11 December 2010

11/12/10

Happy Birthday, Bitterweed!
 He has a profound respect for old age.  Especially when it's bottled.
-Gene Fowler 

351 comments:

  1. Yes indeed, happy birthday Bitterweed!

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  2. And I'll be the one to link to this. Obligatory for men our age, I think.

    :-)

    Felicitations of the day, Sweet Pea.

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  3. Dang it! Just read yesterday's thread. Habib's in big trouble.

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  4. Morning all

    Happy Birthday Bitterweed! I expect you'll read this at about 4pm xx

    Montana - how are you doing? I haven't seen you around for ages. Hope all is well with you and little Joe xx

    All the snow's gone here, which is a bit sad - what's it like down there, PeterJ?

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  5. Happy Birthday Bitters! I trust you look nothing like these people this morning.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTHmRSzn14s

    Hi Montana. Yes, Habib is a cad, but I like that in a guy. (-;

    Leni--Nice selection last night.

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  6. Morning all.
    And a very happy birthday to dearest Bitters.
    x

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  7. Hi BB--Not sure about Blighty, but most of our snow has washed away and we're back to normal seasonal stuff. Anyway, I'm off down the hall. Laters.

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  8. Just seen those latest posts--Hi gandolfo and MsChin too. I'm gone.

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  9. so berlusconi has, allegedly, been buying votes for the confidence vote next week going for a mere €350,000 to €500,000........i wonder how many will be able or have been able to resist...

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  10. Gefeliciteerd Bitterweed, you old rock and roller you. Have a good one mate.

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  11. Happy Birthday, Bitterweed!

    The extent to which you are feeling shit is the residual proof that it actually happened.

    (If you are reading this, you should be drinking).

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  12. Morning, BB.

    All our snow disappeared overnight last weekend, thanks to a heavy rainstorm. Sad, in a way.

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  13. Spike said...

    @Leni

    Hybrid as in television, which we were discussing earlier.

    Bitey I see more as something that made its way into our world through the window of glass from the Plateau of Leng in a Lovecraft story, but that's probably just my idiosyncrasy.
    11 December, 2010 00:02


    Truth is all of you made your way into mine via CiF until, like your anarchist friends on the streets of the capital, you wreaked temporary havoc there and flounced off here, where those of you with a craving for popularity, begged for giveness, (JayReilly anyone?) from the mods and now spend much of your lives staggering between each camp.

    There is something mildly disturbing about a group of middle aged, middle class, well educated people cheering on a bunch of disordered infantile anarchists acting out the belief that smashing shop windows and engaging in petty vandalism while running away from the police, is going to herald the coming of a socialist utopia; or as Anne Tan said in what must be the most naive statement to come from the mouth of someone who claims to be seriously political:

    Oh for some leadership to turn it into a revolution!

    Is it because you all missed out on serious revolutionary politics when you were young that you are now playing it out in the safety of an ignorant virtual world? Or do you really believe that the lumpen mob that raced through the West End is the key to a better society than the one you and your children currently inhabit?

    You armchair anarchists give armchair revolutionaries and champagne socialists a bad name.

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  14. Very little snow here this morning, although still lingering in places.

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  15. no snow here...bit nippy by clear blue skies......good day for a demo...

    in fact there will be "kettling" going on today...there is a big democratic party demo...pretty much a load of scheisters who have been unable (unwilling?) to defrock berlusco, so far, despite everything.....depressing.....

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  16. Bitterweed,

    I've just found the perfect birthday present for you.

    Here's Motorhead's new single "Get back in line 2010". The entire video is Lemmy and the boys beating the shit out of bankers with fists, baseball bats and anything else they can get their hands on!

    Enjoy.

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  17. Oh, and Montana - love today's quotation!

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  18. FOB

    So CiF was your world was it? Not a public forum open to anyone who wished to post?

    I can see why you were so pissed off that the mods deleted so many of your posts on the same night a year ago, then - so distraught that they had had the temerity to determine what could happen in your world that you completely lost the plot and ended up getting banned a mere few weeks later.

    It must have been a real shock to you.

    Your Grace

    Nice one - I've bookmarked that for future deployment.

    Ahh. Motorhead. Such memories. :o)

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  19. I wonder if it is a coincidence that one of those bankers looks like Bernie Ecclestone, btw?

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  20. Mornin Thaum

    Trying to get up the stamina to go and do some bloody christmas shopping. Argh.

    What you up to today?

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  21. Bitterweed

    Pen-blwydd hapus !!

    May see you laters and get to buy you a couple of birthday drinks.

    After Cardiff Blues beat Northampton of course !

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  22. Hiya BB - off to Northampton for the rugby match againt Cardiff! Thank god it's warmed up a fair bit!

    Cannot face shopping.

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  23. This is brilliant - film of a tram ride through Dunkirk in 1913, taken from the tram. From an archive full of fascinating stuff.

    Dunkirk 1913

    (via Age of Uncertainty)

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  24. Duke

    Excellent track, even though me heads a bit too fragile to be headbangin at this time of the morn !

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  25. Nice one, Thaum and Tascia

    If you do manage to find Bitterweed, give him a birthday kiss from me.

    That's a really interesting film, PeterJ. I am laughing at the little buggers running along in front of the tram. These days that would cause a major health and safety incident report! :o)

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  26. Happy b'day Bitters!

    That's wonderfully evocative footage Peter. Weirdly, the damaged bit towards the end is a horrible portent of what was to come the following year.

    Thanks for putting it up - the whole site is an absolute treasure house.

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  27. Cheers people... too kind, I have very little to offer back except a big shit eating grin that is keeping a hangover cowering in terror in a corner... Off out for the day now and things could get messy over in Cambridgeshire... laters !

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  28. PS, that Motorhead is too good !!

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  29. BB

    No, those kids would be awarded an ASBO now.

    As for Christmas shopping ... if only it would all go away!

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  30. For the soon-to-be-kettled and anyone else who might come into conflict with the state's enforcers, here's a very interesting (perhaps even vital) lecture from a rather witty Law Professor (and former criminal attorney) on why you should never, under any circumstances, talk to the police.

    The first half is by the Prof; the second half is by a serving police detective, who confirms and reinforces everything the Prof. says.

    It's US-centric but I imagine that a lot of it is equally applicable here in the UK...given the times we live in, this could repay viewing.

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  31. Bitey, I am quite happy to play the apologetic schoolboy to people i have never (and never will) meet - its an online forum, I'm sure i'll survive the trauma of saying "sorry, i wont call anyone a cunt again".

    As for staggering between camps, yes its very tough work, post and debate on CIF, then post here, then post there, nightmare. I dont know how i manage it, anyone would think both CIF and the UT were online forums for debate...

    You really are a very sad creature, Bitey, the online version of the lonely, balding little man who follows women home from bus stops in a grubby raincoat. You are like a zombified insect, no matter how many times you are trodden on you still keep scuttling round people's ankles making a nuisance of yourself.

    Of all the things on the internet you could be doing, why do you spend time posting at people who uniformly regard you as lower than shit?

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  32. And happy birthday bitters!

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  33. Parabens Bitters, feliz anniversario!!

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  34. Happy B'day BW...seems you share a birthday with a certain goal-hanging X Factor aficionado

    Just noticed this on Waddaya...from Expat

    "Saw your comments: actually no I'm not a closet anything..."

    *Serious thread Alert*

    How about "Coming out in Scunthorpe...a 21st century perspective"?

    Think how inspirational it might prove for all those younger cross-dressing truck drivers with low/middle brow cultural pretensions who haven't yet found the courage to go public.

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  35. Jack Cade

    Good vid - I have watched the first few mins and I will watch it all later.

    Of course, the big difference is that here in the UK the previous Tory government took away our unqualified fifth amendment right. The police caution here is now "You have the right to remain silent. However, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence".

    What this means is that a judge can instruct a jury that they are entitled, should they so wish, to draw inferences from someone failing to give an account to police at the time that they have made their defence up later. They are advised that they cannot use that as the only reason to convict someone, but given that in the UK we are never allowed to know anything about jury deliberations, I wonder how many times someone has been convicted uniquely on the basis that they didn't co-operate with the police at the time of their arrest...

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  36. Hey BW - hope you have a good day.

    Morning Phil, Jay and Sheff.

    How's the knee doing, Sheff? Hope it is on the mend.

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  37. Jay

    "Of all the things on the internet you could be doing, why do you spend time posting at people who uniformly regard you as lower than shit? "

    He said last week he wouldn't stop until I had apologised for reporting him for abuse last December and emailed the mods to ask for his reinstatement as BTH.

    Hah.

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  38. Arlene McCarthy, the Labour MEP who is vice chair of the European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee said: "These guidelines will put an end to the UK Government's attempts to weaken the new EU law on bankers' bonuses. In the UK alone, over £720bn of support was made available to failing banks – more than an entire year's spending by the Government."

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  39. PeterJ,

    that's an absolute gem of a site, thanks for posting. I always find these pre-WWI films quite haunting as it is the calm before the storm.

    It's the same with the outstanding Mitchell and Kenyon films- turn of the century optimism prevails and as the very young century progresses, more and more signs of militarism- scouts and cubs in formation, more flags, more jingoism ultimately ending with the first volunteers marching through their home town en route to France.....

    Thanks again for this. I have reports to do, but I know what I'm going to end up doing now.

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  40. Fuck it - that was a long post which I fucked up.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/city-outrage-as-europe-stands-firm-on-bankers-cash-bonuses-2157462.html

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  41. "He said last week he wouldn't stop until I had apologised for reporting him for abuse last December and emailed the mods to ask for his reinstatement as BTH."

    He needs help, BB, he really does.

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  42. Atomboy - good link, anything that sparks "outrage" in the City is good news.

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  43. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  44. Hah. Good news that, AB.

    I take it the City will be like the Marie Celeste on Monday morning then as they all flee for another country where they can pay themselves what they want without interference?

    Because let's face it, if you have been involved in the near-destruction of a bank - and the economy - in the UK, it will look really great on your CV when you apply for a job in China or wherever, won't it?

    What's that? No jobs elsewhere either? Pity...

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  45. BB, would not a polite stonewall in the form of '...I am eager to co-operate with the police and answer any questions they might have in the presence of a lawyer' meet the case?

    The thing is, that Law Prof. makes what seems to me an irrefutable point: talking to the police never, ever helps.

    He goes on to illustrate how seemingly innocuous statements made to the police by an innocent person can be used as evidence to convict and gives examples of innocent men convicted by their own taken-out-of-context statements.

    It's to our eternal shame that we don't have the written constitutional guarantees of the 5th Amendment (and others), but on balance, it seems that the potential downside of saying anything at all to the police far outweighs any possible benefit.


    Yeah, I saw that last night, AB. And guess what the wankers are threatening to do? Yes, that's right...they'll leave us (sob).

    If we had a government that wasn't in the pockets of these scum, they'd be standing on an airport runway, waving the cunts goodbye...

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  46. Have a lovely birthday, Bitterweed.

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  47. JackCade

    Don't get me wrong, I agree entirely that people should not be obliged to say anything to the police at all if they are arrested. But there are times when I despair because an old-school solicitor has advised them at the station to go "no comment" and it has been detrimental to them at trial, when they could have quite easily and reasonably have given a proper account to the police at the time, or at the very least made a written statement and then gone "no comment".

    But rule number one has to be this: if you are ever picked up by the rozzers, no matter how much they tell you it isn't serious and they just want to ask you some questions, no matter how much they tell you that you will have to be banged up for hours if you wait for a solicitor, do not say anything at all until you have had legal advice.

    And if you are banged up for hours, ask to have a copy of the PACE codes of practice to read, to while away the time. You are entitled to do that (although it will probably piss them off :p)

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  48. Sorry, I am still annoyed that I lost my post, which is a mixture of childish and churlish, I know, but I am feeling a bit ratty this morning.

    Yes, it is good news, although it remains to be seen how rigorously it is applied - if at all - once the bankers put the fear of god into the politicians and their agencies with all that incomprehensible talk of sums and numbers.

    jack

    If we had a government that wasn't in the pockets of these scum, they'd be standing on an airport runway, waving the cunts goodbye...

    Yes, it was the bit in the article which said that the people who were fighting to prevent the regulations from coming into force were the bankers - as you would expect - and (Tada!) British officials, which really got me.

    If the day ever comes (ha!) when someone from the government actually gets the chance to go to the banks and ask for our money back, no doubt the spineless little conniving shitbag will simply say: "No, no, your Sirship, please. That money is yours to keep forever. We would never be so rude as to ask you for a penny piece of it back. After all, it is what the poor are there for!"

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  49. AB

    Just checked the spam folder and there is nothing in there.

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  50. Morning BB

    Making my first foray out of the house for nearly a week shortly, to buy a paper and grab a coffee in a new cafe thats opened in my building. With luck the knee will hold up.

    Have been going a bit stir crazy but the book pile has gone down and now I've got that lovely film archive Peter linked to to wander through this afternoon.

    On the handful of occasions I've been arrested by the plods have always exercised the right to silence. Except once, as an adolescent but thats another story.

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  51. AB

    British officials Heh! that term is a great catch all for some of the most scheming, devious, duplicitous bastards you could ever hope not to meet - in my experience.

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  52. .
    MrsBootstraps said...

    FOB

    So CiF was your world was it? Not a public forum open to anyone who wished to post?

    I can see why you were so pissed off that the mods deleted so many of your posts on the same night a year ago, then - so distraught that they had had the temerity to determine what could happen in your world that you completely lost the plot and ended up getting banned a mere few weeks later.

    It must have been a real shock to you.


    Actually CiF was mine and a few others. I exchanged a few words with the likes of PikeBishop, Nairobiny, Phillipa (about the LSO, was that PhillipaB?), Theo Hobson on 4 May 2006, Cath Elliot, "Bitethehand, I agree completely with your last post. This debate has done nothing but confirm why Julie's initial assesment of men was spot on.", alisdaircameron, LordSummerisle, Waltz, thetrashheap and so on. We were the founder members. I even posted under my own name in the first couple of weeks before it became quite clear that some posters weren't content with verbal jousting but wanted to "punch your lights out". That's when I adopted the name Bitethehand.

    Have a look at my brilliant comments here that set the tone for the next four years until your efforts resulted in my banning.

    Julie Bindel - Why I hate men

    And not a shock MrsB; by December 2009 I'd long wondered how I'd managed to escape that fate, but it took a stool pigeon like you to finally bring it about.

    Did you acquire this skill of yours at school telling tales to the teacher about your class mates? Were you known as the snitch even in those early days?

    And was it that flaw in your character that drove your mother to an early grave? You tell us all about her so often, both here and on CiF that there's clearly a guilty conscience lurking somewhere. Was it that guilt that drove you into the legal profession where you could perform in fancy dress at someone else's expense, rather than present your true self to the world?

    And unlike some others I could mention, I didn't go back crying to the moderators, (Jay I'll respond to you later) begging forgiveness to be allowed to post again. I have what's called self-respect; something, which if it's not too late you should try to cultivate in yourself.

    Now who's going to be the brave soul to delete this post and then own up?

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  53. Maintain the silence position whenever your collar is being felt, imho.

    With traffic cops who overstep the mark, however, I generally like to engage in pointless conversation that keeps them standing next to my car, in the pouring rain / howling gale / blazing sun /whatever inclement weather prevails at the time.

    I must be the only woman on the planet who's been stopped in a Macdonald's car park by traffic cops who seemed to think that I'd stolen my own vehicle.

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  54. BB

    Thanks for looking, but it was my own fault entirely - which is why I am annoyed.

    Sheff

    Yes, sometimes the lovely manners and haircuts and the well-cut suits just doesn't seem to make up for the complete and utter shitbaggery, does it?

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  55. "I have what's called self-respect"!!

    Hahahahahahahahahahahaha - Brilliant!!!

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  56. "I have what's called self-respect;"

    From the man who stalks women he's never met accusing them of being alcoholics and poor mothers....

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  57. I think we have a bitey parodist visiting...

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  58. MsChin

    That's hilarious. :o)

    There is one bit of the film Hot Fuzz that I like when they stop the local solicitor for speeding and Sgt Angel gets his notebook out and notes down everything the solicitor says, to his great annoyance, including "Can you just stop writing things down..."

    I have often wondered how a rozzer would react if, when stopped, we started taking a note of everything they were saying... :o)

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  59. "The man invades your blog, comes across as a know-it-all intellectual coming to teach the poor residents some high level sociological theory, and ends up acting like an abusive husband.

    He then goes back to his fan club on CiF and says “I left a couple of friendly (if questioning) comments on Cath’s own blog this week.”

    The man isn’t friendly, he’s dominating and a past master at disassociation ...

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  60. Sheff

    Well, if it's the parodist and I find out who he is - and I have a few ideas after some fun and games someone was having last night - they can fuck right off as well.

    They are just as repugnant, just as cowardly, just as pathetic and just as, ultimately, even more sad than bitey is, because they don't even have the guts to say it under their own nick and have to hide behind an assumed nick - maybe because they realise that, actually, other people might realise what a real jerk they were if they dared to use their own.

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  61. BB

    I do know that they definitely don't like it when, as they are about to depart somewhat humbled by discovering that you are totally 'legal & general', you pull from the glovebox your log listing details of X stops in X months, and ask for their collar no. etc, so you can add this to your records.

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  62. Sheff

    Could you pick me up a couple of petrol bombs while you're in the Co-Op please, love? I'm feeling lucky...

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  63. Jay

    Wasn't that article just an utter pile of shite?!

    "Someone is going to make a film.

    The actress chalked to play the leading role has played in a different genre of film.

    Ergo, the film will be of the same genre and will be shite.

    I know I'm right cos..."

    Soz you got naughty-stepped for it, though.

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  64. Duke,

    "One must be wary of information and quotations found on the Internet, for they are often misleading, misinformed, or downright inaccurate!" - Abraham Lincoln.

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  65. .
    JayReilly said...
    Bitey, I am quite happy to play the apologetic schoolboy to people i have never (and never will) meet - its an online forum, I'm sure i'll survive the trauma of saying "sorry, i wont call anyone a cunt again".


    You don't own me an apology for your foul language I've heard it all before and in far more threatening circumstances than on an online forum. For outing me to the CiF moderators, yes for that I would accept an apology if one's in the offing.

    And just to show those here that we have a history here I am on CiF
    commenting on an article by Hazel Blears: Nihilistic new media:

    Bitethehand 05 Nov 08, 11:42pm

    JayReilly wrote with such passion and accuracy that his post is worth repeating:

    The audacity of the NuLab cronies is simply off the scale. You clearly live in another world, Hazel, a world where people have respect for your government, trust, admiration, and all the other qualities that the people should have for the people that lead them. Instead, you are despised. This is because you have shown yourselves to be a little band of crooks who have engaged in illegal invasions, lied to parliament, lied to the people, turned your back on the roots of your party, pushed Britain into a de facto one party state with your embrace of Thatcherism, you have been mired in corruption and sleaze, sold peerages, allowed private firms to run public services with the disgrace that is PFI, you have had a total open door policy at our borders and then cried 'racist' at dissenters, sold the WWC down the river, instigated an enormous raid on peoples liberties, setup the most pervasive surveillance state in history, trumpeted a multiculti policy that ended when British citizens blew up commuters on our tubes, led us into the heart of an economic disaster with your 'light touch' pandering to the demands of your buddies in business, and you have the bare faced nerve to come on this site and accuse the media and bloggers of creating the cynicism levelled at you and your cronies?
    If there was any justice in the world you would be sacked immediately for this utterly shameless little piece, how dare you lecture anyone.


    Now I'd agree that we've probably had more differences than agreements, but it wasn't all one way traffic by any means.

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  66. MsChin

    Have you thought about making a complaint to the Chief Constable? Why do they keep picking on you? Have you got the look of a teenage joy rider about you or summat? :o)

    Seriously, I had a friend years ago who was very tiny, with long hair, and looked like she was about 15 - she had to show ID to buy a drink in a pub at the age of 26. She used to get pulled over all the time.

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  67. "For outing me to the CiF moderators, yes for that I would accept an apology if one's in the offing."

    Bitey i dont know what you're on about - for all our disagreements I have never "outed" you, nor have i ever reported a single one of your comments as abuse. I have never even outed Ultimathule in her new outfit, nor reported a single one of her comments.

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  68. That's the thing, BB. Just because you're 'innocent' and a law-abiding citizen (assuming you are), you imagine that the police are on your side. They're not. I think that what people have to keep in mind is: the police don't really give a shit whether you're innocent or not. That's not the qustion they're asking themselves.

    The question they're asking themselves is: can we get a conviction and put this one in the 'cleared' file? You're just filler for the criminal 'justice' sausage-making machine--they don't care if the sausages taste foul or fair, as long as they're sausages.

    There's a very telling bit in that vid when the Prof. says 'I did a poll of criminal defence attorneys and I asked them: "Have you ever, in your career, had a case that made you think 'gee, I sure am glad my client spoke to the police'--they laughed in my face and asked me if I was crazy..."

    I dunno, AB...perhaps we're being too cavalier. What would a world wihout bankers be like? Do we have the right to deny our progeny the joys of debt-slavery? Do we? Think of the children!

    A McDonald's car-park, MsChin? I'm almost afraid to ask...

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  69. BB - its a ridiculous silly article. They deleted about 3 of my comments - irritating, not the end of the world. Then they actually fully disappeared a comment of mine which was pretty mild and wasnt a response to a deleted post - the post is still there. So asked why they are disappearing posts in breach of their own guidelines on when they will "disappear" rather than delete, and next thing you've got the little red writing in your box - your comments will be premoderated.

    Emailed them but goes without saying a response is highly unlikely...

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  70. Jay,

    you're on premod for questioning deletions and disappearances? Jesus.

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  71. Jack

    "The question they're asking themselves is: can we get a conviction and put this one in the 'cleared' file? You're just filler for the criminal 'justice' sausage-making machine--they don't care if the sausages taste foul or fair, as long as they're sausages."

    What is so utterly repugnant about that is that the real perps are still wandering about the place committing offences while someone else has been nicely fitted up for it.

    Makes my blood boil.

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  72. "you're on premod for questioning deletions and disappearances?"

    Charming isnt it. Glad to see the moddings been fixed at least. Perhaps this is their juvenile revenge for my cruel description of their competencies on the modding piece. Very tiresome indeed.

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  73. Duke,

    I've bookmarked that site now. It's fantastic!

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  74. That is indeed a great site, Your Grace. Loving it.

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  75. Jay,

    I have a copy of the secret Graun mod guidelines and slang.

    I had a quick flick through and you've been BillyBattsed in allusion to Joe Pesci getting 'whacked' in Goodfellas for killing made man Billy Batts.

    Bidisha is a made woman on there. You mess, you get a cap in your ass.

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  76. .

    JayReilly said.....

    You really are a very sad creature, Bitey, the online version of the lonely, balding little man who follows women home from bus stops in a grubby raincoat. You are like a zombified insect, no matter how many times you are trodden on you still keep scuttling round people's ankles making a nuisance of yourself.

    Of all the things on the internet you could be doing, why do you spend time posting at people who uniformly regard you as lower than shit?
    11 December, 2010 10:34


    Jay I was quite happy ignoring this place for the first 10 months of its existence and only when you and others decided I shouldn't be allowed to post on CiF, did I find some amusement in posting here. You're right it is for me a waste of time, but I'm a generous person and feel you deserve some of it.

    As for your first wish, you, like others would give their right arm for an existence like mine. Apart from living half my life in the UK/Europe and the other in China/the rest of the world, travelling to places you will only dream about, being part of a successful business, having no financial worries, a range of good friends and despite your childish claims, no sexual hang-ups whatever, I have never been tempted, unlike MrsB, to crave virtual friends and admirers online and so am never upset or disappointed at your juvenile jibes.

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  77. James/BB,

    I have spent many an idle hour on there, it's brilliant.

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  78. Yep, jack, they followed me into a Macdonald's car park. I think I was guilty of being small (5'1'') and playing loud music through open car windows. They also stopped my other half one night, found he was 'legal & general' & drove off. Before he had even started the car and moved away, another police car pulled up & he got the same 'is this your vehicle?' rigmarole again. Fortunately the control room staff told 'em to back off & leave the poor sod alone.

    BB

    No, I only complain when there is very good cause. I got even when I got involved in training the buggers though!

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  79. "Jay I was quite happy ignoring this place for the first 10 months of its existence and only when you and others decided I shouldn't be allowed to post on CiF"

    Find me a single post of me saying you should be banned from CIF. Its never happened. I have never asked for a single poster to be banned from CIF, nor supported a single banning, and have opposed the bannings even of those i despise most.

    Either quote me to the contrary or give it a rest.

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  80. She is a made woman indeed, Duke, she has tighter protection than Charles and bloody Camilla...

    ReplyDelete
  81. I see that the ever right-on MeursaultInEkaterinaburg is busily attempting to lick Bidisha's colon from the inside: "...the piece is great...Brilliant!".

    So far, so predictable, but can anyone explain to me what made MobyInEindhoven think that posting his photo as his avatar was a good idea?

    Maybe it's just me...perhaps there are people who just swoon at the sight of a seedy, corpulent middle-aged hobbit who looks like his piles are acting up.

    ReplyDelete
  82. .
    JayReilly said.....

    From the man who stalks women he's never met accusing them of being alcoholics and poor mothers....

    Jay, for someone who's an Open University graduate, surely you can see that there's something of an anomaly between stalking self confessed overweight middle aged women and and being a paedophile.

    Will you make up your mind about my sexual preferences?

    And although I think there's enough evidence from her own posts to recognise that MrsB has a serious alcohol problem, along with a number of posters here, I've never accused Montana of that, knowing as I do that she no longer drinks and for all I can recollect, never has.

    What I can recall is a discussion in the early days of The UT about the problems parents have in making sure their children don't have access to the stock of alcohol in the house, and suggesting Montana's son was a teenager rather than a pre-teen.

    ReplyDelete
  83. MsChin

    Hehehehe - I bet you had some interesting anecdotes to tell them when you were training them :p

    ReplyDelete
  84. BTH

    tell you what mate...you campaign for my reinstatement and the first thing I'll do once I'm back inside the compound is smuggle you in. I've got a fool-proof plan involving a vaulting horse, a concert-party and some women's clothing.
    The guards won't suspect a thing...and as long as you don't mind living in a tunnel under Cell-block Z and answering to the name Susan, you'll be fine...and free to carry on your campaign against the patriarchy and those useful-idiot feminists who have been unwittingly serving their oppressor-masters' agenda. It'll be a hoot.

    And...if things go well, we can probably find a spot behind the latrine block where we can fit Ultima just as long as she can fit inside a wheelie-bin.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Jack

    "MobyinEindhoven" made I larf!

    ReplyDelete
  86. .
    JayReilly said...

    "For outing me to the CiF moderators, yes for that I would accept an apology if one's in the offing."

    Bitey i dont know what you're on about - for all our disagreements I have never "outed" you, nor have i ever reported a single one of your comments as abuse. I have never even outed Ultimathule in her new outfit, nor reported a single one of her comments.


    Here you are on A panel debate on web moderation
    JayReilly's comment 27 October 2010 2:45PM

    Bitey

    One of the problems is that there is no way to retrieve the lost comments, unless someone has saved it - which most people dont do. So only a tiny collection of deletions are saved. If people had access to their own deleted posts I assure you I could send you 100 right now, and thats just from my own personal posts. I have saved a couple of examples of silly modding but discussed them on the last modding thread, so nothing new. I dont post nearly as much here as i used to.


    Now given that I was posting as yanquapin what else would you call that other than "outing"? Of course you weren't the first, but you couldn't resist joining in. And sure enough next day yangquapin was banned.

    In doing so you joined BeautifulBurnout, thaumaturge, MontanaWildhack, turminderxuss, RapidEddie, Gigolo, sheffpixie, shazthewombat, NormanHadley, backtothepoint, heyhabib, PhilippaB, LaRitournelle, who along with Ally Fogg, have in the past taken action that they knew would result in the banning of one or more posters.

    ReplyDelete
  87. Actions are not the same as words, BTH.

    On CiF, I have taken action once, and have the crime incident number as evidence of that. And you were not the target of my action.

    ReplyDelete
  88. it seems to me that mobyineindhoven is in premod after his meltdown

    "Well, no joy from me. I'm on the Cif naughty step"

    ahhhhhhhhh
    also is steering well clear of waddya woe betide
    if some one winds him up s'ppose
    noted that his femminist credentials and his cortesan of capitalism self description have been removed from his profile......funny that for such a dedicated feminist.....

    ReplyDelete
  89. Bitey, if you have already been outed as Bite, or as the case usually is outed yourself as BItey, then yes i will call you Bitey. The fact remains, I have never outed as Bitey. You cannot out someone who is already out.

    ReplyDelete
  90. Yes, Bitey.

    And thanks to your comment this morning, I am now making it my mission to report you every time I recognise you on CiF.

    And I am delighted to be included in such illustrious company as the list you have posted above. All solid, decent people.

    Jog on.

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

    ReplyDelete
  92. oops, sorry, didn't mean to delete that, let me try again.

    idle curiosity, really, but does anyone know what happened to Martyn? Why is he in premod? Is the removal of contributor badges general practice? It seems awfully schoolyard!

    ReplyDelete
  93. .
    JayReilly said...

    Perhaps this is their juvenile revenge for my cruel description of their competencies on the modding piece. Very tiresome indeed.

    Perhaps they're still sore about you calling them the keepers of the BNP zoo?

    ReplyDelete
  94. meerkatjie

    i imagine because he had a melt down on waddya about north korean ideology, nuns,feminism etc etc and calling people fuckers and stupid and threatening court action......

    shame they took away his "c" though, always though it rested well with him..........

    ReplyDelete
  95. Bitey - yeah, thats right, they deleted me for rowing with a full on and proud BNP chimp - his posts were left standing, i was deleted.

    ReplyDelete
  96. oh dear, I missed that completely, gandolfo.

    Imagine, losing his C for threatening 'action' though. I'm sure I've seen someone else doing that, and they seem to be all c-ed up, still.

    ReplyDelete
  97. "Is the removal of contributor badges general practice? It seems awfully schoolyard!"

    Meerkat

    It might seem 'schoolyard', I agree...petty...pathetic and arbitrary...but at least has hasn't been permanently excluded...the fate of many many posters whose style, integrity, consistency and intelligence leave Martyn firmly in the shade...looking like the brown-nosing bloated little egoist that he always has been..

    The subtext of every post he's ever sent was "look at me...I'm a liberal wet-dream"...however, since he had little to actually contribute in an objective sense...and was instead an unprincipled little gobshite whose only purpose in life is to advance his on-line image...he slipped up repeatedly, contradicted himself, frequently exposed himself as a vicious and mendacious little bigot...and as a result, it seems, has lost his 'stinkin badge'.

    I'm not in favour of banning anybody, but if you look at the roll call of the banned, together with their alleged crimes...and then look at Martyn who has somehow avoided the chop..you might just begin to suspect that obsequious crawling and propitiation carry a hell of a lot of weight with the editors...(sorry I mean the moderators).

    He is no great loss to anyone...his opinions were not real..or at least not his own and his personal reminiscences lapsed into fiction years back.

    His treatment might be 'schoolyard' but that's because he's a one-time teachers pet who's now become an embarrassment...it's a fair bet that CIF would prefer it if he fucked off all together...and took pen, Bru, Kermit and a few others with him...unfortunately they've indulged them for that long that they're stuck with them.

    I'm sure plenty of other former posters would have preferred a bit of 'schoolyard' in their time...for most..ie those who haven't taken the trouble to prostrate themselves it's more a case of 'prisonyard' or deportation.

    ReplyDelete
  98. .
    JayReilly said...

    Bitey, if you have already been outed as Bite, or as the case usually is outed yourself as BItey, then yes i will call you Bitey. The fact remains, I have never outed as Bitey. You cannot out someone who is already out.
    11 December, 2010 14:16


    Jay you have the morality of quisling. You criticise the moderators and the moderation policy, yet you see nothing wrong in aiding and abetting them when it suits your purpose.

    You could easily have addressed your remarks to yanquapin rather than Bitey and and I'd have given you a civil answer along the lines that I gave MrsB recently, about how to search for the contributions of banned posters, not all of them but a great many since about 2008. Sadly the recent changes to the CiF software means that's no longer possible.

    ReplyDelete
  99. I don't disagree with you, MF. It just has that tone of, I don't know, losing your prefect badge or something. It doesn't seem a terribly grown up form of moderation.

    ReplyDelete
  100. Bitey, once you are ackniowledged as bitey it makes no difference who calls you it. And i'll help you out a bit further - there was one bitey reincarnation which lasted weeks, people called you bitey, mods did nothing. Why? You didnt act like a total fucking moron. Then you changed and went back to your old ways, harrassing BB and others, and then you got banned.

    So there's a clue here, I'm sure i dont need to spell it out for you.

    ReplyDelete
  101. MF

    Heard anything from Hank lately?

    ReplyDelete
  102. monkeyfish, your idea of the "wooden horse" strategy is most interesting and amusing but you know better than most that there are only two ways back for banned posters.

    Either you grovel like JayReilly or you use a variety of subterfuge and hope that you don't come up against squealers like MrsBootstraps.

    It's become more difficult to do the latter of late, and although time consuming and requiring considerable concentration to keep your IP hidden, it's still possible, as you know.

    ReplyDelete
  103. Jay, you can wriggle and squirm as much as you like but in the war for a free internet and against arbitrary moderation, you are an informer.

    ReplyDelete
  104. I'd happily grovel again if it were worth my while, Bitey, i really would. JR is a pseudonym, i couldnt care less if "JR" was caught prancing around in a thong and an "I love Bitey" T-shirt listening to Abba's greatest hits - i'll save my dignity for real life and what i publish under my actual name.

    ReplyDelete
  105. ....and you are the arch bore bitey.....but the cross we all must bear, it seems...

    ReplyDelete
  106. "Jay, you can wriggle and squirm as much as you like but in the war for a free internet and against arbitrary moderation, you are an informer."

    You have been unable to find a single example of me "outing" you or anyone else, or me supporting the banning of you or anyone else. Facts speak for themselves, Bitey.

    You're talking shit, as usual.

    ReplyDelete
  107. .
    MsChin said.....

    "The man invades your blog, comes across as a know-it-all intellectual coming to teach the poor residents some high level sociological theory, and ends up acting like an abusive husband.

    He then goes back to his fan club on CiF and says “I left a couple of friendly (if questioning) comments on Cath’s own blog this week.”

    The man isn’t friendly, he’s dominating and a past master at disassociation ...


    Not sure what to make of this MsChin.

    I certainly made the post above about Ally Fogg's invasion of Cath Elliot's blog, but what point are you trying to make?

    ReplyDelete
  108. "Heard anything from Hank lately?"

    No..I haven't

    "monkeyfish, your idea of the "wooden horse" strategy is most interesting and amusing but you know better than most that there are only two ways back for banned posters."

    or there's a third way...log in under a new alias...never been too successful at it myself..in the old days I liked to think it was because my style was so distinctive and my 'truths' too unpalatable for CIF's delicate sensibilities..now they seem to have fitted my IP with an alarm.

    "it's still possible, as you know."

    ...actually, I don't know...haven't tried for ages..believe it or not, not everybody who goes on there to slag off the numpties is me...lots of people seem to share my view of the place and some of its more pointless contributors.

    However, I think in your case it's because within two or three posts of your 'rebirth' you're dragging up old arguments, laying into BB and advertising your presence by using your extensive database of 'old slights'.

    ReplyDelete
  109. For what it's worth, I reckon that's not the real bitey - not sinister enough. Although he/she does talk enough crap to be bitey.

    I was permanently suspended from CiF as SpikeParis (they would never admit it was a banning) and I've openly announced there on more than one occasion that bttp is the former SpikeParis. There have been no repercussions, so there's absolutely no need for grovelling apologies or subterfuge.

    In my case, to avoid being banned again, I've simply refrained from reposting a latter signed by Einstein and Arendt comparing the party of future Israeli prime ministers to the Nazis, a post that got me "suspended" in the first place (along with publicly criticising the mods for deleting it).

    As for taking away the Cs, I don't know why they give them out in the first place. I was relieved they forgot to give me one, since IMO they look at best like a prefect's badge and at worst a blue C makes you look like a fucking Tory candidate. When they make it a red C, I'll apply for mine. But it won't stand for contributor. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  110. A letter, even. Or possibly a latter letter. Verbal litter.

    ReplyDelete
  111. The first time I got banned, it was without warning--no email suggesting I desist from, well, whatever; no pre-mod; nothing. And why?

    Because one of the 'pets', a bland and worthless poster whose every contribution could have stood as a template for a line of Hallmark cards, complained to the mods that I was 'bullying' one of their pals.

    In this instance, 'bullying' meant pointing out the inconsistencies and hypocrisy of their comments.

    When I braced the mods about this, they looked at the alleged 'bullying' and admitted that they'd made a mistake; but I was now banned for signing up under a new username whilst (unjustly) banned; the new username wasn't banned, however--that's Groan logic for you.

    Since then, I've been banned times without number. I used to regard it as a game but I lost interest a long time ago and no longer post anywhere on GU.

    It was fun in the beginning, when the mods were much less zealous and the quality of debate BTL was consistently high, but now? Nahhhh...

    Saw an old TV advert that I thought I'd share:

    Establishing shot of puce-faced man with gargantuan thighs stretching his too-tight stonewashed jeans exiting a Parisian office building. From one pocket of a rather seedy London Fog raincoat, a baguette protrudes; from the other, a court-order repossessing his shoes for non-payment. Bracken (for let us dissemble no longer, dear reader--it is he) mounts an old moped and pulls away from the curb in a cloud of oily, blue smoke and 70s porn movie music.

    V.O. (a la James Earl Jones)...Today's busy man knows what he wants...

    Montage of Bracken buying incontinence pants, support-hose and high blood pressure medication.

    V.O...he doesn't have time to waste on details...

    Montage of Bracken being pursued by bailiffs; having his credit card refused; being denied entrance to a swingers club.

    V.O...and that's why he just splashes on some Fraudster For Men and he's ready to get on with his hectic life...

    Montage of Bracken upending bottle of cologne over his head; flies dropping from the air, stunned; poodle cringing in terror at the scent.

    V.O...Fraudster For Men by Bracken International...for today's man on the move.

    Montage of Bracken in a false beard, boarding a plane; Bracken in a djellaba buying fake ID in the Tangier casbah; Bracken, dressed as a Tuareg and looking nervously over his shoulder, herding goats in the desert.

    ReplyDelete
  112. "It was fun in the beginning, when the mods were much less zealous and the quality of debate BTL was consistently high, but now?"

    I think the G worked out that shite debate was actually much more profitable - instead of maybe 100 posts, average length 15 lines, they now have 250 posts, average length 3 lines. Much more hits, higher comment count, easier ad revenues, but scarcely anything resembling "debate".

    ReplyDelete
  113. Been listening to a bit more Union Station since rinsing your link about 60 times, Jack, this aint bad, beautiful slide playing:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnbqSa1OE0Y

    ReplyDelete
  114. .
    spike

    You were permanently suspended from CiF as SpikeParis because of your support for suicide bombers.

    All that stuff about Einstein's criticism of the Zionist state has been well publicised elsewhere.

    ReplyDelete
  115. Yeah, this is a fake bitey. Doesn't have the real one's archives and has no idea when or why I was "suspended".

    ReplyDelete
  116. jay

    Fine bit of slide here from Ry Cooder - King of the slide imo

    Vigilante Man

    ReplyDelete
  117. jack cade

    Since then, I've been banned times without number. I used to regard it as a game but I lost interest a long time ago and no longer post anywhere on GU.

    It was fun in the beginning, when the mods were much less zealous and the quality of debate BTL was consistently high, but now? Nahhhh...


    Pretty much replicates my own situation.

    I now have a quick look very occasionally and have to actually force myself to read any articles.

    The problem is, they ran a little "Don't be shy - come and play. We don't bite!" pile of shit a few months ago, in an attempt to teaze out some of the lurkers and sideline observers.

    It resulted in an almost universal sigh of boredom and yawning, uninterested and embarrassed looking the other way, with about five people signing up to say: "Nah, you're all right mate. Thanks anyway."

    When Lastminute.com was valued at 37 brazilian, someone made the cunning observation that anyone could actually set up in the same line of work and put it out of business.

    Hands up anyone who has visited Lastminute.com in the last, oh, ten years.

    CiF and Dribbly will soon have JezzaBella in the part of Miss Havisham and .... fuck it.

    I cannot even be bothered with analogies any more.

    The place is a joke, populated by the deluded and desperate.

    PS Yeah, I know that must sound insulting to some people here, but I cannot see why anyone would bother with the place any more. To each his own, though.

    ReplyDelete
  118. ...and whilst I'm on a Ry Cooder kick, this is worth a listen

    <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXKQlCQKtIg&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=MLGxdCwVVULXcXs7WBmjw7F0mWYjveDunq'>Down in Mississippi</a>

    ReplyDelete
  119. PPS So MaybellineInEnfield has been de-frocked and put in pre-mod, eh?

    Everything now hangs on the penis chap, then?

    Sigh

    ReplyDelete
  120. Ry Cooder. Lurvely.

    AB "Everything now hangs on the penis chap, then?"

    I had to read that twice...

    ReplyDelete
  121. Ry Cooder's superb, Sheff, used to listen to his "Get Rhythm" a lot as a kid, great tune.

    ReplyDelete
  122. .
    MrsBootstraps on the Assange case:

    Call me a tinfoil hatter if you like (and I wish I could remember KT's neoligism for it), but does anyone else believe this pile of steaming crap?

    Care to have a look Here and then say you're still of the same opinion?

    ReplyDelete
  123. PPPS So MayhemInEccles had another public meltdown?

    Oh, that must mean he'd had to go to the dentist again and then been on the bottle.

    Although it sounds like this one must have been worse than the last time.

    Did he get out the white robes and the pointy hat with drop-down mask and eye-holes this time?

    Did he get out his trusty Bic throwaway lighter ("I don't smoke, of course, but you never know when you might come across a lady in distress, who will let you light her fag for a couple of quick leg-humps") and use it to spark up the fiery cross?

    It must have been a real humdinger for CiF's quisling-in-chief and head Kapo to be shown the waggy finger.

    Still, as a bloke I used to work with sometimes said of the perilous paths of arse-licking courtiers: "The bullet-hole always closes up in the end."

    It took me ages to work out what he meant.

    ReplyDelete
  124. Fuck off fake bitey!

    Right, I'm off to my local pre-Christmas Communist shindig.

    100 reds all eating paella and drinking lots of wine. I'll try and get some plotting in too though.

    Have a nice evening!

    ReplyDelete
  125. Just been offered a ticket for BRMC tonight in Brixton, nice.

    ReplyDelete
  126. AB

    Margeryinegham's melt down was more like a slow and painful defrost....well let's face explosive isn't an adjective that you could associate with him really.....

    ReplyDelete
  127. Sounds like you are going to have a good evening Spike. :o)

    ReplyDelete
  128. Oh! Get Rythmn - great choon Jay

    Here it is Get Rythmn (sorry there's a bloody ad on first.)

    ReplyDelete
  129. erm...Rhythm...better have another drink...

    ReplyDelete
  130. gandolfo

    The strange thing is that I cannot even persuade myself to be sufficiently interested to look over there to survey any remaining wreckage.

    Someone mentioned something on Dribbly a few days ago and, when I went to check, I did notice that every third post was not attached to MaigretInEltham's mugshot, which made the place look odd, but I just assumed that he must have reached the 20 000 posts mark and was having a breather before boring everyone into a coma for another five years.

    All those posts, all that time, all those years to build up the reputation of Martyn Richard Jones and, no doubt, after another week of having to squeeze through the pre-mod filter, the only response anyone will have when his name is mentioned will be: "Who the fuck is that?"

    ReplyDelete
  131. At which point, peepsies, I am going to get cleaned up, cram a load of slops into my belly and happily slob out to X-Factor.

    All the best and maybe see you all later.

    ReplyDelete
  132. I'm watching strictly. The significant other just came through with sambuca. Apparently he needs to self-medicate if I'm watching 'that shite'....

    ReplyDelete
  133. Just took a quick gander at the Biddy thread. It's rank, even for Biddy. She's very young to be turning into a feminist Simon Jenkins, where you can almost read the 'will this do?' at the end of each paragraph.

    Still, you pay peanuts, you get whatever half-assed shit will buy lunch at Pizza Express for yourself and a couple of mates. I detect with the younger contributors - Biddy, Penny and latterly wunderkind Simone Webb - a give-them-what-they-want-to-hear cynicism. A bit of contrarianism, a few right-on name checks and a couple of erudite references. Even Bindel appreciates that she's something of a pantomime villain to a sizable block of CiF commenters, and duly gives them something to hiss at. Not so much political lesbians, as career ones.

    CiF is now the entry point of choice into journalism for the young and cynical would-be hack. Never mind the quality, feel the attitude. The only thing more embarrassing than seeing smart young things tickle the tummy of CiF editors with articles that are borderline CiF parody is to hear the BTLer-gone-ATLer's plaintive cry. Did you get my e-mail Jess? I can send it again if you didn't get it Jess. It'll be a hip, kinda sideways look at 50's French theatre from a hippy gerbil perspective. Maybe you can get Natalie to have a look at it, Jess.

    Fuck off. You're not part of the in-crowd, you're just page-hits fodder and a comment junkie with a big shiny blue badge. Keep posting, keep reading and STFU.

    ReplyDelete
  134. Jesus, my shoulders are seizing up. Just from a few hours pruning old pear and apple trees.

    It's six years since I told the working class to kiss my arse. Just not used to real work any more, I guess!

    Age probably isn't helping either though. Time for a long hot bath while I can still move.

    ReplyDelete
  135. Happy day Bitterweed - hope you don't have much recall of it.

    Enjoyed that RapidE.

    After a a couple of days thaw the hard frost is back in Yorkshire tonight.....

    ReplyDelete
  136. Blair's debating Christopher Hitchens on religion tonight on R4.

    ReplyDelete
  137. RapidEddie

    I just read Bidisha's piece and can't see why you are complaining. At least it is shorter than usual. That has to be a good thing, surely?

    ReplyDelete
  138. Spencer - sounds serious.

    I would self medicate if I were you. Something warm on the inside to match the the hot bath can prevent coughs and sneezes ......Bushmills 12 year old is believed to kill more germs than Domestos

    ReplyDelete
  139. I see Swineflu is back on the agenda ...and likely to be a ' gathering' news story soon.

    Should help keep the young protesters off the streets........

    ReplyDelete
  140. Deano, Oh don't worry. First thing I did when I got home was go to the supermarket for some wine.

    Tried to get brandy too but the coop had run out of the Couvoisier that was on offer and I am too mean to buy Cognac at the full retail price.

    It is actually a form of madness. I got paid today though nothing like as much as I would have charged when I did this sort of thing for a living. I only got paid because the woman I did it for (friend of a friend) would not let me do it for nothing.

    So the payment was really completely on top, extra, spare cash. But I still could not bring myself to buy brandy that wasn't on offer.

    I think I might need professional help!

    ReplyDelete
  141. Amusing post, Eddie.

    Right people, i'm off to BRMC, have a good evening.

    ReplyDelete
  142. This post from Leopold1904 surely needs saving for posterity:

    Leopold1904
    11 December 2010 6:36PM
    How about a game of moderation chicken

    ?

    What used to work for me was a combination of

    Ghanaian secret service
    Victoria Brittain
    bank account

    which I used to sneak into posts - posts would last 5 minutes at most, but now they live - I wonder why?

    On the other hand, I suggested earlier that Janette Krankie should play Bidisha in a movie called Bidisha:herstory - entire post disappeared in minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  143. Evening.

    I tottered off late afternoon to do some Christmas shopping and am now traumatised.

    But the hilarity round these parts is proving to be a very good antidote.

    ReplyDelete
  144. God football can be depressing.

    ReplyDelete
  145. What's the hilarity for, MsChin? I could do with being cheered up.

    ReplyDelete
  146. "Not sure what to make of this MsChin.

    I certainly made the post above about Ally Fogg's invasion of Cath Elliot's blog, but what point are you trying to make?"

    Spot on, Bitey, it's a perfectly pointless quote.

    ReplyDelete
  147. Spencer, brevity may be its sole virtue. It's a nonsense article, on a par with Webb's 'Yiz are all teddibly mean to Nadine Dorries' piece. Not written because they necessarily believe it, but because they know it'll keep the page hits flowing and you'll be invited back again.

    I'm reading too much on CiF that has the smell of one hour's work in the afternoon and 15 minutes proofreading the next day before article and invoice simultaneously hit the back of CiF's inbox.

    Remember that CiF formula for getting published. 1. A topical news hook to make the article, ahem, relevant. 2. Something that hasn't been covered before (unless it's an area that's proven comment bait - I/P, gender, religion etc) 3. Something that plays to the CiF editorial team's own worldviews.

    A more pertinent article might be one on why, even now, Asian (and Asian-American) actresses find it hard to get roles that don't prominently feature the words "Hiiii yaaaa!" in the dialogue. Lucy Liu started out as a pretty good character actor in Ally McBeal, then they discovered she had a black belt and the rest is chop fuey. Jeon Ji-hyun is a massive rom com/romantic drama star in Korea and across SE Asia and her first English-language movie was as a vampire killer. Take one step outside your own culture and you're the Asian Buffy.

    As for the Aung San Suu Kyi biopic, at worst it will be another saccharine fest that at least explains her story and brings it to a wider audience. You might have expected that if Biddy wanted to see Aung San Suu Kyi exert more influence and enjoy greater freedom, then anything that raises her profile makes her more difficult to contain and sideline.

    I'm thinking of writing an article comparing the abuse suffered by Nadine Dorries with the imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi. I shall attach a CV representing myself as a 19-year-old African lesbian environmentalist on a gap year before entering Oxford. You read it here first.

    ReplyDelete
  148. RapidEddie

    Of course. I can't really be bothered commenting (seriously) on that thread because it is such a piss poor piece of work. And anyway, because

    Num5 pretty much said everything there is to be said about it:

    "Everything about this article is wrong.

    1) There is no evidence that it is going to be a martial arts film or a musical.

    2) She is not going to be played by a younger actress (hint: the image above is ten years old).

    3) They look alike and Aung San Suu Kyi is not significantly less beautiful.

    4) You are the same person who praised the first Twilight film as a feminist masterpiece with lesbian undertones."

    ReplyDelete
  149. LOL RapidEddie

    Also LOLing at that "Janette Crankie" bit from Leopold.

    Habib - what happened in't footeh? Cheer up, mate! Have a jaffa cake!

    ReplyDelete
  150. Deano - hope you keep warm with yer Bushmills. :o)

    MsChin - I chickened out on the crimbo shopping in the end. I might make a foray tomorrow if I can be arsed.

    Meanwhile, been looking for stuff on play.com - seeing as I won't touch amazon right now - to get delivered instead.

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  151. Hee hee hee. A Viz Top Tip:

    "HELP to teach children how the government works by simply taking all their sweets off them and telling them to fuck off."

    And good work there, RapidEddie.

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  152. Blimey that Bidisha thread has died a death. They are not even moderating my random babble. Has everyone gone for their tea?

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  153. Great post, RapidE. If a good article is like constructing a jigsaw (bear with me), they're the ones who saw the edges off bits (mangle respected theories), and jam 'em all together (not understanding when contradictions arise)and when the result looks a shambles, get the crayons out to draw on top, and then say their creation is what the picture on the box is, and if you disagree you're not 'edgy' enough.Now decent writers would either assemble all the pieces properly and painstakingly,taking time to check they fit coherently, or alternatively, proper radical or edgy writers would say, fuck this pedestrian pursuit, and go and so something properly constructive or destructive,well away from the suffocating parlour-room.

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  154. The internet in general has gone quiet Spencer. I suspect The Rapture.

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  155. The rupture! In God we truss!

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  156. The internet has gone quiet though, hasn't it. Just goes to show what a load of lies it is about there being billions of people in the world. I reckon that there are about 3,000. A small town's worth. Slightly too many to know everyone but few enough that you keep bumping into people you know or who know people that you know.

    And a homogonous enough bunch that they all go for their tea around the same time. Including those people from the "USA" "Japan" and "Australia" (actually just mocked up in Pinewood studios).

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  157. Back from Northampton and a match ruined by the crappest ref in rugby - an opinion shared by fans of both teams. Was still a lot of fun though - the Saints fans were in fine (and VERY loud) voice and we think the drummer got pissed.

    On the up side, Ulster beat Bath and, shockingly, Aironi beat Biarritz so Ulster are at the top of their pool. Woo hoo!

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  158. Given your social activities, I suspect we must be neighbours, Thauma!

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  159. I'm near Leamington Spa, Meerkatjie....

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  160. Ah, not quite, but pretty close! (We're in between Northampton and Leicester)

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  161. Excellent! There's a new Simon's Cat film for Christmas.

    Santa Claws

    And more here.

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  162. Meerkatjie, I must have passed fairly close on my walk through England and Scotland.

    I went from Northampton to Market Harborough along the disused railway that is now a cycle path, and then from Market Harborough to Liecester (well, to Enderby actually) via the canal.

    Horrible it was too. Pissing with rain, mud on the tow path and the only blisters I have got so far.

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  163. I know that railway line very, very well indeed. :-) The tunnels there form a crucial part of my 'what to do in case of alien invasion' back up plan (formed whilst watching War of The Worlds whilst inebriated with a friend....)

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  164. Henry Porter is just up on Wikileaks, off to read it . Frontpage of Cif

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  165. *loves Simon's cat*
    Thanks for the link, bookmarking it for the Small Girl.

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  166. Oh, those tunnels! I always carry a head torch.

    Except, of course, the day I did Northampton to Market Harborough. Nice crisp cold winters day, but sunny. And my first really easy day as I did not have to find a route and there were no hills.

    So it was going great until I got to the first tunnel, and realised I had forgotton my head torch. I did have a tiny torch on my key ring but it turned out that the battery was almost dead, so I just turned it on when cyclists were coming towards me to show them I was there.

    http://onthewaytostornoway.blogspot.com/2010/04/stage-six-northampton-to-market.html

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  167. Yeah, seconded on Simon's Cat, thanks for that.

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  168. Happy Birthday, Nicky Boy!

    So how is everyone?

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  169. Evening, Hank! Reasonably well, ta, and yourself?

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  170. MsChin said...

    "Not sure what to make of this MsChin.

    I certainly made the post above about Ally Fogg's invasion of Cath Elliot's blog, but what point are you trying to make?"

    Spot on, Bitey, it's a perfectly pointless quote.


    Quite the contrary MsChin you're far too astute for that.

    So even as a diversionary tactic it's worth reading, but I suggest rather lost on most of your readers.

    And as the UT's leading feminist how do you respond to MrsB's dismissal of the European Arrest Warrant for Julian Assange for raping two women in Sweden.

    And incidentally that country's capital has just suffered a car bombing killing a man and injuring others.

    Perhaps MrsBootstraps will argue as a prominent UK barrister that it's another tinfoil hat job conjured up by the CIA.

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  171. A bit pished. Going to watch match of the day now.

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  172. Bitterweed! Have you been celebrating in style?

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  173. I'm down half bottle of red wine and several sambuccas, BW. Sambucca is the invention of the devil. I like the devil.

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  174. Hello thauma, Bw and gandolfo. I'm fine, thanks.

    Hank Jr has contrived to delete my googlemail account so to post again on here I had to create my own blog.

    Not sure what I'm gonna do with it. I'm tossing up between titling it HanksRants or WaddyaWatch.

    Stay tuned to this channel...(-;

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  175. Why the new moniker (Dec 2010) Hank?

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  176. Mr Scorpio, long time since we first crossed swords on CiF - 4 April 2008 as it happens when you were trying to bolster the doomed Ken Livingstone and I was trying to persuade you that he was a lost cause.

    So how are you?

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  177. Heh ... let us know when you have started it. ScorpioStings?

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  178. Hi Bitey.

    Same as I ever was. Ken believed in social justice more than his opponent did.

    That's always been the big issue for me.

    Ken wasn't a hero of mine. He was complicit in using the working class movement as a vehicle for "minority rights" groups. In doing so, he betrayed those the Old Left stood for.

    But he was still better than Bozza and the same old right-wing class warriors who never believed in social justice anyway.

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  179. Hey, who's nicked the stylus?

    Watcha Hank!

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