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Grant Shapps has allayed fears that the extra defence spending announced by the Prime Minister might result in a return to conscription.



Following a series of visits to Shaanxi Province, China in which cabinet members marvelled first hand at the terracotta army built for Qin Shi Huang, the first Chinese Emperor to protect him in the afterlife, government ministers have been concerned for their welfare when their time in office ends and concluded that they too might benefit from having terracotta armies of their own in their afterlives.



Expert pottery consultants advised the government at a cost of £15bn that they had left it too late to fire the volume of clay that would be required; and in any event, since the education policies instigated when Michael Gove was Education Secretary have resulted in a generation of workers unable to discern shit from clay, there’s a high probability of inappropriate materials being used.



Instead, Tory doners from the 3D printing industry have promised the government it could acquire an army made from plastic within the time frame needed if it places an immediate order for 175 XP1500pro 3D printers.



Newsbiscuit’s defence correspondent explained “It’s always been foolish to imagine Conservative governments would regard defence spending as intended to protect anyone other than themselves.”



The American novelist has confessed that he is avoiding all online discussion of ‘Game of Thrones’, so he can also enjoy the surprise of how it all ends.  Although having started the epic series in the early 90s, Martin soon relinquished the writing task to a room full of monkeys and the Brexit negotiation team.


His agent confirmed: ‘George has a rough idea of the story arc; with the narrative culminating with a drunken goblin, a vat K-Y jelly and a pregnant dragon. But quite how this all strings together, he’s not sure.  All we know is Aslan gets harpooned by Captain Ahab, Sam Gamgee marries David Copperfield, the Great Gatsby defeats Miss Havisham’s Darthrakian horde and Voldemort returns to Kansas.


‘The finale season involves a lot of hitting, shouting and medieval product placement. Jean Valjean and Nurse Ratched are reconciled. Lennie Small and Hodor attempt to smoother each other. And Bernie Winters is coming.’


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Updated training in performing exaggerated slow hand-claps just after a detective has painstakingly revealed to the assembled cast how you committed your crime will become compulsory for drug dealers, mafia bosses and generally nasty pieces of work in all TV cop dramas, it has been confirmed.


The news comes after a study revealed the whilst the hand-clap is present in just over 50% of TV detective shows - and every single episode of Death in Paradise ever made - its' delivery is increasingly poor.


'The well-delivered ironic hand clap to show your obvious contempt for the elaborate, and frustratingly correct, theory of some smart-arsed DI, has always been one of the core weapons in a TV murderer's armoury, similar to Hamlet's soliloquy, or De Niro's 'You talkin' to me' speech in Taxi Driver, noted Martin Parker, senior Equity rep.


'However, in recent years, TV murderers are routinely failing to accompany their hand-claps with over-the-top nods of the head, holding out of their arms and asking to be cuffed, or accompanying sarcastic questioning, asking 'Why didn't I think of that myself?', and 'Of course, I'm sure you have the hard evidence to back this up?'.


'We'll be encouraging scriptwriters to give actors more chances to perfect their craft', continued Parker. 'I saw at least three episodes of the last series of Vera where the murderer poured his heart out to Brenda Blethyn after being rumbled, rather than engage in some ironic stand-off.


Precise details of training for actors are yet to be revealed, but rumours suggest it will involve watching copious reruns of Columbo, Moonlighting and Midsomer Murders.



When informed of this, Giles Palmer-Blaythwaite, the illegitimate son of a recently murdered aristocrat, set to inherit millions on the death of his father, said 'That's a very interesting theory of yours, detective. How frightfully kind of you to share it with us.'


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