MarkW

Yup - Corbyn and his Momentum cronies all need cleaning out. There are some decent people in the Labour Party, but they have been overrun by cultists.

Because he hasn't gone yet. Corbyn and his cronies have reduced Labour from a formidable political party to a bunch of braindead cultists whose fatuous experiment in juvenile student common-room politics has long since run its course. Until Corbyn has been removed, along with all traces of the cancer that is Momentum, we will have no viable opposition to the Tories and a shamblingly inept Prime Minister who will feel safe in the knowledge that he doesn't even need to pretend to be trying. Corbyn got his pants pulled down on Thursday night, and rather than shuffle off the stage with as much dignity as he can muster he seems to be intent on making us all stare contemplatively at his woefully inadequate equipment.

Incall or outcall?

Yes. This one is genuine though:

Do you remember when Cameron laughed at him across the despatch box, saying something along the lines of "It suits us to have you sitting there, but it's not much good for democracy"? Labour have never been a credible party of opposition with Corbyn at the helm, and still he doesn't fully get it: We don't need a period of quiet reflection, we need him and his fringe loonies to clear off - now.

To be honest, I would rather have voted for them or for Lord Buckethead if either had been on the ballot paper.

It's probably more complicated than that. I voted to remain in the EU back in 2016 and still strongly feel that our exit is a colossal mistake. I have always been a floating voter, but just as I loathed Johnson and his silly "Oven-ready Brexit" twaddle I was also deeply uncomfortable with the Lib-Dem pledge to arbitrarily ignore the result of a democratic referendum. That's just not the way things should be done. In that sense, the Labour pledge to put the issue back to the people with a second referendum was by far the most appealing to me, but there is no way I would ever vote Labour whilst Corbyn and his cronies are in charge. I think there are a lot of people who don't want Brexit, but who see the Conservatives as the least worst option. They are at least a party of government, unlike the fringe lunacy of Labour and the Lib-Dems. I genuinely considered voting Tory before chickening out at the last minute and voting Lib-Dem on the basis that they hadn't got a hope in hell, and that I could leave the polling station with my middle class sensibilities in tact, safe in the knowledge that I'd never have to take any responsibility for the outcome.

Exit Polls showing Tory landslide! And yet another custard pie in the face for Farage. Oh well, I guess he'll be off to America to take up his new role as The Donald's chief fluffer.

One of my personal favourites:

I was just listening to a piece on Radio 4 about the influence of the gut microbiome on mental health. Apparently, research has shown that transplanting the gut microbiome of a 'normal' person into the stomach of someone with behavioural or mental health issues can significantly improve their symptoms. I interpret this as meaning that celebrity gurning Swede Greta Thunberg needs to eat more turds.

Paramilitary stuff is generally RLRLRLRL, and is not to be confused with a paradiddle, which is RLRR LRLL.

It's better than the alternative!

If I had been the truck driver I'd have turned the engine off, taken my boots off, put my feet up on the dash and gone to sleep.

Just give them a proper hiding with the baseball bat, drag their unconscious bodies into the street and tell the police they were hit by a car.

You'd get a 'like' from my wife too if she was on here - she's still laughing!

Not true! Check out the Church of the Militant Elvis Party. Their manifesto includes a police crackdown on 'cyclists whizzing along the pavements like Bradley Wiggins' and the nationalisation of brothels, after which whores will be paid a state wage, to be known as the 'knobseekers allowance'. Sensible policies for a happier Britain.

40 very odd years if you ask me...

I'm completely the opposite: one of the biggest pleasures of riding for me is not being with other people. Plus I don't actually have any friends. Well, that's not strictly true: I do have one, but I've been trying to get rid of her for years. She still phones up once in a blue moon suggesting we all go for a walk with their dog, or something equally f*cking riveting. The K1600 is a weapon, and if you want to go obscenely fast in total luxury it's the perfect tool for the job. It just doesn't feel that exciting to ride. I dunno - perhaps I just like crap stuff: we've got two XC90s, and I always take the shitty old one that's covered in dents with nothing that works properly and let my wife have the shiny newer one.

I never get to ride at weekends (kids and that) so apart from commuting and the occasional jolly down to visit my mother most of my riding has been business trips abroad. I took the old ZZR on loads of trips to France, Germany, Holland, Belgium and Switzerland, and within days of getting back from even the most gruelling (Basel to Harrogate in a day being the toughest) I was itching to get back out on another adventure. Even the trip to Germany during my brief dalliance with the Harley had its appeal. The only foreign trip I've done on the K1600 was to Paris, and although it was fine I haven't had the urge to do another one since. That says it all, really.

You're right. Probably not the best time of year to be selling it, but with a bit of luck I might have something different in the garage come Spring...

I've never had any sort of emotional attachment to any vehicle - in fact most of the things I've owned I would have happily set fire to in exchange for the insurance money if I'd have thought I could get away with it. One thing I was saying to my wife just the other day is that I got far more enjoyment out of biking when I had the old ZZR1200 than I do with the K1600GT. It's taken me a while to come to terms with this fact, but having always looked for excuses to ride the ZZR I increasingly find myself looking for excuses not to bother with the BMW. It's got nothing to do with power or performance - the mighty BMW has far more of both than I'd ever need - but is I think to do with the fact that the ZZR was a much more visceral experience: the sporty riding position meant you wrapped yourself around it, and being a bit elderly it had plenty of little quirks and idiosyncrasies that gave it character. The BMW is a stunning piece of engineering, but it's as though it has been refined to the point that all the excitement has gone. The silky motor, fancy suspension and shaft drive have smoothed things out so much that it doesn't feel like a motorbike anymore, and combined with the slightly 'disengaged' upright riding position it's more like wafting down the road on a magic carpet. It's more comfortable than the ZZR for sure, but if the excitement of riding has gone to the point where I'd sooner jump in a 15 year-old XC90, what's the point? Part of the problem could also be that when I was considering the BMW I was also looking at a ZZR1400, and I can't shake the feeling that it would have been the better choice. The ZZR is definitely the more attractive machine - in my opinion at least - and the fact that this is the background on my laptop might also suggest that I am about to commit automotive adultery...

That's a female Segestria florentina. The males are usually a bit smaller, and often have abdominal markings which the females don't. The jaws are a vivid metallic green, although you need to get close to see! I spent a very enjoyable few days down south last year, enticing them out of holes with a bit of fishing line. They're not exactly timid...

I like both! I'm taking my kids off to Minsmere on an adder hunt in February half-term. I hadn't appreciated that they were active as early in the year as that, but the guys we were talking to over the summer said it was one of the best times to see them.

If it's over an inch long it'd be a bloody big Drassodes! Are you sure it's not one of the tube-dwelling spiders? They are superficially similar, but are big enough to make you jump! Their front three pairs of legs are also forward set (rather than two forward, two back) as in your specimen. For a definitive determination you'll have to go back outside and annoy it: they're one of the few UK spiders with a painful bite.

I had a ZZR1200, and loved it. That thing was like a guided missile! But it was elderly, and although I never had the problem you describe things did start going wrong - mainly after a local mechanic and his neanderthal sidekick went anywhere near it. He had no discernible mechanical skill as far as I could ascertain, and communicated primarily by flashing his tribally-tattooed biceps and grunting. He was also one of those hopeless blokes who is completely incapable of standing still for 10 seconds at a stretch without having to rearrange his genitals. Anyway, after it caught fire on the ride home from a routine service I stopped taking it there and decided to start servicing it myself. That wasn't much fun, and I broke the sodding plastic fixing tabs on every fairing panel so many times trying to get them either on or off that about half the weight of the bloody thing was epoxy by the time I sold it. I traded it for a Harley (I know, I know...) and absolutely loved the ability to service and tinker with it without having to remove a ton of plastic tat first. I still miss that - working on it was really enjoyable. But it wasn't fast enough (in case you were thinking about jumping on an Electra Glide and chasing an R1 down the autobahn I can save you the bother) so I traded it for a K1600 GT, which is fast enough, but is also so complicated I daren't tinker with any of it myself. So it gets taken to the local BMW dealer, whose prices make your eyes water; they don't just ask you to bend over, they go in dry. I do miss being able to tinker with something mechanically simple, so I'm keeping an eye out for an old HD Fat Boy in need of fettling. I realise that none of this will have been the slightest help. Sorry!