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Explore Rendlesham on foot or by bike. Play equipment and a cycle park will give you a forest experience with even more fun!
You may have heard about the new General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"), that comes into effect May 25, 2018, this may mean that you will no longer receive information on news, events and other exciting Forestry Commission England content.To make sure you continue receiving our newsletter, or if you would like to start receiving it for the first time, please sign up here"
The link for resubscribe is https://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/BEEH-AUTF94, or general sign up can be found at www.forestry.gov.uk/moreinfo.
Harvesting Operations
During 2018 harvesting operations will be taking place in South Rendlesham. The Rendlesham Harvesting Operations map will help you plan your visit. Always obey warning or restriction signage around the forest.
Dog Walking
Walking your dog is a great way to exercise and enjoy the great outdoors. With miles of paths to explore in our forests, there's no need to leave your four-legged friend behind next time you're planning a day out.
Please be aware that Seasonal Canine Illness can affect your dog during the autumn.
Walking trails
There are two circular walks, the blue easy access trail of 1.2km/0.75 miles and the longer red trail of 5km/3miles. Both will take you through plantations, heathland and wetlands. The UFO trail will stimulate your imagination and take you to some of the areas connected to the UFO sighting in December 1980.
Cycling & bike park
The two cycle routes of varying distance and difficulty criss cross the forest. The bike park is an exciting place for experienced cyclists to develop their skills. There is something for cyclists of all ages. Find out more
Bike hire
Bike hire is available at the forest from the main car park during weekends and Bank Holidays. They have high spec electric mountain bikes and high quality normal mountain bikes and tourers available to hire for 2 hours+.
Please contact Rendlesham Forest Cycle Hire for details on dates they will be on site and for more information at:
Or call 07857 672803
Out of this world play
The play areas can be found near to the car park and provide a challenge for all ages with a tube slide, obstacle course, swings, zip-line and much more.
Wonderful wildlife
Rendlesham is home to two important bird species, the Nightjar and Woodlark.
Picnics & barbecues
After your forest adventure take your family and friends for a relaxing picnic.
You may bring your own barbecue to use on one of the concrete bases found in the picnic area. Please complete and return a barbecue permit form available from the info hut when open or the main forest office.
Bear Grills Forest Caterer
Bear Grills family run caterer serving fresh hot and cold food, delicious cakes, tea, coffee, soft drinks & local ice cream in the heart of the forest.
Bear Grills can be found in the main car park during most summer weekends and school holidays.
Pony Rides
Rendlesham Forest Pony Trekking offers the opportunity for children and adults to explore the forest through led pony rides.
You'll find us adjacent to the main car park on summer weekends and some weekdays during school holidays (subject to fair weather and demand) from 10.00 - 16.00. Book your pony ride with Rendlesham Forest Pony Trekking as soon as you arrive to avoid disappointment!
Prices start from just £10 for a Forest Experience Arrive and Ride. Cash and card payments accepted on location. Age from 4 years.
Rendlesham Forest Pony Trekking are licensed under the Riding Establishment Acts (1964) and (1970) and are fully insured against liability. Riders are asked not to wear open toed shoes / sandals.
Please contact Rendlesham Forest Pony Trekking for details on dates they will be on site and for more information at:
Volunteering Opportunities
Enjoy the forest, learn new skills and meet new people…. Get stuck in and help make the forest a fantastic place for people and wildlife. Click here for more details.
Please tell us about your visit
Please email the Rendlesham Recreation Ranger if you have an enquiry, a complaint or would like a personal reply to your comments.
What do other visitors say?
4 StarsSteven Hume, 26/Feb/2018
I love this Forrest. I was there Sunday, 25/02/2018, just walking around for a couple of hours with my Camera. Just so peaceful.
Only thing is the Pay and Display. The last time I visited there was a hut and someone took the money but I didn't know about the Pay and Display that was installed so I had to park in the little Car Park by the old run way as I only had notes and no coins.
I'd gladly pay for parking if the funds whent back into the Forrest or is it now run by a Privet company?
Forestry Commission Response
All parking fees go back into the forest to pay for the many services and maintenance costs that are required. This includes maintenance of toilets, trails, car parks, play equipment and other infrastructure within the forest.
IAN ELLIOTT, 29/Dec/2017
Forestry Commission Response
Wild camping is not permitted anywhere on Forestry Commission land. There is a campsite at Tangham in Rendlesham Forest - this is open seasonally between March and October.
Tracey , 25/Dec/2017
Can anyone recommend any lodges in the area? Me and my son are fascinated by the RAF UFO story and would love to visit however my son is young and would not like to camp.
Forestry Commission Response
https://www.visitsuffolk.com/ has listings for many places to stay in Suffolk.
Please tell us about your visit
Please email us at email@example.com if you have an enquiry, a complaint or would like a personal reply to your comments.


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I have been tagged by Fiona at The Cottage Smallholder to share 6 random things about myself.
Tag Rules:
Link to the person who tagged you. Post the rules on the blog. Write six random things about yourself. Tag six people at the end of your post. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.
6 random facts about me:
- I have unbelievable memory when it comes to song lyrics, even if I haven't heard the song for a while. When studying it can be very annoying that I can't remember a simple scientific fact but can remember the words for many many songs.
- I can pretty much sleep anywhere and through anything.
- TV influenced many of my early aspirations for possible careers. When I was watching Silent Witness I wanted to be a pathologist, Kavanagh QC made think that maybe I could be a barrister and wildlife programmes made me think that maybe I was destined to be David Attenborough's assistant.
- Like Fiona, I have tiny feet. I wear size 3 shoes. These are inherited from my mum. It makes buying climbing shoes very hard work.
- I am grateful to Serena Williams, now people can spell my name correctly.
- Once we have moved today, I will have lived at 7 address in 8 years!

subset: commoncrawl


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Well this is the last post on Bangkok. Had some fun, but Chatuchak will always haunt me..haha..
Mr. Marlboro and Mr. Skol, Yshin's bestest friends.
(Look at that picture on d ciggie box. eurghhhhhh!!)
We look like siblings don we?? Only i'm d better looking one..;-D
(Yshin got tat tee-shirt for RM17. Ya right, Buddha on the inside konon.)
Crude humor alert!
Who is this Sue and y she deserves to be banged by the masses!!???;-P
We went to MK restaurant, which is a chain of steamboat restaurants that is mighty popular in Thailand. We went for the seafood set which didnt manage to fully feed our picky and enlarged tummies. RM50plus, not recommended.
Again, we ordered bacon. Not bad. The prawns were very fresh n pretty big, but I din like the sauce. Much prefer Bar B q's sauce.
Yshin was thinking : Die, you wonton, die!!
Bye bye king.....you looked like a gd king..., and your people respect and love you, mighty blessed.
Suvarnabhumi airport. Bumped into Wei-chern n victoria, CY's friends. Took the same flight home to kl. Small world. We also bumped into a former ATC classmate at MBK. Super small world.


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I Love Turquoise WINNERS!
WINNERS of the 12 Green Bag Lady Turquoise shopping bags are:
Kelly D, SC
Karen L, OH
Kitty K, TX
Liz F, CANADA
Stephanie D, KS
Mari M, NV
Cecilia W, MI
Yuriy D, UKRAINE
Jamie F, TN
Nita C, CANADA
Anna V, RUSSIA
Snezhana S, RUSSIA
Please look for an email from Bagette Dad. He will be asking for your mailing address so we can send you your prize. PLEASE CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER. We have issues with emails going to spam. Thanks and enjoy!
The emails will look like this:
Green Bag Lady, ILoveTurquoise_1_2016
Posted by Green Bag Lady Teresa at 1/19/2016
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29MAY2015 [NEWS] Park Yuchun Discloses A Surprise Photo
Park Yuchun disclosed his photo prior to his fan meeting.
CJeS Entertainment said, "On May 29, Park Yuchun released a surprise message and picture on JYJ's official Facebook prior to his solo fan meeting 'Housewarming party: Epi 2'. After his post on SNS, it became a hot issue among the fans."
In the photo, he made a heart above his head and gave a shy smile. He said, "It has been exactly a year! Let's have a good time tomorrow" in the message. Particularly, when he disclosed the picture, it raised the fans' expectations.
The manager of his agency said, "The event has lots of programs that many fans can enjoy together. Park Yuchun also prepared a surprise stage for the fans, so they can anticipate. It will be a fan meeting that everyone can be one."
Meanwhile, Park Yuchun's fan meeting 'Housewarming party: Epi 2' will be held on May 30 at Tiger Dome in Korea University, Seoul.
Photo by CJeS Entertainment
Credit: BNTNews
Shared by JYJ☆USA


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verse 23: Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.
We have been given the gift of free agency. We can choose for ourselves whether to follow the commandments from God and our prophets, or whether to go our own way. It's important to remember, though, that when we make a choice, we are also choosing the consquences. Making correct choices leads to eternal life, while poor choices carry a consqequence of everlasting death.


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I am reading a book that talks about hyper-parenting, helicopter parents or what is known in Scandinavian countries as curling parents. I like that term as it is easy to picture parents sweeping all of their children's problems out of the way before the child runs into them. Some parents might think, "Why not?" or "Aren't there enough issues that our children will come in contact that it won't hurt to remove some of their roadblocks?" Granted not all parents who are deeply invested in their child's life goes way overboard. However much like other issues every parent looks at others and sees that they have the problem. Here is a conversation I had with a parent a few years ago:
The parents finally called me after first calling the Dean, Provost and President of the university's office. Their daughter was failing in one of her general education courses and the parent wanted either the daughter's grade changed or the faculty member fired. The mom explained that when she was in college her advisor let her redo all of her assignments as many times as she wanted until she got an A in every class. The father said that he would not donate any money to the university because of the situation. Guess what? The parents had never donated money before and the daughter had missed 40% of the class.
The question becomes, how did we get to this point where we hear reports of parents going with their college graduates to job interviews and negotiating their child's salary and benefits? It starts with how we view our children as infants and toddlers. It is understandable to be proud parents and to want children to have a stimulating and enriched environment. It is another to be worried about if their child might not be happy all of the time. Children learn how to handle distress by handling distress. Going back to what we know from theory, children need a balance of trust and mistrust (this is not a 50/50 balance but somewhere between 75/25 and 90/10. They need autonomy but also some level of doubt. They need their opportunity from the earliest years and all through their life to eat some dirt, to take some bumps and bruises, and to get up when they fall down.


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A short overview of the Company shows the main IBSA's proprietary plants in Lugano (CH), the Headquarter offices and some insights into its manufacturing lines.
Discover the intriguing IBSA's strategy to purify gonadotrophins of human origin. Make a virtual tour in our Lamone plant and follow the crucial steps of purification.
A fascinating sequence that narrates the manufacturing process of our soft gel levothyroxine caps. From the fine selection of the active ingredients to final packaging phase.
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How do you get to Carnegie Hall? We all know the answer to this old chestnut but there's a reason why the joke persists.
After spending a lot of time considering how we might use our skills as artists to provide something of value beyond amplifying the voices of others (through advocacy, marketing, design, etc.) my brother and I launched a consultancy, Another Limited Rebellion, focused on the creative development of individuals and organizations. What does that mean? We are still figuring it out (and I hope to always be doing so!) but with this purpose, we have been able to bring the arts into some unlikely places (teaching executives collaborative skills through tap dance, using experimental theater to spur innovation, and generating group momentum with the power of skulls). We took the dialog we'd been having with each other and our fellow artists and started having it with clients and others in non-arts fields. The response has been enlightening and incredibly motivating.
Read the entire article HERE.


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Feb 23, 2011
Effective Team Building
How to build effective team?
Team building is crucial in improving the collective performance of a group or organization and it is a powerful tools for a leader to use to increase the chances of success for himself or his group.
Although team building is often talked about and believed to be practiced, it can often be ineffective for several reasons: there is a lack of commitment in the group to a shared common goal; the team building activities practiced are too generic to add any lasting value and there is a lack of proper assessment of the team.
The Foundation of Team Building:
The most important factor to successful team building is a commitment to shared common objective or goal with their team. This is the foundation that all good team building is built upon without it; a lot of energy can be expended with very little result.
Remember that, most people are committed to their own objectives over and above everything else therefore, it is important that they see the collective group objective as important as their own, otherwise they will not invest time and energy in team building activities.
Group vs. Team?
Many people make the mistake of assuming that a group of people automatically forms a team. In fact, a group is simply a set of people who happen to share a workplace or be a part of the same organization unit. The people within the group will all have individual objectives which may converge and is the same as the group objective, but may also be distinctly different and even competitive.
By contrast, a team is a group made up of individuals who have committed to working towards a single, common objective. Naturally, they will still have their different, individual objectives but these will contribute towards a higher collective one.
For example: In a marketing team, one person may responsible for direct mail campaign, another person responsible for client liaison and another for sponsorship-but they are all united in the overall objective of improving brand awareness and image and therefore, not judged solely on their individual objectives.
Read more in: Team Building Strategic
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Last weekend the Illawarra Branch of the Australasian Native Orchid Society went on an excursion to Comerong Island. See the introduction to this post, for location and geographic information about the Island. It was intended to be an Orchid trip, but we found more varieties of Fungi than Orchids (much to the frustration of my friend Colin Rowan).
We saw literally thousands of leaves of Pterostylis curta and some Pterostylis nutans. None were in flower, unfortunately.
However, Alan Stephenson was on a mission to re-locate a group of variegated Pterostylis curta plants which he had seen a few years previously. This required a bit of walking along one section of track several times until Alan spotted what he was after.
There were a few, not many, of these unusually marked plants.
Such markings are uncommon, but not unknown. Possibly they were originally affected by a virus (as has famously happened with Tulips), but it seems that these plant markings are stable, not variable, nor likely to be an infection, which might otherwise kill these plants off, (or spread to others around them).
|Variegated leaves of Pterostylis curta
|Variegated leaves of Pterostylis curta
We then photographed some of the hundreds of Helmet Orchids
which were carpeting the ground
along the side of the track.
|Corybas fimbriatus, the Fringed Helmet Orchid
|Corybas fimbriatus, the Fringed Helmet Orchid
|Corybas fimbriatus, the Fringed Helmet Orchid
A colony of them in the sand dunes, in the Littoral Rainforest
We drove along the single lane track which goes the full length of Comerong Island, out to the wharf at Crookhaven River (the redirected Shoalhaven River mouth). The last kilometer of the track had many deep puddles, but they were on solid bases, so, although a little scary (I had visions of cars getting stuck) Alan pressed through quite successfully. Definitely this last bit was 4WD only.
|Acianthus fornicatus
This was one of very few in flower, but there
were literally hundreds of leaves of these plants growing
in certain patches of the forest, especially in disturbed areas
(e.g., where NPWS had bulldozed fallen logs
off the road, and into the forest).
Close to where the hundreds of Acianthus were,
we also found a few late blooming Cobra Greenhoods
we also found a few late blooming Cobra Greenhoods
|Pterostylis grandiflora - the Cobra Greenhood
And finally we found a few very bedraggled,
but recognisable specimens of Bunochilus tunstallii
but recognisable specimens of Bunochilus tunstallii
|This Bunochilus tunstallii had collapsed,
and the flower had been triggered closed
but I was able to open the flower
to reveal the diagnostic brown labellum.
Bunochilus longifolia has a
cream labellum with a fine dark brown stripe up the middle.


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As a Division II school, UIndy offers athletic scholarships and competitive sports. We have 23 NCAA Division II teams, more than half of which advanced to NCAA postseason play in 2016-17. Our Hounds brought home 38 individual All-America honors last year, and nine teams were ranked in the top 20 nationally. As one of the best athletic programs in the country, UIndy has won six consecutive Great Lakes Valley Conference All-Sports Trophies and has finished in the top 20 in the Division II in the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup 11 times in the last 12 years.
UIndy athletes are equally committed to excelling in the classroom, with an overall athletic department GPA of 3.17. And, during 2016-17, 253 student-athletes were named to academic honor rolls, including three Academic All-Americans and five GLVC Scholar Athletes of the Year.


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this meal at castro's was really pleasant and nice, since we were sitting outside
and actually feeling a little too cold for once and also, the food was good.
m got a delicious platter of molé enchiladas and i got what i had last time, a chicken cemita.
unfortunately, my doubts were reconfirmed this time, the amazing cemita makes me a bit
sick. :(
next time i'll have to stick to a burrito or tacos again.
it was yummy until it lasted!


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Note: Rarely do I just post an entire editorial as I'm doing today, but this one is special - it was published today in The Oklahoman a daily newspaper published in Oklahoma City, OK. A few years ago, The Oklahoman was named the worst daily newspaper in the country by the Columbia Journalism Review. This editorial is significant because it praises the appointment of Jim Roth to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, an appointment that makes Mr. Roth the only openly gay person currently serving in statewide elective office in the U.S. Although the following piece makes no mention of Mr. Roth's sexual orientation, I think it is a triumphant op-ed from The Oklahoman, and I wanted to share this moment of pride that is rare, to say the least, here in very red Oklahoma.
Wed., May 16, 2007
Good call: Roth great choice for vacancy
The Oklahoma Editorial
Cliche it may be, but we have to say it anyway: Oklahoma County's loss is Oklahoma's gain with the selection of Jim Roth to succeed Denise Bode on the state Corporation Commission.
Bode is leaving to run a foundation. She had nearly four years to go on a six-year term, but Roth — appointed by Gov. Brad Henry to replace Bode — must stand for the office next year if he wants to keep it.
Roth has been an outstanding public servant as District 1 county commissioner. He handily won a second term last year, wowing voters with his professional approach — in stark contrast to the norm on county commissions across the state.
Roth is just 38. His departure creates the need for a special election to fill the rest of his county commission term. Roth was the only Democrat on the three-member commission and will be the only Democrat on the three-member Corporation Commission.
Voters can't blame him for forcing a special election — the opportunity was too good to pass up. Henry, a champion of bipartisanship who doesn't always practice it, praised Roth for his fairness, integrity and bipartisanship.
The corporation commission is in good hands as Roth joins Jeff Cloud and Bob Anthony. Oklahoma County District 1 also is in good hands because Roth's chief deputy will be interim commissioner and is quite capable of taking care of constituents.
So both commissions are in good shape because of these changes, but it will be difficult to find a permanent replacement for Roth who can fill his shoes. A return to a traditional style of governance on the county commission is unacceptable. With one of the other three commissioners mired in legal problems, we have reason for concern about the direction the commission will go unless the right man or woman seeks the job.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Oklahoma's Governor Makes an Excellent Call
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Food on Your Shirt
You are what you eat!
Creator of the Pizza Strong YYC Pizza Week Logo, FOODONYOURSHIRT.com 's Pierre Lamielle and Candace Bergman design fresh food inspired t-shirts that are sure to delight and unite bacon lovers, pie makers, meat eaters, beer drinkers and vegi lovers. All shirts are made to order and printed locally, with fresh designs posted weekly.
Go to foodonyourshirt.com to check out the latest food fashion.


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Katie Price Puts Her Troubles Behind Her And Buys A £100,000 White Bentley Convertible
Over the last few weeks it's been really hard for Katie Price.
With the news breaking that her husband of a year and half Kieran Hayler had been having an affair with her best friend Jane Pountney and finding out she'a already six months pregnant.
Now it seems Katie has decided to have some me time as she splashed out a whopping £100,000 on a white Bentley Convertible.
The former glamour model was spotted out with a friend shopping and then went to car garage to pick up the beautiful car.
It's good to know that it's not keeping her down and with the news coming out yesterday they she has now kicked her cheating husband out and called his mother to pick him up it really seems like she is moving on for the better.
Kelly Osbourne Gets Into A Twitter Row With Paris Hilton!
Kelly Osbourne and Paris Hilton have gotten themselves into another Twitter row!
It all started at this years Coachella when Paris approached Kelly in one of the VIP rooms and Kelly refused to let paris in and hang out with her!
The it's been said that Paris shouted out and called Kelly a b*tch and stormed out of the room in a huff.
Kelly has now tweeted:
@ParisHilton please grow up there is no need to act like a child you could of happily joined us! it's not 2005 no one cares!
— Kelly Osbourne (@KellyOsbourne) April 13, 2014
Paris then saw the tweet and replied:
@KellyOsbourne, getting tweets about us. I'm confused, as I did not see you once this entire weekend. No clue how these stories get invented
— Paris Hilton (@ParisHilton) April 14, 2014
We think to be honest it's all one big missunderstanding.
Celebs Take To Twitter To Share Their Condolences On The Death Of Nelson Mandela
After the news about the death of Nelson Mandela broke hundreds of celebrities took to Twitter to share their thought.
So many celebrities shared their thoughts from Rihanna to Khloe Kardashian so have a look at the tweets below:
#NelsonMandela you made your people proud!! We'll always love you for it!
— Rihanna (@rihanna) December 5, 2013
President Obama remembers Nelson Mandela: "A man who took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice." — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 5, 2013
This really is a defining moment. The passing of a true, inspirational hero. If only every man could leave such huge footprints #Mandela — Phillip Schofield (@Schofe) December 5, 2013
140 characters. Not enough words. See my full statement here: https://t.co/XhJxDpugPh #RIPNelsonMandela pic.twitter.com/aSYJGuWTyu
— Naomi Campbell (@NaomiCampbell) December 6, 2013
"It always seems impossible until it's done." Rest in Peace Nelson Mandela. You will be missed. #trueinspiration #peoplewhochangetheworld
— Jennifer Lopez (@JLo) December 5, 2013
An amazing man with great wisdom. Rest in peace Nelson Mandela http://t.co/CVah39YM9n — Khloé (@KhloeKardashian) December 5, 2013
rest in peace Nelson Mandela. 🙏 — Kendall Jenner (@KendallJenner) December 5, 2013
RIP Nelson Mandela. You are now truly free. God Bless and enjoy the heavens. Tell Celia Cruz hello for me and azucaaaaarrrr
— Pitbull (@Pitbull) December 5, 2013
Your inspiring spirit will live forever. RIP Nelson Mandela 😦 x Anabella / GlamBeckhams blog. pic.twitter.com/9nIHSuyp9f
— Victoria Beckham (@glambeckhamsweb) December 5, 2013
The valiant Nelson Mandela. http://t.co/TexZSXlASU
— Ian McKellen (@IanMcKellen) December 5, 2013
RIP Nelson Mandela. A truly great man. Thoughts with his family. pic.twitter.com/EjH6bBLk4t
— Max George (@MaxTheWanted) December 5, 2013
Eva Longoria & Mark Sanchez Split Up!
After losing the game to the New England Patriots and now he has spit with Eva Longoria so it's not been the best of weeks for Mark Sanchez.
New reports have said that the pair separated on amicable terms.
Sources said:
"Mark adores and respects Eva. It really was about scheduling more than anything else. They will remain close friends. There was no drama. They just have completely different schedules and lifestyles."
We still do not know it this is 100% true or not but if they have split you never know they may get back together.
Rihanna Has Been Liked To Another Man!!
Rihanna has been linked to another celebrity guy, Knicks player J.R. Smith!
It has been said that they where spotted by more than one source at the Verandanightclub in NYC!
Here's what one of those sources said:
"They were very flirty in the club all night and holding hands. She was sitting on his lap and was really into him."
And another source:
"He is the team's most controversial player, so it's no wonder that Rihanna likes him."
We just want her to be happy!!
If shes happy we are happy.
Rihanna's Family Blames Management For Overwork
Everyone is worrying about Rihanna at the moment!
For them close to her are so worried that Rihannas Management have over worked the singer.
From those who saw her ill earlier this week and in need of an IV, to those who want her in rehab, everyone is voicing concern.
But the family is saying now that the Management is the reason behind her being ill.
Rorrey Fenty, Rihannas brother said:
"I could see this coming. Her management have been working her a 13-hour day. She's been exhausted for months."
Overwork is a serious issue with artists and celebs these days. It isn't always just an excuse to cover up deeper issues.
This is not good for the singer!!
We think she really need to rest and have a few weeks off and get some lovely sleep.
[Image Via: Wikimedia]


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One musketeer to go...
Zola came to the club lured here by Duckers and Nani and the "Football Project".
In the first interviews all Zola went on about was how important and interesting it was to develop young players and turn them into PL material. During that first year the most common theme in Zola interviews was the close cooperation between himself, Dux and Nani. That he was managing the team but that the three of them were working very closely together for West Hams future. This was also emphasized by Duckers and Nani, as in this Q&A with Dux on the OS. It was evident that this way of running things appealed to Zola and that he believed it could be successful.
After thrashing the results so far this season G&S were recently forced to either sack or back their manager. They decided to back Zola. For owners to go public with sharp criticism of the under achievement of the team tells me way more than any official backing following such a criticism. The manager is doubtless in jeopardy in that situation.
From the other angle Zola has lost 2 of his three mates in the management. Zola and Clarke are left to administer what is handed to them by the owners. This was obviously always the case, Zola had hoped for less Kovacoid players and more of the kind that Savio represented - at least until we saw him play... but at least he was involved.
Looking at some comments during the dying days of the transfer windows it is clear that Zola was not or didn't feel involved in the process. I talked about that in THIS post and the Zola quote I used was the pretty obvious "The Club are looking for some reinforcement but we didn't speak about a budget. They are trying to strengthen the team and that is enough for me".
Not involved and two of the three corner stones of the "football project" are gone. I think it is reasonable to extrapolate.
17 comments:
- Paul said...
I think your comments and opinion are well founded. Zola will not be in charge next year. Leaving aside fan opinion of Zola's performance so far it is plainly clear that D&D do not rate him and want their own man in charge, their comments on Zola highlight this and I do not believe it was to gain a performance from the team. They have weighed up the cost of sacking him and decided against it, I think the only question is will Zola walk or wait for the compo? Who will come in?
- 26 February 2010 at 15:16
- Joppe - said...
Well put Paul I agree.
G&S will certainly give Zola a chance to walk and as he doesn't do this for the money I think he will.
- 26 February 2010 at 15:29
The correct spelling is cheque not check!
apart from that, I agree and am firmly of mind that Curbs will be back next season and while many don't want him for reason such as 'he doesn't play nice football' will have to moan because personally I think we had some cracking games under Curbs but most importantly he is a very good manager.
- 26 February 2010 at 16:01
- Joppe - said...
I'm no fan of Curbs but you may well be right.
- 26 February 2010 at 16:10
What is this insanity?! Curbishley back?!! Seriously I have never known such a dour defeatest in my life! I'm no Zola worshipper but Curbs is 'anti-football' and I believe we stayed up in the 'Great Escape' despite him not because of him. He is not 'West Ham' either, no more than Twitcher is.
- 26 February 2010 at 16:32
- Paul said...
I don't believe it will be sadsack (no reason to back this up)
It will be a manager that doesn't mind having a restricted budget and has a proven record of producing results leaving the club in a mid table place.
You can see why the link to Hughes has been made!
- 26 February 2010 at 17:19
- Allan said...
Change the record :
Bournemouth,West Ham, Southampton,Portsmouth, all had/ have serious money problems. .
Whats the common denominator?
Watch out you yids!!!
- 26 February 2010 at 19:13
Zola is still there because ..... ?
Roeder, Curbs, Pards would have all gone by now if they were 'achieving' Zola's 'success'.
All this talk about Zola and our Academy, I thought it was well established before Zola took up mismanagement.
- 27 February 2010 at 08:26
- Joppe - said...
In an optimal wold Zola would have been in charge of developing players, young and established. It's beyond doubt that he has been successful in that part of management. Time and again we hear players saying that they want to play for him and thanking him for helping them take another step.
The way he has been stubborn in his gameplan regardless of the players at his disposal and still being inconsistent in the squad he's been naming is, however, not to my liking.
Will he always do this as a manager? No, he has no previous managerial experience bar U-21 international and is still very much learning. He may still be a very successful manager, given a squad that is able to play his game. There are few, if any, examples of managers being an instant hit in the PL and even fewer that starts their management career at this level.
But this post was never about the pros and cons of Zola. It was about wether he will stay at our helm.
- 27 February 2010 at 09:25
G&S are successful business men.
I think they will give Zola a fair crack of the whip. But he has until April.
We can see that they also don't like wasting money. Before G&S, when Zola asked for a reasonable sum to get a player it was granted. But he has brought in a number of players who are just playing in the reserves, or moved on.
We needed an Ashton, a Bellamy, a Collins and a Dyer replacement, and just ended up adding to a group of players taking money out of the club and not getting into the first team.
Tony Carr doesn't need Zola, he did well enough before Zola turned up. I can't see how people can relate Zola to our Academy.
- 27 February 2010 at 10:07
- Joppe - said...
Can't remember having related Zola to the Academy. It's a fact that most of the youngsters are on record saying they love to work with him.
The financial meltdown started before Zola had a chance at any transfer window. He was never given the chance he was "promised" when they hired him.
He was left with the less than desirable job to persuade important players to stay and to get cheap cover for players being sold or injured (Tristan, DDM...). Go back and take a look at the posts around Nov Dec 2008 as well as the summer of 2009 posts.
Zola was "guilty" of naïvely advocating a thinner squad, reasoning that people should either contribute or being honed for the future. Unfortunately the timing for that kind of stance was all wrong for him but perfect for broke owners. He was left with cover players for starters, Faubert for instance, and 19 year olds for cover.
I think he may one day be a great manager, if he wants to, not in West Ham however.
- 27 February 2010 at 11:25
Possibily. I didn't understand why he plays so narrow all the time, with lots of short passes, then it struck me while watching Chelsea against Milan last week :-)
Same formation, different class of player. We play a series of short passes just inside our own half and get ourselves into trouble (usually ending with the ball going back to Green) - they play the same and then open up the play.
- 27 February 2010 at 11:59
- Joppe - said...
Can't agree more. There is one of the main problems right there. Not adapting the style of play to the squad.
- 27 February 2010 at 14:37
- Prince H said...
If Zola wants to stay, and if Zola does alright in the relegation fight I think he'll be here in August. Can't see G&S sack him or pay him to leave. Zola seems to be very popular among the players and I think G&S actually have started to rate him. As G&S are aware of our fans, traditions and - not least - our Economy I think they will let or little Italian stay. At least if he is prepared to coop with them. There are to many weeks left to say anything certain in this issue, things can develop fast, But I doubt that Nani and Zola were that close.... Clarke is of course far more important for Zola.
- 28 February 2010 at 00:11
- Joppe - said...
If he wants to stay, indeed.
G&S has signaled further changes in the staff.
Time will tell but I know where my money is.
- 28 February 2010 at 09:10
- TBI said...
Zola wont be manager next season. G&S don't want him and he doesn't want to work under them so everyone's a winner.
- 28 February 2010 at 21:33
- Prince H said...
TBI: Not the audience and fans if Curbs, Hoddle or Mark Hughes will arrive....
- 1 March 2010 at 00:05


text:
When I got my new Cricut Cake machine, what I was really hoping to accomplish is to cut out some of my own patterns. Well, now I can do that...I purchased Make the Cut software which lets you cut out anything you want. You just import any pictures from your computer onto a virtual cutting mat, plug your computer into the Cricut Cake with a USB printer cable, and let the machine do the rest. It is truly amazing! Instead of creating my Air Force emblems from royal icing, I can now cut all the pieces out of gumpaste with the Cricut, airbrush them, and stick the pieces together with a little water. It still takes some time, but the design is so much more exact. I'm still experimenting with what food materials I can cut well...so far gumpaste is the best.
Gumpaste pieces layered and cut out
More pieces...
Look at how detailed some of the pieces are...
It's amazing how well it cuts out the tiny letters
Completed seal after airbrushing
and wing emblems...
Finished product with SugarVeil flag...chocolate with chocolate mousse and vanilla with raspberry mousse
Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting
Chocolate cake with fudge filling


text:
Remember that time I went pumpkin picking? Well, a bunch of my fraternity members went and then we all got together to carve them! It was a really fun day and I ended up with TONS of pumpkin seeds. So, I toasted them up two different ways and then shared them at my groups Monday night Meeting. What a fun way to bring together friends, fun and food! Did anyone else have fun with pumpkins this season? Any good pumpkin ideas out there?
Garlic Roasted Pumpkin Seeds (adapted from Food.com)
1 1/2 cups pumpkin seeds, rinsed
red pepper flakes
2 tsp olive oil
1. In a bowl, toss the pumpkin seeds with the olive oil and then season with the salt, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment and spread the seeds out so that they are in one layer.
2. Bake in the oven at 375 for about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally and with more frequency towards the ends. Seeds should be crisp and smell fragrant.
Enjoy :)
Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Seeds (adapted from Serious Eats)
1 1/2 cups pumpkin seeds, rinsed
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
dash of cloves
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
1. In a bowl, toss the pumpkin seeds with the rest of the ingredients. Place in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet.
2. Bake in the oven at 375 for 30-40 minutes. Seeds should be crisp.
Enjoy :)


text:
|Quoting Trucker (Reply 51):
Chicago Rockford International Airport(RFD)....85 miles from Chicago. Yea, not Chicago's primary or even secondary airport but "Chicago" is included in the name.
|Quoting N328KF (Reply 31):
Yeah, but the catchment area for MHT would encompass the northern and western suburbs of Boston, which is pretty substantial in and of itself. During Boston's rush hour, it's probably easier for many than going to BOS.
|Quoting N328KF (Reply 27):
we may see DCA closed permanently for security reasons.
|Quoting dutchflyboi (Reply 26):
IAD is about 28 miles from Washington DC
|Quoting airbazar (Reply 53):
Techincally Boston has no northern suburbs as it borders the cities of Cambridge and Somerville to the north
|Quoting normie999 (Reply 55):
Vagar (FAE) is approx 35kms from Thorshavn, Faroe Islands. Until 2002 when an undersea tunnel was opened it required a road-ferry-road trip to get from one to the other.
|Quoting rhitmrb (Reply 56):
How about GRO? Sold by Ryanair as Barcelona, but it's 90km from Barcelona.
|Quoting Surfandsnow (Reply 2):
I believe Lhasa (Tibet) has an airport that is quite a ways from the city itself...
|Quoting spacecadet (Reply 5):
Most Tokyo residents use HND if they can (which is still called Tokyo International), and with the opening of international slots, the line between the domestic/international distinction that these airports had in the past is blurring.
|Quoting ltbewr (Reply 17):
Denver is definitely about the most distant in the USA at about 25 Miles from downtown Denver. Very long if snow or other severe weather.
|Quoting 2travel2know2 (Reply 18):
GEO Thimeri Georgetown Guyana and PBM Zanderij Paramaribo Suriname are among the farthest airports from city served in the Americas
|Quoting mogandoCI (Reply 29):
depends on whether we're using the city's own definition, or the stretch definitions used by Ryanair and Skybus
also, are we comparing secondary and tertiary airports, or the farthest primary airport ? (both NRT and HND should be considered primary)
Flying to HHN and calling it Frankfurt is nearly like flying to SMF and calling it SanFrancisco
|Quoting N328KF (Reply 27):
at some point, we may see DCA closed permanently for security reasons.
|Quoting dutchflyboi (Reply 26):
IAD is about 28 miles from Washington DC
|Quoting airbazar (Reply 53):
Techincally Boston has no northern suburbs as it borders the cities of Cambridge and Somerville to the north If you're speaking of the Merrimack valley where I live (Haverhill-Andover-Lowell), that's true but no one here would call that Boston suburbs. They are cities in their own right and too far removed from Boston.
|Quoting kgaiflyer (Reply 64):
The Joint Chiefs of Staff are already working on it.
|Quoting southernstar (Reply 68):
Anywhere on the Ryanair map has to be up there.
|Quoting seabosdca (Reply 67):
DCA is not going to close.
|Quoting kgaiflyer (Reply 64):
The Joint Chiefs of Staff are already working on it.
DCA is within long walking distance of the Pentagon, and lately off-course aircraft -- with some degree of frequency -- have been straying over the Capital Building and the White House.
|Quoting seabosdca (Reply 67):
The JCS are powerful, but not nearly as powerful as both parties in Congress working together.
The vast majority of congresspeople fly home to their districts every single weekend. Without DCA, their lives would get significantly more difficult. DCA is not going to close.
|Quoting macsog6 (Reply 74):
Not as long as your friendly congressman can drive over to DCA, park right in front of the terminal in a free parking space, by-pass normal security lines, and get in an upgraded F seat back to the hinderlands. It is too easy for them, they will never let it close.
|Quoting alasdair1982 (Reply 72):
PIK is 32 miles by road from Central Glasgow.
|Quoting GBRandSYCguy (Reply 82):
This might have already been mentioned but except for LCY all the airports that uses London in their names e.g; LHR, LGW, LTN etc...are all actually outside the county of Greater London. Most significantly London Heathrow is actually in Middlessex not Greater London and London Gatwick is 44km / 28 miles from central London in the southern county of West Sussex.
|Quoting yeogeo (Reply 9):
|Quoting Filipair (Reply 41):
Ryanair markets Vatry Airport (XCR) as "Paris Vatry (Disney)." The airport itself is approximately 150 km/95 miles away from central Paris.
|Quoting GBRandSYCguy (Reply 82):
Most significantly London Heathrow is actually in Middlessex not Greater London
|Quoting N328KF (Reply 85):
What about Ketchikan? To get to the airport there, you have to get on a boat!
|Quoting NYCFlyer (Reply 78):
DAM is a real hike. I looked it up and it's only 18 miles, so not as far as it seemed when I cabbed it there, but you drive through NOTHING to get there, which begs the question, why it is so far away.
|Quoting GBRandSYCguy (Reply 82):
This might have already been mentioned but except for LCY all the airports that uses London in their names e.g; LHR, LGW, LTN etc...are all actually outside the county of Greater London. Most significantly London Heathrow is actually in Middlessex not Greater London
|Quoting shamrock604 (Reply 89):
LHR is in Hillingdon, and partly Hounslow which are both boroughs of Greater London, and also extends into Surrey at its western (T5) end.
|Quoting BAViscount (Reply 86):
Strictly speaking that's not true. LHR is actually in the London Borough of Hillingdon, one of the 32 boroughs that make up Greater London.
|Quoting BAViscount (Reply 91):
Although Middlesex doesn't exist as a county any more it can still be used as a postal address. I live a few miles from Staines, which a lot of people still refer to as "Staines, Middlesex" even though it's now officially in Surrey and has been since 1965 when Middlesex was officially disbanded. But yes, as has already been said, LHR is still predominantly in the London Borough of Hillingdon, making it as much a "London" airport as LCY.
RmvB4Flight wrote:What about STN or LTN...they are both advertised as serving London, but if I remember correctly, they are pretty far out from London.
albertocsc wrote:In my city we could have had the true winner of this list: CQM.
We tried to call our airport "Madrid Sur" = Madrid South.
But it is 222km south of Madrid by motorway (2h23min) or 200km by high-speed train (1h).
Ryanair was expecting to market it as "Madrid Sur" once the HST station had been built, but the airport went bankrupt and only a gangway to the rail lines was built. Anyways, before the collapse, we had some routes to Barcelona (VY, IB/YW), Paris (VY), Mallorca (AB, VY), Gran Canaria (IB/YW) and London Stansted (this one by FR), under the final title of "Ciudad Real Central Airport".
Anyways, before Ryanair arrived to Madrid, some people from the city were using Valladolid Airport (the same distance, but to the north) to fly Ryanair, so maybe it would not had been so crazy to use CQM in that way. Also Blue Air and Wizz Air could had had a good share of Romanians.
Military Aircraft Every type from fighters to helicopters from air forces around the globe
Classic Airliners Props and jets from the good old days
Flight Decks Views from inside the cockpit
Aircraft Cabins Passenger cabin shots showing seat arrangements as well as cargo aircraft interior
Cargo Aircraft Pictures of great freighter aircraft
Government Aircraft Aircraft flying government officials
Helicopters Our large helicopter section. Both military and civil versions
Blimps / Airships Everything from the Goodyear blimp to the Zeppelin
Night Photos Beautiful shots taken while the sun is below the horizon
Accidents Accident, incident and crash related photos
Air to Air Photos taken by airborne photographers of airborne aircraft
Special Paint Schemes Aircraft painted in beautiful and original liveries
Airport Overviews Airport overviews from the air or ground
Tails and Winglets Tail and Winglet closeups with beautiful airline logos


text:
There are some other financial reasons as well like women get a lot of tax benefits when they invest, a number of tax deductions at the time of assessing property tax and many other.
But apart from the above reasons there are a few more reasons for this sea change in the prospective Real Estate customers
1. Owning a home has also become a keystone of a long-term financial planning, particularly for women. Over the last few years particularly, as the stock market has been shaky and uncertain, real estate has continued to appreciate. It has also been less volatile and with a good growth rate. That's a big deal, particularly to women who worry more about finances than men do.
2. Single women are not only the fastest growing segment of homebuyers, they account for one-third of all condominium purchases and they're buying a greater percentage of second homes than ever before.
3. Owning a home is also an emotional booster. Researches show that homeowners are more likely to participate in community service and political activities. Also, children of homeowners are likely to perform higher on academic achievement tests, more likely to finish high school and have fewer behavior problems in school.
4. Also, women now earn handsome salaries, doing big deals and proving there business acumen. With this attitude they value their independence and privacy which makes them purchase a separate house for themselves.
5. The women of today does not prefer depending on anyone and no longer think in the way that their husband's house is theirs in a way and also they now vote for nuclear families and thus go ahead for purchasing a house or a second house.
Contributed By : Lalsa Verma


text:
Great showing, everyone. Here are my favorites.
Octo knocked me over with this early on:
I spend my whole life
Trying to find that feeling
Of Christmas morning
Well put. Whistful. And so true for him.
Catfreek came out of the closet as Italian white trash with this one:
What's for dinner Mom?
Your Dad hasn't killed it yet
Yes, in Barrington
I want to hear more about just kilt' dinners. Great stuff.
And then she shared an experience all too familiar to most of us:
Field behind my house
A plethora of wonders
Gone. Now huge houses
This makes me sad on two levels. One, development that mows over kids' fields is sad. Two, I can't afford one of those huge houses. Nicely done.
JSP had a couple that really captured the essence of kid-dom:
An unpleasant truth
My earliest memory:
Green poop on the beach
A few questions: um, whose poop was that? Why was it green? And do I want to know the answers?
First time I saw boobs
Stash of Playboys in the woods
I was like "jackpot!"
There is something so innocent and natural about finding Playboys in the woods. But maybe I only think that because we had to go foraging through dumpsters to find our childhood porn.
Loved this one by AC:
my nose in a book
the cause or consequence of
lacking social skills
So well crafted. It presents us with a chicken / egg dilemma, doesn't it?
Absolutely taking first prize in the "funny because it's true" category, was 50:
but seriously
giant robots are scary
everyone fears them
This was part of a larger conversation between a few of you, but I have to say, it stands well on its own. It's just telling it like it is.
Then 50 got into a whole story about Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger stealing his natural wonderland. Yeah...it's gotta be tough, being a rich kid in LA, when celebs move in and take the back yard woods away. My heart is bleeeeeeeeding.
But right in there were a couple verses from his epic haiku that were, well, for real, actual beautiful haikus:
pine tree canopy
fields of ivy and tall grass
the smell of clean soil
bottlebrush bushes
flowers like red sea urchins
pungent perfume leaves
JPX summed up the whole sorry, intolerable situation of childhood:
I don't like my age
I can't believe I'm 40
How did this happen?
How indeed. Let's face it, we're all doomed.
But then DCD saved the day with this one, which I declare the WINNER!
The joy of Christmas.
You really do get it back
when you are Santa.
Hooray! Thanks for reminding us that even though we're all on the slippery slope into an open grave, there's still happiness because we've followed our biological imperative and reproduced, starting the whole silly cycle of old age, suffering, sickness and death over again. But it's sooo much fun sometimes!
Congrats, DCD!


text:
Monday, 30 July 2012
What's New Pussycat
6 comments:
I'm excited to see the re-glamp! I love all your posts, but you know me, the more beauty the better! :p xxReplyDelete
Just found your blog through BBU Blog Hop. Following :)ReplyDelete
Follow back?
Kendall & Tiana
Of course. Thanks for following. xxReplyDelete
Amazing blog, would you mind take a look at mine and maybe follow if you like it ? i follow everyone back!ReplyDelete
and please if you can like my blog on the facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ModelsontheRunway
thanks for your comment on my blog http://sheiselec.blogspot.co.uk/
I think the Avon Polish is really nice, but i'm not patient enough to let if fully fully dry!
the first coat goes on really well but just a little too pale for my liking!
i've followed you and look forward to seeing what you've got planned :0)
Hey! You're blog is great, love all the different things you post about :) New follower! xxReplyDelete


text:
Day-to-day money-saving ideas to make the best of the tough economic times. Light, fun and open for suggestions!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Leave the car behind!
And so begins another hectic week...! But if you don't already "go green" in your daily commute or running errands, consider the extra benefits to the following options:
* Ride a bike - it may take a bit longer, but you get the added "plus" of exercise!
* Carpool - what a great way to catch up with friends or colleagues while cutting your stress and gas budget!
* Use public transportation - You can read, enjoy some tunes or get ahead on some work before you hit the office!
* Finally, batch your errands - don't do a few here and there; wait and do them on one day or via the most efficient route to save time and gas!
So...save $, avoid wear and tear on your vehicle, help the environment, cut your stress, get exercise...all sounds good to me! Give it a try!
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text:
Macbeth Theme Analysis: Fate
Act 2
Act 3
Macbeth sends two murderers to kill Banquo, he believes that fate has challenged him because of the witches' prophecy which tells him that Banquo's descendants will be kings of Scotland.
Act 1
Macbeth, after hearing the witches' prophecy, believes that it is chance rather than fate for him to become king. Later, he decides that "chance" needs some help, which leads him to murder Duncan.
Act 4
Act 5
Three apparitions appear to deliver the messages of Macbeth's fate to him, the first which tells him to beware Macduff, the second tells him no man of woman born can harm him, and the third ensuring to trust in fate. Macbeth is going to kill Macduff in order to make sure that fate keeps its promise.
"If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir"
"What should be spoken here, where our fate,
Hid in an auger-hole, may rush, and seize us?"
"Rather than so, come fate into the list,
And champion me to the utterance!"
"Then live, Macduff; what need I fear of thee?
But yet I'll make assurance double sure,
And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live;
That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies,
And sleep in spite of thunder."
"The spirits that know
All mortal consequences have pronounced me thus: 'Fear not, Macbeth; no man that's born of woman Shall e'er have power upon thee'"
As the English army approaches, Macbeth tries to convince himself that he will be safe. Thus Macbeth puts his faith in the powers of fate.
Malcolm and Donalbain notice something fishy after the death of their father, and flee to escape the "fate" that they believe will become them.
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Macbeth Theme Analysis: Fate
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Monday, November 9, 2009
Oh, what a night
It was so much fun to get dressed up and I was even able to put together an outfit from the depths of my closet. A LBD that I bought at Target a couple of years ago fit perfectly and had a great swingy skirt, I threw on a sparkly black cardigan to start the evening in and quickly shed it as we heated up the dance floor. All I had to spring for was a new black bra and a pair of stockings. I was even daring enough to wear stay ups as I hate pantyhose, just had to be sure I didn't twirl the skirt too high. Of course I didn't get a photo of how great everyone looked but we joked that we could have done one of those "How to find the LBD that's right for you" articles. There were six women all different heights and shapes, all in great LBD's and everyone looked fabulous.
It was one of those nights when everything came together, even if it was at the last minute. Something I am, truth be told, known for. We had a great committee but you know the feeling when in the end it all comes down to the ones who said they'd throw the party. My co-host is the most laid back person and nothing phased her. When I thought we should postpone it as ticket sales a week ago were dismal she said, "Even if it's only 75 people, we're having a party." Others got involved, a band was booked and wine ordered and suddenly it happened. We raised about $20,000 for the Medical Clinic being built in our town and showed some community spirit. Even the older crowd who found the band a little loud got out on the dance floor and bid on the ski vacation and golf membership.
At one point I went outside to cool off and looked out at the half moon rising over the Bay and thought, this is why I live here - it is a place where I can be a part of things, help to make a difference and have fun doing it.
5 comments:
Very uplifting! I think that is why I like your site.ReplyDelete
WOW it sounds like you had a fantastic time :) Now, I would have liked to see a picture of you all dolled up!ReplyDelete
Thanks Otin, I like to be UP some of the time.ReplyDelete
Jen, I am hoping someone else got one or maybe our little do will make the local paper. I'll let you know.
Holy Cow!!! $20grand?!? That is fantastic!!ReplyDelete
And I'm so glad you got to have a wonderful, fun night and enjoy all the hard work that you had put into it. It is a beautiful thing when everything finally comes together and *stays together* long enough to kick off your heels and enjoy a glass of champagne!
p.s. Come to BlogHer. It is so so fun and such a wonderful adventure! I still get a rush thinking about all the fun I had that weekend so many months ago....
This is a very inspiring post. good work.ReplyDelete


text:
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Read this story about Mathew, just one example of the change that your gift can bring about.
Read Mathew's Story
Our labour market has changed dramatically over the past few decades. The unemployment rate has remained stubbornly high and job quality has declined. Today, only 60% of all workers in the Greater Toronto Area and 79% of workers in York Region have stable, secure jobs. This leaves many people precariously employed and unsure of their ability to provide even the most basic necessities for their household.
With your help, we can provide people living in poverty with the services and opportunities they need to realize a brighter future.
We improve access to critical social services that support people's basic needs: food, shelter and employment. We also go beyond treating the symptoms of poverty, by researching and addressing its underlying causes.
In 2015–16…
195 programs and services offered help with food, shelter and employment.
341 marginalized people found welcoming job environments through the Toronto Enterprise Fund.
71,000 nights of shelter were provided to people facing homelessness.
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text:
Food2Fork makes it easy to find great recipes.
Search by name or ingredients. View Top Socially Ranked Recipes.
Nana Bessie's Whoopie Pies
- 2/3 cup vegetable shortening
- 2 cups white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 cups milk
- 3 cups milk
- 9 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable shortening
- 1 1/2 cups butter
- 2 1/4 cups white sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Directions:View on All Recipes
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|Nutrition Facts
|Serving Size 1/24 of a recipe
|Amount Per Serving
|Calories 531
|Total Fat 32.2g
|Saturated Fat 13g
|Cholesterol 52mg
|Sodium 215mg
|Total Carbohydrate 58g
|Dietary Fiber 1.8g
|Sugars 38g
|Protein 5.5g
|* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.
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text:
Here's our take on Tarzan:
Quinn even got into character - When I told him to hold onto the rope he said, "It's not a rope Mama. It's a vine." Genius.
LOL!! That is too cute!!
This is great! I love this one. Especially the sock monkey. Ok, and the cute kid.


text:
I'm leaving today. I want to be a part of it, Rochester, New York!
Okay, I may have changed the words. And I'm actually leaving tomorrow instead of today, but you get the point. Tomorrow officially marks the first day of my New York trip. Packing is done, except for last minute items, carry-on is currently in a state of flux because I can't decide what books to bring (the bio on Elizabeth I looks really good right now...), and I bought the Sees Candy. All that's left is to straighten my room so I don't return to a disaster and make sure I sleep tonight. :)
My dream of post-graduation travel begins tomorrow!
Oh, in case any of you were wondering, I officially passed my thesis defense last week (July 7), was consumed by last minute revisions until last night, and turned in the 132 page document this morning. I will most likely have some formatting issues to work with, but the content is FINISHED!


text:
Monday, November 21, 2011
No one raindrop thinks it's responsible for the flood
Friday, October 28, 2011
What a waste!
- Rather than just bin the rubbish, spend a day asking people not to send paper marketing – you can offer your email address as an alternative
- Revisit the organisations that are sending you magazines. Ask them to keep it to one for the whole organisation or none at all and read it on line.
- Talk to the people who send you catalogues. In some cases the paper catalogue is useful but often it is much easier to search and buy on line. Again, cut the number of catalogues received from each supplier to one or none at all.
- Make sure that the residual paper is recycled.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Climate change again
Friday, October 14, 2011
Woodbrooke - a truly sustainable place
Friday, September 30, 2011
Environmental grumbling
There are some fascinating waste facts here.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Open for debate...
Alison has been reading again. This time it's government policy, a thing we should all keep our eyes on. Here is her response:
So the Communities and Local Government Department have recently issued a Draft National Planning Policy Framework. They state that it is a "key part of our reforms to make the planning system less complex and more accessible, and to promote sustainable growth". All good so far.
There definitely seems room for improvement in the planning system and the ability of it to react to a changing economic, social and environmental landscape.
We use the existing Planning Policy Guidance and Statements (PPG/PPS) considerably as part of our work. For example, we carry out Environmental Impact Assessments of large scale developments and renewable developments (e.g. onshore wind), and the PPGs/PPSs provide information on the requirements that the developments have to meet in order to be agreed. Further to this we do a lot of work with clients at the pre-planning stage, such as carrying out ecological and contaminated land surveys and putting together sustainability statements.
So any updates and changes to policy seem important to keep up with the times. However, although this is only a draft framework, some concerns are already being raised. The report starts off by clearly defining sustainable development to include the economic, social and environmental impacts on society. But it quickly moves on to start talking solely about 'sustainable economic growth'. It also states "There is no necessary contradiction between increased levels of development and protecting and enhancing the environment, as long as development is planned and undertaken responsibly." Some critics have highlighted the final part of this sentence to be the most worrying. They feel, that the problem is that it is often NOT undertaken responsibly.
Whilst we are remaining neutral on our judgment a quick search of the 65 page report highlights that the words 'climate change' and 'natural environment' only appear 7 times each in the main text. It will be interesting to see how influential this document will be to the planning system once it has been through consultation. I think the consultation responses will make good reading over a glass of red wine….
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Keep the customer satisfied...
Sunday, June 26, 2011
More on carbon
I do not apologise for being a little obsessive about carbon. I tend to think of myself as being a little ahead of a trend that everyone will, sooner or later, have to accept.
I use the word 'carbon' as shorthand for two linked issues. When we look at environmental issues there are usually linked problems, resource and pollution. Resource is to do with the tendency to take so much of a commodity that it is driven into scarcity. Pollution is the effect on the wider environment caused by the waste products of this overuse. When we look at 'carbon' the resource issue centres on the fact that we are using astonishing amounts of a finite resource, fossil fuel, to maintain our lifestyles. The pollution issue is the vast amount of greenhouse gases we are releasing into the atmosphere as a result of this.
In my job I talk to lots of people about environmental concerns. Everyone is aware of climate change but awareness of the fossil fuel depletion is almost non-existent. Last week I spoke to a group of a dozen young men in the construction industry, a sector that must be fundamentally involved in the movement towards a lower carbon society. They were bright and focused on doing the right thing environmentally but both completely unaware of the fossil fuel issue and suspicious of the reality of climate change. This week, unprompted, fossil fuel depletion was nominated by a delegate as the single most important sustainability issue at a workshop I was involved in and I was more than a little surprised. I've spent quite a lot of time wondering why people seem to be unaware of our predicament. People are naturally aware of the high petrol prices at the pump and increasing energy prices and yet seem not to connect this to a fundamental supply difficulty. George Monbiot recently pointed out that despite being very aware of the issue the last government was not publicizing it at all. The original document is also well worth a look bearing in mind that the IEA have since suggested that peak oil occurred in 2006. I haven't seen a major change in emphasis with the coalition.
I wonder whether the government is also grouping the two issues as 'carbon'. There is, potentially, a major resource crisis looming. Our energy security in the UK is falling. Last year we imported over 40% of our natural gas having been very comfortably self-sufficient until recently. This information can be found on the DECC website but is certainly not 'in your face.' In addition, making money from commodities has increased over recent years as the financial industry has pushed for and obtained (dangerous) levels of deregulation, so any increase in public awareness could escalate the problem – fossil fuels taken out of circulation to be used as money substitutes resulting in higher prices resulting in even more fuel taken out of circulation.
The results of the reluctance to talk about 'peak oil' and the public's perception that climate change is a government scam perpetrated to justify taxing us at higher rates is that these linked emergencies don't seem to be being addressed openly. Conspiracy theories abound on the internet but I do suspect that the government is trying to do the right thing (tackle the linked carbon issues) by introducing seemingly random pieces of a jigsaw of legislation. The reason conspiracy theories are so popular is that we all hope that there is someone somewhere who is competent and knows what they are doing. This is what I am hoping for here.
I recently wrote about the government's Green Deal, which is a glimmer of hope, and this week I would like to mention the Defra consultation on measuring and reporting GHG emissions by UK companies, closing on 5th July. In the report, 'The contribution that reporting of greenhouse gas emissions makes to the UK meeting its climate change objectives: A review of the current evidence' the authors note that the 'reporting of GHG emissions is considered an important part of the GHG management cycle and a tool for embedding sustainability into a company'. I think that the hope is that a clear awareness of their emissions will remind organizations that, in a time of escalating prices, they are throwing away money on inefficiencies in their energy use and that should translate into a desire to minimize those costs with the desirable knock-on effect of a conservation of resource and a minimization of pollution.
If this is to be an effective measure the best of the four reporting options on the table would be the one that captures the largest number of organizations. For this reason alone I will be 'voting' for Option 3: Mandate under Companies Act for all large companies, as it will capture information on between 17,000 and 31,000 public and private companies. Option 2, Mandate under Companies Act for all Quoted companies, would pick up around 1,100 companies but not large private companies and Option 4: Mandate under Companies Act for all companies whose UK electricity consumption exceeds a threshold, would capture 4,000 or up to 15,000 with a lowered threshold. Option 1, Enhanced Voluntary Reporting, would have the disadvantage of all voluntary schemes; there is no level playing field and those who need to do it most will be most reluctant. In addition, if we appear to be taking the softly, softly approach to the issue there will be no apparent urgency to reporting.
My preference, when discussing anything at all, is to get as close to reality as possible. Philosophically, we cannot ever know what reality is. We attempt to understand what is actually real by building models, telling stories or, as they say these days, framing. Given that absolute reality is unknowable I still prefer not to have the 'facts' obscured. I don't want anyone to reassure me that everything will be fine when it won't. I want to be treated like an adult, someone who will recognise her responsibilities and act on these. Trying to make decisions based on incomplete information is part of life but having information 'hidden' from me does not reassure me at all and makes me distrust those who are supposed to be representing me. It would work far better for me to have our government say something along the lines of, 'We have put too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, we are having to use more and more expensive (in terms of money, pollution and energy input) fuel which is in increasingly short supply and we must cut back on our use of fossil fuels hard and urgently.' Of course this would probably be political suicide and so I suppose I support what any government will be prepared to do, the slow piecing together of the carbon control jigsaw. If only it were more comprehensive and quicker coming into force.
Friday, June 10, 2011
The good news, the bad news...
Yet again, sorry for the hiatus in publishing. There seems to have been an awful lot going on here, mostly training, mostly about waste. This is great. Waste is one of our biggest issues as a society. It costs a lot of money to waste as much as we do.
- Decarbonise the business throughout the supply chain
- Provide new and refurbished buildings allowing energy efficiency
- Provide infrastructure to enable the supply of clean energy
They also identified a number of barriers:
- Information overload
- Industry structure
- The need for up-skilling
- The gap between the design spec and the actual performance of buildings
- The continued focus on initial capital costs rather than lower operational costs
- The need for workable methodologies for carbon accounting**
- Providing drivers to increase customer demand
- A need to address the current old and draughty building stock
So one of the clever ideas that has emerged is the government's Green Deal. Work on energy efficiency for new builds is pretty much covered by increasingly tight Building Regulations, planning and, often, funding requirements through Code for Sustainable Homes and BREEAM, but in the UK we have large quantities of older properties. How do we encourage homeowners, landlords and business owners to improve their properties? Given that no-one has huge quantities of available cash at the moment, the upfront costs can constitute a major barrier together with long payback periods. The government has also identified lack of awareness, information overload and lack of confidence in information and a fear of being taken for a ride. There is an abiding fear of small contractors who will ride into town, bodge a job and disappear without trace.
*One of the major problems the gvt have with tackling climate change and resource depletion is that the economic model they (we all) use requires growth to provide us with prosperity. This means that the treasury and the environmental sections of the government are psychotically permanently at odds. They need to see a psychiatrist or, at the very least, a marriage guidance counsellor. And this is even before we look at the other issues embedded in the very idea of coalition.
** There is a consultation out at present looking at how to best report carbon for UK businesses. It can be found on the Defra pages here.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
What a waste
Friday, May 13, 2011
Settling in
We've been in the new office for almost two months now We're well settled in. One of the most exciting things about the new office is that it is open plan and all the departments sit together. It has given me a real insight into the workload of the ecologists at this, their most hectic time of the year. The late night newt surveys, in particular, leave them exhausted by the weekend. Yet again I failed to have time to join in as I'd hoped but Catherine and Amanda have helped out. It makes a great difference from our normal work of legal compliance audits, training and EMS assistance but they seem to have enjoyed it.
We hear much more of what is going on outside work as well. I bullied everyone into sponsoring me to 'Live Below the Line' and we all spent the first ten minutes of every morning discussing what I had brought in as part of my food for a pound a day. I'm very glad to be back to being able to have my morning mug of coffee (Tom is running the new coffee club as well as the office lottery) and waking up to my favourite caffeine jolt. The same week that I was eating frugally Amanda and Rob were preparing for the Sheffield half marathon. Amanda achieved her best ever time and Rob raised £570 for Dreamflight to take terminally ill children on an exciting holiday. For some reason he ran dressed as a nun. He hasn't given us a clear explanation for this which can only have added to the pain of the run.
The current subject for discussion is how we all make it in to work. A majority of us lived on the other side of the city, most of us within walking distance of the old office. Walkit.com tells me it would take two hours at a fast pace to walk to the new place from home, and somewhat longer back. Amanda can run it, and is doing so regularly to train for her next marathon. I contend that I am too old and, as my father always said, built for comfort not speed. The solution to those of us who take being low carbon seriously turns out to be a combination of public transport (we chose the office near to the Meadowhall Interchange for its PT connections) and bicycle. Alison, Amanda and I all cycle the complete distance there and back most days as do Claire Browne, our principal landscape architect, and Andrew Lake, our new geoscientist. Rob, our half marathon running graduate ecologist has bought a bike but he's spending so much time newt
bothering surveying at the moment that it's locked away. We compare notes about the latest short cuts we've found and what time we set out to avoid the last-minute-idiot-drivers who fail to notice our high visibility vests. My preference is to cycle in along the canal path, which is delightfully quiet if bumpy. It also gives me a remarkable opportunity to see the backsides of the industrial units lining the canal and their activities. I cycle back along the Five Weirs walk, which is much smoother but crosses a fair number of roads.
We're currently debating what to do if everyone who cycles turns up on the same day, potentially seven of us including Paul, our FD, fighting for four bike spaces. I'll let you now
Friday, April 15, 2011
The irony of improved building fabric performance
As Yvonne recently mentioned, we have just moved offices. The move has been interesting and has involved all kinds of changes in office behavior, commuting principles and how we interact we each other.
However, most obvious to me (as someone who is always a bit cold) is the change in temperature. I now no longer have to spend 10 months of the year in my ECUS fleece as our new office is well insulated and generally not drafty (unlike our very leaky and old-fashioned Victorian office building we moved from). This is a GOOD thing in general for people at ECUS like me who are always a bit cold! Others who are more warm-blooded are not necessarily so pleased.
However, today, for the first time in my ECUS career, I am too hot. The windows are open, but it is a wind-less day and the air conditioning unit is not working. I can only assume that it has something to do with good building insulation, 14 people in the office and lots of electrical equipment giving out heat as it is not sunny or particularly hot outside.
I am therefore left pondering the ironies of improved building fabric – fantastic in principle, but potentially an issue if we don't have the right heating, cooling and ventilation facilities in place. And how will climate change affect this? The fact the air-con is not working is good for the environment, but not good for employee satisfaction and contentment…yet another sustainability dilemma!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
The Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011
The following is a legal update from Catherine:
The Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 (finally!) came into force at the end of March, and implement changes to waste legislation made by the Revised Waste Framework Directive, as well as making long-awaited changes to the waste carriers and brokers regime. If you have any sort of dealings with waste as a producer, carrier or treatment/disposal facility (so pretty much everyone!), then read on, and make yourself aware of the changes:
The waste hierarchy has now been given legal effect, rather than merely being a principle. From October 2011 there will be a declaration on WTNs and HWCNs that companies have applied the waste hierarchy.
SIC codes will have to be included on WTNs as well as HWCNs – again, this won't take effect until October 2011.
For new environmental permits, they will contain conditions which state that operators will have to apply the waste management hierarchy (such conditions will be added to existing permits when they are reviewed).
New category of waste "dealer" = those who use an agent to buy and sell waste
New 2 tier system of registration for carriers, brokers and dealers:
Upper tier carrier or broker:
If you carry/broker/deal in other people's controlled waste (unless you fall under a lower tier)
If you carry/broker/deal in your own construction and demolition waste
Existing carriers and brokers won't have to do anything (and dealer will be automatically added to existing registration)
Lasts for 3 years as existing registration does
Fee for registration
Lower tier (referred to in the Regs as "specified persons":
If you carry/broker/deal in animal by-products, waste from a mine or a quarry or waste from premises used for agriculture
If you carry/broker/deal in other people's controlled waste and you are a waste collection, disposal or regulation authority or a charity or voluntary organisation (i.e. charities are no longer exempt) – those that are currently registered as exempt will automatically be transferred to the lower tier
If you normally and regularly carry controlled waste produced by your own business (other than construction or demolition waste) by end of December 2013
Registration lasts indefinitely
Free registration
A single registration will cover carrier/broker/dealer. In order to simplify the transition, the EA will automatically consider all registered carriers as carriers and dealers and all registered brokers as brokers and dealers.
Some changes to hazardous waste = a new category, H13 Sensitizing, will be added to the list of properties defining waste as hazardous (the former category H13 now becomes H15). This means that some previously non-hazardous wastes may be reclassified as hazardous wastes e.g. ecotoxicity added to the properties that can define a leachate as hazardous.
The Regs explicitly state that transfer notes can be provided electronically.
From January 2015, a duty is placed on anyone collecting waste paper, metal, plastic or glass must ensure that where these waste streams have been separately collected, they are not mixed with other waste or other material with different properties.
Friday, March 25, 2011
I've just spent the last three days presenting the IEMA approved Internal Auditor course to seven delightful delegates from various sectors. I love presenting in-house courses where everyone knows each other and they have lots of experience and requirements in common but courses based in ECUS with randomly selected delegates can be wonderfully enlightening. They may sometimes be more difficult because you may be trying to meet the needs of a delegate from a major manufacturing company whilst not neglecting the needs of a delegate from an office based company but the synergies you get can be marvellous. On this course we had some real experts in their fields who were very generous in sharing their knowledge and not only was it enlightening, it was fun.
I'm often surprised by how much people already know but I'm also occasionally disconcerted about what they are not aware of. On most of our courses we link waste and resource use, and sometimes quality as poor quality management can lead to a lot of waste.
On this particular course we talk about major resource issues that we are or will soon be facing. Some resources are, of course, renewable, but only if we manage them sustainably. Examples might be timber, soil, fish and so on. Some things are not renewable except in geological time scales, for example, metals and minerals. Some are not renewable at all and will eventually be exhausted, for example helium, oil and coal. All of these things, to one extent or another, are essential to our way of life. Rare earth metals, for example, are used in tablet computers, hybrid cars, wind turbines, catalytic converters and the more efficient solar PV panels.
Many of the resource issues are exacerbated by where the deposits of the materials are and the environmental impact of their exploitation. The vast majority (~97%) of rare earths are now sourced from China and with this effective monopoly comes increasing concerns for availability. Every time I have googled 'China, rare earth' in news over the last several months there have been stories about this issue. Today the news is of a huge increase in taxes making the cost per tonne more than $100,000. The availability and price of oil is also very much affected by the location of most oil reserves.56% of world oil reserves are in the Middle East, currently suffering from a period of unrest.
My big surprise was that when I asked my training group who was aware of the idea of peak oil no-one said yes. Resource depletion is a massively important issue that will affect us all in many different ways and peak oil is one of the most urgent and important. With reference back to my resilience post of a few weeks ago, imagine how we would live without cheap fossil fuels. Our whole complex society depends on each complicated component being sourced from wherever it can be made most cheaply and delivered Just In Time to wherever it is needed. This can only work in an era of cheap oil. Currently oil is not as cheap as it was, bouncing around $100 per barrel.
At the same time that there is a global problem with oil, there is a national problem. The UK was, for a good amount of time, energy self sufficient thanks to the North Sea oil and gas fields. This is no longer the case. Last year we had to import more than 40% of our gas. 40%!! No wonder the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) produced The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan in 2009. It wasn't just about climate change. To a large extent it was about keeping the lights on for all of us.
I spend a fair amount of time keeping up with what is happening with resource issues and I occasionally read through the comment threads as well. When I'm feeling strong. More often than I care to remember there are major skirmishes about how best to deal with these, whether governments should try to legislate to bring down consumption and hence protect out current comfortable lives for longer or whether the market should be allowed to operate without control. The argument is that as prices increase due to scarcity the almighty market will step in and cause the production of more of the important commodity. This only works if there is more of the commodity available to be extracted within a workable timescale. With oil it takes around ten years from discovery of a resource for an oil well to become fully productive. Oil wells are also no longer being drilled in easily accessible places where the return on investment is high so prices have to be consistently high for a long time for new well to be worth developing. If this does not work then the market is supposed to rush out and produce hyper-efficient vehicles, power supplies and the associated infrastructure. Also, presumably, people will be induced, by the cost, to look at minimising their own energy usage.
This is a wonderful idea as was the idea of taxing pollution sources with a tax escalator on fuel prices. The recent UK budget has, again, dealt a blow to the theory. Oil prices are rising so the chancellor has stepped in and instead of raising tax by the expected 3p/litre has reduced it by 1p/litre. I know that all drivers and transport companies are struggling at the moment with high prices but how is the omnipotent market supposed to save us all if the government steps in whenever we reach a level where it should start to work?


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On the teams I support
If you'll indulge me, I'd like to begin this post by reviewing a football match. And I'll do so from a biased perspective: the match in question is Tuesday night's English Premier League tie between Wigan and Stoke, for which I put my Latics' Season Ticket to use, and saw from my usual vantage point of the East Stand (now known as the Boston Stand).
And what a bizarre game it was! The first half was amazing, with lots of open play, attacking football and good creative manoeuvres. Moreover, the bulk of the excellent play was coming from Wigan, who were doubtless playing according to Roberto Martinez's philosophy of playing one's way out of trouble. For once, the formula was working, and Wigan were rewarded when Paul Scharner scored. Indeed, the Latics were unfortunate not to add to their tally before the break, but the performance was a good one: Emmerson Boyce was solid in defence, Chris Kirkland pulled off some excellent saves when required, Charles N'Zogbia and Hugo Rodallega were both marvellous and even Jason Scotland was putting a good shift in: a Premiership goal still eludes him but his shots were, at least, on target. Stoke offered a few meaty challenges and had the occasional spell of pressure which they couldn't do anything with, so the Wigan players went back to the dressing room with their tails up and at that point, the Wigan fans were the loudest - that doesn't happen very often.
Then came the second half, and Wigan had a decent shout early on - including an overhead kick by Hugo Rodallega that missed the target by a whisker - but that, I'm afraid, was that. I have no idea what Martinez said in the dressing room, but whatever it was, it was bad advice. Maynor Figueroa's now routine abysmal performance - plenty of dicking around to no real consequence save the increased likelihood of the opposition winning the ball - served only to prove to me why he is, barring the amazing goal he scored against Stoke at the Britannia Stadium earlier on in the season, is the Most Overrated Player in England. Titus Bramble appeared to have left his brain in the dressing room (and why has Martinez made that idiot Captain in the absence of Melchiot?), alongside that of the manager's, who decided that to make room for Victor Moses, he needed to take off James McCarthy, who is having a decent spell. Right player to bring on, wrong player to take off. Then he compounded that error by replacing Jason Scotland with the dire Jordi Gomez, who clearly has bags of potential but is patently never going to realise it in a Wigan shirt. Sensible player to take off, but if Gomez is the answer, then I shudder to think what the question was. The only one that springs to mind is, "Who can we bring on to turn a perfectly competent midfield into a sack complete and utter shite?".
Similarly, Stoke were no great shakes either until the introduction of Ricardo Fuller, and it looked like they were going to squander every opportunity Wigan gave them to play well and get something from the game. And believe me, Wigan gave them far too many opportunities. We may as well have wrapped the ball in a ribbon and affixed a tag reading, "To the Stoke players, loadsa luv, the Latics xxx".
So it was no surprise that after almost half an hour of my life that I wanted back, Ricardo Fuller breezed through a gap between the hapless Figueroa and Bramble, and crossed the ball into the box, where it met the head of Tuncay and sailed past Chris Kirkland, who wasn't expecting it to come anywhere near him. Well, it did, but he didn't get to it and it landed in the back of the net.
This meant that a game which Wigan should have won convincingly was turned into a draw, and it was the team's good fortune that Fulham and Burnley both lost while Sunderland could only draw against Portsmouth.
So why I am telling you all this?
Simple. We are now well into the second half of the Scottish Parliamentary session. The first half saw the SNP victory, the Glasgow East win, the European election victory, the abolition of bridge tolls and the Graduate Endowment, the passage of the first minority budget and the eventual passage of the second when the opposition's initial tactics backfired, while the potential bunfight over Trumpton was deflected, but targets were missed: had the funds been there, perhaps more could have been done on student debt; the Local Income tax had to be dropped; and the success in Glasgow East was not followed up with comparable results in Glenrothes and Glasgow East. But still, the SNP were on an upturn, and opposition attacks weren't coming to anything.
We're now back on the pitch for the second half. And that organised performance appears to have evaporated: an attempt to raise party funds in response to a party that has Union backing and another which has Lord Ashcroft bankrolling it has turned into a '-gate' because before we get into a discussion of what's within the rules and what isn't, it never occurred to anyone to question what selling a lunch date with the First Minister would look like in the press, thereby forgetting the Basic Rule that in politics, facts take second place to appearances. Losing John McNamee might not be the worst thing in the world, but losing an exasperated Alex Dingwall, an SNP member of 31 years' standing, to the Liberal Democrats is not news you want to wake up to. This morning we discover that the Referendum Bill is to go no further than the limbo that is draft stage for the time being. And now, in an honest attempt to do the decent thing by a constituent, Nicola Sturgeon has ended up tethered by the press to a benefit fraudster, and will be expected to turn up in Parliament after the recess to explain herself simply for trying to be a good constituency MSP but by doing right thing with the wrong person.
I guess what I'm trying to say is this - and I apologise to those of you who don't like fruity language but it needs airing: What the fucking hellfire is going on in the Party?!
The need for the SNP to keep up the strong performances of the last two years is greater than ever: we're going into a Westminster election where the choice is clear. There are Labour representatives whose only priority is to stay in power at any cost, whose Whips advise new MPs to falsify receipts (that is, if we are to believe Jim Devine, the man elected as a Labour candidate, who admitted on Channel 4 that if he had thought that he'd broken the law, he'd try to cover it up), and who has seen Scotland as little more than a source of vote fodder. There are prospective Tory MPs, whose party has somehow contrived to have even fewer ideas as to how to improve people's lot than Labour presently do and whose Scottish Leader has basically told Scotland that it'll have to get what it's given (some respect agenda, that). There are those under the LibDem banner, who have given us no indication as to what lengths they'd go to to implement their programme should the opportunity arise, whose idea of liberal democracy is to deny people self-determination and whose idea of the new, consensus politics is to slag off Alex Salmond at every opportunity. In short, an SNP providing clarity and principle is just what Scotland needs right now.
And the ability to deliver on that is still there: the people are the same ones who delivered those early successes and their commitment is as strong as ever. Meanwhile, Iain Gray looks no more credible as an alternative FM than he did a year ago and is not helped by his frontbench - which strikes me as the political equivalent of an oversized novelty cheque: it might look good for display or PR purposes, but has no practical value whatsoever. That two of its members wish to look for alternative opportunities at Westminster is also damning. Annabel Goldie's comments regarding Scotland having to just put up with a Tory government that it didn't want proves that for all her bluster about the Labour Group at Holyrood, the "apologist for Whitehall" tag will simply pass to her when David Cameron enters Downing Street. And Tavish Scott? Well, somehow, he's ended up as the most constructive and mature of the three main opposition leaders in Holyrood. And he still wants to kill SNP Ministers simply to watch them die!
So the opposition, like Stoke on Tuesday night, is still playing a fairly dire game. And yet for reasons passing understanding, the SNP - just as Wigan did - is letting them in to proceedings, and giving them the chance to take a few shots. Wigan fans once again saw, as the team should have learned by now, what happens if one of those shots hits the target. Let the SNP learn from the Latics' mistakes.


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The tool also makes finding help from nonprofit legal experts easy.
Blog Post (NATIONAL)
Patrick Allan
January 27, 2017
Tags: Immigration Process, Technology
Organizations mentioned/involved: Immigration Advocates Network (IAN), Pro Bono Network (IL)
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