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Reply | Sir Jim Ratcliffe
at 18:37 19 Feb 2026
I used to work in Bond Street for a while and the after work pub crawl from there up through Marylebone to Baker St was wonderful on a summer's evening...
Sad to see The Pontefract Castle on that route where we stopped off on our way to Wembley in 2011 has closed down. Another old haunt gone... |
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Reply | Sir Jim Ratcliffe
at 18:19 19 Feb 2026
You'll be fine ...
Nice to visit for a short break as there's always things to do and see but living there is a different kettle of fish entirely.
My sister moved there in the early 80s, I moved in the 90s and last worked there in 2020.
I think I saw and enjoyed the best of it but by 2004 I was done living in it.
I'd go back there to work if I had to and it's likely I will at some point, but not 5 days a week - it would have to be hybrid - just dealing with the chaos, sheer volume of people and of course having one eye constantly looking for something /someone kicking off.
It drains you day in and day out...
I've variously described it as a "termite colony with luggage", an "open air lunatic asylum" or "the Tower of Babel on steroids..." 
It's not an age thing either because I hear a lot from people a lot younger than me who feel the same. |
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Reply | Sir Jim Ratcliffe
at 13:32 19 Feb 2026
"When workers were invited to Bradford from Pakistan in the 50's - 70's they shouldn't have been expected to adapt to the civic norms of the area and a community they weren't from, they were needed to prop up the local economy and invited to do this. Proper integration would have allowed this but we expected them to assimilate which they didn't and should not have been expected to do"
By and large they did though. I speak with some knowledge of this because one of my oldest friends family were part of that initial wave into Bradford and Leeds. These Kashmiris and Punjabis made great efforts to integrate and consequently their kids and grandkids went to the local schools and are as British as me and you. The problem was that successive waves tended to be from more rural areas of Pakistan, especially Mirpur and were less educated and less willing to adapt and in many cases less willing to work in non-family businesses, seeing a ready made community they felt no obligation to look outside it. Consequently, there is a certain amount of resentment among first and second generation Pakistanis towards more insular recent arrivals as they feel a lot of the well publiciised problems associated with Pakistani Muslims stem from the more recent diaspora and they don't want to be associated with them for that very reason. They are unsuprisingly anti mass-immigration because they worked bloody hard to build a life for themselves in the UK and now see it being undermined. I can only speak for Leeds & Bradford but it's a likely similar story all over the UK. |
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Reply | ARRESTED
at 12:02 19 Feb 2026
Mandelson's arrest can't be far off then... |
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Reply | Small Prophets
at 02:16 19 Feb 2026
Watched Ep 1 and then binged the lot.
Like Detectorists it's gentle and seductive British comedy at its best...
I might watch it all again soon in fact.
Currently watching Vigil which for some unfathomable reason I miseed first time round, very good claustrophobic Cold War espionage thriller in the le Carre mould Series 3 out soon I'm told... |
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Reply | Cardiff centric again
at 14:15 18 Feb 2026
The station makeover is also completely uneccessary in my opinion. Just a vanity project for those who can't spend money fast enough.....as long as it's spent in Cardiff of course.
All gone a bit quiet on The Swansea Bay Metro project as well or have I missed something ? [Post edited 18 Feb 14:27]
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Reply | Sir Jim Ratcliffe
at 14:12 18 Feb 2026
Yes I remember it back in the 70s/early 80s having some good places to eat along there and some antique shops we used to visit, but by the 90s it had become a bit grotty with loads of fast food places springing up. A similar decline happened with High St although I'm a bit young to remember its heyday. |
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Reply | Sir Jim Ratcliffe
at 13:04 18 Feb 2026
St Helens was dodgy day or night over 30 years ago when I lived near there. Full of smackheads and aggressive beggars - I think there was a place near there where they could get methadone and a few hostels IIRC. Don't know if that's still the case. Only visted that area once or twice since we left the Vetch for a nostalgic drink in the Westbourne. |
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Reply | 2026 Unemployment
at 20:00 17 Feb 2026
Ah Paul.
A magnanimous Pontardawe man and a true fierce Cymro both footy and rugger…
I was very upset I couldn’t make his funeral as I was riddled with gout at the time, a condition now managed thankfully with lifestyle changes and meds. I was in a bad way otherwise hell or highwater wouldn’t have stopped me.
3 fine sons are his legacy. Why do the good die young eh ?
Respect…. |
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Reply | Sir Jim Ratcliffe
at 16:41 17 Feb 2026
I don't know anyone who had a problem with immigration 20-25 years ago myself included. Our cities were a melting pot of different cultures that integrated well.
Today most folk ARE bothered about it as socio-economic priority. It dominates any discussion about current affairs more than the cost of living.
The main problem is the scale of it between now and then - it's not immigration for skills shortages it's an invasion of millions mainly it has to be said by people from Third World Islamic cultures that have no wish to integrate on any level with Western society or its values. The fact that this has been allowed to happen is scandalous and those responsible should face prosecution.
A few years back, after work on a summer's evening, I walked through Southall in West London and down the Grand Union Canal to Hayes. In the past we used to go there to eat authentic cheap curries as it was a predominately Asian area due to an influx of railway workers in the 50s 60s replacing the previous workforce which had a strong Welsh contingent from GWR. It was a Friday afternoon and the busy streets were full of people out and about. There were still a number of Asian shops and clothes stores but what was noticable was that the main demographic was now overwelmingly African Islamic. I walked for 2 miles amonst thousands of people and the only white faces I saw were the clothes store mannekins. Not one.
It might be hard to believe if you haven't experienced it but when people say that Newham, Tower Hamlets in London or Sparkbrook in Birmingham are "like downtown Mogadishu" they are not exaggerating.
Our towns and cities are rapidly changing beyond all recognition and not for the better.
Paralell nations are fast developing and will lead to the Balkanisation of the UK with inevitable consequences, I've been saying it for years unless someone gets a grip of it - it may already be too late.
This is why Sir Jim's words resonated with many. You may well dismiss it as racism but the point he was making is rooted in cold hard facts. |
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Reply | 2026 Unemployment
at 15:45 17 Feb 2026
Speaking of Tesco many Tesco Express in my area are having to close during hours they are supposed to be open due to staff shortages.
Speaking to the staff in my local one the hours, pay, terms and conditions are so bad many quit after a few weeks and the reputation is now so bad they can't get people to apply. |
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Reply | Sir Jim Ratcliffe
at 04:16 17 Feb 2026
"You can lead a horse to water but..."
...You can't legally smash it over the head and drown the fecker....Shame as there's a few candidates on here...  [Post edited 17 Feb 4:31]
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Reply | What a team
at 04:06 17 Feb 2026
Is that the best you can do ?
You know your argument is toast.
Moldovans. Romanians, Albanians, Kosovans....?
Not overly brown...
Leeches and parasites tend to come from, yes, sunnier climes to wet w@nky white GB...
Try harder.... [Post edited 17 Feb 15:03]
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Reply | Man stoned to death
at 03:56 17 Feb 2026
Failing to understand how this isn't murder
Nonce or not he was lured there and attacked.
Pre-meditated. |
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Reply | Why has Starmer cancelled elections and blocked Burham
at 03:38 17 Feb 2026
The real fascists are those that cloak themselves in Fabian garb...
We see you, telling us daily how you are working on our behalf....
For our own good....
*ankers. One and all. Yet we have patronising Leftist slugs on here telling us that WE are the problem...
Thick as mince....Though true to form they'll accuse you of that because you're devoid of critical thinking aren't you...?
In our GB News bubble where we get our daily televisual Methodone and set aside a lifetime of lived experience....?
LOL! Despicable people.... [Post edited 17 Feb 3:48]
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Reply | UAE concerned about British Radicalisation!
at 02:01 16 Feb 2026
Pro-Western moderate progressive Muslim nations like the UAE have been warning us against this sh/t for decades...
The warnings have been buried in the mainstream press deliberately.
It's all out there...Google is your friend |
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Reply | Sir Jim Ratcliffe
at 01:41 16 Feb 2026
Facts aren't racist.
‘United wishes and good will cannot overcome brute facts, Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it. Ignorance may deride it. Malice may distort it. But there it is.’ - Winston Churchill
As the saviour of Western civilisation and a lifelong opponent of Bolshevism the rabid, flea-riddled left hate Churchill with passion of course....as do the followers of the paedophile desert warlord..
“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia (rabies) in a dog" - Winston Churchill
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't recall Sir Jim, Rupert Lowe or any other self-made Brit millionaire blowing up kids at a music venue in Manchester of late or organising and facilitating the mass rape of thousands of young girls....?
However, Radcliffe, Rowling, Churchill and Lowe are the sort of terrible people we should be on our guard against in this wonderful diverse nation of ours aren't they...?
Answers on a postcard to Labour HQ, 20 Rushworth Street, Southwark, London, SE1 0RB [Post edited 16 Feb 2:07]
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Reply | What a team
at 00:41 15 Feb 2026
Careful now !
You'll upset the Pearl Clutchers on here with popular proclaimationss like that... |
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Reply | Six Nations Preview
at 23:26 14 Feb 2026
Watched that and enjoyed it far more than the horror that usually goes with watching the first XV these days
There's some decent looking players in there. One or two could do with some dietary and conditioning advice though but that's not taking away from their effort on the pitch. |
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Reply | Stephen Stills RIP
at 23:07 12 Feb 2026
Oh no.....
So many in that musical tree have gone.....Gene Clark, Crosby, Martin. Clarke, Palmer, Gram Parsons....
I love that genre...great music [Post edited 12 Feb 23:09]
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