Biscuitgate

British politics: The cookie crumbles

Will the U.K. government finally fall over thanks to Biscuitgate?
By Barry Neild — Special to GlobalPost
Published: October 24, 2009 10:16 ET

LONDON, U.K. — It has survived the worst of the financial crisis, weathered conflict in Afghanistan and shrugged off an embarrassing parliamentary expenses scandal, but the resolute leadership of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown this week looked like it was finally crumbling — over cookies.

With an election looming in early 2010, Brown has been out on the campaign trail, trying to reverse a plunge in popularity by persuading his jaded public that the media has unfairly miscast him as an aloof and gloomy leader beset by indecision over key issues.

So it was that the prime minister, in the role of a friendly man-of-the-people, joined a Q and A session with subscribers to parental advice website Mumsnet, little suspecting that what was intended as a cozy chat would become a storm in that most British of institutions: a teacup.

Happy to talk about weighty matters such as education, climate change and the economy, a loquacious Brown easily parried most of the questions but stumbled over a disarmingly simple topic raised by one curious mother: What's your favorite biscuit?

Not to be confused with the floury companion to gravy often found on plates in the southern United States, biscuits are what the British call cookies — or at least they do when they're not referring to them by bizarre and unappetizing brand names, of which there are hundreds.

Workplaces across the U.K. would grind to a halt unless fueled by Hobnobs, Ginger Nuts, Digestives and Custard Creams, with consumption levels reflecting not only the quirks of a country of tea drinkers but also their need to compensate for such a wet national beverage.

While it should therefore be no surprise that the voters of Britain would be thirsty for news of what their leader dunks in his morning brew, Brown clearly thought the matter too flippant and ignored it, despite being asked by Mumsnet readers no fewer than 12 times.

"Maybe he needs to consult with his advisers on what would be the most vote-winning biscuit to admit to liking," wrote one Mumsnet member, as the prime minister wrapped up his 70-minute chat, brushed non-existent crumbs from his lap and headed home to Downing Street.

But the questioning didn't stop. Reporters quickly took up the baton, pestering his press people for an answer. The following day Brown's biscuit breakdown made front page in the London Times. The right wing tabloid Daily Mail, somewhat predictably, called it "Biscuitgate."

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/united-kingdom/091022/british-politics-cookie-downing

Romany

Yep, its some zippy

Hey, we've just finished putting this piece of video together at the house on our 20th week of biscuit creations - enjoy flipping zippy going all over the place all to the crazy sound of our song zippy's chippy - inspired by the rainbow chippy in birkdale village Southport ... and my thoughts about if zippy himself was to serve chips there, dropping them all on the floor and stuff - what a great time that would be.

Visit our Myspace page for more:

http://profile.myspace.com/crunchybiscuits

you need to see this epidode of rainbow to fully understand: /see 2:48 for zippy extract/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M62SnbNizIM

Thanks!

Biscuit Education!

from this website : http://bbab.org.uk/




Revealed: The most dangerous biscuit in Britain is.. the Custard Cream

Sep 8 2009 By Janice Burns

CUSTARD creams are Britain's most dangerous biscuits, it was revealed yesterday A study claimed an estimated 25million people in Britain had been injured by biscuits.

Hidden dangers included flying fragments and daredevil dunking in scalding tea. And custard creams were the worst offenders, posing the biggest risk to innocent dunkers.

Around 500 people a year need hospital treatment because of biscuit injuries.

The study by Mindlab found 29 per cent of adults had been splashed or scalded by hot drinks while dunking or trying to fish the remnants from hot tea.

They also found 28 per cent had choked on crumbs and 10 per cent had broken a tooth or filling biting a biccy.

More unusually, three per cent had poked themselves in the eye with a biscuit and seven per cent were bitten by a pet or "other wild animal" trying to get their biscuit.

One man ended up stuck in wet concrete after wading in to pick up a stray biscuit.

Mindlab have now devised a Biscuit Injury Threat Evaluation, or B.I.T.E. Custard creams get a risk rating of 5.63.

The study was commissioned by Rocky - which was rated the country's third riskiest type of biscuit.

Mindlab International director Dr David Lewis said: "We tested the physical properties of 15 popular types of biscuits, along with aspects of their consumption such as dunkability and crumb dispersal.

"Then a mathematician correlated these findings with a nationwide survey of over 1000 adults."

Mike Driver, of Rocky, said: "Working with biscuits every day, we'd long suspected they're not as innocent as they look - and we were right."

Week Five Alive

This week and maybe next we've all decided to take a short break to recharge our batteries - here is something we recorded on the 18th Sep - adapeted for YouTube by sir Daniel J Harrison just today.



nice work dan! :::::::::::::