tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67989275859079293102024-03-27T06:37:59.612+00:00The Thamesmead GrumpA blog about everything that's wrong with the World by a miserable old sod.The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.comBlogger248125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-36856484345582274932023-07-25T17:49:00.000+01:002023-07-30T16:15:59.280+01:00<h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">ULEZ</span></h1><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The recent by-election in Uxbridge and South Ruislip last Thursday resulted in the Tories holding on to the seat with a majority of 495 votes, down from the 7210 they got in the 2019 election. This, according to many political pundits of the climate change denial variety shows how Londoners are rejecting the expansion of ULEZ across the city.</div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">So let's look at the results and see just what they mean. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The Conservative (anti-ULEZ) candidate achieved 13,965 votes; down from 53% of the vote in 2019 to 45%</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The Labour candidate achieved 13,470 votes; up from 38% of the vote in 2019 to 44%</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">53.77% of those eligible to vote didn't bother.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">If this was a referendum on ULEZ, the result is perfectly clear; most people couldn't give a damm about ULEZ one way or the other, although to be fair, they don't seem to give a damm about anything else much elther.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Those who voted Labour or for most of the other candidates don't give a damm about ULEZ or actively support it.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">In any case, anyone claiming that almost wiping out a substantial Conservative majority, leaving them to scrape through by a gnat's whisker as a disaster for Labour must be reading the Daily Telegraph.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The anti-ULEZ campaign is a storm in a teacup, with it's advocates making a lot of noise and getting a lot of media attention with little effect.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Speaking of pressure groups making a lot of noise, getting a lot of media attention with little effect:-</span></div><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">JUST STOP OIL
</span></h1><div><span style="font-family: arial;">An international organisation pops up out of nowhere, well organised, well funded and seemingly with the purpose of totally discrediting the environmental movement. In cases like this, one usually just follows the money and in this case, it leads right back to the fossil fuel industry.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">How better to derail the campaign to try and reverse the damage being done to our planet than by demonising those who advocate a movement to a more sustainable lifestyle. Get a bunch of idiots and tell them to disrupt society in any way they can. They are supplied with all the accoutrements necessary to do this; tickets to major public events, tee shirts, banners, no end of orange dye. We are left in no doubt as to who they are.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Some people may argue that those taking part in these disruptive stunts are genuine climate activists. What utter nonsense. Anyone believing that making a fool of yourself, disrupting popular public events and stopping the traffic actually makes people more supportive of the environmental movement would have to be a complete moron and I don't believe anyone could be that stupid.</span></div>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-81709503778822368972023-07-06T11:18:00.000+01:002024-02-15T18:32:34.187+00:00JUST STOP OIL<b></b><h1 style="height: 0px; text-align: left;">x</h1>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-21032768700861670002022-05-12T14:53:00.001+01:002022-05-12T14:53:05.672+01:00<h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">CLANGERS TO RETURN TO THE BBC </span></h1><p><br /></p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRehRzwz_KlhYKgQVN_ugwTv0ixm-OBeZ5YLW_spLWOl9HfqQgDwIuHrze5OBixMpMNcHduOfUkUSdPjZwhxBNGduGTCH-ZL-MDeQV4GFUWodw6J7Gq_uRU0m2hETGJlmJKE-Q0B8vEc69R8BuVqyL4t22IQ15n_g3zzugcLBiqCJ0u3y-2NKG8VLr/s1200/the-clangers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRehRzwz_KlhYKgQVN_ugwTv0ixm-OBeZ5YLW_spLWOl9HfqQgDwIuHrze5OBixMpMNcHduOfUkUSdPjZwhxBNGduGTCH-ZL-MDeQV4GFUWodw6J7Gq_uRU0m2hETGJlmJKE-Q0B8vEc69R8BuVqyL4t22IQ15n_g3zzugcLBiqCJ0u3y-2NKG8VLr/s320/the-clangers.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not an actual picture of<br />Nadine Dorries.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Nadine Dorries, our government culture secretary was speaking in front of the digital, media and sports select committee last week, trying to justify her decision to try and sell off the publicly owned Channel 4. It seems that, in spite of being responsible for the oversight of our national TV stations, she has no clue whatsoever of what it is she is in charge of. </p><p>"I would argue that to say that, just because Channel 4's been established as a public service broadcaster and just because it's in receipt of public money, we should never audit the future of Channel 4 and we should never evaluate how Channel 4 looks in the future and whether or not it's a sustainable and viable model". Is how she justified her proposal to the committee.</p><p>A shame then that she doesn't know that Channel 4 is entirely funded by advertising. When challenged by Tory MP Damien Green that Channel 4 gets it's revenue from advertising, her response was, "And....so.....though it's.....yeah and that".</p><p>Whether this is an even more stupid blunder that her LBC interview where she was boasting about how well Channel 5 was doing since being privatised is open to debate.</p><p>Channel 5 has never been publicly owned.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-20467212590615373502022-05-04T14:04:00.000+01:002022-05-04T14:04:00.014+01:00<h1 style="text-align: left;"> Shopping in the 21st century (part 4)</h1><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXSRzpR-ezwPDHdMLtmKljKVpbNsOrnvnUxnt9nXC2hOJmQ9HdVYuS0iNbM_m6QmB8KD_flnosAPZWuHE_ROmZOqCajfLdJH_cRqPK13XxHQh9ioHzFgc5WG1hOo2HbCZq3lozOL0PEqw4rT84JqxpvijwT4u-6ABETB4_Phlv6JedkhStKQnvZ4vr/s500/51pM3InnY2L._AC_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="500" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXSRzpR-ezwPDHdMLtmKljKVpbNsOrnvnUxnt9nXC2hOJmQ9HdVYuS0iNbM_m6QmB8KD_flnosAPZWuHE_ROmZOqCajfLdJH_cRqPK13XxHQh9ioHzFgc5WG1hOo2HbCZq3lozOL0PEqw4rT84JqxpvijwT4u-6ABETB4_Phlv6JedkhStKQnvZ4vr/w159-h135/51pM3InnY2L._AC_.jpg" width="159" /></a></div>I needed a replacement washing machine connector tap as the existing one has broken; I also needed some PTFE sealant tape so the whole thing doesn't leak like buggery afterwards. Seems like a simple enough task: think again.</div><div><br /></div><div>Went to B&Q to get one; did they have what I wanted? You must be joking. </div><div><br /></div><div>While I was there though, I did see a nice house plant that would work well in our new planter; at least it wouldn't be an entirely wasted journey. Took it to the checkout and found the only till open had a queue of customers half the length of the shop in front of it. Put the plant back and went home.</div><div><br /></div><div>The tap and tape? Ordered it online: it arrives tomorrow.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Local Elections Update.</h1><div><br /></div><div>Nothing to report really. I still don't know anything about the Conservative candidates, not that I intended voting for any of them anyway.</div><div><br /></div>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-33053036250096461872022-04-29T16:36:00.000+01:002022-04-29T16:36:02.026+01:00<h1 style="text-align: left;">A FEATHERED WARNING </h1><p>According to this article, published by the <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/seagulls-could-alien-spies-sent-26820658" target="_blank">Daily Mirror</a>, a self-appointed "UFO expert" who goes by the name of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Pope_(journalist)" target="_blank">Nick Pope</a> has suggested that we should be wary of seagulls who have been repurposed as secret drones, acting as alien spies and sending information about us back to their mothership.</p><p>The Mirror journalist reporting the story, John Bett, says this makes a lot of sense.</p><p>The reason they have to use this sort of devious method is because despite being thousands of years in advance of us, they never invented the internet so would never think to find out everything they need to know about our species just by watching YouTube.</p><p>One has to wonder just what information the aliens are collecting and what they intend doing with it. Infiltrating our secret military headquarters would be problematical; I'm sure with even the most lax security measures, the people inside would have no difficulty in spotting a seagull flying around. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA8mOSZCLCxHA-7CvgNWAfUJhHToE0qhAydqlMiLbzRU3roVSVg-yPCnYm0k5PepHFzjrL-_tT8XWFrxl5iWd0H4VYa5Rtrkf26r0KXi5Mw3aUD_kDXGJ4QUfEOh40dx_vOnYo3o2Jqn6wQx4ntNllKY6WH-hWB-fJMx8NYbQjIPqGPGEr34LeMH4D/s540/278713654_2223529607799111_2676145894966219906_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="540" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA8mOSZCLCxHA-7CvgNWAfUJhHToE0qhAydqlMiLbzRU3roVSVg-yPCnYm0k5PepHFzjrL-_tT8XWFrxl5iWd0H4VYa5Rtrkf26r0KXi5Mw3aUD_kDXGJ4QUfEOh40dx_vOnYo3o2Jqn6wQx4ntNllKY6WH-hWB-fJMx8NYbQjIPqGPGEr34LeMH4D/w266-h237/278713654_2223529607799111_2676145894966219906_n.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>Imagine the Cabinet Office at No 10 with Jonathan Livingstone Seagull perched on the picture rail, gathering all that secret information whilst waiting to pounce on the hors d'oeuvres during one of their lockdown parties. Surely someone would notice.<p></p><p>Of course, if they were spying on the rest of us like some of the conspiracy theorist fruit loops claim, that would make more sense. After all, what an alien race that has just spent 50,000 years crossing the light years wants to really know about us Earthlings is ............. actually, I've no idea what they want to know about us but whatever it is, it must be important.</p><p>I know for a fact that they are spying on me and I caught one in the act. In this case the seagull had cunningly disguised itself as a collared dove but it didn't fool me for a moment. From now on, I'll be watching the skies.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">5 MAY ELECTION UPDATE.</h1><p>For those of you who are waiting with baited breath for my latest election update, I'm afraid I don't have much to add.</p><p>This information refers to the Thamesmead East ward where I live. I don't know anything about any of the others.</p><p>I did receive another election leaflet, again from Labour, this time giving me a little more information about their candidates and more details about what they have planned for the borough if they win a majority.</p><p>Trying to find out anything about any of the others is like pulling teeth. The sole Liberal Democrat, Doro Oddiri seems a sincere enough fellow although his Statement to Voters is left over from his 2017 General Election one when he stood as an Independent. </p><p>The three Tory candidates, Graham Anthony Moon, Natalie Price, Rajinder Singh Tumber, I think work for MI5 so cannot disclose anything about themselves at all. Apart from a name, there is nothing; no address, no contact details, no picture; nothing.</p><p>More when (if) I get it.</p>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-15506822071623824752022-04-17T11:38:00.001+01:002022-04-17T11:38:06.571+01:00<h1 style="text-align: left;"> EASTER SPECIAL REPORT </h1><p><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD_V9HSZ2NO2irUXJiHvimtzwSW-ixqWwxZOfXYljkmAJ0wg7Hhkb3gvyYTqiAEMRaCyXMl7CdiOKWuu5GqE7-_IK8THMT7wxYP6-sLQVdMiazOYec9Z0US2MdOWbNPAP_E0feShmYmqtrr_E3OVYXSroFxxZOIGJI8DxtlDycJE5T8Z48vgpctgUZ/s807/1970%20Easter_2009101608190800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="807" data-original-width="581" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD_V9HSZ2NO2irUXJiHvimtzwSW-ixqWwxZOfXYljkmAJ0wg7Hhkb3gvyYTqiAEMRaCyXMl7CdiOKWuu5GqE7-_IK8THMT7wxYP6-sLQVdMiazOYec9Z0US2MdOWbNPAP_E0feShmYmqtrr_E3OVYXSroFxxZOIGJI8DxtlDycJE5T8Z48vgpctgUZ/s320/1970%20Easter_2009101608190800.jpg" width="230" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1960s Easter Egg</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Every year, the tabloid end of our news media publishes tales of outraged gammons protesting the lack of the word "Easter" on the chocolate eggs that have been gracing our supermarket shelves since Boxing Day.</p><p>Every year we are treated to mindless rants about not offending Muslims although (as usual) they cannot provide any offended Muslims to say how offended they are,</p><p>A simple bit of research will show that most manufacturers have never had the word "Easter" on the box. Unfortunately, this requires some intelligent thought which is why it never happens.</p><p>As I pointed out in my previous post on the subject, which you can read here:-<a href="https://thethamesmeadgrump.blogspot.com/search?q=easter">https://thethamesmeadgrump.blogspot.com/search?q=easter</a> the only people who are likely to be offended by Easter eggs are Christians, unhappy about how their festival is being celebrated with offerings to the Pagan Fertility Goddes "Eostre".</p><p>If you would like to celebrate Easter the old-fashioned way, take a look at this excellent article on the subject. <a href="https://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-info/meet-the-goddesses/ostara/ostara-unabridged/">https://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-info/meet-the-goddesses/ostara/ostara-unabridged/</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">LOCAL ELECTION REPORT Pt 1.</h1><div><br /></div><div>On the 5th of May this year, Londoners will be able to go to the polls and elect their local councillors. Most, of course, won't bother. In the Borough of Bexley, for example, during the 2018 election, only 37% of people who were eligible to vote actually bothered to do so; much lower than the number of people eligible to vote who spent the next four years complaining about the way the council was being run.</div><div><br /></div><div>So far, I have received three election leaflets and a leaflet advising me how to cast a postal vote: all of them from Labour. None of the three candidate in my ward are white so I suppose I am completely unrepresented by them, or that's what I would be saying if I was black and all the candidates were white.</div><div><br /></div><div>As it is, the leaflet doesn't really tell me anything useful; they are going to improve things no end, but then, I imagine they will all say that. There is no information at all about the candidates themselves so if I am going to vote for them it will have to be on the strength of the party's fortunes nationally; something I have always tried not to do. Politicians, especially local ones should be chosen for their personal qualities and existing performance. In the past, I have voted for candidates I personally respect even if I'm not so sure about the party in general.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, let's go through what they call Conservative failures:-</div><div><br /></div><div>1. Condemned for failing to build enough affordable homes for Bexley families.</div><div><i>Condemned by Whom? And please provide a list of local authorities who <u>have</u> built enough affordable homes for their residents.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>2. Council Tax hiked by 21%, parking charges up, stealth taxes up and parking charges up. (They really are milking the parking charge rise).</div><div><i>They are on much firmer ground there. Bexley now has one of the highest rates of council tax in the country. Stealth taxes I suppose to mean charges for bin collection, those parking charges again and the yellow boxes at road junctions that stop the traffic from moving.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>3. Tory councillor attended lockdown party and council missed 38,000 bin collections.</div><div><i>I'm not sure what the connection is between those two issues (I assume there must be one, only I can't see it). Taken individually, I don't know who the Tory councillor is, the leaflet doesn't say; it doesn't mention which lockdown party either: an oversight, I'm sure. Missing bin collections is something everyone is experiencing although the shambolic state the way Serco was running ours, I'm surprised it wasn't a lot more.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><p>Anyway, that's all for now. In the spirit of fair play, I will write another blog about the local election when I have received information from the other parties involved.</p>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-107208935377984852022-03-07T18:34:00.001+00:002022-03-07T18:34:05.451+00:00<h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">THEY DO SAY THAT A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS, BUT WHAT ABOUT A PICTURE THAT HAS WORDS ON IT.</span></h1><p><b>WHILE YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT THAT, HERE IS A PICTURE WITH WORDS ON IT.</b></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitQtYOajtYltY7WUMGdNaqPgXbux2J0z8HeuX37pliAJx3unMWd__5_qM1d7oT8ZtkFWCWv-xhYaIyNJTXRy0y62bm7KgusY4-u_zJa43e4HRg_vlRjlnmX-8gwk_FeGW5LKB3k5qoNG_BZ2xSVTjpsa3ZKAIfHRmH6oV3hpbuqcOIY2gW4oa_Szik=s2397" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1561" data-original-width="2397" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitQtYOajtYltY7WUMGdNaqPgXbux2J0z8HeuX37pliAJx3unMWd__5_qM1d7oT8ZtkFWCWv-xhYaIyNJTXRy0y62bm7KgusY4-u_zJa43e4HRg_vlRjlnmX-8gwk_FeGW5LKB3k5qoNG_BZ2xSVTjpsa3ZKAIfHRmH6oV3hpbuqcOIY2gW4oa_Szik=w560-h364" width="560" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-35990027532565234422021-07-19T22:14:00.003+01:002021-07-19T22:14:35.899+01:00<h1 style="text-align: left;">TROWEL</h1><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTzunU0yUBC8d8zeFpuV5TdK5_Pj5mZzQfvHrVMYfQlpAkA4337jWOf_cJlkyZ1a_y7-QLSJWC27d6QOQMgK0mF9mYYzeaRlaZrnnrZNhdYBFHmQ_1e5ZOe-OUqMP-cfKHcfxJFOQKDdg/s225/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTzunU0yUBC8d8zeFpuV5TdK5_Pj5mZzQfvHrVMYfQlpAkA4337jWOf_cJlkyZ1a_y7-QLSJWC27d6QOQMgK0mF9mYYzeaRlaZrnnrZNhdYBFHmQ_1e5ZOe-OUqMP-cfKHcfxJFOQKDdg/s0/download.jpg" /></a></div><br />Shopping in the 21st century</h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I decided I needed a new pointing trowel, (truth is, I've lost my old one). I don't plan to do any pointing, I need it to dig stones and rubble out of the ground when I'm gardening - like they do on Time Team. Wilco does DIY tools, that's the place to go. Did they have one? Of course they bloody didn't, just a big empty space where trowels are meant to be.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This means a trip to B&Q in Belvedere, not an easy journey when you're on the bus. Did they have one? Dream on. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Eventually I went home and ordered one on line, it arrived the next day.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: justify;">Shopping in the 21st century (Part 2)</h3><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A couple of days later and I'm back in Wilco, this time I needed a padlock. Amazingly enough, they actually had what I wanted. Took it in triumph to the till and tried to find the back of the queue which streched along the entire width of the shop and then some. Everyone packed close together and half of them not wearing masks. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sod that! Put it back and gave up. Ordered one on line, it arrived the next day.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Shopping in the 21st century (Part 3)</h3><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So as not to waste the journey, I thought I would drop into Morrisons to do a bit of shopping. No trollies. Just a few small ones dotted about where people had abandoned them because the wheel was locked after trying to steal them. A few adventurous customers were wandering around the car park in the blistering heat trying to find one. Good luck with that.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Never mind, I'll just grab a basket and get a few things. Of course, there aren't any baskets either so I am reduced to grabbing what I can in my hands and make my way to the tills. Most of the tills are shut as usual. The couple that are open have queues the length of the shop in front of them. Well, it is the middle of Sunday afternoon, who would expect there to be any shoppers out.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Went to the self-service tills. I am confronted with a sea of red flashing lights, a hopelessly long queue with one lonely, stressed and overworked staff member trying to sort out the shambles.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gave up and went home.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now before anyone accuses me of having a go at the staff, I'm not. It isn't their fault that the shop won't hire enough people and don't tell me it's because of Covid either. I realise that it will be having some effect but all of these stores have provided a totally inadequate service for years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It isn't any surprise that people are abandoning the high street and doing their shopping online.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: justify;">Oh Dear! Katie</h1><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Our special Peace Envoy, champion of free speech and darling of Donald Trump, Katie Hopkins has got herself in trouble with the Australian authorities after threatening to infect hotel staff with Covid and claiming it's all a big hoax anyway. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-57883692" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-57883692</a><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Australians are rightly proud of their record on Covid and were none too pleased with her latest outburst.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem with Katie Hopkins going to Australia; in fact, I welcome it; and in truth, I'm sorry to see her back so soon.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The real question is, "why did they let her in in the first place?"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She has a long history of visiting other countries and making a nuisance of herself and this was no exception. What did they think she would do?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: justify;">THE NEW WORLD ORDER</h1><h3 style="text-align: left;">Or - how to succeed in World Domination without really trying.</h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZTmbZk1cOfGORmipaDqGGz11keFJj5XTQYp8n-tV9uaQonDOhZXoBO1LQIgW9r5bpxSO6oPD9Kxs7RCvGFjGdEvDhuyugGeTq4sUe8m84Cdxh6kxcz7sWQGWC5QWqdhyzYHhyphenhyphenXSweRTo/s669/_118953011_screenshot2021-06-16at16.50.23.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="669" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZTmbZk1cOfGORmipaDqGGz11keFJj5XTQYp8n-tV9uaQonDOhZXoBO1LQIgW9r5bpxSO6oPD9Kxs7RCvGFjGdEvDhuyugGeTq4sUe8m84Cdxh6kxcz7sWQGWC5QWqdhyzYHhyphenhyphenXSweRTo/s320/_118953011_screenshot2021-06-16at16.50.23.png" width="320" /></a></div>As most of you will already know, the World is largely controlled by a secret society of very powerful individuals who interfere in every aspect of our lives. The plan is that a small group of very wealthy capitalists will bring about a Socialist World government. (Yes, you are reading that right).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The New World Order created Covid-19 in their secret Chinese laboratory with the intention of reducing the human population to smaller, manageable levels. Unfortunately for them, their plan went somewhat awry with the swifter than expected response by some governments and the development of effective vaccines. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">To counter this, they have been using a large number of paid shills to warn people that the vaccines are not safe and that they should ignore lockdown rules. It's no surprise that the United States finished up with the highest death toll of any country after one of the NWO members, Donald Trump delayed taking action to protect his people while President.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Finally however, their plan is back on track with their successful infiltration of the UK Government causing it to abandon all safety protocols just as the pandemic is reaching a peak. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Don't wear face masks" they say. "Ignore social distancing, you're completely safe". Well, they don't fool me for a moment. I have no plans to do what the government says and I will continue to wear a face mask in public places anyway.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">No doubt, the slaves of the New World Order will now attack me but I don't care.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-85218947554980383922021-06-30T21:14:00.004+01:002024-02-15T18:32:34.335+00:00<p> Against my better judgement, I watched the first half of the England v Scotland match the other day. The excitement of watching the grass growing was rather spoiled by a group of players standing around on it and spoiling the view.</p><p><br /></p><p>Speaking of which. When England finally get their arses kicked out of the European Championships, we can still comfort ourselves with the knowledge that we are not completely crap at everything.</p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-birmingham-57671715">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-birmingham-57671715</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-1134188605477427232021-04-09T23:31:00.001+01:002021-04-10T12:19:48.281+01:00<h1 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size: x-large;">The Day I Met Prince Philip</span></h1><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">On a cold, Winter's day back in 1967, I
was driven by bus through the gates of RAF Swinderby to begin my six
weeks of basic training; there I was taught how to march about,
salute officers and other useful stuff deemed necessary to fight off
the Red Army.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">Fast forward eighteen months; it's
1969, the Summer of peace, love and Woodstock, and I am now stationed
at RAF Wyton, (situated between the towns of Huntingdon and St
Ives, Cambridgeshire), as a fully qualified Air Photography Operator.
The bit of air photography I was operating was called a Type 11 film
processor, manufactured by company whose name I forget. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm8I988It6pn6y6__ASeUNyp6hF7EPN-c8RNHN70Dx_E-Jd6VtBPYCt2XXS9tSBhj6L5nzl-3KyyxrN7Zwz-p_YAvf27pCCvvngTif9SDBj04J9DtS7OjL3t2eJh8KOLC804C-ZStyBgQ/s2048/IMG_0007.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1562" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm8I988It6pn6y6__ASeUNyp6hF7EPN-c8RNHN70Dx_E-Jd6VtBPYCt2XXS9tSBhj6L5nzl-3KyyxrN7Zwz-p_YAvf27pCCvvngTif9SDBj04J9DtS7OjL3t2eJh8KOLC804C-ZStyBgQ/s320/IMG_0007.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There isn't any picture of me on the day <br />but I would have looked something <br />like this.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">The Type 11
was a remarkable piece of kit, capable of processing the 70mm film
off the Vinton F95 photographic reconnaissance camera at a blistering
120 feet per minute. It was a pig to operate and only the top people
were given the responsibility of doing so. (That's me, by the way).</div><p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">This item plus several other machines
of a similar type were housed in what was known to everyone as “The
Factory”, a building across the road from the main station and from
which, hopefully, all the amazing photographic reconnaissance
imagery produced inside would emerge.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">One day, we were informed that His
Royal Highness, Prince Philip was going to be making an informal
visit and everyone went into a total state of panic as we prepared
for this auspicious occasion. Everything you have ever heard about
involving Royal visits is absolutely true, Every item of equipment
had to be polished to within a inch of its life and what couldn't be
polished was painted. And yes, they actually did have people on their
hands and knees with paintbrushes, smoothing the soil down in the
flower beds.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">Anyway, all was proceeding in its usual
efficient military fashion until the fateful day when the officer in
charge of polishing and shining things paid us a visit.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">Now to understand what happened next,
you need to know a bit about my Type 11 and its sister machines, the
Type 12s whose job it was to process the much larger film that came
of the F49, F52 and F96 cameras. To save you all getting bored, I
won't go into the details, suffice it to say all the machines were
constructed from a resin based composite material; highly suited to
the job it was given to do, but (and this is important) not
terribly shiny.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">The Officer I/C (Polishing &
Shining Things) decided that our dull and frankly, not at all shiny
Type 11 and 12s wouldn't do at all and ordered them painted. It was
(respectfully) pointed out to him that if we did this, the paint
would flake off due to it reacting to the chemicals we were using and
that the said paint would then fall into the machines when we took
the front panels off (which we had to do from time to time) and
render our film processing machines useless as the paint now floating
inside would stick to the precious photographic reconnaissance film.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">So, did we leave our film processing
machines as they were or did we paint them and thus render them
unusable? There is no prize for guessing. (I'll tell you a bit more
about this story later).</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg98RBRtycIQfeXHUSjzFnGILmLKT2ZKGYyfdPxzz4R_dSCWDh_NkGKm6_ywL90doeDS97FHS0XGLCisOpjmwwrHd6yQp_1KKvLRYHysUglGuYsIYBSoOmPvhoaV1tksGZRe4hWx9JMMio/s1854/IMG_0028.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1370" data-original-width="1854" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg98RBRtycIQfeXHUSjzFnGILmLKT2ZKGYyfdPxzz4R_dSCWDh_NkGKm6_ywL90doeDS97FHS0XGLCisOpjmwwrHd6yQp_1KKvLRYHysUglGuYsIYBSoOmPvhoaV1tksGZRe4hWx9JMMio/s320/IMG_0028.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me, in the fuzzy background with my old friend<br />Ron Bevan, operating a Type 11 somewhere in West <br />Germany during the Cold War.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">His Royal Highnesses visit included a
tour of the Factory and it was decided that he would want to see all
our lovely (and now very shiny but useless) machines running. The
Type 11, as I have already mentioned, was tricky to operate and in
order that nothing could go wrong (the phrase “nothing can go
wrong” is a military term meaning “everything will go totally
tits-up at the first opportunity”), it was decided that I would put
a film that had already been through the machine once already through
again. This bit of bizarre logic had been worked out by someone who
had no idea how a Type 11 worked. If they had asked me, I could have
told them that doing this made it far more likely that something
would go wrong as the physical characteristics of the film changed
once it had got wet and been dried out again. Did they listen to me?
Guess again.</div><p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">Anyway, came the day of the visit.
There I was, standing to attention next to my designated machine; my
hair had been inspected by at least half the senior ranks of the RAF;
my freshly issued white coat made me look like a villain's minion and
my shoes wouldn't have looked out of place on God's butler. My Type
11 was running at about one tenth speed, (no lightning fast display
today) and I was hoping to God that the film didn't break.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">Prince Philip, looking very regal and
attired as a Marshal of the Royal Air Force swept into the room and
strode round at a pace until he stopped at me. He looked at me,
looked at my Type 11, looked back at me again and said “going all
right then?” which I thought was very gracious. I
managed to stammer a “yes Sir” before remembering I was suppose
to say “yes, Your Highness” but by that time he had already found
something else to look at and had moved on and I didn't think I
should chase after him to correct my faux-pas. The Station Commander
who was in the following train winked at me as he went past so I
suppose I did all right. I imagine he was hoping to God the film
didn't break as well.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">Many, many years later, I was visiting
the Muckleburgh Military Collection in Norfolk and they had a
selection of photographic reconnaissance equipment from the Cold War.
Included in the collection were various air cameras such as the ones
I had mentioned above and also a Type 11 processing machine. This
machine was of the Mk.2 variety, identified by the fact that it had a
speedometer rated at 240 feet per minute, but the front panels were
coated with the nasty shellac paint that had been used on the Mk. 1
machines in the Factory all those years ago. They must have assembled
it out of various spare parts. I was also really surprised at all the
safety warnings stuck on it. When I was operating one, I knew not to
drink the Exprol.</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;">
<br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><br />
</p>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-6950854700853638622021-03-09T22:18:00.000+00:002021-03-09T22:18:03.636+00:00<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> ***SPECIAL ROYAL EDITION***</span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;">(WITH PICTURES)</h1><div><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ4dN_cufJf1U-Uy9vd_-4oLreqP5C-KMSu1B7WQAz5BvKFAVimPz8CTTOfvjiiYpTXBmN08U-hOQHf4uq8GAWA9Gzz-qr2c2L5QZwjhwWTAV5ZO0ikwaDEfrm_C5uU-t-LfpxxU0ocmI/s1268/_117498792_mirror9march.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1268" data-original-width="976" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ4dN_cufJf1U-Uy9vd_-4oLreqP5C-KMSu1B7WQAz5BvKFAVimPz8CTTOfvjiiYpTXBmN08U-hOQHf4uq8GAWA9Gzz-qr2c2L5QZwjhwWTAV5ZO0ikwaDEfrm_C5uU-t-LfpxxU0ocmI/w166-h216/_117498792_mirror9march.jpg" width="166" /></a></div><b><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>According to the Daily Mirror, </b><b>to find the worst royal crisis in 85
years, you would have to go back to 1936 and the abdication of Edward
VIII.</b></div></b><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1bGwoeu7RInRCwy92ws3I6et01d2cJNN0tigoxpgoRyOPxU7HcRQkeuohZKpQp3xHkh97n-F-GuK9qmnUVm1G9vHR0tDo62K547eeHswskcUGWx7XCFWm6HJR9fc2fGbtVlHoE5e70NI/s259/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1bGwoeu7RInRCwy92ws3I6et01d2cJNN0tigoxpgoRyOPxU7HcRQkeuohZKpQp3xHkh97n-F-GuK9qmnUVm1G9vHR0tDo62K547eeHswskcUGWx7XCFWm6HJR9fc2fGbtVlHoE5e70NI/w205-h154/images.jpg" width="205" /></a>For those of you not entirely familiar with this bit of royal history, an American socialite called Wallace Simpson who had, to put it frankly, been putting it about a bit and was already on her third Husband, started an affair with the, yet uncrowned, Edward VIII. The scandal rumbled on for months until the story finally broke and Edward was given the option of dumping the broad or giving up the throne; he chose the latter, much to the chagrin of the establishment who assumed he would do the decent thing.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">In his Grandfather's time of course, he would have just added Mrs S. to his list of favourite prostitutes and married some simpering non-entity for breeding purposes like his Great Nephew was supposed to 45 years later. (I'll get to him, don't worry).</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">Personally, I don't think that was
anything like as big a crisis; he might have been a Nazi sympathiser
and he did give Allied military secrets to the Third Reich during WW2 and he
may have married a thrice divorced American, but at least she was a
white woman; and the Nazis weren't all that bad
anyway.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi854LfFggVlEZYrXje7chnSEqYRyQMfWneKuJeVxBEQksouMnZycGk-tESWBtlguQnDxi4iqCIHnX0oFQYLC3gz8JrBmCsCNUjKOoSTmzrfBEe-M3tr6f0aVCO5jLrNdGugyUJkKN7e-U/s500/91qqkDMl6BL._SS500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi854LfFggVlEZYrXje7chnSEqYRyQMfWneKuJeVxBEQksouMnZycGk-tESWBtlguQnDxi4iqCIHnX0oFQYLC3gz8JrBmCsCNUjKOoSTmzrfBEe-M3tr6f0aVCO5jLrNdGugyUJkKN7e-U/w213-h213/91qqkDMl6BL._SS500_.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>A more recent royal crisis began in 1981 with the rolling disaster known as the Marriage of Charles, Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer. Charles, as we all know actually had the total hots for another married woman, Camilla Parker-Bowles. This had been going on for some time before the arranged marriage to Diana and it was assumed that the usual royal arrangement would continue, i.e. Diana would act as a baby and royal heir factory while her Husband shagged Camilla to his heart's content.<p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">Unfortunately, it turned out that Diana wasn't going to be the quiet little Wifey-at-home victim and caused a fuss. This led to a lot of unseemly interest in the couple, ultimately resulting in the death of Diana while being pursued by a bunch of paparazzi intent on getting photographs of her to add to the millions they already had. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQhevW2dv-qglb9e4tJpCiPS61n3i1PP27Pw_C6dSZ-wJP-268GFazkJnU6TjfW09-aI1ZEl-VTyhX1Tb_IQkQW3zYUPVwr0YkNhGeRDJQqcO1Li5kCQyO5h6CALcRAhKtfFiDzQgwnQg/s1227/WA656042Sunday+Mirror+Front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1227" data-original-width="954" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQhevW2dv-qglb9e4tJpCiPS61n3i1PP27Pw_C6dSZ-wJP-268GFazkJnU6TjfW09-aI1ZEl-VTyhX1Tb_IQkQW3zYUPVwr0YkNhGeRDJQqcO1Li5kCQyO5h6CALcRAhKtfFiDzQgwnQg/w157-h203/WA656042Sunday+Mirror+Front.jpg" width="157" /></a></div>This disaster was entirely the fault of the paparazzi and not (this is important) the millions of ordinary people who wallowed in this stuff like pigs in shit and bought it up by the shed load.<p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">To be clear, Harry and Megan is a much more
serious issue than Charles and his Tampax Queen, and makes the death
of Diana pale into insignificance but if you want to go back to a
real royal crisis in any way comparable, you would need to go back to
1649 when we dragged our reigning monarch out onto a balcony in
Whitehall and chopped his head off, and even then, only maybe.</p><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span></div>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-75398188825468442152021-02-08T15:55:00.002+00:002021-02-08T15:55:33.494+00:00<h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">THE COMPUTER SAYS "NO"</span></h1><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimseC8j7IGkQpszaS1Q777ddOJxfRe8LdmKkZK3kpcaLpEj8MmVnpyEewCyYMgYHlHa08BUcmYN1kfvrXOmExFeR1-yK6uOzJgUXaY9nXFQ5E_mNulrWWzI0eyMYa_2rqelB7VdywEQdY/s400/computer-says-no.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="265" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimseC8j7IGkQpszaS1Q777ddOJxfRe8LdmKkZK3kpcaLpEj8MmVnpyEewCyYMgYHlHa08BUcmYN1kfvrXOmExFeR1-yK6uOzJgUXaY9nXFQ5E_mNulrWWzI0eyMYa_2rqelB7VdywEQdY/s320/computer-says-no.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Over the years, employers have used ever increasingly bizarre methods in their staff selection processes. I have seen astrology, palmistry, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology" target="_blank">phrenology</a> (that's determining a person's personality by feeling bumps in the head), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphology" target="_blank">graphology</a> (that's interpreting someone's personality by their handwriting) and a truly strange thing called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychometrics" target="_blank">psychometrics</a>; this isn't actual psychometrics, which is a different thing altogether, but rather setting someone a series of tests to determine a subjects ability to behave in certain circumstances. These things are a favourite page filler for tabloid newspapers and lowbrow magazines: by answering a few questions, you will discover who your true love will be or what colours to wear to prevent you from catching cold sores. In Japan, they have decided that you can do all this by nothing more than your blood group and have taken it to such extremes that job applicants will include it on their c.v. and politicians include theirs in election leaflets.</div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Now, according to this report on the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55932977" target="_blank">BBC website</a>, our future careers are going to be decided by computer algorithms. These are the same things that Facebook use to determine that the term "garden hoe" is derogatory. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I have to wonder, do any of the companies actually carry out some sort of quality assessment of these things? It wouldn't be hard, all you need to do is ask your existing staff to take one of these tests and compare the results with the employees actual performance; it wouldn't take long to find out if these things are any good or not worth the paper. Personally, I suspect the latter.</p>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-89353663965013744462021-02-01T20:04:00.001+00:002021-02-16T15:25:28.440+00:00<h1 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size: x-large;">JEWISH SPACE LASERS ALERT</span></h1><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxzpfGM6sHRLkIhudKbZ0VRg1xySKO6OKz1t23ryoMWYmPPxVW1pIZdKil6TcYuv0qxemiYidAVDyR8cga01wpCDorIuT2u1Y1CMus9lGjjvEutAh-NaySFj8yXE3Jkbak3deFAqFunCM/s700/f50f9b84d246d7a5c85873a79fae9e3f7d-mtg--.rhorizontal.w700.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="700" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxzpfGM6sHRLkIhudKbZ0VRg1xySKO6OKz1t23ryoMWYmPPxVW1pIZdKil6TcYuv0qxemiYidAVDyR8cga01wpCDorIuT2u1Y1CMus9lGjjvEutAh-NaySFj8yXE3Jkbak3deFAqFunCM/s320/f50f9b84d246d7a5c85873a79fae9e3f7d-mtg--.rhorizontal.w700.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #767676; font-family: "Miller Text", Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0.25px; text-align: start;">Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Today's piece of barmpottery comes from the American online news magazine "<a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/marjorie-taylor-greene-qanon-wildfires-space-laser-rothschild-execute.html?fbclid=IwAR1c58ivSLDwHV41t_3e4m8yRneztQfn-37DVhRJwfI5t0cXvMcswQHepRA" target="_blank">The Intelligencer</a>". </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">US Republican Party Congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene who, among other things, has informed us that recent forest fires in California may have been caused by giant space lasers operated by Jewish conspiracists in order to clear land for a proposed new high-speed rail project. At least those anti HS2 protesters only have to face the risk of being buried in their tunnel, not being vaporised by a space laser.</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's a genuinely brilliant way of making Donald Trump's assertion that they happened because the forest floor wasn't being swept often enough seem less unlikely.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In addition to the space laser, her other suggestions include the QAnon conspiracy theory that Donald Trump is secretly fighting a worldwide child-sex slavery ring which involves Barack Obama, George Bush and others.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She is also supports "truthers". Those are the people who harass the families of the Sandy Hook and other school massacres by claiming that they were a hoax to try and introduce gun controls.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Anyone hoping that we might see some normality returning to American politics following the removal of Trump will need to think again.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">CAPTAIN TOM</span></h1><div style="text-align: justify;">Captain Sir Tom Moore is in hospital with Covid-19. I have no doubt at all that all the people around him will have taken every precaution they possibly could to ensure he didn't come into contact with the virus but somehow, he still managed to catch it. This offers a bleak reminder of just how easy it is to become infected and how easy it is to pass on to others without knowing. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Let's hope that Sir Tom makes a full recovery and is back to full health soon. Also, let's be grateful to the NHS staff and others who are caring for him at this time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Get well soon!</div>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-65072973385969946382021-01-30T20:22:00.009+00:002021-01-31T21:16:59.059+00:00<h1 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size: x-large;">THE VILLAGE IDIOT</span></h1><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZnymDRp0IlXr4l0PRgpY8scOofFCNRHVJV4v-uk_iJVbhf2akOI2za9tw5C5m__WButi3NfULfHWUZQb1S61E2AcXJFQ3h0JvxYlBEXcp6aE71Hid4kZWzExjwz6WMBIXNutAWsagn0/s526/143552103_10165085813990601_5383981511909981006_n.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="455" data-original-width="526" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZnymDRp0IlXr4l0PRgpY8scOofFCNRHVJV4v-uk_iJVbhf2akOI2za9tw5C5m__WButi3NfULfHWUZQb1S61E2AcXJFQ3h0JvxYlBEXcp6aE71Hid4kZWzExjwz6WMBIXNutAWsagn0/s320/143552103_10165085813990601_5383981511909981006_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><b>Back in the old days, when life was simpler and we all had to make our own entertainment, villages up and down the country would hold their Spring/Winter/Summer etc. festival and part of the festivities would include the "let's make the village idiot Mayor for the day" event.</b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The village idiot would be dressed up in an impressive robe, given a chain of office and, if he was really lucky, a hat to match.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The villagers, suitably impressed by their own wit, would then spend the day laughing at the antics the village idiot got up to. The village idiot, with absolutely no sense of irony whatever and not realising he was being made a fool of would issue a series of proclamations that everyone ignored as they got on with whatever they were doing.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">They might, if the village idiot put on a really good show, keep him in office for the whole year; after all, everyone likes a good laugh and before Netflix, you had to find your amusement where you could.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">One day, when the village idiot was having a really good time running things, the plague arrived. Suddenly, the villagers needed someone who could take charge in a crisis and do what needed to be done. Sadly though, the village idiot was still Mayor and instead of tackling the new crisis with meaningful strategies, decided that to control the plague, everyone needed to paint their shed bright blue; he then got his best friend Denis ( a wholly disreputable scoundrel) to supply everyone with blue paint and gave him all the money in the village money chest to do it. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS-qtNgFDeZRjnWx99O9_ySOl6W-QG39_GpQ7qBACBwhQj4WYMJtRqEIx4h3QS25BuXlzvy29sD4fezTpGXTFcXCuy7t-9iG9nFLa1uxx0mlYwon0KIRL701ZnK4KTiURkaqJ6sS-LEeM/s526/117259225_1543414419164996_5855173970172726882_n.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="526" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS-qtNgFDeZRjnWx99O9_ySOl6W-QG39_GpQ7qBACBwhQj4WYMJtRqEIx4h3QS25BuXlzvy29sD4fezTpGXTFcXCuy7t-9iG9nFLa1uxx0mlYwon0KIRL701ZnK4KTiURkaqJ6sS-LEeM/s320/117259225_1543414419164996_5855173970172726882_n.jpg" /></a></div>Denis (the disreputable scoundrel), knew absolutely nothing about blue paint but wasn't going to let such a small fact dissuade him from accepting the money which he then safely stored in a money chest belonging to his other friend, Colin who lived far away in another country.<p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Colin then asked his friend Simon where he might be able to get some blue paint (whatever that was). Simon didn't know, but he knew someone who did and contacted his friend Shirley. Shirley was a nail technician and used blue paint in her regular job which made her the go-to expert, which they all did.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Shirley of course, had no idea that blue nail varnish wasn't really suitable for painting sheds, but blue is blue, how different could it be?</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Shirley gave all her blue nail varnish to Simon who then passed it on to Colin. Colin, assuming that he had done a really good job, passed it on to Denis (the disreputable scoundrel) who gave it to the village idiot, then set about thinking of ways he could spend all that lovely money.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The villagers (those who hadn't succumbed to the plague anyway), told the village idiot that the blue paint was no good and asked him to explain what had happened to all their money, but he didn't know; he was the village idiot.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i>(Author's note: this is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual names, characters, businesses, events and incidents is purely coincidental).</i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-52358664217714480412021-01-24T02:05:00.002+00:002021-01-24T02:05:52.573+00:00<h1 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size: x-large;">????????</span></h1><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd8FxGbeBXhyu0v9Am4MTbuZmaxqSwRQKDnZWOaZ4-9-AhmEfe0EqDuhBaMtJbKoJCzPB-jtah14jqi9uSIrl-kdG-ZkOY_cmXTTS_F-flf17gDuchGxhMhLbeWbrjfksIsLA7H3llsQ8/s800/cartoon-illustration-female-lips-isolated-white-background-66386129.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="543" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd8FxGbeBXhyu0v9Am4MTbuZmaxqSwRQKDnZWOaZ4-9-AhmEfe0EqDuhBaMtJbKoJCzPB-jtah14jqi9uSIrl-kdG-ZkOY_cmXTTS_F-flf17gDuchGxhMhLbeWbrjfksIsLA7H3llsQ8/s320/cartoon-illustration-female-lips-isolated-white-background-66386129.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><b>There's probably a word or term to describe what I am about to relate but for the life of me, I can't think what it is. Here goes anyway. </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-55718184" target="_blank">Ms Pavithra Wanniarachchi</a>, who is no less that Sri Lanka's health minister and who should be promoting scientifically proven methods of controlling and treating the Covid-19 virus epidemic has instead decided to go with the crackpot "alternative" remedy instead. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It seems that to prevent catching Covid-19, you should take a magic syrup containing honey and nutmeg, invented by a village shaman who was given the recipe in a visionary dream.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ms Wanniarachchi duly took the remedy herself and now, of course, has been tested positive for the virus, as have several other government ministers who also fell for the same scam.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2020, Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina also chose to go down the fake Covid remedy route with another magic preventative, going as far as distributing it himself to his luckless people.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the United States, there have been a number of deaths reported after victims fell for the ex-President Donald Trump's assertion that they should inject themselves with corrosive disinfectants as a treatment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-55579004?fbclid=IwAR1kV8rWd8pYDhTymDeOxYp9tFDZyPCNFJ5r9FHEOVZ-gthjVtpAxrdCfEw" target="_blank">In the UK</a>, a number of people have been refusing the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, saying they want to wait for the British one. At least they will be vaccinated eventually. There are still plenty of idiots who are refusing to be vaccinated on account of Bill Gates and the New World Order.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then, just when you think the World couldn't get any madder, up pops <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-55718184" target="_blank">this story from the BBC</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A South Shields woman has suffered massive damage to her lips after a botched filler injection. You have to wonder how it is that, on the one hand, large numbers of people are refusing to accept a vaccination proven to be safe, and on the other hand, someone letting a completely untrained and unregulated person she found on the internet stick a hypodermic needle in her face and inject her with God knows what.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In this case, it wasn't even for a medical necessity, it was just so she could have a pair of fat, ugly lips.</div>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-68011372289040057352021-01-24T01:28:00.000+00:002024-02-15T18:32:34.036+00:00The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-75953369452731770742021-01-20T23:05:00.002+00:002021-01-20T23:05:26.003+00:00<h1 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size: x-large;">FISHY TALES</span></h1><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigxEI8KMWP07F0DjuhvIr5klPtmhMaPO9SkVqQFT0bUchyD4bHlk7LcfHp_sbdfH09dZWO_FhyqhrVfjZ-en53JkOSx_zanCtw8oM601IW2aXq0xoN1WwpG1u8DlbXSUwriCNvFSxTeO0/s800/fish-funny-grumpy-cartoon-character-vector-illustration-having-very-bad-day-side-view-copyright-bluedarkart-138756661.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigxEI8KMWP07F0DjuhvIr5klPtmhMaPO9SkVqQFT0bUchyD4bHlk7LcfHp_sbdfH09dZWO_FhyqhrVfjZ-en53JkOSx_zanCtw8oM601IW2aXq0xoN1WwpG1u8DlbXSUwriCNvFSxTeO0/s320/fish-funny-grumpy-cartoon-character-vector-illustration-having-very-bad-day-side-view-copyright-bluedarkart-138756661.jpg" /></a></div><br /><b>The fishing industry is up in arms over what it describes as major disruption to exports caused by new post-Brexit rules and is blaming government incompetence for the problem. (<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55706114" target="_blank">BBC News, 18 Jan 2021</a>)</b><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span>We used to have a perfectly straightforward and seamless process for exporting UK fish to the EU; it was called the European Union customs union, and it enabled the various member states to transport their goods to other member states without any problems at all. U</span>nfortunately, this all changed on the 1st of January this year when we finally left. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Because the government only had four and a half years to sort out some other arrangement, what we finished up with was a dogs dinner of confusing regulations with a side order of massive amounts of paperwork, with exporters having to try and understand it all in the few days before it became necessary. Added to all this shambles was the fact that the provision of resource in terms of customs staff and facilities for processing all this extra bureaucracy was hopelessly inadequate. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">There was absolutely no reason for us to have left the EU in the first place. As far as the UK fishing industry was concerned, the arrangements were working well. Even the arch Euro-sceptic, Nigel Farage agreed it was working perfectly which is why he didn't think it necessary to attend more than one of the 42 meetings of the influential European parliament fishing industries committee meetings. According to a <a href="https://storage.googleapis.com/gpuk-old-wp-site/press-releases/farages-voting-record-on-fishing-makes-mockery-of-new-election-poster/index.html" target="_blank">Greenpeace</a> report in 2015, there were three major votes on improving the common fisheries policy but Farage never voted in favour of any of them, presumably because he thought they were fine as they were.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Ultimately though, it is all the fault of the government, the exporters who don't understand the new rules, the lack of staff at the ports and not (and this is important) the fault of all the idiots who voted for it in the first place.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-72876302351647012572021-01-03T22:42:00.001+00:002021-01-20T22:18:58.624+00:00<h1 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size: x-large;">The Apollo Moon Landing Hoax Conspiracy.</span></h1><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHwO6JMkxsYgSYNc_KAHQ_u-RYMY90lc6IFnD3jbKX85P9EoJN29-JH0C2og_OSShJmF66SJKqfv3hQeDDlNH1MTEeL2bacD0Y0vR7ObxjZ8PuRETT61fc-mZiM_6iitGk2PTppIF9wVM/s433/nazi-ufo-haunebu-sky-260nw-107713181.webp" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="433" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHwO6JMkxsYgSYNc_KAHQ_u-RYMY90lc6IFnD3jbKX85P9EoJN29-JH0C2og_OSShJmF66SJKqfv3hQeDDlNH1MTEeL2bacD0Y0vR7ObxjZ8PuRETT61fc-mZiM_6iitGk2PTppIF9wVM/w344-h223/nazi-ufo-haunebu-sky-260nw-107713181.webp" width="344" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Haunebu Flying Saucer.<br />Used to fly Nazis to their secret Moon base<br />in 1945</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1942, Nazi General Hans Kammler who oversaw Germany's rocket programme during WW2 was in charge of a project to put Astronauts on the Moon by 1942. This project was successful and by 1945 a permanent Nazi space station had been established; this became home to Adolph Hitler and other senior members of the German High Council who had escaped from Berlin at the end of the war and from which they could plan their eventual World conquest.</div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Unfortunately, the Cold War saw the Americans and the Soviet Union engaging in a race to put what they though would be the first men on the Moon and there was a risk that all this activity would lead to the renewed interest in the secret Nazi base.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">While the stories of the secret Nazi Moon base were starting to gain some popular attention, it was generally agreed that it was not possible to send people to the Moon and so, never managed to get taken seriously. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Apollo changed all that. With the successful NASA missions of Apollos 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17, each showing that it was indeed possible for humans to escape the Earth and travel as far as the Moon, the stories of the much earlier Nazi missions began to reappear in the public consciousness, leading to the possibility of them being discovered.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">What was needed was something that would make people doubt that space travel was possible and to that end the NASA Apollo Moon landings hoax was born.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Invent an imaginary radiation belt around the Earth that would kill any astronaut trying to pass through it and you have a ready-made explanation why it was impossible to go to the Moon, therefore, no Nazi Moon base. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">You may be wondering how anyone would believe in an imaginary radiation belt that was somehow undetectable by any of the World's scientists, but you would be underestimating the sheer level of scientific illiteracy amongst the general public. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">If you can believe that the Earth is flat, that 5G phone masts give people cancer, that vaccines make children catch the autisms, that homeopathy works (the list goes on), then why not an imaginary radiation belt? </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The Nazi/Apolllo Moon landings hoax perpetrators are managing to convince sufficient numbers of people that the Nazi base could not exist. This has been particularly successful among those who might believe such a secret base existed in the first place.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">If you can believe in Reptilian Overlords, The New World Order, Bill Gates then you can believe in a secret Nazi Moon base. Using a hoax to hide a hoax is very clever; actually, thinking about it, it's much too clever for simple humans to invent; perhaps it was the Reptilians all along.</p>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-2634835471800982672021-01-02T21:34:00.003+00:002021-01-02T22:54:42.708+00:00<h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">CRY FREEDOM</span></h1><p style="text-align: justify;">30 years ago, the government introduced a new offence under the Road Traffic Act 1991 that was to be known as 'causing death by driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs' and which carried a compulsory prison sentence of up to five years.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">According to <a href="https://www.drinkdriving.org/drink_driving_statistics_uk.php" target="_blank">Drink Driving.org</a>, between 1979 and 2014 an average of just 666 people a year were killed in drink-driving related accidents and just 3,551 were seriously injured, and by 2015 that figure had dropped to 230 deaths and 1250 serious injuries. Compared with the number of people who die of the Flu every year this is tiny and in no way justifies the draconian law restricting the public from getting absolutely hammered down the pub and driving home afterwards.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">It's a fact that, even if you are killed by a drunk driver, you will be immune from ever being killed again and eventually a herd immunity will build up in the general population. And yet, over 600,000 people have fallen foul of this piece of legislation.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Clearly, this is just another attempt by the government to control us. It's no coincidence that the devices they use (breathalysers and the like) don't just detect the amount of alcohol you may have ingested, but can also download all your other activities as well. Evidential breath testing machines, introduced in 1968 are mainly manufactured by a company called <a href="https://www.draeger.com/en_uk/Productselector/Alcohol-and-Drug-Testing/Evidential-Breath-Tester?page=1" target="_blank">Dräger</a> which is based in the German city of Lubeck. Lubeck is noted for its manufacture of marzipan: need I say more? Blow into one of these things and you might as well invite MI5 into your home, give them all your social media passwords (although they probably have them already) and tell them about all the other stuff you do that the government wants to know about.*</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I say it's time for us to take back control. Let's all show we are not just puppets of the government, but that we have rights that are worth defending. We should all get totally shit-faced on whatever it is we get shit-faced on, then climb behind the wheel of our cars, vans, 38 ton trucks (whatever) and head off into the dawn of a new, freedom loving future. That'll show the bastards.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">* <i>I recently discovered that the <a href="https://www.krispykreme.co.uk/" target="_blank">Krispy Kreme</a> Doughnut shop would only take card payments so that "they" could monitor us. Let's face it, if the government are monitoring all our Krispy Kreme Doughnut related activity, what else are they after?</i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-56408194437019639792020-12-21T17:51:00.004+00:002020-12-21T20:51:31.487+00:00<h1 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I DON'T BELIEVE IT</span></h1><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-55350794?fbclid=IwAR1BiufS9AbINaR74OZJag5vvekV3hxsv2f4xJMRgkholL9B4e-OiP3jl7o" target="_blank"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3UeiIlNq4gG1HRMY32t9gtcRWBqSz6UwaGKIzIGWP8AOJElY3qhPj8v0f30umffUjHul8b69ne3H9uYy6OlIRA-avNZ_VN6J6m7BNwa0Arr5DWGEOsEPlYys51UJQOayM4k07JLNmnEw/s540/images.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3UeiIlNq4gG1HRMY32t9gtcRWBqSz6UwaGKIzIGWP8AOJElY3qhPj8v0f30umffUjHul8b69ne3H9uYy6OlIRA-avNZ_VN6J6m7BNwa0Arr5DWGEOsEPlYys51UJQOayM4k07JLNmnEw/s320/images.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><b>This article</b><b>, published on the BBC website, describes how to deal with the conspiracy theorist in the family when seated round the Christmas dinner table. Not withstanding the less than likelihood of that happening this year, it still provides a useful insight into dealing with the potentially difficult situation of how to respond when someone pipes up with the dreaded "Covid-19 doesn't exist" type scenario.</b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The advice it offers includes not trying to shame them as this is likely to backfire - </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i>""Be realistic about what you can achieve," psychologist Jovan Byford warns. "Conspiracy theories instill in believers a sense of superiority. It's an important generator of self-esteem which will make them resistant to change.""</i></p><div>It also warns not to expect much to change in the short term -</div><p style="text-align: justify;"><i>"For those who have fallen deep down the conspiracy rabbit hole, getting out again can be a very long process".</i></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Attacking Conspiracy theories head on, especially with verifiable evidence simply increases the sense of paranoia. e.g. Countering the "NASA faked the moon landings" with "if NASA faked the Moon landings, they would need to recruit at least 450,00 people to carry out the hoax" is evidence to them just how extensive "their" control is. If 99% of climate scientists say that human activity is causing climate change, then that's 99% of scientists who are in on the hoax. Our Prime Minister who, on present evidence, couldn't find his bottom with his hands in his back pockets, suddenly develops the ability to orchestrate a global conspiracy. The list goes on.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">During the infamous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Sergei_and_Yulia_Skripal" target="_blank">Novichok poisoning incident</a> in Salisbury in 2018, stories about what actually happened were flying around, each one more outrageous than the last; many of them believed by large numbers of people. The only explanation not generally accepted by conspiracy theorists was that Russian security agents tried to poison a Russian dissident using a Russian nerve agent on the instructions of the Russian President; this was considered much too unlikely.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">It doesn't have to be a conspiracy theory of course; there are many other examples where someone advocating any sort of "alternative" position against mainstream consensus could be said to be displaying a need to demonstrate their sense of superiority. Alternative medicine, extreme religious or political groups, faddy diets or even (dare I say it?) <a href="https://theoutline.com/post/1951/david-avocado-wolfe-is-the-biggest-asshole-in-the-multiverse?zd=1&zi=lej2iz2v" target="_blank">David "Bloody" Avocado Wolfe</a>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">You only have to look at the way they describe non-believers. "Sheep/brainwashed/stupid" and far worse of course. What they are saying is "I know something you don't and that gives me power over you."</p><p style="text-align: justify;">My advice, just add conspiracy theories to the "no discussing politics or religion at the dinner table" list.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">If you want to read more about the psychology of conspiracy theories, you can read this interesting paper by Karen M. Douglas, Robbie M. Sutton and Aleksandra Cichocka. School of Psychology, University of Kent by clicking on the link <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0963721417718261" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">ALMOST CHANGING THE SUBJECT</span></h1><p style="text-align: justify;">Today, 21st Decmber 2020 sees the "Great Conjunction." For those of you who don't know, this is a rare close conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn in the evening sky, visible just after the Sun sets. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Unusual for one of these events, it doesn't seem to have triggered a flurry of predictions of doom that usually accompany an event of this sort. I would have thought by now, pretty much every "end of the World" merchant would have jumped on it, proclaiming that it signified some catastrophic event or other. Somehow, I find that more worrying. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Anyway, expecting the weather to be no use for astronomical photography today, I took myself along the river to a suitable vantage point yesterday when conditions were more favourable and took advantage of the clear sky. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The picture I took doesn't show the conjunction at its closest but it will have to do. Enjoy.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDvcjTsasdcUyd8y25A4Xt17-Ja2Pk4fbz_mL5dijbYIbqzgt6HE5fUgYYd3TnmhrGQb4uTWznBvslcCB2YDCYXIKyn7aIsViKfCdRf-qOs6nT-bl7BPA_HFErRTTWD-0igCR0Ue7XBeY/s2048/DSCN0479a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1679" height="617" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDvcjTsasdcUyd8y25A4Xt17-Ja2Pk4fbz_mL5dijbYIbqzgt6HE5fUgYYd3TnmhrGQb4uTWznBvslcCB2YDCYXIKyn7aIsViKfCdRf-qOs6nT-bl7BPA_HFErRTTWD-0igCR0Ue7XBeY/w504-h617/DSCN0479a.jpg" width="504" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, taken on the evening of the 20th December 2020.<br />Looking South-West towards Thamesmead Town Centre.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-1997189964123867492020-12-16T15:32:00.001+00:002020-12-16T15:32:19.506+00:00<h1 style="text-align: justify;"></h1><h1 style="text-align: left;">Noses In The Trough</h1><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3d5kYoONnYvEBNhboVir5qV36sGOl_Zcnn8mxdev-TmH1TE2BvSfnhrsOL1xyYpZPoXS41zAApXy4MKytWmC3cT-iJKScFUvbwGLCF1JuoWBl8opVLe6HncqwbB9dhsEUX5CT4MxdN9I/s976/_115485414_yuimokpawire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="976" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3d5kYoONnYvEBNhboVir5qV36sGOl_Zcnn8mxdev-TmH1TE2BvSfnhrsOL1xyYpZPoXS41zAApXy4MKytWmC3cT-iJKScFUvbwGLCF1JuoWBl8opVLe6HncqwbB9dhsEUX5CT4MxdN9I/s320/_115485414_yuimokpawire.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Labour leader asked the Prime Minister how he could justify the £40,000 pay rise for his former aide while public sector workers receive a pay freeze.</div></h4><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Question: How can PM justify Cummings' £40,000 pay rise?</span></h3><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Answer: He doesn't have to. The PM can do exactly whatever the hell he likes in the certain knowledge that everyone is going to vote Tory at the next election anyway.</span></h4><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Everyone knew that Boris Johnson was a lying, two-faced sack of shit and was only interested in furthering his own ambitions at the cost of anything at all, yet people put him in power with a huge majority. </span><span style="font-size: medium;">As long as you can rely on the stupidity of the electorate, anything is possible. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzlUjtJAMpaZBWmT4FGV-wl7CNHE9ugMTLujAVz8AykWR1qslOchto6f0muanAh2Z5T1DgMkRa2H7FOwgd4ejhG91fz-mkx1UR3fMD227v6mSLghSQS5NI2DDJuxhLkZ1BEw2QPYlO4ok/s526/117259225_1543414419164996_5855173970172726882_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="526" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzlUjtJAMpaZBWmT4FGV-wl7CNHE9ugMTLujAVz8AykWR1qslOchto6f0muanAh2Z5T1DgMkRa2H7FOwgd4ejhG91fz-mkx1UR3fMD227v6mSLghSQS5NI2DDJuxhLkZ1BEw2QPYlO4ok/w255-h255/117259225_1543414419164996_5855173970172726882_n.jpg" width="255" /></a></div></span></div></blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">During the Thatcher years, sleaze was king. Government ministers routinely lined their own pockets at the expense of the voting public and it didn't matter. Labour had put Michael Foot in charge of their party which made it toxic as far as voters were concerned. This meant that in the 1983 election, Margaret Thatcher, earlier voted the most unpopular Prime Minister of all time, was returned with a huge majority. Various hangers-on, knowing they were gong to be returned to power over and over again no matter what they did, treated the whole thing as party time.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It's going to take Starmer years to rid Labour of the hugely damaging Corbyn effect, if he manages at all. In the mean time it's "noses in the trough".</span></div><p><br /></p>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-32828388495304105932020-12-14T19:48:00.000+00:002020-12-14T19:48:58.240+00:00<h1 style="text-align: left;"><b>THE THAMESMEAD GRUMP IS BACK </b></h1><p><b><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHXhOH_-a6kRop63u8lVSQeCtNrajndkwTO5I5-k-WgIhpgpVx6_2TTWx6pen7-rK4W8ZD-TSq2nTMJN-T9-n6s8vd0USGdcWac-B0g8PFfs-pk7qA2wMd3mqmhuirwI4VD23Awklq3Lo/s800/angry-judge-cartoon-character-mean-breaking-out-background-pointing-172642488.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="521" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHXhOH_-a6kRop63u8lVSQeCtNrajndkwTO5I5-k-WgIhpgpVx6_2TTWx6pen7-rK4W8ZD-TSq2nTMJN-T9-n6s8vd0USGdcWac-B0g8PFfs-pk7qA2wMd3mqmhuirwI4VD23Awklq3Lo/s320/angry-judge-cartoon-character-mean-breaking-out-background-pointing-172642488.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Disclaimer - not the actual lawyer.<br />(dreamstime.com)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></b></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><b>I got rather fed up with my blog about a couple of years ago and stopped posting. It wasn't a deliberate decision, I just noticed after a while that I hadn't updated it for ages. The trouble is, I have no idea how many people were reading it. The stats provided by the site are completely meaningless as they don't filter out bots and such. To the extent that, even with no new posts since December 2018, I am still getting up to several hundred hits every day. That can't be right, and I thought, 'if I am only talking to myself, what's the point?'</b></b></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">A couple of things have changed my mind. The first event happened earlier in the year and was what got me to thinking that my blog wasn't such a waste of time as I had thought.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Some years ago, a thoroughly disgraced former Bexley Councillor had been involved in a war of words and lawyers for some time with fellow local blogger Malcolm Knight of "Bexley is Bonkers" fame. He had decided to highlight some of the aforementioned Bexley Councillor's unlawful antics and she, being of a vindictive nature, decided, with the complicity of some Police Officers, to pursue him relentlessly. I decided that, as an attempt to divert some of the pressure and to add what support I could, I would reprint some of Malcolm Knight's reports along with some comments of my own.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Absolutely nothing came of this and I assumed that it was mainly because no-one was reading my blog and so didn't know what I had written.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">How wrong I was. Earlier this year, and quite out of the blue, I received a letter from the ex-councillor's lawyer threatening me with all manner of dire consequences if I did not remove all of my posts relating to her and also demanding legal costs. This wouldn't have happened if she didn't think I was having an effect.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">To be honest, I was of a mind to go with the "sue and be dammed" route, given that I was confident that she would lose. Even if she won, she would still be saddled with a large legal bill that she would never get back off me. (10 years of providing debt advice with the CAB taught me that it is difficult to recover money from someone who doesn't have any).</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Anyway, the main thing it has taught me is that even a small effort in the fight against bullying and corruption can be effective.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The second event. Well, there wasn't a second event as such; rather a series of events involving numerous people contacting me and asking when I was going to start up again.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Here I am.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><b>NUMPTY ALERT<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2mFXc88ExBPYoRuSQKCqFR67rN4-4P0RafXOXJmSG-E2FsB0sYJpwrjLXgDfnWMbDYX1vUNnNIXI5TuJORouVCUzzeGTQs-343afFZ5K6e3OqP5ibslZqV5QFZHXLPmv5-qCebt-3w84/s600/131028122_1819537481531661_7322958929460042270_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2mFXc88ExBPYoRuSQKCqFR67rN4-4P0RafXOXJmSG-E2FsB0sYJpwrjLXgDfnWMbDYX1vUNnNIXI5TuJORouVCUzzeGTQs-343afFZ5K6e3OqP5ibslZqV5QFZHXLPmv5-qCebt-3w84/s600/131028122_1819537481531661_7322958929460042270_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="511" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2mFXc88ExBPYoRuSQKCqFR67rN4-4P0RafXOXJmSG-E2FsB0sYJpwrjLXgDfnWMbDYX1vUNnNIXI5TuJORouVCUzzeGTQs-343afFZ5K6e3OqP5ibslZqV5QFZHXLPmv5-qCebt-3w84/s320/131028122_1819537481531661_7322958929460042270_n.jpg" /></a></div><br /></b></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Carrying on from where I mostly left off. Here is an example of why it's important to try and fact-check </b><span style="text-align: left;"><b>posts on social media before sharing or liking them: this is a perfect example</b>.</span></p><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The patient on the right is a lady called Margaret Keenan. You have probably already heard of her as she is the first person to be given the new Covid-19 vaccine outside of a trial. Here she is being given the vaccination by Nurse Mary Parsons who is a Matron at University Hospital, Coventry. The gentleman on the left is William (Bill) Shakespeare (that is his real name) who was the second person to receive the vaccine a short while later, also by the same nurse and at the same hospital.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Some idiot seems to have assumed that the William Shakespeare in the picture is the famous bard (1564 - 1616) and so, must have had his jab in Stratford-upon-Avon. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The picture already comes with a warning on Facebook that it is "false information" so it must have already spread far and wide.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><b>SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM</b></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7jsXf4yjPaZcFGTC6F8tnJURW4vqF6IAL6YvIC0q-mU64MXx4TuC_eyjlihJwcMWhXfXn4V87COHV9vGNEVbAnRBeim8HJ8g_8MVEperHQ9_Kk_Md1qRUb07krLWvUa1PtuEsCZohCkc/s1247/128444771_1810002479151828_4917519155006581659_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="1247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7jsXf4yjPaZcFGTC6F8tnJURW4vqF6IAL6YvIC0q-mU64MXx4TuC_eyjlihJwcMWhXfXn4V87COHV9vGNEVbAnRBeim8HJ8g_8MVEperHQ9_Kk_Md1qRUb07krLWvUa1PtuEsCZohCkc/s320/128444771_1810002479151828_4917519155006581659_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><b>The number of spam emails I have been receiving of late would break the bank if they were money. They have reduced slightly in the last few days but they still come pouring in.</b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">While the majority are Bitcoin scams, I have had a good selection of other opportunities to get rich with little or no effort.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Someone called "thank you" has reminded me hundreds of times in the last month that Amazon has a surprise for me. I am getting offers of free gift cards from every retailer under the Sun including several I've never heard of. "Congratulations" is keen to tell me about an unbeatable offer from Boots. (I wonder if Boots know). Hundreds of funeral plans. (Which is a bit worrying, do they know something I don't?) I even had a message from "#Huge Thighs" but I didn't open it.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">You have to wonder why scammers persist in sending these things and the only reason is that they must work. What with 5G phone mast conspiracies, chemtrail alerts, Covid hoaxes and brain-dead Brexiters, I suppose there is no shortage of half-wits to be taken in.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I have been told that it is merely symptomatic of how highly though of I am on the world stage and that I should be grateful. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Another reason why I decided to restart my blog (Thanks Jess).</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p></p>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-12008411607846734642020-12-14T15:41:00.000+00:002024-02-15T18:32:33.767+00:00<div><h1 style="text-align: left;">The Thamesmead Grump is back. </h1><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>I got rather fed up with my blog about a couple of years ago and stopped posting. It wasn't a deliberate decision, I just noticed after a while that I hadn't updated it for ages. The trouble is, I have no idea how many people were reading it. The stats provided by the site are completely meaningless as they don't filter out bots and such. To the extent that, even with no new posts since December 2018, I am still getting up to several hundred hits every day. That can't be right, and I thought, 'if I am only talking to myself, what's the point?'</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Just recently though, something happened to make me change my mind. Back in early 2018, I posted a couple of articles about a disgraced former Bexley Councillor which featured her antics with the council's planning department and a serious false accusation of theft against some of her ex-employees that led to them being arrested and subsequently suing her for libel where she admitted that she had made the whole thing up. She had also been trying to make life difficult for a fellow blogger, Malcolm Knight of "Bexley is Bonkers" fame who was reporting on the case. One thing I can't abide is a bully and I thought I would add my small contribution in order to give her something else to aim at. Nothing happened at all which helped to reinforce my suspicion that my own blog was being read by no-one much.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then, out of the blue, earlier this year, a letter arrived from her solicitor threatening me with all manner of dire consequences if I didn't remove my comments and claiming she was "a respected and successful businesswoman and local politician"; a comment that made me laugh so much, a little bit of wee came out. It also contained a long and bitter denouncement of poor old Malcolm who she still seems to have a bit of a bee in her bonnet about.</div><div><br /></div><div>The fact that I can provoke such an extreme reaction tells me that my blog may be serving some purpose after all.</div><div><br /></div><div>As to the comments about the dodgy councillor - I removed them. I was seriously tempted to call her bluff and see if she would really take it as far as the High Court. There would be little in the way of financial penalty for me in any case; I have no disposable income other than my pension and I have no savings or property. Even if I were to lose the case (unlikely), my opponent would be holding a very large bill that she wouldn't be able to recover. There was a time when I would have let the thing drag on just for the hell of it but I'm too old now and have other priorities; and anyway, it would be something of an abuse of the justice system and I'm not yet quite that cynical as to think that doesn't matter.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">The Mickey Mouse Vote</h1>
<br /><b>
In the United States, this term is used to describe a protest voter, being someone who doesn't approve of any of the official candidates in an election so writes a fictional name on the ballot paper, typically, Mickey Mouse. In the UK however, it has an altogether different meaning. It refers to someone who will always vote for the same political party every election, regardless of who the candidate is or what the parties policies may be; the reasoning being that, if the local party of your choice chose Mickey Mouse as their candidate, you would still vote for him.</b><br />
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In my view, the Mickey Mouse voter is the bane of democracy, equal in the level of damage they can do as the abstainer.<br />
<br />
I was told recently that I should only ever vote Conservative. "But what if the Conservative candidate is a crook"? I say. "What if the parties policies are damaging, divisive, or so shambolically confusing that you don't have any real idea of what it is you are voting for"?<br />
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Well, the answer is "it doesn't matter". All that matters is that I vote Conservative, nothing else.<br />
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This philosophy is not restricted to Tory supporters. Some years ago, I worked with a woman who had been a lifelong Labour activist ever since her hippy days in the 1960s. In 1983, she supported Michael Foot, who was going to abolish our nuclear deterrent; in 2010 she supported Gordon Brown who had just agreed we should replace Trident at a cost of £65 Billion.<div><br /></div><div>How can you ever support two such opposing positions at the same time? The answer is, you don't. She supported Labour because she supported Labour because she supported Labour, etc. The policy was irrelevant. </div><div><br /></div><div>The result of all of this is that, in most cases, general elections are decided in a small number of key constituencies where the voters who actually take the trouble to examine the policies and the candidates more thoroughly can decide the outcome. I'm not sure this is a good thing.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I'm constantly amazed by the sheer number of people who are willing to offer medical advice they are not qualified to give - exceeded only by the sheer number of people who are willing to accept that advice. </div><div><br /></div><div>Consider this - imagine if I were to offer a step by step set of instructions on how to dismantle and reassemble your faulty gas boiler, "Big Gas" will only try and sell you stuff you don't need and then try and install a "so-called" carbon monoxide detector whose function is to monitor your activities when you are at home; what if I were to tell you that if you were crossing the Atlantic on a passenger jet, you should ask a Hollywood actress to fly the plane (you can't trust pilots, what do they know?) Do you have any idea how many plane crashes there have been when there has been a pilot flying the plane? It's a lot, I don't mind telling you.</div><div><br /></div><div>You wouldn't listen to me, would you? You would be a fool if you did. But if I were to start lecturing you on the progress of Covid-19 and how to deal with the epidemic, then I would be joining the only growth industry around at the moment. Never mind that I have not even the most basic grasp of medicine, of epidemiology or indeed, any scientific subject at all, I can spout any amount of complete nonsense with total impunity in the full knowledge that you will take the whole lot as Gospel.</div><div><br /></div><div>I read a quote recently which said "don't believe anything that anyone tells you - unless it's a conspiracy theory.</div><div><br /></div><div>Partly, this attitude stems from the 2016 EU Referendum and the constant belittling of the view of most experts that leaving would be a disaster for the country. It was Michael Gove who announced during one TV interview that "people are fed up with experts". Well, that particular approach to reasoned argument has come home to roost with a vengeance where now, you only seem to be able to offer an opinion on any subject on condition that you know absolutely nothing about it. COVID hoaxers, mask deniers, anti-vaxxers are now having a field day, wallowing in ignorance and superstition that is now the basis of any argument.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-4921124358212179812018-12-01T13:40:00.001+00:002018-12-01T13:40:20.689+00:00<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">THE WIND OF CHANGE</span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Farting contest controversy.</span></div>
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I know this is a bit of an old story by now but I've been busy with other things and have only just got round to commenting on it.</div>
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There was controversy at last week's Grand Slam Farting Competition when both players accused each other of cheating. Dutch player Wesley Harms accused his opponent Gary Anderson of trying to distract him by throwing some darts each time he farted. Gary Anderson however was quick to respond to the accusation by claiming it was the Dutchman who was tossing darts at the board every time he tried to let rip with a particularly knockout parp.</div>
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"I know it was him" claimed Harms. "I could see his arms waving about every time I stepped up for a big one. He claims that it was just to get his fart smells properly spread over the oche, but I saw the darts in his hand; he can't deny it".</div>
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Anderson won the match 10-2.</div>
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This isn't the first time that important competitions have been sabotaged by contestants throwing darts. Who can forget the 1980s beer drinking competition, ruined by gamesmanship.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Every time you say "I don't believe in vaccines" a Reptilian Overlord dies.</span></h2>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">Getty Images</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: normal;">A <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-46387167">World Health Organisation report</a> shows a world-wide resurgence of Measles with 30% more cases in 2017 than 2016 resulting in 110,000 deaths. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: normal;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: normal;">The causes are various, from the collapsing health systems in emerging nations to the promotion of anti-vax scaremongering by the "alternative" health industry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: normal;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: normal;">Sad, that a disease that should have gone the way of Smallpox years ago should still be killing children on an industrial scale because of profiteering by crackpots and charlatans.</span><br />
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The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798927585907929310.post-30218728168816044432018-11-28T14:21:00.000+00:002018-11-28T14:21:19.376+00:00<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">GLOBAL WARMING HOAX REVEALED!!!</span></h2>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The most intelligent man who ever lived <br />shows his opinion on climate change.<br />(Picture from Time Magazine)</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Sensational disclosure by US President Donald Trump proves climate science conspiracy hoax with startling revelations about the trees in California and how small the oceans are.</b></span></div>
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Anyone concerned about recent inflammatory reports about global warming by the entire scientific community, can rest assured that there is no need to worry. Thanks to the intervention of US President Donald Trump, the truth about all of this can now be disclosed.</div>
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Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post asked the President for his reaction to the latest report and his reply can be read here.</div>
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<i>"One of the problems
that a lot of people like myself. </i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>We have very high levels of
intelligence, but we're not necessarily such believers. </i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>You look at
our air and our water and it's right now at a record clean. But when
you look at China and you look at parts of Asia and when you look at
South America, and when you look at many other places in the world,
including Russia, including – just many other places – the air is
incredibly dirty. </i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<i>And when you're talking about an atmosphere. </i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<i>Oceans
are very small. </i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>And it blows over and it sails over. </i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>I mean, we take
thousands of tons of garbage off our beaches all the time that comes
over from Asia. It just flows right down the Pacific, it flows, and
we say where does this come from? </i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>And it takes many people to start
off with.</i></div>
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<i>Number two, if you go
back and look at articles, they talked about global freezing, they
talked about at some point the planet could have freez [sic] to death,
then it's going to die of heat exhaustion. </i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<i>There is movement in the
atmosphere. </i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<i>There's no question. </i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>As to whether or not it's man-made
and whether or not the effects that you are talking about are there,
I don't see it – not nearly like it is. </i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<i>Do we want clean water?
Absolutely. Do we want clean air to breath? Absolutely. </i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>The fire in
California, where I was, if you looked at the floor, the floor of the
fire they have trees that were fallen, they did no forest management,
no forest maintenance, and you can light – you can take a match
like this and light a tree trunk when that thing is laying there for
more than 14 or 15 months. </i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>And it's a massive problem in California."</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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The reference to the recent forest fires in California follow his imaginary conversation with Finland President Sauli Niinistö who told him that they don't have such fires in Finland because they do a lot of raking.</div>
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This isn't the first time we have been treated to the views of President Trump on matters of climate change. My earlier post dated <a href="https://thethamesmeadgrump.blogspot.com/2018/08/is-he-or-isnt-he-michael-cohen-latest.html">22nd August 2018</a> gave a transcription of his speech at a fund raising dinner in New York regarding the wisdom of burning more coal.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">A (FAR) RIGHT TURN UP FOR THE BOOKS</span></h2>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQipyhWY4k36i_hmQ_eZkdaluvvn_fscQghKdhmC8jfR7IhyMO0OglnSU-R4UgTaT17cny1VnUI9fe5TO9E3MgBj_z7NMAOV9KojE52F2ysBHdyy4EtT1JzNQSWl8GHBDL3Qd47Oq8iX4/s1600/Dp9kPMJX4AAulSP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="939" data-original-width="980" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQipyhWY4k36i_hmQ_eZkdaluvvn_fscQghKdhmC8jfR7IhyMO0OglnSU-R4UgTaT17cny1VnUI9fe5TO9E3MgBj_z7NMAOV9KojE52F2ysBHdyy4EtT1JzNQSWl8GHBDL3Qd47Oq8iX4/s320/Dp9kPMJX4AAulSP.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Massive turnout of EDL supporters as Tommy<br />Robinson appointed as adviser to UKIP</b>.</span></td></tr>
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Nigel Farage, founder of far-right political party UKIP has expressed his disappointment that a neo-Nazi thug has been taken on by his neo-Nazi party as a special adviser. Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (otherwise known as Tommy Robinson) is now going to be advising UKIP on rape gangs and prison reform.</div>
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The latest UKIP leader Gerard Batten (is it my imagination, or do UKIP go through more leaders than the Tories go through Brexit negotiators?) claims that Yaxley-Lennon has "saved the party from oblivion". </div>
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I'm not sure if that should be held against him though. While it's perfectly true that he has a long history of thuggery, drug dealing and, more recently, attempting to get rape case defendants acquitted by sabotaging their trials, I don't think he can honestly be accused of saving this bunch of knuckle-dragging half-wits and their sad excuse of a political party. They are on their way down the toilet as many of their former supporters head back to the BNP, where they came from in the first place.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>This story, doing the rounds on Facebook has been around for a few years but it's still worth another outing. Thanks to Mrs Grump for the heads-up.</b></span></div>
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In her radio show, Dr Laura Schlesinger said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance.<span> </span><br /><br />The following response is an open letter to Dr. Laura, penned by a US resident, which was posted on the Internet. It's funny, as well as informative:<br /><br /><i>"Dear Dr. Laura:<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br /><br />Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination ... End of debate.<br /><br />I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them.<br /><br />1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations.<span> </span><br />A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?<br /><br />2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?<br /><br />3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of Menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15: 19-24.<span> </span><br />The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.<br /><br />4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odour for the Lord - Lev.1:9.<span> </span><br />The problem is my neighbours. They claim the odour is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?<br /><br />5. I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death.<span> </span><br />Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?<br /><br />6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination, Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination?<br /><br />7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?<br /><br />8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?<br /><br />9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?<br /><br />10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)<br /><br />I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I'm confident you can help.<br /><br />Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.<br /><br />Your adoring fan.<br /><br />James M. Kauffman, Ed.D. Professor Emeritus, Dept. Of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education University of Virginia<br />(It would be a damn shame if we couldn't own a Canadian)"</span></i></div>
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The Thamesmead Grumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15582897611291804159noreply@blogger.com1