Wet, windy and washed out at the Castle this morn, bit of a
disturbed night-it started at one of the am with a thunder storm and a deluge of
skywater which is still going on.
The study is filling up with deteriorating do-dahs and his
(no nuts) Maj is allowed to escape into the garden today-shame about the
meteorology...
And apparently the weather for "bonfire night" is going to be piss poor-oh dear....
Apparently
Nick (who?) Cleggie is threatening to veto a controversial Treasury plan to
freeze pensions and state benefits next April.
Son of a B...aronet (and alien reptile in disguise) George
Osborne, who is allegedly the Chancellor, is considering whether to break the
Government's pledge to raise benefits in line with inflation in order to save
up to £10bn. But the move has provoked a rift with the Liberal Democrats, who
are arguing that the most vulnerable people in society should not bear the
brunt of efforts to reduce the deficit.
Mr Osborne, who will announce his decision on 29 November,
has a dilemma because inflation is rising faster than earnings. The
Government's policy is to increase most benefits each April in line with the
consumer prices index (CPI) the previous September – 5.2 per cent this year.
It has also pledged to raise the basic state pension by
whichever is the higher of three figures; 2.5 per cent, the rise in average
earnings (currently 2.5 per cent) or the CPI. The Liberal Democrats have
trumpeted this "triple lock" on pensions as a major "win"
inside the Coalition because it featured in their election manifesto last year.
Yesterday Downing Street dismissed the idea that benefits
might not be fully indexed as "rumour and speculation".
A bit like the hike in VAT and tuition fees then...
Managed to make a 55-billion euro ($75 billion) bookkeeping
blunder that exposed it to ridicule across Europe, the Teutonic finance
minister said Wednesday.
Wolfgang Schaeuble said it was "an extremely annoying
mistake" for the nationalised mortgage bank Hypo Real Estate (HRE) and the
PwC accountancy firm to have let such an error slip through undetected.
The Berlin government has been scathing about Greece's bookkeeping practices during the euro zone crisis.
"I don't believe in looking for scapegoats," Schaeuble told a news conference after summoning executives from HRE and the accountancy firm to his office.
"Everyone promised improvements."
From Rio de
Janeiro's famed Copacabana beach to the busy streets of its downtown area,
dozens of fibreglass cows took up their positions on Thursday (November 3) as
the CowParade exhibition kicked off.
Brazilian artists
painted and decorated the 72 life-sized sculptures, placed at key places in the
city, including some of the city's once-notorious slums.
Along Copacabana
beach, a cow that was holding a guitar in tribute to the Rock in Rio festival
won admirers.
In Ipanema beach, a
blue cow wearing a snorkel and flippers also caught the eye of passers-by.
The sculptures will
be on display until December 20. At the end of the exhibit, the cows will be
auctioned and the money will be donated to charity institutions.
CowParade has been
held in more than 50 cities around the world since it was founded in Chicago in
1999. It first arrived in Brazil in the business capital of Sao Paulo in 2005.
Mooving tale...
San Francisco is drawing the line at nude public dining.
The
city's Board of Supervisors has adopted new rules that ban naked people from
eating in restaurants, and forces nudists to place a cover on public chairs and
benches before they sit down, the San Francisco Examiner reported.
Anyone who disobeys the new code will be fined $100 for a first offence,
$200 for a second offence and three-time offenders face a $1,000 fine and up to
a year in jail.The law was approved in an 11-0 vote with no debate and will face final consideration next week before it can be signed into law by Mayor Ed Lee.
Public nudity is generally tolerated in the city and is particularly popular in the Castro neighbourhood.
No sausages on the tables then....
A student has
designed an eco-friendly vacuum cleaner made out of its own cardboard
packaging.
Jake Tyler, 23,
from Birmingham, came up with the idea as part of his final year project at
Loughborough University.
And manufacturers
Vax were so impressed that they are to mass produce it and put it on sale next
year.
Created with the
help of engineers at Vax, the vacuum is made up from the very box that it comes
in - even down to the wheels.
Mr Tyler, who
achieved a first class honours degree in his Industrial Design and Technology
course, has now landed his dream job with Vax.
Vax spokesperson Jo
Sawyer said: "It's a high performance vacuum cleaner constructed for
optimum sustainability, using recycled and recyclable materials that reduce the
burden on landfill."
And finally:
Blow up dolls; vibrators and an urn containing ashes are
among items placed in recycling bins, a council revealed today.
Enfield Council in London said it "beggared
belief" what some of its residents tried to recycle as it published a list
of some of the most extreme cases.
These include dead pets, oil paintings, a fish tank, sex
toys, and a plastic Christmas tree which was placed in an organic waste bin.
Refuse collectors discovered an urn containing the ashes of
a person or animal - so placed it back on the property's doorstep.
Councillor Chris Bond said: "It's no laughing matter
because if recycling is contaminated it has to be sent to landfill and it costs
us a fortune to dispose of it.
No, it costs us a fortune...
That’s it: I’m orf to charge up the
iPhone
And today’s thought:
"I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something." -Jackie Mason
Angus
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