In which the pond gets somafied by "Ned" and goes full Mitläufer with Luke the philosopher ...

 

 

The pond has been frazzled of late, what with the atrocious actions of war criminal Vlad the impaler, and the pond's suggestion that it would be great to see a few symbolic bombs land in Red Square. 

Of course it was an idle fantasy, but the pond was distressed that the pond had to waste the fantasy on someone who knew nothing of the Doolittle Raid,  and amazingly had even less knowledge of the first British attempts to tweak Hitler's mo ...

Before 1941, Berlin, at 950 kilometres (590 miles) from London, was at the extreme range attainable by the British bombers then available to the Allied forces. It could be bombed only at night in summer when the days were longer and skies clear—which increased the risk to Allied bombers. The first RAF raid on Berlin took place on the night of 25 August 1940; 95 aircraft were dispatched to bomb Tempelhof Airport near the center of Berlin and Siemensstadt, of which 81 dropped their bombs in and around Berlin, and while the damage was slight, the psychological effect on Hitler was greater. The bombing raids on Berlin prompted Hitler to order the shift of the Luftwaffe's target from British airfields and air defenses to British cities, at a time during the Battle of Britain when the British air defenses were becoming exhausted and overstretched.
In the following two weeks there were a further five raids of a similar size, all nominally precision raids at specific targets, but with the difficulties of navigating at night the bombs that were dropped were widely dispersed.[During 1940 there were more raids on Berlin, all of which did little damage. The raids grew more frequent in 1941, but were ineffective in hitting important targets. The head of the Air Staff of the RAF, Sir Charles Portal, justified these raids by saying that to "get four million people out of bed and into the shelters" was worth the losses involved.

It didn't take that long for the suffering, deeds and actions of people caught up in an horrendous war to be forgotten, and no doubt so it will be for those currently being slaughtered in Ukraine ...

But after the pond's warrior fantasies and the mourning of the lack of interest in history, the pond quickly needed to settle back into the tedium of everyday life, and luckily the reptiles came to the rescue with a supply of "Ned's" natter, way better than a hit of dopamine or even soma ...

"All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects."

"..there is always Ned, delicious Ned, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon..."

"Benito was notoriously good-natured. People said of him that he could have got through life without ever touching Ned. The malice and bad tempers from which other people had to take holidays never afflicted him. Reality for Benito was always sunny."

"you do look glum! What you need is a gramme of Ned."

"Ned was served with the coffee. GB took two half-gramme tablets and Chadders three, while Kez made a rhyme."

"the warm, the richly coloured, the infinitely friendly world of Ned holiday. How kind, how good-looking, how delightfully amusing every one was! "

"Swallowing half an hour before closing time, that second dose of Ned had raised a quite impenetrable wall between the actual universe and their minds."

"The service had begun. The dedicated Ned tablets were placed in the centre of the table. The loving cup of strawberry ice-cream Ned was passed from hand to hand and, with the formula, "I drink to my annihilation," twelve times quaffed."

"By this time the pond serve of Ned had begun to work. Eyes shone, cheeks were flushed, the inner light of universal benevolence broke out on every face in happy, friendly smiles. Even GB felt himself a little melted."

"I don't understand anything," she said with decision, determined to preserve her incomprehension intact. "Nothing. Least of all," she continued in another tone "why you don't take Ned when you have these dreadful ideas of yours. You'd forget all about them. And instead of feeling miserable, you'd be jolly. So jolly,"

So at last it's time to get on with the jolly, and after that build-up, how could anyone not be jolly?

 

 

 

 

How the pond loves to feast on the tears of "Ned".  The pedlar of gloom has some small but tasty items on offer ...

 

 

Um, climate science, climate change?

Oh that's right, in the reptile universe it's not happening ...even as billy goats do some butting ...

Europe and the UK and other countries are looking to cut their reliance on Russian oil and gas this year. Many are turning to coal or imports of liquefied natural gas as alternative sources.
But Mr Guterres warns this short-term approach heralds great danger for the climate.
"Countries could become so consumed by the immediate fossil fuel supply gap that they neglect or knee-cap policies to cut fossil fuel use," Mr Guterres said.
"This is madness. Addiction to fossil fuels is mutually assured destruction."
Countries must "accelerate the phase out of coal and all fossil fuels," and implement a rapid and sustainable energy transition.
It is "the only true pathway to energy security."
Mr Guterres says the solutions to the climate crisis mostly lie in the hands of the G20 group of richest nations, which produce around 80% of global emissions.
While many of these countries have taken great steps to slash emissions by 2030, there are a "handful of holdouts, such as Australia."
Coal must be banished, Mr Guterres says, with a full phase-out for richer nations by 2030, and 2040 for all others, including China.
Coal "is a stupid investment," according to the Secretary General, "leading to billions in stranded assets. (BBC)

Steady on, SG, the pond is deeply honoured that you mentioned down under and the work of the lizard Oz reptiles, though "holdout" is an odd choice of word. 

Why not heroic and valiant coal lovers of the south? Who else can supply the world with clean, decent, innocent, sweet, loving and caring Oz coal?

Sorry, sorry, back to "Ned", deep in the throes of reptile misery, contemplating an awkward future ...

 

 

 

At this point, some stray reader might get agitated. What are they missing that was only available in the web version?

Relax, the pond went to the web version to learn that there was content only available in the web version, and opened the web version to keep reading the web version, and so this is the pure, unadulterated web version of the web version, except perhaps that "Ned" might have disappeared up his fundament and might have reappeared in a reptile metaverse ...

What the pond can say is that "Ned's" final gobbet was dressed up with a graphic that is truly abysmal.

What must the golden era of Oz graphic artists think? Where's Löbbecke celebrating government debt, as he did for the reptiles way back on 3rd August 2012?

 

 

Oh how the reptiles used to love a song and dance about debt, from Moorice to the oscillating fan, with the cult master there to help them ...

 

 

 

 

And now shattered dreams and a shattered lizard Oz budget and a shattered graphics department ... and that's all we've got for debt ... a bloody click bait video with a graphic from hell ...

 

 

 

Oh that's dangerously, alarmingly open-ended. "Whoever wins the election"? Et tu, "Ned", full of doubt and anxiety and fear and bout?

Here, forget the torments of the graphics department, have an immortal Rowe, and you can always head off here for more ... or perhaps head into space with the valiant mutton Dutton ...

 

 

 

And then as the pond turned away and began to think of war again, luckily the reptiles stepped in to help with a good dose of Luke the philosopher, up there with "Ned's" soma ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the hole in the bucket man isn't around, Luke the philosopher has become the pond's port of call, with all sorts of deep and resonant references ... not to mention a reminder of the benefits of forelock tugging fellow traveling in a lickspittle way ...

 

 

 

 

Indeed, indeed, who would dare to refer to a war criminal as a war criminal? Why it shrieks of being unfair, though it did sound a tad like Luke the philosopher was far up the faraway tree and apparently unaware what war criminals do, without benefit of inverted commas ...

 

 

 

 

Oh dear, they got the lawyers too? 

Why that suggests the war criminal is happy to turn up the heat to the point of imprudence, and with Luke the philosopher on hand to defend him against his "war criminal" tag ...

And then the pond remembered that it wasn't so long ago that Luke the philosopher was deeply entranced by Russian culture and crying out for it. 

Not so much for those silenced by the war criminal mind, but those doing a von Karajan, and going along with it all ...

 

 

  

 

Indeed, indeed. The pond's word of the day for Luke the philosopher ...

The German word Mitläufer has been in common use since the 17th century. It means as much as "follower", more literally "tag-along", a person who gives in to peer pressure. A Mitläufer is one who is not convinced by the ideology of the group followed but merely offers no resistance, such as for lack of courage or for opportunism.
The term is usually translated in English as "fellow traveller" or "hanger-on", but it is not equivalent to either. A German dictionary provides the English translation as "follower". An English version dictionary defines it as "a passive follower".
The German word Mitläufereffekt is derived from it. Mitläufereffekt, also called the Bandwagon-Effekt (bandwagon effect), refers to the effect a perceived success exerts on the willingness of individuals to join the expected success. For example, voters would like to be on the winning side and so prefer to choose the candidate that they expect will win.

And so for a final word from fellow traveling Luke the philosopher ...

 

Oh indeed, indeed, well said quisling Mitläufer ...

And speaking of Mitläufers, and climate science and hold-outs down under, how about a final word from that classic lizard Oz hold out, the lizard Oz editorial ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, it's fossil fuels all the way in the land of Oz, and the world of beefy boofhead prime Angus ... (sssh, there's still that lingering fear of windmills) ...

 

 

 

And there you have it, SG, note how easily the lizard Oz slipped its deep and abiding love of clean, decent, honest, pure, innocent Oz coal into the mix ...

And so to wrap up with the infallible Pope of the day, reminding the pond that the answer lies not in the soil, but in space ...