OneGuyFromBarlick

I've already changed my nominated chemist in the NHS app. Boots in Colne is closer to me too.

Apparently Whitworth's is the same again today.

See THIS BBC report on the shortages of vegetables.
At present, Tesco customers can buy up to three tomatoes, three peppers and three cucumbers in one visit. Asda has the same restrictions on those products, but has gone further, also putting limits on lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries. They are also restricted to three purchases of each on one visit. Aldi has imposed a limit of three per customer on sales of peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes. In Morrisons, shoppers are restricted to two tomatoes, two cucumbers, two lettuces and two peppers. Responding to an urgent question in the House of Commons, Ms Coffey said: "We anticipate the situation will last about another two to four weeks. "It is important that we try and make sure that we get alternative sourcing options." She said the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) had already been in discussion with retailers. "It is why there will be further discussions led by ministers as well, so that we can try and get over this and try and avoid similar situations in the future." Shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon said: "There is genuine public concern about the availability of food and as the secretary responsible for our food security - and let's bear in mind food security is national security - this is absolutely mission critical." Ms Coffey added: "I wish to reiterate UK food security does remain resilient."
Add to this the fact that when Minette Batters Taxed Therese Coffey on the shortages of eggs she denied it was due to the supermarkets refusing to pay an economic price for eggs but sourcing them from overseas instead. When the overseas source dried up for the same reason home supplies did there were no eggs to be 'sourced'. This is what is happening with the vegetables and we are going to see much more of these shortages.... Ms Coffey can't understand or admit to this.

It's early doors veggie shopping today. I shall report from the front later.......
Later. California has a snow warning!

Back from my shopping at the Co-op. A very thin offering, some tomatoes at £1.20 Kg but no cucumbers or peppers except for some ridiculously high priced miniature peppers, £1.50 for two!
The only thing I haven't got is broccoli as I didn't get it at Chaudrey's yesterday. I shall survive!

If Pluggy's fingers are still agile he could start doing phone repairs for Barlickers!
`UK phone repair apprenticeship needed, says firm' LINK

Stanley wrote: ↑24 Feb 2023, 08:11 Back from my shopping at the Co-op. A very thin offering, some tomatoes at £1.20 Kg but no cucumbers or peppers except for some ridiculously high priced miniature peppers, £1.50 for two!
The only thing I haven't got is broccoli as I didn't get it at Chaudrey's yesterday. I shall survive!

Should be plenty of UK tomatoes in June, presuming farmers are growing them of course.

If you've never heard of Steve Allen then this won't be of interest. He's on LBC Radio from 4 - 7 am each weekday. He (uniquely) doesn't have people phone in, and talks non stop without hesitation, repetition, or being boring, and seemingly without any effort at all, for a solid three hours.

He'd walk it on "Just a minute".

He's a boon to poor sleepers and then becomes a daily necessity. Anyway he's been absent all week without explanation - I'd assumed he was on holiday, but a bit surprised as he hadn't announced one, and he surely would have. Now it seems he's quit, and will not be back.

Trust me - this is momentous news.

See THIS BBC report on his leaving.
Veteran broadcaster Steve Allen has announced he is to leave the LBC radio station after 44 years. On Friday, the 68-year-old tweeted: "My contract with LBC is up shortly and, following discussions, I'm stepping down from LBC today", "I'd like to thank you all for listening over the last 44 years, it's been an honour and a privilege."

Interesting.
It seems from a recent podcast (he has done 7-8000 of them) that he objected to the 'singer' Sam Smith's use of the word 'fisherthem' in place of 'fishermen'. and said as much publicly on the podcast.

Implied is that no mention must be made live on air, (the cardinal sin of misgendering) and his contract was near to renewal time (after 44 years !) so after 'words' he quit. Good grief - as Snoopy might have said.

What have we come to? First the Duke of Sussex says that his personal memory of things is as valid as what actually happened, and now this strange version of things. Stop the world. . . .

David, my version is that the people who make all the fuss about gender and words to describe it are short of something to do. You're right; 'Good Grief!' indeed.

There are millions of varieties of people, Tall, short, lefthanded. redheaded. ugly, on and on it goes,. All minorities those with gender (sex) differences are just another group that should be left to get on with life. Nothing more nothing less.

The Times has covered lots of the gender issues in detail ever since the trouble began and more recently on the proliferation of `sensitivity censors' among publishing companies. What I can't understand is why every organisation and many individuals in positions of authority just roll over a and submit to the demands of campaigning groups. Groups such as Stonewall are making millions of pounds out of pressurising organisations (including the NHS, the civil service, universities, schools, big business etc) to run their gender recognition courses. Now the sensitivity checkers are doing the same thing. Why do these organisations fall for it? And now such people are hounding Kate Forbes, a top contender for Sturgeon's job, because she follows the Free Church of Scotland (the `Wee Frees') - and yet they ignore the other main contender, Humza Haroon Yousaf, who is a Muslim.

Indeed Peter. I agree with all of the above. If it was the Roman Church or Islam that was getting attacked there would be howls of rage but as it's a minority sect, 'The Wee Frees' that are regarded as a joke by many, the detractors can get away with it.

Stanley wrote: ↑28 Feb 2023, 04:37 Groups such as Stonewall are making millions of pounds out of pressurising organisations (including the NHS, the civil service, universities, schools, big business etc) to run their gender recognition courses. Now the sensitivity checkers are doing the same thing. Why do these organisations fall for it?

In a book by Admiral Hyman Rickover: Nuclear submarine fame. He sites a case where a clerk in the military purchase department took to stamping orders 'passed by the Audit Authority'. Nobody questioned this since it had been passed. One day an order was obviously incorrect so he stamped it 'Rejected by the Audit Authority'. Obviously the Audit Authority was now a worthwhile department and the clerk requested some assistance. This grew like Topsy until someone questioned what it was really for. By this time the 'clerk' had become Head of Department and enjoyed a generous severance package.

Pro-Ukrainian rebels in Belarus have put a £274 million A-50 Russian spy plane out of action by dropping bombs on it from drones. The plane had been flying missions over Ukraine.

Tizer wrote: ↑28 Feb 2023, 10:32 Pro-Ukrainian rebels in Belarus

Sounds like a dangerous escalation to me. It's those 'rebels' again.

The Belarus president has just arrived in China for a visit.

The USA Secretary for the Treasury Janet Yellen has just visited Kyev.

Make of it all what you will.

It wasn't me who quoted Stonewall as making money Ken, it was Peter... I don't know anything about Stonewall and don't bother educating me!

Stonewall. it was from Tizer's post 27 Feb.. I blanket covered it as usual and then referenced it as usual. It came up under your name. One of life's mysteries or a software upgrade fault. Not life threatening so I left it.

I haven't fallen out with you......

Have a look at THIS Report of the BBC Reality Check team. It's possibly the most accurate information we can get at the moment if we leave aside all the leaked emails and Whatsapp messages.

Later I heard a report of THIS report of members of Benjamin Netanyahu's government inciting settler violence. This perhaps helps to explain why I have problems with Zionism. If that makes me anti-Semitic so be it but I dispute that.

Heard actually.... I'm listening to Nadine Norris putting the knife into Sue Gray and World at One.
Leaving aside the assumptions and accusations, the fact that this attack on Sue Gray is being pursued indicates how worried Johnson and his supporters are over the word that is coming out of the Privileges Committee that Johnson couldn't possibly not be aware of what was happening in Number 10 and therefore mislead parliament. All this spleen is an attempt to divert attention away from Johnson.
Mind you, what on earth was Starmer thinking about making this appointment public at what he must have known was a sensitive tine?
We are in for an interesting weekend.
Oh, by the way, Johnson says that the Privileges Committee has vindicated him. It most certainly has not, just the opposite in fact.

See THIS news that the PM is making one more bid to solve the migrant problem.....
Anyone arriving in the UK on a small boat will be prevented from claiming asylum, under new laws expected to be announced next week. Ministers will have a duty to remove anyone who comes to the UK through that route as soon as "reasonably practicable". The prime minister has made "stopping the boats" one of his five priorities. The British Red Cross, a humanitarian charity, called the plans "extremely concerning". Home Secretary Suella Braverman is expected to introduce the new legislation on Tuesday. Currently, asylum seekers have the right to remain in the country to have their case heard. Under new legislation, those who arrive in small boats will be prevented from claiming asylum in the UK, removed to Rwanda or a "safe third country" and banned from returning permanently.
Will it only apply to boat people? Or are all 'illegal migrants' included. I can understand why this new measure is causing concern.
No mention of the primary cause of the problem, the fact that because of Brexit we do not have the options that were open to us as members of the EU.

The BBC's Disinformation and social media correspondent, Marianna Spring, reporting what Twitter insiders say and her own experience as a victim of trolling on Twitter. And how Musk only goes into Twitter's offices when he has bodyguards with him...
`Twitter can’t protect you from trolls any more, insiders say' LINK