For those of you who don't read Guido's blog (www.order-order.com) I have to repeat this, which was sent to him
"I was one of the lucky BA passengers who got to fly home with the Olympians - an incredible honour. We were thrown off first and after we walked down the steps and past the paparazzi I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the Prime Minister standing in the doorway shaking hands with my fellow normal pasengers. I walked up to him and shook his hand and asked where we went to collect the bags. He was dumbfounded and the wifey minister* standing beside him with the t-shirt said rudely to me "that is the Prime Minister, ask someone inside". It wasn't as though I asked him to carry my bags. She is one ugly cow."
*Tessa Jowell
Bliss. thanks, Guido
Showing posts with label Opinion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Opinion. Show all posts
28 August, 2008
Flying
On reflection it seems quite obvious how the mushroom soup leaked. The pressure in the cabin was much lower than the pressure in the soup container.
Over the years cabin pressures have been gradually reduced without consulting the passengers, and who can doubt that in these days of high fuel prices they will be reduced even further (and perhaps already have been).
I would happily pay extra for a flight which had proper cabin pressure; the enhanced comfort and lower soup risk mitigating the environmental effects.
Incidentally a pilot once told me that the way they used to check the fuselage of the plane for leaks was to search for brown stains, where the nicotine had escaped. Alas now that smoking is not allowed....
Over the years cabin pressures have been gradually reduced without consulting the passengers, and who can doubt that in these days of high fuel prices they will be reduced even further (and perhaps already have been).
I would happily pay extra for a flight which had proper cabin pressure; the enhanced comfort and lower soup risk mitigating the environmental effects.
Incidentally a pilot once told me that the way they used to check the fuselage of the plane for leaks was to search for brown stains, where the nicotine had escaped. Alas now that smoking is not allowed....
Bad luck
With all the hassle travellers have to suffer these days, and no liquids to be carried, the experience of passengers on a Ryan Air flight can only be described as extreme bad luck.
It appears that someone had snuck into the plane some mushroom soup which then dripped from an overhead locker on to the head of a passenger. Bad enough, you might think (although not as bad as tomato) but the soup triggered an allergic reaction, forcing the plane to land early.
This seems rather like the mobile phones controversy - supposed to put the plane at risk but no one really believed they did. If there really is a danger from liquids carried on a flight (that they might be explosive, and be detonated by a suicide bomber in the plane) then some official's negligence has put a plane load of passengers at risk. If not....
This seems like a golden opportunity for Health'n'Safety. Was the soup labelled appropriately (may cause allergic reaction above 30,000 ft); how did it leak out?; should 'at soup-risk' passengers be made to wear hats?; should planes fly empty because the whole thing is too damn risky?
We should be told.
It appears that someone had snuck into the plane some mushroom soup which then dripped from an overhead locker on to the head of a passenger. Bad enough, you might think (although not as bad as tomato) but the soup triggered an allergic reaction, forcing the plane to land early.
This seems rather like the mobile phones controversy - supposed to put the plane at risk but no one really believed they did. If there really is a danger from liquids carried on a flight (that they might be explosive, and be detonated by a suicide bomber in the plane) then some official's negligence has put a plane load of passengers at risk. If not....
This seems like a golden opportunity for Health'n'Safety. Was the soup labelled appropriately (may cause allergic reaction above 30,000 ft); how did it leak out?; should 'at soup-risk' passengers be made to wear hats?; should planes fly empty because the whole thing is too damn risky?
We should be told.
24 June, 2008
Sign of the times
From the Telegraph we learn that female students at West Kent College, Tonbridge, have been warned against whistling at and making comments to the builders on the site. ‘This constitutes harassment’ says an email to students.
And harassment is serious: the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill will create a new offence of "communicating indecently", punishable by up to 10 years in jail and being placed on the Sex Offenders Register.
I think this incident shows just how damn silly are some of the laws being passed. Someone human and normal needs to put a stop to it.
And harassment is serious: the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill will create a new offence of "communicating indecently", punishable by up to 10 years in jail and being placed on the Sex Offenders Register.
I think this incident shows just how damn silly are some of the laws being passed. Someone human and normal needs to put a stop to it.
02 June, 2008
The First Way
I am an avid Guardian reader: I like it when it is insightful and right (Andrew Rawnsley, Marcel Berlins) and I like it when it is barking and wrong (Polly Toynbee et al.). The bits I don’t like are when it is unthinking, and there’s a cracking example in Sunday’s Observer.
Will Hutton has been on some Pope’s committee, and he is anxious that you should know it: 'What I told the Pope about how to shape the new capitalism’ is the title, and in case our conviction might waver on what a life changing event this has been for His Holiness we are reminded ‘Rather, it was [Benedict’s] opportunity to .... listen to what we had to say on the great issues he confronts.’ And ‘I was invited to the Vatican ..... to give my thoughts on what is happening in contemporary capitalism’.
But these thoughts are, unfortunately for the Holy See, just the empty headed tosh he has been spewing out for years. Once you have got over the arrogance you are plunged into a whole new world of murky thinking. Hutton is the author of Tony Blair’s short-lived ‘third way’: we hate capitalism but like business. Business must be allowed to make profits, but, hey, not too much. ‘[Catholics] want decent wages; more autonomy and dignity at work; they want the rich to accept obligations to promote the common good; firms to recognise that there is only any morality to profit making if it is as a consequence of delivering a declared economic purpose - to manufacture a great car, build a safe plane or whatever.’
But this is the nub. People do go into business to make money. Hutton quotes Unilever, Boeing and Sony as having some higher moral purpose. My guess is the Lever brothers, and Messrs Boeing and Ibaru of Sony started out wanting to feed their families. That is quite healthy. Of course their mission statements are written in Huttonish Doublespeak about promoting social welfare but that is just the zeitgeist. All three companies have gone to extraordinary lengths to beat the competition and keep their costs down: that is why they are successful.
The Pope will easily understand that it would be very nice if someone started a bank in order to feed the poor, but equally that the bank would fail. The point Hutton misses is this: that although he lumps them together in his addle-pated Blairite way there is a huge difference between overtaxing and regulating companies in some spurious attempt at morality and, in his words ‘the rich to accept obligations to promote the common good’. The first is a recipe for poverty. The second involves companies trading freely and the people who have profited from them giving their wealth freely. The Pope will not need Mr Hutton’s help to understand that: it is called charity. He probably calls it ‘the first way’.
Will Hutton has been on some Pope’s committee, and he is anxious that you should know it: 'What I told the Pope about how to shape the new capitalism’ is the title, and in case our conviction might waver on what a life changing event this has been for His Holiness we are reminded ‘Rather, it was [Benedict’s] opportunity to .... listen to what we had to say on the great issues he confronts.’ And ‘I was invited to the Vatican ..... to give my thoughts on what is happening in contemporary capitalism’.
But these thoughts are, unfortunately for the Holy See, just the empty headed tosh he has been spewing out for years. Once you have got over the arrogance you are plunged into a whole new world of murky thinking. Hutton is the author of Tony Blair’s short-lived ‘third way’: we hate capitalism but like business. Business must be allowed to make profits, but, hey, not too much. ‘[Catholics] want decent wages; more autonomy and dignity at work; they want the rich to accept obligations to promote the common good; firms to recognise that there is only any morality to profit making if it is as a consequence of delivering a declared economic purpose - to manufacture a great car, build a safe plane or whatever.’
But this is the nub. People do go into business to make money. Hutton quotes Unilever, Boeing and Sony as having some higher moral purpose. My guess is the Lever brothers, and Messrs Boeing and Ibaru of Sony started out wanting to feed their families. That is quite healthy. Of course their mission statements are written in Huttonish Doublespeak about promoting social welfare but that is just the zeitgeist. All three companies have gone to extraordinary lengths to beat the competition and keep their costs down: that is why they are successful.
The Pope will easily understand that it would be very nice if someone started a bank in order to feed the poor, but equally that the bank would fail. The point Hutton misses is this: that although he lumps them together in his addle-pated Blairite way there is a huge difference between overtaxing and regulating companies in some spurious attempt at morality and, in his words ‘the rich to accept obligations to promote the common good’. The first is a recipe for poverty. The second involves companies trading freely and the people who have profited from them giving their wealth freely. The Pope will not need Mr Hutton’s help to understand that: it is called charity. He probably calls it ‘the first way’.
05 May, 2008
Bunkum
What’s the connection between Henry Ford and Margaret Thatcher? Or between Henry Ford and Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton?
For something I’ve been writing I’ve had a look at Henry Ford’s supposed saying ‘History’s bunk’. Did he just come out with it? Why? Or is it a misquote, like Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of blood’? In fact it was more like Mrs Thatcher’s ‘There’s no such thing as society’* – a truncated version giving a different impression..
Here’s the quote: ‘History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today’ which I think is rather good, for an industrialist, and relevant in 1916. In fact Ford was described as an anarchist by the Chicago Tribune and sued for libel. He was cross-examined for eight days but emerged victorious.
The word bunk, properly ‘bunkum’, dates back to 1820 when Congress were discussing the Missouri Question. The debate had gone on for some time and the congressmen wanted to proceed to the vote but the representative from N Carolina, who hailed from Buncombe County, insisted on putting across his views, however much they had already been heard from others, because he wanted ‘to make a speech for Buncombe’.
N Carolina, including Buncombe if it is still there, goes to the vote soon for the Democratic nomination. This blog prefers Obama to Clinton, but doesn’t think he can beat McCain, whereas she might. Good luck to them all.
*And the Thatcher quote: "I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it. 'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' They're casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first.”
Which isn’t quite the same.
For something I’ve been writing I’ve had a look at Henry Ford’s supposed saying ‘History’s bunk’. Did he just come out with it? Why? Or is it a misquote, like Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of blood’? In fact it was more like Mrs Thatcher’s ‘There’s no such thing as society’* – a truncated version giving a different impression..
Here’s the quote: ‘History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today’ which I think is rather good, for an industrialist, and relevant in 1916. In fact Ford was described as an anarchist by the Chicago Tribune and sued for libel. He was cross-examined for eight days but emerged victorious.
The word bunk, properly ‘bunkum’, dates back to 1820 when Congress were discussing the Missouri Question. The debate had gone on for some time and the congressmen wanted to proceed to the vote but the representative from N Carolina, who hailed from Buncombe County, insisted on putting across his views, however much they had already been heard from others, because he wanted ‘to make a speech for Buncombe’.
N Carolina, including Buncombe if it is still there, goes to the vote soon for the Democratic nomination. This blog prefers Obama to Clinton, but doesn’t think he can beat McCain, whereas she might. Good luck to them all.
*And the Thatcher quote: "I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it. 'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' They're casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first.”
Which isn’t quite the same.
30 April, 2008
LSD - obit
Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who discovered the hallucinogenic drug LSD, has died aged 102.
Doesn't seem to have done him any harm.
Doesn't seem to have done him any harm.
29 April, 2008
The Mwa-Mwa
I’ve done a lot of social kissing recently (Italian wedding, still recovering) and I pass on this interesting exposé from a female friend.
When they started trying to sell perfume to men, in the 60s and 70s, they were afraid the men would find it a bit feminine and embarrassing, so they called it aftershave, as if it were some skin treatment rather than just perfume. Accordingly the men put it on their cheeks, and still do, whereas a woman puts perfume on her neck, behind her ears and on her arms.
So when my friend goes to a party and does the Mwa-Mwa which convention requires, she ends up with ten different sorts of perfume on her face, making her smell like a cheap hooker (she didn’t say that last bit).
We men should copy the ladies and put it on discreetly.
When they started trying to sell perfume to men, in the 60s and 70s, they were afraid the men would find it a bit feminine and embarrassing, so they called it aftershave, as if it were some skin treatment rather than just perfume. Accordingly the men put it on their cheeks, and still do, whereas a woman puts perfume on her neck, behind her ears and on her arms.
So when my friend goes to a party and does the Mwa-Mwa which convention requires, she ends up with ten different sorts of perfume on her face, making her smell like a cheap hooker (she didn’t say that last bit).
We men should copy the ladies and put it on discreetly.
27 April, 2008
St Joanna
There is a campaign in the Independent promoted by Joanna Lumley against battery eggs, with Good Egg awards to people and businesses she likes and Rotten Eggs (Watch out!) for people she doesn’t.
Much though I like the idea of supporting something with Miss Lovely on board I can’t help wondering how this is going to resonate outside the rarefied atmosphere of the Independent. We must use eggs from more humane systems, and watch out for cakes, flans and custards: ‘hidden eggs are easy to miss!’, admonishes Nanny Joanna.
And this is the point, isn’t it? She wants more humane systems but hens aren’t humans, are they, Joanna darling? And free range eggs are too expensive for poor people, didn’t you know? And the idea that, while Britain is increasing taxes on the poor and there is no petrol, we should go chasing round supermarkets asking how the eggs in Bird’s Custard were produced, is detached from reality. Which is what rich actresses tend to be.
And, sorry to say this Jo-lovey, but I am getting a little bit fed up with celebrities telling me how to lead a better life, particularly after we found out that Sting and his rather peculiar wife, while lecturing us on being greener and better, think nothing of jumping on a plane whenever it suits them, because it is supposed to be me, not them, who saves the planet.
A plague on the lot of them, Sting, Lumley and the ghastly self-important Bono. Stick to what you do best, which isn’t being normal.
Much though I like the idea of supporting something with Miss Lovely on board I can’t help wondering how this is going to resonate outside the rarefied atmosphere of the Independent. We must use eggs from more humane systems, and watch out for cakes, flans and custards: ‘hidden eggs are easy to miss!’, admonishes Nanny Joanna.
And this is the point, isn’t it? She wants more humane systems but hens aren’t humans, are they, Joanna darling? And free range eggs are too expensive for poor people, didn’t you know? And the idea that, while Britain is increasing taxes on the poor and there is no petrol, we should go chasing round supermarkets asking how the eggs in Bird’s Custard were produced, is detached from reality. Which is what rich actresses tend to be.
And, sorry to say this Jo-lovey, but I am getting a little bit fed up with celebrities telling me how to lead a better life, particularly after we found out that Sting and his rather peculiar wife, while lecturing us on being greener and better, think nothing of jumping on a plane whenever it suits them, because it is supposed to be me, not them, who saves the planet.
A plague on the lot of them, Sting, Lumley and the ghastly self-important Bono. Stick to what you do best, which isn’t being normal.
Humph
'When a great man dies we are all diminished' - said, if I recall correctly, of a largely useless but fabulously wealthy aristocrat, the Duke of Newcastle. But it is not often one can say reading the obits that someone's death will affect you for the worse. Such however is the case with Humphrey Littleton, whose unique broadcasting style was the voice tinged with regret that he had ever had anything to do with it.
End of an era.
End of an era.
24 April, 2008
Star Wars
According to reports, Barney Jones and his cousin Michael have set up on the island of Anglesey a Jedi Church, worshipping the characters in the Star Wars films, with a congregation of 30.
While practising with their light sabres, presumably a religious ritual, in the garden of their home, one Arwel Wynne Hughes, 27, from Holyhead, dressed in a black bin bag and shouting ‘Darth Vader’ jumped over the garden wall and attacked them, interestingly with a crutch, hitting one over the head and causing a headache and the other on the thigh, causing a bruise. He has been charged with assault, and has said he was drunk at the time.
It is a thing I should have been pleased to do have done sober. This blog does not condone crime, oh no, but I can’t help hoping we see rather more of Mr Hughes in the future, and rather less of the Jones cousins.
While practising with their light sabres, presumably a religious ritual, in the garden of their home, one Arwel Wynne Hughes, 27, from Holyhead, dressed in a black bin bag and shouting ‘Darth Vader’ jumped over the garden wall and attacked them, interestingly with a crutch, hitting one over the head and causing a headache and the other on the thigh, causing a bruise. He has been charged with assault, and has said he was drunk at the time.
It is a thing I should have been pleased to do have done sober. This blog does not condone crime, oh no, but I can’t help hoping we see rather more of Mr Hughes in the future, and rather less of the Jones cousins.
31 March, 2008
Stonehenge
Oh no. The BBC reports that there will be new investigations into this wonderful place, this Wiltshire landmark which English Heritage wants to turn into some beastly viewer experience and the government wants to bugger up with its lack of roads policy.
Only one question about the mystery of Stonehenge will not be answered: why won't they just leave it alone, as a mystery?
Only one question about the mystery of Stonehenge will not be answered: why won't they just leave it alone, as a mystery?
Roma v Man Utd
I don't suppose many Man Utd fans will be reading this but could they please, please stay out of the centre of Rome which is full of priceless things, many of them even older than Man Utd FC.
The police here are very tolerant of the generally law abiding but very intolerant of thuggery, and if they see fans cavorting in a Bernini fountain they are likely to shoot. And I for one wouldn't blame them.
Yes I know the Italian fans are also vile, but if they smashed up the centre of Manchester it would probably be a improvement (oh dear, did I write that?)
The police here are very tolerant of the generally law abiding but very intolerant of thuggery, and if they see fans cavorting in a Bernini fountain they are likely to shoot. And I for one wouldn't blame them.
Yes I know the Italian fans are also vile, but if they smashed up the centre of Manchester it would probably be a improvement (oh dear, did I write that?)
21 March, 2008
Embryology
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is getting its first airing. The bill proposes permitting human/animal mix embryos. The idea is that they mix the genes of humans and, say, moles, creating a man/mole creature, mess around with it and then destroy it.
The Roman Catholic Church is against it, although I have heard nothing about the Church of England’s position on the matter. Its website says ’Research using human embryos donated by IVF patients.... is acceptable but using human embryos created specifically for research from donated eggs and sperm is not.’ Which would seem to suggest it is against the bill but not against the general idea of making and killing embryos. I will try to find out but they don’t answer the phone on Good Friday.
Most astonishing is that the government will not allow a free vote of its MPs. Surely if there is one thing that is a matter of conscience it is this. I find it incredible that Gordon Brown (who always wants to portray himself as a son of the Manse, with a moral compass) not only should feel that this legislation is OK, but should be so insensitive as to think nobody else’s views matter. Labour MPs are thus reduced to mere political fodder: they are being told that they are not there to represent their constituencies, they are not there because they are deemed to be people to whom the governance of the nation should be entrusted, they are just robots who do as they are told. For all their scope for free thinking they might be half mole already.
For myself, and many others, this is not really a religious matter, and I hope it will not be portrayed as religious, despite the fact that the Church of Rome is leading the opposition. For many of us who have looked at this on humanitarian grounds, life begins at conception. For us there is no moral difference between killing a 14 day old foetus (they say the procedure is OK because they will kill them all when they are two weeks old) and a 14 day old, or 14 year old born child. All, in my view, are equally wrong.
I don’t mind people thinking differently, but I do object to the government thinking its MPs shouldn’t be allowed an opinion on this.
It goes without saying that I hope any MP who does think this is wrong will vote against it, despite the views of their party, particularly those who like Ruth Kelly make a publicity issue of their beliefs.
The Roman Catholic Church is against it, although I have heard nothing about the Church of England’s position on the matter. Its website says ’Research using human embryos donated by IVF patients.... is acceptable but using human embryos created specifically for research from donated eggs and sperm is not.’ Which would seem to suggest it is against the bill but not against the general idea of making and killing embryos. I will try to find out but they don’t answer the phone on Good Friday.
Most astonishing is that the government will not allow a free vote of its MPs. Surely if there is one thing that is a matter of conscience it is this. I find it incredible that Gordon Brown (who always wants to portray himself as a son of the Manse, with a moral compass) not only should feel that this legislation is OK, but should be so insensitive as to think nobody else’s views matter. Labour MPs are thus reduced to mere political fodder: they are being told that they are not there to represent their constituencies, they are not there because they are deemed to be people to whom the governance of the nation should be entrusted, they are just robots who do as they are told. For all their scope for free thinking they might be half mole already.
For myself, and many others, this is not really a religious matter, and I hope it will not be portrayed as religious, despite the fact that the Church of Rome is leading the opposition. For many of us who have looked at this on humanitarian grounds, life begins at conception. For us there is no moral difference between killing a 14 day old foetus (they say the procedure is OK because they will kill them all when they are two weeks old) and a 14 day old, or 14 year old born child. All, in my view, are equally wrong.
I don’t mind people thinking differently, but I do object to the government thinking its MPs shouldn’t be allowed an opinion on this.
It goes without saying that I hope any MP who does think this is wrong will vote against it, despite the views of their party, particularly those who like Ruth Kelly make a publicity issue of their beliefs.
07 March, 2008
The Olympics
I have maintained from the start that the competition to get the Olympic Games is a good one in which to come second. It is an absurd expense, and without even knowing what the going rate for expenditure was I knew it would be at least double the initial estimate: these things always are. And it is going to be better to watch on TV. But it isn’t just the expense: it was always going to be an opportunity for the politically correct to enact some nonsense.
In this respect there is a story going about that the Government has banned the RAF flying team The Red Arrows from performing at the Olympics in 2012. A petition has been got up on the Downing St website, which in turn has posted a message that it is a matter for the organising committee. Nothing to do with us, squire.
Personally, I can quite imagine that some vile little governmental leftie thought it was too militaristic to have the Red Arrows at the games and that the Government, realising the public would be angry, is now backing down. We’ll never know.
In my view it’s better to be safe than sorry and sign the petition. You can sign if you are a British Citizen even living outside the UK, or if you are resident in Britain. It already has over a quarter of a million signatures. You can sign on
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/RedArrows2012/?ref=redArrows2012
In this respect there is a story going about that the Government has banned the RAF flying team The Red Arrows from performing at the Olympics in 2012. A petition has been got up on the Downing St website, which in turn has posted a message that it is a matter for the organising committee. Nothing to do with us, squire.
Personally, I can quite imagine that some vile little governmental leftie thought it was too militaristic to have the Red Arrows at the games and that the Government, realising the public would be angry, is now backing down. We’ll never know.
In my view it’s better to be safe than sorry and sign the petition. You can sign if you are a British Citizen even living outside the UK, or if you are resident in Britain. It already has over a quarter of a million signatures. You can sign on
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/RedArrows2012/?ref=redArrows2012
03 March, 2008
All our problems solved on the Island
When I was a child I was taught that all the people in the world could fit on to the Isle of Wight. I suppose now there are more people, and we are too jealous of our privacy and personal space to allow such a stunt to take place so as to prove or disprove the claim, but I thought about it while trying to see some thread in the various disjointed news reports that we are delivered these days like handfuls of grain to free range chickens.
It is now, incredibly, some sort of political contest as to how many prisons we have. The leader in our most popular tabloid, always one of my favourite bits of reading matter, entitled ‘The Sun Says’, has this:
‘David Cameron’s plans to expand spaces in Britain’s jam-packed jails from 81,000 to above 100,000 will be widely welcomed. So will his proposals to end automatic release after serving half the sentence; making lags work to compensate victims; and a tough programme to tackle re-offending.’
So more prisons, and more reasons to lock more people up. Do you want a prison next to your house? Thought not. But what about building them in the Isle of Wight? There is already a prison there (Parkhurst), lots of space if we are not going to put all those billions of people there, and being an island, any escaping lags would have to swim home across the busiest sea-lane in the world.
The second piece of news is that Germany seems to have gone off the rails. It first went off the rails when it appointed a vegetarian chancellor some 75 years ago and now madness has descended on a woman chancellor. Angela Merkel appears to be considering an Anschluss of Liechtenstein, without even the Sudetenland excuse that there are Germans being treated badly there. Indeed they appear to be being treated very well, paying less tax than they would have to if they left their money anywhere near the profligate Merkel. She is making threats not just against the Principality, which in my view should retaliate by making a bid for Volkswagen, but against anyone who has lower taxes than Germany and might attract some banking deposits.
Now, obviously, is the time for a well armed nation like the UK to create a new tax haven to spite this Saxon woman's blustering. Gordon Brown has given away the status of Jersey and Guernsey but I was thinking, what about the Isle of Wight? Plenty of space (OK, except for a few prisons), it needs developing out of its grim 1950s Brighton Rock tourism so what about zero income tax, no VAT and a few 7-star Dubai style hotels near Shanklin? And drink: the government wants to put up the price of booze particularly for you middle class drinkers, what about no tax on any sort of booze throughout the island? All the drunks would leave England’s quiet market towns and take the ferry from Portsmouth, to the benefit of both island and mainland.
The next item is that the government suddenly wants to renege on its promise to build a casino in every town (remember John Major’s grammar school in every town? That didn’t work either). But I think we can see now that there is only one suitable site for a maxi casino – indeed several, we can make it the Las Vegas of Europe.
Looking for a job for Prince Harry when he leaves the army in a sulk and his brother becomes Prince of Wales? Lord of the Isle: who better to run this new paradise?
When I lived near Ryde many years ago there were still the wartime sea defences which you could see stretching out at low tide. So we’d be ready for Angela Merkel’s invasion. Cry God for Harry and the low tax Isle of Wight!
It is now, incredibly, some sort of political contest as to how many prisons we have. The leader in our most popular tabloid, always one of my favourite bits of reading matter, entitled ‘The Sun Says’, has this:
‘David Cameron’s plans to expand spaces in Britain’s jam-packed jails from 81,000 to above 100,000 will be widely welcomed. So will his proposals to end automatic release after serving half the sentence; making lags work to compensate victims; and a tough programme to tackle re-offending.’
So more prisons, and more reasons to lock more people up. Do you want a prison next to your house? Thought not. But what about building them in the Isle of Wight? There is already a prison there (Parkhurst), lots of space if we are not going to put all those billions of people there, and being an island, any escaping lags would have to swim home across the busiest sea-lane in the world.
The second piece of news is that Germany seems to have gone off the rails. It first went off the rails when it appointed a vegetarian chancellor some 75 years ago and now madness has descended on a woman chancellor. Angela Merkel appears to be considering an Anschluss of Liechtenstein, without even the Sudetenland excuse that there are Germans being treated badly there. Indeed they appear to be being treated very well, paying less tax than they would have to if they left their money anywhere near the profligate Merkel. She is making threats not just against the Principality, which in my view should retaliate by making a bid for Volkswagen, but against anyone who has lower taxes than Germany and might attract some banking deposits.
Now, obviously, is the time for a well armed nation like the UK to create a new tax haven to spite this Saxon woman's blustering. Gordon Brown has given away the status of Jersey and Guernsey but I was thinking, what about the Isle of Wight? Plenty of space (OK, except for a few prisons), it needs developing out of its grim 1950s Brighton Rock tourism so what about zero income tax, no VAT and a few 7-star Dubai style hotels near Shanklin? And drink: the government wants to put up the price of booze particularly for you middle class drinkers, what about no tax on any sort of booze throughout the island? All the drunks would leave England’s quiet market towns and take the ferry from Portsmouth, to the benefit of both island and mainland.
The next item is that the government suddenly wants to renege on its promise to build a casino in every town (remember John Major’s grammar school in every town? That didn’t work either). But I think we can see now that there is only one suitable site for a maxi casino – indeed several, we can make it the Las Vegas of Europe.
Looking for a job for Prince Harry when he leaves the army in a sulk and his brother becomes Prince of Wales? Lord of the Isle: who better to run this new paradise?
When I lived near Ryde many years ago there were still the wartime sea defences which you could see stretching out at low tide. So we’d be ready for Angela Merkel’s invasion. Cry God for Harry and the low tax Isle of Wight!
23 February, 2008
The Auschwitz Fiasco
Something really does have to be said about this. The papers and the blogs are up in arms about Cameron’s having described trips to Auschwitz as a gimmick. In my view it was that and worse.
I am a middle aged man; I was born ten years after the end of World War II. In my childhood the War was all consuming. My comics would be of the racially stereotyped casual but brave Englishman/dogged but pigheaded German, Achtung Spitfeuer sort of stuff. We played war games on the street. When people came to the house, the man would be assessed by what sort of war he had had. We were over-fed because the previous generation had gone without, but they wanted you to know they had: any attempt at not eating or throwing away food resulted in ‘We’d have been grateful for that in the War’. The previous generation had shown character and wanted to point out one’s own lack of it; feckless youths on the street, rock and roll, that’s not why I fought Hitler. Unfortunately the chance of bravely defending my country was not open to me so I felt guilty. The War was an all-pervasive thing in which I had been unable to take part and was looked down on for it.
I’d like subsequent generations to have things different.
I think we still have too much of the Second World War and am appalled at attempts to lock up eighty year old men on flimsy identification. And by the way none of them are ever Germans or Japanese – have you noticed that? I do not think it is necessarily a good idea for our children to visit the Auschwitz Museum; I do not think that Auschwitz is the way to teach them what went on in the war; I think teaching them not to be afraid of people who are different is better than teaching them that Germans used to be evil. Let them spend the time learning German.
And I do think this was a gimmick. They weren’t sending all the children to the Auschwitz museum, just two from each class, who presumably would be the cleverer ones (I suppose some formal reporting back world be necessary) who needed the educational point less than others. And the Government weren’t paying for it all anyway. It is clear to a complete schweinhund that this was a sop to the bien pensant left to make up for having allowed the tax break to non domiciles. It was messing around with kids’ education to avoid a difficult headline in the New Statesman or the Guardian.
It was a cynical cheap effort by Labour and the Tories were right to expose it. Let’s educate our children, not force feed them with what they should be thinking.
I am a middle aged man; I was born ten years after the end of World War II. In my childhood the War was all consuming. My comics would be of the racially stereotyped casual but brave Englishman/dogged but pigheaded German, Achtung Spitfeuer sort of stuff. We played war games on the street. When people came to the house, the man would be assessed by what sort of war he had had. We were over-fed because the previous generation had gone without, but they wanted you to know they had: any attempt at not eating or throwing away food resulted in ‘We’d have been grateful for that in the War’. The previous generation had shown character and wanted to point out one’s own lack of it; feckless youths on the street, rock and roll, that’s not why I fought Hitler. Unfortunately the chance of bravely defending my country was not open to me so I felt guilty. The War was an all-pervasive thing in which I had been unable to take part and was looked down on for it.
I’d like subsequent generations to have things different.
I think we still have too much of the Second World War and am appalled at attempts to lock up eighty year old men on flimsy identification. And by the way none of them are ever Germans or Japanese – have you noticed that? I do not think it is necessarily a good idea for our children to visit the Auschwitz Museum; I do not think that Auschwitz is the way to teach them what went on in the war; I think teaching them not to be afraid of people who are different is better than teaching them that Germans used to be evil. Let them spend the time learning German.
And I do think this was a gimmick. They weren’t sending all the children to the Auschwitz museum, just two from each class, who presumably would be the cleverer ones (I suppose some formal reporting back world be necessary) who needed the educational point less than others. And the Government weren’t paying for it all anyway. It is clear to a complete schweinhund that this was a sop to the bien pensant left to make up for having allowed the tax break to non domiciles. It was messing around with kids’ education to avoid a difficult headline in the New Statesman or the Guardian.
It was a cynical cheap effort by Labour and the Tories were right to expose it. Let’s educate our children, not force feed them with what they should be thinking.
13 February, 2008
Athletics and drugs
Dwain Chambers tested positive for a banned substance in 2004, was barred from athletics competition and is now back. Unfortunately, he still seems to run faster than the other competitors and wants a place in the England team. The selectors think his presence in the team would be embarrassing but Chambers, understandably, says he did the crime but he’s done the time.
The only solution to all this is to be found in Formula 1. Just as they have the Constructors’ championship, parallel to the individual drivers’ one, so athletics would have a pharmaceutical championship, with, say, Hoechst competing alongside Glaxo SmithKline and Aventis for having assisted the quickest athletic performances.
It would bring a huge amount of sponsorship to the sport and only recognise what is already going on.
The only solution to all this is to be found in Formula 1. Just as they have the Constructors’ championship, parallel to the individual drivers’ one, so athletics would have a pharmaceutical championship, with, say, Hoechst competing alongside Glaxo SmithKline and Aventis for having assisted the quickest athletic performances.
It would bring a huge amount of sponsorship to the sport and only recognise what is already going on.
11 February, 2008
Multiculturalism
In my post The Bench on the Left I argued that Archbishop Williams’ statement that incorporation of some Shari’a law into our own was ‘inevitable’, was simply multiculturalism gone mad, like the call for an end to the blasphemy laws. Now, after a million words of outrage the dust has settled and opinion formers are beginning to agree.
Here is Janet Daley in the Telegraph ‘The archbishop has discredited not just himself, and the über-tolerant multicultural lobby that he sought to support, but the position of the established Church.’
And an astonishing U-turn from leftie Johann Hari in the Independent: ‘Rowan Williams has shown us one thing – why multiculturalism must be abandoned’
You heard it here first
Here is Janet Daley in the Telegraph ‘The archbishop has discredited not just himself, and the über-tolerant multicultural lobby that he sought to support, but the position of the established Church.’
And an astonishing U-turn from leftie Johann Hari in the Independent: ‘Rowan Williams has shown us one thing – why multiculturalism must be abandoned’
You heard it here first
09 February, 2008
The Bench on the Left
A month ago (see my post the Church the Dimwits and the atheists) it was a former Archbishop of Canterbury who had called for the abolition of the blasphemy laws. Now the present incumbent has called for the introduction of some elements of Shari’a law into our system. You don’t usually hear much from Archbishops, so what is going on?
The point about the proposal to abolish the blasphemy laws is that it amounted to a plea for multiculturalism: blasphemy only exists against certain tenets held by the Established Church: you can’t blaspheme against other religions (at least it isn’t a crime).
This outburst by Rowan Williams is the same. He can’t see why there should be some aspects about living in Britain which are individual to Britain: in this case British Common Law which holds individual non-Muslim views about marriage and financial disputes among other things.
You never heard of multiculturalism 30 years ago. It crept into the language of the Left almost unnoticed as a replacement for multi-racialism. It is of course much different. The Left hate the nation state, whereas the British people, by and large, do not. In my view immigrants want to see Britishness here.
Now even the left has realised that we should be heading for a multiracial, monocultural society. All on the left, that is, except for the Church of England, which not only is proceeding on its multicultural way but has not noticed the shift of opinion against it in the last few years. I wrote in January ‘This recent blast is the last call of the manic multiculturalists’, but it seems they are not finished with us yet.
We should ask Rowan Williams to begin his multicultural journey in countries where Shari’a law applies.
The point about the proposal to abolish the blasphemy laws is that it amounted to a plea for multiculturalism: blasphemy only exists against certain tenets held by the Established Church: you can’t blaspheme against other religions (at least it isn’t a crime).
This outburst by Rowan Williams is the same. He can’t see why there should be some aspects about living in Britain which are individual to Britain: in this case British Common Law which holds individual non-Muslim views about marriage and financial disputes among other things.
You never heard of multiculturalism 30 years ago. It crept into the language of the Left almost unnoticed as a replacement for multi-racialism. It is of course much different. The Left hate the nation state, whereas the British people, by and large, do not. In my view immigrants want to see Britishness here.
Now even the left has realised that we should be heading for a multiracial, monocultural society. All on the left, that is, except for the Church of England, which not only is proceeding on its multicultural way but has not noticed the shift of opinion against it in the last few years. I wrote in January ‘This recent blast is the last call of the manic multiculturalists’, but it seems they are not finished with us yet.
We should ask Rowan Williams to begin his multicultural journey in countries where Shari’a law applies.
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