Scraping the bottom of the barrel: Another Ronery Lunatic: Fermented sawdust: Topless feminists: Loads of Sharks: and a Great white with a blonde.

Usual lack of warm, quite a lot of ex skywater, no atmospheric movement and endless amounts of misty stuff at the Castle this morn, after it chucked it dahn Wednesday dark thing and Thursday light thing the interweb thingy went tits up-again which gave me the time to back up the computers and uninstall some no longer used programmes.

 

And Blogger is doing some really strange things with the formatting.

 

And as the annual snatch do-dah is imminent

The word is that “they” are thinking of even more ways to make us poorer, this time it seems that we old farts may be the next target for the Piss Poor Policies of the Millionaires Club Coalition.

Allegedly the ex Eton Wall Game gang may be thunking about freezing not up rating by 1%, all benefits for two years, including disability living allowance and pensions to raise around £9bn, and another idea that has been worked on is taxing benefits. Official Treasury numbers seen by Newsnight show that taxing child benefit would raise £1.5bn, taxing DLA £800m and if you taxed the Winter Fuel Payment (which Vince Cable advocated on Thursday), you would raise £200m.

 

Back in 2010 U-Turn Cam gave these “pledges”

DAVID CAMERON'S PLEDGE TO PENSIONERS

The Government I lead will make sure that older and retired people are treated with dignity and given the quality of life they deserve. This is my pledge to support pensioners.

My Government will:

Increase the value of the basic state pension for all pensioners and help to stop the spread of the means test by linking pensions to earnings. You won’t get a repeat of Labour’s mean 75p rise with us.

Freeze council tax for the next two years, in partnership with your council.

Make it worthwhile to save for a personal pension and get rid of the rules that force people to get a compulsory annuity.

Help people protect their home rather than have to sell it to pay for care.

Take all family homes worth less than £1 million out of inheritance tax.

Increase spending on the NHS every year, which is our number one priority.

Cut paperwork so we get more police out on the beat fighting crime.

Our opponents are trying to scare older people by telling deliberate lies about our plans. So here is a personal promise, from me, about the things we will protect.

I will protect your Winter Fuel Payment.

I will protect your free bus pass and your free TV licence.

I will protect the pension credit.

These vital benefits will not be cut under the Conservatives. You have my word on it.

If he wins the election, Gordon Brown wants to introduce a number of measures which will hit pensioners. A Conservative Government will not penalise pensioners, as Labour are planning to do:

We will NOT introduce a ‘death tax’ of up to £50,000.

We will NOT cut attendance allowance and disability allowance for the over 65s.

 

Discuss...

 

East to the land of the Norf bit of Korea

Apparently Kim Jong-Un is following in his father’s footsteps, and has vowed to scrap all peace pacts with the South after the United Nations imposed tough new sanctions on the country.

The news agency KCNA said he talked of "all-out war" during the visit - and quoted him as telling troops to "make the first gunfire" in response to any attack.

He said the slightest provocation would result in his immediate order for a "great advance" along the frontline, the agency reported.

China, North Korea's only major ally, said it wanted the sanctions to be implemented in full. It agreed to the restrictions after three weeks of negotiations.

 

The ronery little madman went on to say:

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) will make a strike of justice at any target, anytime as it pleases without limit.

"(We) have everything - including lighter and smaller nukes.

"The US imperialists and their allies should not forget even for a moment that they are standing at the crossroads of their life and death.

"(We) will exercise our right to a pre-emptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressor.

 

Still not taking the tablets then....

 

Dahn a bit to the place where radiation has had no effect on the population

 

The latest thing to make your irradiated skin glow is fermented sawdust baths, “As your body is engulfed in sawdust at a temperature of around 40 degrees Celsius, the body is warmed from the core. This activates your internal organs, apparently optimizing metabolism, increasing your immune strength, and improving circulation. It’s also great for easing constipation and even insomnia. The dry sawdust also promotes the release of sweat without clogging your pores where excess dirt and sebum from your skin is also washed away.”

 

Lovely-wouldn’t want to be the second, or third, or fourth sucker to get in... 

 

Left a whimsy to the Sarf bit of Africa (and even more left to the Sarf bit of America)

Ukrainian feminist group Femen are taking their topless protests around the world, "This year we hope to cover North Africa and South America," said one of Femen's leaders, Anna Gutsol.

The group, which was founded in 2008, came up with the idea of its topless protests almost by accident.

During a demonstration in 2009, Femen activists decorated their backs with slogans and bared them at photographers.

The pictures were a hit, leading the women to come up with an even more outrageous way to get their views across.

Since they turned to face the cameras, the international media - always keen on eye-catching stunts - has given them lavish coverage.

Femen's first moment of glory came in 2010 on the day of Ukraine's tense presidential elections.

Four young women boldly undressed in a polling station just before the arrival of presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych.

Recently the group has shifted its activism to Western European countries.



Wonder when they are coming to Blighty...I could do with a day out...



  

West to the bit of the States where it is nice and warm

Beaches along the south Florida coast have been shut after thousands of migrating sharks were spotted close to the shore.

Swimmers were ordered out of the water after the sharks - mostly blacktips and spinners - moved into the area as they head north during their annual migration.

Craig Pollock, a lifeguard supervisor in Palm Beach, said: "We don't have a sandbar. A lot of times when we have a sandbar the sharks stay off of the shore a little further.

"Every year we expect annual shark migration to come through this area."

Researchers at Florida Atlantic University said they have counted 15,000 sharks - many as close as 

200 yards from the shore.

Need a lot of chips for that lot...





And talking of big fish that predate

Ocean Ramsey, a shark conservationist based out of Honolulu, swam up to a great white shark to caress the creature and even grab hold of its fin to take a ride through the water. 

An advocate for shark preservation, she released the footage on Valentine's Day as her expression of love for the creatures she fears is misunderstood and at risk of extinction.

She described her dance with the massive animal, saying how in the beginning she watched 'the shark acknowledge and observe me, while I peacefully and calmly allowed it to swim towards me, and then experiencing it accepting my touch, allowing me to dorsal and tail ride,' in her description of the experience. 


'The connection felt as I repeatedly pet and hitched a ride on several of these sharks reminded me of my experience with horses.




Whatever floats you boat-or eats it...



That’s it: I’m orf to shove my Smartphone in the freezer

And today’s thought:

Topless feminist

Angus