28 January 2011

28/01/11


You have been my friend.  That in itself is a tremendous thing.  I wove my webs for you because I liked you.  After all, what's a life, anyway?  We're born, we live a little while, we die.  A spider's life can't help being somthing of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies.  By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle.  Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that.
-E.B. White, Charlotte's Web

185 comments:

  1. Been meaning to say this for a few days and keep ending up in a rush to get a thread up and get to bed:

    From time to time people will de-lurk here or post on Waddaya to sneer about how we're "obsessed" with Cif/Waddaya. They tend to overlook the fact that there are quite a few Ciffers who seem to be obsessed with UT -- including themselves.

    They also fail to remember that this site was created specifically for the purpose of talking about and continuing conversations from Cif. It is, therefore, altogether reasonable that conversation here would tend to be focused on Cif and that conversations will naturally tend to include comments and criticism about individuals both above and below the line.

    Cif, on the other hand, was not created to talk about UT. Therefore, the obsession some Ciffers have with UT and their need to snipe about it on Waddaya is much sadder than anything that takes place here.

    I have a message to all those people:

    If you don't like what is said here --

    STOP FUCKING READING IT!!!!!!

    If you don't read it, you won't know that it's being said. But if you insist on continuing to read our threads every day and you read something here that you don't like -- say it here. Going over to Waddaya and bitching about what a howwid, tewwible bunch of people we are just marks you out as a chickenshit idiot.

    And a special message for Kiz:

    Your failure to grasp what Spike was saying yesterday was either wilful ignorance and, therefore, a reminder of what a complete bitch you are, or you truly are thicker than a fucking plank. I'm open to the possibility that both are true.

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  2. God, Charlotte's Web.

    Something that's always stayed with me was when I was in primary 2 or 3. We had a lovely trainee teacher who read this to us as a class group.

    If I remember it's upsetting and uplifting in equal measure.

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  3. Goede morgen

    Your Grace:

    If I remember it's upsetting and uplifting in equal measure.

    Reads like a fond rememberance to me.

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  4. BeautifulBurnout said...

    There is only one joke round here, and it is snidey little creeps like you who snoop about the place collecting data like that other mad archivist Bitey, then sneak up and post shite about people.

    A barrister starts complaining about using archived material - isn't that what they do?

    Or is it the challenge to the closed shop that you're complaining about?

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  5. Sue, for my own part, I have always read CiF and enjoyed large parts of it. The biggest part of my enjoyment however has always been the BTL responses. They can be blunter, funnier and sometimes crasser. They can also be better written, more accurate and more honest. Sometimes the worst articles made for the most joyous BTL kickings.

    I bailed out for three reasons. First off, the more energy and thought you put into a post, the more likely it seemed to go MIA. Not just for myself but for other posters. Secondly, they started using pre-mod and bannings as a way of shaping debate. The move is towards more posters, saying less. Sharp analyses with a bit of bite are not welcome. Lastly, Waddya and CiF generally has degenerated into a wank circle of in-jokes, regulars and obsessives. I've no problem with anyone doing what the hell they like with their waking hours; it just makes it exclusionary for anyone who doesn't follow every chortle, meme and grudge match.

    So the UT for me is ideal. I can respond to articles I read on CiF. I know that the post will remain there unmolested - unless I choose to delete it. The level of debate can often be better here - not the volume of good posters that CiF has, but infinitely less dumbfucks. The recent 2-3 day UT debate about rape is a good example.

    Why would I post somewhere where my distilled thoughts are subject to the whims of a skinny-jeaned 12 year old and the obsessions of any twat with a hand hovering over the abuse button? It was my considered opinion that things would get worse, not better, in regard to moderation there and it seems to me that's just what's happening.

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  6. Oh and I can't wait for today's People's Panel where men get to tell us what complete bastards men are, rather than having the Islington womenfolk do it for them. It's the sheer variety of topics and breadth of perspectives that make it all so interesting.

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  8. John Humphries et al showing their true colours just now on Govt cuts and TUC... what a fucking surprise.

    RapidEddie
    Yep, it's kicking off all over the UK, the ME and all over the Maghreb, yet the burning issue is louts on Sky Sports

    So CiF... why bother with the right wing amateurs ?

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  9. Thanks Montana, I told you lot spiders were cool ;-)

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  10. RapidEddie

    First off, the more energy and thought you put into a post, the more likely it seemed to go MIA. Not just for myself but for other posters. Secondly, they started using pre-mod and bannings as a way of shaping debate. The move is towards more posters, saying less. Sharp analyses with a bit of bite are not welcome.

    Absolutely right.

    Despite the claims that they understand the new demands and potential of the internet, they only want to use it to maintain the status quo in which they speak, de haut en bas, to a grateful nation of underlings incapable of forming their own opinions.

    Anyone who shows the fallacies and frailties of someone who wobbles and topples on the pinnacle of above the line splendour is a danger to that neatly ordered scheme of things - and cannot be allowed to remain.

    They are right to work on the basis that anyone can be banned and there are always more where he or she came from but there has been a definite degradation in quality, as a gulping slurry rushes in to fill the gap.

    The problem CiF faces is that anyone with a news archive and a large readership can do exactly what they have done and latch on a discussion board underneath every article.

    The folded-armed fishwives of Dribbly have always claimed that there is nothing quite like CiF on the internet. What they mean is that they know that elsewhere, they would just make up the sediment at the bottom, whereas on CiF, they imagine themselves to twirl and glitter in the murky shafts of sunlight.

    Once things start to go downhill, it is very hard to stop.

    With Ms Handbag in the driving seat, employing technical remedies to ensure that idiocy litters the immaculate pages of CiF, it is only a question of time before the enterprise either crashes or splutters to a halt.

    Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

    Keep up the good work, Team Dribbly!

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  11. I loved Charlotte's Web as a kid. I read it (in Serbian translation) about 20 times, no exaggeration - I could practically recite it.

    Re: Cif / UT cross-bitching, there's no point getting het up about it since there's nothing anyone can do about it. They're as entitled to talk about you as you are about them.

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  12. On the whole here vs there issue, mostly I ignore it, but I tend to prefer the company here, and I avoid articles over there occupied by the vacuous, self-serving, wilfully ignorant Jess as her refusal to acknowledge nuance or see in anything other than black and white gets right on my wick.

    Of course this means I avoid Dribbly unless I see something here and feel like rubber necking a car crash ;-)

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  13. 13thDuke, Charlotte's Web was my daughter's first experience of shedding a tear over a book. There's something very important about that moment of really caring about a fictional character, that I think perhaps fixes you as a lifelong reader. I loved that book as a child, and I'm really glad that it gave that gift to my child.

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  14. "Or is it the challenge to the closed shop that you're complaining about?"

    I'm confused, bitethehand. You're here, and posting. Doesn't that demonstrate that there is no closed shop?

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  15. I'm confused, bitethehand. You're here, and posting. Doesn't that demonstrate that there is no closed shop?

    More than that, it demonstrates that a closed shop might be better in some ways...some of BTH's posts make me want to punch the internet in the face.

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  16. Vizzo,

    I know you weren't actually advocating banning BTH but I see his posts as both the price of, and the demonstration of the worth of, the freedom around here:

    Most places would've banned him by now (given the feelings of the majority), but sometimes (when he's not stalking BB) he's actually worth talking to.

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  17. I'm not advocating banning, but if I was, then BTH would be exhibit A, B and C.

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  18. Meerkatjie

    I'm confused, bitethehand. You're here, and posting. Doesn't that demonstrate that there is no closed shop?

    The closed shop remark was about whether researching archives was open to all, rather than being the preserve of the legal profession. MrsB complains about its use but makes her living from it. And from what she tells us, she's very good at it.

    Hope that clears up your confusion.

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  19. Yes, I suppose it does, in terms of the intention of your post.

    But to suggest that the UT and CIF archives are somehow akin to legal archives seems a bit of a logical stretch?

    Also, most lawyers I know (and I know a few, as my building at work is full of them) are quite into the idea of the law and legal archives being in the public domain. Most seem to see the availability and understanding of the law as a public good.

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  20. Meerkatjie,

    the joys of the internet...I had totally forgotten about "Charlotte's Web", as I say I had it read to me once when I was 6 or 7 so I had a look on the net to brush up on it again...

    So far, it's (delete where personally ideologically appropriate) prolife evangelism/abortion propaganda/religious nutcasery/anti-religious/parable of Christ's life/mendacious atheist indoctrination/pinko liberalist wet dream/bourgeois familial structure agitprop.......

    I've yet to discover the dialectical materialist deconstruction of Wilbur's position as symbolic of proletarian alienation within the means of production or Derrida's meditations on Charlotte's advice being meaninglessly inherent symbolic junctures but it's out there somewhere.

    Let you know when I find it.

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  21. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/the-day-that-egypt-unplugged-the-internet-2196987.html

    About a half-hour past midnight this morning in Egypt, the Internet went dead.

    Almost simultaneously, the handful of companies that pipe the Internet into and out of Egypt went dark as protesters were gearing up for a fresh round of demonstrations calling for the end of President Hosni Mubarak's nearly 30-year rule, experts said.

    [...]

    In fact, there are few countries anywhere with all their central Internet connections in one place or so few places that they can be severed at the same time. But the idea of a single "kill switch" to turn the Internet on and off has seduced some American lawmakers, who have pushed for the power to shutter the Internet in a national emergency.

    The Internet blackout in Egypt shows that a country with strong control over its Internet providers apparently can force all of them to pull their plugs at once, something that Cowie called "almost entirely unprecedented in Internet history."

    The outage sets the stage for blowback from the international community and investors. It also sets a precedent for other countries grappling with paralyzing political protests — though censoring the Internet and tampering with traffic to quash protests is nothing new.

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  22. @AB

    That is very, very worrying.

    @Duke

    While you're at it, perhaps you can find us a Hegelian analysis of rapports de force between classes in The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

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  23. I used to love The Very Hungry Caterpillar, these days the ecological inaccuracies grate on me.........

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  24. Spike, I've struggled to find a Hegelian class analysis within the constricts of the hungry caterpillar narrative but the essence of Hegelian dialectical thinking is the paramount object within the text.

    What is “the very hungry caterpillar” other than the enshrinement of Hegel’s dialectical dissolution of Aristotelian logic?
    Hegel’s grand idea of ‘totality’ as opposed to the Aristotelean logic of discrete separation is symbolised in the book’s end stage “Butterfly”- Hegelian totality is the product of the developmental processes or metamorphosis , in this case (as Hegel himself would say) “the greedy bastard caterpillar” consuming all manner of foodstuffs. Or in other words sublation- overcoming the shortfalls of being a caterpillar (chrysalis) whilst contradictorally preserving the essence of being a caterpillar. Every process must be in place.

    The “butterfly” represents Hegelian Absolute knowledge- the end point totality of complete self-consciousness and self-possession of spirit which can only be achieved through the dialectical organic process of negation, contradiction and sublimation- eating your way through everything you can get your hundred feet on at once undermining and preserving the essence of caterpillarness towards end stage totality.

    I thought everyone knew that?

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  25. "We're fed up with giving and giving and giving, and not getting any real substance [in return]," said Moshe Ya'alon, the [Israeli] minister of strategic affairs

    You couldn't make it up, could you? Well, I suppose George Orwell could.

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  26. Meerkatjie

    But to suggest that the UT and CIF archives are somehow akin to legal archives seems a bit of a logical stretch?

    Yes it might be, but as someone who knows about research methods, not the methodology, which is the same.

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  27. "as someone who knows about research methods"

    See, BTH's got a sense of humour and everything ;-)

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  28. So far, it's (delete where personally ideologically appropriate) prolife evangelism/abortion propaganda/religious nutcasery/anti-religious/parable of Christ's life/mendacious atheist indoctrination/pinko liberalist wet dream/bourgeois familial structure agitprop...

    Well, don't I feel stupid. I just thought it was a nice story about a girl, her pig, and the spider who saved the pig's life.

    It was the first book that made me cry, too. And, although I wouldn't say I'd ever have a spider for a pet -- I (embarrassing admission alert) still tend to think of each spider that I ever see as being one of Charlotte's babies.

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  29. Spike

    That is very, very worrying.

    Yes, it is.

    Perhaps we have to put it into perspective, though.

    As the Chief Political Analyst, BrusselsPate, over at the other place said, when they threatened to close Dribbly over the weekend:

    "Oh, yes, that would be fine. I don't come here lunchtimes, during the evening or weekends, so it won't be any problem for you to close it during those times."

    Basically, if you are not planning to gawp at the pyramids or go on a Nile cruise, why would it matter if their bit of the internet got blacked out?

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  30. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  31. Dotterel

    "as someone who knows about research methods"

    Yes as soon as I posted that I knew someone would smile.

    Of course I was referring to the UT's famed social scientist Meerkatjie, although I do have some knowledge of research methods, Leon Festinger being a bit of a hero of mine, as you might imagine.

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  32. Hello Untrustees

    Paul Krugman today in NYTimes:

    What about Britain? Well, contrary to what Mr. Ryan seemed to imply, Britain has not, in fact, suffered a debt crisis. True, David Cameron, who became prime minister last May, has made a sharp turn toward fiscal austerity. But that was a choice, not a response to market pressure.

    And underlying that choice was the new British government’s adherence to the same theory offered by Republicans to justify their demand for immediate spending cuts here — the claim that slashing government spending in the face of a depressed economy will actually help growth rather than hurt it.

    So how’s that theory looking? Not good. The British economy, which seemed to be recovering earlier in 2010, turned down again in the fourth quarter. Yes, weather was a factor, and, no, you shouldn’t read too much into one quarter’s numbers. But there’s certainly no sign of the surging private-sector confidence that was supposed to offset the direct effects of eliminating half-a-million government jobs. And, as a result, there’s no comfort in the British experience for Republican claims that the United States needs spending cuts in the face of mass unemployment.

    hmmm

    Anne, deano

    Your comments yesterday have led me to realise that maths education can not only be empowering but also a revolutionary activity. I will devote part of the rest of my crusty life to that.

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  33. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's comments remind me of the angry wanking episode.

    You'd do well, my old fruit, neither to wank in anger, nor in public. It's just a matter of manners, you know.

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  34. "the UT's famed social scientist Meerkatjie"

    There's something a bit chilling about that statement. I can't put my finger on it.

    Why would anyone have Festinger as a personal hero?

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  35. Infamous social scientist Dr. Meerkatjie performed sinister experiments on the captive population of CiF, notably attempting to breed human posters with MAM.

    After her arrest, she is thought to have been secretly recruited as a "resource" by UT intelligence to mastermind their clandestine social-engineering laboratory.

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  36. Meerkatjie:

    Why are you feeding a stalking troll who is angrily wanking in misogyny or something, but definitely in public?

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  37. Spike, hardly clandestine now that you've given it away.

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  38. Meerkatjie

    Why would anyone have Festinger as a personal hero?

    I said a "bit of a hero", but even so he managed successfully to infiltrate a cult that believed the end of the world was at hand, in doing so, greatly enhanced participant observation as a research methodology and helped devise the theory of cognitive dissonance.

    That's enough for me.

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  39. Infamous social scientist Dr. Meerkatjie performed sinister experiments on the captive population of CiF, notably attempting to breed human posters with MAM.

    After her arrest, she is thought to have been secretly recruited as a "resource" by UT intelligence to mastermind their defiant social-engineering laboratory.

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  41. Afternoon all

    TGIF and all that. Absolutely knackered. Planning to relinquish the netbook to my lad for musical purposes, but just a quick "hi" in passing.

    Will catch up with everything/everyone later.

    Lovely image and quote at the top of the page, Montana. Can I really be the only person who has never read Charlotte's Web? I thought the Heglian perspective on The Very Hungry Caterpillar was hilarious, though.

    Reminds me of the Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet. My husband has another book about Winnie the Pooh, too, with critiques in the "voices" of a variety of philosophical schools, which is a bloody hoot.

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  42. Talking about "cod philosophy" has anyone come across "The Profit" by Kellogg Albran (sic)?

    It's a spoof of "The Prophet" by Khaleel Gibran and a very amusing diversion.

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  43. Someone should publish the Collected Wisdom of His Grace.

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  44. We'd need an archivist for that!

    By the bye, this political analysis business is tricky stuff. One moment the Left is full of splitters who can't agree on a single thing, the next they are all brainwashed.

    And then it turns out that the Stepford Wives was a left-wing movement.

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  45. Someone should publish the Collected Wisdom of His Grace.

    We could ask bitey - chances are he'll have it all archived already.

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  46. One of my instars on CiF was LittleBoyandFatMan - which were the names of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

    I tried to use an avatar which was a very cartoonish picture of a shiny black bomb with the word "Bomb" handily painted on the outside.

    The eagle-eyed and bird-brained moderators decided this was likely to cause a public outcry and panic if anyone saw it - a picture of a comic bomb being in itself a terrorist outrage, obviously.

    It seems they were right, though, or that idiocy is somehow infectious, spreading from our media masters to our security overlords like a plague.

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/01/28/tiny-plastic-toy-sparks-terror-alert-at-gatwick-115875-22880667/

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  47. he..He..he..Read that AB - doesn't surprise me - although it should. They're absolutely barking and love their freedom to wield a bit of power. When I was on my way to Morocco before Christmas I think I got someone who'd just passed the 'how to search a punter' course as she went over me with a fine tooth comb, every seam on every piece of clothing thoroughly examined - or maybe I'm just very dodgy looking.

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  48. Meanwhile, Cocksucker in Chief to the corporate and banking sector, George Osborne, has decided that we all need to stop being horrid to the people who bankrupted the world and start showing them some damned respect instead.



    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/davos/8289328/Davos-WEF-2011-Osborne-calls-time-on-banker-bashing.html

    Davos WEF 2011: Osborne calls time on banker bashing

    George Osborne has given a clear signal the Government wants to halt the long period of “banker bashing” by admitting “we need to move on”. [...]

    “We do need to move on,” Mr Osborne said, in comments that will be welcomed by banking leaders frustrated at the extended period of criticism.


    We can probably all agree that it is now quite unfair to keep blaming the bankers now that David Cameron, Rupert Murdoch and Paul Dacre have so successfully shifted the blame onto the poor and sick.

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  49. Sheff

    I came back from Australia during one of the Gulf Wars and waited in a long queue at the airport checkout at Sydney, watching everyone have to open and partially unpack their luggage.

    When I got to the desk, the chap just asked me what I had in my bag.

    "Just some clothes and books."

    OK, mate. Go straight through and have a nice trip."

    I felt cheated.

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  50. Woo hoo - off to see Richard Thompson shortly! \o/

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  51. Atoms

    I think perhaps the 'we need to move on ' defence may yet become a standard defence in court. Murderers saying "Well yes, I killed three people horribly but can't we just move on and start being nice to each other ?"

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  52. Don't think we'll let Oikborne get away with that one AB. People are taking to the streets tomorrow. Demos in London, Manchester, Sheffield and elsewhere.

    There are Palestinians occupying the offices of the P legation, Egyptians protesting outside their embassy, plus anti cuts demos - could be a busy day in London - and i hope, in Sheffield too. Thoughts are with the good people in Egypt who're facing much worse than we'll face here.

    And have you heard the pontifications from Clinton and Obama re Egypt? Ironic, given the way they deal with protestors in the states? I believe Hague also waffled some hypocritical garbage as well.

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  53. Sorry, just clocked AB's quote of Brusselsexpat from Waddya (which is tediously long these days.Can't be much arsed to plough through it, and can't imagine many do apart from those posting).Is that for real (definitely not going to the trouble of checking)
    Oh, yes, that would be fine. I don't come here lunchtimes, during the evening or weekends, so it won't be any problem for you to close it during those times. Not at lunchtime,nor evenings nor weekends. That can only leave,er, the working day...that's a prodigious Waddya output to be contributing on your employer's time.

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  54. Good idea that, Sheff and AB.

    It is clearly rubbing off on people, the "time to move on" defence because I heard it from a partner-beater the other day in court - the one where his missus was a no-show and his rep was saying it was because they both wanted "to move on with their lives now".

    That's OK then. We will forget about the bruises she had all down her arms and legs where he pushed her down the stairs, shall we? Nice.

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  55. BB

    so the 'can't we just move on ' defence has arrived already in the court system ? Sickening. Odd how the violent guilty suddenly become pacific and loving isn't it ?

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  56. I despair sometimes, Leni. "He loves me". "We are trying to make a go of it". etc. Until the next time when he puts you in hospital...*

    (*I know I am using "he" a lot for the perp, but that seems to be how it ends up in court. I remember one case, though, where a rather unfortunate couple, to put it politely, came to court to get his restraining order lifted so they could live together again. As I spoke to them about it, it turned out that she had actually put him in hospital in a knife attack, but he was the one who was deemed to have "started it"... bizarre.)

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  57. BB

    Years ago I lived next to an elderly couple - he had been widowed and current wife had not been married before.

    She made his life a misery - knocking him about, locking him out (he often slept on my sofa). She was very violent and he finished up in hospital several times.

    One awful day he knocked on door to tell me he had tried to defend himself but 'had struck her an unfortunate blow @

    My worst fears were confirmed when I arrived on scene - he had hit her with a poker. She was unconscious on floor.

    Obviosly called ambulance etc. As it turned out there was no prosecution when it turned out he had a broken arm as a result of her beating him first with poker - he had grabbed it with other arm and just lashed out blindly.

    Horrible affair but it did end up with husband being resued by married daughter who lived in another part of country. She had been unaware of what was happening.

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  58. Alisdair

    Hope you and yours are well.

    It was not a quote but a paraphrase - despite the inverted commas.

    I just made it more succinct and intelligible, but the sense is accurate.

    It was weeks ago and BettyStanton picked up on it at the time.

    As for the "Let's all move on and draw a line and play the game according to our rules", this was one of Tony Blair's favourite tricks.

    If you can simply end the debate - and the news media are happy to go along with this because they want to move quickly on to the next big thing - you do not have to explain or address the issues.

    They just disappear from the radar and, given a bit of time, nobody remembers what it was all about in the first place.

    It is already working pretty well with MPs expenses.

    That was about a bath plug and a rubber duck, wasn't it?

    Move along now, nothing to see here.

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  59. Atoms:

    That was about a bath plug and a rubber duck, wasn't it?

    Bath plug and home (not the primary residence though) porno enjoyment for hubby. That was one case. The rubber duck seems to have passed me by.

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  60. medve

    Yes, you see how it all gets jumbled up over time.

    There was something about cleaning a goat and finding a duck in the house. Perhaps it wasn't rubber after all.

    Anyway, as we all remember not to get poor under a Neo Nasty government, we should also be careful not to get old or sick, either.

    http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=35&storycode=4128373&c=2

    The Government's health reforms will result in the break-up of the NHS and will leave GPs as cost-cutters rather than medical advocates, an editorial in the Lancet has warned.

    The article published in the journal today said the changes outlined in the Health and Social Care Bill published this month would replace the philosophy of a genuinely national health service with the ethos of individual providers.

    The article suggested that the plans to give care budgets to GP consortia would change the way GPs approached the care they provide for their patients: 'The emphasis will move from clinical need (GPs' forte) back to cost (not what GPs were trained to evaluate).'


    It said the public had not voted for the changes adding: 'The speed of the introduction of the Health and Social Care Bill is surprising, especially given the absence of relevant detail in the health manifestos. The Conservatives promised, if elected, to scrap “politically motivated targets that have no clinical justification” and called themselves the “party of the NHS”—a commitment that seems particularly hollow now.

    'Health professionals cannot say that no change is needed—it most certainly is. But there is sufficient uncertainty and concern about the changes outlined in the Health and Social Care Bill to pause, to learn from the past, and to consider what the changes mean for patients' outcomes.

    'As it stands, the UK Government's new Bill spells the end of the NHS.'

    ...............

    Apparently, though, new rules are being brought in to allow people to put the dead and dying into their wheelie-bins - sorted into compost or landfill, obviously, and no open lids.

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  61. Lovely tribute to an old mate who adored his city and documented its industrial decline along with a community of urban explorers. We're burying him on Thursday.

    A tribute to 0742

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  62. ...er...

    Unbin me, for I have spammed.

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  63. My dear friends

    You may wonder why I have been ‘out of the loop’ (as I believe you young folk say) for so long. To be honest, I’ve been having the devil of a time since I last ‘checked in’. It all began on New Year’s Eve when, courtesy of a carelessly discarded wishbone from the Christmas turkey, I went arse over tit in the conservatory. That made me completely reliant on the ministrations of Mrs Selfmade and, strictly between us, these were not altogether sympathetic (she was inclined to think that the whole debacle was due to an over-indulgence on my part in the bottle of Tawny Port presented me by the Golf Club; I to wonder whether the application of the Dyson might not have removed the offending obstacle before any damage had been done). The whole contretemps was made much worse by the fact that, as part of her OU course, Mrs Selfmade has been reading Jung, and therefore regarded these events as a ‘meaningful coincidence’. Well, of course, so did I. It was just its meaning that caused such problems

    But you will not want to hear about these domestic travails. No, my real reason for writing this letter is to signal that I am ready to resume my former friendships with Mrs Burnout, Miss Meerkat and others. True, these ladies will have to be ready to rub liniment into my back but, on the plus side, I have discovered a long-forgotten flexibility of the neck which means that I am less reliant than hitherto on second parties to bring myself to the point of no return. It is difficult to believe that this same ability would not put me in pole position vis a vis being an unselfish lover which, if Mrs Selfmade’s copies of Cosmo circa 1972 are to be believed, is what the a la mode young lady looks for in a chap.

    To put it another way – one is open for business.

    Warmly

    Selfmademan

    ReplyDelete
  64. nice to see you again Mr selfmade - i've been wondering how you were.

    Get this people:

    Time magazine talks to "a minister in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," and reports that Israel appears to be backing the Mubarak regime:

    With a deep investment in the status quo, Israel is watching what a senior official calls "an earthquake in the Middle East" with growing concern. The official says the Jewish state has faith in the security apparatus of its most formidable Arab neighbor, Egypt, to suppress the street demonstrations that threaten the dictatorial rule of President Hosni Mubarak. The harder question is what comes next.


    Israel Has Faith Mubarak Will Prevail

    Can you stoop lower?

    ReplyDelete
  65. Good evening to Mr Selfmade and my fellow UTers.

    ***Jay!***

    Library piece by Philip Pullman just gone up over on CiF

    ReplyDelete
  66. Sheff

    I fear Mubarak may well prevail - with the help of his friends.

    How many lives will be lost or people thrown into Egyptian jails to be mistreated and forgotten about by the outside worls we have yet to see.

    But don't forget Egypt's friends all support Democracy as they never tire of telling us. What is the word that means 'beyond hypocrisy' ?

    ReplyDelete
  67. Ms Pixie

    I am sorry to say that I regard that comment as grossly impertinent. My whereabouts are, as ever, Weston-super-Mare. I suppose you think that is funny but let me tell you that many right-thinking folk choose to locate here in their twilight years.

    I am sorry if this seems 'testy' but, frankly, one has had enough of being mocked by the bein-pensant, few of whom would have withstood the rigours of National Service

    Yrs

    SMM

    ReplyDelete
  68. Dear Selfmade

    I would be delighted to minister to your poorly bits. Just name the time and place.

    Don't let rumours of torture and inhuman experiments put you off.

    Ever yours

    Dr Meerkat

    ReplyDelete
  69. My dear Sheff

    I am so sorry, I know see that you said 'how' not 'where'. I am a dolt of the lowest order. Still, you will understand my sensitivity with so many lining up to mock Weston-super-Mare.

    Apologetically

    SMM

    ReplyDelete
  70. Leni

    What is the word that means 'beyond hypocrisy'

    Don't know a single word but possibly - 'US, UK, Israeli foreign policy' might cut it. There'll be a lot of hedge betting going on tonight. According to the groan the police and army have disappeared - so what is going on do you think - and no sign of Mubarak - he's not even answering the phone to Obama.



    Sorry if you think I'm impertinent Mr Selfmade - having been born in Burnham on Sea I've never found Somerset funny, unlike others. But it does have to be said Weston is hardly Le place du jour.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Msc

    Are you coming on the cuts demo tomorrow? Meeting Western Park 12 noon - march into town.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Dear Dr Meerkat

    How bracing it is to think of you in white overalls. To be honest, any rumours (which I have not heard, being hopelessly out of the loop) of torture etc do not discommode me. Whilst in the Levant I came across many examples of le vice anglais and, whilst not having benfited from a Public School education, I am sufficient of a social climber to welcome a lick of the cane.

    As regards time and place, let's settle on the Excelsior in Pimlico on Monday at 12. I will be wearing a pair of Mrs Selfmade's voluminous 'pants' whilst you will be, I assume, kitted out in a leather camisole, tawse in hand.

    Naturally, I will settle the hotel bill (one is, when all is said and done, a gentleman)

    Yrs

    SMM

    ReplyDelete
  73. SMM

    Forgive my intrusion here, but needs must.

    sheff

    emailed you, off to West Street on taxi run but will be back shortly.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Atoms (Unbinned):

    Great post. cheers

    ReplyDelete
  75. Mr Selfmade

    i am sorry to see you have returned trying to seduce the young ladies here.

    You are clearly a man of unfettered desires and little conscience.

    Are you perhaps Berlusconi in disguise ?

    Yours in shock, Leni from Methodist Wales.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Leni

    Are you perhaps Berlusconi in disguise ?

    Nah, Mr Selfmade doesn't do drugs. Besides, despite Mr Selfmade's lewd and lecherous utterances he is first and foremost a gentleman.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Such a delight to see you grace our pages with your prose again, Mr Selfmade

    May I take this opportunity to wish you a Happy and, perhaps, less synchronicitous New Year.

    The problem with wish bones is that one always has to be careful what one wishes for. Alas, allergic as I am to wintergreen, I will have to pass on your kind offer of ministering to your ailment, but wish you all the best.

    Yours as ever

    Mrs Burnout, B.

    ReplyDelete
  78. In lieu of pomade, a poem for you:

    Pier Today, Gone Tomorrow

    There has been an outcry, a hullabaloo.
    And what a to do from the media zoo.
    All about what happened to Weston's Grand Pier
    and how is the town going to pull through?
    But one side of the story that none will address,
    it seems it's just the mess that interests the press,
    is the pier's history as a black technology lab
    and how, in that role, Weston has had such success!
    Where else to develop the water-repelling ray
    that keeps tides at bay twenty three hours a day?
    Where else could you hide the robotic donkeys
    so parents aren't too afraid to let their kids play?
    There's the infinite promenade warping space and time
    - a neverending source of grime all the time.
    And the teleporting train to the other end
    a serious technology learning curve to climb.
    My uncle down in Weston was cloning people with ease.
    Was it his technologies that somebody was tasked to seize.
    The ones the town council had long been using
    to churn out lots of happy families.
    Was the pier burnt down because they wanted to hide
    all the technology, tried and untried, hidden inside?
    Or was it, perhaps the dark forces of a foreign power
    that has forever changed Weston-Super-Mare's seaside?

    ©Adam Rulli-Gibbs 2008

    ReplyDelete
  79. "Leni" (if that is indeed, your name)

    I can only regard your "comment" as a slur upon the good character of those ladies with whom I have become friendly. So - you regard Mrs Burnout et al as being 17 year old prostitutes do you? I can only say that this is the kind of disgusting calumny which has led to the decline of our once great nation.

    What is sad about all this, Leni, is that you have let yourself down. I'm not angry. I'm just disappointed.

    ReplyDelete
  80. I must say, I object to being subsumed under the term 'et al'.

    Humph.

    *Unpacks suitcase of toys, and places corset back in the lower drawer.*

    ReplyDelete
  81. Mrs Burnout

    I thank for that poem. The problem for me now is that I have fallen in love with you.

    I know, I know - it is crazy. Still, I believe that you and I can find happiness and to hell with who it hurts. Damn them all! We can find our future together if we only will. And whatever I may have said about Mrs Selfmade, she will not stand in the way of true love.

    i stand ready to be your consort

    Selfie x

    ReplyDelete
  82. Dearest Selfie

    O how it pains me to have to reject your affections so cruelly - and so publicly - but alas, your love must remain unrequited. Mr Burnout stole my heart many many years ago and has guarded it jealously.

    I feel as if I have led you up the garden creek without a paddle... or something. You must think I have toyed with your affections heartlessly, and I assure you that, while there is room for a smidgeon of affection, my love for you must limit itself to agape not eros.

    With my deepest respect

    BB

    ReplyDelete
  83. Ullo all,

    Well, got dumped : (

    I knew a girl called Charlotte Webb, honest...

    ReplyDelete
  84. Sheff

    Difficult to know just what is happening in Egypt - there is some evidence of some police joining or wanting to join demonstrators.

    as unrest spreads across the region all the protestors will feel encouraged and emboldened.

    I have been looking for immediate news from Gaza - nothing yet. Combining this with Palestine Papers will cause massive shifts across the region.

    Fingers crossed.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Turm

    Good to see you and sorry to hear your news, pal. :(

    Plenty more fish in the sea?

    (But as I used to say, if someone said that to me, "I don't want to marry a haddock!")

    Hugs x

    ReplyDelete
  86. Leni

    Have everything crossed but tight knot in guts. Ex old man says things are quiet where he is but then its a small Beduin town in the Sinai. A lot of people still waiting to see which way things are going to go.

    from CNN's Ben Wedeman in Cairo:

    Teenager showed me teargas canister "made in USA". Saw the same thing in Tunisia. Time to reconsider US exports?

    ReplyDelete
  87. Sorry to hear that Turm - crap break for you.

    ReplyDelete
  88. My dear BB

    I will not pretend that your letter failed to pierce me to the heart. I see that I have been living in a fool's paradise. But as a man of the world I entirely accept that we must be ships that did not sail.

    As a gentleman I will never reveal the sqeals of joy that accompanied our trysts nor what they say about your dutiful re-commitment to Mr Burnout. I respect your sacrifice.

    with deep yet unrequited love

    SMM

    ReplyDelete
  89. Hi Turminder & welcome back! How's the job going?

    ReplyDelete
  90. Hi Mr Xuss

    sorry to hear your news.

    great to have you back - what other news do you bring us ?

    ReplyDelete
  91. As night fell, several government officials and businessmen fled Egypt in private jets, reported Reuters.

    Meanwhile, Egyptian authorities were reportedly holding talks to establish a "transitional government," following the series of deadly protests against President Hosni Mubarak's regime.

    Sheff

    the latest from JPost

    ReplyDelete
  92. An Obama administration official said that the US will review its $1.5 billion in aid to Egypt based on events unfolding in the country.

    Sheff

    Another snippet - time alone will tell just what this means. Not just to Egypt but to wider region too.

    ReplyDelete
  93. An Obama administration official said that the US will review its $1.5 billion in aid to Egypt based on events unfolding in the country.

    What, if Mubarak flees the country, they may have to pay it directly into his Swiss account instead of sending it via Cairo?

    ReplyDelete
  94. Spike - you old cynic you .

    Who would give Mubarak residence - he will be anxious for protection from arrest warrants.

    ReplyDelete
  95. What is happening in Egypt is truly exciting. This does feel like the year of the blowback effect. Let's hope it spreads to Jordan, Saudi, and Europe.

    I know several people who are in Egypt...cannot get through to them, but I do know one working as a journalist allegedly in the midst of it (no contact) and one who has escaped from a university in Cairo to the desert (one off contact).

    Unlike Ben Ali, Mubarak's friendship with the west is even closer and he seems to be defying everything that is happening. He might well be led out and executed.

    Did anybody hear Tony Blair on Radio 4 this morning? He defended his mate Mubarak. Perhaps he feels the hot air of pursuit breathing down his vile neck, too.

    ReplyDelete
  96. If anyone thought that Ireland was going to be consigned to the financial doldrums after the bailout - well, just think again, matey boy, and go West, young man, because Ireland has bounced back and is again on the up and up.

    http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/business-news/sap-and-intel-venture-creates-15-jobs-in-northern-ireland-15066362.html

    Invest NI has ploughed £1.7m into the first ever physical joint initiative between SAP UK and Intel Corporation.

    "It is significant that these major ICT multinationals chose Northern Ireland as the location for this initiative," she said.

    "It reflects their confidence in the IT skills available here and in particular, the high value they place on the opportunity to work closely with our universities," Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster said.


    ....

    So, let's break out the champagne and throw a fag-end into the box of fireworks.

    Let's send a telex to George Osborne at Davos and tell him to come back to a ticker-tape parade and the kisses of a nation grateful to its saviour.

    So, how many jobs will this new enterprise create, Bob?

    Two of the world's major IT companies are to create 15 jobs as part of multi-million pound research in Northern Ireland.


    OK - just fuck right off, you eedjit little shite!

    ReplyDelete
  97. Atoms are job losses not five! orders of magnitude greater?

    ReplyDelete
  98. Is Intel the long awaited Messiah?

    ReplyDelete
  99. Haaretz News Flash

    Mubarak has dismissed gvt. - he will appoint new one.

    Dismiss one - create one. Is this his best response ?

    ReplyDelete
  100. Apparently there is a fatwa on Theresa May.

    ReplyDelete
  101. Boo. I am awake and still here. I came over because someone who was here perhaps reading decided to be a fuckwit on my blog and I found all you nice people..and some others again.

    ReplyDelete
  102. @Leni I am not sure how much of a pacifier dismissing your team is if you are the problem. Watching Al Jazeera now and it seems ambiguous. I am waiting for US to send the covert operatives in.

    ReplyDelete
  103. Hi again MsR

    How have you been?

    ReplyDelete
  104. A fatwa on Theresa May? Hmmm. Is there a cash reward too?

    ReplyDelete
  105. Mubarak dismisses his government.

    Do you think that if Andy Gray had sacked his production team...?

    ReplyDelete
  106. MsR

    Hi again.

    Exactly - Mubarak seems to have misunderstood the message.

    Perhaps he has guarantees from his protectors ?

    ReplyDelete
  107. @medve Oh up, down and all around. Wondering if after seventeen years, I should go home to Australia. LIfestyle is there but friends, godchildren and some sort of life, barring bank account is here. Will put January well behind me and see. Meanwhile I think living in the moment is the thing to do.

    ReplyDelete
  108. If someone bumps off Theresa May, can I have her kitten heels?

    Nice to see you here, MsR. :o)

    ReplyDelete
  109. Jesus Christ.

    I'm committing the huge error of listening to Any Questions. Michael Burleigh, Wendy Piatt, David Blunkett and Louise Bagshawe have all been tepid on the overthrow of this vile regime.

    Instead all of them have spoken in defence of Israel.

    Muslim Brotherhood this, Muslim Brotherhood that (without understanding the nature of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt). Why are we putting up with these wankers? If there was ever a time to learn from the Middle East, now's the most pressing.

    Blunkett is now defending Hague's decision on the BBC World Service.

    Atrocious.

    ReplyDelete
  110. Good night all; off to the pub.

    ReplyDelete
  111. I usually listen to Any Questions on a Saturday lunchtime (usually in the bath, because I am an idle so-and-so on a Saturday and it takes me that long to get dressed). Thanks for the heads up, Olching. I will give it a miss...

    ReplyDelete
  112. Hello Ms R!

    Glad to see you here again. Living in the moment is all that there is, I think.

    Olching

    Any Qs was pretty grim, Blunkett has become such a prat that I'm ashamed that he's still an MP in my city.

    ReplyDelete
  113. Why is Blunkett in the Labour Party? I really think that Blunkett or Laws didn't join the Tories because the Tories were still dominated by social reactionaries at the time. On all other issues they have largely agreed with the Tories.

    Ditto Charles Clarke (although he's probably right of a number of Tories) or Tony Bliar (wow, I've actually written Bliar for the first time ever) or Jack Straw.

    Like Mubarak, these people need gotten rid of.

    ReplyDelete
  114. Why is Blunkett in the Labour Party?

    Been asking that for years. As Leader of Sheffield City Council he was instrumental in the student games fiasco, which cost us citizens bundles. It was a genius idea to close local swimming pools and create one 'olympic class' pool in the city centre which poor kids couldn't afford to travel to, never mind afford to swim in.

    ReplyDelete
  115. Richard Thompson

    I love that man.
    I love that man.
    I love that man.

    What a fantastic concert.

    ReplyDelete
  116. And yes, I heard 'our Tone' (*spit*) smarming about his role in creating peace in NI & in the middle east this morning - despicable.

    ReplyDelete
  117. Never liked Blunkett much. I just don't like Home Secretaries much though. Certainly not over the past 15-20 years or so. :s

    ReplyDelete
  118. I didn't realise Michael Burleigh was so right-wing.

    There are four right-wingers on the panel. Unbelievable.

    ReplyDelete
  119. I also love Richard Thompson. Check it. : ) And on the off chance Ms R is interested in a sojourn in the Borders, on the market..

    ReplyDelete
  120. MsChin,

    Agree with all of what you say, but we have to take stock: How did people make it up the ladder? Why was there no opposition? I find it so depressing.

    ReplyDelete
  121. Blunket has spent years listening to his constituents. Hence he fights for their bigoted, just to the right of Enoch Powell, little Englander phobias.

    ReplyDelete
  122. Right. I'm off to bed and keeping my fingers crossed for Egypt, which is a very important country to me for personal reasons.

    Also, I want to see a decent, representative government in Egypt just to see the look of horror on the faces of Netanyahu and co.

    Goodnight all!

    ReplyDelete
  123. Ah, I said goodnight prematurely.

    @turm

    Good to see you again! Hope you're OK with being single. I haven't looked back since my last divorce. I can slouch around, scratch and be as antisocial as I want.

    Did you get round to Surface Detail?

    ReplyDelete
  124. The government's self-declared crowning legacy has been its economic achievements: rising GDP and a surging private sector led by a construction boom and vibrant, seemingly recession-proof banks.

    But many say the fruits of growth in this formerly socialist economy have been funneled almost entirely to a politically connected elite, leaving average Egyptians surrounded by unattainable symbols of wealth such as luxury housing and high-priced electronics as they struggle to find jobs, pay daily bills and find affordable housing.

    The above could be said of EU and USA.

    When do we take to the streets ?

    These uprisings in ME will be unsettling a lot of our self styled masters. I am reminded of the uprisings in Europe 20 years ago.

    We had better decide very quickly who and what we want to replace current lot - otherwise something worse could replace it.

    ReplyDelete
  125. turm

    Don't agree about Blunkett's constituents - I doubt if many of them know who he is or what he does.

    Olching

    They made it up the ladder because they stabbed others in the back on the way. Really pisses me off that good politicians in Sheffield council never got to parliament at all. Look at the council here now, the Cabinet / Exec is 100% Lib Dem and the Labour councillors took their bat & ball home & refused to play at all.

    Mind you, my MP isn't so bad, and he was a councillor alongside Blunkett.

    ReplyDelete
  126. Turm - welcome back, and sorry to hear your news! Disappointingly, Mr Thompson didn't play that one tonight. However, his new album sounds like an absolute stunner, and I must run out and get it.

    If Obama cannot get through to Mubarak, as someone mentioned, then I think the regime is losing, despite having switched off the internet.

    Seems that the 'opposition' is a collation of people from all over the political (and religious) spectrum.

    Power to the people, and keep them safe.

    ReplyDelete
  127. Another thing that's annoying me is the announcement from the govt about the money being allocated to Rape Crisis - almost £10m over 4 years is not such a lot of dosh.

    And then you get myths like this:

    'Prof Kelly said research in 2009 showed "nearly nine out of 10 local authorities in Britain did not have a rape crisis centre, leaving a significant number of women who have experienced sexual violence without essential care and support."'

    OK, but does the eminent professor realise that some of those local authority areas are rural ones which provide shared services with other councils? And that those same areas often don't have a full-time fire station either?

    ReplyDelete
  128. Power to the people, and keep them safe.

    I like that, thauma.

    Off to bed, will be needing my energy for the demo in Sheffield tomorrow.

    NN

    ReplyDelete
  129. Not readin much at the mo Spike, half way thru Engineman, SD next..

    ReplyDelete
  130. Leni

    The above could be said of EU and USA.

    When do we take to the streets ?

    These uprisings in ME will be unsettling a lot of our self styled masters. I am reminded of the uprisings in Europe 20 years ago.


    Yes, I think we should all expect a sudden, drastic clampdown on any expectations that people en masse can change their own lives for the better.

    Essentially, we are all about to become terrorists.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/global-response-needed-to-tackle-terrorism-2197527.html

    An effective global response is needed to protect the UK's values from terrorism and other threats, Home Secretary Theresa May said today.

    Mrs May highlighted the importance of cooperation with the United States over security issues after meeting her US counterpart Janet Napolitano for private talks in London.

    Mrs May said: "The UK-US relationship is incredibly important to both our countries and I was delighted to meet with Secretary Napolitano this afternoon to reaffirm our shared purpose, in particular around tackling the security issues we face.

    "We agreed that global threats require an effective global response.

    "Only by working together, and in close cooperation with our international partners, can we protect the freedoms and values we share."

    [...]

    Ms Napolitano said: "The new system reflects the reality that we must always be on alert and be ready."


    When the UK and USA support and foster and pump money into corrupt and repressive regimes with even more vigour and venom than they seek to export the delights of Westminster-style elective dictatorships, it is somewhat unlikely that they will look with a kindly eye on people seeking to grasp their own freedoms and forms of government.

    The state wants the people to achieve their aim and will, as long as it happily coincides with what the state thinks is best.

    Spot phrases such as "powder-keg", "terrorist hot-spot" and "crescent of evil" over the coming months, along with a return to oppressive legislation needed to "protect our freedoms."

    As a test-run, our national forests and woodlands are not being flogged off to dodgy developers to exploit. They are being "conserved" and "protected" with "environmentally sound management."

    In the same way, we will have our silly "freedoms" removed in order to keep us "safe" from, er, well, being free.

    ReplyDelete
  131. Hello again to MsRobinson and TurminderXuss.

    And goodnight from me.

    ReplyDelete
  132. Good luck with the demo tomoz, Sheffield lasses. x

    I need to get to bed. Been up since 5.45 and knackered. I hate saying goodbye to Friday night though - best night of the week!

    NN all xx

    ReplyDelete
  133. Oh, the spam-eating redaction-monkey is obviously frying all my posts into little fritters today.

    ReplyDelete
  134. Hey guys, thanks for the maths tips once again.
    If I ask Amelie if she wants to do her maths homework she turns her nose up but by surrepticiously introducing "maths games" into the mix the results have been astonishing.

    I was worried that I might not get them right but she took off on her own and made a game up all by herself in which she made up her own sums and came up with a plan to teach them to her own chums at school!

    I love it when the solutions to erstwhile intractable problems are so simple.

    ReplyDelete
  135. Morning all

    Played some sounds on waddya earlier.For some reason the link to this track from Roberta Flack didn't work so i'll play it here instead.

    @good to see you Turminder and i'm sorry things didn't work out with your lady.

    ReplyDelete
  136. Huh? Olching's posting here...

    ReplyDelete
  137. Liam said...
    Huh? Olching's posting here...

    Would you like to declare what you mean by that statement 'cos I don't understand it.

    ReplyDelete
  138. Yeh, sorry about that, chekhov, it was a bit oblique.

    I've never got the hang of being angry on one site and bland as fuck on another site. Just looks like attention-seeking, which ain't a good look for someone as old as she is.

    Doesn't impress me. And I'm surprised olching's wasting his time on here with hypocrites like her.

    I'm not even going to talk about the hypocrisy of bleeding heart middle class Surrey liberal barristers whining on about social justice and beating themselves up because they voted for the LibDems and ended up with a Tory govt....

    who saw that coming...?

    Do you understand now?

    ReplyDelete
  139. "Good luck with the demo tomoz...

    ...can't be there becoz I iz in Surrey and I'll be reading the Money Mail supplement..."

    ReplyDelete
  140. Ok Hank, I think I get it now! A bit confusing but I get the gist!. Sorry for being a bit thick!

    ReplyDelete
  141. Oh bugger; I didn't get it after all!

    ReplyDelete
  142. Don't be cute, navro.

    I didn't sign up for this site just to cheerlead middle class attention-seekers.

    ReplyDelete
  143. Maths eh? Chekov. A waste of time, weight & space, if you ask me.

    ReplyDelete
  144. There is more than enough confusion in the world without people posting on this site or any other to complicate matters even futher with multiple identities. Can't we just stick with our own even if they are avatars or psuedonyms?

    ReplyDelete
  145. "Maths eh? Chekov. A waste of time, weight & space, if you ask me."

    Well. quite "Navro"...I couldn't agree more.... but then you can't "deny the laws of physics Jim"!

    ReplyDelete
  146. Hank. Don't really see any cheer-leading(much).Or ever felt part of any. Most people here read or comment on CIF. If some people come back here and agree on something that's said over there by a UT regular, is that wrong?

    I could be cynical & say anyone who opens their mouth is an attention-seeker.

    ReplyDelete
  147. Lonnie Liston Smith seems to have hit the spam folder so here's a track from Roy Ayers instead.

    ReplyDelete
  148. It's life chekhov..but not as we want it to be. Sorry for the name-check.

    ReplyDelete
  149. Rescued your Obsession from the spam bin, Paul. I need to get the issues worked out with ID to change to it. Spam folder's a pain.

    ReplyDelete
  150. Well what the FUCK did I tell you ? Under pseudonyms on CIF I've been getting to the very problem that is "how we move Egypt forward" for two years. The likes of Khaled Diab have been twittering on about problems with tipping culture while anyone with half a brain and who actually goes out there occasionally - ok, me - is talking about the elephant in the room.

    How many recommends have I had on several, lengthy but acute posts written over the last 24 months regarding this issue ?

    Ave = 7

    How many times has cuddly Guardian Arab Khaled Diab responded to them ? <=0.

    Cunt town, that's what the Guardian is; I really hope my mate in Heliopolis is ok right now because I'm sure as shit that fucking newspaper will be as taken by surprise by the latest police versus army civil war as the Daily cunting Mail.

    ReplyDelete
  151. Irish/American tune.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg_rf2d894k&feature=player_embedded

    ok

    ReplyDelete
  152. Paul. The Roy Ayers track was the jim's. Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  153. More Irish tunage. Just because I fucking fancy it.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojKoTjsSks8&feature=player_embedded

    ReplyDelete
  154. English tunage

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUgoBb8m1eE

    ReplyDelete
  155. Universal tunage.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CjoCAemK6Y

    If you don't get it I can provide a very sharp knife up your brain stem.

    ReplyDelete
  156. Cheers Montana and hope all's good with you and Joe in Cowpat Junction.

    @You're welcome Navro. Here's another track from the same album

    @I've gotta go now Bitterweed so i'll listen to your links later.Hope you're well.



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK2mPZ5FbAk&feature=related

    ReplyDelete
  157. Hi
    Drippy, anodyne, washed out come-down nonsense from the Beatles here. Horrific.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCKANiM9tUM

    I always loved it if course.

    Omm.

    Heh.

    ReplyDelete
  158. There was one room in her house that was always kept locked....

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv-ElFOgg88

    ReplyDelete
  159. Karajan - Mahler symphony no.5 (IV) - Adagietto. Sehr Langsam (1 of 2)= Fuckin awesome

    ReplyDelete
  160. Not generally a fan of the beatles but i like THIS ONE!

    Really gotta go now.My bed awaits me!A man's work is never done!

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

    ReplyDelete
  162. Here's Chopin to take you somewhere good.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5qeuVOIbHk

    If you don't like that, I have a huge cock made of quartz; lazer sights and everthing.

    ReplyDelete
  163. Here's Chopin to take you somewhere good.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5qeuVOIbHk

    If you don't like that, I have a huge cock made of quartz; lazer sights and everything.

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  164. Nick Cave ? Tuneless chronicler of events related to an uninteresting sophistic ego. File: Pseuds Corner.

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  165. Liar Liar !

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQFwxw57NBI&feature=player_embedded#!

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  166. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  167. Couldn't you just *die* for Mahler?

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  168. "Doesn't impress me. And I'm surprised olching's wasting his time on here with hypocrites like her."

    Irony bypass?

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