Seen in the News

[Tripps]

Much on the air today about The Guardian apologising and paying some reparation for their founders' involvement of the US slave trade.

That got me thinking about those lower down the pecking order - textile mill workers who might also have benefited from the supply of slave grown cotton in the Southern states. Or is that fanciful? A cursory bit of google into the wages of workers quickly showed the subject was complex and quite beyond me.

I came across this site wiki wages

and look who's in the Bibliography

Graham 2008, p. 17.

Graham, Stanley (2008). Bancroft: The story of a Pennine weaving shed. lulu.com. ISBN 9 781409-255789.

I reached for my copy. which is never far from hand, and easy to find on the shelf due to it's white cover. I have referred to it.

Unfortunately it is about the 1920's and not the required 19th century.

[Stanley]

Nice one David......
I too have noted the Guardian editor's mea culpa and did wonder myself where this trend/fashion could end.
(I reflect it could be partly the fault of the Bible. The early parts of the Bible (Exodus 20:5-6; 34:6-7; Numbers 14:18) portray God as "visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children," while later parts of the Bible (Jeremiah 31:29; Ezekiel 18:2; Job 21:19) reject this and teach that "sons [shall not] be put to death for their fathers." )
Then again it may be an extension of the dreaded 'woke' syndrome which sees statues being thrown into harbours and academics arguing in the cloisters.
On the subject of weaver's wages, I don't think they had much say how the industry was run especially in the early days when the slave trade was a significant factor.
My mind goes back to when I was discussing responsibilities with the directors of the Ellenroad Trust. They were quite clear, the Project Manager was to be responsible for everything. I told them that was OK, I would accept ultimate responsibility as long as I had ultimate control and that was how we proceeded. By definition the editor of the Guardian can't have control because these matters happened in the past, therefore she can't be held responsible and so should get on with her own knitting and run the paper.

[Tizer]

King Charles protects Mickey Mouse in Florida!
`Disney sidesteps DeSantis board with royal clause' LINK
...The newly created Central Florida Tourism Oversight District says the binding agreement passed last month by the previous board hands Disney total power over development of the area. The declaration is valid until "21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England", according to the document. Such so-called royal lives clauses have been inserted into legal documentation since the late 17th Century, and they are still found in some contracts in the UK, though rarely in the US...

[Tripps]

I just watched a part of King Charles III speech delivered largely in German - last evening during his visit to Berlin. He got quite a chuckle from the audience when he referred to "Dinner for One". They all knew what he was talking about - I doubt if many of the non Germans did.

I did.

Here's what he was referring to. . . .

[Stanley]

Two subjects I was ignorant about... Thank you David!

[Tizer]

Mrs Tiz and me are familiar with the `Dinner for One' programme because we heard about it recently and followed it up on Google. But neither of us can remember where we heard about it, probably a few months ago. She thinks it might have been at Christmas. In Germany it's its shown on TV every Christmas and they love it, even though it's British humour. The butler pretends there are guests around the table and he gets gradually inebriated as he serves them. Are you sure we haven't had it on OG before?

[Tizer]

Excitement at the Guardian today...
`‘Vulkan files’ leak reveals Putin’s global and domestic cyberwarfare tactics' Guardian 1

`Cyberwarfare leaks show Russian army is adopting mindset of secret police' Guardian 2

[Cathy]

We have had ‘Dinner for One’ on OG before, years ago.
We usually have it shown on TV at Christmas time.
Still love it.

[Stanley]

Funny, I have no memory of it. Perhaps I knew it but have forgotten.....

[Tripps]

We have had ‘Dinner for One’ on OG before, years ago.

That's very likely, and probably from me.

I first heard of it in February 2004 (I find from old emails) in the Hotel Teide Mar in Puerto de la Cruz where it was the evening entertainment by a couple of enterprising young people. They catered for the multi-lingual audience by saying each line three times - in Spanish German and then in English. That sound ridiculous but strangely, after a couple of minutes you didn't notice.

I think it's more a New Year's Eve thing in Germany rather than Christmas. Whatever - it's the first time I've ever seen Angela Merkel laugh out loud, when Charles mentioned it. It's obviously a German cultural reference point. I need to know more. .

Who wrote it and why were the guests the ones they were.

I find Same procedure as every year which explains a lot. 1920's British "cabaret sketch", very popular in Scandinavian countries too, but not shown on Brit TV (Sky Arts) until quite recently.

I'm not a fan of royalty - but Charlie boy is doing a good job at the moment. He's had plenty of time to practice though. Soft power?

[Stanley]

He doesn't have to do very much to stand out compared to the competition in government.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report of the death of a prominent Russian military blogger who supported Putin.
An explosion in a St Petersburg cafe has killed prominent Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, Russia's Interior Ministry has confirmed. At least 25 people were injured in the bomb blast at Street Food Bar No 1. Videos posted on social media show an explosion and injured people on the street. It is not clear who was responsible for the blast. Vladlen Tatarsky (real name Maxim Fomin) was a vocal supporter of Russia's war in Ukraine. He was a guest speaker at an event hosted by the cafe when the bomb went off. There are conflicting reports in Russian media about the explosive device. According to Interior Ministry sources quoted by Russian state media, Tatarsky was presented with a statue in a box as a gift, which had a bomb hidden inside. Video circulating on Telegram after the blast showed him being handed a statue and making jokes about it, however the BBC has been unable to verify whether it was the explosive. The cafe targeted on Sunday was previously owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia's notorious Wagner mercenary group, the St Petersburg news site Fontanka reports. St Petersburg is President Putin's home city, and where he first rose to prominence.
Russian commentators seem to discount any Ukrainian part in this attack pointing rather at internal divisions in Russia itself.

[Tizer]

It's a difficult thing to analyse because although Tatarsky is regarded as a `prominent Russian military blogger' and he was at one Prigozhin's former cafe he was also known for criticising Russia's poor performance in Ukraine.

[Tripps]

The Judge Mrs Justice Yip who has just imposed a 42 year sentence on the Liverpool murderer, has a Chinese name but is English, and hails from Liverpool. If the surname is familiar - well she is married to David Yip who was "The Chinese Detective" - a TV series from long ago.

Not a lot of people know that.


.

[Stanley]

[PanBiker]

Heard in the news this morning and I'm a bit confused. Apparently the Met Police are abandoning investigating the threat of terrorism and turning their attention solely to investigating the corruption in their own force. First of all this gives a green light to anyone planning nasty things against the capitol! The other thing was that they mentioned was that they would be investigating a few hundred serving officers who had criminal records! Forgive me for being old fashioned or maybe I'm a bit thick but I always thought that it was a pre-requisite to becoming a police officer that you didn't have a criminal record. Bit of a bad starting point in my view.

[Big Kev]

Forgive me for being old fashioned or maybe I'm a bit thick but I always thought that it was a pre-requisite to becoming a police officer that you didn't have a criminal record.

It was when I applied 40 years ago, I failed on the eyesight test but apparently that's changed now.

[plaques]

This report is copied from the Burnley Express. I make no comment on this report Read it yourself Here.

Nelson's Pendle Wavelengths and Colne Leisure Centre could be closed as part of a cost-saving review
Labour councillors have launched an online petition to try and stop Pendle Council potentially closing Nelson’s flagship Pendle Wavelengths and Colne’s Pendle Leisure Centre as part of a review of centres across the borough.

By Dominic Collis. Published 5th Apr 2023, 11:07 BST- 1 min read, Updated 5th Apr 2023, 11:07 BST

The council’s political leaders were invited to hear about the review in March when a consultant from Knight Kavanagh & Page (KKP) presented their findings.

Although council chiefs have stressed no decision has been made yet, Labour fear that the two popular centres may face the axe.

Leader of the Pendle Labour group Coun. Asjad Mahmood said: “At a time when the government and council should be investing in facilities, Pendle Tories are suppressing a secret report to close both Nelson and Colne leisure centres, this is fundamentally wrong and my group will oppose any such measures.”

Coun. Zafar Ali who sits on the Nelson Town Deal Board added that the town deal board had committed over £2m. to improve Wavelengths.

He said: “The Tories are trying to fool people about a new facility to be built at Seedhill costing money which has not even been identified. I urge people to sign the petition to oppose this closure.”

Nelson East County Councillor and leader of the Labour group on Lancashire County Council, Coun. Azhar Ali OBE added: “The government talk about Levelling Up and this begs the question, is this really levelling down and heaping more misery on communities across Nelson?”

Phillip Spurr, the council’s Director of Place, said: “No decisions have been made about the future of our leisure centres.

“Councillors will discuss the review after the elections in May.”

[Stanley]

a) This is a disgrace and I agree with Coun. Asjad Mahmood, it must be opposed at every level.
b) What the hell is a Director of Place?

[plaques]

I always have problems when I hear of Councils putting things out to Consultants.
First is an admission they don't know what to do for the best.
Second the answers they get back will depend on the format of the brief to the Consultants.

Colne swimming pool has been earmarked for closure for several years. My visits are now purely recreational along with many other elderly people, the majority being women. These sessions are part of the community get together where I have heard several time "that if I didn't come here I would have been dead long ago". How do you put a price on this sort of amenity?

[PanBiker]

I reported this issue in the politics thread when the lid was blown earlier in the week.

[Tripps]

What the hell is a Director of Place?

I noticed that too, and immediately thought of Hugh Bonneville in the BBC spoof W1A " where he played the "Head of Values"

Do you have local elections on May 6th? Plenty of time to ask the candidates some questions.

[PanBiker]

What the hell is a Director of Place?

I noticed that too, and immediately thought of Hugh Bonneville in the BBC spoof W1A " where he played the "Head of Values"

Do you have local elections on May 6th? Plenty of time to ask the candidates some questions.

Yes we do and the Director of Place is an unelected officer role so nothing to do with the election of councillors. Probably made up to keep someone in a job.

[Tripps]

Philip Spurr (from Linkedin - Pools closed on request ).

"Experienced service director with a strong and extensive track record of working at a senior level in local government and across the public sector in areas as diverse as strategic housing, leisure, tourism and the visitor economy, economic development, neighbourhood services, environmental health and community safety. Skilled in strategic thinking, budget, personnel and performance management, with a demonstrable track record of delivery across a range of partnership environments".

Director of Place is an unelected officer role so nothing to do with the election of councillors.

Surely everything is to do with Councillors? I think it's known as democracy?

Having 'attended' remotely several Council meetings recently -there does not seem to be much interest from the local people. The online audience is usually in single figures. I can't speak for the physical attendance though.

Do the Officers of the Council ever have to give accouint of themselves to a Committe as they do in Parliament - even the PM?


PS Tony Benn had it right. . . .

[PanBiker]

Surely everything is to do with Councillors? I think it's known as democracy?

Aye but I reckon the CE of the council sees to hiring and firing and the organisation of the administration officer roles.

Anyway this is the Google definition of the role:

"The Director of Place will support the organisation's strategic priorities and have shared responsibility for delivery of action plans in the areas of economic growth, climate, and social capital".