WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

Pan Bodge. My excreta doesn't smell......

[Wendyf]

Fascinating to me (though probably no one else) that this evening Dennis reacted normally to me going out with his tea. For two days he has turned his back on me and refused to come until I have put Sparky's bucket down and then deliberately waved his in front of his nose. Either he was sulking like a child because I've deserted him for a week, or he sensed I still wasn't well....tonight is the first night I haven't been running a temperature. I've never known anything like it.

[PanBiker]

Nice to hear you are feeling a bit better Wendy.

My attention was grabbed by £35.00 to take the grandchildren to the pictures this afternoon! Skipton Plaza didn't seem very different to how I remember it from 40 odd years ago when the Sunday night fliks cost £1.50 for both of us somewhere on the back row. Trolls was enjoyed by all though and some good tunes to drive it along, dancing singing and hugging Trolls infecting the bad guys with their positive vibes what's not to like.

[Stanley]

Wendy, that struck me when you first reported his behaviour. They know these things and it probably disturbed him. Jack follows me upstairs and smells my pee... If I'm off colour he modifies his behaviour. Sign of a very close bond.
Ian, that is shocking! Especially to a lad who paid 3d or one clean jam jar for a seat in the first three rows at the children's Saturday morning matinee at the Oxford Cinema in Dukinfield in 1940. I think the other stalls were 6d.

[PanBiker]

6d when I was a lad at the Saturday afternoon matinees at the Majestic. I wouldn't mind so much if the place was nice but it's quite shabby and much as remembered 40 years ago. I don't think it cost that much at the IMax at Bradford when we went to see the last Star Wars offering and that was in 3D. Captive market to some extent, the place was more or less full with parents, grandparents and kids, at those prices you would think they would be able to bring the place up to a bit better spec.

[Whyperion]

Looks like Nissan are choosing Sunderland area to build the next two motorvehicles in, a notch up for brexiteers.
I think I disagree with tizer, another referendum for E&W would probably stil l have a bubbling 50:50 split , probably balanced toward leave.

[Stanley]

I know this should be under mobile phones but it's what grabbed me this morning. See THIS BBC report about foreign visitors getting better coverage than us because they are allowed to access the strongest signal whereas we are tied to one provider.

[David Whipp]

Barnoldswick winning its seventh RHS Gold Medal and being crowned Best Town in the North West at yesterday's Britain in Bloom Awards North West.

A great result for our town!

[Big Kev]

I saw this over in Facebook land last night, a great result. Well done to all involved.

[PanBiker]

Yes,well done, credit to all involved.

[Tizer]

Congratulations to all concerned with the Barlick in Bloom award and well done David!

Another thing that got my attention this morning is that Mrs Tiz got our first polymer £5 note - things take a while to filter through to Somerset! The Bank of England has a special web page showing the features of the note in a 360 degree slider image: £5 note

[Stanley]

Splendid result David and well deserved after all that voluntary effort. Watch out for Tories trying to get in on the act!
The new £5 note.... See THIS for reports that the ink on the note isn't as durable as we were told.
The fact that we went back on GMT at 2AM this morning. Remember to go to your control panel to change your time preference. One of the peculiarities of our new platform is that it doesn't do it automatically.

[Tizer]

I'm not going to try that on my new plastic fiver - it might be worth only £4.50 after that treatment!

[Stanley]

The relative lack of news from Oz. I suspect this is good because bad news travels fast!

[Tizer]

News this morning that `Members of the public are being asked to help create a record of ritual markings on buildings that were once believed to ward off evil spirits.' I'll give them one for starters...
TRUMP

[David Whipp]

An alternative view of Crownest Mill Chimney.

[Stanley]

How much cooler it is this morning. That sky was a harbinger.....
Later after our walk. I note that yet another dig bin on the Green is laid down, some dick has evidently torn the stake out of the ground. As I understand it the Council no longer maintains these essential receptacles beyond emptying them. I think some minimum attention to re-fixing the bins with longer and more substantial stakes would be a good thing and a clear investment in a cleaner town.

[David Whipp]

The Tories scrapped the bin replacement budget for Barlick for a few months a couple of years ago, but we got that restored. Bin in question has been reported and will be repaired...

[Stanley]

Both of the bins at the Wellhouse Road end are down David.....

[David Whipp]

A view from Letcliffe this morning.

(I've reported second bin Stanley.)

[Stanley]

That's a brilliant pic David. 30 miles of God's own country in one image. It could be better still today because we have the first proper frost.
Thanks for reporting the dog bins.....

[Tizer]

`Admiral to price car insurance based on Facebook posts.'
Insurer’s algorithm analyses social media usage to identify safe drivers in unprecedented use of customer data. Admiral
Admiral says it will be voluntary and is intended to let customers prove they are reliable, safe people. So, in theory at least, a new driver could get a lower quote by being careful about what they say and do on Facebook.

This is a great example of a simple, cheap way to improve the lives of people in developing countries...
`The American student who gave Cambodian children a chance to get clean'
"When an American student saw a Cambodian woman washing her child with detergent, he was horrified. But then he thought of a place he could get large quantities of soap free of charge. Two years later, he's already supplying villagers with a safe way to keep clean, and also with jobs."..... Soap

[David Whipp]

Naz Alam, who photographs lots of community events, posted pictures today from the Britain in Bloom Awards last week. Here's one of us representatives from the bloom group receiving Barnoldswick's from the chair of the sponsoring organisation. Lois Green, Ilse Eden, Lesley Gilbert and me.

[Stanley]

Tiz, I heard yesterday that Facebook have decided that Admiral can't use the data for insurance purposes. (LINK)
Another fine achievement David that can do nothing but good for the town.....
I am incensed by the attitude of FIFA towards the wearing of the Remembrance Poppies. High time that corrupt organisation was replaced!
THIS grabbed me. For as long as I can remember the imposition of religious morals on young mothers has been an open disgrace. Not just the Catholics, the Anglican Church and the Salvation Army also have a lot to answer for....

[Bruff]

‘’I am incensed by the attitude of FIFA towards the wearing of the Remembrance Poppies’’

This is a tricky one and not at all as straightforward as our media report, or if you think about it.

FIFA takes what might seem a perverse blanket approach to this so to avoid opening a Pandora’s Box. For example, would we be happy (or our media be happy) if, the next time England play Argentina in Buenos Aries, the Argentinians wear a black armband to commemorate their Falklands Dead? Not that I can imagine it, but what if an Irish player insisted on something similar to remember 1916 (and everything else)? What about the tinderbox that is/was the Balkans? Should the Bosnians wear arm bands when they play Serbia? There are many who argue that the spark that lit the civil war there in the 1990s was a football match between Dynamo Zagreb (Croatia) and Red Star Belgrade (Serbia).

The blanket ban captures these as well as I admit, perhaps unfortunately, the maybe less controversial poppy. But who is to decide on what is more or less controversial? Not FIFA. Robbie Fowler was some years back fined after he removed his club shirt on scoring a goal, to reveal a T-shirt in support of the striking Liverpool dockers. He would have garnered much sympathy for this among some; opprobrium from others. Unless we have a free-for-all and sport does indeed become ‘politics by another name’, then stick to an absolute ban.

Still, it doesn’t surprise me this furore. It’s ideal stuff for post-Brexit Britain: wicked foreigners, an actual corrupt institution this time, plucky Brits standing against Jonny Foreigner trying to do down ‘our finest hour’, two WWs and one World Cup and all that, war dead, the military, sounds of marching bands, the British Tommy. I could go on.

Richard Broughton