Hey there,

Being reading this site for a while now am missing The Markster and his pictures. Whats with the disappearing trick ? have you like just gone away.

And as for Blacksheep, you are the man with these highbrow blogs, just a pity that you cant get the hyphens in the right place in words like weren't. !!!

Thats my moan for now, disappearing Marksters and bad bad English

B

The chicken shite spineless Government of Ireland has announced that with effect from 1 January 2009 new income thresholds will apply for medical cards for people aged 70 and over. (The existing arrangements will continue to apply until the end of this year.)

It means everyone aged 70 or over whose gross income is less than €700 a week (€36,500 a year) if single and €1,400 a week (€73,000 a year) for a couple can now be sure they will keep their medical card.Yes you are seeing that €73,000 correctly.

There are rumours that this shitless government there are ongoing talks to includes

1. Extention of the Free Travel Pass on buses and trains to all Flights.
2. A TV will now be issued with the Free TV Licience
3. Free Gas will be added to the Free Electricity, if the oldie does'nt have gas the equivalent with put into a Bank account of choice.

On a plus side at least the protests re-engaged some level of outrage, but the only people who will suffer are the ones earning a lotless than €36500/€73000, with house paid.

Before the left wing liberals begin to accuse me of being anti old people, I'm not I just think they whinge too much.

We in Ireland are suffering an economic recession and last Tuesday the Government introduced a tough budget for 2009. As part of that budget it was decided that people who are over 70 would not get the free medical card automatically, but would be means tested going foward.

Well in typical Irish fashion, hell has frozen over. Up to a couple of years ago they were means tested anyway until a give away budget granted 140,000 people who were'nt eligible for cards, in recognistion of building the country. 

Now there is outcry, my basic view is that if you can afford to pay for something ,pay for it and stop whingeing.

There are plenty of 70 plus people out there with good pensions and property and have the "means" to pay, state aid should be kept for those who need not some retired civil servant living in the leafy suburbs of South Co. Dublin with his final year salary.

Anyway if things are really bad B&Q are always hiring..................

The British Banks have thrown the teddy out of the pram, due to the guarantee of €440bn that the Irish Government for all six Irish Banks for the next 2 years. Fees to be arranged and disclosed 

Even Alistar Darling called our Finance Minister (Brian Lenihan) pleading with him not to do it, to which Lenihan, no doubt, reminded him of his superb handing of Northern Rock, and other market helping comments he has made over the last 6 months.

The British Bankers are angry because of the outflow of funds from British Banks to Irish Banks now that deposits are guaranteed by the Irish Government, bless them.

The Irish Govenment had a gun to its head Monday Night/Tuesday Morning and probably secured the financial system in Ireland by its quick action, which in turn ensures jobs. To have the British Bankers whinge is ironic, since they have been silent through out this crisis.

Maybe the Governments should look at the Irish Govenments move and see if they could replicate it, rather whinge that they did'nt think it up first.I think its quiet refreshing to see a government ACT LIKE A GOVERNMENT and show leadership

Today I had the joy of having to sit behind an eejit in a Volvo S40 on the A3 who continued driving in the fast lane even though there were no other cars to overtake. There were distances of up to half a mile between cars in the middle lane, ample room to pull in, but he didn't. He was obviously one of the soft heads who thinks his rightful position is in the fast lane, at the top of the Q.

I had a few options

1. undertake
2. flash headlights
3. begin tailgating

I am not a fan of either of these options, and was stupid enough to think common sense might prevail. The bonehead would look in his rear view mirror and make way. But being bereft of common sense he didn't do that and I should have undertaken him.

This is the same type of eejit that comes off a slip road and makes an immediate beeline for the fast lane even though their acceleration is never going to match the speed of existing traffic. And the type of eejit who waits until the very last moment to try and cut across lanes to make it to the exit, applying their brakes suddenly, usually in both fast and middle lanes in their hurry to get off in time.

I am feckin sick of hearing unions and individuals complaining about the size of their pay packages in the Public Service. One chap was saying he was earning €38,000 and "was struggling", TOUGH SHITE you chose that career.

Additionally, you have a job for life, coupled with a final salary pension. Should Mr Public Service want more money get another job like the rest of us.

This shit will represent nothing less than a sea-change

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Erm, Gordon, are you sure you understand the concept of "social mobility"?

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I thought this might be the smallest blog post in the world but I remembered Blacksheep already won the blog awards in that category for his blog which contained no content at all. That untitled blog, which his harshest critics lambasted as being an error, also, controversially, won best punctuation and spelling for a blog.

And, as if that wasn't enough hardware for the night, his blog also won first place for best regional submission from an area around Maynooth. Fans admire the blog post for its nihilistic candour and have even drawn parallels to the ground breaking conceptual artist, Marcel Duchamp.

For me, I think he made an error, was too eager with the return key. I can't even link direct to the blank post as the lack of title means it can't be indexed, but enough about the blog awards, I want to talk about shirts.

Why is it when you buy a non iron shirt the first thing you have to do is iron it to take the creases out?

Gordon's economic relaunch suffers another setback as his solution to the energy crisis receives a less than enthusiastic response during consumer trials in Hackney. The Prime Minister, determined to do the right thing, delivered fire to local households faced with fuel poverty, advising them to refrigerate, to make the fire last longer.

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Undaunted by losing the battle with the energy companies to fund a cash rebate to the needy, Gordon Brown demonstrates a new plan to help pensioners stay warm this winter in the face of huge increases in energy bills.

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Ex-minister David Blunkett is pictured below trying to raise the dead and return them to work to pay for his ministerial pension and the largesse of final salary public sector pensions.

While the retired civil servants will be happy playing garden bowls, the rest of us mugs will have to spend our childrens inheritance trying to stay warm and keep up with inflation and, the best part, continue working until we collapse. Read the BBC News story.

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No sure, but here's Alistair Darling as he pauses from his busy schedule for a bite of lunch, traditional fish and chips by the looks of it.

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Phew, a sigh of relief at Number 10 as Alistair Darling remembers to turn up for work with his head.

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Tuesday: Having had his relaunch sunk by Alistair Darling, Gordon Brown comes up with another clever strategy.

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Speaking to the BBC yesterday, Jack Straw, likened the current economic climate to an airplane passing through tubulence. Mr Straw, in an effort to limit the damage caused by Alistair Darlings irresponsible interview with the Guardian, continued with his aviation anology, to ask "The question for the country is who is better to take us through this turbulent period? Is it an experienced pilot and co-pilot in Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling.. or is it David Cameron and George Osborne?"

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Rather than demonstrating any sense of grit or financial leadership, Alistair Darling, in his exclusive interview with the Guardian, basically tells us we're screwed. Is there any optimism in his outlook? No, in fact, he suggests the economic downturn is "going to be more profound and long-lasting than people thought", and assesses that the economy is "arguably the worst [its] been in 60 years".

These disclosures won't do anything but further decrease consumer confidence and contribute to a continuing economic decline, in the same way his chance remarks about temporarily suspending stamp duty stopped the housing market dead.

Way to go Alistair!

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I find it quite ridiculous that I can visit a National Nature Reserve and not be able to stay there to enjoy it because I don't have £1 in coins to pay the parking charge. I had 60p which I fed in to the parking meter only to be prompted with a digital message asking me to "Pay More".

With £100 in notes, a debit card and a mobile phone I gladly would have - if there was the facility to do so. But there isn't, so the choice is to either turn around and go home or face the prospect of being fined and clamped, no doubt, by a contracted out cowboy service.

At first I thought Butser Hill in the South Downs was owned by the National Trust, but they promptly emailed back to say it was Natural England. I contacted them, both to vent my annoyance and to ask had they any plans to update their parking system.

A spokesperson from NE responded:

"Most NNrs are managed by Natural England but some are managed by other approved bodies. Butser Hill is one of these and part of the site is within the Queen Elizabeth Park, run by Hampshire Country Council."

The email included contact details to address my enquiry to, which I did. A respondent from the Council later answered:

"Hi, thanks for the e-mail. I had already seen a copy passed on by a colleague in Natural England.

Firstly, I am sorry that your visit was not an enjoyable one.

With regard to the parking at Queen Elizabeth Country Park, the whole area is covered by an Off-Street Parking Order and as such our visitors are required to pay a nominal amount for their parking... The O/SPO has to be enforced as per any similar scheme and Park staff will issue excess charge tickets where necessary. "

The email continued suggesting "If on your next visit you are in need of change for the pay and display machines then please do come to the Park Centre, open 7 days per week, and we will happily provide it."

There is no Park Centre at Butser Hill, nor is there any notice in the car park pointing the way to the Park Centre located in the Queen Elizabeth Country Park, a couple of miles away. And I still didn't really have my question answered so I asked again. This time a better response from Hampshire Council:

"The Forestry Commission is currently testing a cash less credit card based system at Alice Holt which we will be watching with interest. We are also soon to errect a new set of large fingerposts based up at the kiosk [at Butser Hill]. This will help with orientation about the Country Park, both to the east and west of the A3."

Boris Johnson, London Mayor, has had his head shaved today to help raise additional funding for the 2012 Olympics. Unexpectedly, under his trademark blonde bouffant was revealed an astonishing birthmark, similar to the warnings found on supermarket grocery packaging.

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Gordon Brown, pictured on his way to a fancy dress party at the weekend, is more "Robbin' Hood" than "Robin Hood". He is the Prince of thieves, just look at the headlines -

• Labours latest stealth tax hits 11.7M drivers
• £520 NI 'Stealth tax' if you earn £40,000
• This stealth tax on our dustbins
• Stamp duty 'Stealth tax' creeps up on house buyers
• The £100bn stealth tax he hoped we'd never notice
• Council tax increases send household bills soaring above £3,000
• New taxes look bad for business
• The 10% rate and low-income households
• ....
• Need I go on?

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At Fishers Farm in Sussex I got very confused by the animals during a visit last weekend. A case in point was the horse pictured below. If it weren't for the sign advising me not to feed the horses I would have definitely classified this animal as some kind of goat! Just shows you how little I know about the countryside.

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Great Britian had a very good olympics in China, and more luck to them. But as usual the british media,especially Sky News just keep harping on on how successful Team GB, giving us minute detail.

In reality Britian fininshed 4th in the medal table which under olympic rules does'nt warrant a medal. Additionally most of the medals were won in non conventional sports like BMX Riding, and just because London is Hosting the Olympics in 2012 does'nt mean that they'll be the best ever, They w'ont............. despite the Borrs Boffoon stating that we did this before, yes Boris in 1908, Christ would someone explain to Boris we have moved on

I'm waiting for a  pheasant plucker not the pheasant pluckers son, I'm only plucking pheasants til the pleasant pheasant plucker comes . 

Ok done with the game now on to the subject of fish ... loch fyne by name loch not so fyne by nature.

Having waited in anticipation for a meal for 3 we went for the much advertised daily specials .Daily left overs more like.After an acceptable starter of fishcakes and  calamari,the childrens meal didn't arrive as promised.

Eventually after prompting a goujon of fish (more like a stumpy thumb) with pre salted chips arrived.SaLTY but still prepared to give the benefit of the doubt.Maybe an enthusiatic chef with a heart condition trying to get rid of all the spare salt by hiding it in childrens chips. 

......Forgot to mention .! It was waitress changeover time as we were informed , so maybe that excuses our problems.

Then having emptied the bread basket,woo hoo a surf and turf !A  medium steak (i.e no blood) arrived loking like it had done an olympic opening ceremony and got stuck in the flame with a few overdone soggy nasty shrimps  in shells.(£18)

Then a lovely (or so you might think) lemon sole .I think they had mis spelt the menu and it was really a melon sloe with extra spiky bones and a few nasty bruises on his way to the oven.(£18)

Luckily our manager Sarah ...(aka yts trainee) was prepared  to give us some useful antidotes to our problem,so we wouldn't feel scared to visit again.

The options;

.....Coffee on the house

...Desserts ,

or money back.

I ask you dear readers ,

Which one do you think we chose! 

While going through the monthly exercise of shredding all the junk mail the banks, credit card and insurance companies pile through our letter boxes I find a letter from Tesco Insurance saying they have automatically renewed my home insurance. I need do no more!

The letter says:

My first thought was "I've been had", my second was, why did Tesco store my bank details for the year? My third thought was, look at the premium - £456.75. This is over two and a half times more expensive than the cheapest quote I had received for a comparable policy, from Swinton.

My fourth thought was, I'll never use these cowboys again, how can they get away with it - and try to pass it off as though they're doing me a favour and being done in the name of high standards?

What'll it be next? Will I find some of the staff in my living room opening a bottle of wine. "We decided to help ourselves, every little helps!"