chrisp65

I nearly helped out at the Foodbank on Saturday morning. Then I remembered I was really really knackered and just sat on my sofa for about an hour trying to use my mental powers to get the kettle in the kitchen to switch on. But I think that's much much better than just not caring.

I don't 'do' foreign cartoons. I've seen the news, if there's a bomb in a tea towel anywhere in that picture I'd be on a death list just for seeing it. Way too risky.

I'm fairly apathetic ... none of these issues have effected me Am I concerned about the plight of the NHS ... not overly do I care if someone gets a contract because they happened to know the right person .. not really do I care about the bus service in my area , not really It could be argued that I should care about these issues , it could be argued I'm bad and selfish Europe .... without doubt we'd be better off out I don't care I'm going to take to telling everyone they are evil Yeah, I've taken this data in a completely fair and neutral way, run it through my patented Vote o matic 200 GX which tells you who you should be voting for. It thinks: probably tory?

Despite being annoyed by the government caving into the the tyrannical, nonsensical, and illogical Green obsession with carrier bags, I was quite prepared to pay for the bags, but I was surprised to find that it wasn't the simple act of exchanging 5p for a bag, as I'd hoped. I don't like the whole proselytising tone of some transactions, where I get a look like I have been caught drowning puppies, and encouraged to minimise my crime by buying a 10p bag rather than a 5p one. In one shop I asked for two bags but was only 'allowed' one. No doubt the zealotry will cool as it becomes the habit but until then it will definitely continue to get of my tits. The one thing we have to look forward to, is that having introduced the concept to a chorus of "it's only 5p" the price will inevitably be increased. It really isn't a big deal. It'll be habit soon enough, or we'll simply evolve larger hand spans to get 7 items to the car without a bag. It might not stop the earth simultaneously burning and flooding, but it's surely better to reduce waste regardless of the 'why'. Carrier bags alone make no difference. Just changing from leaded petrol alone did little for us or the planet, as did the tiny step with aerosol cans, or the change of gas in air con, or lead in paint, quicklime in building materials, sawing mdf without a mask, not separating food waste, stopping feeding dairy cows to dairy cows, getting the dolphins out of tinned tuna, not using rivers as toilets..... But somehow, if we can ignore the billions of people racing to consume and dispose as fast as we do, it must be for the better.

Yes, I've caught a couple of those, not sure how many there are in a series, but I've seen two and thought it was quite good. Bog bodies were fascinating. I didn't catch the start, but in the back of my mind I had the thought that Celts started out way off in the east slowly moving west. But by east, I think I mean Black Sea / Turkey / Armenia / Russia?? I could be well off with that one. On a really really petty point though, I get distracted by Neil Oliver's hair.

C'mon, Mr 68 Give us the bloody gig breakdown - or is it taking quite a while to compile?

It's nice that the man that is dumping subsidised steel on the UK is in town getting free bed and board over at Buck House for a few days. China is currently dumping steel on the market cheaper than even China can produce it. Apparently, if the UK steel workers volunteered to work for free, we couldn't get anywhere near the price. The government currently sees this as 'market forces' and doesn't see what it can do, other than provide leaflets offering retraining schemes. I'm sure the price of chinese steel will stay give away cheap once we've closed the last few UK plants. That's the beauty of the freemarket, failing systems, failing industries must be allowed to fail. Other than banks and nuclear power, obviously.

I'm no expert, but I don't think it's quite as black and white as that. Out of interest, what long term decisions on the UK steel industry have the conservative government made that you agree with? What decisions on giving China money to write the software for our nuclear power stations have been good for our security?

this still confuses my missus, I can't watch it if we've lost it's probably the time of day she works out why I was in that silent rage a few hours earlier

It was one of the proud boasts of Brum Uni on Saturday that they could get a higher number of students into internships than anyone else. Well yippee **** doo.

I know the date was up last Friday, still made me smile though.

It's 5 years to the next election. I'm fairly sure we can allow somebody 6 or 12 months to try something new. If he is still sounding reasonable when given a direct interview, if the tory party insist on taking away tax credits from people earning £4,000 a year having promised they were safe, well let's see the attitude of his light blue 'labour' MP's then. They are interested in power, they are interested in turning an easy £65k job into an easy £125k job. If the polls in 12 months start to show the affects of Osbourne's new poll tax moment, then we'll see MP's fall in to line and nod when they are told to nod. I don't think the tory press is quite ready for the alternative - personal opinions being expressed within an overall umbrella group. Way too grown up for the press boys.

Considering uni has been back, what? between 2 to 4 weeks depending on the course and the year, there were some very impressive empty bottle collections in some of the accommodation. One in particular appeared to be attempting the pizza and vodka diet. Just lines of vodka bottles on the window sills and an empty pizza box tower.

ahh, well that's a whole thread - it's 'American Studies' with the intention being to get a minimum of a year studying / working over in the states. Birmingham has some lecturers that were aides under Regan so it's seen as a really good one. Then a vague nebulous idea about working for an NGO. A **** NGO! My school careers advice consisted of 'see if your dad can get you in where he works'. No two Uni's do exactly the same course, they all say the Personal Statement should mention specifics about the course - but it needs to be generic enough to be sent to five uni's. She's having trouble squaring that particular circle.

I suspect several greengrocer's had a hand in it.

Went to the open day at Birmingham Uni yesterday, Edgbaston campus. Gorgeous setting for the accommodation, but a bit on the pricey side starting at about £130 a week for a 42 week stay (includes £40 of credit for food per week). So on top of fees another £5,500 a year for accommodation and basic food. Tour of facilities was quite good, sat in on a couple of interesting sample lectures with my nipper. The welcome talk was glossiest and most polished we've been to so far. But that had to be slightly tempered by the fact that much of what was said in what was essentially a sales pitch later got proved inaccurate, which was disappointing. We were told the red brick buildings had been converted to be the most advanced i.t. tech uni buildings in the UK. Yet I couldn't get a phone signal! We were told minimum grade to even be considered was AAB, then told it was ABB, then told if you get BBB apply anyway. Also told there was absolutely no chance of parking on site. We ignored this and parked on site for free all day in a largely empty multi storey car park! But yes, overall, ignoring the Vice Principal's welcome talk, very good.

I think those 80's pocket rockets were free of all those nuisance bits of regulation about crush zones, safety cages, air bags, exhaust emissions. We had a tiny little Citroen AX. Absolute piece of crap build quality and styling, thin bendy plastic front wings, doors and bonnet. Rear seat was just a shaped piece of expanded foam secured to the floor pan with velcro. It had a 1400cc engine and an exhause that was just a piece of straight empty pipe from the engine. Ridiculously fast. Like a death wish in white plastic.

Observer Church urges increase on the 20,000 refugees to be offered sanctuary in UK, and offers to help facilitate an increase. No response received from government.

I think that regardless of your opinion on green issues, the steelworks would be considered less destructive than nuclear waste and another generation of bombing. You could even argue that there is something quite contradictory about our efforts to tax carbon and worry about the correct specification of diesel emissions tests when unleashing all manner of filth, poison and destruction in foreign lands that many of us couldn't pin on a map or describe their flag. In fact, that bombing could be a strong contributor to the rise of ISIS and the destruction of swathes of north africa and the middle east and the curse it repeats on uneducated dirt poor generations of suicide bomb fodder across the region. As already said by OBE, the steel hasn't been 'stopped'. it's been moved. Moved to somewhere with cheaper more compliant drones. (I'm also aware this isn't solely a tory issue)

The Ministry of Defence say they spent £8.4 Billion in 6 years in Iraq. Energy Minister promises a further £2 Billion in guarantees to underwrite £25 Billion deal for French and Chinese to design and build new nuclear site. Meanwhile, in a parallel universe, another 2,000 steelworkers are made redundant and the business minister shrugs her shoulders. refusing to cleverly link, but one story amongst many at the moment: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-34301975 It's a funny old world innit. Thousands and thousands of jobs being lost in industry due to 'market forces', whilst we spunk tens upon tens of billions of pounds on bombs, bullets and chinese nuclear expertise.

Err...I know. T'was a joke based on your spelling. I'm very tired. Ok. Go to bed. I drunk the wrong tea.

Err...I know. T'was a joke based on your spelling. I'm very tired.

T'was a ref to rohypnol in the tea, not where I bought the tea.

No, no, I'm absolutely definite I could get you into the movies, I know a guy that knows a guy that scouts and he is looking for someone just like you. We just need an audition tape.