341 Responses to Midweek Thread 30 December 2020

  1. Up2snuff says:

    There were signs today that this Covid-19/19a/20/21 thing may never end. The UK Government paid out a lot of money 2007-2009 in QE to shore up the clearers’ Balance Sheets but that was pretty much a one-off, albeit split into several tranches. Three, if my memory serves me well.

    Big Pharma and the NHS look like they could keep this gravy train going year after year.

    Oh, deep joy. šŸ™

       46 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Backlinks to previous thread
      Page 3 started Tuesday afternoon

         11 likes

    • G says:

      Up2,
      Yet no remedy if you have it. Well, apart from good signs that Ivermectin would be a good prophylactic and also deal with effects from Long Covid. I wonder why big pharma are not interested in research into the benefits, much less the Chinese controlled WHO. As, Abba sang, “money, money, money”

         10 likes

      • G says:

        Anybody know what precisely the vaccines will do for the average person. Where can one find this info?

           7 likes

        • Up2snuff says:

          G, indeed and I also gather some more enlightened Doctors (not suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome) are experimenting with Hydroxychloroquine and varying the dosage per patient if they have no underlying heart problems.

          Again, maybe not enough money to be made from that for Big Pharma.

          On the subject of the two or three vaccines that are now licensed for use in the UK, one would hope that GPs and other clinicians will feed back information to the Pharma companies during the early roll out of vaccination and that the leaflets that should accompany all meds will be regularly updated as far as the cautions and exceptions go.

          Details can be found in the BNF (I no longer have an out-of-date copy) which some Libraries may have in the Reference section but Libraries are probably now closed if you are in a Tier 3 or Tier 4 area.

             8 likes

    • tomo says:

      and the undead PHE … – that Ā£450 million new build palace complex beside the M25 at Harlow has to be funded you know.

      I’m all for the sharpened fenceposts, garlic and holy water as a remedy

         0 likes

  2. taffman says:

    Can anyone guess yet why Al Beeb has been so unpopular over this last year. Turning the British people against the outfit by its wokesness and its anti-British stance ?
    Was it deliberate ?
    I have already given you readers a few clues in one or two of my previous posts.
    Anyone ?

       41 likes

  3. Sluff says:

    Christmas University Challenge further update.

    Still thick as pigshit, with special mention of two panellists who were both……Newsnight presenters !!!!!
    Knowing they needed 150 points, they dickered about, letting time drift, arguing about answers which were eventually wrong. All but a lady called Mendekson, who knew a few things and pushed to do something really amazing, namely …..listen to the questions asked. Needless to say, the winners reached a magnificent…..110. A value exceeded by self and Mrs S with room to spare.

    Worst of all, these talentless arty farty creeps actually laughed openly when a set of bonus questions were asked about Mathematics. So beneath them. Those sciencey thingamajigs.

    This is the level of ā€˜talentā€™ which costs Ā£4 bn a year and seeks to indoctrinate us with their Leftoid views.

       81 likes

    • Beltane says:

      Worth noting that every ‘celebrity’ edition includes Paxman wasting the first eight minutes or so – more than a quarter of the available quizzing time – churning out unnecessary and unwanted background detail for each nonentity…..who then adds a name and repeats it to camera.
      This neatly reduces the time available in which to illustrate the embarrassing lack of knowledge such fine university education has provided.

         46 likes

      • Eddy Booth says:

        I haven’t watched this year , usually the contestants are simply unable to follow the simple rules , like no conferring on starters. Guess it’s down to having a non job or something

           28 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      Have you noticed how Woke the questions have become? For this reason I gave up on it after episode one. I turned instead to old Series on You Tube from six or seven years ago and the contrast in the questions is astonishing, hardly any Wokery in sight. I think that this change in the knowledge being sought in this contest between 2014 and today reflects just how quickly the Woke elite are trying to change the country. I refuse to be part of their change and shall continue to resist it as long as I can.

         53 likes

      • Sluff says:

        Doublethink.
        Youā€™re right but there is a wonderful irony.

        Which is that in my observation the wokes donā€™t know the answers to the woke questions.

        Black composers. Female artists. The questions are set to meet the quotes. But no-one has ever heard of them. Probably because they were not actually much good.

        Louis Armstrong. Miles Davis. Nat King Cole. Duke Ellington. Ella Fitzgerald. And plenty of Motown and Philadelphia pop music. Nile Rogers. There is a long list of supremely talented people who just happened to be black that I could cheerfully listen to all day. And do. I donā€™t need the BBC to tell me I need to admire them because they were black. I listen because they were good.

           55 likes

        • BRISSLES says:

          Sadly we never hear of some of the really great 20th century composers – but they don’t fit the criteria of the media , being white and in some cases jewish. Irving Berlin, Rogers & Hammerstein, – arranger Axel Stordahl, Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, and my favourite Hoagy Carmichael, et al. Thankfully John Wilson & his Orch – recently on BBC4 keep this music alive for us fans.

             12 likes

  4. Fedup2 says:

    It seems the Legal part of the ERG is approving the EU UK trade agreement – this includes the likes of Bill Cash

    The agreement is due to be ā€˜debated ā€˜ on Wednesday to be law at the end of New Year Eve.
    Not much time to eat popcorn …

       24 likes

    • theisland says:

      The ERG may be broadly correct about ECJ involvement etc. but it is just kicking NI and fishing down the road. It is a betrayal. Moreover there are more than enough opportunities for ‘mission creep’ courtesy of the usual suspects.

      Anyone who still thinks this is a good deal should listen to last night’s Unlocked, particularly Ben Habib from 17:00 and Aaron Brown from 42:00 onwards.

      Also read BORIS Ā£4.8BN FISHERIES BLACK HOLE
      and Why Boris let the EU keep Northern Ireland.

         20 likes

  5. taffman says:

    “Michael Sheen ‘gave OBE back’ to deliver monarchy lecture”
    Woke or what ?
    Perhaps he should stay in Hollywood .
    Is Owen Jones behind this ?

       48 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      It honourable to not accept one in the first place
      but not to accept one and then give it back.

         49 likes

      • G says:

        Wales could not survive on its own. Most businesses are sh*t and have no understanding of what a ‘customer’ is. Meanwhile, continue sucking on the teat of the Barnett Formula (as is Scotland).
        Living in Wales reminds me of Riga Latvia post Berlin Wall.

           15 likes

        • Up2snuff says:

          Hopefully, HM sent a gentle letter to Michael Sheen, sayin “Euu, so sorry you did not like your OBE. We will pass it on to someone else who may give it a good home. You used to be among one’s favourite actors, you know.”

             7 likes

    • harry142857 says:

      Has he just woken up?

         23 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      His US agent more like.

      https://variety.com/2020/film/global/the-queen-actor-michael-sheen-obe-return-1234876126/?

      Meghan has worked wonders, has she not?

         19 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Taff, he gave the interview some time ago to…… Owen Jones.

         6 likes

  6. taffman says:

    “FTSE 100 index of leading shares hits highest since March”
    Anything to do with Brexit ?

       30 likes

  7. taffman says:

    “Brexit: UK sausage makers face EU export ban”
    (nice photograph of a typical British farmer)

    How about banning Euro sausages? There must be a long list , chorizo, bratwurst , frankfurter etc etc ……….
    They should be easy for our own butchers to make from home farm meats ?
    Lets get behind our farmers .

       61 likes

    • Scroblene says:

      I’d be delighted if one of our local producers, ‘Korkers’, near Tenterden, kept all their stock here and not send their fabulous bangers to other countries!

      More for us!

      Ever since I learned that the smell of some French sausages can turn off a whole village, and I don’t fancy eating donkey either, I’ve never touched them, so Little England, here I come! What’s not to like about all our new, thriving farm shops, making their own foods, cheeses to die for and local ham!

      Just as a technical issue, you’re less likely to be spreading the covids around in one of these burgeoning establishments, as they take a personal pride in keeping the numbers down, and the place spotless! It’s known as private enterprise, which is something the elite, Guardian masses and the awful BBC snooties, despise, because normal people who work their socks off, get exactly what they want!

      Only two more days to go before it all becomes reality, so W1AA will have to get their stocks of French plonk in pretty damned quick – that’s for the reduced motley crowd left after all those eye-watering, golden redundancy payments, paid for by pensioners like me and Senora O’Blene. All these bods will be back soon under contract of course, with service companies, so we’ll be supposed to think they’re ‘clever’, and never find out how they’re milking the system.

         40 likes

      • Darcy3 says:

        Time for a cheese AND sausage thread ! sod the bbc vegans

        gets my vote

        Cumberland or Lincolnshire ?

        or Scottish square sausage ….also known as Lorne sausage spicy and full of fat

        And maybe a pie thread, another thing I like from Scotland: steak pies, which are what they say (sometimes known as butchers pies) big lumps of prime steak in a pie

        Vegans do not thrive in Scottish farming communities

        Any Welsh input on this ?

        (as the French are not buying your lamb, I hope you are boycotting their letters ?)

           36 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      First photo , then it was changed probably at 9:15am
      vyAOsdgz?format=jpg&name=small

      pDegR6ON?format=jpg&name=small

         15 likes

      • JohnC says:

        They push to the limit as far as they can then quickly backtrack when they realise they have gone too far.
        The cropping of the picture of the BLM rioter swinging the wooden plank at police should have triggered an official inquiry into their conduct. That was very blatant and very deliberate action to pervert the truth for their political bias.

           29 likes

  8. taffman says:

    Are we going into tier 10.5 lockdown yet?
    Is this going to be used as an opportunity to sneak more dinghies across the Channel? Ok the 4 star hotels are full but we can use the empty Nightingale hospitals ……oh but.

       36 likes

  9. Tabs says:

    BBC News channel at 12:35am has yet another outdoor interview with Chris Peckham. No social distancing whatsoever and the walking interview often had their heads less than a foot apart. The BBC are covid hypocrites.

    I can’t even be bothered to hear what Peckham has to say. He is going on about Covid/Climate/Mental health – yawn!

       49 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      @Tabs Is that not archive footage from July ?
      If by chance they had both already had Covid , then distancing doesn’t really matter.

         3 likes

    • BigBrotherCorporation says:

      Tabs, Packham has that effect on me at the best of times, and his affected ‘speech impediment’ and (alleged) ‘satirical wit’ don’t help.

         18 likes

    • markh says:

      I consider myself to be very mild mannered but I just want to smack Chris Packham in the face, if only to wipe off that smug, superior, self satisfied expression. A purveyor of garbage and loved by the BBC- two more reasons.

         27 likes

      • Beltane says:

        With Princess Nut-Nut as friend and confidante I fear the short-term self-satisfaction will only intensify – until such time as Boris starts to look elsewhere, which is comfortably certain.
        Part of the aloofness may be due to the way he holds his head back and looks down his nose, perhaps because someone once told him he’d look more intelligent that way. Hasn’t worked though.

           11 likes

  10. taffman says:

    ā€œScottish fishing industry ‘deeply aggrieved’ by Brexit dealā€ā€™

    Can any Scottish readers explain why their fishing would be better in the EU ? If Scotland became independent are they so sure that the EU would let them join the bloc ?
    As a taffman , I fail to see how they get better freedom by leaving the UK and surrendering their independence to an un democratic bloc?

       60 likes

  11. taffman says:

    ā€œBrexit vote: Starmer faces Labour revolt over backing for dealā€

    It looks like the Labour Party have scored another own goal? They have lost touch with the working classes and until they start listening to the ordinary people of the country they will be consigned to the same obscure place held by the LimpDems. In a nutshell ā€˜ they have lost the plotā€™.

       54 likes

    • JohnC says:

      And long may it be so.
      That last thing we need is another silver-tongued control-freak megalomaniac like Blair getting into power and subduing them with promises and lies.
      Much better to let them be themselves and show us what they really are.

         27 likes

    • richard D says:

      Remember last week’s crazy statement from Sir Kneel ?….

      Essentially, “Labour will vote for the Brexit deal but we won’t take any responsibility for it.”

      Cracking stuff that, as Starmer takes ‘sitting on the fence’ to a whole new level – it must be a shoo-in as a guest sport for the 2024 Olympics.

         21 likes

  12. taffman says:

    ā€œCovid: Will variant force Nightingale hospitals to open?ā€
    Many have closed. Why were the built ?
    Follow the money.

       35 likes

  13. taffman says:

    Wakey wakey Al Beeb !
    Oxford jab has been approved .

       23 likes

  14. Fedup2 says:

    Another good day for brexiters to stick it to traitors . This time – with the treaty vote we will see how many the last election cull missed – 20 Labour MPs due to ā€˜be elsewhere ā€˜ when the vote comes …. the ā€˜heritage ā€˜ will of note too….

    One of the papers is reporting that the ā€˜yes minister ā€˜ episode about the ā€˜eurosausage ā€˜ is to be rerun in real life . …..mad year …

       29 likes

    • Darcy3 says:

      I would not touch a Euro sausage, likely as not it will have an element of free movement within it

      and way too much required diversity of communities (including the equine and invertebrate)

         23 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Iā€™m alarmed at the number of people talking about ā€˜peace ā€˜ and ā€˜moving on ā€˜ when we know the ReichEU will be doing everything it can to undermine the British economy in order to prevent other states from seeking a way out …

           44 likes

  15. Guest Who says:

    BBC News

    If true, that is almost 10 times higher than Wuhan’s officially recorded number.

    China Covid-19: Nearly 500,000 in Wuhan may have had virus, says study

    ***
    ā€˜If trueā€™?

    Seems like only last month the BBC was pushing Ted pushing Chinese claims to be disco diva healthy sans ā€˜ifā€™.

       28 likes

  16. Guest Who says:

    BBC News

    “For the most part, it was 12 beautiful years together. But the pandemic spared nothing.ā€

    ***
    A cheery bbc tale about couples splitting.

    During the war my dad was at sea for deployments globally in excess of a year.

       27 likes

    • JohnC says:

      Checked that article, got to:

      ‘”I found out during lockdown that my husband has a girlfriend.” Reni* whispers down the phone from her home in Nigeria’. Note the use of ‘whispers’ added most deliberately by the BBC to imply she is worried about abuse if he hears. No way they could actually know that.

      Ignoring of course that it was most definitely going on before lockdown. As I’m sure happens a lot in Nigeria.

      Decided not to bother with any more.

         25 likes

  17. JohnC says:

    So the Oxford vaccine has been approved. Absolutely so surprise there. It doesn’t mean it works : it just means it probably won’t kill you.
    And of course the picture of a scientist in the BBC story is a woman. Are there any men at all in that team ?.
    But I wonder how they can start giving a vaccine when they have no idea what dose to give. The original plan was ‘2 full doses’ or a ‘full dose then half a dose’.
    In an exhibition of breathtaking incompetence, they accidentally did ‘half a dose then a full dose’ and missed out ‘full dose then half a dose’ completely.
    So the accident version seemed to be most effective but was on a completely non-representative, small sample. The ‘full dose then full dose’ was very poor compared to every other vaccine and apparently ‘full dose then half a dose’ seems to have been swept under the carpet completely to hide the embarassment.
    So what will people get ?. Are they going to run another trial on all 3, but this time on an epic, National scale ?.
    What a farce – but at least the BBC can show Sarah Gilbert in every article and she must not be criticised. The agenda is everything.

       46 likes

  18. Guest Who says:

    WUWT mentions connections with Climategate just as BBC Today has a loon guest editor serve up a disturbed teen as a science advocate.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/12/29/stargate-atlantis-and-the-cause/

    Stargateā€™s various series incarnations have always interested me post tummy worms and Chris Judgeā€™s singing career.

    Especially the Priors, whose ambitions and actions seemed oddly redolent of a local religious crew here on Earth.

    https://www.gateworld.net/wiki/Prior

       6 likes

  19. Guest Who says:

    One for Mike Meddling, Ms. Trench and M. Slight Shysterman to fact check… or deep six?

    #CCBGB

       6 likes

    • Eddy Booth says:

      And people willingly stayed home for months to “flatted the curve “.
      More like kicking the can down the road to the winter.

         29 likes

    • G says:

      GW,
      “‘Ambulances are queuing outside of hospitals’ says NHS Paramedic”, ‘Where’s my fee?’ followed no doubt……

         6 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Um, where else WOULD ambulances be queuing ??? outside TKMaxx ? If they were anywhere else I would be worried šŸ˜‰

         16 likes

  20. Doobster78 says:

    But the BBC and all those Remainers were “100%, cocksure” that House Prices would collapse due to Brexit !!! They preached to us 24/7 about it.

    I was told i was a thick, uneducated, little Racist for not believing the fear !!!

       41 likes

    • Eddy Booth says:

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55483432
      “UK house prices climbed 7.5% in 2020, the highest growth rate for six years, building society Nationwide found.
      …a resilience that seemed unlikely at the start of the pandemic, it said.”

      It was totally predictable, as our banana republic government
      would inevitably embark on another round of quantitative easing ,
      All that cheap money always ends up in assets like housing and the stockmarket.
      Why doesn’t the bbc ‘ call them out ‘

         25 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        One day UK house prices will collapse, cos they are not realistic compared to most of the world.
        But government seems to run the market as a magic money, probably deliberately keeping immigration high, so that keeps the demand high.

           6 likes

  21. AsISeeIt says:

    The Times this morning echoes a notion one has expressed often enough hereabouts: ‘Tom Lehrer said that satire died the day Henry Kissinger won the Nobel peace prize’ – and if satire had any life left in it after 1973 that was well and truly extirpated in 1994 the day Yasser Arafat picked up the gong. There was some bang for your buck death of satire-wise. If Osama Bin Laden hadn’t checked out when he did I’ve little doubt the prize would have been winging its way from the liberal-minded but humourless Scandinavia to some semi-secret compound in Pakistan by now. The formerly patriotic Times has more to say and we’ll return to their article.

    But let’s soldier on elsewhere with the news today. It’s another fine day for armchair ambulance spotters. The ‘i’ newspaper presents us with a pic of about a dozen of the lime green little vans with a screach like a wannabe California Highway Patrol.

    The purpose of sending a drone up to photograph an NHS carpark is of course to illustrate an NHS overwhelmed. An NHS that appears to have the fortitude of a shrinking violet in a Victorian melodrama cursed perhaps with over-tight stays and possessing a tedious propensity to faint away at the least appearance of stress:

    ‘PM warned NHS faces “catastrophe”‘ (‘i’); ‘…doctors expressed fears about how the health service would cope’ (Times); ‘Hospitals face “horrendus choices” over who gets care’ (Guardian) – I’m inclined to say come the end of the present health scare (whenever that might come) let’s scrap the whole damn thing and start from scratch – the NHS is clearly not fit for purpose. Let’s waft some smelling salts under their noses. Or, heaven forfend, give them a loving yet sharp slap across the chops.

    ‘Red tape puts off volunteer vaccinators’ (Telegraph) – isn’t that a symptom of what in employment terms we used to refer to as a “closed shop”?

    ‘Five cuppas a day help to keep elderly sharp’ or so suggests the Telegraph. The consequent repeat trips to the lavatory should certainly keep the old dears nimble.

    Welsh nationalist and actor Michael Sheen has ‘revealed he gave back his OBE so he could call for the scrapping of the title Prince of Wales’ (Guardian) – but it’s not so much revealed as made a campaigning point of.

    Princess cut-off-his Nut Nuts appears on the frontpage of the Sun. I’m talking about Meghan here (although the same castratory moniker applies equally to the toothy Carrie Simons) ‘Nappy New Year’ – with mothering arms she holds up the dribbling, mewling, mainly bald ginger, who bleats – according to the Daily Express: ‘…his first words in public… with an American accent’ – this is baby Archie we’re talking about – not Harry.

    ‘Archie steals show with first words on podcast’ – explains the Telegraph. ‘He has largely kept out of the public eye’ – oh, it’s been absolute months since we’ve seen him. Apparently he has an ‘endearing giggle’ – I’m guessing she’ll soon knock the playfulness out of the young prince. His first words may have been some approximation of “Happy New Year” but I’m guessing his next public pronouncement will be “Anthropogenic Global Warming, How Dare You!”

    If there were a nobel prize for tabloid sub-editors it would be awarded for those that can link two separate supposed crises into one pithy headline. A strong contender is the Star this morning: ‘Whitemare! Food supply chaos. Snow hits vital deliveries for self-isolating families’ – surely there’s some turkey sandwiches and the odd unopened box of shortbread biscuits to tide us over for a few days until the snow melts to slush?

    Time to return to the death of satire. Impressionist Rory Bremner in the Telegraph seems to plead for the accolades of Remainers with his question: ‘Did my prank calls as John Major help keep us in EU’ (Postumous – as in post-Bexit – LĆ©gion d’honneur in the post, Rory)

    ‘Satirist made Major impression on Tories’ – sniggers the Times, as though an unelected entertainer interfering in politics in this way was just a bit of a giggle.

    Seems the release of historic cabinet papers imply Rory’s comedy phone calls in the voice of John Major to rebel Tories persuaded them to come to terms with the Europhile PM in 1993. How much has that cost us? The FT sees the same cabinet papers and not being in the mood to joke instead takes the line: ‘Major withheld Bloody Sunday regrets’

    There’s something faintly bizarre about the FT’s frontpage ‘Datawatch’ graph today: ‘Natural disasters individuals expected to be displaced per year’ This charts by continent how many millions are predicted to become refugees as a result of floods, wind, tsunami, storms and earthquakes. There was me thinking it was just our tabloids that had an hysterical doom-laden reaction to the weather.

       38 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Asiseeit
      Steel yourself for some ā€˜much loved ā€˜ celebrity to get a gong …we know Jimmy greaves is going to get one – but who is the ā€˜big name ?
      Is it too early for the COVID medical Mafia to get their ā€˜awards ā€˜? But I will leave the tick box ā€˜minority ā€˜ awards for when they happen . The site could get really really busy …

         21 likes

    • Eddy Booth says:

      ā€˜Red tape puts off volunteer vaccinatorsā€™ (Telegraph) ā€“ isnā€™t that a symptom of what in employment terms we used to refer to as a ā€œclosed shopā€?

      Demarcation was another word for it.
      In the 1970s anymore couldn’t just change a light bulb as electrions would make a fuss it’s their job alone.
      Now it’s no better, although anyone can now change one, they’ll need , a full scaffolding, a risk assessment, hard hat etc

         22 likes

  22. Sluff says:

    Classic bias on Toady this morning.
    A session on US versus in essence EU taxation.
    It could have been quite informative.
    But of course it quickly descended into low tax USA (boo, hiss) versus high tax countries like France (hurrah) because all that extra tax gets spent on worthwhile social activities. So high tax must be better, right? And Reaganomics was always wrong. That was the unmistakeable, biased, message.

    But strangely Evan Davis forgot to mention the relative rates of growth in those countries.

    No prizes for guessing which system has consistently created the most growth and overall prosperity, highest per capita annual earnings and the like.

    Note to BBC. 20% of nothing is still b***** all.

       36 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Sluff – I take it they spent time talking about the proud tradition the likes of Italy has of not paying tax – or was it swerved like to much wrong in the ReichEU .

      What spin will the EUBBC put on the passage of the Boris Bill through parliament ? Will dead politicians stay dead for this one ? Or will the windbag who speaks for ā€˜the people of Scotland ā€˜ get their attention as usual ..?

      I have the popcorn ready ….

         22 likes

  23. StewGreen says:

    Michael Rosen
    Yesterday he had a Twitter war with Peter Hitchens over lockdown skepticism.
    Today 9am he has his own Radio4 show about his own Covid case.

    – March 10th he appeared on R4Today saying it seemed people don’t care about oldies like him, as much as they do about young people.
    – March 14th he probably caught it.
    – March 28th he was admitted to hospital.
    He had critically low oxygen
    (Seems to me they had left it too long before contacting the doctors)
    he didn’t leave hospital until June 23rd
    (I guess cos the infection had got so deep)

       16 likes

  24. vlad says:

    Yesterday the BBC were ecstatic over new permissive abortion laws in Argentina, the interviewer eagerly asking some activist whether this would impact the rest of Latin America, and the webshite drooling over spreading the gospel of infanticide to Catholic countries like Poland.

    This is a double cause for celebration among the sistas.

    You see, in BeebWorld, Catholicism = Bad, and Abortion = Good.

    No ifs, no buts, no nuance. Simples.

       33 likes

  25. StewGreen says:

    Also in FT
    “Underestimating Trump: the US polling industry under fire
    After Joe Bidenā€™s narrower-than-expected victory in some key states forecasters face a harsh reckoning”

    https://www.ft.com/content/18a143c8-1cf4-4997-851d-3853977e58bd

       17 likes

    • vlad says:

      If Trump manages to win, hopefully it’ll discredit the useless rotten beeb even further. Another situation they misread completely, like Brexit and recent US and UK elections.

         27 likes

      • G says:

        Vlad,
        Is there any evidence for your assertion?………………

           1 likes

        • AndyDozefeet says:

          Just look and listen to its output for all the evidence you need

             5 likes

          • G says:

            What is clear is that most here have no sense of humour. None.

               3 likes

            • AndyDozefeet says:

              Aah, you were being ironic!

              My apologies for not spotting it.

              Donā€™t mistake my failure to immediately identify your use of irony as an absence of a sense of humour ????

                 0 likes

    • Wink1 says:

      I read , on social media , that Donald Trump had won a’ Man of the year 2020′ poll. When I tried to find any media discussing this I was inundated with ‘ Joe Biden and Kamala Harris win person of the year ‘ headlines. Bias what bias ??

         22 likes

  26. Guest Who says:

    Lewis is highlighting gaps in BBC capabilities.

       16 likes

  27. Up2snuff says:

    BBC WEB-SITE Watch #1 – oh no! What? You’re joking – not another one.

    The BBC are anxious all the time to tell us that species are being driven to extinction by the very existence of evil humans which are thoroughly evil and nasty to nice animals. That despite the fact that the human being is the only one on the planet that looks after all the others, whether as farmers or naturalists or zoo or reserve owners!

    The BBC aparently are so overmanned that they have a Producer and an assistant just for penguins: Emily Miller, Assistant Producer for Penguins. Who knew?

    That takes diversity to beyond the edge of credibility, M/s Sarpong.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/l2glt8qY02qjp75YWvqjls/how-many-penguins-are-there

    Apparently despite this horror of human-caused extinction, there’s another new one found by scientists. It is only one of the previous numbers of seventeen penguins being subdivided, mind, but at least it will give the BBC (who don’t do geography or science anymore) to come out with the howler that penguins have disappeared from the Arctic because of man-made Global Warming and Climate Change.

       19 likes

  28. Peter Sausages says:

    Yessss, British Sausages for everyone!!!! In Britain

       17 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Funny how the humble sausage is under threat for the Europeans, and the BBC are wringing their hands and weeping, when the BBC were so keen to tell us (last year was it? or 2018?) that eating sausages was bad for us and would give us cancer, heart disease, the leurgy and also splinge. All at the same time.

      Then there’s the Global Warming & Climate Change aspect to consider, BBC; think of all that farmed beef and farmed pork in those sausages!

         19 likes

    • Scroblene says:

      Thanks for this Peter!

      To celebrate, I’ve just grabbed a Korkers Chipolata from the fridge, and this delightful comestible is going down a treat!

         1 likes

  29. StewGreen says:

    People keep shouting that the NHS doesn’t have enough staff
    Yesterday Katie Hopkins quoted the NOvember Independent article that said in one day 76,200 were off work
    Many due to Covid isolation.

    I wonder how logically the rules are being applied
    eg are staff taking 10 days off when in fact their closeness was so short in time, that they wouldn’t have picked up Covid ?
    Are staff isolating, when they’ve actually already had Covid, so there is minimal risk any way.

       17 likes

  30. Foscari says:

    With the worry of Covid 19 mutating. Shouldn’t we just be
    humble and ask the Chinese how they have” programmed”
    their virus? The Chinese over the last few years have exported
    much to the rest of the world. This surely has been their
    greatest success in their endeavour to become the most
    dynamic exporting nation in the world! The BBC in
    particular are in awe of them. Well they would be with
    their support for the Marxist ideology.

       31 likes

  31. Fedup2 says:

    I was trying to find out if the spurs game is on later . I put on 5 live – the guru murphy was saying ā€œ should we celebrate the oxford vaccine as a British achievement ?ā€
    Before the offswitch came i wondered how many generations of this characters ā€˜ kin had been raised by blighty ?

    And perhaps hed be better back in the land of his fathers – celebrating their achievements . …
    Little Englander me …

    Meanwhile HMS ian Blackford is in full sail busily pouring cold bad stuff over boris and the exit agreement . He never mentions England – always ā€œwestminster ā€œ

    Perhaps he knows that an independent scotland would be funded by the English … so does not want to appear as hateful of England as the SNP really is

       26 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      “diversity, diversity, diversity” = “the same lefty London mates all the time”
      Seems to me that Krishnan Guru-Murthy
      has been working on BBC5Live in July (holiday cover ?)
      also in November and December
      ..then most nights he works on Channel4 News as well.
      How can Ofcom be OK with that ?

      I know Krishnan Guru-Murthy was at the BBC to start off with
      and his sister Geeta Guru-Murthy, is a BBC newsreader
      she is the wife of Philip Collins of the Lefty New Statesman & the main speech write for Tony Blair
      bother Ravi Guru-Murthy – ‘Chief Innovation Officer’ at International Rescue Committee with David Miliband.

         26 likes

  32. G.W.F. says:

    My award for the most cringeworthy broadcast of 2020.
    Harry and Megan on This little life of mine.

    Love wins. Love always wins, So true

       17 likes

    • Sluff says:

      Good to see they are still so determined to protect their privacy.

         20 likes

      • BRISSLES says:

        “..we’ve learned about how important it is to take care of one another, and how meaningful our connections are…..”

        Get in touch with your Dad then and introduce him to your husband and kid.

        “…. honour the compassion and kindness that has helped so many people get through it “……….

        Yeah, fighting each other for the last bog roll and clearing the shelves.

        Someone please shut this pathetic couple up. This guff may go down well in the dopy States, but not here.

           26 likes

    • vlad says:

      And Spotify PAID them for that bucket of sick?

      Someone should lose their job.

      Surely the ‘novelty’ will wear off after 1 episode and they’ll make a crashing loss.

         16 likes

  33. G.W.F. says:

    To complete the couple’s podcast

       17 likes

  34. StewGreen says:

    Hancock appeared across media platforms this morning
    denying the narrative that “Nightingales have been dismantled due to lack of staff”
    He clearly said they still exit, they are on standby, and they have a staffing model which brings in NHS staff and staff from outside.

       12 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      BBC “London’s Nightingale hospital remains on standby, despite the removal of some of its equipment, NHS England has said.”

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55469188

         10 likes

      • tarien says:

        Such idiocy, unbelievable, student nurses, student paramedics, ambulance trainees, hundreds all willing and able to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in-yet they let Nightingale hospitals sit idle. Can we really accept what is coming out of the mouths of those managing or supposedly managing this Covid 19 virus outbreak? Frankly I just don’t trust the science being presented to us, or the figures being spread across the screen each day and night-from the many reports that I have read and studied, many are suspect, information designed to infuse fear in all, making compliance an aid to the government. Surely the vaccine must firstly go to all health workers (NHS) staff, GP surgeries and their staff, Paramedics, Ambulance staff and so on, before those elderly folk in care homes, many as I know would want it that way. Either way we shall have to suffer the enslavement until late spring I figure. Keep singing.

           1 likes

  35. JohnC says:

    Just looked at Aunties front page – and it seems most headlines are positive today (House prices, Vaccine, Brexit etc) and not a single one open for HYS !.
    Whereas a week or so ago when it was all bad news, the front page was awash with HYS. Mostly populated by bitter students whinging about Brexit with no actual point to make.

       35 likes

  36. Sluff says:

    OT
    Excellent news that the AZ/Ox uni vaccine has been approved.

    There is some concern about how fast it can be rolled out. I think I know ehy.

    A few weeks ago I mystery-shopped the internet applying for NHS jobs as part of a vaccination team.

    The jobs were listed by random geography. It was a very hard job to find those for my area. And a requirement was an ā€˜up to date vaccination certificateā€™ or some such, meaning that you were ALREADY QUALIFIED. But this is an emergency. How hard is it to be trained to stick a needle in someoneā€™s arm? Or bottom? Or anywhere? I have no training at all, but once gave injections for a week to a cancer patient recovering at home from surgery.
    And the rest of the application process was equally unfriendly.

    Are the NHS unions in charge, protecting their members perceived interests? Has anyone there got an iota of imagination? Or is the national Vaccination Collective on holiday until next week?

    I wish they would get their a**** in gear. Any number of industry production managers could get this going while standing on their heads.

       29 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Careful, Sluff!

      I suspect there is a Wimmin in Charge with an Assistant Wimmin in Charge.

      Dido Harding, as CEO, made a mess of TalkTalk and according to the Leftwaffe (thanks to our Stew for the reminder of that so descriptive word yesterday) she is making a mess of Test & Trace as well. The Leftwaffe claim she only got that job because she and hubby are pals of the PM.

         23 likes

      • G says:

        Up2,
        “….pals of the PM”. You mean the long standing Conservative MP for Weston super Mare – John Penrose MP.
        A little more than a pal.

           7 likes

  37. JohnC says:

    “Striking news photos from around the world in 2020”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-55150152

    “Nauseating woke photos from around the world in 2020”

    There. Fixed it.

       34 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Note the photo they selected for links

         29 likes

  38. Laughing at Lefties says:

    KT8rjccp49.jpeg

       29 likes

  39. Emmanuel Goldstein says:

    45% of the people who have died this year so far have had a haircut in the 28 days preceding their death.
    Hmmmm.

       26 likes

    • Kaiser says:

      as they are vaxing the elderly and infirm the stat im waiting for is death within 28 days of being vaccinated

         6 likes

  40. Cagna Guardia says:

    No Up2, this Year Zero will never end. The great experts at WHO predict a far worse “pandemic” to come. What amazing sayers of sooth they are.
    On a lighter note the BBC website frontpage is asking for comments. Go on, a waste of time, but we all have time to waste.
    Let’s celebrate something tomorrow – perhaps the wonderful folk behind this blog and many more voices of reason in this mad world.

       29 likes

    • LynetteO says:

      It is not politically correct to celebrate anything that comes from Israel but I thought i would share this positive news.

      Rice sustains half of humanity, but its cultivation uses 30% ā€“ 40% of global freshwater and causes 10% of world methane emissions. Israelā€™s Netafim has just tested drip-irrigation of 2,470 acres of rice fields in Europe and Asia. For the same yield it used 70% less water and caused zero emissions.

      https://israelactive.com/science-technology/revolutionizing-rice-agriculture/

         25 likes

    • Mustapha Sheikup al-Beebi says:

      As O’Brien might have said to Winston Smith, “If you want a picture of all future human history, it will be a mask covering a face … forever!”

      I didn’t know that Nostradamus worked for the WHO, even if Keith Moon did. Seriously though, I must check if there are any obscure references in Nostradamus’ Centuries (1555) to “Couronne” or anything that might relate to the present predicament.

         8 likes

  41. vlad says:

    A traditional Christian take on the US election scam, and the larger agenda of getting far-left Harris into the White House.

    https://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/vortex-president-harris?mc_cid=a99f945d27&mc_eid=3f8f100bf1

       12 likes

  42. StewGreen says:

    4:30pm Media Show : top BBC producer talks about Wales
    In trailer she reveal that as a Beeboid in charge of Doctor Who her first thought is that you either film it in Elstree or at the outside in Manchester
    “I’d never even been to Wales then I realised the producer lived in Cardiff”
    When will she realise that the rest of the UK exists beyond regional capitals.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0926nwb

       19 likes

  43. Dover Sentry says:

    Just taken a look at The Guardian online. It is exactly the same as BBC News online.

    One difference? The BBC get free money. Lots of it. Ours.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk

       25 likes

  44. Darcy3 says:

    Damn that Scroblene this morning

    spent the afternoon driving around trying to find a proper farm shop that sells proper sausages

    ended up in the middle of nowhere on a single track road up to the wheel arches in what smelt like pig shit (I was sure I could hear banjo music in the distance)

    But got some sausages in the end, proper English sausages

    and made it back without becoming a human sacrifice in a whicker man to ensure next year’s harvest, all in all a good result, even if the car smells funny and has turned a kind of speckled brown.

       30 likes

  45. Dover Sentry says:

    BBC Online News:

    “MPs approve EU-UK Brexit trade deal”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-55479851

    Stick that in your pipes, BBC šŸ™‚ šŸ™‚ šŸ˜‰

       21 likes

    • Scroblene says:

      Ha ha ha!

      …over to the BBC, where ‘Watch: Laura Kuenssberg challenges Boris Johnson on his Brexit deal’!

      Too late ducks! Ship’s sailed!

      ***click***

         4 likes

  46. Fedup2 says:

    Being an anorak and viewing the House of Lords being forced to vote through the brexit deal – the venom is still real – the hateful baroness hayter of the socialist republic of Kentish Town couldnā€™t find enough bile to remind we brexiters of the mistake weā€™ve made ….
    They canā€™t get enough of the Erasmus thing – which must have really upset wealthy politicians whose kids canā€™t get a cushy job in the ReichEU now ….

       36 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Just an update – a bit of research about the ā€˜Erasmus ā€˜ jolly – 16000 UK students got on the gravy train each year with 31000 EU students coming to the UK .

      Such small numbers supports the suspicion that it is a bit of a closed shop for the political class across Europe … the demographics of students must be a state secret….

         29 likes

      • Kaiser says:

        my workmate described his erasmus as a years holiday in germany

           12 likes

        • Scroblene says:

          I always thought Erasmus was a shaving cream!

          It was always stacked on the small shelf in the men’s hairdressers in Hastings, next to the ‘you-know-whats’…

             1 likes

  47. Fedup2 says:

    73 MPs voted against the EU UK bill – from what I see there was one socialist – namely Bell Ribeiro-Addy of the socialist republic of streatham – the others were the SNP and DUP … as well as the loopy green woman …..

       22 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      BBC local news “Diana Johnson voted to abstain”

      … Surely if you abstained that means you didn’t vote ?

         9 likes

  48. richard D says:

    December 31st 2020….11:00 pm (i.e. midnight in Brussels)….. Big Ben will be rung to celebrate the UK finally, finally, finally, leaving the EU…..

    ….will the BBC broadcast this momentous event…live ?

    Looks like BBC 1 will have the Graham Norton Show… BBC 2 will have ‘Mock the Week’…. so I guess that might be a ‘No’ then ? it could well be a complete ‘ignore’ or else a tiny footnote in the ‘Covid-laden’ review of the lack of celebrations worldwide for Hogmanay.

    Ask not for whom the bell tolls, BBC – hopefully, it tolls for thee.

    On a slightly more uplifting note, may I take this early opportunity to wish all contributers, lurkers and especially the authors, monitors, and candle-stick-makers who create and deliver this site, the very happiest New Year.

       48 likes

  49. Jack in the Green says:

    Scream for me Sarajevo. An excellent documentary about the 1994 concert performed by Bruce (Iron Maiden) Dickinson and his band in that war-torn city. Organised by and helped by UN Brits and locals in horrendous circumstances, all concerned showing great courage. Only the BBC, with such a gem, could push it out to BBC4 on a Tuesday night. An absolute cert for prime -time/channel viewing. Probably didn’t tick enough boxes.

       13 likes

    • Darcy3 says:

      Iron Maiden are considered one of the most influential and successful heavy metal bands in history, with The Sunday Times reporting in 2017 that the band have sold over 100 million copies of their albums worldwide, despite little radio or television support.

      Nary a mention from the bbc but a black man headlines Glastonbury we never hear the end of it

      Iron Maiden tour dates around the world:

      2019 (44)
      2018 (38)
      2017 (45)
      2016 (72)
      2014 (20)
      2013 (46)
      2012 (34)
      2011 (63)
      2010 (36)
      2009 (22)
      2008 (68)
      2007 (16)
      2006 (45)
      2005 (45)
      2004 (14)
      2003 (90)
      2002 (4)
      2001 (6)
      2000 (78)
      1999 (28)
      1998 (88)
      1996 (75)
      1995 (55)
      1993 (45)
      1992 (67)
      1991 (50)
      1990 (57)
      1988 (96)
      1987 (87)
      1986 (67)
      1985 (102)
      1984 (87)
      1983 (139)
      1982 (185)
      1981 (129)
      1980 (154)
      1979 (87)
      1978 (6)
      1977 (40)
      1976 (40)

         22 likes

  50. Beltane says:

    You may have missed Sir David King’s performance on ITV this morning but as an example of spittle-flecked doom-laden prophesy it has to rank high in the annals of SAGE – although as the ex-chairman perhaps his sway has begun to swing with a touch of malice?
    Either way, I’ve checked on eBay and you can get very reasonably priced hand bells in all sizes and the letters to sew or stick on your hairshirt to spell UNCLEAN are a few pence each.

       23 likes