It's all Greek to me

This article, linked to at Tims place, is behind a paywall, but all you really need to know is in the first paragraph, which you can still read

People should not use colloquial phrases like “a piece of cake” and “kill two birds with one stone” because they are “very British-English” and may not be understood by foreigners, a university has suggested...

As my regular reader may be aware, we spend a lot of our holiday time in Corfu, as we love the place and want to retire there

As a result, I end up having a lot of conversations with local Greek people. Obviously in Englash, as my Greek is appalling (but better than your average tourist), and their English is better than that spoken in many UK cities, though I do try to throw in some Greek and pick up a couple of new words where possible

During such conversations though, I always try to simplify my English as much as I can, avoiding slang and other stuff they're not likely to know (Eg. This weather is a bit pants)

 

Of course this university is not suggesting we tone down English jargon while travelling abroad, but we completely remove our idiosyncratic language from everyday use, in case one of our imports happens to hear it and gets a bit confused

 

I'm all for particular language for a particular context, but in my native environment, I'm gonna talk proper. I'll happily explain anything that my listener doesn't quite grasp, but I'm not going to stop saying it

 

Why? Well I simply cannot think of a single reason why I would 

And for the avoidance of any doubt:

Cardiff institution also says phrases such as ‘the blind leading the blind’ are ableist 

At which point they can just fuck off

FAFO

Do you ever read a headline that is supposed to be a bad thing, but find yourself thinking, 'I hope he / she / it does'?

Greenpeace Says It’s Facing Bankruptcy From Oil Company Lawsuit Over Dakota Pipeline Protests

Oh dear

 

Never mind

 

No, seriously though. This is really good news. Greenpeace have been a pain in the worlds arse for decades. If bankrupcy is the way to get shut of them, so be it

A lawsuit accusing Greenpeace of defamation and efforts to disrupt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline with protests went to trial on Monday, as the environmental advocacy group says the litigation could bankrupt the organization.

Maybe they should have thought of that before they FAFO'd.  

Jury selection began Monday

I would so love to be a jury in this case. I can just imagine how the selection process will go. Prosecution trying to get right wing jurors from people pretending to be left wing, so they don't get rejected by the defence

Defence trying to get left wing jurors who are pretending to be right wing so they don't get rejected by the prosecution

Greenpeace has denied the allegations and claimed the group is protected by the First Amendment, alleging Energy Transfer and other oil firms are “abusing the legal system to silence critics and keep their operations secret.”

Well if Greepeace are protected by the first amendment, the accusations of defamation will be thrown out, and nothing to worry about. If this is an abuse of the legal system, it will be on the lines of the lawfare being used by the left for years now, so will be good to see that what goes around, comes around

If the court rules in Energy Transfer’s favor, Greenpeace says the advocacy group “could face financial ruin, ending over 50 years of environmental activism.” 

That would be a beautiful thing to see. Fifty years of pointless activism from the green lobby, finally having the boot shoved up it's arse by an oil company. I so hope this happens

The pipeline—valued at about $3.8 billion—travels near the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s reservation and crosses under the nearby Lake Oahe, a reservoir the tribe uses as a source of drinking water. The tribe unsuccessfully sued to block the pipeline’s construction in September 2016, sparking protests from environmental activists. Hundreds of protesters were arrested throughout protests at the pipeline in 2016 and 2017, during which Greenpeace argues the advocacy group played a limited role as Native American groups headed efforts.

It wasn't us guv, it was those indians 

Energy Transfer's initial lawsuit against Greenpeace accused the group of RICO violations, though North Dakota's federal court dismissed the claims 

Accusing greenpeace of being a Racketeer Influenced Criminal Organisation, was probably a bit of a stretch, but not a very long one

All I can say is good luck. The FA'd, now lets see if they FO

♫ You've got to pick a pocket or 65 million ♫

It seems paying healthy people to stay at home, is no longer trendy now Covid is over

Putting the welfare system “on a sustainable long-term footing”. Ending “sick note culture”. “Hard truths” followed by “painful” choices after the “worst economic inheritance in modern history”.

Nice words. Is our Labour Government planning to do something about benefit scroungers?

One would be forgiven for thinking these are remarks from ministers in the current Government. In fact, they were uttered by austerity architect George Osborne and his prime minister David Cameron.

And this is why I don't believe a word that any of the buggers utter. Fourteen years ago we had a new Conservative coalition telling us that hard choices needed to be made, but we never saw any meaningful austerity then, or in fourteen years of a 'Conservative' Government having the ability to do so

 

And now Labour are saying the same tired old shit. Nothing changed before, and nothing will change now, but some in the Labour party are loosing their shit anyway, just at the thought of something sensible being done to tackle welfare spending

The Labour Prime Minister has vowed to be “ruthless with cuts” to welfare, taking a leaf out of the Conservative Party’s book in the process. Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, has meanwhile described some people on health benefits as “taking the mickey”.

True. And most normal people have been saying it for a very long time

“It’s absolutely disgraceful,” says Kim Johnson, the MP for Liverpool Riverside. Ministers are “attacking some of the most vulnerable in our society and picking the pockets of those most in need. I will not stand for it”.

The money in the pockets of those who refuse to work and instead, choose a life of scrounging from others, comes from the pockets of the taxpayers who do go to work and create that money

The only pockets being picked here are ours, the workers

 

But we have Labour MPs who 'will not stand for it'. Will not stand for any sensible approach to welfare payments, where we actually make sure that those in reciept, are getting welfare because they are in a bad situation which is no fault of their own, and they're actually taking all necessary steps to do something about that situation

 

As has been pointed out elswhere, it's quite telling that this is an MP for Liverpool 

I really don't know what she's bothered about though. When it comes to sensibly cutting welfare payments, this Labour Government will achieve pretty much the same as all the other Governments for the past fourteen years

 

Bugger all

Maybe they should have built it in Bradford?

This is the reason we can't get anything built in England:

Planners recommended against nuclear plant in 2019 citing fears for Welsh language

We can't even build a railway, because we have to relocate all the bats and fish on the route, and that's only after years of impact statements and consultations. It's a wonder we ever get anything done, but I actually struggle to think of any successful project in recent years

Planning inspectors recommended against a Hitachi-built nuclear power plant in Anglesey on the basis that it could dilute the island’s Welsh language and culture, it has emerged.

The inspectors’ 906-page report said the additional workers required by the project would put pressure on local housing and schools and that “given the number of Welsh-speaking residents, this could adversely affect Welsh language and culture”.

Maybe they could have built a £100m tunnel to house the Welsh in?

The prime minister unveiled plans for a historic expansion in nuclear power this week, vowing to “push past nimbyism” and make sites across the country available for new power stations.

It's not often I agree with Two Tier Keith from HR,  but we really need to do away with the ridiculous planning system we have in this country (Although I don't believe anything he says)

 

Thinking about it though, it will not be difficult to find a large number of sites for new power plants. The language and culture has already been wrecked in many English cities. Plenty of places to build

 

As long as there's no bats

Blue Labour / Red Tories

Whichever way you look at it, the two main political parties are one and the same. We went to the polls last year to vote for more of the same, and at the time I asked this question:

If you're planning to vote Labour tomorrow, because you're pissed off with the Tories, as many people plan to do, please explain to me why you think a Labour Government would be an improvement

Well it certainly wasn't an improvement. In fact, in the short time Keith from HR and Rachael from Accounts have been doing their thing, it's become much more worse than even the Tories could have accomplished

 

So much so that the Guardian newspaper, of all places, now asks this question:

As Labour touts more brutal cuts to benefits, how is this different from life under the Tories?

How indeed?

At the time of the election, labour and the Conservatives were virtually indistinguishable. Labour didn't win the election though, the Conservatives lost it, having lost too many of their voters to Refom

 

There were unfortunately, enough Labour socialist die hards, to get them past the post. These people will vote Labour because they hate the Tories, and will apply zero critical thinking to the their choice

They missed two very important points:

1.  Labour and Conservative wanted to impliment the exact same things, policy wise
• Net zero
• Banning cars
• Nanny state
• Immigration
2. Labour in opposition, were totally unprepared for the responsibilities of being in government
• Pretend there's a 22 billion black hole and blame everything on the Tories

And the real irony is, when the Guardian asks what is differnt from life under the Tories, when Labour want to slash benefits, a true Conservative government should have been 100% focussed on drastically reducing the welfare state and stopping financing lazy people who simply can't be bothered to work.

The last fourteen years was not life under the Tories, but life under Labour. We never had a truly Conservative Government after Blair got in

 

If this is now Labours plan of action (Which by the way, I do not believe), then does that make them more Conservative than the Conservatives? 

In the autumn budget, Reeves committed to keeping the £3bn of disability benefit “savings” the outgoing Conservative government planned.

They're also  keeping Net Zero, petrol and diesel car bans and uncontrolled immigration, but whatever

If any of this feels familiar, it’s because it is – and not just that it was only a decade ago that the coalition government was “reforming” the system.

So in ten years of Conservative control, nothing has actually been acheived in this area. That is why I believe that a further nothing will be achieved under Labour. The two parties are all the same, all talk and no knickers, unless they want to ban something or tax something

 

No tax savings will be made under Labour, just like no tax savings were made uner the Conservatives, going back to and including, the Great Repeal Bill of 2010, which after all the excitement died down, repealed the sum total of zip 

How indeed, Guardian writer, is this different from life under the Tories?

 

Well economic growth is stalling, so there's that...

This comment has been deleted because it didn't meet our guidelines

Anyone who reads news through the MSN news feed, and comments on any of the articles, will know how bad the censorship is on that site

I've had so many comments deleted for 'not meeting their guidelines'. I've even had comments deleted when all I've done is post a direct quote from the article in question

This morning, the following happened:

So why did I reply four times, basically saying the same thing? Becuase the censor deleted each comment as I wrote it

For harassment and bullying, apparently. One of those comments even repeats the same phrase used by the person I was replying to

Apparently MSN think it's ok to call Reform The Third Reich, but it's not ok to say, no they are not

Anyhoo, I lost my temper with this one, and dug a little deeper to find out how you appeal these ridiculous decisions, then requested an appeal against each one

They were all then printed within one minute of my request, resulting in the replies you see above

Clearly there are no humans involved here, and all this is handled by Microsoft's AI. The same AI that they are pushing us all to use and incorporating in all their products

The same type of AI that our glorious leader, Two Tier Cock Face, wants to spend billions of taxpayer money promoting in the UK, to turn us into an AI powerhouse, whatever the flying fuck that means

Artificila Intelligence is supposed to be the future, but to me it seems to be still in the 'pretty dim' stage of developement

Unless of course it's doing exactly what the programmers want it to do. And this is exactly why Two Tier Frog Brain wants us to use it so much. But you'd have to be a cynical man...