Hundreds of people at demo. and from the photo the only ones wearing masks are the police.

Well the news are reporting what they think will happen, I am looking forward to Boris statement for a number of reasons. The main one is that I am trying to support my staff in planning the re opening of their face to face services. Timelines were made presuming that 21st June would be the easing of restrictions, but of course we have to figure in contingency plans. I feel for all the other organisations and sectors who have been planning on resuming services but now face uncertain times. It must be difficult to keep their staff happy. Good luck to all !

Not seen much in the news about this today. Thoughts are with the families who lost xx

It’s not the first time this has happened unfortunately

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/uknews/15263697/yobs-smash-up-defibrillator-angering-community/

The story of this gentleman’s life, his accident and the tiny memories he has recently got back are incredible.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/disability-50478524

6 points on your licence and £200 fixed penalty notice if you hold and use your phone while driving.

My council has just announced that from Wednesday they will be doing surge testing in my postcode as the delta variant is rife. How is everyone feeling about the latest cases? And the news that’s saying Boris will postpone the unlocking? Right, wrong or just fed up with the whole thing?

Israel is now the first country in the world to ban the sale of fur for frivolous fashion. This victory comes after last week's news of Estonia banning fur farming.

Thousands of small pharmacies are at risk of closure because of long term underfunding combined with crippling extra costs of delivering NHS healthcare during the pandemic.

We need people power to persuade Boris Johnson to keep his promise to cover these extra costs and reduce the risk of widespread closures.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-our-local-pharmacies-2

We've got nearly 100,000 signatures now and it would be great to push it over that line, in order to get more national media coverage and make the government sit up and listen.

Thanks,

Steve and the National Pharmacy Association team

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/10/nailed-it-man-82-builds-bench-for-wife-in-30-minutes-after-council-plea-ignored?
Made me feel slightly weepy - I hope they have many more years together.

What next

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/balenciaga-stiletto-crocs-now-exist-24284321

https://action.hsi.org/page/81273/action/1?locale=en-US&fbclid=IwAR0rDb2M0-UmVDoAHeuPB4MGcAs9IMgawfht2AUnZneX-4PYsuzyAs1AChM

How could I have missed this

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57259961

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2021/06/08/queen-becomes-latest-victim-cancel-culture-portrait-removed/

What do members think

I wasn’t aware that someone had given birth to nine children in May but now it is claimed ten children have been born to one Mother.
Could you cope?

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/woman-sets-world-record-giving-24274044

Taken from Facebook but worthy of showing

Have you seen this?
https://bit.ly/33vKrY7

The pandemic isn’t over but the government has already launched a radical plan to overhaul our NHS. It would be the biggest shake up of the NHS in almost a decade, and could affect everything from wait times to how much privatisation is in our health service.

We all want to see an NHS that puts patients and its incredible staff first. And some elements of the proposed NHS reforms could be great - like plans for care services to be properly joined up. But others are more worrying, and could see further privatisation, or where you live having an impact on the quality of care you receive. That’s why these reforms need to be properly scrutinised - not rushed out in the middle of a crisis.

These reforms could be our chance to help shape the kind of NHS we want - but only if we can get the government to hit pause, and give everyone a say.

Will you join me and sign the petition today?
https://bit.ly/33vKrY7

Well, I was going to write a letter today to a prisoner and rang the prison to confirm their prison number. The lady said “Oh, you don’t need to write a letter, we now have the email a prisoner app” !! For 40p per message I can email a message that is printed off and gets to the prisoner the next day!! Amazing! I can remember back in the day when you had to wait like two weeks for a reply to a letter and now bam! 🙄

I just signed the petition "Allow all people to work flexibly if they want to" and wanted to ask if you could add your name too.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/allow-all-people-to-work-flexibly-if-they-want-to?bucket=email-blast-1_6_2021_flt_felxi_test_mon&share=77ca13d5-108c-4a0d-8729-cfe2d8fecf3a&source=&utm_campaign=1_6_2021_flt_felxi_test_mon&utm_source=

Police chief admits he’d rather his family didn’t use smart motorways

Police chief admits he’d rather his family didn’t use smart motorways

PA Images

21st May 2021

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A high-ranking police officer is among a group of motoring experts to tell MPs they’d rather see their loved ones drive on roads with hard shoulders than so-called smart motorways.

The Transport Select Committee asked a group of industry leaders – including a representative from the RAC – whether they’d feel more comfortable with relatives using a ‘controlled’ motorway with a hard shoulder or an 'all lane running' smart motorway with no hard shoulder and all the promised safety improvements.

Chris Todd, assistant chief constable at West Midlands Police, said 'if pushed', he would choose for his relatives to have the 'additional' safety of a continuous hard shoulder.

The chief constable said: “In the way it was described, the all-lanes running (motorway) with ERAs (emergency refuge areas) and with the SVD (stopped vehicle detection) system in place, I would have a high level of confidence.

“But if I was pushed for an overall or binary decision, I would probably opt for the controlled motorway in terms of the additional facilities that it provides from a policing perspective.”

This means that although he'd be confident on a smart motorway without a hard shoulder if it had all the planned safety improvements active, he'd still prefer a motorway with a full hard shoulder.

RAC head of policy Nicholas Lyes said he would also favour the controlled motorway with a hard shoulder option, but with 'additional technology'.

Speaking on the removal of the hard shoulder, Mr Lyes added: “We fundamentally changed what was needed to be done in the event of a breakdown because for decades we have had a hard shoulder.

“Then suddenly you take the hard shoulder out and there is a completely different way of having to deal with an emergency breakdown. It is a bit like changing the emergency landing procedures of an aeroplane and not telling the pilot what to do.”

On stretches of smart motorway the hard shoulder is either permanently or temporarily used as a live running lane to improve traffic flow. But drivers run the risk of being left stranded if they break down or have an accident too far from a junction or an SOS area.

Here, their safety is dependent on both the ‘red X’ being activated to close the lane, and also on drivers obeying the warning signs by changing lanes.

The Government has been under pressure to either scrap 'all lane running' smart motorways or drastically improve their safety following a number of deaths that have occurred on them. South Yorkshire Police is currently assessing whether Highways England is criminally responsible for the deaths of two men on the M1.

Last year, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps responded to a rise in smart motorway safety concerns with an 18-point action plan.

In April, the Government announced no new 'all lane running' smart motorways will be opened without radar camera technology to detect stopped or broken-down vehicles quickly. It promised plans for all existing smart motorways to have the technology installed will be brought forward by six months to September next year.

Smart motorways – what are they and how do you use them?

What to do if your car breaks down?

The Highway Code – Common UK road signs and what they mean

Answering the committee, Mr Todd, who also oversees the force’s motorway response patrols, said: “In the way it was described, the all-lanes running (motorway) with ERAs (emergency refuge areas) and with the SVD (stopped vehicle detection) system in place, I would have a high level of confidence.

“But if I was pushed for an overall or binary decision, I would probably opt for the controlled motorway in terms of the additional facilities that it provides from a policing perspective.”

He also stated on record that it’s harder for police to reach crash victims when all smart motorway lanes are in use.

In his response to the committee’s key question, RAC head of policy Nicholas Lyes said: “I think to answer the question it would be a controlled motorway with a hard shoulder and with additional safety technology."

In March, Highways England launched a new campaign ‘Go Left’ to enhance drivers’ confidence about what to do in the event of a breakdown on a motorway or major A-road, with or without a hard shoulder.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-10-things-you-need-to-know-about-d-day I love looking at things like this

Critics have voiced concerns over the NHS Digital plans, which would put the medical histories of more than 55 million patients into a database available to academic and commercial third parties for research and planning purposes.

Privacy campaigners have already spoken out against the proposals, which include sharing anonymised mental and sexual health data, criminal records, and more sensitive information. The records would be scraped from every patient in England registered to a GP clinic by NHS Digital, which runs the country’s healthcare IT systems.
SOURCES: various newspaper reports from all politcal viewpoints.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9655949/Madeleine-McCann-buried-forest-six-miles-went-missing-claims-clairvoyant.html

What do members 🤔 think

Always found Peter Ustinov amusing and saw David Niven in an audience of a chat show. Have met the occasional musician but sometimes they are quiet and thinking about their music rather than opening up.

I have only just switched my heating off owing to the low temperatures in May.
The beginning of the Meteorological Summer will always begin on 1 June; ending on 31 August.

Gee-Whizz !! The longest day is only 16 days away on the 21st June, then the days start getting shorter.

A new version of Queen’s hit song.

Especially for the lady members

https://youtu.be/AcVFtu-ZmmM

Not literally but the BBC’s newsreader was filmed on Tuesday evening , showing his legs

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/bbc-newsreader-caught-reading-headlines-5489784

I love this idea... the “books” in this library are humans- they can be checked out for a few hours and you can ask whatever questions you want to. Each “book” is labelled with a subject. It could be cancer, diabetes, an architect, each book has experience of the subject to share!

https://warwick.ac.uk/services/library/pghub/social/humanlibrary/

I’ve been reading this morning about people who are having to fly home early after Portugal was taken off the green list. I do feel sorry for them but I wonder if it is a good idea for anyone to book anywhere abroad at the moment as this could happen to any destination? Should all holidays abroad be banned? Or is it enough that people are aware this could happen and that insurances cover cancellations due to covid restrictions? I’m torn on this one guys

Gutless & frustrated of Iver Heath, you really are a pathetic little man lolololol

Rainbow grasshopper - USA

BBC News - The California girl who 'pushed a bear' to protect her dogs
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-57325483

So far, in the last 24 hours I have had 6 calls from telephone numbers using the first 7 digits of my mobile number.
Do these people seriously believe that creating a number similar to mine is going to get me to answer?
They need to think again.

Firstly, my phone is on silent 24 x 7. If someone needs to speak to me they can leave a message and I'll (maybe) get back to them, but only if I recognise the number.

Secondly, if I don't recognise the number I won't answer. They will have to leave a message. No message, no response from me.

Thirdly, if they leave a message and I'm not sure that I'm happy with things, they don't get called back.

It doesn't matter to me what number they contrive on their computers, it could even be the number before or after mine, if I don't recognise it it just takes up another line in my call history.

Up until 19:30 today only.

My daughter had hers.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/news.sky.com/story/amp/covid-19-englands-biggest-coronavirus-vaccination-centre-in-west-london-breaks-policy-to-offer-jab-to-anyone-over-18-for-today-only-12321580

Flower Mantis - SE Asia

I understand that there is another Covid variant being investigated, it's been found in Vietnam and is apparently a cross between the Indian variant and the Kent variant.

With luck, as those two appear to be controlled with our current vaccines, we won't have to worry too much about it. But we must, as ever, stay safe and get vaccinated when we are due to be.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57303306.amp

:
A man had just finished a putt and reached in the hole to get his ball, but pulled out a leprechaun!
"Sure, and ye have me." Cried the leprechaun. "And if ye let me go, for yer tribble, I'll give ye three wishes!"
"Thank you." Said the man. "I don't really need anything, so I'll pass on the wishes." He let the leprechaun go, and went off to finish his game.
The leprechaun was dumbfounded. Who had ever heard of such a thing? He sat on a pebble and thought to himself. "Such a man as that deserves three wishes! I'll give 'em to 'im in spite of 'imself! Now what!!! Why money,of course! Everyone wants money. So, for his first wish he wants to be a Millionaire! And second-let's make him a great golfer! And last-ah! Let him have a wonderful sex life."
A month went by and the leprechaun spotted the man playing on the course again. He jumped out of a hole and yelled up to the man: "How ye be doing?"
The man smiled and said. "Hello, little friend. I be doing just fine."
The leprechaun smiled back and said. "And how's yer money situation, if ye don't mind my asking?"
"It's funny you should ask." Replied the man.
"An uncle of mine passed away and left me a fortune!"
"Hah! Is that so? And how's ya golf game now?"
"It's an amazing thing." Said the man. "For the past few weeks I can't do worse than two under par!"
"Sure and that's wonderful!" With a sly look, the leprechaun asked. "And how's yer sex life?"
The man, obviously embarrassed, looked away and coughed. "Well, it's fine. Two or three times a month."
The leprechaun was aghast. "Two or three times a month? That's horrible!"
The man looked up and said. "Actually, it's not bad for a priest in a small parish."

I've been to 14

Did anyone enjoy this series as much as I did?

To me, this was one of the funniest programmes of the week and what I really like about it is that someone wins the £10,000 prize.

The rules are simple, a couple have to decide whether each of 6 people can or cannot sing. If, when they get to the last "singer" that person can sing, the couple win £10,000. If on the other hand the 6th "singer" has fooled them and cannot sing, that person wins the £10,000.

I love the concept and have to say that even though Amanda Holden is on the panel Jimmy Carr manages to throw in at least one perfect insult to her every week, and she always takes it well.
Alison Hammond is brilliantly funny and makes me laugh with very little effort on her part. (Especially the ladylike way she sits! )
I've never liked Paddy McGuinness in any other programme, but he is so well suited to this one.
For me, it has been the funniest and most enjoyable programme of the week and I look forward to seeing the next series.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08jknt4

'Monstrous' warehouse and distribution centre planned for farmland in West Yorkshire would 'dominate' Spen Valley landscape https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/politics/monstrous-warehouse-and-distribution-centre-planned-for-farmland-in-west-yorkshire-would-dominate-spen-valley-landscape-3253504

“How many years of beauty do I have left?
she asks me.
How many more do you want?
Here. Here is 34. Here is 50.

When you are 80 years old
and your beauty rises in ways
your cells cannot even imagine now
and your wild bones grow luminous and
ripe, having carried the weight
of a passionate life.

When your hair is aflame
with winter
and you have decades of
learning and leaving and loving
sewn into
the corners of your eyes
and your children come home
to find their own history
in your face.

When you know what it feels like to fail
ferociously
and have gained the
capacity
to rise and rise and rise again.

When you can make your tea
on a quiet and ridiculously lonely afternoon
and still have a song in your heart
Queen owl wings beating
beneath the cotton of your sweater.

Because your beauty began there
beneath the sweater and the skin,
remember?

This is when I will take you
into my arms and coo
YOU BRAVE AND GLORIOUS THING
you’ve come so far.

I see you.
Your beauty is breathtaking."

~ Jeannette Encinias

https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/
I love this site, it fascinates me looking through the collections

This is the most colourful one in the UK, it is very rare and found only in Snowdonia and is a protected species.

The Rainbow leaf beetle.

That woman with the annoying screechy voice trying to get me to buy a ticket for a chance to win a house from Omaze.

It closed last night.

Hopefully she'll have a sore throat when the next one starts.

In a secret ceremony while everyone was talking about football

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15108452/boris-johnson-marries-carrie-symonds-westminster/

One of the jewel bugs.

Grrrrr what a performance!! I purchased two small items, both under a tenner, from Ebay and paid via PayPal. I had to pay separately for each item, confirm I wasn't a robot, receive and enter a security code and do this a couple of times for each item before the payment was accepted.
Ebay are definitely trying to put people off from using PayPal. No way am I giving Ebay my bank card details.
Has anyone else had this problem?