Things Noticeable this week

[Wendigo]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

But most of all, the idea of a backdated surcharge, in principle, is pernicious. It will lead exactly to situations like this one, in which Britain is penalised for achieving economic recovery () and France and Germany are rewarded by British and Dutch taxpayers for achieving economic stagnation through misguided austerity measures. It could not possibly be more divisive.

I totally agree that's as retarded a system as you will ever see and only those who benefit from extra cash will choose to differ.

As per Uli's link above when I clicked it I got this



Then it crashed all my Internet Explorer browsing sessions ...... just saying....
EU safe web browsing for German's

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by tamsmith

Slightly more than my annual salary but only just.

You shouldn't have asked to be paid in Zimbabwean Dollars, Tam.

[chris chunt]

when I heard Wilko Johnson of dr feelgood fame get his name mentioned on radio 4 news the other day I thought the poor blokes eventually gone after his battle with cancer .
but no
he's making a recovery !
HURRAH!
some good news for once
makes a big change

[Wendigo]

Nuisance calls and texts targeted by fines plan
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29769370

What's the betting by the time this clears all the legal obstacles that it will be watered down to such an extent it will mean sod all?

The TPS, Ofcom and Information Commissioner's Office have the teeth and reaction time of a Sloth which is why I and many others have had to spend money on call blockers.


Great news about Wilko Johnson, hope they've got him on Milk and Alcohol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTbzyqr0TRo

[Greenman]

I seem to recall that Wilko Johnson appeared on stage live with Madness or some such band on the night that the BBC said goodbye to the Television Centre. I must admit to not knowing who he was but it is great news that he is free of cancer. I understand that they removed a tumour the size of a baby from him-ouch! that is bloody big!!

We used to get loads of nuisance calls but we do get the odd one or two. We had been with the TPS but they weren't any good. Last year we found a different organisation and the calls tailed off. Now we only get the odd silent call or other, usually from the US so we just put the phone down-however one day my mother lost her rag and yelled down the phone. The next phonecall was her friend wondering why she had told her to go away! You just never know, and it is rare that we ignore the phone just incase it could be really serious.

[Greenman]

I think it is ridiculous to label Mike Read, the former Radio 1 DJ as racist when he created a calypso song for UKIP-which ought to be a crime anyway-but I remember seeing a clip of comedian Lance Percival, who was once on That Was The Week That Was the British comedy satire show starring Sir David Frost, doing the self same thing, creating a calypso song from the day's big stories. One was called Fall Out Calypso - a reference to surviving a nuclear attack back in the 60s "fall out calypso, fall out calypso, things falling out all over de place, the hair and de teeth, de nose and de knees, but de Government say we be okay, okay" Later the black actor and singer Cy Grant would also do them(he was the voice of Lt Green in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons btw). Perhaps we need to look at what is really racist and what is just a bit of fun-maybe the use of DE was a bad move-would doing it in a Welsh or Scottish accent have been better?

[Darth Joules]

Originally Posted by Chibi Ubu

Fraudulent buyers

Frances Dawson was a real estate agent for sellers whose house had languished for several months during the slowdown of 2009. They were thrilled to get a cash offer for the $450,000 house from a young couple.
The buyers included a proof-of-funds letter from a brokerage firm. The buyers' extended family turned out for the home inspection. It was like a holiday open house, Dawson says.

Later, the brokerage informed Dawson that the proof-of-funds letter had a forged signature. The would-be buyers vanished, but Dawson says their extended family verbally abused her, the sellers and the buyers' agent.
Dawson now makes sure she verifies proof of funds and prequalification letters.

The estate agent I'm selling my house through does a strict financial background check on all buying clients before they're even allowed to view any properties on their books. Any buyer then isn't shown properties that they cannot realistically afford which means the buyers that do view your property can afford it. It also gets rid of one particular group of "pests" (as my agent calls them), people who spend days posing as buyers just so they can have a nose around the interiors of other peoples homes.

[Greenman]

Further to my last post about calypsos I suddenly remembered that Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Willie Rushton and Barry Cryer would make up either a madrigal, blues or calypso from a word or phrase given to them by Humphrey Lyttleton in long-running radio series 'I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue' and it was sung in the Jamaican style using 'de' - one in particular ended with "he bent down, farted and shot de cat!" so it would appear it depends who does it and who will object. I don't recall anyone writing in to complain.

[Greenman]

According to a new poll Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, Abba's Dancing Queen, and Pharrell Wiliams Happy/classical music are the top three tunes for listening to when you are ill, down or just need a pick-me-up...so all together "so you think you can stop me and spit in my eye.." AND "beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for meeeeee!"

Real spelling howler by Naomi Campbell who was trying to congratulate Malala Yousafsai. She managed to spell Nobel wrong(Malala won the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with someone else) and instead of Malala she typed Malaria.

[gordian_knot]

On a subject related to the Mike Read post above, US PGA chief Ted Bishop was sacked for calling Ian Poulter a 'little girl' for criticising Nick Faldo in his autobiography. This is the equivalent to calling him a 'big girl's blouse'. I can't imagine anything milder but it seems you can't say anything to anyone these days. Free speech is dead as a right.

Ian Poulter called Nick Faldo 'useless' but then described Bishop's tame tweet as 'pretty shocking and disappointing.' I find Poulter's reaction pretty shocking and disappointing. He should be ashamed of himself for over-reacting and getting someone the sack.

It seems as soon as anyone complains about a comment made on social media or elsewhere, there is an immediate cave-in either by the person who made the comment or his employer, whether or not those comments were justified. No-one seems to have the guts to stand up to the trolls, demonisers and serial offendees anymore .