The top news item in the MSM this morning is the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, 91. It seems that some of the dead-tree-press were caught out cold, or perhaps it left them cold. For the record, here’s the compilation. I leave the obituaries and comments to the usual suspects because there are a number of reports relegated to the bowels of the online papers which deserve out attention. They all come under ‘not our fault, guv’ and ‘jam tomorrow!’
Fasten your seatbelts – this will be a ‘wild ride’, starting with the cheery bits. The DT proudly reports that:
“Nuclear power stations could be fast-tracked under a planning shake-up to try to alleviate the country’s energy crisis. Greg Clark, the Levelling Up Secretary, unveiled new rules to speed up approval for major infrastructure projects as part of an effort to enhance energy security. The plans could also slash the amount of time it takes to get offshore wind projects approved.” (paywalled link)
The sting is in the tail: making it easier to build even more bird shredders offshore. I suggest that these new ‘rules’ were only permitted to see the light of day because ‘renewables’ could be built even more easily. Regarding nuclear power stations: that comes under ‘jam tomorrow’, given the time needed to build them. I shudder to think who will run them, given the state of education in this country.
The other cheery news is a report in RemainCentral, about energy prices dropping ‘after hints of EU action’. Do you regret Brexit now, peasants? See this:
“Gas and power prices have dropped sharply from last week’s all-time highs after Germany said its storage sites were filling up faster than expected and European leaders drew up measures to limit prices. Wholesale gas prices for the month ahead in Britain fell by about 30 per cent to 445p per therm yesterday — still about nine times higher than the pre-crisis average, but well below Friday’s record high price of 640p per therm. Wholesale power prices, which are largely driven by the price of gas, also fell. Prices for the month ahead in Britain were down by about 25 per cent from Friday’s highs.” (link, paywalled)
Are there still people who believe that energy firms will now drop their prices, right now? Perhaps they don’t drive cars and thus haven’t learned that prices at the pumps never ever go down immediately, if at all. But it’s a lovely feeling to see the mighty EU influencing gas prices!
Sadly this is probably just a blip because we read in German papers this morning that there’s now no gas coming through Nordstream1 either: Gazprom has stopped it all due to maintenance problems, as announced (paywalled link, in German). No celebrations, please: those gas prices may rise by the end of business today.
Next, a piece of sad news. The Guardian – who else! – reports:
“Food banks across Britain have warned of a “completely unsustainable” surge in demand that will prevent them feeding the hungriest families this winter.” […] Almost three-quarters said food donation levels had dropped since April, despite the spiralling demand.” (link)
I’m sure grauniad readers will come to the fore, helping, after demanding government do something about food prices which, according to a report in The Times, have risen by 9.7% (link, paywalled). Perhaps those who’ve donated to food banks can no longer afford to do so?
Why haven’t our politicians and MSM writers told us already that we must eat less to ‘show Putin’? After all, we’ve been told so many times already that it is our ‘patriotic’ duty to freeze this winter to show Putin that “we” are standing against him.
I find it remarkable how the Westminster cabal is scrabbling to blame all their political decisions, their destruction of the economy, of the infrastructure, on Putin. Here’s another one:
“The cost of repairing Britain’s roads has soared since Russia invaded Ukraine, new analysis has found. Councils’ bills for fixing potholes and relaying roads have risen by up to a fifth because of problems sourcing bitumen, said the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents more than 350 councils in England and Wales. Before the war, about 60 per cent of bitumen — which is also known as asphalt — used to repair UK roads was sourced from Russia.” (link, paywalled)
Terrible, innit! Clearly, motorists must also do their bit and accept potholes everywhere without grumbling, ‘because Putin’. However, The Times helpfully points out that the reason for this pothole disaster might be found elsewhere:
“Local authorities were already facing a significant road repair backlog, with the latest estimates stating it would take them a decade and £12 billion to bring all surfaces up to scratch.” (link, paywalled)
Ah – that must be ‘because; lockdowns!’ Let’s not mention that Local Authorities, despite huge rises in Council Taxes, have always disregarded the state of streets and roads because they had to pay for so many other things, like looking after the pension pots of their CEOs.
Then there’s the Police. Ms Patel has, according to the DT, demanded the police to ‘go back to basics’ (paywalled link). The actual reason for her final foot-stamping is a paper by the Think Tank ‘Policy Exchange’. The Times also reports on this paper, first labelling that Think Tank as ‘right-leaning’, then quoting some numbers:
“Common offences such as burglary, robbery and thefts have effectively become decriminalised because policing has “lost its way,” a damning report has warned. […] The rate of residential burglaries that were solved by police dropped to 3.5 per cent last year, while the rate of solved robberies fell to 6.3 per cent and thefts to 4 per cent, according to the [Policy Exchange] report.” (link, paywalled)
Well, that looks like: ‘because: Lockdown’. Mind you, it’s possible that the police, working so hard to stop ‘hate rime’ on ‘social’ media, now also has to chase all those online ‘Putin lovers’. The DT highlights another finding from that Think Tank report, writing that they called:
“[…] for police to be barred from taking the knee or wearing campaign badges on their uniform, because of the risk of appearing to have partisan political views. It warned that this could be “hugely damaging” to public confidence and cited polling showing that four in 10 voters thought the police were more concerned with being “woke” than solving crime.” (paywalled link)
Oh really? Who knew! At least our concerns are now officially recognised. Not that this will suddenly level up those burglary detection rates …
There’s one last time to be filed under ‘jam tomorrow’: that fabulous App allowing patients to ‘avoid long wait times’. The Times reports on a ‘new NHS app’, allowing patients to ‘shop around’ for hospitals with short waiting lists. However:
“Health bosses agreed yesterday to give patients more choice over where they are treated by next April in an effort to use digital league tables to direct people towards hospitals with the shortest waits.” (link, paywalled)
Next April? After the ‘NHS in Crisis’ winter which has already started and which means that waiting times will become even longer? They’re having a giggle, those ‘health bosses’! But it’s good that the NHS is developing another app!
I leave you with the latest news in the sad saga of the RN’s crippled aircraft carrier. The DM’s headline is all we need:
“Britain’s new £3BN warship ‘ground to a halt off the Isle of Wight because the propeller shaft wasn’t GREASED properly” (link)
Was this just another piece of general sloppiness? Of sailors not needing to follow orders because that would be oppressive if not racist? Was this another piece of inadequate training to make life easier for all those ‘diverse’ sailors? Nah – impossible! It must have been Putin’s fault for making grease prohibitively expensive!
The authorities everywhere don’t blame Lockdown any longer to hide their inadequacies. Now they blame Putin because that’s so much easier. Moreover, who would want to be called a Putin Lover when they dare to point out that all the current miseries are caused by dereliction of duty, by putting ‘woke’ at the top of the agenda, from the police to the NHS to the Armed Forces! Have a good day …
MPs need to know from us exactly where the blame lay- Net Zero, green blobbery, embracing and funding yUncle Sam’s Russian regime change, lockdowns and economic incompetence in every area of goverment. My MP hates my viewpoint but at least he knows some of his constituents are awake to their mischief and utter incompetence.
Yes I agree MPs should know from us exactly where the blame lay and the `dots` you have pointed out, but that`s the easy part, `we` meaning us at ID and other like minded blogs etc, to be effective need mass backing from grass roots population and unfortunately I believe only about 10/15% of them have the slightest clue about the detail of how we are being manipulated, cancelled and sold down the river.
To be honest I don`t think the know the real reason why we HAD to Brexit, in that the EU was and is a deadly enemy, which was and still is supported by `the enemy within` our society, Parliament, MSM, and much of the establishment.
Very few see the utterly demoralising and stultifying effect of the Remain `traitors` and fellow travellers who still put spokes in the wheels of our efforts to complete Brexit in Northern Ireland for instance
and the crazy immigration policy where it appears over a million visas have been issued which will ensure biblical proportions of incomers, with still little additional provision being made for services like schools, hospitals, doctors, housing, it`s not appreciated we are one of the most densly populated countries already, we are FULL UP and have been for years and we cannot `shuggle up` forever
Roger. With respect, if 10% of the 10% to 15% of the populace who understand the plight we are in joined a centre Right party that would be sufficient to get the attention needed to get the laggards on board in order to make headway against the enemy within.
Well I am gob smacked!
I had no idea that Gorbachev was still alive.
Now might be a good time to remind everyone that a major reason why Gorbi could no longer subsidise the failing economies of the over regulated, satellite states, of the U.S.S.R., was that the world price of OIL had dropped very LOW!
He probably did want to ‘end the cold war’, it was costing the USSR far too much.
But he did not want to end the USSR. He simply could not fund it any longer.
Don’t know where I read it but at some time Gorbi commented that the EU was making the same mistakes as the USSR had made. I think he was referring to over regulating everything.
So there you are. Hardly surprising that Putin now feels strong enough to do what a country’s leader SHOULD do – look after that country’s own interests.
In Russia’s case that includes access to the Mediterranean Sea.
PB: “the EU was making the same mistakes as the USSR had made. I think he was referring to over regulating everything”.
He might have said that, but I think also that he said the West has seen from USSR what tyranny is like yet want it for themselves?
I can’t find the quote though.
What is wrong with everybody.? Poor Education and its exploitation . People of GB do not know. and therefore cannot trust.
What did I know in the 1930’s. Trust the people you know . Trust people in uniforms . Uniforms were of many kinds from our local Religion chap. to tram drivers and Teachers in gowns.. Andof course thecopper who usually could be found in the village centre somewhere near the Bell pub, the Mucky Duck or The Stone and could be relied on.
Growing up it was still a decent rule untill1960’s. But the start was I believe, Giving everybody education and the icon of nationalisation. The education everybody had up to the age of 15 was the best there has ever been.. The education in the slums of Brum and london were every bit as good as all schools all over britain.
But already the poison was spreading. The 11+ became a source of bitter envy. So we’ve got what we’ve got wot we got.The Labour party could not leave anything alone. They had already nationalised Gas, Electricity, Railways, Health, etc.,several cultures grew up. ” I’m as good as you “‘ . Governments poured money in to prove they could run businesses, And Nationalised industries became he envy of the world. Then they slowly realised they could not afford these luxuries.
So privatisation and businessmen buy up bits of these industries then enjoy divididense by deliberately running infrastructure then running away. Then we had an age of Politicians parachuting in of political appointed Directors with the unaffordable rewards of doing nothing, with expenses and pensions etc.
Renationalising just means another dance in circles. And nationalising others cannot be afforded. And Privatisation means handing over vast opportunities for Asset Stripping to vultures.
Big companies need the curb. Monopolies need bbreaking up. Etc You can do it LIZ
Britain needs rescuing from these people.. Give them the poison they deserve and if they can build on it and not scavenge, then Good for them. if they are parachuted and not just granted. Survive.or shut up. But do not leave it to politicians. They will abuse any system.
TG Spokes……..is it just me, but I don’t have the foggiest idea of what you’re talking about here, with too many subjects intertwined with each other, but with no correlation. I sincerely hope that the village copper where you grew up had a damn sight more to do than hang around the Dog and Duck pub or whatever it was called. Even then there was proper crime to be solved, but I guess like these days, arresting somebody for being drunk and disorderly, is easier than investigating a burglary or robbery. You might be convinced by Liz Truss, but I am certainly not. Her track record around the Brexit issue is not great thus far as Foreign Secretary. Yes, a lot of threats about invoking Article 16 and ripping up the Northern Ireland protocol, but we want to see some action, and there has been precious little action from both her and her inept cabinet colleagues on this issue and running things for the benefit of this country and its citizens, rather than worrying about how their decisions might be viewed in the European Union. Like Boris Johnson her mentor, she has no political conviction or backbone whatsoever, and has willingly gone along with everything that has spewed forth out of his mouth over the past few years, and is not of an independent mind. My take on it is that she is afraid of her own shadow to make even a half decent impression, but she does have a loose cannon of a mouth when it comes to the Ukraine War, and is oh so bloody tactless in what she says by making promises of ever more money to finance their war with Russia that we don’t have, which to be honest should be spent on our own population. Personally, I think she is going to be an absolute disaster as prime minister, and so do a lot of members of the Conservative Party, and so from my perspective she will be a continuity prime minister and it will be very much a case of business as usual, and the same old same old. Sorry to disappoint TGS, but it would seem that you are far easier to please than me and some others on this site.
Colin, I still think you are being unfair to Liz Truss.
Remember the policy in our constitution is that members of the cabinet do not openly speak out against the cabinet’s collective decisions. Think it is called collective responsibility.
Boris was an outright coward regarding the EU. Frost resigned. Now Frost is apparently backing Truss.
Sunak as Chancellor slavishly followed Treasury advice and forecasts even though they have repeatedly turned out to be wrong. One could say, the Treasury has never left the EU.
Well, we have no say in the matter anyway. But personally, knowing who supports Truss and hopefully will be advising her, I have some hope for the U.K. when she takes over.
Pauline……….well, we’ll all see soon enough I suppose. She has said things like ‘hitting the ground running’ etc. I want her to start acting in the interests of this country and to hell with what those in the blinkin European Union might think. Get rid of the Northern Ireland protocol either the day she starts as PM or the day after, but no more pretty talk and no more idle threats. There is no point threatening action and then not carrying it out. We want some blasted action, and we want it now. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, not the European Union, and should never have been annexed with separate customs rules etc. And, I want her to take back control of our Fishing and Territorial Waters and ban the French and others from fishing within six miles of our shoreline. Last but not least I want her to take control of the English Channel migrant crisis and deporting all those who come from Albania back to where they come from, and transport the others back into French ports. It is high time we got tough with the EU and France in particular, because at the moment neither take this country seriously, and no wonder since we’ve have had a slapstick clown in charge.
We used to have ships that could plough the artic repeatedly to supply the Sovet Union during WWII or survive the heat of the Bay of Bengal or the South China Sea. Nowadays, modern destroyers’ engines break down in hot weather and a flag ship aircraft carrier can barely make it out of port. And HMS Astute, the latest generation submarine, ran aground in 2010 off the coast of Scotland because officers failed to follow correct procedures made worse by some equipment deficiences. Flawed designs, poor maintenance standards, and inadequate personnel, characterise the modern navy. It is consonant at least with much else in today’s dysfunctional Britain.
I once lived in a country where buses had two crew: a driver and a conductor who collected cash fares. Nowadays, buses in London have just a driver behind a protective safety screen to protect him or her from physical attack. This is regarded as normal and acceptable, but is an indictment of modern society. I do not remember when I was first allowed to take a bus by myself, but it was quite young – irresponsibly so by today’s standards probably – and allowed out on my own because using buses, and being in society generally, was considered safe.
There is a primary school near where I live. I see the children being led along in high visibility jackets shepherded by three teachers, one at each end and one in the middle, the kids holding hand in file. This is now normal and acceptable. It is no douut reassuring to parents that schools are so protective of children, but does anyone reflect on why this paranoid level of care is necessary?
Theodore Dalrymple, author of three dozen books, is the chronicler of our cultural decline. Generally, his books argue that the middle class’s abandonment of traditional cultural and behavioural aspirations has, by example, fostered routine incivility and militant ignorance. He worked as a doctor in Africa and in the UK prison service, noting on his return to Britain “the cheerless, self-pitying hedonism and brutality of the dependency culture”. He noted that “Poverty does not explain aggressive, criminal and self-destructive behaviour. In an African slum you will find among the very poor, living in dreadful circumstances, dignity and decency in abundance, which are painfully lacking in an average English suburb, although its inhabitants are much wealthier.” He believes “The cause of much contemporary misery in Western countries – criminality, domestic violence, drug addiction, aggressive youths, hooliganism, broken families – is the nihilistic, decadent and/or self-destructive behaviour of people who do not know how to live. Both the smoothing over of this behaviour, and the medicalisation of the problems that emerge as a corollary of this behaviour, are forms of indifference. Someone has to tell those people, patiently and with understanding for the particulars of the case, that they have to live differently.”
Our establishment, from the Guardian and BBC to Parliament, when momentarily interrupting their indifference as elections approach, merely sneer. Perhaps a few realise we need to live differently, but are unable to see how to roll back the consequences of their decades of indifference.
Mrs Y had the radio on yesterday, as is her habit, and the theme was what to do about the Notting Hill festival of criminality over the bank holiday. One of the interviewees was a lecturer in criminal psychology. It was the usual left wing drivel, that prison does not work, benefits are too low, etc. A question not asked of her, was why after decades of criminal psychology, parliamentary committees and reports, prison reviews, problems are getting worse. The correct treatment can only follow a correct diagnosis. Our current law makers are not even close to diagnosing the underlying cause: themselves.
Back in those days Stout, when buses had a driver and a conductor, they were double decker.
If you went upstairs you could SMOKE!
Also you could open or close windows!
And there were no seat belts fitted to any vehicles on the road.
Just some of the many ways our personal liberties have been eroded in many ways, over the years.
There’s a lot more traffic on the roads today.
When I was a kid, we could play football on the roads, the traffic was so light.
From the age of five I walked to school alone. I might see two or three trucks/cars.
“Nuclear power stations could be fast-tracked …” Let’s hope that dose not involve the Chinese.
Fast track:- Start pouring to old specs etc. Tonight and phone weir pump tonighr and one of the in themorning before they consultants get clogged down by bureaucrats. Their own and Civil service and public servants of various kinds. Instrumentation to be zero french or american or chinese guesstech.
J. T., Yes, lets hope it does not involve the Chinese.
During my youth there was a saying, ‘fiendish clever those orientals’.
At that time it was aimed at the Japanese because we had fought them in WW2, then they had overtaken us in technology. Sometimes they did that by copying our designs.
Well the Chinese are also orientals. They are also Communist.
Perhaps it is time WE did a bit of industrial espionage copying, or whatever it is called !!
Another welcome dismissal of the climate change scam:
https://dailysceptic.org/2022/08/30/bizarre-fact-check-of-world-climate-declaration-claims-no-natural-climate-change-for-almost-200-years/
Will “they” listen? I doubt it until they are publicly shamed; preferably in socks constructed for the purpose outside the HoC.
I liked Lois Perry’s catchy rebranding of Net Zero, on Steyn last night, as Net Stupid.
It is, of course, but that draws attention away from it being a deliberate act of destruction.
Harrryagain, every now and again you say something sensible like today, and that is about the shockingly bad standard of journalism these days. Some of the journalists employed on online newspaper sites wouldn’t even have got an old CSE in English Language judging by their poor spelling and grammar and probably got whatever exams they passed in text speak. And as for TV journalism, that has fallen to an all time low. The likes of Emily Maitlis, David Dimbleby, Fiona Bruce and the BBC generally finally did it with me to the point where I got rid of my television. No TV, no BBCi Player, no ITV Hub and liberation from utter crap equals a saving of £159.00 and a sane mind. What’s not to like…….
Love the picture heading, reminds me of my dear old collie cross, he loved shredding newspapers. He was way before his time in that regard.
My previous collies didn’t need any excuse. Like yours they just did it, and their expression was clear: “your fault for letting stuff lie around and then go and leave us behind when you go out”. They were powerful trainers: training us to do our best to keep everything out of collie reach …
Mind you, that was over 25 years ago … happy times …
Quite right Viv, it WAS your fault.
Lisa. I was born in 1944. I remember in my early childhood we used to wipe our bum with newspaper !!
Crikey not greasing the bearings properly ! Sounds as reliable and long term as those sealed for life gearboxes , differentials and suspensions parts on modern cars which work perfectly until they don’t. No doubt the reason will be found to be ‘user error’ and will require a longterm expensive fix before being retutned to it’s ‘tasking’ . Perhaps the makers will lend the R.N a courtesy carrier while it’s in dock or we could perhaps lease one from the U.S. They seem to have pleanty of stuff to give away at the moment. By the way what happened to our other world class carrier that Gordon ( saviour of the world ) commissioned is it ready for use yet? Talking about the U.S not much coverage of the apparently illegal removal of the 80% of total oil production by tanker on a daily basis from Syria is there, come to that who knew that U.S forces were in Syria anyway and I wonder who invited them.
Vast incompetence
The price of energy is high because there is a shortage.
Even a small shortfall in availability of the essentials for life causes a massive hike in prices.
Somebody somewhere is going without as there’s not enough to go round. The poorest people it will be.
The problem is ongoing fossil fuel depletion and nasty foreigners. Any improvement will only take place next Summer but will only be short term. The trend is up until we have our own independent energy sources, ie renewable/nuclear.
The EUSSR and the commie agent (Merkel) did her work well making Germany dependent on Russia thus giving them the means to destroy the West’s economy.
The problem is ongoing fossil fuel depletion and nasty foreigners. Still flogging the dead horse.
The problem is the wholesale destruction of our home grown energy base over decades – those fossil fuels that brought prosperity and safety to the world. Coupled with the West’s need for a ‘common enemy’, the barbarians at the gate, to cow the people. True statesmen would be talking with Russia to bring the conflict to an end as soon as possible, not pouring petrol on the flames and criminally encouraging more Ukranians to their needless deaths.
You are right about the EU and Merkel, except that although Russia was given the means, it was the West’s sanctions that began the reduction in supply, not Russia. But if you keep slapping someone don’t be surprised if they slap back.
“Grease and Prop shafts.”
Total BS. Ships that size don’t have their prop shafts “greased”. Even small ships don’t.
Our nil educated journalists can always be relied on to be completely wrong on even low tech issues.
There may have been a lubrication/design/maintenance issue but grease would not be involved.
“There’s something wrong with our bloody ships today”. Admiral Fisher Battle of Jutland 1916
https://dulwichcollege1914-18.co.uk/essay/theres-something-wrong-bloody-ships-today-battle-jutland-may-31st-1916/
Plus ca change!
That was because several of them blew up in battle.
Full agreement on this one.