Falling On A Bruise

I'm The New Long Jump Record Holder Apparently

2026-05-18T01:00:00.000+01:00

During one of our lunchtimes chats, we had the discussion about if you was on a train and jumped up, would you actually land in the same place and after much backwards and forwards we decided in the view of passengers on the train, as you are travelling at the same speed of the train you are on, yes you would but to anyone outside of the train, no you would land a few metres further forward.
Someone actually came up with the maths which i tried to ignore as not to get a headache but the jist is that if the train is travelling at 100 mph (approximately 44 metres per second), and you are in the air for 1 second, you would land 44 metres further along the track than when you started.
Yep, bit of a headache to work out and i took his word for it because he is a bit of a brainiac but then we got BIG, planet sized actually because the Earth is careening through space at 67,000 mph or 29,900 metres per second so for that 1 second jump, when we land we have travelled 29,900 metres or 18.5 miles through Space.
That's three quarters of a Marathon in 1 second which is not only mind boggling but makes a mockery of the long jump World record which stands at a piffling 8.95 metres and i just beat while standing in kitchen and didn't end with me shaking sand out of my shoes.

Special Guest Blogger: Pam Hogg

2026-05-18T00:30:00.004+01:00

If there’s one thing I’ve mastered in my 70-odd years as a Scottish fashion maverick, it’s leaving quite the impression. Whether it’s through my designs, my opinions on the eternal Scottish drizzle or my unshakable belief that kilts are not just for men (more on that later), I’ve certainly not done things half-cocked.
Growing up in Scotland, I learned early that fashion and functionality were two peas in a pod. While the pretty lasses in London were swanning around in flimsy cocktail dresses, we up here were stitching extra layers into our skirts to survive the April gales. But you know what? That bloody cold taught me something vital: comfort is key. Yes, even in fashion. Hence why my first design, a tweed skirt with a secret thermal lining, became an instant hit among office workers and the elderly.
I always fancied myself as a bit of a rock chick and in the 70s I played in several bands, one regularly supported The Pogues during their early days but i was creating a sideline of clothing some of pops greatest icons, Paula Yates, Marie Helvin, Siouxsie Sioux and Debbie Harry.
The 1980s were a muckle turning point. I had tried to be the pop star without little success but in the early 80s I traded in my clothing market stall for a walk on the wild side of London’s fashion scene. I’ll never forget my first show, one critic called it a bagpipe exploded on a catwalk but my Scottish heritage was the backbone of my work.
My 'Patchwork of Perseverance' collection made the models look like they’d raided a skip and a grandmother’s attic, but good grief, it won awards.
It was then that i dipped my toes back into the World of Music when Debbie Harry asked me to support her 1993 tour so I cobbled together a new band, Doll, in five days, and in 1994 with the band firmly established, opened for the punk band The Raincoats.
I did come back to fashion in the 2000s, designing outfits for musicians including Rihanna, Björk and Kylie Minogue and when i lay dying of Cancer i knew that i had done my part to prove that fashion isn’t just about looking pretty, it’s about being bold, being weird, and being Scottish enough to know when to wrap up warm.

See The Funny, Snarling Clowns

2026-05-17T21:09:21.202+01:00

As luck would have i wasn't here for the extreme right wing march in London yesterday where thousands of fascists descended in Parliament Square to the relief of shop owners everywhere as the national shoplifting rate dropped for a day.
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon who organised the even put the turnout at 150,000 but the Police said 50,000 (and who would you believe, the police or someone who has been sentenced five times for assault, threats, harassment and fraud as well as contempt of court) which is still 50,000 too many but with that many people chanting all sorts of racist nonsense, it took the combined IQ of the crowd to 50,000 as each right wing extremist has the IQ of a wooden bench, the cleverer ones anyway.
Luckily, 50,000 morons out of a population is 70 million is a small number but the concern is that most of these are of legally voting age and we all know where they will be scratching their X, next to Nigel Farage who is the new face of racism in the country and who leads Reform who are currently leading the polls for the next Prime Minister which should scare the hell out of anyone who isn't a nutter or insane.
Whenever i see or hear of crowds of fascists and racists getting together, my mind goes to a punk song from the late 80's which summed up perfectly what happens when the extreme right wing get their claws into the next generation.

Between the hours of twelve and two
The nagging doubts will come to you
Be paranoid parents coz they're after your kids
Who don't know what an Aryan master race is
They'll plant the seeds that will grow in time
And start the disease that will poison their minds
Fill them up with hatred and dress them up in robes
You know how the story goes
We've got one Mississippi
2 Mississippis 3 Mississippis
4 Mississippis 5 Mississippis 6 Mississippis burning
We've got 7 Mississippis 8 Mississippis
9 Mississippis 10 Mississippis
11 Mississippis 12 Mississippis burning burning burning
Burning down on this little mining town
Where people come from miles around
To see the funny snarling clowns

That's the concern, the seeds are being planted and are growing in, and poisoning the minds of the next generation.
I am confident that the UK is not on a trajectory of becoming like America under Trump where the racists are not longer on the fringes but emboldened to spout their awfulness by the snarling clowns in charge but then i never thought it would happen over there and we are watching on with amazement that it did and the suffering, destruction and ruin that has followed being run by people who are evidently not qualified to run a country. Take note UK.

Iran War Part 2?

2026-05-17T20:05:57.161+01:00

Israel have always seen the phrase 'ceasefire' as a reason to not cease firing at all and during the ongoing ones with Lebanon and Gaza, the death toll continues to grow with 8 more killed in Gaza today and an unknown amount in Lebanon following 100 strikes against Hezbollah targets.
After Netanyahu spoke with his simple patsy in the White House, the one with Iran looks iffy also as the War Criminal in Tel Aviv and the sex pest and (probable) pedophile in the White House announce that they have been on the phone to discuss: 'Intense preparations for renewed attacks against Iran since the ceasefire was agreed last month'.
US officials say Trump, who has just returned from being poo-poohed by China,wants to negotiate a deal to end the war but Iran's refusal of his demands has put military action back on the table for which Iran replied that they would like to negotiate a deal but what America is offering are 'Not tangible' and are only offering 'Excessive and unacceptable demands.'
Whether the Tangerine Tyrant is bluffing to exert pressure on Iran we will find out but we know Israel are always itching to bomb and kill their neighbours in the Middle East so Trump could be bounced into it anyway if Israel do what they do best and break the ceasefire.
What has not yet sunk in into Trump's dementia riddled brain is Iran did not back down during the last onslaught and will be unlikely to back down this time either and are actually more likely to hit out again at other Middle East nations as they have already threatened to do.
The man with his name running through the Trumpstein Files he is so keen to distract from is desperate to end the debacle he started but the Iranian leaders are not allowing him to which gives us the very strange situation where many people i have spoken to are rooting for Iran over America and Israel, such is the depths America's reputation have fallen to under the man who vies for the worst American President in my lifetime with George W Bush.

Congratulations Bulgaria

2026-05-17T19:32:55.413+01:00

It doesn't happen very often but Bulgaria was one of my picks to win the Eurovision Song Contest with Bangaranga which took place in Vienna amidst protests and boycotts over Israel’s participation.
The most relieved people in the building must have been the Eurovision Organisers who faced wholesale boycotts if Israel won and with the European Jewish Community urging all Jews to vote for Israel, at one point it looked as though the stage in Tel Aviv was going to be a lonely place next year but Bulgaria swept in to snatch top place with the final scores of the night and make sure we all arrive in Sofia next year.
The loud booing when Israel moved to the top of the leaderboard before they could shut off the crowd reaction as they did in the performances, quite rightly made it crystal clear to the Organisers what the Eurovision Crowd thought of their refusal to ban Israel for their ongoing War Crimes and just what would hit the fan if they won it.
I was in discussions with friends and colleagues that i would be boycotting itself for the first time since the 80s if Israel won it but that bullet was avoided luckily.
The UK Performer, Look Mom No Computer, admitted before his performance that his synth pop song was marmite which some people will love and some hate but finishing bottom on 1 point showed that the liking it crowd was pretty small but the Bookies favourite, Finland, ended up sixth which shows just how difficult it is to guess the eventual winner (if it isn't set up by a religious community beforehand that is) and we had the usual neighbours voting for neighbours but nothing we can do about that and it is just accepted as it always has been but all's well that end well so congratulations Bulgaria on your first ever Eurovision win and see you next May.

Special Guest Blogger: June Lockheart

2026-05-16T00:30:00.005+01:00

So, picture it: 1954. I was fresh-faced, wide-eyed, and destined to become the only human regular on a show with a dog who could out-act half the West End. That’s right, Lassie.
I played Ruth Martin, the moral compass, the tea-pourer, the woman who said, 'Timmy, no!' approximately six thousand times. I loved that dog but do you know how hard it is to share screen time with a cute collie?
I’d rehearse my lines for hours, deliver my monologue and then Lassie would tilt his head, whimper beautifully with those large, soulful eyes and steal the scene.
Still, I built a legacy. Or at least, I thought I had. I was in films such as A Christmas Carol and Meet Me in St. Louis and then 1965 rolled around, and I was offered a role on Lost in Space. Finally! A human drama! Space adventure! A chance to wear a skirt in zero gravity! I was Ma Robinson, the calm, capable matriarch of a family that kept getting lost.
People keep telling me Lost in Space was ahead of its time to which I say, it was so far ahead that it didn’t even know where it was going but I held it together. I hugged Robot, I soothed Will, I gave Judy sensible advice and all while wearing heels on alien planets.
And yet, somehow, the Robot and Dr. Smith became cultural icons. The Robot, bless him, with his blinking lights and melodramatic warnings got action figures but I don’t begrudge the Bot his success. He was a good colleague, always on time and never complained about the heat on the soundstage.
I did a lot of TV, stage and screen work and I was the glue in most of them, the sensible woman in the middle of chaos, whether that involved Timmy in a well, or Will Robinson being menaced by a sentient turnip from Planet Zorblax and yet, through sheer force of being the only adult in two shows dominated by non-humans, I carved out a niche.
I made peace with my place in pop culture. I was never the star attraction. I wasn’t the wonder dog or the sassy robot. I was the one who said, Now, now, let’s not panic, while the world exploded around us.

Most Beautiful Countries

2026-05-14T20:00:00.000+01:00

With 193 countries in the United Nations, Earth has something for anyone and everyone but some nations are a bit better than others and the World Population Review has ranked the Globe's most beautiful countries in 2026 and of the top 100, i have been to only 25 of them although 7 of them are in the top 10 so that's not bad.
Top and most beautiful is Greece, then it is New Zealand, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Thailand, Norway, Iceland, Australia and Austria.
Ireland is 11th, Canada 18th, France 20th, Japan 23rd, UK 45th, China 46th, Germany 50th, USA 51st and Russia 66th.
I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and i don't know what criteria the World Population Review used to choose the most beautiful but for me Austria was breathtaking but then we was there in December with the snow and halfway up a mountain and every morning we looked out of our window at a scene from a Christmas Card so it may be very different in August although i do enjoy a mountain scenery so all of the Alpine nations would do it for me.
The UK has the green rolling hills and history going for it and France, especially Paris, is spoilt for famous monuments and statues, it must be a nightmare trying to cram it all in for a tourist guide because everywhere you look is something famous and the Scandinavian Countries have the fjords which are so beautiful that people get up in the early hours just to take a photograph.
I guess all countries have something which makes them stand out, just some of them are very well hidden.

Ready, Steady....Go!!!

2026-05-14T15:01:43.967+01:00

At the moment West Streeting has done the first part of sparking a leadership contest against Keir Starmer and resigned but as if yet, he hasn't yet triggered the leadership bid but you can be sure that once he does, the rest of the runners and riders will pile in and Sky TV had been polling the Labour membership and as that famous Michael Heseltine saying goes: 'He who wields the knife never wears the crown' implying that the person who ruthlessly orchestrates the downfall of a leader rarely becomes the leader themselves.
Amid the leadership manoeuvring of the last few days, Sky News has been polling Labour members to ask who they would back in a potential contest and its grim reading for the former Health Secretary because if Wes Streeting were to go up against Sir Keir Starmer directly, he would lose hands down with 53% for Starmer and only 23% for Streeting.
Of the list of who is expected to run for Prime Minister, Starmer would beat the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood 64% to 15%, Lucy Powell the Deputy Labour Leader 51% to 27%, Bridget Phillipson the Education Secretary 46% to 25%, Al Carns the Armed Forces Minister 45% to 17% and the Chief Secretary to the PM, Darren Jones, 40% to 25%.
The people the Labour Members state they will vote for to beat Starmer are Andy Burnham, who is currently not an MP but is working hard to become one in time would win easily 61% to 28%, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband 46% to 39% and Angela Rayner with a much tighter 45% to 41%.
Each challenger will need 20% of the party's MPs to back them and there are 403 Labour MPs, so the support of 81 would be needed which means there are only enough for 4 challengers (Starmer is on the ballot anyway so doesn't need the 81) so some won't even make it to the ballot paper stage where members vote for their preference and the bottom candidate gets eliminated and their votes goes to the second choice until someone receives more than 50% of first preferences then they will be declared the winner.
Andy Burnham does seem the clear favourite but his problem is he is not an MP so someone will need to step aside for him to run a by-election and hopefully get elected so he can join the potential candidates but whoever the eventual victor is, it's hard not to see the removal van outside 10 Downing Street carting away Keir Starmer's furniture before the end of Summer.

Special Guest Blogger: Liam Payne

2026-05-14T00:30:00.011+01:00

They say life begins at 16, or as I like to call it, The Age I Realized My Voice Cracked More Than a Demolition Crew. Back when I was a scrawny lad with a comb-over thicker than my savings account, I auditioned for The X Factor because I thought fame meant free pizza and a personal trainer named Vogue.
Little did I know after being unsuccessful the first two times that my third attempt would see me end up in a band with four other blokes who’d collectively make me look like the most put-together member of The Muppets.
We went from shoving each other into swimming pools on MTV’s Made to selling out stadiums. The pinnacle? Our first world tour, where I discovered that being a pop star meant eating chicken nuggets in a van and pretending to know how to play guitar but we sold over 70 million records between the scrappy days of 'All Together Now' to the global phenomenon of Story of My Life, so we did something right.
I dated influencers and models and had a child with X-Factor judge Cheryl Tweedy but through it all I remained the cheeky little lad from Wolverhampton who thought fame would cure his social anxiety although it didn't even scratch the surface, drugs and drink on the other hand....
One Direction was a massive, mind-blowing, chart-topping, hair-gel-fueled rollercoaster that turned us from normal lads into a global franchise. When the band officially went on hiatus back in 2016, I thought I’d finally have the freedom to sleep past 9 a.m.
I went solo and had hits and my own clothing line with Hugo Boss but let’s get morbid for a tick. How did I kick the proverbial bucket? Well, the rumors say 'drug overdose' and i was very open about my struggles with drugs and drink since the peak of One Direction's success.
In early October 2024, me and my girlfriend travelled to Argentina to renew my United States visa at the US embassy in Buenos Aires and after she returned to her home in Florida, i stayed in Argentina.
If you have ever been to Buenos Aires you will know it is a city that will steal your heart, your soul, and if you’re not careful your balance but the next bit is hazy because i was off my face on drugs and drink but i was later made acutely aware that however much stuff you have coursing though your body, physics and gravity still apply and I fell about fourteen feet to my death from the apartment balcony.

The Financial Cost Of War

2026-05-12T16:30:00.001+01:00

Dwight Eisenhower: 'Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. . . . This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron'.

In a congressional hearing, appearing alongside US defence secretary Pete Hegseth, Jules Hurst, under secretary of war and chief financial officer, said the total cost of the Iran War is currently $29bn. So Google states that:

Average cost of elementary and middle school construction - $25-$30m
Average cost of electric power plant in USA -$2 billion
Average cost of fully equipped hospital in USA - $200m
Average cost of concrete poavement in USA - $352 per mile
Average cost of a bushel of Wheat in USA - $6
Average cost of building a new home in USA - $450,000

So to put it another way, the Iran War so far has cost Americans 1,160 new schools, 14 electric power plants, 145 new fully equipped hospitals, 89,230,769 miles of concrete pavement, 4,833,333,333 bushels of wheat or 64,444 new homes and from what I can see, all you have to show for missing out on all this is...paying more for your petrol.

LucyP For Prime Minister

2026-05-12T16:00:00.002+01:00

With Keir Starmer barely holding on to power with his fingertips, someone stamping on his fingers and sending him off the cliff is inevitably coming so as we have had a few duffers over the last few years, I am throwing my hat in the ring to be the next Prime Minister of the UK so i am polishing off my previous manifesto and present it here for your perusal and so you know that if you vote for me, you can't say you wasn't warned.

First up is scrap the Nuclear Weapons: We don't need them, they are ridiculously expensive and if we did use them it would be because someone else did so the world would be ended anyway.
Next is reverse the madness that was Brexit and rejoin the Single Market and Customs Union by posting a letter to the EU pleading temporary insanity and we are very, very sorry.
A Windfall tax on banks and utilities making obscene profits.
The Royals are worth hundreds of millions so why are we still shoveling cash towards them? Sorry your Highness but pay for your own bloody upkeep and do you really need all those palaces and Castles?
With the money from above now sloshing about in the Government coffers i would actually build the 40 new hospitals we were promised but never arrived.
I would tell the Middle East to poke their oil and gas where the Sun doesn't shine which is mostly the UK which may be a drawback for our Solar Plants but with currently 43% of our power coming from renewable sources, I would double the solar, wind and tidal resources and we would never have to
worry about the next time America decides it needs a war to hide some files which show the President to be a nonce.
Then there is the 'Enjoy the rest of your Day' thing which seems to have become prevalent amongst shop assistants . While it is perfectly polite, it's just so fake and anyway if I wanted to have a crap day, a woman in Boots isn't going to stop me.
If you were in one of those jobs who got a mention when we were all outside clapping you during the Covid Pandemic (Nurse, Police, Bus and Train drivers etc) then you get a 10% payrise. If you were in a job which was furloughed and it had no effect whatsoever on the nation (Estate Agent, Insurance Salesman, Double Glazing Cold Caller) then suck it up.
A new tax system will be introduced, if you are a global conglomerate and do not pay your fair share in Corporation Tax then pack up your stuff and sod off elsewhere because you aren't welcome here, there will be plenty of coffee houses and search engines who will take your place.
There will also be a new Tax Return where you tick what you don't want your taxes to go towards such as the Royals.
I would tell America to come and pack up their military bases and missiles on British land and while your at it take back home all those Yanks who complain about the weather, our taps and our food. If you can't work out how two taps and a basin works then you shouldn't be allowed to leave your own country.
The BBC can keep the licence fee but you MUST make a programme with that delightful Brian Cox in it every 3 months to replace all those dreadful cooking and antique shows, put The Sky A Night on at a decent time and promise to never, ever, EVER employ Piers Morgan in anything.
Finally, a £100 fine sentence for anyone who leaves the teabag in the cup in shops which you don't discover until you have almost drank it

That's my manifesto United Kingdom so vote for me and never be told to enjoy the rest of your day ever again. You know it makes sense.

Disclaimer: LucyP bears no responsibility if you vote her into office and her math's turns out to be a bit iffy.

Gonna Need A Bigger Coat Europeans

2026-05-12T01:00:00.001+01:00

With everyone looking at the Strait of Hormuz, it is the one in the Bering Sea between Russia and Alaska which scientists are looking at because that's where the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) resides and it's possibly weakening and set to collapse which will have nasty effects if you are reading this in Northern Europe and you thought this Winter was a bit chilly.
The AMOC is a key Atlantic current which moves warm, salty water from the tropics northward, where it cools and sinks, and shifts cold water south which in turn regulates the climate across Europe which gives us the relatively mild climate we enjoy but turn that off and...brrrrr.
Numerous studies have suggested that the AMOC is weakening and may collapse or slow down and may be closer to collapse than previously thought according to researchers at the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research at Utrecht University in the Netherlands who blame our good old friend Climate Change.
The Dutch point out that global warming could stop the AMOC by the warmer North Atlantic waters preventing the warm, salty water it is carrying from cooling and sinking or the melting ice sheets in the North could add more fresh water to the mix, thereby diluting the saltiness of the arriving water and stopping it from sinking but either way ends with us North Europeans needing our big coats as temperatures dip by as much as 15°C.
As the World is run by dingbats, actually doing something about the devastating Climate Change is too much for them but it has been suggested that as the AMOC was stronger in the mid-Pliocene, some 3 million years ago, when there was a land bridge closing off the 51 mile Bering Strait so if we could build a giant dam between Russia and Alaska, it might might save us from running up a heating bill the length of a telephone number although they do temper that by saying that it might do nothing at all and they will have to do more research to see if it would actually work.
'It isn't a straightforward solution' poo poohed the U.K. Met Office who explained that Bering Strait is one of the world's most dangerous and turbulent bodies of water, known for extreme storms, rapid weather shifts, and shallow, steep waves that often exceed 40 feet so good luck building anything there but the Dutch are not put off so easily by 40 foot waves threatening to carry them off to Sea and they deem it technically feasible to build two 25 mile dams.
The longer parts wouldn't be much longer than the Afsluitdijk dam in the Netherlands, which covers 20 miles long and a Bering Strait dam would have a maximum depth of 194 feet which isn't much deeper than the deepest part of the Saemangeum Seawall, which goes down to 177 feet but they werent built in storm force winds while the Sea tries it best to drown you so maybe the best solution is to cut greenhouse gas emissions , we just need to clear the Government decks of the moronic climate change deniers first.

Special Guest Blogger: Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

2026-05-12T00:30:00.006+01:00

A life so crammed full of chaos, charity, and the odd cup of over-steeped Earl Grey that it's not easy to know where to begin.
I came into this world with the punch of a protest and the grace of a catwalk but, alas, not the wardrobe to match. Growing up, I quickly learned that life’s greatest thrill is not in the what but the how. How do you make a stand when society’s handing out parking tickets for existing? Why, with a wink, a wig, and a willingness to laugh in the face of absurdity, of course.
My early years were a masterclass in self-deprecation. I once tried to pass as a man by borrowing my brother’s socks, and let’s just say, fashion was not my strong suit. But here’s the kicker: even when life handed me lemons I squeezed them into something tangy and extraordinary. That, my darlings, is the heart of the trans rights fight, turning lemons into lemonade, then into a bloody big posh wedding cake.
When i came out as Trans in my teens, my parents enrolled me in for psychiatric treatment and took me to church because this was the 1950's and being anything other than white and male was the work of the devil.
The art of turning I told you I’m a woman into a rallying cry loud enough to shake the foundations of power means if you’re not being misgendered at least three times a day, you’re not living your truth.
I was expelled from college for wearing feminine clothes and my parents refused to let me live with them but one of my proudest moments was founding the Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project and we were a band of misfits and marvels, fighting for dignity with the tenacity of a terrier with a bone and twice the drool. It’s not all glitter and glamour, but hey, where’s the fun in that?
Whether it was demanding equal rights or perfecting my eyeliner I always went full drama queen. And really, what’s life without a bit of drama?
There was the time I got arrested while protesting outside City Hall but underneath the bling and bravado is the simple truth that we’re fighting for the right to live authentically. To walk down the street without fear, to love who we want, and to finally stop explaining our existence to bemused strangers.
I lived a grand life and when the curtain fell, sepsis and a blood clot, I'd like to think that I carved a space where future trans folks won’t have to fight quite so hard.

Iran War Backfires For Trump

2026-05-11T01:00:00.002+01:00

Two months into the war in Iran and with the awful Trump administration claiming victory after the first few days, the reasons the US gave for launching this conflict (Regime change and no Iranian nuclear weapon amongst some others) can be looked at and, oh dear, it doesn't make good reading for the invaders.
What the final ceasefire deal looks like we can pore over when we find out what it is but it is safe to assume it wont be better than what they had under the JCPOA or what the Iranians were offering during meetings at the start of the war but we will see, but it is highly unlikely.
It is hard to think of a more damning indictment that the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, told reporters last week that the main goal now was to get the Strait of Hormuz 'Back to the way it was so anyone can use it and there are no mines in the water and nobody paying tolls' which is ignoring that this was only necessary because of the very war he was simultaneously presenting as already won.
As with anything Donald Trump touches, Operation Project Freedom turned into a disaster almost straight away when Saudi Arabia refused America the rights to fly over its land and use its bases so the announcement came that they were suspending his plan for the US Navy to escort tankers out of the strait, after just one day and cited 'great progress toward an agreement with Iran' which is to say that the Iranians were merely considering a 14-point proposal for 30 days of negotiations aimed at finding an end to the war, so slightly oversold but it hid the embarrassment of his almighty cock-up not even his allies supported.
As for the regime change, admittedly there are different people in charge, just that is is exactly the same regime, just a younger and more hardcore version of it so you could argue it has changed, but in the way that the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was replaced by Liz Truss so the same Party in charge, just now there is an even worse version of it now in control.
As for the Nuclear Bomb justification, Iran said continually they were not seeking a nuclear missile and the now dead Ayatollah even passed a Fatwa in 2003 on nuclear weapons which prohibited the production and use of them as religiously forbidden but that Fatwa died with the former guy running the country and if Iran has learnt one thing, it is that nations with nuclear weapons don't get invaded although they probably don't need one, they also learnt that they can shut the Strait of Hormuz on their doorstop to bring the West to its knees.
The shifting aims for the war and desperate scramble for an exit underscore that this entire enterprise has been a colossal strategic failure and shattered confidence and alienated US allies who were blamed for failing to solve a problem they neither created.
So in short, Trump have further entrenched a new but more brutal regime and given it a reason to develop nuclear weapons in the future although it may have given it a much easier option so why get backs up developing nuclear weapons when it can hold the World to ransom with some underwater mines and cheap drones.
Now back to the details of his (probable) pedophile behaviour in the Trumpstein Files which haven't gone away, no wonder he can't sleep at night and falls asleep during meetings.

Don't Beam Me Up Scotty

2026-05-10T21:00:00.015+01:00

There was a piece in one of the newspaper recently about teleportation being possible and a story of a guy somewhere who teleported to a Waffle House and a restaurant before stating that he had been taking heavy medication for at the time which sort of derails his story somewhat.
Thinking that one day soon i could give up my weekly 600 mile round trip for work i asked a scientist with an alphabet after his name if teleportation is going to be available soon like Captain Kirk beaming down to strange new worlds on the Enterprise and to be fair, even after telling me, i'm still not sure but i think it is a no.
From what i could grasp, what science CAN do is teleport one subatomic particle to another in a different location, in essence making copies of that particle elsewhere and they have managed to do this over a distance of 60 feet which kinda puts the skids under my plan, although it may be handy when the lift is not working in our block and i cant be arsed to walk down a few flights of stairs.
So as the Science geeks are on it, could it be a thing future generations can look forward to?
That's still a no he reckons as reproducing a single particle is a far cry from reproducing an entire human who is made up of billions and billions of atoms and even if that was possible, which it isn't, the other you would be a copy and not the actual you which would be a replica walking around in your place.
Instantaneous travel then it appears, is not something we can look forward to anytime soon unfortunately.

WHO Say's Dont Panic!

2026-05-10T19:45:00.001+01:00

When i first heard about the Hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship i wasn't that concerned but when the World Health Organisation got involved and told everyone not to panic, i thought nobody was until you spoke up.
Hantavirus, so the Health Organisation went to pains to explain, is a rare occurrence and although it has emerged aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, resulting in three deaths and seven confirmed cases amongst the 147 passengers, strict quarantine procedures will prevent it spreading and this is not another outbreak like the Covid 19 which swept around the World.
It's usually transmitted by coming into contact with infected rodent feces, saliva, or urine and an investigation is still ongoing with regards to if the affected did come into contact with the same source or it was transmitted human to human which would much more concerning as that is extremely rare.
In a news conference, WHO director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, Maria Van Kerkhove, said: 'We do believe that there may be some human-to-human transmission that's happening among the really close contacts, the husband and wife, people who've shared cabins' although she did then go on to state that it was possible that spouses may well have been in contact with the same source and therefore did not pass it to each other rather than contract it at the same time.
The ship is now in Tenerife and the unlucky victims are well quarantined away from people so it seems it is being contained but the last word must go to the WHO who assure us that the Hantavirus is NOT: 'A pandemic kind of virus' but as the Covid began by someone eating an affected bat, it might be safer to lay off the Rat Stew for a few months.

WTF G20???

2026-05-10T01:00:00.014+01:00

According to their website, the G20 are the premier intergovernmental forum for international economic cooperation, representing around 85% of global GDP with a core mission of: 'Driving economic growth, unleashing innovation, and strengthening partnerships that benefit workers and businesses.'
As they are the premier economic bigwigs we really should listen to what they have to say. Countries like USA who have a national debt of £38.3 trillion or 120% of GDP. Hmm, maybe USA was not the best example so what about you China, debt of £18 trillion or 68% of GDP you say, okay, moving on quickly to Mexico. Debt at 61% of GDP or £11 trillion. Is it worth looking at you Japan, £10.3 trillion debt or 120% of GDP, so that's a no then.
United Kingdom, what about you? £4.1 trillion in debt which is 93% of GDP and India, have you managed to get yourself out of debt? Oh, £3 trillion or 85% GDP. Canada, your sensible, is it worth...oh, £2.5trillion or 110% of GDP...sit back down.
Now you are probably imagining if the 20 are so awful at running their own economies, what the bloody hell are they doing making the big economic decisions and you would have a fair point, it's a bit like asking Homer Simpson to run a MENSA club.
Experts are saying that after America and Israel's disastrous war with Iran, another recession could be coming so you wouldn't take spiritual advice from an atheist or go to an arsonist for information on fire prevention but we allow our economies to be dictated by people with combined debts of tens of trillions.
So, as i understand it, we have leaders of the 20 leading economies who are all deep in debt, giving advice to other countries how to get out of debt.
Nope, can't see how that can possibly go wrong.
Next week, Donald Trump gives his tips on how to get that toned beach ready body.

Special Guest Blogger: Gregg Allman

2026-05-10T00:30:00.010+01:00

You’re likely wondering what it’s all like. The other side. Is it all clouds and harps? I can tell you now, if I hear one more bloody harp, I’m going to set it on fire. It’s all a bit too polite for my liking. No whiskey, for starters. They offered me something called Nectar of the Gods which tasted like watered-down tea so I told them where they could stick their nectar.
When i died all i left was a half-empty bottle of Jack Daniel’s, a collection of songs that people still insist on playing far too loud in their cars, and a liver that officially resigned in protest.
My voice may have been a bit gravelly, a bit sweet, like sucking on a peach that’s been rolling down a dusty road and I spent a good thirty years trying to kill it with smoke and spirits but after a few bands, and the unfortunate accident where I avoided being drafted into the Vietnam War by shooting myself in the foot, we became the Allman Joys and then the Allman Brothers Band and made the album Fillmore East which made us so rich and famous that we could now afford to get high on a much better class of drugs.
Crikey, we were on fire on that album and I’m still rather proud of it. My brother Duane… well, Duane was untouchable. The rest of us were just trying to keep up with the bloke. Being an Allman Brother was like being in the world’s most brilliant, most chaotic and most likely to explode at any moment family. We loved each other dearly, which was a good thing, because we frequently wanted to kill each other but Duane got in first and was killed in a motorcycle accident not long after we hit the big time.
As for the hard-living, tortured soul bit, it's a bit over the top, i had a great time and it was more of a profound and sustained lack of common sense. Debauchery for us, it was just… Tuesday. You’d wake up, nudge the tattooed stranger sleeping alongside you and think, Right, seems the day is underway.
As for my tragic descent. It wasn’t tragic! It was absurd. Was I vain? Of course I was bloody vain. I had cheekbones that could cut glass and a fabulous wardrobe, my only regret was not taking more pictures and i got to marry Cher, yes that Cher!
Everyone seems so terribly solemn about my grand exit. They said i died surrounded by love and i did but I also died because my internal organs decided to form a union and go on permanent strike with my liver the ringleader.
It wasn’t some painful, dramatic scene. It was more of a gentle winding down. One minute I’m on the bus, wondering if we have any pickled eggs, the next I’m being greeted by a chap who looks suspiciously like my old tour manager, handing me a clipboard and a white robe. A bit of a letdown, to be honest. I was rather hoping for a hazy, psychedelic light show and the opening chords of Dreams. Instead, it felt more like arriving at a rather dull spa where you’re not allowed to smoke.
I was just a man who loved music, and women, and alcohol and occasionally, in the quiet moments, loved himself just a little too much. I made some beautiful noise, caused a spot of bother, and looked damn good doing it.

Poor Showing By Labour

2026-05-09T20:00:00.001+01:00

I am getting too old for these all nighter's but unfortunately the Polls don't have the decency to shut at a decent time and the counters are not fast enough to let us get home at a decent hour.
What the Local Elections did show was that the Labour Party are in trouble, losing almost 1,500 seats on English Councils but more worryingly, Reform adding almost the same number to their payroll so will have to see how handing the Councils to a bunch of racists works out. As one commentator said, the Council is all about bin collections and getting the street lights fixed so its not easy to blame Immigrants for any of those, although as that is the only solution they have for everything, i'm sure they will give it as go.
For the first time in a century the Welsh decided Labour suck and voted for Plaid Cymru which means with Nationalist parties in Scotland, Northern Ireland and now Wales who have all whispered leaving at some point, the United Kingdom could soon br a thing of the past.
Keir Starmer has come out and said that he isn't going to just walk away and the right thing to do is rebuild but he may not get the chance because although no cabinet minister has mooted a bid to replace him, Labour MPs are furious with dozens calling for him to either resign immediately or set out a timetable for his departure.
The problem with Keir, as i see it, was that he was far too catious and instead of coming in with a Labour Party Socialist agenda to wipe away the stain of the right wing politics the Conservatives disastrously foisted upon us, he tried to keep everyone happy and just managed to annoy everyone and then the Peter Mandelson affair, that was just an outright catastrophe.
I can't see how he can survive after be so comprehensively rejected by the British public but as usual with Prime Ministers, he will try but if we dont have a new face peering out of the 10 Downing Street door within the next few months, Labour are sunk and we face the uncomfortable situation of possibly having Nigel Farage and his bunch of deplorable's making the rules, and you only have to look across the Atlantic to see what happens when a bunch of racist dimwits take the steering wheel.

Eurovision Week

2026-05-09T19:00:00.003+01:00

Eurovision week and it's off to Vienna to watch 34 European nations and 1 honorary one sing and dance to work out who is the owner of the crystal microphone for another year.
The Competition has a reduced amount of contestants this year because several are boycotting it (Ireland, Spain, Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland), due to the Eurovison Committee wrongly not having the cojones to ban Israel for their genocide and while they should not be there, they have had the decency to submit an absolute shite song and the Austrian's have said they will not ban protests and demonstrations against the country so should be entertaining when they perform, last year the Swiss turned down the crowd's booing noise on the broadcast so this year Eurovision fans can make it clear that we think Israel's actions suck.
The UK entry is a bit of a strange one, Eins, Zwei, Drei by Look Mum No Computer, which is a bit of a 90s techno throwback and probably won't bother the left hand side of the board but luckily we get a pass straight to the final so we won't have the indignity of being kicked out at the semi-final stage.
I have picked my top 8 but some will fall by the wayside before the Final so will hold fire on listing them but i have tipped France to win the whole thing but then i don't think I have ever picked the winner so that's the death knell for the people of Paris having to find a big enough hall next year.

Special Guest Blogger: Castor

2026-05-08T00:30:00.009+01:00

Ah, hello there. Yes, I see you’re reading this. Don’t worry, I’m not haunting you. Much. It’s just that, in death, one develops a rather keen interest in legacy. Especially when your legacy involves twins, horses, and dying in a rather undignified manner involving a spear and someone’s poorly timed boast.
I'm half of the famed twins along with Pollux, the other one of the celestial tag team better known as the Gemini. Though, let’s be honest Pollux always got the shiny end of the constellation. Literally. He’s the immortal one. Me? I’m the mortal twin with the tragic backstory and a head injury that, frankly, still throbs.
Now, you might be wondering: “Castor, you were a Greek god! Or at least part-time divinity with excellent cheekbones—what’s there to moan about?” Well, plenty actually.
I was born, or rather, hatched, under mysterious circumstances involving a swan, a king, and a scandal that would make modern tabloids blush.
My mother, Leda, had a thing for divine poultry. Zeus, in one of his many questionable fashion choices (feathers? really?), showed up as a swan and, well, let’s just say the morning after was awkward for everyone.
Out of that feathered debauchery fiasco came four children. Me, my mortal sister Clytemnestra, and my divine siblings: Pollux (ever the golden boy) and Helen. Yes, that Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships and Family reunions were tense.
Being the mortal twin in an increasingly immortal family was tricky. Pollux could shrug off a charging bull like it was a mildly annoying toddler. I, on the other hand, once tripped over my own sandals during answering the door and faceplanted into a sacrificial pile. Not dignified.
So, I did what any self-respecting brother of a demi-god would do and became the original horse whisperer.
Horses are strong, majestic creatures, prone to kicking you in the solar plexus if you look at them funny but I didn’t just ride horses, I bonded with them.
Pollux, of course, went the boxing route but the gods were never much for subtlety. And so, as with all good Greek tales, mine took a tragic turn. Mostly because of cows.
It started small. My cousins, Idas and Lynceus, stole some cattle so Pollux and I got on out horses and charged the cousins and demanded justice and that's where it all went pear shaped.
Idas was, frankly, built like a temple column and a fight broke out. Spears flew. Horses panicked and next thing I knew, I was flat on my back, staring at the sky and realising I’d been fatally stabbed.
Now, here’s the thing about having an immortal twin: they don’t take 'well, I’m dead now' as a final answer.
Pollux was devastated, understandably so, and went straight to Dad with one demand: 'Swap places with him. I’ll be mortal. He can be immortal. I don’t care' and Zeus was so touched by the unselfish act that he split the immortality.
Now we take shifts. One day I’m in Elysium sipping ambrosia and next I’m back in the Underworld, playing dice with Hades and trying to avoid Cerberus and thus the constellation Gemini was born. Two stars, twinkling side by side, one bright, one slightly dimmer, like a celestial reminder that one of us was technically better at not dying.

Special Guest Blogger: Luke Howard

2026-05-06T00:30:00.010+01:00

If you’ve ever stared up at a sky that looked suspiciously like an elephant or a fluffy cat and wondered, What on earth is that?, then you’ve already taken the first step on the path that led me to my modest claim to fame as the Cloud Whisperer.
You see before 1803 we would speak of high-altitude, flattened, elongated vaporous formations but after my 'On The Modification of Clouds', new, snappier Latin names became the norm.
I began life as a Pharmacist in Tottenham and spent most of my days grinding powders and selling cure-alls that smelled faintly of Cinnamon but despite the sweet scent of medicinal herbs and the clang of glass bottles, I was fascinated by looking out of the large window at the changing amorphous blobs outside and wondered if they could be described, categorised and perhaps even named and this was the genius part.
Scribbling furiously on scraps of paper, I noted there were three main types of clouds and each was at a different height so we have a low fluffy, mid layered and high whispy clouds and using my basic grasp of Latin to describe them, called them Cumulus (Heaped), Stratus (sheet) and Cirrus (Curl) which sounded much more refined than fluffy thing or grey smudge.
Noting that each cloud type could be higher and lower than normal, i then went with sub-naming the cloud types by mashing them together so a Stratus Cloud that was low was a StratoCumulus and a Cumulus Cloud that was high was a Cirroculumlus or a Stratus Cloud that was high was a Cirrostratus. You get the idea and i then threw Nimbus (Latin for Rain) into the equation so any cloud that has rain coming from it, you can have Nimbostratus or Cumulonimbus.
I wrote it all down and submitted the short paper to Philosophical Transactions and not only was it accepted by my cloud name became the official terminology.
Beyond cloud naming, I dabbled in a few other endeavors that may or may not have earned me the occasional look of admiration from my peers such as recording rainfall for a full year in a specially made utensil and showing that rain fell most often in October and my 'Thermal-Stack Theory' which showed that heat rising from London’s industries creating the distinctive stratocumulus formations we saw over the Thames and proved we could therefore actually influence the sky.
My fame grew when Goethe wrote a series of poems about me and my clouds and Constable dedicated to me a whole year of painting nothing but skies.
The things about clouds are that they’re universally visible. No matter where you travel, be it the bustling streets of London, the rolling hills of the Cotswolds, or the far-flung colonies of the East, everyone looks up and sees the same sky with a now shared language for clouds.
They’re beautiful, absurd, and free. You can’t own a cloud, you can’t control it, but you can certainly enjoy it and Tottenham Hostspurs honoured me by naming two high-level viewing areas in their new stadium, Stratus East and Stratus West, but from recent seasons, looking up at the sky in these areas rather than down towards the pitch would be much more enjoyable.

Claim And Counterclaim Over Strait Blockade

2026-05-04T15:15:00.001+01:00

So how did we get here? More than 850 ships and 20,000 sailors are estimated to be trapped in the Gulf since the US and Israel launched their attack on Iran on 28 February and Iran imposed a blockade on foreign shipping using the strait of Hormuz soon afterwards and Trump imposed a counter-blockade of ships using Iranian ports on 13 April.
A Pakistani-brokered ceasefire stopped hostilities but failed to open the Strait and last night the US outlined a plan to guide ships out of the Strait of Hormuz stating it was: 'An humanitarian gesture on behalf of the United States, Middle Eastern countries but, in particular, the country of Iran' although the question was whether it was being done with Iran’s consent or taking place over their heads.
We got the answer this morning when a statement read on Iranian State TV said the strait was: 'Under the control of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran' and went on to warn: 'Any foreign armed forces, especially the aggressive U.S. military, that intends to approach or enter the Strait of Hormuz will be targeted' and then news that two tankers, a UAE and South Korean vessels, have been struck with drones.
Trump has threatened to deal forcefully with any interference with the operation and Iran has since claimed to have fired two missiles at an American warship which forced it to retreat and flee the area which has been denied by a US official's so claim and counterclaim but it very much has the potential to become a very dangerous flashpoint and bring both nations back into direct military confrontation.

Hard To Not Dislike Israel

2026-05-04T14:25:00.008+01:00

I get tired of pointing out that Israel and Judaism are two very different things and the two should not be conflated but unfortunately many do which is why we saw scenes such as those in London last week when two obviously Jewish men were stabbed and had many Jews complaining that they do not feel safe in Britain.
When the Government said that they would suspend the Pro-Palestine Marches they are guilty of conflating two separate issues although i have been to some of the marches and the rhetoric does range from people peacefully protesting the ongoing Genocide by Israel in Gaza to pure antisemitism
which seems to unite some on the left and the right bizarrely.
We can argue whether it is right to stop the rights of thousands protesting because of a small minority with an intelligence which matches their shoe size but it does open the Government up to accusations of siding with a nation run by a wanted War Criminal who is actually committing a Genocide as we watch but that is for them to decide, i would go with more policing and hauling out any moron who waves an antisemitism banner who shouts out anti Jewish slogans myself rather than ban them but Israel has always had much to answer for and I can't see it getting any better.
Annoyingly, i have to give credit to Piers Morgan for a recent interview with Israeli Politician, Daniella Weiss, which summed up just why the problem with Israel is not going away anytime soon.
in his Interview for his show this week, Piers Morgan Uncensored, he asked her how she felt about over 20,000 Palestinian children being killed since October the 7th in Gaza and it quickly spiraled into this:

DW: I said Palestinians, the Gazans, and all Arabs around should stop attacking Israel.
PM: I just asked you how you felt about 20,000 children being killed by the IDF. How do you feel about that?
DW: I think that that the parents should be very careful before they teach the their children to hate Jews and to kill Jews.
PM: That wasn't my question. My question was, how do you personally feel about over 20,000
Palestinian children now being killed since October the 7th in Gaza? How do you feel about that?
DW: I think that Arabs, Gazans or Jordanians or Syrians, whoever should be very very careful with the way they educate the children.
PM: That wasn't my question. Can you answer my question?
DW: That was my answer.
PM: You don't care? You have no thoughts about these children at all?
DW: You choose your questions and I answer them the way I believe is right.
PM: Just to be clear, you have nothing to say about 20,000 children being killed? Nothing at all.
DW: I have a lot to say about everything that happened as a result of the massacre of the seventh.
PM: Now I understand you care about Israeli children who died as do I. But I'm able to care about both sides of children who've died. Why don't you care seemingly about the Palestinian children who've died? Why can't you express any sympathy or sorrow or empathy with the children who've died in Gaza? Are you able to do that?
DW: I warn all Arabs from all sides, from all borders, stop educating children to hate.
PM: So, just to be clear, I've now offered you three times.
DW: I made myself very clear.
PM: Oh, you've made yourself very clear
DW: You asked me five times.
PM: I'm going to give you one last chance to offer some empathy or sympathy or sorrow about the deaths of 20,000 children in Gaza. Are you capable of doing that?
DW: I can tell you that had you cared and I don't believe you that that you care a tiny bit about one killed person if you do not use the means that you have as a media person to stop educating children.
PM: I gave you four chances.
DW: You gave me seven.
PM: You couldn't give a damn, could you? You couldn't give a damn. You don't care. And all you want is all the Palestinians gone. You can barely even bring yourself to say their name. All you want is to take over the West Bank and Gaza. You don't care how many die in the process. You want them all gone. You don't care, do you? That's the bottom line.
DW: As you said, the audience will judge.
PM: Yeah, they will.

With people like this in the Israeli Government, whose solution seems to be for people to just stop hating Israel, i cannot see how that is possible when they have killed a minimum of 80,000 people which means there are now the families of all these who have a reason to hate Israel, ask yourself if the military of another nation invaded your country, killed your family and demolished your house, wouldn't you feel immense animosity towards them?
How can a people feel anything but hatred towards a nation which has committed a genocide against them and stolen their land for over 80 years? It's a vicious cycle which isn't being helped by the current crop of Israeli smug idiots, morons and simpletons like Netanyahu and Weiss who do not give a damn about the death and destruction they are imparting on other humans in Gaza and the West Bank, imparting so they can steal and take over their land for themselves.
Hamas were wrong for what they have done and have been rightly castigated for it but then so is Israel and we should show sympathy, empathy and utter horror at the numbers killed on both sides but it is near impossible for Gazan's to suddenly stop hating the very nation who have done this and continue to do this to them even during a so called ceasefire which is why even if the killing stopped tomorrow, the legacy will continue and Jews around the World will sadly, and very wrongly, continue to suffer.

The Ever Expanding Trump Waistline

2026-05-04T13:30:00.001+01:00

I wasn't sure if it was just me who thought it but then i saw posts on Facebook which seems to point out that Trump is getting even fatter than he used to be.
It has always been with his stupid hair, strange orange skin, childish temper tantrums, warmongering, blatant lying, small ~~penis~~ hands and being a sex pest and (probable) pedophile, his morbidly obese weight doesn't get that much attention but i have long been championing the fact that at 244lbs, 17.4 stone or 110kg with a Body Mass Index over 30 which makes him officially a lardarse (medical term), he is the third fattest President ever to sit his wide load behind the Oval Office desk.
American's are obviously okay with having a President who looks like he would definitely steal chips off your plate when your back’s turned but looking at the recent pictures, 244lbs is optimistic but let's go with that figure which means he is still the third fattest US President after 340 pounds or 24 stones of William Taft who was so large he once got stuck in the presidential bathtub, followed by Grover Cleveland who broke the scales at 280 pounds or 20 stones.
Although he has a long way to go to catch up with the Tubby Taft, if we suspend sense and take the 17.4 stone figure as true, Cleveland is an achievable 3 stone away and if he keeps tucking into the burgers and cola's like he does, then he may be able to add second fattest President to his already impressive CV of firsts including dumbest in front of George W Bush and most perverted ahead of John F Kennedy.
Now i'm not medically trained but i would hazard a guess it's down to him binging on fast food and drinking up to a dozen Cokes a day while following an exercise regime which includes lifting Big Mac's to his mouth as to why he looks like a human shaped wad of cholesterol which has come to life to wreak havoc on the people of own nation.
While there is much speculation about his general health, most of which seems to range from a rapid decline into dementia to him keeling over and clutching his chest at any moment, i for one support Trump's appetite to make the America President not fit into its trousers again because either his waistline continues to expand to Taft proportions or his arteries decide they have had enough and pack up, but i am confident that he has the stomach for a fight even though he has much on his plate and it is an achievement i am backing him for, larger bathtub not withstanding. Go Chubby!!!!