Symptoms

Check out BBC2 tonight at 10pm for a well-balanced documentary - Meet the Ukippers. You know that you can rely on Auntie to handle these matters with care and even-handedness however much the 'Forces of the Right' fling their sticky shite. Even Nige is scurrying to condemn some comments made by a kipper member as "deeply racist". Man, you couldn't make this stuff up!!! (Or even wise old Sym couldn't make this stuff up). Je suis Sym.

Mal wrote: "Yes tomtom, ask the planning department." or just go to the NCC Planning portal and do an online search for any applications they have.

Brothers Josh and Ben Parsons were vocal kipper supporters whilst pupils at Millfield School, Josh even captioned his Instagram photo "UKIP Boys". Josh Parsons was in that group on the Frog too-too ... perhaps the legal term I'm looking for is 'joint enterprise'. I'll await the usual denials that these creeps weren't racists. That black guy can thank his lucky stars the too-too wasn't chugging through a wooded area in Alabama ... Reductio ad KKKum. A general observation ... funny the number of kipper members getting caught spluttering racist vomit who are then discribed as behaving 'out of character'. Denials made in the best tradition of the Doctor ... Reductio ad Goebbelsum. Oh, I also love the camouflaging expression often used in these circumstances ... "some of my best friends are black/Asian/Jewish/Muslim/mackems". (see what I did there?) GGG - I'd be interested to know where those quotes in your earlier post #80 came from. Note: My earlier post described the creeps as being "kipper supporters" ... I never said they were Ukip party members! Je suis Sym.

"Scramble. Scramble. Scramble. Bandits angels one five" Sismerc's 'few' saw off Ivan's raid over the Cornish Pasty factories this week. Her Morse message to merc was, "I am not allowed to say how many planes joined the raid, but I counted them all out and I counted them all back."

I must say I was impressed by that worldwide advert, produced by a couple of self-confessed, posh ex-public school boy, kipper supporters (part of a bigger group of Chelski supporters), explaining their values to that black bloke on the Paris Metro this week. The incident also helps to illustrate the arguments currently being outlined here on the Forum in this kipper thread and the Education thread. What was it they were proudly chanting? "We are racist. We are racist". Mind, I suppose they don't represent the views of the vast majority of kippers. Je suis Sym.

Mal wrote: "If there is a God can he please get Tonyp and Willy to change the record!" Of course, if he hadn't been excommunicated from here by the 'Guardian of the Big Red Kill Button' I'm sure he would have.

I'm addicted to pencil use ... I even have a short stubby one in my wallet for emergency note taking. Somewhere in my attic I have a sample box (a thin tin thing) showing the various stages in making a pencil, starting with a block of routed wood and going through all the processes to the finished item; I'll have a look for it this weekend and take a photo to post here. It might interest somebody. Also up there is my very first box of coloured pencils (half-length Derwents) bought for 1 shilling & 6 pence from the Geography teacher at Westridge in 1963 ... he used to sell these so we could colour our maps. I currently use an industrial razor blade to sharpen my tips.

"... and Robson Green is doing another set of programme on our beloved area." Aghhh!!! No, and thrice no!!! And, it'll probably have a musical (?) soundtrack warbled by the CBS.

I should have done this the other day ... Googled: http://thebondagers.com/the-bondagers-home

Willy, when I made reference to "somewhere in Europe in the 30s" I could have been thinking about the USSR and their progroms against dissidents ... I've re-read my posts above and can find nowhere where I've likened the kippers to Adolf's murderous crew. Mal, when I stated, "I modestly consider this to be following in the glorious footsteps of some of the great, and not so great, satirists; think of me as a James Gilray or a Jonathan Swift ... or even Screaming Lord Sutch" I think there are a couple of glaring clues to Sym's tongue-in-cheekness when claiming my satirist credentials. So, as to having grandiose delusions ... poo. Even the use of the 3rd person could be seen as a piss take. Je suis Sym.

Is this the same as 'bonded labour'? A scheme that the Tories would be very interested in expanding if they won the GE ... it would fit very nicely alongside zero-hours contracts and internships.

I don't know how they did it but Channel 4 have been able to look into the future*. The kippers in charge, Nige in No10 and it all starts to fall apart! Be afraid, be very afraid! *Ukip, The Frirst 100 Days. (available on the 4OD via the Sky box)

Look, those old guys who scribbled away on that monumental fiction were out of their heads on mead and magic mushrooms. I mean, come on now ... a bloke with a big white beard sitting on some cloud, goblins and angels, loaves and fishes. Complete and absolute crackers!!!!

Well, it was enjoyable while it lasted. Here's a video of Tony and Willy discussing their respective service records: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4aHrRocA3E

Willy, willy, willy ... it can't all be one-sided. The Right slags* off the Left and the Left slags* off the Right ... just as it should be in a mature democracy. Rather than just using bland prose I sometimes use 'extended code' to make my point, eg. bile, pen-sharpening, etc., a device often encountered during political discourse. I modestly consider this to be following in the glorious footsteps of some of the great, and not so great, satirists; think of me as a James Gilray or a Jonathan Swift ... or even Screaming Lord Sutch. *in this context the phrase 'slags off' is code for political banter and point scoring, nothing more, nothing less. A healthy pursuit in my opinion.

pil - I'll leave aside the non-meritocratic and socially divisive arguements and just stick with another point why these vile and pernicious establishments need to be harshly dealt with. The abuse of their charitable status to gorge themselves on tax breaks and VAT weezes needs to be stopped. For example, the Advanced Payment [of fees] Scheme allows for any interest accrued on those fees (being invested by the school) to be exempt from tax because of the charitable status of the school. If the parents had invested these funds themselves then they would be liable for tax on the earned interest. It's nothing but a tax avoidance scheme which benefits both the school and the parents. One of the VAT exemption dodges is where these so-called charitable institutions set-up trading companies to benefit from all sorts of relief, including leaseback and giving rights. These examples are avoidance schemes. I could go on about this venal behaviour by listing more cannibalistic enriching schemes operated by these places .... Finally, about the sharing of facilities and teaching staff ... it's nothing but a con to keep interfering politicians out of the mix. Organising the occasional rugger match with Bash Street Comprehensive on the hallowed playing fields or getting Wackford Squeers to give them a taste of Latin is nothing but a cynical ploy.

willy wrote: "What we don't need is pontificating outsiders telling us we're not intelligent enough to decide what's best for Bedlington." So, my opinions doesn't count and my opinions are insulting (only some are deliberately so), therefore I need to shut up? You're not serious willy, are you? Or is this a hint of kipper policy? It sounds vaguely familiar to me ... let me think???? Oh, yes, now I remember ... somewhere in Europe in the 30s. Info ... Sym no longer lives in London.

Oh, I forgot to remind everybody that those early BossGodBotherers were also the sons of the gangsters/robber aristocrats who killed their way to ruling us and nicking all the land. What better way to keep the 'great unwashed' in order than to frighten them with Big G.

Being a 'card-carrying' member of the so-called 'intellectual left', I don't object to the Kippers, or any other LEGAL political party, being able to advertise here. In doing so the Kippers open themselves up criticism from all the wise folks here and hopefully risk having additional bile tipped over their heads ... so, let's sharpen our nibs and prepare to do battle! (Sorry about mixing the metaphors).

As pil said lots of WW1 records were destroyed during the Blitz in WW2 and many of those that weren't can be viewed online, they often show burn/scorch marks from the fires. Medal record cards at the National Archives are often the only record of WW1 service now available. The North East War Memorial Project (link below) has loads of info about local memorials. http://www.newmp.org.uk/ http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/search?utm_source=ukniwm&utm_medium=rw&utm_campaign=wmalaunch&from=/ http://www.cwgc.org/ http://www.4thbnnf.com/index.html http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/medal-index-cards-ww1.htm

HPW wrote: "One thing always puzzled me,WHY was Jesus always shown as a white man in Bethlehem?" The answer is that the BossGodBotherers back when we were emerging from the Dark Ages into the Medieval Period* were all white blokes; it just wouldn't do to show any of the main characters in their fable as being anything other than the same as themselves. *loose code for that general period.

Remember to unplug your new smart telly or whisper in your loved one's ear: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31296188

Pil, I read with interest your reasons for removing your nipper from the state sector and transferring her to a private school, however, the only reference I could find to 'class size' was this general point: "The needs of the individual child are not being met with big classes and non-streaming ...". I'd contend that the significant reduction in class sizes usually found in the private sector, makes a huge difference when looking at achievement . Oh, and let's not forget the power that Headteachers have in these same schools to chuck-out those who don't perform or are naughty; something that's almost impossible to do in the state sector. A powerful motivator for nippers to behave and stick-in. I don't argue against parent making these sort of choices but I'm fundamentally opposed to the private sector being subsidised by the state via things like charitable status and beneficial (unfair) tax arrangements.

I always though that the DISTANCE between street lamps determined the speed limit.

Maggs ... it's all a fatty conspiracy! You know how many fat folks have for decades been blaming their condition on genes (and on jeans if they could squeeze into them), big bones, etc., well this is just another example for not shedding the stones. Make them eat cabbages, I say!