481 Responses to Midweek Thread 23 June 2021

  1. StewGreen says:

    4:30pm R4 Media Show
    If Channel4 is privatised “would British TV suffer, with documentaries edged out by mass market gameshows? Also in the programme, the world of entertainment TV has been shaken up with the arrival of The Masked Singer.
    Are “guessing shows” here to stay?

    “guessing shows” like guessing at which point in an Alice Roberts documentary black slavery will be shoe-horned in

    “guessing” is sh’ll forget to mention that the Suffragettes were terrorists who harmed women’s suffrage.

       20 likes

    • SLAW IS WAR says:

      Everything changes, everything remains the same. In the seventies it was variety, in the eighties it was double-act comedians and practical jokes, and beyond that the rise of the talent shows. Every decade forms a new theme for its Saturday night TV – guessing games just happens to be in vogue now.

         8 likes

      • Lefty Wright says:

        SLAW IS WAR
        I can’t remember where or how long ago (many years) it was that I read a comment by an American citizen who implored the owners of British TV not to follow the the US TV craze for wall to wall game shows. Oh dear Oh dear Oh dear.

           11 likes

  2. StewGreen says:

    @Taffman “Fancy a night out in Pembrokeshire?
    Any Questions @BBCRadio4 in Narberth a week on Friday ”
    .. https://twitter.com/ChrisMasonBBC/status/1407737313879330837

       4 likes

    • taffman says:

      StewGreen
      They would not have me nor, allow my questions to be asked .
      Its a nice part of taffland down there .

         9 likes

  3. JimS says:

    Apparently this summer standard UK petrol will be E10, the name for a fuel mix containing 10% ‘renewable’ ethanol.

    That would mean that at best we would be able reduce CO2 from fossil fuels by 10%

    But where will the ethanol come from? Crops like sugar beet which are spread all over a field and have to be collected and processed, unlike fossil fuel that comes out of the ground, energy dense and ready to be moved by pipeline or tanker.

    Various chemical processes are involved in arriving at the ethanol, which then has to be boiled up to drive off the water.

    That 10% is starting to look pretty marginal. More the kind of thing we would do if the EU was blockading our coast!

       15 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Ethanol is often made from palm oil
      grown on burn down jungle in Southeast Asia

         11 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Working outside with Classic FM on.

      There’s now ads for this stuff.

      Rather ominously, all cars in our family fall before the date where there are ‘issues’,

         7 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Jim, the CO2 saving may not be 10% as I gather the new fuel does not permit as much miles per litre as existing petrol. Extra money for HM Treasury though. 😉

         8 likes

    • Sluff says:

      Check out the work of Roland Clift on whole life cycle energy usage back in the 2000s when EU bioethanol lunacy began.
      I was fairly close to the sugar industry back then and I swear it was a new way to subsidise sugar beet farmers when subsidies were being withdrawn for actual sugar production.

      Back then, the non-sustainable energy cost of production of bioethanol was indeed greater than the sustainable saving of the biofuel.

      It is possible that new generation processes have changed the nett energy balance on this but you are certainly right to ask the politically incorrect question.

         11 likes

      • JimS says:

        Thanks for that.

        Ten percent isn’t a lot to start with and by the sound of it the CO2 balance might even go the other way!

        I also wonder if there might be some typical government multiple-accounting going on, i.e. the crops that are used for fuel can’t be used for food, the land that is used for crops can’t be used for solar, the land that is used for solar can’t be used for wind and the land that is used for wind can’t be used to house the East European peasants needed to pick the crop!

           7 likes

  4. vlad says:

    The States are imposing the toxic Critical Race Theory on school kids (thanks to the imbecilic woke Biden).
    Parents are fighting back.
    Fox News is exposing it
    Douglas Murray is weighing in: “Critical race theory is designed to divide”

    Here the BBC remains silent. And I can’t remember when they last gave Murray a platform. Hopefully GB News will soon.

       20 likes

    • vlad says:

      In my view GB News lacks the cold rage of Fox, Sky Aus and guests like Murray.

         15 likes

      • Fred Stubber says:

        I’ve noticed the following:

        They have a lot of black people on. Not as many as the BBC of course but still quite a few.
        They have a lot of left-wingers on.
        They are pleasant and courteous to the left-wingers, and they don’t interrupt them much.
        The presenters express various liberal opinions sometimes.

        So, is this to keep OFCOM at bay for a while, in order to get established in the public mind and build up a following? It would cause no end of bother if OFCOM attempted to shut down a well-liked channel.
        Or, are they intending to stick to their word and provide a balanced news service?

        I’m surprised that such as Yasmin Alibhai-Brown are prepared to go on, after all the things that were said about the channel by the left before it opened.

        Fred

           2 likes

  5. Kaiser says:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-57581240

    black man culturally appropriates other blacks
    and thats ignoring the blacks appropriating it from the french in the first place

    but take a look at the accusers Nicki Minaj (who ever she is) hair whilst your there.

       5 likes

    • SLAW IS WAR says:

      Indeed. The obvious plagiarism of white women’s hairstyles/colour over the past forty odd years is still waiting to be addressed by those responsible. Interesting the article mentions Jordan has no links to the Caribbean – allegedly his parents are from Liberia, that monument to black excellence. Since African Americans can now be criticised for cultural appropriation of those from the West Indies, would Ms Minaj care to comment on her use of braids, a technique dated back to Namibia in 3500BC?

         12 likes

    • TrickCyclist says:

      Nicki Minaj accuses actor Michael B. Jordan of cultural appropriation? As he has played Johnny Storm (in Fantastic Four), Guy Montag (Fahrenheit 451) and John Kelly (Without Remorse) – all roles that were previously white – I think I’d like to accuse him of the same!

         10 likes

  6. Nibor says:

    I`m inspired by the M&S underwears inspired by the criminal George Floyd , so tomorrow I`m going into my local store to nick them .

       47 likes

    • Beltane says:

      Bra-vo!

         16 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Bet they haven’t got your size – go commando like vlad ( see yesterday )

         8 likes

    • vlad says:

      Remember to bring a gun.

         11 likes

      • Northern Voter says:

        I don’t know if this is anecdotal or not, but there was a story going round Hull at one time 15 years or so ago. Pauline Prescott (two jags wife) was in M&S on Whitefriarsgate and had armful of shopping, she was noticed by a manager and told” come this way Mrs Prescott and I’ll open a till for you” The other ladies who were waiting at the only open till put all their goods on the counter and told him to put them back on the shelves, they would go elsewhere. Good for them, I get my boxers from Primarni , half the price last just as long.

           18 likes

        • Lefty Wright says:

          Northern Voter
          Now is that Socialism or Capitalism in motion or just good old Mother Nature who doesn’t give a shit about what you believe?

             5 likes

    • harry142857 says:

      Why steal when you have counterfeit money in your pocket?

         10 likes

  7. StewGreen says:

    BBC local news : Tonight’s #PRasNews
    “Putting together like a jigsaw, a giant windfarm”

    #GreenBlob

    Justin Rowlatt “it’s the UK’s energy revolution”
    “It’s made a new industry here in the Northeast”
    …(Hull is the North not Northeast .. that’s Middlesbrough and Newcastle)
    Then a massive lie
    “Now the UK wind industry is virtually subsidy free”
    wind costs £130 per MWh gas power costs £35/
    MWh
    so wind’s getting a subsidy of £95 per MWh”
    plus no mining tax, plus its not real constant power etc.

       22 likes

  8. Thoughtful says:

    I see the Tory blowhards are at it again concerning channel 4 and its enormous bias.

    There really are some dim people in politics these days, especially confrimed by Dominic Cummings, perhaps unsurprising given the poverty pay they receive, however as per usual the ones spouting miss the point entirely and the leadership is so yellow and useless to the core, no action will ever be taken against the media.

    They don’t appear capable of seeing that although channel 4 is indeed extremely left wing there have been several complaints to the oversight body Ofcom, which their party stuffed full of fellow traveller far leftists, and which should have been pointing out the egregious levels of bias and doing something about it, nothing has been done and not a single complaint of bias has been upheld.

    This is of course where the trouble lies and if there party had an ounce of courage and a scintilla of sense they would never have allowed Ofcom itself to have become so biased in the first place!

       26 likes

  9. vlad says:

    “Russian jets and ships target British warship”

    Now that Putin has got the measure of the BBC’s favourite, totally legit US President, he knows he has nothing to fear from the “Leader of the Free World”.

    Expect more assertive actions from Russia, China, Iran, N. Korea etc.

    Regimes like that understand and respect only strength, of which Biden has none. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57583363

       33 likes

  10. Dover Sentry says:

    Unlikely BBC Headline:

    “Is Climate Change a Hoax? – We Speak to Qualified Scientists who Believe it is a Hoax”

       21 likes

    • Lefty Wright says:

      Oh come on Mr Dover. As you vell know ve at ze BBC are RENOWNED for our devotion to diversity in ALL it’s forms but vot you are suggesting is outragiously ridiculous!
      By ze vay hef you paid our ransom money yet? If not I suggest you do so vizout delay!! Your name is on ze list.

         14 likes

  11. StewGreen says:

    Local news have made another Green PR as News video item
    from a report aired on radio 7 days ago

    They’ve tweeted it twice today

       8 likes

    • SLAW IS WAR says:

      Puffins? Climate change, eh? Lets pull those kids aside and tell them quietly but firmly that, despite puffins being classed an endangered species in 2018, trophy hunter tourism across Iceland has wiped out nearly a third of the total population in just the last decade. In the Shetlands, the puffin population has halved within the last thirty years. It isn’t petrol-guzzling cars carving up this species, it’s people. As per bloody usual.

         5 likes

  12. Fedup2 says:

    C4 news over the moon about having a mental coloured ex footballer dead at the hands of police . They rolled out a stereotyped race hater to compare it with the floyd thing in America -…
    Sentencing – is – I think – next week and will be a political statement – 10 years for manslaughter anyone ?

       25 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Also C4 news reporting on the ( hopeful ) privatisation of C4 – which with a bit of luck will lead to its’ extinction . Apparently C5 is the likely buyer .
      Unfortunately a wet red Tory MP – John whittingdale is in oversight of the review so there will be a fudge . Sell it off .

      Then move on to dismantling the BBC

         20 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        Fed, the Beeb have mentioned several times today that C4 gets no public money. I thought it got a sliver of Licence Fee money from the BBC – or was that an arrangement many years ago just to get C4 going and the deal came to an end?

           8 likes

    • Lefty Wright says:

      Fedup2
      Manslaughter? Nah nowhere near good enough. Let’s have a good old public crucifixion on the village green with BBC camerapersons in attendance to celebrate the occasion. Who knows? That just might bring home to the sleeping Brits the extent to which their way of life has been stolen. Or maybe not.

         17 likes

  13. G.W.F. says:

    Why bother with GB News when dedicated BBC researchers can tell us why people are dying their pooh blue
    ””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
    ”Bake muffins made with blue food colouring. You need to use a professional gel/paste rather than a water-based version, according to the researchers. The original recipe calls for 6g of blue food dye to make 12 muffins. Eat two of the muffins for breakfast and note down the time and date. Check your poo for a blue or green-blue tinge and write down what time you see it. Work out how many hours it has been since you ate the muffins. This is your gut transit time.”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/blue_muffins?xtor=CS8-1000-%5BDiscovery_Cards%5D-%5BMulti_Site%5D-%5BSL10%5D-%5BPS_FOOD~N~~P_WhyArePeopleDyeingTheirPooBlue%5D

       9 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      G.W.F., I think I may have just lost the will to live.

      Again.

         18 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      Blue pooh, you saw me standin’ alone
      Without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own
      Blue pooh, you knew just what I was there for
      You heard me sayin’ a prayer for
      Someone I really could care for

      And then there suddenly appeared before me
      The only one my arms will hold
      I heard somebody whisper “please adore me”
      And when I looked, the pooh had turned to gold

      Blue pooh, now I’m no longer alone
      Without a dream in my heart
      Without a love of my own

      And then there suddenly appeared before me
      The only one my arms will ever hold
      I heard somebody whisper “please adore me”
      And when I looked, the pooh had turned to gold

      Blue pooh, now I’m no longer alone
      Without a dream in my heart
      Without a love of my own

      Blue pooh, now I’m no longer alone
      Without a dream in my heart
      Without a love of my own

      (With apologies to Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart)

         15 likes

      • Lefty Wright says:

        Ian
        Funny fing yer know. I used to like playing that tune. Now I can’t play it without thinking of blue turds. Thanks mate.

           10 likes

  14. taffman says:

    Good news today £ 1 = €1.1708.
    Has Al Beeb posted that on their headline ?

       19 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      Good news? It’s a double edged sword, it makes their good cheaper to buy undercutting ours, and it makes our goods more expensive.

      It is a deeply worrying consequence of Bidens mismanagement of the US economy.

         7 likes

      • Lefty Wright says:

        Thoughtful
        We must not mock the afflicted you know. To do so could result in said mocker serving a long prison sentence even if the words spoken are true.

           7 likes

      • Kaiser says:

        @thoughtful if I remember rightly the pound crashing during the brexit vote was a portent of the disaster to follow, doom gloom, hell in a hand cart and all that.

        Whilst I agree with you currency swings go both ways the so called bbc cant have it both ways can they , if down is doom up must be heaven and in balanced fairness they MUST say that

        but they dont do they.

           13 likes

        • Fedup2 says:

          At one stage there was a fear that £ was heading for parity with € – think I had to buy some at 1.05 at one stage – obviously the retail cost is the only one that matters to me so 1.17 is useful …

             5 likes

          • Doublethinker says:

            The real fun will start when the German people eventually realise that no matter how much the financial wizards in Brussels and elsewhere try to disguise it, they are owed trillions by Italy, Spain, France, Portugal , Greece and the rest, which will never be repaid. At the moment this money is disguised by the German government as a ‘good’ debt which will be repaid , ie almost an investment, but the reality is that it will have to be written off and German government debt will increase significantly. In other words hard working Germans are denied their state pension until 67 whilst they continue to work to fund the rather more relaxed life style of their fellow southern EU citizens. The AfD will make huge gains once this fact sinks in with Helmut and Helga.

               13 likes

    • Northern Voter says:

      Try searching for the bank rate for Sterling on BBC text. It used to be on page 240, now that page can’t be found. One has to go into page 200 which is the business section and access currencies from the menu. Obviously with a rising rate the Bbbc don’t want it to show.

         3 likes

  15. Fedup2 says:

    A GBNews journo was on the receiving end of a trolls’ e Mail which is partly reproduced below – the GBNews was after a statement from a Labour councillor in Hull who was unpleasant about the death of Prince Phillip –

    – I publish this to show the mentality of people using the internet -maybe it’s a side effect of people having too much time and maybe watching too much TV …

    STARTS
    ‘ Hi Anna, I feel like comments should be monitored more.

    “Now that I have your attention you racist scum bag.

    “Why are you attacking [redacted councillor’s name?] Is it because she called you out publicly for putting out a very racist piece Anna?

    “You dirty racist fat c**, even your alcoholic boyfriend can’t stand you because you’re a needy fat s** who lives on takeaways. Bunch of nasty racist dirty scumbags. Go kill yourself you racist scumbag.

    “I also know you live in the Avenues area of Hull and will share your info via social media if you do not remove your hate filled racist article regarding the wonderful [redacted councillor’s name].

    “You are clearly a Nazi supporter, nobody gives a f*** about the Nazi/paedo royals apart from white supremacists such as yourselfs at hdf.”END …

       9 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      The trolling letter was back in April before the reporter joined GB News,
      after she had written an article in the local paper about the councillor abusing Prince Philip

      Elizabeth **, of Hull, pleaded guilty to one count of sending malicious communications at Hull Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, June 22.

      She was made the subject of a community order where she must carry out 80 hours of unpaid work. She must also pay £100 in compensation and court costs of £85.

      https://www.gbnews.uk/gb-views/woman-sentenced-after-online-trolling-of-gb-news-journalist/107884

         7 likes

  16. Guest Who says:

    No hurry. Seriously. None.

       13 likes

    • JimS says:

      If no-one is in Biden’s forest I guess no trees will be falling?

      Convenient.

         9 likes

  17. taffman says:

    OT
    “The Queen referred to Health Secretary Matt Hancock as “poor man” at a meeting with Boris Johnson.”

    What’s that all about – “poor man” ?

       6 likes

  18. taffman says:

    Radio traffic this evening indicates that M&S has shot itself in the foot with its virtue signalling.
    Has Al Beeb covered it ?

       28 likes

  19. tomo says:

    ICYMI – slimy US school board gets a lesson (from somebody with quite an English accent)

       16 likes

  20. JohnC says:

    Buckingham Palace reveals 8.5% ethnic minority staff
    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-57589589
    Jonny Dymond shows us all why he works at the BBC.
    A big article because the Palace employs 4% not enough ethnic minorities.
    ‘In London, where the majority of royal workers are based, just under 40% of the population is from an ethnic minority – but 8.5% of the royal staff are.’
    So does this mean the BBC now say the percentage should reflect the local population ?. Or is that just where it suits the agenda ?.
    He then says: ‘While public funding has remained steady, the extra money the monarch made from things like paid visits to the palaces fell by half.’
    COVID anything to do with that Jonny ?.
    He adds”
    ‘Raj Tulsiani, co-founder of Race Equality Matters, said the Palace did not “deserve a pat on the back” for saying it hopes to improve.’
    Of course Raj is going to say that. Like asking the milkman if people should drink more milk.
    What a complete bell-end this guy is. ‘Royal Correspondent’ must roughly equivalent to ‘Showbusiness correspondent’. The absolute bottom of ther barrel.
    I went in a pizza shop a while back. The staff were 100% Iranians except the one guy taking the orders. Can I report them ?. Or is this yet another rule which only works one way ?.

       29 likes

    • JimS says:

      Perhaps the Queen’s staff should be representative of the peoples for which she is head of government? Bring in some Canuks and Ozzies!

      If nothing else National institutions should represent the nation, not the people who have colonised the capital.

         17 likes

      • JohnC says:

        Google tells me that 400 people work at the Palace.
        So they employ 34 instead of 52.
        That entire article and cringeworthy performance is because the BBC think Buckingham Palace should sack 18 white staff and hire 18 ethnic minority staff from the 400.
        I don’t have the words to describe how pathetic I think Jonny and the BBC are.
        Maybe Panorama should investigate why people tend not to employ certain groups of minorities. It would be hilarious as they totally avoid all the reasons that are from prior experience and not linked to racism at all.

           23 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Oh dear, does redundancy beckon for Mishal Husain?

      Or Anita Anand?

      Or Naga Munchetty?

      Proportions this, proportions that, proportions everywhere, proportions must be ‘fair’.

         14 likes

    • SLAW IS WAR says:

      Complete scandal involving Tesco in this regard. Employees of their Express stores London-wide are mainly Indian, Pakistani and Bengali. Three local to me in which I only regularly see two white guys and two black guys amongst a staff of maybe 20-30 visible staff on rotation. A friend tells me that the company operates a franchise system and it’s a popular choice for South Asian businessmen. Their hiring practices ought to be examined VERY closely for racial bias.

         7 likes

  21. JimS says:

    Amol must be mistaken, Marianna says so.

       4 likes

  22. JohnC says:

    https://www.gbnews.uk/gb-views/woman-sentenced-after-online-trolling-of-gb-news-journalist/107884
    For me, this article sums up the Left and the woke twitter mob perfectly.
    (Apologies to FU2 : should have made this a reply to your comment)

       9 likes

  23. taffman says:

    “Covid: UK’s foreign travel ‘traffic light’ lists due to be reviewed”
    “The UK’s rules on foreign travel are set to be reviewed later, after industry bosses united in a desperate plea for the green list to be widened.”

    Big business are being wrecked, the PM needs to take heed . Are Tory MPs listening to their Tory constituents?

       13 likes

  24. taffman says:

    “Long Covid: More than two million in England may have suffered, study suggests”

    Operative word “may” Of course, they may not also ?
    Why does Al Beeb want to scare people so?

       20 likes

  25. Guest Who says:

    American Booty plays to the cheap seats with another ‘wonder’ in lieu of journalism.

    He really embodies how low the bbc continues falling.

       25 likes

  26. taffman says:

    “ Sir Keir Starmer picks ex-Tony Blair aide as interim communications chief”
    Why ?

       14 likes

  27. taffman says:

    “HMS Defender: What will be the fallout from Black Sea incident?“

    Have the French surrendered yet ?

       18 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      “HMS Defender: What will be the fallout from Black Sea incident?“

      They went nuclear?!!

         6 likes

  28. taffman says:

    Not Al Beeb,
    Boris has his motto “build back better”, he should qualify that by adding “Buy British”.

       15 likes

  29. Guest Who says:

    Chris Mason ‘liked’ this too.

    🤪

       4 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Guest – since the primary purpose of the MSM is communicate a message – even a biased one – surely accents matter a lot – I have a whole list of accents I won’t entertain ( listen to ) because they just bring . And the stronger the regional ones are the more resistant I get .

      But the days of calm rounded accents are long gone – to be replaced with —- ‘innit ‘?

      I have two accents -my ‘survival’ one – lundun and my truer ‘announcer ‘English – just a fact of life. …

         11 likes

      • JimS says:

        This explains why, on Radio 4, from time to time an actor reading from a well-known book will, without warning, pronounce a word in a completely non-standard way, just like a child that has never seen it before.

        Last week we were given ‘clurk of the works’.

        I have told this tale here before; once I was in a museum and it was obvious that a couple nearby were Japanese tourists. This fact was picked up by a curious lady with an RP accent. “Where do you come from?”, she asked. “Osaka”, they said. “Oh! You mean “Ohsahcar!”, she said. One can imagine her fitting in well with the BBC!

           8 likes

  30. Guest Who says:

    BBC Moaning Emole Double Team

    What is the Great Reset?

    A vague set of proposals from an influential organisation has been transformed by online conspiracy theorists into a powerful viral rallying cry. What is the truth behind the “Great Reset”?

    Believers spin dark tales about an authoritarian socialist world government run by powerful capitalists and politicians – a secret cabal that is broadcasting its plan around the world. Despite all the contradictions in the last sentence, thousands online have latched on to this latest reimagining of an old conspiracy theory – updated for the age of Covid.

    Where did it begin? Like many popular conspiracy theories, this one starts with a grain of fact.

    Read full article >

    BBC Monitoring and Reality Check
    BBC News

    ***

    Marianna digging that BBC trench deeper?

       14 likes

  31. Guest Who says:

    Sensing a trend here.

       6 likes

  32. Guest Who says:

    Is that a council official behind a slimmed down Mr. Lammy?

       15 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      ‘ you don’t see anyone wearing reflective jackets around here”

         7 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      If that isn’t a trip hazard I don’t know what is! When Health and Safety get through with that one, plus the compensation greedy weasels, the councils who installed these will rue the day.

         14 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        Thoughtful, I know of one Local Authority who decided to stop their residents parking their cars with two wheels on the pavement, claiming that they made life difficult for partially sighted and blind pedestrians, but then installed massive advertising signs in the middle of pavements.

        There is no limit to the stupidity of civil servants.

           23 likes

      • Charlie Farley says:

        Oh look someone has left copper cables lying around….better pick them up and take them to a Scrap Yard for safety reasons !

           20 likes

    • JimS says:

      “Look here man, I iz blahnd, diz am institutionaly racist, innit?”

         6 likes

    • Jeff says:

      What a stupid position to place these devices. They’re half way across the pavement, people will be tripping over the leads. Do these people have no common sense?

      Silly question…

         15 likes

    • G.W.F. says:

      The dogs will cock their legs and pee on them.

         6 likes

    • gb123 says:

      Queue the lads with angle grinders. Taking time off from stealing bikes.

         5 likes

  33. Guest Who says:

    To be fair, most work with many politicians and media.

       21 likes

  34. AsISeeIt says:

    A very long covid

    Whether it’s in the obvious realm of sport, or whether in the more recently favoured realm of the weather – our corporate media do love record setting claims.

    The Guardian newspaper – which has not so much a corporate set up, as more of a trust fund – has a real doozy for us this morning: ‘Longest covid. One man’s recovery after 10 months‘ – no fake news here. I have to say every detail of this story rings absolutely true – right from the chap’s name: ‘Dave Smith was infected with coronavirus at the start of the UK’s first wave last year. But while most eliminated the live virus from their bodies within a couple of weeks – including those who suffered “long covid” – Smith experienced… a persistant infection lasting more than 290 days, or almost 10 months‘ – gosh, surely the Guardian have found the very poster boy for prolonging lockdown restrictions.

    By the way, what’s up with referring to poor unhappy Dave by his surname? And do we need to be told 290 days is almost 10 months? Is it just me, or do others find the Graun’s persistant schoolmarm-like tone irritating?

    His is the longest recorded active Covid-19 infection to date‘ – I’m beginning to feel like a curious attendee at one of those victorian public medical demonstrations and the Guardian has just proudly brought to the stage the Elephant Man.

    Dave – I prefer to reinvest the bloke with some humanity – may be a poster boy of sorts but is not really much of a model or encouragement for our youngrsters to get their jabs. He’s no whippersnapper: ‘During the period, Smith, 72, recorded 42 positive PCR tests and was admitted to hospital seven times‘ – now we know who’s been skewing the figures.

    “My wife started to arrange the funeral five times”‘ – any commentary from me about that relationship would come over as speculative and too intrusive, I feel.

    One can’t help but speculate how the Guardian found this very unusual case? Did our Dave, a retired driving instructor from Bristol, contact the Gruan or did they approach him after perhaps his experience came to light by way of resourceful Guardianistas trawling social media posts, or perchance did some PR wing of the NHS pass on his details?

    We’ve learned we apparently can’t defend our own home shores from invasion by thousands of illegal immigrants – and this is perhaps explained today as we learn the Navy is away knocking on Russia’s doorstep: ‘Royal Navy will continue sailing off Crimea despite Russian “warning shots”‘ (Times)

    One is reminded of the Crimean War and that victorian music hall ditty that was the very derivation of the word Jingoism:

    “We don’t want to fight but by jingo if we do, We’ve got the ships, we’ve got the men, and got the money too!” – none of those three brave claims apply nowadays, mind you.

    In conflict the first casualty is the truth: ‘The UK has denied claims by Russia that its forces fired warning shots at HMS Defender off the coast of Crimea yesterday‘ (FT) – what, the Times might be lying to us?

    We meet again!‘ (Telegraph) – as the German camp commandant said to the recaptured British POWs. Just kidding. Whatever you do, don’t mention the war – I’ve just mentioned it once – but I think I got away with it: ‘England face Germany at Wembley in first knock-out match

    Of course… it had to be Germany‘ remarks the world-weary ‘i’ newspaper, casting no aspersions whatsoever on Uefa, as this wasn’t a balls out of a bag draw but rather the result of a somewhat complex predetermined seeding system.

    It will be interesting to see which side kneels longest in recognition of their past racial sins?

    As ever the corporate media editorials shoot blanks and it is left to the cartoonists to fire the bullseyes. Our favourite, Matt in the Telegraph, has a bride-to-be exclaim: “We’re having 30 guests at the reception, plus 2,500 Uefa VIPs”

    The tabloids reach for all those lame puns (Huns?): ‘Mein Gott!‘ (Metro); ‘Herr we go again‘ (Mirror) – I’ll go with a match made in Himmel… and a likely Hellish result. But at least for us, the war will be over. As the German commandant said…

    As for covid, they said it would all be over by last Christmas

       30 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      AISI, good one again. I was interested to hear that Dave Smith lost 28 stones in weight (or am I confusing him with another vox pop on TOADY?) – which could mean that Dave Smith is now a minus eight stone weakling.

      Forget the Victorian medical demonstrations – call P.T. Barnum.

         10 likes

    • JimS says:

      Mindful of the bit about pronunciation above, but doesn’t the British media convert acronyms that can be pronounced into title case words, despite what their owners think, i.e. NASA becomes Nasa, and acronyms that can’t be pronounced stay capitalised, i.e. BBC?

      On that basis the Union of European Football Associations, should be UEFA not Uefa. (Perhaps it’s a valid Somali word, in which case ignore the above!).

         8 likes

      • AsISeeIt says:

        Interesting point. Uefa seems to be a thing but we don’t see Eu? Perhaps because it is a French place name?

           8 likes

  35. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #1 – how good are Beeoids at their job?

    Not very much if I recall US Political Law correctly. Fronting TOADY today we had a former BBC Political Editor and a former BBC North America Editor. During an item about the person and death of John McAfee, Nick interviews two people who knew John McAfee, one was a competitor with McAfee in running for President in a US Presidential Election.

    Except that you cannot run for US President if you are not born in the USA, I seem to recall. I also remember the fuss over Barak Obama before and after he was elected US President. “He’s not an American!” they said. Funny that the former BBC Political Editor and a former BBC North America Editor did not spot the obvious mistake.

       14 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      Strictly speaking, you can run for President or Vice President – you just couldn’t take up the role if you won. Some people have argued that McAfee (and others) who are born on US bases abroad, to US fathers, and who subsequently become US citizens, count as ‘natural born US citizens’, which is an actual requirement for taking up the presidency. There is some ambiguity about that term and it could be legally challenged in the future (as Democrats are keen to get a foreign President at some point). But as things stand, overseas US military bases do not count as US territory.

      (Declaration: I was born on a US base in the UK)

         13 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        Thanks for an informative post, Ian. I guess the opposite is true for Embassies. McAfee Snr should have arranged a visit to Grosvenor Square for his wife to ‘drop the baby’ and run.

           3 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Strange that the same guards were on duty for Mcafee and Epstein – even different continents … maxwell ?

         8 likes

  36. Guest Who says:

    The BBC has found yet more ‘research’ which ‘suggests’.

    Trouble is, the social media subs clearly did not read their own story. Or cherry picked beyond the call.

    One for Marianna to investigate and ‘analyse’.

       19 likes

  37. Fedup2 says:

    A strange thing . I read a Guardian columnist and agreed with what was written

    Gulp

    Today a chap called Martin Kettle writes about group think – and the failures it can lead to
    Namely

    The BBC – bashir
    Met police – daniel morgan murder
    Covid

    He didnt add too many additional examples but i could list a bucket ful .

    If you add ‘ institutional corruption’ to groupthink – you get a heady mix which crushes victims where they stand – whistleblowers – people who ask the right awkward questions.

    Mr Kettle lets off a bit of steam ( apols) but doesnt get to a remedy . The usual word is ‘reform’ – but that can mean anything .

    The comments- of course are a series of online ‘ yaps’ like reactive trolling dogs ..

    By the way – mr kettle has a thing about bringing the covid inquiry forward . Does anyone seriously think that inquiry will achieve anything useful and prevent the same again – or worse – far worse ?

       14 likes

    • Beltane says:

      Of course it will achieve something Feds. A privileged and immensely wise group of woke and gifted people will be paid around £6k a day, each, for a year or so.

      Only the ignorant could object to such a valued enterprise.

         6 likes

  38. NCBBC says:

    The Masters have found a reason they can force us to anything, with the force of the police.

    It is Save the planet from Climate Change. With this excuse they can incarcerate the entire population (except the entitled ones), and get away with it.

    So its going to be lockdowns forever- by making it difficult for you travel freely in your own car. Jack up petrol price. Diesel will be a criminal offence against the planet. Bus and Cycle lanes everywhere, and both have priority even with few buses in an hour and no cyclist in sight.

    Of course the Masters will do it. They have learnt from the Covid experience, they can do do anything, the people will obey, and ask for more. Evidence – lots of people walking around outdoors, with masks on.

    We have become a people who love to be told what to do. We deserve the BBC.

       5 likes

  39. Fedup2 says:

    So let me get this right – the Reich EU schengen border is being opened up – and the the Reich Chancellor – the Frau – is demanding that arrivals from the UK are all quarantined ….
    ..
    ..yet Blighty is to allow thousands of EU passport holders to come to London for a bit of football with no checks or restrictions…
    Can that be right ?

    But on the German logic – those returning to the Reich will have to quarantine – well that’s okay then… betcha they don’t have to….

       29 likes

  40. Fedup2 says:

    Vintage woke From our own correspondent .

    It seems the Scandinavians are gradually waking up to being a soft touch – with the 3rd world turning up to take advantage – like in the UK .

    Anyway – it seems Denmark really has had enough and is trying to stop new arrivals completely – no one badged as a refugee AKA illegal immigrant .

    God did the BBC droid sneer . If you read what she said you might think ‘well that’s fairly balanced ‘ – but the sneers – oh yeah –
    BBC Londonistan will have given the lady an ‘uptick ‘ as her career ascends to breakfast TV …. Although I think she was a whitee which will be a negative unless daddy is a producer ….

       19 likes

  41. JimS says:

    Over at GBN Lord Heseltine gives us his ‘glass half empty’ comments on the theme of Brexit.

    He mentions in passing that because we were ‘late’ joiners of the EEC we ‘had to accept the rules’, the implication being that he has always been a ‘moaner’, he thinks we should have been a founder member.

    That is like thinking that it would be nice if the village had a football club but not going to any of the village recreation ground foundational meetings. They, (in your absence), decide to form a cricket club. Sixteen years later you join the cricket club and moan that they don’t play football but it is somewhere to get tea and biscuits. Forty-four years later the wife cancels your membership as the direct debit is too much. You continue to moan because really we should be playing football on the green and now never can!

       10 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      And Jim – the village wants an ever bigger cricket club using our money whether we want it or not . Hezza is only motivated by his personal wealth –
      How he still has the attention of the media is beyond me . If I recall it is 40 years since he held elected office . Stick him back in the ground …

         14 likes

    • Beltane says:

      Hezza’s grasp of history is, as ever, selective. We were ‘late’ in joining because the immensely anti-British and gigantically shoulder-chipped De Gaulle kept saying ‘non’ until Heath, prepared to sign anything for a place in posterity, lied to the nation on the true political nature of the ‘Common Market’.

      Heseltine’s own conceit would naturally see us as founder members, although Churchill – a true statesman, as opposed to Heseltine’s risible belief in being one himself – said that we were ‘…with Europe but not part of Europe. If we must choose between Europe and the open sea we must always choose the open sea’. And he was right.

         23 likes

    • Scroblene says:

      In Michael Green’s fabulous ‘Art of Coarse Sport’ books, he said that the best coarse member wanted to use the government’s playing fields sports grant to extend the bar…

      Unfortunately, Hezza was too rich already to contemplate what normal citizens wanted, he was really the start of the now-failing ‘elite’.

         12 likes

  42. vlad says:

    Under the auspices of the formidable Douglas Murray, The Sun is doing a 3-day exposé of the madness of wokeism and its insidious infiltration of all aspects of our nation.

    “Our universities and schools are riddled with it.
    Our government departments are packed with it.
    Our spies at MI5 boast about being named “employer of the year” by Stonewall.
    And our Armed Forces try to recruit by claiming that a typical candidate is a daughter of two mums who “marched for equality”.”

    Hopefully the BBC will get the beating it richly deserves.

    Today: Education
    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15377593/how-political-correctness-woke-weaning-betrays-brainwashes-children/

    Murray: “How political correctness on steroids is taking over our lives.”
    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15377193/wokeism-infected-universities-schools-douglas-murray/

       21 likes

    • JimS says:

      I think it is the Americans that want ‘two-mums’ soldierettes but I wouldn’t be surprised if we do too.

      Remember the days when engineers made things, bridges, ships, aircraft and cars?

      Not now, we are all social engineers;

      IET Gender Diversity Ambassador Award
      We’re looking to celebrate an individual’s hard work in achieving gender equality within the engineering industry. Who do you know that’s spent a large proportion of their career committed to addressing the gender imbalance and who has made a significant contribution to gender diversity in engineering?

      What does ‘gender equality’ mean? Half men, half women? What does ‘gender diversity’ mean? Non-binary queer through Unicorn spirit being?

      Using a sporting metaphor, it is like trying to ‘enhance’ a professional basketball team by recruiting from four-foot, blind wheelchair users.

      There might just be a world-class player in there somewhere!

      The sad thing is that it is really about the destruction of Western Civilisation. The even sader thing is that engineers are paying non-engineers to force-feed this expletive junk to them.

         10 likes

      • vlad says:

        You’re right, it was a US recruitment ad.

        Incidentally, here’s a video comparing a Russian ad for tough macho warriors, with the woke Disney-esque American ad for bi-lesbian-trans-who-knows-what social justice warriors.

        And no, it’s not a spoof.

        Thanks Biden, you moron.

        God help us if the new Cold War turns hot.

           7 likes

  43. Emmanuel Goldstein says:

    Never mind Dumbarton.
    They should use Scunthorpe.

       7 likes

  44. tomo says:

    Remember folks

    E4pnC_rXEAgXNty?format=jpg&name=small

       14 likes

  45. SLAW IS WAR says:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-birmingham-57496587

    The same Big Ron who was removed from ITV for referring to Marcel Desailly as a ‘f*cking lazy, thick n*gger’.

    They’ve slipped up here. He should at least have been tarred, feathered and had a milkshake thrown in his face for his outstanding contribution to bigotry.

       5 likes

  46. Guest Who says:

    Views her own, apparently, despite a bio littered with her employer brand.

    That will help in China.

       2 likes

  47. vlad says:

    Good news from GB News suggesting their opening week’s figures were (perhaps) not just a flash in the pan due to novelty value.

       33 likes

  48. taffman says:

    “UK needs a bigger navy”.
    The threats to Britain are now “greater than in the Cold War” when the UK was spending twice on defence it does now, the defence select committee chairman has said.”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-57602385
    I should say so now that Great Britain is going to trade with the world.
    Build the ships in the UK . It will create skilled jobs for the future.

       24 likes

    • vlad says:

      Anyway we need more ships to ferry migrants across.

         20 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Yes we need a bigger Navy of little boats to help the Africans escape from the war torn hell of – er – France. Maybe the thrid worlders can be ‘ pressed ‘ into the RN .. traditions .
        What the hell is the RN doing ?

        Lets build a bridge across the Channel . Nut nut likes bridges …

           14 likes

    • theisland says:

      “Build the ships in the UK”
      If only it were that easy. Veterans for Britain keep telling us that EU rules still apply but nobody listens or wants to listen. The UK has promised the EU we’ll use WTO+EU rules after flawed advice from pro-EU civil servants. MPs continue to be misled/misadvised.

      Ignored warning from November 2020.
      https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1361703/brexit-news-eu-uk-trade-talks-defence-shipbuilding-eu-law-spt

         15 likes

  49. Guest Who says:

    OT, but I must remind myself what constitutes a ‘debate’.

       11 likes

    • vlad says:

      I’m sure the woke lefty mayor will get robust questions from woke lefty O’Brien.

      A previous debate didn’t go so well:

      “LBC has been called to another meeting at Ofcom to discuss its approach to compliance and impartiality.

      The meeting for the Global station comes after three complaints were made about the James O’Brien Show, in which Sadiq Khan guest-hosted and conducted a 30-minute conversation with Jeremy Corbyn on 27th October 2017.

      Some listeners said it sounded more like a party political broadcast, with Ofcom saying the Labour Mayor of London’s segment with his own party leader “strayed close to limits of the rules on due impartiality.”

      https://radiotoday.co.uk/2018/10/lbc-gets-called-back-to-ofcom-over-political-output/

         9 likes