Wednesday 29 March: Don’t blame retirees for the Bank of England’s failure to tackle inflation

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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680 thoughts on “Wednesday 29 March: Don’t blame retirees for the Bank of England’s failure to tackle inflation”

      2. Seven eights? Fifteen sixteenths? Thirty one thirty-seconds? I think we should be told, Tom. Lol.

  2. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Let’s Put The World To Rights

    An Emergency Call Centre worker in London has been dismissed from her job, much to the dismay of colleagues who are reportedly unhappy with her treatment.

    It seems a male caller dialled 999 from a mobile phone stating, “I am depressed and lying here on a railway track. I am waiting for the train to come so I can finally meet Allah.”

    Apparently “Please remain calm and stay on the line” was not considered to be an appropriate or correct response…

  4. Morning, all Y’all.
    Knee-deep snow fell overnight. Took ages clearing the car.

    1. Elsie’s Tip of the Day: Try using the garage to park your car in overnight, Herr Oberst! Lol.

      1. SWMBOs little red car lives in the garage. Mine and Second Son’s stand out in the weather.

  6. ‘Morning, Peeps. We are, allegedly, due to experience a heady 13°C here today, but I’ll believe it when it happens. (Now, where did I put those shorts and flip flops, just in case?)

    It looks as though it is finally starting to dawn on even our thickest politicisns that Not Zero is a rubbish idea after all, and this could be the start of some very welcome back-pedalling. This article appeared late in yesterday’s DT:

    Net zero ban on petrol cars in chaos after Brussels climbdown

    Proposals to ditch internal combustion engines face crisis following ‘e-fuels’ exemption in EU

    By
    Daniel Martin,
    DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR ;
    Howard Mustoe
    and
    Oliver Gill,
    CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT
    28 March 2023 • 9:46pm

    A looming British ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars was thrown into chaos on Tuesday after Brussels watered down its own restrictions amid opposition from the German auto industry.

    Experts and politicians warned that British rules due to take effect in 2030 are untenable following the European climbdown, which will allow internal combustion engines as long as they burn carbon-neutral petrol alternatives.

    The European Union will now ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2035 but permit these so-called e-fuels following a backroom compromise forced on it by the German authorities and signed off on Tuesday night.

    Sources suggested that Whitehall was considering following the Commission’s lead by also allowing an e-fuel exemption. British carmakers Aston Martin and McLaren are already understood to be examining e-fuels as an option for powering future models.

    Critics of the Government’s net zero plans seized on the European Union’s decision as evidence that a total policy rethink is needed, while campaigners including Greenpeace have said that it could slow down electric vehicle adoption.

    It comes as Grant Shapps, the Energy Secretary, prepares to announce new green measures as part of an “energy security day” on Thursday.

    The former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: “The 2030 deadline for the elimination of petrol and diesel engine cars in the UK is simply not achievable.

    “Unless we delay, we hand a massive boost to the Chinese car manufacturers. They are already dominant.”

    Britain is to ban the sale of new cars that run on petrol and diesel only in seven years’ time under plans drawn up by former prime minister Boris Johnson.

    New hybrids will still be allowed until 2035, at which point the UK will only permit fully electric cars and other zero-emission vehicles, such as those which burn hydrogen.

    The EU’s e-fuel exemption will allow a synthetic alternative to petrol which is made by mixing carbon dioxide captured from the air with hydrogen obtained by splitting water molecules using renewable energy.

    This is expected to be far more expensive than petrol, meaning it will initially benefit high-end carmakers whose customers will not be put off by the costs involved.

    However, Benedetto Vigna, the boss of Ferrari, said this week that he expects the price to fall in coming years and experts believe it could be the thin end of a wedge that would allow carmakers to focus on producing lower-cost e-fuels instead of expensive battery powered cars.

    Andrew Graves, a car industry veteran and professor at the University of Bath, said: “I think it’s a very exciting technology that we’re looking at, so that we can not only use it for things like motorsport, but we can also more importantly use it for keeping existing vehicles on the road.

    “I think there’s a lot of things that the Government needs to look at before it goes hell bent on just having a blanket ban on diesel or petrol.”

    Mr Graves added that there is already a risk that not enough electric car chargers and battery-making plants will have been built when the ban takes effect – a problem that may worsen if carmakers sense it is being watered down.

    Brussels’ decision is also likely to raise questions about how enforceable a British ban on petrol and diesel would be if similar rules are not followed in the EU – particularly given the open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, which could facilitate easy movement of new European vehicles.

    It comes as Mr Shapps prepares to unveil ways to speed up Britain’s move towards nuclear energy, including the confirmation that the Government wants 25pc of UK electricity to be generated from nuclear by 2050.

    He will also kick-start the use of small modular reactors in Britain, and improve the country’s capacity for carbon capture storage.

    An announcement on the timetable for sales of new petrol and diesel cars is likely to form part of the package.

    But the EU’s actions will complicate the picture and embolden opponents.

    Sir John Redwood, a former Tory cabinet minister, said: “Britain is in a desperate struggle to keep its car industry, and if we insist on phasing petrol and diesel out well before anyone else, we will find it harder to attract investment.

    “The Government needs to listen to the Germans and take advice on this. The more permissive an economy is, and the fewer bans there are, the better to promote growth.”

    Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley mayor, said: “It comes down to the fact of the importance of a transition. What the Europeans are realising, and what we will realise quite shortly is that a transition is quite important.

    “And a transition can’t be a cliff-edge in 2025 or 2030. It is going to take longer to transition. Not just the technology, but for businesses and the economy to accommodate the abolition of certain technologies.

    “I don’t think it compromises the push to net zero. It just helps people realise that the transition has a longer tail than people realise.”

    The EU climbdown followed months of lobbying by the German government on behalf of its car manufacturing industry. Porsche has invested $75m (£61m) in a pilot plant to make e-fuels.

    The Telegraph understands that the British government is prepared to follow the EU’s lead, with the Department for Transport understood to be amenable towards synthetic fuels so long as the industry can prove that they will be carbon neutral.

    A government spokesman said: “We remain committed to ensuring all new cars and vans are zero emission at the tailpipe by 2035, and have invested more than £2bn to help people switch.

    “Today drivers on England’s motorways and major A roads are never more than 25 miles from a rapid chargepoint, and we expect the charging network to expand tenfold by 2030.”

    Greg Smith, a Tory MP who sits on the transport select committee, said: “Groupthink has dictated battery electric to be the way forward for too long when we’re already seeing the technology fail and not develop at the pace people need.

    “The 2030 ambition isn’t realistic in the first place and we need the innovators and the automotive companies to be given the time and space to produce a time and space and not just jump to the betamax that’s available now.”

    Philip Davies, a member of the Tory net zero scrutiny group, said: “It’s a devil when you’re getting more common sense out of the EU than you are the UK Government. This arbitrary, ridiculous 2030 deadline is idiotic and everybody knows it’s idiotic. Nobody seems to be able to say that the emperor’s got no clothes on, even though everybody can see it.

    “If a rare outbreak of common sense in the EU is what it takes for the Government to change their position, hallelujah to that.”

    In the UK, Bentley is understood to be pressing ahead with its programme of electrification, shunning the extra expense of developing new combustion cars.

    However, sources at Aston Martin and McLaren said the companies are interested in e-fuels.

    Greenpeace described the Brussels climbdown as a “rotten compromise”.

    * * *

    Well, if Greenpeace is unhappy then it must be good news for the rest of us. However, the real question is this : Can our idiot politicians finally break the habits of a lifetime and, just for once, make a sensible decision? The signs are not good, bearing in mind their determination to strangle the economic life out of our country with the monumental insanity of Not Zero in the first place!

    1. My BTL comment:

      One wonders why we are still talking all this Net-Zero nonsense about CO².
      Consider the following:

      Climate Change and You
      The climate ‘science’ is wrong. CO² being 0.04% of the atmosphere is a cause for good, as it is essential for plant life.
      The atmosphere is 78% Nitrogen and 21% Oxygen. The remaining 1% are various trace elements of which CO² is but a small part.

      The greatest cause of any change in the Earth’s climate, is due to the cyclical nature of the Sun’s phases, which may lead to vast differences between ice ages and continual heatwaves

      Check https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2023/03/04/challenging-net-zero-with-science/

      Please feel free to copy and paste this anywhere appropriate.

    2. Good morning Hugh and all.
      As the Germans say, ‘Vorsprung durch technic.’
      ‘Carbon neutral’ and ‘net zero’ – what a load of meaningless tosh.

    3. It was the French who blew up the Rainbow Warrior.
      It’s the Dutch who are kicking off – and at – their stupid government.
      Now the Germans are zapping the NutZero madness.
      Any chance the Blighty sheep could develop a spine?

      1. Not a hope, Annie. In this country to do a special kind of stupid.

        At least we can do something better than the rest.

  9. Don’t blame retirees for the Bank of England’s failure to tackle inflation

    Well like everything else, the high inflation has been inflicted on us as part of the great reset with the high energy prices.

    High energy prices affect everything we do and the cost of everything that is produced.

    1. Good news though – EU accepts that the e-fuels discovered by a German ‘boffin’ can actually replace the electricity formerly used to power the obsolescent EVs heralding in a new era of the combustion engine.

        1. Brilliant; they have all those ‘refugees’ kicking their heels and trying to fill in the long days.
          They’ll be glad to work for a bowl of cabbage soup and a square of rye bread.
          Now … thinking about suitable work clothes …..

  10. Britain is failed by a political class incapable of doing what it promises. 29 March 2023.

    How many crackdowns on anti-social behaviour have to be announced before something is actually done?

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    Lance MacLeod.

    It’s not as complicated as that Philip. The country is being failed by a political class that are so far removed from reality that they wouldn’t even be able to order a cooked breakfast at Weatherspoons.

    None of them could tell a cold from Ebola.

    None of them can formulate a coherent thought around the climate scam.

    None of them can define what a woman is.

    The chap that runs our local corner shop is a better leader and manager than anyone that comes within a country mile of the halls of power.

    Thanks for that Lance! Saved me the trouble of thinking anything up!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/28/britain-failed-political-class-incapable-what-promises/

    1. 372721+ up ticks,

      Morning AS,

      Britain is failed by a political class incapable of doing what it promised, on the 24/6/2016 also.

    2. Corner shops are run by Indians and Sri Lankans these days. So is the ‘government ‘.

    3. IMO the top echelons of the political class of both major parties are following an agenda that is not in accord with their manifestos or their subsequent pledges and promises. Their waffle on every issue and crisis is prepared to calm the electorate into thinking that something will be done: the most egregious manifesto failure is the Channel invasion. So many pledges on this issue, so many failed initiatives from PM to PM and from Home Secretary to Home Secretary that they must not only have lost count but forgotten what they actually “pledged”. Not that they’re embarrassed at all by their deliberate failures.
      As for the voting fodder on the back benches, they appear incapable, or unwilling, of holding their “leaders” to account. Their level of servility towards the upper tier is a disgrace: the Country deserves better, much better.

    4. Thank goodness we now have professional politicians, rather than the part-time ones we had in the past.
      (/sarc)

  11. 372721+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Net zero ban on petrol cars in chaos after Brussels climbdown
    Proposals to ditch internal combustion engines face crisis following ‘e-fuels’ exemption in EU

    Witness the domestic in house politico reptiles cannot operate independent of the brussels agenda.

  12. SIR – Andrew Bailey should not blame early retirees for the rampant inflation that we are currently experiencing.

    The principal reason for inflation was his failure to increase interest rates far sooner. While I am aware that hindsight is a wonderful thing, the Bank of England is undoubtedly responsible for seriously damaging our economy and should not try to deflect its own shortcomings on to the shoulders of others.

    John Hinchsliff
    Longridge, Lancashire

    Quite right, Mr Hinchsliff (sic?) you are spot on. We all knew that the printing of nearly £900bn and all that cheap money sloshing around the system was bound to end in tears. All of us, that is, except for the idiot Bailey. His own retirement should have started after his rank incompetence at the FCA!

  13. SIR – Andrew Bailey should not blame early retirees for the rampant inflation that we are currently experiencing.

    The principal reason for inflation was his failure to increase interest rates far sooner. While I am aware that hindsight is a wonderful thing, the Bank of England is undoubtedly responsible for seriously damaging our economy and should not try to deflect its own shortcomings on to the shoulders of others.

    John Hinchsliff
    Longridge, Lancashire

    Quite right, Mr Hinchsliff (sic?) you are spot on. We all knew that the printing of nearly £900bn and all that cheap money sloshing around the system was bound to end in tears. All of us, that is, except for the idiot Bailey. His own retirement should have started after his rank incompetence at the FCA!

  14. Andrew Bailey points the finger at over-50s

    I am sorry that I am retired, but I am nearly 80.

    I would willingly go back to work, but Government cut-backs, bad planning, bad contracting, following the wrong policies, etc means that we have very little of the Royal Navy left in terms of man- oops person – power and materiel ie , Warships and shipborne aircraft.

    Still, in my dotage I can build Airfix (there are other model makers) kits of ships and aircraft on yesteryear

    1. at 82 I would still be driving a recovery truck if it wasn’t for my dodgy back

    2. Morning OLT

      In the commercial flying world , Moh had to retire at 58.. as did they all.

      He has been a long time retired from flying , yet still is alerted by the sound and sight of helos.

      He was retired for 3 years and felt as if he was going mad so he got another job .. driving a bus transporting elderlies to a day centre untill he was 70 years old .

      It was a learning curve and gave him huge insight into the very many problems that elderly people have .

      Many older retired bods have jobs ..

      We all have to just keep battling on , the only trouble is past pension age , paid employment can have adverse probs with the pension .

      Voluntary work in what ever capacity is taken for granted whilst CEO’s have huge salaries and perks.

  15. The old should retire at 60 to be replaced by young people. They should start work at 16.

  16. 372721+ up ticks,

    Shades of All our yesterdays ?

    King Charles to dine with ‘cherished’ German cousins during state visit
    Monarch will also speak at the Bundestag and receive a ceremonial welcome and military honours

  17. Jaw-droppingly disrespectful, the new Great Expectations is wilfully ignorant of the truth. 29 March 2023.

    There’s nothing like curling up on the sofa of a Sunday night to watch the dramatisation of a classic novel on the telly, is there? Especially when this winter has seemed so bleak and endless. Well, the new BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens is certainly nothing like watching the dramatisation of a classic novel. So jaw-droppingly disrespectful to one of our most dazzling authors, so wilfully ignorant of the Victorian era, so dankly disappointing to the hopes of viewers wishing to be reunited with a beloved story; indeed, the first episode of the series was so rampantly unfaithful to the original that the only surprise is they didn’t change the title as well. Low Expectations, anyone?

    I’m not a fan of Great Expectations which is depression in print. It should be avoided in any form by anyone suffering existential angst. It’s so bad that Dickens had to write another ending to cut down on the number of people throwing themselves off London Bridge after reading it. This said I won’t be watching it anyway since it is the Woke Version, complete with a mixed race Estella, the original Ice Queen. These adapted productions are of course a part of the process of the destruction of the English People, intended to subvert their history and sense of themselves. One imagines the Chinese watching this process with profound envy and approval!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2023/03/28/jaw-droppingly-disrespectful-new-great-expectations-wilfully/

    1. When I saw the trailer I knew straight away what their stupid game was.
      I’ve seen Great Expectations many times before and come away with mixed feelings.
      But Typical of the bbc they know how to annoy the public, they fiddle with everything they can and go out of their way to change original formats.
      It mainly shows how ignorant they all are. And once again this emphasis the need for the ending of the compulsory licence fee payments. Let them try and support their own ridiculous ideology with Pay to View. There’s no one working their with the guts to stand up and try it.

      1. Me too, Eddy. Wokery on speed!
        The trailer was more than enough to persuade me that my blood pressure wasn’t up to it. Someone was desperate to be talked about and they didn’t care how they achieved it. I’m surprised he didn’t msnage to include a reference to the climate emergency and all that drivel. Just like so much of BBC output now – cimpletely unwatchable.

    2. It’s my favourite Dickens and I will not watch all this BBC drivel. Joe Gargery is an unsung hero of English Lit.

  18. ‘Morning All

    Medley Time

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/82f87a35900fed93e8ca039a8bbc9a50a43234d7b84265e4e3ad36c537b1f46c.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3369a6a44de1a4a8957efb605cc0d132fd14692fdc82c61f572714c10536d9c0.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/59320f8a92f8f9abda14bac52d44eff2c0af6869674a722e7c20e860f2a7ef38.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/871051035d96e373ebe716c7737827ae8c1b908ffa09fe53d83152577d8a0731.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1379e991b3eec98d2560102c9b97bc59c472b64c435e37618d5b98ac370278e5.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7207efbf230a0436a20dc3d334205a3cde1bb281c99ce927061238b7873853a6.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9c8a68f383dc0842435d808865ec550fd4f9d6959a481358937eecfcd1c3118d.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f22c352063cb1ce32b8616ff8727ef33e8ca56cdccab7891c4d152e312fe9e0e.jpg

  19. Good morning folks.
    Paul O’Grady MBE has unexpectedly left the building.

    He was 67, going on 17. And he adored animals.

    2. Pleasant man, it’s a great shame that he was part of the process leading to the mess we have today with drag and tranny tyranny.

      1. He was very good using a stream of conciousness uttering filth and insults as well as funny anecdotes. I saw him perform at the Palladium.

        1. We attempted to watch that Sicily prog. Unspeakably awful. Don’t know how you can even contemplate watching.

          They went to Taormina and DIDN’T go to the Greek theatre – the only POINT of the town.

          And they didn’t go to Agrigento as you promised.

          And all the endless, pointless “banter” and “surprises”.And the child turning up in a helicopter

          Remember my golden rule. NOTHING you see on telly is true – and that was borne home a hundred times in this farrago.

          Ugh!

          1. You must have blinked. They did go to Agrigento.

            That ‘child’ is the woman he won ‘Strictly’ with.

            I bet the MR enjoyed it.

          2. She turned it off. Unspeakable drivel. She was speechless.

            But thank you for the suggestion.

          1. His stage persona grew from his upbringing. Working class in Birkenhead. A rough time. Though i believe it was an homage to his mother Mary Savage.

  20. Good morning, all. Late on parade. Grey and dreary – and much the same outside.

    2. 372721+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      Stand by for refugee frog fall out ( raining frogs)

      Frog rain is a rare meteorological phenomenon in which frogs get swept up in a storm, travel miles and then fall from the sky when the clouds release the water.

      Landing in Dover could set off a chain reaction,
      adding to global warming.

  23. G’day all,

    Peeping out of my upstairs study window at Castle McPhee it looks like a murky start, 9℃ according to the Met Office with the wind in the South and rain forecast. Looking forward to the start of the trout season in 3 days.

    Yesterday I popped up this sbstack from Igor Chudov and wondered how long it would take the MSM to latch on. https://substack.com/inbox/post/111115201

    The Gatesograph has it today and it says the planned 2030 ban on ICE cars, which was always the height of stupidity, is ‘in chaos’.
    I hope it’s more than that. Is this a chink of light on the road back to sanity. Or is it a false dawn?

  24. Bush did what Putin’s doing — so why is he getting away? 29 march 2023.

    It was disgracefully dubbed “Operation Iraqi Freedom” by the invading United States military forces, but for millions of Iraqis around the world, it was anything but.

    Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the start of what then-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan described more appropriately as an “illegal” war on Iraq by the US and its allies.

    What we did learn from the war is the abhorrent hypocrisy of labels in conflicts when viewed through a Western lens. This war has, as an Iraqi, plagued my thoughts daily since March 2003. It has left hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead, with millions of others displaced and their lives ruined.

    Images of Baghdad’s night sky lit up by flames, as bombs were indiscriminately dropped more regularly than a ticking clock on the City of Peace, are forever etched in our memories. For weeks, nights turned to day, as Iraqis would pray to make it to the morning alive.

    The years that followed could hardly be forgotten, either. From an oppressive occupation to sectarian governance, the Iraq war has continued to ruin the lives of millions. My own family is now scattered around the world, from Canada to Australia, as a result of the brutal invasion.

    Says it all really!

    https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/3/28/putin-should-be-punished-so-must-bush

  25. Spiked

    Essentially, the BBC’s position is that Big Tech companies like

    Twitter are not strict enough in their regulation of speech. One might

    have thought that the BBC’s duty to be impartial would prevent it from

    broadcasting its biases so clearly. Tellingly, last month, in a hearing

    on online harms and disinformation,

    Marianna Spring told MPs that she never feels hindered in her reporting

    by the BBC’s impartiality rules. This, she says, is because ‘it is not

    about giving equal weight to views where one is false and one is true’.

    It seems that as long as Spring feels she has truth on her side, she

    feels she has no duty to air alternative perspectives.

    In that same session, Spring also said that ‘disinformation is so

    effective because it is emotional and it gets people to react’. This is

    why, Spring added, the BBC has to ‘weaponise those same tactics in the

    journalism we do’. This is a startling admission for a BBC journalist to

    make. Her apparent willingness to ‘weaponise’ emotionalism and

    selective reporting to influence her audience suggests that the BBC is

    sidelining objective journalism and straying into propaganda.

    The one-sidedness of the Panorama documentary is a case in

    point. It selects the testimonies of a handful of Twitter employees, all

    of whom share the same perspective. It takes the single, emotive

    example of misogynist Andrew Tate as emblematic of the broad spectrum of

    content you’ll now encounter on Musk’s Twitter. It also makes no

    attempt to air the case for more free speech on social media. It does

    not even suggest that there might legitimately be a debate on the

    matter.

    The BBC needs to start reining in its biases if it wants to have any hope of retaining the public’s trust.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/03/28/laurie-marianna-spring/

    Ahem

    It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the
    most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the
    amateur spies and nosers−out of unorthodoxy.

    2. It appears that the bbc spend as much time telling lies as Westminster and Whitehall. How on earth did this all happen ?

  26. Good morning all. After yesterday’s miserable dampness, it’s a dry but overcast start with 5½°C outside.

    Jobs today are getting yesterdays chutney jarred up and getting started on getting the logs I brought home at the weekend cut, split & stacked.

    1. Is there anything this stupid man can touch without making a total cock up?

        1. The point being that as Monarch, Chas has no option but to sign laws approved by Parliament.

      1. 372721+up ticks,

        Evening PM,

        None will take a one off payment they’ll be on a monthly %.

  28. So, Scotland has a new ‘First Minister’. Who elected him? Let’s see. The SNP has reportedly 72,000 members only 70% of whom could be bothered to vote. Ash Regan was eliminated and her votes were allocated to second choice giving Scooter White 52%.

    72,000 x 0.7 x 0.52 = 26,208.

    26,208 people out of an electorate of approximately 4,245,000.

    There you have it.

    End devolution. Just end it.

      1. Which is why he is known in our house as Scooter White.

        Of course the other thing which no-one has fastened on to yet is his age -37. He is still a kid. No accumulated wisdom. No experience outside politics apart from having been an O2 call-centre worker!

        What a disaster for my much beloved homeland.

          2. He (Yousaf) probably knew what was on the cards well before it all blew up and got all his friends and distant rellies (i.e. probably just about everyone) to join the SNP and VOTE! – their duty as all part of their conquest of the UK.

      2. TB, Amy Jane Mekelburg is neither a reliable nor reputable source; it is one thing to grumble about other ethnic groups, immigration policies etc, but quite another to spend years generating tweets that border on hatred.

    2. On Monday I greeted a Scot who lives in the neighbourhood. He was pleased that ‘we’ (ie the SNP) had elected a Muslim. It wasn’t the moment for a fact finding interrogation, but somewhat ironic that the man lives outside Scotland, and nevertheless wants independence for those who are left behind.

      1. Tell him the next time you see him that it’s not ‘independence’ since Scotland is not, and never has been, a colony or overseas dependency. It’s secession from a highly successful 316-year-old political union.

        He must be the only Scot in England who wants it. No Scot local to me whom I know does.

      1. Blair and Brown thought Scotland was a rock solid (between the ears) Labour fiefdom.
        Nothing to do with Braveheart, everything to do with gerrymandering.

    4. You are being unfair and misrepresenting the votes needed to secure the position of First Minister. The actual number was 26,032.

    1. One of if not the most boring persons on the planet. Who obviously
      chose politics so he could live off the British taxpayers and probably delve in and out of many other income enhancing opportunities.
      It would be interesting to see what his parliamentary expenses claims amount to each year. But that might be as, or even more boring than he is.
      😉

  30. Morning all 🙂😉
    Oh dear what’s the that much used and well known four letter word…..grey, that’s it.
    The Headline just re-emphasis the blatantly obvious, the ‘They’ eff it up and everyone else gets the blame. What’s next on the list I wonder.

    1. Here you go Eddy

      Shortage of rental properties??

      I would imagine huge swathes of Britain’s Victorian housing stock is

      never going to achieve an EPC rating of C without massive and probably

      prohibitive levels of expenditure.

      “New rental properties will require an Energy Performance Certificate
      (EPC) of C or better by 2025 followed by all tenancies from 2028, even
      though there are questions over the accuracy of EPCs. At present just 40
      per cent of rental homes meet the C rating. The cost will be passed on
      to tenants who may fall behind on their payments and face eviction. ”
      Wise landlords will just sell up that’ll sort out the rental shortage……….

      1. The bungalow I currently rent out was built in the mid 1980s and had new double glazing only a few years ago. Cavity walls etc. EPC is D…

      2. New rental properties will require an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of C or better by 2025 followed by all tenancies from 2028, even
        though there are questions over the accuracy of EPCs. At present just 40 per cent of rental homes meet the C rating.

        Morning Rik. This is typical of the Faux Marxist tyranny that we now live under. At one time all these things were taken care of by things called customers. They looked at what was on offer and if they didn’t like it they went somewhere else. There was a time lag in this of course caused by suppliers having to meet expectations but none of this required interference by the State! This doesn’t just apply to buildings. It describes the whole. The dead hand of Government covers everything. It is why nothing really works any longer.

      3. Something else that the ‘They’ really haven’t thought through.
        I imagine there will be so many loopholes.

      5. I have no idea about EPCs. Are they science, the science or some wonk’s opinion?

      6. We benefited from Gove bumping his gums.
        The owners of the Dower House put it on the market the moment he started rabbiting on about making it harder to get rid of difficult tenants.

      7. When my cottage was assessed in 2014 for Feed-in Tariff, it dropped down two levels because I was not on mains gas. Few rural properties are.

        1. I wonder if the idiots will include facilities for charging electric cars in their assessment.

  31. Apropos the fuss yesterday about the quality of ‘British’ honey and its oversight by the EU: If you buy the mass-produced stuff from the supermarkets, what do you expect?

    For decades we have been buying honey only from local apiarists which can be found in local independent grocers, farm shops and farmers’ markets or it can be bought direct from the producer. The quality is superb and there are interesting regional variations. Whenever we go anywhere in the country we always bring back a couple of jars from the area we have been visiting.

    2. One of my BiL’s kept bees for a few years. It was good honey. I remember the day I sat and watched him dressed in his kit trying to get the hive members interested in going back home after they had swarmed in to a huge group in one of his apple trees.
      Well what else could I do ?

    3. Precisely.
      I know that if I buy Polish (cooking) honey from Lidl, it is not the same as the jars I buy from local producers.

      1. The first time I tried honey as a child it was from a jar of Gale’s that my mother had bought. It was utterly vile and I never touched honey again for decades.

        Years later I couldn’t believe how delicious real honey was. I use it in the recipe when I bake my madeleines.

        1. I suffered exactly the same abuse. It tasted synthetic. I didn’t touch it for years after. Interesting that children can sometimes be more discerning than the parent.

    4. I get my clover honey from a local apiary. The owner also sells me beeswax which I make into wood polish.

      I occasionally buy delicious runny Acacia honey (my favourite) from the supermarket. Lime-tree honey is another favourite.

    4. Have you tried probiotics, Belle? It will improve the Biome in the stomach and may give some relief. You can get them in nice yogurts and drinks.

    2. Unspeakable.

      He can only be doing that as a signal to slammers. I cannot imagine any other normal person publishing photos of themselves taking communion or going to confession.

      The Scots have only themselves to blame.

    2. It’s only £1million a year for 10 years. Quite a lot for a bankrupt such as the Graun but a very modest proportion of the £600 million proceeds from selling Auto Trader.

    3. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving rag. The grauniad readers will be fuming into their organic vegan coffee.

    1. Good morning Eddy,
      While I have never wanted to own a dog, he had such a way with his waits and strays that he could almost have changed my mind.

      1. Having a dog in your life is mainly a great and rewarding experience. But many things out of your control can go wrong.
        But our nearly 13 years old black Lab is sadly on her last legs. But she’s one of the nicest ‘people’ I have known.

        1. Poor Lottie .

          She is doing so well labrador wise.
          Labs usually have a shorter lifespan than spaniels .

          My cousin has just lost his fox red lab, The dog was nearly 12 years old .

          We have to be strong and do the right thing when that time comes .

          My vet had a long talk with me and told me that our furry companions let us know .

          He is quite correct because i have owned spaniels for many decades , and one just knows when that moment comes .

          The largest shock we ever had was when Rhiannah our nearly 16 year old working cocker walked over the rainbow bridge , our remaining w/c one week later collapsed in our bedroom as we were settling down , he scratched his ear then collapsed , tongue lolling , I leapt out of bed , gave him CPR, and breathed my life into him .. but it was instant , he was only 11 years old .. and my vet thought Boosey had died of a broken heart through the loss of Rhiannah .

          My dogs are regarded as similar to grandchildren , because we don’t have any, it is just us .

          2. I’ve just spoken to the veterinary receptionist we will have to take her to them, it’s only about 4 miles away they will examine her and deal with everything appropriately. Including the cremation. We don’t need ashes we have memories and many photographs. She told me we need to administer pain killers but doggo wont touch them if we place them in her food. i’ll try dissolving them in her water she does drink a lot of water now.

        2. That is very sad. Dogs are definitely ‘part of the family’ and always missed.

    2. Not many deaths surprise me, but that one did.
      Overall, he seemed a good egg and it’s a sad day.

    3. Paul O’Grady’s family life at home away from showbiz – with dogs, pigs and alpacas
      Away from the spotlight Paul O’Grady shared his home with a menagerie of pets. D Mirror

      He loved dogging especially. I wonder why they haven’t said what he died from.

      One newspaper said he died from a heart attack – strange way to spell assault from the rear.

        1. He may have been amusing but most people don’t know he was a thief and a paedophile, he worked for three years at a home for disabled and abused children – Jimmy Savile in drag. He was married to a lesbian for 28 years but separated and living with other men for most of that period. That must have been entertaining – Who does what with whom and how?

          1. I thought he was decidedly unfunny. Another so called comedian you couldn’t even crack a smile at. BBC fodder. The stable of unfunny ‘comics’.

      2. “Dogging? . Really, dogging? . Did you see the programme with Peter Kay.

        Tried to post link but no luck. It’s on YouTube.

    4. Paul O’Grady’s family life at home away from showbiz – with dogs, pigs and alpacas
      Away from the spotlight Paul O’Grady shared his home with a menagerie of pets. D Mirror

      He loved dogging especially. I wonder why they haven’t said what he died from.

        2. As the single Welsh young mother said to her amorous friend:

          “Piss off, Boyo. I’ve got to look after what’s left of me virginity!”

          2. I’m guessing you may be correct. It was written in haste and I was too distracted elsewhere to proof-read it.

  37. King Charles wears indigenous bracelet in first portrait. 29 March 2023.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6ff31acf583bdd61ebc19c05b87c88ee1fe89e6d7c93b053295938ccfd8d282d.png

    King Charles III has been depicted wearing an indigenous bracelet in the first portrait to be released since the start of his reign.

    The portrait in oils was completed by artist Alastair Barford in just two weeks after he studied him at work at a Buckingham Palace reception in aid of biodiversity in February.

    The monarch was presented with a bracelet during the event by the Amazon indigenous leader, Domingo Peas.

    Mr Barford included it in his portrait to add context and authenticity, as a symbol of the King’s advocacy on climate change and sustainability.

    “I wished to capture his warmth and sensitivity, the empathy which came across in his interactions with the people he met,” he said.

    “It was important that I captured a sympathetic expression.”

    Actually he looks as if he’s in pain!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/03/29/first-portrait-king-charles-iii-released-alastair-barford/

    2. He’s saying That bloody bracelet is giving me gyp. Which idiot suggested wearing that”?

    3. “Indigenous bracelet”. Not indigenous to these islands or even any part of the commonwealth. Has he been crowned King of the Amazon?

    4. He looks constipated.

      And why a bloody suit? He should be wearing Kingly robes not trying to outdo Alan Sugar !

      1. Do green wellies go with the kingly robes. How else should he dig the garden?

        1. Dig? He has minions for that. He just walks around with his hand in his pocket. And you know what they say about men like that…

      3. How very 20th century. Why does anybody wear a suit, collar and tie in the 21st century? It’s as ridiculous as wearing pantaloons and a ruff. Or as bad as wearing a powdered wig and frock coat.

        1. I like to wear a formal penguin suit on occasion. Last time was for dinner on the Watercress Line (Steam Engine).
          I was very lucky to be lent the Queen Mother’s colours for my cummerband. But that was with a hand tied bow tie.
          I will also wear a black tie to a funeral.
          Other than that…most places are more relaxed now.

    6. Charles was the first British royal or heir to the throne to earn a university degree. He attended Cambridge in 1967, where he read history, archaeology and anthropology, and graduated with a 2:2 degree three years later.

      Anthropology eh?

      The goal of anthropology is to pursue a holistic understanding of what it means to be human by understanding the relationship between human biology, language, and culture.

      Whose bracelet is that .. which tribe does he feel aligned to?

      1. I wear a Maasai bracelet because I support the work their women do and buying stuff in their little shop helps their independence. Anyway I like to wear it. It doesn’t mean I joined their tribe.

        1. The best fan I ever bought was made out of palm leaves by an enterprising Filipino villager.

          I never got mistaken for a local though. That has only happened once when I was abroad, when someone started spouting Norwegian at me, and I only know one word ‘regn’ -a generic word for weather.

          1. I got mistaken for a Moscovite when I was over there; a taxi driver asked me for directions! I had to say “Ya ni znaio”.

      2. Actually, as Head of the Commonwealth, King Charles could rightly wear the baubles of any member tribe he likes, including Great Britain.

        As for the lazy Americanized (sic) use of the word ‘indigenous’, may I remind readers that where I live ‘indigenous’ means traditional English, not any settler or colonialist from overseas, be they Commonwealth members or not.

    7. “Actually he looks as if he’s in pain!”

      That is actually the default-setting on his physog.

    8. BTL from Percival Wrattstrangler

      The new King is a compulsive blunderer. There is nothing he can do without getting egg on his face because he lacks all judgement and common sense.

      I sometimes wonder if his gaffes are deliberate and he is trying to model himself on one of the Goons of whom he was so keen:
      Eccles, Bluebottle, Moriaty or Bloodnok.

        1. Love it. Problem is, people no longer see the insanity in the logic.
          Bluebottle: How do you know you’re sick, Eccles?
          Eccles: I got it written on this plastic stick, Bluebottle.
          Bluebottle: You don’t look like you’re sick, Eccles.
          Eccles: I was when I got the plastic stick, Bluebottle.

      2. Well that’s a patently untrue judgement of the king if ever there was one. But, I have noticed that his opponents are the type who prefer character assassination to fact because, in reality, they have no real argument. And it is cowedly, as his critics well know, to take pot shots that they are comfortable in knowing, he can’t reply to. Such brave souls, so low in ethical behaviour, so typical of todays standards.

      3. Heyup Richard.
        You couldn’t copy and post this on the BTL section could you?

        Sadly, by his obeisance to the EU and WEF, Charles Windsor-Mountbatten has proven himself totally unfit to be King.

    9. Sorry, but it’s not a portrait by a master of the art. Very two-dimensional. Flat. He looks like one of those ‘body doubles’.

    10. Sorry, but it’s not a portrait by a master of the art. Very two-dimensional. Flat. He looks like one of those ‘body doubles’.

    11. Sorry, but it’s not a portrait by a master of the art. Very two-dimensional. Flat. He looks like one of those ‘body doubles’.

    1. Brilliant, Belle! They’ve also returned to Loch of the Lowes near Dunkeld, but not at Loch Arkaig yet!
      Just read this morning that some b*stard on an estate further north has shot a red kite. The cretins don’t seem to understand that kites are scavengers!

          1. How can they be? There are more in my county (Skåne) than anywhere else, but they mind their own business and just get on with life.

            The only plague on this planet is humans.

          4. People are beginning to find them pests (not me, I find them beautful to watch). However, they are all along local main roads scavenging the road kill and frequently swooping down in front of cars. I have seen drivers swerve to avoid them and having some years ago witnessed a head-on crash because a driver swerved to avoid a rabbit I think they are a bit of a hazard.

            BTW, I didn’t think you’d be a Club of Rome supporter.

          5. A. I’ve never seen one swoop road in the road for roadkill in 11 years of living and motoring here.

            B. That’s because I am not a Club of Rome supporter. I voted Leave and I would do so again (despite there not being a single politician of substance in the UK with the brains or balls to “get it done”).

          6. A. I must have seen your share then. It’s not an uncommon occurence on the A4 between Newbury and Marlborough.
            B. Fair enough. It’s just the humans being a plague on the planet bit. That’s the original CoR line.

          7. Eight billion and rising exponentially; destroying biodiversity; killing off all other species; polluting the planet and oceans; etc, etc. That’s not CoR. That is crass, unadulterated idiocy.

          9. I’ve seen a kite swoop down on road kill on the M40 – I nearly hit it as it came right across in front of me.

    2. Do you remember this film Tom?

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_King_of_Scotland_(film)#

      Fond of Scotland as a symbol of resilience and admiring of the Scottish people for their resistance to the English, Amin is delighted to discover Garrigan’s nationality and exchanges his military shirt for Garrigan’s Scotland shirt. Later, Amin invites Garrigan to become his personal physician and take charge of modernising the country’s healthcare system.

      2. Forest Whitaker played the character of His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hajj Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of all the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular superbly.

  40. You will not be surprised to learn that the wealthy, eco-freak, Limp Dumb wanqueur Parris thinks that “blind casting” in plays etc is just wunnerful.

    “Much is being written, I see, about the casting of a black actor, Ashley Thomas, in a new TV adaptation of Great Expectations. Thomas plays Mr Jaggers. There are, he says, textual reasons to think Jaggers may have been black, or at least “of extremely dark complexion”. Well maybe. But who cares? If only those who encourage the casting of people of colour wouldn’t fall back on absolutely the wrong (self-oppressing) reason for doing this. If we must justify casting a black person in a role by arguing that the character being played was or might have been black, we’re greatly restricting opportunities for such actors.

    Aged 18 I played Ferdinand in a production of The Tempest in Kingston, Jamaica. I honestly cannot remember the skin colour of each of the other actors. It didn’t matter. There will always be stories where race is significant (Othello, Gone With the Wind, Robinson Crusoe) and may call for a black (or white) actor in some roles but most scripts are just about humans, white, black, brown, balding, tall, short . . . it doesn’t matter. I warn followers of the present fashion for “identity” politics that doctrines intended to empower will end up restricting, not enlarging, opportunity.”

    1. The casting director may be blind but the audience see through the agenda very clearly.

    3. They have the black music awards. Then there’s Bolleywood. What is stopping black actors from starting up their own acting businesses and productions?

      2. You don’t see much of Agatha Christie’s ‘Ten Little Niggers’, lots of work there. Actually, I don’t think any of the characters were black.

        1. Rebranded. “And then there were none”.

          Will the wokerati rewrite Pooh. Is Kanga non-binary, Roo taking puberty blockers and Tigger being medicated for attention deficit whatsit? Has Christina Robin transitioned and is she black?

          2. There was an intermediary title of Ten Little Indians – but this was before the Duke of Edinburgh’s Cowboys and Indians gaffe!

      4. Exactly. Those creatives at the BBC et al should use their creativity to create new creations and stop using classical works as a vehicle for their own pretensions and propoganda.

    4. Heaven forfend a white actor playing a black role now e.g. Othello. But a black actress playing Anne Boleyn? Fine.

      1. Funnily enough the BBC will soon be showing “Magpie Murders” [previously on Brit Box, I think]. The dual role of Inspector Chubb/Locke, who is a strongly built black man in the original book, is now a rather less imposing white character! It’s disappointing to see a number of the actors [sic], interviewed in the Radio Times [the BBC’s Pravda!] talking about the plot involving an “unfinished” book by Alan Conway – the main plot involves a finished book, which is handed to the editor missing the final chapter[s]!

      2. It’s called Black Privilege and black people should feel thoroughly ashamed of themselves for being black just as I should feel ashamed of being white – especially as I was born in Africa!

    5. Heaven forfend a white actor playing a black role now e.g. Othello. But a black actress playing Anne Boleyn? Fine.

  41. Well, the twins and I have just put their Mummy’s birthday cake into the oven! It’s a ‘retro’ school dinner cake so when it’s cool and iced it’s ‘bring on the sprinkles’ time! Oh joy! 🙄🎂

    2. The ‘simple’ cakes are the best.
      My granddaughters invariably ask for sprinkles on their birthday cakes, in spite of seeing some fancy bought cakes at other children’s parties.
      The best one | ever made was for our older son’s 5th birthday. Straightforward chocolate sponge cake, buttercream topping sprinkled with green coloured desiccated coconut (for grass), toy dinosaurs & trees, and surrounded by chocolate fingers. A big hit with all the children!
      A friend’s daughter always forks out a small fortune for extremely fancy, themed cakes for her children’s birthdays (Even when they were only 1 and 2!). All about one upmanship.

      1. All I ask is a bog-standard Madeira cake. Put some sultanas in it and you have a friend for life. 😊

        2. I love Madeira cake. It belonged to the sometimes Mad era.
          My mother use to bake a superb Christmas cake and Christmas pudding.

          1. I don’t care for Christmas cake ( too much icing) but a proper Christmas Pud – now that’s something…

          3. I top my Christmas cake with preserved fruit and nuts and then glaze it.
            I am absolutely crap at icing. And I tend to eat the almond paste before it gets anywhere near the cake.

          5. I thought it was Wedgewood with little maps of Africa on it! Or maybe elephants…………

          6. They’re clouds!! It’s the very first cake she’d ever made for her children and her darling MiL said it was a bit dry! Which it wasn’t, but it didn’t half put my hackles up!

          12. He was better a year ago. His left hand/arm is very weak and his walking has deteriorated. He’s a bit lazy.

          15. That’s the one! The curry goat she brought to the party was only for the ‘family’! This was the ‘family’ which couldn’t be bothered to come and see SiL in hospital for 13 weeks!

          16. Oh dear. She does seem to go out of her way to be difficult.

            Excluding people because she couldn’t be bothered to make or spend enough for all, or use it as a way of establishing a pecking order is gaslighting.

            I have had ‘plate party’ in the past where people were a bit stretched. (student days). What everyone did was to contribute a plate of something be it sandwiches, pizza or cake and try a little of each and be satisfied.

            She sounds like Les Dawson’s fictional MiL.

          20. What lovely little boys (?) Do you tell them apart by the colour of their sandals?

            A thought just occurred. As teenagers they will be a terrible twosome !

          21. They’re just practising now! They do actually look different despite being ‘identical’ and their characters are poles apart! Hilarious for them, now they’re learning what they can do!
            Yes! Definitely boys! We’re potty training now and the willy things are very odd to a mother of girls!

          22. Wonderful. Are you familiar with sprinkler systems, mops and buckets?

            Actually my advice would be to give them something to aim at ! Like the bloo loo in gents urinals.

          23. They’re just practising now! They do actually look different despite being ‘identical’ and their characters are poles apart! Hilarious for them, now they’re learning what they can do!
            Yes! Definitely boys! We’re potty training now and the willy things are very odd to a mother of girls!

        5. Lemon drizzle for me, every time except for Christmas – heavy fruit cake is essential. Little/no icing, though.

          1. Yup. Lemon drizzle, madeira, and light fruit cake. A good vicky sponge (with raspberry jam, never strawberry) will also do.

      2. I must have made 100 cakes over the past 37 years, for various occasions. Probably the most notable was a large square, iced one for my OH’s 50th. It was in the dining room and the girls were desperate for their friends to see it so in they went, accompanied by Spencer, the glorious Retriever belonging to our dear friends. One very large mouthful was snaffled before I caught him! So on the principle that what the eye doesn’t see and all that, I slapped on a load more icing and kept quiet!

          3. A dogs mouth is actually cleaner than a humans. A dog bite will not become infected but a human bite almost always will.

          4. Not always true. A few years ago, my son was bitten by a large dog. The hospital gave him a tetanus jab and antibiotics as there were signs of infection.

          5. No it is not always true but there always is the exception that proves the rule.

          6. The wife of the chap who owns the stable where I ride got bitten trying to break up a fight between their dogs. She had a very nasty infection in the wound which took several courses of antibiotics to clear up.

          7. And cats are even worse, I’m afraid! Our Sphinx bit my OH and he had to get antibiotics as his hand swelled alarmingly!

          8. Cats nails are the same, vicious beasts. I will not allow mine, Caticus Khan, to bite or scratch me. His tactic is to purr as he covers my mouth and nose with his body in an attempt to suffocate me. The wretch!

          9. A dogs mouth is actually cleaner than a humans. A dog bite will not become infected but a human bite almost always will.

    3. When our daughter was young vw made her a birthday cake. At the party one of the children pulled one of the ends of the table and it folded in the middle. Splat, a real sandwich cake. 😉

      1. My grandmothers both had ranges, and my sister and I made dropped scones, bread and butterfly cakes at a very early age!

  43. At home today. Going to a Friends event at the Wigmore Hall this afternoon. Launch of their 23/24 season. I see there are severe delays on the Central Line due to “an earlier customer incident”. That usually means some poor soul ended it all. Very sad. Also inconvenient. Will set off early and use the 94 bus.

    2. In such cases, I feel very sorry for the poor train driver and the family of the deceased.

      1. No doubt they will be happy to use us and our countries as their personal sparring weapons, then.

  47. From today’s Guido Fawkes:

    Responding to allegations Brexit has caused food shortages, Sir Desmond asks DEFRA Secretary Therese Coffey:

    “If only I had been told before I voted for Brexit that it was going to cause frost in Morocco, I could have made a different decision, couldn’t I?”

          1. Ten years ago, I didn’t know what the Carrington event was, and now they’re always talking about it.
            If the internet were to go out on Friday, and any remaining media ran with the idea that it was caused by the alleged hole in the sun, I guess everyone would believe it – just as we believed in a novel virus (and many still do).

  48. Well, that’s the outdoor work finished for now due to rain.
    Got one of the corner roof supports of the wood shelter I’ve trying to fill re-secured and a start made on sawing the logs that I mentioned earlier.

    Just put the pan of mango chutney on the Rayburn to boil up, jars in the oven and lids in a pan of water to sterilise.
    Should get 7 or 8 jars out of it.

  49. 372721+ up ticks,

    May one say,

    At this moment in time one set of odious bastards are saying in the house that the other set of odious bastards have no barges, this is from the political odious bastards that initially lifted the latch on both morally illegal immigration & mass foreign paedophilia, via the bog man PM.

    This current set of, in charge odious bastards, should to somehow compensate take EVERY INDIGENOUS ROUGH SLEEPER and put them in 5* hotels and every illegal should be under a viaduct

    If you can be killed by misguided kindness then illegals have a very short lifespan.

    Currently and knowing what we know, ALL politico’s are top rankers and their supporting cast of followers can only be seen to be worse.

    1. “…have no barges…”

      What’s that supposed to mean?

      I don’t recall any argument about barges.

      1. There has been a proposal to house the invaders in floating container barges that can sleep 280 people and were used for oil workers.

      2. 372721+ up ticks,

        Evening SJ,

        “What’s that supposed to mean?”
        It means you ain’t listening.

        1. It wasn’t raised as an issue until today.

          It depends how early you buy your copy of the Sun.

          1. 372721+ up ticks,

            SJ,
            Our log burner will NOT accept anything but the telegraph / mail 6 am before igniting, mails best , thicker than any current lab/lib/con coalition members.

  50. In win for Germany, EU agrees to exempt e-fuels from 2035 ban on new sales of combustion-engine cars

    But following a last-minute campaign by Germany, the 2035 ban will exempt vehicles that run exclusively on e-fuels, a nascent technology that combines hydrogen and carbon dioxide to produce synthetic fuels.

    https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2023/03/07/the-eus-new-debate-are-e-fuels-a-viable-and-green-alternative-to-the-combustion-engine

    https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2023/03/28/in-win-for-germany-eu-agrees-to-exempt-e-fuels-from-2035-ban-on-new-sales-of-combustion-en

  51. What a grotty afternoon it’s turned out to be in Wiltshire!

    Sharon White being scoped out to move from John Lewis to Bank of England? Crazier things have happened.

    1. She has failed everywhere else. Why not try Threadneedle Street? What can go wrong….(don’t answer!)

      2. Probably on purpose.
        Everyone knows the pound is going to collapse at some point.
        Find some mug and stick them in place as Governor of the Bank of England, and then they can collect all the blame when it goes titsup, whereas Mr Carney and all the other rabid money printers will go under the radar.

    3. Shades of Hamza Useless.

      Screw up big-time and you get promoted to somewhere where you can make even bigger male-hen-ups.

    4. Never kept in post long enough to face the consequences of her actions, never punished, never loses out.

      Much of what government does is pointless makework, but to achieve anything there must be diligent people trying to make a difference. They’re the ones who suffer when the wasters are shuffled into their next six figure failure.

  52. Please could a kind (and wealthy) NoTTLer put up Allison Pearson’s article about John Lewis?

    1. Allison Pearson
      29 March 2023 • 11:00am
      Allison Pearson
      John Lewis
      I used to joke that John Lewis was my spiritual home Credit: Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images

      Anyone else have mixed feelings about the “prolific serial shoplifter”, aged 53, who made more than £500,000 by tricking stores, including John Lewis in Nottingham, into giving her refunds for items she’d never bought? Yes, I do know we’re supposed to disapprove. But I did feel a teeny pang of envy. How on earth did she manage that? Some of us can’t get a refund from John Lewis for items we have bought.

      You can tell when a successful brand is in trouble because all the qualities you associate with it suddenly aren’t there any more. Take dear old John Lewis. Financial woes, the cost of lockdown crisis and tougher competition, as well as the expense of developing its online offering, are said to be among problems that have led to a £234 million loss last year. To that list, as I discovered, you can add laughably low stock (“You mean you want to buy a lipstick, madam? Sorry, we don’t have it in that colour. No, not that colour either”) and a precipitous plunge in customer service. The store that used to boast it was “Never knowingly undersold” needs a new tag-line: “Always knowingly understaffed.”

      It grieves me to say this because I used to joke that John Lewis was my spiritual home. And I wasn’t joking. Half an hour amid the church-like hush of the towels department and I could feel order being restored to my bedraggled brain. It was so soothing and the staff were always so helpful.

      When did the rot set in? Himself bought me a John Lewis cardie and jumper for Christmas. They were lovely, but when I went to put the jumper on I felt a lump. The security tag was still attached so I couldn’t wear it to a lunch on Boxing Day. Annoying, but I decided that I’d go into town in the new year and return the sweater. In the maelstrom of wrapping paper, the receipt had been lost, but I wasn’t worried. Not only did the item have the security tag inside, it also had a price ticket.

      The trouble began at the cash-desk. I explained that my husband had bought me a present and I wanted to return it. I pointed to the security tag and said I was quite surprised he’d been able to get out of the shop with it on. What I was hoping to hear was: “Oh, madam, I’m so sorry, that’s our mistake. How disappointing. Let’s get you a refund.” Some small credit on a reward card for sending Himself home with an unwearable Christmas jumper would not have gone amiss either. The John Lewis of old would surely have obliged with a smile.

      But the sales assistant was unhappy about the lack of a receipt. She summoned a young male manager from the jewellery department. Then, began the interrogation. Could I provide proof of purchase?

      Well, yes, there was the John Lewis price tag and the John Lewis label and the John Lewis security tag (which should have been removed, you idiot!).

      The manager wasn’t satisfied. Starting to get a teeny bit irritated (OK, borderline homicidal), I rang Himself and asked if he had a credit card receipt. He called back with the precise date and time of purchase and the amount. Unfortunately, the jumper was one of several Christmas presents he’d bought in JL that day and there was no record of an individual price for the jumper.

      The manager then said he couldn’t give me a refund for the price on the tag because my husband “may have bought the jumper from the sale rail”. Couldn’t he check what day the sale had started and compare it with the date of purchase?

      No, he couldn’t. Primly, he said he was taking my jumper to “lock it in a drawer” while I went home to try and find the missing receipt. I haven’t felt that humiliated since Mrs Price confiscated my French skipping elastic and locked it in her desk in junior school in 1969. Only when I got back to the car, did I start boiling with indignation.

      Friends and colleagues all have similar John Lewis stories. “If you are just one day over the date now, you can’t return things.” “They never have any stock – so when you do want to swap something it’s never in the store.” “The returns room is always in the bowels of the store and the queue is horrendous.”

      Last week, a friend said she’d spotted a dress she liked in the window of Peter Jones (owned by JL) in London and was about to pop in to try it. When she looked more closely, she saw a notice saying they dress dummies in the window in clothes you can only buy online. Hopeless.

      I can’t help feeling that the sad decline of John Lewis is a commentary on the British middle classes who loved to shop there. In the past three years, we have been bled dry mentally, physically and – with the highest tax burden for 70 years – financially.

      It’s increasingly clear that Dame Sharon White, chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, will have to go. She gave herself an extremely odd priority; to challenge and “rebalance the strong male culture”, filling 60 per cent of leadership positions with women.

      Quite frankly, John Lewis customers don’t care how gender diverse the management is. We’d like to be able to speak to an assistant, please. Oh, a refund for an item you haven’t shoplifted would be appreciated.

    2. No Bill. The Telegraph appears to have introduced a new blocking mechanism that blanks out the entire article when you click on it!

        1. You can get around it by disabling cache storage so it can’t set a session cookie (well, more appropriately, on each page visit the cookie is deleted and a new one placed, then a new one placed after that.

          However, it’s sadly, a modern website which is just a domain name and a host of feeder site – over 50. One of those must handle the encrappening.

          1. “…..disabling cache storage…”

            There you go again, Wibbers – lost me completely.

    4. John Lewis has officially gone downhill – and my recent experience proves it

      You can tell when a successful brand is in trouble because all the
      qualities you associate with it suddenly aren’t there any more

      Allison Pearson

      29 March 2023 • 11:00am

      I used to joke that John Lewis was my spiritual home

      Credit: Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images

      Anyone else have mixed feelings about the “prolific serial
      shoplifter”, aged 53, who made more than £500,000 by tricking stores,
      including John Lewis in Nottingham, into giving her refunds for items
      she’d never bought? Yes, I do know we’re supposed to disapprove. But I
      did feel a teeny pang of envy. How on earth did she manage that? Some of
      us can’t get a refund from John Lewis for items we have bought.

      You
      can tell when a successful brand is in trouble because all the
      qualities you associate with it suddenly aren’t there any more. Take
      dear old John Lewis. Financial woes,
      the cost of lockdown crisis and tougher competition, as well as the
      expense of developing its online offering, are said to be among problems
      that have led to a £234 million loss last year. To that list, as I
      discovered, you can add laughably low stock (“You mean you want to buy a
      lipstick, madam? Sorry, we don’t have it in that colour. No, not that
      colour either”) and a precipitous plunge in customer service. The store
      that used to boast it was “Never knowingly undersold” needs a new
      tag-line: “Always knowingly understaffed.”

      It grieves me to say this because I used to joke that John Lewis was my spiritual home.
      And I wasn’t joking. Half an hour amid the church-like hush of the
      towels department and I could feel order being restored to my bedraggled
      brain. It was so soothing and the staff were always so helpful.

      When
      did the rot set in? Himself bought me a John Lewis cardie and jumper
      for Christmas. They were lovely, but when I went to put the jumper on I
      felt a lump. The security tag was still attached so I couldn’t wear it
      to a lunch on Boxing Day. Annoying, but I decided that I’d go into town
      in the new year and return the sweater. In the maelstrom of wrapping
      paper, the receipt had been lost, but I wasn’t worried. Not only did the
      item have the security tag inside, it also had a price ticket.

      The
      trouble began at the cash-desk. I explained that my husband had bought
      me a present and I wanted to return it. I pointed to the security tag
      and said I was quite surprised he’d been able to get out of the shop
      with it on. What I was hoping to hear was: “Oh, madam, I’m so sorry,
      that’s our mistake. How disappointing. Let’s get you a refund.” Some
      small credit on a reward card for sending Himself home with an
      unwearable Christmas jumper would not have gone amiss either. The John
      Lewis of old would surely have obliged with a smile.

      But the sales
      assistant was unhappy about the lack of a receipt. She summoned a young
      male manager from the jewellery department. Then, began the
      interrogation. Could I provide proof of purchase?

      Well, yes, there
      was the John Lewis price tag and the John Lewis label and the John
      Lewis security tag (which should have been removed, you idiot!).

      The
      manager wasn’t satisfied. Starting to get a teeny bit irritated (OK,
      borderline homicidal), I rang Himself and asked if he had a credit card
      receipt. He called back with the precise date and time of purchase and
      the amount. Unfortunately, the jumper was one of several Christmas
      presents he’d bought in JL that day and there was no record of an
      individual price for the jumper.

      The manager then said he couldn’t
      give me a refund for the price on the tag because my husband “may have
      bought the jumper from the sale rail”. Couldn’t he check what day the
      sale had started and compare it with the date of purchase?

      No, he
      couldn’t. Primly, he said he was taking my jumper to “lock it in a
      drawer” while I went home to try and find the missing receipt. I haven’t
      felt that humiliated since Mrs Price confiscated my French skipping
      elastic and locked it in her desk in junior school in 1969. Only when I
      got back to the car, did I start boiling with indignation.

      Friends
      and colleagues all have similar John Lewis stories. “If you are just
      one day over the date now, you can’t return things.” “They never have
      any stock – so when you do want to swap something it’s never in the
      store.” “The returns room is always in the bowels of the store and the
      queue is horrendous.”

      Last week, a friend said she’d spotted a
      dress she liked in the window of Peter Jones (owned by JL) in London and
      was about to pop in to try it. When she looked more closely, she saw a
      notice saying they dress dummies in the window in clothes you can only
      buy online. Hopeless.

      I can’t help feeling that the sad decline of
      John Lewis is a commentary on the British middle classes who loved to
      shop there. In the past three years, we have been bled dry mentally,
      physically and – with the highest tax burden for 70 years – financially.

      It’s
      increasingly clear that Dame Sharon White, chairman of the John Lewis
      Partnership, will have to go. She gave herself an extremely odd
      priority; to challenge and “rebalance the strong male culture”, filling
      60 per cent of leadership positions with women.

      Quite frankly,
      John Lewis customers don’t care how gender diverse the management is.
      We’d like to be able to speak to an assistant, please. Oh, a refund for
      an item you haven’t shoplifted would be appreciated.

      1. Come off it , Allison. You go back to the shop with a garment still tagged and without a receipt and you expect the shop to refund you?

        You are presenting as a classic shoplifter.

        Otherwise, I agree with much of what you say about JLP.

    1. Looking at the animal’s size, I would guess that that’s a wallaby.

      Maybe the other one is just a wally.

      1. A very large red male smashed into the near side of our Holden station wagon near Broken Hill just after sunset. I even moved on to the opposite side of the road to try to avoid the impact. Front wing and passenger door badly dented. The impact woke my good lady up as she dozed in the passenger seat.

          1. I called into the local cop shop and told them. Someone just said no worries mate. I thought was consoling.

    1. It’s amazing that Douglas Murray appears regularly on US TV and yet is hardly seen in the UK!

      1. Cancelled. The Beeb, ITV, Ch4, and Sky won’t have him because he’s a Far Right agitator and Old Etonian, and he’s unwilling to appear on GBNews because that would confirm the MSM’s prejudices and they would never ask him to appear again.

        1. You would have thought, because he is also gay, that they would be bending over backwards [no pun intended] to hire him.

  57. Ultramassive black hole discovered by UK astronomers. 29 March 2023

    An ultramassive black hole about 30bn times the mass of the Sun has been discovered by astronomers in the UK.

    Scientists at Durham University said the gargantuan black hole was one of the biggest ever found. The team described their findings, published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, as “extremely exciting”.

    It wasn’t in Westminster by any chance?

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/mar/29/ultramassive-black-hole-astronomers-durham-university

    4. Are we supposed to be scared of it? Is it the next plague that will kill humanity?

      We ned to know where this hole of colour appears on the human catastrophe scale.

      1. Kill humanity? The bloody thing is big enough to kill a whole galaxy!

        That is, providing it is real and not just the figment of some over-excited scientist’s imagination.

    1. I am by no means especially clever. The Warqueen, however, is truly, monumentally intelligent. I always imagine her talking to me is a bit like a super car struggling along with a Trabant in the other lane.

      2. An appropriate analogy to my DiL talking to me. Supper car v. Tarrant (an old and barely roadworthy one 🙂 ) She knows she can run rings round me, does so frequently, and I always come off the worse for wear.
        Thank goodness she is thousands of miles away ….

    2. I ended up blasting my MP for most times not replying, and if he did reply, giving me scissors and paste guff. I did mention that this is not what he was actually being paid to do.

      I don’t expect a reply.

    3. Not far short of eight billion souls who are completely unaware of their ingrained and untreatable stupidity.

  59. Asylum seekers will get the most basic housing possible, says Robert Jenrick. 29 March 2023.

    Asylum seekers will be housed in the most basic accommodation possible, including disused army bases and possibly ships, to save money and to dissuade people from coming to the UK, the government has said.

    In a Commons statement setting out the next stage in the plans to prevent asylum claims in the UK, Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, said the plans would meet legal requirements to ensure those who arrived were not made “destitute”, but nothing more.

    That would be a bus shelter on Dartmoor then?

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/29/asylum-seekers-housed-portakabins-maybe-ships-robert-jenrick

    1. What about wet housing? You know, in the sea. Plenty of food around them. Bit cold, but hey ho.

      1. Then they’ll at least be warm. Of course, when it rains and they’ve nothing over head… oh well.

        I’m sick and tired of these wet, Left wing liberals calling them refugees or asylum seekers. They’re criminals, every single one. They’ve no right to be here and should never have been allowed to land. As it is, everything the state said would happen when we left the EU is happening – because the state is manufacturing it!

    5. Not happening in Canada, they have put one billion dollars into the budget for refugee housing.
      Lucky for us this is what they call fiscal constraint.

    6. That didn’t help before – the incomers just complained in accommodation that had been considered good enough for our own armed forces. Or set fire to them. The immigrants are being taught that it’s OK to be entitled and peevish.

    7. There is some suggestion on Twitter that they are being housed in army bases because they are, er, an army.
      This is just gossip, but if it were true, that is exactly what a dishonest minister would say.
      Does the government give any impression of taking people’s opinions into account over the invasion? no, so why are they suddenly saying that they are going to be harsher on them?

      1. There was a video posted on here where a local white guy was trying to explain how bad it was getting in his street with the influx and he was concerned. He was very polite and was in no way making racist statements and the berobed ones told him they were working for the British Army.

        1. We were once burgled, and caught the burglar in the act. My ex called the police. The burglar said scornfully that he worked for the police.
          My husband repeated this to the two constables that arrived.
          “You don’t believe that do you?” replied the woman constable scornfully.
          “I don’t know what to believe,” said my ex. I still don’t know either.
          But it is the kind of thing that dishonest, stupid people say.

      2. …why are they suddenly saying that they are going to be harsher on them?

        It’s like the recent crime moves. An attempt to curry favour prior to the election.

    8. They should get no housing at all. They are NOT “asylum seekers”. France is not a war-torn country.

  60. I’ve just been watching an excellent programme I recorded last night, bbc 4. The Age of Nature. Featuring pacific coral reefs, Panama canal and rain forests, Norway, north atlantic fishing, Mozambique wild life and in China repair work to nature on a massive scale.
    Well worth watching and hopefully all the ongoing repair jobs will continue for the benefit of future generations.

    3. Don’t kid yourself about China, it’s propaganda, they do not give one iota about the environment. At present, on the Tibetan plateau they are building a dam twice the size of 3 Gorges Dam, on the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra. This will create an inland sea that will destroy flora and fauna in the region, most extremely rare because unique to the highly specialized environment that is the Tibetan plateau. It will create an inland sea so vast that if the dam broke it would potentially kill millions of people all the way and through India, a wall of water 100 of meters high. The insanity of this project is not only the enormous environmental cost. But also, it is being built in one of the most unstable region on earth where large earthquakes are common place 7 to 8 on the Richter scale are a regular occurrence, large enough to destroy any dam, even one twice the size of Three Gorges.

      1. I’m aware of other developments in China. And I don’t agree with some of the things they are doing and have so far done. Nor this dam. At least they are able to arrange a continuous supply of water. The UK, England especially, dispite the huge increase in population hasn’t built a single new reservoir for decades.
        They are pumping untreated sewage into our rivers.
        And if there is a water shortage the companies ban hose pipes and just put up the prices to their customers.
        One thing in particular I think has been dreadful in China. Has been driving self sufficient families off land they have lived on for many years and survived in a self sufficient manner. They have shoved them into high-rise blocks.

  61. Have just looked at front page of the Express where Jeremy rhyming slang says “Liz Truss’s mini budget cost the country £55billion”. What an a’hole. Her economic policies had no time at all to have any effect. What a lying bar steward.

    1. It would have been financiers and hedge fund managers like Soros, Gates and the Rothschilds who skewed the stock market.

  64. Why is the joke woke “king” going to Germany? Apart from visiting family, that is.

    The Grimes noted that he would be discussing world affairs and (sodding) climate change. None of his bloody business.

    1. Of course they are. They will never give up on this idea now they have the bit between their teeth.

  67. In looking at the state of world banking I came to the conclusion that the current inflationary trend followed by the extended period of stupidly low interest rates has been the cause of recent banking failures. The reason for this seems to have been the banks’ investments into long maturing bonds which have historically been unusually low. This has meant that during a period of rapidly rising interest rates the banks don’t have enough securities to draw on when depositors wish to take out their money for better returns elsewhere. Ironically it would be better for central banks to keep interest rates in check to moderate this problematic situation that the banks find themselves in – instead there is a panic in the markets to find short term mechanisms to prop up their exposed businesses.

    I get the feeling that the markets have little sense of where the banking system is going because the of the amount of complexity that bankers have created for themselves in bundling securities together and trading them as inccomprehesible collateral.

    One of the mechanisms used in the banking world are Additional Tier 1 bonds (AT1s) which seem to be some sort of mechanism to ensure liquidity. I don”t claim to understand all this banking gobbledygook but here’s a brief guide to this incomprehensible underworld:

    https://www.twentyfouram.com/education/everything-you-need-to-know-about-at1s

  70. Ukraine could just be a skirmish in Xi and Putin’s new world order. 29 March 2023.

    Not since the Cold War has Downing Street presented such a bleak picture of where our world is heading. Our world is being divided into two competing spheres of influence, with Russia and China promoting a post-Western global order more favourable to their own authoritarian models of government than to open and transparent democracy.

    And yet faced with a China-Russia axis growing in confidence, the West finds itself in denial, the international institutions established to safeguard world affairs paralysed. Ukraine is the most obvious manifestation of this new conflict, and Nato countries have managed to organise assistance for the beleaguered forces of Kyiv. But it could yet prove only an opening skirmish in a new and more complex confrontation.

    “Open and transparent democracy?” Who are they kidding? Now I’m seventy six and can barely make it to the Supermarket, but even in my present decrepit condition I wouldn’t get out of bed to save this rotten, decadent and deeply corrupt shith*le. That country I was born into is no more. It has been destroyed by the likes of the pair that wrote this article. Out of all the polities mentioned here only Russia approximates to what is lost. I hope they make it through the coming storm!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/29/ukraine-could-just-skirmish-xi-putins-new-world-order/

    1. This is exactly the problem. I look around us at BLM, Trans Day of Vengeance, censored classic books, mental pygmies in government, with their strings being pulled by faceless oligarchs…and then I look at Russia and it doesn’t look so bad in comparison.

      China is another matter – China is extremely authoritarian.

      1. A new print of the BCP which gives the date as 1571 and calls Charles, King of England, France and Ireland. It’s open at that page in the pic.

          1. No, he was born in 1600 and became King of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1625. There was possibly a prayer book issued by Elizabeth I in 1571 though?

          2. But Mary Tudor lost England’s last French property, so shouldn’t she be the last monarch of France?

        3. Thank you! It might be a tiny bit embarrassing to be selling this just as the axis of power moves finally away from Britain…

      2. An edition of the Book of Common Prayer in which the Sovereign is said to be King of France

  72. My Daewoo Airfryer was delivered this morning. Given the cock up i made of the order and cancelling they have delivered two of them…whoops !
    I have left one in the box and wait to see if they notice or charge me. evil face.

    I used it today to cook the aubergine and potatoes for a Moussaka. All came out really well and without the aubergine soaking all the oil up as it does it will be healthy too.

      1. I had it delivered to a neighbour………….who isn’t in residence at the moment. :@)

    2. My visualisation of yer Daewoo Airfryer:

      A Welsh-designed, two-armed drone, with a frying pan in one and a blowlamp in t’other?

    3. Keep us informed of its capabilities as you use it. I’ll be interested in its merits. I do a bit of low temperature cooking doggy treats in the oven but am recently wary of using the oven for cooking small amounts.

      1. Will do. One aubergine and four potatoes sliced. One tip i read was to give it a couple of minutes to heat up. 15 mins later all cooked and ready to layer the Moussaka. No fat.

  73. Double Bogey again!

    Wordle 648 6/6
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟨⬜⬜🟩⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
    ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜
    🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Boring par 4.

      Wordle 648 4/6

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

    2. Par for me.
      Wordle 648 4/6

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

  74. “RAF Scampton and RAF Wethersfied for asylum-seekers.”

    MPs should understand the King’s English!

    They are not asylum-seekers; they are gangster-funded, economic migrants.
    None of the international asylum laws apply.

    1. The state has brought them here out of spite. It’s not going to admit the truth.

    2. Cleverley has been obliged to object to the Wethersfield site. It falls within his constituency. Braintree District Council are already planning an extensive housing development on the vast acreage of the MoD site.

      Bang goes a large part of rural Essex. Bloody Braintree Freemasons at work.

  77. We’ve presented your petition and launched a Fighting Fund to save trees and Coton orchard
    On 21 March we presented a petition with your name on it to Cambridgeshire County Council asking them to save the Coton green corridor, spare the Coton orchard and find a better transport solution. The petition has been signed by over 13,000 people.

    We worked hard to put forward your voice and they listened, but the council still voted 36 to 25 to destroy the orchard and green corridor.

      1. Probably to ensure the fastest possible buses to and from Cambridge Central Mosque

        1. Lunacy. It saves 5 minutes at best into Cambridge. Cost – £200 million, probably escalating as I type. I will be glad to be gone. TPTB won’t be happy until the UK resembles Hong Kong. I hope God doesn’t forgive them.

    2. It gives the lie to the whole “green”/“we must save the planet thing”, doesn’t it?

      We know it’s all about the money.

      You know we know it’s all about the money.

      We know you know we know it’s all about the money.

  78. That’s me for today. Another grey, dreary one – though a tiny bit milder. Market tomorrow.

    Have a jolly evening

    A demain.

  79. Hate crime experts to rule whether English countryside harbours ‘rural racism’

    ‘Lived realities’ of ethnic minorities outside of the city to be studied amid fears they experience an ‘exclusively English environment’

    By Craig Simpson
    29 March 2023 • 3:00pm

    *********************************************

    R Hunter
    2 HRS AGO
    So let me see, we have no evidence of racism in the countryside but we are convinced it is out there, So we will convene a ‘task force’ of experts all with the same preformed opinion so we can prepare a report to confirm our own prejudice and racism and keep ourselves in gainful employment!

    Piggy Malone
    1 HR AGO
    Reply to R Hunter
    They’ve already written the report.

    1. If I may:
      Hate crime experts criminals to rule whether English countryside harbours ‘rural racism’

    3. ‘Countryfile’ will be on the case soon. Perhaps the team should visit the Forest of Dean, one of the last places in England where anyone who isn’t a Forester should be very wary of visiting a remote pub…

    6. An exclusively English environment? In England? Oh, the shame of it (not). I suppose they don’t experience an exclusively Welsh environment in Wales or a Scottish one in Scotland.

  80. One shouldn’t laugh, but does hyperbole ever get more ludicrous? My bold.

    Three die from mystery nosebleed-causing disease in Burundi
    The disease has swept through the landlocked nation killing 3 people in 3 days
    Health chiefs have reportedly ruled out the mystery illness as Ebola or Marburg
    Cases have all been logged in Migwa, in the region of Baziro, northern Burundi

    Gawd protect us, it’s one a day!
    At that rate, the population of the world would be killed in only 22 million years

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11916111/Three-die-mystery-nosebleed-causing-disease-Burundi-amid-fears-virus-spread.html

      2. The country’s fear was all used up by the so-called ‘covid’ pandemic. The nation has no more left. We have become sanguine, blasé.

        1. Unfortunately there are still a lot, possibly even a majority, of people who are addicted to the fear.

  81. AaaaNDanother:
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11915837/Bird-flu-kill-one-TWENTY-humans-infected-reveals-worst-case-scenario-models.html

    Bird flu could kill one in TWENTY humans who get infected, reveal worst-case scenario models by top scientists (which includes ‘Professor Lockdown’ himself!)
    UK scientists developed scenarios of early bird flu human transmission
    Their models show that 5% of infected people could die if the virus took off

    Only one Brit has caught the deadly virus since the biggest ever outbreak began sweeping the world in October 2021.
    If the projections turned out to be wrong and the loudmouth, yes you pantsdown, were executed for causing unnecessary panic do you think they would be quite so doomsday?
    No?
    I wonder why?

    1. Anyone know what happened to Mad Cow Disease? Weren’t we all supposed to be dead by now?

      4. Strangely enough, there was a middle aged couple who caught it and died, getting on for 20 years ago.
        I knew someone who knew them, and I was sceptical, but it wasn’t a nice way to go.

      6. I believe that I still cannot give blood in Canada because of those mad cows. There was a restriction imposed if you had spent more than a few months in the UK during that time. Maybe the restriction is gone at last, I gave up checking a few years ago.

    3. Of course the meals are not “free” – someone will be paying for them and I’m guessing it won’t be Khan.

  83. Thought for the day:

    If all the illegal gimmegrants were welcomed ashore and told to “get on yer bikes” and informed there is/are :
    no benefits
    no housing
    no health care
    no schooling for your children
    no money
    no support of any kind whatsoever.
    Head for your fellow travellers/community and let them support you.

    It would need very secure ID cards for everyone in the UK but if the will was there it could be done.

      1. Indeed, but that would be part of the package/policy.
        Tell the world it will happen and then enforce it.

  84. Utterly off topic
    Hooray, another variety of orchid has flowered, one of the early marsh type.
    Climate change reversed, the one I wrote of a few days ago was sooner than usual, this one is later.
    Hopefully both will soon be appearing in good numbers.
    Either way, they give me great pleasure.

    1. I’m keen on orchids, but just coming across them while walking. Lovely and interesting flowers.

        2. One of the highlighs of last year was dancing with my aunt in the middle of an unexpected field of those on the North Yorkshire coast! 🙂

          2. Not a flower squashed! 🙂 I hadn’t even thought of tango ar that point – I just sang and we wafted about waving our arms in the air… 🤣🤣

      2. Mine are all wild, self sown from the wind, the only thing I do is try to spot the leaves, mark where they are and avoid mowing them.

      3. If you like orchids you need to visit the botanical Gardens in Singapore.
        Fantastic.

        1. Been there, but I still enjoy the haphazard sightings more than a planned thing. I don’t like zoos but I delight in seeing fauna (and flora) where they really live.

      1. I resist the temptation to dig any up.
        One thing I have observed is that there appears to be a symbiotic relationship between the orchids and various fungi in the garden.
        The orchids seem to follow similar “roads” to the fungi.

        1. Ours are only in pots in doors Sos.
          And unfortunately, we’ve lost quite a few pot plants to the frost this winter.
          Bottle brush looks worse for wear.
          And an olive.

    3. There are usually a few humble orchids on the grass verge nearby, at least until I forget where they are, and top them. ( I use marker twigs, but they fall over)

  87. A comment from beneath today’s Telegraph letters.

    John Langdale
    2 HRS AGO
    I see that Khan has now resorted to labelling anyone who opposes his ULEZ charge extortion “Nazis.”
    I hadn’t thought it was possible for me to despise him any more than I did already but he’s managed it effortlessly.

    No he bloody well didn’t. He said that opposition to the expansion of the ULEZ zone had been infiltrated by Nazis. He went on to say:

    “My worries are they are latching on to decent Tories, to decent people, who oppose the Ulez expansion.”

    He said many people opposed Ulez for good reasons, and he was keen to talk about these problems and would try to address the concerns in the coming weeks.

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/sadiq-khan-claims-nazi-sympathisers-have-latched-on-to-anti-ulez-protests/ar-AA19ehno

    There are good reasons to oppose Sadiq Khan’s mayoralty, but misrepresenting him, telling provocative lies about him pisses me off royally. If he stands for the position at the next election and is re-elected, I hope John Langdale chokes on his poisonous words.

  91. I got 7 jars of mango chutney filled today. Also opened a jar of my pineapple chutney I made late last year to go with the evening meal.
    Very nice!

  92. I had a phone call today from the cardiology secretary. It seems my pleading but midly confrontational email may have stirred them up enough to get some action at last. As I pointed out today it’s now been two years since it all started to go wrong. Fingers crossed 🤞.
    So it’s an early good night from me. 😴

      1. OH had a call from the surgery today – he already had an appointment with the nurse tomorrow – now he’s got one with a GP as well, to follow.

    2. Looking like some good news should be heading your way, Eddy.
      Fingers crossed for an appointment very soon.

      1. It could be at least 28 weeks waiting time.
        The annoying issue is he’s known about my problem for at least 12 months. I suspect he’s been too busy with his private patients.

        1. Quite possibly true, but it won’t do you any good to get annoyed about it. For what it’s worth, my father combined working NHS and private work as a consultant, and was ofren frustrated bt the bureauceacy of the former, but couldn’t do a lot about it.

          I hope your wait will be short.

          1. I understand your point but….
            Bearing in mind if I hadn’t ‘chased things up a little’ I feel I might never have received a reply at all.
            I also feel they have had every opportunity due to my situation, to have added me to the waiting list previously. And today I was working on much some needed maintenence to our garden pond.
            I had to stop because of throbbing chest pains. I had left my mobile phone inside upstairs because I was worried it might have ended up in the water.
            I believe if I had it with me at the time I might have phoned 999.
            But I did with great relief make it inside after sitting and resting for half an hour. Sat down and went to sleep for 90 minutes.
            I guess better than being left on a trolley or in the back of an ambulance. Or even still waiting for one to arrive.
            I can’t afford to pay for this but why should I.
            I aso have a severely arthritic (bone on bone) left knee joint. Which can be traced back to a bodged arthoscopy operation more than thirty years ago.
            I am in the same situation with this. Getting nowhere and being brushed aside, again I could easily have been added to the waiting list.
            Strangely enough if I could afford to pay more than 20 thousand pounds for both operations the waiting list would be much shorter.
            It’s a very sad state of affairs when after making contributions for 53 working years the word Service in NHS no longer exists.

          2. Oh, you have every right to feel frustrated and angry. I hope things resolve soon. And do you have a bag you can strap.around yourself if you’re going to do things like muck ponds out? You can put your phone in a plastic bag if you think you might be tempted to take a quick dip… 🤣

            Sending hugs x

      1. From what I know it could be 28 weeks waiting time. The plonker has known what needs to be done for 12 months. I expect he’s been too busy with his private patients.

  94. Goodnight and God bless, Gentlefolk.

    Hopefully to sleep. maybe to dream, until the morning’s light.

  95. Our lovely lady did come and help us with the attendance allowance forms for my husband. As she got up to leave, MH stood up unaided and escorted her to the door. “He’s standing,” she said. Yes, I said, “The creature lives, it breathes, it moves.” She left in giggles.

    1. I’ve submitted all those, Ann and am now awaiting a result.

      Fortunately, I’m still in contact with the guy who basically filled out the form for me and the result is supposedly imminent.

      1. Sit down with the one who helped you and go through the questions, one by one, and take advice as to what your answers SHOULD be.

        That’s what I did and it was most helpful.

        No reject so far and no back queries, as yet. Fingers well crossed.

    2. Don’t hold your breath, dear lady Ann. See my post below, that was submitted in January.

      1. My application was rejected…I am not wambly enough. No, we know how long it takes.

      1. Hi Richard, When are you heading back north? We encountered congestion on NI-81 at the Mason Dixon line today, construction I believe on the Pennsylvania side, so keep your traffic info updated. We have a restaurant we enjoy right on the line, that we go to frequently and our last two visits we got hung up and having to divert off onto rte 11 Hagerstown. Have a safe trip back.

        1. Thanks for the warning. On the way now, we got as far as Richmond before I became bored with I95.

          Allergy time is almost over in Myrtle Beach, the car was not covered in pollen this morning.

  96. Signing off- was awake for a few hours overnight. Hoping to sleep because I need it.
    Maybe tomorrow will be better.

      1. ‘Tis the hour forward disrupting our sleep patterns. It is easier to deal with when you are younger. Monday night I didn’t get to sleep until 4.30 am-ish (Tues morn).

        1. That’s why I’m still awake, Mum.

          I need a female to share my bed and help me sleep.

  97. Early morning, all. Attempted a dressage test, but Coolio was so forward that after the “medium canter” he positively refused to come back to “working canter” and the idea of trotting afterwards was a complete non-starter! We would have been eliminated for missing out elements as he carted me round the arena! Back to square one and shoulder in and travers to concentrate his mind!

  99. Good morning.
    With regard to Wednesday’s lead letter, they are not blaming retirees; they have just told them that the covid jabs are safe for older people.

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