Wednesday 29 May: The Tories have left it too late to start making the right noises on tax

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

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

603 thoughts on “Wednesday 29 May: The Tories have left it too late to start making the right noises on tax

  1. GOOD MORROW, GENTLEFOLK. TODAY’S (RECYCLED) STORY AND A LITTLE LIST
    GOOD ADVICE

    A young lady confidently walked around the room with a raised glass of water while leading a seminar and explaining stress management to her audience.

    Everyone knew she was going to ask the ultimate question, ‘half empty or half full?’ She fooled them all. “How heavy is this glass of water?” she inquired with a smile.

    Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. To 20 oz.

    She replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an ambulance.

    In each case it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.” She continued, “and that’s the way it is with stress. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on.

    As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we’re refreshed, we can carry on with the burden – holding stress longer and better each time practiced. So, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them through the evening and into the night. Pick them up again tomorrow if you must.”

    1. Accept the fact that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days you’re the statue!
    2. Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
    3. Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
    4. Drive carefully… It’s not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
    5. If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
    6. If you lend someone £20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
    7. It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
    8. Never buy a car you can’t push.
    9. Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won’t have a leg to stand on.
    10. Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.
    11. Since it’s the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.
    12. The second mouse gets the cheese.
    13. When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.
    14. Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
    15.
    16. Don’t know what happened to #15.
    17. Who cares, you have 3 more to read.
    18. We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names and all are different colours, but they all have to live in the same box.
    19. A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
    20. Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today.

    And Most Importantly
    21. Save the earth… It’s the only planet with chocolate and wine

    1. Excellent, Tom. Copied and circulated to work colleagues, as work is getting overwhelming and people are getting stressed. Thanks!

    2. Morning Tom. By far your best morning call – all of it. Well done and thank you.

  2. Sunak reveals he has talked to Boris Johnson about ‘risk’ of Starmer. 29 May 2024.

    Rishi Sunak has revealed that he recently talked to Boris Johnson about the “risk” that Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, poses to the country.

    In an exclusive interview with The Daily T podcast, the Prime Minister said the pair were “literally in touch the other day”, but declined to say whether Mr Johnson would campaign for him.

    One of the most revealing aspects of Rishi’s campaign is his overly enthusiastic embrace of his accomplices in this farrago of lies and deception. He flings himself at them as if they were long lost relatives from the Punjab. The mock audience all look somewhat doubtfully at this exhibition of alien behaviour and with typically English reticence manage only to look slightly uncomfortable.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/28/rishi-sunak-reveals-talked-boris-johnson-election-starmer/

  3. Good morning all.
    A dull damp morning with a light drizzle and 8°C on the Yard Thermometer.

    A run to Stoke to cee how bad stepson is.
    Might end up having to call for assisitance.

      1. I need to try and make a phone call before I go to Stoke Adult Social Care who’s phone number I’ve just discovered.

      1. No such thing as “Don’t Care In The Community”.
        It’s more like “We Don’t Give A Fucking Toss In The Community”!!

  4. Morning, all Y’all. In between rainstorms, but nice ‘n fresh, much less pollen in the air.

    1. Once again, Thank you Paul and Carol for my birthday present. Much appreciated.

      1. Did I miss your birthday, Sir Jasper? I do hope you had a great time.

          1. So it was a special (80th) one, Tom. I think I’ll send you a belated card. And thanks for re-starting your re-cycled jokes which are very much appreciated.

          2. Belated happy birthday, was out fishing on a friend’s boat all day Friday.

  5. A comment:-

    R. Spowart
    1 MIN AGO
    Message Actions
    Regarding the proposed National Service, where will the recruits be put?
    The number of barracks has been slashed to match the current shocking small size of the forces with Beachley, former home to Chepstow Army Apprentices College and currently holding an Infantry Battalion and Invicta Park in Maidstone, currently home to 36 Engineer Regiment, both due for closure in the near future.

    Reply by High Time.
    High Time
    JUST NOW
    Reply to R. Spowart – view message
    Add RAF Halton to the list.

    1. They’re putting reffies in the barracks. So, a truly multicultural experience for our new recruits.

    2. Halton is where I served my apprenticeship – It’s a shame it is closing even though it is the initial training place for recruits, it would be ideal for national service entrants

  6. A 2nd BTL Comment:-

    R. Spowart
    JUST NOW
    Message Actions
    Dianne Abbott should have stood down at least 3 or possibly 4 General Elections ago.
    She has never really been up to the job of being an MP to begin with, having being selected for an ultra-safe Labour seat simply for the party to gain the Kudos of having the first black woman MP and has needed substantial support to allow her to stay in place.
    Sadly, such is the wish to retain that kudos that those controlling her have ignored her obvious decline for far too long.
    Let her retire in peace.

    1. The same could be said of most MPs of all parties.

      Now that a goodly number are standing down, and more destined to be unseated, perhaps it is time now to look at the calibre of the candidates? They are the future.

      1. As far as the Conservatives are concerned, CCHQ should have absolutely no role in candidate selection.
        It’s thank to its bias towards London-centric yes men and women, that the party is now so unrepresentative of its supporters.

        1. As someone who campaigned hard against the Conservative Party in the 1980s in some of their safest seats in the South of England, I saw the party from the outside.

          It struck me largely as a social club for social climbers. Ideology was for the riff-raff of socialists and liberals, joyless moral uplifters who could not stomach the world as it is, nor had the means to make the most of the talents of the many different people in the nation with a common intention to improve their lot, that of their families, that of the community, and that of the nation. To achieve that as a party required first and foremost a social club to bring them all together, not the earnest words of some political theorist.

          Trying to preach morality to Tories was a lost cause. “How would this be taken down the golf club?” was really all they were concerned about, and were utterly pragmatic how it should be done. Loyalty was a far more important weapon, and the very devil to tackle at election time.

          An old Liberal canvasser warned me about the curse of the Blue Rinse, when knocking on doors. She would smile sweetly, and say that she was worried about the state of her party and was wavering over her loyalty. “Why not come in and explain what you have to offer?” Like a fly caught in her web, the lady would produce a pot of tea with her best china, and a cake she had prepared for such an occasion, and listen attentively to the canvasser explaining political theory, prompting for more information whenever it started to flag. I have known a lady keep an entire Opposition campaign team occupied and trapped for hours whilst the Tories were out in force covering the entire neighbourhood.

          As regards candidate selection, you are dead right. It would require someone to command the loyalty of the Blue Rinses, which means being a supportive presence at their local events, and generally seen as “one of us”. This is better decided by a local Constituency Committee than anyone in Head Office.

    2. I do suspect that she is suffering from a neuro-degenerative disorder.
      Sadly, her only family appears to be a viciously schizo son, so there seems to be nobody to quietly advise her to call it a day.

  7. Yes, the Tories should have implemented a lot of things which the public have been clamouring for for years. Sunak, to be fair, has had to pick up a lot of flack caused by his inept predecessors. Saying that, he let in a quarter of a million Indians last year. So my view is that he is a continuation of ineptitude – even though there are some more favourable noises emanating from him…due to the oncoming election, I warrant though.

  8. Good morning all and greetings to the bots of the 77th,

    A sunny, dry day has dawned at McPhee Towers, wind in the West, 13℃ to 18℃ later.

    Some good news: Finally there has been some sense over RAF Scampton although some might say even 10% is way too much.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/95cce4592a9ea20773fcc9ccc881596245443ae3b8af50a5eda24fc001330bac.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/28/dambusters-raf-scampton-lincolnshire-617-squadron-migrants/

    1. What about the other airbases, army bases and naval bases? Do they also not get a mention? There was more than one squadron that fought well in the war.

      1. Here in Colchester we are fortunate that all of the old barracks have been either bulldozed and built over or renovated and sold off. Many were not happy with all the housing but I think they’ll see it as a bit of a blessing now. We have a hotel or two with ‘guests’ of unknown origin but we also have the elite Paras (see GQ’s post above) stationed here at Merville Barracks.

        Merville is a small town in Normandy that was the scene of an heroic action by the Paras on D-Day to take out gun batteries that threatened the British landing on Sword beach. The attack went ahead with around 25% of the forces originally called for.

        1. One of my uncles probably passed through Merville on D Day as the unit headed for Sannerville, three miles further inland on the outskirts of Caen. He was in a Commando unit. I never had a chance to ask him about it as we rarely met and I spent most of my life working far from my home town. Even when I was young I rarely saw my uncles and aunts, they were too far away – about 9 miles. Arnold Drake R.I.P.

          1. Dad just back from the middle east, waiting to go to France, one uncle in the infantry fighting in italy, another on an aircraft carrier in the pacific and yet another in the engineers waiting to go to france. Thankfully all survived, but all remained tight lipped about their experiences. Loved them all.

          2. Dad just back from the middle east, waiting to go to France, one uncle in the infantry fighting in italy, another on an aircraft carrier in the pacific and yet another in the engineers waiting to go to france. Thankfully all survived, but all remained tight lipped about their experiences. Loved them all.

        2. I used to ride with the RHA Saddle Club in Colchester. I remember hacking along roads like Poperinghe Road.

      2. Off the top of my head RAF Biggin Hill has a museum and memorial chapel, RAF Tangmere has a museum and Scapa Flow has a museum. There will, I’m sure, be plenty of others.

          1. I did a specialist Photography/Mass film processing course at Cosford and we (only four of us) were given a private tour of the nascent museum. We were allowed to climb inside several aircraft. It wasn’t open to the public then. I remember the TSR2 and the Shackleton in particular.

          2. We went there in the early 70’s, with our Budgie, to be get aquainted with an airborne cameras.

            We went into the museaum and got chatting to a Yank, who was looking at a Flying Fortress.

            He had flown in them during WWII.

            I was looking for spares that we could ‘rob’ for our helo

          3. Cosford is about an hour’s drive away. I occasionally go and operate from RAFARS HQ, which is on the base. Usually it’s for special event stations. I haven’t had the call up for D Day 80, so perhaps there isn’t going to be a ham radio celebration.

      3. Nearly all forgotten and even vilified by the woke these days. My Dad served as an air gunner in the now forgotten 619 Squadron, which lost 85 aircraft and over 500 men. There’s a book about it called ‘619 – The History of a Forgotten Squadron’.

      4. Metheringham is a museum. Sleap is still operating (as a civil airport) and has a museum. Halfpenny Green is operating as Wolverhampton airport. RAF Finningley is Doncaster Airport, Hurn is Bournemouth Airport, Biggin Hill is a civil airport, Ringway is Manchester Airport, Duxford is an Imperial War Museum site.

  9. 387837+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    My belief is that as voter / judges in the coming political shite grading contest the remnants of the IN NAME ONLY tory party will show out to be the top floaters, proving too hard to flush
    away.

    Even the maladjusted majority voter will acknowledge that an indigenous lab vote WILL have every foreign islamic worldwide
    come arunning England bound, in celebration of forming the new
    caliphate.

    Caliphate, the political-religious state comprising the Muslim community and the lands and peoples under its dominion in the centuries following the death (632 ce) of the Prophet Muhammad

    Via the polling stations indigenous continuous input, that’s us.

    Could we be seeing shortly the Maskell travel agency advertising
    WHY go to Mecca with YORK on your doorstep.

  10. Shocking survey by JL Partners for the Henry Jackson Society, reveal alarming attitudes of “British” Muslims.
    46% of British Muslims sympathise with Hamas.
    Nearly half believe Israel should be wiped off the map.
    52% support killing anyone that shows a picture or cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.

    Gary agrees with them, however the BBC & Sir Keir says we don’t have an issue.. stop talking about it, and don’t make this a referendum on Islam.

      1. That’s an attractive idea, until reality intrudes. First, no referendum on immigration will ever be allowed. The ruling class have been imposing mass immigration on us for over 50 years, all without a fig leaf of a democratic mandate and against the wishes of the British people – and they have got away with it.
        Secondly, deport them to where? There’s no way Bangladesh or Pakistan would accept hundreds of thousands of deportees even if they were born there, still less those millions born here.
        So there’s no easy fix now. It’s up to us to impose our will on those Muslims here by requiring them to conform to our way of life.

          1. 2 no more Muslim only schools.
            3 no more face coverings in public places, this includes their demented supporters.
            4 deport all hate preachers with no right of appeal. Where? I don’t care, just get rid.
            5

    1. When the numbers reach critical mass there will be no moderate muslims in the UK.

        1. As always. They are a real and present danger. Apologies to some one!!

    2. Their allegiance is to islam and the caliphate. They are not “British” in any sense other than that of holding a British passport (and claiming jizya benefits).

  11. Good morning, chums, and thanks to Geoff for today’s (Wednesday’s) NoTTLE site. Now in fact I was up very early this morning, so if you want to see what I posted at around 6.20 am you will have to go back to last night’s page and read what I wrote there. Enjoy your day!

      1. My regiment travelled to exercise in Germany several times during my time there (83-85) always on the Norland. On the first trip, boarding in Hull, a very camp steward greeted us at the top of the gangplank with an expectant “Look at all these lovely soldiers…” It was Roy. I noticed he wore a South Atlantic medal ribbon on his mess jacket. His Falklands story was known to some of my colleagues. Nobody would dare take the mic.

        It’s worth mentioning that the entire crew in 1982 had the option to stand down. None did.

  12. Ukraine no nearer to joining Nato this year, Zelensky to be told at summit. 29 May 2024.

    Ukraine will not move further on its path to membership of Nato at this year’s annual summit, The Telegraph can reveal, amid fears the alliance could be drawn into a war with Russia.

    Germany and the United States have been vocal in their warnings against offering Kyiv a firm timeframe, during preparations for the two-day gathering in Washington marking the organisation’s 75th anniversary.

    “They’re very sceptical about bringing Ukraine any further along the path to full Nato membership this year,” a source familiar with the Biden administration’s thinking told The Telegraph.

    Surprise. Surprise. The US has thrown these people under the bus for their own geopolitical reasons. When this war is over and the Ukies have had time to think and count the dead they will be a lot less enthusiastic about both the EU and US.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/05/28/ukraine-no-nearer-to-joining-nato-this-year-zelensky-told/

    1. I thought the rule was that no country at war could join NATO? Oh, silly me, follow the rules… I forgot.

      1. That’s my understanding. AFAIAA, no country currently in a conflict can join NATO. Also, no NATO member country that is the agressor in a conflict can call Article V.

    2. If Ukraine joins NATO then the sales of arms ends and NATO countries have to actually act to defend it rather than merely use it as a distraction to hide Hunter Biden’s drug dealing.

  13. Take over bid for Royal Mail by an Iron curtain country!

    he board of the company that owns Royal Mail has agreed to a formal takeover offer for the 500-year-old organisation.

    Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky has firmed up an offer of £5bn, including assumed debts, for the company which employs more than 150,000 people.

    The entrepreneur said he had the “utmost respect” for its history and tradition.

    The offer includes commitments to retain the name, brand, UK headquarters and UK tax residency, as well as protections for employee benefits and pensions.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4nn0n93zj4o

    1. The entrepreneur said he had the “utmost respect” for its history and tradition.

      Will he retain that ‘utmost repect’

      1. Like the other Czech newspaper owner Ian Robert Maxwell MC (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, politician, fraudster, and the father of the convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell.

        Maxwell’s death triggered the collapse of his publishing empire as banks called in loans. His sons briefly attempted to keep the business together, but failed as the news emerged that the elder Maxwell had embezzled hundreds of millions of pounds from his own companies’ pension funds. The Maxwell companies applied for bankruptcy protection in 1992. After Maxwell’s death, large discrepancies in his companies’ finances were revealed, including his fraudulent misappropriation of the Mirror Group pension fund.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Maxwell#:~:text=Ian%20Robert%20Maxwell%20MC%20(born,convicted%20sex%20offender%20Ghislaine%20Maxwell.

        1. I’ve have never been convinced he actually died. A body was found floating and buried next day. He like his daughters boyfriend will, probably lived his life out on a luxurious island somewhere.

        2. ” … the elder Maxwell had embezzled hundreds of millions of pounds from his own companies’ pension funds.”

          At the time, a City employee acquaintance photocopied share certificates of the shares being sold by Robert Maxwell; IIRC the evidence was framed & dotted around his cloakroom. Didn’t we chuckle when we saw that the Pension Fund was named as the beneficial owner on all those photocopies. Of course, acquaintance and the team were paid off and he ended up working abroad.

      2. Like the other Czech newspaper owner Ian Robert Maxwell MC (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, politician, fraudster, and the father of the convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell.

        Maxwell’s death triggered the collapse of his publishing empire as banks called in loans. His sons briefly attempted to keep the business together, but failed as the news emerged that the elder Maxwell had embezzled hundreds of millions of pounds from his own companies’ pension funds. The Maxwell companies applied for bankruptcy protection in 1992. After Maxwell’s death, large discrepancies in his companies’ finances were revealed, including his fraudulent misappropriation of the Mirror Group pension fund.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Maxwell#:~:text=Ian%20Robert%20Maxwell%20MC%20(born,convicted%20sex%20offender%20Ghislaine%20Maxwell.

    2. Why do I see a massive amount of tax payers money being sent to Royal Mail to keep the jobs going and to ‘modernise’ which will amazingly vanish into his back pocket?

    3. No doubt Kraft (USA) had the utmost respect before it took over Cadbury’s… No doubt it didn’t.

  14. Take over bid for Royal Mail by an Iron curtain country!

    he board of the company that owns Royal Mail has agreed to a formal takeover offer for the 500-year-old organisation.

    Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky has firmed up an offer of £5bn, including assumed debts, for the company which employs more than 150,000 people.

    The entrepreneur said he had the “utmost respect” for its history and tradition.

    The offer includes commitments to retain the name, brand, UK headquarters and UK tax residency, as well as protections for employee benefits and pensions.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4nn0n93zj4o

  15. The shameless political class holds voters in contempt. 29 May 2024.

    From votes for 16 year olds to the ‘triple lock plus’, both parties prefer cynical bribes to a real vision for the future.

    Well this article is at least a fair representation of reality. Neither of the two main parties are worth voting for. They are really vehicles for rule by the Globalists.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/29/shameless-political-class-holds-voters-in-contempt/

    1. Yo Minty’

      As you sow, so shall you reap.

      “idiom literary saying. used to mean that the way you behave in life will affect the treatment you will receive from others.”

        1. How about us poor WAFUs (Fleet Airm Arm personnel) then , who spent years on the Flight Deck of our (then many) warships of all sizes.

          I have evenbeen in charge of the inflight refuellingof a Sea King Helicopter, which flew just astern anf to Port of the ship.
          (another time, we did the same to a USN Sea Stallion)

          The ‘Budgie’ on a frigate operate dfrom a flight deck smallerthan most people’s gardens.

          1. Yes , I know , and I expect your overalls just like moh’s stank of fumes , and indeed your uniform jumpers , as did MOh’s when he arrived home . I could smell the fumes on his face when we cuddled .

            I have also flown in all types of helo as a passenger, Sea King , Wasp with the door off, and then the Bristow fleet , all 4 early types , and I know how smelly they were .

    2. I’ve already lost interest in all these political shenagans, cheating and lying.
      They are all clearly dishonest down to ground level. Garbage it too nicer word for them all.

  16. I fully agree. However, how do we “impose our will” if the PTB and press and TV decline to do so?

    1. How indeed. Firstly, stop voting for the woke globalist ruling class and their very slightly different factions of Labour, Tory, Libdem and Green.

  17. Excellent piece in the DT by Madeline Grant pointing out the sheer hypocrisy and cynicism of our politic class and its contempt of the British people on display in the run up to the election, an election rigged to ensure that the woke, globalist bunch remains in power.

    1. Starmer refers to this as “CHANGE”.

      The real change happened in 2017 when it dawned on the globalist Blairites that an old socialist token leftie had got himself elected Leader with 60% party support, a membership several times bigger than that of the Conservative Party, and capable of denying a Dead Cert Tory leader her majority, despite a lack of seats in Scotland. So incensed were they that they decreed that the party had to change back to the old comforting ways of The Done Thing.

      1. In modern parlance, change management means compliance. In the workplace a change management team exists to ensure that everyone changes to doing things according to the prescribed method. I’ve seen it in action.

        1. Yep, spot on. Nothing ever actually changes, nothing ever gets better but it gives a vast army of bureaucrats and wasters an opportunity to be seen to be doing something.

          Once an organisation grows beyond a certain size it is laden with dead weight and Spanish practices and sets about ‘changing’.

          We’re contracting to move a company from google to microsoft because, well, microsoft lied. Nothing will change, it’s just massive disruption, a lot of fiddling, training (seriously, why can people not work out new tools? Just click about and look for things!) to a different platform that makes life even more complicated and annoying than it already was.

        2. The tenancy is not to promote the people who are competent in their positions. But to get rid of the management who usually rely on the personnel immediately under them and then bring in new ‘managers’ who have to then keep their hands on and watch how to be involved in management. Just to take the credit.

    2. Angela Rayner pledges to her local constituents of Stockport & Ashton to rebuild Gaza.. ffs.. you couldn’t make it up.

      1. That’s what the diversity in her constituency want to hear. They’re alien, unwanted and Labour pander to them.

        I wouldn’t mind if it meant raynor going there personally to work as a brick layer, but she really means the Ethel and Ernest’s pensions will be destroyed to pay for Abdul’s rocket launcher.

      2. Rebuild what? Philistia? Gaza as it was under Roman rule, the Ottoman Turks and more recently Egyptian control? The Gaza that the Arabs destroyed when it was gifted back to them by the Jews? Precisely what is to be rebuilt. Angela Rayner doesn’t know of course. A crowd pleasing sound bite with no meaning.

        1. Rebuild the tunnels, the arms and explosives storage areas. the underground hospitals with reinforced detention rooms for civilian hostages and hundreds of minarets with launch pads and signalling stations and special platform for throwing puffters and women and children found not to be wearing a full burka – That’s just in her constituency at Ashton-under Lyme. Then on to Gaza and the West Bank.

    3. She’s spot on, and thank you for the ref.

      Politicians lie, reflexively. They’re utterly corrupt, totally without morality. As soon as they’re elected they throw any ‘promises’ away and continue their agenda, and that’s always securing their best interests – not the country’s, theirs. One side blithers on about the triple lock, then it’s university courses, then apprenticeships – all carefully, desperately avoiding talking about the underpinning problems that they fully intend to continue regardless of what the public want.

      Reeves keeps saying she won’t raise income tax or NI – but what about the hundreds of other taxes? Companies don’t pay tax. Their customers do. We pass them on to consumers, so hiking business rates – again, to globally align – and rates just puts companies out of business and destroys jobs.

      Not one of them is remotely interested in doing what needs to be done or even talking about it. They’re just liars, thieves and fools. We’re a third world nation paying first world prices and the Left have done this to us.

    1. All white and only a handful of women. Bit like the EU Commissioners. Morning!

      1. And I bet the women who are there are not the sort of corrupt deadweights that we see in public life!

    2. All white and only a handful of women. Bit like the EU Commissioners. Morning!

    3. One wonders if any of the ‘thinkers’ will say ‘go back to the gold standard, as that worked and stopped government’s wasting trillions and landing the public with the bill.’

      1. The Chinese central bank has been buying gold since 2008, which signaled the start of dollar death. Finally, a country that is too big for the US to invade, kill its leader or start a war with has put its weight behind sound money (gold/silver standard). The Chinese people can now have gold accounts at banks, and “gold beans” are a popular investment product (2 or 3 grammes of solid gold to keep at home).
        It has been estimated that China has more than 30 000 tonnes of gold, which is more than enough to go back onto a form of gold standard. The Russians have a lot too and have been actively advocating for a gold standard.
        There seems to be some kind of informal agreement between central banks to balance their gold reserves before the inevitable gold standard arrives.
        They have been trying it in Zim, but without letting people swap currency for gold. To get people’s trust, it’ll have to be swappable. A pound is sadly, a copper coin in real money nowadays.

        1. Land & proprerty is you best bet.My Great grandfather started with a row of terrace houses.in Widnes.

          1. Stinky Widnes – you could smell it from miles away. Full of chemical processing factories. I remember travelling on the Transporter Bridge to Runcorn.

    1. I have spent time in the Czechia. The people were warm and friendly. Businessmen may be a different breed.

      1. When I was in Prague, the younger generation were definitely non-soviet. The oldies, much less so!

  18. Never forget that the wife of one of the French islamic attackers lives in the UK because the rules here are more favourable to islamic extremists.
    Ban religious head coverings in state institutions like the army, schools, police, nhs etc and they will leave voluntarily.
    People who GENUINELY want to live without the shadow of islamic fanatics will stay – that’s a win-win for Britain.

    1. I understand your feelings, but one of the worst things about mass immigration is that it has resulted in a large loss of freedom. I do not generally agree with banning things, though as you say, in organisations like the army all should be required to wear the same uniform.
      However, I think that you are on the right lines. We should not provide publicly-funded Islamic schools, our children should be taught positive history about this county and we should all assert our right to assert the supremacy of our values and traditions.

      1. A side effect of a policy intended to stem the indoctrination of the young by Muslim fanatics in faith madrasses in British cities is that Roman Catholic schools are not permitted to allow more than 50% of their intake to be practising Catholics, and presumably the parents of the majority could then object to morning prayers directed towards Our Lady.

        Our reigning monarch has not been allowed to be or be married to a Catholic since the time of James II/VII, but there seems to be no law preventing him to be or be married to a Muslim, since this would be considered “islamophobic”, laying the Crown open to attack by the mainstream media and their lawyers.

        What is the law on Norwegian Methodists, or even (horror of horrors!) Wee Free Scots?

      2. I’m not a fan of banning things, but I think I can make an exception for a cult that tells its followers to kill those who leave the cult and not to make friends of Christians and Jews.

        1. I agree, but we both know that no such ban will ever be imposed, even if it was legal, which is doubtful, by the woke globalist ruling class, which is where the real problem lies. Destroy that and the Muslim problem can be solved.
          The way to start would be to ban the Muslim book, the Koran, as it contains explicit instructions to murder non-believers.

          1. An important principle is that we must make a difference between a religion that tells its followers to murder people who leave the religion, and other religions that don’t.

          2. Book banning is a toughie too. I agree that everyone should be free to dress as they please but when they wear desert garb in a western city, we should also be free to mock them. Protecting yourself from sand is dumb in a place where there isn’t any. If they respond to mockery with violence then they should be prosecuted for the violence.

    2. Ban face covering, not all religious head coverings (Yarmulka, for example). In an open western society, nobody should be covering their face.

  19. Put them all aboard a naval craft and force them off at a Somalian beach at midnight wearing only their underclothes..

    1. I was thinking dump them in the Sahara but yeah, a Somalian beach will do :-))

      1. Build a well equiped army first. When the benefit tap is turned off, there’ll be violent demos and that’s the point where force becomes necessary and legitimate.

      2. The lawyers unfortunately would have a field day – but I agree wholeheartedly
        But why just Muslims – stop all benefits to illegal asylum seekers and ‘refugees’
        That would also stop the boats

        1. Most “asylum seekers” are muslim, aren’t they? They throw the Christians overboard.

    1. A raft of legislation was passed. Nothing positive or useful, but a lot was passed. Folk were distracted. It was the ideal time to hammer folk.

      1. The anti British culture snivelling service again ?
        It’s about time someone went in there and sorted it all out.
        Reform ?

          1. But you can bet that they fiddle about with them.
            Our son was at Gleneagles when Gabby Logan Married her husband.
            He’s a facilities contracts manager in international support services.

  20. Morning all 🙂😊
    Quite a bright start, but me thinks it won’t last.
    And the tories have frankly effed up again.
    It appears that they are not even slightly aware of public opinion. Or ‘frankly don’t give a damn’.
    We already know labour don’t care about anything in particular. Well they really enjoy robbing the hard working tax payer’s and handing out as a reward for the votes.
    It looks as if we are all in for a rough ride.

  21. Silly question from me , but whichever party wins the GE, do civil servants remain in post , foreign office, home office, treasury etc and the rest or are they replaced?

    1. I think they remain in place as they are “neutral”. But the opposite in the US.

    2. Prime Ministers come and go Bernard, said Sir Humphrey.
      These civil servants are considered unbiased and remain in their posts all their lives.

      1. As said previously, rob232 – ‘permanence is power’. There are a few YouTube vids of certain ones appearing before various select committees….hmmm…..

    3. They stay. But they are supposed to be silent on political issues until after the election.

    4. All staff of national institutions remain and are supposedly “apolitical”. This is a big joke.. for example, the open airing of intense hatred of the UK by Jess Brammar in her 36,000 Tweets.. revealed just before her appointment as Executive News Editor of BBC.

      Anyhow, the roles of executive directors come up for grabs every now and then, and the government in power have a key input on approval.
      Nadine Dorries’s book detailed all the shenanigans involved in one such appointment.. head of Ofcom.

      Sad to say.. every single executive role & all 275 UK Diplomats remain in the firm grip of middle-class Marxists usually married to someone at The Guardian. And guess what.. 110% of em voted remain, and are committed to Rejoin.

      And alarmingly David Starkey listed all the specialist committees of experts, the huge network of regulatory bodies, every government department & the four or five major quangos sitting under it.. each and every one was run by a Blairite Remainer.. and each had a small discreet tattoo placed on the nape of neck.

  22. Silly question from me , but whichever party wins the GE, do civil servants remain in post , foreign office, home office, treasury etc and the rest or are they replaced?

  23. It’s a question that Google refuses to answer but yes, pretty sure they remain in place. Snivel service jobs have always been said to be for life? That may not always be true now but there hasn’t been any revolutionary change?

    1. Some stay for life….until they retire. Others come and go. I only did 21 years. No regrets at retiring.

  24. Parallel Mike has done some great podcasts on cycles. We are in the turbulent phase at the end of a long economic cycle and things will improve again…I just hope that I will see it!

  25. Referenced elsewhere.

    The shameless political class holds voters in contempt

    From votes for 16 year olds to the ‘triple lock plus’, both parties prefer cynical bribes to a real vision for the future

    MADELINE GRANT • 29 May 2024 • 7:00am

    Often forgotten beside A Rake’s Progress, William Hogarth satirised the 18th century democratic process in his series The Humours of an Election. From flagrant bribery of electors to shenanigans on polling day, he paints a graphic picture of a democratic system entering necrosis.

    As the sacred act of voting occurs, criminals, the nearly-dead and the visibly mentally deranged are wheeled out before their minders receive payment. In the background, an ornate coach representing Britannia breaks down while the coachmen and footmen play cards.

    We might be tempted to view such representations of historical politics and comfort ourselves over the stupidity and corruption of our forebears.

    However, the last laugh may well be with Hogarth. The first week of campaigning has shown that, far from belonging in a museum, The Humours of an Election could be painted just as vividly today. It won’t be, however. At least in the 18th century they were honest about their chicanery.

    Consider Hogarth’s primary theme: the omnipresence of bribes. This is the bribery election, perhaps the most shameless of my lifetime. All sides appear to be reverting to their basest instincts with ill-thought-out policies designed not for the national interest but to cajole an unenthused base. The equivalent of free electoral Viagra handed out at the world’s ugliest orgy.

    Labour, for instance, isn’t even bothering to argue the principled case for giving the vote to children. Interviewed by GB News, shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth gulped and gawped in the general direction of the camera when asked for statistics about how many under-18s actually pay tax or join the Army, or to explain the logical inconsistency of giving 16-year-olds the vote while preventing them from being tried as adults, buying a cigarette, or even being shown food adverts.

    The truth was he didn’t know, nor, it appeared, did he care. The presenters’ mistake was to apply logical arguments to a purely cynical decision.

    The Conservatives have assumed the other extreme – luring their core electorate with a pensions “triple lock plus”; designed to drag the faithful elderly out on a cavalry charge of Zimmer frames and so save a few Tory seats. Mel Stride, the stuttering ying to Mr Ashworth’s yang, blustered his way through an interview about why this was wise when he’d admitted just last year that he believed even a triple lock was “unsustainable”.

    I’m sure Mr Stride still believes this, but the real reason for such a policy has nothing to do with what’s sensible or sustainable but, as with Labour, pure bribery. What’s next; votes for zygotes? Nationalise Stannah stairlifts? Viking River Cruises for all?

    Such pledges stretch credulity. You sense that they’re not quite meant to be taken seriously. Meanwhile, the major issues of the day – defence, stagnant growth – are studiously ignored. This is decadence worthy of late-Rome; arguing about nothing while the nation stares into the abyss.

    Also present in Hogarth is a sense that the whole thing is something of a charade. There is no obvious distinction between his Tory and Whig candidates other than bribing voters at differently-named pubs. So, too, today. This election was billed as an era-defining moment; and indeed, a change of government seems inevitable after 14 years.

    You might have expected some bold offer for the country, a grown-up programme for change from Labour or a genuine statement of ideology from the Tories (which, frankly, they’ll need in Opposition). Instead, we receive a set of half-promises amounting to little more than the greasing of palms.

    Alongside the bungs for pensioners and the youth gerrymandering, there is Labour’s spiteful tax on private schools, which even party insiders quietly admit will raise less than a whip round after a school fete.

    Then there is the Tories’ ill-conceived National Service idea, belched out with little detail earlier this week. It seems designed to nuke still further the already irradiated wasteland that is Tory polling among the under-40s. Both policies appear calculated to punish “the other side”. Neither suggests long-term thinking or a hopeful vision for Britain’s future. Probably because neither side has or can afford one.

    All this seems to point to a modern version of Hogarth’s overarching theme: deep contempt for the voters by a political class that is itself profoundly unimpressive.

    His final panel depicts an MP incapable of controlling a crowd of grotesques who carry him to the town hall, all led by a monkey banging a drum. Still, an ape might do a better job than whichever CCHQ double agent is responsible for planting Rishi Sunak in a series of increasingly awkward encounters with the general public. Where next? A vox pop at a funeral? A policy announcement in an abattoir?

    Labour’s dealings with the electorate are little better. A video surfaced of Angela Rayner, wearing an unusually long dress, bellowing at a room of Muslim men – and only men – in a series of high-volume pleas for their votes because she will “help rebuild Gaza”. At least Sir Ed Davey repeatedly falling off a paddleboard on Lake Windermere was funny in a Hogarthian sort of way.

    The parties try to insist that this election will shape 21st-century Britain: in fact, it seems more like a return to the contemptuous and petty politics of another age. But with fewer laughs, and no monkey banging a drum.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/29/shameless-political-class-holds-voters-in-contempt/

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4ee0dbe325516d43eae42cd23e6d41f925c66ee80b9d99f7a5b2ee1c470cc8ff.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/64516feb5b557825a95358b1acccab2b694a2ddf6c16011e0fd88c3a7cf095a6.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/21be0f71eaa757aa58679ecbaab9f072fb4e561d882b38cc916d03465c5b8145.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ad3b3065855862986e581d9a112ce5cd2661bfdc197f07bc7c80a0093ab8ac4e.jpg

    1. Thus far I’ve not witnessed any of those electoral photo/video performances. May it remain that way.

  26. The Guardian 1, Telegraph 0.

    When The Guardian corrects an error of fact in an article published online, it makes a note of the edit which appears at the foot of the page. However, the Telegraph posted an article by James Crisp (probably late on Monday) in which he stated that the population of Ireland, the Republic, was 4.6 million. Latest data indicates a population of 5.1 million people. This morning the article has been updated, but without any ‘edited’ note.
    Have yet to spot any other corrections, but I am sceptical about young Crispy.

    Edit: data / date !

    1. He is fanatically pro-EU and anti-Brexit.

      I do not know what he is like personally but judging by the way he writes I suspect that he is probably not a very pleasant man.

    1. Right-wing media portrayed window covering at ballot center as nefarious. Here’s what really happened

      By Oliver Darcy, CNN Business

      Updated 8:25 AM EST, Fri November 6, 2020

      New York
      CNN Business


      Right-wing media outlets, which have parroted President Donald Trump’s dangerous rhetoric aimed at undermining the integrity of the US election, have portrayed a move at a Detroit ballot-counting center as nefarious.

      But a city official poured cold water on the assertions, explaining to CNN Business that the measure at the center of controversy was taken to ensure private voter data wasn’t inappropriately exposed to the public.

      Reports from pro-Trump outlets such as Fox News, Breitbart, and The Gateway Pundit spotlighted a decision by poll workers at the TCF Center in Detroit to partially cover windows with cardboard as they counted ballots inside and a group of apparent Trump supporters gathered outside.

      The reports were widely shared and found their ways to large audiences. On Thursday, for instance, a Breitbart article shared by Trump had even ascended to become the top link on all of Facebook when ranked by interactions for the previous 24-hour period, according to CrowdTangle, an analytics firm owned by Facebook.

      The reports from right-wing outlets and personalities implied that poll workers were hiding improper activity from the public.

      But Lawrence Garcia, an attorney for the City of Detroit, said that the windows were partially blocked because of concern voter information could be wrongfully revealed to the public. Those concerns were compounded by the fact that protesters standing outside the ballot-counting area were taking photographs and recording video.

      “Some – but not all – windows were covered, because poll workers seated just inside those windows expressed concerns about people outside the center photographing and filming them and their work,” Garcia told CNN Business. “Only the media is allowed to take pictures inside the counting place, and people outside the center were not listening to requests to stop filming poll workers and their paperwork.”

      Garcia underscored that the City of Detroit had been exceedingly transparent with the public as it counts ballots. CNN and other news organizations have projected Joe Biden will win the state’s 16 Electoral College votes.

      “Hundreds of challengers from both parties were inside the central counting board all afternoon and all evening; dozens of reporters were in the room too,” Garcia said. “At all times, people outside the center could see in through windows that were further away from counting board work spaces.”

      But dispute the innocuous nature of what happened, the story served as fuel for a right-wing media machine looking to sow distrust in the country’s voting system.

      Fox News host Tucker Carlson played the story up on his prime time show Wednesday night. Carlson brought on Fox News reporter Matt Finn to discuss what occurred. A banner on the screen read, “CONCERN OVER DETROIT’S ABSENTEE BALLOT COUNTING.”

      Finn properly explained in his report that poll workers were concerned about exposing private voter information. But Carlson ended the segment blasting Detroit as “one of the most mismanaged places in the Western Hemisphere” which is now “helping to elect your President.”

      Later in the night, the context Finn had offered Carlson was not included in Fox News’ coverage of the story. Anchor Shannon Bream highlighted it on her show, asking, “Why the boarding up of windows? People just want to have confidence. If there is a good explanation, I would love to hear it.”

      And a story on Fox News’ website did not explain why the city took the measure.

      A spokesperson for Fox News did not return a request for comment Thursday.

      The story also took off elsewhere in the right-wing media universe.

      Breitbart’s article, which did not include the city’s explanation for why some windows had been partially covered, was shared tens of thousands of times, including by Trump.

      It said that Trump supporters had grown “alarmed” that Trump’s lead had evaporated as “mailed-in-ballots were counted in historically Democrat areas.” The story accused poll workers of “attempting to restrict transparency and not allow people outside to observe what was going on inside the counting area,” despite the fact that poll watchers and journalists had been allowed inside the room.

      The Gateway Pundit story asserted that the “vote counting center was the scene of alleged irregularities and intimidation by Democrats running the count.” It claimed, “Republican poll watchers were routinely thrown out and windows covered up to block observers.”

      A spokesperson for the White House did not respond to a request for comment.

      https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/05/media/detroit-windows-covered-ballots-vote-center/index.html

      1. I thought the ballot papers were supposed to be anonymous. How could voter data be obtained by looking through a window?

        1. I don’t know what’s visible on US ballot papers, but the presence of numerous invigilators in that room tells me that the count was conducted in orderly fashion.

          1. I have personal experience of votes going astray after they’ve been counted (and added to a LD candidate’s pile). It didn’t make any difference (the LD didn’t win), but I am, shall we say, disillusioned about the election experience.

  27. Another article which would not have appeared in the DT a few years ago

    Health / Wellbeing / Sex
    ‘I couldn’t orgasm’: Why anti-depressants could ruin your sex life
    Millions of us in the UK are prescribed ‘happy pills’ each year, but no one is talking about this common (and disappointing) side effect

    Gwyneth Rees : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/wellbeing/sex/antidepressants-sex-life/

    I put this up as a BTL with the likely trigger words* euphemised – I wonder how long it will, if you will pardon the expression, stay up.

    My back aches, my penis* is sore
    I simply can’t f*ck any more
    I’m dripping in sweat
    And you haven’t come yet
    And my God it’s a quarter to four!

    1. I see more and more ed ads on TV these days – I don’t know what the world is coming to. 🤔

    2. The Midwestern Doctor had a long article some time ago about SSRIs and their dangers.

    3. Must have been in Norfolk since very few of the local women achieve a genuine orgasm.

      They are invariably Fakenham.

  28. I thought this was a difficult one. My son got it!
    Wordle 1,075 5/6

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

  29. 387837+ up ticks,

    Good Question, my belief is the pro islamic politico’s will be the first who’s heads will be adorning the pikes.

    Swiftly followed by the party (ino) supporter / voters who as non believers still give their consent via the polling stations to the parties actions,

    Amy Mek
    @AmyMek
    Amsterdam, Netherlands…

    Anyone who thinks these “protests” are just about Israel and Jews better wake up soon!

    What do you think is going to happen when their numbers increase?

    Whether you are a pacifist or warmonger, gay or heterosexual, atheist or Christian, wealthy or poor, blasphemer or devout, American, Israeli, European, or Indian, Islamic terrorism does not discriminate. Every one of us is a target: Islamic terrorism is genocidal, and it’s coming for you next.

    Western nations have been funding the lives of these terrorists as they endanger our countries and the lives of citizns, while they spread hatred towards each of our countries, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and the West. Is this how taxpayers want their hard-earned contributions to be used?

    Deport every single one of these terrorists while you still can.

    https://x.com/AmyMek/status/1795175957789278619

    In short, the party (ino), and the party supporter / voters, will lose by a head.

  30. Labour has banned Diane Abbot from taking part in the Election. It might have something she said. 🤗

    1. With the deputy leader of the Labour Part cosying up to Muslims I would have thought that anti-Semitism was back on the agenda.

  31. James Esses’s Substack article: James Esses
    [ Good morning, NoTTLers! I know it’s Brighton so what one would expect but it is still, as the author says at the end, unforgiveable. I just hope that as it was published in 2020, it has been rescinded…]

    “The NHS is ideologically captured.

    Despite the Cass Review. Despite government guidance. Despite the mass of evidence accumulating, which demonstrates the destructive impact of gender ideology on the health and wellbeing of vulnerable people.

    The scariest thing of all – it is happening behind closed doors.

    As usual, I am wholly reliant on the courage and integrity of whistleblowers to enable me to shed some light on what is taking place in our societal institutions.

    I have been provided with a copy of an internal policy document from Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, entitled ‘Perinatal Care for Trans and Non-Binary People’. It was first introduced in December 2020.

    As will become apparent shortly, the painful irony of this document is that it came into being after being approved by the ‘Women’s Services Safety and Quality Committee’ within the Trust. This policy does nothing whatsoever to protect the safety of women.

    In the introduction, readers are told that the document applies to “all childbearing people who self-identify as transgender (trans), non-binary, or any other non-cisgender (non-cis) identity”.

    Within this virtue-signalling gobbledegook is the erasure of the concept of womanhood.

    The policy goes on to state that wards should be labelled ‘Birth People Only’, rather than ‘Women Only’ and emphasises that those who desire access to women’s wards should be granted such access.

    The midwives and obstetricians to whom this policy is aimed at are told unequivocally that they must “read, understand and follow”. The policy also creates a new branch of midwives, known as ‘gender inclusion midwives’, whose primary purpose is to supply midwifery to ‘trans and non-binary’ patients.

    The policy laments the fact that “maternity services have typically been designed as a cisgender (cis) women-only service”. Yes, what a crying shame it is that a service for pregnancy has been designed to support the only cohort of people who can get pregnant – women.

    As the document continues, we witness a complete pandering to the delusional fantasies of others. For example, it reads: “Professionals should recognise that the desire to conceive, birth and feed a baby can be shared by people of any gender identity”. While a man, due to mental ill-health, fetish or otherwise, may desire to conceive and give birth to a baby, it is a biological impossibility. Our healthcare professionals should be championing truth over delusion.

    Worryingly, the NHS Trust encourages the policing of staff’s speech when it comes to ‘misgendering’. The policy mandates that every patient should be asked for their preferred pronouns at the start of a conversation. Staff are warned that to misgender, even accidentally, may “cause harm and intensify gender dysphoria”. Staff who misgender are told to “apologise, correct yourself, and move on…do not continue to draw attention to the error as it will continue to make you and the person you are addressing feel awkward.” If a member of staff overhears a colleague misgender someone, they are to “correct them” and, if persistent, “escalate to a manager”.

    Biological language goes completely out of the window at this NHS Trust. Instead, it is replaced by vulgarity, in which women are truly reduced to body parts. Staff are told that “some people may talk about their ‘front hole’ or ‘genital opening’ rather than ‘vagina’”.

    Patients are even provided with a ‘My Language Preferences’ sheet, in which they can dictate how they would like their healthcare professional to refer to certain anatomical terms. The idea of language having objective and universal meaning, particularly crucial in a healthcare setting, is simply cast aside.

    What is most shocking about this policy is the ideological pandering.

    The policy acknowledges that women who take testosterone may have “implications for reproductive development of the foetus”. It also acknowledges the “possible risks to the infant” for breastfeeding mothers who are taking testosterone. It even states that those who have taken testosterone “may be more at risk…postnatal depression”. Yet, these risks are quickly brushed over, in order to facilitate gender ideology.

    For example, readers are told that “gender affirming genital surgery – such as metoidioplasty, scrotoplasty or phalloplasty do not, by themselves, impair future reproductive options in terms of conception, but would likely necessitate a caesarean birth”.

    Equally, caesareans are offered to those who feel that “physiological birth may trigger gender dysphoria”.

    This is even though, in the majority of cases, vaginal birth is much safer than caesarean.

    Particularly concerning is a section of the policy which states that “non-gestational parents may wish to participate in feeding their infants using their own bodies”. The policy goes on to suggest the ways in which men may be able to induce lactation to enable “chestfeeding”.

    From start to finish, this NHS Trust’s policy prioritises the fantasies, desires and delusions of men over the safety and wellbeing of women and babies.

    This is utterly unforgiveable.”

    1. The lunatics have taken over the asylum. I had a visit from a friend of mine this morning. His wife is in hospital with depression and basically anorexia. She loves music and he bought a brand new CD player for her to listen to in order to distract her from her mental problems. They refused to let him give it to her because it hadn’t been PAT tested! They are debating which antidepressant drugs to give her that won’t exacerbate her sodium deficiency. He told them to give her salt tablets along with the drugs. Frankly, she would be better off at home. Envy of the world? Not round here.

      1. After being told I had a sodium deficiency 2 months ago the Consultant told me there was a shortage of sodium tablets in the U.K.!

  32. James Esses’s Substack article: James Esses
    [ Good morning, NoTTLers! I know it’s Brighton so what one would expect but it is still, as the author says at the end, unforgiveable. I just hope that as it was published in 2020, it has been rescinded…]

    “The NHS is ideologically captured.

    Despite the Cass Review. Despite government guidance. Despite the mass of evidence accumulating, which demonstrates the destructive impact of gender ideology on the health and wellbeing of vulnerable people.

    The scariest thing of all – it is happening behind closed doors.

    As usual, I am wholly reliant on the courage and integrity of whistleblowers to enable me to shed some light on what is taking place in our societal institutions.

    I have been provided with a copy of an internal policy document from Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, entitled ‘Perinatal Care for Trans and Non-Binary People’. It was first introduced in December 2020.

    As will become apparent shortly, the painful irony of this document is that it came into being after being approved by the ‘Women’s Services Safety and Quality Committee’ within the Trust. This policy does nothing whatsoever to protect the safety of women.

    In the introduction, readers are told that the document applies to “all childbearing people who self-identify as transgender (trans), non-binary, or any other non-cisgender (non-cis) identity”.

    Within this virtue-signalling gobbledegook is the erasure of the concept of womanhood.

    The policy goes on to state that wards should be labelled ‘Birth People Only’, rather than ‘Women Only’ and emphasises that those who desire access to women’s wards should be granted such access.

    The midwives and obstetricians to whom this policy is aimed at are told unequivocally that they must “read, understand and follow”. The policy also creates a new branch of midwives, known as ‘gender inclusion midwives’, whose primary purpose is to supply midwifery to ‘trans and non-binary’ patients.

    The policy laments the fact that “maternity services have typically been designed as a cisgender (cis) women-only service”. Yes, what a crying shame it is that a service for pregnancy has been designed to support the only cohort of people who can get pregnant – women.

    As the document continues, we witness a complete pandering to the delusional fantasies of others. For example, it reads: “Professionals should recognise that the desire to conceive, birth and feed a baby can be shared by people of any gender identity”. While a man, due to mental ill-health, fetish or otherwise, may desire to conceive and give birth to a baby, it is a biological impossibility. Our healthcare professionals should be championing truth over delusion.

    Worryingly, the NHS Trust encourages the policing of staff’s speech when it comes to ‘misgendering’. The policy mandates that every patient should be asked for their preferred pronouns at the start of a conversation. Staff are warned that to misgender, even accidentally, may “cause harm and intensify gender dysphoria”. Staff who misgender are told to “apologise, correct yourself, and move on…do not continue to draw attention to the error as it will continue to make you and the person you are addressing feel awkward.” If a member of staff overhears a colleague misgender someone, they are to “correct them” and, if persistent, “escalate to a manager”.

    Biological language goes completely out of the window at this NHS Trust. Instead, it is replaced by vulgarity, in which women are truly reduced to body parts. Staff are told that “some people may talk about their ‘front hole’ or ‘genital opening’ rather than ‘vagina’”.

    Patients are even provided with a ‘My Language Preferences’ sheet, in which they can dictate how they would like their healthcare professional to refer to certain anatomical terms. The idea of language having objective and universal meaning, particularly crucial in a healthcare setting, is simply cast aside.

    What is most shocking about this policy is the ideological pandering.

    The policy acknowledges that women who take testosterone may have “implications for reproductive development of the foetus”. It also acknowledges the “possible risks to the infant” for breastfeeding mothers who are taking testosterone. It even states that those who have taken testosterone “may be more at risk…postnatal depression”. Yet, these risks are quickly brushed over, in order to facilitate gender ideology.

    For example, readers are told that “gender affirming genital surgery – such as metoidioplasty, scrotoplasty or phalloplasty do not, by themselves, impair future reproductive options in terms of conception, but would likely necessitate a caesarean birth”.

    Equally, caesareans are offered to those who feel that “physiological birth may trigger gender dysphoria”.

    This is even though, in the majority of cases, vaginal birth is much safer than caesarean.

    Particularly concerning is a section of the policy which states that “non-gestational parents may wish to participate in feeding their infants using their own bodies”. The policy goes on to suggest the ways in which men may be able to induce lactation to enable “chestfeeding”.

    From start to finish, this NHS Trust’s policy prioritises the fantasies, desires and delusions of men over the safety and wellbeing of women and babies.

    This is utterly unforgiveable.”

  33. The Durham Police, who report to the Labour politician Joy Allen PCC, found that the leader of the Labour party was completely innocent re his beer
    and curry night.

    Now the Greater Manchester police – who report to the Labour politician Andy Burnham – have found that the Labour Deputy leader Angela Rayner is equally innocent re her council house sales and address flitting.

    Ah, impartial British Justice – the envy of the world!

  34. As Ukraine war rages, Russia activates sabotage plans in Europe: Experts. 29 May 2024.

    Intelligence experts have warned that Europe is under a growing threat from Russian sabotage operations, and believe those operations aim to secure concrete military results in Ukraine, political and economic costs to Europe, and nuisance value.

    “We are experiencing the early stages of a systematic activation of Russian sleeper cells worldwide,” Joseph Fitsanakis, professor of Intelligence and National Security Studies at Coastal Carolina University, told Al Jazeera. “This is an unprecedented phenomenon in Western post-war history.”

    Utter tripe.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/05/28/ukraine-no-nearer-to-joining-nato-this-year-zelensky-told/

    1. Why would Russia bother and/or expose itself when the EU and Europe are already the cause of so many economic costs (Net Zero – the uncosted WEF masterplan springs to mind) and their unfettered immigration plans are becoming much more than a uisance value.

      As the old saw almost goes, don’t interrupt the ‘enemy’ (or commercial opponent) whilst he’s making mistakes.

  35. 387837+ up ticks,

    Tis a wonderment to me that they have held out so long, ALL other businesses of their size and ilk have been taken over long ago, we are n such an odious state one cannot be sure that the pot that they -iss in is theirs.

    Dt,

    Royal Mail to be taken over by foreign owner for first time in 500-year history
    Postal service accepts £3.6bn offer from Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský

    1. 387837+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      If the billionaire wally wants to keep the royal title, I take it he will have to do a deal with the WEF / NWO also,

        1. Not to mention Gordon Brown and the gold. ISTR that he had intended, in addition, to relocate all UK gold to Germany in preparation for our entry to the Euro. Can’t remember what put a stop to this absolutely foolproof idea.

    2. So it won’t be “Royal” mail and we can lift our letters out of the letterboxes because they don’t belong to the King?

      I had to ask a postman once to do this when, after I had posted an application to it an exam, I realised that it could not be collected (even then!) and delivered in time. At around 6 a.m. I was at the postbox concerned, and the postman kindly explained this to me – he then gave my application letter to me and I hotfooted it to the address in London – and had a positive result at the end of it all!

      1. 387837+ up ticks,

        Afternoon HL

        Like it, well done.
        I take it if you took it without the postmans consent, you could have been doing 30 hard in the chokey
        or now living in South America.

      1. 387837+ up ticks,

        HL,
        A well done gift share out to the political top rankers, when celebrating EID.

    1. Vaccines are still loved and their use is encouraged in Canada.

      Maybe it is the billions paid in advance for the stuff that is behind the official blindness to vaccine issues.

      1. These testimonies at the Scotland Covid enquiry are more about the use of Midazolam and Morphine on their loved ones than vaccines. The elderly were basically murdered with “end of life care”. The same in England – we know Midazolam Matt ordered masses of the stuff in advance. But I doubt if anything will be said at the Enquiry here.

  36. Oh look another scam unraveling.

    It is only a couple of years since the media followed Trudeaus lead in going apeshit over the hundreds of thousands of unmarked graves surrounding Canadian residential schools. Now the Indian tribe behind the initial claim are clarifying that the graves are really just anomalies found by ground search radar and could easily be stones, buried logs or basically anything but graves.

    What’s the betting that we don’t get our forty billion reparation money back?

    1. Have listened to some, will listen more later. Such a clear explanation given, confirming all that I’ve been thinking, that the US is the warmonger of the world.

    2. Indeed. But at 2:24 hours it needs a certain amount of staying power. I subscribe to “Team Tucker”. Perhaps I’ll view it after supper…

  37. Didn’t think it would be this:
    Wordle 1,075 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Very well done, took me 5.

      Wordle 1,075 5/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
      ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
      ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
      ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Me too.

        Wordle 1,075 5/6

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

    2. Well done! – fortunate four here….

      Wordle 1,075 4/6

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

  38. The MP exodus reveals the careerism of modern politics. Spiked. 29 May 2024.

    But there is more to what’s going on than just career strategising. When the Tories lose one MP to the Labour Party and another for endorsing Reform in just a matter of weeks, we can see that the Conservative Party is not so much a ‘broad church’ as an empty void. The likes of Theresa May and Suella Braverman share few values or principles. Even the Tory-to-Labour defectors, Natalie Elphicke and Dan Poulter, seem politically incompatible.

    There are people with profound and deeply held beliefs. In Islam. They are going to win here by default. Such a result is probably much closer than most people realise. This election for example. The Labour Party would provide just the vehicle necessary for such a transition.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/05/29/the-mp-exodus-reveals-the-careerism-of-modern-politics/

  39. I have just received my P60 and discover to my delight that I am contributing to the Refugee Support Fund to the tune of paying tax at a rate of over £15,000 a year.

      1. Sorry, I have refugees to support, so you elders will just have to go without.

      1. The Royal Navy’s latest technologically advanced device – and they couldn’t even break the bottle in the naming ceremony. Didn’t they even think of experimenting with one before going public?

    1. The troof will out, it always does.
      You’ve just gotta get out a bit to find it…

    2. They are responsible for most of the alienation of the true Brits from their own country.

    3. Commenters below that one know what’s happened to Bournemouth and elsewhere.

    4. Alf and I were in Bournemouth for the holiday weekend on a bowls tour. I heard 7 emergency sirens and 3 helicopters that night and thought what the heck, this was supposed to be a quiet weekend away! Turns out the murder happened about half a mile away for our hotel which was right overlooking the beach.

    5. Stayed there a few years ago over New Years. Found Wetherspoons, had a great breakfast (sadly too early for the Hog’s Back TEA on the menu).

      I know (via Dianne) Andy Flockhart, who was CEO of Poole Council before they merged with Bournemouth. I think he’s well out of it.

  40. Yesterday Geoff Graham reminded me of this incident. Geoff mentioned that train photo of Jeremey sat in a doorway when seats were available. Ahh, salad days. Here’s the moment when I realised the enormity of Corbyn’s anti-Semitism. This was outside of the Israeli embassy with a macabre anti-Semitic inflatable in tow. Complete with devil horns. Straight out of the Nazi aesthetic handbook. This was at the time the Saudi government was signing the Abraham Accords. Yes, that level of paranoia.

    At no point did Corbyn think “I might be hanging around with the wrong crowd”. Later that day so-called “demonstrators” where driving on the Finchley road in London, which I believe is a Jewish neighbourhood, shouting into a megaphone “K*ll the Jews and r*pe their daughters”. Still the penny didn’t drop for Jeremey. This theme continues today within the Labour Party, even after the fact that those car drivers got a small part of their horrific wishes. So much for that “right side of history” rhetoric the Left narcissistically think they wallow in. The Labour Party still haven’t distanced themselves enough from these type of people, it feels worse than ever if anything. The only difference is no Corbyn.

    https://x.com/davidhirsh/status/1393912089727614976

    1. Quite, A A, and thank you.

      Regardless, I can’t bring myself to vote for the party which has been anything but conservative for the last 14 years. We’re going to have Labour again. It’s an horrendous thought, but at least, there’s a chance that the Blue Socialists will be defenestrated. I’ll never again vote for the ‘least worst’ party. So on 4 July (actually sooner, since I have a postal vote), I’m voting Reform UK. I don’t expect them to gain any seats, but I can’t vote for people who I don’t believe in.

  41. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dd706b0b9099b675edebe755012ba021a9749e1e4383e29f7b49f78f91ff5f08.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3ec2fc06d131a518aca963e1de70664217b38890cf6d3473a14eb3818ebd4039.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2fde1a4af9b5e3aa31bdbabd447c5ff715e47d559b574a80646e86dcab638a58.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a030a41f4c9bdc97cfde82ef24f380c4b001080d66bd935e2a3224933fed17b5.jpg
    Just back from a wonderful morning’s stroll around my favourite local coastal nature reserve, Stenshuvuds National Park. I had gone there, ostensibly, in the hope of photographing one of its breeding birds, the tawny pipit Anthus campestris but, for the second year running, they seemed to be very shy, or simply just absent.

    I did though, enjoy the delight of seeing a second new butterfly (for me) in just over a week. The heath fritillary Mellicta athalia is not just rare but an endangered species enjoying legal protection in the UK and it is only found in about four small sites in south west and south east England. Over on the continent, though, it is a different story since they are widespread and found almost everywhere.

    The only other butterfly posing quietly for me today was the small copper Lycaena phlaeas.

    Dozens of bird species were singing loudly everywhere, but few were willing to emerge from the dense vegetation and show themselves. We heard blackcap, garden warbler, common redstart, common whitethroat, linnet, pied flycatcher, willow warbler, chaffinch, and a few others but none were available to photograph. I got a few excellent views of singing and displaying woodlarks Lullula arborea, a speciality of the area, but none proved photographable. The only species willing to pose for a snapshot was this singing chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita.

    I very nearly trod on this mating pair of one of the tiger beetle species, Cincindela hybrida (talk about coitus interruptus), but they were far too engrossed in continuing their lineage to care about my nearby presence.

    1. Excellent thanks. I’m hearing a lot more variety this year of birdsong in East Anglia, as you say often hidden in the undergrowth of which there’s loads this year. Flycatchers and treecreepers in abundance. I did see that someone had seen a swallowtail or two at Ranworth Broad recently too.

        1. Just north of Debenham, in the middle of a few fields basically. We’ve seemed to escape the monotony of endlessly dark wet days at least, although we’ve had our fair share of rain too.

          Thetford often the coldest place in Britain of course, as you know and to the surprise of many.

          1. Thanks, JG. Can’t argue with your description of “Fetford – sniff – innit”. Much GLC housing, with all that entails.

            I returned to Suffolk last year for a funeral. Eriswell, in particular. Spent one night in Brandon. Good to meet up with old friends, but – being reliant on public transport these days – I doubt whether I’ll ever return, sadly.

          2. Ah yes, a good RSPB there nowadays. I used to live at RAF Honington, so am well familiar with the area. I still have connections with Thetford in that the daughter in law was born and grew up there. As she says, “You can take the girl out of Thetford, but you can’t take Thetford out of the girl.” 🤣

        2. You might have met my cousin Michael who was mayor when the Thetford treasure was found in 1979.

    2. I saw a nice Red Admiral in the garden this morning but so far butterflies have been few and far between this year.

      1. I’m finding a lot of brimstones but then again we’ve had a good few sunny days. It looks like that many posters here have had a good deal of gloom over them.

      2. Very early in the year for that, Ndovu. Ours normally only appear in late summer (August at least) when we are inundated with them – so beautiful!

        1. It my have hibernated here. The influx from Europe comes later on. But I haven’t seen a Painted Lady for years now.

          1. The only ones we have here that hibernate are the Peacocks and the Small Tortoiseshell. It’s a bit heartbreaking, as although we are a woolly layered, fingerless glove extra-dog-on-the-bed household, we do occasionally switch on the heating – if there are guests, for example – which wakes them up prematurely in the middle of winter. leading to a certain death.

  42. Massed parachute exercise Denmark 1972.

    The MOD only allocated one aircraft for a commemorative jump to celebrate the 80th anniversary of D Day next month. After much public pressure they have now allocated two.

    This exercise in 1972 was the largest airborne assault since the attack at Arnhem in 1944. There were 37 or more aircraft involved.
    I didn’t take the photo but I told my mates I am the one in the centre of the picture.
    https://scontent-cdg4-3.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/13315542_10154299331424954_553899613314817618_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_s720x720&_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5f2048&_nc_ohc=OzwVOMPT4ZUQ7kNvgFISfGF&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg4-3.xx&oh=00_AYDBqoPiDbQsI_2X4jBAc51GHT_jGry4A9mbt9l8YMINRQ&oe=667E7B3C

  43. How’s this. Discovered source of rain water dripping into sitting room yesterday about 4 pm. E-mailed builder. At 6 pm, message from him saying he’d call in today and have a look. Arrived 1.15 – cause identified – temporary solution applied. Left 2.15. He is 74. I did worry when he was up the ladder…

        1. How unusual for that to happen..
          Certain people would have travelled to tell you, you needed a new roof.

  44. “Three police hurt at pro-Palestinian protest in Westminster”

    Oh dear, how sad. Perhaps, if the Muslipolitan Perlice had been a great deal more active at the outset, this would not have happened.

    1. If it was the muslim supporters, good. A shame it was only 3.

      If it was plod, well, as Bill says – the muslim should have been dealt with before.

  45. Afternoon, all (I was planning to work in the garden this afternoon, but it started to rain as I got back from walking Kadi, so that’s on hold). It wouldn’t matter what noises the Cons made about being conservative; they have spent too long convincing us that a) they are untrustworthy and wouldn’t do what they promise and b) they wouldn’t recognise conservatism if it hit them in the face.

  46. Is Israel acting like the ICC is ‘only for Africa and thugs like Putin’? 29 May 2024.

    On May 20, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor applied for warrants for the arrests of senior members of both the Israeli and Hamas leadership.

    The ICC warrant application triggered angry protestations, not only in Tel Aviv and from Hamas spokespeople, but also in Washington and London – two capitals that had fully supported the ICC when it requested arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights Maria Lvova-Belova following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

    The Gaza War is proving to be a diplomatic and public relations disaster for both Israel and the US. This is not because of Israel’s predictable response to the attack by Hamas but the way that have handled it. They have made themselves look like the aggressor and the United States appear hypocritical in the extreme. These things are not forgotten and can change attitudes, with real world consequences over many years.

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/29/is-israel-acting-like-the-icc-is-only-for-africa-and-thugs-like-putin

    1. So says Al Jazeera…

      There is no equivalence between the leaders of Hamas and the State of Israel I’m afraid Araminta, even if a wokey London based lawyer thinks there is.

      As for hijacking the term “genocide” to apply it to the very people it was invented for in order to describe the unique crime made against it; it beggars belief. Israel does not intend to systematically exterminate a race, which is what Hamas manifestly is trying to achieve and has openly stated.

      Liberals will Liberal regrettably.

      1. So says Al Jazeera.
        ..
        Afternoon James. No. It is quite obvious that this war and the way it has been handled has fundamentally changed the public perception of Israel and the United States. Not simply on the streets of London but throughout the world. In that sense it has been a stunning Hamas victory.

        1. Afternoon to you too, Araminta. Well, public perceptions are important of course. For a while there was after all overwhelming public opinion that Bliar’s New Labour was credible and that the EU was a democratically elected organisation doing a great job of unifying Europe. People used to believe Biden and Obama were the equivalents of “adults in the room”. There’s a general public perception too that the UN is the best hope for humanity. So yes, agreed, stunning victories for all of these.

          Al Jazeera in many ways more credible than the BBC too, but are for all that,first rate propagandists for Hamas. In the real world, however…

        2. Afternoon to you too, Araminta. Well, public perceptions are important of course. For a while there was after all overwhelming public opinion that Bliar’s New Labour was credible and that the EU was a democratically elected organisation doing a great job of unifying Europe. People used to believe Biden and Obama were the equivalents of “adults in the room”. There’s a general public perception too that the UN is the best hope for humanity. So yes, agreed, stunning victories for all of these.

          Al Jazeera in many ways more credible than the BBC too, but are for all that,first rate propagandists for Hamas. In the real world, however…

        3. Afternoon to you too, Araminta. Well, public perceptions are important of course. For a while there was after all overwhelming public opinion that Bliar’s New Labour was credible and that the EU was a democratically elected organisation doing a great job of unifying Europe. People used to believe Biden and Obama were the equivalents of “adults in the room”. There’s a general public perception too that the UN is the best hope for humanity. So yes, agreed, stunning victories for all of these.

          Al Jazeera in many ways more credible than the BBC too, but are for all that,first rate propagandists for Hamas. In the real world, however…

      2. So says Al Jazeera.
        ..
        Afternoon James. No. It is quite obvious that this war and the way it has been handled has fundamentally changed the public perception of Israel and the United States. Not simply on the streets of London but throughout the world. In that sense it has been a stunning Hamas victory.

    2. Hamas bombed Israel. They have *always* started the conflict. Then they squeal no fair when Israel fights back and for some insane reason the international community condemns Israel!

      Frankly, this nonsense has gone on far too long. Obliterate the entire country. Wipe them out. Once the muslim has gone the conflict will stop.

      1. What’s the difference between Black September and Hamas? As far as I can see, only the spelling. The Liberals never learn.

        1. For some weird reason, the Left seem to hate Jews. Their antisemitisim is repugnant. Why they seem o love muslim so much is beyond me.

          The Left wing mind is a bonkers place seemingly running on hypocrisy, spite and stupidity.

          1. All true, but to be fair they don’t seem to like any form of Judeo-Christian religious stance. They’re rather into Man being the measure of all things and so that way of thinking is rather a challenge to them. Not much room for that sort of God, jostling as He does for preeminence in a lefty’s worldview, I’d have thought. Perhaps the Muslim approach with its anger, bile and visceral adherence to vengeance appears in some sense a little more, I don’t know, rational to them.

            Just a thought.

      1. Afternoon Geoff. I am simply observing the fall out from this war. I am aware of the difficulties in replying to the Hamas attack but I am not required to find an answer to it. It is pretty obvious that the one the Israelis have chosen is a political disaster of the first order. It has, just for one example, resulted in the recognition of a Palestinian State by three European countries.

        1. That would have happened anyway. It is increasingly apparent that the entire kaboosh – the supranational blobgrift – will ensure that the Jews are always characterised as in the wrong.

          Fuck these greedy, amoral bastards intent on destroying all that is pro-life, aspirational and creative in our beautiful world.

      2. Afternoon Geoff. I am simply observing the fall out from this war. I am aware of the difficulties in replying to the Hamas attack but I am not required to find an answer to it. It is pretty obvious that the one the Israelis have chosen is a political disaster of the first order. It has, just for one example, resulted in the recognition of a Palestinian State by three European countries.

      3. Afternoon Geoff. I am simply observing the fall out from this war. I am aware of the difficulties in replying to the Hamas attack but I am not required to find an answer to it. It is pretty obvious that the one the Israelis have chosen is a political disaster of the first order. It has, just for one example, resulted in the recognition of a Palestinian State by three European countries.

    3. I’m sorry to disagree, Minty, but the PR disaster is unavoidable, due to the BBC, the Grauniad, The New York Times, UNWRA, the UN in general, the ICJ, numerous bloated acronyms, etc., etc., and so forth – all the people parroting Hamas propaganda/lies grace a the tax-payer, who disagrees but who’s voice is stifled. All these bodies have blood on their hands.

      Jewish blood, for now, which seems not to matter to these grifters, but the rest of us are next on the agenda and some may then, too late, take a different view.

      AM YISRAEL CHAI

      1. I do and i don’t. It’s down to my shoulders now and i will keep growing it until i reach manbun status. :@)

        Want to come to my party? Geoff is coming.

        1. I’d love to come … am up to my proverbial in alligators at present … when is it?

          1. Handbags or shoes?

            August 10th. 2pm. My back garden. Drinks and canapes. Dress code:Holiday.

          2. Sounds excellent. I used to have your email address – can’t find it now. I don’t know where you are in Fareham. Can I give a lift to anyone?

          3. Timing is everything !!!
            In fact next year i will time a party around Ashes. You…not so much. :@)

          4. If you had ever walked behind the lady you would do the same thing. Torvill and Dean look like they are on roller skates over cobbles. :@)

          5. After dinner the lady serenaded me as i walked her back to her hotel singing ‘o mio babbino caro’.
            !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
            She didn’t invite me in for coffee !

          6. I don’t think so but this is plus one. Bring Nags if you like. Change of scenery and all that.
            Do you have Hertslass email? if not Geoff knows where i live.
            Just a bungalow so not the sprawling estates you are used to but it’s the company that is important, yes?
            Hope you can play piano. :@)

      1. They’ll come later in the form of numbers so they will remember who they are.

  47. A Tory candidate shares his worries to James Heale over the need to select for 160 seats in 12 days.

    “Can we really afford another half century of Anna Soubrys?“

  48. A new Twitter account has joined the Corbynista anti-Starmer arsenal. Handle: “f*ckstarmer“. They hate him more than the Tories…

    It’s launched with a top-quality video. Have a watch…

    https://youtu.be/3loiuzQVOf8

    1. It’s been proven many times they are habitual and pathological liars. Not a lie.

    1. “In defiance of probability, Sir Ed Davey proves that he can indeed get even wetter”.

  49. Angela Rayner still has these questions to answer, says DAN HODGES. Otherwise it’s only a matter of time before the ‘lies’, evasion and hypocrisy catch up with her
    By DAN HODGES FOR THE DAILY MAIL

    PUBLISHED: 12:20, 29 May 2024 | UPDATED: 13:14, 29 May 2024

    1. Lies, evasion and hypocrisy?
      From the political classes.
      Who might have thought that?
      It’s all they have to offer.

    2. It’s doubtful that anything will catch up with her. The police and HMRC will look the other way and the media will back her.

    3. Ah, don’t be daft. She’ll get away with it. The Left protect their own. They always do.

  50. And, while on the subject of pet hates (see NoTTL almost every day since its inception, passim), allow me to toss before you:

    ISSUE.

    “He was issued with a fine”. “HMRC issued a letter”. Other cursed examples exist but I can’t be arsed to google the issue.

    In my first, the correct wording is: “He was fined”; or, “He was served with notice of a fine.” In the second, the correct verb is “sent” or “posted.” When I worked for a govt agency, staff were always “issuing” letters. Drove me mad. “Do you each issue your Christmas cards?” I asked to mystified looks.

    There. That’s off my chest….for a brief moment.

    1. Good point, one of many excrescences perpetrated upon the English language. Mind you, to be arsed a great new addition to it.

    2. Good point, one of many excrescences perpetrated upon the English language. Mind you, to be arsed a great new addition to it.

      1. Ridiculously so, and yes to a point (it is a big city in a country with a lot of poverty). I feel safer here than in London. Plenty of areas where I have walked in the middle of the night without overmuch fear.

        There are a LOT fewer drunks stumbling around, which makes a huge difference. You can get on night buses without rivers of vomit, and as a woman on my own, I have been treated with the utmost respect here

        It’s not perfect – you don’t want to have yout phone visible in your hand on the streets or buses after dark . And Argentine friends recently got robbed at gunpoint, having accidentally wandered into one of the bad areas of the city.

        But the worst areas are easily avoided unless you live there, and generally any threat is to.your belongings rather than to your person.

        Oops – sorry about the essay! 🤣 I am pretty certain that I wouldn’t be travelling all around the city to dance much of the night in London, Paris or Berlin (cities I know) and greeting the morning with photos from the night bus.

        (And now I hope I’m not tempting fate by writing this! 🤣)

  51. A truly Par Four!

    Wordle 1,075 4/6
    ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Five again.

      Wordle 1,075 5/6

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

    2. blind guesswork

      Wordle 1,075 4/6

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

    3. Just back from talking fishing at the pub.
      Happy with a 5 today.

      Wordle 1,075 5/6

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

  52. Britain’s earthworms are dying and we need to act now, say experts
    Scientists warn that the population is dwindling and a ‘hugely concerning’ crisis could be unfolding, with a knock-on effect for soil health and crop yields

    Beneath our feet, hidden in the soil under the UK’s farms and woodland, scientists have warned that a “hugely concerning” crisis could be unfolding. Britain’s earthworms are dying.

    There is an urgent need for new studies to assess the health of the UK’s earthworms, experts have said, pointing to stark data suggesting that their population has decreased by a third over the past 25 years.

    This is already likely to be having a knock-on effect on the health of soil and the yield of crops and also on the populations of thrushes, wading birds and small mammals that depend on earthworms for food, vermeologists have said.

    It has been a year since the publication of a study, one of the most robust ever carried out, to assess the health of Britain’s earthworm population, in the journal PLOS One, warning that populations could be declining by up to 2.1 per cent per year, with a decline of 41 per cent over the past quarter of a century.

    Since then, no action has yet been taken to commission nationwide studies while soil health remains neglected Jackie Stroud, a soil scientist at the University of Warwick, warned.

    “In England, little is known about the state of soil because it has not been included in environmental policies for decades,” she said. “[We need] a change in policy to really invest in looking at this, looking at the latest soil science to monitor earthworm populations so we have data-driven decisions.”

    James Pearce-Higgins, a zoologist at the University of Cambridge and director at the British Trust for Ornithology who co-authored last year’s paper on earthworm populations, said of the findings: “That’s hugely concerning because earthworms are a key component of ecosystems. They’re responsible for nutrient cycling, for aerating the soils.

    “And they’re important food. We see declines in some of our thrushes and waders that feed on earthworms, so we’re interested in trying to understand [that]. It does seem to be the case on farmland and also, slightly to our surprise, in woodland.”

    He added that new studies were needed “really, really urgently”.

    Stroud said that farmers tilling and ploughing soil deeply often meant that no dead leaves or straw were left on the surface. This can affect both deep-burrowing worms that come to the surface at night to find organic material to drag down into their burrows and also epigeic, or surface-dwelling, worms that live among the leaf litter.

    “I’ve been working with farmers and we were looking at the types of worms, and what we were finding is that the deep-burrowing worms and the epigeic worms were quite uncommon [on the farmland],” she said.

    She said this was likely caused by the “bare soil surface” left by ploughing and tilling, and said farmers were being encouraged to employ “no-till” farming to boost soil and crop health.

    Mark Hodson, a soil expert at the University of York, said recent studies “do suggest a decrease in earthworm abundance, which ties in with a decrease in abundance of other things, like above-ground insects, which are well-documented”.

    He said this could be cause for concern as plants grow “up to 30 per cent better in the presence of earthworms”.

    Monitoring earthworm populations is, by the nature of their underground habitat, difficult. It requires samples of soil to be dug up at regular intervals for the earthworms to be counted, all while taking into account how seasonal changes and rainfall might affect results, Hodson said. Acoustic monitoring to detect worms by their digging sounds can also be used.

    Kevin Butt of the University of Lancashire, who co-founded the Earthworm Research Group, said, however, that it “may not really be the case” that earthworms are in decline. He is working on a new research paper to investigate whether “the suggested declines in earthworm abundance” are accurate, noting that last year’s study was a “significant undertaking” but warning that there was a need for “more robust analyses with refined data and improved modelling”.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/britains-earthworms-are-dying-and-we-need-to-act-now-say-experts-hnl2dcmbd

    Considering that soil health is so important, it’s surprising that this article is tucked-away, rather than being a main item.

    Ian Isherwood
    18 HOURS AGO

    A bit staggard at the ignorance shown hear by the so called experts but not The Times readers.

    Born to a Lancashire dairy farm in the late 40’s, progressed through college, qualified agronomist working in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire/Nottinghamshire, back into farming growing veg pots and hops in Worcestershire.

    Its dead simple, factors

    1) Lack of mixed farming allowing grass leys of 2 years or more to encourage time so worms get chance to increase their numbers. When I started as an agronomist in 1970, FYM (farm yard muck) was used extensively by growers to save money on fertilizer as the ratio of produce price to fertilizer was much closer than through the 80’s to the Ukraine war.

    2) Bayer Draza slug pellets not only controlled slugs but also controlled worm populations, Draza was very popular when OSR (oil seed rape) became popular after joining the EU.

    3) As tractors became more powerful when red diesel was cheap it became more popular to plough deeper for no reason, so as one of the ‘experts’ said removing worm friendly soil.

    4) Let me highlight what can be done, took over a WORCS farm to grow veg, pots, hops and cereals, when digging to assess worm counts never saw a one, so locally got hold of a supply of wool carpet shoddy – worm counts in 2 years improved dramatically as did the yields with a 50% reduction in fertilizer use.

    Each farm will have to assess its own worm population as the ‘experts’ say but no easy answers without using a lot more FYM to ‘feed’ the worms.

    1. What do politicians care? They are too busy emoting about terrorists or mentally-ill men who want to dress as women do do anything practical or, heaven forbid, hard.

    2. The trouble is, Belle, that I find myself unable to trust these “scientific studies”, “Science” now being aligned with both the Climate scam and the Covid scam. If we want to do anything at all constructive in our woodlands or on our farm we are beset by bossy ignorant children with Mickey Mouse degrees whom we are compelled, by law, to pay to sit about (ie “oversee” eg bats, newts, notional dormice, etc.) in order to do what we have done efficiently for generations – but they know best and the law says we have to obey and pay underemployed council hires through the nose for it.

    3. Yet Lefties want to ban cattle who’s poo provides masses of food for worms and soil alike.

    1. Well. I do think that those who insist on wearing their desert uniform in the UK and enforcing their negative views upon others are indeed a cancer. perhaps there is a system cunningly concealed within the islamic ideology that can lead people towards the one true God but I suspect that such a thing dwelt with the Sufis. for example, who have been systematically murdered by the predominant death cult.

  53. France and Poland Approve Ukraine Using Western-Supplied Missiles to Strike Inside Russia

    The war in Ukraine may be on the precipice of expanding into uncharted territory as NATO members France and Poland stated publicly that Kyiv was allowed to use their missiles to strike targets within Russia, prompting warnings from the Kremlin of a full-on war with the West.

    Following controversial comments from NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who said over the weekend that Ukraine should be free to use Western-supplied weapons to attack sites inside Russia, both Paris and Warsaw have come out in support of the apparent escalation in the war.

    During an interview on Radio ZET, Polish Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk said that Ukraine “can fight as they want”, saying that Warsaw will not apply any restrictions to Kyiv on the use of Polish-supplied weapons against Russian targets.

    “We decided to help Ukraine in the conflict, Ukraine was brutally attacked, so it has the right to defend itself as it deems appropriate,” Tomczyk said.
    *
    *
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/05/29/france-and-poland-approve-ukraine-using-western-missiles-to-strike-inside-russia/

    1. Stoltenberg used to be Norwegian Prime Minister.
      I wonder if this has to do with newspaper article this morning that we all need to improve our disaster supplies status? More bottled water, more dried/canned food, more batteries, more medical gear?
      Looks like the idiots really are going to war, after all. God alone knows why.

      1. And, as PM, he was shite. We called him Beaker, after the muppet character.

    2. Ahh, how wonderful, just when you think the Conservative government can have done no more damage, we are falling into an unlimited war in central Europe. It stinks…

  54. Whoosh! Was shut out of Disqus for a while there – the comment field was just greyed out.
    Now, after a complete restart, all seems OK:
    Now for the point of posting!

    Here’s one for you – had this prepared for years, finally got to use it this evening!
    SWMBO (discussion about work): Those lot are so useless, I’m not happy!
    Me: So which dwarf are you, then?
    HA! HA! HA!

    1. Ditto. Did a “restart” – all seems well. Then she fetched you one!

  55. That’s me for today. After dawn it didn’t RAIN. Will tonight and tomorrow, of course. Was able to do a bit of work in the greenhouse. Fingers crossed for the roof lash up.

    Have a splendid evening.

    A demain

  56. So when during the election campaigns are the party leaders going to be held to account and scrutinised over their future plans for the 2030 net zero agenda?
    Or is that already decided and set in stone so there wont be any need to mention it at all before July 4th.
    They keep warning that we are in for huge changes during the next parliament, but so far we are not being told what exactly.
    It feels like all the stuff that is decided at supranational level is not even on the table for debate because it is happening whomever wins.
    At the moment they have been trying to pad it all out and invent lightweight stuff that is very unlikely to happen, votes for 16 year olds and national service, that sort of thing.

  57. 387837+ up ticks,

    Birds of a feather stick together,

    Michael Morgan
    @mikecmorgan
    Day two of the Nick Adderley gross misconduct hearing.

    He described himself as a commended officer, but he received no formal commendations or medals. Later he was to suggest by commended he meant people had told him he had ‘done a good job’ 🤔

    Read: https://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-69069637.amp

  58. Just in from Tommy Robinson:

    “NEVER FORGET WHAT THEY DID TO ME

    Dear Tom,

    I have not forgotten, nor forgiven, what the Police State did to me on that day back in November.

    After finishing my breakfast, while being greeted by crowds of supporters, an army of thirty police officers approached.

    After ordering me to leave the area, they grabbed me on all sides and started dragging me away.

    Then, for some unexplained reason, they all paused.

    Then one of the officers pulled out a can of pepper-spray and sprayed it directly into my eyes, before they dragged me away to a nearby police van.

    Footage and images of the incident was wall-to-wall across the media and viral on social media.

    This incident caused great anger across the country.

    My children and family were horrified at the scenes of me being manhandled and pepper-sprayed!

    The whole operation was carefully orchestrated.

    They kept me in custody at a London police station then charged me with breaching a dispersal order, and banned me from Greater London.

    Fast forward a few months later, the ‘crime’ when to trial and I was found not guilty, primarily because the police acted illegally!

    The judge found that the police had acted without authority and I had no case to answer.

    While all of this was happening, hordes of deranged Islamic extremists who support terrorist were defiling our historic memorials in London.

    The public could see the stark contrast between the brutal manner in which I was treated, and the softly-softly approach to the Islamists polluting our capital city every Saturday.

    Just last night, over forty of these Islamic extremists were arrested by the Met for rioting and attacking the police.

    One woman suffered severe facial injuries due to bottles being thrown by the mob!

    I have no doubt whatsoever that those forty extremists who were arrested will be given a slap on the wrist and weak, pathetic bail conditions.

    I doubt they will be banned from Greater London like I was!

    The double-standards in this country are diabolical.

    The difference in the way patriots are treated vs unhinged Islamists has to end!

    Look at the way I was treated, all the abuse I suffered, and was found not guilty.

    The huge demonstration in London this Saturday is going to be my revenge against the suffering I had to endure.

    I am under massive pressure right now, because we are struggling to pay the costs of the event.

    I am not exaggerating the situation, we are up against the wall.

    Considering the hardship I have been put through, can you blame me for fighting back against the Police State?

    If Saturday is a flop Tom, then our enemies will be laughing at me, and at us.

    We cannot allow that to happen under any circumstances.

    This is why, with just three days to go till the event, I am asking for you to dig deep Alan and help me pay the costs.

    If you could chip in with a tenner, that would amazing.

    Even if you can afford a fiver, it would make a huge difference.

    Surely you could chip in with just £5 this evening Alan?

    I am counting on you to help me out today.

    Let’s wipe the smug looks off their faces by exposing them in the heart of our democracy, Parliament Square!

    Please have a think Tom and chip in below:

    Sorry can’t post the link.

    Yours sincerely
    Tommy Robinson

    1. Plod are now the force of the Left wing state. The days of law applying equally are long gone. The media always forget – they’ve promoted this. They scream and shout about freedom of speech but never challenge the press complaints commission, nor stand against OFCOM harrassing GB News. Quangos never band together against the charities regulator when endless complaints from the scum Left appear for the IFS or Adam Smith institute. No. The Left likes it’s little hegemony. It likes the power force gives it.

      Of course, that is, until the day that the Left wing state machine comes for them.

      Frankly it’s time to disobey the police. They send 30, then if there’s 150 in the crowd isolate and separate the officers. 5 to 1. Remind them who they serve.

    2. I wonder why the judge didn’t award him thousands of pounds in damages for what the police did to him.
      And against the monster/person who gave the order to carry out that dreadful act.

    3. For goodness sake – he’s a plant by the Woke Globalist msm to ridicule ‘far right’ extremists – cant you see this? If he didnt exist they would have to invent him!

        1. Just words on a Woke globalist screen, Tom, just words on a Woke globalist screen…….

  59. Just in from Tommy Robinson:

    “NEVER FORGET WHAT THEY DID TO ME

    Dear Tom,

    I have not forgotten, nor forgiven, what the Police State did to me on that day back in November.

    After finishing my breakfast, while being greeted by crowds of supporters, an army of thirty police officers approached.

    After ordering me to leave the area, they grabbed me on all sides and started dragging me away.

    Then, for some unexplained reason, they all paused.

    Then one of the officers pulled out a can of pepper-spray and sprayed it directly into my eyes, before they dragged me away to a nearby police van.

    Footage and images of the incident was wall-to-wall across the media and viral on social media.

    This incident caused great anger across the country.

    My children and family were horrified at the scenes of me being manhandled and pepper-sprayed!

    The whole operation was carefully orchestrated.

    They kept me in custody at a London police station then charged me with breaching a dispersal order, and banned me from Greater London.

    Fast forward a few months later, the ‘crime’ when to trial and I was found not guilty, primarily because the police acted illegally!

    The judge found that the police had acted without authority and I had no case to answer.

    While all of this was happening, hordes of deranged Islamic extremists who support terrorist were defiling our historic memorials in London.

    The public could see the stark contrast between the brutal manner in which I was treated, and the softly-softly approach to the Islamists polluting our capital city every Saturday.

    Just last night, over forty of these Islamic extremists were arrested by the Met for rioting and attacking the police.

    One woman suffered severe facial injuries due to bottles being thrown by the mob!

    I have no doubt whatsoever that those forty extremists who were arrested will be given a slap on the wrist and weak, pathetic bail conditions.

    I doubt they will be banned from Greater London like I was!

    The double-standards in this country are diabolical.

    The difference in the way patriots are treated vs unhinged Islamists has to end!

    Look at the way I was treated, all the abuse I suffered, and was found not guilty.

    The huge demonstration in London this Saturday is going to be my revenge against the suffering I had to endure.

    I am under massive pressure right now, because we are struggling to pay the costs of the event.

    I am not exaggerating the situation, we are up against the wall.

    Considering the hardship I have been put through, can you blame me for fighting back against the Police State?

    If Saturday is a flop Tom, then our enemies will be laughing at me, and at us.

    We cannot allow that to happen under any circumstances.

    This is why, with just three days to go till the event, I am asking for you to dig deep Alan and help me pay the costs.

    If you could chip in with a tenner, that would amazing.

    Even if you can afford a fiver, it would make a huge difference.

    Surely you could chip in with just £5 this evening Alan?

    I am counting on you to help me out today.

    Let’s wipe the smug looks off their faces by exposing them in the heart of our democracy, Parliament Square!

    Please have a think Tom and chip in below:

    Sorry can’t post the link.

    Yours sincerely
    Tommy Robinson

    1. You jest but the Left will not stop until everyone is miserable, poor and state dependent. Deviation from the approved actions will be punished.

  60. Seriously guys? That’s all the banter in the last few hours?

    OK i didn’t want to, but you’ve made me.
    First, the dreadful story posted here earlier in the week about the lad who killed himself after his second hand watch shop was robbed. My neck of the woods. Poor, poor lad.

    The story about the Bulgarian fraudsters robbing us of £50m (or more?). FFS where are the controls??? Or, just tax MIR even more???

    We don’t go in for holidays at our house. Being a 60%/45% taxpayer with a non-earning spouse and two children, we can’t afford it lol. However I am Sitting by myself in an apartment in a golf resort in Portugal (don’t worry, dad paid for it) waiting for mum and dad to arrive (they are in a hotel) and my brother who lives in Australia. The occasion is my goddaughter’s wedding and i am actually really looking forward to it now i’m here (Easyjet! Gatwick!) It’s warm and the sky is blue. I don’t think we 4 have been together as a family unit for 40 years. Our average age is 70!!!! I am obvs the youngest at 57!

    1. The fellow who killed himself should have asked for proof of payment before giving obviously criminal blacks a show of expensive, portable materials.

      What did he think would happen?

      The Bulgarians aren’t the problem – well, they are, but the entire diversity are on the take so the problem is massive uncontrolled immigration. The real problem there is the welfare department to not be properly tracking the theft of public money.

    2. I hadn’t heard about this before. The news says “The member of staff was not seriously injured in the robbery”.

      Obviously he was, one way or another.

      Have a lovely gettogether, we don’t do holidays either. Can’t believe Richmond has gone to pot like this.

      1. It took me a while to piece it together. A fellow Nottler posted about the poor lad but I didn’t connect the two incidents until the article in the Terriblegraph today.

        My brother and I do not have a great relationship. We are 20 minutes in and I already want to kill him. Wish me luck.

        1. Your last sentence is making me giggle due to its ambiguity… 🤣🤣

          Enjoy the fabulous food and drink in Portugal!

  61. As an aside an a nod to my brother, my current “book I’ve owned for years bit never read” is Cloudstreet by Tim Winton. A dubious start but OK. I will follow up with Muriel Spark’s “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”. Oh er.

    1. I read “The Girls of Slender Means” by Muriel Spark. A very slender volume but a labour to read. “War and Peace” was much easier to finish, honestly!

      1. Yes! Do you know , I read that (Girls of Slender Means) at the behest of a work colleague. She is now off work for at least a year with breast cancer. Wasn’t a massive fan of the book either. But the “Backlisted” podcast just did an episode on her “Momento Mori” but my local library didn’t have that its e-library.

  62. From the Telegraph

    Diane Abbott has told Sir Keir Starmer that she would not be “intimidated” as she vowed to remain the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington.

    In her first public remarks about the row over her selection, which has thrown Labour’s campaign into turmoil, she said that she intends to stay on as an MP “as long as I am allowed to”.

    Addressing her supporters on the steps of Hackney Town Hall, she said: “You have always stood with me, in good times and bad. And I will always stand with you. I am not going to allow myself to be intimidated. I am going to be your MP and as long as I am allowed to.”

    Diane Abbott’s remarks will be seen as a warning to Labour – that if they do not allow her to stand as a Labour MP, she may choose to run as an independent.

    This would cause a major headache for Sir Keir, who already faces losing in Islington North where Jeremy Corbyn MP is running as an independent, against the Labour candidate.

    1. Whatever. She’s no longer an electoral asset to Labour, so reinstate her. Please. Look – she’s not well. From one diabetic to another, I think it’s time to quietly retire. As a bilateral amputee, I have the advantage of not having to take my shoes off at night. But I still have to put each of rmy proatheses on the correct stump each morning…

      1. I have one for you, Geoff – if you don’t mind.
        How do you handle busting for a wee at 04:30? Slap the legs on & run down the landing, use of a bottle/commode, or some smarter option?

        1. It’s usually around 3.15 am, Paul. No problem with stairs, since I’m in a retirement bungalow. Assuming I haven’t just collapsed into bed, the worse for wear, and kept the legs on (not ideal), I’ll grab a pair of Chinese knee protectors (from Amazon), and head for the loo on my knees. Sometimes, it becomes difficult, by way of cramp. But that seems more related to beer, rather than wine consumption…

          1. Sorry for asking about personal things, but I was a)curious, and b) lubricated.
            Experience shows that knowing how those with experience solve problems is very useful.
            Ta, much, like.

          2. Why waste knee protectors just on visits to the loo? You could have a brilliant new career as a carpet fitter.

      2. Well correct me if I’m wrong Geoff but you haven’t put your name forward for election and therefore are not faced with going “on the stump’!

        1. 🙄 Theres been quite enough of that today, what with R3's outburst earlier!

        2. I’m on two stumps, as it happens. I stood for UKIP in the Borough Council election in 2015. Didn’t expect to win, but came 3rd out of 4. So I beat the Lib Dem…

          1. Excellent -beating the Lib Dem. Some say it should be compulsory given the nonsense they spout!

        3. I’m on two stumps, as it happens. I stood for UKIP in the Borough Council election in 2015. Didn’t expect to win, but came 3rd out of 4. So I beat the Lib Dem…

    2. It’d be interesting. She likely would win simply because she’s a racist bigoted black woman and that appeals to the overrun infestation that is .. wherever she lives.

      In a sane world people like Abbot wouldn’t get close to government office, let alone the front bench.

    3. A repeat of a comment from earlier:-

      Dianne Abbott should have stood down at least 3 or possibly 4 General Elections ago.

      She has never really been up to the job of being an MP to begin with, having being selected for an ultra-safe Labour seat simply for the party to gain the Kudos of having the first black woman MP and has needed substantial support to allow her to stay in place.
      Sadly, such is the wish to retain that kudos that those controlling her have ignored her obvious decline for far too long.
      Let her retire in peace.

      1. I’ve always had a soft spot for Abbott and enjoyed her interventions. Daft as a brush of course.
        Wasn’t she a candidate for Labour leadership at one point?

        1. Don’t remember that. Her TV appearances with Portillo were OK. But she needs to quietly retire into obscurity now. Frankly, she’s not well.

          1. Party invitations.
            Andrew Neil…NO.
            Dianne Abbot…NO.
            Michael Portillo…Maybe.
            How do you think he would get on with the ginger growler?

  63. Royal College of Nursing chief stands down in bid to become Sinn Fein MP
    Pat Cullen ends union role in hope of becoming party’s candidate in swing seat of Fermanagh and South Tyrone

    Michael Searles,
    HEALTH CORRESPONDENT
    29 May 2024 • 2:27pm

    The chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has stepped down in order to run for Sinn Fein at the general election.

    Pat Cullen is seeking to become the Irish republican party’s candidate in Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Northern Ireland. She was also the RCN’s general secretary and spearheaded nurses’ strikes over pay that began in 2022.

    While nurses rejected a five per cent pay rise and lump sum payment that was accepted by other unions, they lost their mandate to strike because fewer than 50 per cent of members turned out to continue action.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/29/royal-college-of-nursing-chief-step-down-mp-sinn-fein/?WT.mc_id=e_DM332818&WT.tsrc=email&etype=Edi_FPM_New&utmsource=email&utm_medium=Edi_FPM_New20240529&utm_campaign=DM332818

  64. Oh well I’m getting use to nine to ten hours sleep. It’s not even dark yet.
    I’ve been watching Michael Palin in China. What a lucky man he’s been. 2008 before a lot of the beautiful valleys of the Yangsi river were flooded and dams built to generate electricity……but hang on a mo don’t they still burn more coal than the rest of the world put together?
    Goodnight all, just before the faked up Race Across the World shows its final episode.
    I think I already know who’s won it…….😉🤭

        1. Yes, you’re not in the UK are you? It’s a bit of a big thing here and the final has just started – I’m rooting for Owen and Alfie!

          1. OMG! If that’s the case Britain is in a far worse state than even I could imagine!

          2. It’s harmless enough, it’s not exactly Love Island or I’m a Celebrity – about which I would agree with your withering judgement!

          3. That should read “Norway”, btw.
            And, I’m becoming “older”…

          4. Yes, I thought so – it’s one of the few European countries I’ve never visited (mostly on business, not pleasure).

      1. I was banned for five months back in 2020. My phone was dead and I didn’t replace it for several months- so they couldn’t send me any code to unlock it. I had to appeal several times to get reinstated.

    1. It’s that ‘the rules’ are applied arbitrarily, where the only recourse is the same people, with the same mindset.

  65. No problems with the run to Stoke and back, decent weather so an enjoyable drive.
    Stepson is a step away from being hospitalised again. When I was there I spoke to the Adult Social Services contact number who simply took the detains and passed them on to the social work team who will get back to me.
    I did a bit of shopping and picked up his medications before coming home. As he’d not picked up last weeks supply, there were two lots so I brough one of them home with me.
    Given the way he binges on his prescription I was not happy leaving them with him and I was certainly not going to leave a double dose for him.
    He needs to be monitored on a daily basis to ensure he does not binge on them.
    He did have food in his fridge at least!

    Good night all.

    And with that, I’m off to bed.

    1. You’re a good man, Bob. Here’s hoping things will be OK for your stepson.

      Sleep well!

  66. Britain has become the welfare state for the world

    As a Bulgarian criminal gang has shown, it is far too easy to exploit our benefits system

    MATTHEW LYNN • 29 May 2024 • 2:33pm

    New properties were being built. Designer clothes were suddenly evident everywhere. And the whole place was flush with cash. When Inspector Vassil Panayotov, a determined copper who could have stepped straight out of an old-fashioned detective mystery, noticed how much money was swilling around the Bulgarian village of Sliven, in the foothills of the Balkan mountains, he might have feared it had been turned into a route for shipping for cocaine into Europe, women into the sex trade, or arms in Russia.

    Instead, it was a far simpler, and more lucrative racket. A group of villages were swindling the British welfare system, stealing tens of millions of pounds in fraudulent benefit claims. And yet, in reality, while Panayotov may have been surprised by the scheme, no one in the UK should be. Our benefits system is being opened up to the whole world – and our idle civil servants are too weak to do anything about it.

    The Sliven case has exposed just how easy it is to take money from the British state. After Panayotov tipped off the British authorities, the ring has been brought to justice. It turned out that £50 million in benefits had been paid out, including to people who had never set foot in Britain, and the real total may have run into the hundreds of millions.

    Yet this is only the tip of the iceberg. As the UK’s benefits bill rises and rises, with working age benefits soaring from less than £40 billion annually in the 1980s to more than £100 billion now, it has become painfully clear that some claims are fraudulent. Indeed, as far back as 2007 the BBC was reporting that many Polish workers in Britain were claiming child benefit in both countries. Did anyone take action in response?

    Britain has become so generous, and our borders so lightly policed, that we may now be paying out tens of billions a year to people who have no connection with the country at all. There are so many different ways of claiming money from the state, it is probably hard for even the most diligent Bulgarian gangster to keep track of them all. There are child benefits, tax credits, housing benefits, disability benefits, employment support, income support that can all apparently be claimed with flimsy evidence to show that someone is actually living in the country. Whatever happened to the principle of those who are able paying into the system, with state support provided to the most vulnerable?

    Even worse, we have largely uncontrolled immigration, with many new arrivals put up in state housing despite a chronic shortage. Meanwhile, anyone who arrives as an unskilled student or care worker can win the right to remain, along with all the welfare entitlements, meaning they may be a drain on the economy for years to come.

    There are two big problems. The system is too generous and checks are inadequate, leaving it wide open to fraud. And the civil servants who are meant to monitor claims are all working from home, or attending compulsory “unconscious bias” courses, and are too terrified of accusations of xenophobia to start checking whether all the claims from Bulgarian sounding names might mean there is something fishy going on.

    So benefits are just handed out, with the bill passed on to the taxpayer. Instead of providing support during times of hardship for our fellow citizens, a concept that everyone would agree with, the system has been turned into a free money machine for anyone in the world. We can’t expect there to be many Inspector Panayotov’s out there to control it for us, but until we address this madness, we will never get the tax burden down, or get public services up and running to a decent standard.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/29/britain-has-become-the-welfare-state-for-the-world/

    Has this been discussed on any current affairs programme? Has it been in the election debate? It won’t be only civil servants who will be accused of xenophobia but any MP or journo who dares to suggest that EU migrants are not holding the economy together by bending their backs in the fields while the British rest theirs on their sofas.

    1. The BBC won’t mention it because it’s big government’s money and they want even bigger government, the Guardian is applauding it and probably wanted them to have more because ‘da wich’ shouldn’t have it. The rest of the Left wing press won’t bother as it would upset their readers who either hate gimmigrants or are them.

      The Right wing press can’t discuss it because they’ll be screamed at by the Left and attacked by the state machine over ‘waycism’. Besides, it probably wouldn’t bring them any more advertising revenue.

    2. Those Bulgarians clearly lied to get those benefits. Try claiming Universal Credit or Personal independence Payment while telling the truth about your situation. You won’t get a penny.
      Just as with the false claims during covid it will be considered too difficult to get the money back.

  67. Should come over… much more European after we moved over. Don’t think that’s an improvement.
    DEpending on your schedule, we could even put you up, as loing as you arrive with duty-free gin… 😉

    1. Nice one buddy! I fancy a reprise of ‘The Heroes of Telemark’ and taking out the heavy water plant…..

  68. Prepare for the dissolution of Britain as a nation state if Starmer wins

    The Labour Party is now a fanatical believer in the supremacy of ‘international law’ over elected UK governments

    ALLISTER HEATH • 29 May 2024 • 7:01pm

    Labour’s real plans for office remain shrouded in mystery, but we know one central fact: Sir Keir Starmer’s party is a fanatical believer in “international law”. It will be predisposed to accept any new treaty that limits Britain’s ability to govern itself, and will cheer any ruling from a global court striking down the actions of a national government. It will reflexively take sides with the “international community”, Davos man, the human rights lawyers, post-national technocrats, Foreign Office mandarins and NGO activists.

    None of this should come as a surprise. Labour in 2024 is the party of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), of the UN and its agencies, however corrupt or wrong-headed, of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the World Health Organisation, the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. It considers criticism of such bodies, even when their decisions are absurd, to be taboo.

    Their international nature supposedly imbues them with legitimacy and superior authority. National governments are deemed untrustworthy, at all times susceptible to veering into demagogic racism as a result of electoral pressure, but global institutions are treated as obviously well-meaning, even when they have been captured by rogue states or funded by autocracies.

    This is a staggeringly naive approach, yet the modern Left believes that legitimacy emanates, top-down, from international organisations, rather than bottom-up from democratically accountable nation states. Such an approach might sound brilliantly rational to a 17-year-old follower of Descartes, but in practice it is the most idiotic, ahistorical doctrine imaginable.

    International law doesn’t actually exist. It started off as a noble lie, a convenient fiction to protect minorities and discourage states from invading their neighbours. It has since been hijacked to impose global rules and regulations, or to gang up on tiny countries. It has taken the world 79 years to put Jews on trial for fighting Nazis, using institutions specifically set up to prevent the rise of a new Nazism.

    The perversity is unbearable, but Labour backs the anti-Israel hate spewed by international “courts”. Many in the party believe that Israel is breaking “international law” and that we shouldn’t sell arms to it – both entirely nonsensical claims – but have little to say about real repression around the world.

    International law has been exposed as a sick joke, weaponised by malign actors, used to victim-blame and ignored by the superpowers. America exercises arbitrary power via its control of the dollar and its military. Russia is an evil dictatorship. China doesn’t care about human rights.

    It is only the Western Left that actually believes and follows “international law”: it is merely convenient for Iran and other genocidal tyrannies to pretend to do so. They relish the prospect of “international courts” – in reality, clownish, parti-pris forums that can’t compare to genuinely independent British justice – moving to make warfare by Western democracies effectively illegal, on the insane grounds that almost any civilian death is a war crime, thus disarming us.

    Yet Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions, remains a true believer in a global juristocracy. That used to mean worshipping at the altar of the EU. He will certainly shadow some of its rules, and tie us back in where he can, but for now won’t formally rejoin either the single market or the customs union.

    The EU was just one way to constrain British self-government. If anything, it was too obvious, too controversial, too narrow geographically: far easier for Labour to hand powers to lower-profile global bodies. The ECHR is imposing net zero on Switzerland, even if voters disagree: no need to join the EU.

    Immigration is another flashpoint. Many millions more could become eligible for refugee status – so many as to overwhelm every European country – and most, if not all, Western nations will probably eventually decide to cap numbers and choose who they let in. This would require carefully ending non-refoulement, the principle that refugees cannot be returned to their country of origin – once a great and humane idea but one which in its current form is unsustainable.

    There is no chance of this under Labour. I suspect the Supreme Court may soon deem non-refoulement part of “customary international law”, and thus binding even were we to cease being party to treaties (such as the Refugee Convention and the ECHR) that gave this effect. The Court hinted as much in its Rwanda judgment, citing the fact that Tony Blair signed a declaration subscribing to that view. How long will it take for activists to test this principle, cheered on by Labour?

    The party may also conscript government employees. The Civil Service Code states that civil servants must “comply with the law”, which currently refers to domestic, not international, law. Formally extending it to the latter would allow civil servants to refuse to work on any government project that could be deemed to violate “international law”. Forget about Brexit negotiations, or Rwanda, or even a road-building project (in violation of net zero): this would turn the state into a revolutionary Left-wing body, with calamitous consequences.

    In Britain, domestic law is different to international law (a “dualist” approach). Parliamentary legislation is required to implement international obligations we sign up to. In some “monist” countries, international law is deemed a direct, superior part of domestic law and takes precedence over national rules. Germany, for good, historic reasons, is an example of this approach.

    Uniquely, Britain’s Parliament also wields total power: it can write or repeal any law of any kind, and overturn judges on any issue, unlike in countries governed by the separation of powers and a written, hard-to-amend constitution.

    Left-wing lawyers have long considered these two defining features of Britain’s polity to be an archaic abomination, a key driver of our cultural conservatism. This is why they backed devolution and the Human Rights Act, as well as the quasi-constitutional Equality Act.

    Many would love to make us more like Germany, and dream of a day when lawyers can constrain MPs and parliamentary sovereignty is abolished. Labour won’t go that far, but its obsession with “international law” risks inflicting further catastrophic damage on the foundations of the British state.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/29/starmer-labour-will-oversee-final-dissolution-of-britain/

    Heath omits to mention Blair’s Supreme Court and its interference in the affairs of Parliament, notably the Article 50 and prorogation cases.

    1. Prepare for the dissolution of Britain as a nation state if Starmer wins

      There’s no question of whether Starmer will win, it’s a certainty. We will have to suffer further stupidity and ghastly rule until the following general election, if there is another one. What would help is if we vote for Reform UK (I know) in enough numbers to hope for voters to see that there is a chance of an alternative to this uniparty charade.

    2. Until sufficient numbers cease to regard the National Health Service as the primary factor in choosing which party to vote for, then Labour’s obeisance to international law will reign supreme. There are.nowhere near enough people sufficiently knowledgeable about international law to make an informed decision as to how much it ought to matter to them.

    1. Tell Saudi Arabia that the burka will be barred in the UK until such time as it allows scanty bikinis in Mecca’s Al-Masjid al-Haram.

    2. It’s quite clearly a form of intimidation. The whole of their ethic is intimidatory.

  69. Good night, chums. Sleep well, and I’ll see you all in the morning.

  70. Another day is done so, I wish you a goodnight and may God bless you all, Gentlefolk. Bis morgen früh. If we are spared!

    1. ‘ Morning, Geoff and thank you for all your care you have lavished on us, on our behalf.

Comments are closed.