Image and the Man from the Manse

This Saturday We were having Dinner with the famous North London Tory and marketing Guru David Allen . There were others present but as they are currently in “Dark” mode they have to remain anonymous. David has a highly intuitive feel for political life ad has been a participator and observer for a long time. His observation, for example, that the British people never had there day to ,“Punish Margaret Thatcher” , was ,I thought, a telling insight to the bitterness that built through the Major years.

Understandably, the intersection of politics and marketing cropped up . Ellee must be the expert here ,but I have been pondering it and a few threads have been coalescing into a twine as I sat on the train this morning. Over the weekend I was participating in the national Conservative Green day and as we buzzed about the place, supposedly caring for the environment, we ran into the Lib Dems also out ,pretending to care about law and order. Their campaign was all about cracking down on crime,and there are some pretty good ideas.

1 More Police on Patrol (don’t waste Billions on ID cards) …Good
2 Take back Town centres – Let communities close pubs and clubs where the problems are ….don`t like this much as the definition of the community is usually “ Some Liberal activists”
3 Give honest sentences that mean what they say….Absolutely
4Compulsory work and training in prison to cut re-offending …could be a good idea
5 Better compensation for victims – Paid for by prison work- Yes yes yes


As we all know the Liberals have a vile busy-bodying streak but in practice they are a socialist party with squabbles and could not carry a socially Conservative agenda . I love the last idea though , as I did when I first heard Ming float it .
What interested me was that they were pretending to be the Law and Order Party ,while we were being the Green party. In other words our brands are so cluttered at the centre, that they have actually crossed over slightly. In the DT This morning there is far more on Conservative plans to tax air travel and the front page of the Indy shows a line up of the , the most superficial area of politics.

Is that what we are doing now then selling “ banking” by offering new customers the world and ignoring the existing ones ? Yes we are, and Blair was the one who moved us in this direction….

Here is worrying thought though .

For about a month (writes New statesman Ed John Kamfner) Gordon Brown talked about the Artic Monkeys and ipods and tried to be a human being . He was roundly ridiculed ,but the real worry is that caamp Brown have decided to drop all that and set him against Cameron as a,” real politician” . This, as we know, is a vulnerable area for Cameron and I can see it working. I do not relish the Labour Party touting intellect over sociability, with a leader who would rather read a book than appear on the Des O` Connor show.

People are complex, and react at different levels . For example, the Lib Dems never stop telling us about how they were always against Iraq. On this occasion they were righ, but at a deeper level they were wrong because they cared the least about this countries security. People applaud them for their stand, but would they really vote for the Party who is flaky on defence.I doubt it

Being liked is a very dangerous foundation for electoral success Mr. Cameron, very dangerous indeed. Margaret Thatcher got more votes for the Conservative Party than you ever will, and few admitted to “Liking her”.

Like A Thunderbolt he Falls

My brother has had some very nice decking put round the back of his house which abuts suicide bridge as its called ,on Highgate Hill . Now he can look out across the whole of London and he reminded me of the this fragment whilst revelling in the sense of mastery and achievement only new raised decking can bring. Imagine him proclaiming this at me with beer in hand ….









He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
( Tennyson)

It’s the optical effect of the wrinkled sea that makes it work isn’t it

Changing the subject there is always something irresistible to the English about carpe diem and the acknowledgement that life is passing .This sweet sadness is captured in 12th night a play intended for the end of a festive period .For all the comedy we know it must end , and this silvered transience permeates the play


What's to come is still unsure;
In delay there lies no plenty;
Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty,
Youth's a stuff will not endure.


The Beach Boys Numbers I like the best had just a that feeling about them that summer will soon be over as will youth and life itself. This is one of the best which I happenend to hear today




When I Grow Up ( fragment )

……Will my kids be proud or think their old man is really a square?
(eighteen nineteen)
When they're out having fun yeah, will I still wanna have my share?
(twenty twenty-one)
Will I love my wife for the rest of my life
When I grow up to be a man?

What will I be when I grow up to be a man?
(twenty-two twenty-three)
Won't last forever
(twenty-four twenty-five)
It's kind of sad
(twenty-six twenty-seven)
Won't last forever
(twenty-eight twenty-nine)
It's kind of sad
(thirty thirty-one)
Won't last forever
(thirty-two...)


Youths a stuff will not endure . How do you feel about getting older ? Its better than the alternative I suppose and if ones triumph is installing some nice new raised decking ,then at least there are still triumphs to be had. I think i need abigger motorbike ...

Islington Leaseholder News

All leaseholders were balloted last week on whether or not they would agree
to pay 40p per week to establish an independent leaseholders
Association...and 22% returned their ballots...with 76.5% of these in
favour...therefore we will be funded to 250,000 pounds annually...from
leaseholders, not HFI/LBI...!!!

Thanks to Brian Potter for keeping me up to date on this . In fact Brian Potter deserves a general vote of thanks for his unflagging support for Islington`s 11,000 beleagurered leaseholders. Thye have been treated shamefully and at heart it is the doctrinal hatred of the Left which is to blame.

National Green Day

In another thrilling instalment of the Conservative take over of Islington, your hero Newmania was whipping on the troops with cries of “ Can I go home now ` and “ Why do we have to do this its stupid "

Yes that’s right ,its national Green Day a day on which , following David Cameron’s example, we spend lost treasure troves full of Byzantine wealth on having a wind turbine installed ,which will pay you, and the atmosphere ,back in about 250 years . Alternatively you can cycle with a Bentley carrying you briefcase at a respectful distance.
Nonetheless, I have to note with haughty froideur , that Justin Hinchcliffe`s rowdy gang of street fighters ,in Tottenham ,boycotted Green day completely. Could it be that Justin ,their inspirational, leader, has grown slitty eyed on the whole Green issue .?Judging from his reaction to that C4 documentary it is entirely possible . See his blog , it makes for disturbing reading that one so young and ,attractive ( Like eternal Pan is the youth , piping his enchantment from an attic promontory whilst Auroa , robed in pink , smiles upon him ) ,should be so cynical. What will the boy David , out in his recycled trainers say ?

We do not question the Party in Islington we are just Kiplingesque foot soldiers , and with exactly that spirit of “we`re ere because we`re ere “,off we marched to save Duncan Terrace , England , the World and then Universe.
Duncan Webster ,Islington’s Heir apparent banished heavy lidded cynicism with a St Cripin`s day speech that stiffened the thew and sinew.” Oh come just pick up a few bits then we’ll go and annoy the Lib Dem s”,…and so we were off .

Many warriors fought that day and their names were these

Ramona Simms - Gorgeously attired in head hankey and with an attractive unaffected insouciant wiggle , the girl from Ipanemah was oblivious to the admiring glance s she received from passers by …

When she walks, shes like a samba
That swings so cool and sways so gentle
That when she passes, each one she passes goes - aaahhhhh

( She begged me to delete this photo ….nuts!)

Duncan Webster- The young Prince of Islington Conservatives .An enthuser , a worker and the beating heart of the Party


Oh there were some other people there Laurie Fitzjohn Sykes and David Tucker ….but obviously ,they are much less important than Duncan so I `m not going to talk about them much . They performed adequately I suppose , not sure really ( ho ho)

The Days Business

First of all we picked some litter , then we went and laughed at the proposed scheme to tart up the area around Angel. Untold gazillions have been squandered on Consultants for a job that would have cost a private company £2,000 or so..and they are cutting up Duncan Terrace Park. Rich people will have no where to read their slim leather bound copies of Keates between banking coups. It’s a scandal. Finally we had a pop at the Libs who were out pretending to be Conservatives …courtesy of mischief make in chief the Harlequinesque Mr. Webster.

SERIOUSLY - It was a good effort and everyone who tuned up helped raise our profile in Islington. Across the country to many Party structures have been allowed wither on the vine . There is no danger of that here with so many selfless helpers willing to give their time

Brilliant stuff.

Cruel and Unusual

'A thug who was in a gang that kicked a grandad to death has been freed early to work at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant. James Bennetts, 20, had his sentence cut from 14 to 13 months when a judge learned the job was there if he was available immediately' - The Sun.


To be fair, having to work with Jamie Oliver isn't really preferable to prison. Or hanging, for that matter.

Blog Widows Look Out

One day, a man came home and was greeted by his wife dressed in a very sexy
nightie. "Tie me up," she purred, "and you can do anything you want."

So he tied her up and wrote his blog


Ithenku

I`m not a racist but......

On the front of the Independent this morning are the deathly faces of Professor Coleman, PC Anthony Mulhall and Patrick Mercer under the Headline “ I `m not racist but ….” . In the case of Patrick Mercer he volunteered the suggestion that, being called a ,“black bastard”, was part of army life . I `m sure it is; armies are about killing and being killed ,and a visceral bond has to be formed among the comrades in arms. A little harsh language along the way is to be expected, and the same men would , if the training works , be required to die for their supposed adversary.
PC Mulhall`s case is somewhat different, in that he appears on CCTV using quite sickening violence against a woman of ethnic origin. Beverly Jameson the coordinator of South Yorkshires` Black Police Association said “ When you saw the whole footage thing young lady is thrashing about violently and in ganger of hurting both herself and the officers trying to restrain her. She committed a criminal act , that was the catalyst it had nothing to do with race.” . Well good for Beverley.

Professor Coleman I blogged on Yesterday questioning his membership of the Eugenics Foundation the Galeton institute. I am reassured to discover the involvement of Prof Steve Jones and conclude that modern Eugenics has nothing to do with the Nazi and Socialist horrors of the past. He is a respected academic whose involvement with Migration watch has expose the Government’s lies to great effect.

The left however are not likely to be put off the scent, and Mathew Paris in the Spectator explained why. Having ditched Socialism , moral foreign policy , state provision ,, and everything else the Labour Party once believed in, the vague assertion that the Conservative Party are ,“ nasty”, is all they have left to hold them together.

Martin Bright in the New Statesman today described the Conservative Party as ideologically uncertain , unsure of a direction for the 21st century and with a leader tarnished with a serious of poor decisions”…..only in the NS eh , breathtaking swizzle headedness, but what a good description of the Labour Party.
The antennae of the left for a wiff of “nastiness” are therefore set to maximum sensitivity . This for example is the manner in which he describes David Cameron signing up MEP`s to the “extreme Euro sceptic movement” … worthy of the craziest days of the Tory wilderness years and “ Anti Europe “ and anti immigration. Anti immigration of course equals , racist, to the left.

That is why David Cameron has had to act decisively over Mr. Mercer. It isn’t fair but he’s in politics and should have known better. The horrible truth is that the Labour Party believe their own lies. How else can we explain disastrously flooding and unreformed NHS with tax booty unless they really believed the Tories were trying to starve it to death?

As the sage said , when men cease to believe they don’t believe in nothing , they’ll believe anything. That is the position of the Labour Party and that is why these minor scuffle loom so large

The Thief , The Princess , The Butler and his Wine

- The insufferable Paul Burrell on his latest job: selling bottles of wine worth £6 in the United States.





Nauseatingly he simpers...
I wouldn't give my princess just anything and I won't give American ladies just anything either"


Well at least its not just the Lawyers feeding on her corpse.

Now you know how it feels

'Chancellor Gordon Brown has allowed a dentist to drill through to deep nerve tissue beneath his teeth without using an anaesthetic. Mr Brown made the apparently painful decision because he did not want his mouth to freeze up just hours before he was due to deliver a speech' - BBC.


...and now he knows what it fels like listening to his meandering essays into the dark art of obfuscation

BBC Priorities

Well the BBC are to busy clearly to interview Robin Aitken….

Robin Aitken spent 20 years as a BBC current affairs journalist. He's written a BOOK about the experience, called CAN WE TRUST THE BBC? He confirms Andrew Marr's assertion that there is an inbuilt liberal bias within the BBC. The book has received widespread coverage in the press, but Aitken reckons the BBC have put a blanket ban on him appearing on their airwaves. The BBC deny any such ban exists,

Their minds are on higher things …( BBC Web site )

'A man accused of a stealing underwear from a shop in a knifepoint raid believed he was a female elf at the time, Belfast Crown Court has heard. Robert Boyd, 45, from Broadlands in Carrickfergus, is accused of holding up staff at the Orchid shop in Belfast disguised in a wig, hat and glasses. He told the court he had been involved in a role-playing game at the time, and his character was an elf named Beho. He denies robbery but says he may have blurred reality and fantasy' - BBC

Eugenics and Professor Coleman

I do hope I won’t be accused of political correctness, but I have some concerns about the estimable Professor Coleman in his travails with Star. Star are a partly publicly funded student body ,who waste everyone’s time and patience by playing at politics in the area of refugees. They are calling for the Professor to be sacked .With breathtaking mendacity they deny this , claiming they merely wish for a full debate about the appropriateness of his continued employment .It is entirely clear, they are trying to re-enact the academic witch hunts of the 60s . Their objection is ,of course, his membership of Migration Watch ,the magnificent truth telling organisation which has time and thrown a spanner into on the state lying machine. Migration watch has won its argument and few now dispute that the British were misled as to about the extent of immigration the chimerical benefits of it.
With the left always keen to shout , ’ racist’ it has been important that the moral probity and academic respectability of the organisation`s work has been beyond reproach and it is hugely to their credit that they are immunised to charges of disreputability, by the high quality of their methods, and the opposing scandalous spin of the state.
Nonetheless there is apolitical agenda ,and the presentation of calculations about the net worth of immigrants has at times been m, shall we say , eye-catching. This sort ex Cathedra pronouncement has had the left spitting blood .
“This is not the place to discuss the economic aspects of migration. But a word might be appropriate about the calculation that the net contribution by immigrants to average national income per head was equivalent to about a Mars bar a week. “
Naturally one flies to his side and the enthusiastic baying of the Socialist Worker is all the more reason to support him.

On the other hand his involvement with a Institute that is connected with eugenics does set of the legitimate alarm bells, and Professor Coleman is unconvincing and dis-ingenuous to affect not to understand concerns of this sort . In fact I found his impression of a bemused judge fairly irritating. The body in question is the Galton Institute
“The Galton Institute ( It says ) exists to promote the public understanding of human heredity and to facilitate informed debate about the ethical issues raised by advances in reproductive technology. It also publishes studies in the historical development of these topics. “
Dating back to the 1930s and beyond the Institute is the heir to fascist notions of breeding people like Prize Schnauzers and if the professor does not understand why a specialist in the demographics of immigration being connected with Eugenics is a problem then he needs to get out of the study a bit more.
It is true that the word Eugenics has somewhat evolved as to its application but there are unbroken links with the worst sort of pseudo scientific hatred

“Eugenics is a social philosophy which advocates the improvement of human hereditary traits through various forms of intervention.[1] The purported goals have variously been to create healthier, more intelligent people, save society's resources, and lessen human suffering.
Earlier proposed means of achieving these goals focused on selective breeding, while modern ones focus on prenatal testing and screening, genetic counseling, birth control, in vitro fertilization, and genetic engineering.”

This may well be innocent, it could be that the Professor in his busy life happens to take a kindly interest in reliving the suffering of parents who would have preferred an early abortion. Surely the Professor can see the ghosts that come screaming out of the crypt though at this connecton.

Migration Watch has been unimpeachably respectable and with his connection to the Galton Institute Professor Coleman has made a mistake . If , indeed he is innocent of the stain of fascist eugenic theorizing then he would be better to explain his involvement than to effect supercilious puzzlement .


Background to Galton and Eugenics
Eugenics (the name means "good in birth") originated with an English statistician named Francis Galton. Influenced by the evolutionary theories of his cousin Charles Darwin, and also by Gregor Mendel's genetic experiments with peas, Galton hoped to improve the human gene pool through "positive eugenics," that is, encouraging those he deemed to have the best genetic stock, i.e., people like him, to marry and procreate bountifully. This may sound to some innocuous at first blush, but, as history repeatedly has demonstrated, once we accept the pernicious premise that some people are "superior" to others -- the core principle of eugenic thinking -- we open the door to great evils.

Great Excuses

'A US photographer has been fired for urinating in a cemetery while covering the funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq. Gerry Edwards was covering the funeral of Sgt James Musack, 23, of Riverside, Iowa, when he urinated in the cemetery while waiting for the procession to arrive. At a recent hearing for unemployment benefits, he testified he was unable to leave the cemetery to urinate for fear of missing the funeral procession. "I feel like I did nothing wrong except take care of business," Edwards said. "If I went in my pants, that would be really unprofessional. If anybody saw me, you know, walking around - it would have froze. So I'd have icy urine on my pants"'

- The Des Moines Register.


Once again Newmania is first with the vital breaking news ...well I`ve done one serious one today

Bless..

Bottles of drinkable Holy Water are being sold in the US carrying the following warning

"If you are a sinner or evil in nature , this product may cause burning or rashes"

Bless...

BLAIR DEAD !

The teacher asked the Prime Minister if he would like to lead the
discussion on the word "tragedy". So the illustrious leader asked
the class for an example of a "tragedy".

One little boy stood up and offered: "If my best friend, who lives
on a farm, is playing in the field & a tractor runs over him and
kills him, that would be a 'tragedy'" "No," said Blair, "that would
be an
accident."

A little girl raised her hand: "If a school bus carrying fifty
children drove over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be
a tragedy." "I'm afraid not," explained the Prime Minister "That's
what we would call a great loss."

The room went silent. No other children volunteered. Tony searched
the room. "Isn't there someone here who can give me an example of
tragedy?"
Finally, at the back of the room, a small boy raised his hand...
In a quiet voice he said: "If the aeroplane carrying you and Mrs
Blair was struck by a 'friendly fire' missile & blown to
smithereens,
that would be a tragedy."

"Fantastic!" exclaimed Tony Blair. "That's right. And can you tell
me why that would be a tragedy?"

"Well," says the boy "It has to be a tragedy, because it certainly
wouldn't be a great loss and it probably wouldn't be a fucking
accident either."


Sorry its a gag I missed out the words " should be "

Moose Loose About This Hoose

From MSN.com:

'A helicopter is not necessarily a match for an angry moose.

'Instead of lying down after being shot with a tranquilizer dart, a moose charged a hovering helicopter used by a wildlife biologist, damaging the aircraft's tail rotor and forcing it to the ground.

'Neither the pilot nor the biologist was injured, but the moose was maimed by the spinning rotor and had to be euthanized, wildlife officials said.'

Despite MSN's claim that 'A helicopter is not necessarily a match for an angry moose', I think the moose corpse points to at least a score draw.

RAGE RAGE RAGE

(A single mother contemplates the benefits system)


Welfare to work

The Freud Report and the country’s reaction to it is , in my opinion the most important political straw on the wind . It was always obvious that Brown, whose coronation is secure , would contest the middle ground, and this must mean revisiting welfare reform
The magnificently bitter Mr. Field popped up in the DT yesterday to say that labour were yet to grasp the issue , it was all carrot and no stick. . Lots of help is available to ,‘apply’, for jobs. New haircuts, new suits, and so on , but there was nothing to make sure that you actually worked . This will become another classic Labour non -solution .They have over legislated , and over taxed, but instead of removing the some of the burden , they introduce further checks and incentives ,to enforce good behaviour . Shall we all shout together .It does not work!
Sue Carrol ,( Mirror), unearthed this quote from a website this morning and it shows the scale of the problem .

A single mother writes….

“ Work used to the escalator out of poverty, but I `m a single mother with three children who was offered a brand new council house. I get choice of kitchen units , fitted bathroom , newly plastered walls, landscaped garden – on top of income support payments , free school dinners , no university fees. .and my house will be offered to me later under a right to buy scheme” …that would be at half price.

The last point is the crucial one. Politicians, including David Cameron, floating a, rent to Mortgage idea, treat welfare claimants as if they were needy and stupid . For the most part they are neither. Not only are the skilful and subverting the system, but they make long terms strategic choices ,based on the possibility of further welfare and tax payer largesse.One of the most important is to become a single mother in the first place.
Single mothers ,like widows, and simply good people, often do a good job , this is not the point ( Alan Johnson ). The point is to decide which policy structure gives children the best hope of the best start in life .
In the words of Al Gore , here are some “ Inconvenient truths “ ( except theses ones are true ).
Britain has 1.9 million lone parent households- an increase of more than 200,000 since Labour came to power- and the highest teenage birth-rate in Europe. An office of national statistics report in 2004 showed that children of lone parents are twice as likely to have mental health problems. Children aged 12 in one
Parent families are 2.4 times as likely to smoke and 1.6 times as likely to use alcohol. Drug taking is more common , children are more likely to be expelled, and, in the US , 63% of teenage suicides , 90 % of runaway children and 85 % of juvenile prisoners are from single parent homes.
I do not take these figures straight myself, there are other factor as work and some false correlations, but nonetheless the picture of a state induced moral breakdown is fair.
When Mr . Johnson , says our benefits system must be bias free what I thought was this . I’ll take that thanks ,because at the moment ,we have a brutal assault on marriage in low income households. If one spouse earns £5000 and the other £15,000 for example they would lose £5400 of benefits.The true marginal disincentive goes a long way higher up the scale that that because of the housing issue above.

We do not need a return to Peter Lilly’s little list “Young ladies who get pregnant jut to jump the housing list” ,which was needlessly impolitic. We need the stick of a fixed period benefits system, significant cuts in taxes on income especially at low levels ,and an all out assault on the concept of entitlement. This virulent lie is alive and well in this unreconstructed inner cities that Blair and co. make sure there children will never know. I meet them and I know

Do not imagine that there is no part for moral outrage in this fight,there is a place for anger visceral horror and this is my policy....

RAGE RAGE RAGE

One For My Baby

You’ll get so lonely
Well maybe its better that way
But it aint you only
You’ve Got something to say

DO ANYTHING YOU WANNA DO”.
. perhaps my favourite lines in all of Rock/Pop and a Libertarian anthem for the bolshy right wing youth I was.( Eddie and the Hot Rods)


People are talking about a new right intelligentsia ( rules me out ), well Michael Gove , and some desperate journo`s, have flung together a paste board job or two. I wonder if anyone else has that, “I was a punk before you were a punk ",feeling , about the Johnny and Jilly come latelys
“Well hi everybody take a look at me I ve got street credibility …” as the popular crooner Georgio Michael once trilled.

I have always been a Conservative . At school I was called” Nuremberg”, implying my trial was imminent . At university ,I was in a minority of one, plus a load of farmers ,and in general I always seem to have been the only righty .
It has been like coming home ,finding I have allies . Ask anyone that has ever known me ,and they will tell you I have changed my views little ,since I was eleven. I said things like, “Well go and live in Russia if you think its so great !“, in a snotty falsetto , and got sneered at , do you know the type ?

Throughout the period in which ,to say you admired Margaret Thatcher, was to invite a drivel of alternative,( to ), comedy , I never denied her. Understanding little about the politics ,it was above all, the transparent insincerity of the left ,that I reacted against .
There was something so obviously right about what she said and I had been waiting to hear it as the country was.What enormous pleasure it gives me now , to read her memoirs , and I thought I would share a flavour of the great woman’s writing . She writes superbly …but of course the arts establishment were out for her by then.


Callaghan loses vote of confidence

"Denis , who was watching from the Opposition box on the floor of the house shouted hooray and was quite properly reproved by one of the sergeants of arms "
Notice the gentle self mocking tone which has been a surprising and endearing treat. Why did we never see how funny she was ?

Know your enemy

“We call then socialist, social democrat, statist or merely Butskellite*

* A political term dating form the 1950s denoting a consensus combining the moderate Conservatism of R A Butler and the moderate Socialism of Hugh Gaitskell

The way it felt

“The final illusion -that state intervention would promote social harmony and solidarity , or , in Tory language “ One Nation “ - collapsed in the Winter of discontent , when the dead went unburied and critically ill patients were turned away from hospitals by pickets, and the prevailing mood was one of snarling envy and motiveless hostility”


The nation state ,,this follows a passage on the resistance to Hitler

“ My view was and is that - that an effective internationalism can only be built by strong nations which are able to call upon the loyalty of their citizens to defend and enforce civilised rules of international conduct. An internationalism that seeks to supersede the nation state , however will founder quickly on the reality that few people are prepared to make genuine sacrifices for it .”

Try arguing with that ! You just wouldn’t and ...

“ We intended to achieve a fundamental change of direction. We stood for a new beginning not more o the same “

Are you listening Cameron ….some would say?


I`ll finish with three personal quotes . The first two show that skill for being subtly ironic with her persona and the third needs no explanation.

On the Queen

“ ..the press could not resist the temptation to suggest disputes between the Place and Downing Street especially in Commonwealth affairs I always found the Queen’s attitude to the work of government absolutely correct”…( well lucky her …)

On the French

“ I recall on one occasion watching President Giscard d Estaing gazing at the two portraits in the dining room . - one of the young Nelson , the other of Wellington. He remarked on the irony. I replied that it was no less ironic that I should have to look at portraits of Napoleon on my visits to Paris. In retrospect I can see that this was not quite a parallel . Napoleon lost.”……..and so he did….

On Denis


“ …being Prime minister is a lonely job . In a sense it ought to be you cannot lead from the crowd. But with Denis there I was never alone. What a man. What husband . What a friend “

It’s a bit of a meander I know but this is …..“One for my baby “. We all get to do one surely ?

Brown`s Syrup continues to Fool the Press

To me it has never looked quite right

Punny Headlines

Sometimes you can see it coming a mile away can`t you

Benny Macarthy scores 2 penalties for Blackburn and .......

'Penni McCarthy' - The Daily Mirror.

'Peni McCarthy' - The Sun.

'Benni Spots The Difference' - The Daily Star.

'Benni's Spot Of Revenge Over Bolton' - The Daily Mail.




I do rather enjoy a good pun actually as well as a bad head line . Ilike the classics
"Shell found on Beach!"
"Body Found in Graveyard"

For punnery I have a soft spot for "The Unbearable Lateness of Boeing"


Any more ?

Freud ..not that one

DRUGS and DEALING

Following the super debate on Education Key workers and so on, I have to admit I felt in the end that I was occupying a false position. I do not believe that it will ever be politically possible to get rid of Public Schools .While the thought experiment is interesting ,David Allen was right to say ,we have to deal with 'what is' and not as Croydonian calls it ,( with typical heavy sarcasm ) ,“Year Zero”. Reading Phillips Johnston’s Report on drugs legislation this morning ,an apposite quote popped up in another context….

“As Professor Anthony King, the commission chairman, observes in his introduction to the report: "The question for policy-makers is never, 'Where do we go?', but always, 'Where do we go from here?' "

Phillip Johnston predicts the beginning of limited Liberalisation, citing David Cameron’s easy ride on spliffification ,as evidence that the public are prepared to take a more sensible approach. The following two quotes sum up the difference between the real world ,and the absurd pontifications of one of my most hated organisations , the UN.

“Some years ago, the UN set itself the goal of ridding the world of drugs by 2008, a target that has become more, rather than less, fanciful over time....

....In the late 1960s, there were a few thousand drug addicts at most across the United Kingdom; today there are a quarter of a million problem users, who damage not only themselves but the very fabric of society “

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR MOTHER.....

The Freud report(ho ho), on Welfare is going to be most significant to the electoral hopes of the Labour Party ,and thereby the Tories . I predicted ,with less than stunning foresight, ages ago that Labour would start to contest the middle ground ,and we are now beginning to see the signs .

If the below mentions are the tone of the report ,and it is indeed going to set the agenda for the “First 100 days”, then David Cameron has much to fear. This is is exactly what Tony Blair was saying ten years ago, and we must keep reminding people what a lie it was , and is.

“The proposals are expected to include a new requirement for single parents to seek work once their youngest child reaches 11, rather than the current age of 16. John Hutton, the Work and Pensions Secretary, confirmed”

In the context of lone parents, I think we should be prepared to say if we are going to provide more help and support to get back to work, then we will expect you to take up that help and support."

FREE TATOO REMOVAL

Mr Hutton confirmed that the proposed assistance for the long-term unemployed could include "confidence-building measures" such as help making themselves presentable for job interviews. But he played down reports that this could include tattoo removal, saying: "I'm not sure that's where we need to focus our effort."