566 thoughts on “Wednesday 4 December: Younger voters can now see in the rail strike the shape of things to come”

  1. Turner Prize 2019: everyone’s a winner as nominees ask to share award ‘at time of political crisis in Britain. 4 December 2019.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/88a8da240897d079540f6069baed1aee0f95ca8b43662e7770687696c59c9f1f.jpg

    “At this time of political crisis in Britain and much of the world, when there is already so much that divides and isolates people and communities, we feel strongly motivated to use the occasion of the Prize to make a collective statement in the name of commonality, multiplicity and solidarity – in art as in society,” they said.

    Morning everyone. Translation: It’s all cr@p so who cares?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/03/turner-prize-2019-everyones-winner-nominees-ask-share-award/

        1. ‘Morning to both Minty and Citroen.

          I see we’ve managed to award a prize right across the multi-culti diverse and probably the LGBTQWERTY spectrum.

          I bet that gave the arty-farty, libtard, lefty judges a hard time

          1. Sex, is what Orficers get their coal and/or potoooooooos in

            There is red sack of coal on the left of the piccie

    4. I wonder how much energy they could produce if they linked Turner’s corpse to a generator?

  2. Good Morning, all

    London Bridge: Usman Khan completed untested rehabilitation scheme

    London Bridge attacker Usman Khan attended two counter-terrorism programmes that had not been fully tested to see if they were effective, BBC News has discovered.
    *
    *
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50653191

    Well, BBC, making a wild guess, the evidence suggests that such programmes are not very effective, you dummies.

    3. AS far as ideologically driven terrorists are concerned the chances of changing them is very low. The same goes for pedophiles

    4. An interesting snippet of news is this a is the second course he attended and on the first one it was deemed he needed a police escort

  5. Yo all

    Just when you think things in UK cannot get morer maddesterer. this happens

    British lesbian couple first to carry baby in both their wombs

    Life in today’s Army

    A British lesbian couple have become the first parents to have a baby carried in both of their wombs in a landmark “shared motherhood” procedure.

    Jasmine Francis-Smith gave birth to Otis, their son, two months ago, using an egg that was implanted using IVF after it was first incubated by her wife, Donna.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2019/12/03/TELEMMGLPICT000218000692_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqbZ8LU-qv1sVXVl2BVMJBc7T5LfTkYhqvBvjfatlPy1M.jpeg?imwidth=1240

    1. The New Statesman and the like will not allow any discussion on my exclusion from family life on the grounds of my gender.

      1. ‘Morning, Jeremy, try discussing it on the grounds of your sex – you’re not a grammatical construct are you?

        1. They don’t recognise the word has any meaning. It is not in the latest Newspeak dictionary.

    2. This is stupidity on a grand scale, and shame on those who brought it about, because it will all end in tears.

      ‘Morning, Tryers.

    3. That looks rather like Merville Barracks, the Para’s home base, just down the road from me. Is it the ‘wife’ or ‘husband’ wearing the red beret?
      NHS funded? Hardly a priority treatment.

    4. I am appalled by articles like that.. Do these woman despise men so much , yet they are willing to access male sperm to fertilise their over abundant need for fecundity ?

      2. When I see these stories the first thing I feel is a great sadness for the child who, if following “normal” human emotions, will spend a lifetime of wanting to know/meet its Father.

    1. Unfortunately it’s bollocks.

      I don’t know about the conditions on the Virgin Islands, but there are tens of thousands of, maybe over 100,000 canaries on the Canary Islands. It’s a misunderstanding arising from the fact that the Carnary Islands aren’t named after the bird. The bird is named after the islands. The islands are believed to be named after the wild dogs that lived there.

      I suppose you could argue that ‘tens of thousands’ is also ‘not one’.

      This is one of them, on the slopes of Teide in January this year. They are commoner on the western islands that the drier eastern group. Also found on The Azores and Madiera, where they are common. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2292de8b851c71f6f0ca821d0149cee8b523eb0aa8f8dc9f0c642b065c862bd0.jpg

    2. Unfortunately it’s bollocks.

      I don’t know about the conditions on the Virgin Islands, but there are tens of thousands of, maybe over 100,000 canaries on the Canary Islands. It’s a misunderstanding arising from the fact that the Carnary Islands aren’t named after the bird. The bird is named after the islands. The islands are believed to be named after the wild dogs that lived there.

      I suppose you could argue that ‘tens of thousands’ is also ‘not one’.

      This is one of them, on the slopes of Teide in January this year. They are commoner on the western islands that the drier eastern group. Also found on The Azores and Madiera, where they are common. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2292de8b851c71f6f0ca821d0149cee8b523eb0aa8f8dc9f0c642b065c862bd0.jpg

      2. So you’re saying (© Cathy Newman) that wild dogs (after whom the islands are named) are really canaries?

  9. Man admits killing ex-Royal Marine in road rage row in Wiltshire. 3 December 2019.

    A motorist has admitted killing an ex-Royal Marine sergeant major who he knocked “high into the air” with his BMW in a road rage incident.

    Tarkan Agca, 24, of Watford, Hertfordshire, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Andrej Szaruta, 63, from Bridgwater, Somerset, who had been driving to London for a Father’s Day and birthday celebration.

    The court heard Agca had 13 previous convictions for 28 offences, with several relating to road rage incidents which involved tailgating and attacking vehicles, and in one incident where he spat at a driver.

    We are well and truly fuckt!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/03/man-admits-killing-ex-royal-marine-road-rage-row-wiltshire

    1. 13 previous convictions for 28 offences – words almost fail me! (And those that don’t aren’t going to be published!!)

    2. 13 previous convictions for 28 offences – words almost fail me! (And those that don’t aren’t going to be published!!)

    3. ‘Morning, Minty. I have just heard a group of prisoners telling a BBC reporter that short-term sentences don’t work and that we need more ‘community’ sentences. Presumably they would like the freedom to go on thieving on the basis that the chances of being caught are minimal. Well, whoda thunkit? Do bears defecate in woodland??

      1. Morning Anne. It doesn’t tell you his personal history which leads me to suppose….

        1. That he is a drug dealer and gangster kind of thing?
          He will be back on the streets in a couple of years, as he as admitted the crime and will express great remorse etc. The maximum tariff is life imprisonment, so I doubt if the judge will impose more than six years. After all, we don’t want to get our prisons overcrowded as that would impact the convicts human rights.

  10. SNP’s Blackford talking ‘NONSENSE!’ Expert tears apart Scotland subsidising UK claim

    The claim is of course total nonsense. The argument he uses is Scotland pay in more in taxes than it gets back from the Barnett formula, That in itself is correct but he ignores the fact that many things are Central funded. When you take that into account the rest of the UK subsidizes Scotland and even that ignores Central Government jobs that have been transferred to Scotland

    Kevin Hague produced evidence which he said showed in fact, for the vast majority of that period, Scotland had actually been a net beneficiary. Speaking to Sky News yesterday, Mr Blackford, who was the party’s Westminster leader in the last Parliament, and who is seeking re-election as MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber on December 12, said: “The reason we want Scotland to be independent is because we want a wealthier Scotland.

    1. “Central Government jobs that have been transferred to Scotland”
      Ah, of course. All UK Government jobs should be based in England. Got it!

    2. And that would give us a wealthier England, too, given the saving of the additional £1,550 per head we wouldn’t be shovelling up any more to those ungrateful barstewards north of the border. Once upon a time I was against Scottish Independence, but now I can’t wait to see it happen. We would also see the back of the likes of Blackford the Windbag, thus solving the West Lothian question once and for all.

  11. At the BBC, impartiality is precious. We will protect it. Wed 4 Dec 2019.

    Conspiracy theories are much in vogue these days. But we are a large organisation that employs thousands of independently minded journalists. Our editors employ their judgments on their own programmes for their own audiences. These aren’t the ideal conditions for a conspiracy. And we would be particularly inept conspirators were we to produce and broadcast a two-hour leaders’ special debate – a debate in which the prime minister was robustly challenged by the public – run highlights of it on our evening bulletins, cover it in full online and yet rely on a clumsy one-second edit in a short news summary the next day as a means to convey our supposed support for the governing party.

    What’s remarkable about this piece is the number of strawmen it throws up. In fact there are so many it suggests that the accusations are true and that the author knows it or else why go to such lengths of dissimulation? There is in the whole thing an undercurrent of contempt for the viewer, a resentment that she is being required to account to the hoi polloi for their ridiculous suspicions. The one above is typical. No one so far as I am aware has suggested that the BBC is engaged in a Goebellesque plot to control its output by overriding any personal inclinations its editors may have. Aside from the certainty that such a program would be leaked it doesn’t need to! When these people are employed their political inclinations are noted. They are not going to stray from the Cultural Marxist path any more than the staff of Izvestia deviated from Marxist Leninism. There is also the nature of impartiality itself. Impartiality is not in the realm of possessions. It is not something you have. It is something you are! Like mercy It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven and cannot be protected any more than decency or generosity. You either have these qualities or you do not and if the main broadcaster lacks them in its activities there is little possibility of seeing the truth in its output!

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/04/bbc-impartiality-precious-protect-election-coverage

    1. Yo JB

      compartmentalization.

      Surely we are entitled to rooms, or do you prefer the school dorm/barrack room approach

      I draw the line at those with dangly bitz and those with floppies sharing any sort of room now. (I think this will soon be LGBTQetc law)

  15. Morning all

    SIR – Why is Labour targeting young voters? Could it be that it knows the young don’t recall the misery and economic weakness of the Sixties, Seventies and early Eighties, when our nation was gripped by strikes?

    Ask the decent, hardworking passengers of South Western Railway, whose quality of life has been affected by the current strikes – in the coldest and darkest time of the year.

    Labour is promoting a return to secondary strike actions, meaning the United Kingdom could again be brought to a standstill.

    Are the Labour-backed SWR strikes a precursor of things to come?

    Adrian Butcher

    Winchester, Hampshire

    Tony Blair: Labour government would ‘pose a risk’ to UK | General Election 2019

    h

    SIR – With the strike stretching past Christmas, causing thousands misery, is it not time that the Government acted to protect the passengers affected, by passing laws to enable them to sue the unions for damages?

    Malcolm Richman

    Lytham St Annes, Lancashire

    SIR – If the railways were renationalised, this unnecessary strike action by the RMT would probably not be going ahead.

    Yesterday, two students I know had an inset day at school, so they walked into Shepperton to take a train to Kingston upon Thames.

    They found the station closed with a sign saying “No trains until 2020”. That’s AD 2020, not twenty past eight at night.

    Roderick Archer

    Weybridge, Surrey

    1. ” If the railways were renationalised, this unnecessary strike action by the RMT would probably not be going ahead.”

      No, Woderwick, it would be the whole National Rail Network that’d be on strike.

      Morning, Epi, there are some daft correspondents about these days.

      1. They would have agreed with the RMT to have a second driver on board and a guard in every carriage and a 4 day week with no weekend working will unless they got triple pay and a day off

    2. They are keen on under 35′ as they have zero understanding of economics and live in a dream world where they think they can have whatever they want. It is a good part of the reason most are in debt. They will happily spend £20,000 on a wedding and then complain they cannot afford to buy a house

      1. Who then saddled them with a great pile of debt the moment they leave college? By the time they go anywhere to paying that off, they’ll be taking out a mortgage. That will take them to retirement, after which the value of their home will go in care costs and Council Tax, and it’s back to maxing out the credit card.

        These people have as much prospect of paying off their debts as we have getting the budget deficit down to ten figures. Why not just get savers to pay for it all? The Bank of England approves after all, doesn’t it?

        1. Because someone has to pay for it and they are the ones benefiting and even then their education is still being part subsidized

  16. Absurd letter of the day.

    SIR – Climate change is a global problem and we in Britain are sheltered from most of its disastrous effects, already evident in developing countries, which can do little or nothing to protect themselves. But if we are serious about it, we should be setting much more ambitious targets.

    First, every company in the world should be obliged to contribute 50 per cent of its profit after tax for the next 10 years to a fund to tackle climate change and help developing countries achieve the UN’s 17 global sustainable development goals for 2030, to which every country has signed up.

    Secondly, there should be an immediate halt to all tourist air travel, with the negative impact on developing countries offset by funds taken from these contributions.

    Mike Tyler

    Worthing, West Sussex

    1. SIR – Is it not perverse that 25,000 people have travelled to Spain for the COP25 climate summit? What has become of the call for us all to reduce our personal carbon footprint?

      Thomas Le Cocq

      Batcombe, Somerset

      1. Trouble is they do it with untempered enthusiasm every year or so followed in their private aircraft by some adolescent high priestess in a boat. All good fun and profitable too.

    2. Such a pity, that they have closed all the ‘Lunatic Asylums’

      Mr Tyler would have been guaranteed a bed

      1. One or two BTL are wondering if he is being ironic? Trouble is it’s too near the truth to be a recognisable spoof.

    3. Where do they find these idiots . Where exactly are these developing countries that are suffering from climate change? This person also has zero understanding of economics. Perhaps he should donate 50% of hi s take home pay or benefits towards climate change

      Giving 40% of a companies profits to climate change would bankrupt them and any finance would dry up as well who is going to invest in a company for a negative return ?

    4. I’m wondering what Mr Tyler’s opinion is on the massive increase in population the UK has seen this century? Millions more people have led to a larger and continually growing carbon footprint that becomes more and more difficult to control.
      If Mr Tyler wants to impose draconian restrictions on the UK i.e. the cessation of tourist air travel, what does he propose for developing countries that generally have burgeoning populations: or is that Ok as it’s their culture?

      1. You can see the impact high population densities have i n London. London will nearly always be 1 or 2 Deg C warmer than the surrounding areas

    5. There are comments on his letter. Roughly speaking, the writers don’t agree with Mike.
      Morning, Epidermoid.

    6. Now, if I could only get his number, I have a legacy sitting in a Nigerian bank to share with Mr T.

  17. SIR – I was once called to visit a deaf old lady, living alone. I found both the front and back door of her bungalow locked and received no response to my knocking and ringing the bell.

    I peered through the window of her sitting room and saw her in an armchair, reading the paper. Hammering on the window brought no response. I circled the house looking for a loose window and found one at last in the bathroom. Prising the sash up, I managed to squeeze through – but as I did so the sill gave way and I fell into the bath which, thankfully, was empty. As I struggled to get to my feet the door flew open and the old lady rushed in and hit me on the head with her rolled-up newspaper.

    Life for the GP would be dull indeed without home visits (Letters, November 29).

    Dr E J Williams

    Winfarthing, Norfolk

  18. Report last night about my local PFI Special Measures Exciting Investment Opportunity (aka “county hospital”) which left someone for an hour on an ambulance after a heart attack. He went into cardiac arrest and died. Normally he would at least have been put on a trolley by then awaiting triage.

    The manager responsible said he would look into it. Meanwhile, emergency units in Redditch and Kidderminster were closed to help provide money for PFI payments, and the money raised from the sale of the old hospital sites in the city went towards what really matters to the executive – his renumeration package.

    We choose to reward these people. Tories love their go-getting attitude, and Labour will just borrow more to keep them in money. Lib Dems will stop Brexit.

    How should I vote on 12th December?

      1. The Green Party candidate is a Falklands War veteran, but I’ve heard very little from him during this campaign. Because he identifies as a man, they’re keeping very quiet about him.

  21. General Election Prediction (Electoral Calculus) They use a basket of the main polls to come up with a prediction. This one i dated 30th November

    Con 342
    Lab 226
    Lib 15
    Brexit 0
    Green 1
    SNP 44
    PC 4
    SF 7
    Allience 3

    1. Morning Rik,
      Operating successfully already courtesy of PC / Appeasementism as
      practised by the lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration coalition party, supporters / voters.

  23. Morning, Campers.

    Philip Johnston in the DT:

    Donald Trump doesn’t want to buy the NHS because it isn’t very good

    How dare he! How dare Donald Trump come over here and say he won’t buy our NHS even if it were presented to him on a silver platter. Does he not know it’s the envy of the world? It would be cheap at half the price.

    Of course, we don’t want him to buy the NHS at all; but he could at least have the good grace to say that he wished to get his mitts on it so that the Left can scream abuse at him and his chief fence Boris Johnson. Now all they can do is attack him for being rude about it. Typical Trump. He can’t even be relied upon to play his role as demon-in-chief properly.

    But do we trust him? After all, we know that the Americans have been trying to make the NHS part of a possible trade deal with the UK because “secret” documents have conveniently fallen into Labour’s hands proving as much. Except it now turns out that this leaked dossier flourished with such alacrity at a news conference last week might have been supplied as part of a Russian social media disinformation campaign.

    Oh, the irony. Students of electoral history will know of the letter which appeared towards the end of the 1924 campaign purporting to have been sent by Grigory Zinoviev, chairman of the Soviet Comintern and Politburo member, to the British Communist Party.

    It ordered the comrades to manipulate the Labour Party, at the time in minority government, to make it more amenable to Soviet aims. The letter was leaked to the Daily Mail and Labour was hammered at the polls, though they would have lost any way. Many historians now believe it to have been a forgery though one new book argues it was genuine.

    Almost 100 years on, Labour was so desperate to demonstrate that the Tories were planning to dismantle the NHS and ship it off to America that they grabbed at any passing document without checking its provenance.

    All the US wants out of the NHS is the ability to sell drugs into our market. The system itself does not work well enough to be replicated in America even if their own is deeply flawed. The NHS is underfunded because it relies almost entirely on taxes and is therefore competing against other public spending. It is a nationalised industry with all the inefficiencies that implies – overly bureaucratic, unresponsive to demand and slow to change and adapt.

    The political parties, including the Conservatives, are so in thrall to its innate virtues that they dare not question the way it is run or funded other than at the peripheries. They are reduced to a sterile and expensive – to us – argument over who can shovel the most money into a ravenous beast that would not be satisfied if the entirety of GDP was spent on it.

    Sometimes, we should stop and ask whether something that costs so much and is so central to our national story that it featured in the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony is actually in need of some fundamental surgery of its own.

    Take, for instance, the gatekeepers of the NHS – the general practitioners. They act as the rationers of its clinical care by filtering out those who don’t need to go any further. Except they can no longer cope with the pressures brought about by rising demand from a growing and ageing population.

    That is the view of no less an authority than Prof Martin Marshall, the new head of the Royal College of GPs. He told this newspaper that he now considered the job of the GP to be “undoable”. To which I say as a consumer of healthcare: let’s do it differently in that case rather than just plough on to disaster.

    Even if the various election pledges to train thousands more GPs ever prove to be worth more than the paper they are written on, the extra numbers would still not be enough because the way doctors work has changed. Many are part-time, do not work at weekends and don’t want to carry out home visits. Research by The King’s Fund, which polled 840 trainee doctors found that just one in 20 planned to be working full time as a GP within a decade of qualifying, with most intending to work between one and a half and three days a week.

    We cannot shut our eyes to this and yet we do. You will struggle to find the structures of the NHS discussed in this election campaign or openly questioned in the NHS itself. Last year, the director of primary care for NHS England, Dr Arvind Madan, was forced to resign because he questioned the role of family doctors in comments posted on a medical website anonymously under the pseudonym Devil’s Advocate.

    These included such heresies as “we GPs can get a six figure salaries for working 4 days a week, 45 weeks a year”. In response to a story that 450 GP practices had closed down in recent years, Dr Madan said: “Let’s face it. There are probably too many small practices out there struggling to do everything you would want for your family in an era of modern general practice”.

    For these enormities, the British Medical Association demanded action “after his damaging comments caused significant anger amongst the professions at a time when GPs require support from NHS England”. Dr Madan duly resigned with the abject grovel now required of anyone who tells uncomfortable truths: “I would like to apologise unreservedly to those who have been upset.”

    But why was anyone upset; and even if they were is that a reason to shut down debate? Dr Madan added: “It was never my intention to cause offence but rather to provoke a more balanced discussion about contentious issues.”

    Good luck with that. Where the NHS is concerned, trying to get a balanced discussion is like questioning the existence of God in 15th century Spain and hoping to avoid the Inquisition. The modern version of being burned at the stake is to be outed on Twitter and then pilloried on social media until recantation and, inevitably, resignation follow.

    There is a case for charging for GP visits. There is certainly an argument to let pharmacists, physiotherapists and nurses take over some of the tasks now entrusted to family doctors. There is a debate to be had over whether a system unchanged since 1948 might usefully be reformed. But how will we ever know if it remains the Great Untouchable, even to Donald Trump?

    1. Morning Anne,
      All this mistrust currently circulating
      well past time methinks to start trusting ourselves in once again running a successful nation.

    2. The broadcast reception licence started in 1923. And that too, with the exception of the addition of TV at higher cost, has remained unchanged since then. It too appears untouchable.

    3. What protection does any arrangement offer against profiteering on a huge and bloated scale – a £5 drug sold to the taxpayer for over £200, for example?

      There is no fair competition in the NHS Drugs Tariff, nor in any trade deal based on it, and enforced by American corporate lawyers.

      1. There is a lot of misinformation over what the NHS pays for drugs. The media usually confuse cost and standard pricing

        1. My local surgery is not the media though.

          Cost of 100 x 25mg Trimipramine (Surmontil) in a High Street pharmacist in Flensburg, Germany: €16.85.

          Standard pricing of 28 x 25mg Trimipramine (Surmontil), according to the NHS Drugs Tariff, agreed with the pharmaceutical lobby and charged to my local NHS doctor: £220.

          Are you telling me the media is confusing the difference? They refuse to report it.

          1. The NHS should be paying the cost price plus a profit margin for the drug company. Standard costs vary I am not sure if or how the NHS calculated it normally the standard costs picks up the procurement costs. In the NHS though I dont think Pharmacies are private so presumably they buy the drugs themselves but you will have the GP costs and pharmacy costs on top

          2. I agree. A fair rule of thumb is to price at a 100% markup, so a £5 drug should retail at £10, not £200.

    4. When did ‘it would be cheap at half the price’ replace the proper ‘cheap at twice the price’ in common parlance?

        1. In this case he might have been. There’s just no way of telling, so if it was a joke it was a pretty weak one, since the world has forgotten the original for comparison and the original would have been better.

        2. In this case he might have been. There’s just no way of telling, so if it was a joke it was a pretty weak one, since the world has forgotten the original for comparison and the original would have been better.

      2. The NH needs to control the growing practice of GP’ working part time and not wanting to work other than 9am to 5pm Mondays to Fridays

      3. At least 50 years ago – I remember it in my student days & have always queried the logic.

        1. I first heard it said then too, but it was usually by someone who knew the correct use, and was just having a laugh.

          Now in the Idiocracy the wrong one has taken over and the original is teetering on extinction.

          (Don’t) Send for Greta.

          3. Yes.
            I have always thought of that one as an issue of quality control!

            My M-i-L often comes out with:
            “Did you think I came up the canal on a bicycle?”

            when someone states the obvious.

      4. Used to hear “Cheap at Half the Price” in the ’70s round Maidstone.
        I’ve always thought it as stupid a saying as “Having you cake and eat it” for after all, what’s the point of having a cake if you can’t eat it??

    1. Quite agreed Uncle B – Labour could certainly change our fortunes! The Mirror headline is even worse – they reckon Labour could put over £6K in “our pockets” – presumably only after removing £20K from the other pocket?

  25. Good morning all. Maybe a tad late …

    ” SIR – I have a walnut and two hazelnut trees in my garden, all grown by me from nuts. Very satisfying.
    Jacqueline Davies
    Faversham,

    At last … a use for politicians.

    1. I keep putting bird seed on my lawn, but,as yet,no birds have hatched.
      Is this climate change or Brexit?

    2. When are they going to ban the selling of Douglas Murray’s book ‘The Strange Death of Europe‘ and destroy any copies of it that they can find.

  27. How Russia WON ‘disinformation war’ waged after Salisbury Novichok attack by flooding social media with fake news accounts of what happened which were shared far MORE than the official version. Mail. 3 December 2019.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/20b59b68aaf714cb41f6f41cbbe5075096378ecee26f8f7437eff71ad3a77bd3.png

    Judging by the top post it looks like truth won for a change!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7752389/How-Russia-WON-disinformation-war-waged-Salisbury-Novichok-attack.html#comments

    4. I wonder what his white wife and his mixed race children make of the fact that he seems to loathe all white people? Maybe she should divorce him so that he can marry Diane Abbott who shares his views on race.

  31. I see clog the negative is on the negativity trail again
    I do hope he is muzzled because I believe a bite from such a creature does incur multiple stomach injections.

    1. Yes , a human bite can be just as nasty as a dog bite, I suspect the poor policeman will be given an anti tetanus jab .

      Bites are a nasty business.

      1. Morning TB,
        Especially from old clogs, what triggers them is they have nothing really to say, sad really but no problem, I only hope the creature is muzzled.

  32. The son of Diane Abbott, the Shadow Home Secretary, has been arrested for biting a police officer on Whitehall on Friday. He was charged in Westminster magistrates court yesterday. Cambridge-educated James was bailed over to appear in Central London magistrates court in February.

    The incident happened outside the Foreign Office from where he was sacked from his Rome Embassy job in June. More to follow…

    UPDATE: Guido understands Abbott has pulled out of a TV Debate tomorrow. She has been subbed in for by Shadow Policing Minister, Louise Haigh.

    https://order-order.com/2019/12/03/james-abbott-charged-biting-police-officer/

    2. James Abbott’s biting of the policeman, while unfortunate, was nothing more than a result of his rich African heritage. Anybody who says different is a racist bigot.

      It happened at lunchtime and the poor chap was feeling a wee bit peckish. If you accost a hungry black, of course he’ll bite, ‘long-pig’ is a staple of the African diet and a valuable source of protein.

      Perhaps next time his mother will ensure he has a proper packed lunch.

      1. “The officer’s fingers smelt of fried chicken”
        “Everything after that ia a blank”……………….

      2. Good morning DM

        Research conducted has identified that adults bite may be a manifestation of a broader, long-term pattern of misbehaviour that involves other of aggression, hitting, bullying, shouting, physical fighting and is common to people with particularly hot tempers .

    3. Curious about the “sacking” I googled it,no details to be found on the first page
      Perhaps Mummy was more successful at gagging the press that time………………

  33. Brendan O’Neil

    “Tragically, however, Mr Merritt’s pain has been politicised and even

    weaponised by the media elite. It has been used as a battering ram

    against Boris Johnson,

    the tabloid newspapers, and anyone who thinks terrorists should be

    dealt with more harshly. This has propelled a father’s mourning into the

    ugly realm of political contestation and effectively dared people to

    question it.

    Corbynistas, columnists and others are now using Mr Merritt’s grief

    as a trump card in debates about how to deal with terrorism. They are

    marshalling his pain and his opinion to heap shame on Boris Johnson and

    to continue their ceaseless elitist war against the tabloid newspapers.”

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/12/03/the-politics-of-grief/
    What Brendan is not saying is that all of this is happening with Mr Merrit Senior’s enthusiastic cooperation,it appears his Leftard ideology is far more important than the death of his son

    1. His son’s body was barely cold.
      The senior Merritt seem to be characters straight out the Lenin playbook.

        1. Most academics are highly intelligent but lack any common sense and have no real business experience which is why so many come out will silly statements and claims

          2. How is your business going since you retired from HMRC? Have you now developed a more tolerant attitude towards those who set up their own businesses and become self-employed?

    2. I have posted this before but in the middle of the night so, if peddy will excuse me, I shall make the same point again.

      Gordon Wilson’s daughter was murdered by the IRA. He forgave them for their heinous crime and became a prominent worker for peace – but the killers never repented and took him for an idiot and showered him with contempt. Finally he very sadly came to the conclusion that trying to talk to the terrorists was a complete waste of time.

  34. Labour’s Ben Bradshaw claims he was target of Russian cyber-attack. Luke Harding. 3 December 2019.

    Bradshaw – who has repeatedly raised the subject of Kremlin interference in British politics, including in the EU referendum – received the email at his election gmail address. The sender – “Andrei” – claimed he was a whistleblower from inside Vladimir Putin’s presidential administration.

    It’s Vlad taking the piss isn’t it?

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/03/labours-ben-bradshaw-claims-he-was-targeted-in-russian-cyber-attack

    1. I believe that the US has a greater GDP than the whole of the EU combined and that without the UK it is doubtful whether the EU will catch up without a major recession.
      Those tinpot political pygmies should give the POTUS, however much they might dislike him, a lot more respect.

      1. The EU’s share of world trade in spite of expansion is falling fast so most of the UK’s political parties want to lock u in to a shrinking market

        1. So why are we staying aboard the sinking ship?

          The referendum offered us a sound lifeboat but our traitors have drilled holes in it.

          2. So why are we staying aboard the sinking ship?

            Only those politicians advocating staying and integrating ever more closely can answer that. They never seem capable of giving a truthful and compelling answer why they want closer union and more rule taking, only that it’s the economy and we should be partners with our near neighbours. We know that both of those reasons are specious but is appears to be all that they’ve got in their armoury.
            We can only speculate why Heath lied and withheld pertinent information from the electorate to take us in and Wilson ditto, to keep us in; why Thatcher was removed when she finally concluded that a fully integrated EEC/EU was not conducive to the UK’s well-being both economically and socially.
            Since Thatcher we’ve had determined EU federalists/globalists at the helm and we remain with those people doing their best to stop us leaving but will not give any clear evidence why, for if they admitted their federalist/globalist credentials they would never be elected.
            How can we trust politicians who state that they respect the result of the 2016 referendum and then actively work to deny the electorate their due or the other brand who claim to be working to honour the result but who negotiate “deals” more onerous than staying in, for the moment that is. It’s clear the apparatchiks have many plans to destroy Europe as it is currently constituted.

        2. Bill, the EU’s expansion plans include those powerhouse economies in the Balkans and the Ukraine, the latter being within Putin’s sphere of influence – not a good idea to pursue. Future ideas to bring many MENA countries in to the fold are beyond stupidity but it won’t stop the globalists in Brussels from trying.

    2. Boris Johnson of full of bluster but he is NOT a leader.

      If the others decide to deride Trump and rubbish him then Johnson will follow and join in.

      Anybody who has worked as a teacher will know that there are weak people who will turn against their friends and join the bullies rather than do what is right. Trump is potentially far more important to Britain and a far more reliable friend that Macron and co will ever be. Johnson is not only a sheep he is completely blind to Britain’s best self-interest.

      1. Over our treatment of the Kurds, we have a good illustration of the dilemma between what is right and what is expedient.

        Agreeing with Macron is right, but agreeing with Trump is expedient.

        We thus set our morality, and are judged accordingly.

        P.S. It was the French who gave the green light for the N*zi expansion into Western Europe, and the Americans who put their own necks on the line reversing it, eventually. Trump is right in one matter – if Macron wants to follow through with what is right over helping the Kurds against Erdogan’s terrorism, they need to back it up with raising taxes in France to pay for it. I do believe the British are already doing so, but I am willing to stand corrected.

      1. Am I the only one who ‘defaces’ signs and poster with a pen inserting missing apostrophes? If I had a pot of Tippex to hand, I’d remove unnecessary ones as well.

    1. I read a short story, set in France. An old pensioner received his pension in the form of a cheque book and he had to leave his village, which was well-off the beaten track, to go to the small town bank to cash the cheque. As he was illiterate, as were his fellow villagers, he signed the cheques with his thumb print. Each month he made the trek and received cash. This went on for years. the insurance company decide to check up on the old boy and send someone to the village. After much question g and poking about, the insurance representative discovered that the old boy had been dead for some time. The villagers had cut off his thumb and continued to draw the pension.
      Can someone reassure me, and other potential users of this bizarre idea, that Bulgarians and Albanians won’t cut off our thumbs before we are dead in order to go on shopping sprees?

      1. With our generous benefits system, they have no need when there are ten alleged sprogs back home claiming child benefit.

      3. I’m told, but cannot verify it, that the fingerprint reading technologies used in today phones requires a live finger (i.e. one that is at body temperature). What cannot be stopped though is someone stronger than you forcing your finger on to the pad.

  39. Jeremy Corbyn on the offensive over Donald Trump’s plans for NHS

    Corbyn trying to rabble rouse again. Trump has no plans for the NHS how can he for starters,. Her has no say in how it is run

    Yes there is a trade discussion paper . The NHS hardly gets a mention in the several hundred page document. There is a brief mention of access to bid for NHS contracts which is not unreasonable as under the EU the US can bid for NHS contract. It does not mean the NHS is forced to accept any contract

    At present as well there ill be annual pricing negotiations between the NHS and the US drug companies that all a part of normal trade

    He raises concerns that the talks were Commercial and in Confidence but again that is normal in negotiations and in particular pricing negotiations

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/jeremy-corbyn-on-the-offensive-over-donald-trumps-plans-for-nhs/ar-BBXIK7v?ocid=spartandhp

      1. Corbyn and much of the NHS staff are just total daft. The US produces a lot of drugs and medical equipment and some of may not be able to be sourced from anywhere else but they dont seem to want the NHS to engage in negations. If they dont talk to them how exactly are they going to negotiate price and place orders?

        There Sara Woolston on the radio the other day demonstrating he had not a clue about the NHS other than perhaps medical matters, She went on about increased outsourcing by the NHS but there has been little change but there is nothing fundamentally wrong in outsourcing if they can do it better and at lower cost. She was flummoxed when someone pointed out the GP service weas outsourced and just waffled well it has always been

    1. Always had a soft spot for Camel. Recently I was listening to their album “The Snow Goose” and wondered if anyone reads Paul Gallico anymore. I suppose the nearest anyone comes to him now is if they watch a rerun of “The Poseidon Adventure”.

        1. I know every generation thinks it has the best tunes but really the period 1965-1975 was remarkable for the music’s breadth and scope. It truly was a golden age. Now we have Drill music and Simon Cowell derivatives.

      2. I had the album and the Gallico story. I love Paul Gallico but haven’t read that much. The Snow Goose was an apposite interpretation, and ahead of its time, I thought.

    4. I believe she sent him to a private school with fees. Fat lot of good that did him. Perhaps she thought that paying oodles of dosh in addition to the portion of her taxes which pay for free education at normal schools was a way of saving money?

  43. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t-hRPaTAUeY

    Tucker Carlson on “Vulture capitalism”, at 22:35 minutes in, or how billionaire hedge fund owners are destroying America, by forcing successful companies to sell up, then asset-stripping them a shipping the businesses overseas.
    What this particular billionaire has been doing is illegal in this country, but although billionaires are not allowed to do that here, the EU will step in and bribe UK businesses to relocate instead…

    Plus:
    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/01/what-if-there-is-no-climate-emergency-2/
    What if there is no Climate Emergency ?

    Enjoy!

  45. As in a prior post abboties son, as with many politico’s are prone to ism’s, in his case cannibalism, as with old clog, really should be muzzled, not been seen consorting have they ?

    1. ogga1: You seem to have difficulty distinguishing between possessive apostrophes and (non-apostrophe) plurals.

      1. Afternoon EB,
        It is sad that it bothers you because it does not bother me in the least I can assure you.
        I got the basic three Rs under very difficult
        learning conditions, no complaints from me.

        I then became over time, a foremen overseas supervisor when the question was can you do it, and complete it on time.
        Working with many who would not recognise an apostrophe if it bit them on the @rse.
        More to the point many have difficultly in distinguishing between patriotism & treachery when entering the polling booth, have a go at sorting that one out, there is an awful lot of material out there.

          1. Evening EB,
            Are you ?
            Did you put your talents to solving why a multitude are still continuing with the same voting pattern that got us into & kept us in the sh!te for decades ?

          2. You and I both know the answer, ogga1. There is no intelligence test to entitle one to a vote, simply a requirement that one reach the age of 18 (16 if Labour, the LibDems and the SNP have their way). And once they reach such an age it is difficult if not impossible to educate them into reasoning instead of following their rigid biased views (Tories/Labour = Bad, Labour/Tories = Good). No wonder Winston Churchill referred to them as “the sheeple”.

          3. Morning EB,
            Agreed , there is no intelligence test to entitle one to vote, if there were lab/lib/con would have been out of power long ago.
            In my book also, buck passing (or ram in this case) bringing sheep into play is out of order
            the sheep are completely innocent & blameless, people are solely to blame.
            On that score, for once W S Churchill was wrong.

    3. Ah! I follow Imam Tawhidi on Facebook. He’s very good at finding and publicising these dreadful stories that the MSM won’t touch.

  53. I don’t usually bother to read election leaflets put through the door they usually go straight in the bin, had one from the Christian Peoples Alliance yesterday, had a look through and was surprised at the pledges in there, honour Brexit, support marriage and the family, protect unborn children, make tax fair, care for the poor and fight crime, seems like proper old fashioned Conservative values to me, who could argue against that? It just shows how far to the Left the three mainstream parties have gone, If I didn’t have a Brexit Party candidate standing I would have considered voting for them, even though I have a nasty Libdem MP that needs to get his marching orders.

    1. But but but…..
      It was an Abbott.

      Doubling the length of any sentence would make the sentence incomprehensible.

      Hell, the mother struggles with sentences of more than a few words.

  55. Why no one is celebrating 10 years of the Lisbon Treaty. Spiked. 4 December 2019.

    In the UK, the Labour government had promised a referendum on the EU Constitution in its 2005 manifesto. A planned vote was cancelled after the French and Dutch ‘No’ votes. When the Lisbon Treaty came around, the government refused to allow the public a say on it, even though it was undeniably the same as the constitution. Gordon Brown was clearly embarrassed by the debacle. He first sent his foreign secretary, David Miliband, to sign it in his place so that he wouldn’t be photographed signing it with the 26 other European leaders. He eventually turned up three hours later to sign it.

    Nice little reminder of the origins and nature of our problems with this evil entity.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/12/04/why-no-one-is-celebrating-10-years-of-the-lisbon-treaty/

    1. This reminds me of the fact that just as the EU Constitution and the Lisbon Treaty are virtually identical so is Johnson’s WA virtually identical to May’s.

      Brown tried to hide by not turning up to the public signing of the Lisbon Treaty; Boris Johnson is trying to hide by refusing to have any serious debate about the terms of his surrender WA.

      Will Johnson’s discussion on TV with Andrew Neil ever happen? I very much doubt it will.

      I am sure that Nigel Farage would be more than happy to discuss the Johnson WA in detail with Boris Johnson. Why would Johnson always refuse to do this if he was not fully aware of just how terrible it is?

    2. Who really wanted the Maastricht and Lisbon treaties… and all the progressive legislation Brits have endured since 1997 ?

      Just by innocent random coincidence, it all looks the sort of thing that guy with the £52,000,000 lobbying office half a mile from parliament,Whitehall and Downing Street would want.

      You know, that guy Tony and Dave were friendly with, and who gets a free pass into the European Commission anytime he wants. 72 times last year.

      Know who I mean ?

      1. I have no idea whom you mean. Perhaps you would be so good as to identify him or her?

  56. The NHS is yet again a political football

    The NHS is not up for sale nor are drug prices as such going to be discussed. Drug prices are agreed between a buyer and seller and are not set by trade deals

  58. Anyone else getting this pointless error message? I can’t post any replies.

    Just had to log in again.

    You must authenticate the user or provide author_name and author_email

      1. Chrome won’t work on my old laptop any more so I’m stuck with Firefox. Never used MS Edge or any other MS crap.

    1. Rik,
      The answer will be revealed on the 12th Dec.
      I think more of the same will be called for.
      The after whinge holds more power
      than reality.

    2. Morning Rik. Yes a country transformed from within by a Political Elite that hates its own people!

      1. Morning AS,
        Do we not yet acknowledge that there is something amiss
        in the selection of
        politico’s / parties.
        This daily political sh!te has not just come about it has intensified since the mid 70s on a daily basis, on entering / exiting one GE after tother.
        Change can be brought about
        by people power via the ballot booth if REALLY required.

  64. Oh dear abappopotamus junior has been arrest and charged is must be racist white police harassment

  67. Madrid -COP25

    What does science tell us about global emissions?

    “The small slowdown this year is really nothing to be overly enthusiastic about,” Rogelj said. “If no structural change underlies this slowdown than science tells us that emissions will simply gradually continue to increase on average.”

    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-climate-change-accord-carbon/growth-in-global-carbon-emissions-slowed-in-2019-report-idUKKBN1Y8029

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dd663b80ff9f46b660b21ee54e8aeed4e6d008d821daa1e2b0b06bbb17abfc48.jpg

    1. Science clearly tells us that a decrease is the same as an increase if it is an increase that is on our agenda.

    2. Would that some deluded Swedish boy awakens whatever hormones that silly girl has, letting lust become her monmania.

  69. You learn something new every day.
    A man charged with a string of offences carrying potential jails sentences of life imprisonment has decided not to go to court. I did not know that one had a choice.
    “A man on trial accused of a string of sex offences has declined to come to court and chosen not to give evidence.”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-50660331

    2. A risky strategy. They could hear the case in his absence of issue a warrant for his arrest assuming it is a criminal case

    3. The judge is right. Refusing to attend court shouldn’t count against him. However, refusing to give evidence can be used to infer his guilt, in the same that giving ‘no comment’ responses when interviewed by the Police.

    4. He’ll get let off. All he need do is to plead diversity.

      Now here’s a challenge for bored nottlers – we could fund our Disqus sub with a best seller Kama Sutra of Diverse Sexuality (legal or barely legal)… ok, interesting too…

      I’m working on 101 hot sex positions with my toaster.

    1. I fear that even if the Brexit Party held the balance of power in a hung Parliament, Parliament would still either vote through May Mk 2 or “negotiations” would continue.

      Our best hope is that the EU might say:
      “to Hell with this, goodbye, you’re out with no deal”,
      and that isn’t in their interests when the golden goose is still laying.

      1. Yes, there will be little wassailing this Christmas with the grim reality that our Quisling politicians have forced upon us. But a hung parliament is still the best hope for the future of our country. If the other parties do gang up to force this disastrous Withdrawal Agreement through, then they will be clearly shown up for what they are. Many of us see their true colours already and they are blue with stars on.

        Repeated paralysis and the inability to pass the deal could force the change that most of want to see, as a No-deal / WTO Brexit comes back onto the scene. But we need real Leave politicians to push that through, not the closet Remainers that we have now.

        As for the EU, they will never let us leave as long as we keep paying them money and keep our borders open. The longer we stay the more “new voters” arrive and the greater the chance that the EU will have to claw us back into their evolving police state.

        1. I am afraid you are completely right.

          ” ……If the other parties do gang up to force this disastrous Withdrawal Agreement through, then they will be clearly shown up for what they are.”

          But they know that we know what they are and they don’t give a toss.

          I used to be an optimistic chap who hoped that there were some honest and honourable, truthful politicians – but this optimism has been wiped out. Every time I have confidence in a politician over Brexit my confidence is shattered by his or her treachery. When Mrs May became prime minister I thought she was honest and honourable but she soon revealed herself to be a liar with no integrity or honesty and I now hold her in utter contempt. I then thought that Jacob Rees-Mogg, Steve Baker and Mark Francois could be trusted – what a naive idiot I was to think that. And now the bonking buffoon – to be honest I never really trusted him in the first place but he has now revealed himself to be the most treacherous, mendacious and repulsive of the lot of them.

          We are never going to leave the EU. We must accept that and accept the fact that we no longer live in a democracy and we shall soon not even have a vestige of free speech left. We were idealistic fools ever to think that we did. We are despised and loathed by the politicians and the MSM. A pox on the lot of them

          There ought to be bloodshed in the streets over this Brexit betrayal – but if there is any bloodshed it will not come from the white ethnic British but from other murderous people with an entirely different agenda who have already brought it to our streets and will continue to do so as nothing will be done to stop it.

          .

          2. These are not amenable to counter-pressure either as May demonstrated when she tried to enlist Labour to get her steaming WA through.

    2. Pat Condell is brilliant which is why he will never be invited to give his views in the MSM

        1. That the truth should be silent I had almost forgot.

          [Enobarbus: Antony and Cleopatra]

    1. Console yourself. They’ve allocated 10 minutes for the Christmas special weather in the middle of the day, so that at least should be exciting.

    3. This costs me £154.50 and I don’t even watch it! The Sherriff of Nottingham would be preferable to these gangsters!

      1. Dont worry next year will be better. They are going to revive the test card and show that all day but s it is Christmas they will put a bit of tinsel on it

    4. There is certainly no imagination there or even any attempt to put on a decent Christmas schedule. It just a case of drag out the old tired and worn programs from the archives . Who other than a few super fans want to see yet another repeat or Morcambe and Wise

    5. Nary a mention of LGBTism, Islamism, Global Warmingism, Veganism, Corbynism, selling the NHSism etcism

      What demographic do they expect to be watching this 5h1te

  73. NHS child safety boss investigated after mum wrongly accused of trying to murder disabled daughter

    Medical watchdogs are investigating the head of Child Protection Services for a scandal-hit health board after a mum was falsely accused of trying to murder her disabled daughter.

    Kirsteen Cooper was arrested and placed in a cell overnight, after staff at Royal Hospital for Children (RCH) in Glasgow wrongly alleged she had stolen blood from her daughter Baillie, 7, to make her anaemic.

    Medical watchdogs are now looking into a complaint lodged by Kirsteen regarding Wendy Mitchell, who has been Chief Nurse and Head of Child Protection Service at the troubled NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde since 2016.

    The health board was last month placed under special measures following the deaths of two children in 2017, at

    Charges against Kirsteen were dropped and she was completely vindicated at a Children’s Hearing last year.
    But the mum of three, 42 from Cambuslang, Glasgow, was forced to spend a night in a jail cell in July 2017 and was charged with attempted murder, a devastating allegation which made her suicidal.

    1. None of the new hospitals built in Scotland in the last three or four years are fit for purpose. There have been many deaths from infections from bird droppings and infected water supplies. The new Sick Kids in Edinburgh cannot open because of very serious flaws.
      The Scottish government has been far from open about this. So much so that they have been accused of a cover-up. Certainly the Health Boards failed to act on warnings and people subsequently died.

      1. IT does not seem to be confined just to Scotland similar issues have occurred in England but on a smaller scale

  74. Christmas Quiz –
    If you were allowed to murder just one person, which would you choose ? –
    Theresa May
    Jeremy Corbyn
    Grea Thunberg
    None of the above

    2. None, as far as I can tell they’re not intrinsically evil just very deluded, ill informed and unwilling to listen to reason, Antony Judas War Criminal B’stard Blair however – – – –

  75. One of the biggest challenges the UK faces is getting the self declared sick back to work

    Most jobs how are not physically demanding and many are not mentally demand so there is no reason why we should have so many people claiming they are unfit to work

      2. It is very bad form.

        However if you are trying to see who has up-voted one of your comments you can find out by up-voting yourself and then removong the up-vote.

        It is even worse form to down-vote a comment and then to be too cowardly to say you have done so.

        1. Proudly downvoted for a silly comment… There is nothing wrong with downvoting. That’s why the option is there.

          1. Well done for identifying yourself. Most down voters don’t do so.

            I am more than happy for down votes to be available to us but you fail to address the question I raise: why should up-voters be identifiable and yet down-voters may hide their identities?

            If I called you a racist bigot (which I am sure you are not) then you could debate the issue with me if you so wished. However you cannot debate an issue with a person whom you cannot identify.

            Are you, by any chance, thinking of going into politics?

    2. The hardest thing about returning to work, and enough to drive down anyone already weakened by a spell of unemployment is the futility of “actively seeking work” i.e. constant and relentless rejection often out of sheer prejudice and usually without any sense of fair play. Actually doing a day’s work is easy in comparison.

      It is self-perpetuating – the more one is rejected, the less fit mentally one is to be considered employable by those who prefer to cherry pick than to pick up down-and-outs.

      I lament the loss of the labour exchanges.

      1. I can sympathise with this point. I was laid off from my IT job just after the the 2008 crash. IT budgets dried up completely and IT work was next to impossible to find. I spent 18 months doggedly sending out CVs, cold calling companies etc. before finally landing a job with Aviva (the best employer for whom I’ve ever worked. I might add). I have never felt so worthless as I did in that period. Oh, and before someone says, I should have taken a job, any job – I had a Mortgage Protection Insurance policy (for a sizeable mortgage) which would have stopped paying had I taken a job, any job – so I was constrained by circumstances.

  77. Thanet headteacher reveals children are living without GPs and facing gang threat

    This is down to useless parent and not poverty. Until the issue of these water parents is addressed the problem will not be resolved

    A headteacher has revealed the challenges of helping children in one of the country’s poorest areas.
    Thanet headteacher Matthew spoke out on national radio about teachers washing pupils’ clothes, providing children with basic healthcare and helping them out of gangs.

    “We wash children’s clothes feed them breakfast, take them into hospital when we need to we fight with social services, the police when we need to. I’m not crticising those services they’re as stretched as we are. My view is education is a huge part of what we do but we have a responsibility to do the best for our kids.

      3. People who lose too much weight look far worse than they did when they were fatter. Look at Fatty Soames – he looks far worse now that he is not so fat.

        Julius Caesar had the right idea in being suspicious of lean and hungry-looking brooding men like Cassius. “Let me,” said Julius, “have men about me that are fat”.

  79. Police release CCTV images of attack on rabbi in north London. Wed 4 Dec 2019.

    Shomrim’s chairman, Rabbi Herschel Gluck, had accused police of dragging their feet over the incident.

    “When something like this happens, which has caused deep distress to the Jewish community, the police should pull out all the stops to deal with it in a suitable manner,” he said. “We hear a lot of very nice talk about being against hate crime and antisemitism but when it comes down to it we don’t see any appropriate action.”

    Wow! Join the club!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/04/police-release-cctv-footage-of-attack-on-rabbi-in-north-london

    1. Whoever called the police shouldn’t have said it was a Jew. They should have said he was a Muslim and they would have been round before you could say ” Jack Robinson ” and caught the guys in ten minutes flat.

      1. Actually they should have told them the perpetrators were white even though they aren’t. Something missing from the article!

    2. Shomrim, the area vigilantes?
      Try setting up white Christian vigilante neighbourhood watch patrol in Swindon.

    3. There has always been a lot of Hasidic Jews in that area they by the nature of their very strict interpretation of the religion tend to keep themselves to themselves and dont really integrate but they dont cause any trouble

      I remember one they want to create a private area in a public area to get round the rules of Saturday. It is one of these strange religious cheats to get around the rules as long as it is enclosed they claim it is ok. One boundary was the M1 another the East Coast Mainline., I cannot remember the third but they got stuck for the fourth and put a planning application to put a string of Telephone poles up

      Another one was a debate in a local paper about turning a light switch on on a Saturday, A Hasidic Jew got his non Jewish neighbor to turn it on and there were various views as to whether this was allowed or not. I would have thought the religious scripture would not mention light switch but then there is in my view not much logic to religions

        1. I’m not sure about ” cults “, but ” hypocrisy” should surely read ” insanity ” ?

  80. After many futile attempts to contact the Labour candidate for our constituency, I received a circular delivered with the post.
    I have now offered him my help to save his deposit if he confirms that he is in favour of Brexit.
    The circular is a beauty. For reasons beyond my ken I cannot upload images to Disqus.
    However, I can quote;
    “Scottish education, which gave me my chance in life, gets worse while our young peopel lose opportunities.”
    Ho, hum. Our Labour Candidate, Mr Ian Davidson, is a former MP in a Glasgow constituency.

  83. A day night in the life

    Tuesday being one of my three ‘pint nights’, I walked to town and to my first port of call.

    Oh no – Footie was on, it being a Sports bar.

    No way did I intend listening to well-paid characters on the box telling us what we could see for ourselves were we watching so I hopped it when I’d finished my pint.

    My second venue is the sister pub of the Tattooed Arms and was reasonably busy for mid week – and had music on. Let’s just say the folk in there won’t be at church this Sunday and that it’s a place where the unwary can get chucked out for not swearing. That said, I enjoyed it.

    Finally, and it being on my way home, I whizzed into Wetherspoon’s.

    I couldn’t see the character on an adjacent table but could hear him chunnering away on his mobile, or so I thought. Only after half an hour did I realise he had no mobile but was talking to himself and whoever was within earshot (just me, as it happened).

    A walk home, a thick wad of toast and off to bed after a pleasant evening in the real world (beats the telly hands down).

    1. I am indeed blessed with a lovely country pub just 10 minutes walk away (uphill). People from all walks of life frequent it and you just have to join the conversation that interests you the most. They have recently put a strange slot machine in there but no one uses it except the landlord and it’s silent. No TV, just live music on 2 nights and lots of lovely beer.

  84. At Rastus’s request, from a schoolmate of mine on Facebook. He lives in Portugal and has posted this:

    Greta Thunberg has landed, and so has her media Circus. She arrived in an “ecological”/yacht. Spain was going to send an electric car to take her to the summit. Until they realised it wouldn’t go that far! So now she’s leaving by train in the morning.
    So many contradictions!

    Edit: He also posted last night to say that, as it was flat calm, the boat had to use petrol power to get into harbour.

    1. She says, “We are angry, we are frustrated and it’s because of good reasons.
      If they want us to stop being angry, maybe they should stop making us angry.”
      The MSM and Eco-loons have turned her into a Jeanne d’Arc as she leads their Green army.

    2. So Rastus only asked you to re-post your schoolmate’s post so that he could upvote you?

      2. I see that many other Nottlers find Caroline’s post both amusing and apt. When she read it out to me I knew that many Nottlers would enjoy it.

    1. Sounds like a badly managed fund in general property is doing well bu retail is a bit of a sticky market but some is suitable for residential conversion

      Dont laugh though a number of daft councils have decided to invest in retail property. I suspect they will get their finger burnt or rather the local council tax payers will,. Retail property is a specialized market and not for the amateurs certainly mot some thing other than a small percentage to invest in

    2. On paper these funds appear to offer a high income but the they are also high risk so a number of the investments will fail so the returns are not as high s might see and this fund seems to have got itself in real trouble. Perhaps they were doing a Woodford and investing in unquoted companies . These are difficult to value and even more difficult to sell

  86. Hello again, lovely Nottlers!

    Sorry if this is repeat (I really don’t have the time nowadays to go into all posts, just the ones when I am in – whenever that is). Anyway, here is a bit of the best sense I have read for a long while:

    “OPEN LETTER – To whom it may concern
    Posted by Staff Writer | Dec 4, 2019 | Views & Letters | 8 |

    To whom it may concern:

    Maybe following the latest outrage London it is time to step back and think rationally about what is happening. First, this latest crime has, by some quirk of the English language been given a certain justification by calling it a “terrorist” incident, part of an on going war of a religious basis. It seems that a person, any person who happens to be going about their lawful business is somehow a target, an enemy, regardless of their race, colour, creed or religion. In other words these people go out to kill and maim, without any thought of who may be injured or worse.

    In many respects they are similar to the upper classes who used to go out on animal hunts, where the aim was to kill as many wild animals as possible, and some kudos gained for the ferocity and size of their prey. These days we accept that this was wrong, for may reasons we see it as an affront to civilised society, but when a “terrorist” does the same, because of what we see as some warped sense of justification we treat it, not as the crime of murder, but a death on the battlefield! Let us stop using “terror” when speaking of these crimes and call them what they are, murder, the most heinous of crimes.

    Time was, not so long ago, we had capital punishment for taking the life of another, with premeditated killing being the ultimate, and various lesser punishment for a death caused by “accident”, for example, a bar fight when a person dies when their head hits the floor, when “manslaughter” may be appropriate. However, the recent crime in London is murder, premeditated and callous. This was not murder to advance the perpetrator financially, to free themselves of a troublesome spouse, a police officer preventing another crime or whatever. No, this was a crime where the guilty party went out to kill, he did not care who, black, white, Muslim, Christian or Jew, male or female, child or adult, any living person would do so they could make their point whatever that was.

    Maybe, and I know that I am putting myself in the line of fire here, but it has to asked, is it not time to bring back the ultimate sanction for the most heinous of crimes, that of premeditated murder. I believe that the death penalty has a place in our modern society, but only for certain levels of crime. The killer who leaves his home with the intent of killing, with the means to do the crime, with a target in mind, and then carries out the act, without a moments hesitation, seemingly without remorse, indeed in some cases exalting at the moment of death, surely such a person has forfeited the normal rights in society and as such should be permanently removed from that society for the good of that society, and the only way that society can be sure that they will be safe from that person is to remove them from the planet.

    Jail is not the answer. Criminals do escape from prison, cases are reviewed, and release gained, early in the London Bridge killer’s case. Failure of the parole system let him go about his evil ways unfettered by the technical kit he was wearing, and the opinion that he was a reformed person, who keeping locked up served no purpose. Just ask the victims, rather the relatives, of those killed, if they believe that society was served by allowing dangerous people free to walk the streets. Obviously the conditions of his release had no bearing on what he planned to do, all he cared about was being free to commit his crime.

    Society has changed since the hangman laid down his noose for the last time. The Kray Twins, possibly the most vicious and notorious of the London gangland bosses had scruples. Without doubt they were guilty of many killings. “Mad” Frankie Frazer, one of the most prolific of gangland killers was proud of his record. Why, one may ask? Like the Krays and others, he never killed a member of the public, or a serving police officer (I may be wrong there), he only ever killed those who broke the rules of “Crimeland”, criminals who were well aware of what would happen if you broke the rules. If a petty criminal mugged a pensioner in their “manor”, that person was punished, the victim compensated by the Krays, and in the eyes of the bosses, the wrong righted. The rule was very simple, you do not mess with the public where the Krays ruled. When one of their people went away, their family were looked after, their children fed and rent paid, and when they came out, they would be met, provided with a suit and money to get them by, presumably until they were able to resume their nefarious ways, of which, no doubt, the Krays took their “cut”.

    But we are not talking about the internal punishment of organised crime, we are talking about a person who decided to go out and kill people. They did not care who, they did not kill to punish, or to make a political point, no they went out just to kill, safe in the knowledge that, even with a whole like tariff, they could be out in 16 years, providing they “showed remorse”, “changed their ways”, and kept out of trouble when in prison. As things stand, this man could be out of prison by as soon as about 2035/6, free once again to kill and maim without cause, except in his warped mind. He said, last time, that he had changed, but I doubt he will, so I believe that there is only one way that society can be sure that it is safe from him and those of like mind, who have killed in the past, and no doubt will kill again.

    For a killer of his ilk, there can be only one punishment that is certain to protect our future society, our children and their children yet to be born, and, unfortunately that is capital punishment. Unpalatable as we may find it, sometimes, we must set aside our laudable morality and act to protect society, not for the next decade or two, but for all time by removing these killers from the face of the planet to a place where they cannot return and wreak havoc again, because, should they live, they will find a way to continue their insidious work, killing and maiming the truly innocent.

    Respectfully, Jim Stanley”

    https://independencedaily.co.uk/open-letter-to-whom-it-may-concern/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=INDEPENDENCE+Daily+Newsletter1

      3. Well, the EU kind of does have a death penalty. Not for murderers, though. the death penalty has been applied at random to the many innocent people who have been killed as a result of the policies of the EU Gauleiters which have never been put to the vote of the people. Policies like allowing in millions of young male immigrants with no right to be here, either under local or international law.

      4. I believe that it forbids discussion in parliament on the topic but I do not have a reference. Regrettably, there are those who believe these killers are troubled souls and need saving.

        2. Evening KP,
          I believe they should be used in a no parole
          life means life manner
          and not as role models
          ie martyrs for follow on’s.
          I also believe their family & friends should be deported to stop any retaliation.

    3. One will hear the “martyr” argument against killing them. For me it doesn’t hold water.

      If it was up to me, in the case of the Islamists I would dress them in a pig’s skin and hang them and then cremate the residue. They would die and their bodies destroyed “unclean”.

    4. Evening HL,
      I asked last week was London safer when the Kray twins run their form of protection, I do believe it was far safer.
      Timothy Evans death surely stops justifying hanging, the hanging of a mentally damaged innocent should stop the return of the rope, forever.
      Make incarceration work, seemingly it
      is the inmates that run the penal system currently with token supervision.
      At this moment in time they, the felon,
      can do a life sentence standing on his head, the judge must give him another to get him back on his feet.
      Life means life, in the case of terrorists why would we wish to collude with their aims ? why would we want to make martyrs, role models for others following ?

      1. Never mind making them martyrs – if there are enough (and there are) and the punishment is meeted out consistently, they’ll learn.

        It’s strange – our hanging laws were abolished on the principle that if even one innocent person is hanged, that makes hanging itself abhorrent. But if letting murdering psychopaths out, even if most don’t kill (yet) is not one innocent life taken by one roper sufficient to bring hanging back for those that have been convicted, by the same token?

        1. HL,
          “Letting one psychopath out” hold up, I never
          supported / voted for a party that let these
          psychopaths in, initially and continued, every GE to let them in, and WILL continue to let them in judging by the past record of the mass uncontrolled immigration coalition
          supporters / voters.
          In a country of decency the hanging of Timothy Evans would put any thoughts of bringing back hanging far behind it.

  89. Telford sex abuse trial: Teachers ‘took no action over sex abuse rumours’

    Pretty typical of schools who try to hide these thing and bullying. There should be a legal reuirenment on schools to notify the Local Councils social services and the police

    A girl who was sold for sex has told a court no action was taken by teachers when rumours of her abuse circulated at her school.
    Giving evidence behind a curtain, she said they did not ask “if things were all right” when they heard rumours.
    The girl, now an adult, told Birmingham Crown Court she was traded to men in Telford for sex in the early 2000s.
    Mohammed Ali Sultan, Amjad Hussain, Shafiq Younas, Nazam Akhtar and Mohammad Rizwan deny wrongdoing.
    “I would get called names,” she said, after rumours spread at school that she was having sex with men.

    The trial previously heard how she had “lost count” of how many men she was forced to have sex with after being groomed when she was 12.
    Prosecutors said she was repeatedly raped on a dirty mattress above a takeaway and forced to perform sex acts in a churchyard.
    At school, “there used to be like actions, with their hand, hand by their mouth” suggesting sex acts she said, which “just made me keep it to myself even more”.

    2. These poor girls,they must pick their victims carefully,not one father,brother,cousin??
      Hundreds of cases,not one dead rapist,I suppose the message sent when the Sikh community took action,sentences of 9 years apiece for affray for protecting their children has sunk deep

  90. Clintons strikes deal to avoid pre-Christmas collapse

    This one takes some working out. They went into administration but are being sold back to the company that went into administration. If that works it sounds a nice way to write of the debt and come back without the debt. Sounds a bit of a dubious practice to me

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50656110

      1. Leaving by the front door with the debts and coming back in via the back door minus the debt. From memory this is not the first time Clintons have gone bust and I suspect it will not be the last time

    2. It happens all the time – business resurrected in the ownership of new companies. It’s a scam that has been around for at least 40 years, to my knowledge. Possibly a lot longer.

  91. Nicked

    It truly is a sad day when the two most likely outcomes of a UK general election are:

    1. A human golden retriever will sell out 17.4million people to an insidious foreign power.

    2. Hand to hand combat in the aisles of Aldi for the last tin of marrowfat peas.

  92. Another horrible abuse trial.
    Some points stand out. One of the accused had been convicted of similar crimes previously. The number on trial may be many less than the number of the guilty. The rule for justice in the UK is that the pimps may face trial, possibly, but the customers, who are all rapists, never do.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-50661932

    Operation Chalice was several years ago. It seems that justice is as slow as treacle.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-22379414

    1. A big problem is schools do not report these matters and try to cover them up and keep it within the school. The law should be changed to make i a legal duty to report these matters including bulling to the local council and police. There are plenty of instance where knifes have been bought in to schools (Not used) but the schools have failed to report it

      Mind you if it were pupils eating fast food after school they would be hot on the case

    2. “Justice” is a relative term. Under islam these men have done nothing wrong and, as can be seen by how many men are involved in all of these gangs, these rapists think that what they are doing is fine. Unlimited sex with the unbelievers women is a big pull for those “men” struggling in the Middle East and North Africa.

      Our politicians across Europe want these men to come here in as large numbers as possible, as fast as possible. So they are basically saying “Even if you get caught, we are not serious about punishing you, the sentences will be laughable and you’ll soon be out to do it again. In the meantime you will stay in an islamic holiday camp with lots of time for prayers, and free meals and lodgings for years without needing to work for it, as you would need to in your own countries.”

      All paid for by the stupid infidels taxes. Then they get to try to take over the country as well, so you can see the appeal from their end. Unlimited sex, food, warm rooms and the chance to attack the kuffar, compared to being cold and hungry in a desert town with only a young boy for companionship.

      1. So many of these bástards are relatively young men.

        Don’t imprison them, castrate them and deport them.
        If they claim to be “British”, go back to whichever generation it takes to find the family origin and send them there.

        If that country won’t accept them, kill them.

      2. Yes. This is part and parcel of islamic relationships with non muslims. As were the attacks on London Bridge and elsewhere. All approved by the q’ran. There is only one end to this, unless we take action.
        I don’t understand why the police took no action. Unless they were being paid to look the other way. No decent human being could learn of this without intervening, whether policeman or not.

  94. A weekend in Britain’s happiest town. 4 December 2019.

    And where, according to a survey of 22,000 people, is the happiest place to live in Britain. Surprisingly, the answer to all these questions is a prosperous market town in a Northumbrian river valley.

    Welcome to Hexham! Sitting high above the soft fields and meadows of the Tyne valley, dominated by its handsome abbey and leafy parks, and with a mix of independent shops and quirky tea-rooms, it doesn’t exactly set out to nab the tourists.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/59f80a1c02fc8d8c8b2fb49083cf3887bfcdaf956e0b2bbf0d1943ad60134108.png

    I’m sure it’s just coincidence like the high number of post deletions on this innocuous subject. lol!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/90b4a22cae22f2d2499465dff34a9c93654774128df6f74b510785128156ccaf.jpg

    I can remember when much of the UK looked like this. Ah the sorrow of it!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/england/northumberland/articles/hexham-what-to-see-do/

    3. It’s ‘sitting high’ above nothing. It’s in the bottom of the Tyne Valley and the river bisects the town. It’s 35m above sea level, 30 miles from the sea.

      The chipboard factory with its constantly smoking chimney is visible for miles around, giving anyone a landmark to identify the location of Hexham from afar. It’s one of those things that lets you know you’re nearly there, when you look our of the window of your return holiday flight as it turns on the approach to Newcastle International Airport and you see that long white plume from the chimney.

      I suppose it’s a nice enough place though.

      PS ‘Next door to Berwick’? Berwick is 55 miles due north as the crow flies, 80 miles and an hour-and-a-half by the quickest route, the A69 and the A1. Some ‘next door’!

  97. Off topic.

    Has anyone else suddenly found a red arrow, bottom right, that takes one back to the top of the screen?

    It can’t be a British Red Arrow, it’s far too slow.

  101. Night All

    https://twitter.com/DoggoDating/status/1201834771413962752

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e6a85b894f5e68d29d75643fa1d9965c6c0696b0df1561851e8748098c044e7b.gif

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/90641dac874658cbb2edcb09e6f8748c87343b2779b934c051d5ed87caf2eaa2.jpg

    https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/78623156_2666756110038581_7785637335156129792_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&_nc_ohc=mfr74IbhlgMAQlfLd2K5_yJe0nUZoWrLt1ZXAatbruGsTmwlfaLMrRq4Q&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-2.xx&oh=e68e7e6df1ac8d5727afc519aeed2090&oe=5E88986D

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/16cbd580186a247cc2a5e08f8436cc74b507e098ccad02bb2d694c12513dc544.gif

  102. On reflection could it be that the old clog is mentally
    challenged ?
    Strong signs of that when he/she/it down votes every post regardless of content, as the user name ogga 1 triggers his /her/its solo brain cell.

    1. Should be able to upload. If you have scammed it you may need to save it in low resolution there may be a size limit on uploaded graphics

  103. Former England fast bowler and popular Sky Sport presenter Bob Willis dies, aged 70

    How very sad.

    He was a magnificent player and a good chap by all accounts.

    I met him at the St Lucia cricket ground in Castries in 1985 when I was on my sabbatical year sailing across the Atlantic and back in my 30 foot sailing boat.

    He and Bob Cottam – another England fast bowler who used to be the cricket professional at the school where I used to teach – were managing the England Under 19 cricket team in a match against the Windward Islands. We were invited to continue watching the game from the pavilion where we were given more cold beers every time our glasses were empty.

  104. The Clinton Obama axis are now enlisting psychiatrists to rubbish Trump.

    The USA appears to be as sick as the UK in terms of its political elites’ allegiance to the Bilderbergers and Common Purpose.

  106. HAPPY HOUR

    Cornish accent is dying out because so many rich outsiders are moving to the area, language expert fears.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7753509/Cornish-accent-dying-rich-outsiders-moving-area.html#comments
    Good we need your money it’s pisspoor down here…
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a71eb92867ef47615c9bc8baa317c16c507ba4948f4623749503d27a00c35b59.jpg
    The Cornish accent made famous by TV drama Poldark is dying out as wealthy newcomers move to the county, an expert has warned.

    1. ’tis ‘andsome, me loverr

      I’d love to hear you sing ‘Little Eyes, I love You’ and ‘Going Up Camborne Hill Coming Down’

      Steve Tomlin, the father of one of my godsons, used to prop alongside Stack Stevens in the Pirates XV in the 1960’s. He also captained the UEA and UAU rugby teams. Recently he has worked for BBC Radio Cornwall commenting on the Pirates matches and has written some books about Cornish rugby. Proper Job!

        1. Steve knows Jethro well – they both played for the Pirates together.

          Jethro is surprisingly restrained in this clip and doesn’t talk about ‘giving the girls a portion’ and he does not mention his friend Pemberthy.

      1. “Oi arsked fer a tam o’shanter and they sold me dis. They called it playin’ a peaky blinder.”

    1. ♫ “When Muslim eyes are staring
      Sure, ’tis like the kiss of death
      In the lilt of Muslim laughter
      You can feel the Devil’s breath
      When Muslim hearts are angry
      It means trouble’s on the way
      With a bomb beneath the burqa
      Sure, they’ll steal your life away” ♫

  109. For those who support blood sports, Andrew Neil is scheduled to be interviewing Jo Swinson BBC1 7:30pm.

  113. Beware of Shopping at Sainsburys Online

    In there wisdom they have decided not to give the option of having the shopping packed bags so they just dump it in the dirty crated they uses. I have to reject have the shop because bleach and washing up liquid had leaked and contaminated it and thats without the problem of putting about a hundred items onto the floor risking damage to the carpet and then getting it to the Kitchen

    1. I’m afraid I find that one a wee bit difficult to understand, Bill.

      Even Google Translate doesn’t help ………..
      :¬(

  114. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bdd233ec6cbd3cb58bc4242c85506b4620a290b1da7ba78fe608fcb3d322a002.jpg

    We all have our problems to face. (Tom Baker was born to play that role.)

    This time of trying to get our politicians to be honest will be difficult. But if they keep blocking Brexit then our politicians will find it will become much more difficult for them than for us. If they are whining about abuse from the public now, then they are not going to enjoy the next few years at all.

  115. Yesterday was slightly fraught with anxiety .

    Our elderly ex Para friend lives in another village not far from here.. Just to remind you, if you remember that we gave him space in our home for 6 months nearly 2 years ago , whilst he recovered from pneumonia .. and of course when his old country tenanted farm cottage was condemned as unfit for habitation , Moh and I managed to put him forward for a lovely semi one bedroomed bungalow in a sheltered complex in the village where he was born a few miles up the road from where he had lived for over 50 years . He moved out of here July last year after a very long but enjoyable stay.

    When we assisted with the clearance of the old cottage , we persuaded old R to hand his guns in .. He had a hand gun and a shot gun .. .He had been an ace of the base marksman in his ex service days . During the clearance of his property , we found large dehydrated rat corpses under the settee and arm chairs , and smaller shapes probably mice or baby rats . He said he had sat in his armchair with the hand gun by his side .. taking pot shots at rats when they scuttled across his living room!

    Old R also has the most beautiful cat , a very fluffy large clever female cat .. who usually sat high above the cottage in the branches of an oak tree .. her eyes would glisten like an owls .. and when any one arrived at the cottage she would meow and rush down the tree and curl her body around your legs ..

    Her diet consisted of lizards , shrews , slow worms , young grass snakes , large moths , butterflies … and rats! We knew about the former , because of the stuff left in the crumbling porch .

    As old R is in his mid eighties , I collect his laundry , sort it out and return it clean , as well as his bed linen and towels .. Yesterday was bed change day .

    He is a bright happy sparky gentleman and a really great companion , and loves outings and walks with me and the dogs.

    Yesterday all his bungalow windows were open .. heating full on .. Why ?

    The cat had caught a rat and brought it indoors through the cat flap … R was frantically searching for it , regretting bitterly that he had given up his old handgun .

    Moh and I and R searched high and low for the rat .. the cat was asleep on a chair .. it was getting late , and very cold, windows open and no sign of the rat .

    Apols for such a long winded story .. I can only assume either the cat had killed the rat or the rat had jumped through the window back into the garden ..

    I hope we don’t have a repeat of the old cottage saga .. the rats there destroyed EVERYthing .. chewed through the electrics , the ceiling, the lot, oh yes clothes and a fine leather coat and handmade shoes.

    Rats are bigger than you can imagine, not quite Abbottamus size , probably McDonnell like in jaw form and whiskery like Corbyn ..

    The mystery is , rats, now that the weather is getting colder , they are everywhere in the countryside!

          1. Not bad, thank you. I am so happy to be unofficially retired! More on private or phone if you would like.

            And you?

          7. I thought OAP was first payable from birthday – ah of course, it’s in months as well now!

          8. Still cringing from the Jo Swinson car crash interview with Andrew Neil. She denies the Scots another referendum on independence but does not accept the result of the referendum on membership of the EU.

            I noticed she has a sort of Neanderthal forehead. Not a lot of space above the eye sockets to accommodate a brain.

            Everywhere we look we see morons posing as intellectuals. Thicko’s really do believe they know best.

            Edit: We had a rat in the kitchen ten years ago. It had gained access via a pumping chamber control cabinet lean to at one corner of the cottage where the oak plate was missing.

            I chased the rat around the kitchen until it eventually sought refuge under the door of the dishwasher. I opened the door slightly and felt resistance. I yanked the door down as hard as I possibly could, so hard in fact that the laminate front panel cracked and popped out. There was a trickle of blood and a wheezing sound. I fetched the tongs from the fireplace and grabbed the rat, took it to the closest window and dropped it outside.

            The following morning I went outside to find the enormous rat floating in a water bucket beneath an outside tap into which I had inadvertently dropped it.

            We have since engaged a Pest Control
            firm to place poison around the garden. Most rats around our village feed on chicken feed cast by the ‘Good Life’ eco types who keep chickens. Unfortunately the maize employed is the antidote to Warfarin, the main constituent in rat poison.

          12. Rats are clever and feisty and growl with fear!

            Not a pleasant experience to kill anything really, but they do carry Weil’s disease, not good for any of us especially dogs!

  116. HOW TO live longer: Is your birth month the healthy month?
    https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1213074/how-to-live-longer-birth-month-december-higher-survival-rate

    It’s well understood that diet and lifestyle plays a decisive role in determining life longevity. New research states being born in a certain month could mean you’re likely to live longer.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6540c40639e4b7c4b3e65892f61224ff30ed4a429d5fed230ac161c898ca716e.jpg

      1. December…Sagitarians are the luckiest.
        They usually get what they want and are almost always happy.

        1. August babies are best as they’re conceived at Christmas time, usually the result of an excess of alkyhol. This automatically ensures said offspring are cheerful souls. Hic.

          2. As I would have been conceived in December 1949 and although my memories of the event are naturally scant I suspect my genesis was initiated by a blend of barley wine and advocaat which might explain a few things

          1. Jan 2 is the worst day of the year for a birthday. I know….! There is a certain irony, it being the New Year, ’tis also the graveyard of the year.

  117. Just made the mistake of watching Mark Rylance on the C4 programme about his grandfather being a POW in a Japanese camp in Hong Kong – what a twát Rylance is (but I knew that before the programme) – lots of whining about “Empire” and the Japanese were able to whinge about fire bombing and the two A bombs as though that excused their bayoneting wounded soldiers, and he seemed very sympathetic with that view – ar$ehole that he is! I knew I shouldn’t have watched it!

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