Curly’s Corner Shop, the blog!

Curly disconnecting

I’m disconnecting my cable modem from the internet today as part of the work to restyle our house. The cable is going to be buried under the floor whilst I build a new workstation in an alcove of the adjoining room. If I can find the sturdy bench tops that I’m looking for, the job should be completed before Monday (and a new floor installed too!)

Hope to see you all then.

McBride and Draper “tagged”

I was rather amused to read this from Guido and watch this at Tory Bear

Personally, if I want to ogle at Kate Garraway that early in the morning, I just switch on GMTV!

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Sign the petition.

Yes our elections have become more presidential over the years, the party leaders grab the attention, the media circus follows them around the country as they parade their arguments and policies in the newspapers and TV stations, huge advertising campaigns are launched, and the party political broadcast suffers remote control button meltdown.

We only need the full blown presidential styled leaders’ debate to just about round it off (as well as an internet based fund raising event) and then the circle will just about be completed. We’ve never had such an event in the UK, for one reason or another there has never been a full agreement by the party leaders to engage in a televised debate, and one of the reasons cited in the past has been the inability to find a wholly impartial host to chair the debate. The Times reports today that the veteran broadcaster Sir David Frost is  being lined up as a possibility, and that meetings have been held in Westminster between party representatives to discuss a debate and the rules that must surround it.

Now Adam Boulton at Sky News has waded in with a campaign to put pressure on David Cameron, Nick Clegg, and Gordon Brown to accede to the media demands for what could become a prime time political bun fight of epic proportions. One of the ideas that I’ve read suggests a debate over three courses, like a half decent meal, night one might concentrate on domestic policy and the economy, night two on defence and foreign policy, and night three a town hall meeting free for all with members of the public invited to pose the questions, now if this isn’t sounding completely American then they’ve gone down the wrong path.

Personally I’d welcome it, for once we may see the party leaders pressured by an independent chairman and the public to actually give straight answers to straight questions, something which the Prime Minister for instance fails to do during PMQs in The House of Commons. I’d also like to see a return to  old fashioned town hall debates in the constituencies between the candidates, as a reminder that we are electing individual representatives to the Commons, and not a “President”. If we are to see a return to a more engaging political process then I view this as almost a necessity and something which will reinforce the Britishness of the electoral process. I can already imagine the candidates bellowing into a microphone from the steps of the Old Town Hall in South Shields’ Market Place as shoppers try to get out of Wilkinsons, I’m sure that it’s all happened before of course, in an age when people took their politics a little more seriously, before “the line” was doctored and spoon fed to television, radio, and newspapers.

If you’d like to see the three main party leaders “get it on” then why not sign Sky’s petition – here.

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An everywoman as Beauty Queen

Just for a change a South Shields success story that is totally non political, you have to take your hat off to Lauren Luke the 27 year old single mother who is being feted in New York as she helped celebrate the opening of Sephora’s second Times Square store. She also features in The New York Times who highlight the fact that her YouTube channel has had more than 50 million views from over 250000 subscribers!

“Her appeal is that she is the Everywoman,” said Ed Burstell, a former vice president at Bergdorf Goodman and the buying director for Liberty of London. “She connects on an emotional level, and her quirky honesty is infectious.”

It is great to see and read of the South Shields sensation doing so well from such an inauspicious start with a webcam in her bedroom. I’m no expert on fashions or make up but I recognise success when I see it, and I hope that Lauren manages to turn her internet success into financial security and I’m only too pleased to record my admiration. As Geordies and Sanddancers we should be prepared to praise the youngsters in our midst who are making a name for themselves for all of the right reasons, we read too much negative news these days about some of our young people.

Lauren appears to nonplussed by the attention and says:

“I’m not your typical gorgeous, skinny girl. But people know with me that what they see is what they get.”

“I’m an average-looking girl who can’t wear 10 layers of fake lashes to get that mascara effect.” Her disenchantment, she added, “made me dig my feet in stronger. We’ve all had enough of lies.”

Sephora will now market the By Lauren Luke line through an exclusive retail partnership, so that must be great plus for her.

Even some of the American bloggers have taken to her earthly charm Jenny Muller said:

Lauren Luke is the ultimate non-celeb celeb model.

PSFK writes:

With appearances across the UK and US TV networks, a loyal following and newspapers like the New York Times giving her glowing support, Lauren Luke’s hard work has paid off with rapid sales online and through her retail partner Sephora. The NY Times calls her the ‘Everywoman as Beauty Queen’

So whatever plaudits Lauren receives are truly deserved and South Shields folks should be immensely proud of her.

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“Too many Twits might make a twat”

David Cameron on Absolute Radio today (where he was also heard to say he gets “pissed off”)

“Call me Dave” the Conservative Leader was sounding salt of the earth in a very jocular interview but as Jane Merrick says in The Independent:

Has Cameron “gaffed”? I doubt it. He doesn’t say anything without thinking about it. This is Dave the Ordinary Bloke, and we’d better get used to him.

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Politicians in South Tyneside should firmly refute this insult and deceit

I am a little surprised that so far there have been no public pronouncements on the matter of the former South Tyneside Independent Alliance councillor Allen Branley. Mr. Branley who represented the Westoe ward in South Shields was thrown off South Tyneside Council for the second time in his political career for failing to turn up to any meetings, yet he has the sheer audacity to announce himself as a candidate in the ensuing by election and attempts an almighty deceit by telling the people of Westoe that he has resigned.

Let’s be perfectly clear, this is not the truth, Allen Branley was fired again! Mr. and Mrs. Branley have now been thrown off South Tyneside Council three times between them.

I think it would be rather appropriated for the Leader of the local Labour group of councillors Iain Malcolm, the leader of the Conservative group David Potts, and the leader of the Liberal Democratic group Joe Abbott, and any other interested councillor who wishes to participate, to produce a unified statement condemning the action of Mr. Branley and re-iterating the point that he has failed to uphold the standards required in the 1972 Local Government Act.

It needs to be made perfectly clear that this man is deliberately deceiving the people of South Shields, our politicians ought to take a lead in this.

Related Posts

• South Tyneside Independent Alliance dwindles further
• Branleys have “previous”
• I resign!
• Allen Branley to seek re-election

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A sign that MPs don’t live in the real world

This is from Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s expense claim for assisted costs allowance 2007-08

£2010 to redecorate a toilet in a cupboard under the stairs!!

This includes new tiles to the floor area, 2 coats of finishing sealer, new lining paper, three coats of emulsion, and gloss and undercoat for the woodwork.

Now if I just nipped out to the local DIY shed in South Shields I’d estimate this for materials:

Floor tiles (6ft X 4ft maximum for under stairs cupboard?) £20

Adhesive £15

Sealer £8

Lining paper 1000 grade £5

Emulsion 2.5 ltrs £15

Primer 1 ltr £8

Undercoat 750 mll £10

Gloss 750mll £10

I’ve been conservative, but I could probably buy the materials for less than £100, less again if I used perfectly good own brand products.

Labour – a slow DIY person would take three days to do the job allowing for drying/setting times, has Gordon Brown really paid someone over £500 per day to decorate a toilet?

This shows that the PM and probably many more MPs are totally out of touch with real life, they are not used to going out shopping in their local communities, and have no idea about the prices of goods in the shops, and little idea at all about the reasonable labour costs of tradesmen.

But there again, why should they when the tax payer foots the bill?

If they have no idea about the value of money used to maintain their own homes, what chance do they have of spotting value for money in government spending?

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From A – Z, all things reactionary

I found this at The Angry Mob, it’s quite amusing really.

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Risk averse Britain, illustrated

Spotted in South Shields.

Here’s a little quiz for you, just complete the sentence using one of the following options (there is no correct answer, and this is not an attack on any particular individuals or sections of the community, just the lot of us in general)

MY FATHER IS ________________________

• A civil engineer
• A lollipop man
• A telephone repair man
• A bit hard of seeing
• The owner of a work wear shop
• Scared of other kids
• A bit daft really
• Not a brain surgeon
• Paying for the advert on the back
• Doing what mom told him
• A total hoon
• Forgetting what childhood is all about
• Colour blind, it ought to be red
• Sure a motorist wants to kill me
• Mad keen on fancy dress parties
• One of those Health and Safety people in the local council
• Not aware there’s a photographer behind him
• Just a wee bit silly and risk averse
• Sure this is how Newcastle United players look in training
• Just preparing me for adulthood

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I am being challenged in another local blog about my silence regarding certain allegations (which will not be repeated here at this time).

If the author has indeed been away for several days conducting an ‘investigation’ and believes that what he has found has veracity and credibility, then surely the right thing to do with that evidence would be to place it in the hands of Northumbria Police. One would not expect to see such evidence trawled around on a tawdry website.

That is all (for now).