Symptoms

Spot on Oval.

"Scramble. Scramble. Scramble. Bandits Jocko angels one five" Sismerc's 'few' were stood down and their Jocko wing launched to see off Ivan's raid over the allied convoy north of Chillyjockoland. Her Morse message to merc was, "I am not allowed to say how many planes joined the raid, but I couldn't count them all out and I couldn't count them all back as I wasn't up in Jockoland." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32308307

A significant proportion of the Hatton Garden diamond and bullion trade is wholesale, yep, there are a few retail oultets, but the bulk of the trade is inter-merchant barter and so doen't attract VAT ... 'cos it's 'off the books'. How does Sym know this? Well, in a past life I used to make silver & gold jewellery (all above board as I have a registered Hallmark so could sell the swag) and bought my ingots/sheets/wires/beads from Johnson Matthey's in The Garden. Much of the retail trade in The Garden mainly services foreign visitors who on production of their passports are able to waive any VAT payments. Most folks in Blighty purchase their 'tom' from the 'High St' jewellery chains or the exclusive Bond St stores and will have to pay VAT; just the same as if they were buying jeans, handbags, sanitary towels or bumwipes. Of course there's a mob of undeserving poor but I'd define these as those who cynically abuse the system by using fraud ... I'm on record here on how to deal with them. There's much larger group of the deserving poor ... those working hard in attempting to support their families whilst on shit contracts and having to get a bump-up from the SS; I'd also include the gimps as needing proper support. Many politicos on the Right would shaft these vulnerable folks just to garner votes from elsewhere. They, and their supporters should be ashamed of themselves!!!

GGG wrote: "Why isn't he railing about 10% corporation tax in the Irish Republic ...". Actually, the correct figures for Michaleenland is12.5% for trading income and 25% for non-trading (eg. investments) and the UK rate going to be reduced in Northern Ireland to match that in the Republic. Also, "In particular don't let politicos tell you there's a pot of gold out there - there simply isn't!" There's more than one pot of gold controlled by the undeserving rich ... usually located in safety deposit vaults like that one that got screwed in Hatton Garden last week.

GGG, you should surely know by now that my position is always 'to stiff the ruling elite'. Like you I'm not taken in by all these politicians' promises or their abacus driven economic argements ... I'll repeat my standard mantra that they're ALL shysters. Perhaps my post #6 wasn't 100% historically accurate but phrased to elicit a smile in the viewer, but I'm sure others here recognised the precision of the aim. Certainly, the first part of my subsequent post #9 illustrates Sym's complete grasp of history and how those Empire dregs continue to benefit only a few. I laughed when I read " In case you haven't noticed the days of empire have gone." - maybe in name, but Threadneedle Street* still continues to exert control over much of the wealth generated around the World and the poor slaving in their sweatshops. If that's not an Empire I don't know what is. I think that Tony's promise to send some snaps was about Thamesmead and probably not ones showing hordes of wealth fund managers supping on Moet. *code for all money grabbing bastards swarming like bloated blue bottles over heaps of exhausted workers around the globe.

It was usually Japs and English when I was at Junior school. We would hold both arms out straight (like wings) and with thumbs sticking out (like machine guns) would run around the playgroung shouting 'rat a tat tat' (shooting) at those drawn to be the Japs.

I remember the Travellers' site from the 70s ... even back then the Barge Pole had a bit of a reputation with local 'faces'* always supping there and doing a 'bit of business'. Those lunchtimes I mentioned always included a live stage show ... it really was like The Sweeney or Life on Mars. So Thamesmead Phase 1 has been tumbled; what about Phase 2 (around Southmere Lake)? So you live over in Phase 3. I was involved with some of the development design work there for a period and so watched it all being built, including the millions of tons of North Sea dredged sand being pumped from ships over the marshes to raise the ground level before building work began. Tons of fantastic Nepoleonic era (and later) armaments were recovered during this phase as the land was the firing range for the Woolwich Arsenal (I've still got a 32 pounder cannon ball recovered from there). The wildlife during this time was fantastic as the land hadn't been developed for a couple of hundred years and we often had the Natural History Museum folks down to ID stuff being found. Did you know about the Arsenal's disused miniture railway system that ran around the whole of the Woolwich marsh ... much of this was re-discovered during the development work. I did quite a few of the RYA sail training courses on Southmere lake (there was a sailing centre there at the time - is it still there?) and over the floodwall we did the tidal training on the Thames. Happy days! * for our sheltered viewers in Northumberland 'faces' is the SE London expression for active criminals

Nope, there ain't any Greggs where I now live. Anyway, a lifetime of avoiding brain cell killing telly programmes (dross like Eastenders, Coronation St, Neighbours) and only sucking on 'brainfood' telly and a daily dose of my beloved Guardian has kept it sparking well up top.

The latest news is that fatties don't go bonkers: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32233571 Watch out Greggs ... they'll be storming the pie counter.

Sym conflate? Never! What my colourful statement "The original Mr Darcyesque guys, living in their huge estates in Blighty, needed to be insulated from having to hand-over the plantation profits to King George's merry tax collectors so they cooked-up this wheeze to hang-on to the blood money." means is quite clear. It means foreign income earned by those in the UK need not be taxed in the UK. Oh, and I've never stated the practice was illegal only unethical/immoral; I've also always said arrest and prosecute those breaking the rules. Tony ... I know Thamesmead very well - which bit are you in, Bexley or Greenwich? I worked there for a while in the late 70s and me and my mates usually had lunch in the Barge Pole pub.

That last post by Mal was timed as being sent from the future ... perhaps we should call him The Doctor. Or maybe he hasn't set the correct time on his ZX Sprectrum. Edit: Oh no! My post has been sent from the future as well, so it can't be Mal's Spectrum*; it must be ggg/gggg's master Atari Bedderserver. * apologies Mal.

Why ask me, ask the Whispering Fish.

So, were all these old shafts just boarded over? If they were was it just filling them up would have cost more?

Ling Tong, the father of the famous one-legged runner Onesan Shoo. Blame it on Smudge .... he started it.

Let me clear this up once and for all. The current gang of non-doms are the 'ethical decendants' of those sugar plantation and slave owners from a couple of hundred years ago. The original Mr Darcyesque guys, living in their huge estates in Blighty, needed to be insulated from having to hand-over the plantation profits to King George's merry tax collectors so they cooked-up this wheeze to hang-on to the blood money. Fast forward to 2015 and the scheme's still operating for the benefit of similar gangsters. That's it in a nutshell.

So they've wagered the tarmac to cover one of their spread bets on the big Liverpool dobbin match tomorrow. Typical bookies!

Top Jocko is Nicola ... I look forward to Milleeeeeband being prodded leftwards by her sharp stick.

And here in The Guardian's G2 Section today: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/07/nicola-sturgeon-right-about-retirement Frankie's the Big Daddy ... I say bring him back to the Beeb!

"It's the strong beer, it's the bottled beer With the North's biggest sales For complete satisfaction Newcastle Brown Ale" Etched into Sym's brain from those telly adverts. Owen Brannigan warbled the tune over aerial views of local sights ... all in black and white.

GGG, you know fine well what 'the Jewish question' means; peel back the various layers of camouflage and what we find is pure anti-semitism - nothing more, nothing less. It usually means the myth that International Jewish Money is creating some sort of New World Order, whist at the same time attempting to insulate itself from scrutiny by using shabbas goyims as prophylatics or introducing 'Manchurian Candidate' dopplegangers to do it's bidding. We don't have to look too far to see where this bollocks can lead. Oh, the Left is just as much to blame as the Right.

I did wonder just how long it would take for 'the Jewish question' to be raised in the campaign!

I posted on here a while ago a link to maps of the geological survey of our local seams ... these sectional plans showed the various strata and their depths (in fathoms, I think). I'll do a search later to find them. Here it is: "Have a look here for the 1871 British Geological Survey of our local pits ... all the details of the different strata and where the coal seams are and the depth of everything. There's also data on how the pits relate to each other ... same seams, etc. You can zoom in and navigate across the chart to read the details." www.largeimages.bgs.ac.uk/iip/historicmaps.html?id=1003563 " It was posted in this thread: http://www.bedlington.co.uk/community/topic/4494-coal-mining/page-3?hl=%2Bgeological+%2Bsurvey#entry50243

Welcome giffo ... at 91 years of age you may be the oldest one on here. Any other takers for giffo's crown?

I always enjoyed Clarkson on the telly, especially his take on the Frogs/Jockos/Barbarbotherers. However, there is no place for bullying and/or assault, especially in the workplace ... he had to go. Nothing to do with political correctness at the Beeb.

I too am saddened by Keith's passing. We shared an interest in astronomy and when he got his telescope I urged him, on here, to get across to Keilder to enjoy the local 'dark sky'; I hope he did. Ditto Vic's remarks about Joe Rooney.