WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Tizer]

But our NHS is on the brink of collapse and our children are falling behind in the world and in need of better education. I'd rather see money raised and put directly into those issues in a secure and reliable way rather than hoping there might be some `trickle down' from big jamborees like the Olympics. The people of the Rio favelas might have enjoyed the event on their TVs but I'll bet they would prefer to have decent homes with sanitation and freedom from the everyday murders and crime.

[Pluggy]

Mrs Pluggy had a small argument with another car.



Nobody hurt, I can plead total innocence since she was the only one in the car.

The other party was reasonable about it. Although circumstances dictated my wife was responsible.

Spent most of the afternoon waiting for a recovery truck.

[David Whipp]

Saw your motor on the Macadam's truck coming up Rainhall Road this afternoon...

Another thing that caught my attention today was this picture posted in a local facebook group of material tipped on Salterforth Lane.



This led to an interesting discussion with Nick Livesey about the highway status of the lane, which is something that I've been arguing with Lancashire County Council about for 10 years or more...

Nick posted the following, which includes some information new to me. These pages are extracts from a forthcoming book Nick is due to publish.

[Wendyf]

Bad luck Pluggy. Pleased to hear that Mrs Pluggy is OK.

[Stanley]

Ian, I agree about F1 but it's a business and it's there to watch. I understand about individual effort and in days gone by it was only that but today it has become a business and like all other major sports, corruption and doping creep in. Look at FIFA, the ICO and even cricket! My chief objection and what was on my mind is the way the Olympics was used as 'bread and circuses' as a distraction from realities. Tiz is right, if we are going to chuck the thick end of £300million at something, I'd rather see it go to the NHS. We're never going to agree about this, I have no interest in competitive sport, you do. That's life!
An email I received this morning, it was dated 04/02/2013! It took some finding!
THIS grabbed me. A judge has blocked a case brought by professors at Austin University, Texas to ban handguns in their classrooms. Madness......

[PanBiker]

I'll agree to differ Stanley, I enjoyed what I watched. If you want a proper example of the abhorrent use of money in sport, £300 million to train hundreds of athletes for the Olympics pales into insignificance when you compare it with professional football. They spend a third of that on single players and then pay them a ten year salary for the average person per week!

[Tizer]

You could build 30 of Kenneth Baker's University Technical Colleges with £300 million.

Thinking of sponsorship deals, they were discussing them on the radio this morning and one of the people said: "We moved on a bit from the days when it was Kevin Keegan and Brut, haven't we?"

Pluggy, I hope your wife has got over the shock of the accident. Even a small bump, when it's your own fault is emotionally stressful. My sister-in-law had a similar accident a couple of weeks ago and she was very upset.

[David Whipp]

Just had a laugh at this email:

Dear AuroraWatch UK subscriber,

We apologise for the earlier false alert (issued 13:25 UTC today) which
was caused by a lawnmower creating a local disturbance at our Lancaster
site.

The AuroraWatch UK team

[PanBiker]

I got that one as well David, sensitive instruments. The Magnetometer status at Crooktree, (not Lancaster) is currently at Yellow but was genuinely up at Amber at 20.00 tonight.

[Stanley]

When I unpacked my new transformer yesterday I found that it had had a rough trip! The edge of the top cover plate was fractured. A blow to the edge and they are heavy little sods. However, it's not critical, more cosmetic and it will never be exposed to damp so I decided to ignore it. It and the grinder perform OK so I'd rather crack on than start the hassle of getting it replaced. {I can almost hear the gasps of disbelief!}

[Pluggy]

Pluggy, I hope your wife has got over the shock of the accident. Even a small bump, when it's your own fault is emotionally stressful. My sister-in-law had a similar accident a couple of weeks ago and she was very upset.

She's OK, the dealings with the other people involved weren't too stressful which helps a lot.

Getting a replacement vehicle from the repairers / insurance company has been something of a challenge. The repairers have just told us we can have a car, but be have to make our own way to Colne to collect it. I get the distinct impression if I hadn't called them, they wouldn't have bothered calling me. The insurers came up with some cock and bull story about VAT registration because the car has signwriting on it when I asked why it was taking so long. Its privately owned and used primarily as a private car, I'm not VAT registered I just happen to advertise my business on it.

I have long been of the opinion that insurance companies are fair weather friends, I'm not going to be changing that view any time soon.....

[Whyperion]

I'll agree to differ Stanley, I enjoyed what I watched. If you want a proper example of the abhorrent use of money in sport, £300 million to train hundreds of athletes for the Olympics pales into insignificance when you compare it with professional football. They spend a third of that on single players and then pay them a ten year salary for the average person per week!

I understand for Team GB the money is a mix of commercial sponsership ( see a local ceral packet in your shop today ) and National Lottery (the volutary tax) disbursements.

Now I assume Grants and Expenses in appearance monies are non-tax or NI'able, but payments to trainers (in the UK) would be taxable at VAT/PAYE/CT whatever at the appropriate rate, / saving in Tax Credits/ ESA whatever, so there is probably a small profit to the exchequer. Of course some sports like the Equestrian, Tennis and Golf essentially draw from the commercial sports and the participants make no charge for their time appearing ( but have personal sponsers and the like for their costs ). The horse world also supports a strong , essentially, 'rural' economy, and likewise Road Cycling has led to the opportunities of cycle manufactures and other technologies. Literally the spin off, the encouragement of sports in schools would be difficult to replicate without the spotlight of the olympic games , along with the building of other sports private and publicially owned, franchised, managed or run.

[Stanley]

Farage speaking at a Trump rally.....

[PanBiker]

GCSE results day today for all my charges from the mocks and and full exam timetable from May,June this year as they find their fate. I know from my experience that some have battled illness and major adversity in order to sit their exams. There will be tears of joy, tears of sadness and complete indifference from some, I wish them all well.

[Tizer]

There's a display of the archive of information on the artist Felicia Browne being shown at the Tate Britain this month. Quite a lady, born in 1904 and involved with the Communist Party in the 1930s. She died after being shot while trying to rescue one of her compatriots during the Spanish Civil War. You can read some of her letters and view some images on this Tate web page: LINK A brief biography is presented on this Tate page which states:
"In July of that year [1936] she went on a driving trip to France and Spain with her friend Edith Bone, a left-wing photographer. On arriving in Spain they were caught up in the Spanish Civil War and on 3 August Browne joined a Communist militia. She was killed in action on 25 August 1936 in a failed attempt to dynamite a Fascist munitions train becoming the first British volunteer to die in that conflict." LINK There is also this Guardian article: LINK

[Stanley]

Nice one Tiz. The Spanish Civil War was a very complex and sad situation but what I have always admired is the conviction showed by the volunteers who went to Spain to fight the Fascists. We all know about people like Orwell and Hemingway but what is largely forgotten now is the number of ILP men from Nelson who went and volunteered for the International Brigade. Some of those who returned brought Spanish orphans with them and their descendants can still be found in the town. Also, many of the volunteers were so sickened by what they had seen that they became Conscientious Objectors in WW2 and suffered again for their part in the Civil War. I believe I'm right in saying that Nelson had the highest proportion of 'Conchies' and it's part of the reason why the town was once known as 'Little Moscow'.

[LizG]

That I am very glad you're back Stanley.

[Tizer]

I believe I'm right in saying that Nelson had the highest proportion of 'Conchies' and it's part of the reason why the town was once known as 'Little Moscow'.

These things don't get forgotten, people have long memories. It's said locally that when the Royal train passes through Bridgwater, Somerset, the occupants always close their carriage curtains. The monarchy has never forgotten the treason in 1685 when the rebel James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth was proclaimed King on the Cornhill in Bridgwater and in other local towns and eventually led his troops on a night-time attack on the King's position near Westonzoyland (Battle of Sedgemoor).

EDIT: I've just received an email message purporting to be from the Red Cross and titled `Italy earthquake - Red Cross update'. My ISP has marked it as spam and it may or may not be genuine. The unsubscribe email address is shown in a google search as reported for spam. If you want to donate don't take any chances - ignore the email and go direct to the Red Cross web site: LINK

[Whyperion]

You could build 30 of Kenneth Baker's University Technical Colleges with £300 million.

Well , they built/ equipped / staffed on in Burnley. Closing due to lack of students attending.... meanwhile in overcooking London more new high schools being built in inappropriate places (academys)(on industrial sites) because all the old closed schools were turned into housing developments.

[Stanley]

Thanks Liz, it's nice to be back to normal!
Tiz, Bridgewater, same story in Dudley and the Black Country, legend says that Victoria didn't like the view so ordered the blinds should be pulled down to hide it.
When I was doing the LTP I discovered how accurate and powerful folk memory is and could test it by comparing different people's accounts of the same thing. I have long argued that in cases like the Middle East they have not forgotten events as ancient as the Crusades and certainly remember our actions in the 1920s when we were policing the area using the RAF.

[Tizer]

News today that Volkswagen is going to compensate US car dealers for the effects of the emissions scandal. 650 dealerships started a class action against the company. "We believe this agreement in principle with Volkswagen dealers is a very important step in our commitment to making things right for all our stakeholders in the United States," said Hinrich Woebcken, chief executive of VW's North American region." Perhaps UK dealerships should be taking class action for the losses they suffered. The US always seems to be less tolerant of misdoings - we just roll over and accept it. VW USA

Now for something different. It takes all kinds...`Norway man rescued after climbing into public toilet' LINK
"Firefighters in Norway have pulled a man from the inside of a toilet after he lowered himself in to retrieve a friend's phone and became stuck in the tank below."

[Stanley]

The British (or perhaps more the English) aren't good at complaining. We are too polite? Or just averse to standing out from the crowd. I always remember going in a tea room in Skipton with an American friend of mine, Ethel. All the tables were littered with evidence of past customers. Ethel chose a table next to the window, grasped all four corners of the (not too clean) tablecloth, lifted the whole caboodle and deposited it on the desk of the frosty looking lady in the corner who collected the money and said "I've bussed the table for you!". The frosty lady was aghast and speechless, I don't think this had ever happened to her before! It worked, we got a good wipe down, a clean cloth and instant service!

[Tizer]

I think it's probably due to our history of class distinction still haunting us and undermining our confidence. It lingers on so strongly that Brits are loathe to `provide service' or to call anyone sir or madam. No wonder we find so many of the service jobs filled by people from foreign lands, they don't have the hang-ups!

[PanBiker]

Two United Airline pilots who tipped up for duty drunk! They were due to fly to New York. I would have thought it would be easy for all aircrew to be breathalyzed as a matter of routine before being able to fly. An easy, sensible precaution I would have thought.

[Stanley]

The return of the Gollywog.... LINK.