Wednesday 4 August: An easing of the US travel ban to Britain should be the PM’s next goal

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/08/03/letters-easing-us-travel-ban-britain-should-pms-next-goal/

613 thoughts on “Wednesday 4 August: An easing of the US travel ban to Britain should be the PM’s next goal”

  3. We can never return to the golden age of British cinema. 4 August 2021.

    Despite a new £700m film studio, there is no chance of recreating the brilliantly idiosyncratic system of the mid-20th century.

    Broxbourne will power film-making in Britain for decades ahead. However, it can never replicate the sheer variety of influences and ideas, and the deep understanding of the British psyche, of the many studios that illuminated our cinema in its golden age.

    Morning everyone. There is of course no possibility of a British Film industry in the sense of films made to cater to the British Identity as was exemplified in movies made before the seventies. This is not due to lack of money, but lack of identity. That Britain; that England has been destroyed; it is even more remote from us than the Victorians; perhaps even the Middle Ages. The people and the values that were exhibited in them, personal responsibility, simple patriotism, the willingness to risk your life for Freedom, basic decency, love of the countryside and pride in the history of the UK are no more. RIP.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2021/08/04/can-never-return-golden-age-british-cinema/

    1. 336292+ up ticks,

      Morning AS,
      That Britain may well be lost, it was by many taken for granted and most definitely abused via the polling booth.

      That abuse still continues and HAS to be rectified NOT given succour via the polling booth.
      The fat controller & co want treble build
      then give them it, in the shape of a party coming on line or a pressure group telling how the country is currently and the odious causes of its downfall, NOT tales of treacherous fantasy for the future.

      IN short,
      For f…sake fund fact NOT fanciful fiction.

        1. He’s suggesting Atlas Shrugged. I agree. If the producitve workers simply say ‘sod it’ and walk off, big fat state has no income and society collapses.

          It’s power rlies only in the majority of decent working people remaining so busy, so chained up in red tape, inefficiency, expense and public sector tar and fed lies and fantasies that we don’t start really thinking about the problems.

          We all know the world is back to front. It’s obvious. Why don’t we all simply stop and demand common sense? Because we’ve been refused education, time, leisure and debate by big, fat, evil state.

          It isn’t malicious. Just mendacious. A long term plan to create a stupid, unthinking, docile workforce that just pays the bills and doesn’t start demanding, oh, you know, value for money.

          1. 336292+ up ticks,
            Morning W,
            Why not ALL trades go into like for like mode deny the politico’s as the politico’s are denying the peoples.

            Deny daily services butcher, baker. barber. candlestick maker etc,etc, society then continue to service society.

  5. Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen.
    On Topic.
    The travel ban to the US is in no way within the PMs influence.
    It will continue for as long as the US Globalists want to ally against us with the EU, in other words for as long as the Democrats retain power.
    We’d have more chance getting into the US by flying to Mexico and entering illegally.
    Then we’d be welcomed with open arms.

  6. US still showing strong appetite for Russian oil despite tense geopolitics. 4 August 2021.

    US imports of crude and oil products from Russia hit an all-time high of 844,000 b/d in May, making it the No. 2 supplier, albeit well below Canada’s 4 million b/d, according to the latest monthly Energy Information Administration, or EIA, data.

    The flows from Russia made up 10% of US oil imports in May, up from 4% in 2018, according to the EIA data.

    Russia was the No. 3 crude oil supplier to the US in May, sending more barrels than OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia.

    You have to smile at this staggering hypocrisy. While this was happening Biden was berating Merkel for taking gas from Nordstream 2 and bleating about Germany becoming reliant on Russian Gas! No wonder she didn’t listen!

    https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/oil/080321-us-still-showing-strong-appetite-for-russian-oil-despite-tense-geopolitics

  7. Mng to those around, another bout of end of month power rationing to “enjoy”. the usual :

    SIR – The Prime Minister has made yet another U-turn on a policy previously signed off by the Cabinet – this time a proposed “amber watch list” for controlling travel to foreign countries (report, August 3).

    Perhaps he can try his luck with travel to and from America. We are unable to visit our son and his family there because all inward travel from Britain is banned, except for returning residents.

    They cannot come here because Britain is at level four in America’s table of risk – the highest level. Only emergency travel is approved. The cost of PCR tests in Britain for a family is prohibitive, and their travel insurance would be invalid if they did come. All business travel to Britain is also banned by my son’s employer.

    As has been the case for many months now, we are forced to continue to rely on FaceTime as our only means of personal contact with our son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons.

    Graham Allen
    Sheffield, South Yorkshire

    SIR – On returning from France, where we visited our younger son and his family in Brittany, my wife and I, who are in our mid-70s, each received the following text from the Government: “Welcome to the UK. You are now required to quarantine for a minimum of 10 days and to take two further coronavirus tests. Otherwise you may be fined.”

    Our trip has cost us £590 in test fees when we are both fully vaccinated, and now we cannot even stroll to the corner shop to buy a newspaper.

    Graham Hipgrave
    High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

    SIR – I am sure I am not alone in wondering just how many inconveniences, exclusions and irritations people will be forced to accept in the post-pandemic world.

    My daughter, who is 15, and her two pals went 10-pin bowling in Blackburn on Monday, then hoped for a bite to eat afterwards. She doesn’t have a debit card and is too young for a credit card, but not one of the four high-street casual dining chains they tried was prepared to accept cash.

    Howard Buttery
    Whalley, Lancashire

    SIR – My driving licence, sent three months ago to the DVLA for renewal, has vanished into a Covid-shaped black hole. Two requests for information have gone unanswered, having fallen into the same dark pit.

    My passport has also expired. Fortunately I can’t travel abroad and wouldn’t want to even if I could, but I have been left with a dilemma. Bureaucratically speaking, I have become essentially nonexistent.

    In search of proof that I’m not an impostor, I dug into the archive and unearthed my original 62-year-old manila-brown medical card. I also have my infant inoculation records, which are mandatory these days. I will present them on demand whenever I am stopped by the authorities yelling “Papers!” in my face.

    John Williams
    Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex

    Exorbitant shipping

    SIR – Regarding your article (Business, August 1) on rising shipping costs, I can report that the cost of transporting a 40ft container from China to the UK is now almost $20,000 (£14,400).

    As an importer of high-quality bone china ceramics (it is not viable to manufacture this substrate in the UK or EU), I also have the double whammy of HMRC still applying anti-dumping duty on top of the freight costs, as well as the product cost, even though Britain is no longer in the EU.

    There is no doubt that shipping line owners are colluding to restrict capacity after Covid, and raising costs to unsustainable levels. Something needs to be done, as we are reaching the point where freight is going to cost more than the products imported.

    Mike Bliss
    Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire

    RNLI’s duty at sea

    SIR – I was appalled to read of the abuse that RNLI crews received for helping migrants, and that a “small number” of people have withdrawn financial support for the charity (report, July 30).

    The crews are mostly volunteers who are prepared to risk their lives to rescue strangers. Sir William Hillary, the founder, wrote a pamphlet in 1823 entitled An Appeal to the British Nation on the Humanity and Policy of Forming a National Institution for the Preservation of Lives and Property from Shipwreck. One of its aims was for “the people and vessels of every nation, whether in peace or war, to be equally objects of the Institution”, which was formed on March 4 1824.

    International maritime law also says that “the shipmaster has an obligation to render assistance to those in distress at sea without regard to their nationality, status or the circumstances in which they were found”.

    Raymond Hirst
    Lancaster

    Handbag turn

    SIR – Drive around Naples (perhaps not the best advice) and you’ll see many vehicles permanently signalling left. The Italians use the indicator stalk for dangling handbags (Letters, August 3).

    Jack Lawlor
    Haworth, West Yorkshire

    SIR – In the early 1980s I had a Fiat Strada, and one of its selling points was that it had a hole just behind the gear stick designed to carry a bottle of wine.

    Now that is Italian.

    Nick Pope
    Woodcote, Oxfordshire

    Cost of electric cars

    SIR – The recent findings by Which? suggesting it would take six to 10 years to recover the extra cost of buying an electric car from savings in running costs (report, August 2) assume that present costs will stay the same.

    This is not very likely. It is almost certain that the cost of electricity for charging cars, along with the imposition of road tax or road pricing, will mean that the costs of running an electric car will increase substantially. The predicted loss of billions in car tax and fuel duty as more electric cars are introduced has to be recovered. The sums are far too large to ignore.

    The business case for “going electric” does not exist and probably never will.

    Dr Michael Blackmore
    Midhurst, West Sussex

    Afghan interpreters

    SIR – Offering Afghan interpreters and their families sanctuary in Britain from Taliban retribution (report, August 3) is the least this country can do.

    The real tragedy, skirted by our government, is that, after nearly two decades of British presence in Afghanistan, we are having to offer them protection at all.

    Helen Nall
    Hoveringham, Nottinghamshire

    Kent villages blighted

    SIR – Camilla Tominey reports (August 1) that Greg Clark, MP for Tunbridge Wells, is “sitting on the fence” over the proposed development of 5,000 homes in the medieval villages of Tudeley and Capel. His position is to be viewed as most convenient.

    To meet the obligation for housing need, various other suitable smaller sites within the borough were identified, yet the proposed development has been pushed right up to the margins of the Tonbridge and Malling borough.

    It is to the nearest town of Tonbridge that traffic from the proposed development will inevitably stream. And it is the borough of Tonbridge and Malling that will bear the ensuing infrastructure costs, while the borough of Tunbridge Wells will benefit from council tax income of the order of £10 million per annum.

    Environmental issues aside, an ugly roundabout will blight the entrance to Tudeley church with its unique Chagall windows. The building is also prized for classical music festivals.

    The proposal is a scandal, and is an unacceptable blot on the landscape.

    Marion R Ansell
    Tonbridge, Kent

    Bug-free journey

    SIR – Having just travelled 3,500 miles around England on a staycation Grand Tour, I can confirm that the front of my windscreen was decidedly bug-free (Letters, August 3).

    This was despite having driven through mostly rural places, including the Lake District, and the east, south and west coasts.

    Bill McDonald
    London WC2

    SIR – Surely the phenomenon of fewer insects sticking to car windscreens is due to improved aerodynamics.

    Simon Cox
    Brixham, Devon

    SIR – With the increase in motorcycling in recent years, it seems that insects prefer the challenge of landing on the much smaller area afforded by a helmet’s visor.

    Mine is always covered in bugs after even the shortest of journeys.

    John Clifton
    Ash, Surrey

    There is more to Latin than just ‘the classics’

    SIR – It is good to read of the Latin Excellence Programme and Gavin Williamson’s belief that Latin should not be “only reserved for the privileged few” (report, July 31).

    However, studying Latin is about much more than just “the classics”. It gives access to an extraordinarily rich range of literary and historical material written over the more than 15 centuries since the fall of the Roman empire, often in what were, in William Cowper’s words, “regions Caesar never knew”.

    For example, the most important black writer from the 18th-century British Caribbean, the Jamaican Francis Williams, gained international fame in his lifetime as a writer of Latin verse, and was an important figure in campaigns against the slave trade. As he wrote:

    Ipsa coloris egens virtus

    prudentia; honesto

    Nullus inest animo, nullus in arte

    color.

    (Worth itself and understanding

    have no colour;

    There is no colour in an honest

    mind, or in art).

    Dr John T Gilmore
    Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies
    University of Warwick

    A British propeller-maker scuttled by the EU

    SIR – Brian Oakley’s letter (August 2) about ships’ propellers made by J Stone & Co brought back memories of visiting its Birkenhead works as a metallurgy student in 1970. The technical expertise to make the huge castings (more than 40 tons) and machine them to accuracies of a fraction of a millimetre was
    breathtaking.

    The firm made propellers for many celebrated liners, including the Queen Mary and the QE2. Sadly, as reported by Christopher Booker in The Telegraph in 2002, it was a victim of the EU’s double standards on state aid, and had to bid against the heavily subsidised German company MMG. This forced it out of the market.

    Dave Holtum
    Bathampton, Somerset

    1. Raymond Hirst, you may well be appalled at the treatment of RNLI crews. I am appalled at them prioritising their assistance of an insurgent invasion of the country by those who wish it harm over giving necessary aid to genuine seafarers in distress.

      I bet you that more British people share my version of being appalled.

      1. A recent newspaper report that the RNLI had gone to within two miles of the French coast to “rescue those in distress” doesn’t ask the

        obvious question: Why didn’t they call the French coastguard?

        Could the answer be that the French charge for rescue, whilst the RNLI services are free?

          1. Rastus wrote a few days ago that they charge 275 (?) euros an hour and won’t take credit cards.

          2. Good grief. That’s shocking – no wonder the illegals don’t use their services.

          3. This figure, which I found on the Internet, is probably out of date and the cost is likely to be far higher now.

            Incidentally, I am a Shoreline member of the RNLI and I have been so for many years. When I wrote to them I did get a reply but this reply did not answer the main point about the difference between saving lives and helping illegal immigrants to come into Britain when it would be quite possible to save lives and the drop those whose lives they had saved in France.

            Nigel Farage has, as you would expect, been roundly criticised for ‘attacking’ the RNLI which he has not done. On GB News last night he explained that not only does he contribute funds regularly to the RNLI but he has also been actively involved in their fund-raising campaigns.

        2. Two miles off the French coast is well outside their remit. It all smacks to me of governmental assistance in an invasion.

        3. And it doesn’t answer the points I have made here and in an unpublished letter in the DT:

          It is all well and good for the RNLI to save lives at sea – that is what they are for. But the RNLI should not get involved in assisting illegal immigration. The RNLI should drop the people they ‘rescue’ on the French coast whence they came and not in Britain. The French could hardly object – after all Britain is paying substantial amounts of money to France for them to help us with this problem.

          I am becoming far more convinced that the government actively wants to flood Britain with illegal immigrants though I cannot understand why they want to do so.

    2. Mr Willliams, this is par for the course. The state has no need to improve it’s processes to meet customer demand, as it’s customer is trapped forced to pay regardless of service.

      Mr Blackmore, you are entirely right, this is obvious and well known but big fat state is avoiding the discussion in case the enforced take up of polluting, environmentally unfriendly electric cars falters and their grand plan to use them as a battery for unreliable, inefficient wind energy – yet more ugly, inefficient, polluting, not remotely green not at all renewable windmills.

      Mr Hirst, yes, and the RNLI are doing an amazing job, just one they shouldn’t have to do. For them to get the flak is wrong. The criminals are the state, ministers and the incompetent Border farce. Actually, no, not incompetent as they are only doing as they are told by civil servants eager to flood this country with gimmigrants precisely to stick two fingers up to those hoping Brexit would stem the tide.

      The gimmigrants must be returned to France, immediately.

  8. Good morning, all. Sunny and still. Watering required today.

    BPAPM deposed yet?

  9. “SIR – Surely the phenomenon of fewer insects sticking to car windscreens is due to improved aerodynamics.

    Simon Cox
    Brixham, Devon”

    Clever insects, eh?

      1. Now I’ve this image of a bunch of insects sitting at the side of the M4 looking for a Ferrari to ‘really get some speed up’

        ‘Look Gerry! Here comes one of them speedy ones!’
        ‘Cor, last time I was doing 20mph!’

        ‘Quick lads, goggles on, get in formation, we’ll go together!’

        Of course, if they were wasps they all talk like Skeletor and are evil.

      2. Now I’ve this image of a bunch of insects sitting at the side of the M4 looking for a Ferrari to ‘really get some speed up’

        ‘Look Gerry! Here comes one of them speedy ones!’
        ‘Cor, last time I was doing 20mph!’

        ‘Quick lads, goggles on, get in formation, we’ll go together!’

        Of course, if they were wasps they all talk like Skeletor and are evil.

    4. That reminded me of the terrible journey MOH and I made from some where out in the bush to Cobar, our Holden station wagon had the windscreen broken and i had to drive about 100 miles with nothing in front of us. The insects were horrendous. I had to wind the back window down to try and let most of them fly through. The rest ended up embedded in our clothing and luggage.

      1. We once had a similar trip in Namibia only we had to contend with dust storms in the desert.

  12. Tokyo Olympics sparks anti-LGBT slurs on Russian TV. BBC Monitoring. 4 August 2021.

    The participation of openly gay, lesbian and transgender athletes in the Tokyo Olympics has led to an upsurge in anti-LGBT commentary on Russian state TV.

    Extremely offensive language, some of which appears in this article, was used by the hosts and guests on talk shows aired by the country’s two most popular television channels.

    The state-run channels dedicated several of their talk shows to speak disparagingly about LGBT athletes at the Games, using words like “abomination” and “perversion”.

    The BBC (the UK’s State owned channel) on the other hand not only endorses these people but employs large numbers of them!

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58029133

    2. try finding official figures of LGBT medal winners versus white heterosexual medal winners. Supplementary Q, official figures of LGBT / straight competitors citing “mental health issues”.

    3. There’s no need for that. Live and let live, after all.

      However, just as equally I don’t want it forced on me. The entire edifice must accept that trans men – that’s men who think they’re a woman – are biologically men and thus cannot compete against women, as it is unfair on the female athletes.

      2. Gay, trans, whatevvah. I don’t care what people do with their genitalia, I really don’t. But the pretence that a man with a man’s body is really a woman, who can then out-compete her because it has a man’s body, is grossly unfair and fails to make any competition worth watching.
        And, if it’s “true” that a man calling himself a woman makes it a woman, then why don’t we see women calling themselves men competing at top level with men?
        If they really want trans people in competition (and why not?), then surely they should have their own class?
        Incidentally, the girls who shoot target rifle and shotgun from Numedal in Norway are world-class – I think there are some in the Olympics – and all racking-snakes aged about 17 years old. No significant body strength required.

        1. For the last two days I have asked the question on this site as to whether there is a single person who has transed from female to male who has gone on to compete successfully in men’s sport?

          However show jumping and certain sailing events enable women to compete just as successfully as men in the ‘open’ class. What surprises me is why women cannot compete at top level in snooker, darts and chess where physical brawn is not important.

          Having said that I am reminded of Kipling’s poem about the female of the species being more deadly than the male and the fact that Victoria Coren-Mitchell is a world-class poker player.

    5. Good morning Minty

      Rather similar to this …
      Premier League teams WILL continue to take the knee before kick off next season as players insist they are ‘resolutely committed’ to eradicating racism in the game
      Premier League players are reportedly committed to taking a knee next season
      The anti-racism gesture has been observed for more than a year in England
      Some teams have stopped practising it while other figures have criticised it
      But a captains’ meeting agreed players felt its impact during Euro 2020
      By OLI GAMP FOR MAILONLINE

      PUBLISHED: 17:00, 3 August 2021 | UPDATED: 20:59, 3 August 2021

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-9857079/Premier-League-teams-continue-knee-kick-season.html

      2. “But a captains’ meeting agreed players felt its impact during Euro 2020”

        They certainly felt the impact.
        If Southgate had chosen the penalty takers to win, rather than to make a point, the outcome could well have been different

    7. Yesterday when that NZ ‘woman’ was participating in ‘her’ weightlifting event, the BBC warned anyone contributing comments on their social media sites that disputed ‘her’ sexuality would be ‘reported to the authorities’.

      Eric Blair, if you could what your former employer has become.

    3. Happy Onsdag, Pud.

      Civilised men, properly, drink tea in a morning (ask BoB). Coffee (espresso-based) is for early afternoon. 👍🏻🫖😉

        1. My routine: Two ¾-pint mugs of tea (drunk concurrently) at 0800. Two more at 1100. Large cup of cappuccino (from espresso machine) at 1300. Two more large mugs of tea at 1600. Water for the rest of the day.

          3. Red wine gives me insomnia, I’ve not drunk any for five years. White wine is sweetened vinegar. Sparkling wine is sweetened fizzy vinegar (I’ve never been a fan).

            I have either a large single-malt or a gin on a Friday night. I’ve not drunk beer for two years. I sleep like a log/dog/baby these days.

          5. Morning Paul. And with those chips on each shoulder … 🤣 I’m well in equilibrium.

      2. I thought you Vikings drink a horn or two of wine & put Carlsberg on your cornflakes instead of milk. Even in England as a child we were a Coffee in the Morning & Tea at 4pm family . As a wee tot I remember we drank Camp Coffee & then when Maxwell House arrived in the UK in the 60’s it became our standard Java. Nowadays at home I mostly drink freeze dried Brazilian coffee which I keep in the fridge & only drink Latte or Espresso when out .

        1. Tea first thing makes me feel nauseous. Only strong coffee until lunch, then tea later.

          1. The smell of coffee in a morning (especially that disgusting “instant” bilge) makes me retch.

          2. Instant coffee, no matter how expensive, tastes like the pub ashtrays in the morning. Ugh. Only filter, kokekaffe* or espresso is worth drinking.
            *Literally. “boiled coffee” – made with a coarse ground coffee added to a pan of almost-boiling water (boil the water, remove from heat, add coffee), and allowed to sink to the bottom and steep for a while. Allow to settle, pour off the coffee.
            A mug of that is like a mug of espresso – smooth and like rocket fuel.

        3. I think the Vikings drank mead or early versions of unhopped ale.

          Edited to correct typo.

          3. ;-))
            Until recently, it was law in Norway that every farmhouse MUST brew it’s own ale, in case the King came visiting, and HM needed refreshment.

          1. I sometimes get gut-rot after too much coffee in the morning, so have taken to switching to tea for the afternoon.

  14. One hundred and seven years ago today, the Great War began.

    I suspect that the shades of those who started it – looking at subsequent events today – would wish that they hadn’t.

    3. Morning Bill. The War to end all Wars! Well they got that wrong, but then they didn’t know about Blair.

      1. I’m coming round to the view that the 20s and 30s were a prolonged half-time. Too much business was left unfinished in 1918; the Treaty of Versailles made matters worse. American diplomacy at its best worst.
        There is a horrible inevitability about WWII.

        1. I suppose that you could argue that the Germans will want to dominate whatever you do.

          Treat them too harshly as they did at Versailles and the result is World War II; treat them more kindly and the result is their determination to dominate everything through the EU.

          1. It’s a conundrum. Maybe we should go back to all the little German principalities, where the royal families had such long surnames you’d crossed the country before you’d finished reeling off their monikers. In those days they stuck to producing great literary and musical masterpieces.
            I believe that’s why Maggie opposed German reunification.
            I blame Bismarck. Are you herring me?

    4. I suspect that those who started it – looking at the shades subsequent today – would wish that they hadn’t.

    5. The man pictured, my maternal grandfather, was a talented musician and was one of the Contemptible Little Army soldiers sent to France. I cannot recall him talking to me about his experiences but my elder sister recently told me that he spoke to her about the incident when he had to kill a German soldier or be killed. He would be disgusted with how this Country has turned out after all the sacrifice and suffering he saw in the trenches.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6607f64cc1967df82e05fa24391836616cd99040519ff8d7b66611663670c4e0.jpg

        1. Could such men of substance inspire this woke generation?
          I suspect that they might, given the chance.

  15. Morning all, 39 years ago today just after lunch, our second son was born.
    Happy birthday Dan. 🤩🥰

      1. All three were named from the bible, you can’t go wrong eh, the eldest was named after the Mathew Flinders Medical centre in Adelaide were he was born in 1979.
        I feel Terrible Bill I’ve been awake since 2:30 am, i’m hoping my lovey and good neighbour with inside info, can send my bounced email to the NHS department where it might actually count. I am so reluctant to go to A&E because that is where i am right now, all started.

    3. Did you have time to grab a sarnie and a cuppa before the event?
      Don’t want to give birth on an empty stomach.

  16. Good morning from a bright Derbyshire with a slightly warmer 10° in the yard.

  17. The PMs first goal should be to end the invasion of gimmigrants, return those here and ensure our borders are protected.

    Instead, he’ll ignore it.

    Next is to scrap all the green nonsense he has dreamt up and get frakking. Longer term, make solar panels and batteries tax deductible and VAT free. Then to scrap VAT.

    2. You are absolutely right.

      But unfortunately just because you are right it is not going to stop the capitulation of politicians to woke agendas. Is there an answer or is it all too late and Private James Fraser was right?

    1. 336292+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      May one ask Og, do you think the muslim following in the park has adequate protection against this alledged far right racist woman.

    2. She is correct about the police and politicians being on the side of the bullying muslims. I hope she wears a stab protection vest, She is a very brave woman but vulnerable.

      1. 336292+ up ticks,
        Morning Cs,
        I would think she is well aware of her safety status,
        then again she should never have been put in such a position in the first place courtesy of a herd that glories in adhering to the same toxic voting pattern.

        What she and the Country needs is her receiving support
        nationwide.

    3. I remember T Blair PM being ordered to leave a meeting in London because ” he didn’t belong there”.

      1. 336292+ up ticks,
        Cs,
        You mean anthony charlie lynton , wouldn’t be the first meeting he’s had to leave in an ungentlemanly manner.

  19. ‘Morning All

    Alison Pearson cooking on gas,,,,,,,,,,,,

    But what really bothers me is that international travel has become a

    shocking new form of apartheid. If you’re rich enough and can afford

    multiple tests and private jets, it feels like you can go where you

    like. If you’re no one you’re going nowhere.

    A reader emailed me to say that her brother, a private pilot, has

    “never been busier” ferrying wealthy clients to countries which are

    beyond the reach of ordinary, fully-vaccinated people desperate to be

    reunited with relatives they haven’t seen for two years. A limo driver I

    got chatting to said that he picked up four passengers on the runway at

    a small airport the other day and delivered them straight to a famous

    London hotel. The group had come from Dubai, a “red list” hub. Not for

    those fancy gents the hassle of 10 days confined, at Her Majesty’s

    displeasure, in some Bates Motel off the M25; cost £1,750 per person for

    three daily chunks of melon and a salmonella sarnie.

    We now have a highly discriminatory, two-tier system in which Britons

    of more modest means are increasingly priced out, not just from a

    family holiday in the sun, but from vital medical procedures in an

    overwhelmed NHS.

    Travellers who play by the rules will find themselves laying waste to

    their savings. A friend, who recently went to Majorca with her family

    of four, reports that the flights cost £800 while multiple tests for the

    double-jabbed parents and their teenage offspring were a debilitating

    £500. In theory, you should be able to purchase a testing kit for £23 as

    listed on the Government website, but the cheapest I could find when I

    was returning from Greece last week was £82. A damning analysis by the

    Advertising Standards Authority of the 50 least-costly options

    discovered that two-thirds could not be ordered and appointments for

    on-site tests were not available until next month. Why on earth can’t we

    use the free NHS tests for which we have already paid out of our taxes?

    It’s an absolute racket.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2021/08/03/stealth-tax-travel-means-unless-rich-going-nowhere/

    2. Good evening,
      It is absolutely outrageous that these rich, entitled nobodies can evade proper security and screening, especially when they are coming in from a ‘red’ country. And people wonder how new strains get in. That and the untouchable filth arriving daily on the south coast. It just makes a mockery of the whole fiasco.

  20. I see that smirking Shatts has stirred up anger among his “colleagues” at his two-facedness.

    I hope that this will mean he’ll soon be gone – as with that other smirker, Halfcock, though for different reasons.

    1. Shatts must have some corking photos tucked away in bank vault.
      Which of his phones should be checked? The one belonging to Michael Green, Corinne Stockheath or Sebastian Fox?

  21. Remember the School Vaccine Jabbers jobs list I posted??

    “The mass vaccination of children against Covid-19 is set to get the

    green light, with approval given for 16 and 17-year-olds to receive the

    jab.

    The Telegraph understands the change in guidance will be announced on

    Wednesday after scientific advisers submitted their updated advice to

    Downing Street.

    A well-placed government source said that those aged 16 and 17 will be advised to get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, matching guidance for other younger Britons.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/03/mass-vaccination-children-against-covid-planned/

    No doubt ever younger children will have the clotshot forced on them under the “Gillick Competence” with no imput from parents permitted………..

    BTW no comments allowed but opinion on turning schools into Jabbattoirs are rife under the Jabs for Jobs article

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/08/03/jabs-jobs-policies-risk-wave-discrimination-lawsuits/

  22. Good Moaning.
    Blasted sun again …. global warming …. skin cancer ….. climate change….. colonialism … all whitey’s fault ….. imperialist plot….. farting cows …..
    Chunter, Chunter …..

      1. I believe that one of the consequences of the Sun’s stopping Page Three Girls was that girls stopped going topless on the beach. In the 80’s and 90’s it was almost de rigueur to manifest the mammaries and there were not even age and weight restrictions!

  26. Biden calls on Cuomo to quit after damning sexual harassment report. 4 August 2021.

    Joe Biden has led calls from both parties for New York governor Andrew Cuomo to resign after an investigation found he had sexually harassed 11 women.

    “I think he should resign,” the president told reporters at the White House hours after the results of the investigation were published.

    “I understand that the state legislature may decide to impeach. I don’t know that for a fact. I’ve not read all that data.”

    Well if Biden calls you out for being a Perv that is definitely it! This smells strongly of the Salem Witch Trials where even those distant from the maelstrom of accusations soon became convinced that they were themselves bewitched! That the accused is Republican and the accuser Democrat effectively disenfranchises the whole affair of any credibility!

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/03/biden-cuomo-white-house-sexual-harassment-investigation

      2. From her face, looks like she has a boner jammed between the shoulder-blades! }:-((

    3. My doubts about what’s in the “flu” jab this year led me to decline the offer from my pharmacist. This government and its agents (not my pharmacist, I must add) just cannot be trusted.

      1. Had a flu jab back in the day. Got flu. No jab, no flu.
        Conclusion: After years as a child playing in the dirt in Nigeria, body can cope with these pesky virus better than some man-made goop.

      2. I’ve never had a flu jab.
        I’m perfectly capable of brewing up my own flu, thank you very much.

    2. I heard there is a vaccine against suicide in the form of an injection………..oh wait that is the cause of it.

    3. The suicide bug I caught off someone in town is also asymptomatic.

      I’ve lost count of the number of people I might have spread it to after being with me a while.

        3. While smoking a thoughtful pipe in my easy chair I ruminated upon the effectiveness of transferred epithets.

      2. Where are the cups and saucers decorated with hand painted blue periwinkles?
        (Sigh) Just cannot get the staff nowadays.

      1. 336292+ up ticks,
        G,
        I would by the lab/lib/con coalition set have been tagged as a fear mongered, best in a trailer form ie piecemeal “coming shortly”, you’ve obliged.

    2. Why not the side of those people trying to reduce their waste, trying to recycle more?

      We produce too much waste, true, and we don’t recycle and re-use anywhere nearly as much as we should. Yet all the ecomentalism going isn’t going to help that. The nonsense Paris accords will make not a jot of difference.

      Also, the seas are polluted with plastic because of the WEEE directive.

  31. Tell Its Age

    A guy walks into a bar and tells the bartender, “Hey, I want a shot of 15 year old scotch, and don’t give me any of that cheap shit either, because I can tell the difference.”

    The bartender decides to test him and pours a shot of three-year-old scotch. The guy drinks it and says, “I told you I wanted fifteen-year-old scotch, not this three-year-old stuff. Try again.”

    Amazed, the bartended pours the fifteen-year-old scotch. The guy drinks his shot and says, “That’s what I wanted, thank you!”

    A drunk at the end of the bar, who was intrigued by the guy’s knowledge, walks up and gives the guy a drink. The guy takes a sip and spits it out exclaiming, “That tastes like piss!”

    The drunk replies, “Any dumb-ass would know that. I want you to tell me how old I am!”

  33. Morning all!

    Went to an event in church yesterday evening, with a very good turnout and not a mask in sight till our parish admin lady put one on while she served the drinks. It was prompted by the recent article in The Spectator by our rector which led him to set up a website and ask supporters to register for a Save The Parish initiative. There were people from all over the country, including a lot of clergy, at the inaugural meeting at Barts last night. I overheard one of them giving an honest and not at all complementary appraisal of the new Archbishop of York, with which I totally agree.

    The main thrust of the formal presentations was that while we still have some semblance of democracy in the CofE, we need to actively put ourselves forward or support the right people as candidates for election to General Synod and at least have a voice in the legislative process. It was good to meet people over drinks afterwards and I had a nice chat with Fr Marcus about the horrors of Janet and John Do Church!

    One bit of amusement. I decided that in between the speeches and drinkies, I needed the loo. There was a long queue for the Gents and just two of us heading for the Ladies. Made us laugh because it’s so unusual for the men to have to queue and not us!

        1. But not in the same glass…!!

          I went to a dinner in Croydon in the 1970s. A waiter circulated with a bottle of red and a bottle of white. “Red, white or rosé?” If anyone chose rosé – he poured half and half…. I kid you not. The meal was awful, too!

          1. Bill,

            Funny thing , I am amazed … Yes, the same thing happened to us .. but it was in a restaurant, circa early ’70s.

            Er hate to say this , but the waiter said they had run out of Mateus Rose .. but instead offered house white or red , and told us he could mix them if we didn’t mind .. My husband said , “That’ll do “.. I wriggle with absolute discomfort remembering that .. We were so young and naive , and knew no better .

            We ate Lobster thermidor … that I do remember .

          2. Good Lord. I’ve had some crap experiences in my life, but I’ve never eaten in Croydon.

      1. There is some autonomy and we’re largely self-funding but the clergy are paid centrally and still take on oath of obedience to their bishop. There are plans to pass a motion through Synod and Parliament allowing CoE management – which is growing rapidly, as the parishes decline – to sell off church buildings at will. New and high paid management posts with meaningless job titles are being advertised all the time while a recent CoE report referred to church buildings and clergy as “a limiting factor”.

        1. Have you ever read the Matthew Shardlake novels by C.J. Sansom?
          They give a brilliant insight into Reformation England; I’ve learnt far more from them than from zillions of history lessons.
          It was the reference to CoE bureaucracy that reminded me of the tortuous arguments presented for closing religious houses.

    3. On Saturday I shall be going to church for the second successive weekend. Last week it was a Christening, this week it will be a wedding (members of the same family: half-brothers).

      In Australia, police are routinely running amok, baton-charging and beating up old people for not wearing face-nappies in public. The bridegroom on Saturday is a senior police officer and no one in this country wears face-nappies … anywhere.

      We shall all congregate closely, hug each other, breathe in the same air, and have a really NORMAL time. On the whole, I’d rather be here in Sweden and certainly not in Oz.

  34. Good Morning Nottlers all!
    I haven’t had a lot of time to do much nottling, what with daughter and the twins living here, her old man still in hospital but improving every day, and organising her move from their house, storage for the contents, and cleaning. Their new house won’t be finished until September by which time Simon should have had a month in an intensive rehab unit and will be ready to rejoin the fray!
    My husband’s uncle, who had been moved to a nursing home in Aberdeen a month ago, died on Monday aged 83. Unfortunately, it appears the the Procurator Fiscal is not happy, as he died after choking on his vomit and the will now have to have a post mortem. Gawd knows how long that will take in this Nikeliar benighted country, but it probably won’t be this week!
    I’ll keep popping in to see what’s going on, as I miss the chat! The twins are a year old on Friday and I have no idea where the time has gone!

          1. I was going to say that I don’t remember you prone…but then I read it again…!

      1. Thanks pet! We are staggering on! I’ve got to recommend carrying, bathing, playing and lifting twins for exercise for hip replacement! I can kneel down now, and get up again!

          1. You know about Yusaf Humza? He’s busy investigating a nursery in Broughty Ferry for discrimination. Says he ‘phoned them to find a place for his daughter, but when they heard the Muzzie name they said they were full. But when his ‘white’ pal ‘phoned, there were spaces!!

    4. Ouch.
      Good luck with it all, stop breaking mirrors and avoid the cracks in the pavement.

      1. Aha! Is that what’s doing it? We’ve just discovered that Uncles’ Post Office account (£10,500) has been cleared out by his ‘friend’ and her son who is an executor! £9,000 cash disappeared from the flat! Plod don’t want to know – no crime can be proved to have been committed!!😱

        1. Tell the authorities that you suspect the friend and the son of money-laundering and tax evasion.

          I don’t know if it is still the case but at one time HMRC followed up 100% of tip-offs.

          2. Oh there’s a thought! Thanks sos! actually the police have just been on the phone about Uncles details, and Alan has reminded them about the dodgy stuff that has gone on. And, oddly enough, the ghastly woman who was Uncles ‘friend’ works at the procurator fiscals office!!

          3. Assuming you can’t be accused of slandering or libelling them.

            Is she or the executor a lawyer, if so make a formal complaint to the Scottish equivalent of the law society AND to the office of PF.
            They might be a Salmond or a Sturgeon but no harm in going on a fishing expedition.
            At the very least it will taint them in future and at best you might recover something.

    6. Great to hear that Simon is still making steady progress, Sue! Your reflexes will stay sharp keeping up with the twins? Sad for uncle. Hope that’s all settled soon.

    7. Hi Sue
      Good news that Himself is improving, and condolences about the Uncle. I’d have preferred less detail… but it’s good that the Fiscal is following up. That’s no way to die.
      Take care yourself, and enjoy the Grand-twins! It’ll be no time at all before they will ne wanting driving lessons and a car…

      1. Thanks Herr Obers! It’s a real joy to have them here and growing like weeds in front of our eyes! They are standing by themselves and chatting together! We take them to see Daddy a couple of times a week and he sees them on FaceTime, but he misses them. He is doing so well with the physio and is just a bit frustrated. Vic is wonderful with him and keeps him a bit sane!

          7. One of them MUST be Mrs Macfarlane…

            I’d recognise her bobble hat anywhere…

    2. Last time I saw that photo it had a caption along the lines of “Carlsberg don’t do illegal immigrants but if they did…”

    1. Part-and-parcel of the “entitled” generation. A far lesser standard of human being than that which stoically endured six years of war over half a century ago.

    5. Folk can’t help what they look like. WE’re not all born looking like ruddy David Hasslehoff, Pammy or [insert name of idol of physical perfection].

      Judge folk by what they do, not what they look like.

      1. THAT is a trannie. It wears a bra yet has bollocks. It chose to look like that, deliberately.

        And don’t advise me on what opinions I may have.

  40. It seems that the unfortunate people of Afghanistan are to receive enhanced enrichment from a few extremists (who apparently mis interpret the koran). Well, I don’t suppose there is much on the TV out there, so public executions, amputations and stonings will make sure the crowd stays true to the prophet. Of course, it couldn’t possibly happen here.

    2. I think it was last night on Farage that David Davis MP was supping coca-cola in the “bar section” of NF’s programme. DD was quite supportive of our PM but not too supportive of other conservative MPs.

    1. Should listen to the local radio up here on early last Sunday evening. They actually mentioned the abuse. – ALL the blame was put on the people who should be protecting the girls – – not one bit of blame was put on the rapists. Then another idiot complaining that ANY number of people should just be able to come here, with NO restrictions. Presumably we are supposed to have their brand new 5 bed houses, fully furnished, ready and waiting for them too. No mention of space, cost, or effect. Absolutely stupid unsustainable BS.

      1. Could be that the idiot who wants them all to come is, in fact, a slammer. Lots of them speak like, er, native English people…

        So he was following the invaders’ agenda…

    2. ‘Morning, Maggie, the report’s release is very, very much overdue and I sincerely hope that those responsible – if still serving – are sacked and all, serving now or not, have their pensions cancelled and be forced to repay what has already been paid. Not fit for purpose.

      1. You jest, Tom. Nothing will be done to any of them serving or retired. Now, had they been long-suffering ex-servicemen…..

    3. It’s shocking but no surprise. I thought the report from several years ago mentioned a figure of that sort.

    4. I’m truly sick of this. The abuse is horrific, but worse is the state, the very people responsible for protecting children and the vulnerable deliberately ignoring, and at worse protecting the paedophiles.

      Then the wretched swine have the temerity to publish a report stating that even considering the demographic percentage that white males are majority abusers. It is a pack of lies to promote an agenda.

  43. A vignette

    At zero dark 09:00 hrs there was an authoritative rap at my front door. I directed the rapper to my back door where he introduced himself as a representative of EDF, the leccy company, accusing me of being in woeful default of paying for their services. I assured him that his concerns were largely groundless.

    Much of the following hour and a half was spent by him trying to get beyond EDF’s computerised answering service whilst I hammered at my ‘puter keyboard trying to get the infernal machine to wake up so that I could show him the oodles of dosh that I had remitted from my account for the wellbeing of his employers.

    More than once, I lost my natural good temper and resorted to the language of the lower decks. In due course the charming young lady at EDF HQ to whom he was talking on an open line and could hear my invectives found the missing £596.84 in a defunct account. It has now been credited against my outstanding balance, which I have paid. Both he and the HQ lady got the giggles as regards the ineptitude of the EDF computer systems.

    As he departed around 11:00am I apologised profusely for my foul language and feebly and shamelessly tried to deflect a portion of the blame to a bad upbringing by a father and grandfather who were both R.A. and a great grandfather who was RN.. His response was “Don’t mention it, Sir. You haven’t used a single term I am not familiar with after 37 years in the RAF.”

    2. So you’re saying, CV ( Cathy Ashton) that you called him a Very Silly Sausage?

      :-))

    1. I bet they all said – ‘ Not me guv! ‘ Yes – it’s obvious what sort of men they are.

      1. Ooooh you are naughty! Her Brussels friend would think she looks adorable, no doubt. Just ask Duncan M – he knows, yer know

    2. I am shocked Bill – who’d ever think you of all people would be having trombetti???

  47. Must be a special day – just rang the doc’s about a text – ani got the computerized covid message – then straight through to a REAL person.
    Didn’t even get to the “you are number . . . ” am I awake??? dreaming?????

      1. No – actually in the surgery – amazing. One woman in the office has a very distinctive voice – – and could hear her in the background.

  48. I received this email this morning from a previously intelligent and sensible friend……. comments please. Why are we worried about the Delta variant and why do we let it ruin family life in this way?

    “My younger grandson —— had just returned to school for the
    last week of term after his class had been isolating for 10 days. The
    school then told parents not to test their children for Covid (new
    government guidelines). After they broke up for the summer holiday my
    daughter-in-law ——- started getting texts from —– classmates
    mums’ to say they were testing positive and couldn’t go on holiday. —–
    tested positive too, although thankfully he has had no symptoms. All
    the family had to have the PCR tests but everyone else was negative.
    They had to isolate and cancel our trip away. It seems that a mum sent
    her children to school with Covid symptoms and one of them was in —–‘s
    class. She thought they had hayfever. The symptoms of the Delta variant
    are a runny nose and headache – more like a cold. Every child in that
    class has since tested positive and risked passing Covid on to their
    family. “

    1. Jules – what is there to say? You don’t live all that distant from me. Early morning in W/rose Marlborough yesterday most of the ninnies had nappies but the majority of the staff didn’t.

      Woe betide that the likes of Nagsman, our mutual friend Katherine, and I be declared to be treasonous but we are of the view that it is high time for an Epsilon mutation to be identified. It is rampant in Wilton, the hamlet where I live less than 10 miles south of Marlborough. Nobody wears a nappy – everyone goes to quaff an ale or three at The Swan when they bloody well feel like it. – everybody goes to the cricket matches and sneezes in the rain.

      I spoke to my seven grandchildren currently holidaying in The Borders two nights ago and they assure me that the Epsilon variant is wreaking unholy hell amongst all their friends at Pony Club Camp NOT. If your ex-friend is going to succumb to the nonsense, let her do so. Her family will suffer to the point of devastation.

      Epsilon Forever!

      1. Well – she’s still a friend but I couldn’t help feeling sad that her family holiday was ruined for this nonsense.
        She’s thinking of moving to Scotland (God help her there) so I won’t see her after that anyway. She won’t see much of her family either – one son and family in Chippenhan and one in Norfolk, if she moves to Scotland.

        1. Sad…..As we all know on this blog, only weirdos live in Norfolk…. wouldn’t want to mention names.

          O/T…I misspoke the other day…there are still a few baby swifts swooping around hereabouts. They are such a joy.

          1. Saw a few go over this morning – they whistled as they went by – and our parent pair were still in residence here this morning.

  51. James Bond hits upon hard times and finds himself facing a job seeker
    interview,

    “Well Mr Bond we have two positions we can offer you, one is giving
    lectures to children on the benefits of a career in military
    intelligence, and the other is in the fabric staining department of a
    yarn mill. ”

    “Do you expect me to talk? ”

    “No, Mr Bond, I expect you to dye. “

    1. Saw a couple driving out of a country car park – past several other people – who, not one had flagged them down – and I stopped the car, to inform the passenger – “Are those your walking boots on the roof?” – red face – burst of laughter – “wondered why they were all looking”.

        1. They are NOT bothered about age – not that “culture” – except as an excuse in court.

        1. and in court – why did you attack her – I wanted to ensure I couldn’t be deported – ok – I sentence you to the rest of your life being a danger and financial burden on the UK taxpayer –

          1. “I didn’t know it was illegal”. That has actually happened, with the perpetrator being given a much lighter sentence than he should have received.

          2. I remember a case 20 years ago involving a newly arrived Pole, who had helped himself to a few £100s of scrap metal in a skip on private land. “But it’s allowed in my Country”, he pleaded with the Magistrate. “Oh, that’s OK then. Case dismissed!”

  56. When I was a schoolmaster one night one of the young and foolish resident masters succeeded in setting his rooms alight by jamming his electric kettle into too tight a space for the safety recoil system on the kettle to work if he left it on by mistake. (To protect his identity, let us call him Ernest even though his name was actually Graham.)

    Ernest’s living accommodation was off a spiral stone staircase leading up to the school’s clock tower. There were no other living quarters nearby and there were only classrooms around it.

    Of course the fire alarm went off.

    When there was a fire alarm the boys had to leave their dormitories, common rooms and studies to assemble in a classroom for a roll call with the housemasters or house tutors. So we had a ridiculous situation where a hundred or so boys left a building that was not on fire to congregate in one that was.

    This reminds me of the madness with which the PTB are failing to deal with Covid safety measures.

    Here is an article in the DT which gives a horrific account of the way in which a person returning from France was treated

    I’m not sure if I’ve arrived in the country I used to call home, or a strange new dystopia
    The reality of holiday quarantine is more shambolic than you could ever imagine. It needs to end now

    (by Eleanor Aldridge travelled from France to England on board the Eurostar)

    I’ve been in the UK for little more than 24 hours when a burly test-and-trace representative turns up on the doorstep. He’s demanding to see “Amanda”. Oh, wait, except he’s got the names, surnames and addresses mixed up. “I mean Eleanor”, he corrects. He wants to see me. It’s a good day to be a clipboard-toting henchman, not for GDPR.

    I’m not sure if I’ve arrived in the country I used to call home or a strange new dystopia.

    My unmasked gentleman caller is naturally here to enforce the lingering amber plus regulations. They mandate that due to the concerning presence of the Beta variant, arrivals from France must quarantine for ten days, taking tests on day two and day eight regardless of their vaccination status.

    Except the Beta variant is only prevalent on La Réunion, the French-governed island that lies some 700km off the eastern coast of Madagascar – or as Raab prefers to put it, “a bit of France which of course is away from the mainland”. I guess you could also say Bermuda is offshore from Blackpool.

    Given geography and science are currently without merit, La Réunion itself is classed separately as amber, not amber plus. Vaccinated travellers arriving directly from the Beta-infected island do not need to quarantine. Only those arriving from mainland France, where the Delta variant prevails and the case rate is significantly lower than in the UK, are subject to restrictions.

    Following so far? You’re doing better than Boris.

    I’ve just arrived from Paris, not a palm-backed beach lapped by the Indian Ocean. I’m fully vaccinated, double Pfizered to be precise, and have spent the past week avoiding the metro and all indoor spaces. I have taken a negative PCR test. Evidently, people like me present a significant danger to Britain, where the so-called pingdemic is in full swing and mask-wearing seems to have been all-but abandoned.

    If I had arrived from Spain, where there were five times as many cases when I travelled, I’d be free to down a stiff G&T in a packed pub of my choice. Coming from a Covid hotspot in the US, I’d be enjoying a tearful mask-free reunion at Heathrow.

    As it is, when the doorbell rings, I’m deep in the rainy English countryside, fifteen minutes’ drive from the nearest town.

    I’m dumbfounded that the government has paid someone to career around miles of winding lanes to check up on me. It’s an Orwellian approach to harassment, reserved not for the Covid positive but those who dare to maintain lives across Britain’s most significant EU border.

    I scuttle off to get my passport and prove my identity. It’s dutifully passed over for inspection, at a distance of less than two metres. The enforcer disappears, dementor-style, into the mizzle.

    The calls start the day after the doorstep visit. “We’ve been told to contact arrivals from France every day”, the first tracer tells me. Each time, they ask for information I’ve already provided on the Passenger Locator Form: my date of birth, my arrival date and whether I’m opting in to test-to-release.

    Why doesn’t the Passenger Locator Form suffice? Because the callers, working for subcontracted agencies such as Glasgow-based Customer Experience People, don’t have access to it. All those I speak to have never actually seen the form, or taken the initiative to Google it. They’re not aware of which NHS-tracked private testing I’ve been forced to pay for. Nor the box I ticked which agrees to contact by text only, explaining I will be working remotely and not available to answer calls during the day.

    Instead, they embark on a rigorous approach to data collection and epidemiology: asking the same questions about the rules day after day “in case someone makes an error writing down your answers”. Most importantly, each time I must verbally agree that non-compliance may lead to prosecution. The call cannot be wrapped up until I consent. I’m on the metaphorical naughty step, being scapegoated by an ever-more sadistic state.

    The script doesn’t ask if I have symptoms. It’s intimidation pure and simple – and an astonishing waste of resources.

    Others returning to the UK from France have similar experiences. I’m told of a pleasant visit from test-and-trace at 9.30am on day two, followed by an astonishing five missed calls and messages the same day, advising the next contact will be from the Home Office. Someone else tells me they’re being left threatening voice messages. They’ve also been left without results from the day two tests they were forced to pay for.

    On day three, I request that no further data is stored about me other than what is strictly legally necessary. On day four, I ask what was recorded. “That you’re a journalist”, I’m told, “that you were asking questions about the government”.

    I start to wonder if they’ve trained cameras on the driveway. The testing is no less invasive. On this trip, at least some usable tests have arrived, but to process my day 2 test, I must give my ethnicity, my age, my nationality and my address in France. My testing provider, Randox, won’t tell me why or how that information is used. The only information their forms will not record is my vaccination status, as my jabs were not given by the NHS.

    On day four, I’m still waiting for day two results. Just as I’m still waiting to see if France’s Amber Plus status might finally be up for review.

    As the racket goes on, the losses rack up. Not just for the travel industry and Anglo-French relations, but for families like mine split between France and the UK. After nearly two years without seeing relatives, the fully vaccinated and healthy find themselves threatened with a £10,000 fine for having a cup of tea in the garden. Unvaccinated stay-at-home Brits with Covid symptoms can take public transport, go to work and hang out in bars without retribution.

    As cases drop and recovery from the pandemic finally seems possible, I find myself not filled with hope but utterly hopeless. While I’m held hostage by a barrage of tests and tick-lists, is anyone holding those responsible for these policies to account?

    2. There appears to be a total disregard of science [except the science that Boris wants to follow that particular day] and geography and, above all, common sense in all this – no wonder the pathetic T&T has cost so much! There must be some “friends” making huge profits from all this.

      1. Copied from a couple of Tw@ter posts someo0ne provided a link to:-

        “Follow the science”
        What like Kary Mullis, inventor of the PCR test?
        “No, not him”.

        Robert Malone key inventor of mRNA vaccine technology?
        “No, not him either”.

        Peter McCullough, the most cited doctor in north america?
        “Nope”.

        How about Luc Montagnier, Nobel prize winner for his work on HIV / AIDS?
        “No, definitely not him”.

        Dr Tess Lawrie, who assesses drug effectiveness for WHO?
        “Nope”

        Mike Yeadon, ex Head of Respiratory Disease Research at Pfizer?
        “No fucking way”

    3. I, being the recalcitrant Herbert I am, would have said,, “Go away, and check the Passenger Locator Form.” if threatened with prosecution I would have invited them to do it and take my chances with a reasonable, logical JP or Judge.

      Bugger ’em, one and all. Time for more Civil Disobedience.

      1. “…reasonable, logical JP or Judge…” Not many of them to the shilling these days, Tom.

      1. If, as reported recently, they change their name after being charged ( cunning b’stards ) it may well be them.

  58. With reference to the thread the other day about washing-up machines – here is an article in TheGrimes today by a lady who understands the views I expressed about their futility.

    “Not remotely exciting news just in. A septuagenarian has gone viral after sharing a “life changing” tip to ensure crockery comes out of the dishwasher dry. People have been practically climaxing with excitement. “How did I not know?” they cry. “Game changer!” I, however, have tried it and regret to say there has been no orgasming in my kitchen over bone-dry side plates, no howls of ecstasy over a non-dripping fish slice.

    According to Babs, a grandmother on TikTok, you open the door, drape a “terry cloth dish towel” over it and close it again so half the towel is inside, then wait five minutes, presumably while it absorbs the moisture. But it didn’t work for me. Nothing dishwasher-related ever does. Everything was still wet and smelt faintly of damp dog and despair, just as normal. If you want my dishwasher tip, it is this: bin it. Take it to the tip and walk away clicking your heels. Finally you’ll be free of a time-wasting psychopath that laughs in your face. A fellow dishwasher-hater says they should “not be called white goods but shite goods” and I couldn’t agree more.

    I feel the same about them as I do those funnel-type devices for women to urinate in when caught short. Both sound great but are more trouble than they’re worth, for who wants to be left holding a cone of urine at the bus stop? Far from being a labour-saving device, dishwashers steal your time, doubling, nay tripling, the problem as you scrape, maybe pre-rinse if you have lost your mind and don’t have a willing dog, stack, then restack as the plates bend forward and the wine glasses are always too tall for the top bit so you have to lay them at an angle whereupon they emerge a) broken or b) half full of grey water that smells like drains. You open the door and the steam turns your face purple like an alcoholic colonel. Then you have to unload and dry it all, a preposterous futility. And why are dishwasher tablets so expensive? They contain about 2p worth of soap powder yet seem to think they’re blood diamonds.

    I can hear your outraged cries from here. I understand. Dishwashers have a cultish following, Stockholm syndrome victims who hail them as the greatest domestic invention ever when they are obviously the greatest con trick. I know because I’m married to one, a dishwasher disciple who when our old one broke (rejoice!), immediately ordered another, zombie-like, and resumed his tender love affair, obsessing over whether the spinning arms would be blocked by the big casserole dish. But I’ve done the maths. Even the laughable “rapid” cycle takes an hour after an age of interminable loading. Washing up in the sink takes, what, 15 minutes tops? And you don’t get left with those crusty bits that are now blasted on so you have to hand-wash them with a Brillo anyway. Your plates can air dry on the draining board and you don’t have a face like a melted welly.

    I admit, for I’m nothing but fair, that dishwashers make wine glasses sparkle. Nobody likes a smeary flute. But they take so tediously long. Just like washing machines and their drama-queenish two-hour cycles and choice of 14 settings such as “freshen” when most people use just one (doesn’t all washing “freshen”?). When I was a student I just had a standalone spin dryer and life was simpler (my university days were, as you can see, wild). Now people tell me that for the dishwasher system to work properly you need two of them plus two sets of crockery so you need never unload. So a “labour-saving” gadget that not only steals your time but doubles your financial outlay? Face it, good people. Your dishwasher is trolling you and trolling you good.

    1. What a lot of pointless words! I wonder how much he was paid for that rubbish!

      Some of us like our dishwashers – others don’t. End of.

      There is no need to open it while everything is steaming – ours goes on twice weekly at night so it’s all quite cold when it’s opened in the morning.

        1. There’s a full stop in there if you refresh your page. Sometimes I miss them as they are hard to see until after pressing the button. Of course, you were just nitpicking and didn’t need that explanation……..

          1. “Of course, you were just nitpicking and didn’t need that explanation.”

            Of course I was. I always do when I see American slang.

    2. If they can smell dog and drains then they are not maintaining the dishwasher properly. No wonder it doesn’t work properly.

    3. I agree with every single word. My glassware gleams because I wash them first, drain them, and dry them on a clean linen tea-towel. I used to have a dish-washing machine in a previous life and I loathed it. As the lady says, by the time you’ve finished faffing around stacking dishes in the bloody thing you could have finished properly hand-washing them in the sink, as I do.

      Dishwashers: about as much use as a bloody chicken-brick!

      1. The very points that I made the other day – and was shot down in flames by NoTTLers who insist on this expensive, water-consuming, and, above all, time-consuming – machine

        1. My Bosch dishwasher has an Eco cycle that washes everything in 20 minutes. Contents are dry and clean.
          While that is on I can clean large meat pans and the cooker hob.

          1. I love my Bosch dishwasher too. I haven’t tried Eco; I usually run it on Delicate – takes 100 minutes.

          2. We have just bought ( last Oct.) the very basic Bosch dishwasher ( made in Turkey) it is by far the best one we have had . I clean it with the bosch recomended cleaner ever 3/6 months. The quick wash is great for most loads, I never overfill. I am not a Ludite.

      2. “…… about as much use as a bloody chicken-brick.”
        Lurking at the back of a kitchen cupboard near you.

    4. If stuff comes out of the dishwasher smelling of damp dog, it’s a sign that the filters need checking and cleaning.

      To ensure everything is really really dry, open the door a crack at the end of the cycle while things are still hot and let any moisture evaporate.

      2. According to a Bosch engineer, Bosch recommends cleaning the filter after every wash cycle.

        We can recommend that.

    5. That you, Squire Thomas, take this topic to be so centripetal confirms our worst fears

      NURSE!!

    6. When it’s finished just open the door and pull out the top tray about 2″ enough to prevent the door closing.

      Wait for at least 10 minutes after the steam clears. All, except plastic items will be dry.

      And I didn’t need to write 5 paragraphs of verbiage about it.

  60. From the Speccie Lunchtime Briefing email:

    “A doll of Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, the scientist who led the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine project, has been made by the makers of Barbie.”
    What are they going to do with it? Stick pins in it? Or hypodermic syringes?

  61. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4ddbce7bf5bd8cb140dfdb9c40aa56cf1c71e7868ed6425220ac9012d7d77f81.png

    Lighting up public memorials, like a cenotaph, to remember the death of George Floyd, a foreign criminal, is an abomination, end of story. The world has gone mad. There are real heroes in THIS country’s recent history who were basically ignored at the time and have not been remembered since, I’ll start with this one.

    REMEMBER THIS MAN’S NAME. Police Constable Keith Blakelock, brutally murdered policing the riots on the Broadwater Farm Estate in North London back in 1985. This is from Wiki and shows the absolute depravity, hatred and sheer barbarism of the rioters; they basically kicked and hacked the man to death with knives and machetes. Oh, and go and see the justice PC Blacklock got. ZERO! No lighting up of memorials for him, no bleeding-heart liberals taking a knee for him, no agenda-driven media remembering him. Shame on every council and civic leader attempting to portray a foreign criminal as a martyr of significance in this country.

    ‘The rioters removed Blakelock’s protective helmet, which was never found. The pathologist, David Bowen, found 54 holes in Blakelock’s overalls, and 40 stabbing or slashing injuries, eight of them to his head, caused by a weapon such as a machete, axe or sword. A six-inch-long knife was buried in his neck up to the hilt. His body was covered in marks from having been kicked or stamped on. His hands and arms were badly cut, and he had lost several fingers trying to defend himself. There were 14 stab wounds on his back, one on the back of his right thigh, and six on his face. Stabbing injuries to his armpits had penetrated his lungs. His head had been turned to one side and his jawbone smashed by a blow that left a six-inch gash across the right side of his head. Bowen said the force of this blow had been “almost as if to sever his head”, which gave rise to the view that an attempt had been made to decapitate him.’

    You clowns insult not only the memory of real heroes, but you insult the intelligence of every normal law-abiding person in this country with your virtue-signalling, woke, nonsensical bile

    4. …and there are many more, George, whose deaths may not have been as horrific but their memories are just kicked into a dusty corner.

      I seem to remember that clammy Lammy may have been involved at some stage in Blacklock’s murder.

    1. At the real event [team pursuit], why were Denmark not disqualified for causing a crash [riding into the back of a GB rider], and using illegal kit? Presumably because they aren’t GB??

  63. Ron Popeil, businessman who founded Ronco – obituary.

    Founder of Ronco, purveyor of products with brand names often ending in “O-Matic”, that you never knew you needed – and probably discovered, too late, that you did not need. Products included the Mince-O-Matic grinder. Due to a misunderstanding at the BBC Human Resources Dept. the entire stock was sold within three days of it being first advertised. To this day the BBC is ram full of Mincing grinders.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/obituaries/2021/08/03/TELEMMGLPICT000266031604_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqnoTNfZEEKJkRDex-nOY8dSIuxPDs_3mMkTNPbkVX2Pw.jpeg?imwidth=680

  64. That’s all the roof panels fastened down on the barn roof extension. K-nackered, enjoying a cold beer before shower and dinner.
    Barge boards and tin trim to finish off, but that’s another day when we’re rested.

    1. In the contrary, the gas network has been thoroughly updated, so that it can contain gas under high pressure, thus obviating the need for gasometers. And another thing: hydrogen, being very light, rises if it escapes; methane hangs around.

        1. In 37 years, (apart from a week in horsepiddle) I have only seen half a dozen darkies* in Norfolk.

          * Sorry – people who may or may not be of a colour other than white.

      2. Hmm, Bill with a genealogical going back to 530 in Sweden and including the Dukes of Normandy, I feel qualified on this subject. Please elucidate.

      1. The Congolese Kama Sutra has probably got several alternatives we have never heard of. I’d rather not think about it, thank you.

          1. When the pretty lady “falls pregnant” – she’ll sue the Prison Service for negligence in letting her near the randy native chappy.

    5. Lifted from his MIND?
      Is he one of those males with both brain cells located at the end of his penis?

    6. If she’s dyslexic, I wonder if she can spell her name? Or perhaps that is how she spells it??

    7. If she’s dyslexic, I wonder if she can spell her name? Or perhaps that is how she spells it??

    9. That’s one helluva weight to be lifted – no cowgirl here – kill you stone dead!

  67. I see that yet another ill-mannered slob put his silver medal in his pocket. “‘Cos ‘e woz gu”ed ‘e adn’t of go’ gaud.”

    1. He has obviously never heard of the founder of the modern Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who said “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.”

    2. Vitai Lampada

      THERE’S a breathless hush in the Close to-night –
      Ten to make and the match to win –
      A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
      An hour to play and the last man in.
      And it’s not for the sake of a ribboned coat,
      Or the selfish hope of a season’s fame,
      But his Captain’s hand on his shoulder smote
      “Play up! play up! and play the game!”

      The sand of the desert is sodden red, –
      Red with the wreck of a square that broke; –
      The Gatling’s jammed and the colonel dead,
      And the regiment blind with dust and smoke.
      The river of death has brimmed his banks,
      And England’s far, and Honour a name,
      But the voice of schoolboy rallies the ranks,
      “Play up! play up! and play the game!”

      This is the word that year by year
      While in her place the School is set
      Every one of her sons must hear,
      And none that hears it dare forget.
      This they all with a joyful mind
      Bear through life like a torch in flame,
      And falling fling to the host behind –
      “Play up! play up! and play the game!”

      Henry Newbolt.

      1. And it’s not for the sake of a ribboned coat,
        Or the selfish hope of a season’s fame,

        The British ethos. This poem has many memories for me. Passed friends, distant exploits and perilous adventures – mostly in the service of the country.

    3. We now celebrate athletes who withdraw from their events because their mental health is suffering and we celebrate penalty takers who missed.

      Winning is becoming irrelevant…..

  68. BBC Radio 4 Cricket commentators wetting themselves with glee at England’s pathetic score of 155 for 8. Mincing grinders, every one of them.

    1. Frankfurt school again. Destroy the nuclear family. One way of doing that is to remove parental authority over their children.

      1. Yo Fizzz

        remove parental authority over their children.

        That went, when Bliar ruled us

    3. Yep. They are pressing ahead with it in Scotland. I hope that some concerned parent will take the government to court to contest the legality of it. Children who live at home and attend school are surely under the control of their parents, subject to them, and are not free agents?

    4. It is quite simple. Van Tam and his partners in crimes against humanity have need to have everyone vaccinated.

      The unvaccinated are in sufficient numbers as to represent a control group when judging the efficacy of ‘vaccines’ when the death events commence on a grand scale worldwide.

      The gene therapies being administered by the millions are administered under emergency measures and remain experimental yet there is no control group of those given placebos as far as we know.

      The globalists and their useful idiots, the medical technocrats, are making fortunes from this push to vaccinate everyone. They have our useless and corrupt politicians in tow, all of whom are promised untold riches for performing as seals do. They have neither morals nor ethics. They are Satanists and have no spiritual or moral compass.

    5. It is quite simple. Van Tam and his partners in crimes against humanity have need to have everyone vaccinated.

      The unvaccinated are in sufficient numbers as to represent a control group when judging the efficacy of ‘vaccines’ when the death events commence on a grand scale worldwide.

      The gene therapies being administered by the millions are administered under emergency measures and remain experimental yet there is no control group of those given placebos as far as we know.

      The globalists and their useful idiots, the medical technocrats, are making fortunes from this push to vaccinate everyone. They have our useless and corrupt politicians in tow, all of whom are promised untold riches for performing as seals do. They have neither morals nor ethics. They are Satanists and have no spiritual or moral compass.

    6. It is quite simple. Van Tam and his partners in crimes against humanity have need to have everyone vaccinated.

      The unvaccinated are in sufficient numbers as to represent a control group when judging the efficacy of ‘vaccines’ when the death events commence on a grand scale worldwide.

      The gene therapies being administered by the millions are administered under emergency measures and remain experimental yet there is no control group of those given placebos as far as we know.

      The globalists and their useful idiots, the medical technocrats, are making fortunes from this push to vaccinate everyone. They have our useless and corrupt politicians in tow, all of whom are promised untold riches for performing as seals do. They have neither morals nor ethics. They are Satanists and have no spiritual or moral compass.

    7. Doesn’t this black twat know that in the UK a child only becomes an adult upon passing their 18th birthday? If not, he needs telling.

  74. Just wondering how those skateboarding girls stay on their board and first the British girl and then the Jaoanese one fall off.

    1. They should be paid “in kind”.

      Given one illegal gimmegrant to support fully, for every room in their houses.

  76. That’s me for this useful day. Watering; sorting out tomatoes – which are now starting to ripen. Shifted a lot of logs – to make room for new stacks.

    Time for a little drinky poo or two. Then supper and an hour’s telly. And so to bed.

    OT – G and P are funny. They have created a routine. Up and out by 6 am. Breakfast around 8; out again. In for lunch midday – out for a couple of hours; about 2.30 come in and sleep till 6. Supper – then out till 10 when I have to lure them in. Since the “attack” both are much nearer the house after dark. Once in, they go straight to the kitchen (where they spend the night) and immediately get into their respective baskets lie down and – metaphorically – ask us to be quiet and put out the light!!

    A demain.

        1. Took them a much shorter time to train him than it took for him to be a solicitor. Where’s the logic in that?

  77. Anyone on here a dab hand at making lite fluffy dumplings? Mine come out like ship’s biscuit.

      1. I know you aren’t keen on cooking but have you tried any of the Charlie Bigham range at Waitrose. High quality ingredients and all you do is stick it in the oven.

        2. No.
          I generally cook using simple fresh ingredients apart from Tesco Hunter’s Chicken. My days of slaving over a hot stove are over….

          1. About the only thing I ever saw my Father cook – Hunter’s Turkey.
            Good, it was, too.

          5. I’ve no idea who or what Nigel Slater is but I hope my cook book enthuses you a bit.

    3. Too wet, prolly. 2:1 SR flour/suet, pinch of salt. Always sieve flour. Mix and add water slowly. Stop and handle while it’s only just adhering. It’s usually just too much water.

        1. You’re welcome. You have to learn to stop even though you think you shouldn’t. Makes for sticky fingers, though!

    4. Too wet, prolly. 2:1 SR flour/suet, pinch of salt. Always sieve flour. Mix and add water slowly. Stop and handle while it’s only just adhering. It’s usually just too much water.

        1. My understanding of dumplings is that hey cook in a surrounding meaty liquid, Phil.

    9. No.
      But I know a charming, highly intelligent and very beautiful lady whose surname is “Dumplingmaker” in German.

    1. The Germans invaded Greece in the ’40’s and now they are trying another way.Well done Greek Lady….

      1. I have said for a while that Germany ( EU ) was using mass immigration as their troops. Merkel invited the million as the Brexit referendum was due. Cameron expected a Remain vote – which meant that our borders would go. Merkel expected to then instantly shove those million straight over here – which would destroy us at one go. Germany wins – – without need for planes, ships guns, bombs or German troops dying.

  79. 336292+ up ticks,
    Dt,
    Live Coronavirus latest news: Vaccines for 12-year-olds under review, JCVI say

    Lest we forget two female MPs were conversing with PIE in the 70s and there was talk about then of lowering the age of sexual consent to 12, if not lower.

    These politico type never quit and never will ALL the time they get the herds backing, and they are getting that time after time.

    2. Great link. In the forests of West Africa, a man needed to be fast enough to reach a tree when being attacked by a buffalo. In the grasslands of East Africa, trees were further away.

      1. Also the high altitude in the highlands of Kenya and Ethiopia breeds long distance runners.

    3. ‘Evening, Sos, has anybody recently done any testing of the relative Intelligence quotient?

      1. They are intelligent enough to know that getting here gets them a rise in living standards – – then they ensure they stay by destroying an innocent person’s life enough to claim they’ll be persecuted if sent back – result – here forever, unemployable and we become their slaves.

    1. I remember when, as a general rule, men had wide sraight shoulders, women had narrow, sloping shoulders. Look at Rachel Riley – then at Jimmy Carr.

  84. The writer uses the ‘B’-word only once. Perhaps taking them on in this country is a braver thing for him to do than being in Basra and Afghanistan, as he was as an officer in the 1st Battalion The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (West Riding), now The Yorkshire Regiment.

    Violent crime is returning with vengeance, but the politically correct elite doesn’t seem to care

    The cycle is doomed to repeat itself until leading figures conduct a robust discussion on the cultural aspect of the crisis

    BEN OBESE-JECTY • 4 August 2021 • 3:08pm

    A rare sunny weekend in August should be an opportunity to once again enjoy the wide-open spaces we have learnt not to take for granted over the past eighteen months. However, this weekend the sight of a police cordon and the departure of the Air Ambulance provided a sobering reminder of the grim realities of life in the part of North London where I live. A crisis that has been forgotten about by many in the wake of the pandemic. A 16-year-old boy lay in critical condition, having been stabbed multiple times in an attack within Lordship Recreation Ground. Not just the latest victim of serious youth violence, but of casual indifference.

    There have been five separate murders in the constituency of Tottenham this year, four fatal stabbings and one shooting – a spate of violent killings that spanned the first half of the year. The list of victims and the circumstances of their deaths paints a troubling picture of social decay, but an even starker image is painted by the ages of those arrested. Of the 14 charged with murder in Haringey so far this year, almost all have been children, the youngest only 14 years old. The lack of outrage amongst local residents is telling.

    Alongside other public health issues that have fallen by the wayside, the focus upon serious youth violence has been another forgotten casualty of the pandemic. Fatal knife attacks in London fell by 30 per cent last year as a result of the reduced interaction during lockdown. Knife offences in general fell by over 20 per cent, but as predicted by senior police officers, the gradual easing of restrictions has seen an inevitable rise in knife crimes. Whilst the numbers are dwarfed by the rolling tally of infections and deaths from the virus, the artificial lull created by lockdown has allowed focus to wander.

    So where is David Lammy in the midst of this crisis? The Labour MP for Tottenham holds an almost celebrity level of profile. One of the most recognisable MPs in the country, he is better known than almost everyone else in the Shadow Cabinet, and quite possibly the actual Cabinet too. He has been MP for Tottenham for two decades. He has three-quarters of a million Twitter followers, a weekly radio show on LBC, has made TV documentaries for Channel 4 and has written two books. His current brief is somewhat ironically as Shadow Justice Secretary; though perhaps on this issue more Shadow than Justice. Incredibly there has been no public acknowledgement from Lammy regarding any of the murders or violent attacks that have occurred in his constituency this year.

    When questioned about the reason for his silence on the issue he provided no explanation. A recent letter from him in response to the issue simply pointed the finger at a lack of funding before curtly suggesting writing to the Prime Minister instead. A bizarre delegation of duty given Lammy is the MP, but until it gives him the social media traction he thrives on, it is unlikely to attract his attention.

    He has given any number of grandiloquent cri de coeurs on Windrush and Grenfell, captured and clipped for viral impact; his brand very much depends upon it. Yet amidst this passion and fury, there is seemingly no time to highlight the plight of those families among his constituents torn apart by tragic and needless violence.

    The toxic culture that has fostered an environment where carrying a knife is not only acceptable, but seemingly a necessity, is yet to be seriously addressed. Entertainment media that cynically valorises the most negative aspects of black culture, celebrating criminality whilst gaslighting communities by blaming perceptions upon institutional racism, continues to provide a damaging influence upon susceptible young minds. It is not only those who have lost their lives who are victims in this crisis. Not every child carrying a knife is a gang member or involved in county lines trafficking.

    As yet another teenage boy fights for his life in hospital, another family is devastated by a vicious attack on their child and another violent and likely troubled young person walks the streets with impunity. This scenario is doomed to repeat itself until leading figures conduct a robust discussion on the cultural aspect of the crisis, no matter how uncomfortable those conversations may be.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/04/violent-crime-returning-vengeance-politically-correct-elite/

    1. Judging by the amount of upvotes, Nottlers are more concerned with how to clean their dishes rather than having to digest yet another tale of Darwinian struggle in the wastelands of North London.

      2. For as long as i can remember we have imported the worst parts of American subculture. It used to take a decade but now has sped up.

        The BBC now showcases rap music where the lyrics glorify guns, drugs and whoring. Why should i give a fuck about any of it any more.

        They want to kill each other? That’s okay with me.

        My glasses sparkle BTW.

    1. And the 2 kids blown out to sea on a lilo will just have to wait their turn for a rescue.

      1. Yep,

        Did you pick up on … Crazy scenes as the RNLI once again does the job of the people traffickers by taxiing undocumented adult males to a beach in Britain.

          1. Did you have a lovely birthday , and did you see our local headlines … I will give you the link

            Boscombe beach (Bournemouth) was cleared because a shark had been spotted

            British beach evacuated after ‘large shark’ spotted swimming yards from the shore
            Boscombe beach in Bournemouth was evacuated and swimmers told to get out of the water while lifeguards searched the sea on jet skis after the shark sighting.

            https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/british-beach-evacuated-after-large-24689124#source=push

            I reckon it might have been a basking shark, !

            Any way there are more sharks in Westminster , than here !

          2. Usually, a shark can be identified by the sight of two fins, its dorsal and tail (or caudal) fin. At this time of year basking sharks are fairly common, often close to the coast, although I haven’t seen one yet this year. There are loads of blue sharks though. All just MSM hype.
            Just another birthday to be honest, Belle. As for Westmonster, give me a shark any day.

    2. Certain metropolitan liberals have used my observations about the RNLI for their own ends

      I have concluded that this RNLI clash isn’t really about the RNLI at all. It’s about immigration.

      NIGEL FARAGE

      Not for the first time, comments made by me have been twisted by those with an opposing point of view, confecting an argument that I never wanted to have and did not provoke in the first place. Yet the row in question – which concerns the RNLI – has caused me to look more deeply at this noble organisation. I’m worried about the ultra-woke path that it has begun to go down.

      First, let me deal with the trumped-up dispute. Last month I wrote a piece for the Telegraph about the Channel immigration crisis. I mentioned that the RNLI is being used to prop up a system which has enabled thousands of people to enter Britain illegally. I explained how the French navy escorts vessels into UK waters and essentially dumps the problem on the British and, by extension, the RNLI.

      In the article, I stated: “Regrettably, in the county of Kent, the RNLI, which has done such wonderful work since first being formed under a different name in 1824, has been reduced to little more than a taxi service. The morale of the volunteer crews has never been lower and many RNLI donors are wondering whether they will continue to support this charity.” I published a tweet to this effect as well.

      When I discussed the same issue on my GB News show a few weeks later, again calling the RNLI a “taxi service”, my observation was seized on by certain newspapers and commentators. They portrayed me as some kind of villain merely for having raised concerns about the institution. These concerns are genuine. Some 95% of the RNLI comprises volunteers. Many of these volunteers face a dilemma. The Channel crisis has caused them an excess workload and subsequent loss of earnings. At no stage have I criticised RNLI crews, however. Far from it.

      My central point is that I believe it is the job of the UK Border Force to stop this criminal activity in the first place and then, if necessary, to intercept illegal immigrants. This is not a job that the RNLI should be expected to do as a matter of routine. It relies almost exclusively on donations and its resources are precious. (Incidentally, on the topic of money, much has been made of the fact that about £200,000 has been raised online since this “row” took off, as though this is proof that I was in the wrong. It’s an impressive sum, but given it costs more than £400,000 every day to run the RNLI, or £148 million per year, it will cover barely 12 hours of its funding).

      I have concluded that this RNLI clash isn’t really about the RNLI at all. It’s about immigration. The people now laying into me have no problem with illegal immigration. Indeed, many of them positively welcome it, as far as I can tell. They appear not to care that 20,000 or even 30,000 people turning up in Britain in the space of a few months represents a series of major practical problems for Britain and its taxpayers. It may carry major security risks, too. I find this so concerning that I will highlight it until it is dealt with properly.

      Since the RNLI has now become a talking point, however, I have taken a closer look at it and I’ve been startled by what I’ve found. Chief executive, Mark Dowie, is currently paid a salary of £160,000 a year (though he has agreed to a 50% pay cut), the same as Boris Johnson is paid for running the country. The comparison is relevant because under Dowie’s stewardship, the RNLI has become increasingly politically active. It has chosen to focus some of its energies – and funding – on matters which have nothing to do with the core aim of its founder, Sir William Hillary, who called for volunteers to rescue those in peril on the sea.

      Dowie, who has held this post since 2019, is continuing an ideology that has taken root very quickly. For example, in 2018, two lifeboatmen in North Yorkshire were sacked after they were found to have mugs on RNLI premises featuring naked women. The rainbow flag has flown from lifeboat stations. And recently a programme called Our Watch was launched. It’s described as the RNLI’s “strategic intent” for 2020–2024. Through this scheme it aims to attract more diverse volunteers and staff.

      All of this reeks of a virtue-signalling corporate outlook and I find it very surprising that the RNLI has time to spend on this sort of activity.

      The charity has also ploughed millions of pounds into water-safety campaigns in countries such as Bangladesh, Ghana and Greece. I would question why a charity that has operated for most of its 200 years in Britain and Ireland has taken on an international dimension at the expense of its domestic work if it does not have the means to do so. I also wonder how many of those who help to fund its £148 million annual budget realise it is doing this.

      Since the RNLI has chosen to go ‘woke’, I would like to warn Mark Dowie that he is entering a highly toxic area. It is important he thinks about this because some of those who helped to create the RNLI had links to the slave trade.

      Founder Sir William Hillary himself inherited a share in a plantation with slaves in the early 1800s and the RNLI has admitted that “it’s likely that some of the first lifeboats were partly funded by those profiting from slavery.” Mr Dowie should know that those same people who have falsely suggested that I was criticising the RNLI for the way in which it is increasingly being used by those involved in illegal immigration may start to attack the RNLI itself for its links to slavery. People in glass houses should not throw stones.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/04/certain-metropolitan-liberals-have-used-observations-rnli-ends/

    3. Humanitarian work??? – what about OUR lives. When they start raping and murdering our culture – – I hope someone prosecutes the RNLI for every penny. As said last night – I would have NO sympathy for the crews if they are held and made to watch their relatives being shown the “gratitude” of those they saved.

    4. The trouble is that while they are doing this they are ignoring genuine calls from distressed seagoers.

      1. …and why are they ‘rescuing’ people in French waters when France has its own rescue service?

    5. The trouble is that while they are doing this they are ignoring genuine calls from distressed seagoers.

  87. The Sky Brown story: how a 13-year-old Instagram star became Team GB’s youngest-ever Olympics medal winner

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/olympics/2021/08/03/sky-brown-story-13-year-old-instagram-star-became-team-gbs-youngest/

    Here’s another 13-year-old playing Widor’s Toccatta in an impressive rendition and recording of the work in 4k resolution premiered within the last two months.

    Commenters are confused about the sex of the child but does that really matter in this modern world?

    https://youtu.be/QrilfMvPF9M

    3. An excellent performance. But, it’s amazing what you learn on this site. Who would have guessed that our Annie’s hobby was making organs. I thought that it was knitting socks for her Bill, just like mine is doing jigsaw puzzles.

      :-))

    4. The Olympics is a boring busted flush.

      It comprises a load of drugged-up government sponsored (we pay) athletes, all manner of already wealthy medal grabbers from sports such as Golf, Soccer and Tennis and many other occupational sports which are anything but amateur.

      The participation of transgender freaks in this spectacle has probably sealed its demise.

      The whole Olympic movement is a sick joke. It is neither worth the effort nor the expense in its promotion.

      1. There is an article in our right wing (ish) newspaper today glorifying the number of lgbtq partisans in the Olympics.

        The comment section has many entries along the lines of who cares. At least the readers have a touch of common sense, I question the authors sense.

      2. I wonder what the Great Architect would think of this creation that it should all end up like this?

        Time for a cigar? 💨

      3. I heartily agree! I have managed until now to avoid clicking on any Olympic related news item, and hope I can hold this record until the stupid affair is safely over.

  88. In targeting Boer War memorials, the woke war on history has moved up a gear

    Now they want to tarnish legions of British soldiers – not just individuals

    ROBERT POLL

    Statues aren’t in the news as much these days. A year has passed since Colston was torn down and two weeks ago the government finally updated national planning policy to incorporate their Retain and Explain guidance. You’d be forgiven for thinking the threat had passed and that our heritage and history is now safe. Or, indeed, that the threat was never there and that it was all part of a fabricated right-wing culture war.

    Sadly, you would be mistaken on both counts. And two developments yesterday illustrate how quietly, as the news agenda has moved on, the war on statues and memorials has moved up a gear.

    First, it was reported that Newcastle City Council will install a board to “reinterpret” the city’s Boer War memorial following their assessment of that conflict as a “colonialist enterprise”. And then I also received notice that Edinburgh Castle has updated the information board beside a memorial to soldiers of the 1857 Indian Mutiny. The description of these men as heroes has now been relegated to inverted commas, alongside an acknowledgment of the uprising as “a symbol of resolve against colonial rule”.

    Of course no other context is proffered in either case, whether that be the far more oppressive colonialism of our Boer adversaries, or the shocking atrocities committed against English women and children by the Indian mutineers. In their selective contextualisation of history, these signs follow the lead of Edinburgh’s Melville Monument, where a new plaque claims a similar authority over history and similarly uses it to reinforce an anti-British narrative.

    The targeting of war memorials represents the sad but inevitable next step in the rush to apologise for our history that Retain and Explain is unwittingly facilitating. Until now, war memorials have been off-limits because – as had previously been considered obvious – they commemorate the sacrifice of ordinary men, not the politics behind the war. But we have now crossed that line. Even winning the Victoria Cross cannot protect your heroism from inverted commas or spare you from the judgement of woke activists.

    And it isn’t stopping there. When it comes to plaques and road names there is little to prevent the woke from indulging their virtue signalling at the expense and inconvenience of local residents. Just last week we saw reviews launched in Sheffield and Stroud. Many others are ongoing, most notably London’s ‘Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm’ as well as Edinburgh’s top ‘Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review Group’.

    The real danger is that the attacks on history now move back underground, back into the shadows and the darkness where they thrive, away from the public eye. Activists have been desperately trying to dismiss the culture war because they know that, when fought in the open, the majority will reject their nonsense out of hand. The best thing we can do is to keep exposing what is happening. Wokeness dies in light.

    Robert Poll is the founder of Save Our Statues

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/04/targeting-boer-war-memorials-woke-war-history-has-moved-gear/

    Next – WW1 or WW2 memorials. That’s when it gets ugly…

    1. The reference to Stroud refers to the Black Boy clock- which has a black boy striking a bell . This of course has come in for criticism although it has been in place for many years.

    2. The interesting one will be the Zulu Wars where many of the Bantu Tribesmen who were displaced into British ruled South Africa by the Zulu’s genocidal campaigns of conquest, fought on the side of the British.

  90. I don’t know if anyone has been polled on this subject but somehow, BRITTBUZZ came to me as follows:

    Dear Poll Participant,

    Thank you for completing the poll: Do You Like Or Dislike Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

    Please ‘REPLY’ to this message and let us know your thoughts on:
    1. Meghan’s work since retiring from royal duties
    2. Whether Harry and Meghan should lose their royal titles
    3. Other issues facing our nation

    Thank you for taking the time to respond.

    We asked thousands of people: Do You Like Or Dislike Meghan, Duchess of Sussex?
    The LIVE results are as follows… 4,311 people completed the poll.
    • 19.93% (859) of people said LIKE.
    • 80.07% (3,452) of people said DISLIKE.

    I think the results speak for themselves, should (but won’t) give the silly bitch pause for thought.

  91. Good night – or Good morning, jolly Nottlers at 00;37. Sleep well and may your God revive you for the Morning’s battle.

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