Oh my goodness – that was amazing 😍 😍 😍 😍 😍

I didn’t think he’d manage it with 500m to go.

What an absolute legend

What a finish, that was fantastic!!

Great first stage.

I must admit that I was probably the most sceptical person around regarding the likely success in the implementation of Scottish Government’s anti pavement laws. But I was wrong – it has on the whole worked exceptionally well. Streets that were once impossible to walk on without either squeezing past vehicles, or moving on and off the pavement, are now free to walk along. What a joy.

I just spent a few days in Marseille – they could do with implementing the same there, it was grim.

Excellent result for Glasgow 😀

Heavy duty hand sewing needle kit, cheap off Amazon and sew it yourself – pretty easy, especially if it doesn’t need to look overly pretty.

If I was to try this DIY (pretty sure I wouldn’t, but I understand how desperate someone might get), I would anaesthetise with lignocaine, then put the finger under tension and keep jabbing the tendon with a large surgical needle.
However, I’m a coward and can only imagine what might go wrong.

” with the really talented buggering off when they get tired leaving those who are marking time.”

Ooh, thank you very much! And here was me thinking I was doing my bit to make the World a tiny bit better. In my experience it is not the talented that ‘bugger off’.

So Sunak has sail he’ll give £730m to mental health services.

Of his own money?

The writing was on the wall when Blair removed clause 4. Very little to celebrate in Blair becoming PM.

He was however, much, much better at speaking and interviews than Starmer. You definitely felt that he knew what he was talking about and had a clear vision of where he wanted the country to go. Just that his vision was so pish – New Labour were barely distinguishable from the Conservatives, much like now.

“Me neither, I shan’t be voting Labour whilst Starmer is leader.

So, I’ll ask again….would you rather have another 5 years of the Tories than hold your nose and vote for a less than perfect Labour party?”

I have no preference. This “less than perfect Labour party” are near indistinguishable from the Conservatives.

“do wonder where we would be if Rebecca Long-Bailey had won the leadership contest.

Lagging about 10pts behind the tories I expect”

Possibly, but what difference does it make when you can’t see any difference between the two parties?

“A party that has room for Elphicke but not for Abbott doesn’t have room for me either.”

Me neither, I shan’t be voting Labour whilst Starmer is leader. I do wonder where we would be if Rebecca Long-Bailey had won the leadership contest.

When I was young and money was too tight to afford instant coffee, we would be given Camp chicory and coffee essence 🤮🤮 (of course my parents generation had everything so easy 😉).

This is the single stupidest idea I’ve heard from a government, which given the low bar of the last 20 years, is quite an achievement.

I fear these judgements should be left until after the election result. The Tories have a history of winning against all logic. It is a dead cat strategy – look at how much time is being spent discussing this, rather than the legacy of the past 14 years.

For me the response should have been “and what voluntary work (or indeed anything) have you ever done that wasn’t for your own benefit?” – and left it at that.

There is still plenty of time for things to go wrong in removing the Conservatives from power.

I love a nice pen. I even bought myself a Mont Blanc fountain pen when I was about 20, which I still have and use. However, clearly I am in a minority. Pens imho are generally too personal for someone else to choose. Why does your mother want to buy him a pen, unless she is a pen lover herself (with her own idea of what to buy).

As above, a nice pen, worth keeping, cherishing and importantly using, can easily be found for £30.

How about a rucksack or a tent with the remainder?

“We had a cracking few days at Easter – remember there are some lovely islands to pop out to like Gigha, Islay, Jura, Easdale, Seil, Luing…”

What about the Isle of Bute? It’s been a long time since I was there, but I remember it being very pretty. Not as busy as Arran. Others would know better though.

RIP
Great in so many things, Boys from the blackstuff obviously amongst the best. But, Drowning by numbers is my favourite.

How about ‘useful idiot’?

Sounds better to me. Not trying to be an arse by the way.

excessively subservient person

In what way is she excessively subservient?

Anyway, I think there are better ways of describing her negative qualities.

“by going full Uncle Tom”

I don’t think it’s acceptable for someone who is presumably white, to make such an accusation – loathsome as she may be.

Fusion must be just around the corner. Surely by now.

Off topic, other than it’s an election day pondering (so sorry).

But, what motivates someone to be a candidate for the monster raving loony party?

Invasion of the body snatchers – the original 1956 version.

I was very disappointed. Very poor/flat characterization. No explanation for the cause of the civil war. All just a bit vacuous/empty.

Out of interest, how many bikes will a bus carry?

I am probably the second worst photographer ever. The worst being my aunt, who used to cut the top of people’s heads off 😂

A few times recently I’ve been thinking I’d like to get a bit better. Living in Edinburgh there’s always great buildings, views etc – but if I was to ‘take a snap’ it would just look meh.

So, perhaps you could take a photo each day and post it in this thread. Explaining how you achieved it, what you like and don’t like about it. Others could also give their thoughts and after a week or two it might send you down a new path.

I can be one of those teachers who is reasonably good but a pita. After 20 years I’ve seen ideas and strategies come and go. Heads slt and pts say we’re doing this starting tomorrow and it’ll be great only for it to be dropped by next Tuesday because it was ill thought out. Imposing change gets push back.

I am likely the biggest Pita going. Thankfully I’m about to reduce my hours down to 2 days per week, as it gets harder and harder to with the mismanagement. From the little detail above, I expect I’d side with the difficult colleagues 😀.

this is poor work so far

Agreed, a load of tosh and incredibly boring to boot.

Been a really good tournament this year.

I disagree 😄😄😄

I’m with a_a, miserable 6Nations this year. Some close games, with drama; but the quality of rugby has generally been poor. The points difference gives a good reflection of where the teams are.

Oh my, ITV again 😡🤬

Gatland seemed to just be sitting there , has he had his day?

I’m not sure how much blame lies with Gatland – but who would replace him?

Italy have played very well, good on em!!

Indeed, if the ball had not fallen off the tee at the end of the France game they’d have almost certainly won three games. Their U20’s are strong and they’ve a large population – surely they’ll go from strength to strength from here.
Wales however 😭😭😭
At least Scotland has curling – what do Wales have without rugby 😭😭😭

It’s a shame there’s no relegation in 6 nations, I think I’d sooner see Wales play Portugal.

Lucky not to be 20 points behind at halftime.

George is blubbering – I fear he won’t be the only one come the end 😱

Hope he has a great game.

Italy are getting stronger all the time though, this could be ugly.

Next weekend could be interesting…if Scotland can play for a whole game

What would happen if they did? It seems quite unlikely, they’ve not managed to play well for more than 40 minutes in any of their games so far. Can they potentially win the tournament, I’m not sure it’s possible? At least they can’t win the wooden spoon.
I wonder what odds I could get on Wales coming second?

Well, well, well. 2 good games for the neutral today. I thought England had blown their chances with that poor kick from Daly and 100 cap Danny Care gifting the ball away.
Marcus Smith and that Welsh lad looked good 😉

Ooh, a nice play by England – What’s going on? 😜

Well deserved by Italy. If they’d lost at the end after drawing due to hitting the post in their game against France that would have been too cruel.

Wow the third quarter has had so much drama – anything could happen from here. Great for the neutral 😀
C’mon Italy!

Patchell is absolute class and an all round good guy from what I’ve seen of him. Glad he’s having well earned success in NZ.
To be fair to the Scarlets, wasn’t it injuries that kept him out of contention?

Good luck to Ospreys tonight.