Salt n Vinegar

Hmmm... The Government's assurances about local support for fracking being a pre-condition for it being allowed might be taking a bit of a hit, according to the Independent... Not sure if it's a lie, corruption or hypocrisy but it may be verging on giving reassurances that might not be particularly reassuring.. "Residents living close to one of the UK’s most controversial proposed fracking sites have reacted with astonishment after it emerged fracking companies themselves may be placed in charge of surveying local opinion on whether drilling should go ahead. Government sources have suggested that companies like Cuadrilla – rather than councils or any other independent body – will be mandated to test if the controversial procedure has support." Article at (but there may be a paywall? Dunno. ) - https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/fracking-public-support-lancashire-b2182883.html Nothing to see here, move on, move on.

The present panic decision by the Undynamic Duo to go to meet the OBR seems to me to be a bit like eleven folk deciding to form a football team, losing their first match 50-0, then deciding to go and ask someone what the laws of the game are.

IIRC the September CPI figure is also used to calculate the change in public sector pensions from the following April. If those don't rise with the September CPI, how many former teaching, university, civil service, police, firefighters, local government, armed forces, NHS, etc staff will be losing out, and what will their attitudes be? How many folk do the Tories seriously think they can p*ss off and not suffer the electoral consequences? I've no idea how many public sector pensioners there are (a quick google didn't throw up a total) but looking at those employment groups it must be many, many millions across the UK, mustn't it?

Well, ok, but only if you promise to sort out the brown sauce/tomato sauce quandary as well.

Time to invest in whoever owns Kleenex. If the Tories have shrugged off the wails of the international money markets, just wait until they feck with pensions. Tears and snotters all over the place.

Just wait until the Chancer of the Exchequer announces that the Government is going to abolish funding for the Massed Pipes and Drums of the House of Lords Canteen Staff Association.

A major worry for the Truss/Kwartang axis of misery will be the September CPI inflation rate (which will be announced in mid-October) and the consequent decision on pension and benefit increases which take effect from the following April. If inflation is around 10% will benefits and pensions rise by that amount?

The situation is so peachy that Sky's normal news at noon has been replaced by special programme called "Financial Crisis: Explained". Nothing to see here, move along now.

Any chance of a quick visit to Scotland by the new PM? I could do with a laugh.

The ones with spare loot will also be able to hoover up shares at currently lower than normal prices. Champagne cocktails all round!

Quite a few potential captions for that reaction.. "Prime Minister... the Chair of the 1922 Committee would like a meeting" or "Prime Minister... that's the Chair of the Treasury Select Committee on the phone - he says it's urgent". Fill yer boots...

Glass of brandy and a revolver?

I'd imagine that the forthcoming Tory Party conference will be a quiet, calm affair. It's all going so well. I understand that Sunak is not attending.

Hmm ... who to listen to about international economics... The IMF and the Bank of England or Murdo Fraser Tough call.

Nothing to see here. The Bank of England has to step in to try to solve a financial car crash caused by the Government less than a week ago. Perfectly normal. Don't look over here... look over there... erm erm erm flags! Royalty! Talking Britain down! The IMF has self-declared as a left wing organisation! Time for a "Who will be the next (temporary) leader of the Conservative Party" thread?

In the finest traditions of being a Scotland fan for over 50 years, barely 10 minutes after the final whistle, my brother-in-law was bemoaning our promotion on the grounds that we'll "be straight back doon" because the big teams will batter us. Every silver lining has a cloud!

To be fair, if Dart had failed, we could just send up John McGinn in a rocket and let him batter the asteroid away with his backside.

Interesting stuff coming out from Sarwar. He bangs on about the politics of us versus them and the politics of division when discussing the SNP, apparently ignoring the pretty obvious point that he is indulging in exactly the same approach to the decades old politics of right v left, boss v worker and public v private sector so beloved of Labour and the Tories. Unless of course he is in some way suggesting that in his view Labour aren't fundamentally opposed to the Tories - no us versus them and no politics of division for him - and you can't slip a piece of paper between the Labour and Tory parties and their attitudes to Scotland. No, surely not.

Well done NASA. What a great success. Maybe there is hope that humanity might be able to smack a much bigger one enough to avoid an Earth impact. Much better and more important viewing than some other supposedly crucial TV we've been subjected to recently.

You'd have thought they'd have learned from Thatcher's "we're just not getting our message across" BS. I also doubt that it would even be a case of what you describe as 'talking to Scotland'... more likely to be talking AT Scotland.

Fek it, I've got a pair of boots somewhere in the garage. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm of mature years, a bit overweight and have high blood pressure I'd be a shoe-in for a starting berth. Suppose that means I'll have to content myself with a place on the bench.

This is such an unbelievable shambles... Pound collapsing, wealth gap widening, Cabinet split incoming on immigration, Bank of England rumoured to be planning another rapid interest rate rise... any minute now I expect that the Cabinet will start to unzip their foreheads to reveal they are actually the Slitheen from Dr Who. You may scoff but it's only marginally less believable than the pretence that these inept "c"ankers actually know what they are doing. Tell you what, it's going to take a Hell of a" look over there" to deflect us from looking "over here". "Queen's corgies were CIA agents"; "Megan rages as Harry signs for Chelsea"; maybe even "Boris to divorce Carrie and run away with Nadine Dorries." The Daily Mail and Express readers might fall for it, but the money markets managers won't, and they haven't taken their eyes off the ball over the past few days.

If we keep losing players at this rate, Steve Clarke will get his seventh cap.

In my admittedly brief involvement in the hospitality industry many years ago, (hotel "up north" ) having a junior management position just meant that the poor sod took all the gripes from staff and customers for a tiny increase in pay. The extra responsibility itself was seen as the "benefit" which was ridiculous given that at the end of the tourist season almost all staff were shown the door. The junior manager, being slightly more expensive to employ, would be more likely to get the boot. Fewer bedrooms to clean and fewer meals in the restaurant meant fewer staff to "supervise" so less need for a junior manager.

Aye, that's frustrating. He was seen as a great hope for the future of the midfield and looked to develop into a great playmaker for the national side, but he seems to have fallen away. I can remember thinking that he was a shoe-in for 100 caps. If earlier performances (and hype) from the relatively recent past had been an indication of his quality and progress, a physically and match fit Gilmour would be a massive asset. Here's hoping...