WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

I rather like being a minority. I saw the commotion about the Gay Pride badges. I think the 'Twin Set and Pearls' brigade are perhaps pedalling a bit to hard to show they are inclusive....

[Tizer]

And now it's the National Trust for Scotland making a fool of themselves. They've bullied a small business, Hilltrek Outdoor Clothing, telling them to immediately stop selling their £365 Glencoe waterproof jacket because NTS has trademarked the name Glencoe.

[PanBiker]

Last day of jury service today, tipped up this morning and released at lunchtime, had to ring in at 4pm to check for tomorrow and was told that my service was over.

No longer on call so I can go and collect our Ruby tomorrow.

[Pluggy]

I agree, Maz, and here in the UK we've been flooded with programmes about gay, LBGT etc on the BBC recently. It's as if the BBC has decided we're all homophobic and it's their job to `correct' us.

The 50th Anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality has a lot to do with it.

[Stanley]

That's true Pluggy but they have gone over the top a bit I think.....

[Tripps]

That's true Pluggy but they have gone over the top a bit I think.....

Yes indeed - the BBC has become almost 'unlistenable to' recently.

[Tizer]

We had a superb view from our house of this rainbow yesterday evening. When we turned our backs to it we were facing the sunset which was a magnificent orange colour in contrast to the article which says it was a pink sunset. It was a double rainbow too, you can just see the second bow in the photos. LINK

[PanBiker]

It was a spectacular sunset up here last night Tiz, we discussed it on our amateur radio net as it was happening. Consensus here was that it was pink and violet as observed from Barlick, Earby, Gargrave, Sutton and Silsden.

[Stanley]

I noticed the lovely sky, mainly in the NW when I saw it. THIS caught my eye when I was looking at the pictures of the rainbow.... Another small black cloud......
Later..... I realised I was hearing a faint beeping noise. Last time this happened I made the mistake of going for the smoke alarm when actually it was the CO2 detector in the front room. That was what it was and 3 new AA batteries cured it.

[Stanley]

It's the latest announcements from North Korea that grab me this morning. The military are preparing detailed plans for firing four missiles towards Guam waters and say they will be ready to go in late August. The North Korean government describes Trump as being 'bereft of reason'..... I think this might apply to both sides.
Walmart in the US have a case full of guns in one of their stores with a sign on it saying 'Own the school year like a hero'. It looks as though some people regard a firearm as a must-have 'back to school' item. Walmart (Parent company of Asda) say they are investigating...... (LINK)

[Stanley]

Trump and North Korea.....He gets more belligerent and the Hill tries to be moderate. This man is a loose cannon.

[Marilyn]

They are like two 10 year old bullies having a spat at the school gate ( my gang is better than your gang!)
Idiots, the pair of them...
Think of the innocents that will be sent to fight it out for them whilst they sit in their ivory towers.

[Stanley]

Quite right Maz. We are told not to worry but when we see the world being governed by infantile behaviour I think some trepidation is allowed!

[Marilyn]

And the Ausralian Government has jumped straight in and pledged full support for Trump!
How quickly they sacrifice our children!
Have we learned nothing from history?

[plaques]

Churchill, Gallipoli, ANZAC. Bush / Blair, Irac, Its all about power and money (now privatization of capital) bugger the people.

[Stanley]

I note that Trump is making noises about military intervention in Argentina now.... Force seems to be his fall-back position if he can't get his own way. That's a definition of a bully isn't it?

[plaques]

Do you mean Venezuela? After all it is a nextdoor neighbour that needs its support to stop these commies giving their people a better lifestyle.

[Stanley]

Yes P, a senior moment! Thanks for correcting me. Historically, the US has always claimed not to be Imperialist but there is a school of thought which says that Westward Expansion and meddling in the southern parts of the continent were Imperialism. Look at Texas and the Louisiana Purchase.
The latest round of indignation triggered by the abuse convictions in Newcastle, some time soon we are going to have to admit this is a massive ongoing problem.

[Stanley]

THIS BBC report on the backlash against Trump after his inadequate response to Charlottesville is perhaps more significant than you might think. he gave the 'dog-whistle' to the supremacists in his election campaign and now omits condemnation of them. No amount of supplementary statements will repair this gaff. I don't see how this antagonistic man can survive as US President.....

[Stanley]

The total lack of any significant domestic news and the catalogue of examples of government mismanagement in Private Eye which never reach the other media. Could it be that there is an overall conspiracy of silence to avoid embarrassing the government? Surely not. And before you poo poo PE on the grounds of accuracy, reflect on the fact that nobody is denying their reports or taking them to court.

[Stanley]

Trump getting a rough time from the press over his racist attitude towards the trouble at Charlottesville. Good!
I've been watching the current reports of an increase in drunken and rowdy behaviour on flights. I deplore it of course, it's bad enough on the ground but in the confined space of a plane cabin it must be intolerable. Airports are now shopping opportunities and as soon as you pass the check in desk you enter a jurisdiction where UK licensing rules don't apply. The consequence is that every outlet sells duty-free booze 24 X 7. Is it any wonder that drunkenness increases? I reflect that there were no such problems in the case of tobacco. Duty free sales went on but there was no consumption allowed in the airport or on the plane. Problem solved. Why can't the same principle be applied to alcohol? The answer is of course the profit motive.

[Wendyf]

We were woken up at about 3am this morning by a very noisy, low flying helicopter circling slowly overhead. It was scary because you couldn't see it from inside the house.

[Stanley]

Sounds like the police Wendy. I wouldn't like it either. I would be wondering what was attracting their attention!
I note that the MP for Rotherham, Sarah Champion, is in trouble. (LINK to BBC report)
I hate any form of discrimination and have no knowledge of the lady but what strikes me is that she may have a point but it could apply to indigenous perpetrators as well. I have told this story before but it's worth repeating I think. When I was in NY in the 1980s I was living on the East Side and had quite a few conversations with the business ladies on the corner of 110 Street and Third Avenue. (Ethel told me that this had been noted!) They were nice women and very interesting. One thing I had noted was that a school bus frequently came down 110th at about 9:30AM and often picked some of them up. They told me that the bus served a Jewish school and the reason for the curtain half way along the bus was that the sexes were segregated. When the bus had dropped the children off the driver had a side line. He picked up some of the ultra-orthodox dads and set off on a different kind of run. The ladies told me that the men wanted access to them because there were practices that were forbidden by their brand of Judaism but the Rabbis had implied that it was not a sin to do these things with Goyish women (Gentiles) so they had a get out clause. I often wonder if something of this is at work when I hear of cases like the ones Sarah Champion refers to. Women of a different race being devalued..... There is certainly a problem and it needs addressing.

[Stanley]

The absence of our friend Tiz. I suspect that he and Janet are in the turmoil of moving house and I sympathise with them. I think it would make me poorly.....

[Stanley]

The fact that due to movement in the legal process we have been embroiled in for 9 months now, some of log the jam has broken and next Tuesday I go to arrange my funeral! I think this is hilarious and Susan and I will really enjoy a trip out to Skipton on the top deck of the Witch Way bus to do it..... Could it be that I have a warped sense of humour?