BTM Spotted

[john ashby]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/05/how-about-hms-backpedal-for-the-new-royal-navy-submarine

john

[Clive Arthur]

Post by john ashby
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/05/how-about-hms-backpedal-
for-the-new-royal-navy-submarine
john

Looks like they've re-purposed (or porpoised) Robert the Robot from
Fireball XL5...

https://ca.pinterest.com/pin/386535580500079413/

...and welded him on top of Stingray...

https://www.flickriver.com/photos/manofyorkshire/4960764832/

...with an inexplicable giant prick on his chest.

[BrritSki]

Post by Clive Arthur

Post by john ashby
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/05/how-about-hms-
backpedal- for-the-new-royal-navy-submarine
john

Looks like they've re-purposed (or porpoised) Robert the Robot from
Fireball XL5...
https://ca.pinterest.com/pin/386535580500079413/
...and welded him on top of Stingray...
https://www.flickriver.com/photos/manofyorkshire/4960764832/
...with an inexplicable giant prick on his chest.

Close - it's a giant hand bell end.

So, did I miss the BTA Ceremony or is that something of which we do not
speak ?

[john ashby]

Post by BrritSki

Post by Clive Arthur

Post by john ashby
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/05/how-about-hms-
backpedal- for-the-new-royal-navy-submarine
john

Looks like they've re-purposed (or porpoised) Robert the Robot from
Fireball XL5...
https://ca.pinterest.com/pin/386535580500079413/
...and welded him on top of Stingray...
https://www.flickriver.com/photos/manofyorkshire/4960764832/
...with an inexplicable giant prick on his chest.

Close - it's a giant hand bell end.
So, did I miss the BTA Ceremony or is that something of which we do not
speak ?

It does appear to have vanished into the ether. Which raises the
question (not begs, I hate that that misuse has become so prevalent it
is now the correct usage): Does umra want to continue to celebrate Bad
Taste in some way or should we just let the BTN/BTA tradition lapse?

john

[BrritSki]

Post by john ashby

Post by BrritSki

Post by Clive Arthur

Post by john ashby
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/05/how-about-hms-
backpedal- for-the-new-royal-navy-submarine
john

Looks like they've re-purposed (or porpoised) Robert the Robot from
Fireball XL5...
https://ca.pinterest.com/pin/386535580500079413/
...and welded him on top of Stingray...
https://www.flickriver.com/photos/manofyorkshire/4960764832/
...with an inexplicable giant prick on his chest.

Close - it's a giant hand bell end.
So, did I miss the BTA Ceremony or is that something of which we do
not speak ?

It does appear to have vanished into the ether. Which raises the
question (not begs, I hate that that misuse has become so prevalent it
is now the correct usage): Does umra want to continue to celebrate Bad
Taste in some way or should we just let the BTN/BTA tradition lapse?

A good point. There are so few posts these days and the percentages of
BT & MV have dropped a lot too, so that there is not a lot to judge on.

Very slim pickings for the Award Ceremony so I sympathise with the BTM's
task this year.

[Jenny M Benson]

Which raises the question (not begs, I hate that that misuse has become
so prevalent it is now the correct usage)

Hurrah!

[Serena Blanchflower]

Post by john ashby
It does appear to have vanished into the ether. Which raises the
question (not begs, I hate that that misuse has become so prevalent it
is now the correct usage): Does umra want to continue to celebrate Bad
Taste in some way or should we just let the BTN/BTA tradition lapse?

Given how little traffic there is on umra nowadays, I'd have thought
that it's probably time to stop having an official BTM, or awards
ceremonies. I hope that umrats will carry on celebrating bad taste,
possibly even with a cry of BTN!, when it occurs though. Much as we
carried on recognising BUMRA!, long after anyone stopped collecting the
highlights.

I've messaged our current (and ultimate?) BTM to let her know about this
thread, as I'm not sure how much she's reading umra at the moment.

[Rosie Mitchell]

Post by Serena Blanchflower

Post by john ashby
It does appear to have vanished into the ether. Which raises the
question (not begs, I hate that that misuse has become so prevalent
it is now the correct usage): Does umra want to continue to
celebrate Bad Taste in some way or should we just let the BTN/BTA
tradition lapse?

Given how little traffic there is on umra nowadays, I'd have thought
that it's probably time to stop having an official BTM, or awards
ceremonies. I hope that umrats will carry on celebrating bad taste,
possibly even with a cry of BTN!, when it occurs though. Much as we
carried on recognising BUMRA!, long after anyone stopped collecting
the highlights.
I've messaged our current (and ultimate?) BTM to let her know about
this thread, as I'm not sure how much she's reading umra at the
moment.

[crawls out of bunker looking dishevelled and sheepish]

You can't get the quality of chocolate these days, it seems. And
Lizbuff's stash of homebrew has gone off after all these years.

Here's what I wrote to Serena earlier.

STARTS

Am I in disgrace? I did try to prepare a ceremony but realised that the material I had to work with was pretty thin. And then after I got distracted by other stuff and being messed about I realised afterwards that I'd totally forgotten to do it anyway. So I kept my head down for a few days and then lost the habit of checking in.

To be perfectly honest, umra isn't what it was, too many people who made it that are no longer with us. I certainly wouldn't want to wish umra laid down but the old umratic banter just isn't there any more. But there doesn't seem much point in carrying on with the BTM. Not least because in the world we are currently living in, umra bad taste feels insignicant.

I know some will feel I let them down. Mea culpa and all that. You can blame my autism and chronic inability to deal with confrontation.

ENDS

[Mike Headon]

Post by Rosie Mitchell

Post by Serena Blanchflower

Post by john ashby
It does appear to have vanished into the ether. Which raises the
question (not begs, I hate that that misuse has become so prevalent
it is now the correct usage): Does umra want to continue to
celebrate Bad Taste in some way or should we just let the BTN/BTA
tradition lapse?

Given how little traffic there is on umra nowadays, I'd have thought
that it's probably time to stop having an official BTM, or awards
ceremonies. I hope that umrats will carry on celebrating bad taste,
possibly even with a cry of BTN!, when it occurs though. Much as we
carried on recognising BUMRA!, long after anyone stopped collecting
the highlights.
I've messaged our current (and ultimate?) BTM to let her know about
this thread, as I'm not sure how much she's reading umra at the
moment.

[crawls out of bunker looking dishevelled and sheepish]
You can't get the quality of chocolate these days, it seems. And
Lizbuff's stash of homebrew has gone off after all these years.
Here's what I wrote to Serena earlier.
STARTS
Am I in disgrace? I did try to prepare a ceremony but realised that the material I had to work with was pretty thin. And then after I got distracted by other stuff and being messed about I realised afterwards that I'd totally forgotten to do it anyway. So I kept my head down for a few days and then lost the habit of checking in.
To be perfectly honest, umra isn't what it was, too many people who made it that are no longer with us. I certainly wouldn't want to wish umra laid down but the old umratic banter just isn't there any more. But there doesn't seem much point in carrying on with the BTM. Not least because in the world we are currently living in, umra bad taste feels insignicant.
I know some will feel I let them down. Mea culpa and all that. You can blame my autism and chronic inability to deal with confrontation.
ENDS

Btw I like your Quora contributions! (Not as good as Ian Lang, though:-)

[Rosie Mitchell]

Post by Mike Headon

Post by Rosie Mitchell

Post by Serena Blanchflower

Post by john ashby
It does appear to have vanished into the ether. Which raises the
question (not begs, I hate that that misuse has become so prevalent
it is now the correct usage): Does umra want to continue to
celebrate Bad Taste in some way or should we just let the BTN/BTA
tradition lapse?

Given how little traffic there is on umra nowadays, I'd have thought
that it's probably time to stop having an official BTM, or awards
ceremonies. I hope that umrats will carry on celebrating bad taste,
possibly even with a cry of BTN!, when it occurs though. Much as we
carried on recognising BUMRA!, long after anyone stopped collecting
the highlights.
I've messaged our current (and ultimate?) BTM to let her know about
this thread, as I'm not sure how much she's reading umra at the
moment.

[crawls out of bunker looking dishevelled and sheepish]
You can't get the quality of chocolate these days, it seems. And
Lizbuff's stash of homebrew has gone off after all these years.
Here's what I wrote to Serena earlier.
STARTS
Am I in disgrace? I did try to prepare a ceremony but realised that
the material I had to work with was pretty thin. And then after I
got distracted by other stuff and being messed about I realised
afterwards that I'd totally forgotten to do it anyway. So I kept my
head down for a few days and then lost the habit of checking in.
To be perfectly honest, umra isn't what it was, too many people who
made it that are no longer with us. I certainly wouldn't want to
wish umra laid down but the old umratic banter just isn't there any
more. But there doesn't seem much point in carrying on with the
BTM. Not least because in the world we are currently living in, umra
bad taste feels insignicant.
I know some will feel I let them down. Mea culpa and all that. You
can blame my autism and chronic inability to deal with
confrontation.
ENDS

Btw I like your Quora contributions! (Not as good as Ian Lang,
though:-)

Ian Lang credited me with the most finely-crafted tit joke he'd ever
seen. In the same thread that got me a round of applause from Mercedes
Lackey.

Rosie

[Nick Odell]

Post by john ashby

Post by BrritSki

Post by Clive Arthur

Post by john ashby
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/05/how-about-hms-
backpedal- for-the-new-royal-navy-submarine
john

Looks like they've re-purposed (or porpoised) Robert the Robot from
Fireball XL5...
https://ca.pinterest.com/pin/386535580500079413/
...and welded him on top of Stingray...
https://www.flickriver.com/photos/manofyorkshire/4960764832/
...with an inexplicable giant prick on his chest.

Close - it's a giant hand bell end.
So, did I miss the BTA Ceremony or is that something of which we do not
speak ?

It does appear to have vanished into the ether. Which raises the
question (not begs, I hate that that misuse has become so prevalent it
is now the correct usage): Does umra want to continue to celebrate Bad
Taste in some way or should we just let the BTN/BTA tradition lapse?

Oh yes please, let's lay the ceremonies and awards to rest. But as
Serena has already said, it would be nice to continue to acknowledge
bad taste without actually having to keep count. Umra is about the
only public place where I can write the unsayable without the risk of
a policeman knocking on my door to charge me with a Non Crime Hate
Incident (or even a Crime Crime Hate Incident) and I'd hate for that
to change.

Nick