Symptoms

I'm sure you're right about Larry being a closet Kipper sucker but he also loves lickin' his own arse.

Rejoice. Rejoice. Rejoice. Phew! The poor, the disabled, gays, womens, black folks can sleep easy tonight.

Maybe some hack has discovered some dirt on her and is about to publish ... jump before push. Or maybe BIG G (not our own beloved 3G) doesn't want her as his Blighty boss ... too reactionary!

Time now 11.53am ... Guardian alert to tune into Andrea Leadsom news conference at 12.15pm. Is she quitting?

Like I said, and I quote: "Just watch as the denials and excuses flood in ...".

Goodness 3G ... quite a bit of bile there directed at moi, and I though we were all sort of chums here. Poo.

Oh, dear! No free thinking person should be looking forward to the prospect of living in a shadow theocracy, 'cos that's what you'll get if Sister Andrea gets ordained. Leadsom and her ridiculous karaoke show, starring the heirs of Martin Bormann, Enoch Powell, Martin Luther (not King) and Ian Paisley, will undo the hard fought for rights many currently enjoy. Like most Evangelical Christians she won't be able to resist informing her actions by visiting her fundamentalist views on Blighty. Remember, what drove Blair was his Catholic conversion (kept hidden for years) ... it informed his decision to embark on his Crusade to the Holy Lands and look how that turned out. Perhaps, only Atheists should be allowed to govern.

Let's be clear about why the EU Referendum went the way it did ... deep down white folks just don't like black folks and other assorted foreigners. It was a national bun fight over immigration. Simple as that! Just watch as the denials and excuses flood in - stuff like, "I ain't racist but ...", or, "some of my best friends are black", or, "it's terrible that all those refugees kiddies are drowning but we don't have room for them", or, "I love curry", or, "they take all the back-breaking cabbage pickin' jobs me and my kids should be doing", or, .....

If you're a fox be very afraid, if you're gay be very afraid, if you believe in a woman's right to choose be very afraid of Leadsom. She's even a leading member of Parliament's Bible Study Class ... perhaps, that's just what we need - a Christian Fundamentalist in charge.

James - you must inform the police as this guy has behaved in a threatening manner towards your girlfriend. You must also inform them of your suspicions regarding the noxious stuff in the grass maybe poisoning your woofa. Both of these events are illegal so it's your duty to report him. Anyway, grassed margins BEYOND a property line (front wall) don't belong to the householder, they belong to the local authority or the 'highways agency', so are public spaces.

Maggs - 'plastic' in this context means pliable or mouldable out the tin; it sets hard in situ due to heat.

Now to invade Poland in September.

Pilgrim's right about RedX dispensers beside the petrol pumps. They were conical in form, maybe 8"dia at the base and with a syringe sitting across the top. You'd fill-up with petrol and fire maybe 4 squirts of the fuel additive through the syringe into the petrol tank. Throughout the 50s and 60s my Dad had a RedX Lubocharger fitted to his cars (same unit was swapped from old cars when he got a new one). He'd drill and thread a small hole in the inlet manifold, insert a brass nipple into the hole to accept the copper tube that went to the RedX tank (maybe half a gallon capacity) via a small brass tap. The tap was adjusted to allow just the correct amount of RedX to be drawn into the engine by the vacumn in the inlet manifold. Apparently the stuff is still available.

HPW - brilliant! You really did bring it to life.

So, Monsta® is back after being absent for over four years but where's he been? A five stretch in Franklin and let out early for good behaviour or has he been away at Uni? My guess is Uni as most of his previous post aligned with school breaks/lunchtimes when he could use the school's PCs; being at Uni he would have other stuff to be getting on with so wouldn't have time to post here.

James - rough dates and ages would be useful.

Newsnight's segment on Lavery obtaining his mortgage from the miners' gimpfund and then getting the NUM to allegedly pay it off, certainly looked crooked. His shifty behaviour when confronted in the street by Sweeney convinced me he was bent ... just like the rest of the shysters at Westminster. I was really suprised that the Northumberland NUM only had eight members.

Eggs, a good idea; perhaps, you could acknowledge each photo (say, "originally posted by X or Y") so that in the distant future there'll be some reference point.

I was having a review of my favorites/bookmarks and came across this ... I probably bookmarked it some time ago (years maybe). I'm sure it'll be of interest to many on here who have an interest in the local culture; apologies if it's been mentioned before. Oh, and the Cramlington Budgie Strangler is listed. http://www.northumbriaanthology.com

The plague of "like"; it's everywhere! I'm sure it started in Essex, like, on that stupid scripted reality telly show, and, like, it's spread like [not that like] the pox. The young are to blame. Bast*rds! Oh, and the classic Toryscum ... "hard working families". Again, bast*rds!

Now, I haven't yet looked at the proposals shown elsewhere on here, I'll do that later when I've a bit more time but ... pound to a pinch of dog sh*t, if anything gets built it'll be just like the majority of other new stuff chucked-up in most English towns. A gross pastiche of the Legoland style, fake columns, fake Mansard rooflines, fake chimney stacks, vivid colours for the brickwork and beige paviors everywhere, all puntuated by stainless steel planters. Yuk!!! A nice old town like Bedders needs the gaps in Front St filled with buildings sympathetic to what already there, namely, low-level and built of sandstone. Bring on the conservation architects!!!

Ah, the Council Offices ... a place holding many childhood memories. Playing footie with mates in the rear carpark and breaking so many of those big windows with misplaced kicks on goal. Pulling down the timber planks which formed the fence around part of the car park ... those planks were perfect to build our tree houses in 'The Cut' (the wooded section in the allotments between East Rigg & Windsor Gardens ... sadly, now built over). Signing-on in the SS office when in the 6th Form and getting 'holiday' Giros. Standing out the front and chucking stink bombs at the marching bands on Picnic Day. Happy days!

I'd love to know what Maggs want airbrushing from history.

Oh dear! "Tony's Jewish lawyer chummie Roche ...". I'm not sure what her faith has to do with it apart from casting her as 'other'.

My local highway agency is conducting a trial of whipping out and replacing the lamp units at the top of each alternate post where I live. The new units remain off until they sense movement (me and my woof or an approaching vehicle) ... the aim of the trial is about reducing energy consumption. I like how much darker the street is now.