04-Jul-09
This is droll. The drollest thing about it is, what makes everybody think that a pink cowboy hat is gay? Can you imagine Hart Crane or André Gide wearing a pink cowboy hat? Boris is making himself look like an idiot so that the silly queens in this parade think he is cool.
This is thought to be progress. In what sense? I don't think it's progress. Progress would be more people reading Gide.
Here is one more example of the stupidity and profound insecurity of the PC majority-class (white, say; straight, say) of person. They will swallow any shit that a black/gay/whatever "other" hands to them on a plate. Or even that he throws at them.
Go ahead, Boris you schmuck. Show us how pro-gay you are. Put that hat on.
Moving on, this is a bit obscure, but will mean something to my fellow ex-AFA veterans: a review of Joey Owens' "Race war to Door wars". And on similar lines, Paul Stott versus Searchlight. While we're at it, here's Paul Stott versus the No Borders camp, and Paul Stott versus 7/7 conspiracy theorists.
Talking of antisemitism and conspiracy theory, remember Nick Kollerstrom? He's popped up again, at Conway Hall, redoubt of the bearded left, reports Johnny Void, who later, you'll be happy to hear, reports the event's cancellation. However, the meeting happened anyway, in a rather bizarre form, as an intrepid Indymedia reporter reports.
The Void also reports on something I have mentioned before, but not been following closely enough, the occupation of Lewisham Bridge Primary School, down the road from me. As far as know, they're still on the roof. Any more up to date news gratefully received in the comments.
And talking of old friends like Nicholas Kollerstrom, remember Red-Pink Nadine Nadine Rosa-Rosso? Well, Habibi reports that she is back in London, sharing a stage with a number of representatives of murderous theocratic paramilitary outfits - a "Hezbollah representative" and Djab Abou Jahjah via video link from Lebanon [and] Azzam "Kaboom" Tamimi, as well as John Rees of the "Stop the War Coalition". I'm embarrassed to admit this, but even I thought John Rees had more sense... And here's another old friend: Michelle Renouf.
Changing the subject, I have up to now refrained from saying anything about Honduras, because it is a subject I really know nothing about (plus, Snoopy told me not to worry). However, the more I read, the more outrageous the coup sounds. Amending the constitution to suspend basic freedoms, the violent suppression of the press, disappearing democratically elected municipal officials and replacing them with close relatives of the pretend president... I think the White House are calling it right when they say "This administration has been very clear that a coup is a coup. And there are no good coups and bad coups."
Finally, two from Left Luggage: a reason to be cheerful, and a very interesting post on liberal and marxist orthodoxies in relation to "anti-social behaviour".
The home secretary emphasised his personal commitment to a voluntary scheme, saying it should be a personal choice for British citizens in the same vein as obtaining a passport.Heathrow Terminal 5 had a similar scheme, the bases was you couldn't get on the plane unless you were fingerprinted. I don't call that voluntary, I call that compulsory in all but name. Much like the "voluntary" scheme this government want to bring in.
As I've said before the ID Card scheme is interlaced with the passport application process, why? The real point to this is not the question of an ID card but a National Identity Register and the overall cost to the government. As the Guardian reports the passport scheme is being pushed though parliament:
two batches of draft regulations to be approved by MPs tomorrow and next week are expected to include powers to make the passport a "designated document" under the national identity card scheme. This means that anyone applying for or renewing their passport from 2011 will have their details automatically added to the national identity databases.The identity register will include, name, date and place of birth, address, gender, immigration status, facial image and fingerprints. This information will be available to government agencies and private businesses. At the moment of course, but this government have always moved the goal posts and their "anti terror" checks are abused by people and councils all the time. Combine that with CCTV, DNA, phone, emails and on-line tracking databases, it starts to become Orwellian.
Which is what it distils down to, I don't trust this government with my data, in fact I don't trust them with anything. It's incredibly back handed to not be clear about what's happening, while pretending to be "honest Alan", he's is no more honest than Jacqui Smith was. He's just taken away the symbolically contentious element, in order to push through legislation on what the government really wanted the ID card for, a National Identity Register.
Ann Keen on the other hand should be referred to the NMC for misleading the public. She states
"If a member of staff does not feel comfortable about raising concerns with their employer, there are other routes that still afford the protection of PIDA. These include raising the matter with a legal adviser, their union or staff organisation, their MP or the independent regulator, the Care Quality Commission"
All the research on PIDA shows that it is ineffective. The government have been concealing that.
'If you want to find out what Britishness is there are some obvious places
to for an answer. Top of the list is the British, perhaps, is the British Council, the United Kingdom's leading cultural messenger abroad. If they don't know, who does? And who better to consult there than the chairman, Neil Kinnock, a man who over many years has been on a long journey around questions of national identity within Britain and outside it; forty years of travelling from denim-clad, red-haired, endlessly loquacious, Welsh scourge of the establishment to an unexpected terminus as the neatly-suited, bald-headed, ex-Eurocrat, the Rt. Hon. Lord Kinnock of Bedwelty. So I went to the council's offices in a street which, on the borders of the Mall, Whitehall and Trafalgar Square, is at what is more or less the centre of gravity of establishment Britain. In Kinnock's office on the sixth floor you felt you could almost lean out and touch the Houses of Parliament.
'As we drank tea I asked him: "What does the British Council say Britishness is?"
'His answer was unexpectedly succinct: "It never does."'
But the reason for that and the reason that my blogging hasn't been up to it's normal speed is that I've been a little bit busier at work than normal. One of colleagues is currently enjoying the coolness of Portugal (yeah it was warmer in Edinburgh yesterday than where he was) plus for the last three days we've been getting the data ready for the quaterly review. Oh yeah and the man who's name is on the building was over so I had to do a business review Powerpoint Presentation for his turning up.
Add to all that hecticness at work you have my hayfever leaving me feeling terrible in the morning plus I'm not really one for sleeping at the best of times, but in this heat it's nigh on impossible. All in all not an easy time for me. But hopefully I've broken the camels back and things, such as some of my readers early morning read should be back to normal all of next week, and thereafter.
Now I've learned before getting around to iPlayer-ing the episode I find out that not only have the BBC killed off Robin, but have axed the series as well. A BBC spokesman said:
'Viewers have enjoyed three fantastic series of Robin Hood but with the death of Robin in last week's finale, we feel that the show has reached its natural conclusion.'
Balderdash! Any executive at the BBC will recall the ITV series Robin of Sherwood and if they missed it they can catch it on ITV2 or something. When Michael Praed wanted out of the show they switched to one of the alternative legends of who Robin could have been and replaced Robin of Loxley with Robert of Huntingdon in the guise of Jason Connery.
Of course sharp witted readers amongst you are going to point out that there were also only three series over 26 episodes of Robin of Sherwood therefore 13 less than the BBC's own adaptation: but that's not really the point.
Jonas Armstrong was certainly Robin to Hoody Man to the hoody generation. Much as previous versions were to their forebears. I say though we can expect another TV adaptation of the hero of Sherwood Forest some time in the 2030s if current frequency of returning to a good yarn are anything to go by.
03-Jul-09
Ben Bradshaw's verbal assault on Tory homophobia, the bloggers' boycott of Iranian state TV and the shocking notion of a gay Thatcherite in our weekly round-up of the political blogs.
Pride and Prejudice
"If gays vote Tory they will rue the day very soon,” cautioned Chris Bryant darkly. His comments followed Ben Bradshaw's attack on the Conservatives, warning that a deep strain of homophobia persists in their ranks. The Culture Secretary bares the scars of a nasty and prejudiced general campaign in Exeter 12 years ago, when his oddball Tory opponent Dr Adrian Rogers accused gay people of leading “deviant [...]
Tuesday, a supplementary question on the strengthening of legislation on the trial of war criminals living in the UK. The Minister couldn't say whether i would apply to those alleged to have taken part in the Rwanda genocide. Attended a fascinating presentation by Yousif al-Khoei on Shi'ism, under the auspices of the UK Iran All-Party Group. Historically, there has always been separation between the clergy and the state in countries with a Shi'a majority, and what has happened in Iran since the revolution is an innovation. Dinner with much-traveled dear friend Phil Krone, who stayed with us overnight on his way home to Chicago from a tour of Yemen, Syria and Egypt.
Wednesday, final session of EU Committee to agree the draft report on money laundering and terrorist financing.
JW has gone to Spain for a week. Before he left he scored another 2-0 win at ping-pong, making it 121-114. Either he's getting better or I'm deteriorating, though most of the games are very close.
1. Anthony Little has a busy day.
2. Paul Waugh on a merry old Boris.
3. This week Mike Rouse has mainly...
4. Donal Blaney unmasks Mrs McBride.
5. Honorary Gayer Shane Greer on the legalisation of gayness in India.
6. ConHome on the latest misleading LibDem barchart.
7. I Spy Strangers on a bad day for Keith Vaz.
8. LibDem Voice has the latest Top 30 Wikio Blogs.
9. Martin Bright has another go at Press TV.
10. Cranmer on the divine right of politicians.
11. Cicero's Songs is in Vilnius.
12. Andrea Leadsom beats me to a speed awareness course.
And as a special treat, watch Gordon Brown not singing Old MacDonald had a farm. Eat your heart out John Redwood...
Part 1 (part 2 below)
Weirdest political resignation speech ever? We know that Sarah Palin is intensely ambitious but I can't see how resigning as governor half-way through the term is a good political move for a future presidency bid. More likely, it feels like Palin knows something in her closet will kill off her leadership bid and rather than put her family through more (evilll librul) media speculation she resigned. The amusing implication from what is a long, rambling, dis-jointed speech, is that her resignation will help the people of Alaska save millions of dollars. This is a sad day for the Democrat re-election cause.
Favourite bits from Palin's speech:
Let me go back to a comfortable analogy for me — sports... basketball. I use it because you're naïve if you don't see the national full-court press picking away right now: A good point guard drives through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her eye on the basket... and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can win. And I'm doing that, keeping our eye on the ball that represents sound priorities: smaller government, energy independence, national security, freedom. And I know when it's time to pass the ball — for victory.
Only dead fish ‘go with the flow'
Some Alaskans don't mind wasting public dollars and state time. I do. I cannot stand here as your Governor and allow millions upon millions of our dollars go to waste just so I can hold the title of Governor.
Political operatives descended on Alaska last August, digging for dirt. The ethics law I championed became their weapon of choice. Over the past nine months I've been accused of all sorts of frivolous ethics violations - such as holding a fish in a photograph, wearing a jacket with a logo on it, and answering reporters' questions.
Full transcript of her speech here.
Market Transformation indeed. Our markets are being transformed into non-markets - places where we exchange what the Government thinks is the appropriate proportion of the income that the Government thinks we are entitled to, for those goods that the Government thinks we ought to want, designed in the way that the Government thinks is best for us.
Orwell wrote about it, the Soviets implemented it, and now Western governments are following suit. Corruption of language and inversion or elimination of meaning are a sure sign of a bureaucracy that is looking to intervene in every aspect of our lives.
Quite!
This pretty much confirms what we already know. Safety regulation (written by the auto giants and on the statute book via the EU) has nothing to do with safety and the scrappage scheme has nothing to do with promoting clean transport. It's all about the ossification of existing corporates and squeezing out new market entrants.Though why anyone would part with money for one is still beyond me. But hey, let the market decide. Government picks losers.The government's preoccupation with electric vehicles (EVs) not yet on the market is at the expense of the environment according to Britain's leading supplier of battery-powered cars and vans.
Aixam Mega says that government electric vehicle programmes and incentives focus exclusively on technology that is still a long way from being commercially viable, while its own products are being deliberately excluded, even though they are already on the market.
Aixam Mega general manager Lawrence Holland says that the company has been willing to take part in the scrappage scheme and recently-announced electric vehicle trials, but has been refused each time: "We have been told that this is because our vehicles are legally described as quadricycles, rather than as cars, owing to their lighter weight, and lower power output.
"In terms of the environmental agenda, this is a nonsensical distinction to be making.
A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) a breakdown service provider that also specialises in electric vehicles, said: "Government policy on electric cars is back to front - there should be more emphasis on technology that is available today."
"We believe that quadricycles may have been excluded from the national electric vehicle trials because the announcement was made by politicians before civil servants had a chance to finalise the details." (yeah, I'm sure that would have helped!)
A report published this week by the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) comes to the conclusion that the government's policy on electric cars and vans is thwarting its own green agenda.
...
There appears to be reluctance by government to promote this type of vehicle because of concerns over safety. The G-Wiz has completed over 20million miles without serious incident, but more importantly, it existence raises the question of what constitutes a 'safe' car.
There is a perception that large, heavy cars such as 4X4s are safe, but they pose an increased risk to pedestrian in the event of a collision. Quadricycles on the other hand are designed to operate in urban areas at low speeds. According to Government figures published this week Greater Manchester has an average traffic speed of 12.1mph, Leicester 13.6mph, London 14.6mph, West Yorkshire 14.6mph, Merseyside 14.9mph, South Yorkshire 15mph and the West Midlands 15.5mph (Road Statistics 2008: Traffic, Speeds and Congestion).
The fact that quadricycles are lighter than conventional cars makes them less of a risk to pedestrians and less damaging to the road surface. Furthermore, they are economical and almost entirely 100 recyclable.
I can't imagine many of the members will have known about this too long in advance but if there are no other members putting themselves forward then it's a great move.
I had thought Labour's candidate Willie Bain was a 'clean skin' but pulling someone in from outside the political bubble is a good move and puts significnat distance between the party's candidate and the expenses mess which is the main topic of the day.
Of course, if the by-election is November 12th as strongly suggested then who knows what we'll be talking about come then but it's nice to have many of the personalities in place so far in advance and it's shaping up to be a fascinating and very clean campaign which is nice.
As noted by Kez, David Kerr contested the Falkirk West by-election for the SNP back in 2000 achieving a 17% swing and losing out by a mere 705 votes to Eric Joyce.
Palin was a governor for three years which, if she does go for the Presidency, would make her one of the least experienced serious applicants for the job in US history. One of her opponents said that "Either Sarah Palin is leaving the people of Alaska high and dry to pursue her long shot national political ambitions or she simply can't handle the job now that her popularity has dimmed and oil revenues are down".
Assuming she is going for the top job she's probably thinking that Alaska is far too small a pond in which to make a national name - but quitting part way through her governorship is going to make her look like a political opportunist without staying power and means she wont have the time to build up a base of real political weight in office. Time will only tell whether she made the right decision for herself - and us!
If you have a Sarah Palin action figure - keep it safe - it could cost a bomb in years to come! I wonder what Tina Fey is thinking right now?
Palin's resignation speech: here. One part stands out...
But you don't hear much of the good stuff in the press anymore, do you?Oh... I don't know.
You can watch it here. Also check out the Huff Post.
No one has yet been charged in connection with the attack on the City Church in the Holylands area which sheltered Roma families after they left their homes. But, following the arrest of three men, including the law student son of a leading QC who appears to sit on the GAA’s Anti- Doping Hearings Committee, and despite the police reportedly saying at the time that there was "no indication of a racial motive to the vandalism", Policing Board members are now apparently concerned about the accuracy of the initial reporting. From the Irish Times report.
Sinn Féin board member and MLA Alex Maskey said he was in the City Church the morning after the breaking of the windows and watched CCTV footage showing the attack and the attackers. He believed the incident was “allowed to get out of hand, partly driven by media assumption that this was part of concerted, sinister racist intimidation”.
Of course, that assumption was also evident in statements by the SDLP, the UUP and the DUP. But, although the Alliance Party came close, none were as definitive in their identification of those responsible as Sinn Féin's Alex Maskey.
"This attack is a new low for those racist criminals engaged in a campaign of intimidation against ethnic communities here in the south of the city."
To get myself warmed up for our 12th outing I went along to an Orange Parade in my home town of Crumlin tonight. I lasted half of the 2 hours scheduled, mainly because I got bored. The occasion was the opening of the Arch in the Village which has appeared in recent days. I’ve never been a fan of the thing and it certainly isn’t a work of art being more designed to last than for any aesthetic quality.
I fell in with a bad crowd at the outset, Parades Commission monitors, there because of concerns raised by local residents over the route and the fact last year one of the bands stopped outside a pub to give a rendition of the Sash to punters.
The PSNI presence in the village while visible wasn’t huge but the addition of a mobile CCTV jeep didn’t set an early scene of normality. It may have been due to a bottle thrown at a previous parade which injured a participant.
Things started with the lodge members assembling on the road for speeches and prayers made over a dodgy PA - I couldn’t hear a word. They then formed up - 1 band and 75 odd people, mainly older men, and almost exactly half the numbers they declared on their form to the Commission.
They set off watched by a crowd barely numbering 20 and got a few waves from friends outside the pubs on the Main St they passed. As they turned to head to the outskirts of the village I realised I was more bored than anything else and headed back home for a beer.
So a largely inoffensive and harmless occasion? In the main.
That brings me back to the one of the reasons the Parades Commission were there - as this parade returns to its starting point it, like almost every parade in the village, inexplicably veers off just before reaching its destination and will march down two residential streets which won’t have very many supporters living on them. It then returns to the main road before finishing at the Orange Hall. A pointless addition that along with the pretty awful arch are probably the only big negatives I can see in this parade - beyond disagreeing with the ethos and spirit of the organisation involved that is.
ADDS: I should also note as positives - there are no attempts beyond the Arch to decorate or claim the Village with flags, there was no colour party or flags displayed during the march, of the few supporters only one a small child was waving a flag, the band was a restrained Silver Band and as they passed the pub where the previous Sash playing occurred only a single drumbeat was heard (I don't know if that was voluntary or a PC detirmination)
Michael Owen signs for Man Utd?
We're looking at the most inspired signing of the pre-season or 'Garry Birtles: The Remake'.
My next brush with bloggery will be the Scottish Roundup on the 12th, so as I say there, until then, Bye-de-bye!
This is the first time I've put a book review online, but hopefully, it won't be the last: I've spent the last few days reading "A Useful Fiction: Adventures in British Democracy", by Patrick Hannan.
There are a few things that strike me: firstly, this is a book for moderates. Hardline Unionists may will feel vindicated by his calling into question what has been understood as "British-ness", but on closer inspection, might be unsettled by some of the twists and turns he takes. Conversely, fundamentalists might be equally vindicated by his questioning of British-ness, but will be disappointed that the book keeps returning to the theme, as though Hannan currently takes it as a given.
Another key point is that I suspect a second edition won't be far behind: Hannan's subject matter - essentially the outlook of the nations of the UK and their interaction with each other - is one that has been in flux for some time, and many recent events are referred to. Indeed, with the Calman Commission referred to, but with the book clearly having gone to press before the report, there'll already be scope for an update.
I suppose you could say that Hannan is reluctant to take a clear line himself: you'd expect that from a BBC journalist. You'd also expect to see (or at least, believe that you see) clear hints of what the author actually thinks. He's a closet Unionist, a closet Nationalist, a closet Socialist, a closet Thatcherite. Any or all of these could end up levelled at him.
One other thing that hit me was that he doesn't seem to like many people: he seems to have little time for Prince Charles, the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph or the Murdoch press. He seems a little more sympathetic to Peter Hain though, with almost a whole chapter becoming a reflection on the man's political history.
Anyway, there's a Bryson-esque quality to the work: firstly, there's the occasional tangential account of personal history or memories, which evokes Bill Bryson's style. Secondly, readers of "The Lost Continent" will recall Bryson's search for Amalgam, the archetypal all-American small town, that Bryson goes in search of, then realises that he will find in pieces, with elements of it scattered in towns across the country. His constant return to Amalgam came into my mind when looking at Hannan's attempts to return to the main theme of the book, the idea of British-ness.
Nevertheless, the more flag-waving end of the Unionist spectrum won't be happy. Firstly, he asserts the idea that overt patriotism is, in a way, un-British and so the Gordon Brown zeal for stronger displays of a UK identity falls flat. Certainly, his descriptions not of Northern Ireland, but of the mainland's reaction to NI, back that idea up: he suggests that people on the British mainland can't relate to their displays of political allegiance.
Meanwhile, there are a few suggestions that might raise eyebrows. Certainly his view and reaction to England, particularly in the current political landscape, has echoes of the imagery put out by Jim Sillars in "The Case for Optimism": both see England as a massively large component of the Union (let's face it, it is) and take the view that more often than not, the smaller nation have to react to England. Sillars had Titanic England; Hannan has a Whale in the Bathtub.
There's also a frustration that "Britain" gets conflated with "England", the "Home Counties" or "London", and his discussion of the media (a brave topic for a BBC journalist, and though Auntie gets a ticking off, some might suggest that it got off quite lightly) certainly displays a level of frustration at the London-centricity of the press, at the expense of local journalism elsewhere.
And, more damning for the Unionist cause, he takes a look at some of the traditional pillars of Britishness - things like the class system, religion and sport - and questions their impact on national identity. Or at least, their support for Britishness.
Further, what begins as a repeat of the regular refrain that the banking crisis has killed off independence for now takes a different path as Hannan understands that the misfortunes of RBS and HBOS are just one piece of the puzzle, and his comments on the Republic of Ireland and the Celtic Tiger are at once a dismissal and an endorsement of the Irish model of independence.
However, nationalists might be unsettled at his suggestion that calling British-ness into question isn't the same as calling the Union into question.
I was surprised by the almost Beadle-esque approach to where England and the metropolitan classes fit into things. You know the scene, in Beadle's About, where some poor, unsuspecting punter turns up at an office, and we hear the voice of the late Jeremy Beadle, letting us in on a secret: "What Sue doesn't know is that we've connected her desk to the National Grid..." You can almost see that style creeping in: "What John Birt doesn't know is that opposing a Scottish Six makes one of the nationalists' points for them..." I'm paraphrasing, of course, but there are times where it feels like Hannan is letting us all in on a few secrets involving the path to devolution.
In many ways, that's the mark of a good communicator: we're drawn into his world, as he shares his secrets with us. Comparing Hannan to the late Jeremy Beadle may seem unorthodox, but let's not forget that Beadle was a massive draw at one time and once got a hefty audience share, boosting ITV's viewing figures during the all-important Saturday prime-time slot. The pranks were cruel, but we got to share in the gag.
There are the occasional frustrations, however. Obviously, the subject is a fast-moving one, and so Hannan is always going to be difficult to pin down. As such, there are very few conclusions reached: he argues that the natures of Britain and Britishness have been changed for good, and that the change will continue. But he does not possess a crystal ball, so can't say where we're going. He constantly refers to where England and the English fit into things, but again, he offers no projection or direction for England's relationship with her neighbours.
For me, however, there is one key frustration: Hannan asserts that while devolution represented a massive change in the way the nations think of themselves and each other, it was part of a process that stretches back to 1973 and the entry into the Common Market. He keeps referencing that, and discussing Europe in passing (in particular reactions to Europe in the various UK nations), but it would have been interesting to see more on how that was the case. He could have expanded on that very easily and it would have given us even more food for thought. Instead, we have a whisper, an echo of an idea. I would have preferred it, had this been firmed up.
So all in all, it's worth a read: Unionists will feel comforted as he takes us on a journey through the British state and psyche; Nationalists will be fascinated as he scrutinises some of the key landmarks along the way. My warning is this: if you are going to read it, do it quickly, before half of this work ends up out-of-date.
Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska just announced she is resigning as governor for Alaska. What the fuck? Now, no one resigns just like that as governor, especially someone as ambitious as Palin.
Is she planning to start a campaign for president? I think that's a bit premature. Governors don't usually resign this far in advance and start campaigning. I have a feeling that something is going to come out of Palin's closet and she's just resigning in advance.
Of course this is quite annoying as I was hoping Palin would run in 2012 and help the Democrats win again. Dammit!
Oh dear, this is not good news. I asked here if the curse of McSnotty was going to buggar Andy Murray in the tennis. "We chatted briefly, he seemed to know pretty much about everything that was going on and I guess he had the understanding that the tennis tour wasn't solely about Wimbledon. He just wished me luck for the season, not Wimbledon."
Words fail, what a total tool he is.
With thanks to Voice Of The Resistance.
The articles in The Economist are, by hallowed tradition, anonymous. The strict and effective house-style makes identifying authors difficult, even irrelevant.
Adrian Wooldridge has been the Washington bureau chief of the journal for some time.
So, economically, 2+2=?
This week's edition has the regular column under the pseudonym of "Lexington". For a while Malcolm assumed that this was somehow a reference to New York's stately 4th Avenue (and location of a couple of decent bars) rather than, as it apparently is, to the first battle in the Revolutionary War. Anyway, here is Lexington marking a departure:
... during the 13 years that the author of this column has spent in the United States, he too [like de Tocqueville] has found his initial exuberance clouded by darker thoughts. When he arrived in 1996, America was lord of all it surveyed, the world's only remaining superpower, convinced of its supreme benevolence, and the engine of a productivity miracle that left Europeans in awe. Social pathologies such as violent crime were being brought under control; almost half of households owned shares. The place had an air of what Mark Twain once called "the serene confidence which a Christian feels in four aces".And now, presumably, a replacement Lexington will slither effortlessly into the vacancy, with nary a quiver of that cool, calculated Oxford articulation.
Having acknowledged that, Malcolm's interest switched to that delicious Mark Twain quotation. he tracked it down to a piece Twain did for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise in May 1864. A query had come in (Twain claimed) from a potential migrant from Missouri to Nevada:
Nevada was discovered many years ago by the Mormons, and was called Carson county. It only became Nevada in 1861, by act of Congress. There is a popular tradition that God Almighty created it; but when you come to see it, William, you will think differently. Do not let that discourage you, though. The country looks something like a singed cat, owing to the scarcity of shrubbery, and also resembles that animal in the respect that it has more merits than its personal appearance would seem to indicate. The Grosch brothers found the first silver lead here in 1857. They also founded Silver City, I believe. (Observe the subtle joke, William.) But the "history" of Nevada which you demand, properly begins with the discovery of the Comstock lead, which event happened nearly five years ago. The opinion now prevailing in the East that the Comstock is on the Gould & Curry is erroneous; on the contrary, the Gould & Curry is on the Comstock. Please make the correction, William. Signify to your friends, also, that all the mines here do not pay dividends as yet; you may make this statement with the utmost unyielding inflexibility - it will not be contradicted from this quarter. The population of this Territory is about 35,000, one half of which number reside in the united cities of Virginia and Gold Hill. However, I will discontinue this history for the present, lest I get you too deeply interested in this distant land and cause you to neglect your family or your religion. But I will address you again upon the subject next year. In the meantime, allow me to answer your inquiry as to the character of our climate.Thanks, Lexington, for that farewell gift.
It has no character to speak of, William, and alas! in this respect it resembles many, ah, too many chambermaids in this wretched, wretched world. Sometimes we have the seasons in their regular order, and then again we have winter all the summer and summer all winter. Consequently, we have never yet come across an almanac that would just exactly fit this latitude. It is mighty regular about not raining, though, William. It will start in here in November and rain about four, and sometimes as much as seven days on a stretch; after that, you may loan out your umbrella for twelve months, with the serene confidence which a Christian feels in four aces. Sometimes the winter begins in November and winds up in June; and sometimes there is a bare suspicion of winter in March and April, and summer all the balance of the year. But as a general thing, William, the climate is good, what there is of it.
What are the productions of the earth? You mean in Nevada, of course. On our ranches here, anything can be raised that can be produced on the fertile fields of Missouri. But ranches are very scattering - as scattering, perhaps, as lawyers in heaven. Nevada, for the most part, is a barren waste of sand, embellished with melancholy sage-brush, and fenced in with snow clad mountains. But these ghastly features were the salvation of the land, William, for no rightly constituted American would have ever come here if the place had been easy of access, and none of our pioneers would have staid after they got here if they had not felt satisfied that they could not find a smaller chance for making a living anywhere else. Such is man, William, as he crops out in America..
I'm in the wrong game; I should have been a web designer.
Herewith, yet another web site promoting a vaguely worthy intervention by a partnership of local authority and government funded organisations:
Opening Doors is the new umbrella name for specialist substance misuse services for young people in Bristol.
It is part of the wider youth offer in the city forming part of the 'Someone To Talk To' services. The service involves the joining together of services commissioned by Safer Bristol from:
- Youth Offending Team
- Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services
- NHS Bristol
- Voluntary Sector
The aim of Opening Doors is to deliver a more joined up service to the most vulnerable young people across the city. Reaching out to young people in the settings and communities where they live.
One of the "Service Users" dictated the following:
When I was 11 I started smoking cannabis with my friends. I loved smoking and used to smoke it everyday. I have also tried ecstasy a couple of times but it made me feel really ill and I stayed in bed for days. At about the same time I had other problems going on and I got help from D&YPP (Drugs & Young People's Project), BASE (Barnardoes Against Sexual Exploitation) and YOT (Youth Offending Team).
The workers at the services have helped me because they have stuck by me and they are there for you when you need a chat. One worker talked to me about the risks of using harder drugs and it made me think that I didn't want to do anything like that. As I got older I realised that I needed to pretty much stop using cannabis as it made me lazy and I lost the plot!
I helped decide on the new 'Opening Doors' name. Me and other kids had to choose between lots of names and we all liked 'Opening Doors'. I now go to the feedback group where we chat about the 'Opening Doors' service and we do fun activities like canoeing. It's good to be part of the group cos everyone gets along.
Current Service User in Bristol, Aged 17
If one is relaunching a service that purports to reduce the incidence of drug abuse by young people, why would one use an exemplary story from someone who was first "engaged" (collared?) by the local authority at aged 11, and yet six years later still appears to be a regular drug user? But at least he's had a go at canoeing.
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Update 2nd July - Gordon Brown just does not get it does he ?
His sorry bunch have been in power for 12 years now and cocked up everything good about this country through their meddling and incompetance, so it makes me want to vomit every time he comes on TV to promise that he is the man to put things right, when quite clearly he has been one of the people who either allowed or made so many things fall apart in the first place through their appalling decisions and deceit.
The latest is his criticism of people facing credit card and loan debts !! Pots a kettles don't come close after he sold all this nation's assets, borrowed like there's no tomorrow, and saddled us tax payers with monstrous bills until hell freezes over. Gordon Brown is the worst possible kind of hypocritical liar, so why the hell did anyone let him, Blair and Mandleson near Downing Street ??
It was good to see Fraser Nelson writing in the News of the World on Sunday, regarding the 1 million votes received by the BNP in the recent Euro elections. Yes, he rightly slams their motives, but he holds a mature discussion as to why so many felt they had to vote that way.
A couple of facts about Labour policies that have resulted in such an influx of immigrants during the last 12 years of Labour rule :-
i) Apart from the public sector, how many additional jobs have gone to British workers since 1997 ? None. In fact there are fewer British-born workers in the Private Sector now than in 1997 when Tony Blair was voted in.
ii) In the last year, there are 119,000 migrant workers in new UK jobs and 615,000 fewer British born people in jobs. As Fraser says “there is no point pretending that this isn’t happening, workers can see it with their own eyes.”
UK workers are being laid off at 5 times the rate of migrant staff.
By allowing this to happen, or even by engineering the whole situation, the Labour government and previous Tory governments have played directly into the hands of the BNP and have no grounds to complain at people’s reactions. We had years of Labour snobs telling us we were racist to complain about it and even just 4 years ago when we formed Popular Alliance, we were being accused of being racist for stating basic, truthful economic facts about the situation. Now, 4 years later, we have been proved 100% correct and many of the Labour snobs are on their way out.
The BNP however are unable to voice many of their core policies because many of those who voted for them last month would be horrified. Given the opportunity on live TV, 2 of their top members falied to voice one damning fact. Their policies are based purely on hate, not on any sound economic reality.
1,000 Brits are emigrating every day and welfare packages imprison British workers, so it hardly surprising that the government needs to bring in others to do the work. Meanwhile us tax payers are saddled with the burden of paying for those on benefits and many of the migrant workers are banking their earnings overseas, literally bleeding our economy dry.
Labour are trying to suggest that 1.5 million British workers are working in Europe, whilst the true figure is only one seventh of that.
David Cameron has this week accused Gordon Brown of “telling fibs” and we have been saying this for 4 years. With the Iraq inquiry coming soon and the Bank of England’s reports on the true state of our economy, David’s comments are very close to the truth (they just need a bit more conviction). Labour is a Government in denial, a bunch of lying, nest-filling spendaholics and is truly unpatriotic.
The Tories also offer little of worth, but being the “other main party” they will win the next election and just shuffle some of the funds from one hidden place to another.
This country needs a shake up from top to bottom, the present economic disaster shows exactly where hiding-the-truth and hiding-from-the-truth, gets you.
Popular Alliance policies call for a huge reduction in immigration, smaller government, freedom for small businesses to prosper, freedom from the EU, more self-reliance on food and energy supplies, no income tax for those earning under £15K p/a to get them off benefits and a whole regime of putting the United Kingdom first.
And indeed we are. But not from Swine flu it seems. Just stay away from NHS hospitals.
The Top 5 is as follows: Trish Godman finds herself MIA for a total of 42 votes, making her the most absent MSP. However, about a third of them were occasions where her fellow DPO Alasdair Morgan was in the chair, and it may have been considered bad form to vote. Even so, taking that into account, she'd still be in the Top 5. Second is John Farquhar Munro, with 41, while third is Margo MacDonald, who let's face it, can pretty much come and go as she pleases. Fourth is Irene Oldfather, while fifth is Des McNulty. Only Margo was in the last collection.
SNP
The SNP get the attendance award, with a rate of 97.12%, up on last time. The absences are:
18 Michael Russell
12 Nicola Sturgeon
11 Alex Neil
9 Bill Kidd
Shona Robison
7 Alasdair Morgan
6 Roseanna Cunningham
Nigel Don
Richard Lochhead
Dave Thompson
5 Anne McLaughlin
Alex Salmond
4 Keith Brown
2 Jamie Hepburn
1 Bruce Crawford
Christina McKelvie
The cohesion rate has dropped slightly however, and the lost of the top spot in that department will be a cause of some unease to Whips. Alasdair Allan, Angela Constance, Joe FitzPatrick, Kenneth Gibson, Sandra White and Bill Wilson have all rebelled once.
Labour
Labour's attendance rate has increased slightly to 90.2%, while their attendance ranking has gone from fifth to third. it's still pretty weak reading, but progress is progress. Barring Trish Godman, Irene Oldfather and Des McNulty, here are the other absentees:
19 John Park
16 Elaine Smith
15 Marilyn Livingstone
Elaine Murray
14 Karen Gillon
Cathy Peattie
Richard Simpson
13 Margaret Curran
12 Cathy Jamieson
11 Wendy Alexander
Tom McCabe
Jack McConnell
9 Hugh Henry
8 Claire Baker
Duncan McNeil
7 Rhona Brankin
6 Sarah Boyack
Helen Eadie
Iain Gray
Andy Kerr
Ken Macintosh
Pauline McNeill
5 George Foulkes
Lewis Macdonald
Frank McAveety
4 Karen Whitefield
2 Patricia Ferguson
Peter Peacock
1 Malcolm Chisholm
Rhoda Grant
Paul Martin
Mary Mulligan
Cohesion has also improved slightly to 99.79%: Malcolm Chisholm, Patricia Ferguson, Charlie Gordon, Andy Kerr, Paul Martin, Jack McConnell and David Whitton are the rebels.
Conservatives
The Tory attendance rate has gone down to 95.7%, giving them second place. The absentees were:
14 Jackson Carlaw
11 Annabel Goldie
8 Nanette Milne
6 Alex Johnstone
5 David McLetchie
4 Jamie McGrigor
3 Margaret Mitchell
2 Ted Brocklebank
1 Murdo Fraser
John Lamont
And they are the most cohesive group with a rate of 99.92% with only Margaret Mitchell breaking with the party line on a single occasion.
LibDems
The LibDem's 90.08% attendance rate puts them in fourth place and is a hefty drop compared with last time. Leaving JFM aside, here are the missing members:
19 Tavish Scott
Nicol Stephen
11 Jamie Stone
10 Mike Rumbles
9 Jim Tolson
8 Liam McArthur
4 Mike Pringle
3 Margaret Smith
2 Jim Hume
1 Ross Finnie
Their cohesion rate is also the lowest of the Big 4, though with only 16 MSPs, it's far more vulnerable to small-scale rebellions/lapses in concentration. All the same, it's still managed to go up to 99.65%, and only four MSPs have voted the 'wrong' way: John Farquhar Munro, Hugh O'Donnell, Nicol Stephen and Jim Tolson.
Greens and Margo
The Greens' attendance rate has fallen very heavily to 87.5%. If memory serves, Patrick Harvie chose the wrong week to be ill and missed 18 votes. Robin Harper missed two, though the Greens aren't victim to any splits.
Neither is Margo, though as she only has one vote, we wouldn't be aware of it if she did. Having said that, her attendance rate is only 51.25%, so she isn't using that one vote very often...
However, the initial granting of 243 homes doubled the size of Carway and the addition of a further 280 will almost quadruple it. It should be called the Ffos Las New Town. If dwellings are to be built outside the UDP then one policy it should be considered against is H8, for agricultural dwellings, which it was. To satisfy that criteria, there should be an existing viable business; in this case, despite all the claims of success for the racecourse, the reasons given for the need for the development is that unforseen costs have threatened the financial future of the business so the new homes are needed to ensure continuing viability.
This is probably also a pre-emptive strike for reductions in section 106 contributions a little further down the line.
In other words, if the developer does not get permission then this feather in the cap of Carmarthenshire County Council and particularly the Leader of the Council, might not last very long, and of course we couldn't have that! Then the only other option would then be a large payout from council coffers, another Stradey fiasco.
Of course the Leader of the Council publicly joined with the protesters opposed to the proposed Coedbach Biomass plant a stones throw away, and two recommendations for planning approval from the Head of Planning miraculously u-turned into a refusal. One of the 'reasons' given was that there was nowhere for the generated heat to go (!) - there will be now if there are another 500 homes up the road!
I hope the racecourse is a success and boosts the local economy but let's make sure the planning process is all above board and the only way to ensure that happens, is if the decision making is immediately taken well away from Carmarthenshire County Council.
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/carmarthenshire-county-council.html
No man has a right to fix the boundary of the
march of a nation; no man has a right to say to his
country, "Thus far shalt thou go and no further".
Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891)
A recent opinion poll by the British Broadcasting Corporation found that a clear majority wanted the opportunity to have a referendum on the issue of Scottish independence in 2010, as is currently proposed by the SNP Scottish Government. Tavish Scott, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats was asked on television recently how he could oppose a referendum and call himself a Liberal Democrat. His supporters may say that the question was harsh but it is easily justified as it is surely neither Liberal or Democratic to deny the People a say on the biggest issues of the day. What could be more democratic than settling the issue at the ballot box?
At it's most fundamental, the question facing the political parties active in Scotland is this: If all the Parties who support the union are not prepared to trust the people of Scotland to make their own informed choices, why should the people of Scotland trust any of these political parties to represent their views in future? They may not want to publicly admit it but I would wager that this is causing some of the more astute strategists some sleepless nights. No political party worthy of the name would want to be seen to be denying the electorate a voice.
The second question for the unionist parties is also an interesting one: If you are so convinced that the Scottish people will vote against Independence, why are you so scared to put your case in a referendum? There are a number of factors at work there. There is no reliable model for working out which set of voters would be more likely to turn out in numbers come an independence referendum. Though the opinion polls currently give the status quo the nod, even when the SNP government's own choice of question is asked, there is the vexed issue of differential turnout. It is one thing to tell pollsters which position you would nominally support but it is quite another to go out and vote for it. The SNP clearly believe that the pro-independence voters would view it as a once in a generation chance and would grab it with both hands. I believe that this is the case and it seems that this is what the other parties believe too, despite their rhetoric to the contrary. Why else refuse to have it? No political party avoids a fight they think they will win, especially given the effect a defeat would have on the morale of the SNP.
The other reason, the elephant in the room, if you will, is that everyone expects there to be a Tory government in Westminster by the time an independence referendum comes around. We will be back to the democratic deficit which existed prior to devolution and which motivates so many people to seek constitutional change. The difference this time is that the SNP are in Government in Scotland and can show that they are standing up for Scotland against a Tory UK Government that was not voted for in any great numbers by the people of Scotland. By the time November 2010 comes, it is likely that the Tories will be making rather large cuts as their hand is forced by the biting recession, left to them like a poisoned chalice by the departing Gordon Brown. A vision of a prosperous, independent Scotland buoyed by oil revenues at that time may well chime with a Scottish population which is sick of unemployment and stagnation under the status quo.
