Tesco riots: Another slice out of the NHS: Barcelona Bikini Ban: Labrador Ice Island: Smile-you are going to be exhumed: and a show jumping Rabbit.

Sunny, nippy and a touch windy at the Castle this morn, the Honda is shiny red again (for a while) and apparently there was some sort of a do in the smoke yesterday.

On a personal note-“happy birthday” to my lovely “M” who would have been 60 today, my turn in few months, doesn’t time fly………

Forgot to put this in earlier.

The first Roses are out in the garden, this is a scented dog rose which I bought from Wilkinsons ten years ago, it was a four inch "stick" and cost 50p, and smells like Turkish Delight-go on,. have a sniff, you know you want to....

Dahn in Bristol

Police launched an eviction raid on a Bristol squat yesterday after riots raged for a second time in a suburb that has become a focal point for anger against heavy-handed policing.

More than 30 people were arrested after another night of violence in Stokes Croft, a bohemian suburb of Bristol that is vehemently opposed to the opening of a Tesco store.

Last week's protests centered on the opening of the new Tesco store, but many local residents of Stokes Croft yesterday voiced concerns that their demonstrations had been hijacked by outsiders keen to fight with the police.

Bloody Tesco.

And: John Healey, the shadow health secretary, raised questions over the timing of an official announcement that hospitals may need to make savings far greater than those already planned.

He said the statement by Monitor, that leading hospitals must make savings of up to 7 per cent a year, proved that the re-organisation of the NHS and cost-cutting plans are putting the system under “huge strain”.

Mr Healey said: “With all eyes on the Royal Wedding, the Government is trying to bury bad news on the NHS.

“This confirms the combination of broken promises on NHS funding and re-organisation is putting a huge strain on hospitals. David Cameron must halt his high-risk, high cost overhaul of the NHS.

“The Prime Minister promised to protect the NHS but his health policies are piling extra pressure on health services, and patients are starting to see the NHS going backwards again under the Tories.”

In plans established under Labour, the NHS must make efficiency savings of 4 per cent of its budget by 2015, totaling £20billion.

Many trusts have already announced job cuts and service reductions, although ministers want them to concentrate on reducing waste.

But Monitor, which oversees the 137 leading hospitals known as Foundation Trusts, has warned them that they may need to make savings of at least 50 per cent more than initially thought.

In a letter published on Thursday, the day before the royal wedding, the regulator said it had revised its figures on the basis of last year’s spending review, current inflation expectations and new NHS operating rules.

The Department of Health insisted the NHS is in a “strong financial position” and that the higher savings estimates represented Monitor’s worst-case scenario.

“We are investing an extra £11.5 billion into the NHS by 2014/15. But higher costs and an ageing population mean that the NHS must meet the highest possible financial standards and find savings to reinvest into patient care.

“Monitor's assessment of 6 per cent to 7 per cent is its 'downside case', meaning it is more pessimistic. But it is right that Monitor's assessments are challenging - we want all hospitals to be able to meet Monitor's standards and show that they can provide sustainable, high quality and efficient services for their patients.”

Well, excuse me for getting “old” and paying all that money to the Gov for all those years……

Down a fair bit

Tourists in Barcelona who wander off the beach onto the streets in just their swimming costumes -- or even less -- will now face stiff fines.

The city hall voted on Friday to ban "nudity or virtual nudity in public places" and limit swimming costumes to swimming pools, beaches, adjacent roads and beach walks.

Nudists who stray off their designated areas of the beach will be subject to fines of 300 to 500 euros ($450 to 750).

Those who wander into the streets in bikinis, swimming trunks or swimsuits face fines of 120 to 300 euros.

Authorities in the city, where the port and the beach areas are adjacent to the historic old town, earlier this year put up posters discouraging such behaviour.

They showed a couple in swimming costumes with a red line across it next to another couple dressed normally but without the red line.

With the new regulations, city authorities hope to "ensure coexistence between citizens in public areas," but denied that they are "telling people how they should dress," said the city councillor in charge of security, Assumpta Escarp.

You have been warned….don’t hang out in Barcelona

Left quite a distance

A massive chunk of ice that broke off a glacier in Greenland is drifting towards Labrador, the Canadian Coast Guard has warned.

Currently, the so-called ice island is moving through icy portions of the Labrador Sea where there is little human activity, but it's making its way south towards areas with lots of shipping activity, said Dan Frampton, superintendent of ice operations with the coast guard's Newfoundland and Labrador division.

But by the time it reaches an area where it could pose a risk, it will likely be broken into less dangerous ice chunks, said Frampton.

So what’s all the bleedin fuss about then? Unless your ship is named Titanic……..

A while back I did a snippet on the hunt for the “real” Mona Lisa

Researchers have now begun their hunt for the remains of the woman who might have been the model for Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, hoping to unravel a mystery that has baffled art historians for over five centuries.

A team of experts armed with a special radar device descended this week on a dilapidated convent in Florence where they believe the body of the woman who modelled for da Vinci back in the 16th century is buried.

The real Mona Lisa, Italian art historians say, was Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a rich Florentine silk merchant named Francesco del Giocondo who is thought to have commissioned the portrait -- although there is no definitive proof of this.

The researchers say that if they can find her skull, they will be able to reconstruct her face and compare it with the painting.

Grave robbing in the name of “art”.

And finally:

Right a bit to Germany

The very hoppy bunny, Snoopy from Jena, Germany, earns his carrots by trying to jump as high as he can around specially designed rabbit race courses.

The sport sees little Snoopy leaping over a number of dressage style fences arranged at different heights as well as taking part in long-jump and high-jump challenges.

Snoopy's owner Claudia Fehlen says that the black and white rabbit can reach up to 60 centimetres high (about 2 feet).  

23-year-old Miss Fehlen is very proud of Snoopy saying: 'He has done well in tournaments. He came in second once, and third another time.'

Miss Fehlen found out about the sport five years ago on the internet and has been training her rabbits since 2009.

Rabbit jumping is said to have been invented in the early eighties in Sweden and is now taking parts of Europe, America Canada and Japan by storm.

Japan and storm aren't really two words you want to see in the same sentence.

That’s it: I’m orf to search for older Gaels. 

And today’s thought: Can we please have news other than the “Royal Wedding” on the TV today…

Angus

THE big day: PPP Dave C is upping the game: “Companion Animals”: Noosa bums: Fishzillas: and …bless.

It is finally here, the day that the world has been waiting for, the weather is perfect-slightly cloudy. Not too hot or cold and calm.

All the preparations are made, the crowds have been gathering for days in anticipation, the barriers are up, the police cordon is in place and the worlds press are ensconced in temporary towers with cameras trained on the “arena”.

The excitement is building and you can feel the electricity in the air, and with military precision at exactly 10.59am on this Friday morn………………..I will step into the courtyard and begin washing the Honda.

Well……….there’s not much else going on…..is there?

Piss Poor Policies Dave C (or U-turn Cam as he will henceforth be known) is at it again.

In an interview broadcast on US TV network CBS last night, U-turn Cam was asked whether he could envisage arming the rebel forces "in a more significant way".

He replied: "I wouldn't rule that out, but what we have done so far is we've helped the rebels, in line with the UN resolution 1973, to protect civilian life by giving them better communications equipment."

Downing Street stressed that there were no current plans to arm Libyan rebels.

Yeah right.

According to “Academics”

Animal lovers should stop calling their furry or feathered friends “pets” because the term is insulting.

Domestic dogs, cats, hamsters or budgerigars should be rebranded as “companion animals” while owners should be known as “human carers”, they insist.

Even terms such as wildlife are dismissed as insulting to the animals concerned – who should instead be known as “free-living”, the academics including an Oxford professor suggest.

The call comes from the editors of the Journal of Animal Ethics, a new academic publication devoted to the issue.

I no longer have an “animal companion” but when I did she didn’t care what I called her as long as her food bowl was full, and there was a nice warm lap available.

Dahn Unda

The Nude Olympics is on this weekend on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, with about 500 people expected to compete.

The annual event at Alexandria Bay Beach in the Noosa National Park was due to be held in March but had to be postponed due to floodwaters damaging the walking tracks to the beach.

Organiser Dean says the emphasis on Sunday's event is having fun rather than winning gold medals.

"We do a lot of beach sprints, egg-throwing contests, conga lines, marathons, tug of wars," he said.

"There's a whole bucket load of stuff we do, but like I say, the emphasis is more on fun and camaraderie than out-and-out blood and guts glory.

"As in most events the umpire's decision is final, but when we get down to events like the men and women's 'best bum' or the 'magnificent mums' we usually have to fight the judges off with a stick because everybody wants to get involved with presenting those medals."

What a crack!

Across to Brooklyn

A man has been accused of illegally importing nearly 4,000 snakehead fish, otherwise known as 'Fishzillas'.

The Brooklyn seafood importer has been accused of illegally importing the predatory freshwater creature that has been outlawed in New York State since 2004.

Yong Hao Wu, a co-owner of Howei Trading, Inc., of Brooklyn, faces up to four years in prison if convicted on charges of felony commercialisation of wildlife and importing fish dangerous to indigenous fish populations.

Snakeheads are air-breathers and can travel short distances over land, writhing their body and fins until they reach a suitable aquatic habitat, according to prosecutors.

That’s handy-a fish that eats its own chips.

And finally:

Get your hankies out

After discovering a teeny tiny baby rabbit abandoned by its mum in their garden, an American family realised it was paraplegic and set about crafting it an appropriately small cart-type contraption to help it get around.

Meals on wheels.

That’s it: I’m orf to count Blue Hares.

And today’s thought: "We have a firm commitment to NATO; we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe." - Dan Quayle

Angus

Piss poor Policies Dave C’s Piss Poor performance: Fit for work ESA not fit for purpose: Oil be back: Ghosts of Bedlam: Take a seat: and Shoot the victim.

‘Tis cold and windy at the Castle this morn, the kitchen is full of non working computers, the butler is out collecting more fat teenagers for the furnace, and my shiny red Honda is now completely yellow.

As usual I watched what is laughingly called “Prime Minister’s” question time, and the “calm down dear” attempt of the most inept PM ever to grace our green and chilly land to play to the TV audience.

Not bothered about the PC side of the comment, the phrase has been about for years in the insurance advert, what bothers me is the complete inability of Piss Poor Policies Dave to string together enough words to give us information about our economy without resorting to childish comments.

It seems that we are “Governed” by the Eton dorm gang with the nouse of a leprous Armadillo and the common sense of an onion.

Who voted for this bunch of lacklustre pillocks?

And according to Chris Grayling three out of four benefits claimants are fit for work.

Three quarters of people who applied to claim sickness benefits for the first time turned out to be fully capable of work, new figures show.

Four out of 10 applicants for the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) were found to be fit to undertake employment after being forced to submit to tough new health assessments.

Another 36 per cent abandoned their application before submitting to medical tests, leading ministers to suggest that many gave up their attempt after realising that they would have to be assessed by a doctor.

Just six per cent were signed off work, with another 16 per cent found to be capable of some form of employment if they received help and support.

Or in other words 40 percent were found capable of work, 16 percent were found incapable and 36 percent still had enough pride left not to submit to the “Billy no mates” quacks that take money from the exchequer in order to fail the sick, instead of working in hospitals and GP surgeries where they belong, but then again they already have a job-or two….

Over the what not to the colonies

Rises in fuel prices have led to an increase in the number of used fryer grease (oil) rustlers roaming restaurant alleys in the United States.

Grease thefts have spiked whenever fuel prices climbed during the last four years and this spring is no different, according to Tom Cook, president of the National Renderers Association.

"It's on the rise and it's because of higher oil prices," Cook told Reuters in a telephone interview. "I have one member who told me it's costing his business $1 million a year."

Recyclers typically contract with restaurants to pick up the waste product. The grease is cleaned and sold for use as bio fuel, livestock feed and other products.

An Omaha recycler has filed theft reports with police in Omaha and Lincoln in Nebraska, and Sioux City, Iowa. Thieves recently stole about 4,200 pounds (1,909 kgs) of used grease from six Lincoln fast-food restaurants.

Processed fryer oil is not trash. It is called yellow grease and is traded. Its value is driven by higher prices of gas and ethanol.

Recyclers and collectors pay restaurants about 18 cents a pound for grease. After further processing, it can be sold for 42 to 45 cents a pound, said Cook, who is based in Alexandria, Virginia.

Naughty, naughty-but you can tell the culprits by the smell of chips when a diesel motor drives past.

Dahn Unda

Haunting images of bedlam - an Australian lunatic asylum that opened more than 170 years ago.

An exhibition by photographer Yvette Worboys titled Ghosts has captured eerie images of the former Gladesville Mental Hospital, in Sydney, which opened in November 1838 and closed in 1997.

Worboys, who has lived in the area most of her life, said she was drawn to the partly derelict hospital by its residual energy.

"There is quite a presence, an energy there," Worboys said.

The hospital was originally called the Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum.

The exhibition takes place Cafe Giulia in Sydney from May 5 to June 11 and is part of the Head On Photo Festival

She said the mediums were drawn to one photo in particular of a doorway covered in vines, where they identified a strong presence to the left of the door.

Nope, can’t see a thing.

Back across to the land of the free and the home of the brave

A robbery suspect who escaped from a Buffalo police station by slipping out a back door while handcuffed to a chair has been apprehended after he was spotted riding a bike with the cuffs still on.

Police tell Buffalo media outlets that 58-year-old John Caesar of Buffalo was taken into custody Tuesday for questioning in connection with the theft of money from the Anchor Bar, the restaurant known for inventing the city's famous chicken wings.

Officials say Caesar was handcuffed to a chair in a police station when he escaped around 4 p.m. Police say he was caught Wednesday morning on a city street corner.

Well they did tell him to take a seat.

And finally:

Right a fair bit to the land of the Teutons

A German woman who had escaped without serious injury from a dog attack was accidentally shot by police while she hid from the animal behind a door, police said on Wednesday.

Police in Berlin shot the dog dead, but a stray bullet went through the door behind which the woman was cowering, striking her in the arm.

The woman was not seriously injured. She had gone to visit neighbours at their apartment on Tuesday evening when their two-year-old dog Carlito attacked her.

A police officer was also grazed in the throat by a ricocheting bullet. Police are investigating possible charges of negligence against both the dog's owner and the police officers who fired the shots.

My worst nightmare-a gang of Numptys with guns.

That’s it: I’m orf to search for Desert Dragonflies.

And today’s thought: "Computers in the future may have only 1, 000 vacuum tubes and perhaps only weigh 1 1/2 tons." - Popular Mechanics, 1949

Angus

Auditing the auditors: Something is happening this week: Chinese bun robbers: A Ninja in Tunbridge Wells: 16th Century PC: and Ryanair gets some pay back.

The weather at the Castle has gone down hill this morn, cold, cloudy, breezy and dull, it is so bad that the butler has had to venture out to snatch a few fat teenagers for the furnace. 

What is left of my locks has been shorn and the Honda is disappearing under a layer of dust/sand/pollen and I am still having to water the hanging baskets, wall boxes and pots.

The “political” news is still chuntering on about AV, but there is this snippet about the Audit Commission which is responsible for policing spending at local authorities, NHS trusts and other government bodies.

Allegedly the knobs at the top have been putting luxury goods and services on their taxpayer-funded credit cards.

As well as meals costing several hundred pounds at Michelin-starred restaurants, the officials spent a four figure sum on flowers and also bought goods from HMV and Thorntons, the cinema chain and chocolatier, and purchased cinema tickets and doughnuts.

A spokesman insisted that all of the spending on Government Procurement Cards – which are in the form of credit cards and are rebated by the taxpayer – was “legitimate”.

He added: “In common with many public bodies the Audit Commission uses Government Procurement Cards for low value transactions or where a purchase order is impractical.

“Procurement cards are recognised as the most cost-effective way of dealing with such transactions and often result in lower prices.

Yeah right……

And this week there is apparently very important things going on, did you now that it is Beanpole week, or Real bread Maker week and on Friday the most important thing of all-International Dance Day.

Who says Blighty is boring.

East to the land of odd laws

A group of pregnant thieves who ransacked shopping malls in a Chinese city for more than a decade was behind bars Thursday.

The 47-strong maternal crime ring, dubbed the "Big Belly Gang," was thought to have been responsible for the majority of the 3,000 cases of in-store thefts reported in the coastal metropolis of Hangzhou last year.

Operating in groups of five, three non-pregnant women would distract staff while two pregnant gang members stole goods from the store -- or money and valuables from other shoppers.

A month long police operation finally trapped the gang members, who met each day at the local school's gates and split their proceeds on a 60/40 basis between the non-pregnant members and those stealing for two.

China's notoriously tough justice system does not extend to pregnant and lactating women, who can plead a "special situation" and be released almost immediately. One of the boldest members was arrested and released 47 times.

Most gang members appeared to have at least three children and some had as many as eight, in defiance of China's one-child policy. Others got pregnant in order to remain active members of the gang but later had abortions.

The gang members' stay-at-home husbands often looked after their children.

Up the duff and in the clink (That's not them by the way).

Back in Blighty

A crime-fighting Ninja has begun patrolling the streets of Royal Tunbridge Wells scaring off yobs, helping pensioners and rescuing cats from trees.

His mission is simple – to clean up the streets. Speaking on condition of anonymity he said: ‘It’s my aim to help people, I am inspired by Neighbourhood Watch, which people seem to have forgotten about, and so I’ve created Ninja Watch. There is still lots of trouble in Tunbridge Wells and the community does not seem to be as together as it used to be.

The 25-year-old, who calls himself the ‘Neighbourhood Ninja of Tunbridge Wells’, claims to be a ‘grandmaster’ of the Japanese martial art based on ‘stealth and infiltration’.

Origami can kill, ever got a paper cut?

Back to the “Ladies”

A guide written in 1505 has been found and it contains 'secrets' about females that take political incorrectness to extremes.

Perhaps the worst of the advice is that ‘females are failed males’. The book, De Secretis Mulierum (On The Secrets Of Women), also suggests men wanting to check if a woman is a virgin should ask her to sniff a lettuce. If she then wants to go to the loo she is ‘corrupted’.

Other revelations include women being able to kill animals with a glance during their time of the month and odd food cravings in pregnancy being down to ‘evil humours’.

Husbands who want a male child are told to give their wives wine that contains the pulverised womb and intestines of a hare. Once pregnant, the female will have a girl if her left breast is bigger than her right and a boy if it’s the right.

The book was found in the archives of the Royal Society of Chemistry in central London.

It is thought to have been written by Albertus Magnus, a theologian and ‘scientist’, and to have been given to a priest to help him understand women.

I’m saying nothing…..now where did I put that lettuce?

And finally:

Ryanair has launched an enquiry after three passengers on the same flight each won a car worth £11,500 after playing its in-flight scratch card game.

The three passengers, who were flying from Milan to Madrid last Monday, won the prize after buying one of the airline's £2 scratch cards, despite an average of one car being won each month.

The airline blamed a printing error by Brandforce, the company which runs the game, but has promised that all three winners will receive their vehicles.

Ryanair began selling scratch cards in 2008 in an attempt to further increase its additional or “ancillary” revenues. Around a quarter of the airline’s annual earnings are generated by ancillary revenues. Its extra charges, including check-in fees, booking fees and luggage charges have increased by up to 700 per cent since 2006.

Last month, Ryanair was criticised for imposing an additional £2 charge on all bookings to insure itself against flight cancellations, while next month it will allow passengers to reserve individual seats for the first time, at a cost of £8.80 per person per flight, on services from Dublin Airport to Gatwick and Malaga.

Robber robbed?

That’s it: I’m orf to have a look at Enceladus’s aurora.

And today’s thought: “This is a great day for France!" --Said while attending Charles De Gaulle's Funeral. - Richard Nixon 

Angus

Last day for the Olympics: Computer says YES: Row, row, row your boat underneath the bridge: Absinthe is back: Potty old pair: the Mongolian Death Worm: and Female? Body builders.

A plethora of weather at the Castle this morn, sunnyish, warmish, breezyish and yet calmish, the garden looks spiffing and the Honda is covered with yellow dust/sand/pollen.

James has fired up a new blog with loads of like minded people it is called Orphans of Liberty and is well worth a visit.

My lovely young lady is due at ten of the morn to clip my head fuzz which is good because I look like a semi bald sheepdog at the moment.

The Political news is the same old bollocks so I won’t bother, but allegedly today is your last chance to apply for tickets to the 2012 Olympics.

Prices range from £20 to £2,012 - the top price for the opening ceremony - and oversubscribed events will be decided by a random ballot.

On the other hand you could sit in a nice comfortable armchair with a drink and watch it all on the Telly for free.

Dahn Unda and right a bit

A costly security computer glitch switched on lights and opened doors at one of the biggest supermarkets in the New Zealand city of Hamilton on the morning of Easter Friday.

Shoppers arrived to find not a single staffer on the floor. What ensued was what morality theorists are calling the ultimate ethical test on a religious holiday.

Footage from security cameras shows that while some brazen customers filled their trolleys and quickly left the store, bypassing the empty check outs, surprisingly, many dutifully used the self-check facility to pay for their goods.

Professor Paul Morris, a religious studies expert at Wellington's Victoria University, told the Dominion Post newspaper the 'real life candid camera' placed customers in a tricky situation.

'This is like some mad experiment, because you've sent off to church the religious and it's the secular who have gone shopping on Good Friday ... and you've put them to the test,' he said.

No legal action would be taken against those who stole their groceries, but any money paid back would go to the country's Christchurch Earthquake Appeal. No-one has yet come forward.

Ah-the old religious is good-secular is bad ploy: what would you do?

Keep going East

A Seattle man has created a home for himself in a 14-foot boat anchored under a highway bridge near the University of Washington campus.

William Kaphaem has rigged the boat with a tarpaulin for shelter, The Seattle Times reported. He has a Coleman lantern and stove and even a battery-powered radio.

Kaphaem, 51, who uses the name Three Stars, told the Times he previously had rented a room from an elderly couple. They died last year, and he needed low-cost housing.

"I've got a lot of stuff. I didn't want to schlep it around town like some tramp," he said. "I've got more dignity than that."

Living in the rowboat allows him to survive on a monthly disability check of less than $700. He has a range of fishing rods and gets much of his food that way.

Life is a beach…..

Back to the land of food, lovers and veils

The French Parliament has voted to allow makers of alcoholic beverages flavoured with the absinthe plant to once again label the beverage "absinthe."

The lawmakers voted last week to overturn a 1915 law banning production for sale of absinthe, which had already been partially repealed by a 1999 law legalizing the drink but banning producers from calling it absinthe, Radio France Internationale reported Monday.

About 15 distilleries in France currently sell a drink "flavoured with the absinthe plant" and will now be able to use the traditional name. Officials said the change was made in response to recent Swiss efforts to obtain EU recognition of the drink as a regional product of Val-de-Travers. France claims the spiritual home of absinthe is instead the nearby French town of Pontarlier.

Makes you mad that stuff.

Over to the land of the stoned and the home of the weed

Police say an elderly Pennsylvania couple was the unintended recipient of a very seedy delivery: a five-pound brick of marijuana.

Police in Upper Darby, just outside Philadelphia, say the couple paid little attention to the package when it was delivered last week. Not recognizing the name, they left it on their porch, expecting it to be picked up.

When nobody claimed the package, the couple opened it to find what police say was $10,000 in high-grade marijuana.

Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood tells the Delaware County Daily Times the couple gave the package to police, who determined the return address in Tollison, Ariz. was fake.

Chitwood says the department sees about a half-dozen similar deliveries a year and can sometimes track down the sender.

But they didn’t inhale.

East or West many miles

Where giant, scarlet worms burrow in the barren expanse of one of the world's largest, coldest deserts, spewing fiery acid and electrocuting unlucky camels from a distance.

The Mongolian Death Worm.

In his 1926 book "On the Trail of Ancient Man," Andrews recounted with some skepticism a range of secondhand observations from native Mongolians of the so-called intestine worm -- so named for its outward appearance, not its choice of alimentary dwelling.

Unfortunately, history leaves us little more than eyewitness testimony of worm sightings, detailed as they often are.

The MDW is dubious enough that cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine, displays a vintage model of Japanese kaiju movie hero Mothra in the larval stage, but labels it as the Mongolian Death Worm. Youngsters often ask what the label is doing on Mothra.

Mongo-D "is not a celebrity cryptid like the Loch Ness Monster or Yeti," Coleman told AOL News. It's more of a second-tier creature, he said, "Not like a unicorn or a centaur, but it's very much a shadowy folklore creature."

You couldn’t make it up-could you?

And finally:

Some pics of allegedly female body builders

Oh dear.......has number three (15) got a dongle?


That’s it: I’m orf to hide my Co2 emissions

And today’s thought: Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul- Marylyn Monroe

Angus

Why I hate Tesco: Piss Poor Policies Dave C and his lordly mates: Silly Billy-my party’s bigger than your party: Italian Frog poachers: Big fish in Donegal: and a giant fish in Taiwan.

A touch chilly at the Castle this morn, still sunny, still no rain, still watering the hanging baskets, wall boxes and pots.

Had a nice day Sunday over at “M”s sister’s place, sitting in the garden chatting and listening to the sound of ice cream vans along with the smell of far off barbeques.

There are those who think that Tesco is the Bees jointy bits and like me those that think it is a giant rip off.

Stephen Pollard writing for the Torygraph seems to think that giant multinational supermarkets are the best thing since sliced what not, with quotes such as “It is fashionable among the Left-liberal intelligentsia to view supermarkets as some sort of uncouth offence against decency, fit only for the proles who subsist on multipacks of turkey twizzlers. Instead of driving off to shop at rapacious retail beasts we should be pottering down the high street, exchanging mid-morning pleasantries with our butcher, baker and candlestick maker.”

Something I have never been is a Left-liberal intelligentsia, I use Tesco because it is the only supermarket in my town, I use it because allegedly it is open 24hrs a day and the parking is free (for now), and I use it because the Butcher, the Baker and the Candlestick maker have been put out of business by the high rents for their non-shops.

I could go to Sainsburys in Farnham, or Safeway in Farnborough, both of which involve large volumes of traffic, annoyance and expense, but I use Tesco because of the convenience (the bowels aren’t what they used to be), but over the last few months I have noticed the prices spiralling, bread has gone up to £1.29 a loaf, luncheon meat is up from 60p to 72p, Pilchards in tomato sauce has risen from 75p to 95p, toilet rolls are up, cereals are up, kitchen rolls have exploded, coffee is off the scale, tea is extortionate, real meat costs more than gold and even the price of bangers is cooking.

I don’t hate Tesco because of my moral objection to them making money-that is what they are there for. I hate them because they are taking the piss out of the “normal” shopper who is trying to exist in today’s economic climate by driving up prices for people who don’t have a choice.

PPP Dave C has spent £6 million of our hard earned money creating 117 new peers since the non-election.

In the Conservative manifesto last year, Mr Cameron promised to slash the number of MPs from 650 to 600, saving £12m a year.

But the cost of swelling ranks in the House of Lords – at £156,000 per member – was £18.25m, more than £6m more.

A report last week claimed that Piss Poor Policies Dave’s decision to elevate 117 people to the Lords, more than any other PM in his first year, had led to a cramped upper chamber, with 792 peers.

No 10 indicated he will continue to create peerages to redress the balance in the Lords, where Labour is the main party.

Individual peers do not earn a salary but they receive a tax-free attendance allowance of up to £300 per day. A recent parliamentary answer revealed that the annual cost per member was £156,000, once the total bill of running the Lords was taken into account.

Useless bastard.

Meanwhile Silly Billy Hague

Has ruled out fresh concessions to the Liberal Democrats if they fail to secure victory in next month's referendum on voting reform for Westminster elections.

Silly Billy said:

"Yes, we all have strong feelings about it and I very much hope people will vote No, but at the end of it the coalition will be working very well together."

Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes, however, insisted that Mr Clegg's attack had been justified, and he warned that they could now ask the Electoral Commission to investigate the No campaign's "untruths".

Trouble int mill?

Over in Austria

Wildlife authorities are hopping mad that efforts to save the local frog population are being hampered by Italian poachers.

Officials in southern Austrian province Carinthia said Tuesday that poachers are collecting frogs from the roadside buckets they have been guided into to save them from busy highways, and are then smuggling them home to Italian dinner tables.

Frogs' legs are a delicacy in some parts of Italy. Officials told Austrian state television Tuesday that the victims tend to be those with the meatiest thighs.

Frogs attempting to cross some Austrian highways are channeled by a series of fences into roadside buckets. Once a day, volunteers collect the buckets and carry the amphibians to the other side of the road and set them free.

But "the Italians strike before the frog pickers come," says Carinthian environmental official Bernhard Gutleb.

The delicacy can be costly. Officials warn that those caught with their hand in the bucket face fines up to euro3, 600 ($5,149).

Spawning bad feelings?

And all the way to Donegal

Four men on a mackerel fishing trip were "amazed" to see an early sighting of basking sharks within metres of their boat in Donegal Bay.

Local fisherman Brian Smith was returning to Killybegs harbour on Tuesday afternoon with his group when they noticed some unusual activity in the water.

Mr Smith told Sky News: "There were four of us out on the boat fishing in Donegal Bay, fishing for mackerel, when an 18ft (5.4m) Basking shark appeared near the boat.

"We saw the fins coming up first and it was splashing about the surface. It just swam near the boat, metres away from us.

"We pulled out the cameras and started taking photos and filming it. It was an amazing sight to be so close to such an amazing creature.

"We saw about 20 basking sharks that day. I have never seen so many at this time of year.

Need loads of chips for that lot…..

And finally:

Staying with the fishy theme

A 12ft long, yellow ribbonfish has sparked panic in Miaoli, Northwest Taiwan. The fish, which are normally found in deep waters, scared the locals who believed its appearance, and the unusual waves it produced in shallow waters, were the early signs of a tsunami.

Experts are of the opinion that the fish may have been forced out of its natural habitat by the aftershocks that followed Japan's devastating earthquake.

Wonder if it tastes nice with dog?

That’s it: I’m orf to protect my bumble bee nest.

And today’s thought: "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad." - Peter Kaye

Angus