Interesting idea, Duke, i might have a go at that. Select a ciffer and just actively bait them for a few hours. Not much else worth doing on CiF at present. Except read call me Dave's stirling defence of the stateless, charity based good life...
Morning all. Thanks for the tip, your grace, will get over there in an attempt to rinse the venom and bile on the Sniper thread out of my mind.
The 37 hours p/w scam is common, I believe - a way for Walmart et all to keep their staff off any contributory system. Given that in my last job my full-time hours were 35 p/w, as well as being an affront to justice, it's an assault on the English language as well.
Right, have thrown in a small one on the Stalin thread. Devil in the detail.
Just as an aside, was listening to Law in Action yesterday (about how people with mental health problems are treated by the crim justice system). Would just like to observe that Theodore Dalrymple strikes me as a deeply unpleasant individual, bordering on the Malthusian...
Phillipa, Theodore Dalrymple (I believe no relation at all to the excellent William Dalrymple) is off the scale. He once wrote a piece on how the working class are innately more boorish and illmannered than their social superiors - I wrote an angry letter to the TLS pointing out that this could be disproved by simply standing outside my front door and watching the boorish and illmannered behaviour of some of the parents delivering their children to Glasgow Academy. A significant minority of the parents blast the horns of their very large cars at anyone who holds them up - I once had to shout at a particularly nasty woman in a huge vehicle who actually honked and waved a fist at a mum with a buggy who wasn't crossing the road.
Am still beelin' over that one!
My favourite MAM exchange was when s/he described Saddam as an Islamist who despised his own land's history - I pointed out that actually Saddam went to great lengths to identify himself with the Babylonian past and was indeed renowned for it.
My first point of call, admittedly, was Wiki, to check the dates and the speaker. I was tempted to disguise the link accordingly, but that would have been mean...
Historical Hansard is fascinating, incidentally. Reading some of the debates, what is blatantly obvious is that some things really do never change. Like the woeful standard of what passes for 'humour' in either house. And how getting a straight answer is the exception rather than the rule, and somehow you can warp reality by creative use of words - viz another speaker in a debate on the 'situation in China' chiding someone who referred to the military engagement by saying that they were 'communicating' with the Chinese, rather than 'at war' with them.
Plus - which I hadn't previously realised, the touchpaper for the War seems to have been the attack on a British vessel, despite the fact that the commanding officer confirmed that the attack was by pirates, rather than the Chinese authorities. A sort of Gulf of Tonking resolution for the Victorian age.
Anyway. There's a "what we can learn from creationists" thread up on the AB blog. Am fetching biscuits.
Edwin - I'm not normally driven to splutter by R4 talkshows, but after a rather unfortunate paint-based incident, I had to put my brush down when he started suggesting that in fact people with mental health problems should not just be put in prison, but put in prisonn for longer, as this made 'perfect sense' and would be better for them than treatment.
There was a chap a while back - Charles Murray, I think (not to be confused with Charles Shaar Murray) who believed(s?) that black people are inherently inferior, which explains the greater incidence of social deprivation and lower educational achievements. Fortunately when I saw him, it was a panel discussion with audience questions, so someone said that they wouldn't dare posit the theory that being an elderly white male blowhard meant an inability to get cause and effect the right way round, despite the evidence in front of them, because that wouldn't be scientific...
Bitterweed - I was about 17 at the time, and had to listen to Murray's sidekick saying that one problem was that "young people today, harumph, harumph, have the attention span of a mayfly". Dearly wanted to say that this clearly wasn't solely a problem of da yoof, as Blimp himself had appeared to be asleep during most of the opening statements...
Just heard your news - truly awful. You know what I think about a minority of the posters here but I've never had a quarrel with you.
What will be the implications when you are out of work? What benefits will you be able to draw? I know from what I've read about the US that it differs from state to state. Above all what are your prospects for another job likely to be in your area?
Will you think of relocating somewhere else?
Even to Europe? There are a number of posters on here who might be able to offer advice. You have lived in France, would you not consider moving back, even temporarily?
Given your professional background I don't think Brussels would be a real option, unless you thought of trying the American School. There are also a number of American firms but visa restrictions are fierce at the moment. However, it wouldn't be totally impossible.
Anyway I'm there for practical assistance should you need it. I'm sure others on here will offer the same help.
All the best.
Bru
Also commenting on Armistice - at least 50 million people died of Spanish flu after the war. What a terrible time to have had to live through.
Public holiday here but it's always a muted celebration.
Read the stuff from yesterday - really sorry to hear your job gets eliminated. May those responsible suffocate from the fumes of old milk noone bothered to take out of the fridge; it's fair punishment for those stupid enough to cancel the job of the only person sensible enough to clean the fridge.
elementary "the only person sensible enough to clean the fridge" that may not be the sexiest description in the world, but one to which we can all aspire, i think!
I'm on Waddya, trying to convince the Graun to give Montana a job. One I think she'd be fantastic at. Bet she wouldn't end sentences with a preposition, for example.
Did one of my 'night-typing jobs' on the lance price column - main points from Dudman
- it's a big story because it is getting press coverage (ignoring the fact that most coverage is about their coverage, rather than the issue) - they're sure Mr Brown feels "genuine sorrow over the death of our boys". the bloody shameful headline was a report of Mrs Janes' reaction only, not a verdict from the Sun (despite not being in quote marks). - A relative or friend of Mrs Janes taped the call and the Sun knew nothing about it. The reason for the recording was that Mrs Janes is on very heavy sedatives to help her sleep so they decided to tape it so they had a record of it. - Mrs Janes gave it to the Sun because she heard the spin from Downing Street that Brown had apologised to her, which she felt he hadn't done. - He doesn't think it's backfired on the Sun.
Asked if it this is part of their campaign against GB "We would have run this story whatever political party was in power"
Make of that what you will...
Interviewer didn't do a fabulous job, but it was only a small piece. Would quite like Paxo to have a go at him. Whenever the supportive messages on the Sun's website were mentioned, he kept blethering about having 9m readers and having received a lot of less supportive emails, so feels they aren't out of step with their readership.
Whole thing smacked a little of panicked climbdown and arse-covering, in my humble.
Now the Sun showbiz 'correspondent' is on talking about the X-factor, in the style of an annoying woman chatting on her mobile while you're trying to read the paper. Apparently she "flicks through her Sky Plus" to find it - am sure the Eye runs a column for that kind of thing.
Not that I've got any feckin' idea what they're on about, but apparently it's immensely intelligent and challenging. Don't mind being rather ignorant on this one...
Sun-chap (different from earlier) on PM, being given a slighty harder time of it.
"some people are still buying the paper so clearly we haven't offended everybody"
so...
- we never criticised him for bad handwriting - we've always said all along that the PM didn't intentionally do any of this - we don't believe GB is a bad man - (on the legality or otherwise of the recording) that's a question or Mrs Janes - it's very easy to see this as a terrible conspiracy theory...what actually happened here...is Mrs Janes was sitting in her sitting room...her phone rang, she has a loudspeaker on her phone...put the telephone onto loudspeaker...neighbour pressed record on his mobile phone...Mrs Janes was keen to have a record of the conversation...she was so shocked and nervous at talking to the PM (not mentioning the sedatives that were spoken of earlier) - (asked if the Sun had spelt her name as 'Jones' on its website) - he doesn't know, but if so, would apologise, unlike GB - Mandelson's accusations were that the Sun doesn't support the troops any more (not quite his main point) - (on support for the Tories and the potential backlash) - we've never said that we don't want people to vote for GB - we are simply not interested in influencing people's votes - (asked about sedatives) - yes, she's on them to help her sleep, only at night - (have they taken advantage of her?) - there are a lot of people on sedative, a lot of people taking medication...Mrs Janes came to us...she also gave us the recording, we didn't ask for it. This is not at all a woman who is capable of making her own decisions.
He also said they haven't paid her a penny.
Anyway. Good practice, this typing business. Not that I'm much cop at it.
I've had another of thpse weird emails...from someone called Peace Cucumber. Apparently she's a young girl who love curdling. Makes her sound rather like a Dai Raita.
I heard him Phillipa - such a nicely spoken reasonable sounding young man. I notice they didn't refuse the tape though - hypocritical bastards. They'd sell their souls to Beelzebub to up their circulation.
I preferred this site when it wasn't constantly bombarded with spam from bogusrandombullshitaccusations.com..
Don't fall for it. It's all a con...probably some scam which operates out of Lagos. I was taken in by it a while back...they offered me 'practical assistance' but once I got out to Brussels they just blanked me.
Obviously, my matinee idol looks made me a cinch in the attractiveness test but it turned out I just wasn't well bred enough. Turned out my mother's cousin's uncle once used his kumquat spoon to eat a melon ball...not something any 'real man' would ever do. They can pick that kinda thing up with DNA testing these days.
Oh well..out to the opera in a mo. Fat Reg is performing Suspicious Minds accompanied by the Berlin Philharmonic Karaoke Disco machine...with profits going to the Darts team.
Sorry about the deleted post. Forgot I was posting to a few educationally challenged readers..I'd spelt Karaoke with an umlaut...didn't want to confuse you all..never mind...carry on.
Why is there so many people with the ''I didn't get it so why should you?'' mentality out there?
Just read the childcare voucher thread. Rather than acknowledge that the vouchers have been of benefit to someone in an unfortunate circumstance and think:
''hey great, glad to see some of my tax has gone towards keeping a family afloat rather than in the pockets of another banker''
it's
''Who the f**k do you think you are taking my hard earned money? I never got this when I was raising kids in nineteen canteen. Bloody scrounger.''
Honestly, I have never claimed a benefit in my life and I hope I never have to but I would never begrudge paying taxes to help other people.
"I feel that as a force, feminism would be a more determined and powerful movement if women were to maintain high standards, morally, intellectually and physically"
There's something so delightfully thirties about her. Keep expecting her to mention personal hygiene.
"I feel that as a force, feminism would be a more determined and powerful movement if women were to maintain high standards, morally, intellectually and physically...not, of course, that I would ever downplay the fundamental importance of attractiveness and breeding"
Sorry if I'm bothering anybody with all this but I can think of at least one person who will be getting thoroughly pissed off with it..hopefully so much so that she will return and explain her outlandish, slanderous and plain 'made-up' comments the other night.
Personally, I'd like to just say "YOU'RE FUCKIN MENTAL" but that would doubtless lead to an interminable round of accusations of ablist abuse to join her former accusations of a misogynist conspiracy. So I feel it's probably better if I just keep taking the piss. Please don't bother with a "water off a duck's back routine", I know you'll be seething inside seeing your 'good name' continually ridiculed. So just explain yourself.
As far as I'm aware, before the weekend, I've never accused you of anything, commented on anything you've said...which, tbh, is because I never read it; pointless, anodyne drivel that it tends to be. The one time you post anything worthy of attention, turns out to be a set of way-out, fabricated accusations aimed at me. I'd like to know how you think you can get away with posting such garbage without being called on it.
Maybe you could post it elsewhere and I could get my explanation that way. Maybe try the UKIP comments thread...I'm sure you'd be the best free publicity they'd ever get their hands on. Knowing a putative 'Greater Europe' was to be governed by a clique whose acolytes were paranoid, elitist, fantasists who just make shit up to suit their arguments would be the decisive factor in turning popular opinion...to say nothing of the fact that 99% of the population would be barred from ever participating in the legislative process by the "attractiveness and breeding" threshold.
On the other hand, you could just persist in your delusion that everything's OK and nobody noticed?
Yep..but I added a quote from someone else at the end to draw attention to the fact that one pisstaker's satirical take on feminism isn't really that far away from another 'serious' poster's worldview...the bit following the ellipsis...seamless fit, isn't it?
I'd say that particular poster should give a wide berth to any threads involving rape figures, child abuse or trafficking...she's on pretty shaky ground where any question of false accusations might arise. Maybe she should stick to general statements on shoes and opera and stuff...or she could always try and explain what she thought she was up to the other night?
Oh I see.. take a bit of a post from one person and add a bit from another to make it look like it was all from one person... Good game good game.. give us another twirl Anthea..
I realise you're in a bit of a tricky spot here kizbot. You're loyalties are obviously divided. I know you're a "little bit in love" with me..you said so, but your sense of loyalty means you want to support your friend now she's revealed herself as a fuckin fruit loop. Maybe, in the circumstances, the best thing you can do is to get her to see the irrationality and basic fucked-upness of her recent posts and help her acquire a bit of self-awareness?
Interesting post from Zoe Williams revealing the assumption of middle-class, Guardianista integrity is a complete sham. An article to be applauded. A small step, perhaps, but a righteous one.
One day soon we may see someone over there debunk the assumption your average middle-class Guardianista can write or think coherently.
Hope that didn't come across as churlish or like I had some kinda chip on my shoulder.
#Oh I see.. take a bit of a post from one person and add a bit from another to make it look like it was all from one person...#
Oh I see..you disapprove of this kind of thing, but when somebody makes up quotes completely..then goes to the bother of responding to those fictitious posts in order to criticise the supposed author...you stay silent. How does that work exactly?
While it's obviously very true that I'm burning with an unrequited pash for you MF and bear a fearsome grudge for your having forsaken me for Bidisha, I have to say that I have absolutely no idea as to why you've so totally lost it over Bru.. I gather the little minx has accused you of something you vehemently deny, but I haven't quite fathomed what exactly you're supposed to have done. Still, I can see you've taken it to heart most deeply.. Perhaps there's been a wee mix up that has lead to this tiff? Perhaps lovers words have been misconstrued somewhere along the path?
"I gather the little minx has accused you of something you vehemently deny"
Well yes, I do 'vehemently deny' it, but she's also accused me of making comments about her on Saturday that I just didn't make. I don't really have to vehemently deny them as the thread's still up and they just don't exist..they were never there..she just made a load of shit up, knowing the evidence was there to reveal her as a liar/ fantasist. She's never bothered to explain this but has waltzed back as though nothing happened.
Not sure 'misconstrued' really fits the bill.
However, my posts have clearly irked her for a long time even though they never directly addressed her or concerned her so I'm assuming that now she's being personally attacked, she must be getting intensely irritated. I'm doing this to try and piss her off so much that she will actually respond and maybe tell me what she was up to. I figure I'm owed that much at least; although what I'll probably get is accused of monstrous abuse etc. etc. but in the wake of what she wrote the other night, that would be rank hypocrisy. Not that I think that will stop her.
Yes, interesting article from Williams, thauma. Middle class theft (which has always existed but has usually been denied) goes 'down-market'. And the figures - benefit cheats £800million, tax avoidance £13billion. Yet again the working class lose out, even on crime! Shocking but no big deal. What really intrigued me was this important comment - 'In wealthy Knokke Le Zoute it seems shoplifting has been on the rise with the perpetrators mainly obviously affluent women who've been sashaying into expensive shops and pinching things like earrings and t-shirts.' That put the whole issue into perspective for me. Granted it had nothing to do with the UK or even the article really, but it was very interesting. :o)
I notice one especially noxious little chavette had the gall to write..
"Same in cities like Antwerp, where well-dressed women have taken to sneaking expensive cosmetics and perfumes into their equally expensive handbags."
...to which I can only respond bollox! I have it on good authority that the place is a little utopia populated by well-bred, attractive types with none of the ridiculous class hang-ups we endure in the UK. The notion that the virtuous middle-class denizens of Antwerp are a bunch of thieving lowlifes is a scurrilous slur.
Unless it was a confession; the product of a guilty conscience?
Well that was romantic and a bit spooky. Got in at 8 - hubby cooking his dinner, and then the electricity went off in the whole street for a coupla hours!
Plenty of candles, and we have a gas hob, but my poor youngster was in the bath at the time and scared himself a bit.
Ah well - listened to the radio and had the candles on - reminded me of the electricity strikes in the 70s - except for the Mikes Sammes Singers and "Sing Something Simple" wasn't on...
Oh, and did anyone here Bindel on the Today programme this morning, talking about a subject she knows all about! The DNA database!! Erm... yeah...
About how keeping everyone's DNA on the database will mean more convictions for rape, of course. And it absolutely wouldn't lead to crimes like this. No siree.
BeautifulBurnout Oh - I turned the radio on seconds after the intros - that was Bindel was it ??? Nuf said. If you're anti death penalty - like me, you've got to be anti lifetime dna evidence. Same logic really...
BB I know. I was gobsmacked really... there was no real enquiry to the piece though. Mind you, in the car five minutes later on R5 they had some media cock talking to another media cock on the infinitessimally irrelevant and unintersting points of Brown's "BadhandwritingGate" incident, or whatever they're calling it, and were virtually giving eachother a handjob they were agreeing so much...
scherfig It may have been you or Martillo posted this a couple of years back... whatever... if you want mellow heartaching nighttime beauty, it don't get much better
Reminds me of the anti-war March in London. There was a girl with the best placard ever. Shiny gold with a drawing of a woman's naked torso and applique wool on the pubes, with the wording "The Only Bush I Trust Is My Own". Classic.
Outstanding, bitterweed. I don't remember that (maybe I was drunk?), so I reckon that was probably martillo but it's one of my all time favorites anyway. A collaboration between John Lee and Van the Man - 'Don't Look back' CD from 1997. Los Lobos were on that too. And Los Lobos also did this cool song
The John Lee Hooker song is beautiful, BW. Only heard the Billie Holiday version previously. And as one of the youtube posters noted, Van Morrison's on vocals.
Can't find my favourite Van song on youtube, so you'll have to settle for this substandard cover...
Love the guy, Hank. Right at the end of Sweet Thing there on that vid, his harmonica is the foghorns of the ships on the River Lagan. He's a surly fucker but a poet and a genius.
Yeh, I'm not a massive fan but can understand the appeal. I've got the greatest hits and give it a spin regularly, but never been motivated enough to buy more, even Astral Weeks.
And wtf was going on with the Cliff Richard collaboration?
Hank, forget the Cliff Richard crap. Van has always had a bit of a religious streak but not in a bad way. You should really get Astral Weeks - best album ever made. Once you get into it, you'll never go back.
Hi deano, I tend to steer clear of Waddya these days. Rarely read Cif now unless the guys on here flag up a particularly good or bad thread.
Montana would definitely be worth a gig or two ATL, but it's £75 a throw, and not a full time job. Unless she's not letting on about her dinner party nights with Seaton.
It's a closed shop for middle class liberals obsessed with identity issues and gesture politics which impress their friends but cost them nothing in material terms.
Montana is too good for that kinda shit, mate.
She's going through a bad time just now, but as others have said, she's got the qualities to get through it and thrive on the other side.
Anyway, you bastards have led me astray. Should have been in bed ages ago. Got to get an early train tomorrow.
Ooh - don't get started on Japan, scherf. David Sylvian is another one of Those Voices that make me go a bit mental.
I'm not working til the afternoon tomorrow. My chief clerk has clearly taken pity on me cos of my lurgy, bless her. But goodnight to all you quitters all the same!! xx
Heavens above - just heard on a late night armistice day history programme that more than 2700 men were killed on November 11th before the armistice came into effect at 11am.
@Bru - MF offered his best wishes on here. He might well have emailed her separately. Unless you know for sure one way or the other, it might be best to keep your thoughts, such as they are, to yourself.
Sorry to hear about the job Montana (and MF), hope things turn out ok. And 37 hours a week is part time in the US!?!!? Disturbing country.
ReplyDeleteFor some bizarre reason (due to boredom with CiF) I've decided to start baiting MaM on the Stalin thread.
ReplyDeleteGod, work is slow.............
Monkeyfish, can I also add to the best wishes. You genuinely should email Iannuci to see about a scriptwriting job.
Interesting idea, Duke, i might have a go at that. Select a ciffer and just actively bait them for a few hours. Not much else worth doing on CiF at present. Except read call me Dave's stirling defence of the stateless, charity based good life...
ReplyDeleteMorning all. Thanks for the tip, your grace, will get over there in an attempt to rinse the venom and bile on the Sniper thread out of my mind.
ReplyDeleteThe 37 hours p/w scam is common, I believe - a way for Walmart et all to keep their staff off any contributory system. Given that in my last job my full-time hours were 35 p/w, as well as being an affront to justice, it's an assault on the English language as well.
"I've decided to start baiting MaM on the Stalin thread."
ReplyDeleteDuke, best of British luck.
Seconded (thirded or twentiethed) - MF - you have a gift for comedy, had me in stitches many occasions.
37 hours pw - part time... And neocons have the gall to call Europe backwards.
Right, have thrown in a small one on the Stalin thread. Devil in the detail.
ReplyDeleteJust as an aside, was listening to Law in Action yesterday (about how people with mental health problems are treated by the crim justice system). Would just like to observe that Theodore Dalrymple strikes me as a deeply unpleasant individual, bordering on the Malthusian...
Phillipa,
ReplyDeletethe problem you have with your excellent retort to MaM is that you have used sourced evidence to prove MaM completely wrong.
MaM does not deal in sourced evidence, it does not compute.
Try using spurious examples and empty hyperbole to bring yourself down to the Mountain's level.
Morning all.
ReplyDeletePhillipa, Theodore Dalrymple (I believe no relation at all to the excellent William Dalrymple) is off the scale. He once wrote a piece on how the working class are innately more boorish and illmannered than their social superiors - I wrote an angry letter to the TLS pointing out that this could be disproved by simply standing outside my front door and watching the boorish and illmannered behaviour of some of the parents delivering their children to Glasgow Academy. A significant minority of the parents blast the horns of their very large cars at anyone who holds them up - I once had to shout at a particularly nasty woman in a huge vehicle who actually honked and waved a fist at a mum with a buggy who wasn't crossing the road.
Am still beelin' over that one!
My favourite MAM exchange was when s/he described Saddam as an Islamist who despised his own land's history - I pointed out that actually Saddam went to great lengths to identify himself with the Babylonian past and was indeed renowned for it.
Was ignored of course! Brilliant.
Montana, great pics.
'wasn't crossing the road fast enough' I meant!
ReplyDeleteMy first point of call, admittedly, was Wiki, to check the dates and the speaker. I was tempted to disguise the link accordingly, but that would have been mean...
ReplyDeleteHistorical Hansard is fascinating, incidentally. Reading some of the debates, what is blatantly obvious is that some things really do never change. Like the woeful standard of what passes for 'humour' in either house. And how getting a straight answer is the exception rather than the rule, and somehow you can warp reality by creative use of words - viz another speaker in a debate on the 'situation in China' chiding someone who referred to the military engagement by saying that they were 'communicating' with the Chinese, rather than 'at war' with them.
Plus - which I hadn't previously realised, the touchpaper for the War seems to have been the attack on a British vessel, despite the fact that the commanding officer confirmed that the attack was by pirates, rather than the Chinese authorities. A sort of Gulf of Tonking resolution for the Victorian age.
Anyway. There's a "what we can learn from creationists" thread up on the AB blog. Am fetching biscuits.
Edwin - I'm not normally driven to splutter by R4 talkshows, but after a rather unfortunate paint-based incident, I had to put my brush down when he started suggesting that in fact people with mental health problems should not just be put in prison, but put in prisonn for longer, as this made 'perfect sense' and would be better for them than treatment.
ReplyDeleteThere was a chap a while back - Charles Murray, I think (not to be confused with Charles Shaar Murray) who believed(s?) that black people are inherently inferior, which explains the greater incidence of social deprivation and lower educational achievements. Fortunately when I saw him, it was a panel discussion with audience questions, so someone said that they wouldn't dare posit the theory that being an elderly white male blowhard meant an inability to get cause and effect the right way round, despite the evidence in front of them, because that wouldn't be scientific...
Montana just read yesterday's thread and I am so sorry about your news! I do hope you find somthing soon!
ReplyDeleteThis sort of thing of thing is bad enough over here, to think we complain about our benefit system.
Good luck! you are in my thoughts
(((((((((((((((Montana)))))))))))))))
annetan - is everything going OK with the flat?
ReplyDeleteTheodore Dalrymple is a disgrace to DNA.
ReplyDeletePhilippaB, nice post @ 10:22 !
Bitterweed - I was about 17 at the time, and had to listen to Murray's sidekick saying that one problem was that "young people today, harumph, harumph, have the attention span of a mayfly". Dearly wanted to say that this clearly wasn't solely a problem of da yoof, as Blimp himself had appeared to be asleep during most of the opening statements...
ReplyDeletebut was too shy.
have got over that now [chuckle]
Haven't had time to get on Cif at all today ... all hell breaking loose at work.
ReplyDeleteMontana
ReplyDelete_______
Just heard your news - truly awful. You know what I think about a minority of the posters here but I've never had a quarrel with you.
What will be the implications when you are out of work? What benefits will you be able to draw? I know from what I've read about the US that it differs from state to state. Above all what are your prospects for another job likely to be in your area?
Will you think of relocating somewhere else?
Even to Europe? There are a number of posters on here who might be able to offer advice. You have lived in France, would you not consider moving back, even temporarily?
Given your professional background I don't think Brussels would be a real option, unless you thought of trying the American School. There are also a number of American firms but visa restrictions are fierce at the moment. However, it wouldn't be totally impossible.
Anyway I'm there for practical assistance should you need it. I'm sure others on here will offer the same help.
All the best.
Bru
Also commenting on Armistice - at least 50 million people died of Spanish flu after the war. What a terrible time to have had to live through.
Public holiday here but it's always a muted celebration.
So far so good with the flat PB. All I can do is keep my fingers crossed!
ReplyDeleteRead the stuff from yesterday - really sorry to hear your job gets eliminated. May those responsible suffocate from the fumes of old milk noone bothered to take out of the fridge; it's fair punishment for those stupid enough to cancel the job of the only person sensible enough to clean the fridge.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about monkeyfish, too.
Good news, Annetan, hope all goes through ok. Whats your new place like?
ReplyDeleteelementary
ReplyDelete"the only person sensible enough to clean the fridge"
that may not be the sexiest description in the world, but one to which we can all aspire, i think!
I'm on Waddya, trying to convince the Graun to give Montana a job. One I think she'd be fantastic at. Bet she wouldn't end sentences with a preposition, for example.
ReplyDeletemedia show on R4 is about to have the Sun Editor on. this could be interesting...
ReplyDeletePhilippa,
ReplyDeleteif you get the chance could you let us know what that incubus has to say for himself?
Ta.
Also just noticed rexmundi has been inadvertently 'bigging' us up here by grassing us up to MaM.
Hi rex, you cheeky wee lurker you.
Did one of my 'night-typing jobs' on the lance price column - main points from Dudman
ReplyDelete- it's a big story because it is getting press coverage (ignoring the fact that most coverage is about their coverage, rather than the issue)
- they're sure Mr Brown feels "genuine sorrow over the death of our boys". the bloody shameful headline was a report of Mrs Janes' reaction only, not a verdict from the Sun (despite not being in quote marks).
- A relative or friend of Mrs Janes taped the call and the Sun knew nothing about it. The reason for the recording was that Mrs Janes is on very heavy sedatives to help her sleep so they decided to tape it so they had a record of it.
- Mrs Janes gave it to the Sun because she heard the spin from Downing Street that Brown had apologised to her, which she felt he hadn't done.
- He doesn't think it's backfired on the Sun.
Asked if it this is part of their campaign against GB
"We would have run this story whatever political party was in power"
Make of that what you will...
Interviewer didn't do a fabulous job, but it was only a small piece. Would quite like Paxo to have a go at him. Whenever the supportive messages on the Sun's website were mentioned, he kept blethering about having 9m readers and having received a lot of less supportive emails, so feels they aren't out of step with their readership.
Whole thing smacked a little of panicked climbdown and arse-covering, in my humble.
Well done thauma.
ReplyDeleteNow the Sun showbiz 'correspondent' is on talking about the X-factor, in the style of an annoying woman chatting on her mobile while you're trying to read the paper. Apparently she "flicks through her Sky Plus" to find it - am sure the Eye runs a column for that kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteNot that I've got any feckin' idea what they're on about, but apparently it's immensely intelligent and challenging. Don't mind being rather ignorant on this one...
Cheers for that Phillipa,
ReplyDeleteI wasn't expecting anything different of course but I was hoping to hear he got a roasting from the interviewer which he evidently did not.
Nice bribery, Deano!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletethauma - deano is an innocent at large..
ReplyDeleteSun-chap (different from earlier) on PM, being given a slighty harder time of it.
ReplyDelete"some people are still buying the paper so clearly we haven't offended everybody"
so...
- we never criticised him for bad handwriting
- we've always said all along that the PM didn't intentionally do any of this
- we don't believe GB is a bad man
- (on the legality or otherwise of the recording) that's a question or Mrs Janes
- it's very easy to see this as a terrible conspiracy theory...what actually happened here...is Mrs Janes was sitting in her sitting room...her phone rang, she has a loudspeaker on her phone...put the telephone onto loudspeaker...neighbour pressed record on his mobile phone...Mrs Janes was keen to have a record of the conversation...she was so shocked and nervous at talking to the PM (not mentioning the sedatives that were spoken of earlier)
- (asked if the Sun had spelt her name as 'Jones' on its website) - he doesn't know, but if so, would apologise, unlike GB
- Mandelson's accusations were that the Sun doesn't support the troops any more (not quite his main point)
- (on support for the Tories and the potential backlash) - we've never said that we don't want people to vote for GB
- we are simply not interested in influencing people's votes
- (asked about sedatives) - yes, she's on them to help her sleep, only at night
- (have they taken advantage of her?) - there are a lot of people on sedative, a lot of people taking medication...Mrs Janes came to us...she also gave us the recording, we didn't ask for it. This is not at all a woman who is capable of making her own decisions.
He also said they haven't paid her a penny.
Anyway. Good practice, this typing business. Not that I'm much cop at it.
evening all
ReplyDeleteI've had another of thpse weird emails...from someone called Peace Cucumber. Apparently she's a young girl who love curdling. Makes her sound rather like a Dai Raita.
There are some right 'types' on the Childcare Voucher thread. Pah.
ReplyDeleteAnd last bullet above should have been "this is not at all a woman who isn't capable ..."
I heard him Phillipa - such a nicely spoken reasonable sounding young man. I notice they didn't refuse the tape though - hypocritical bastards. They'd sell their souls to Beelzebub to up their circulation.
ReplyDeletePhillipa,
ReplyDelete(asked if the Sun had spelt her name as 'Jones' on its website) - he doesn't know, but if so, would apologise, unlike GB
here's the evidence
Sheff,
ReplyDeletePeace Cucumbers are so annoyingly wishy washy. Give me a fucking angry gherkin anyday.
heh heh.
ReplyDeleteyou live by the sword...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI preferred this site when it wasn't constantly bombarded with spam from bogusrandombullshitaccusations.com..
ReplyDeleteDon't fall for it. It's all a con...probably some scam which operates out of Lagos. I was taken in by it a while back...they offered me 'practical assistance' but once I got out to Brussels they just blanked me.
Obviously, my matinee idol looks made me a cinch in the attractiveness test but it turned out I just wasn't well bred enough. Turned out my mother's cousin's uncle once used his kumquat spoon to eat a melon ball...not something any 'real man' would ever do. They can pick that kinda thing up with DNA testing these days.
Oh well..out to the opera in a mo. Fat Reg is performing Suspicious Minds accompanied by the Berlin Philharmonic Karaoke Disco machine...with profits going to the Darts team.
Sorry about the deleted post. Forgot I was posting to a few educationally challenged readers..I'd spelt Karaoke with an umlaut...didn't want to confuse you all..never mind...carry on.
Mr Fish
ReplyDeletemy matinee idol looks made me a cinch in the attractiveness test but it turned out I just wasn't well bred enough.
A good looking bit of rough huh....oh well, one can dream....
Why is there so many people with the ''I didn't get it so why should you?'' mentality out there?
ReplyDeleteJust read the childcare voucher thread. Rather than acknowledge that the vouchers have been of benefit to someone in an unfortunate circumstance and think:
''hey great, glad to see some of my tax has gone towards keeping a family afloat rather than in the pockets of another banker''
it's
''Who the f**k do you think you are taking my hard earned money? I never got this when I was raising kids in nineteen canteen. Bloody scrounger.''
Honestly, I have never claimed a benefit in my life and I hope I never have to but I would never begrudge paying taxes to help other people.
Is it just me?
Excellent comment on the thread Phillipa.
I think 3Speach might be back - see 20thcenturywoman on the humanist fat thread.
ReplyDeletesome amusing responses thus far...
"I feel that as a force, feminism would be a more determined and powerful movement if women were to maintain high standards, morally, intellectually and physically"
ReplyDeleteThere's something so delightfully thirties about her. Keep expecting her to mention personal hygiene.
Phillipa,
ReplyDeleteshe's either a troll or the reincarnation of a Mitford sister.
Mitford sisters:
ReplyDelete"Each of them, their father once remarked in a fit of exasperation, was sillier than the last,..
a delightful quote I think.
Whatever would he have made of a reincarnated one?
"I feel that as a force, feminism would be a more determined and powerful movement if women were to maintain high standards, morally, intellectually and physically...not, of course, that I would ever downplay the fundamental importance of attractiveness and breeding"
ReplyDeleteSorry if I'm bothering anybody with all this but I can think of at least one person who will be getting thoroughly pissed off with it..hopefully so much so that she will return and explain her outlandish, slanderous and plain 'made-up' comments the other night.
Personally, I'd like to just say "YOU'RE FUCKIN MENTAL" but that would doubtless lead to an interminable round of accusations of ablist abuse to join her former accusations of a misogynist conspiracy. So I feel it's probably better if I just keep taking the piss. Please don't bother with a "water off a duck's back routine", I know you'll be seething inside seeing your 'good name' continually ridiculed. So just explain yourself.
As far as I'm aware, before the weekend, I've never accused you of anything, commented on anything you've said...which, tbh, is because I never read it; pointless, anodyne drivel that it tends to be. The one time you post anything worthy of attention, turns out to be a set of way-out, fabricated accusations aimed at me. I'd like to know how you think you can get away with posting such garbage without being called on it.
Maybe you could post it elsewhere and I could get my explanation that way. Maybe try the UKIP comments thread...I'm sure you'd be the best free publicity they'd ever get their hands on. Knowing a putative 'Greater Europe' was to be governed by a clique whose acolytes were paranoid, elitist, fantasists who just make shit up to suit their arguments would be the decisive factor in turning popular opinion...to say nothing of the fact that 99% of the population would be barred from ever participating in the legislative process by the "attractiveness and breeding" threshold.
On the other hand, you could just persist in your delusion that everything's OK and nobody noticed?
where is that quote at the beginning of yr post from MF? Wasn't it 20thcenturywoman?
ReplyDeleteYep..but I added a quote from someone else at the end to draw attention to the fact that one pisstaker's satirical take on feminism isn't really that far away from another 'serious' poster's worldview...the bit following the ellipsis...seamless fit, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI'd say that particular poster should give a wide berth to any threads involving rape figures, child abuse or trafficking...she's on pretty shaky ground where any question of false accusations might arise. Maybe she should stick to general statements on shoes and opera and stuff...or she could always try and explain what she thought she was up to the other night?
Oh I see.. take a bit of a post from one person and add a bit from another to make it look like it was all from one person...
ReplyDeleteGood game good game.. give us another twirl Anthea..
I realise you're in a bit of a tricky spot here kizbot. You're loyalties are obviously divided. I know you're a "little bit in love" with me..you said so, but your sense of loyalty means you want to support your friend now she's revealed herself as a fuckin fruit loop. Maybe, in the circumstances, the best thing you can do is to get her to see the irrationality and basic fucked-upness of her recent posts and help her acquire a bit of self-awareness?
ReplyDeleteInteresting post from Zoe Williams revealing the assumption of middle-class, Guardianista integrity is a complete sham. An article to be applauded. A small step, perhaps, but a righteous one.
ReplyDeleteOne day soon we may see someone over there debunk the assumption your average middle-class Guardianista can write or think coherently.
Hope that didn't come across as churlish or like I had some kinda chip on my shoulder.
#Oh I see.. take a bit of a post from one person and add a bit from another to make it look like it was all from one person...#
ReplyDeleteOh I see..you disapprove of this kind of thing, but when somebody makes up quotes completely..then goes to the bother of responding to those fictitious posts in order to criticise the supposed author...you stay silent. How does that work exactly?
While it's obviously very true that I'm burning with an unrequited pash for you MF and bear a fearsome grudge for your having forsaken me for Bidisha, I have to say that I have absolutely no idea as to why you've so totally lost it over Bru.. I gather the little minx has accused you of something you vehemently deny, but I haven't quite fathomed what exactly you're supposed to have done. Still, I can see you've taken it to heart most deeply.. Perhaps there's been a wee mix up that has lead to this tiff? Perhaps lovers words have been misconstrued somewhere along the path?
ReplyDeleteoops, slight crossover there.. Did Bru misquote you? Or did she misunderstand something you said?
ReplyDelete"I gather the little minx has accused you of something you vehemently deny"
ReplyDeleteWell yes, I do 'vehemently deny' it, but she's also accused me of making comments about her on Saturday that I just didn't make. I don't really have to vehemently deny them as the thread's still up and they just don't exist..they were never there..she just made a load of shit up, knowing the evidence was there to reveal her as a liar/ fantasist. She's never bothered to explain this but has waltzed back as though nothing happened.
Not sure 'misconstrued' really fits the bill.
However, my posts have clearly irked her for a long time even though they never directly addressed her or concerned her so I'm assuming that now she's being personally attacked, she must be getting intensely irritated. I'm doing this to try and piss her off so much that she will actually respond and maybe tell me what she was up to. I figure I'm owed that much at least; although what I'll probably get is accused of monstrous abuse etc. etc. but in the wake of what she wrote the other night, that would be rank hypocrisy. Not that I think that will stop her.
#oops, slight crossover there.. Did Bru misquote you? Or did she misunderstand something you said?#
ReplyDeleteNeither..as I've already indicated, she just invented some.
MF - yes, that was a surprisingly good article. For some reason it seems to be getting a pasting in the comments.
ReplyDeleteYes, interesting article from Williams, thauma. Middle class theft (which has always existed but has usually been denied) goes 'down-market'. And the figures - benefit cheats £800million, tax avoidance £13billion. Yet again the working class lose out, even on crime! Shocking but no big deal. What really intrigued me was this important comment - 'In wealthy Knokke Le Zoute it seems shoplifting has been on the rise with the perpetrators mainly obviously affluent women who've been sashaying into expensive shops and pinching things like earrings and t-shirts.' That put the whole issue into perspective for me. Granted it had nothing to do with the UK or even the article really, but it was very interesting. :o)
ReplyDeleteyeah, and good point about the 'distinction' between avoidance and evasion.
ReplyDeleteI notice one especially noxious little chavette had the gall to write..
ReplyDelete"Same in cities like Antwerp, where well-dressed women have taken to sneaking expensive cosmetics and perfumes into their equally expensive handbags."
...to which I can only respond bollox! I have it on good authority that the place is a little utopia populated by well-bred, attractive types with none of the ridiculous class hang-ups we endure in the UK. The notion that the virtuous middle-class denizens of Antwerp are a bunch of thieving lowlifes is a scurrilous slur.
Unless it was a confession; the product of a guilty conscience?
Well that was romantic and a bit spooky. Got in at 8 - hubby cooking his dinner, and then the electricity went off in the whole street for a coupla hours!
ReplyDeletePlenty of candles, and we have a gas hob, but my poor youngster was in the bath at the time and scared himself a bit.
Ah well - listened to the radio and had the candles on - reminded me of the electricity strikes in the 70s - except for the Mikes Sammes Singers and "Sing Something Simple" wasn't on...
BB, you've just really fucked up my reasonably pleasant evening. Listen to this at least 5 times, and think about what you've done.
ReplyDeletebeautiful song (NOT)
Oh, and did anyone here Bindel on the Today programme this morning, talking about a subject she knows all about! The DNA database!! Erm... yeah...
ReplyDeleteAbout how keeping everyone's DNA on the database will mean more convictions for rape, of course. And it absolutely wouldn't lead to crimes like this. No siree.
All your rapists are belong to us.
Sigh.
NOOOOOOOOOO!!!
ReplyDeleteI am not going to listen. No. So there!
BeautifulBurnout
ReplyDeleteOh - I turned the radio on seconds after the intros - that was Bindel was it ??? Nuf said. If you're anti death penalty - like me, you've got to be anti lifetime dna evidence. Same logic really...
BB, that's you grounded for a week. You can listen to this before you go to your room.
ReplyDeleteBB, scherfig... this one's lovely... go on...!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP3Bj-YHR9M
Ahh... nice Joni choon, scherf. Ta.
ReplyDeleteShe just didnt have a clue what she was wittering on about, BW.
ReplyDeleteBitterweed, I didn't come here to be insulted!
ReplyDeleteWhy, where do you usually go? BOOM BOOM!
Let's all chill and feel the love
BB
ReplyDeleteI know. I was gobsmacked really... there was no real enquiry to the piece though. Mind you, in the car five minutes later on R5 they had some media cock talking to another media cock on the infinitessimally irrelevant and unintersting points of Brown's "BadhandwritingGate" incident, or whatever they're calling it, and were virtually giving eachother a handjob they were agreeing so much...
Tossers.
Sorry, was I rude ?
scherfig
ReplyDeleteIt may have been you or Martillo posted this a couple of years back... whatever... if you want mellow heartaching nighttime beauty, it don't get much better
....ever ;-).
Night all...
ReplyDeleteNight night BW
ReplyDeleteHank - I love Kate Bush.
Reminds me of the anti-war March in London. There was a girl with the best placard ever. Shiny gold with a drawing of a woman's naked torso and applique wool on the pubes, with the wording "The Only Bush I Trust Is My Own".
Classic.
Outstanding, bitterweed. I don't remember that (maybe I was drunk?), so I reckon that was probably martillo but it's one of my all time favorites anyway. A collaboration between John Lee and Van the Man - 'Don't Look back' CD from 1997. Los Lobos were on that too. And Los Lobos also did
ReplyDeletethis cool song
Nice onen scherfig...
ReplyDeleteThis is the point of UT, half the time, for me.... The mods can't delete these lovely songs....
Best wishes Montana, hope tomorrow's a better one.
xxx
The John Lee Hooker song is beautiful, BW. Only heard the Billie Holiday version previously. And as one of the youtube posters noted, Van Morrison's on vocals.
ReplyDeleteCan't find my favourite Van song on youtube, so you'll have to settle for this substandard cover...
notsowonderfulremark
Everybody loves Kate Bush. This cropped up on a YouTube 'Wuthering Heights' comment thread:
ReplyDelete'GlassWizard' says: timeless and wonderful indeed, loved this girl from day 1, wish i had married her when i had the chance
Hank, Van is very protective of his material. It's extremely hard to find on YouTube but there's this, sweet thing
ReplyDeleteYeh, he's always struck me as a cantankerous, opinionated Ulsterman.
ReplyDeleteYou a fan, scherf? (-;
Love the guy, Hank. Right at the end of Sweet Thing there on that vid, his harmonica is the foghorns of the ships on the River Lagan. He's a surly fucker but a poet and a genius.
ReplyDeleteYeh, I'm not a massive fan but can understand the appeal. I've got the greatest hits and give it a spin regularly, but never been motivated enough to buy more, even Astral Weeks.
ReplyDeleteAnd wtf was going on with the Cliff Richard collaboration?
"He's a surly fucker but a poet and a genius."
I hereby nominate Van as patron saint of the UT.
Seconded! :o)
ReplyDeleteHank, forget the Cliff Richard crap. Van has always had a bit of a religious streak but not in a bad way. You should really get Astral Weeks - best album ever made. Once you get into it, you'll never go back.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBest album ever made - All Mod Cons. The argument was settled 31 years ago this month, scherf.
ReplyDeleteWould make for a good UT2 thread though....
Thanks for giving me an opening for this one, BB
motionseconded
Anybody not voted a recommend over on WDYW.. for thauma and my suggestions for an ATL/article from Montana??
ReplyDeleteMore recommends more chance..
japan
ReplyDeleteAnd with that, I'm fuckin' splittin' Jack.
Night Montana, BB and all - hope today better than yesterday and tomorrow will be better still..
ReplyDeleteHi deano, I tend to steer clear of Waddya these days. Rarely read Cif now unless the guys on here flag up a particularly good or bad thread.
ReplyDeleteMontana would definitely be worth a gig or two ATL, but it's £75 a throw, and not a full time job. Unless she's not letting on about her dinner party nights with Seaton.
It's a closed shop for middle class liberals obsessed with identity issues and gesture politics which impress their friends but cost them nothing in material terms.
Montana is too good for that kinda shit, mate.
She's going through a bad time just now, but as others have said, she's got the qualities to get through it and thrive on the other side.
Anyway, you bastards have led me astray. Should have been in bed ages ago. Got to get an early train tomorrow.
Nite all (-:
Ooh - don't get started on Japan, scherf. David Sylvian is another one of Those Voices that make me go a bit mental.
ReplyDeleteI'm not working til the afternoon tomorrow. My chief clerk has clearly taken pity on me cos of my lurgy, bless her. But goodnight to all you quitters all the same!! xx
Heavens above - just heard on a late night armistice day history programme that more than 2700 men were killed on November 11th before the armistice came into effect at 11am.
ReplyDeleteMonkeyfish
ReplyDelete____________
Just saw your posts -the drunken ravings of a pathetic loser are of no interest to me anymore.
Nice to see you had time among the venom to give Montana support and suggest a way out for her.
Phoney.
@Bru - MF offered his best wishes on here. He might well have emailed her separately. Unless you know for sure one way or the other, it might be best to keep your thoughts, such as they are, to yourself.
ReplyDelete