RANDOM THOUGHTS

So, there are 10 monarchies left in Europe.

Spain, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the UK (although people tend to think of it as England because they are accustomed to hearing ‘the Queen on England’).

I’m thinking that the Vatican isn’t quite a monarchy… would you agree? (If not, there are 11.)

Some of them lost their monarchies a long time ago. According to the map, San Marino was founded in 301 AD and has been a republic ever since. Switzerland in 1291, France ditched its monarchy in 1870. A few lost their kings after the Russian revolution; many lost theirs after the First World War and more during and after the Second. Greece in 1973.

Isn’t it time we ditched the rest of them now?

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I was delighted to see that Dim Dom Raab announced today that “we” had started formal negotiations on our future relationships with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Trade with these important partners is worth £66bn and we’re committed to build on the progress in talks to strengthen these partnerships, he said.

 

So as well as the Whelks from the Faroe Islands, we’ll be right in there for Skyre, Cuckoo Clocks, Chocolate and Gravlax… just in case we run out of our own.

Oh well, never mind. I’m sure Dim Dom knows what he’s doing.

Note from Munguin: Tris is lying, he’s not at all sure.

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This was taken from the Daily Mail, which appears to have conceded that Scotland, Wales and NI have already escaped their clutches.

Well, they have to be on the right side of things occasionally.

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Leeds Council staff hard at work cleaning up Millennium Square after the promotion celebrations pic.twitter.com/77fWBS0Ops

— Rebecca Marano (@RebeccaMaranoEP) July 20, 2020

For heaven’s sake. What are they like? Thinking back to our AUOB marches, does anyone ever remember seeing this kind of mess?

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Does anyone know why, as usual, BBC Scotland felt obliged to ask Hugh Pennington, a long-retired bacteriologist to go on radio to talk about the outbreak of a virus in a call centre in Motherwell?  I mean, maybe, if they needed to speak to someone, a virologist would have been a better bet… and probably one who hadn’t retired 20 years ago.

Still, who needs experts when any old person who’ll badmouth the Scottish government or Scotland or Independence will do.

At least this dude did do Mrs Thatcher’s hair so, I mean, clearly, that gives him an insight into Scottish politics, right?

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JUST FOR A LAUGH

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Thanks to Brenda, John, Andi and anyone I missed out.  

SOPPY SUNDAY

1. I’m playing at being Tarzan. Anyone want to be Jane?

2. Munguin fancies this little cottage for a weekend retreat.

3. I heard Munguin calling for a Lord Privy Seal, but I was in the Arctic Ocean at the time. I got here as quickly as I could.

4. On the other hand, this might be more appropriate for Munguin. Whatcha think?

5. Gang of Gang-Gang Cockatoos.

6. Hmmm, them stupid cats think they can get them birds up on that pipe. Me, I’m just sitting here pondering the intellectual mysteries of the world.

7. Devil’s Flower Mantis.

8. Luna in repose.

9. It’s not fair to call us Warthogs. We don’t have any warts and we didn’t go to that magic school with Harry Potter either.

10. The resident Tortoise in a certain Bulgarian garden.

11. Hawaii.

12. The picture of innocence.

13. Glen Finnan.

14. How many kinds of Evening Primrose grow in a Bulgarian Country Garden?

15. Let’s make a start to our new home.

16. I love you, mummy.

17. Katmandu.

18. Don’t mix me up with Liam. I’m the bright one.

19. What’s the plural of Platipus? Well, whatever it is, that’s us.

 

20. I hope you’re socially distancing. Don’t forget it’s not gone away yet. See you next week.

Munguin’s thanks to John.

ALL OUR YESTERDAYS

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Thanks to: Andi, DonDon, Dave A, Dave S, John.

Munguin says, if I’ve left anyone out it is entirely MY fault and not his. He can’t have eyes everywhere!

 

 

 

THERE’S ANOTHER DOM IN DOWNING STREET

“On the basis of extensive analysis, the Government has concluded that it is almost certain that Russian actors sought to interfere in the 2019 General Election through the online amplification of illicitly acquired and leaked Government documents”, says the foreign secretary, that’s Dom the Dim, y’know, the one that we’d all forgotten existed.

Don’t touch your face, Dom.

It strikes me, though, Dom the Unknown, that they might have been less liable to interfere in British politics if they hadn’t been invited to do so by no less than a British prime minister.

If you invite someone like Putin to poke his nose into British politics to try to influence one election, it would take a level of stupidity that would be beyond, I reckoned, even this ragamuffin bunch of extremist dipsticks, to believe that Putin would stop at only one election.

Duh, Dom!

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Oh, and then there’s this…

“If the PM didn’t know the provisions of the 2013 act that is itself disturbing. If he did know the provisions of the act but chose nevertheless to interfere, that is truly disgraceful”. pic.twitter.com/pKVF8UIse2

— FrannyHP #FBPE (@FrannyHP) July 16, 2020

Will someone please wake me up if anyone of that lot in Westminster does something right sometime. I’d really hate to miss it because it will be unique.

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WELL, THAT’S CLEARED THAT UP, HASN’T IT?

WELL, HASN’T IT?

Day 150 of the most challenging crisis of our lifetimes and the government is unable to figure out the complex process of how purchase a sandwich. pic.twitter.com/HaCDKUK7bW

— James Felton (@JimMFelton) July 16, 2020

Richard Dalton’s comment on that thread:

UK Gov: We can replace 40 years of integration with a comprehensive trade agreement, negotiated in a few weeks.

Also UK Gov: Look, buying a sandwich is a complex issue.

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WHAT A SINGULARLY UNATTRACTIVE, VUGAR LITTLE MAN HE IS

BUNTER’S BROTHER, DE PFEFFEL MINIMUS OF THE JUNIOR REMOVE

"He needs to make up his mind which brief he's going to take today, because at the moment it looks as if he's got more briefs than Calvin Klein" says PM of Keir Starmer https://t.co/1l511cL7fZ pic.twitter.com/acI0pv7WhQ

— ITV News (@itvnews) July 15, 2020

 

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

SUNDAY MORNING

MONDAY AFTERNOON

And the difference, I’d venture to suggest, is Mr Cummings, who is, very different.

Do you think that perhaps, as the Brexit thing falls apart and it appears that perhaps we do not hold quite ALL the cards and that the trade deal won’t be done in an afternoon over a cup of tea that the team at No 10 are starting to fall out a bit?

And all for a blue passport which we could have had anyway…

 

JUST FOR A LAUGH

Thanks to Andi, John (and Erik/Brendan), Panda Paws, Brenda and Wilson.

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SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO WONDER A BIT ABOUT WHAT MAKES THEM TICK…

Dozens of mostly maskless anti-lockdown protesters turned out in Arizona as the state’s COVID-19 numbers surge pic.twitter.com/k7SBFfZffV

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) July 12, 2020

The statistics in Arizona are terrifying and yet, these dafties are out protesting about lockdown… and not wearing masks.

I know masks are vaguely uncomfortable (I’ve been wearing them since early on, but, you know, it’s not that terribly long ago that we were hearing from Brexiteers that the Blitz Spirit was still with Britain and the great British people (albeit from people who had not actually lived through the blitz).

Our parents and grandparents had to carry masks wherever they went, for the best part of the war years. Kids went out to play with them; they went to school with them; they took them with them to the bomb shelters. Adults had them with them all the time, at work, at play. And of course, they also had to go without food and any kind of luxury (unless they were up the top)… and there was no foreign travel, unless you were being shipped out to Africa, the Near or Middle East or Burma, which wasn’t much of a holiday!

But it is true that they got through it.

The idiots who won’t wear masks for 15 minutes as they go round the supermarket because they are a bit uncomfortable*, wouldn’t have lasted a day in the Blitz.

I can’t wait to see how they manage with what’s going to happen in January when we leave the EU, and find ourselves in utter chaos because nothing is ready.

Whiney wee gits… yes, you Michael Gove.

So, there is the result of John Hopkins research. One of the top universities in the world.

I suppose it’s a hard choice to make… On the one hand John Hopkins University with its banks of scientists, on the other hand, Michael Gove with second class honours in English from Oxford.

Not easy…

*I was reminded by Panda Paws the other day, that not everyone can wear a mask for health and I absolutely understand and appreciate the truth of that.