Squaredy

3 hours ago, rapalaman said:

It’s only a matter of time before these fanatics succeed unfortunately. Their numbers are rising weekly via small boats and a high birth rate. They will become more emboldened and extreme as years roll on. Read this in 2035 and tell me I was wrong. 
I'm in my twilight years but fear for our offspring and their children.

They will be looking back at our generation, society and governments and wondering “how the fxxk did they let that happen” 😡

I wish I could disagree with you, but I think the reality is more and more people are waking up the reality.  Look what happened in Germany.  In 2015 crowds applauded the new immigrants arriving.  Now in 2025 all recent polling shows majority think it has gone too far and not been managed.  Sounds familiar.

By the way anybody who bothers to actually read Enoch Powell's 'Rivers of Blood' speech from 1968 will see he was not a racist but a very wise man.  Yes the language is now dated, but he actually undertsated the case.  In many ways it is far worse than he foresaw.

2 hours ago, PeteB said:

Home cooked bacon joint and salad. Cut right back on potatoes and bread and feel better for it!

Fair play, that looks awesome.

29 minutes ago, Witterings said:

 

Where it's a tall cheese shapes wedge I did it all round with the meter apart from the bark side and they were all pretty much the same.

I didn't recognise the wood as anything I'd seen before so just wondered if maybe whatever it is just isn't great for stoves.

So what you are saying is you only tested the outside.  If it has been kilned quickly the outside will be dry and the middle sopping wet.  You need to split a large piece and test the centre.  All wood will burn well if dry. 

43 minutes ago, Witterings said:

 

Cheers for that, have now attached☺️

A photo of the cut end would help.  And how did you test the moisture?  In the middle or the edge?  It makes a massive difference.

11 minutes ago, Witterings said:

Can anybody tell me what wood this is?

 

Mother in law has just had a burner installed, I gave her some wood I had which burnt absolutely fine and she ordered some kiln dried of which this is one log and it burns really poorly .... It lights but is difficult to keep it alight.

 

I stuck a moisture meter on it and it's between 14 and 16% so pretty much what kiln dried should be but it's really not great!

You need to attach the photo. 

But also when you tested the moisture did you split a piece and test the middle?

15 minutes ago, Mike Hill said:

Yup

 

Tony Blair never did any time, all the while knowing WMD's were a hoax.

Yes very true.  He even seems an elder statesman of politics now.  Apparently he has quite a strong influence over the current Labour Party.

4 hours ago, Whoppa Choppa said:

37 years ago tonight. Recent TV miniseries well worth watching. The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

I haven’t seen the recent series about it but I have followed this for over thirty years.  It is still not over; a suspect will be coming to trial next year in the US I believe.  Incredible that the UK and US governments have known from day one the truth, and still the farce of investigation continues.  It is the most incredible waste of public money.

Can you imagine any other person found guilty of murdering 270 people being released after just 8 years?

22 hours ago, sime42 said:

Are you sure Reform are really setting the agenda, or just responding to the agenda?

That is a very good point.  Reform certainly are influential, but only because they keep talking sense about issues which are of grave concern.

EG they keep banging on about immigration, but if none of the public thought it was a concern they would get no more airtime than the Monster Raving Luny party.

3 hours ago, 5thelement said:

if not you will end up like Squaredy, he is too scared to go out after dark for fear of all the ethnic stabbers.

LOL... to be fair I said I would not go to Pillgwenlly in Newport after dark....but thanks for the mention!

14 minutes ago, markieg31 said:

Because BBC and other outlets are giving them the platform!

And perhaps because they are getting a fair bit of support!

27 minutes ago, tree-fancier123 said:

Hopefully Israel one day goes the way of Rome too.

Israel have a history of defending themselves and prioritising their country's safety.  Horrible things happen in war it is true.  But can you imagine if they hadn't responded strongly to the 7 October massacre?

Palestinians have a habit of committing acts of terror throughout the world in collaboration with Iran.  The biggest terrorist act in the UK was carried out by palestinians.  I know which lot I would rather disappear. 

1 hour ago, sime42 said:

Reform get many times more airtime than  Green. Whilst Orange get virtually no mention at all, despite 12 times more seats.

To be fair Reform are setting the agenda despite having only a handful of seats, so they do indeed get a lot of airtime as they have huge influence.  

20 minutes ago, tree-fancier123 said:

people are always horrified by a shooting - but every day Israeli settlers are driving out Palestinians from the West Bank. Israel is doing to Palestinians what the US did to native American Indians

Jeremy Bowen: Israeli settlers intensify campaign to drive out West Bank Palestinians

WWW.BBC.COM

---

In the shadow of the Gaza war, violence is rising in the occupied territories as radical settlers seize land with the backing of the...

 

Bear in mind you will never get both sides from the BBC.  They are highly pro-Palestine.

12 minutes ago, sime42 said:

Are these not Medullary rays?

 

 

 

 

Yes.  100% oak.

If anyone still thinks our judiciary and tribunal process are sane they need to look at the tribunal decision for the nurse in Fife (Sandie Peggy).  If you don’t know the case she was disciplined for objecting to a man in the female changing rooms at work.

The judgement stated that there is no evidence that a man in a woman’s only space is any more of a threat to a woman than a woman would be.

Here is a verbatim quote “In our view, having read all the documents, there is very far from sufficient reliable evidence to establish as a fact that a trans woman who is legally and biologically male is a greater risk to any person assigned female at birth within a changing-room environment at a workplace than another woman assigned female at birth”

What planet do they live on?

Anybody got any decent alder near South Wales?

I am not super fussy:  most alder logs are good as long as they are the first and second lengths.

I could use a lorry load or a mixture with other hardwoods such as ash sycamore, cherry or most things really.

14 minutes ago, david lawrence said:

It also Grills sausages judging by pic👍

It sure does.  I do love a hot dog.

10 hours ago, Muddy42 said:

 

Sounds amazing! Id love to have one of those. Maybe when I downsize houses.

 

I think this fear of slumbering, or cold water cooling the boiler, low stove efficiency etc is way too narrow a frame of reference.  Your experience shows you can burn the stove hot and clean. Plus you are saving on heating oil/gas/electric. 

 

Here it is this evening.

8 hours ago, Muddy42 said:

 

Sounds amazing! Id love to have one of those. Maybe when I downsize houses.

 

I think this fear of slumbering, or cold water cooling the boiler, low stove efficiency etc is way too narrow a frame of reference.  Your experience shows you can burn the stove hot and clean. Plus you are saving on heating oil/gas/electric. 

 

It is good.  But don’t underestimate how much firewood it burns.  Probably getting on for a ton of properly dry firewood per month when it is cold.  So don’t even think about it unless you have the energy, space and time to process a whole lot of firewood.  If you have to buy it in you will save no money.

11 hours ago, GarethM said:

They aren't designed to be a poncy room feature, they're designed to burn hot and hard and store the heating efficiently out of sight.

 

That's partly why back boilers were stopped, it can't burn clean just ticking along slowly.

Now I bought a Morso stove fifteen years ago with a back boiler.  It heats my whole house via rads, but not hot water.

The salesman told us when we bought it that it would be slumbering much of the time.  How wrong he was.  Maybe if my house were better insulated he might have been right, but If it is properly cold I have it on quite high, and if it is only a little chilly I don’t light it because it would end up boiling.

Not saying you are wrong, just not been my experience.

I have just read about Elizabeth Kinney and how she was arrested in the bath by 11 police officers for what she said in a private text message.  I genuinely would like to know if there is another side to this story as it seems too preposterous to be real.

Here is the link.  Not sure it is going to work but you can google her name.

I am always suspicious of someone who looks like that as clearly she places a vast importance on how she looks and enjoys sharing how she looks (or how AI makes her look).  But in a nutshell this is the story:

An acquaintance and her fell out and she ended up in hospital when he assaulted her.  She then ranted by text message and amongst other things called him a faggot.  11 police officers came into her house without warning (all but one male) and arrested her whilst she was having a bath.  They told her she could get 5 to 10 years in jail for a hate crime.

In sentencing the magistrates handed out an uplifted sentence due to the 'homophobic' content.  None of the messages were even read out in court.

Surely the police don't send 11 police officers to arrerst someone for hurty words said in private when they usually don't bother to attend actual burglary or shoplifting.....?????

On 08/11/2025 at 16:22, Mark J said:

Maccabi fans are well known for violence. I genuinelly think it was a good call to prevent their firm rocking up and wrecking the place, like they did in Amsterdam. 
 

Why Maccabi Tel Aviv fans with record of violent rampages were really banned

WWW.MIDDLEEASTEYE.NET

---

Starmer has condemned restrictions on Aston Villa match amid widespread outrage, but the Israeli club's supporters have a history of violence and disruption

 

This story just took a turn for the worse.  It turns out that when West Midlands police did their research into Maccabi Tel Aviv some of their information was just gleaned from social media with no double check.  They had to admit yesterday in front of a select committee of MPs that their report even quoted a football match that never took place.  And that an incident in Amsterdam last  year where a Maccabi fan was pushed into a river was inverted to say Maccabi fans pushed Ajax fans into the river.

This would be very embarrassing for anyone.  But this is the research that one of our largest police forces used to decide to ban Maccabi fans.  Someone needs to be held accountable.

6 hours ago, trigger_andy said:

Im considering buying a used Sawmill thats on a trailer package from Europe. As I understand it I'd be liable for 20% vat on the purchase price and have to show its origin of manufacture. 

 

How easy/difficult is it navigating to and on/off of the LeShuttle with a 7m plus trailer?

 

How likely am I to be "caught" by customs with a used machine and told to cough up?

 

Any advice?

Can you not get it on one of those inflatable dinghies from a beech? 

The French authorities would give you a shove out and the Brits would give you a new phone and a bed for a year or two once you land.  You could even state you would be persecuted in your native Scotland and they would have to feed you for quite a while.  You could use Arbtalk threads as evidence of how you are treated and racially discriminated against.

10 hours ago, daveatdave said:

MSN

WWW.MSN.COM

 

The details of this will be interesting.  Whatever is proposed however will it be policed....?!

8 hours ago, sime42 said:

It's rather a tricky thing to quantify anyway: the exact degree and then ranking of Openness of Corruption. How would it ever be proved one way or another in court if it ever came to that?

That is exactly the point.  The BBC could never prove that Trump was the most corrupt US president. Especially as only one US President has resigned due to corruption (Nixon).  It was unsafe and unprovable so it was removed.  Seems fair to me.

And yes I agree there is undoubtedly a degree of corruption in the Trump administration.  And Biden’s and Obama’s etc, etc.  And indeed the current Uk government, the previous government, and so on.

Much as I sometimes hate the media, we really do depend on them to point the finger when there is evidence.  But am I OK with them self censoring?  Yes absolutely, if Trump has made them examine their output to see if it is accurate then thank Trump for that.  Remember that as long as they can prove the accuracy of a statement they cannot be sued for it.  The problem is if they start making statements or giving opinions which are disputed.  We could argue all year about who was the most corrupt US President; but if you state that Trump said this and did that then as long as he did, that cannot end up in court.

I do however agree that freedom of speech in the UK is being seriously undermined at the moment, but that is largely by our own government.  The fact we even have a free speech union is shocking enough.  And the examples recently of arrests for what people have said are state over-reach becoming very sinister. But the finger of blame points at our controlling establishment (government, police, councils, schools, universities) not Trump.