Seen in the News

[Tizer]

Tate and Lyles Golden Syrup...A bit surprised to see 'best before Jan 2009'. Sadly it's no longer golden, but almost black with lumps in. To the bin I think.

It probably glows in the dark and emits gamma rays by now!

[Tripps]

I used to make quite a mean drop of Parkin - and I might try again for bonfire night. Trouble is - there's only me to eat it.

[Stanley]

Lovely conversation! I have just got my tin of Abram Lyle's black treacle out. The use by date is May 2015. Not a lot left in the tin but still liquid and tastes fine.
I've never been a big fan of Marmite. The only place I used to use it was as a base coat on the toast when making beans on toast. I suspect David is right.... " Made from the froth of the top of the beer, at Burton on Trent. My suspicion is that the jar and the advertising costs more than the product in the jar, and the 'price point' of £2.49 is the highest they can get away with."
I applaud the use of Spooky.

[Wendyf]

I saw a Marmite tanker on a motorway once, it was decorated just like a jar and was rather beautiful to a lifetime Marmite lover like me.

[Tizer]

I hope the tanker never leaked! That's a cue for this story...the food company I worked for in the 1980s owned the Stewart & Arnold chocolate factory in the centre of High Wycombe. It always had tankers sitting in the yard ready to go out and the contents was kept heated to stop it setting. One night vandals climbed the security fence and left open the cock on one of the tankers. Workers came in the following morning to find the yard flooded with solid chocolate. Not easy stuff to remove, especially tons of it!

The company is now owned by the Barry Callebaut chocolate empire and based in Banbury: LINK The first para of that article mentions Dr Arnold Spicer. He was an interesting character and involved in a number of ventures; he retired to Majorca but couldn't resist making visits to the UK and US for more ventures. I once had the pleasure of receiving his Arnold Spicer Award for Scientific Excellence - but it was nothing to do with chocolate!

[Tripps]

I see that Steve Allen of LBC (catch his show for insomniacs from 4.00 to 7.00 am) is in trouble for calling Gordon Ramsay's daughter " a chubby little thing". It appears to constitute 'fat shaming' in the ww.cobweb era. I think he'll ride the storm.

As insults go - and it's perhaps even a term of endearment - I'd say it was on the mild side.

I wonder what Brian Cox (no me neither but he's a film star) will think of this one, which rolls off the tongue quite nicely -

He certainly has a face like a slate-hanger's nail bag and, whatever part he nominally plays, he is always Brian Cox.

[Stanley]

I saw the brouhaha about Gordon Ramsay's daughter. People are so sensitive these days although I will admit that I was brought up to avoid mentioning other people's problems.
Having said that I love having a face like a slate hanger's nail bag. Very descriptive and for some reason reminds me of the face on the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter.

[Tizer]

`Fisherman's Friend tycoon leaves £41m to hometown Fleetwood' LINK
`A coastal town has received a £41m donation from the woman behind Fisherman's Friend cough sweets. Businesswoman Doreen Lofthouse, who died in March aged 91, has left her fortune to a charity that strives to develop her home town of Fleetwood. Since the 1990s, Mrs Lofthouse and her family have given millions of pounds to fund community projects in Lancashire. Fleetwood Town Council described the donation as "unbelievable" and said it was "overwhelmed by the generosity".'..

[Stanley]

Funnily enough, just what one would expect from the Lofthouse family and a product as simple and down to earth as the Fisherman's Friend.

[Stanley]

Have a look at THIS BBC report on the starvation of funds to Local Councils to pay fro home health care and the effect it is having on provision. I have to admit to being puzzled because I have seen reports that some private healthcare providers are paying good dividends. Who is right here, why are the actual workers so badly paid and how long can this ridiculous state of affairs be allowed to continue.
Is anyone expecting Rishi Sunak to ride to the rescue on Wednesday?

Later..... did I hear correctly? Did Liverpool really beat Man United 5 nil?

[Tripps]

This is rather worrying. La Palma eruption and earthquakes

I don't believe it for a minute, but why would someone go to so much trouble to publish such stuff?

[Big Kev]

This is rather worrying. La Palma eruption and earthquakes

I don't believe it for a minute, but why would someone go to so much trouble to publish such stuff?

Hal Turner is a conspiracy theorist, he's been locked up for his views in the past.
https://www.politifact.com/personalitie ... adio-show/

[Big Kev]

Later..... did I hear correctly? Did Liverpool really beat Man United 5 nil?

It was on the TV, it must be true

[Tripps]

Hal Turner is a conspiracy theorist, he's been locked up for his views in the past.

Thanks - mercifully I'd never heard of him. So the answer to my question is because he sells his fantasies to stupid people.

[Big Kev]

I see the Insulate protesters are out again today. They've blocked roads in East London, police have arrested 52 of them and dragged others from the roads. Now the weather is getting colder buckets of water would be a good idea to shift them
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-59035764

[Big Kev]

Hal Turner is a conspiracy theorist, he's been locked up for his views in the past.

Thanks - mercifully I'd never heard of him. So the answer to my question is because he sells his fantasies to stupid people.

Sounds about right. I'd never heard of him either

[Tizer]

Hal Turner is a far right white supremacist and his La Palma idea is utter rubbish. Even if earthquakes and volcanic eruptions there caused a tsunami it wouldn't be significant on the east coast of America. The reason why scientists have in the past investigated that possibility was to confirm that it wouldn't happen.

[Stanley]

David, I suppose that ultimately people like Turner want to make money but I also think there is an element of attention seeking. I reckon you have to be deeply insecure to be capable of writing crap like that.

[Stanley]

Have a look at THIS Daily Mail article on the Public Accounts Committee's report on test and trace.
"The £37billion NHS Test and Trace service has been an 'eye-wateringly expensive' failure, a damning report by MPs claims." I think that might be quote of the day.

[Big Kev]

The insulation nutcases have been out again glueing themselves to the roads. They're not endearing themselves to the public and I can see someone getting seriously hurt soon.

[PanBiker]

One thing I have noticed is that the demonstrators are not what you would call radicals. Quite few seem to be of the older generation. I saw the bloke who sprayed them all in the face with ink. Surely that should be construed as common assault but it didn't show him being taken to task for the act.

[Tizer]

On the one hand I don't like the extreme way that they go about their protesting, but on the other I'm not surprised that those who realise what's really at stake are driven to those extremes. Arguably the protests could be avoided if the government got off its backside and took the Queen's advice to stop talking and start acting on climate change. I've followed the climate change situation for about 40 years now and all the problems could have been sorted long ago if politicians had acted instead of dithering. [end of rant - it must be a side effect of the booster jab yesterday]

[Big Kev]

I can understand their frustration but they are inconveniencing the wrong people, those trying to get to work or hospital or children to school or delivering food to shops. Why don't they go and glue themselves to the road at the end of MP's driveways or the railings at Downing Street.

[Stanley]

That wasn't a rant Peter, it was a reasoned appraisal of the situation and I agree with you entirely
I can't argue with Kev either. They should focus their protest on the people who are responsible.
I get the feeling sometimes that a proportion of the protesters could be there simply because they haven't much structure in their lives and like a good protest. More attention seeking than strongly principled. But of course I could be wrong.
On another matter. Informal Outdoor Play. I can't find anything on the web but I hear there has been an investigation in Australia and they have concluded that children are playing out less and this has consequences for their health.
Why does this not surprise me?

[Tizer]

Sometimes I have to admit that the Chinese government has more sense than ours!
`China limits construction of 'super high-rise buildings'' LINK
`China has restricted smaller cities in the country from building "super high-rise buildings", as part of a larger bid to crack down on vanity projects. The country is home to some of the world's highest buildings, including Shanghai Tower, which has 128 floors. Local reports also questioned the need for low-density cities to build skyscrapers, suggesting they were built for vanity and not practicality. There is already an existing ban on buildings taller than 500 metres. The announcement was mostly met with approval on Chinese social media site Weibo, with many stating that the super-high skyscrapers were "not needed... they're just gimmicky". Earlier this year the country issued a ban on "ugly architecture".'..