Further to my OP, I emailed the brewery from the (rather better) pub over the road. By closing time, I had a reply from the brewery saying they would pay a visit to the culprit today.

May deserves a second knighthood for this work.

I’m asking myself why it’s taken a rockstar campaigner to get to the bottom of this and show that completely inadequate testing has been in large part to blame for the spread of Bovine TB.

Why the hell has nobody at Defra thought to find out whether or how infected animals could be spreading the disease through the herd?

Why did the last government take research that showed culling badgers would be largely ineffective and turn that round to claim that it would be at least a bit effective, especially if they culled hard enough for long enough?

What entrenched interests in the industry and the government have been working together to prevent better disease control and spread misinformation among farmers?

And, of course, it’s also come down to some pretty appalling hygiene practices among farmers anyway.
Did they learn anything from Foot and Mouth or the BSE scandals?

As my wife pointed out, if humans were being forced to live in each other’s manure and started getting ill, would public health experts not think to check whether they might be in some way linked?

I still get it on my 3×9 touring bike. Cheapness of parts takes priority as it’s also my winter bike and takes a beating.

Has anyone experienced problems with the compass on the OS app pointing the wrong way? I reported it a couple of years ago but they said it must be my phone but since then the app has been updated and I have a new phone and it still does it sometimes – usually 90 degrees off.  Not a problem when you are in civilisation but could be a danger on a foggy mountain top.
I have checked against the Apple built-in compass app and that works fine even when the OS compass is playing silly beggars.

King Charles the Woke.

@scapegoat you forgot Durham Police.

I used to get a lot of this and found yoga stretches focused on the hamstrings and  glutes very helpful along with the sorts of exercises people have already suggested – anything that gently flexes the back basically.
Now it’s rare for me to have an attack, and if I do, a couple of days of ibu and regular stretches works wonders.

^That’s the Master Race??

Special thanks to @Donald for this insight.

also @thegeneralist We won’t hold the money in our account all in one go. As soon as a sum lands it’ll be off to the solicitors doing the conveyancing. The idea is that we don’t request our money from the funds until we have exchanged contracts and the risk of the sale falling through is gone. That way we won’t risk selling all the funds only to find we have £400k in our current account and nothing to spend it on except c&h.

Thanks all. CGT on any increase in value sounds reasonable.

we originally expected the funds to go directly to the solicitor dealing with probate and from there directly to the vendors. We since found that the investment funds want to pay it into our current account as my wife is their client. That’s what set alarm bells ringing about whether this would count as income or not.

I don’t earn enough to pay income tax, my wife pays at basic rate PAYE from her teachers’ pension. The inheritance is in her name but we only have a joint account.

We understand that if we don’t sell our house immediately we have to pay a higher rate of stamp duty but we get a rebate if we sell in 3 years.

Biden has come out to condemn this attempt on the life of President Putin.

I stayed up until Richard Holden’s result came in. He was previously my MP and didn’t stay to face the music. Somehow, him hanging on is even funnier than him losing. He reduced a 20k majority to one of 20. The swing against him was something like 35%. He’ll surely be in the most marginal seat in the country now.

I hope Trump will reject this decision as politically motivated and false, as he has done with every decision that went against him.

I also thought it could be a set up video.

Who would volunteer to be sprayed with shite for a set-up video?

Surely with the kind of protections emerging from the opinion polls, if we wake up to a Tory majority on July 5th it would look highly suspicious. It might even provoke unrest.

@frankconway

Neil – the better reference is ‘Tricky Dicky’ by Ian Dury…

The song is called Billericay Dickie. That’s why I said it.

Richard Holden needs to pray he loses. Otherwise he’s going to be known forever as Billericay Dickie.

Wouldn’t it be hilarious if the first by-election of the new parliament were to be Richi’s seat?

I cast my mind back to Theresa May’s abysmal campaign, her shallow slogans, robotic delivery and zero personal skills and think: could Sunak measure down to that standard?

What we really need is a new offence of causing death by dangerous government.

So have I understood this correctly? Sunak negotiated the Windsor framework. Now he’s appealing against the consequences of his own deal?

Good to see that all the Mayoral candidates who made “car is king “ a key issue in their campaign (including in my North East) has come a complete cropper.

Green & Blacks Mayan Gold and 60% cocoa with ginger, 2 bars for £1.50 at Barry’s Bargains, Consett.

…and as Kurt Vonnegut also said:

What’s the white stuff in bird poop?

That’s bird poop too.

I think we should hold onto that thought at this poopiest of times.

I’m thinking of posting on the local Facebook page these leaked plans to turn the main road through the village into a cycle path.

It’s a blimp, Frank.

Have a look for some bouldering shorts.

My best success with Italian was Earworms. Basic tourist stuff,  set to music.

Has anyone tried compeed plasters as a preventative?

hair removed first, of course.

Humiliation for Reform is the best thing to come out of this.

I stumbled across “Tubular Beats” on spotify recently. Give it a whirl.

That patch 😆 It’s like a tiny summary of the Uk in 2024.

The other half of the sky.

I’m pleased to see Sunak has recognised the importance of early diagnosis and will trust he will ensure the same for everyone.

Except for the taxes they pay. 

everyone knows no farmer earns enough to pay taxes.

@fatmountain has it. Sadly, it was exactly the same in 1914 but they still went in their droves. – not that they had much choice. When the survivors came home they all got a pay cut because there was a recession.

Is there such a thing as a mincefluencer?

Covid/lockdowns have also made matters worse.

Plenty of trees down at Hamsterley Forest. Several trails are closed.

I beat a lot of my personal best times up several of my local climbs, some of them more than once. Some I had set a decade ago or more and I had kind of assumed I would never be fit enough to get near them again because I am 58 years old.

The fact I spent the whole of May in Austria cycling and walking may have helped.