Wednesday 4 January: This Conservative Government stands idly by while the health care system in Britain collapses

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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529 thoughts on “Wednesday 4 January: This Conservative Government stands idly by while the health care system in Britain collapses”

  3. Good Morrow, Gentlefolk. Here is today’s list:

    How to consolidate relationships

    I was sitting watching Match of the Day when the Mrs came into the lounge and says, “Fancy a shag, Babe?”
    I said, “After the football love”
    She said, “You do realise that you can record it?”
    I said, “Nice, you get the camcorder, I’ll come upstairs when the footy finishes”.

    My girlfriend has just asked me how many women I’ve shagged.
    I said, ‘I really don’t want to answer that love, you know I’ve had a past and I don’t want to upset you!’
    ‘C’mon’ she said, ‘I can handle it!’
    So I had to sit there and count them all, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, you, 10, 11, 12”

    A husband emerged from the bathroom clearly aroused and naked.
    As he leapt into bed his wife complained, as usual, “I’ve a headache!”
    “Perfect!” her husband exclaimed. “I was just in the bathroom powdering my penis with crushed aspirin.
    You can take it orally, or as a suppository, it’s up to you!”

    My Wife asked me to go to the Doctors about my Erection problem.
    She wasn’t pleased when I came back and gave her some Slimming Pills

    I was at a wedding reception.
    The DJ announced, “All the married men out there go and stand by the person who makes your life worth living”.
    The barman was crushed to death.

    My missus asked me to help her stop sucking her thumb, so I drew a cock on it.

    My wife was in the bathroom for hours getting ready to go out.
    When finally, the door swung open and she said, “Honestly, do I look fat in this?”
    I replied, “Yes love, but to be fair, it’s only a small bathroom.”

      1. Plenty, vw, they’ll appear all in good time. Not tomorrow’s, that’s Hindu marriage, but the day after.

  4. God morning everyone. I was going to have a rant about the article on photography and TFL but I won’t. Life is too short. Have a good day.

    Off to work. And I promise not to rant about the road closure to through traffic in the Hurlingham area (despite signs still advertising the road to Wandsworth – no, go round the corner and you will be tapped for a fine for breaching the road closure) or the one past the Houses of Parliament which I noticed for the first time yesterday afternoon.

    1. When they invent something that changes the world I’ll listen, until then, they really should shut up.

  5. Pro-Putin operatives in Germany work to turn Berlin against Ukraine

    In a square beneath the twin spires of Cologne’s gothic cathedral, around 2,000 protesters gathered in September to urge Germany’s government to break with the Western coalition backing Ukraine and make peace with Russia.

    “We must stop being vassals of the Americans,” right-wing German politician Markus Beisicht said from a makeshift stage on the back of a truck. The crowd clapped and waved Russian and German flags.

    A lean man in camouflage trousers stood at the side of the stage, obscured from the crowd by a tarpaulin. A few metres away, a burly man in dark sunglasses stood guard. The rally’s organisers did not welcome questions. Most declined to speak when approached by a Reuters reporter. One protester tried to persuade a police officer to arrest the reporter as a Ukrainian spy.

    The rally was just one of many occasions – online and on the streets – where people have clamoured that Berlin should reconsider its support for Ukraine. That message taps into deep connections between Germany and Russia, with several million Russian speakers living in Germany, a legacy of Soviet ties to Communist east Germany, and decades of German dependency on Russian gas.

    This might well be an answer to my comment yesterday about Germany! Though it is in Reuters and not the MSM. It’s basically a dissing of those seeking to get Germany out of the fix that is the Ukraine War by calling them Pro-Putin and associating it with the “Far Right”. This is, as they say, Standard Operating Procedure; though to have drawn this much attention the movement must be quite significant and have increased since the date of the rally. According to this, the audience are mere credulous dupes of these people, swallowing what they say like gannets outside a Skegness Fish and Chip shop.. The problem is of course that they haven’t actually said anything and if they had it certainly wouldn’t be in the MSM. The presence of the two men; assuming of course that it is true, is simply a way of discounting Herr Beisicht’s words through the process of association. There is no evidence given that he knows them, let alone works for them, and one imagines that if that had been suggested, an unholy Political War would have broken out.

    https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/ukraine-crisis-germany-influencers/

  6. Morning all.
    To the title:
    The Tories do not give a stuff about the NHS, they do not even fear losing an election. The Uniparty will persist whoever wins and faithful servants will be promised sinecures (whether or not they receive them is another matter).
    And if puplic health collapses further, only the wealthy will be able to afford it – as with the grammar schools. Not my Tory problem.

    1. Grabbed this from F/B from a Plymouth based doctor

      I’m an A&E reg with 9+ years experience in A&E both here and overseas. This morning was the first time EVER that I cried in my car after a shift.
      I was on nights over this New Years period, but New Year was not the issue, every shift is like this now.
      Where 5 years ago we had 50 patients in the department on handover at night, we now have 180. It used to be around 20 patients to see with a 1-2 hour wait for clinician, it’s now 60-70 with a 10 hour wait.

      People used to lose their minds if patients were coming up to 4 hour breaches. Last night 60% of the patients in A&E had been there for more than 12 hours, some for more than 40. Many I saw the night before, still in the same place when I came on.
      No triage or obs after 2 hours of arrival, no bloods or ECGs or gas for 4 hours. Regularly finding people in the waiting room after 4 hours with initial gases showing hyperkalamia or severe acidosis or hypoglycaemia.

      87 year olds coming in after falls sitting on chairs for 18 hours. Other elderly patients lying in their own urine for hours because there’s no staff, or even room to change them into something dry. As the reg in charge of the shift, Ive had (on multiple occasions) to help the sole nurse in the area change patients by holding a sheet around the bed because we have to do it in the middle of a corridor. People lying on the floor because there’s no chairs left, trolleys parked literally wherever we can put them.
      Things have been getting even worse for the last 3 months. 5 weeks I came home raging to my wife that people are sitting in their own piss for hours and it’s so inhumane. Now we’ve got to the point where people are actually dying. People who’ve been in A&E for 2-3 days,
      The media and public might blame the A&E nurses and doctors for this, but honestly what the fu*k are we meant to do with 180 people in a department built for 50. With 8 nurses rather than the MINIMUM staffing of 12. 1 or 2 nurses per area, giving meds, doing obs, trying to provide basic cares to 25-30 people, an absolute impossibility. And there’s less nurses every week, because honestly why would you put yourself through this day after day?
      Resus patients are quickly assessed and stepped down to make room for the next pre-alert, going to the area with those same poor nurses, already overstretched, now inheriting an severely unwell patient.
      We need to accept the truth, the NHS isn’t breaking, it’s broken. And the same bastards who broke it are doing reality TV shows and writing books about how they saved the NHS whilst refusing to increase nursing pay. We try and shovel shit with spoons whilst they pour it in with dump trucks

      The NHS as we knew it is dead, and it breaks my heart, because it’s a beautiful system. It shouldn’t be like this, and those of us who have been around for longer than 5 years know it wasn’t always like this.

      The public have no idea, they don’t really know how dangerous this all is. When they come in they’re horrified, but most of the population don’t know how bad it is. This could be their mum on a trolley for 17 hours, or their wife or son or daughter.
      I genuinely feel it’s now our responsibility to speak out. We don’t for fear that it will make our hospital look bad or harm our careers. But it’s not a hospital problem, it’s a national problem, and it’s a problem brought about by the politics of the people in power.

      We need to shine a light on what they’ve done, make the public so angry that they demand a change. Massive recruitment of nurses through a proper wage/paid uni/free parking/free Nando’s if that’s what it takes would be a start.

      If anyone has any idea how we could coordinate some kind of campaign to show the state of emergency departments in the UK right now please write a response, because I can’t work in this much longer, and more importantly I’m not sure the patients can survive it.
      Update this morning at 0827 Derriford A/e Plymouth
      115 patients in department
      33 still to be seen
      Current longest wait to see a doctor 940 minutes
      The staff must be on their knees.
      This Government should be ashamed 😡😡😡

      2. That is horrific. Successive governments say they are chucking more money at the NHS but that is not the answer.
        The need is for complete reform of this 1940’s model to bring it into the 21st century. This must be done while ignoring the cries of ‘privatisation’ from the useful idiots.
        I don’t think a government of any colour has the courage to do this.
        I look at the quality of our MPs/Ministers and I could weep.

        1. Of course, Delboy, it would relieve a certain amount of pressure over time if a law was passed stating that any individual
          must be resident in this country for 5 years before qualifying for benefits.

          1. That’d be a start, but it would mean leaving the ECHR, migration pact, ECJ. So even better!

            What does the department for health do? What does it really do? We don’t need it. A giant bureaucracy soaking up cash that is duplicated in trusts and quangos. Close it down.

      3. More pay isn’t going to help the situation. Free parking is fairly obvious.

        None of this addresses the elephant in the room: too many people. The last time I was in hospital the bed beside me had a drunk in it. The one next to him some foreigner who didn’t speak a word of English, with her daughter translating. In the other was a drug addict surrounded by plod.

        I went in thinking the operation would be carried out there and then, but no, it was just an appointment. The doc could have just written the letter to tell me – even that was a month after admission. So much time is wasted – three doctors asking you the same questions why have they not got my medical history, rather than relying on my tired brain at 3am? Why are they asking me the same things time after time?

        Yes, every government has failed the NHS but that’s because the department of health, NHS trusts and politicians all use it as a self aggrandising exercise. Want to make it work? Have it face the market. If that drunk was sent a bill every time she went in – even a small one – she’d stop using it.

        Money is not the problem. I know it sounds nice, saying we’ll give people more cash but when the exact same problems recur every single time it is endemic, not fixable by torrents of cash.

        1. I had a letter to tell me to ring the appointments department. When I did, I was shocked to find that it was only for me to decide which hospital I wanted to attend! They would contact me later. When I got a letter this morning, I thought it would be an appointment, but no! It was to let me know the results of my blood test had been sent to the hospital I requested and they would contact me with an appointment which would either be face to face or by telephone. Given that my GP has referred me for an endoscopy, I wonder how they will do that by telephone!

    2. I notice that of the six letters under the heading which criticises the Conservatives, only one accuses “elected governments” (presumably both left and right), and another one writes of the “catastrophic” decision by Labour to allow GPs to relinquish their 24-hour commitment. That latter letter does not mention how Labour, whether in government or opposition always accuses the Tories of wanting to privatise “our NHS”. So why is the Telegraph’s heading putting all the blame on the current government?

      1. I’m not convinced our government was elected. Certainly no one aside from the WEF voted for Sunak or Hunt. Labour use the NHS as a whipping post precisely because it is a massive source of Left wing, unionised workers. The NHS suits i perfectly: inefficient, no market, all public sector, completely within the power of officialdom, over run with managers enacting politicians stupidity… it’s ideal for Labour.

        No need to improve outcomes
        No wish or impetus to improve it
        No choice for the public
        An endless reason to hike taxes

        It’s a Left wing ideal!

    2. It is. After passing the winter solstice it is darker for longer in the morning, noticeable in January, and lighter for longer in the evenings compared with the equivalent point in the date pre-solstice, it is because of the way the earth tilts as it makes its journey around the sun.

  9. This Conservative Government stands idly by while the health care system in Britain collapses

    Correction – The Conservative government stands idly by while Britain collapses
    And so would Labour and the Lib Dems.

    1. I can picture a health minister of any party sitting astride the NHS, like Rip Torn in Dr Strangelove, as it plummets to earth.

      Here in the Socialist Republic of Nippystan, we have Scooter Boy proving to be equally useless in the position. I am unaware of which clown Dripford has appointed in Welsh Wales, but presume it is someone of a similar calibre.

        1. Kinetic rods from orbit would save on the bother of all that radiation and decontamination.

    2. The conservative government et al. strive to complete the total collapse of Britain.

      Yesterday’s comment, with video, re the proposed attack on pensions presages bad doings coming down the line.

      1. A comment from a commentator’s previous posting:

        A break-up of the UK, nationalisations, price and incomes policies, punitive wealth taxes and eventually a complete economic and financial meltdown and IMF bailout which I believe was always the intent. Create so much chaos and carnage that we’re forced to the IMF who stipulate that we must rejoin the EU under any conditions they offer, including adopting the euro.

        I imagine there might be some token vote offered where people are given the ‘choice’ of continued carnage or obliteration, with the state machine churning furiously to cause as much misery as possible throughout.

        The civil service and many MPs will rejoice, as this was always their intent. As soon as that happens all the problems will go away.

        I’d put money on it.

  10. Rishi Sunak drops plans for war on Whitehall red tape. 4 January 2023.

    Proposals were part of efforts under Liz Truss to ease burden on economy from civil servants’ excessive lawmaking.

    The War was fought long ago and Democratic Government lost. Truss forgot this and was ousted. Rishi has realised and accepted that along with the cabinet that they are mere figureheads.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/01/03/rishi-sunak-drops-plans-war-whitehall-red-tape/

    2. He’s not a figure head, he’s there to govern. After all the effort he went to back stabbing the verminous little whelp should do his damned job and bring the civil service to heel. If mandarins don’t do as you ask, when you ask, sack them.

  11. Rishi Sunak drops plans for war on Whitehall red tape. 4 January 2023.

    Proposals were part of efforts under Liz Truss to ease burden on economy from civil servants’ excessive lawmaking.

    The War was fought long ago and Democratic Government lost. Truss forgot this and was ousted. Rishi has realised and accepted that along with the cabinet that they are mere figureheads.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/01/03/rishi-sunak-drops-plans-war-whitehall-red-tape/

  12. Rishi wants school children / adults to learn maths until they are 18 years old.

    Why does it take so long now to learn what we were taught by the age of 15 or younger?

    2. Answer is because schools are more interested in subjects such as gender fluidity, Pride and Climate Change propaganda.
      After seeing my Granddaughter’s first hand I’m surprised they think the age of 18 is possible.
      I initially thought she was either thick or not interested but her mother tells me she is towards the top end of her class and the reports from her teachers are full of praise.

      1. Reports HAVE to be “full of praise”., VVOF No hint of disapprobation is allowed.

      2. The emphasis is on the process of learning, not actually acquiring knowledge. Also, teechers have been through all this, so don’t know anything else (and half the time don’t know anything – Firstborn’s teacher didn’t know the difference between a transformer and a transistor, and marked him wrong when he corrected her (she’d lost the erratum slip from her textbook).

        1. Granddaughter was marked a grade lower than she should have in her mock exams last term because her English teacher added up her marks incorrectly.
          Despite being told of her mistake, she failed to correct the marking as “it’s only a mock exam”. What a sorry excuse for a teacher!

          1. Teachers here typically demand homework is done, then never mark it. So what’s the point? One pressed the boys to do it, but they saw little point and didn’t put in much effort.

          2. The whole idea of mock exams is to highlight weaknesses.
            Grandson got a shock in part of his maths mocks; pulled up his socks a passed the real exam with flying colours.
            He is rather good at floating along and needed that metaphorical boot up the bum.

          3. Well it highlighted the fact her English teacher can’t add up very well. Let’s hope granddaughter improves her scores as well.

      3. One has to be careful with school reports. We discovered that to our cost. Teachers want to keep you off their backs and avoid angry parents. For instance “E. has done particularly well this term is now on the Green maths book.” We discovered on further enquiry that the Green maths book should have been completed two years earlier, he was 8 years old at the time. To cut a long story short, we changed schools and he soon caught up – he was reading at three years old and was perceived not to have a problem with the emphasis being on literacyin schools at that time. He has AD and coupled with a lack of attention from the school he sank through modern teaching structures like a stone.

        I came to the conclusion that some teachers today just want to get through their teaching careers with as little hassle as possible, and some schools are riddled with this ethos. It’s all about the teacher and not the child.

        1. I’m afraid that female teachers in particular seem rather wet; more suited to shuffling pass books or diddling around with a computer in a building society. The tough old dragons of our youth seem to have disappeared; they may have put the fear of God (nice old bloke with a beard) into us, but their teachings really stayed in the mind.
          (Right, Mrs. Locke. NOW will you give me 5 house points for that perfect piece of parsing? Being dead is no excuse.)

          1. At the end of one school year, I overheard a group of teenagers asking their friends which teachers they were getting for certain subjects next year. ‘I’ve got Mrs S next year, what’s she like?’ The reply was, ‘Oh, she’s strict!’ Made my day!

        2. In the early 1980s, I used the accurate word ‘lazy’ in one teenager’s report. The head of department made me use a mealy-mouthed alternative. At the following parents’ evening, the girl’s big, beefy dad queried that sentence, asking, ‘ Are you saying she is lazy?’ After initially avoiding a direct answer and further discussion, I decided he wasn’t as threatening as I had imagined. When I admitted that, yes, she was lazy, but we were not allowed to use such words in reports, his response was most heartening. ‘Right, I will have words.’ No further issues from his daughter!

      4. Yet those come from the state. They’re passed on to schools to promote the agenda. Thus the agenda becomes what is aught 9as schools are penalised for not promoting it).

        This is why so many kids are blithering on about climate change yet know nothing about the weather cycle.

    3. Bad teaching; not enough time spent on core subjects; teachers not knowing the stuff themselves and/or not being convinced of its importance; large classes… I could go on.

      When our boys were little, we would always take them out of school for a fortnight at the end of September: as we had worked all summer, we really needed this family time and would go to southern Spain to stay with my parents. We asked the boys’ teachers to give us the work planned for the class during that fortnight and made sure that it was all done and learnt – this required a couple of hours every morning, no more.

      Every year, on their return to school, the boys were actually ahead of the teachers’ programme, knew all the stuff much better than their classmates and were top of the class.

      It was a certainly an eye-opener for us that two hours’ work per day, working with just two children, could easily keep up with a full-time classroom programme and, a few years later, this helped us make our decision to take the boys out of school altogether and home school them while living part-time on our boat, exploring the Med. They’ve done well out of it: both have had excellent academic results and both have been financially completely independent from the age of 22. I’m not boasting; it was jolly hard work, both for them and for us!

      All this to say that, while schools and teachers are obviously at fault, parents themselves bear some responsibility: the majority of parents hand over the education of their offspring to schools and close their eyes, suspending all their critical faculties in the process. “Teacher knows best”, today, is the death-knell of a child’s education.

      1. Good morning Caroline

        When I was a little one at school, we had mental arithmetic tests and recited our tables first thing in the morning , every morning .

        I still have my little Red tables book that every child was issued with at school as well as my school bible .

        1. Good morning Belle,
          I remember reciting tables at the end of playtime before we went back into class. This would have been in the first 2 years in junior school, where I turned 9 at the end of summer. We then moved away and the head of our new school didn’t believe in such “old fashioned” ideas. I recall being shocked that the 3rd year juniors were only working on things I had covered in my infant school.

          1. It is woeful to see some children getting to primary school unable to use a toilet. Far too many cannot read. Very few are taught to write.

            Perhaps it’s boastful, but Junior went to school reading and writing. We started out with colouring books of letters and then tracing paper, then writing words. His maths isn’t great but neither is mine, but we’re all trying (in my case, very trying).

          2. Our elder son learnt early on to write the initial letter of his name. Unfortunately, he decided to practice on a wall.
            When caught out out (a large letter A was a bit of a give away) he blamed his little brother, who at that stage couldn’t crawl, let alone hold a crayon.

          3. I was shocked that son & DiL didn’t bother toilet training their girls when they each showed every indication they were ready around age 2. It was left until they were 3.

          4. 1.2.3.4.5.6.Buzz.8.9.10.11.12.13.Buzz.15.16.Buzzteen.18.19.20.Buzz.22.23.24.25.26.Twenty Buzz. Buzz.29.30 etc.

        2. Our sons were at primary school in the 1970s. That school actually taught times tables and gave the children a certificate once they knew them off by heart.
          Even by then, it was unusual for pupils to learn their times tables. The result is a still very successful school; and the house prices round it reinforce that fact.

          1. 90+% of the population do not need Maths day to day
            What they need is Arithmetic and to be “comfortable with numbers” and know when the computer spreadsheet, gas bill, supermarket printout/bank statement etc says XYZ it looks odd!
            All of my family, past & present, were spot on with numbers – that said the of the 6 grandkids 4 are OK. 2 seem to be struggling.
            The struggling 17 year old got an A* in Maths but still is hesitant with mental arithmetic (2 hours tuition from Grandpa every week helped boost a B/C by doing 20 years past papers)

      2. Absolutely and entirely spot on. One issue is class sizes – that, again is down to government policy to flood the country with foreigners.

        Then there’s the claim of funding (from big government). Well, the funds are equivalent in public and private. The difference is private schools don’t have 75% of the money chewed up by administration, waste and troughers before i gets to the school.

        The biggest issue is – in my view – that the customer of schools is the state. Not the child. So focussed are they on PANDAs, reports, admin, getting the right results, statementing for extra cash that the child is an after thought, almost an annoyance.

        If we introduced school vouchers Joe Public now ‘owns’ the school. He is responsible for getting the best results for his child. However, as I can say, when Junior comes out of school he is bored, because he’s a year or two ahead of the majority. Heck, he’s doing algebra with his chums in their table while some kids are just adding up single figures. Sadly, predictably, it’s always the ‘Jordans, Britneys, Chardonays’ who hold everyone else back because the parents are welfare dependent loafers who don’t care about education knowing their brat will live a life same as theirs: off someone else.

      3. Absolutely and entirely spot on. One issue is class sizes – that, again is down to government policy to flood the country with foreigners.

        Then there’s the claim of funding (from big government). Well, the funds are equivalent in public and private. The difference is private schools don’t have 75% of the money chewed up by administration, waste and troughers before i gets to the school.

        The biggest issue is – in my view – that the customer of schools is the state. Not the child. So focussed are they on PANDAs, reports, admin, getting the right results, statementing for extra cash that the child is an after thought, almost an annoyance.

        If we introduced school vouchers Joe Public now ‘owns’ the school. He is responsible for getting the best results for his child. However, as I can say, when Junior comes out of school he is bored, because he’s a year or two ahead of the majority. Heck, he’s doing algebra with his chums in their table while some kids are just adding up single figures. Sadly, predictably, it’s always the ‘Jordans, Britneys, Chardonays’ who hold everyone else back because the parents are welfare dependent loafers who don’t care about education knowing their brat will live a life same as theirs: off someone else.

      4. In addition to the class sizes, you have to factor in the proportion (in my experienc in one class 25%) of children who have learning and/or behavioural difficulties. Then, of course, there are the children for whom English is not their first language and it isn’t spoken at home.

    5. I think a big part of the problem is that primary schools are not allowed to concentrate on basic numeracy. Under the national curriculum, it simply doesn’t matter if a skill/knowledge set hasn’t been mastered. It is now term x, week y so the teacher must move on to week z.

  13. 369240+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Understatement

    Wednesday 4 January: This Conservative Government stands idly by while the health care system in Britain collapses

    Reality,
    Wednesday 4 January: This Conservative Government stands idly by while the health care system AND Britain collapses.

    In your electoral face poison is being pumped into the veins of every segment of the infrastructure via Dover, by government , employees on a daily basis.

    In one instance it shows the depth to which mental health treatment has sunk with the electorate majority still showing consent to the lab/lib/con/ current ukip coalition’s actions.

    Get bloody real, face the fact that a real killer political virus hub abides, and is highly active in Westminster.

    1. The government isn’t standing by. It’s causing the collapse deliberately. Stopping it, and then reversing the decline is entirely possible. The problem we have is the state wants to ruin the country.

      1. 369240+ up ticks,

        Morning W,
        The biggest problem we have is many do not want to recognise the fact we are at
        war with the political overseers, it is far to uncomfortable a stance to take.

  14. Morning, all. Murky with low cloud and a breeze.

    At 16:17 today the Earth will be at perihelion i.e. at its closest point to the Sun in its orbit. Not that we will notice the event.

  15. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    The parasitic elements of the public sector are at it again, so only read this article if you have taken your BP medication today, and all sharp objects are out of reach:

    Civil servants being paid to attend film clubs, parties and talks during work hours

    Events attended by some 4,413 Whitehall staff as Taxpayers’ Alliance call for such activities to be cut amid the cost of living crisis

    By Dominic Penna, POLITICAL REPORTER 3 January 2023 • 8:35pm

    Civil servants are being paid to attend film clubs, parties and talks about “living your truth” during staff time, it can be revealed.

    More than 4,100 hours of Whitehall staff time in the last two years were taken up by events across six government departments organised by mandarin networks.

    Some 141 events across the Department for Business (Beis), Defra, DCMS, the Department for Transport (DfT), the Department for Education and the Ministry of Justice lasted a combined 96 hours, according to research by the Taxpayers’ Alliance.

    While departments only revealed attendance data for 36 events, these were attended by some 4,413 Whitehall staff.

    The overall number of hours and attendees is likely much higher, however, as departments including the Treasury and the Home Office refused to provide information.

    Host of events attended

    Events across civil service support groups at Beis included a “Festive Social” for the LGBT+ network plus two “she/they breakfast” events, which lasted for a combined hour and a half.

    At the DfT, civil servants attended a “bitesize training on inclusive language” session on June 20 last year, followed by a talk called “Pride Month: Being queer and living your truth” four days later.

    The latter session was led by Andreena Leeanne – an author and self-described “lived experience speaker”, who has performed her poetry at local Labour events.

    Dozens of civil servants also attended “film club” events, including a DfT screening of Bend it Like Beckham, about two girls who pursue football careers, on August 17 and a Defra LGBT network discussion of Pride, which follows gay and lesbian activists who fundraised to support striking miners in Thatcher’s Britain, on Feb 25.

    Also among the Whitehall events were hour-long birthday celebrations for Defra’s fatigue network, which took place on March 10.

    A further 79 events marked Black History Month, including a “History of Afro Hair” seminar and an “Africa is not a country” book club event.

    ‘Get bureaucrats back at their desks’

    Elliot Keck, investigations campaign manager at the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “With public services creaking and pressure on household budgets rising through a series of damaging tax hikes, these sessions smack of indulgence.

    “Whitehall bosses must cut out these endless events and get bureaucrats back at their desks.”

    A government spokesman said: “Our focus is on ensuring that every pound of taxpayers’ money is spent in the best possible way, delivering the best value for money, while cutting waste and inefficiency.”

    As might be imagined, most of the BTL posters are seething:

    Rupert Sink- Estate8 HRS AGO

    The civil service is rapidly becoming public enemy number one. It would appear it inhabits a parallel universe and laughs in the faces of taxpayers who fund it. This a real opportunity for Sunak to show the public that he intends to level up: starting with mass sackings.
    Donald Mackay9 HRS AGO

    I vehemently disagree. The culture of the Civil Service has a direct bearing on the malaise our nation is mired in. The priorities of the Woke are the promotion of Social Justice and not the advancement of the interests of the citizenry. This is the activist mentality. It is qualitatively different from that of true servants of the people.

    2. They says dozens, but out of a population of over 800,000 people that’s not many. The problem is those 800,000 civil servants, pootling around in offices doing things that don’t need to be done, writing reports no one reds, collating statistics no one wants.

      For every person who wastes public money on this nonsense, there’s a thousand who roll their eyes and get on with their non-job, getting paid, paying the mortgage, eyeing up the office totty and hoping to retire early.

      The problem isn’t these individual instances. The problem is that the state is so big, so expensive, so utterly, fundamentally pointless that it has the time and money to waste on this nonsense. I remember watching at ‘coffee time’ the entire office of an agency vanish to the canteen. 1000 people spending an hour sitting about, getting coffee from 10-11 – some having just rocked up to work, then bunking off again at 4 after doing the same in the afternoon.

  17. Good morning all. A damp start after last night’s rain with a light overcast. However the rain has paused and it’s 6°C outside.

    A £50 & a £25 win off ERNIE for me, and 2 x £25s for the DT.

          1. If I get the £1million prize I will distribute most of it quickly to my grandchildren and hope to live thereafter for 7 years. At 83 I don’t have much time left.

    2. I can’t find anything to disagree with.
      As a Nottler he did seem a tad more argumentative.

    3. Doesn’t get more double-barrelled than:

      …politicians sponsored by WEF gangsters…

      In addition, he doesn’t spare the Windsors.

  21. Good morning all ,

    Another fierce gale last night , when the wind howled down the chimney , a real Westerly, a ship wrecker , the wind has not slackened off this morning , drizzley and amazingl mild , 12c .

    Son no 2 will probably be in the operating theatre now .. He slipped down several steps at London Bridge station during a crowd surge , on December the 9th.. whisked off to St Thomas’s A+E accompanied by a station medic in a taxi .. which cost him £16 .. (no ambulances) received excellent care , scans pain relief , overnight care , then partner picked him up by car the next day to rake him home to Worthing , and the whole process was repeated .. so a long wait at home for an operating slot today , ankle bones , foot and fibula will be fixed one hopes .

    Moh is trying to play a few holes of golf , but everywhere is flooded , the River Frome water meadows from here to Wareham are quite a picture , well, I mean water everywhere, fields are under water .

    A few months ago we had a hose ban , sluggish river, ponds that became puddles , and now water everywhere .

      1. Yet water companies have been asking to build reservoirs for decades. The state won’t let them. Even now we have left the EU, they said ‘let us build 5 more… but no, the env agency adheres to EU rules. Desperate to never deviate to force us back inn to that hated institution.

        1. Not quite right Wibbling.

          There is going to be a small reservoir built near Dover.

          It will take nine years to construct.

          I remember in the past that Kariba Dam took under four years to build.

          Why the difference in construction time?

    1. Never. Don’t be silly Ogga. Maybe in 30 years when the information is released, the billions made on the trougher circuit and all those involved nicely retired and safe from prosecution.

  25. Three headlines in today’s DT:

    1. Rishi Sunak puts maths at the heart of his vision for Britain

    2. PM drops plans for war on Whitehall red tape

    3.  Live Sunak vows to tackle ‘apprehension’ about year ahead in major speech

    Meanwhile, people are dying, thanks to a health service that is being badly run but is seemingly unaccountable, parts of the public sector provide a service that would shame a third world country because they continue to hide behind shirking from home originally brought about by catastrophic lockdowns, a deep recession is due to last most of next year with inflation setting our economy back years, and union leaders are holding the public to ransom.  And Sunak’s reaction?  Put out a silly story about the need for maths, the public sector’s voracious appetite for our money faces no penalty or reform despite a generally appalling service, and next year all will soon be well again. 

    Whatever planet he’s on it certainly isn’t ours.

    1. That must be because of his new greeniac-leftie “political secretary” James Forsyth.

    2. Maybe the need for maths means he has realised you cannot keep multiplying nothing by millions and sending it to Ukraine.

      1. Ah, but it’s different for them, because maths proves to them that they *can* keep spending trillions without consequence.

    3. Odd that he can’t put maths at the heart of his budget. For example – hiking the minimum wage while increasing taxes on business. Any fool could tell you that’s going to create unemployment, but no, he ploughs on.

      Then there’s rigging energy costs to force down use in the name of a lie. There’s demanding people go back to work when he’s forcing that abomination of carbon taxes on people.

      Then there’s pretending he’s doing something about inflation when… he’s hiking every tax going.

      Radio 4 was blithering on about child care costs. Why is child care so expensive in this country? Well, I’ll tell you. Demand. There’s not enough supply because of regulation, so there’s high demand. Why high demand? Because two parents are needed to work to pay the bills . Why are bills so high? Because of cripplingly high taxes.

      It all comes down to tax.

      2. Pupils en masse don’t need to stay at school till 18.
        By 14, most have got out of the education mill as much as they want – or even need.
        Beef up the apprenticeship system.

      3. another reason for the high cost of childcare is excessive regulatory burden which leads to more staff being required (who need competitive rates of pay and pensions and employers’ NI), and rent/rates for buildings which in places like London is astronomic for reason A (demand) – this demand being caused by importing > 10 m people on the last 20 years

    4. “No, I’m not going to COPOUT No. 327.”
      “Oooops …. changed my mind. See you in Sharm el Sheikh.”

  26. Cavendish ‘threatened with knife’.

    ARMED burglars threatened to stab Mark Cavendish, the Olympic cyclist, in front of his children during a raid on his home, a court has heard.

    The 37-year-old had been at his home in Ongar, Essex, with his wife and children when intruders subjected them to a terrifying knifepoint ordeal in the early hours of November 27, 2021.

    Four masked men made off with two watches, valued at £400,000 and £300,000, during a “well-orchestrated and well-executed planned invasion”, Chelmsford Crown Court was told.

    Opening the trial of two of the men accused of involvement in the robbery, Edward Renvoize, the prosecutor, described how Cavendish and his wife, Peta Todd, were asleep in bed with their three-year-old child when they were awoken by noises downstairs. The cyclist had been recovering from injuries so his wife volunteered to investigate – thinking it was perhaps her older son knocking something over.

    The prosecutor said: “She was next aware of figures of people running towards her. She ran back up the stairs shouting for her husband to get back into the bedroom.”

    The intruders jumped on Cavendish and “began punching him”, the prosecutor said. He continued: “One produced a knife and threatened to stab him up in front of his children.” Cavendish tried to explain to the intruders that there was only one safe in the house, which he was unable to open.

    The intruders – having been unable to access the safe – grabbed the two watches from a windowsill. They left with telephones, suitcases and watches.

    The prosecutor said Ms Todd’s phone was found outside the property, and DNA found on it was attributed to Ali Sesay, 28, of Rainham, east London. He had “pleaded guilty to the offence of robbery already”.

    Romario Henry, 31, of Lewisham, and Oludewa Okorosobo, 28, of Camberwell, both deny two counts of robbery. The trial is expected to last two weeks.

    I am shocked to notice that the names of those three burglars were not Dave, Bob, and Norman, as might have been the case half a century ago.

    1. And I’d bet they all have multiple priors. One day we’re going to realise that scum cannot be allowed to exist in society.

      After three, throw away the key.

    2. ‘Morning Grizz. Agreed!

      In passing, I never realised how riding a bike could result in someone owning watches totalling that much. Makes me think I need to use my bike more..

      1. ‘Morning, Hugh.

        Even if I were a multi-millionaire I would baulk at squandering nearly half a million quid on a wristwatch. ‘More money than sense’ springs readily to mind.

    4. Never mind the names of the thieves.. what about the watches on the windowsill?

      My windowsills have a bit of clutter , and the odd screw driver , basil pot , vase of flowers , dog whistle , old batteries etc ..but how mind boggling to leave two watches combined value £700, 000 , on a windowsill , I think that is very very peculiar .

      1. If they were on a first-floor bedroom windowsill, methinks they would be out of sight. Having said that, muppets who insist on buying such overpriced bling only do so to show them off in public.

    6. Good morning Grizzly and everyone. Surely the accused are technically robbers, not burglars, due to the violence.

    8. Incidentally, my own watch cost me just £19 around 10 years ago. One day I might treat myself to one costing £100 – but £300/£400k?!?

    9. Even mugging, menace and burglary can’t be done effectively by ethnic white Britons any more and it has to be outsourced.

  27. Cavendish ‘threatened with knife’.

    ARMED burglars threatened to stab Mark Cavendish, the Olympic cyclist, in front of his children during a raid on his home, a court has heard.

    The 37-year-old had been at his home in Ongar, Essex, with his wife and children when intruders subjected them to a terrifying knifepoint ordeal in the early hours of November 27, 2021.

    Four masked men made off with two watches, valued at £400,000 and £300,000, during a “well-orchestrated and well-executed planned invasion”, Chelmsford Crown Court was told.

    Opening the trial of two of the men accused of involvement in the robbery, Edward Renvoize, the prosecutor, described how Cavendish and his wife, Peta Todd, were asleep in bed with their three-year-old child when they were awoken by noises downstairs. The cyclist had been recovering from injuries so his wife volunteered to investigate – thinking it was perhaps her older son knocking something over.

    The prosecutor said: “She was next aware of figures of people running towards her. She ran back up the stairs shouting for her husband to get back into the bedroom.”

    The intruders jumped on Cavendish and “began punching him”, the prosecutor said. He continued: “One produced a knife and threatened to stab him up in front of his children.” Cavendish tried to explain to the intruders that there was only one safe in the house, which he was unable to open.

    The intruders – having been unable to access the safe – grabbed the two watches from a windowsill. They left with telephones, suitcases and watches.

    The prosecutor said Ms Todd’s phone was found outside the property, and DNA found on it was attributed to Ali Sesay, 28, of Rainham, east London. He had “pleaded guilty to the offence of robbery already”.

    Romario Henry, 31, of Lewisham, and Oludewa Okorosobo, 28, of Camberwell, both deny two counts of robbery. The trial is expected to last two weeks.

    I am shocked to notice that the names of those three burglars were not Dave, Bob, and Norman, as might have been the case half a century ago.

  28. Morning all 😉 😊
    Oh well it’s winter but not as we usually know it. A bit warmer than a usual miserable grey January. A Great programme on TV last night, the earth from space. A wonderful insight to what can be seen and recorded from above by hundreds of satellites.
    Two of our grandchildren coming for the day today. I’d better get ready to rock and roll. 🎸
    Or maybe not. 🤔

      1. Morning Stephen. You can never escape the propaganda. It’s everywhere and in everything!

        1. Like this from today’s Beeb website – Obit of NASA Astronaut:

          “After retiring from Nasa in 1971, he became a public speaker and radio host. He also became an outspoken denier of human-caused climate change, despite the consensus from scientists that humans have contributed to warmer average temperatures on Earth.

          1. The BBC – carefully ignoring the 500 or so real scientists who wrote to the UN saying there is no climate crisis! To be fair to the BBC the UN also ignored them.

      2. Yes agreed.
        They should have shown the rest of the rain forest decimation carried out to grow palm oil. Orangutans and associated wild life are far more important than Russians and the Ukrainian.

    2. Do have a good day. When I watch such progs I am continually frustrated that mankind hasn’t got out amongst the stars. We urgently need to. Our planet is so beautiful, and being ruined.

      1. Yes agreed, there was a pinpoint on the decimation of the Amazon rain forest. IMHO one of the main reasons why the earths weather patterns have changed so much.

  29. Yo All

    There is a large yellow Blob (not Johnson)in the Sky, this morning. I can feel my solar panels sucking it in.

    It is now clear just how catastrophic was Labour’s decision to allow GPs to give up the 24-hour commitment
    says Richard Stephenson of Aynho, Northamptonshire

    owsabouta:

    It is now clear just how far reaching and effective, in destroying the NHS and Great Britain, Labour’s plans were in
    “persuading” GPs to give up their 24-hour commitment.

    1. I wonder why the British Medical Association did not over rule Blair’s foolish plan to abolish the GP’s 24 hour commitment.
      What did Medics pledge or still pledge in their Hippocratic oath on entry to their profession? Politicians can’t abolish that pledge.

  32. https://twitter.com/Tony40335450/status/1610542719797006337

    The hospital hires out rooms at two hotels in the city for its international nurses, but the Home Office has now block-booked the rooms to host those seeking asylum, according to Polly McMeekin, director of workforce and organisational development.

    Hospital bosses at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are now struggling to find appropriate alternative accommodation.

    Recruiting nurses from abroad is a key part of the hospital’s workforce strategy due to a shortage of nurses within the UK.

    There were around 130 nursing vacancies across the trust in September, though hospital bosses hope this will reduce to around 50 by December.

    The trust pays for overseas nurses’ accommodation while they undertake the exams necessary to allow them to work in the UK. There are 82 foreign nurses in one York hotel, with 17 more set to arrive in December.

    It was revealed last month that City of York Council had been chosen by the Government – along with other cities – to host families and couples needing support and accommodation.

    Ms McMeekin told a hospital board meeting that they had initially been given just four weeks’ notice to vacate two city centre hotels as the Home Office wanted to use them for “the next couple of years”, but said they had pushed back on this and were then given until December.

    The LDRS is choosing not to name the hotels due to concerns about the potential impact on vulnerable people staying there.

    Ms McMeekin said: “York has a dearth of accommodation.

    “[This] leaves us with no other accommodation – we’ve explored the military, we’ve explored universities. That would leave us in a very vulnerable position.

    “This is a vulnerability in our international recruitment pipeline, which is obviously a significant element of the trust priority plan.”

    2. The nurses are being exposed to the very sort of men from whom many of them were trying to escape.

    3. Because men who have shown their contempt for our laws by paying criminals for a fast track into the UK benefit system are of course far more important than hard-working nurses who came the HONEST and LEGAL way.
      Our country is beyond saving.

  34. Shallow Varadkar couldn’t keep up the Brexit hatred
    By accepting his errors on the Protocol, the Irish PM is adapting to the new realities of Ireland’s politics.
    Ruth Dudley Edwards: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/03/shallow-varadkar-couldnt-keep-brexit-hatred/

    Why does nobody in the MSM consider these points?

    BTL

    i) Lord Frost* was holding firm on both Northern Ireland and British fishing in British waters;
    ii) The day before the Brexit deal was agreed Michael Gove and Boris Johnson arrived in Brussels;
    iii) Lord Frost was persuaded to capitulate on both his key points;
    iv) UK is left with an appalling mess and the Northern Ireland Protocol which effectively keeps a part of the UK under EU control not to mention the continued destruction of UK fishing business;
    v) Thanks to Mr Hunt, Northern Ireland businesses will have to pay 25% in corporation tax – the EU rate – while the Republic of Ireland will be allowed by the EU to keep its corporation tax rate down at 15%. This is hardly fair on Northern Ireland – if the EU can allow a lower rate of corporation tax for the Republic of Ireland then why shouldn’t UK allow a lower rate of corporation tax to Northern Ireland? Better still why does Mr Hunt keep to his leadership election pledge when he said he would lower the rate of corporation tax from 19% to 15%?

    I know that Mrs May was lying when she said that “No deal was better than a bad deal” but what a disgrace that Johnson could not say this without lying and mean it. It seems to me that from the very outset Mr Johnson and Mr Gove wanted Brexit to fail.

    The UK has been lumbered with a appalling deal – no wonder Remainers are gloating and saying that the UK must rejoin the EU!.

    * Thank you Ndovu and Anne for pointing out my typo.

      1. Amended. Thank you for pointing it out.

        I was mentioning my propensity for making typos on this forum only yesterday. Peddy the Viking took a certain delight in pointing them out!

    3. Hunt the Bitch, when going for, and coming last in the original Leadership Ballot, was banging on about lowering Corporation Tax to 12.5%.

      He lies.

    1. Well, Bill, folk are hoping that 2023 will be an improvement on 2022. However, I still recall that there were no lockdowns in 2022. I fear that this will not be the case in 2023. I think I am joining you in transitioning to Eeyore.

    2. It’s the new and more deadly and more everything else XBB.1.5 variant from China that’s causing “concern”.

      From the Independent web-site.

      5 days ago — Travellers from China will need a negative Covid test to enter the UK in a major government U-turn. The move comes after criticism from Tory …

        1. I knew the government would eff that one up, as well as everything else they come into contact with.

    1. Good to know that there is one country in Europe that rejects this ‘Gender Ideology’.

  39. Good Moaning.
    Dry and warm for January and even some sun.
    This simply cannot be allowed to continue: Spartie and I will sit in the middle of the A12 to save the planet.

    1. I’ve got my washing out and the pieces are dancing merrily in the breeze. Tumble dryer redundant today and saving the power from at least one windmill.😊

      1. I considered that too, Korky, (good morning, btw) but I have too much to do to put it all on hold whilst I do more washing.

    2. As long as you were out of the wind, it was very pleasant. I’ taken off so many layers (I know – ne’er cast a clout and all that) that I could actually get into my lightweight jacket to go riding this afternoon 🙂

      1. Its an odd thing to do is hit yourself with a hammer. I can’t imagine that a young girl like that would have much to gain from trying to prove a point to the establishment.

          2. I don’t think she’d envisage an ideology if it smacked her in the face (with a hammer?). More like self-preservation.

    1. The real reason is that the countryside itself is racist. Far too white. Hang on – it’s mostly green. Er….

      1. What is preventing this half-wit from driving into the country? Whites manning road blocks? Road signs in English?

        2. To be fair, Bill, this is what the half-wit actually said (from the article itself):-

          ‘The British countryside’s “white and middle class” image puts off Asian visitors, a BBC presenter has claimed.

          Nihal Arthanayake said that there is an illusion that rural areas are unwelcoming to ethnic minorities.

          The broadcaster, author and guest presenter of BBC 4’s Winter Walks said that this image has impacted the number of non-white visitors to some of the UK’s most celebrated landscapes.

          The 51-year-old – who is of Sri Lankan descent – told the Country Walking magazine that in reality walkers are “happy to see you”.

          “There is this barrier; a perception, often perpetuated by social media trolls, that the countryside is inherently white and middle class,” he said.

          ‘People are happy to see you’

          “I think it does have an impact because I’m often surprised by how few Asian families I see in the Peak District when the communities of Manchester and Sheffield are so close.’

          “But when you go out there, overwhelmingly you will find that people are just happy. Happy to be there and happy to see you.

          “We live in one of the most tolerant countries on the planet, and whether I’m walking by myself or with the family, I’ve never felt anything other than welcome.’

          Which is fair enough. I think the DT headline writers did Nihal Arthanayake a disservice:-

          ‘British countryside’s ‘white and middle class’ image puts off Asian visitors, claims BBC presenter’

    2. They certainly would not have got the :White Image: from watching UK TV, especially the adverts.

      I am still keeping the name of my mate, Tony, a secret: he is the only BAME in Britain and the Commonwealth, who has not appeared in a TV Ad , or in a Black Broardcasting Cartel programme

    3. We took our grandchildren to the Whipsnade zoo about 18 months ago and close to the entrance I saw something I had not expected. A group of around 20 muslims all kneeling on the grass facing the east. I wondered exactly what particular point were they trying to make ?

    1. 12.5% lead for ‘NO’ when I voted just now. Can’t believe 43% want to mask up, there’s very few doing so around my parish.

      1. Saw a few in town today, mostly female (if there really is such a thing as “female”, of course).

    2. If this idiot preferred living in the middle east to living in Sweden then I suggest he remains there. he is instantly dismissive of his Swedish relationship and Swedes in particular. I think that says more about him than the Swedes, who are better off without him.

      I also notice he doesn’t mention anything about the thousands of atrocities committed daily in the UK by the same insurgent tendency, especially the thousands of young British girls raped by Muslim grooming gangs.

      And if you are going to post a video purporting to show violence in Sweden, don’t be a complete wanker and publish a photograph of a riot scene attended by the Politzei, which are the German police. The police in Sweden are the Polis.

      Clearly and evidently a moron who married a Swede and was not up to the job so off he popped to Muzzie Central and spent the rest of his miserable life sucking sour grapes.

      Twat!

      1. Kinda missing the point, Grizz. Sweden was so peaceful that it was boring. Now, following the ingress of various alien hordes, parts of it are as bad as parts of British inner cities. Still, play the man, not the ball.

  44. The Elgin Marbles could soon be returned to Greece as the British Museum closes in on a landmark deal. 4 January 2023.

    UK law prevents treasures from being legally given away by the museum, but George Osborne, its chairman, understood to have have drawn up an agreement which would repatriate the antiquities as part of a “cultural exchange”.

    The deal negotiated with Greek officials would effectively be a loan agreement under which the Elgin Marbles could be moved from London to Athens “sooner rather than later”, sources said.

    However, the Telegraph understands that this “gesture” will not end the long-running row over the Marbles, as Greece intends to keep fighting to gain full legal ownership of the 2,500-year-old cultural treasures.

    The marbles do actually belong to us. Elgin paid for them and saved them from destruction at the hands of the Turks. They are not Osbornes or the Museums to give away! Needless to say they will not be returned after the “Loan” more commonly known as complete surrender. With Osborne involved there is no need to be surprised.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/03/elgin-marbles-could-soon-returned-greece-landmark-deal/

    1. I am aware that GO went to St Paul’s school, but here he is pictured on my A3 size Fridge Magnet Posters that I used during the run up to the 2016 referendum…. Edit Disqus won’t let me post the image!
      5 attempts later image posted above!

    2. I am aware that GO went to St Paul’s school, but here he is pictured on my A3 size Fridge Magnet Posters that I used during the run up to the 2016 referendum…. Edit Disqus won’t let me post the image!

  45. Channel 4 privatisation to be scrapped
    It looks like plans to privatise Channel 4 have been shelved after the Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan wrote to Rishi Sunak confirming her recommendation that the sale does not go ahead.
    DT Live News

    This pathetic government is only committed to imposing crippling tax rises. Any other commitments they have made can go hang.

    1. Morning Richard. They’ve reneged on pretty well everything since Sunak’s investiture!

    2. I’d forgotten that one.
      I thought Sunhat had already reneged on a full hand of pledges.

    1. Osborne was at St Paul’s at the same time as Dominic Frisby who wrote the naughty song about Brexit.

  47. Woman’s lies about Asian grooming gang left community in uproar. 4 January 2023.

    A woman who invented claims she had been trafficked, raped and beaten by an Asian grooming gang in a remote town on the edge of the Lake District, is facing jail after police described how her lies had caused uproar in the community and had forced families to flee their homes.

    Eleanor Williams used a hammer to injure herself before telling police she had been sexually abused since childhood by a group of Asian men in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.

    The 22-year-old posted fake accounts of her ordeal on social media which went viral, sparking demonstrations in the town by far-Right protesters, including Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League.

    This woman has gained more publicity for her false claims than the entirety of the thousands of underage girls who suffered real assault!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/03/womans-lies-trafficked-asian-grooming-gang-causes-uproar-community/

    2. It’s absolutely horrifying that the honour of so many innocent, gentle, muslim males has been impugned. Ordinary folk in Rotherham, Oldham, Sheffield, Telford, Oxford, will be outraged. Where would we be without truth-seeking journalists (sarc) ….

  48. I asked my baker friend where I could go to weigh a pie.
    He said “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”

    1. To be fair GBNews is talking about this.

      Am I alone in finding some of Dan Wooton’s and Mark Nolan’s ‘superstar’ panelists extremely substandard.

      John Sergeant was arguing yesterday evening that face masks were a good thing because even if they were useless in preventing you getting or spreading Covid they served a useful purpose in making people think they were doing their bit to show that they were on side by wearing masks pour encourager les autres..

      John Sergeant is supposedly a joke but he was not joking and I fail to find him remotely amusing.

      2. Masks are filthy, germ-laden rags which don’t protect anyone. Remember the days of handkerchiefs? Who nowadays would use one to blow their nose and put it back in their pocket?

        1. I do. I detest tissues – filthy, germ-laden bits of paper lying on the ground or stuffed in bins.

          1. I had the flu-like bug over Christmas (I still have the after-effects). I lost count of the number of tissues I got through. Goodness knows how many handkerchiefs I would have got through over the last few weeks.

        3. Errr, I used mine while I had my cold. Saved a couple of loo rolls. After going through all of them, they went on a hot wash and were re-used.

          2. It’s difficult to carry a large packet of tissues around with you when out and what do you do with the used ones? Snot easy!

          3. Small pack of tissues – enough to keep you going for 3-4 hours. Chuck them in the nearest bin (assuming it’s not out in the wilds). I wouldn’t want go outside much with a streaming nose anyway.

      3. John Sergeant used to be rude to those he regarded as stupid old buffers … but he is definitely one himself … a typical BBC lefty.

      4. Za Peasants Must Wear Za Masks to Show Their Place in Za Hierarchy of the WEF Country of Albionistan.

        Zis shall not apply yo ze ruling political class

  53. That’s the longer bits of tree sawn and waiting to be split & stacked.
    Would have finished by now, but just had a long phone call ref. Stepson from 2 x Social Workers.
    He is now back in his flat and I’ve gone through a list of items that now need to be sorted out for him!

    3. I have a photo of my uncle William riding a Matchless circa 1942 in some desert posting. I believe he was an army courier. The motorcycle is identifiable by the ‘wings’ on the petrol tank and the telescopic forks.

  55. 369240+ up ticks,

    Dt

    We must get rid of burdensome EU red tape
    Whatever the Prime Minister’s intentions may be, the signs of another bonfire of red tape spluttering to a smoky failure are unmistakable

    Ogga1,
    A realistic update would be,

    We must get rid of burdensome EU red tape 650 UK politico’s & 48% of the electorate whatever the Prime Minister’s intentions may be.

    Adhering to the same voting pattern that has got us to where we find ourselves today is without doubt the small print on this nations death certificate.

  56. The UK recession will be almost as deep as that of Russia, economists predict. 4 January 2023.

    LONDON — The U.K. economic contraction of 2023 will be almost as deep as that of Russia, economists expect, as a sharp fall in household living standards weighs on activity.

    In its 2023 macro outlook, Goldman Sachs forecast a 1.2% contraction in the U.K. real GDP over the course of this year, well below all other G-10 (Group of Ten) major economies. This is set to be followed by a 0.9% expansion in 2024, the lender anticipates.

    The figure places Britain only fractionally ahead of Russia, which the bank projects will see a 1.3% contraction in 2023 as it continues to wage war in Ukraine and weather punitive economic sanctions from Western powers. This will be followed by a 1.8% expansion in 2024, Goldman figures suggest.

    They are a lot more sanguine than me! I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see total collapse and a depression! The West that is! Russia coming out much better than any of these.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/04/the-uk-recession-will-be-almost-as-deep-as-that-of-russia-economists-predict.html

          1. I know I understand there’s usually a 100% mark up on retail stuff. However, Jewellers usually have a large stock of gold which has appreciated in recent times….

          2. A ha. With you now. I sold my old gold crowns to a Jeweller. Not bad as i didn’t pay for them in the first place.

          5. Gold has had a rocky year. March was the high point and it is struggling to get back up there.

          6. Watches!

            Four masked men made off with two Richard Mille watches, valued at
            £400,000 and £300,000 respectively, during a “well-orchestrated and
            well-executed planned invasion”, Chelmsford Crown Court was told.

          7. Don’t know why people buy them. Totally useless for telling the time and extremely clumsy and unstylish.

          9. An investment he casually left on a window sill. If his watches were an investment rather than just for showing off they should have been in a safe deposit box.

            I wonder what his insurers will think.

          10. Yes but no but.

            The value of the watches isn’t based on precious metals or stones it is priced on who made the watch and the brand.

            The buggers still got caught though.

          11. The buggers still got caught though.

            A very strange happening, considering their names

        1. Already done that. My dentist recommended getting rid of the gold crowns at the back of my gob.

  58. Stayed with friends in West Wickham, Kent, over the New Year’s holiday. On New Year’s day we walked across fields to the Parish Church. Although I had lived in the area for over 35 years I had not previously visited the church before. It is a fine building, dating from the C15th with walls of knapped flint, a local stone. Sadly with the exception of a dozen graves, most of the churchyard ‘s burial grounds are rather unkempt. The dozen graves are the war graves of young RAF airmen, including two rear gunners and a Sergeant Pilot, their names and various dates in the 1940’s were carved into their immaculate individual headstones. I shouldn’t have been surprised as Biggin Hill is only a couple of miles away. We paused a while to reflect.

    1. Footnote:

      “In 1469 Henry Heydon, a lawyer from Norfolk, bought the manor of West Wickham and with it this church. He then proceeded to rebuild both. The surviving painted glass windows in the chapel, the work of Anglo-Flemish artists, depict saints whose names were bestowed on the Heydon children – Anne, Dorothy, Catherine and Christopher. Henry himself is depicted in the east window of the chapel as a skeleton”

    2. ‘Although I had lived in the area for over 35 years I had not previously visited the church before’

      No invites to weddings or funerals?

      1. Not to that particular church it is somewhat off the beaten track away from the present day centre of West Wickham which has 4 churches of different denominations and as far as I know no mosque….

    3. Unkempt burial grounds are generally due to a fashion for ivy, brambles, valerian and sycamore etc. Fortunately the Commonewealth War Graves Commission takes its duties seriously, at least for the moment.
      Its website records 15 War Graves at St John the Baptist, West Wickham. The oldest died aged 57, Corporal Arthur Chudley, and the youngest was 18.
      “COPPIN, Private, BETTY DOREEN FRANCES, W/295412. Auxiliary Territorial Service. 13th September 1944. Age 18. Daughter of Edgar and Mary Ann Beatrice Coppin, of West Wickham.”
      Web opinion is that Betty was probably killed when a German shell from Batterie Todt near Haringzelles exploded at Dover railway station.
      The battery was captured on 29th September 1944 by the North Nova Scotia Highlanders.

    4. SWMBO comes from West Wickham, and we were married in that wee church 40 years ago, by a vicar with terminal flatulence in the presence of a choir of about 5 giggling boys… Never had time to read gravestones.

      1. Now that is a very interesting question, knowing who sent it and him being such a gloomy character, perhaps he thinks things are going to get worse and posted early.
        I’ll put his Easter card in the post next week and slip a note telling him I am still awaiting last year’s Christmas card.
        HNY to you.

  60. I beg to share this with esteemed fellow Nottlers; it’s from a professional scientist who runs a company doing science stuff.

    Dear Nigel,
    I found myself shouting ‘bollocks’ at my car radio as if I were listening to the BBC, not your show tonight. I pulled over to comment only to find I had left my phone at home.

    The problem was the nonsense spouted by your guest Dr Peers; I would love the opportunity to set this right.

    PCR – back to myths I’ve heard peddled since 2020. We carry out PCR (not for Covid) tests in my laboratory in Bletchingley – which you are always welcome to visit.

    1. Not specific? Yes, Covid PCRs are VERY specific if done properly.
    2. ‘Anything above 27 (heating and cooling) cycles is magnifying something so much that it’s a false positive’ Rubbish! Our standard kit uses 45 cycles but we need to pick up very low numbers and positives close to the end of the cycle are always repeat tested. Our negative controls and negative samples are negative after 45 cycles, as they should be. The more target (SARS2 virus in the case of a covid test) the fewer cycles needed for a signal. If you only want to detect higher numbers then yes, you can cut off sooner.
    3. Misquoting Cary Mullis again – sadly he died in August 2019, so he can’t speak for himself. PCR has been used since well before 2020 for virus diagnostics, especially in veterinary medicine. The consultant who set up our system travelled the world for (I think, the FAO) helping labs set up PCR diagnostics. Better organized nations like Germany and Austria commandeered vet diagnostics labs in 2020 who had PCR facilities and told them to run covid PCRs. PHE, as it then was, hugged it to themselves, batted away offered machines and help and cocked up, we could not do enough tests in the first wave.

    To be honest, apart from obtaining amplified nucleic acid for sequencing, now we have lateral flow tests we should not be using PCR any more.

    Flu magically disappeared for 2 years – with the inevitable inference that covid was really flu! Nothing magic about it. Flu is less contagious than Covid so measures to avoid that naturally keeps flu at bay, plus, without travel from the Southern Hemisphere and infections crashing there due to covid control, where would the next flu strain come from? Still, accept that and you might have to accept that masks etc can help control infections.

    Asymptomatic and, more importantly, pre-symptomatic spread IS significant for covid, as indeed it is for other viral infections. When we had measles, we used to know this.

    What Dr Peers got right – surgical masks are not suitable for protection from airborne spread! We wear respirator grade. Again Germany & Austria are on the ball, they specified FFP2 or higher on public transport etc.

    Gvt DID not follow the science – although we microbiologists would disagree with your guest apart from the Ferguson modelling – for us the fail was recognizing it is airborne and ACTING

    Covid around here in 2019 – Yep, know at least 2 who caught it in 2019/v.early 2020 here in the UK.

    Long Covid – yes, she is to be commended for her efforts to tackle this problem.

          1. Perhaps it will help to know that she was a number one UKIP activist until the rot set in. She does tests that are beyond me on stuff from all over the world.

          2. But she does seem to be working in the industry, and we have had eminent doctors and scientists saying that a diagnosis should not be made based on a PCR test.
            They can’t both be right.
            I’d like to see a discussion where both sides would clarify what they mean and what the areas of disagreement are.

          3. Working in the industry? Very much as an independent, and she hasn’t made a red cent out of Covid.

          4. Well as I say, I’d like to hear a real discussion to clarify the points of difference. I don#t believe that Robert Malone, Mike Yeadon et al are charlatans, so there must be an explanation.
            The BBC is incapable of setting anything up that isn’t pathetically confrontational as well as biased – I wonder if GB News is any better.

          5. Has she ever cultured a virus in tests that meet Koch’s Postulates? Genomic sequencing doesn’t prove cause, only effect. There’s also the point that Christian Drosten, the author of the covid pcr test, allegedly (ref Reiner Fuellmich) didn’t have access to the supposed gene sequence for SARS-CoV-2 anyway.

    2. If, as we are told, the current Covids, including Omicron, are even more contagious than the ones that allegedly caused ‘flu to disappear, why has ‘flu equally magically reappeared in great numbers of cases, when it is abundantly clear that the vaccinations do not prevent getting Covid, nor stop transmission of Covid and the ‘flu ones appear to be equally imperfect.

      It is possible to have ‘flu and Covid at the same time.
      I believe that numerous death attributed to Covid over the hysteria period may well have been deaths from ‘flu and that because the people dying were positive for Covid further review was considered unnecessary.

      If masks are effective why does Japan with a history of mask wearing still suffer from regular outbreaks of all these diseases from the common cold to Covid?

  61. “Sunak is asked whether this is the wrong time to be concentrating on waiting lists when there are queues of ambulances trying to get people into hospital.

    Sunak says “my priority is to do both”.

    “The most pressing priority we have is to move people into social care in the communities to get ambulances flowing and make sure people are moving quickly into A&E to be seen,” he says.

    Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t there thousands of hotel beds currently being occupied by fit young men Who I feel sure would be willing to live in barracks so that folk in need can be cared for in the hotels and hospital beds freed up for the really sick…..

    1. “ Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t there thousands of hotel beds currently being occupied by fit young men Who I feel sure would be willing to live in barracks so that folk in need can be cared for in the hotels and hospital beds freed up for the really sick…..”

      Now my old boss used to ask me “what’s thy name, Morecambe or Wise” when I used to make hilarious quips like that.

      1. However, suppose a number of them (male & female) were invited to train as Care Assistants (difficult to recruit at the moment), once trained, provided with accommodation and paid appropriately, with the promise to be given leave to remain after x years service, there could well be a neat solution to what has been an intractable problem for at least 45 years to my certain knowledge.

        1. Mrs VVOF was involved in the Care service for many a year. Quite frankly I would never have done what she did, especially for what she was paid.
          I believe the vast majority of people involved in care or nursing do it as a vocation not as a job. It seems unlikely our uninvited fighting age male guests would consider ass wiping etc to be the job for them, no matter what was promised at the end.
          Far easier for them to walk out of the accommodation in the middle of the night, never to be seen again, well not until orders come through and it all kicks off.

        2. They have already rejected that option.
          You can get a visa to come to the UK from a third world country if you are willing to work in the care sector. I know a family that is doing this at the moment. Both parents, university educated, are working as care assistants until they have earned a permanent visa.

          The dinghy passengers on the other hand have chosen to pay criminals in order to enter the UK illegally and get plugged straight into free money. I highly doubt they are interested in hard work for low pay.

    3. Sunak says “my priority is to do both”.

      Difficult to have more than one priority but then Sunak probably doesn’t understand ‘an oxymoron’ (unless he is one?)

    1. BTW, there is no correct funding for the NHS. Whatever funding it receives it will waste at least 35%. Indeed, the higher the (and the more rapid the increase in) funding, the more and greater proportion which will leak into staff bonuses, rather than patient outcomes. Fundamentally, there is no private incentive, which is at least there when it is (private) insurance financed …

      1. It should certainly be a mixture of public and private funding, like most places with efficient and effective health services.
        I will do in just over a week here what I have little doubt would take several months using the NHS.

  64. Re my earlier comment re Chinese tourists/arrivals NOT being told to self-isolate here’s a comment from an article in the ES:
    My bold.

    Fortunately, there’s no suggestion at this point that XBB.1.5 is more severe, according to Dr Barbara Mahon, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Coronavirus and Other Respiratory Viruses division.
    However, according to the NHS, if you suspect you may be infected with Covid, it is imperative to self-isolate and carefully monitor your symptoms.

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/covid-variant-symptoms-omicron-china-usa-uk-xbb-b1050477.html?itm_source=Internal&itm_channel=homepage_trending_article_component&itm_campaign=trending_section&itm_content=1

    1. Yes…let us just allow in thousands upon thousands of people carrying corona viruses with them. It is not as if we don’t have enough Lemsip. Actually…we don’t.

        1. I agree it’s disgusting, but I do find it works. I have to make it with just enough water to dissolve the powder as I can’t bear drinking a glassful of it.
          (I suppose I should just take a paracetamol)

  66. A boring Bogey Five today!

    Wordle 564 5/6
    ⬜🟩🟨🟩⬜
    ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
    ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
    ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Crappy five too and nearly a six. Too many words with the same four letters.
      Wordle 564 5/6

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

          1. Elizabeth Beresford based the Wombles on people in her family- apparently they weren’t best pleased when they found out;-)

      2. I thought I was going to crash and burn. Wordle 564 6/6

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

    3. Hmmm I had a wittle bit of twouble

      Wordle 564 6/6

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

    4. I thought I was in for a birdie, at least, but it wasn’t to be.
      Wordle 564 4/6

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

  67. Well, I am orf for tonight. Funny old day – quite mild but very strong southerly wind. We shall watch part 2 of the Stonehouse affair. You can see where the current generation of “MPs” learned how to be so thick and corrupt!! I thought it was quite well done. Though a tragedy that the chap playing the lead is white, of course.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain

      1. When I refer to ‘lager’ it’s as it’s known in the UK – i.e. manufactured Eurofizz under licence e.g. Stella, Carlsberg and other ‘lagers’ such as Foster’s and Budweiser (not Budweiser Budvar).

        Czech Pilsners and Belgian beers etc. are, in my view, proper beers and not to be grouped in with the aforementioned ‘lagers’.

        1. Also the German pilsners.
          Lager is a cheap British invention so close to piss and wind.

        2. Also the German pilsners.
          Lager is a cheap British invention so close to piss and wind.

        3. I’ll happily drink Heineken, Amstel, Grolsch etc when in the Netherlands, but the UK brewed versions of these brands are not a patch on the originals.

      1. My mate says that there is very little snow low down. 80% of the ski resorts are closed.

  70. 360240+ up ticks,

    Surely the top priority is the invasion front at Dover, the potential troops add to every section of the infrastructure, daily

    Five promises , fools fodder.

    .

    1. Replies:
      “Looks like it’s from a very close family…”
      “Unfair, I thought she was brilliant in ‘Avatar'”

    2. ‘People must accept that paedophilia resides in each of us’.

      Speak for yourself, you pervert.

      1. It doesn’t reside in me – I would prefer to give kids a wide berth (except when I had to teach them).

  72. Goodnight, Gentlefolk and God bless. No sleep for the past two nights and now my head keeps dropping.

    3. I’ve slept well the last few nights but my head was dropping during the Parish Council meeting!

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    Hoping to emotionally blackmail/scare the wet, feckless liberals that run through the judiciary perhaps.
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    People have no right to private ownership of cars, homes or property, the World Economic Forum has declared. The United Nations is already seeking to transfer trillions to poorer nations via its climate fear campaign – for a Gestapo/Stalinist led world.

    1. The WEF can take a running jump – we have every right to our private homes, cars and property.

    2. The WEF can take a running jump – we have every right to our private homes, cars and property.

  75. No 2 son had his operation today.. he was waiting a month for a broken ankle to be fixed .. Broke it when he slipped on stairs in throng of people trying to catch a train at London Bridge on 9th December .

    Surgeons had to re break his bones , fix plates and screws and tidy his foot up .. He went into hospital this morning had a 2+ hour op and was discharged this late afternoon , they need the bed spaces .. no spare capacity.

    He was lucky to have his op, his Sussex hospital was at a critical state.. His partner is city based but currently WFH because of rail crisis, so at least son will have company for a while ..

    Poor chap needs a long recovery period .

    4. What a nightmare and a worry for you too – I hope they’ve done a good job and it heals successfully.

  76. MH finally got hold of his brother on the phone today- he’d been trying since 30th to wish him a happy birthday. The problem was brother had got a new phone and couldn’t figure out how to answer it. Luckily the cavalry was there in the form of his 7 year old granddaughter and she showed him how to answer his phone!

    Not good though is that my brother in law was supposed to have heart surgery. He has not had it because he has two stents in his heart and they are blocked. So surgery is not considered safe. MH asked him if he’d had the AZ jabs; he replied that his nurse advised against AZ and suggested Phizer instead. MH has a blocked stent also. Brother in law has also had red blotches, like I have.
    And to add to his problems, his ex-wife has died; they were still friends. She died shortly after having the jabs. Coincidence? Hmmm.

    And now they want to bring back all this civid BS. No more ever in Lake Lodge- no more jabs or masks.

    Edit for wrong word.

  77. Somebody keeps sending me flowers with the heads cut off.
    I’m afraid I’m being stalked…

  78. My wife tells me I can be an idiot sometimes.
    How great for her to give me permission like that!

    2. Paul the other one……
      ☺We had some good cracker jokes this Christmas but I think one of our sons took them.

  79. I just ordered a life alert bracelet from Amazon.
    So, if I ever get a life, I will be notified immediately.

  80. I suppose I can consider myself fortunate.
    I had a hospital appointment this afternoon, for my failing left knee joint. I’m usually in and out within in half an hour. So parking is free for that space of time. But I had to wait one hour and ten minutes after the time of my appointment before I saw the Doc. I was worried I would get a ticket. But it seems I got away with it. The NHS is not all bad. Phew 🤗
    Now it’s time to turn in.
    So good night all.

    2. Do you have a blue badge, RE? Parking is free for badge holders provided they register their badge and car (or if they’re in a different car for some reason, let the attendants know) at hospitals in my local health trust.

      1. I’m thinking of applying for one Conners I am having difficulty walking even short distances with my ticker problem now.
        I think I’ll do it today.

        1. You can do it online; you need a digital photo, though. A tip – maximise your difficulties and minimise what you can do or you’ll be turned down.

  81. On GB News a few minutes ago Nina Myskow claimed that the effectiveness of condoms is comparable to and proof that face masks prevent illness. These covidians are complete nutcases. Put a condom on your head, Nina!

    4. I don’t know who she is, but it sounds like a shame that she wasn’t captured in one of them.

    1. Quite clearly Katie the people of North America and Canada have never even heard of climate change.
      It’s been so cold for them. Sarc. 😉

  83. Evening, all. All governments have stood by while the NHS crumbled. None has been willing to grasp the nettle and reform it and since 1997 all governments have been complicit in increasing the population without ensuring that those getting treatment have contributed to the system.

    1. Every time reform is even hinted at we get deafened by the orchestrated hysteria of the REMFs and Unions with their “THEY WANT TO PRIVATISE THE NHS!!” and “SAVE OUR NHS!!!” so nothing gets done.

    2. I like that wordsmithery , Conway.

      I will tweet those words if you don’t mind .. Your words are strong and compact enough to warrant attention .

    3. I think we all understand that a population that is top heavy with people of our ilk (age), is not an economically ideal situation for the country. But ‘fixing’ it with the aid of 3rd world young men of dubious, nay, haters of our culture, ain’t the way to fix it.

      1. Yet the population was shrinking because fewer married couples had children. The reason – as it always is – was tax, teh assault on the family unit, a morass of welfare and a more career focussed demographic (namely mine) who had children later.

        If the NHS wasn’t able to adapt to that, it’s incompetent. It literally had generations. I fear that like all monolithic government departments it didn’t think it should change and just carried on regardless, assuming the world would conform to it’s demands.

        1. It doesn’t help that over many years HMG has “assumed” ownership of problems that were not theirs. But now we know of course that this had been the plan all along leading to complete control of the populace. Teach people to rely on HMG for everything and there you have it – compliance and control. Job done.

  84. Right, that’s me off to bed.
    Got to watch for an auction that ends at lunchtime tomorrow, but I’ve got a load of sawdust and other wood cutting detritus to shovel up and dispose of up the so-called “garden”.

    1. This’d be for the moat, or are you adding it to oil for the deadfall traps?

      The work you’re putting in puts me to shame, Bob. Your industry, enthusiasm, willingness – it’s humbling.

    1. She’s a screaming narcissist. The only lever she has is manipulating others for her own gain. She’s revolting.

  86. We’ve been watching on iPlayer, yes I know it’s BBC, The Capture. Good intriguing stuff. Main character is the lovely Holliday Granger of Strike fame, also BBC and written by Robert Gailbraith, aka J K Rowling.
    Seen 3 episodes and, so far, can highly recommend it.

    1. I haven’t seen The Capture, Alf_the_Great. As well as “the lovely Holliday Granger” of Strike fame, are there also cameo appearances from Nurses, Ambulances, Trains, Underground and Postal Union workers?

      1. A lot of policemen with guns and battering rams. HG does say to her boss now I know when they say “move along, nothing to see” I know they’re lying.

    1. Sunak will do nothing. He has no interest in doing so. Massive uncontrolled gimmigration is part of the WEF plan. When he talks about ‘wanting to create jobs’ he can’t, government can only spend tax payers money. That is not job creation. It’s waste.

      As for cutting inflation – while he continues to pursue the green agenda, to refuse fracking and to keep taxes high inflation will continue to soar.

      He’s a liar, plain and simple.

      1. Much the same but on a grander scale is Biden’s policy allowing millions, from anywhere, to enter the USA moreorless unimpeded.

        This is all about the dilution of the nation state populations by the import of foreigners. The most insidious nature of this policy is that the people gaining access are allowed to conceal their identities and countries of origin, to claim asylum having had the means to pay traffickers and drug cartels thousands for the trip to Blighty.

        We can see the results of such policies with the riots and destructions in formerly sedate cities such as Paris, Berlin and Stockholm, to mention but a few.

        London and Birmingham are assuredly next in line unless Bristol and Liverpool beat them to it.

    2. Nobody, but nobody, tackles the root cause, as to why so many illegal gimmegrunts want to enter the UK.

      That root cause is the benefits paid to them, guaranteeing a life of paid idleness.

      Remove the benefits and the illegals’ numbers will drop dramatically.

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