You never know we might end of with these 😃

BREAKING: The Parliamentary watchdog has recommended banning MPs from advising private companies for extra cash.

This is massive - and it’s exactly what more than 73,000 of us have been fighting for, ever since Boris Johnson tried to get one of his own MPs off the hook for lobbying the Government on behalf of a private business.

It’s fantastic news, but the fight isn’t over yet. Whilst the watchdog - called the Parliamentary Committee on Standards - has recommended the change, it’s up to Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg to agree to the ban, and make it happen. That’s where we come in.

If thousands of us sign a petition urging them to accept the proposals - and finally stop MPs taking money from private companies in exchange for political advice - it’ll prove once and for all that we, the UK public, want our MPs to focus on doing what they’re elected to do: representing their constituents.

Will you join me and sign the petition today?
https://bit.ly/3xFyXzx

https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/scammer-who-died-after-ingesting-22330540

Inquest

Just heard one can now send cheques electronically to your bank.

please don’t tell me this is an anagram of no crimbo 😟😟😟

I see they have changed the layout of badges on profiles now.
Things keep changing.

https://tinyurl.com/8xcty4nn

Have you seen this?

The COP26 climate summit is over, but the environmental crisis is still raging. World leaders - including Boris Johnson - talked a good talk during the summit in Glasgow, but when it comes to tackling climate change properly, the proof is in the pudding!

Countries will return to the negotiating table next year to keep working on solutions to the crisis. And as COP ‘President’, the UK has a really important role in making sure those leaders spend the next 12 months committing to ambitious action.

That’s why we need to let Boris Johnson know that we’re looking to him to lead the way. So we’re teaming up with our friends at The Climate Coalition, alongside other groups, to send a GIANT Christmas card to Downing Street - signed by hundreds of thousands of people from right across the UK. Imagine Boris Johnson’s face when it arrives!

https://bit.ly/3cS1sjG

Have just rung RAC to ask them not to auto-renew cover, had increased from £81 to £121 and wanted to shop around. Immediately went back down again to £81 plus an extra 3 months, so 15 months cover for the same price as last year. You couldn't make it up.

I'm getting very annoyed with people on the freebie sites.

I bought a new rug for my living room so I advertised the old one on several sites including Trash Nothing, Gumtree and Scooploop.

On all the ads I clearly said where I live and on the Gumtree ad I clearly said please don't just send a message saying is it still available (a common response on that site). I'll remove the ad when it's been taken so if you can still see the ad then yes it is still available.

I've had fourteen replies - eleven of them said just is it still available. One gave a phone number but doesn't answer the phone so I sent a text message which he didn't reply to. I contacted two others who then said that I live too far away.

The rug in reasonable condition but needs a clean. I'm trying to help people by giving away stuff I don't need.
Why are people so stupid and/or inconsiderate!
I don't have time to waste so I'm considering taking a perfectly usable rug to the dump.
OK, rant over.

This is today's Super Sunday match. Get your predictions in by 4pm.
Good luck

Been going off here all evening, it's not Guy Fawkes or Diwali or Christmas so what's the excuse this time ? can't be that many birthdays locally.

A happy story of a settled new life

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/retired-dads-joy-after-spotting-22290969.amp

Now we have this new variant here, Brentwood is not far away
Masks to be compulsory in shops and on transport but no further restrictions for restaurants and multi people gatherings,

I try not to get involved online about politics but this caught my attention

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/26/britain-mp-vote-nick-fletcher-doctor-who-jon-trickett

A genie granted me one wish,
I said, I wish I could be you,
He saud, weurd wush bit u wull grant ut

Saturday night football from the Premier League. Get your prediction in by 5pm.
Good luck

Your last holiday?

Copied from email:

This morning Jersey States Members voted by a landslide in support of the principle of assisted dying - 36 to 10. This vote paves the way for Jersey to become the first British Parliament to enact an assisted dying law.

Today is a victory for common-sense and compassion. It is also a victory for you, our dedicated supporters, who have enabled us to back campaigns not just in Westminster and Scotland, but across the British Isles.

3 depots have been blocked across the uk. on Black Friday
I know a lot of people don't like Amazon for various reasons but this will obviously delay many orders and disappoint a lot of people.
It is also causing major traffic hold ups.

“She sat at the back and they said she was shy.

She led from the front and they hated her pride.

They asked her advice and then questioned her guidance.

They branded her loud, then were shocked by her silence.

When she shared no ambition they said it was sad.
So she told them her dreams and they said she was mad.

They told her they'd listen, then covered their ears,
And gave her a hug while they laughed at her fears,
And she listened to all of it thinking she should,
Be the girl they told her to be best as she could.

But one day she asked what was best for herself,
Instead of trying to please everyone else,
So she walked to the forest and stood with the trees,
She heard the wind whisper and dance with the leaves. She spoke to the willow, the elm and the pine, And she told them what she'd been told time after time.

She told them she felt she was never enough,
She was either too little or far far too much,
Too loud or too quiet, too fierce or too weak,
Too wise or too foolish, too bold or too meek,
Then she found a small clearing surrounded by firs,
And she stopped...and she heard what the trees said to her. And she sat there for hours not wanting to leave. For the forest said nothing, it just let her breathe.”

Author of this wonderful poem is Becky Hemsley and her page is @talkingtothewild
Here’s the link to her book on U.K. Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1739824504/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_AKZA5G0JD3TTSZNXCW1A

Gorgeous painting called “Love for the Earth” by Lisete Alcalde

This was on Al Jazeera yesterday.
The French government are imposing the same draconian Covid restrictions and vaccine requirements on on their Caribbean dependencies of Guadaloupe and Martinique. There has been rioting on the streets.
Guadaloupe is the filming location of Death in Paradise, hence the title.

Any recommendations please for collecting a garage full of rubbish in N3 and guaranteed disposal either at Summers Lane or licensed disposal..? .

Tonight's match is from the Europa League. Get your predictions in by 7.30pm.
Good luck

The Charity Commission advised that 'before any payment was made, each case should be reviewed to ascertain whether the parents had been close to their children and were thus likely to be suffering mentally'. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-59346547 People on this site sometimes complain about what various groups in society ask for in terms of recognition and equality, but I'm very glad that more sensitivity about human feelings is generally exercised today than it was in earlier times.

The room was full of pregnant women with their partners. The class was in full swing.
The instructor was teaching the women how to breathe and was telling the men how to give the necessary help and assurance to their partners at this stage of the pregnancy.
She said, "Ladies, remember that exercise is good for you. Walking is especially beneficial. It strengthens the pelvic muscles and will make delivery that much easier. Just pace yourself, make plenty of stops and try to stay on a soft surface like grass or a path."
She looked at the men in the room, "Gentlemen, remember - you're in this together. It wouldn't hurt you to go walking with her. In fact, that shared experience would be good for you both."
The room suddenly got very quiet as the men absorbed this information.
After a few moments, a man at the back of the room slowly raised his hand.
"Yes," said the instructor.
"I was just wondering, would it be all right if she carries a golf bag?

Every weekend after the Strictly results show, social media is full of messages claiming that weeks results have been fixed. Either a couple have been overmarked to keep them in, or undermarked to put them in the bottom two and eliminated.
There have now already been "fix" claims about I'm a Celebrity.... that it's being set up for Danny Miller to win; even though they are not at the voting people off stage yet.
I think it's just a ploy to get people to watch both shows.

Like so many people, I was a customer of one of the energy companies that recently failed and whose customers were reallocated to another supplier.
That was about six weeks ago and I've just received my old supplier's final bill (for only about two weeks' energy supplies), accompanied by a long note telling me (amongst other things) that the new supplier is taking over supplying my energy in January but NOT to cancel my direct debit mandate to the old supplier. So, although my account is now in credit with the old supplier, they want at least two more months' worth of higher, winter-level payments to be channelled through them - even though they ceased supplying me in mid-October. This seems daft to me....

Champions League night again. Get your predictions in by 7.15pm.
Good luck

If you're a Luddite like me and use a paper diary for notes and appointments, you can download free printable diaries for next year from
https://philofaxy.blogspot.com/p/diary-inserts.html
They're available in A4/A5 and Filofax page sizes and in various layouts.
I do this every year and print them out as double sided booklet mode on a laser printer, then I put them in an A5 ring binder.
It costs a few pence to print and is a lot cheaper than buying a printed diary.
The website also has loads of other downloadable organiser style pages.

On tonight's local news there was an item about London's only all gay basketball team. In the interview with the coach he said, "we are a fully inclusive team". Just had me thinking, you can't say you're inclusive if only gay men can join. Just admit that only gays can join.

Tonight we are back with the Champions League. Get your prediction in by 7.15pm.Good luck

I am annoyed to admit that, as a rail enthusiast, up until last week I was still labouring under the impression that HS2 was simply another high speed railway line -- same sort of idea as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link -- fast trains, dedicated track, limited stops.

How wrong I was. The main purpose of HS2 (as a whole) is to add new capacity to the rail network. Capacity that will allow the express trains currently using the West Coast Main Line, the Midland Main Line, and the East Coast Main Line to be diverted, freeing up vast numbers of train paths on the existing network.

As Nigel Harris, editor of RAIL Magazine, explains in this comment piece, high speed trains require a great deal of space in front of them in order that they may stop safely should the need arise. If this train is taken off the existing network and onto a new route, several more trains, whether local or stopping passenger, or freight, can use its space instead. This is way more effective than trying to increase capacity by small changes to the existing network, since such improvements are only at best tweaks to a system which is already near full capacity.

This is not a short read, but that's because it's written by an expert, not a politician. Nigel Harris knows his stuff, and gives a detailed critique of the negative social, political, and transport effects that cancelling HS2E will cause.

https://www.railmagazine.com/research-hub/comment/2021/09/06/an-act-of-betrayal-by-the-pm

(Make sure you click on the '2' to continue reading the second page!)

Bulb Energy has gone bust and will be placed into an untested ‘special administration’ process to manage the fallout of the biggest energy supply collapse on record.

The energy regulator drew up plans over the weekend to put the company into a special administration process designed to protect Bulb’s 1.7 million household customers and ensure continuity of supply.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YS2dSa-Ud0

I was added to a BTC discussion group on WhatsApp by an admin of the group who I don't think is in my contacts which I didn't think was meant to happen. On looking on google it appears to be connected to Bitcoin. On checking google it appears to be a scam and in my opinion Bitcoin is a scam too but I maybe wrong. Has anyone else been added to this group and does anyone know how its possible to be added to a group without an invite. I was in a couple of groups during the fuel crisis and a mutual aid group for Covid but I left these groups and am not in any other big groups.

My daughter was selling a mobile PHONE for her father in law at quite a high price, but good deal nevertheless. A man came to look at it, invited inside their house with the children there, and said he didn’t have enough cash would go to the bank and return, she thought okay as she had the phone, but no, in the meantime whilst they weren’t looking he had exchanged phones and left a broken one. She feels sick and even responsible, and is on phone now to police who of course won’t do anything. Also blaming her husband for not recharging the doorbell camera. She has a feeling where this man comes from too. Well her hubby had his bike stolen...it seems to me that when it comes to bikes and phones it’s a minefield out there. Her father in law will understand but at the same time she just feels so upset that someone could do this in her home whilst seeing 3 young children playing there.

Has anyone taken a look at the moon lately. I took this photo a few nights ago on my mobile phone