Yeah, too young.

I don’t understand 

That’s clear. Educate yourself.

But you’ve seen them, right?

Can half-play a bass, know a handful of guitar chords, play a simple “Billy Jean” beat on the drums, get a C out of a trumpet and play Good King Wenceslas on the harmonica. Trying to learn Hey Jude on piano – I have played piano on stage in a play (and sung at the same time, not well…) in the not-too-distant past but have no recollection of how to play the Vera Lynn-y stuff I played/sang in that.

Lard needs shifting – I’m in.

I was in Brittany a couple of months ago. Plenty of fat people there….  

Same – not nearly as many where we were as you’d see in the UK.

Going to guess you were either:

-Paris for the Olympics

-Alps for biking

-Camping for family holiday

None of which is likely to give you a true demographic cut through of the French population

Camping FTW! :) We were off the campsite every day, still not many fat people about, in towns or countryside.

Went to France in July, not many fat people there. What do they do differently?

I like a story with a mildly-less-shit-than-normal twist.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr7r9djxj0do

I went to ride it one year, but Easyjet kept hold of our bikes until we got to the UK.

Probably for the best.

I suspect that Starmer’s problem, with respect to the public being unimpressed with his performance during the rioting, is probably fundamentally down to the fact that he so desperately lacks any charisma.

Nah, that’s the sort of bobbins Sunak was desperately trying to sell in June. Biggest problem was the right’s shiny new narrative of “2 tier policing”. Gained a load of traction, that has.

It was lovely last year – we went at the start of October, which was a little early for good leaves around Tokyo latitudes. Shorts and t shirts weather. :)

Things to do in Japan Pt II

Its easy to be a fan of judges handing out massive sentences until they hand out a massive sentence to someone you like

People who commit violent disorder or riot? No tears spilled over their sentences here.

Sure, but your beliefs don’t extend to the right to behave in any way you personally think is OK, peaceful protest doesn’t give you right to decide that everyone else has to suffer so that you can have your say. Peaceful protest doesn’t give you the right to decide that it’s OK to ignore everyone else’s safety and break the law in any way you think is justified.

“No, not THAT kind of peaceful protest”.

The right to peaceful protest is legitimate.

Love it. Needs more of it, platformed more loudly.

I saw the article about the skeet shooter, and I think how she put it is maybe softer than saying she’s asking for an apology – I read it as she thinks there should be one, along with an acknowledgement that she has literally been robbed of a gold medal. If that was me, I don’t think I’d have put it in such moderate terms!

“However, I do believe some accountability needs to be taken to acknowledge and an apology for the incorrect decision ultimately costing me an opportunity of winning an Olympic gold medal.”

Clearly people DO have recommendations! Thanks all, much food for thought – had never even heard of PIV, so will need to find out what that is! It’s not a huge amount of mould, just black spots in the wallpaper – it’s an outside wall that gets the sun in the morning, no pipework in or above it – it’s been there since winter (according to Mrs Pondo – I never even spotted it… ) so not a recent arrival. :)

Bracing himself to lose another lawsuit for defamation, I believe.

And now the good news….. swift justice care of the wonders of modern phones/ technology:

That is marvelous to behold.

1-0 down at halftime to the mighty R’s and I think I heard boos as the players left the pitch. After 45 mins…..

I believe you did. Our fans are so classy – the irony of our song being about keeping right on to the end of the road… :)

FYI, it’s brilliant. HTH. :)

Mm, same kind of thing with buttons in a different order and much nicer people. :)

Oh, will you look at that? Five arrested over the Bordesley Green disorder.

https://www.westmidlands.police.uk/news/west-midlands/news/news/2024/august/arrests-following-disorder-in-bordesley-green/

Can you hold off for a bit, please? There’s some revealing inconsistencies in what is being posted that it would be good to have explained in the open.

Noted! It’s not working for me anyhow… :)

Is the Report button working for anyone? There’s some Islamaphobia I’d like to flag.

I’m lucky to be living where I am insulated from the direct impact of immigrants, such as overcrowding, extreme pressure on public services, increased crime etc – but I don’t think that not being a direct victim disqualifies anyone from commenting on or being concerned about it.

So your life is unaffected by immigration, thanks for confirming.

Everything you’re honking about there is a consequence of Tories, not migrants

Do you think they were just out for a walk?

Asked and answered.

I’m not willing to forgive anybody walking around on the street with weapons, whether they ended up using them or not.

Good news! Literally no-one is asking for your forgiveness.

That doesn’t make it OK for armed masked men to roam the streets – regardless of ethnicity/religion.

The claim was that they were out looking for trouble.

I think this will be the third time I’ve explained it for you. The police willingly turned a blind eye, because they were re-assured by so called “community leaders” that there would not be violence, would not be armed men, and that there would be no need to police it. Of course, the whole notion of a community leader is almost as ridiculous as the police believing a word they say. You can continue to ignore reality, but you can’t ignore the consequences of

The only reason the counter-protest kicked off was because one moron offered a large group of men outside and got a shoeing. I understand he’s since been barred from the pub – you should have a look at the video that was put out with the owners.

Do you think that masked, armed men were not there looking for trouble?

I think they were expecting to encounter a right wing demonstration, if that’s what you mean. If matey boy hadn’t decided to step out and invite them to come and have a go if they thought they were hard enough, it’s likely that nothing would have happened.

You’ve had the video already of the chap from WMP explaining how they asked “community leaders” who promised they would be peaceful. Anyone with half a brain cell, even you, would know that would not be the case and that one person can’t speak for everyone and their actions.

The only reason the counter-protest kicked off was because one moron offered a large group of men outside and got a shoeing. I understand he’s since been barred from the pub – you should have a look at the video that was put out with the owners.

Can confirm microwave slippers are fine. Made our microwave smell a bit… oaty?

Its not acceptable for anyone to walk around the streets armed, let alone to be permitted to do so by the police.

One man arrested with a pretend gun, one man arrested for carrying a stick. Source for your emphasised claim that thay they were permitted to carry arms by the police, please.

The comparison was the police response to a group of white men smashing the place up, to a group of Muslim men smashing the place up, which as described by the man on the video from WMP, was markedly different.

The only reason the counter-protest kicked off was because one moron offered a large group of men outside and got a shoeing. I understand he’s since been barred from the pub – you should have a look at the video that was put out with the owners.

Clearly you’d prefer people you disagree with be silenced

Good news! You have self-evidently not been silenced.

I think you’ll be all right – they tend to open earlier the further south you go, and the one we went to in Brittany last month is open from April next year. Will be nice and quiet in May. :)

Watch sentencing live –

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cy8497l7dx8t#player

It’s a 29er front 27.5″ rear wheel mix predominantly.

Ah ha – thank you! :)

No idea, I’d presume the anger is directed toward the people who come on the boats to Dover, who are mostly single men.

Mrs Pondo is currently on holiday so I’m temporarily on my own – that doesn’t make me a “single man”.

I’m not agreeing with them, but

“So arguments along the lines of “they are just human beings, with families”

The vast majority of illegal immigrants are single men.

If it was nearly all families, there may be more compassion.

Quite apart from the inaccurate “illegal immigrant” label, the demographics changed post-Brexit when the ONLY way to get here was made as arduous and dangerous as possible – when you didn’t have to cross the channel in a boat to get here, almost half of asylum seekers were women and children. It’s now mostly men leaving their families to come here first on their own because we made it that way.