People are quick to also forget how many MPs the Liberal demacrats had in the coalition…

How many MPs the Lib Dems had in the cabinet is a red herring. Ultimately the Lib Dems had the whip hand over the Conservatives due to being able to make up the numbers to form a majority government.

Without the Lib Dems supporting the Conservatives the latter would have only been able to form a minority government. This would have placed a far greater restriction on the reckless and damaging plans of the Tories than the Lib Dems jumping into bed with them.

But Swinson et al were desperate to be relevant and obviously happy to become the Tories glove puppets.

Nothing to see here. The factory closed in 2014.

Perhaps you should have read the whole article, lest you make yourself look foolish?

For those oooing that dinky helicopter’s agility, for something that weighs 22 tons the Chinook can be made to dance.

😉

Better a Tory coalition than a Tory majority or one enabled by the DUP, but I think the Lib Dems received an overlong and unfair kicking as if no other party ever failed on election promises and manifesto commitments.

Those weren’t the only options.

In 2010 without the support of the Lib Dems the Tories would likely only have been able to form a minority government, even if they had the backing of the DUP. Only having a minority means that its unlikely the Tories would have been able to get their ruinous policy of austerity through the house and at worst would have been a place holder government and at best would likely have had to either declare another General Election or concede to a potential Labour-centric coalition.

The Lib Dems rightly took a kicking for not only reneging on one of their fundamental policies (tuition fees), after charming young voters to back them, but also for their part in not just enabling the Tories but also for actively partaking in the implementation of policies that have targeted the young, females, the disabled and the poor the most.

This continued attempt to excuse the actions of Swinson et al because they were in a coalition is sickening. It was a coalition they chose to be in and, truth be told, they had the upper hand, given that withdrawing from the coalition would have nullified the Tories ability to cause so much damage.

The Lib Dems threw any principles they had to the wind in desperation to stay in government and for that they (and any of their MPs who took an active role in that coalition of wanton destruction) should rightly be condemned.

Chinooks in action on Long Hill

I used to love Under Slung Load operations, except in the desert!

Almost like there was some sort of coalition agreement in place…

Yeah, to hell with being an MP with principles. Just roll over and have your tummy tickled by the Tories to get a sniff of power.

The fact some of you seem happy to give Swinson and her ilk a pass for their behaviour whilst in bed with the Tories says a lot about yourselves really.

We’ve a patient on my unit at the moment who developed Necrotising Fasciitis after a dip in a hot tub. Sadly they’re likely going to lose their leg.

As an aside, I also have a hot tub, but am fanatical about its cleaning/chlorination regime.

A couple of my old oppos are involved in the RAF operation to help shore up the dam, one is on the Chinook and one is on the ground supporting them.

Several breeds of deer bark when alarmed. Muntjac are particularly prone and roe fairly keen on it.

I’ve never heard Muntjac or Roe barking but I have heard Whitetail deer do so when I’ve hunted them back in Michigan.

Is that Jedi who was involved with Herts North Shore/Chicksands?

If so he is a really nice bloke and a bloody talented rider to boot.

VW T5 Van.

Aside from the ecological debate about using a Sodastream there is also the ethical one. Are you happy buying from a company based in a country that has clear apartheid policies in place?

SodaStream

Worth bearing in mind.

If you follow IMBA’s advice we should all be fairweather riders,

Do not ride muddy trails…

The IMBA with their finger on the pulse as always! For an apparently international organisation they don’t seem to understand that in some countries rain is almost a permanent thing.

Paper bag? Luxury!

I had an old crisp packet to sleep in and had to check in the corners if I wanted to eat.

Oh how cute the idiots are banding together.

Nope. You appear to be on your own now.

…I’ve 35 years of dealing with **** of various shapes and sizes, played shinty…

Jolly hockey sticks for ‘men’ in skirts? Ha, yeah, alright…

Ice hockey players are moving much faster and often legally hit opposition players into a solid object (the boards).

By the way, what is the punishment for fighting in Shinty?

I was taking the piss not complimenting you.

I neither need nor seek compliments from some nobody on the Internet, I was merely correcting your comment whatever the grounds were.

It’s funny how those who chuck around “Internet Badass” memes are often the worst example of that trope.

@singlespeedstu

As folks who ride with me will attest, I’m ‘wobbly’ rather than ‘badass’. My attention span doesn’t allow me to go in straight lines for too long.

But I am pretty good at using my elbows if required. 20ish years of playing ice hockey has provided me with some transferable skills!

We’ve got a roof top tent and we use it quite a bit. Easy to set-up, away from the majority of insects, not on the floor so doesn’t get as damp as a ground pitched tent. It’s going on top of the Mercedes Vito van that I’m currently converting into a camper, to provide extra accommodation for my teenage daughter. She needs her space!!

Tent and a camper, hated by both ‘sides’?

Passing on a downhill section is better as it screws with their views as to how a bike 10kg heavier can overtake them downhill…

Utter cods.

Not sure if you’re aware of it but there is a whole field of mountain biking called “Downhill” and the bikes they use are often much heavier. I’m sure many folks outside of downhill are aware that those who partake in downhill both ride heavier bikes and that they can ride downhill faster.

The concept of a heavier bike going downhill faster is not some kind of ju-ju. Indeed, once they get moving you could say they have a certain law on their side.

However on my last visit to Llandegla it is pretty clear they need e-bike lanes! The first climb is ridiculous, countless e-bikers muscling by without so much of a ‘scuse me’

Learn to ride defensively. If someone tries to muscle past me on a climb, whether on a proper bike or an invalid bike, they get put into the bushes or, if the trail is narrow, held up a bit more as I back off.

Ebike is the only way to make Degla even remotely fun

Llandegla as a whole is pretty dull and no amount of on-bike assistance can improve that. Perhaps though, if the rotund folks who usually straddle e-Bikes used a traditional bike instead, they’d at least get a health benefit from riding the place.

Analogue or E-bike, makes no odds to me. If some impatient idiot decides to sit on my back wheel on a tight trail then I just back off a little and hold them up even more. I’ll give room when the trail conditions allow, not before.

No one should feel pressurised to interrupt their ride for someone else.

What concerns me is the casual attitude to the GFA.

Have they forgotten some very irate Irish terrorists/patriots did a pretty good job of dismantling the Tories at their conference a good few years back?

And PR-wise targeting the Tories would be better than say a bus station.

Surely there’s someone in the Tories feeling a few twinges of doubt about that?

Many of us spent a fair amount of time in Northern Ireland trying to bring about peace and some never came back. If these Tory idiots are happy to potentially bring about a resumption of Northern Irish terrorism, in the name of loyalty to party before country, then they should be the ones to bare the brunt.

Shameless Tories being shameless, nothing new to see here.

Its absolutely disgusting, but while you have a press that seems happy to jump into bed with such scum and barely disguised selfish bigots who happily vote for them it’s what you end up with.

I have had similar issues with my next door neighbors they are all out there creating a stink, forcing me to breath in their burning animal flesh…

Hitler and Morrissey were/are both anti-meat…see a pattern?

Own them with your Bombers?

Absokutely report to local authority and also to their health visitor service (simple google) as they have a 2 year old will be covered by HV.

Reporting it to the Health Visitor Service would likely be completely useless. Health Visitors have no right of access and are now instructed, where there is potential for a child to be in danger, to pass that information on to Social Services in order to avoid conflict with parents in order to maintain some form of access.

Far better to cut out the middleman and go straight to Social Services if you believe there is a child safety issue.

When on secondment to a Health Visiting Team we visited a number of homes where the scent of weed could be detected, but all we could do is pass on the information to Social Services lest we lose access.

There you go again, chucking about the word “comrade” as if it’s an insult.

Give up on dreams of Blair or one of his cronies making a comeback to drag Labour towards the right. The rank and file of the Labour Party have found their voices and are not afraid to use them.

I’ve a brand new 26×2.5 Maxxis High Roller DH sat in my garage. You can have it for £20+p&p if you’re interested.

I have to add p&p because the thing weighs enough to have it’s own gravitational pull!

I’ve a matching 24×2.7 one too, if there are any Big Hit or other 26″/24″ DH bike  fans out there.

The sixth formers and the PFJ still show no sign of wanting shut of him, so he’s clearly going nowhere (literally and metaphorically)

In the end, Magic Grandad will surely go down as the most effective leader in the history of the Tory Party

Well I’m calling “house” on this game of Bitter Little Babbling Blairite Bingo.

Bore off or get some new material.

What I care about is the fact that we have another shit bag pm and labour have done nothing to stop him.

You understand how the Tory leadership election works don’t you? Labour don’t get a say.

On a kinda related note, a friend of mine who lives in Queensland came off his bike the other year into a Gympie Gympie Bush. He still feels pain where he was stung after all this time.

Apparently the only treatment that can help is washing the site with dilute hydrochloric acid and then using waxing strips to try and get the plant stingers out!

There are stories of a military officer, who was stung by a gympie gympie during WW2, shooting himself due to the pain being so unbearable!

Another reason not to go to Australia!

Wow, this thread is just littered with Blairites crying for “the good old days”.

I can understand your frustration, what with the Labour Party daring to allow us hoi polloi more of a say over how our party is run and who represents us. I mean, how very dare we!

Perhaps, given the Tory-light leanings of Blairites you’d all be better off jumping ship to the Lib Dems? Their new leader seems like she would be just the ticket for you all. Repeatedly chucking about the word “Comrade” as if it’s an insult or thinking that doing so is the height of comedy is quite frankly pathetic.

As for the anti-Semitism nonsense, criticism of Israel as a state is not anti-Semitism. Supporting BDS is not anti-Semitism. Calling into question the motives of members of the Labour Friends of Israel is not anti-Semitism.

I’ve recently brought myself a decent torque wrench (brought it back from the US, tools seem a lot cheaper over there than in the UK) as I’ve always got by on ‘calibrated hands’ before. ‘Two knuckles white tight’ just doesn’t cut it with many components these days.

Ah, another disgusting display of toadyism towards her kin on the other side of the House by Swinson, in the seeming competition by some to blow smoke up Theresa May’s backside.

Rather than congratulating her for being an extremely privileged white female, who managed to become PM in a vote featuring no alternatives, how about pulling her up for the ruinous policy of austerity which she presided over that has disproportionately affected females?

So says the UN

Ah but of course, Swinson would also be implicating herself, so pats on the back for Theresa it is.

Not just the plants out for us.

So the advice is to get a Turbo Trainer and stay safely indoors?

😉

Sometimes you just have to move on and deal with what’s in front of you…

Interesting that many seem happy to give the Lib Dems the benefit of the doubt, after their actions in enabling a ruinous policy of austerity just a few years ago, yet Labour still get lumbered with actions in the 1970s and those of Tony Blair…

What choice did they have?

How about sticking by the principles you seem to believe Swinson/The Lib Dems have?

If all she was/is interested in is power then she should stand by her voting record and performance when in coalition, resign the Lib Dem whip and cross the house to be with her kin.

Netflix works abroad, but you get the local content. If you’re in the US, you get the US Netflix.

I’ve used it in US and Italy, lots of English language content while in Italy.

(I travel with a Chromebook and an HDMI cable)

Just sign up to a VPN.

I regularly travel to the US to see my family but use a VPN so that I can get UK-specific content via my media apps as well as use BBC iPlayer.