansas will be picking Cotton.

  62. 321839+ up ticks,
    May one ask, this increase was well established as rapidly rising over the last 20 years did the electorate not question their vote pattern regarding these governance parties, and the obvious path they were taking.
    If they did then they were voting purely to keep in / deny each other party power, resulting ultimately in a horrendous cost to the Country which we are currently witnessing.

    UK Violent Protests up 1,700 Per Cent in 20 Years

    4. Never heard it without the Lani Hall vocals on the 007 film soundtrack. It’s a real revelation listening to the orchestral version. Absolutely beautiful.

      Oops, I meant Rita Coolidge. She sang the lyrics (by Tim Rice) in Octopussy at a much faster tempo than in the instrumental version posted by Bob3.

  64. This evening’s PM programme on Radio 4 featured an odd report. It started as though it was intended to discredit Johnson & Co even further but it was a curiously inconclusive piece. The charge was (once again) that the lockdown came too late and resulted in the worse death total in Europe and that the reason for the delay was the fear of the public suffering ‘lockdown fatigue’. The BBC could find no evidence for this so it was all BJ’s fault…except that interviewees were not particularly supportive. There was even a dissenting voice – Carl Heneghan of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, who doubted the effectiveness of the tactic.

    It seemed to be rather half-hearted, as though even the BBC is beginning to tire of trying to pin all the blame on the government. I’d rather we heard a serious discussion on the scandal of the dodgy death certificates but I suspect we’ll have a long wait for that.

    1. Of course it’s not Boros’ fault. It can ‘t be because everything is being arranged by Bill Gates.

  65. I said to the wife on your way home bring back some horse radish and some face coverings
    And what did i get

    … Mascarpone

    1. Hope it isn’t a one way walk……. I know how children think…… Did she ask about your will before she suggested the walk?

    3. Cancel the life insurance and change the will, then tell her what you’ve done before you go out with her!

      :-))

  67. I am off for the day. Turned out quite nice in the end, when the bloody wind dropped. Let us hope for better things tomorrow, when I go to Fakenham Market.

    A very jolly last half hour on the bike pun fest. Sorry no one could bring fish into the net.

    A demain – should I be spared.

  68. Well we’ve only got 262 Comments on the board. This I think is mostly due to their being nothing in the MSM to comment on. Is this deliberate or just a glitch in the Propaganda department?

        1. Just unloaded the car from shopping in a t-shirt. It’s quite pleasant out.

  69. Had a busy morning ..

    Masked shopping in Weymouth, traffic was terrible, holiday makers have nowhere to park , everyone jostles for parking spaces.

    Not so in supermarket car park , easy, but oh dear the shopping was painful, and my glasses kept steaming up, and with every one but the shop staff wearing masks , it was quite a dystopic experience. People are fearful of the so called 2nd spike.

    Moh played golf this morning , he is home now relaxing a Town like Alice is on the box BBC2.. they don’t make films like that anymore , and to think what the Japanese are like now , and what they have contributed to the world in the past 65 years.

  70. Have just read about two hundred Chinese fishing vessels threatening marine life around the Galapagos Islands. They are taking endangered shark species and pretty much anything that swims.

    Ecuador is on alert.

    These Chinese are everywhere, stripping the world of resources at an alarming rate.

    2. Yer Chinese have banned shrimps (or some sort of shellfish) from Ecuador because they were poisoned.

  71. Christopher Biggins has written a column about the racist antisemitism
    on social media by the musician Wiley but used a photo of Kano by
    mistake.

    Sorry, I meant Owen Jones, not Biggins. Those queer honkeys all look the same to me.

  72. Rugby without scrums. That’ll be fun to watch..

    Actually, now that scrums seem to take up about a third of the match – perhaps it might make the game faster…..

    Or they could ban handling the ball – on will only be allowed to kick it…. Gosh – finding an appropriate name will be tricky.

    1. If there were no scrums they wouldn’t need all the heavyweights that can’t run

    1. There’s only one thing worse than shopping, and that’s shopping with a face mask.

      2. I agree; I had to go shopping for some items for MOH and wearing a mask made what was never a pleasant experience positively awful.

    2. You can join in at home.

      Put your heel in a mask with one loop over the big toe and one over the little toe.

      You soon feel like one of us.

    3. Have you thought of getting one of those electric vehicles – that are used to terrorise pedestrians?

    1. Johnny, please repost this tomorrow, it deserves
      a larger audience.
      [I had not heard of this until you posted it.]

      Edited.

    2. The scene of the first great post ww2 betrayal

      Where are the Poles?? Where are 11 Corps??

      Many know of the contribution of the Polish pilots,what of the 10,000 dead and wounded on the slopes of Monte Cassino??

      “This soil was won for Poland

      Though Poland is far away

      For freedom is measured in crosses

      When history from justice does stray”

      https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/Monte_Cassino_-_cemetery.JPG/795px-Monte_Cassino_-_cemetery.JPG

      1. I think you will find they were all there at the head of the parade if they wanted to be.

  77. Evening, all. The Connemara did some good work this afternoon; he even managed a few strides of extension in trot (he finds that difficult).

  79. Apologies if some one has alredy posted this today (have bee out most of the day and not enough time to read all the comments) – for all those unhappy with the compulsory face masks I have just discovered someone has set up a petition – https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/331430?fbclid=IwAR2LfAFTjWkr2n9uVykXgCkou1vBA7AKnyUpe6wev75DhF_coKUo9JTjKQA
    It’s at about 20,000 at the mo.

    Rather late for most Nottlers to see it – so if anyone wants to post it again tomorrow feel free as I won’t be around much tomorrow either.

    1. Does Woke Architecture have any particular characteristics that define it over and above the usual modern rubbish.

    1. We’ll never see that mentioned in the MSM or on the TV.
      An uncomfortable truth.

      1. Well the Telegraph is now reporting that 21,000 people have died because of the lockdown panic rather than covid 19.

        1. What did they expect? We on this blog we’re talking about that from day one. They all live in their tiny, inward looking, bubble insulated from the real world. They are being manipulated as much as we are. This virus will be with us forever and they’d better get used to it but they will never admit they were wrong.

  82. Did you know that UK taxpayers are investing in a women dominated web site?

    No wonder BT Openreach is asking the Government for enough broadband funding to reach those parts of the populace that other service providers cannot reach.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/29/business/sex-party-company-future-fund/index.html

    Here’s a more tasteful meme from the web site killingkittens.com

    Time to say goodnight…💨

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1c93a4ade9569fda6a2114de7cd11719f34a0570abab76a113c28077e3488a53.jpg

    https://www.killingkittens.com/

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