https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68838977
Anything !
An open Group where anything can be discussed by anybody, as long as you are polite, respect others opinions, and behave !!!
Open Loop 778
-
I don’t know how many members will know of Samantha, the wife of Warwick Davis.
Warwick has just shared the news that his wife passed away, aged just 53, last month
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/warwick-daviss-wife-samantha-dies-aged-53-13117621
My heart goes out to him and their children -
https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/fgm_gambia_loc/?tfLKjlb&v=502622769&cl=21350606717&_checksum=b7d2889e882cefe438b96643ffc94171cc3cdc3b5e65ee184b8a305742f54251
-
You know when you’re getting old when..
You get out of the shower and find you’re glad the mirror is fogged up.
You get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you used to get from a roller coaster
You appear to have more patience, but it is actually that you just don’t care anymore -
Reunited (Edited)
Molly and Peggy reunited
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-68816253.amp -
M25 to be closed both ways this weekend.
This is the first time ever the motorway has been closed in the daytime.
From 9pm on Friday 15 March to 6am on Monday 18 March and covers the five-mile stretch between junction 10 and 11.
Diversions:
Junction 10 to junction 11 Clockwise:
Northbound A3 to Painshill Junction, A245 towards Woking, and then A320 to M25 junction 11
Junction 11 to junction 10 Anti-Clockwise:
A320 south towards Woking, A245 towards Byfleet and Painshill junction, Southbound A3 to junction 10. -
https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/17/canada-elephant-seal-relocation-attempt-failed
-
I see that Liebour are going to prosecute tax avoidance to help pay for the NHS!!, will the tax dodger Rayner be included in the list??
-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-68811879
Programs on TV have amazing results. -
Are they so unusual nowadays
https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/27274907/used-judge-parents-reins-kids-dogs-now-myself/ -
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/weather/topstories/wall-of-heat-to-engulf-uk-with-dry-and-warm-weather-finally-on-the-way/ar-BB1lD9tT?ocid=msedgntphdr&cvid=ede541726a444e04c626b5ec87dbfc0f&ei=54
-
Men Only News Item and Women Curiosity 🤣 (Edited)
Click WorldData info - highlighted in blue and Show units in feet and inches.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/interactive-map-pinpoints-the-size-of-penises-around-the-world/ar-BB1lvZfa?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=39c6d04cefd241c2a999e73e88aa1851&ei=190 -
I recently read an article, that I could not copy to paste for members which seemed to be indicating that it was no longer viable to have an Au Pair because of having to pay the minimum wage. This appears not to be true at all and I attach a link from the gov.com website explaining the true details and arrangements. Do members think this is fair or outdated?
https://www.gov.uk/au-pairs-employment-law/au-pairs -
Australia’s attack blamed on poor mental health
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-68810428.amp
-
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/27291267/gordon-ramsa-london-pub-squatters-york-albany/
-
I had an email from one of my banks yesterday.
It read, "From 1st July 2024 there will be a limit of £20,000 cash deposits per year on your accounts. If you have more than one account the £20,000 limit is across all your accounts. If you have a joint account the deposit limit will be £10,000 per account holder. This policy is in line with the Post Office who already have a deposit limit of £10,000."
Has anyone else had similar e-mails or letters. -
Just heard on Radio 4, 'You spend the first two years trying to get them to walk and talk and the next 17 years telling them to shut up and sit down.' Thought this might amuse some parents here.
-
Father killed his own daughter before himself
https://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2024-04-12/dad-killed-daughter-before-taking-own-life-after-fathers-day-trip -
https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/oat-milk-blood-glucose-bloating-dairy-vegan-b1150362.html?utm_source=newsshowcase&utm_medium=discover&utm_campaign=CCwqFwgwKg4IACoGCAowqvB9MMTRCTCF59MCMJX0_wI&utm_content=bullets
-
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-13297047/Ex-Post-Office-manager-apologises-celebrating-subpostmistress-jailed.html?ito=rss-connatix&traffic_source=Connatix
-
When rescuing
https://www.itv.com/news/2024-04-11/trio-rescued-from-tiny-pacific-island-after-spelling-out-help-in-sand -
Putin's Micro Manhood (Edited)
1.2 cm !!! Even I don't believe that.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/27283015/putin-brit-magazine-death-threats-tiny-todger/ -
Recently someone asked about NHS choices and I saw an advertisement in a magazine this week regarding this
https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/about-the-nhs/your-choices-in-the-nhs/
Hope this helps -
Scottish police received more than 7,000 complaints about possible hate crimes in the first week of the country’s controversial new law.
Only 240 of the reports have been recorded as hate crimes for investigation by Police Scotland, with the vast majority not deemed worthy of further attention.
Your thoughts... -
Commenting before engaging brain
And taxpayers have to pay for it https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/11/michelle-donelan-used-34000-of-taxpayer-funds-to-cover-libel-costs
-
We could produce more cheap,clean energy in UK (Edited)
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/09/england-could-produce-13-times-more-renewable-energy-using-less-than-3-of-land-analysis?fbclid=IwAR0QatLORP5AqINKdxsc2XiOX-pXej7AjpvfGyAsvo89mVH5Xprv9fc1LaQ_aem_AdkSkP3YhyD4D3QgsoWWh6Fwld87HhzYzg7Imbo3MytOVEIL8-jbu6GcuyZdW_MTWRyTsAY732dII7UASBifFcY
So why don`t we!? -
Lessons not learnt from an earlier fire in Liverpool
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-68716196 -
You don't get this sort of police service in London
Uninterrupted deliveries: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c163dwpele4o
-
https://www.gbnews.com/news/universal-credit-benefit-fraud-gang-convicted-london
The worst convicted criminals should build their own prison on a remote island and serve very long sentences breaking rocks to make roads leading nowhere.
Suggestions please. -
A few days ago, after a tongue in cheek comment I was asked how old I was, which got me thinking about songs - titles slightly altered - for those of us that may not be as young as we were 🤫
Hit me with your walking stick - Ian Drury and the Blockheads
It’s a Beautiful day centre - U2
Old - Spandau Ballet
I can’t see clearly now - Jimmy Cliff
Any more? -
We will still supply arms to Israel
https://www.reuters.com/world/uks-cameron-position-arms-sales-israel-unchanged-2024-04-09/
-
Police failure allowed a murder
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/bradford-stabbing-woman-pram-mother-killer-leeds-west-yorkshire-police-kulsama-akter-b1150178.html -
Parents sentenced for son's crime.
Just been watching the sentencing live on CNN. The parents of the teenage schoolboy who shot and killed 4 of his fellow high school students in Michigan, have been sentenced to up to 15 years for Involuntary Manslaughter.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science-environment-68767184
Could the same happen here? Parents jailed because their teenage son stabbed someone, for example. -
https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/uk-evil-monster-chops-wifes-body-into-over-224-pieces-dumps-remains-in-river-2524313-2024-04-07
-
The cost of veterinary treatment
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/apr/06/vet-who-really-profits-from-poorly-pets
I'm lucky enough to have an independent vet just a couple of miles away. Even so, my previous cat's bills came to more than £20k in a year – £7000 for a three-day stay at the RCVS hospital at Potters Bar to kick off with. -
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5gbc65KKPC/ This Swede with his photographs and vids of forest wildlife takes me back to my childhood in Cumbrian woodlands, but I think most people would find them lovely whatever their own memories are.
-
https://news.sky.com/story/families-of-teenagers-killed-in-car-collisions-hope-for-tougher-rules-for-young-drivers-13107214
-
History 101 ..
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery. If you had to do this to survive you were “piss poor.”
But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn’t even afford to buy a pot; they “didn’t have a pot to piss in” & were the lowest of the low.
The next time you are washing your hands & complain because the water temperature isn’t just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s.
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. Since they were starting to smell, however, brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women, and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it … hence the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the Bath water!”
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof, resulting in the idiom, “It’s raining cats and dogs.”
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed, therefore, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That’s how canopy beds came into existence.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, leading folks to coin the phrase “dirt poor.”
The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way, subsequently creating a “thresh hold.”
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while, and thus the rhyme, “Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.”
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, “bring home the bacon.” They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and “chew the fat.”
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the “upper crust.”
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up, creating the custom of holding a wake.
England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive, so they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer.
And that’s the truth. -
Retaining muscle strength as you age
Some of these suggestions should be possible for most of us https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/apr/07/the-muscle-miracle-can-i-build-enough-in-my-60s-to-make-it-to-100-even-though-ive-never-weight-trained
-
Could you live in one?
https://amp.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/apr/06/small-homes-houses-living-designs-plans-how-to-architects-around-the-world -
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/nhs-consultants-in-england-accept-pay-offer-and-end-pay-dispute-and-strike-action-13108351
What will that mean financially for the NHS -
A key witness in the Madeleine McCann case is dying from cancer.
The witness, Helge Busching, has reportedly been diagnosed with intestinal cancer, meaning he doesn't have long to live.
Will the case of the missing girl ever be resolved?
https://news.sky.com/story/madeleine-mccann-investigation-could-suffer-setback-as-key-witness-dying-from-cancer-13108354 -
Estimated 50% of UK Prisoners are Illiterate.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-education-a-review-of-reading-education-in-prisons/prison-education-a-review-of-reading-education-in-prisons
Your thoughts?