Hello,
Has a festival of slow witted intolerance commenced without me being informed this year? I merely ask because our local knuckledraggers seem to have been rather vocal of late.
On Saturday we had our Republican and Orange chums beg the question who should be put up against a wall and shot first and leave me scratching my head. I am of course referring to the Armed Forces Day debacle on Saturday. It could and should have been a perfectly ordinary, straightforward military service. Instead we have in the Orange corner we have soap dodgers mooing witlessly at the Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy not because he's a useless careerist little nit but because he's a Catholic. Not to be outdone the Green corner mooed witlessly at the army for being British in Britain, motivated no doubt by a desire to provoke the Orangers to attack so they can go up the road whining about British persecution.
Would it be asking too much of both sides to reflect on the tolerance shown to them during their repellent marches by the appalled, inconvenienced and intimidated public and consider returning the favour once in a while? It's not like the rest of us don't want to chop them into little pieces before hurling them into remote landfill sites it's just that we were born and brought up as opposed to shat out and dragged down which helps with restraint. Do not even start me on their post Old Firm match antics which prove beyond all reasonable doubt that both evolution and intelligent design are bunk. Someone should organise a literacy campaign as a matter of urgency.
Moving on the owner of The Pakistani Cafe has taken the unusual step of rolling up to work in a stab proof vest owing to a collection of sub normal halwifts taking exception to his cafe. I must declare an interest here in that I'm a big fan of The Pakistani, the food is fantastic, the prices are dirt cheap and it's a nice, relaxed place to while away an hour with the paper and a cup of chai.
Reading the report in the record the trouble appears to have started when a customer took exception to the presence of a book by Salman Rushdie amongst the reading material provided for customers. I must confess I prefer a bit of P.G Wodehouse myself, if I were the customer I'd just have ignored the books I didn't like and made do with Chat or Women's Realm rather than kicking up a stupid fuss over nothing.
Anyway it all seems to have got out of hand and now the youths have got the hump because the cafe owner plays a bit of music and serves alcohol which, unless the Taliban have been elected behind my back is perfectly acceptable in these parts. To my mind it's way more acceptable than this latter day bunch of Carry Nation's threatening to petrol bomb the cafe, smashing windows and sticking their beaks into other folks business. Who appointed these wankers as the south side's moral guardians? They can't be allowed to get the upper hand, let them win once and before we know it no-one will be allowed to do anything except break windows and hurl petrol bombs if their disgraceful conduct is anything to go by.
Still every cloud has a silver lining, it's not often one gets to stand up to the scum of the earth, show a bit of solidarity with a man in trouble whilst eating like a king on a beggars wages. To that end I recommend everyone make a point of dropping into The Pakistani Cafe for a cup of chai and a bite to eat as often as they possibly can not only to thwart the puritans but because it's a bloody fine establishment and I don't want our Mr Sharif drowning in a sea of stupidity.
Cheerio
P.S The Karachi omelette is a triumph.
Showing posts with label idiocy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label idiocy. Show all posts
6/29/2009
3/18/2009
Bring Me The Head of Denis MacShane!
Hello,
Now that Terry Kelly has become too boring to worth mocking, I've been looking for a new scratching post and I'm pleased to announce that Denis MacShane is today's target. In all honestly I hate the lot of them but it does no harm to pick one and make an example of them.
Beside this Guardian column is just too awful not to mention and does in many ways typify what's wrong with the whole arrogant shower. Denis is writing in response to ten proposals put forward by Guardian writers as ideas for a new Labour manifesto.
One writer proposes that Labour reform the electoral system by introducing proportional representation. Denis is against it on the basis that the BNP would get thirty MP's elected which is of course a very bad thing. Whilst I can't say I'd be jumping for joy, people are entitled to vote for anyone on the ballot paper and if they do so in sufficient numbers be represented accordingly. In other words Denis takes the view that PR would be fine and dandy if it was likely to result in Labour gaining 30 extra seats. Denis further attempts to put us off by declaring it would herald the end of the Labour party. Who cares? If the Labour party was a thing worth having surely it would not be relying on the electoral system to keep the BNP out but would seek to do so by tacking the problems that lead their supporters to leave them for the BNP and making the case against BNP policies. Why he didn't simply explain that he's only in favour of democracy if it produces a result he likes and have done with it is beyond me.
He is also casually scornful of the 'old-trot' proposal that politicians should be paid the average national wage because the Tory front bench only use the wage as small change due to their vast wealth earned elsewhere. Quite why MP's need to be paid more because some of them don't really need the money is not explained. Presumably he means that Labour MP's all being working class types (no laughing at the back) can't afford to enter parliament for less than £60,000 p/a + vast pension + expenses. That being the case I take he'd be supportive of us all walking out our jobs tomorrow and refusing to return until we got the same. After all if only people with private wealth can afford to live on less then I'd suggest the minimum wage want's looking at as a matter of urgency to lift us all out of this terrible poverty.
Personally I'd go further than the national average wage I'd pay the buggers the average constituency wage as an incentive for them to do everything in their power to raise living standards in their constituency. If it's good enough for their constituents, then there's no reason at all why they can't manage on it. I'd go further -no funding for 2nd homes! We should build them a very basic no frills halls of residence to live in whilst they're at Westminster and if they're too grand for that then they can fund their own sodding accommodation. As for the rest of their expenses the folk at the DWP who administer the social fund would be the ideal candidates (except for Tom at Atlas Rd who is a gentleman).
Moving on Denis would also like to end trial by jury for people accused of rape because we aren't locking up enough rapists. He describes our rape conviction statistics as a global disgrace. To be fair they are shocking and tempting though measures like this may be to lock up more rapists, it's the thin end of the wedge -anyone who honestly believes the loss of the right to trial by jury would end at rape cases is deluded. As for our statistics being a global disgrace is he quite sure? Stories like this , this and this suggest attitudes to rape in other parts of the world might be a teensy bit more alarming than in blighty. Nevertheless in Mac Shane world the Saudis tut tut at our low conviction rate. He might also wish to reflect on the damage his government and their 'targets' have done to investigations of rape allegations.
Everyone who elected this monstrous halfwit should be ashamed of themselves.
Cheerio
Now that Terry Kelly has become too boring to worth mocking, I've been looking for a new scratching post and I'm pleased to announce that Denis MacShane is today's target. In all honestly I hate the lot of them but it does no harm to pick one and make an example of them.
Beside this Guardian column is just too awful not to mention and does in many ways typify what's wrong with the whole arrogant shower. Denis is writing in response to ten proposals put forward by Guardian writers as ideas for a new Labour manifesto.
One writer proposes that Labour reform the electoral system by introducing proportional representation. Denis is against it on the basis that the BNP would get thirty MP's elected which is of course a very bad thing. Whilst I can't say I'd be jumping for joy, people are entitled to vote for anyone on the ballot paper and if they do so in sufficient numbers be represented accordingly. In other words Denis takes the view that PR would be fine and dandy if it was likely to result in Labour gaining 30 extra seats. Denis further attempts to put us off by declaring it would herald the end of the Labour party. Who cares? If the Labour party was a thing worth having surely it would not be relying on the electoral system to keep the BNP out but would seek to do so by tacking the problems that lead their supporters to leave them for the BNP and making the case against BNP policies. Why he didn't simply explain that he's only in favour of democracy if it produces a result he likes and have done with it is beyond me.
He is also casually scornful of the 'old-trot' proposal that politicians should be paid the average national wage because the Tory front bench only use the wage as small change due to their vast wealth earned elsewhere. Quite why MP's need to be paid more because some of them don't really need the money is not explained. Presumably he means that Labour MP's all being working class types (no laughing at the back) can't afford to enter parliament for less than £60,000 p/a + vast pension + expenses. That being the case I take he'd be supportive of us all walking out our jobs tomorrow and refusing to return until we got the same. After all if only people with private wealth can afford to live on less then I'd suggest the minimum wage want's looking at as a matter of urgency to lift us all out of this terrible poverty.
Personally I'd go further than the national average wage I'd pay the buggers the average constituency wage as an incentive for them to do everything in their power to raise living standards in their constituency. If it's good enough for their constituents, then there's no reason at all why they can't manage on it. I'd go further -no funding for 2nd homes! We should build them a very basic no frills halls of residence to live in whilst they're at Westminster and if they're too grand for that then they can fund their own sodding accommodation. As for the rest of their expenses the folk at the DWP who administer the social fund would be the ideal candidates (except for Tom at Atlas Rd who is a gentleman).
Moving on Denis would also like to end trial by jury for people accused of rape because we aren't locking up enough rapists. He describes our rape conviction statistics as a global disgrace. To be fair they are shocking and tempting though measures like this may be to lock up more rapists, it's the thin end of the wedge -anyone who honestly believes the loss of the right to trial by jury would end at rape cases is deluded. As for our statistics being a global disgrace is he quite sure? Stories like this , this and this suggest attitudes to rape in other parts of the world might be a teensy bit more alarming than in blighty. Nevertheless in Mac Shane world the Saudis tut tut at our low conviction rate. He might also wish to reflect on the damage his government and their 'targets' have done to investigations of rape allegations.
Everyone who elected this monstrous halfwit should be ashamed of themselves.
Cheerio
12/24/2008
Annual Christmas Beating
Hello,
With it being Christmas we are of course being treated the annual hand wringing about domestic violence in the form of TV adverts and concerned celebrities. Unlike dogs battered women are just for Christmas -anything rather than fund the organisations that provide refuge and advice to women fleeing brutes.
Adding insult to injury some buffoon has suggested that rather than jail folk for domestic violence we could offer them regular alcohol testing. Mercifully it was only a Lib Dem and not someone from one of the governing parties.
Lord knows I do my best to keep my hang 'em, flog 'em lynch mob instincts under control but proposals like this are a red rag to the Clairwil bull. Quite why an inability to control one's alcohol intake should be a get out of jail free card is not made clear. Since when did domestic fascists become the victims. The only way to make these creatures see reason is years of repeated anal rape in the Barlinnie showers. That said I am a fair minded sort I'd allow them to take a cushion to their prison AA meetings. Hell since it's Christmas I'd even throw in regular drug and alcohol tests for the duration of their sentence with loss of remission and the like for any positive result.
The argument in support of this nonsensical proposal is that 'over the festive period there is often a rise in cases of alcohol related domestic abuse'. Was Robert Brown educated? Is he drunk? What is his problem? Does he really believe that the frequency with which a crime is committed at a particular time of year should result in the perpetrator escaping any real consequences. Why doesn't he go the whole hog and propose granting the population immunity from prosecution for the festive period?
The benefit of putting the state for all it's flaws in charge of justice is that for the most part avoids vigilantism. If the Lib Dems really believe that by basing a state justice system round what is convenient in the holidays rather than what is right then one has to commend the repeated failure of the British people to put them in charge of anything bigger than a council.
I am tempted to organise a mass drinking binge swiftly followed by a mass beating of Lib Dem 'justice' spokesman Robert Brown. Keeping prison numbers down might well be the politicians priority but that's no reason for the rest of us to be stuck with unpunished violent criminals in our communities. If they really feel that strongly that violent men are victims in need of help and understanding rather than locking up then might I suggest they open their spare room to a few for the duration of their treatment orders. After all if being terrorised by violent drunks is good enough for our women and children surely they won't mind their own female relatives living in fear for a while.
Cheerio
With it being Christmas we are of course being treated the annual hand wringing about domestic violence in the form of TV adverts and concerned celebrities. Unlike dogs battered women are just for Christmas -anything rather than fund the organisations that provide refuge and advice to women fleeing brutes.
Adding insult to injury some buffoon has suggested that rather than jail folk for domestic violence we could offer them regular alcohol testing. Mercifully it was only a Lib Dem and not someone from one of the governing parties.
Lord knows I do my best to keep my hang 'em, flog 'em lynch mob instincts under control but proposals like this are a red rag to the Clairwil bull. Quite why an inability to control one's alcohol intake should be a get out of jail free card is not made clear. Since when did domestic fascists become the victims. The only way to make these creatures see reason is years of repeated anal rape in the Barlinnie showers. That said I am a fair minded sort I'd allow them to take a cushion to their prison AA meetings. Hell since it's Christmas I'd even throw in regular drug and alcohol tests for the duration of their sentence with loss of remission and the like for any positive result.
The argument in support of this nonsensical proposal is that 'over the festive period there is often a rise in cases of alcohol related domestic abuse'. Was Robert Brown educated? Is he drunk? What is his problem? Does he really believe that the frequency with which a crime is committed at a particular time of year should result in the perpetrator escaping any real consequences. Why doesn't he go the whole hog and propose granting the population immunity from prosecution for the festive period?
The benefit of putting the state for all it's flaws in charge of justice is that for the most part avoids vigilantism. If the Lib Dems really believe that by basing a state justice system round what is convenient in the holidays rather than what is right then one has to commend the repeated failure of the British people to put them in charge of anything bigger than a council.
I am tempted to organise a mass drinking binge swiftly followed by a mass beating of Lib Dem 'justice' spokesman Robert Brown. Keeping prison numbers down might well be the politicians priority but that's no reason for the rest of us to be stuck with unpunished violent criminals in our communities. If they really feel that strongly that violent men are victims in need of help and understanding rather than locking up then might I suggest they open their spare room to a few for the duration of their treatment orders. After all if being terrorised by violent drunks is good enough for our women and children surely they won't mind their own female relatives living in fear for a while.
Cheerio
12/05/2008
About Time Too!
Hello,
As very long term readers should be aware I loathe, hate and despise the teaching profession. Oh I like the idea of it and some of them are excellent but in my experience the vast majority of them should be hurled into the lowest pit of hell or shot. I'm not fussy whatever comes first.
So you can imagine my delight and surprise to see one of them publicly humiliated and struck off for being a buffoon in charge of children. Still I am baffled what in God's name did she do wrong that 90% of them aren't? I expect she pissed off the wrong parents or wasn't terribly popular in the staffroom. If I were in her shoes I'd have taken my colleagues down with me.
Then again, could it be that standards are at long last being imposed on the morons?
A good teacher is a rare delight. Ideally they should be able to manage boredom well and make the subject engaging without resorting to childish and patronising games. With the exception of Art and Drama no -one really wants to be taught by a circus act. They should also care passionately about their subject and welcome questions from enquiring pupils. Nor should they be deterred by tantrum throwing pupils who don't want to learn. In truth teaching is a very difficult job but that's widely accepted is it not? I am therefore baffled why the profession is populated by socially inept, ill mannered, bullying careerist fucks who couldn't care less about children or their education.
A good teacher should be the norm but let's face it they aren't. As far as I can tell most of them approach it like cattle herding or worse wacky babysitting. I pity the school child of today. In my day you could vanish for months at a time and no one would come looking for you which meant I didn't have to go to school much. Instead I sat about libraries reading books and making attempts to educate myself since the people paid to do so weren't in the slightest bit interested (honourable exceptions- Technical, Home Economics, Religious Studies, Modern Studies and English). Nowadays one is five minutes late and one's parents are informed. That said I believe persistent truants get ferried to school in a taxi and allowed to pick and choose when they attend so it's not all bad.
I would recommend that the truant of today does not use the excuse that they are avoiding school in order to get an education. Nor would I suggest that this makes up for all the school trips one has been done out of because the teachers are involved in some sort of industrial action. In short do not lose your temper and use the words 'money for nothing', 'naked greed' or brutality. It makes them very angry, very angry indeed. 'Well I do take your point sir but....' is another no-no. Honestly it gets them fit to be tied. Oh and never complain when they refuse to answer a question because it's not relevant to the exam. I shan't bore you with the detail but having to explain to a senior and well paid English teacher that a passing knowledge of Shakespeare comes in handy in the study of English is outrageous. What sort of moron trains these buffoons? The internet wasn't on the go when I was at school so I can only guess they purchased their qualifications from a vending machine.
I am disappointed we didn't see the sort of scenes that we usually see outside the trials of paedophile though. I had hoped for a justified lynching -the first of many. Then again the whole time I was at school I could never understand why there wasn't a mass uprising by pupil and parent alike against them. Surely people don't need reminding that 'teachers' are funded by the tax payer.
Still it should be remembered that even though most of them are hopeless educators they are pretty good babysitters. Now that standards are being imposed on them who shall watch the kiddies when the inevitable shortage occurs?
Cheerio
As very long term readers should be aware I loathe, hate and despise the teaching profession. Oh I like the idea of it and some of them are excellent but in my experience the vast majority of them should be hurled into the lowest pit of hell or shot. I'm not fussy whatever comes first.
So you can imagine my delight and surprise to see one of them publicly humiliated and struck off for being a buffoon in charge of children. Still I am baffled what in God's name did she do wrong that 90% of them aren't? I expect she pissed off the wrong parents or wasn't terribly popular in the staffroom. If I were in her shoes I'd have taken my colleagues down with me.
Then again, could it be that standards are at long last being imposed on the morons?
A good teacher is a rare delight. Ideally they should be able to manage boredom well and make the subject engaging without resorting to childish and patronising games. With the exception of Art and Drama no -one really wants to be taught by a circus act. They should also care passionately about their subject and welcome questions from enquiring pupils. Nor should they be deterred by tantrum throwing pupils who don't want to learn. In truth teaching is a very difficult job but that's widely accepted is it not? I am therefore baffled why the profession is populated by socially inept, ill mannered, bullying careerist fucks who couldn't care less about children or their education.
A good teacher should be the norm but let's face it they aren't. As far as I can tell most of them approach it like cattle herding or worse wacky babysitting. I pity the school child of today. In my day you could vanish for months at a time and no one would come looking for you which meant I didn't have to go to school much. Instead I sat about libraries reading books and making attempts to educate myself since the people paid to do so weren't in the slightest bit interested (honourable exceptions- Technical, Home Economics, Religious Studies, Modern Studies and English). Nowadays one is five minutes late and one's parents are informed. That said I believe persistent truants get ferried to school in a taxi and allowed to pick and choose when they attend so it's not all bad.
I would recommend that the truant of today does not use the excuse that they are avoiding school in order to get an education. Nor would I suggest that this makes up for all the school trips one has been done out of because the teachers are involved in some sort of industrial action. In short do not lose your temper and use the words 'money for nothing', 'naked greed' or brutality. It makes them very angry, very angry indeed. 'Well I do take your point sir but....' is another no-no. Honestly it gets them fit to be tied. Oh and never complain when they refuse to answer a question because it's not relevant to the exam. I shan't bore you with the detail but having to explain to a senior and well paid English teacher that a passing knowledge of Shakespeare comes in handy in the study of English is outrageous. What sort of moron trains these buffoons? The internet wasn't on the go when I was at school so I can only guess they purchased their qualifications from a vending machine.
I am disappointed we didn't see the sort of scenes that we usually see outside the trials of paedophile though. I had hoped for a justified lynching -the first of many. Then again the whole time I was at school I could never understand why there wasn't a mass uprising by pupil and parent alike against them. Surely people don't need reminding that 'teachers' are funded by the tax payer.
Still it should be remembered that even though most of them are hopeless educators they are pretty good babysitters. Now that standards are being imposed on them who shall watch the kiddies when the inevitable shortage occurs?
Cheerio
8/25/2008
Racialism At Work
Hello,
As I type a rotund bluenose is whistling Rule Britannia outside my window. Lord knows what he has his tail in the air about but there he is ruling the waves. He shall never, ever, ever be a slave to anything - but his appetite.
I've spent most of last week, in between episodes of gardening, wrestling with a moral dilemma. An appalling racist in my work, who despite her repellent attitudes is a likable sort has been deliberately allowing her beliefs to affect her work, or rather my work, in that my refugee clients were being treated unfavourably on the basis of their race. I did suspect her of it for a while but felt guilty for doing so until she proudly announced to everyone except me that she was in fact discriminating. In the interests of privacy and to protect the guilty I shall not mention what exactly it was she was doing other than to say it involved denying my very existence and some very mean spirited acts against my clients.
Very reluctantly and with a heavy heart I have shopped her -running to bosses being something I'm opposed to but given how aggressive and abusive she is when challenged I didn't see any alternative. In truth I should have spoken up sooner -like when perfectly pleasant Asian volunteers who may or may not have been Muslim were being called suicide bombers or when a very definitely Muslim volunteer was also called a suicide bomber because he went to London with his girlfriend for a holiday or when there was a 'darkie' at the door for me, I could go on but you get the picture. I should add that I'm not alone in this, our black member of staff being somewhat fed up hearing 'but I don't mean you' after every darkie joke.
I take a fairly liberal view of racism. My mother is an appalling racist but she has the wit to keep it to herself in the workplace and so in my view should be left to her own devices. Even idiots have the right to an opinion. I would prefer it if folk weren't racist but all I ask of those who are is that they do it behind closed doors and do not inflict it on the rest of us. Why are they always so keen to tell the rest of us about it and make up blatant lies that do not stand up to scrutiny? Did you know that every 'paki' who arrives in the UK gets £30,000 cash, did you know that Incapacity Benefit is being cut to give more money to 'pakis'. I expect you didn't, not least because it's made up. Nevertheless I work beside folk that sincerely believe it despite being repeatedly shown evidence to the contrary.
It may surprise some of you to learn that the benefit rules are the same whatever your colour. I like to think that's part of what makes us civilised but that's me. I also question why those who base their racist beliefs on made up crap feel the need to do so. Are they really such cowards that they can't just stand up and say 'I hate everyone who is different from me', why the need to justify themselves? If the awfulness of folk with different skins is real then we'll all discover it in our own time without pretending to believe bizarre falsehoods.
For anyone about to trot out this notion that has sprung up that everyone opposed to racism is a toff living in an all white area, out of the six flats in my tenement, four are occupied by immigrants, I live a ten minute walk from one asylum dispersal zone and fifteen minutes from another, I work with refugees, grew up in a district of Glasgow that is 40% Asian and went to a school that was 60% Asian. I think that might give me some experience of the consequences of immigration.
I hate the notion of 'thoughtcrime'. I do not wish to see racists put out of a job based on what they think but without going in to detail I felt I had no choice to do anything other than what I've done -given that the individual concerned, like the rest of us signed a contract agreeing to be non-discriminatory. I just wonder if racism or indeed sexism, anti gay feeling, ageism and the rest were dealt with more sensibly in the workplace more folk might might report active discrimination. After all it should be possible to avoid mass hysteria and deal with the situation. I don't want to see anyone sacked or disciplined over the this. A quiet word in the ear about the standards expected should be sufficient.
Still grassing goes against the grain.
Cheers
As I type a rotund bluenose is whistling Rule Britannia outside my window. Lord knows what he has his tail in the air about but there he is ruling the waves. He shall never, ever, ever be a slave to anything - but his appetite.
I've spent most of last week, in between episodes of gardening, wrestling with a moral dilemma. An appalling racist in my work, who despite her repellent attitudes is a likable sort has been deliberately allowing her beliefs to affect her work, or rather my work, in that my refugee clients were being treated unfavourably on the basis of their race. I did suspect her of it for a while but felt guilty for doing so until she proudly announced to everyone except me that she was in fact discriminating. In the interests of privacy and to protect the guilty I shall not mention what exactly it was she was doing other than to say it involved denying my very existence and some very mean spirited acts against my clients.
Very reluctantly and with a heavy heart I have shopped her -running to bosses being something I'm opposed to but given how aggressive and abusive she is when challenged I didn't see any alternative. In truth I should have spoken up sooner -like when perfectly pleasant Asian volunteers who may or may not have been Muslim were being called suicide bombers or when a very definitely Muslim volunteer was also called a suicide bomber because he went to London with his girlfriend for a holiday or when there was a 'darkie' at the door for me, I could go on but you get the picture. I should add that I'm not alone in this, our black member of staff being somewhat fed up hearing 'but I don't mean you' after every darkie joke.
I take a fairly liberal view of racism. My mother is an appalling racist but she has the wit to keep it to herself in the workplace and so in my view should be left to her own devices. Even idiots have the right to an opinion. I would prefer it if folk weren't racist but all I ask of those who are is that they do it behind closed doors and do not inflict it on the rest of us. Why are they always so keen to tell the rest of us about it and make up blatant lies that do not stand up to scrutiny? Did you know that every 'paki' who arrives in the UK gets £30,000 cash, did you know that Incapacity Benefit is being cut to give more money to 'pakis'. I expect you didn't, not least because it's made up. Nevertheless I work beside folk that sincerely believe it despite being repeatedly shown evidence to the contrary.
It may surprise some of you to learn that the benefit rules are the same whatever your colour. I like to think that's part of what makes us civilised but that's me. I also question why those who base their racist beliefs on made up crap feel the need to do so. Are they really such cowards that they can't just stand up and say 'I hate everyone who is different from me', why the need to justify themselves? If the awfulness of folk with different skins is real then we'll all discover it in our own time without pretending to believe bizarre falsehoods.
For anyone about to trot out this notion that has sprung up that everyone opposed to racism is a toff living in an all white area, out of the six flats in my tenement, four are occupied by immigrants, I live a ten minute walk from one asylum dispersal zone and fifteen minutes from another, I work with refugees, grew up in a district of Glasgow that is 40% Asian and went to a school that was 60% Asian. I think that might give me some experience of the consequences of immigration.
I hate the notion of 'thoughtcrime'. I do not wish to see racists put out of a job based on what they think but without going in to detail I felt I had no choice to do anything other than what I've done -given that the individual concerned, like the rest of us signed a contract agreeing to be non-discriminatory. I just wonder if racism or indeed sexism, anti gay feeling, ageism and the rest were dealt with more sensibly in the workplace more folk might might report active discrimination. After all it should be possible to avoid mass hysteria and deal with the situation. I don't want to see anyone sacked or disciplined over the this. A quiet word in the ear about the standards expected should be sufficient.
Still grassing goes against the grain.
Cheers
8/06/2008
The William Morris Gallery
Hello,
It is not often one stumbles across a council apparently more awful than Glasgow but it would seem Waltham Forest may be eligible to snatch the prize for pig ignorant nastiness in their efforts to break up the biggest Arts and Crafts collection in Europe.
I accept that balancing the books isn't easy and that cuts do have to be made from time to time but the council's motives in trying to run The William Morris Gallery into the ground appear to be less to do with money and more to do with a dislike of William Morris. The previous leader of the council described Morris as a 'white imperialist' and the current leader is alleged to have described him him as 'just an old dead white man'. What a pair of ill educated posturing nits.
The cuts so far have led to the loss of the full time curator and a reduction in opening hours. The museum is currently staffed by workers redeployed from the library department who like the council know nothing about the collection.
I cannot emphasise strongly enough that this decision has sod all to do with money. If it was why have the council refused so many offers of help and why are they displaying such open hostility and spite towards supporters of the gallery? The Friends of the William Morris Gallery have now been forbidden from meeting there for no stated reason -you can irritate the council by asking why here. Oh and if you're still not convinced this isn't about money then why have the council spent more on the museum since the cuts?
Waltham Forest is taking part in the 2012 Cultural Olympics.
Cheerio
7/20/2008
Eavesdropping
Hello,
It's not a habit I'm proud of but I do enjoy a good eavesdrop so when I overheard a Labour activist by the name of Frank chatting to an accquitance about the campaign I couldn't help but take an active interest.
Could Frank be the most sensible man in the Labour Party? I merely ask because his opinion of the current state of the party seems to chime with my own -well up to a point.
He thinks very highly of Margaret Curran, I am somewhat less impressed though I'd wholeheartedly agree with his view that she should have been first choice rather than fourth or fifth. She is without doubt the best of a pretty poor bunch.
Poor Frank like me is at a loss as to who the new leader in the Scottish Parliament should be. With Margaret Curran out the running he's not too impressed with the remaining candidates. He reckons Andy Kerr will get it despite being 'another mamby-pamby'.
I doubt he'd endorse my wholehearted support of Charlie Gordon for the job. I somehow can't see a staunch Labour man finding an even bigger laughing stock in charge as funny as I do.
Cheerio
It's not a habit I'm proud of but I do enjoy a good eavesdrop so when I overheard a Labour activist by the name of Frank chatting to an accquitance about the campaign I couldn't help but take an active interest.
Could Frank be the most sensible man in the Labour Party? I merely ask because his opinion of the current state of the party seems to chime with my own -well up to a point.
He thinks very highly of Margaret Curran, I am somewhat less impressed though I'd wholeheartedly agree with his view that she should have been first choice rather than fourth or fifth. She is without doubt the best of a pretty poor bunch.
Poor Frank like me is at a loss as to who the new leader in the Scottish Parliament should be. With Margaret Curran out the running he's not too impressed with the remaining candidates. He reckons Andy Kerr will get it despite being 'another mamby-pamby'.
I doubt he'd endorse my wholehearted support of Charlie Gordon for the job. I somehow can't see a staunch Labour man finding an even bigger laughing stock in charge as funny as I do.
Cheerio
7/15/2008
I'll never forget wotisname!
Hello,
Incredibly it would appear Margaret Curran has got somewhat confused between a 93 year old war veteran and a 67 year old party activist.
God her genuine warmth and interest in people is simply staggering.
Cheerio
Incredibly it would appear Margaret Curran has got somewhat confused between a 93 year old war veteran and a 67 year old party activist.
God her genuine warmth and interest in people is simply staggering.
Cheerio
7/07/2008
How Desperate Are These Cretins.
'Religion may be a factor with a Baptist SNP candidate and a Labour one with an Irish name.'
-Paul Flynn MP on the Glasgow East By-election
Hello,
Despite the fact sectarian voting patterns in Scotland broke down in Scotland in the mid 20th century and if they still exist at all it's barely a statistical blip, Welsh Labour MP Paul Flynn thinks sectarianism may have a bearing on the outcome of the Glasgow East by-election.
Presumably as he still thinks Labour will win he believes Catholic bigots will trot out for Margaret Curran and the black hearted Protestants will be split between the SNP, Tories and Lib Dems. Never in my thirty three years living in Glasgow have I ever heard anyone announcing their intention to vote along sectarian lines. The only anecdotal evidence I can find of it's existence are a few folk with grandparents who voted Tory to keep the Catholics out. Given the collapse of the Scottish Tory vote it's fair to assume that the Protestants of Scotland are taking into account issues other than the candidates background. As far as I can tell such attitudes reached something of a peak in the 20s and 30s and have been gradually dying out ever since.
According to the 2001 census 15:88% of Scotland's population are Roman Catholic 42.4% are Church of Scotland and 6.81% are other Christian. Add to that the 27.55% with no religious affiliation it doesn't seem likely that much voting goes on along sectarian lines. Unless of course he is implying that until fairly recently Labour were especially attractive to Protestants. Mind you, thinking of my own family I cannot think of a remaining Catholic Labour voter -they've been steadily abandoning Labour since the 1960's. In contrast our one remaining Labour voter is of a Protestant background.
Until reading Mr Flynn's remarks the religious backgrounds of the candidates hadn't entered my head, nor have I held anyone else mention them during the many lunchtime debates in work about who to vote for. Funnily enough people seem to be more upset about the abolition of the 10p tax rate and sleaze than the candidates belief or otherwise in transubstantiation.
I may be doing Mr Flynn a great disservice by suggesting that he knows about as much about sectarianism in the West of Scotland as I do about the Welsh language but given his disgraceful bid to save Labour's skin by trying to stir up religious bigotry I'm not inclined to hold back. I sincerely hope his insulting and offensive bid to mobilise the Catholic vote falls flat on it's arse.
Some good stuff from Will here.
Cheerio
-Paul Flynn MP on the Glasgow East By-election
Hello,
Despite the fact sectarian voting patterns in Scotland broke down in Scotland in the mid 20th century and if they still exist at all it's barely a statistical blip, Welsh Labour MP Paul Flynn thinks sectarianism may have a bearing on the outcome of the Glasgow East by-election.
Presumably as he still thinks Labour will win he believes Catholic bigots will trot out for Margaret Curran and the black hearted Protestants will be split between the SNP, Tories and Lib Dems. Never in my thirty three years living in Glasgow have I ever heard anyone announcing their intention to vote along sectarian lines. The only anecdotal evidence I can find of it's existence are a few folk with grandparents who voted Tory to keep the Catholics out. Given the collapse of the Scottish Tory vote it's fair to assume that the Protestants of Scotland are taking into account issues other than the candidates background. As far as I can tell such attitudes reached something of a peak in the 20s and 30s and have been gradually dying out ever since.
According to the 2001 census 15:88% of Scotland's population are Roman Catholic 42.4% are Church of Scotland and 6.81% are other Christian. Add to that the 27.55% with no religious affiliation it doesn't seem likely that much voting goes on along sectarian lines. Unless of course he is implying that until fairly recently Labour were especially attractive to Protestants. Mind you, thinking of my own family I cannot think of a remaining Catholic Labour voter -they've been steadily abandoning Labour since the 1960's. In contrast our one remaining Labour voter is of a Protestant background.
Until reading Mr Flynn's remarks the religious backgrounds of the candidates hadn't entered my head, nor have I held anyone else mention them during the many lunchtime debates in work about who to vote for. Funnily enough people seem to be more upset about the abolition of the 10p tax rate and sleaze than the candidates belief or otherwise in transubstantiation.
I may be doing Mr Flynn a great disservice by suggesting that he knows about as much about sectarianism in the West of Scotland as I do about the Welsh language but given his disgraceful bid to save Labour's skin by trying to stir up religious bigotry I'm not inclined to hold back. I sincerely hope his insulting and offensive bid to mobilise the Catholic vote falls flat on it's arse.
Some good stuff from Will here.
Cheerio
7/06/2008
Laughing All The Way To The Bank At Glasgow!
Hello,
It almost seems to good to be true but could the Labour reign of corruption in Scotland finally be drawing to a close? I don't want to get too cocky as I'm still not convinced they'll lose Glasgow East -although I'm pretty certain their majority will be drastically reduced.
Anyway today's papers have come up with a carnival of Labour crooks and buffoons for the despair and amusement of the masses.
First up we have Glasgow councillor George Ryan who should really have stuck to hanging about amusement arcades squandering his own money rather than lolling about the city chambers pissing ours away. Anyway Mr Ryan has rather unexpectedly pulled out of the running for David Marshall's old seat which naturally begs the question why. There are it would appear two answers. The first is that a paper were intending to dig up an old story about housing benefit fraud, though as he was cleared of the charges I fail to see why that would cause him to pull out. The second regards allegations of being less than honest about council plans to destroy Paddys Market. Mr Ryan and ten of his Labour chums have all been reported to The Standards Commission, including I'm delighted to report my loathsome and useless local councillor Gordon Matheson.
Whatever the truth of the matter his decision does appear somewhat sudden. This Friday in work we got the news that council spending reforms in which the East End and I quote would be 'the big loser' were to be put on hold until next year. Presumably the council thought that Mr Ryan's enthusiastic support for spending cuts in his constituency wouldn't go down to well with the electorate and now he's gone and pulled out.
It also appears that David Marshall's rather convenient bout of ill health may have been brought on by questions over the £500,000 he's trousered in expenses over the last six years to pay for his wife to work from his office at home. Let's remember this man represents the poorest area in the whole of the UK. Truly the poor are a goldmine.
Finally we have the news that my nemesis Margaret 'Fourth Choice' Curran has been selected as the Labour candidate. I must say I'm at a loss as to why anyone is concerned about how she'll handle being an MP and an MSP at the same time. Doing bugger all for her constituents in two jobs can't be any harder than doing it one.
If all this looks like contempt for the people they represent that's because it is.
Cheerio
It almost seems to good to be true but could the Labour reign of corruption in Scotland finally be drawing to a close? I don't want to get too cocky as I'm still not convinced they'll lose Glasgow East -although I'm pretty certain their majority will be drastically reduced.
Anyway today's papers have come up with a carnival of Labour crooks and buffoons for the despair and amusement of the masses.
First up we have Glasgow councillor George Ryan who should really have stuck to hanging about amusement arcades squandering his own money rather than lolling about the city chambers pissing ours away. Anyway Mr Ryan has rather unexpectedly pulled out of the running for David Marshall's old seat which naturally begs the question why. There are it would appear two answers. The first is that a paper were intending to dig up an old story about housing benefit fraud, though as he was cleared of the charges I fail to see why that would cause him to pull out. The second regards allegations of being less than honest about council plans to destroy Paddys Market. Mr Ryan and ten of his Labour chums have all been reported to The Standards Commission, including I'm delighted to report my loathsome and useless local councillor Gordon Matheson.
Whatever the truth of the matter his decision does appear somewhat sudden. This Friday in work we got the news that council spending reforms in which the East End and I quote would be 'the big loser' were to be put on hold until next year. Presumably the council thought that Mr Ryan's enthusiastic support for spending cuts in his constituency wouldn't go down to well with the electorate and now he's gone and pulled out.
It also appears that David Marshall's rather convenient bout of ill health may have been brought on by questions over the £500,000 he's trousered in expenses over the last six years to pay for his wife to work from his office at home. Let's remember this man represents the poorest area in the whole of the UK. Truly the poor are a goldmine.
Finally we have the news that my nemesis Margaret 'Fourth Choice' Curran has been selected as the Labour candidate. I must say I'm at a loss as to why anyone is concerned about how she'll handle being an MP and an MSP at the same time. Doing bugger all for her constituents in two jobs can't be any harder than doing it one.
If all this looks like contempt for the people they represent that's because it is.
Cheerio
6/01/2008
Squandered
Hello,
I'm afraid I've been reading again and it's left me furious! Fit to be tied! What could have got me so riled? Well it is a fine book by the name 'Squandered' written by David Craig and it details how our wonderful leaders have wasted billions of pounds of our money on sod all of any use to anyone. Though that said they have been very kind to themselves.
I haven't finished the book yet I kept having to pause and wonder why it hasn't sparked a bloody revolution. Despite living in one of the wealthiest countries in the world (I refer to Britain as a whole -not Scotland obviously before anyone starts emailing) we have a health service which manages to kill at least 34,000 patients unnecessarily every year. Though given that 34,000 is the health services own figure the real total may be much higher. It also confirms my suspicion that the NHS isn't a mess because of underfunding at all. It's a mess because of disgraceful, bloated management and outsourcing of important services like food and cleaning. Under Labour -those passionate advocates of the health service billions has been squandered on increased management and toothless watchdogs all at the expense of patient care which is the whole point of the bloody thing.
Still at least we're not at war....oh wait a minute...oh dear. Well the good news is most of us aren't in the armed services but it's bad news if you are. Despite being war crazy the government are curiously tight fisted when it comes to forking out for basics like medical supplies, guns that work and devices that offer protection against roadside bombs and the like. Frankly if it came to light that there are entire regiments in Iraq fighting with peashooters and water pistols I would not bat an eyelid. On the bright side if you come back in one piece and work very hard you might get a job in the MoD headquarters . They're very nice apparently and so they should be as they're costing us £78million a year for the next thirty years.
It came as no surprise to me to learn that the benefits system is in complete disarray, though even I was surprised to learn the DWP had it's accounts rejected by the Auditor General every year for the last eighteen years. I part company slightly with the author on the possible reasons for this. He blames an overly complicated system which I agree that it is for claimants but given that I can understand it -it can't be that difficult. I do, however note that the Inland Revenue now require no formal qualifications for new recruits -they used to require a minimum of five GCSEs. I'm not being snooty but given that exams are now almost impossible to fail you'd have to be a real dunce not to have any qualifications. For heavens sake in 2007 97% of GCSE pupils passed their exams. Who are the other 3%? Admit you want to know too so you can take the piss as well.
I could go on but if I write about fucking Europe I will explode with sheer rage. I will confess to having a list of everyone who has ever mocked me for my Euroscepticism and will be taunting them with the relevant details and requiring them to explain how exactly being opposed to fraud, waste, stupidity, excessive bureaucracy and corruption is xenophobic?
I am only 3/4 of the way through the book and already I'm hopping mad. I didn't even vote Labour, I never have mainly because I hate them yet they've even managed to let me down. Not the the last Conservative administration get off scot-free either having been responsible for some appalling waste themselves. I used to hate people who whined that there was no point voting or caring about politics but they have got a point really. Prior to becoming a communist for two years a fifteen I was an anarchist and the more I see in life I'm starting to think I was right in the first place.
It's an illuminating read and one that I shall be quoting great chunks of to Gordon Brown if he starts on me with his 6am crank calls.
Cheerio
I'm afraid I've been reading again and it's left me furious! Fit to be tied! What could have got me so riled? Well it is a fine book by the name 'Squandered' written by David Craig and it details how our wonderful leaders have wasted billions of pounds of our money on sod all of any use to anyone. Though that said they have been very kind to themselves.
I haven't finished the book yet I kept having to pause and wonder why it hasn't sparked a bloody revolution. Despite living in one of the wealthiest countries in the world (I refer to Britain as a whole -not Scotland obviously before anyone starts emailing) we have a health service which manages to kill at least 34,000 patients unnecessarily every year. Though given that 34,000 is the health services own figure the real total may be much higher. It also confirms my suspicion that the NHS isn't a mess because of underfunding at all. It's a mess because of disgraceful, bloated management and outsourcing of important services like food and cleaning. Under Labour -those passionate advocates of the health service billions has been squandered on increased management and toothless watchdogs all at the expense of patient care which is the whole point of the bloody thing.
Still at least we're not at war....oh wait a minute...oh dear. Well the good news is most of us aren't in the armed services but it's bad news if you are. Despite being war crazy the government are curiously tight fisted when it comes to forking out for basics like medical supplies, guns that work and devices that offer protection against roadside bombs and the like. Frankly if it came to light that there are entire regiments in Iraq fighting with peashooters and water pistols I would not bat an eyelid. On the bright side if you come back in one piece and work very hard you might get a job in the MoD headquarters . They're very nice apparently and so they should be as they're costing us £78million a year for the next thirty years.
It came as no surprise to me to learn that the benefits system is in complete disarray, though even I was surprised to learn the DWP had it's accounts rejected by the Auditor General every year for the last eighteen years. I part company slightly with the author on the possible reasons for this. He blames an overly complicated system which I agree that it is for claimants but given that I can understand it -it can't be that difficult. I do, however note that the Inland Revenue now require no formal qualifications for new recruits -they used to require a minimum of five GCSEs. I'm not being snooty but given that exams are now almost impossible to fail you'd have to be a real dunce not to have any qualifications. For heavens sake in 2007 97% of GCSE pupils passed their exams. Who are the other 3%? Admit you want to know too so you can take the piss as well.
I could go on but if I write about fucking Europe I will explode with sheer rage. I will confess to having a list of everyone who has ever mocked me for my Euroscepticism and will be taunting them with the relevant details and requiring them to explain how exactly being opposed to fraud, waste, stupidity, excessive bureaucracy and corruption is xenophobic?
I am only 3/4 of the way through the book and already I'm hopping mad. I didn't even vote Labour, I never have mainly because I hate them yet they've even managed to let me down. Not the the last Conservative administration get off scot-free either having been responsible for some appalling waste themselves. I used to hate people who whined that there was no point voting or caring about politics but they have got a point really. Prior to becoming a communist for two years a fifteen I was an anarchist and the more I see in life I'm starting to think I was right in the first place.
It's an illuminating read and one that I shall be quoting great chunks of to Gordon Brown if he starts on me with his 6am crank calls.
Cheerio
4/13/2008
Human Stupidity
Hello,
I shall mark this week down in my diary as the week I witnessed so much human stupidity I began to feel like a lonely intellectual with only my lute and protractor for company. Where do I begin?
Well I watched the apprentice for the first time in years. I'm only preparing to be self employed again and Lord knows I wouldn't like to be judged on my track record last time around but do the contestant's mothers know they are out? Do they have mothers or were they spawned in petri dishes? Throughout that programme all I could hear was my grandmother saying empty cans rattle the loudest. Quite remarkable if amusing in a somewhat cruel fashion. Can it be long before Sir Alan goes on a machine gun rampage?
Later in the week I saw a young mum and a young mum to be having a heated discussion about something that could only be of importance to the sort of people who appear on the Jeremy Kyle Show. It's hard to say who won given that the entire squabble managed to pass under my head but the moment that will stay with me to the grave is young mum threatening to boot mum be in the bump. More alarming still she was cheered on by her bovine mates for this. I was horrified enough at the young men present for joining in but for a group of young women including several mothers to applaud someone for in effect threatening to induce an abortion is disgusting. I have not of course overlooked the fact that mum to be was giving as good as she got on the threats front.
When I was a schoolgirl a number of my school friends found themselves suddenly pregnant. Without exception this had such a calming effect on them I always suspected it might have been hormone induced. Lord knows how one would account for the behaviour mentioned above. Perhaps Farmfoods are putting something in their icepoles.
We also had several young chaps into our surgery with their parents for advice on the best way to throw said young chaps out the house. What could have brought on such a display of tough love? What crime had these boys committed? Well the young fellows had spoken to careers advisers and decided to get jobs. To be fair one of the boys was going into insurance but until that racket is made illegal then he shouldn't be judged. Apparently if the boys take up work their parents benefits would be affected. The boys protestations that they would pay dig money fell on deaf ears. I only met with one of the families and that was one too many.
The mother was convinced that as her boy had asthma he should spend the rest of his life on benefits. The boy on the other hand felt that as his asthma was only very mild and that he hardly used his inhaler he was fit to work. The boy who stated that his worst nightmare was to end up 'like everyone else round here' was in my view a walking miracle. How such a household of fools produced a well spoken, reasonably intelligent fine young man I'll never know. He's on the waiting list for a flat near me and I hope he gets it soon. What mentality of parent doesn't want to see their children do better than them? Much as I mock my own parents I can see that I've been bloody lucky. Even when I went through my new age phase they were right behind me.
Finally my most detested of work colleagues who was made redundant last year is back, back, back. This time as my assistant. I am not making this up- God knows I wish I was. It is just as well I'm looking for a new job and going on to start a business because I don't know how much more I can take. On Thursday I strolled into work to find him sitting at my desk talking to himself and giggling at an empty excel spreadsheet. That was bad enough but later he went on to tell us that his daughter is moving in with him because he is cool. After a small amount of questioning we discovered that his daughter thinks he is cool because he buys her drink before she goes out. Her mother on the other hand refuses to on the grounds that she is seventeen. Sadly we are not talking about a couple of cans of lager here. Not for his 'princess' oh no she gets a litre bottle of vodka to share with her boyfriend of three weeks. Oddly enough her mother disapproves of this.
What is wrong with this scenario -oh let me count the ways. Well first up a boyfriend of three weeks is probably not the best person to be drinking oneself into a coma with. I am quite certain that underneath his baseball cap, trackie and menacing expression he is perfectly nice but statistics alone tell us he's a potential rapist. That's not to tar all men with the same brush but given the choice would you rather your daughter spoke to a strange man or a strange woman?
Secondly even if her boyfriend of three weeks is a perfect gent, will every man she encounters during the evening's festivities be harmless? Will every woman she comes across just be out for a bit of fun and not a fight? Can her seventeen year old liver sustain this level of consumption over her adult life? Am I alone in hearing banjos when a man goes to such lengths to get his daughter drunk?
God if you're reading this, send down the locusts and thunderbolts. It's all gone wrong and I'm fucked if I can fix it.
Cheerio
I shall mark this week down in my diary as the week I witnessed so much human stupidity I began to feel like a lonely intellectual with only my lute and protractor for company. Where do I begin?
Well I watched the apprentice for the first time in years. I'm only preparing to be self employed again and Lord knows I wouldn't like to be judged on my track record last time around but do the contestant's mothers know they are out? Do they have mothers or were they spawned in petri dishes? Throughout that programme all I could hear was my grandmother saying empty cans rattle the loudest. Quite remarkable if amusing in a somewhat cruel fashion. Can it be long before Sir Alan goes on a machine gun rampage?
Later in the week I saw a young mum and a young mum to be having a heated discussion about something that could only be of importance to the sort of people who appear on the Jeremy Kyle Show. It's hard to say who won given that the entire squabble managed to pass under my head but the moment that will stay with me to the grave is young mum threatening to boot mum be in the bump. More alarming still she was cheered on by her bovine mates for this. I was horrified enough at the young men present for joining in but for a group of young women including several mothers to applaud someone for in effect threatening to induce an abortion is disgusting. I have not of course overlooked the fact that mum to be was giving as good as she got on the threats front.
When I was a schoolgirl a number of my school friends found themselves suddenly pregnant. Without exception this had such a calming effect on them I always suspected it might have been hormone induced. Lord knows how one would account for the behaviour mentioned above. Perhaps Farmfoods are putting something in their icepoles.
We also had several young chaps into our surgery with their parents for advice on the best way to throw said young chaps out the house. What could have brought on such a display of tough love? What crime had these boys committed? Well the young fellows had spoken to careers advisers and decided to get jobs. To be fair one of the boys was going into insurance but until that racket is made illegal then he shouldn't be judged. Apparently if the boys take up work their parents benefits would be affected. The boys protestations that they would pay dig money fell on deaf ears. I only met with one of the families and that was one too many.
The mother was convinced that as her boy had asthma he should spend the rest of his life on benefits. The boy on the other hand felt that as his asthma was only very mild and that he hardly used his inhaler he was fit to work. The boy who stated that his worst nightmare was to end up 'like everyone else round here' was in my view a walking miracle. How such a household of fools produced a well spoken, reasonably intelligent fine young man I'll never know. He's on the waiting list for a flat near me and I hope he gets it soon. What mentality of parent doesn't want to see their children do better than them? Much as I mock my own parents I can see that I've been bloody lucky. Even when I went through my new age phase they were right behind me.
Finally my most detested of work colleagues who was made redundant last year is back, back, back. This time as my assistant. I am not making this up- God knows I wish I was. It is just as well I'm looking for a new job and going on to start a business because I don't know how much more I can take. On Thursday I strolled into work to find him sitting at my desk talking to himself and giggling at an empty excel spreadsheet. That was bad enough but later he went on to tell us that his daughter is moving in with him because he is cool. After a small amount of questioning we discovered that his daughter thinks he is cool because he buys her drink before she goes out. Her mother on the other hand refuses to on the grounds that she is seventeen. Sadly we are not talking about a couple of cans of lager here. Not for his 'princess' oh no she gets a litre bottle of vodka to share with her boyfriend of three weeks. Oddly enough her mother disapproves of this.
What is wrong with this scenario -oh let me count the ways. Well first up a boyfriend of three weeks is probably not the best person to be drinking oneself into a coma with. I am quite certain that underneath his baseball cap, trackie and menacing expression he is perfectly nice but statistics alone tell us he's a potential rapist. That's not to tar all men with the same brush but given the choice would you rather your daughter spoke to a strange man or a strange woman?
Secondly even if her boyfriend of three weeks is a perfect gent, will every man she encounters during the evening's festivities be harmless? Will every woman she comes across just be out for a bit of fun and not a fight? Can her seventeen year old liver sustain this level of consumption over her adult life? Am I alone in hearing banjos when a man goes to such lengths to get his daughter drunk?
God if you're reading this, send down the locusts and thunderbolts. It's all gone wrong and I'm fucked if I can fix it.
Cheerio
3/30/2008
Is This Real?
Hello,
It has to be said I have very mixed feelings about vandalism. On the one hand I disapprove of destroying public or private property for one's personal amusement but on the other it can on occasion be quite funny. Nevertheless it is illegal so I accept that when little Toby of Whitecraigs finds himself before the beak for his 'ghetto' antics he's got to be punished.
However I was surprised to read in today's Herald that one Gary Shields of Crookston was sentenced to 28 months in prison for his artistic endevours. He'd have been better stabbing someone really. If ever there was an offence crying out for community service or a bit of electronic tagging and a stiff fine it's this one. Oh if only I were a beak I'd have had Gary and his chums in the 'Eazy Riders' crew shackled together scrubbing walls and dislodging chewing gum for a year. I'd have fined the lot of them five grand each on top of requiring them to repay the cost of clearing up the mess they've already made and ordered them to attend literacy classes -'Eazy' indeed! In my court the little buggers would also be tagged and given a curfew to prevent them operating undercover of darkness. Oh and if they're responsible for the graffiti art pictured beside the report in the paper I'd chuck in some compulsory art classes. Honestly it's woeful.
At no point would it have occurred to me to send young Gary to Barlinnie to share a sell with a fellow sentenced to 28 months for trafficking £130,000 worth of cannabis. It's particularly absurd in this case given that trainee structural engineer Gary is an otherwise respectable fellow who was about to be be sent to university by his employer before 28 months of morning shower nerves entered the picture.
I shall spare you all my full prison reform rant suffice to say I'm on the harsh but fair wing that gets drowned out between the stick pins in their eyes and feed them gruel and the teach them to paint cats and fluff up their pillows brigades. My main beef with unduly harsh sentences is that it's taking up a place that could go to a kiddie fiddler or a proper thug. It's not fair that these people who work so hard to cause misery and distress wherever they go should be deprived of a place in prison just because some spray painting amateur is cluttering up a cell. If we as a society stop rewarding effort and hard work we'll grind to a halt and as no-one else is prepared to speak for the hard working criminal outcast the burden has fallen on my shoulders.
My other concern is that putting folk in prison who shouldn't really be there adds weight to the argument that regimes should become softer. Indeed it was the harsh treatment received by many well educated conscientious objectors during the first world war that led to the relaxation of many unduly harsh rules -not that I'm placing Gary in such illustrious company. That was fine back then because the treatment of prisoners was utterly appalling, however we're starting from a much more relaxed position these days. Quite apart from anything else the opinions of prisoners on their treatment should be an irrelevance. Unless they are calling attention to serious abuse of their basic and I emphasise basic human rights I have little interest in how they think or feel about anything. It is far easier to dismiss the bleating of a murderer about prison, an otherwise respectable vandal commands a great deal more sympathy.
As a deterrent his sentence is useless because it's too atypical to have any real impact. Making it typical does not serve the interests of society in any way. In any case how many vandals are caught in the act -judging by the epidemic of bus shelter destruction in the east end I'd guess very few. As far as I can tell efforts to clean up the city are directed at easy targets -city centre office workers dropping fag ends whilst out for a fly fag and so on. The truth is Gary was very unfortunate to be caught.
I accept that for many people graffiti creates an intimidating atmosphere but the we cannot start handing out jail sentences on the basis of people's feelings. In any case if the public regularly saw offenders cleaning up they would draw comfort from the knowledge that something is being done. Gary's sentence is a waste of public money that will achieve little but give those with an understandable desire for vengeance a few seconds victory, until of course they turn the page of their paper and see someone out on parole to ease overcrowding on trial for rape.
Cheerio
It has to be said I have very mixed feelings about vandalism. On the one hand I disapprove of destroying public or private property for one's personal amusement but on the other it can on occasion be quite funny. Nevertheless it is illegal so I accept that when little Toby of Whitecraigs finds himself before the beak for his 'ghetto' antics he's got to be punished.
However I was surprised to read in today's Herald that one Gary Shields of Crookston was sentenced to 28 months in prison for his artistic endevours. He'd have been better stabbing someone really. If ever there was an offence crying out for community service or a bit of electronic tagging and a stiff fine it's this one. Oh if only I were a beak I'd have had Gary and his chums in the 'Eazy Riders' crew shackled together scrubbing walls and dislodging chewing gum for a year. I'd have fined the lot of them five grand each on top of requiring them to repay the cost of clearing up the mess they've already made and ordered them to attend literacy classes -'Eazy' indeed! In my court the little buggers would also be tagged and given a curfew to prevent them operating undercover of darkness. Oh and if they're responsible for the graffiti art pictured beside the report in the paper I'd chuck in some compulsory art classes. Honestly it's woeful.
At no point would it have occurred to me to send young Gary to Barlinnie to share a sell with a fellow sentenced to 28 months for trafficking £130,000 worth of cannabis. It's particularly absurd in this case given that trainee structural engineer Gary is an otherwise respectable fellow who was about to be be sent to university by his employer before 28 months of morning shower nerves entered the picture.
I shall spare you all my full prison reform rant suffice to say I'm on the harsh but fair wing that gets drowned out between the stick pins in their eyes and feed them gruel and the teach them to paint cats and fluff up their pillows brigades. My main beef with unduly harsh sentences is that it's taking up a place that could go to a kiddie fiddler or a proper thug. It's not fair that these people who work so hard to cause misery and distress wherever they go should be deprived of a place in prison just because some spray painting amateur is cluttering up a cell. If we as a society stop rewarding effort and hard work we'll grind to a halt and as no-one else is prepared to speak for the hard working criminal outcast the burden has fallen on my shoulders.
My other concern is that putting folk in prison who shouldn't really be there adds weight to the argument that regimes should become softer. Indeed it was the harsh treatment received by many well educated conscientious objectors during the first world war that led to the relaxation of many unduly harsh rules -not that I'm placing Gary in such illustrious company. That was fine back then because the treatment of prisoners was utterly appalling, however we're starting from a much more relaxed position these days. Quite apart from anything else the opinions of prisoners on their treatment should be an irrelevance. Unless they are calling attention to serious abuse of their basic and I emphasise basic human rights I have little interest in how they think or feel about anything. It is far easier to dismiss the bleating of a murderer about prison, an otherwise respectable vandal commands a great deal more sympathy.
As a deterrent his sentence is useless because it's too atypical to have any real impact. Making it typical does not serve the interests of society in any way. In any case how many vandals are caught in the act -judging by the epidemic of bus shelter destruction in the east end I'd guess very few. As far as I can tell efforts to clean up the city are directed at easy targets -city centre office workers dropping fag ends whilst out for a fly fag and so on. The truth is Gary was very unfortunate to be caught.
I accept that for many people graffiti creates an intimidating atmosphere but the we cannot start handing out jail sentences on the basis of people's feelings. In any case if the public regularly saw offenders cleaning up they would draw comfort from the knowledge that something is being done. Gary's sentence is a waste of public money that will achieve little but give those with an understandable desire for vengeance a few seconds victory, until of course they turn the page of their paper and see someone out on parole to ease overcrowding on trial for rape.
Cheerio
3/14/2008
A Sterile Bubble Of Privilege!
'For all their fancy words, what these members and officials of Glasgow City Council actually want to do is turn the city centre into a sterile bubble of privilege, where their chosen 'elite' can pretend the whole city is basking in the glow of trickle-down economics... they should be ashamed, but of course they're not!'
-Sydney Meriwether, one of Glasgow's more intelligent residents.
Hello,
Is there anything Glasgow City Council can do without making a complete arse of it? I merely ask because it would appear that at long last they've finally got their way over Paddy's Market. The council have been gurning and whining about Paddy's Market for years because it has the effrontery to be a bit on the rough side. As we all know the city council has an instinctive loathing for anything authentically Glaswegian. Anything that isn't a bland third rate, overpriced 'continental' snore fest is to be outlawed.
According to my useless local councillor Gordon Matheson the market has been making the lives of local residents a misery for years. According to Gordy boy 'The community I represent has suffered for long enough and Glasgow can no longer tolerate what I've called a crime-ridden midden.' It's funny but in the eight years I've lived here it has never once caused me even mild irritation, let alone suffering. Things like excessive noise from certain local pubs, rowdy and aggressive football fans, litter and insufficient rubbish collection have caused me a fair bit of suffering over the years but for some reason Councillor Matheson has never bothered replying to my polite letters on the subject or doing anything to remedy the situation. In fact all he appears to do for the area is spout crap in the papers from time to time.
The council is still sticking to the line that the market is a hotbed of crime which to be fair it is. However if my house was burgled on a regular basis I wouldn't demolish it in an effort to solve the problem. Instead I'd get onto the police and demand something was done. In addition to the usual counterfeit goods found at almost every market in the world Paddy's seems to have a significant number of drug dealers hanging about. I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist but if open drug dealing at Paddys was taking place and the council knew about it. Why have the police not taken serious action to stamp the problem out? Either the council have failed to put pressure on the police to tackle the problem to give them an excuse to get rid of the market or the police have turned a blind eye. I was of the impression the police were under a fair bit of pressure to make arrests, it appears they've chosen not to make what sound like very easy arrests, which makes me very suspicious. Could it be that Strathclyde's finest are taking a bung from somewhere? Local rumour has it that the rampant crime in parts of North Glasgow can be partly attributed to corrupt police taking bungs to let their gangster chums run wild -it's not impossible. Alternatively the council could just be lying or exaggerating which let's face it would be pretty much business as usual for that arrogant shower of Labour pigs.
Remarkably the council do not intend to flog the Paddy's Market site off to developers to build another shopping centre or clutter up with a load of permanently vacant 'luxury' apartments. Oh no they have plans! Paddy's will remain a market but a 'mini-Camden Market' -God forbid anything should happen in Glasgow that hasn't been ripped off from a larger city. Frankly I'm amazed the 'continent' wasn't mentioned. For those of you who don't know the continent is a magical place where everything is better and more civilised than Britain. To be fair they have a point, what I love about the continent is the constant smoking, the long lunches, the strikes, the public holidays, complete absence of enforcement of EU directives and the mad driving. It also feels authentic which is more than can be said for this third rate theme park. Why do they never want to copy any of the fun stuff?
Not only are we getting a fake Camden Market but it will be 'cultural' as well. That doesn't mean there will be stalls flogging bassoons to classical musicians but that there will be immigrants with stalls selling foreign gee-gaws. Good God where would we all be without the the council? Instead of leaving the various new immigrant groups in Glasgow get on with opening restaurants, delis and shops as they have been doing for the last few years, the poor sods are to be herded into a doomed market to add a bit of 'colour'. It may surprise the council to learn the immigrants have been lending a bit of 'colour' to Paddy's for a while now by shopping in it. This sort of thrifty behaviour is what allows them to save up and start their own businesses, study for professional qualifications or put their children through school. In fact Paddy's was started by immigrant Irish traders in the day's before foreigners were reduced to the status of window dressing by unconsciously racist morons.
You will note above that I describe the market as 'doomed'. I'd love to be proved wrong on that score. Having run a small retail business in Glasgow I know just how valuable cheap premises are. Glasgow is not an easy city to trade in for the independant retailer in part due to the locals love of big brands names and the council's embarrassing willingness to behave like the chain store's lapdog. Honestly the Argyle St branch of Marks and Spencer could start selling child sex slaves for 50p and the council would still praise them to the skies. Anyway I've wandered. Why is the market doomed? Well it is situated between Kings Court and The Briggait. Kings Court is full of the sort of arty retailers the council wants to lure to the kiddy on Camden. Well I say full what I mean is in between the empty units. Those retailers still trading in Kings Court are hanging on by their fingernails. It's a vicious circle, they get little passing trade but can't afford to do any proper advertising to attract customers and so they limp on counting the pennies and dreaming of the pounds. Not that the council lift a finger to help them out of course. Why spend a couple of thousand promoting small retailers when you can blow millions promoting the upmarket chain stores on Buchanan St. As for The Briggait with hindsight this was a warning about the direction this city is heading in. For no real reason the council decided to turn this into an upmarket shopping centre in the 1980s in a city with at that time record unemployment levels and on a street with little passing trade. Would you be amazed to learn that it bombed? The last I heard the premises were being used by some arts group.
I am no business expert but common sense alone suggests that the enforced yuppiefication of that areas retail sector is doomed to fail. For heaven's sake it's the central east end. People want bargains -cheap fags, cheap furniture, cheap clothes, gold chains that turn your neck green, pirate DVDs and old dustbin lids. If we want a fair trade rug produced on a handloom by a disabled goat in Peru then we go to the west end. To put it in newspaper terms the west end is The Guardian and the east end is The Sun. The councils actions are like plonking a baps out Polly Toynbee on page 3 and asking Jon Gaunt to write a glowing review of the Haringey LGBT asylum seekers mime troupe's version of Starlight Express. Only not as funny.
I am sick to the back teeth of this upmarket city pretence. It's flapdoodle of the highest order. It's not that I don't want my city to improve because much as I mock it I do love my bit of the world. I have never wished to be anything other than Glaswegian -it's a great arsehole detector for a start. If I meet someone and they start sneering at me for being a 'weegie' I know instantly that they are operating way beneath my head and add them to the list of people I don't have to pretend to like. Glasgow is a city blessed with vast reserves of untapped potential and cursed with no-one in authority with the first clue what to do with it. The greatest boxers the world will never know are currently eating and drinking their way into soft flab and waddling around Glasgow picking fights. The world's greatest business brains that will never be used are scamming the benefits system and dealing drugs. Fine orators are bellowing garbled rubbish at bus stops. Philosophers and thinkers are boring the arse of their local. Great politicians are arguing about what her next door said to Natalie fae Haghill on the bus last week. Supermodels are stuffing their face with pies and disappearing under a disfiguring blanket of blubber. If the council put half as much in the way of time and resources into spotting and developing the potential of it's residents as it did into conning tourists with phoney window dressing this city would be the envy of the world and without trying a real tourist destination. Oh and let's face it even if I'm overestimating my fellow Glaswegians, a good education combined with the cheek of the average weegie would be more than enough to wing it.
Cheerio
2/23/2008
Where do the coins go?
Hello,
I had this rather amusing snippet brought to my attention which in the normal run of things I would just link to with the words 'ooh isn't that Wendy Alexander a big silly', however as it has been written by George Galloway I shall preface the link with the following to avoid a whopping great bore fest in the comments section.
F.A.O Any passing decents
I personally was sent six barrels of a oil a week by Saddam Hussein who I admire greatly because I think foreigners should live under dictatorships because I am a totalitarian. I have a wife who has received money from some appeal or other into her bank account because I am the living embodiment of pure evil and it is my dream to impersonate a cat on television. So there's no use boring the arse off me with comments about George Galloway who isn't the bloody point of this post. Are we all clear?
F.A.O Everyone else
One of the most spiffing things about George Galloway's fall out with the Labour Party is his habit of sticking the boot into his former comrades. Be warned the following article is on the Daily Record website so I'd advise clearing your browser history to avoid any embarrassment.
Behold Wendy 'formidable intellect' Alexander struggle to understand pay as you go mobiles. This woman is in charge of Scotlands largest opposition party and aspires to rule Scotland. It's hard to feel much optimism about the future of this country sometimes.
Cheerio
I had this rather amusing snippet brought to my attention which in the normal run of things I would just link to with the words 'ooh isn't that Wendy Alexander a big silly', however as it has been written by George Galloway I shall preface the link with the following to avoid a whopping great bore fest in the comments section.
F.A.O Any passing decents
I personally was sent six barrels of a oil a week by Saddam Hussein who I admire greatly because I think foreigners should live under dictatorships because I am a totalitarian. I have a wife who has received money from some appeal or other into her bank account because I am the living embodiment of pure evil and it is my dream to impersonate a cat on television. So there's no use boring the arse off me with comments about George Galloway who isn't the bloody point of this post. Are we all clear?
F.A.O Everyone else
One of the most spiffing things about George Galloway's fall out with the Labour Party is his habit of sticking the boot into his former comrades. Be warned the following article is on the Daily Record website so I'd advise clearing your browser history to avoid any embarrassment.
Behold Wendy 'formidable intellect' Alexander struggle to understand pay as you go mobiles. This woman is in charge of Scotlands largest opposition party and aspires to rule Scotland. It's hard to feel much optimism about the future of this country sometimes.
Cheerio
1/12/2008
Chickens
Hello,
Being irrationally sentimental about animals I tuned in with interest to Jamie Oliver's chicken killing show last night. I freely admit to crying like a baby when the poor chicks copped it. I was going to blog about it last night but I thought I'd sleep on it to see if my murderous feelings towards an audience member had subsided but they haven't.
It was during the first part of the programme about eggs. Jamie asked some grotesque fat woman if the audience if she would consider buying free range eggs or barn eggs rather than battery farmed eggs having seen how awful conditions are in battery farms. To which she responded no because they were too expensive and lots of people don't have money. When Jamie, who is too nice to deal with the public got a bit daring and accused her of being too stingy to spring an extra 7p a box for a more decently produced egg she remained unmoved. Why does Channel Four never ask me to do these things? Whilst Jamie just left it there I wouldn't have. I would have asked that given she is clinically obese would she not consider buying free range and eating less eggs? If she'd still said no. I would have asked her if she'd be willing to to torture and kill chickens for 7p a go? If she'd said yes I'd have got her to do it live in the studio then reported her for animal cruelty. If she'd said no I'd have called her a big fat revolting hypocrite and spent the rest of the programme making her the (vast) butt of my jokes and catty asides.
To be fair to fatty at least she was honest about not caring a jot about animal welfare. I am confident that the chicken killing in the programme will generate loads of complaints from morons that think they eat magic chickens that flutter onto their plate without any of that awful slaughterhouse business.
This food poverty crap that keeps coming up whenever any issue regarding food is debated really gets my goat. If food was too expensive the poor would be skin and bone and the rich would be as fat as houses. It would also be impossible for me to make healthy meals for 50p a head but it isn't. There's a lot of debate about poverty in Britain but the one thing we do not have is food poverty. Cultural and educational poverty certainly but no-one is too poor to eat. In the context of the chicken welfare debate it is perfectly possible even on the tightest budget to avoid eating ill-treated chicken and eggs which have spent too long lying in excrement and urine to be edible in my opinion. All you need to do is reject the absurd consumerist idea that not getting what you want at every second of every day means you are deprived. Eat less chicken and eggs and buy free range only. Not only are you being kind to the chickens and getting tastier eggs and meat but they'll feel like even more of a treat when you do get them. Embrace anticipation! Look forward to things!
Cheerio
Being irrationally sentimental about animals I tuned in with interest to Jamie Oliver's chicken killing show last night. I freely admit to crying like a baby when the poor chicks copped it. I was going to blog about it last night but I thought I'd sleep on it to see if my murderous feelings towards an audience member had subsided but they haven't.
It was during the first part of the programme about eggs. Jamie asked some grotesque fat woman if the audience if she would consider buying free range eggs or barn eggs rather than battery farmed eggs having seen how awful conditions are in battery farms. To which she responded no because they were too expensive and lots of people don't have money. When Jamie, who is too nice to deal with the public got a bit daring and accused her of being too stingy to spring an extra 7p a box for a more decently produced egg she remained unmoved. Why does Channel Four never ask me to do these things? Whilst Jamie just left it there I wouldn't have. I would have asked that given she is clinically obese would she not consider buying free range and eating less eggs? If she'd still said no. I would have asked her if she'd be willing to to torture and kill chickens for 7p a go? If she'd said yes I'd have got her to do it live in the studio then reported her for animal cruelty. If she'd said no I'd have called her a big fat revolting hypocrite and spent the rest of the programme making her the (vast) butt of my jokes and catty asides.
To be fair to fatty at least she was honest about not caring a jot about animal welfare. I am confident that the chicken killing in the programme will generate loads of complaints from morons that think they eat magic chickens that flutter onto their plate without any of that awful slaughterhouse business.
This food poverty crap that keeps coming up whenever any issue regarding food is debated really gets my goat. If food was too expensive the poor would be skin and bone and the rich would be as fat as houses. It would also be impossible for me to make healthy meals for 50p a head but it isn't. There's a lot of debate about poverty in Britain but the one thing we do not have is food poverty. Cultural and educational poverty certainly but no-one is too poor to eat. In the context of the chicken welfare debate it is perfectly possible even on the tightest budget to avoid eating ill-treated chicken and eggs which have spent too long lying in excrement and urine to be edible in my opinion. All you need to do is reject the absurd consumerist idea that not getting what you want at every second of every day means you are deprived. Eat less chicken and eggs and buy free range only. Not only are you being kind to the chickens and getting tastier eggs and meat but they'll feel like even more of a treat when you do get them. Embrace anticipation! Look forward to things!
Cheerio
1/11/2008
Startling Idiocy
Hello,
Those of us unfortunate enough to have been state educated will remember the appalling torture of sharing a book with an illiterate fool who took about an hour to read a paragraph. Before you accuse me of being catty about stupid folk, let me point out that they were more than able to stand up for themselves. Ah yes those happy days of having ones head bounced off walls for being a 'pure swot' or reading at a normal speed as it's generally known.
I often wonder what on earth happened to these folk, haunted as I am by the fear of running into one of them. Anyway I am delighted to report that their spirit lives on. Only today I was browsing the Internet when I came across what I think might be the most stupid thing I've ever read in my life (Councillor Kelly excepted). It's not so much stupidity that upsets me but the complete refusal to admit that one might not know everything and compulsion to attack anything that remotely challenges one's view of oneself or the wider world.
Imagine if you will a Chinese woman writes a book which is less than flattering about Chairman Mao. You might decide to read the book, you may be indifferent, you might read a few extracts in a Sunday paper intend to buy it and forget, you might buy it and use it as a doorstop, you might draw attention to some alleged inaccuracies in it. All of those would be sensible and normal reactions.
However as ever the moronic community have their own unique way of dealing with this outrage. Witness the behaviour of the staff of Revolution Books at a visit from Jung Chang and Jon Halliday to discuss Mao: The Unknown Story to Berkeley in the USA.
'It's just outrageous," said Gary Miller, a volunteer at Berkeley's Revolution Books, as he leafleted the authors' event on campus. "A lot of people look with a great deal of affection at the Mao years because China's been turned into one giant sweatshop.'
Isn't it hilarious! As if all the workers earned a fortune and danced the day away under Mao. I wonder if Gary Miller has ever reflected just how long his job at Revolution Books would last under the dear old chairman? Mind you it strikes me that Gary might have a wee touch of Chairman Mao about him; 'It's just outrageous' -what writing a book and answering questions about it in front of an audience? Good God where will such 'outrageous' conduct lead?
I'm also curious to who these folk are that look 'look with a great deal of affection at the Mao years' are because other than the people at the very top of of the Chinese Communist Party everyone seems to have had a miserable time and to be fair more than a few of the top boys were treated appallingly. Honestly what sort of maniac looks back on picnics like The Cultural Revolution with 'a great deal of affection'? It certainly won't be the poor Chinese proletariat who suffered unbearable horror despite being the supposed beneficiaries of a society purged of bourgeoisie elements. It certainly won't have been anyone with an appreciation of art, literature or their cultural heritage. It won't have been the peasant farmers who were given the gift of skinny teenage workers more suited to looking wistful at a window than tough farm work. In fact I'd say that anyone who looks back with 'great affection' at The Cultural Revolution and Chairman Mao is a wicked barbarian and only just worth shooting or sending to the countryside for re-education.
As a distraught fifteen year old I was all for communism but even I thought countries like China were a bloody nightmare. At the time I thought this was just because they'd done communism wrong and if the right set set of folk were in charge it would be champers for the workers all the way. These days having met enough people to know better my view on communism can be best be summed up by this quote from the movie Ben Hur 'Balthasar is a good man. But until all men are like him, we must keep our swords bright!', only I would add, our tills ringing and government in it's place.
None of which is to imply that China is now heaven on earth. It's far from it. Conditions there would provoke an uprising in Britain but it's better than it was and I'm appalled that some pampered American oaf who's worst experience is being marketed at would seek to prevent a woman who lived through the affectionately remembered rule of Mao from speaking her mind or are all the goodies of democracy the sole preserve of the west?
I merely require information.
Cheerio
Cheerio
12/20/2007
Ending The Working Year On A Suitably Absurd Note
Hello,
Today we had a very distressed client in our offices complaining that she'd been sent a distressing letter concerning her deceased ex-husband. As the letter contained a fairly large cheque from a life insurance policy I was baffled at why she was so angry. There was talk of lawyers and compensation -usually a sign of madness in my experience.
The cause of her anguish was that the letter was addressed to 'The Executors Of The Estate Of Mr S**** B****'. Why did this cause her such distress? 'because ah never fuckin killed him!' came the reply.
A look at the dictionary and a further five minutes of patient reasoning and all was well with the world again.
Cheerio
Today we had a very distressed client in our offices complaining that she'd been sent a distressing letter concerning her deceased ex-husband. As the letter contained a fairly large cheque from a life insurance policy I was baffled at why she was so angry. There was talk of lawyers and compensation -usually a sign of madness in my experience.
The cause of her anguish was that the letter was addressed to 'The Executors Of The Estate Of Mr S**** B****'. Why did this cause her such distress? 'because ah never fuckin killed him!' came the reply.
A look at the dictionary and a further five minutes of patient reasoning and all was well with the world again.
Cheerio
12/08/2007
Charlie Gordon, Labour Sleaze and The Jews.
Hello,
A few tit bits from the ongoing Labour dodgy donations scandal......
I see that Charlie Gordon is refusing to step down as an MSP. Some of you might remember the last time I wrote about Chas on on this blog. His constituents must be relived to be retaining the services of such an exceptional individual.
I've been disturbed by the reaction in some quarters to David Abrahams being Jewish. I put up a page of RSS feeds relating to the ongoing scandal as a lazy means of keep track of things and have been alarmed to note, judging from my search tracker that it appears to have become a magnet for anti-Semites. I don't know what's more alarming their obsession with Jewish conspiracies or their apparent belief that a Jewish conspiracy is likely to be uncovered by typing "Labour controlled by Jews" or "Jewish/Mossad Conspiracy Labour Iraq" into Google. Honestly I despair. A rather sane take on the situation from 'Mad' Mel and another goodie at Pickled Politics.
Cheerio
A few tit bits from the ongoing Labour dodgy donations scandal......
I see that Charlie Gordon is refusing to step down as an MSP. Some of you might remember the last time I wrote about Chas on on this blog. His constituents must be relived to be retaining the services of such an exceptional individual.
I've been disturbed by the reaction in some quarters to David Abrahams being Jewish. I put up a page of RSS feeds relating to the ongoing scandal as a lazy means of keep track of things and have been alarmed to note, judging from my search tracker that it appears to have become a magnet for anti-Semites. I don't know what's more alarming their obsession with Jewish conspiracies or their apparent belief that a Jewish conspiracy is likely to be uncovered by typing "Labour controlled by Jews" or "Jewish/Mossad Conspiracy Labour Iraq" into Google. Honestly I despair. A rather sane take on the situation from 'Mad' Mel and another goodie at Pickled Politics.
Cheerio
12/05/2007
I Bloody Knew It!
Hello,
You will recall that for the last week or so I was convinced that there was a conspiracy at large in the land to turn me into fascist. Well just as I was starting to recover my equilibrium I popped over to David Duff's gaff and read this.
Naturally I was gobsmacked then I thought to myself -it's a prank! To reassure myself I took to the internet and discovered that it is indeed true or has been reported in The Scotsman and The Daily Mail.
Now I have caught The Daily Mail out being economical with the truth before but the facts of the case are pretty much the same in The Scotsman, The Times and on the BBC News website. It is of course possible that they've all got the wrong end of the stick but it's pretty unlikely. As unlikely as I'd have found this decision until I read about it.
If you've not clicked any of the links above you won't have the faintest what I'm on about. I am referring to the prisoner and ex-prisoner who have been granted the right to have a child by artificial insemination. Apparently mummy will be too old by the time daddy finishes his sentence in 2009. Mummy already has three children so what she is being deprived of is unclear other than the dubious right of having a fourth with a man serving a life sentence for murder.
As far as I understand the job of judges it is to interpret the law and give a verdict. That being the case should we not be looking at the law that's allowed this to happen? How exactly do the parents intend to support this child? What if the pressure of an extra mouth to feed tempts them off the straight and narrow? What did the poor child do to deserve them as parents? Is it wise to assist a man with a history of serious violence have children in the first place? If mummy was so desperate for a fourth child then why did she take up with a man who will not be released until after her childbearing years have ended?
This whining and refusal to accept the consequences of their actions by the prospective parents has been ongoing since 2003 since the Home Office in a rare episode of common sense refused them permission to conceive by artificial means. Being outraged that anyone was attempting to impose the old actions = consequences rules upon them, they obtained sufficient legal aid to allow them to take this all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. The court in it's wisdom ruled that the couple's human rights to respect for private and family life and the right to marry and found a family had been violated.
In truth their 'rights' had not been violated merely postponed. No-one forced either of them to break the law, no-one is preventing them from living as a family on Daddy's release, no-one is preventing Daddy from having a child with a younger woman on his release if he wishes to have a child of his own.
The BBC website informs us that The Home Office only grants the 'right' to artificial insemination to prisoners in exceptional circumstances. Out of the usual fifty or so requests received in a year around seven are granted. On what grounds? I have tried and tried and I cannot think of a single circumstance in which I believe it should be allowed. I do realise that prison is the most frightful inconvenience and a terrible interruption of one's life but isn't that partly the point?
Finally I propose that the national anthem is replaced with 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' by The Rolling Stones in the vain hope that it's wise, if simplistic message is absorbed. I don't know who told these muppets they had rights but I intend to find out and pelt them with scrap metal until they repent.
Cheerio
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