I think I’ll go wild tonight and sit drinking & flicking through netflix for something to watch, haven’t done that since last night and every previous nights for 10 months.

I remember when Serco took over running a lot of MOD supply services at Faslane back in the mid 90’s. Not so much a shambles, but costs when straight up and up and up.

Just saw the BBC news channel and on one hand you get the resident prof giving you black and white understanding and details and on the other some guff from Mancock.

The Prof even called him out discussing ‘mutations’ as being a scary new thing and putting the fear into people. Viruses, as TiRed has pointed out for weeks now, mutate. Unlike the MP’s the man called out the public as well saying we can’t control the virus but we can control ourselves and observe the rules, and that clearly wasn’t happening in some areas.

With the rate of infection increasing in the SE and areas of London in particular its not a surprise for schools to say lets pack up week early and keep kids at home, especially in light of the rise in numbers, so it beggars belief that Williamson wants to take councils to court and force schools to stay open.

Clearly at Eton you didnt get to take board games in for the last week of school

BenP makes a point I’ve been making to friends since 2015 since that bus rolled out with the £350m for the NHS.
If you believed that statement and others about taking back control of money, law etc, you also have to believe that the government in charge of that money are honest and will spend it to the benefit of the citizens of the UK.

Now who on earth believes the tories are gonna spend that cash on the public and the greater good of the country? I think there is some recent evidence to the contrary

That Tice fella was just regurgitating what was in the Daily Heil the other day, he retweeted a pic of the column telling us to buy second homes as the house prices would fall and buy news cars to keep the British car industry alive. Another clunt.

I’ve just had the misfortune to be watching something on you tube and the add that popped up midway though was Furhrage punting financial advice and products.

Claiming that now that ‘the country has decided to take back control of its destiny so too should you and take control of your financial future as the little man and women is being played by the big corporates’.

Bragging along the way about how his grandfather his father and also he served (served, mind you! not worked) for 20 years in the financial world.

What a clunt I feel sick just hearing his voice.

Got 2200 on the clock this year a mix of road and MTB.

Was hoping for 2500 but this’ll do me.

Lockdown was great for the road bike but no go for the MTB, all the local tracks were filled with families so I stayed away, meanwhile the roads were wonderfully quiet for a few short weeks.

I always hit the skids comes July, looking back on strava it happened every year for last 4, get a good start through March-May and then it gradually tales off till 50 miles a month is all I manage.

Next year I hope to get more away trips in, road in the Lakes in October for a day for the first time in donkeys years and I got the bug back for getting away from local stuff which tbh I can almost ride all of it on the road bike with it cx wheelset on.

On the subject of EU regulations getting binned from the get go, I see Monbiot has picked up on the NFU looking to allow damn right dodgy chemicals back into use.

Trumps character (if indeed thats what it is) is all about the need for power and to be seen to be exerting it over others. His first year was largely spent signing executive orders, because to him it was 2 bigly words in his vocab (it also meant getting policy forced through without oversight because the house couldn’t agree on it) he loved that camera in his face and scribbled VF rhythm of a signature on the page.

The greatest power he can have over another human is to condemn them to death and I think thats what all this is about to him, look at me ‘I’m still the most powerful man in the world’

Oh God, that line in his first tweet ‘how can you have a presidency when the vast majority think the election was rigged’

I mean, where to start with that statement?

I do enjoy Jonny Smiths reviews, it’s a good show he has.

Smaller EV vehicles are what most people should have rather than the path we are currently on. My neighbour’s daughter has just got a Ford Mustang 5.0 V8 for driving 1 mile to work. Her previous car (for some reason still parked outside my house) a focus 1l. Why?

The Ami might not be the car that we all need, but if Citroens model is for short distance needs and hourly rental then there are people it will suit especially in cities.

Another planned weeks holiday bites the dust. I’m looking back on my 3 nights in Keswick in October like some kind of round the world trip now.

Although that is frighteningly low I cant say I’m surprised. My neighbours have about 7 cars between them and a Motorhome and my bike will do more miles than most of them each year. Walking isn’t in their lifestyle but neither is actually going anywhere.
WFH during lockdown part 1 (and long before) I saw a number of people I had never seen before ambling around the estate who I had never seen before or since.

Wow, mind blown. Still the latest update on my street is 2012. Looks like they always come round on bin day as well.

Just gone through the whole 3 series of Fargo again, loved it on C4 and its great watching back characters and plot are fantastic.

Was on Disney + last night after catching up with Mandalorian and sat through a Nat Geo doc on 2 guys who walk the Grand Canyon, I thought it was gonna be two guys and lots of go pro on a stick stuff but it was much more about the landscape and commercial interests trying to monetise everything in site, heli alley was an eye opener. 400 flights a day.

@willard A fair few of my former Navy colleagues went straight to defence contractors after their 22yrs, when you already know the kit it’s a short step into a new job.

@allanoleary I thought exactly the same thing, aside from it being another story to stop people talking about corrupt PPE spending, what better way than to sort out your CV for Feb 2021 when life gets a bit tough and you need a change of scenery after all Westminster is so 2020.

Oh well, here’s another scandal that’s been dead catted this morning on the TV networks with news of some money for the MOD.

@scuttler I imagine a lot of folk have done the same as you and followed for that reason.
Probably has at least 10-15% bots, 25% rubber neckers intrigued about the car crash and the rest rabid fans.

Never gave this any thought before but on the storage site we keep the caravan on there are a number of shipping containers that cover the perimeter blocking prying eyes. 2-3 of the containers are not permanent (all the others are same colour and have livery) these are often open and are piled high with bikes, they’ve always looked like catalogue specials but ive never really had a look in.

I would say, everybody who’s not calling him out from the GOP right now knows exactly whats going on and is happy to carry on their own grift until the game is up. Ive got to agree with the comment above re right wing parties the world over looking at the US and thinking ‘lets push this as far as we can’ witness the tories right now, money spaffing in all directions, come Feb when brexit is ‘done’ then the rats currently at the helm will be off like a shot and leaving it to others to mop up.

‘We can’t support people financially who have just started their own business, HMRC make the rules not us’ Alok Sharma on GMB this morning discussing furlough scheme

3 week old companies being given £21m handling fee

I did for the first time a few weeks ago, perfect autumn weather, think I took around 3 1/2 , plenty photo opps and a puncture kept me off the saddle plenty. Great ride, hoping to do it again next month if this all ends on Dec 2.

And they still say North Koreans are the brainwashed ones.

E: not much
D: water only
L: last night’s Jal Merchi departing now in its third stage.

They now provide frontline paramedic services to many NHS trusts, quite beyond the village fair days. Quite often they will bid for specific NHS contracts as well as providing ‘regular’ services.

10 years ago Lee Cain was working for the mirror dressed as a chicken giving Cameron shit in the high street. How the mighty are fallen.

Sounds like a good idea, hopefully they follow the European model of Aires, stellingplatz etc staying a max number of nights and having some standard facilities available. Could be useful for the small towns and villages who could use a boost of income and job opportunities.

We used them quite a bit on our travels around Europe in the camper in the past, some were amazing value. Some were quite basic and really were just a car park but still had everything you needed. They were very useful stopovers on the way to a site.

Our camper doesn’t have a shower so we would often stay near a town with a leisure centre style place, pop for a swim in the morning, quick shower and then off to somewhere new.

I bought the books All the Aires online years ago it’s an excellent guide.

Surely at this level you prep for an interview, and given the topic you use the words and phrases around the subject that you would have heard on one of your much heralded equality & diversity programmes at the FA. But no.

He did the organisation no favours yesterday when he really could have and instead exposed failings, no matter how apologetic he was.

I press to take a photo and I’ve manage to put the thing back in my pocket before it actually takes the photo. Then I go to look at it later and wonder what the dark blurred mess of an image is.

This, far too often.

EDIT: i cant do this quoting thing

I picked up a G8 powerlite in September. So far i’m not as impressed as I thought I might be. Had a G3 for 5 years that had a better camera.
This G8 can freeze quite often or not respond to simple processes quickly.

not had any black screen issues

@Jamze I suppose we might see something similar in Feb time here, a Tory stalking horse to start the ball rolling for Bozo’s removal. Its often the case that no hopers are put forward to draw votes away from others to allow the party to get what it wants and appear a democratic process.

The resignations, the landscaping briefing fiasco, the refusal to accept defeat, the fake news narrative, rats and sinking ships, it started this way how was it ever going to end any other way?

There was nobody in the administration since day one who thought of anything else but tomorrow, no ideologue ever plans long term strategy (see also the current tory mob)

They really are risking what tatters are left of the US democratic reputation, not that any of that was ever a concern of 45, but at least Biden and his team seem to be establishing a organisation and a position on the transition.

Would love to know if the 4 seasons hotel actually turned them down or if the Reps even bothered phoning

I came out of the woods walking the dog, got in the car at 11 and classic FM were playing Nimrod. Having been at the Cenotaph in 96 and spent 3 weeks prior marching round Whale Island in Pompey practising for the big day, that tune still makes me teary.

I like this fella, always an interesting show.

People, I think we all earned a cold one after the last few days on this thread.

‘here you are have some chump change you mugs working for a living’

Mary Trump on C4 right now laying out her scary thoughts.

I saw that trump presser that got cut from the networks, is he playing the Weinstein defence? Comes in a bit shaky, no swagger, starts reading of a piece of paper ‘the cat sat on the mat’ how long before he starts going around with a Zimmer frame and a dribbling chin to avoid clink?

@olddog thats how it’s been his whole life so far for him, ain’t gonna change his spots now. His ego is the only thing he has. In a country that keeps on telling itself its the greatest in the world thats no surprise.

EDIT: That Tugenhadt MP was on R4 yesterday discussing the complete erosion of democracy and how Trump was damaging the chances to step away from the growth of authoritarianism around the world, his lack of respect for his role was the main driver. He doesnt see himself as the president of the free world, but as Donald Trump leader of the world. Branding all the way.

I’m sure somewhere there will be a definition of the role and scope of the observer, surely given the bobbins thats gone on in the last 6 months regarding fraud and rigging that no state would drop the ball on procedure?