Even more lack of heat at the Castle this morn, the liquid metal
gauge has frozen and the white crusty stuff on the Honda is about an inch
thick.
The study still contains enough malfunctioning machines to
keep me in stale bread and gruel, and his Maj in pussy food.
And talking of his Maj, he has finally found his killer
instinct-on a toy mouse....
Has decided to underwrite a billion-dollar loan to one of
the world's biggest oil companies, the deal, which will see UK Export Finance
guarantee a loan to the Brazilian oil firm Petrobras for deep-water oil
drilling, is contrary to a government commitment that the department, which is
headed by Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, and the trade minister, Lord
Green, would champion British firms involved in green technologies
"instead of supporting investment in dirty fossil-fuel energy production".
Petrobras was involved in 18 major oil and gas spills
between 1975 and 2001, in which 141 people were killed and about 29 million
barrels of oil spilled, according to Greenpeace Brazil. In 2001, the world's
largest production platform, owned by Petrobras, exploded, killing 11 workers;
it then sank, causing a huge spillage of oil and gas. And in August last year
Brazil's oil regulator ordered the firm to suspend operations at one of its
platforms because of safety concerns.
It emerged in October that taxpayers' money was also being
used to back the development of Russian coal mines, with UK Export Finance
underwriting a multimillion-pound project to refurbish and expand two mines in
Siberia.
And will it bring down the cost of go juice, electricity or
gas-not a bleedin chance...
Top public officials involved in awarding companies
lucrative contracts - and who then go to work for them
In one of the biggest-spending departments, the Ministry of
Defence, almost 250 staff – including 20 generals, admirals or air marshals –
have joined defence companies in a single year, new figures show.
And a Sunday Telegraph investigation has established that
the organisation supposedly responsible for vetting the most senior
“revolving-door” appointments has not vetoed a single application in the last
15 years.
According to the annual reports of the Advisory Committee on
Business Appointments (Acoba), it has considered 944 applications for private
sector jobs by former top mandarins and ministers since 1996. Of these, 412
were approved with conditions, and 532 – 56 per cent – were approved
unconditionally. None was rejected.
Among the most heavily criticised deals of recent years is
that for the Royal Navy’s two new aircraft carriers, which will cost taxpayers
more than £6 billion, even though one will be immediately mothballed and the
other will carry no aircraft until 2020. At least four top military officers
and ministers, including the heads of the Navy and the RAF, a former vice-chief
of defence staff and the former minister for defence equipment, Ann Taylor,
have since joined companies with an interest in the aircraft-carrier project.
Their appointments were approved by Acoba.
A spokeswoman for Acoba said that a number of ministers’ and
officials’ applications for job approval had been withdrawn because of advice
that Acoba provided. These figures were not included in the annual reports, she
said.
She added that Acoba’s membership was a matter for the Prime
Minister and she defended Lord Lang’s role, saying that in the Dispatches sting
“no offer of employment of any kind was made or accepted”, and that Lord Lang
would have cleared any such offer with Acoba before taking it up.
Yeah right-but don’t forget “we are..........”
Landlord Andrew Marler has had his pub partially demolished
by a 'violently shaking' 30ft tall Santa Claus.
The inflatable Father Christmas has proved to be a one-man
demolition derby with strong winds causing the Santa to pull down tiles from
the roof of the Old Manor pub in Potters Bar.
But Mr Marler is keen to keep his decoration - which is
unsurprising as it cost him £3,000. However, he is fully aware of the damage it
has caused:
'When it is really windy it causes the whole pub to
violently shake from side to side and makes a deafening creaking noise.
The sky-high Santa lights up at night and is so colossal it
can be seen by passing planes. Six men were needed to lift it onto the chimney
where it still has pride of place.
Mr Marler believes it was worth every penny. He said:
'Children ask their parents to take a detour on their way home from school to
look at it and commuters can see it from the train.'
58-year-old Mr Marler has been allowed to keep his unique
Christmas decoration on the grounds that it remains safe.
Maybe that should read ‘on the ground until it is safe’.
NY cops are getting the bird, Fred, an unmistakable brown
and orange pigeon, recently took up residence on a metal fence surrounding the
World Trade Centre's memorial plaza -- and has been dive-bombing cops stationed
nearby ever since.
Fred's antics have ruffled the feathers of the officers, who
were caught jokingly mocking the bird this week. But it looks like the
foul-tempered fowl will have the last laugh.
Someone ratted out the bird bullies to police higher-ups --
and cops assigned to the World Trade Centre site were admonished by superiors
at their roll calls Thursday and Friday about hurting Fred's feelings.
"Your appearance in public has to be
professional," a supervisor chided the cops at the First Precinct station
house.
"We're receiving complaints about police officers' demeanour
regarding a bird [at the WTC site]," the supervisor added.
Sometimes you are the pigeon, other times you are the statue.....
Makepung
is an Indonesian tradition featuring water buffalo races, attracting tourists
from far and wide to Bali’s Jembrana region.
Makepung translates into the English word
“romp,” which doesn’t come close to explaining this annual event that is so
popular that it is professionally managed on a national level.Once a private game among farmers — who at harvest time diverted themselves with these races while performing the drudgery of ploughing their fields — Makepung has over the years attracted other professions to join in, providing they BYOB (bring your own buffalo).
Must check out the Castle grounds for some "Bubalus
bubalis".
Tesco turkeys advertised as half price are being sold
cheaper at rival supermarkets with no discount, it has been claimed.
Rival supermarkets have been found to be selling their own frozen turkeys
for around the same price, without a 50 per cent discount attached. Figures show that a Tesco half-price, extra-large frozen turkey has been reduced to £25 from £50, compared to the equivalent bird sold by Asda at a price £1 cheaper.
Tesco insists that it complied with this rule by selling the turkeys at their full original price during the summer months of August and September – when very few shoppers would want a frozen turkey.
On Friday Tesco insisted the claimed savings are real.
A bit like the Yeti
then.....
And today’s thought:
Angus
