bickster

The Royal Family took it upon themselves many decades ago to turn themselves into a public soap opera. If they had been honest in the first place none of the speculation would have happened and it would have played completely differently. It was as ever all about image

Princess of Wales does have cancer then even though she doesn’t

Shooting and “blast” at a concert hall in Moscow, witnesses reporting men in military style uniforms involved

So I guess I should write about Bill Ryder-Jones last night The missus went so she preferred to be at the back - she’s not very tall. She wanted a wall to lean against, we arrived too late for wall space. I remained polite The venue was new to me, Concept in the old Cains brewery site. It’s just a long room with a a bar at the back. It’s dull and functional, the bar prices were ok for a captive audience - £5 a can and they don’t pull he ring pulls or make you pour them into a plastic glass, which is both good and also hints at their inexperience at running a venue. Anyway, onto BRJ. Obviously I like his music and this isn’t the first time I’ve seen him. The sound was good as were the band. The woman who plays cello is brilliant and the guy who plays slide guitar and gets such a great sound out of it… ditto and those two are the cornerstones of he sound. He works his way though a set that encompasses the latest album and a good number of old favourites. A break with tradition and he plays Two to Birkenhead as the penultimate number (usually the closer) so he closes with This Can’t Go On, the lead single from the current album and for this the single's video plays on a screen. Good gig overall, enjoyed it, if there was one disappointment it was that he didn’t play my personal favourite, Catharine and Huskisson and as the corner of those two roads was only 500 meters away in a straight line, you’d have thought he might but alas no you can’t have everything. Next up for me is a solo acoustic gig by my old friend Mick Head, which is an album preview for his forthcoming release, which just happens to be produced by BRJ (as was the last). Currently the two great troubadours of the Merseyside music scene.

Thick slice sourdough

Apple was forcing people to have their own proprietary connection. That’s a monopoly regardless because even third parties producing a lightning connector would have had to pay to use Apple’s patent (in theory)

Thought we try out a local cafe for a brekky. @Xelabean separation in action (that won’t last long)

Oh and the reason you can do a lot of those things is because the EU have been slapping Apple with anti trust lawsuits for years. The latest incarnation of the iPhone has a USB type C connection not a lightning connector for example. Direct result of EU action already. You couldn’t pay for or receive emails from Spotify on an Apple device, again that only stopped with an EU lawsuit and a billion plus euro fine

Where do you get the apps from? There’s only one place

It does once you own the device

Wordle 1,007 4/6

See the thing is…. For me anyway… We'll only get one shot at this, once it’s changed, it won’t change again in our lifetimes (and you’re considerably younger than me). The change needs to be the right change and it needs to be comprehensive. I wouldn’t trust Reform to bring about the extensive changes needed because they are populist and in reality (IMO) are only saying it to garner votes and power. If they actually got a sniff of power it would become suddenly more difficult I want separation of state and church I want the Royal Family to be f***ed off into obscurity, remove them from the state apparatus completely I want PR obviously but I also want an elected second chamber devoid of any party allegiance and (this one bit is my own personal fantasy)

That rather does depend on their vision.

You mean like these? Mooney T12 Fluorescent 8ft bulb

Come on, its just easier to say pint of beer rather than 0.57 litre of Beer

In other news, it seems that shitshow rail operating company known as Avanti will be relieved of its contract to run on the WCML in the coming days. The railways will be nationalised by default soon

For more shits and giggles I put that into Electoral Calculus predictor Labour 524 LibDem 49 Tory 36 Green 2 Reform 0 Just imagine!

Also, for more shits and giggles, Reform are only 4 points behind the Tories in the latest YouGov / Times poll Labour 44% (nc) Tories 19% (-1) Reform 15% (+1) LibDems 9% (nc) Greens 8% (+1) Should do a lot for sales of Andrex

Being as Labour won every single Borough in 2021 with an average of 67% of the vote it'll hardly matter, they might as well put up a picture of Pinocchio, it'll do no worse than any other candidate. Probably heading for a 70%+ average this time regardless Still amsuing though

The only way to disprove the first sentence in this election is for Trump to win. It also assumes Trump will lose I get where you are coming from and yes election spending limits would be more democratic but in this election for sure, there will not be a direct correlation between spending and votes unless the funding figures dramatically change

That one is a very common auto correct error I think

@mjmooney's head just exploded

Arse, hate these, could still have ended up as a fail Wordle 1,006 5/6

Covers albums don’t come much better than this Kicking Against the Pricks - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds It seems this is one of those albums I have on both vinyl and CD as it’s one of those that I couldn’t be without when I didn’t have a turntable. Vinyl and Cover both in excellent condition still

Lay off the shandy and you might come to appreciate the genius of the Mael brothers in collaboration with Giorgio Moroder, the undisuted king of the syncopated synth