Sunday, February 15
Yes, I said I was waiting till March. But I just had to tell you about this one. So this is what she gets up to, the hussy.
"It was the most bizarre sex I've ever had. We had to keep totally quiet".
The shame of it.
|
"It was the most bizarre sex I've ever had. We had to keep totally quiet".
The shame of it.
|
Friday, February 6
You say it's your birthday, well it's my birthday too, yeah. Who'd a thunk it? Times passes etc. Anyway, this seems as good a time as any for me to take a well-earned rest. So go check out the good people on the blogroll, or bask in the wisdom of my archives. Feel free to make comments on stuff I wrote over the past two years that is totally irrelevent to anything now. Was I really so exercised about Gibraltar? Perhaps. Go on, give me something to read when I get back. Which will be in March sometime, as I've got other stuff to do in the interim. The toad work comes to everyone. See you soon.
|
|
Thursday, February 5
"A question: how many phony, full-of-shit people do you have in your life - ?"
The VomitGod wonders.
|
The VomitGod wonders.
|
"It might appall sentimentalists to know that nothing I have seen in thirty years as a doctor, from epidemic and civil war to accident, murder and suicide, has ever caused me a moment’s sleeplessness, and that a man could cut his throat in front of me without it affecting my appetite for dinner in the slightest".
Harold Shipman? No, it's Anthony Daniels.
|
Harold Shipman? No, it's Anthony Daniels.
|
Presumably influenced by the fact that his fellow ex-jailbird Lord Brocket has gone down so well with the great British public, it now seems that Jonathan Aitken plans to whip out his trusty sword of truth once again, and return to his rightful place in the House of Commons. There is, alas, the small matter of the fact that this would currently be against the law. But that never stopped him before, did it? And if this man has his way, Mr. Blair could be losing his job soon as well. Aitken and Byers as PM and leader of the opposition? It can only be a matter of time.
UPDATE: You can read the full story here, though you will have to register. Curiously, there is no mention of the legal impediment that the BBC posits, and the Chief Gnome questions it in the Comments, so really it seems like there is nothing to stop him.
|
UPDATE: You can read the full story here, though you will have to register. Curiously, there is no mention of the legal impediment that the BBC posits, and the Chief Gnome questions it in the Comments, so really it seems like there is nothing to stop him.
|
NSFW.
No future,
no future,
no future for him. He didn't wanna holiday in the sun. Nothing's gonna stop Lord Brocket now. Not even these.
|
No future,
no future,
no future for him. He didn't wanna holiday in the sun. Nothing's gonna stop Lord Brocket now. Not even these.
|
Wednesday, February 4
According to Policy Exchange, a 'rightwing' thinktank, it says here, 9.7 million people are "living below the poverty line". I hate to think what number the leftwing thinktanks come up with. At any rate Polly Toynbee is in raptures:
"Labour has stamped its imprint on social justice. Labour language is now common parlance among Tories extraordinarily eager to talk about poverty and how to tackle it: not long ago they denied its very existence. The terms of political engagement between the parties are now drawn up firmly on Labour turf".
I find this all too plausible. One of the most depressing things about being a Tory is watching them behave like trendy vicars suddenly announcing how much they like Eminem. First they denounce it, then they grudgingly tolerate it, then they embrace it just when everyone else has filed it away in the attic as being so 2001. Look, if you want to believe that 9.7 million people are in poverty, that's your prerogative. People believe in Santa Claus and UFOs. But should they really be encouraged? It also leaves the Conservatives in a right pickle policy-wise:
"Do they go for tax-cut bribes - or for shadowing Labour? If their polling tells them they must sound as if they really care about social justice, then they can't offer tax cuts as well".
Mind you, Labour mustn't be too complacent about this. After all
"if Labour really wants to abolish child poverty by 2020, it will have to redirect money from rich to poor radically. The income of the bottom 10% will have to rise at three times the rate that it rises for the top 60% of the population for the next two decades. Is that politically saleable?"
I don't see why not. If the Tories have capitulated who's to stop them?
"It can be done: the Nordic countries prove it".
In which case it's in the bag. I wonder what's next for the Tories. Adoption of the Euro, maybe?
|
"Labour has stamped its imprint on social justice. Labour language is now common parlance among Tories extraordinarily eager to talk about poverty and how to tackle it: not long ago they denied its very existence. The terms of political engagement between the parties are now drawn up firmly on Labour turf".
I find this all too plausible. One of the most depressing things about being a Tory is watching them behave like trendy vicars suddenly announcing how much they like Eminem. First they denounce it, then they grudgingly tolerate it, then they embrace it just when everyone else has filed it away in the attic as being so 2001. Look, if you want to believe that 9.7 million people are in poverty, that's your prerogative. People believe in Santa Claus and UFOs. But should they really be encouraged? It also leaves the Conservatives in a right pickle policy-wise:
"Do they go for tax-cut bribes - or for shadowing Labour? If their polling tells them they must sound as if they really care about social justice, then they can't offer tax cuts as well".
Mind you, Labour mustn't be too complacent about this. After all
"if Labour really wants to abolish child poverty by 2020, it will have to redirect money from rich to poor radically. The income of the bottom 10% will have to rise at three times the rate that it rises for the top 60% of the population for the next two decades. Is that politically saleable?"
I don't see why not. If the Tories have capitulated who's to stop them?
"It can be done: the Nordic countries prove it".
In which case it's in the bag. I wonder what's next for the Tories. Adoption of the Euro, maybe?
|
Wolverhampton Uni is offering porn as part of its English degree. The blokes who run the course explain it thus:
"Watching pornography in a classroom becomes a Brechtian experience, causing discomfort and alienation. Porn then reveals not just flesh, but also its formal conventions, its repetitive narratives, its tableaux of power, its cold ideologies, its descent into bathos".
Well that's one excuse. But I suspect a more mundane one: most students these days can hardly get it up any more. And most of their teachers are worried about the demographic timebomb. Or more specifically their future pensions. It's that simple.
|
"Watching pornography in a classroom becomes a Brechtian experience, causing discomfort and alienation. Porn then reveals not just flesh, but also its formal conventions, its repetitive narratives, its tableaux of power, its cold ideologies, its descent into bathos".
Well that's one excuse. But I suspect a more mundane one: most students these days can hardly get it up any more. And most of their teachers are worried about the demographic timebomb. Or more specifically their future pensions. It's that simple.
|
Tuesday, February 3
Germaine Greer, the Australian weirdoid and role model, was invited to appear in the latest series of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. Unfortunately she declined:
"My nightmare would be having to endure the twittering of a bunch of has-beens and wannabes, interested only in themselves and how they come across".
Explains the great has-been and wannabe.
"I really don't need to know that Jordan is not noisy in bed or that she occasionally likes to be treated rough".
Which is presumably because she is more interested in this sort of thing. Shame, really. I wouldn't have minded watching her eat cockroaches and stick her head in a bowl full of snakes.
UPDATE: I suppose it's vaguely possible that some of you read this while you are at work, in which case, as Mark Holland reminds me, various alarums and stuff might be triggered by clicking on the Role Model link. So save it for the privacy of your own home. Or internet cafe.
|
"My nightmare would be having to endure the twittering of a bunch of has-beens and wannabes, interested only in themselves and how they come across".
Explains the great has-been and wannabe.
"I really don't need to know that Jordan is not noisy in bed or that she occasionally likes to be treated rough".
Which is presumably because she is more interested in this sort of thing. Shame, really. I wouldn't have minded watching her eat cockroaches and stick her head in a bowl full of snakes.
UPDATE: I suppose it's vaguely possible that some of you read this while you are at work, in which case, as Mark Holland reminds me, various alarums and stuff might be triggered by clicking on the Role Model link. So save it for the privacy of your own home. Or internet cafe.
|
Monday, February 2
"I have to say, Mr. Cuthbertson, it is a grave shame that you are so articulate and yet so misguided.
Indeed, a true demagogue for the modern times".
so sayeth Anon. Who is this person? Presumably some poor deluded liberalist - probably a pensioner or a social worker - lured from this competition - the Guardian's Best Political Weblog Award. For some strange, unaccountable reason, I didn't make the cut. The Boy Wonder, however, did. As did Harry and his pals. There are ten others, but they are all inconsequential nobodies known only to their wives and boyfriends, so really it is a face-off between, well if not good and evil, toff and prole. Consequently, I would urge you to vote for the Lord Brocket of the Internet. Johnny Rotten may have the common touch, but I think he may blow it in the end, with one temper tantrum too many. Mr. Cuthbertson may offer up a slightly uncharacteristic and unEnglish piece of shameless self-promotion here, in contrast to Harold's typically self-effacing modesty, but nonetheless he deserves to win. As long-time readers of this site will know, I have long-campaigned for him to become that paper's editor. This is but the first step on the ladder. So, come on everybody, vote Cuthbertson!
|
Indeed, a true demagogue for the modern times".
so sayeth Anon. Who is this person? Presumably some poor deluded liberalist - probably a pensioner or a social worker - lured from this competition - the Guardian's Best Political Weblog Award. For some strange, unaccountable reason, I didn't make the cut. The Boy Wonder, however, did. As did Harry and his pals. There are ten others, but they are all inconsequential nobodies known only to their wives and boyfriends, so really it is a face-off between, well if not good and evil, toff and prole. Consequently, I would urge you to vote for the Lord Brocket of the Internet. Johnny Rotten may have the common touch, but I think he may blow it in the end, with one temper tantrum too many. Mr. Cuthbertson may offer up a slightly uncharacteristic and unEnglish piece of shameless self-promotion here, in contrast to Harold's typically self-effacing modesty, but nonetheless he deserves to win. As long-time readers of this site will know, I have long-campaigned for him to become that paper's editor. This is but the first step on the ladder. So, come on everybody, vote Cuthbertson!
|
Saturday, January 31
Gott in Himmel! The next series of the German Big Brother show will last a whole year:
"Nine contestants will battle it out in the German Big Brother house, separated into three "castes" - three different container units in the house in the western city of Cologne. Some lucky housemates will live a life of luxury while others will have to earn extra cash by fulfilling various duties for their "rich" counterparts.
The least fortunate of the housemates will be given only vegetables and will have to slaughter animals if they want to eat meat".
Or slaughter each other and eat one another's penes.
|
"Nine contestants will battle it out in the German Big Brother house, separated into three "castes" - three different container units in the house in the western city of Cologne. Some lucky housemates will live a life of luxury while others will have to earn extra cash by fulfilling various duties for their "rich" counterparts.
The least fortunate of the housemates will be given only vegetables and will have to slaughter animals if they want to eat meat".
Or slaughter each other and eat one another's penes.
|
Michael Foot, surely the Greatest Prime Minister We Never Had, has an excellent suggestion as to who should replace the much-lamented Gregory Lesbian:
"Make Polly Toynbee the new director-general or chair of the BBC. Her article (Comment, January 30) shows that she understands the present crisis better than any other commentator. The new Toynbee regime could guarantee the BBC's independence and scatter all other threats, especially those of a Murdochite variety".
Bring it on!
|
"Make Polly Toynbee the new director-general or chair of the BBC. Her article (Comment, January 30) shows that she understands the present crisis better than any other commentator. The new Toynbee regime could guarantee the BBC's independence and scatter all other threats, especially those of a Murdochite variety".
Bring it on!
|
Friday, January 30
I wonder why the Council Of Europe exists any more. Or rather, why anybody would want to take any notice of it. It isn't even EU-affiliated so it doesn't have much going for it in terms of Tranzi expansionism. Anyway, the bog-trotters and the land of my Fathers have just been traduced by these worthies thus:
"Ireland, which prides itself on an enlightened human-rights record, has had its voting rights suspended at the Council of Europe because all of its delegates to the body's parliamentary assembly are men.
The council, which sets standards for civilised and democratic behaviour across 45 European nations, ruled last autumn that national delegations - composed of MPs from member states - must include at least one woman".
The smart reaction would be for Ireland and Malta just to withdraw. That would do a whole lot more for civilised and democratic behaviour than abject capitulation to these self-evident hypocrites. But of course they won't. That would be too controversial. In fact, there was serious talk of barring them both:
"But the assembly thought barring Ireland and Malta was too stiff a penalty to impose when some the council's members are accused of war crimes and torturing political prisoners".
They could, of course, do something about that, I suppose. But that really would be controversial.
|
"Ireland, which prides itself on an enlightened human-rights record, has had its voting rights suspended at the Council of Europe because all of its delegates to the body's parliamentary assembly are men.
The council, which sets standards for civilised and democratic behaviour across 45 European nations, ruled last autumn that national delegations - composed of MPs from member states - must include at least one woman".
The smart reaction would be for Ireland and Malta just to withdraw. That would do a whole lot more for civilised and democratic behaviour than abject capitulation to these self-evident hypocrites. But of course they won't. That would be too controversial. In fact, there was serious talk of barring them both:
"But the assembly thought barring Ireland and Malta was too stiff a penalty to impose when some the council's members are accused of war crimes and torturing political prisoners".
They could, of course, do something about that, I suppose. But that really would be controversial.
|
Thursday, January 29
Here's yet another depressed blogger. She doesn't even have comments so you can't even go and cheer her up ( though she does have email ). Pull yourself together, Nicole! You're only 18 with your whole life ahead of you.
|
|
Sex and the City is coming to the end of its long and distinguished run. So, unsurprisingly, some of Britain's leading feminists are in mourning:
Kim Akass:
"Sex and the City changed huge amounts for women. Women now have a language with which to talk about their experiences and their friendships. It's almost given them permission to have female friendships that are more important than anything else. It has given a respectability to something that previously was just gossip - something less than conversation. The episode about breastfeeding and Miranda's entire pregnancy was just revolutionary. Thank god! It was the first time you'd ever seen an engorged breast on TV. I think it's fantastic that women now feel comfortable talking about vibrators, whether you choose to buy a Rampant Rabbit or not".
Lynne Segal:
"Sex and the City has been a sort of post-feminist empowerment of women, up to a point".
Well, I'm all for the empowerment of women and for the engorgement of their breasts. Must set the video.
|
Kim Akass:
"Sex and the City changed huge amounts for women. Women now have a language with which to talk about their experiences and their friendships. It's almost given them permission to have female friendships that are more important than anything else. It has given a respectability to something that previously was just gossip - something less than conversation. The episode about breastfeeding and Miranda's entire pregnancy was just revolutionary. Thank god! It was the first time you'd ever seen an engorged breast on TV. I think it's fantastic that women now feel comfortable talking about vibrators, whether you choose to buy a Rampant Rabbit or not".
Lynne Segal:
"Sex and the City has been a sort of post-feminist empowerment of women, up to a point".
Well, I'm all for the empowerment of women and for the engorgement of their breasts. Must set the video.
|
It seems to me that everything was fine with the Hutton Report except its conclusions. That is to say: why did he bother? Virtually everyone reverts to type. The Times takes the Blairite view, the Telegraph the Michael Howard view, the Indy goes Whitewash, and the Guardian backs the BBC pretty much all the way. Clare Short, Robin Cook, Boris Johnson and everyone except Polly all write pieces that could have been written weeks ago. And Polly is the only one I want to read. Maybe she's saving her "The Master Rules Triumphant" piece for tomorrow. So why did he bother? Seriously, he should have just amassed all the evidence and told us all to make up our own minds. Which is what we're all doing anyway. Waste of public money, which could have been far better spent co-ordinating Britain's lesbians. And me, what do I think? Well I know I'm on the moderate wing of the Tory Party, and I think the BBC made some serious errors here - both Dyke and Sambrook ought to be fired, in my opinion - I find myself agreeing with Jonathan Freedland.
|
|
Wednesday, January 28
Time to hit the bottle, folks. All in all this has been a good week for people like me, though I wouldn't advise sunbathing right now. It's just started snowing, and we just had lightning as well. Maybe the polar bears are coming sooner than I thought.
|
|
"Leave me comments on these posts, I like to know what other people think. Especially if you have advice".
I wish I had some advice for Ross. But "Cheer up, it may never happen" sounds so glib. If you've got anything better go tell him.
|
I wish I had some advice for Ross. But "Cheer up, it may never happen" sounds so glib. If you've got anything better go tell him.
|
"Crescendo, then anti-climax. That's the way it always happens when the enemy think they have finally got Tony Blair cornered".
Or so wrote Polly Toynbee, back in August. Times have changed.
"Five votes? This was no victory: the prime minister is holed below the waterline and listing. This was his third and deadliest rebellion in a year - all of his own making. What next? This raises serious questions about whether Labour is losing its appetite for power if so many MPs were willing to hand the Tories a triumph. But it also raises serious questions about who can best lead Labour now".
I wish I could be so confident.
"Is Gordon Brown the winner today? Never mind protestations of innocence: his unseen hand will be generally believed to have guided this drama. He is the master now ... unless he has over-reached himself and finds his party will not reward such treachery".
"He is the master now". Well not even Polly can serve two masters. Et tu, Brute? And yet... and yet they've done so much for us.
"Out there in the real world, a million poor children have been lifted out of poverty by this government. Millions of families draw substantial tax credits to ease hardship. Poor pensioners have had their biggest ever increase. Scores of new hospitals are built and schools renovated with cascades more cash. NHS waiting times have dropped dramatically, school results improved as never before. The voters may be ungrateful whingers, moaning for more while forgetting how bad things were seven years ago - but they are sufficiently aware of what Labour has delivered to support it, and not the tax-cutting Tories who would take it all back".
"The voters may be ungrateful whingers", eh? Polly Toynbee - you couldn't make her up.
|
Or so wrote Polly Toynbee, back in August. Times have changed.
"Five votes? This was no victory: the prime minister is holed below the waterline and listing. This was his third and deadliest rebellion in a year - all of his own making. What next? This raises serious questions about whether Labour is losing its appetite for power if so many MPs were willing to hand the Tories a triumph. But it also raises serious questions about who can best lead Labour now".
I wish I could be so confident.
"Is Gordon Brown the winner today? Never mind protestations of innocence: his unseen hand will be generally believed to have guided this drama. He is the master now ... unless he has over-reached himself and finds his party will not reward such treachery".
"He is the master now". Well not even Polly can serve two masters. Et tu, Brute? And yet... and yet they've done so much for us.
"Out there in the real world, a million poor children have been lifted out of poverty by this government. Millions of families draw substantial tax credits to ease hardship. Poor pensioners have had their biggest ever increase. Scores of new hospitals are built and schools renovated with cascades more cash. NHS waiting times have dropped dramatically, school results improved as never before. The voters may be ungrateful whingers, moaning for more while forgetting how bad things were seven years ago - but they are sufficiently aware of what Labour has delivered to support it, and not the tax-cutting Tories who would take it all back".
"The voters may be ungrateful whingers", eh? Polly Toynbee - you couldn't make her up.
|
Tuesday, January 27
jp thinks big:
"Why are we so inclined to survive? What is the purpose of this survival, what is so important which is driving us to survive? These are the questions I arrived at after much musing.
I hope these questions are answered some day not for my sake but for the sake of our species and life itself".
Why not for his/her sake I wonder. Sometimes people take selflessness too far.
|
"Why are we so inclined to survive? What is the purpose of this survival, what is so important which is driving us to survive? These are the questions I arrived at after much musing.
I hope these questions are answered some day not for my sake but for the sake of our species and life itself".
Why not for his/her sake I wonder. Sometimes people take selflessness too far.
|
"Women constitute 5% of the prison population and 15% of its suicides".
Exclaims an outraged Zoe Williams. Yet instead of interpreting this as manifest proof of the terrible burdens suffered by men in our female-dominated society, - 95% of prisoners are blokes, and 85% of the suicides are perpetrated by them - somehow, being a feminist, she manages to mangle the maths to suggest that this is evidence of unfairness to women. And in particular, mothers:
"Some 55% of all women in prison have at least one child under 16. Over one-third have a child under five".
She doesn't even tell us how many cons are daddies. Perhaps none. Perhaps they're all virgins. And perhaps some of them are so dedicated to family matters that they have fathered children by several different women. It would be nice to know. Still, there's a simple solution to this terrible imbalance:
"let's not imprison mothers at all. There's nothing, after all, that we can do about abuse in the past; there's not much anyone can do about women who've been harassed into crime by domestic pressure. But we can do something about people being driven to suicide by anxiety over their children, and that's not lock them up in the first place".
You could of course have said the same about the late lamented Dr. Harold Shipman. Perhaps he killed himself because he was anxious about his children. Let's face it, he'd surely still be alive now if the filth hadn't done the dastardly deed of throwing him in the slammer. And why had he gone on his killing spree in the first place? Maybe he'd been "harassed into crime by domestic pressure". Maybe it was all his wife's fault.
|
Exclaims an outraged Zoe Williams. Yet instead of interpreting this as manifest proof of the terrible burdens suffered by men in our female-dominated society, - 95% of prisoners are blokes, and 85% of the suicides are perpetrated by them - somehow, being a feminist, she manages to mangle the maths to suggest that this is evidence of unfairness to women. And in particular, mothers:
"Some 55% of all women in prison have at least one child under 16. Over one-third have a child under five".
She doesn't even tell us how many cons are daddies. Perhaps none. Perhaps they're all virgins. And perhaps some of them are so dedicated to family matters that they have fathered children by several different women. It would be nice to know. Still, there's a simple solution to this terrible imbalance:
"let's not imprison mothers at all. There's nothing, after all, that we can do about abuse in the past; there's not much anyone can do about women who've been harassed into crime by domestic pressure. But we can do something about people being driven to suicide by anxiety over their children, and that's not lock them up in the first place".
You could of course have said the same about the late lamented Dr. Harold Shipman. Perhaps he killed himself because he was anxious about his children. Let's face it, he'd surely still be alive now if the filth hadn't done the dastardly deed of throwing him in the slammer. And why had he gone on his killing spree in the first place? Maybe he'd been "harassed into crime by domestic pressure". Maybe it was all his wife's fault.
|
Stephen Moss, in the Guardian:
"The notion that university is primarily about getting a qualification that will generate cash to enable you to pay back your fees and loans and spiralling debts is deeply insulting - but entirely consistent with the crass, stupid, book-blind, culture-hating government of a crass, stupid, culture-less, increasingly fractured society".
Dearie me.
"Didn't Mastermind always used to be won by cabbies, postmen and railway workers? People who hadn't been to university and hadn't got posh jobs. People who had passionate, perhaps recherché interests".
Exactly. University of life, mate.
|
"The notion that university is primarily about getting a qualification that will generate cash to enable you to pay back your fees and loans and spiralling debts is deeply insulting - but entirely consistent with the crass, stupid, book-blind, culture-hating government of a crass, stupid, culture-less, increasingly fractured society".
Dearie me.
"Didn't Mastermind always used to be won by cabbies, postmen and railway workers? People who hadn't been to university and hadn't got posh jobs. People who had passionate, perhaps recherché interests".
Exactly. University of life, mate.
|
Terry Jones talks sense in the Indy:
"Let's get rid of all these parasites on society - like soldiers, engineers, doctors, nurses, social workers - unless they are prepared to pay for the training that provides them with the lifestyle to which they aspire".
Trouble is he's being satirical. Still, I see the seed of wisdom has been planted. It must be left to flourish.
|
"Let's get rid of all these parasites on society - like soldiers, engineers, doctors, nurses, social workers - unless they are prepared to pay for the training that provides them with the lifestyle to which they aspire".
Trouble is he's being satirical. Still, I see the seed of wisdom has been planted. It must be left to flourish.
|
Monday, January 26
This sounds pretty shady to me. Not exactly 'whiter than white', as Mr. Blair used to say. Or perhaps it's an example of their new transparency and honesty.
( Link found via Dot Comrade over at Harry's Place, who doesn't seem quite so concerned about it as I do. )
|
( Link found via Dot Comrade over at Harry's Place, who doesn't seem quite so concerned about it as I do. )
|
Polar bears to come, and wild boar already. And this time they're angry:
"The Government is now trying to decide what to do about them after an absence of some 400 years".
Yes, well it would, wouldn't it? You could always give Obelix a call, I suppose. But really what's it to do with them? Just enjoy it.
Meanwhile, in what has been an outstanding weekend for the Indy's neophiliac scare-mongerers, we've got more on the sun-bathing is good for you story. You better whip out the Bergasol before the Eskimos get you. And if you're pregnant, maybe it's time to lower yourself into the Serpentine before it freezes over.
|
"The Government is now trying to decide what to do about them after an absence of some 400 years".
Yes, well it would, wouldn't it? You could always give Obelix a call, I suppose. But really what's it to do with them? Just enjoy it.
Meanwhile, in what has been an outstanding weekend for the Indy's neophiliac scare-mongerers, we've got more on the sun-bathing is good for you story. You better whip out the Bergasol before the Eskimos get you. And if you're pregnant, maybe it's time to lower yourself into the Serpentine before it freezes over.
|
Sunday, January 25
The world's greatest LibDem bloggeuse is back, defending the indefensible Ms. Tonge. She gives it a good shot, far better than yesterday's pitiful leader in the Guardian, but I am still unimpressed. The thing that struck me most about Tonge was the amount of bullshit involved. Instead of sympathising, or empathising with the suicidalists, she was patronising. To say that I feel your pain, and although I'd be tempted to do what you do but I wouldn't, is to say that, when push comes to shove, I am superior to you. Well how does she know? I do particularly enjoy this line from the Guardian, though:
"What is beyond doubt is such views are an unavoidable fruit of a bitterly controversial issue".
So you're allowed to stay controversial things - indeed they are unavoidable - if they are about controversial subjects. That figures.
|
"What is beyond doubt is such views are an unavoidable fruit of a bitterly controversial issue".
So you're allowed to stay controversial things - indeed they are unavoidable - if they are about controversial subjects. That figures.
|
The greatest show on earth - well, after Big Brother - is back. I rather hope Lord Brocket wins, but fear Mr. Lydon will. I'd never heard of him, but I think the lumpenproles who watch this sort of thing need someone to look up to. He'd better have a nose made of toffee or I'll want my money back.
|
|
Saturday, January 24
If I had a pound... Well no, but I'd be very intrigued to find out how they argue this one. Today's leader in the Indy is titled:
"Call yourself a liberal, Mr Kennedy?"
and the opening paragraph is this:
"Charles Kennedy should be ashamed of himself. The Liberal Democrat leader sought yesterday to distance himself and his party from the comments of Jenny Tonge, the Lib Dem MP for Richmond Park".
I know the Indy likes to be oppositional, but really. On the other hand, perhaps it's merely a reflection of the paper's readers. Take a look at the letters page.
|
"Call yourself a liberal, Mr Kennedy?"
and the opening paragraph is this:
"Charles Kennedy should be ashamed of himself. The Liberal Democrat leader sought yesterday to distance himself and his party from the comments of Jenny Tonge, the Lib Dem MP for Richmond Park".
I know the Indy likes to be oppositional, but really. On the other hand, perhaps it's merely a reflection of the paper's readers. Take a look at the letters page.
|
Friday, January 23
May 18, 2000:
Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, called for the resignation of Nick Brown, the Minister for Agriculture. "This ... puts paid to the Government's multiple assurances that all GM seeds, would be thoroughly measured, regulated and controlled," he said.
January 24, 2001:
"Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy, who criticised the tone of Mr Hague's comments, said Mr Mandelson had made the "right decision" and called for an improved ministerial code of conduct".
May 28, 2002:
"Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said: "Stephen Byers has finally done the honourable thing - and not before time. From any point of view, his position had become untenable. The prime minister must now appoint a new transport secretary who can start to put our appalling transport system right."
June 28, 2002:
"Charles Clarke's blast against the media caused a backlash today, with a former Labour minister calling it a misjudgement, and both Charles Kennedy and Roy Hattersley calling for the resignation of the Downing Street director of communications, Alastair Campbell".
January 23, 2004:
"Charles Kennedy was last night considering whether to sack a frontbencher who said that she would think of becoming a suicide bomber if she lived in the Palestinian territories".
|
Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, called for the resignation of Nick Brown, the Minister for Agriculture. "This ... puts paid to the Government's multiple assurances that all GM seeds, would be thoroughly measured, regulated and controlled," he said.
January 24, 2001:
"Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy, who criticised the tone of Mr Hague's comments, said Mr Mandelson had made the "right decision" and called for an improved ministerial code of conduct".
May 28, 2002:
"Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said: "Stephen Byers has finally done the honourable thing - and not before time. From any point of view, his position had become untenable. The prime minister must now appoint a new transport secretary who can start to put our appalling transport system right."
June 28, 2002:
"Charles Clarke's blast against the media caused a backlash today, with a former Labour minister calling it a misjudgement, and both Charles Kennedy and Roy Hattersley calling for the resignation of the Downing Street director of communications, Alastair Campbell".
January 23, 2004:
"Charles Kennedy was last night considering whether to sack a frontbencher who said that she would think of becoming a suicide bomber if she lived in the Palestinian territories".
|
Pre-empting the Hutton report, Polly Toynbee has decided that both Hoon and the Master are innocent:
"Prime minister, have you got blood on your hands?" asked a hostile journalist when news of Kelly's death reached Blair's Far East tour. No, is the plain answer, even if both he and Hoon understandably didn't much care if Kelly's name did leak: they were more worried about being accused of secretiveness".
But if it was such a plain answer, why didn't he make it?
"Blair froze. He stood uncomfortable and silent at the lectern for what must have seemed like the longest 30 seconds of his political career, until Koizumi called a merciful end to the press conference".
|
"Prime minister, have you got blood on your hands?" asked a hostile journalist when news of Kelly's death reached Blair's Far East tour. No, is the plain answer, even if both he and Hoon understandably didn't much care if Kelly's name did leak: they were more worried about being accused of secretiveness".
But if it was such a plain answer, why didn't he make it?
"Blair froze. He stood uncomfortable and silent at the lectern for what must have seemed like the longest 30 seconds of his political career, until Koizumi called a merciful end to the press conference".
|
Thursday, January 22
I hope the readers of this magazine don't behave like these lemmings otherwise we could have some serious problems on our hands.
|
|
Wednesday, January 21
"Tell it like it is: only the state can buy the things that make people happiest".
Wrote Polly Toynbee in May last year.
"Build a palatial children's centre near every primary school, with a promise that every mother is guaranteed all the childcare she needs at a price she can afford. That will lift a burden from families right up the social scale who struggle to patch together childcare while mothers work. Every baby deserves a premium wrap- around service for health and early education, with parenting support, to guarantee the best start in life. Universal Blair creches would leave a memorial in human lives that would do more for opportunity than any other social programme - a perfect demonstration of social democracy and what the tax pound can buy. It would build social trust, since young mothers brought together through children's centres are prime movers in local communities".
Well well well. It doesn't seem to be working now, does it? As the Guardian reports today:
"Thousands of parents whose children were taken into care on disputed medical evidence are to have their cases reviewed, the government confirmed yesterday".
It appears that not all mothers share Ms Toynbee's devotion to the government. Even Polly herself is a little perplexed by it all:
"What the right likes is families to be left alone. Tory policy over its 18 years in power strove to keep the state from crossing the threshold of family life - eager to give money from the state into fathers wallets, not mothers purses; keen to deny the harm that occurs in families; angry at any attempt to stop grown men walloping three-year-olds, and calling it "smacking" in the name of parental discipline. Tory policy had the advantage of being cheap: no nursery schools, no childcare, no nosy nannying from social workers, mothers responsible for everything, the state for as little as possible. The left is inclined to agree with Larkin. It wants to intervene as much as it can afford to: giving children equal opportunities means offering help, education, child care, parenting classes and Sure Start from birth".
A caricature of both positions, of course. But you didn't expect anything else, did you?
"There may be few happy endings - colossal law suits loom with heavy claims for compensation for parents' and childrens' loss of family life. But the heart-rending dilemmas of when the state should take children away will never be finally resolved".
I'm not so sure. The old "innocent until proven guilty" argument has always worked for me. As the Guardian news report tells us:
"There are thought to be thousands of cases in which mothers suspected of harming their children have not been prosecuted but have had their children removed by court order in care proceedings brought by local authorities".
They weren't even prosecuted. You gotta love the government, haven't you?
|
Wrote Polly Toynbee in May last year.
"Build a palatial children's centre near every primary school, with a promise that every mother is guaranteed all the childcare she needs at a price she can afford. That will lift a burden from families right up the social scale who struggle to patch together childcare while mothers work. Every baby deserves a premium wrap- around service for health and early education, with parenting support, to guarantee the best start in life. Universal Blair creches would leave a memorial in human lives that would do more for opportunity than any other social programme - a perfect demonstration of social democracy and what the tax pound can buy. It would build social trust, since young mothers brought together through children's centres are prime movers in local communities".
Well well well. It doesn't seem to be working now, does it? As the Guardian reports today:
"Thousands of parents whose children were taken into care on disputed medical evidence are to have their cases reviewed, the government confirmed yesterday".
It appears that not all mothers share Ms Toynbee's devotion to the government. Even Polly herself is a little perplexed by it all:
"What the right likes is families to be left alone. Tory policy over its 18 years in power strove to keep the state from crossing the threshold of family life - eager to give money from the state into fathers wallets, not mothers purses; keen to deny the harm that occurs in families; angry at any attempt to stop grown men walloping three-year-olds, and calling it "smacking" in the name of parental discipline. Tory policy had the advantage of being cheap: no nursery schools, no childcare, no nosy nannying from social workers, mothers responsible for everything, the state for as little as possible. The left is inclined to agree with Larkin. It wants to intervene as much as it can afford to: giving children equal opportunities means offering help, education, child care, parenting classes and Sure Start from birth".
A caricature of both positions, of course. But you didn't expect anything else, did you?
"There may be few happy endings - colossal law suits loom with heavy claims for compensation for parents' and childrens' loss of family life. But the heart-rending dilemmas of when the state should take children away will never be finally resolved".
I'm not so sure. The old "innocent until proven guilty" argument has always worked for me. As the Guardian news report tells us:
"There are thought to be thousands of cases in which mothers suspected of harming their children have not been prosecuted but have had their children removed by court order in care proceedings brought by local authorities".
They weren't even prosecuted. You gotta love the government, haven't you?
|
Tuesday, January 20
Former government spinmeister Alastair Campbell's current squeeze Fiona Millar has a column in today's Guardian babbling on about the state of Britain's schools:
"At the risk of sounding like a potty lifestyle guru, we need a more holistic approach to teenagers. As a nation we don't like them very much. We don't give them anything to do; we don't listen to them; sports and arts facilities in many areas are pitiful; they can't go into pubs and clubs without fake ID, whereas in other continental countries they could happily sit in bar and enjoy a drink or a cup of coffee and probably end up with a much more mature attitude to alcohol".
This is so on the money. I was on Bethnal Green Road just yesterday and there were some teenagers standing around like zombies. I didn't want to give them anything to do and when they started talking I wasn't listening. I then suggested that perhaps all they needed was a nice cup of coffee or a half of shandy and they looked at me as though I were a paedophile. Apparently they never touch the stuff.
"potty lifestyle guru" indeed.
|
"At the risk of sounding like a potty lifestyle guru, we need a more holistic approach to teenagers. As a nation we don't like them very much. We don't give them anything to do; we don't listen to them; sports and arts facilities in many areas are pitiful; they can't go into pubs and clubs without fake ID, whereas in other continental countries they could happily sit in bar and enjoy a drink or a cup of coffee and probably end up with a much more mature attitude to alcohol".
This is so on the money. I was on Bethnal Green Road just yesterday and there were some teenagers standing around like zombies. I didn't want to give them anything to do and when they started talking I wasn't listening. I then suggested that perhaps all they needed was a nice cup of coffee or a half of shandy and they looked at me as though I were a paedophile. Apparently they never touch the stuff.
"potty lifestyle guru" indeed.
|
You can ban Kilroy, you can even take the fun-loving Abi off the air, but you try messing with the mighty Richard Littlejohn and there will be riots in the streets.
|
|
Does David Aaronovitch read Conservative Commentary? I ask only because he has fixed on the same quote from Steve Sailer that our favourite wunderkind did on Wednesday. Googling this quote:
"Human nature - with its sex differences and its stress on individual, family and ethnic self-interest - is an innate heritage, not a blank slate that can be wiped clean by speech codes, sensitivity workshops and re-education camps."
I only came up with the two references. And now there will be three. At any rate this must come as good news to all right-thinking people. There sits Aaro, alone in his shed, musing on the vexed issues of the day, sorely tempted to click on one of these Paris Hilton links that plagues us hourly, and then he does a bit of self-googling, and comes across the Truth Unvarnished. There is hope for him. In fact I rather fancy him as the next editor of the Guardian. In the natural scheme of things and in an ideal world the job would of course go to Peter Cuthbertson himself. But perhaps that would be a bridge too far for the liberal mindset, and Aaro would be a happy compromise. Let's face it, even Cherry Potter would make a better fist of it than Alan Rusbridger.
|
"Human nature - with its sex differences and its stress on individual, family and ethnic self-interest - is an innate heritage, not a blank slate that can be wiped clean by speech codes, sensitivity workshops and re-education camps."
I only came up with the two references. And now there will be three. At any rate this must come as good news to all right-thinking people. There sits Aaro, alone in his shed, musing on the vexed issues of the day, sorely tempted to click on one of these Paris Hilton links that plagues us hourly, and then he does a bit of self-googling, and comes across the Truth Unvarnished. There is hope for him. In fact I rather fancy him as the next editor of the Guardian. In the natural scheme of things and in an ideal world the job would of course go to Peter Cuthbertson himself. But perhaps that would be a bridge too far for the liberal mindset, and Aaro would be a happy compromise. Let's face it, even Cherry Potter would make a better fist of it than Alan Rusbridger.
|
Men's Journal magazine, possibly trying to throw a spanner in Stormin' Norman's Ten Best films of all time list, has just published a list of "the best guy movies of all time". I won't publish them here - but in the Comments so you can first see if you can guess which they are - and Cherry Potter is not impressed:
"Oh dear. Despite years of feminism, it seems that some men's taste for "death cult" movies remains unabated. Although I find attempts to revive "codes of honour", or "sets of rules to live by", creepy. Maybe it's time for women to issue their own list to counteract this dangerous male backlash. Might I suggest: warmth, empathy, sensitivity, openness, kindness, generosity, nurturing ... and love?"
This, of course, is why I find feminists creepy. Talk to them for a minute, and they gush about how all they want is equality, nothing more. Talk to them for five minutes, and that poisonous word 'nurturing' always comes into the conversation. Why can't the termagents just admit they're superior to us, and drop the equality-speak? That's what they think, so why pretend otherwise? Perhaps Natasha Walter is right after all. Maybe the veil really does mean freedom. For the blokes anyway.
|
"Oh dear. Despite years of feminism, it seems that some men's taste for "death cult" movies remains unabated. Although I find attempts to revive "codes of honour", or "sets of rules to live by", creepy. Maybe it's time for women to issue their own list to counteract this dangerous male backlash. Might I suggest: warmth, empathy, sensitivity, openness, kindness, generosity, nurturing ... and love?"
This, of course, is why I find feminists creepy. Talk to them for a minute, and they gush about how all they want is equality, nothing more. Talk to them for five minutes, and that poisonous word 'nurturing' always comes into the conversation. Why can't the termagents just admit they're superior to us, and drop the equality-speak? That's what they think, so why pretend otherwise? Perhaps Natasha Walter is right after all. Maybe the veil really does mean freedom. For the blokes anyway.
|
Monday, January 19
"Because I think he's a sociopath. He doesn't care. He has no empathy. Nothing registers with him. He doesn't understand the world's disapproval - he just unplugs the TV. Now I understand, for the first time in my life, what the answer is when people ask, 'Why didn't people stop Hitler?'. It's a reign of fear. People are afraid of being called 'unpatriotic'."
I wonder who Joan Baez is talking about. Well I don't really. After Friday's little rant by Rickie Lee Jones, this is starting to look like an epidemic. Are there any whey-faced American singer song-writers who don't hate the Prez? Suzanne Vega, Shania Twain, Dolly Parton, please. We need to know!
|
I wonder who Joan Baez is talking about. Well I don't really. After Friday's little rant by Rickie Lee Jones, this is starting to look like an epidemic. Are there any whey-faced American singer song-writers who don't hate the Prez? Suzanne Vega, Shania Twain, Dolly Parton, please. We need to know!
|
"Yes, I did inhale. I can't recall much about it, except that I was pale and withered the following day".
The Yazzmonster once took cannabis. A nation is in shock.
|
The Yazzmonster once took cannabis. A nation is in shock.
|
Sunday, January 18
Pendennis, in the Observer:
"Stephen Byers is confidently limbering up for a triumphant return to government".
As Defence Secretary, no less, replacing the tarnished Geoff Hoon. Makes sense to me. A man of such integrity and truthfulness is just the man for the job. Bring it on!
|
"Stephen Byers is confidently limbering up for a triumphant return to government".
As Defence Secretary, no less, replacing the tarnished Geoff Hoon. Makes sense to me. A man of such integrity and truthfulness is just the man for the job. Bring it on!
|
- Comment Central
- Stephen Pollard
- Natalie Solent
- Two Blowhards
- Tim Blair
- Daimnation!
- Machinery of Night
- The Bewilderness
- Freedom and Whisky
- Jackie Danicki
- Biased BBC
- Civitas
- Samizdata
- Normblog
- Jim Miller
- White Sun of the Desert
- Progressive Reaction
- Dodgeblog
- Laban Tall
- Atlantic Blog
- House of Dumb
- Blognor Regis
- Burning Our Money
- The England Project
- Mick Hartley
- Iain Dale
- Tim Worstall
- An Englishman's Castle
- Unenlightened Commentary
- Squander Two
- Patrick Crozier
- Stumbling and Mumbling
- Guido Fawkes
- Brian Micklethwait
- Nothing British
- Battenburg.co.uk
- The Devil's Kitchen
-
- February 2002
- March 2002
- April 2002
- May 2002
- June 2002
- July 2002
- August 2002
- September 2002
- October 2002
- November 2002
- December 2002
- January 2003
- February 2003
- March 2003
- April 2003
- May 2003
- June 2003
- July 2003
- August 2003
- September 2003
- October 2003
- November 2003
- December 2003
- January 2004
- February 2004
- March 2004
- April 2004
- May 2004
- June 2004
- July 2004
- August 2004
- September 2004
- October 2004
- November 2004
- December 2004
- January 2005
- February 2005
- March 2005
- April 2005
- May 2005
- June 2005
- July 2005
- August 2005
- September 2005
- October 2005
- November 2005
- December 2005
- January 2006
- February 2006
- March 2006
- April 2006
- May 2006
- June 2006
- July 2006
- August 2006
- September 2006
- October 2006
- November 2006
- December 2006
- January 2007
- February 2007
- March 2007
- April 2007
- May 2007
- June 2007
- July 2007
- August 2007
- September 2007
- October 2007
- November 2007
- December 2007
- January 2008
- February 2008
- March 2008
- April 2008
- May 2008
- June 2008
- July 2008
- August 2008
- September 2008
- October 2008
- November 2008
- December 2008
- January 2009
- February 2009
- April 2009
- May 2009
- June 2009
- September 2009
- October 2009
- November 2009