Latest Moan From You and Me 2025

I wasn't intending to slag off the EU, I was really just saying that its another step, so anyone going into the EU for whatever reason will need to have their finger prints taken, so really having an ID card is not that bigger deal.

 

I agree that the RNLI 's sole purpose is to rescue those in danger at sea. It's not in their remit to ask for ID before they rescue them. I'll admit to being somewhat annoyed with them a few years ago. One of their reps. was stopping people outside a supermarket and asking for a donation. I offered a couple of pound coins which was refused as they actually wanted donors to sign up for a Lottery. I was treated to a long and patronising lecture about how they were no longer interested in "cash" donations. As far as I am aware, cash is still a legal currency here ( at the moment anyway !! ) . I suspect I wasn't the only passerby who refused to sign up.

@Obelix-Vendée I was being polite about Reform Apart from anything else, Farage is already well known for milking any system he can get his paws on. Nor does he have any realistic idea on how to resolve the problems here than does my neighbours prize winning sheep. As for Trump and his MAGA army ??? More like MMER ( make me even richer ). It seems some American citizens are waking up to the fact that he isn't the Superman they thought he was.

 

Charities rarely accept money these days, you do get the odd collection box rattled around christmas time occasionally, but mostly they want you to set up a direct debit, either for a lottery or just as a monthly donation.

 

@pete Yes I think you are probably right but I could have done without that chap's lecture I already make monthly DD's for charities so there's a limit.
Maybe all those who don't want to sign up could simply line up along the Channel coast and offer to swim back to France with 1 migrant on their back and deposit their passenger there safely. I'm sure the govt. would applaud them - may even offer them a free lunch and an MBE

 

You can't just take one to France you have to bring one back with you to reduce the numbers, yes I know I don't understand it either but the government says it works

 

I hate walking passed all the chuggers at the supermarket, been lots there recently.
I think supermarkets should ban them, its driving customers away.

 

Smartphone theft is now at epidemic levels globally, the more dependent we are of them, the more they are targeted. These devices are not coming down in price, so the second market is very lucrative. Add into the fact we are using these devices for more and more for purchases and banking etc etc, then this epidemic will only get worse. The mobile industry must be rubbing their hands with how we are becoming so independent of these devices.

There was a 3 part programme about Thailand, it was called, The dark side of paradise. The presenter spoke to tourists who had been arrested for overstaying. Pay the fine and go home, most likely escorted, don't pay the fine, then locked up, until the fine is paid and deported, the fine is about £13 per day for each you overstay. The presenter thought this was harsh for overstaying, it doesn't matter if you over stay for 1 day or a 100 days, you broke the law. Tourists are welcome to stay in Thailand longer than the 60 day visa exemption, there are visa's for this though. Yet the British presenter was defending those tourists who knew themselves they had breached the visa exemption rules. If Thailand does not have a deterrent, then it will only increase the numbers of overstayers, but this doesn't seem to be the UK's approach.

 

So we are now growing rice, those very clever people have worked out its just about warm enough to grow rice now.
Has any of these really clever people worked out where the water is going to come from.

Rice likes swampy conditions, does it not?

 

Remembrance Day poppies are still available for cash.

 

I had to smile when I heard it was grown in East Anglia specifically near Ely. Now where is one of the driest parts of the UK?
UK's first rice crop ripe for picking after hot summer

 

And rice is a very poor foodstuff in terms of calories and nutrients supplied in relation to time and resources needed to produce it. Madness!

 

Apparently the yields of rice can be 20% greater when using a drip irrigation system while cutting down on the amount of water needed. When you start to have issues of water scarcity, then irrigation farming of rice will grow in popularity, especially if it increases the yields without reducing the quality, India and other countries have put ban's or increased the duty on the exports of rice in the past. When the retail price increases, then food inflation increases, hence why they imposed bans to protect food security for their country.

 

I also heard the news about growing rice successfully here in East Anglia Given the amount of sewage we manage to deposit everywhere ( other than the intended destination ), I expect the rice will grow faster and fatter than one would normally expect. That will please the various water companies and all customers will soon get a free bag of rice delivered along with their water. Apart from the fact we are told that water is often in short supply, what's not to like

 

Never was a fan of rice pudding.