In the News

[mr_e]

Well, it's not like Manchester's short of music venues, although it would be a nice boost for the economy after the casino fiasco. I'm sure there's a joke involving Gordon Brown being used to gambling with other people's money in there as well...

[Mike]

BBC have reported that a 285 year old violin was left in a taxi cab. It was worth £2 million and had been lent to the person who 'lost' it to give concerts. The violin was returned by a very honest NYC taxi driver.

[Mike]

French president Sarkozy has withdrawn his support for Tony Blair to be Europe's new President. He cited the whole Iraq fiasco as the main reason for the withdrawal of support.

[Mike]

French president Sarkozy has withdrawn his support for Tony Blair to be Europe's new President. He cited the whole Iraq fiasco as the main reason for the withdrawal of support.

[Fez]

you thought this was such a blow to tony it had to be said twice? well done that frenchman although i would also like add to his reasons with: the student loan scandel [putting millions in debt before even starting work], the mess created in education with countless 'academies' and other hair-brained schemes, the financial blackhole in the nhs, rail network, power industry, peerages for money and turning the 'labour' party into the middle-class party.

[Mike]

Deffo. Could you imagine it? OMG it would be a disaster, I can't believe they were even considering it in the first place!

[Mike]

Cheeky man gets caught filming cheeks in Venice talk about the lengths people go to in order to achieve the cheeky shot of a woman's posterior.

[Mike]

One for Phil about unwanted plant life being transported in Ballast tanks of cargo ships. . .

In other new Did you know that per megabit of information texting is four times more expensive than transferring data to and from the Hubble telescope. Sort of puts it into perspective don't it. That is based on the cost of 5p per text so if you are paying more than that, ouch.

[stimpsonslostson]

Priorities Aussie style

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 397867.stm

ha ha.
p

[Mike]

US Airforce wants a set of Hacker tools to give it 'access to and full control of' any type of computer. They have even created a cyber control unit to help protect the Pentagon from unauthorised access (they are attached 30 billion times per day).

On a side not. I bet they do not even bother to have anything of interest there. Lets be honest, you put up a totem pole and draw all the attention to it whilst you do the important stuff elsewhere. . . .

[BarcelonAl]

On a side not. I bet they do not even bother to have anything of interest there. Lets be honest, you put up a totem pole and draw all the attention to it whilst you do the important stuff elsewhere. . . .

Ssh...you'll draw attention to us!

[Claire]

Well, it's not like Manchester's short of music venues, although it would be a nice boost for the economy ...

This point reminds me of something i read aaaaages ago. probably in the Guardian. it was an idea that the boom in Manchester during, say, roughly the last decade, maybe since about the time of us getting the Commonwealth Games, is due to the cultural boost of the decade before that i.e. the early to mid nineties, and the Madchester, Hacienda scene.

The hypothesis was that the music/clubbing scene brought the students to the city. and good - potentially prosperous - students what with manchester having red-brick uni status. These students never left, and in recent years manchester has been reaping the dividends! I thought this was highly plausible.

[BarcelonAl]

I think the late 80's, early 90's cultural scene also helped raise people's impressions outside of Manchester. Changing them from thinking that Manchester was a depressing, overly industrial city on the decline to one that was vibrant, exciting and innovative. This would have resulted in increased business investment, especially as land costs and general cost of living would have been WAY lower than say London.

[Mike]

Boris Johnson came top in a comedy quote of in a poll. His quote was (after being asked by a 10 year old if he fancied a job at No. 10.

I have as much chance of becoming Prime Minister as being decapitated by a Frisbee or finding Elvis.

Second was John Prescott (which I think is funnier).

The green Belt is a Labour initiative and, we intend to build on it.

Third was good old Margaret Thatcher.

I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.

[BarcelonAl]

You shouldn't laugh, but it's too hard not to!

From the BBC...

Woman led into river by guide dog

Two women have been rescued from a river after one was led into the water by her guide dog.

Buckinghamshire Fire Service said one of the women was visually impaired, and a spokesman said it appeared the dog made a mistake.

The incident happened on Wednesday in the River Great Ouse near the Millfield Flats, Willow Lane in Stony Stratford.

Three rescue crews helped the women and said one of them had sustained injuries during the ordeal.