In todays news...

[JackyJoll]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cprq880yz0xo

Olympics commentator axed over sexist remark

A veteran sports commentator has been sacked from his Olympics role after making a sexist remark about Australian female swimmers following their gold medal win.

As the 4x100m freestyle relay team were making their way off the pool deck in Paris, Bob Ballard said they were "finishing up", adding "you know what women are like... hanging around, doing their make up".

The clip quickly went viral and broadcaster Eurosport later said he had been removed from the commentary line-up.

Ballard has yet to comment publicly on his remarks.

Mollie O’Callaghan, Emma McKeon, Meg Harris and Shayna Jack had just beaten the US and China, to make it the fourth Olympics in a row where the Australia has claimed the gold medal in the event.

They were waving to crowds and celebrating the achievement when Mr Ballard made his comments.

His co-commentator and British swimming champion Lizzie Simmonds had immediately branded his remark "outrageous", prompting laughter from Ballard.

On Sunday, Eurosport said Ballard - previously a long-time BBC reporter and presenter - would not return to their air waves.

"During a segment of Eurosport’s coverage last night, commentator Bob Ballard made an inappropriate comment," the broadcaster said in a statement.

"To that end, he has been removed from our commentary roster with immediate effect."

Mr Ballard has been a stalwart of global sports coverage since the 1980s, reporting on multiple Olympic games and World Championships.

He has commentated an array of sports including water polo, ice hockey and wheelchair tennis, but is best known for his coverage of swimming and diving.

Swimming Australia has been approached for comment.

What’s your opinion on it?

He belittled those Olympic swimming contestants in a mass broadcast. That’s not exactly doing his job well, is it?

[Mussels]

Labour finding ways to try and hang onto their slim majorities.

Reeves defends move to scrap winter fuel payments

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c51y5pgkylqo

[JackyJoll]

It was predictable that things would turn out to be “worse than they thought” and now they have to tax and cut.

[JackyJoll]

Labour finding ways to try and hang onto their slim majorities.

Reeves defends move to scrap winter fuel payments

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c51y5pgkylqo

It’s not a good stealth move.

I for one, will notice an immediate £500 drop in income.

[Taipan]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cprq880yz0xo

Olympics commentator axed over sexist remark

A veteran sports commentator has been sacked from his Olympics role after making a sexist remark about Australian female swimmers following their gold medal win.

As the 4x100m freestyle relay team were making their way off the pool deck in Paris, Bob Ballard said they were "finishing up", adding "you know what women are like... hanging around, doing their make up".

The clip quickly went viral and broadcaster Eurosport later said he had been removed from the commentary line-up.

Ballard has yet to comment publicly on his remarks.

Mollie O’Callaghan, Emma McKeon, Meg Harris and Shayna Jack had just beaten the US and China, to make it the fourth Olympics in a row where the Australia has claimed the gold medal in the event.

They were waving to crowds and celebrating the achievement when Mr Ballard made his comments.

His co-commentator and British swimming champion Lizzie Simmonds had immediately branded his remark "outrageous", prompting laughter from Ballard.

On Sunday, Eurosport said Ballard - previously a long-time BBC reporter and presenter - would not return to their air waves.

"During a segment of Eurosport’s coverage last night, commentator Bob Ballard made an inappropriate comment," the broadcaster said in a statement.

"To that end, he has been removed from our commentary roster with immediate effect."

Mr Ballard has been a stalwart of global sports coverage since the 1980s, reporting on multiple Olympic games and World Championships.

He has commentated an array of sports including water polo, ice hockey and wheelchair tennis, but is best known for his coverage of swimming and diving.

Swimming Australia has been approached for comment.

What’s your opinion on it?

He belittled those Olympic swimming contestants in a mass broadcast. That’s not exactly doing his job well, is it?

I find it funny. Mainly because, like most blokes i know, I get ready a hell of a lot quicker than my wife for the reasons the commentator mentions. So its just observational comedy, which used to be popular and people like Billy Connolly built a career out of it, but now it seems to have been outlawed by wokeism!

Years ago we had a Yank, sorry American, come and work with us. First time in the UK and he was a tad confused by (many) things. We had a Glaswegian and two welsh guys and a about 4 English in the office. The American asked us one day, so if the Scottish are called Jocks and the Welsh Taffs, what are the English called? Glaswegian pipes up, there are so many of the cunts we split them into regional groups, Cockney cunts, Scouser cunts Geordie cunts etc. Use those terms and language today and it'd be classed as hate speech here and would be a disciplinable offence. It does seem that we have lost the ability, or now denied the right, to laugh at ourselves anymore.

[Dodgy69]

30 years of cotton wool.

[JackyJoll]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cprq880yz0xo

Olympics commentator axed over sexist remark

A veteran sports commentator has been sacked from his Olympics role after making a sexist remark about Australian female swimmers following their gold medal win.

As the 4x100m freestyle relay team were making their way off the pool deck in Paris, Bob Ballard said they were "finishing up", adding "you know what women are like... hanging around, doing their make up".

The clip quickly went viral and broadcaster Eurosport later said he had been removed from the commentary line-up.

Ballard has yet to comment publicly on his remarks.

Mollie O’Callaghan, Emma McKeon, Meg Harris and Shayna Jack had just beaten the US and China, to make it the fourth Olympics in a row where the Australia has claimed the gold medal in the event.

They were waving to crowds and celebrating the achievement when Mr Ballard made his comments.

His co-commentator and British swimming champion Lizzie Simmonds had immediately branded his remark "outrageous", prompting laughter from Ballard.

On Sunday, Eurosport said Ballard - previously a long-time BBC reporter and presenter - would not return to their air waves.

"During a segment of Eurosport’s coverage last night, commentator Bob Ballard made an inappropriate comment," the broadcaster said in a statement.

"To that end, he has been removed from our commentary roster with immediate effect."

Mr Ballard has been a stalwart of global sports coverage since the 1980s, reporting on multiple Olympic games and World Championships.

He has commentated an array of sports including water polo, ice hockey and wheelchair tennis, but is best known for his coverage of swimming and diving.

Swimming Australia has been approached for comment.

What’s your opinion on it?

He belittled those Olympic swimming contestants in a mass broadcast. That’s not exactly doing his job well, is it?

I find it funny. Mainly because, like most blokes i know, I get ready a hell of a lot quicker than my wife for the reasons the commentator mentions. So its just observational comedy, which used to be popular and people like Billy Connolly built a career out of it, but now it seems to have been outlawed by wokeism!

Years ago we had a Yank, sorry American, come and work with us. First time in the UK and he was a tad confused by (many) things. We had a Glaswegian and two welsh guys and a about 4 English in the office. The American asked us one day, so if the Scottish are called Jocks and the Welsh Taffs, what are the English called? Glaswegian pipes up, there are so many of the cunts we split them into regional groups, Cockney cunts, Scouser cunts Geordie cunts etc. Use those terms and language today and it'd be classed as hate speech here and would be a disciplinable offence. It does seem that we have lost the ability, or now denied the right, to laugh at ourselves anymore.

Laughing at himself is the opposite of what he did.

Crass jokes are great at comedy shows, at the pub and with your mates. It’s better when they’re wittier than his wisecrack there though.

He was carping at the Gold winners, at least partly because they weren’t his team.

He was in a job where they sack you at the drop of a hat, he fucked the job up and was sacked.

[Taipan]

Bitter team rivalry. Fab. When sporting was allowed that sort of things. Surprised we even have winners now and not just participants medals. But the game changes and I'd have probably got the gooner here for making such a comment. Sigh..

[JackyJoll]

Bitter team rivalry and being a bad loser ain’t for the commentators at their work.

[Saga Lout]

Labour finding ways to try and hang onto their slim majorities.

Reeves defends move to scrap winter fuel payments

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c51y5pgkylqo

It’s not a good stealth move.

I for one, will notice an immediate £500 drop in income.

But this is what we voted for. Things can only get better.
I think Labour have finally found another scapegoat in Sunak's Tory government. Well, they can't blame Thatcher for everything forever.

[Taipan]

Labour finding ways to try and hang onto their slim majorities.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c51y5pgkylqo

It’s not a good stealth move.

I for one, will notice an immediate £500 drop in income.

But this is what we voted for. Things can only get better.
I think Labour have finally found another scapegoat in Sunak's Tory government. Well, they can't blame Thatcher for everything forever.

That reservoir aint never drying up!

[Taipan]

3rd child is now confirmed dead in the Southport stabbings! From what I can gather the murderer wasn't an illegal migrant, but came here from Rwanda at 1 years old with his parents. Claims are being made he was on Mi5 watchlist, yet its not being treated as a terror attack?! I suspect we'll discover the truth of all this in due course...

[gremlin]

Labour finding ways to try and hang onto their slim majorities.

Reeves defends move to scrap winter fuel payments

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c51y5pgkylqo

It’s not a good stealth move.

I for one, will notice an immediate £500 drop in income.

I think M&S shares tumbled on the news that all the pensioners weren't going to be spending their allowance there come Christmas.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Wind and Solar power generated more electricity than Fossil Fuels for the first 6 months of 2024 in the EU, the first time this milestone has been reached in Europe.

But remember, no-one else is changing anything so you don't need to make any effort

https://ember-climate.org/insights/rese ... sil-fuels/

[Yorick]

Wind and Solar power generated more electricity than Fossil Fuels for the first 6 months of 2024 in the EU, the first time this milestone has been reached in Europe.

But remember, no-one else is changing anything so you don't need to make any effort

https://ember-climate.org/insights/rese ... sil-fuels/

The UK is doing better than EU

December 2023 was the 15th month in a row where zero-carbon generation produced more than fossil fuel generation, showcasing our growing use of zero-carbon electricity.We’ve reduced coal’s involvement in our generation mix by over 97% since 2013. Coal was responsible for just 1% of generation in 2023. In 2018, coal represented 5.1% of electricity produced, and 39.6% in 2013 - illustrating the significant reduction that is taking place.

Electricity from wind turbines has continued to grow in its contribution to the operation of the national network and accounted for 29.4% of electricity generation. On 10 January we broke the first wind record of the year, with wind generating over 21.6GW, and on 21 December we achieved a new maximum wind record of 21.8GW between 8 – 8:30am. 



Full story...

https://www.nationalgrideso.com/news/br ... 023-review

[Taipan]

Anjem Choudary jailed for life after being convicted of directing terror group!
Anjem Choudary was convicted of three terror charges earlier this month after a joint operation between US, UK and Canadian forces Notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary has been jailed for life after being convicted of directing a banned terrorist organisation. Choudary, 59, was found guilty of running Al-Muhajiroun in a “caretaker role” after its founder Omar Bakri Muhammed was jailed in Lebanon in 2014.For decades, Choudary had evaded authorities and carefully kept himself on the right side of the law, but he was jailed from 2016 to 2018 after being convicted of encouraging support for Isis as the terror group was rampaging across Iraq and Syria. His license conditions expired in 2021, at which point he returned to giving lectures to his supporters.



Sentencing Choudary today, Judge Mr Justice Wall said "having found you to be dangerous, I have concluded that I must pass on you a sentence of life imprisonment" adding that he would have a minimum term of 26 years, 358 days. In his sentencing remarks, Wall said: "It is clear that despite your protestations, you encouraged people to join Isis.

"It is impossible to say which particular terror acts you knew of or encouraged before they were committed, but I can conclude that you ran an organisation that encouraged acts such as this.

"You sought to grooming young people in your way of thinking.

"You were prepared to encourage young men into radical activity."

Wall added: "I have no doubt that you are a dangerous offender. You are an intelligent man and a persuasive speaker.

"You have no doubt as to the rectitude of your views, your views are entrenched and abhorrent to most right thinking people.

"It was chilling to hear about your denial of the Holocaust and your joking about 9/11.

"I do not sentence you for holding those views, but the fact that you genuinely hold such extreme views, is an indication of the danger that you pose into the future."

"You pose a significant risk of causing harm to the public into the future."

[Mr. Dazzle]

Wind and Solar power generated more electricity than Fossil Fuels for the first 6 months of 2024 in the EU, the first time this milestone has been reached in Europe.

But remember, no-one else is changing anything so you don't need to make any effort

https://ember-climate.org/insights/rese ... sil-fuels/

The UK is doing better than EU

December 2023 was the 15th month in a row where zero-carbon generation produced more than fossil fuel generation, showcasing our growing use of zero-carbon electricity.We’ve reduced coal’s involvement in our generation mix by over 97% since 2013. Coal was responsible for just 1% of generation in 2023. In 2018, coal represented 5.1% of electricity produced, and 39.6% in 2013 - illustrating the significant reduction that is taking place.

Electricity from wind turbines has continued to grow in its contribution to the operation of the national network and accounted for 29.4% of electricity generation. On 10 January we broke the first wind record of the year, with wind generating over 21.6GW, and on 21 December we achieved a new maximum wind record of 21.8GW between 8 – 8:30am. 



Full story...

https://www.nationalgrideso.com/news/br ... 023-review

I suspect the EU average is dragged down quite a lot by a couple of countries.

[Count Steer]

I suspect the EU average is dragged down quite a lot by a couple of countries.

That and we have more wind and less industrial demand than some.

[JackyJoll]

I think M&S shares tumbled on the news that all the pensioners weren't going to be spending their allowance there come Christmas.

You don’t have to be a pensioner to lose your marbles so completely.

[Taipan]

Starmer, my party will always be on the side of pensioners let down by the Tories.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves scraps winter fuel payments for around 10 million pensioners

https://x.com/Marshmyst/status/1817983662014742730