Thane of Cawdor

When Arlene thinks you are a prospective partner you are doing it all wrong. Normally, I would assume that she is utterly deluded ,but who knows with Starmer and his reciprocal love of the flag and unionism? https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/news/dup-could-enter-coalition-with-labour-after-next-election-dame-arlene-foster-says/1821303044.html

Just over 60 years ago United beat Manchester City in a friendly match. At the weekend Manchester City won the EPL yet again and three days later United are relegated. Some divergence in fortunes over the years. I know it's a long time in football, and that billionaires aren't interested in Scottish football, but . . . , like Barcelona in competitive matches, City are our rabbits. That pathetic thought cheers me up a smidgen.

It's not that funny. I imagine that Johnson hiring Messrs Sue, Grabbit and Runne will cost the country even more in paying for representation of the fat buffoon. The Guardian understands that: Johnson has dropped the government-appointed lawyers representing him at the Covid inquiry after he was referred to police, the documents show. Allies suggested he had lost confidence in the Cabinet Office. However, in line with longstanding practice for former ministers, the taxpayer will still fund his new legal representation.

No. After I have liberated them from pubs I keep them in a display cabinet, like many of the contributors to the petty theft thread.

Glaswegians, more likely.

It is, indeed. Seems to be coping well with his unsympathetic misnomers.

Just seen a South African investment fund manager interviewed on Sky. Poor bugger's called Fani Titi. Life, and parents can be so cruel.

This is Jack London's interpretation of such dreams. Ancestral memory, but you've updated it to feature flying machines. For instance, there was the falling-through-space dream—the commonest dream experience, one practically known, by first-hand experience, to all men. This, my professor told me, was a racial memory. It dated back to our remote ancestors who lived in trees. With them, being tree-dwellers, the liability of falling was an ever-present menace. Many lost their lives that way; all of them experienced terrible falls, saving themselves by clutching branches as they fell toward the ground. Now a terrible fall, averted in such fashion, was productive of shock. Such shock was productive of molecular changes in the cerebral cells. These molecular changes were transmitted to the cerebral cells of progeny, became, in short, racial memories. Thus, when you and I, asleep or dozing off to sleep, fall through space and awake to sickening consciousness just before we strike, we are merely remembering what happened to our arboreal ancestors, and which has been stamped by cerebral changes into the heredity of the race.

The imminent purge of dead wood at Leicester may involve Vardy looking for a final biggish payday. Could he be headed for Rangers? He looks like an identikit of a classic Rangers footballer and seems possessed of all the personal charm and charisma associated with that club.

The removal of the aspirations of Clause iv ended my membership of the Labour Party. I didn't seriously believe that any Labour Government would strive to meet the objectives of that Clause; but, however symbolic and romantic, it somehow kept the Party connected to the principles of Socialism. I now have no idea how to categorise the fundamental beliefs of the Labour Party, other than that they should be in Government and will say and do anything to realise that objective. We've now had another 13 years of Tory misrule and it appears that this era will continue if the appalling Starmer leads the next Government. f**k knows what will be in the Labour Party General Election Manifesto, but it should be an entertaining read in a bitter, tragi-comic way.

Has the bottom fallen out of your world? Drink Brewdog and the world etc, etc.

The Reverend Spooner would be proud of (appalled by) this.

You have clearly never been to Northern Ireland where it would, for instance, be considered perfectly normal to ask for a wee Big Mac.

Seamus Heaney getting it right (apart from the current passport colour and gender of the monarch). Bit of a sop to sane Unionists without losing Sinn Fein much of their electoral base Don't be surprised If I demur, for, be advised My passport's green. No glass of ours was ever raised To toast The Queen.

You're going to need longer arms.

There are much worse possible outcomes than delays at passport control. We are the Johnny Foreigners now. Getting a bit impatient waiting for my Brexit dividend. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/apr/29/briton-valid-passport-barred-from-flight-brexit-rules-eu Passengers may look at their passport, see that it does not expire until well after their return, and conclude that all is well. However, they need to check the date of issue. If the passport will be more than 10 years old on the day of entry, they will not be allowed in.

They said it couldn't be done He smiled and went right to it And he tackled that thing that couldn't be done ; ; ; and he couldn't do it

The French tradition of being disrespectful to Monarchs goes back a long way. Charles the Bald (823–877), counted as Charles II, reigned 840–877 Charles the Fat (839–888), counted as Charles III, reigned 884–888 Charles the Simple (879–929), also counted as Charles III, reigned 893–922 Charles IV of France (1294–1328), called "the Fair", reigned 1322–1328 Charles V of France (1338–1380), called "the Wise", reigned 1364–1380 Charles VI of France (1368–1422), called "the Beloved" and "the Mad", reigned 1380–1422 Charles VII of France (1403–1461), called "the Victorious" or "the Well-Served", reigned 1422–1461 Charles VIII of France (1470–1498), called "the Affable", reigned over France 1483–1498 What adjective(s) would be most appropriate for our current ruler? I would hope it might be Charles the Last.

I see @The_Kincardine has escaped the "surly bonds" of Pie & Bovril to take a place on a bigger stage. Or, at least, his Ayrshire doppelganger is reciting his arguments/assertions. .https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/apr/24/there-is-no-convincing-case-for-scottish-independence There is no legal case. The UK is a unitary state formed with the agreement of all parties in the Act of Union and its legal status has never been challenged.

We lived for a couple of years in a small village in the Glens of Antrim where we were introduced to that term. It refers to folk from outwith those communities who appear alien and exotic to the locals. The Pie & Bovril exemplar of the "blow-in" would be @Jacksgranda, though he may have managed to assimilate over the decades.

“Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly". Titter, titter.

Apologies, Sir Clifford, but this is known as False Memory Syndrome, and DH Lawrence has written a book about it.

Homophobic sectarian bigots, I'd be raging too.

Reading about the UK's "First Lady of the Blues" got me wondering who, maybe improbably, comes to live in Scotland. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/apr/19/ottilie-patterson-the-forgotten-first-lady-of-british-blues The example above features a no-context reference to a great Blues and Jazz singer moving to Ayr. Other unexpected examples that come to mind are: Johnny Haynes, former England captain, I read somewhere that he lived in Edinburgh (probably doesn't now for obvious reasons) Paul McCartney and his brood occupying large tracts of the Mull of Kintyre Johnny Adair, freedom fighter/utter psychopath bringing tolerance and refinement to the West Coast of Scotland Bob Dylan bought a property in Scotland at one time, don't think he's moved in yet St Columba - bringing us the benefits of Christianity since 653 AD. There must be many more, and better, examples but I can't think of any.