bickster

I wonder why you are all listening to the wrong radio stations

It was the a after magazine. MES has a habit of pronouncing things with a pronounced Manc Ah at the end of lines of his lyrics (but not as much as the jokes in the music papers used to say he did)

I suspected as much on the standard utilities as they are as much a part of National Infrastructure as the railways

Shows what I know, absolutely zero for Coleens in UK in 2019, only 3 Maureens but 32 Kathleens!

Not convinced. Coleen at least is still fairly popular (Rooney's missus) and I always assume all Irish Kaths are really Kathleens

Were they doing a Mark E Smith impersonation?

I'm not even sure rail nationalisation can even be considered a left / right wing issue. Having a Privatised Rail Network is a fairly rare thing in the world, the absolute vast majority are state owned regardless of the flavour of party in control. It is considered national infrastructure in most countries. The onlyreason it was ever privatised was the Tories had run out of viable share floatations. Even Thatcher thought privatising BR was a step too far and it was Major (iirc) who set the ball rolling on that one. Privatising National Infrastructure is a very British specifically Tory thing. It hasn't happened to the same extent in many other places. I'm happy the Tories are doing it, I'm just concerned they'll do it absolutely incorrectly and we'll end up in a worse position of having all the bad bits of BR and the privatised Companies and none of the good bits. We'll then be told Nationalisation doesn't work

That was never my intention tbh, I just wanted to point out that there was already a big campaign underway and had been for a good number of years on this specific issue. The rail nationalisation issue was rather separate from the rest of those wanted by Corbyn in that respect

Shapps being pictured next to a steam Locomotive in the livery of the former pre-nationalisation London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), I'm sure that minor detail eluded him whilst he made sure there were enough Union Flags flying

OK maybe thats too strong but my point is, Nationalising British Rail was a big campaign with serious traction before anyone remembered Corbyn existed. It wasn't specifically nationalsing the railways that was the criticism, it was quite a bit of the other stuff he wanted to nationalise that people didn't want. Nationalising the railways was always a fairly popular policy and was actually getting decent and positive press Pre-Corbyn. After, not so much

Not actually remotely like the truth, Corbyn actually jumped on a bandwagon started by a group called Bring Back British Rail. BBBR were founded in 2009, long before Corbyn was Labour Leader and pre-Corbyn had some serious traction in the Media and on Social Media. They also garnered a fair amount of cross-party support (except Tories.) They lost the public eye around the time of Corbyn being elected Labour Leader (And no I'm not blaming Corbyn. I think it is coincidental) There were also discussions on VT about the subject back then, due to BBBRs campaigns highlighting the issue

How does one convert to Islam if one can't read the small print in the contract prior to signing up?

Abolished in 2003

The NFU were Pro-remain as I recall, it was half its members that were the gulible idiots

Nope. Irony: a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often wryly amusing as a result.

Very Underrated album. I have a first pressing with an Interview Disc as a bonus item. Julian is as much of a loon as ever in the interview from what I remember I also have this strange memory ofthe first time I heard Spacehopper was when his brother Joss' band Frieght Train did it. Both Julian and Joss shared Donald Ross Skinner as a guitarist at that time too

A record that is buried deep in the Liverpool musical psyche, aparently this is down in large part to Geoff Davies, owner of the Probe Plus label but the amount of bands that have referenced this is large, including every Band Michael Head has been in. Greatest ever album released by Elektra? (feeling the Doors fans heat already) Love - Forever Changes. I own at least 3 copies of this on various formats and rarely will a month go by when I haven't played it

Definition of irony

Used to happen to me getting the milk off the step. F***ing B**tles fans

No he didn't, He said...

I may have told this wedding story before. I was best man at a wedding, a wedding that for many reasons was cursed from the off. It was a trail of disaster but I'll not bore you with the full history of the event. I can't remember the exact time of the ceremony but lets say for arguments sake it was 11am. It is 10:50 I'm outside the church with one of the ushers, he's the groom's identical twin and the Bride's car turns up. At least half the people attending aren't at the church yet, including the groom, who is on his way but has to pick up his very old Aunt on the way. He's informed us all is well but there has been a slight delay but he'll definitely be there in 5 minutes. So I do my bestmanly thing and go over to the chauffer and tell him to go for a drive for 15 minutes, I mean FFS when did the Bride EVER turn up ten minutes early, it's tradition they arrive late and last. The chauffer nods and gives me a look as if to say "I know, I Know but...." and rolls his eyes backwards to indicate the bride and then another facial signal that she's not normal. I smile knowling back and give him a sympathetic face. The bride is and was a loon. Anyway Chauffer does the right thing and goes on a tour of the village. The bride at this point thinks she saw me talking to the groom outside the church and that he's having second thoughts.... (just remember this bit, it comes into play later) Groom turns up before 11 with aged Aunt, then the Bride arrives for the second time, walks down the aisle and the ceremony begins.... This brings me onto the priest. He'd only just arrived in the parish after working with the homeless in London for a decade, you'd be forgiven for thinking that he was a homeless person who'd just put his priesty uniform on for a laugh. Holes in his shoes, frayed hems on his trousers and he had the Unclean Unclean, bring out your dead odour. My mate is called Edward. FIrst time he calls him Edwyn (I whisper, it's Edward), the church is silent, next time he mentions him, it's another name begining with E, slight sniggers at the back, again I whisper It's Edward, next time another name begining with E, barely stiffled guffaws, finally he calls him Edmund, well yes, this is all very Blackadder and that's it, I can distinctly hear our mates Toby and Mo yelping uncontrollably but they might be the loudest but by no means are they alone.... Not once does the priest call him Edward. The cermony concludes and we're all off to the Hotel. The meal goes well with no hitches and its that time that every Best Man dreads, the speech. I slightly modify the end of the speech, I couldn't help myself, it was hard enough saying how lovely the bride looked with a straight face (I did pull it off though) but in the bit where I thanked the priest, I deliberately called him Father Jack (of Craggy Island obv), the grooms half of the room laughed, stoney silence from the Bride's side. oh well There is actually quite a few other parts to this disaster of a wedding, which I haven't got time to go into here but a month or so later we met up with them at their house for a meal only for wifey to announce mid-meal that I ruined her wedding! She was entirely serious, I ruined her wedding because she turned up early, saw me talking to Duncan, the identical twin outside the church and she thought that Eddie was having second thoughts. That ruined her day and it was all my fault! Nothing else that happened ruined her day, just that and as I said, there was plenty more to this than I've described here. They are now divorced

2nd jabs are programmed much closer together in that Abroadia (UK decision to separate by 12 weeks initially was going out on a limb)

Logging in isn't my complaint, it's pointless steps after that point

This is my new imaginary Black Metal Band Name