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@MargieH I have a couple of fleecy blankets and a dressing gown which are getting a lot of use. I'm plenty warm enough in bed with just a duvet, but keep getting woken up early by knee pain so might as well get up and take what pain killers I can. I.ve got a call in to the follow up team at Wrightington, because after 3 1/2 weeks the swelling on my knee is not going down and the pain isn't reducing, so I can't bend it as I should. Also, a possible minor infection at bottom end of scar. I'll see what they say.

Me neither. Whilst some of us here argue about Lineker, we have a complete nut job for a Home Secretary, who has a long history of using language inappropriate to her position and to the context, e.g. Parliament in which she utters her drivel. Her powerful position and profile do not entitle her to spout her racist bile. She should be sacked. Now. And speaking of Home Secretaries, I believe that other shining xample of wisdom and statesmanship. Priti Patel, will be giving evidence to the Covid Enquiry today.

Braverman is in the news again for gobbling off in what even many of her own party fund unacceptable language. She' described Gaza peace/ ceasefire marchers as 'Pro Palestinian Mobs'. Earlier this week she reportedly described a Palestine related rally as a 'hate march'. Totally unfit for office. Any office.

Still freezing, and it's a bit of a miserable existence. Gas fire on full and all doors closed is just about maintaining 17 degrees in the living room. Rest of house is Baltic as they say in these parts. Made a bit worse by the fact I'm not really mobile. If I was I'd be out walk8n all day and down the pub for an hour in the evening. On the other hand ... I can afford to have the gas fire on all day. I can supplement it with an electric fan heater elsewhere if needed I'm not struggling to buy gas etc., on a pre-:payment card, I own my home and have no debts. I have food to last for weeks

It seems to mecthat even definitions of the proposed march are highly contentious. Is it 'pro Palestine', 'Pro ceasefire', or what? Is there even any conflict between traditional armistice day reflection on 'the fallen' and those seeking peace in Gaza and recognition of the innocent fallen there.

It all seems very messy. As far as I can tell the article Cliff has linked to claims that Lineker supports a march concerning Palestinine DURING the Armistice Day march. According to the News I just watched, the march concerning Palestine is not scheduled to start until AFTER the two minutes silence and some distance away. Lineker is entitled to his views. The issue is where he airs them. Newspaper reports can easily distort perceptions around this and 'faux' indignation surrounding all sort of issues is the 'stock in trade' of much of our press.

I've seen nothing reported. What has Lineker said and on what platform?

I only heard the comment I referenced. I don't think her point was unrelated.. just badly targeted.

We used to camp a lot as kids.. Mostly Derbyshire especially Edale area. Later as a young married bloke I'd camp when on caving trips in Yorks or Somerset. I'm re-living those days right now at home... flippin' freezing and no facilities. Boiler is dead and I'm getting a new one fitted Monday. Managed to shave and wash hair on one kettleful of hot water, then took a bath in another kettleful before heroically rinsing off arms and legs under cold shower, but drew the line st the rest of me, especially with my ticker.. so final rinse in another kettleful. Surprising what you

I'll return to the Covid enquiry etc., when I'm not quite so up against other stuff like staying warm, getting my knee right etc. But just one thing which came up during the BBC's coverage of the King's Speech. There was discussion of the history and tradition around it. Nobody raised any serious objection to continuing the whole thing, but one person..a Labour MP I think, did point out that many people, struggling with the current economy might justly ask what it all says about Parliament's attitude to ordinary working people. I was frankly disappointed that the MP in

Amy Turtle?

Another belated from me Loppy. Keep on keeping on! This ageing thing is an interesting phenomi...phenonimi.. err thing... I mean..I'm only 74 and 3/4....but I do find that people generally treat me differently now..a bit more considerate etc. I find the crutches..and an expression of dignified but mildly hopeless resilience in the face of pain and infirmity, draw sympathetic admiration. Even more remarkable considering I only look about 35...

Flippin' Eck Jim! I know you said you were a bit hacked off with getting older, but hurling yourself downstairs in protest isn't the answer! Still glad you appear to have damaged little but your pride. Take care please. Meanwhile, our combi boiler, which was giving probs all week, has now given up and refuses to light. So no heating or hot water. Plumber says he'll get to us ASAP. So meanwhile, really glad we had the new gas fire fitted. At the moment it seems to be keeping the ground floor at 20 C on its lower setting. Knee still intermittently very pai

There is a well known recording of him on the phone trying to persuade some associate to get somebody 'roughed up a bit' or similar. He's a definite bully. I'd have thought the megalomania, as with Trump, is blindingly obvious, but I recall the words of his sometime headmaster to the effect that 'Boris is baffled as to why he has not automatically been made Head Boy.' He rose to the 'Highest Office' almost by default. Had Cameron not 'kow towed' to the Tory Right, ordered a deeply flawed referendum and then 'bottled it' after the Brexit vote, there would have been

Indeed Jim. What HSR is engaged in here, is generally known on the Internet as 'thread crapping'. It may stem simply from mischief, or, as seems the case here.. from a deliberate attempt to prevent others from enjoying a legitimate discussion which for whatever reason, the 'crapper' doesn't like. His persoal attacks on me also run very close to 'trolling'.

@Brew Duffy Power was a well respected but somewhat obscure British Rock and Roll/ Blues singer who never quite made the 'big time' and died some years ago. Quite why HSR has introduced the name to this forum whilst simultaneously claiming to have never heard of him, I cannot imagine.

If you 'think you know' then please lighten our darkness Oh Wise One. Otherwise I will repeat once again that you, just like all members, are entirely at liberty to read or ignore this thread. You are also at liberty to post in it within the forum rules. However you are NOT at liberty to constantly imply that I am at the centre of some nefarious alternate agenda . Your post is personally insulting, aggressive and 'Ad Hominem' and as such has been reported to the Forum moderators. I will also query why it is that you attack me but not other regula

Then you are listening with very different sensibilities to me. MacNamara has produced far too much evidence for me to easily summarise but 'toxic misogynistic culture', 'no plan' etc are clearly in there. Johnson was P.M. and allowed all of that. It suited and reflected his own chaotic approach. He hired Cummings. There is absolutely no excuse for him. Point of the enquiry? Well I agree that at the moment validity of decisions made isn't really being looked at but that that is not the stated purpose of this phase of the enquiry. This is about governance and decision

More stuff from Helen MacNamara which boils down to her being singled out for especially misogynistic and bullying behaviour from Cummings, with implicit collusion from Johnson, because she refused to allow Cummungs to dictate everything and operate outside of established rules, proper employment law etc.

Further evidence of the 'macho' and cavalier approach, and absence of any real plan which existed at the time, coming from civil servant Helen MacNamara, who was described in exceptionally unflattering terms by Cummings in WhatsApp messages. Further evidence that there was in fact no plan for pandemic preparedness or at best anything which existed was neither accessed nor considered by the Cabinet Office. Also strong evidence that Johnson and Co neither understood nor valued scientific input. Just listen to her testimony. I well recall Johnson's idiotic behaviour shaking

Having a fair bit of time on my hands, I'm watching bits of the Covid enquiry via BBC News. If nothing else, it is clearly demonstrating Johnson and Co's utterly inadequate response in early 2020. Johnson in particular is accused a being 'unable to lead' and also of essentially ignoring the pandemic. There was clearly no central direction and assorted people thrashing around cluelessly. There was NO PLAN. This at a time when anyone with a functioning brain cell seeing the reports out of China and elsewhere could see that this was not like Bird Flu, SARS or other recent scares,

Thanks for the good wishes. On a positive note..although it's taking longer this time, I am making progress. My quad ( thigh) muscles which went completely AWOL after surgery, are finally beginning to respond to exercise and I can just about do straight leg raises etc. Knee bend not so much but I'm sure that will come.

As with anything..there are batteries and batteries. My 'posh' watch is a Rado Ceramica which cost well over £1k. It's a joy to wear and I love the looks. I really don't get the whole obsession with Rolex's. Clearly very fine watches, but overhyped in my view... So anyway my Rado ran happily for about 4 years on its original battery and because I wanted it re-sealing and pressure testing, I took it to Goldsmiths. Their service turned out to be borderline criminal and they will never have my business ever again. The Rado stopped a couple of days ago and I'm considering online service

Getting the staples out has certainly helped but I'm getting much more pain than last time, which is a problem because it turns out that both Codeine and Morphine have a direct negative effect on my ticker, but what's more they interact badly with my heart meds and can push both heart rate and BP to worryingly low levels. Codeine is the worst, because 10 mg of the stuff produces very approximately 1mg of morphine in the liver.. plus 9 mg of other crud which seems to have no useful function and contributes to the general yukkiy feel of Codeine I had a very useful discussion with t

Had the staples out of my knee today. It's improved things re: pain.