saintbletch

Thanks Toke. Appreciate your help. I'm being made to look like I'm truly unpopular on here, the sort of poster that nobody reads because he writes screeds of overly verbose, complex and...whatever. Anyway, check your own page, you'll see I'm there. Quid pro quo. I hope you'll be able to sleep tonight. Anyone? Try to get yourself on my last 10 visits page.

********. I just visited your page and I appear there. It's me then. [wears a glum face and dabs a hanky to his eye]

I'm serious Toke. Someone (probably The Man) is manipulating visitor counts to make me look unpopular. Try it. Visit my page and see if you show up. Not looking to trick you here Toke. Something is wrong and we need to get to the bottom of it. P.S. My relationship with sambosa75 (It's a reference to a Jim Davidson concert in South Africa in 1975) is no business of yours.

OK! Time out Muppets, time out. Something is rotten in the state of Saints Web. I fear that the last 10 visitors feature is broken, or worse, being interfered with. Before my post above, this was the list of recent visitors. Barry the Badger, george burleys mum, Glasgow_Saint, hutch, John D, KK the 2nd, Le Timmier, Pugwash, saint si, tpbury - with 1365 visits. Since I posted, the list is now: Barry the Badger, george burleys mum, Glasgow_Saint, hutch, John D, KK the 2nd, Le Timmier, Pugwash, sambosa75, tpbury - with 1419* visits So the visits has gone up be 50+ but only one of my fawning fans has changed. sambosa75 has replaced saint si. So this entire "look at the length of my knobs (list)" contest is pointless and the results are null and void. TSW members are being fingered for crimes they may not have committed. *ah em, to be fair, at least 20 of those must be mine refreshing in a vain attempt to reach 1500 visits.

And now there's a JayJay parody... [video=youtube_share;CpruUIHYJJk] Jealousy if you ask me.

This is where the stalkers reply with "Ah, I never meant to visit your profile page, I just mis-clicked" Visitors to my page* include: ApparentlyAnthonty, ballockyshtwanck_saint, bored, cock-a-doodle-cund, fuctoff, SaintFaggot, saintshtum, shidmepands, saint_soapytidtwanck, Tokyo-Saint. I've had 1365 visits and only 1800 posts - That's a visit every ~1.3 pretentious and quality-packed post. *Do not click this.

I knew it was asking too much of the Muppet Show to appreciate talent in the raw, but I didn't expect a Hatchet job. I should have posted this is the Arts forum where people don't bring their stereotypical preconceptions as to what constitutes rap and what constitutes crap.

I can wholeheartedly recommend JayJay's excellent debut music video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4dRms1igUs I had a tear in my eye watching that. Credit where credit is due, it takes some musical balls to confront decades of music industry traditional and to turn your back on the notion that rhymes should rhyme. Does anyone know if JayJay is local as there is an apparent Fordingbridge reference in the video? Just another product of that endless Fordingbridge musical production line no doubt - lut.

I'd have thought that a strategically placed mirror would turn a starfish to goo for most people at least once per day.

As to the OP, and the question of whether they operate a cartel, given the scrutiny they are under I can't believe they would be formally fixing prices between them, but I am struck by the lack of real competition. Why doesn't one of the big six take two-three years of lower profits (in percentage terms) to gain market share that would hurt their competitors and increases their profits (in absolute terms)? That's what would happen in other, supposedly highly competitive markets. I watched some of the coverage of the select committee where the Big 6 and others were "grilled". I could not believe how helpful they were to each other; completing each other's arguments, emphasising points already made by other companies. Not one of the Big 6 used it as a means to try to differentiate themselves. The only one that did was the bloke from the small provider - Ovo I think. Is it just that the claimed 4-5% RETAIL profit margins simply won't allow for enough of a reduction in the bill? Is it that we are lazy and don't switch suppliers unless there is a significant reduction? Perhaps, but where these companies are both generators/producers and retail suppliers, they have all the tools at their disposal to take an end-to-end view of their profits (production and retail sales) and then significantly undercut their competitors. The margin for an end-to-end supplier is significantly more than 4-5% and would allow for significant price reductions. Then many of us would switch suppliers and that would be good for the supplier that decided to undercut their rivals. But then of course the other companies would each lower their prices to convince us to stay with them, and a price war is not good for any of them. So, a cartel? No, not formally. But a cartel due to the barrier to entry for new suppliers? Yes, absolutely.

Interesting comparison that on first glance looks astonishing. However, I'd like to know.... 1) The split between gas and electricity usage in those countries (if a country "typically" uses electric power, the lack of an economy of scale for a gas provider might mean that gas prices stay high.) 2) The delta between gas and electricity prices in those counties (if a country has far cheaper electricity, they won't use gas and therefore the price will not reflect what consumers HAVE to pay to cook/heat/etc.) 3) Whether the weather in those countries impacts the cost - I note that 3 of the top 4 countries are likely to have quite mild winters meaning potentially lower, overall cost (again, this might impact economies of scale). 4) What proportion of those gas suppliers are both energy generators and retail sellers. (do they, to an extent control both their purchase cost and selling price). 5) The proportion that taxation makes up cost in each of those countries 6) State versus private ownership of energy generators in the respective countries (subsidised, non-profit driven production versus lazy, state-run monopoly) 7) The number of gas providers in each country eight) Average, total annual spend on gas in each country (given some of the factors above, Greece may still have a far lower annual cost versus other countries) Either way, it's still surprising to see the UK in that relative position. Don't worry about getting an answer on each of those today trousers my man, tomorrow will be fine!

Good work Spudders. You've really brought Toke to life (on the left), with his jerking and intermittent stream, whilst his wife's full flow is shown to good effect. But you've really failed to make be believe in the Octopus. The one in the GIF is doing that thing that babies do when there head is submerged in water. You know, that sort of panicked "Oh my God, that went in my eye. My God, that's cold, and wet. Is that pish? My God, that is pish. Are those humans pishing on me?" look. And Bear, smiley faces are one thing, but everybody knows that octopuses don't have eyebrows.

As you know Spudders, I also received the Octoporn PM of Toke and his wife preparing an Octopus for dinner using a micturition marinade. My wife came into my home office while it was on my screen, I'd have been embarrassed by what she saw if it hadn't been covering up all manner of even more degenerate GIFs from my personal collection. A lucky break. Cheers, Toke.

If I may, tpbury, you forgot the words "in reverse order", or at the very least "in no particular order". None taken. I'm sure you can edit it. Using your full member analogy, Toke has one of those sexual mental illnesses, where he has to drain his vein, deplete his meat, or rob his knob 40-50 times each day. That is actually what is causing all these double posts, basically they're getting stuck together with Toke's glans-gloy.

Yes, I got my notification of shipping yesterday too. Whilst the battery is a little step up, I'm assuming that all that extra power and larger screen will consume more power. Then again, I guess the rest of the innards might be very power efficient. Either way, it looks like a pretty keen price given the spec. I've gone for the 32GB model in black.

Hi percy, the lads have put me in charge of interviewing the born again posters today. The weekend shift, eh? Talk about short straw. Anyway, can you tell us a little more about the style that you'd like your on-line persona to project? I'll then see if I can get one of the regulars to write on your behalf. We'd obviously need your forum login details (including password), and you won't believe it, but to complete all the necessary paper work we also need DoB, Address, NI number, bank account/sort code/pin and inside leg measurement. Bureaucracy eh?

Well after a lot of hype and even more leaks it was launched on Thursday. First impressions from the early reviews that I've read are that it's quite a bargain, but feels cheap in the hand. In keeping with other Android devices the camera is also nothing special. I'm also a little concerned by the battery size. We'll see. I've ordered a couple, but am still waiting for them to arrive. Anyone else ordered one, plan to order one, plan not to order one, anyone got one yet?

No Toke, apologies I should have been clearer. Look, I know for a fact that you're more familiar than most with the saying "Less is more". But, where you scream that at the unfair world in a hopeless attempt to justify the trouser-hand you've been dealt, Ron Manager's posts share just enough words from his personal lexicon to allow us to glimpse the mentally surreal world he inhabits. I think my love for him is so strong because, by contrast, I always end up using more words than are needed in a vain, vain attempt to show how clever I think I am. (See my vain/vain pun as an example. Oh, that's recursive irony. See, I just can't stop myself). He's my heaven, my stars, my hypnagogic whore, my board bitch. He's my everything.

He used only three words, each spelt correctly, with the predicate in the correct tense, and yet he still puts a smile on my face. He single handedly turns the forum into a David Lynch film.

See what I mean Toke?

Like I said Special K, I need a makeover. I'm sure Gok will introduce me to these "sovereign rings" you speak of...

I don't see why. Ex Lion Tamer's position seems entirely consistent with mine. What am I missing?

I don't speak for a majority of Labour supporters, just myself. But if I were to speculate, I'd suggest that there were two factors at play, each in tension with the other. Firstly, you have the dyed-in-the-wool voter, for whom they simply can't conceive of voting for anyone else. A lazy, but understandable position and I guess to some, despite Blair's issues, he may have appeared as the best of a bad bunch. Secondly, you have the fact that it was only really the lens of time that has brought Blair's actions into focus. Many, as evidenced in this thread, turned against Blair and Labour after Iraq. But whilst he was in office, and before Iraq, I think he appeared to many to be a politician wrestling with the usual Westminster inertia and intra-party schisms. He also managed to throw out some sops to the traditional Labour fold; the minimum wage for example. It was only after all the goodwill had been used up and the majority wasted, that I believe the realisation dawned on many Labour supporters that they may have been conned. So I don't see a conflict between my first post and your observation Sour Mash. I mean, right now Cameron is probably judged by most level-headed, non-partisan punters as doing an OK job; given the very tough times, the need to tame a divided party, the appeasement of a coalition partner and the threat of a new entrant into the political landscape looking to steal the right vote. But if in time we see Cameron leave politics and take up directorships of energy firms, rail line construction companies and investment banks, we might all judge him differently.

That's our Bearsy.

The Iraq war aside, Blair's biggest crime was to trash the hopes and dreams of the many who were disillusioned by successive Conservative governments, and to go on to squander a potential era-building majority by becoming what he claimed to oppose. I wish we had an Orwell around today that could cast Blair as the modern day Napoleon who deposed Farmer Jones only to go on to become his own version of Farmer Jones. Perhaps that will be my retirement project. His legacy was the deepening of the distrust that the electorate holds for politicians to the point where apathy has now replaced ideology. The labour movement died, or at least lies mortally wounded with Blair's new labour project. To the OP, as he has no consistent principles, nothing he says surprises me, but perhaps the thread title should have the adjective "new" added?