Midweek 26 January 2022

Is it to be a Gray day – ?as sane people suffer from Party fatigue the BBCSocialistEU brigade will go into overdrive … whether the PM goes or stays … (Happy Australia Day )

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624 Responses to Midweek 26 January 2022

  1. Zephir says:

    An article I wholeheartedly agree with:

    Get woke, go broke! From M&M sweets to Nike trainers, firms are turning famous brands into insufferably preachy social justice warriors. But their obsession with polishing their halos will come at a price, warns DOMINIC SANDBROOK

    Worth reading in whole but a short except here:

    “Of course companies need to be socially responsible. And as the 18th-century Scottish philosopher Adam Smith observed, doing business is in itself a moral endeavour, encouraging work, thrift, growth and prosperity.

    But that means treating your workers properly, maintaining decent environmental standards and — crucially — paying your taxes. It doesn’t mean babbling self-righteous gibberish while your standards slide and your profits plummet.

    If Unilever needs a reminder, it could always look back at its own history. The Lever brothers, who set up their first soap-making business in 1885, were canny, hard-nosed businessmen, who never lost sight of the bottom line.

    Yet they were also celebrated philanthropists, who built a model village for their workers at Port Sunlight in the Wirral. Not only did it have its own welfare scheme, it had a small hospital, schools, a concert hall, a church and even a swimming pool.

    How many of today’s posturing multinational chairmen and CEOs can point to similar accomplishments? None.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10446033/From-M-Ms-Nike-firms-turning-brands-social-justice-warriors-warns-DOMINIC-SANDBROOK.html

       23 likes

  2. Zephir says:

    Police have taken weeks to “investigate” after I was attacked by a gang of feral teenagers before Xmas, and no action will be taken due to multiple CCTV not working including Tesco security bodycams, just received a letter yesterday to inform me of this (no communication until this after reporting it the same day, where I was not even asked to supply descriptions of the attackers )

    and yet they can act when it suits them:

    “Women’s rights campaigner is arrested for a ‘hate crime’ after she put up ‘transphobic’ posters with slogans including ‘no men in women’s prisons’ ”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10446037/Disabled-campaigner-womens-rights-arrested-hate-crime.html

    and the crime ?

    Some of the stickers and posters made by Swayne were emblazoned with phrases such as ‘no child is born in the wrong body, humans never change sex’, ‘Woman = Adult Human Female’ and ‘Are you happy for your 13-year-old daughter to shower next to an adult man, yes or no?’.

    Jennifer Swayne, 53, was arrested on Sunday afternoon and detained until the early hours of the morning, while police officers executed a search warrant on her property and confiscated women’s rights stickers and a book containing a collection of critical essays about the theory and practice of transgendering children.

       42 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      More evidence , if any were needed, that the justice system in this country operates on the basis of the colour, religion and protected status of the victim and of the perpetrator. The statue of a blindfolded justice above the Old Bailey is a relic of things past.

         23 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Zephir sorry about that. CCTV failure is par for the course.
      That is what getting at, when I said that in tricky situations our first instinct should be to get our own phones out and start videoing, that we can’t rely on external CCTV etc.
      Though as you said it’s not always possible, if we are in a situation

         13 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Zephir – a kind of ‘ congratulations’ as plod will take the side of the feral ‘children’ whenever possible and screw peopls like you who pay taxes to fund them whwnever they can.

      Some day they will ask for public help – methinks it diminishes by the day as they become more and more invalid …

         5 likes

  3. Zephir says:

    STEPHEN GLOVER: House burgled? Forget it. Yet police will spend months probing parties at No 10. How out of touch can you get?

    There are allegations, some of which appear cast-iron, that illegal parties took place. But shameful though these parties undoubtedly were, they constitute in legal terms an offence roughly on a par with a parking ticket.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10445425/STEPHEN-GLOVER-Metropolitan-Police-wasting-resources-investigating-No10.html

       37 likes

  4. Zephir says:

    Woke morons in action, this is the kind of oxygen thief infesting social media:

    Manchester police are accused of ‘animal abuse’ after incinerating drugs and comparing the weight of the haul to ‘five German Shepherd dogs’

    Police seized £750,000 of cannabis from a site in Cheetham Hill, Manchester
    The haul weighed in at 173kg and has since been destroyed in an incinerator
    The force compared the weight of the drugs to five German Shepherds online
    It prompted angry response on Facebook, including claims of ‘animal abuse

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10444663/Police-accused-animal-abuse-comparing-weight-drugs-haul-five-German-Shepherd-dogs.html

       25 likes

  5. Scroblene says:

    When I was a kid, they were always called ‘Alsatians’…

       18 likes

  6. Guest Who says:

    In other news, YouTube is banning like a boss… of the BBC Disinformation Unit, at least.

       18 likes

  7. andyjsnape says:

    How streaming services left us with too much to watch, reports the bbc
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60125013

    …services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney Plus…

    No mention of Britbox?

       21 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Well, post tvl cancellation, they gave us choice and convenience.

      Last night watched ‘Motherless Brooklyn’, which was an impressive directorial effort by Edward Norton, and impressive for period street scenes.

      Sadly this prevented watching the latest must watch live of a trans little person ME of color who performs their own todger surgery whilst solving hate crimes from their Mum’s basement. And, the ne… Laura apology show.

         12 likes

  8. Guest Who says:

    Not enough Chinese in Bombay cop shows?

       11 likes

  9. JohnC says:

    A quick random check of the faces I see on the BBC UK home page reveals 2 black women, 6 white women and 2 white males.

    Good old reliable BBC : as racist and sexist as ever.

    But what is haunting me is that while they have been filling the front pages with their nasty, agenda-driven, vindictive campaign to topple Boris as a step towards rejoining the EU, the crisis brewing around the Ukraine has a very real possibility of starting a war.

    It seems to me that Putin is has seen just how weak the West has become. The BBC have been an integral part of that process with their extremeist support of the Leftists agenda and it’s support of BLM+Biden.

    Nature has a way of correcting itself when things go against the common sense which led to it’s existence. Let’s hope this is not the time.

       25 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      He hasn’t just seen how weak the West has become – he has seen how degenerate it has become as it transitions from ‘Western’ to ‘Globalist’ and does not want the same fate for Russia and its people. Here, the BBC, political activists and vested financial interests push transgenderism as part of their campaign to destroy the family. There, President Putin has said that the idea that children are “taught that a boy can become a girl and vice versa” is “on the verge of a crime against humanity.” In the opinion of most people other than the three categories listed above, he is, of course correct. As you point out, nature does indeed have a way of correcting itself and in this case it is the former West that is at war with nature itself.

         36 likes

  10. Zephir says:

    “Boiler trick could save you money on your next energy bill – make the change in minutes”

    tip relates to the flow settings on boilers, which controls the temperature that hot water is heated to before it comes out of the taps.

    She said: “You can use less gas by checking your flow settings on your boiler.

    “Mine was set to 80 degrees by default which meant I was spending huge amounts on heating up water that then has to be cooled down with cold water.”

    As a result of having the boiler set too high, the woman had to mix the hot water with lots of cold water to get baths, showers and washing-up bowls to the right temperature.

    Octopus estimates that on average, turning the water flow temperature down will save Britons eight percent on gas bills.

    Usually, boilers will come pre-set to a temperature that is far higher than needed, this doesn’t mean that the household will be warmer, but actually all it does is add massive amounts to bills and emissions.

    Octopus says it’s like putting your foot flat to the floor when driving as it’s hugely wasteful but doesn’t really affect your journey time, according to ChronicalLive

    https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/property/1554835/boiler-flow-hack-how-to-save-money-energy-bill

       6 likes

    • Zephir says:

      You will need to have a condensing combi boiler, i.e. a boiler that produces your heating and hot water. You will have a combi boiler if you do not have a hot water cylinder. It will definitely be a condensing boiler if it was fitted in the last 16 years. A condensing boiler will also have a white pipe that runs to an inside or outside drain.

      What if I have a hot water cylinder? Adapting your boiler so it can supply a lower flow temperature for heating (that you can adjust) requires boiler-specific advice and some minor works to your system. We can provide the correct advice for your boiler via our efficiency audit service.

      If you have a hot water cylinder we do not recommend attempting to reduce the flow temperature yourself. Your heating and hot water temperatures are tied together and reducing the flow temperature for heating can risk legionella in your hot water cylinder. HSE state that hot water must be stored at 60°C to kill bacteria, which can mean flow temperatures of 70°C to compensate for heat losses in the transfer of hot water to the cylinder.

      https://www.theheatinghub.co.uk/articles/turn-down-the-boiler-flow-temperature

         6 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Zephir
        I love a bit of plumbing / boiler action ….useful to know ,,,

        But I’m becoming vexed over the parties again . A number of commentators are claiming that any breaches of now defunct regulations are ‘out of time ‘ as far as prosecutions ( fixed penalty notices ?) are concerned .

        So as mark Steyn asked last night – what is plod investigating ? Today one of the papers is claiming that plod has a copy of the Grat report and that any one named is getting a letter inviting them to confirm their ‘guilt ‘ – but then not get a fine because it’s too late ?

        And there is no legal requirement for anyone to talk to plod . So everyone should stay silent – right ? – on the advise of lawyers and unions .

        Now starmer being a vermin lawyer rather than a leader – should know all this – right ? So all he can hope for is to catch nut nut lieing to parliament – which everyone sez is a resignation matter but which I reckon is just an ‘apology ‘.
        And move on ….

        Nut nut will lose the votes of people looking for someone to blame for the death of their loved ones – obviously excluding the Chinese and the NHS so they’ll blame him ……and the BBC will feature a daily story of someone convicted of partying via the efforts of grasses and plod the happy stazi …

           21 likes

        • BRISSLES says:

          My boiler is 25 years old, (with hot/w cylinder and immersion as back up), as is the house, and have been ‘advised’ to get it all changed. British Gas have recommended all manner of options – all of which makes Spaghetti Junction look like nursery play ! don’t get me started on the upheaval plus a bill for around £10,000 ! for that amount I could spend the winters in Spain for a few years til I fall off the perch.

          My tip, apropos Legionnaires, is to run the shower for at least 5 minutes to flush out bacteria before getting in.

          Re

             14 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Zephir, I have three controls over heat on a non-combi boiler: boiler setting, hot water tank thermostat, programmable timer and a room thermostat. “Hah! You weren’t expecting the Spanish Inquisition. I have four weapons at my disposal in the battle for warmth.” Those are the four input controls. I have never heard of ‘water flow temperature.’

      That ‘water flow temperature’ thing sounds like complete bunkum to me. They probably should change it to ‘boiler setting’ which is what I guess they are talking about.

         6 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        Woman sounds Dumb to me
        If you want a bath full of 30C water
        You can either have the boiler set at 30C
        and fill the entire bath
        Or you could have it set at 40C and mix in half from the cold tap.
        That way you’d use the hotter boiler for less time
        and overall use the same amount of heat and same amount of water as the first way.

           6 likes

  11. MarkyMark says:

    Spotify agrees to remove Neil Young’s music following Joe Rogan vaccine misinformation complaints. Request granted. Spotify said Wednesday it is working on removing rock legend Neil Young’s music from the platform in response to his claims it spreads COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.9 hours ago

    stalin-composite-16×9.jpg

       8 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Being in severe rationing of BBC product – I thought I’d limit my ‘today ‘ access to the Big Interview at 0810 … but there wasn’t one .
      Instead we got stuff about the difficulty of care homes . Well that makes a change judging but the lack of interest in the plight of care homes in the last 2 years ….. Robinson – obviously – was in the ‘more must be done ‘ mode so loved of BBC group think ..

      So – no party stuff – no Ukraine- ….

      …also – I notice that the deaths caused by crushing outside a footy ground in Africa has barely had a mention – when compared to the full on treatment of hillborough – this seemed a bit strange …. Maybe some lives matter more than others ..?

         14 likes

    • JohnC says:

      lol – that is exactly what the wokerati are doing and – like Stalin – they are convinced they are doing it for the greater good.

      History will be their judge just as it has been his.

         14 likes

    • Dobyns says:

      Well I heard Mr. Young sing about her
      Well I heard old Neil put her down
      Well I hope Neil Young will remember
      A southern man don’t need him around anyhow

         1 likes

  12. Thoughtful says:

    I see this morning Foggy has opened his big stupid gob again and told us all how unfit for any high office the alumni of the rotten school really are.

    He claims that Boris Johnson as PM should not have to resign as PM if interviewed under Police caution as he is innocent until proven guilty!

    The Office of Prime Minister is the highest in the land, and should be beyond any suspicion or taint, and any honourable incumbent would resign well before any of that happened. But the alumni of the rotten school are not honourable. They believe it is their right to hold these positions, and that they can not only break the rules with impunity, but that they can cling on right up until the point they are pronounced guilty of a criminal act, and only then should they have to leave.

       5 likes

  13. Foscari says:

    Something I don’t think you would hear on BBC News or
    any other programme. Eamon Holmes on GB News this morning
    called Putin a gangster in the the mould of a James Bond villain.
    Told us that he OWNED GAZPROM ! And the most amazing
    thing of the lot. I better be careful how I say this. But he
    referred to a situation where a HITMAN may be sent. Good
    on you Eamon !!

       11 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      I just wonder what game Putin is playing over Ukraine. Now the President of Ukraine having been screaming about an invasion is saying that this is Russian posturing and that they always hold military excercises at this time of year.

      There are a couple of things which Putin might well be up to.

      1. Forcing the price of gas and oil higher – spectacularly sucessful

      2. Distracting the Wests miltary from the target of an Ally (China) sending resources and men to a false target allowing that Ally to take military action more effectively.

      Either way Putin has yet again shown the EU leaders & the Wests for the abject Socialist failures they are. Taking their eyes off the serious issues to play stupid pointless Marxist games over gender, or green issues, wrecking economies in the process.

         18 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        Thoughtful, Putin had help in forcing the price of gas and oil higher – COP 1 to 26 and the environmentalists.

           10 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      “Putin a gangster in the the mould of a James Bond villain”

      The Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement is the member of the European Commission in charge of overseeing the accession process of prospective new member states and relations with those bordering the European Union (EU). The present Commissioner, as of December 2019, is Olivér Várhelyi.

      Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is a prime example. After leaving office, he took a well-paid lobbying job with the Russian natural gas giant Gazprom. Russia is a major supplier of natural gas to Germany and as chancellor Schröder also promoted energy deals with Russia.

         12 likes

  14. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #1 – stir, stir, keep pot boiling, stir,

    Unnecessary references to ‘old news’ in the News at 6 a.m. and again in the Summary after the sport, to Prince Andrew and the Sue Gray Report/Police Investigation. When it came to the ‘Yesterday in Parliament’ item, I switched off. The BBC walking and working in lockstep with Labour on this. Despicable.

       11 likes

  15. andyjsnape says:

    Train firms bet on mindfulness to lure commuters back, reports the bbc

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60140862

    Yes mindfulness, what a load of……..

       5 likes

  16. AsISeeIt says:

    Another whopper edition
    Touching on the little people
    And a jab of jingo

    With that uttermost crucial of national issues – Partygate – put on hold for just a moment: ‘Johnson sweats as partygate probe is delayed‘ (Daily Mirror); ‘Downing Street parties: Boris Johnson vows to fight on as MPs await Sue Gray report‘ (BBC) – the opposition media (but I repeat myself) move on to some other vital international question: ‘PM accused of lying over rescue of animals during fall of Kabul‘ (Guardian); and in lock-step the BBC: ‘Boris Johnson authorised Afghan animal evacuation, leaked email suggests

    There’s a pattern here; the obsessive desire on the part of our left-leaning mainstream media – just as we saw with President Donald Trump – to catch the disliked vaguely conservative politician out in his telling of a lie. A whopper. A fib.

    The actual issues involved are always rather secondary. No one asks or cares whether any of the bring your own bottle party celebrants actually contracted the Koof? No one demands the release and rapid publication of the subsequent casualty list.

    There’s an odd post-modern naivety to imagining that dissembling, half-truths, obfiscation, omission, prevarication, equivocation – and a favourite of the left here – fabulation – and so much more of the like – aren’t the very bread and butter of our present crop of politicians of all stripes – that just doesn’t seem to occur.

    The jokey Daily Star draws a putative anticipatory epitaph for our Boris that reads: ‘Here lies the Prime Minister’s credibility. And lies, and lies, and lies, etc…‘- an inscription eminently transferable to our entire class of politicos… put them all in a sack…

    So we’ll leave the opposition media hanging on the tenterhooks of their own fevered Brexit-revenge cheese and wine induced dream imaginings – you know the fantasy – Boris led off in cuffs by Chief Super Dick: ‘Publish and be damned: PM waiting on his fate‘ (‘i’)

    The formerly patriotic Times seeks to inject the nation with a booster jab of jingo: ‘Show of force. A Russian seviceman takes part in exercises…‘ – don’t panic, Mr Mainwaring, it won’t be Ruskie battalions marching down your high street with snow on their boots just yet – the Times pic was taken: ‘… near Moscow

    On the other hand we do have some cherished western freedoms to defend: ‘Police seize “anti-trans” book from activist‘ (Times) – oh, the irony…

    Police have arested a women’s rights campaigner for an alleged hate crime and seized an academic book from her home after she put up posters “directed towards the trans community”‘ (Times)

    Just a minor issue, you might say. And one might segueway to: ‘Defiant Andrew demands trial by jury in New York sex case‘ (Times) – or, speaking of minor issues – one might go to: ‘Disney responds to Peter Dinklage’s criticism of Snow White remake… Dinklage… [Tyrion from Game of Thrones] …has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia… “they were very proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White… You’re progressive in one way but you’re still making that backward story of seven dwarves living in the cave”‘ (BBC) – what does he suggest – a story entitled Snow Black and the Seven rough sleeping persons of short stature? Or maybe write some magic dragons and lots of bare bottoms into the plot?

    The Telegraph, typically, notices the culture war and is suitably aghast: ‘Once upon a woke time… Don’t let cancel culture take the magic out of Snow White, says Judith Woods‘ – but what is an old fuddy duddy to do?

    The State will keep nationalising stuff: ‘Taxpayer scores stake in Bolton Wanderers‘ (Telegraph) and the State will tend to deputise crony corporations to enforce its regulations: ‘Supermarkets keep mask “rule” in place‘ (Telegraph)

    We already covered Afghan pet news. In UK pet news: ‘Teach your young dog new tricks‘ (Daily Star) and in US poodle news: ‘US asks UK to put more troops on war footing‘ (Guardian)

    The left-leaning ‘i’ newspaper leans heavily on fashion news: ‘Special report. Fashion’s dirty laundry‘; and ‘Opinion. Are you a fashion snob?

    The Guardian frets: ‘How covid killed the one night stand

    The globalist FT embraces the left side of politics as its own: ‘Activism can work. A challenge to complacency should be welcomed‘ – good point – for example – where would the big corporations be without those super generous green subsidies? Don’t even get us started on big pharma and State-mandated vax.

    Whilst, oddly enough, we’re told the Labour Party seeks to ditch socialism: ‘Laura Pidcock quits Labour ruling body over treatment of the left… A former Labour MP has quit the party’s ruling body, claiming it has become a “hostile territory for socialists” under Sir Keir Starmer‘ (BBC)

    But all is not going well for the globalists. Their candidate for US president is proving a bit of a disappointment: ‘Health dysfunction. The Biden administration has failed the Omicron test‘ (FT) – time to move over, grandad?

       14 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      ‘Johnson sweats as partygate probe is delayed‘ (Daily Mirror) – Sweats like Prince Andrew?

         10 likes

  17. MarkyMark says:

    U.S. Says FIFA Officials Were Bribed to Award World Cups to Russia and Qatar
    For nearly a decade, Russia and Qatar have been suspected of buying votes to win hosting rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. On Monday, for the first time, the Department of Justice put things in black and white.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/sports/soccer/qatar-and-russia-bribery-world-cup-fifa.html

       6 likes

  18. dafydd says:

    We all think the BBC is bad but SKY are right up there now with there appalling bias.

    Kay Burely this morning was disgusting… When interviewing the Tory MP it was constant interrupting and very unpleasant innuendo.

    Along comes the Labour MP and it was like having a cup of coffee with a long lost friend…Not one interruption.

    The BBC may be taking delight in Johnson’s predicament but SKY are on a par…

       32 likes

  19. Zephir says:

    I have mentioned this before and is now hitting headlines in the US (only Fox news for some “strange” reason…wrong kind of victims for the racist left liberals maybe ?)

    Maybe also because many blacks are responsible for attacks on Chinese americans, brushed under the carpet compared to attacks on the poor blacks:

    San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin sued for turning back on Asian attack victim as anti-AAPI hate crimes soar 567%

    An Asian-American man who was violently attacked in 2019 is suing San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, accusing the prosecutor of mishandling the case against his assailants – who beat him with a baseball bat, threatened him with a glass bottle and told him: “I’m going to kill you,” court papers show.

    Anh Lê’s lawsuit against Boudin was filed just one day before the San Francisco Police Department announced an astonishing 567% increase in hate crimes against Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) individuals

    “I am a survivor of a horrendous attack that took place in San Francisco with no consequences to the attackers.”
    — Anh Lê, 69-year-old crime victim

    The now-69-year-old victim slammed the liberal district attorney for refusing “to uphold the fundamental rights of Asian American victims of racially-motivated violence,” and in turn failing to “recognize their humanity,” the lawsuit states.

    “In this case, as disturbing as the attack on Mr. Lê is, equally disturbing is his mistreatment by the DA’s office in the aftermath of his violent attack by the Tanner family,” the complaint charges, referring to the suspect in the case. The 111-page suit was filed Monday in the Northern District of California.

       15 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Air China magazine tells tourists visiting London ‘avoid Indian, Pakistani & black areas’
      AN IN-FLIGHT magazine handed out on Air China advised customers to use ‘precautions’ when entering areas in London populated by “Indians, Pakistanis and black people” it’s been revealed.
      By FELICITY THISTLETHWAITE
      11:47, Wed, Sep 7, 2016 | UPDATED: 18:59, Wed, Sep 7, 2016

      Air-CHina-708065.jpg

         13 likes

  20. MarkyMark says:

    Beckford – who delivered the important lessons on “White Awareness” at the end of November – has previously charged West Midlands Police £1500 for a similar lecture on “white identity”, and voiced his support for the removal of statues from major places of worship across the UK last year.

    Screenshot-2022-01-26-at-15.18.45.png?resize=814%2C540&ssl=1
    order-order.com

    “Why is this cr@p allowed to continue under a Conservative majority government?
    Meanwhile, Gwent police have arrested a disabled woman on a mobility scooter because they had received six complaints about her. Her crime? Putting up posters in favour of female only prisons (i.e. prisons for women without pretend women). Orwell was right about the state in 1984, he just got the decade wrong.” – COMMENT

       13 likes

  21. MarkyMark says:

    2021 – Nudges guide you into making better choices, by people who know what is best for you. There are now lots of those people in government.

    The classic example is that putting fruit at eye level counts as a nudge. Banning junk food does not.

    How do we know when a nudge has gone too far? I’m going to start us off with a quote from MINDSPACE: influencing behaviour through public policy, co-authored by one of the directors of the UK government’s nudge unit.

    “People have a strong instinct for reciprocity that informs their relationship with government – they pay taxes and the government provides services in return. This transactional model remains intact if government legislates and provides advice to inform behaviour. But if government is seen as using powerful, pre-conscious effects to subtly change behaviour, people may feel the relationship has changed: now the state is affecting “them” – their very personality.”

    So, has a nudge gone too far when subliminal manipulation changes your personality? The nudges of the last 18 months have changed your relationship with the state.

    https://lauradodsworth.substack.com/p/a-nudge-too-far-the-rise-of-behavioural

    Is it a nudge too far when someone is hurt by the nudging? How about deliberately increasing people’s sense of personal threat because they understand the risk of Covid to their own demographic, to make them more scared in order to make them comply with the lockdown rules.

    One of the SPI-B advisors who spoke to me anonymously said that,
    “The way we have used fear is dystopian. It has definitely been ethically questionable. Ultimately, it backfired because people became too scared.”
    https://lauradodsworth.substack.com/p/a-nudge-too-far-the-rise-of-behavioural

       6 likes

  22. theisland says:

    20 minute summary about the WEF launching the “Great Narrative” to make the “Great Reset” more palatable.
    Insanity.

    https://mobile.twitter.com/calvinrobinson/status/1484099234869788672
    “Reuters has an exclusive partnership with the World Economic Forum.
    Once again, marking their own homework.
    Be wary of ‘fact-checkers’. Do your own research.”

       11 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      The reason policy makers like nudges – and why you could argue that to a degree we under technocratic rule now – is that they avoid costly regulation, campaigning, debates and outright bans. It’s a cheap and effective way to prod and prime us into being model citizens without even being aware of it. If we allow ourselves to be nudged towards a greater good, we have given up determining what good is.
      https://lauradodsworth.substack.com/p/a-nudge-too-far-the-rise-of-behavioural

         9 likes

      • digg says:

        I believe “nudging has worked its way much further down the pecking order than we think.

        If anything, unlike myself, my wife is a tad lefty and while not exactly woke, leans in that general direction. (Poor dear was a junior LibDem councillor when a lot younger which explains much).

        She has been a subscriber to the BBC food magazine and Olive, another foodie rag. (She is also a very good cook!)

        I skimmed through the latest issues of these mags that arrived today and after skimming through both with green issue menus, low meat diets, vegan propaganda etc. etc. chucked them down on the table.

        A short while later my wife asked me how she could cancel a direct debit. When I asked why she said I can’t stand this stream of preachiness and diversity in the food magazines so I don’t want them any more.

        I would have cancelled them months ago but to see my right on wife do it if her own accord without any pressure from me was both revealing and satisfying.

        I hope a lot more subscribers go this way!

        The warm glow it left will last a long time I can tell you!

           13 likes

        • Messenger says:

          I have belonged for nigh on 50 years to what used to be called NADFAS -the National Decorative and Fine Arts Society -which gave monthly lectures on antiques, things such as art, silver, architecture, landscape gardening. furniture , etc etc, and had an excellent glossy quarterly magazine.

          They have recently become woke and renamed themselves the Arts Society, apparently to make themselves more modern , inclusive, and probably diverse as well. The first of the new magazines had a motor bike on the front cover, and the latest one included an article on “art” produced by a woman who among other things made a huge high heeled shoe out of recycled saucepans, or something like that, and a chandelier out of tampons, -neither decorative or fine art,. I want none of it. The local lectures are still mostly OK but I have cancelled the magazine.

             3 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Once in a while I get annoyed about the fact that I have no real privacy. Nowhere I can go and not be registered. I know that, somewhere, everything I do, think and dream of is recorded. I just hope that nobody will use it against me.
      All in all, it is a good life.
      https://www.forbes.com/sites/worldeconomicforum/2016/11/10/shopping-i-cant-really-remember-what-that-is-or-how-differently-well-live-in-2030/?sh=5198216f1735

         4 likes

  23. MarkyMark says:

    Complaint sent into the BBC Memory Hole ….
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complain-online/

    Dear Winston Smith at the BBC,

    I see that Tony Blair is all over the BBC news again. Can you tell me :
    1) How much Tony Blair is paid when appearing on a BBC TV show and BBC Radio Show?
    2) How much Tony Blair has been paid overall by the BBC this year and in total?

    I asked you previously how much it has cost the BBC TV Tax Payer to send Alan Carr and Mel from Radio 2 to Orlando but you said it was commercially sensitive information, so I assume you will use the same excuse this time or maybe the excuse Tony Blair gave in 2009 expenses scandal where he shredded his expenses to save the tax payer from storing them on a shelve.

    Cheers,

       16 likes

  24. Thatcherrevolutionary says:

    RE the earlier comments about central heating boilers……

    I have an air source heat pump fitted. This is supposed to be the future for heating. I think this is going to be incredibly difficult. There is little difference in cost, as the electric fan needs to be on 24/7. The water however heats only to 31 degrees, a lukewarm temperature that is frankly no use on a classic Scottish -4 night.
    It definitely performs better when it’s warmer (above 5 degrees) but for the grants/cost? This is a giant white elephant.

       22 likes

  25. Fedup2 says:

    What are the signs of a have government/ political party coming to the end of its ‘ time in power ?
    Well – it seems a second cabinet minister has said there would need to be an election if nut nut goes – i think it was a fat woman who does welfare .

    She has joined dodgy mogg in the lunacy of thinking theyll get re elected . Its just lucky that there is no real opposition .

    On that – am i right in thinking Angee is a liability rather than an asset . I might be out of touch because i thought no one as dodgy as nut nut could be London Mayor yet alone PM …

       11 likes

  26. MarkyMark says:

    Psychotherapist Anna says she feels stressed and pressured by NHS emails, meetings and webinars encouraging her to get a Covid jab.

    “I feel like I don’t even get a moment to breathe without being softly interrogated, by staff I may or may not even know,” she says. “I am thinking about taking it. I have no intention to resign or change my job. I just want to do it in my own time.”

    She is the only unvaccinated member of her team, but Anna says she does not consider herself to be “an anti-vaxxer” as she has had other jabs.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60104140

    OCCG-Save-Christmas-Twitter-8.jpg

       0 likes

  27. tomo says:

    Licence fee prosecutions “to double”

    https://order-order.com/2022/01/26/bbc-licence-fee-prosecutions-to-double/

    bluidy autocorrect….

       6 likes

  28. Fedup2 says:

    I listened to ‘from our own correspondent’ as a teenager and was pretty regular with it . It had quality journos who knew the country they were in and reported the issues .

    But now ? The habit of listening went long ago. The decrepit Kate Adey runs it – a woke hollowed out shell of itself – it’s either ‘ climate change – Muslims as victims – or a veiled charity appeal for the latest ‘give me ‘…

    But should I have expected more ?

    The off switch came when some kidult was moaning about how her Scandinavian ‘first name ‘( Christian name ) was pronounced around different countries …. Oh the humanity …

    A once proud programme – in desperate need of killing off in a 25/7 propaganda world

       16 likes

    • Mustapha Sheikup al-Beebi says:

      I agree. “FOOC” used to be good and still has its moments but, like so much else on Radio 4, it appears to me to be trading on a reputation gained long ago which it doesn’t really deserve now. I’m not sure I would “kill it off” but it does need freshening up. I might once have thought that the BBC could hardly go wrong with an easy-to-listen magazine format with little essays from all over the world … but as you say, the obsession with fitting new stories into the established master-narratives detracts from the value of the correspondents.

      So, yet another R4 prog’ that I hardly ever listen to any more. This is another reason why the £159 poll tax is not the good value that is claimed. I won’t pay for it myself but what people get in return (ok, I know you don’t need it for radio) is diminishing year by year.

         7 likes

    • tomo says:

      🙂

      I thought “incense fee” was an appropriate spelling.

      Like so many long running and well founded programmes on the BBC – “from our own correspondent” has been through the homogenization and de-boning process. I used to be a regular listener but increasingly Adey’s pervasive unctuousness got more an more prominent and irritating.

      Unvarnished reportage with some anecdotery just vanished and so did I as a listener.

         5 likes

  29. theisland says:

       23 likes

  30. MarkyMark says:

    Prince Charles news: Why Prince Charles would choose NOT to become Defender of the Faith
    PRINCE CHARLES will become the next King of England and is currently the oldest King in Waiting in history at 71, having spent nearly his entire life as first-in-line. When he does succeed Queen Elizabeth II, however, he said he would drop one of the monarchy’s core mottos.
    By LIAM DOYLE
    21:28, Thu, Jul 2, 2020

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1304386/Prince-Charles-news-heir-King-Charles-defender-of-the-faith-title

       5 likes

  31. Fedup2 says:

    Barry Cryer RIP – another member of the ‘old guard ‘ – genuinely funny men – is gone . Have the last laugh Barry .

       27 likes

    • dafydd says:

      Fedup2..

      Bloke was a genius…Went to a one man show of his years ago..brilliant

         10 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Dafydd – you were a lucky man – I was lucky enough to see Bob Monkhouse live – man was a performing genius – both these men shared that ability to take hold of an audience with their speed and timing and intelligence in their fun .
        Surely really the end of ‘clue ‘ now …

           15 likes

  32. theisland says:

    https://www.rebelnews.com/tags/convoy_reports

    No mention of the Canadian truckers’ anti-mandate convoy on the bBC?
    It appears to be huge (some saying 50,000 trucks).

       13 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Trudeau (I’m a feminist) hails “ (Muslim) sisters upstairs” at sex-segregated mosque

         4 likes

    • richard D says:

      Love that bit from the dear leader about people ‘….undermining the rights, freedoms and values of Canada ‘

      So how was that done, M. Trudeau….. oh, by exercising some of their rights, freedoms and values… as Canadians.

      Ah, but, of course, these are the wrong rights, freedoms and values from your point of view, n’est-ce pas ?

         14 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Mark Steyn on GB news just covered the #FreedomConvoy2022
      and how the media is trying to smear them s a ‘violent far right mob’

         1 likes

  33. tomo says:

    Twitter have dialled up the disingenuous volume knobbery to 11 – misreporting the number of replies, hiding replies under multiple folds, tormenting the threading and timeline – all over one dyspeptic near geriatric Canadian musician having a crotchety snitfest about a podcast

       9 likes

  34. Fedup2 says:

    The man who the plod arrested for murder after killing a savage knife man has been partly named as ‘Abraham ‘ a ‘Chechen electrician ‘ according to the Mail ….

    But I suppose on the upside he got bail ….

       9 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      22 Lost in Manchester …
      The first duty of the government is to keep citizens safe and the country secure.

      1400+ raped over 16 years in 1 town ….
      The first duty of the government is to keep citizens safe and the country secure.

      30 Iranians cross the border and are allowed free entry ….
      The first duty of the government is to keep citizens safe and the country secure.

      30 year old men are pretending to be child refugees and sit in a class full of children …
      The first duty of the government is to keep citizens safe and the country secure.

      The first duty of the government is to keep citizens safe and the country secure. The Home Office has been at the front line of this endeavour since 1782. As such, the Home Office plays a fundamental role in the security and economic prosperity of the United Kingdom.

      https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/about

         13 likes

  35. Guest Who says:

    Well, 5 seem to agree.

       6 likes

  36. Foscari says:

    Further to what Eamon Holmes said of Putin
    this morning on GB News. Putin was a thug for
    the KGB in East Germany. He has now developed
    into a monstrous Mafia gangster from whom The
    Godfather or Tony from the Soprano’s would be
    proud of. AND I will reiterate what Eamon told
    us this morning, which I am sure not many of us
    knew. That he OWNS Gazprom. So you know where
    the money for your increased gas bills are going.
    The more Putin’s ” adventure” goes on the more
    parallels it seems to have with Hitler’s and the
    Sudetenland “question.” And Hitler’s lebensraum
    policy.
    I just hope that along with Gazprom. That Putin does
    not own the BBC. The way they are underplaying
    Putin’s adventure ,has got me thinking.

       14 likes

  37. dafydd says:

    The rancid BBC and left wing media must be in shock after this poll..

    Labour must be looking at this in disbelief

    Take away the dont know’s and make them make a decision, this is a true poll.

    https://order-order.com/2022/01/27/labour-only-just-ahead-despite-partygate/

       13 likes

  38. Emmanuel Goldstein says:

    Do I remember this correctly?

    The privately funded flight taking some animals out of Afghanistan, which all the msm (except the excellent GB News), are going apoplectic about, had lots of empty seats which could have carried many people but there was nobody sent out to round up a bunch of Afghans to bring back to England and the privately funded plane returned half empty.
    I heard it was taking up a ‘slot’ which could have been used for another plane to fly Afghans out.
    Does this mean that the airspace around the airport was so busy, a bit like Heathrow, that one plane has a few minutes slot before the next one and the next one….
    Also, I’d rather have a plane with cats and dogs come here, at least they will not try to kill you or blow your children up. (I know, some were ‘interpreters’)

    If telling a lie is enough to make Boris resign then this should apply to ALL politicians in Westminster.
    Very soon we will be needing roughly 650 by elections.

       21 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Zero churches or dogs as pets in Saudi!

         9 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      EG
      There was also something about half the animals ‘rescued’ had to be put down at the end of the ‘mercy dash ‘.

      Personally I can’t see why any afgees were bought to Blighty – being in interpreter or whatever should not be a ticket to welfare land ….
      Just dumb going there in the first place ….

         11 likes

      • Ian Rushlow says:

        “Personally I can’t see why any afgees were bought to Blighty…”

        Well the Germans took their collaborators from Vichy France back to the Fatherland after the end of War to look after them, didn’t they? Er no, hang on a minute, not sure I got that one right…

           4 likes

    • G.W.F. says:

      Emmanuel Goldstein

      GB News has been on about it repeatedly since the story of the leaked email broke. I quoted one of their pieces where the interviewer mentioned a load of mutts being put before people trying to flee from Affie. But here is their latest.
      Al bin GB News is out to get Johnson, along with the BBC.

         6 likes

      • G.W.F. says:

        GB News have the same agenda as the BBC with non stop repetitions of a half true story.

           5 likes

        • The Sage says:

          But at least you get to watch the lovely Mercy on GB News – a highlight of each day for me.

             3 likes

  39. richard D says:

    I hope I am doing this correctly and not blowing up the blog….. but I have just seen this clip, and it highlights so much of what is wrong in politics and the media in the US, but, increasingly, equally here in the UK….

       28 likes

  40. tomo says:

       11 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      How do we start to decolonize science? @0:10

      “Through the black magic, witchcraft you are able to send a lightning bolt to strike someone, Can you explain that scientifically … ” @0:50 – one of the speakers
      “It’s not true” – audience member
      “I need to address you directly (audience member who says witchcraft does not work). When we started this we agreed on certain house rules. By you doing that (arguing) you are disrespecting that sacredness of this space. I would like you please first to apologise …” – another speaker

      https://biasedbbc.org/blog/2017/10/18/mid-week-open-thread-129/comment-page-4/#comment-874895

         6 likes

    • Zephir says:

      I fink you is gil’hi innit bruv

         2 likes

  41. richard D says:

    ‘Energy Crisis Hell…..’ reads part of a headline in this morning’s press, supported on an almost daily basis at the moment, as the BBC, too, ramps up the news about Energy firms going out of business, or being about to go out of business.

    Not one of these media commentators bothers one bit about the real reason these organisations are going down the tubes.

    Simply, their business models were incompetent to deal with a moving international market. Things were all very well and good when energy prices were generally low and static, and these businesses were set up, pretty much, as on-line brokers, nothing more. They basically bought from the larger, vertically integrated businesses (i.e. with shipping, refining, transport, etc. sections of their business), then sold ‘energy’ (which they never even touched in their whole business process), at a slightly lower price than the bigger companies in the market. I.e. the ones who still had to have refineries, maintenance crews, offices, etc., and a business model which would protect them if supplies got to be difficult, market prices changed, etc., etc…..i.e. things did not stay static.

    And the media can’t grasp this and try to simplistically blame it instead on Brexit, Government policies, greedy major companies in the market, and so forth …. rather than try to explain to customers that the ‘energy company’ they are dealing with is nothing more than a shell, set up by people who really don’t know how to set up a company in this industry for the long term.

    But hey – bitch about the established companies, and demand lower costs, and more ‘suppliers’ in the market, and this is what you get. Now, of course, these failing companies’ customers are demanding that the bigger, wiser, and more competitively established suppliers come to their aid, and not charge for it. You eventually get what you paid for.

       15 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Richard – as the big companies have to take on the customers of the shyster companies you describe – i wonder how much strain they are feeling ?

      The new price cap thing is due to be announced on 7 feb with implementation in April ? So will be something to see….

      … any views about price hikes ?

         4 likes

  42. richard D says:

    Sorry, but I just found this to be so funny…..

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FKEWINvWQAIkj11?format=jpg&name=small

       6 likes

  43. tomo says:

    Nancy Pelosi’s family has done a lot of business in China since the COVID outbreak – she has refused to allow a single congressional hearing to even discuss the origins of the COVID virus.

       9 likes

  44. Zephir says:

    Another black racist attack in London:

    Terrifying moment Jewish shop owners are beaten up on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day as Priti Patel calls the ‘sickening’ attack on two men in a London street ‘despicable’ and says anti-Semitic abuse will NOT be tolerated

    Shocking video shows the pair locking up their shop in South Tottenham when they are attacked in the street
    As the man walks past words appear to be exchanged with the Jewish men who prepare to defend themselves
    Video then shows the man launching an astonishing attack on the two men, one of which is hit to the ground
    Metropolitan Police are investigating incident as hate crime and an 18-year-old man is currently in custody

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10447069/Terrifying-moment-Jewish-shop-owners-suffer-random-anti-Semitic-attack-London-street.html

    SILENCE on the far left racist bbc news front page, this is only for local news

       20 likes

  45. MarkyMark says:

    1985….Ahmadis suffer vicious persecution around the world. The main source of fuel for that persecution is in Pakistan, but what happens in Pakistan does not stay in Pakistan.

    I know that from my experience in the Yorkshire market town of Batley. In August 1985, when I was 11 years old, my parents organised an inter-faith meeting in the town hall. It was interrupted and disturbed when, according to West Yorkshire police, more than 1,000 extremists, led by Pakistani hate preachers funded by the Pakistani state, were bused in from around the country. The mob brutally attacked my English mother and my father, a dermatologist; my eldest brother and I; and a Welsh Ahmadi schoolteacher who was with us. My first cousin, a GP, was by chance driving through the market town that day. He saw the mob and saw his family and friends being attacked, so he stopped. He was recognised, pulled from his vehicle and savagely beaten up.

    https://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2020-03-12a.177.0&s=islam+batley#g195.0

       7 likes

  46. tomo says:

    Definitely NOT Neil Young

       5 likes

  47. dafydd says:

    BBC political correspondents are really full of sh-t.

    Im convinced they must all sit there like a pack of giggling kids and come up with a anti Government punch lines just to justify there overpaid salaries.

    EXAMPLES:

    MOST CONSTITUENCIES VOTE TO GET RID OF BORIS..WRONG NONE

    UP TO A FURTHER FIVE CONSERVATIVES TO CROSS THE HOUSE IN HOURS AND JOIN LABOUR..WRONG STAYED AT 1

    UP TO 110 LETTERS HAVE GONE INTO BRADY ALREADY..WRONG 7

    LAST WEEK TUESDAY VOTE OF CONFIDENCE BY THURSDAY..WRONG

    LAST MONDAY SUNAK AND TRUSS TO ANNOUNCE CHALLENGE..WRONG

    2019 INTAKE ON MASS TO PUT LETTERS INTO BRADY..WRONG 1

    MOST UXBRIDGE CONSISTENCE WANT BORIS OUT..WRONG 62% WANT HIM TO STAY(SKY POLL)

    You could go on and on and on…Pathetic

       21 likes

  48. pugnazious says:

    Nothing to see here…move along….just a couple of elderly Jews being beaten up by a black man…remarkably short and uninformative ‘report’ on this attack….imagine the pages and pages of copy had it been two Muslim shopkeepers attacked by white person…

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-60158241

    ‘Haringey: Teen arrested after two Jewish men attacked on street

    A teenager has been arrested after two Jewish men were attacked while locking up their shop in north London.

    Police were called to Cadoxton Avenue, Haringey, at 21:50 GMT on Wednesday following reports of an assault.

    One of the victims was treated for a hand fracture and bruising, while the other suffered bruising and an eye injury.

    The Met Police said an 18-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of actual bodily harm and remains in custody.

    The force added that it was treating the incident as a hate crime.’

    Why do they call him a ‘teen’…..he’s 18…a man….is it to make this seem less serious…a stupid teenager, probably misled by far-right anti-semite on facebook….lol…..and no mention of Holocaust Day?

    The Mail has more….

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10447069/Terrifying-moment-Jewish-shop-owners-suffer-random-anti-Semitic-attack-London-street.html

       15 likes