Wednesday 9 November: Why is Britain buying American gas instead of using its own resources?

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

583 thoughts on “Wednesday 9 November: Why is Britain buying American gas instead of using its own resources?”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, today’s funny:

    Some Very Poor Taste One-Liners..

    Such an unfair world. When a man talks dirty to a woman it’s considered sexual harassment. When a woman talks dirty to a man it’s £5.50/min (charges may vary).

    Got stopped in the street outside Boots today by a woman with a clipboard asking “What products do I use for grooming?” She was a bit taken aback when I replied, “Facebook”.

    Met a beautiful girl down at the park today. Sparks flew, she fell at my feet and we ended up having sex there and then. God, I love my new Taser!

    Got a new Jack Russell pup today, he’s mainly black and brown with just a small white area so I’ve called him Bradford.

    If you get an email telling you that you can catch Swine Flu from tins of ham then delete it. It’s Spam.

    They say that sex is the best form of exercise. Now correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think 2 minutes and 15 seconds every 3 months is going to shift this beer belly.

    When I was a kid people used to cover me in chocolate and cream and put a cherry on my head. Yeah, life was tough in the gateau.

  2. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    The monsoon continues (hosepipe ban still in place) but on the plus side the heating is off due to global warming.  Long may it continue.

    Today’s leading letter:

    SIR – Am I alone in struggling to understand why, instead of fracking for our own gas, we have decided to pay America to frack for its gas, liquefy it and ship it in tankers across the Atlantic, thus ensuring greater carbon-dioxide emissions, higher prices, and most of the employment, profits and tax revenues going to America (“Gas deal set to ease energy crisis”, report, November 8)?

    David Cockerham
    Bearsted, Kent

    The lunatics are in charge, Mr Cockerham (love the name, by the way).  Surely this must have dawned on you before now?  They won’t be satisfied until they have wrecked what is left of our economy with their ruinous Net Zero claptrap. Not long to go now.

    A couple of fairly predictable BTL posts:

    Bill Hickling 23 MIN AGO

    Politicians will never admit that they have given away our energy security because to do so would be to admit that they have been in thrall to a green lobby for the last twenty years that has nothing to do with climate but everything to do with anti-Western industrialisation and has been to an extent funded by our geopolitical enemies.

    John Bates 21 MIN AGO

    Buying American gas and shipping it here is just as stupid as shipping wood chips from there to burn in Drax power station and then claim it’s green.

    1. Mr Cockerham, they’re doing it because they can and at the same time they are rubbing the electorate’s collective noses in it by making the announcement big news.
      IMO the whole charade is another brick in the PSYOP wall.

    1. Morning, Elsie and all Nottlers.

      It may have been predicted but less than two miles from your location it’s pouring down.😎

    2. Sun now out here, but only ‘cos there’s no rain left to fall.
      Oslo reservoirs are now so full they will apparently be releasing 4 million cubic metres an hour today to control the levels.

    3. Good morning.
      Predicted dry here too. I might get a mix of mortar done and a bit more wall built.

  8. SIR – I was due to attend my uncle’s funeral in Essex on Tuesday. I added 90 minutes to the journey time as a contingency. As I approached the M25, I heard there were protests, so thought I’d drive to Putney and go by public transport. I had to turn around, having spent 45 minutes in a queue on Putney Hill. Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, did well out of this, as I paid the congestion and ultra-low emission charges, and earlier I had paid the Department for Transport for unused passage over the Dartford Crossing.

    The irony is that the M25 was built to help reduce traffic levels inside London, thus improving air quality.

    Tom Knight
    Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire

    All very frustrating. However, he need not have paid for using the Dartford Crossing in advance, because they also operate a ‘pay as you go’ system. If you don’t use it – as I was unable to do, thanks to the eco-terrorists hanging off the bridge last month – you won’t be out of pocket. Small comfort, I know.

    1. You’ve got until midnight the day after the crossing to pay the toll. No point paying in advance.

      3. …which is why I set up the PAYG method, because I didn’t want a fat penalty charge after forgetting.

  9. Rishi Sunak will ‘confront’ Vladimir Putin if he attends G20 summit. 8 November 2022

    Rishi Sunak will “confront” Vladimir Putin or any other Russian representative who attends the G20 summit next week over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Downing Street has said.

    The summit in Bali, Indonesia, is due to take place on November 15-16 and the Kremlin is yet to say if Mr Putin will attend, amid reports the Russian President could take part virtually.

    Downing Street said Mr Sunak believes it “would be right that collectively with our allies we confront” any Russian representative who attends.

    Aside from the unlikelihood of him attending while a war is in progress one notes the transposition in three paragraphs from a singular confrontation to a multiple one. In truth none of them have the cojones to front up to Vlad.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/11/08/politics-latest-news-rishi-sunak-latest-news-cop27-gavin-williamson/

    1. An empty threat from an empty (sawn-off) suit. Wisely, Russia, India and China are not attending the eco-beanfest of COPXX, they are merely laughing at ‘The West’ hobbling it’s industrial infrastructure from behind the power plant smokestack.

  11. SIR – Suzanne Moore (Comment, November 8) misses the point on migration: no one objects to a fair, needs-based system. We are all highly aware of the contribution immigrants have made throughout our history, and continue to make to our society.

    However, many do object to those who pay smugglers to bring them across the Channel from a safe country. Most are young, single men, a large percentage of whom will apparently be joining Britain’s flourishing drug trade. We don’t have the facilities to house and feed them, or offer health care.

    Eve Wilson
    Hill Head, Hampshire

    Thanks, Ms Wilson, for stating the bleedin’ obvious!

    2. It may be bleedin’ obvious to you but our monstrous government will not admit it.

    3. I think we are only too aware of the “contribution” muslim immigrants have made to our country and society.

  12. SIR – Matthew Lynn (Business, November 8) says big firms are cutting work forces as non-jobs and lower productivity are more obvious with staff working from home. This change in the private sector’s attitude is driven by the bottom line. When will this happen in the Civil Service, where non-jobs and low output abound?

    Victoria Cockburn
    Bishop’s Castle, Shropshir

    Ms Cockburn (another fine name) overlooks the fact that the primary duty of the Snivel Service these days is to serve itself!

  13. SIR – After the devastation caused by the pandemic, musicians and other performing artists worked hard to reclaim their careers – this in spite of the difficulties caused by the loss of freedom to travel and work abroad.

    The cuts proposed by the Arts Council (report, November 5) are a further blow for the culture industry, which generates billions of pounds for the economy. Britain has a tradition of top-quality music and theatre, with outreach programmes and support for young performers. The suggested cuts are not only an outrage, but a death blow. Those responsible should hang their heads in shame.

    Linda Hardwick
    Malvern, Worcestershire

    What part of ‘the country is broke’ are you struggling with, Ms Hardwick??

    1. Not so broke we can’t spunk untold billions on illegals,foreign aid to countries that hate us lavish benefits to those that wont not can’t work and of course the climate lunacy……..
      Mornig Hugh

    2. I have some sympathy for Linda though – she’s being told that we don’t have the money to support the Arts, while at the same time the CINO government is throwing piles of cash we don’t have at climate reparations, the Ukraine “war”, green energy support payments, dubious Convid contracts, accommodation for illegals and HS2. It must seem that we have “loads a money”?

    3. I have some sympathy for Linda though – she’s being told that we don’t have the money to support the Arts, while at the same time the CINO government is throwing piles of cash we don’t have at climate reparations, the Ukraine “war”, green energy support payments, dubious Convid contracts, accommodation for illegals and HS2. It must seem that we have “loads a money”?

    1. I agree. I have just finished episode number 4 on i player
      . They say it is based on Ben MacIntyre’s book but why give the real soldiers’ names in the series.
      As far as I know from the book the early military SAS were from commando companies, not dragged out of prisons. The name SAS was not provided at the start of Stirling’s brilliant decision to make the Rogue company. The sex, love scenes and spies are an unnecessary addition.
      The film is watchable but only just. A bit like “Dunkirk”

      1. I don’t know why they do this. Either have a play which is accurate. Or have one that is complete fiction.

        I saw a trailer for “Dunkirk” and was completely put off because of the spotlessly clean uniforms, boots and tin hats – after six weeks of panic-stricken retreat….. Never looked at the film. The MR recorded it to watch when I am dead!

        1. ‘Morning Bill. If it’s realism you are after, try the latest remake of All Quiet on the Western Front (Netflix, released in October). I always thought that Spielberg’s war dramas were excellent, but this film does realism in spades and is in a different league. Not for the squeamish.

          2. Don’t rush if you know the source material. Apparently, the only ‘film’ version that stayed true to the book was a TV movie starring John Boy Walton, aka Richard Thomas, in 1978.

  15. The King ‘ready for active conversations’ about Britain’s role in slave trade. 9 November 2022.

    The King is “ready to have active conversations” about Britain’s involvement in the slave trade,” his goddaughter has revealed.

    Fiona Compton, an artist and historian from St Lucia, said they spoke about the need for “openness” and ways in which the subject could be better highlighted and acknowledged.

    It came after it emerged that the King wants the transatlantic slave trade to be taught and understood as widely as the Holocaust.

    I don’t doubt that this woman is speaking with the approval if not actually being put up to it by the King. It’s his way of demonstrating his Woke Views without actually treading on any political toes and avoiding criticism.

    No one alive today in the UK has enslaved anyone from Africa and no one from Africa has been enslaved. We owe these people nothing, though they owe us for destroying the World Trade in human beings!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2022/11/08/king-ready-active-conversations-britains-role-slave-trade/

        1. He’s been panting for this moment for years. Still trying to pretend he’s not political, when he is one of the chief bods at the party that owns both Labour and the Cons.

      2. And why should we give their descendants money? They have a much better life in USA/Jamaica/Caribbean/wherever than they would be having if they were born & lived in Congo or wherever. See how many are fleeing to those awful enslaving countries in Northern Europe, after all. Life is better here. We should instead back-charge them for centuries of board and lodging.

      1. And then put an end to it – world-wide, at great cost in terms of money and lives.
        Hope Charlie-boy remembers to include that, too.

    5. “…no one from Africa has been enslaved”
      I doubt that, Minty. Just look at what happened in Qatar with the footie stadiums building, and Africa is less civilised now than in Colonial times.

  16. SIR – Like Charles Moore (Comment, November 5), I remember Downing Street being an open thoroughfare.

    In 1955 my uncle Arthur, a chef at the Athenaeum Club, found out when Churchill would be leaving No 10 and took me. We stood outside with a few others and saw him leave the house with a wave and drive away. No need for excessive security in those days.

    Sheila Walton
    Barnstaple, Devon

    I can do better than that, Ms Walton.  My friend and I, as 5th formers, visited Downing Street.  We walked up to the front door and took it in turns to pose on the step for  photographs.  The police officer on duty moved to one side and even offered to take one of us together in front of the famous door.  What wonderful freedom we had in those days, although we didn’t realise it at the time.

    1. It used to be a handy shortcut to walk along Downing Street, then down the steps at the western end to Horse Guards Road. Did it many, many times.

    3. Somewhere I have photos of me on the steps of 10 Downing Street as well. One of them has a smiling policeman (in correct uniform) beside me.

  17. 367459+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Wednesday 9 November: Why is Britain buying American gas instead of using its own resources?

    That’s is an easy one,

    It’s pay back back time, what ever of the treacherous odious coalition parties were in power the lesson was still going to be taught,

    YOU DO NOT MESS WITH PRO EU PARTIES

    Proving their point the suffering commenced, then along came the lab constructed plague a few adjustments fashioned a perfect political
    manipulating / fear tool.

    The political overseers were sorely hurt on the 24/6/2016, on the
    25/6/2016 the true United Kingdom patriots were stood down and the first
    step taken on the road to self inflicted suffering was taken by the majority of the stone deaf herd.

      1. 367459+ up ticks,

        Morning JN,

        Correct ,but as I see it more importantly we sold out the reason we commemorate the 11/11/11.

  18. Good morning all.
    A bright start today with 5°C in the yard, not raining at the moment but it obviously has through the night at some time.

  20. Good morning.
    Here’s an interesting four minutes of an ex CIA man talking about the mechanics of planting propaganda stories in the US media.
    Journalists were as lazy and sloppy then as they are now by the sound of it. All that BS about risking their lives on the ground – they “fact-checked” what the CIA man had told them by calling the British Embassy!
    https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1589606899569377282?s=09

    1. They’ve improved on it since then by promoting their own shills within the MSM and buying up large sections through proxies!

    1. Inconvenient truth, Hugh J. It will continue to be ignored by those pushing the ‘climate’ agenda.

  22. A BTL in response to Sunak’s ludicrous ‘reparations’ BS:

    Angela Warden46 MIN AGO

    Rishi Sunak wants us to pay reparations to certain countries recompense them for the nutty net zero policies. Have recently been in Zambia and can assure him that where the former colonial powers were, the Chinese have taken over. Take Ndola for example the Chinese have built a huge International Airport because it is near the copper belt. Very few planes land here daily. It is like this throughout Africa. Africa is now owned by the Chinese. African countries are never going to be able to repay the loans. Rishi and his fellow travellers need to educate themselves about Africa. And if any reparations are ever paid the locals will not see any benefit and the money will be spent buying cars and luxury items for the wife of the local chief. I know Africa as I was born there.

    * * *

    This might come as a shock to our idiot politicians, but not to we normal people!

    1. I grew up in Northern Nigeria.
      Angela Warden is spot on.
      Where has all the aid money poured into Africa for the last 40+ years gone? The people are just as poor, poorly educated and disease-ridden as before Band-Aid.
      Europe was once like that, but we dragged ourselves up without the benefit of another country pouring in money by the shipload. Wonder how taht worked?

      1. Nigeria is not a poor country.
        The same as most of the rest of African countries its run by greedy useless lazy money gobbling tyrants.

        1. Now imported wholesale into Europe & the UK, whose politicians are doing their best to copy the approach…

      2. Where has all the aid money poured into Africa for the last 40+ years gone?

        We probably all know that it has gone Into the private Swiss bank accounts of tyrants.

      3. My (conservative) African friend hates the whole aid industry, as she rightly points out that it keeps people down when they constantly expect handouts.

      4. I was once (1980s) giving a talk at a posh venue (Royal Commonwealth Society?). Opposite was the Nigerian Embassy … I have never seen so many top=of-the-range Mercedes as drove in and out that day.

  23. Every single penny Government (our) money,nice work if you can get it……….

    “A company contracted to find and operate accommodation for people

    awaiting asylum claims – which included the most recent procurement of

    student rooms at the former Broadstairs uni campus – has seen its

    profits after tax for year ending January 31,2022, grow by five times

    the amount made in 2021.

    Clearsprings Ready Homes, also the provider of social services care

    leaver accommodation under a contract with Kent County Council which

    runs until next year, made a whopping £28,012,427 compared to £

    4,419,841 the previous year, according to accounts lodged with Companies

    House.

    Clearsprings, which also runs the Napier Barracks site, had an overall turnover of £501,822,664 for the year.”

    https://theisleofthanetnews.com/2022/11/08/the-rising-profits-made-by-clearsprings-ready-homes-through-asylum-contracts-and-the-issue-of-application-backlogs/
    Still,rank amateurs compared to Serco but I wonder just how many such companies there are………..

    2. And how much our effing politicians are making out of all this on the side.
      Bungs galore.

  25. Alison Pearson:

    We don’t owe developing countries ‘climate reparations’ – they owe us

    We are on the hook for untold billions to countries experiencing adverse weather conditions, because we invented factories – and cars

    ALLISON PEARSON
    8 November 2022 • 6:24pm

    I see that the Government has come up with a daring new game. It’s called: Stress Testing the Loyalty of Conservative Voters Until They Finally Snap. Over 4,000 party members are believed to have quit since Liz Truss was forced out. Those of us who are rallying round our new Prime Minister, as he tries to steady the ship, probably felt rather pleased when he said that he would not be attending Cop27. The crisis at home is far too great to waste time grandstanding in a luxurious Egyptian resort, with 24,000 diplomats and 13,000 observers who are deeply worried about everyone’s carbon footprint, except their own. If “Not Much Cop” was serious about the climate emergency, why wasn’t it held on Zoom?

    Don’t be daft. Such energy-saving measures are for the little people, like you and me, who dutifully do our recycling. Not for the hellfire-preaching eco-zealots who travelled in the 400 private jets that landed in Sharm el-Sheikh over the weekend.

    As if that hypocrisy weren’t quite stomach-churning enough, the sponsor of this year’s jamboree was – brace yourselves! – Coca-Cola.

    All together now: “We’d like to build the world a home and furnish it with love/Grow apple trees and honey bees but, unfortunately, we manufacture 120 billion throwaway plastic bottles a year which ruin natural habitats so the bees die.”

    No further proof is needed that Cop27 is a bazaar of balderdash, I think. It’s a giant con trick perpetrated by global elites on trusting populations who like the sound of a greener, cleaner world (who doesn’t?) but who still have no idea of the vast cost and sacrifices that will be involved in reaching net zero. We are talking trillions of pounds. 

    Rishi Sunak, who reversed his decision not to attend the conference, only added to the general air of ivory-tower, out-of-touchness when he appeared to commit the UK to something called “climate reparations”. It was easy to tell it was a terrible idea, because the BBC reported that “the good news from Cop27 is the loss and damage proposal claim”.

    Basically, we are on the hook for untold billions to countries experiencing adverse weather conditions, because we invented factories. And cars. 

    Surely, in the current economic climate, when people are worried about how to manage their very existence, the Government wouldn’t be mad enough to ask the British people to divert their taxes away from vital public services to “environmental reparations” for countries like Somalia, Kenya and Pakistan?

    Ah, well, as Jeremy Hunt prepares to make up to £35 billion in spending cuts and around £25 billion in tax increases, at least Rick and Katy in Darlington, who are struggling to feed their three children after paying the gas bill, will be cheered by the thought that they are helping to fund Nairobi’s Railway City and Hydropower Project.

    Rishi Sunak says this is “the right thing to do”. Sorry, Prime Minister, giving in to specious emotional blackmail from developing nations when your own countrymen are facing enormous hardship is not just wrong, it’s immoral. May I suggest a polite but firm response to requests for money we do not have along these lines: 

    Revolution which freed millions of ordinary people from back-breaking servitude, as well as causing a vast and sudden increase in life expectancy. For centuries, the average lifespan in the UK barely rose above 36 years. By 1901, life expectancy had jumped to 45 years (men) and 50 years (women), due to an increase in wealth, the production of cheaper goods, healthier diets and better education.

    The UK will neither apologise nor make amends for the Industrial Revolution whose beneficial effects continue to be felt every day around our world.

    Should you persist in your unfair demands for “climate reparations”, may we suggest you pay us royalties for the following: the internal combustion engine, Spinning Jenny, steam power, Tarmacadam, electrical telegraph, railways, automobiles, airplanes, radio, television, computers, pharmaceuticals and the world wide web. 

    We’ll throw in Parliamentary government and democracy for free as a gesture of goodwill. Bank transfers welcome.

    Very best wishes and we remain cordially yours, 

    Britain

    Of course, demanding compensation for everything the United Kingdom has contributed to the world would be absurd. Equally absurd is committing billions we simply don’t have to settle historic “loss and damage” claims.  On the list of “developing countries” with their hand out is China. The country which has emitted more carbon dioxide over the past eight years than the UK has since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

    If the Conservatives are looking for new ways to guarantee electoral annihilation, asking skint voters to pay for “climate reparations” should work a treat.      

    * * *

    This top BTL has saved me the trouble:

    P M Bosworth13 HRS AGO

    Well said Allison. These reparations are ridiculous and as stupid as net zero. Sunak is a fool for a) attending the Cop27 jamboree and b) crippling this country for more billions which we don’t have, to assuage the left-wing guilt over the non climate change “emergency” that doesn’t exist. This non-event will achieve nothing when China and India sensibly aren’t attending. The Tories certainly know how to lose and infuriate their voters.

    1. No further proof is needed that Cop27 is a bazaar of balderdash, I think. It’s a giant con trick perpetrated by global elites on trusting populations who like the sound of a greener, cleaner world (who doesn’t?) but who still have no idea of the vast cost and sacrifices that will be involved in reaching net zero. We are talking trillions of pounds.

      Wow! Deserves Honarary Membership of NOTTL for that alone!

          2. Of course Boris Johnson’s father is a green fanatic so did he do a pimping job and push Carrie, another green fanatic, into his son’s bed with strict instructions to make sure he went weather woke and climate clueless?

      3. But the population is no longer trusting. Normal people are starting to grow up. Kids are indoctrinated with this twaddle at every turn at school and so will lap this nonsense up, but when the bills come due and they’re freezing they’ll change their minds.

        Or will they? Will people really suffer for a lie? Ah, of course they will. They’re programmed to. The state will hector them on it relentlessly until no dissent is brooked.

        1. Look at the Soviet time.
          Nobody believed a word of it, even those that were born and grew up Soviet.
          There’s hope yet.

    2. She is so right, nobody in their right mind with honest and connected moral standards could not argue with that.
      I’ve always liked her. Probably because she is honest and hits the proverbial Nail right on the head.
      Keep banging away Allison.

    3. Nice to see Allison on form – I doubt that the so called Tory party will pay any attention though, morons that they are. Sunak is a complete waste of rations who has exceeded my expectations of him, but in a negative fashion.

      1. Read any Telegraph comment thread and once you get rid of the sewage mindlessly wittering on about Brexit you find folk all saying ‘never again’. Yet they will. They know they will. The Labour terror is too great.

    4. Sunak is not a fool – he has a burning lust to bankrupt and destroy Britain. He is evil – just as Blair and May are evil.

      1. Exactly. We are getting nowhere while people are still saying “Sunak/Hunt/Gove is a fool”
        They are not fools.
        They are lackeys of the Bilderberg/WEF/Trilateral Commission (they’re all the same people), and their one world government technocracy plan where you will own nothing.

      2. I explained, just the other week, why this is so. The true Right continues to sit with its thumb up its arse while the Left have taken over (and continue to do so) everywhere, including the Conservative Party. I wrote:

        The Left went quietly to work behind the scenes whilst the Right remained smugly stupefied in their complacent torpor. The Left, around the world, are united in thought, doctrine and method. The omnipotent Global Corporations, in tandem with the World Economic Forum (WEF), who are intent on world financial domination, realised this and it didn’t take much working out that the moronically malleable tendencies that form the core of the Left, once trained, would provide them not only the best foot soldiers, but also the best guerrilla faction. Insurrection through infiltration was the way to go, and not a single facet of western society would be spared the pervasion of the malignant tendrils of the silent Left as its microcosm inveigled its malignant spores throughout every bastion of what the Right historically held sacrosanct.

        Not one single area of the Establishment was overlooked. The Right had long-since taken its eye off the ball and it languished, with its thumb up its arse in its priggish, holier-than-thou self-righteousness; while the Left quietly went about its invidious penetration of all things that really matter to the Right. One of the first bastions of society to be successfully targeted was the news media. The BBC was an early, easy and willing target. An extraordinarily huge number of Guardianistas already held sway within the hallowed halls of that colossal behemoth. Recruiting many more of a like mind was all too easy for them.

        Half the mainstream press were already of a Leftist bent. Reigning in the others would take a while but it could be done. Tabloids such as The Daily Mail, The Daily Express and The Sun have each accrued as many Left-wing journalists and editors as has long been traditional at the Daily Mirror. Worse still, traditional bastions of the Right including The Times and The Daily Telegraph (yes, the vaunted Torygraph) are now riddled with Lefties who skew everything towards a Liberal angle. It cannot be mere coincidence that the deplorably plummeting standards of written English and grammar in those once-hallowed broadsheets coincides with infiltration of the Left.

        Everywhere you care to look the clear signs of deterioration are glaring. While certain factions of the Left were busy burying themselves in the fabric of the news and broadcast media, others were equally industrious manoeuvring themselves into all other spheres of influence. Education was a primary target; penetration of which was quite easy since that has always been a hotbed of Left-wing influence. Primary and secondary education became as important a quarry for Leftist intrusion as tertiary (university) education had already successfully been for some considerable time.

        The judiciary was identified quite early as a prime — and very ripe — prey for these infiltrators; and this was soon followed by the Police. The implementation of a graduate-entry scheme for the police in the late 1970s paved the way for a tranche of inept insurgents who soon found a route to rapid promotion within the force. This coincided with a relaxation on the rules of recruitment. For the first time since the inauguration of the British police service, recruits (and their closest relatives) having previous criminal convictions were not disbarred from serving. All this provided a petri-dish for the cultivation of an increasingly surreptitious Leftist influence, which accelerated the decline in standards of recruitment for police officers.

        Having successfully and insidiously implanted themselves deep within the heart of every echelon of the establishment, they now moved on towards the greatest prize of all: the Conservative and Unionist Party. It cannot be simply a coincidence that most serving Conservative members of parliament are at complete odds with the electorate that placed them in power. The vast majority are still ‘Remainers’ at heart (having fought tooth and nail, self-interestedly, against Brexit) and would love to rejoin the grubby little private members’ club known as the European Union (EU). If not just for the riding on the gravy train or scoffing themselves sick at the never-emptying trough; the fact that the EU is run by unelected friends of friends, who can never be voted out of office, has an irresistible charm and attraction for these self-servers.

        The end result is that the Left have achieved a quiet, almost unnoticed, success in taking over every area of influence in this country (as well as many others in the West). They are now deeply installed everywhere and working maniacally to continue to achieve their stated aim of a socialist world where no one will (à la Nineteen Eighty-Four) own personal property and place the “good” of society over family. Frankfurt School ‘Critical Theory’ and Common Purpose doctrines will be omnipotent.

        Will the true Right rise up against this? It is doubtful that they still possess the wherewithal — not to mention the balls or the brains — to rise up from their pink gin-addled stupor and rattle their rusty sabres. The remnants of the Right have been caught napping (literally and figuratively) and have been left at the starting gate, back in the latter part of the 20th century. Well and truly outflanked, and outgunned, I really cannot see any way back for the traditional Right.

          1. I’m not sure, Bob. I don’t read Going Postal as a matter of course (my time is taken by other things) but if you remind me how to access it I might give it a whirl.

    5. A fabulous letter to Pakistan (from Britain) from the redoubtable Allison Pearson. I just wish she hadn’t let herself down, slightly, by choosing to use the risible Americanese ‘airplanes’ in a British letter, instead of the proper Standard English aeroplanes. However, that only detracts one tiny iota from the powerful message she has given on behalf of us all in a generally excellent piece of writing.

    6. The President of Barbados is very gobby about the damage done to her country by climate change and wants money. Any island in an area subject to hurricanes will occasionally be lashed by the elements but when I used to regularly visit with work, all the beachside hotels were still standing and full of tourists. Maybe we should reduce emissions by stopping flights out there.

    7. It is all about eroding national pride. About diminishing our contribution to the world. Frankly, we built it. The Left hate that. They hate success. The whole nonsense over reparations for climate change is just more forced transfers of wealth from one unwelcome group to the favoured ones – who’ll vote for you.

      That i ends up destroying local businesses, trade, ruins the need for infrastructure development and spurs corruption is irrelevant to the globalists. They don’t care about the third world. They just want to skim off 60-80% of the cash into their own pockets – people like Sunak getting a nice chunk of it in back handers and brown envelopes.

        1. Here too so Dolly gets a walk today. She is actually getting much more exercise than usual because she and Harry stampede from room to room for hours on end.

  27. I have seen no mention of the £80 million that Sunak is supposed to have given to Macron to help with the Channel problem.

    1. He will have given it but the MSM will keep quiet about it.

      I am becoming increasingly convinced that Sunak is completely determined to destroy Britain.

      2. Not sure it’s specifically Britain, but more the globalist agenda is put before every other, thus they believe a high tax, command economy with a hug state is the right one. It isn’t, and is causing carnage, but they Left simply don’t care.

  28. Morning all 🙂
    My word the sun’s out. Massive bright moon last night. Things are looking up.
    Except in the political context. The toilet still won’t flush.

  29. More Just Stop Oil protests on the M25 this morning – motorway at a standstill clockwise J4-J5, J8-J9, J26-J27. Police Officer injured after a lorry crashed on the M25 while Just Stop Oil protests were taking place.

    1. It is the same with illegal immigration – if the government wanted to stop it they would do so. But they don’t want these outrages to stop so they pretend to be powerless to do anything.

      We are in a very sorry state when the state would prefer to be considered cowardly and incompetent than principled and determined to stick up for the people who pay for it all with their taxes.

      1. I have fond memories of various parts of Australia. Right now I would give my (not literally) right arm for my wife and entire family to be living close to Bussleton in WA.
        All due to the more than obvious, i.e. The growing (deliberate) incompetence of those in Westminster and Whitehall.
        Little children with sticks could be doing a better job.

        1. I am confused – Australia seems to be not a good place at this particular stage in our history – protests regarding the way covid is/was being handled – an elderly lady lying on the floor being pepper sprayed, her arms and legs waving like an insect, she died 24 hours later; a young person being choked into unconsciousness by the police because he wasn’t wearing a mask and being carried and dropped on the floor, there are many, many examples such as this which are not published by the msm. Arrivals from Australia and Canada are amazed by our lax covid rules. I realise that different states have control over their own laws, though,

          1. We have both friends and relatives in various parts of Oz. None of them have mentioned any particular problems over lock down. But Australian police do seem to have a bit of a knack of going over the top.
            Except for immigrants breaking the laws. It seems to be a touch of similar problems we have in the UK. I’m not saying it’s perfect pm. But one thing in the favour of the Australian government is their are more restricive on who they let in. Which I guess would include our selves. Sponsorship from friends and rellies would help.
            And of course our eldest son was born there.
            But it’s not practical and sadly it ain’t gonna happen. 🤔

    2. Perhaps who ever is deemed to be in charge in this gutless country will put their hollow heads together and come up with a solution.

          1. Considering the policies the State is enforcing these protestors are simply promoting the state line. They’re not terrorists, they’re civil servants.

            Same for the tide of filth pouring across our borders. All forced on us by the very group we pay to defend them. Everything is back to front. If those paid to do a duty actively set about doing the opposite of what they’re employed to do then why can we not sack them and replace those people – police, border farce – with people who will do as their job descriptions demand?

          2. Oh and to add further to the irony. Sunday is remembrance day for all those millions who gave their lives for a safe and better future. No more attempts at invasion no more bombing.
            What an effing disgusting disgrace our governments have been since Thatcher was kicked out. No wonder she was in tears, she probably knew what was going to happen.

        2. It’s not just the obvious, these people should be stood in line and named and severely shamed.
          And as I’ve mentioned before, how are they getting around to the sites of disruption.
          Government back door help ?

      2. The only solution they will come up with was the goal all along – draconian anti-protest laws (that we don’t need).

        1. I’m remembering when the bully boy police arrested the lady at the cenotaph for reading the names of those who die in the Blair wars. And the chap at Westminster who was reading the Churchill views on Islam.
          But you see BB if they continue along those lines they will also have to arrested the islamics who block our streets kneeling. That won’t be popular, if it ever actually happens.

          1. Won’t happen, though, will it? That would be “racist” (never mind that islam is an ideology, not a race).

          6. Precisely. That’s why daft ‘old bill’ can’t arrest the no oilers. It would set a very important much needed precident.

  30. Good Moaning.
    Lovely, generous, caring and sharing MB has passed his lurgy on to me.
    I will spend the day feeling sorry for myself.

    2. We can join in now that we know.
      Insist on regular refills of hot whisky and honey, brought to your elbow as demanded. And the TV remote…

      1. UK daytime telly? Are you mad? She will end up buying a funeral plan, double glazing and a sofa !

        2. We don’t watch broadcast TV. Bought a Chromecast a while ago, watch youTube and occasionally Netflix with Firstborn’s subscription.

    3. Bad luck. Look on the bright side. Germs – like incest – are best kept in the family.

    2. Another total cockup. We live in the south east. I’ll ring my GP practice………..hello……
      You are number 2022 in line……..
      Oh well we’d better get the wills up-to-date.

      1. If they gave you a flu jab they should also have given you the information on which one it was.

        1. He probably had no idea at the time, just liked the extra dosh that went with it.
          I’ll try and check it out.

  34. What is Nicola Sturgeon doing at Cop27? Don’t ask, just ignore
    These are more publicity-seeking antics, but there is no need to push back. Soon voters will see for themselves what an irrelevance she is

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/07/what-nicola-sturgeon-cop27-dont-ask-just-ignore/

    Take Cop27, which Sturgeon is eagerly attending. As the head of a devolved administration Sturgeon has little locus and no influence at the world climate change summit taking place in Egypt. But a big part of the never-ending nationalist campaign for independence is to affect the trappings of sovereignty and to present, to the TV viewer and social media user, the impression that Scotland has already taken its seat at the top table of nations.

    Needless to say, Sturgeon is adding to her already substantial carbon footprint by flying to Sharm El Sheikh, at a time when her government is planning some substantial cuts to local services. She has also been criticised for taking along with her Susan Aitken, the leader of SNP-run Glasgow City Council – a necessary move, says Sturgeon, because, having hosted Cop26 last year, Councillor Aitken must “hand on the Cop responsibility to Egypt”.

    Cop27 is nothing but a begging bowl event ..

    1. One hotel in Northallerton, close to Sunak’s constituency office, is scheduled to become an illegal invader home if not already in use as such.

      3. And to TB above……
        What have crooked disgusting political AHS inflicted upon OUR country ??

          1. Point is that it’s not competent to proclaim oneself a vegan while standing in front of an open fridge with animal products in.
            One has to wonder how someone so careless of detail got the funding to start a crypto exchange.

  38. Gavin Williamson: Loathsome, ridiculous, but top-notch at burying the s–t his bosses want to hide
    In the dunghill of contemporary politics, Williamson has been a top dung beetle

    You will never catch this column putting “Sir” in front of the name Gavin Williamson. We still have some standards at Pearson Towers. History is full of nasty twerps who have made themselves useful to their masters by bullying and doing all the dirty work. The deceitful servant Mosca got it right in Ben Jonson’s Volpone: “Almost all the wise world is little else, in nature, but parasites or sub-parasites.”

    In the dunghill of contemporary politics, Williamson has been a top dung beetle, waging head-to-head matches in the Westminster dung tunnel and coming out on top.

    That’s Williamson, alright. Loathsome, invariably ridiculous, but top-notch at burying the s–t his bosses want to keep hidden.

    The former fireplace salesman served as defence secretary under Theresa May and education secretary under Boris Johnson during Covid, somehow managing to keep British schools closed longer than any comparable country while making a fiasco of exams. He was sacked from both roles. Astoundingly, Boris awarded him a knighthood in March.

    When I saw that Rishi Sunak had appointed him Minister without Portfolio, I thought:

    1. Not trusted to be given a proper job but too feared not to be given a job. He knows too much.

    2. Payback time for twisting arms during the Tory leadership campaign.

    3. This will be a disaster that “professionalism and integrity” Sunak lives to regret.

    Sure enough, it was just weeks before leaked text messages appeared to show Williamson threatening the then chief whip Wendy Morton for not getting him an invitation to the Queen’s funeral. He whinged at being excluded from Westminster Abbey and accused Ms Morton of “rigging the ticket allocation” to punish people like him who had not supported Liz Truss. He seemed to warn the chief whip not to “push him about” saying darkly, “there is a price for everything”.

    Ms Morton sent the messages to the Conservative Party after making a formal complaint about Williamson’s behaviour. She has now referred him to Parliament’s independent complaints and grievance scheme.

    “I of course regret getting frustrated about the way colleagues and I felt we were being treated,” apologised Williamson, unapologetically – though this time, it wasnt enough to save his bacon and last night he resigned.

    Until yesterday, he enjoyed the Prime Minister’s “full confidence”. But claims that Williamson had told a senior civil servant to “slit your throat” and “jump out of a window” made his position untenable. In classic Alan Partridge style, he did not deny using those words but “disputed they amounted to bullying”. Slit your throat being a term of endearment in the fireplace community. Can you imagine such behaviour in any other workplace?

    Yesterday, Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said something that was perhaps more revealing: “I think Gavin is somebody who has a particular talent and particular understanding of the parliamentary party and I can see, therefore, why, given that it’s going to be very important that we have a cohesive party going forward, he has a seat at the Cabinet table.”

    Let’s translate that: “OK, the guy’s a bully but this is a feverish time for the new PM and Gavin has the dirt on all our MPs so he can stop the b——s rebelling.”

    At least he’s resigned. The mounting allegations of bullying made it inevitable. Now, he should hand back that knighthood. Sir Galahad and Sir Gawain were exemplars of chivalry. Sir Gavin? Dear oh dear!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2022/11/09/gavin-williamson-loathsome-ridiculous-top-notch-burying-s-t/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    Comments are amusing .

    1. Delighted that Gav the spiv has gone. I doubt that he ‘resigned’ without a good shove, either. We all just knew that as soon as Sunak announced that he had full confidence in him, it would only be 24-48 hrs before he would be out. And so it came to pass…

      Meanwhile, Sunak has used up another life on this useless prat.

    1. Don’t worry, messrs Sunak & Hunt will quietly raid any windfall Pf gains long before they reach your pension fund.

  40. A wave of Chinese deflation will soon be coming our way, bringing peak interest rates into view. 9 November 2022.

    China is slipping back into deflation. Factory gate prices rolled over in the spring and have been falling in absolute terms for the last three months. Annual core inflation has dropped to 0.6pc.

    The workshop of the world will again be exporting goods disinflation to Europe and America within months, undercutting Western industries on a large scale. This is likely to deepen the industrial and manufacturing downturn in the West and has powerful implications for interest rates and the trajectory of inflation. The Bank of England may be vindicated for refusing to join other central banks heading for monetary overkill.

    Oh Great! And the West with a massive self-inflicted increase in energy costs. I think we are coming up to the Mother of all Crashes. Economic and Political.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/11/09/wave-chinese-deflation-will-soon-coming-way-bringing-peak-interest/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

  41. Good morning everybody.
    Apologies if this was posted earlier:
    “Covid caused death of 20 healthy children and teens in UK during first two years
    Data show that most of the 185 people under the age of 20 who died after being infected had serious underlying health conditions
    By Joe Pinkstone, Science Correspondent 8 November 2022 • 7:19pm
    Only 20 children and teenagers with no pre-existing health conditions
    died of Covid-19 in the first two years of the pandemic, analysis
    shows.”

    Yesterday evening the Joe Pinkstone article appeared on my online Telegraph ‘front page’. By about 9:30 pm there were 143 BTL comments, but for some reason I could not read them. When I refreshed before 10pm, the comments had disappeared.

    There is no obvious Health or Science category where the article appears, just ‘News’.
    Incidentally the ONS states that just three young people died during that period with Covid-19 as the only cause of death, which raises unanswerable questions* about the tragic deaths of the other 17 youngsters. Possibly other illnesses caught while in hospital?

    *unanswerable because of respect for privacy and confidentiality.

    1. Good morning, Tim.

      I would love to see the annual figures which show how many people under the age of 20, with no underlying health conditions, die as a result of catching influenza. I would wager that it is far in excess of just a handful.

  42. Not fit for purpose.

    “A U.K. Labour MP is under fire for suggesting the rape of a teenage boy at a hotel accommodating asylum seekers in northeast London last month “is what happens when you demonize migrants.”

    Diane Abbott, the former shadow home secretary in ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, made the remarks in a tweet published on Thursday afternoon.

    She referenced the plight of a teenage boy who was raped at a hotel housing asylum seekers in the London borough of Waltham Forest. The attack reportedly took place on Oct. 5 but has only just come to light.

    “Officers attended and spoke to the victim, a boy in his teens, and his family,” a spokesperson told Sky News on Thursday. “Specialist support is being provided.

    “A man, aged in his 30s, was arrested at the scene and taken into custody,” they added.

    Abbott called the incident a “terrible case,” before suggesting that “it is what happens when you demonize migrants and take no responsibility for safeguarding migrant children.”

    She ended the tweet by calling for the ousting of current Home Secretary Suella Braverman.”

    1. When the state demonised Andrew Leak you didn’t find white people dashing out to rape children. The gimmigrants are savages, rapists, paedophiles and murderers. If Abbott wants them here she can house them all.

    2. When the state demonised Andrew Leak you didn’t find white people dashing out to rape children. The gimmigrants are savages, rapists, paedophiles and murderers. If Abbott wants them here she can house them all.

    3. Abbott is stupid beyond belief – she is the perfect representative for her equally thick constituents.

  43. My views have moved far too far to the right for the DT’s taste but I still bung off letters to them from time to time for them not to publish! Here is one based on one of my nottles.

    Sir,

    If the government wanted to stop it they would stop it.

    But they are very happy for illegal immigration to continue unchecked and even to sponsor it at great expense borne by the British taxpayer; they are also very happy for ordinary people to be grossly inconvenienced in both their commercial and private activities by people blocking the public highways in the name of environmentalism.

    We are in a very sorry state when politicians would prefer to be considered cowardly and incompetent rather than principled and determined to stick up for the people who pay their ever-increasing taxes.

    This begs the question: ‘Is democracy in Britain now on the brink of extinction?’

    Rastus C. Tastey

  44. So it looks as if all those who doubted the probity of the 2020 presidential elections got it wrong because a similar level of support for the Democrats has emerged in the mid-terms.

    Reactionary diehards will, as expected, claim that the process has been rigged yet again.

    1. Kari Lake tears into ‘cheaters and crooks’ and says she will ‘keep fighting’ to make elections ‘free and fair’ as she falls BEHIND Democrat rival Katie Hobbs in the Arizona Governor race and zeros in on broken voting machines
      Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake said she will ‘fight for days’ against those who try to steal elections
      ‘We had a big day today and don’t let those cheaters and crooks think anything different – don’t let them put doubt in you,’ Lake said
      Said insisted she would continue to push for days to see the results are valid
      Came as she fell behind Democratic challenger Katie Hobbs in the wee hours of Wednesday morning
      The 5 percent rail is a big improvement from earlier in the night when the GOP candidate was behind by double digits

      1. Are you a rational progressive or a bigoted reactionary diehard? (I am the latter!)

        1. Do I accept Biden won?
          Yes
          Do I accept it was all honest and above board?
          No
          I guess I’m a realistic bigot.

          2. Yes, until you are found out.
            The hope is always that you would be found out, and later disqualified.

    1. The parents of one of our students a few years ago gave us the present of a tin of the most delicious chocolate biscuits from Fortnum and Mason. I looked it up on the Internet and discovered that if you divided the cost by the number of biscuits then the price of each one was about £1.50.

      Yesterday my lovely wife gave me a marvellous surprise – she baked some Florentines which are even better than the F&M biscuits.

      1. Home baked/made food items are always tastier and better for you than anything you can buy. And there is a secret ingredient incorporated within the mix.

        2. I’m moved to make a Christmas pudding this year we usually buy them M&S or Waitrose. I love the flavours. And we have a family joke…..on one portion you could climb Mount Everest.
          And if kept it is almost self preserving.

          2. If you do decide to make some, Eddie, make twice the quantity, steam them, then place one away in the pantry until next year. Mum always made hers for eating the following year. It improves the flavour so much.

            The best one I ever ate was at a restaurant. I asked the chef for his recipe and he told me the ‘secret’ ingredient was a good dollop of orange marmalade. I always include that in mine nowadays.

          3. Good idea Grizz.
            I use to help my mother making Christmas cake and pudding every year. I think she used suet for the pudding. I’ve got a very old recipe.

          4. Proper beef suet is very underrated (it got an undeserving bad press in the 1990s) and it is essential for Christmas puds as well as mince pies. I did the same with my mother and I had to make a wish while mixing it up.

          5. We have a tradition butcher’s shop in our village. I should be able to get suet.
            I’ve still got some of the silver coins somewhere, that my mother put in the portions before she served them up.

          7. How long will they keep? I’m not really into Christmas pudding, and we have one from 2018…

          8. I remember finding a Presto pudding at least a decade after they were taken over by Safeways.
            Still tasted good.

          10. Hey, Dukke.

            If they are sealed and steamed, they will keep (under the bed in Mum’s case) for a minimum of a year. They are so filled with rum or brandy and other booze (beer) that they are well-preserved. The following year you simply steam them again for a couple of hours and serve them with a proper vanilla custard (or rum sauce).
            I also have a couple of forgotten ones that I made in 2018. I shall steam one next week and I’ll let you know how it turns out.

          11. I make christmas puddings every year, Delia Smith’s is the best recipe with barley wine and stout. I can usually find barley wine in Tesco, packs of 4, gold tins. Also for the stout element I use St Peter’s cream stout. I add a little more dried fruit than the recipe says, sometimes I add prunes, and this year I have managed to find lexia raisins. I steam it in our slow cooker, about 8-9 hrs on medium. It is delicious. Before I started making them we used to buy Cole’s, made in Saffron Walden – Waitrose used to sell them as did John Lewis but you can find them in the food section of garden centres.

          12. I’ve got her best book somewhere.
            We had brandy in the cake, poured on after baking……to keep it moist 🤗

    3. I shall bake one of those this Christmas, Maggie. My ingredients list will be:

      Puff pastry: flour; salt; butter; egg (for wash).
      Sausage meat: Twice-minced fatty pork shoulder; sea salt; black pepper; sage.
      Extra filling: caramelised onion.

    4. Do you hang it on the door?

      Better value is their Regal Chustmas cracker box. Only £5,000 for six crackers.

  48. The Tories will regret joining the assault on Middle England’s wealth
    Treating savings as a cash cow for the Treasury will only result in more people reliant on the government
    Philip Johnston : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/08/tories-will-regret-joining-assault-middle-englands-wealth/

    BTL

    When we built an extension to our house we first hired a man with a large JCB digger to come and get rid of the rubbish, level the ground and dig sound foundations.

    I am beginning to think that Sunak has been told by Schwab at the WEF that The Great Reset will be far easier to achieve if the economy of Britain is totally destroyed first. Sunak, being Schwab’s acolyte, has set about this task straight away.

    1. Isn’t that obvious? In order to have a reset, you have to destroy what was there before first.
      The very rich think it’s not in their interests for us to have wealth.
      I think they are wrong, and they or their children will discover how mistaken they were, but like all dictators, they will have caused the deaths of millions before that happens.

    2. Just watch Canada, Trudeau is several years ahead of you with his plans destroy the economy.

    3. Just watch Canada, Trudeau is several years ahead of you with his plans destroy the economy.

    4. Just watch Canada, Trudeau is several years ahead of you with his plans destroy the economy.

    1. Paul is a friend I have sung this piece with my previous Choir. We commissioned Paul to produce a work ‘Ubi Caritas’ which has yet to be recorded. When we performed it a second time members of the English Arts Chorale joined us just to sing this piece as they loved it so much.

      As you enjoy the oboe, I’ve posted Paul’s Oboe Concerto (3rd Movement ) below. Paul has just released another album,’Four New Seasons’ which includes his the Oboe Concerto rebranded as the Saxophone Concerto, played by Rob Burton and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. It’s available on iTunes.
      Rob Burton won the Woodwind Category Final of BBC Young Musician 2018 performing as concerto soloist in the Grand Final at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

      Post Script – I note you’ve been in correspondence with Paul via YouTube…
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9wOAiZWCFo&t=14s

      1. Indeed. I didn’t know of him before yesterday but I simply had to tell him how excellent his work is.

  51. I was deeply disappointed that Toy Boy Trudeau was not at the CopFest. Has he used up his carbon? Or was he banned from leaving Canada?

    I think we should be told…..

    1. You speak for yourself..we don’t want him going anywhere that he can make himself look good by giving away more of our money.

      Maybe the village idiot sees no more votes in mixing with the environmental mob but he certainly is still into travelling. Off to a G20 meeting then a few more cosy meetings in Asia where he will find photo ops galore.

      Oh look, he is travelling during the Emergency Act inquiry, it must be a pure coincidence that he cannot be a witness..

    1. Also important is the role of the state in instructing the presentation.

      No one questioned the Andrew Leak character assassination. It was simply “Say this. Demonise him. That’s our narrative.”

  53. A batch of mortar knocked up and the wall extended.
    The next lot I do will take me as far as I can go without extending the concrete base.

        1. What is it all for, Bob? Is it to keep you fit? Do you know what it is going to end up looking like?

          1. I just want some level ground I might be able to do something with!
            If I live that long of course!

          3. The lower wall, if I ever finish it, will have some grape vines in front of it and the upper wall already has a short section of seed grown quince plants.

    1. Constrained press coverage of controversial issues?
      Well I never, how shocking! Could never happen here.

    2. So… they’re more liberal than the UK? Thought we all knew that. Over here the press doesn’t lie. It just doesn’t tell the truth in favour of the narrative.

      QED: Andrew Leak.

  55. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. Today’s funny:

    Italian Mother

    Mrs. Ravioli came to visit her son Antonio for dinner. He lived with a female roommate, Maria. During the course of the meal, his mother couldn’t help but notice how pretty Anthony’s roommate was.
    Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, she started to wonder if there was more between Anthony and his roommate than met the eye.
    Reading his mom’s thoughts, Antonio volunteered, “I know what you must be thinking, but I assure you, Maria and I are just roommates.”
    About a week later, Maria came to Anthony, saying, “Ever since your mother came to dinner, I’ve been unable to find the silver sugar bowl. You don’t suppose she took it, do you?”
    “Well, I doubt it, but I’ll email her, just to be sure.” So he sat down and wrote an email:

    Dear Mama,
    I’m not saying that you “did” take the sugar bowl from my house; I’m not saying that you “did not” take it. But the fact remains that it has been missing ever since you were here for dinner.
    Your Loving Son
    Antonio

    Several days later, Antonio received a response email from his Mama which read:

    Dear Son,
    I’m not saying that you “do” sleep with Maria, and I’m not saying that you “do not” sleep with her. But the fact remains that, if she was sleeping in her OWN bed, she would have found the sugar bowl by now.
    Your Loving
    Mama

    Moral: Never Bulla Shita your Mama

  56. Econutter throws eggs at King Charles Daily Fail

    Attacking the reigning monarch is an act of treason and should be punishable by DEATH! Especially as none of them reached their intended target. I hope he gets at least ten years – but I expect he will get 10 minutes being kissed by Charlie for his Ecowarriorship.

    4. I see it happened just outside Micklegate Bar. The monarch always enters the City of York by the south gate, to which another tradition is also attached. The spikes on the gate were intended for heads, including of course Richard of York, father of Richard III.

  57. The Bowlex Broadcasting Clowns and the MSM are crowing that Biden’s Dumbocrats have surpassed all expectations in the current mid-term elections. ?? I thought they had lost control of one house at least and possibly the Senate too?

    1. I’m actually quite surprised at how poorly the Republicans did considering how utterly appalling the Biden administration has been.

          1. There has been an arrest in Colorado where someone tried to plug a USB device into a voting machine.

            Who knows what he expected to achieve but you have to wonder why there is an accessible USB port on the machine.

      2. If they cannot beat the Dems after their recent record, maybe it is time to dump Trump and find a leader that is also acceptable to the midfle right voters.

    2. I thought that nothing was confirmed yet.

      If it is not as bad for the democrats as expected, maybe they will allow Biden to dither around for two more years instead of pushing him out and making Harris Pres.

      1. If I understand it correctly, if the Senate result is tied 50 / 50 the Dems can’t make Harris President as they will lose their casting vote and de facto majority.

    3. The content of the vaccine must have been a lot stronger in the States.
      I can’t believe anyone of sound mind would vote for that daft old git.

  58. Just had some fun with an Amazon gift delivery.
    It was obviously alcohol and so he asked for age verification: I’m 72 I said, “no I need to see ID”.
    Ha, thought me….
    I showed him my (still in date) Oman military and civil driving licence 🙂 I pointed out the photographs were definitely me, birth date and even blood group, what more did he need?
    Poor guy gave up and handed the box over with a thank you in Arabic from me.
    Two can play at these silly games.

      1. I know, but no other delivery firm seems to ask for age ID.
        I wasn’t impolite, just a little obstructive.

    2. I answered the door to a chap who said ‘Password!’ and I thought ‘What?’ so he repeated it. I replied, I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. The goose flies at midnight?’

      And in the same broken foreign ‘you password, amzun’.

      And then it twigged that Amazon required a password to send me xacto blades. If only they’d learn English – or just be Brits doing the job.

      1. It’s a rotten job. In the country, they poo behind hedges – they’re on the road all day with a number of parcels they’ve got to deliver to people who look through them as though the wall just disgorged a parcel.
        Give them a tip at Christmas!

        1. Yes, I’ve no doubt it’s pretty crap, but it requires no especial skill. I know this is my brutal free marketeering, but if they could do something else, they would.

          However, we’ve 80+ million people in the country. Far, far too many on generous welfare. Thus we have a huge supply of low skill people, which forces down wages – especially at the bottom.

          But not only are wages suppressed but also are workers rights. When you can get another person to do the job without issue, there is no reason to improve working conditions and remove the penalties or number of parcels (for example) – I DO NOT agree with this, it’s vicious but due to government policy the worker is squashed.

          With massive uncontrolled immigration, generous welfare the outcome was obvious – lower wages, higher costs. It is an example of utter stupidity than shows the malice of government at low paid workers. for 25 years.

          1. Often they’re recent immigrants who would be doing something else if they had the language skills. I think they often do move on to better things. My son was working alongside an Indian guy with a business degree at McDonalds a couple of years ago. It was in Germany, and the guy had just arrived because his wife had got a job there, so he was learning German. There was a large group from Khazakhstan there as well, who appeared content to work the same job year in year out – but then they were probably building houses back home with the wages.

          2. “… but if they could do something else, they would.”. Not always the case. Our son, skilled in the print industry for 30 years, lost his job due to lockdown. No jobs available in printing so he took a job delivering for Sainsbury’s and was glad of the money. He worked with an airline pilot, in the same predicament. It was grim for a while but he’s now moved on to other things.

          3. Apologies for being a pedant ‘.. if they could do something else, they would.’ and your son has moved on to other things.

            The work is transitory. I am not mocking or deriding the folk doing it. It is a job, and working is better than shirking. I simply state the brutality of the market and how gormlessly the government has deliberately made it harder for the lower paid.

        2. I don’t mind them being here…they are working. I always say thank you with a smile because i know how overworked they are.

        3. It helps if they actually bother to deliver to the right house. I’ve had stuff chucked over the gate for my neighbour, and a week or so ago, a wine box delivered to my next door neighbour in the pouring rain – he fell over it and the box felll apart when he picked it up. Fortunately the wine bottles were still intact.

          1. I had the “parcel over the gate” scenario last year (now I’ve had to make the gate 6′ to comply with rescue dog rehoming suitability rules, it’s too difficult to do and it hasn’t happened since). I wouldn’t have minded so much, but it was for number 12 and I live next to number 6 (although my house only has a name, not a number).

        4. I never intentionly demean someone doing a job, no matter how menial it appears to be, a lot of us have been there at some time or other.
          It’s the lack of common sense that I find frustrating.

      2. I don’t resent these drivers trying to do their job (as instructed) but a little common sense would help them a lot I sure.

    3. Never heard anything like it. No such deliveries here in Sweden. I might have to sign for a delivery on occasions (or show my ID when collecting at a post office) but generally they are just handed over with a smile.

      1. The same here, but Amazon seem to have a perverse delight in making it difficult for driver and customer.

        1. Can’t work out why that is. I shop frequently with Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.se. I have a choice between home delivery or collection from a nearby store. No questions asked … ever!

          1. This is the third time this has happened.
            One delivery, I refuse to give an age ID, showed him my OAP rail card. No not good enough and he left still clutching the parcel.

          2. If they try it on with me I’ll get right on to Amazon and tell them that I am a former customer. I’ve actually done that twice now and they always grovel their way back by offering me refunds and good discounts.

          4. In the UK, supermarkets and deliveries they were trying to make it difficult for underage to buy alcohol or bladed items. The delivery people have been instructed to ask for ID.

          5. If I looked under 18, I have no problem with that requirement.
            But it comes down to ‘rules for the guidance of….’

    4. The Hollywood actor, Errol Flynn, was involved in a notorious rape case. The girl admitted that she was more than willing but that she was under the age of consent. She turned up to court with pigtails and wearing bobby socks.

      He afterwards insisted that no young woman should be allowed on his property without producing a birth certificate.

      On another matter: in today’s paper the accuser of Prince Andrew who received a multi-million dollar pay off has admitted to lying in another case.

      Is there any evidence at all that Prince Andrew committed any of the things of which he was accused? Apart from his ex-wife virtually everyone has turned against him and, to be frank, I think the behaviour of King Charles and Prince William is disgusting. I am no fan of Prince Andrew but taht does not mean that he should be denied the assumption of innocence.

      1. They are more concerned about their image than a sibling. Charles and William sound as bad as Meagain.

      2. What gets me is that the alleged puffin activity* took place in the UK with a young lady who was, at the time, not only above the age of consent, but also above the age where it was permissible for her to be engaged in prostitution.
        Further cormorant activity* allegedly took place in an area under US jurisdiction, but by then she was over the age of consent for the relevant area.

        *Other seabirds are available

  59. Looks like the Republicans will take control of both houses. Not by as much as thought but a win is a win. The MSM wil of course try to rubbish it.

    1. Really? I looked in on the DT and it’s not showing an especially good result for the Republicans.

    2. Currently;
      Senate: 35 of 100 seats up for election

      Dems 48
      Rep 47

      House: All 435 seats up for election

      Dems 173
      Rep 199

  60. And the rain that was not forecast has arrived and having fallen, passed on to elsewhere!

      1. Moderately intense for the 10 to 15min it lasted.
        Interesting how the temperature seemed to suddenly drop 15 or so minutes before the rain started.

  61. Ron DeSantis is the real winner of this election
    The governor of Florida is now a national star and in a much stronger position to challenge Donald Trump for the 2024 nomination
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/09/result-makes-things-much-harder-donald-trump/

    Of course people are suspicious of US election results – if one side wins the other side will always accuse it of having cheated. This time the vote counting machines have come into question – here is a BTL comment:

    Postal votes as well as these dodgy vote counting machines should be banned. It would be interesting to see which parties would object most strongly from such bans – presumably the parties which benefitted most from them.

    2. The ongoing attacks on Trump are the clearest evidence that he genuinely did stray from the script.

    1. BTL Comment on the photo of slices of Beef Wellington:

      ‘A good vet would have that running around the field again…..’

      1. Yes i saw that. What surprises me is those would be professional photos. The wellington obviously wasn’t rested long enough. You can still have it rare to medium without it bleeding over the plate.
        *note…it’s not blood. It’s plasma.

        1. You would be surprised how many people think it is blood. They aren’t aware (?) that all the blood is drained out of a beast prior to butchering.

          You might also be surprised at how many people think that overcooked (“well done!”), dry, grey, flavour-free meat is the only way to eat it! I’d rather munch on a chunk of Axminster carpet; at least that has flavour.

          1. You can still get a good sear on a steak and it still tastes good and tender. Just have to be able to control heat and timings. Surprisingly a lot of so called chefs can’t manage that.

          4. …provided Royal Fail are not on strike, of course. Wouldn’t put it past them. Christmas lunch arriving a couple of weeks late may not be all that palatable.

    2. “It comes with a side dish of pigs in blankets and a red wine sauce plus a dessert of sticky toffee pudding and salted caramel fudge.”

      Whoever it was that decided putting salt into caramel was a good idea needs a good kicking to within an inch of their life! It is simply WRONG! I love sweet unctuous caramel in all its forms, but adding salt should be a criminal offence. Macintoshes never put any in their Rolo or Toff-o-Luxe because they knew better. I wouldn’t put it past the Swiss half-wits at Nessles though!

      1. Salt ammoniac liquorice… Salmiak… yum!
        And the same flavour as vodka, from Finland… Yum squared! Salmiakki rules!

        1. I steeped some damsons in vodka in September and sampled some the other night.

          Mmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!

    3. £50 a throw? That’s not bad for someone else to do all the work and the washing up.

      … and then I saw the portions.

  64. 367459+ up ticks,

    More Cop That food for thought,

    Whilst in conversation with a travelling act a pertinent question was raised
    by a flea, “if you prick me do I not bleed” ? a nearby listen locus nods agreement.

    A pig will keep an average family fed for a week whilst it takes 3 quarters of a million fleas per full round of sandwiches, and that just ain’t cricket…. or grasshopper.

    What the political slugs are now trying to push is one politicians meat, is one ordinary chaps poison.

    COP27 Hypocrisy: Globalists Munch Down on Meat as They Push Bug Diet for the ‘Proles’

  65. 367459+ up ticks,

    Wednesday 9 November: Why is Britain buying American gas instead of using its own resources?

    Clear as day answer,

    .TIS RESET OR BUST.

      1. 367459+ up ticks,

        Afternoon VW,

        From the political point of view
        RESET OR BUST STANDS ,,,,,, or falls, there is no going back.

        From the decent folks point of view ,as you say

  66. Those of us who still have TVs may have seen the ad for the new T-Roc:

    https://youtu.be/70DPg3TEOQ0

    But why should you be investing in a new diesel Volkwagen car when tanker loads of diesel fuel is being diverted from Europe to the US whilst the current COP27 initiatives are bent on stopping the use of fossil fuels?

    Well it’s precisely because the planet savers are trying to reduce the drilling and refining of oil that it’s not worth oil companies investing either in drilling new wells or maintaining existing refineries.

    So what does it mean for us all?

    This guy explains the interplay between supply and demand and how commodity traders benefit from supplying those countries that bid the highest price (video is over 20 minutes long and relates to the US but explains how Europe is involved)

    https://youtu.be/yw2TVrMEKq4

      2. I do like the ‘digital’ bit thrown in. Practically every bloomin’ element is digital! It’s as bad as the 80’s turbo mega ultra!

        1. One problem with digital is that a broken digital clock can’t even show the correct time twice a day…

        2. You’re probably too young.
          in the 60’s things were “butane boosted”
          It really annoyed my father when I used the expression!

    2. What added sales benefit is there from showing a ‘chalkie’ blowing bubble gum and her unwashed, uncombed cousin chewing the same? Does it have special compartments for gum or is there a hidden message about heroine transport?

    4. Nope, I don’t get the VW advertisement either. How is that supposed to convince me to buy anything? Give me my 15 seconds back!

    2. I can’t believe how many Yanks are still brain-dead enough to continue to vote for the scum, slime, DemonTwats!

  68. Heartwarming and reassuring that the perlice farce have their priorities right

    “Outrage as LBC reporter is handcuffed, arrested, swabbed and held in custody for FIVE HOURS while reporting on Just Stop Oil M25 chaos from public area…but eco-mob are able to carry on climbing gantries”

    1. You are only allowed to report what the authorities allow you to report. Just like at Dover.

      Sounds like East Germany before the wall came down.

    2. What are the Police trying to hide? Incidentally, other journalists have also been arrested and harassed.

  69. Having watched ten minutes of the sleep-inducing charade that is known as PMQs – one question. What is the point of this farrago?

    2. Once upon a time it was worthwhile, then Blair appeared.
      He couldn’t be bothered and hated scrutiny, so it was changed to suit him.
      EVERYTHING that bastard touched and touches turns into shit.

      1. Turns to shit? He IS shit. The stinking turd in the shitpan that will just NOT flush away.

        1. There are very, very few people that I would not help if I found them in distress; Blair is one of them.

          1. If I saw him drowning, I’d be tempted to put my foot on his head to ensure he did drown.

    1. Par 4.

      Wordle 508 4/6

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

      1. Effing Bogey Five.

        Wordle 508 5/6
        ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
        ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
        ⬜🟨🟩⬜🟨
        ⬜🟩🟩🟨🟩
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Ha!
      For the second time this month I was in the top 2,000 out of 500,000+ in racing solitaire.
      Given that there are numerous “bots” completing the challenges it’s like getting wordle in one!

  73. Apropos the thread below about Amazon (etc) couriers. We must be lucky. They simply leave the stuff in the porch. One in twenty may ask for a signature.

    Not one has ever asked for ID.

    1. One rings the bell 3 or four times then buggers off.

      Put a notice up saying danger of shock if pressed more than once. The first ‘Yowww!’ I heard made me chuckle as I went downstairs.

    2. Maybe it’s my age 🙄 or it could be that we have only been back in UK for a few years and forget how much things have changed.

    3. Maybe it’s my age 🙄 or it could be that we have only been back in UK for a few years and forget how much things have changed.

  75. Having had a quick rant about Blair it occurred to me that I really would like to live long enough to “celebrate” his life.
    Like lefties with Thatcher, I will enjoy reading that he is on his way to Hell.

    1. But he is now a professed RC, so he won’t go to hell, will he? He will die happy knowing that he is saved. It is only if one really believes in karma and justice that his soul (what there is) may suffer. He won’t think so – and if there is no karma and no afterlife, he will have got away with it…

          1. Indeed, but you never know your luck, he might get something that causes appalling long term pain and suffering, similar to that suffered by so many people as a result of his actions.

          5. It won’t be my luck as I would not wish appalling long term pain and suffering on anyone.

            However, if he does get something awful that he can’t buy his way out of feeling pain for, then he won’t correlate it with what he has done – that is what I am saying.

          6. It won’t be my luck as I would not wish appalling long term pain and suffering on anyone.

            However, if he does get something awful that he can’t buy his way out of feeling pain for, then he won’t correlate it with what he has done – that is what I am saying.

  76. ‘Night All

    Apropos early comment on Arts Funding a flavour of what we have been funding from Guido

    “In 2021/22, the taxpayer was behind a massive £340 million in
    Grant-in-Aid funds to National Portfolio Organisations. Over the next
    three years, those organisations are expected to receive a similar
    amount per year. In total, the Arts Council will spend around £1.34
    billion in grants in the three years to 2026. In previous years around
    80% of these grants came direct from taxpayers, according to the TPA.
    Where does that cash go? Here’s a flavour:

    Headlong Theatre
    (£2,076,906): Artistic director described Shakespeare’s Henry V, which
    she is currently directing, as “the pinnacle of… white supremacy and
    toxic masculinity”.
    Artichoke Trust (£1,430,244): Recent projects
    include, as reported on Guido, a billboard saying “Hey Straight White
    Men, Pass the Power”.
    Music Action International (£330,000): Openly
    slammed the government’s immigration and asylum policies, and described
    the “Rwanda plan” as “brutal”.
    Discovery Children’s Story Centre (£286,791): Hosted a “Drag Story Time” for children aged between 3 and 7 years old.
    Hundreds of thousands wasted on drag events for children and billboards attacking straight white men.”
    Not one tiny element of our society is not diseased with wokery……..

    1. There are times when I suspect that we should stop accepting the death by a thousand cuts.

      Open the borders and have done with it.

      Welcome every freeloader currently in Europe and watch the nation that gave the world the industrial revolution destroyed by the parasites that all the advances of that revolution allowed to exist.

      Poetic justice.

  77. Is anyone else sick of reading how the poor mortgage payers are now faced with paying more for their mortgages?

    I know of some people who “moved up”, because the cost at that time was negligible. They thought that rates would always be tiny and that nothing might happen in the future. So stretch yourself to your absolute limit on the basis of getting more, don’t stay within what you think you can afford, long-term?

    IMO, those people who stretched themselves to the limit to get more than they already had on the basis of tiny interest rates, (not all, obviously, it depends on circumstances), were simply being greedy. So I have no sympathy for them.

    1. I have great sympathy for those buying their own home.

      Little for those who were buying up properties left, right and centre to let, and watch the capital value rise when the rents were paying those mortgages.

      1. I recall mortgage rates approaching 20%.

        Trouble is, no one looks back. I have mentioned those high rates over the years to young people – and they stare at me as though I was completely bonkers.

          3. We’ve been lucky enough never to have had one. But our daughter has recently bought a place and put down 10%, but I don’t know if that’s the minimum, to be honest. It certainly should be.

        2. I was “in charge” of live mortgages for a national building society when that was happening.
          The strange thing was that arrears percentages went down because due payments were rising rapidly.
          When the interest rates fell the arrears percentages rose.

          Repossessions became a real problem.

      2. Yes, but some bought bigger than they should have done, because they relied on tiny interest rates. Some people were undeniably greedy. How about thinking what you can realistically afford.

        1. I suspect that most people stretch themselves as far as they can; be it a better flat, an extra bedroom, a bit more garden.
          Very few say “what if”?

          3. I thought long and hard about whether I could afford the house I bought – and I worried about borrowing £20k! I’d borrowed £8k on the first house and had a few sleepless nights about it!

    2. I bought my first house in 1978, when the mortgage interest rate was 8%. Within two years, it had gone up in a number of steps to 15%. How we managed, I don’t know, but manage we did. No going out, no holidays, no luxuries, but we coped.

      1. I saved for years before I bought my first flat. Like many, I had no luxuries during that time or after I had a mortgage – many of the people who stretched themselves to buy a larger property shouldn’t have borrowed as much as they did. They could have tried to borrow but not stretch themselves to bursting point.

      2. That’s probably because you didn’t stretch yourselves so far that you couldn’t manage (albeit by cutting down on everything else).

        1. That was in the days where I could only borrow a maximum of 3 times my salary plus my wife’s salary. I managed to get a 95% mortgage, but this was because the house was a new build.

      3. Bought my first house early in 1974. Between signing paperwork in late 1973 and moving in, mortgage interest rate went up several times to the extent
        that building society told me I couldn’t afford the extra payments and so extended the loan from 25 to 30 years!

    3. As Mr Micawber said “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.”

    4. I don’t think it’s a greedy thing, just lack of experience and not reading or believing the ‘small print’.

      1. I bought a house in Cambridge when I was 31, a few years before I met my (present and only – so far! – husband). Looking back, I hadn’t a clue, about anything. Interest rates were 8% when I moved in, very quickly over a matter of weeks they went skywards. Such was the pressure and demand for housing that had I waited a few months more, I would never have been able to remotely afford it. As it was, I was willing to pay slightly over the odds in order to secure the property. It was in an area I didn’t like (up Mill Road and over the railway bridge to those who are familiar with Cambridge), a small terrace house with three bedrooms which a friend described as being internally ‘a monument to bad taste’. It is probably upwards of £500,000 now. The asking price then was £11,000. The steep rise in interest rates at that time terrified me, I knew nothing about anything regarding the financial world, even though part of my degree was economics (this still surprises me…!). My feeling is that sometimes you have to take a gamble in life, a calculated risk, extend yourself or you don’t achieve anything.

        3. Our first, I suspect a few years before you, was in Acrefield Drive on the other side of the river.

    5. When I moved the family to Wales from Buckinghamshire we were able to buy a decent property for us and the 3 children. I was able to take my time in finding a job I liked living off the proceeds of the old house. After 3 years we moved into a 7 bedroom house with a smallish mortgage, but not long after I was made redundant. About this time credit card companies started issuing 0% interest cards so I accumulated five of these with a credit limit of £60k(!)over the time I was unemployed. Paying off minimum repayments worked as I could do balance transfers to different cards to stay within my budget. I had assumed that my wife, who is 7 years younger than I, would be picking up her state pension the same time as I retired. How wrong I was! She had to wait another 6 years for hers. Now we have a joint pension we were starting to pay off the credit cards before the 0% period ran out. Then price inflation struck! It’s a sad state of affairs. We have had to take out a lifetime mortgage to pay debts so there will be nought for the kids when we pass on.

      1. Such an easy trap to fall into, you have my sympathy for what little it is worth.
        We always try to do the best for our children, it doesn’t always work out as we would wish.

      2. We came unstuck re Moh’s mother who after a while being a widow developed dementia .. slowly, then started having falls and needed many hospital admissions .

        We had to sell her little home in 2012 to fund her care in a special care home near us .. Care costs a fortune .. a real fortune , it also costs a fortune for care in your own home . I used to travel bacwards and forwards a few times during the week to visit her and keep an eye on her care in her own home in Southampton.

        I went through 2 cars travelling there for nearly 10 years and financially felt the squeeze, especially so after her house was sold and her care costs were £ hundreds a week .. The dear lady was looked after very well and the final stages of dementia took her when she was 91 years of age after spending just over 3 years in a care home .

        We supplemented many things including the clear out and clear up of her liitle house that she had lived in for 60 years .

        This government is cruel , all governments are , because they have no idea what elderly care means , and they know nothing of the financial strain on pensioner children who do their best to care for very elderly parents .

        Not everyone inherits a fortune .. only those who don’t need to finance additional care for parents .

        1. Care costs… Mother costs £875 a week. Bed, board and nursing care. That’s money!

        2. Care costs… Mother costs £875 a week. Bed, board and nursing care. That’s money!

    6. I certainly remember when I had mortgages in the 70s and 80s, mortgage rates where in 6 & 7% rate as normal, there was even for a brief moment, a rate of 15%. Don’t try and predict the future, you’ll always get it wrong; think about where do the mortgage lenders reap. their profits.

    7. I remember when I bought my first house; interest rates shot up to about 15%! They came down eventually, but it was not nice at the time. One of my colleagues, who had a fixed rate mortgage at 4%, was very smug!

      1. That rate increase came as I was buying this place. I was nearly in tears of worry when I heard about it.

  78. That’s me gone. Uprooted the trombetti – always a sad moment! They have been a great success, despite the drought.

    Have a spiffing evening reflecting on Cur Jim’s next cabinet post.

    A demain.

        1. Certainly not. SENs tended to be recruited from those folk who hadn’t had the opportunity to do a degree but tended to have a good deal of life experience and maturity. With the introduction of degree only nursing they were replaced by a more lowly status Health Care Assistants.

          1. When I was in my gap year, I worked as a nursing auxiliary in a hospital for the mentally ill, those now benefitting/suffering from care in the community; it was a real eye-opener and made me appreciate what hard work, but fulfilling work, is all about!

    2. We must get rid of those senior police who were fast tracked with sociology degrees – that’s where the current problems lie

    2. That ain’t the M25, but I wouldn’t mind seeing self-propelled traffic cones being used when demonstrators stop people from going about their lawful business.

    6. Oh god did you read the twaddle people were writing under the thread? All bleeding hearted luvvies condemning the cone-thrower and in support of the protestor. I have gone from elated to desperate in 30 seconds.

  82. Evening, all. The answer to the headline question is clearly a) because we have a lot of moronic idiots in charge who positively hate this country and b) it wouldn’t suit the WEF agenda for us to be self sufficient in energy. On a personal note, I was able to ride outside today (wind was a bit chilly, but not too bad, and the sun was pleasant) largely because the indoor school was like a ploughed field. Lord knows what had been done to “improve” it, but it was unridable! The outdoor arena was waterlogged in one spot, which meant 10m serpentines instead of full length ones. Made for an interesting canter session! Then I dashed off to Bangor (is y coed) to watch two horses I had a share in come second and win respectively. Very satisfying!

  83. A handsome BTL Comment from John Ward’s Slog:

    Warning it contains strong (but heartfelt) language:

    ‘Bobby47 on November 7, 2022 at 4:47 pm
    I yearn for days gone by. Back in the day, we’d gather together at Polling Stations, stagger into the Booths and place our ‘X’ alongside the name of the candidate who’s photograph appealed to us because we were convinced he or she was least likely to burgle our homes or do us any physical harm like kicking the ever loving shit out of us following a session in an ale house that left us vulnerable and pissed blind after a week down the pit or shovelling coal into an iron foundry furnace.
    Back then, in the good old days, we voted these twats into power cognisant that they’d do fuck all to make our lives better but also cognisant they’d do nothing else to fuck us up anymore. And they didn’t. They did what we expected them to do. They did fuck all and consequently, either through wisdom or down right laziness, by doing absolutely nothing they didn’t pull any social or economic levers that put one thing right and accidentally fucked up seven other things.
    Consequently, whilst some things remained fucked up because nothing was ever done, several other things were not fucked up because ‘they’ knew they were incompetent and unable to do anything of any meaningful good.
    And that’s how it should be. If you ain’t sure about what to do then don’t do anything. Course, nowadays it’s all so different. As soon as they win office they’re at it. Fucking up this, that and the other and then demanding we do the same bloody thing electorally every five bloody years and repeat the same shite over and over again.
    Worse, driven by crazed and illogical ideological noble causes that now demand Blighty pay out damages for the bloody Industrial Revolution that created vast wealth and technological advances to the entire planet, we’re now on the cusp of fucking ourselves up even more because some holier than thou twat thinks it a good idea that we turn the clock back to year zero and end humanities search for greater advancement and technological achievements that drag millions of others out of poverty.
    Me? I’d find myself some kind benevolent dictator who’d be the keeper of a pack of vicious Alsatian dogs, all about ten hands high thirsting for the blood of Climate Activists and have him or her, both sexes are equally capable of keeping a pack of dogs and dictating, and allow them to sort the whole bag of undiluted rancid bollocks out and put an end to worrying about humanity and the likely inability that we can last another five hundred years on good old Mother Earth.
    Personally, I couldn’t care less anymore and I strongly suspect I’m not the only one.’
    ——————
    Bobby
    I think you should come off the fence & say what you really think.
    JW

    2. The only thing those useless piles of shiite haven’t effed up is the massive stinking filty pit they are shoving the indigenous brits into. They stink.

    3. It just shews how corrupt the American voting system is.

      I wouldn’t touch it with yours!

      1. I think De Santis proved in Florida that if you impose safety controls on voting measures effectively, with safeguards such as strict conditions and limits on mail-in ballots, notoriously susceptible to fraud, then votes can be counted reliably and accurately on the same day.

        The discrepancies between the more reliable polling (Trafalgar) say between Florida and other states deemed favourable to Republicans moreorless proves voter fraud in counting of ballots.

        The American 2022 mid term elections shriek voter fraud in volumes almost equivalent to the 2020 Presidential election.

        We should not ridicule the USA when in our own country we have allowed the imposition of a couple of useless charlatans as Prime Minister and Chancellor, the former an obviously evil ferret-faced rat-bodied former Goldman Sachs banker and the latter, a deeply dislikable cretin married to a woman who works for the Chinese Communist Party.

  84. A handsome BTL Comment from John Ward’s Slog:

    Warning it contains strong (but heartfelt) language:

    ‘Bobby47 on November 7, 2022 at 4:47 pm
    I yearn for days gone by. Back in the day, we’d gather together at Polling Stations, stagger into the Booths and place our ‘X’ alongside the name of the candidate who’s photograph appealed to us because we were convinced he or she was least likely to burgle our homes or do us any physical harm like kicking the ever loving shit out of us following a session in an ale house that left us vulnerable and pissed blind after a week down the pit or shovelling coal into an iron foundry furnace.
    Back then, in the good old days, we voted these twats into power cognisant that they’d do fuck all to make our lives better but also cognisant they’d do nothing else to fuck us up anymore. And they didn’t. They did what we expected them to do. They did fuck all and consequently, either through wisdom or down right laziness, by doing absolutely nothing they didn’t pull any social or economic levers that put one thing right and accidentally fucked up seven other things.
    Consequently, whilst some things remained fucked up because nothing was ever done, several other things were not fucked up because ‘they’ knew they were incompetent and unable to do anything of any meaningful good.
    And that’s how it should be. If you ain’t sure about what to do then don’t do anything. Course, nowadays it’s all so different. As soon as they win office they’re at it. Fucking up this, that and the other and then demanding we do the same bloody thing electorally every five bloody years and repeat the same shite over and over again.
    Worse, driven by crazed and illogical ideological noble causes that now demand Blighty pay out damages for the bloody Industrial Revolution that created vast wealth and technological advances to the entire planet, we’re now on the cusp of fucking ourselves up even more because some holier than thou twat thinks it a good idea that we turn the clock back to year zero and end humanities search for greater advancement and technological achievements that drag millions of others out of poverty.
    Me? I’d find myself some kind benevolent dictator who’d be the keeper of a pack of vicious Alsatian dogs, all about ten hands high thirsting for the blood of Climate Activists and have him or her, both sexes are equally capable of keeping a pack of dogs and dictating, and allow them to sort the whole bag of undiluted rancid bollocks out and put an end to worrying about humanity and the likely inability that we can last another five hundred years on good old Mother Earth.
    Personally, I couldn’t care less anymore and I strongly suspect I’m not the only one.’
    ——————
    Bobby
    I think you should come off the fence & say what you really think.
    JW

  86. There’s a .ot of criticism of the NHS but some really must be pushed back onto patients.
    I mean, when you book a flight, you make a note of the date and the time, you check where the airport is, how long it’ll take to get there and where you can park.
    Why can’t people do that for an appointment for their own health care? I’ve been dealing all afternoon with a man who has complained that we wouldn’t see him because he was forty mins late for his appt. He said he couldn’t find the clinic FFS. He had also not turned up for two previous appts as he forgot – we didn’t send him enough text reminders apparently (we send two – a week and a day before every appt)

    It’s not an isolated case – we get dozens of DNAs and late arrivals. Of course, if you try to point any of this out to a pt, they raise another complaint saying staff have been rude to them.

    1. I would be perfectly happy to pay a deposit e.g. £10-£20 for medical appointments, refundable when actually arriving.

      1. I know of one Physio Dept that (against the rules) insisted on a £10 deposit on a pair of crutches. Invariably the crutches were returned after use and saved the dept £17,000 annually in replacement costs. And that was over 20 years ago!

      1. Not at all. About thirty something with a massively over inflated sense of entitlement. More and more patients are getting like that. There are complaints that we haven’t reopened our ‘drop-in’ clinics after Covid although we’ve replaced them with a much more efficient service and are seeing about a third more patients a month than before. Yesterday I had a woman complaining about that. Well you don’t get drop in hairdressers, do you? If you can make an appointment for your hair, you can make an appointment for your bl**dy HIV tablets.

    3. You should be charging for missed appointments and the more they miss the more they pay.

      1. I agree Johnny. The argument is that it would be too complicated to manage but I don’t see why.

    4. I would love to get my hands on the re-organisation of The NHS..

      First I would sack all the secretaries and get their bosses to learn how to use WORD & e-mail to send out their edicts. Then how to monitor the procurement e-mails to suppliers, check if they made sense and only then, sign off the same.

      Then I would remove the requirement for ‘degree’ nurses and bring them back under Sister – Tutor and require them to learn on-the-job. whilst incorporating and understanding all the treatment processes and procedures that must become the norm for all forms of illness.

      I could go on for hours, based on my industrial experiences, to ensure a nation-wide NHS (bugger the trusts) that was available to all nurses and practitioners, to understand any patient from Land’s End to John o’ Groats, wherever they may be situated.

      Alas .my vision will never.become a realty until someone takes up the serious challenge of reforming the NHS.

  88. How much is SERCO benefitting from the hotels for immigrants’ racket?

    In turn, how many UK parliamentarians are advisors to, consultants to – or shareholders in SERCO?

  89. Get me out of here…..Matt Hancock crawling on a filthy wet slimey tunnel surrounded by cockroaches, covered in some sort of shite.
    Better than a day in Parliament.

  91. Goodnight, all. I’m about to test the reliability of my washing machine after its Christmas tree lights impression the last time I used it. I could well end up having to invest in a new one if only putting a tiny load in it sends it doolally again.

      1. I think the computer unit is up the spout (note the technical expression). It runs so far and then when it comes to the spin cycle it throws a wobbly (also technical). It won’t do the spin and drain cycle on its own, either. Repairs are unlikely these days, unfortunately.

    2. We bought our new Bosch washing machine from Amazon . arrived last Friday.. I was 2 weeks with out .. and had to use the laundrette 6 miles away.

      We investigated ao.com and Amazon .. I think ours was cheaper than those in Curry’s.

      1. It looks as though I shall be doing that, Maggie. I had the Christmas tree lights again with only a small load, so I reckon the computer unit is shot rather than an excess of weight for the spin. The washing is hanging on the line (it’s currently dry and windy) so as not to flood the kitchen as the spin didn’t work and I had to bail it out again. If it rains, at least it will get a rinse!

        1. Same as what happened to my old Bosch .. it was 14 years old .

          It was a real palavar visiting the laundrette miles away for 2 weeks before my new one arrived last Friday.

    1. All the lefties are going there. Apparently the chap who runs it is a bit of a dictator, but that may be just the lefties complaining.
      It has a few technical problems. Not sure what the free speech is like.

  94. Revealed: The gang who used youngsters to sell heroin and crack cocaine in Brighton

    https://uk.news.yahoo.com/revealed-gang-used-youngsters-sell-120700200.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw&tsrc=twtr&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANDsiNJ7YehHn-PJzXnFsqbC1tYm9LXo3olRTrqXX-W940httH4b3n4BrZaCJabPcO10j71HepJjoYAcCzdkNk5r4TzZb31sEB8chfhrK-ktB5-OG5XgERM2aDfWvcn7gc1bR5JhzgCo31vx1f6W6YPufTgmtUB827E55jOUHL8a

    The usual dark skinned fiends

  95. Shooting club boss who served mince pies during lockdown is jailed
    Maurice Snelling was sentenced to six months after breaching Covid restrictions by selling wine and snacks amid tier-three restrictions
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/09/shooting-club-boss-who-served-mince-pies-lockdown-jailed/
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/09/shooting-club-boss-who-served-mince-pies-lockdown-jailed/

    The BTL comments are almost unanimous in expressing contempt for the small-minded nasties who wanted to punish this chap.

    A couple of BTLs

    And they talk about an amnesty! Let the bullies and sneaks pay for their nastiness and never be forgiven.

    and

    Bring out the stocks and a good supply of rotten vegetable with which to pelt the betrayer – him or her or it!

    1. 367483+ up ticks,

      Morning R,

      Enforcing the dictatorship, the coalition party members can see that ,but they are still coalition party members

    2. He was sentenced for perverting the course of justice.

      Now i would like to see the same for all members of parliament.

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