09 July 2010

09/07/10

Ferroelectric liquid crystal domains nucleating from isotropic liquid of P10PIMB
Dr. Michi Nakata, Colorado State University

All of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.
-Dale Carnegie 

358 comments:

  1. BJ MsChin, Jenn, Montana !
    The Outsourcing Lobbyist thread is still up ( Kobayashi- Hillary )
    He hasn't found anybody to agree with him yet :)
    LINK
    -------------------------------
    The Gregg thread still open .....LINK
    --------------------------------
    How About------ BellaM / Jessica
    A Panel for the "OUTSOURCED" ?

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  2. Evening Montana

    Morning all (in the European time zones)

    @MsChin Re: Jen. Seconded.

    @frog2 Empathy shines in your posts on several threads.

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  3. Ms Chin what a lovely thing to say. x

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  4. Hi Medve x

    Good point about frog2, his posts are normally great but it isn't just the intelligence that comes through, it is frogs caring nature.

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  5. Wow, some more new awesomeness at the UT, I guess I'll have to put on my sunglasses not to be blinded by it (referring to Thread Alert! and Resources).

    Morning all, feeling a bit tired still, had quite a wild night yesterday and got up relatively early today. Maybe I'll just sleep through the weekend ...

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  6. elementary

    A wild night and up so early, I'm impressed!

    Dearie me, just read the Kettle piece on CiF, which was ably shredded on here last night. Has the Graun been bought out by the Torygraph?

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  7. Just read last night's chat. Good work fuckwits. Will be around (much) later tonight

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  8. BW

    I'll try to stay awake then, in anticipation of some good choons.
    x

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  9. Ha ha, indeed MsC.
    Just read Kettle's little piece about Cameron's strategic niceness manners and charm. What a two-faced c#nt. As someone pointed out, this time a year ago he was bigging up Hazel Blears for PM.

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  10. Snoop Dogg big fan of Coronation Street and has requested a cameo appearance

    "What can I get you duck?"

    "I got a pocket full of rubbers and my homeboys do too.
    So turn off the lights and close the doors.
    But (but what) we don't love them hoes, yeah!
    So we gonna smoke a ounce to this
    G's up, hoes down, while you motherfuckers bounce to this"

    "You what love?"

    "Erm, pint of Newton and Ridley Mild and a packet of cheese n onion McCoys beeyatch."

    "£3.10 altogether chuck."

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  11. Right. This booby-prize fuckwit must away to a cuddle-free zone to deal with boring stuff. Laters.

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  12. Your Grace

    Hehehe....

    I haven't seen Corrie since the Ena Sharples days. From reading the piece you linked to I gather its changed a bit. Perhaps the story line could include someone could shooting him?

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  13. Aye aye elementary, burning the midnight oil, you scamp?

    Feeling a bit more cheerful lately?

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  14. Sheff/Bitterweed,

    I'm trying to fathom out a storyline in which Snoop could conceivably appear. I believe that when the Quo made an appearance it was something to do with Les Battersby being an ex roadie.

    I haven't watched the show in years so buggered if I know, fire away any ideas...

    As for the top of the page

    The Untrusted
    Where prize fuckwits are cuddled and stroked in some misguided sense of solidarity.


    is really quite special.

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  15. MsChin: First of all I'm getting used to having too little sleep, second of all being up "that early" is a bit less impressive than it may seem to you; an hour less impressive, to be exact, since it's an hour later where I live.

    Swifty: Being among people cheers me up quite a bit, and I get that at the moment (although it could be more, but isn't that always the case?), and playing Pachelbel's canon at midnight on a kazoo and nose flutes is definitely one of the best ways to spend time with people (well, if the company consists of more than two people, of course ...)

    Duke: Great script. I hope they'll get Bindel to guest star on the same episode, could be epic :-)

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  16. The UT Prize for Literature !

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  17. Polly alert....on R4 - Today prog. Apparently Labour can shape up by Christmas, with a "new economic story" and one of the milipedes at the helm. Another piece of fiction then.

    Coalition are saying if they can get through until the 'summer of fun' in 2012 eg the olympics and her Maj's jubilee - all shall be well. Can't wait.

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  18. Rioting in Oakland, CA tonight after a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) cop was found guilty Thursday of involuntary manslaughter for shooting an unarmed man on New Year's Day, 2009.

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  19. elementary

    I hope they'll get Bindel to guest star on the same episode, could be epic :-)

    Definitely hilarious potential in there somewhere.

    Sorry to hear you're having a rough time. Not sleeping drives me bonkers and I never get used to it.

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  20. You are such a bunch of fuckwits.

    Listen.

    I set myself up for ridicule here, got publicly humiliated on CiF, then lost my friend on WADDYA, then attacked the UT.

    So, it seems teh internetz is just full of fuckwits.

    Luckily, I am the only voice of reason and I've been talking to Jesus and he knows I'm right.

    It was me against the world and I won hands down.

    I am the winner, fuckwits!

    Signed

    P. Broken

    PS Snoop Dog for Corrie stardom. Yay!

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  21. ”…Being among people cheers me up quite a bit.”

    LOL, being among people genereally depresses the hell out of me. I’m much happier when it’s just me, the guitar, a bottle of wine and an early night.

    Fat chance of that happening for the foreseeable, though.

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  22. good god, kettle. what on earth?
    nicely summed up by jen, there...

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  23. Suicide bomber just blown themselves up in Pakistan - amongst a group of people queueing for wheelchairs. There are times....there really are.....

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  24. Sheff: It depends on the reason why you lose sleep. E.g. if you can't get enough sleep because your neighbours are recklessly partying, it makes one aggressive and prone to homocidal tendencies (well, me, at least). Losing sleep because you are partying recklessly yourself puts a smile upon your face :-)

    Swifty: Of course, it depends on the people you spend time with. I'm getting better at staying away from people with good advice to offer, and seeing people in environments where you can interact with many people (I hate being in a group of 10 or more people seating along one long table in a pub, that's really exhausting to me).

    But here's wishing you'll be able to find a quiet evening with your guitar soon.

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  25. Sheff, words fail me considering Pakistan.

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  26. @Sheff

    Some reports are suggesting the dozy wanker lost control of his bike and copped a bad case of premature boom-boom. Possible the crowd wasn’t his intended target.

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  27. Sheff - good god. nice comment, though!

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  28. elementary-- experience of noisy neighbours in london long ago put me off buying anything in cities, now at the end of a lane in a cottage in normandy.
    Parity on crowds of people. I feel stifled. A handful only, of good ones :) On saturday market in town (1200 people) the brits are together at a long table outside the bar ....without me.

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  29. Morning all.

    @frog

    Just remembered that Mr Kobayashi was an employee of Kayser Soze.

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  30. Stifled, that's the word, frog2. It's also difficult communicating with people sitting just a few places away from you. I need more freedom of movement when among people.

    "If I can't dance, it isn't my party."

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  31. Or even Keyser Soze. Must have been temporarily distracted by the thought of the ladies' hosiery company.

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  32. Mornin all! Many thanx for kind birthday wishes, who knew Habib & I same age. Suchhi Pra, bilquil!

    Have been kinda keeping away from the news, sounds like no good reason to have a look just yet.

    Here's my Corrie pitch, pee-atch perhaps..


    Snoop, for it is he, has developed a form of crack-viagra that is best delivered in a carrying medium of flat, room temprature ale. To this end he and his homez have bought up the brewery, and it's flagship hostelry. The product will be shifted with the reintroduction and re branding of the Party7 (Partisevenizzle) from Newtoizzle & Riddledizzle. The Rovers Return is now the Ho' Pimp Airhorn.

    Ken Barlow starts a petition, but Snoop gets his new Top Ho, Dierdizzle to pop a .22 cap in his ass.

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  33. Whatto fuckwits, anyone need a stroking?

    Does PB get £85 for that contribution?

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  34. Snoop Dogg is it? Much beloved of the Hoxton twats, he’s so real isn't he, dwarling, while in the mean time I’ve conveniently forgotten he’s a fucking mysogynistic (sorry everyone) and amoral shithead ex-gangster, ex-pimp and ex-felon, unless of course I’m using those traits to show just how authentic he is, oh I forgot to add, I’d shit my skinny low-slung jeans in terror if him and his posse of drug-taking psychopaths ever came anywhere near me or my boyfriend. Dwarling.

    I am emphatically not a fan of Calvin Broadus or his style of “music”.

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  35. someone mention Snoop?

    Snoop?

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  36. Dierdizzle.

    hehe.

    heheheheheheheh.

    (swifty - he was so real in starsky and hutch, it was unreal. particularly the out-takes with the iguana)

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  37. Swifty,

    so what you're saying is that Snoop is badder than Alan Bradley and Richard Hillman?

    This is one serious bad ass Weatherfieldin, motherhubbard we got goin on.

    Turminder,

    Rovers Return changing to the Ho'Pimp Airhorn. Beauty.

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  38. @13thDuke:

    He’s even badder than that scenery-chewing Jock who whacked pouty knicker-magnate Carla’s Liam-Gallagher-lite hubby or boyfriend or business partner or whatever he was, you know the one, good-looking lad with tousled mop and the worst Mancunian accent in “hishtory, shorted like”, can't remember his name, now appearing in panto in Havant as 3rd understudy to Dale Winton’s Buttons.

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  39. Bollocks,

    just read Paul the Octopus has predicted Spain to win the World Cup.

    Anyone care to spray uzi into it's melonfarmin cephalopod, Spanish tentacle pickin ass?

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  40. I feel at a disadvantage here, having never seen Coronation Street since 1964 thanks to a strict boycott implemented as part of a dispute with my grandma. A dispute that also involved frilly tripe and vinegar.

    Is Martha Longhurst still in it?

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  41. I'd heard the octopus was only a reliable indicator of German results. Are his powers transnational?

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  42. Never watched Corrie (apartd from a few episodes in 1991). This is how they'd do it on Eastenders:

    Snoop features as a transexual Iranian refugee in a burka, who creates revulsion and fear in the community first after a shoplifting spree and then exposing lovebale rogue Fwank Butcher's (RIP) dirty secret as being a direct decendent of Josef Mengele, Angel of Death.

    After a mob chase him round the square, both the Mitchels step in front of hiom wielding bats and demand the of crowd - fair's fair - let's hear what s/he has to say. After a heartfelt and tearful oration, finally the community come to accept Snoop as a victim who has risked life and limb to be herself and tell the truth.

    Closing credits feature an aerial view of a proppah Eastend Wedding in the square of Snoop to Tili Bombili (Somalian taxi driver) with Boris Johnson as an innebriated Pearly King chatting up a post-box with his cock out.

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  43. SwiftyBoy
    Did you read old tin-eared dungaree fancier Bindel's article bigging up the Dog a few weeks back.

    Really, the more militant some people are, the more appalling their musical judgment gets, I swear it.

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  44. speedkermit,

    methinks the Germans are at it. There's no way they would allow Paul to pick a Dutch victory, the rivalry runs too deep. I reckon a rotten mussel was put in the Dutch box.

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  45. @BW:

    No mate, I didn’t read it, I’ve zero interest in what Bindel’s got to say on any subject. Although actually, on reflection that’s not true – it’d be more accurate to say I’m now at that age where, if people of that ilk start enthusiastically espousing a particular cause or talking favourably about something, I automatically default to the opposite position. Because, you know, if it’s good enough for them, it’s almost certainly not going to be good enough for me. Something like that, anyway.

    Gets me through the day and all that, though it does have one huge downside – they might start liking something I like. For example, I’m dreading one of them suddenly announcing they’re a huge fan of acoustic country music. I’ll have to throw all my CDs in the bin at that point, and burn my beloved guitars.

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  46. "This Guitar Kills Identity Poitics Bullshitters"

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  47. Incidentally BW, you may not be aware and on the off-chance you’ve heard of him, of course… but Dave Rawlings (and his “Machine”) is making a rare outing to the UK round the middle of September. Me and the wife likely going to the London gig (he’s supporting Old Crow Medicine Show, slightly odd given he’s the bigger “name” and well-known as Gillian Welch’s sidekick), although the venue (Troxy?) in Limehouse apparently leaves something to be desired (starting with the fact it’s in Limehouse).

    But there’s every chance La Welch herself will be there, and if she is, she’ll no doubt get up and sing, and that seems too good a chance to pass up, to be honest, Limehouse or not.

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  48. Morning fuckwits

    well here there is a 24 hour strike of the media against berlusconi's gagging law, transport strike, and protests by those earthquaked last year and subsequently beaten up by the cops...two ministers resigned for allegations of corruption...so normal day in Berlucistan...

    Duke
    don't trust the octopus oracle apparently there's a predicting parakeet Mani, from singapore that has chosen the Netherlands to win...his record is so far "impeckable".....

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  49. Is this the internet petting zoo?

    I was thinking of buying a day-pass but I noticed ladyboys with detachable cocks mentioned a day or two ago.

    I'm all for a bit of light stroking and cuddling, but am I allowed to choose who's doing it?

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  50. Swifty
    Sounds pretty bloody good to me. Limehouse = shitehouse, but still will be well worth a look - got a date ? I might try and camp down at me mates house in K@ntish Town.

    Saw Old Crow Medicine Show at Canmbridge couple of years back; they're on fire those boys.

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  51. atomboy

    it's done with misguided solidarity that means no picking or choosing.......

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  52. gandolfo,

    thanks for the parakeet update. I feel much more confident now.

    Off to read some more of Montefiore’s Cholmondley-Warneresque ‘Dunkirk’ hootfest. I’ll let you know when the Germans encircle the beaches.

    Whilst Pierre le Shitbag pisses off with all the munitions, weapons and armaments, Lt Colonel Sebastian Squiff-Squiffy (the Squiffster)-Squiffington-Squiffminster slows down Rommel’s entire advance using only the last of the Harrods ham, his leatherbound copy of the rules of the Eton Ball game and his ivory enclosed Turkish/ Serbian blend cigarette case.

    What japes.

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  53. "Did you read old tin-eared dungaree fancier Bindel's article bigging up the Dog a few weeks back."

    That article was a sublime example of the Graun going well beyond parody. They make satire almost impossible because nothing is too absurd for them to publish.

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  54. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  55. @BW:

    Gig dates here, mate.

    The London gig is Fri Sept 17th, the day after the day of infamy - 16th September is our wedding anniversary.

    Old Crow Medicine Show are a talented bunch, no doubt. But I reckon Rawlings would be the bigger draw myself.

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  56. Mani the parakeet picks the Netherlands

    And apparently he's been predicting the future with uncanny accuracy for years. Stick that up your biased German octopus ring, Paul.

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  57. @Bitter

    On Enders, I'd rather see psycho Lucas converting Dogg into a born-again Pentecostal killa for Jesus.

    He could start by busting a cap in the ass of Peter Beale, who's even more irritating than his father.

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  58. Cheers Swifty - might see you there !

    @Jay - It was a check-to-see-if it's April 1st moment....

    @Spike - you seem to be more up to date than me. Alternatively he could invite the whole cast, directors and writers to a secret gig in Hoxton, whip out an AK47 and absolutely positively kill every last muthaf@cka in the room.

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  59. @Bitter

    As someone who works out the right time to catch any episode he may have missed on the Sunday omnibus edition, I can't agree with you there.

    Yes to a selective culling of Enders, no to outright Albert Square genocide. What would I do without Dot, Pat, Mo and Max?

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  60. Spike

    I,d like to see Dogg getting down and dirty with Big Mo.Give lard arse Phil Mitchell a good slap and then repent with Dot Cotton in the Launderette.I was gonna add make Ian Beale blub as well but that would be like taking candy from a baby.

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  61. "What would I do without Dot, Pat, Mo and Max"

    Get a filipino she-he in like I do.

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  62. Paul
    "Dogg getting down and dirty with Big Mo"

    I'm just going to stub my minds eye with my thumb...

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  63. Now that's what I call a storyline, Paul. He could off Fat Elvis: "Mo's my ho' now, muhfuck." With Charlie and June looking worried and Stacey in a strop.

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  64. Spike

    I forgot about Fat Elvis.Maybe he and Snoop could have a shootout in the square and one of the bullets could ricochet off Arfurs Bench blast into the Vic and blow Peggy,s wig clean orf her 'ead.

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  65. How about a remake of seventies New York gangs pulp flic "Warriors". CoronationStreet as Bloods, Esatenders as Crips.

    They all end up in San Quentin with tatooed faces, shitting in a steel bucket, and bumming Ian Beal for laughs.

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  66. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  67. @Bitter

    The words "bumming Ian Beale" and "for laughs" just don't work together for me.

    @Paul

    Well, you're hooking neatly back into the standard Enders format there. Snoop follows his bullet into the QV, orders a fifth of vodka, and Peggy screams at him to "Get ahta my pub!"

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  68. How about this for a storyline?

    Snoop Dogg turns up in the Square with a couple of bitches on his arm. He proceeds to pimp them round the Vic, while supplying them with crack cocaine. While he’s at it, his driver shoots someone dead (maybe Phil Mitchell?). While his driver is shooting someone like Phil Mitchell dead, Snoop’s gang friends from area code 213 turn up, kill a few more people and set up drug dealerships on the four “corners” of Albert Square. While all that’s going on, Snoop goes to karaoke night at the Vic and raps about what a loveable badass/joker/shagger he is, how he’s shagged or pimped half the women in the Square, and how he’d like to shag or pimp the other half while supplying them with crack cocaine to keep them pliant to his will, while shooting their husbands and boyfriends dead. Snoop becomes a multi-millionnaire, fucks off to Hollywood, and the Square is hugely enriched by his legacy.

    The man is an absolute treasure, no doubt in my mind.

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  69. @Swift

    Have him pimp underage Lucy Beale and Lauren Branning and slip in a few shots of Dot saying "Oo-er" and Minty being endearing and I reckon you can pitch it to the head of light entertainment.

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  70. "If you've been affected by any of the issues raised in this programme, you can call..."

    Heheh.

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  71. Good grief. Is this the best that you blokes can come up with on a Friday afternoon?

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  72. Ah well, it is an entertaining read & welcome relief from the task I'm avoiding doing. How about a sequel / spin off series by the UT scriptwriters?

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  73. Bitterweed

    ''bumming Ian Beal for laughs.''

    Well that would certainly bring the tears to his eyes!!

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  74. I've just Googled Ian Beale to check on the spelling. How sad is that?

    In a further twist, Dogg goes to the clinic and snuffs Jack, who's indulging in some hanky-panky with Ronnie in his hospital bed. Miraculously, Ronnie is untouched by the bullets and stares at Jack's body in disbelieving shock (cue a doof-doof there).

    In the next episode, Snoop takes over R 'n' R's, renames it "Ho's 'r' Us" and turns it into a whorehouse and crack den, with Janine on the desk. "Oo-er" goes Dot again, and Peggy Mitchell starts a petition.

    Meanwhile, Heather scratches the Doggmobile with her pushchair and takes a bullet upside her head. Darren now has to bring up George, who will go on a killing rampage to avenge his mother's death in 2029 (forward planning is everything in this business).

    I really should do some work now.

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  75. Hi MsChin an all-- talking of strokesancuddles,the frogprincess is back in Caen from seeing her son in NY ,and at 18h her 90yr-old dad gets a Legion d'Honneur. He was in his third 'group' on the 6th june 1944,and his contact in the second group was among the 60+ shot in caen prison that day. We'll have all the other local survivors, and speeches, and a dinner.I hate funerals and stuff like this, too soft, but there yer go.

    Off now, XX !

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  76. Frog

    Hope the old guy enjoys the occasion. Hate formal things myself, but needs must sometimes!

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  77. @MsChin
    I see you have returned to home of cuddles well before me. I'm green with jealousy!

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  78. Was'nt off,yet , had to water the polytunnel!About 40° even with half the plastic off ; I'm digging for the future, like EnglishHermit;)

    I think he got a little pushed into it, because for years he said --'the dead ones just got a wooden cross, if that'-- but anyway I'll meet some of the others and, who knows, get a bit of oral history. Matter of finding the leading question ...

    XX !

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  79. frog2

    Good for him. Sure you'll be OK.

    On another note, Mrs Thatcher said that anyone finding themselves on a bus when they are 26 should consider themselves a failure.

    We know the working-classes have been made to feel ashamed of themselves and to put all their dreams into the middle-class basket.

    We know that being poor is now also something of which to be ashamed.

    Lack of success, not being attractive, not being famous are all things which we have to pretend do not apply to us.

    The ordinary working people have been made pariahs, both in their own minds and as far as the lovely media are concerned.

    So, what thing could you now use to appeal en masse to ordinary people when all these things have been taken away?

    What can you use which would not seem like an insult or a slap in the face to show how badly people have done, when the only measure is money and the success it either implies or which goes with it?

    What would people rally round now, if anything?

    It is no good trying to sell people the idea that they are being taken for fools and shafted if they are convinced that they are marching triumphantly up the hill of success.

    They simply will not believe you.

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  80. Hello - strokes and cuddles everyone.

    Bella has passed suggestions for series/section on welfare changes onto Jess. We are to remind Jess of thiswhen she returns next week.

    Haven't had time to look at Cif yet apart from waddya - what horrors await?

    Laters folks.

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  81. medve

    Taking a break is definitely allowed in this heat! Besides, I'm not at work just busy doing boring stuff at home, so any excuse ..

    frog

    The oral history bit is what would get me there.

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  82. Atoms

    Salient point - when volling for Communities first here I tried - unsuccessfully - to rmove negative words such as 'deprived' from the literature. You cannot actually be deprived of something - such as hope and self worth - until you have actually owned and enjoyed it.

    The is an industry built around a lexicon of negativity and uselessness geared towards people accepting poor rewards for work and feeling grateful for handouts, handmedowns and patronising idiots telling them how to live their lives.

    Buses here are so infrequent you are lucky to 'find yourself on one ' at any age.

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  83. Leni, Cif today has a lovely open thread about psychic pets, enjoy. :)

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  84. Ha, ha rural public transport! I had to come in to work today as the p/t lass failed to note she was on the rota. £25 in a taxi to go 13 miles.

    My bus route home, leave work at 4pm (an hour early) 15min walk, 1hr bus ride, 30 mins wait 30 mins bus ride, get home at 6pm, pay £5 for the priviledge!

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  85. Has the Guardian/cif main page layout changed. There is lots of empty space on either side, making the text jumbled together more.

    If not then it is just me.

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  86. I had a good laugh at that odious fuckwit professorplums on the Amnesty thread. Someone mentioned Keyser Soze, to which the noble professor replied:

    If the nasty British intelligence services had raised their voice to Keyser Soze then you can bet Amnesty, Clive Stafford-Smith and legions of posters on this site would be rushing to defend him and paint him as some human rights hero. Pathetic.

    Someone then posted " @ProfessorPlums you don't know who Keyser Soze is, do you?"

    And reply came there none! That was six hours ago and he hasn't been back on the thread since (he's just repeatedly posted his usual crap on other threads instead.) What a fucking moron.

    Still, it gave me a chuckle, so not a total waste of time. And it does also demonstrate the total futility of trying to argue/debate with these idiots on Cif. You might as well stick your head in a blender and pour the resultant tasty smoothie down your neck for all the good it does. I blame Seaton.

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  87. Scherfig,

    you can add him to the other kneejerk dimwits such as thfc123. There's a new poster who is really quite obnoxious called 'sweeting'. Look out for his work.

    They have one default posting setting-

    "I fucking hate the poor/socialists/immigrants/human rights legislation/empathy/decency. Now what's this thread all about then?".

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  88. @scherf:

    It’s the “psychic pets” one that’s well and truly got up my nose. Not usually one to carp (geddit?) or anything, I know it’s just a bit of Friday fluff, we were just being post-modern etc, but still, you know, for fuck’s sake…

    ”I blame Seaton”

    Whoever’s to blame for that shocker needs feeding to their “psychic” pet. While still drawing breath, preferably.

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  89. scherfig
    I thought you were keyser soze
    ;-)

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  90. Now now, Swifty, my goldfish tells me you dont really mean that. ; )

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  91. #Where prize fuckwits are cuddled and stroked in some misguided sense of solidarity#

    surely "FROM some misguided sense of solidarity" or "OUT OF A misguided sense of solidarity"

    just saying

    ..also..overheard in the queue in Greggs..two guys in suits..

    "well there was that Mel who worked in the chippy..always gave me extra scraps..so that's just her and Janis Joplin..only two fat ugly birds who've ever done anything for me"

    Greggs..hotbed of misogyny?

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  92. Right wing trolls... uh!
    If they could argue coherently then it would not be a problem.

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  93. Miserable day, gotta get my head down- no more procrastinating.

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  94. swifty, the psychic pets thread might well be nauseating but it's just the usual old bollocks and easily ignored. Cif's low point (or one of many, rather) on the open threads was definitely their jokey thread about the US oil-spill. 8 people dead, wildlife and livelihoods destroyed, a cost of billions of dollars, and they kicked off a 'humourous' discussion where all the usual witless fuckers could try their little jokes and hope to get as many as 3/4 recommends from the other witless luvvies. Needless to say the first comment was from much-loved Cif 'legend' Hermione, who posted a little bon mot about Vera Lynne.
    BP oil spill: can you fix it?
    The slick's growing, things are getting desperate. Do we send in Kevin Costner, nuke it, or what?


    Fuck them.

    bitterweed, sometimes I am. I can say no more. btw, did you know that 5 different people played (bits of) Keyser Soze in the film? That's how hard he is to track down.

    ReplyDelete
  95. #Where prize fuckwits are cuddled and stroked in some misguided sense of solidarity#

    Don't crit his prose, or he'll say you can't read MF.. Beware THE BRAKEN WAKES! (c)frog2 :-)

    ReplyDelete
  96. Sticking this on from WADYYA in case it gets zapped. It's from RapidEddie:


    What I'd really like to talk about is this:

    chaz1 said:

    "[The Guardian has] a policy of sacking their subs (and probably other staff) every six months before their statutory rights kick in.

    Is this true?"

    Yes. This happened to one of my friends.


    Just to be clear. I really, really, really want this addressed.

    After all, if you're going to insist on filling your pages with angsty 'progressive' stuff about how the government, big business and various others are eating your babies during this recession, you better damned well be above treating people like shit yourself.

    It doesn't have to be Big Al who responds, any old pencil-pusher from HR will do.

    But I'd really like to know the truth of the matter.

    ReplyDelete
  97. @scherf:

    Yeah, you’re right of course mate, I should calm down. Hey! maybe I could enter into the spirit (eh? eh???) of things instead?

    Erm let’s see… wife’s cat… acting oddly… two days later job offer came through… spooky, like somehow it just knew. Err… neighbour’s dog… up all night barking… bloody thing... Twin Towers attacked the very next day! You just couldn’t make it up (unlike I just did there).

    ReplyDelete
  98. "Don't crit his prose, or he'll say you can't read MF"

    I'm not criticising it, I'm just pointing out that it's wrong..things aren't done 'in a sense of solidarity'..they are done 'from a sense of solidarity' or 'out of a sense of solidarity'.

    ReplyDelete
  99. monkeyfish

    it's probably the first time Bracken's ever used the "s" word......

    ReplyDelete
  100. scherfig Seconded on the oil catastrophe thing, it was a new low. But then I advise anyone with a conscience to step away from CiF.

    Right now I have a different problem. It's sunny outside, about 27 degrees, there's a nice breeze, and my mate who has asked me to play a tune at his wedding this month has suggested I go and visit him in a local beer festival, right now, to discuss potential tunes and blow the froth off a couple.

    Should I stay here in mys stuffy office and be good, even though I had my annual appraisal yesterday, or should I piss off down the pub ?

    Solutions please anyone.

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  101. OK, you guys win. I'm off.

    %-)

    ReplyDelete
  102. Duke

    that's a cracker..absolute cracker...the hypocrisy at that place defies belief...cue kizbot coming on and doing a 'don't rock the boat' number then calling him an ersatz socialist and would be working class hero, followed up by Betty Bruster weighing in with a "some of the top CEOs in Brussels are only ever granted 6 month rolling contracts..blah blah champagne..handbags..Rigoletto"..what a fuckin abortion that place has become.

    Mind you..even better, she might read this..pile in all self-righteous and demand an answer just to prove me wrong. Maybe Bella can tell us how she escaped the chop? vacuous, anodyne waste of beige that she is

    ReplyDelete
  103. LOL! 'Tis feckin' brill, that, swifters, pet :0) You should post that on the thread! 'tis Friday and everybody needs a good larf - no more skiving and posting til we're all back at 'work' ;0) again on Monday! You should go ATL - yer brill! Jess my poppet, Bella (lurve yr new hair), can we not get the swiftster to write something on cakes or unarmed combat? 'twould be fab!

    ReplyDelete
  104. waddaya waddaya waddaya

    Someone needs a trip to Nitty Norah by the sound of it

    My advice...Get a fuckin bath now and again and restrict yourself to one cat per square metre..jesus, the way some people live.

    ReplyDelete
  105. monkeyfish,

    I wonder if @BevaniteEllie the stilletoed socialist and the new generation of lefty activists could maybe get a twitter or facebook campaign going?

    ReplyDelete
  106. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  107. Sure she could...after 6 months they could be redesignated as unpaid interns...that's the way the socially conscious, muckraking left-wing journos of the future get a grip on the first rung..get mummy and daddy to support them and get them a flat for a year or so while they learn about lifestyle porn at the coal face.

    A campaign's a good idea though, Laurie Penny would be the first to sign up.

    Seriously, the idea that these fuckin people are gonna be established and presuming to speak (with some 'authority')for the working class makes me sick to the stomach...and you just know it WILL happen!!

    ReplyDelete
  108. Alisdair

    SOLD..couldn't resist..she's goin on the mantlepiece..next to my Polly Toynbee doll 'with adjustable empathy'

    ReplyDelete
  109. Cheeky Alisdair. ;)

    I have always resisted getting a cat (much as I like them) because once I do my transformation into crazy cat lady will be complete and I will just give up.

    ReplyDelete
  110. monkeyfish

    Seriously, the idea that these fuckin people are gonna be established and presuming to speak (with some 'authority')for the working class makes me sick to the stomach...and you just know it WILL happen!!

    I asked earlier how to get a message through to "working class" people when they have been persuaded to be ashamed of being poor, ordinary, working-class or whatever - anything other than rich and famous, basically - without the intended recipients feeling that you are talking to someone else (Mr Thomson) or feeling insulted.

    Any ideas?

    ReplyDelete
  111. Jenni

    I have always said that when I am anold old woman I will live in one room with a dog, a cat and a parrot - along with an umbrella. I will do as I please.

    Have yet to move into single room and buy umbrella.

    ReplyDelete
  112. Atomboy,

    there was a cracking post from 'ArseneKnows' on the Steve Bell cartoon thread today:

    The thing I don't understand is all this 'We're all in it together' crap.

    Some people have done very well over the last 30 years.

    In 1979 the top rate of tax was 83% which Thatcher cut to 60%.

    In 1988 she cut the rate again to 40%, which many now still see as ‘normal’. This change alone more than tripled the value of top executive’s after-tax pay within a decade.

    In 1980, Barclays’ highest paid director took home a total of £67,500 while the Chairman made £81,000.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/7721426/Executive-Pay-Report-2010-how-did-we-get-here.html

    Bob Diamond, president of Barclays, has been rewarded with cash and share awards worth a potential £60m, while two of his closest lieutenants have shared almost £40m for their efforts in recent years.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/19/bob-diamond-pay-barclays

    Others haven't done quite so well.

    In 2008/09, there were 2.8 million children living in UK households with below 60 per cent of contemporary median net disposable household income Before Housing Costs and 3.9 million After Housing Costs

    In 2008/09, there were 5.8 million working-age adults living in UK households with below 60 per cent of contemporary median net disposable household income Before Housing Costs, and 7.8 million After Housing Costs.

    In 2008/09, there were 2.3 million pensioners living in UK households with below 60 per cent of contemporary median net disposable household income Before Housing Costs, and 1.8 million After Housing Costs.

    http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/hbai.asp

    On the way up the poor didn't see salaries rise by double digits year on year, nor get huge bonuses, nor benefit from share options. they didn't get huge benefits from low CGT or pass on large amounts to their children in inheritances. The poorest didn't benefit from the huge housing bubble so my question is:

    WHAT IS THE JUSTIFICATION FOR THOSE WHO DIDN'T BENEFIT FROM THE EXCESSES BEING HARDEST HIT WHEN IT COMES TIME TO PAY THE BILL?

    ReplyDelete
  113. Would be Journalists of the left will just have to resort to pamphleteering and becoming travelling Chapmen again - either that or start a new religion and boom from the pulpit.

    ReplyDelete
  114. think kizbot's finally twigged what an embarrassing irrelevance she's become..OK she's still bessy mates with the fun loving top Spam but there's a desperate tone in some of her posts lately...the terrible truth has finally dawned on her.

    Bit sad really...like when they axed Crossroads..a clapped out soap opera which had run its course..but could still look back on a..erm.. glorious ..er..well yeah..just like Crossroads really.

    ReplyDelete
  115. What would happen if millions refused to pay highly inflated utility bills ?

    ReplyDelete
  116. Leni,

    that reminds me of the viz letter:

    "One pound a week will supply water for an entire village in Tanzania" says Oxfam. So how come United Utilities charge me twenty pounds a month for my three bedroom semi? The fleecing bastards."

    ReplyDelete
  117. Wybourne

    Thanks for that informative and depressing post.

    I think the answer, though, to your final question is terrifyingly simple.

    The poor cannot choose what money is taken from them or denied them and there are a lot more of them.

    The rich simply say: "Tax? Nah, I don't pay it, mate. Thanks anyway."

    If threatened, they just say they will run away to an island or Swiss paradise and the politicians - looking forward to their huge bonus pay-packets when they leave office - plead with them to stay.

    Oh, and the obvious fact that politicians, banks and big business look upon themselves as ladybirds and wasps and ordinary people as aphids - just there to be milked.

    ReplyDelete
  118. Montana

    Could we open up a Lifestyle section on UT, so we could have lovely articles like this:

    Don't worry about my leg - it was a few years ago. Any infestation has long disappeared.

    In fact my tanned (well OK out of a bottle) legs will be very much on display on the beach at snooty Le Zoute tomorrow. Do I have some gorgeous beachwear to preen in. A girl's got to do something special to outshine all the flashy wheels on show.

    I think Kiz has a very good life in sunny Athens. And she looked gorgeous in the photos she sent me from Glasto. So blonde and slim and young looking.

    And her boyfriend is pretty cool looking too - she's got a life alright enough to make many green with envy.

    Plus that cat......

    ReplyDelete
  119. Duke

    I have been thinking about comparative costs - what can you buy with £100 in various parts of the world.

    Why the discrepancies ? Answers are obvious I know.

    We hear a lot about the poor elsewhere living on less than $2 a days - what is the equivalent here for poor families. Figures so often disguise the truth.

    The argument has always been that the poor here benefit from 'free' services - schools , hospitals etc - when services are cut or quality further diminishes we are closing the international gap quite considerably.

    What hope do we realistically have of turning things round here ? The more I think about it the more helpless I realise we are.

    ReplyDelete
  120. Peter Bracken

    Sorry sir (tugs forelock) can't understand your big words sir, went to a bog standard comp sir, me and turminder both sir.

    Can I get you something while I am here your honour like a pin to prick your enourmous fucking ego?

    Your writing style is confused and pretentious and even I, as a fuckwit pleb can recognise that.

    ReplyDelete
  121. Evening, fellow fuckwits.

    Haven't checked out CiF yet, apart from the Gorgeous George thread.

    Excellent post from ArseneKnows, by the looks.

    Back in a bit.

    ReplyDelete
  122. Leni

    At some point we have to come to terms with competing with the slave-factories of China.

    What is globalisation for if not levelling labour-costs to the bottom?

    ReplyDelete
  123. A lifestyle advice column is what I need. My flip flops are proving totally inadequate in the persistent rain - I have tried stuffing them with newspapers but the resulting papier mache gunge between the toes is ruinous to my street cred.

    Can you please advise.

    ReplyDelete
  124. PeterB

    How can you be both left-wing and a snob about those who haven't had the benefit the same standard/level of education you do?

    I am not being snarky - I just don't get it.

    ReplyDelete
  125. Leni

    A couple of plastic bags and some lacky bands? :o)

    ReplyDelete
  126. afternoon everybody

    You chaps have been on good form today....kept me laughing through a dreary day in the office.

    Now have a whole week off to look forward to....thank christ for that.

    Salut! folks - raises first glass of the weekend....

    ReplyDelete
  127. 'can't understand your big words sir, went to a bog standard comp sir, me.'

    So did I, Jennifer. I just don't wallow in the identity of it.

    ReplyDelete
  128. Leni

    Collect the papier mache and form it into models of famous people. To make Cheryl Cole, just squeeze it in your fist until it oozes out both ends. Job done!

    Paint and sell models at boot fairs and use the profits to buy better shoes.

    Tip: Only walk in papier mache making shoes at night to avoid embarrassment.

    During the day, going to work or for important meeting, simply put your feet in carrier bags, then into your funny flip-flops.

    Extra tip: For formal occasions, use Waitrose bags. Lidl is OK for daily wear.

    Montana

    Could I have my own column, please?

    Ask Atomboy

    You know, for fuckwits to ask stupid questions.

    ReplyDelete
  129. BB

    what a wonderful idea - I was fortunate enough to find some of those pretty pink lacky bands the postman drops. Now I need to find colour coordinated plastic bags.

    ReplyDelete
  130. Serious question

    Do we all live on the same planet or is reality distortion a verifiable disordr ?

    ReplyDelete
  131. No Peter you dragged yourself up by your bootstraps didn't you and now you wander the internet mocking those you consider to be lesser than you.

    Good work fella.

    ReplyDelete
  132. I'm not being a snob about anything, BB. I'm simply replying to people who latch onto my style and criticise it in some sort of vindication for their own limited expression.

    What do you expect me to do? Apologise for using a word or two beyond their comprehension? It's not me being snobbish that's the point; it's your latching condescendingly (it's not their fault they're not educated) onto their discomfort that's interesting.

    I'd never have responded had they not tried to make a virtue of their ignorance. But since they have, they deserve to be upbraided.

    ReplyDelete
  133. Why is this acting up and telling me 'my post must contain less than 4096 characters'? It does contain less than etc...

    ReplyDelete
  134. OK, in 2 Parts, then:

    Is anyone really surprised at the the course the Grauniad's taken? Seriously? With vapid twerps like Rawnsley, Ashley and Toynbee manning the pumps and Kettle desperately trying to find a new home for his tongue, so reluctantly prised loose from the sphincter of Blair.

    With self-same tongue hanging loose in his slack gob, useless and unloved, incapable of uttering a single sentence that you couldn't hear at any golf club in the land on any day of the week.

    Finally, at his most vulnerable (for a sycophant and stooge is lost without a master) hearing the enchanting parp of the Cameron anus, promising new glories of well-bred shite, the Kettle tongue flies like a guided meat-missile to its rightful place, massaging Call Me Dave's lower colon.

    Meanwhile, the favoured courtiers purr and gargle happily at approval from Bella & Jess, dreaming of their coveted 'C' (which stands for 'compromised' or 'cunt', I can't decide which) and Peter Broken flips the pages of his cherished 1930 edition of Roget's Thesaurus in a vain attempt to find a new way of saying "I may be a windy half-wit but I'm right and you're wrong" and Stephen Fry writes a 5000-word piece on his new iToilet, which automatically tweets his 'followers' whenever his bowels loosen and Hadley Freeman sobs brokenly at the sight of a divine pair of trousers .

    Meanwhile, some prospective New Labour shitehawk coos delightedly at the ennobling of Fatty Prescott in the hope of currying favour and being wafted into a safe seat, and Julian 'Lilo-Lips' Glover fights Martin Kettle over the gentile hole of Call Me Dave in the hope of striking pay-dirt: an appointment as an 'advisor, and Peter Bazalgette, whose ancestor built London's sewers and whose TV output belongs nowhere else, lectures us on 'arts policy'.

    ReplyDelete
  135. Peter

    Is there any point in 'upbraiding' the ignorant if they are too stupid to understand what you are saying to them?

    This is a silly argument really - one based solely on your assumption of superiority and higher intellect. Your case not proven.

    ReplyDelete
  136. I mock people who attempt to mock me, Jennifer. What's wrong with that? Do you expect me to crumble in deference to - use the word of the day - fuckwits?

    Besides, what's wrong with speaking my mind? You do it all the time.

    ReplyDelete
  137. Part 2:

    The usual suspects hang around WADDYA, deperately trying to work up the courage to say "Hey, ya know what? This is bollocks, You, Bella and you, Jessica, are a pair of smarmy, spineless know-nothings and your coterie of hangers-on and bootlickers are worse. It's people like you that have turned a once-great newspaper into the equivalent of a crack-whore, you and that worthless twat Rusbridger (or Daddy to you, Bella); groomed by that creep Preston who gave up a source and saw her jailed, Rusbridger (AKA The Pooter of The Piano) is a fitting Head Pallbearer at the funeral of a newspaper that once meant something, once stood for something; there was a time when it could have been turned around, when it could have been saved but no longer: the rot's too deep.

    You abused and sneered at your core constituency, now they've buggered off and you're left with the likes of that risible oaf Bracken, who calls himself 'of the left' because he once bought the Penguin 4-volume Collected Essays, Letters and Journalism of George Orwell at a jumble-sale; with Imogen Black, who pouts... audibly, fercrisesake; of MoveAnyMountain, who would happily be a war-criminal if only someone would make him an offer.

    The stench of death coming off you and the rotting corpse of a once fine newspaper would gag a maggot. I'm off. Keep your fucking 'C' and your fucking 'mwah-mwah, you look fabulous' crap for the suckers..."

    Of course that won't happen beacuse the usual suspects are like abused spouses the world over--'he loves me, really; he can change; he just had a little too much to drink; it wasn't his fault, it's those no-good friends of his; a little pancake and no-one can see the black-eye...'

    Instead, they hang around the back of the class with the other 'rebels' (larf) saying rude things about Miss but never actually flying the coop; and for what? Approval from the worthless likes of Bella and Jess? Pitiful. As Yeats put it:

    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.


    It's B. Traven's Death Ship with a more charmless crew. I'm beginning to have a great deal of sympathy for @HankScorpio. At the risk of sounding patronising, you're not bad sorts; get out before you're undone...

    ReplyDelete
  138. Part 2:

    The usual suspects hang around WADDYA, deperately trying to work up the courage to say "Hey, ya know what? This is bollocks, You, Bella and you, Jessica, are a pair of smarmy, spineless know-nothings and your coterie of hangers-on and bootlickers are worse. It's people like you that have turned a once-great newspaper into the equivalent of a crack-whore, you and that worthless twat Rusbridger (or Daddy to you, Bella); groomed by that creep Preston who gave up a source and saw her jailed, Rusbridger (AKA The Pooter of The Piano) is a fitting Head Pallbearer at the funeral of a newspaper that once meant something, once stood for something; there was a time when it could have been turned around, when it could have been saved but no longer: the rot's too deep.

    You abused and sneered at your core constituency, now they've buggered off and you're left with the likes of that risible oaf Bracken, who calls himself 'of the left' because he once bought the Penguin 4-volume Collected Essays, Letters and Journalism of George Orwell at a jumble-sale; with Imogen Black, who pouts... audibly, fercrisesake; of MoveAnyMountain, who would happily be a war-criminal if only someone would make him an offer.

    The stench of death coming off you and the rotting corpse of a once fine newspaper would gag a maggot. I'm off. Keep your fucking 'C' and your fucking 'mwah-mwah, you look fabulous' crap for the suckers..."

    Of course that won't happen beacuse the usual suspects are like abused spouses the world over--'he loves me, really; he can change; he just had a little too much to drink; it wasn't his fault, it's those no-good friends of his; a little pancake and no-one can see the black-eye...'

    Instead, they hang around the back of the class with the other 'rebels' (larf) saying rude things about Miss but never actually flying the coop; and for what? Approval from the worthless likes of Bella and Jess? Pitiful. As Yeats put it:

    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.


    It's B. Traven's Death Ship with a more charmless crew. I'm beginning to have a great deal of sympathy for @HankScorpio. At the risk of sounding patronising, you're not bad sorts; get out before you're undone...

    ReplyDelete
  139. misharialadwani

    Best to keep a copy before posting, just in case.

    Lots of errors lately, which usually disappear on a second try.

    ReplyDelete
  140. Leni:

    'Is there any point in 'upbraiding' the ignorant if they are too stupid to understand what you are saying to them?'

    Well, I'm being optimistic and giving them the benefit of the doubt. That's the generous in me.

    ReplyDelete
  141. Crap, rambling post misharialadwani. You need a thesaurus.

    ReplyDelete
  142. Peter nothing wrong with speaking your mind and also nothing wrong with someone saying you are full of shit when you do.

    I never said I wanted you to shut up, you carry on and so will I and others who find your schtick distasteful.

    And so the world continues.

    ReplyDelete
  143. misharialadwani

    Agree with all that.

    Even the bit aimed at people like me.

    In slight defence, I never imagined it as a platform any more significant than when I mutter and hum to myself when walking where I think I cannot be heard.

    ReplyDelete
  144. LOL Leni - I am sure you will be beautiful no matter what!

    In the mean time, I raise a glass of white wine slush puppy to you all. Stuck the bottle in the freezer when I got home and forgot it was there ...

    ReplyDelete
  145. misharialadwani

    You mean commenting on Cif doesn't make me one of the savvy media elite, well I have been wasting my time. ;)

    Just kidding you have a good point and I have been wondering lately if the fun I have posting their is outweighed by the pointlessness of it all.

    ReplyDelete
  146. Oh no I put their instead of there, how Peter B must be sniggering at me.

    ReplyDelete
  147. Peter B

    I'm all in favour of plain English myself, especially when trying to make an argument for something. If it's fiction its different but doing a Will Self atl on cif tends to perplex readers rather than lend clarity.

    Just my humble, fuckwitted opinion of course, so please feel free to bat it aside.

    ReplyDelete
  148. Jenni

    I know a scientologist - so called business man but more of a shady dealer in the financial world.

    He has hit hard time - court on monday found against him over murky doings - costs and reparation high.

    Asked me did I know of any jobs going ! After I stopped laughing I suggested he prepared Cv - he replied

    "Cvs don't work for me - I've got a criminal record. The people who understand me know at a deeper level what I am capable of - it is beyond the ordinary"--- So this is how they recognise each other ?

    He has now decided to challenge Edward de Bono on his faulty reasoning. I look forward to proof reading his letter and correcting his spelling mistakes.

    ReplyDelete
  149. misharialadwani

    Thanks for making me laugh....feel free to 'ramble' away to your hearts content.

    ReplyDelete
  150. jenni

    I'm sniggering and pointing my finger at you . Ya boo !

    ReplyDelete
  151. I deserve it Leni (hangs head in shame). ;)

    ReplyDelete
  152. Evening all

    @Leni-i read somewhere that people with criminal records are more likely to get jobs than law-abiding people with MH problems.Weird twisted
    values if you ask me!

    ReplyDelete
  153. @MsChin

    medve

    Taking a break is definitely allowed in this heat! Besides, I'm not at work just busy doing boring stuff at home, so any excuse ..


    Heaven forbid that i would say what are or are not allowed to do. Was just jealous that you returned to the place of cuddles and strokes before i could. Have only been able to look in a couple of times today and must be away again in a moment.

    ReplyDelete
  154. PeterB

    It wasn't your vocabulary that was at issue, but taking the piss out of e.g. Turm for having his at a "sub-level" I think you said... haven't scrolled back.

    Don't mind me.

    Although I will say this: adapting your vocabulary to the person you are addressing isn't about being condescending. It is about having the intelligence to know that if you want to get a point across, you need to gauge your audience and not mock them for not being as clever as you... that shows education, but no intelligence at all.

    ReplyDelete
  155. Selfmademan on the spirit level right of reply thread

    ReplyDelete
  156. medve

    Apologies for being a bit stroppy there, my friend!

    ReplyDelete
  157. Mr Selfmade - haven't seen him for ages - where's this thread Yr Grace?

    ReplyDelete
  158. PeterB

    the problem is that you are actually condesending and patronising now if that's what you consider to be speaking your mind then that's your prerogative, but it doesn't actually get your message across in fact people will just quite rightly sneer at you....and attack you as you attack them call me a fuckwit and I'll call you a dick head.........or as they say in Italy tu hai il culo in faccia

    ReplyDelete
  159. BB,

    I think selfmademan's post is satire taking the piss out of the right wingers.

    ReplyDelete
  160. Your Grace

    Yehiknow! I just like engaging with him, tho, cos he is good for a laff. :o)

    ReplyDelete
  161. BB,

    apologies. A classic case of nuance and meaning being lost online ;)

    ReplyDelete
  162. Here's a little taster:

    "It was not just more of the same. Far from correcting them, failings – tactics, spin, high-handedness – intensified; and we lost many of our strengths – optimism born of clear strategy, bold plans for change and reform, a compelling articulation of aspiration and hope".

    From the man who previously gave us:

    “Leadership without values is management. Values without leadership is dreams. Our job in politics is to make reality more like dreams of social justice and equal opportunity. I think there are widely shared values among the leadership candidates. The test is who can turn the poetry of values into the prose of real change”.

    Obviously!

    ReplyDelete
  163. BB has a reply from selfmade ..

    ReplyDelete
  164. Perhaps a weird thing to say, what with nuance and meaning [easily] being lost online, but i smell unadulterated fear in some of the rabid right-wingers' comments. Not only on the spirit level threads, but also previously on DLA et al.

    ReplyDelete
  165. medve

    I suspect you are right.

    Perhaps they are afraid we might revolt, storm their gated communities & set fire to their BMWs.

    ReplyDelete
  166. BB

    I think you and selfmademan are made for each other.Hermione won,t be pleased mind.She.s always had a soft spot for him and she may take your betrayal very badly.You are after all like a daughter to her :-)

    ReplyDelete
  167. I wouldn't go there BB, Mrs Selfmade sounds like a woman to be reckoned with. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  168. @BB

    Bloody lovely reply, brilliantly in character!

    ReplyDelete
  169. LOL - I love Mr Selfmade and am a great fan of his work. He is brilliant.

    Would love to know who he is - I had a feeling at one stage it might have been Peter Guillam, but I am not sure.

    ReplyDelete
  170. James

    Whizzing over to the other thread now. Not sure who mean by cock-knocker the elder. Is it milliband? I will be rude if it is...

    ReplyDelete
  171. He is good isn't he BB, I would love to know who it is as well but I suppose that might spoil the fun, I really like the fact that his posts are few and far between.

    ReplyDelete
  172. BB - Yup milipede the elder!

    ReplyDelete
  173. That article reminds me, I wonder if La Rit ever got to ask her questions of Milliband at her local Labour meeting?

    ReplyDelete
  174. James

    Just been rude to him. Can't bear the geezer. Someone I work with - who is way past retiring age but still does a bit of work here and there, met the greater crested Millibandi as Phili-Bee calls him at some social do or other years ago, pre-New Labour.

    My colleague was a labour mp in the 80s and knew his Dad. He has a very low view of him and said his Dad would be turning in his grave...

    ReplyDelete
  175. "That article reminds me, I wonder if La Rit ever got to ask her questions of Milliband at her local Labour meeting?"

    Depends how high his pedestal was, I s'pose!

    ReplyDelete
  176. BB

    Yeah, I read your comments, while nodding my head vigorously.

    The guy's just not right, and I don't mean that in a 'he's not my cup of tea' kind of way, but in a 'he's probably, at some point, going to make 'V' look like an unheeded warning' kind of way.

    You have all been warned......

    ReplyDelete
  177. James

    I dunno what it is about him, but for me he has always been a wrong'un.

    ReplyDelete
  178. Oh dear Peter. Sour Grapes? that the 'illiterate' TX gets props, n u get slagged? Here's a wee tip for you, n guess what? It's free.


    H.W. Fowler (1858–1933). The King’s English, 2nd ed. 1908.

    Chapter I. Vocabulary

    GENERAL



    ANY one who wishes to become a good writer should endeavour, before he allows himself to be tempted by the more showy qualities, to be direct, simple, brief, vigorous, and lucid.

    This general principle may be translated into practical rules in the domain of vocabulary as follows:—

    Prefer the familiar word to the far-fetched.
    Prefer the concrete word to the abstract.
    Prefer the single word to the circumlocution.
    Prefer the short word to the long.
    Prefer the Saxon word to the Romance. 1


    These rules are given roughly in order of merit; the last is also the least. It is true that it is often given alone, as a sort of compendium of all the others. In some sense it is that: the writer whose percentage of Saxon words is high will generally be found to have fewer words that are out of the way, long, or abstract, and fewer periphrases, than another...

    You tool...

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  179. Nah Turm.

    I am pretty sure "tool" isn't Saxon...

    How's tha heid efter Embra?

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  180. Well, for me, it's almost certainly the fact that he's a brain eating lizard sent amongst us to eventually enslave us all and/or* made of exactly the same genetic material as Tony Blair.

    *Probably don't need the 'or', to be honest....

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  181. (above comment in response to BB, and about Milipede the elder!)

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  182. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  183. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jul/09/obr-public-sector-job-losses

    Have you seen this ?

    Figures we are being given are meaningless - this is going to be much worse than we ever feared.

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  184. Heid no bad BB, esp. considering the fact I did half a day in the plastic shite shop today. :-)

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  185. Leni,

    Our new financial saviors are cooking the books already!!

    Why am I not surprised?

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  186. OK. I have had a glass or two of wine, so I might not be thinking very straight. And sometimes I am not the most logical person in the known universe either. But the way I see it is this:

    Banks collapse - we bail them out with tax money.

    Banks, instead of taking the bail-out money and using it to support the economy by lending money to small businesses and people buying houses, keeps the money to fill the black holes in their balance sheets and give what's left to their shareholders and in big bonuses to their directors.

    As a result, small businesses go out of business, laying people off. Those people need IS, JSA and housing benefit. Paid for by the tax payer.

    Meanwhile the bankers' best friends come into power, say they are going to cut public spending (even though arguably the bankers have added to the burden on the state by causing companies to fold and putting people on the dole).

    So there are two ways to cut spending - stop paying dole to the people who have been put out of work by the bankers (amongst others) or cut public services and thus jobs. Meaning more people on the dole who need to claim IS, JSA and housing benefit.

    How can this ever possibly fucking work?

    They are completely off their fucking heids...

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  187. That just about sums it up, BB.

    'Cept now, those at the bottom also get to constantly hear how it's all their own fault, and that they're the scum, and be told that it's just not fair that other people should have to suffer because of them.

    Makes perfect sense to me!

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