I’ve got an exciting update. The government has accepted changes that will make it harder to sign trade deals that harm our food and animal welfare standards. [1] It’s a step in the right direction in protecting the quality of the food on our plates and our farmers.

Here’s a summary of what’s changed:
The newly formed Trade and Agriculture Commission - a group set up to advise the government on how trade will affect our farmers and the food we eat - has been given legal status. This means its recommendations will hold more sway. [2]
The Commission will be required to produce a report to MPs on how any new trade deal will affect our food and animal welfare standards. This will arm MPs with more information to decide whether to debate or even block any trade deals that threaten these things. [3]
The government has vowed not to 'negotiate to remove that ban [on chlorinated chicken and hormone-injected beef] in a trade deal' - however they haven’t yet backed this up with legal protections. [4]

By working together in our hundreds of thousands, we were able to get the government to introduce better protections for our food and animal welfare standards. So I wanted to take a moment to celebrate all of the work we’ve done together to help make this happen:

Hundreds of thousands of us signed petitions and open letters to Boris Johnson and key government ministers telling them to protect our food and animal welfare standards in trade deals with countries like the USA [5]
Tens of thousands of us got in touch with our MPs, telling them to show up to important votes in Parliament and vote to support protections in law
Thousands of us chipped in for a legal briefing to MPs proving why our food and animal welfare standards are at risk
We paid for digital ad campaigns in major newspapers telling Boris Johnson not to break his promise to ban chlorinated chicken in trade deals
Together our pressure forced 4 major UK supermarket chains - Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Asda and the Coop - to ban chlorinated chicken and hormone-treated beef from their stores [6]

This news is a positive sign the government is listening to the concerns of the public: of 38 Degrees members like you, farmers, consumer and agricultural groups, and food experts who've all been working to make sure our food and animal welfare standards are properly protected in trade deals.

We'll still need to be on the lookout: to make sure that our farmers will never be undercut by lower quality imported food, and products like chicken dunked in chlorine never end up in our supermarkets, because of each new trade deal. But I'm proud of what we've achieved together so far - and I hope you are too.

Jess and the 38 Degrees team

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLS4qfapZ2w
The truth: https://observers.france24.com/en/20201021-debunked-viral-PSA-video-1956-coronavirus-fake-news

Watched the Gadget Show.
Liked the parcel box, fixed to an outside wall and operated by mobile phone.
Nice xmas present price £199.00
The delivery driver voted for it.

Spent quite a time with my on-line order, also do some shopping for a neighbour. As soon as I choose one item it was not available. Also happened with milk. Not so long ago read that farmers can not sell their milk.
Is it a question of supermarkets offering price below price producing the goods? or is there a shortage.
One can only freeze so many bottles so I discard bulge buying.

Click on

International Day for Tolerance Date in the current year: November 16, 2020

International Day for ToleranceInternational Day for Tolerance is a United Nations observance held on November 16. It was officially established by UNESCO in 1995 to raise awareness of the dangers of intolerance. In 1996, the UN General Assembly invited the Member States to observe the day.
The date was chosen to commemorate the Declaration of Principles on Tolerance issued by UNESCO on November 16, 1995. Besides, the Constitution of UNESCO was introduced and signed on this day in 1945. The Declaration states that tolerance is neither indifference no indulgence. Tolerance means respecting and appreciating the rich variety of the world's cultures, forms of expression and ways of being human.

People of the world are naturally diverse, and tolerance is the only way to ensure the survival of mixed communities across the globe. Tolerance lies in recognition of the fundamental freedoms and universal human rights. Not only is it a moral duty but also a political and legal requirement for states, groups and individuals.

International Day for Tolerance is marked with numerous events aimed to educate people about tolerance and raise awareness of the importance of fighting intolerance. According to UNESCO, fighting intolerance requires law, education, access to information, individual awareness, and local solutions.

https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/18869166.orpington-plays-central-role-john-lewis-christmas-ad/?ref=fbshr

Died today, lovely singer and such fun with Morcambe and Wise. Rest in peace Des,

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims Date in the current year: November 15, 2020

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic VictimsThe United Nations General Assembly declared the third Sunday in November to be World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. This intentional observance exists from 1993.
Unlike many other UN observances, the idea of this intentional day doesn't belong to the representatives of the member states of the organization. This observance was started separately by the British road crash victim charity, RoadPeace, in 1993. Its founder Brigitte Chaudhry organized the very first observance and in 1995 the General Assembly of European Federation of Road Traffic Victims supported the event. In 1998 the event was introduced in many other countries. In 2003 the WHO supported the observation. Finally the UN General Assembly invited all member countries to observe this Day of Remembrance in 2005, making it one of the UN observances by the resolution.

Annually over 1 million people die in the road accidents, 20-50 million people are injured and wounded. Observation of World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims raises public awareness of the danger of roads and spreads information about the importance of prevention of emergency situations on the roads.

Copied from my Canadian friend

World Diabetes Day Date in the current year: November 14, 2020

World Diabetes DayWorld Diabetes Day is an annual awareness campaign held on November 14. It was inaugurated in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation. In 2006, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 61/225, designating World Diabetes Day as a UN observance.
Diabetes is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by high blood sugar levels. If left untreated, diabetes causes major complications, some of which may be fatal. Diabetes is caused by the inability of the pancreas to produce enough insulin (type 1 diabetes) or by the cells' failure to respond to insulin properly (type 2 diabetes).

World Diabetes Day was established to raise awareness of diabetes as a chronic, debilitating disease and to respond to the diabetes pandemic. November 14 was chosen as it is the birth anniversary of Frederick Banting, Canadian physician who was the first to use insulin on humans and received the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery.

Every year, the International Diabetes Federation chooses a new theme related to diabetes, and all participants are encouraged to center their events on the current year's theme. The World Diabetes Day logo is a blue circle that symbolizes life, health, and unity.

Came across the "snowflake" tool and wondered if it is a gimmick or a handy tool to have. Has anyone used it and would it make an ideal present?
Googled and found Saker which seems to be the top tool. There is a great prize variation. I know one gets what one pays for but is the middle prize range as good?
Your advise would be appreciated.

World Kindness Day Date in the current year: November 13, 2020

World Kindness DayWorld Kindness Day was created by the World Kindness Movement in Singapore. This observance is annually celebrated in many countries around the world on November 13.
This international observance helps unite people in their actions towards the kindness and realize that it's not hard to do something good, while the result is really terrific. Kindness is a fundamental part of the human condition and it bridges the divides of politics, race, religion and gender.

Many countries around the world joined the special movement, that was initiated by the World Kindness Movement. Originally the idea of the Movement was shaped at the Tokyo conference in 1997, but the organization was officially launched in Singapore in 2000. Since 2000 the organization works on inspiration of individuals towards greater kindness. Its global aim is to connect nations to create a better and a kinder world.

World Kindness Day is celebrated in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Italy, Japan, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Romania, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, the UAE, the USA and Great Britain. This list is enlarged every year.

If a thread has been deleted, it may have been stored by Google, or another search engine. Just google Scooploop and whatever you are looking for. If it has been stored there will be a small down pointing arrow above the link, click that to see a deleted thread. You can do the same on any other website.

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Had fish n chips for dinner tonight. It had a lovely light batter around it. My sister said theres been a debate on social media about whether you should eat the batter. so;
Do you eat the batter?
Or do you peel it off, throw it away and just eat the fish?
Here's the website about it
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/eat/a-mans-fish-and-chips-theory-has-sparked-some-serious-outrage-online/news-story/b11439115cbd9cfd72dcc92510a07755

Scooploop Support have set up a new Group 'Scooploop Community Support' which I recommend all members join.

Extinction Rebellion protest at the Cenotaph was one step tooo far.
if and when they appear again I think they may get a shock!

Cut the garden lawns last Wednesday looked lovely for a few days needs another cut now. Years ago after bonfire night the mower was not used until March ?

World Shopping Day Date in the current year: November 11, 2020

World Shopping DayUnofficial World Shopping Day is observed on November 11. As a matter of fact, it is not an international holiday, but rather a Chinese counterpart of Black Friday and Cyber Monday in America. On this day, Chinese online shops offer significant discounts and sales.
November 11 is observed in China as Singles’ Day. Such a date was chosen because the number “1” in 11/11 resembles an individual who is alone. As the observance grew in popularity, Alibaba Group, one of China’s leading e-commerce conglomerates, found a way to monetize it.

In 2009, Alibaba’s sites (Taobao, Tmall, and others) offered discounts up to 50% on the occasion of Singles’ Day. The experiment turned out to be successful, and since then, Singles’ Day has become the largest online shopping day in the world, outgrowing America’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday. That’s why it is sometimes referred to as World Shopping Day.

In 2017, Alibaba’s retail sites set a world record for most payment transactions during November 11. Its mobile and online payment platform Alipay processed 256,000 payment transactions per second and a total of 1.48 billion transactions. That day, shoppers spent over 168.2 billion yuan ($25.4 billion).

Hi All .......There is a Private Group 'Group Prive' available to Anything! members who find certain elements are disrupting their posting pleasure !!!
Anything! will continue to run as an open Group, to most people everything will carry on as normal but those not members of All Aboard! will no longer be able to read posts and comments as Brian has taken it Private.

We will never forget those lost lives

we would like to remind everyone Scooploop encourages a positive, upbeat and helpful community.

Lately we've been observing a lot of negativity towards other members of the website, esp. within groups.

This is something we cannot allow to happen.

We want Scooploop to become a platform where users can feel comfortable and not threatened by anyone.

We want to send nothing but positive message towards newcomers, as well.

Therefore, we will be imposing stricter rules and monitoring the situation more actively, especially in OPEN groups.

There will be introduced a 3-strike system for violating Scooploop policies, including expelling users for good.

More on this to come in upcoming weeks.

We want also to bring up the matter of users creating multiple accounts (so called aliases).

Although aliases can be harmless at times, it is obviously not a good practice - we will be looking more closely on how

to deal with this problem. Nonetheless, any obvious aliases with be removed instantly, with no warning.

Moderators are reminded they are in charge to dealing with negative comments more actively.

In case the issue persists, they will face loosing their moderator status, the group might be taken over by us

or by a respected member of our community or the group might be downgraded from open to closed.

Have a good day!

Scooploop Team

Please read fully and then carefully consider what you intend to Post and Comment in the future !
As always every member is responsible for what post/comment they make in this and other Groups.
How this will effect the running of this Group we will see, but if we all follow the guidelines I have laid down we should not have a problem.

Thank you, Good Luck and happy Posting !!
CliveF

Needs no explaining.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/uknews/13145230/office-covid-sign-blunder-pee-two-metres-urinals/

Very interesting Guardian article you posted in the Esperanto All Aboard. I like that name change by the way. But I am no longer sexist.

Edward salutes on Remembrance Sunday....

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How to change the cover on a duvet
https://youtu.be/DRPfudNNd8Y

“Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus.

Finally, there was only one other family between us and the ticket counter. This family made a big impression on me.

There were eight children, all probably under the age of 12. The way they were dressed, you could tell they didn't have a lot of money, but their clothes were neat and clean.

The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly jabbering about the clowns, animals, and all the acts they would be seeing that night. By their excitement you could sense they had never been to the circus before. It would be a highlight of their lives.

The father and mother were at the head of the pack standing proud as could be. The mother was holding her husband's hand, looking up at him as if to say, "You're my knight in shining armor." He was smiling and enjoying seeing his family happy.

The ticket lady asked the man how many tickets he wanted? He proudly responded, "I'd like to buy eight children's tickets and two adult tickets, so I can take my family to the circus." The ticket lady stated the price.

The man's wife let go of his hand, her head dropped, the man's lip began to quiver. Then he leaned a little closer and asked, "How much did you say?" The ticket lady again stated the price.

The man didn't have enough money. How was he supposed to turn and tell his eight kids that he didn't have enough money to take them to the circus?

Seeing what was going on, my dad reached into his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill, and then dropped it on the ground. (We were not wealthy in any sense of the word!) My father bent down, picked up the $20 bill, tapped the man on the shoulder and said, "Excuse me, sir, this fell out of your pocket."

The man understood what was going on. He wasn't begging for a handout but certainly appreciated the help in a desperate, heartbreaking and embarrassing situation.

He looked straight into my dad's eyes, took my dad's hand in both of his, squeezed tightly onto the $20 bill, and with his lip quivering and a tear streaming down his cheek, he replied; "Thank you, thank you, sir. This really means a lot to me and my family."

My father and I went back to our car and drove home. The $20 that my dad gave away is what we were going to buy our own tickets with.

Although we didn't get to see the circus that night, we both felt a joy inside us that was far greater than seeing the circus could ever provide.

That day I learnt the value to Give.

The Giver is bigger than the Receiver. If you want to be large, larger than life, learn to Give. Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only with what you are expecting to give - which is everything.

The importance of giving, blessing others can never be over emphasized because there's always joy in giving. Learn to make someone happy by acts of giving.”

~ Katharine Hepburn

I've heard of several people who are planning to put up their decs already. Are you thinking of doing yours early or sticking to the usual time?

Tonight at the White House

Many of us are unable to attend services this weekend.

If you wish, please share the names of those who gave their lives, and we should honour and remember.

Have a look at this:
http://bit.ly/2xK9BVB

Jeremy Hunt’s floating plans that could mean people are turned away from A&E. Under the proposals being explored, people could be sent home unless they had called an NHS helpline or seen their GP first. Imagine racing to A&E in the middle of the night with a sick child, only to be sent away until you have permission to go in.

Right now, the idea’s just being floated. But unless Jeremy Hunt sees a public backlash it could soon be a grim reality. That’s where we come in! A huge petition could force Jeremy Hunt to publicly rule out the plans which would get them off the table completely.

Will you join me and sign the petition telling Jeremy Hunt to rule out plans to stop us going to A&Es without permission?

http://bit.ly/2xK9BVB

Ready to toast their marshmallows and jacket spuds, stand by to call the fire engine, lol

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Affectionately remember the "Reader's Digest" used to feature these.

Please contribute a favourite one-liner, or longer joke, or funny situation you can share to lighten these locked-down or is it locked-up days?

Any positive happy thoughts please, and no biting no fighting!

This is turning into a great film plot

Why has my Waitrose store allowed shoppers to clear their shelves of toilet rolls again! Supermarkets must be able to control this silly panic buying again. There are some very selfish shoppers at it again!

I have now got a new icon for Local - that's better

I'm getting confused and annoyed. First of all we are not supposed to leave home except for food shopping, hospital apps, support for vulnerable people etc but then it says you can carry on with your support bubble. So, does that mean I can visit my sister who is stuck in on her own and needs help but I can't bring her here to have a cup of tea/cake or can I just carry on with my bubble as I've been doing recently???

This comment was hidden by a moderator

are staying open during lockdown 😀

Hi all .......don't suppose anyone noticed but I have not been around much in the last week due to my aging computer deciding to 'pop it's clogs' and running repairs failed to save it !!! necessitating me to purchase a replacement......smaller, faster and newer etc. and then to rebuild my systems into it !!!! .......not as straightforward as one might think as the new hardware invalidated all my Microsoft licence keys (real fun sorting that out !) but now I think I've managed to get everything back up and running and things will be back to normal.......

Already seen videos of supermarkets and people buying dozens of big packs of toilet rolls, what the hell is wrong with people ?
The food shops and supermarkets are not closing so no need for all this.

The latest betting information, based on very detailed data, is Biden + Harris will win.
This rating has varied between 79-84% in the last week.

Currently, [an hour ago ] the Democratic ticket has an 81.8% chance of winning the election

.

Electoral vote predictions:

301 Biden-Harris

237 Trump-Pence

Reload for current forecast from The Virtual Tout® (updated hourly)

Do you care? If so why?

Construction works can continue but what does that mean exactly? Is it just large developments or can small builders doing house/loft extensions continue to work?

World Vegan Day Date in the current year: November 1, 2020

World Vegan DayWorld Vegan Day is celebrated by vegans around the world on November 1. This annual observance was established in 1994 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of The Vegan Society based in the United Kingdom.
The Vegan Society was established in November 1994 by the animal rights activist Donald Watson. Watson coined the term “vegan” to stand for vegetarians who ate no diary products and eggs. In a broader sense, veganism is a way of living that excludes all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals.

World Vegan Day was created by Louise Wallis, president of the Society, in 1994. The date of November 1 was chosen for its symbolism. Wallis knew that the Society had been founded in November 1944, but she did not know the exact date. She decided to choose November 1 because it coincided with Halloween/Samhain and the Day of the Dead, holidays that traditionally involve feasting.

World Vegan Day aims at promoting animal rights and raising awareness of the exploitation of animals for food, clothing, entertainment, and other purposes. Events held on the occasion include, but are not limited to, awareness campaigns, educational events, vegan friendly potluck events, giving away vegan foods, etc. Every year, more cities across the world join the campaign.

A programme on Sky called The Chop has got the chop before the series started because one of the contributors had a tatoo of the number 88.
A viewer complained that 88 is code for Heil Hitler, and Sky have panicked and cancelled the whole series. Even after the man explained why he had 88 tattooed on him.

Tonight

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Edward and Pip trying to get a treat out of me from their own front door!!

World Savings Day Date in the current year: October 31, 2020

World Savings DayWorld Savings Day is observed in many countries around the world on October 31. This observance was introduced in 1924 to promote the importance of bank savings and restore people's confidence in banks.
World Savings Day was established during the 1st International Savings Bank Congress held in Milan, Italy. The last day of the congress was declared as World Thrift Day, that later was renamed, as the holiday gained enormous popularity.

The idea of World Savings Day was born by the banks of Spain and the United States, that wanted to promote the higher living standards for the nation. They introduced the first celebration of alike holiday in 1921. The idea was supported by the banks in other countries, but it wasn't easy to implement everywhere, for instance in Germany, where people didn't trust banks since many had lost their savings in the monetary reform in 1923.

Modern World Savings Day mostly focuses on the banks in developing countries, where many people are unbanked.