[Boiler]

If they'd covered it any other way I think you know how the Fourth Estate would have reacted...

[Youngian]

Oh, and how the coroner's report was covered on the six o'clock news. Mournful, hushed, and with a tearful farewell befitting Lady Di.

Fact is. A pissed-up thug learned physics the hard way.

May the Darwin Awards field become ever more crowded.

You’d think a 61 year old painter and decorator would know about ladder safety. Although that’s a bit like DJing, something people who knock out gear say they do for a living.

[Andy McDandy]

Well known football fan and author of 2 books.

Sounds so much better than hooligan who jumped on the noughties true crime memoirs bandwagon, and had his rather pedestrian recollections ghostwritten up.

[Boiler]

Flags locally;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8x99rkjlr2o

In a question to Labour council leader Shabina Qayyam on Wednesday, Fox said he was "deeply troubled by the seemingly arbitrary and possibly quasi-political manner" in which flags were attached, "without permission or a proper ceremony".

Qayyam said the rising trend of flying union jacks was "mainly due to a sense of patriotism rather than to create division".

[Bones McCoy]

It seems that the dickhead in previous posts was pissed when he climbed the ladder...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c74ww90v9gyo

It's the Patriots Triathlon .... Hmm sounds a bit forrin that.

It's the Patriots Three Ring Circus: Binge drinking, Flegs, Head Injury.

[Bones McCoy]

Regarding that council exchange, there's a thiought.

Maybe we could learn something form the Yanks regarding flags and their proper respect.
* Totally make up some lengthy and debasing ceremony that must be followed each time a flag is flown.
* I'm sure other mailwatchers can get creative, I'm thinking along the lines of:
* A lengthy pledge, including some gammon kryptonite like strength in diversity, obeying the King's law, telling truth, shunning corruption.
* A few posture changes, kneeling, bowing, hand on heart, a "Red Dwarf" salute.
* And if you don't do it right, you have to start again.

Or go full Soviet and mandate one approved supplier of high quality flags (profits to NHS).
Everything else treated as treason and disrespek'.

[soulboy]

At every flag raising you must recite the Scout Promise, but it is a legally binding promise.

On my honour,
I promise that I will do my best
to uphold our Scout values, to do my duty to The King,
to help other people
and to keep the Scout Law.

Half arse something? You failed to do your best. Here's a kick in the knackers. Half masting is definitely half arseing. Turbo wedgie.

Use a pathetic "we should be helping our own" excuse to weasel out of helping others? Super uppercut.

Seems like a plan.

[Bones McCoy]

At every flag raising you must recite the Scout Promise, but it is a legally binding promise.

On my honour,
I promise that I will do my best
to uphold our Scout values, to do my duty to The King,
to help other people
and to keep the Scout Law.

Half arse something? You failed to do your best. Here's a kick in the knackers. Half masting is definitely half arseing. Turbo wedgie.

Use a pathetic "we should be helping our own" excuse to weasel out of helping others? Super uppercut.

Seems like a plan.

It's a start.

I was thinking about some Kipling 7 verse epic for the pledge.

But not "Tommy" for obvious resemblance to a living person.

[davidjay]

How about Anthem for Doomed Youth?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I saw this, supposedly the Viking code. Corny, but perhaps it works...


Teach the young
Be loyal to your friends
Voice your opinion
Stand your ground
Take charge when others show weakness
Play when you can
Work when you must
And always leave your mark

[Bones McCoy]

This one won't cut it with the gammons.

The Taekwondo Oath is a pledge recited by students, emphasizing core values like respect, discipline, and peace, typically before class or gradings, and includes promises to observe the Tenets of Taekwondo (Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control, Indomitable Spirit), respect instructors, never misuse the art, and strive for freedom, justice, and a peaceful world.

The Traditional Taekwondo Oath
(Recited by name, then the lines below):

"I shall observe the tenets of Taekwondo."
"I shall respect my instructor and seniors."
"I shall never misuse Taekwondo."
"I shall be a champion of freedom and justice."
"I shall build a more peaceful world."

[Rosvanian]

My wife, a teacher for over 30 years, summed all of this up a while back in one pithy, one -size -fits - all rule; "Don't be an arsehole". Given that we're living through a period of history which will one day be known as The Age of the Arsehole, I think it works.

[Samanfur]

See also the axiom known online as Wheaton's Law:

Don't be a dick.

[Abernathy]

This is an "interesting" take on what's been happening in my neck of the woods :

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpwnwx19ke1o

Background : last Wednesday night, the flag wankers targeted the centre of Moseley, a cosmopolitan, multi-cultural suburb of the city of Birmingham that some cliche-hobbled local journalists like to call "Bohemian" . They were well organised and well-equipped, using a van with a "cherry-picker" platform to hang a union flag and a cross of St George flag on about 30 lamp-posts throughout Moseley "village" centre. It was clearly an act of provocation, aimed at fostering division and confrontation.

On Saturday morning, a counter-demonstration of sorts was organised in the centre of Moseley village, promoted as "Moseley is for Everyone" and with the declared intention of taking down the flags. In the event, they only managed to remove the flags from about six lamp-posts out of about 40 that had been flagged - they were difficult to reach as the wankers had fixed them at the tops of lamp-posts about 30 ft high and it was pissing down with rain - but about 50 people had turned up, there was a sound system playing bhangra music and reggae, and flags-of-all-nations bunting, and it was all jolly good fun.

Mind you, the woman who "organised" the Saturday morning thing, Carol Williams, is a member of the SWP who stood in the recent council by-election in the ward as an independent, but was in fact a de facto "Your Party" candidate, and who intends to stand again in May. Unusual, since the SWP doesn't believe in standing in elections. They were never going to get all the flags down, and our own Labour councillor in a neighbouring ward (the Moseley ward is currently represented by two Lib Dems) got the council and the police to agree to get the flags down properly - though it hasn't happened just yet).

Further interesting background : Mr Khan, the owner of the "Cafephilia" coffee shop mentioned in the report, has had a massive Palestinian flag flying on the roof of his coffee shop building for several months, though the report neglects to mention this. This might well have been a factor in provoking the flag wankers into targeting Moseley. But that is okay, because it is on private property. The bottom line on what the flag wankers are doing is that, regardless of any spurious arguments about spontaneous outbreaks of national pride, hanging stuff from any item of public infrastructure without permission is just illegal.

As you might imagine, social media activity about these shenanigans always has several morons trying to pretend it's just about simply being proud of your country and ignoring both the illegality of the activity and the racist motivation behind it. I'm trying to avoid it.

Hopefully the remaining flags will be removed this week.

[davidjay]

The flagshaggers seem very well organised, with cherrypickers, traffic cones and the roads blocked. I wonder how they got council permission to do this?

[Abernathy]

The flagshaggers seem very well organised, with cherrypickers, traffic cones and the roads blocked. I wonder how they got council permission to do this?

They did not have permission from the council, and were acting illegally. even if they did have a feckin cherrypicker.