Symptoms

The Tory High Command were so fed-up with Owen Patterson's performance as Environment Minister in charge of the neddyburger scandal that they had his DNA tested and it came back as being 100% donkey.

Well, now we know!

Fritz the Pope mixed-up in the recent Vatican sex scandal ... and not one just involving boys but, and this is the hard one to believe, naughty nuns.

Then there's the tale in the papers this week of the Fritz's top man in Jockoland allegedly being naughty with young priests.

How prophetic my Operation Yewtree crack now appears.

merc wrote: "The NHS has a finite number of employment positions available; i'd wager there are more native people out of work than that number." Yep, absolutely correct merc but how many of them have to correct skills set to work in the NHS? What's stopping them from applying for all those NHS jobs that don't require formal qualifications?

merc, I'm sure your Uncle John worked his nuts off but hey, he was trading in a competitive market. Surely you're not suggesting that there should have been a form of apartheid operational in Blyth the aim of which was to protect 'white' businesses?

I accept your assertion that "I'm no racist, by the way ... " but my giblets always quiver when hearing phrases like: "some of my best friends are black", or "I'm no racist but ... "; even that smarmy Bullingdon cretin Camaroonie mentions "my black man in Plymouth". To paraphrase Sammy Johnson, "Patriotism excusing or denying racism is the last refuge of a scoundrel". Phrases of denial will always undermine serious and honest comment and in my opinion should always be omitted.

Oh, dear! Not the immigration card being dealt yet again. Northumberland is 'terribly white', Bedders is 'terribly white', most of Blighty is 'terribly white'. Yep, some parts of the country have higher concentrations of various ethnic groups but why not? Maybe it a safety in numbers thing ... maybe they feel threatened by the indigenous population with their vile hateful media - the repulsive Daily Mail spouting scare stories daily.

Here's a thought ... the NHS wouldn't function without the effort of countless thousands of workers originally from overseas. Where would you get that pint of milk or packet of fags at 2 in the morning ... the corner shop run by a hardworking family from the Indian sub-continent?

Oh, the list is endless.

That's a Bessemer Converter ... used in the manufacture of steel not iron and not invented until the 1850s*. Ah, metalwork theory lessons again.

*maybe our Iron Works had closed by then?

And home to the Spanish Flu. My maternal Grandma had her first daughter with my Grandad when he returned from France ... but she died of the flu when an infant.

Oh dear! The old fella's put his papers in ... I wonder if Operation Yewtree will show an interest.

Spot on Orloff. Puddling was a process used in the manufature of wrought iron - guys would use very long iron ladles to mix the molten iron in the crucible during the melt. The purpose of this action was to stir-in the 'slag' (a bit like the scum floating on the top) and this resulted in the iron having a slightly fibrous structure and made it good in tension (not like cast iron which is good in compression). Facts remembered from school metalwork theory lessons.

Oh no! A report in the paper this morning that Waitrose has been affected. This has now become a serious issue ...

Of course, the Bullingdon Club ruling elite consider the correct fix for food for the poor is for the poor to eat their own kids.

What did she expect crossing the road there. The number of folks pushing buggies or leading ankle-biters across busy roads AND NOT using pedestrian crossings is commonplace. Perhaps the Peelers might like to consider charging her with something after they lift the car driver.

Thomas Hamilton, up in Jockoland, had form for serious kiddie-fiddling (I know he wasn't a murderer but almost as bad) but was allowed to keep his Firearm Certificate; Michale Ryan, down in Hungerford, was another with serious form but had legit shooters. Both went on the become mass-murderers using their legally held guns.

Whilst Blackadder IV was a satirical/comedy take on what went on, I still reckon it was a very accurate depiction of the uncaring command structure in place and the resignation of the poor sods stuck in the trenches. The British class system at its best.

My Grandad was a Corporal in the Northumberland Hussars* during that buns fight with Fritz and was awarded the Military Medal for a series of outstanding actions in Flanders ... there's a whole section on him in Howard Pease's History of the Northumberland Hussars. As my Grandad was in the Regiment as a volunteer part-time trooper before the War he was sent over to France at the beginning and was there for the whole four year duration and survived. I still have his spurs and his jack-knife (one of those knives with a blade and a marlin spike used for cleaning horse hooves); his medals and citations are at Durham Cathedral. My maternal Grandmother lost her first husband and three brothers (she later married the guy above); my paternal Grandmother lost two brothers. This wasn't unusual - thousands and thousands of families had multiple losses.

* Yeoman Cavalry - horse-mounted Territorials. I watched the film War Horse on the telly last year and got a bit of a flavour about what it might have been like.

This is a photo of the equity fund boss Leynton Lea who owns Findus delivering Sunday lunch.

... you all can guess where the knackered polo dobbins end up.

This is beginning to sound like the stuff blue comics used to dish up in the clubs in the 60s & 70s ... I think it might be appropriate to leave it there.

Protest action often ends in a series of unforetold consequences and perhaps those taking part don't always consider extreme outcomes, or maybe they do. However, that cannot ever be allowed to lessen the impact of the cause ... history is crammed with episodes where folks have dared ruling elites only to be met with death or incarceration. Should Martin Niemöller have kept his trap shut knowing he (and his family) would be lifted by the SS; he spoke out and became another hero (with flaws) to millions of us. What about the guys way back who knew they'd get roasted, not by Premiership footballers, but by the agents various churches ... they were prepared to call for change - were they wrong? What about the mucky-faced serfs and peasants in Ye Olde Bedlingtonshire who agitated against their masters for a bit of freedom knowing full well they risked being beheaded (or worse ... having their new brides lifted by the local Lord on the wedding night).

And you know what? It's still going on all over the World. The sight of 'freedom' is such a powerful motivator that folks will go to any length to reach out for it and I for one will always applaud.

Come on Mal, life's too short to blindly click on all these links that get posted ... a friendly suggestion - how about adding up to five or six word summary or preview about what we are likely to find if we go there. Something like, "Top doc botch ops" for that last one, or "NHS Trust dosh con" for the first one.

This is not meant as a criticism Mal.

Keith, I agree that "(There is no evidence that says Em planned on suicide is there?)" hence my comment "The action was clearly a protest that went wrong for her ..." .

I think her action was designed to stop, or at least hinder, the King's nag ... oh what a sensation that would have been on it's own with the fantastic publicity that would have followed. It would have had the added bonus that she would have lived to see it. You're not being flippant with your achievement list as I think all can be ticked-off as done bar the hurt/croaking one; that one, in my book, gets her placed firmly in the glorious martyrdom group. I did see a film years ago about this story but Meryl wasn't in it.

Come on Keith, "I would have been more inspired if she had become the first female jockey and rode Anmer to victory. Now that would have been one in the cap for the sufragettes!" ... she would never have been allowed to by the old buffers in charge. The action was clearly a protest that went wrong for her but became iconic for her cause.

Protest movements around the world are littered with martyrs to the cause: just a few local ones ... the Tolpuddle guys, and in recent times - Blair Peach, Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Raymond McCreesh, Patsy O'Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Kieran Doherty, Thomas McElwee, Michael Devine.

The lists are endless ....

Does Alan Routledge have a brother Michael? I went to school with a Micky Routledge ... he'd be 61ish now.

Maggie wrote: "Maybe we need to have a topic how to disappear. And never be found."

That's what the Metcops did after creating false IDs to squirm their way into various protest groups, having long-term relationships with a number of women, then vanishing. Bastards!!!

Read about Jack Reacher's technique for not being tracked down.

Name and location hint is all that is needed to find out tons of stuff about a person.

Maggie, within 1 hour the following could be obtained:

Address & phone number

D.O.B

Mother's maiden name

National Insurance Number

ALL banking, store card and credit card accounts held

Mortgage details

Property info

Company returns and Directors information

+ lots of other stuff

and all that done from a chair ... no scratching about in bins.

Care to challenge me anyone?

Like Vic I also miss Joe Rooney's posts and was, quite irrationally, upset at his passing. I didn't know him, hadn't met him 'in the flesh' but was affected when he died.

Nobody is 'safe' or secure when online. I posted recently that if your PC is connected by copper or fibre you can be 'found', You can be 'sniffed out' if connected wirelessly ... beware a nosey neighbour with Wi-Fi finding software 'cos if your router lacks security then they're in. The only 'safe' computer is one that's physically not connected to the outside world.

If you know where to look most things can be found out about most people.

On the previous incarnation of this Forum I posted using my real name with the benefit that a number of old school friends were able get in touch, but, when this new place emerged I'd lost my nerve so settled for Symptoms .... cowardy, cowardy custard!

Spot on GGG ... trashed boundary deal so maybe the Camerooon fix went in to stuff smarmy Hoooney. It amazes me how many so called bright folks get nabbed because of email/text/phone stuff. That Metcop last week using her own phone to leak to the NofW ... she was a top anti-terror Peeler yet didn't use an untraceable 'drop phone' or even a public phonebox - our safety in their hands!!!

My Grandparents lived in the Prospect Hill station* house (West Allotment) in the early-mid 1950s. Over the rear lane there was a shared outside netty for the use of 3 families ... I can recall a wooden bench with a bum-hole, the proverbial nail/string/torn News of The World combo, wooden plank door with heart-shaped vent hole in it. The Council's night soil men would come once a week and use a big long rake to drag the stuff away to the end of the building and out through a steel door. My Grandad continued to use a potty even after moving to a new house in the mid 50s but his plan was to use the contents for his leeks ... I've posted here before about this in a Leek Show thread.

*Prospect Hill station was where the winching engine was for the inclined waggonway used to hump the coal trucks up from Backworth; they'd then release them down the otherside of the hill where gravity would sent them to the Tyne. The incline was still there in the 50s but obviously the tracks had long gone and even now you can see it on Google Earth.

the lone ranger wrote: "i remember the coal fire we used to toast a slice of bread on it".

Of course, this classic technique wasn't restricted to folks like us here ... remember the ruling elite always got their fags to toast their crumpets by holding the toasting forks in their clenched, naked buttocks. Ah, happy days at Eton, Harrow, Winchester, et al.