26 August 2010

26/08/10


You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man's actions are, such must be his spirit.
-Demosthenes

395 comments:

  1. Montana

    I don't believe for one moment that the ignorant cow was quite so ignorant as to believe that the cat was going to be able to just climb out of the thing and that a suitable punishment would be for her to be dropped into a wheelie bin made to scale for her and left there for 15 hours.

    A sort of animal rights version of Sharia law?

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. It's casual, random cruelty Montana, however you dress it up or play it down. The power relationship is clearly absolute, the distress indisputable. Not sure how anyone can find it funny - exchange the cat for any creature it's the same power relationship, the same cruel psychotic detathment. No, it's a summmary of CiF on a number of levels - the amount of bored regulars who flooded there to try and take the "coolest" stance (a juvenescent, 'knowing', ironic detached humour being the standard - it's only a cat). That Seatton's editorial masters had stuck an advert on the beginning of the video after a few hours speaks volumes. A nasty little episode played up for maximum gags by the regulars (ooh look how far AllyF's gone, isn't he cool!) - and a nice little earner for Cif. Sweet.

    Shower of cunts basically.

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  4. Bitterweed

    There are two stories here - the undeniable cruelty of the act, and the insane media storm that resulted. While it's fair enough to deplore this woman's action, and the smart-arse responses to it, I can't help feeling that this is largely a media-created story.

    Is the cynicism of posters who find it funny any worse than the cynicism of the media, who see this as nothing more than a cash cow which they're going to flog to death?

    Do you remember the story of 'Blackie' the Spanish donkey? Various British tabloids were involved in a bidding war to be the ones to save it.... I guess we get the media we deserve.

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  5. "I can't help feeling that this is largely a media-created story."
    That's pretty clear. But if it happened down my street I'd react no differently.

    "Is the cynicism of posters who find it funny any worse than the cynicism of the media, who see this as nothing more than a cash cow which they're going to flog to death?"
    No.

    "Various British tabloids were involved in a bidding war to be the ones to save it.... I guess we get the media we deserve. "

    Two things - first - the Sun wot saved the donkey actually purchased the wrong one (according to Private Eye) It was just a stunt on their part. Cynical and grubby bastards, but fuck me Sherlock we knew that.

    Second - we *don't* deserve the media we have. Well, let me rephrase that, the Guardian had no place in perpetuating this viral shit-storm with-out some sort of stay of analysis... they cashed in same as the red-tops and the mail. Do we *deserve* that ?

    As it of course pales into insignificance against the S American miners, the Pakistani flood victims, the millions being or about to be fucked over in the UK... I'm happy to drop the subject. But as a snapshot of where CiF and its readership are at it was pretty useful: Grim.

    See you later, work beckons...

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  6. The donkey story reminds me of Little Ali in Basra who had half both arms burnt off by a bomb,the Press interest and Tony Blair's crocodile tears. Old news now, ever onwards to the next 'excitement'.

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  7. Morning all!

    @Leni (from last night)

    "i am currently researching material for a cif piece on the cunning and economical use of wool from unpicked jumpers to create original itsy bitsy cuddly toys for budgies. Think it might go down well"

    That made me laff that did!

    As for the cat story.... if it had been a couple of hoodie teenagers doing that to a cat it would have been an even worse and still raging as a top media story today, with calls from the Scum to hang the culprits high.

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  8. Exiled - hiya!

    Can't believed you're still in pre-mod after 4 weeks. Have you e-mailed to ask why. It's pathetic.

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  9. Alisdair:

    Have mucho respect for Questionnaire. Top fella.

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  10. Bitterweed

    Maybe the Guardian knows it's market?

    Behind all of the liberal hand-wringing and pseudo-intellectual posturing, are Guardian readers really so different from Sun readers? Stories like this tend to suggest that they're not.

    Duke wrote yesterday about the Guardian's history as a newspaper of monied liberalism, standing against an end to child labour, worker's rights, and universal sufferage. Just like Murdoch or the Barclays, GMG decides its position on the basis of commercial concerns and vested interests - maybe the problem is that we expect too much, rather than they deliver too little?

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  11. I noticed that yesterday there were some calls for the UT to have a recommend button.

    Please no.

    Do we really want to dumb down every debate to points scoring, and encourage the 'recommend wars' that you see on CIF. If you want to know if a post is any good, read it....

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  12. BitterWeed: Mornin' ;)

    I think you might be right about expecting too much of the Groin. Years ago I was good friends with an French girl I worked with and she was shocked that the only 'reasonable' paper in the UK was the Guardian - which she considered pretty mainstream, what shocked her more was the number of people reading the Scum.

    Exiled:

    I don't understand the mods 'outrage' at you calling some racist arsehole a 'fucking idiot'. I've seen so many hideous vicous attacks on posters which seem to go unnoticed. Is it unreasonable to expect really good posters to not flip every now and again without resorting to effective silencing?

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  13. Good news for the page-hits and 'bored regulars' , poor souls . MAM is back, with comments on Shell in Nigeria, Avastin, two yards'worth on the the Spirit Level, and the editorial where I saw it--

    The world economy: Getting resource-ful

    The financial frontpages have half their area devoted to takeovers like the $35Bn Potash biz, and the other half to real bad news for real peoples' lives and livelihood. As my old mate eachran puts it - " there's plenty of loot sloshing around ". Going from the Global level to the Local, ArecBalrin waddya 25 Aug 2010, 11:10PM
    has a good post on ... Harrogate .

    Harrogate has been mentioned, my home town, my base of operations. Tell you some news: this place is a ticking time-bomb. It's where rich folk come to retire and that's all that sustains this place. There's little industry, all businesses are in the service sector and the youth that are born here...there's enormous contempt building up in them. I know this because I was one not so long ago. There's little social housing; almost every girl is getting pregnant just to be sure they can move out their parents house. The only other homes available are ones that are immediately occupied by the grandchildren of the owners. Boredom is rife, the police are clueless and rely heavily on the youth workers for local knowledge. Everyone is hooked on mephedrone, coke or heroin. The town doesn't have that many links to other places, Leeds is near and yet so far; connected by just one tiny over-used road and one pathetic rail link. Few can escape and there's little meaningful training at the college; it focuses on middle-class obsessions with languages, arts and crafts and ICT(Information Communication Technology: nothing to do with computer science, barely anything to do with computers, it's how to be a third-rate secretary or receptionist to serve rich people). The courses in the tiny workshop building on real useful practical skills are over-subscribed.
    I sometimes wonder how many towns there are in Britain that are like this, because if there isn't many; then Harrogate is where shit will go down if any shit ever goes down


    Lots of loot sloshing around Harrogate, and the Globe .

    This regular is not bored, lots to do, off for now. Wishing you all a productive day !

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  14. Exiled:

    Take your point about the 'recommend' button. I guess the best way to praise a post is to reply!

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  15. "Behind all of the liberal hand-wringing and pseudo-intellectual posturing, are Guardian readers really so different from Sun readers?"

    This is rhetorical, right ?

    But there's also a market for an online cross between New Left Review and Private Eye... All we need is the er, finance.

    Now I really must piss off and do some work.

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  16. frog2:

    "MAM is back"

    Oh good grief, has he been in a locked ward for a couple of months?

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  17. @frog

    Yes, MAM is back, claiming to have had some heart problems. Surprised they could find one.

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  18. MAM is back? I wonder if it was a holiday, or the naughty seat?

    If Peter Bracken wants to achieve "99% of posters think you're a cunt" status, MAM would be a good role-model....

    La Rit

    I guess I don't really fit into CIF's brave new world, in which the ed's daughter writes about maxi dresses, and posters like savvymum are considered to be prime ATL material...

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  19. Bitterweed

    savvymum's a fucking nobhead. Can you let the mods know ?

    Nobhead? Knobhead?

    Whichever it is, consider it done. My first spell in pre-mod was initiated by a response to savvymum, and I'm pretty sure that I mentioned something along those lines to the mods.....

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  20. Bad internet today, stormy weather comms on and off, see my post got thru !

    La Rit , exiled, Yes, makes threads a bit longer praising posts, but better not to have the button .
    You're right on the frog attitude to the G, widespread 'shock' too at the power of the tabloids. That's not limited to intellos at all, I've had it from my peasant neighbour and other workers.

    More anti-intelligence and anti-commonsense than that other thing of anti-intellectualism which is discussed in the brit context .

    Good one just now on Radio4 ,Michael Burk (sp) on Utah, for Montana. Finished at 0930 brit time. Listen again at 930PM.

    X

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  21. re MAM heart problem

    At the risk of being heart-less myself, the best MAM-squashing I've seen was Glamorganist and Wacobloke on an Occupational Therapy thread. I think someone even suggested a stroke for MAM to see the importance of OT .

    First google-hit for " wacobloke occupational therapy" is HERE. X

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  22. re MAM heart problem

    At the risk of being heart-less myself, the best MAM-squashing I've seen was Glamorganist and Wacobloke on an Occupational Therapy thread. I think someone even suggested a stroke for MAM to see the importance of OT .

    First google-hit for " wacobloke occupational therapy" is HERE

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  23. Regarding moderation, I remember calling one of the Miliband clones a "shithead" and seeing the post deleted.

    Quite a long sequence of exchanges resulted in the moderator - Adam - thanking me for not calling Miliband a "cunt" and at that point, we agreed that I would carry on posting and maybe sometimes voluntarily restrain and restrict my language.

    Ah, those were the days!

    As for the cat-in-the-bin incident, it seems to highlight the failings of the internet and the news media.

    Any video-clip which is short and provokes an immediate, extreme reaction will take the world by storm for a few days.

    You have to be able to react either with rage or hysteria or perhaps one or two other extreme emotions and you have to do it as soon as the video ends.

    It is not about considering anything beyond those reactions.

    Channel 4 News decided from the outset that they would never run stories about the royal family - although they probably give a few moments to deaths.

    Otherwise, news outlets are much like the lemmings of the financial markets - once one runs, the others follow and try to overtake, right up to falling into the chasm beyond the cliff faster than the others.

    Why would The Guardian and CiF be any different?

    After all, the splendid Ms Reed yesterday said that CiF does not do "campaigning."

    Obviously, if the editors do not know what the site does, they are hardly going to be very critical about what they themselves shove on it for their own bizarre fifteen minutes of fame and idiotic back-slappery.

    PS You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man's actions are, such must be his spirit.
    -Demosthenes


    So, that's me well and truly fucked.

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  24. Post up, then disappears, ....

    re MAM heart problem

    At the risk of being heart-less myself, the best MAM-squashing I've seen was Glamorganist and Wacobloke on an Occupational Therapy thread. I think someone even suggested a stroke for MAM to see the importance of OT .

    First google-hit for " wacobloke occupational therapy" is HERE

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  25. God I know I shouldn't watch the Wright Stuff in the mornings it sours my mood for the whole day.

    Fucking Dominic Holland makes me feel like a revolution can't come soon enough, making his usual points about how those on benefits should work for their money today, according to him they should pick fruit, clean toilets and make lattes because work gives you hope and self esteem and the unemployed are being robbed by not making some coffees for slave wages.

    Matthew Wright who isn't the brightest bulb asked him what would happen to the people already doing those jobs for wages and Holland just looked blank, genuinely hadn't considered it.

    I am so sick of vicious halfwits regurgitating this kind of stupid idea without having any kind of clue what the result would be, they are basically promoting the idea of serfdom for the masses and patting themselves on the back for caring about the dignity of the common man.

    Ah I love a pointless rant in the morning.

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  26. Just had to put this here.....

    FreebornJohn's comment on the Larry Elliot thread (topical in light of current discussion)


    "An excellent article. The emergency budget, fully backed by Clegg and ALL Liberal Democrat MP’s, has been fully exposed as nothing more than 'cat in the bin' politics.

    Not a tax avoiding multi-millionaire? Into the bin with you."

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  27. PeterJ:

    Yes, MAM is back, claiming to have had some heart problems. Surprised they could find one

    That deserves a hearty ROTFL rec. ;0)

    All that internal trouble must be his inablilty to cope when he realises the 'troof' is in direct antithesis to his bizarre worldview.

    Exiled

    SavvyMum? nuff said. Nobhead? ha! I hate those supercilious posters who cause rage and then twitty-twit-twit off into their own "why, children, I'm practically purrrfect, downtcha know?" land. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr and double fucking

    Frog2:

    Re; the frog attitude to Uk media...

    "That's not limited to intellos at all, I've had it from my peasant neighbour and other workers"

    Pity that we don't share that attitude here instead of the bargain basement kneejerk triumphalism based on a misplaced sense of British superiority. The Scum/Pornmags:NOTW,Sport etc. would be history inside a week if this was the case.

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  28. Jen:

    I don't mind Matthew Wright he is a bit of a 'soft' lefty after all. As for some of his 'guests' I went mad when I had the misfortune to hear Yvette Fielding ranting on the show about a year ago like she was a card carrying member of the BNP.

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  29. re MAM heart problem

    At the risk of being heart-less myself, the best MAM-squashing I've seen was Glamorganist and Wacobloke on an Occupational Therapy thread. I think someone even suggested a stroke for MAM to see the importance of OT .

    First google-hit for " wacobloke occupational therapy" is HERE

    Good question from that Matthew Wright all the same, liked it !

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  30. >> Bitterweed said...

    >> Sweet. He's a real liberal

    Liberal? You must be joking - and I'm being kind.

    >> johndoe said...

    >> PeterBracken is right, Duke. When idiots >> like MartyninEurope can write totally
    >> irrelevant and tedious articles about Nazis >> in Spain,

    I usually skip over articles that I think might be irrelevant, tedious or a waste of time. However, it seems that some people have a problem establishing their own criteria and any rational actions that might otherwise follow from that.

    >> 13thDukeofWybourne said...
    >> the Graun historically is as much part of the Bourgeois establishment as it has claimed to challenge.

    That's exactly it, and wanting it to be something that it isn't is both a waste of time and effort IMHO

    The most one can expect is to get a piece put up on CiF, if people aren't even going to take that opportunity - which is a real possibility and not a fairies at the bottom of the garden fantasy - then why not?

    If you get enough pieces up on CiF maybe they could open a separate index of the articles. This is hardly rocket surgery, is it.

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  31. Re the recommend thing, I know it's a bit Facebook, but the other solution would be a nominative "XXX recommends this". A bit space-heavy, but less than individual posts saying "Yes, I agree with you". And you'd know exactly who was recommending, so you'd have some idea of whether the post would be of interest to you.

    Probably not important, but not important is exactly what I've been doing for the last 5 1/2 weeks. Back home next Wednesday and attempting to contribute something more to threads than flippancy and frills.

    It's been great, though. Batteries fully recharged (although liver less happy). I'll be on the wagon for ten days before the Fête de l'Huma.

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  32. Spike:

    The Fête de l'Huma sounds like it would be a great thing to go to. Unfortunately, no moules and therefore, no merguez.... will be up France in 2nd week of Sept. have to save me miserable peanuts until then ;(

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  33. Atomboy

    #PS You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man's actions are, such must be his spirit.
    -Demosthenes

    So, that's me well and truly fucked.#

    No way mate..remember

    "A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man"

    Jebediah Springfield

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  34. Spanish Communist Party Fiesta in Madrid, 17th,18th and 19th September. Dolores Ibárruri Park (San Fernando de Henares).

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  35. Martyn - yep. The most UTCentre can do is get some articles and panels up there,and there has been some success too. It's given some people a chance to express themselves, spread their stories, and that can't be bad. Mikebach one example. The Guardian archiving is a real memory-hole, it would be easy to have a CiF archive which is easy to access.

    Spike - started writing yet :)

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  36. monkeyfish

    I'll take that and raise you:

    I happen to know that I am afforded enormous respect from everybody I know.

    - Christopher M Biggens

    Sound like anyone we, er, know?

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  37. @frog

    I'll mail Jessica and find out what kind of article she wants on Wednesday, when I'm back in Paris and in a more serious mode.

    * * *

    Bracken on Whaddya giving the thumbs-up to a thoroughly evil little pro-Israel speech from Blair.

    Stomach-churning.

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  38. Il fait son 'interessant', comme toujours .

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  39. Which before Jen gives me a wigging,is an expression used about attention-seeking children.

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  40. Hmm. Heverale has apparently lost his marbles on Waddya (post at 10:35am).

    @Spike

    I just read the Blair speech - doesn't seem anything there that you could describe as 'thoroughly evil'.

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  41. @PeterJ

    Because, as I said on Whaddya, it's an attempt to brush decades of crimes against the Palestinian people under the carpet of Neocon self-interest.

    I can imagine Blair in another time, another place...

    These injuns have to realise that as long as they keep aiming the odd inaccurate arrow at settlers, the 7th cavalry will have no choice but to continue wiping them out with firearms. White people have a perfect right to colonise the injuns' land without having their security threatened. Anyone who doesn't accept this is deluded.

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  42. You goose-stepping Castrophile, you !

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  43. Hahahaha! The "insult" is insultingly lame.

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  44. frog

    Well attention seeking child would do on its own but I would go for brat. ;)

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  45. Waddya is wondrous, from complete hilarity on monday morning right through extreme invective to a most interesting discussion this am. I hardly look at CiF itself any more.

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  46. Hmm.

    If I ever need another monicker, goosesteppingcastrophile has a certain ring to it. :-)

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  47. Yeah I noticed that post from Heverale - bit weird!

    Oh LaRit I hate Matthew Wright. I rang in once - but just as I got put through to speak got an operator back on the line telling me they'd run out of time. It was a few years back now when this whole crisis was first unravelling and Matthew was saying that anyone who lost their home deserved it.Nice.

    Interesting debate on the budget going on on the parliamentary channel - the chief economist to the treasury has just floundered spectacularly when asked about the mythical private sector jobs that will be created - he said he would refer back to the OBR report but couldn't find it. So the MP repeated that he was asking HIM - the cheif economist to the treasury but he said that his role is not to advise the chancellor anymore! He just reads the OBR reports now. Madness.

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  48. jen its part of the cunning plan to show how many words in french are nearly the same , interessant = interesting .

    A handful of verbs, a little vocab, some guesswork, away you go !

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  49. Martyn in Europe

    "That's exactly it, and wanting it to be something that it isn't is both a waste of time and effort IMHO"

    ..dunno about that..given the Guardian's efforts to promote itself as a liberal voice and campaigner for liberal issues, I think it's very important to raise the question of its partisanship and hypocrisy..the "investigative" cop-out is pure fuckin fantasy and you know it.

    You wait till October and we suddenly get a raft of outraged articles about the Fawcett Society getting its funding slashed or some half-cocked community cohesion project whose sole achievement is keeping a bunch of middle-class 'outreach' workers in work writing brochures full of questionable platitudinous crap...

    Will CIF hold back while they investigate the potential effects?..will they fuck..it'll be hyperbolic outrage all the way..."short-sighted", "discriminatory", "societal timebomb"...because the real losers will be all those 'nice' Guardianista types who run these fuckin things.

    I will then look forward to you and several others who will, of course, rush in to protest with a firm "You can't start campaigning here!!..this is an investigative matter!!! have you fully examined this organisation, its efficacy, the potential fallout from its budget cut?" No doubt kizbot will lead the charge.

    Moving back to the present, we have a situation where nameless, invisible, powerless, working class punters are getting royally shafted..and what's the story?..It's an 'investigative' matter..no can do.

    See..I'm well aware of the way the Guardian operates..it just pisses me off that it goes to such lengths to portray itself as something it's not. I'd be perfectly satisfied if it made clear who it is actually looking out for...it apparently has a plan to become the world's leading liberal voice...if it were to qualify that, and announce, "we're the world's leading voice covering those issues which a vaguely liberal affluent middle-class deem worthy, fashionable or to their own advantage"...then we'd all know where we stood.

    Come to think of it...Your "Geriatric-Nazis-under-the-beds" assignment didn't exactly look all that 'over-investigated'...more a case of "a mate of mine told me", "so I've heard" and drawing on fictional accounts as background...why d'you suppose they allowed your piece but have been so reluctant to take a stance on anything concerning welfare "reform"?

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  50. Je suis seulement ici pour la bière

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  51. monkeyfish said...

    Come to think of it...Your "Geriatric-Nazis-under-the-beds" assignment didn't exactly look all that 'over-investigated'...more a case of "a mate of mine told me", "so I've heard" and drawing on fictional accounts as background...why d'you suppose they allowed your piece but have been so reluctant to take a stance on anything concerning welfare "reform"?

    Why ask me? You have an issue with The Guardian, take it up with them. Why pick on one piece out of the many thousands that they publish?

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  52. If you had been paying attention monkeyfish, and had actually read the piece, you might have seen that I was drawing a line from the impunity of the Nazis to present day impunity, and close links with the extreme right in Spain and in the rest of Europe. If you don't think that's worth commenting on, then I'm afraid I can't help you.

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  53. monkeyfish said...

    See..I'm well aware of the way the Guardian operates..it just pisses me off that it goes to such lengths to portray itself as something it's not.

    What is more, if people think that The Guardian has ever been anything other than a bourgeois liberal media, with a vocation for publishing a wide range of comments on subjects, but with a clear liberal editorial line (in the liberal English/Enlightenment tradition) then I have to say, there are quite a number of delusional people around.

    If you have a problem with the history of The Guardian, and the editorial line, take it up with Alan Rusbridger. It has nothing to do with me.

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  54. #Why ask me? You have an issue with The Guardian, take it up with them. Why pick on one piece out of the many thousands that they publish?#

    I'm asking you because you've gone out of your way to endorse their policy..I don't know why unless that 'C' has led to your unconscious adoption of a proprietorial 'we' when considering such questions.

    ..and the reasons I'm picking on that one piece are as follows

    a) I was addressing you...and you wrote the piece

    b) It was not especially timely, new or relevant to the great majority of readers who already seemed to know all about it...and of course it will cease to be an issue at all in a few years when they all shuffle-off...it wasn't funny, entertaining..in fact I don't know what it was for..

    c) whatever it was for...it none the less took up a slot which might have been filled by something worthwhile and revelatory...instead we got a pointless article when there was already a groundswell of opinion for something altogether more significant and potentially beneficial

    d) that's why.

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  55. monkeyfish said...

    #Why ask me? You have an issue with The Guardian, take it up with them. Why pick on one piece out of the many thousands that they publish?#

    I'm asking you because you've gone out of your way to endorse their policy..


    Don't be so absurd. I haven't endorsed their policy at all.

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  56. "in the liberal English/Enlightenment tradition"

    And what do you understand by "liberal English/Enlightenment tradition", exactly?

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  57. As for the piece on the Nazis and the Extreme Right in Spain; you weren't compelled to read it, were you?

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  58. "Don't be so absurd. I haven't endorsed their policy at all."

    And what do you understand by "endorse", exactly?

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  59. monkeyfish said...

    "in the liberal English/Enlightenment tradition"

    And what do you understand by "liberal English/Enlightenment tradition", exactly?


    How old are you?

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  60. "As for the piece on the Nazis and the Extreme Right in Spain; you weren't compelled to read it, were you?"

    No..your point is?

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  61. monkeyfish said...

    "Don't be so absurd. I haven't endorsed their policy at all."

    And what do you understand by "endorse", exactly?


    Oh I see. I didn't realise I was engaging with a troll. Adios.

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  62. "Don't be absurd"

    "How old are you?"

    You really are a lightweight little nobody aren't you Martyn..

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  63. #I'm not playing..you're a troll#

    brilliant..who taught you that trick? You pointless little man.

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  64. Has Peter Bracken lost his mojo?

    There was a time when a Bracken hand grenade like that would have provoked howls of derision - now only spike can be arsed to reply.

    When supporting a grubby little bit of Blair self justification no longer works, what can one do to maintain one's self image as an agent provocateur par excellance?

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  65. ‎15 years ago today, Microsoft launched Windows 95 to the tune of the Stones "Start Me Up!"

    Don't know about anyone else but it's time they fucked off.

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  66. @Spike

    Didn't read particularly like that to me. Where was the 'neocon self-interest', or the brushing under the carpet bit?

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  67. Reading Waddya, I have to say that it's all fallen apart since I was booted out....

    What CIF needs is my calming influence....

    ...as demonstrated by the serene atmosphere here since I came....

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  68. W95 15 years old ? Seems like yesterday . The one before that did everything I needed too.XP now.

    Bastards. I shall migrate to Linux... one day ..

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  69. XP ? your'e luck mate. c@nting vista.

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  70. PeterJ

    I don't know about neocon self interest, but all I ever hear from Blair on the subject is the Israeli Government line, but with added Blairite presentation skills.

    If you read the article, while he peppers his opinions with vague references to Israeli wrongs, the conclusions he comes to would not trouble anyone in the Israeli Government.

    Blair does very well out of his Israeli operations - an unpaid job with enormous fringe benefits.

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  71. exiled said...

    Reading Waddya, I have to say that it's all fallen apart since I was booted out....

    Blimey ... I thought you were on holiday.

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  72. exiled you nob.

    Dyslexia, or are you just being kind?

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  73. Martyn

    Blimey ... I thought you were on holiday.

    I was, but I'm still persona non grata.

    Absence apparently doesn't make the mods hearts grow fonder....

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  74. @exiled

    Well, he was talking to an Israeli audience... And besides, isn't it possible that he actually means what he says? Revolutionary concept, I know. And in his purported job, he needs to encourage the talks that are about to start.

    If you look at it without the 'why is this evil bastard saying evil things?' filter automatically applied, the speech wasn't that bad.

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  75. Martyn

    Something I've been meaning to ask you..

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/10/costa-blanca-hidden-nazis

    The little photo, at the top...was the "Dr Evil" pose intentional?

    http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/specialevents/blog/2008/08/the_speedo_bonus_1_million.html

    You a big Austen Powers fan?

    ReplyDelete
  76. @BW

    It's going to get worse; come November, it's the 25th anniversary of the launch of Windows 1.0 in Las Vegas. I remember, cause I was there (as some sort of child prodigy, obviously).

    ReplyDelete
  77. Hello All

    welcome back exiled.
    Anyone know any more about Scargill being shunted out of the NUM/

    some old guys here were telling me there is some scandal here - suggestions of an anonymous donor giving a million pounds to funds. Gossip and rumour - nobody seems to have any facts.

    Apparently - although there are now only about 1,500 members officials are still drawing high salaries. Dispute also about unionowned property.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Additional question re unions.

    Does anyone know what happens to union assets if union is dissolved? How are they constituted ?

    ReplyDelete
  79. PeterJ

    Well, he was talking to an Israeli audience... And besides, isn't it possible that he actually means what he says? Revolutionary concept, I know.

    I'm sure he does - Blair's never had much difficulty reconciling his own self interest and the greater good, probably because he doesn't recognise any distinction between them.

    And in his purported job, he needs to encourage the talks that are about to start.

    How exactly is this speech likely to do that?

    If you look at it without the 'why is this evil bastard saying evil things?' filter automatically applied, the speech wasn't that bad.

    I've seen plenty worse. Blair was the man who sold us the Iraq war as being a way of removing the biggest obstacle to peace in the Middle East. By those standards of duplicity and mendacity, this one was almost godly....

    Blair has a very simple technique. His criticism of Israel is aqlways presented in the light of the pressure it's under, while his criticism of the Palestinians is unadorned with such apologies - his support for Israel isw always unwavering, while his support for the Palestinians is always conditional.

    Sorry, but I don't think it's reasonable (or even possible) to separate the words from the record of the speaker. Blair has long been a paid apologist for Zionism, which is the only reason he got the job in the first place.

    ReplyDelete
  80. Leni,

    I found this on the BBC web site:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11090197

    ReplyDelete
  81. Thanks Martyn

    It will be a great pity if a once proud union collapss thru 'financial irregularities'. More to come on this I suspect.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Oh..here we go..someone gets banned and the hodcarrier from Scunthorpe gets back on his high horse

    #You may care to go back a bit further and see the constant sniping - to which I made no reply for two months - the being called "silly cow" and "airhead" when I had never had issues with this particular poster. Being accused of fostering African babies because they were a fashion item. Until I blew up. And frankly I should have done so a lot sooner.#

    Or..you may go back and find there was no sniping, whatsoever, particularly from me..since I routinely ignored what she said, putting the constant drivel of vacuous nonsense down to her innate stupidity...as far as I'm aware I never made any comment about the guy from Scunthorpe at all....

    ...right up until he posted one of the most lamentable pieces of gibberish in internet history whose theme was "how come poor people don't give as much to charity as him and his 'attractive' opera-going friends?"..conveniently avoiding every study ever undertaken which found that proportionately "attractive opera-going types" give less than...well...anybody

    Next thing I know: I'm some abusive troll, had abused her for months and then some really bizarre rant about Aushwitz which I've never really understood...other than the urge that some people have to introduce the Nazis and holocaust whenever they're losing an argument..

    Next thing..he was so outraged by Montana's failure to step in and defend him that Montana got it too

    ...as for the 'brown baby accessory' thing...that was much later..and though I say it myself..frankly hilarious..it certainly seemed to strike a nerve anyway

    it's all there..unless he's deleted any...see for yourself...Expat

    I see you've been accused of libel Paul..I wouldn't worry too much...Carter Ruck don't have a habit of taking cases on behalf of deluded, anonymous fantasists...particularly when the evidence (or rather distinct lack thereof) is plainly displayed (or rather..not displayed) for all to see..or not.

    ReplyDelete
  83. @Peter J

    As I've said on Whaddya:

    Well, I'd call Blair's speech revisionism of the purest kind, turning the victims and those who support their rights into the guilty parties.

    Which I consider thoroughly poisonous.

    And how so a paid apologist for Zionism? How much does he get paid for speeches in which he does his Israel PR spiel?

    Then his Neocon self-interest? He's a very rich man with huge earning power because he was willing to support and take part in the murder of hundreds of thousands to further the Neocon agenda.

    ReplyDelete
  84. @MF

    Next thing I know: I'm some abusive troll

    No, you're always all sweetness and light. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  85. PeterJ,

    A 'paid apologist for Zionism'? How so?

    Just have a quick trawl through his known sources of income (directorships, advisor roles, paid speeches, awards, etc) - the majority are linked to American Neocons, Israeli businesses, and to pro-western Arab dictatorships.

    Only a few months ago he was awarded a million dollar prize in Israel for 'global leadership'.

    He has shamelessly traded on his position as the quartet envoy, and enriched himself greatly in the process. When you're talking about the middle east, that means doing the bidding of Israel, and of oil-rich, blood-soaked Arab Sheiks....

    The Palestinians can't afford him.

    By the way, if you think I have a viscereal hatred for the man, you would be right. Regardless of any of his particular actions, I see Blair as being the most disreputable and self-serving PM in recent British history - an object lesson in total ammorality.

    ReplyDelete
  86. Leni
    Not much - Indy has something
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/exleader-arthur-scargill-faces-num-expulsion-2061867.html

    ReplyDelete
  87. Spike

    I fully agree.

    The only question is what Blair should have been overthrown by? A people's soviet, or a lone individualist gunman?

    What is the British equivilent of a wooden shack in Montana? A beach hut in Clacton maybe?

    ReplyDelete
  88. #No, you're always all sweetness and light. :-)#

    you'd be surprised

    ReplyDelete
  89. Afternoon all *

    Leopold1904
    25 Aug 2010, 6:59PM

    God is there something in the cyberwater here these days? The last 24 hours have been deeply weird. Can't remember so many handbags-at-20-paces moments.

    Just so you know, and to help stop it happening again...

    The reason for the carnage is easily revealed if you follow UT at all. Read UT, and you can see Paul and metro et al whipping each other into a frenzy about all things "kiz and Brussels"... the ATOS stuff mostly comes across as an excuse to have a go. You can also see Jenn joining in, talking about what she thinks are the best ways to have a go, and joking that they start some trouble.

    Then they came over here. Course, having read their chat, I knew what would get up Jenn's nose a bit. But it preoccupied me a little so I didn't get around to giving a heads up to Brussels or kiz, straightaway, and then kiz and you in your cluelessness tried to have a go at me - the guy who rarely starts any trouble cos I am not sufficiently bored to need drama - rather than the people spoiling for a fight.

    Happily, at least Jess through it all. Though ironically, she was the means by which it all started, since she mentioned Giyus, and I mentioned voting for Giyus, and then Brussels built on the Giyus thing, and people started arguing about Giyus, and that became the means for the original assault. Thereby proving Ben's point that all actions have a consequence and therefore can lead to revolution or something like that.
    *
    o Recommend? (13)
    o Report abuse
    o Clip |
    o Link

    Have just parked the above post from some wanker called Heverale who is now saying he didn't say what he clearly did say.

    ReplyDelete
  90. Fencewalker

    I know you "don't" lurk here so you "probably" won't see this but..

    #I'm sure if others would observe a cease-fire, without turning up solely to abuse while pretending to be someone other than who they're known as, we'd be happy to do likewise.#

    I'm fuckin sure you'd be happy to do likewise...but why would I? I'm stocked up with M16s and armour-piercing something or other...and you've got a sack of spuds...and even then, you can't throw straight.

    That was purely an analogy btw. For "M16s and armour-piercing something or other"...read: the facts and for "a sack of spuds"..read: a lamentable attempt at justification after the event.

    also...

    #Bru was subject to a pretty nasty campaign from a couple of posters, as she describes. For a while just before the infamous blow up, almost every post from them on UT contained the phrases 'Brussels', 'well-bred', 'opera' in some mocking way.#

    "before"???

    and, by the way...is there a way of including 'well-bred' in a comment in a serious way?

    ..the phrases 'Brussels' and 'opera'..well, for one thing, they aren't phrases..and for another, since they became so inherently ludicrous in the manner they were liberally sprinkled throughout every other fuckin post emerging from certain quarters, it would have taken someone with the forbearance of a friggin saint to avoid taking the piss..especially as, at the time, a certain party was pulling a head-in-the-sand attempted denial of any wrongdoing...which they maintain to this day..aided by the likes of you..for some reason.

    ...no doubt you'll plead a simple desire for peace justice and fairness but, frankly, I think you're still smarting over the many arse-kickings you've received over the months..feel free to show up for another any time you feel like...not that you'll be reading this..of course.

    ReplyDelete
  91. FYI

    heverale

    ... if you could just see your way to doing the constructive thing of decoupling them from having a go at particular others ...

    Exactly. I've had the if you aren't with us on this pressurise the Guardian shtick, then you must be 100% against us treatment. It doesn't stop there, because of the shit that is unjustifiably flung in all directions, then other people assume - without validating - that I must now somehow be against any campaigns re. IB/ESA/ATOS/A4E etc.

    Surely people aren't so out of it that they can't put two and two together and make four. Why are people so fired up to misconstrue and to be obnoxious and nasty, rather than to read, understand or even verify? Especially in those circumstances where, for example, a comment would be absolutely right out of character. e.g. if I actually supported the ATOS scheme, or specifically stated that The Guardian should not support a campaign.

    What I also find quite amazing, having organised campaigns myself, is this hair-triggered and OTT responses to actual or perceived divergence.

    If people want The Guardian and other's to support their campaign, telling them to "fuck right off" at the drop of the hat, is not going to win friends or influence people. If people want The Guardian to support their campaign, they'll have to work at it, it's a selling process, it's a PR process, it might not work, but telling people .. eff you, I don't need you anyway, then coming back to whine again, isn't going to get anyone anywhere.

    ReplyDelete
  92. OH..my last post seems to have 'vanished'..never mind, I'll put it back..

    Fencewalker

    I know you "don't" lurk here so you "probably" won't see this but..

    #I'm sure if others would observe a cease-fire, without turning up solely to abuse while pretending to be someone other than who they're known as, we'd be happy to do likewise.#

    I'm fuckin sure you'd be happy to do likewise...but why would I? I'm stocked up with M16s and armour-piercing something or other...and you've got a sack of spuds...and even then, you can't throw straight.

    That was purely an analogy btw. For "M16s and armour-piercing something or other"...read: the facts and for "a sack of spuds"..read: a lamentable attempt at justification after the event.

    also...

    #Bru was subject to a pretty nasty campaign from a couple of posters, as she describes. For a while just before the infamous blow up, almost every post from them on UT contained the phrases 'Brussels', 'well-bred', 'opera' in some mocking way.#

    "before"???

    and, by the way...is there a way of including 'well-bred' in a comment in a serious way?

    ..the phrases 'Brussels' and 'opera'..well, for one thing, they aren't phrases..and for another, since they became so inherently ludicrous in the manner they were liberally sprinkled throughout every other fuckin post emerging from certain quarters, it would have taken someone with the forbearance of a friggin saint to avoid taking the piss..especially as, at the time, a certain party was pulling a head-in-the-sand attempted denial of any wrongdoing...which they maintain to this day..aided by the likes of you..for some reason.

    ...no doubt you'll plead a simple desire for peace justice and fairness but, frankly, I think you're still smarting over the many arse-kickings you've received over the months..feel free to show up for another any time you feel like...not that you'll be reading this..of course.

    ReplyDelete
  93. #If people want The Guardian and other's to support their campaign, telling them to "fuck right off" at the drop of the hat, is not going to win friends or influence people. If people want The Guardian to support their campaign, they'll have to work at it, it's a selling process, it's a PR process, it might not work, but telling people .. eff you, I don't need you anyway, then coming back to whine again, isn't going to get anyone anywhere.#

    you referring to anyone in particular here..or any particular posts..or you just spouting your usual brand of irrelevant and inconsequential pap?..if not, please supply some quotes, links, whatever

    and since 'winning friends' at the Guardian appears to involve falling into line with an editorial policy 90% of which seems dictated by political and financial expediency, 9% indulgence of patronage, nepotism and deluded relativist philosophy and maybe 1% principle, maybe that kinda thing's best left to you and the other useless C's who go in for that kinda thing.

    ReplyDelete
  94. Peter Bracken

    Well fuck me, that trivial piss-spittle BTTP has lashed his fawning fuckwits into line and had me deleted.

    What a bunch of precious, totalitarian toss pots they are.

    If you're referring to the mods, you've got a point - that's why I'm replying to your post here, rather than on waddya....

    However, it'll be interesting to see whether they're equal opportunity precious, totalitarian toss pots, or whether they're precious, totalitarian toss pots who have their favourites.

    I only called someone a fucking idiot.....

    ReplyDelete
  95. Vanishing post time again? To repost or not to repost... that is the question.

    ReplyDelete
  96. Where did my post go?

    Take two.....

    Peter Bracken

    Well fuck me, that trivial piss-spittle BTTP has lashed his fawning fuckwits into line and had me deleted.

    What a bunch of precious, totalitarian toss pots they are.

    If you're referring to the mods, you've got a point - that's why I'm replying to your post here, rather than on waddya....

    However, it'll be interesting to see whether they're equal opportunity precious, totalitarian toss pots, or whether they're precious, totalitarian toss pots who have their favourites.

    I only called someone a fucking idiot.....

    ReplyDelete
  97. Is there a max word count when posting? Maybe that's why I can't get my boring stuff on.

    I got two weeks pre-mod for saying that Rob Smyth was a bit soft for running away from the abusers.

    ReplyDelete
  98. Monkeyfish

    On a Toynbee thread by any chance?

    I can't compete with that - any advance on "Tuscany" as the most surreal offence against CIF talk policy?

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

    ReplyDelete
  100. "On a Toynbee thread by any chance?"

    Naturally..one of those where she hinted at her "disregard of her own safety" when she went undercover (so 'we' didn't have to) to experience the horrors of low-paid, casual, 'menial' employment...quite neglecting to point out that, in many cases, these jobs are low paid and exploitative because the comfortable fuckers reading the article, nodding sagely, empathising nobly and admiring Polly's dedication and Orwellian spirit are precisely the tight-arsed twats who demanded low-paid staff to clear up their shit...and who decided to bring in the contract labour in the first place...

    Never mind the fact that her brief stint of poverty tourism was immediately followed by a 3 month recuperation period in the Italian countryside...which was a bit of a fuckin slap in the face for those whose 'poverty tourism' is a life-long sentence.

    ReplyDelete
  101. And...I was going to say all that at the time...but was in a hurry and so condensed it as "Tuscany"...which apparently conveyed the message

    ReplyDelete
  102. Interesting, if brief, conversation about revolution on waddya this afternoon. Managed to read it in some downtime at work. Pity it's returned to sniper alley now.

    Well fuck me, that trivial piss-spittle BTTP has lashed his fawning fuckwits

    I saw that exiled...PB was modded? I can't think what for - surely not for linking to that Blair speech?

    ReplyDelete
  103. Sheffpixie said...

    Interesting, if brief, conversation about revolution on waddya this afternoon. Managed to read it in some downtime at work. Pity it's returned to sniper alley now.

    The interweb seems to attract a certain brand of particularly obnoxious boot boy, whose only role in life seems to be that of seeking out places where they can exercise their aggressiveness in the guise of supporting worthy causes - which invariably they fail to do, in their frenzy for a bit of gratuitous trolling fun.

    ReplyDelete
  104. I really, really hate the attitude that you quite often see on Cif that because someone has done a shitty job for a while or been on the dole they really get what poverty and hopelessness is all about.

    Someone did an article about how ace working in Greggs was, obviously she didn't work in Greggs now she had a proper job, which really got my goat.

    The less mentioned about the article with Laurie Penny and her mate getting malnourishment and freezing while they were unemployed the better.

    I have spent most of my life in jobs those kind of people would only do for a little while, as a means to an end and they have no idea how much it can grind you down.

    I am not denigrating those jobs, in fact I am looking for one at the moment and I know a lot of people who are happy(ish) with their lot, it is the attitude that gets me down.

    ReplyDelete
  105. Martyn

    I'm often surprised at how short some people's fuses are on the interwebz. It's as though they feel liberated from having to worry about other people's feelings or the necessity to maintain at least a nod towards reasonable manners.

    I don't count myself out of that either - especially when I've had a few jars, but I don't think I'd ever go after someone maliciously.

    ReplyDelete
  106. Sheffpixie

    I saw that exiled...PB was modded? I can't think what for - surely not for linking to that Blair speech?

    I think he'll be all right. They're not going to put the rising star of neo-liberal muppetry in pre-mod, are they? Who'll write "Liberal Democracy is a loaded gun" if he's out of circulation?

    Monkeyfish

    And...I was going to say all that at the time...but was in a hurry and so condensed it as "Tuscany"...which apparently conveyed the message

    It obviously did!

    I'm not sure that the longer version would have received different treatment. Polly is Guardian royalty - like Queenie from blackadder, but without the self-awareness.....

    ReplyDelete
  107. Hello, PeterJ!
    "I just read the Blair speech - doesn't seem anything there that you could describe as 'thoroughly evil'."

    Agree with you there.

    "If you look at it without the 'why is this evil bastard saying evil things?' filter automatically applied, the speech wasn't that bad."

    Disagree with you there. Leaving aside any issues regarding content, the speech is very clumsily worded.

    "The other form (of de-legitimisation) is more insidious, harder to spot, harder to anticipate and harder to deal with, because many of those engaging in it, will fiercely deny they are doing so... I would define in it this way: it is a conscious or often unconscious resistance, sometimes bordering on refusal, to accept Israel has a legitimate point of view."

    Doesn't that mean that if you think Israel doesn't have "a legitimate point of view" you are de-legitimising Israel? No, apparantly not, because in the very next sentence he says this:

    "Note that I say refusal to accept Israel has a legitimate point of view. I’m not saying refusal to agree with it. People are perfectly entitled to agree or not".

    This is an interesting, but telling, choice of diction:

    "They would dispute vigorously such a characterisation of their mindset."

    "They", as in not "us". "Characterisation", as in generalistion. "Mindset" as in we know what you are thinking. All in all, very divisive wording. As you have already pointed out, Peter, he is addressing a specific audience, but his words will be widely read, since he is a "Middle East Peace Envoy". Bad work, Mr Speechwriter.

    ReplyDelete
  108. MartynRichardJones

    --''The interweb seems to attract a certain brand of particularly obnoxious boot boy, whose only role in life seems to be that of seeking out places where they can exercise their aggressiveness in the guise of supporting worthy causes - which invariably they fail to do, in their frenzy for a bit of gratuitous trolling fun.''




    I have no idea who were referring to there.If however you are supporting the claims of Heverale in his 10.35am post on this morning then you are bang out of order.

    I can't speak for anyone else here but i found the implication that i and other UTers are using the ATOS issue to 'have a go' highly offensive.In fact along with Princess and Rednorth i was one of the first people to raise this issue of CIF several months ago and have consistantly done so ever since.And i also blog on other sites about it as well.It may not be much but it's as much as i can manage at the moment.

    I really don't know what your agenda is quite frankly.But i do sometimes get the feeling that you are somewhat blinded by certain realities.Which is fine i suppose as none of us are perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  109. Bugger

    'on this morning,s waddya' it should have read.

    ReplyDelete
  110. I'd never have dreamed of reporting Well fuck me, that trivial piss-spittle BTTP has lashed his fawning fuckwits or whatever came before . But maybe I can get away with fawning fickwuts at some time !

    Within her remit Jessica has gone along with some suggestions coming from some here, and that's fine by me. Insults and looong flame-wars are a waste of time.

    ReplyDelete
  111. Hello, PeterJ!
    "I just read the Blair speech - doesn't seem anything there that you could describe as 'thoroughly evil'."

    Agree with you there.

    "If you look at it without the 'why is this evil bastard saying evil things?' filter automatically applied, the speech wasn't that bad."

    Disagree with you there. Leaving aside any issues regarding content, the speech is very clumsily worded.

    (cont.)

    ReplyDelete
  112. (cont)
    "The other form (of de-legitimisation) is more insidious, harder to spot, harder to anticipate and harder to deal with, because many of those engaging in it, will fiercely deny they are doing so... I would define in it this way: it is a conscious or often unconscious resistance, sometimes bordering on refusal, to accept Israel has a legitimate point of view."

    Doesn't that mean that if you think Israel doesn't have "a legitimate point of view" you are de-legitimising Israel? No, apparantly not, because in the very next sentence he says this:

    "Note that I say refusal to accept Israel has a legitimate point of view. I’m not saying refusal to agree with it. People are perfectly entitled to agree or not".

    This is an interesting, but telling, choice of diction:

    "They would dispute vigorously such a characterisation of their mindset."

    "They", as in not "us". "Characterisation", as in generalistion. "Mindset" as in we know what you are thinking. All in all, very divisive wording. As you have already pointed out, Peter, he is addressing a specific audience, but his words will be widely read, since he is a "Middle East Peace Envoy". Bad work, Mr Speechwriter.

    ReplyDelete
  113. (cont)

    "they would say, rightly, that you cannot say that to criticise Israel is to de-legitimise it."

    Just contradicted himself, again, there.

    "I have plenty of criticisms. De-legitimisation is qualitatively different. It can seem the same sometimes. But it isn’t."

    Breathtaking logic.

    "Israel should always be a staunch and unremitting advocate and actor for peace. What I mean by this is not that it should simply be for peace"

    That makes absolutely no sense - I should support my side but not be for my side? Problem with choice of diction here again:

    "seek to avoid any unnecessary indignities."

    Are there necessary indignities - has any nation ever admitted to perpetrating any? Compare that to the diction of:

    "we can answer the case against Israel, with pride and confidence."

    Finally, two moments of speech-writing that could invite mockery:

    "I am a convinced persuader for the bottom up approach"

    Well, the Palestinians have certainly been in that position for a while and taking it royally.

    "Tell me: under which country’s legal system, in this region, would you prefer to be tried?"

    Well, if I'm an arab or a peace activist, certainly not fucking Israel's!

    ReplyDelete
  114. Jenni - 16.40 Recommended .

    Raining here, so just having a break from sorting two years' paperwork ...

    ReplyDelete
  115. frog

    I am having a break from writing about a boring potato experiment, I didn't think there could be anything duller than doing the experiment but I have been proven completely wrong, plus the data supports the null hypothesis when I had been banking on it doing no such thing, frigging science never gives you the answers you want. ;)

    I have just opened a can of the finest lager so I suspect the rest of the report will have to wait.

    I didn't read Blairs speech because I never expect any politician speechs to say anything worthwhile and they are generally duller than my potatoes.

    ReplyDelete
  116. "And as for your cack textual analysis, heyhabib, it's somehow more dense than you."

    Don't take it personally, Bracken. Oh shit, it wasn't one of yours, was it? Certainly would explain a lot...

    ReplyDelete
  117. Nothing makes me more rip-someone's-head-off-pissed than a lilly-livered twat like Spike.

    Just wanted to make that plain to the gutless fucker, if he's emerged from his cot.

    ReplyDelete
  118. "I didn't read Blairs speech because I never expect any politician speechs to say anything worthwhile and they are generally duller than my potatoes."

    Jen, it certainly was dull, but I thought I'd point out why I disagreed with admiration for it. By the way, try a bit of cream cheese and spring onions with your potatoes :-)

    ReplyDelete
  119. Peter Bracken

    I got deleted because nancy boy Spike - that revolutionary with the roar and balls of a fuckin mouse - came over all faint when I called him the goose-stepping cunt he is.

    Either you're getting secret messages from the mods, or you're talking out of your arse.....

    In five years on CIF, I've never once been told who, if anyone, has complained about a post of mine.

    Trust that clears up the issue.

    Nope, it muddies the water further....

    ReplyDelete
  120. Could some kind soul here remind me how i do BOLD and ITALICS.I know it involves < > but can;t remember the sequences.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  121. Bracken have you been engaged in cider, trading insults yet again? Or are you just without an honest defence of yourself?

    ReplyDelete
  122. exiled:

    The excitable limp wrist called for the comment to be deleted and me pre-moderated on fuckin line.

    ReplyDelete
  123. No heyhabib, none of those things: just had up to here with your pre-school IQ level comments. Up your game, or fuck off back to nursery.

    ReplyDelete
  124. So Peter you are a homophobe as well, nice work.

    ReplyDelete
  125. Habib

    "Israel should always be a staunch and unremitting advocate and actor for peace. What I mean by this is not that it should simply be for peace"

    The use of 'should' here is interesting. Meaning perhaps 'ought to be' - as opposed to 'is'.

    blair was ever the master of double speak.

    ReplyDelete
  126. PeterB

    are you in premod then ?

    ReplyDelete
  127. Mummy, mummy, bad man shouting at me! Me frickened of big bad lack beard biker!

    ReplyDelete
  128. Jenni -- I didn't read Blairs speech because I never expect any politician speechs to say anything worthwhile and they are generally duller than my potatoes. Well, just occasionally there may be something new to glean, but i didn't see that there .

    I did a titration thinggy to see the acidity of my cider this winter, first thing like that since 1963 O level. Suppposed to be very acid, but Oi reckon it's done a malo-lactic re-fermentation and sweetened up since .

    Found a half-drunk bottle in the fridge, still fizzy, and LOVELY !

    ReplyDelete
  129. Damn how come they didn't get us to experiment on cider rather than tatties, that would have had benefits.

    ReplyDelete
  130. Aye Leni, look at his choice of diction, throughout, Nice words for "us", sinister words for "them".

    ReplyDelete
  131. Peter Bracken

    The excitable limp wrist called for the comment to be deleted and me pre-moderated on fuckin line.

    Do you seriously think your comment was deleted because someone called for it to be removed?

    As for pre-moderation, you will have my support in the unlikely event of it happening to you, but in my experience, contributors rarely go into pre-mod, and spike isn't the sort of poster who gets that sort of protection.

    ReplyDelete
  132. PeterB

    You really are hurling the insults about and you do seem to be excessively cross about being modded. Do you, when crossed, have an anger management problem?

    And is it really that important? - it is only cif after all.

    ReplyDelete
  133. Jenni

    do you have to provide your own spuds ?

    You should give us the instructions for yor next experiment - we could do them too and compare reults.

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  134. heyhabib -- engaged in cider ? -- have some of frog's !

    Hic.

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  135. Peter Bracken

    The excitable limp wrist called for the comment to be deleted and me pre-moderated on fuckin line.

    Do you seriously think your comment was deleted because someone called for it to be removed?

    As for pre-moderation, you will have my support in the unlikely event of it happening to you, but in my experience, contributors rarely go into pre-mod, and spike isn't the sort of poster who gets that sort of protection.

    Let's face it Peter, you turned up looking for a fight, Spike obliged, and you were the first to lose the plot - it's a bit late to settle scores now.

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  136. Habib

    Blair is supposed to be impartial - he has no right to the collective 'we' unless he means 'we the Israelis and Palestinians togethr and I as representative of the interests of all ' - which clearly he didn't.

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  137. Just being polite and waiting to be asked, i'll join you on the grog, frog!

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  138. Leni --no surprise there then. Others at high level have mentioned """"settlements''' as colonies are deliberately-mistakenly called, but not he .

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  139. Hmmm just posting to see how it works.

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  140. Leni, you could forgive a slip once or twice, but it's all the way through. Poor writing, unless it was meant to be alienating...

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  141. OK, that will do. I can't be fucked to start a new Gmail account as Tybo.

    But as I have been put in pre-mod myself before I thought I would check this out as an alternative.

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  142. Sheff - I get cross when a twat en meme temps gets gooey-eyed about Castro and censures the outspoken. You couldn't have a clearer example of jack-boot cynicism.

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  143. @habib and leni

    It seems to me that the 'they' throughout refers to those who hold that Israel can't have a legitimate viewpoint, and who therefore are not allies in moving towards any peace settlement (which allies are 'we').

    I'll come back to your longer piece later, habib; I have to go out for a while.

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  144. Thanks for the recommendation on the football thread, Duke: I will follow it up.

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  145. Hello spencer - tybo

    Tibo in Vietnamese means 'steak'.

    just introduce a topic here - and off you go. You might get some unmannerly replies bt you won't be modded.

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  146. No worries, PeterJ. Hope to talk later.

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  147. tybo -- how did you find out about this place, lots seem to know it, but most don't ? I only discovered recently.

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  148. Hi tybo/Spencer

    Welcome to the pit.

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  149. Heheh!

    Bracken called me a "goose-stepping Castrophile", to which I replied:

    @Bracken

    Castrophile indeed, although with certain reservations.

    But where on earth do you get "goose-stepping" from, Bracken? Do you think I'm a Russian soldier? Or are you calling me a Nazi?

    If it's the latter, isn't that a pre-moddable offence at least?


    I didn't even hit the "report abuse" button, O little tin soldier.

    You seem a little on edge today. Been fined again for swindling widows and orphans or something?

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  150. @PeterBracken, I know it is annoying to be put in pre-mod but the chances were it was nothing to do with BTTP and more to do with your stream of insults.

    I got put into pre-mod simply for posting the "The List" once too often. I doubt if anyone complained about it.

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  151. What the hell is going on with the site today? I've lost half a dozen posts today.

    Peter Bracken.

    Do you think your post shouldn't have been deleted? Not from your personal point of view - I suspect that like me, you don't think anything should be removed unless it's illegal - but in terms of the way CIF operates?

    You turned up spoiling for a fight, spike obliged you, and you were the first to lose the plot.

    PeterJ.

    It seems to me that the 'they' throughout refers to those who hold that Israel can't have a legitimate viewpoint, and who therefore are not allies in moving towards any peace settlement (which allies are 'we').

    Does such a person actually exist?

    It seems to me that anyone who criticises Israel for taking illegitimate positions on any issue is effectively saying that there is another more legitimate position that Israel could adopt.

    I'm not talking about those who question Israel's legitimacy as an entity - Blair spoke about them separately - but those who question the legitimacy of Israel's actions.

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  152. Hi Tybo

    I know you post a lot on Cif Belief are you sure it wasn't Savvymum who got you like she did exiled. ;)

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  153. @frog2

    Aha, I have my sources.

    Actually I saw the references on the what do you want to talk about thread to UT so I worked it out from there.

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  154. And talking of jack-boot cynics, where is the twat?

    Mincing down to St Denis to prepare his script on the fete de l'humanite no doubt.

    What a fuckin irony that is for one who celebrates oppression in Cuba.

    Can't wait for the drivel.

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  155. Savvy? Did she get Exiled, exiled?

    No, I get on fine with her.

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  156. my my, Peter Bracken you're a grumpy wee sausage today.

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  157. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  158. Bracken is referring to one of my posts on Whaddya today:

    The revolutionary government in Cuba - which I support in many things - has often been heavy-handed in its treatment of dissidents. I wonder if that would have happened - or indeed whether there would not have been the introduction of, let's say, less channelled democracy - without the Bay of Pigs, the embargo, etc.

    That's "celebrating oppression in Cuba" on Planet Bracken, where the sun not only revolves around the golden boy, but, in a surrealistic manifestation of ubiquity, radiates coruscatingly from his gratingly polysyllabic fundament.

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  159. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  160. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  161. Damn! Did anyone see what he wrote that was so terrible he removed it in the space of a minute or two?

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  162. Martyn

    Y-fuckin-awn

    Do that with a bit more regularity and you might make the leap from great beige nonentity to minor irritant..

    better still, work on this "old stager, voice of reason/experience" style you've been developing lately...that's the closest you'll ever get to satire

    ..or even, try to say something vaguely interesting now and then.

    ...although I doubt you've got the last one in you.

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  163. " as funny as a fight " is one of my Ma's expressions I remember from long ago. May well be original Kiwi, but perhaps Yorkshire, where her Ma came from ?

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  164. I was, of course, referring to the failed soldier, trader and writer, not the esteemed monkeyfish (although I'd like to say you should lay into someone other than Martyn, mf, he's on the side of the angels in my book).

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  165. Spencer,

    I was pre-modded a while back for a reply to savvymum. I don't have any reason to think she asked for it though - it was her inane off-topic witterings that I was replying off-topic to...

    For some reason, her post remained, while I was put in pre-mod for quoting from it. Someone doesn't like me (apart from Matt Seaton, that is).

    I do tend to agree with bitterweed's assessment of savvymum's qualities though....

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  166. Spike - he didn't repeat the mincing nancy-boy, but you got no chin, or summink. Not even worth recording in the BrackenArchive.

    Hardly Castrophilia too ! Very balanced.

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  167. Montana

    Something completely inconsequential.

    Plagued as I am with Leopard slugs - 4 inches long and growing - went on line for more info.

    Apparently some people in US keep them as pets .
    I have an export business in the making if this is true.

    Are slugs popular in US? Would have to have humidity and temp right for them. They are rather pretty I admit but tending them would be a problem.

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  168. @Jenn

    Nancy boy? Limp wrist? Mincing?

    You know, I think you may be right about Bracken being homophobic. Who'd have thought?

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  169. Got to pop out an see how my aubergines are doing . Rain.

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  170. @frog

    Cheers.

    No chin? Hold on, isn't that flattery from an ex-army officer?

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  171. @Leni, what is the problem with leopard slugs?

    They are carnivores and prey on other slugs, and won't eat your plants.

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  172. Hi Spencer

    @PeterB-If you are in pre-mod best thing to do is e-mail the mods,apologize for whatever it is you did and try not to repeat it.Pre-mod usually only lasts a few days.And they ain't gonna risk losing you cos in a perverse sort of way you're a bit of a star down CIF way

    btw-me and habib have our moments but he's not thick.Can be a bit of a pisstaker though.

    @Habib:-)

    NOW CAN SOMEONE PLEASE REMIND ME HOW TO DO BOLD and ITALICS.Ta!

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  173. Run along and have a ride on your big, powerful, throbbing motorbike until you cool down, Bracken.

    Oh, and try not to hit any trees.

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  174. Haven't seen Philippa for a few days, is she on holiday?

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  175. Jens

    That's weird cos i was just wondering where philippa was meself.

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  176. Paul, I am fairly thick, to be honest. For example, I just copy and paste from the Guardian comment box for bold and itallic.

    Otherwise you fiddle about with {b}text{/b} or{i}text{/i}, replacing { and } with <>.

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  177. #I won't cool down Spike till you're wearing that red star deep inside your arse#

    No..those red stars you've seen in your magazines aren't real...they're just to cover up the bits you're not allowed to see..they don't get shoved inside

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  178. Be nice if we could get blockquote on UT one day.

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  179. Paul,

    Pre-mod only lasts a few days? I'm almost at a month.....

    For bold...... < b > TEXT < / b >

    For italics.... < i > TEXT < / i >

    Take away the spaces I've left - if I didn't leave spaces, you nwouldn't be able to see what I've written.

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  180. I learnt all my html from the good folks at CIF Watch - who says they're good for nothing....

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  181. habib

    Cheers for that.You're a star.And a bit of a pisstaker.Cos what you were really saying was -Paul don,t fart around with the <> bollocks use the Guardian comment box instead.:-)

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  182. Hallo Tybo! Have been enjoying your posts.

    Am enjoying your meltdown, Bracken - will be saving a link to this page in case you ever do run for office.

    Oh, and Habib isn't "thick" - he's nice, which I realise is probably an alien concept to you.

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  183. @exiled

    But it's just pre-mod, not banning or "suspension" (my SpikeParis suspension turned out to be a ban, although it was never admitted)?

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  184. exiled

    Cheers for that.Have you tried e-mailing the mods?They obviously haven't banned you.I think Chekhov is in a similar position.It's up to you but if you want to post on CIF again under your current user name an e-mail might be the only way.Otherwise they may have simply forgotten about you.

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  185. Welcome to the newbies, in case you don't know, after 200 comments, you have to click on "newest" at the bottom of the page to see additional ones.

    Got to admit, Paul piss taking comes as second nature to me, I'm afriad. :-)

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  186. Am enjoying your meltdown, Bracken - will be saving a link to this page in case you ever do run for office.

    What, you think I might call on the slattern's vote?

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  187. Heheh! I haven't been called a fascist pig since I told my fourteen-year-old nephew he had to help clear the table.

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  188. Spencer

    No probs with leopard slugs other than the numbers. Have a yorkstone yard which can be slippy when wet - one night I picked up over 80 of them - gathering round for cat food i put our for feral cat. I pick them up and carry them to field.

    As they also eat fungus and mould they can be useful in cellars . I was wondering if I am alone or if the increase in population is general.

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  189. Oh, and heyhabib is thick. You're just too thick to see it.

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  190. Oooh, and I'm a slattern! Homophobic and misogynistic!

    'Fraid your Blairist identity politics is going right out the window, Bracken.

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  191. Come on people..can't we all just get along

    New Page..New start

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  192. Wa-hey, and thick too. At least I'm in good company in Brackenworld.

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  193. @Leni, ah the cat food would do it I suppose, though 80 is impressive. I saw a squashed one the other day but I don't see many. I am in Islington though and they are basically a woodland species.

    I am sure all this wet weather is great for slugs in general so they might well have had a population increase. I was surprised to see the one in the road the other day.

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  194. Either that isn't Peter (which I think it is) or he has lost it big time, his obsession with spikes backside, calling Thauma a slattern, it is a bit extreme.

    Who knew that all it took to push him over the edge is finding out that he is just another mug on Cif rather than anyone special.

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