The Fox Covert

19 hours ago, surrifox said:

Worst: Going to Charlton Athletic when their Valley Ground was under reconstruction . Making our way past a row of partially demolished terraced houses teetering on a large drop 

Charlton was and probably still is one of the most friendly awaydays in London. The nearest pub is I think the Antigallican. 

I once worked in a place where there was someone who sat in his little cubby hole of a personal office reading the Daily Telegraph all day. He came out from time to time to poke his nose into someone else's work before disappearing back into his hole with a cup of tea. A new girl started work in an adjacent office and she asked who kept some kind of an official register. I knew this was one of the official responsibilities of the Telegraph reader so I said you need to go into the next office and ask for Mr Twitmarsh. She thought that really was his name. A minute later everyone in the other office burst out laughing when she went in and asked who Mr Twitmarsh was. 'Fraid to say, Telegraph reader was stuck with being Twitmarsh, probably until he retired.

That place doesn't exist any more and probably there isn't anywhere else like that on this planet.

13 hours ago, WigstonWanderer said:

When I was growing up in Wigston, a trump was another word for a fart. I haven’t heard it used much in that way since I left at the age of 12. Is it just a Leicester expression?

 

Perhaps just one of my dad’s old navy words.

I grew up in Leicester and trump was a fairly polite euphemism for fart. I don't think I have ever heard it anywhere else. What about a bit of rhyming slang - Donald Trump = Dump, as in 'I need to go for a Donald Trump!'

22 hours ago, Daggers said:

https://www.trumpstore.com/

 

They have so much more than just lighters.

 

 

Can you get Trump toilet paper? Or a replica gold plated Trump toilet?

I think it is a big-money corporatist thing which has grown to dominate most sports and entertainments. 

Glastonbury and other large festivals used to have their own identity, which is still true to a certain extent but the corporate junketing and concentration of all the money at the top of the tree means that the spontaneity which used to be there when I first went in the 1980s has largely gone. Yes, it was a much wilder place then, but so were the terraces of most large football clubs in the days before corporate boxes and ticket prices beyond the reach of anyone on an average income.

31 minutes ago, westernpark said:

Nottingham does well for pubs. But actual city, and I include suburbs within the city boundary, we are far nicer. Snottingham also only has 1000 years of history, we have 2000 plus. 
I once did a paper on how Leicester’s municipal buildings don’t project enough authority over the city. Whilst I didn’t use Nottingham as a comparison, a lot of people just think of Nottingham’s Council House, within their ontological security of the place. But there’s not much else. 
 

Gets a laugh for Snottingham (Snotingahame). I once got a two week ban from 606 for commenting on their forum and calling the city Snottingham. I got a snotty message from the mods that people had complained and it was insulting to the city and its people!

22 hours ago, Footballwipe said:

Whilst I'm on this thread, I watched these videos the other day. Not sure if they've been posted tho so sorry if it's a duplicate. I genuinely learnt a lot and the background shots of the city as it was in 1998 are enjoyable.

 

There's more in the series on this channel, too.

 

 

 

My dad, a former teacher, used to lead guided walks on summer evenings around the city centre. He didn't like photographs being taken of him and would not have considered putting them on YouTube but I imagine they would have been an interesting watch.

Remote working can work for you depending on the industry and the company you are working for and your career aspirations.

In my previous job, I had been working for the company for several years before remote working was enforced by the pandemic and the first covid lockdown.

So I knew all the project team and the major contacts for the customer quite well and the transition to remote working was successful.

Some of the major projects this company had in its portfolio dried up last year and I moved on to another company in the same field, which has remote working as part of its business strategy.

This has been less successful as I rarely meet anybody in the project team and have still never met any of the customer's project team.

Things are OK when the job in hand is straightforward, but when things are not and you need more information or have queries sometimes that work package just goes on hold for months.

Very often the information you need would be readily available in an office environment. The job would probably only be on hold until the next day, or maybe the beginning of the following week.

Remote working is also a career killer. I just don't see that you would ever be able to get the all round career experience to progress to, for example, a project lead position.

I couldn't care less about the last one as I am now in the run-down stage of my working life and will definitely quit if I am still there when I get the state pension, because even the miserable pittance from the state, that I have contributed to for over 40 years, will push me into the higher tax bracket.

The job is engineering technical documentation and the customers include many leading names in the aerospace, defence and engineering industries. 

On 20/08/2024 at 15:44, davieG said:

 

Leicester Memories

Rob Murray  · 38 m  · 

 

 

train approaching Leicester Central station G.C.R.

Interesting picture of a scene which has changed almost beyond recognition. There is a painting in there if I can find better resolution images of the buildings and the bridges. The train is easy. Here is a painting someone else did of the same scene from a different angle.

6 hours ago, bovril said:

I'd be interested to know what the name is, though no worries if you don't want to share it.

 

My Mum's maiden name is Wallin which I believe is relatively common in Leicestershire, but interestingly also one of the most common surnames in Sweden. Would be very interested to know if and how it came across, or whether it's just coincidence. 

This is a much nicer thread than the usual ones on YouTube and Facebook which are infested with ignorant and aggressive Reform/EDL bots. 

I got hassled by one recently who commented on my family name not looking very English. The name has actually been in England for at least 500 years which should be enough for even the most off-the-scale racist. I cracked up half way through the comment when I read 'imergrunt'. I didn't waste much time on my reply but I was careful to use only short words with no more than ten letters and two syllables!

I have been watching the news of the riots with not a little concern because I still have family in Leicester, and a brother who lives in a location which is decidedly front line. I thought there would be a repeat of the clashes in 2010, when hundreds of hooligans were bussed into the city and there *was* major trouble. Loads of clips on YouTube. Happily it didn't happen. 

As I type, a message from a friend popped in. His partner was born in Leicester of Asian parents and I expect he has also been expecting trouble. 

On 05/07/2024 at 20:43, themightyfin said:

Can we get Danny Ward to walk the plank? 

What, into water polluted with sewage discharge by Thames Water? He might be useless but that is too harsh a punishment.

3 hours ago, DJ Barry Hammond said:

But the comparison of someone like Lucas - who genuinely wanted to effect policy change - to Farage is not a good one.

 

All the Reform guys will want is an opportunity to say “Labour, you’re crap!” and have it shown on TV later in the evening - and they will get plenty of opportunity to do just that.

 

They don’t want or need to set an agenda in Parliament. Being seen to be in opposition is enough (this was how the SNP grew initial support before ****ing themselves).

I think we will see Farage most interested in questions and sound bites in Parliament, and grabbing media publicity. He has never shown much interest in the detailed investigation and implementation of policy, which is what the government committees do. There are some very good practitioners on both sides of the House, like Meg Hillier who is hugely respected in Parliament but hardly known to the general public.

I don't agree about the SNP. The SNP cannot be compared to Reform or even the Greens because as far as Westminster is concerned they are a single-issue party with the prime objective of Scotland not being ruled from Westminster at all. I go to Scotland a lot and it is clear that since the restoration of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood most Scots are more interested in what is going on at Holyrood than Westminster.

3 hours ago, Daggers said:

Tobi will be in for a shock when he discovers Sam doesn’t exist. 

 

 

Sam Baron hasn't got a clue what he is talking about. There will be plenty of space on the Opposition front benches but House of Commons protocol will dictate that the front bench is taken by the Tories and the Liberals. Farage and his knuckle-dragging henchmen will have to sit in the naughty corner at the back with the ever-dwindling ranks of the DUP. Farage hates not being the centre of attention and he will soon find out that he will only have the same right to question the Prime Minister as a back bencher from the major parties. About one question allowed per year, if he is very lucky.

26 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

A very safe seat for years to come. 

The Labour Party in Leicester East completely lost the plot when they had the opportunity after the end of Keith Vaz - they selected someone even worse in Claudia Webbe. I don't think Leicester East has ever had a Tory MP in my lifetime. The South seat was Tory a very long time ago ... Tom Boardman? but most of that seat is much more prosperous and better Tory territory. A colossal own-goal by Labour.

2 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Rees-Mogg close call 

Rees-Mogg is in the neighbouring seat to where I live and I can tell you I rarely hear anyone say a good word about him. I cartooned him as the Minister for Silly Walks today. Hopefully he is out on his ear and he can go back to his country mansion and learn to ride a horse properly and go fox hunting. 

On 14/06/2024 at 20:10, Raj said:

Had a leaflet through the door ( posted not in person) by pur tory mp Alicia Kearns

Straight in the bin.

I haven't had one from my Tory candidate yet. The incumbent Tory is not standing again and the new candidate has been parachuted in by Tory Central Office. They are probably still printing her election literature, and they are certainly short of people to knock on doors and talk to people, even if the householder will sometimes be slam it in their face.

9 minutes ago, Legend_in_blue said:

Costa appears to be canvassing in the very south of South Leicestershire at the moment.  So much so that I'd go as far as to say he's canvassing for MP in Lutterworth and surrounding villages.

What? A Tory who can walk and talk and knock on the doors of ordinary people??? Several weeks into the campaign I haven't yet seen a single Tory leaflet or poster, in my constituency in the West Country, which the Tories would normally expect to win at a canter.

6 hours ago, BenTheFox said:

 

We often conflate Conservatism with Thatcherite economics. The funny thing is, Harold Macmillan would be considered left wing now. 

I often think of Starmer as a Macmillan type 'One Nation' Tory. I was never centre right but in the current heavily skewed political scene I expect I would also be labelled as hard left.

18 hours ago, Voll Blau said:

Would thoroughly recommend John Bew's biography of Attlee. Being a good PM is about being a good manager, you don't have to be flash as long as you have the temperament to manage the talent at your disposal well.

 

I despair that people still want an entertainer, despite that floppy-haired nonce taking the piss out of literally the whole country. If that didn't make you realise the whole "I'd love to have a beer with him!" attitude produces shite leaders (who'd never have a beer with you in a billion years, by the way) then nothing will.

I haven't seen that but I will definitely look out for it. I expect if Bodgejob Johnson had been around in the wartime and immediately following years I don't think he would have reached the Cabinet. Maybe Churchill would have despatched him to an insignificant junior position in the colonies where he would not have had to take very much responsbility for anything.

23 hours ago, Foxdiamond said:

I think even Churchill knew Attlee was a capable deputy during WW2 and as you say turned out to be a successful premier. Probably the opposite of Sunak that he was middle class but cared deeply about the poor. Also did his bit in the army in WW1. Insisted on attending Churchill's funeral despite his own frail health. No going home early for him.

Yes, it is politics. Churchill knew how to turn a phrase. It is not clear whose idea it was to invite Labour to join the wartime government after Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain in 1940, but Churchill certainly wanted Labour to buy into the 'all in the same boat' mentality after the fall of France and the evacuation of the Allied forces at Dunkirk. Attlee and other front-rank Labour politicians like Ernest Bevin, Herbert Morrison, Arthur Greenwood and Hugh Dalton all played a prominent part in the wartime administration.

Feel free to download and put up in your window!

2 hours ago, st albans fox said:

I’m also getting a bit tired of the right painting starmer as ‘boring’ and ‘robotic’ 

 

who cares ? 

It’s what they do, not what they look like or how they behave in front of the cameras  !!

 

delighted that we are going to have a PM who doesn’t have any charisma - he will be judged purely on what he delivers 

 

fwiw, I don’t know who I’m voting for on July 4 but I do know who is going to be PM 

 

 

Winston Churchill once described his deputy prime minister Clement Attlee during the coalition National Government wartime years as 'a modest man with a lot to be modest about'. That modest man lead Labour to a landslide victory in 1945 and the most successful Labour government in history.

On 10/06/2024 at 21:38, kushiro said:

Over on Bentley's Roof a poster called 'Channy6thswan' mentioned he'd actually got hold of a set of Fosse cigarette cards from way back when. They are from the 'Cope' company. 

 

Here they are:

 

 

 

 

 

They're from five years after the Mercury illustrations. 1910/11 season.

 

Was Threlfall the goalkeeper?