Not quite as cold as the coldest thing you can think of at
the Castle this morn, the butler is inserting fat teenagers into the furnace at
a rate of knots, his Maj is tearing around like a lunatic and I broke a tooth
last eve while eating an apple-so much for “healthy eating”.
U-Turn Cam has refused to join an EU financial crisis accord
after pointless negotiations in Brussels.
Britain and Hungary
look set to stay outside the accord, with Sweden and the Czech Republic having
to consult their parliaments on it.
A full accord of
all 27 EU members "wasn't possible, given the position of our British
friends," President Sarkozy said.
Mr Sarkozy said the
eurozone countries would sign an intergovernmental accord aimed at stabilising
the currency in the face of the debt crisis, plus any other EU members that
wanted to join.
He could have told them “Non” by text, now all we need is a
referendum....
Is allegedly going to let learner drivers on motorways from
next year, the intention is to end the situation in which young drivers can be
confronted with traffic driving at speeds of 70 mph or above without any
preparation.
Under the plans announced by Mr Penning, it will be possible
for learner drivers to undergo some training on a motorway but only if
accompanied by a qualified driving instructor.
One of the snags is that the change will not be made
compulsory because of the difficulties learner drivers in remote areas of the
country would face in finding a motorway within a reasonable distance of where
they lived.
Since taking office Mr Penning has stopped driving test
centres publicising the routes which will be used during the examination.
He has also banned the publishing of answers to the theory
test to prevent candidates learning by rote.
In a further change Mr Penning plans to ban trainee driving
instructors giving lessons unless they themselves are supervised by a fully
qualified colleague.
Ever seen a “young driver” going down a dual carriageway....
A leaky church roof could be about to give the world the
chance to glimpse the legendary Ark of the Covenant.
No one has been allowed to see the holy object, described in
scripture as being made from acacia wood, plated with gold and topped with two
golden angels, except one solitary elderly monk, who must watch over the Ark
for the remainder of his life, and is never allowed to leave the chapel
grounds.
But now the chapel – which was designed by the Ethiopian
leader Emperor Hailie Selassie – has had to be covered in a tarpaulin to stop
rain getting in.The water damage could mean the Ark will be moved for the
first time in decades giving religious worshippers and adventurers alike a
chance to see it.
The head of
bankrupt US brokerage firm MF Global, Jon Corzine, has told a congressional
committee that he has no idea where its clients' money has gone.
An estimated $1.2bn
(£760m) in customer cash is missing from accounts.
The company filed
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 31 October after making a $6.3bn bet on European
sovereign debt.
In written testimony read out to the committee Mr Corzine
apologises to "all those affected" by the businesses failure.
"I simply do
not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to
date," he added.
Ah, the old “it wasn’t me guv” defence.
Lothian and Borders Police invited tenders for a £70,000
contract to provide sandwiches for the force, giving details of the length and
flavours they were willing to accept.
The police force managed to stretch the description to 45
pages in a 10,000-word tendering document for catering firms supplying snacks
to beat officers.
The force, which has up to £70,000 to spend on just 7,500
packed lunches per year, specifies that officers will require a baguette
measuring 11 inches long, and containing one of 17 different fillings set out
in a separate spreadsheet, which include brie and cranberry, smoked salmon and
cream cheese and prawn mayonnaise.
It adds that 75 per cent of the baguettes must be made from
white bread and 25 per cent from brown, and filled to “the standard size and
weight stipulated by the British Sandwich Association”.
Crisps must be Walker’s, Mackie’s or “equivalent” and each
packet must contain “no less than 34.5 grammes of product within the bag”.
As for the water bottles, they must contain “no less than
500ml of still or carbonated spring water” which must be “supplied from
Scottish wells and springs and have been bottled in Scotland”.
Other sections of the document cover health and safety
rules, requirements for environmentally-friendly packaging, compliance with
anti-discrimination and anti-bribery laws, as well as a host of financial and
legal clauses.
On Tuesday The Daily Telegraph reported that officers had
complained “in vast numbers” about the choice of sandwich fillings in the
snacks they were given, and in particular moaning that tuna, chicken and egg
had a limited shelf life and exposed them to the risk of food poisoning.
Make your own bloody sandwiches then and save us seventy
grand.
And finally:
A cunning plan has been devised to stop the drain on
resources caused by metal thieves; North Somerset Council is trialling the use
of the new plastic, anti-skid covers in Nailsea after scores of metal ones were
stolen earlier this year.
A total of 19 manhole and drain covers, made out of wrought
iron and costing around £4,000, were stolen from across North Somerset in just
48 hours in March.
The new plastic covers cost in the region of £400 each and
last for around 15 years compared to the metal ones which cost around £110 but
need replacing every five years.
Three and bit times the times the price for three times the
life?
Anyway isn’t an anti skid manhole cover also known as a butt
plug?
That’s it: I’m orf to plumb
the depths of the moat.
And today’s thought:
Angus
2 comments:
Funny it should be there, the Ark, when it's beneath Rosslyn.
I thought it was in Roswell:)
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