badgerx16

TOO FECKIN SLOW !!!

Trousers is the fence sitter on here.

Anything south of the Manchester Ship Canal is France according to my youngest son.

Might be from Devon. Takes me over an hour driving South on the M6 to get to Stoke.

Saves us chasing back as they break on our goal.

Midland

She is saying, or not saying, whatever she thinks is to her advantage.

Who thinks that Ghislaine Maxwell, when interviewed by Trump's former personal lawyer, and after being moved to a low security prison, told the truth about Trump, Epstein, and Randy Andy ?

An alleged quote attributed to one of the cycling Scleck brothers, Andy and Frank, concerning the Scottish former professional rider Robert Millar: "No I am not going to become a vegetarian. Look at Robert Millar, he became a vegetarian and now she is Philippa York".

Yes. Great to see England smashing the USA. It is interesting that within women's sport, be it Rugby, Cricket, or Football, being gay is openly accepted, whilet in the men's equivalent it is very rare, at least in the public perception.

James Norton, "star" of King and Conqueror, a BBC series based on the Norman invasion in 1066; "Why don't the French tell it ? After all, they won". No they didn't, the Normans were allied to the French kingdom, but not part of it.

Such a shame for the USA team..................NOT !

Not yet, that's his next move.

Do you mean if the megalomaniacal, convicted fraudster, golf cheating, mysogenistic, xenophobic, paranoid, election result denying, moron, who recommended ingesting bleach during the pandemic blames Ukraine for the Russian invasion, and has no idea how tariffs actually work, suddenly turns out to be the second coming of Jesus ?

https://x.com/rodneyabrooks/status/1911497615885394023 "Below is a post from Oliver Kornetzke on Facebook yesterday. Shared here without asking him, but because I think what he says is important. On ICE: "That’s what ICE is now—a terror squad designed not just to punish the “other,” but to frighten the rest into submission. ... It’s not about immigration. It’s about domination." His complete post: I’m not a historian. I’m not a Kremlinologist or a credentialed scholar on authoritarian regimes. I’m not a behavioral psychologist, and I don’t hold a PhD in fascism or kleptocracy—though frankly, given the state of the world, I’m starting to wonder if we all should. But I’ve lived in Russia for some time. I’ve spent time in Eastern Europe. I’ve read obsessively, listened carefully, and paid attention like my life depended on it—because, in a very real sense, it does. And while I’ll leave academic dissection to the ivory tower, what I can tell you from the ground is this: What’s happening in this country isn’t just cruel—it’s methodical, strategic, and deeply familiar to anyone who’s studied or survived under regimes built on repression and rot. We’re watching a script play out—one that was written in the blood and bureaucracy of Putin’s Russia, refined in the dungeons of Chechnya, perfected through decades of oligarchic decay, secret police intimidation, and mafia-state theatrics. And now it’s being re-staged here in America, rebranded with flags and lapel pins and the tired language of “law and order.” The Trump regime—this carnival of third-rate strongmen, grifters, sycophants, and sadists—isn’t innovating anything. It’s copying. It’s importing the authoritarian model wholesale. They’ve read the Putin playbook, dog-eared the best parts, and now they’re running it in real time. And the cruelty? That’s not a flaw in the system. That is the system. Because cruelty serves a dual purpose: it distracts and it paralyzes. It shocks the conscience just long enough to make you forget about the theft happening in broad daylight. It freezes resistance by making you wonder who’s next. It’s not just about dehumanizing the target—it’s about disarming the observer. You see a 52-year-old seamstress abducted by masked agents in broad daylight, and your mind stops. That’s the point. While you’re frozen, they’re looting the vault. Putin’s critics—brave dissidents like Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and Alexei Navalny—laid it out plainly: behind the thuggish repression, there’s no grand ideology. There’s only theft. Power is just a means to steal more, protect the stolen, and destroy anyone who threatens the racket. Navalny made that crystal clear. Putin’s state isn’t built on belief—it’s built on plunder. And everything else—beatings, censorship, propaganda, disappearances—is just set dressing for the heist. Trump, a failed businessman and serial conman, didn’t stumble into power because he had a vision. He stumbled into it like a raccoon into a jewelry store: overwhelmed, opportunistic, and desperate to grab everything shiny before the lights come on. He brought with him a gang of similarly hollow, self-serving goons—parasites in flag pins—who recognized that brute force and spectacle could serve as a perfect cover for mass-scale corruption. All they needed was enough boots, enough masks, and enough Americans too scared or too exhausted to resist. That’s what ICE is now—a terror squad designed not just to punish the “other,” but to frighten the rest into submission. They don’t need to knock on your door. They just need you to see what happens when they knock on hers. They want you disoriented, enraged, heartbroken, and above all—silent. It’s not about immigration. It’s about domination. But here’s the part they never count on: you can only keep people paralyzed for so long. Fear calcifies. Shock fades. And eventually, rage focuses. So let’s speak plainly: this is not normal, it’s not American, and it’s not sustainable. It’s a kleptocratic death cult wearing the face of democracy. It’s an authoritarian racket hiding behind courtrooms and uniforms. And it will fall—just like every regime before it that mistook violence for invincibility and corruption for competence. What can we do? First, resist the paralysis. Rage, yes—but don’t retreat. Pay attention. Speak out. If something feels wrong, say it’s wrong. Refuse to play along with their language, their framing, their euphemisms. They are not “removing undocumented immigrants.” They are disappearing people. They are not “restoring law and order.” They are weaponizing the state. And just as importantly: take care of yourself. Joy, community, love, rest—these are not luxuries in a time of repression. They are acts of defiance. They are the fuel for the long fight ahead. Because this will be a long fight. There will be distractions, casualties, betrayals. But there will also be courage. And solidarity. And moments that remind us exactly why we fight. Because we don’t do it for the flag. We don’t do it for politicians. We do it for every seamstress dragged from her car. Every family torn apart. Every dissident silenced. Every protestor jailed. We do it to honor the civil rights marchers, the freedom riders, the Stonewall rebels, the water protectors, the labor organizers—the defiant, the bold, the brave. And we do it for the Americans who laid down their lives to crush fascism in Europe. For the soldiers who stormed beaches to fight against tyranny, not wave it in through the front door. For those who fought in the jungles and the deserts and the streets—not for conquest, but for freedom. For those who knew that authoritarianism doesn’t need to speak a foreign language to be a threat. And we do it because we must. Because history is watching. And this time, it’s our names on the line. Let’s make sure they’re remembered for the right reasons."

Trump advisor turned vocal critic John Bolton is the latest to be raided by the FBI. Trump claims to know nothing about this. How many times has The Donald railed against the 'weaponisation' of Federal law enforcement against him ?

Conserve.......

Witness

Obviously not been "stalked" enough recently. ( And that's me well into double figures )

Able bodied and capable people should wherever possible be better off in work rather than out of it. This can never be an absolute as geographical and economic factors impact on such things as wage levels and housing costs, but in the main benefits should be a means to lift people up to a minimum level of income, rather than facilitating a non-productive "alternative" lifestyle.

I have 9 on the first page.

This from the Torygraph last year; "Generous welfare payments allow some London households to cash in, analysis suggests A family living on benefits in London can be financially better off than a household earning £70,000 a year, analysis suggests. Increasingly generous welfare payments mean non-working families are able to claim tens of thousands of pounds of Universal Credit, Council Tax Support and Child Benefit, and benefit from discounted social housing, while many working families must pay full-rate rent and income tax. Analysis by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) and The Telegraph shows that the combined value of these benefits and discounted rent in some locations can add up to more than £50,000 – more than a sole earner on £70,000 would get after income tax and National Insurance. While this will apply in only a few places, it illustrates the size of the benefits packet on offer. " ( Highlighting by me ) I think using London as an example in any such discussion distorts the argument. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/income/families-benefits-better-off-earning-70k-london/

Conglomerate

Trying to generate revenue trhough speeding fines.