Monday
Good morning everyone and it’s back to work this nasty wet Monday morning. The forecast for London today is wet all day, even with some thunderstorms. I wonder if I could move down to the South Coast, as I hear that where my scribe lives. It is going to rain a bit at first and then be sunny for the rest of the day. Late last week I got to hear that Legohead’s publicity team were suggesting that a photo of him and Queen Vic posing on the No. 10 doorstep with me would be a distraction from clothes-gate. I am pleased to report that I successfully hid for six hours until the photographer went away.
My first story this week is of good news coming out of Rolls-Royce. It has been announced that they have been selected by the Government of the Czech Republic to be the supplier of Small Modular Reactors to the state-owned power group CEZ, beating competition from French, American and Japanese rivals. On top of that they are on a short list of two to supply SMRs to Sweden, while in the Netherlands it has signed an exclusive agreement with Dutch development firm ULC-Energy to work together to deploy SMRs in the country. In Poland, the government has given the green light for state-owned Industria to construct a power plant working with Rolls’s SMR technology. The only problem on the horizon for RR is the slowness of Ed Millipede in making a similar move in the U.K. I wonder if Millipede’s problem is that American rival SMR company Holtec has said it will build its factory in his Doncaster North constituency. It couldn’t be that Millipede sees votes in his constituency coming his way if he were to back foreign technology which is being beaten by RR in a straight fight elsewhere in Europe.
The word in ‘the street’ is that the government has found £10 billion down the back of the sofa. No wonder some of the Number 10 sofas are so uncomfortable. But was this money ever really missing or was it really just part of the Liebore big £20 billion ‘black hole’ rubbish? Now the government can afford to not snatch back the Winter Fuel Allowance, but will it? Somehow I doubt it will happen, after all that has been said they can’t back down, they would lose face.
Every year the pretty little Dorset seaside town of Swanage has a storm barrier installed along its seafront by the Environment Agency to protect against flooding. This year it has been installed a month earlier than usual, because the Met Office has been warning of early winter storms, and it will stay in place until April. However, this autumn things are a little different to previous years as Swanage UDC has had an environmental report that says the grey concrete blocks are difficult for people with limited vision to see. Consequently this year the blocks are to become an art trail with brightly coloured art which is reportedly easier to see. I wonder if it will make any difference.

Swanage,
HerryLawford – Licence CC BY-SA 2.0
I read that NHS Grampian has a ‘sandwich crisis’. It seems that it has become apparent the hospital wards have been ordering more sandwiches than they have patients. It seems that NHS Grampian has determined that they have a food waste problem of around £1 million a year and unless the wards cut back on sandwich orders they won’t be getting any at all. What I understand has been happening is that if patients don’t like the main meals offered or they only have a small appetite they can opt for a sandwich instead. So that patients could be offered a selection of fillings, extra sandwiches were being ordered and this led to some not being eaten. Is the solution to only have say cheese sandwiches and force patients to eat them, like them or not, so there is no discernible food waste?
Do you remember the long-gone days when an in-car entertainment system was a medium-wave radio? Then along came car radio cassette players, 8-track players and radios with CD players. I must admit I thought they were all things of the past, replaced by digital entertainment systems that not just were radios but could be Sat Navs, paired with your mobile phone, control the AC and show pictures from your phone. Today I learnt that Subaru, the last car brand on sale in the U.K. to offer an optional CD player has withdrawn the option. That’s not to say you can no longer get a CD player they are still available on the likes of Amazon; you just can buy it and have it fitted by a new car dealer as an official ‘extra’.
Today’s last story involves a lost Chihuahua. The dog called Penny was out for a walk with her owners when she was scared by a bike passing close by and ran off. Her owners were desperate to get her back and started searching all around the field that she was lost in eventually camping in the field she was lost from for five nights. On the fifth night, ten nights after Penny went missing, the owners were cooking sausage on a camping stove when the smell attracted the dog. Her owners are reported as saying that Penny had always been ‘food-orientated.’
Tuesday
Hi folks, gosh has it rained overnight, I was woken up several times by it beating on the window. Still, it’s nice and peaceful here this morning as Legohead has gone off to make his leader’s speech at ‘conference’ in Liverpool. There are some wonderful ideas emerging from the meeting like pubs closing early to stop drunken violence, Ed Millipede wanting to cover the country in solar panels, and to halve knife crime in a decade. I can’t see any of it happening.
Here’s a secret I can let you in on. Despite him bringing a dopey dog into Downing Street, I got on well with the Rich Boy. I often used to pop in and visit him while he was working in his office, and he would always say hello and pet me. When he lost the election he even wanted to adopt me and take me to his big house in Yorkshire so I could retire to the countryside. However, the powers that be said ‘No’ as I am officially a civil servant. He was rather disappointed, and he sends me what he calls ‘Red Cross’ parcels with Felix Chicken in Jelly, packets of Cat Treats and cat toys. I live in hope that Prince, Legohead’s kitten, will grow up soon enough to take my job and I can join the Rich Boy and live in luxury.
I watched the weekend’s big football match on the TV in the office on Sunday afternoon and enjoyed it. But how did the oafish lout, Erling Haaland, get away with staying on the pitch? Right at the end, when Manchester City scored in the 98th minute of extra time he rushed into the goal net and grabbed the ball. I thought he was in a hurry to restart the game, but no, he ran up to Arsenal’s Gabriel, who was facing away from him, and threw the ball as hard as he could at the back of his head. He was fortunate the referee missed the incident, but it was a clear yellow card if not a red one for violence. Then seconds later, after the restart, he deliberately charged into an Arsenal player who was half the size of the Norwegian ogre. That was another yellow card, but the referee, who had earlier let two City players get away with kicking the ball away but booked an Arsenal player for the same offence, did nothing. I wonder if he might be charged retrospectively with the throwing the ball offence as it was behind the referee’s back?

Erling Haaland 2023 (cropped-v2),
Jacek Stanislawekis – Licence CC BY-SA 4.0
Apparently India is keen to get rid of its 800 T72 tanks as they are not as good as newer models. They initially bought some from Russia before setting up an Indian factory to build them for themselves. Now the factory is to be repurposed to ‘modernise’ these tanks so that they can sell the entire fleet. I wonder who would be interested in acquiring them? Off the cuff, I can think of two countries, Ukraine, who would obviously be able to use them, and Russia itself who are running out of the tanks it has in storage. India says it is targeting the Middle East I wonder who is a potential customer there, could it be Iran.
I read that despite all the encouragement from governments the sale of EVs in Europe continues to fall. The latest figures show that just 92,627 battery-only powered cars were registered in the European Union last month. That is down 44% on August the previous year. The fall in the two biggest battery car-selling EU nations are France where the fall was 33% and Germany where the fall was a spectacular 69%. The EU has slapped a huge import tax on Chinese EVs to stop them being dumped at below the cost of manufacturing. Even Sniffer Joe has stuck a 100% import duty on Chinese EVs. For some unknown reason Legohead has not done the same.
Good news for the employees of the joint venture between Babcock and Supacat who have a contract to build 70 Jackal 3 armoured vehicles for the Army at Devonport. They have now secured a follow-on order for a further 53 vehicles and with it the jobs of the 200 employees. The new order is for an extended six-wheel version as opposed to the current four-wheel model. Apparently, the extra axle not only allows the Jackal 3(e) to carry extra loads but allows it to do 120km/hr across country.
I see the Ginger Growler has shown how stupid she is several times this weekend. She was doing the Sunday media round trying to defend only declaring £1,100 for a stay in a donor’s £2 million apartment, for a ‘few days’. Well, it turns out it was five days, and her boyfriend was with her. Renting a £2 million apartment costs a lot more than that. Then she has been out and about in a borrowed green coat she was supposed to have returned. Now I hear she has hired a photographer for £68,000 to follow her around and record her actions. Do you remember her critical comments when Bozzie hired an official photographer saying, “The Prime Minister should prioritise feeding the children who will go hungry in half term next week.” Perhaps she should concentrate on the Winter Fuel Allowance and pensioners.
Wednesday
Good morning and it’s a bit grey today. The forecast is for heavy rain all day, so I am not looking forward to it. I must admit that I had a good laugh at Legohead’s speech at the Liebore conference yesterday, calling for ‘an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the return of the sausages.’ I rather like sausages, but as this is the Middle East I presume they would not be my favourite pork, but beef sausages. Will they come with mash and onion gravy?
I hear that the Army is on the brink of ordering a new range of mine-resistant medium-weight vehicles to replace a number of current vehicles including the Bulldog. The order will be for 1,700 vehicles but is currently on hold due to all new procurement being stopped because of the new government’s defence review. The new vehicles are from a Turkish company but will be made in Leamington Spa in a new factory that is to be set up especially for the order.
A little seven-year-old boy has nearly missed out on going on holiday because his Star Wars mad father christened the lad Loki Skywalker Melville. The family were to go abroad on holiday and applied for a passport, but the application was rejected because of the middle name of Skywalker. The Passport Office have a ban in issuing passports where the person’s name is something that is copyrighted. ‘Skywalker’ has been copyrighted by the Disney Corporation. So, the little boy’s parents had to get a written release from Disney before a passport could be issued.
In the United States, the strike at Boeing rumbles on. On 13th September members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) voted to reject a 25% wage increase offer and go out on strike. The IAM is demanding a 40% wage increase. Boeing has just made what it said was its final offer of 30%, but it was immediately rejected by the union because “it wasn’t negotiated.” Apparently, the company presented the offer to the union and then went over its head directly to the workers with its offer that also included a one-off $6,000 bonus for signing, the reinstatement of a performance bonus and improved retirement benefits. Boeing say the offer must be accepted in a vote by workers by Friday 27th, but the union says it will not be putting the offer to the vote. In the meantime, the strike has started affecting airlines as the flow of spare parts for Boeing aircraft has stopped.

EGLF – Boeing 737 Max – N120IS (43406207022),
Steve Lynes – Licence CC BY-SA 2.0
It seems that a Northern Ireland Member of the Legislative Assembly was bumped off an Aer Lingus flight from Birmingham to Belfast City Airport yesterday because he failed to turn up at the gate in time. But this wasn’t an ordinary incident where the man was in a bar somewhere. Andy Allen is an Army veteran who was injured in Afghanistan and is as a consequence in a wheelchair. He had checked in for the flight on time, his baggage was on the plane, and he was waiting for the assistance to board that he had requested in the designated zone. When Andy didn’t arrive, Aer Lingus delayed the take-off while his baggage was offloaded and left without him. I don’t know if Aer Lingus supply their own disabled assistance at Birmingham or whether it is supplied by the airport, but someone needs to apologise.
The stories of Liebore MPs accepting freebies keep coming. It seems that while slagging off the Tories they were doing exactly the same, taking money for clothes, glasses, concert tickets, sports tickets, holidays and birthday parties. The problem is that they don’t seem to think it is wrong, providing it is declared, albeit late in several cases. They can’t see the terrible optics and are trying to govern as if they are in opposition.
It has been announced that Barclays Bank has extended its deal as the title sponsor of the Women’s Super League and the Women’s Championship. The three-year deal is worth £45 million, effectively doubling the current deal, which runs out at the end of the season. Some WSL clubs seem to be able to make money and bring in players on big (by Women’s football standards) contracts and we are getting closer to the first £1 million women’s transfer. Apparently, Arsenal Ladies offered £900,000 for Keira Walsh, the England star, in the summer transfer window. Barcelona Ladies didn’t want to sell, and decided to hang on to her for the final year of her contract at the end of which she can leave on a free transfer. On Sunday she was in the stand at the Emirates with a number of injured Arsenal Ladies players including England Ladies’ captain Leah Williamson. I fancy a bet on where she goes next.
Thursday
Hello friends the run of nice weather seems to have come to an end, it’s a bit overcast and raining again this morning and definitely a bit cooler. I hear the Government’s bright idea of letting people out of prison early is not exactly a roaring success. It seems that 37 prisoners who were let out of one prison early were not entitled to be and have been recalled. Thirty-two have come back voluntarily or have been picked up by the police but five have gone on the run and are now considered absconders. But they are not the only ones, of the 140 released from Winchester around 40% have already broken their bail conditions and are subject to recall.
The first train has run into Belfast’s new Grand Central Station, but don’t get too excited as it was a test run carrying no passengers. The train was one of the Enterprise Units that currently run seven times a day between Belfast and Dublin. Grand Central will replace Great Victoria Street Station as the city’s main station when it eventually opens. Interestingly the Enterprise service does not run to Great Victoria Street as the platforms are not long enough for it, instead it terminates at Lanyon Place Station, on the edge of East Belfast. The new station is much nearer the Belfast city centre and has eight platforms as opposed to the old station’s four, meaning that the service to Dublin will more than double to 15 a day when it opens. It is also said to be a transport hub with a 26-stand bus station as opposed to 17 at Great Victoria Street. Although the bus station has opened, there is still no word on an opening date for the new railway station.
A United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to London on Sunday ran into trouble. For some unknown reason the crew rest area was not available and could not be repaired by take-off time. With such a long flight (10.5 hours) US regulations call for the crew to be able to get rest in a flat bed. So, it was decided to call for three business class passengers to swap to Premium extra legroom seats and offered whoever volunteered $1,500 in travel credits and 75,000 air points. But no one volunteered. So United upped the offer to $2,500 in credits and 75,000 air points but said if no one accepted they would cancel the flight. Fortunately, they got their three volunteers, but the flight was delayed nearly an hour.
Drax, the stock market quoted company that owns Drax Power Station in Yorkshire, has opened a subsidiary company in Houston, Texas. The new company is called Elimini, and it will be backed with an initial $10 billion investment to build five power plants in the US. The power stations are planned to produce 150 Mw each by burning biomass. Each will also be equipped with carbon capture equipment. The Drax power station in the U.K. was originally equipped with 6 x 660 Mw coal-fired units. At a later date, each unit was equipped with a flue gas desulphurisation system to take 90% of the SO2 out of its exhaust gas. It now burns biomass in the form of imported wood pellets and has plans to install carbon capture.
UEFA have striped Milan’s San Siro Stadium of the 2027 Champions League final. The stadium is shared by Inter Milan and AC Milan and is to be rebuilt starting in 2026 to enable it to host matches in the 2032 European Championships. UEFA require the ground hosting the Champions League Final to have a minimum capacity of 60,000 and Italy cannot guarantee that number will be available in 2027 so have put the final out to bidders. This could be good news for England as they have six football grounds with a capacity larger than 60,000 who could bid. These six are Wembley, Old Trafford, Anfield, The London Stadium, The Tottenham Stadium and The Emirates. I wonder how many will bid?

The San Siro stadium during a Inter match in 2019,
Vincenzo.togni – Licence CC BY-SA 4.0
In Brighton, Lam Man Shan Sally has been trying for a month to renew her residents’ parking permit but it keeps getting refused after the third refusal she set off to the council with her passport, driving license, council tax bill and old parking permit, all of which showed her full name. She was assured everything was ok and to try again. But once again the resident parking permit computer system rejected her, but this time it said the name didn’t match. It seems Brighton had migrated all resident parking to a new parking system and it had decided that Mrs Lam was called Sally Lam. It took some system manipulation, but the name has now been corrected on the system and she now has her permit.
It never ceases to amaze me what is popular on the internet. An Englishman called Keith making his lunch, videoed by his Chinese wife, became an internet sensation in China attracting one million views before he recently died of bone cancer. ‘Dry Old Keith’ as he became known in China because he regularly made a sandwich which was considered dry in China made simple things like a ham sandwich, beans on toast, a poached egg on toast, and once Avocado toast. He could be seen cutting slices of a loaf and buttering the bread for his lunch, much to the Chinese viewers’ amusement, all to a commentary in Chinese by his wife. It is incredible what makes entertainment in different parts of the world. RIP ‘Dry old Keith’.
Friday
At least it wasn’t raining for my morning constitutional but gosh was that wind cold. Legohead is still in the States having bored the Sniffer Joe and the UN with his nasal twang he went to see The Donald. God knows what The Donald made of him. I credit him with having enough sense to see through a phoney like Legohead who seems to lie about everything to do with gifts for Lord Back Ali Cat, the gay Muslim.
I see that news has emerged of Legohead had accepted another £20,000 from Lord Back Ali Cat. This ‘gift’ happened back in the spring and was said to be for ‘accommodation’. The money was used to buy accommodation for his son away from the rest of the family so he could study for his GCSEs. I wonder how many parties were held in the study premises, and just what £20,000 bought by way of a couple of months’ accommodation?
The first of the Royal Navy’s Type 26 frigates, HMS Glasgow, has been fitted with its new five-inch (125mm) naval gun. This is a new design from BAE systems for the RN but already in use by other navies. The gun has an automatic loading system and is capable of firing 26 rounds per minute. The new calibre gun is to be used on future escort-size warships, replacing the current 4.5-inch guns on current ships. However, 125mm is the standard size adopted by NATO so it should make it capable of being able to share ammunition with fellow NATO members. I will be interested to hear about its firing trials.
I read of a woman police sergeant in the Thames Valley Police who has just successfully sued them for constructive dismissal and discrimination. She was a senior officer in the community care team and was getting stressed. She was advised by a psychiatrist to take up a hobby completely outside of work, so she decided to start a small party business and got official permission to have the business as unconnected to policing. Sometime later the business was doing well, but she was still under stress at work. Then someone she had been working with committed suicide and she took it badly and was signed off with stress. A senior officer in TVP saw her party business was still functioning and withdrew TVP permission for her to run it. The sgt. complained and TVP said they were taking her to a misconduct hearing for running the business while a serving officer. However, that was dropped when it was pointed out that TVP had broken their own rules and regulations. The sergeant then resigned and took the force to an industrial tribunal where she has just been awarded £1.1 million for constructive dismissal and discrimination.
One thing the new Liebore government has not changed since coming to power is the decision by the last Chancellor to charge Vehicle Excise Duty on electric vehicles. As from 1st April next year new EVs will have to pay the lowest standard rate of VED (currently £0 for the first year and £190 pa thereafter, but this could change in the coming budget). There are a few other points to note, this tax will also apply to EVs and low emission vehicles. Those first registered between April 1, 2017, and March 31, 2025, will also have to pay the standard rate of £190 from April 2025. EV registered before April 1, 2017, will pay £20 for the first year and £190 thereafter. But this only brings them in line with ordinary petrol and diesel cars. There is one other thing, cars costing over £40,000 will attract an additional ‘expensive car supplement’ from the second tax payment onwards. This is £410 pa and lasts for five years. By the way, two-thirds of EVs cost over £40,000. I wonder if Ed Millipede approves?
Despite the prolonged objections and court cases, site work has now started on the Sizewell C nuclear power station. Admittedly it is only the preparatory ground works but it has actually begun. Of course, it is going to be years and years before it is generating power if Hinckley Point C is anything to go by. Construction there started in March 2017 and the second and final unit is scheduled to be online in 2032. That’s 15 years to build which is unbelievable. So, on that same timetable, Sizewell C should be completed in 2039, but with any luck the builder might have learnt something from Hinckley Point and managed to cut a bit off that.

Sizewell C,
GOV.UK – Public domain CC BY-SA 2.0
Only on Wednesday Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the UK’s National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers was on the radio and TV saying that the RMT want the same 22% pay rise as ASLEF, the train drivers union. He told us how it was time for the unions to run the country again, just as they did in the 1970s. But yesterday members voted to accept the 5.5% pay increase the railway operating companies offered. Is Mick Lynch in touch with his members?
Saturday
Morning my dear readers, and it’s not raining for a change. It’s quite sunny this morning but a bit chilly. I am nice and toasty though, as the heating came on early this morning. I see that it has emerged this morning that Legohead had another £16,000 in clothes from Lord Back Ali Cat. This money was another lot that had been declared as ‘Office Expenses’ but is now to be reclassified as £10,000 and £6,000 gifts for clothing. So Legohead has been found out again covering things up, but it’s OK because he recorded it. What hypocrisy.
It has also emerged that Legohead has been using Lord Back Ali Cat’s £18 million apartment not only to give his son some peace and quiet during his exam revision. How £20,000 could be considered a fair sum to declare for two months living rent-free in that apartment is beyond me, I suspect that it is three or four times too low. Anyway, back at the time of the Christmas Covid lockdown he used the same flat to video his address to the nation. But he dressed the flat with Christmas cards and photos of his family to make it look like his home. Then he recorded his tribute to the late queen there as well. Why, is he ashamed of his own £3 million house?
A few interesting stories reach me from the US that I somehow doubt will make the Camel-loving MSM here. She sat down for another of those easy interviews with MSNBC with one of its leftist interviewers and told her that the Trump administration exported jobs even before Covid but even that was too much for MSNBC whose fact-checking showed that Trump added 400,000 jobs. Next I hear that George Soros has been sponsoring NGOs to bring illegals into the US and has dumped over 250,000 in Republican states so they will vote Democrat. Finally, I hear the Democrat Mayor of New York, Eric Adams, has been Indicted on criminal charges by a Grand Jury but the indictment has been sealed so we have no idea what he is supposed to have done. Could it be that the Democrats in New York are giving him the Trump treatment because he has been highly critical of their border policy?
Last night little Wimbledon were supposed to host Newcastle in the Carabao Cup and looking forward to a bumper night’s takings. Unfortunately, earlier in the week the nearby river Wandle burst its banks and the ground was flooded. A sinkhole opened up in one corner of the pitch leaving the pitch unplayable and looking more like a golf bunker. The match has been reversed and is to be played at Newcastle and Wimbledon will benefit from 45% of the takings. Wimbledon are reported to have had a quote of £25,000 for pitch repairs and pumped thousands & thousands of litres of water from the stadium and offices. The club is owned by its supporters and doesn’t have this sort of money in its budget. Consequently, a fan set up a GoFundMe appeal for £25,000. I am delighted to be able to report that it passed £100,000 yesterday.
Is Robber Reeves franticly redrafting her budget as she seems to have been mistaken in one of her key assumptions, that a tax on non-doms’ earnings would bring in around £3 billion a year? I understand that the treasury gnomes have told her that a significant number of non-doms have already left the country simply under the threat of the new tax and that in the event of the new tax being implemented virtually all of the others will follow as they have no ties to this country. The prediction is that a new tax will not raise £3 billion as originally predicted but instead it will raise nothing at all, in fact it will probably cost the nation money. What with the row over winter fuel payments and millionaires like Liebore supporting Charlie Mullins, the owner of Pimlico Plumbers, quitting the country for fear of a wealth tax things aren’t going very well for our Richard III lookalike Chancellor.

View of a pair of Pimlico Plumbers VW vans in the Lord Mayor’s Parade from Gresham Street,
Robert Lamb – Licence CC BY-SA 2.0
TATA-owned Jaguar Land Rover are to spend £500 million upgrading their factory at Halewood on Merseyside. The main purpose of the upgrade is to enable the factory to be able to produce electric vehicles as well as hybrids and conventional petrol and diesel vehicles. The new production lines will include a lot of robots, but no one is saying what models will be produced but the electric cars should use batteries produced at the new TATA factory in the West Country.
Reports are emerging that elite troops of the Russian State Security Service (the FSB) have been thrown into the fight against Ukrainian troops inside Russia in the Kursk oblast. Russian Mil bloggers are reporting that the FSB’s “Alpha” and “Vympel” Spetsnaz (special forces) units, which together number only a few hundred, have lost over 100 men. If true this would be devastating for the elite security forces which is the direct descendant of the KGB and has divisions responsible for border security and counterintelligence amongst its nine sections. The report says that shortages of ordinary soldiers resulting from losses that are currently running at around 1,000 a day killed and wounded have caused these elite forces to be thrown into the fighting.
One final little story, I read that when the police raided the home of rapper P Diddy they discovered over 1,000 bottles of baby oil. His lawyer’s excuse was that he likes to buy in bulk!
That’s another week’s reporting finished and it’s lovely out if you stay in the sun and out of the wind. If I tuck myself in the corner of the windowsill it’s not so bad and I can see the comings and goings in the street, so I’m off off for my afternoon rest. The forecast for tomorrow is rain again, but not until after dark and another grotty wet week getting colder every day. Chat to you next week.
© WorthingGooner 2024