What Is Happening To Our Country?

[badgerx16]

31 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

I remembered it from Fergie’s autobiography and was huge news at the time. His father Louis was subject to a World in Action episode at the start of 1980 alleging shady practices in both his food business and recruitment of young players for Man Utd. Didn’t realise Peter Lorimer who ended up at Leeds was caught up seemingly in the latter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Edwards

Using condemned meat in school meals.

[Gloucester Saint]

10 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

Using condemned meat in school meals.

Nice. Easy to see how the CJD crisis came about. On the payments to kids, the more things change in football, in some ways the more they stay the same.

[Gloucester Saint]

This popped up on YouTube, just to prove politicians were idiots in the past as well. As soon as he opens his mouth, he’s jinxed it…

 

[sadoldgit]

Sad news.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2033616/whsmith-to-sell-modella-capital-new-name/amp

[The Kraken]

The WHSmith brand is not included in the sale, and the firm's travel divisions will continue to trade under the name across 32 countries, including at major airport locations, hospitals and rail stations in the UK.
 

Sounds awful. 

[Gloucester Saint]

3 hours ago, The Kraken said:

The WHSmith brand is not included in the sale, and the firm's travel divisions will continue to trade under the name across 32 countries, including at major airport locations, hospitals and rail stations in the UK.
 

Sounds awful. 

In other words captive markets.

[Lord Duckhunter]

WH Smith was a mess, absolutely no surprise they’re disappearing from the high street. Business model not fit for the modern world, only missed by a few dinosaurs  stuck in the last century. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

Looks at this absolute fucking onion…

Edited April 1 by Lord Duckhunter

[Gloucester Saint]

6 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Looks at this absolute fucking onion…

I don’t care for it, even though I vote for them, but the electorate does. Look at their 2024 GE performance, Boris did loads of farting about, Farage has, whereas others get called boring.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

12 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Looks at this absolute fucking onion…

I guess he'll turn up to anything. Except meet with postmasters, of course.

[sadoldgit]

No surprise but still disturbing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yr0zw65lro.amp

[Lord Duckhunter]

What a load of old pony 

[whelk]

8 hours ago, sadoldgit said:

No surprise but still disturbing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yr0zw65lro.amp

Are you going to hunt down the misogynists once you’ve got all the Muslim haters?

[Holmes_and_Watson]

3 minutes ago, whelk said:

Are you going to hunt down the misogynists once you’ve got all the Muslim haters?

Is SOG the best for this? I know there's the years of personal experience tackling crime. But he might show too much leniency to ex-bosses making comments about expressing milk.

[Gloucester Saint]

On 01/04/2025 at 12:57, Holmes_and_Watson said:

I guess he'll turn up to anything. Except meet with postmasters, of course.

I’d imagine he’ll be turning up to the Town Halls in the South, SW and Midlands that they win off Labour and the Conservatives in next month’s local elections. 

[hypochondriac]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3677xzk56no

Absolutely extraordinary that this hasn't been done earlier. Shirley High Street to take a local example has loads of new Turkish barbers, a few vape shops and mobile phone shops that are very obviously involved in criminal activity and a new mini mart at the top which is completely unnecessary and never has any customers. Mad that this has been allowed to operate for years now with everyone knowing what they are. 

 

Edited April 11 by hypochondriac

[Turkish]

On 09/04/2025 at 10:35, sadoldgit said:

No surprise but still disturbing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yr0zw65lro.amp

disturbing 😂

[tdmickey3]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3677xzk56no

Absolutely extraordinary that this hasn't been done earlier. Shirley High Street to take a local example has loads of new Turkish barbers, a few vape shops and mobile phone shops that are very obviously involved in criminal activity and a new mini mart at the top which is completely unnecessary and never has any customers. Mad that this has been allowed to operate for years now with everyone knowing what they are. 

 

Please explain how its "very obvious" ?  

You could be right but, please explain how its "very obvious" ?  

[hypochondriac]

11 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Please explain how its "very obvious" ?  

You could be right but, please explain how its "very obvious" ?  

How does a barbers or a mini mart with no customers in an area where there is zero demand for either and where you never see anyone getting there haircut or buying anything continue to operate for months or even years at a time with lavish fixtures and fittings and with very expensive cars parked outside by the operators? As the article says, the number of barbers has doubled in England in the last ten years, why do you think that is? All these businesses currently being raided fit the exact same profile as the ones that have sprung up on Shirley High Street - that is run by a foreigner who come in seemingly out of the blue with very expensive and lavish shops with little or zero customers that continue to operate. 

The new mini mart and the vape shop opposite it in particular haslve no logical reason to exist and I haven't seen a single customer in them at any time of the day (and judging by the shelves nothing looks to have been bought either.) There's no reasonable alternative for their continued existence. 

[rooney]

32 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

How does a barbers or a mini mart with no customers in an area where there is zero demand for either and where you never see anyone getting there haircut or buying anything continue to operate for months or even years at a time with lavish fixtures and fittings and with very expensive cars parked outside by the operators? As the article says, the number of barbers has doubled in England in the last ten years, why do you think that is? All these businesses currently being raided fit the exact same profile as the ones that have sprung up on Shirley High Street - that is run by a foreigner who come in seemingly out of the blue with very expensive and lavish shops with little or zero customers that continue to operate. 

The new mini mart and the vape shop opposite it in particular haslve no logical reason to exist and I haven't seen a single customer in them at any time of the day (and judging by the shelves nothing looks to have been bought either.) There's no reasonable alternative for their continued existence. 

Have you reported this to Crimestoppers? I believe you can do this anonymously.

[tdmickey3]

35 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

How does a barbers or a mini mart with no customers in an area where there is zero demand for either and where you never see anyone getting there haircut or buying anything continue to operate for months or even years at a time with lavish fixtures and fittings and with very expensive cars parked outside by the operators? As the article says, the number of barbers has doubled in England in the last ten years, why do you think that is? All these businesses currently being raided fit the exact same profile as the ones that have sprung up on Shirley High Street - that is run by a foreigner who come in seemingly out of the blue with very expensive and lavish shops with little or zero customers that continue to operate. 

The new mini mart and the vape shop opposite it in particular haslve no logical reason to exist and I haven't seen a single customer in them at any time of the day (and judging by the shelves nothing looks to have been bought either.) There's no reasonable alternative for their continued existence. 

Are you monitoring them all day everyday 😉

[hypochondriac]

1 hour ago, tdmickey3 said:

Are you monitoring them all day everyday 😉

Well I live nearby so see it multiple times a day and I've never seen either with a customer. It's not like it's some sort of mad conspiracy theory is it. 

[east-stand-nic]

42 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Well I live nearby so see it multiple times a day and I've never seen either with a customer. It's not like it's some sort of mad conspiracy theory is it. 

Indeed. However, it is very fashionable right now to be pious and virtue signal, especially when it comes to acting as if they like all comers. For anyone saying they are doing bad is called out simplistically as racism. Simple plain old pious virtue signalling.

[Gloucester Saint]

5 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3677xzk56no

Absolutely extraordinary that this hasn't been done earlier. Shirley High Street to take a local example has loads of new Turkish barbers, a few vape shops and mobile phone shops that are very obviously involved in criminal activity and a new mini mart at the top which is completely unnecessary and never has any customers. Mad that this has been allowed to operate for years now with everyone knowing what they are. 

 

My friends still living in Soton call it Highly Shite Street.

[Lord Duckhunter]

There’s a Muslim barbers in Romney Marsh, perhaps that was a front for dodgy money as well. They’ve only got one customer…..

[Turkish]

11 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

There’s a Muslim barbers in Romney Marsh, perhaps that was a front for dodgy money as well. They’ve only got one customer…..

I was talking to a friend at the village early summer tea party earlier today. He's is very well connected in the hair dressing scene in England. He told me that many of the barber shops are highly successful with very skilled barbers and any suggestion that they might be a front for money laundering is pure and simple racism. He also knows a lot of Incels and told me they are addicted to Andrew Tate youtube shorts and often shout mysogynistic comments at young girls, but not a single one of them was a muslim barber. Disturbing but not surprising. 

[hypochondriac]

46 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

There’s a Muslim barbers in Romney Marsh, perhaps that was a front for dodgy money as well. They’ve only got one customer…..

Pmsl

[AlexLaw76]

And I thought we were getting loads of Doctors and Engineers.....

[Gloucester Saint]

Someone arrested on suspicion of murder for the Worksop 💥 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0ywpd59pvo

[sadoldgit]

Good to see this issue reaching main stream news. Vets bills have been ridiculously high for some time now. We had a bill for £7,500 after our dog had treatment last year including having a stomach operation that wasn’t, in hindsight, required. We would get a morning call from the night staff each day giving us an update on the dog’s condition but the staff would be more concerned in taking our credit card details (we had to pay for treatment daily) rather than talk about the dog’s condition. One of the older Vets we spoke to talked about how attitudes had changed since he worked for a family vet’s practice (it was taken over by a corporate business) and that he felt it was now more about generating income than pet care.

They have you over a barrel. Who is going to say no to treatment despite facing a massive bill for a beloved pet when they are poorly?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62zzegvk33o.amp

[Lord Duckhunter]

 
 

It’s 2025, not 1955 FFS. 
 

 

Edited April 15 by Lord Duckhunter

[badgerx16]

19 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

 
 

It’s 2025, not 1955 FFS. 
 

 

SOGgy is right though. We keep getting "reminders" that one or other of our dogs is due it's next checkup or test, or when we do take them for treatment there is always the optional ( though recommended ) shopping list of added extras being given the hard sell.

[AlexLaw76]

Do you have pet insurance?

[badgerx16]

1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Do you have pet insurance?

Yes, for the Newfoundland because the potential bills are so much bigger than for the Beddy/Whippet cross or Deerhound/Greyhound cross. Our experience is that for the smaller dogs and the cats, the lifetime bills will work out less than the accumulated insurance payments across the same period.

[Gloucester Saint]

2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Do you have pet insurance?

We have, since they were young, and thank goodness, because apart from the standard excess John Lewis have been brilliant. But Soggy does make valid points even though our vet has been around the block and doesn’t bombard us with extras, the younger and less streetwise vets don’t miss a chance to upsell.

On the human front, it’s similar to dentists. Always selling extras like car salesmen. Which with a filling being £200 around here focuses the mind away from that tempting biscuit…

[Gloucester Saint]

2 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

Yes, for the Newfoundland because the potential bills are so much bigger than for the Beddy/Whippet cross or Deerhound/Greyhound cross. Our experience is that for the smaller dogs and the cats, the lifetime bills will work out less than the accumulated insurance payments across the same period.

Most of the time that’s about right but if your pet has a rare illness only 30 animals have globally that can go south….

[badgerx16]

Just now, Gloucester Saint said:

Most of the time that’s about right but if your pet has a rare illness only 30 animals have globally that can go south….

Nothing for dogs and cats compares to vet bills for ponies.

[Gloucester Saint]

9 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

Nothing for dogs and cats compares to vet bills for ponies.

I heard Duck likes a pony…

[Gloucester Saint]

If you’re in the Okehampton area, don’t spill anyone’s drink in the Spoons

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg72jm8lnrdo

[whelk]

19 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

If you’re in the Okehampton area, don’t spill anyone’s drink in the Spoons

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg72jm8lnrdo

Sounds like a West Country GM with an ExeterWeb grievance

[Gloucester Saint]

Good lad, hate flytipping 

 

[whelk]

Seems pretty strong sentence for what was a fuck up but more than a violent rapist might get

https://news.sky.com/story/owner-of-paddleboarding-company-jailed-over-deaths-of-four-people-in-pembrokeshire-13345862

[AlexLaw76]

when have lunatics like this in power....

 

[sadoldgit]

On 15/04/2025 at 16:40, Gloucester Saint said:

We have, since they were young, and thank goodness, because apart from the standard excess John Lewis have been brilliant. But Soggy does make valid points even though our vet has been around the block and doesn’t bombard us with extras, the younger and less streetwise vets don’t miss a chance to upsell.

On the human front, it’s similar to dentists. Always selling extras like car salesmen. Which with a filling being £200 around here focuses the mind away from that tempting biscuit…

Agree about the dentist. I had a new dentist allotted to me last year (NHS). He is very young, lovely guy but the three times I have been to see him he has tried to persuade me to go for “private” options which, of course, cost a great deal more. I was supposed to have a clean last time under the normal check up arrangement and suggested that I went for a “private” more extensive clean for about £70 as my teeth were heavily stained. Given the amount of red wine I drink it would be a few days before they get stained again!

Another by product of drinking red wine is black staining of the tongue. The first time he met me he was very concerned about my tongue and couldn’t understand why I wasn’t. He actually arranged for me to go to hospital for tests as he was worried that I might have cancer!!

I was tempted to make a remark about how it was amusing that he is a black guy with a pink tongue and I am a white guy with a black tongue, but thought better of it!

[Turkish]

Great news, English Heritage are giving free entry to refugees, but if you want to go with one you’ll have to pay 

[Whitey Grandad]

From Heritage to Outrage

[hypochondriac]

If this data is accurate - I'd need confirmation- then that's staggering 

[Turkish]

27 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

If this data is accurate - I'd need confirmation- then that's staggering 

Shows the institutional racism of the police right there 

[Gloucester Saint]

Those figures were from GB News via an FoI request. I wouldn’t dismiss them out of hand because of that but would also take with a certain amount of salt as I doubt proper statisticians were used to analyse the data.

The government has stated that official migrant crime rates will be published before Xmas in a move which has thrown the Tories who always promised it and never actually did it. I’m not that fussed on it myself from a Lib Dem perspective but it’s red meat for the red wall isn’t it?

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-labour-is-finally-publishing-migrant-crime-league-tables/

I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the nations are similar in the official data assimilated properly though - Albania we know has a chronic people smuggling problem and a lot of those nations listed have legal and policing systems very different to the West not to mention very different cultures.

What will be interesting is if Germany, France and Scandinavian nations follow suit for comparative data and whether the patterns follow. Because it’s a pan-European problem whether the populists like that or not. Brexit hasn’t helped the borders but a joined up approach is more likely to.

[Gloucester Saint]

Cross-party legislation coming in to tackle reckless cyclist behaviour which harms or kills others (recognising this is a small minority of cyclists)  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0w8g18x9no