NOT FAKE NEWS
Convicted felon, fascist and fake news king, the 45ᵗʰ President of the United States paid the porn star ‘stormy Daniels’ hundreds of thousands of dollars not to tell anyone that she had sex with him. Last night, she appeared on a Channel 4 US election special with disgraced former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was there to plug his memoir “Unleashed.” Daniels wanted to know if Johnson had any children, and wondered if Johnson would leave his daughter alone with Trump.
Read moreWasn’t Harris ahead in the polls until the UK government started interfering in the election?
Read moreLIZ KENDALL - MAD, BAD AND DANGEROUS
Trials of employment advisers giving CV and interview advice in hospitals produced “dramatic results”, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told the BBC. No. No they didn’t. The Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions was referring to her experience of visiting a severe mental illness Individual Placement and Support (IPS) programme. In the community. Mental health patients are in hospital usually because they are incapable of living life in general let alone getting a job.
Read moreFactional right-wing neoliberal think tank “Labour Together": The Budget is a Winner with Tories
Read moreNow we can all agree that Biden was a total failure of a president.
Read moreIn other news, I got 25% off my Cornish pasty at Peterborough Services for wearing my Corbyn cap.
Read moreHATS OFF!
Sat on a bench in a children’s playground, a older couple approach me. The man is wearing a Union Jack bobble hat, points at my cap and says, “Were you in Vietnam?” Now, I’ve heard this or similar many times online, always from Reform, but never in person. “It’s The Clash”, I said. “London Calling.” “And Jeremy Corbyn. For the many, not the few.” “Oooh! Jeremy Corbyn! We wouldn’t be in this mess if he was in charge!
Read moreMy Mum’s cousin owns the local wool shop.
Read moreFAMILY CONNECTION RESTORED
Spent the day at my Mum’s, and a good portion of our final half an hour with her trying to fix the wifi connection on her phone. Restarting her router slightly improved connectivity. Just as we’re about to leave, she says, “I’ve got loads of new routers they keep sending me.” Quickly set up her new router and now everything works perfectly. When we got back to our caravan, I got a text.
Read moreOne positive outcome of my immune system going into overdrive in response to the covid vaccine is that my psoriasis has (temporarily?) calmed down.
Read moreCOPD
Last week I received confirmation of a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) based on results of spirometry tests back in August (it took that long for my GP surgery to get the results from the test centre, and only after my own intervention after their repeated failures). My GP helpfully seemed very keen to blame my twenty-odd year history of smoking. I first smoked at about age 20. My parents were smokers (wasn’t everyone back then?
Read moreTHE HANGOVER
I had my covid vaccine a week ago today. As expected I had a torrid night with violent shivers, nausea, headache and generally feeling like crap. While that was the worst of it, I had a whole 48 hours of ‘mild flu symptoms’, followed by a whole week of feeling like the day after going on a massive bender. I was hoping for a good night’s sleep tonight, in preparation for a long drive tomorrow, but it’s Diwali.
Read moreTHE SOUTHALL GASWORKS STORY
The story of how the remediation of Southall Gasworks highlights the environmental injustices faced by communities of colour. The disregard for the health and concerns of these residents raises questions about the inequitable distribution of environmental burdens and the role of local government in protecting vulnerable populations. It also highlights the potential conflicts between development, profit, and public health, and the need for greater transparency and accountability from authorities and developers.
Read moreCHASING YOUTHS WITH CARVING KNIVES
How my journey into care work was a serendipitous outcome of my search for meaning and purpose beyond the confines of traditional work. At least, that’s according to Google NotebookLM, based on my Curriculum Vitae series of blog posts.
Transcript
Read moreCLEAR AND OBVIOUS ERROR
After watching and re-watching the same three-second clip of nothing happening for so long that here in the UK we had to put our clocks back another hour just to have enough time to finish the game, the match referee (Ross from Friends look-a-like David Coote) turned to face what he knew would be a worldwide audience of millions of armchair experts like me yelling “VAR! WTF!” at the screen in front of us.
Read moreI thought I’d done great with these pizzas, but big kid ate only three slices (he can usually eat all eight) and spat out his salami, little kid said he doesn’t like the sauce (it’s out of a tin, the same he usually eats), and the missus said hers was burnt and inedible (although she still ate it).
Read moreEvery word speaks the brutal truth. The Year After Al-Aqsa Flood | Black Agenda Report
Read moreDear President Biden…
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Following on from our expensive old and new door catastrophes, our washing machine has given up. Another £169.
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ANOTHER DOOR CLOSES
Our twenty year old fridge door failed. It refused to stay closed anymore. Hinges had gone. After a couple of weeks battling with adhesive magnetic door locks designed for something else, I did the most manly thing I could think of. I called an engineer. The NEFF man arrived and did the job in a matter of minutes for £172. It’s been an expensive couple of months fixing doors, old and new.
Read morePALACE MATCH REPORT
Watched the United game (on my laptop) yesterday, having missed the Southampton and Barnsley games. A big improvement on the Liverpool debacle, especially in the first half. Dalot playing as a LB, DM and playmaker/midfield general all at once was as unexpected as it was impressive. Eriksen starting, to maintain the creative link he made with Mainoo against Barnsley we’re told, was also unexpected, but it too somehow worked. Drifting left to cover Dalot rather undid his link with Mainoo, though.
Read moreI can’t opt-out of LinkedIn’s new AI data gathering exercise, and neither can I delete my account, because I can’t login (got a new phone, 2fa linked to old phone, fucked). Hopefully their AI will be richer and more fully rounded as a result of my content.
Read moreDIGITAL LEADER
Hoping we found a good solution to help big kid’s Digital Leader application. He found it difficult to focus and get his head around answering the questions in a sensible (let alone helpful) way. Instead, I recorded him speaking about the devices and tech he uses, how he helps his little brother and his parents to play games, and how using new apps like Duolingo has helped him to learn Spanish (when previously he hated Spanish lessons).
Read moreI don’t understand why they have seized (now mouldy) courgettes as evidence but then again I don’t understand how they can justify arresting us for wanting to make soup.
Read moreIMPOSSIBLE DEMANDS
Starmer is cynically setting up the NHS to fail in order to present private healthcare as the fix. Starmer: a man way of his depth when dealing with the NHS https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/09/13/starmer-a-man-way-of-of-his-depth-when-dealing-with-the-nhs/ Starmer’s speech on the NHS yesterday offered view of a man unprepared for office who sends out incompetent messages to those who now work in the organisation he leads and who has no comprehension of the economic environment in which he must manage healthcare.
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