Midlands, UK. Humour, some news and eclectic interesting items. My toots may not all be original. I follow views without necessarily endorsing them, and I unfollow most non followers. I block those who just want to argue or abuse. Ex Cop. LCFC. Header picture is 'Arriving at the Hall' by John Atkinson Grimshaw.
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Last Notes npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Of course. But it is evidence. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col I don't have access to those figures, just my own eyes and experiences over a number of years. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Yes, my own eyes have witnessed it many times and confirmed it by people I know who brag about it. I see their young children in scruffy and dirty clothes, while the money given to help those kids is spent on drugs and alcohol. They refuse to engage in rehabilitation and the benefits just keep coming. You too could see this if you choose to. No I am not prepared to give these people's names to you. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col I agree, addicts are free to do what they wish, just not with my money! (given by the Gov in benefits which is for their children, food, medicines and assistance to give up harmful addictions etc NOT for those things.) npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col I can't be the only one who finds it strange that people on gov't assistance can somehow afford more alcohol, drugs, cigarettes and tattoos than the average worker. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col It was a dig at the electoral system in the UK, Cat. It doesn't matter what you vote in some areas, the same old party keep winning and have a big majority. There are a number of areas where the winner changes from time to time but only between the same 2 or 3 parties. The recent local elections illustrate that people are largely fed up with those parties and looking for something new. It will be interesting to see if that's reflected in a General election. Of course people should vote! npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col What's it called when you do the same thing over & over and expect different results? npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col "Dad, there's been a terrible accident, I'm in the police station, they won't let me fly home unless I pay £1000 immediately, sent it to them now please." npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col David Ignatius says in Foreign Policy, visiting Ukraine these days is “uplifting”. The good guys are winning, “or at least holding their own” and they’re enjoying the help of Europe, not trying to win back a “retreating US”. European defence leaders stoutly voiced their solidarity with Ukraine in a war against Russia they now see as a “common fight”. Ukraine held firm against Russia’s ferocious assault on their front lines last autumn, and its cities have survived a terrible winter Russian blitz npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Nigel Farage was given £5m by the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne shortly before announcing he would stand in the 2024 British general election. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col I joined a procrastinators support group. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Shots fired at Trump dinner: Everything we know so far https://www.itv.com/news/2026-04-26/shots-fired-at-trump-dinner-everything-we-know-so-far?utm_source=NewsApp&utm_medium=SocialShare npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col HP have another update that stops 3rd-party ink cartridges across 11 printer models. No warning. No opt-out. Surprise, your cartridge doesn’t work anymore. HP, Epson, Canon and Brother control roughly 87% of the world printer market. 4 companies! When 1 locks you into expensive ink, the rest quietly fall in line. Inkjet ink costs up to $9,600 per gallon, (Chanel No. 5 perfume is around $26,000 a gallon). They sell the printer cheap, sometimes even at a loss, then squeeze you forever on the ink. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Mental Floss has compiled a list of ordinary items from the 2000s that have now become “collectible and valuable”, including early iPods, which can fetch around $1,000; games consoles, such as the Nintendo 64, worth around $20,000 today; first-edition bestsellers like Harry Potter; Pokémon cards, which are so sought-after they’re fuelling a crimewave; DVDs and VHS videos; and old tour merch, like a commemorative jacket from Madonna’s 2006 Confessions Tour on sale for $2,800. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col A summer holiday crisis is looming in Europe as jet fuel stocks begin to run low. Lufthansa Group, one of the world’s biggest airline companies, announced yesterday that it was cancelling 20,000 flights in the coming months because of the crisis, while the EU energy commissioner said the shortage of aviation fuel would likely affect “many people’s” holidays. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col The Metropolitan police has held talks with Palantir that could lead to the London force buying the US spy-tech company’s AI technology to automate intelligence analysis for criminal investigations. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Bought a book on Amazon called npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Tehran is not planning to take part in new talks with the US in Islamabad, Iranian state media reported, as its military accused America of violating a fragile ceasefire by attacking a cargo ship. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col A new poll suggests support for Reform UK has fallen to 25%, down 5 points ahead of local elections. The survey by More in Common shows the Conservatives on 21% and Labour on 22%, narrowing the gap between the main parties. Reform’s drop takes it to its lowest level in a year, while Farage’s personal ratings have also declined compared to earlier in 2026. The poll comes just weeks before elections in May, with all 3 parties now clustered within a few points of each other. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Ministers are planning to reshape Britain’s relationship with the European Union, with new legislation that could result in the UK signing up to EU single market rules without a normal parliamentary vote. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col New Chinese lithium battery could see EV range boosted to 1,000km https://www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/news/lithium-battery-china-ev-range-tech-b2929956.html npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Dusking is rooted in ancient circadian rhythms and seen in cultures that lived in sync with natural light, it is about winding down with the setting sun – dimming lights, reducing stimulation and easing into the evening. The supposed benefits centre on better sleep and reduced stress, as lower lights help regulate melatonin and prepare the body for rest. The trend has gained traction online, with people sharing “dusking routines” as part of a wider shift towards slower, more mindful evenings. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col The world would be a better place if everyone grew vegetables instead of electing them. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col https://urls.grow.me/PFvGsV9SxX npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col A new study revealed that dogs can detect Parkinson’s years before symptoms show with 98% accuracy. “Timely diagnosis is key as subsequent treatment could slow down the progression of the disease and reduce the intensity of symptoms.” npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Him: Let's exchange phone numbers. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col My paper airplane wouldn't fly, it was just stationary. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Reform’s Matt Goodwin, has been accused of using AI to write his new book, Suicide of a Nation: Immigration, Islam, Identity. The former academic left the ChatGPT URL in some of the few references used to justify his arguments, says Andy Twelves in The Spectator, and much of his analysis appears to refer to “events, places and people which do not exist”. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col My tidying up is just putting stuff in less obvious places. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col A New Mexico jury has ordered Meta to pay $375m in civil penalties after it found the company misled consumers about the safety of its platforms and enabled harm, including child sexual exploitation, against its users. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col BBC News - Sri Lanka declares Wednesdays off as Asian countries try to conserve fuel npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Before the internet, most people believed villages only had one idiot, now it's abundantly clear that we miscalculated. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col No, ancient astronauts did not build the pyramids - human beings built them, because they're clever and they work hard. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col “A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it’s the only weapon we have.” npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Keir Starmer warned his cabinet against an “overly deferential” approach to the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish governments, telling ministers they should be prepared to make spending decisions “even when devolved governments may oppose this”, according to a leaked memo. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col “The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.” npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col https://urls.grow.me/bl_-kUbU5b npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Every single sock I own, has a hole in it. Or how would you get your foot in? npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Me: Anyone else get the feeling their being watched? npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Pharaohs were buried with their hands across their chest because of an ancient belief that there would be countless water slides in the after life. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col My phone has a feature that shows me what I look like as an old person, it's called a camera. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col I'm so old I remember when the internet didn't have commercials. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Six companies linked to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, are being wound down in the wake of revelations about her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Keir Starmer has pledged action on young people’s access to social media in “months, not years”, while saying this did not necessarily mean a complete ban on access for under-16s. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Daughter: Did you know there's only 12 seconds in a year? npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col A teenager in Australia swam for 4 hours in choppy waters and fading light to raise the alarm after a freak wind swept his family out to sea on inflatable paddleboards and a kayak. Austin Applebee, 13, was tasked by his mum to kayak back for help, but it took on water so he had to swim 2.5 miles back. On the beach, he sprinted another mile to the nearest phone to ring the coastguard, then passed out. Rescuers found his mum and two younger siblings clinging to the paddleboard about 9 miles out. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Are you just winding me up? 🤭 Morning. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col My Handle on life broke. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Rome has introduced a €2 tourist tax to visit the Trevi Fountain, which sees some 10 million visitors a year and up to 70,000 a day in high season. Sightseers will now have to queue to pay the fee before getting to enjoy the Roman relic without the selfie-stick waving crowds. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col If at first you don't succeed npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Older people are twice as likely to drink heavily as those in their twenties, according to new NHS figures. Close to a third of those aged between 65 and 74 drink at “risky levels” – a measly six glasses of wine per week – up from just a fifth two years earlier. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col China hacked the mobile phones of senior officials in Downing Street for several years, exposing their private communications to Beijing, according to The Daily Telegraph. The operation, known as Salt Typhoon, is thought to have targeted the phones of top aides to Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak between 2021 and 2024, and may still be going on. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col 👍 npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Hackers need to step their game up a bit and start deleting everyone's student loans, bad credit and mortgages etc. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Ignore the old Thucydides line that “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”. The US was at its mightiest in 1946, when it made half the manufactured goods in the world and held a nuclear monopoly. What did Washington do with all this power? Set up the Marshall Plan and Nato, and rebuilt Germany and Japan as pacifist democracies. The belligerent turn in American behaviour has come during its relative decline. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Activists created a 12.5 million block digital library in “Minecraft” to bypass censorship laws. In many authoritarian countries where news sources and books are censored, the video game is not, leading a group of designers to make a library full of information that people in those countries, and anyone else in the world, can access. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col British households will be eligible for thousands of pounds worth of solar panels and other green tech to lower their energy bills. The government says its Warm Homes Plan, which will invest £15bn in households over the next five years, will create a “rooftop revolution”, tripling the number of solar-powered homes. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col I've told all of my coworkers that I have an identical twin, so if I see any of them somewhere in public, I can completely ignore them. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col If you spell the words "absolutely nothing" backwards, you get gnihton yletulosba.. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col I wasn't sure who I was supposed to hate today, so I watched the news and went on social media and they informed me. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col 20 years ago I always wanted to have a cool ringtone, and now my phone has been on silent for the past 10 years. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col I think I made too many New Year's resolutions this year. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col The planning document for the £10bn Lower Thames Crossing runs to 359,070 pages, “equivalent to nearly 300 times the complete works of William Shakespeare”. (FT) npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Chart indicating how strong various passwords are. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col The first asylum seekers are expected to arrive in East Sussex barracks in new year as the Government has vowed to end use of asylum hotels and plans to send first men to Crowborough site within weeks. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Santa: What do you want for Christmas? npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col I wasn't a big fan of tinkering with genetics - until now! npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col , my big fear is being stuck in a motorway traffic jam unable to get off. 🥺 npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col At least eight MEPs elected for Ukip or Brexit party are now known to have been the focus of efforts by alleged Russian asset, Nathan Gill. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col What do electric cars and diarrhea have in common? The fear of not making it home. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Batesville School District in rural Arkansas had a $250,000 annual budget deficit. Then, it discovered it could save at least $2.4 million over a span of 20 years with clean-energy alternatives like solar. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Hard work pays off later. Laziness pays off now. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col A Brittany town is so fed up of the French being perceived as rude and unwelcoming that it has launched a “courtesy week”. Residents of Saint-Brieuc are being told to stop moaning and strike up polite chatter with one another as part of a drive to become the nation’s “capital of courtesy”. Bonne chance. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Marley was dead: to begin with. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col California just returned 17,000 acres of ancestral land to the Tule River Indian Tribe in what Governor Gavin Newsom called “the largest ancestral land return in the history of the region and a major step in addressing historical wrongs against California Native American tribes.” Now, a number of conservation projects will begin, including the reintroduction of Tule elk, which has already begun. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine faces one of the most difficult moments in its history, after Donald Trump demanded Kyiv accepts within days a US-backed “peace plan” that would force it to give up territory to Russia and make other painful concessions. Trump confirmed on Friday morning that next Thursday – Thanksgiving in the US – would be an “acceptable” deadline for Zelenskyy to sign the deal, which European and Ukrainian officials have said amounts to a “capitulation”. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Volodymyr Zelensky is being pressed to accept Donald Trump’s latest scheme for ending the war with Russia. Under the 28-point peace plan, drafted in private by Washington and Moscow, Russia would be freed from Western sanctions and allowed to rejoin the G8, while Kyiv would be forced to cede swathes of land currently under its control and banned from future membership of NATO. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col “It is useless to try to hold a person to anything he says while he’s madly in love, drunk, or running for office.” npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Immigration Refugees who have established lives with homes and families in the UK – including Ukrainians – will face having to return if their home countries become safe, Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, has said. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col After much soul-searching I have decided not to send Christmas cards this year, they just end up in the bin and subsequently in landfill. I have decided to take the money I would have spent to Asda and swap it for vodka and beer, massively reducing my ability to give a shit what anyone thinks. I'm sure you'll support me in this. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col The Collins Dictionary word of the year is “vibe coding”, which means making an app or website by describing it to AI rather than writing the code manually. Others on the list include “aura farming” (cultivating a cool, charismatic persona), “broligarchy” (uber-rich tech bros) and “Henry” (an acronym for “high earner, not rich yet”). npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Nigel Farage has said Reform UK is the party of “alarm clock Britain” in a major speech on his vision for the economy. He promised to “substantially” slash the benefits bill, raise the thresholds at which people start to pay tax, embrace the cryptocurrency boom, “get the North Sea operating” and scrapping all net zero subsidies. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col “The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.” npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col In Sudan, ethnically motivated mass killings and other atrocities are being reported from El Fasher after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces took control of the city in Sudan’s western Darfur region over the weekend. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Beautiful people are not always good, but good people are always beautiful. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Humanity has failed to limit global heating to 1.5C and must change course immediately, the secretary general of the UN has warned. In his only interview before next month’s Cop30 climate summit, António Guterres acknowledged it is now “inevitable” that humanity will overshoot the target. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col This Sunday, clocks will go back across the UK, marking the end of BST. The change is scheduled for 2am, so we all get an extra hour in bed, but it also means the evenings will look darker sooner. It was introduced during WW1 in 1916 to help conserve fuel and make better use of daylight hours. In the UK, clocks now go forward on the last Sunday in March, but there's a growing debate over whether changing the clocks still serves a purpose, especially given modern energy use and flexible working. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col BBC News - Eight countries added to methanol poisoning warning list npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col An electronic eye implant half the thickness of a human hair has helped people with incurable sight loss to see again, opening up a potential “new era” in tackling blindness. Doctors who implanted the sim card-shaped prosthetic devices say they have helped many of the 38 elderly patients in the trial regain their ability to read. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col A Conservative MP tipped as a future party leader has been condemned for saying large numbers of legally settled families must be deported. Katie Lam said that the families should “go home” leaving a “culturally coherent group of people”. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col The Mongolian wrestler Hōshōryū Tomokatsu won the Grand Sumo Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall last night. After five days of fighting – during which the assembled rikishi ploughed through 700kg of rice, 1,000 packets of miso soup and 400 bottles of soy sauce – the 150kg 26-year-old beat his 191kg opponent in a crisp 10 seconds. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col For the record, I do all of my own stunts. Just not on purpose anymore. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col She got her doctorate in Palindromes. From today, she's to be addressed as Dr. Awkward. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Plug-in hybrids are almost as bad for the environment as petrol cars. A new study of onboard data has found that so-called PHEVs, which run on both electric batteries and combustion engines, pump out only 19% less CO2 than petrol and diesel engines rather than the claimed 75% reduction. The discrepancy is thought to be due to overestimates of how much the cars use electric mode – a measly 27% of driving time, rather than the official figure of 84%. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Bean bag chairs are like Venus fly traps for anyone aged over 40. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Think of how stupid the average person is, and realise half of them are stupider than that. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col France is mired in its “most serious political crisis since 1968”, says Sylvie Kauffmann in the FT. 4 days after the resignation of Sébastien Lecornu, the 3rd PM in a year, Emmanuel Macron revealed that the new PM would be Sébastien Lecornu again! A new poll puts Le Pen’s far-right National Rally on 36%, probably enough to scrabble together a majority, so mainstream parties may agree a compromise on pensions that would only be a temporary reprieve. After his disastrous snap election last year. npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col Mate: Did you eat all my chocolate in the fridge last night? npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col I need to use a pair of scissors to open the plastic packaging on a new pair of scissors. Needing scissors was the point of me buying a pair of scissors! npub13cf5phczlej8lryjfjw4lzal76r70jd23dp60njdyccaxzydrsjsq7nrp5 Col The Trump administration, allegedly changed the colour of the US flag just before the president’s state visit to the UK. Nick Farley, Britain’s official flag supplier, said the White House decided at the last minute that the red used in the Union flag, called R01, wasn’t strong enough for the Stars and Stripes, and insisted on a cherry red instead. So all the American flags flown during the visit had to be replaced, costing British taxpayers an estimated £50,000.
