DevonDeathTrip

Helpful Anna Raccoon update

I had the misfortune to see The Exploited and the UK Subs perform on the same night a few years ago. I've got broad tastes musically, but they were both atrocious. Two classic examples of bands who should have packed it in years ago. Of course I got to wondering who out of Charlie Harper or Wattie Buchan would die first and I struggled to make my mind up as they both looked like they could drop dead at any minute.

Coptic Pope Tawadros II had only just left St Mark's Cathedral in Alexandria today when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the front door. Tawadros probably owes his life to the vigilant security guard who challenged the bomber before he got inside. The Islamic State have made repeated threats against the Coptic community in Egypt recently, so it follows that blowing their head man to smithereens would be a good result for them. Definitely worth a speculative punt in an upcoming deadpool IMO.

Catherine Nevin picked by everybody

Nolan Sister and actress Bernie Nolan is suffering from breast cancer.

All change for my team, apart from Al-Bagdhadi. Incidentally, I had this really strange dream that he became the new leader of the Liberal Democrats and started advocating against Brexit in the same fashion he has attempted to promote the Islamic cause. Credit to my reserves for getting me this far, but I need a bit more strength and depth in the squad to make progress. Hoping a couple of hitherto unknown signings make the grade.

No, I don't think they are truly socialists. In the extremely unlikely event of Labour winning the next general election, when the going gets really tough, these people won't stand by their supposed Corbynite principles and in an effort to protect their own interests, they'll rapidly abandon the cause and crawl back in the direction of self-serving bourgeois complacency. But don't get me started on that.

When I was a child, I'm almost certain there was a properly verified 120 year old Japanese man in the Guinness Book of Records. Now I can't find any mention of him. Did I hallucinate the whole thing, or did he manage to fool the Guinness judges, who I thought were almost foolproof?

Agree about rich politicians. Zak Goldsmith was a particularly odious example and I was delighted when he lost his seat in the recent by-election (even more delighted as I bet he'd lose). Seeing his smug face crumple when he realised he'd been beaten was almost worth the £250k of taxpayers money it cost to host the election. A cost he should be made liable for, considering it only took place as a result of his massive ego trip. Jacob Rees-Mogg is another one who should be marched in to the sea and I sincerely hope there is a special place in hell reserved for George Osborne. I do have a lot of time for Sadiq Kahn, though. Not particularly because of his politics, but I just like his style, as well as the fact he is the son of a bus driver and went to a grim comprehensive school, etc. Another thing that really annoys me off at the moment is the rise of the 'smug white liberal'. I'm fed up of Facebook inspired protesters gathering in city centres to protest against Trump, war in Syria and Brexit. All perfectly laudable causes it could be argued, but what agitates me is that these almost exclusively middle class, holier than thou, simpering nonentities hold their vigils seemingly completely oblivious to the plight of the homeless people who are sat right in front of them, nor do they appear to care one jot for the rights of the workers in the surrounding shops, who are mainly slaving away on a minimum wage, zero hour contract. Then they all trot off home - probably via a tax dodging Starbucks to buy an unethically sourced caramel frothichino, ffs - to their nice houses and make sure they update their Facebook status so that everyone who knows them knows that they're doing their bit to save the world. Meanwhile, the forgotten members of our society, the dispossessed, the disabled, the elderly and the unemployed struggle on as best they can. Who is marching for them? No one, it seems. Can't the people who take selfies of themselves at demonstrations do anything more constructive towards making the world a better place than this? And if they really felt strongly enough about an issue, can't they at least riot? Anyway, feel free to ignore me. I'm a dreadful old socialist at the best of times, but recently I've become radicalised by the videos of crusty old anarchist Martin Wright, to the point that even Jeremy Corbyn is too right wing for me. These days, I'm becoming ever more sure that mankind's only hope of salvation is the collapse of society, the chaos and war which will arise from it, before a glorious new dawn rises from the ashes, or something like that. Once we've abolished money, abolished national borders - take that Scot Nats! - and abolished God, we might see some progress Failing that, I think we should give Black Power a go.

There you go Joey.

The doctor planning to transplant heads has revealed that a Chinese man will be the first recipient of a new body. Spinidonov has been dropped, with no reason given.

It seems like there's a whole load of collective navel-gazing while we wait around to scoop up the next fish that floats to the top of the barrel, or summat. As for my squad, no idea. Time will tell; some will die, some won't. I'm not really a stats man. Each year I tend to pick a total wildcard for the hell of it (e.g Ed Drummond, Gary Haggerty, Chris Sanigar, etc). This year I went for the former boxer Steve Pollard and drunkenly decided he would get an obit based on several considerations - Kellie (formerly Frank) Maloney was "moved to tears" by his plight - He's a friend of Roland Gift from the Fine Young Cannibals - Hull is the UK city of culture this year. Steve Pollard is from Hull - He coached Paul Ingle to become a world champion I'm not sure any of that will be enough, but that might be beside the point as I've no idea what's wrong with him and only know that a fundraising evening was held for him last year. I found some footage taken last month of him at a proposed new boxing gym in Hull and he doesn't look or sound quite right IMO. Anyway, I'll await with interest to see what happens. But, ultimately, who am I to reduce him to being a mere statistical possibility of scoring me some more deadpool points?

"Kill Yourself" message left on police officer's car. Maybe an ex-poster has decided to take trolling to a new level

The Secret History of Twin Peaks, by Mark Frost. Read the whole thing in one sitting and am looking forward to strange dreams tonight.

Balls, I think I've merged the entire Bouteflika thread with this one, rather than moving six posts across. Will try and undo the damage tonight. Sorry!

Another clip of Tommy Gemmell worth seeing is the part he played in the infamous Battle of Montevideo (about 2mins 50seconds in). As a fan of violent encounters (on the pitch) this one takes some beating.

Ricky Tomlinson alleges that Richard Whiteley was an MI5 spy

The right amount, but he/she has, ahem, gender issues and was rejected by his/her mother. Sheep are notoriously puritanical about this sort of thing. Sorry to wander off topic.

...as just posted in the football thread, this chap qualifies for a mention here with a deficit of 63:56.

I'm so busy at the moment (hand-rearing a mutant lamb amongst other things) that I haven't given this much thought. Very, very impressed with the scores some teams have racked up this month.

The Telegraph have done a feature on terminally ill fundraising campanologist Julie McDonnell. I really hope her account of palliative care services is the exception rather than the norm.

He's so good that I am considering a new career in recruitment.

Purely in the interests of research, I am going on a scouting mission have signed up for "An Evening With Kenny Sansom" on Thursday night. Am genuinely intrigued to find out if the guests will get the customary complimentary booze in the presence of such a thirsty legend.

That's great, but please provide the original newslinks in future. This forum isn't to be used as a prop to increase traffic to your website.

An update on Susanne Cameron-Blackie, aka Anna Raccoon. Her chances of a proper obituary maybe rather slim, but she's just the sort of person who might get the Telegraph treatment. In the meantime, I hope she continues to defy medical expectations for as long as possible. I miss her (now deleted) site, she was one of the best bloggers of them all IMO.