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September 2024


Labour have been in power for three months now, and the rhetoric about the ‘Tory black hole’ in the nation's finances is starting to sound like a broken record. If you repeat a truth often enough, does it become a lie? Keir Starmer launched his ten-year plan for the NHS, kicking any measurable improvements firmly into the second term. And he famously said sausages when he meant hostages. I expect he was hungry. The Tories remained very, very quiet, as if gagged. And enjoying it.


In royal news, there were two new TV programmes about Prince Andrew’s laughably bad interview on Newsnight. And King Charles was trying to kick Andrew out of Royal Lodge for not paying his rent and not paying for repairs. And still probably one of Andrew’s better months.


In the entertainment world, people were talking about the Oasis reunion tour and complaining about the cost of ‘dynamically priced’ tickets. And protestors chucked some more soup at Van Gogh’s sunflowers. Can you remember why? Me neither. In weather news, the Met Office said that the summer had been the coolest since 2015. Which sounds like the set-up for a joke about the Oasis reunion...


Further afield, there was another failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Donald was out golfing in Florida and narrowly avoided a hole in one. And four NASA astronauts continued to be stranded in space, rotating helplessly and unable to do anything. Like the Democrats. On the plus side, the Hubble telescope found a supermassive black hole. Another one. Keir will be pleased. And Ukraine and Gaza continued to be difficult territory for humourists. Sorry, guys.


Here is a selection of the top stories from September 2024. Click through to read the stories and see the author credits. Scroll down to see some of the month’s best headlines.


UK Politics


US Politics


Royal News


Other News


Headlines


Inventor of rear view mirror looks back on his career

NASA: stranded astronauts exposed to Van Allen radiation belt "unlikely" to possess superpowers

Kuenssberg allows Labour just one more week to use public finances black hole excuse

' ' goes without saying

Choking is often caused by going down the wrong way

Hacked railway departure board more accurate than the real one

Joe Biden 'assassination attempt' just an accident with a stapler

New hospital ratings: Poor, Inadequate, Shameful, Broken

NHS reform: all forms to be redesigned

Photo of arable farm may have been cropped


Actually, September 2024 was a pretty good month for the headlines, so here are some more:


University goes bust after spending all its funding in the first week of term

Jailed Van Gogh vandals were from Just Stop Oils

Activists throw sunflowers at Warhol’s painting of tins of soup

GWR running trains instead of buses this weekend

Starmer asks wife to play hide the hostage

Customs huge epilepsy medication seizure

If being racist makes me racist then I'm racist, says racist

Met Office say coolest Summer since 2015 nothing to do with Oasis

Dentists' Union told to stop advocating "One out, all out" policy

Nuneaton restaurant closes after first week

Road Closure: The M1 was closed yesterday due to an accident. They were supposed to close the M11

'Washing Weekly' only available on-line

ree

August 2024


The Paris Olympics come to an end. Britain wins 65 medals and comes in third behind the USA and China. More importantly, we are top in Europe, and we get more medals than Australia.


To tarnish Olympic success, the month is marred by summer rioting. This is fuelled by nonsense spread by social media, which is lapped up by the gullible. After warming up (ha!) on winter fuel payments, Keir Starmer continues to play the tough guy. He releases some old lags from prison to make more cells available to lock up the rioters.


UK water companies are fined millions for sewage spills. Again. Does this happen every month? It seems to.


In the entertainment world, police issue an arrest warrant for Katie Price after she fails to attend a bankruptcy hearing. And Harry and Meghan go to Colombia to ‘make the internet safer for children’. And to promote their charity work. And themselves. How could they choose Colombia over the Edinburgh Festival?


In overseas news, Ukraine, Gaza.


In the US, a judge rules that Google have an illegal monopoly over internet searches. Finally, an American news story that isn’t about the US Election.


Here is a selection of the top stories from August 2024. Click through to read the stories and the author credits. Scroll down to see some of the month’s best headlines.


Crime and punishment


Politics


Sport and entertainment


Other news


Headlines


GCHQ close to decoding rules for cycling Keirin

'I take my job as an MP seriously,' wins joke of the Fringe

Puppeteer offers to explain string theory

Search for 'Google's illegal online monopoly' yields no results

Top uni accepts students with 25m back stroke certificate

Police tasked with arresting Katie Price have no idea what she looks like

Builder who lost his plans of the stairs told to retrace his steps

Israel and Hamas, in a rare show of unity, agree to continue hostilities

Starmer pledges to transform UK steel industry into no-steel industry

No signs of green shoots on Conservative party stump

‘The UK is too dangerous for me and my family’ says Harry as he lands in Colombia

English tourist resort attracts more visitors with rioting mini breaks



Image credit: Wix

ree

July 2024


On the fourth of July 2024 the United Kingdom finally achieved independence from its Tory government. The Labour Party, led by a famous toolmakers' son, won a landslide victory on a campaign about change. Nothing else. Just change. The results were so bad that Reform won four seats. Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves polished a new double act with a sketch called ‘Tory Black Hole’ that they repeated every day. Their oft-repeated catchphrase was about ‘tough decisions’.


Later in the month, a crack marksman shot a small hole in Donald Trump’s earlobe, giving him more hours of priceless publicity for his Presidential campaign. The assassination attempt proved fatal for Joe Biden, and his campaign was finally ended for him, because he couldn’t remember anything appropriate or useful. Catching Covid was the final straw.


In real news, the England (men’s) football team made it to the final of the Euros. In order to fulfil an important national stereotype, they were contractually obliged to lose, which they obligingly did. Gareth Southgate was widely seen as having done a good job, and obviously, therefore, had to go. In tennis, Wimbledon. In other sport, the Paris Olympics began. The opening ceremony went on for miles, and seemingly for days. The central theme seemed to be about torrential rain. Thames Water weren’t sponsoring the swimming events in the Seine, but they should have been. Anti-sport activists disrupted the French rail service.


There were widespread IT problems when CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity ‘experts’ messed up a software update and caused problems around the world. Switching it off and on again didn’t help.


In entertainment news, the involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin was dismissed because the prosecution had withheld evidence. And Thames Water’s credit rating was downgraded to junk status – due to ‘insufficient liquidity’. Lol.


Here is a selection of the top stories from July 2024. Click through to read the stories and the author credits. Scroll down to see some of the month’s best headlines.


General Election

Sport

US politics

Other big stories


Headlines

CrowdStrike advises GPs to ring at 8am to book an appointment

Man suspected of meat theft faces grilling

Alec Baldwin discharged

Cheshire supergrass enters Widnes protection programme

Fears for COVID after it contracts Joe Biden

Reports of spiking incident at jousting competition

St Swithin predicts no England footie win for the next 40 years

Unkempt incontinent let himself go

Post Office report all their computers are running fine

Man looking forward to Gavin and Stacey special doesn't get out much

Raducanu fans say they understand problem of stiff wrists

Tory HQ, "We're gonna need a bigger vote!"

Russia wins early gold in Olympics Sabotage event

Trump shooter “posed an ear and present danger”

Biden 'I will continue my bid for re-electrician'

Prisoners left in corridors whilst waiting for cells to become available

Scottish bog gets world heritage status - but I'd give it 10 minutes

Farage MP's to be sent to Reform School

UK prepares to be disappointed by Labour government for a change

Chris Grayling's first week at CrowdStrike going supremely well



Picture credit: Wix AI

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