#Surrey heath

[insidecroydon]

Watch out Michael Gove! Croydon Labour are coming for you!

The ink on the formal declaration of her election as a councillor for Woodside was barely dry before the names of one favoured Labour member was popping up as a parliamentary candidate. By WALTER CRONXITE, political editor Jess Rich has not yet attended her first full meeting at Croydon Town Hall as the newly elected councillor for Woodside ward before her alter ego, “Jess-Hammersley-Rich”, has…

[britishsportinglegends]

Jonny Wilkinson.

[pers-books]

Sunrise at Walton Heath, Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey. Photographer: Claire Hitch.

[dansnaturepictures]

28th September 2023: Bushy Park

More photos from today in this set are of: 1. Grey Squirrel. 2. Water mint. 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Beautiful views of this picturesque park adorned by willow trees, I always enjoy the quite artistic surroundings here especially by the water and it was nice to see the sun bursting through at times. 4. A Small Heath I enjoyed seeing in the midst of Red Deer watching and walking around, doing this trip or one like it every year it's interesting you always get something unique to that particular year's trip and this was that moment this year I had seen them at Richmond Park briefly before I believe and it was a nice moment watching this pretty butterfly which I've had a good year for. 9. One of the stars of the trip always, a Ring-necked Parakeet ensconced in a chestnut tree. It was a delight to watch these streamlined emerald birds dashing through the sky with their eccentric calls and weaving through trees. These are birds we have locally now too so these royal park visits no longer bring them into our year but there's still such a special and atmospheric thing about being embraced by them when around London. They are charismatic to watch. 10. Another of the star birds of this place enjoyed again and a star this week for me, the exotic Egyptian Goose.

Alongside the numerous Red Deer and Fallow Deer seen well which my last post mentions, other highlights today were a fair few Jays seen well making it feel autumnal, Carrion Crow, a duo of Jackdaw and Feral Pigeon taking in an interest in our lunch and tea and muffin stops, Green Woodpecker, Grey Heron, Cormorant atop the Diana fountain, a nice few House Martins and possibly Swallow, a nice few Starlings not once we've seen here often before, Robin, Great Tits, elegant Mute Swan, great Moorhen and Coot views, Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Common Darter and Migrant Hawker dragonflies, wasp and hoverfly. Beautiful water lilies, hawksbeard, ragwort, creeping thistle, spurrey and hawthorn berries were other plant highlights. It was good to see Goldfinches and possible Hummingbird hawk-moth in the garden this morning.

[graaaaceeliz]

Look at this cheerful little dude turning to the sun! This was taken on Headley Heath in Surrey. Anyone know what it is?

[thefollyflaneuse]

The Obelisk, Camberley, Surrey

In the town of Camberley a truncated tower stands on a hilltop surrounded by trees. This is the surviving remnant of an elegant tower, built by John Norris, which stood on the open country known as Bagshot Heath. It has been known since its earliest days as ‘The Obelisk’, for in the 18th century the term was sometimes used to describe any tall, tapering structure. Although only a sorry stump…

[timdodds]

Surrey Heath Museum displays WW1 links between Frimley and Isle of Man

Among the many interesting stories about German WW1 prisoners of war held in the camp at Frith Hill in Frimley is the link between the Frith Hill camp and Knockaloe camp in the Isle of Man, where prisoners were moved from Frith Hill to the Isle of Man. The current Surrey Heath Museum exhibition explores those links

[labuenosairesfrancaise]

OTTERSHAW PARK

The mansion

Hi guys!!

I'm sharing Ottershaw Park. This is the 18th building for my English Collection.

I decorated most of the house ground floor, for reference.

The interiors:

History of the house: In 1784 Thomas Sewell died and ownership of Ottershaw Park passed to his son, Thomas Bailey Heath Sewell, Lieutenant Colonel in the Surrey Fencible Cavalry. He sold it in 1796 to Edmund Boehm who improved the interior of the house and enlarged the estate by buying tracts of wasteland and allotments.

In about 1805 Boehm built, to the design of the eminent architect James Wyatt, two Grecian-style lodges at the new entrance to the estate from where a coach road ran to the mansion. The same architect may also have designed for Boehm the Gothic Chapel which originally served as a kitchen, bake house, dairy and pantry but was demolished in 1962.

Ottershaw Park was bought in 1819 by Major General Sir George Wood, a Lieutenant General in the Bengal Army. At this time the estate was largely self-supporting with stables, smithy, brew house, bake house, laundry, dairy, slaughter houses, ice house and two farms.

Sir George died in 1824 and the estate passed to his son, also named George, who in 1841 sold the property to Richard Crawshay who built a new bailiff’s house, farm buildings and brew house.

On Crawshay’s death in 1859 the estate was bought by Sir Thomas Edward Colebrooke MP, who made a number of alterations to the mansion. He also gave the money and land for the building of Christchurch and the first village school.

The estate was later sold to Lawrence James Baker, a stockbroker and MP who sold it in 1910 to the millionaire, Friedrich Gustav Jonathan Eckstein. Eckstein demolished the old mansion and replaced it with the present building designed by Niven & Wigglesworth which is more magnificent and much larger.

During World War I Eckstein made the building available to the British Red Cross as an Auxiliary Home Hospital but soon after the war sold it to Miss Susan Dora Cecilia Schintz, the daughter of a Swiss nitrates millionaire. Miss Schintz lost most of her sizeable inheritance through gifts to charity and bad investments and finally had to sell the estate. Much of it was acquired by the Ottershaw Park Investment Company (OPIC) which planned to develop the rim of the estate for housing. In 1932 the mansion and central part of the park became Ottershaw College, a boarding school for boys which for a short time was very successful, but eventually became insolvent and finally closed at the outbreak of World War II.

During the war The Vacuum Oil Company leased the mansion as offices and laboratories. From 1940 much of the surrounding land was either ploughed for crops or grazed as part of the war effort and the woodland areas were used by the 19 Vehicle Reserve Depot (VRD) for storing vehicles.

The Vacuum Oil Company moved back to London at the end of 1947 and Surrey County Council established Ottershaw School which was opened in 1948. The school prospered until 1980 when it closed due to financial constraints.

In 1982 the developers DeltaHome converted the mansion and other buildings into the present residential estate.

Link: https://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/places/surrey/runnymede/ottershaw/ottershaw_park_estate/

The garden:

More info: https://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/places/surrey/runnymede/ottershaw/ottershaw_park_estate/

The floorplan:

This house fits a 64x64  lot, but I think you can make it a 50x40 if you lose part of the garden and the conservatories on each side.

Piano nobile furnished, the rest is up to your liking.

Hope you like it.

You will need the usual CC I use:

all Felixandre cc

all The Jim

SYB

Anachrosims

Regal Sims

King Falcon railing

The Golden Sanctuary

Cliffou

Dndr recolors

Harrie cc

Tuds

Lili's palace cc

Please enjoy, comment if you like the house and share pictures of your game!

Follow me on IG: https://www.instagram.com/sims4palaces/

@sims4palaces

DOWNLOAD (only members-free to download)

[olympic-paris]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more …

September 9

1898 – John Beverley Nichols (d.1983), was an author, playwright, journalist, composer, and public speaker.

Between his first book, the novel Prelude, published in 1920, and his last, a book of poetry, Twilight, published in 1982, Nichols wrote more than 60 books and plays. Besides novels, mysteries, short stories, essays and children's books, he wrote a number of non-fiction books on travel, politics, religion, cats, parapsychology, and autobiography. He wrote for a number of magazines and newspapers throughout his life, the longest being weekly columns for the London Sunday Chronicle newspaper (1932–1943) and Woman's Own magazine (1946–1967).

A book about Nichols' city garden near Hampstead Heath in London, Green Grows the City, published in 1939, was another big best seller. That book introduced Arthur R. Gaskin, who was Nichols' manservant from 1924 until Gaskin's death in 1966. Gaskin was a popular character, who also appeared in the succeeding gardening books.

A later trilogy written between 1951 and 1956 documents Nichols's travails renovating Merry Hall (Meadowstream), a Georgian manor house in Agates Lane, Ashtead, Surrey, where Nichols lived from 1946 to 1956. These books often feature his gifted but laconic gardener "Oldfield". Nichols's final trilogy is referred to as "The Sudbrook Trilogy" (1963–1968) and concerns his late 18th-century attached cottage at Ham, (near Richmond), Surrey.

Nichols wrote on a wide range of topics, always looking for "the next big thing." As examples, he ghostwrote Dame Nellie Melba's 1925 "autobiography" Memories and Melodies (he was at the time her personal secretary - his 1933 book Evensong was believed based on aspects of her life). In 1966 he wrote A Case of Human Bondage about the marriage and divorce of writer William Somerset Maugham and his interior-decorator wife, Syrie, which was highly critical of Maugham. Father Figure, which appeared in 1972 and in which he described how he had tried to murder his alcoholic and abusive father, caused a great uproar and several people asked for his prosecution. His book about spiritualism was not well received, which disappointed him.

He was homosexual and is thought to have had a brief affair with the war poet Siegfried Sassoon. Nichols's long-term companion was Cyril Butcher, the main beneficiary of Nichols's will, amounting to £131,750.

1949 – John Curry (d.1994) had a combination of athleticism and grace which brought him enormous success in figure skating. A five-time champion in his native Britain, he also won gold medals in world and Olympic competition. Although it was a potentially career-destroying move, Curry came out publicly as a gay man before the 1976 Winter Olympics, becoming one of the very few elite athletes to come out while still competing. Throughout his career, he consistently spoke candidly about his sexual orientation.

Curry was born in Birmingham, England, where his father was an engineer and factory-owner. As a small child Curry became fascinated with dance, but his father considered dancing inappropriate for boys and firmly vetoed the idea of dance lessons. He did, however, allow young Curry to take up figure skating at age seven. With his natural aptitude and dedication, Curry won his first competition a year later. He continued to have success and went on to win the British junior title in 1967. Although Curry's father had agreed to let the boy become a figure skater, he showed little enthusiasm for his son's athletic endeavors. Only twice did he see Curry skate.

After his father's death, Curry, then sixteen, moved to London, where he began taking the long-denied dance lessons and worked part-time to eke out enough money to pay for coaching for his skating. Curry placed second in the 1968 and 1969 British championships and won the first of his five national titles in 1970. Like his contemporary Toller Cranston of Canada, with whom he shared a number of traits, including homosexuality, Curry suffered from the prejudice of judges against his skating style, which emphasized grace and artistry, and which some considered "feminine," even though Curry also demonstrated mastery in jumping and other physically demanding aspects of the sport.

Curry bare-chested

Curry's glory year was 1976. After a narrow victory over Robin Cousins in the British championships, he went on to win gold medals in the European Championships, the Olympic Games, and the World Championships. Curry had the honor of carrying the English flag at the opening ceremony of the Olympics, and after his triumph at the games, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire. He was also named England's sporting personality of the year. Curry had come out publicly as a gay man prior to the Olympics, and upon his return to Britain he spoke openly about his sexuality. Curry turned professional after his win at the World Championships. Saying that he "never could see the point of spending 12 years training to go dress up in a Bugs Bunny suit," he turned down lucrative offers from established ice shows and formed his own company, one that emphasized dance.

His Ice Dancing show was a hit on Broadway as well as in London, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. In his production Curry sought to explore the relationship between skating and dance. Twyla Tharp was among the choreographers with whom he collaborated. Curry also did choreography for the first show and took an increasing role in subsequent productions, choreographing fifteen of twenty-four numbers in the 1984 version of the show. These included Johann Strauss's Skater's Waltz, which Curry performed with JoJo Starbuck, and an ensemble piece to Aaron Copland's Rodeo.

Curry sporting a nice bunch

In addition to his skating career, Curry appeared in a number of plays, including a 1980 Broadway production of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's Brigadoon that was choreographed by Agnes de Mille. Curry's performance of the "Sword Dance" was a highlight of the show. Curry saw AIDS take a toll in the skating world. "It is hard to watch people in that situation, and it was frightening when people started to become ill," he said, adding "You start to think 'When is it going to be my turn?'" It was in late 1987 that Curry found out that he, too, was HIV-positive. The following year he participated in Skating for Life, a show to help fund AIDS research. His final skating performance in 1989 was part of another AIDS benefit.

Diagnosed with full-blown AIDS in 1991, Curry returned to England to spend his last years with his elderly mother. He died on April 15, 1994 in Binton, Warwickshire. Curry was held in high regard by the skating community. World and Olympic champion Peggy Fleming described him as "totally devoted to the art of skating," and Olympic medalist Paul Wylie lauded him as "the ultimate skater." Because of his artistic interpretation of the music of classical composers, Curry has been called the "Nureyev of the ice." He was also much admired for his candor and courage in coming out despite the potential risk to his athletic career. Curry was always forthright in this regard. In a 1992 interview he stated, "I never pretended not to be homosexual, ever."

1968 – Nathan Lee Graham is an American actor and singer. His roles in feature film include Zoolander and Zoolander 2, Sweet Home Alabama, Hitch, and the Fox comedy series LA to Vegas. He has appeared in independent films including Confessions of an Action Star, Bad Actress and Trophy Kids.

His stage credits include the original Broadway cast of The Wild Party and the Tony Awards nominated Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. He won a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Feature Performer in a Musical in The Wild Party LA Premiere in 2005.

Nathan Lee Graham is a graduate of Webster University in St. Louis, MO.

In 2017, Graham won the José Esteban Muñoz Award from CLAGS: the Center for LGBTQ Studies (formerly known as Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies) at The Graduate Center, CUNY. The award is given to an LGBTQ Activist who promotes Queer Studies outside of academia.

1971 – Eric Stonestreet is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for portraying Cameron Tucker in the ABC mockumentary sitcom Modern Family, for which he received two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series out of three nominations.

Stonestreet first rose to prominence in a recurring role on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He has appeared in films and telefilms including Bad Teacher (2012), Identity Thief and The Loft (both 2013), and Confirmation (2016), and provided the voice of Duke in The Secret Life of Pets (2016).

Stonestreet was born in Kansas City. During his childhood, he wanted to become a clown. As a child, he created a clown character named Fizbo, and by age 11 was performing at 6- and 7-year-olds' birthday parties; Stonestreet recalled in 2012, "I don’t know where the name Fizbo came from. I do know one day that's what my dad was calling me and that's the name that I printed on my business cards." The name Fizbo was used for a clown character he periodically plays on Modern Family.

Despite his most prominent role being a gay character, Stonestreet is heterosexual and has lightheartedly described himself as "openly straight". His gay co-star, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who plays Stonestreet's character's partner Mitchell Pritchett, jokingly called Stonestreet "gay-for-pay". Stonestreet is a supporter of the LGBT community; he declined to be photographed with Rick Santorum, an opponent of same-sex marriage.

1997 – Dylan Geick is an American social media personality, writer, and amateur wrestler. He speaks on his experience as an LGBTQ person in athletics and the army. Geick wrestled for the Columbia Lions from 2017 to 2018. Geick served in the United States Army for a brief period of just over one year, before leaving.

Geick was born on in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. At Stevenson High School, Geick was a three-time member of the Illinois Freestyle national team and came in 4th in 152 lb and 160 lb weight divisions at the Illinois High School Sports Association state Championships 2 years in a row.

In 2017, Geick self-published Early Works: A Collection of Poetry. He is a YouTuber and speaks on his experience as an out LGBT athlete and Internet celebrity. For a time Geick was involved in a relationship with fellow YouTuber and internet celebrity Jackson Krecioch. In 2019, Geick helped advise the National Collegiate Athletic Association on its compensation policy.

After his 2017 graduation from Stevenson, Geick went to Columbia University. Shortly after committing to attend, a series of homophobic, sexist, and racist comments surfaced in the wrestling team's GroupMe. The coach, Zach Tanelli, reached out to Geick to condemn the comments. Geick joined the Columbia Lions wrestling team and studied English. In late 2019, Geick went on leave from the school and enlisted in the United States Army.

In 2016, Geick began posting pictures of him with his boyfriend on Instagram and then came out as gay to some schoolmates. He came out to wider audiences in 2017 in an article in Stevenson's school newspaper and a profile in Outsports. From 2017 to 2019, he was in an on-again, off-again relationship with YouTuber Jackson Krecioch.

[theroyalsandi]

The Princess of Wales visits the Parchmore Methodist Youth and Community Centre in Thornton Heath, Surrey | February 02, 1983

[same-name-supremacy]

Here are the provinces where they are from. How fun!

Featuring a map of Canada to help you

Opal: Pickering, Ontario

Glenn: Guelph, Ontario

Heath: Surrey, British Columbia

Danika: Brampton, Ontario

Leshawn: Toronto, Ontario

Ginnifer: Vancouver, British Columbia

DJ: Muskoka, Ontario

Lincoln: Calgary, Alberta

Bryson: Kelowna, British Columbia

Trin: Halifax, Nova Scotia

Harriet: Edmonton, Alberta

Corey: Winnipeg, Manitoba

Seth: Beausejour, Manitoba

Jody: Oakville, Ontario

Issac: Hamilton, Ontario

Taylor: Calgary, Alberta

Kam and Sam: Toronto, Ontario

Justine: Montreal, Quebec

Noelle: Regina, Saskatchewan

Evan: Fredericton, New Brunswick

Elizabeth: Love, Saskatchewan

Alejandra: Ottawa, Ontario

Simon: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

[insidecroydon]

Greens, residents and LibDems put squeeze on Tory Surrey

Follow the yellow brick road: political editor WALTER CRONXITE takes a flight of fancy over the new political map of south-east England after last week’s local elections, which have given the LibDems much encouragement Pathway to success?: the LibDems are targeting Tory ministers’ seats in Surrey after last week’s results The fields of Surrey, Sussex and Kent are awash in vibrant green and yellow…

[senditothemoonn]

Hey I have this headcanon about where Arthur would probably live.

I can imagine that Arthur probably has 2 homes back in England. The first is a cottage out in the English countryside, probably in Berkshire or Surrey, someplace that’s removed from the urban sprawl of London but not too far out from civilization. This may have been an estate a long time ago but now it’s just a quaint cottage that houses some relics and memorabilia that he owns throughout the centuries. He usually prefers to stay out here to get away from the hussle of his job, and is a pretty private place of his. No one outside of his immediate circle, which I think includes Francis, his brothers, Alfred, Matthew, and other close friends like Port, have ever been to this place. It’s very special to him.

The second place he owns is actually based on the neighborhood I stayed in when I was visiting my cousin in London last year! He also owns a flat in North London that he uses when he has to report in for work for the both the Prime Minister and the King when he’s needed. I can imagine him living in this area of North London called Hampstead (my cousin who lives in London lives here and it’s this very pretty and charming little neighborhood), which has these Victorian flats with nice gardens in the back. I took a ton of pictures when I was in London last year and they’re below. But I can imagine him staying out in his garden, sitting at a table, drinking tea and reading the morning papers. Hampstead also has this massive park called Hampstead Heath that I imagine he likes to go on walks whenever he’s there. I can see him and Francis going on many walks through the neighborhood and through the Heath when they are in London.

And honestly Francis loves both places! He thinks the London flat is charming and exciting to be at. Although he teases London in front of Arthur, deep down he loves the city’s vibe and culture. But he also loves going to Arthur’s cottage. There’s something so relaxing about being away from work out in the countryside - especially for Francis since he only owns an apartment in Paris.

Sorry for the rambling, I just had a lot of thought on this, I hope you don’t mind! But here are some pictures I took while I was in Hampstead last year!

Ahhh I LOVE THIS 💖 I can definitely see him having a home in the city and one in the country because there are two Arthur's in my head: the stuffy London gentleman and the grumpy countryside grandpa. Like it’s so easy to imagine him dashing down the steps of his town house to catch the tube to work wearing his tweed suit and a bristling scowl, briefcase in hand, leather satchel over his shoulder.

But at the same time, city life definitely overwhelms him sometimes and it is just as easy to picture him in his plaid pyjamas, dressing gown, and slippers; night cap set to a jaunty 30 degree angle; and a woolly blanket over his lap as he falls asleep in his William Morris armchair in front of the TV at 8pm (although lets be honest this would happen regardless of his geographical location, but there is something so peaceful and idyllic about the countryside that makes this hit different. And actually, if he were in the city, he would be falling asleep at his desk on top of a pile of paperwork…)

Sometimes I imagine his only residence to be a cute little cottage but I can’t quite let go of the image of him squashed into a tube carriage, headphones in - probably listening to Queen - and, despite the grotesque glower, he is in his element. It also makes a lot of sense for him to live somewhere closer when going to work (low-key shuddered at the word king but hey ho) but he is a quaint little cottage guy at heart.

<3

As for Franny, of course he has his Paris appartement with an unparalleled view of the Eiffel Tower, and he spends a lot of time there (work, meetings, dates with Arthur/Alasdair) but I also imagine him having a beautiful Provençal country house in which he spends most of his time. Just like Arthur, I think Fran has two sides: the chic, sophisticated fashionista of Paris, and the equally chic and sophisticated fashionista of the countryside asdfgsfghj. I just like to imagine him in his moderately sized bastide, sipping wine on a deck chair in the sun, working on his tan, and falling asleep with a book on his lap.

And of course he is always inviting his close friends around for dinner, including Arthur and his brothers as well as Al and Matt, among a few others! And when he is not living there, I think he would let friends/family/people he trusted stay there gratis. And tbh it is a big house and I don’t imagine he would enjoy rattling around in it alone very often so he always has someone round to keep him company be that platonic or romantic...

Like just imagine all the summers he and Arthur would spend there. Fran is in his element here, but Arthur? Well, he gets uncomfortable when the temperature breaches a modest 25 degrees. He will burn as red as a tomato even with factor 50 and Francis will laugh and poke fun at his sun-dried boyfriend but will ultimately look after him very well ❤️‍🩹

Also since we are here, this is the car he drives.

[mariacallous]

I crept into the inaugural Westminster meeting of The Future of the Right, a Policy Exchange project from a bygone age of Tory ascendancy. I admit it: there’s a certain schadenfreude in observing the remnants of what was the “natural party of government” for most of my lifetime as it tries to adjust to its worst defeat in history. The programme from the group that still calls itself “the UK’s leading thinktank” will mark next year’s 50th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher becoming party leader, and the 100th anniversary of her birth. Are the Conservatives capable of grasping how profoundly they have lost any sense of the country they used to govern or why their eviction was the single, clear-as-a-bell voters’ imperative? Are they willing or able to do so? Not from what I heard.

This is a project of “the right”; its commissioners include Rupert Lowe, Great Yarmouth’s new Reform MP, sitting alongside new Tory MP Katie Lam, a former Goldman Sachs vice president and special adviser to Suella Braverman. Charles Moore is their august keeper of the Thatcherite flame. They are led by Paul Goodman, a Tory grandee, who writes a column that warns: “Unless the right changes course, Britain is dooming itself to perpetual Labour rule”. Their Tory-leaning pollsters include Rachel Wolf – founder of Public First, No 10 adviser and author of Boris Johnson’s 2019 manifesto – and James Kanagasooriam of FocalData, coiner of the phrase and idea of the “red wall”.

“We in the Conservative party absolutely deserved to get thrashed,” was an opening burst of reality from Wolf. She excoriated almost everything about the party. Without change, she said, “we deserve to be consigned to oblivion”. That began to sound hopeful, alongside Lam’s “We have no divine right to exist.” Pollster Kanagasooriam also laid out their dread state. With the Liberal Democrats winning Britain’s erstwhile most rightwing seat, Surrey Heath, he said, the Tories must decide if they are for economic conservatism or social conservatism, which has recently meant fighting anti-woke wars.

The room was full of old troupers, rightist thinktankers, ex-MPs and young besuited wannabes waiting for a someday right revival. But they offered scant daylight as the floor and platform echoed with the old sounds: small state, “freedom”, “let people keep more of their money” and “make their own choices”, and “deregulate” the nanny state.

MPs selecting their sixth leader in eight years revealed the depth of their dysfunction in their round one choice of the very essence of their unelectability. Robert Jenrick topped that poll. Who is he? A man whose outings in the public eye include fast-tracking a £1bn planning application by Richard Desmond, a party donor and former purveyor of top-shelf magazines, which could have deprived needy Tower Hamlets council of £45m of revenue had it gone ahead. As immigration minister he ordered staff at an asylum reception centre for children to strip illustrations of Mickey Mouse and Baloo from The Jungle Book from the walls, warning that this was “not a welcome centre”. He would leave the European convention on human rights, though most voters want to stay. He’s anti-net zero, defying the 77% of voters who are worried about climate change. He believes any protester shouting “Allahu Akbar” should be arrested. He would vote for Trump (only 20% of British voters would do the same). As “best prime minister”, the public rate him 20% against 48% for Keir Starmer. (The other leadership contenders do scarcely better.) If his views are closest to those of the party members making the final choice, they are sunk.

Here, at the right’s ideasfest, the water is already flooding in. There are no signs of new thinking, quite the opposite. In this forum, Moore is an anchor, the original old fogey reprising the happy days of Thatcher’s arrival 50 years ago as he read from his noted biography extolling her values and convictions, and her wily politics. These days, among the post-Brexit Tory mayhem, he passes for their saner wing: at least he is not pro-Trump or Putin. Next to Lowe of the Trump-Farage party, Moore was enlightenment itself.

And yet Moore represents the core of the Tories’ problem. When he says of the Thatcher era that “it is time to stop squandering that inheritance”, he embodies the anti-state religion that makes his party unelectable. Until they think the unthinkable and escape the Thatcher fetish, until they understand that she has finally been proved wrong on almost everything, they will stay lost to modern Britain. Privatisations have collapsed into spectacular unpopularity – water, energy, rail, mail, social care, children’s homes and council homes. The “left behind” ruins of her de-industrialisations scar the social landscape. The inequality that soared under her leadership remains an economic as well as a social disaster. Deregulation’s crusade against red tape was tragically exposed in the Grenfell horror. And most people now know all this.

Thatcher used to say, “You will always spend the pound in your pocket better than the state will”, but most people would rather pay more tax than see the underfunded public realm buckle. Even if it means personally paying more tax, 40% of Britons want public services improved, compared with 27% who choose tax cuts. “The right needs a programme that will address the fundamental problems facing the country,” said one of the more sensibles. Yes indeed. But there is no sign of that on the horizon.

From the floor I asked the last question: none of those problems can be solved by less government, only by more, so how will they address them? (“AI” was the empty reply from one panellist.) Voters want more from the state, not less: better NHS, schools, environment, police and everything else. How does the Conservative party adapt to that?

The only coherent reply came from Wolf. “If Labour fails, then we can say that proves the state can’t do everything. The public will move to the right.” OK, but flip that coin: if Labour succeeds in steadily improving public services, then this party has nothing to say. Escape from Thatcher idolatry and Brexit fantasy looks unimaginable, but until someone dares to make that break, they are lost. The only comfort, said Kanagasooriam, is Labour’s victory on just 34% of the vote. And the electorate’s new volatility.

All governments fail in the end. Failure comes in infinite varieties, from events out of the blue, to loss of grip, losing touch, exhaustion of ideas and hubris. Labour is learning on the job that rational policies, such as taking the winter fuel allowance from better-off pensioners, are not necessarily good politics. (Expect a finessing mitigation soon, such as cheaper social energy tariffs for all on low incomes.)

The new volatility threatens the old duopoly from all sides. Plausible populists can spring up: never say never. But in the here and now, it is simply implausible that they could succeed on any platform resembling small-state Thatcherism. Until the budget, we don’t know how expansive Labour will be, but its greatest risk would be failing to set the public realm back on its feet after the austerity years.

Starmer removed that portrait of Margaret Thatcher from his No 10 study - and riled the right by doing so, but if ever a group needed to deradicalise itself from her, that group is the Tories. She looms, she haunts, she is ever-present. It is a debilitating deification they will have to address if they are ever to get near power again.

[toothwalker]

Chatley Heath, Surrey, UK (09 August 2024)

quite a lucky shot of the sun behind two thin dead pines! the heath is badly overgrown but it looks like they are doing some restoration work. the heather and ling is in full bloom and I saw a lot of what I think were digger wasps, nesting on the edges of the sand paths, didn't get a picture cause my new camera wasn't working (these are phone photos)

[coochiequeens]

I am not making light of this guys ordeal because it's a man. I'm just saying that this was an example of male violence therefore it should say "Man who was tortured by trans activist brands HIM 'dangerous'

EXCLUSIVE Hospital worker, 52, who was kidnapped and tortured by trans activist who told a cheering crowd to 'punch TERFs in the face' brands her a 'dangerous, violent individual'

Darren Sheridan spoke publicly for the first time of how he feared he would die

He has hit out at zealot over inflammatory comments against feminists

By DAVID PILDITCH

PUBLISHED: 04:26 EDT, 16 July 2023 | UPDATED: 05:10 EDT, 16 July 2023

A hospital worker kidnapped and tortured by a transgender activist who told a cheering crowd at a rally to 'punch TERFs in the face' today branded her a 'dangerous, violent individual'.

Darren Sheridan, 52, spoke publicly for the first time of how he feared he would die after being savagely beaten and tormented during 24 hours held captive by Sarah Jane Baker and her brother.

Now he has hit out at the zealot over her inflammatory comments against feminists critical of trans ideology.

I think if people disagree with other people about issues it's much better to have a debate about it then threaten people. By telling the crowd to punch a TERF, she clearly still has anger issues and is a dangerous, violent person.'

Darren knows only too well the level of violence Baker is capable of.

After he was kidnapped Darren was subjected to appalling beatings and forced to carry out humiliating sex acts before being trussed up in a cupboard and left to die.

Recalling harrowing details for the first time he told MailOnline how Baker and her brother showed no remorse after admitting their appalling crimes.

He said: 'I thought I was going to die but in the court case they said that the only thing they regretted about it was that they couldn't break me.'

The brothers were jailed for seven years by a judge who described the ordeal as 'an exercise in sadism and cruelty which may well have led to his death'.

Baker, now 53, ended up spending 30 years in jail after she was convicted of attempted murder for breaking into a prisoner's cell and trying to strangle him to death.

Darren was just 19 when he was unwittingly caught up in a family feud after his sister Donna married Baker's father.

Baker, who was born Alan, and his brother George were sent out to bring her back and Darren's life changed forever when there was a knock on the door at the family home in Thornton Heath, Surrey.

He was punched in the face after being confronted by the brothers and another man.

Darren said: 'I had three knives pointed at me - two either side of my body and one at my neck.

'They told me 'You're coming with us'. I had no choice.

'I was forcibly taken at knifepoint to a van and bundled into the back.

'I couldn't see what was going on as I was face down and there were no windows. I was beaten in the van. I think there were two of them doing it.'

Darren was taken to a squat in London. When the brothers appeared at Maidstone Crown Court in 1989 it emerged he had 39 identifiable injuries including some inflicted with a knife.

Darren told MailOnline: 'I had no idea where I was going. They took me to a flat and led me inside where I was beaten and tortured for 12 hours.

'They were punching me and burning me with cigarettes. They were stubbing them out on my neck and I still have the scars from that to this day.

'I was forced to perform oral sex on them at knifepoint.

'One of them said their dad wanted me dead and they were thinking of ways that they were going to kill me.

'They said they were going to get a gun and shoot me.

'They said they were going to give me a smiley face - where they slit the sides of your mouth. They said they were going to get a razor to scar my face.

'I was made to eat cigarette butts and curry powder.

'Towards the end I was tied up. They tied me to the back of one chair then put another chair opposite.

'My legs were stretched out and were tied to the back of it.

'One of them got up and stepped on my legs - he was trying to get my kneecaps to break.

'It was such a sustained attack I became numb to the pain.

'The last thing I remember was being tied up with electricity wire and dumped in an airing cupboard.

'They carried me in and just left me there. It was dark and silent. I couldn't hear anything.

'The wire was tied around my feet, my hands and my neck in such a way that if I moved it tightened around my neck.

'At first I tried to free myself but that's when I realised the wire around my neck was getting tighter and I feared I would strangle myself so I stopped.

'I was helpless and I blacked out.'

Darren was saved after somebody else living in the squat raised the alarm and police and paramedics raced to the scene.

Darren said: 'The first thing I remember after that was being in a hospital bed.

'I was told that it took six hours before I was able to come out with my name and address because I was drifting in and out of consciousness.

'I was told that if I had been left an hour longer I would have been dead.'

Describing the aftermath of his ordeal Darren said: 'It messed up my mental health. I didn't leave the house for a year after that.

'I was too afraid to go out. The first year was awful.

'For a few good years it was really hard to talk about it without getting emotional, without crying.

'It had a massive impact on my life. It took away a lot of confidence.

'I have a distrust of people, especially people who are so called family after they did that to me.

'I had therapy. It took me a couple of years to come to terms with it. Most of it I buried away.'

Darren, who now works as a healthcare assistant in a hospital's A&E department, said he never had any further dealings with Baker.

But he heard from family members that Baker had attempted to murder another prisoner and had gone on to change gender.

After hearing of Baker's latest incident: 'I'm surprised that he is doing so much for the trans community. I'm surprised that he would put other people before him.'

Asked of his views on the transgender issue he said: 'I don't get much involved in politics and stuff like that. I try to keep away from it.'