The "And in other news..." thread

[edwin_m]

They'll have to mackem different next year.

 

[MotCO]

They'll have to mackem different next year.

Or hold it in Sunderland!

 

[AndrewE]

They'll have to mackem different next year.

That's very good, I shall share it with a Sunderland girl I know (age 80+), she will like it!

 

[Sun Chariot]

They'll have to mackem different next year.

Genius! A good friend hailed from Whitley Bay and used that a lot!

 

[Calthrop]

I'm ignorant -- all that this word "mackem" suggests to me, is the one who wasn't a Clancy Brother .

 

[edwin_m]

I'm ignorant -- all that this word "mackem" suggests to me, is the one who wasn't a Clancy Brother .

Said on Wearside "We mackem and you tackem" - translated, if I recall correctly, as "We make the ships and you take them".

 

[Calthrop]

Talk about "every day a school day" -- thank you !

 

[Sun Chariot]

The "flashmob" concept - where seemingly random members of public suddenly come spontaneously together, wonderful choreography,, singing and/or dancing to well known music.

Over recent years, I've seen some superb examples. This one was uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday. At a French location (going by the signs on shops, cafes and streets), a talented flash mob performs Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody; it's one of the very best I've seen.

 

[AlterEgo]

The "flashmob" concept - where seemingly random members of public suddenly come spontaneously together, wonderful choreography,, singing and/or dancing to well known music.

Over recent years, I've seen some superb examples. This one was uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday. At a Spanish (or Latin American) location, a talented flash mob performs Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody; it's one of the very best I've seen.

It's in Paris - everything is in French!

That looks like a very expensive video which even has a full overdub, so they had a day in the studio as well. I've seen him before and he does a lot of stuff with prodigious children, there are some great videos on his channel!

 

[Sun Chariot]

It's in Paris - everything is in French!

Yes! I re-watched it and spotted the French signs and I edited my post at the same time you took your screen scrape!

It had my wife and I singing along loudly in our kitchen; mind you, our German Shepherd looked horrified...

I saw a flash mob perform at London Liverpool Street station, years ago. It was not in the same league as this one - and, as you point out @AlterEgo it didn't have the budget of this one!

 

[Gloster]

Unless there have been two, it was Place de la Contrescarpe, near Monge Metro.

 

[Sun Chariot]

I'm mightily impressed at your street knowledge @Gloster

 

[J663738]

I find this story very strange on many levels:

Southern Water bans tankers doing runs to US billionaire's lake

Tankers taking water for US billionaire Stephen Schwarzman have been told to stop by Southern Water.

www.bbc.co.uk

30 tankers of water a taken from stand pipes and then delivered it to a private estate 8 miles away.

Southern Water said it did not know exactly how much water had been taken but that there had been a spike in the last week with "significant" amounts taken but with other users also making use of the standpipes it was impossible to say who had taken more.

Can anyone just hook up to a stand pipe and extract as much water as they want? I would have thought you must purchase the water, then Southern Water would know exactly the amount. This all sounds very odd?

 

[4COR]

Can anyone just hook up to a stand pipe and extract as much water as they want? I would have thought you must purchase the water, then Southern Water would know exactly the amount. This all sounds very odd?

I believe, if fighting a fire, anyone can use them, otherwise you need to apply for and pay for a standpipe licence with the provider - but there's no metering. I suspect there are many who also use them without licence...

 

[najaB]

I believe, if fighting a fire, anyone can use them, otherwise you need to apply for and pay for a standpipe licence with the provider - but there's no metering. I suspect there are many who also use them without licence...

The issue with metering being that historically there was no (easy) way to link consumption to a licence. I guess that these days it could be something like a card or token activated smart meter.

 

[GusB]

While the rest of us struggle to cope with the modern world, the residents of Easdale are content with remaining in the stone age.

Cheating scandal rocks world stone skimming championships

Several competitors on the Scottish island of Easdale used stones that were ground down to be perfectly circular.

www.bbc.co.uk

The world stone skimming championships have been rocked by a cheating scandal, after several competitors were disqualified for tampering.

More than 2,200 people, from 27 countries, attended this year's event on the tiny island of Easdale off the west coast of Scotland.

Rules state that stones must come from naturally occurring island slate, however some were found to have been ground into a "suspiciously circular" shape to help them bounce on water.

Organiser Dr Kyle Mathews told BBC News that the offenders had "held their hands up" and apologised.

Entrants choose their own stones and judges use a measuring device, the "ring of truth", to ensure they are no bigger than three inches in diameter.

Each competitor is allowed three skims and stones must bounce at least twice on water before sinking.


Dr Matthews, also known as the "Toss Master", told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland that judges heard "rumours and murmurings of some nefarious deeds".

"There was a little bit of stone doctoring," he said.

"They had shaped it so that it was perfectly circular and fitted our three inch measurer.

"As it's a piece of metal, I don't think we can blame it too much.

"The problem was we didn't just notice at the time that they were suspiciously circular."

 

[Calthrop]

What with this event; and the flat-cap-throwing championships which are apparently a serious business in the eastern parts of Yorkshire (wonder if there are ever "tampering" problems with those?) -- and other such oddities elsewhere in Britain -- one feels that our country must be the world's leading place for barmy "quasi-sports". (I for one would feel a bit uneasy about bearing the title of "Toss Master" .)

 

[THC]

I'm ignorant -- all that this word "mackem" suggests to me, is the one who wasn't a Clancy Brother .

The Bard of Armagh.

THC

 

[Calthrop]

The Bard of Armagh.

THC

Thank you for this -- much appreciated.

A tale from long ago concerning Mr. Makem, maybe affording a bit of amusement. A conversation in my late teens, when I had lately discovered folk music; was talking with our next-door neighbours -- a sweet couple, but frankly not the sharpest knives in the drawer. I was telling them about the make-up of the group; the Clancys from Tipperary, but Tommy the "odd man out", from far away in Northern Ireland. The husband's rejoinder was, "An Orangeman, then !" A spectacular instance of "failing to get it" -- for a couple of reasons, I didn't try to set him right -- just let it ride (Tommy would never know !).

 

[dangie]

On the BBC News this morning it seems as though they have both a ‘Foreign Correspondent‘ and also an ‘International Correspondent’. Not really sure of the difference? I’m guessing they could do a job swop and no one would notice.

 

[THC]

Thank you for this -- much appreciated.

A tale from long ago concerning Mr. Makem, maybe affording a bit of amusement. A conversation in my late teens, when I had lately discovered folk music; was talking with our next-door neighbours -- a sweet couple, but frankly not the sharpest knives in the drawer. I was telling them about the make-up of the group; the Clancys from Tipperary, but Tommy the "odd man out", from far away in Northern Ireland. The husband's rejoinder was, "An Orangeman, then !" A spectacular instance of "failing to get it" -- for a couple of reasons, I didn't try to set him right -- just let it ride (Tommy would never know !).

My pleasure - Tommy Makem was a wonderful singer and storyteller and I am delighted that someone else hereabouts shares my appreciation.

In a similar vein to your story, Heather Humphreys of Fine Gael is standing for election this autumn as the next President of Ireland. She's from Drum in Co. Monaghan, the sole remaining Protestant village in the republic. One of the papers is running with a front page story about her husband being a member of the OO in his younger days in an attempt to discredit her. Truth is, no-one cares, either about her religion or his past. The paper dishing the dirt? The "Irish" Daily Mail. Not content with poisoning minds on this island for a century or more, they've been trying the same trick over the water for the last twenty years. Fortunately most Irish people see right through their antics.

And the Roddy McCorley from the song above? A republican and an Ulster Presbyterian.

THC

 

[Calthrop]

My pleasure - Tommy Makem was a wonderful singer and storyteller and I am delighted that someone else hereabouts shares my appreciation.

In a similar vein to your story, Heather Humphreys of Fine Gael is standing for election this autumn as the next President of Ireland. She's from Drum in Co. Monaghan, the sole remaining Protestant village in the republic. One of the papers is running with a front page story about her husband being a member of the OO in his younger days in an attempt to discredit her. Truth is, no-one cares, either about her religion or his past. The paper dishing the dirt? The "Irish" Daily Mail. Not content with poisoning minds on this island for a century or more, they've been trying the same trick over the water for the last twenty years. Fortunately most Irish people see right through their antics.

I didn't realise that that loathsome rag was there to afflict Ireland as well...

And the Roddy McCorley from the song above? A republican and an Ulster Presbyterian.

I kind-of have the impression that in 1798, the religio-political lines were more fluid, than came to be the case later on.

Another 18th-century thing from Ireland, which gives me rather a smile, involves John Wesley: a person whom I feel I hold in less high regard, than I probably should -- going by what I generally hear and read about him, his extreme intensity scares me a bit. It has to do, rather pleasingly I find: with a place which in times to come, was of considerable railway interest -- Belturbet, Co. Cavan. Wesley was doing his stuff in the northerly parts of Ireland in 1760, and seems basically to have drawn a blank in Belturbet; he described said place as "a town in which there is neither Papist nor Presbyterian; but to supply that defect there are Sabbath-breakers, drunkards and common swearers in abundance". Feel that one has to wonder what the people of Belturbet said in turn, about old John.

 

[generalnerd]

The Conservative Party conference is in full swing, and at the conference they have been distributing free goody bags.

They contain a free chocolate bar, with the unfortunate misspelling of ‘Britian’

Tories set a low bar after misspelling Britain on conference chocolate

Misprinted wrappers pulled from Manchester goodie bags after derision on social media

www.theguardian.com

(Photo attached: London Broadcasting Corporation, Global)

 

[GusB]

The Conservative Party conference is in full swing, and at the conference they have been distributing free goody bags.

They contain a free chocolate bar, with the unfortunate misspelling of ‘Britian’

Tories set a low bar after misspelling Britain on conference chocolate

Misprinted wrappers pulled from Manchester goodie bags after derision on social media

www.theguardian.com

(Photo attached: London Broadcasting Corporation, Global)

What a bunch of idoits!

 

[Strat-tastic]

If only they employed Brian more often.

 

[PG]

Is that Grate Britian

 

[styles]

The Thick Of It

 

[najaB]

I just feel sorry for poor Britian, what did he ever do to offend Labour so much?

 

[317 forever]

The Conservative Party conference is in full swing, and at the conference they have been distributing free goody bags.

They contain a free chocolate bar, with the unfortunate misspelling of ‘Britian’

Tories set a low bar after misspelling Britain on conference chocolate

Misprinted wrappers pulled from Manchester goodie bags after derision on social media

www.theguardian.com

(Photo attached: London Broadcasting Corporation, Global)

With this error on their chocolate bar, other parties should be milking it

 

[Howardh]

I bet Leon Brittan would have got it right!