Best Of

The guy has lost it.

He's in a world of his own; owning the libs is irrelevant when you're in charge and failing.

Trump responds to a question about rising prices and affordability: “The reason why I don't want to talk about affordability is because everybody knows that it's far less expensive under Trump…Karoline, could you discuss that question that was asked and how it was asked in such a fake, disgusting manner by the fake news?”
https://x.com/BulwarkOnline/status/1986864594371895648

His mental decline should be the lead story, but nobody will report it

Trump has replaced Biden's portrait in the Whitehouse with a photograph of an auto-pen. With what should the next Democratic President (it might be a while) replace Trump's portrait?

Keep Trump's portrait.

As a warning from history.

Good morning

My daughter recently divorced her husband and has bought a home nearby

It is extraordinary how bad most everyone has been in the process from the divorce lawyers, to the conveyancers, to the utility services, to the local council, and to Welsh Water who knew her water meter had been buried in road works two years previously and have not exposed it since

I do not like the word broken Britain but sadly it is and I see little prospects of any improvement soon

The prisons still use paper with no computerised records as WIfi is not available apparently

Of course the collapse of the prison and courts happened under successive governments alongside so much more, but ultimately we expect to pour countless billions into a failing NHS with little or no reform, pensions and benefits are out of control, paying interest on our debt of £100 billion pa, etc and we wonder why we are where we are

Labour's answer is to tax and tax everything in sight, hand out billions more on WFP, triple lock, and now abolitioning the 2 child cap.

This has to stop and radical action is required to change the direction of the economy but nobody is brave enough as they perceive the public will not elect them

Ultimately this only ends up one way and that is the IMF intervening

And to those who blame the 'other lot' each lot is to blame and no political party is any better than the other at facing realism

Lego just released an awesome Enterprise D model.

And it’s not a toy…😁

That’s as many pieces as Concorde and Saturn V combined.

Well GTA VI got delayed again so I don’t want a PS5 Pro for Christmas any more…

Had wondered if this was about the shuttle, or the WW2 carrier, or the nuke carrier? So I had to look it up.

https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/star-trek-u-s-s-enterprise-ncc-1701-d-10356

Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.

There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!

Very impressive! At least we maintain some engineering prowess on large projects these days!

Reminds me of the Blackadder Goes Forth sketch

“What’s the scale of this Darling?”
“One-to-one Sir. Look - there’s a little worm…”

On the subject of Blackadder 4 I saw something the other day pointing out that Captain Darling is wearing the Military Cross ribbon on his uniform which would completely change perception of his character from a weak jobsworth to potentially a hero who has been shattered by war and sent to staff.

I would be surprised if the costume department didn’t realise or check his ribbons but I’ve never heard it mentioned by the writers etc.

Staff officers were phenomenally hard working officers, and tended to be good at their job. Its not impossible for Darling to have won the MC and been offered a promotion to the staff without a need for a breakdown.

"Captain Darling? Funny name for a guy, isn't it? Last person I called `Darling' was pregnant twenty seconds later!"

Come back Rik Mayall…..please!!!!

I canvassed Rik Mayall not that long before he died. He was absolutely as you'd hope in that situation - no useful canvass data obtained, but a proper ten minute doorstep show full of madness and gags.

Lego just released an awesome Enterprise D model.

And it’s not a toy…😁

That’s as many pieces as Concorde and Saturn V combined.

Well GTA VI got delayed again so I don’t want a PS5 Pro for Christmas any more…

Had wondered if this was about the shuttle, or the WW2 carrier, or the nuke carrier? So I had to look it up.

https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/star-trek-u-s-s-enterprise-ncc-1701-d-10356

Really doesn't look at first glance as if it has 3.6 kbits in it, I must say. But presumably they are lurking somewhere.

There's a Lego model of Chester Cathedral inside the real cathedral with apparently 275,000 pieces!

Lego dog for scale?

So, 700 cops 6 arrests. Public sector productivity hits a new low.

This is at the core of when all the political talking heads are going I have looked at the data the trend of this or that crime stat is down, why the public go WTF....everybody understands crimes happen, what they don't expect is that a) the police just go nought we can do and b) when they do actually investigate they never catch anybody for certain types of crimes.

For things like your car been nicked its now here is your crime number for the insurance and jog on. For what could be a crime of stealing £50-100k item. Its not nicking a mar bars from the corner shop.

And we had reports that alleged train stabby stabby not only allegedly went stabby stabby the previous day but allegedl slashed somebody in the face the previous week and the plod closed the case within hours. Slashed in the face and the police shrug....

It feels like whataboutery but the case of Allison Pearson's tweet she deleted:

1 A social media post by Allison Pearson in 2023 was initially reported to the Metropolitan Police as a potential breach of the Malicious Communications Act in November 2024.

2 The case was then passed to Sussex Police, who marked it as a possible non-crime hate incident (NCHI) and potential malicious communication.

3 Sussex Police passed the complaint further to Essex Police, where Allison Pearson resides.

4 Essex Police made two assessments and then opened an investigation under section 17 of the Public Order Act 1986 related to material "likely or intended to cause racial hatred."

5 Essex Police sent officers to visit Pearson's home on Remembrance Sunday 2024 to discuss the alleged incident, describing it during the visit as a "non-crime hate incident," although the force later contested that characterization.

6 Several police forces including the Metropolitan Police and Sussex Police were involved at different stages before Essex Police took primary responsibility.

7 Essex Police set up a "gold group," usually reserved for major crimes, to handle the investigation of Pearson’s social media post, which escalated the seriousness of the inquiry.

8 Essex Police made an Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) complaint against The Telegraph’s reporting of the incident.

Surely as soon as it was assessed as "non-crime" the involvement of police should stop.

Or at most, passed straight to Essex Police (where she lives) and a couple of cops gone round to offer "words of advice" ie what a traffic cop does if he thinks you are driving like a dick but haven't reached a prosecutable threshold.

Good morning

My daughter recently divorced her husband and has bought a home nearby

It is extraordinary how bad most everyone has been in the process from the divorce lawyers, to the conveyancers, to the utility services, to the local council, and to Welsh Water who knew her water meter had been buried in road works two years previously and have not exposed it since

I do not like the word broken Britain but sadly it is and I see little prospects of any improvement soon

The prisons still use paper with no computerised records as WIfi is not available apparently

Of course the collapse of the prison and courts happened under successive governments alongside so much more, but ultimately we expect to pour countless billions into a failing NHS with little or no reform, pensions and benefits are out of control, paying interest on our debt of £100 billion pa, etc and we wonder why we are where we are

Labour's answer is to tax and tax everything in sight, hand out billions more on WFP, triple lock, and now abolitioning the 2 child cap.

This has to stop and radical action is required to change the direction of the economy but nobody is brave enough as they perceive the public will not elect them

Ultimately this only ends up one way and that is the IMF intervening

And to those who blame the 'other lot' each lot is to blame and no political party is any better than the other at facing realism

My recent experience with a range of public and private sector organisations has similarly been rather poor in many cases. It sometimes fees like bad service has become normalized. I would emphasise this is not just in the public sector by any means. The exception is usually small firms. Are we bad at building a good culture in large organisations in this country?

Our daughter's house sale completed at 12 noon and her furniture van was waiting outside her new home

She couldn't gain access as the money transfers were in the process but at 1.30 she expressed concern to the Estate Agent holding the keys as she would incur delay penalties from her removers if they couldn't move her in by 2.00pm

The estate agents said they would phone the solicitors only to respond that they were closed for lunch until 2.00pm !!!!!!

She did get the OK just after 2.00pm but this is 2025 not 1955

I created something like fear, by going round to sit in the solicitor's waiting room. They hadn't transferred the money to complete the transaction by 3:3-. The removal men were worried about time... sitting outside the house.

So I went round and sat there. They sent the secretary out to say there was no need. I said I would wait. They gave me a fairly decent espresso. I waited.

They managed to finish the job 10 minutes later...

I was inspired in this, by Lord Fisher. Who, upon being told that changing the gun on a battleship would take a week, he sat on the quarterdeck of the ship, in the morning and watched. He did his paperwork at a desk as they worked. When lunch came, he ate lunch at the desk. They finished changing the gun just after lunch.

Vascular and inflammatory diseases after COVID-19 infection and vaccination in children and young people in England: a retrospective, population-based cohort study using linked electronic health records

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(25)00247-0/fulltext
..Of 13 896 125 individuals younger than 18 years (6 784 260 [48·8%] female and 7 111 865 [51·2%] male; 9 979 420 [71·7%] White), 3 903 410 (28·1%) had a COVID-19 diagnosis. COVID-19 diagnosis (compared with no or before diagnosis) was associated with higher risk of arterial thromboembolism (aHR 2·33 [95% CI 1·20–4·51]), venous thromboembolism (4·90 [3·66–6·55]), thrombocytopenia (3·64 [2·21–6·00]), myocarditis or pericarditis (3·46 [2·06–5·80]), and inflammatory conditions (14·84 [11·01–19·99]) in the first week after diagnosis. Incidence declined in weeks 2–4, but remained elevated to beyond 12 months for venous thromboembolism (1·39 [1·14 –1·69]), thrombocytopenia (1·42 [1·01–2·00]), and myocarditis or pericarditis (1·42 [1·05–1·91]). Among 9 245 395 individuals aged between 5 and younger than 18 years who were eligible for vaccination (4 510 490 [48·8%] female and 4 734 905 [51·2%] male; 6 684 140 [72·3%] White), 3 407 560 (36·9%) received a first vaccine. COVID-19 vaccination (compared with no or before vaccination) was associated with elevated risk of myocarditis or pericarditis within the first 4 weeks after vaccination (1·84 [1·25–2·72]). The 6-month absolute excess risks for myocarditis or pericarditis were 2·24 (1·11–3·80) per 100 000 individuals after diagnosis versus before diagnosis or undiagnosed, and 0·85 (0·07–1·91) after vaccination versus before vaccination or unvaccinated.
Interpretation

Children and young people have higher risks of rare vascular and inflammatory diseases up to 12 months after a first COVID-19 diagnosis and higher risk of rare myocarditis or pericarditis up to 4 weeks after a first BNT162b2 vaccine, although the risk following vaccination is substantially lower than the risk following infection. These findings are of great importance for national policy makers and caregivers considering vaccination consent for children, and support the public health strategy of COVID-19 vaccination in children and young people to mitigate the more frequent and persistent risks associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection...