C.H. Clepitt's Blog, page 30

Monday Mystery Mime

New year, and the mystery mime is back! As always, celebrity chef and champion of sandwiches everywhere, Tallulah Grace is performing a mime below, and your challenge is to tell us what it is.  Just pop an answer in the comments below, and you could win the chance to have Tallulah perform the mime of your choice.* Excitings.

*To enter go to the Youtube page where the mime originated and post your answer in the comments section. If commenting on Youtube is too complicated you can post a comment here, but Youtube comments will get priority. The winner will be chosen at random from all of the correct entries. Any obscene entries or suggestions will be disqualified and the user blocked. Newsnibbles and Feathers and Toast reserve the right to disqualify any entry they deem unsuitable, without explanation. The closing date for entries is Friday 13th January 2017, 00:00 EST.

7 Questions

Today’s 7 Questions is with artist Kirsten Wood, or @kirstinpainter, as we know her, whose vibrant use of colour sets her art apart from many others.  She creates landscapes and animals, all with a colourful twist, and we caught up to chat pet couture and sandwiches, as you do…

1. Your use of colour really brings your work alive, what inspired you to do that?

Thanks! I think I see colour differently to other people – maybe I’m the opposite to someone who is colour-blind – somehow I’ve turned the contrast button up to 11 so everything seems really vivid! When I look at a photo reference for a painting I can immediately see whether it should start with a turquoise, blue or even a pink background, then I work upwards from that lovely bright base colour.

2. How would you describe your work?

I work from my studio in Merstham, Surrey creating vibrant and quirky paintings of landscapes, animals, plants and food with unique crops and close ups – the common theme being my bright palette and unique layering style. Please get in touch to discuss a commission or to talk about her work.

My preferred medium is acrylic on canvas which I then enhance with a water-based glaze. I paint very quickly, either in a pointillist style, or with small dashes of colour, adding layer upon layer to build up depth and intensity.

The starting point for many of my paintings is often a photograph that I have taken or that someone has passed on to me. My contemporary pet portraits have a definite photographic quality to them, but my landscapes are more painterly and rarely resemble the original reference. I am planning a new collection of still life paintings and I hope to bring my unique process to a whole new range of subjects.

I trained as a theatre designer and worked for many years as as a scenic artist for theatre, TV and events. It’s this background that has led me to to work in the way that I do. I tend to grid up the canvas in a series of squares or triangles and work around it from block to block bringing everything together at the end.

3. Have you ever painted a badger?

Not yet but I’m planning on painting a series of British wildlife pictures and a badger will be at the top of my list!! Probably with a lot of bright blue and green in there just like my Curious Cow portrait!

4. Where do you stand on Pet Couture?

My Jack Russell, Snowy, loves to dress up in her Christmas pudding outfit, but the 2 cats are not so keen… I tried to dress my cat up as a super hero once but it didn’t end well! I think that as long as the pet is happy to dress up then that’s fine!

5. Describe your ideal sandwich.

Now that is a tricky question to answer – I’m a vegetarian so sandwiches that you buy from the shops are a bit limited and uninspiring – usually egg or cheese. But if I was making my own sandwich at home I would go for an avocado, mozzarella and sun-dried tomato wrap with a big dollop of pesto and some rocket! And of course to go with it would be a big bag of salt and vinegar crisps!! I am a huge crisp fan! Maybe I should try a crisp sandwich?!

6. What’s on the cards for 2017?

If you happen to catch me over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram you may have noticed that I have been posting a countdown to my business re-launch…

I’ve re-launched my business to feature several new aspects – the Kirstin Wood Art Club, the Print Shop and Limited Edition Collections. These are in addition to my original paintings and pet portraits that I have been doing for a couple of years now.

The Kirstin Wood Art Club is a subscription box for lovers of my artwork and for those of you who enjoy getting a surprise treat through the letterbox each month! You can keep the contents all to yourself or if you’re feeling ‘generous’ you could begrudgingly hand them over as a present to a friend!

The print shop features the most popular of my paintings and brings them to you as greeting cards and beautiful giclee (fancy word) prints. They are fantastic value and easy to buy directly from my website.

And finally you can now look forward to brand new Limited Edition Collections featuring strictly limited prints and original artwork. Each collection will be launched online and available to purchase as a group or an individual item for a 3 month period only.

So I’ll be busier than ever!!

7. If you could ask anyone one question, what would you ask, and to whom?

Wow – that’s a big one… I’d love to ask Monet whether he had any idea at the time how much influence his style of painting would have on the artists that followed him. His techniques and use of colour were a world away from everything that had gone before him. Without Monet I wouldn’t be painting the way I paint. Cheers Claude!!

www.kirstinwood.co.uk

And if you’d like to answer 7 Questions, then get in touch.

Newsnibbles 2016 Review

Well, we can all agree that 2016 has been pretty shitty for world politics, celebrity deaths and way too much media focus on hate and negativity. That’s why we thought we’d round up 2016, as experienced on Newsnibbles instead.  Hopefully this will focus us on some positivity and bring us forward to the new year.

We have spent the year expanding our coverage, so now, as well as satirical news a large portion of our site is dedicated to interviews and reviews, as well as a new “Mystery Mime” section.  We have started #MemeMonday (it was already a thing, but we are now taking part), where we post a Meme on our Facebook and Twitter every Monday.  Follow us there so you don’t miss out.

As a part of our expansion we have formed new partnerships with some awesome people, including Angelika Rust, who helps us with #MemeMonday, Samuel Z Jones, who goes off sword fighting Orcs, then writes about it for us, the fabulous Feathers and Toast who provide us with our weekly mystery mime.

We have met and interviewed some fantastically creative people, and found out who likes pet couture, and who simply aren’t our kind of people… We have covered things that not many news outlets have, including the FiSahara Film Festival and the Standing Rock Pipeline Protests, and Badger did a couple of grumpy OpEds, getting back on form.

2016 also saw the release of Badger’s latest book, I Wore Heels to the Apocalypse, which has had a very positive response from readers and critics alike.  We had an online launch party, which was supported by lots of our creative friends, including Samuel Z Jones, Monica Chereches, Chloe Hammond, Heaton Wilson, Mhairi Morrison, Neil Jeffreys and many more.  This was followed by an actual physical event where Badger had to leave the sett, and this was supported by Playwright and Dramaturg Amy Bethan Evans, fantasy novelist Samuel Z Jones (who also left his cave) and featured music from Jazzy Heath.  If you haven’t heard of these guys you should check them out, they produce some pretty cool stuff.  Thanks to everyone who came and supported the event and made it such a success, we’ll be aiming to release the sequel in 2017.

This is the Newsnibbles official Chicken, made a bit festive.

So, what are our aims for 2017?  Well, we would like to diversify our content, cover more stories from around the world, maybe review films from different areas too, interview more interesting people and continue to expand our readership.  Badger is hoping to release at least one more book, and the collaborative fantasy magazine she has been contributing to should be out too.

So, if there is anything you would like us to cover, or review, then get in touch, we can’t cover it if we don’t know about it.  So, let’s now move on from 2016, and face 2017 head on.

Happy New Year, Nibblers!

7 Questions

Today’s 7 Questions is with SciFi author and hotdog aficionado, R James Stevens.  As with many of our recent interviewees, he found us on Facebook.  We are open to any social media approaches, if you want to answer 7 Questions, just say hello!

Here we go!

1. Do you like hotdogs?

    I don’t normally like to discuss.. no wait, I’ll do it. Sigh. This is a very dark memory for me. I actually love hot dogs, but there was that fateful Labor Day on Presque Isle on Lake Erie back in ‘82. It started like any other picnic-y day, we had just laid out our blankets and began to roast the dogs on the grill. Then they came. It was only one at first, so we didn’t think much of it. It took a hot dog for each hand. Then another came out of the water, then another. Then even more. Badgers. Hundreds of badgers, possibly thousands. They were everywhere! They took all of our hot dogs, and everyone’s around us. When it was finally over, we all looked around blankly, holding our ketchup and mustard containers in our quivering hands. The horror.

2. Your book started out as a comic?

    Yes! My son-in-law is a very talented artist, although he would be the first to argue against that point. He challenged me to come up with a character. Not only did I come up with the prototype for Brigadier Stroud (one of the main protag’s in Epsilon), but also the world that eventually because Epsilon. The comic book idea never got off the ground, but a few years later I decided Epsilon just had to come to life – and, well, the rest is history. Future history.

3. Would you describe the world you built as dystopian?

    I didn’t start out making Epsilon as a Dystopia, but when I had finished I realised that’s exactly what I had created. Our world about 70 years in the future, with a mysterious catastrophe that the first book (Clarity) only hints about. Dystopia at its finest.

4. Do you have a favourite badger?

    Well, there’s Ellington Q. Badger, inventor of the two-sided badger hairbrush. George Washington Badger, the first badger President. But, we all have that one favourite badger – you know who it is.

5. Imagine they were making a film of your book, who would you cast in the main roles?

    I’ve always thought of this, and it has helped in writing this series as I could sit and think “what would say in this scene?”. So, here’s the cast of Epsilon:

        Brigadier Stroud: Josh Holloway (LOST)
        Steele Fox: Kate Beckinsale
        Clive Underwood: Jeremy Renner


6. What are your thoughts on Pet Couture?

    Who am I to say that pets shouldn’t dress for success? If that sparkly scarf looks good on the cat, well, that’s it’s prerogative, right?

7. What’s next for you?

    I have so many ideas, and so little time it seems to get them done. I have 2 other (non-Epsilon) novels in the works. Much smaller, not epic like Epsilon, but still your standard novel length. One is horror/scifi, the other Post Apocalyptic. A couple of anthologies that I have mostly completed, will hopefully get those out in 2017. And then, of course, working hard on Epsilon Book 3, which will make this epic series even more… well, EPIC!

And R James (as we like to call him) has provided information on how to purchase his writings, should you feel so inclined:


Clarity (Epsilon Book 1)
Duality (Epsilon Book 2)
R. James Stevens / ‘The End is just the beginning’

Available on: Amazon / Smashwords
(or ask your retailer to order them through the Ingram catalogue!)

ISBN: 978-0-9896826-0-2 / 978-0-9896826-2-6

7 Questions

Today’s 7 Questions is with horror author Lucinda Moebius, who claims to have made vampires scary again, eeek!  We caught up with her to find out about blood suckers, cuisine, and of course, pet couture.

1. How are you making vampires scary again?

    Vampyres have always been scary. True monsters are driven by pure instinct. The monster does not love. The monster can not be tamed.
Monsters represent the animal nature of humanity. No matter how hard we try we can never tame the wild nature of our hearts and this idea scares us the most. What can tame a monster? Well, all the romances point to love being the answer. This is the premise that is the driving force of the romance. I wanted to create a true monster, one who could not be tamed because she was incapable of understanding human emotion and was incapable of love. Instinct drives the shark to feed indiscriminately and even though they are only doing what God designed them to do they still scare the H@** out of me. I created a monster designed to tap into humanities biggest fear: a creature feeding on instinct without the capacity to be tamed.

2. Do vampires have pets?

    No, Vampyres would not keep pets. Owning a pet would mean the monster would be willing to open his heart and show compassion for another creature. Humans own pets because they need companionship and love. Monsters are incapable of these basic emotions. Pets serve no useful purpose in the monster’s world. I’m writing this while I am fighting to keep one cat off the keyboard and the other one from sitting on my head. The dog is snoring in the corner. I guess this means I am not a monster.

3. No romance? How on earth do the readers cope?

Very well, thank you. There is more to the idea of love than the romantic “Holy cow, my loins are aching for you.” (Did I spell that right?) kind of love. Strip away the romance and you are left with the purity of the story. Just because there is no romance does not mean there are not complex relationships in the story. The reader gets to explore the way creatures interact with one another when they are not bond together by passion or love.

4. Do you wear garlic, just in case?

I like the taste of garlic and if you eat enough of it the smell will ooze from your pores. I also like the antibiotic qualities of garlic in its raw form. My mom used to make us eat garlic cloves whenever strep throat started making the rounds. I don’t think I would trust garlic to keep the monsters at bay, though. Usually, if I’m alone and scared I rely on my faith and actually pray or sing hymns to keep evil away. So far it has worked.

5. If you could meet any fictional character, who would it be?

This is the toughest question here. There are so many great fictional characters to choose from I had a hard time choosing just one. I finally settled on King Arthur. I would love to explore the Hero’s Journey through the eyes of Merlin, Gwenivere, Morgaine, Lancelot and the other Knights of the Round Table. The myth and magic surrounding the court set in a time period of flux between the ancient Gods and Christianity sends my author senses tingling. Of course, I wouldn’t survive very long at court. The first time one of the knights ordered me to make him a sandwich my mouth would get the better of me an I would end up in the stocks.

6. Where do you stand on the topic of pet couture?

I barely wear clothes myself, why would I put clothes on my poor animals. All of my pets are rescues. We have a lab mix we adopted from the humane society. She was my husband’s dog and loves him to distraction. She used to crawl up on the bed and snuggle between us, pushing me as far away from him as she could. If it came to making a choice between spending time with my husband and spending time with me she would choose my husband. In April of 2014 I broke my arm and suddenly her behaviour changed. I was in so much pain I had to sleep on the couch. The dog decided her place was with me. She would sleep right beside the couch and would make sure when visitors came by to position herself between me and them. She is a pure Alpha Female: submissive to the male and protective of the weak.
We adopted our first cat because my stepson begged for a cat. And I mean begged. I told him the litter box would be his responsibility (Yeah, right). After a few weeks of fighting with the litter box issue I suddenly realised the dog was slowly training the cat to go outside to do his business. Although I don’t like letting cats out to roam the neighbourhood, we live in a fairly safe area and the entire neighbourhood loves our cat so I let him outside.
Our second cat showed up on our doorstep a few months ago. She was scrawny and looked like she hadn’t had a good meal in a while. It took three days to convince her I was nice and three more days to get her into the house. She spent two weeks under the bed, hissing at anything that got near her, especially the other animals. Now she sleeps on my head. Like. literally, I will be fast asleep and suddenly she will plop  her butt right on my face.

7. What’s next for you?

I am currently working on the second book in the Chronicles of the Soul Eaters Series. Hunter tells the story of the hunt for the monster.
I am also taking care of my husband. He is terminally ill and his health is my top priority. It’s a fine balancing act: working, taking care of the man I love and writing.
Thank you for giving me such fun questions to answer.

And you can find Lucinda all over the internet, as detailed below!


Echoes of Savanna: Book One: The Parent Generation
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006RM66QM
 
Raven’s Song: Book One: T1 Generation
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006YJ92GO
 
Write Well Publish Right
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product
 
Feeder: Chronicles of the Soul Eaters Book 1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0615968325
 
30 Days Stream of Consciousness V. 1
http://www.amazon.com/30-Days-Streams-Consciousness-1-ebook/dp/B01BW8JXBU
 
30 Days Streams of Consciousness Vol 2: A Haunting
http://www.amazon.com/30-Days-Stream-Consciousness-Haunting-ebook/dp/B01D7T9CFY
 
30 Days Streams of Consciousness Vol 3: Abduction
 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F1DMOBI
 
How can we follow you on Facebook?
Lucinda Moebius Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/Lucinda-Moebius-Fan-Page-136358979707547/         
My Writer’s Place: https://www.facebook.com/mywritersplace/
 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/?lang=en
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4176363.Lucinda_Moebius
 
Website: www.mywritersplace.com
 
Blogs:
Your Next Favorite Author: http://mynextfavoriteauthor.blogspot.com/
 

30 days Stream of Consciousness:  30 Days-Stream of Consciousness

Celebrate Pride, but Not Too Much

It has recently come to our attention that The Isle of Wight is celebrating it’s first Pride festival.  This should be great news, it has only taken the small island forty-six years to catch up with the mainland, not too bad at all, all things considered.

Unfortunately, the way it was brought to our attention was rather more

negative, than perhaps a festival that involves dancing and rainbows deserves.  In an article, which we can only assume is opinion editorial, rather than news, a writer for Isle of Wight County Press Online takes a position that has offended many of the LGBT community, both on the Isle of Wight, and further afield.

In the interest of being balanced, it is clear the author of the article is trying to be humorous, whilst absolutely and utterly missing the point, and causing offence to lots of demographics along the way.

She begins by defining LGBTQ for her readers, none of whom, apparently have a television, or access to any other kind of media other than her paper, who must never have broached the topic of homosexuality on the Island before, to require such a full explanation in this article.

Oooh, I hear you squeaking, surely “queer” is a no-no these days? Why, on the contrary, apparently it’s perfectly fine, though maybe not for Daily Mail readers who haven’t yet heard about this word’s official reclamation by Pride

Yes, the LGBT community reclaimed it, quite a while back, maybe you were concentrating on a knitting pattern at the time, easily missed if it’s not something that directly effects you, which clearly it doesn’t.  Feminists reclaimed a lot of words too, it’s a way of gaining control over bullies, essentially.  Read The Vagina Monologues  and “Reclaiming Cunt” for an explanation of why, if you’re interested.  She, clearly isn’t, as she goes on to say in the article:

I couldn’t care less what people do in their private lives. Do it whatever which way you like. Enjoy yourselves, especially if you’d prefer not to say what you’re enjoying yourselves with. But do you think the rest of you could shut up as well?

That’s not really the point of Pride though, is it? Pride is the one day a year where they get to shout out their love, be themselves, be loud, be proud of who they love, PRIDE.  They get one day.  You get all the other days, they get one.  Stop moaning, seriously.  Moaning about this suggests a certain lack of understanding due to white, heterosexual privilege.  Are the gay community really shouting in your ear everyday on that tiny little island you live on? Seems incredibly unlikely.  Is there even a gay bar?  Is there even one?

The prefer not to say is referencing a comment made earlier about being “other”, or preferring not to say.  She states:

Yes, I realise the thought of what “other” might involve is disturbing but we mustn’t be narrow-minded. There is, helpfully, a box for those who “prefer not to say”, though that also raises worrying possibilities.

Well, let us set your mind at rest, here, madam.  Those people who prefer not to say do so for a number of reasons, almost certainly none of which are due to some sort of sexual deviance.  It is possible, that they think it is no-one’s business who they sleep with, so prefer not to say.  Equally, they may not want to be discriminated against, so prefer not to say.  They could, prefer not to be beaten up in a back alley, so prefer not to say.  Or, they could not like the tick boxes on application forms that are totally irrelevant to how they do the job, so PREFER NOT TO SAY!  There is also the option to prefer not to say for “religion”. This does not mean that everyone who ticks it is a Satanist.  Just because someone ticks “prefer not to say” does not mean they are off shagging a sheep in their spare time, so don’t be worried, it’s fine.

Our man on the Island, Samuel Z Jones spoke to On The Wight, who offered a link to their piece on the article, and remarked “that it must be tricky to balance satire with real news.”  On the Wight is a separate news outlet from The County Press, which published the article we are discussing.

What is perhaps more worrying that the tone of the article, which could be described as demeaning, is the editorial response to the letters of complaint received.  Whilst it apologises for offence caused, it does not apologise for the article.  It’s more of a “sorry, not sorry”, or “sorry you were upset” than an actual apology.

The editor states:

I would ask those complaining to read the article carefully before thinking too badly of Ms Hofton.

Look at phrases such as: “But while we are in many ways a more tolerant and understanding society, hateful bigotry still exists, and those of the Pride Community, understandably, feel the need to show their solidarity and celebrate in public their joy in being whatever they like in sexuality and gender terms,” before judging too harshly.

No, no. Don’t judge her too harshly, after all, there’s that paragraph.  Well found sir.  It’s not so much that paragraph that’s the problem, as ALL THE OTHER PARAGRAPHS.  However, since that’s the one you choose to reference, let’s break it down.  “their joy at being whatever they like in sexuality and gender terms”.  “Whatever they like, in sexuality and gender terms”.

Yes, we quoted it three times, for emphasis.  It’s not about being whatever you like.  It’s not, ‘I fancy having a go with this this week, yey, let’s do it’.  It’s about not being persecuted for who you are.  That’s what Pride’s about.  It’s about strength in numbers, it’s about being yourself and not being afraid.  If you don’t get that, then you suffer from a severe lack of empathy and understanding.  Still, it’s OK, as long as you keep your lack of understanding to yourself, and don’t flaunt it, for example in a newspaper article, we’re OK with it.  Whatever you think in your own bedroom is fine by us.

 

Monday Mystery Mime

Yes, we know it’s Tuesday, but that wouldn’t be alliterative, would it? So, you know the drill by now, guess the mime, post your answer in a comment, Tulluah will mime anything you like if you win.

The winners of last week’s Mystery Mime were Sandra Payne and Michele Morrison, with the correct answer of “placing angel on top of the Christmas tree”. Well done to both of you, and don’t forget, you have to enter to win, so why not have a go at this week’s?

*To enter go to the Youtube page where the mime originated and post your answer in the comments section. If commenting on Youtube is too complicated you can post a comment here, but Youtube comments will get priority. The winner will be chosen at random from all of the correct entries. Any obscene entries or suggestions will be disqualified and the user blocked. Newsnibbles and Feathers and Toast reserve the right to disqualify any entry they deem unsuitable, without explanation. The closing date for entries is Friday 16th December 2016, 00:00 EST.

Monday Mystery Mime

This week our friends at Feathers and Toast are getting into the festive spirit, with a Christmas themed mystery mime.  And that is your clue, Christmas.  As always you can enter with a comment, and if you win, Tallulah will perform the mime of your choosing.

The correct answer to last week’s mystery mime was “Nutcracker”, and there were too many correct entries to list here, but if you won, you know who you are.  If you didn’t, why not have a crack at this week’s instead?

*To enter go to the Youtube page where the mime originated and post your answer in the comments section. If commenting on Youtube is too complicated you can post a comment here, but Youtube comments will get priority. The winner will be chosen at random from all of the correct entries. Any obscene entries or suggestions will be disqualified and the user blocked. Newsnibbles and Feathers and Toast reserve the right to disqualify any entry they deem unsuitable, without explanation. The closing date for entries is Friday 9th December 2016, 00:00 EST.

Nibblets

Standing Rock Stands Firm

You may remember in a previous nibblet we reported on Big Oil trying to frack all over the Native American’s holy land at Standing Rock.  The peaceful protest received minimal coverage in the mainstream media, possibly because the police and military were sent in to disperse the peaceful protesters, reportedly resorting to rubber bullets and tear gas.  As with The Great Tangerine himself, it seems that freedom of speech (including the right to protest) is only protected if you are saying what they want to hear.  However, it has been announced that the pipeline will look for alternative routes, which is a win for the protesters!  Whilst it is still possible that the big oil companies will wait for the next administration in January, and appeal, this is a small win, and in a year of possibly the most depressing news of all time, we’ll take a small win.

Read more in The Guardian

Austria Says No to Fascism

With the increasing moves to the far right across the world, most shockingly with the election of The Great Tangerine (rather like Voldemort, Newsnibbles will not use his name) it seemed likely that other countries would follow suit.  However, the election results from last night’s election revealed the a 53% majority voted against the far right candidate, leaving us with hope that 2017 might be better.

Read more in Rueters

There’s Beef in Them Notes

The discovery of “tallow” a by product of beef and mutton, in the new plastic £5 released by The Bank of England earlier this year has caused vegans and vegetarians to raise a petition, which has to date received over 106,000 signatures, and according to The Telegraph the bank are treating the concerns raised with the “utmost seriousness”.  So this is more positive news, take that 2016!  We would like to take a moment in this nibblet to address some points raised to us whilst discussing this story, in typical balanced, fair, Newsnibbles style.

Point 1: Raised by Louise.  “Well, it’s only something like 0.007% tallow.”

Well, yes, but a cow or a sheep still had to die as a result of that tiny percentage, which is totally unnecessary.  Animal by products are not an acceptable medium to use for something as central as money, no matter what percentage it is. DOH.

Point 2: Raised by an anonymous Facebook user: “Why should I sign your petition when you don’t care about people being exploited, people are animals too…” (paraphrased).

This is as stupid as the “all lives matter” argument that white people who don’t understand racism use.  But, because just calling it stupid doesn’t help disperse the ignorance, we’ll break it down for you here:

So, 1, vegans and vegetarians do care about people.  Maybe not you personally, son, as you are, putting it politely being a douche right now.  The fact that they don’t want animals in their money does not mean that they don’t give a shit about the starving children and food bank users created by this government’s austerity measures.  What it means is THEY DON’T WANT DEAD ANIMALS IN THEIR MONEY!  People can choose not to eat meat, they can choose whether they are serious enough about it not to wear leather either, or not use anything containing animal by products.  If they want to live in this country they do not have a choice about money.  They have to use the money until Corbyn comes to power and some communist barter system is established that will be the envy of the western world.  That’s the facts, no choice about money, that’s why it’s a problem.

2. Yes, people are animals too (someone got their GCSE science, didn’t they?). But people have voices – animals don’t.  These people are standing for voiceless animals, that’s why the sheep and cows haven’t started their own petition, the lack of opposable thumbs makes this problematic for them, so the vegans did it.  Back off the vegans and pick a bigger battle.

We will be happy to address any other issues you have with any of these Nibblets in similar patient and understanding style in the comments below.  Please feel free to ask.

And read more about the beefy fivers in The Telegraph

Monday Mystery Mime

It is once again time for the mystery mime, brought to you by our friends at Feathers and Toast.

Every week, life saving chef and sandwich aficionado, Tallulah Grace will perform a mime, and your challenge, Nibblers, is to guess what that mime is supposed to represent. The winner will be chosen at random from all the correct entries, and will win the honour of a shout out on Tallulah’s latest vlog (it’s like a blog, but with videos so “vlog” – it’s an actual thing, we didn’t make it up) and the opportunity to suggest one of Tallulah’s next mime topics.*

And congratulations to last week’s winner;  Doug Morrison won this week with turkey being stuffed, your choice of mime will be posted shortly.

This week’s mystery mime also comes with a clue:

Clue: Ballet

 

*To enter go to the Youtube page where the mime originated and post your answer in the comments section. If commenting on Youtube is too complicated you can post a comment here, but Youtube comments will get priority. The winner will be chosen at random from all of the correct entries. Any obscene entries or suggestions will be disqualified and the user blocked. Newsnibbles and Feathers and Toast reserve the right to disqualify any entry they deem unsuitable, without explanation. The closing date for entries is Friday 2nd December 2016, 00:00 EST.