I have posted this to We Blog Cartoons along with the code to allow you to reuse it on your blog for nothing.

Posted by Dave at 9:05 am on March 23, 2007 and filed under Cartoons, New Weblogcartoons cartoons.

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My copy of ‘Shaggy Blog Stories’, the UK Bloggers Comic Relief book has arrived from the Lulu publishing company. This is the first time that I have ordered a ‘print on demand’ book from the internet. For this and other reasons it is terribly exciting.

It looks like it is going to be superb. One of my entries is in it, but that is an aside really. If you enjoy humourous blogs then I’d advise buying this book as a means to discovering a lot of new ones that you don’t yet know about. Thanks again to Mike for all his hard work.

Unfortunately I have no time to dilly dally in front of the computer reading it at this moment. I have dilly dallying to do downstairs.

Advertisement: Cartoons that you can paste into your blog without it costing you a dime.

Posted by Dave at 9:47 am on March 22, 2007 and filed under Books.

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BBC NEWS | Business | Barclays accused over ‘failings’
BBC NEWS | Business | Mis-selling is ‘rife’ at Barclays

There was a programme tonight about Barclays and their many shifty dealings. This is the company who made 7 billion pounds profit last year and yet charge people £30 to go overdrawn when the cost to them is about £1.50. The programme showed telephone operatives engaging in all sorts of dubious behaviour, such as pretending they are calling as an ‘advisor’ when in fact it is purely a sales call. Then an advisor in a local branch attempting to sell home insurance to a man who can’t afford a bed in an attempt to meet a target. And many other such horrors.

Of course at the end of the programme there is a management-type person saying that what the programme reveals is not typical and that actually Barclays are respectable and lovely. But the fact is that we know (from experience) that Barclays hassle their customers with sales calls, so I know which side of the story I’m believing.

At the end of the day I am never going to be happy with a company which cold calls people. Everyone hates it. It is just not a valid thing to do any more. So there.

These links say more about the programme. Other ‘Whistleblower’ programmes are here – I talked about the estate agents one almost exactly a year ago if you remember.

Update: If you need help reclaiming bank charges (up to six years worth) or other information to do with banks and money then I personally find Martin Lewis and his MoneySavingExpert site the place to go. This is the site the banks don’t want you to know about.

Posted by Dave at 10:14 pm on March 21, 2007 and filed under Slightly grumpy, TV.

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The Christian Resources Exhibitions have been sold to the Bible Society. Inspire have the story – nothing on the CRE or Bible Society websites yet as far as I can see.

I like the Christian Resources Exhibitions. They are the only places I know where everyone wants to talk to you. In that respect it is a bit like heaven will be (I know, I’ve said this before. Same old tired material). I suspect that in heaven people will not be out to sell you things though. Except salespeople – heaven for them will involve making lots of sales, so I suppose some of us will have to buy things too.

Anyway, I digress.

This seems to be a good development. I am a great fan of the Christian Resources Exhibition and a great fan of the Bible (though I have difficulty understanding some bits of it, particularly the bit at the beginning and the bit at the end).

I’m not exhibiting at the National CRE this year owing to a lack of money. But I will be going. Anyone else going? We could meet up for lunch. I like to sit on the grandstand where it is chilly but rewarding. Though we would have to negotiate timings, make sure we were going on the same day etc.

Posted by Dave at 3:10 pm on March 21, 2007 and filed under Church, Ecumenical matters, Festivals and Exhibitions, Religion.

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This is the big story within Anglican goings-on circles at the moment.

In summary: The USA Bishops have decided to say ‘no’ to some of the recommendations that the Primates decided upon at their meeting the other month – in particular the ‘pastoral scheme’ involving the appointment of a ‘primatial vicar’. (The resolutions they have passed to this effect are here, or a summary here).

A ‘primatial vicar’, in case you are wondering, is a person who represents the primates and would oversee those dioceses who do not want to be overseen by the normal Episcopal bishops because they think they are heretical for supporting gay blessings and suchlike.

It is all terribly complicated and I cannot hope to explain it here without coming across as terribly dull.

There will be more pronouncements today and in the coming days from the Episcopal bishops as they are having a meeting at the moment. The USA Anglican blogs are good places to get the latest – try Father Jake Stops the World, daily episcopalian, That We All May Be One, Preludium or InclusiveChurch blog. Thinking Anglicans for links, but then you knew that.

[Feel free to republish this cartoon on your blog. Pasting in this code will do it:]

<img src="http://www.weblogcartoons.com/cb/primatial-vicar.gif" alt="cartoon from www.weblogcartoons.com" />
<p>Cartoon by <a href="http://www.cartoonchurch.com/blog/">Dave Walker</a>. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at <a href="http://www.weblogcartoons.com/">We Blog Cartoons</a>.</p>


Posted by Dave at 10:39 am on March 21, 2007 and filed under Anglican goings-on, Church, Religion.

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Today is the day that things are being decided and voted upon as far as the Sexual Orientation Regulations are concerned. I am sorry that I have not come up with any new and profound cartoon insights, but this week is not proving to be the week for that sort of thing.

Here are some people who are being more interesting:

KERRON CROSS – The Voice of The Delectable Left: Sexual Orientation Regulations – Mass Lobby or Mass Hysteria?
Kerron reminded me of the above cartoon and has posted his thoughts in a commendable fashion. He works as a Senior Parliamentary Assistant for an MP and is one of top Labour bloggers and a Christian. A blog worth following.

Thinking Anglicans: SORs: Commons vote
Simon has all the links about the various goings-on. Simon always has all the links about the various goings-on.

Will it be illegal to laud Christian Printers? » An Exercise in the Fundamentals of Orthodoxy
Peter is from the conservative side of things. He is wondering whether these regulations will affect what people who take his point of view will be allowed to say from the pulpit. My own view is that you can say whatever you want from the pulpit as long as you keep it under 12 minutes.

Right, that’ll do. I am trying to decide whether to go to my art class, a process that involves four walks and two train journeys. I feel a bit less ill and am wondering whether it will help revive my flagging inertia.

Posted by Dave at 4:54 pm on March 20, 2007 and filed under Current events, Religion.

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This is a palm tree which I helped to plant in a field in Surrey at the weekend. In this picture it is half way up. Neither up nor down.

Now, before I go any further, I know that some will say that I should have been resting at home with my feet up. The problem is that the choice was either to stay at home on my own watching TV, not speaking to anyone and slowly going out of my mind, or go to Surrey and help erect a palm tree. There were no other options. I’d also like to point out that I played the slackest of parts in the palm tree work party. I was very much the person who made suggestions or went and fetched a special palm tree buckle. I did not really do any of the difficult jobs like hauling on ropes or driving tractors.

Continued apologies to people who are expecting an e-mail of some sort from me. I will try to do a bit more catching up later.

Posted by Dave at 3:48 pm on March 19, 2007 and filed under Photographs, Sundry posts.

9 Comments

(Picture for illustration purposes only: See a version that you can see here)

The Congregational Insurance company is running a competition to find the best church notice board poster, reports the Guardian. Entrants can send in their entries by post, e-mail or the modern mobile picture telephone text messaging. If you win you get £500 but you have to put it into the church collection.

My own opinion is that corny slogans are generally corny and give the wrong impression. Or the right impression, depending. As a result I will not be drawing attention to this competition.

Thanks to the Churchblogger for spotting this.

Posted by Dave at 9:50 pm on March 18, 2007 and filed under Cartoons, Church, Quizzes and competitions, Religion.

2 Comments

Make sure your Mother’s Day flowers are fair trade
Because a lot of people are exploited in the growing of many of them. Thanks to Mad Priest for sending me this. His take on the subject is here.

Stately Moans
Really good blog by someone working in the stately home industry. Found this via Farli.

Group Games
For the times you need a game to play with a group. A bit over-adsensed, but useful.

The LA Fire Department Flickr photos
Fires and rescues and all sorts. Contains a few pictures that some might find upsetting, but not many.

Man who posts his art on his front door
He sells it to passers-by.

Church to honor turkey hit by car
It was a loyal congregation member apparently:

The turkey, which died last week after being hit by a car, regularly attended Sunday services and greeted people as they arrived

Posted by Dave at 7:00 am on March 17, 2007 and filed under Links: bloggers, Sundry posts.

3 Comments

The thinking behind this drawing, if there is any, is that one needs to have all the different sizes of ideas. I tend to have too many of the big ideas: entirely new projects, websites etc. In a way the big ideas are the easy bit. Having all the medium and small ideas to make the big ideas a success is the more difficult bit.

In other news:

• I just cycled half a mile to the Tescos supermarket, bought 810 grams of produce, sat down and had a coffee, and cycled back again. The experience has left me dazed, confused and wiped out. I do not know what is wrong with me. I think I need to go back to the doctors.

• This morning I bought my copy of Shaggy Blog Stories. Why not buy one yourself? The total cost in the UK is about £12 something when you include the postage. By all accounts it sounds like it is a superb book.

• If you like internet comics and are in the London area there is a show happening tomorrow: UK Web & Mini Comix Thing 2007 – Online Comics & Mini Comics Show. I have not heard of most of the exhibitors, (with the exception of Blaugustine) but it all sounds jolly intertesting. Sadly I will not be going as we are in another part of the country. We are in another part of the country every weekend at the moment. The show is at Queen Mary University, Mile End and it costs £4 to get in.

Posted by Dave at 11:44 am on March 16, 2007 and filed under Cartoons.

7 Comments

This is a contribution by the UK blogging community to red nose day. Mike at Troubled Diva and several assistants have worked very hard in only a few days to put a book of humourous blog posts together together and it is now available to purchase from Lulu at the following link:

http://www.lulu.com/content/739873 (or www.shaggyblogstories.co.uk should take you there).

The book contains comedic blog posts from some of the best and funniest blogs in the UK, including:

• Jonny B’s Private Secret Diary
• Little Red Boat
• Diamond Geezer
• petite anglaise

…and a heck of a lot I have not heard of. Oh, and one of my posts, though I did choose it literally one minute before the Tuesday 6pm deadline, so it might not be my best piece of work ever. A full list of the bloggers included and other sundry information is here on Mike’s site.

All money raised by sales of the book is being donated to Comic Relief. The cover price is £8.96, of which £3.63 will go to Comic Relief once external manufacturing costs have been deducted.

Please note that the book may contain strong language and/or content unsuitable for all ages etc etc.

Posted by Dave at 12:14 am on March 16, 2007 and filed under Blogging, Books, Make Poverty History.

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Posted by Dave at 10:31 am on March 15, 2007 and filed under Cartoons.

5 Comments