Month: March 2022

RANDOM THOUGHTS

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The BBC has made much, recently of the ferries contract that went pear shaped.

Less has been said about:

Or about this:

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A lot of controversy today too about the mask requirements being extended until mid-April while the pandemic continues to rage around us. Wee Boris McLightweight was fair cut up about it, blaming Nicola Sturgeon for not trusting the Scottish people. (You know, the same Scottish people he doesn’t trust with a referendum!) And presumably ignorant of the fact that that will have been the recommendations of medical people. So, trust the Scottish people and never mind all those doctors and nurses and other staff in the SNHS that we clapped for when we thought it was politically expedient to do so.

In Wales, people must still wear face coverings in health and social care settings but there is no longer a legal requirement to wear a covering in other indoor public places or on public transport.

The Welsh government, however, strongly recommends that face coverings be worn even when it is not demanded by law.

Scotland will phase out its face mask laws starting next Monday. From April 4 places of worship, including weddings and funerals will no longer require masks. From April 18 there will be no requirement to wear them in shops, schools and public transport.

There were 9,610 COVID cases reported in Scotland on Wednesday, and there were 34 deaths. The trend is stabilising, however and hopefully warm weather, open windows and more outdoor activities will drive the numbers further down. 2,344 people are hospitalised with the virus at the moment, down slightly from 2,383 the previous day. It doesn’t sound to me like it’s over yet.

I don’t think there are any requirements on anyone in England to wear masks, socially distance, to report covid or to isolate if you have it. With numbers soaring, England is not a safe place to be, particularly if you are elderly or have underlying conditions that make you particularly vulnerable.

You could sit on a bus or train next to someone who is positive, but who has decided to do nothing about it. And if you are vulnerable, or have any close friends who are… you could be looking forward to a nasty surprise.

In some hospitals in England (according to Dr Rachel Clarke, Oxford Doctor*), the staffing levels are very low because of infection and staff are at breaking point. She admits that sometimes she goes into a room and cries because the strain and the lack of staff is taking a toll on the quality of treatment given.

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  • *Please read this thread.

HE’S A LAWYER TO TRADE…

IMAGINE BEING UNLUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE HIM STUTTER THROUGH YOUR DEFENCE

THE CRIMINALS WHOSE NAMES AREN’T MADE PUBLIC

The British government plans to keep secret the names of any ministers, MPs or senior political advisers who are fined for partying during lockdown.

This was not done the common people who broke the law having parties or gatherings.

Isn’t it amazing how different our ‘betters’ are from us? Must be something to do with them being “Honourable”, “Right Honourable” or indeed “Noble”.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Ahhh, the joys of being the minister charged with finding something good to say about Brexit. Mr Rees Mogg and Nanny will be over the moon with this.

The Adams Family. Ooops sorry, The Rees Mogg Family enjoying themselves.

It seems that Brits may no longer be bothered by the cumbersome travel protection that EU citizens have, if the GREAT British government has its way.

According to ‘Which?’ British travellers may see their maximum compensation for cancelled flights and subsequent stranding, reduced from £200 to £57.

Well, this is indeed welcome.

Overbooking and refusals to board at the last moment could start to be commonplace again. Oh the joys of spending days in Heathrow!

“Ripping up current compensation rules for UK flights would be a huge blow for passenger rights and embolden airlines to act with impunity,” said ‘Which?’ Travel editor, Rory Boland.

But think of the freedom from regulations… and if that fails to cheer you, may I remind you of Passeports Bleus, and if you find yourself off to the bar in Heathrow while you wait 24 hours for the next flight, you’ll be able to rejoice with a crown on your pint glass. Although at the prices they charge, maybe better have a half!

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Canada and Britain have started trade talks, which too, is something that Rees Mogg may enjoy bragging about. The Dominions coming to the aid of the motherland!

It seems that Canada has  pledged to fill British supermarket shelves with hormone-pumped beef. Canada’s trade minister claimed its beef – which is given synthetic treatment to boost growth, like in the US and Australia – is “second to none”.

Anne Marie-Trevelyan – (who?) the UK’s international trade secretary – did not respond to the beef pledge. Why, I wonder, would that be?

So that’s another kick in the teeth to Scottish Farmers, who may well, in so many cases, have voted to put themselves out of business.

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The dignity of the aristocracy.

The Noble Baroness Moan, Duchess of Mayfair, or some suchlike thing, appears to have made a tidy little profit out of PPE equipment bought by her from a Chinese company for £46 million, and then sold on to the gullible British government for £122 million. Profit £76 million!!!

The aristocratic bra and Bitcoin saleswoman was one of those who had access to the VIP or in her case VIA (very important aristocrat) list, via (told you) dear loveable disco dancing little gnome, Michael Gove.

The gowns which were bought by the English Dept of Health and Social Care, were never used though, because they were substandard… All 25 million of them.

It appears that medical staff felt they were better off using bin bags than using Moan’s substandard but incredibly expensive equipment.

I can’t help thinking that would have been the cheaper option.

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He says here, that there’s nothing else they can do, but other countries have either told their electricity suppliers to keep the rise to inflation, (eg France: 4%), or have given citizens a proper discount (eg Norway), with the government paying the bill.

And there was me thinking that everything GRATE Global Britain did was world beating.

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SOPPY SUNDAY

1. Mum, carry me, please. My little legs are tired!
2. Norway.
3. Here’s a challenge from Andi. What kind of bird is this wee soul who was spotted on Loch Lomond? Answers on a postcard to AndiMac!!! First prize is a night out with Andrew Bowie.
4. Pulsatile.
5. Where’s Munguin’s Factotum with my dinner?
6. Don’t fence me in.
7. This is my bestest buddy.
8. Northern Lights in Reykjavík.
9. Come fly with me.
10. Well, I would but I’m wearing my covid mask!
11. A soon to be republic.
12. Ardverikie House, Kinloch Lagan.
13. Awwww.
14. Greenland in the spring.
15. Oh come on, who wouldn’t love me?
16. Why was I kept waiting until 16 to appear?
17. Suburban Copenhagen.
18. Bet I get an A+ and he’ll only get a C.
19. Oh look, the Swedes and the Danes managed to build a bridge and tunnel in one… Shame about the Brits.
20. Well that’s it. We’re off to play now so bye bye. You did change your clocks, didn’t you?

Thanks to AndiMac

And Hetty sent me this…

ALL OUR YESTERDAYS

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Thanks to Dave.

Bonus, because of this week’s scenes of Empire. (Incidentally, I just read that Belize also wishes to become a republic. Bravo Willy and Middleton).

PS: In Scotland at least, the clocks change tonight. Spring forward with an hour less in bed!!!

MORE RANDOM THOUGHTS

If you have oil, and aren’t Scotland, or possibly Russia (but who knows), you can have anything you want from the Magic Money Tree.

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Maybe have a word then, if she ever wants t be “First Lady”.
What joy to be in the UK. Of course there is an element of “globalness” in all of this cost of living crisis, but it’s worth noting that German inflation is 3% and British is 8%. Heating bills in Britain are increasing by 100-300%. In France it is 4%.

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Rolling in bread!
Aye, weel. That went down well.

In a desperate bid to find some Brexit Benefits, Mr Monacle tweeted that they were cutting VAT on the installation of energy saving materials in residential properties from 5% to zero for the next five years. He want on to tell us that this was a Brexit Benefit because the EU would not have allowed us to do this.

As per usual, he was lying. They were working on it last December.

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He still looks like he slept in a chair after a hard night on the batter (probably an exclusively Scottish term!)

And one last thought…

Jeeeeez.

Brenda sent me this:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Ladies and Gentlemen: the Prime Minister of GRATE Britain. There’s something profoundly worrying about a senior politician, knowing he has cameras on him, but who still makes faces while a colleague is talking about Ukrainians hiding from Russian bombers in basements. Still, it could be worse, huh, Boris. Could have been British people fleeing from the EU when they were bombing us and killing our kids, eh?

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Well, that’s something cheering.

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Dear heavens how much did Big Ben’s do-over cost tax payers, including those in Scotland, and it still can’t tell the bloody time. Was Chris Grayling in charge!

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There are no downsides. Only upsides. Remember that as you shiver and your tummy rumbles.

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It says something about the state of things in the country when Iceland supermarket boss, Richard Walker, says that some food banks are rejecting potatoes and root vegetables because people ‘can’t afford the energy to boil them’.

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Ewww, was that me?

A change in the law signed off by former Tory minister and serial incompetent, Chris Grayling, cleared the way for P&O Ferries to legally sack 800 staff without telling the government, a leading maritime lawyer has said. Details here.

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Pretty serious stuff. People on the lowest incomes will either freeze or starve or both, on maybe the government could do something?

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CARIBBEAN TOUR NOT GOING SO WELL…

After the embarrassment of being turned away from tribal lands in Belize, the Cambridges are facing another humiliation as the people of Jamaica have given a not too warm welcome to their visit.

And there are now demands that Jamaica end its association with the British Royal Family and become a republic.

It seems to me that, if you want to go on a tour of nations in the Caribbean, it was probably a bad thing to give the first mixed race person to marry into the royal family, a very hard time.

I suppose no one actually knows who it was that posed the “what colour will he be?” question about wee Archie, but I’ve seen and heard time and again the suggestion that it was William. Possibly partly because his wife didn’t like the younger and prettier Meghan who had started to steal some of her limelight?

If light-skinned, rich, accomplished and educated Meghan was treated as second class by the Royal Family, including William and Katherine, you can only imagine what these people would feel about ordinary Black Jamaicans.