Of course not!

"G8 leaders agreed in July to meet the pledge to double aid for Africa by 2010. But, within months, America said it was unsure if it would commit to the agreement. European finance ministers are also back-tracking, especially in France and Italy. The British Government stressed at the time that, for the pledge to be met, countries needed to increase their share of GDP given to aid to 0.7 per cent, and Britain said it would do that by 2007. Our share of donated GDP stands at 0.5 per cent; it is now accepted that we will not hit the target until 2013. In any event, this target would only bring Britain up to the level of spending of the Jim Callaghan era of the late Seventies."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article335180.ece

It's so easy to stand up and say we will do this and then we will do that...while the spotlight is there...while the world is watching and can see what responsible nations we are. Not quite so easy to go away and actually put our little hands in our little pockets and pull out the farthing we promised.

I am reminded of the glorious caricatures of John and Fanny Dashwood.

"After 80 years in Hundred Acre Wood Winnie the Pooh is to get a female friend, replacing Christopher Robin, according to reports."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4512770.stm

Am I dreaming again! Is this sick or what, or is it just me, age catching up with me or something. I'm pretty laid back about stuff generally. I live and let live. But this is a hard one to stomach. I love Pooh, the real one. The one that walked across the pages of Winnie the Pooh in black and white drawings with prickles in his bottom. The Pooh that watches the real tigger bouncing through the pages of House at Pooh Corner. The one that sings, tiddley pom. How much it stings, tiddley pom, how much it stings, tiddley pom what they are doing. That isn't Pooh, that Disney-warped corruption, that is some American bear passing himself off as Winnie TP. It's a sham-pooh!

"A new study suggests that having too many males of one species could lead to more sexual aggression toward females and ultimately the extinction of the species."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1130_051130_sex_ratio.html

"Blogs reflect power of the pen

The continuing growth of blogging has changed the way journalists think about their work, argues technology analyst Bill Thompson. And it is for the better."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4492150.stm

"A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for."
- unknown

Why do you want to know the meaning of life?

http://users.aristotle.net/~diogenes/meaning1.htm

Well I suppose it's something to do when you're sitting two-thirds submerged in freezing cold water.......

"“It’s like something from a horror film,” says Vera Schlindwein, a geophysicist at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany. The songs can vary, from resembling bees buzzing to something more melodic, like a string orchestra, she says."

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn8374.html

Came across this jolly little piece on the web somewhere..

“….I have come across many different species of IT manager. All are from the genus 'Procurator' and are very dangerous in captivity. Some are now on the World Wildlife Federation's At Risk Register. However, there will certainly be no captive breeding program to preserve them as most would be overjoyed if they disappeared from the Earth.
To help classify these dangerous breeds, I've created the following list of species and character descriptions of some common types of managers. These types are loosely based on some managers I have worked for over the years. As ever, this classification should be taken with a large pinch of salt.”

http://insight.zdnet.co.uk/business/management/0,39020490,39163606,00.htm

"The county council said it is made of salt with a special coating of sugar beet molasses, which makes it easier to spread and is longer lasting.

But when it was trialled rural parts of Yorkshire sheep were found to be licking it from the roads."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/4460100.stm

Found on the net somewhere....

Medical statistics show that:
- The Japanese eat very little fat, and have fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
- But the French eat a lot of fat, and also have fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
Medical statistics also show that:
- The Japanese drink very little red wine, and have fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
- But the Italians drink large amounts of red wine, and also have fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
Conclusion:
Eat & drink what you like. It's speaking English that kills you!!!

"All of the five biggest European tissue manufacturers - Procter and Gamble, SCA, Kimberly Clark, Metsa Tissue and Georgia Pacific - were found not to be offering enough recycled content in their toilet paper, towels and napkins. SCA Tissue, which makes Velvet, came out top and Procter & Gamble, which makes Charmin and Bounty, came fourth."

http://www.wwf-uk.org/news/n_0000002063.asp

"Most of us only ever use vinegar on chips or as a salad dressing, but did you know there are hundreds of other uses for vinegar around the home and as a traditional remedy."

http://www.thevinegarbook.co.uk/?pac=GVN8

“Surely it is better to think beyond the small and encourage tolerance. We need to respect others and consider their needs, but that doesn't mean living bleak lives shorn of any risk or fun. Nor does it mean if someone is annoying you on the tube that you can't tolerate him or her, just for a few minutes.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4446794.stm

Make a donation..........

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/

If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things you lack.

If you do not have it, no matter what else there is, it is not enough.

Unknown Author

"Police are putting unruly youngsters through their paces on an eight-week "knight school", to teach them some of the ways of medieval knights. The Lincolnshire scheme has been hailed a success in improving behaviour, so what kind of lessons could knights teach youngsters today?"

Damsel in distress here, waving white.............!

"Eat like the French and lose weight. People who have salad before their meals consume 12% fewer calories overall - but go easy on the dressing"

Ok - so I'm at the table with my salad, and I am not dressed......

With a broad tasty selection of leaves why would you need dressing. Home grown-rocket is easy and tastes fantastic. Go for it - have a leaf or two

http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/projects/jtap/tutorials/intro/trench/songs.html#barbed

'When this lousy war is over'
Tune: 'What a Friend we have in Jesus'

When this lousy war is over no more soldiering for me,
When I get my civvy clothes on, oh how happy I shall be.
No more church parades on Sunday, no more begging for a pass.
You can tell the sergeant-major to stick his passes up his arse.

(Repeat first two lines of first verse)
No more NCOs to curse me, no more rotten army stew.
You can tell the old cook-sergeant, to stick his stew right up his flue.

(Repeat first two lines of first verse)
No more sergeants bawling, 'Pick it up' and 'Put it down'
If I meet the ugly bastard I'll kick his arse all over town

"It could go rip, it could go crunch. Or according to the latest theory on how our universe will end, it could be swallowed by a giant wormhole"

Oh great!

Drawn from 'Minds at War'

THE DESERTER

“I’m sorry I done it, Major”
We bandaged the livid face;
And led him out, ere the wan sun rose,
To die his death of disgrace.

The bolt locked to the cartridge;
The rifles steadied to rest,
As cold stock nestled at colder cheek
And foresight lined on the breast.

“Fire!” called the Sergeant-Major.
The muzzles flamed as he spoke:
And the shameless soul of a nameless man
Went up in the cordite smoke.

Gilbert Franklin

These are the official figures for executions in the British Army abroad during the First World War. It is accepted that many were shot by their commanding officers without standing trial.

112 – for desertion
14 - for cowardice
9 - for disobedience
1 - for sleeping on post
6 - for quitting post
3 - for casting away arms
14 - for striking or violence
163 - for murder

I read on the front of a magazine.....

"A light-filled conservatory and old pine create a relaxed atmosphere"

hence....

does it?

Here are some Morris links for those of you who don't know enough about it!

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tim.durrant/frbmmcotswold_morris.htm

http://www.maljonicsdreams.com/what_is_Morris_Dancing.htm

http://www.newesp.org.uk/jokes.htm

I read in the news that city chaps are nipping and tucking -so come on you guys, spill the beans, what have you had done?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4412522.stm

In my Dec 2005 copy of Gardeners World there is a letter from a reader that talks about quick fixes for the garden - garden makeovers - and how we should be taking delight in the gradual process of gardening.

It made me ponder on all our quick fixes. We have beauty makeovers, house makeovers, garden makeovers, life makeovers. We have products that take all the hard work out of everyday chores, we have appliances that do all our work for us. We want things changed but instantaneously. As remarked in another blog in our fantasy world of real-soap-real-life we see characters fall into situations and deal with them in an episode with no real-life-time repercussions. We want it in the snap of our fingers, and we don't want the work or the annoyance of waiting or the pain.

And what are we doing with all this time that we have saved - apart from blogging!

I think we need to work through things to achieve our goal. Where is the satisfaction in a garden, transformed in a day, a room transformed in an hour, our love life transformed in an episode. Isn't there just a niggling little feeling of 'Oh - it's done - what next'

Right I'm off to finish making my Christmas cake - yeah I could have bought one ready made but mine tastes better with my labour in it!

"Contrary to popular belief, the cat is a social animal. A pet cat will respond and answer to speech , and seems to enjoy human companionship."

http://www.infinitecat.com/

This is the perfect description of what I'm listening to right now................

"It was the music of hill and moon, a calling-down music, keening and wild. There was a stag's lowing in it, the murmur of sea against shore. There was moonlight in it and the slow grind of earth against stone. There was harping in it, and the sound of the wind as it sped across the gorse-backed hills."
- Charles de Lint, Into the Green

Hard Times of Old England by Steeleye Span from the CD the Very Best of Steeleye Span - Present

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...........

Don't lift the lid!

This is an interesting point.....

"One of the main reasons for taking the train instead of a car will be removed" - Russ Tarbox

I'm sorry, is it just me, but is this one of the main reasons for taking a train? I guess I must be in the minority since I generally catch a train for the purpose of travelling from one place to another.
Reason 1 - I don't drive.
Reason 2 - Parking can be a nightmare in some towns.
Reason 3 - Road congestion and 'green issues'
Nope, s'not one of my main reasons then...

Of course I had noticed when getting on the train that every second person is holding a can of something!

Next time I'll say to the guard 'Make mine a Baileys and easy on the sharp pull-ups, I don't want to spill a drop'

Is Hobbit having la-la lessons.........

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4376452.stm

I really like this quote I found in the New Scientist this week....

Margaret Atwood, novelist, on the subject of creativity - "I have a great big cupboard stuffed with ideas and when I want one I open the door and take the first one that falls out. Alternatively, if you want an idea, do the following. Close your eyes, put your left hand on the ground, raise your right hand into the air. You are now a conductor. The ideas will pass through you. Sooner or later one will pass through your brain. It never fails, though the waiting times vary and sometimes lunch intervenes".

Go on, give it a go!

"The Scandinavians seem to be much better at dealing with cold, dark months than we are, and food is their antidote to darkness."

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/food_and_drink/features/article321358.ece

This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, it is just the end of the beginning...