By: John Green
- 21st January 2015 at 15:47Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
The media has recently carried many reports highlighting the problems of dairy farmers and the price they are getting for the milk they produce.
I heard one quote of 89 pence for four pints (two quarts) of milk sold at a supermarket, which price, it was alleged, was far cheaper than the farmer could sell it for.
So, the red hot, fresh off the press question is why is cheese so expensive? Let me confess an interest. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool, nose sniffing, eye wobbling, cheddar gobbling cheese muncher of the first degree !
I lurve and adore all cheese without distinction of flavour or origin so why was my gaze seemingly locked on to shelf after shelf of creamy indulgence? Eighteen pounds per kilo, that's why !! Ok, that was an extreme. Prices varied around that figure depending on the cheese on offer. But ! But ! With the raw material from which the cheese god is made fetching record low prices surely, surely, the price of cheese at the moment must be artificially high?
If so, why so ? Boiling it down to proper and understandable proportions means that the price of cheese is around £7 -8
per pound. It isn't as if the making of this exquisite confection is labour intensive requiring say, to be trodden by the sweet and delicate trotters of twenty virgins. No, it is made primarily by the dead hand of machinery requiring nothing more than a glob or two of axle grease and a squirt of WD 40 to maintain the process.
Luckily my wife was on hand when I declared an attack of CPV (cheese price vertigo) and was able to persuade the manager to provide a free glass of Waitrose water.
I think that I can feel a trip to Rip Off Britain coming on !
By: John Green
- 21st January 2015 at 19:07Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
The part that does astonish me is that nowhere on any shelf scrutinised, did I see any bargain/cheap/reduced/sale priced inducement for cheap cheese. Why ever not? They're giving the milk away, why not the cheese ?
By: charliehunt
- 21st January 2015 at 19:08Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Considering the caution displayed by most publishers these days that sounds like a punt in the dark of the most extreme folly. Do they get any of it back? If not a double act of extreme folly.
By: John Green
- 11th February 2015 at 16:01Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Looks like we might just have become Mr. Obama's best friend. The D.Tel. 11th Feb. comments that the President is concerned that America's 'go to ally' that's us, - their phrase not mine - is afraid that we won't maintain our national defence budget currently (allegedly) running at 2% of GDP.
Well, I call that a bit of a turn around in attitude. Didn't seem so long ago that our American buddies, at Obama's election, were distinctly snooty about our value to them and the direction that the Atlantic Alliance would be taking.
Let's have a chorus or two of The Battle Hymn of the Republic.
By: charliehunt
- 11th February 2015 at 16:06Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I always have the impression that the view we are offered of the relationship between us and the US is more often than not the view of the media of the relationship rather than the reality, which is probably left for private consumption.
After all if the media is to be believed the relationship waxes and wanes on a monthly basis.
By: John Green
- 18th February 2015 at 16:30Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
There is none so welcome as "a sinner that repenteth". It is unbelievably reported (D.Tel. 18th inst) that Mr. Cameron has been persuaded to see the light regarding grammar schools.
As the lack of grammar school support from the Tories was partly responsible for my anti Tory flounce some years ago, it looks as tho' I might have to consider a divorce from Nigel and leap back into Dave's loving embrace. Huh ! what a revolting idea.
Still, it's a start. The founding of new grammar schools is to be favoured. Does anyone know if there is an election in the offing ?
By: charliehunt
- 18th February 2015 at 17:09Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Unless I have misunderstood all he has done is offer his support for the expansion of existing Grammars, driven by the Tonbridge case. I am not aware he has or is even considering the green light to Grammar expansion. I hope I am wrong.
By: John Green
- 24th February 2015 at 19:23Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
What am I missing ? The media is full of reports concerning three young girls who have apparently gone AWOL to join an organisation in the Near East.
Lots of handwringing, mega piles of angst, recrimination by the ton, what for? What have they done ? They appear to have upset their families but, that will pass.
The decision to go and the planning required indicates that a certain level of successful organisation was necessary. My question is: Why are people running around like headless chickens ? Presumably the girls were capable of making an informed choice ? They exercised that freedom and are now where they would prefer to be. Stop making such a fuss.
By: John Green
- 25th February 2015 at 20:20Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
At the time of the London Olympics, this was mentioned by some as a possibility; that has now been converted to a reality. A D.Tel (report,) 25th inst. reveals that several drones have been seen over various significant sites in the French capital, Paris.
These machines were seen over the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Les Invalides and other notable tourist sites around the capital. No operators were either seen or apprehended.
Heaven alone knows how one deals with this potential terrorist threat.
By: John Green
- 2nd March 2015 at 16:05Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
My D. Tel. (report, 2nd March) contains the unsurprising news that D. Cameron has failed yet again to deliver on his promise of containing and reducing the level of immigration. Has he ever managed to deliver on anything ?
The other newsworthy item in the same paper is that welfare payments to asylum seekers has cost the British taxpayer 1.2 billion (yes, billion) since 2010. The current cost is running at almost three quarters of a million pounds A DAY.
By: trekbuster
- 2nd March 2015 at 16:30Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
My D. Tel. (report, 2nd March) contains the unsurprising news that D. Cameron has failed yet again to deliver on his promise of containing and reducing the level of immigration. Has he ever managed to deliver on anything ?
.
Yes, he and the coalition have brought the Foreign Aid budget to 0.7% of GDP. Something to be genuinely proud of in my opinion.
To put into some sort of perspective, the £265 million that was spent supporting asylum seekers (don't forget, quite a few are genuinely here in fear of persecution or death) was 0.00037% of government spending in 2013-14. Or put another way, £4.08 per head of population in the UK.
By: snafu352
- 2nd March 2015 at 17:25Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Net migration to the UK is 0.47% (rounded up) of the total population.
Time to wind up the drawbridge and start boiling the oil...
Or perhaps for the population to take a long hard look at themselves and accept that it is not "immigrants" that have brought Britain to the apparent state it is perceived to be in today but the generation of predominately white Anglo-Saxon, predominately over-privileged and predominately sense of entitlement laden post war born petty nationalists who have dropped the ball rather spectacularly (if the perceived state of Britain today is indeed accurate.)
By: charliehunt
- 2nd March 2015 at 21:44Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I suspect that the nearer we get to May the more the electorate will be exercised by the key point for most of the electorate in almost every election - the economy. Which party will do the best for my pocket? Most other elements will become secondary.
By: paul178
- 6th March 2015 at 22:56Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Well Charlie nice Mr Cameron says you can overstay your time with/in/on council property parking by up to 10 minutes without getting a fine. A sure fire election winner in my book.(shame I have a blue badge and don't pay anyway!)
By: mike currill
- 6th March 2015 at 23:49Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Because the supermarkets want their profits to be as high as possible. Apparently they are are actually paying the farmers about £1 a gallon less than it's costing the farmers to produce the milk. Yes I know grass is free but if you still want milk in the winter you need winter feed for the cows.
By: John Green
- 13th March 2015 at 17:51Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Boxing news.
Anyone interested in boxing ? The so-called Fight of the Century is now on the cards for May 2nd next. Floyd Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao. They are regarded by pundits as being slightly over the hill but, you could've fooled me! It should be some contest. My 50p will be on Mayweather to edge it on points.
Posts: 6,535
By: John Green - 21st January 2015 at 15:47 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
The media has recently carried many reports highlighting the problems of dairy farmers and the price they are getting for the milk they produce.
I heard one quote of 89 pence for four pints (two quarts) of milk sold at a supermarket, which price, it was alleged, was far cheaper than the farmer could sell it for.
So, the red hot, fresh off the press question is why is cheese so expensive? Let me confess an interest. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool, nose sniffing, eye wobbling, cheddar gobbling cheese muncher of the first degree !
I lurve and adore all cheese without distinction of flavour or origin so why was my gaze seemingly locked on to shelf after shelf of creamy indulgence? Eighteen pounds per kilo, that's why !! Ok, that was an extreme. Prices varied around that figure depending on the cheese on offer. But ! But ! With the raw material from which the cheese god is made fetching record low prices surely, surely, the price of cheese at the moment must be artificially high?
If so, why so ? Boiling it down to proper and understandable proportions means that the price of cheese is around £7 -8
per pound. It isn't as if the making of this exquisite confection is labour intensive requiring say, to be trodden by the sweet and delicate trotters of twenty virgins. No, it is made primarily by the dead hand of machinery requiring nothing more than a glob or two of axle grease and a squirt of WD 40 to maintain the process.
Luckily my wife was on hand when I declared an attack of CPV (cheese price vertigo) and was able to persuade the manager to provide a free glass of Waitrose water.
I think that I can feel a trip to Rip Off Britain coming on !
Posts: 16,832
By: Moggy C - 21st January 2015 at 18:19 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Something interesting I heard today.
Pippa Middleton received a £400,000 advance for her recent book. It sold around 20,000 copies.
Posts: 6,535
By: John Green - 21st January 2015 at 19:07 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
The part that does astonish me is that nowhere on any shelf scrutinised, did I see any bargain/cheap/reduced/sale priced inducement for cheap cheese. Why ever not? They're giving the milk away, why not the cheese ?
Posts: 11,141
By: charliehunt - 21st January 2015 at 19:08 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Considering the caution displayed by most publishers these days that sounds like a punt in the dark of the most extreme folly. Do they get any of it back? If not a double act of extreme folly.
Posts: 6,535
By: John Green - 11th February 2015 at 16:01 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Looks like we might just have become Mr. Obama's best friend. The D.Tel. 11th Feb. comments that the President is concerned that America's 'go to ally' that's us, - their phrase not mine - is afraid that we won't maintain our national defence budget currently (allegedly) running at 2% of GDP.
Well, I call that a bit of a turn around in attitude. Didn't seem so long ago that our American buddies, at Obama's election, were distinctly snooty about our value to them and the direction that the Atlantic Alliance would be taking.
Let's have a chorus or two of The Battle Hymn of the Republic.
Posts: 11,141
By: charliehunt - 11th February 2015 at 16:06 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I always have the impression that the view we are offered of the relationship between us and the US is more often than not the view of the media of the relationship rather than the reality, which is probably left for private consumption.
After all if the media is to be believed the relationship waxes and wanes on a monthly basis.
Posts: 6,535
By: John Green - 18th February 2015 at 16:30 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
There is none so welcome as "a sinner that repenteth". It is unbelievably reported (D.Tel. 18th inst) that Mr. Cameron has been persuaded to see the light regarding grammar schools.
As the lack of grammar school support from the Tories was partly responsible for my anti Tory flounce some years ago, it looks as tho' I might have to consider a divorce from Nigel and leap back into Dave's loving embrace. Huh ! what a revolting idea.
Still, it's a start. The founding of new grammar schools is to be favoured. Does anyone know if there is an election in the offing ?
Posts: 11,141
By: charliehunt - 18th February 2015 at 17:09 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Unless I have misunderstood all he has done is offer his support for the expansion of existing Grammars, driven by the Tonbridge case. I am not aware he has or is even considering the green light to Grammar expansion. I hope I am wrong.
Posts: 6,535
By: John Green - 24th February 2015 at 19:23 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
What am I missing ? The media is full of reports concerning three young girls who have apparently gone AWOL to join an organisation in the Near East.
Lots of handwringing, mega piles of angst, recrimination by the ton, what for? What have they done ? They appear to have upset their families but, that will pass.
The decision to go and the planning required indicates that a certain level of successful organisation was necessary. My question is: Why are people running around like headless chickens ? Presumably the girls were capable of making an informed choice ? They exercised that freedom and are now where they would prefer to be. Stop making such a fuss.
Posts: 6,535
By: John Green - 25th February 2015 at 20:20 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
At the time of the London Olympics, this was mentioned by some as a possibility; that has now been converted to a reality. A D.Tel (report,) 25th inst. reveals that several drones have been seen over various significant sites in the French capital, Paris.
These machines were seen over the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Les Invalides and other notable tourist sites around the capital. No operators were either seen or apprehended.
Heaven alone knows how one deals with this potential terrorist threat.
Posts: 6,535
By: John Green - 2nd March 2015 at 16:05 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
My D. Tel. (report, 2nd March) contains the unsurprising news that D. Cameron has failed yet again to deliver on his promise of containing and reducing the level of immigration. Has he ever managed to deliver on anything ?
The other newsworthy item in the same paper is that welfare payments to asylum seekers has cost the British taxpayer 1.2 billion (yes, billion) since 2010. The current cost is running at almost three quarters of a million pounds A DAY.
Letters of complaint to No.10 please.
Posts: 851
By: trekbuster - 2nd March 2015 at 16:30 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Yes, he and the coalition have brought the Foreign Aid budget to 0.7% of GDP. Something to be genuinely proud of in my opinion.
To put into some sort of perspective, the £265 million that was spent supporting asylum seekers (don't forget, quite a few are genuinely here in fear of persecution or death) was 0.00037% of government spending in 2013-14. Or put another way, £4.08 per head of population in the UK.
Posts: 1,613
By: Meddle - 2nd March 2015 at 16:47 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
India seems like a charming place if you happen to be female.
Posts: 2,248
By: snafu352 - 2nd March 2015 at 17:25 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Net migration to the UK is 0.47% (rounded up) of the total population.
Time to wind up the drawbridge and start boiling the oil...
Or perhaps for the population to take a long hard look at themselves and accept that it is not "immigrants" that have brought Britain to the apparent state it is perceived to be in today but the generation of predominately white Anglo-Saxon, predominately over-privileged and predominately sense of entitlement laden post war born petty nationalists who have dropped the ball rather spectacularly (if the perceived state of Britain today is indeed accurate.)
Posts: 11,141
By: charliehunt - 2nd March 2015 at 21:44 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I suspect that the nearer we get to May the more the electorate will be exercised by the key point for most of the electorate in almost every election - the economy. Which party will do the best for my pocket? Most other elements will become secondary.
Posts: 2,841
By: paul178 - 6th March 2015 at 22:56 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Well Charlie nice Mr Cameron says you can overstay your time with/in/on council property parking by up to 10 minutes without getting a fine. A sure fire election winner in my book.(shame I have a blue badge and don't pay anyway!)
Posts: 8,505
By: mike currill - 6th March 2015 at 23:49 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Because the supermarkets want their profits to be as high as possible. Apparently they are are actually paying the farmers about £1 a gallon less than it's costing the farmers to produce the milk. Yes I know grass is free but if you still want milk in the winter you need winter feed for the cows.
Posts: 11,141
By: charliehunt - 7th March 2015 at 05:50 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I know, Paul - I think that that parking concession could just swing the vote his way!!;)
Posts: 6,535
By: John Green - 10th March 2015 at 20:51 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
In response to Herr Junckers ideas on military matters, the D. Tel. in part of their editorial ( 10th March,) wrote:
" EU and whose army ? "
Posts: 6,535
By: John Green - 13th March 2015 at 17:51 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Boxing news.
Anyone interested in boxing ? The so-called Fight of the Century is now on the cards for May 2nd next. Floyd Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao. They are regarded by pundits as being slightly over the hill but, you could've fooled me! It should be some contest. My 50p will be on Mayweather to edge it on points.