21 October 2010

21/10/10

Oshichi - Utagawa Kuniteru
Science may have found a cure for most evils, but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings.
-Helen Keller

198 comments:

  1. Hi All

    deano--Good to hear the news re your interior piping.

    Montana--Great quote to open. Apathy is one of the great ( not in a good way ) problems of our time. How do we get the proles to engage? France is currently showing one way.

    James--I have a paypal account and am in a position to help, will look for further guidance.

    Also, James, been watching the baseball playoffs? Underdogs are currently ahead in both leagues. ( For those UTs not familiar with MLB, the teams play a best of 7 to advance to the World Series.) Love to see Texas and San Francisco in the final. Could happen.

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  2. Just read Paul's very strong contribution on CiF. Very striking post. Well done.

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  3. Morning Boudican!

    Lovely picture Montana.

    Had to switch off the radio before I burst a blood vessel having to listen to OINKbourne on R4 this morning peddling those friggin' lies about the 'deficit'....

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  4. Could someone point me in the direction of Paul's post on CiF?

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  5. @La Rit:

    It may be this one...

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/8061099

    Dunno if that link thing will work or not though.

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  6. Morning all - BB here

    Flying visit - gotta go and pick stuff up to work on. Meh.

    Message for Philippa/Spike - what was the date for the drink next week? I have just realised (I should be ashamed) that the 27th is my 15th wedding anniversary and my beloved is taking me out that night.

    Had an email from Philosophy Football this morning and they have launched a t-shirt which is going to be a must-have as far as I am concerned:

    The cuts won't work (they'll just make it worse)

    Catch you laters! xx

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  7. Thanks Swifty ;0)

    I'll give it a twirl!

    Morning BB ;)

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  8. Swifty

    It worked and it's a damn fine post to boot.

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  9. BB - congratulations! heheheh.
    think we had either 27 or 28 and think 28 was best for spike? and ok for shaz.

    think.

    too early.

    if we say Thursday 28, who is up for that?

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  10. @La Rit:

    Glad the link worked. It was a rather odd coincidence that I happened to be reading it when you first asked...

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  11. @Paul:

    If you’re around… one thing caught my eye in your post:

    ”…By my calculation only about 10% of working aged people who are currently unemployed and claiming disability benefits will largely be left alone.The remaining 90% will be forced to jump through several more hoops to get the little they are given…”

    Just curious really, but what are you basing those calculations on?

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  12. Swifty:

    Serendipity as my Da' would say ;)

    The only downside is, I've started reading dsown waddaya..... that way madness lies.....

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  13. @La Rit:

    “…Serendipity as my Da' would say…”

    Or “synchronicity”, as Sting would say. The cunt.

    Anyway, I’ve bailed out, I’ve no real interest in CiF any more to be honest. And now it’s back to the grinder, ádh mór to yiz all, we're going to need it...

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  14. The reference to the spending 'review' being "a gamble" just reminded me of the old adage about Las Vegas - the house always wins...

    Whether that 'house' is the House of Commons or a nice detached number in Islington, is something of a moot point.

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  15. Still here as I missed my train, so I will get the next one.

    Can I possibly suggest a new standfast for the top of the page, please?

    This classic from LaRit:

    "You can't run a fucking country on 2 boiled eggs and a pedal go-cart."

    WORD!

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  16. @BB/Philippa/Anyone else coming

    The 28th is fine for me. Give me a time and place...

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  17. Just quickly skimmed through yesterday evening's posts.

    Would thoroughly recommend Sheff's quote from Alan Moore.

    Other than that, I can only suggest we form murder-gangs and go round killing rich people until nobody thinks tax-fiddling and excessive personal wealth accumulation is such a good idea any more.

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  18. FB update from a friend (medical researcher):
    B thinks we did really well - apart from the pay freeze, recruitment freeze, pension cut and whatever the 30% reduction in admin means
    comment below suggests 'bringing in your own stationery. and furniture. and nicking a pigeon from the local park to replace email.'

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  19. re next week meet-up - would clerkenwell be too out of the way for peeps? because there is a lovely pub on the 'green' - the crown. nice atmosphere, good food, length beer / wine list...

    busses - 243 from Waterloo, 55 from Oxford Circus...

    if too difficult, can rack brains for alternative. wrack? anyway, can think.

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  20. and just round the corner from Farringdon, for tube / train users.

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  21. Or “synchronicity”, as Sting would say. The cunt

    That one, Swifty, was a work of art ;0)

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  22. PhilippaB et al,

    I can meet up for a bevvie or two? Know the Crown and Clerkenwell v well.... used to live above a pub there years ago ;0)

    That's if you want me to come along?

    BB - I've replied to you on waddaya.

    But even I have to admit, it was funny ;) dragged from the recesses of my deranged brain....

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  23. Braken - thank you for your patience my ignorant young gruntplusapip.

    I am guilty as charged.

    My casual nazi jibe was in truth a deliberate ploy/test to get you down on the ground and away from your delusional and harmful flights of fancy for a awhile. We needed to test if you are learning from your exposure to wiser and decent folk.

    I thus plead the public interest defence and the need to protect the innocent from your wilder diatribes.

    I was really delighted to read that you disassociate yourself from the more crazed free market brethern (nazi scum) of your daily acquaintance.

    Old ladies are entitled to fear for their life savings when unremorseful insider traders are at large. And we are all entitled to think that advocates of unregulated greed, like the uber creep Mandelson and his arse licking nulabour mates, will inevitably conclude that the Belsen solution to the inconvenient poor is preferable to paying fair taxes.

    I am glad that the efforts of Jay/Spike et al and dear Sheff and the gang are at last having a civilising and learning influence on you and your illness.

    Greed is tyrannical and it ultimately warps and consumes the mind. As a historian educated at public expense you will I am sure be aware of that Austrian shit's work the Road to Serfdom.

    It was in a cul de sac off that road that the nasty bastards got down to their vile deeds to rid themselves of those inconvenients who didn't fit into their plans. But being free marketeers they sold on the gold from the teeth and the hair from the heads.And then fuck me guess where the bastards stashed the loot. Yes of course I know you know it was there with cukoo clocks in little old innocent Switzerland.

    Don't worry if you can't yet fully digest our wisdom or make the links. Feel free to thrash and fart around a little longer. I am content to endure your abuse and rantings if need be. I have had some from Scherf and a mild dose from Hank so I'm quite practised.

    We all have our roles in life and I'm happy to join with other UT's in acting as a lightening conductor and earthing your twaddle.

    I really will be happy to buy you a jar if we meet and remember your proper eduction and redemption is of public interest. You are coming on a treat. Sheff and the gang are to be praised for their service to humanity.

    I hope you found this civil enough for your developing taste.

    Kind Regards.

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  24. cool, LaRit! the more the merrier (we can start planning the revolution, heheheheheh).

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  25. K I have GOT TO GO AND DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE!!!!

    Laters y'all x

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  26. Braken - I've been put in the spam bin by the looks of it! You'll have to look back around 11:05 later.

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  27. Second attempt:

    Peter Braken - thank you for your patience my ignorant young gruntplusapip.

    I am guilty as charged.

    My casual nazi jibe was in truth a deliberate ploy/test to get you down on the ground and away from your delusional and harmful flights of fancy for a awhile. We needed to test if you are learning from your exposure to wiser and decent folk.

    I thus plead the public interest defence and the need to protect the innocent from your wilder diatribes.

    I was really delighted to read that you disassociate yourself from the more crazed free market brethern (nazi scum) of your daily acquaintance.

    Old ladies are entitled to fear for their life savings when unremorseful insider traders are at large. And we are all entitled to think that advocates of unregulated greed, like the uber creep Mandelson and his arse licking nulabour mates, will inevitably conclude that the Belsen solution to the inconvenient poor is preferable to paying fair taxes.

    I am glad that the efforts of Jay/Spike et al and dear Sheff and the gang are at last having a civilising and learning influence on you and your illness.

    Greed is tyrannical and it ultimately warps and consumes the mind. As a historian educated at public expense you will I am sure be aware of that Austrian shit's work the Road to Serfdom.

    It was in a cul de sac off that road that the nasty bastards got down to their vile deeds to rid themselves of those inconvenients who didn't fit into their plans. But being free marketeers they sold on the gold from the teeth and the hair from the heads and placed the loot in little old innocent Swizerland.

    Don't worry if you can't yet fully digest our wisdom or make the links. Feel free to thrash and fart around a little longer. I am content to endure your abuse and rantings if need be. I have had some from Scherf and a mild dose from Hank so I'm quite practised.

    We all have our roles in life and I'm happy to join with other UT's in acting as a lightening conductor and earthing your twaddle.

    I really will be happy to buy you a jar if we meet and remember your proper eduction and redemption is of public interest and you really are making progress.

    I hope this is civil enough for your developing taste.

    Kind Regards

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  28. me to with the productive.

    good day, all.

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  29. I like the picture Montana

    LaRit I wasn't quarrelling with Braken. He is a valued student and a developing member of UT.

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  30. "....Just curious really, but what are you basing those calculations on?..

    Swifty I'm guessing but in some categories certain defined groups are exempt testing eg, registered blind, terminally ill etc.

    Some oddities in there too. I think AIDs sufferers at one point were exempt although with modern drugs that may no longer be the case

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  31. @Phil

    Whatever you think. I'm coming in from Whitstable, so there are trains to and from St. Pancras. Is that walking distance from the pub or should I get the tube? And what time?

    @LaRit

    Would be delighted to see you!

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  32. Morning all....

    Boudican

    Thanks for the offer. I'll take a butchers at the paypal site today, and see what the pros/cons etc are.

    RE the baseball, still have that awful feeling that those damn Yankees will do it. Again. If only Texas had seen that first game through....

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  33. Take a pew at The Crown and you could be sitting in the spot where Lenin and Stalin held a meeting in 1905

    Heheh. Good job it wasn't me - the "unreconstructed Stalinist" (© 2010 bitey) - that suggested The Crown.

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  34. Duke, you got mail.

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  35. Ah, The Crown, is it? Know it well… time was, you’d have had a fair chance of running into the odd Graun hack or two busy fiddling their expenses, sorry, “working up a story” in there. Not so much these days, of course, since they moved (and perhaps more germanely, since their expenses have, I'm led to believe, been reduced to something approaching “zero”).

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  36. Johann Hari's latest piece in The Indy is well worth a read if anyone fancies it.

    Can't link right now, but it's something like 'Britain has just become a colder, crueller place....'

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  37. Excellent piece, James.

    "Remember, Cameron said before the election: "The papers keep writing that [my wife, Samantha] comes from a very blue-blooded background", but "she is actually very unconventional. She went to a day school."

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  38. jay

    yeah, that bit made me laugh.

    And then cry a little...

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  39. Deano:

    Apols ;( big fat foot in mouth.

    Also, glad to here the nether regions are as well as can be expected! pretty scary that....

    Spike:

    Yep likewise ! - and opposite the old Karl Marx Library too ;)

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  40. I know what you mean, its quite a staggering lack of self awareness when you come to consider anything faintly *normal* as "unconventional". Really does show someone living in a completely different world. Astonishing comment.

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  41. JayR:

    "she is actually very unconventional. She went to a day school."

    My god, it's the Marie Antoinette of the Tory Party.

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  42. Indy:

    "...Lord Paul, a steel magnate and one of Britain's wealthiest men, lived in London but designated a one-bedroom flat in an Oxfordshire hotel that he owned as his main home...."

    ..and prepared to risk disgrace and contempt all for £43k. Nasty thing greed.

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  43. DeanO:

    Hear NOT here.... I've got Ciffyitis.....

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  44. ".....glad to here the nether regions are as well as can be expected..."

    Thanks LaRit/Boudican et al - I live in the hope that I can wear the nethers out before I go.

    There's cases and cases of wine and numerous malts and libraries stocked full of lady librarians that I have yet to encounter.

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  45. Sheff

    Did you see this?

    JessicaReed
    21 October 2010 9:59AM

    SheffPixie - not sure if you'll see this, but would you write about UKBA/cuts, under a pseudonym?

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  46. SWifty:

    You coming along too for los Cerveza's???

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  47. I don't fuck me dog despite Braken's assertions. Beastly I may be but I'm not into beastialty

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  48. Thauma:

    Good move. Don't know if Sheff saw it.

    I tried to flag it up on waddaya by seconding the suggestion ;)

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  49. It's a plot to discredit me favourite posters by giving em badges of conformity.Demand the £80 Sheff - don't join em thauma even though I would love to read a treatise of how in a civilised world robots could easily be programmed to assist the poor and needy.

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  50. Good call James (13:29)

    "...There is one stark symbol of how unjust the response to this economic disaster caused by bankers is. They have just paid themselves £7bn in bonuses – much of it our money – to reward themselves for failure. That's the same sum Osborne took from the benefits of the British poor yesterday, who did nothing to cause this crash..."

    We all need to keep repeating this at every opportunity until the wider public get it.

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  51. @La Rit:

    ”…You coming along too for los Cerveza's???”

    What, with you lot? No chance… only joking, I can’t, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint) – it’s half term next week, I’ll be having Fun! with a capital F U with the family, as I’m pleased to say I’ve got the week off… Mrs S back at work Weds-Fri so I’ve got sole care of the rampaging daughter, all good stuff and highly entertaining in the normal run of things, but not quite so much when horribly hungover.

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  52. @ Deano

    Already been done by David Byrne .

    You see the consequences at the end !

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  53. Heard it was -5 in in Beds last night. Them Bewick Swans sure arrived on a cold wind.

    Bewicks

    Must be away - laters

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  54. Enjoyed that Tascia.

    We'd all be better off if more realised that the purpose of work is to liberate us to have fun and not to accumulate wealth for the idle. It's a fucking sickness that unearned income is taxed so lightly.

    Nobody is talking about wealth and work redistribution these days. All that wealth created by technology in the last few decades and so little of it benefit ordinary folk. We could help the unemployed find work by slashing the working week for all.

    One hell of a lot of so called work is any event unproductive and yields zero utility for humanity. It does keep folk occupied and too tired/busy to ask intelligent questions though.

    Regards.

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  55. Hello all

    apart from defence of impoverished communities on waddya I am avoiding the horror that is Cif today. I see the reality around me - the right wing heartless lot are getting me down.

    Now for something trivial.

    Yesterday I bought 2 water snails for the fish tank - another bunch of unwanted pets brought to my doorstep.

    Having installed said blobby - currently about 1 inch across -things in tank I googled them

    Hmm ! They grow to the size of tennis balls, have lungs as well as gills and like to go walkabout. Voracious feeders they eat all the pond weed but - to quote - can be 'placated' by being fed lettuce or spinach leaves.

    i never imagined having to placate a mollusc.

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  56. Further readng on said beasties led me to a site publishing dozens of recipes for the cooking and eating thereof.

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  57. Made I smile leni - you need the guide on ESA?

    Must be away now.

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  58. Leni

    Just had a look at the paypal website, and it seems that, while it's free to have an account, transferring/receiving money to/from other bank accounts incurs charges, so maybe it wouldn't be the best or most efficient option.

    I could have misunderstood it though.

    Maybe someone like El Pipsterinha would know more and/or a better option??

    (If not, there's always PeterB's suggestion of a UT hedge fund.....??)


    Jay

    Absolutely. You know you're up against a special kind of privilege when there's an unnecessary qualifier used.
    (For nearly everyone else, here in reality world, it's just school).

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  59. That Johann Hari piece is excellent. Best comment on this whole debacle I have read. I now know of four people who are in fear of losing their jobs directly due to these cuts.

    However I think for many in Sheffield, Nottingham, Wales and other areas devestated by the witch the first time around, there is going to be fear over the coming months. In sheffield if tons of public sector jobs go then lots of small private sector firms will too and not just because they are directly reliant on the public sector but because they will suffer the loss of custom as people become unable to spend.

    I fear for any part of the country outside of the south east (which is predicted to actually gain 16% growth from this spending review)!

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  60. "(For nearly everyone else, here in reality world, it's just school)."

    Exactly, took me a moment to even twig that "day school" was just "school". She is one crazy prole, that Samantha...

    Where's Monkeyfish been lately? Need books...

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  61. PCC

    This is exactly the thing isn't it!!

    These so-called benefit scroungers, or benefits lifestyle whatevers, are, very often, the people living in the very places that were devastated by the Tories last time around.

    I was like 4 or 5 then, and I can remember the chain of causation, so why can't any fucker else.....??

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  62. Swify

    The 10% figure i quoted was a ball park figure based on the outcomes of the claimants for ESA who have been tested under the new system since late 2008.For only 9% have made it to the 'ESA Support Group' which is the equivalent of how all existing claimants of IB are treated.That is they don't have to either make themselves available for work or attend any DWP interviews to discuss when they think they'll be able to work and what sort of work they can do.Those in the ESA Support Group will just have periodic medicals with automatic exemptions for those who are terminally ill,bedridden,in a coma and i think heavily pregnant women or pregnant women where there are serious health concerns for mother and unborn child.

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  63. That post was for SWIFTY even!

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  64. Princess

    I came here post mine closures. We have had huge depopulation here threatening our primary schools - 1 in the valley has just closed.

    When we came there were 5 shops in the village - now we have 2 barely hanging on. Bank and petrol station closed and pub demolished this year. Working mans club closed 2 months ago - now boarded up.

    This despite developing 'tourist industry' built around mountain biking - this benefits very few and has not replaced lost jobs. we are designated as a Forest Park - most jobs part time and seasonal.

    It has also led to resticted access for locals to forestry plantations.

    ublic sector jobs account for most employment here - few of us self employed. Bothe sectors now threatened.

    Even when I can overcome my anger and look objectively at what is happening I am still left with the overall impression of an economic policy which is short sighted, indicative of ignorance of the micro economy as well as being heartless and dismissiv of the needs of millions.

    We are a very small community - if I scale it up in my imagination to the size of a town or a city I see countless lives blighted. I see millions of children being raised in poverty and despair with all the resultant emotional and social problems which will result.

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  65. @Paul:

    Cheers mate, interesting. I’ve just been looking at the DWP ESA214 capability assessment stuff, and one thing (again) occurs – what’s the role of the GP in all this? I’ve only skimmed, but I’d have thought the GP would be the first point of reference in any assessment. I can’t find mention of a role in the process for him/her though.

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  66. Is the agony aunt on site today ?

    my feral car has a dry cough - I think from round worms.

    I bought some anti worm powder to sprinkle on food.

    Instructions say "Weigh your cat carefully to determine dosage as per instructions " !

    He will let me stroke him - but weigh him ?

    Will I be pilloried in national press if I cram him into cat proof bag before placing carefully on scales ?

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  67. Swifty

    Assessors are basically instructed to ignore medical evidence, not even read it - and test for 'ability'. So a terminally ill person who can answer the phone is deemed 'fit to work'

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  68. Leni - vets have large animal scales. I expect they'd let you weight the cat (not really a feral car, I assume?) for free?

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  69. That was feral cat - not car. Though car too has nasty cough - needs new exhaust. Ah! the trials and tribulations of everyday life.

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  70. Leni

    Put can of tuna on the scales, cat eats Tuna, check the weight, subtract weight of tuna.

    Job done??

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  71. Thauma

    genuine feral tom I fear - hisses at me while allowing himself to be stroked - has to maintain his independence I suppose.

    He will sit nose to nose with Dogge, answers when I clap hands for him to come but disdains shelter of house.

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  72. James

    Tuna into cat - dim prob - cat into house and on scale - risky if not impossible.

    He doesn't fold up very easily.

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  73. @Leni:

    That’s the problem with strict, points-based systems – they take little account of what one might call the “grey areas” in between. At first glance, the ESA214 guide is very rigid in that regard. Now clearly, that suits a computerised system down to the ground, but the problem with multiple choice questionnaires is that a computer often struggles with the concept of “well, that depends”...

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  74. Leni

    Scale into garden, board onto scale, tuna onto board, scales zeroed, cat jumps on board to eat tuna?

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  75. afternoon

    from the Johan Hari article

    one of the richest corporations in Britain, Vodafone, had an outstanding tax bill of £6bn – but Osborne simply cancelled it this year. If he had made them pay, he could have prevented nearly all the cuts to all the welfare recipients in Britain. You try refusing to pay your taxes next time, and see if George Osborne shows the same generosity to you as he does to the super-rich.

    aarrgh....!! there are times....there really are!

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  76. Dott

    I take it you speak as a scientist - I will try your approach . I may be some time.

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  77. Hang on a minute...

    I say something and it's pooh-poohed.

    Dott says the same thing (with the addition of a board), and all of a sudden it's brilliant scientific practice...??

    Rubbish

    ;0P

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  78. I like the idea of a feral car.

    I see it could be tricky even getting a feral cat onto the vet scales though.

    Perhaps Dot will come up with a bright idea?

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  79. Ahem, you could drop it into one of those “spy in the cab” wheelie bins which allegedly weighs your rubbish…

    *cue moral outrage*

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  80. Oh, I see s/he already has!

    Dot was obviously just expanding on your brilliant idea, James. ;-)

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  81. James

    Dott finessed your idea - rather like Nasa building a moon rocket to finesse the idea of space travel. The secret, as always, is in the detail.
    x

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  82. evening all!

    favourite headline from yahoo news:
    "MP's wife accused of kitten theft"
    that's the kind of news we need right now.

    spike - it's only one stop to farringdon, i'd say about 15-20 minute walk down farringdon road, but i'm crap at directions....

    swifty - the G hacks were also known to haunt the Betsy Trotwood, as it was the closest to the old office. about 20 yards away. the manager was gutted when they moved.

    james et al on paypal - i've never used it meself but it seems low-fee, if not fee-free (particularly when compared to usual bank transfer fees). if from and to individual accounts, 5-day transfers can be free (they are with IF, which is usually chiselling me for all it's worth, so...). a 'small association' account could be the same - Post Office Bank prob a good place to investigate. 'small assoc' might be appropriate as then funds would legally be held collectively. but those of us outside the UK could still be charged.

    so more paypal digging might be worth doing. it should be the most flexible thing.

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  83. Swifty

    I read about a tortoise - carried off in a bin. Noticed and saved just before he entered the crusher.

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  84. Cheers Philippa!!

    I was hampered by the fact that it would only let me see figures for using the Brazilian Real, and it assuming I'd be doing all of my transactions in dollars...

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  85. Philippa

    I have been thinking about the collective ownership thingy.

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  86. spike - your reference to your republicdaughter on waddya reminded me - one of my mates is 'oddmother' to a variety of friends' children. this suits the less than theological approach of all concerned!

    (she also had a 'best woman' at the wedding)

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  87. Actually guys the scientific approach would generally be to anaesthetise the cat, and/or use a bag/box....

    Stealth weighing would be for something much bigger/more delicate than a cat!

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  88. Leni - aye, two things - any final arrangements and discussions relating later would need to be done by email, to the benefit of all concerned, and some formalisation of the ownership of funds (and decisionmaking on disposition thereof) would be needed.

    if only we knew a lawyer.

    oh. hang on...

    heheheheheheh

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  90. Also, first I've heard of this, and it made me laugh!!


    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bbcs-nick-robinson-not-ashamed-after-stamping-on-protesters-sign-2112968.html

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  91. and finally, this might be worth a read:

    http://falseeconomy.org.uk/

    And I'm coming off twitter now.....

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  92. @Phil

    I like that one. Oddfather. Hmmm...

    So what time on the 28th?

    @Leni

    Archimedean approach.

    1) Drop cat in full bath
    2) Collect overspill
    3) Weigh overspill

    As long as the cat floats, the displacement will be the same weight as the cat.

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  93. If the cat weighs the same as a duck....

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  94. @thaum

    Anything that floats. Which rules out Gideon Obsborne in a concrete overcoat.

    Hold that thought, it may cheer you up.

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  95. well, i will be on holiday so don't have to worry about office hours or anything - sixish? too early? if people are coming in, i mean, don't want to make things difficult....

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  96. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  97. because does BB have to come in from essex?

    anyway. would be happy to instal self and eat jerk-pork toasties (don't write in, authenticity fans, they taste gorgeous) while doing the crossword so, whatever suits.

    ReplyDelete
  98. @Phil

    There's a train to St. Pancras arriving at 18.35 so I'd be at the pub at 7. Then I'd have to leave at 11 to get the 23.25. Four hours for sarnies and pints. How does that sound?

    ReplyDelete
  99. Gideon Obsborne in a concrete overcoat.

    Merci, that has cheered me right up!

    Remember that we do expect drunken postings on here from the piss-up.

    ReplyDelete
  100. that sounds great!

    excited now.

    ReplyDelete
  101. Bitterweed

    That was Brilliant!!

    PCC

    (If you look in)

    You is on fire at the Indy - full on hat tip!!

    ReplyDelete
  102. Hello UT... IT'S HALF TERM!!!!!

    Sorry... 28th @ the Crown is fine by me, specially as it seems to serve London Pride. Any time is also fine by me, because IT'S HALF TERM!!! Just going out (back to school actually) to move some palm trees, but will be back later...

    Spike - you're in Whitstable? I'll be coming in from Faversham...

    ReplyDelete
  103. @thaum

    That depends if it's either a cyberpub or someone has one of those wifi 3g thingumajigs.

    ReplyDelete
  104. Shaz - congratulations! freedom!

    (oisette is delighted to be on holiday until 2 november)

    6/7 ish seems practical, will be sitting in a corner doing the G crossword

    (will have camera with)

    (have no means of reaching tinterwebz if not at home)

    ReplyDelete
  105. Sandard Credit Union in UK allows savers to borrow double the amount they hold in savings. This means half debt is already covered. f full loan value is repaid then saver retains their capital to build on until next stress time comes around.

    Micro finance has 2 models - none savers may borrow against repayment plan.
    or

    Savers only can borrow.

    Third world micro finance designed for world's poorest to start small (often very small) business.

    ironic that we in UK and now looking at their models.

    To fully constitute CU here you need management committee and members have to have a common bond - usually geographic or perhaps all work together.

    Does belonging to same website constitute common bond?

    We need a very simple model that protects people and reduces costs to minimum.

    As we do not intend to invest or generate interest we would not have taxman to worry us.

    ReplyDelete
  106. @all

    Would love to join you on 28th, but have just got invite to go to Ireland for a few days then (somewhere I have never previously been). Will post photo of rain while I'm there, though, so woohoo!

    ReplyDelete
  107. Actually, apparently I'll be taking the 23.55 home, so I hope the pub stays open. Leaving half an hour later, I pay 24.50 (already an obscene amount for 50 miles) instead of 52.00 quid. It seems that a 23.25 train is peak travel. Ah, your wonderful English railways!

    @shaz

    If you take the 17.28 from Faversham, that should be the same train. Not sure how we might meet though. They don't have buffet cars these days, do they?

    ReplyDelete
  108. I have already designed Gideons concrete outfit - very fetching it is too.

    The unique design feature allows it to sink very slowly.

    ReplyDelete
  109. Should I book the train in advance, by the way? Do prices go up? Or can I wait until a couple of days before? I'd like to make sure they don't blockade the ferries and I get to England first.

    ReplyDelete
  110. god knows, spike - off-peak return should be a walk-up, no? possible best not to listen to me (am still crossing fingers that i even get back to London....)

    ReplyDelete
  111. Atomboy - I always think of this when I see your avatar. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  112. Hello.

    That article by Hari in the Indie is pretty good.

    And at least the BBC is giving airtime to the plight of disabled people who fear benefit cuts - it was excellent to hear several disabled people speaking up on PM as I drove home from work tonight.

    I was incensed by Osborne on Today this morning though. People under 35 can flat share, can they? Has Osborne EVER ventured outside London, where flat sharing is much less the norm?

    ReplyDelete
  113. I've just read that article in the Indy and it is pretty good, I started to read the comments and just had to stop and laugh at the fuckwit advising the suicidal guy on benefits to get involved with the war effort because it would either get rid of his depression or if it didn't he might be lucky enough to die! Classy stuff.

    And I thought CIF was bad.

    ReplyDelete
  114. Jen

    I'm actually quite enjoying myself, bizarrely.

    There really are some eejits about though!!

    ReplyDelete
  115. James

    When I am in the right frame of mind (which I am today) I love those kind of threads, the more bonkers frothing they come out with the better.

    brighterthanyou really needs to get himself over to cif, he could be a total star, although I am betting he would be banned within a day.

    ReplyDelete
  116. Leni!

    "i never imagined having to placate a mollusc"

    I bought water snails when I had my Big Cods (large abandoned goldfish I lovingly cared for for 10 years) they ate the snails ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  117. Evening all

    Here's a track that was specially recorded for all the UTers who hate Prog Rock

    Enjoy:-)

    ReplyDelete
  118. Jen

    Where's brighterthanyou's comments?

    Have you read the whole thread??

    ReplyDelete
  119. Thauma

    Yes, there were a few of the streaky-lippy variety, used here and there.

    My favourite at the moment is this one, though.

    ReplyDelete
  120. I have decided mschin that Osbourne is actually evil. Whereas IDs and others are misguided mad ideologues I think he is an evil man who enjoys this. Its written all over his smug little face.

    BTW - there is a protest in Sheff - think there is a march at eleven but then at 12.30 a protest outside the town hall - let me know if you going. You too sheff.

    LaRit you said last night that you could stop the banks etc taking your house if they didn't have the original signed docs proving the loan. And then Chekov explained a bit further that the banks had 'sliced and diced' debt so much that the original docs weren't available and so foreclosures were illegal. Well there is a rumour now that not only did they slice and dice the debt but that they made debts up. Yep that's right - they made mortgages up - they practiced what one wit is calling 'fractional reserve mortgages'. It is all a bit complex but if it is true then what then? I followed this link off The Telegraph comments:

    http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=169779

    ReplyDelete
  121. Jen - I think that the very un-aptly monikered brigtherthanyou is hilarious. There was some other dude on there that called himself an economist and then went into the most backwards economic analysis I have ever read!

    I think he was probably Gideon Osbourne.

    ReplyDelete
  122. Was that the economist/stand-up comedian, PCC?

    ReplyDelete
  123. James

    I started from the oldest comments, reading from the newests seems a bit backwards to me.

    I think that Boagus is probably even worse than brighterthanyou.

    ReplyDelete
  124. Ahhh right, Jen.

    Was going to go right to the end/beginning -shall do now.

    ReplyDelete
  125. princess

    I'm inclined to agree with you about Osbourne. He is revelling in it, not a shred of humanity for those who will suffer most from his hideous cuts.

    When's the protest? If it's Saturday, then you're on.

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

    ReplyDelete
  127. sorry to be so crap but can someone link to the Johann Hari articule?

    PS are we meeting on 27 or 28 .....

    ReplyDelete
  128. LaRit

    http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-a-colder-crueller-country-ndash-for-no-gain-2112069.html#disqus_thread

    ReplyDelete
  129. Jen

    Yup, see what you mean about brighterthanyou!!

    Would certainly be a contender for poster of the year over at cif, even at this late stage....

    ReplyDelete
  130. Does the Indy moderate at all?

    Some of those comments would be whipped off Cif at the speed of light and their authors put in pre mod.

    ReplyDelete
  131. Not so much.

    There is a flag button, but I very rarely see 'this comment has been removed...'.

    (watch, now I've said that, all my shit will be wiped!!)

    ReplyDelete
  132. This isn't just On Yer Bike, it's On Yer Own

    ReplyDelete
  133. I think all the people threatened with/being forced to move should get together and refuse to do it.....

    ReplyDelete
  134. Jesus.... I want to cry.... is this shit really happening?

    ReplyDelete
  135. (thanks MsChin and JamesD for the link ;-))

    ReplyDelete
  136. LaRit

    'Jesus.... I want to cry.... is this shit really happening?'

    'Fraid so. We either cry in a corner together or we come out fighting.

    ReplyDelete
  137. Anyone see this incredible comment? (James Smith - presumably James(Gold)Smith who is also ZacSmith? who posts on CiF?)

    Fucking Wanker - straight out of Tory Party HQ?

    The United Kingdom needs banks, it needs bankers, it needs educated, talented people and it needs people who inspire, enthuse and above all people who get things done. Because of the World we live in, those who are cleverer, more driven, more ambitious than others typically achieve more and we seem to have a 'relatively' fair system that those who give more, achieve more normally earn more. And that is good for the country


    In Phillip Green's case (a case I feel and know some things about) he is a brilliant person to represent our Country. He leads where others have failed and he employs thousands upon thousands of people, in almost every town in the UK he will have some involvement in making sure that people are employed and that houses are paid for and kids are fed. He very famously paid his wife totally legally a dividend. She is a co-director of his PRIVATE firm and she does not reside in the UK, she takes nothing from our state, she doesn't use our hospitals, our doctors, our schools, our street lights, our road network...she uses nothing and she lives in a house in a place where wealthy people live and are governed by laws that state you pay no income tax. Phillip Green, however, does pay tax in the UK. He pays millions and millions of pounds; from income tax, employer NI, corporation tax, import tax, VAT. Phillip Green and his PRIVATE company pay £12,000,000 a day in tax to our country

    As Victor Meldrew would say.... " I don't beleive it" Rich people paying taxes? My fucking arse.

    ReplyDelete
  138. sheff/princess/anyone else who lives near enough to join in

    TUC YORKSHIRE AND THE HUMBER REGIONAL COUNCIL
    DEMONSTRATION IN DEFENCE OF JOBS, EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS,
    SOCIAL SERVICES, PENSIONS,EDUCATION, AND SO ON.
    12.30 P.M. TO 3.00 P.M., SATURDAY, 23RD OCTOBER, 2010,
    OUTSIDE SHEFFIELD TOWN HALL.

    ReplyDelete
  139. He very famously paid his wife totally legally a dividend. She is a co-director of his PRIVATE firm and she does not reside in the UK, she takes nothing from our state, she doesn't use our hospitals, our doctors, our schools, our street lights, our road network...she uses nothing and she lives in a house in a place where wealthy people live and are governed by laws that state you pay no income tax. Phillip Green, however, does pay tax in the UK. He pays millions and millions of pounds; from income tax, employer NI, corporation tax, import tax, VAT
    so, they don't live together?

    burn the wiiiiiiiiiitch

    ReplyDelete
  140. You not watching the city, pip?

    ReplyDelete
  141. Shame hank isn't around - I'm sure he would have something to say on the subject of Green's business affairs. Didn't he once mention some Irish billionaire, whose wife & kids live in England, whilst he is 'non dom' so avoids taxes.

    ReplyDelete
  142. PhilippaB:

    Love the use of the 'Friends' - friendly word totally

    ReplyDelete
  143. Hey Paul:

    hehehehehe! Of course!

    (btw: guess who I met on Sunday night??? Holly Johnson!!!!!) I was very chuffed ;)

    ReplyDelete
  144. MsChin:

    As you can see from my expletive-filled invective - fighting ;)

    ReplyDelete
  145. Exactly, LaRit - never expected anything less from you .. fighting it is!

    ReplyDelete
  146. I do like this, from fraz4u over on the Indie thread:

    If we are all in it together, what exactly are we in ? A "Bash the poor club".

    Now that's a good strapline for the Ut if ever I heard one.

    ReplyDelete
  147. Mind you, BadBenny has come up with another really good one:

    Big Nick

    Putting the N in TORY CUTS.

    ReplyDelete
  148. Good god that comment takes the biscuit. Like the 'so they don't live together then' reply!

    Where is Hank btw?

    MsChin I will def be there (unless get some sort of full on relapse thing but only a day away so fingers crossed). Email me your mobile number and I can text you saturday morning to arrange.

    BTW the Telegraph is reporting that the coalition are going to go ahead with and revive New Labs spying legislation, where they can spy on every internet site visited and email etc. After - of course - campaigning against it.

    ReplyDelete
  149. princess

    Will do & will also email/ring sheff. I imagine she's already gearing up for Saturday anyway.

    Dunno where hank is, but it would be fab if he & deano could join us on Saturday. We can ask Bitters to email hank to ask him to come along (I've lost his email addy or would do it myself) ...

    ReplyDelete
  150. @Princess: with regard to the mortgage selling scam, check out "Golem" today.
    http://golemxiv-credo.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  151. Ooo, our Polly's on Question Time.

    And from the Boro, too. Where's jen?

    ReplyDelete
  152. Oh jesus wept. Just reading the comments on the article about the government re-introducing the spying legislation and I cam across this comment. Not only is it totally irrelevant to the discussion at hand it is also paranoid bat shit craziness of the highest order and downright bloody offensive and it got seventeen reccommends. Which does confirm something I have long thought - very right wing men are insecure freaks!!

    ''one of the things I find fascinating is that, once women secured the right to vote, government expanded at an alarming rate and civil liberties began to disappear; I mean, people literally have less freedom to speak their mind today than they did a couple or three generations' ago. With the feminization of academia and the law courts we have seen the erosion of individual freedom and freedom of expression, conscience and thought; the femi-marxists, more than anyone else, have been the ones pushing speech codes and this other rubbish down all our throats. But, the thing of it is that the vaginas seem so much more indulgent towards islamo-whackos than they do towards their own men or towards the traditions of their own constitutional, liberal-democratic society. Isn't that fascinating? They rarely speak up against sharia law, but they can endlessly drone on about the evil white male patriarchy in the western world; they shy away from the abuse of women in the non-western world, but they can rip into their own society for faux evils that simply do not exist. Women in our culture are pigs; maybe we should all sit back and give them the caliphate they deserve and flee to some warm tropical paradise in the Global South where the women are pretty, well-coifed, shapely, well-groomed, and think of hair as something best suited for the top of one's head and not for one's armpits or legs.''

    Especially like the line calling women ''the vaginas''. Priceless! Instead of replying to this obvious lunatic I though I would post it here for all yours amusement.

    ReplyDelete
  153. BTW: Pollyanna Toynbee is on the Question Time Panel. (as if you didn't know!)

    ReplyDelete
  154. MsChin - Yep it would be grand if they could make it too.

    Chekov - will check out the Golem blog thanks for the heads up.

    P.s. should add that I think very right wing women are 'gone wrong' too just to be gender neutral :)

    ReplyDelete
  155. OMG - made my night that has, thanks chipchops!

    (Speaking as one vagina to another of course).

    ReplyDelete
  156. You vaginas shouldnt even be allowed internet access, thats whats caused all this and yet you people still blame Gideon and Dave! Take the vaginas' internet access away or feed them to the Islamofascists!!!

    What was his name, out of interest? Sounds good comedy value, worth keeping an eye out for.

    ReplyDelete
  157. Just fell off my chair - Polly says she is well off & hasn't been touched by these cuts ... she's also been to the Boro College recently

    *gasp*

    ReplyDelete
  158. Crikey Chekov - Just read Golems blog today - brilliant if very worrying. So concise and well explained. When he says it is a cover for an even bigger fraud maybe he is meaning what the site I linked to is saying - that they literally made up mortgages to get money in from third party agencies as securities, believing the debts could never go bad.

    This is potentially huge. Although of course it may all get hushed up very quickly and the debts covered by more taxpayer funded bailouts and QE? What's your take?

    ReplyDelete
  159. More fun than Torieboy, Jay?

    But I agree - the 'vagina monologue' sounds like he's worth watching out for!

    ReplyDelete
  160. "More fun than Torieboy, Jay?"

    Could well be by the sounds of it, MsChin, TBs just simple, this bloke sounds completely off his rocker.

    "The vaginas" - god, what would BiBuBiBu say....

    ReplyDelete
  161. Jay that bought a much needed smile to my face. Instead of the old Harry Enfield sketch 'women know your limits' it could be 'vaginas know your limits'.

    His name is Blaine Hislop but he is joined by others who are moaning about the 'feminized European male' and the 'EU vaginas' that rule them. They are all gonna move to the 'global south' where men are real men and women are nice and compliant and will look after them.

    None of them seeming to realise the irony of being real men who want to be taken care of by soft, nice women - dare I even suggest - just wanting to be mothered??

    ReplyDelete
  162. chekhov

    Well speaking as one cock to another i'm not impressed with Polly's performance so far.And when she was complaining about being given £1200.00 in benefits she didn't need why didn't she just say she wouldn't accept it?.

    btw i thought Tuscany's finest was still in her 50's.

    ReplyDelete
  163. Just shown him indoors said rant and he says he thinks it is bang on. In fact he thinks I should become one of those surrendered wives because he says he can't wait for a waiter in a restaraunt to come and take our orders and he can say 'The vagina will have the steak.'

    ReplyDelete
  164. "'Vaginas - know your limits!'."

    Thats got to be the next UT tag line, PCC. Good work.

    ReplyDelete
  165. MsChin;

    If we are all in it together, what exactly are we in ? A "Bash the poor club"

    We've been in the 'bash the poor club' for decades now ;(

    ReplyDelete
  166. Oh no, did I miss my chance to meet Polly in the flesh, I could have relieved her of her £1,200 no problem and then everyone would have been happy.

    ReplyDelete
  167. @Princess: "what's my take?"
    I'm afraid it's much too complex for a sixth form analysis from me.
    I don't pretend to know what is going on, however, as I have said before, you don't need a Phd in Economics to know when you are being shafted!

    ReplyDelete
  168. PrincessCC:

    Think you'll find that scary way of thinking way more common than we realise. Now the cuts have started, next up will be banning the 'vagina's' right to vote (seeing as we're all islamo-facist-shariah law-loving bints)

    Jesus, the misogyny is truly staggering...

    ReplyDelete
  169. Now that we are all reduced to our sex organs conversation is redundant - doesn't leave much to do does it ?

    ReplyDelete
  170. I don't know what you vaginas are complaining about. We men are all pricks.

    ReplyDelete
  171. What that Tory Twat Hammond is saying is the role of the State in places like the North East is to facilitate increased private investment to compensate for the decline of the all important public sector in such regions.Classic Tory ploy.Use the State to 'groom' vulnerable local populations to be well and truly shafted by the private sector.

    ReplyDelete
  172. Repomann
    21 October 2010 10:32PM

    If you are fit enough to go on a protest you are fit enough to get a F*****g job.

    Stop being a parasite, get out to work and contribute to society.
    ----

    reply to Rhydian who explains he is wheelchair bound.

    repoman needs a good kicking .

    ReplyDelete
  173. Spike

    Speak for yourself :-)

    ReplyDelete
  174. @Paul

    Come on, are you telling me that you're never ever a prick?

    I certainly am on occasion. :-(

    ReplyDelete
  175. Chekov - aye I am with you on that. You don't need a phd in economics to know we are shafted.

    The whole mortgages thing is scarily complex - reading that page I linked to was like reading quantum physics - like an alien bloody language. I suppose the powers that be like it that way! Golem is dead good at explaining it all though.

    Jay - actually that would be a good tag line.

    I am still laughing at the 'the vagina will have the steak' line.

    Leni and La Rit - the comment didn't stagger me (it amused me more as it was so off the wall) as much as the reccommends and then the fairly serious discussions below it of the finer points of the argument. I saw a similar thing actually on an article in the Indy a while ago.

    Again it was totally off topic and started to go on that it was all the fault of the femi-anarcho-syndicalist-Jewish-homosexual-banker-communists ... or something bonkers like that - and again loads of reccommends. There are some truly scary people out there.

    ReplyDelete
  176. Right. I'm half dead. G'night all!

    ReplyDelete
  177. Lol spike.

    Leni what thread is that on? Unfuckingbelievable.

    ReplyDelete
  178. Just had a look at that Princess, truly amazing, like you say the comment itself is amusing in a WTF kind of way but I thought even the Telegraph crew would have a more sensible reaction.

    They were actually discussing it like it wasn't the brainfart of a truly sick man.

    The Telegraph comments are a lot of fun if you are in that kind of mood.

    ReplyDelete
  179. Vaginas is such a crude word. I shall be referring to you all as nether-petals from now on.

    Am I led to believe that Hank has been absent recently? He's probably had an embolism what with all the current barrage of ConDem state-rape. Shouldn't we be sending some paramedics round?

    btw, I shalln't be attending outside Sheffield City Hall on Saturday, not because I haven't been drafted onto a PSU serial, or even because I wouldn't enjoy watching the faces of colleagues as I hoy a burning effigy of Gideon through Maplins' front window, but because I'm going to a music festival in Birmingham to see Napalm Death and it's it's been ages since our Gert has signed me up a hall pass. Have a good time though - it's times like these I wish I wasn't a fifth columnist ;)

    ReplyDelete
  180. Hey speedy - it's been a while!!

    ReplyDelete
  181. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/21/disability-welfare-cuts-impact?showallcomments=true

    for princess

    ReplyDelete
  182. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDHSbrPZH4A&feature=player_embedded

    Holy crap - just look at these freaky puppets. I can't sleep due to back pain and now I have seen this. It makes me want to take my eyes out - I hate goddam puppets as it is! (its not that bad at first but fast forward it a bit).

    ReplyDelete
  183. Good to see yer Speedy.Wondered what had happened to you.Hope all's well.

    I have been called a cunt a few times but never a vagina.But on a serious note i think it's out of order the UT women using the V word so freely tonight.Can drive a man into a frenzy just thinking about it- or so Bindel keeps telling us.You'd think they would have shown a bit more consideration to the fragile state of our male hormones and referred to it as the front botty instead.

    ReplyDelete
  184. Sorry I've been absent recently peeps, it's not because I've gone over to the dark side, merely because the accumulated stresses of work, babies and a law degree have conspired to find work for my idle hands. After Xmas I'm looking forward to having some quality time making fatuous comments and posting YouTube videos. Was a bit sad to have missed the Northampton shin-dig, it sounded like a hoot. Did Bracken really attend? Was the FSA informed?

    ReplyDelete
  185. Hiya Speedy. I like to call it my ladygarden or my fou fou but nether petals is a good one and shall be added to my collection.

    Thanks for the link Leni - some really nasty people posting these days. Shows just how quickly the veneer of civilization can start to fade!

    Jen - yep the Telegraph can be a riot sometimes. it is odd over there, sometimes really good commentary and then others whole threads remind me of what I imagine a gentlemans club to be like back in the days of Empire (a real gentlemans club not those dodgy establishments called such these days).

    Right I am really going to try to sleep now - if I can erase the image of those horrific puppets from my eyes!

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  186. PrincessCC --- good to see someone else is tuning in to Golem XIV's blog . Chekhov too, I know.
    I hope his book is well-produced because I've ordered a few copies for worldwide distribution . IF it actually is, I'll do many more .

    NN all, and my dears , concentrate your energies on making life IMPOSSIBLE for the Oppressors ?

    That is do-able , with imagination . . .

    ReplyDelete