Wednesday 4 December: Labour’s so-called plan for growth means job cuts for small businesses

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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679 thoughts on “Wednesday 4 December: Labour’s so-called plan for growth means job cuts for small businesses”

  1. Morning Geoff and Everybody.
    Am I first today?
    Today's short Tales are shopping themed

    I was in Asda and I asked an assistant what gets rid of germs. She said 'Ammonia cleaner'. I said 'Sorry, I thought you worked here'.

    The Liverpool branch of WH Smiths has taken down a sign saying 'Pocket Calculators' after most customers thought it was an instruction.

    The sweater I bought recently kept picking up static electricity so I returned it to the store. They gave me another one, free of charge.

      1. Herr Oberst,
        to pinch a phrase from a now-defunct publication Reader's Digest (in UK, anyway) 'Laughter is the BEST Medicine'.

  2. Morning Geoff and Everybody.
    Am I first today?
    Today's short Tales are shopping themed

    I was in Asda and I asked an assistant what gets rid of germs. She said 'Ammonia cleaner'. I said 'Sorry, I thought you worked here'.

    The Liverpool branch of WH Smiths has taken down a sign saying 'Pocket Calculators' after most customers thought it was an instruction.

    The sweater I bought recently kept picking up static electricity so I returned it to the store. They gave me another one, free of charge.

        1. What you get, when you cannot Open the Nottlers 9or any) website

          happened to me twice in the last three days

  6. Good morning, chums, and thanks to Geoff for today's new NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,264 4/6

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    2. I think that last night Grizzly reckoned he was a bit of a crook who got found out earlier in his career, Johnny. (Good morning, btw.)

    1. Why not? It's a successful model as long as there is a supply of old former soviet states.
      Entice the youth with a free passport to Ibiza.. keep those in charge happy with some do$h & a Porsche Panamera.. then open the doors to Siemens & EDF to seize control of the utilities. Sigh, then there's the farmland, perhaps a port, and the fish. The list is endless.
      Then the dream in the distance.. a centralised tax base. Just imagine letting loose Sadiq Khan & Rachel Reeves on that lot.

    2. Why not? It's a successful model as long as there is a supply of old former soviet states.
      Entice the youth with a free passport to Ibiza.. keep those in charge happy with some do$h & a Porsche Panamera.. then open the doors to Siemens & EDF to seize control of the utilities. Sigh, then there's the farmland, perhaps a port, and the fish. The list is endless.
      Then the dream in the distance.. a centralised tax base. Just imagine letting loose Sadiq Khan & Rachel Reeves on that lot.

    3. The effect of expansion: Reducing the income level of the new entrant through the dead hand of tax and regulation.
      Whoever wrote that caption hasn't understood how life is in the US compared to EU – almost nothing is funded by the State, so the user pays, and that leads to the power of the consumer making sure that prices are controlled and competition flourishes.

    1. You have 1.7 portions of porridge OATs every morning, OLT? (Good morning OLT, btw, from Confused of Colchester.)

      1. Sorry OAT is the approved abbreviation for ‘Outside Air Temperature’

        OAT (see above) now +3.7 Degrees Centigrade and the SP (Solar Panels) are producing storable, in batteries, usable electricity

        You did not need to put “Confused of Colchester”, all from there are.

        C d S is of course Costa del Skeg (Skeg is the locally shortened word used for Skegness)

  12. Gregg Wallace’s revolting behaviour is far from banter. 4 December 2024.

    Gregg Wallace is a creep. I cannot bear to watch the odious twerp drooling over a chocolate mousse or popping a profiterole into his spittly gob since he behaved repellently to a young friend of mine. It was several years ago when Amy (not her real name) was booked to do the make-up on a magazine photoshoot for MasterChef. She was excited to land the job which would add lustre to her portfolio as well as the ability to report back to her mum and dad about their favourite TV show. It was within minutes of being introduced to Wallace, as she was starting to do his make-up, that he addressed the pretty 28-year-old with a leer, “What does your boyfriend like to do to you when you f—?”

    I’m going to weigh in on this for lack of anything better. I don’t like Mr Wallace. He is a boor and probably a bore as well This is not anything profound. It is one of those judgements that we make every day. Usually when we start somewhere new. If I were compelled to work with him I would avoid him if possible and endure his presence if not. Much is made of his being male but his female counterparts exist. I worked in one factory where one section of the production line was called the Coven. It consisted of older women who had been there for some time. No younger girls were sent to join them because when it was attempted they invariably broke down in tears or left. Any experienced male worker girded their loins before approaching, prepared for an exchange of the most vile insinuations and observations. This is by way of saying that Mr Wallace, unpleasant though he may be, is a part of the human landscape and should not be persecuted for it..

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/03/gregg-wallace-revolting/

      1. It depends what the Government wants the public to be distracted from.
        The bigger the scandal or problem, the bigger the star/stars to be destroyed.

        1. You will have noticed that the BBC has made no comment about the Arla scandal,

          either on the radio or on their website.

          2. I caught a part of their report which ended with "there is no evidence that Bovear is harmful".

  14. Morning, all Y'all.
    Clear sky overnight and this morning – much frost to scrape off the car. But, it'll be sunny soon, and that's worth it!

    1. It's interesting that Arla is so confident of its standing with the Food Safety Agency

      that even after the latest scandal they are happy to publish this.

      Why hasn't this been tried in Denmark where the majority of Arla owners live?

  16. Porridge adverts outlawed in junk food crackdown

    Range of breakfast staples to fall foul of Labour’s policy aimed at reducing children’s exposure to fatty or salty dishes
    881

    Labour’s ban on junk food advertising, which applies to porridge, comes into force next October
    Michael Searles
    Health Correspondent
    03 December 2024 5:56pm GMT

    Porridge and muesli adverts will be banned in Labour’s crackdown on junk food.

    New guidance published on Tuesday revealed that the breakfast foods would join cereal, croissants and a range of yoghurts as being deemed too unhealthy for television.

    The Government confirmed the products would be on the banned list when the law comes into effect from next October.

    The policy is aimed at reducing children’s exposure to foods high in salt, sugar and fat, cutting obesity rates and saving the NHS billions of pounds.

    Porridge will only be covered by the ban if it is high in sugar.

    The crackdown means companies won’t be able to advertise products such as chocolate, cakes, crisps, ready meals, and other unhealthy foods to children.

    But it will also include breakfast staples traditionally seen as healthy and backed by the NHS, such as porridge, including instant oats, and other oat-based cereals, as well as muesli, which all fall foul of the new rules.

    The products fall into a category of unhealthy foods developed as part of The Food (Promotion and Placement) Regulations 2021 which are being repurposed for the new legislation.
    *
    *

    Four health benefits of eating porridge
    1. Oats can lower cholesterol

    Regardless of which type of porridge you eat, the oats will contain beta-glucans. This is a type of fibre that has been shown to lower “bad” LDL cholesterols if you eat more than 3g per day, explains Anna Daniels, a registered dietitian for the British Dietetic Association.

    “This makes porridge a great choice for anyone who has high cholesterol or is at risk of cardiovascular disease,” she says.

    A 40g porridge serving contains 2g of fibre but you can top up your intake by adding pearl barley to soups and stews or having a few oat cakes.

    Porridge is also low in fat (3.8g of fat and 0.7g of saturated fat per bowl), which makes it even better for heart health, Daniels adds.
    2. It may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes

    Porridge is high in carbohydrates, which the body breaks down into sugars that enter our bloodstream. Rapid spikes in blood sugar leads to hunger and tiredness in the short-term and can lead to type 2 diabetes in the long-term.

    However, because porridge is high in fibre (containing 4g of the 30g we’re supposed to eat per day), the resulting rise in blood sugar is slow and steady. “This makes it beneficial for people with diabetes or those who are at risk,” explains Daniels.
    3. Porridge boosts gut health – and helps with weight management

    “The fibre in porridge can act as a prebiotic [encouraging the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut] which means it can promote healthy gut bacteria,” Daniels says.

    The fibre in porridge also aids digestion and bowel function and helps you feel fuller for longer after eating it – meaning it can be helpful for weight management, she notes.
    4. It’s a nutritional powerhouse

    Porridge is full of B vitamins (boosts brain and heart health), magnesium (supports bones) zinc (bolsters the immune system) and iron (keeps energy levels up), Daniels says.

    If made with cow’s milk, porridge will also provide calcium (needed for healthy muscles and bones) but plant-based milks may introduce added sugars to the meal, she warns.

    “Oats also contain varying antioxidants making them helpful for disease protection,” she adds. Antioxidants neutralise harmful compounds called free radicals that damage our cells and contribute to illness and ageing.
    *
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    10 hrs ago

    No Liebour think they are dictators

    Sign the petition https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/700143

    1. I looked at Kelloggs "Special K" for beakfast a while ago, as it's advertised as low sugar and for slimmers. Being diabetic, this seemed a good idea, until I read the label and found that it had more sugar than pretty well any other breakfast cereal, and was the most expensive, too.
      Porage is the best breakfast (and supper, TBH), with a few sultanas to give it a touch of sweetness.

      1. Agreed. It is extraordinary how many "healthy" "low fat" "no added sugar" claims are bollox when one reads the list of ingredients.

      1. Nothing wrong with porridge. I prefer muesli. Nothing wrong with that either. Most breakfast cereals are just sugar and cardboard.

    4. You vill eat vot you are giffen and be kontent – if we even giff you any food at all. Shut yor mowf and do as you ar told.
      By order ov Kaiser Starmer unt zer Helf Kommittie.

  18. Good morning all.
    A tad above -1°C outside, but it's not raining and very little wind.
    Still quite dull at the moment, interesting to think that had we still been on Mickey Mouse Time, this would be 08:34!

  19. One of the first questions that should be asked of any aspiring Foreign Secretary is whereabouts in the world are places like Chagos Islands, Agalega and Australia.

    I doubt if our man in in the job could do that even now, even the third one

    1. Lammy & Ange scurry around and attempt to find Chagos Islands, Agalega.. on something called a map.

  20. The Hunter Biden saga has exposed the rot at the heart of America’s mainstream media. 4 December 2024.

    Just a few weeks earlier, CBS News was still dutifully reporting White House statements claiming Biden would not pardon Hunter. “We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands – which is no,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during one press briefing. This summer, Biden himself stated that he would neither pardon Hunter nor commute his sentence after his son’s conviction on felony charges.

    A healthy press would have treated such claims by a president sceptically and not been surprised when that same president reneged on those claims. But we do not have a healthy press in the United States and haven’t for some time; we have a credulous and compliant one, at least when a Democrat occupies the White House.

    This is in a UK outlet that is blatantly Globalist. That lies without a blink of remorse. That censors its reader’s comments in the most outrageous fashion.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2024/12/03/hunter-biden-saga-exposed-rot-americas-mainstream-media/

  21. The Reader's Digest used to provide hours of extremely varied and interesting reading.

    1. It's how I learnt to touch type, BoB (Good morning, btw.). There were often one page articles which I used to copy on an old fashioned typewriter. It often took me half an hour to write just a single sentence, then a paragraph, then half a page, and then the full page in one of my half hour evening practice sessions.

      After around two or three months of practice I found I could type the entire page I was working on in a single half hour. By this time I could type as fast as I could write, so I stopped writing letters to people but typed them instead. Success! And this skill has served me well all of my life.

      2. Touch Typing – Progress

        Elsie, 1n 1977 I typed the final draft of my PhD thesis on an Olivetti portable typewriter. It was always in the evenings, and I often heard the double-boom of an Air France Concorde decelerating over The Channel as she returned from Rio de Janeiro around 10:30 PM.

        [Trivia here: typewriter is the longest English word that can be typed using only the top row of letter keys]. You don't wish to know that.

        I developed a pretty fast typing speed, but I gave my typed 150 A4 page draft to the Boss's Secretary, an ex WREN who was phenomenally fast. She used to type top-class stuff on her IBM Golfball machine, which produced a very elegant typeface. She did them in her lunch hour and of course I paid her. She said that if she made more than 2 errors on an A4 page, she would re-type that whole page. Wow!

        This was well before PC's with Word Processors were around. But during my 1969-70 stay working in in a hospital in up-state New York, some of the typing staff were starting to use primitive Word Processing machines that stored the typed pages on 8 inch floppy disks that held – wait for it – 50 kilobytes! That's about 25 average pages of text.

        Now on my keyring I have two little USB Memory sticks that each hold 32 Gigabytes of data. That's 640,000 times more storage than an 8 inch floppy, or over 1.6 million pages. That's inflation – or progress. At least we don't have to re-type whole pages any more, but I am pedantically enraged at the amount of proofreading errors that are prevalent nowadays.

        EDIT: just noticed that there's a typing error in the second line of my post: 'Elsie, 1n 1977' . Serves me right!

        1. We all make mistakes, roughcommon, don’t let it get to you. At least we have both developed pretty fast typing speeds in our own different ways. What makes me smile these day is when I read something on this site which has a “Someone is typing a reply” in italics just to the right and below the the original post. As I work my way down the page I often return to the post and it still says “Someone is typing a reply” as before. This often takes several minutes before the reply is printed, and the reply often simply says something like “I totally agree”. Which goes to show that not many of us can type at any great speed.

      3. I used to have a typing skills game on my PC; it flashed the words up and you had to type them as fast and accurately as possible – a bit like Space Invaders. It was fun and certainly improved my typing speeds.

  22. What to do.. what to do?

    Black England international footballer.. so far all good. But he is a devout Christian. That's a red flag. Worse to come..

    Premier League captain refuses to wear rainbow armband AGAIN due to his religious beliefs, as Marc Guehi writes a NEW message after being reprimanded
    A Premier League captain chose not to wear the rainbow armband on Tuesday

    1. Yet a Muslim footballer was allowed not to wear the armband because of his religious beliefs. Double standards?

    2. Yet a Muslim footballer was allowed not to wear the armband because of his religious beliefs. Double standards?

    1. Well done who ever you are. I thought that it was costing British people 8 million pounds a day.
      This is why we all hate our stinking unless idiot politicians.
      All of them

  24. What will the Emir of Qatar talk about with Starmer later..

    Do the Gulf States do diplomacy .. Will Starmer give him a present .. A Pink Jaguar perhaps?

  25. 397993+ up ticks,

    I do strongly assume these "homes" to be of a fortified structure
    in preparation for the day of reckoning that surely MUST follow, in the not to distant future.

    Dt,

    Whitehall reverts to working from home under Starmer
    Number of civil servants at their desks has fallen since Labour came to power, leaving the private sector to pick up the slack

  26. I see that SW trains are being nationalised ..

    They say it will bring reliability and efficiency etc..

    We live near the main Waterloo / Weymouth line , we have a station , and have regular trains .

    When trains are delayed , it is usually because there is a body on the line , terribly sad , but it does seem to be a frequent event . There is always work to be done on the lines , and the bad weather doesn't help .

    If the government can't run the country , how in hells bells name will they be able to run a rail network ?

    2. Look on the bright side, Maggie. With assisted dying there should be fewer people throwing themselves under trains.

  28. Free Speech’s article today ‘ Britain Is Dying – We Need A Revolution ’ covers Mark Shaw’s book, ‘The Counter Revolution’, which provides an in-depth manual on how to re-claim our country from the forces of woke Globalist darkness that are seeking to destroy it. Your Country Needs You! And FSB needs you, so please read and comment. The book can be downloaded free from a link in the article.

    freespeechbacklash dot com

  29. Morning all 🙂😊.
    Cold and rain later.
    After a fine day. Thank-you for your kind comments.
    Back to normal, politics eh, none of them have ever done a proper day's work in their lives, never been short of food and drink, money transport accommodation, etc. But they all think that they know everything as they try once more to put the world to rights.
    But obviously these are the main reasons why they all eff up everything they come into contact with. So here we go again.
    And they still haven't stopped the boats or the illegal invaders.
    Millions of pounds worth of cocaine was smuggled in to the UK by probably illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe. Another error of the political ways !

  30. The Man in the News reminds me of the character Colin Hunt in "The Fast Show". The one who told endless unfunny "jokes". (Google the name if you don't remember!)

          2. Paul Whitehouse (Fast Show) and Bob Mortimer have a very whimsical and jokey fishing programme that gives one a half-hour of humorous relaxation.

            Gone Fishing is mellow television; the sort of which Lord Reith would have approved of.

          4. I never anticipated a curmudgeonly response to that.

            Bob Mortimer is a genuinely funny chap with a natural (normal) Northern dialect. Paul Whitehouse is his good mate.
            I do not fish, but I do not ‘loathe’ it.

          5. You were not, perhaps, made to go out and “enjoy” fishing with your father – up to your waist in fast flowing water and learning how to handle and kill the unfortunate creatures. You may think Mortimer is funny – I don’t. Nothing curmudgeonly about it.

          6. You were not, perhaps, made to go out and “enjoy” fishing with your father – up to your waist in fast flowing water and learning how to handle and kill the unfortunate creatures. You may think Mortimer is funny – I don’t. Nothing curmudgeonly about it.

          8. Paul Whitehouse (Fast Show) and Bob Mortimer have a very whimsical and jokey fishing programme that gives one a half-hour of humorous relaxation.

            Gone Fishing is mellow television; the sort of which Lord Reith would have approved of.

  32. Rather sickening (but not unexpected) to see the JWK and Mrs P-B sitting down to dinner with the Dictator of a "country" with no human rights, shocking treatment of women and gay people, which relies on slave labour.

    One wonders what could possibly be the reason they are here…… Nope – no idea {:¬))

      1. Who plucks the pheasant? It's not myself – it's my dad and he's a pleasant old geezer.

    4. Despots are frequently entertained by heads of state and very often fawned over by politicians.
      It’s curious how some visiting dignatories are singled out to be slighted or despised. Readers will no doubt be able to give several examples but at the moment Prince Harry glowering at President Trump during a state visit comes to mind. I remember when Ronald Reagan came to Spain the then Vice President Alfonso Guerra left the country so as not to shake hands with such an individual.

    5. Despots are frequently entertained by heads of state and very often fawned over by politicians.
      It’s curious how some visiting dignatories are singled out to be slighted or despised. Readers will no doubt be able to give several examples but at the moment Prince Harry glowering at President Trump during a state visit comes to mind. I remember when Ronald Reagan came to Spain the then Vice President Alfonso Guerra left the country so as not to shake hands with such an individual.

  33. Question :- Why is the date format on several publications and internet sites given in this way. Month/day/year. Instead of the British form. Day/ month/ year ?
    Is this part of the 'great reset ' ?

      1. I'm still trying to work out what 9 shillings and 11 pence has to do with the fall of the Twin Towers in New York. (Joke, but on reflection, not in very good taste.)

        1. I'm still trying to work out why an event that happened on the 11th of September is recorded as having taken place on the 9th of November.

          1. You do know, though, why the October Revolution in Russia took place simultaneously on the 25 October 1917 and 7 November 1917.

        2. I'm still trying to work out why an event that happened on the 11th of September is recorded as having taken place on the 9th of November.

    2. In Asia the year/month/day format is used.
      Gives a nice time reference much faster than day/month/year.
      eg. It's 2024.. vs. 4th.
      vs. 12th.. oh December.

    3. Year-month-day is used in Norway, as well. The month-day-year is American, as far as I know.

      1. Indeed, Paul. 04/12/24 in the UK is 2024-12-04 in Sweden too.

        Both make sense, but the idiotic American 12/04/24 is utterly banal and counter-intuitive.

        1. What day is 7/6/24? 7th June or 6th July depending which country you are in – effin ridiculous

      2. On the one hand, the Yanks are wrong on this.

        On the other hand, when you look into their weird ways, you usually find they are rooted in 17th century England.

    4. Probably publications that originate in the USA where month, day year is standard for dates. Definitely nothing to do with any reset. I still write my dates that way if I'm tired or not paying attention. It has lead to some misunderstandings, fortunately nothing serious.

        1. Funnily enough as soon as I posted I saw that I had put 11th where I should have put 9th and changed it immediately.

        2. And whoever planned that event knew what happened at the Gates of Vienna on 9/11/1683, aka 11 September 1683. It's stretching credibility too far to believe it was a coincidence.

      2. Meanwhile, pick practically any year you like in German history and you will find something historic happening on 9th November….

    9. It's actually a lot more sensible than it appears.

      The numbers are listed in numerical order throughout the year.
      010124 to 013124
      020124 to 022924
      ….
      100124 to 103124
      through to 123124

      It only matters when the century changes.
      Edit for further examples, the original post wasn't sufficient to differentiate the two

    1. I doubt that they care. Those sort of people are not parochial in there thinking or habits, at all. The present Emir was educated at Eton and speaks English as well as most of us.

      1. Sherborne and Harrow – according to The Grimes. (An odd combination!) Then Sandhurst.

    1. Good morning. Yes – something a little different today!
      Wordle 1,264 3/6

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  36. Rupert Lowe has a very good piece in today's Conservative Woman: https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/staggering-ignorance-that-scuppered-sterling-and-the-stock-exchange/

    Rupert Lowe is clearly establishing himself as the most competent MP we have: he entered politics after having had a spectacular business career outside politics. Most of our younger MPs have done nothing outside politics, they know nothing and have very little knowledge of how the world works.

    My fear is that Rupert Lowe has become too popular and competent and that Farage may resent this.

    There is an interesting observation in Shakespeare's 'Antony and Cleopatra' where a successful soldier realises that he must do well but not too well:

    One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant,
    For quick accumulation of renown,
    Which he achieved by th’ minute, lost his favor.

    Who does i’ th’ wars more than his captain can
    Becomes his captain’s captain; and ambition,
    The soldier’s virtue, rather makes choice of loss
    Than gain which darkens him.

    I could do more to do Antonius good,
    But ’twould offend him, and in his offense
    Should my performance perish."

  37. Morning all. Cloudy, a sort of lackadaisical sun and 4c.

    Thought I would post this first because it was in my mail this morning. What Tucker has to say about the sheer irresponsibility of the Biden administration is frightening. They seem determined to kill us all if they can

    https://x.com/i/status/1864092222091657502

    1. They will kill us all if they can in order to effect regime change in Russia. That is what it is all about – greed, greed for Russia's rich land and mineral resources. Ditto Ukraine (er, among other things). That is what it is always all about, often under the banner of 'bringing democracy'. If only Putin can keep his cool until 20 January.

      1. Agree Poppie. But it is quite frightening how far they will go to be greedy. This is to the point of 'give it or we'll smash the world and destroy everything in it.' These people are insane, I think that's self evident in such behaviour.

  38. 'Morning All
    Times Headline
    "Jail to be the last resort"
    It already is,one only has to watch a few police docos to see the ferals with dozens if not hundreds of previous convictions sneering at the police when they are caught yet again
    They have absolutely no fear of the consequences of their actions our criminal justice system is a bad joke
    But shout at a police dog……………….

  39. Nuclear plant closures paused amid fear of net zero blackouts
    EDF is to extend the lifespans of four power stations designed in the 1960s by another two years

    The shutdown of Britain’s ageing nuclear power stations has been delayed amid fears that Labour’s net zero drive threatens to increase the risk of electricity price shocks and shortages.

    Four nuclear power stations owned by France’s EDF are to have their lives extended by up to two years, following safety assessments on the feasibility of keeping them open.

    Heysham 1 in Lancashire and the Hartlepool power station on Teesside were both scheduled to close in 2026 but will now keep operating until March 2027. Both have been operating since 1983.

    Heysham 2, also in Lancashire, and Torness, in East Lothian, were expected to shut in 2028 but will now remain operating until 2030. The pair were built five years after Heysham 1 and Hartlepool.

    EDF signalled that it also wanted to keep Sizewell B nuclear station in Suffolk operating for decades beyond its current 2035 closing date, though this will depend on a separate review.

    The four nuclear stations being kept open were designed in the 1960s and generate about 15pc of the country’s power.

    Their planned closures would have been a significant setback for Labour’s plans to decarbonise the UK power system by 2030.

    Readers on nuclear plant closures
    Richard Overall

    “Ed Milliband is panicking as he realizes his plans to decarbonize by 2030 are pure fantasy and destroying swathes of British industry. Blackouts are a certainty under his absurd plans, the sooner the better so we can get rid of the dangerous lunatic and his student buddies.”

    Stuart Seymour
    9 min ago
    The UK energy strategy is pathetic – what happens AFTER the nuclear extensions and the stations are closed?

    We need a range of energy types & control of supply – OBVIOUSLY

    Starmer & Miliband: Stop dreaming about a fantasy green agenda, and

    1. Repeal Climate Change Act

    2. Fast track Rosebank oil (approved?), Buchan, Jackdaw gas and Cambo oil fields

    3. Strongly motivate oil companies to explore for oil & gas (no windfall taxes)

    4. Objectively assess fracking gas and if OK, implement immediately (currently too many emotional views)

    5. Keep last coal fired power station on standby for winter; Ratcliffe

    6. Look at building new clean burn coal stations (just like China & India)

    7. Look at re-starting the 2 mothballed gas fired stations, Severn Power & Sutton Bridge

    8. Approve Cumbria coal mine (specialist coal-exports)

    9. Convert Drax back to coal; stop kidding ourselves burning wood is green – £600pa subsidy

    10. Review practicalities of updating the UK designed Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor (eg existing Hartlepool & Heysham) and/or Pressurised Water Reactor (Sizewell). Operating successfully for 30 years and proven. Might only take 6-7 years to build compared to Hinkley C – apparently 10+ years away & has technical issues

    11. Continue RR mini nuclear, recognising this will take 10 years.

    12. No more interconnects; political risk

    13. Stop subsidising green, eg wind, solar, wood, cars, heat pumps. Let them pay for themselves

    14. Stop further wind and solar. Not near population centres (£30b GRID investment) and we are very vulnerable to wind blowing & the sun, & solar uses farming land which we need for food

    …& stop the unjustified rush to scrap petrol/diesel cars and gas home boilers – & please prove that human-made CO2 is a problem

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/12/04/shutdown-of-ageing-nuclear-plants-delayed-as-net-zero-fears/

    1. TB, If you keep writing common sense the 77 Brigade will have you banned from the internet.

    2. "what happens AFTER the nuclear extensions and the stations are closed?"

      I don't think Labour care too much about anything afterwards. It's quite possible that the disdain in which the public view them is starting to seep through their ignorant hides and that they realise even now that they're running out of time. Extending the life of stations for a year or three merely puts the system into limbo while they carry on their mad drive to build problematic wind turbines and solar factories.

      This is nothing more than the very early stages of building difficulties into the nation's energy security for their successors.

    3. "what happens AFTER the nuclear extensions and the stations are closed?"

      I don't think Labour care too much about anything afterwards. It's quite possible that the disdain in which the public view them is starting to seep through their ignorant hides and that they realise even now that they're running out of time. Extending the life of stations for a year or three merely puts the system into limbo while they carry on their mad drive to build problematic wind turbines and solar factories.

      This is nothing more than the very early stages of building difficulties into the nation's energy security for their successors.

    4. "what happens AFTER the nuclear extensions and the stations are closed?"

      I don't think Labour care too much about anything afterwards. It's quite possible that the disdain in which the public view them is starting to seep through their ignorant hides and that they realise even now that they're running out of time. Extending the life of stations for a year or three merely puts the system into limbo while they carry on their mad drive to build problematic wind turbines and solar factories.

      This is nothing more than the very early stages of building difficulties into the nation's energy security for their successors.

    5. "6. Look at building new clean burn coal stations (just like China & India)"

      We could have had them here if the Tories hadn't abandoned the Grimthorpe experiment (fluidised bed reactor) in 1988.

      1. The emissions of ordinary coal-fired power stations could have been reduced by using electrostatic precipitators (I was involved with the building of one)

        1. Two different ideas. The FBR burns the volatiles, thus giving more energy and less pollution (oxides of N and S etc). Precipitators remove particulates.

        2. Two different ideas. The FBR burns the volatiles, thus giving more energy and less pollution (oxides of N and S etc). Precipitators remove particulates.

    6. "6. Look at building new clean burn coal stations (just like China & India)"

      We could have had them here if the Tories hadn't abandoned the Grimthorpe experiment (fluidised bed reactor) in 1988.

  40. Nuclear plant closures paused amid fear of net zero blackouts
    EDF is to extend the lifespans of four power stations designed in the 1960s by another two years

    The shutdown of Britain’s ageing nuclear power stations has been delayed amid fears that Labour’s net zero drive threatens to increase the risk of electricity price shocks and shortages.

    Four nuclear power stations owned by France’s EDF are to have their lives extended by up to two years, following safety assessments on the feasibility of keeping them open.

    Heysham 1 in Lancashire and the Hartlepool power station on Teesside were both scheduled to close in 2026 but will now keep operating until March 2027. Both have been operating since 1983.

    Heysham 2, also in Lancashire, and Torness, in East Lothian, were expected to shut in 2028 but will now remain operating until 2030. The pair were built five years after Heysham 1 and Hartlepool.

    EDF signalled that it also wanted to keep Sizewell B nuclear station in Suffolk operating for decades beyond its current 2035 closing date, though this will depend on a separate review.

    The four nuclear stations being kept open were designed in the 1960s and generate about 15pc of the country’s power.

    Their planned closures would have been a significant setback for Labour’s plans to decarbonise the UK power system by 2030.

    Readers on nuclear plant closures
    Richard Overall

    “Ed Milliband is panicking as he realizes his plans to decarbonize by 2030 are pure fantasy and destroying swathes of British industry. Blackouts are a certainty under his absurd plans, the sooner the better so we can get rid of the dangerous lunatic and his student buddies.”

    Stuart Seymour
    9 min ago
    The UK energy strategy is pathetic – what happens AFTER the nuclear extensions and the stations are closed?

    We need a range of energy types & control of supply – OBVIOUSLY

    Starmer & Miliband: Stop dreaming about a fantasy green agenda, and

    1. Repeal Climate Change Act

    2. Fast track Rosebank oil (approved?), Buchan, Jackdaw gas and Cambo oil fields

    3. Strongly motivate oil companies to explore for oil & gas (no windfall taxes)

    4. Objectively assess fracking gas and if OK, implement immediately (currently too many emotional views)

    5. Keep last coal fired power station on standby for winter; Ratcliffe

    6. Look at building new clean burn coal stations (just like China & India)

    7. Look at re-starting the 2 mothballed gas fired stations, Severn Power & Sutton Bridge

    8. Approve Cumbria coal mine (specialist coal-exports)

    9. Convert Drax back to coal; stop kidding ourselves burning wood is green – £600pa subsidy

    10. Review practicalities of updating the UK designed Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor (eg existing Hartlepool & Heysham) and/or Pressurised Water Reactor (Sizewell). Operating successfully for 30 years and proven. Might only take 6-7 years to build compared to Hinkley C – apparently 10+ years away & has technical issues

    11. Continue RR mini nuclear, recognising this will take 10 years.

    12. No more interconnects; political risk

    13. Stop subsidising green, eg wind, solar, wood, cars, heat pumps. Let them pay for themselves

    14. Stop further wind and solar. Not near population centres (£30b GRID investment) and we are very vulnerable to wind blowing & the sun, & solar uses farming land which we need for food

    …& stop the unjustified rush to scrap petrol/diesel cars and gas home boilers – & please prove that human-made CO2 is a problem

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/12/04/shutdown-of-ageing-nuclear-plants-delayed-as-net-zero-fears/

      1. I an proud to say in all my long life i have neither worn, nor owned, a little black dress (or a large one for that matter).

        I once made a beautiful little dark blue velvet dress, using a yard and three quarters of velvet bought at Birmingham’s fabric market.

        1. Dark blue is very flattering and kinder to English complexions – or so I read in a book about why so many debs went into the WRNS.

        1. At the risk of attracting incoming flack …
          Offside rule explanation for women:

          You're in a shoe shop, second in the queue for the till. Behind the shop assistant on the till is a pair of shoes which you have seen and which you must have.
          The female shopper in front of you has seen them also and is eyeing them with desire.
          Both of you have forgotten your purses.
          It would be totally rude to push in front of the first woman if you had no money to pay for the shoes.
          The shop assistant remains at the till waiting.
          Your friend is trying on another pair of shoes at the back of the shop and sees your dilemma.
          She prepares to throw her purse to you.
          If she does so, you can catch the purse, then walk round the other shopper and buy the shoes.
          At a pinch she could throw the purse ahead of the other shopper and, *whilst it is in flight* you could nip around the other shopper, catch the purse and buy the shoes.
          Always remembering that until the purse had *actually been thrown* it would be plain wrong to be forward of the other shopper.

          PS – I could never play Wendyball so have no idea if this is correct!!

        1. Yo Rastus

          The 'offside rule' has many uses, especially for me, when i discuss it with the phlebotomist taking my blood.

          Takes my mind off fainting……………… a thing that I have done many times in that situation

        2. Yo Rastus

          The 'offside rule' has many uses, especially for me, when i discuss it with the phlebotomist taking my blood.

          Takes my mind off fainting……………… a thing that I have done many times in that situation

      3. Bollx.

        He's director of at least 19 companies in Britain.
        Beckham is now resident in the UK for tax purposes.
        He's patriotic.
        He made an effort to queue with plebs to sign the book of remembrance.
        He's an ambitious entrepreneur.
        He's not a boozed up bankrupt like most of his ilk.
        He was born in UK.
        He went to school in Britain.

        Continuity Kemi has never ran a business & wasn't born or schooled in UK.

        1. And she is a foreigner who has no business being the leader of the Conservative Party. My friend, the South African lawyer, remarked to me last weekend that she thought it crazy that she or any Commonwealth Citizen can vote in our elections.

          1. Look now, if a true Brit is incapable of organising and managing the UK , I honestly think that a person like Rishi who was passionate about the UK and Kemi who has a similar matriarchal zest as Mrs Thatcher could be a better bet than any scuttling loud mouthed beer guzzling wretch that seems to surface every so often .

            We need a proper leader not wooden skittles .. who are clueless.

          5. "Not many young support people TR. waffle waffle. He pleaded guilty. waffle waffle. Our justice system is fair." LOL.
            "I want to bring people together.. where everyone has a place in our country no matter what their cultural heritage."
            ©Kemi Badenoch 2024

          6. Look now, if a true Brit is incapable of organising and managing the UK , I honestly think that a person like Rishi who was passionate about the UK and Kemi who has a similar matriarchal zest as Mrs Thatcher could be a better bet than any scuttling loud mouthed beer guzzling wretch that seems to surface every so often .

            We need a proper leader not wooden skittles .. who are clueless.

        2. And she is a foreigner who has no business being the leader of the Conservative Party. My friend, the South African lawyer, remarked to me last weekend that she thought it crazy that she or any Commonwealth Citizen can vote in our elections.

        3. Well said, too many fail to give him credit for what he has achieved and how he has done it.

          1. Even managed to palm off his 'celebrity photographer-chef' son to one of the wealthiest heiresses in Florida.

            "Daaaaad.. how do ya get this lens cap thingy off?"

          4. Even managed to palm off his 'celebrity photographer-chef' son to one of the wealthiest heiresses in Florida.

            "Daaaaad.. how do ya get this lens cap thingy off?"

        4. Well said, too many fail to give him credit for what he has achieved and how he has done it.

          1. "born in Wimbledon"..
            Just because you hover your vagina over Wimbledon and drop a baby, doesn’t make that baby English.
            ©Katie Hopkins.

      4. Bollx.

        He's director of at least 19 companies in Britain.
        Beckham is now resident in the UK for tax purposes.
        He's patriotic.
        He made an effort to queue with plebs to sign the book of remembrance.
        He's an ambitious entrepreneur.
        He's not a boozed up bankrupt like most of his ilk.
        He was born in UK.
        He went to school in Britain.

        Continuity Kemi has never ran a business & wasn't born or schooled in UK.

      5. Bollx.

        He's director of at least 19 companies in Britain.
        Beckham is now resident in the UK for tax purposes.
        He's patriotic.
        He made an effort to queue with plebs to sign the book of remembrance.
        He's an ambitious entrepreneur.
        He's not a boozed up bankrupt like most of his ilk.
        He was born in UK.
        He went to school in Britain.

        Continuity Kemi has never ran a business & wasn't born or schooled in UK.

        2. It seems that she and her husband like everything free and at the expense of others.

  42. Childrens Christmas party – sorry, "festive party" – day at work so there are confused toddlers wandering around the place. As yet no Bluey and Duggee playing on the big screens. Someone should see to that, as it's a sure way to engage the little ones.

  43. This is weird – we were both thinking of the offside rule at the same time! And you posted your comment as I was writing mine!

  44. This is weird – we were both thinking of the offside rule at the same time! And you posted your comment as I was writing mine!

  46. Good Moaning.
    AAAARRGGHHHHHHH …….. IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT!!!
    Do you hear me, DT Puzzle Dept?
    For yonks, I have printed off the cryptic puzzle; it and the clues neatly fit on a sheet of A4 with space to make jottings.
    My brain works better with a pen in its hand.
    This morning, some 'pooter nerdy worm – obviously with too much time on its hands – has chosen to fiddle with the settings and a simple task has been 'improved' into a lengthy, paper wasting chore.
    In case anyone is wondering I am not
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d17c8761cc07531e822bb74499bb53ac1bfa9ae513583d5d2b36ba0d885d6855.png
    I am definitely

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/061b642a578c53725efa1d8f9f8e1a20297b50494327146f5a7487c5555e8bf3.jpg
    Here is wot I have whizzed across to the DT. Watch this space.

    "What the blue blistering blazes have you done with the Cryptic Crossword?
    Every day, I print it off – no problem – adjust it to 75% so that fits on A4 paper and I have room to make notes.
    Today you introduced unnecessary fiddling that makes it impossible for me to do so.
    Just leave things alone.
    IF IT AIN’T BROKE, DON’T FIX IT."

    1. Nothing has altered on the 'virtual paper' DT site that I use.

      Every morning I email that crossword to a fellow NoTTLer (a good mate) and it continues to work very well.

    2. I print the DT Xword – I get 4 to a sheet of A4 using both sides. I don't need space for notes

      1. 3.0 pm. Problem still persists.
        I've also had an email informing me that Telegraph Extra is being discontinued from 20th. December.
        I hadn't a clue what it was so I checked.
        It's all the stuff I don't use anyway.

    4. I have just gone to 'puzzles' in the DT app and am able to download/print the cryptic puzzle in the normal (one sheet) way.

  48. Pro-immigration fanatics are being humiliated

    For years, the economic orthodoxy held that it was an unalloyed good. This edifice is now crumbling

    Annabel Denham
    Columnist and Deputy Comment Editor
    03 December 2024 7:10pm GMT

    For once, I agree with two-tier Keir: Brexit was a “one nation open borders experiment”. In fact, I would go further. Since 2021, Britain has been run as a testing laboratory for some of the most irrational and ill-conceived immigration rules in the world.

    Though the public voted repeatedly and overwhelmingly for numbers to come down, Boris Johnson embarked on an extraordinary liberalisation of our visa system. The results have been breathtaking. In the years before the EU referendum, net migration was running at around 300,000 a year. In the year to June 2023, it reached over 900,000.

    As astonishing as this failure is, the headline data only tell part of the story. In addition to massively increasing the numbers arriving, Boris’s changes reoriented migration flows away from Europe and towards the rest of the world. The latest ONS estimates show that in the year to June 2024, net migration from the EU and EFTA was -95,000. Net migration from outside these countries was 845,000.

    This happened despite clear warning signs about the possible consequences. We already knew from academic research that EEA migrants were the most likely to be net contributors to the public finances; between 1995 and 2011, migrants from EEA countries made a positive contribution of more than £4 billion, while migrants from outside that region took out £118 billion – around 17 per cent of the deficit over that period.

    It seems all too likely that the result of our new system will be to pile pressure on the public finances when the economy is already sluggish, and the long-term fiscal projections dire in their implications. GDP has stagnated; we found out this week that productivity in the second quarter fell -0.9 per cent.

    For years, economic orthodoxy has held that all migrant workers are contributors. That the higher the levels of immigration, the richer we will be. But the edifice began to crumble earlier this year with the staggering admission from the OBR that “low wage migrant workers” are a net fiscal drain from the moment they enter the country. By the time they reach 81, they will have cost the taxpayer over £450,000.

    Of course, this assumes that the migrants are coming to Britain in search of employment. Research from the Centre for Policy Studies has indicated that only 15 per cent of the net migration of over two million non-EU nationals over the last five years came principally to work. Reform UK, meanwhile, has suggested some 50,000 foreign nationals are passing eligibility tests to receive Universal Credit every month.

    Boris, whose attention too often wandered to the pressing question of whether there was any cheese in the fridge, now claims businesses and government departments were “freaking out” due to a shortage of workers “to get things done”. Perhaps they were, though it doesn’t look like he found many. And if his government had seriously wanted to boost the workforce, he should have started with the millions of economically inactive, many of whom are languishing on benefits despite being able to work.

    Regrettably, Starmer’s anti-Brexit rhetoric is unlikely to translate into meaningful action. He isn’t even planning to include immigration among the pledges he will unveil in his “Plan for Change” tomorrow, even though it impacts virtually every other area of policy. How, for instance, will Labour shrink NHS waiting lists if our population is exploding? Public services cannot hope to function if those administering them have no clue how many people are living in a given area. We won’t fix the housing crisis when net migration is still expected to surpass Labour’s extremely ambitious homebuilding targets.

    The UK has long been an immigration success story: a country that has embraced newcomers and offered safe haven from persecution. In around 300BC, one Greek explorer described British locals as “especially friendly to strangers”. But the public have been pushed past their limits. They’ve grown tired of contributing towards a system that seems to always put them last, of voting for pledges that are never met. And they’re growing fearful that this is just the beginning: as Guy Dampier of the Legatum Institute warns, “these unprecedented levels are the preface to something worse”. After five years living in the UK, people can get Indefinite Leave to Remain, and sponsor family members to move here. We may only be at the start of the wave.

    Something has to give. Something is going to break. The only question is whether it’ll be our wretched immigration system, or our ailing economy.

    ****************************************************
    15 hrs ago

    Faulty logic. The "disaster for our borders" was not caused by Brexit but by useless, cowardly politicians.

    Reply by Miss Scarlet.

    2 hrs ago

    Aided by yuman rights lawyers who make sure no-one is ever deported and snivel serpents following their own hard-left agenda

    15 hrs ago

    Boris did not implement Brexit or stop illegal immigration he was far too busy cavorting about on the international stage. I still find it amazing that one man, given so much power with an 80 seat majority and the willing support of the electorate, could mess things up so badly. Instead of creating a dynamic enterprise economy with an almost guaranteed lengthy period in office overseeing an increasingly prosperous country, he has condemned this country to probably its worst state in the totality since 1945, facing the absolute catastrophe of an extreme left wing Labour government which will take every advantage of its power. Thanks for nothing, Johnson

    1. Ms Denham forget to mention the statement last Summer by the ONS that 1.1 million "migrants" had

      written on their application papers that they had no intention of working once they were given leave to remain.

    2. At the root of it all lies the fallacy of our age. Relativism. The idea that all humanity is fundamentally the same and if given the same opportunities, will achieve the same. The idea that poverty is the cause of bad culture. Give the low IQ primitive a nice home and good income and he will breed a dozen more low IQ primitives and each one of them likewise until they slowly but surely throttle the system that feeds them.

    3. The use of the word 'experiment' is a charlatan's cunning use of language. An experiment is:

      …scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact.

      ergo, it is exploratory in nature. The idea that if an experiment fails, the board can be wiped clean and a new avenue of research and experimentation can begin does not apply to the 'experiment' of mass immigration of people with cultures inimical to our own. There is no easy way of wiping clean the board and starting again – well, in a society unlike that of the British there may be a way, watching the USA over the next few years may be enlightening – as currently our political class are in thrall to the people pushing the mass immigration agenda.

      IMHO, mass immigration into these islands was never an experiment, it was a policy.

      A policy is a set of ideas or plans that is used as a basis for making decisions, especially in politics, economics, or business.

      A policy that the political class bought into, for whatever reason – they have never clearly explained their logic for imposing unsustainable levels of immigration on us. Vibrancy, diversity, cultural mixing, religious differences etc. none of these vapid claims are worth considering.

      1. All clearly explained in the articles by Simon Elmer of Architects for Social Housing which someone was kind enough to recommend yesterday. I'd post a link but can't look for it on my phone whilst I'm on NOTTL.

      2. All clearly explained in the articles by Simon Elmer of Architects for Social Housing which someone was kind enough to recommend yesterday. I'd post a link but can't look for it on my phone whilst I'm on NOTTL.

  49. Pro-immigration fanatics are being humiliated

    For years, the economic orthodoxy held that it was an unalloyed good. This edifice is now crumbling

    Annabel Denham
    Columnist and Deputy Comment Editor
    03 December 2024 7:10pm GMT

    For once, I agree with two-tier Keir: Brexit was a “one nation open borders experiment”. In fact, I would go further. Since 2021, Britain has been run as a testing laboratory for some of the most irrational and ill-conceived immigration rules in the world.

    Though the public voted repeatedly and overwhelmingly for numbers to come down, Boris Johnson embarked on an extraordinary liberalisation of our visa system. The results have been breathtaking. In the years before the EU referendum, net migration was running at around 300,000 a year. In the year to June 2023, it reached over 900,000.

    As astonishing as this failure is, the headline data only tell part of the story. In addition to massively increasing the numbers arriving, Boris’s changes reoriented migration flows away from Europe and towards the rest of the world. The latest ONS estimates show that in the year to June 2024, net migration from the EU and EFTA was -95,000. Net migration from outside these countries was 845,000.

    This happened despite clear warning signs about the possible consequences. We already knew from academic research that EEA migrants were the most likely to be net contributors to the public finances; between 1995 and 2011, migrants from EEA countries made a positive contribution of more than £4 billion, while migrants from outside that region took out £118 billion – around 17 per cent of the deficit over that period.

    It seems all too likely that the result of our new system will be to pile pressure on the public finances when the economy is already sluggish, and the long-term fiscal projections dire in their implications. GDP has stagnated; we found out this week that productivity in the second quarter fell -0.9 per cent.

    For years, economic orthodoxy has held that all migrant workers are contributors. That the higher the levels of immigration, the richer we will be. But the edifice began to crumble earlier this year with the staggering admission from the OBR that “low wage migrant workers” are a net fiscal drain from the moment they enter the country. By the time they reach 81, they will have cost the taxpayer over £450,000.

    Of course, this assumes that the migrants are coming to Britain in search of employment. Research from the Centre for Policy Studies has indicated that only 15 per cent of the net migration of over two million non-EU nationals over the last five years came principally to work. Reform UK, meanwhile, has suggested some 50,000 foreign nationals are passing eligibility tests to receive Universal Credit every month.

    Boris, whose attention too often wandered to the pressing question of whether there was any cheese in the fridge, now claims businesses and government departments were “freaking out” due to a shortage of workers “to get things done”. Perhaps they were, though it doesn’t look like he found many. And if his government had seriously wanted to boost the workforce, he should have started with the millions of economically inactive, many of whom are languishing on benefits despite being able to work.

    Regrettably, Starmer’s anti-Brexit rhetoric is unlikely to translate into meaningful action. He isn’t even planning to include immigration among the pledges he will unveil in his “Plan for Change” tomorrow, even though it impacts virtually every other area of policy. How, for instance, will Labour shrink NHS waiting lists if our population is exploding? Public services cannot hope to function if those administering them have no clue how many people are living in a given area. We won’t fix the housing crisis when net migration is still expected to surpass Labour’s extremely ambitious homebuilding targets.

    The UK has long been an immigration success story: a country that has embraced newcomers and offered safe haven from persecution. In around 300BC, one Greek explorer described British locals as “especially friendly to strangers”. But the public have been pushed past their limits. They’ve grown tired of contributing towards a system that seems to always put them last, of voting for pledges that are never met. And they’re growing fearful that this is just the beginning: as Guy Dampier of the Legatum Institute warns, “these unprecedented levels are the preface to something worse”. After five years living in the UK, people can get Indefinite Leave to Remain, and sponsor family members to move here. We may only be at the start of the wave.

    Something has to give. Something is going to break. The only question is whether it’ll be our wretched immigration system, or our ailing economy.

    ****************************************************
    15 hrs ago

    Faulty logic. The "disaster for our borders" was not caused by Brexit but by useless, cowardly politicians.

    Reply by Miss Scarlet.

    2 hrs ago

    Aided by yuman rights lawyers who make sure no-one is ever deported and snivel serpents following their own hard-left agenda

    15 hrs ago

    Boris did not implement Brexit or stop illegal immigration he was far too busy cavorting about on the international stage. I still find it amazing that one man, given so much power with an 80 seat majority and the willing support of the electorate, could mess things up so badly. Instead of creating a dynamic enterprise economy with an almost guaranteed lengthy period in office overseeing an increasingly prosperous country, he has condemned this country to probably its worst state in the totality since 1945, facing the absolute catastrophe of an extreme left wing Labour government which will take every advantage of its power. Thanks for nothing, Johnson

  50. At the risk of attracting incoming flack …
    Offside rule explanation for women:

    You're in a shoe shop, second in the queue for the till. Behind the shop assistant on the till is a pair of shoes which you have seen and which you must have.
    The female shopper in front of you has seen them also and is eyeing them with desire.
    Both of you have forgotten your purses.
    It would be totally rude to push in front of the first woman if you had no money to pay for the shoes.
    The shop assistant remains at the till waiting.
    Your friend is trying on another pair of shoes at the back of the shop and sees your dilemma.
    She prepares to throw her purse to you.
    If she does so, you can catch the purse, then walk round the other shopper and buy the shoes.
    At a pinch she could throw the purse ahead of the other shopper and, *whilst it is in flight* you could nip around the other shopper, catch the purse and buy the shoes.
    Always remembering that until the purse had *actually been thrown* it would be plain wrong to be forward of the other shopper.

    PS – I could never play Wendyball so have no idea if this is correct!!

  51. How on earth can one get a good workforce together .. one group, public servants , nice extras and good pensions but who work from home , and whose input is somewhat reduced , the other group private companies begging for an efficient work force .. hang on , unskilled workers and the majority who need a special room to to pray in five times a day.

    Westminster has no forward thinking .. no commitment .

    Re pensioners .. what does the Dalek voiced chancellor think… many pensioners live on virtually £12 ,000, far less than the minimum wage .

    Before anyone comments.. Many older pensioners did not pay their NI stamp years ago, many were bringing up families, many had husbands who were away for long periods .. serving their country .. no such thing then as shared parenting , they also lived through a period of hugely high interest rates/ 17%

    Many women are now existing on a minimum state pension..

  52. Good morning, all.

    They remain persistent in pushing the potions. Same old song and usual frightener employed.

    https://x.com/CMO_England/status/1863948139209662916
    After being told twice over the last few weeks that my final call for a CV-19 prick had arrived, and passed as I ignored the messages, this morning I received a message informing me that my GPs' surgery is running yet another clinic for CV-19 jabs. Same result.

    Missed quota, stacks of the potion remaining, deaths and disablements short of target… ?

    1. I'll grant him one thing. He does still allow open comments on his thread and to say the responses are negative is something of an understatement.

    2. Those clever clogs reckon, just like 1911 at the birth of the revolutionary auto, road & oil industries.. you get a pandemic & world war.

      Get ready for the birth of the: Ai, precison biology, robotics, batteries, sensors, cloud big data & blockchain revolution.. ready to obliterate the cow and private car.

    4. To the best of my knowledge the flu jab is an attenuated virus vaccine type. mRNA injections are a different thing.

    5. I have always thought that the 'flu jab makes one more susceptible to other winter viruses that may be flying around. There is more to this article but I am too mean to subscribe to the substack.

      Flu Shots Increase Susceptibility to Common Cold
      Randomized Trial Demonstrates Tradeoff
      PETER A. MCCULLOUGH, MD, MPH
      DEC 4
      ∙
      PREVIEW

      By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH

      For the past three years I have skipped the influenza vaccine and have noticed progressively fewer viral upper respiratory tract illnesses or common colds. In decades prior I had taken forty flu shots as requirements in medical school, residency, fellowship, and medical staff. Could the flu shot weaken or misdirect the immune system on a regular basis?

      In 2012, Cowling et al performed a prospective, double-blind randomized placebo controlled trial in children ages 6-15 years to who received either the 2008–2009 seasonal trivalent influenza inactivated vaccine (TIV; 0.5 mL Vaxigrip; Sanofi Pasteur) or placebo. The results were stunning. While summer and winter colds were not statistically different, proven viral infections within two weeks of the shot confirmed by PCR testing were 4.4-fold greater in those who took the flu shot.

  53. Starmer ‘planning to give Sue Gray a peerage’

    PM said to be teeing up Lords seat for former chief of staff after she was ousted as chief of staff in October

    Plans for Sue Gray to take up a replacement role as Sir Keir Starmer’s envoy for the regions and nations fell through
    Amy Gibbons Political Correspondent. Tim Sigsworth
    04 December 2024 9:12am GMT

    Sir Keir Starmer will give a peerage to Sue Gray following her ousting as his chief of staff in October, according to reports.

    The Prime Minister is said to be teeing up a place in the House of Lords for the former civil servant, who broke from his top team in October after a power struggle at No 10.

    The Financial Times reported that Ms Gray, who has been on a break since leaving Downing Street, is set to receive the peerage in the New Year’s Honours list.

    It will be seen as an olive branch after plans for her to take up a replacement role as Sir Keir’s envoy for the regions and nations fell through. Friends of Ms Gray said at the time that she had turned down the job, but No 10 insisted the offer was rescinded over concerns about the media attention it would generate.

    Any honour would probably trigger backlash from the Tories, who were critical of Ms Gray’s decision to swap the Civil Service for Sir Keir’s team in opposition.

    She ended up spending just three months as his chief of staff in Downing Street, with the revelation that she was on a higher salary than the Prime Minister proving particularly controversial.

    Sir Keir also plans to hand peerages to Thangam Debbonaire, the former shadow culture secretary who lost her seat to the Green Party at the general election, and ex-MPs Lyn Brown, Kevin Brennan and Julie Elliott, according to the FT.

    Rishi Sunak, the former prime minister, is set to make nominations for the honours list, which are rumoured to include ex-ministers Michael Gove, Simon Hart and Alister Jack.

    Ms Gray’s appointment as Sir Keir’s chief of staff proved contentious because months earlier she had written an official report into the partygate allegations surrounding Boris Johnson’s premiership during the Covid pandemic, which contributed to his resignation as prime minister.

    She continued to serve in the top role after Labour’s election victory before a turf war opened up between her and Morgan McSweeney, then the Prime Minister’s political secretary.
    tmg.video.placeholder.alt h0dredfxfHI

    Ms Gray was accused of not planning sufficiently for the party’s return to government and of miscalculating the level of Downing Street access given to Lord Alli, a key Labour donor.

    She announced that she was quitting the role three months after the election, with Mr McSweeney taking her place.

    As part of the deal, she was offered a position as the Prime Minister’s envoy for the regions and nations, which involves liaising with the devolved governments and metro mayors. It was originally said that she was taking a short break before adopting the role.

    No 10 was approached for comment.

    1. Pookie
      3h

      If a Labour MP was ousted in an election where they won a massive majority has well and truly been rejected by the public. I'm particularly thinking of Thangam Debbonaire Singh.

      To make her a peer within 6 months of having been rejected by the electorate is just an insult to the public.

      But then again, this entire lying government is an insult to the public.

      So do we expect fraudster Louise Haigh to be elevated too?

      davis
      3h

      Thangam Debbonaire sounds like a personal undercarriage deodoriser when the reek of hypocrisy and toadyism becomes unbearable.

        1. Was this the selection that was lined up for David Cameron when he took his entry test for the Bullingdon Club at Oxford?

      2. Mind you some of Boris Johnson's appointments to the HoL were pretty dodgy.

        There's a very affable black peer called Shaun Bailey who appears regularly on GB News. He lost to Sadiq Kahn in the London Mayoral elections a few years ago when he stood as the Conservative Party's candidate but seems to have done little else to merit his ennoblement even though he is considerably more pleasant than most people in politics.

        1. The Con Party gave him nil in the way of support in his mayoral candidacy. It was odd (or seemed so at the time). He's a good man and I'm glad he's a Lord.

  54. James Stevenson
    3h

    I see Reeves politics of envy are working well with HMRC reporting there will be £33bil less non dom tax collected this FY, took the tories 15 years to create an alleged 22bil gravity well took her less than 150 days to smash that record.

  56. I am doing a dinner party on the 22nd and i have five people coming. One of them has dropped out as it clashes with a charity event he is doing.
    So i put a note in my elderly neighbour's door and invited him. He was widowed this year so i thought he would be a good choice.
    He was overwhelmed and tears were glistening in his eyes as he thanked me.

    It certainly gave me a warm feeling. That should guarantee me being on Father Christmas's good boy list.

    Better order some Christmas crackers i suppose.

    1. My son is in Korea. Like any concerned mother, I emailed him yesterday asking if he was OK.
      Oh yes, came the reply. I was helping a freelance camera man film the riots to be broadcast by Turkish and Iranian TV.
      I don't know where he gets his ability to network from, certainly not from me because I am rubbish at it.

  57. British growth upgraded after Reeves’s spending spree
    UK debt risks becoming unsustainable because of public spending drive, OECD warns
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/12/04/reeves-budget-keep-interest-rates-higher-longer-warns-oecd/

    BTL

    Y = C + G + I + (Ex- Im)

    (GDP= Consumption + Goverment Spending + Investment + (Exports – Imports)

    Didn't work when we learnt about Keynes in the 1960s. Doesn't work now but our non-economist, naïf chancellor can only think that if you increase G substantially in the short term then Y will rise but cannot see that the cost will cripple us all when C and I C go into free fall.

    Income per capita is low and is now falling at an alarming rate. Individually we are getting poorer and poorer every day.

    1. Our beloved Chancellor claims that she got a Master's degree in Economics from the LSE.

      I wonder whether she ever uses it?

      1. Wonder if it was pure economics or a blended subject with say, business. either way not the kind of economics which joins dots.

        1. I pretended to be studying Economics and Philosophy at UEA but I was far more interested in cars, boats, novels and chasing girls. In those days I used to read at least three books a week but they had nothing to do with what I was supposed to be studying. When I did my PGCE at Southampton University they let me do the English teaching course rather than one dealing with economics.

          I must say that there few things which were as much fun as teaching a bright Sixth Form the Shakespeare, Milton and Chancer on the "A" level syllabus on Paper I and 2 which required a detailed knowledge of the prescribed texts and the novels, plays and poetry on Paper 3 upon which students were asked to write essays without having to answer detailed context questions.

        1. I had a girlfriend who was at LSE during the early 1970s – the time when the place came to the fore in the media for its extreme left-wing demonstrations Strangely enough at the time the largest political club was the Conservative Club.

  58. Rock paper scissors game.. of Life.

    Man United scarp plans to wear LGBT rainbow jacket after devout Muslim Noussair Mazraoui refused to wear it' – leaving team-mates unhappy – after Marc Guehi controversy

  59. Marc Guehi escapes FA punishment despite twice breaking rules with ‘Jesus loves you’ armband
    England defender was reminded of Football Association rules about displaying religious statements but remained defiant in Tuesday’s match
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/12/04/marc-guehi-escapes-fa-punishment-breaking-rules-armband/

    BTL

    So we are an apartheid country as far as religion is concerned.

    Even though we have an Established Church of which our Head of State is its leader a person is not allowed to put "I love Jesus or Jesus loves you" on his obligatory LBGT striped jersey but a Muslim is allowed not to have the obligatory LGBT stripes on his Jersey because homosexuality is offensive to his religion.

    1. They should just stop all these political or religious slogans and symbols and get on with playing football.

    2. According to the Mail they've now abandoned the shirts. Good for him for making a stand against the alternative religion – pity a Christian team-mate couldn't have stood beside him.

    3. It's offensive to my religion as well (but the top brass in the CofE seem to think it's compulsory).

  60. Spitting blood! What I thought was my echocardiogram appointment for this Friday has been changed to 6 January! Have asked for a GP call tomorrow.

      1. Yes, the initial text definitely has 6 December on it but a letter just arrived with 6 January so I phoned them and they said yes, January. Going to explore private options.

        1. Extremely frustrating.
          I had the full works yesterday, with my surgeon, but even here the appointment had been bumped two months.

          Fortunately my GP has an ECG machine and checked me over as soon as the I was notified of the change. If there had been a problem I would have been prioritised.

        2. I would feel inclined to turn up on December 6th armed with the initial text. Stand your ground and ask to be squeezed in.

    2. Heavens, Sue, you had me worried – I thought that was a symptom.
      Hope you get some joy from the GP.

      1. I've submitted online requests to The London Clinic and Barts Private Health. Is one allowed to shop around?

        1. Why not? Despite what the NHS would have us believe, healthcare is not granted in rationable portions by God Almighty.

        2. Of course.

          I am going to see a heart chap privately – much quicker to see him for a first consultation than just to get a first apptmt with GP.

      1. A typo. Fuming. If ever a girl didn't need something to push her heart rate up…! Gong to hear the vocal group Tenebrae sing Christmas carols at the Wigmore Hall this evening. Hopefully that will have a soothing effect.

        1. Like MB's letter from the hospital a while back.
          As it wibbled on, detailing the wrong medication and mentioned that MB was a retired paratrooper, we looked closer.
          The wrong hospital reference number was the cause of the mistake.

        3. That should be a glorious concert. I hope it soothes your understandably savage breast!

      1. No, it's not his fault. He was (well, almost) as pleased as I was when I got the text with 6 December on it. I need to let him know, plus I'm after advice as to how to get it done privately and whether the care is all joined up.

  61. "born in Wimbledon"..
    Just because you hover your vagina over Wimbledon and drop a baby, doesn’t make that baby English.
    ©Katie Hopkins.

  62. Should I believe them? They are clearly worried by this Hoo Hah

    Our statement on the use of Bovaer additives.
    Milk & More
    You may have seen recent news about the use of the Bovaer additive in the production of some dairy products – an experimental feed additive being trialled by some farms selling milk to larger companies and retailers to help reduce methane emissions from cows.

    We want to confirm that Milk & More isn't involved in these trials, and neither are the farms we work with. As an independent company, we're proud to partner with British farms that uphold high standards of animal welfare, food safety and environmental responsibility. Our fresh British milk is just as it should be – free from additives, fresh from trusted farms and delivered to your doorstep with care.

    With Milk & More, what's in your glass is simple: British milk. Nothing more, nothing less.

    1. Well that is a clear enough statement. How much milk gets blended and sold around, I wonder?
      The bovaer contaminated milk will end up as milk powder in many ready prepared foods for sure.

        1. We only buy the superior Swiss chocolate (when it's on special offer) and have one square in the evening (sometimes).

          1. I haven’t bought Cadbury’s choc for years. I don’t often eat any chocolate, once in a blue moon I might get a ‘mmmmm I’d love some chocolate’ feeling come over me.

          2. There’s half a bar of nice Swiss choc sitting just within reach of me……. but we only nibble it in the evenings sometimes.

          3. Mmmmmmm. I couldn't quite erase the thought of chocolate from my mind after this conversation – I remembered there was a bar of Swiss milk chocolate in the pantry. It started calling me loudly this afternoon, I couldn't resist. I snapped off four squares and …. well….. I ate them pronto. I did manage to resist the other six squares, they are firmly wrapped up waiting for another chocolate emergency…… it's that time of year.

  63. Her mother left immediately. Tourist baby.
    Then parents thought they'd give USA a go.
    Sixteen years later.. gave UK a go for first time.

    1. I'll give Kemi a go for now. She can't be worse than Starmer, who I believe is born and bred British – father a toolmaker…………

  64. Her mother left immediately. Tourist baby.
    Then parents thought they'd give USA a go.
    Sixteen years later.. gave UK a go for first time.

  65. Thinking about the Man or the Moment over lunch – if his "legal team" (grrrr) had some sense, they'd announce that he is suffering from Tourette's Syndrome – and that any attack/complaint/grievance would be taken by them to be discrimination and that legal action would follow.

  66. Forget-Me-Not Children's Hospice in Huddersfield is making staff redundant because of rising costs, including the increased employers' NI contribution.
    Even Hugh Pym on the Beeb mentioned it as a factor.

    2. Oh, good. Mother's care home fees to rise noticeably, then, as if 5 grand a month wasn't enough.

  67. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9cefc6eff01bb2901ae1e7f932b5425fd320b22f3ec335952e5fb5831b9f7063.png I was kindly given ten frozen pig's trotters by a good friend. He uses them at Christmas to make a delicious terrine. Those ten trotters were excess to his needs. I roasted them then placed them in the pressure cooker along with two chopped onions, some black peppercorns, Maldon salt and sage.

    After cooling, removal of fat and straining, this gave me enough trotter jelly to make 100 frozen cubes of the yummy stuff. This will be used, in the future, for pork pie jelly.

      2. I live here and I notice it every day.

        Our post is also delivered to unlocked (and unattended) boxes that sit on a rack in the street. No one ever steals from them.

        Workmen habitually wear sheath knives, openly on their belts. These knives are on open sale in hardware shops. Swedes tend not to stab one another.

        I'd rather live here than in … San Francisco, for example.

  70. While I was cleaning our car our neighbour popped across for a chat and our postie stopped to join us. He parks his van and delivers our mail. He told us that they are not allowed to put any Christmas decorations on their vans…….because it might offend someone. I wonder who that might be?

        1. You wrote:
          "because it might offend someone. I wonder who that might be?"
          So I replied: "EVRI?"

          I'll get me Burka.

    5. Soon they will be stopping us from putting them in our homes in case someone should drop in for mince pies and a glass of sherry and be offended…. No doubt the Royal Mail will evaluate our mail, pass judgment on those Christmas cards and not deliver in order to prevent any offence on the part of the receiver.

      I notice that Christmas deccies and lights have gone up earlier than ever around our part of the world.

      1. The younger families in our road seem to be having a competition with each other. It’s all a bit over the top.

      2. The younger families in our road seem to be having a competition with each other. It’s all a bit over the top.

      3. I have got as far as writing a few Christmas cards and getting some of the decorations ready. Plenty of time yet.

    4. I don't do charities; never have done, never will.

      Why should I improve the lifestyle of some self-appointed and self-important charity CEO?

      1. I have supported the RNLI as a Shoreline Member for over 50 years. Many of the people who take to the seas in their own boats and sail to foreign destinations make direct debit transfers each year. We are disgusted with the fact that the RNLI has become a ferry service for illegal immigrants and are stopping our subscriptions.

    6. That’s them off my list. I am loving all this “Charidee wokeness”; it’s saving me a fortune.

      I am giving to podcasters instead e,g Jamie Franklin of Irreverend

    1. Which is why Rommy Tobinson is languishing in a Cat A prison at his Majesty’s pleasure.

  73. Afternoon contribution.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6d23ed280187360dd54ddb59c846e68fce0c46b2bf0d16df47a82b13181224ea.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2e0ac88bc62fb0c346320eebc96b30919d42291a5c33d127c1e46dc31e6ac8ac.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/268bf883e6e6b9601aa7681dc424f86e38d461e6aae2fec5c3915c6e545cd2fb.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f6baafcdbb572df4770945d59cad688057a5718abd2a9620ded1848251b20cc5.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0d5db5e756cdd42b4b4800016c624bf0f4f226440f583e3c31ad9814061c3eee.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e6fea9608e57fbce04d9d6968eb9f70b7815e3d373516d9608f73f17f1c9ea0d.png

    1. "It's okay to be different."

      The Road Not Taken.

      Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
      And sorry I could not travel both
      And be one traveller, long I stood
      And looked down one as far as I could
      To where it bent in the undergrowth;

      Then took the other, as just as fair,
      And having perhaps the better claim,
      Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
      Though as for that the passing there
      Had worn them really about the same,

      And both that morning equally lay
      In leaves no step had trodden black.
      Oh, I kept the first for another day!
      Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
      I doubted if I should ever come back.

      I shall be telling this with a sigh
      Somewhere ages and ages hence:
      Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
      I took the one less travelled by,
      And that has made all the difference.

      Robert Frost.

      1. Beat me to it.

        Reminds me of the Paul Simon's The Dangling Conversation;

        And you read your Emily Dickinson
        And I my Robert Frost
        And we note our place with book markers
        That measure what we've lost.

      2. I remember reading that in "The Golden Treasury" when I was about 10. I took the road that lay in front of me at that age. Sometimes lost, I went on and here I am.

      3. Aaargh. We had to do his poems for English Lit O level. I’ve always vaguely remembered that one.

      4. Thanks, Grizz. I absolutely love Robert Frost. This is another favourite:

        Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
        By Robert Frost

        Whose woods these are I think I know.
        His house is in the village though;
        He will not see me stopping here
        To watch his woods fill up with snow.

        My little horse must think it queer
        To stop without a farmhouse near
        Between the woods and frozen lake
        The darkest evening of the year.

        He gives his harness bells a shake
        To ask if there is some mistake.
        The only other sound’s the sweep
        Of easy wind and downy flake.

        The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
        But I have promises to keep,
        And miles to go before I sleep,
        And miles to go before I sleep.

        1. Me too and they are not only my two favourite RF poems, they are two of my favourites per se.

          3. Indeed I am. A.E. Housman is wonderful.

            I also like Robert Browning; Philip Larkin; John Betjeman; Rudyard Kipling; Rupert Brooke; Walter de la Mare; Edward Lear; William Butler Yeats; John Donne; Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Sara Coleridge; Percy Bysshe Shelley; Emily Dickinson; Thomas Grey; Edna St. Vincent Millay; and a good few more.

  74. A true popular uprising is taking place in Georgia. 4 December 2024.

    Georgia’s government recently decided to spend money on fresh black ‘Robocop’ uniforms for their riot police, with shiny new helmets to match. After parliamentary elections in October, they might have been forgiven for thinking the kit would go back on the precinct shelves with barely a scuff – a little shopsoiled at worst.

    Lol. I’ve seen so many of these “popular uprisings” where the interests of the US are involved that a real one would be a pleasant surprise.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-true-popular-uprising-is-taking-place-in-georgia/

    1. From RT.

      The Patriarchate of the Georgian Orthodox Church has blasted the country’s President Salome Zourabichvili’s call on schools to back the ongoing pro-EU protests in Tbilisi, given the violent tactics used by some rioters.

      Any statements “aimed at inciting the involvement of schoolchildren and, in general, minors, especially [such statements] made by the country’s president, are extremely disturbing,” the Patriarchate said on Tuesday, according to local media.

      Earlier, hundreds of university lecturers expressed support for the demonstrations and encouraged their students to take part.

      The Church said that, instead of instigating unrest, the head of state “should work to reduce the polarization and hatred in society, so that the mental and physical health of the future generation will not be harmed by the current events.”

      “Madam Salome, I hope that, after schools, you will not call on kindergartens to participate in protests,” the head of the Georgian Patriarchate’s press service, Archpriest Andria Dzhagmaidze, wrote on Facebook.

      The Church reacted after Zourabichvili wrote on X on Monday: “After universities, it is the turn of schools to express their solidarity with the protests, all over Georgia.”

      It is unclear whether Zourabichvili, whose six-year term in office is due to end, was calling on minors and teenagers to take to the streets or on their schools to issue a declaration of support.

      Mass protests were organized over the outcome of the general election in early November. Further escalation followed last week after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that he would freeze talks about Georgia joining the EU until 2028, due to Brussels’ “constant blackmail and manipulation” of internal politics in Tbilisi.

      Kobakhidze has denounced the demonstrations as an “attack on the constitutional order in the country” and has accused the West of an attempt to orchestrate a coup similar to the US-backed Maidan revolution in Ukraine in 2014, warning that such a scenario “cannot be realized in Georgia.”

    1. Originally from Nottingham, soprano Zoë Brookshaw was a choral scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge where she read Theology. Beginning her singing career as an apprentice in the Monteverdi Choir, she has since performed extensively around the world as an established soloist specialising in Baroque repertoire. She was recently a Rising Star of the Enlightenment with the OAE for their 2019-2021 season.

  79. Well – my car has come home – serviced, washed, MOT passed, clock reset (been wrong since the last battery died) wiper blade replaced……… it was new when I bought it in 2007, has only done just over 48,000 miles and I do very few miles these days. A few bumps and knocks but otherwise all ok.

    2. Mine passed MoT yesterday with the same advisories as last year which I ignored. I'll get them done once winter is over. 158k on the clock now

  81. How very careless and forgetful of him…easily done!

    BBC newsreader Clive Myrie failed to declare up to £250,000 worth of events

    Presenter earned huge sum for speaking and hosting engagements, but did not log them on corporation’s external register

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

    OR

    Opal Richards
    1 min ago
    Earning big bucks and still needs big bucks work outside his BBC contract.
    That is known as moonlighting and anyone of us doing that would be without a job.

    Andrew Mayers
    2 min ago
    Doesn't he feature prominently in the BBC Misinformation reel extolling the virtues of the BBC and journalists like him fighting night and day to present the truth and against conspiracy theories!

    trevor webster
    3 hrs ago
    £250k ‘administrative issues’. Give me a break, don’t insult the people you serve. I don’t care how much you earn; I do care about your lack of transparency given you are held to a higher standard. Unacceptable.

    1. So HE'S the next Wallace, then.

      Such a small sum (ask the Dinner Lady) – easy for it to slip ones mind.

    3. I remember his tour of the mortuaries to spread alarm & despondency during the scamdemic. That was when we still watched the Beeb.

  84. Quote of the day

    Resigned Tory leader Andrew RT Davies told Matt Chorley regicidal Tories made life “very difficult”:

    “Whilst I was offering a Welsh fry-up with extra black pudding on the side, a certain amount of them wanted muesli and croissants”

    Guidogram

  87. The ongoing saga of my health and the NHS. The 24 hr Holter Monitor can now be done next Wednesday and I've been offered a Sunday afternoon slot at St Mary's Paddington on 15 December for the echo.

    2. I am more than willing to have a chat with that twat, in private.

      And what happens 'in private' shall forever remain 'in 'private'.

    4. He is one of the most disgusting people munching at the top table aroung the labour trough

    1. I wish they didn't have to be in a zoo. Too many zoos breed their animals then dispose of them when they get too big to be "cute".

    1. There were decorated concrete bollards at the entrance to the one that I visited last weekend though.

  94. The Critic

    The “open borders experiment” is reversible

    Keir Starmer can and should change the conditions by which migrants become eligible for Indefinite Leave To Remain status

    Artillery Row
    By Sam Bidwell
    4 December, 2024

    As Keir Starmer lambasts the “open borders experiment” of the past few years, are Britain’s politicians finally waking up to the scale of our immigration crisis?

    With the latest figures from the ONS showing that net migration to Britain stood at more than 700,000 in 2024, with total incoming migration standing at more than 1.2 million, it’s long past time that substantive action was taken. If, as the Prime Minister said last week, our experiment with mass migration has been a mistake, then politicians have a duty to atone for their wrongdoing. Naturally, that means revising our visa rules in the first place, making it more difficult for new immigrants to come to this country — but even if we change those rules, we are still left with an almighty conundrum.

    Under the current immigration rules, most migrants on work and family visas will be eligible for Indefinite Leave To Remain (ILR) status after just five years. ILR status holders have a right to live and work indefinitely in the UK — and gain access to additional support from the state, in the form of services like universal credit. ILR status is also tricky to remove, without amending the Nationality, Immigration, and Asylum Act 2002.

    Combine this legal mechanism with a migration wave of several million people, and the result is a slow-motion fiscal car crash. Fail to act now, and in less than five years, millions of low-wage, low-skilled workers will be eligible for a lifetime of support from the British state. After just a few short years in the workforce, the British taxpayer could be left on the hook for a migrant’s benefits, social housing costs, healthcare, state pension — and the cost of any dependents that they choose to bring to the UK. This would, effectively, lock in this migration wave — deepening the fiscal impact of migration, and making it more legally challenging to remove those who came here over the past few years.

    At a time when the UK already has limited fiscal headroom thanks to years of sluggish growth, is it fair to add billions of pounds in additional costs to the burden carried by the British taxpayer? As research from the excellent Karl Williams at the Centre for Policy Studies shows, just 5 percent of work visas handed out in 2022-23 were given to migrants likely to be net contributors — with 72 percent of “skilled work visa” holders earning less than the UK average salary. The OBR’s analysis admits that the average low-wage migrant worker costs the taxpayer £465,000 by the time they reach the age of 81. Now, imagine millions of these low-wage migrant workers, all gaining eligibility for a lifetime of support from the state — clearly, our current ILR rules are not fit for purpose.

    Fortunately, revision of those rules is actually relatively easy. As I argue in my recent research for the Adam Smith Institute, the Home Secretary has the power to change the conditions for ILR by issuing a Statement Of Changes In Immigration Rules, using their powers under the Immigration Act 1971 to change rules around entry and settlement. Unless Parliament passes a resolution within forty days condemning the changes, then those new rules pass into law — it really is as simple as that.

    The Home Secretary could change the standard eligibility criteria for ILR from five years to fifteen, while leaving the five-year rule in place for migrants from the United States, the European Union, the Anglosphere, and the Asian Tiger economies. This distinction would help to ensure that Britain remains a competitive destination for high-value, high-skilled migrants, while addressing the bulk of migrants, from countries like India, Nigeria, and Pakistan. As my oven-ready legislative framework makes clear, Parliament might also choose to signal its support for the Home Secretary by passing a bespoke ouster clause, shielding these changes from pernicious judicial review. In our increasingly litigious culture, one can never be too careful.

    This wouldn’t be the first revision of ILR rules, either — in 2006, then-Home Secretary Charles Clarke changed the eligibility time from four years to five. Nor would it leave Britain as a European outlier; in recent years, the Netherlands has extended its own settlement eligibility period from five years to ten, and Sweden has created new rules to allow the Government to revoke settled status from migrants.

    For those of us concerned about the long-term social and fiscal impact of migration, a revision of the ILR rules is the best short-term use of our energy; the savings to the taxpayer speak for themselves. It would also give the Government time and space to think about whether or not it wants to reissue visas to those who arrived over the last few years. After all, a five year visa grant does not entitle an individual to a lifetime of residence in the UK — access to this country is time-limited by design. If the Government feels that mass migration has been a mistake, then it would be well-within its rights to refuse to reissue visas to low-skilled workers who arrived since 2021. This becomes much easier if our ILR rules are revised, preventing long-term settlement in the first instance.

    The question is not one of possibility — as my research lays out, this change is both practically possible and politically defensible. It would probably also be enormously popular with the public — at a time when trust in politicians is already low, this would represent the most substantive policy intervention on migration for decades.

    The question is one of political will, and sincerity of conviction. If Keir Starmer and his colleagues are serious about addressing uncontrolled mass migration, then they have a duty to lay these changes before Parliament. If this experiment really has been a mistake, then why should the British people live with the impacts for decades to come? If they fail to do so, then we can only assume that their platitudes about addressing this issue were just that — platitudes, empty words designed to comfort a frustrated electorate.

    As a country, we deserve better than that — we deserve real action. It’s time to address Britain’s impending ILR crisis.

    2. We should change those rules to limit the time they can stay. It should also be automatic deportation of foreign criminals.

    3. Where was two tier when the open borders (started under Blair) was getting under way? Was he criticising it? Highlighting the problems it was causing? He was noticeably silent. He still hasn't woken up to the costs of housing illegals and that's contribution to the "black hole". Despicable he.

  95. Apologies for returning the Gregg Wallace, but I think this is a valid piece defending him.
    Taken from an Evening Standard article, very slightly edited to keep context.

    The BBC knew what they were getting when they hired Gregg, a greengrocer who used to sell cucumbers (“cukes”) in Covent Garden and “strawbs” and shout at women who handled his fruit and veg, “Awight love, it’s not like your old man’s. It won’t get bigger the more you touch it!” They knew, because he told a Times interviewer that this was part of his sales patter. They wanted a rough diamond geezer, they got one, and everyone should grow up. If the entertainment industry is going to delete all the obnoxious toxic males in its ranks, there will be no one left, and this whole hot mess is overcooked.

    The whole defence:
    https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/gregg-wallace-kirsty-wark-misogynistic-comments-middle-aged-women-b1197841.html?lid=xwtfpib6k2bc&utm_medium=email&utm_source=braze&utm_campaign=News_email_2024-12-04&utm_term=ES_News_Daily_CDP&empar=a5a4791040899364e61ef9f1d5449150a9c0012b4e500bdb121b158033542c2a

    1. Also these complaints seems to have come out of the woodwork all at once. These people should have spoken up at the time if they were so upset.

    3. I was watching something or other on GB News last night (Michele Dewbury? Not sure) when a Very Important newsflash interrupted to inform us that a woman had now "come forward" to say that GW had touched her bottom a decade or so ago and another that he had once (historically) rubbed his crotch against her. Ye Gods!

  96. Lovely! Though the older i get, the more i think the anti-zoo people have a point.

    I have the same dilemma with our children’s tiny eel, in his own in a tank day after day

    1. I cannot bear to see rabbits and guinea pigs in hutches. Song birds in cages. I do agree about zoos. But the little chimp would not otherwise have survived. Hopefully they have a large outdoor space.

        1. Me too. I ran through the Pocket Oxford Dictionary ‘C ‘ Section twice before alighting on the word.

          The last time I had to search so thoroughly was when the answer was UVULA and that word was buried on the last page!

    3. Well done, I'm in the rear here today.

      Wordle 1,264 4/6

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

    1. We are all used to seeing "Pasteurised Milk"
      Perhaps those supplying the latest hi-tech milk could label the product 'Defarterised Milk!'…..

      1. Gives a new meaning to a Raspberry Milkshake and as you sip it you can smell the country air

  99. We are all used to seeing "Pasteurised Milk"
    Perhaps those supplying the latest hi-tech milk could label the product 'Defarterised Milk!'…..

  100. Par. Silly mistake in guess three.

    Wordle 1,264 4/6

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

  101. Well done Rene!

    Yet again, after 2 guesses (I think you use similar to mine) I was convinced there could only be one answer….. today there was!!!

    Halle-bleeding-lujah!!!! An elusive Birdie!!

    Wordle 1,264 3/6

    🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  103. Look if any of you who are grandparents want to buy a book to read to a small child , you will find this book charming , delightful and beautifully illustrated .

    The cat is a regular visitor to the shops in Dorchester .. it is owned , but enjoys wandering .. the owners are aware of Susie's travels so a sweet book about her wandering has been
    I bought a copy for me today , I have often seen the cat in various shops having a snooze .

    You can buy it on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Not-Lost-Susie-Dorchester-Cat/dp/1837780366

  104. This is a quote from BBC Verify about Bovaer:

    “It has gone through a series of regulatory processes around the world and all are satisfied that it actually does what’s claimed around methane emissions and does not pose any food safety issues,” Professor Chris Elliott – an expert in food safety and microbiology at Queens University Belfast – told the BBC.

    Other opponents have pointed to claims that 3-NOP could cause cancer, but UK regulators dismissed the concerns after carrying out an assessment, external which concluded “that the additive is not carcinogenic at the recommended inclusion rate”.

    The FSA told the BBC in a statement: “Milk from cows given Bovaer, a feed additive used to reduce methane emissions, is safe to drink.

    "Bovaer has undergone rigorous safety assessments and is approved for use in Great Britain.”

    …and a question from us-

    – – – If it is so safe why are Arla carrying out trials in Britain?

      1. Will they mandate that old dairy cows, nowadays entering the food chain once

        they are passed their productive years, will in future have to be destroyed?

        The PTB are very keen to assure you that their milk is safe to drink, but avoids

        assuring you that old cow meat is safe to eat.

      2. Nobody wants this shyte. It's utter nonsense that it changes the weather.
        It could be that their real goal is to get people to stop drinking milk.

    2. They have carried out a lot of trials all over the world according to their website. But all the trials mean precisely nothing if they don't ask the right questions.

      1. Well if all these trials have been satisfactory, why does a Danish company need to do more trials in Britain rather than Denmark?

    1. Woy Jenkins was his voice coach.

      As the old joke went:
      Come home to a real fire: buy a cottage in Wales!

        2. You’re supposed to say – ‘But I like you’ and stomp off Dick Emery style….(cant remember the name of the character)

          7. Okay. I will bring my own sleeping bag and some Pledge furniture polish and squat. Still want dinner though. :@)

    1. This not the first time, though, is it? I seem to recall a Baroness (politically appointed life peer) employing an illegal immigrant. Forget now who it was.

  108. I've bought my 4 year old Grandson "Pirates Love Underpants" The illustrations are brilliant and so is the text!!

    1. Sadly a lot of the signs are suggesting Reform are another Liberal elite. Listen to Dan Wootton's show last night. More of the same old same old.

    1. Indeed.
      There is also transmission losses getting the power from the power station to the car charger.

  112. That's me for today. Another damp, dreary and chilly one. Milder but wet tomorrow, they say.

    Have a jolly evening – I shall watch the Richard III prog – though I had assumed it was serious history rather than a telly totty and an actor doing the show. Am expecting the worst….

    Market tomorrow – so

    A demain

  113. This morning I took myself off to the Archery field to loose a few dozen arrows. Pausing by the adjacent river bank to warm my hands I glimpsed the brown furry body and tail of a semi submerged large Otter. I was Otterly Surprised! grab my phone to take some pictures but the creature had otter business to attend to and swam off…

        1. I'm ashamed to admit that I once ate a Chicken Tarka – it was like a Tikka, only 'otter…. I'll get me ring of bright water….

          2. It was a great book wasnt it? I read a couple of his others (it was part of a trilogy apparently?) but they didnt quite cut it…. I thought the film wasnt bad either.

  114. Naughty naughty.. 5 right wing reporters covering nasty elements of pro-Pally rallies had their personal details mysteriously leaked on-line by Met.

    DS Aneesh Jasra Met Ops 6 Crime team takes this very seriously and has advised them to visit the Met website and submit a request. LOL.

    1. Are the Met taking it seriously enough to give them protection from angry slammers? We already have at least one teacher in hiding and another had his head cut off because a muslim school girl told a pack of lies.

  115. Naughty naughty.. 5 right wing reporters covering nasty elements of pro-Pally rallies had their personal details mysteriously leaked on-line by Met.

    DS Aneesh Jasra Met Ops 6 Crime team takes this very seriously and has advised them to visit the Met website and submit a request. LOL.

  116. Naughty naughty.. 5 right wing reporters covering nasty elements of pro-Pally rallies had their personal details mysteriously leaked on-line by Met.

    DS Aneesh Jasra Met Ops 6 Crime team takes this very seriously and has advised them to visit the Met website and submit a request. LOL.

  118. Evening, all. Coffee cake and a natter this morning at the coffee morning. Out to lunch (yes, I know!) tomorrow.

    Labour's "plans for growth" won't do anything for the economy, small businesses or the private sector. The only growth they believe in is growth of the state, taxes and bureaucratic control.

      1. Thanks. Yes, it is. Lots of Christmas events. Come Boxing Day, all will fall quiet after the meet.

          1. Then there's Epiphany, the RAFA meeting and it all starts again in the New Year. It's good to be busy.

        2. I feel your pain, Conners. First service here next week is the former Chief of Joint Operations' Mum's funeral. Fiona Lorimer was a stalwart in the choir, and an utterly lovely lady and a very good friend. Though she let me down a few years ago when I suggested tanks in Downing Street… 😀

          1. I, too, have a funeral to attend, but I haven't got the date yet. I expect it to be in the New Year.

      2. Tell me about it.

        Saturday afternoon: Puttenham and Wanborough Pensioner's Lunch (free). I've been there in the past, hammering carols out on the out-of-tune piano. I await the entertainment with interest, now I've switched from provider to recipient…

        Saturday evening: I have a ticket for John Rutter's Carol Concert at Guildford power station Cathedral.

  119. To all the cretins who think sending British troops to support Ukraine is a good idea.
    WAKE UP!!
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14157145/british-army-wiped-large-scale-war-minister-warns.html

    British Army would be wiped out in 'six months to a year' if it was drawn into a large scale war, veterans minister warns as he calls for rebuild of country's reserve forces

    The really sick aspect to this is that what he's calling for is even more men, and it will be men predominately, to be made available for a meat-grinder war of attrition, like Ukraine.

    1. "Wiped out" – just think of the endless flights of lads in coffins being unloaded at Lyneham or wherever, because that's what it means.
      Folk should think on that, before cheering the rush to war in Ukraine.

      1. The cheer leaders aren't the ones that are going. If their children were going to the front i might take their warmongering a bit more seriously. Bastards.

        1. The biggest problem with a draft would be that Jemima (and her parents) would insist that she go in on a commission. Officer rank only and NO bossing around by some grubby sergeant from a council estate.

          All those first class graduates need officer places at Sandhurst, Dartmouth, Cranwell.

    2. Drones have completely changed the battlefield and rendered infantry and commandos extremely vulnerable.

  120. Off topic
    I know he's anathema to many Nottlers, but Chris Packham is presenting what might be a very interesting documentary on BBC4 about the winter storm of 1963
    8 PM.

      1. I cant stand him, the smug get, he's continually rude to the lovely Michaela Strachan on Spring Watch – for that reason alone I'd punch his lights out……..

          1. Yes, you feel sorry for anyone with ‘real’ autism (I’ve known a couple!) but you remain deeply suspicious of anybody who appears to ‘trade’ on it – the stuff of charlatans….

          2. I do think i am on the lower end of the spectrum. I sometimes say things which are entirely inappropriate. Then again it could just be that i'm an idiot.

          6. As the parent of someone with "real" autism (and i appreciate that is is a spectrum) this stuff is both insulting and wrong. Another salient example is a local murderer here quite recently who tried to introduce newly (and very conveniently) diagnosed "autism" into his defence. It made my blood boil. Autistic people are not without moral compass.

          7. Off topic.
            Today’s race is difficult.
            If you can sweep the tri peaks you’ll probably do very very well.
            I was over three hours completing the thing and still sitting fourth in my group.
            OK , I know: haven’t I got better things to waste my time!

      4. He's just a very unpleasant person. There are lots around. He also trades on his alleged autism, as if it excuses his horridness. it doesn't/

    4. I just don't remember it going on for as long they seem to be suggesting it did.
      We only had four candles.

        1. Come on…… Bill likes puzzles and he’s going to t local market tomorrow morning. 🤗

          1. My excuse is i don't expect that devious type punning from you. I will pay more attention in future !

  124. From July to brighten up a dark cold and wet evening. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/85cc6567486600ead2b71df222c636b3208ca80eeb9b2ae0ad76c5ff85f06543.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/39c7eeaeade15c825609cbd8b28ab9221a0863446aeb8ef921b515b92ca091e3.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6a6c9052d5ba73cbdc58a120b28878edfbfcf2142fe8ed0c7d9780ef783d343a.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2e71f14827ef4712fc39ef3fafb66ba3c286e913991456ddac840d099e43df84.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/91c9c85544258261ae322266db7a7536e2ac6e98814f97e77f138e9fc0f672b9.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0037560009fc818f9e2465555704301bcc0b62ef3004411ffee751fb66832e0e.jpg

          2. For some weird reason i am reminded of Julie Waters playing Cynthia Payne in Personal Services.

            Your better half wears high heels?

  125. Blimey Starmer is looking shaky with his reset tomorrow and now the French government is collapsing closely following the recent German government collapse and all since the Donald was elected.

    Which just goes to show
    When the USA Trumps
    Europe gets an enema.

    1. They are all pissing themselves because they are about to be exposed for the brown envelope backhander lying charlatans that they are.

      1. They are shitting themselves. I am pissing myself with laughter that the moron politicos of the EU countries and the UK have exposed themselves so to speak. They are naked with not even a Figleaf to protect their modesty.

      2. They are shitting themselves. I am pissing myself with laughter that the moron politicos of the EU countries and the UK have exposed themselves so to speak. They are naked with not even a Figleaf to protect their modesty.

    2. Their sordid involvement in the US proxy war in Ukraine has exposed their weakness and folly. The problem is that it is the taxpayers of the EU countries and the UK who are the losers.

      Starmer and the rest need to be held to account, stripped of their assets, tried, convicted and jailed for a very long time.

  128. I am sure you will enjoy yourself.

    BTW. Next garden party i expect you to do better on my piano. No one applauded !!!

    :@)

  129. I am sure you will enjoy yourself.

    BTW. Next garden party i expect you to do better on my piano. No one applauded !!!

    :@)

    5. Must be the Frexit they had in 2020.

      No. As with Britain the EU is falling apart because of mass immigration and justified public fear of it.

  133. Re the winter of 1963 which was as relentless as the 1947 winter..

    What will we do if we have no coal fired power stations as back up, the solar farms , the wind turbines and everything else will not be equipped to cope ..

    Would electric lorries and snow ploughs cope , of course not , would we cope , of course not , a big freeze would kill most of us .

    A Siberian anticyclone and a Greenland anticyclone hammered us then .. warm air hit cold air , more cold air from Siberia .. The Pacific got warm .. and the cold spell grew worse ..

    Just weather playing at being weather.

    Britain is not geared up to coping with another harsh winter .

    Twerp Miliband is only 54 years old .. ignorant wassock .. Big snows happened .. unexpectantly.

    1. Do they still teach Geography S level…. Polar Maritime Air Masses, Circum Polar Westerly Vortex, Dry and Saturated Adiabetic Lapse Rates etc?

    3. " a big freeze would kill most of us."

      All those nice empty properties for our replacements, Belle.

    4. Not just coal fired power stations, but we had a ton and a half of coal in the coal shed so even if the electricity went off there was nothing to stop us keeping warm, and with a gravity-fed back boiler behind the fire we could have hot water as well. A truly resilient set-up against adverse weather. Nowadays… nothing like it .

  135. They remove dams and weirs all across Europe. They choose not to dredge rivers or clear drains. Then we get floods and they blame it on a climate crisis.

  136. I think we have all realised and known that the climate change has been going on for centuries.

    1. Me too, Eddy, which makes it an early night for me two days running. Good Night, chums, sleep well and see you all in the morning.

        1. A puddle with a scarf, a carrot and two raisins in it would have been more accurate !!!

  142. The Ukrainians were the west's proxies in the war against Putin.

    Have a guess who are Putin's (soon to be) proxies against us in WW3 which started just over a week ago ? Concerted by Iran.

    1. The Ukrainians were the cannon fodder for the collective west launching a land grab for Ukrainian resources.

      There is no possibility of Russia or its allies, including Iran, waging war with us.

      1. Think again. THINK AGAIN.

        You are not thinking. Their soldiers are already here in numbers vastly bigger than the British army (which is deployed abroad anyway.)

        1. Give it a rest . I suspect that I know a damn sight more than you do about Ukraine and for that matter geopolitics in general.

          I will admit that we have weak leaders prepared to sell our country down the river for an expected share of Ukrainian assets never to be realised and it is never going to happen.

          Russia is too strong militarily to succumb to western military pressure and frankly would have the rag bag EU army for breakfast.

    1. I've seen footage of a drone chasing down a single Russian soldier for hundreds of yards, him zig-zagging until finding refuge under a lorry, it lowering itself into his view and killing him. Others blowing up squads of men.

      They must be terrifying to encounter. Very Dark Mirror.

      Now imagine autonomous cluster drones released in whole areas.

      Who started this war ?

      It started in Maidan Square. Maidan Square started because the West wanted Ukrain to join the EU aka NATO (by coup if necessary) while big actors refused to let us leave by referendum.

    2. Nottler with normal sized everything, struggles to use cellphone

      There, I have admitted it

      I agree says Mrs OLT

    1. Well she will have trouble getting another chance to speak.

      Dearest Ursula seemed to be unbiased by the rant.

Comments are closed.