QUOTE OF THE DAY. TRIPPS ORIGINAL

[Tripps]

Heard just now from an interview with Lord Deben (not his real name) - formerly John Gummer MP ( not his real name) who has made a canny few quid from the environment /climate game over many years, and continues to irritate me on a regular basis -

"I don't know what a kilowatt (kWh) hour is - it's my job to question the experts"

Well John - try looking here kWh

PS He is a Stockport lad originally. They get everywhere.

[Stanley]

Good grief David. I didn't know that!

[Tripps]

The Churchill Factor by one Boris Johnson has risen to the top of my 'dipping in ' pile.

I stick a Book Dart where I think there is a something significant. I found I'd put one here. . . .


"So how does Churchill treat his political parties? As he once said, with the kind of candour which would be simply intolerable in today's desiccated politics - choosing a political partry is like choosing a a horse: you just choose the nag which will take you the farthest and the fastest. As we have seen, he chooses one, then leaps off just before it is about to die, leaps on a Liberal horse; then and when that too is obviously about to cark it (or possible dead on its feet) he leaps back on a new Tory steed, No one before or since, has been so magnificently and unrepentently disloyal. "

[Stanley]

Tergiversate springs to mind....

“I had a feeling once about Mathematics – that I saw it all. Depth beyond depth was revealed to me – the Byss and Abyss. I saw – as one might see the transit of Venus or even the Lord Mayor’s Show – a quantity passing through infinity and changing its sign from plus to minus. I saw exactly why it happened and why the tergiversation was inevitable but it was after dinner and I let it go.”

― Winston S. Churchill, My Early Life, 1874-1904

David, looking at the darts.... I have a Little Known Fact for you. Sir Christopher Chataway collected bookmarks. I found this out when I was at Pendle Heritage as his family has a connection with Park Hill. During a visit to his factory at Congleton, John Sebire gave me one of the elaborate bookmarks his family firm made (See 'A Reputation in Ribbons' By John Sebire.) and I sent it to Sir Christopher. I have a letter somewhere thanking me for it.

[Tripps]

Important warning -

Over 250,000 cigarettes have been incinerated by North East Lincolnshire Council over the last two or three years
He added: “These products do not meet safety standards and are putting lives at risk. We know illicit and fake cigarettes do not comply with the Reduced Ignition Propensity requirements and won’t self-extinguish, so are likely to start a fire.

“When you buy these products, you could be putting your own health at risk. Not only has no duty been paid on them but they’ve not been tested to ensure they’re safe. “It is important that people know what to look for on cigarette packets. "Genuine, legal packets of cigarettes or hand rolled tobacco can be easily recognised as they should have the words UK DUTY PAID on the packs. "All of the wording should be in English and there are health warning messages on both the front and back of the packet.”

[Stanley]

I've learned something there David. I knew nothing about 'the Reduced Ignition Propensity requirements' for cigarettes. I knew that the coffin nails of my youth usually burned down if left in the ash tray and often wondered why the modern ones didn't.

[Tizer]

The mind-boggling numbers in this quote grabbed my attention...
The National Cyber Security Centre says that over the last year it received more than 5.9 million reports of malicious content from the public. This led to more than 53,000 scams and 96,500 URLs being taken down.
The information is at the end of this BBC report: LINK

[plaques]

I found it amusing the other day that before I entered the bank I had to put my mask on. I now see that the incidence of physical robberies has now been overtaken with keyboard robberies. Welcome to the world of cyber crime.

[Stanley]

Do you ever get the impression that there's something wrong with the way the universe is unfolding?
Listening to today's PMQs made me wonder if the pantomime season has started early.

[Tripps]

Listening to today's PMQs made me wonder if the pantomime season has started early.

Quote from the lad from Chorley - (Stanley knew his dad )

“I’m not going to be challenged – you may be the Prime Minister of this country but in this house I’m in charge!”

[PanBiker]

Quote from the lad from Chorley - (Stanley knew his dad )

And so did I, met him a few times at the Clarion.

[Stanley]

I thought I'd replied to this. Thanks David for telling me he's Doug Hoyle's lad. I didn't know that.

[PanBiker]

I think I have a photo somewhere of Doug and Lindsay on their way up Ginny Lane to a Clarion event.

[Tripps]

he's Doug Hoyle's lad. I didn't know that.

That's a big surprise to me. He's still going strong at 91'ish, but having googled him again there is some P.Eye type information (mild by today's standards) missing which was there last time I looked. Looks like Winston Smith is still about and seems you can re - write history.

[PanBiker]

I think I have a photo somewhere of Doug and Lindsay on their way up Ginny Lane to a Clarion event.

Here we go, from the ILP Land Society Facebook page:



Original caption when it was posted:

“Mr Speaker” taking part in a sponsored walk - 21 June 1970 in aid of repairs to the Clarion House.
Front Row. Len Dole wearing a 'Life and Soul' T-shirt, Dan Jones, Doug Hoyle and Lindsay Hoyle (nobbut a lad).

[Stanley]

That's a great pic, everyone properly dressed and as David points out. Doug is still alive at 91.

[Stanley]

A well spoken woman on R4 talking about Jacob Rees Mogg said.....
"Jacobs idea of letting his hair down is listening to the Shipping Forecast in the morning" He once told a lady companion at a disco that on the whole he preferred Mahler.

[Tripps]

Paul Lewis who knows about such matters - his motto is " Seek truth find truth tell truth. "



"Black Friday - the one day (week!) of the year not to shop. Discounts are often spurious. Thieves are around. You buy things you don't need. Remember online you have the absolute right to return items for any or no reason if you tell vendor within 14 days and ship in another 14"

[Stanley]

Sounds like good advice to me especially in a year like this year when it's reported that much of the offer is simply old stock that wasn't moving (at the same price!).
Did you know there is a 'Buy Nothing Day'? (LINK)

[Stanley]

Following the death of 27 people in the channel. President Macron and PM Johnson have had a conversation and 'agreed to keep all options on the table'. What the hell does that mean?

[Tripps]

For anyone looking for an example of "irony" - try this.

HM Revenue and Customs has struck a deal to relocate tax officials into a new office complex in Newcastle owned by major Conservative party donors through an offshore company based in a tax haven, the Guardian can reveal.

The department’s planned new home in the north-east of England is part of a regeneration scheme developed by a British Virgin Islands (BVI) entity controlled by the billionaire property tycoons David and Simon Reuben. The deal will see officials at the Government department responsible for preventing tax avoidance working from a site owned by a subsidiary of a company based in a secretive offshore tax jurisdiction.

The Reuben brothers, their family members and businesses have donated a combined £1.9m to the Tories. Earlier this week, the brothers are reported to have shared a table with Boris Johnson at an exclusive Tory party fundraising dinner. On Tuesday, officials including the Cabinet Office minister Steve Barclay announced HMRC had agreed the 25-year lease with one of the Reuben brothers’ companies.
***************************************************************************************************

PS Dame Margaret Hodge says it's outrageous. Well she should know - she's an expert in such matters.

In 2015 there was considerable controversy about her benefiting, to the tune of £1.5 million, from assets repatriated from a Lichtenstein family trust in 2011 using the Liechtenstein disclosure facility, that reduced penalties and removed the risk of prosecution for Britons moving undeclared assets back to the UK. Coverage focused on the apparent hypocrisy in her condemnation of the use of tax havens. The Times reported that 75% of the shares in the family trust had previously been held in Panama, which Hodge had previously criticised for its financial secrecy and use as a tax haven.[108][109] Hodge issued a statement that she had always fully declared the shareholding, never had a management role in the company, and had received assurances that the company always paid the appropriate tax.[110]

[Stanley]

It's like looking at a piece of wood that is riddled with woodworm David. Yes, it's supreme irony that HMRC are dealing with chums of the PM based in a tax haven. There has been some adverse reporting over the role of Mr Barclay as well.....
It's so transparent. We are all aware of the iniquity that is the tax system when it deals with company fraud and overseas holdings and it would be possible to stop it by applying sanctions. These are promised but never materialise simply because the people who are liable to lose pay money to the government to leave them alone. It's called Political Donations.
Remind me again, who was it who said this was the next major scandal?

[Stanley]

I've just heard a teacher responding to the question of how widespread the use of masks could be. She said "Covid doesn't make a distinction between a corridor and a classroom".
What a sensible woman and it did strike me that the same argument applies to distinctions between transport and shops and other places where people congregate in close proximity.

[Stanley]

It struck me yesterday that many commentators had borrowed the teacher's phrase and applied it to normal life.
The audience at the Barbican watching the snooker were almost all sans mask.

[Tripps]

Octopus thought for the day 30 Nov 2021. Consolation prize for not winning the wheel of fortune (again)

"A greetings card that can play ‘Happy Birthday’ has more computing power than existed in the whole world in 1950."