New Year's Day - Saturday, 1st January 2022 (& Sun & Mon)

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sat 01 Jan, 2022 9:16 am

Good morfternoon.

notnowsonny · Post by **notnowsonny** » Sat 01 Jan, 2022 9:50 am

@clanger from NYE
Mrs Sonny responds: Mushy peas with mint sauce is a must especially on market days then onto chips from Brewers stall followed by a plate of cockles. My mum would always have tripe with her chips, not for me. Finish up with chitterlings and jot to take home for my dad - not to my taste

notnowsonny · Post by **notnowsonny** » Sat 01 Jan, 2022 10:06 am

@sky
I was a bit pissed (in the correct meaning not the Americanism creeping in nowadays) mainly due to two glug-glug brandies at the end of an excellent evening.
The grocer’s apostrophe really gets me so to be guilty of one myself (albeit via auto correct) in East Anglican’s was galling. I noticed the ( obviously silent) c this morning!
Saw Pete Postlethwaite as Macbeth in Bradford 20-odd years ago. He played it as Obadiah Hakeswill from Sharpe and was head and shoulders above the rest of the cast.

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Sat 01 Jan, 2022 10:13 am

Good morning and Happy New Year everyone.

It's a tad blustery but we're off to the beach regardless.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sat 01 Jan, 2022 10:19 am

Any chance of extending this thread to cover 2nd and 3rd Jan, mods?

tinyclanger2 · Post by **tinyclanger2** » Sat 01 Jan, 2022 10:56 am

Happy New Year fellow nesters.
I would also pass on the cockles.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sat 01 Jan, 2022 11:07 am

AnatolyKasparov wrote: ↑Sat 01 Jan, 2022 10:19 am Any chance of extending this thread to cover 2nd and 3rd Jan, mods?

Why? What earthly difference does it make to you?

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sat 01 Jan, 2022 11:09 am

tinyclanger2 wrote: ↑Sat 01 Jan, 2022 10:56 am Happy New Year fellow nesters.
I would also pass on the cockles.

You can pass them on to me - I love cockles.

tinyclanger2 · Post by **tinyclanger2** » Sat 01 Jan, 2022 11:33 am

Will do.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sat 01 Jan, 2022 12:09 pm

PorFavor wrote: ↑Sat 01 Jan, 2022 11:07 am
AnatolyKasparov wrote: ↑Sat 01 Jan, 2022 10:19 am Any chance of extending this thread to cover 2nd and 3rd Jan, mods?
Why? What earthly difference does it make to you?

Because covering a whole weekend (plus any bank holidays) is the done thing on here and has been for a very long time?

Its nothing personal you know, anybody who starts a daily thread is doing us a service

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sat 01 Jan, 2022 1:27 pm

I didn't take it personally.

frog222 · Post by **frog222** » Sat 01 Jan, 2022 1:45 pm

PorFavor wrote: ↑Sat 01 Jan, 2022 1:27 pm I didn't take it personally.

It makes sense, and
HNY to all !

Early to bed, late to rise for the NY, I was leaving the kitchen free for a very sweet Rescue kitten to get used to his new surroundings.
He is doing a lot of 'hiding' . I can get my hand into the favourite one and he ate some tuna and biscuits, and only bit a finger accidentally! Also encouraging he was house-trained and uses his litter , OUF

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Sat 01 Jan, 2022 3:23 pm

Happy New Year everyone.

The London fireworks tv show was kind of naff, I thought. I never realised before that all the people actually there enjoying it in person was what made watching it on tv from home fun. Without the crowds it was very underwhelming. Same everywhere I guess and fair enough, of course. Covid is still very much a problem, however much Boris and co bury their heads in the sand. It's having too many unpredictable, long term effects on too many people to easily live with, even if vaccines and better treatments are reducing the number of deaths. I still feel we need to make some permanent changes - preventative things like filtration systems for schools and hospitals but also a permanent increase in healthcare resources to deal with all the extra patients and vaccination programmes Covid is generating, rather than continually diverting resources from elsewhere.

Current government, unfortunately, are more interested in preparing the NHS for sale than delivering an effective universal healthcare system. We will all pay the price, one way or another.

So maybe that should be "not so happy" New Year.

frog222 · Post by **frog222** » Sat 01 Jan, 2022 5:42 pm

Here you go

frog222 · Post by **frog222** » Sat 01 Jan, 2022 6:29 pm

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sun 02 Jan, 2022 10:46 am

Good morning, all.

And disagree with the above tbh, those two girls were doing nothing actually wrong and dunking on them in such a fashion isn't cool.

frog222 · Post by **frog222** » Sun 02 Jan, 2022 1:17 pm

On a brighter note --

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sun 02 Jan, 2022 3:32 pm

Nice day today (too nice for the time of year, arguably)

Anybody about?

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Sun 02 Jan, 2022 4:43 pm

Good afternoon.

Well, both the kids have now left having eaten us out of house and home...

And the Twitter a/c Politics For All* has been suspended

* apparently run by the 19 y.o. who runs The Spectator media accounts...

frog222 · Post by **frog222** » Sun 02 Jan, 2022 5:28 pm

"" Before Edgar Wright and Wes Anderson, before Chuck Jones and Jackie Chan, there was Buster Keaton, one of the founding fathers of visual comedy. And nearly 100 years after he first appeared onscreen, we’re still learning from him. Today, I’d like to talk about the artistry (and the thinking) behind his gags. Press the CC button to see the names of the films. ""

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sun 02 Jan, 2022 5:37 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote: ↑Sun 02 Jan, 2022 4:43 pm Good afternoon.

Well, both the kids have now left having eaten us out of house and home...

And the Twitter a/c Politics For All* has been suspended

* apparently run by the 19 y.o. who runs The Spectator media accounts...

Never liked or trusted it.

Post by **refitman** » Sun 02 Jan, 2022 6:48 pm

frog222 wrote: ↑Sun 02 Jan, 2022 5:28 pm "" Before Edgar Wright and Wes Anderson, before Chuck Jones and Jackie Chan, there was Buster Keaton, one of the founding fathers of visual comedy. And nearly 100 years after he first appeared onscreen, we’re still learning from him. Today, I’d like to talk about the artistry (and the thinking) behind his gags. Press the CC button to see the names of the films. ""

Ha! I was watching Every Frame A Painting earlier. Shame he doesn't make videos any more.

frog222 · Post by **frog222** » Sun 02 Jan, 2022 7:55 pm

@RFM -- great fun !

Sky'sGoneOut · Post by **Sky'sGoneOut** » Sun 02 Jan, 2022 9:26 pm

Vengeance: A Love Story

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5460530/?ref_=tt_urv

A beardless Nicolas Cage plays a cop who dyes his hair. At a bar one evening an attractive lady gives Nicolas Cage her phone number before leaving and being gang raped and brutaly beaten in front of her daughter on the way home. This displeases Nicolas Cage though you can only tell this by his actions because they obviously only paid him enough for a single facial expression. Don Johnson from Miami Vice turns up for some reason as a sleazy lawyer trying to get the rapists off but doesn't get the chance because Nicolas Cage shoots them all. The end.

Cageometer rating - 1/5

Nicolas Cage is only in the film for about 20 minutes, at no point does he go insane, in fact his performance would suggest he was on a cocktail of sedatives during the production. When he finally does wreak vengeance upon the miscreants he simply shoots them without ceremony.

It was dull, plodding and utterly predictable. About as far from a shamanistic experience as it's possible to imagine. Yet on Amazon Prime it has 4/5 stars. Mind you Amazon Prime seems to think 'Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit' is a documentary. Seriously, if you search documentaries it's right there next to 'The boys who killed Jamie Bulger'.

Post by **PaulfromYorkshire** » Sun 02 Jan, 2022 9:39 pm

Someone just retweeted this year-old thread from Jon Stone - I guess it’s relevant to the knighthood

frog222 · Post by **frog222** » Sun 02 Jan, 2022 10:09 pm

PaulfromYorkshire wrote: ↑Sun 02 Jan, 2022 9:39 pm Someone just retweeted this year-old thread from Jon Stone - I guess it’s relevant to the knighthood

DO have a look at the thread !

A reminder that despite the few obviously Nice Things, New Labour was very much indeed the Other Nasty Party and almost , perhaps even in fact THE Nastier Party, NO KIDDING.

FOR just a few examples…. completely privatising the NHS, lowering taxes on the rich, punishing any minority available, doing away with Unions, conniving with the S*N to make & announce policy, deporting LGBT people to definite persecution (aka ‘death’ ) , conniving in torture & ‘rendition’ , destroying social housing and EVEN arguing for the good aspects of the Glorious Empire !

And that’s just a few of ’em.

Sky'sGoneOut · Post by **Sky'sGoneOut** » Sun 02 Jan, 2022 10:20 pm

That's quite a rap sheet and it doesn't even mention illegal wars and dodgy PFI contracts. I'm glad I never voted for them.

Out of curiosity I had to look up what the spectacularly dense Hazel Blears is doing now. According to Wikipedia...

In May 2015 Blears became a director of The Co-operative Group and is a member of the Risk and Audit Committee and Nominations Committee, for which she was paid £60,000 a year for which she was expected a minimum of one or two days' work per month.

Sigh.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sun 02 Jan, 2022 10:50 pm

Blears - of course - started out as a left winger, even in 1995 she opposed Blair's rewrite of Clause 4.

Her coming last in the 2007 deputy leadership contest was undoubtedly the most pleasing aspect of that election.

Sky'sGoneOut · Post by **Sky'sGoneOut** » Sun 02 Jan, 2022 11:25 pm

Final Covid report.

After a week I feel pretty much back to normal and my brother is now thanking me for infecting him because he can use it to skive off work all next week. My folks seem fine with really mild symptoms, in fact out of all of us I've clearly had it the worst.

For those who say it's just like a cold or mild flu it isn't, at least it wasn't for me. Your basic symptoms are superficially similar but looking back over the last week it's like I've been in a drug induced haze the whole time. I sat staring gormlessly at a crossword unable to remember how a crossword puzzle worked, never mind getting any of the clues. For some bizarre reason I put a roll of toilet paper in the fridge. Reading was painfully slow and after about 5 pages I had to give up because it became too difficult. The 'brain fog' thing is real and I've never experienced anything like it before, or the muffled senses. Imagine being out on a crisp, bright Winter's day and everything feels wrong, the light seems dim, the sound muffled and you can't feel the breeze properly on your skin. That was weird.

As experiences go it was interesting but would I recommend it? I'd have to say no. Sorry Covid. Not that my opinion makes much difference, in this country everyone's going to get it whether they like it or not. That's the plan.

Sky'sGoneOut · Post by **Sky'sGoneOut** » Sun 02 Jan, 2022 11:48 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote: ↑Sun 02 Jan, 2022 10:50 pm Blears - of course - started out as a left winger, even in 1995 she opposed Blair's rewrite of Clause 4.

Her coming last in the 2007 deputy leadership contest was undoubtedly the most pleasing aspect of that election.

I shall never forget the debate on Newsnight and her little face just poking over the podium.

It took me a while to work out that was John Cruddas next to Hain. I must admit I'd forgotten he even existed.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 1:24 am

The most entertaining thing about Hazel Blears was her husband billing the public for his porn.

Sky'sGoneOut · Post by **Sky'sGoneOut** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 1:55 am

That was the Smith woman.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 1:55 am

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 2:00 am

So it was. Jacqui Smith? They were all much of a muchness.

Sky'sGoneOut · Post by **Sky'sGoneOut** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 2:02 am

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 2:04 am

Home secretary Jacqui Smith embarrassed by new expenses row
This article is more than 12 years old
Jacqui Smith apologises over adult films expenses claim (Guardian)

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... enses-film

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 2:06 am

Although Priti Patel has done much worse since.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 2:23 am

Night night.

Sky'sGoneOut · Post by **Sky'sGoneOut** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 2:54 am

tinyclanger2 · Post by **tinyclanger2** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 8:34 am

Evening - or more accurately Morning - all.

Post by **PaulfromYorkshire** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 10:46 am

@Sky @AK

I am proud to say that I danced with Hazel Blears at a fundraiser at the Queens Hotel

Post by **PaulfromYorkshire** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 10:47 am

For clarity I didn’t pay specifically to dance with her!!!

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 10:58 am

Good morning.

An interesting tweet about a party of the very worst people imaginable...

frog222 · Post by **frog222** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 11:42 am

Mmmm!

RogerOThornhill wrote: ↑Mon 03 Jan, 2022 10:58 am Good morning.
An interesting tweet about a party of the very worst people imaginable...

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1477 ... 43428.html

When I first heard about this I was intrigued to see who had been invited. Some of the names we’re familiar to me, but many of them were not. I’ve been meaning to look into this for some time. Now I have. Let me share with you what I’ve found out. #GaslitNation
Image

As that Orwell bloke pointed out, if you want to control a population, it helps to control the narrative. If all we see & hear, from multiple sources, is the same information, then it can only reinforce the feeling that “it must be right” & a majority will go along with it.
I suspected that, on top of their billionaire bosses interests, there may be other forces at play. It was clearly the case that some media influencers were already active in 55 Tufton Street but also with US “Think Tanks”: Heritage, ATLAS, Cato Institute, TPA etc. I wondered if..
..they might also work for the UK versions of US think tanks, which have been so successful at delivering legislation for the rich in the USA and are busy shaping policy as charities in the UK. The Charities Commission decides on their status. Meet guest no.50, William Shawcross.
William is a former Charities Commissioner. These lobbyist think tanks, sorry, charities, were formed on his watch. His wife is guest no.45, Olga Polizzi, a Tory councillor on Westminster Council & sister of guest No.12, billionaire donor Sir Rocco Forte of hotel fame. Eleanor..
.. is their daughter. Eleanor Shawcross (Oxford) ran Johnson’s mayoral campaign. Eleanor is married to Lord Simon Wolfson, Next CEO & Tory donor, the son of Conservative life peer David Wolfson of Sunningdale. They also advised George Osborne in no.11 & later in the City.
In July 2020 Eleanor was nominated as a NED on the Board of the Sec of State & Dept for Work & Pensions, responsible for setting policy. So, no direct link to think tanks there, but the revolving door between donors, the City & the Government is alive & well for family members.
Having worked through the guest list, various themes emerged: rich donors, journalists, royal family connections, libertarian lobby groups &, most unexpectedly: the Catholic Church. Hold that thought as I’ll return to it, first journos & think tanks.
Let’s start with the organiser, Allison Pearson, who has written for every RW paper there is. She is also on the Advisory Council of the Free Speech Union set up by the infamous Toby Young. Also on the FSU is Radomir Tylecote of the notoriously dark money IEA & Eric Kaufmann.
Fellow IEA member & guest no.1 Kate Andrews, Associate Director at the IEA & Economics Editor at The Spectator. Also HO Comms at the Adam Smith Institute. The IEA also claims that Telegraph columnist, guest no.15, Madeline Grant is an IEA Editorial Manager. Nothing to see here

Guest no.6 is Janet Daley of the Daily Mail who is also to be found moonlighting at the Centre for Policy Studies yet another RW think tank, where she’s in the company of unHerd’s Tim Montgomerie, guest no.34, & also Harriet Sergeant, guest no.51. More dark money in play.
Tim also founded ConservativeHome website with Jonathan Isaby, guest no.24; Jonathan has his very own RW think tank, Politiea, where he is listed as a Director. Politiea is ancient Greek word meaning City State, which seems appropriate for the course we’ve been embarked upon.
I’ve mapped out all the links in the public domain in the image below (there are too many to list in a

). In a nutshell the Brexit Batallion is a snapshot of today’s elites, supping with their enablers, whilst scheming to engineer a narrative that continues to serve them best.
Image
I mentioned that I’d return to the Catholic Church. Charles Moore converted to Catholicism when the CofE decided to ordain females. It was clearly a step too far for him. He’s one of those rare people who ticks every box: religious, rich, DT, titled, climate denier, regressive.
Baron Moore of Etchingham started working at the Spectator when it was owned by John “Algy” Cluff, owner of Cluff Resources, which specialised in support activities to the Oil & Gas industry. Moore is a Trustee at the Global Warming Policy Foundation (55 Tufton St)..
Criticised for its bias & flagrant misinformation, GWPF was forced to create a non-charitable subsidiary, Global Warming Policy Forum, to continue the #Gaslighting. (A major donor is Michael Hintze whose dodgy advisor Oliver Hylton caused Liam Fox to resign as Sec for Defence.)
Finally, Moore is a former Chairman of the Policy Exchange think tank & is now listed on their website as being a visiting academic. Various articles talk about Britain’s new place on the world stage, a major maritime force etc. Lots of wishful thinking by avid Brexit believers.
Moore is also Founder-Chairman of the Rectory Society & patron of the Latin Mass Society, which is literally trying to make Catholic mass available in Latin. On that regressive note, I think we’ll move on from Baron Moore of Etchingham, enobled by Johnson, a former DT columnist.
This collection of professionals is literally conspiring to stop any progressive activity that they or their bosses disagree with, from gender equality to taxing the hydrocarbon industry. So far they’re winning. #GaslitNation
Image

frog222 · Post by **frog222** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 11:42 am

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 11:44 am

Are they actually winning, though?

And the number of replies saying "there is no hope" is doing their work for them.

frog222 · Post by **frog222** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 12:16 pm

frog222 · Post by **frog222** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 1:15 pm

Completely imbecile level of WATO on bloody masks for skools , a few minutes ago !

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 2:04 pm

I've been watching quite a bit of Kdrama on Netflix lately and something that particularly stands out is that they frequently reference the corrupt relationships between politicians, businessmen and the media. Themes such as gentrification, bribery and corruption come up again and again, often as a subplot in shows that have a mix of genres - romance, thriller, supernatural ghost story - and it's clear these are big issues in South Korea. What I find heartening, though, is that the corruption is widely acknowledged and considered wrong. The perpetrators get their comeuppance and end up in jail. Although this undoubtedly happens considerably less often in real life than in dramas, even seeing fictional corrupt politicians paying for their crimes seems a step up from where we are in this country where we can't even seem to acknowledge such corruption even exists. While the links between mafia and politics in Italy is well recognised, for instance, equivalent dodgy dealings within British society seem strangely glossed over. It's there. We know it happens, yet it seems so less acknowledged, talked about, dramatized etc than in other countries. Proven corruption is met with such indifference in this country, it's frustrating. Is it because we have a poorer record of prosecuting it than other countries, therefore people believe it doesn't exist? Or is it just easier to recognise from the outside? Can people from other countries around us better see what we don't? Or have the natural critics of such shenanigans somehow lost their voice? "Yes, Minister", "The New Statesman", "State of Play", "The Thick of It" - is there a modern equivalent I've missed or have we just completely given up?

frog222 · Post by **frog222** » Mon 03 Jan, 2022 4:28 pm

@Willow -- well said .
Looking more and more like an out-of-control banana monarchy (without bananas).
Not holding up this place as incredibly better, but we do have publicly-funded investigating magistrates, ministers do then get held for questioning, their offices searched & they occasionally go to jail, while England has only the crowdfunded Good Law Project and the likes of others such as Gina Miller!

Pushback against Trump's SCOTUS