The "And in other news..." thread

[Ediswan]

Fortunately, the Somerset Gazette provides a more detailed location.

Put these co-ordinates into the search box on your online mapping service of choice: 50.979555, -3.282310

Excellent detail, but where from ? I don't see the co-ordinates in the local news article.

 

[Strathclyder]

The grass strip down the middle of the 'road' is generally a good indication of unsuitability. Does the lane start wider and at some point the driver had no other choice than to continue and hope for the best?

Possibly. Cornwall is about as far from being my geographical area of expertise as is possible to get on the UK mainland, so I wouldn't know for sure lol

Fortunately, the Somerset Gazette provides a more detailed location.

Put these co-ordinates into the search box on your online mapping service of choice: 50.979555, -3.282310

Ah, cheers for the additional info.

Angela said the transporter was moved later in the day, with a pile of earth left at the entrance to a nearby field.

Wonder what the owner of that field said upon making that discovery. Nothing that could be repeated in polite company, I'm sure!

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Excellent detail, but where from ? I don't see the co-ordinates in the local news article.

I worked it out all by myself. The power of the internet: such a wealth of knowledge instantly available and unavailable to previous generations. How did they cope. The news article just gives the name of two villages.

 

[Ediswan]

I worked it out all by myself. The power of the internet: such a wealth of knowledge instantly available and unavailable to previous generations. How did they cope. The news article just gives the name of two villages.

Oops. I missed the mention of two small villages in the local report.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Put these co-ordinates into the search box on your online mapping service of choice: 50.979555, -3.282310

Good sleuthing. In satellite view mode, you can see the big tree at the tight right-handed bend in the roadway, as also is seen in the two Angela Boyd photos that the BBC used.

 

[PG]

Cornwall is about as far from being my geographical area of expertise as is possible to get on the UK mainland, so I wouldn't know for sure lol

Try moving a bit inland for starters, Wellington is in Somerset then Devon is inbetween before you hit Cornwall

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Try moving a bit inland for starters, Wellington is in Somerset then Devon is inbetween before you hit Cornwall

What's the rule on cream teas in Somerset? Jam first or cream? Or scrumpy?

 

[PG]

What's the rule on cream teas in Somerset? Jam first or cream? Or scrumpy?

Oogh arr I don't know... and what's a cream tea? Now where's me scrumpy

 

[brad465]

Top quality headline from the Metro:

Tory MP 'caught watching porn' during mass debate in House of Commons

There was reportedly a 'highly-charged meeting' about it last night.

metro.co.uk

A male Tory MP has been accused of watching porn on his phone in the House of Commons.

An investigation has been launched in the Conservative Party after the shocking allegation surfaced today.

The MP, said to be a frontbencher, was sitting next to an alarmed female minister while he watched the adult video, it’s claimed.

A minister also told The Times she had caught a ‘repeat offender’ MP watching porn both in the Commons and during a committee meeting.

 

[najaB]

Top quality headline from the Metro:

Tory MP 'caught watching porn' during mass debate in House of Commons

There was reportedly a 'highly-charged meeting' about it last night.

metro.co.uk

I always thought the Tories were a bunch of w**kers.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Top quality headline from the Metro:

Tory MP 'caught watching porn' during mass debate in House of Commons

There was reportedly a 'highly-charged meeting' about it last night.

metro.co.uk

Regardless of the content [and who can also see it] he should be concentrating on his job not watching something unrelated. Unless he was watching the Parliament Channel and a particularly exciting committee session. Perhaps the business of democracy is too demeaning for this individual and he would rather be somewhere else. Come the next general election he may be given that opportunity.

 

[Gloster]

Come the next general election he may be given that opportunity.

If we learn who he (presumably) is. Even if there isn’t some obscure rule that could be invoked to prevent his name becoming public, I wouldn’t put it past the current lot to pass a motion that would have the same effect.

 

[najaB]

If we learn who he (presumably) is.

The first four words of the article "A male Tory MP..."

 

[341o2]

American tourists cause mass panic at Israel's international airport by presenting an unexploded shell from a visit to the Golan Heights

A US family caused a bomb scare at Israel's main international airport after presenting an unexploded artillery shell at a security check.
They had picked up the ordnance on a visit to the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, site of wars between Israel and Syria, according to authorities.
Video footage on social media showed people running from the scene in panic.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-61267265

 

[najaB]

American tourists cause mass panic at Israel's international airport by presenting an unexploded shell from a visit to the Golan Heights



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-61267265

As silly as that was, I'm more in awe of Uri who stumbled over the conveyor and flew for 6m!

 

[brad465]

As this is both amusing and covering multiple topics, I've put this beauty of a Venn diagram here:

https://twitter.com/DmitryOpines/status/1520402143781478402

Last one, I promise.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Changed a light bulb the other day. It lasted 22 years and 11 months - older than a number of forum members I suspect.
Some may suggest it strange to note the dates that light bulbs are installed, but back in 1999 those new fangled long-life low-energy light bulbs were quite expensive, especially when compared to cheap filament bulbs.
Since you ask: Philips Ecotone 11W.

 

[najaB]

Changed a light bulb the other day. It lasted 22 years and 11 months - older than a number of forum members I suspect.
Some may suggest it strange to note the dates that light bulbs are installed, but back in 1999 those new fangled long-life low-energy light bulbs were quite expensive, especially when compared to cheap filament bulbs.
Since you ask: Philips Ecotone 11W.

Impressive. Given the lifetime of LED bulbs, assuming that it gets the same use as the one it replaced there's a good chance that the new one will outlast you!

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Impressive. Given the lifetime of LED bulbs, assuming that it gets the same use as the one it replaced there's a good chance that the new one will outlast you!

It has already occurred to me that [unused] bulbs should be listed in my will. Installed bulbs should perhaps be listed in the inventory when you buy / sell a property. Do people remove them when they move?

I previously bought a three pack, 15 years life each, did the sums from my then age..... unlikely to get full value out of that purchase! More than one room will take that bulb though.

Also of interest [perhaps] is that most people probably don't stay in the same house that long so wouldn't know how long the bulbs they installed lasted after they moved house, or how long the bulbs in their new house had been there.

 

[341o2]

Road reopening in the New forest is delayed by bird's nest. The bridge originally carried the A35 over the Brockenhurst - Ringwood line which has since been converted to a road, Holmsley station is now a tea room but acknowledges that it was once a railway station.

A BIRD'S nest which has put motorists in a flap and delayed the opening of a key route under the A35 has been confirmed as that of a sparrow.

The C10 Station Road is shut underneath the main road, which was reopened after three months on 11th April when Holmsley bridge was replaced in a £5.5m project by contractors Knights Brown.

Despite promises by Hampshire County Council the C10 would also be ready for use shortly afterwards, the route stayed closed, and HCC confirmed yesterday (Thursday) it was because of a bird's nest.

advertiser and times

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Changed a light bulb the other day. It lasted 22 years and 11 months - older than a number of forum members I suspect.
Some may suggest it strange to note the dates that light bulbs are installed, but back in 1999 those new fangled long-life low-energy light bulbs were quite expensive, especially when compared to cheap filament bulbs.
Since you ask: Philips Ecotone 11W.

I still have two Phillips SL Comfort bulbs going in this house - these will have been installed in July 1993 when I moved in... so almost 29 years and counting...

Probably not a coincidence that we are both talking about the same manufacturer; Phillips do seem to know what they are doing with bulbs.

 

[brad465]

A Dutch 4 year old boy drove his mum's car and is being billed as the next Max Verstappen:

Dutch boy, 4, takes mother's car for a joyride

Despite crashing into two parked cars, no one was hurt in the youngster's early morning escapade.

www.bbc.co.uk

A four-year-old boy could have a future in Formula One after taking his mum's car for a drive in the Netherlands.
Police in the central city of Utrecht said the child crashed into two parked cars on Saturday, before leaving the scene in his pyjamas and bare feet.
Concerned bystanders called police after spotting him walking down the street alone in the cold.
No one was hurt during his escapade, with police saying on Instagram they had discovered a "new Max Verstappen".
Police wrote that the child had woken up on Saturday when his father went to work, and taken his mother's car keys "to go for a drive".
After officers were called to pick him up, a report came in of an abandoned vehicle near-by, which appeared to have hit two parked cars.
It was registered to the boy's mother, the force said, and officers called her. Handing over the phone to the youngster, police said he mimicked driving and made gestures of turning a steering wheel.
"We then realised that the child may have been the driver," the Instagram post continued.

The four-year-old was given some hot chocolate at the police station and a teddy bear, before being reunited with his mum.
Together, they went to the crash scene, where he was asked if he could show how the car worked.
The child - described by his mother as "resourceful" - opened the car with the key, put it into the ignition and moved his foot to the clutch and gas pedals, police said.
Officers urged the parents to hide their car keys in the future,
"New Max Verstappen found in (the Utrecht suburb of) Overvecht," police wrote in the post - a reference to the current Dutch world champion Formula One driver.
"Fortunately, this mini driver's adventure has come to an end with a sizzle," police added.

 

[Cowley]

A Dutch 4 year old boy drove his mum's car and is being billed as the next Max Verstappen:

Dutch boy, 4, takes mother's car for a joyride

Despite crashing into two parked cars, no one was hurt in the youngster's early morning escapade.

www.bbc.co.uk

I loved this:

The child - described by his mother as "resourceful"

 

[GusB]

This has just made my day:

Piers Morgan ratings dive as talkTV struggles to attract viewers

Flagship show audience down 80% after launch and rating agency detects ‘zero viewers’ for other key slots

www.theguardian.com

Rupert Murdoch’s talkTV television channel has been rated as having “zero viewers” during primetime broadcasts, as the new television channel struggles to attract an audience despite signing up Piers Morgan as a presenter.

The News Desk, the channel’s hour-long political show hosted by Tom Newton Dunn, did not register a single viewer for half of its Tuesday evening broadcast. Although this does not rule out the possibility that some people were watching somewhere in the UK, it means the television audience was so small that it was not picked up by official rating agency, the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board.


The audience for Morgan’s flagship 8pm evening show also collapsed from an average of 317,000 viewers on its launch night to 62,000 viewers a week later – a fall of 80%.

Morgan, who tweeted gleefully about his first night television ratings, now insists he does not care about such figures. He told his social media followers that television ratings should be ignored: “Linear TV increasingly irrelevant to total eyeball potential for a global show like this, especially with younger viewers who don’t really watch TV any more.”

I just wish this awful man would give up and go away forever.

 

[brad465]

Oops:

Virgin Atlantic flight returns to Heathrow after pilot roster error

Virgin Atlantic said it emerged the first officer had not completed his final flying test.

www.bbc.co.uk

A Virgin Atlantic aircraft turned back to Heathrow after it emerged the first officer had not completed his final flying test.
About 40 minutes into the flight to New York on Monday, the two pilots became aware of the "rostering error", the airline said.
Flight VS3 had reached the skies over Ireland before returning to Heathrow.
Virgin Atlantic said a replacement for the first officer was found and the plane departed again for New York.
The airline insisted safety was not compromised and explained the initial first officer joined Virgin Atlantic in 2017.
He was fully qualified under UK aviation regulations, the airline added, but had not completed a final assessment flight that was part of the airline's internal requirements.
The flight turned back as the captain had not been designated as a trainer.

'Exceed industry standards'​

Control of an aircraft is usually shared between a first officer and the captain, but the latter holds ultimate responsibility for what happens on a flight.
A Virgin Atlantic spokeswoman said: "The qualified first officer, who was flying alongside an experienced captain, was replaced with a new pilot to ensure full compliance with Virgin Atlantic's training protocols, which exceed industry standards.
"We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our customers, who arrived two hours and 40 minutes later than scheduled as a result of the crew change."
A Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokesperson confirmed both pilots were suitably licensed and "qualified to undertake the flight".

 

[Baxenden Bank]

This has just made my day:

Piers Morgan ratings dive as talkTV struggles to attract viewers

Flagship show audience down 80% after launch and rating agency detects ‘zero viewers’ for other key slots

www.theguardian.com

I just wish this awful man would give up and go away forever.

They say "as the new television channel struggles to attract an audience despite signing up Piers Morgan as a presenter."
Despite, or because of?

 

[birchesgreen]

They say "as the new television channel struggles to attract an audience despite signing up Piers Morgan as a presenter."
Despite, or because of?

"Love him or hate him you won't want to miss him." the advert claims.

Turns out most people are quite happy to miss him.

 

[D6968]

"Love him or hate him you won't want to miss him." the advert claims.

Turns out most people are quite happy to miss him.

I might miss him at first but after while I’m sure my aim will improve

 

[brad465]

"Love him or hate him you won't want to miss him." the advert claims.

Turns out most people are quite happy to miss him.

Also good to know all those adverts in train billboard slots with that inscription have been a waste of money. Just need them to withdraw funding of it so I don't have to look at them anymore.

 

[Strathclyder]

This has just made my day:

Piers Morgan ratings dive as talkTV struggles to attract viewers

Flagship show audience down 80% after launch and rating agency detects ‘zero viewers’ for other key slots

www.theguardian.com

I just wish this awful man would give up and go away forever.

Gotta love this bit, which is so typical of Morgan and his mental gymnastics:

Morgan, who tweeted gleefully about his first night television ratings, now insists he does not care about such figures. He told his social media followers that television ratings should be ignored: “Linear TV increasingly irrelevant to total eyeball potential for a global show like this, especially with younger viewers who don’t really watch TV any more.”

Anything to avoid his ego getting bruised. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this 'flagship' show goes the way of his CNN show, certainly looks like it's headed that way.

Goes without saying obviously, but I'll say it anyway: what a insufferable windbag. Honestly wish he'd just fade into irrelevence.