p&o ferry boss taking the piss

Yet again the rich get richer while the poorer workers get poorer. 

The article below is From here

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rival sons at stockton globe

Tonight Mathew, l shall be attending the Rival Sons show at Stockton Globe, and seeing as a mate is driving, l can drink and enjoy the evening more.  Hope they are as good as the last time we saw them, but even if not, it's still a great night out. Hurrah! - and trebles all round!! 

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kwasi kwarteng has a short memory

Rodger me sideways!  Kwasi Kwarteng has got some nerve after the disastrous stint he had at the top end of politics (plus laughing at the Queen's funeral). He may have forgotten what a fuck up he and Liz Truss were, but us regular folk haven't. Now please go away.

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the dystopian future of the usa looms closer - alligator alcatraz

 Hmmm... what does the Alligator Alcatraz detention centre remind me of?

Oh yes!!  Of course!! I should have guessed there'd be a Nazi connection!

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pete buttigieg on the 'big beautiful bill'

Pete Buttigeg pretty much nails it. The bill is an attack on millions, while only benefiting the super rich.

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someone around catterick drives like me

 I didn't know someone else in Catterick drives like me. Mind you, even l wouldn't try and park there.

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rip diogo jota

 I'm certainly no fan of Liverpool football club, but fuck me this is sad. Diogo Jota and his brother Andre have just been killed when apparently their car crashed and then burst into flames.  Only 28 and what a horrific way to go.  This just after what he described as 'the happiest day of my life' when he was married a couple of weeks ago. Football rivalries go out of the window when things like this happen, and his family (and friends) must be heartbroken.

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Led Zeppelin - Communication Breakdown, Live in Japan 1971

why l cut my own hair

 A selection of barbers choices. Mind you, this is from 1976.

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l didn't know elton john had a second job

 Fair play to him - extra money always comes in handy.

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Deborah Harry & Iggy Pop - Well, Did You Evah!

Debbie Harry is 80 today.  Time - it's a bastard.

The Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet (Video)

person hit by a train at northallerton station

We were only talking about this sort of thing at Northallerton train station last week, as some of the trains that go past there don't stop, and are some of the fastest in the UK, which rather sadly, is well known around the area as a suicide spot (not that l'm saying this was). Let's hope it was quick and painless.

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aldi / aldeh's genius marketing ploy

 Aldi have changed the signage at their store near to Heaton Park before the upcoming Oasis gigs there. They won't get many extra customers at the store because of it, but they sure as hell are getting a lot of nationwide publicity for their brand because of it Including here).  Well played to whoever thought of it.

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Nine Inch Nails - Copy Of A (Live)

The Human League - Being Boiled - 1978

the reinvention of gary newman

I agree with this 100% and l'm not even that much of a fan of Newman's, although l do like some of his music (which was ground-breaking at the time) and he comes across as a really decent bloke (apart from supporting The Tories back in the day). Good luck to him and glad to see his return.

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internet information cartoon

 

john maynard keynes on capitalism's nasty men

Although this quote is not precise, and is based on Ken Hirsch (in 1951) quoting Keynes as saying 'the astonishing belief that the nastiest motives of the nastiest men will somehow or other work for the best results in the best of all possible worlds', it's still 100% relevant and true. However, I prefer the original quote, as it's referring to Voltaire's character Dr Pangloss in 'Candide' at the end - one of my favourite books. There's nothing worse than a working class kid with an interest in culture and the world at large.

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glastonbury versus genocide - what's more important?

Sometimes what  I consider important does not tie in with  the news organisations, as it appears protest speech is more of an outrage than genocidal actions, and no - calling for the death of the IDF is not anti-Semitic against all Israelis. I'm also old enough to remember when recent TV documentaries and news items have shown Israeli Settlers calling for the extermination of Palestinians (this year), but there wasn't much fuss about that. 

What's leading the news in the UK at the moment.

What's not leading on the news.

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the new serf monthly is out

 I've got my subscription. I know my place.

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and the palastinian genocide continues.....

 One day in  the future, people will look back and wonder how this was allowed to happen.

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l have a dream cartoon

Sums up the current America (sadly).

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over 50 and single? let us in

Very good.  More please.

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The Rolling Stones and Steve Riley - Zydeco Sont Pas Salés

The latest Rolling Stones, and it's great!

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the telegraph supporting illegal immigration

 Alexa - show me hypocrisy. Wankers.

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craft work with the kids cartoon

 

the swan inn - liverpool

Whenever l'm back in town, this is the first boozer l head for. It's rough and ready, but what a jukebox! 

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what sort of idiocy is this?

 You'll have to be pushing your wheelchair / pram pretty quickly to make that gap.

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One Dove - Breakdown

Jeff Beck (with Rod Stewart) - Morning Dew

Before The Faces and Led Zeppelin's first album (and the support of Farage), Rod Stewart was magnificent.

From the Jeff Beck 'Truth' album (which is also a corker).

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the assisted dying bill

 About bleeding time. I watched my mother die in palliative care and she should have been put out of her misery long before she passed away. We asked the care unit but they said they couldn't do anything, and l was even tempted to put a pillow over her myself as it was that bad, and let's face it, they wouldn't have done an autopsy. Currently, sick animals get better end of life treatment, so hurrah!.

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The Beach Boys - Forever (A Cappella Mix / Remastered 2001)

the new health centre in catterick

Fancy having a £110 million Health Centre?  We've got one that's just about to open, which is good news for me in my advancing years. Hurrah!

 

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the incredible hulk in look-in

 It's hard to believe it now, but at one time this was essential viewing (at least for me and my mates). Don't make me angry!!!!!!

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batman - what's a hroom?

Took me a minute to get it but very good.

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rod stewart's looking a bit rough (and supporting farage)

Rod's let himself go a bit.

And is also talking crap.

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The Beach Boys - Forever (2022 Remaster)

Bruce Springsteen - Lost In the Flood (Live at the Hammersmith Odeon, London 1975)

Secret Knowledge - Afterworld - 1994

One Dove - Breakdown (Secret Knowledge Light Mix)

closed for renovations band

 

trump / truth

Very good.  More please. 

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Tom Jones Live in Athens 2025 - This is The Sea (The Waterboys Cover)

woops! bar tab not paid!

It's bad news when you get home from the pub and discover you haven't paid your bar tab! Tonight's private Facebook message from one of my long suffering landlords.

And as l said in my reply, l was joking about 'forgetting to pay' earlier beforehand (and he's not adding the extra pint)..

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no - l said the west bank!!!

Well this made laugh. 

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in todays least unexpected news...us strikes didn't destroy the iranian nuclear programme

Well this is reassuring. The first casualty of war is the truth as someone once said. I can't believe Trump lied about the success. My flabber is well and truly gasted, and a lesser man than me with a smaller vocabulary might even say he is full of shit. 

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Self Esteem - The Deep Blue Okay (Later... with Jools Holland)

Self Esteem - Mother (Later... with Jools Holland)

psycho the rapist cartoon

 

Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones) feat. Taj Mahal | Playing For Change Song Around the World

Higher Ground (Stevie Wonder) | Playing For Change | Song Around the World

an ai stonehenge story of no more than 1000 words

This was on the Afterword site, and demonstrates the advances AI is making.  Very clever.

 Mike: Please write me a short story of no more than 1000 words about a man and a woman, strangers, at Stonehenge for the Summer Solstice.

Strangers at Stonehenge
The crowd pressed forward in the pre-dawn darkness, thousands of pilgrims shuffling toward the ancient stones. Maya clutched her thermos of coffee, wondering why she’d driven three hours to stand in a field with strangers, watching the sun rise through rocks that had stood for millennia.
“First time?” The voice came from beside her—a man about her age, maybe forty, with kind eyes and a worn leather jacket that looked like it had seen many solstices.
“That obvious?” Maya smiled, grateful for the human connection in the sea of faces.
“The wonder in your eyes gives it away. I’m David.” He gestured toward the towering trilithons ahead. “I’ve been coming here for fifteen years. Never gets old.”
“Maya. And I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t this many people.”
David chuckled. “Twenty thousand, usually. But something about sharing this moment with strangers from all over the world—it’s oddly comforting. We’re all here for the same reason, really.”
“Which is?”
He considered this as they shuffled forward with the crowd. “To witness something bigger than ourselves. To connect with people who stood in this exact spot four thousand years ago, watching the same sun rise through the same stones.”
Maya had come on impulse, fleeing the empty house that still echoed with her ex-husband’s absence. She’d told herself it was about experiencing history, but standing here now, she realized it was about not being alone with her thoughts on the longest day of the year.
“Are you here for spiritual reasons?” she asked.
“Partly. But mostly for the continuity. My father brought me here when I was twelve, right after my mother died. He said some things are too ancient and too beautiful to let grief overshadow them.” David’s voice carried a comfortable melancholy. “He’s gone now too, but I keep coming. For him, for me, for the connection to something enduring.”
They found a spot near the outer circle as the sky began to lighten. Around them, people sat in meditation, played gentle music, or simply waited in reverent silence. A woman nearby had brought her teenage daughter, whispering explanations about the monument’s alignment. A group of friends shared a breakfast of pastries and laughter.
“I got divorced six months ago,” Maya found herself saying, surprised by her own honesty. “I keep thinking I should feel liberated, but mostly I just feel… untethered. Like I’m floating without reference points.”
David nodded. “After my wife left—that was eight years ago—I felt like I’d lost my place in the world. Like I was reading a book and someone had torn out all the pages that explained who I was supposed to be.”
The eastern horizon began to glow, a soft amber that painted the stones in golden light. The crowd grew quieter, more focused. Maya felt the anticipation building like a held breath.
“How did you find your way back?” she asked quietly.
“I’m not sure I have completely. But I learned that some anchors aren’t other people—they’re moments like this. Rituals that connect us to the long story of being human.” He paused, watching the light grow stronger. “My marriage ended, but my need to witness beauty didn’t. My father died, but my connection to what he taught me about wonder didn’t.”
The sun’s edge appeared on the horizon, perfectly framed by the heel stone. A collective sigh rose from the crowd, twenty thousand people exhaling together as light flooded the stone circle. Maya felt tears on her cheeks, unexpected and cleansing.
“It’s extraordinary,” she whispered.
“Every year, I think it will be less magical,” David replied. “Every year, I’m wrong.”
They stood in comfortable silence as the sun climbed higher, painting the ancient stones in shades of gold and amber. Maya realized that for the first time in months, she wasn’t thinking about what she’d lost or what came next. She was simply present, part of an unbroken chain of humans who had gathered to witness light returning to the world.
“I think I understand now,” she said as the crowd began to disperse. “Why you keep coming back.”
“It’s not about the stones, really. It’s about choosing to show up for wonder, even when—especially when—life feels uncertain.”
As they walked back toward the car parks, Maya felt something shift inside her. Not healing exactly, but a recognition that she could carry this feeling with her—this sense of being part of something larger and more enduring than her own small story.
“Same time next year?” David asked as they reached the place where their paths diverged.
Maya smiled, feeling the first genuine lightness she’d experienced in months. “I think so. For the continuity.”
They parted ways among the crowd of strangers who had briefly become a community, united by their willingness to rise before dawn and witness something ancient and beautiful. Maya drove home as the sun climbed higher, carrying with her the memory of light flooding stone and the quiet wisdom of a stranger who had reminded her that some anchors transcend circumstance.
The stones would wait for another year, patient and eternal, ready to frame the sun’s return for whoever needed to remember that they were part of something larger than themselves.

a trump wars reminder

 

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the lads are flagging

On the train back from Glasgow. Some people can't deal with the rock and roll lifestyle.

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glasgow punk all dayer

 Setting off for this at stupid o'clock in the morning.  Anticipating good weather, plenty of beer, and lots of loud music, so it should be good!

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Spiritualized - Electricity (Official Music Video)

Spiritualized - Come Together (Official Music Video)

bloody spiders! the reason l avoid the garage

My garage, rather like my house, needs de-cluttering and sorting out, but this is one of the reasons l avoid doing so. Horrible long legged bastards! Kill 'em all!!

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