Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Ant and Dec introduced another series of I’m A Celebrity on Sunday night with jokes that Ant McPartlin had been replaced with fellow ITV presenter Holly Willoughby.

“It’s me and the gorgeous Holly Willoughby!” said Dec Donnelly as they opened the show.

“Guys, that’s the wrong script. You put the wrong script on the thing!” Dec said apologetically.

Turning to Ant, “Nobody was sure if you would make it or not,” he continued.

“I’m back, my friend,” McPartlin replied. “It’s good to be back”, referring to his return to TV after treatment for drug addiction.

Dec later asked Ant what he’d been up to instead of being on TV. “Where were you all summer anyway, what were you doing?”

“Just stuff… just dead busy,” said Ant, twirling his mug awkwardly and requesting the show cut to the video section where celebrities talk to camera.

Ant McPartlin was treated for drug addiction in June. The presenter had been addicted to prescription and non-prescription drugs for two years, and said the experience almost killed him.

Speaking in August, the 41-year-old said: “I was at the point where anything — prescription drugs, nonprescription drugs — I would take. And take them with alcohol, which is ridiculous.

“The doctors told me, ‘You could have killed yourself’. “I was insane. It sends you crazy. It was to the point of hearing things, seeing things in the garden.”
........................

Definitely the best way of dealing with Ant's problem which everybody has read about in the media, IMHO. ie. Joke about it - and maybe tease Ant a fair bit about it too. The shame and embarrassment then just about totally disappears.

Secretly, after nights at the pub with Donnelly, he’d come home and carry on drinking, while he relied increasingly on the painkillers he’d been prescribed — notably tramadol, an incredibly strong opioid.

The combination of the pills and dangerous binge drinking sessions tipped him over the edge.

Soon, as well as the tramadol (to which six per cent of patients become addicted, according to an American study published last month), the former child star had become reliant on a toxic cocktail of potentially lethal prescription drugs thought to include oxycodone and fentanyl, both of which are potent, highly addictive opioids.

He suffered from insomnia and crippling anxiety. He was constantly shattered. He was tormented by hallucinations, but still — whether from shame, embarrassment, fear or depression — hid these problems from those he loved.

Nice to see the duo back. The nightly for 3 weeks TV show, 'I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here', is very watchable and extremely entertaining.

Can't stand them , talentless overpaid overated .

Well, I actually would have preferred 'Holly and Dec' to 'Ant and Dec' myself.

Victim, you are in the minority. Facts speak for themselves and these two have a massive fan base.

'I'm a Celeb' attracts all the UK major food retailers to spend money with ITV during the shows advertising slots too and some of them commission adverts which must have cost a fortune. The viewing figures are high. The telephone voting is high too. The spend on all this advertising is where the money comes from to pay Ant and Dec their enormous remuneration.

I'm sorry Exec but to me it just shows how bad the standard of TV programs has become , too little quality spread out too thinly . Oh and the ever increasing time adverts are given .

Retirement Question



Working people frequently ask retired people what they do to make
their days interesting.

Well, for example, the other day, my wife and I went into town and
visited a shop.

When we came out, there was a traffic warden writing out a parking ticket.

We went up to him and I said, 'come on, how about giving a senior citizen
a break?'

He ignored us and continued writing the ticket.

I called him an arsehole . He glared at me and started writing another
ticket for having worn-out tires.

So my wife called him a shit head. He finished the second ticket and put
it on the windscreen with the first.

Then he started writing more tickets.

This went on for about 20 minutes.

The more we abused him, the more tickets he wrote.

Just then our bus arrived, and we got on it and went home.

We weren't too concerned about the vehicle's owner because of the
sticker on the back window which read "I support Jeremy Corbyn "

We try to have a little fun each day now that we're retired.

It's important at our age

:-)

Rodney Bewes snuffs it of the Likely Lads http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42067506

RIP.

They gave us some very popular and entertaining stuff. I can't believe he was now 79 (edit) though.

Indeed, 79 maybe but not 89.

One of my favourite scenes is in The Likely Lads movie.
They go away in a caravan. It's persisting down so they end up playing cards in teams. Bob is paired with Thelma and it's going badly
Bob pops out for a pee and they can hear him in the 'van. Thelma says "That's the first time all night I know what he's got in his hand".

The thoughts of Comrade Corby..



Momentum plans to treble council tax to £10,000 a year for richest homes to pressure Tories on cuts






By Christopher Hope, Chief Political Correspondent
21 November 2017 • 7:00pm




The group behind Jeremy Corbyn’s rise to the top of Labour is backing a policy to treble council tax to more than £10,000 year for people living in the largest homes.

Far left activists in Bristol are proposing to increase council tax for the largest homes by 200 per cent to stop cuts to council services.

The council tax changes could raise £25.8million if the owners of the top eight per cent of homes – around 15,266 households – paid the new charge.

This would see those living in the most expensive ‘band H’ properties pay almost £10,800 a year, compared to the current £3,599.50 bill.

The changes would affect band H properties, which are defined as being worth more than £320,000 in 1991 - roughly £1.2million today - when the homes were last valued for council tax purposes.

The idea is one of a number of suggestions from Momentum, the left wing group with over 200,000 supporters, including a hike in parking costs, the introduction of a congestion charge and the possibility of a tax on tourists.


More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/21/momentum-plans-treble-council-tax-10000-year-richest-homes-pressure/

How do you tax tourists by the way , with great difficulty i would think .

Are you a tourist , No i'm an illegal immigrant , OK thanks sorry to trouble you .

Re council tax of £10,000 per year------Headline grabbing---hit the rich. Of course nobody further down the chain would have to pay more council tax----in your dreams.

If Labour had won the 2010 election we would have local council officials visiting our properties to see if any improvements had been made, if so then your council tax would increase.

The Cons and Brexiters alternative to May and Hammond!

despite JC's inevitable ramblings, the market thinks the budget is ok - as indeed did i ..... no doubt there will be some devil in the final detail, but i still reckon i'll be happy enough

RIP.

Poor old Fred ,still here moaning i see . As your getting on now Fred why don't you just enjoy yourself ?

he thoroughly enjoys moaning .... leave the poor old git alone :-)

Just a thought .

He'll be back when The Guardian has told him what he thinks.