Hell of a “Lord”: Cutting council cuts: Cactus cat: I me wed: Lot of photo: and Panda poo tea.

Not bad at the Castle this morn, warmish, dampish and calmish, the study is void of any broken what-knots, and I am finally orf to visit “Ms” sister in the smoke.

And today’s worm pic-getting a bit fed up with it now.

Poor old thieving Lord Hanningfield

Who stole £14,000 from us has told auntie that “he has been through "hell" for two years over his expenses.”

The former Essex County Council leader said he slept better in prison than he had during the police investigation and said: "I've paid my debt."

He said he did not believe at the time he was doing anything wrong in making claims for overnight stays in London when he actually returned to Essex.

He was jailed for nine months in July but was released on licence in September and currently wears an electronic tag and observes a 1915 GMT curfew.

 Oh dear, what a shame.....

Over the Solent

Two disabled men who faced losing their right to care won a landmark High Court case yesterday over cost cutting by their council. It was the latest in a series of rulings that threatens to disrupt the Government's attempts to slash local authority spending.

Campaigners said the judgment, in which the Isle of Wight council's plan to reduce its adult social care budget was ruled unlawful and quashed, should serve as a warning to every council that is planning cuts.

It is the second High Court ruling this week to deal a major blow to local authorities seeking to save millions of pounds by targeting adult social care in the wake of massive central government cuts to their budgets.

Mrs Justice Lang, sitting in London, ruled against the Isle of Wight's plan to restrict access to social care by making it harder for people to meet eligibility criteria. The judgment makes it unlawful for councils trying to make cuts to adult social care to ignore the impact this will have on a person's quality of life.

Piss Poor Policies Millionaires Club Coalition take note.

Way over to the left

An Arizona kitty was perched atop a giant saguaro cactus for at least three days before finally coming down on its own.

Residents living in a desert area northeast of Phoenix noticed the black cat with white patches at the very top of the 30- to 40-foot cactus.

At times, the feline would stand up and survey the area, possibly trying to figure out how to get down _ or how it got up there.

Helicopter video shows the cat eventually climbing down the cactus Friday. It started making its way down head-first before turning around and scooting backward. It finally took a big leap and landed on its feet before wandering into the desert.

Cactaceae cat.

West even further

Apparently thirty-year-old Wei-yih Chen, an office worker from Taipei, was uninspired by the men she had met from whom she would have picked a marriage partner.

So she decided to get married-to herself.

She posed for a set of photos in a flowing white dress, hired a wedding planner and rented a banquet hall for a marriage celebration with 30 friends. She even paid for a solo honeymoon to Australia!

“Age thirty is a prime period for me. My work and experience are in good shape, but I haven’t found a partner, so what can I do? It’s not that I’m anti-marriage. I just hope that I can express a different idea within the bounds of a tradition,” said Chen.

Her wedding, costing NT$50,000 (approx. US$1,500), has generated much online attention in the form of more than 1,800 mostly sympathetic comments.

Bet her wedding night was a blast....

 

Right more than a smidge and a bit

A 1999 photograph of the Rhine River by German artist Andreas Gursky has sold for $4.3 million in New York City, setting a record for any photograph sold at auction.

Titled "Rhein II," the chromogenic colour print face-mounted to acrylic glass, had a pre-sale estimate of $2.5 million to $3.5 million.

It sold Tuesday at Christie's. The buyer was not disclosed.

The previous record for any photography sold at auction was Cindy Sherman's "Untitled," which fetched $3.8 million at Christie's in May.

Gursky's panoramic image of the Rhine is one of an edition of six photographs. Four are in major museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate Modern in London.

 

Must have a look through the old photo albums for the most boring pic I can find.

And finally:

Back over to the East

College lecture An Yanshi has collected five tons of panda excrement to create a new type of tea.

He believes the rich fertiliser will give rise to a unique aroma that will make his brew a connoisseurs' favourite, which he will be able to sell for up to £50,000 per kilo.

'Pandas have a very poor digestive system and only absorb about 30 per cent of everything they eat. That means their excrement is rich in fibres and nutrients,' Yanshi explained.

'It has a mature, nutty taste and a very distinctive aroma while it's brewing.'

Yanshi, who collects the poo by the lorry load from the Giant Panda breeding centre in Chengdu, Sichuan province, southern China, aims to secure the Guinness World Record once his first batch of the expensive blend is ready for sale.

Can’t wait to see that in Tesco’s.

That’s it: I’m orf to the centre of the Earth. 

And today’s thought: Never feed your cat anything that doesn't match the carpet.

Angus