Mandy Lifeboats

Starting in 1 corner is NOT a good idea. If the room is a few mm wider at one end (many are) then you tiles will not line up correctly. You will also have a tiny gap that will be awful to fill. Find the middle of the room by placing string from opposite corners. Where they meet is dead centre. Then lie out the tiles without adhesive. Move the centre point up, down, left of right if you get very small gaps at the edges. Cutting very thing slithers is a nightmare. They rarely stick.

Not an issue. Turkey already announced that the grain deal would do ahead with the Turkish Navy protecting Ukrainian and Neutral ships. Russia could never agree to that. The bridge is just an excuse. Turkey is finished playing with Russia.

1. Its both. 2. Yes an no. First reports are that the rail section is not heavily damaged. It might be worth taking this down. But taking the bridge out in nu euros places and making it unrepairable would allow Russia to relocate the assets presently defending it. It's probably best to keep them in place because they are a wasted resource 99.9% of the time. 3. This isn't quite true. Russia has ample ferries, military ships, aircraft and helicopters that could evacuate Crimea. But Putin would never agree to this. The troops in Crimea will be fighting to the death and/or starving.

The 2 pillars that came down are ones that were already in poor condition due to the shoddy building standards. The governor of Crimea has said they have ample food and petrol so their is no need to panic buy. Tourists have been advised to seek alternative routes. I really hope this is Storm-Shadow and Russian Air defences didn't fire a single shot.

Rumours are that 2 pillars have gone. That suggests an incredibly powerful and precise attack. Are Storm-Shadow accurate enough to target the bridge pillars rather that the spans?

Are there any famous films where the "baddies" score a total win? The Great Escape sees most of the escapees murdered. A few get away. That's not a total win. There is probably a factual film that meets that criteria. Is there a fictional one? The Silence Of The Lambs sees Lecter escape. But Starling solves a murder, rescues a hostage and kills Buffalo Bill. That's not a total win. Any ideas?

Absolutely desperate actions by the Russian government. Foreigners will not be able to exit Russian businesses unless they take a huge loss on their investment. That might help Russia's economy in the short term. But it's going to kill it in the long term. Who the hell will invest in Russia knowing that they can't exit with the true value of their investment?

This probably explains why you think "Nah" is a word and you didn't end the sentence with a full stop. Hooligan!

Swap Shop had a regular section where children could show of their collections. I was banned because of cofusion regarding my rubber collection. But I still remember one idiot child who collected bottles of air. On the same show they had Concorde Captain who presented him with a bottle of air from 40,000 feet (or whatever height Concorde flew). The BBC gave airtime to a man giving a child an empty bottle to place with all of his other empty bottles. The idiot child was ecstatic. He also rejected my offer of a bottle of air from Tardis in return for his Astro Wars.

The M96 is Britain's shortest and least congested motorway. It's less than 400m long and serves as a training area for the Fire Service.

Whilst looking up Peter Sallis's death (sorry @Mark Albrighton ) I found out that he's buried next to his Last Of The Summer Wine co-star Bill Owen at a church near where the show was recorded. That's quite sweet. Apparently their coffins were placed in a bath placed on pram wheels and rolled down a large hill.** ** I might have made this bit up.

I know I am getting older because...... I have a biscuit tin full of screws, nails and bolts that come in useful once every 5 years. But I keep them anyway. My tool cupboard has tools I haven't used for a decade and/or I have no idea what they are for. I have 50 of those little hexagonal tools you get with build-your-own furniture. I have an amazing collection of alcoholic drinks. 95% are unwanted gifts. I can walk round any antique shop and find something I threw away. I know the phone number 01 811 8055.

Interest rumours from Russian supporters. The Russian First Guards Tank Army (1GTA) was a prestigious force which was formed to defend Moscow from NATO. Earlier in the war Ukraine gave it one hell of a kicking twice in a few months. It was so badly mauled that it was withdraw to be rebuilt. It's apparently taken another massive kicking whilst staging a counterattack. It seems likely that it lost half its tanks. Russian supporters are saying that "traitors" warned the Ukrainians of the time, date and place of the counterattack. Many are saying that it was rebuilt with antiquated tanks and poorly trained conscripts who attacked over open ground where Ukraine had already targeted their artillery. If true (and I think it is) it shows how desperate things are getting for Russia.

Sit down. I have some bad news about Peter Sallis.

This is a very interesting article. I hadn't thought about the point at the very end of the article. Finland (Nokia) and Sweden (Ericsson) are 2 of the leading companies developing the 5G network. The expertise they will bring will a massive help on the modern battlefield. Their lack of help to Russia will be a huge blow and make Russia completely dependent on Huawei. https://www.politico.eu/article/nato-lake-what-sweden-and-finland-will-change-in-the-baltics-russia-ukraine-war/

I was prompted to write this post after reporting the death of one of the original Grange Hill Cast. Some of my favourite TV/Radios shows are quite old. Losing one of the cast is sad but it feels like a pivotal moment when the last of the cast dies. ISIHAC - We have almost lost the "classic" line up. Willy, Tim, Barry & Humph will inevitably be joined by Graeme. Hancocks Half Hour - I remember the day that Bill went to join Tony, Sid and Grizzly. The best Blue Peter line up has only lost John Noakes He's gone to join Shep and all the other dogs that were Shep until they prematurely died and were quietly replaced. I wonder if I will live long enough to see the last of The Young Ones, Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, Tiswas or World Of Sport Wrestling?

One for the oldies. George Armstrong who played Alan Humphries in Grange Hill.

We have a man who has committed no crime whose actions are (at most) immoral. He's headline news. That’s at a time when the economy is in ruins, there is a war in Europe etc. Would the Scum have released the same story if he'd been battling cancer or recently paralysed? No. These are "real" illnesses and he'd have public sympathy. But he's got depression. He deserves it. Depression is just feeling sad. It's not like he's really ill. How can he be depressed when he earns all that money? As a long-term sufferer of depression I can assure you that anyone who has been admitted to hospital is SERIOUSLY ill. They have an illness that is life threatening. When will we start taking mental illness seriously? We all need to treat one another better.

https://www.gocompare.com/car-insurance/young-drivers-car-insurance/

Part 2 Erdoğan has agreed to Sweden joining NATO, started building a drone factory in Ukraine, committed to protecting Ukraine's grain exports for 2 years and agreed to send more artillery and shells to Ukraine Despite this, Russia still wants to build a gas shipping hub in Turkey.

Erdoğan appears to be hardening his stance against Russia now that he's secured another term. Ukraine and Turkey have announced that the grain export deal will take place this year with or without Russia's participation. Turkish forces will defend merchant ships against attack. It means NATO forces will be officially assisting Ukraine from within the conflict area. Erdoğan also allowed several Ukrainian POW to return home despite an agreement with Russia that he wouldn't. Putin's looking weaker than ever.

Let us not forget that the story comes from the Sun. The paper that printed topless 16 year olds on page 3. Also the paper that would run countdowns to a girls 16th birthday so that they could print their picture.

99% of sex offenders are male.

I had thought about employing Mr Teatime to ensue I won this year's deadpool.

Bam Margera has walked out of rehab (again) to have s relaxing weekend in the sober, drug free environment of Las Vegas. At this point Death picked up his scythe and said "COME BiNKY, WE'RE GOING TO CESARS PALACE."