Prices of the electricity we use to charge

[saneagle]

Ha ha ha - my partner who was about ten or eleven at the time, went from her school in Leeds on a special trip. They came down and, as you describe, they queued for hours and she says they were hurried on faster than they wanted to be, in an effort to get the queues through. She does say it was wonderful though, so maybe that is where I got the sense of regret. Now, having read your report, I can let that go. At the time, I did think of going from my garret in Twickenham (literally - I was renting an attic bedroom come bedsit in the top of a massive house in Strawberry Hill for - believe it or not £4 a week!) and I had seen the Sunday Times colour supplement photos and thought, well, I've already seen it. They are not going to let me touch anything, so I'll be content with that.

EDIT:

Just went and researched the house I lived in and found it was just sold for £2.4 million!!!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/england-86480856-20742598?s=93e9c80eec4e8a8ff031257b01dd87b4f476683804f8c42e605fc5c1d88c0f73#/media?id=media0&ref=photoCollage

I had the left hand 2/3ds of the roof space and worked at my studies under that window in the roof. Happy days! I was there from being about 20 to 22. All of life ahead. Every day was brilliant back then - or so it seems now.

It was owned by two cash poor but asset rich German refugee ladies. They were incredibly coy back then about where they came from, saying only that they were 'European' in heavily accented English. The place was fantastically opulent. They occasionally held soirees for elderly friends which i and my then girlfriend were invited to. I remember they had a string quartet at one of them with a guy called Benjamin Luxon who I later heard playing on the radio. For me, coming from a respectable council house in Newcastle, this was a very interesting period.

Interesting. I used to live in Twickenham too until 1960, when my dad sold the house for about £1500. We moved to the 4 bedroom detatched house in Basildon that cost £4000 that's now worth about £600k. The one in Twickenham is now worth about £800k. The weird room over the garage has been added. My bedroom was in that corner with the window looking out to the side. The garage then was only a tin thing. Interestingly, when I look at Google street view, they've sort of deleted the house next door. Ours was one on the right. 104 Lyndhurst Avenue. Have a look and see what you think. I've never seen that before. The picture is from Rightmove.

Street View · Google Maps

Explore a place in a more immersive way in Google Maps.

www.google.com

 

[Ghost1951]

Interesting. I used to live in Twickenham too until 1960, when my dad sold the house for about £1500. We moved to the 4 bedroom detatched house in Basildon that cost £4000 that's now worth about £600k. The one in Twickenham is now worth about £800k. The weird room over the garage has been added. My bedroom was in that corner with the window looking out to the side. The garage then was only a tin thing. Interestingly, when I look at Google street view, they've sort of deleted the house next door. Ours was one on the right. 104 Lyndhurst Avenue. Have a look and see what you think. I've never seen that before. The picture is from Rightmove.

Street View · Google Maps

Explore a place in a more immersive way in Google Maps.

www.google.com

Nice house. Rather posher than where I grew up. It was OK but not like that.

I have seen blurred out property on Street View many times. I think people have the right to ask Google to remove their property. I don't think they can show anyone's house in Germany. Not certain of that, but it is my impression.

Twickenham was a nice place to live back then at the start of the 1970s. I lived in Hounslow and Isleworth at different times. I used to race my C15 up and down the Chertsy Road. In Richmond back then, there was a Chinese Restaurant where you could get a vegetable curry and rice for five and threepence (about 27p). It was the cheapest thing on the menu and I often took my girlfriend there for a slap up five and three.... She paid her own way of course because I am a cheapskate of magnificent rigour. I remember the waiter guy used to look at me with complete contempt and sat near us stamping his receipts with a rubber ink stamp saying 'Service Not Included'. I obviously never left a tip....... I could feel the hatred oozing out of him when we left 10 shillings and sixpence exactly.

What fun.... Then there was a place called Nicks at Roehampton. I can't remember what we ate there but it was solid and cheap. It might have been moussaka. Nick was Greek and did the front of house and he had a massive, very down at heal looking wife in the back, doing the cooking. I weighed about ten stone wet in those days. I was always starving.

 

[lenny]

UK riots: five essential reads on what triggered a week of violence

The UK has experienced more than a week of violent rioting, during which white nationalists have marauded through towns and cities, fighting with police and calling for borders to be closed to keep out…

theconversation.com

 

[lenny]

OPINION - The malign hand of Russia lurks behind the UK riots

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/opinion-malign-hand-russia-lurks-150014526.html

 

[Ghost1951]

Desperate pap - any possibility will be explored by the Chatterarti, other than the idea that a lot of people in the UK feel like they have been let down.

Elves and goblins may have been putting bad ideas into people's heads while they slept,or bad fairies.

Either way, it was bad idea to riot, and set things on fire. Looking at the mug shots of the convicted and the wanted, they look none too bright. For most of them though, this is probably the first time they have been wanted by anyone all their lives.

Speaking of fairies - last week I spent some time with my grandaughter who is heading towards seven. She was wanting to make a book about mythical creatures, so we were listing them:

Unicorns, Elves, Goblins, and fairies, said I.

She looked at me and frowned and said, 'No grandpa - fairies aren't mythical creatures. They're real!

Oh - my mistake, says I.

 

[saneagle]

UK riots: five essential reads on what triggered a week of violence

The UK has experienced more than a week of violent rioting, during which white nationalists have marauded through towns and cities, fighting with police and calling for borders to be closed to keep out…

theconversation.com

Interesting that they mention one of the factors as "The problem of British nationalism". When I was was at primary school, they taught us to be nationalists. On Empire Day (who remembers that?), you had to bring in a Union Jack, then spend most of the day marching around the playground waving it.

Is it nationalist to cheer on the England football team, or are we now expected to cheer for the other side too? Apparently, the countryside is a "racist and colonial" white space, so instead of a trip out to feed the ducks, we have to go to Bradford for the day. Who do we feed there?

The world's gone nuts. It's basically people saying, "We were here first, so we should get first dibbs on any free stuff. We've been waiting a long time for this free stuff, now people are jumping the queue and getting it before us. That's not fair." Naturally, anybody would be unhappy in that situation, including me. I can't understand why it's gone on for so long. It's clearly antagonising people.

I can also understand those that have enjoyed peace for their whole lives, then, suddenly, they get woken up at 5 o'clock in the morning by the call to prayer. I think I'd complain too if that happened in Telford. I've visited places where it happens, and it's very annoying if you're not involved. You try playing your pop music with speakers stuck on the side of your house, and see how long you last. I think this is what they mean by 2-tier policing. It should be simply illegal to put speakers on the outside of a building and broadcast your music - whatever genre it is.

 

[jamesporritt]

The work ethic of British Leyland workers was very poor. Everything was too much trouble.

Immigrants & migrants work harder and have more skills. Why wouldn't employers choose to employ young skilled qualified people?

 

[saneagle]

The work ethic of British Leyland workers was very poor.

Immigrants work harder and have more skills.

How many Leyland workers did you know? I knew a few, and they didn't seem any different to anybody else. They said it was only the shop stewards that were the communists.

Which immigrants work harder than the Leyland guys and what skills do they have? I have two friends that are recent immigrants (2 years) that visit me every second Saturday for a chat and a Chinese. One of them works very hard in a factory. The other, his brother, is lazy and won't get a job. He makes every excuse. What does that tell us about immigrants. I also mentor a Gambian guy. His parents were immigrants. They came to the UK with no skills and no qualifications. His dad works as a forklift driver and his mum works as a carer. What does that tell us?

Your statement is just plain daft - completely untrue and unqualified. People are people. They're the same everywhere. They have a whole range of attributes and characteristics. The main difference is the language they speak and their culture.

 

[Ghost1951]

Interesting that they mention one of the factors as "The problem of British nationalism". When I was was at primary school, they taught us to be nationalists. On Empire Day (who remembers that?), you had to bring in a Union Jack, then spend most of the day marching around the playground waving it.

Is it nationalist to cheer on the England football team, or are we now expected to cheer for the other side too? Apparently, the countryside is a "racist and colonial" white space, so instead of a trip out to feed the ducks, we have to go to Bradford for the day. Who do we feed there?

The world's gone nuts. It's basically people saying, "We were here first, so we should get first dibbs on any free stuff. We've been waiting a long time for this free stuff, now people are jumping the queue and getting it before us. That's not fair." Naturally, anybody would be unhappy in that situation, including me. I can't understand why it's gone on for so long. It's clearly antagonising people.

I can also understand those that have enjoyed peace for their whole lives, then, suddenly, they get woken up at 5 o'clock in the morning by the call to prayer. I think I'd complain too if that happened in Telford. I've visited places where it happens, and it's very annoying if you're not involved. You try playing your pop music with speakers stuck on the side of your house, and see how long you last. I think this is what they mean by 2-tier policing. It should be simply illegal to put speakers on the outside of a building and broadcast your music - whatever genre it is.

You and me were born not long after WW2.

Our father and uncles and mothers were in the forces or making armaments.

Nationalism was pretty much the same thing as patriotism.

Both are seen as highly suspect these days and not just by the very young.

These days we are supposed to be ashamed of our history. We bear a collective guilt in the eyes of many, over things that happened here hundreds of years ago. We should even, according to some, pay reparations to people who are descended from people who were enslaved, and who had their lands invaded. Where does this nonsense stop? I enslaved nobody, and will take a very dim view of any government paying out cash to compensate people who were neither enslaved themselves nor had their land expropriated.

The only slaves we have now are the poor women trafficked and abused and sold by Albanian villains. Paradoxically, this stuff is on the rise and big time, but the people most shouting about the evils of nationalism and how we must all feel shame, are the same ones who want nothing done to impede anyone who wants to come here to swim or paddle across the sea to get here. Worse still, they want the borders opened up completely so they can get on a ferry instead of using a tractor tyre or a canoe. Since in 2022 or was it 2023 a third of the irregular arrivals were Young Albanian men, many of whom are now happily integrated into brothel management and the slavery of women, I doubt this policy will contribute to the overall good.

I'd be better off spending my time talking to my grand daughter about fairies and unicorns than writing here. She is keen to understand the world as it really is, even though right now she hasn't quite got everything right.

Her brother and her go to a Catholic school and are having their heads filled with some funny ideas. The other day, I was talking to Paddy who is now eight and we were talking about how the solar system formed and all the stars in our galaxy. I told him how it all formed out of gas clouds and dust and he said, but how did God do that..... So I thought, don't lie to the lad, tell him what you think, and I said, well Paddy, not everyone believes in God, and I don't either. He looked at me sternly - really - sternly and he said, 'Grandpa - that kind of talk will land you up in Hell.'

 

[jamesporritt]

Want to stop immigrants and migrants "stealing" your job? Stop having tantrums and wrecking our streets. Train up and get used to working hard for a living. There's nothing you can do about being old.

 

[Ghost1951]

How many Leyland workers did you know? I knew a few, and they didn't seem any different to anybody else. They said it was only the shop stewards that were the communists.

Which immigrants work harder than the Leyland guys and what skills do they have? I have two friends that are recent immigrants (2 years) that visit me every second Saturday for a chat and a Chinese. One of them works very hard in a factory. The other, his brother, is lazy and won't get a job. He makes every excuse. What does that tell us about immigrants. I also mentor a Gambian guy. His parents were immigrants. They came to the UK with no skills and no qualifications. His dad works as a forklift driver and his mum works as a carer. What does that tell us?

Your statement is just plain daft - completely untrue and unqualified. People are people. They're the same everywhere. They have a whole range of attributes and characteristics. The main difference is the language they speak and their culture.

He didn't know any. Judging by what he writes he is about twenty and has been propagandised by hard left teachers and lecturers.

When we were young we thought to be brainwashed you had to be captured by the Vietcong and kept in a stinking hole with bamboo bars over the top and needed to be starved and beaten and screamed at. Then, somehow you turned and hated your country and your countrymen. Now that isn't done any more. You go to school and then do humanities stuff at university and it all just happens.

Amazing.

 

[Ghost1951]

Want to stop immigrants and migrants "stealing" your job? Stop having tantrums and wrecking our streets. Train up and get used to working hard for a living. There's nothing you can do about being old.

There is something you can do about being young and stupid.

You can grow up.

The most pathetic jibe you can make James is to dismiss someone for being old. Old just means you have lived a life and learned a lot in the process.

YOU have a lot of growing up to do young fella. One day you will be old - if you are lucky. Maybe then you won't be such a ....

 

[lenny]

"Those few who remember those dark times are rapidly passing into the annals of history. And today I hear people talk of “taking our country back”, of “putting ‘our country’ first”, of “immigrants coming over here and taking our jobs”, of “strong and stable leadership”, oblivious it seems, to the fact that it was these same slogans which led to rise of the tyrannies which plunged mankind into the abyss eighty years ago. "

Far-right riots: the price of freedom

The far-right riots recently sweeping across the UK prompt a reflection on similar times in history

centralbylines.co.uk

 

[lenny]

Unfortunate BBC moustache for Nigel Farage

www.independent.co.uk

 

[lenny]

 

[lenny]

I have two friends that are recent immigrants (2 years) that visit me every second Saturday for a chat and a Chinese.

Chinese social media users in hysterics over 'white people food'

'White people food' is trending on Chinese social media platforms as users are bewildered by the typical Western packed lunch, with some even calling it the 'lunch of suffering'.

www.dailymail.co.uk

"There's a new trend in China where people make and eat spiceless "white people lunch", as form of self torture."

https://x.com/TheCartelDel/status/1668512652233179138

 

[Woosh]

Nationalism was pretty much the same thing as patriotism.

• Patriotism is a love for one’s country and a willingness to defend it against enemies.
• Nationalism is an extreme form of patriotism that emphasizes the superiority of one’s country over all others.
• Nationalism can lead to aggressive foreign policies and conflict, whereas patriotism fosters unity and constructive criticism within a nation.

I copied that from google. We have probably all taught to be patriotic from school days but some of us choose nativism later in life.

 

[jamesporritt]

Even if you find any with the right qualifications and experience, employing non-migrants is a risk usually not worth taking. They do less and less, demand more and more money, and you end up working for them.

The unfashionable truth about the riots

As the days slip by, the likelihood that anything will be learned from the recent rioting looks ever more remote. And with that suspicion comes the inevitable sense of déjà-vu. Because we have indeed been here before. In 2011 England was engulfed by riots, originating in London but leading to...

www.spectator.co.uk

 

[Ghost1951]

• Patriotism is a love for one’s country and a willingness to defend it against enemies.
• Nationalism is an extreme form of patriotism that emphasizes the superiority of one’s country over all others.
• Nationalism can lead to aggressive foreign policies and conflict, whereas patriotism fosters unity and constructive criticism within a nation.

I copied that from google. We have probably all taught to be patriotic from school days but some of us choose nativism later in life.

I'm not in the least interested in dissecting definitions. Neither am I interested in arguing about where I fit within the boundaries of your semantic games. What I am concerned about is the conditions of life, the opportunities and the environment of our people who live here now. I am interested in whether the people who live here can live in harmony and share a culture that fosters peace and belonging. This island has gradually become the home of people from all over Europe and beyond. It has resources limited by its comparatively small size. France has more than twice the land area that the UK has and its population is about the same. Spain is 110% the area of the UK and has a much smaller population. Much of our land area is unsuitable for large scale settlement, wet, cold upland areas abound in the northern and western parts of the country leading to a concentration of population in parts of England. Various long term failures in planning and development policy have come together to create an enormous shortage of housing, which causes high costs and damages the quality of life of most young people.

It is my belief that we have allowed our population to grow too large and that we must stop importing people from far away. It is as simple as that. It is also a thorn in my flesh that we have abandoned any attempt to rigorously control who comes here and that criminal gangs are now the de-facto decision makers about who settles here. This is spineless.

 

[Woosh]

The shortage of housing is wilfully implemented by the tories to push up house price.