Tag Archives: Waitrose

Diary Blog, 26 March 2020

Pity that the Economics Editor of the Financial Times cannot spell “exaggerated”, though. Another sign of the times, I suppose.

The above report is re. the UK. Unemployment is now spiking in the USA too:

Re. the Jew exploiter Philip Green

Below: here he is, a few years ago, on one of his mega-yachts, pouring Champagne over the heads of other Jews and various “hoes”:

381E798600000578-0-image-a-4_1473452058034

Blast from the past: the Adelphi, Liverpool

Sorry to hear that the Adelphi Hotel has fallen on hard times. I stayed there for a few days, ungazetted, when an ad-hoc Soviet ballet company (mainly Bolshoi dancers, if I remember aright) was in Liverpool. That would have been in about 1985 or 1986. My then girlfriend’s small suite had a sitting room with a kind of curtained-off bedroom. An entrance hall led to the sitting room and also to a spacious bathroom.

Britannia Adelphi, Liverpool 2018.jpg

The prima ballerina, whose name I forget, was unhappily married and thought to be mentally unstable. She had, I was told, a magnificent suite. For her own protection, both in view of her emotional state and because protesting Jews supporting “refuseniki” (Soviet Jews supposedly wanting to emigrate to Israel from the Soviet Union— most ended up in California) might alarm her, a KGB man slept across her doorway all night, every night, in the manner of Russia’s ancient history.

In fact, that dancer was at risk— she later tried to commit suicide in Sardinia, by slitting her wrists in her bath. Her husband was constantly unfaithful, apparently. Also, she was about 40. Not good for a dancer, though the famous ones have often overcome age to retain public affection: Maya Plisetskaya, Margot Fonteyn etc.

In fact, those dancers (the couple) were living a golden or velvet life in Moscow. His and hers Mercedes cars, dacha, luxury apartment etc. A lifestyle most people (whether in Moscow or the UK) never experience. Still, money cannot, as such, buy happiness. It’s just a dull grind when money is short…

The Adelphi was, I thought, a good hotel at that time (now about 35 years ago). A quartet played classical pieces live in the opulent and huge foyer. Among those listening was the then Chief Constable of Merseyside. The hotel was a landmark in Liverpool.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia_Adelphi_Hotel

Coronavirus and Labour

The Labour Party is now weaker than it has ever been, in my view. Weaker even than it was under that unpleasant little hypocrite Michael Foot.

Labour under Corbyn, though weak, was stronger than it now is. Now Labour is going to —eventually— elect a new leader, which could be Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey or Lisa Nandy. All have kow-towed to the Jew lobby, all have otherwise similar policies, though Rebecca Long-Bailey is the most radical of the three. Starmer looks likely to be the choice, because he frightens few horses; as against that, he is as dull as ditchwater.

Labour’s problem can be said to reside in the fact that, outside the Labour Party membership, few people even care which of the three becomes Labour leader.

Labour, for which 10 million voters voted in 2019, is scarcely in the exact position of UKIP after 2015, when UKIP gradually became a joke, an irrelevance and then eventually just a nothing. Having said that, there is a parallel. Labour now has no power to speak of in the Commons, because the Conservative Party majority of 80 can steamroller through almost anything.

Beyond that, there is the point that the Coronavirus rescue package of Rishi Sunak, whatever its deficiencies and flaws, has pretty much shot Labour’s fox on “austerity” etc. All Labour can say is “we would have done more and better…(if we were in power, which we are not, and will not be for years, if ever…)”.

Not a very impressive position. The msm continue to give Labour MPs a platform, as required by OFCOM rules etc, but in reality, Labour has become something close to an irrelevance. In fact, it has been reduced to supporting the Government’s positions in the present crisis.

It is clear that Iain Dunce Duncan Smith’s shambolic “welfare” “reforms” are not only completely stupid but cannot work administratively. Why is this surprising? After all, Dunce only got to Lieutenant in his 6 years of being an Army officer. He never had any responsible civilian job either. How could such a person really conceive a workable social security reform, even if “IDS” were a better person morally than he in fact is?

However, the collapse of the Universal Credit system and other DWP areas, under the weight of the Coronavirus burden, will not help Labour. In fact, any “opposition” will more likely come from within the Conservative Party itself.

I detect no real chance for Labour at present, nor for quite a while into the future. If ever.

Evening foray

I had not intended to make a ratissage on the supermarkets this evening, but in the end I did, mainly to get bread, a couple of food items and some cat treats. I went to the nearest one, a Waitrose outlet a mile or two away. I arrived about 1930, half an hour before closing time. Few customers, but an innovation: outside the wide-open doors, two security men, young and dressed entirely in black. Woollen hats, padded jackets, scarfs wound around neck, covering the lower face. Armbands. Exactly like the militia in the TV series, The Handmaid’s Tale. They lacked only the weapons. They are, it seems, Waitrose “marshals”.

Inside, bought 2 scratchcards (both modest winners, as it turned out), but at first my cash was refused. All part of the new hygiene regime. Card only.

I was curious to see whether the shelves were still being stripped bare. Most bread had gone, though there were a few of the less popular (and more expensive) types available: stoneground rye, sourdough etc. Eggs were very plentiful. Flour seemed to be unavailable. Pasta available, though only the slightly more expensive Italian-made stuff in blue and yellow packing; little of the cheaper “Essential Waitrose” pasta. Pasta sauces mostly gone, though the more expensive Lloyd Grossman jars were there (over £2 compared to £1 for the cheapest Waitrose own-brand line). I bought one jar. Puttanesca. Everything else seemed to be available for those wanting it, even loo paper (only the more expensive brands, though). I found the cat treats. No shortage.

I noticed that fruit, vegetables and everything else that I looked at in passing seemed to be in supply.

My conclusion from that and my drive around yesterday: the supermarkets are gradually getting on top of the bulk-buying/panic-buying wave. People are still doing it, but less so. There must be some people around here sitting on mountains of dried pasta, pasta sauce jars, bread and loo paper. I also noticed that people are obviously not buying the pasta to eat immediately, because there was plenty of fresh pasta for sale.

Anyway, that’s my story…

On the way back, a car would not wait for me at a junction and drove off at speed. A few minutes later, I saw a blue light in my rear-view mirror (when I was learning to drive, belatedly, at age 42, the instructor said that one of my faults as a driver was that I looked in the rear-view mirror more than I looked out of the windshield!). Anyway, I turned off to avoid any contact. Only a few seconds later, the police flashed past down the deserted rural A-road. Were they after that other driver? Was he a suspected Coronavirus “non-essential” driver? Had he been heard humming an Alison Chabloz song about “holocaust” fakery? We shall never know…

Watched a topical film on ITV2: Contagion, about an infectious virus that starts with bats in China, and then gets into the food chain, finally being transmitted person to person until millions are killed all over the world. Wait, wasn’t that the TV news? Oh, no, it was “just a film”…More seriously, I was slightly surprised that an alarming (though well-made) film like that was broadcast at a time like this.

Midnight music…

Diary Blog, 15 March 2020

Coronavirus

Well, here we are in a kind of “plague year” of the contemporary era. Things seem to be getting worse, and there is not so much overt panic as a sense of impending threat, a sense of muted dread.

I again made my way to Waitrose yesterday, for the first time in a couple of days. About half an hour before closing time (mid-evening). Few shoppers, including one couple the lady of which, as they passed by, looked right at me, looked boldly into my eyes and smiled as she saw me buy two jars of red caviar. Does she like caviar? Did she like me? Was she a store detective? We shall never know.

I was interested to see that every single roll of loo paper (of every type and brand) had (again) gone from the shelves, as had every single pack of pasta, and I do mean every pack, from the economy spaghetti and penne right through to the premium-quality-made-in-Italy-in-fancy-packaging-at-three-times-the-price stuff, even the giant pasta shells and odd types that are usually far less popular than standard linguine, tagliatelle etc.

People, whether panic-buyers or (not panicking but) bulk-buying shoppers, have woken up to the fact that this situation could be months not weeks, and that you cannot eat or drink loo paper (the large packs of water such as Volvic etc were also depleted).

Is anything of this actually sensible? Frankly, I fear that it may be. We are hearing now that people may be asked to “self-isolate”. That will apply particularly to people over 70 and (who knows?) even those over-60 (like me…63 since September). Not every person in those age groups uses or even has the Internet, with which Internet shopping can be done. That is assuming that the supermarkets have supplies, have the means to deliver supplies, and that their websites do not crash.

I am sure that Boris-idiot and his fiancee will not run out of loo paper or pasta, but many others may. In that sense, a reasonable level (whatever that means) of bulk-buying may be prudent, so long as it does not reach lunatic proportions.

There is also the point that, from the infection point of view, it makes sense to shop once in any given period rather than ten times. It also makes sense to use online supermarket shopping if possible.

There is a limit, not only to how much should be bought (of anything), from the social point of view, but to how much can be bought by most people. Not everyone has the cash to go out and spend £1,000 or £2,000 in one go. Also, not everyone has large houses in which to store items in bulk. I myself now live in a tiny flat which, in its entirety, would fit, maybe twice, into merely the (rarely-used) ballroom of a house in which I lived at one time

t_BallroomEntrance

carriageentrancePolapitt_Ballroom1t_Ballroom2

Most people are very limited in space, do not have cellars and unused rooms in which to store vast amounts of loo paper or dried and tinned food.

I have not bought greatly more than previously; I had some slack anyway. I suppose that (for 2 people) I have about 45 rolls of loo paper, mostly bought before the present crisis, and maybe enough for 3 months. That is prudence, not panic. Likewise, I dare say that I have on hand enough dried, tinned, frozen and other food for about a month, maybe longer. Living where I now do, I no longer have the large American fridges and freezers in which can be stored really useful amounts of frozen food.

In my present location, there are many people in large houses with equally large amounts of storage space, and who no doubt have enormous freezers etc. I suspect that most of the (unreasonably?) bulk-buying shoppers are such people.

Apart from the above, I personally am not only already rather “self-isolating” (as well as politically-isolating and isolated…) but have turned that up a few notches. I use hand gel after using the automatic petrol pump a few miles from my humble home, same when I leave the supermarket. When I return home, I wash hands and lower arms thoroughly. I socialize little anyway and have now completely stopped visiting anyone.

Having said that, we are all on this Earth for a limited span. I still have things on the wider spectrum (social, political) which I want to do or, more accurately, which must be done. I have a very limited number of years left anyway now that I am 63. For that reason, time presses. Of course, I shall reincarnate and carry on my work anyway, but this is a very important time in the history of the world. What has to happen must and will happen.

Is there an Israeli connection to Coronavirus?

Co-incidences happen without there having been a “conspiracy”. The only thing is, with Israel and the Jews the “incidences” seem so much more frequent…

By the way, it makes me laugh to see Zionist Jews asking “will antisemites use a vaccine produced in Israel? Are they hypocrites?”

Why not use any vaccine if there is one? After all, people who distrust Jews and their manipulations sometimes use Uzi weapons. They do not say, in extremis or otherwise, “no, I shall not use a weapon of Israeli origin”. Not when it works that well.

Classic British film

I had never seen this one:

https://ok.ru/video/1779340216974

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Between

Great shots of postwar Berlin, 7 years after the end of that war, inc. footage of Tempelhof Airport, mainly constructed during the time of the Reich. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Tempelhof_Airport

Panorama of the old Berlin airport

Hildegard Knef is a knockout in that film. I like the soundtrack, too. In fact, some of the scenes and also the soundtrack reminded me of another film, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, made 12 years later in 1965. Maybe the one influenced the other.

Coronavirus in Netherlands

Very strange. Different strains? How? Why? I am not a scientist, let alone a virologist or immunologist, but this seems very odd. It seems to be more like a weapon than an accident.

Coronavirus: messaging difficulties

The Government of the UK is pretty useless, but it is difficult to tell the public anything and to change behaviour. It usually takes a long time and much repetition. In my own lifetime, I have seen attitudes change, sometimes but not always for the better: against drink-driving, in favour of wearing seatbelts, against smoking, to name just three. All three required constant propaganda and also legislative change.

It seems (from an opinion poll) that only about 65% in the UK are now taking more care with hygiene (by washing hands etc), and that rather few are changing their plans to socialize, travel on public transport (and don’t forget that taxis are also public transport) or attend events. 25% are, it seems, not changing any aspect of their lives by reason of the virus emergency. That may be because young people in particular think that they are almost immune and so need not do anything (but they may still be infected and give it to others). I have also recently seen stubborn attitudes in older people who should know better.

Tempus fugit

I just saw the profile of a former fellow-member of my last chambers, Sara T., a family law specialist. I had seen nothing of her since 2007. I officially left my last set in 2008 and not 2007 (it being necessary to give them 6 months’ notice —and rent!—) but in fact stayed in France after Christmas and did not return to the UK after the last week of 2007. I believe that Sara T. also left those chambers in 2008 or 2009. She is now back in Exeter, it seems, but in another set that used to be opposite ours, on the bluff overlooking the River Exe.

What interested me was that her profile says “mother of a teenage son”. In the same year that I joined Chambers, there was a social event at the home of another member. Sara T. attended, along with her then boyfriend and their tiny baby.

It is obvious, of course, that a baby, in the course of 18 years, becomes about 18 years old. In a sense it should not surprise, yet somehow it does, just as it surprises me to realize that someone else I knew long ago is now very nearly 43, someone whom I met when she was only 4 years old, and at a time when she once identified me to her little friends (as recounted her mother, my then girlfriend) as “that was my big friend Ian; I drink chocolate milk with him”!

Excellent

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/royal-navy-white-nationalist-group-service-generation-identity-latest-a9402946.html

This has worn fairly well…

(scroll down to “Boris-idiot is getting worried” and the paragraphs below there)

https://ianrmillard.wordpress.com/2019/12/09/general-election-2019-daily-updated-blog-no-10/

The tentative election prediction has not worn so well, true, but the assessment of “Boris” has, I aver.

Ah…

Fanfare…https://ianrmillard.wordpress.com/2020/01/03/dominic-cummings-a-government-of-dystopia-and-lunacy-posing-as-genius/

https://ianrmillard.wordpress.com/2019/08/10/les-eminences-grises-of-dystopia/

Oh well, Cummings can always sue me…Oh, no, wait—he can’t. No-one can. I am unsueable. I can say, write and do as I please.

Night….for me there is no law” —Vladimir Vysotsky, 07 (long-distance telephone code)

More Vysotsky

Midnight music