The 'Linzer Biscuit'!

Greggs, in London, have started selling the 'Empire Biscuit', a layer of jam in between two sweet biscuits topped with icing and a glace cherry. Originally called a 'Linzer Biscuit' before the 1st WW and then 'Empire' after.

A tooth rotting delicacy in Scotland but little known down here. Wonderful stuff!



'Uncle Gunnysack' returns!

Has he come to admire the views or to catch up with some old friends or maybe he is the new 'Cultural Attache'?
No 'Baby Doc' Chevalier is back in Haiti to take political advantage of the carnage and chaos that he and his father, Papa Doc, and their murdering militia, the 'tonton macoute' laid the foundations for half a century ago.
He fled after an uprising in 1986 with millions of dollars and has been in exile ever since.
As the 'Mirror' put it today "Haitians needs 'Baby Doc' like a hole in the head"

Fair?

I listened to George Osborne being interviewed about the rise in VAT on Radio 4 the other day, he used the words fair or fairer a lot, not words that i would use about a rise that will hit poor families the hardest!

The Institute of Fiscal Studies reckons that the VAT rise will lop 1% off the after-tax incomes of the richest 10% and 2.25% of those of the poorest 10%, hardly fair!
A fairer alternative would be to tax land owners and increase the bank levy, but of course that would be hurting their own!

It's a mugs game!

The Quinlan brothers pulled of a coup with two horses at Lingfield on Thursday. Both horses heavily backed, even though they had been woefully out of form, and both won! The stewards investigated but no action was taken!
On Saturday another one of their horses, royal island, ran at Southwell, again well fancied! The horse was held at the back untill the last 2 furlongs where upon the jockey, with a double handful, switched it to the outside and eased it into 3rd place! He could easily have won but chose not to, obviously stable instructions!
The reason for doing this? Well there are two that i can think off , they are looking to bring its handicap mark down, and its price up, for the next race or someone attached to the stable had layed it (backed the horse to lose)

Over the years i have closely watched hundreds, if not thousands, of horse races and i can honestly say that i have only spotted this happening on a handful of occasions, but it does happen and it is dishonest and unfair to the everyday normal punter, it's hard enough to back a winner, especially on the all weather courses.