282 Responses to Start the Week 12 December 2022

  1. Concrete sea says:

    Can’t believe I might be numero uno. Wow

       16 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Up2 must be busy tuning into the cricket somewhere in the world !!!

         10 likes

      • Yasser Dasmibehbi says:

        Rumour has it that Up2 was so distraught at not being first that he ran off into the woods howling where he was promptly eaten by a bison.

        One of the hazards of living in Kent apparently.

           15 likes

        • Up2snuff says:

          Yasser, how long before some greenie suggests we have brown bears re-wilded into Britain? Mind you, right now it is probably cold enough for ursus maritimus in the UK. Bisons could be handy for a leather coat but right now a fur one appears more desirable.

             10 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        Brissles my dear old thing, well England have beaten Pakistan and won the three Test series 2 : 0 so I’m happy for Concrete seas success. I was around at 8.30 p.m. last night, I did post on the Weekend Thread circa 8.15 p.m. and I’m sure I checked to see if Fed had put up the new Thread at about 9 p.m.. Anyway, can’t be greedy, I’ve got the Triple Crown. 😉

           7 likes

  2. tomo says:

    Rishi & Co. here’s ÂŁ35 (of your money anyway) to spend at Tesco while letting this lunacy continue.

       21 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      British Gas’s owner, Centrica, said it was permanently closing the Rough facility off the Yorkshire coast because it had become unsafe and uneconomic to reopen the facility, which had been temporarily shut over safety fears.20 Jun 2017

         5 likes

      • Bulldog says:

        MM

        Good news, the Rough gas storage facility off the Yorkshire coast has been recommissioned over the summer and autumn and is now operating at 20% capacity with an eventual storage capacity of 100 billion cubic ft. Centrica say the long term aim is to make it “the largest long duration energy storage facility in Europe” storing both natural gas and hydrogen. I guess they would say that wouldn’t they, but at least it is a step in the right direction to help meet the U.K.’s future energy needs.

        XR desperately trying to source limpet mines?

        https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/455701/centrica-confirms-re-opening-of-rough-gas-storage/

           4 likes

  3. Sluff says:

    Remembering that the electricity grid preferentially takes wind power first.
    As of 8.30 pm the relative sources of power for our electricity were…
    Gas 61%
    Wind 3%.

    So…..all we need is TWENTY times more wind farms than we have now and we’ll have cracked it.

    Perhaps the BBC could ask St Greta and the ER eco-loons about these inconvenient facts.
    But of course hell will freeze over before that happens. Doesn’t fit the agenda.

    Or maybe not hell but our houses. Because we haven’t mentioned how to keep our houses warm and not much of that is electric. It’s been sub zero all day.

       41 likes

    • Deborah says:

      I walked past a Waterstones this morning with a book by St Greta in the window. I was tempted to go in and throw all her books on the floor just like others do with milk in Harrods. Trouble is I am not sure I wouldn’t have been arrested.

         43 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Yes – days like this I have a thought ( curse ) for Alok Sharma – the blubbing blue labour MP – soon to be Lord – who wants us to freeze and die to save the planet for a yet unborn population ….
      Sharma is on holiday after his COP thing- I bet he and the family are warming in Egypt … still on a tax payed jolly .

      Meanwhile between 5pm and 7pm tonight the national grid is talking about rationing power ……. At least now that woke United are out of the footy there won’t be 20 million watching for Kane to kick the ball badly again ….

      They went for a cup – came back with a cat …

         26 likes

  4. vlad says:

    There are sporadic noises in the media about the telly tax being transferred to the Council Tax. This might just be in journos’ imagination but, more worryingly, it might be the BBC or the government testing the waters or softening up public opinion.

    Whatever the truth, the notion must be nipped in the bud immediately before it takes root.

       34 likes

    • Northern Voter says:

      This used to be the case in France, however Macron saw the light and now, we don’t pay telly tax.

         30 likes

    • Nibor says:

      Will it be put into the general council tax or as a precept like the police bill ?

         18 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      It’s being doing the round for a while now, whilst people are deciding not to opt into the tax,the Blue Labour Tories seeing that the fantasy of being able to project a British Empire as economically significant as it once was through the World Service.

         7 likes

    • markh says:

      Underpay your council tax by ÂŁ159.50. If enough people did it they couldn’t do anything.

         11 likes

  5. Concrete sea says:

    Little story for you. Yesterday I was out shopping, minus Mrs Concrete and so I anticipated being quick !
    We have a local Savers drugstore in our flagging and tired high street. As I entered I spied a male wearing a mask and beanie hat busily stuffing candles(like Yankee candles in jars) in his jacket, clearly a nasty shoplifter scum. I knew if I just watched him as other shoppers were I would regret it. So I stepped up– all 5’6” of me on a good day and I told him to put it back. To cut a longish story short I managed to trip him up and a few perfumes fell from his jacket and he was eventually ushered from the store by two male staff. Of course he told me to go forth several times, but at least I peed on his firework.
    Call the Plod, you’re avin a larf. There is no way I expected any attendance from them sooner or later and so why bother. The policy in our area is ‘Don’t challenge. Let them go’. In other words they won’t attend a crime in progress. Hint- Best way round this is to mention a knife, either you’ve seen one or were threatened with one and then Plod will attend as a priority. On arrival, you then tell them “I may have been mistaken”.
    What an appalling situation, but hey that’s how ‘society’ is these days. On the plus side and something that restored my faith was that so many shoppers thanked me and shook my hand and one kindly lady paid for my shopping (all £2.50 worth), but it was the principle despite me protesting.
    Personally I wish I’d got hold of this piece of scum and booted him into next year with knobs on, but do that and I’d no doubt be the one who was in the wrong for assaulting a misunderstood loveable young rogue.

       76 likes

    • vlad says:

      Well done, Concrete.
      I once witnessed a security guard robustly tackle a diverse shoplifter. The small crowd of observers were outraged… against the security guy, and took the side of the enricher !!

         47 likes

    • Flotsam says:

      Well done “Concrete sea”
      Let me tell you a funny story of modern Police crime response.
      A friend of mine was working on his boat with a friend (male
      neither gay) at a Marina. While sleeping on board in the dead of night, my friend was woken by the sound of someone on deck going through his stuff. He went up to find and individual selecting what he intended to make off with. When challenged the thief basically said “what are you going to do about it?”. My friend decided to go for it and a fight ensued, his eye was very badly injured needing hospital treatment. My friend’s mate didn’t get involved with the fight but the thief insulted both of them, calling them gay.

      Now the Police….. When called were not interested until…….the fact that the gay comment had been made turned the incident into a hate crime.

      From some words the thief’s accomplice said the pair of them were travellers by the way.

         44 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Concrete if you’d taken a quick photo you could’ve #1 made him famous on local Facebook
      #2 Embarrassed the police

         24 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Concrete
      That’s funny – was in a saver store yesterday – I didn’t have a bag so put stuff in my pockets intending to pay at the counter … the rest of the story you know ….😎

      More seriously I wonder what I’d really do in that situation ? Obviously with innocent coloured children I’d do nothing because of the certain race / sex assault allegation and conviction ( who’d believe the whitee guy ?) but otherwise ?

      I think I’d have to stand back and declare ‘not my business’ hence adding to the rapid decline of everything ….

      … I had a thought yesterday that we are in the run up to something big – a sort of 1913/1938 type thing …. . …

         12 likes

  6. tomo says:

    Worth a repeat post I feel

    – I wonder how much Nick banks every month? (curiosity, not jealousy)

    Entitlement….
    entitlement.jpg

       21 likes

  7. Halifax says:

    The BBC shouldnt have an opinion.

       17 likes

    • Northern Voter says:

      The Blatantly Biased Chief Underwater Nuclear Technicians short title( I’ll let you work it out) always have an opinion, not mine or yours but they do have an opinion.

         13 likes

  8. Lucy Pevensey says:

    Hello friends, nothing to do with BBC….

    In Sainsbury’s bakery while looking for a gingerbread man,
    I found that they have been renamed……..

    “Gingerbread Person”

    Tis the season to be a progressive 3rd-wave feminist I suppose.
    I ended up just buying ingredients to make my own. They’ll always be Gingerbread Men to me.

       47 likes

  9. StewGreen says:

    Ethiopian migrant mass graves
    but not very newsworthy cos it was not whities fault

    ‘Twenty-seven Ethiopian migrants found dead in Zambia’. T
    .. not long after discovery of a mass grave with Ethiopian migrants in Malawi.

    Zambian police on Sunday found the bodies of 27 men, believed to be migrants from Ethiopia, dumped in a farming area on the outskirts of the capital after they died from suspected hunger and exhaustion, authorities said.
    A sole survivor was found alive in the early hours of Sunday morning

    =====

    Malawi in October : The grave found in a forest contained 30 bodies believed to be those of illegal Ethiopian immigrants.

    BBC 23/11/2022 : Police in Malawi have arrested the stepson of former President Peter Mutharika in connection with the discovery of a mass grave last month.
    Police say Tadikira Mafubza turned himself in to police Wednesday.

       19 likes

  10. Deborah says:

    How do I trust the weather on the BBC? Yesterday I watched carefully as Darren Betts told me there was possibly snow due in Kent and parts of Essex. I have just watched Sunday’s forecast at 10.30pm and heard the lady forecaster said there was snow in east London. I am in north west London and there is at least an inch of snow and it is still snowing as I type. Sorry it must be scotch mist. Local news says there may be more snow overnight, so they cannot even agreed across programmes. I am hoping to travel north on Tuesday but bbc weather leaves me guessing.

       24 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Here in N. Herts its coming down at a fair old lick. (23.32)

         12 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Radar shows the precipitation is a 40 mile wide blob from Oxford to the East coast
      There’s no wind so it will continue for a couples of hours in the same place , until it snows out.

      When it occurs in such pockets it is difficult to forecast the place very early

         8 likes

  11. Flotsam says:

    Wind strength and direction is significantly important to me. I’ve seen a fair number of BBC forecasts that never mention the wind at all, very poor. I also find that even when winds are forecast on the BBC they are often hopelessly inaccurate
    One of the best wind forecasts is the internet, windy.com

       15 likes

    • tomo says:

      BBC forecasting is just irredeemably kerrapp.

      Coiffure trumps skill every.single.time

      And … whatever it is – it’s climate change.

         20 likes

  12. StewGreen says:

    Have the spendthrift Tories
    being giving workers secret-pay rises ?

    If govt workers get the same money in 2022/23
    as in 2018, but work less days
    cos the gov gave extra BANK HOLIDAYS
    then they’ve had a PAY RISE
    *funded by taxpayers*FjvI5cLWAAAJzkJ?format=jpg&name=small

       10 likes

  13. Doughboy says:

    Funny isn’t it, the Met office can confidently predict what’s going to happen to our climate( the weather) in 20 years time but can’t seem to manage getting a forecast right for the next 24 hours

       40 likes

  14. tomo says:

    A curious tale involving a BBC executive….

    A taster….

    Jason Blain, who previously worked as an executive for BBC Worldwide and Sony Entertainment, was sued by the Knightsbridge hotel in January over an unpaid bill of ÂŁ740,000, which included ÂŁ30,110 for valet parking and ÂŁ25,497 for room service.

    The Guardian

    https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/dec/11/evelyn-waugh-cotswold-mansion-piers-court-auction

       14 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      That is a new Guardian story
      but has been reported in the past at least once a few years ago.

         0 likes

  15. Zephir says:

    What hacks me off majorly is that someone has been paid taxpayer money to come up with this shite:

    “Civil servants ‘told to refer to Christmas parties as “festive celebrations” in bid to avoid excluding different faiths’

    Civil servants have been told to call Christmas parties ‘festive celebrations’. Officials have been told they can’t have alcohol if one staff member is sober. There is no government-wide policy but managers have made own choices.

    One civil servant told The Telegraph that inclusivity guidance meant they had to find restaurant that did not serve alcohol because just one team member is tea-total.

    The individual said ‘no one should be expected to drink alcohol at work events’ and that non-alcoholic drinks should always be available.

    However they felt not allowing anyone to drink alcohol due to one staff member was a ‘step too far’.

    Another civil servant told the paper that they too had not been allowed alcohol at their Christmas party ‘because of Boris’ and the legacy of the ‘partygate scandal’. 

    Christmas parties are allowed in the Civil Service, but official guidance tells managers to ‘bear in mind that not everyone consumes alcohol’.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11526279/Civil-servants-told-call-Christmas-parties-festive-celebrations-avoid-excluding-faiths.html

       20 likes

  16. Zephir says:

    Michael Gove slams the New York Times over report on ‘Trojan Horse’ schools scandal

    Gove says New York Times has taken ‘peculiar stance’ towards UK in recent years. He says podcast series on Trojan Horse scandal was ‘replete with errors and omissions’
    Trojan Horse scandal saw Islamic hardliners try to impose agenda on state schools.

    The Cabinet minister said the Left-leaning US news organisation had taken a ‘peculiar stance’ towards Britain in recent years, portraying it ‘as an insular backwater whose inhabitants are drowning in a tide of nostalgia, racism and bad food’.

    He said a podcast series from The New York Times and Serial, which examined the 2014 scandal at schools in Birmingham, fed accusations of Islamophobia and was ‘replete with errors and omissions’.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11526899/Michael-Gove-slams-New-York-Times-report-Trojan-Horse-schools-scandal.html

       15 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      ‘We’ve transformed our democracy’ – How Johnson signed off from Commons
      Here’s the full text of what Boris Johnson had to say as he concluded his final answer in PMQs

      “I want to use the last few seconds to give some words of advice to my successor whoever he or she may be.

      “Stay close to the Americans, stick up for the Ukrainians, stick up for freedom and democracy everywhere.

      “Cut taxes and deregulate wherever you can to make this the greatest place to live and invest. I love the Treasury, but remember, if we’d always listened to the Treasury we wouldn’t have built the M25 or the Channel Tunnel.

      “Focus on the road ahead but always remember to check the rear view mirror. And remember above all, it’s not Twitter that counts. It’s the people that sent us here.

      “The last few years have been the greatest privilege of my life and it’s true that I helped to get the biggest Tory majority for 40 years and a huge realignment in UK politics.

      “We’ve transformed our democracy and restored our national independence. I’ve helped to get this country through the pandemic and helped save another country from barbarism.

      “And frankly that’s enough to be going on with. Mission largely accomplished for now.

      I want to thank you Mr Speaker, I want to thank all the wonderful staff at the House of Commons, I want to thank all my friends and colleagues, I want to thank my right honourable friend opposite, Mr Speaker and, I want to thank everybody here and…

      “Hasta la vista, baby.”

      ………………….
      1400 raped kids in Rotherham
      1000 raped kids in Telford
      3 teachers hiding in Batley
      NI border in the Irish Sea.
      Afghanistan ran by Warlords.

      In May last year NHS Test and Trace (NHST&T) was set up with a budget of ÂŁ22 billion. Since then it has been allocated ÂŁ15 billion more: totalling ÂŁ37 billion over two years.
      https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/127/public-accounts-committee/news/150988/unimaginable-cost-of-test-trace-failed-to-deliver-central-promise-of-averting-another-lockdown/

      3 million hong kongs escaping China.
      20K afghans escaping Islam.
      Dinghies every day.

      ‘We’ve transformed our democracy’ – How Johnson signed off from Commons

      ‘We’ve transformed our democracy’ – How Johnson signed off from Commons
      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-62232038

         16 likes

  17. taffman says:

    “Global warming”, who were the green idiots at the BBC telling us that our kids would never see snow ?

       32 likes

    • Zephir says:

      Much of UK will never see snow on the ground by the end of the century, experts warn

      Most of the south of England may not see days with freezing or below temperatures by the 2040s due to climate change, a new BBC Panorama will explore on Monday.

      Senior Met Office scientist Dr Lizzie Kendon told BBC Panorama: “We’re saying by the end of the century much of the lying snow will have disappeared entirely except over the highest ground.

      https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/much-uk-never-see-snow-23125326

         27 likes

      • Zephir says:

        The findings are based on projections assuming global emissions continue to increase. However, the Met Office said that while this scenario may not be the most likely outcome, it is credible.

           10 likes

      • G says:

        Zephir,

        “…….lying snow will have disappeared entirely except over the highest ground.” Lets, “hope and pray” that the simultaneous draining of the seas/oceans by evap. will accommodate shifting the existing “hightest ground” even higher to compensate……………….

           4 likes

  18. Zephir says:

    Ahhh:

    Agenda contributor for the World Economic Forum…..

    Dr Lizzie Kendon, Science Fellow, UK Met Office

    https://www.weforum.org/agenda/authors/lizzie-kendon

       17 likes

  19. Zephir says:

    I would propose that the person quoted below concentrated on dieting rather than speaking racist crap, and wonder what the message a morbidy obese woman sends to kids ?

    “Pennsylvania school board member refuses to vote for ‘cis White male’ for president: ‘wrong message’
    An Upper Moreland School District board member seeking to serve as president was denied at least one vote because he was the only white cis male on the board.

    A Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, school board member said she would not vote for “the only cis White male” on the board to serve as president, despite prefacing the comment that he would make an excellent president.

    With the influx of gender types, cisgender refers to those who identify with the gender they are given at birth.”

    https://www.foxnews.com/us/pennsylvania-school-board-member-refuses-vote-for-cis-white-male-wrong-message

       17 likes

  20. Fedup2 says:

    BBC reminds us that it is 3 years to the day that boris Johnson and his socialists obtained an 80 seat landslide majority by pretending to be the Conservative Party .

    It went on to say that its biggest achievement was getting a vaccine which can kill people quicker than any other country …

    …. Some of the above may not necessarily be true…..

    … meanwhile …. Fire up those coal power stations ….

       34 likes

  21. andyjsnape says:

    LadBaby and Martin Lewis rework Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-63917114

    will cover Band Aid’s 1984 hit Do They Know It’s Christmas to raise money for those affected by the cost of living CRISIS

    Remember band aid from Wembley when the bbc was still mostly unbiased.

    Some comparison – the dying in Africa and the CRISIS – maybe the CRISIS and the word being used is to assist the overthrow of the current government to be replaced by the favourable labour party, who can seem to do very little wrong in the bBC “reporting”

    PS never heard of ladbaby

       19 likes

  22. Zephir says:

    Regarding the story about children falling through the ice on a frozen lake:

    I visited a frozen lake in the middle of an old wood yesterday to take some photos (below)

    What we did not plan on was the “family” with a rottweiler (off the leash in a public place ) with three small kids walking onto the ice.

    The stupid purple haired “muvva” encouraging her kids to try walking on the ice, and throwing stuff onto the lake for the dog to chase over the ice.

    The stupid b@tch saw there was myself, my wife and another individual taking photos of the beautiful scene, desperately trying to avoid these idiots, so she decided to the throw rocks across the lake to break the ice.

    I sometime think there should be a licensing system based on IQ before people are allowed to breed or own pets.

    https://ibb.co/zrb8jY4

    https://ibb.co/M520RVT

    https://ibb.co/0mTxDGg

       31 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Darwinism in action

      Today
      One of those ‘golden days ‘….. so many ‘donts’ don’t travel – don’t turn the power on – don’t shower for more than 4 minutes – don’t get a flight – a train – don’t expect the post – don’t use the NHS – don’t play on the ice – don’t say bad things about woke United – or Gareth woke failure ……

      There is to be a ‘cobra’ later on to discuss the danger of frozen lakes . Signs are to be put up . Laws are to be passed . Walking on ice will become a criminal offence by the summer – drones will be used using the ‘Chinese virus illegal dog walking method ‘.. and a task force / ice czar is to be selected by the summer ….the OFICE quango will be set up with Jon snow as chief snow man
      ( some of this may be untrue )

         36 likes

  23. andyjsnape says:

    Wish I could upload pictures to the site easily…

    I’ve just seen a picture on Facebook, of a mixed race lady, with a black christmas tree and dolled out in black trimmings, with the heading “Final touches to the Christmas tree at the bbc studios” lol

       31 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Shortages of anti biotic for strep .

      I have no experience of pharmaceuticals but am setting up a company with the help of a blue labour MP / peer ( for a small fee ) to supply useless antibiotics to save lives . I expect to be on the approved list of companies having made a donation to the blue Labour Party .
      I’ve hired Michelle ‘£baroness£ moan as a ‘consultant ‘ for a fee … I expect a £200 million profit for a £20 investment….
      Yesterday the Sunday times put up a ‘rich list ‘ of those who profiteered from selling useless PPE to a gullible government – but it seems not to have had much attention …

         19 likes

    • Zephir says:

      use “imagebb” upload to that site and it gives you a viewer code to use

         7 likes

  24. Foscari says:

    Lets see the the oil and climate change “warriors” glueing
    themselves to the M25, I will get out a shovel to clear the snow
    and help them.Let just a few of them freeze to death.

       33 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Foscari
      The green terrorists have a twitter account – it has an ‘advent calendar ‘ comprising pictures convicted’ warriors ‘..makes for a good target list ….

         8 likes

  25. albion49 says:

    Headline on BBC News website this morning: “UK economy shrinks between August and October”.
    GB News headline: “Britain’s economy grew by 0.5 percent between September and October”.
    Daily Mail headline: “Economy defies expectations by GROWING 0.5% in October”.
    Only the unpatriotic BBC could twist positive news about Britain into a negative story.

       34 likes

  26. vlad says:

    A final word on Princess Punani of the Palace.

    While the BBC and – shamefully – the Palace pandered to that blatant race-baiter, grifter and sh*t-stirrer, this solid Northener is having none of it.

    The comments are spot-on too.

       24 likes

  27. Guest Who says:

    It’s the bbc, so could be about anything.

       13 likes

  28. Doublethinker says:

    I’ve just watched the ITV drama about Philby. It’s wasn’t bad but would have been better if it hadn’t kept leaping between three or four time periods , it was quite confusing. There were a few sillinesses such as one character having key tape recording of Philby’s interrogation in her home or the future head of the CIA operating from a dilapidated basement in London.
    But what struck me was that one of the main characters , a white lady from Durham, had a black husband In 1963 this was quite possible but the role the husband had tokenism written all over it. The character contributed nothing to the story. The other main character’s wife , who was white, did at least have some small input to the story. Of course having a lady from Durham as the main MI5 inquisitor was also 21 st century tokenism.

       29 likes

  29. MarkyMark says:

    50 Years of Failed Doomsday, Eco-pocalyptic Predictions; the So-called ‘experts’ Are 0-50
    By Mark J. Perry

    Carpe Diem

    September 23, 2019

    https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/50-years-of-failed-doomsday-eco-pocalyptic-predictions-the-so-called-experts-are-0-50/

    About
    The American Enterprise Institute is a public policy think tank dedicated to defending human dignity, expanding human potential, and building a freer and safer world. The work of our scholars and staff advances ideas rooted in our belief in democracy, free enterprise, American strength and global leadership, solidarity with those at the periphery of our society, and a pluralistic, entrepreneurial culture.

       4 likes

  30. MarkyMark says:

    WAR IN UKRAINE
    Pentagon gives Ukraine green light for drone strikes inside Russia
    Michael Evans, Marc Bennetts
    Friday December 09 2022, 2.45pm, The Times

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ukraine-drone-warfare-russia-732jsshpx

       5 likes

    • G says:

      Good, start repaying the Russians in kind. Start with the source of power to the Kremlin just to remind them that, ‘two can play at that game’.

         1 likes

  31. AsISeeIt says:

    50 times more data edition

    Most media outlets, including our BBC, like to splash with the story: Four children fall into icy lake near Birmingham – our national broadcaster having it both ways by leading with the top tabloid tale of the day but translating the headline into something rather staid and unremarkable.

    The shock-horror rags have no such restraint: Lake horror (Daily Express); Children in ice lake terror (Daily Mirror); 999 race to save ice lake horror victims (freebie Metro) – let’s hope for the best for these kids.

    The big hearted Daily Mirror would widen the story under the subheader: Big freeze nightmare – to something more significant: It came as the country was hit by heavy snow and experts warned of Christmas chaos – that’s the familiar state of the nation, friends. After a significant snowfall it now takes ‘experts‘ to predict the country’s infrastructure will seize up.

    I’m guessing these experts (on speed dial at the Mirror) use some form of modelling – as in the wont of so-called experts.

    And the model in this case might as well be one of those olde worlde snow globes. They give it a shake and a minor model blizzard engulfs the little cottage within. Ergo – UK travel chaos.

    The Sun comes out to bat for our failing England football coach: Fans plea for Gareth to stay & lead young Lions to glory in Germany… Euro vision… Ahead of 2024 finals

    I’m guessing most football fans would only be keen to keep Southgate and his predictably dud record, against any serious opponents excepting the Irans and other also rans of the world, at that England job just so as to keep him away from their favoured club sides. Who would ever vote his fabian tactics and achingly woke PR at Anfield, Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge or the Etihad? Well, perhaps managing their ladies’ sides?

    Our Gareth of course skating on thin ice now have fluffed a third international tournament at the first real hurdle.

    It’s glumming home – puns the gloating diversity-minded freebie Metro

    The Daily Mail reaches for that familiar old tabloid first resort to all and any difficult situation… send in the army: Army sent in to hospitals this week

    The Guardian disapproves (natch): Tories under fire over plans for military to act as ‘strike breakers’

    And, as is their wont lately, the formerly patriotic now decidedly left-leaning Times agrees with the Gruan: Drafting troops in ‘won’t prevent NHS strike chaos’

    But this is Britain and weather is the big news…

    Bright outlook for forecasters – the globalist, pro-EU FT there breaks ranks with the white-out Britain flavoured press.

    How so, we wonder? What can they mean with bright outlook for forecasters?

    A gig with the Daily Mirror tipping the wink how our first snowfall of the year always freezes Britian’s wobbly infrastructure?

    A new generation of European weather satellites is due to launch tomorrow… a collaboration between The European Space Agency and Eumetsat – will provide 50 times more data – heaven preserve us!

    Please… just tell us if it’s going to rain and we should take a brolly.

    And don’t threaten children they’ll never see another white Christmas.

    But as an act of actual public service media – you might instead warn kids not to play on the ice.

       18 likes

  32. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #1 – if you think renewables are so good ….

    …. then the Artemis 2 and subsequent missions ought to be powered by them including launch, mission control, the fly-by and then re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere and splashdown. If renewables can power a rocket to the moon, who knows where mankind can boldly go?

    Funny thing, I have a Pink Floyd album title in my head right now.

       10 likes

    • Sluff says:

      Album title? Or album cover?

      But then again when we think about the eco-warriors, ‘A Momentary Lapse of Reason’ seems to fit……

         6 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        On such a day I’m surprised the bbc hasn’t gone big on the ‘fusion power breakthrough ‘ which has allegedly happened in that America..
        They have managed to use 100 million mega gigs to get 1 mega giga of fusion power out … this was based on the Biden vote counting method …
        Clearly fusion powered cars will be available within a life time …
        ……..whose lifetime is the subject of conjecture …

           11 likes

        • G.W.F. says:

          Remember the atomic cars and the predicted atomic trains and planes.

             8 likes

          • TrickCyclist says:

            Not to mention the Atomic Pen.
            A 1958 proposal by Parker pens: “The Atomic Pen’s design called for a tiny packet of radioactive isotopes, which would heat the ink to produce a selectable range of line densities.”
            Needless to say it was never produced but the prototype did appear floating out of William Sylvester’s pocket in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

               6 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        Sluff, ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. Like your ‘Momentary Lapse of Reason’ suggestion. 🙂

           2 likes

  33. andyjsnape says:

    Its 1st April time…

    What claims do you want BBC Reality Check to investigate?
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41928747

    Suppose something the bbc says has to make you laugh

    I asked them to Reality Check, Is the bbc is biased 🙂

       13 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Three spring to mind immediately. That the bbc is:

      1) Trusted
      2) Transparent
      3) Impartial

      2) will be extra tricky for RC as they routinely block folk asking them questions the bbc deem ‘off narrative’.

         10 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Seems their fact checking efforts have returned to the safety of full internal supervision.

         5 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        So BBCRealityCHUCKED
        They’ve switched off that account so people don’t use it to hold them to account

        like BLOCKING ..it’s a way of running away from debate/accountability.

        They also maybe hiding from @BBCfactCheck a parody account that accuses them of being righty and pro-Israel

           2 likes

  34. StewGreen says:

    Amol on R4 is talking to a Swedish scientist who researches how church floodlights affect bats.
    Amol “Oh it must be way worse at Christmas with churches being even more lit up”

    ..Ans “bats hibernate in the cold of Winter”

       22 likes

  35. Jeff says:

    I’m a huge fan of Charles Dickens and always at Christmas I read A Christmas Carol. I think it captures the spirit of the season perfectly. Now then…

    The opening paragraphs are set in Scrooge’s counting house, just off the Cornhill in the city of London. Dickens tells us how bitingly cold it is; how dank and dark. “People went about with flaring links, proffering their services to go before horses” And…”The ancient tower of a church, whose gruff old bell was always peeping slily down at Scrooge…became invisible and struck the hours and quarters in the clouds…” He tells us how the ice lay so thick on the ground that Bob Cratchit went down on a slide on Cornhill, “twenty times, in honour of it being Christmas Eve”.

    Yesterday the weather was identical to that enjoyed by the characters in the Carol all those years ago. I visited my allotment to saw wood for my burner. At 2 o’clock in the afternoon cars had their headlamps on to peer through the dank icy mist. The treetops had disappeared in the clouds. The paths were so icy Bob Cratchit would have had a field day! My little pond was frozen solid and I saw a brass monkey bawling his eyes out…

    We hear nothing but endless guff about the “climate catastrophe”. The bloody BBC never let up about it. Little Greta, Whispering Death (David Attenborough) the anti-oil loonies, Insulate Britain, are all screaming at us, “the planet is on fire”.

    Dickens penned A Christmas Carol in 1843, nigh on 180 years ago. If he’d visited us yesterday he’d have felt quite at home.

    It’s bloody freezing out. I’ve lit the burner, got a mug of tea and hot buttered toast. If I’m feeling really reckless I might put another coal on the fire.

    Anyway, back to my book…

       40 likes

    • Zephir says:

      Spoiler alert:

      Scrooge joins the labour party at the end, free turkeys for all and more days off

         19 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Bob is arrested on suspicion of child abuse . The kids are ‘taken into the care of Rotherham social services ‘ ….

           20 likes

        • Zephir says:

          Tiny Tim says “iss the toreez innit, cut me disability allowance”

             22 likes

        • Jeff says:

          You know, if they made it today, Tiny Tim would be a dinghy dodger and Ebeneezer Scrooge would manifest as Nigel Farage.

          Bah, humbug…

             10 likes

  36. theisland says:

       34 likes

  37. Emmanuel Goldstein says:

    Zephir mentioned in an earlier post that a civil servants party wanted to find an alcohol free restaurant because one of them didn’t drink alcohol.

    I don’t know how many were going to this party but if it was say 20 for example, that means that 1 person has changed what the other 19 want so that he is not offended (or whatever)

    If you put this the other way round it could read like 19 people were offended because of the 1 who didn’t want to drink.
    That doesn’t sound like any kind of democracy to me.

    If any of us lot was organising this party they would say to the 1 who was being offended that he could drink his milk or pop or whatever and the rest could drink what they wanted.

    Why do lefties always want to ban, cancel or stop anything they disagree with. Those on the right don’t go in for all this hate stuff, it’s ALWAYS the woke, pc lefties.

    Are lefties perpetually depressed and miserable?
    They come over like that on any of the tv panels.
    It can’t be much fun being a lefty, they look so unhappy with everything and are becoming more unhappy as they are getting more stuff banned.

    I wonder what the bbc Christmas party will be like (or winter festival gathering of all alphabet persons in a yurt with their alcohol free drinks and their extreme vegan cubes of tofu or whatever passes for woke food)

    Give me a night out with any of us lot any time.

       25 likes

  38. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #2 – if you think renewables are so good ….

    …. then get Nicola Sturgeon (SillyNotionsParty) to cover all the beauty spots in Scotland with solar panels and let us see how much electricity she gets from them in Scotland in winter and also, how the tourist revenues go.

       20 likes

  39. MarkyMark says:

    EU corruption charges ‘very very worrisome’, says foreign policy chief
    Published
    42 minutes ago

    ………………….

    Greediest snouts in the EU trough: Not sure how to vote? Read about the stinking wealth and hypocrisy of those Brussels fat cats the Kinnocks and it may help you decide
    This week Neil Kinnock told a rally that Brexit promises ‘didn’t add up’
    His son Stephen and wife Glenys also campaigning for Remain
    But 41 years ago Kinnock was leading figure in campaign for Britain to leave the European Economic Community
    Family members have all benefited from the EU gravy train
    By RICHARD PENDLEBURY FOR THE DAILY MAIL

    PUBLISHED: 23:58, 10 June 2016 | UPDATED: 02:14, 11 June 2016

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3636143/Greediest-snouts-EU-trough-Not-sure-vote-Read-stinking-wealth-hypocrisy-Brussels-fat-cats-Kinnocks-help-decide.html

       11 likes

  40. MarkyMark says:

    Snow on solar panels will affect the array’s production
    But don’t let that scare you! When a solar panel is covered by a thick layer of snow, it’s blocked from sunlight and can’t generate energy. However, in the larger picture of your energy savings, snow has an insignificant effect on your solar production.

    https://www.simpleray.com/resources-and-informations/solar-panels-after-snowstorm

       6 likes

  41. Guest Who says:

    I wave no flag for Musk.

    I thought Teslas were clever but a mistake. Space X is genius but hardly eco. Accusing rescuers of things was beyond the pale.

    However, like politics now, Twitter is a case of ‘least bad’.

    Jack was corrupt as hell, and had hired a gaggle of freaks to run his mental asylum and control the twerps who take so much of it seriously enough to destroy careers for fun.

    I cannot see releasing information as a retrograde step.

    And it’s his toy now. He can play with it or break it as he pleases.

    Plus say what he likes if free speech actually is.

    Currently I am seeing a deluge of Mastodon headed but still on Twitter clowns screaming blue murder because it is not their toy any more.

    And the phrase flown around like monkey scat is… Springster’s Bible.

    https://thomas699.substack.com/p/i-am-a-misinformation-denier

       12 likes

  42. Fedup2 says:

    All green crap disciples are encouraged to descend on the 2 coal power stations being fired up today to keep people from freezing to death …
    Surely they should have no right to live ?
    But there again … burn that coal burn alot ..

       18 likes

    • moggie63 says:

      An opportunity to go round to their individual houses, disconnect them from the electricity and/or gas network, remove any generators they may have and let them get on with it. Watch them squeal.

         12 likes

  43. MarkyMark says:

    Her spokesman said the European Parliament “stands firmly against corruption” and is “fully cooperating” with investigators.

    The European Parliament is the EU’s only directly-elected institution. Some 705 members of parliament, elected by voters in the 27 nations which make up the EU, meet to scrutinise proposed legislation and vote through European law.

    ………………..

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63941509

       4 likes

  44. MarkyMark says:

    Fresh from accusations of stifling local democracy, Labour’s candidate selection machine has generated yet more controversy. The Rother Valley CLP has selected Dominic Beck as its candidate. Dominic has been a Rotherham councillor since 2011. In 2014 a report found 1,400 Rotherham girls were victims of child sexual exploitation; the council cabinet, of which Beck was a member, rejected the report

    rejected the report

    rejected the report

    rejected the report

    order-order.com

       9 likes

  45. MarkyMark says:

    c4318e5c-ff26-463e-83e3-1b1398dfdcc3-dbafa180-235c-49d4-a8f8-d7915d0e956d

    The inquiry team noted fears among council staff of being labelled “racist” if they focused on victims’ descriptions of the majority of abusers as “Asian” men.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-28939089

    The inquiry team found examples of “children who had been doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight, threatened with guns, made to witness brutally violent rapes and threatened they would be next if they told anyone”.

       17 likes

  46. StewGreen says:

    Last week BBC Radio3 tried to dance on the grave of West Burton coal power station

    Meanwhile in the real world people spotted that coal trains have been running in from Immingham
    Significant cos the old plan was to simply use up the onsite stockpile and then stop.
    Today the Power Station has been fired up to standby

    BBC video : https://www.twitter.com/knotthalloo/status/1599496711835099137

       13 likes

  47. StewGreen says:

    You expect the BBC’s crazy Green PR man Rowlatt to be inaccurate
    Here he is misinforming by omitting that Northern Ireland’s Kilroot coal power station has been running normally for months and months
    (Claims it’s busted sanctions by buying Russian coal)
    #2 Northern Ireland is importing coal power from Eire
    #3 UK is importing coal power from Holland

       12 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      You can see how deluded eco zealots lose touch with the reality of actual danger right now – as opposed to a hypothetical danger in 100 or 200 years ….

      What’s even worse with the like of him is that he is funded by the very people he plans to freeze …

         11 likes

      • popeye says:

        Fedup, it’s Malthusian Economics. Thomas Malthus said the the world population would be limited to 1 billion by war, famine and pestilence. He entirely ignored advances in agriculture, technology and medicine. Population is now 8 billion and the eco-nuts are again ignoring any future developments, they’d rather plunge the world back centuries now.

           11 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      On the side issue about some people’s claim’s that Kilroot runs on Russian coal, it’s nor Rowlatt who said that, cos he doesn’t even know the power station exists.
      Well I checked and the history is this : The EU said Kilroot was polluting the air too much.
      Kilroot said we can fix that cos it’s localish coal that burns dirty, so we’ll buy Russian coal instead. So they then locked into long contracts to buy it.
      Covid happened so NI gov said ‘you can’t be sure of Russian supply, so we give you permission to break EU levels’
      Then in March the ship turns up with Russian coal and the politicians started to talk about changing something so the Russian contract can be broken.. AFAIK that hasn’t happened yet

         7 likes

  48. MarkyMark says:

    Deforestation: EU law bans goods linked to destruction of trees
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63872393

    Goods – wind farms? Solar panels? BIO Mass?

    The rules cover palm oil, cattle, soy, coffee, cocoa, timber and rubber that is imported into the EU.

    They also cover anything derived from these products, such as beef, the European Commission said in a press release.

    …………..

    China controls 51% of the global total of chemical lithium, 62% of chemical cobalt and 100% of spherical graphite — the major components of lithium-ion batteries.

    ……………..

    During the Obama-Biden administration, hydraulic fracturing was accused of causing a number of environmental problems—faucets on fire, contamination of drinking water, etc.—but the administration’s own Environmental Protection Agency could not validate those accusations. Now Biden is planning to transition the transportation sector to electric vehicles that are powered by lithium batteries and require other critical metals where China dominates the market. Mining and processing of lithium, however, turns out to be far more environmentally harmful than what turned out to be the unfounded issues with fracking.
    https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/renewable/the-environmental-impact-of-lithium-batteries/

       6 likes

  49. MarkyMark says:

    When is news not news?

    BBC TITLE: “China to de-activate national Covid tracking app”

    WORLD REALITY: “The move is symbolic but not hugely significant because of the local apps still in use in cities across China.”

    ………………

    China to de-activate national Covid tracking app
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-63941512

    China has announced it will de-activate a phone app that has tracked people’s movements during the pandemic.

    The national app, which uses phone signals to track whether someone has travelled to an area seen as high-risk, will go offline at the end of Monday.

    It is the latest policy change that signals Beijing is abandoning its controversial zero-Covid strategy.

    The move is symbolic but not hugely significant because of the local apps still in use in cities across China.

       4 likes

  50. Fedup2 says:

    World at one

    It began with the angel nurses going on strike.
    Later they interviewed ‘ lord harrington’ who wants the overseas give away aid budget used ‘ overseas’ and not on Ukrainian refugees.
    He wasnt asked if he had a choice about who gets taxpayers’ money – nurses or refugees- who should get it .

    The BBC seems to think theres another money tree . But that might be dead by the time the bank of England raises rates by 0.5% on Thursday – 6 months too late ..

       17 likes