Symptoms

Got a shock when I got to The Guardian's obituary page (link below) this morning to discover that my old school friend Stuart Gordon had died of cancer recently, he was 63. Stuart was at the 'Top End' Primary School with me then he went to the Grammar becoming Head Boy. When I joined the 6th Form there he welcomed me by introducing me to everybody ... a true gent. He was a brilliant musician and played in local bands, like me, throughout the mid to late sixties ... we were in rival bands but would often loan equipment to each other for gigs. His dad was the undertaker at the top of Front St and his band would practice in the hearse garage at the back of his house; I sometimes jammed with him there. I think his twin brother Keith still lives in the Bedders area. When I went to Uni in London in 69 we went our separate ways but in 1970 I met him by chance in Kensington Market (a hippy hangout full of joss sticks and Kaftan coats) in London. I spotted him across the hall and yelled "Smella" (his nickname at school was Smella Gordon) and we embraced like long-lost brothers. He was living just around the corner from me in Kensington Church St and was playing with the Incredible String Band; we stayed in contact until I went off travelling after Uni. We lost contact after my return. Google "Stuart Gordon Musician" for his history. http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/oct/09/stuart-gordon-obituary The obituary isn't accurate about his schooling.

GGG ... substitute Tory for Labour in your posting above and the meaning stays essentially the same. None of them has a cogent arguement that can be defended - the phrase 'twisting in the wind' comes to mind. As to ukip's take ... presumably, the saintly Malala Yousafzai would have failed the entry medical being looked at by them.

Quaffed gallons and gallons of Courage's Directors Bitter when I lived in London ... yum, yum! I'm still suckling on Newcastle Brown, again yummy.

Maggs, I applaud your evenhandedness, an attitude that would be a great asset to any 'peacemaker'. However, I'm not sure those 7th Century barbarians would listen to you for the following reasons: you're a woman, an infidel, and somebody who doesn't share their ambition to create a world-wide caliphate, and more than likely they'd nab you then top you live on telly. So, what's to be done?

I'm afraid they'll never be budged, it'll never change! So all we have left is to moan and poke fun ... it's the only coping mechanism available to Joe Public. Most of those who we initally believed in always end-up making compromises or, more usually, selling out, so it's no wonder folks end up with a jaundiced view of politicians and what they represent. Those glorious few who continue to fight for what they believe in just end up being marginalised or pilloried in the press.

How do we know that Tony? They chucked plenty of folks, opponents of the Junta, out of helicopters into the South Atlantic, raped men and women, snatched kiddies off their parents and gave them away to supporters, tortured 1000s. Maybe they did do more extreme stuff but they couldn't broadcast it live back then. All humans are capable of some astonishingly cruel and barbaric behaviour.

GGG - we share the view that Westminster is stuffed full of shysters. None of them, even the ones wishing to join them at the slop-trough, will deliver anything of benefit. Their only ambition is to gorge themselves at Joe Public's expense, so they'll lie about what they'll do once they get there.

Vaux Gold Tankard at the Station. First pint ever and bought whilst seriously underage. Filthy mackem brew!

Of course, as far public perceptions are concerned there appears to be no clear water between the Tories and New Labour on many policy matters. Even Milllliiiiibbbbeee's dropping of the 'new' bit hasn't fooled anybody. What's needed are clear policy differences so Joe Public has a real choice at the GE. Maybe that's why Ukip are doing so well ... they're offering something that's different. IMO Labour needs to 'move' left more.

With any negotiation the only imperative is that BOTH sides are open to compromise. Clearly, IS doesn't want to do this as their objective is the creation of a caliphate AT ANY COST. So what are we left with? War, that's what.

Eggs ... I still think you need to CONFIRM that your resources aren't being hijacked by some spotty youth living next door. Ensure that your Hub is SECURE (see above). Once you are sure of this then you can have some confidence that the results of your investigations paint a true picture of your useage. Remember, that spotty youth could be spending all night on the filthy 'throb net' and the first you'll know about it is when the Peelers bash your front door in, and we'll see telly footage of you being carted off followed by a large plakka bag containing your PC. What BT package do you have? Ordinary broadband or a flavour of Infinity? Oh, perhaps as part of your investigations you could try you Sky box via an Ethernet cable (not via Wi-fi) and see what happens?

That ukip document looks familiar ...

Yep, the same folks. Oh, and public sector workers also pay their taxes and NI contributions (deductions at source). Many of the low paid in the private sector claim some benefits just to make ends meet ... I wonder why? Perhaps the bosses who trouser obscene amounts of loot and whose companies stiff the taxman out of billions might like to consider the modest living wage proposals. Bets are they won't as they don't give a stuff.

At the moment there's only one power in the region that can halt/roll back those 7th Century madmen and that Turkey. They've a huge well equipped, well trained army, many units of which are sitting along the entire Syrian border facing IS. What's stopping them from engaging the IS barbarians? Local politics, that's what! They want IS to exterminate the Kurds - remember the Turks have been warring with the Kurds for decades; IS can save them a job then the Turks will move in and engage IS. The Turks are capable of defeating IS, unlike the regions answer to the pre-WW1 & WW2 Frogs (Iraq).

... and the 'maddest' of the lot? Some might suggest it's the Yankees and their GOP*. I wrote here a while ago that once the Yankees get all their energy ducks in a row and after a few more members of their armed forces suffer, one of their options will be to nuke the whole of the Middle East and be done with it *note to the watching NSA & GCHQ ... this is meant as satire and should not trigger my abduction at 4am for an extended holiday in your Cuban resort.

Blimey!!!! Just think about all those brown envelopes and crates of scotch being slipped to those that matter (I've often posted here about how corrupt ALL politicians are). Perhaps, a Judicial Review and/or FOI request to question these decisions might shed some light on corrupt practices (allegedly).

Hetherington ... I went to school with a couple of Hetheringtons, John and Peter and they lived in Windsor Gardens. I'm sure their Dad was pit manager in the mid- Sixties. John would be 63 now and Peter 61/62. I think Peter might be a journalist.

Eggs ... you don't have to bar Mrseggy, just give her the security keycode (unless she's the one hoovering everything up). I was referring above to switching the BT Hub to TOTALLY secure and allowing access only to those with the keycode. As I understand it part of BT smoke & mirror trick is to leave just a bit of every installed hub 'open' to gain maximum 'free' Wi-Fi coverage for Joe Public ... perhaps others here may be able to confirm this.

I hope they'll consider doing handcrafted artisan wholemeal brown bread sandwiches, complete with a pumpkin seed topping and smoked salmon filling just for willy j.

willy wrote: "... old guy who had his own boat and went out fishing, he must have noticed that I always had the same thing for my bait." and "he must have felt sorry for me, so he insisted I try one of his fresh salmon sandwiches." I usually used lugworms. I can remember fish paste of various sorts although I never ate the stuff ... didn't it come in tiny glass jars?

The boys back East know how to do it ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-29476740

Willy ... didn't you ever consider handcrafted artisan wholemeal brown bread, complete with a pumpkin seed topping and smoked salmon filling, for you bait sandwiches? These wouldn't have shown the black finger prints as clearly as the Wonderloaf.

Egg's reference to "cow platts" reminds me of blasting the stuff over 1st years at school. In the month or so before bonfire night bangers and other cheapo fireworks were bought at Adamson's shop. At lunchtime us big lads would march large numbers of 1st years over to the field (Meadowdale Farm ... but I can't at the moment remember the farmer's name) opposite Westridge's main gate. We would select half a dozen victims from our captives and make them stand in a circle around a freshly laid platt, one of us big lads would rush in with a lit banger and stuff it into the centre of the platt then make a quick exit. The boom was followed by exploding dollops of sticky brown shit flying out to cover the 1st years ... they didn't half honk. Then the next half dozen victims were selected. What fun. I'm not sure that egg production has changed much since Egg's shit-shovelling days.

Doesn't the BT Hub BY DEFAULT allow all the neighbours (within range) and those walking past in the street to piggyback onto it, thus hoovering-up your resources. Perhaps you might want to consider being anti-social and disable this 'open' option.

When trimming Elderberry bushes in my various gardens over the years - ALWAYs evokes childhood memories of treehouses we built in a large Elderberry tree which grew in 'The Cut' between the allotments at the back of our house in East Riggs. Elderberry, for those who don't know, has quite a pungent honk when the stems are cut/snapped.