Allegedly I need a password to read JM’s latest utterance, something about Cambridge (wash your mouth out) or summat.
Does anybody have any idea what it’s about?
Has JM lost it?
Allegedly I need a password to read JM’s latest utterance, something about Cambridge (wash your mouth out) or summat.
Does anybody have any idea what it’s about?
Boadicea's Chariot 
Strange. I put in three random passwords and was then given a maroon-coloured warning stating that my 3 goes were misses. Then it said B1. Not got a clue what he’s on about.
B1? That sounds dangerously like (shock horror) battleships! 😱
Soon, J-Man, soon. We’re just building some anticipation. (stop yawning, I can see you)
The Cambridge Weight Plan, a tweaked version of the Atkins ketogenic high protein/low carbohydrate diet was developed yonks ago by Alan Howard at the Dunn Nutrition Unit (Cambridge based, needless to say). Later, Howard sold the booming business to his managers, who I gather has now set up some kind of staff ownership.
Had Howard still been boss, I could understand a degree of caution on the part of anyone intending to criticize the diet. Whilst memories have faded, I seem to recall writs flying around whenever Howard felt his life’s work was being unjustly or even justly slighted. Maybe JM (lawyer) has a long memory and is simply being wary.
I’ve no doubt for a moment that the diet works, at least for those of us who don’t rely on sunshine to keep us supplied with energy, and are forced to put food in our mouths. It’s a question of whether it’s safe to go round all day, all week, month after month with acetone on one’s breath, a sure sign of a stressed-out metabolism mimicking Type 1 insulin-dependent diabetes, one in which the body’s cells are chronically deprived of sugar. and forced to rely on fat breakdown products instead (“ketones”).
Now that fats are no longer the bogeymen, and now that complex carbohydrates (notably starch) are no longer seen as the panacea, I’d have thought that a modest shift from carbohydrate back to fat and protein, combined with a brisk 30 minute walk each day, should accomplish the same result as the somewhat geekish Atkins/Cambridge diet far more safely, albeit more slowly.
It is an article about JM’s struggle with bodyweight, and his recent success in that endeavour.
It is not yet finished, and I do not believe that JM intended to publish it, let alone make it password-protected.
Though I am loath to dabble with someone else’s work, I shall attempt to de-publish it back to draft status. I hope JM will understand. 🙂
There we are, it’s back to a draft now. 🙂
Spoil sport. 😫
Hi Bearsy.
Exactly right in every particular and thanks for your prompt actions.
I am presently on a weight loss ‘journey’ and receiving one to one support from a dietician as part of a trial by NHS Lothian of the Cambridge Weight Plan which has very little to do with the Cambridge diet, so rightly excoriated by CB. Google it and you should have a better idea of the plan. I am in Stage 5 at the moment.
I was the first patient in Lothian to jump through all the necessary hoops to qualify for the plan and it would seem that I am being considered as a possible poster boy to encourage other fatties to try the plan.
My homework for today’s weighfest was to write something about my afore-mentioned journey. I have always been the boy for last minute rushes, homework-wise, so only wrote it late last night.
Word Press makes it easy to write posts but also makes it easy to forget to switch sites. I intended to put the post on my own site.
This morning, the printer ink supply dried and died before I had my hard copy for submission to Miss. I took my tablet to show her it and put password protection on it with the intention of switching the post to the right site on my return home. I did not realise that this would publish the post to the Chariot instead of leaving it in draft form.
My apologies to all my fellow Cherished Authors and I can reassure Janus that I have not lost anything other than over 15% of my starting body weight.
And, if you are at all interested, I was given a Gold Star for my homework by Miss.
Well done, JM. As a reward you may choose a non-fattening delicacy and a low-cal beverage. I’m glad the Fenland’s unspeakable seat of learning is not responsible for your diet.
The Fenland’s renowned seat of learning does not offer a PPE course, unlike Oxford. It seems that Labour’s next leader might be another from the same production line. (Morris Cowley)
This sums up Oxford’s products nicely. http://www.spectator.co.uk/2014/09/the-politics-of-ppe/
Sheona, you’ll be less peeved then that Boris read Greats – Lit Hum – like wot I done. As your Spectator hack admits, he didn’t get far with PPE, and so he’s hardly the best judge. I could of course be wrong. 😎
Ms May (or may not) read Geog in Oxford, unsullied by Prof Bogdanor.
Personal reminisce. I was at school with Vernon Bogdanor, who was red hot even then on his constitutional history, that being one of his A-Level subjects. Members of the school debating society (I was 5th form rep) were all invited to the Head’s study on the day the local MP visited, where we listened to Head doing a PR job for the school (he was a frightful snob: later he went ballistic when the time came to submit our individual forms to the University Clearing house, bursting berobed into a class to tell us that we would all have to do them again, replacing “Bishopshalt Grammar School” with “Bishopshalt School”). Later we heard Vernon fuming at hearing the Head tell the MP that the school was proud of its “steady trickle” of pupils to Oxbridge. “Total codswallop”, said Vernon, or words to that effect: “I’m the only one to have made it to Oxbridge this year”.
I still have one or two old school mags, one of which has an article by Vernon warning of the threat to our culture and way of life from American influence. Strange – one never hears that anymore (no prizes for guessing why says he – still with nervous glance eastwards). But as I later heard quoted in a University debate: “America: the only nation to have passed from a state of barbarism to decadence without an intervening stage of civilisation”. I exempt the TV series “MASH” from that generalization, and more recently “Breaking Bad”. Yup, all generalizations are dangerous, including this one…
Very interesting, Colin. VB is quoted as saying Cameron was his brightest ever pupil. Surprise, anybody?
JM, I recall you like the cut of Michael Gove’s jib. Do you think he’ll support Ms May’s new gubmint?
Best of the bunch, in my opinion, Janus. Delighted that BoJo has looked at the voting intention of party activists and seen sense. I have been surprised about the level of anger felt by many of my fellow Party members towards Boris but I would not have been voting for him myself in any case.
I expect the two that I will get to choose between will be Gove and May. I will, in that eventuality, be voting MG.
And, if TM does get it, I would hope that she would make Gove Home Secretary. He has, in my opinion, been a very good Education Secretary, whatever the Blob assert, and an innovative and impressive Justice Secretary. A decent and principled man who is, admittedly, a bit charisma-light. He just needs to pick the right team.
If Theresa May continues to say that Britons benefit from sharia law, I fear she may lose support. And Gove is a Scot and could have more success in dealing with Sturgeon.
Sheona, don’t mention the Jock thing – it’ll just get people upset.
So, we’d better not let on that Liam is a Weegie and that Stephen is a TeuchterTeuchter from Inverness.
I can’t find any Scots connections for Theresa or Andrea.
On the Sturgeon slapping-down scale, I think that either of the English Tory Roses could do as good a job as Gove. Mother Nicola’s days are numbered, in my opinion.
Personally, I will be voting for MG,, but I have to admit that part of me wonders whether TM or AL might not be equally good choices.
That might, of course, just be something to do with the fond memories of Margaret Thatcher that so many Tories of my generation share.
It’s very comforting to hear you say that Nicola’s days are numbered, JM.
It seems that Gove is now attracting the ire of the Tories – honestly they are all acting like kindergarten brats squabbling over the largest bit of cake – not actually realising that it’s going to be hard work digesting it.
Personally I blame Cameron, who’s long on promises and short on keeping them. He said he would remain at the helm whatever the result and, by resigning, has let loose this undignified display. Quite happy to remain at his post when everything’s going his way – but spits the dummy when it isn’t.
As to any Scots connection with May, I don’t suppose for one minute her choice of dress to declare her candidacy was unintentional.
I sincerely hope you are right about Sturgeon JM. Again, just my personal opinion but I think she is making Scotland look ridiculous.
On a separate issue, I have some sympathy with the EU’s desire to start the divorce process as soon as possible. The uncertainty is not doing any good whatsoever. But then, I’ve had two divorces – first stop the bank, second stop the lawyer on the day after it was clear that that was the way I was heading. Details to follow later.
The sooner clause 50 is invoked the happier people will be and will give some certainty to the direction Britain is heading. I noted with some dismay that one of our best financial analysts was actually questioning whether Brexit would ever happen.
JM, I won’t mention his North Britishness then but is MG any more trustworthy than the rest? He seems to have knifed Boris rather viciously. Or is keeping one’s enemies closer than one’s friends par for the course?
And while I’m talking mendacity and conspiracy, Bliar seems to be trying to get a job on the Brexit Negotiation Team. Surely nobody is even answering the door?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/30/brexit-talks-will-be-stunningly-complex-who-will-provide-the-sta/
Janus – Why doesn’t anyone tell Blair he’s caused enough trouble and to go away? Revolting man.
Here’s a link to an earlier DT article, spotlighting Blair’s legendary negotiating skills (giving away £9.3billion of Maggie’s hard-won rebate in exchange for zilch, not even, one suspects, Blair’s hoped-for pay-back time Presidency of the EU).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/6516753/Tony-Blairs-decision-to-cut-the-EU-rebate-cost-9.3billion-report-shows.html
Yes, revolting man indeed, quite the worst thing to have happened to UK politics in generations. We now await the Chilcot Report, which hopefully will finally do for Blair’s pretensions to statesmanship what the iceberg did for the “unsinkable” Titanic.
Good morning Boadicea.
Theresa’s tartan jacket is a bit of a puzzler. It may indeed be a simple sop to us Jocks but I have no doubt that some of the tinfoil hat brigade may suggest that her choice of a tartan called ‘Black Watch’ is a subtle attempt to lure a section of UKIP back to the faith.
I’m afraid that I cannot agree about David Cameron. Brexit was touted as a solution for all British ills but never came up with a definitive and agreed course of action after the referendum. By falling on his sword, Cameron has given us all some time to discuss the options and he has also given the EU time to fragment and squabble. Had we invoked S 50 on Friday morning, we would have started a two year countdown without having any idea of what sort of relationship we wanted to construct with the EU. That does not make political or economic sense.
I believe that Brexit will happen, if only because I am certain that there are plenty of Remain voters like myself who accept that they lost and will not tolerate a rerun. The whole country now needs to get on with building a secure and stable future for the future generations of Britons.
In passing, I think that a second Independence referendum is unlikely, despite Nicola’s screeching attempt to up the Nat grievance stakes. Separating Scotland from a UK outwith the EU is even greater economic nonsense than it was in the circumstances that existed before the Brexit vote and I still hope that a majority of Scots have enough sense to realise that.
Good morning Janus.
Yes, I still believe that Michael Gove is a honourable man and am prepared to trust him with my vote if he makes the run off.
The ‘honourable man’ is a deliberate choice as I am in no doubt that ‘Julius Caesar’ is going be over quoted in the coming hours and weeks..
Gove and others spent the last seven days trying to build a dream team behind BoJo. It seems that Boris decided to model his political actions on the example he set in his personal life with the serial promiscuity and the repeated extra marital affairs. He appears to have promised all things to anybody he could and the knife was wielded when his potential team compared notes and came to realise that Project Boris would never work.
I know that the part of ‘JC’ that will be worked to death is Mark Anthony’s ‘Brutus is an honourable man.’ I prefer to take my test from the speech by Brutus.
‘If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of
Caesar’s, to him I say, that Brutus’ love to Caesar
was no less than his. If then that friend demand
why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer:
–Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved
Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living and
die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live
all free men? As Caesar loved me, I weep for him;
as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was
valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I
slew him.’
For me, Michael Gove and the others involved have done both my party, and, more importantly my country a great service in dispatching a person who did not, in my opinion, have the application, ability, attention span or moral compass to be Prime Minister.
In closing, I would just like to add that the Conservative Party are united in the certainty that the one person in the world who has absolutely no right to accuse Boris of treachery is Heseltine.
I just hope that somebody proves to be the noblest Briton of them all.
Colin
The thing I most hate about Blair was his ability to fake sincerity so well. He conned so many people into believing that he would be the saviour of the working classes – but he was only ever in politics for his own benefit.
Hi JM.
It wasn’t just a jacket – the whole outfit was Black Watch – from neck to tippy toe! Clearly something was being said – but, alas, it seems both you and I missed the point.
One of the things I like about this site is that people of different opinions, generally, put a different slant on events politely, reasonably and sometimes, horribly, logically. As a very passionate Brexit sympathiser (you would never have guessed that would you!) I have to admit that there was no defined plan laid out as to how Britain would exit the EU – only promises as to what would go, like the 5% VAT on energy bills.
I have come to appreciate that Brexit was not expected – and left a lot of people floundering as to what to do next. And despite my sympathy with the EU wanting a swift settlement – I have far more empathy with Britain’s need to determine what she wants before approaching the negotiation table. I think that, given the history of voting on EU legislation in countries like Denmark and Ireland, many people fear that the same will happen in the UK. I hope that people who voted to leave will be assured that those who are standing for PM have accepted a one-off referendum.
Also in passing – I have a great deal more respect for the intelligence of the Scots than screechy Nicky seems to have. However, is there no way that she can be made to pipe down? 🙂
On your comment to Janus regarding Gove’s ‘treachery’ – I also, for what it’s worth, think you are absolutely right. Earlier on this site, I said that Boris was the right person for the job, but that was when Gove had said that he would not stand. From what I have read of the man, Gove is one of those rare people who are prepared to stand by their principles – regardless of personal cost. The problem, of course, is that not too many people are prepared to do that and don’t understand that there really are people who are prepared to stake all for the sake of what they believe.
As for Heseltine – he most certainly should go back in his box….
The important thing with Blair is never to look at him directly, even on TV. Why? Because he’s the founder member of the Messianic Church of Tonyology, present membership 1. His technique is go all glassy wide-eyed and saint-like as if receiving instructions directly from On High, hoping to induce in the respondent a semi-hypnotic state of enchantment. It’s what in any other situation would be called a ‘magnetic personality’ except with Blair it’s a lot more opaque and sinister. It’s about mind-control. Some used to refer to His Toniness. I prefer His Creepiness.
I had anticipated a “Brexit” vote, although admittedly that puts me into the minority. I had also expected it to be a narrow majority. On occasion I have a gut feeling that something is going to happen and it happens. When I was in Bath in November 2014 I had a gut feeling that the UK was on its way out of the EU.
Cameron has bought time — JM is quite right with that. It will take months for the dust to settle and for a plan to emerge. I expect that it will be a more favourable settlement than Norway’s as the UK has far more clout and member states are looking for an excuse to tweak things,anyway, so this will be a chance to do just that. I support Andrea Leadsom. Her comments on China were excellent and should be repeated more commonly in the halls of power.
The odds are on a female PM. Not sure Andrea will get traditional Tory support (‘too young, too soon, too clever’ etc).
Gove demonstrated his lack of nous by calling his launch meeting during the Somme commemorations but with an audience of five read a 35-minute statement. Pace JM, his nerdish style alienates people.
Hi Janus,
I know, I know! Is there a smiley face thing for a deep sigh of disappointment?
Launching while the Somme commemoration was in full and magnificent flow was a huge and potentially fatal mistake. For the first time, I hae ma doots about Mikey boy.
The only way that he can ascend the throne will be if he gets through the MP ballots to end up as one of the last two persons standing. After that, it’s up to him and his performance at the party hustings. That’s how DC got there. Came into the final straight furlongs behind David Davis but romped past him to the winner’s enclosure as a result of his stellar speeches to the faithful.
Mind, I still voted for DD but, as seems to be becoming increasingly obvious, what do I know?
I’m still in Gove’s corner and hoping that I’ll get the chance to vote for him. Andrea, however, is beginning to look like a contender.
Only time will tell.