01 March 2010

01/03/10

Dydd Gwŷl Dewi Sant hapus!

Wishing our Welsh contingent (yeah, Annetan & Leni, we're looking at you!) a happy St. David's Day.  Nearly interesting things that have happened on this date:

The Unitas Fratrum (Moravian Church), the second oldest Protestant denomination in the world, was founded in 1457.  Rio de Janeiro was founded in 1565.  Nikola Tesla demonstrated radio to the public for the first time in 1893 and the Soviet Union's Venera 3 crash landed on Venus in 1966.

Born today:  Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849), William Dean Howells (1837-1920), Lytton Strachey (1880-1932), Glenn Miller (1904-1944), David Niven (1910-1983), Ralph Ellison (1913-1994), Harry Belafonte (1927), Roger Daltrey (1944) and Atomboy.

98 comments:

  1. Going from my knowledge of Welsh, I would say the title today says:

    ''My hovercraft is full of eels, however it makes ok, my wife is very good driver''

    Any Welsh speakers give me a mark out of 10 for that?

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  2. It sez, "Did G.Lewis De-ice Anne Thapus?" ...no?

    Cut + Paste frm WADDYA

    chekhov
    1 Mar 2010, 2:12AM

    If Alisdair Cameron pitches up any where could some one ask him to e-mail me. I had a question I forgot to ask him the other night at the Cumberland Arms.

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  3. I though it was backwards.

    Supah! T Nasi wed Elly Wigdid.

    Mind you, tried it out on Welsh mate, and received this in return:
    Eto diolch am y cyri
    Which I am presuming means 'right back at you, pet'. But would appreciate confirmation.

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  4. Why do people find Welsh funny? Its no funnier than any other language and its spelling and pronounciation are much more regular than English.

    Having said that I am not a Welsh speaker but 13th Duke about 5/10 most marks for imagination (LOL!)

    Turminder - much the same!

    Thauma thankyou for marking our national day so nicely. Good crop of people born today - they had good taste to be on on St David's day didn't they?

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  5. Just to bore everyone with the Ashcroft saga, my comment in the Ashley thread has been deleted, so maybe Guardian Towers has been hit by a super-injunction, but I doubt it.

    I will wait for the WADDYA thread to have a wash and get changed and then put something on it to make it feel dirty again.

    On an even more boring note, it is my birthday, although I notice Montana has missed it from the list above.

    Not to worry, Atomgirl has done nothing to mark the event, either.

    The fruit of our loins, though, has made me a nice "I didn't buy it" style card, with a picture of me inside.

    Apparently, I look like a cross between a pig and an anteater with some kind of radio transmitter stuck to the top of my head.

    Perhaps the only way we survive is by being deluded about ourselves and the world.

    I'd always seen myself as a type of square-jawed comic-book hero.

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  6. annetan,

    happy St Davids Day!

    Atomboy,

    Happy birthday.

    Astonishing that there's no investigation into a tax non-dom swaying the election of this country by pumping substantial amounts of money into marginals.

    The UK- The worst Democracy money can buy.

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  7. Atomboy - pen-blwydd hapus! Happy Birthday!

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  8. If I remember rightly, we have a few Gregory's Girl fans on here.

    Here's a report on the 30th Anniversary showing of the film last night at the GFT

    Aaaah, Clare Grogan.

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  9. You're right, CiF is a load of bollocks, it always has been to me. All that those jumped up, elitist wankers who run tings over there are about is saving GMG's sorry, sinking backside by trying to get as much ad revenue as they can. They obviously think that there are more page hits in pandering to the rightist savages and wishy washies so they wipe/ban anyone who threatens to upset the apple cart through making coherent arguments.

    You go and have a gander at that wdywtta thread and it's like eavesdropping on a fucking snooty dinner party in Surrey 99% of the time. The usual suspects have no sense of humour and get totally outraged at any kind of banter that weighs in above the featherweight division. But I suppose that's what happens to you when you think you've got life double sewn up and have the ability to walk on water. So fucking predictable.

    I fucking hate the site, always have, always will. The very name, 'Comment is Free', wound me up the moment I saw it: it's only good for trolling on if you ask me. MAM winning that waste of time they called the Ciffies said it all really.

    If you're avatar don't fit... don't bother.

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  10. Happy Birthday Atomboy!
    May your radio transmitter continue to broadcast for a long time.

    On Ashcroft, a super-injunction seems less likely than the legals getting nervous - while his refusal to confirm his status implies that he is non-dom (as he could win some spurious brownie points by being open if he is dom), they either:
    a) can't tell / don't know, and might fear an action if they call it wrong, or
    b) do know, but can't publish because the only reason they could know would be if someone has broken confidentiality, which could also be actionable

    Agree that it would be interesting to know the truth - and given the Tory undertakings of the past, he seems to be screwing them as well by refusing to confirm...

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  11. Ah, missed that. So he is non-dom...

    Oops.

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  12. Bore da all

    Many happies Atomboy

    Lovely sunlit St Davids day here - which makes a change from the endless gloom of the last month.

    Looked at cif - tedious and uninspiring as per.

    Apropos last nights conversation re the groan's agenda - any remaining hold on decent values seems tenuous to say the least. The citizen's ethic project could have been worthwhile but is turning out to be a pretty wishy washy affair.

    I think it is about hanging on to market share in a world where newspapers are struggling. So disappointing that we have no major public voice with a truly radical edge to it. Am sick of the same old pundits endlessly trotting out their unoriginal and terminally dull take on things.

    Still, will cheer up and enjoy this brief break in the bad weather while I can.

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  13. Philippa - yes, he has finally confirmed the bleeding obvious. Perhaps the Guardian knew the announcement was coming, or has some big story coming up?

    I think young Willie Hague might have a few questions to answer from the Lords appointment committee...

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  14. And happy birthday Atomboy, you square-jawed hero you.

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  15. HB,atomboy/St.David.Chekhov,e-mail sent.CiF and the Guardian have lost the plot (if they ever had it).Flailing around,failing to see the real truths (all the major parties are shifty,venal and cliquily self-serving),witless comfortable chatterati,who talk and opine,but do sod all.

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  16. God, I must get off the Diane Abbott Yarl's wood thread before I go into kill mode. Breaking3, goldmine et al are doing their usual. Deep breath...soldier on.

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  17. Sheff - good god - "let it burn"? I just cannot understand how someone can end up like that...

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  18. Phillipa

    There are times when I think I could cheerfully strangle little toads like goldmine - and feel not the slightest hint of remorse.

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  19. weasel-words #1 - labour chappy on W@1 saying that while both Lords A and P being non-doms is bad, Lord A gives more so is more bad.

    ah, so it's the money, not the principle of the thing...

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  20. A letter my son has just sent to LloydsTSB who appear to be pursuing him for money thast he no longer owes them

    Dear Lloyds/TSB,

    Re your letter dated Feb 25th 2010

    I have done no business with yourselves since claiming back over £1000 of what, at the time, were deemed excessive charges.

    The banks, yourselves included, seem to have run Of-Com out of the court case which has been ongoing for a few years now. This seems to allow you to purse the previous policies you had regarding charges etc.

    With the recent banking crisis and resulting government bailouts of various shoddily run financial institutions still a recent, [never mind distant], memory I think you have some nerve contacting me with demands for money.

    Being as you are insistently demanding something which patently does not exist, [as the Bank of England has proved, printing notes in it's quantitative easing measure], I offer instead, a different solution. One more in keeping with your medieval mindset in this matter:

    Lloyds/TSB may choose themselves a champion, whom I will fight single handed in a designated arena, to the death if necessary, in order to settle this matter.

    I believe this would be a most fitting solution, and could even prove a quite popular method to resolve these matters, if, indeed, you can find suitable 'champions' among your ranks of flabby, over stuffed, pencil pushing morons.

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  21. weasel words #2 - now it's Prentice - one can draw a distinction between Lords A and P because Lord A promised to be a 'long-term resident', and the ordinary meaning of those words is...

    right. because Lord A can't afford lawyers who know that 'tax law' and 'ordinary meaning' are two completely different things.

    given the CGT flipping and various other things, I think calling a non-dom a 'tax-dodger' is possibly opening up a can of very wriggly worms...

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  22. Sheff - that's bloody brilliant. I'll send over a 'favour' for him to wear on fight-night!

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  23. On an even more boring note, it is my birthday, although I notice Montana has missed it from the list above.

    Excuse me, but I think you'll find it's there, Buckwheat!

    :-)

    Happy Birthday, Atomboy!

    And I would like to point out that, if I had residency in the UK, I would happily pay my fair share of taxes.

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  24. @Philippa

    At least the weaselly Prentice did admit on R5, under pressure, that Lord P would need to leave the Lords as well when Lord A was (potentially) booted out.

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  25. Oh my god Sheff that is ace! Absolutely, bloody brilliant!

    Re bank charges - I had a letter from Abbey stating that they were not going to pay me mine back as I put my claim in a bit late and it was put on hold during the court case. But legally (BB?) how can they have paid my friend back but then not me? Does the fact that we now have a split group of people - some with their fees paid back and others told 'tough luck' mean that people could still go after them and try to raise another court case? Sodding bastards!

    Read this today from the Torygraph (I know it is poisonous but its economics section is good for finding out the latest disasters about to fall upon the economy).

    ''Royal Bank of Scotland paid its investment bankers £1.3bn in bonuses for making just £1bn in profit last year, not the record £5.7bn declared last week. The state-backed lender's results show that £4.7bn of the investment bank's worst losses were hived off to the "non-core" division being wound down. Although the bank's split into "core" and "non-core" units has been well explained, the separation generously flattered the investment bank's numbers and allowed management to present it as a record year for the division. ''

    So basically it seems to me that RBS have been cooking the books in order to pay out decent bonuses?

    I feel like getting out there with a frigging pitchfork I really do. And Sheff - I share with you, your thoughts on Goldmine et al. I actually think if I ever met them and they started to say to my face what they say on Cif I would probably punch them. And I am a wuss who never fights (I am very scared of being hurt!) but they make me so mad!

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  26. The Ashcroft admittal is timing and nothing more. Announced a couple of months before the election so it will be conveniently forgotten by polling time.

    Of course the fact that he has already pumped the 5 million pounds into marginals means the influence he wants despite his dubious status has already been achieved.

    I note with interest that goldmine's post is still standing.

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  27. Your Grace

    Apparently it's alright to suggest burning asylum seekers to death on the esteemed pages of cif.

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  28. Sheff,

    yet Atomboy had all manner of posts regarding Ashcroft's non dom status zapped within minutes on the David Cameron and WADDYA threads at the weekend.

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  29. Yr Grace

    I know, weird isn't it. Really does make you wonder about their agenda.

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  30. Good lord! I didn't realise that Goldmine was advocating burning assylum seekers. I had not read that bit of your first post properly Sheff. How absolutely disgusting that it is still standing. It does make one despair more and more. Goldmine has said some nasty things in the past but that really tops it all. I haven't read their actual comments because I fear for my sanity if I venture onto that thread.

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  32. Ed Vaizey thinks 6music should be saved despite not having listened to it until the weekend.

    I wonder how many volunteers at Conservative Central Office went through the facebook/twitter "save 6music" petitions and identified that a key demographic of 6music listeners are based in marginals?

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  33. your grace - on this particular issue, I'll take the support of whichever populist vote-hungry weasel chooses to line up to SAVE 6MUSIC!!!

    Ahem

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  34. Anne - it was Montana, not me! And thank god she did, because I had no idea what day it is, and now I've just wished the mister a happy one.

    Laughing lots at the title interpretations (apologies if that offends Welsh people). I think Welsh is funny - and I say that affectionately - because it has very long words with few vowels.

    And happy birthday Atomboy!!!

    Hank from yesternight:

    Just a general word of advice for all UT-ers - never post your mobile number on here. It only leads to nuisance calls from drunken Irishmen.

    Listen mate, the only thing better than a drunken Irishman is a drunken Irishwoman.

    Sheff - I think Goldmine is more of a WUM than anything else.

    Your lad's letter is fucking brilliant! Do let us know if they respond....

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  35. Philippa,

    totally agree with you. It's the only station I listen to music wise.

    Apart from George Lamb who should be the focus for any new Israeli experiment into next generation white phosphorous.

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  36. Hi. Happies to all who are celebrating.

    Just scanned Abbot thread. Had to walk away before responding. Where have all the nasties come from - they are breeding like algae - forming a suffocating blanket across all that is good and human.

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  37. Leni

    I despair, I really do - the most recommends have gone to nasties. They must make it their lifes work to scan cif and plant a rec on every hideous bit of right wing trollery that goes up. I suspect its going to get a lot worse as the election gets closer.

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  38. Sheff

    Indeed. Well said in your last comment - I have replied but as you say they are not interested in discussion. They just want to hype the hatred. For some reason they seem blind to the fact that they could well get caught up in the nasty consequences as the hatred builds. It only ever going to happen to 'them' - never to 'us'.

    They forget we are them to those we hate.

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  39. your grace - george lamb, god yes - goes without saying...

    am rather fond of the freakzone meself. stuff i'd never normally listen to, god bless mr maconie (mind it's a bit like the later night stuff on radio 3, sometimes they have really odd but wonderful stuff on)

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  40. The immediate future looks so gloomy Leni - I think we may reap the whirlwind if we are not very careful and it will be very ugly.

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  41. What a lovely day. Pulled a sickie (I *was* sick, honest!) and worked about half the day from home. Walked dog in warm sunshine. Then had a good feed and a kip.

    Glanced at Cif and decided I couldn't be arsed with any of it.

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  42. I'm a bit 'Ciffed out' 'n all...

    Is it the onset of Spring? Also off the booze, a dry March is the plan...

    What if the banks hire gladiators? Could get ugly...

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  43. Got sucked in by the Hillary Mantel thread on how 14 is the optimal age for girls (NOT women!) to bear children. Fuckinell.

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  44. Know what you mean Thauma. "The ridiculously sexy Winter Olympics" - when did I log onto the Nuts website? At least they're honest about what they are.

    Hopefully this week's Football Weekly will be full of indignant consolation toward a young man who went into a fifty fifty challenge and many jokes about John Terry.

    Many happy returns, Atomboy!

    And well done on the job front, Turminder!

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  45. thauma/turminder

    Avoiding cif today was a good idea. I've been fulminating all day thanks to the Yarl's Wood thread. Annoying, as I could have been doing more congenial things and now propose to do them. Fuck cif and all who sail in her!

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  46. Hi all

    Happy Birthday AB, and happy St David's Day to everyone else.

    Sheff and Leni - fab posts on the Abbott thread as always. I have no idea where the hatred comes from either. Vile people.

    I am skiving tomorrow and Wednesday cos I managed to break a toe-bone - not on the toe but the next "level" up as it were - yesterday and after hobbling about in agony for 24 hrs decided it wasn't funny any more and went and got it x-rayed today.

    Caught my little toe on a table leg and effectively snapped it outwards. Hurts like buggery.

    Still, good excuse to get my lad running round after me and doing all the housework! :o)

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  47. Philippa,

    if you like Maconie's freak zone, you'll enjoy Dandelion radio.

    When I read the fuckwitted fulminations BTL these days, this keeps popping into my head.

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  48. Ouch, BB. Hope you have good drugs / wine.

    On the Yarls Wood tip, some worrying developments re the girl I posted about a bit ago, Rima. If anyone can get involved, please do...

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  49. Damn

    Either the mods are hot off the mark, or calling the haters on the Yarls Wood thread "morons" has upset the morons and they have reported me for abuse. Either way I was zapped within about three minutes of posting.

    I have just reposted the gist of it without the rude "m" word.

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  50. That sucks, Philippa. Poor woman. MP involvement helps an awful lot, so I hope Robertson mans up and gets active on her behalf.

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  51. Phillipa

    Have a youngster from the Congo staying here at the moment who's going through the same thing as Rima. He's off to Croydon this week to have them re-assess his age again. God help him! Seems few others with any influence will.

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  52. Ouch! BB - sounds painful. Definitely get the men ministering unto you - will no doubt make a change...

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  53. Sheff - I'm not kidding, but she was about 15 when she got here but they assessed her as 18 because she was 'quite tall'.

    Hope your lad gets a better hearing. To be fair, I'd hope to God it couldn't be worse.

    Some of the MSPs are saying they 'can't write' as it isn't a devolved matter so HomSec won't listen to them - but one or two have taken the view that sod devolution, every letter helps, so are writing anyway.

    Ho hum.

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  54. Duke - I pity your head, with things like that popping in.

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  55. BB - ouch, hope it heals soon!

    Sheff/Philippa - the situation is sickening. Poor kids. Thank zeus there are people like you two in the world.

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  56. JohnYardDog does make me larf sometimes.

    All I can think of now is pitting Guardian Staffers against herbivores in combat. Jessica Reed vs an Elephant. Natalie Hanman vs 2 Alpacas and a Sheep. Matt Seaton vs Matt Seaton's Weight In Rabbits.

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  57. Mr Fish

    That is truly terrifying. The sooner you get over here the better Montana. we could have a whip round if you're skint.

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  58. That's scary MF. But scarier is some eejit of a man in the comments section effectively saying that the nursing staff were right to be suspicious and report it.

    Bollocks.

    The anti-women - sorry, that was meant to read "pro-life" - organisation in the States has a lot to bloody answer for.

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  59. MF - My god... So, don't get sick, don't fall down, we don't care about you, you understand, it's the baby, it's all about the baby...

    'pro-life' has to be the most misleading group descriptor around.

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  60. Coming back to Ashcroft - hilarious listening to the World at One on the way home today and hearing that bit where Paxo was making Hague squirm over why it was Ashcroft was, according to him, supposed to be 100% resident here and paying "tens of millions in taxes" in order to become a peer. Bwahahahahaha!

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  61. Flying visit, I'm afraid.

    Many thanks for all the birthday wishes and thanks to Montana making me famous.

    BB - Atomgirl did something similar when she caught toe under fridge in weird twisting manoeuvre. Hope you are soon mended.

    CiF deletions may be malicious "report abuse button pushers" and moderators simply not bothering to make decision but simply batch-deleting when the abuse box fills up.

    Best wishes to everyone. Will try to catch up properly later.

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  62. Atomboy - hope you're having a party!

    I've just been modded off the Sikka thread for responding - with genuinely no snark, and certainly no swearing or abuse - to a post directly addressing me. Which is still there. If the question is on-topic (which it is) then how is the answer off-topic?

    I mentioned having lived in Lewisham, maybe that just scared the mods.

    'part from that, puzzled.

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  63. Atomboy - many happy returns! Hope you are enjoying yourself properly.

    Sheff - have just watched your vid on UT2. Must now separate source from context to send on....

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  64. Good evening. I think the moving men have left my brain after a few months of shifting furniture.

    Can I just say in the spirit of intellectual and reasoned argument that I fucking can't stand Trevor Phillips.

    Also is Breaking 3 a woman or a man? Annoying anyway.

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  65. 6Music (Marc Riley) is playing 'Get Your Beak On' by Filthy Pedro!

    If my mate Simon can get his homegrown anti-folk (featuring chicken noises) on the radio at this time of night, that's a matter of national pride.

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  66. "I mentioned having lived in Lewisham, maybe that just scared the mods. "

    Well, it's scared me, Philippa! :p

    MsR - I think Breaking3 is a woman.

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  67. MsR - hello! glad furniture has settled...

    And, in the interests of fairness and balance, who do the G pick to cover the Ashcroft thing on CIF? Prem Sikka - OK, good - and...

    just go look.

    I'm retiring to the sofa...

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  69. Oh good, choons time

    This one's for the girls - Strut your stuff Peggy!

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  70. Nice music, thauma and Sheff have a man's one back.

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  71. Hey Habib - your selection reminded me a bit of a big-legged woman ain't got no soul.

    But my favourite Elvis song is this one: You don't believe a word I'm saying.

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  72. Thauma, nice, but really, old school is the place where most learning gets done.

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  73. Thauma - actually Welsh has more vowels than English - aeiouyw. y and w are vowels because they are pronounced without contact between tongue, lips or teeth.

    Apols to Montana - thanks for the St David's day thingy - diolch yn fawr!

    Have missed the joys of cif today! :) been out shopping with daughter. Found a nightie in Marks for £12!

    I know its was probably made by a sweat shop in the far east but I can't afford to leave stuff on the rail at that price.

    Remember when Marks used to say "99% of Marks & Spencer goods are british made"?

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  74. Habib, excellent choon, but I reckon this outdoes it in macho-ness: Oh, show me the way to the next whiskey bar.

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  75. Anne - I know that y and w are vowels in Welsh, but (although y is sometimes a vowel in English), it still looks funny. In a lovely way.

    Sheff - when I saw Joan, I was thinking Armatrading or possibly Osborne. But no! Nice one. ;-)

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  76. Hi - flying visit (again - normal service resuming later this week, hopefully).

    Gee, the Abbott thread is bad, isn't it.

    anne - M&S? You mean you haven't discovered Primark? A pair of pj's costs around a fiver.

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  77. Mschin they don't do my size in primark! - still loosing weight though! So maybe soon!

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  78. anne - oops, sorry, just assumed they catered for everyone. And well done on self-shrinking - I know it's hard, especially with the meds according to my mates.

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  79. Being out cooled for music by Sheff and thauma. Gonna have to take my jacket off , put my shades on, grab my geetar case and play somethin' gud...

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  80. 'Ere, what's podgyhodgy on tonight? Some strange posts on the Waddya LOL.

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  81. Habib

    *puts on schoolmistress voice*

    Not only is that not the superior original version, but the correct grammar is "Whom...".

    But if we're going for Yank Suvvern Rock, then can't you smell that smell?

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  82. Oh, and this is my all-time favourite southern blues-rock thingy: Ah done own the clozed ah'm wearin'.

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  83. This all work & no play thing is exhausting. Time for bed, so good night folks.

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  84. OK Mr super cool Habib - here's one for you

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  85. 'Night, MsChin! I am off too in a mo.

    Yet I can't resist slipping this one in (YouTube is evil sometimes): tied to the whipping post.

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  86. Damn you, Sheff, I *had* to click on your link. Superb. Really off once it's over.

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  87. Sometimes you don't mind losing.

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  88. Now it's good night from me too. I'll leave you with the wondrous Courtney Pine playing Round Midnight. Bliss!

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  89. Nice choonage tonight, guys and gals. Thanks to all you VJ's for not being as bone idle as I am! :o)

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  91. Evening all. Back from the pub, and what do I find?

    This.

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