Excellent Guardian article

[Serial_Apologist]

I thought Ant & Dec's No 1 hit was todays official April Fool?

[Beef Oven]

I thought Ant & Dec's No 1 hit was todays official April Fool?

Another candidate.

[Anna]

The Telegraph has a round up of today's April Fool jokes (just to lighten the tone of this thread) Guffaw or wince at your leisure:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/9964664/April-Fools-Day-how-many-did-you-spot.html

(Does anyone know how this tradition started?)

[Serial_Apologist]

The Telegraph has a round up of today's April Fool jokes (just to lighten the tone of this thread) Guffaw or wince at your leisure:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/9964664/April-Fools-Day-how-many-did-you-spot.html

(Does anyone know how this tradition started?)

One of Simon's ancestors, I'd imagine.

[johncorrigan]

The Telegraph has a round up of today's April Fool jokes (just to lighten the tone of this thread) Guffaw or wince at your leisure:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/9964664/April-Fools-Day-how-many-did-you-spot.html

(Does anyone know how this tradition started?)

Thanks Anna - pretty good - liked the Stones going camping, but especially Branson's glass bottom plane; though it made me think it would give a different take on Billy Connolly's great Jobby wheecher routine.

[EdgeleyRob]

As a dog owner I love this one.

'Barclaycard have launched PayWag, the world’s first contactless payment device created especially for pets.

Aimed at making customers’ lives easier and giving dogs a new leash of life, the PayWag is a contactless payment chip that fits discreetly to the collar of man’s best friend and acts as an extension of their owner’s credit card.

All transactions made will appear clearly marked on their owner’s credit card bill with a paw print symbol, allowing cardholders to identify and dispute transactions where pets have been behaving pawly yet treating themselves without their knowledge.

Daisy Allproof, head of contactless for pets at Barclaycard, said: “Barclaycard has a history of innovation and we’ve created PayWag to allow pets to conveniently pay for their shopping without their owners getting hot under the collar. We’re starting with a pilot scheme for dogs, but hope to roll this out to other pets later in the year.

“It’s a barking innovation that’s set to change the nation’s shopping habits. All that’s left to do is train your canine friend in the art of savvy shopping to ensure you aren’t left with a dog’s dinner of a credit card bill.”

[ahinton]

Is it mandatory on the forum that one cannot have a simple thread without someone dragging in a snide little comment ?

I don't know; you tell me (or anyone else here that might be curious to know). IDS did however mention (albeit en passant) when questioned that, if he had to, he could manage on £53 per week and it was this statement as much if not more than any other during the course of that interview that gave the game away, to me, at least.

Anyway, for the record, I am not responsible for the content of any part of the Today programme; I don't know exactly who is, either but, in the absence of such knowledge, I blame the delectable Sarah Montague - the Guernsey cream of the show...

[ahinton]

Thanks Anna - pretty good - liked the Stones going camping

Ah, that's the probable origin of any mud-slinging (as mentioned here earlier); there's always loads of mud at Glastonbury, after all...

[Anna]

I IDS did however mention (albeit en passant) when questioned that, if he had to, he could manage on £53 per week

He said, "if he had to" Yes, let's see him do this ....... Now that would be a good programme, wouldn't it? I certainly, even with my frugal lifestyle, cannot manage on that. Hopefully, he will have some money savig hint and tips for me......

[Serial_Apologist]

He said, "if he had to" Yes, let's see him do this ....... Now that would be a good programme, wouldn't it? I certainly, even with my frugal lifestyle, cannot manage on that. Hopefully, he will have some money savig hint and tips for me......

Like, how to survive on a week's army rations...

[eighthobstruction]

Did he really say that....glad I slept in this morning and missed it....[lets hope he hasn't got an extra bedroom that will be £13 gone straight off....+ the extra he has to pay for Council Tax (another £5 gone)

Ed>>>On this morning's Today Programme David Bennett, a market trader, said that after his housing benefit had been cut, he lives on £53 per week. The next interviewee was Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who was defending the changes. The interviewer then asked him if he could could live on this amount. He replied: "If I had to, I would."

[Petrushka]

He said, "if he had to" Yes, let's see him do this ....... Now that would be a good programme, wouldn't it? I certainly, even with my frugal lifestyle, cannot manage on that. Hopefully, he will have some money savig hint and tips for me......

'If he had to' is the key phrase. If you have to you do. As simple day to day survival it is certainly possible but who wants to live a life like that? These politicians in their ivory towers do spout some dangerous nonsense at times and one wonders how much more of it the British people are prepared to tolerate.

[Mr Pee]

So, trying to keep this thread light-hearted as I presume was the OP's intention , who can spot the April Fool in this Shetland newsletter, I wonder?

http://move.shetland.org/april-2013-newsletter?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=html&utm_campaign=MSO%2BApril%2B2013%2BNewsletter#shetland-birdwatchers

[gradus]

Bravo Grauniad, it made me laugh.

[mangerton]

'If he had to' is the key phrase. If you have to you do. As simple day to day survival it is certainly possible but who wants to live a life like that? These politicians in their ivory towers do spout some dangerous nonsense at times and one wonders how much more of it the British people are prepared to tolerate.

Let's put it another way. £53 a week is £2,756 a year, and I don't believe anyone could live on that. Housing, heating, food, clothing, shoes, soap. You really can't get any more basic than that, and I don't see how it could be done.