Schadenfreude Sandwiches
After my experiences in Germany on finding gluten-free food, I can’t help having a small titter at this story from the Telegraph.
I’d have loved to find a nice sandwich, as I can all over the UK and The Netherlands, but Germans don’t seem to be able to produce any ready-to-eat gluten-free food.
A Place In Times Of Stress
Today, I was going to have lunch with an old business partner in Surrey and getting to Waterloo station took me past Southwark Cathedral.
Southwark Cathedral
So I dropped by to have a quiet contemplation. As I’ve said in another post this place is special to me and as the sister of one of my friends, has a child near to death, I wanted to add my point fourpennyworth. Also being the day of Margaret Thatcher’s funeral I wanted to show respect privately in the way I do. I remember years ago, when Princess Diana’s funeral took place, I was on holiday in Northumberland with C. She watched it with a friend on the television and I just sat on the coast of Holy Island. I never watch this type of State pageantry on the television.
Mrs Thatcher: A Professional Woman
I never met Margaret Thatcher, although I should have done, solely because she got her priorities right.
A few months after we won our Queen’s Award, I went to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen,several politicians and a few others, for a reception, which I described here. Each company incidentally sent three people.
Mrs. Thatcher was supposed to attend, but the Welsh Secretary died that evening and she had other more important things to sort out.
Britain Is Running Out Of Wheat
As a coeliac, I had to laugh when i saw this headline on a newspaper on my way to Derby today. But it’s true according to this report on the BBC.
Let them eat rice, maize and millet I say! It’ll be good for them to get off the dreaded gluten!
Badgers Stop Play
This is a sadder story about badgers ruining a cricket ground. Here’s the first few paragraphs.
Badgers have stopped play at one of England’s oldest cricket clubs after they tore huge chunks out of the pitch.
The damage has forced Rickmansworth Cricket Club, in Hertfordshire, to postpone all of its games in April and May as staff try to repair the ground.
It is believed the badgers were attracted by bugs thriving in the damp pitch, with the club unable to treat the ground due to the cold weather.
Badgers are becoming a serious pest in many places, due to the fact that they are protected and have no natural predator. So consequently, there is getting to be a population, that doesn’t have the space and sufficient food. It’s the same with deer in some places, but at least they are good to eat.
We must get sensible about our wildlife. Foxes, badgers, grey squirrels and deer seem to get all the protection they need to prosper from well-meaning town dwellers, but that wonderful queen of the countryside; the brown hare, and the beautiful red squirrel, keep struggling.
Leopards Don’t Change Their Spots
I’ve just had some spam, trying to get me to sign up to Coral Bookmakers.
As I have a betting shop near me and an on-line account, I don’t need another.
So who is the Chief Executive of Coral? None other than Andy Hornby, who is one of the HBOS Three.
Some people never learn, how to run a business!
Labour Can’t Win If It’s On Mick Philpott’s Side
This is the headline on an opinion in The Times.
It’s full of good facts and is a must read.
NICE Says Ban All Smoking In Hospital Grounds
This is reported in The Times.
I can never understand, why it has not been implemented.
The Times also reports that PruHealth have found that the biggest reason people give for quitting smoking, is the price of cigarettes.
George Osborne Must Be Getting Paranoid
Those on the Left, blame George Osborne for all the country’s troubles.
So he is under the attack in two major stories this morning.
In the first story, it’s Osborne’s comments about convicted manslaughterer; Mick Philpott.
Mr Osborne said a debate was needed about whether the state should “subsidise lifestyles like that”.
But shadow chancellor Ed Balls condemned Mr Osborne’s comments as “a cynical act of a desperate chancellor”
I have a feeling, that most voters in the UK, except those living on benefits with umpteen children would agree with Osborne. But then those in that group, probably wouldn’t have time to vote.
He is also brought to task, by getting into a car, that was illegally parked in a disabled space. Read about it here. It does appear he wasn’t driving,
But a Treasury source said Mr Osborne had been dropped off to buy lunch.
The unmarked police Land Rover was not driven by the chancellor at any point, added the source.
I bet Osborne wished he’d taken the train. But then, those that want to get him, had a go at him when he did.
He must be getting to dread, saying anything or going anywhere!
It seems as if the job of Chancellor of the Exchequer has taken over from that of Home Secretary, as the most vilified job in Government.
But then Theresa May has a great advantage over George Osborne, in that she can be spun for her dress sense, as she was in this double-page story in the Standard last night. George Osborne never got a headline like this.
Theresa May-nia: sharp-suited, well-heeled, the Home Secretary is on fighting form
Perhaps, he should wear a dress!
Measles On The Way Back
There are reports like this one, that show measles is on the way back, with a large outbreak in Swansea.
I was never vaccinated against it as a child and never caught it, despite the fact that my sister did.
I eventually caught it in about 1973, when my children all had it. To complicate matters, I also had chicken-pox at the same time.
It didn’t leave me with any lasting effects, but for two weeks, I never got off the sofa, as I felt so wretched.
It was probably, the worst illness I’ve had in my life, from a point of feeling ill.
I would not wish it on my worst enemy.
So get those children immunised. Those that don’t are stupid!
The Anonymous Widower 