U-Turn Cam on the Euro: Up your deficit: Dirty Rat: Tambourine care: Mountain walk: and some cute animals.

Usual again at the Castle this morn-dull, damp, dingy and nippy, the lawn needs lawning, the hedges need hedging, the shrubs need shrubbing and the borders need bordering, but it is too wet to do anything, nightmare of a day yesterday; I spent ten hours reinstalling bloody vista on a desktop, seven of which involved waiting while fucking Microsoft downloaded 104 “updates”, I hate computers.

I see that a third of drivers are making fewer journeys, which could have something to do with the fact that around two thirds of the cost of go juice is tax, and that Old Farts should drink less, that’ll cheer them up-poxy pensions, having to wait till they are 95 to retire, bodies dropping to bits and now no booze, who said retirement is the chance to do things you never could while working and giving the Piss Poor Policies Millionaires Club Coalition all that money?

 According to U-Turn Cam

The Eurozone will not be allowed to collapse, since the countries using the single currency have so much "invested in it".

Yeah right, watch and wait Dave...

And Alien Reptilian in disguise, son of a B...aronet George Osborne has managed to allow our deficit to rise to £27.4 billion so far this year.

January's rise in VAT helped May's tax receipts grow 8.2pc on the previous year to £38bn, outstripping a 2.3pc increase in public spending to £51.7bn.

It also expects the Treasury's coffers to be boosted in coming months by the impact of the introduction of the 50p tax rate on incomes over £150,000 as well as the increased levy on North Sea oil and gas production.

Chancellor George Osborne said the Government's plan to cut the deficit is still "on track" but economists said he would struggle to meet his target for reducing borrowing for the whole financial year to £122bn, against to the previous year's £143bn.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the independent fiscal watchdog, said that spending is going up faster than projected because the UK is paying higher interest payments on gilts – government bonds – which are linked to inflation, while tax receipts are not yet growing at the expected pace. 

That’s working then........

Over in the land of Mormons

A Utah man faces an animal cruelty charge after a Facebook video surfaced showing him eating what appeared to be a live baby rat. 

Thirty-one-year-old Andy Ray Harris of Tooele was charged with the misdemeanour in April after authorities viewed the video. 

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals reported it to police. 

PETA's Martin Mersereau says the organization received complaints about the video in March. 

Toole authorities say they recognized the man in the video as Harris from his previous interactions with police. 

The video shows a man putting what appears to be a tiny, hairless rat in his mouth, chewing it up and swallowing it. 

Harris has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

  

Cheaper than a Big Mac I suppose.

Back in Blighty

Staff in a British nursing home has apologized to patients and their families after placing a tambourine in a day room to be used in case of an emergency.

The Daily Mail reports a relative was furious after also finding a pair of maracas in the room at Cardiff Royal Infirmary in Wales and was told they were to be used if the tambourine broke.

An executive director of the home said a new bell has been installed in the room for patients to use. Ruth Walker said "well-meaning staff" came up with the tambourine idea after a hand bell was deemed too heavy.

"Sadly the solution, while well-intentioned, was not appropriate," she told the Daily Mail.

 You think?

Across to the right to the land of Bamboo scaffolding

Workers building a wooden path on the side of a sheer mountain in China are putting a brave face on one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

Each day, they work on the precarious project thousands of metres above the ground knowing one slip would be their last.

The wooden path, on Shifou Mountain in Hunan Province, will be nearly two miles long when finished, the longest of its kind in China.

The narrow walkway is held up by wooden supports which sit in holes which the workers must first drill into the cliff face.

Yu Ji, 48, said he had been working on high cliffs building such roads for more than 10 years.

"Young people don't want this job, as it means we have to stay deep in the mountains for months, sometimes even years," he said.

"But I don't feel it's so different from any other job. It's not as dangerous as people think. You just wear the ropes, and then everything is okay." 

Where’s Elfandsafety when you need it?

 And finally: 

Some “cute” animals.

That’s it: I’m orf to move to Jersey.

 And today’s thought: its funny how most activists are pacifists.

 Angus

ANIMAL MAGIC

Ananova

A Chinese man who found a “puppy” while out walking in the mountains took it home and reared it.

He took it for walks every day and became very close to the “dog”, but his neighbours in the village where he lived became concerned after hearing a wolf howl near their homes.

The police and a wildlife expert were called, the “dog was examined and the expert confirmed the pet was definitely a wolf with the obvious characteristics that it never barked and had a thick fur coat and tail. It has now been taken in by Qinling Zoo.

A surprised Mr Li commented: "It looks very much like a dog to me. I would never have suspected that it was a wolf.

Take a look at the photo on the link.


Should have gone to specsavers.


Ananova - Pig burns down house

A Vietnamese pot bellied pig, knocked over a lamp which set fire to the house of its owner in Sweden.

Being a bit savvy, the pig jumped into the bath and escaped with a mild singeing, it was found by fire-fighters.

Personally I prefer my bacon crispy.


Dotty the Dalmatian does his thing

Great video-YouTube - Japanarama Clip Dalmation Riding a Bike.mpg

Mind you I don’t know what all the fuss is about, he still needs stabilisers!



Ananova - Meerkat spotted - in Wales

A nurse looked out at her North Wales garden - and spotted a meerkat.

Jackie Morgan says the African animal looked "rather sorry for itself, standing upright and shivering in the morning frost".

She and husband Keith phoned animal rescue centres, a vet, the Welsh Mountain Zoo and Chester Zoo - but no one believed them.

Mrs Morgan, of Mynydd Isa near Mold, told the Daily Post: "I think they thought it was some kind of joke because of the TV advert. They said they thought it was more likely to be a ferret.

But they captured it, took photos, and sent them to the zoo, and yes it was a Meerkat.


Simple eh?


And finally, from my neck of the woods, in fact from my town.

Ananova - Angler catches 55 stone fish

Well the biologist is from my town.

A Hampshire angler has caught the biggest freshwater fish ever to be caught with a rod - a 55 stone stingray.

It took 90 minutes to land and 13 men to heave it out of the water, reports the Daily Mail.
Ian Welch, 45, who weighs 11st 7lbs, said: "It dragged me across the boat and would have pulled me in, had my colleague not grabbed my trousers."

The biologist, from Aldershot, was helping with a stingray tagging programme on Thailand's Maeklong River, when he hooked the fish.

"It buried itself on the bottom. I tried with every ounce of power but it just would not budge. After half an hour my arms began shaking and after an hour my legs went," he said.

"Another 30 minutes went by and then I put a glove on and physically pulled the line with gritted teeth."

Eventually the group towed the ray to the bank, put it in a paddling pool, tagged it and took DNA, before releasing it.

Mr Welch said: "I was exhausted afterwards. I did very little for the rest of the day - and just had a cold beer."

Typical bloke from Aldershot.


“I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” Winston Churchill


Angus

NHS Behind the headlines

Angus Dei politico